East Bay bus agency wants
parcel tax on November ballot 

This November, East Bay residents will likely be asked to approve a five-year parcel tax for cash-strapped AC Transit. 

The tax revenues, estimated to be $7.5 million, would help offset the bus agency’s $30 million budget shortfall, transit officials said. The money would not go toward the expansion of any services, but merely help avoid service cuts, officials explained. 

Under the proposed parcel tax, property owners in northern Alameda and Contra Costa counties from Richmond to Hayward would pay an additional $24 per year. 

The agency currently runs more than a dozen routes through Berkeley and serves approximately 235,000 East Bay riders. Other than a slight dip in ridership last December, AC Transit officials say ridership has been steady this year and may be on the rise. Their problem is lack of funding. 

The proposed parcel tax is vital for preventing service cuts and maintaining the flow of traffic in Berkeley, confirmed Peter Hillier, Berkeley’s assistant city manager for transportation. 

AC Transit board members are scheduled to vote tonight on whether to put the tax initiative on the ballot. Approval is expected. 

News of the parcel tax follows fare increases for AC Transit riders approved this spring. Single fares for one-way bus rides will rise from $1.35 to $1.50 starting Sept. 1. 

Many residents in transportation-conscious Berkeley say paying a bit more for mass transit is worth it. 

“I would be willing to pay a little bit extra for the convenience,” said Amartya De, a junior at UC Berkeley. 

Others, though, say AC Transit should have foreseen the shortcoming in revenue and planned accordingly. 

Transit officials say the reason for their financial straits is unexpectedly low sales tax revenues which fund much of their operation. More than $304 in sales tax revenue was expected after Measure B passed in the 2000 general election. But with the economic slowdown, officials say the sales tax revenue simply hasn’t materialized. 

“What drove us to recommend the tax was our current revenue shortfall due to reduced tax revenues,” said Jim Gleich, deputy general manager of AC Transit. 

The agency collects 20 percent of its revenue through bus fares, with the remainder coming through government subsidies.  

Officials at the agency see the proposed parcel tax as only a short-term fix. Gleich said the agency will cover its budget for the current fiscal year but “beyond that we’re in serious trouble financially.” 

Instead of cutting services during the recent economic slowdown, as many other transit agencies have done, AC Transit opted for creative financing plans and trying to reduce expenditures. 

AC Transit is currently considering two route changes in Berkeley to make services more efficient: The agency may cut a portion of the number 9 line servicing north Berkeley and could add a number 19 line running from El Cerrito’s BART plaza to west Berkeley, city transportation officials said. 

Given the size of next year’s deficit, however, AC Transit may be forced to make some service cuts. “We can’t avoid it in perpetuity,” said Gleich. 

Berkeley’s Hillier says that AC Transit should not only get more money from locals, but from sources outside the region as well. 

“[AC Transit] should be at the top of the list for receiving financial support from the state and federal government,” he said. “It’s sad that we don’t support them more.” 

Today’s public hearing is scheduled for 5 p.m. at 1600 Franklin Street, 2nd floor, in Oakland. 

Contact reporter at chris@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

I was very surprised and distressed by an Aug 3-4 article in the Daily Planet regarding the narrowing of Albany’s Marin Avenue. Councilmember Linda Maio is stated to apparently be in support of the city of Albany regarding this issue rather than the Berkeley constituents who have elected her to support our city. 

I have lived in Berkeley for several years and have owned a home on Gilman Street for the last five years. During these five years, there have been at least three traffic accidents within a two block stretch, and neighbors have rallied, without City Council support, to evaluate the traffic and to try to ameliorate the traffic hazards. 

There has been talk of planning ferry commute at the racetrack at the foot of Gilman Street, as well as finally making the Berkeley train station a hospitable and functional place. But I haven’t seen or heard any talk of the impact on Berkeley residents, especially those living on main traffic and safety corridors, such as Gilman and Hopkins streets. 

May we please ask our councilwoman to support Berkeley residents, before supporting Albany residents, as our mayor has done. Or please move to Albany so that we can elect someone who truly respects and cares about the citizens of north Berkeley. 

Marie Wacht 

Berkeley

Berkeley graduate McCurdy can’t wait to play the Greek 

It’s every musician’s dream to play the biggest venue in the town he grew up in. This Saturday, Berkeley High graduate Xan McCurdy will live that dream, as he revisits the stage where in the late 1980s he received his high school diploma. This weekend, he will take to that very stage with a guitar strapped over his shoulder. 

As part of the Unlimited Sunshine tour, McCurdy’s band Cake will perform their upbeat, quirky rock numbers at the festival next to the likes of the Flaming Lips, Kinky, the Hackensaw Boys, De La Soul and Modest Mouse at the Greek Theater.  

The Berkeley Daily Planet spoke with McCurdy before the tour’s first show in St. Louis. 

Daily Planet: Is (the Unlimited Sunshine Tour) one of the biggest crowds you’ve played for? 

McCurdy: Well, it’ll be the biggest crowd that sort of feels like a crowd that’s on our side. We’ve played festival shows where you’re on the bill with these other large rock bands who are popular at the moment, and those have very large crowds, but they’re people who aren’t necessarily there to see us. Sometimes they even get upset that we aren’t more heavy metal. 

Daily Planet: I thought you guys are pretty popular? 

McCurdy: Well yeah, but it’s easy to feel discouraged, even when there’s a crowd of 20,000 people. Sometimes it’s hard not to feel discouraged if a hundred of them don’t like you. 

Daily Planet: It’s pretty amazing how many musicians grew up in Berkeley and went to Berkeley High. 

McCurdy: Who are you talking about, Kevin Cadogan, Charlie Hunter?  

Daily Planet: Joshua Redman too... When you went to BHS did you play in bands, play around town? 

McCurdy: I did.  

Daily Planet: Did you play with (former Third Eye Blind guitar player) Kevin Cadogan at all? 

McCurdy: I never played with Kevin Cadogan no. I only smoked pot with Kevin Cadogan... I had this band called the Assortments... and we played sixties covers and some songs by the Jam and the Specials. I think we may have only played once at a party and at the Berkeley Square. Sort of like a weird mod band.  

Daily Planet: When did you join Cake exactly? 

McCurdy: Cake has four records out and I joined near the end of the third one (1998’s Prolonging the Magic) so I played a little bit on the third one but I joined right in time to tour for that record. I played two years for that record and then did this last record.  

Daily Planet: The guitar stuff on the last album is very active. Do you write the lead parts or does John (McCrea guitarist/lead singer) come up with them and teach them to you? 

McCurdy: I come up with my parts. Sometimes John walks in to the rehearsal space and he says, “Look here I’ve got this riff...” 

Daily Planet: What’s a song off the last album which would be an example of that? 

McCurdy: “Comfort Eagle.” That’s his riff, that’s the whole song. And so that’s what he had going on, that’s what he wanted to do with it. But you know “Love you Madly”? That’s all mine. He didn’t know what to do. The way it usually works is John shows up to rehearsal studio with three chords, a lyric and a melody. 

Daily Planet: That’s rock n’roll. 

McCurdy: And it’s vague but he doesn’t know what the hell to do with it after that point. And then he’ll sit there and play it and whatever we try and go for, then we go for it. And as far as songwriting, anyone can go for it... The way we’ve been assembling songs lately is really democratic. It’s like, “Wow, that’s cool, let’s do what they’re doing.” 

Daily Planet: I didn’t know you wrote “Love you Madly.” 

McCurdy: No, I just wrote the parts. He had the vocal and the two chords and the melody. Everyone else comes up with their parts. I’m not a songwriter. I spent years playing with my good friend Bart Davenport who was the songwriter – we played together since sixth grade, and I was the guitar player and we sort of let that dynamic go where I worked on playing guitar and he sang and did songwriting. I’m bummed I didn’t pay more attention to (songwriting) way back in the day. I like writing parts. I don’t have any lofty goals of trying to express a heavy lyrical sentiment. I sort of feel like I’d rather come up with incredibly groovy stuff that rocks on guitar – that’s enough to satisfy me. 

Daily Planet: What modern guitarists or bands do you admire the most? 

McCurdy: Well, I like all the Berkeley guys. Eric McFadden, Bart Davenport is a really great guitar player too. I always come up with a mental block about other bands. 

Daily Planet: So back to the festivals. Did you have a good time playing Coachella? 

McCurdy: Yeah, Coachella was cool. Festivals are always difficult. For us, we’re not a band that can throw a wall of Marshall stacks on and crank it to 10 and scream and it works. We’re kinda more rinky-dinky where it’s sort of like levels have to be right. Things have to interlock and work. Sometimes our keyboard line sounds funny if the guitar isn’t quite in the mix right with it. Festivals are hard to because you’re outdoors and you don’t get a soundcheck. You just run out on stage and hope that it all works out.  

Daily Planet: Does it? 

McCurdy: Most festivals you sit there and listen to one Pearl Jam rip-off band after another. Fifteen in a row, in a hundred degree weather. And kids love it. Loving everyone of them. And you’re just like, “Wow, man. How did I get here?”  

Daily Planet: But then, you guys are playing a festival. 

McCurdy: Well, yeah, there you go, what’s up with that? They are hard. Because of large crowds like that, where you don’t know if people really like you, you have to concentrate on trying to make good music for your own pleasure while you’re playing. 

I mean I’m being really hard on myself and the band when I talk like this because we’re damn good… but to try and make good music at a festival is really difficult. It’s difficult not for us but difficult for everybody. Usually the people who enjoy doing festivals the most are the people haven’t done it very much, because it’s just a visceral thrill to see all those bodies out there. It’s the party thing. But I think for most people it wears off pretty quickly.  

But if you’ve got your own show that’s got a bazillion people, that’s a little different. If they paid to see you, it’s more your party. And that becomes more like a family. Maybe some people would call that preaching to the converted but I don’t. I like surrounding myself with my friends with people I dig.  

Daily Planet: You’re gonna be playing the same place you graduated high school. How does that feel? 

McCurdy: Yeah, I’ve never played the Greek, man, I’m thrilled by it. I can’t tell you how excited I am. Any musician who grew up in Berkeley is pretty excited to play the damn Greek.

Friday, August 9

Community Skin Cancer Screening Clinic 

11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Markstein Cancer Education Center, Summit Campus, 2450 Ashby Avenue 

Skin cancer screenings offered to people with limited or no health insurance. By Appointment only. 

For more information or to make an appointment call 869-8833 

Saturday, August 10

Avotcja's Birthday Bash 

7:30 p.m. 

Mama Bear's Books, 6536 Telegraph Avenue 

Poetry, music and dance in celebration of poet Avotcja Jiltonilro's 61st birthday. Reservations are suggested. 

428-9684 

$10 donation 

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  

548-3333 

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 

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." 

548-2220 x233 

Free 

Sunday, August 11

Kiwanis Club of Berkeley: A Classic Taste of Italy 

4 to 7 p.m. 

St. Mary Magdeline Church, Fellowship Hall. Berryman St. Berkeley 

Spaghetti dinner and auction to raise money for children's programs. 

527-3249 

Kids $5, Adults $15 

Free Radio Berkeley Benefit 

7 to 10 p.m. 

Benefit for new Free Radio Berkeley home. Speakers include Berkeley City Council member Kriss Worthington, Andrea Buffa of Media Alliance and Pierre Labossiere of the Haiti Support Group.  

533-0401, www.freeradio.org  

$15 to $25, sliding scale 

Hands-on Bicycle Repair 

11 a.m.-noon 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

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

527-4140 

Free 

“Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport” 

2:00 p.m. 

Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St., Berkeley 

Screening of Oscar-winning documentary about child holocaust survivors who were sent, without their parents, out of Austria, Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia to Great Britain. 

848-0237 

$2 suggested donation 

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 

2 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Derby Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way  

Sample 35 different Tomato varieties 

548-3333 

Free 

Berkeley Camera Club Weekly Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share photos with other photographers 

(510) 525-3565 

Free 

Nuclear War: Then and Now, Part II 

The Decision to Drop the Bomb on Hiroshima 

7 p.m. 

Friends' Meeting House, 2151 Vine Street 

Screening of two network documentaries on the subject. 

705-7314 or BerkMM@Earthlink.net 

Free 

Wednesday, August 14

Holistic Exercises Sharing Circle  

3:30 to 6:30 p.m.  

wrpclub@aol.com or 595-5541 for information 

Holistic Practitioners, Teachers, Students & Anyone who knows Holistic exercises take turns leading the group through an afternoon of exercises. 

$20 for six-month membership 

Thursday, August 15

Power for the People 

7 p.m. to 9 p.m. 

Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave.  

A forum on public power, solar power and community control of energy. Speakers include Paul Fenn, Director of Local Power and publisher of American Local Power News and energy economist Eugene Coyle. 

548-2220 x233 

$5 to $15, sliding scale 

Tapping into the Hidden Job Market: Networking & Informational Interviewing 

Noon to 1 p.m. 

YWCA Turning Point Career Center, 2600 Bancroft Way 

Cal Martin will speak on networking and informational interviewing.  

848-6370 

$3 at door 

Unique Presentation Styles 

Noon to 1 p.m. 

State Health Toastmasters Club, 2151 Berkeley Way 

Learn to use the unique attributes of your personality to improve your public speaking skills. Visitors must preregister. 

595-1594 

Free 

Friday, August 16

Deasophy: Wisdom of the Goddess 

7:30 p.m. 

Redwood Gardens Community Room, 2951 Derby St., Berkeley 

Max Dashu presents a slide show on Goddess cosmologies and female creators from a global perspective. 

654-9298 or maxdashu@LMI.net 

$7-15 donations 

Saturday, August 17

Berkeley Alliance of Neighborhood Associations (BANA) Meeting 

9:l5 a.m. to ll a.m. 

Live Oak Park, Fireside Room, l30l Shattuck Ave. 

Citywide meeting concerning local issues. All are welcome. 

849-46l9 or mtbrcb@pacbell.net 

Cajun & More Festival 

10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

Civic Center Park, Center St. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

4 live bands, crafts fair, outdoor dance floor, micro-brewery beer, Cajun food and free Cajun dance lessons. 

548-3333 

Admission is free 

Tour for Blind, Low-Vision Library Patrons 

10:30 a.m. to noon 

Berkeley Public Library, Central Branch 

3rd Floor Meeting Rm, 2090 Kittredge St. 

Tour of the new central branch for blind and low-vision patrons. 

981-6121 

Free 

Former pro gives Berkeley
players a chance to shine 

For Doug Harris, playing basketball opened up a lot of doors. Though the Berkeley High graduate and current Executive Director of Athletes United for Peace stresses that the game of basketball is not an end in itself, he says the lessons learned on the court can last a lifetime. 

After a successful career as a professional basketball player overseas, Harris has committed himself to giving back to the community he grew up in. 

In charge of AUP, the Berkeley-based nonprofit promoting peace, education and friendship, Harris works directly with local high-risk youth, affording them the opportunity to both play basketball and learn a few of life’s most important lessons. 

“Sports, and in particular basketball, afforded me an opportunity to see the world when I was playing. Travelling and experiencing other cultures and other lifestyles was the best education I ever experienced in life. You can’t learn nothing like that in school, I don’t care what school, they don’t teach that,” Harris explained. 

As one of AUP’s many components, the Berkeley Latenight Basketball Program has since 1993 served as an alternative for young people seeking to distance themselves from a life of crime, drugs and gang activity. The program, funded by the city of Berkeley, organizes leagues year-round including the current outdoor summer session league taking place at People’s Park. 

Working in cooperation with UC Berkeley, which owns the park property, Harris says the summer session has been special so far because of the leadership shown by a few of the older participants. 

Didese Simpson, who has been involved with Latenight for the past eight years and a member of the summer session’s Scrilla team, says patience and teamwork are critical. As a team leader, the 27-year-old Simpson offers advice to many of his younger teammates. 

“Basically, I talk to my players. If they start arguing I tell them, ‘Look, don’t worry about it. You can’t sit here and argue, it’s just a game.’ You just got to get ready for the next play. As an older player I learned how to stay together and don’t fall apart,” Simpson said. 

According to Harris, the leadership component of Latenight Basketball keeps the program running, keeping the league from turning into chaos. 

“In Latenight Basketball, if you’re not on your p’s and q’s there can be an assault. It can be very volatile. That’s why I have to be there to lay down the law. If anybody’s ready to be fighting, we’re athletes united for peace,” Harris said. “These guys come in thinking this is street ball or any old street league, we don’t represent that. The moment that they start cuttin’ up and trippin’, they got to come and see me and I’m 6-8 and 300 pounds and I’m not standing for it. The guys understand that, that I’m no nonsense when it comes to basketball.” 

Both Harris and officials from the city of Berkeley agree that sports programs are important. However, even more significant are sports programs that combine playing games with educational resources.  

“Sports programs are helpful,” said Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean. “They give kids a chance to let off energy and something constructive to focus on, but they have to be combined with something a little more to be effective.” 

Unlike many other strictly sports programs, Latenight offers its participants appointment counseling, career guidance, workshops and rap sessions to discuss topical issues as a group before each game. 

“These people can go to the park and play basketball. These young people out here need guidance. They need people to steer them in the direction where they’re going back to school, going to college. They need people to help them, give them that extra added push to help them get a job,” Harris said. “Sometimes all it takes is somebody to talk to them, a little counseling to get them back on the right track. To me, that’s what we’re there for. The basketball is just to lure them in.” 

For Berkeley High graduate Joel Tolbert, a long-time participant of Latenight, setting a good example sends an important message to many of the younger participants. Taking night classes at Laney College and working during the day, Tolbert says that just showing up to games each week teaches consistency and instills a sense of responsibility among participants. 

“This is about giving young people some direction, teaching them how to depend on each other, how to handle themselves and helping them get in the job market,” Tolbert noted. 

Past participants in the Latenight program include El Cerrito High’s Drew Gooden, recently selected as the fourth overall pick in the NBA draft by the Memphis Grizzlies, and Berkeley’s Justin Davis, a current Stanford basketball star. 

While of course not all participants move on to the NBA or even college ball, the measure of success for the Latenight program can be found more in the community than on the courts, according to Harris.  

“I can’t go anywhere around community without seeing kids from my program. It’s the biggest joy in the world for a kid to come up and give me a report on how he’s doing in terms of his school work in college. It’s the best feeling in the world”

State regulators who rejected Berkeley’s affordable housing plans earlier this month said Wednesday they expect that the city will ultimately win state approval. 

“This is a community that is trying to build affordable housing,” said Judy Nevis of the state Department on Housing and Community Development. 

Berkeley is required by law to plan for the creation of 1,269 new units of affordable housing by 2007. But state regulators ruled that the city’s plan to meet this goal, set forth in its housing element, constrained new development and lacked specific information explaining how it will meet the quota. 

The state’s ruling brings the housing element back to city staff and the Planning Commission for revisions. The document was sent to the state for approval in December and represented three years of work by city officials. 

Planning commissioners were predictably disappointed by the state’s ruling. 

“How could they do this to Berkeley?” said Commissioner Gene Poschman. “We do more for affordable housing than any other city, yet we are given the worst time.” 

Nevis said that Berkeley’s lack of available land for development makes it more difficult for the city to comply with state standards. She noted that while other cities can designate vacant lots for affordable housing, Berkeley does not have that luxury. 

To cope with its lack of available land, Berkeley has enacted several laws to encourage the development of affordable housing. The city requires all new residential developments with more than four units to guarantee that at least 20 percent of the units will be rented to residents earning below the median income. 

Nevis commended this law, but said Berkeley must propose additional strategies for planning affordable housing. 

“The state tries not to be directive and say you have to do it this way,” Nevis said. “We have to respect what the local community is able to do.” 

State officials said they will offer city planners suggestions on how to best develop affordable housing at a meeting in early September. 

The housing element has been a source of contention even before the state ruling. 

Last month, planning commissioners criticized city staff for changes made to the housing element’s appendix. They said that revisions that were supposed to be only technical in nature conflicted with policies laid out in the body of the document. 

City planners insisted that the appendix was purely background information and did not alter established policies. 

After reading the state’s letter of decision, Zelda Bronstein, chair of the Planning Commission, noted that the state’s letter treated the appendix no differently than the body of the element. 

“It seems clear to me from reading the letter that contrary to what the staff is saying the appendix is not merely a technical document. It is a policy statement.” 

Bronstein said that the planning commission will review the contents of the appendix in addition to addressing state concerns when it meets in September. 

Both planning commissioners and city staff said it was too early to estimate when the city would be able to resubmit the document for approval. 

Berkeley is now in violation of state housing element law. Without a valid element Berkeley could lose out on state housing grants and find itself more susceptible to lawsuits from developers who want to skirt zoning laws. 

Berkeley is not alone in having its housing element rejected. According to Nevis, only about 68 percent of California cities have a valid housing element, and many cities have their initial housing element rejected. 

Contact reporter matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net 

To the Editor: 

In the July 29 article addressing the City Council’s vote to “deny consent” to AT&T Broadband to transfer control of its cable operation to AT&T Comcast, there is no mention that the citizen group that gathered the information in support of the denial has been disbanded upon the recommendation of the city manager’s office. The task force will be replaced by the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) which will not be open to the public. 

The council-appointed task force on telecommunications was established in 1999 as a way to provide community input on a telecommunications master plan for the city of Berkeley. A central point in the master plan is the city’s relationship with AT&T. The task force has worked for more than a year conducting community ascertainment and workshops as well as evaluating the existing franchise and preparing the list of non-compliance issues in preparation for the eventual negotiations with AT&T. The Telecom report prepared by the task force is available on the city of Berkeley web site.  

Since denial of the transfer, the city has opened negotiations with AT&T based on task force findings that were supported by the City Council. However, these negotiations will no longer benefit from citizen input because the dissolution of the task force has extinguished the only voice that Berkeley citizens have in negotiating an agreement that will impact telecommunications in our city for years to come. 

It is vital that the city as stewards of a public service, for which subscribers pay dearly through franchise fees, should be encouraging the continued input of its citizenry. The task force feels that it is critical that citizens participate in negotiation preparations. The task force urges citizens to contact their council members regarding their needs, problems, and interest in cable service and programming. 

Paul Blake 

Chair of the task force on telecommunications

Centerfielder robs Ramirez of game-winning
homer with two out in bottom of the ninth 

BOSTON – Terrence Long reached over the right-center field wall into the Boston bullpen to rob Manny Ramirez of a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning to preserve the Oakland Athletics’ 3-2 win over the Red Sox on Wednesday night. 

Long’s catch helped A’s reliever Billy Koch escape a jam for the second straight inning. Koch walked Johnny Damon and Trot Nixon with one out in the ninth before striking out Nomar Garciaparra. Ramirez, who hit his 19th homer of the year in the fourth, then sent a drive to center. 

A security guard in the Red Sox bullpen had his arms raised in celebration before Long made his running catch to give Koch his 28th save in 33 chances. 

Koch then ran out to shallow center to give Long a grateful hug. Several other A’s ran out to celebrate the center fielder’s catch. 

With two outs in the eighth, Koch allowed a run-scoring single to Shea Hillenbrand. But with runners at first and third and two outs he retired Brian Daubach on a groundout to first. 

Jermaine Dye hit a two-run homer and Aaron Harang (4-2) allowed one run and three hits in 5 2-3 innings and left with a 2-1 lead. 

The Athletics’ fourth straight win tied them with the Red Sox for second place in the AL wild-card race, two games behind Anaheim, which played the Chicago White Sox. 

Dye’s sixth-inning homer, his 12th of the year, followed a two-out error by third baseman Hillenbrand and made both runs unearned. The A’s made it 3-1 in the seventh on a walk to Ramon Hernandez and singles by Scott Hatteberg and Miguel Tejada. 

Tejada, whose 24-game hitting streak ended Tuesday, went 1-for-5. 

Boston took a 1-0 lead on Ramirez’s leadoff homer in the fourth, his 19th. 

John Burkett (10-5) rebounded from his worst start of the season when he allowed eight runs in 1 1-3 innings of a 19-7 loss at Texas. In his previous start, he pitched a four-hit shutout against Baltimore in his only complete game of the year. 

He pitched well Wednesday, allowing one earned run and six hits in 6 2-3 innings. 

But Harang, who had no decision in his previous five starts, was better. He allowed one runner in each of the first three innings on a single and two walks but none got past first base. 

In the fifth, with two outs and runners at first and second, he got Ramirez to ground into a forceout. In the seventh, Ricardo Rincon struck out Trot Nixon after Johnny Damon’s two-out triple. 

Boston led 1-0 with two outs and no runners on in the top of the sixth. Then Eric Chavez reached on Hillenbrand’s second error in two games and Dye followed with his homer. 

In the eighth, Koch replaced Chad Bradford after Ramirez’s one-out single. Cliff Floyd struck out, but Jason Varitek walked and Ramirez scored on Hillenbrand’s hard single that just eluded third baseman Chavez. 

Notes: Varitek went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and a walk. ... The A’s were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and are just 8-for-49 in their last six games. ... Floyd went 0-for-3 with a walk and is 0-for-6 in two games at Fenway Park since Boston obtained him from Montreal last week. He was 7-for-13 in his other four games, all at Texas. ... The Red Sox made several spectacular catches of their own on Wednesday. CF Damon ran to deep right-center to catch Dye’s second-inning drive, then raced in for a sliding catch on Hatteberg in the third. RF Nixon reached into the stands on the foul side of the right-field line to catch David Justice’s fly ball in the sixth.

Last month, Berkeley leaders put pressure on marina restaurant Skates by the Bay to pay its employees a “living wage” – an attempt to make the Bay Area’s high cost of living more bearable. This month, the city of Oakland is following suit. 

Oakland’s Port Commission passed a resolution Tuesday requiring dozens of airport and seaport tenants on city property to pay their workers a “living wage” regardless of the tenants’ current lease status. 

Many tenants had been dodging Oakland’s current living wage ordinance by maintaining month-to-month leases with the city, which exempted them from the ordinance. Until Tuesday’s resolution, only tenants with long-term leases were obliged to pay “living wages.” 

“After carefully reviewing the living wage charter amendment, it has become clear that the spirit of the law strongly indicates the need to take this step,” said Frank Kiang, Port Commission board president. 

Oakland’s living wage ordinance for city tenants went into effect in March when Oakland voters passed Measure I. 

As a result, businesses that operate on Oakland property are required to pay their employees $10.78 an hour when health benefits are not offered. In Berkeley, the “living wage,” which was approved in 2000, is $11.37 an hour when health benefits are not offered. The state minimum wage is $6.75 an hour. 

“There was a loophole in the [Oakland] law that businesses were taking advantage of,” said Amaha Kassa of the East Bay Alliance for Sustainable Economy. “We essentially closed the loophole.” 

In July, the Berkeley City Council gave the city manager’s office approval to move forward with the enforcement of the living wage ordinance at Skates by the Bay. The city can either terminate the restaurant’s lease or file a lawsuit.  

Arguments in Berkeley and Oakland are similar on both sides of the living wage law. Advocates of the “living wage” argue that it helps workers afford the area’s high cost of living. Many employers, though, say it reduces their ability to provide good customer service and prices, and eliminates the possibility of paying part-time workers.

Union gives in on hot topic, but no penalties
have been established for positive results 

NEW YORK – Baseball players ended decades of opposition to mandatory drug testing Wednesday by agreeing to be checked for illegal steroids starting next year. 

Under the proposal, which addresses one of the key issues in contract talks, players would be subjected to one or more unannounced tests in 2003 to determine the level of steroid use. If the survey showed “insignificant” use, a second round of tests would be set up in 2004 to verify the results. 

If more than 5 percent of the tests were positive in either survey, players would be randomly tested for two years. 

The union did not say what penalties, if any, would be levied against players who test positive for steroids. 

“We had an obligation to bargain on it. It was a serious issue,” union head Donald Fehr said. “It took a lot of time and effort and thought.” 

Rob Manfred, the owners’ top labor lawyer, characterized the proposal as “very significant.” 

“It is the kind of proposal that will put us very easily on the path to a very timely agreement,” he said. 

He said a counterproposal could be ready as early as Thursday. The plan the owners put forth in February called for far more extensive testing. Players would be tested three times a year for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, and once a year for illegal drugs such as cocaine. 

Former MVPs Jose Canseco and Ken Caminiti admitted steroid use earlier this year, and Canseco estimated that up to 85 percent of all major leaguers took muscle-enhancing drugs during the years he played, 1985 to 2001. 

“As players, we want to be able to clear our name from what Caminiti and Canseco said,”se debated whether or not to have drug testing,” Dodgers player rep Paul Lo Duca said. “We want it. It’s no big deal to us. It’s going to be a pretty strict test, and that’s the way it should be.” 

The NFL and NBA test players for steroids and illegal drugs. The NHL has a policy similar to baseball’s, testing players only if there is cause. For example, a player could be tested if he is convicted of a crime involving drugs or enters rehab. 

Under the baseball union’s proposal, players could also be tested for illegal steroids if teams showed “reasonable cause.” 

“It is not a watered-down type of proposal,” Colorado third baseman Todd Zeile said. “It is a legitimate proposal to try and do something.” 

Both sides also discussed minimum salary, benefits and debt control. 

The union’s executive board is to meet Monday in Chicago and could set a strike date for what would be baseball’s ninth work stoppage since 1972. 

Players fear that without a contract to replace the deal that expired Nov. 7, owners would change work rules or lock them out after the World Series. The union wants to control the timing of a potential work stoppage, preferring late in the season, when more pressure is on the owners.

Citing dangerous work conditions and a heavy workload, about 30 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory custodians used their lunch hour to wear bright union T-shirts, waive placards and chant labor slogans at the entrance of the lab.  

The custodians gathered at the intersection of Hearst Avenue and Highland Place. They carried signs that read “LBNL workers deserve fair workloads” and solicited support from passing motorists in the form of honked horns. 

The custodians said the lab needs to hire at least 20 new custodians to meet safe and effective staffing levels. According to a union spokesperson, at least two custodians have been injured so far this year and one was injured last year while carrying out tasks that were not in their job description.  

According to Ray Viray, who has been a custodian at the lab for 12 years, the majority of custodians are assigned work areas as large as 70,000 square feet. Union representatives said the Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers, an international association that monitors the quality of educational facilities, recommends only 30,000 square feet of office space be assigned to a single custodian.  

“And that’s office space,” Viray said. “We are responsible for maintaining areas that contain biohazards, radioactivity and machine shops and these places require special training and attention.” 

Lab spokesperson Ron Kolb said management has been meeting with the custodians and their union, Local 3299 of the American Federation for State and County Municipal Employees, on a monthly basis trying to resolve the situation. 

“We signed a union contract in January, which they are working from now,” he said. “What that contract calls for is the union and management to set up committees to discuss the issue and that’s what we have been doing.” 

Kolb said management has been meeting with the union on an average of every four to six weeks.  

But the custodians say that despite the meetings, management has only arranged for four new custodians in the coming fiscal budget.  

“These figures do not even take into consideration the fact that a large number of LBNL custodians have recently, or are about to, retire,” a union press release read. “Apparently management does not seem to be taking the ongoing custodial injuries seriously.” 

However, Kolb argued that worker safety is a top lab consideration and that management was doing everything possible within the constraints of its budget. 

“We insist on a safe workplace,” he said. “If there’s an unsafe condition, the custodians should work with their supervisor to find a solution to the problem.” 

The custodians and their union representatives are scheduled to meet with LBNL management again on Aug. 14.

The show must go on,
even in the dark 

SANTA FE, N.M. – There were no sets, the orchestra was stuck on stage and performers had to change by flashlight. But the show went on. 

A power outage caused by two bull snakes that slithered into a switching gear didn’t stop the Santa Fe Opera from performing Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” Monday night. The electricity came on part-way through the opera. 

The snakes’ interruption made for “an interesting evening of theater” for the 2,100 people who attended, said Tom Morris, the opera’s director of administration. 

A generator provided some electricity for the theater, but the orchestra — which usually is lowered electrically beneath the stage — was stuck in the middle, blocking the way for sets. 

Performers prepared in a wardrobe area lit by lanterns and flashlights. Battery-powered lanterns were placed in nine bathrooms. Bartenders used flashlights. 

The snakes weren’t so lucky. The voltage at the site of the equipment “can be fatal to humans so the snakes probably didn’t have a chance,” said Don Brown, a spokesman for the Public Company of New Mexico. 

A similar outage after an opening night performance 17 years ago was caused by a rodent that chewed through a power cable and “didn’t survive the experience,” Morris said. 

Senior citizen parachutes
from bridge 

TWIN FALLS, Idaho – Jim Guyer let go of the railing on the Perrine Bridge, gave a hearty push with his legs and fell into history. 

Guyer, 74, became the oldest person to parachute from a span with Friday’s jump from the bridge 486 feet over the Snake River. 

“It was terrific, I got to do a 360-degree turn after the chute opened and everything,” Guyer said while relaxing after his jump. 

The jump could qualify him for a spot in the Guinness Book of Records. 

“I used to think, ’Man, when I’m 50, I’ll be too old for this crazy stuff,”’ said Tony Herring, 42, of Rock Hill, S.C., a friend who accompanied Guyer. “I can’t think that with him around.” 

Guyer’s jump drew a small crowd of spectators to both sides of the bridge. Several motorists honked their horns and cheered as Guyer and his party prepared to go over. 

“I really hope what I did inspired some 75-year-old guys to come out here,” he said. “That’s the fun of it. Life is a game. Records are made to be broken.” 

You think you’re depressed?
She lost 2,000 pounds 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Irene was depressed. She ignored her paints and brushes; she stopped balancing tires on her head for fun; she was nauseated and ate dirt, and the only food that interested her was small cottonwood branches to control her upset stomach. 

She lost 2,000 pounds. 

But these days the five-ton Asian elephant at the Rio Grande Zoo is feeling much better, after recovering from the side effects of medications for tuberculosis. 

“It’s been a very gratifying, satisfactory effort to see an enormous, incredible animal like this, whose life was really threatened by this infection, do so well,” said Dr. Gary Simpson, medical director of the state Infectious Diseases Bureau. 

Tuberculosis was discovered in Irene in October 2000, and she was given massive doses of medications for over a year. The treatment ended in January and now she’s acting like herself again. 

The 38-year-old elephant never showed symptoms of the disease, but suffered from side effects of the drugs — the same ones human TB patients take. 

Irene also apparently didn’t like having her blood taken. “She tried to sit on me,” Richard said.

Part potluck and part crime prevention, Berkeley residents, city officials and public safety officers met Tuesday evening at various locations to celebrate the annual National Night Out Against Crime. 

The event, now in its 19th year, is designed to heighten crime- and drug-prevention awareness and strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community relations. 

While specific crime issues vary from neighborhood to neighborhood, gathering together as a community can contribute to safety everywhere, said Lt. Cynthia Harris of the Berkeley Police Department.  

Drug activity has been a concern in parts of both south and west Berkeley recently, say police and city officials. However, the phenomenon is not citywide. In other sections of the city, traffic safety and disaster preparedness have been the focus.  

Residents near Halcyon Commons in south Berkeley gathered Tuesday evening to say hello to friends and neighbors, meet their beat officer and city councilmember and discuss important neighborhood concerns. 

“The focus is on having a good time,” said Nancy Carleton, co-chairperson for the Halcyon Neighborhood Association, celebrating its 10th Anniversary Tuesday evening. “It gives people a chance to brainstorm, sign petitions and meet their neighbors.” 

Traffic was their biggest concern. Residents and officials agreed that the area needs greater parking enforcement. 

In addition, neighbors discussed what has become a neighborhood eyesore at the 3000 block of Telegraph Avenue. Two vacant buildings, partially destroyed in a recent fire, have remained a haven for the homeless and graffiti over the past seven months, residents say. Though graffiti was recently painted over, neighbors complain that a wholesale change needs to take place at the site. 

For south Berkeley resident Susan Sirrine, who often brings her dog, Zazie, to Halcyon Commons, the event provided an opportunity to discuss the need for more dog-walking spots in the city. 

Central Berkeley residents, meanwhile, celebrated the evening event at the Berkshire, a local assisted living facility. 

Residents and staff members at the Berkshire, on Sacramento Street near Allston Way, say the crime prevention event has been a success each of the past three years. 

“Every year it’s gotten bigger and bigger. We wanted the residents here to be a part of the community. This gives them a chance to socialize and to ask questions of the police,” said Susan Melin, sales and marketing director of the 90-person residence. 

According to Melin, the neighborhood is relatively safe despite an occasional car burglary. 

Police, firefighters and mayoral candidate Tom Bates attended the evening event at the Berkshire, discussing topics from disaster preparedness to parking to the fall’s upcoming elections. 

“It’s a great opportunity to interact with various neighborhood groups,” said David Orth, assistant fire chief for the city. Deploying all nine fire trucks to different spots throughout Berkeley, the department instructed both young and old on fire safety tips. September and October constitute the city’s fire season, a major concern for residents in the hills of east Berkeley, according to Orth. 

Berkeley’s police department also participated in the crime awareness event. Beat officers attended neighborhood get-togethers listening to residents’ concerns. 

“It’s important for the community to feel some sort of empowerment. It’s a statement saying we’re not going to let our areas be victimized. I think it’s important to make that statement,” said Harris. 

Phil Guba, an 81-year-old resident of the Berkshire and clerical volunteer for the police department, said the city faces continued drug and crime issues while adjusting to a recent wave of retirements on the force. 

National Night Out involves more than 9,400 communities from all 50 states, U.S. territories, Canadian cities and military bases around the world. In all, 31 million people took part in the event, according to the National Association of Town Watch.

OAKLAND – The Oakland Police Department is investigating the city’s 68th homicide this year, as a 19-year-old man was shot to death Tuesday night. 

Raymond Bennett of Oakland was discovered on the 1700 block of Ninth Street about 10:15 p.m. Tuesday. Police say someone shot Bennett numerous times and fled the scene in a car. 

The killing came just hours after several gatherings in the city to celebrate National Night Out, and anti-crime program meant to encourage people to host street events to reclaim their neighborhoods. Oakland Police Chief Richard Word attended a National Night Out event in East Oakland near Mills College. Another event was held in a West Oakland park less than a mile from the scene of Bennett’s shooting.

SAN FRANCISCO – Vice President Dick Cheney said Wednesday he’d like to serve a second term “if the president’s willing and if my wife approves.” 

Cheney, who has a history of heart trouble, said doctors also would need to give him the go-ahead. 

He expressed the same sentiments more than a year ago while announcing that he needed a heart pacemaker. Despite a year of good health reports, Cheney’s status for Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign continues to be a source of speculation. 

“I suppose two people are going to figure very prominently in that decision,” Cheney said when asked whether he would be on the ticket. “One is obviously the president. The other is my wife.” 

Fielding questions after an economic speech to the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, Cheney said serving as vice president has been the high point of his professional life, but he noted that with public service “you become a target.” 

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating accounting practices of Halliburton Co. while Cheney led the oil firm. Hecklers interrupted his speech Wednesday, shouting “Cheney is a corporate crook.” 

Even with the downsides, Cheney said he was ready to serve again if Bush wants him. 

“He’ll have to make a decision by this time about two years from now when the convention rolls around in terms of deciding who he wants to have serve as his vice president in a second term,” Cheney said. “That will be his call and I’ll be happy to support whatever decision he chooses to make.” 

Later, he said, “If the president’s willing and if my wife approves and if the doctors say it’s OK, then I’d be happy to serve a second term.” 

Cheney, who has had four heart attacks, said he is feeling fine. 

“With respect to my health, it’s good. I have been probably better watched now than I have ever been,” he said. “I’ve got the doctor following me around every place I go. Literally when I get on the elevator there’s a guy there with a black bag.” 

Asked about Halliburton in San Francisco, Cheney said, “I have great affection and respect for Halliburton. It’s a fine company.” He refused to comment further, saying he did not want to be accused of trying to influence an SEC investigation. 

“If you are interested in the facts of the Halliburton Web site,” he said. 

But the Halliburton issue arose again during his speech, when several protesters who slipped into the hall disrupted his remarks about the economy and the war on terrorism. 

Cheney stopped and stood silently for several seconds as the women chanted. As Secret Service agents led protesters from the room, Cheney said “Thank you,” laughing slightly, and resumed his speech. 

The speech was part of a daylong swing through Northern California. Cheney also was to headline a fund-raiser in Fresno for Dick Monteith, a Republican state senator running for outgoing Democratic Rep. Gary Condit’s seat. 

Notably absent from Cheney’s visit Wednesday was a public appearance with California’s Republican candidate for governor, Bill Simon. Simon was scheduled to attend a fund-raiser in Burlingame Wednesday night, however the event is closed to the media. 

Republicans had hoped the Los Angeles businessman and first-time political candidate could help them unseat Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and help wrest California from Democrat’s grip. 

But Simon has been dogged by a string of scandals relating to his family investment firm, including a $78 million civil fraud verdict last week, and national Republicans have debated whether to back off.

Upon hearing Dick Cheney’s remarks about corporate responsibility halfway through his hour-long speech to 500 guests of San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club, five members of the activist group Global Exchange stood up, stripped an outer layer of business attire and revealed anti-Cheney T-shirts. 

“Cheney is a corporate crook,’’ four women and one man chanted before they were escorted out of the Fairmont Hotel’s grand ballroom. Cheney was the head of the Halliburton corporation when it adopted accounting practices that are currently being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

San Francisco police say the five activists are being detained at the Central Police Station, but whether they will be cited for the disruption is yet to be decided. 

About 700 more protesters gathered outside the Fairmont Hotel Wednesday to voice concerns about national security policies and the vice president’s relationship with big business. A small contingency of Cheney supporters were shadowed by the seemingly peaceful group. Police say no arrests were made. 

This is the third time Cheney has spoken to the Commonwealth Club. The last time was in 1991 when he served as Secretary of Defense under President George Bush Sr. 

President George W. Bush addressed the Commonwealth Club in San Jose in April. 

After leaving San Francisco, Cheney headed to Fresno to speak at a fund-raising luncheon for congressional candidate Dick Montieth. He returned to the Bay Area for a private GOP fund-raiser in Burlingame Wednesday night. Burlingame police provided extra security for the vice president’s visit. 

Bill Simon’s staff say he will also be at the Republican event. The California gubernatorial candidate, who spoke in Oakland Wednesday, is also been under scrutiny lately for his own corporate ties.

Small biotech firm
announces positive
results in battling
non-Hodgkins 

VACAVILLE – A small Vacaville biotechnology company has announced positive results from an experimental cancer drug customized to each patient and manufactured in tobacco plants. 

Large Scale Biology Corp. said Tuesday that its non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma drug has completed the first phase of tests on humans and will proceed to the second phase. 

Company officials are hopeful that commercial release of the non-Hodgkin’s product could be complete in three years, said Robert Erwin, chairman and chief executive of Large Scale Biology. 

The non-Hodgkin’s drug would be among the first cancer therapies genetically tailored to individual patients. The drugs for the first phase of tests were grown in tobacco plants in the company’s Vacaville greenhouse. 

The company decided to use tobacco because it has special qualities for growing pharmaceutical proteins, replicating itself quickly, said Erwin. 

The drug is manufactured by taking a genetic sample of the patient’s cancer cells, cloning it, and using the gene to produce therapeutic proteins in a tobacco plant. 

Erwin said the process is faster and cheaper than the conventional method for making other custom-made medicines, which are produced by having cancerous cells reproduce in a lab. 

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, an immune-system disease that strikes 55,000 Americans a year, is among the most deadly forms of cancer.

Companies would be required to acquire
permission before selling customer info 

SACRAMENTO – Despite two high-profile failures to pass financial privacy legislation within the last year, a bill that would require financial companies to get permission before selling personal information is being resurrected by Sen. Jackie Speier. 

Speier, D-Hillsborough, said she will reintroduce the measure this month as the Legislature enters the final days of its two-year session. 

The bill would require financial companies to receive permission before selling personal information, such as bank balances and unlisted phone numbers, to outside marketing companies. 

Speier’s measure would also let financial conglomerates trade information among sister companies to market products, such as a Bank of America mortgage to a Bank of America credit card customer. But customers would be able to deny permission by sending in a form. 

Current law allows banks and insurance companies to have the power to sell personal information received from credit or mortgage applications without getting permission from their customers. These include phone numbers, bank balances and outstanding bills. 

Speier wants to stop that practice and allow customers to “opt in” if they want their information shared. 

A spokesman for Gov. Gray Davis said the governor is preparing to offer his own amendments to Speier’s privacy bill. Davis has said he wants to sign a privacy measure. But the Democratic governor worked behind the scenes with his Assembly allies last year to kill Speier’s bill. 

Davis then offered his own version, but that also died when consumer groups and corporations both refused to support it. 

Speier’s measure was defeated by nine votes last September and is now waiting for reconsideration. Speier and her Assembly allies are now quietly lobbying wavering members, many of them from Southern California and the Central Valley, who claim that the issue is more important to the Bay Area than to their own constituents. 

Consumer groups say the new measure probably needs at least one last push from Davis and state Assembly leaders. 

“Does the Assembly provide the leadership needed that this gets to the governor’s desk,” asked Shelley Curran, a lobbyist with Consumers Union in San Francisco, “or does the legislation never see the light of day?”

State regulators this week rejected Berkeley’s affordable housing plan, putting the city at risk of losing valuable state housing funds and weakening its ability to regulate new housing developments. 

The plan, also referred to as the housing element, was approved by the City Council and sent for state approval in December. State officials, however, have sent the housing element back for revisions. They claim it limits new development and does not give enough detail about how Berkeley intends to meet its housing quota of 1,269 units by 2007. 

Without a state-certified housing element Berkeley could face difficulties in meeting its housing goals, according to Judy Nevis of the state Department of Housing and Community Development, which rejected the city plan. 

“There are some state programs where a housing element is a requirement or a competitive advantage,” said Nevis, adding that Berkeley could fail to qualify for certain housing grants. For example, the city could be barred from getting state money to pass on to local non-profit developers, she explained. 

The ruling might also leave Berkeley vulnerable to lawsuits, said Alex Amoroso of the Association of Bay Area Governments. Housing developers whose projects are rejected can now sue the city on grounds that, without a valid housing element, Berkeley cannot stop the creation of more housing, he said. 

City planning officials describe the state objections as minor. 

“The state didn’t say our policies were flawed,” said Carol Barrett, city planning director. “They said they have questions about how we address these issues.” 

Tim Stroshane of the city’s housing department said that the state would not punish Berkeley because it had intentions to build affordable housing. Planning officials said that the state’s objections concerned background information provided in the housing element’s appendix, not the city’s actual housing policies. 

One possible conflict involves a Berkeley policy which permits housing developments – in accordance with zoning laws – to be rejected if there are significant community objections. 

This policy contradicts state law which maintains that housing developers have the right to develop property if the development meets all zoning requirements, regardless of neighborhood concerns, Nevis said. She added that Berkeley did not have to necessarily change its policy, but it did need to demonstrate that it isn’t limiting the development of affordable housing. 

Nevis said that state regulators plan to meet with city planners in September to discuss the housing element. 

The housing element was the product of three years of public debate. Any changes to the plan must go through the Planning and Housing Advisory commissions for hearings and to the City Council for approval. 

Contact reporter at matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net

NEW YORK – A co-owner of the New York Mets accused baseball commissioner Bud Selig of conspiring with a former Arthur Andersen accountant to “manufacture phantom operating losses” in the sport’s books. 

Nelson Doubleday, in papers filed Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, said the commissioner’s office was “in cahoots” with Fred Wilpon, his co-owner, to put an artificially low value on the team. Wilpon is attempting to buy out Doubleday under the provisions of an agreement they made when they bought the team in 1986. 

“MLB orchestrated a sham process that not only mistreated Doubleday and betrayed his trust; it actively favored Wilpon and engineered a result that served MLB’s other and conflicting interests,” Doubleday’s lawyers said. 

Last month, the former limited partner of the Montreal Expos sued Selig under federal racketeering laws, claiming he conspired to dilute their investments. 

Selig isn’t a defendant in the Doubleday suit, but he was accused of trying to inflate losses as part of his strategy in labor talks with the players’ association. Selig claims the 30 teams had $232 million in operating losses last year and that the sport needs widespread changes in its next labor contract, currently under negotiation. 

Wilpon sued Doubleday last month to force him to accept a buyout based on a $391 million evaluation made in April by Robert Starkey, a former Arthur Andersen LLP partner who left in 1999 to form his own company, one that is a consultant to major league baseball. 

In June, Arthur Andersen was found guilty of obstruction of justice for its work for Enron Corp. 

Selig and Bob DuPuy, baseball’s chief operating officer, did not return telephone calls seeking comment, and Starkey refused comment. Wilpon’s spokesman, Richard Auletta, said his client would respond later Tuesday. 

Doubleday and Wilpon became 50-50 owners of the team in 1986 and agreed that if either partner wanted to sell, he would offer his half to the other at a price set by an appraiser. 

Doubleday exercised that provision in October, and at baseball’s urging he accepted Starkey in December as the appraiser. 

After Starkey put a $391 million value on the team in April, Doubleday balked at going through with a sale and Wilpon sued him last month. 

“Unbeknownst to Doubleday, MLB was at the same time engaged in a systematic effort to undervalue baseball franchises as part of its labor-relations strategy,” Doubleday’s lawyers said Tuesday in an answer filed to Wilpon’s suit. “In short, MLB – in a desperate attempt to reverse decades of losses to MLB’s players’ association – determined to manufacture phantom operating losses and depress franchise values.” 

The suit accused Starkey of not disclosing to Doubleday the extent of his work for baseball and of not disclosing until March the scope of work done on the appraisal by Dean Polenz, then of Arthur Andersen – a firm that Doubleday said does accounting work for Wilpon. 

“Starkey was taking direction from major league baseball as to the valuation process both with respect to the Mets and all other MLB teams,” Doubleday’s lawyers said. 

The papers referred to a March 7 letter to baseball owners from Selig saying baseball would start to enforce its 60-40 rule, which requires teams to have at least 60 percent of its value in assets and no more than 40 percent in liabilities. 

Doubleday said Starkey worked with Selig and baseball labor lawyer Rob Manfred on the letter, which said a team’s value would be set at twice its 2001 revenue. 

In 2001, the Mets had revenue of $182 million. Under the method outlined in the letter, the Boston Red Sox would be evaluated at $321 million, less than half the $660 million the team was sold for this year, and the Montreal Expos would be valued at $68 million, nearly half of the $120 million the other 29 clubs paid to purchase the Expos this year. 

“This project created an extreme personal and professional incentive for Starkey to undervalue the New York Mets,” Doubleday’s lawyers said. “Starkey did not disclose to Doubleday the full scope of his current work for baseball, or the fact that his work for and with baseball had created a direct conflict with his role as independent appraiser to the Mets.” 

Doubleday said Wilpon previously offered to buy the team in June 2001, putting a $500 million price tag on the Mets. Doubleday would have received $200 million, with the difference his share of the team’s debt. 

Under the new evaluation of the 60-40 rule, a team’s longterm player contracts would be counted as debt, but longterm broadcasting deals would not be counted as assets.

To the Editor: 

I was fascinated to hear that the Berkeley mayoral race “is about a fork in the road.” Perhaps Berkeley voters should keep in mind the famous comment of the immortal Yogi Berra: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it!” 

Marion Syrek 

Oakland

Friday, August 9 

Community Skin Cancer Screening Clinic 

11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Markstein Cancer Education Center, Summit Campus, 2450 Ashby Avenue 

Skin cancer screenings offered to people with limited or no health insurance. By Appointment only. 

For more information or to make an appointment call 869-8833 

Saturday, August 10 

Avotcja's Birthday Bash 

7:30 p.m. 

Mama Bear's Books, 6536 Telegraph Avenue 

Poetry, music and dance in celebration of poet Avotcja Jiltonilro's 61st birthday. Reservations are suggested. 

428-9684 

$10 donation 

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  

548-3333 

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 

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." 

548-2220 x233 

Free 

Sunday, August 11 

Kiwanis Club of Berkeley: A Classic Taste of Italy 

4 to 7 p.m. 

St. Mary Magdeline Church, Fellowship Hall. Berryman St. Berkeley 

Spaghetti dinner and auction to raise money for children's programs. 

527-3249 

Kids $5, Adults $15 

Free Radio Berkeley Benefit 

7 to 10 p.m. 

Benefit for new Free Radio Berkeley home. Speakers include Berkeley City Council member Kriss Worthington, Andrea Buffa of Media Alliance and Pierre Labossiere of the Haiti Support Group.  

533-0401, www.freeradio.org  

$15 to $25, sliding scale 

Hands-on Bicycle Repair 

11 a.m.-noon 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

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

527-4140 

Free 

“Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport” 

2:00 p.m. 

Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St., Berkeley 

Screening of Oscar-winning documentary about child holocaust survivors who were sent, without their parents, out of Austria, Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia to Great Britain. 

848-0237 

$2 suggested donation 

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 

2 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Derby Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way  

Sample 35 different Tomato varieties 

548-3333 

Free 

Berkeley Camera Club Weekly Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share photos with other photographers 

(510) 525-3565 

Free 

Nuclear War: Then and Now, Part II 

The Decision to Drop the Bomb on Hiroshima 

7 p.m. 

Friends' Meeting House, 2151 Vine Street 

Screening of two network documentaries on the subject. 

705-7314 or BerkMM@Earthlink.net 

Free 

Wednesday, August 14 

Holistic Exercises Sharing Circle  

3:30 to 6:30 p.m.  

wrpclub@aol.com or 595-5541 for information 

Holistic Practitioners, Teachers, Students & Anyone who knows Holistic exercises take turns leading the group through an afternoon of exercises. 

$20 for six-month membership 

Thursday, August 15 

Power for the People 

7 p.m. to 9 p.m. 

Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave.  

A forum on public power, solar power and community control of energy. Speakers include Paul Fenn, Director of Local Power and publisher of American Local Power News and energy economist Eugene Coyle. 

548-2220 x233 

$5 to $15, sliding scale 

Tapping into the Hidden Job Market: Networking & Informational Interviewing 

Noon to 1 p.m. 

YWCA Turning Point Career Center, 2600 Bancroft Way 

Cal Martin will speak on networking and informational interviewing.  

848-6370 

$3 at door 

Unique Presentation Styles 

Noon to 1 p.m. 

State Health Toastmasters Club, 2151 Berkeley Way 

Learn to use the unique attributes of your personality to improve your public speaking skills. Visitors must preregister. 

595-1594 

Free 

Friday, August 16 

Deasophy: Wisdom of the Goddess 

7:30 p.m. 

Redwood Gardens Community Room, 2951 Derby St., Berkeley 

Max Dashu presents a slide show on Goddess cosmologies and female creators from a global perspective. 

654-9298 or maxdashu@LMI.net 

$7-15 donations 

Saturday, August 17 

Berkeley Alliance of Neighborhood Associations (BANA) Meeting 

9:l5 a.m. to ll a.m. 

Live Oak Park, Fireside Room, l30l Shattuck Ave. 

Citywide meeting concerning local issues. All are welcome. 

849-46l9 or mtbrcb@pacbell.net 

Cajun & More Festival 

10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

Civic Center Park, Center St. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

4 live bands, crafts fair, outdoor dance floor, micro-brewery beer, Cajun food and free Cajun dance lessons. 

548-3333 

Admission is free 

Tour for Blind, Low-Vision Library Patrons 

10:30 a.m. to noon 

Berkeley Public Library, Central Branch 

3rd Floor Meeting Rm, 2090 Kittredge St. 

Tour of the new central branch for blind and low-vision patrons. 

981-6121 

Free 

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 

10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

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

548-3333 

Free 

Sunday, August 18 

Bike Tours of Historic Oakland 

10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California, 10th St. entrance, at Fallon 

Leisurely paced 5 1/2 mile bike tour about Oakland's history and architecture, led by docents. 

238-3514 

Free: Reservations Required 

Jewish Genealogy Educational Meeting 

1 p.m. 

Learn about research resources available from the S.F. Bay Area Jewish Genealogy Society. Open to all. 

Berkeley-Richmond JCC, 1414 Walnut St. 

For info visit www.jewishgen.org/sfbajgs 

Free 

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. to noon 

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 

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. 

981-6250 

Free 

Saturday, August 24 

Fuel Cell Car Experiments 

1 p.m. to 3 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California Campus (Just below Grizzly Peak Blvd.) 

Observe a miniature car operating on solar energy and water, and help conduct physics experiments to learn more about this environmentally friendly new technology. For ages 12 and up. 

642-5132 

Admission: $8 for adults; $6 for youth; $4 for children 3-4: Free for children under 3 

Vegan Food Party 

11:30 a.m. 

Lake Anza in Tilden Park 

Social, food party event presented by Contra Costa Vegetarians and SFBAVeg. 

dhermit4424@yahoo.com 

Free with vegan dish 

To publicize an event, please submit information two weeks in advance. Fax to 841-5694, e-mail to out@berkeleydailyplanet.net or mail to 2076 University Ave., 94704. Include a daytime telephone number.

In an attempt to increase Berkeley’s affordable housing stock and prevent homelessness, the City Council approved a measure for the November ballot last month that would boost its housing trust fund by increasing the city’s real estate transfer tax. 

About $2 million would be expected with the proposed 0.5 percent tax increase, exacted on property owners who sell their homes for more than $350,000. The current transfer tax is 1.5 percent. 

According to the city’s Housing Director Stephen Barton, the additional funds could help add as many as 50 affordable housing units to Berkeley’s housing stock annually. 

The city has spent about $16 million in the last 10 years to build 538 homes. 

“Currently there are 4,700 people on the [city] Housing Authority’s waiting list for affordable housing,” Barton said. “And that’s only the waiting list, which doesn’t count people who work in Berkeley and can’t afford to live here or those who are in danger of losing their homes.” 

The transfer tax measure, known as Measure 5, would annually provide about $1 million – 50 percent of the tax hike revenues – for the development of new affordable housing. 

Another $600,000, or 30 percent of the new tax revenue, would be made available for seismic upgrading of approximately 5,000 private homes that are in danger of being rendered unlivable after a major earthquake. According to recent estimates, the cost of retrofitting the units in need of retrofitting – which are mostly apartment complexes of five units or more – would be between $10,000 or $20,000 per unit. This translates to between $50 million and $100 million for the entire city. 

The remaining $300,000, or 20 percent of the additional revenue, would go toward the city’s emergency assistance program for families facing homelessness.  

Supporters of Measure 5 say new affordable housing is desperately needed for low income residents and working people who continue to be priced out of the Berkeley rental and home buyers market. 

They say that the added tax will help the city be proactive in preventing homelessness by upgrading existing housing and helping very low income families who are teetering on the brink of life on the streets.  

Opponents say the proposed tax hike will make Berkeley’s transfer tax the highest in the state at 2 percent. They add that charging such a high tax is “punitive” and is unfair to both home sellers and buyers.  

The tax, they say, could also have a negative impact on the city’s housing market, which is among the highest-priced in the nation per square foot. They also argue that the money raised for seismic retrofitting will be woefully short of funding the retrofitting of 5,000 rental units. 

In dollar terms, the cost of the transfer tax increase will be $500 for every $100,000 of sale price. So on the sale of a $450,000 property, which the Berkeley Association of Realtors says is the average price for a single family home, the transfer tax increase would be $2,250. The total cost of transfer tax for the average home sale would be $9,000. 

According to the measure, homeowners who sell their homes for $350,000 or less are exempt from the new tax. 

“I voted against it because it would make ours the most severe transfer tax in the state,” said City Councilmember Betty Olds, the only person on the council to vote against the initiative. “I would have considered a quarter percent raise but a half a percent is too much.” 

Olds added that the proposed new tax is unfair to homeowners because it doesn’t offer a rebate for retrofitting their homes. 

State Assemblywoman Dion Aroner, who helped write an argument in favor of Measure 5, said affordable housing is one of the most important issues facing the region. 

“The housing market is so hot in Berkeley and homeowners have built up tremendous equity in recent years, I don’t think this tax is going to cool the housing market,” she said. “If there is no new affordable housing created in Berkeley for working people, the very nature of our community will change.”  

President of the Berkeley Association of Realtors Miriam Ng, who helped write the argument against Measure 5, said the supplemental tax would likely send potential home buyers to other cities. She added that the taxes in Berkeley are already too high. 

“Everybody talks about how real estate values have doubled,” she said. “Well that means revenue from the existing transfer tax has doubled. I’d like to know where all that money went.”

BOSTON – Ramon Hernandez hit a three-run homer, and Olmedo Saenz added a two-run shot to lead Mark Mulder and the Oakland Athletics over the Boston Red Sox 9-1 Tuesday night. 

Miguel Tejada’s hitting streak ended at 24 games, but the A’s won for the fifth time in six tries to move within one game of the Red Sox in the AL wild card race. Anaheim began the day a half-game ahead of Boston. 

Mulder (13-6) allowed runners in five of six innings but benefited from poor clutch hitting by Boston, which stranded 10 runners against him. The left-hander is 11-2 in his last 14 starts. 

Cliff Floyd went 0-for-3 with a walk in his Fenway Park debut with the Red Sox after going 7-for-13 in his first four games with Boston. 

Tim Wakefield (5-4) gave up two singles in the first four innings before struggling with his knuckleball. He allowed a three-run homer by Hernandez in the fifth and a two-run shot by Saenz in the sixth. It was the sixth homer for each. 

Oakland added three in the seventh without hitting the ball out of the infield with a single, four walks and a hit batsman. 

Tejada went 0-for-4 with a sacrifice fly in the eighth and fell one game short of the Oakland record 25-game hitting streak set by Jason Giambi in 1997. 

The 24-game streak is the second-longest in the majors this year, behind the 35-game streak of Florida’s Luis Castillo. And it’s the longest in the AL since Gabe Kapler had a 28-game streak in 2000. 

Tejada grounded to third in the first inning, fouled to the catcher in the fourth, flied to left in the fifth and fouled to first in the seventh. 

The Red Sox led 1-0 through four innings but stranded eight runners in that span, five by Nomar Garciaparra. 

With one out in the first, Trot Nixon singled, took second on Garciaparra’s single and scored on Manny Ramirez’s ground-rule double. An intentional walk to Shea Hillenbrand loaded the bases with two outs before Doug Mirabelli grounded out. 

Boston loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth, but Garciaparra popped out. 

Wakefield faced the minimum nine batters through three innings, allowing only a walk to Ray Durham, who was caught stealing. 

Wakefield began the fifth by hitting Jermaine Dye with a pitch and walking Saenz. After Terrance Long struck out, Hernandez homered. 

Wakefield retired the first two batters in the sixth before Dye singled and Saenz homered for a 5-1 lead. 

David Justice had an RBI groundout in the seventh, and reliever Frank Castillo walked in a run and hit Saenz with a pitch to force in another.

To the Editor: 

As might be expected, the community has formed various alliances around the simple proposal to modify height limits of buildings for a 10-year period. (Even these limits can be amended by a two-thirds vote of the City Council.) 

The confrontation is between those who would like Berkeley’s thriving residential neighborhoods to continue and those who want to disrupt the communities by imposing 50-foot, bulky projects more appropriate in the downtown. Opponents of the height limits are mainly development-oriented politicians (both on the left and right), the Chamber of Commerce, the League of Women Voters and Smart Growth planners. This is a similar group to the one that forecast gloom and doom for Berkeley when the Neighborhood Preservation Initiative was on the ballot. But 30 years later the city still benefits from the preservation provisions. 

Martha Nicoloff 

co-author of height initiative 

Berkeley

Popular Assemblywoman Dion Aroner, D-Oakland, weighed in on Berkeley’s hotly contested District 8 council race last week and confirmed rumors that her support is not with the same camp she supported four years ago. 

Aroner is endorsing 22-year-old student activist Andy Katz in the November election. The endorsement goes against the stake of the more conservative incumbent Councilmember Polly Armstrong, who had the assemblywoman’s endorsement in the 1998 council race. Although Armstrong is not seeking re-election this year, she is advocating candidate Gordon Wosniak as her replacement. 

“I supported Polly [in 1998] because I felt that she was the better candidate. I’m supporting Andy [now] because I feel he is the best candidate,” Aroner said Tuesday. 

While Armstrong has enjoyed widespread support from the relatively conservative base of her west Berkeley district and aligns herself with City Council’s more moderate faction, the younger Katz is identified with the district’s more liberal student population. 

Katz won’t admit to siding with the council’s progressive faction, but his long list of endorsements, which includes Councilmember Dona Spring and Planning Commissioner Rob Wrenn, suggests that many progressives are behind him. 

Meanwhile, Wozniak, who could not be reached Tuesday, is on track to pick up Armstong’s more moderate supporters. 

“I want someone with a little history to represent me,” said Martha Jones, a homeowner in Berkeley for 45 years and board member of the Claremont-Elmwood Neighborhood Association. “I’m supporting Wozniak.” 

Katz, though, insists that he can win enough of the moderate vote to triumph in the November election. 

“I don’t fit the typical profile of a student,” he said, noting his four years of involvement in the community. Katz currently sits on the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board and has also served on the city’s Housing Advisory Commission. 

Assemblywoman Aroner agreed that neither Katz’s age nor his politics would work against him. 

“I don’t think older people are afraid of students or anybody,” she said. 

Aroner explained that her endorsement was based upon Katz’s record of working on UC Berkeley issues as well as on housing and traffic problems. 

Wozniak, who sits on the city’s Planning Commission, has put forth plans for housing and traffic as well, making a recent campaign pledge to slow down incoming traffic on Highway 13 and Highway 24, which both feed into the district. 

Also in the race are Anne Wagley, who sits on the city’s Peace and Justice Commission, Housing Commissioner Jay Vega and campaign newcomer Carlos Estrada. 

Wagley, on top of fighting for more housing and less traffic, is positioning herself outside the factional fray of City Council. 

Vega and Estrada also hope to pick up votes from residents tired of traditional Berkeley politics.

To the Editor:  

Steve Schneider’s letter to the Editor on July 31, 2002 wonders why the ground level space in the Gaia Building is still unfinished. The reason is simple: The original tenant, the Gaia Bookstore, went out of business and never completed the improvements it had committed to make.  

Our agreement with the city required us to set aside 10,000 square feet in the ground floor of the Gaia Building for cultural uses – an obligation that we fulfilled with our commitment to the Gaia Bookstore. Gaia was to have undertaken its own improvements in the space, and receive a long term lease starting at $1 per square foot, (roughly one-third of the current market value). When the Gaia Bookstore went out of business we offered the same terms to several other cultural groups and non-profits, including the Ecology Center, which decided to stay in its current location.  

Most recently, we have worked with the Shotgun Players and Central Works to create a small performance venue. Neither could pay any monthly rent, but would contribute some funding toward the costs of creating the theater space. Unfortunately that appears to be more expensive than anyone anticipated. (The Aurora Theater recently spent upwards of $2 million to create its new theater in the Arts District.) 

We have met the city’s requirements to provide space for cultural uses and have spent more than a year trying to find new tenants to take the Gaia Bookstore’s place. We are busy now with various tenants, arts groups and non-profits – including Shotgun and Central Works – to secure funding and complete the improvements.  

I would welcome Mr. Schneider’s help and anyone else’s in making this happen.  

Patrick Kennedy  

Panoramic Interests  

Berkeley

Heeding long-standing requests from city officials and student activists, UC Berkeley plans to add more than 1,000 new beds for students over the next three years. 

The first housing project in a wave of four new developments will open this fall. The 120-bed dormitory at the intersection of College and Durant avenues is the university’s first housing addition since 1995. 

In 2004 the university plans to complete a 228-bed apartment complex at the intersection of Channing Avenue and Bowditch Street. In 2005 the university will open four new dormitories, totaling 884 beds. Two will be built next to existing dormitories on Durant Street and two will be built next to existing dormitories on Haste Street. 

Currently, UC Berkeley has approximately 5000 beds for students. The new developments will increase this figure by more than 20 percent.  

“This is in answer to the housing shortage,” said Michelle Kniffin of the university’s housing office. 

Student officials credit the university for taking action, but they insist it can do more. 

“They are doing everything they can to build housing within the constraints they have, but they should remove those constraints,” said Tony Falcone, academic affairs vice president of Associated Students of the University of California.  

Falcone said the major obstacle to new housing is a university policy which requires the housing department to pay for the replacement of every parking space that is lost to a new dormitory. 

Each space is valued at approximately $21,000, according to Falcone, who estimated that to build a dormitory in place of a 60-space parking lot the housing department must pay the parking department more than a million dollars.  

Because the greatest potential for housing exists on current parking lots, the cost of building new dormitories is artificially high, he said. 

Chris Harvey, director of residential and student service programs, acknowledged that the policy added to the cost of new dormitory construction, but thought the fee was reasonable. 

“It’s not like they’re ripping us off,” he said. “This is the real world cost for those parking spaces.” 

But Falcone said students are the losers in this equation.  

The added costs for replacing the lost parking spaces are factored into student room and board fees, he said. Effectively, students pay higher fees to subsidize the parking spaces of the faculty and other university employees, he said. 

According to Harvey, the university has also identified three other parking lots on university property where it hopes to build dormitories. 

The new developments are part of the university’s long range plan, written in 1990. The plan calls for the construction of 2,000 new beds, but according to Falcone, unexpected retrofitting costs and the favorable housing market during the early 1990s delayed construction until now. 

Howard Chong, a rent board commissioner and former student, said the university needed to catch up to its housing goal, because a state law requires it to increase enrollment by several thousand students by 2010. 

Chong said that in addition to building on university-owned land, UC Berkeley should work with non-profit developers and the student housing cooperatives, which he said have proven to build more cost-effective housing for students. 

Contact reporter at matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net

Hank Henson, 57, a long-time Berkeley tenants’ rights activist, died unexpectedly July 28 of a heart attack.  

A native of New York, Henson grew up in Great Neck, Long Island and graduated from the Stockbridge School at the University of Massachusetts. He studied at Columbia University in New York and later completed the Horticulture program at Merritt College in Oakland.  

After arriving in Berkeley in 1978, Henson began advocating for tenants’ rights, a cause he would champion for nearly two decades. 

“He had incredible dedication – he was unstoppable when trying to help somebody,” said Randy Silverman, who frequently crossed paths with Henson while working on tenants’ rights issues. 

Henson was involved with the Berkeley Tenants Union and provided counsel for thousands of Berkeley residents through the Tenant Action Project, a paralegal group that does tenant counseling and emergency work. 

Maureen Noon, a friend of Henson’s for many years, remembers his “wicked sense of humor and gift for mimicry.” 

Friends recognized Henson’s talent as a mimic and his mastery of language as attributes that made him unique. 

“He was a combination of an irritant, prophet, saint and friend,” said Silverman.  

“Often when people pass away, people say they are irreplaceable. Hank really is irreplaceable,” Silverman added. 

Henson is survived by his mother Isabelle Selverstone, his sister Nancy Henson Hey and his niece Julie Lillis. He is also remembered by his friend of 23 years, Noon.  

A service to celebrate Henson’s life will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS) or to the East Bay Community Law Center.

LIVERMORE – A spokesman for the California Department of Forestry reported that mutual aid helped extinguish a 549-acre grass fire before it threatened any structures near the Alameda/Contra Costa county line Monday. 

Capt. Joe Gonzalez said the fire, which occurred in an unincorporated area near Vasco Road, was reported at about 3:30 p.m. Monday and controlled by 6:30 p.m. 

Crews from the Alameda County Fire Department and the East Bay Regional Parks District, which supplied a helicopter and eight other pieces of equipment, assisted with the blaze. 

The cause is under investigation and there are no reported injuries, he said.

SACRAMENTO – A proposed crackdown on millions of Bay Area motorists, blamed for the wind-blown smog that spills into an already-polluted Central Valley, cleared a key committee Tuesday on its way to a Senate vote expected this month. 

The Senate Transportation Committee voted 12-1 for a bill to force tougher, more costly Smog Check II tests on Bay Area car owners in hopes of curbing Central Valley air pollution by up to 10 percent. 

The bill, AB2637, could cost Bay Area residents $10 million to $14 million a year, said Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch. It could also cost smog test businesses up to $75 million for new equipment, according to Larry Armstrong, owner of Bay Area tuneup shops. 

But valley legislators, representing one of America’s fastest-growing, poorest and smoggiest regions, insist they can’t clean up their own air if Bay Area smog keeps blowing in through the Carquinez Straits and Altamont Pass. A California Air Resources Board report has estimated that 27 percent of smog in the northern San Joaquin Valley comes from the Bay Area, compared to 11 percent in the middle and 8 percent in the southern valley. Meanwhile, the American Lung Association lists Sacramento, Merced, Fresno, Visalia and Bakersfield among its 10 smoggiest American metro areas. 

“The American Lung Association finds asthma rates skyrocketing all over the valley,” said Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza, an Atwater Democrat and author of the bill, which passed the Assembly 61-6 in May. 

The Bay Area received an exemption from the tougher smog test during a brief time when it complied with federal air quality standards. Cardoza, meanwhile, has gotten a green light for the bill so far after providing a critical vote last month for an Assembly bill that begins regulating carbon dioxide emissions from auto tailpipes in 2009. 

Bay Area opponents to the bill say the valley’s ever-worsening air pollution is largely self-inflicted, and accuse the region of not adequately regulating its own dust and open-air burning by farmers. The valley also accounts for some of California’s largest increases in population growth and driving. 

Numerous valley political and air pollution officials testified for the bill Tuesday, including Sen. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, who said, despite occasional doubts about the effectiveness of Smog Check II, “If it’s good, it ought to apply to everybody.” 

Smog Check II is a more extensive and tougher check than the traditional tailpipe probe and visual inspection. The newer test costs about $10 extra and puts some cars on a treadmill to check for nitrogen dioxide, a key element of ozone formation. 

The bill also exempts more cars statewide from the tougher smog test. Presently, cars less than four years old are exempt. The new law extends that exemption to cars less than six years old.

SAN FRANCISCO – The California State Automobile Association today identified the Bay Area’s most hostile roadways, blaming tailgating and the ubiquitous weaving in and out across lanes of traffic as the reasons behind the road rage. 

The survey, dubbed “Bay Area’s Rudest Roads,’’ points to the East Bay’s Nimitz Freeway as having the highest level of aggressive drivers. Interstate Highway 80 from Oakland to Vallejo and U.S. Highway 101 between San Francisco and San Jose forced a close tie for second, while the section of Interstate Highway 680 from Concord to San Jose closed out the top three worst locales for offensive driving. 

The report was released at a news conference in San Francisco this morning. 

AAA Vice President of Corporate Affairs Rose Guilbault cited a lack of courtesy on the road as a factor for the deaths of at least 218 people and nearly 13,000 injuries between 1990 and 1996. 

Compelled by the escalating number of accidents related to aggressive driving, the survey examines the need to address exactly how to immediately avoid and handle an encounter with an aggressive driver. 

“Seventy-three percent of those surveyed believe a hand gesture warrants an appropriate apology,’’ Guilbault said. “Gestures of apology through smiling were also deemed appropriate.’’ 

Guilbault pointed out that drivers favor more funding for driver education and law enforcement to reduce such road rage encounters. 

AAA traffic and safety expert Kevin Kelly outlined a number of methods for drivers to avoid becoming victims of road rage. 

“Avoid interaction, refuse to take anything on the road personally,’’ Kelly said. “Drivers need to remember not to take hostility personally, to stay calm and swallow their pride.’’ 

Kelly further highlighted the dangers of rude behavior, noting that impolite gestures have resulted in shootings and stabbings in every U.S. state. 

“People with cell phones can dial 911 while those without phones should pull into a safe area, including police and fire houses, service stations or hospitals. These particular areas will often provide a driver with assistance as well as witnesses,’’ Kelly said.

SAN JOSE – The brain of Yosemite killer Cary Stayner is probably damaged in a region that controls emotional impulses, a neuropsychologist testified Tuesday as the triple-murder trial resumed. 

A battery of tests showed Stayner was above average in intelligence but psychologically impaired, said Ruben Gur, a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania. 

One test indicated that Stayner has some damage between the center of his brain, where emotional impulses are produced, and the frontal lobe that controls those urges. 

“You know the train hasn’t arrived,” Gur said. “You don’t know where it’s derailed.” 

Gur is a witness for Stayner’s insanity defense in the killings of three Yosemite National Park tourists. 

Stayner, 40, could be executed if convicted of murdering Carole Sund, 42, her daughter, Juli, 15, of Eureka, and their Argentine friend, Silvina Pelosso, 16. 

The three vanished in February 1999 from a rustic motel outside the park where Stayner worked as a maintenance man. Stayner is already serving a life sentence for murdering park nature guide Joie Armstrong and has confessed to all four killings. 

The defense claims Stayner killed because of bad genes, a tormented childhood and a deformed head that may have been caused before birth when his pregnant mother fell during a softball game. 

Gur said he reviewed other psychological exams, administered his own tests and reviewed scans of Stayner’s brain. 

Stayner had an incredibly good memory for faces and space, scoring better than 90 percent of the population, Gur said. But his memory of words was so low that the difference between the two types of recall, which would be negligible among normal people, put him in a category with less than 1 percent of the population. 

Another deficit was Stayner’s difficulty recognizing emotion, particularly sadness, Gur said. 

He also had hand coordination problems, adding to signs that Stayner’s frontal lobe was damaged. 

Gur described the frontal lobe as the one that says stop and think before acting. 

“Some can’t stop themselves,” he said.

LOS ANGELES – One-year-old Guatemalan twins joined at the head were separated in a 22-hour operation that ended early Tuesday, but one of the girls underwent nearly five more hours of surgery to remove blood that built up in her brain. 

Maria Teresa Quiej Alvarez developed a hematoma related to surgery and was brought back into an operating room at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center at 9:17 a.m. Surgery began an hour later and ended at midafternoon. 

Maria Teresa was returned to the pediatic intensive care unit, where she was listed in critical but stable condition. Her sister, Maria de Jesus, also was in critical but stable condition as she recovered from the separation surgery. 

Maria Teresa’s bleeding was not an unexpected development, Dr. Michael Karpf, the medical center director, told a news conference after her second surgery began. 

“This is very complicated surgery and until we get past several days it will be life threatening for both of them. We are minute to minute, hour to hour, day by day. We just can’t get ahead of ourselves,” Karpf said. 

Doctors initially described Maria Teresa’s bleeding as being on the surface of the brain. After the surgery the hospital released a statement saying there was a buildup of blood in her brain. 

There was no word from the parents, Wenceslao Quiej Lopez and Alba Leticia Alvarez. The mother spent eight days in labor at home in the town of Santo Domingo, Suchitepequez, before delivering the twins in a hospital by C-section. 

“Despite the complication involving Maria Teresa, we feel that the outlook for both twins is positive,” said Dr. Jorge Lazareff, lead neurosurgeon. 

In Guatemala, Juliana Hernandez, the twins’ 85-year-old great-grandmother, told local media that she wished she could hold the girls. 

“I haven’t seen them in a long time. I’ve just seen the papers and TV images of them, but at this moment I would love to have them here and hug them,” Hernandez said. 

The twins’ relatives live in the village of Belen, about 125 miles south of Guatemala City. The 500 residents went to Mass Monday night to pray for the girls, local reporter Fredy Rodas told The Associated Press. 

“We prayed a lot asking God to guide the doctors’ hands during the surgery,” said the twins’ grandmother, Loyda de Jesus Lopez. 

The risky separation surgery took 22 hours to complete. 

“A big cheer went up in the operating room — they were really excited when the separation happened,” Karpf said of the 50 or more people who assisted in the operation. 

The surgery began at 8 a.m. Monday and was completed at 5:40 a.m. Tuesday. Actual separation occurred about 1 a.m. 

Doctors still do not know how well the two survived the surgery, Karpf said. 

“When the surgeons went into this, they had hopes both would come out functional — very functional,” Karpf said. “We won’t know for sure where things stand for a few more days.” 

The girls, born in rural Guatemala, were attached at the top of the skull and faced opposite directions. While the two shared bone and blood vessels, they had separate brains. Cases like theirs occur in fewer than one in 2.5 million live births. 

The riskiest part of the surgery was the separation of the veins that connected the girls’ heads. 

Surgeons at UCLA’s Mattel Children’s Hospital had to separate the individual blood vessels the two shared and decide which belonged to each child. Rerouting the flow of blood to and from the brain of each child put both at risk for stroke, said UCLA neurosurgeon Dr. Itzhak Fried. 

That was followed by plastic surgery to extend the scalp of each child to cover the portion of exposed brain where they had been attached. 

Dr. Henry Kawamoto Jr., a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at UCLA, likened the procedure to the stretching of a peel over the exposed half of an orange that has been cut in two. 

“There’s just not much orange peel to do that,” Kawamoto said in a recent interview. 

The two still face follow-up surgeries to reconstruct their skulls, Kawamoto said. Surgeons will peel off sections of their skulls, using excess boney material to patch the holes left as a result of the separation surgery, he said. 

Physicians around the world have performed cranial separations only five times in the past decade. Not all twins have survived. 

Healing the Children, a nonprofit group, arranged to bring the sisters from Guatemala to Los Angeles for the $1.5 million operation. The UCLA doctors donated their services but hospitalization costs remained to be covered. 

The girls’ parents gave them kisses before the operation began, said UCLA spokeswoman Roxanne Moster. 

“The girls were smiling a lot and were very playful,” she said.

PHOENIX – Infected mosquitos and birds will bring the sometimes-fatal West Nile virus into Arizona within the year, and the virus will be coast-to-coast by the end of next summer, state health officials say. But they add that the chances of getting sick from the virus are low. 

“You can’t stop it,” said Craig Levy, director of the state Department of Health’s vector-borne disease control program. “You might as well try to stop the wind. It’s coming.” 

He said officials may see cases in Arizona even before this year ends, depending on how fast the virus moves. It has now moved as far west as Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and the Dakotas. To date, the virus has appeared in 34 states and Washington, D.C. 

But Levy said there is no reason to panic. 

Two viruses very similar to West Nile — St. Louis encephalitis and western equine encephalitis — are already present in Arizona, and Levy said a health crisis has yet to break out. 

“West Nile worries people for the same reason a lot of things panic people,” Levy said. “It’s new, and because it’s new and exotic, it’s scary. ... Take it seriously, but do not lose sleep about it.” 

West Nile virus forms in the bodies of birds. Mosquitos get the virus from the infected birds and then transmit it to whatever they feed on next. 

The virus can cause encephalitis, which inflames the brain and other parts of the central nervous system. Symptoms may include fever, headache, stiff neck, lethargy, disorientation, muscle tremors or weakness and coma. 

Levy said it was difficult for mosquitos to pass the disease on to humans. Even if someone is bitten by a mosquito carrying West Nile virus, the odds of that person developing encephalitis are less than 1 percent, he said. 

“The vast majority of people will either have mild symptoms or no symptoms, and they’ll never know they had it,” he said. 

Health officials are testing mosquitos, dead birds, horses and humans for the virus. 

Also, about 150 sentinel chickens are used by Arizona state and county health departments as test animals for viruses carried by mosquitos. The chickens are not harmed by the viruses. 

“They’re like the canaries they used to send into the coal mines to test for poisons,” said Laura Devany, spokeswoman for Maricopa County Environmental Services Department. “They’re an early warning sign.” 

The best way to guard against infection is to avoid getting bit by mosquitos. Officials said to wear loose fitting clothes, use mosquito spray, try to stay indoors after sunset and empty any standing water near homes. 

“Your odds of getting West Nile encephalitis from one or two mosquito bites are extraordinarily low,” Levy said. “People should not panic, but they should take measures to minimize mosquito bites.”

SACRAMENTO – Two of biotechnology’s biggest companies are locking horns in a courtroom battle over nearly $1 billion in profits generated by Genentech Inc.’s breast cancer drug Herceptin. 

Some of the world’s smartest scientists will leave their labs during the next few weeks to be grilled by expensive lawyers in the high-stakes biotechnology arena of patent litigation. 

Chiron Corp. sued Genentech over commercial rights, saying it holds a key patent to the technology behind Herceptin, one of biotech’s best-selling drugs. 

U.S. District Court Judge William Shubb has already ruled that Genentech has indeed infringed on a Chiron patent. Now it’s up to Genentech’s lawyers, from whom opening statements were expected Wednesday, to persuade a jury that Chiron’s patent was improperly granted. 

If the lawyers fail, Genentech could be forced to cough up 30 percent of its Herceptin profits — plus triple damages if the jury finds Genentech purposely infringed. 

Good patent lawyers are as important to biotechnology companies as pedigreed scientists. Perhaps more than any other industry, biotech firms call on such lawyers to untangle — or further tangle, depending on objective — the Gordian knot of U.S. patent law. 

No company knows this better than Genentech, the world’s first biotechnology company. 

Founded in 1976 on the then-novel technology of gene splicing by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Robert Swanson and University of California, San Francisco scientist Herbert Boyer, Genentech has grown to 5,000 employees, with 10 products on the market and $2.2 billion in annual revenues last year. Only Amgen Inc. is larger in biotechnology. 

To support, poach from and compete with Genentech, other biotechnology companies soon sprouted nearby, making the San Francisco Bay Area the U.S. biotechnology capital. 

Five years after Genentech’s launch, three UCSF scientists with similar aspirations started Chiron in Emeryville, just across the Bay Bridge. 

But while Chiron is one of the few profitable biotechnology companies, with $1.1 billion in annual revenues last year, analysts and former employees say that until recently, it has focused more on science than business. 

Genentech, meanwhile, decided long ago that aggressive intellectual property litigation would be a big part of its business strategy. 

Genentech’s patent lawyers are constantly vigilant — the company is currently enmeshed in at least eight separate patent cases in the United States alone. Several involve Herceptin, a so-called monoclonal antibody, which is a naturally occurring cancer-fighting molecule that attacks a deadly protein found in about 30 percent of breast cancer patients. 

Using a process it patented in 1997, Genentech produces the antibody by splicing a human gene into Chinese hamster ovary cells, which it brews in giant batches in “bioreactors.” Genentech also received a patent on the antibody itself. 

Through a series of filters and chemical reactions, the human antibodies created in the hamster cells are sucked out, purified and turned into Herceptin as well as two other protein-based therapies. 

In the mid-1980s, scientists at several different labs were racing to find, patent and produce cancer-fighting antibodies in mass quantities. 

Cetus Corp., a small biotech company acquired by Chiron in 1991, filed the first of a long series of Herceptin-related monoclonal antibody applications in 1984. But Genentech was granted the first patent. 

Two years ago, Chiron was granted a patent stemming from the 1984 application. Judge Shubb has ruled that it applied to the same key ingredient for which the Genentech patent was granted. 

“We believe that years of research and development spent by Chiron scientists on identifying specific antibodies that can be used to diagnose and treat breast cancer should bdokesman John Gallagher said. “And the compihe value of the technology on the market.” 

Genentech maintains that Chiron’s antibody is something different, and that Herceptin’s technology was independently developed. 

But even this case won’t resolve Genentech’s fights with Chiron, which filed another lawsuit in March alleging that Herceptin violates yet another one of its patents. That case is scheduled to go to trial next year. 

Last year, Genentech sold a record $347 million worth of the drug, which has racked up nearly $1 billion in sales since the Food and Drug Administration first approved Herceptin in late 1998. 

Genentech is appealing an unrelated $500 million verdict in Los Angeles involving the City of Hope Medical Center, which said the company refused to share profits of drugs developed with help from the hospital.

SACRAMENTO – Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson proposed Tuesday to abandon a plan to raise California’s car tax and instead increase cigarette taxes to $3 a pack – the highest in the nation. 

“This tax is a voluntary tax. If you don’t smoke, you don’t pay the tax,” said Wesson, D-Culver City. 

Wesson’s proposal also includes a handful of other tax hikes, including a 5 percent tax on satellite television services and suspending the state’s solar tax credit. 

He announced the plan to try to break a 37-day budget impasse shortly before he planned to bring it to the Assembly floor for debate Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday marked the second consecutive day lawmakers discussed the stalled budget after five weeks without public debate. 

The state Senate approved a $99.1 billion budget plan on June 29 that was supposed to go into effect July 1. Assembly Republicans have refused to provide four of their votes needed to approve the budget by the required two-thirds majority, saying they object to $3.7 billion in tax increases included to help fill a $23.6 billion budget hole. 

The budget approved by the Senate would raise cigarette taxes to $1.50 a pack, while vehicle license fees also would more than double for one year. For example, the license fee for a 2002 vehicle purchased for $33,000 would jump from $215 to $497. 

Now, Wesson wants to scrap the car tax plan and raise smokers’ tax by $2.13 cents above the existing 87 cent-a-pack tax. That translates to a total $3 a pack in cigarette taxes. 

Boosting taxes on smokers has been a popular way to ease budget woes this year, as states nationwide deal with gaping budget deficits and revenues that continue to sag. 

Twenty states have enacted or proposed cigarette tax increases. Wesson’s proposal would mean the largest increase in the nation. 

Republicans – who must supply four votes to pass a state budget – quickly said they would not support his plan. 

Assembly budget chairman John Campbell, R-Irvine, said GOP lawmakers are happy to see the Democrats’ willingness to abandon the car tax proposal but trading one tax for another “is not going to get Republican support.” 

California would then be overly reliant on smokers to balance its books, Campbell said. Davis’ budget also includes a plan to sell bonds to be paid off with future collections from the 1998 settlement with tobacco companies. 

“It’s basically making the state’s fiscal health dependent upon other people’s bad health,” Campbell said.

SACRAMENTO – California’s policy of allowing teachers who aren’t fully credentialed into the classroom could potentially jeopardize millions in federal funding. 

Starting this fall, President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act requires states to hire only fully credentialed teachers for low-performing schools that receive federal funding. By 2006, the state has to hire fully credentialed teachers for all schools. 

However, national education officials say the state is skirting the federal law by sticking to credentialing policies that don’t match up with federal requirements. 

Under federal law, fully credentialed teachers must pass rigorous tests showing they are knowledgeable in each of the subjects they teach. But California allows teachers to opt out of taking the tests and meet the requirement by taking classes. 

And California’s definition of a “highly qualified teacher,” which was approved by the state Department of Education, includes interns and emergency certified teachers, both of which are not in the federal definition. 

The state’s action has prompted criticism from a California congressman, who called the board’s definition “an audacious and reckless action.” 

“The California criteria for highly qualified teachers fall short of the federal requirements in almost every respect,” said Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez. 

Federal education money for California’s low-performing schools will top $1.44 billion this year. But that money is tied to requirements that teachers be fully credentialed, and some of the funding could be jeopardized if officials can’t work out a compromise. 

Linda Bond, governmental affairs director at the state’s Commission for Teacher Credentialing, said the state is not trying to circumvent federal requirements. 

But under the federal law, the state “runs a risk of turning away very qualified teachers who would otherwise be credentialed,” Bond said, adding that up to 80,000 veteran teachers who didn’t take the subject-matter tests would not qualify as “fully credentialed” under federal definitions. 

“That’s ridiculous,” said Diane Foster, a math teacher of 33 years at East Avenue Middle School in Livermore. “Does that mean that we’ve been doing something wrong all these years? Is there something we needed to know that the government’s testing will teach us?” 

Wayne Johnson, president of the California Teachers Association, said eliminating emergency certified teachers, who have the highest retention rates at the state’s toughest schools, would be devastating. 

That’s because California faces a shortage of nearly 200,000 teachers in the next decade, which is partially due to a 1996 law that required public schools to reduce class size. 

Before the law, emergency credentials in the state were around 4,000. Since then, however, emergency permits topped 36,000, with a disproportionate amount going to low-performing schools. 

“What the (State Board of Education) is saying is that a college graduate, working toward a credential, who passed state tests, is a qualified teacher,” Johnson said. “If you change that definition, you would create an absolute disaster.” 

Dan Langan, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education, said he expects state and federal officials to agree, but, as is, California’s definition of a highly qualified teacher “wouldn’t pass muster and wouldn’t meet the requirements of the law.” 

“There are penalties for noncompliance with the law, but that’s not imminent,” he said. “Our goal is to work with California and other states to make sure they come into compliance with the law.”

EUREKA – State senators plan a new showdown Wednesday over fellow Democratic Gov. Gray Davis’s stewardship of the state’s environment – this time over alleged inaction by his appointees that protected a key campaign contributor. 

The Senate Rules Committee is scheduled to consider blocking several of Davis’ appointments to the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board amid charges the board permitted years of environmental damage by Pacific Lumber Co. 

A Davis spokesman denied any special treatment of Pacific Lumber or undue interference with the board. 

Since January, Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, has blocked Davis’ Board of Forestry appointees to protest the administration’s logging policies. 

Now, senators also are questioning whether the regional boards should have delegated much of their oversight authority to the Department of Forestry. 

Critics are upset the North Coast board in particular hasn’t resolved a problem that first surfaced before Christmas 1994, when Freshwater Creek overflowed its banks and stranded residents near the Humboldt County town of Freshwater. 

The flooding worsened the next two winters in five waterways, damaging salmon habitat and residents’ water supplies. 

By 1997, the regional water board’s staff determined the fault lay with Pacific Lumber Co., which, at the direction of its parent company, Houston-based MAXXAM Inc., spent a decade denuding the surrounding hills, triggering mudslides and intense erosion while frequently violating the state’s Forest Practices Act. 

The California Department of Forestry promised to curtail logging – but did so only for a year before approving more intensive timber cuts the last three years. 

The water board ordered reforms, but Davis’ election in 1998 led to changes of board members. Davis also installed a politically connected chairman with ties to Pacific Lumber, attorney Daniel Crowley of Santa Rosa, who countermanded the professional staff’s decisions. A previous chairman, Bill Hoy of Weed, told reporters he agreed to delay board hearings at the Davis administration’s request because so many board members were new or awaiting reappointment. 

Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio said the board operates independently. 

“Of course, when the administration has concerns, they’re expressed,” he said. “They’re solid appointees who make decisions based on science, not politics, and the governor expects the Senate to approve them.” 

Pacific Lumber did not comment despite repeated requests Tuesday. 

However, the company contends, in letters circulated as high as Davis Cabinet secretary Susan Kennedy, that the state is obligated to let the company keep logging at a high rate to insure its “economic viability” under the 1996 Headwaters Agreement that protected a stand of old-growth redwoods. 

California Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility alleged two years ago that Kennedy, in January 2000, ordered state regulators to “bend over backwards” to speed up Pacific Lumber harvest plans. 

Davis has received $450,000 from the timber industry toward his re-election, including $105,000 within months before his administration blocked a $22 million tax on the timber industry this spring. Maviglio denied any connection. Pacific Lumber contributed $25,000 in February, on top of nearly $27,000 the previous two years. 

Wednesday’s hearing comes a week after disclosures that a different Davis-appointed water board approved increased pollution into San Francisco Bay shortly after Tosco Corp. gave $70,500 to the governor’s re-election fund. 

In the case of the North Coast board, critics cited board members’ inaction. However, on Friday and Monday, board executive officer Susan Warner issued erosion abatement and monitoring orders against Pacific Lumber. 

“It’s good that they’re finally doing something, but it’s sad that it’s taken so long and it took a senate confirmation hearing and the wrath of John Burton to get them to take action,” said Cynthia Elkins of the Garberville-based Environmental Protection Information Center. 

Warner said her action flowed from the board’s direction at an April meeting that drew residents’ ire for what was perceived to be continued inaction. But she said she “was expeditious in moving it forward” to beat the pending confirmation hearing. 

Board member Richard Grundy said critics’ impatience is understandable, as the board “historically operated on the principle, ’don’t make waves.”’ He said the current board will be more active after a slow start, unless it is stalled by a new round of vacancies. 

The intense logging has triggered community outrage and impassioned protests beyond affected property owners and environmental groups that have dogged Pacific Lumber for years. 

Environmental groups are using the North Coast board as an example why the state and regional boards should stop delegating water quality oversight to the Department of Forestry. 

Timber companies and timberland owners fear another layer of bureaucracy. The regional boards say they haven’t the employees or money to review timber harvest plans, though environmental groups suggest the cost could be covered by logging fees.

SAN FRANCISCO – A toddler has died after falling three stories from her bedroom window onto a concrete driveway. 

Lesly Gutierrez-Alvarado died early Tuesday, about 10 hours after the 18-month-old fell through three thin wooden slats that covered her window. 

Authorities said the girl had been bouncing on her bed, which was right next to the window, just before the accident occurred. 

Lesly’s mother, Patricia Alvarado, was in the room when the girl fell, police said. She reached out, but was unable to grab her daughter. 

Lesly was not breathing when firefighters found her shortly after 3 p.m. Monday in the driveway of the Mission District building. 

The toddler underwent surgery at San Francisco General to relieve pressure on her brain and to repair liver, spleen and kidney damage. 

“She wasn’t strong enough to be pulled out of it,” hospital spokeswoman Doreen Meyers said.

Thrown to the wolves of the city’s merciless housing market for many years, UC Berkeley students may finally be getting a reprieve. 

Students searching for a place to live this year are enjoying the best rental market since the mid-1990s, according to Betty White, assistant director of Cal Rentals, a division of the university that helps students find housing. 

“We’re easily taking at least 35 to 50 percent more rental ads this year,” she said. 

The housing search normally begins in June and July, White said, but the shortages that started in 1998 left many returning students and incoming transfers searching through August, perilously close to the start of the fall semester. 

That is not the case this year, according to Dana Goodell of Homefinders, a Berkeley rental referral agency. “It’s easy to find housing,” she said, adding that most students who looked for a rental earlier in the summer had several options to choose from. 

The pressure of the market has switched to the landlords, according to Goodell. During the peak of the housing shortage, renters often had to offer concessions to landlords to win a lease, such as paying a year’s rent up front. 

Now landlords are trying to entice prospective tenants. They are quicker to allow pets and slash deposits, Goodell said. Many, though, still refuse to significantly reduce rents, she added. 

According to Goodell, rental prices for an average two-bedroom apartment have decreased from $1,800 to $1,500 over the last 18 months, a noticeable drop but still much higher than pre-boom levels. 

Landlords face a conflict about lowering rents, said Bob Sicular of ERI Realty which manages rental properties.  

If landlords keep their rents high it takes longer to rent, he said. But if they lower the rents they could be locked into receiving lower rent for many years. The city’s rent control laws dictate that once a price is set, a landlord faces restrictions on how much he can raise it. 

Sicular said that a landlord’s willingness to decrease the asking price is dependent upon his circumstances. If the landlord bought the property during the recent boom and needs rental income to make mortgage payments, he will be more likely to reduce rents. 

A variety of factors have converged to trim the housing shortage. 

The dot-com bust had a dual effect on Berkeley, according to White. Not only did laid-off technology workers leave the city for other regions of the country, but many Berkeley residents employed in San Francisco decided to cross the bay to move closer to their jobs. 

Also, Berkeley is still experiencing the ramifications of the housing shortage, Goodell said. “Lower income people were priced out of the market and middle class people looking to buy a home didn’t have a hope,” she said. This caused an outflow of lower and middle class renters from Berkeley that has opened up more rentals for students and other newcomers, she explained. 

Students acknowledged that more housing is available, but not all students thought they were reaping the benefits. 

Steve Schoo, a recent UC Berkeley graduate, said it took him just a few days to find a one-bedroom apartment at the Oakland-Berkeley border for $695. 

He said during his last search in 1999, he and a friend looked at more than 20 places before renting a two-bedroom apartment south of campus for $725 per person.  

Several students interviewed complained that although there were more available rentals, many were run down. 

“I never found anything I’d consider nice,” said Robert Condy, a senior who searched several months for a two-bedroom apartment and ended up staying in university housing. “One place had a toilet that wasn’t planted to the ground.” 

Contact reporter at matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

The communications tower is an important utility, not an ornament. To dismantle it or diminish its function in any way because a few neighbors don't think it's pretty would be as foolish as getting rid of fire trucks to reduce traffic congestion. (And health concerns about the tower are a misinformed superstition - every time you put a cell phone to your ear you absorb more radio energy than you'll ever get from the tower.) Don't waste our money fixing things that aren't broken when too many other things are... $93,000 to study this? No. Rescind this. How many homeless families would this house? 

Dear God, give us a City Council with some common sense. Or, better yet, let's get rid of the council and hire a CEO to run Berkeley like a business, not a sideshow. And while I'm mouthing off about NIMBYs, here's a note for those chronic ‘Gaiaphobes:’ In the heart of downtown Berkeley there are four large buildings of real visual merit – the library, the Shattuck Hotel, the Corder Building (2322 Shattuck Ave.) and the Gaia Building - with a scattering of lesser, but pleasing sites. Give us more Gaias. 

Think about this: If the Campanile were being built today, UC-haters would scream that it was being done without community input, radical feminists would rail against having a dominant phallic structure imposed on them and a committee of residents would warn of impending noise pollution from the carillon. Come on, Berkeley, let's grow up! 

Jerry Landis 

Berkeley 

To the Editor: 

When will Berkeley's City Council stop being intimidated by neighborhood activists and reactionary crusaders? Not content with railroading the attractive competition-winning design for a new public safety building at Martin Luther King Way and Addison Street, resulting in a shamefully dull complex that thrills nobody, similar voices now demand the tearing down of that building's communications tower - to my mind the only interesting component of the whole bland ensemble. 

A short stroll around the Addison-McKinley intersection reveals that most of the adjacent houses and apartments see the tower through the lacy foliage of well-established sycamores, a few of which, wrapping around the offending corner itself, are still relatively young and will grow much bigger over time. Add to these the five new magnolias along the building's Addison frontage and the shaggy screen of closely-spaced podocarpus that will soon soften the windowless facade on McKinley, and it becomes apparent that, at normal level, lush vegetation, courtesy of the city of Berkeley, will eventually dominate the residential street views. You'd have to look deliberately upwards to notice the tower, which, being an open framework, doesn't even block the passing clouds. It isn't, after all, a 10-story office block. 

The few people who hate this useful technical object have already been allowed to bully the council into spending $93,000 on a study of alternative solutions, and if these 'experts' deem it appropriate, the city will squander another $500,000 or more on the dubious, unnecessary relocation of a perfectly functioning technical component of a fire and police headquarters. 

Meanwhile, homeless people and panhandlers proliferate in the public areas, and nice old residential streets are blighted with doubled-up telephone poles and squalid, thicker-than-ever overhead wires. Civic priorities are being turned upside-down. 

John Kenyon 

Berkeley

Friday, August 9

Community Skin Cancer Screening Clinic 

11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Markstein Cancer Education Center, Summit Campus, 2450 Ashby Avenue 

Skin cancer screenings offered to people with limited or no health insurance. By Appointment only. 

For more information or to make an appointment call 869-8833 

Saturday, August 10

Avotcja's Birthday Bash 

7:30 p.m. 

Mama Bear's Books, 6536 Telegraph Avenue 

Poetry, music and dance in celebration of poet Avotcja Jiltonilro's 61st birthday. Reservations are suggested. 

428-9684 

$10 donation 

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  

548-3333 

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 

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." 

548-2220 x233 

Free 

Sunday, August 11

Kiwanis Club of Berkeley: A Classic Taste of Italy 

4 to 7 p.m. 

St. Mary Magdeline Church, Fellowship Hall. Berryman St. Berkeley 

Spaghetti dinner and auction to raise money for children's programs. 

527-3249 

Kids $5, Adults $15 

Free Radio Berkeley Benefit 

7 to 10 p.m. 

Benefit for new Free Radio Berkeley home. Speakers include Berkeley City Council member Kriss Worthington, Andrea Buffa of Media Alliance and Pierre Labossiere of the Haiti Support Group.  

533-0401, www.freeradio.org  

$15 to $25, sliding scale 

Hands-on Bicycle Repair 

11 a.m.-noon 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

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

527-4140 

Free 

“Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport” 

2:00 p.m. 

Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St., Berkeley 

Screening of Oscar-winning documentary about child holocaust survivors who were sent, without their parents, out of Austria, Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia to Great Britain. 

848-0237 

$2 suggested donation 

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 

2 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Derby Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way  

Sample 35 different Tomato varieties 

548-3333 

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 

Nuclear War: Then and Now, Part II 

The Decision to Drop the Bomb on Hiroshima 

7 p.m. 

Friends' Meeting House, 2151 Vine Street 

Screening of two network documentaries on the subject. 

705-7314 or BerkMM@Earthlink.net 

Free 

Wednesday, August 14

Holistic Exercises Sharing Circle  

3:30 to 6:30 p.m.  

wrpclub@aol.com or 595-5541 for information 

Holistic Practitioners, Teachers, Students & Anyone who knows Holistic exercises take turns leading the group through an afternoon of exercises. 

$20 for six-month membership 

Thursday, August 15

Power for the People 

7 p.m. to 9 p.m. 

Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave.  

A forum on public power, solar power and community control of energy. Speakers include Paul Fenn, Director of Local Power and publisher of American Local Power News and energy economist Eugene Coyle. 

548-2220 x233 

$5 to $15, sliding scale

Ageing team taking it easy during training camp 

NAPA – There’s plenty of ice available to the Oakland Raiders on the sidelines of their training camp practice fields, and it’s not there just to keep their drinks cool. 

The Raiders’ collection of aging stars must be kept in top physical condition, with as little wear and tear as possible before the regular season. Coach Bill Callahan uses everything from ice packs to ice baths to outright rest to make sure Oakland stays sharp. 

For instance, when Callahan saw the Raiders showing the effects of a hot weekend practice in full pads, he made sure his players made the most of an upcoming day off. 

“We tried not to let them do anything for a day,” Callahan said. “They’re starting to wear down, but they’re fighting through it. They gave some great efforts the past few days and extended themselves. Physiologically, that happens to the body, so we’re going to get them freshened up.” 

The Raiders are ready for some action after nearly two weeks of workouts in the heart of wine country. Oakland’s exhibition opener is Friday night in Dallas, where the Raiders may finally begin resolving several decisions on playing time that must be made before the regular season begins. 

But the primary concern of these early days in camp is health — and so far, the Raiders have been successful at keeping everyone upright. 

“We work hard, but we also make sure nobody gets hurt,” defensive lineman John Parrella said. “On a team with a lot of veteran guys, you don’t want to get stupid injuries that compromise your depth. We’re in a situation where we already know a lot of the defense and the game plans we’re going to use. We just have to stay healthy so we can do it.” 

Like most coaches, Callahan doesn’t like the extra pushing and shoving that follows many training camp drills featuring players trying to make an impression on their prospective teammates. Unlike many coaches, however, Callahan actively discourages any overtly physical play that might lead to such behavior. 

He impressed this philosophy upon new linebacker Bill Romanowski last week after the 15-year veteran nearly drove his shoulder through running back Madre Hill’s stomach during a 9-on-7 workout. 

“When guys come in from other teams, like Bill has done, they’re accustomed to a tempo different than ours,” Callahan said. “Romo still has some habits he needs to break, but he understands that.” 

Although the Raiders’ famed veteran receivers might be the best-conditioned athletes in camp, Jerry Rice and Tim Brown are used judiciously in drills. So is tailback Charlie Garner. 

The health of quarterback Rich Gannon – the one player that the Raiders can least afford to lose – is Callahan’s greatest concern. The Pro Bowler got about 75 percent of the practice work early in camp, but he has scaled back his preparation in the past few days, giving more time to backup Marques Tuiasosopo. 

Gannon, who skipped some voluntary workouts in the spring to express his unhappiness with his contract, felt some soreness in his arm after early workouts. 

“He’s very smart about that, and he knows how to take care of his body,” Callahan said. “He’s not going to push through that. I’m sure he would if you asked him to, but he is very smart and he knows what the warning signs are. Once he feels the arm getting a little rubbery, he’ll begin to back off.” 

Tuiasosopo isn’t the only young player getting a bigger chance to impress the coaches. Every young Oakland player from rookie cornerback Phillip Buchanon to Pro Bowler Charles Woodson plays a big role in training camp drills than their older counterparts. It keeps veterans healthy, but it also builds depth. 

“I really like our depth right now,”

This November Berkeley voters will decide if Old City Hall – where the city’s unique style of politics has been staged for the last 94 years – is worthy of a $21.5 million face-lift. 

In recent years, concerns have arisen that City Council chambers in the stately building at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way needs to be enlarged to accommodate the city’s well known zeal for public participation. 

In addition, city officials say Old City Hall, which is considered by many to be one of Berkeley’s most valuable architectural treasures, might not withstand a major earthquake and needs to be seismically upgraded. A new elevator and better access for the disabled have been recommended as well. 

The $21.5 million general obligation bond that would go toward building improvements is the most expensive measure slated for the November ballot. The measure has been dubbed Measure 2. 

The money would be raised by selling bonds that would be repaid by Berkeley property owners at an average of $13 per year for every $100,000 of assessed value. This means that an owner of a $400,000 home would pay an average of $55 per year for up to 30 years. 

Last month, the City Council agreed to put Measure 2 on the ballot by a 7-2 vote with Councilmembers Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington voting no. 

Spring and Worthington argue that the plan, considering the large amount of money it entails, does not go far enough to enlarge the City Council chambers or improve accessibility for the disabled. 

The City Council chambers, which has a seating capacity of 120 people, is also the regular meeting place for the Zoning Adjustments Board, Rent Board and Board of Education, and there are plans to add the Planning Commission as well. In addition, the building contains the offices of 48 Berkeley Unified School District employees. 

Spring had unsuccessfully proposed another option for the renovation of Old City Hall that would add 10,000 square feet to the building. Most of the additional space would be dedicated to a new City Council meeting room.  

“This [Measure 2] proposal will make the meeting room smaller,” Spring said. “If we go through with this plan, we might as well move the City Council meetings over to the North Berkeley Senior Center and maintain the Old City Hall chambers for smaller community meetings.” 

Spring said if the chambers is made wheelchair accessible, the seating capacity of the room would be reduced to 80 people. She added that the current plan does not allow enough space for two wheelchairs going opposite ways in the aisle to pass one another.  

But Councilmember Miriam Hawley argued that no seating will be lost in the current plan and that the chamber is large enough for most public meetings. She added that a 10,000 square-foot addition would cost an estimated $7 million, which would make the project too expensive to pursue. 

In addition, Hawley said the current plan includes a new “overflow room” where people who do not find a seat in the council chambers can sit and watch the proceedings on a large video screen.  

“There is more than adequate space for the majority of meetings,” she said. “For those few that are larger, we can use the overflow room.” 

Spring argued that using an overflow room would be “awkward” and result in fewer people participating in the public process.  

Old City Hall is on the National Registry of Historical Places. The building, constructed in 1909, was one of the first projects designed by the partnership of John Bakewell and Arthur Brown, two architects who studied at UC Berkeley and went on to design San Francisco City Hall and the San Francisco Opera House. The Neo-classic building was the first to be designated an official city landmark in 1975. 

According to the November measure, construction at Old City Hall would first require environmental review and approval by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. 

If Berkeley voters approve Measure 2, Public Works Director René Cardinaux said work on the Old City Hall probably wouldn’t begin until 2004 or 2005 and would probably take 18 months.

To the Editor: 

A few fast swimmers dominate the deep end during the Berkeley High School city warm pool program time slots, each taking an entire lane, setting the rules, in effect, for others for the rest of the day. As a result, only six to eight people use the deep end most of the time. This, when many more obviously want to swim there and could swim there, but are shy and don't make an issue of it. (These are disabled people who are vulnerable and are used to being pushed around.) Many seem to give up and quit coming. 

One lifeguard about five years ago made a point of asking people to follow each other, as occurs at the other pools, when population reached a critical point. The current lifeguard supervisor has told me she intends to let people make up their own system, in effect. Rarely, eight to 12 people will manage to get along and squeeze into the six lanes there. A number of deep end users seem unable to adjust to detecting others to avoid collisions and seem unable to steer inside one lane while swimming on their backs. Lifeguards seem to have been given a completely hands-off order when it comes to coaching and organizing such swimmers.  

Terry Cochrell 

Berkeley

SAN DIEGO – San Diego State announced a series of self-imposed penalties Monday for violating NCAA rules by holding summer football workouts at a local beach. 

The school said it will eliminate 21 practice days through the 2004 season, cut six scholarships through 2005, and suspend assistant coach Damon Baldwin for six practice days, including five without pay, during the 2002 fall camp. 

Baldwin also will be suspended for five days at the end of the 2002 season and will receive a letter of reprimand. 

NCAA officials ruled the violations were secondary, pending a review by the Committee on Infractions, and did not warrant probation for the program. 

“We take any violations seriously, regardless if they are considered secondary in nature,” said Rick Bay, the school’s executive director of athletics. 

The infractions stem from summer conditioning sessions for offensive linesmen coordinated by Baldwin from 1998-2001. 

Summer workouts are generally prohibited by the NCAA if coaches are present and if attendance is taken, which was the case at the 6 a.m. conditioning sessions referred to as “sand training.” 

Baldwin, one of four assistants retained by new coach Tom Craft after Ted Tollner was fired at the end of last season, had the sessions videotaped and sold over the Internet.

Future of University Ave.
development is uncertain 

The Berkeley City Council will determine the fate of a family-owned flower shop that has become a lightning rod in the battle between preservationists and developers. 

Preservationists thought they had succeeded in blocking plans by developer Patrick Kennedy to turn the Darling Flower Shop, at 2008 University Ave., into a 30-unit housing complex. 

Now, though, the project’s defeat is far from certain. A ruling by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission which many perceived as the end of the new development was recently overturned by the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board. 

At a July 11 meeting, the ZAB voted 8-1 to issue a use permit for the demolition of the flower shop and the adjoining Victorian house which dates back to the 1880s. 

The use permit flew in the face of a July 1 decision of the landmarks commission, designating the site as a “structure of merit” and giving the landmarks commission exclusive control over the fate of the historic structure, according to commissioners. 

But according to city planner Matt Legrant, the ZAB is in the right. The ZAB has the ultimate authority to decide whether a building is demolished, he said. 

The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, though, says it will appeal the ZAB’s authority to City Council. 

The appeal will center on two issues: that the ZAB did not have the authority to issue a use permit on a “structure of merit” and that it violated California law by approving a insufficient substitute for assessing environmental impacts of the proposed development. 

According to Leslie Emmington, a landmarks commissioner and member of the heritage association, all historic properties are required to undergo an environmental impact report before they can be redeveloped. But the ZAB ignored this fact, she said, and approved only a mitigated negative declaration. 

City Council will have several options, according to Emmington. It could overturn the ZAB’s use permit or approve the permit, or it could delay demolition until a comprehensive Environmental Impact Report is performed. 

This is not the first time the council has mediated conflicting rulings of the ZAB and the landmarks commission. In the late 1990s, the council backed the ZAB’s use permit for the demolition of the First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley when landmark commissioners were protesting it. 

In that case, the heritage association sued the city for approving the use permit without an environmental impact report. During the legal procedures a compromise was reached between the parties, maintaining the church’s historic features. 

Emmington has not ruled out legal action in the case of the Darling Flower Shop. However, she hopes a compromise can be reached before it would come to that. 

Contact reporter at matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net

SAN DIEGO – Spilling beyond the doors of a synagogue, thousands of people gathered Monday to honor Marla Bennett and to mourn the 24-year-old California woman they remembered as accomplished, loving, idealistic and filled with promise. 

Bennett, a graduate student at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, was killed Wednesday when a remotely detonated bomb exploded in a university cafeteria. Six other people, including four Americans, also died in the midday blast. 

An estimated 2,000 people crowded into the Tifereth Israel Synagogue, many of them weeping as the cantor sang mournful songs of faith. 

“Can there be a lament greater than for a young life lost?” asked Rabbi Martin Lawson. 

“We grieve for what might have been, for joys unrealized, for tasks undone, for hopes thwarted, for growth arrested.” 

A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Bennett was in the second year of a three-year master’s program at Hebrew University and was taking a Hebrew language course. 

Lawson recalled Bennett as a determined woman with “an endless sparkle in her eyes.” 

Her Jewish faith had grown in the years since her bat mitzvah and her first trip to Israel at age 16, he said. 

In recent years she had begun to follow strict Jewish law and gave up driving on the Sabbath — which she made into an opportunity to take long walks with her father, Michael. 

Even as a teenager, Bennett worked to feed and clothe the homeless. During the last two years she spent in Israel she continued her charitable work while exploring her religion and cultural history. 

“To be with Marla was magic, spiritual magic,” Lawson said. 

Even though her family feared for her safety, they supported her decision to live in Israel. 

Lawson quoted her mother, Linda, as saying: “She was where she wanted to be, doing what she wanted to do.” 

Lawson said, “Sadly Marla Bennett is one of Israel’s martyrs for shalom, peace.” 

Bennett was to have returned to San Diego on Saturday to attend a family bar mitzvah and the wedding of a college friend. Her boyfriend, Michael Simon of Long Beach, was to have joined her later. Instead he arrived in San Diego early Monday, escorting Bennett’s body. 

A grief-stricken Simon said Bennett had seen every moment of her life as an opportunity “to bring goodness into the world.” 

Terry Smooke, a representative of Gov. Gray Davis, presented the family a state flag that had flown over the Capitol and announced that the day was being recognized as “Marla Bennett Memorial Day” for all Californians. 

Reading a statement from Davis, she said: “The clenched fist of religious hatred and violence ... has now struck one of our own.” 

Tzvi Vapni, an Israeli deputy consul general, praised Bennett for her commitment to her faith and for her willingness to live in Israel “in this most challenging time.” 

“We will remember her as one of the innocent, one of the brave, one of the best,” Vapni said.

All that swimming for nothing 

MONTEREY – A blue shark tagged two years ago off the coast of Monterey is believed to have set a distance record for the species after being captured near Japan. 

The 4 1/2-foot shark was recently caught 560 nautical miles east of Japan after being tagged by Santa Cruz-based Pelagic Shark Research Foundation in 2000. 

“We’ve had five tags returned from (the mid-Pacific) since tagging started in the late 1980s,” said Valerie Taylor, a California Department of Fish and Game biologist. “I don’t know of any tagged fish that was caught farther west than this one.” 

Some researchers are using the distance traveled by the shark to call for more international protection of the animals from long-line and drift-net fisheries. 

“We showed that some segments of the Northwest Atlantic population of blues declined 80 percent from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s,” said Robert Hueter, director of the Center for Shark Research at Mote Marine Laboratory at Sarasota, Fla. “These fish are relatively prolific as sharks go, but they are not immune to overfishing.” 

Other researchers say the sharks, which reach lengths of 13 feet and can weigh more than 500 pounds, may not be migratory and that a decline in numbers has not been detected in Pacific populations. 

What’s that smell? 

SAN MARINO – In this wealthy town of trim lawns and rose-filled gardens, the world’s largest and stinkiest plant is ready to bloom. 

The Amorphophallus titanum, known to Indonesians as the “corpse flower,” exudes an odor that some have compared to garbage or rotting flesh. 

The exotic, 4 1/2-foot-tall plant is expected to bloom by Tuesday at The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens. 

Its unusual scent attracts pollinating, carrion-eating beetles in its native Sumatra. 

The plant has been seen in bloom only about 15 times since its first U.S. display in New York in 1937. About 76,000 people flocked to the Huntington when the flower bloomed there in 1999. 

While normally closed Mondays, the museum will remain open in case the flower should bloom. 

San Marino is 17 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. 

Mating turtles hold up bridge 

MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP, N.J. – Work on a bridge will be delayed because it is not allowed during turtle mating season. 

County officials planned to replace the Cherry Hill Bridge in the fall, but state law prevents them from disturbing the area during mating season. They have not decided when the work will begin at the Montgomery Township site. 

While it was not immediately known what species was found in the area, environmentalists say they likely are wood turtles, which are protected by the state. They say the work could stir up silt, which could kill the turtles.

Contra Costa may lose some
social services 

WALNUT CREEK – Contra Costa County’s budget deficit could wind up forcing the closure of homeless shelters, the elimination of a suicide crisis line and the end of a program that helps low-income families apply for health insurance. 

The county has asked its departments to make a list of possible cuts to make up for shortfalls in its retirement system. Proposed cuts also could reduce funds for transportation and welfare-to-work programs. 

Supervisor Mark DeSaunier called it the worst budget situation since 1992, but said the cuts are necessary. 

The supervisors were expected to review the cuts in health and human services Monday. 

Golden Gate Bridge tolls could
rise even further 

NOVATO – Golden Gate Bridge officials are applying for a federal grant to research whether toll adjustments could help ease snarled weekend traffic. 

Unlike most Bay Area bridges which jam on weekdays, the Golden Gate Bridge is at its busiest on weekends, when tourists and locals pack the burnt-orange span. 

Charging motorists different tolls based on the time of day may ease the bottleneck by prompting changes in travel schedules, said Mary Currie, a spokeswoman for the bridge district. 

In the end, it might mean a toll increase. 

Should the district decide to charge more during the busiest times, it could help ease a $441 million deficit looming over the next five years, Currie said. Another option would be to charge less for drivers who switch their crossings to hours when traffic typically is light. 

Tolls will already rise Sept. 1 from the current $3 to $5 for tolls paid in cash and $4 for users of the FasTrak electronic debit system. That increase is expected to trim the deficit by about $138 million. 

The grant to try a pilot program in congestion-based pricing would come from the Federal Highway Administration. Currie said the process is too preliminary to estimate the grant’s size. 

49ers can sell ads, but not stadium name 

San Francisco supervisors today handed the 49ers a partial victory, voting to grant the team the right to sell advertising – but not the name – for the city’s football stadium. 

A 5-5 tie on the naming rights issue sends the Niners’ deal with San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Department down to defeat, for a potential loss of around $900,000 a year in city revenue. 

But representatives of the 49ers said after today’s City Hall vote that they were willing to try again later. 

One supervisor, Gerardo Sandoval, was absent from today’s board meeting because he is on his honeymoon.

A spokeswoman for the East Bay Regional Park Police said that they sent at least 25 people and a helicopter Monday to assist with a fast-moving grass fire near the Alameda and Contra Costa county border. 

In addition to the helicopter, the spokeswoman said they sent six engines, a water tender and a fuel truck to assist California Department of Forestry firefighters. 

She said the fire had consumed 300 acres by 6 p.m. Monday. 

CDF spokesman Ed Schell said the fire was burning along Vasco Road in an unincorporated area. The fire was reported at about 3:30 p.m. and a wild land fire dispatch crew was sent to the scene. 

The CDF response crew included 10 engines, two tankers, at least two helicopters, three bulldozers and two hand crews. 

President could declare a national economic
emergency to keep West Coast workers on the job 

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration is prepared to block a work slowdown or strike by West Coast port workers should contract negotiations fail, Labor Department officials said Monday. 

The administration is exploring several options to intervene to keep cargo moving, though the most likely is for President Bush to declare a national economic emergency, forcing a strike delay for 80 days. 

The last time such authority was invoked under the Taft-Hartley Act was 1978, when President Carter unsuccessfully tried to end a national coal strike. 

The Bush administration has convened a special task force with officials from the Commerce, Labor, Transportation and Homeland Security departments, and has been exploring federal intervention, monitoring talks and meeting with both sides, the officials said, insisting on anonymity. 

A work slowdown or walkout by the 10,500 port workers represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union could have a devastating effect on the world economy. The union’s contract with the Pacific Maritime Association controls the flow of about $260 billion in cargo through America’s 29 major West Coast ports. 

The contract expired July 1, and so far, there’s been little progress toward a new agreement. Technology has been a major focus of negotiations. Pacific Rim trade is projected to double in the next decade, and shipping lines complain West Coast ports won’t be able to keep up unless they upgrade to more closely match their more automated Asian peers. 

The talk of intervention by the Bush administration shouldn’t come as a surprise. President Bush has aggressively intervened in other union strikes, but through presidential powers under a different labor law reserved for airline and railroad disputes. 

Last December, he signed an executive order one day before a strike deadline, imposing a “cooling-off” period between United Airlines and its mechanics. Both sides later accepted a settlement proposed by the presidential emergency board. 

In March 2001, Bush intervened four days before Northwest Airline mechanics’ strike deadline, barring a walk out. An agreement was later reached. At American Airlines, just hours before Bush planned to step in and block a strike by flight attendants in June 2001, both sides came to an agreement.

SAN FRANCISCO – An effort by California’s Supreme Court to clarify the state’s convoluted tobacco liability law only clouded the issue Monday, with both sick smokers and cigarette makers claiming victory. 

The high court said smokers who got sick between 1988 and 1998 — when a state law protected tobacco companies from liability — are out of luck. But smokers who can prove they got sick anytime outside that 10-year period can sue. 

“It’s not a clean win for either side,” said Martin Feldman, a tobacco analyst with Merrill Lynch. 

Plaintiffs’ attorneys said two rulings issued by the court will allow more lawsuits to go forward and expose the industry to millions of dollars in damages. But tobacco companies and their investors cheered the rulings as limiting the industry’s liability. 

Tobacco companies enjoyed such protection beginning in 1988, when the California Legislature enacted an “immunity statute” that lawmakers repealed in 1998. 

The Supreme Court said smokers who got sick during that 10-year period could sue if chemical additives were the cause of their illness. The court, however, said high-nicotine cigarettes were protected. 

Still, plaintiffs’ lawyers said they will have little problem proving that many of their clients’ tobacco-related illnesses occurred outside the 10-year period. They expect more suits to be filed based on Monday’s decisions. 

The high court issued two rulings. In one, the plaintiff sued R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. after being diagnosed with lung cancer in 1996. The companies argued that the immunity statute protected them from his claim. 

Three jury awards totaling more than $100 million had been put on hold pending the outcome of Monday’s decision. Tobacco lawyers said they expect those cases will now have to be retried.

LOS ANGELES – The nine telecommunications companies that have filed for bankruptcy in the last 13 months suffered a common problem. They were unable to cover massive debt racked up as they acquired competitors or built vast fiber-optic networks for an expected Internet traffic explosion. 

The wireless industry has managed to avert a similar meltdown, despite piling up its own enormous debt load. 

But the six major U.S. cellular companies are struggling to boost revenue as subscriber growth slows and intense competition fuels ongoing price wars. Nearly half of all Americans already own cell phones. 

Consolidation is widely expected, with analysts betting that there will eventually be just four surviving wireless operators. But the carriers are also hoping that salvation lies in the arrival of new multimedia services for cell phone users. 

For years, the telecom industry has promised high-speed wireless connections that will allow people to access the Internet and send photos, video and other bulky data files over their cell phones. 

The technology has been among the most hyped promises of the Internet age. But major wireless providers finally began deploying an early version of it recently and plan to complete the rollout across the country by early next year. 

“The new services are more important than ever, given the slowing of the customer base,” said Greg Teets, an analyst with A.G. Edwards & Sons. 

Although consumers doubled their wireless talk time in the last six months of 2001, revenue for the U.S. wireless industry increased only 10.4 percent to $34.1 billion in the same period, according to the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association. 

Customer acquisition is so essential that wireless operators say they actually spend more to lure individuals to their calling plans than they spend on new capital. 

For example, Verizon Wireless, the nation’s No. 1 mobile operator, spends $200 on average to acquire each new customer, said spokesman Jim Gerace. 

And Sprint PCS, the nation’s fourth-largest wireless operator, recently reported that its customer acquisition cost rose to $350 from $300 a year ago. 

Analysts warn, however, that wireless carriers shouldn’t expect new mobile services to wash away their financial troubles. The companies will likely face a tough sell persuading consumers to pay as much as $100 a month to bring the Web to the tiny screens on their cell phones. 

“Operators basically took what was on the PC and trucked it down to a tiny screen and said, ’Here, you’re going to love it,”’ said Ken Delaney, director of mobile wireless research at Gartner Inc. 

In addition, transmission rates on these developing networks will fall short of basic dial-up speeds reached on today’s wired modems, Delaney said. 

Although carriers are promising transmission feeds of up to 144 kilobits per second, actual speeds range between 15 and 40 kbps, he said, compared with a maximum dial-up speed of 56.6 kbps. 

Verizon Wireless, recognized as a leader in the rollout of expanded services, claims its new Express Network transmits at speeds between 40-60 kbps. Launched in April, the service now covers Texas, the San Francisco Bay area, Salt Lake City and parts of the Northeast. 

A faster generation of services won’t arrive in the United States until 2006 or 2007, Delaney said. 

But some mobile phone users say reliability remains the key issue, not speed or additional services. 

“I liken it to when they put all those computer instruments into the car, but still couldn’t get the clock to work,” said Steve Zirl, a regular cell phone user and technology writer in Los Angeles. 

“There are so many dead spots (in cellular networks). It would be nice to see some bells and whistles, but I’d like to see them get the regular stuff working first,” he said. 

And while Internet users are getting more comfortable giving credit card numbers over the Internet, security concerns remain an issue with new mobile Web access. 

“I wouldn’t use it to do something like a stock transaction,” said Zirl. “I’d worry that anyone with a Pringle can could listen in.” 

A recent survey of 7,200 Internet users by Solomon Wolff Associates, a New Jersey-based market research firm, reported that consumer interest in wireless Internet has waned. 

In January, only 21 percent said they were interested in mobile access to the Web, versus 45 percent in July 1999. Furthermore, nonusers who reported an interest said they would be willing on average to spend only $9.44 a month. 

A typical plan available today ranges from between $35 and $100 a month, depending on time used or amount of data transmitted. 

“There’s a lot of concern that the new innovations haven’t developed in a way that they can electrify the markets,” said Doug Solomon, a partner at the firm. 

But the wireless industry argues that consumers have an insatiable appetite for wireless data. People already send more than 1 billion SMS (Short Message Service) messages a day, said Travis Larson, spokesman for the CTIA. 

SMS represents the simplest form of wireless data. Demand for richer services, like MMS (multimedia messaging service) will be “an evolutionary adaptive process,” he said. 

MMS is rolling out today in parts of Europe, including Britain, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Greece. 

Wireless carriers and handset manufacturers are currently relying on each other to spur additional consumer demand for the service. 

Both Nokia and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, a joint venture, are launching phones with detachable cameras that send and receive multimedia messages. Nokia’s version, due soon in the U.S. market, sells for the equivalent of about $750 in Europe. 

Mobile phone operators in Europe are already subsidizing the cost of phones, hoping to make the money back on subscription fees. 

But prices will have to drop into the $200 range in the United States before the mass market starts buying the handsets and the new services from wireless carriers, Teets said.

Prosecutor says there is “no question” on issue 

SANTA ANA – Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against the man accused of kidnapping 5-year-old Samantha Runnion from in front of her home and then killing her, the district attorney announced Monday. 

Alejandro Avila, 27, of Lake Elsinore was charged with murder, kidnapping and two counts of forcible lewd acts on a child. Prosecutors can seek the death penalty under special circumstances included with the charges; that the murder occurred after a kidnapping and the crime involved lewd acts with a child. 

“There is no question in my mind that the person who kidnapped, molested and murdered 5-year-old Samantha should face the death penalty,” Orange County District Attorney Anthony Rackauckas told a press conference. 

“This crime has shocked and outraged our community, our nation, even other nations. If there was ever a case where justice would be served by seeking the death penalty, this is the case,” he said. 

The district attorney, in response to a question, said he would not consider a plea bargain under any circumstances. Samantha’s mother, reached by telephone, had no comment. 

Avila, held without bail at Men’s Central Jail in Santa Ana, has denied the charges, saying he was at a mall when the girl was snatched. He was scheduled to be arraigned Friday. 

Samantha was abducted July 15 as she played with a 5-year-old friend. A man who said he was looking for a lost puppy carried her away kicking and screaming. 

Her nude body was found the next day alongside a mountain highway between Orange County and the Riverside County community of Lake Elsinore. Investigators said she had been sexually assaulted and asphyxiated. 

A description of the suspect from the playmate and tips from the public led Orange County sheriff’s officials to Avila. 

Orange County sheriff’s officials have said they are certain Avila, who worked at a plant that makes pacemakers and other medical devices, is the man who abducted the girl. A source lose to the investigation confirmed that DNA evidence found on the girl’s body matches that of Avila. 

Meanwhile, the reward offered for the capture and conviction of the man who killed Samantha appears to have dwindled. 

Published reports put the reward figure as high as $250,000, and the sheriff had officially reported that it was at least $160,000. It now stands at $100,000, with any additional money contingent on whether pledges made in the heat of the manhunt are fulfilled, Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino said. 

Rewards of $50,000 offered by Gov. Gray Davis and by BP, the petroleum company that employs Samantha’s mother, Erin Runnion, still stand. The money will be distributed only after a court conviction.

FOREST FALLS – A mother bear and cub foraging for food broke into a home in a San Bernardino National Forest mountain community and died in the house fire they started. 

A 300-pound black bear and her cub entered the house on Maple Drive through an open front window while the family was out grocery shopping Sunday afternoon, a San Bernardino County fire spokeswoman said. 

The bears knocked down a living room lamp, sparking the fire. They continued to the kitchen in search of food, Tracey Martinez said. 

The two were trapped inside the burning home and died. Firefighters discovered the carcasses, Martinez said. 

“It’s my understanding that the bears have been kind of terrorizing the neighborhood and broke into several other houses,” Martinez said. 

U.S. Forest Service and county firefighters responded about 2 p.m. In addition, Southern California Edison repair workers replaced burned power lines and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigated the bears’ deaths. 

Forest Falls is about 90 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. 

About 400 black bears roam the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountain ranges, according to state Fish and Game wildlife biologist Kevin Brennan.

On Saturday afternoon 1,136 tot-totting moms filed into the Berkeley Community Theater. Each mom settled a hungry baby in her lap, readied a lactating breast and sat poised to suckle their way into the Guinness Book of Records. 

Event coordinator Ellen Sirbu took the microphone and cautioned the sea of ga-gaing, bouncing and bottle-less babies. “Remember, if the baby does not latch on, we will not count you,” she said. “Okay, ready… one, two, three… latch,” she said. 

And with that, the entire room began to simultaneously suckle. Count monitors wended their way through the rows of mothers and babies to verify the occurrence of what may be the most poignant act of nurturing between parent and child. 

“That’s a latch, and that’s a latch, and that’s a latch, and that’s…” said monitor Christine Palmer as she verified connections. 

The mothers had come from throughout the Bay Area and beyond to break the world record which was previously set in Australia last week when 767 mothers nursed in one place. The bids for the world record came as part of World Breast-feeding Week. 

When it became apparent Berkeley was going to best the Australian record, Mayor Shirley Dean proudly pronounced, “This means Berkeley is the breast-feeding capital of the world.”  

Dean said that it was nice to have the distinction but the real purpose of the event was to promote breast-feeding “because it’s the right thing to do.” 

In Civic Center Park, across the street from the theater, there was a festive atmosphere. Before and after the world record count, some families sat in the grass listening to the music of Gwen Avery and the Blues Sistahs while others strolled among the 20 or so booths that demonstrated breast-feeding accessories or promoted breast-feeding as the natural, healthy and inexpensive choice. 

Mother Marlisa Slack said she brought her 8-month-old daughter, Tori, to participate in the event because she strongly believes in the health benefits of breast-feeding.  

“We came because I would like to see more mothers make the breast-feeding choice,” she said. “It’s more convenient, it’s cheaper and it’s so much better for the baby’s immune system.” 

In fact, Michelle Lerager, the interim manager of Lactation Services at Alta Bates Hospital, said that there is now a strong body of evidence that confirms the health benefits. 

“Breast-fed babies have lower incidence of ear infections, respiratory infections and gastrointestinal infections,” she said. “The baby’s general health is just better.” 

Alameda County’s Nutrition Coordinator Lyn Diana agreed. She said breast-fed babies also show higher intelligence and are less likely to contract diseases later in life such as cancer and diabetes. 

Diana said more mothers might choose breast-feeding if doctors and nurses offered advice or assistance to new mothers who might be interested in breast-feeding. 

“Formula companies [that produce food for bottle-fed babies] are mostly drug companies based in the United States and they have strong political lobbies,” she said. “The result is there is not a lot of political will to mandate that doctors and health care workers promote breast-feeding.” 

Sirbu, the director of the Berkeley Special Supplemental Nutrition Program, said that it is critical for the government to establish training programs for all health care workers. 

“In Cuba, where there’s a 99 percent breast-feeding rate, everybody knows about breast-feeding from the doctors to the janitors,” she said. “In this country it’s a different story.” 

Sirbu added that she was surprised by the number of mothers who came to participate in the event. She noted that one mother came from as far away as Houston.  

As Berkeley resident Julie Melvin and her 9-month-old daughter Emiline stood in line to register before the count, she said she wanted to participate for two reasons. 

“It’s definitely a good cause,” she said. “And having her be part of a world record before she’s one year old is pretty cool.”

To the Editor: 

If we really want to increase transit use in the San Francisco Bay Area, here are a few basic points from which to start: 

(1.) Help the 30 to 40 percent of the people who are transit dependent, the people who cannot drive – the elderly, the children, the handicapped, the poor and others who do not drive for other reasons. (2.) Consider the commuters who work regular hours and commute long distances, who amount to somewhere around 20 percent of the people. (3.) Examine the existing bus, rail transit, car pool and van pool systems to determine how they can all be integrated into a more convenient, comfortable and practical total system. (4.) Encourage riders and drivers to submit their ideas to improve the system. Grade transportation supervisors on whether their workers submit ideas.  

Charles L. Smith 

Berkeley

OAKLAND – Cory Lidle teamed with three Oakland relievers on a one-hitter, and Miguel Tejada hit a three-run homer Sunday as the Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers 4-0. 

Lidle (4-9) retired Detroit’s first 15 batters before Wendell Magee’s line-drive single to lead off the sixth. He faced just 22 hitters in seven innings, striking out six and getting double-play grounders to kill the Tigers’ only scoring chances. 

Tejada extended his hitting streak to 24 games — the second-longest in the majors this season behind Luis Castillo’s 35-gamer for Florida — with his third-inning blast against Mike Maroth (3-4). 

It was all the offense required by Lidle, whose up-and-down season reached another high point with an overwhelming performance. Sixteen days earlier at the Coliseum, Lidle threw an overpowering one-hitter against Texas that was the first shutout of his career. 

Oakland’s relievers were just as sharp as Lidle. Ricardo Rincon and Chad Bradford combined to strike out the side in the eighth, and Billy Koch pitched the ninth. 

Jermaine Dye had an RBI single in the eighth as the A’s won for the fourth time in five games leading up to a key road trip to Boston and New York. The weary Tigers finished a 10-game road trip by losing three of four at Oakland. 

Magee ended Lidle’s perfection with a full-count single to left. On the next pitch, however, Chris Truby grounded to Mark Ellis for an easy double play. 

Lidle got into his only trouble in the seventh, walking Damian Jackson and Shane Halter, but he struck out Bobby Higginson and got Randall Simon to ground into an inning-ending double play on a 3-0 pitch. 

Maroth was nearly as effective as Lidle, allowing four hits and striking out six. But Maroth walked four batters, and he threw one bad pitch to the hottest hitter in the AL. 

In the third, Ramon Hernandez singled and Scott Hatteberg walked before Tejada launched Maroth’s first pitch onto the barbecue platform in left field for his 25th homer. 

Tejada’s 24-game streak, which began at the All-Star break, is the second-longest in Oakland history, tying Carney Lansford’s 1984 streak. In 1997, Jason Giambi set the team record with a 25-game run that Tejada could match Tuesday night at Fenway Park. 

Tejada, a first-time All-Star last month, has 10 homers and 31 RBIs since the break, and he has hit safely in 35 of his last 36 games. Though he has played every game for the A’s this season, he hasn’t gone hitless in consecutive games since May 4-5. 

Notes: Dye returned to the A’s lineup after missing Saturday’s game with a sprained ankle, but 2B Ray Durham was a last-minute scratch with lower back pain. He left the clubhouse for X-rays. ... Halter made two errors on simple grounders — one in the second and one in the fourth. Both times, Halter bobbled the exchange between his glove and his throwing hand. ... Shortly before his single, Magee squared to bunt, drawing boos from the Coliseum crowd ... Higginson went 1-for-16 in the four-game series.

Monday, August 5 

Berkeley Gray Panthers Home Owners Meeting 

3 p.m. 

Berkeley Gray Panthers Office, 1403 Addison St. 

Janet Brush of Senior Alternatives tells about planning for future housing and long term care. 

548-9696 

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 at the 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 W.W.II sites in Richmond. 

817-1517 

Free 

Friday, August 9 

Community Skin Cancer Screening Clinic 

11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Markstein Cancer Education Center, Summit Campus, 2450 Ashby Avenue 

Skin cancer screenings offered to people with limited or no health insurance. By Appointment only. 

For more information or to make an appointment call 869-8833 

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  

548-3333 

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 

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." 

548-2220 x233 

Free 

Sunday, August 11 

Hands-on Bicycle Repair 

11 a.m.-noon 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

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

527-4140 

Free 

“Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport” 

2:00 p.m. 

Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St., Berkeley 

Screening of Oscar-winning documentary about child holocaust survivors who were sent, without their parents, out of Austria, Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia to Great Britain. 

848-0237 

$2 suggested donation 

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 

2 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Derby Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way  

Sample 35 different Tomato varieties 

548-3333 

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 

Wednesday, August 14 

Holistic Exercises Sharing Circle  

3:30 to 6:30 p.m.  

wrpclub@aol.com or 595-5541 for information 

Holistic Practitioners, Teachers, Students & Anyone who knows Holistic exercises take turns leading the group through an afternoon of exercises. 

$20 for six-month membership 

To publicize an event, please submit information two weeks in advance. Fax to 841-5694, e-mail to out@berkeleydailyplanet.net or mail to 2076 University Ave., 94704. Include a daytime telephone number. 

About 700 people rallied at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in Oakland Saturday in protest of plans to hire 100 new Oakland police officers and build a new 420-bed juvenile hall to serve Alameda County. 

Amid a skyrocketing murder rate, Oakland’s City Council voted last week to support Mayor Jerry Brown’s proposed ballot measure to raise $63 million through tax increases to outfit more police officers. 

Meanwhile, with overcrowded conditions at the county’s current 299-bed Juvenile Hall in San Leandro, county leaders are pursuing plans for a larger, $170 million youth detention facility.  

Organizers of Saturday’s demonstration, the Youth Force Coalition and Books Not Bars, argue that money for more cops and a bigger jail is not the best way to address the growing rates of crime. 

Furthermore, they say the policies are stacked against youth. 

“I can’t believe that the county would even consider putting more money into locking us up when they’ve said that they needed cutting for after-school programs, park and rec. programs and even cutting school budgets,” said YFC member Rico Nieves. 

Nieves noted that Oakland has a deficit of $83 million, which is already hurting school and youth programs. 

Nieves argued that new funding should go to community-based organizations and after-school programs in an attempt to keep kids out the criminal justice system. 

At Saturday’s rally, the attendees enjoyed a play staged by Colored Ink Theater and a variety of music including spoken word, hip hop and soul. There were also several dance performances.  

“We organized this to let the city of Oakland and the county of Alameda know that we want alternatives to incarceration,” said YFC Director Khadine Bennett. “We don’t want more cops. We want more jobs. We want more classrooms.” 

Bennett said there is no evidence that adding more cops to the police force will result in fewer homicides in Oakland. She is concerned because, in the past, youth in west Oakland have been unfairly targeted for arrest and harassment. 

Just last week Oakland settled several of the so-called Rider cases in which Oakland police officers were accused of kidnapping, filing false reports and beatings primarily in west Oakland neighborhoods. 

Mayor Brown, though, sees things differently. He and his supporters say that more police officers are fundamental to reducing the murder rate, which is now 67 for the year. 

And despite Saturday’s cries to the contrary, Brown says the ballot initiative to fund more officers has widespread support. 

“Oakland is underpoliced. If we had the same number of police officers per capita, we’d have almost three times as many as we have,” Brown said. “We’ve got a lot of support and some opposition. You have some people who don’t like police.”  

The measure to expand the Oakland police force will go to Oakland voters in November. The measure also proposes funding for violence prevention programs. 

While plans for the county’s new Juvenile Hall are still being worked out, construction of the facility must begin by 2005 for the county to qualify for state funds. 

– The Associated Press contributed to this story

To the Editor: 

On the evening of May 23, I was driving to San Francisco from my home in Berkeley. Traffic was very heavy and there were serious delays. I came to the conclusion that I would not be able to make my meeting in San Francisco on time and I decided to get off before reaching the bridge and return home. I was in one of the middle lanes and began slowly working my way toward the right, which was difficult, as there were several large trucks in the right-hand lanes. 

I saw the signs clearly marking the bus lane, then the sign for West Grand, the last East Bay exit. Due to the obstructed visibility I did not see the actual exit, which veers off at a fairly sharp angle, nor could I see any signage. I followed other traffic to the right – which, unbeknownst to me, was moving into the bus lane, which curves around and rejoins the main traffic lanes. Only after going over a rise is it possible to see that this is the bus lane, and only when I was already in the lane could I see the small signs designating it as such, at which point it was too late to get out of it. 

I pulled over and stopped on the right shoulder, where about half a dozen CHP cars were pulling over all auto traffic, and tried to explain what had happened to an officer. I was most displeased to discover that he was not at all interested in listening to my explanation. His remarks indicated to me that he just assumed that I was trying to avoid the congestion (and the toll) by using the bus lane. 

Given the volume of traffic being pulled over in the bus lane, it is possible to do some very rough calculations. There were about six CHP cars, with each one writing a ticket approximately every ten minutes. The person I spoke with at the CHP’s Oakland office told me that this is fairly typical, though she declined to provide exact figures. Traffic was particularly heavy at that hour, though it was after rush hour, so instead of multiplying by 24 hours, it would be conservative to say that there is eight hours worth of this kind of traffic daily. Six cars times six tickets/hour times eight hours times 365 days times $271/ticket = $28,487,520 yearly revenue. 

When the officer asked me to sign the citation, I had already figured this out (though not quantitatively) and I wrote “THIS IS STATE EXTORTION” on the ticket above my signature. The officer then violated the law by crossing out what I had written. It is illegal to alter a document signed by another person after it is signed. I’m an American citizen and I was raised to believe in justice. In the American tradition, I choose to be militant in defense of my rights. There’s a major problem at the Bay Bridge approach which needs to be addressed.  

Kevin Langdon 

Berkeley

WASHINGTON – Well, they got the halftime show in. 

After a lightning storm caused a nearly one-hour delay, Major League Soccer eliminated the final 15 minutes of the first half of its All-Star game on Saturday for a concert by pop singer Paulina Rubio. 

“They could have nixed Paulina to play 10 more minutes of soccer,” Dallas forward Jason Kreis said. 

Just weeks after baseball couldn’t produce a winner in its All-Star game because it ran out of players after 11 innings, soccer produced an unusually abbreviated game, with the MLS All-Stars beating the U.S. national team 3-2. 

The game’s title sponsor was conspicuous during the halftime show – its logo was pasted across two inflatable bottles, the stage in the middle of the field and the headbands of dancers. 

“We felt it was the right decision to make on what we were trying to deliver to our television audience and what we were trying to deliver to our audience in the stands,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said. 

It used to be that all baseball games had a winner or loser unless stopped by rain or darkness, and that all soccer games went at least 90 minutes. 

But that is no longer the case. 

Garber said the decision to cut one-sixth of the game was his, and that ABC didn’t make the call. After broadcasting the halftime show, ABC dropped coverage of the game at 6 p.m. EDT, with the score 1-1 in the 26th minute of the second half, to return to local programming. 

Coverage switched to the cable network ESPN, which like ABC is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co., and one minute later game MVP Marco Etcheverry scored for the MLS All-Stars. 

During regular-season play, the Bolivian has scored just one league goal in the past 1 1/2 years. 

“I think that’s the first one he’s scored since 1960 – when he was 20 years old,” joked U.S. coach Bruce Arena, Etcheverry’s former coach at DC United. 

In a year when soccer fans worried about the rainy season in Japan and South Korea during the World Cup, the biggest weather story happened at RFK Stadium in the U.S. capital. 

Rain began to fall in the 12th minute and the game was halted because of lightning eight minutes later by Brian Hall – the American referee who worked at the World Cup. The 20 minutes were the longest scoreless stretch in the seven All-Star games staged by the young league. 

During the delay, visibility was down to about 100 yards. Despite warnings to take cover, about a dozen fans ran out on the field, and one was led off in handcuffs after he mooned the crowd. 

About 100 members of Sam’s Army, the U.S. fan group, stayed by their seats, singing and dancing despite announcements to take cover in the stadium concourse. 

When the game resumed, the turf was so soggy that passes along the ground quickly rolled to a stop. Still, it produced five goals and far more entertaining soccer than during the first half, when the turf so was slick that players had trouble controlling the ball. 

“You don’t want to do anything to disappoint the fans who went out and spent their hard-earned money,” said Landon Donovan, who scored twice for the U.S. team during the World Cup. 

Nine of the 11 U.S. starters were on the World Cup roster, but the Americans were missing 12 of the Europe-based players, who are preparing for the start of their club seasons. Also missing was injured forward Clint Mathis. 

Donovan, who scored four goals during last year’s All-Star game and at 20 was the youngest scorer at the World Cup, put the Americans ahead 12 minutes into the second half, but Kreis tied it a minute later. 

After the goal by Etcheverry, the United States tied it 2-all when Cobi Jones scored in the 31st minute of the second half. Steve Ralston scored the game-winner five minutes later off a backheel pass from Kreis. 

The strangest moment came with one minute left, when the MLS’s Dema Kovalenko upended the Americans’ DaMarcus Beasley, his Chicago teammate, with a cleats-up tackle. 

“Come Monday in practice, I’m going to put on the studs and get him back,” Beasley said.

An investigation by four high-level scientists into the alleged fabrication of two new elements has determined a well-respected nuclear researcher was the sole person capable of the fraud. 

Victor Ninov was the only scientist in the prestigious Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory research group who had access to the original data, and he announced a discovery in 1999 that proved false, the investigators said. 

“There is clear evidence to conclude that Dr. Ninov has engaged in misconduct in scientific research by carrying out this fabrication,” wrote the four scientists, among them a former Berkeley lab director and physicist Rochus Vogt of the California Institute of Technology. 

The investigators, however, also called it “incredible” that research team members failed to double-check Ninov’s claim they had discovered a new element. 

That negligence exposed “disturbing weaknesses in the operations and dynamics” of the team, including a lack of the “continuous vigilance” that is essential “to ensure (scientific) integrity,” the review said. 

The review, released Friday, was among three initiated by the lab since the scandal unfolded. Ninov was fired in April as a result of the findings, but has maintained his innocence. 

“At no time did I knowingly engage in any form of misrepresentation of data or scientific misconduct,” Ninov wrote in a letter to the lab’s final review committee. “I stand by the integrity of my research.” 

Scientific misconduct is extremely rare in the high-intensity world of physics said Donald Kennedy, president of Stanford University and editor of the journal Science. 

The discovery of two new element, named 118 for the number of protons in its nucleus, thrilled scientists around the world but prompted suspicion when researchers in Germany, Japan and even Berkeley could not replicate the results. 

The lab team withdrew the findings in 2001. 

To the Editor: 

According to the person overseeing the issue of particulate matter at the state EPA, the Harrison Park Air Study is based on a flawed study design. A recent long-term study of 3,500 children in the Los Angeles basin found no correlation between particulate matter and increased respiratory distress among athletes versus non-athletes. 

To understand the folly of the Harrison Park Air Study you need to go back about six years. It was then that L A Wood, who wanted the park land used as a location for the corporation yard, brought up the argument that the land shouldn’t be used for a park because the air quality was so bad. This statement flew in the face of the air studies that had already been done which indicated the air quality was acceptable for playing fields. So the previous study was attacked as inadequate and the environmental forces reached an agreement with city staff to conduct a second, more comprehensive study. Within the scientific community one of the emerging links between respiratory distress and air quality was particulate matter, or dust. So the Harrison Park Air Study was designed to measure particulate matter at Harrison Park. 

Unfortunately, for several reasons the study was doomed to failure even before the first air quality measurement was taken. The city chose to locate the machine that measures the particulate matter off the playing fields right next to the railroad tracks. As freight and passenger trains move up and down these tracks all day long, one would hope the machine would register high levels of dust or you would have to suspect the machine wasn’t working. The city’s rationale for placing the machine next to the railroad tracks is that they wanted to have a “worst case scenario.” However the central locus for activity at the park is between 100 and 125 yards away from these tracks.  

Another problem is that state EPA particulate standards are based on the exposure for someone who lives seven days a week (24-hour exposure) in the air quality environment. When the Berkeley Daily Planet reports that the air quality at Harrison Park exceeds state standards and couples this with pictures of kids playing soccer, it gives the reader the impression that there is an air quality issue for these children. The Planet articles never mention that, at most, a child is at the field for six hours out of the 168 hours in the EPA week. Or put another way the child has an exposure rate of less than 4 percent of the EPA standard. Assuming the EPA standards mean anything, it would suggest that there isn’t a problem. 

Doug Fielding 

Association of Sports Field Users

A fifth candidate has entered the race for Berkeley’s hotly contested 8th District City Council seat.  

Carlos Estrada, a Green Party supporter and recent immigrant from Mexico, said he will file for the campaign in the next few days. Hoping to gain the support of fellow immigrants and minority voters, Estrada says he will fight for the disenfranchised. 

He joins four other candidates – Gordon Wozniak, Andy Katz, Anne Wagley and Jay Vega – in the campaign to represent Berkeley residents in one of the more conservative districts amid the city’s left-leaning politics.  

Financial figures released by the city last week provide a measure of progress for two of the candidates. 

As of June 30, Wagley received $5,483 in campaign contributions and spent $1,285 on the campaign trail. Meanwhile, Wozniak has totaled $17,245 in contributions and spent $5,543.  

Because Vega, Katz and Estrada entered the race later than Wagley and Wozniak, their financial records are not due until the end of August. 

As the campaign heats up, candidates face a complex set of housing, traffic and crime issues in a district divided between students and locals, young and old and renters and homeowners. 

“We need development that’s in scale with neighborhoods,” said Katz, who last week received a campaign endorsement from Assemblywoman Dion Aroner, D-Oakland. 

Wagley also puts housing at the top of her priority list. The city lacks adequate housing options for students and low-income residents, she said. She proposes creating additional housing at various locations along Telegraph and Shattuck avenues. 

Traffic is another issue. “A lot of people would like to see UC limit the number of student cars both on and off campus,” Wagley said. 

Working with UC Berkeley will also be a priority for Katz. The recent Cal grad says the “class pass,” which allows students to ride AC Transit for free, should be extended to UC Berkeley faculty and staff. 

Traffic safety is a big part of Wozniak’s campaign. “We need to reduce traffic speed, especially in residential areas where children are playing,” he said. Additional speed bumps could improve safety, he added. 

In addition to traffic, crime is an increasingly important issue, candidates say. A recent rash of car burglaries in the district has worried many residents. 

Campaigning door to door, Wagley said increasing neighborhood watch programs could help solve this problem. 

Katz said adding more police foot and bike patrols would help curb crime. 

Fire safety will also be a critical issue during the campaign, says Wozniak. Reducing brush in both Berkeley and Oakland could help residents avoid a repeat of the deadly 1991 hills fire, he said. 

Jay Vega, who could not be reached for comment, intends to focus on both traffic and disaster preparedness issues, according to past interviews with the Daily Planet. 

For Estrada, who recently obtained U.S. citizenship and has been living in Berkeley for the past eight years, the campaign presents an opportunity to inform the public of new political avenues.

The Rent Stabilization Board will hear the appeal tonight of a Berkeley landlord accused of overcharging residents and ignoring sanitary regulations at a boarding house for UC Berkeley students. 

The landlord, Reza Valiyee, is responsible for day-to-day upkeep of a 49-unit house on 2412 Piedmont Ave., but according to a petition filed by 13 residents in May 2001, Valiyee has failed to fulfill his duties. 

The residents complained that toilets and sinks were left clogged, showers were not cleaned, the refrigerator did not work and rodents plagued the house. 

Residents also maintained that Valiyee overcharged them for rent and failed to return interest on security deposits. Rooms in the boarding house were rented for between $550 and $700, but most are covered by rent ceilings that limit what he can charge to $500. 

At an administrative hearing last November, the hearing examiner sided with the residents and ordered Valiyee to make rent reparations, ranging from $894 to $3,284, to the 13 residents who filed the petition.  

Valiyee maintains that the hearing examiner ruled incorrectly and was biased against him. 

Valiyee had previously butted heads with city officials over the boarding house. In November of 2000, the Zoning Adjustment Board declared the property a public nuisance, citing that Valiyee built five additional units without a permit. 

Contact reporter at 

matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net

SACRAMENTO — About 1 million Californians laid off as a result of the terrorist attacks will get an extra bonus in their unemployment checks starting this week, Gov. Gray Davis announced Sunday. 

The benefits will be paid retroactively, and some workers could receive up to an additional $2,600, said Steve Smith, director of state’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency. 

About 326,000 checks totaling $283 million will go out Monday with the remaining checks expected to arrive in October or November, Smith said. 

Monday’s checks will be processed for those who filed claims on or after Sept. 9, 2001. On Aug. 18, the same benefits will be processed for those who filed before that date but didn’t collect benefits until after. 

“These measures support workers adversely affected by the events of Sept. 11 and the economic downturn,” Davis said in a statement. 

To be eligible for the retroactive benefits, a claim must have been filed on or before Dec. 30, 2001 with weekly unemployment benefits being paid beginning on or after Sept. 11, 2001. Claimants must also have a weekly benefit amount of $97 or more with certain provisions applied to earnings criteria.

LOS ANGELES — Some big-money donors who traditionally give to Republican candidates have been sending checks to Democratic Gov. Gray Davis while withholding their largesse from his GOP challenger, Bill Simon, according to an analysis Sunday by the Los Angeles Times. 

The development underscores that the governor’s middle-of-the-road policies have ingratiated him with traditional Republican constituencies like business and industry. And it’s another bad sign for Simon that suggests the donors are betting Davis will win re-election. 

“I don’t think any of us want to throw money away on a campaign without being convinced it can win,” John J. Coffey, general manager of government relations for ChevronTexaco Corp., said of the struggling Simon. “Maybe at some point you get there, but not yet.” 

ChevronTexaco has given Davis $216,000 and nothing to Simon. By contrast four years ago, when Davis ran against then-Attorney General Dan Lungren, Chevron donated $207,000 to the GOP candidate. 

Traditional GOP backer The Irvine Co. donated $300,000 to Lungren, but has given $73,152 to Davis since he took office while giving no money to Simon. 

Timber interests, which gave heavily to Lungren, have donated more than $450,000 to Davis. The agricultural industry, another traditional source of cash for Republicans, has given the governor roughly $1.5 million. 

Some donors that split their giving between Davis and Lungren four years ago have given only to Davis this time around. E&J Gallo, for example, gave $104,000 to Lungren and $100,000 to Davis. This time around Gallo has donated $215,000 to Davis and nothing to Simon. 

The trend has contributed to Davis’ huge lead over Simon in fund-raising. As of the end of June the governor had about $31 million in the bank while Simon had roughly $5 million.

DAVIS – Former University of California eye researcher Bin Han, his wife and their two sons, ages 9 and 14, were home watching “Jurassic Park III” on May 17 when police showed up with a search warrant. 

“Bingo,” one officer said as he peered into Han’s freezer. 

The officer found 20 vials of a biological “glue” used in stem cell experiments that belonged to a UC Davis lab. Days before, the lab had fired Han for allegedly mishandling three mice used in experiments. 

Han is one of four Asian-born scientists working in U.S. labs who has been jailed in recent weeks, accused of stealing valuable research material. 

A fifth admitted in May that he lied to the FBI to cover up for a colleague who allegedly looted $2 million worth of Alzheimer’s disease research. 

But most charges against Han and the others have been downgraded or dropped. Han, originally charged with three felonies, now faces only a misdemeanor theft charge. 

The arrests have opened a window onto an industry that experts say is plagued by spying and smuggling of American trade secrets, and a new U.S. law that has been able to do little about it. 

On the other side, Asian-American groups say the prosecutions smack of the same overzealous fear of Asian competition seen in the government’s rigorous prosecution of Wen Ho Lee, a Chinese-American accused in 1999 of copying sensitive nuclear weapons data at Los Alamos National Laboratory. 

Although Lee was held in solitary confinement for nine months, he was charged only with illegally downloading data. 

Since 1996, when Congress passed the Economic Espionage Act, the Justice Department has prosecuted 47 people in 34 cases. Of those cases, 16 were filed in the last 18 months. 

Asian defendants were involved in a quarter of those prosecutions. 

Chinese-American groups charge that some cases are little more than racist “witch hunts” that have historically plagued scientists of ethnic Chinese origin. 

“You can’t help but question the motivation behind the charges,” said Ivy Lee, a retired sociology professor who is president of the Sacramento-based Chinese American Political Action Committee, one of the groups protesting the recent arrests. 

For prosecutors, the cases are extraordinarily tough to bring forward. They require not only proof of criminal intent, but painstaking investigations by agents schooled in the high-tech world of biotechnology and other sciences. 

“You have to prove several elements, including that the defendant stole something to make money, that something was a trade secret and it was done with an intent to injure a particular company,” said David Green, deputy chief of the Justice Department’s intellectual property section. 

Federal prosecutors reject many cases because they are connected to business disputes best resolved through lawsuits, Green said. 

Other cases are hamstrung by victimized companies reluctant to come forward for fear of upsetting investors and tipping off competitors to potential problems. 

Additional obstacles exist in the biotechnology industry, where key research is done in academic labs that often foster a free flow of scientific information. 

Biotechnology companies are particularly vulnerable to trade theft because individual secrets – such as simply knowing where a few important genes are located – are key to developing blockbuster drugs. 

Uncovering and convicting spies in such a realm has proved extremely tricky. 

Perhaps no case highlights the challenges more than one involving the University of California, Davis and the vials seized from Bin Han’s freezer. 

UC Davis officials said the vials were worth $1 billion in the right hands. They told police they feared Han was planning to return to his native China and launch a biotechnology company with the school’s property. 

When police also found Han had a plane ticket to China, investigators decided it all added up to economic espionage. 

So Han was arrested and charged with three felonies that could have sent him to prison for 25 years. He was held without bail in solitary confinement for 18 days. 

But today, Han is out of jail and the felony charges have been dropped. Han is scheduled to go trial Aug. 13 on a single misdemeanor theft charge, the legal equivalent of shoplifting. 

As it turned out, Han had innocent explanations for most of his actions. 

He said he stored the vials in his freezer because he didn’t have time to drop them off on campus the day he picked them up from a Sacramento biotechnology company. He said he was fired before he could take the vials to the lab. 

The ticket to China turned out to be round-trip, for a long-planned journey to visit his parents. He said he was leaving his family behind in the Davis home they own. 

The Yolo County District Attorney’s office, which is prosecuting Han, didn’t return telephone calls. UC Davis officials say race had nothing to do with Han’s case and still maintain he stole school property. 

Separately, federal prosecutors in Boston have agreed to delay an economic espionage case against former Harvard Medical School scientists Kayoko Kimbara and Jiangyu Zhu as a potential plea bargain on lesser crimes is negotiated. 

One possible sticking point for prosecutors is the fact that two, who were arrested in June, are accused of stealing genes they themselves discovered. Their defenders say it’s common for such post-doctoral scientists to take their work with them when they change jobs. 

Kimbara, of Japan, and the China-born Zhu are accused of sending the genes to a Japanese biotechnology company. They signed routine agreements that gave Harvard ownership to any discoveries they made while working there. They contend they meant only to further their research and never intended to profit from it. 

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston declined to comment on the case. 

That prosecution followed one from the Cleveland Clinic in which economic espionage charges were dropped against Alzheimer’s researcher Hiroaki Serizawa in exchange for his admission that he lied to the FBI to cover up for Takashi Okamoto, a fellow Japanese scientist now in his homeland resisting U.S. extradition attempts. 

Okamoto is accused of stealing and destroying vials of genetic material key to Alzheimer’s disease research from the Cleveland Clinic and taking them with him to Riken, a Japanese government-sponsored research facility. 

The alleged theft and destruction of genetic materials led to the termination of the clinic’s Alzheimer’s studies.

Dozens of residents in south Berkeley are burning mad about two vacant buildings on the bustling 3000 block of Telegraph Avenue. Gutted by fire earlier this year, the structures have since become a haven for graffiti and the homeless. 

“[The site] screams do something,” said Thomas O’Connell, a resident who lives across the street from the scorched buildings. “Anything to expedite the blight of the burned-out buildings would be an improvement.” 

O’Connell might just get his way. The city manager’s office said this week that property owner Edward Dair, who lives in San Francisco, is close to reaching an agreement with a non-profit developer about a new project for the site. 

Though Dair could not be reached for comment, Jim Hynes, an assistant to the city manager, said the new project would likely consist of a few housing units and a small business. 

Before the fire on Jan. 26, Milt’s Coin-Op Laundry and Avenue Liquor operated at 3055 Telegraph Ave. 

In the past seven months, however, neighbors say the site has been repeatedly covered in graffiti and attracted a number of transients who now urinate and defecate there. 

“We’re working aggressively on this [problem]. The longer the site stays as it is, the worse things will get. We’re using every tool in our disposal to find a solution,” Hynes said. 

Dair has been warned by city officials that fines will be imposed upon him if the condition of the site is not improved. At this point, though, no penalties have been assessed.  

The city has also erected a chain-link fence outside the buildings to prevent trespassing. Additionally, the city has painted over graffiti at least five times and removed trash frequently from the premises. 

But the problem remains, residents say. Neighbors want graffiti and the homeless presence to be eradicated and, secondly, they want the vacant structures appropriately replaced. 

Dair has pledged to paint over all graffiti on the site this week, according to Hynes. New locks will also be placed on the chain-link fence, Hynes said. 

City Councilmember Kriss Worthington, the city representative for the south Berkeley neighborhood, says leaving the graffiti sends the wrong message to both residents and visitors. 

“It’s such a prominent location and major eyesore. Leaving the graffiti there tells people that this person doesn’t care about this building,” he said. 

In the long term, residents want the laundry mat that burned down to return. Many, however, hope the adjacent liquor store will not come back. Neighbors say that the liquor store perpetuated crime in the area. 

“I’d be glad to see [Avenue Liquor] go,” said Nancy Carleton, co-chairperson of the Halcyon Neighborhood Association.  

“[But] we need to get the laundry mat back as quickly as possible,” O’Connell added. “It was like a social institution. People actually met other people there. It’s good to know your neighbors.” 

Tuesday night, members of the Halcyon Neighborhood Association are scheduled to discuss the future of the site during the neighborhood’s annual rally National Night Out Against Crime. 

“It was a huge tragedy that the fire happened to [Dair]. It was a huge tragedy to the neighborhood. But he’s got a responsibility to the community. It’s becoming a blight,” said Douglas Burnham, a local resident and architect.

To the Editor: 

I am writing because I am furious at again being the target of UC’s double-dealing. I recently attended a staff forum held on the UC Berkeley campus where the “New Directions” transit program for UC staff was announced. I also received an e-mail that went out over Vice-Chancellor Horace Mitchell’s name which stated, “Any employee can try a New Directions program risk free.” 

Yet when I went to Berkeley Trip yesterday to ask for the $10 monthly discount on transit passes/tickets, I was told that I didn’t qualify because I’m a member of the clericals’ union, CUE. The explanation was that since we are in contract negotiations, these benefits don’t apply to us. 

Clericals on this campus are fed up and then some with UC’s glowing public announcements about what a benevolent employer they are, announcements which are then all too often followed by private, unpublicized retractions and alterations. This deception is union-busting, and the clericals on this campus will not stand for it. 

I can’t state strongly enough what a bitter taste this experience leaves. And I am amazed, too, that Vice-Chancellor Mitchell hasn’t stepped in and done something about this situation, since his reputation has been damaged in the process. If we can’t trust the public statements of a high-level UC administrator, who can we trust? 

Jude Bell 

Local 3, Clericals’ Union

In 1902 the Berkeley Development Company purchased approximately 2000 acres of land in north Berkeley that would become the Northbrae and Thousand Oaks residential subdivisions.  

The first phase of the Northbrae subdivision was opened in 1907. It was conceived and promoted as an affordable area for middle-income families conveniently located near electric rail lines. Northbrae is bounded by Yolo and Eunice on the south, Solano and Indian Rock on the north, the Albany city limits on the west, and Spruce Street on the east.  

The landscape plan was designed by landscape architect and University professor R. E. Mansell. It provided broad, curving streets that followed the contours of the land with wide arcs at intersections rather than sharp corners; rose-colored sidewalks, rather than gray, were used to soften the visual effects of the paving.  

John Galen Howard, the University of California, Berkeley architect, designed the public amenities such as The Circle, the entrance pillars on The Alameda, stairways, benches and native stone pillars used as street markers. The Circle is the focal point and center of the subdivision, and it is surrounded by Classic balustrades, recently repaired and restored, with large terra-cotta planters on piers at the ends of the balustrades.  

In the center of the circle is a nine-foot, double tiered fountain, a replica of the original 1910 fountain, adorned with four baby grizzly bears. Howard also designed a train station and real estate office, which are no longer standing. 

In 1907, as part of a scheme to attract people to north Berkeley, Louis Titus proposed that the state capital be moved to Berkeley on forty acres of land that the Berkeley Development Company would donate for this purpose. This proposal made it to the state ballot in 1908 as the Capital Removal Measure, but failed to achieve the necessary votes. The legacy of this endeavor are streets named for the counties of the state: Marin, Colusa, Merced, Sonoma, Modoc, and so forth. 

An advertising brochure for Northbrae states: “The restrictions that have gone far to make Claremont most desired for homes will be a feature of Northbrae.” The minimum cost of a residence would be $2,500, setbacks from street were fifteen feet, and “...saloons, businesses, flats, apartment houses, second houses on one lot, and stores were prohibited... here at least a man may build his home with the assurance that his sight will not be offended by hideous houses on neighboring lots, his view cut off by buildings shoved in front of his own or his sunshine and air stolen by a wall.” 

By 1911 there were five electric streetcar lines serving this area and the Solano Tunnel (built for the Southern Pacific line) was finally complete. The northeastern parts of Northbrae, all of Thousand Oaks, Cragmont, and North Cragmont were annexed to Berkeley in 1920. 

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

For Raymond Nat Turner and Zigi Lowenberg, it’s all about finding a blend and balance between art and commerce, music and language, social justice and entertainment, Jewish New York and African-American Los Angeles and the personal and public personas that they project through Upsurge!, their jazz-poetry ensemble. The Oakland couple, who has lived together and collaborated for more than a decade, addresses these issues in their newest CD “Chromatology,” which hits the streets in October.  

Turner’s commitment to social justice has been nurtured since he was nine, when he accompanied his mother on picket lines in Los Angeles. His poetic and political sensibilities were further sharpened by his exposure to the work of Amiri Baraka, formerly LeRoi Jones, and Langston Hughes. A love of jazz led him to combine spoken word with music in Upsurge!, which he founded in 1990. 

“What we’re doing is trying to democratize poetry,” said Turner. “We want to take it out of the province of academia and the ivory tower.”  

Turner and Lowenberg were introduced by a mutual friend in 1989. “We met on the phone,” said Lowenberg. Their first blind date was a jazz/dance show at Kimball’s East, in Emveryville. A romantic and artistic partnership was soon forged. 

Turner was managing the band of drummer Donald “Duck” Bailey at the time. But he began to focus his energy on Upsurge! as the ensemble added saxophone, drums, and dancers in quick succession.  

Lowenberg’s background is in the visual arts, and she was teaching painting and art to children prior to her involvement in Upsurge!. She began designing fliers for the new band, but Turner was so inspired by a poem she had written that he suggested a collaboration. They performed together at “Spread Love,” a multimedia event in 1992, and have been co-wordsmiths for Upsurge! ever since. 

The ex-New Yorker is happy with the immediacy of the live performance format. “It’s instant feedback. In the visual arts, there’s a long time between the artistic process and feedback,” she said. 

Lowenberg is inspired by jazz vocalist Abbey Lincoln, whom she admires for her “deceptive simplicity.”  

Upsurge! never backs down from the social commitment of Turner’s childhood. They have performed at rallies for embattled Congresswoman Barbara Lee and death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal. They also recently lent their talents to Berkeley Reads, the city’s adult literacy program.  

“For me, as an African-American male living 24-7 in America, I never have to worry about losing my edge,” Turner said. 

This edge is evident in the group’s first CD, “All Hands on Deck” which won honorable mention in the spoken word category by the Association of Independent Music in 2000. It was released on Upsurge’s own Abolition Media.  

The disc features a startling Turner composition entitled “The Hyphen Between African and American is Wyoming-Wide.” Turner unleashes a spoken-word torrent while Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” lays down the foundation for this expose of the African-American Experience. “The gap between African and American is Wyoming-wide, wishing well-steep, Himalaya-high and Grand Canyon-deep,” he says.  

“The Unemployment Question” addresses the underbelly of the American dream. “Somewhere under the rainbow/lies true hues/in bright red, black, and dark blues,” says Turner. “Drawing unemployment/is like drawing straws/we come up short/under rich folks’ laws.” 

Other works speak to the artistic experience. On “Angles,” a collaborative effort between the couple, they note, “Jazz is risk/a blue note bent between piano strings/Jazz is angles/like shards of sun looping light years behind a beat.” The words of Turner and Lowenberg are backed by drummer Babatunde Lea, bassist Ron Belcher, saxophonist Richard Howell and a host of Bay Area special guests including vocalist Brenda Boykin.  

Lowenberg talks about the dynamic of combining art forms. “You’re working almost against the music,” she said. “It makes the music and the words stronger when you’re listening to each other. “That’s why we have a sound of our own. We’re not totally in the poetry camp or in the jazz camp.” 

Many artists have day jobs, and so do Upsurge! members. While Lowenberg pays the bills through office work, Turner has been an artist-in-residence with the California Arts Council for the past four years. Among the projects he’s been involved with is Voices of the Elders which encourages senior citizens to express themselves through poetry.  

Lowenberg and Turner have a motto for Upsurge: ABC. “That’s art, business and community,” said Turner. While their art and community involvement are inseparable, it takes money to put on shows and produce records, and that’s where the business acumen comes in handy. 

In July they put on a show at Ashkenaz, which cleverly gave fans a sneak preview of their upcoming CD, while raising cash for the finishing and mastering elements of production. “We need more dough to complete our hooks,” said a flier advertising the “CD-to-be-released Fundraiser Celebration.”  

In the meantime, Upsurge continues to push their agenda, through school appearances, rallies, concerts and radio play. Their ability to mix media while delivering potent messages is a reminder to their listeners that the personal is always political.  

For more information, see www.upsurgejazz.com

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 

Girl Rock Night 

Binky, Virgin Mega Whore, Hope Child & Atomic Mint 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-2082 

$5 door 

Rokia Traore 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$16 door/ Free for 12 and under 

Talk of da Town and the Mighty Prince Singers 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Sunday, August 4 

The Byron Berline Band 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Flamenco Open Stage 

8 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$8 door/ Free for 12 and under 

Paula West 

4:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Jazz School 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 

Tuesday, August 6 

Brass Menagerie 

8:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$8 door/ Free for 12 and under 

The Hot Buttered Rum String Band 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Wednesday, August 7 

Paul Rishell & Annie Raines 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Brenda Boykin & Home Cookin’ 

West Coast Swing/Afrobilly 

9 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$8 door/ Free for 12 and younger 

Thursday, August 8 

World Wide Wild Witch Women for the Trees 

Pandemonaeon, Kioka Grace and Land of the Blind, Wendy Wu 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-2082 

$6 door 

Friday, August 9 

3Canal 

The Cut & Clear Crew with DJ Engine Room 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$12 advabcem, $15 door/ Free for 12 and younger 

Henri-Pierre Koubaka 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Left Hand Smoke, Schfvilkus 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-2082 

$7 door 

Saturday, August 10 

Afromuzika 

9 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$12 door/ Free for 12 and under 

Mark Growden’s Electric Pinata, Beth Custer Ensemble 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-2082 

$7 door 

Tony MacMahon, Jody Stecher & Eric Thompson 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

10-ring Cultural Circus 

Noon to 6 p.m. 

Main stage on Center St. near the City Garage between Shattuck and Milvia 

The 5th annual Berkeley Arts City Wide Celebration of Art and Politics opens with this event. Music, poetry, speakers, storytelling and more. 

665-9496 

Free 

University of California, Berkeley Summer Symphony 

8 p.m. 

Hertz Hall on the U.C. Campus located near the intersection of Bancroft and College. 

Performing Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in d-minor with soloist Mei-Fang Lin and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in c-minor. 

642-4864 

Free 

Sunday, August 11 

Jim Hurst & Missy Raines 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Robert Helps Memorial Marathon Concert 

Berkeley Arts Festival 

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 

Free 

Virginia Mayhew 

4:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Jazz School, 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 

Thursday, August 15 

Dean Santomieri: Multi-Media Works 

8 p.m. 

Wells Fargo Annex, 2801 Center St. 

Multi-media works “The Boy Beneath the Sea” and “A Book Bound in Red Buckram...” presented by composer, monologist, and video artist Santomieri. 

665-9496 

Free 

Saturday, August 17 

Composer Portraits with Sarah Cahill and Gabriela Frank 

Berkeley Arts Festival 

8 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

Saturday, August 17, 2002  

665-9099 

$10 

Faye Carol 

Black Repertory Group Benefit 

8 p.m. and 10 p.m. 

Black Repertory Group, 3201 Adeline St. 

849-9940 

$10 general, $15 students and seniors 

August 16, 17 & 18 

The Transparent Tape Music Festival 2 

8:30 p.m. 

Transparent Theater, 1901 Ashby, Berkeley 

(415) 614-2434 for info and reservations 

$7 one night, $15 festival pass 

"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  

Freedom! Now! 

Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery & Headquarters 2055 Center St. 

Reception 6 to 8 p.m. 

Through 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 

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. - 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. - 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 

"New Visions: Introductions '02"  

Works from emerging Californian artists 

Through Aug. 10 

Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St., Oakland 

763-4361 

Free 

“If These Walls Could Talk” 

Through September 8 

Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California Campus (just below Grizzly Peak Blvd.) 

See how various civilizations built all kinds of structures from mud huts to giant skyscrapers at this building exhibit. 

642-5132 

Admission: $8 for adults; $6 for youth 5-18, seniors and disabled; $4 for children 3-4; Free for children under 3, LHS Members and full-time Berkeley students. 

Upcoming 

"New Work: Part 2, The 2001 Kala  

Fellowship Exhibition"  

Aug. 8 through Sept. 7, Tues.-Fri. Noon to 5:30 p.m., Sat. 12:00-4:30 p.m. 

Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 

Featuring 8 Kala Fellowship winners, printmaking 

549-2977  

“Virtually Real Oakland - The Magic, The Diversity and the Potholes” 

Aug. 10 through Sept. 21, Mon.-Fri. 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. 

Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St., Berkeley 

Exhibit by Ken Burson; digitally enhanced photos of Oakland. 

644-1400 

Free 

BACA National Juried Exhibition 

Aug. 18 through Sept. 21, Wed.-Sun. Noon to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park 

40 artists from across the U.S. including 28 Bay Area artists. 

644-6893 

Free 

Friday, August 16 

“Pericles, Prince of Tyre” 

8:00 p.m. 

Wells Fargo Annex, 2081 Center St. 

this romance follows Prince Pericles, hunted for a crime he did not commit, on an epic voyage around the Mediterranean. Presented by Woman’s Will, the Bay Area’s all-female Shakespeare Company. 

665-9496 

Free 

Saturday, August 17 

Mock City Council 

Berkeley Arts Festival  

7 p.m. 

Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way or Channel 25 

Comic rendition of a Berkeley City Council meeting presented by George Coates Productions. 

665-9099 

$10 

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

NEW YORK – With a pivotal week of talks upcoming, baseball players hope there’s enough progress in negotiations to make setting a strike deadline unnecessary. 

The union’s executive board will meet by telephone conference call Tuesday, but a decision on setting a strike date is unlikely then, two people familiar with the union’s deliberations said Friday on the condition they not be identified. 

A strike date would have to be set by the executive board and, so far, union head Donald Fehr has held off calling a meeting. If he does, the likeliest date is Aug. 12, when only five games are scheduled. 

“I was told that, hopefully, we won’t get to that meeting,” Tampa Bay player representative John Flaherty said. “That’s as optimistic as I’ve heard since we had a meeting with Don in Baltimore last year. This is the most optimistic I’ve been since that time.” 

Rob Manfred, the owners’ top labor lawyer, said there was “a mutually shared goal of getting an agreement as quickly as possible” and that “there is plenty of time to reach an agreement now. Time is not an issue.” 

For now, players don’t want to use their biggest weapon — a strike. 

“A strike date does create time pressure,” Manfred said. “People are making genuine efforts to get to an agreement without the need for that.” 

The sides plan to be available for meetings every day next week, continuing the intensified schedule that began Monday. 

“Everything is moving along in a positive matter. We feel progress is being made,” Milwaukee player representative Ray King said. “The main talk has been the steroid issue. It has been discussed as much as revenue. A lot of guys are in favor of having tests.” 

Fehr has refused to characterize recent talks, saying he won’t be able to tell if progress has been made until “after it’s over.” 

Following Friday’s two-hour bargaining session, Manfred said he expects a proposal from the union next week on management’s desire for mandatory random drug testing, which the union has opposed on privacy grounds. 

Players made a counterproposal on the minimum salary and benefits, which both sides called positive. Afterward, Manfred gave his capsulized summary of chief issues: 

“Benefit plan, minimum salary, I’m very close. On the topic of revenue sharing, we have made a lot of progress. We need to make a little more. On the luxury tax, I’ve got a long way to go.” 

Owners originally proposed an increase in the amount of shared locally generated revenue from 20 percent to 50 percent, and they also asked for a new distribution system that would favor teams with revenue close to the industry average. 

Players proposed an increase to 22.5 percent and wanted to continue the current system, which gives extra money to low-revenue teams. 

The difference in those plans was $70 million annually, using 2001 announced figures. 

“The issue is a lot more complicated than that $70 million,” Manfred said. “That’s like trying to characterize the Constitution with ‘We the people.’ It’s the tip of the iceberg.” 

The sides have moved since their original proposals, both in dollars and format. “We have made substantial progress toward each other,” Manfred said. 

The owners’ desire for a luxury tax that would slow payroll growth appears to be the last issue to be addressed. Owners asked for a 50 percent tax on the portions of payrolls over $98 million, a figure that includes 40-man rosters and benefits. 

“We can’t reach an agreement without the luxury tax being addressed,” Manfred said.

New questions are surfacing about the November 2000 departure of a high-ranking Berkeley Unified School District employee and an $800,000 consulting contract that followed. 

On Nov. 17, 2000, the district parted ways with the one person who knew how to run its quirky, old data processing system and hired a pricey consulting firm to replace him one month later. The consultant, Modular Information Systems of San Ramon, then contracted with the former district employee, data processing manager Don Abare, to help manage the aging, often-criticized system, which has since been replaced. 

Along the way, the cash-strapped school district spent $700,000 on consulting fees and is slated to spend up to $100,000 more, according to district officials. 

Meanwhile, the data processing system, which has been slowly phased out amid implementation of a newer system, has caused numerous problems, including double payment of employees last year. 

The new data system, Quintessential School Systems, which ran its first payroll Wednesday, is also struggling. About 100 employees with direct deposit did not receive checks, and the system failed to withhold sufficient taxes for married workers. 

District officials contend the problems now are relatively minor ones and say that QSS will mark a major improvement in the payroll process. 

As for the costly transition, district administrators and board of education members say they had little alternative to hiring MIS after Abare’s departure. They claim that the consulting bill is justified. 

They also note that MIS has done more than simply perform Abare’s old duties. In the past year, the firm developed an operations manual for the old system, made programming improvements for that system and helped convert it to a new computer platform, according to Associate Superintendent of Business Jerry Kurr. Board of education member Ted Schultz said these services were “essential” to keeping the business office up and running before QSS went into place.  

Still, some officials say the consulting fees add up to a major, if necessary, expense for a district that has cut millions of dollars from its budget and still faces an estimated $2.5 million deficit next year. 

“That was a very expensive process,” said Board President Shirley Issel. “It’s a big, big part of the budget problems we’re in.” 

Schultz disagrees. 

“I don’t think it’s a big problem because it’s a one-time expenditure,” he said, arguing that ongoing liabilities are a larger concern when it comes to the district’s long-term fiscal health. 

Either way, Issel and Schultz agree that the district could not have avoided the consulting expense. 

Abare, though, differs sharply. 

A controversial departure 

The circumstances of Abare’s Nov. 17, 2000, departure are somewhat mysterious. An agreement between the former data processing manager and the district limits what either side can discuss. 

Abare said he was “pushed out” because of his opposition to the QSS conversion. And school board member Terry Doran suggested that a conflict over QSS did, indeed, lead to Abare’s departure. 

“We had several consulting firms analyze our systems over the last four years, all of which recommended changing our old system and converting to a new system,” Doran said. “Don Abare would still be with us if he agreed with that.” 

But Abare said that a spring 2000 consulting report on the old system included laughable errors and that the system functioned well. He argued that the district made a costly mistake in letting him go, hiring MIS to run the old data processor and converting to QSS. 

Abare noted that the high-profile double-payment of classified employees in March 2001 came after he left the district, and he said that things have not improved with QSS. 

“They’ve spent a lot of money migrating to the new system and look what happened,” Abare said, referring to this week’s payroll mistakes. 

District officials have long complained that the old data processing system produced bad budget information and inaccurate paychecks, contributing to the district’s deficit. 

Abare countered that the problem was not with the system, but with the human processes surrounding it. Principals couldn’t read budget documents because they lacked adequate training, not because the documents were poorly-calculated, he said. And late time sheets, rather than the data processing system, led to payroll errors.  

Kurr, the associate superintendent of business, agreed that the “manual processes” surrounding payroll have been the most significant problem with processing paychecks.  

He also said adequate staff training is important, particularly with the recent conversion to an entirely new system, and noted that the district has scheduled an Aug. 14 training with school site administrators. 

But Kurr also argued that there were fundamental problems with the old data processing system itself, arguing that it did not properly integrate the various ledgers and sub-ledgers in the system.  

Joel Montero, deputy executive officer for the Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team, a state agency that has been advising the district since November, said there are also inherent difficulties with one-of-a-kind systems, like the old Berkeley data processor, that are dependent on one or a few employees to run them. 

“They tend to be personnel-specific,” he said. “When people leave or retire, the knowledge of the system walks out the door with them.” 

Systems like QSS, used by 20 to 30 percent of California school systems according to Montero, have a broad base of users who can be tapped if problems emerge. 

“I understand the argument, but I feel there is a trade-off because the pre-existing system was tailored to meet the district’s needs,” Abare said, arguing that the district lost more than it gained when it got rid of him and moved to QSS. 

“It’s ironic,” he continued, with a laugh. “I feel that I was too successful. They just realized, ‘oh, we’re too dependent on Don Abare.’” 

MIS President Lisa Corbett said she could not comment because of a confidentiality agreement with the district. 

Contact reporter at scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net.

To the Editor: 

Thanks to Alex Warren for voicing the fallacy surrounding the construction of the city’s communication tower. There were no plans available for review. There was no building permit for a stand-alone tower 170 feet high and averaging what... eight feet wide? They know it was unacceptable so they erected it as fast as they could on a Friday so the risk of a stop-work order or an injunction would be minimized. It’s not just a “selfish few” whose public rights were violated. People all over Berkeley know that the tower must be replaced. 

Bob Marsh  

Berkeley

EAST TROY, Wis. – They came with Garcia-esque beards. Tie-dyed T-shirts. Tattoos. 

Droves of Deadheads descended on this tiny town Friday to see their beloved band perform a two-day weekend concert, the Grateful Dead’s first major reunion since lead singer Jerry Garcia died in 1995. 

“It will be missing something. But at the same time, it’s a celebration,” said Jeannette Farrell, 27, a hairstylist from Baltimore who drove all night to East Troy. She wore a camouflage headband and bellbottoms, and had pierced gums and a six-armed fairy tattooed across her chest. 

The concert Saturday and Sunday at Alpine Valley Amphitheater is billed as “Terrapin Station — a Grateful Dead Family Reunion.” 

The Dead built a famously loyal following on the road; many fans followed them from town to town before Garcia’s death of a heart attack put an end to the touring. 

The Wisconsin concert marks the first time that original band members Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir have joined forces for a major concert since then. 

For a while it looked like it wouldn’t happen. 

Walworth County denied a permit for the concert in June, fearing that authorities couldn’t handle the estimated 200,000 people it might draw to a venue that can hold about 35,000. The county relented only after the promoter, Clear Channel Entertainment, submitted a new plan with tighter security and emergency procedures, and promised to reimburse some expenses. 

The band sold out all 35,000 seats each day at about $60 a ticket. 

Grateful Dead band members issued newspaper appeals warning fans that anyone without a ticket would be turned away, and that camping would be allowed only at authorized campgrounds. Organizers said they would turn back cars in which even one passenger didn’t have a ticket. 

That didn’t stop Ray Zavitz, 51, of Ontario, Canada, who drove 16 hours in his Volkswagen bus spray-painted with Grateful Dead trademark skeletons and Garcia’s profile. 

Zavitz, whose beard reaches halfway down his chest, cut a strange sight Friday in East Troy’s quaint, brick-and-mortar village square, wearing shorts, shades and a black T-shirt emblazoned with “Dear Jerry: You know our love will not fade away. All of us.” 

He said he wasn’t worried about not having a ticket. 

“If I get down there with this,” he said, gesturing to the van, which he outfitted with a sink and portable toilet, “I’ll get a ticket somehow.” 

Merchants in the town of 2,600 opened up sidewalk stands. 

“We figured they want to eat,” said Norm Tacke, who was selling hot dogs, salsa, chips and his own fruit concoction called Jerry Juice. 

Deadheads parked campers in the square and staked out shady spots. Many found their way to the Hoppe Homestead Campground, about 12 miles east of town, where they played guitar, drank beer or played hackey sack. An ice cream truck bounced between rows of tents, its music drifting out over the cornfields. 

Campground officials expected about 12,000 fans in their 200 spots by Saturday. 

“It’s the atmosphere” that drew him, said Hog Wertz, of Athens, Ohio, as he set up his tent, a Garcia T-shirt tied around his waist and the album “Terrapin Station” blasting from his boom box. 

His friends Nikki Morris and Don Cribbet brought their 5-year-old daughter, Ruby Sunshine, from Athens for the concert. 

“The Dead wrote the book,” said Morris, 30, an Internet database developer. 

Not everyone was expecting a lovefest. 

Cindy Gilbertson, who lives next door to Alpine Valley, said she spent more than $1,000 to build a fence around her property and install a gated screen door before the concert. She expects traffic to be so bad she won’t leave the house all weekend. 

“It’s one of those things where you’re a hostage in your own home,” she said. 

Sheriff Dave Graves said extra deputies will work throughout the weekend. 

Gilbertson’s neighbor, John MacKenzie, said a sheriff’s deputy visited him and warned that deputies might be too busy with the concert to help residents over the weekend. MacKenzie said he just laughed. 

“His point was the people were going to come in here and rape and pillage everything. Maybe I’ll be eating my words Monday, but it’s just overkill. Criminy.” 

MacKenzie’s 13-year-old son, Sean, was looking forward to the free entertainment. 

“I’m just going to sit out by the telephone pole with an umbrella and just watch everybody,” he said.

OAKLAND – Mark Redman outpitched Barry Zito at the Coliseum, where the Oakland ace hadn’t lost a regular-season game in 14 months, as the Detroit Tigers beat the Athletics 3-1 Friday night to snap a five-game losing streak. 

Redman (7-9) pitched seven innings of six-hit ball, striking out five and working out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh. 

Juan Acevedo got three outs for his 19th save in 23 chances, striking out Mark Ellis and retiring Ray Durham on a grounder with two runners on to end it. 

Carlos Pena homered against his former teammates, and Detroit also used two unearned runs to hand Zito (15-4) just his second loss in 18 starts. 

It was a narrow defeat, but Zito — tied with Boston’s Derek Lowe for the AL lead in victories — was nowhere near the unbeatable form he has displayed for most of the season. 

After winning his previous five starts, he lasted just six innings against the Tigers, allowing six hits and three walks while retiring the side in order just once. 

Zito hadn’t lost at home since June 2, 2001, against Baltimore — though he also lost a 1-0 decision to the Yankees in the Game 3 of last season’s division series. 

Zito’s Oakland-record streak of 16 straight victories at the Coliseum ended, but Miguel Tejada extended his hitting streak to 22 games — the longest in the AL this season. Tejada singled in the sixth. 

Detroit general manager Dave Dombrowski said Redman was the player most coveted by opposing teams at the trade deadline, but it was easy to see why Dombrowski hung on to him. 

Redman mostly stayed out of trouble with a good mix of pitches and good defense behind him. When the A’s loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, he got Durham and Tejada on foul popups. 

Pena, traded by the A’s last month in a three-way deal that brought Ted Lilly to Oakland, homered in the fourth and scored two runs as the Tigers beat the A’s for just the second time in their last nine meetings. 

Ellis homered for the A’s, who have lost seven of 10. 

Pena scored Detroit’s first unearned run in the second when Ellis made a throwing error that sent Pena to third. He scored on Damian Jackson’s single. 

The Tigers added another unearned run following Pena’s homer to center field. Craig Paquette singled and reached second before Damion Easley hit an easy grounder — but Zito dropped Olmedo Saenz’s relay throw to first base, allowing Paquette to score. 

Notes: Before the game, Oakland released LHP Mike Magnante, a 12-year veteran. ... Eric Chavez, a Gold Glove third baseman last season, has been the A’s DH this week to rest his tender hamstrings. Ellis, a natural shortstop who is the team’s regular second baseman, has played third in his absence. ... Zito has walked 10 in his last three starts. ... A’s reliever Jim Mecir struck out the side in the seventh. 

“Berkeley should be consulted about possible impacts,” she said. 

The Berkeley City Council approved Dean’s resolution by a 7-1 vote with Councilmember Kriss Worthington voting no and Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek absent.  

Worthington said he voted against the resolution because it might put Berkeley on hostile footing with Albany. 

“The mayor is criticizing Albany without really knowing the details of the plan,” he said. “I have no problem with getting information but her approach is antagonistic and puts unnecessary pressure on them.” 

Councilmember Linda Maio supports Albany’s plans despite having concerns about increased traffic volume on Berkeley streets in her district. She said pedestrian safety in every city is paramount. 

“I think Albany is doing the right thing,” she said. “Traffic on Marin is too fast. Its width and multiple lanes make it like a little highway, which make people speed and people can’t continue to drive like cowboys to get where they have to go.” 

Maio added that part of the traffic problem is a result of insufficient housing in Berkeley.  

“Jobs in Berkeley have outpaced housing so we are victim to commute traffic,” she said. “We have commuters on Gilman, Cedar, Rose and Hopkins streets, which feed up to where the jobs are.”

To the Editor: 

Books have authors, music has composers, theater has playwrights, movies have enormous lists of credits, but your article on Snoopy and the Red Baron (July 29) would indicate that sculpture happens spontaneously, without human involvement. The original Snoopy and the Red Baron sculpture was created by Tyler James Hoare in 1975. The article about reconstruction of that sculpture through the auspices of the Adventure Playground should give credit to the originator. At least you mention Charles Schultz. Let’s always give credit when credit is due. 

Alan R. Meisel 

Berkeley

JERUSALEM – A day after a bombing that killed seven people, including five Americans, many U.S. students opened a new semester at Hebrew University saying they wouldn’t be driven away by the attack. But some were shaken enough to consider leaving. 

Many of the foreign students had only recently arrived in Israel to begin Hebrew language classes at the university over the summer. On Thursday, as the shattered windows of the bombed-out cafeteria were being boarded over, classes began as scheduled. 

“It hardened my resolve to stay here,” said Daniel Faraha, 20, from Carmel, Ind., who narrowly escaped the blast. The bombers, he said, “did this because they wanted us to run away.” 

Lissi Young, 25, from Boston, left the cafeteria 30 minutes before the blast. She said that two of her friends, Marla Bennett, 24, and Benjamin Blutstein, 25, remained behind and died. 

Young said she had been in the country over a year, and she hadn’t decided whether she would leave. “My family can’t sleep, they’re crying and calling me,” she said, sobbing. “I don’t know if its fair to do this to my family.” 

In a tearful ceremony at Israel’s airport, caskets with the remains of Blutstein, of Susquehanna Township, Pa., and Janis Ruth Coulter, 36, who worked in New York City, were put aboard a plane for a flight to the United States. The flight arrived Friday morning in New York. The body of Bennett was to be flown home to San Diego on Saturday. 

“I’m more empty than furious,” Dr. Richard Blutstein, Benjamin’s father, said on NBC’s “Today.” “We haven’t really discussed why. Right now, we’re just taking it one step at a time.” 

Blutstein said his son was a very genuine person, with a keen interest in religion and music. 

“He had some eclectic tastes. He was sort of on a spiritual journey and he was very serious about his music,” he said. “He was supposed to come home yesterday.” 

Another American, Dina Carter, 37, who had Israeli citizenship, was buried in Jerusalem on Friday. Funeral arrangements for the fifth American, David Gritz, 24, who held French citizenship, were not known. Two Israelis killed in the attack were buried Thursday. 

The Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus has about 500 foreign students at its international Rothberg School, and another 1,000 foreign students spread throughout its three campuses. 

“We’re not going to let them win. We’re not going to let them scare us away,” said Catherine Cochinov, who arrived from Ottawa on Tuesday. 

“I’m staying, I think all of us are staying,” Cochinov said, as she and fellow international students ate lunch in a dining area. Other students voiced their agreement. “If we felt strongly enough to come now, I don’t think this is going to be a deterrent,” she said. 

“I don’t know what’s going to happen if more incidents happen on campus. I can’t say I’m staying no matter what.” 

Cochinov said foreign students had felt that the campus, a mix of Arabs, Jews and international students, was a safe haven from Mideast violence. 

Faraha said he left the cafeteria moments before the blast. “I saw a nightmare. I saw a girl my age, she’d just been killed. I saw someone close her eyes and pull a blanket over her body. People were screaming and crying.” 

Faraha said his experience only made him more determined to stay. 

Many students come to the university from Jewish communities overseas, spending time learning about Israel and their Jewish background. Others just come to study at the well-known institution. 

Rebecca Casey, 20, from Albuquerque, N.M., said she came to show solidarity with Israelis, even though she wasn’t Jewish. 

“Terror is an emotion, they try to scare you,” she said. “If we gave into that and didn’t continue on with school, we would let them win.”

SAN FRANCISCO – An unregulated division of PG&E Corp. engaged in potentially deceptive energy-trading practices during the California power crisis that drove the company’s utility into bankruptcy, according to documents filed Friday. 

In its quarterly report to the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, San Francisco-based PG&E said its National Energy Group participated in at least 44 transactions that created the appearance of energy trades from January 2000 through May of this year. 

The illusory practice, commonly known as “washing” or “round-tripping,” involves two traders swapping the same amount of power for the same price. 

PG&E said it banned the practice after uncovering the transactions during an internal investigation prompted by a request from federal energy regulators. 

The “washing” technique can be used to artificially inflate revenue to improve a company’s income statement or to generate a sales commission for a trader. 

If enough traders launder megawatts at the same time, it could drive up market prices, said Frank Wolak, a Stanford University economist who chairs California’s power market surveillance committee. 

National Energy believes “there could have been legitimate reasons” for round-tripping, said David Mold, a spokesman for the energy trader. 

Bethesda, Md.-based National Energy isn’t certain of the motive behind the transaction because all but four were initiatied by other traders, Mold said. 

PG&E discovered 12 washing incidents in the Western power market during 2000 and 2001 — a period marked by soaring prices and rolling blackouts through Northern California. 

The conditions inconvenienced millions of power customers and crippled PG&E’s utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy since April 2001. 

National Energy doesn’t believe its washing activity contributed to the utility’s financial distress, Mold said. 

“There was no financial gain for us doing this,” Mold said. 

National Energy initiated four of the round-tripping trades because of a “misunderstanding,” Mold said. All the washing initiated by National Energy occurred outside the Western power market, he said. 

The round-tripping transactions accounted for 0.14 percent of National Energy’s revenue from January 2000 through May 2002, according to SEC documents. National Energy handled more than 400,000 trades during the period, Mold said. 

PG&E didn’t provide a precise dollar figure, but the 0.14 percentage translates into washing transactions totaling about $45 million, based on National Energy’s average monthly revenue of $1.1 billion from January 2000 through June 2002. 

Even if PG&E didn’t profit from the round-tripping transactions, the activity undermined the market’s integrity, said Robert McCullough, a Portland, Ore. energy economist and consultant who has extensively studied the West’s recent power problems. 

“They are fraudulent transactions that disrupt the system,” McCullough said. 

Wolak said federal regulators will be hard-pressed to prove fraud unless they uncover evidence of collusion. 

Washing is just one of many energy-trading techniques under the scrutiny of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and California lawmakers investigating possible collusion charges against energy traders. 

Allegations of market manipulation gained support in May with the release of several memos that detailed the price-gouging strategies of Enron Corp., the nation’s largest energy trader until going bankrupt last year. 

Using sinister names like “Death Star,” the Enron memos detailed a series of deceptive trading practices designed to create artificial shortages and avoid price controls. 

PG&E was among the critics attacking the alleged price gouging of power wholesalers during late 2000 and early 2001. 

National Energy’s unregulated activities have long irritated consumer activists, who contend PG&E built the energy wholesaler by raiding the coffers of its now-bankrupt utility. 

Once viewed as PG&E’s most promising business, National Energy now is flirting with bankruptcy. The energy wholesaler landed into trouble earlier this week when Standard & Poor’s dropped its credit rating into junk territory, triggering provisions that could force National Energy to repay loans totaling $1.7 billion — more money than the energy trader could afford. 

With the bankruptcy concerns hovering over National Energy, PG&E’s shares fell 95 cents to $8.81 on the New York Stock Exchange.

SAN FRANCISCO – Alameda County on began a pilot program to test making payments to welfare recipients using debit cards instead of issuing checks. 

In the program, which launched Thursday, the aid is deposited into accounts recipients can access using their debit cards at grocery stores or regular ATMs. 

The program is intended to reduce the stigma of using paper food stamps at grocery stores, eliminate long waits at food stamp redemption centers, reduce the number of lost and stolen benefits and help bring clients into the mainstream economy. 

In Alameda County, 16,000 such debit cards with a value of $6.9 million were issued this month to cash-benefit clients, and another 15,000 cards worth $3 million went to food-stamp clients, said Don Edwards, information services director with the Social Services Agency. 

Alameda and Yolo Counties are the first to test the program and whatever the state learns will help the rest of the state when their public-assistance clients are issued electronic benefit cards, said John Gordon, a spokesman with the state Department of Social Services.

SACRAMENTO – Strengthening the state’s toll bridges against earthquakes, a job already costing twice initial 1990s estimates, could rise another $630 million and imperil other transportation projects, a new state audit warns. 

The audit, released Thursday, chronicles how a $2.2 billion project to retrofit seven major bridges by 2004 has turned into a $4.6 billion project that will take until 2009. Most of the cost overruns and delays stem from a single development – a $1.3 billion “signature” upgrade for the Bay Bridge’s new eastern span. 

Bay Area bridge tolls doubled in 1998 from $1 to $2 to pay for the upgrade, and will continue to 2038, long beyond their original 2008 expiration date. 

State auditors drew no conclusions and made no recommendations in the report. But they expressed fears that still more cost overruns between now and 2009 could add $250 million to $630 million to the job and stall other transportation projects in California. 

“It’s a bit of a warning,” said Steven M. Hendrickson, chief deputy state auditor. “These costs could go up further.” 

Caltrans officials responded to auditors’ alarm, promising cost-saving measures to stay within the project’s current budget. 

But Hendrickson said, “We would remain skeptical.” 

The audit proves one of the oldest adages about large government construction projects: things typically cost more money and take more time. Disputes, delays and design changes have also added millions in cost overruns for staff salaries, consulting fees, concrete and steel. 

Caltrans Chief Jeff Morales, in a letter responding to the audit earlier this month, cited complexities of estimating retrofit costs for the “most challenging major bridge projects in the world.” He wrote, “While the Department has drawn upon world-renowned expertise in the development of the project, much of the work has no historical precedent.” 

Retrofitting the seven state-owned toll bridges is occurring alongside a separate $2.5 billion effort that has already shored up more than 2,000 highway bridges against a major earthquake. Likewise, Caltrans has finished retrofitting the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro, the San Diego-Coronado Bridge and the Bay Area’s Benicia-Martinez, Carquinez and San Mateo-Hayward bridges. 

The audit notes that delays especially plagued the Carquinez Bridge project. The Southern Pacific Railroad bought the Union Pacific Railroad while Caltrans negotiated over relocating its tracks. The relocation took 143 days longer than expected, while moving a gas line from one side of the bridge to the other took 87 days longer than PG&E originally promised. The audit also recounted a two-year delay with the Bay Bridge’s new eastern span as Caltrans ran into environmental and alignment disputes with the U.S. Navy and Army Corps of Engineers. The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge retrofit also remains unfinished. 

“With something this complex, for some things that are really massive public works projects, it’s inevitable there are going to be changes in costs,” said Brenda Kahn, spokeswoman for the Bay Area’s nine-county Metropolitan Transportation Commission. 

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates a 70 percent chance of a 6.7 magnitude earthquake in the Bay Area by 2030.

SACRAMENTO – A convicted child molester apparently committed suicide Thursday in Sacramento County jail by overdosing on psychiatric medication. 

The death was the second in two days at the jail and potentially the seventh suicide so far this year. Sheriff’s Department officials vowed to take action to stop the death toll. 

“I don’t think it can get any worse,” Sheriff Lou Blanas said. “We need to find the answer.” 

Sheriff’s officials said they believe the inmate died by suicide, but they are awaiting final toxicology reports that may indicate he died of natural causes. 

However, officials believe 44-year-old Steven Mitchell Griffin had been hoarding drugs he had been prescribed, apparently planning his death for some time. Officials found 36 pills hidden under his mattress, suggesting he had saved the eight pills he received daily or bought some from other inmates. 

Griffin also wrote four suicide notes saying goodbye to his mother and others, authorities said. 

He was convicted recently on charges of molesting two small children and was facing a court date today where he could have been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. 

Another high-profile inmate suicide at the jail involved accused multiple murderer Nikolay Soltys, who hanged himself in his jail cell earlier this year despite being under electronic surveillance. 

Blanas asked the county Thursday to give him control of medical staff at the jail who now report to the county coroner. He said he also plans to hire two consultants to evaluate all procedures at the jail. 

But officials say they may only be able to do so much to stop the epidemic of suicides at the jail, which some deputies have begun to refer to as “the morgue.” 

“The sophistication of the inmates may have become such that they simply can devise ways to overcome our efforts to prevent suicides,” Undersheriff John McGinness said. 

Officials have already tried to stop hangings – used in six of the suicides this year – by altering the bunks in the jail.

About 50 demonstrators, including 91-year-old Berkeley Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek, were arrested in the shadow of the Claremont Resort & Spa Thursday evening when they blocked the intersection of Ashby and Domingo avenues during a labor protest.  

The arrests followed a 14-block march in which 500 hotel and restaurant workers and their supporters carried signs and chanted slogans. The demonstration was organized to call attention to what demonstrators believe are bad-faith negotiations by their employers during several contentious contract disputes. 

The workers are employed at the Claremont Resort and Spa, Holiday Inn and the Marriott in Oakland and the Holiday Inn in Emeryville. 

Just prior to her arrest Thursday, Shirek addressed the crowd of demonstrators with a powerful voice that belies her advanced years. 

“The Claremont has enough money to make development plans that nobody in the neighborhood wants but despite all the money that flows uphill, they can’t treat their workers fairly,” she said. “I’m here to say ‘shame on you Claremont and until you treat your workers fairly, there’s no room at the inn for you.’” 

Claremont managers, since last year, have been in negotiations with food and beverage employees about wages and benefits. More recently, the unionized food and beverage employees extended their demands to include the possiblity of union membership for the hotel’s unrepresented spa workers. 

Thursday’s march began at the Rockridge BART Station in Oakland after workers and Mayor Shirley Dean offered the demonstrators encouragement.  

“There’s something wrong when workers in this country have to work two jobs just to make ends meet,” Dean said. “There’s something wrong when workers don’t have enough medical care or enough food to eat. But we are going to change that.” 

Mayoral candidate Tom Bates also attended the rally and echoed Dean’s sentiments. “The hotels have to show the workers respect and deal with them fairly and the sooner the better,” he said.  

Claremont cook Fidel Arroyo, who was suspended by Claremont management for handing out pro-union leaflets, also addressed the crowd. 

“I am out fighting for my 6-month-old son, the union and the community,” he said. “We are ready to do what takes to win justice.” 

The demonstrators began the hour-long march led by the International Longshoreman and Warehouse Union’s 11-member drill team. Carrying shiny silver cargo hooks and wearing the traditional worker’s uniform, black Ben Davis pants and white-striped Ben Davis work shirts, the drill team marched in lock step down College Avenue followed by the 500 demonstrators.  

Police escorts held the rush hour traffic at the busy intersections along the commercial strip. 

The hotel’s director of marketing, Denise Chapman, issued a statement saying the union is putting too much effort into demonstrating and not enough into negotiating. 

“We are disappointed that the union continues to put energy into these types of stunts while they refuse to put the same energy into serious negotiations at the bargaining table,” the statement read. 

The negotiations have drawn the attention of state Assemblymembers as well as the Berkeley City Council. The council has unanimously approved two resolutions supporting the workers, including one in June that endorsed a boycott of the posh resort. 

The Local 2850 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union has been negotiating a new union contract with the Claremont, which is owned by the multi-billion-dollar corporation KSL Recreation, since last September when their contract expired. The workers were covered by an interim contract which was renewed on a daily basis, but according to union organizer Liz Oakley, the interim contract was canceled by hotel management in January. 

Union representatives have two demands: fair wages and benefits for existing union members and union membership for 140 spa workers who work at the resort. 

Union Secretary Treasurer Stephanie Ruby said hotel management has not yet negotiated fairly. She said they have continually presented offers of wage increases that the union says would set them back 15 years in relation to the current cost of living. 

“Union members are particularly outraged about proposals that would result in many workers paying an additional $200 per month for health care coverage and wage offerings ranging from 5 cents an hour to 20 cents an hour,” a union press release read.  

But Chapman said hotel management has attempted to negotiate in good faith but the union has rebuffed their wage increase offers. She added that hotel management offered to schedule 13 meetings with the union during the month of August but the union agreed to only two. The last negotiation meeting was on July 23. 

Ruby said the hotel is misrepresenting the proposed meeting schedule.  

“When we started this process we told the hotel that we could schedule meetings on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays,” Ruby said. “Only two of the 13 days management wanted to meet fell on those days.” 

Also at issue is the admittance of the hotel’s 140 spa workers into the union. According to union representatives, the hotel management is reluctant to recognize worker requests to join the union by a standard organizing method known as a card count. 

Chapman said hotel management is against the card count because workers can be intimidated. She said the hotel has proposed an election in which workers can vote in private.  

But Ruby said the hotel’s claims of intimidation are unfounded. 

“In fact, the state Labor Board has issued two complaints against the Claremont for intimidating workers who are involved in union organization,” she said. “They want an election because an election will allow them to stall for months and maybe years.” 

Ruby said the election would take up to eight weeks to organize and then, once the ballots were counted, the hotel could challenge the election in court on fabricated charges. 

“The whole thing gets dragged out through an appeal process based on a myriad of reasons that can be concocted,” Ruby said.  

Ruby added that the hotel held a card count two years ago for the housekeepers and desk staff.  

“A card count was good enough two years ago, what’s different now?” she said. 

Charges of hotel intimidation of union-supporting spa workers caused concern among a contingent of elected officials, who went to meet with hotel management.  

On July 22, representatives from the offices of assemblymembers Dion Aroner and Wilma Chan accompanied councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Linda Maio to the office of hotel General Manager Todd Shallan. 

According to Worthington, Shallan refused to meet with the group, claiming that there was no meeting scheduled. 

“I don’t remember any company treating elected officials like that,” Worthington said. “We didn’t have to talk to the head guy. We would have been glad to talk to any of a half dozen people in management but we were told no one was available.” 

Shallan is on vacation and was unavailable for comment Thursday.

It takes nerve to take on Shakespeare’s recalcitrant and probably untamable “Troilus and Cressida,” but the East Bay’s nerviest theater company, Shotgun Players, is giving it a go. In a production playing Saturdays and Sundays at Berkeley’s John Hinkel Park, Shotgun jabs at the wayward beast, wrestles it, gets knocked down, staggers up, leaps into the fray and all in all does a creditable job of staying in the ring until the final bell (or dull thud) that brings the match to a close. 

Alas, trying to pummel viable dramatic shape into “Troilus and Cressida” is like trying to blow up a tire with too many nails in it: no matter how hard you pump, the tire goes flat. Still, there’s some sharp acting and energy in this production, as well as Shotgun’s winning verve. You could do worse than spread a blanket, sip some merlot and watch these players strut on a weekend afternoon. 

The price is right, too: free. 

“War and lechery confound all!” Thersites snarls, and that about sums up the drift of the play, which takes place at the same critical point in the Trojan War as Homer’s “Iliad”, when Achilles’ willful sulk is broken by Patroclus’ death, and he charges onto the field to slay Hector. But rather than an elegy to lost glory, Shakespeare’s play jeers at it, depicting heroes like Achilles and Ajax as egotists and dolts, and turning councils of war into dens of casuistry and expedience. 

Romantic notions of sexual fidelity fare no better. Troilus, a son of Priam, loves defector Calchas’s daughter, Cressida, but though they’re not much older than Romeo and Juliet, Cressida’s coarse uncle, Pandarus, is no Friar Lawrence, and Cressida is no Juliet. She betrays Troilus at the first chance, and Helen is a wily wanton. 

In other words, the play says men are macho poseurs and women are bawds… and says it and says it. Not that a rich dose of cynicism can’t be refreshing, and some of the play’s malice is bracing. As Thersites, Clive Worsley spits deliciously venomous epithets – “Thou crusty botch of Nature!” and “Thou damnable box of envy!” – and it’s good to be reminded that “pro patria more” may not be “dulce et decorum.” But “Troilus and Cressida” doesn’t provide a stirring central narrative – we never care much about the young lovers – nor does it put us on the side of either warring state. It ends abruptly and flatly, too, with a single tragic death, as unarmed Hector gets ignominiously cut down by Achilles’ black-masked henchmen. 

War is bad, men are corrupt, love is flawed – but where’s the story? 

The problems of the play aren’t Shotgun’s fault, and the company works hard to enliven the flawed narrative. Unfortunately its bare bones set of asphalt and streaky bed sheets does little to give shape to the shapeless, and in a central role Frieda Naphsica de Lackner’s Cressida is lightweight and unpersuasive. As Troilus, lean, boyish Tyler Fazakerley is better, riding on an earnest charm until the play unseats him. As Ulysses, Robert Martinez has a rich pomposity that wears thin. Reid Davis’s Pandarus is vivid, if twitchy. Rica Anderson makes a delectably witching Helen. Clive Worsley has a winning dignity as Agamemnon. Stephen Bass, David Meyer and Mark Swetz interact sturdily as Ajax, Hector and Achilles, and John Thomas makes a stately Aeneas. 

Patrick Dooley and Joanie McBrien stage the play resourcefully, with simple but effective costumes by Valera Coble and lighting by the vagaries of Nature. Sound courtesy of rustling trees and overhead jets, which give both actors and audience pause. 

WHAT: Troilus and Cressida 

WHEN: Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. through Sept. 1. 

WHERE: John Hinkel Park, Berkeley 

COST: Free 

INFORMATION: 510-704-8210

MUSIC 

Friday, August 2 

Fireproof 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$10 door/ Free for 12 and under 

Modern Hicks, the Warblers 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Shelley Doty X-tet 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-2082 

$5 door 

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 

Girl Rock Night 

Binky, Virgin Mega Whore, Hope Child & Atomic Mint 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-2082 

$5 door 

Rokia Traore 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$16 door/ Free for 12 and under 

Talk of da Town and the Mighty Prince Singers 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Sunday, August 4 

The Byron Berline Band 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Flamenco Open Stage 

8 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$8 door/ Free for 12 and under 

Paula West 

4:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Jazz School 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 

Tuesday, August 6 

Brass Menagerie 

8:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$8 door/ Free for 12 and under 

The Hot Buttered Rum String Band 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Wednesday, August 7 

Paul Rishell & Annie Raines 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Brenda Boykin & Home Cookin’ 

West Coast Swing/Afrobilly 

9 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$8 door/ Free for 12 and younger 

Thursday, August 8 

World Wide Wild Witch Women for the Trees 

Pandemonaeon, Kioka Grace and Land of the Blind, Wendy Wu 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-2082 

$6 door 

Friday, August 9 

3Canal 

The Cut & Clear Crew with DJ Engine Room 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$12 advabcem, $15 door/ Free for 12 and younger 

Henri-Pierre Koubaka 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Left Hand Smoke, Schfvilkus 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-2082 

$7 door 

Saturday, August 10 

Afromuzika 

9 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$12 door/ Free for 12 and under 

Mark Growden’s Electric Pinata, Beth Custer Ensemble 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-2082 

$7 door 

Tony MacMahon, Jody Stecher & Eric Thompson 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

10-ring Cultural Circus 

Noon to 6 p.m. 

Main stage on Center St. near the City Garage between Shattuck and Milvia 

The 5th annual Berkeley Arts City Wide Celebration of Art and Politics opens with this event. Music, poetry, speakers, storytelling and more. 

665-9496 

Free 

University of California, Berkeley Summer Symphony 

8 p.m. 

Hertz Hall on the U.C. Campus located near the intersection of Bancroft and College. 

Performing Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in d-minor with soloist Mei-Fang Lin and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in c-minor. 

642-4864 

Free 

Sunday, August 11 

Jim Hurst & Missy Raines 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Robert Helps Memorial Marathon Concert 

Berkeley Arts Festival 

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 

Free 

Virginia Mayhew 

4:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Jazz School, 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 

Thursday, August 15 

Dean Santomieri: Multi-Media Works 

8 p.m. 

Wells Fargo Annex, 2801 Center St. 

Multi-media works “The Boy Beneath the Sea” and “A Book Bound in Red Buckram...” presented by composer, monologist, and video artist Santomieri. 

665-9496 

Free 

Saturday, August 17 

Composer Portraits with Sarah Cahill and Gabriela Frank 

Berkeley Arts Festival 

8 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

Saturday, August 17, 2002  

665-9099 

$10 

Faye Carol 

Black Repertory Group Benefit 

8 p.m. and 10 p.m. 

Black Repertory Group, 3201 Adeline St. 

849-9940 

$10 general, $15 students and seniors 

August 16, 17 & 18 

The Transparent Tape Music Festival 2 

8:30 p.m. 

Transparent Theater, 1901 Ashby, Berkeley 

(415) 614-2434 for info and reservations 

$7 one night, $15 festival pass 

EXHIBITS 

"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  

Freedom! Now! 

Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery & Headquarters 2055 Center St. 

Reception 6 to 8 p.m. 

Through 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 

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. - 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. - 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 

"New Visions: Introductions '02"  

Works from emerging Californian artists 

Through Aug. 10 

Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St., Oakland 

763-4361 

Free 

“If These Walls Could Talk” 

Through September 8 

Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California Campus (just below Grizzly Peak Blvd.) 

See how various civilizations built all kinds of structures from mud huts to giant skyscrapers at this building exhibit. 

642-5132 

Admission: $8 for adults; $6 for youth 5-18, seniors and disabled; $4 for children 3-4; Free for children under 3, LHS Members and full-time Berkeley students. 

Upcoming 

"New Work: Part 2, The 2001 Kala  

Fellowship Exhibition"  

Aug. 8 through Sept. 7, Tues.-Fri. Noon to 5:30 p.m., Sat. 12:00-4:30 p.m. 

Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 

Featuring 8 Kala Fellowship winners, printmaking 

549-2977  

“Virtually Real Oakland - The Magic, The Diversity and the Potholes” 

Aug. 10 through Sept. 21, Mon.-Fri. 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. 

Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St., Berkeley 

Exhibit by Ken Burson; digitally enhanced photos of Oakland. 

644-1400 

Free 

BACA National Juried Exhibition 

Aug. 18 through Sept. 21, Wed.-Sun. Noon to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park 

40 artists from across the U.S. including 28 Bay Area artists. 

644-6893 

Free 

THEATER 

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 

Friday, August 16 

“Pericles, Prince of Tyre” 

8:00 p.m. 

Wells Fargo Annex, 2081 Center St. 

this romance follows Prince Pericles, hunted for a crime he did not commit, on an epic voyage around the Mediterranean. Presented by Woman’s Will, the Bay Area’s all-female Shakespeare Company. 

665-9496 

Free 

Saturday, August 17 

Mock City Council 

Berkeley Arts Festival  

7 p.m. 

Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way or Channel 25 

Comic rendition of a Berkeley City Council meeting presented by George Coates Productions. 

665-9099 

$10 

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 

Benefactors 

Through Aug. 18, Wed. - 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 

Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida 

Through September 1, Sat. and Sun. at 5p.m.  

John Hinkel Park, off The Arlington at Southampton Road in North Berkeley  

704-8210 for reservations or www.shotgunplayers.org  

Pay what you can 

The Shape of Things 

Sept. 13 through Oct. 20 

Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison St. 

Neil LaBute's love story of 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  

POETRY 

Wednesday, August 7 

Poetry Slam hosted by Charles Ellik 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Avenue 

841-2082 

$5 door 

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 

FILMS 

Jewish Film Festival 

Through Aug. 8 

Wheeler Auditorium 

(925) 866-9559 

Wednesday August 14 

Premiere of “MMI” by John Sanborn 

Berkeley Arts Festival 

8 p.m. 

Wells Fargo Annex, 2081 Center Street, Berkeley 

Event also features a piano concert featuring Sarah Cahill performing recent works and some composed specifically for her. 

665-9496 

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 

Saturday, August 3 

10th Annual Stroll for Epilepsy 

8 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

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 

Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society's Great Rummage Sale 

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, 2700 Ninth Street Warehouse full of household items, books, records, clothing furniture, and more. All proceeds go to support Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society. First and third Saturday of each month. All proceeds go to support of our shelter. 

845-7735 

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 

Movement Marathon  

10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. 

Live Oak Park, Henry St. at Rose St. 

Bodywork session to raise money for Rosen Method School's diversity scholarship.  

Free  

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 

Berkeley Gray Panthers Home Owners Meeting 

3 p.m. 

Berkeley Gray Panthers Office, 1403 Addison St. 

Janet Brush of Senior Alternatives tells about planning for future housing and long term care. 

548-9696 

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 W.W.II sites in Richmond. 

817-1517 

Free 

Friday, August 9 

Community Skin Cancer Screening Clinic 

11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Markstein Cancer Education Center, Summit Campus, 2450 Ashby Avenue 

Skin cancer screenings offered to people with limited or no health insurance. By Appointment only. 

For more information or to make an appointment call 869-8833 

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  

548-3333 

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 

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." 

548-2220 x233 

Free 

Sunday, August 11 

Hands-on Bicycle Repair 

11 a.m.-noon 

REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo 

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

527-4140 

Free 

“Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport” 

2:00 p.m. 

Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St., Berkeley 

Screening of Oscar-winning documentary about child holocaust survivors who were sent, without their parents, out of Austria, Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia to Great Britain. 

848-0237 

$2 suggested donation 

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 

2 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Derby Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way  

Sample 35 different Tomato varieties 

548-3333 

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 

Wednesday, August 14 

Holistic Exercises Sharing Circle  

3:30 to 6:30 p.m.  

wrpclub@aol.com or 595-5541 for information 

Holistic Practitioners, Teachers, Students & Anyone who knows Holistic exercises take turns leading the group through an afternoon of exercises. 

$20 for six-month membership 

Thursday, August 15 

Power for the People 

7 p.m. to 9 p.m. 

Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave.  

A forum on public power, solar power and community control of energy. Speakers include Paul Fenn, Director of Local Power and publisher of American Local Power News and energy economist Eugene Coyle. 

548-2220 x233 

$5 to $15, sliding scale 

Tapping into the Hidden Job Market: Networking & Informational Interviewing 

Noon to 1 p.m. 

YWCA Turning Point Career Center, 2600 Bancroft Way 

Cal Martin will speak on networking and informational interviewing.  

848-6370 

$3 at door 

Friday, August 16 

Deasophy: Wisdom of the Goddess 

7:30 p.m. 

Redwood Gardens Community Room, 2951 Derby St., Berkeley 

Max Dashu presents a slide show on Goddess cosmologies and female creators from a global perspective. 

654-9298 or maxdashu@LMI.net 

$7-15 donations 

Saturday, August 17 

Cajun & More Festival 

10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

Civic Center Park, Center St. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

4 live bands, crafts fair, outdoor dance floor, micro-brewery beer, Cajun food and free Cajun dance lessons. 

548-3333 

Admission is free 

Tour for Blind, Low-Vision Library Patrons 

10:30 a.m. to noon 

Berkeley Public Library, Central Branch 

3rd Floor Meeting Rm, 2090 Kittredge St. 

Tour of the new central branch for blind and low-vision patrons. 

981-6121 

Free 

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 

10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

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

548-3333 

Free 

Sunday, August 18 

Bike Tours of Historic Oakland 

10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California, 10th St. entrance, at Fallon 

Leisurely paced 5 1/2 mile bike tour about Oakland's history and architecture, led by docents. 

238-3514 

Free: Reservations Required 

Jewish Genealogy Educational Meeting 

1 p.m. 

Learn about research resources available from the S.F. Bay Area Jewish Genealogy Society. Open to all. 

Berkeley-Richmond JCC, 1414 Walnut St. 

For info visit www.jewishgen.org/sfbajgs 

Free 

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. to noon 

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 

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. 

981-6250 

Free 

Saturday, August 24 

Fuel Cell Car Experiments 

1 p.m. to 3 p.m. 

Observe a miniature car operating on solar energy and water, and help conduct physics experiments to learn more about this environmentally friendly new technology. For ages 12 and up. 

Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California Campus (Just below Grizzly Peak Blvd.) 

642-5132 

Admission: $8 for adults; $6 for youth; $4 for children 3-4: Free for children under 3 

Sunday, August 25 

Destination Telegraph 

Noon to 5 p.m. 

Durant Ave., between Telegraph Ave. and Bowditch Ave. 

Live music, beer and wine garden, street artists, community booths, art and prizes. 

649-9500 or www.telegraphyberkeley.org for information, booth space or to volunteer 

Saturday, August 31 

Berkeley Youth Orchestra Auditions (Wind, Brass, Percussion) 

All day 

Laney College Music Dept., Fallon St., Oakland 

Berkeley Youth Orchestra will audition musicians aged 10-15 for the 2002-2003 season. 

For an application or more information call Penny Boys at 540-0812 or e-mail her at philiph@seismo.kerkeley.edu 

Monday, September 2 

National Organization for Women Oakland/East Bay Chapter  

6:30 PM.  

Mama Bears Bookstore and Coffeehouse, 6536 Telegraph Avenue  

Chapter’s monthly meeting. Speaker: Multicultural historian, Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, received the prestigious Valitutti Award for non-fiction.  

549-2970 

Free 

To publicize an event, please submit information two weeks in advance. Fax to 841-5694, e-mail to out@berkeleydailyplanet.net or mail to 2076 University Ave., 94704. Include a daytime telephone number.

Berkeley sure seems like a special place for 17-year-old Ayinde Ubaka. After leading the Slam ‘N Jam Soldiers to a championship victory at last weekend’s AAU Elite 8 tournament, held at Cal’s Recreational Sports Facility, many Golden Bear fans hope the Oakland High senior point guard will continue to feel right at home on the UC Berkeley campus. Scoring the final nine points in Saturday’s first game, including a desperation 4-point play with no time left, and adding another dazzling performance during the championship game, the 6-foot-3 Ubaka thrilled fans and college scouts alike at the weekend tournament.  

Though Ubaka has until November to commit to one of the numerous colleges courting him, the rising star says, for now at least, he feels no pressure. In an interview with the Planet, done before Saturday’s first game, the soft-spoken Ubaka talks about basketball, being a kid and his future dreams. 

Planet: You just finished with the Las Vegas AAU tournament, the biggest AAU tournament on the West Coast, how did that go and how was the competition? 

Ubaka: It was a lot of fun but we were disappointed we didn’t win it. We had a couple of mental mistakes at the end. Other than that everything was good. Everybody played hard. It was definitely a high level of competition. 

Planet: Has there been any particular part of your game that you’ve been looking to improve this summer? 

Ubaka: I want to try to improve everything. After a long season I took a little break and got rusty. I had to get back in the gym and work hard and get back at the level I was at when the season ended, at the top of my game. 

Planet: With your Soldiers teamate Leon Powe (the Oakland Tech standout) verbally committing to Cal last week, have you considered joining him? 

Ubaka: I gave it some consideration. But that’s his situation, that’s what’s best for him. I don’t know what’s best for me, that’s what I’m looking for right now. I’m just going for the best situation I can get in. Of course I would love to play with him. He’s my roommate. I already know him and I’m comfortable with him. He’s always telling me I should come. Right now I’m just playing basketball. 

Planet: Other than Cal, which schools are you considering? 

Ubaka: Arizona, Oregon, UCLA and USC. 

Planet: Are you familiar with Berkeley? What are your impressions of the city? 

Ubaka: I come up here all the time. It’s different, there’s a lot of different people out here. All the different kinds of stuff on the streets that they’re selling. 

Planet: What advice have family and friends given you during the decision making process? 

Ubaka: I try to get as much information as possible. At the end, when it’s all said and done, I’m just gonna do what I think is best. 

Planet: Do you feel any pressure right now to make a decision? If so, how do you handle the pressure? 

Ubaka: I just play basketball. I go to the Oakland gym and play or play outside at the playground and get it all out. I try not to stress too much. I’m just a kid. Right now, I should just be playing basketball and going to school and going to the movies. Right now there’s no pressure on me. 

Planet: Can Oakland High take down Oakland Tech next year? What’s the rivalry like with Powe? 

Ubaka: Me and Leon, we always go at it. We have a friendly rivalry. Both our teams have to get better. They lost a lot of players, we only lost one player. But we’re not going to get better just because we’re older, we have to work hard.  

Planet: Finally, what are your thoughts about the future? Do you ever think about the NBA? 

Ubaka: If I had the chance I’d probably go to the NBA. It’s been my dream since I was little. Every once in a while I think about it. When I sit back and think about everything, it crosses my mind.

To the Editor: 

The July 17 Daily Planet article on parking stated that vehicle turnover is necessary to keep the shops busy. Actually, what is needed is not turnover but simply the availability of a place to park. The conventional way to provide this is with limited-time meters or signs, but a better way is to ration the places by price. 

Instead of setting time limits on curb parking, cities should charge the market price for parking. The ideal price is just high enough so that one can usually find a parking spot within a block.  

Berkeley should create a system with optional personal in-vehicle meters, which would reduce the problem of vandalism. The meter inside the car would have its own code number, to deter theft. All the cities in the Bay Area should adopt a common system, so that one can park in San Francisco or Oakland using the same in-vehicle meter. Technology similar to the fast-track we now have at the bridges is available for both in-vehicle meters and street meters, which allows motorists to pay for curb parking without needing to limit how long to park. Many cities now use this technology, including Aspen, Colo. and Arlington, Va. 

Berkeley should have multispace meters that accept coins, bills, tokens, charge cards, or smart cards. If the cars pay by the minute instead of a fixed amount of time, the incentive is to stay there no longer than necessary, inducing faster turnover, but not forcing someone who needs to be there a longer time to move. The meters, whether street or in-vehicle, can charge different prices at different times of the day, depending on how crowded the parking is. If there are plenty of spaces, the charge should be zero. The aim should be not to generate revenue, but to serve the public by efficiently rationing parking spaces. 

To prevent vandalism of the street meters, there should be a very high penalty for causing damage, and a reward for reporting the vandals with evidence such as a photo. We can solve the parking problem with the latest technology coupled with the right economic incentives. 

Fred Foldvary 

Berkeley

The Berkeley Unified School District made at least six months of errors in calculating employees’ income tax withholdings, district officials said Thursday. 

The news came a day after the district confirmed that about 100 employees with direct deposit did not receive their checks on payday Wednesday. 

Associate Superintendent of Business Jerry Kurr said that starting in January, and possibly several months earlier, the district withheld too much in income taxes from employees’ paychecks because it failed to account for a tax cut approved by Congress and signed by President George W. Bush last year. 

“Now we’re taking the correct withholdings,” Kurr said, noting that the government will refund any excess withholdings when employees file their taxes next year. 

The amount improperly withheld varies according to an employee’s salary, and Kurr said it would be difficult to estimate the total number of dollars involved. 

This week’s problems follow an accidental double payment of some employees last year and countless stories of payroll mix-ups for individual employees, including Superintendent Michele Lawrence. 

Kurr also reported a one-time tax error with Wednesday’s payroll. In this case, the district did not withhold enough money for married employees. Affected workers may have received anywhere from $50 to $1,000 more than they should have, he said, depending on their salaries.  

In some cases, Kurr said, the excess withholdings from January to July, and the inadequate withholdings on Wednesday, may even themselves out, resulting in a negligible impact on employees’ taxes. 

Wednesday marked the first time the district ran a payroll through its new data processing system, Quintessential School Systems, installed July 1. 

In the months leading up to the $750,000 QSS conversion, district officials hailed the system as an answer to chronic payroll and accounting problems. 

But on Wednesday, in addition to the withholding problems, the system failed to read the “0” at the start of about 100 employees’ bank account numbers, preventing the delivery of paychecks. Those paychecks were set to hit employees’ accounts Thursday night, according to the district. 

Board of Education President Shirley Issel said she is not alarmed by this week’s QSS troubles. 

“If I’d heard this a year ago, I would have understood it as a symptom of a system that didn’t work,” Issel said.  

“I would just like people to give us a chance,” she continued, arguing that staff will iron out problems with the new system. “Let’s make judgments in six months.” 

At this point, Issel said, her biggest concern is the disruption to employees’ financial planning. 

But Don Abare, former data processing manager for the district, said the problems raise serious questions about the QSS system and the district’s ability to manage it. 

“If this had happened when I was data processing manager, I would have been fired,” he said.

NEWPORT, R.I. – It was a watershed event in popular music: Bob Dylan, folk music’s young minstrel, taking the stage with an electric guitar slung over his shoulder. 

To the die-hard folkies at Newport on July 25, 1965, it was an outrage. 

Thirty-seven years later, Dylan is coming back, headlining Saturday’s program at the Apple & Eve Newport Folk Festival. 

His long-awaited return stirs memories of the day when he “plugged in,” was booed mercilessly, by most accounts, and in the process knocked down barriers between folk and rocthe early ’60s and was championed by artists like Pete Seeger and Joan Baez. 

Newport was the movement’s Mecca. 

“If you wanted to get the attention of the folk music hierarchy, you did it at Newport,” says biographer Michael Gray, author of “Song & Dance Man III: The Art of Bob Dylan.” 

Up to that point, a musical Mason-Dixon line had divided folk and rock. 

“Folk was something that the intelligentsia embraced,” Riley says. “It had this air of pretension and exclusivity.” 

Rock was younger and dirtier. To folkies, the hip-swinging antics of Elvis Presley embodied rock ’n’ roll. The televised swooning of Beatles fans didn’t help. 

“These people looked on rock ’n’ roll as real kids’ stuff,” Riley says. 

By the mid-’60s, Dylan was being called the “voice of his generation.” His poignant lyrics became the soundtrack to the civil rights movement, and he gave voice to rising anti-war sentiment over Vietnam. 

Dylan had begun to branch out musically as early as 1964. His third album, “Another Side of Bob Dylan,” contained few songs with political overtones; many were love songs. 

“He was already starting to make the folk music establishment uneasy,” says Gray. 

Still, no one seemed prepared for Dylan to walk onstage toting a Fender guitar, accompanied by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. They tore into a raucous version of “Maggie’s Farm,” and the crowd was stunned. 

Some say the booing that followed was for Dylan, while others claim it was really over the poor sound quality. 

White says his animosity was directed squarely at Dylan. 

“There has been a lot of revisionist history,” he says. “I know I booed because I was really upset and I felt betrayed. I think the majority of people who were there felt the same way.” 

According to some accounts, Pete Seeger had to be physically restrained from using an ax to cut the power cable. 

Dylan played just three songs and left the stage to an avalanche of catcalls. 

A few minutes later, he returned, this time alone with an acoustic guitar and harmonica. He played two songs: “Mr. Tambourine Man,” and “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” the latter a fitting requiem for his career as a folksinger.

OSAKA, Japan – The 49ers arrived for the American Bowl on Thursday and made a surprising request: They want to hold on to a Japanese player added to the roster just for the game. 

Linebacker Masafumi Kawaguchi impressed Steve Mariucci so much that San Francisco’s coach asked the NFL for a special roster exemption so Kawaguchi can return to training camp after the game against the Washington Redskins on Sunday (Saturday night EDT). 

“We’ve inquired about it,” team spokesman Kirk Reynolds said. 

Kawaguchi joined the 49ers’ camp in Stockton, Calif., last week, signing the usual 10-day contract as part of the NFL’s traditional gesture of giving local American Bowl fans a special rooting interest. The Redskins were assigned receiver Akihito Amaya. 

Kawaguchi, a six-year veteran of NFL Europe, came to camp hoping his teammates would see him as something more than an Osaka tour guide. 

“I told the guys that if I take care of them in Japan, they’ve got to take care of me with a job,” Kawaguchi said this week. 

Any kind of sightseeing would have been a chore for Kawaguchi or anybody on either team Thursday evening after tiring plane rides across the International Date Line. 

“It’s a new experience for everyone,” Redskins coach Steve Spurrier said. “It’s kind of like a college bowl game.” 

The Redskins’ 13-hour flight was a lively affair. Linebacker LaVar Arrington attracted an audience as he played several games of chess, staring at the board with the kind of unwavering intensity that would frighten a quarterback. Kicker Brett Conway, protecting his most valuable football asset, wore long blue compression stockings on his legs and rarely sat. 

Others passed the time with cards, dominoes, DVDs, playbooks — and acts of mild mischief. 

“I was merely a part of one rookie prank,” Arrington said. “I put mustard on Akil Smith’s lips while he was asleep. I got it on camera.” 

After arrival, both teams received a cultural briefing. Redskins cornerback Fred Smoot offered unsolicited financial advice by telling his teammates to “just add two zeros to everything” when figuring out the dollar-to-yen ratio. 

Representatives from the FBI and DEA told the players about Japan’s low crime rate, but they warned them to take precautions and made it a point to mention the country’s tough drug laws: One ounce of marijuana can result in 1-to-3 years in prison. 

“I don’t think you have to give us a little fear factor to deter us from doing those things,” Arrington said. “Unfortunately, for that one person that may need to hear it, we all have to sit through it.” 

The teams will practice at the Osaka Dome on Friday and Saturday. Players and cheerleaders will make public appearances both days, and the coaches will hold a clinic for coaches from Japan’s X League.

To the Editor: 

Some comments on your July 31 article on UC Berkeley’s extremely high employee parking fees: I am told that in 1960, parking was essentially free (a $5 charge for an annual sticker). By the time I arrived as a very junior faculty member in 1968, the annual fee was $60. The nominal reason for the institution of those rather substantial fees ($60 then had the purchasing power of roughly $250 now) was to have funds to construct additional parking facilities. But in fact much of the money was eaten up by the very cost of enforcing the parking regulations. 

Over the past 30 years the total number of parking spaces has decreased by many hundreds, while the parking fee for faculty is now $1200, slated to rise to $1400 next year. In real terms, this is more than five times the 1968 rate. 

Moreover, as everyone says, those costly parking permits are mere “hunting licenses.” And woe to those who have to leave campus during the day to keep an appointment; chances of finding a legal space upon return are slimmer than a stick of dehydrated spaghetti.  

But remember George Orwell: some animals are more equal than others. There are special reserved spaces for campus VIPs. Worse, many of these spaces stand vacant much of the time. I was curious enough to phone Harvard's parking director some years ago, and she informed me that Harvard would never think of “squandering a scarce resource” in that way. So which is more democratic – “elitist” Harvard, or the “people’s university” Berkeley? 

My sympathies to Berkeley's parking director Nadesan Permaul; he is caught in a very tight space indeed. 

Paul R. Chernoff 

Professor of Mathematics 

University of California, Berkeley

The transition from a seven- to a six-period day at Berkeley High School, slated for September, has put school administrators and teachers at odds. 

Teachers claim that the district cannot unilaterally institute the change because it would violate their union contract. District officials argue that the shift would not violate their pact with teachers. 

Today, the Berkeley Unified School District and the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, the local teachers’ union, are scheduled to meet with an independent arbitrator to discuss the issue. 

The current teachers’ contract, built on a seven-period model, calls on teachers to instruct for five periods, plan for one period and supervise students – usually in the hallway during class – for another. According to BFT President Barry Fike, teachers often use their time on hall duty to catch up on work and grade papers. 

The union says the shift to a six-period day would eliminate the supervisory period, altering the contract. A change in the contract, the union argues, must be handled in formal negotiations. 

But BUSD Superintendent Michele Lawrence said the term “supervision period” can refer to any period of time – not necessarily a traditional, full instructional period. Under this interpretation, the district could assign a teacher to supervise the front gate in the morning and still fall within the parameters of the existing contract. 

BFT President Barry Fike countered that the word “period” refers to a traditional instructional period throughout the contract. 

“This is an issue of interpretation,” said Lawrence. “The best way to settle these kinds of things is to go to a mediator.” 

If the independent arbitrator sides with the union and throws the issue into contract negotiations, Fike said BFT will probably not oppose the six-period day. But the union will ask for concessions on other contract issues in exchange for its support, he said. 

“All we want to do is negotiate it,” Fike said. “We need some trade-offs.” 

Fike declined to detail the “trade-offs” the union would seek. 

If the BFT membership refused to move to a six-period day, it could wreak havoc at the high school, which is in the midst of scheduling the six-period day for the fall. But Fike said he does not anticipate union opposition to the shift. 

Fike said he does not expect the arbitrator, Morris E. Davis of Oakland, to issue a decision for at least a week. Davis did not immediately return calls from the Daily Planet.

The trailers for “Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat” suggest that the comedian at last bares his soul about the personal difficulties he’s had since his last concert film, the enormously successful “You So Crazy” in 1994. 

That’s not exactly what happens. 

Lawrence touches on how he was found armed and screaming in a Los Angeles intersection in 1996, how he was arrested at a club a year later, and how he collapsed while jogging two years after that. 

But he only revisits that history long after he’s trashed his critics (“They’re like the scum of the Earth to me”), praised America (“This is the best country in the world”) and spouted about his spirituality (“I can honestly say I’m blessed”). 

He only offers some of the details of the trouble he’s run into. And while he makes no apologies, at age 37 he seems to have been tempered a bit since “You So Crazy” – a movie so raunchy it drew the dreaded NC-17 rating and the displeasure of Miramax, which promptly dropped it. 

So if you’re looking for the dirty details, look elsewhere. If you’re looking for dirty talk, you’ve come to the right place. 

Lawrence gives his fans what they want during the concert, filmed in January in Washington, D.C. The former “Def Comedy Jam” host still displays a tremendous gift for physical humor – he does more from the neck up than most comedians can do with their entire bodies – and he still puts on a wide variety of voices and sprints around the stage. 

He’s at his strongest when he sticks to the topics that originally made his standup routine so funny: dating, sex, marriage, children. 

He’s weaker when he takes on serious issues: Osama bin Laden, fear of flying, the civil rights movement, police brutality. 

Despite displaying a softer side, Lawrence still has a potty mouth. And while a barrage of four- and 12-letter words is requisite in this setting, he uses them so much, they almost become a crutch, a distraction. 

“Runteldat” – an abbreviated way of saying “run and tell that,” and the name of Lawrence’s entertainment company – also takes a while for the energy to build. Director David Raynr begins with a montage of clips from Lawrence’s movies, including “Bad Boys,” “Big Momma’s House” and “Blue Streak,” and his sitcom, “Martin.” Mixed in between are news reports about his various setbacks. 

About an hour passes before Lawrence addresses the subject of his troubled past, which began with a 1996 incident in which police found him, armed with a gun and disoriented, in the middle of a busy Los Angeles intersection. 

The Associated Press reported back then that, according to his doctor, Lawrence had suffered a seizure after failing to take prescribed medication. He admits he took something that day that he got from “the dopeman,” though he doesn’t specify what the drug was. He’s also forthright about the fact that he was carrying a gun. 

And that arrest at a club in 1997? Some guy bumped into him while he was dancing, he says. Then a bunch of cops showed up with shotguns and took him away. 

Lawrence also talks briefly about how he collapsed while jogging in 100-degree weather in August 1999, and was brought to a hospital with a temperature of 107 degrees. He speaks solemnly about how he almost died, and had to learn to walk and talk again. 

“One thing I truly learned,” he said. “We fall down, but we get back up again.” 

Appreciative applause. Then he segues back into: “I love sex.” 

“Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat,” a Paramount Pictures release, is rated R for strong crude sexual dialogue and strong language. Running time: 104 minutes.

OAKLAND – Eric Chavez homered twice as the Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers 5-3 on Thursday night. 

Miguel Tejada also homered to extend his hitting streak to 21 games — best in the AL this season. Ray Durham also homered and Chavez drove in three runs as the A’s won for just the third time in nine games. 

Tejada’s tied Montreal’s Jose Vidro for the second-longest in the major leagues this year behind Luis Castillo’s 35-game streak for the Florida Marlins. 

Hiram Bocachica homered for the Tigers, who lost their fifth straight. 

Micah Bowie (1-0) got the final two outs in the fifth inning for his first AL victory and his first big league win since Sept. 23, 1999 with the Chicago Cubs. 

Billy Koch got the final four outs for his 27th save in 32 opportunities. 

A’s starter Aaron Harang got his fifth straight no-decision after lasting 4 1-3 innings. He allowed three runs on six hits with a walk and four strikeouts. 

Steve Sparks (5-11) allowed four runs – three earned – on six hits over six innings. He is 2-6 over his last 11 starts. 

Tejada hit his 24th home run of the season, a solo shot in the third that made it 1-0. 

Carlos Pena, the A’s opening day starter at first base before a trade on July 6 sent him to Detroit, tied the game in the fourth with a single to score Rob Fick, who doubled.

To the Editor: 

Cynthia Papermaster condemns the Daily Planet story (7/31 Forum) about her because she felt it was mudslinging. Papermaster gets all superior and announces that she wants to stay away from mudslinging in the school board election and focus on the issues. And then in the very next paragraph she tells some gossip about a current board member who is violating PTSA’s rules. That’s an issue? For a PTSA election maybe, but it’s irrelevant to a school board election. Sure sounds like mudslinging to me. Papermaster’s hypocritical posturing doesn’t give me much reason to vote for her. 

Sherman Boyson 

Berkeley

SAN DIEGO – Each time a bomb exploded in Jerusalem, Marla Bennett’s parents would fear for their 24-year-old daughter, a student at Hebrew University. But within 15 minutes she would be on the phone, assuring them she was safe. 

When Michael Bennett learned of a blast at Hebrew University, the insurance executive called his wife from his office. Linda Bennett told him not to worry. Marla would be calling soon. 

But minutes turned to hours without a phone call and fear began to unnerve the couple. After a frantic day of calls, late Wednesday night, the Bennetts’ ultimate fear became reality. 

Officials confirmed that Marla had been among the seven people, five of them Americans, killed when a remote-controlled bomb exploded in the university cafeteria. The blast occurred just two days before Marla was due to return home to San Diego. 

“There was pandemonium in the house,” Norman Greene, a family spokesman, said Thursday outside the Bennetts’ home. The family and their friends had held out hope until the end “that it didn’t happen, that she had somehow survived. That maybe she was unconscious somewhere on an operating table. 

“But it wasn’t meant to be.” 

Marla, a San Diego native and graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, was wrapping up the second year of a three-year program to earn a joint graduate degree from Hebrew University and the religious school Pardes Institute, said Greene, co-publisher of the San Diego Jewish Press Heritage newspaper. Afterward, she hoped to go into education and perhaps become principal of a religious school. 

Marla’s love for Israel and concern for its future kept her there despite her fears of terror attacks as she explained her feelings in a column she wrote for the Press Heritage in May. 

“My friends and family in San Diego are right when they call and ask me to come home — it is dangerous here. I appreciate their concern. But there is nowhere else in the world I would rather be right now,” she wrote. 

“I have a front-row seat for the history of the Jewish people. I am a part of the struggle for Israel’s survival.” 

Marla’s interest in her religion grew after she spent her junior undergraduate year in Israel, and visited the country a half-dozen times, Greene said. She traveled widely and volunteered in Jerusalem, writing that she hoped to help “put back together all that has broken.” 

In an April e-mail message to a cousin, Fredrica Cooper of Los Angeles, Marla said: “I admit it. Israel is really scary right now. ... But I still feel so strongly about being here.” 

“I don’t know. I am confused. No, I am not confused. I know what I am doing here and I know what I believe. I am just worried. I am worried for Israel and I am worried for all of my family and loved ones in the states who have to deal with my choice to be here.” 

In the message, which Cooper shared with The Associated Press, Marla signed off by telling her cousin: “Don’t worry too much!” 

The Bennetts, active leaders in San Diego’s Jewish community, supported their daughter’s decision to study in Israel despite their constant worry. The last saw her during a visit to Israel in June. 

“Yesterday, her father said that every day he’s woken since she’s been there, he’s been in fear of this day,” Greene said. “It’s just what every parent would dread. What could be worse than losing a child?” 

The Bennetts declined to speak publicly Thursday. 

“They are just so devastated,” Greene said. 

“The only thing they hope for is peace in Israel,” he said. “They wanted me to say to you Marla wanted peace. She was idealistic enough to believe there could be peace.” 

Marla had planned to arrive in San Diego on Saturday to attend a bar mitzvah and the wedding of a college girlfriend. She intended to remain with her family for celebrations of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur next month before heading back to Israel. 

Thursday morning, somberly-dressed friends and relatives passed through the front door of the Bennetts’ home on a winding, quiet lane near San Diego State University. 

Greene said Marla’s boyfriend, Michael Simon of Long Beach, was preparing to accompany the young woman’s body home on an El Al flight Sunday. A funeral service was planned for Monday afternoon.

LOS ANGELES – When last seen by America, Anna Nicole Smith was locked in a seven-year legal battle over her late husband’s Texas oil fortune. 

The former Playboy Playmate, who has yet to collect a dime, has decided it’s time to get back to work. 

So instead of seeing Smith in courtroom footage on the evening news, viewers can peep at her bizarre world when E! Entertainment Television debuts “The Anna Nicole Show” on Sunday at 10 p.m. 

Since May, cameras have been trailing the 34-year-old former stripper and Guess? model from the time she wakes up to the time she goes to bed. Among the scenes captured are Smith telling her black toy poodle to stop passing gas, and the buxom blonde looking into her shirt, saying “Hello, down there.” 

“I haven’t had sex in two years,” Smith grumbles on camera. 

Later, she has a twinge of regret. 

“That’s one of those things you say that you wish you didn’t,” Smith said later in an interview. She claims she isn’t dating anyone currently. 

Another embarrassing moment occurred when Smith forgot to turn off the microphones in the bathroom. 

Advertising for the show says, “It’s not supposed to be funny ... it just is.” 

Smith admits E! is probably making fun of her, but she plays the good sport. “My life is funny,” she said. “There’s things that happen to me all the time, and it just is funny.” 

A bankrupty court ruled in December 2000 that Smith was entitled to $475 million of her late husband’s fortune. A federal judge reduced that to $88 million in March, but the son of J. Howard Marshall plans to appeal. 

Marshall was 90 when he died in 1995, 14 months after marrying Smith. 

She doesn’t plan to discuss him on the show. “I’d like to keep that private,” she said with a straight face. 

Viewers can tag along as Smith goes bowling, hits the batting cage, checks out Hollywood parties, visits the dentist and takes driving lessons. 

Smith hardly goes anywhere without Sugar Pie, the Prozac-popping poodle with her own therapist. 

“If I go out somewhere, she won’t eat and she won’t drink and she just shakes until I get back,” Smith said. “She’s just crazy about her mom.” 

While Smith awaits the outcome of her legal battles, she plans to get back into modeling and write her memoirs. 

The woman who admires, and resembles, Marilyn Monroe and Christie Brinkley hopes the show gives her some credibility and boosts her acting career.

NEW YORK – Baseball’s arbitrator postponed for a second time his decision on whether owners can fold teams without the agreement of players. 

Shyam Das originally had hoped to rule by July 15, then asked for a delay until Aug. 1. He telephoned the sides Thursday and asked for extra time but did not set a new timetable, management spokesman Pat Courtney and union spokesman Greg Bouris said. 

A day after owners voted Nov. 6 to eliminate two teams – later identified by management lawyers as Montreal and Minnesota – the union filed a grievance, saying the decision violated their contract. 

Owners contend they can shut down teams and need to bargain with players only on the effects of contraction. 

Contraction for 2002 was blocked when Minnesota courts ruled the Twins must honor their lease for this year, but commissioner Bud Selig intends to eliminate two teams by next season. 

Montreal, which is owned by the other 29 teams, is the only team currently willing to be folded. A settlement of the Minnesota lawsuit ensured the Twins will exist through the 2003 season. 

After meeting for three straight days, negotiators for players and owners worked separately Thursday and spoke by telephone. They planned to resume talks Friday. 

In Chicago, union head Donald Fehr spoke with the Cubs, leaving Boston as the only team he hasn’t met with in recent weeks. The union’s executive board could set a strike date as soon as next week. 

“Collective bargaining ordinarily is a series of small steps, hopefully more are forward, some are sideways, some are backward,” Fehr said. 

“You go back and forth, you try some approaches, they don’t work. You try other approaches, and then, eventually, you hope you find a combination of things that work. And very often, you can’t figure out when the breakthrough came until you have 20-20 hindsight and it’s over.” 

Players remain optimistic baseball will avoid what would be its ninth work stoppage since 1972. While the sides disagree on key issues such as revenue sharing and a luxury tax, negotiations have intensified in recent weeks. Before the 1994-95 strike, the sides held few bargaining sessions.

LOS ANGELES – When last seen by America, Anna Nicole Smith was locked in a seven-year legal battle over her late husband’s Texas oil fortune. 

The former Playboy Playmate, who has yet to collect a dime, has decided it’s time to get back to work. 

So instead of seeing Smith in courtroom footage on the evening news, viewers can peep at her bizarre world when E! Entertainment Television debuts “The Anna Nicole Show” on Sunday at 10 p.m. 

Since May, cameras have been trailing the 34-year-old former stripper and Guess? model from the time she wakes up to the time she goes to bed. Among the scenes captured are Smith telling her black toy poodle to stop passing gas, and the buxom blonde looking into her shirt, saying “Hello, down there.” 

“I haven’t had sex in two years,” Smith grumbles on camera. 

Later, she has a twinge of regret. 

“That’s one of those things you say that you wish you didn’t,” Smith said later in an interview. She claims she isn’t dating anyone currently. 

Another embarrassing moment occurred when Smith forgot to turn off the microphones in the bathroom. 

Advertising for the show says, “It’s not supposed to be funny ... it just is.” 

Smith admits E! is probably making fun of her, but she plays the good sport. “My life is funny,” she said. “There’s things that happen to me all the time, and it just is funny.” 

A bankrupty court ruled in December 2000 that Smith was entitled to $475 million of her late husband’s fortune. A federal judge reduced that to $88 million in March, but the son of J. Howard Marshall plans to appeal. 

Marshall was 90 when he died in 1995, 14 months after marrying Smith. 

She doesn’t plan to discuss him on the show. “I’d like to keep that private,” she said with a straight face. 

Viewers can tag along as Smith goes bowling, hits the batting cage, checks out Hollywood parties, visits the dentist and takes driving lessons. 

Smith hardly goes anywhere without Sugar Pie, the Prozac-popping poodle with her own therapist. 

“If I go out somewhere, she won’t eat and she won’t drink and she just shakes until I get back,” Smith said. “She’s just crazy about her mom.” 

While Smith awaits the outcome of her legal battles, she plans to get back into modeling and write her memoirs. 

The woman who admires, and resembles, Marilyn Monroe and Christie Brinkley hopes the show gives her some credibility and boosts her acting career.

To the Editor: 

Tuesday’s Daily Planet article said taking BART to SFO from Berkeley will take 70 minutes and cost $7 to $8, which a BART spokesman claims is less than the full cost of driving. It still doesn’t sound like much of a deal: taking BART and the express shuttle to SFO on Monday took me 64 minutes and was only $4.15. 

Daniel Gildea 

Philadelphia

Marla Bennett, 24, had planned to visit her alma mater UC Berkeley later this month. But that plan ended with the most recent episode of violence in the Middle East. 

Bennett was killed Wednesday when a bomb exploded in the student center at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where Bennett was enrolled in a three-year graduate program. 

Four other Americans also died in the bombing which killed a total of seven students. 

Bennett was studying for finals in the campus cafeteria, expecting to fly home to San Diego after exams and then attend a wedding in Berkeley later this month, according to friends. 

“At first we didn’t think [her death] was true. I was planning on seeing her in a couple of weeks,” said Berkeley resident Lesley Said, a friend of Bennett’s who lived on the same freshman dormitory hall, in Unit 3, as her colleague. “We will miss her.” 

Bennett graduated from UC Berkeley in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. Her dreams for peace in the Middle East and her strong religious convictions prompted her to move to Israel to pursue course work in Judaic studies, friends said. 

Bennett had lived in Israel for two years prior to Wednesday’s bombing. 

“A lot of the things that were important to her, like being nice to people and caring, were part of her religion,” Said said. 

“I never knew a single person that didn’t like Marla,” Said added. “She was the type of person that would always say hi to people.” 

During her four years at UC Berkeley Bennett was active at the campus Hillel, the university’s Jewish cultural center. She initiated a discussion group that focused on religious text and was involved in the Hillel’s women’s group. 

She also liked eating burritos on Telegraph Avenue at what was formerly Fabuloso’s, Said said. 

Berkeley Hillel staff could not be reached for comment. 

UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl, though, made a pubic statement Thursday. 

“The fact that a member of the UC Berkeley community is among the latest victims of the continuing violence in the Middle East has left us all the more shocked and grief-stricken,” Berdahl said. 

“To Marla’s family in San Diego, and to her friends here and abroad, I offer my deepest condolences and sympathy,” he said. 

Funeral services for Bennett are scheduled for Monday in San Diego. A Berkeley memorial service is still in the planning, friends said. 

-The Associated Press contributed to this story.

To the Editor: 

I would like to thank the City Council for voting at the July 23rd meeting to move ahead with studying two alternatives to the new Public Safety Building tower. I commend Mayor Dean and Councilmembers Maio, Spring, Breland, Hawley and Worthington for their votes. By voting to study the alternatives they have acknowledged that we need a communications tower that is functional but that does not skirt the process of review. Councilmember Armstrong stated at a February council meeting that she does not blame the neighbors for fighting the tower because she would do the same if it were in her neighborhood. I encourage her to reconsider this position and work for a solution that makes the historical downtown a pride of the city. 

Janet Levenson 

Berkeley

NEW YORK – A string of reminders that the economy is still struggling as well as disappointing earnings at Exxon Mobil irked investors Thursday, and pushed stocks sharply lower. The Dow Jones industrials tumbled nearly 230 points, their first triple-digit loss in nearly two weeks. 

Two discouraging economic reports — a drop in construction spending and a weak reading of national business activity — came a day after an unexpectedly steep decline in gross domestic product in the second quarter. 

Wall Street suffered big losses, just as investors were beginning to feel that the market had suffered its worst days and that prices were low enough for them to start buying again. 

“You give them a little bit of hope and now it looks like it is being jerked away again,” said Richard A. Dickson, a technical analyst at Hilliard Lyons in Louisville, Ky. 

The Dow closed down 229.97, or 2.6 percent, at 8,506.62 — its first triple-digit decline since July 22, when it lost 234. 

Since that previous loss, the Dow had two 400-plus surges — 488.95, its second-biggest daily point gain ever, on July 24, and 447.49 on Monday, its third-largest daily point gain. Those stunning advances were mostly responsible for a four-session gain of 1,009. 

The broader market also pulled back on Thursday. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 48.26, or 3.6 percent, to 1,280.00. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 26.96, or 3 percent, to 884.66. 

Thursday’s decline reverted to more than 10 weeks of selling based on fears about the economy and a loss of confidence in corporate America. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating an array of energy and telecommunications companies and their executives because of deceptive accounting practices. 

“If the economy is slowing down, and earnings don’t hold up, many feel their equity exposure right now is still too high even at lower (stock price) levels,” said Alan Ackerman, executive vice president at Fahnestock & Co. “How cheap is cheap, and how daring do investors want to be with so much uncertainty ahead?” 

Investors were disheartened by two economic reports indicating that the economy is still weak. Analysts said the reports also increased concerns that the economy, which had appeared to be recovering, has instead slid into a deeper recession, called a double-dip. 

“There are worries now that we are in a double-dip (recession) ... If that is the case, you have a market that is still pretty richly valued,” Dickson said. 

The Commerce Department said that construction spending dipped 2.2 percent in June, missing analysts’ expectations for a 0.3 percent rise. And the Institute for Supply Management said its gauge of business activity stood at 50.5 in July, well short of the 55 reading analyst were anticipating. 

Investors were also reminded Thursday of their concerns about corporate ethics, as two former WorldCom executives surrendered to face federal charges related to a multibillion accounting fraud at the bankrupt telecom. Former chief financial officer Scott Sullivan and former controller David Myers turned themselves in to the FBI Thursday morning. 

Oil stocks were among the market’s biggest losers with Exxon Mobil, a Dow stock, falling $3.11 to $33.65 on second-quarter earnings that missed analysts’ expectations by 7 cents a share. Disappointing profits also pulled down Royal Dutch, which slid $3.49 to $42.21. 

Financial issues suffered from a Merrill Lynch downgrade of Dow industrial American Express, which itself fell 90 cents to $34.36. 

Technology also contributed to the market’s downside. Software maker Adobe Systems plunged nearly 30 percent, down $7.13 at $16.83, after lowering its third-quarter earnings and revenue estimates. Additionally, several brokerages, including UBS Warburg, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, downgraded Adobe shares. 

Other tech losers included IBM, down $2.15 at $68.25, and software maker Oracle, off 34 cents at $9.67. 

Declining issues outnumbered advancers about 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume totaled 2.04 billion shares, below Wednesday’s 2.52 billion. 

The Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller company stocks, fell 3.21, or 0.8 percent, to 389.21. 

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average finished Thursday down 0.9 percent. Stocks fell sharply in Europe where France’s CAC-40 sank 5.1 percent, Britain’s FTSE 100 dropped 4.8 percent and Germany’s DAX index lost 2.5 percent.

SAN FRANCISCO – PG&E Corp. disclosed deepening financial troubles Thursday that threaten to push its once-prosperous energy trading business into bankruptcy court alongside its utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. 

The challenges facing PG&E’s National Energy Group emerged during a management conference call held to discuss the company’s disappointing second-quarter results and a potentially debilitating downgrade of National Energy’s credit rating. 

National Energy’s headaches contributed to a 71 percent decline in PG&E’s second-quarter profit. The San Francisco-based company earned $218 million, or 59 cents per share — down from $750 million, or $2.07 per share, at the same time last year. 

The results included a $21 million operating loss at National Energy and a $159 million charge to pay for cutbacks in National Energy’s ambitious expansion plans. Another charge is expected in the third quarter to cover additional cost-cutting moves. 

The bad news began late Wednesday when Standard & Poor’s dumped National Energy’s credit rating into junk territory late Wednesday. 

The downgrade could force National Energy immediately to repay or restructure about $1.7 billion in loans from creditors that demand an investment-grade rating, management said Thursday. 

PG&E will fall into technical default on an additional $1.3 billion in debt if another major credit rating agency, Moody’s Investor Service, follows S&P’s lead and slaps the junk label on National Energy. 

“There is no question in my mind that bankruptcy is a real concern now,” said industry analyst Paul Fremont of Jefferies & Co. “Management has no control over the situation now. It is in the hands of the creditors.” 

The specter of another bankruptcy just as Pacific Gas and Electric regains its financial footing spooked investors. 

PG&E’s shares plummeted $4.14, or 30 percent, to close at $9.76 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. Earlier in the day, PG&E’s shares traded for as little as $8 — a new 52-week low. 

“Unless things unravel really quickly, this is probably an overreaction,” said industry analyst Mike Worms of Gerard Klauer Mattison. “But bankruptcy is a definite possibility (for National Energy). In a market like this, people just don’t want to deal with uncertainty like that.” 

PG&E believes it has enough financial leeway to cope with the ratings setback and the bleak market conditions expected to weaken National Energy in the months ahead. 

As a cushion, National Energy can fall back on $732 million in cash and several credit lines, management told investors Thursday. The parent company had about $600 million in cash as of June 30. 

“The credit rating action is a challenge,” said PG&E Chairman Robert Glynn said during the conference call. “We prepared a contingency plan and we are implementing it.” 

S&P’s downgrade stems in part from a more conservative approach taken toward energy trading operations since last fall’s collapse of Enron, once the industry leader. 

The concerns also reflect a dramatic reversal in the nation’s power supply. With an energy shortage driving up prices in 2000 and 2001, wholesalers opened more plants, creating a glut. 

That about-face has grounded formerly high-flying power merchants, including National Energy – considered the most promising part of PG&E’s business a year ago. 

Even as its embattled utility limped into bankruptcy court in April 2001, National Energy thrived, posting an operating profit of $71 million during last year’s second quarter. National Energy earned $162 million in 2000 — a year in which its parent company lost $3.4 billion. 

PG&E had such high hopes for National Energy that management insulated the subsidiary from the utility’s downfall through a series of financial maneuvers known as “ring-fencing.” Ironically, the move was designed to preserve National Energy’s credit rating. 

Now, that National Energy is flirting with bankruptcy, the ring-fencing may end up shielding the utility from the fallout. 

PG&E warned National Energy’s woes will cause this year’s earnings to fall $75 million to $100 million — 20 cents to 25 cents per share — below management’s previous projections. The change represents an 8 percent to 10 percent reduction in the company’s anticipated earnings. 

Meanwhile, the utility has emerged as the healthiest part of PG&E, earning $567 million in the second quarter, a 74 percent increase from a $325 million profit at the same time last year. 

Through the first half of this year, PG&E earned $849 million, or $22.9 per share, on revenue of $10.5 billion. At the same juncture last year, the company had lost $201 million, or 55 cents per share, on revenue of $11.7 billion.

Our remodeling company recently was called to repair a leaking second-story deck. The deck is located on the windward side of the house and leaks were showing up at adjacent interior walls and ceilings. 

We had to remove a lot of surrounding surface material in hopes of eliminating existing fungus damage. Leaks in tile decks can be disastrous to surrounding areas and are costly to fix. Since the deck was going to be finished with ceramic tile, the deck-post system suddenly became an extremely important consideration. We didn’t want the posts to come up through the flooring because each penetration would eventually become a potential leak hazard. 

The tile detail extended over the edge of the deck in the same fashion as a countertop. This made connecting the posts even more difficult. We didn’t want them to penetrate the edge of the tile either. This meant we couldn’t bolt the posts directly to the side of the deck. What were we to do? 

Since there was plenty of bolting area beneath the tile edge, we decided to use thicker-than-normal posts and notch them at the tile edge. We, thus, were able to achieve a strong connection through heavy bolting at the deck perimeter. And, we did not have to worry about penetrating the waterproof surface anywhere. 

Amazing, isn’t it? Even a deck-post connection can be important. Also, how a post is connected to a deck can have a great deal to do with the deck’s appearance and how strong the hand rail is or isn’t. We like to notch the post so that the rail system is centered over the edge of the deck. Also, we prefer the strength of a two-post corner system where others suggest that a single-post system is cleaner. We also prefer to use 4x6 posts instead of 4x4’s. Once the post is notched, its depth at the thinnest point is not less than 3 1/2 inches (a full 4x4). 

We also like to use vertical grain, clear-dry redwood when the budget allows because the material can be pre-stained before assembly (no waiting for natural moisture to evaporate). Also, clear material is stronger than the same material with knots, and vertical grain is simply the most beautiful wood in the world to behold. 

We recently decided to begin using neoprene washers at the bolt connections between the post and the deck edge. The washers act as spacers between the post and the deck and guarantee a free flow of air at the connection. We have found that wherever wood connects there is a chance for rot. All such connections have a tendency to hold enough moisture to promote rot. 

In past columns we’ve mentioned the under-board deck-fastening system. This is another step in reducing rot and lengthening the life of your deck. When it comes to bolt connections, size is extremely important. Each post should be connected to the deck with at least two half-inch through-bolts, with the spacers we mentioned and malleable washers (the big, square kind) at both sides. Through-bolting is important because it easily can be tightened later as the wood expands and contracts. 

Our customer’s deck already had a beautiful plywood soffit (ceiling cover). This meant that we wouldn’t be able to gain access to the deck framing later on. We were forced to use lag bolts. We used large chunks of 4x6 blocking as backing for our lags. One thing we didn’t want to do is remove plywood siding to tighten bolts — kind of an expensive process. Spacing between parts in open-rail systems is important. There should never be more than 4 inches of clearance between any parts. Be careful here, some building departments require the space to be even less. Check with your local building official before beginning. 

Deck rails should not be less than 36 inches above the deck. Your building department might require 42 inches. Be sure to check. 

We just discovered that Consumer Reports says that clear finishes don’t work on decks. They tell us that the clear materials just don’t hold up. We always have disliked using paint — too much maintenance. Consumer Reports Magazine seems to agree, stating that Cabot Stain is their No.1 choice. Whatever you choose, make sure that your finish coat is oil-based and of high quality. 

For more home improvement tips and information visit our Web site at www.onthehouse.com. 

Readers can mail questions to: On the House, APNewsFeatures, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020, or e-mail Careybro@onthehouse.com. To receive a copy of On the House booklets on plumbing, painting, heating/cooling or decks/patios, send a check or money order payable to The Associated Press for $6.95 per booklet and mail to: On the House, P.O. Box 1562, New York, NY 10016-1562, or through these online sites: www.onthehouse.com or apbookstore.com.

LANCASTER – Two teenage girls kidnapped early Thursday from a remote lovers’ lane and raped were rescued hours later when sheriff’s deputies closed in on the suspect’s stolen Ford Bronco and shot him to death. 

Kern County Sheriff Carl Sparks said he was certain the suspect, Roy Dean Ratliff, 37, who was wanted for rape, was just minutes away from killing the girls and had gone to a remote location in the high desert, 100 miles from where they were kidnapped. 

“He was hunting for a place to kill ’em and bury ’em,” Sparks said on CNN’s “Larry King Live” program. 

“He already raped them and there wasn’t anything left to do,” Sparks said. 

“When he saw the three helicopters in the air he said ’I gotta get rid of these girls’ and he certainly wasn’t going to drop them at the post office,” the sheriff said. 

The suspect showed a gun when two deputies arrived and said “No way, no way,” Sparks said. The deputies shot at him numerous times and struck him twice in the head, Sparks said. 

The girls were in the back of the vehicle at the time and were not immediately visible to the deputies when the shooting started, Sparks said. One deputy pulled them out of the vehicle. 

The girls, Tamara Brooks, 16, and Jacqueline Marris, 17, were identified before authorities learned that they had been raped. 

Television footage showed the sobbing girls being bandaged for what appeared to be minor injuries. 

Peter Bryan, administrator for Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, said the girls were being examined in the emergency room Thursday afternoon. He said they were “coherent, awake, alert,” but he declined to discuss their conditions. 

Ratliff had a criminal record dating back to the 1980s in Nebraska and California that included prison stretches for theft, burglary and possession of methamphetamines. 

Sparks said the girls still had duct tape stuck on them when they were rescued from the white Ford Bronco but were no longer bound by it. 

“I don’t know that they’ll ever be the same, that’s hard to say,” Sparks said. “They were very thankful that they were alive but they got a lot of things to work out.” 

Friends and relatives who gathered in Lancaster hugged and wept when they were told the girls were safe. 

“My little child Jackie, I can’t wait to see her. I love her so much. If you’re watching this honey, I love you, I can’t wait for you to get home,” said Jacqueline’s father, Herb Marris of Mission Viejo. 

“I never lost hope,” said Tamara’s father, Sammie Brooks. “Tammie is a very, very strong-willed person. It’s gonna take her awhile, but I think she’ll recover from this. It runs in our genetic code.” 

The girls were kidnapped about 1 a.m. as they sat in two cars with male friends beneath a pair of giant water tanks on a scrub-covered hilltop in Quartz Hill, 70 miles north of Los Angeles. The Antelope Valley site is a popular hangout for local youth. 

Eric Joshua Brown, 18, owned the stolen Bronco. Brown told reporters he was blindfolded, bound with duct tape and tied to a post as the man took Brooks. 

“He just kept telling her to stay down, keep her head down, don’t look at him,” he said. 

“He told me he was going to kill me but he didn’t want to,” Brown said. 

Less than three hours after the attack, the first ever public alert issued under a new program in California triggered a manhunt that stretched from Utah to the Mexican border. 

Television and radio warnings went out under a program called the California Child Safety Amber Network, named for a 9-year-old girl who was kidnapped in 1996 and later found deaf sightings of the Bronco, including calls from a Kern County animal control officer, state highway workers and a gas station. At about 1 p.m., the SUV was spotted by a sheriff’s helicopter crew near Walker Pass, Kern County sheriff’s Cmdr. Chris Davis said. 

Ratliff, accused of raping his 19-year-old stepdaughter, was charged with five counts of sexual assault in October 2001, but was never apprehended. Bail had been set at $3 million. Under California’s “three-strikes” law, he had faced life in prison if convicted. 

A call placed to a home where Ratliff was listed was answered by someone who said “don’t call here anymore” and hung up. 

Ratliff spent the last 13 years in and out of prison for burglary or possessing a controlled substance, said Russ Heimerich, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections. 

Ratliff was paroled in July 2001, when he disappeared. 

“He had been listed as wanted ever since,” Heimerich said. 

He was suspected in the July 18 carjacking of a 65-year-old Robert Young in Las Vegas. 

Arrangements were being made to reunite the girls with their parents. 

“When I get to see her and hold her, then that’s when it’ll all be real,” Nadine Dyer said. 

“That is the best news. We have to thank God and I’m sure their families are absolutely elated,” Gov. Gray Davis said at a news conference where he had been about to announce a $50,000 reward. 

Authorities believe Ratliff stole a 1999 Saturn sedan from Roberta and James Young in Las Vegas. The car apparently got a flat tire and was left behind at the abduction scene. The man apparently poured gasoline over the car and unsuccessfully tried to torch it, authorities said. 

“We’re very thankful those girls are all right. Very thankful,” Mrs. Young said at a news conference in Las Vegas. 

“It’s so good they got away,” her husband added. 

“I really knew, truthfully, that that could have been me, could have been my husband,” she said. 

The carjacker appthen pulled a gun, stole about $260 from the couple and drove off.

LOS ANGELES – Officials credited a recently adopted child abduction alert system with the safe rescue Thursday of two Lancaster girls. 

Thursday marked the first use of the Amber alert system since it was implemented statewide just six days ago by Gov. Gray Davis. 

It previously had been used in California only at local levels, including during the kidnapping of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion in Orange County last month. 

The alert was issued within four hours after Roy Dean Ratliff kidnapped Tamara Brooks, 16, and Jacqueline Marris, 17, at gunpoint early Thursday. 

The alert included the names of the girls and the license plate number of the stolen Ford Bronco that Ratliff used to abduct them. 

The information was sent to all California law enforcement agencies and media outlets throughout the state. Caltrans flashed news of the abduction and a description of the Bronco on 316 electronic signs on freeways around the state. 

“It worked like it should have — like a dream,” said Richard Westin, a deputy for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. 

Sheriff’s deputies in Kern County said they got several calls from people who saw the Bronco. Among them was a state highway worker who spotted the vehicle after hearing the alert broadcast by a Los Angeles radio station, said California Highway Patrol spokesman Tom Marshall. 

“By using this new system, we immediately pass on the information to the citizens,” said Sonia Parra, a sheriff’s deputy from Los Angeles County. “That contributed tremendously today to the response and positive results.” 

Ratliff was shot and killed after the short chase ended in a crash. The girls were unharmed.

Dear Tom and Ray: 

My 1998 Chevrolet pickup seems to have a defect as far as the anti-lock brakes go. The system activates on dry pavement at a slow, gradual stop 75 percent of the time. I know of four other people in the same town who are experiencing the same problem, one of whom is a mechanic. When the dealerships have been approached, they claim to have no information about this. Also, I notice that just before the complete stop is made, it feels like the brakes aren't catching, and almost a releasing sensation is experienced. I have taken it in to a highly respected local mechanic for a thorough inspection, and he said that mechanically, the brakes are fine and there was no readout on the anti-lock-brake computer. He cleaned dust from the wheel sensors. He said another '98 has since come in and is doing the same thing, and there seems to be no remedy. Can you tell me what the problem is, if there have been other complaints and if there are any new recalls? -- John 

TOM: Well, it's not a complaint we've heard before about Chevys with four-wheel ABS. And unfortunately, General Motors had nothing to offer us on how to fix it, either. 

RAY: I have two guesses for you, John. But keep in mind that they are just that: guesses. In 1998, the Chevy pickup had four-wheel anti-lock brakes, but it had discs on the front wheels and drums on the rear wheels. And drum brakes are notoriously grabby. 

TOM: You don't say where you live, John, but drum brakes get even grabbier when they're exposed to moisture. So if you live near the ocean or in a particularly wet climate, moisture could be causing your rear brakes to grab, which would kick in the ABS. 

RAY: If this were the case, the problem would be worse after the truck sat for a while, especially overnight, and would get better the longer you drove it. 

TOM: And since all of the complaints you're reporting to us are from your own town, there could be an environmental factor, like moisture, at work here. 

RAY: Another possibility is that one of your ABS sensors is bad. You say that one of the mechanics checked for an ABS code in the computer, but the computer doesn't always pick up on every problem. 

TOM: Here's how your mechanic should check the sensors. With the car up on the lift, hook up an oscilloscope to each sensor, one at a time. Then spin that wheel. The electronic signal from the ABS sensor should show up as a wave form on the oscilloscope. And if one of the wave forms looks different from the other three, that's your bad sensor. 

RAY: If you continue to have no luck, you should go ahead and file a complaint with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, since this sounds like a safety issue to me. 

TOM: You can do that from our Web site, the Car Talk section of www.cars.com, or by phone at (800) 424-9393. If NHTSA gets enough complaints about a single safety issue, it can open an investigation, which could lead to a recall. Good luck, John.

Drivability on all sorts of road surfaces and in all sorts of conditions has been the rallying cry for Subaru for as far back as we can remember. Their tagline—the beauty of all-wheel drive—demonstrates their focus on safety and a go anywhere mentality rivaled only by Jeep. This year Subaru has taken a huge chance and restyled their Impreza line of small cars, of which we drove the new-for-2002 Impreza Outback Sport. 

The new design encompasses new flared fenders (like the World Rally cars), a new face with oval headlights and trademark trapezoidal grill. In the rear the changes are a bit more subtle. A large rear wing that hangs over the tailgate and redesigned taillights mark the most noticeable changes. 

This "baby" Outback is outfitted like its bigger sibling but its smaller design lends itself more to the rugged nature of the Outback line. The body side molding, along with the front and rear bumpers and lower body panels, are in Graystone Metallic. The front fascia has built in fog lights and there’s a clever cargo area tray for dumping dirty things on and four cargo tie-down hooks, among other Outback-only touches. 

There is a ton of storage space with the rear seats folded flat (another new feature this year), 61.6 cubic feet, since you asked so nicely. And the 12-volt outlet back there really makes life in the backwoods easier. 

The 80-watt AM/FM/CD radio sounds nice with its four speakers pumping out everything from country to rock, rap and hip hop. The storage space above the radio is good for holding a couple CDs or sunglasses but not much else. We’d prefer to have both spaces (radio and storage) taken up by the Macintosh unit from the big Outback. 

The seats, with their tweed-looking material, were supportive and comfortable. The side bolsters on the bottom cushions and seat back kept us in place during radical cornering maneuvers and they never impeded heavily on our personal space like some sports car’s seats can. 

Speaking of cornering, the Outback Sport was just that…sporty. We had a great time flinging this highly maneuverable car around our test loop. For truly fun driving, you need good handling and plenty of power. In the power front, our car’s 2.5-liter boxer four-cylinder put out 165 horsepower and 166pound-feet of torque, which gave us enough oomph to scoot out of corners and made the straights that much shorter. 

The day we took the Outback Sport to our favorite test loop it had rained that morning and the road was still wet. While this didn’t deter us too much, we had to take things a bit slower, because on most corners we were pushing the Outback’s limits. Thankfully the ride was very controllable, in part because of all-wheel drive, and the decent size tires of P205/55 R16’s. 

Our Outback Sport came equipped with tons of standard features like all-wheel drive, anti-lock brakes, four-wheel independent suspension, air conditioning, a single CD player with a decent radio and a whole bevy of other things. And all Outback’s come with roof racks. 

For all that, the standard price for our tester was only $18,695, compared with $17,495 for a base Impreza, that’s a really good bargain. The only optional equipment on our Outback Sport was a keyless entry system ($175) and wheel splash guards ($150), bringing our total as-tested price, after a $525 destination charge, to $19,545. 

For the price, the 2002 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport is a better bargain than the Mazda Protege5, Ford Focus ZX5 and the Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix twins. It’s a fun vehicle to drive and will be a pleasure to own for its practicality and sporty flair.

Today’s Highlight in History: 

On Aug. 8, 1974, President Nixon announced he would resign following new damaging revelations in the Watergate scandal. 

On this date: 

In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte set sail for St. Helena to spend the remainder of his days in exile. 

In 1876, Thomas A. Edison received a patent for his mimeograph. 

In 1942, six convicted Nazi saboteurs who had landed in the United States were executed in Washington, D.C.; two others received life imprisonment. 

In 1945, President Truman signed the United Nations Charter. 

In 1945, the Soviet Union declared war against Japan during World War II. 

In 1953, the United States and South Korea initialed a mutual security pact. 

In 1963, thieves made off with 2.6 million pounds in banknotes in Britain’s “Great Train Robbery.” 

In 1968, Richard M. Nixon was nominated for president at the Republican national convention in Miami Beach. 

In 1973, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew branded as “damned lies” reports he had taken kickbacks from government contracts in Maryland, and vowed not to resign. But he eventually did. 

In 1978, the United States launched Pioneer Venus II, which carried scientific probes to study the atmosphere of Venus. 

Ten years ago:  

The U.S. basketball “Dream Team” clinched the gold at the Barcelona Summer Olympics, defeating Croatia 117-85. The space shuttle Atlantis returned from a problem-plagued mission. AIDS activist Alison Gertz died in Westhampton Beach, Long Island, N.Y., at age 26. 

Five years ago:  

The Teamsters and United Parcel Service completed a second day of federally mediated talks, with neither side reporting progress toward ending a strike. 

One year ago:  

Former President Reagan’s daughter Maureen died at age 60. Mohammad Khatami was sworn in for a second term as Iran’s president.

OAKLAND – Oakland homicide investigators say that a man who stands accused of two unrelated killings has been charged with murder for a third time. 

According to Sgt. Roger Short, 21-year-old Michael Ringo was charged Monday in connection with the killing of Eugene Smith, who was the 49th homicide victim of the year 2000 in Oakland. 

The killing happened early on Aug. 4 on the 2800 block of West Street. Ringo got into an argument with the 29-year-old victim, who pulled out a pellet gun during the discussion, Short said. 

“Ringo called his bluff and pulled out a real gun,” Short said. “He ended up chasing (Smith) and shooting him several times.” 

The case remained unsolved as homicide investigators worked to locate witnesses based only on their street names. Investigators found one witness in April and the other one was found last month. 

Both identified Ringo as the alleged killer, Short said. 

Short and Sgt. Derwin Longmeyer went to the Santa Rita Jail on Friday to talk to Ringo about the homicide. Ringo wouldn’t talk, and then requested to speak to his attorney, Short said. 

Ringo has been in custody since September of 2000, charged with killing 20-year-old San Pablo resident Nicholas Espinoza during a robbery at the Arco gas station at the intersection of San Pablo Avenue and 34th Street. 

The Berkeley Police Department accused Ringo of a second homicide, which happened 12 days after the killing of Eugene Smith.  

The victim was 33-year-old Dwight C. Garland, who was killed execution style outside of a house on the 1200 block of Haskell Street during what Berkeley police called a botched robbery. 

A second person, Cory “CoCo” Jenkins of Oakland, was also charged in connection with the Garland murder. Both men were awaiting trial in Alameda County Superior Court.

Today’s Highlight in History: 

On Aug. 6, 1945, during World War II, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, killing an estimated 140,000 people in the first use of a nuclear weapon in warfare. 

On this date: 

In 1787, the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia began to debate the articles contained in a draft of the United States Constitution. 

In 1806, the Holy Roman Empire went out of existence as Emperor Francis I abdicated. 

In 1825, Bolivia declared its independence from Peru. 

In 1890, convicted murderer William Kemmler became the first person to be executed in the electric chair as he was put to death at Auburn State Prison in New York. 

In 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war against Russia and Serbia declared war against Germany. 

In 1926, Gertrude Ederle of New York became the first American woman to swim the English Channel. She did it in about 14 1/2 hours. 

In 1962, Jamaica became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth. 

In 1965, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. 

In 1978, Pope Paul VI died at Castel Gandolfo at age 80. 

In 1986, William J. Schroeder died after living 620 days with the Jarvik Seven artificial heart. 

Ten years ago:  

President Bush granted full diplomatic recognition to the former Yugoslav republics of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

SAN FRANCISCO — A 12-year-old Chinese girl missing for two days was found safe with relatives on the East Coast early Saturday after disappearing from her youth tour group, authorities said. 

A tip provided to the FBI and forwarded to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s department led investigators to Yukun Jia around 9 a.m., sheriff’s spokeswoman Bronwyn Hogan said. 

“She is safe with relatives, and in good spirits,” said Hogan who would not release the city in which Jia was found to protect the girl’s privacy and security. 

FBI spokesman Andrew Black confirmed Jia was safe and said foul play was not suspected. 

Hogan said Jia’s relatives met her at San Francisco International Airport on Thursday and they flew east together. Adult leaders of the youth group had told investigators Jia signed a document claiming she had no relatives in the United States. 

Hogan said she was not sure why Jia abruptly disappeared from her fellow travelers or whether the girl hoped to defect from China, an angle investigators had pursued. Hogan referred other inquiries about the case to State Department officials who did not immediately return a call Saturday. 

Jia vanished after going through customs at the airport on Thursday afternoon. She arrived from Beijing with nearly 30 Chinese youths for an overnight layover en route to space camp in Alabama. 

It is said, “good fences make for good neighbors.” And good fences provide a margin of safety and security, as well. 

While keeping your children and pets on your property – or a specified area – a good fence also provides reverse safety by preventing other kids and pets from wandering into your yard where unsupervised activity could lead to injury and liability. 

A fence also provides a good first line of security defense by discouraging would-be intruders; visually by shielding valuables from sight and physically as a barrier against all but the most determined individuals. 

Once you have decided to build a fence, it is imperative you first do some checking on local building codes and zoning laws. 

Usually constructing a fence will not require a building permit. However, as codes vary in different locations, check first with your local agency that governs building codes for approval. Also inquire as to any specific local rulings and-or requirements for choice of materials, post-hole footings, picket spacing and setback distances from the street, curbs or property lines. 

Besides the above, zoning laws in many municipalities dictate the maximum acceptable height for fences. Often, for example, a front-yard fence cannot exceed 42 inches. There might also be regional requirements you need to know about, such as the minimum and maximum depth of footings – based on the frost line in your region or to meet earthquake standards (for instance) – and safety issues for special hazards. 

Fencing for special hazards includes cordoning off swimming pools, spas and wells to name but a few areas that require extra precaution. Homeowners insurance coverage often dictates that certain fence requirements be met to keep your policy in full force. So, be sure to check with your insurance agent before getting underway. 

Once you’ve cleared all potential obstacles as far as rules and regulations are concerned, you’ll need to walk the entire proposed fence line to ascertain precisely what you’ll be dealing with in the construction phase. 

You might find that your planned fencing will meet a number of physical obstacles along the way, as well. These can include small hills and valleys, large boulders, trees and drainage ditches. Solutions can involve moving the fence line, removing the obstacle or building around the obstruction. 

In most cases – assuming the fence line you’ve chosen is the most desirable for your property – building up to, over and-or through will be most practicable. And incorporating the obstruction into your design is the easy answer. 

While your fence of choice can be anything from brick or cement to metal or chain link, we’ve used wood for our example. The solutions offered are, in principle, the same for all other material types. 

If your fence must span a low area, extend additional boards down beneath the bottom rail following the contour of the terrain while maintaining the top-rail straight and level. However, do not extend these added fence boards down farther than 8 inches to 10 inches without additional cross-rail support. Otherwise they will be subject to warping. Adding any length of drop below the bottom-rail is OK as long as you provide additional cross-rail support. 

Going up and over hills and boulders uses the same basic principle, only in reverse. The primary thing to remember: any face boards extending more than 8 inches to 10 inches down from a top- or cross-rail need additional cross support to prevent warping. 

If your fence crosses a small stream with running water or a drainage ditch that carries rainwater runoff, construct a grate from half-inch galvanized pipe or number 3 steel rebar. Drill the appropriate size holes in the bottom rail – spaced about 6 inches apart – and, after attaching it securely to the fence, insert the grate bars through each hole and drive them into the ground. You can either pre-measure the length of each bar or simply drive them in as far and deeply as possible. Or trim off the excess with a hacksaw. For extra durability, imbed the bottoms of your grate bars in concrete. This can easily be done when setting the fence posts. 

Obstacles are the biggest challenge. If a tree stands in the chosen line of your fence, you can continue straight through – without “bumping” in or out – with a little ingenuity. 

First, in addition to existing fence-post spacing, place two extra fence posts as close to the tree as possible, taking care not to damage any roots below grade. Then construct top-, cross- and bottom-rails spanning the desired distance from the tree trunk (usually about 4-inches on either side to allow for sway movement and future growth). 

Then add face boards, starting from the two fence posts and working inward toward the tree, cutting final boards so they follow the trunk contour with consistent “buffer” spacing from top to bottom. 

Additional support should be added, in the form of metal L brackets and diagonal braces to prevent sagging. If you wish, you can also “circle” the trunk as well with a wood-frame box or metal hoop. This will tie the two sides together (for strength) and keep them from easily being pushed in or out like a gate. Be sure to again leave adequate clearance for sway movement and growth. 

Your new fence should be attractive – on both sides. Choose its design with care and be aware that some codes even specify that the “finished” side must face your neighbor’s property.

Ballistic tests performed by the Berkeley Police Department last week showed that the handgun used in a June robbery in Albany was the same weapon used in three earlier Berkeley shootings. 

Berkeley resident Jose Mejia, 20, who is in police custody awaiting trial on charges of robbing a Church’s Fried Chicken on the 1200 block of San Pablo Avenue on June 11, is now being held for three shootings in May and June as well. 

None of the shooting victims were fatally wounded, and all have been released from treatment centers, according to police. 

The first shooting occurred on May 24, when a city employee taking a lunch break was approached by a man in the parking lot of the Berkeley health and human services office on Sixth Street. The man said nothing and shot the city employee in the leg.  

On June 4, a gunman opened fire on the street and struck a vehicle on the 2400 block of Seventh Street. 

Less than a week later, on June 10, a man and his wife were approached by a man on the 2300 block of Acton Street as they took an evening walk. The gunman shot the man in the arm and the woman in the chest. 

Police suspect Mejia is responsible for all three shootings. 

Mejia was arrested by police after the June 11 robbery. A witness wrote down the license plate number on the suspect’s car after the incident, leading police to Mejia’s Berkeley home. 

“The suspect was barricaded in the attic for a number of hours,” said Lieutenant Cynthia Harris of the Berkeley Police Department. 

After a brief stand-off, police entered the house by force when Mejia refused to come out voluntarily. 

Mejia will remain in police custody until his arraignment. No date has been set for the proceedings.