Maria Magana has an old, yellowing photograph of her shop, Pepitos Deli, taken before a 1999 facelift. Four years ago, her storefront was in as bad a shape as the photo. 

Today, however, peeling paint, old window panes and an ugly metal door at the San Pablo Avenue deli have given way to fresh coats of green, purple and yellow, a craftsman wood door and an ornate new sign. 

Why the change? A city of Berkeley facade grant. 

The four-year old program has given money to about 130 small business owners to improve the look of their storefronts and add safety features to their businesses. 

“This is a useful tool to help blighted property,” said Ted Burton of the city’s Office of Economic Development.  

The program targets property owners in certain parts of the city, including downtown, University Avenue and south and west Berkeley. The owners usually receive about $3,500. The grant money mostly goes toward new signs, awnings, paint, windows, doors and outside lighting. 

“The program helps us to convince owners to clean up their storefronts and make the neighborhood safer and look better,” said Burton. 

The program’s most noticeable impact has been on San Pablo Avenue, between University and Ashby avenues, where 52 businesses have received city grants. 

“We work with San Pablo merchants and residents to identify neighborhood clusters so we can revitalize an entire area,” said Burton 

Local merchants acknowledge the improvement. 

“I think the neighborhood looks really nice,” said Pete Raxakoul, owner of Country Cheese at San Pablo Avenue and Addison Street. “There’s a lot more people walking around now. It’s a lot less scary with the new lights.” 

Raxakoul said he was approached last year by the Office of Economic Development about participating in the program. 

“I wasn’t planning on doing any work, but if someone offers it for free, it’s always nice.”  

With free money comes certain restrictions. 

Magana said her initial plan for Pepitos Deli had a more “Hispanic” theme, but city officials rejected the design on grounds that it would reduce the property’s resale value. 

Still, she is happy with the end result. “The city was very helpful and the sign looks great,” she said. 

However, some owners aren’t happy with their refurbished storefronts. 

Deloris Handel, the new owner of Lucky Dog Pet Shop at 2154 San Pablo Ave., thinks the sign and paint that the city and former owner chose for her shop doesn’t grab people’s attention. 

“Aesthetically it’s a great sign, but as far as attracting business, it doesn’t work,” she said. She would have preferred neon. 

Construction on the Country Cheese storefront begins in two weeks. However, this may be one of the final facelifts for of the year. 

The program, which has given out an estimated $240,000 over the last four years, was not funded this year due to budget cuts. All current projects are being funded with money from the previous year’s budget. 

Burton said he is hopeful that funding will be restored, and that Telegraph Avenue merchants have expressed interest in the program. 

“There is definitely more to be done,” he said.  

I support Doug Fielding's enthusiasm for creating more playing fields in Berkeley, and I don't even object to his support for the existing playing field at Harrison Park (Gabe Catalfo Field) which is an area with poor air quality. But I do object to Mr. Fielding's attempt to ignore and/or distort the facts about the city of Berkeley's current air study at the park. 

Mr. Fielding asserts that the city's air study is flawed “according to the person overseeing the issue of particulate matter (PM) at the state EPA.” Who is the person? What is the flaw? Does Mr. Fielding know that this project was reviewed by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District as well as the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and that these agencies consult with Berkeley staff on a regular basis? Mr. Fielding may be ready to conclude that the location of the air monitor explains the poor air quality readings at Harrison Field; I’ll bet parents of children with asthma aren't willing to be so cavalier.  

Mr. Fielding refers to a “long term study of 3,500 children in the Los Angeles basin that found no correlation between particulate matter and increased respiratory distress among athletes versus non-athletes.” Mr. Fielding misinterprets this study which was reported in The Lancet in February 2002 and titled “Asthma in exercising children exposed to ozone: a cohort study.” The study investigated the link between exposure to air pollution– ozone, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter (PM) – during exercise or time spent outdoors and the development (new diagnoses) of asthma. And actually, on the basis of their data, the study’s authors concluded that “air pollution and outdoor exercise could contribute to the development of asthma in children.” (That's not an attack of asthma; that's a new diagnosis of asthma.) 

The scientists who study air pollution and health take this PM stuff seriously and so should the rest of us, even Mr. Fielding. 

Sara MacKusick 

Chair of the Community  

Environmental Advisory  

Commission

Scattered around west Berkeley is an unusual building system which consists of pre-cast concrete wall panels with translucent glass blocks set into the concrete in a pattern that created a lattice-work of diamond-shaped openings in a grid-pattern. They are referred to as “concrete grid forms.” 

This building system appears to have been developed around 1938 by George A. Scott at his 3075 Telegraph Avenue shop. His company was called the Concrete Grid Form Company and his office, constructed with grid forms of course, is still standing at 3075 Telegraph. Architects Walter Steilberg and Bernard Maybeck were enlisted by Scott as consulting designers. About the same time, Fred Stadelhofer of Berkeley Pump developed a variation on the form with cement contractor E. H. Buel. 

Scott's method of constructing the forms had the concrete poured into an egg-crate like mold with the glass blocks installed later. Buell's method had the concrete poured directly around the glass blocks.  

A wall of these pre-cast panels was exhibited as a garden wall at the 1938 Treasure Island Exposition, and the system was featured in an article in the September 1940 issue of Architect and Engineer. Walls of these concrete grid forms provide light with privacy and an interesting decorative pattern. The translucent glass block is associated with the Art Deco Style and is again being used today. 

Concrete grid-form buildings can be seen at various locations around Berkeley. There are several concrete-grid form buildings built by the Berkeley Pump Company between 1945-1955 by E.H. Buel in the 2200 block of Fifth Street, the 2300 block of Fourth Street, at 816 and 830 Bancroft Way, and 721 Channing Way. On the north side of the 700 block of Bancroft is an impressive block-long wall of these grid forms. Berkeley Pump was a large manufacturing business in Berkeley which made pumps for a variety of uses but its manufacturing plant was a collection of buildings scattered across several blocks. The buildings have been mostly converted to offices and some retail uses.  

The best place to view these concrete grid forms is at 1001 University Avenue. The former Mobilized Women of Berkeley building (1938, attributed to Bernard Maybeck) is now part of Amsterdam Art and the large auditorium is open as part of their retail business. Other grid-form buildings are located at 3075 Telegraph Avenue (1938), 805 Camellia (1946), 746 Folger (1951), the bathrooms at Kleeberger Field on the university campus; 1025 Carleton Street; 1800 Dwight Way; and 1865 University Avenue.  

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

“The closer you get the funnier we seem,” urged the guy on the portable stage tucked into the northeast corner of Willard Park. He beckoned the crowd nearer, smiling. It scooted up with tarps and blankets and coolers so late arrivals could fit in. A bluegrass band enlivened the mellow afternoon air while someone passed out “No War” bumper stickers and vendors sold cookies and drinks. 

It was time for political satire, and where better for political satire than a grassy sward in Berkeley? 

The occasion was one of San Francisco Mime Troupe’s free shows that crop up all over the Bay Area this time of year. In the words of one of its collective, Amos Glick: “We’ve been doing political theater for over 40 years for anyone who will listen.” 

Plenty were listening at Willard Park last Sunday. The name of the troupe’s latest jibe at politics-as-usual is “Mr. Smith Goes to Obscuristan,” based on the Frank Capra film, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” in which a naïve, goodhearted Jefferson Smith played by James Stewart joins congress only to discover that (gasp!) politics is corrupt. 

The movie is almost as naïve as Smith, but it provides a useful springboard for the Mime Troupe’s sendup, in which naïve, goodhearted New York firefighter Jefferson Smith is co-opted by the state department to observe the presidential elections in the mythical but emblematic middle eastern country of Obscuristan. No surprise that the United States just wants to use Smith. Obscuristan’s shoo-in candidate is in its pocket, and though it claims that the country is so worthless that it is “forced to import sand,” when it turns out to have oil the state department only shrugs. 

“Who knew?” a spokeswoman coos, batting her eyes. 

“Mr. Smith Goes to Obscuristan,” generates laughs and has a few good lines. For example, when a repressor groans, “Have you seen what happens when you give free speech to well-fed children? It isn’t pretty.” But its satire of U.S. foreign policy and the Bush administration is neither inventive nor biting. More akin to “Saturday Night Live” than to Bertolt Brecht or Dario Fo, it features a Dick Cheney who once worked for “Scandalburton,” and a President Bush who chokes on pretzels, cannot pronounce new words, and fusses, “This peace process is taking longer than a colonoscopy.” The Obscuristan candidate Automaht Regurgitov, declares, “If you know which way the wind blows, you know which way to bend,” and his upstart opposition aspirant is named Ralif Nadir. The news media gets ambushed too. CNN becomes SNN, the Selective News Network, which insists that its on-site reporter remember “nothing but puff pieces.” 

Written by Josh Kornbluth, Gene Sullivan and the Mime Troupe, and directed by Sullivan and Keiko Shimato, “Obscuristan” takes easy shots at sitting-duck targets but is likable. And though its cast members have variable talents, they all go at the material with infectious good humor. 

Oddly, the greatest irony of this particular performance may have occurred on its fringes, where demonstrators waved placards accusing the Mime Troupe of being “Racist and Orientalist.” Protesters protesting protesters? Its most unsettling moment may have come from the audience. When an Obscuristan patriot cried to the United States, “Everybody hates you,” several people cheered, while I flinched at those cheers. Has national self-loathing gone so far?  

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 in advance, $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 

Marvin Sease plus Beverly Watson 

1st show 7 p.m., 2nd show 10 p.m. 

Rountree’s Rhythm & Blues, 2618 San Pablo Ave. 

663-0440 

$40 in advance 

Rebel Music 

8 p.m.. 

La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave.  

A Collective of artists and musicians from the Bay. Hiphop, reggae, dance hall and spoken word. 

849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

$10 

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 

De Rompe y Raja & Lucho Cabrera 

8 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave.  

Afro-Peruvian singer Lucho Cabrera from Ica, Peru, performs for the first time at La Peña with De Rompe y Raja. 

849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

$13 in advance, $15 at door 

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 

Marvin Sease plus Beverly Watson 

1st show 7 p.m., 2nd show 10 p.m. 

Rountree’s Rhythm & Blues, 2618 San Pablo Ave. 

663-0440 

$40 in advance 

Berkeley Arts Festival Opening Day 

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 

Prezidenz Brown with DJ Jah Wizer 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$11 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 

$10 

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 

Tuesday, August 13 

Tom Rigney and Flambeau 

8:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$8 door/ Free for 12 and under 

Wednesday, August 14 

Phil Marsh 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Roadoilers with the Bluegrass  

Intentions 

8:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$10/ Free for 12 and under 

Thursday, August 15 

Colcannon 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Dean Santomieri: Multimedia Works 

Berkeley Arts Festival 

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 

$10 

Friday, August 16 

Farallon Brass Ensemble Concert 

8 p.m. 

Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. Berkeley 

Performance by Farallon Brass Ensemble highlighting their brass camp for young musicians. 

$10 general, $5 students/seniors 

Girls in Ties, 151 Cameo Dr., and Robert and Karen 

7 p.m. to 11 p.m. 

Café Eclectica, 1309 Solano Ave. 

527-2344 

$4 

Duck Baker & Jamie Findlay 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Native Elements with Buffalo Soldier 

Joined by special guest Humble Soul 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$11 door/ Free for 12 and under 

Saturday, August 17 

Composer Portraits with Sarah Cahill and Gabriela Frank 

Berkeley Arts Festival 

8 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

665-9099 

$10 

The Edios 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

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 

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 

"New Visions: Introductions '02"  

Works from emerging Californian artists 

Through Aug. 10 

Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St., Oakland 

763-4361 

Free 

"New Work: Part 2, The 2001 Kala Fellowship Exhibition"  

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  

“If These Walls Could Talk” 

Through Sept. 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 fulltime Berkeley students. 

“Virtually Real Oakland - The Magic, The Diversity and the Potholes” 

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 

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 10 

"Poetry in the Plaza" honors June Jordan 

Berkeley Arts Festival 

2:30 p.m. 

Central Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 

Readings from poets Marvin K. White, Sharon Doubiago, Lucha Corpi, Chinaka Hodge and others. 

981-6233 

Free 

Wednesday, August 14 

Café Poetry and open mic hosted by Kira Allen  

7:30 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave.  

849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

$2 

Saturday, August 24 

Rhythm & Muse 

6:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 

Poetry reading and open mike featuring Zigi Lowenburg & Raymond “Nat” Turner. 

527-9753 

Free admission 

Wednesday, August 14 

Premiere of “MMI” by John Sanborn 

Berkeley Arts Festival 

8 p.m. 

Wells Fargo Annex, 2081 Center St., 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 

Truth: Exposing Israeli Apartheid  

7:30 p.m. 

La Pena, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 

Premiere of documentary by local filmmaker Wendy Campbell. 

655-5889 

$20 donations

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 

B-TV Bowl-a-thon 

11 a.m. 

Albany Bowl, 540 San Pablo Ave. 

2nd annual Bowl-a-thon to raise proceeds for educational and government programs and a needed facility and equipment upgrade. 

848-2288 ext.. 11 

Free 

Berkeley NAACP  

General Membership Meeting 

1:00 p.m. 

Church by the Side of the Road, 2108 Russell Street 

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the largest, oldest, and most effective civil rights organization in the country. Monthly meetings are held every 2nd Saturday.  

510-435-3101 

Free 

Ironing 

6 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Entrance on Telegraph 

Street performance art presented by NO WAY. 

237-9507 

Free 

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 

Ashkenaz Board Meeting 

7:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

The public is welcome and can make open comments from 7:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. Meeting will be conducted in the back studio. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$12 door/ Free for 12 and under 

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  

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 

“Into the Arms of Strangers:  

Stories of the Kindertransport” 

2 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 

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 St. 

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 

Free Theater for Children 

7:30 p.m. 

Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 

Stage Door Conservatory presents Wise men of Chelm, based on Jewish Folk Tales. Adapted by Sandra Fenichel Asher. 

527-5939 

Free 

Berkeley Women in Black 

Noon to 1 p.m. 

Telegraph and Bancroft 

Standing in solidarity with Israeli and Palestinian women to urge an end to the occupation and the violence. 

548-6310, wibberkeley.org 

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 

Thursday, August 22 

Free Meanoma Update 

11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 

Summit North Pavilion, Cafeteria Annex B & C, 350 Hawthorne Ave., Oakland 

Information on melanoma skin cancer, detection and treatment. 

869-6737 

Free 

Friday, August 23 

Teen Playreaders present Bizarre Shorts 

(through August 24) 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library - North Branch 

1170 The Alameda 

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

981-6250 

Free 

Saturday, August 24 

UC Berkeley Circle K Garage Sale 

8 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley ACE Hardware parking lot, 2145 University Ave. 

Garage sale fundraiser held by UC Berkeley, non-profit community service organization to raise money for pediatric trauma patients.  

(858) 335-9021 

Fuel Cell Car Experiments 

1 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 

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 

Tuesday, August 27 

A House of Straw: A Natural Building Odyssey Slideshow 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo 

Carolyn Roberts presents slides and talks about her experiences building her straw bale house. 

548-2220 Ext.. 233 

Free 

Thursday, August 29 

2nd Annual LGBT Elders Conference 

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

First Unitarian Church, 685 14th St. Oakland 

Workshops and conference for LGBT elders to learn about senior services.  

705-8918 

$20 registration, no one denied for lack of funds 

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.berkeley.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 

Sunday, September 8 

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

9 a.m. to noon 

West Berkeley 

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

704-6010 

28th Annual Solano Avenue Stroll 

10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

Solano Avenue 

A mile-long block part featuring “Journey of a Thousand Cranes’ Parade” at 11 a.m.  

527-5358 or www.salonstroll.org 

Free 

Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Sunday, September 15 

Heritage Day 

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

4th and University Ave. 

International BBQ and beer festival 

Free 

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 

Saturday, September 21 

BREAD and Roses Garden Party 

1 to 5 p.m. 

Peralta Community Garden, Berkeley 

Hopkins & Peralta, Wheelchair accessible  

BREAD's birthday party - five years of dismantling corporate rule through local 

currency. 

644-0376 

$12 in advance, $15 door, low-income rate $10 

Coastal Cleanup Day 

10 a.m. 

Work at the outflow of Strawberry Creek to clean up the San Francisco Bay coastline. 

info@strawberrycreek.org or 848-4008 

Free 

Saturday, October 12 

Indigenous People's Day Pow Wow, Indian Market & Fall Fruit Tasting 

10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Tuesday, October 15 

Fall Fruit Tasting 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

2 to 7 p.m. 

Derby Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way  

Free 

Sunday, October 20 

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 

Saturday, October 26 

Pumpkin Carving & Costume Making 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Sunday, October 27 

Spirit Day 

11 a.m. and 5 p.m. 

4th and University 

Construct altars in a day of reflection. 

Free 

Saturday December 7, 14, 21 

Holiday Crafts Fair 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Saturday December 14 

Holiday Crafts Fair 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Saturday, December 21 

Holiday Crafts Fair 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

If the Cal football team is going to have any success this season, the Bears will have to lean on the strong right arm of quarterback Kyle Boller. But to do that, they’ll have to keep him upright. 

The Bears gave up 32 sacks to opponents last season as Boller was battered mercilessly. He missed two games in the middle of the season with a back injury, then came back and suffered seven sacks in each of the next two games. By the end of the season, Boller was wearing ice packs all over his body following games. 

Boller put on 25 pounds of muscle this summer, bulking up for his final season in Berkeley. But even all that extra padding won’t help if his linemen don’t keep the pass-rushers out of his face more often this season. 

Heading the effort to keep Boller healthy is offensive line coach Jim Michalczik. One of the first hires made by new head coach Jeff Tedford, Michalczik has a lot of candidates for starting spots and less than a month to sort them out. 

“We’ve got some serious battles to sort out over the next few weeks,” Michalczik said Friday. “Whoever can get the job done best is who will be out there.” 

The left side of the line is pretty well set, with tackle Mark Wilson and guard Scott Tercero moving over from the right side, where they started next to each other for most of the past two seasons. Tercero is a senior who has started since his freshman year, although knee injuries have nagged him for the last two years. Wilson, a junior, has started every game for the last two seasons but must fill the extra-large shoes of departed tackle Langston Walker, a second-round NFL draft pick. 

Tercero said while the switch to the other side of the ball has taken work, the familiarity with playing next to Wilson has speeded the process. 

“I’m real comfortable with Mark after working with him for two years,” Tercero said. “I usually know what he’s thinking and how he’s going to react to certain situations.” 

“There are battles going on at every position, and there aren’t any positions that are absolutely locked up,” Michalczik said. “But those two guys on the left side are going to be real hard to displace.” 

The picture is far less clear in the other three spots. Ryan Jones, Jon Geisel and Chris Murphy enter fall practice with the lead on starting spots at center, right guard and right tackle, respectively, but each has someone behind them pushing for playing time. The evaluation period will likely last until the final week before the Aug. 31 opener against Baylor, and Michalczik will work his players as hard as he can to find out who’s the best. 

While Michalczik concentrates on teaching blocking fundamentals, Tedford will design blocking schemes to maximize Boller’s protection. As offensive coordinator at Oregon last season, Tedford oversaw an offense that gave up a Pac-10 low 11 sacks all season. He said he will move the pocket around, rolling Boller out in both directions, as well as varying the depth of Boller’s drop on passing plays. 

The players know they can count on a fair shake from Michalczik, who said he came in to the job with “no expectations. I wanted to be sure not to be biased when I came in.” For a player like Murphy, who came to Cal three years ago as a walk-on, a new coaching staff means a new start. 

“(Michalczik) definitely came in here with a clean slate. He treats everyone the same and doesn’t play favorites,” said Murphy, who has been a backup the past two seasons. “It’s a long road when you come in as a walk-on, like no one wants to give you a chance. But he doesn’t care about that stuff.” 

One thing none of the candidates are lacking is desire. Almost to a man, they have put on weight this summer thanks to new workouts designed by strength and conditioning coach John Krasinski. Tercero gained 15 pounds and now weighs 295, and similar results can be seen throughout the squad. 

“I wish I had taken pictures of the players when I got here, because it’s amazing how much their bodies have changed,” Michalczik said. “They’re not as flabby and they’re all bigger. It can only help to have that extra muscle.”

The race for five City Council seats is on.  

Eleven hopefuls made their intentions official by submitting nomination papers to the city clerk before 5 p.m. Friday. The five jobs up for grabs are the mayor’s and council seats in the 1st, 4th, 7th and 8th districts. 

“We’re out of the gate,” said former state Assemblymember and mayoral candidate Tom Bates who has filed papers for various political offices 11 times before. “I’ve been campaigning for weeks, but now it feels official.” 

Mayor Shirley Dean, who will be running for re-election against Bates, filed papers two hours before the deadline. “I was overwhelmed by people who offered to sign my nomination papers and it took some time to choose. I wish all of them could sign,” she said. 

Candidates are required to submit nomination papers signed by at least 20 registered Berkeley voters and no more than 30. The signatures are considered important by candidates because they provide a strong indication of community support. 

A third mayoral candidate John Boushell filed nomination papers on Aug. 1. Little is known about Boushell, and he could not be reached by telephone Friday.  

Candidates for the 8th District, which is expected to be a tough race, have until Wednesday to file papers because the seat they are vying for will be vacated by Councilmember Polly Armstrong, a three-time incumbent. The city’s policy is to give candidates extra time to file when an incumbent is not running. 

Despite the extended filing time, two candidates, Planning Commissioner Gordon Wozniak and Peace and Justice Commissioner Anne Wagley, have already filed. At least two others, Zoning Adjustments Boardmember Andy Katz and Green Party member Carlos Estrada, are expected to file on Wednesday. 

Berkeley Housing Commissioner Jay Vega also announced her intention to run for the 8th District seat, but she has not yet pulled nomination papers and could not be reached Friday. 

Wozniak, who filed on Friday, said he’s ready to start the campaign. “Why wait?” he said. “There are a lot of other things to be working on so let’s begin the campaign.” 

Councilmember Dona Spring will be defending her 4th District seat from three challengers, Former Rent Board Member Robert Migdal, David Freeman, a veteran of several city commissions and Citizens Environmental Advisory Commissioner LA Wood.Councilmemeber Linda Maio has only one challenger in the 1st District, Rhiannon, who like Madonna has only one name.  

Rhiannon is a neighborhood activist who serves on the West Berkeley Redevelopment Project Area Commission. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington also has only one challenger in the 7th District, Peace and Justice Commissioner Micki Weinberg, an 18-year-old UC student. “I feel every Cal student has the responsibility to participate in local government to make Berkeley the best it can possibly be,” he said.  

Weinberg said he will campaign on issues such as crime, safety and affordable housing.  

Worthington kept his filing day tradition and signed in at the city clerk’s office just five minutes before the deadline. Worthington is seeking his third term as a councilmember.  

“The first time I filed, I was collecting signatures on nomination papers up to the last minute,” he said. “Since then it’s become a tradition to file at 4:55.” 

Currently the nine-member council is sharply divided between the moderate and progressive factions. The progressives hold a slim majority, 5 to 4. With five seats up for grabs, including the mayor’s seat, the power struggle could go either way. 

Most concede that the candidates are not in the race for the money. 

The mayor receives $3,127 a month and the councilmembers receive $1,975 each month. According to the city’s web site there are no medical benefits or vacation pay.  

“Why would people spend $55,000 (the average cost of a council campaign) to win a seat that pays only $22,000?” Worthington said. “In Berkeley we get a lot of candidates who run because they are passionate about their ideas.” 

There are also five seats on the Rent Stabilization Board and three seats on the School Board. The filing deadline for most of these seats has been extended until Wednesday.

To the Editor: 

I am writing to you regarding a proposed new ordinance to prohibit parking on all marina streets 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. 

I believe this is not only a bad law, but also that the marina staff, specifically Cliff Marchett, the Marina manager, tried to sneak it in the back door because he feared it would be widely opposed by the public and Waterfront Commission. 

Normally, ordinances which primarily affect the marina are brought before the Waterfront Commission for public comment and the commission’s recommendations before being sent to the City Council for vote. 

This proposal was routed through the traffic department, directly to the council, without notice to the Commission, or the public, in a month when the commission was on recess, apparently in the hope council would pass the law before anyone had heard of it, and before any opposition could be organized. 

Marchetti’s motive for doing this was apparently to avoid the opposition the law will bring, because it will require installing dozens of signs, cluttering up the landscape on every street in the marina. Rather than following the normal “public participation” process, and taking a chance the public would resist the “visual clutter”, he snuck into the council agenda with the help of some other bureaucrats in traffic. 

I urge the council and public to reject unnecessary law, and unfair ploys, by city bureaucrats, and above all, reject uglification of our beautiful waterfront, and vote no on this ordinance. 

Steve White 

Berkeley 

The Associated Press 

NEW YORK — Could Oscar be coming to New York? 

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a group of New York leaders have been talking about moving part of next year’s Academy Awards show to New York City to help the city recover from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. 

The group of New Yorkers — including Gov. George Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Miramax Films Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein — asked the academy to consider bringing at least a portion of the March 23 event to New York. 

The academy is seriously considering the idea as a one-time nod to New York, academy President Frank Pierson told The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times for Friday’s editions. 

He said an early proposal from Weinstein to move the entire show to New York was “out of the question” because the show is a Hollywood staple and because of the academy’s contractual obligations. 

But “New York will be a huge presence in next year’s show,” he said. “America wouldn’t be America without New York and the movie business wouldn’t be the movie business without New York. Just like the movies, it’s part of our culture and our lives.” 

He said any decisions would have to come after a producer is selected for next year’s show, most likely by next month. 

Still to be determined are which segments of the show might be shifted. Events could be held at Radio City Music Hall or at Madison Square Garden, The New York Times reported. 

The events could bring millions of dollars to the city, where tourist-driven industries are trying to recover from the attacks’ impact. 

The Oscars ceremony returned to Hollywood last year for the first time since 1960, to its new home at the Kodak Theatre. For years the event was held at the Shrine Auditorium and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in downtown Los Angeles. 

First a fare hike. Then a parcel tax. 

That’s the plan of AC Transit officials who are struggling with a projected $30 million budget shortfall and are entertaining service cuts that could affect the agency’s more than 235,000 bus riders. 

Thursday night, the transit board voted to put a five-year parcel tax on the November ballot, asking homeowners from Richmond to Hayward to cough up $24 annually for the struggling bus agency. 

While the parcel tax alone won’t bridge next year’s projected budget gap, board members say the revenues will help minimize service cuts, particularly in the northern part of Alameda County. 

AC Transit’s tax measure will come alongside three citywide measures asking Berkeley voters for more taxes. The city measures, which include funding for pedestrian safety, a new animal shelter and seismic retrofits at old City Hall cumulatively will cost the average homeowner about $72 a year, according to the city manager’s office. 

Thursday’s action on the AC Transit tax measure follows a decision this spring to raise fares for bus rides from $1.35 to $1.50. The new fares are slated to take effect Sept. 1. 

AC Transit board members blame a weak economy for their recent cash problems. 

“The economy, being stalled as it is, has caused sales tax revenues to be lower than what was projected a year or two ago,” said spokesperson Mike Mills.  

Much of the agency’s funding comes from Measure B, which was passed in 2000 and implemented a half-cent sales tax to help fund countywide transportation projects. It has not provided the anticipated revenues, Mills said. 

Steve Geller, member of the Bus Riders Union and Berkeley Ecological and Safety Transportation Coalition, says that this year is a bad time to ask voters to pay more taxes, but that the tax is necessary. 

“I’m unhappy that they did this, but I guess they had no choice,” he said. 

AC Transit officials cited a survey by consultant Bregman & Associates Thursday that said voter approval of the parcel tax was likely.

Thank you Berkeley for listening to all the people and caring for our children, our disabled and the elderly. 

All your services for us senior citizens keep us able to contribute to family rather than becoming old and grumpy. Your recent citywide debris pick up also was beautifully done. Berkeley speaks in many different languages: silent vigils for Hiroshima. Once a year, the flag of Tibet flutters in the wind and our hearts remember all the sufferings of people around the world. 

Kiyo Eshima 

Berkeley

The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office reports that two suspects in a police chase Friday morning that ended in an officer shooting a man at San Francisco International Airport are in custody on suspicion of attempted murder and attempted murder of a peace officer. 

Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Bronwyn Hogan said the two men have been identified as Lamar Edwin Hood, 20, and Nathan Cooper, 21, of Oakland.  

Hogan said Hood, who was a passenger in the suspect vehicle, is believed to be a resident of either San Bruno or South San Francisco. 

One suspect was hit by a bullet fired by a San Francisco police officer, but Hogan was not certain which suspect.  

The chase began when an officer attempted to stop Cooper and Hood in the Westborough area for a minor traffic violation around 8 a.m. 

When the car did not stop, police pursued it onto southbound Interstate Highway 280 and to the airport, but apparently lost sight of the vehicle in the longterm parking lot near the United Airlines maintenance facility. 

San Francisco Police Sgt. Larry Ratti said airport bureau officers then responded to a call for assistance. 

He reportedly saw the suspect vehicle drive out of the parking lot at high speed, jump across a traffic island and head straight toward him, Ratti said. The officer pulled out his gun and fired. 

“He fired in defense of his life,” Ratti said. 

According to Hogan, the suspects then continued driving directly toward a United Airlines security guard at the scene, before they hit a traffic island and flipped over. The car landed on its roof near the longterm parking lot entrance. One suspect, who was injured in the incident, was able to climb out and flee into the nearby maintenance facility building, where he was caught and arrested, while the other was detained in the vehicle. 

The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office is conducting a criminal investigation into the incident while the San Francisco Police Department is investigating the officer's use of his weapon. 

To the Editor: 

It is important that we be aware of the impact of the Navy's Low Frequency Sonar technology that was just approved by the Bush Administration. All marine life depends upon hearing for survival; this is why all sea creatures have extremely sensitive hearing. There are already many technologies using the oceans as a medium of communication. Whales and dolphins especially are becoming more confused, losing their families (“schools”) and their bearings. The recent massive strandings of whales may be a response to the sounds, including medium-range sonar already in use by the U.S. Navy, that are making it impossible for whales to function in the ocean. Acoustical damage, plus severe pollution, plus renewed whaling adds up to too much damage. The whales need our help now. 

We have a spiritual obligation to these magnificent intelligent beings who have been on this planet for over 40 millions years. It is both immoral and totally unethical to threaten the lives and habitats of these awesome beings. 

Sophia Roberts 

Carmel Valley

LOS ANGELES — California’s jobless rate dipped to 6.3 percent in July, down from a revised 6.5 percent a month earlier, as the state added 7,500 payroll jobs, officials said Friday. 

Most of the growth came from the government sector, which showed a net gain of 24,000 positions on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the state’s Employment Development Department. 

The wholesale and retail trade sectors also added to their ranks, offsetting thousands of job losses in the manufacturing, services and construction industries. 

Economists were lukewarm about the decrease. 

“The economy is flat, it’s mirroring the national trend,” said Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. “For the (San Francisco) Bay area, it’s good the economy has stopped falling. For the rest of the state, it means we’re still waiting for a recovery.” 

The number of people unemployed in California decreased by 46,000 to 1.1 million, but the state jobless rate remained higher than the national figure. U.S. unemployment was unchanged at 5.9 percent in July. 

In July 2001, California’s unemployment rate was 5.3 percent. 

“The (monthly) decrease in the unemployment rate appears to reflect consumer confidence in the economy,” said Jeanne Cain, vice president of government relations for the California Chamber of Commerce, citing the additional 6,000 jobs in wholesale and retail trade. 

“But in terms of more significant growth, we are concerned about upcoming legislation,” she said. 

Legislative efforts to pass bills increasing payroll taxes and giving Indian communities veto power over some infrastructure projects could jeopardize the economy’s ability to rebound, she said. 

In addition, a projected $10 billion state deficit for budget year 2003-2004 could mean fewer government jobs, she said. 

Many of the 24,000 new public sector jobs reported in July were teaching positions. But experts anticipate job growth in public education will plateau or even decline in the coming months, as school budgets feel the pinch of the state budget shortfall. 

With the state employing about one of every seven California workers, the budget deficit is a “big deal” for the job market, Levy said. 

To help run his bid for mayor, former state Assemblymember Tom Bates has enlisted the help of veteran pol Larry Tramutola, a successful campaign manager who is well known for his grassroots politicking. 

Bates is running against incumbent Mayor Shirley Dean. He sought the help of Tramutola because he said a dull governor’s race will result in low voter turnout Nov. 5. Tramutola has a unique ability to identify voters and get them to the polls, Bates said. 

“I first met Larry many years ago through his work with Cesar Chavez and the farm labor movement,” Bates said. “I chose him to run the campaign because low-turnout elections are one of his specialties.” 

During his 30 years in politics, Tramutola, who is president of the Oakland-based Tramutola Company, has consulted an impressive list of Democratic candidates including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-San Francisco, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer and Mayor Jerry Brown. He also worked on former President Bill Clinton’s California campaign in 1992. Locally, Tramutola has represented Assembly candidate and former Berkeley Mayor Loni Hancock (who is married to Bates), Assemblymember Dion Aroner, D-Oakland, and Councilmember Linda Maio. 

In addition to promoting candidates to office, Tramutola is known for his successful campaigns for parcel taxes and general obligation bonds for schools, colleges and libraries. 

According to his web site, his company has produced more than $11 billion in voter-approved bonds for 127 schools and college districts, most of which required approval of a two-thirds majority. 

Despite Tramutola’s work for Democrats and their causes, he has represented landlord organizations that have not all been associated with progressive agendas. 

Tramutola said he is especially looking forward to Bates’ campaign.  

“I think this is going to be the most interesting race in the Bay Area,” he said. “It’s not often you have a politician who spent 20 years in the state Assembly seeking a local seat.” 

Tramutola said the campaign will focus on reintroducing Bates to voters who already know him from his years on the Assembly and getting those who are new to the area acquainted with him. 

“We are going to let the voters know who Tom is, what his vision is and what his goals are,” he said.  

He added that Bates, who represented the 14th District in the state Assembly from 1976 to 1996, already has a reputation for fighting for the East Bay Shore Park and for finding funding for parks, medical clinics and schools.  

Tramutola claimed that Bates may have enough respect from both moderates and progressives to bring peace to the divisive Berkeley City Council. 

Tramutola graduated Stanford University in the 1970s. After that he went to work for the United Farm Workers of America as an aide to Cesar Chavez. 

“I worked for the UFW for 11 years,” Tramutola said. “That’s where I developed a grassroots approach to politics that is based on mobilizing workers to get the message to the voters in a way that they understand why it’s important they vote.” 

Tramutola has also worked for landlord organizations that often sponsor campaigns against tenant rights ordinances. In 2000 he consulted for the “No on Measure Y” campaign which failed to stop a pro-tenant initiative in Berkeley.  

Tramutola’s administrative director would not comment on rumors that Tramutola is currently working against Oakland’s “Just Cause” campaign, another pro-tenant initiative. 

Despite the campaigns, Tramutola said he is not anti-tenant. 

“I could agree with 80 percent of a pro-tenant agenda but I also think that landlords should have some control over their property,” he said.  

Bates, who has a long history of supporting tenants’ rights, said even if Tramutola works for anti-tenant campaigns his image with voters won’t suffer. 

“My record on supporting tenants rights, especially for supporting ‘just ’cause’ evictions, is pretty clear,” Bates said. “I also have a record of working with small landlords on issues that are important to them.” 

Bruce Cain, the director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley, said that it’s not unusual for political consultants to work with clients that have contradicting agendas, especially on referendums that are not necessarily affiliated with a political party.  

“It could possibly be an issue for a liberal candidate who was running for the state Assembly... but the local level candidates look for the consultant who is going to do the best job of communicating their message to the community,” he said. 

Editor’s note: This is one of two stories profiling the political consultants who will be working for Berkeley mayoral candidates Mayor Shirley Dean and former Assemblymember Tom Bates.

Parts of the city will become an art gallery for two weeks as the fifth annual Berkeley Arts Festival’s schedule of performances and exhibitions liven the downtown district, neighborhoods in west Berkeley and even City Hall. Starting Saturday, a citywide spotlight will shine on musicians, writers, performers, tinkerers, filmmakers, designers and a panoply of people who operate artistically.  

The city itself will be a high-concept installation project by San Francisco-based artist Jonathan Keats, who will spend opening day petitioning passersby in an effort to encourage a mock Berkeley City Council to pass a basic law of logic: A=A. The petition sponsors an idea articulated more than 2,000 years ago by Greek thinker Aristotle, whose principle of non-contradiction was a fundamental law of philosophical logic decreeing everything equal to itself. The idea is so simple that at first it may be difficult to grasp. 

“There is not even the possibility of complication,” said Keats, whose proposed legislation would fine a person one-tenth of a penny if they contradict the law. If everything can be equated to itself with the formula A=A, from the Campanile to the mayor to the tritium on campus and the hardened criminals across town, then every person and every thing has the opportunity to be law-abiding. 

For mathematicians and logicians, this principle of non-contradiction is the start of a language for logistical thinking basic truism on which to base more complicated thought equations. But if the City Council does not pass the law, Keats said, it is voting against the most essential truth in the physical universe. 

The absurdity and intellectual background in an attempt to mold a philosophical law into civic legislation is fitting for a college town like Berkeley, and Keats was in fact invited by the Berkeley Arts Festival to perform his conceptual art piece here. “I have a tendency to not know how to do anything,” said Keats, whose previous works include punching a time clock for 24 hours to track the time and duration of his thoughts. The A=A project chiefly consists of reminding people of the omnipresence of a precept for logic. “It’s an installation. It’s everywhere. I want it to be as abstract as possible.” 

The only physical manifestations of the art project will be lapel buttons that Keats is handing out, perhaps a city ordinance, and “maybe something in the newspapers,” but nevertheless “the law is there, we’re moving through it all the time,” Keats said. 

Keats will not be the only one making light of city politics. Members of City Council will come together as the City Council Singers on Saturday to perform Rodgers and Hart’s classic “Blue Moon,” and 7 p.m. each Tuesday George Coates will stage a mock city council at the old City Hall, which will be broadcast live on public access TV on Channel 25.  

Art and politics are the themes of this year’s festival, and a more serious political message will come from hip-hop artist Azeem, scheduled to perform Saturday. Azeem has worked with Michael Franti and Spearhead, and has been featured at Lollapalooza.  

Music will be performed in various corners and niches of Shattuck Avenue between Addison and Durant streets, and in the Wells Fargo Annex building on Center Street. That is also where a roster of Berkeley poets will read and perform 6 to 8 p.m. Aug. 18 in 10-minute intervals. The public library will host readers and film screenings throughout the festival. Even an AC Transit bus will host, en route, a demonstration/lecture, “How To Ride A Bus.” 

Art studios and galleries will open for tours and exhibits in west Berkeley. A gallery crawl Aug. 18 will guide people through Eighth Street Galleries to Alliance Graphics on Parker Street, the Fantasy Records Building on 10th Street and will end at the R&B Museum on San Pablo Avenue.  

Saturday’s Opening Day festivities also include interactive art and activities. A bicycle rodeo will teach stilt walking and unicycle riding, a Music Circus will open itself to anyone who can bring an instrument. For those without instruments, the guys at the Tinkerer’s Workshop will show you how to make a “buffoon” out of straws and paper cones, and then make noise. 

“We don’t like to call it noise,” said Fran Holland, a chief tinkerer at the Workshop. “We’re making powerful sounds. And maybe music.” 

The Tinkerer’s Workshop is builders and inventors at a modest shop in west Berkeley who crowd the shop with recycled bike parts and scavenged junk. At first glance the stuff looks like trash. To a tinkerer, though, it’s all fertile potential. 

Holland works with a lot of young people and organizes after-school projects like his popular bicycle repair workshops. “We creating a safe and stimulating environment to use tools,” he said. “To get kids to a site where they can be creative that is not a restrictive as schools.” 

Whether they make noise or music, during the next two weeks the motley collection of craftspeople and abstract thinkers will showcase their fluid and liberal ideas at the Berkeley Arts Festival. 

WHAT: Mock City Council  

WHO: George Coates and others 

WHEN: 7 p.m. Aug. 13 and 20 

WHERE: Old City Hall, 

2134 Martin Luther King Way 

COST: $10 

INFORMATION: 665-9496 

Music 

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 in advance, $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 

Marvin Sease plus Beverly Watson 

1st show 7 p.m., 2nd show 10 p.m. 

Rountree’s Rhythm & Blues, 2618 San Pablo Ave. 

663-0440 

$40 in advance 

Rebel Music 

8 p.m.. 

La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave.  

A Collective of artists and musicians from the Bay. Hiphop, reggae, dance hall and spoken word. 

849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

$10 

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 

De Rompe y Raja & Lucho Cabrera 

8 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave.  

Afro-Peruvian singer Lucho Cabrera from Ica, Peru, performs for the first time at La Peña with De Rompe y Raja. 

849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

$13 in advance, $15 at door 

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 

Marvin Sease plus Beverly Watson 

1st show 7 p.m., 2nd show 10 p.m. 

Rountree’s Rhythm & Blues, 2618 San Pablo Ave. 

663-0440 

$40 in advance 

Berkeley Arts Festival Opening Day 

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 

Prezidenz Brown with DJ Jah Wizer 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$11 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 

$10 

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 

Tuesday, August 13 

Tom Rigney and Flambeau 

8:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$8 door/ Free for 12 and under 

Wednesday, August 14 

Phil Marsh 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Roadoilers with the Bluegrass  

Intentions 

8:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$10/ Free for 12 and under 

Thursday, August 15 

Colcannon 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Dean Santomieri: Multimedia Works 

Berkeley Arts Festival 

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 

$10 

Friday, August 16 

Farallon Brass Ensemble Concert 

8 p.m. 

Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. Berkeley 

Performance by Farallon Brass Ensemble highlighting their brass camp for young musicians. 

$10 general, $5 students/seniors 

Girls in Ties, 151 Cameo Dr., and Robert and Karen 

7 p.m. to 11 p.m. 

Café Eclectica, 1309 Solano Ave. 

527-2344 

$4 

Duck Baker & Jamie Findlay 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Native Elements with Buffalo Soldier 

Joined by special guest Humble Soul 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$11 door/ Free for 12 and under 

Saturday, August 17 

Composer Portraits with Sarah Cahill and Gabriela Frank 

Berkeley Arts Festival 

8 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

665-9099 

$10 

The Edios 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

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 

Near East, Far West 

9 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

Traditional music from Armenia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Greece and the Middle East. 7:30 dance lesson with Lise Liepman. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$12 door/ Free for 12 and under 

Oakland Faders Collective 

7 p.m. to 11 p.m. 

Café Eclectica, 1309 Solano Ave. 

527-2344 

$5 

Sunday, August 18 

Ericka Luckett 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Israeli Fold Dance 

1:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$5/ Free for 12 and under 

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 

Monday, August 19 

Northern California Songwriters Association Open Mic 

8:00 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$4 at door 

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 

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 

"New Visions: Introductions '02"  

Works from emerging Californian artists 

Through Aug. 10 

Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St., Oakland 

763-4361 

Free 

"New Work: Part 2, The 2001 Kala Fellowship Exhibition"  

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  

“If These Walls Could Talk” 

Through Sept. 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 fulltime Berkeley students. 

Upcoming 

"Poems Form/From the Six Directions" 

Aug. 10 through Sept. 15 

Pusod: Center for culture, Ecology & Bayan, 1808 Fifth St. 

A visual poetry exhibition and presentation of a wedding happening, a Filipino tradition. Poetry workshops presented by Eileen Tabios on Aug. 14, 21 and 28 7 to 9 p.m. 

883-1808 

Free 

“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 

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 

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 Sept. 1, Sat. and Sun. at 5 p.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 House of Blue Leaves 

Sept. 11 through Oct. 27 

Berkeley Rep's Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. Berkeley 

647-2917 or 888-4BRTTIX 

$10 - $54 

The Shape of Things 

Sept. 13 through Oct. 20 

Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison St. 

Neil LaBute's love story about two students. 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org for reservations 

$26 to $35  

Poetry 

Saturday, August 10 

"Poetry in the Plaza" honors June Jordan 

Berkeley Arts Festival 

2:30 p.m. 

Central Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 

Readings from poets Marvin K. White, Sharon Doubiago, Lucha Corpi, Chinaka Hodge and others. 

981-6233 

Free 

Wednesday, August 14 

Café Poetry and open mic hosted by Kira Allen  

7:30 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave.  

849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

$2 

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 

Saturday, August 24 

Rhythm & Muse 

6:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 

Poetry reading and open mike featuring Zigi Lowenburg & Raymond “Nat” Turner. 

527-9753 

Free admission 

Films 

Wednesday, August 14 

Premiere of “MMI” by John Sanborn 

Berkeley Arts Festival 

8 p.m. 

Wells Fargo Annex, 2081 Center St., 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 

Truth: Exposing Israeli Apartheid  

7:30 p.m. 

La Pena, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 

Premiere of documentary by local filmmaker Wendy Campbell. 

655-5889 

$20 donations

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 

B-TV Bowl-a-thon 

11 a.m. 

Albany Bowl, 540 San Pablo Ave. 

2nd annual Bowl-a-thon to raise proceeds for educational and government programs and a needed facility and equipment upgrade. 

848-2288 ext.. 11 

Free 

Berkeley NAACP  

General Membership Meeting 

1:00 p.m. 

Church by the Side of the Road, 2108 Russell Street 

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the largest, oldest, and most effective civil rights organization in the country. Monthly meetings are held every 2nd Saturday.  

510-435-3101 

Free 

Ironing 

6 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Entrance on Telegraph 

Street performance art presented by NO WAY. 

237-9507 

Free 

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 

Ashkenaz Board Meeting 

7:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

The public is welcome and can make open comments from 7:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. Meeting will be conducted in the back studio. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$12 door/ Free for 12 and under 

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  

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 

“Into the Arms of Strangers:  

Stories of the Kindertransport” 

2 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 

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 St. 

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 

Free Theater for Children 

7:30 p.m. 

Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 

Stage Door Conservatory presents Wise men of Chelm, based on Jewish Folk Tales. Adapted by Sandra Fenichel Asher. 

527-5939 

Free 

Berkeley Women in Black 

Noon to 1 p.m. 

Telegraph and Bancroft 

Standing in solidarity with Israeli and Palestinian women to urge an end to the occupation and the violence. 

548-6310, wibberkeley.org 

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 

Thursday, August 22 

Free Meanoma Update 

11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 

Summit North Pavilion, Cafeteria Annex B & C, 350 Hawthorne Ave., Oakland 

Information on melanoma skin cancer, detection and treatment. 

869-6737 

Free 

Friday, August 23 

Teen Playreaders present Bizarre Shorts 

(through August 24) 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library - North Branch 

1170 The Alameda 

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

981-6250 

Free 

Saturday, August 24 

UC Berkeley Circle K Garage Sale 

8 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley ACE Hardware parking lot, 2145 University Ave. 

Garage sale fundraiser held by UC Berkeley, non-profit community service organization to raise money for pediatric trauma patients.  

(858) 335-9021 

Fuel Cell Car Experiments 

1 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 

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 

Tuesday, August 27 

A House of Straw: A Natural Building Odyssey Slideshow 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo 

Carolyn Roberts presents slides and talks about her experiences building her straw bale house. 

548-2220 Ext.. 233 

Free 

Thursday, August 29 

2nd Annual LGBT Elders Conference 

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

First Unitarian Church, 685 14th St. Oakland 

Workshops and conference for LGBT elders to learn about senior services.  

705-8918 

$20 registration, no one denied for lack of funds 

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.berkeley.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 

Sunday, September 8 

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

9 a.m. to noon 

West Berkeley 

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

704-6010 

28th Annual Solano Avenue Stroll 

10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

Solano Avenue 

A mile-long block part featuring “Journey of a Thousand Cranes’ Parade” at 11 a.m.  

527-5358 or www.salonstroll.org 

Free 

Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Sunday, September 15 

Heritage Day 

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

4th and University Ave. 

International BBQ and beer festival 

Free 

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 

Saturday, September 21 

BREAD and Roses Garden Party 

1 to 5 p.m. 

Peralta Community Garden, Berkeley 

Hopkins & Peralta, Wheelchair accessible  

BREAD's birthday party - five years of dismantling corporate rule through local 

currency. 

644-0376 

$12 in advance, $15 door, low-income rate $10 

Coastal Cleanup Day 

10 a.m. 

Work at the outflow of Strawberry Creek to clean up the San Francisco Bay coastline. 

info@strawberrycreek.org or 848-4008 

Free 

Saturday, October 12 

Indigenous People's Day Pow Wow, Indian Market & Fall Fruit Tasting 

10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Tuesday, October 15 

Fall Fruit Tasting 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

2 to 7 p.m. 

Derby Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way  

Free 

Sunday, October 20 

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 

Saturday, October 26 

Pumpkin Carving & Costume Making 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Sunday, October 27 

Spirit Day 

11 a.m. and 5 p.m. 

4th and University 

Construct altars in a day of reflection. 

Free 

Saturday December 7, 14, 21 

Holiday Crafts Fair 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Saturday December 14 

Holiday Crafts Fair 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

Saturday, December 21 

Holiday Crafts Fair 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

Free 

When the Cal football team opens fall practice on Saturday, they’ll do so in the friendly confines of Witter Field rather than the campus of Cal State Stanislaus in Turlock. 

New head coach Jeff Tedford made the decision to start the season with on-campus practices for the first time since 1994 as one of his first moves with the team. He cited conflicts with summer school classes for many of the players as the main reason for the return to Berkeley. 

“We don’t want to have players missing for practices if we can help it, and the trips up and back to Turlock were unnecessary,” Tedford said. “With most of the players taking summer school classes, it just makes sense to keep practices on campus.” 

The move is a popular one among Tedford’s players, who faced searing heat and little to do outside of practice in past falls. 

“I’m ecstatic we’re not going to Turlock,” senior safety Nnamdi Asomugha said. “It beat us up a lot going into the season. It put us in an uncomfortable situation being up there. It’s a time I don’t really want to remember.” 

Senior linebacker John Klotsche admitted that fall practice isn’t his favorite time of year, but said practicing in Berkeley should make it more tolerable. 

“We’ve got new coaches, and we’re starting a new camp,” he said. “Everyone’s excited. It’s hard to get excited about doing (two practices a day), but at least now we’re in a familiar place.” 

Berkeley is usually about 20 degrees cooler than Turlock at this time of year, something both players and coaches will enjoy. The lower temperature also greatly reduces the risk of dehydration and fatigue, a serious concern in the football world after the high-profile death of Minnesota Vikings lineman Korey Stringer last summer, as well as two college players suffering similar deaths during training camp. 

The Bears will practice twice every day at Witter Field from Saturday until Aug. 22, with the exception of a single practice on Aug. 18. The team’s first scrimmage will be held on Aug. 17 at 4:45 p.m. 

Notes: Senior quarterback Kyle Boller put on 25 pounds of muscle since last season, putting him at about 220 pounds. “I’ve always wanted to be the prototypical QB, 6-foot-4, 225 pounds,” he said. “I finally started eating right and hitting the weights hard, and it’s paid off.”... Tedford singled out Asomugha and Boller as team leaders for the upcoming season. “They’re two guys who have put in the work and understand the sacrifices they have to make for the good of the team. I hope the younger players watch them very closely.”... Tailback Joe Igber changed his number for the fourth time in his Cal career. He will wear No. 20 for his senior season. Cornerback James Bethea and Jon Geisel have also switched numbers... Junior Mark Wilson has moved from right tackle to left tackle, replacing departed Langston Walker, who was drafted by the Oakland Raiders... Senior fullback Ryan Stanger will not play this season due to an abdominal injury, leaving the position wide open heading into fall practice. Tedford said he will use an H-back instead in some situations.

To the Editor: 

In early February 2002, several East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) employees expressed concern to Cal/OSHA about possible exposure to asbestos in roofing materials at district reservoirs. Eight of the district's 186 reservoirs have roofs constructed of corrugated transit paneling that contains asbestos. These eight reservoir roofs were constructed in the 1960s. 

In response to the employees’ concerns, the Alameda County and Contra Costa County Cal/OSHA offices began parallel investigations. In mid-June, the Alameda County office concluded its investigation and issued five citations, four of which the district is appealing. Then in mid-July, the Contra Costa office issued eight citations for similar violations at two additional locations. Six of these citations are being appealed because the district disagrees with Cal/OSHA's interpretation of the regulations. More specifically, the district believes that Cal/OSHA has an incorrect citation for the event and did not consider the notifications to employees made by the district and, most importantly, the district has demonstrated that there was no employee exposure above the Cal/OSHA permissible exposure level. 

As information concerning this issue became available, EBMUD responded immediately by testing the water supply to ensure no impacts, which was confirmed by the test results. Additionally, the district initiated an assessment of conditions at all eight reservoir locations to determine if asbestos was present at concentrations that would pose any potential human health or environmental issues. The district conducted air quality tests to determine if the workers, while performing their tasks, might be exposed to harmful levels of asbestos particles. The test results were far below Cal/OSHA's permissible exposure level. 

In summary, the district has taken this issue very seriously and has taken appropriate actions to ensure the protection of public health, employees, and the environment. The Cal/OSHA citations appeal process is expected to be resolved in 16 to 18 months. 

David Richardson 

Director, Ward 4 

Berkeley

University lecturers and clerical workers are setting plans for a strike that could disrupt the start of UC Berkeley’s fall semester. 

At an Aug. 21 rally at Sprawl Plaza, unions representing the UC employees are expected to announce an official strike date of some time in the first two weeks of the semester, according to Nora Foster, co-chair of a group aligned with CUE, which represents clerical workers. 

A walkout by 633 lecturers, which union officials say constitute more than half of full-time university instructors, and 2100 clerical workers, who are administrative assistants, library assistants and police operators, could leave the university scrambling to provide services. 

For the past year, union officials and university officials have been in negotiations over salary and job security issues. The possible strike represents their failure to reach an agreement. 

“If lecturers, who teach the majority of classes and clerical workers, who register all the students don’t do their jobs on the first two weeks of school, I don’t see how the university can operate well,” said Michael Eisencher, Director of Organizational Development for the American Federation of Teachers, which represents the lecturers. 

The university is prepared for a strike, said Debra Harrington, UC Berkeley’s manager of labor relations. 

“We will be concerned about disruption,” she said, but added that the university could cope with a strike. She noted that during a 1998 strike by the 1,800 member graduate student union, the university maintained its normal class schedule.  

The unions representing lecturers and clerical workers must still clear a legal hurdle before they can engage in a prolonged work stop. 

California labor law requires that parties in collective bargaining go through four stages of negotiations before the union can legally call a strike. Neither of the unions has gone through the four phases. 

But the unions are trying to work around the labor law. A lawsuit that they have filed with the Public Employees Labor Relation Board could give them the legal right they need to strike. 

The unions are alleging that the university has withheld information from the union during bargaining as well as bargained without an appropriate representative. If the labor board finds in favor of the unions, a strike would be considered legal. 

The clerical workers and university are “very far apart,” said Margy Wilkenson, Chief Negotiator for CUE. The union is asking for a 15 percent raise over a two-year contract. The university has offered a 2.5 percent raise over the same period.  

The university cannot raise its offer due to state budget cuts, said Harrington.  

Clerical workers, who have been without a contract since last fall, say they are drastically underpaid. 

“UC library assistants earn 30 percent less than Alameda County assistants,” said Foster, who added that clerical workers face increasing health insurance premiums and did not get a cost-of-living raise last year. 

Lecturers say job security and pay are their two chief concerns. Presently, lecturers must accept one year contracts. Only after their sixth year are they eligible for more secure three-year contracts. 

The average lecturer income is $40,000 according to Eisencher, which he said is less than half the salary of tenured professors. Eisencher also accused the university of purposely releasing lecturers when they become eligible for the three-year contract. 

Harrington said the university recently offered the lecturers increased job security, but that has not bridged the gap. 

“Unless the university makes significant progress, we’re going to be at an impasse,” Eisencher said. 

The university and lecturers are scheduled to meet with a state appointed mediator Sept. 5. 

Union officials were vague about whether they would be supported by other university employees if they go on strike. 

“All [other] unions have said they will do whatever they could to support the workers,” said Eisencher. However, contracted union employees are forbidden from holding sympathy strikes. 

The unions have already petitioned the Alameda Central Labor Council, comprised of local union chapters, for a strike sanction. If granted, local union workers, such as UPS delivery workers and construction workers would refuse to do business with UC Berkeley. 

Harrington said the university has been the target of strike sanctions before and that contingency plans have got them through the difficult times.

BOSTON – Derek Lowe became the American League’s first 16-game winner, outdueling Barry Zito with seven strong innings as the Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 4-2 Thursday night. 

The matchup of two of the AL’s three pitchers with 15 wins met expectations as Lowe (16-5) allowed five hits and Zito (15-5) gave up seven in eight innings. Boston’s Pedro Martinez is 15-2. Curt Schilling of Arizona leads the majors with 18 wins. 

The A’s did something that none of Lowe’s three previous opponents managed to do. They scored against the majors’ ERA leader, who lowered his mark from 2.13 to 2.09. 

Miguel Tejada’s solo homer in the sixth made the score 3-1, and ended Lowe’s scoreless streak at 29 2-3 innings, longest in the majors this season and the longest since Greg Maddux’s 39 1-3 innings in September 2000. This year’s previous longest streak was 27 innings by Mark Guthrie of the New York Mets. 

Lowe’s streak might still be intact if he had stuck with his outstanding sinkerball. Instead, he left a curveball over the plate on an 0-2 pitch to Tejada, who hit his 26th homer of the year. 

Of Lowe’s 21 outs, only one reached the outfield. He got 12 outs on grounders, six on strikeouts and two on popups to shortstop Nomar Garciaparra and catcher Jason Varitek. 

Bobby Howry pitched a perfect eighth and Ugueth Urbina got his 26th save despite allowing a solo homer to David Justice. 

Zito pitched his first complete game of the year but never led. 

The Red Sox went ahead 1-0 in the second on a walk to Manny Ramirez, a single by Cliff Floyd and a sacrifice fly by Jason Varitek. They made it 3-0 in the fifth when a leadoff walk to Rey Sanchez and a double by Johnny Damon put runners on second and third. Trot Nixon then hit a sacrifice fly for the first out and Garciaparra followed with a single for his 92nd RBI. 

In the eighth, Floyd hit his first homer since being obtained last week from Montreal and 22nd of the season. 

Lowe retired the first four batters on three grounders and a strikeout before Eric Chavez singled in the second. Terrence Long singled before Lowe ended the threat by striking out Greg Myers. 

The former closer allowed singles to Ray Durham and Tejada in the third then retired eight straight batters before one of his infrequent curveballs was hit over the left-field wall by Tejada. 

Justice then walked, but Lowe ended the inning by striking out the next two hitters. 

Zito had more trouble than Lowe but worked out of several jams. 

In the second, he retired the next two batters after Boston put runners at first and second with one out. In the third, he got Floyd to ground into an inning-ending double play. 

And in the fifth, with Garciaparra at first and one out, he got Ramirez and Floyd, the fourth and fifth hitters, to fly out. 

Notes: Garciaparra struck out in four consecutive at bats before his RBI single in the fifth. ... Floyd’s single in the second was his first hit at Fenway Park with Boston in seven at bats. He is 7-for-13 on the road since being obtained from Montreal last week. ... CF Terrence Long was booed on several at bats. His catch of Ramirez’s drive that cleared the low fence in right-center robbed Ramirez of a three-run homer that ended Wednesday’s 3-2 Oakland win instead of winning to for Boston.

To The Editor: 

The irony of Elmer Grossman's recent letters (“Read the Studies”, July 9 and “Tritium Details”, July 25) assailing the environmental group Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste (CMTW) for its anti-tritium activism, is that Mr. Grossman–a member of the Berkeley Environmental Commission–helped spearhead the effort to ban woodburning fireplaces in all new Berkeley home construction.  

At the time, Mr. Grossman advanced the argument that woodburning fires release unhealthy particulate matter and smoke-related toxins into the air. Subsequently, the city prohibited new wood burning fireplaces.  

However, when the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) spews radioactive tritium directly into the air and surrounding environment from an outdoor emission stack near densely populated neighborhoods (and 100 meters from the LBNL Hall of Science), Mr. Grossman inexplicably dismisses any potential health concerns.  

In his two letters attacking CMTW, Mr. Grossman omits the most damning indictment against LBNL's tritium releases: the Environmental Protection Agency's 1998 decision declaring LBNL's tritium contamination eligible for EPA Superfund radioactive clean-up status.  

Although many view so-called “safe” federal radioactive exposure standards with skepticism, between 1998 and 2002, the amount of tritium detected in areas of the LBNL campus exceeded the federal government's own cancer risk screening standards for radiation. 

Despite the EPA's recent withdrawal of its LBNL Superfund designation, the fact remains that unsafe tritium contamination levels permeated the LBNL campus for four years, according to the EPA (one can only speculate about the amount of LBNL’s tritium contamination before the EPA was notified and issued its 1998 declaration.)  

Mr. Grossman's emotional attacks and claims to the contrary, LBNL's documented unsafe radioactive tritium contamination and cancer risk continue to be a critical health and environmental concern to families in the surrounding community.  

Randa Baramki  

Berkeley

A former Berkeley mayoral candidate and his wife, a three-time City Council candidate, went to court Thursday to fight for their home. 

Michael Delacour, his wife Gina Sasso and their teenage son, have been threatened with eviction from their ground floor flat at 2223 San Pablo Ave., where they have lived for 11 years. 

Their landlord, William Curry III, who lives upstairs, recently filed a three-day eviction notice charging the family with 17 violations of their lease. 

Curry alleges that Delacour and Sasso have sold marijuana from the apartment, operated an unlicensed bicycle business, harassed other tenants, purposely littered the shared yard and failed to clean up after their dog. 

“For the last three years they have been causing all kinds of problems,” said Curry.  

Sasso, who unsuccessfully ran for the 2nd District City Council seat in 1992, 1994 and 2000, and sat on the city’s Commission on Labor in the late 1990s, said the landlord’s charges were untrue. 

“We are certified to smoke marijuana,” she said, adding that they are allowed to smoke for medical reasons. She said they do not sell drugs and that the only money exchange that took place on the property was a $10 sale of her brother’s bike.  

Curry maintains that the couple has fixed up hundreds of bicycles and that they leave spare parts in his trash bin. 

Delacour, who has lived in Berkeley for 37 years and co-founded the Peoples’ Park movement in 1968, said the landlord has been trying to kick the family out since the end of rent control in 1998. 

“Think about it,” he said. “If Gina (who is 40 years old) never moves, he knows that would cost him about $500,000 in rent money.” 

The couple pays $790 monthly for rent, but the market value of the unit is far higher. 

Sasso knows Curry from before they lived at the property, but the relationship between them has grown increasingly bitter. 

The couple accuses Curry of harassing the family into vacating the apartment. “He has poisoned our plants,” Delacour said.  

In retaliation the couple staged a protest. 

“We picketed in front of the house and put ‘William Curry has to go’ flyers on our car and street posts,” said Sasso. The couple later held an anti-Curry rally at their home. 

They believe the eviction charges are Curry’s attempt to get back at them for the protests. 

Curry denied all charges of harassment and called the couple’s protests, “another piece of an unreasonable situation.” 

The trial in Alameda County Superior Court began on Thursday and is scheduled to continue next week.  

NEW YORK – Players and owners agreed to a $100,000 increase in baseball’s minimum salary Thursday, making more progress on minor issues as labor negotiations head into a key weekend. 

Faced with the possibility the union’s executive board might set a strike date when it meets Monday in Chicago, both sides got three items out of the way and prepared to deal with larger issues. 

They set the minimum at $300,000 starting next year, and agreed to increases in the benefits plan that allow most 10-year veterans who played after 1970 to earn pensions of about $160,000 annually, the federal maximum. Also, they agreed to shorten the period for teams to fund deferred salaries. 

A day after baseball players ended decades of opposition to mandatory drug testing by agreeing to be checked for illegal steroids, management worked on a counterproposal it intended to present Friday. 

Increased revenue sharing and a luxury tax on high payrolls — the key economic issues — were not discussed. 

Houston became the latest team to authorize the union’s executive board to set a strike deadline. Players, however, haven’t reached a consensus on whether a date should be set. 

“It depends on what potentially happens the rest of this week, hoping that progress continues to be made,” Boston’s Tony Clark, the AL player representative, said after players from his team met with union head Donald Fehr. 

Management labor lawyer Rob Manfred said negotiators intended to work through the weekend. Until now, talks have been limited to weekdays. 

“Whenever you are doing an agreement, there are points that become focus points in terms of attempting to reach an agreement to avoid this or that happening,” Manfred said. “Clearly, the parties have focused on this meeting Monday as a point in the process. We’ve worked hard against that deadline. Both sides have.” 

Management was pleased with the union’s agreement to test for illegal steroids. The proposal calls for each player on a 40-man roster to be given an unannounced test in 2003 and 2004. 

While the players’ proposal was limited to illegal steroids, management proposed a far-more extensive testing program last February. Owners also would test for other performance-enhancing drugs, such as the testosterone-booster androstenedione, which Mark McGwire used during his 70-homer season in 1998. 

Management proposed three tests annually for performance-enhancing drugs and one test a year for so-called “recreational” drugs like cocaine. The union’s plan does not include testing for “recreational” drugs. 

Both sides say they have made progress on revenue sharing. Owners originally proposed increasing the amount of local revenue each team shares from 20 percent to 50 percent, and to redistribute money in the pool evenly to teams rather than give larger portions to those with the least revenue. 

It appears likely that management’s desire for a luxury tax on high payrolls will determine whether baseball will have its ninth work stoppage since 1972. 

Owners proposed a 50 percent tax on the portions of payrolls above $98 million, which would have cost big-spending clubs like the New York Yankees more than $20 million this year. Management hopes the big spenders would cut payroll to avoid paying high taxes. 

In addition to agreeing to a new major league minimum, negotiators approved an increase in the minimum for minor leaguers appearing on 40-man rosters for two or more seasons. It will be $50,000 next year, up from $40,500. Both major and minor leaguers will get a two-year cost-of-living adjustment for the 2005 season and a one-year cost-of-living adjustment for 2006.

To the Editor: 

The fact that the housing element of the city’s general plan was rejected by the state comes as little surprise considering the allegations, which the city hasn't denied, that the housing element that grew from three years of public participation and was adopted by the City Council last December was not the same housing element that was submitted to the state for review in May. It's doubtful that any lawsuits could spring from deficiencies in the city's report. Projects that strictly conform to the city's zoning ordinance are allowed by right and aren't subject to additional citizen review or comment or to council approval. 

The uproar and protests surrounding recent housing projects stem from the frustration of neighbors who have been ignored through months of planning and fund raising for projects that don't conform to either the spirit or the letter of the general plan or zoning ordinance. Those who dare to point out the violations are labeled NIMBYs and “classist” while tenants of large scale low income housing developments are further isolated from the general public. Single building addresses are redlined by insurance agents and credit bureaus, adding to the stigma of being poor. The city donates millions to purchase lots, develop plans, and complete projects and also provides project-based Section 8 to a couple of pet nonprofit corporations. With no regulation or oversight, repairs can be neglected while tenants face the loss of their housing subsidy if they complain. This is how tenements are born. 

The city needs to stop paying the full cost of projects that don't comply with the zoning ordinance, and they need to stop the finger-pointing and name-calling aimed at anyone who protests. The city needs to come up with a fair and equitable housing program that doesn't warehouse low income tenants but allows them to become part of the greater public where no one knows that they’re poor just because of where they live. The city needs to respect the actions of the council and not make changes to adopted plans after the vote; but most of all, the city needs to acknowledge the rights and responsibilities of the public to read, understand and comment on any actions that might affect them. 

Rhiannon 

Berkeley 

OAKLAND — In about a month, traffic sensors being installed along San Francisco Bay area highways will be able to track a quarter million drivers along their commutes. 

Proponents say the $37 million addition to the region’s electronic toll system will give motorists real-time information about some of the nation’s worst road congestion via cell phone, radio or Internet. Traffic planners say they will be able to gather crucial data on problem areas. 

But the new “TravInfo” program is raising fears that drivers’ privacy will be invaded. 

“I personally am a little creeped out by it,” said interior designer Heidi Hirvonen-White, who crosses the Golden Gate Bridge between Tiburon and San Francisco. “In today’s society it seems like any sort of code or whatnot can be broken.” 

Similar to systems in Houston and the New York region, the Bay area’s FasTrak program already eases waits at toll plazas by enabling motorists to pay with electronic sensors Velcroed to car windshields. 

Now, radio-based sensors mounted on highway signs every few miles will record the times that FasTrak-equipped cars pass by. The only way to avoid triggering the sensors in nine Bay Area counties is to stash the transponder in its accompanying Mylar bag. 

Project leaders at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission say they’re not interested in individual drivers’ movements and have gone to great lengths to protect privacy, including encrypting the serial number of each transponder. 

Authorities promise to keep this data separate from the identities of FasTrak users and information needed to make automatic monthly deductions from their bank or credit card accounts. 

“We’re not tracking or trying to follow any individual car, just the overall traffic flow,” TravInfo project manager Michael Berman said. 

TravInfo is only the latest example of the growing phenomenon of remote monitoring. Many rental fleets and trucking companies already use satellite positioning systems to track cars and cargo. 

Companies promote similar products for keeping tabs on kids, Alzheimer’s patients or cheating spouses. 

Washington is also promoting locator technology. By October, the Federal Communications Commission wants cell phones equipped with locator technology to help emergency responders find callers, and even track users’ road speeds. 

Transponder data has already been used in court. 

In 1997, E-ZPass records helped show where kidnappers took New Jersey restaurant millionaire Nelson Gross, whose BMW crossed the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan, where his beaten corpse was found. 

The MTC — along with its partners, the California Highway Patrol and the state transportation department — has received no requests from law enforcement to tweak the system so drivers could be pursued, Berman said, adding, “I think if they were to request it, we would say no. That’s not our job.”

OAKLAND – The Oakland Police Department reported that homicide detectives were at the scene of a shooting that sent one victim to the morgue and another to the hospital in critical condition Thursday night. 

The homicide is the city's 69th of the year.  

Officers were called at about 9 p.m. to the area of 79th and Bancroft avenues, where they discovered the two shooting victims. 

A police spokesman said it appeared that that the victim who was fatally shot was a woman, and that the victim who was wounded was a man. 

A Highland General Hospital nursing supervisor said a male victim from the Bancroft Street shooting was in surgery in critical condition. 

No suspects have been identified, the police said.

Running for elected office and campaigning strategies for young  

Latinos will be the topics of a three-day training session that will be held at Oakland's Chabot College beginning Friday. 

The regional campaign training will be offered by the educational fund of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.  

The training will bring together campaign experts and state and local lawmakers to train more than 50 participants on topics ranging from the organization of a political campaign to fundraising and the development of a campaign message. 

Oakland City Council President Ignacio de La Fuente, who is participating in the event, says it is important for Latinos to become familiar with the ins and outs of politics. 

"For the emerging Latino communities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties to be involved in helping set policy agendas at all levels, they must become sophisticated about campaigns and the political process,'' De La Fuente said.

NEW YORK — Bankrupt telecommunications firm WorldCom Inc. said Thursday it has uncovered another $3.3 billion in bogus accounting, adding to the $3.85 billion fraud it revealed in June. 

The newest discovery was made as the company reviewed its books for 1999 and 2000, with most of it tallied in 2000, the Clinton, Miss.-based company said. 

The fraudulent accounting already revealed occurred in 2001 and the first half of 2002. The additional fraud would bring the total of phony accounting at WorldCom to some $7 billion. 

As a result, WorldCom will restate its financial statements for all of 2000. The company had already said it would restate its financials for all of 2001 and the first quarter of 2002. 

WorldCom also said it will likely write off $50.6 billion in goodwill and other intangible assets to reflect the reduced value of the acquisitions it has made. 

When the company made its initial disclosure in June, it said it would go back and review financials from prior years. 

In a statement Thursday, the company said it will continue its internal investigation and that investors and creditors should be aware that additional amounts of improperly reported pretax income and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization “may be discovered and announced.” 

Arthur Andersen LLP had been WorldCom’s auditor until May. KPMG LLP is now auditing WorldCom’s financial statements for 2000-2002. Until that is finished, the total impact won’t be known, the company said. 

WorldCom, the once high-flying long-distance and Internet services company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection July 21. It was the biggest such filing in U.S. history, with the company listing $107 billion in total assets and $41 billion in debts. 

Last week, two former executives — chief financial officer Scott Sullivan and controller David Myers — were charged with hiding the nearly $4 billion in expenses and lying to investors and regulators in a desperate bid to keep the company afloat. 

The accounting fraud that occurred in 2000 is said to differ from the techniques used in 2001 and 2002, according to a report Thursday by the financial news network CNBC. 

WASHINGTON — California has reached agreement with five more energy companies to revise long-term power contracts negotiated during the state’s energy crisis, the federal official overseeing the negotiations said Wednesday. 

Curtis L. Wagner, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s chief administrative law judge, provided no details of the settlements, which he said are being put into writing. Tulsa-based Williams Cos. said last month it was one of the companies nearing an agreement on the long-term contracts. 

But California officials wouldn’t confirm Wagner’s announcement. 

Steve Maviglio, spokesman for Gov. Gray Davis, said the state has no comment on Wagner’s report. “We’re making progress and we look forward to more talks.” 

The state also is negotiating with eight other companies to cut the costs of some of the $43 billion in contracts signed when power prices were high. Wagner said he is giving the state and the companies the rest of August to agree to rework the contracts. Wagner initially set this week as the deadline for negotiations. 

The state signed 56 long-term power deals last year at the height of the power crisis. The California Department of Water Resources began buying energy in January 2001, after three utilities amassed billions of dollars in debts due to high wholesale costs and couldn’t buy energy for their customers. Davis has credited the long-term deals with taming the market and providing reliable supplies. 

But as power prices declined from more than $300 per megawatt hour to under $40 this year, California filed complaints with FERC, alleging the contracts were signed under duress.

LOS ANGELES— The number of Californians able to afford their own homes decreased 5 percentage points compared with a year earlier, bucking a national trend of greater affordability, according to an industry report released Thursday. 

The percentage of households in California able to afford a median-priced home in June was 27 percent, according to the California Association of Realtors. 

On a month to month basis, the figure declined 1 percentage point, from 28 percent in May, CAR said. 

Across the country, 55 percent of households could afford to buy a median priced home, up from 54 percent in June 2001. 

The San Francisco Bay area remained one of the most exclusive regions in the country, where just 17 percent could afford to own, down from 19 percent a year ago. 

Ownership also grew more expensive in Los Angeles, where 31 percent of households could afford their own home, down from 35 percent in June 2001. 

The high desert region is still the most affordable region of the state, where 66 percent can afford ownership, down from 67 percent in 2001. 

The median price of a single family detached home was $324,370 in June, up 21.3 percent from $267,410 a year earlier, CAR said. 

Ask parents who’ve seemingly lugged every item their college-bound child owns into a dorm room and you hear the same moan: why did we bring so much stuff and how can it possibly fit into such a small space? 

The “College Packing Season” is a few weeks away but its not too early for parents and students to make the first big college decisions about what and how much to take. 

According to Melissa Birdsong, director of trend forecasting and design for Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse, you can pass this entrance exam to create a functional yet aesthetically pleasing room. “Usually freshmen take too much because they feel they have to have everything,” she says. “In cramped space like a dorm, less is really more. The trick is to stay organized from the beginning.” 

Learn what you can about the room. Ask the college for room dimensions, floor and closet layouts, existing shelves, and bed sizes, including clearance between the bed and the floor. The college may limit how the room can be set up, modified or adorned. Nails and pins in walls, permanent fixtures, and halogen lamps are usually no-nos. Low tack tape for posters won’t pull off paint. Colleges won’t allow you to paint over the neutral colored walls. 

Call your assigned roommate. “It’s a good idea to coordinate with your roommate,” advises Birdsong, “because aside from first introductions, you can avoid duplicate refrigerators, microwaves and televisions.” 

Pack belongings with arrival and storage in mind, says Birdsong. Stow stuff in plastic containers that go from the car directly for use in the room. Clear plastic makes for easy identification of contents. Shallow yet elongated bins are ideal beneath beds. Stackable units with pullout drawers double as night tables. The real payoff happens at the end of school: items stored won’t need repacking in other boxes for the trip home. 

Huge walk-in closets? Forget it. High shelves and a single clothes bar are the norm. Hang a second rod below the existing bar for extra hanger space. Clear plastic bins fit readily on closet shelves. Most closets are not well lighted, so a battery-powered, wall-mounted light is necessary. Plastic shelving that’s not too deep can work wonders in a closet or narrow wall space. 

Don’t forget floor and table lamps. Cover extension cords that traverse floor space with duct tape. In the days when students move in, stores see a spike in purchases of Ethernet cords which are necessary to hook student PCs to the school computer network. Twenty-five feet will reach most network connections. 

Buy a phone with a built-in answering machine and portable handset. It’s all the better if it has two lines and can handle two receivers. Calling cards are good options to college long- distance fees. 

Room function is one thing, but so are creature comforts. Birdsong says incoming students need homey touches to create their own sense of space. Memorabilia is big with kids, so bring along a bulletin board and enough picture frames to feature friends, family and pets. A 6-by-9- foot area rug atop vinyl tile cuts noise and makes the room cozier. “Large pillows with arms and a back rest are good for reading. Kids find afghans, coverlets and a favorite old blanket make a bed their little corner of the world,” says Birdsong. 

Some new roomies even color-coordinate bedding or drape mini-lights around bookcases and desks for a warm glow when room lights are off. 

There’s another truism about college: what came in clean will become dirty — fast. Fill a plastic tray with cleaning items and a hand-held vacuum to corral dust bunnies. Don’t forget a laundry basket. Shampoo, conditioner and soap belong in a plastic shower caddy. 

A small tool kit is indispensable. Stock it with a power drill and bits, hammer, duct tape, measuring tape and scissors. 

But packing for college isn’t a hard and fast science. 

“The first time away for kids is really full of anxiety, and they feel they just need to take everything they own,” says Birdsong. “Encourage your student not to overdo it because if they really need something, they can get it later. It’s not the end of the world if they overdo it, but it sure is easier to move out at the end of the year (if they don’t).” 

“Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home ...” goes the children’s rhyme, and that’s just what ladybugs that you purchase for your garden might do. Well, not exactly fly away home, but fly away, at any rate. 

Convergent lady beetles — the ones usually offered for sale — hibernate by the millions in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. They are scooped up, packaged, and shipped all over the country. But the beetles feast before their nap, so when they awaken they mostly want to fly — away. 

Once they become hungry again, they relish such plant pests as aphids, mealybugs, scale insects, whiteflies, and mites. Each adult beetle wolfs down as many as fifty aphids a day. The females lay more than a thousand eggs in two months, which hatch into cute larvae that look like little alligators and gobble up to 25 aphids a day. 

Although they eat voraciously when hungry, the effectiveness of even naturally occurring lady beetles is limited. This is because the beetles do not clean their plates, so to speak. They take off to greener pastures before they have really knocked out a pest population. 

You can increase the effectiveness of naturally occurring lady beetles by making your yard more attractive to them. Do this with food. You might offer an artificial food such as Wheast, a commercially available yeast and sugar mixture, putting it out on a tray or spraying it on a post or plants. You also can attract lady beetles by growing such plants as alfalfa, goldenrod, morning glory, and euonymous. Convincing naturally occurring lady beetles to stick around is more effective than importing lady beetles from the Sierra Nevadas. 

The adult beetles are not very effective at controlling pests on houseplants indoors, because they are attracted to the light of windows, where they congregate and die. The larvae, which cannot fly, are effective indoors, though. Either find some to bring indoors, or else bring in a leaf with lady beetle eggs attached. The eggs are in clusters of five to 50 on the underside of a leaf, and each egg is yellow and attached at its end. 

Purchasing cartons of lady beetles to release outdoors does have one benefit: It dissuades gardeners from spraying pesticides for the justifiable fear of killing the lady beetles. Even if the released beetles do fly away, other beneficial insects can hang around and do their job when they aren’t killed by pesticides. 

After buying a new car (a Toyota Tundra), I feel ripped off. Just when I was feeling good about the deal (we agreed to a price just 5 percent above invoice), the guy added on an "advertising fee" just as we were signing the papers. Four hundred bucks! When I asked what this was, he said "Everybody pays for this." So, feeling like we had no recourse, we dutifully signed the papers. Both my husband and I woke up the next morning thinking about that stupid fee and wondering just what it is?? Does everyone who buys a car pay for this, or are we being penalized because we didn't want any add-ons, like undercoating? -- Pamela 

TOM: Well, the fee is legitimate, Pamela. But the way the guy snuck it in at the last minute is kind of slippery, if you ask me. I'd say that earned him his plaid pants and white belt for the week. 

RAY: Dealers do pay a fee of about 1 percent of the car's price to cover advertising costs. Some dealers choose to simply fold it into their cost for the car, and with that higher cost in mind, they negotiate a higher price with you. Others separate it out and pass it along as a stand-alone fee. And some dealers will even negotiate the fee. 

TOM: But what your salesman did was not nice. He negotiated a price for the truck, and then, at the last possible minute, said, "Oh, by the way, I'm going to charge you another $400." 

RAY: If he were a more decent chap, he would have told you up front that you could have the truck for 5 percent over invoice, plus the taxes (legit), the destination charge (also legit), the document fee (also legit) and the advertising fee. He would have told you the dollar amounts of each of those fees, at which point you probably would have said, "What's an advertising fee?" 

TOM: He could have explained it to you then, and you wouldn't have felt ambushed right at the end. 

RAY: If a salesman tried that on me, Pamela, I would have walked out on the deal. Personally, I resent being surprised at the last minute like that. And I would have hoped that would have sent a message to the salesman that, perhaps, he'd remember in the future. But I understand that without enough information, and having already invested several hours in the transaction, you decided to go ahead with it. 

TOM: That's why it's important to ask before you agree on a price if there are any other charges or fees that are not included in that price. Then jot them down and add them up so that when the papers are filled out, there are no surprises. 

RAY: So the advertising fee is not a "made-up" fee, Pamela. You didn't get ripped off in the traditional sense. But, in my opinion, he did pull a fast one on you, and I'd remember that the next time you, your friends or your family are deciding which dealer to go to for your next vehicle.  

SAN JOSE — Yosemite killer Cary Stayner thought about killing himself but didn’t plan to carry it out. 

Stayner said in a multiple choice questionnaire that he was disgusted with himself, he didn’t enjoy things the way he used to, and that he had many failings, Dr. Joseph Wu testified Thursday at Stayner’s triple murder trial. 

Wu, clinical director at the University of California, Irvine Brain Imaging Center, said on cross-examination that Stayner had some signs of depression, but he didn’t conclude the confessed killer was depressed when he examined Stayner’s brain two years ago. 

Prosecutor George Williamson was trying to show that brain scans Wu conducted were unreliable because the positron emission tomography technology, or PET scan, can be ineffective on depressed patients. 

Wu has testified that abnormalities in the front of Stayner’s brain could make him more prone to violence and aggression. 

Stayner’s lawyers contend their client was insane when he killed Carole Sund, 42, her daughter, Juli, 15, of Eureka and their friend Silvina Pelosso, 16, of Argentina. 

Stayner, 40, could get the death penalty if convicted of murdering the three while they were guests at the Cedar Lodge outside the gates of Yosemite National Park in February 1999. 

Wu said his methods often come under scrutiny by prosecution consultants when he testifies in death penalty cases. Prosecutors plan to present an expert next week to counter his testimony. 

Wu said he testified a few years ago that of 20 to 30 accused murderers he examined, all had brain abnormalities. Since then, he said he has found a couple with normal brains. 

Wu could not provide actual numbers, but asked about his last 100 legal cases, he said, “I know we have found some normal scans.” 

Wu said he compared Stayner’s brain to images of what he considers to be 56 normal brains. He said the control group was made up of people who responded to a newspaper ad who said they were physically and mentally healthy. Wu said he believed them. 

“It’s possible there may have been some who slipped in who may have not been normal,” Wu said. 

Dr. Monte Buchsbaum of the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York testified that he agreed with Wu’s findings that Stayner had diminished brain activity in the region that controls impulses and plans actions. 

But on cross-examination, Buchsbaum said he had no idea how Stayner behaved around the time of the killings. 

The prosecution has relied on Stayner’s detailed confession to show that he methodically carried out the killings and then worked hard to cover up the crimes. Witnesses who worked with Stayner said he was normal. 

Judge Thomas Hastings told jurors in Santa Clara Superior Court that evidence in the guilt portion of the trial may conclude Wednesday. 

If Stayner is convicted of murder, his lawyers would then present their insanity defense in a second phase of the trial.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Public Utilities Commission has approved the use of state funds in the forming of a partnership to get California’s largest utility out of bankruptcy. 

The PUC decided Thursday to allow commission funds to pay expenses for global investment banking and capital markets firm UBS Warburg while it creates a plan to handle the bankruptcy finances of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. 

The PUC suggested in June that PG&E pay the firm’s fees — $3 million upon U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali’s approval and an additional $6 million if the firm arranged and obtained the state’s financing. But Montali ruled the utility was not liable for the expenses. 

It is uncertain what the partnership with UBS Warburg could cost, said Gary Cohen, general counsel for the PUC, although UBS Warburg gave a rough estimate of $100,000 to $200,000. He said the estimate is lower than the original fees assessed to PG&E because UBS Warburg is willing to take a chance the state’s plan will be approved and its out-of-pocket expenses will be reimbursed. 

Energy regulators hope that partnering the utility with UBS Warburg would boost support on Wall Street for its reorganization plan for PG&E. 

“They are crucial element in our ability to establish that our plan is feasible,” Cohen said. 

Montali will consider which reorganization plan to approve at a trial set to begin Nov. 12. 

If Montali approves the PUC’s plan, the regulators would rely on UBS Warburg to organize the sale of PG&E stock and arrange any additional financing the company would need to pay its $13.5 billion debt. 

Thousands of PG&E creditors currently are voting on a pair of plans for the utility’s future — the state’s plan and one by PG&E. Both sides claim the other’s plan is fatally flawed. The creditors must support or reject them by mid-August to help Montali determine which, if any, offers the best means by which they’ll be paid. 

PG&E, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2001, hopes to regain its good credit by transferring transmission lines, power plants and other assets away from state oversight and into three new companies that would be regulated by the federal government. Analysts say that would allow the utility to borrow more money to pay its debts, since it would escape state control over how much it can charge for electricity. 

LOS ANGELES — The body of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal journalist kidnapped and slain by Islamic militants, arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday, a family spokesman said. 

The body was flown to this country on a Cathay Pacific flight that arrived at Los Angeles International Airport at 2:53 p.m., said James Lee, a spokesman for Pearl’s parents, who live in a suburb of the city. 

The family intends to plan a private funeral service in the next week. Lee declined further comment, citing the family’s desire for privacy. 

Pearl, 38, was kidnapped Jan. 23 in Karachi while working on a story about links between Pakistani Islamic extremists and Richard C. Reid, who was arrested in December on a flight to Miami with explosives in his shoes. 

Pakistani aviation officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the flight carrying Pearl’s body left Karachi at 1:30 a.m., with stops in Bangkok and Hong Kong. 

SAN FRANCISCO: If Tiffany's were in Borneo, this is how you'd get there. Okay, of all the useless SUVs in the world, this is the most. Who really needs an SUV with a 5-liter, SOHC V8 putting out 292 rip snorting horsepower? Who really wants an SUV that looks like the box its more cultured brethren came in? Who really wants a vehicle that simply screams "LOOK AT ME"? Lord help me, I do.  

This is perhaps the most absurd vehicle running around the Streets of San Francisco. Looking like a military vehicle with a great paint job, chrome and fancy wheels, the Mercedes-Benz G500 really is not suited to everyday duty. You can just tell that it wants to be out doing some grunt work in the hills. Or climbing the side of a building like Spiderman. Which it just might be able to do with its 336 lb-ft of torque twisting its way to all four corners through the magnificent 5-speed automatic transmission. And just in case the tires begin to slip just a little, even though it's got Full Time 4-Wheel Drive, you can lock each and every differential (all three) with just the flick of a switch without ever having to get out of the vehicle. 

I don't think I've ever, no I know I've never, driven a vehicle that garnered as much attention as the G500. People stared, people pointed. People knew what it was! A toll taker on the San Mateo Bridge keep people waiting behind me so she could ask a million questions, including how I got so lucky as to be driving it. 

The G-Class is based off a military vehicle. That's why it looks like one. As far as vehicles go, its design is ancient. But Mercedes-Benz is not stupid. When an independent importer showed there was a profit to be made with the Gelandewagen (really, that was the name before it was shortened to G-Class), Mercedes decided to sell a few themselves. So they civilized the beast and gave us the G500. 

What's civilized? Dual zone auto climate control, power telescopic and tilt multifunction steering wheel, a great GPS Navigational system, cruise control, heated front and rear seats, power sunroof (big enough to stand on a seat and wave to the crowd from), leather seats, privacy glass (so no one can see what you're doing in there), rain sensors for the wipers (neat stuff, turn the switch to intermittent and it automatically adjusts the speed according to the amount of rain), and a killer stereo with a CD changer. 

Okay, there is a slight down side. It gets terrible mileage. I mean it's rated at 14-mpg highway and you'd have to be a saint to get that. But who really cares? Not me. The G500 was amazing. It really held the road. Heck it even cornered halfway decent. Yeah, so it cost $74,945 plus tax and plates, but it had one feature that was well worth the cost of admission. The name "Mercedes-Benz", engraved in both the front door sill plates, was illuminated in a beautiful soft blue light and set against the Obsidian Black paint. Now that's Class.

RALEIGH, N.C. — A state legislative committee voted to ban the use of public funds for a University of North Carolina reading assignment on the Quran unless other religions get equal time. 

The House Appropriations Committee voted Wednesday while it was putting together a $14.3 billion state budget. Some committee members attacked university officials over the plan to teach freshmen about the holy scriptures of Islam. 

“If you stop and think about what 9/11 meant to this country — homeland security, guards everywhere,” said Rep. Wayne Sexton, a Republican from Rockingham. “Just think of what it costs to protect ourselves from this faction, and here we are promoting it.” 

The committee voted 64-10 to bar UNC-Chapel Hill from using public funds for its assignment to new students to read about a book on the Quran unless it gives equal time to “all known religions.” 

The book, “Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations” by Michael Sells, is assigned reading for about 4,200 incoming freshmen and transfer students this month. 

New students may decline to read the book but must write an essay explaining their decision. Students are scheduled to discuss the book Aug. 19 in small groups. 

The reading assignment has sparked intense criticism, and a lawsuit is pending in federal court. The lawsuit, filed by three unidentified UNC-Chapel Hill freshmen and a conservative Christian organization, contends the students’ First Amendment right to religious freedom is being violated. 

School officials have said that the subject is timely and informational and that the reading requirement is not intended to promote Islam. 

“It’s unfortunate that people have misinterpreted this reading assignment as a form of indoctrination,” school Chancellor James Moeser said. 

For it to be approved, the proposal passed by the committee must go the full House and Senate and then to the governor. 

NEW ORLEANS — Ten aquarium visitors, including four children, fell into a shark tank and thrashed around in terror for up to 15 minutes with the animals swimming beneath their kicking feet before they were pulled out. 

No one was seriously hurt, though one of the children, a 2-year-old girl, later woke up screaming in the night. 

The visitors fell in Wednesday night when a catwalk over the water collapsed. 

One of the onlookers, 8-year-old Amanda Kruse, said most of the sharks scattered, but she saw one cruising underneath the panicked guests. 

“Its lips were peeled back and its teeth were showing,” Amanda said. 

Officials at the Aquarium of the Americas were investigating what caused the accident at the Gulf of Mexico exhibit, which includes about 24 nurse sharks and sand tiger sharks. The aquarium Web site warns visitors: “You’ll be glad you’re on the outside looking in.” 

The catwalk is normally reserved for staff but was opened for a behind-the-scenes tour for aquarium members. When it buckled, the group was thrown into the 20-foot-deep, 400,000-gallon tank. 

“All of sudden I heard something go bam, and the long catwalk split in half right in the middle and it dropped everybody straight into the water,” said Dan Rooney, whose two daughters, 2-year-old granddaughter and 5-year-old nephew plunged in. 

Daughter Allison Rooney, 21, told CNN: “Ironically, the man was telling us that if anybody ever fell into the water, that the sharks are well-fed and that they would scatter. ... Well, not even two seconds later, sure enough the whole thing just collapsed.” 

The water level is about 3 feet below the slick edges of the glass-walled tank, so there was no way for those inside to pull themselves out without help. Many clung to the mock oil platform in the center of the tank. Adults tried to hold small children above the water, splashing around and scattering sandals, makeup kits and brochures inside the tank. 

“The water is clear so you could see the sting rays and sharks swimming beneath them,” Dan Rooney said. “I know the sharks are well-fed, but with all that splashing you wonder if their hunter instincts are going to kick in.” 

Like many of those who fell in, Erin Rooney, 14, was scraped by the barnacle-encrusted support poles of the mock oil platform. 

“It happened so fast I didn’t really think about the sharks at first, I just wanted to get out of the water,” said Erin, who is Allison’s sister. “I never wanted to go near the sharks, and the worst part is I was scared to go on the catwalk and people were making fun of me for not wanting to go on it.”

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.

SONICblue chief ousted after  

challenging insider loans 

SAN JOSE — A tech company executive who demanded that his board members repay their sweetheart loans early or resign was himself fired after he went public with his ultimatum. 

SONICblue Inc. chief executive and chairman Ken Potashner said he was ousted Thursday after describing his boardroom confrontation to a newspaper. 

His immediate replacement, interim CEO L. Gregory Ballard, denied Friday that the loan dispute was behind the ouster but said the board would re-evaluate the loans now that investors are scrutinizing accounting at many companies. 

Loans to the SONICblue board members totaling more than $500,000 were not illegal when they were issued in June 2000, and the board later voted to not hold the directors personally liable if they default. 

Nor were such loans uncommon — server maker Sun Microsystems Inc. disclosed Friday it loaned $6.4 million to six executives and board members in 2001 and this year, of which $5.4 million was outstanding. 

Shipping lines want mediation  

in stalled talks with dockworkers 

LOS ANGELES — Negotiators for shipping lines that use West Coast ports called Friday for a third-party mediator to help restart stalled contract talks with dockworkers. 

The Pacific Maritime Association said mediation is the only solution unless the International Longshore and Warehouse Union presents a “serious” offer when both sides return to the table on Tuesday. 

The union’s contract expired July 1. The two sides have agreed to rolling 24-hour extensions through Tuesday. 

Joseph Miniace, president of the PMA, said mediation is essential to move talks along. During the past 10 weeks, the parties have met 28 times for a total of nearly 54 hours, he said. 

“How can you expect to get anything done like that?” he said. 

A spokesman for the ILWU called the mediation proposal a public relations ploy, saying negotiations have been ineffective because they have been undermined by government support of the PMA.

The recent spate of toddlers falling from windows in the Bay Area – including one last night – has prompted safety advocates to remind parents to be diligent and to use protective window guards that can ensure a measure of prevention. 

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, industry standards call for guards to be strong enough to prevent falls but also allow access for escape in the event of a fire. 

“People should be installing protective window guards,” commission spokesman Ken Giles said. “We strongly advocate their use.” 

Three Bay Area children have fallen from windows at least two-stories high in the last couple of weeks, including a young girl who toppled out of a San Jose apartment window in the 2800 block of McKee Road just before 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. The 2 1/2-year-old girl's fall was broken by some shrubs below the window and she is expected to recover, according to police. 

On Monday, an 18-month-old San Francisco girl fell three stories out of a bedroom window and died from her injuries the following day. Police have said the tragic fall was an accident. 

A third girl, a 10-month-old from Santa Clara, pushed through a window screen about a week ago, falling to the parking lot below. She is recovering from head injuries suffered in the fall. 

Giles said the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced new safety standards for window guards in 2000. A report detailing statistics for window-fall related deaths among children 10 years of age and younger revealed that 120 children, most under age 5, died in falls from 1990 to 2000. During the same period, more than 4,000 children were taken to emergency rooms for fall-related injuries. 

The commission urges families occupying multi-story homes to take advantage of protective guards and familiarize themselves with a few essential preventive measures. 

Giles said guards should be installed in rooms where any young child might spend time. Parents should also install locks that allow windows to open no more than four inches and never depend on screens alone. In addition, adults should open windows from the top and keep furniture that children can climb on away from windows.

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.