Few surprises await them 

UC Berkeley students return to campus this week to face higher tuition, better housing options and a chance to take an entire science course on-line. 

Tuition for California residents jumps a modest two percent, from $4,122 last year to $4,200 this year, to help pay for dental insurance and student transit passes. The $4,200 bill compares to a UC system-wide average of $3,859. But it still falls below the $5,864 average resident tuition for four universities that UC references for comparison – the University of Illinois, University of Michigan, University of Virginia and State University of New York. 

Out-of-state undergraduates, meanwhile, will face a significant hike in tuition at all nine UC campuses, with the annual bill moving from $10,704 to $12,009.  

The UC Board of Regents approved the non-resident hike in July, in the face of uncertain state funding, to help pay for system-wide outreach programs for kindergarten-through-12th grade students and health benefits for employees. 

While tuition is on the rise, university officials say the housing situation should be gentler this year. A new university-run complex, the College-Durant apartments, opened this weekend, providing 120 new on-campus beds.  

Officials also say that Berkeley rents are declining. According to a study released earlier this month by the university-run Cal Rentals, rent for a one-bedroom apartment dipped from $1,375 in July 2001 to $1,202 in July 2002. 

But UC Berkeley graduate student and City Council candidate Andy Katz points out that the July 2002 figure is still higher than the July 2000 figure of $1,101. 

“Instead of rents being astronomically unaffordable, they are only ridiculously unaffordable,” he said, arguing that more needs to be done to ease the housing crunch. 

The university has about 900 more on-campus beds in the pipeline, with the first becoming available in 2005. 

More students will be competing for housing this year, with total student enrollment expected to jump from 31,500 to 32,500, despite a dip in undergraduate acceptances. 

The student body will be a little more diverse this year. The percentage of “underrepresented minorities” – American Indians, African-Americans and Latinos – accepted as undergraduates grew from 17.1 percent last year to 17.5 percent this year. 

Some attribute the growth of minority acceptances at UC Berkeley and system-wide, where the figure moved from 18.6 percent to 19.1 percent, to a new admissions policy put in place this year called “comprehensive review.”  

Previously, the university selected 50 to 75 percent of students based on academic factors alone and picked the remainder based on a combination of academics and other qualities like leadership and perseverance. Under comprehensive review, all students are admitted based upon a combination of academics and other factors. 

Critics say the system is too subjective and may provide a way around a 1997 ban on considering race in admissions. 

But UC spokesman Hanan Eisenman said comprehensive review did not significantly increase underrepresented minority acceptances. 

“We didn’t think it was going to impact the class in terms of ethnic composition and it really didn’t,” he said. 

This year, all UC Berkeley students will also face a revised slate of courses that will touch upon terrorism and the war in Afghanistan as well as an entirely on-line course that will focus on the study of gems and other stones. 

Officials are hush-hush about the details of the on-line course, which will be unveiled Thursday during a back-to-school press conference hosted by UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl. 

Contact reporter at 

scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

The secret has been revealed that Reagan and Bush Sr. supported that “evil” Saddam Hussein while he was using poison gas weapons against his own people. 

Word has leaked that Ashcroft wants to set up internment camps for U.S. citizens deemed by him to be “enemy combatants” who criticize the regime. 

It's been uncovered that both Bush Jr's company, Harken, and Cheney's company, Halliburton, conducted the same kind of illegal stock and accounting manipulations that Enron, Anderson, and Martha Stewart did. 

Government reports indicate that more than 40 percent of the new, huge budget deficits are caused by Bush's tax give-away to the very rich. 

All of these revelations have come from a few republicans with enough wisdom to realize that the integrity of our government and our market system is the basis of their own personal wealth. My question is, “Why are the democrats so meek and quiet?” 

Bruce Joffe 

Piedmont

Tuesday, August 20

Berkeley Camera Club  

Weekly Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share slides, prints with other photographers. 

525-3565 

Free  

Berkeley Special Education  

Parents Network (BSPED) 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Ala Costa Center, 1300 Rose St. 

Guest, BUSD Superintendent Michele Lawrence will answer questions regarding re organization of the BUSD Special Education administration and the new Special Education Task Force comprised of parents, teachers, professionals and administrators. BSPED meets each month. 

525-9262, tmelton@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Free 

Escape to the Wine Country:  

California’s Napa, Sonoma and  

Mendocino 

Fodor’s text by Thom Elkjer, photography by Robert Homes 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 

Slide presentation and talk on the best wineries, vineyards, activities and dramatic countryside found in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino County.  

843-3533 

Free 

Thursday, August 22

Free Melanoma 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 Aug. 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

Berkeley Art Project Celebration 

2 to 6 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Project on the corner of Adeline St. and Stuart St.  

Event to gather community support for long-time Berkeley artist co-op. Festivities include puppet show, art raffle, silly animals, jugglers, music, free ice cream.  

548-5349 

Free 

UC Berkeley Circle K Garage Sale 

8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday) 

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 

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.kerkeley.edu 

Monday, September 2

Labor Day Potluck Picnic and Poetry Reading 

Hosted by Bay Area Poets Coalition 

Noon to 4 p.m. 

Live Oak Park, Walnut and Rose St. 

527-9905, poetalk@aol.com 

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 

Thursday, September 5

Nutrition Career Open House 

7 to 8:30 p.m. 

Institute of Educational Therapy, 706 Gilman St. 

Learn how to become a nutrition educator or consultant. 

558-1711 for reservations and information 

Free 

Friday, September 6

'The Winona LaDuke Reader' lecture and reception 

Presented by the American Indian Graduate Program 

5 p.m. Reception, 7 p.m. Lecture 

Native American environmental and Indigenous Rights activist and author 

of several books and articles, Winona LaDuke, will discuss the topics of 

her new book 'The Winona LaDuke Reader' as well as other current work. 

atalay@sscl.berkeleyl.edu 

Free 

Saturday, September 7

Travel Careers Seminar 

8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. 

Vista Community College, 2020 Milvia St., Room 306 

The day’s program will include travel industry speakers covering a variety of career possibilities: Cruise specialists, tour leaders, tour operators, adventure operators, home-based travel agents and more.  

981-2931 

$5.50 for California residents 

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 

Thursday, September 12

The 14th Small Business  

Development Trade Fair 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

The Pauley Ballroom in the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union, near Telegraph Ave. and Bancroft Way, UC Berkeley 

The event will introduce small businesses to the UC Berkeley community and give campus departments a glimpse of the services and products small businesses have to offer.  

Saturday, September 14

Basic Personal Preparedness 

9 to 11 a.m. 

Fire Department Training Center, 997 Cedar St. 

Learn five critical steps to take care of yourself, your family and your home. Classes open to those 18 or older who live or work in Berkeley. 

981-5605, www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes.html 

Free 

Heritage Day 

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

4th and University Ave. 

International BBQ and beer festival 

Free 

Spin for the Stars Fund-raiser 

9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Spieker Aquatics Complex, Recreational Sports Facility on UC Berkeley campus 

Noncompetitive swimming and stationary cycling event. Proceeds will help Cal STAR enhance its facilities and programs for the disabled. 

$20 registration fee, $35 for biathlon challenge  

West Berkeley Open Air Market 

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

University Avenue between 3rd and 4th St. 

West Berkeley celebrates Neighborhood Heritage Day with crafts, food, live music, art and family entertainment. 

841-8562 or sfbayshellmounds@yahoo.com 

Free 

Thursday, September 19

Sukkot Holiday Workshop 

7 to 8:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 

Join Dawn Kepler, director of Building Jewish Bridges, for hands-on crafts, food projects, creative sukkah decorations and tips for making your own sukkah (hut). 

848-0237 Ext. 127 

$10 BRJCC members/$12 public 

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

A's on the way 

CLEVELAND — Look out, because here come the A’s. Again. 

The Oakland Athletics, who each year seem to get better as the season goes on, are closer to first place in the AL West than they’ve been in four months. 

“Maybe some people will start thinking about the Oakland A’s again,” said their manager, Art Howe. “We’ve been the stepchild in this race.” 

Tim Hudson pitched 8 1-3 innings to remain unbeaten in August and Eric Chavez homered twice as the A’s won their sixth straight game Monday night, 8-1 over the Cleveland Indians. 

Oakland’s win, coupled with Seattle’s loss at Detroit, moved the A’s within one game of the Anaheim Angels, who lead Seattle by two percentage points. 

“I kind of like the position we’re in,” said Hudson, “sneaking up on guys and then we’re breathing down their throats.” 

Hudson meant necks, of course. It was one of his few mistakes of the night. 

Hudson (10-9) allowed six hits and one run but was lifted just two outs away from his third complete game this season. He improved to 3-0 with a 1.21 ERA this month, and beat the Indians for the first time in six career starts. 

“Right now, he’s really locked in,” Howe said. “That was vintage Hudson.” 

The A’s, who haven’t been within one game of first since April 13, are 24-11 in their last 35 road games. 

Chavez hit a two-run homer in the first inning off Danys Baez (9-10) and added a three-run shot in the ninth off Mark Wohlers for Oakland, which improved to 13-4 in August. Only the idle Arizona Diamondbacks, also 13-4 this month, have been as hot. 

Oakland has scored 24 runs in its last three games and the A’s haven’t trailed once during the 54 innings of their current winning streak. 

“The pitchers have carried us,” Chavez said. “It’s about time we started doing something for them. It’s nice to have everything working right now.” 

Jim Thome hit his 38th homer for the Indians, and Cleveland rookie Coco Crisp had two hits and made a diving catch in center field during his debut at Jacobs Field. 

Hudson came in 0-2 with a 10.08 ERA in five previous career starts against Cleveland. Most of those outings, though, came against a very different Indians’ lineup than the one he faced Monday night. 

Hudson walked none, struck out six and was never in trouble. Oakland’s outfielders only recorded two putouts as Hudson’s breaking pitches had the Indians hammering the ball into the ground. 

“He has great movement and you don’t get too many good looks at his pitches,” Thome said. “He threw a couple balls up and over the plate to me and that is unusual.” 

Oakland’s first three hits off Baez were for extra bases with Chavez’s 27th homer giving the A’s a 3-0 lead in the first. 

Ray Durham led off with a double to right, and one out later, Miguel Tejada doubled off the wall in left-center. Batting in the cleanup spot for the eighth straight game, Chavez then lined his homer into the A’s bullpen in right. 

Baez got through the next two innings unscathed, but the A’s got him for two more runs in the fourth on Ramon Hernandez’s broken-bat RBI single and Durham’s grounder. 

“I threw a couple of fastballs that were mistakes,” Baez said. “That’s not good against that team.” 

Thome homered with one out in the fourth, lining an 0-1 pitch over the wall in right-center. 

Chavez made it 8-1 in the ninth, connecting for his 28th homer, a towering shot to right. 

Notes: The Indians are sending RHP Ryan Drese to Triple-A Buffalo and calling up RHP Ricardo Rodriguez, who was acquired from Los Angeles in the Paul Shuey trade. Rodriguez will take Drese’s spot in the starting rotation and is scheduled to make his major league debut Wednesday night against the A’s. ... Since the 2000 All-Star break, the A’s are 125-62 — baseball’s best record. ... Tejada has played in 395 straight games, the longest active streak in the majors. ... Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 7-foot-3 center, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Typical basketball player, he bounced it. ... Chavez has four multihomer games this season and seven in his career. ... Indians RHP Bob Wickman, who is out for the season and waiting to have “Tommy John” elbow surgery, said he has talked to several players who have had the procedure. And what has he learned? “It’s a battle,” he said. “But you can come back from it. You just have to work hard and keep your fingers crossed.” 

Berkeley counts record number
of hate crimes since Sept. 11 

A Middle East peace supporter and falafel maker was shocked Sunday when she found the words “Holy Blood” scribbled in red on the storefront of her kosher restaurant on College Avenue. 

The incident at Chaya Mizrachi’s Holy Land Kosher Food may be the latest in a rash of post-Sept. 11 hate crimes in Berkeley. 

“This makes me feel very bad,” said Mizrachi, who emigrated from Israel 15 years ago. “I don’t sit in the White House. I make falafels. Why should they do this to me?” 

Mizrachi said that a child walking into her restaurant noticed the writing shortly after the restaurant opened for lunch Sunday. Restaurant workers were able to remove most of the ink, which appeared to come from a felt marker, but Mizrachi said the words, printed about an inch tall, are still noticeable. 

Police arrived after the lettering had been nearly erased. They have not officially labeled the defacement a hate crime, saying that state authorities make that determination. 

Mizrachi, however, has no doubt about the perpetrator’s motives. 

“They were trying to say something,” she said. “I think this was done by stupid people.” 

The defacing of the kosher restaurant is the latest in an upsurge of politically-motivated Berkeley crime.  

There were 20 reported hate crimes during the first four months of 2002, compared to just four during the same period last year, said Berkeley police Lt. Cynthia Harris. 

Several Jewish organizations have been among the victims. In March, a brick was thrown through the glass door of the Berkeley Hillel, and in April, bomb threats were called into local Jewish synagogues. 

Berkeley city officials say they are addressing the problem. 

At a July 23 City Council meeting, after weeks of back-and-forth debate on the issue, council unanimously passed a piece of hate crime legislation. The vote authorized the city manager to offer rewards of up to $5,000 for information on specified hate crimes. The legislation also increases police training for hate crime cases. 

An additional proposal to develop a separate police hate crimes unit like those in San Francisco and Oakland is being reviewed by city staff. 

The city will call a town hall meeting, tentatively scheduled for October, to share ideas on how to stop politically motivated crimes. 

Councilmemeber Kriss Worthington is hoping the meeting helps residents better understand the flawed logic behind hate crimes. 

“How does punishing a woman who runs a Jewish restaurant contribute to peace?” he asked. 

Mizrachi’s support of the Middle East peace process was highlighted in 1993 when, after the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords, she gave away free food at her Oakland restaurant.  

“For three days we gave free falafels to anyone who said they supported peace,” she said. “Now they put this near my window.” 

Police have no suspects. 

Contact reporter at berkeleydailyplanet.net.

To the Editor: 

The rumors that Dr. Susan Block and I bribed the city attorney to write the indecent cable television programming ordinance in such a way that our shows are not affected by it except that it allows our shows to be aired on B-TV anytime day or night are not true. She did it all by herself. She got rid of the “safe harbor” time slot of after 10 p.m. for shows with adult content. In its place she created an “indecent” time slot from midnight to 6 a.m. Our shows are not indecent. Linda Maio said this at the last council meeting as she voted against the ordinance. So our shows then could be shown any time. 

In fact, no show airing on B-TV will fall into the definition of “indecent” as defined in the ordinance. To be “indecent” a show, when viewed as a whole with respect to minors and applying contemporary Berkeley standards, is designed to appeal to prurient interest and contains patently offensive representations or depictions of sexual conduct, normal, or perverted, actual or simulated, or patently offensive representations or depictions of masturbation, excretory functions or lewd exhibition of the genitals and taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors. 

This is a very hard test if it is applied fairly. As Dona Spring said as she voted against this, what is of value for a 17-year-old, for a 12-year-old, and for a 12-year-old watching with her parents are all different. Under this ordinance, if the show has value for a 17-year-old, it isn't indecent – if it is applied fairly. 

But it doesn't have any safeguards to assure that this law will be applied fairly. In fact, it makes us producers vulnerable to be hassled by anybody who doesn't like our shows. (The final vote on this ordinance is scheduled for the next City Council meeting.) 

Frank Moore 

Berkeley

SAN FRANCISCO — A hip injury forced Jay Williams to sit out practice for a second straight day Monday, leaving him contemplating whether to withdraw from the U.S. national team. 

Williams sprained his left hip flexor Saturday in a collision with teammate Andre Miller during the team’s first hard practice. 

“It was horrible yesterday. I woke up thinking I’d never play basketball again, whereas I woke up today and felt a lot better,” Williams said Monday. 

Williams, originally selected to Team USA as an alternate, was added to the main roster last week after Ray Allen pulled out because of a knee injury. The U.S. team did not replace Williams with another alternate. 

“We’re kind of fatiguing some guys with only 12 bodies and no perimeter substitutions,” said coach George Karl, who had his team drilling against zone defenses during practice at the University of San Francisco. 

Williams watched the scrimmages and shot jumpers but did not run. 

Chicago general manager Jerry Krause, who drafted Williams second overall last June, said his trainer was in daily contact with USA Basketball’s trainers. 

“It’s very important for him to be on that team, for him and for us, but obviously his health is the most important concern,” Krause said. “Young kids, they want to play even if they’re hurt. That kid, he’d play with a broken leg.” 

Williams also injured his right groin during a Bulls mini-camp in late July, and this latest setback has left him wondering whether it might be prudent to rest for the next 1 1/2 months before NBA training camps begin. 

The U.S team, preparing for the World Championships in Indianapolis Aug. 29-Sept. 8, plays an exhibition against China on Thursday night before moving its training camp to Portland. 

Williams emphasized that he would take things day-by-day for the time being. 

“The thing for me is I don’t want to go into training camp favoring an injury already,” Williams said. “You’ve got to think about it as it should be an honor to play for your country, but in the same sense I know I have 82 games ahead of me, which I’ve never experienced in my life. I got tired after 40-something games in college.” 

Krause said he had not yet spoken with Williams about the injury, although Williams said he had already discussed whether to withdraw from the U.S. team with his agent, Bill Duffy. 

“I say this right now,” he said of possibly withdrawing, “but then I’m one of the most competitive guys I’ve ever met. So I don’t know.” 

The potential loss of Williams, the national player of the year last season for Duke, would reduce the U.S. team’s backcourt depth. 

The other guards on the roster are Miller and Baron Davis at point guard and Paul Pierce and Reggie Miller at shooting guard. Davis was a replacement for Jason Kidd, who withdrew because of a groin injury. 

Union says the administration wrongly laid off teachers 

The Berkeley Federation of Teachers filed suit against the Berkeley Unified School District earlier this month, claiming that district officials misclassified 38 teachers as “temporary” this spring and improperly laid them off. 

In recent weeks, the district has restored several of the teachers in question as part of its normal budget processes, but union officials say 12 to 13 teachers still qualify for legal action. 

“Unless they are all reinstated, we are probably going to proceed with this suit,” said BFT President Barry Fike. 

Associate Superintendent for Administrative Services David Gomez said the district still might reinstate the remaining teachers. But if that doesn’t happen, Gomez is confident that the district would prevail if the case goes to trial. 

“We’re pretty sure that they’re properly classified,” he said. 

The district, faced with a $5.4 million 2002-2003 deficit, issued layoff notices to 173 teachers in March. The layoffs included 82 “probationary” status teachers – generally first or second year instructors with a full or preliminary credential – and 91 temporary teachers, often first-year instructors on an emergency credential. 

The district, as planned, has rescinded almost all of the layoff notices in recent months as the murky budget picture has cleared, but some teachers remain without jobs. Gomez said about 10 teachers are jobless, but the union said 40 to 50 are still unemployed. 

The union warned as early as May that it might file suit on behalf of the allegedly misclassified teachers, but it held out in hope that all the instructors would get their jobs back. Fike said BFT decided to file in August because there were still some teachers with pink slips. 

“We were hoping the question would become moot,” he said. “In fact it has not.” 

In April the district, in accordance with state law, provided probationary teachers with a chance to challenge their layoff notices at official hearings. But, as is customary, the district did not provide hearings for temporary status teachers. 

The union claims that by improperly classifying permanent or probationary status teachers as temporary, and subsequently denying the instructors their right to layoff hearings, the district broke the law and must reinstate the teachers in question. 

The district, though, contends that it properly classified the teachers as temporary and therefore does not owe them hearings or reinstatement. 

Fike said the district’s conduct is particularly troublesome because it has filled vacancies in recent weeks with new teachers instead of restoring some of the temporary teachers involved in the suit. 

But Gomez said the district, in filling open slots, has only hired new teachers when the laid-off instructors lacked the proper credentials for the jobs in question. Fike said that is true in most, but not all cases. 

Gomez suggested that he was disappointed with the union’s decision to sue, arguing that the district has made a “good faith” effort to restore as many teaching positions as possible. 

Fike said some of the teachers who still qualify for legal action have taken jobs elsewhere and may not be able to wait for a fall court case to win their posts back. But he said some teachers have not found employment elsewhere and still plan to take part in the suit. 

Gomez said that if the district is fully-staffed and a judge rules in favor of the union this fall, requiring the restoration of laid-off teachers could have a negative financial impact on the cash-strapped district. 

Contact reporter at  

scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net

LOS ANGELES — Skipper Torben Grael and crew member Marcelo Ferreira from Brazil won the second race in the Star Class world championships Monday to take the overall lead. 

Grael and Ferreira, two-time Olympic gold medalists, lead the 103-boat fleet with four points. Competitors receive points in direct proportion to their finish, and will sail one race a day until the event ends Friday. 

Grael and Ferreira finished 11 seconds ahead of Bermuda’s Peter Bromby and Martin Siese. Allen Adler and Ricardo Ermel, also from Brazil, were third. 

France’s Xavier Rohart and Yannick Adde are in second place overall with 14 points. Paul Cayard and Hal Haenel of the United States’ are two points behind in fourth. 

The 13 houseboat residents at the city-owned marina are hoping a compromise struck with the Waterfront Commission will end years of monthly fees that they say were as unpredictable as the bay winds. 

For the past several years houseboat owners paid rents based on the government’s tabulated cost of living increases. Because the numbers fluctuated so much the residents, who are mostly retired and living on fixed incomes, never knew how much money they owed the city each month. 

If the City Council approves a compromise residents made with the Waterfront Commission last week, houseboat residents will pay the same monthly dock fees charged to all marina boats plus a flat $125 surcharge. Current fees are $271.20 for a 48-foot boat slip and $360.80 for a 54-foot slip. 

The compromise will cost houseboat residents roughly $600 more annually, but Marty Steiger of the Berkeley Marina Residents’ Association, a neighborhood group of residents from all of the live-in boats, says the new simplicity is worth the rate hike. 

“Before, everything was so convoluted and complicated. I couldn’t understand it,” he said. 

Houseboat residents praised two additional facets of the compromise with the city. The Waterfront Commission agreed to eliminate a $50 monthly charge to every resident on a boat besides the owner. 

Also, because houseboat owners are assessed the same fees as other boat owners, they can expect to have greater negotiating power by teaming with other owners when it comes to challenging rate hikes, said Brad Smith of the Waterfront Commission. 

Steiger said the confusing terms of the previous agreement strained relations between houseboat residents and other marina boat owners because many of the boat owners assumed the houseboat owners were paying lower fees. 

Houseboat owners said the compromise failed, however, to achieve their top priority – a yearly lease from the city. The city and the houseboat residents will maintain month-to-month agreements. 

“Not having a lease makes us feel insecure,” said Steiger. “Because we’re older we want to know what we can expect.” 

Smith said houseboat residents have no reason for concern. “City staff and the City Council all want them there,” he said. 

Steiger said the city could benefit from leases. Because Berkeley has a housing transfer tax, he said the city could collect money on the sale of a houseboat. He noted that houseboats docked off Marin County waters all have leases, and some boats sell for as much as $800,000. 

Cliff Marchetti, waterfront commissioner, said the city rejected the lease option because it might obligate the city to offer leases to all marina boats. 

“We can’t treat a few boat owners differently than other boat owners,” he said. 

The Waterfront Commission retains the power to review marina dock rates.  

Contact matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net 

It’s alive 

MONOCACY STATION, Pa. — This is no fish story: Two fishermen pulled a live military rocket out of the Schuylkill River. 

Michael Nagy and Jeremy Lloyd found the rusted, 2-foot-long rocket in a shallow area of the river Sunday and dragged it to shore, police said. The men then posed to take photographs with the explosive before driving it to police. 

“It was confirmed as an active military device, an RPG Rocket,” said West Pottsgrove police officer Steven Ziegler. “It had the firing pin still in it. That’s how we knew it was live.” 

The military-issue surface-to-air missile was designed to be launched out of a weapon, such as a bazooka, Ziegler said. The Montgomery County Sheriff Bomb Disposal Unit detonated the device at a remote location. 

It’s unclear how the missile ended up in the river. A similar explosive device was found in the Schuylkill River about six months ago, police said. That device had been discarded. 

Monocacy Station is about 40 miles northwest of Philadelphia. 

Big tax bill mistake 

MANHATTAN, Kan.— A mistake that caused the property value of a home to be inflated by $200 million has left local governments scrambling to refigure their budgets. 

Riley County Appraiser Sam Schmidt’s staff uncovered the error last week while preparing for next year’s valuations. The staff found the valuation on a single $59,500 property east of Kansas State University inadvertently had been changed to $200,059,000. 

The tax bill was never sent out, but Manhattan, Riley County and the local school district based their budget calculations on the erroneous valuation, which created a 6.5 percent overstatement of the value of property in the county. 

Now they are faced with fixing a shortfall that’s likely to reach at least $2.3 million. 

A 56-year delivery time 

LEBANON, Ind. — A package that sat in a hidden vault since 1945 has finally reached its intended recipient. 

Kenneth F. Perkins of Lebanon received a package last week containing after-shave lotion, talc and hair dressing. 

It was postmarked Dec. 13, 1945. 

Construction workers discovered Perkins’ package during July renovations at the federal courthouse in Indianapolis. 

The courthouse once housed the post office and when workers moved a shelf, they discovered the vault containing some undelivered mail, said Kim Yates, a U.S. Postal Service representative. 

Officials tracked down Perkins, now 79, through the military. The package was sent to him while he was serving in the Navy.

A woman was choked and robbed early Sunday evening on the 500 block of Gilman Street by a homeless man she had hired to help her move, police said. 

The woman picked up two transients at People’s Park earlier in the day to assist with her move. When she was bringing one man back to the park, she noticed that her camcorder was missing, police said. When she confronted the transient, he began choking her and stole her money. He fled the scene on foot. 

Police later arrested the man and returned the stolen property. 

-Matthew Artz 

Foggy weather but no sharks  

STINSON BEACH – The weather may not be cooperating, but so far the sharks are. 

Stinson Beach reopened to surfers and swimmers Sunday morning after a shark sighting last week kept both groups out of the water for five days. 

Lifeguard John Pellolio said this morning the beach is fogged in and neither surfers nor swimmers were in the water as of 11 a.m. But that is likely to change, he said. 

“They'll still come out. It's sunny over the hill,” Pellolio predicted. 

The beach was closed for two five-day periods in June after a surfer was bitten by a shark and another shark was sighted. 

Police puzzled over Hayward homicide 

HAYWARD – Police are still trying to understand why a 24-year-old man, with no apparent connection to either drugs or gangs, was shot in the head and killed early Sunday morning. 

Residents found the man, identified by the Alameda County Coroner as Damion Allen, lying dead on the street around 8:30 in the morning in the 27000 block of Del Norte Court in Hayward. 

Hayward police say they have no witness information nor any reports of gunfire, although one resident said he may have heard shots between 2 and 4 a.m. Police are investigating why Allen was killed and whether he was actually killed where he was found. 

Anyone with information on this homicide should contact Inspector Ramona Hernandez at the Hayward Police Department at 293-7074. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Bay Area officials are looking closely, yet skeptically, at a Los Angeles County program that provides free preschool using proceeds from state cigarette taxes. 

Los Angeles County residents approved a proposition earlier this month that allows some of the tobacco-tax money to be used for early childhood programs. The county plans to phase in as many as 100,000 children into preschool slots over several years. 

But officials in the Bay Area say a universal preschool program would not work for every county in the state. 

“L.A. has much more money than we have, so that does come with a certain flexibility,” said Brenda Blasingame, executive director of Contra Costa County’s Children and Family Commission. 

Blasingame said it’s better to invest limited resources in the education and retention of child-care workers than to put the money on a free preschool system. 

In Contra Costa county cigarette-tax revenue has fallen from $12.8 million in the first year to $11 million this year. 

Los Angeles County agrees it receives more funding than most counties. Proposition 10, the tobacco-tax measure passed in 1998, generates about $700 million annually for the state and $165 million for Los Angeles County. 

Proposition 10 added a 50-cent tax to a pack of cigarettes and an additional levy on cigars and pipe tobacco. California’s 58 counties divide the revenue based on local birthrates and use the money mainly for child-development programs. 

Alpine, California’s smallest county, is planning a preschool program funded by tobacco taxes, but its program would need to cover only about 20 children. 

Since the burden is larger for counties like those in the Bay Area, most are pursuing other policies in the face of declining tobacco tax revenues. 

San Francisco, which received $8.5 million in the program’s first full year and $7.7 million last fiscal year, considered a program like Los Angeles’ when its Children and Families Commission was first formed. Officials decided against it and chose to put much of their money into programs to supplement the low pay and benefits earned by child-care providers. 

SAN JOSE — A six-alarm fire gutted a six-acre section of Santana Row, an expansive $500 million retail, commercial and residential development designed to become an upscale destination for people from all over Silicon Valley. 

The blaze, which erupted Monday afternoon, spewed 100-foot-high flames and billowing black smoke that could be seen for miles, and delivered yet another blow to an already sagging economy still weathering the dot-com bust. 

“This was going to be a very, very big deal for San Jose,” said city councilman Ken Yeager. “It was really all set to be a regional shopping center, it was going to draw shoppers from around the area and help the economy.” 

Homes and businesses within a half-mile of the site were evacuated. Cinders blew onto nearby apartments where residents straddled roofs and tried to douse flames with garden hos Bay Area roadways during the evening commute. There were no known injuries. All of San Jose’s available firefighters responded, as well as crews from nearby cities. 

Left charred was the largest of nine buildings at the development. 

The proposed legislation
would curb speed shows
and reckless driving 

SACRAMENTO – The state Assembly Monday approved a proposed law that could help the Oakland Police Department deal with so-called “sideshows.” 

The Assembly voted 65-1 to approve Senate Bill 1489, which has been named the U'Kendra K. Johnson Memorial Act in memory of a 22-year-old Oakland resident who was killed in February during a hit-and-run incident that authorities say was related to sideshow activities. 

If made into law, the bill would allow police departments to tow and impound for 30 days the cars of those who engage in illegal speed exhibitions and reckless driving. The cars would not be returned until the owners pay impound fees, currently estimated at about $1,500. 

The ‘sideshow’ bill was authored by state Sen. Don Perata, D-Alameda, and was carried in the Assembly by Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, D-Oakland.  

Sideshows have been taking place in Oakland since the 1980s. They are loosely organized street gatherings in which participants snake though Oakland neighborhoods and take over streets and parking lots, where crowds stand next to cars that spin doughnuts and burn rubber, sometimes as passengers hang from an open car door or windows. 

Oakland city officials say the proposed legislation could be one of the tools that allow them to finally end sideshows in the city, which adds $1.5 million each year to the city's budget in police overtime. 

Under the current law, police can only hold impounded vehicles until their owners claim them and pay their fine. City officials claim that the law does little to deter sideshow activity, since some participants have been known to have their cars towed only to return to the streets hours later after paying the fine. 

The bill now goes back to the state Senate, which has to approve naming the proposed law after U'Kendra Johnson – an Assembly modification.  

The issue is considered non-controversial and the proposed legislation could be on the governor's desk as early as this week.

SAN FRANCISCO – A lawyer for an environmental advocacy group said today that she expects a judge to uphold their legal challenge to a Richmond refinery pollution permit as he did a similar one against a Martinez facility. 

Attorney Danielle Fugere said the suit filed Friday in the same San Francisco Superior Court that last month upheld an environmental challenge to the pollution permit held by the Tesoro Martinez refinery raises the same issues in the case of the Chevron Richmond refinery. Such differences as there are, Communities for a Better Environment senior scientist Greg Karras added, don't favor Chevron. 

“If there is a difference, Chevron's the biggest refinery, and their own EPA statistics say they're the biggest source of dioxins and mercury releases to surface waters in the 10 county Bay area,” Karras said today. 

But regional board officials, while agreeing that the issues in the two cases were largely the same, said the lawsuit was unlikely to help matters because the pollution in question originates elsewhere. 

“We would say this is pointless ‘gotcha’ litigation that will not help us solve these problems,” said Larry Kolb, assistant executive officer for the San Francisco Bay Region Water Quality Control Board. 

San Francisco Superior Court Judge James McBride granted a similar challenge against the Tesoro refinery July 19. That was just one day after state water regulators in Sacramento upheld a decision by the Oakland-based regional board to allow Chevron to operate using higher interim dioxin limits instead of requiring compliance with stricter health based limits specified by the federal Clean Water Act. 

Today's suit against Chevron raises similar complaints about the Richmond refinery dioxin discharges as well as with the refinery's releases of mercury, selenium and nickel. 

“This is your classic 'do you study it while the pollution continues' or ‘do you permit it to continue while you study it’ – and then clean it up,” Karras said. 

But Kolb says there's “plenty of data” to show that it makes no sense to go after the regional board and the refinery in an attempt to cut back on dioxin and mercury pollution. 

“Even if all the discharges we regulate were to immediately go to zero, the problem would remain,” Kolb said, adding that for mercury the biggest problem is historic old sources of the toxic metal that have already infiltrated Bay sediments. 

“The worst ongoing mercury problem is drainage from the old Almaden quicksilver mine in Santa Clara County,” Kolb said. 

Kolb said that because regulators are certain that dioxins are discharged into the air and then settle out on the land and show up in storm water runoff.

SAN JOSE — Testimony concluded Monday in the first phase of Yosemite killer Cary Stayner’s triple-murder trial, setting the stage for closing arguments and jury deliberations. 

Defense lawyers and prosecutors presented 55 witnesses over five weeks of evidence, including three weeks dominated by testimony about Stayner’s brain. 

Defense lawyers presented a final witness Monday in the battle over whether Stayner’s brain was abnormal, concluding many days of testimony from psychologists and psychiatrists who performed a battery of tests on the confessed killer. 

Stayner has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity to the February 1999 killings of three Yosemite National Park tourists who were staying at the rustic lodge where he worked as a handyman outside the park. 

Numerous defense witnesses testified that he had a deformed brain and had defective brain activity similar to a schizophrenic. 

A prosecution rebuttal witness, Dr. Alan Waxman, testified last week that Stayner’s brain was normal. 

Frank Balch Wood, a neurology professor at Wake Forest University, said Monday that Waxman’s conclusions were fraught with errors. 

Jurors in Santa Clara Superior Court are expected to hear closing arguments Tuesday afternoon and will likely begin deliberations Wednesday in the guilt phase of the trial. 

Stayner, 41, faces the death penalty if convicted of murdering Carole Sund, 42, her daughter, Juli, 15, of Eureka, and their Argentine friend Silvina Pelosso, 16. 

If Stayner is convicted of first-degree murder that could trigger the death penalty.

SACRAMENTO — A measure that would require utilities to have 20 percent of their electricity produced from renewable sources passed a key legislative committee Monday. 

The bill, by Sen. Byron Sher, D-Stanford, gives the utilities until 2017 to meet that threshold, increasing the requirement each year until then. 

“A diversity of sources of energy in California is essential for reliability,” Sher said. 

Environmental groups have warned the state is becoming too dependent on natural gas-fired power plants, leaving it vulnerable to price spikes if that commodity becomes scarce. 

Sher’s bill, and a companion bill that allows funds raised by a public goods charge to be used to help offset the higher cost of renewable energy, were approved by the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee after languishing there for a year. 

Gov. Gray Davis praised lawmakers for moving the bill, saying it would cut the state’s dependence on aging, inefficient and pollution-producing power plants, reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. 

“California is the nation’s leader in renewable energy —and we intend to keep that title,” Davis said. 

Julia Levin, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the bill was “great for consumers, it reduces air pollution, it creates jobs.” 

Southern California Edison supported the bill, but it was opposed by the state’s other two investor-owned utilities, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., and Sempra, which owns San Diego Gas & Electric Co. 

Under the bills, utilities would be able to receive money from a fund supported by a 3 percent surcharge on electricity bills. The public goods charge goes toward renewable energy, conservation and efficiency research, and rebates for energy efficient products. 

Sher’s bills allow the funds to also help utilities offset the higher cost of renewable energy, which will those costs from being passed on to consumers. 

“That’s the incentive,” said Levin. “The problem in the last few years has been there’s been no market for renewables. Clearly, we need both incentives and a requirement.” 

The bill requires the PUC to find utilities in contempt if they don’t meet the minimum standards. 

If alternative energy providers, also called direct access providers, are allowed to continue in California, they will also be required to buy at least 20 percent renewable energy. The Public Utilities Commission has the final say on whether those providers will be allowed to take on new customers. 

Currently, customers cannot sign up for direct access service because state regulators were concerned that too many customers were fleeing the utilities, leaving the state with a large power debt. 

The bill setting the 20 percent threshold was also approved by the Assembly Natural Resources Committee later Monday. Both bills will now be heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

PGP Corp. acquires encryption product lines from Network Associates 

SAN JOSE — PGP Corp., a newly formed company specializing in message and data storage security, said Monday it has acquired Network Associates Inc.’s “Pretty Good Privacy” encryption product lines and plans to update the technology. 

Pretty Good Privacy, which was first released in 1991 as free software by programmer Phil Zimmermann, is commonly used to scramble e-mail messages to ensure contents are not read while in transit. Network Associates acquired the commercial rights in 1997. 

But Network Associates stopped selling its PGP products last year after corporate sales did not meet expectations and the company decided to focus on its core computer security products. 

Under the agreement announced Monday, PGP Corp. bought the following products: PGP Mail, PGP File, PGP Disk and PGP Admin software products for Windows-based computers, PGP Corporate Desktop for Macintosh, PGP Keyserver for Windows and Solaris, PGP Mobile for handheld operating systems and the PGP SDK software development kit. 

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Network Associates retained some products built with PGPsdk, including the McAfee E-Business Server, McAfee Desktop Firewall and McAfee VPN Client. 

Terms of the deal, which was finalized July 26, were not disclosed. 

Agilent posts wider loss in fiscal third quarter 

SAN JOSE — Agilent Technologies Inc., a maker of test and measurement equipment, reported a larger-than-expected third-quarter loss Monday because of weak demand and disruptions caused by the installation of a companywide management system. 

For the three months ended July 31, the company lost $228 million, or 49 cents per share, compared with a loss of $225 million, or 49 cents a share, in the same period last year. 

Excluding one-time items, the company lost $143 million, or 31 cents per share, compared with a loss of $101 million, or 22 cents per share, in the same period last year. 

Third-quarter sales totaled $1.4 billion, a 24 percent decrease over the $1.8 billion reported last year. 

Analysts were expecting a loss of 15 cents per share on sales of $1.5 billion, according to a survey by Thomson First Call.

LUSBY, Md.— On the shore of one of the country’s most bountiful waterways, the Chesapeake Bay, two reactors have produced electricity for nearly a quarter century — and accumulated 950 tons of radioactive waste. 

Some security experts worry that at Calvert Cliffs on the Chesapeake and other nuclear power plants, the most vulnerable terrorist target may not be the reactors, but the waste they produce. 

Last month, President Bush signed into law a plan to ship used reactor fuel, now kept in deep pools of water at power plants in 31 states, to a central underground repository in the Nevada desert. 

But the Yucca Mountain site is not expected to open until 2010 and still faces legal and regulatory hurdles, while the amount of reactor waste — now about 45,000 tons nationwide — is growing by 2,000 tons a year. 

Nestled on 380 coastal acres surrounded by a nature preserve, dense woods and agricultural land where tobacco farming once was a way of life, the Calvert Cliffs plant has produced about 30 tons of spent fuel a year since its two reactors began operating in the mid-1970s. 

Most of the radioactive waste is kept in 39 feet of treated water in what looks like an indoor swimming pool, though much deeper and reinforced with a steel liner and four feet of concrete. With pool space filing up, a small amount of the waste has been stashed in steel casks inside concrete bunkers on the site. 

“We think it’s very safe ... in the pool and in the dry storage area,” says Peter Katz, senior plant official and a vice president of Constellation Energy, the plant’s owner. He says he doesn’t “for a minute doubt the safety and security” of the material. 

Because of new terrorist concerns, Katz is tightlipped about precautions taken and he won’t tell how much fuel is kept there or specify its location. He agreed only reluctantly to meet with a reporter — and then only at the now-shuttered visitors’ center outside the complex perimeter. 

Before Sept. 11, Calvert Cliffs officials freely provided such information, even distributing an aerial photograph identifying plant structures by number, including the reactors, spent fuel pool building, and the dry-cask waste storage area. 

Shown one of the photos, Katz lamented: “I can’t get them all back.” 

Federal security experts believe Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network has been interested in nuclear facilities, and power plants have been on high alert since September. The nearby waters of the bay are now off limits to boaters. Plant guards carry automatic weapons. All but business-related visitors are turned away. 

Because the government was supposed to take the spent fuel years ago, plants were never designed for long-term storage. Nor were fuel pools designed with a terrorist attack of the scale launched last September in mind. 

While the highly radioactive fuel rods inside the reactor are protected by a four-foot-thick concrete dome, anti-nuclear activists consider the spent fuel a potential easy target. 

“An attack against a spent fuel pool could drain enough water to cause a catastrophic radiological fire that cannot be extinguished,” Robert Alvarez, a former Energy Department senior policy adviser, told a recent Senate hearing. He cited a 1997 analysis that said such a fire could contaminate up to 188 square miles. 

Another nuclear critic, David Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the industry’s mock security exercises have paid little attention to protecting waste at reactor sites. 

The NRC acknowledges its studies on spent fuel vulnerability have focused on ensuring the pools can withstand an earthquake or other natural disaster — not a terrorist assault. In May, the NRC ordered increased security for spent fuel pools at all plants and a review of their vulnerability to a terrorist attack. The review has not been completed. 

But Joe Colvin, president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry trade group, said preliminary findings of an industry-sponsored analysis show the pools are “much more robust and much more well protected ... than we even believed.” 

The analysis showed a crashing aircraft would not rupture the pool, despite major damage to the building itself, he said. “The pool would not leak significantly,” he said. 

Jack Skolds, chief nuclear officer at Exelon, which owns 17 reactors in Illinois and Pennsylvania, also cited the new industry analysis and said: “Can I categorically say every spent fuel pool would withstand the impact of a (Boeing) 767? No I can’t tell you that. I can tell you they are very safe indeed,” says Skolds. 

An uncontrollable fire in a fuel pool was theoretically possible, Skolds said, but “the number of things that would have to happen are so unlikely that the probability of that occurring is very, very small.” 

Exelon operates the oldest commercial power reactor still operating — the Dresden plant, near Joliet, Ill., where 6,579 fuel assemblies, some 15,000 tons, are stored in twin pools. 

During the debate over Yucca Mountain repository, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham insisted the waste is safe. However, he repeatedly cited the security, safety and environmental concerns of leaving it scattered at reactor sites, many of which are near precious waterways or population centers.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind.— Indiana University was crowned the nation’s No. 1 “party school” Monday in an annual Princeton Review survey that school leaders and medical experts derided as irresponsible and unscientific. 

Following IU in the rankings were Clemson University, the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Florida. 

IU officials questioned the No. 1 ranking. The school, which didn’t appear on the list last year, has toughened its stance on student drinking since the 1998 alcohol-related death of a student. 

In the past year, five IU fraternities have been suspended or expelled for violations of alcohol policies, said Bill Stephan, the university’s vice president for public affairs. 

“I think there are some serious questions about the methodology of the study and it really calls into question the credibility of the ranking,” Stephan said. 

IU freshman Anya Simonova said her school may be perceived as a party school, but noted that “it’s getting quieter because they’re cracking down more.” Junior Erin Pritchard agreed. 

“I’d be surprised to hear we’re number one,” she said. “Even though most people party three or four times a week, this past year they’ve been a lot more strict.” 

The survey, conducted since 1992, ranks schools in 63 categories based on in-person or computer interviews with 100,000 students. The party school designation is based on student reports on alcohol and marijuana use, the amount of time spent studying outside of class and the popularity of fraternities and sororities on campus. 

Princeton Review, a test-preparation and college admissions company with no connection to Princeton University, defended its survey. 

“We simply are reporting on the conditions that exist on those particular campuses, and if social life continues to be an aspect that students comment on, then I will continue to include that list in the book,” said Robert Franek, the company’s editorial director. 

SANTA ANA — A reputed gang member jailed on an attempted murder charge was bailed out when someone posted $500,000 in counterfeit cashier’s checks, sheriff’s officials said Monday. 

Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo said Dominic Peter Rizzo, 33, left the Orange County Jail on July 17 after the phony checks were presented to a jail cashier. 

“It only became clear after the checks went to the bank that there was nothing of value standing behind them,” Jaramillo said, adding a warrant has been issued for Rizzo’s arrest. If captured, he’ll be held on $2 million bail this time. 

Rizzo, believed to be a member of the skinhead prison gang Public Enemy Number One, was one of three people arrested for an April 1999 knife attack. Authorities say a man who was once Rizzo’s friend was stabbed in the chest, abdomen and arms but recovered. 

Although the prison gang has a reputation for counterfeiting, authorities say this is the first case they know of in which phony cashier’s checks were used to make bail. They are trying to determine who posted the bail. 

Meanwhile, the Sheriff’s Department will no longer accept cashier’s checks until they have been verified by a bank. 

SACRAMENTO — The nation’s largest pension fund adopted procedures Monday designed to root out conflicts of interest among its money managers and investment bankers. 

The California Public Employees Retirement System approved rules requiring greater disclosure about how money managers, brokers and bankers are compensated, sever the link between analysts’ pay and investment banking and establish a monitoring process. 

“Weak corporate governance and fraudulent financial reporting practices have caused investors around the globe to lose confidence in the market. People now question the basic integrity of many corporate leaders,” said William Crist, CalPERS board president. “Everyone must do their part — including CalPERS own money managers and investment banks — to help restore integrity in our markets and help protect our pensioners.”

Khaled Almaghafi came to the United States from Yemen in 1986 and studied business administration at UC Davis. He now uses his business acumen to run an international honey exporting firm from his south Berkeley home near the Ashby BART station. 

It all started when he answered an ad for bee removal 10 years ago. Equipped with a vacuum containing a catch basin for bees, Almaghafi removed unwanted bees from Berkeley homes and businesses. Knowing the value of honey, Almaghafi began making use of what most feared. Soon the captured bees were making honey on small plots of land in Berkeley, El Sobrante and Walnut Creek. 

“In Yemen, people will fight over a swarm of bees,” he said, noting the demand for honey. In America, though, people are frightened of the stinging buzzards, he said. 

In his backyard, Almaghafi brazenly pulls trays of honey from wooden boxes, called frames. He rarely gets stung 

“[People] are afraid because maybe they got stung as a child. It shouldn’t be like that,” he said. Bees have no interest in stinging humans, he added. 

In his adventures into the homes of fearful East Bay residents, Almaghafi once claimed more than 700 pounds of honey from a home in which the walls had been a bee haven for two decades. 

In addition to making honey, bees pollinate many trees and bushes, Almaghafi explained. 

“If it wasn’t for the bees we wouldn’t be eating [a wide] variety of fruits,” he said. 

When Almaghafi’s bees aren’t making honey on his property, he rents them to farmers who use them to pollinate crops. Bees pollinate almonds, kiwis, melons, alfalfa and other crops. 

When the farmers are done with the bees, a homing instinct brings them back to their cages where Almaghafi collects them and brings them home. 

Almaghafi explains that migratory beekeepers follow crops much like migrant workers, renting their bees to farmers in different regions in a mutually beneficial relationship. 

California is a particularly good place to keep bees, Almaghafi adds, since bees can make honey year-round from different crops. 

Almaghafi notes the ups and downs of a nature-dependent business model. Drought and other phenomena can wreak havoc on the harvest, he says. 

“In a good year I can get 150 pounds of honey per hive,” he said. “In a bad year, I only get 20 or 30 pounds. But in the Bay Area, bees are making honey all year.” 

After harvesting the honey from local sources, Almaghafi turns to his native land to sell his product. Not enough honey is produced in the arid nation of Yemen to meet the demand so he steps in, shipping containers full of the stuff by boat each year.

To the Editor:  

Long time artist/tenants living in a 100–year–old warehouse building in south Berkeley were served eviction notices last Septmber and are still living in the building. The Berkeley City Council voted unanimously in April to help fend off an Ellis Act eviction. The tenants have succeeded in being recognized by the Berkeley City Council as an asset to the community.  

Councilmember Kriss Worthington says, “This is not an isolated instance. There is a pattern of artists being forced out of their studios. We need to get the landlords and the tenants working together.”  

There will be an event held on Aug. 24 to show support for the building. The new plan is to maintain the current building by the current tenants as a live/work space and to create a future artist facility open to the public.  

Natasha Shawver, 

Berkeley

Monday, August 19 

Berkeley Citizens Sunshine  

Coalition Meeting 

7 p.m. 

Downtown library: Meeting Room A, Kittredge and Shattuck Ave. 

Meeting to discuss better access to city government and school administration.  

B-Sunshine@yahoogroups.com  

Berkeley Ecological and Safe Transportation (BEST)  

Coalition meeting 

6 to 8 p.m. 

Central Library, Kittredge St. and Shattuck 

Group joins pedestrians, bicyclists, mass transit users and land-use advocates. Topics of discussion include: Berkeley height initiative, pedestrian issues and employer incentive plans. Potluck. 

652-9462, imgreen@jps.net 

Food Addicts in Recovery  

Anonymous 

7:30 p.m. 

Herrick Campus, Alta Bates Hospital, Dwight Way  

A free 12-step recovery program for individuals who suffer from overeating, bulimia, anorexia and obsession with food. Morning and evening meetings are held seven days a week. See web site for schedule. 

(800) 600-6028, www.foodaddicts.org 

Free  

Parkinson's Support Group 

10 a.m. to noon 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

Guest speakers, gentle exercises, treatment updates and experience sharing for those with Parkinson's disease. Care-givers and families are welcome. 

527-9075 

Free 

Tuesday, August 20 

Berkeley Camera Club Weekly Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share slides, prints with other photographers. 

525-3565 

Free  

Berkeley Special Education  

Parents Network (BSPED) 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Ala Costa Center, 1300 Rose St. 

Guest, BUSD Superintendent Michele Lawrence will answer questions regarding re–organization of the BUSD Special Education administration and the new Special Education Task Force comprised of parents, teachers, professionals and administrators. BSPED meets each month. 

525-9262, tmelton@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Free 

Escape to the Wine Country:  

California’s Napa, Sonoma and  

Mendocino 

Fodor’s text by Thom Elkjer, photography by Robert Homes 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 

Slide presentation and talk on the best wineries, vineyards, activities and dramatic countryside found in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino.  

843-3533 

Free 

Thursday, August 22 

Free Melanoma 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 Aug. 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 

Anthony Brown Lectures on Ralph Ellison’s Musical Influences 

2 p.m. 

Berkeley Central Library, 2090 

Kitteredge St. 

Anthony Brown, jazz percussionist and music scholar will explore Ralph Ellison’s music 

Berkeley Art Project Celebration 

2 to 6 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Project on the corner of Adeline St. and Stuart St.  

Event to gather community support for long-time Berkeley artist co-op. Festivities include puppet show, art raffle, silly animals, jugglers, music, free ice cream.  

548-5349 

Free 

UC Berkeley Circle K Garage Sale 

8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday) 

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.kerkeley.edu 

Monday, September 2 

Labor Day Potluck Picnic and Poetry Reading 

Hosted by Bay Area Poets Coalition 

Noon to 4 p.m. 

Live Oak Park, Walnut and Rose St. 

527-9905, poetalk@aol.com 

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

OAKLAND – Terrence Long kept to his usual routine, and for one day it worked. 

Long homered twice and drove in four runs to break out of a lengthy slump as the Oakland Athletics completed a three-game sweep Sunday with a 7-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox. 

“I live and die by what works for me,” Long said. “I’m not changing anything. I know what works for me.” 

Barry Zito (17-5) matched his career high for victories, allowing three runs on four hits in 5 2-3 innings. The A’s, who have won five straight and 11 of 14, remained two games behind first-place Seattle in the AL West. 

Oakland’s Scott Hatteberg tied a career high with four hits. Long was 3-for-4 after getting just four hits in his previous 47 at-bats. 

“I’ve been struggling basically the whole season,” said Long, one of two A’s (along with Miguel Tejada) to play in every game this season. “I keep doing the same thing, but it just wasn’t happening for me.” 

Oakland manager Art Howe was glad to see Long break out of his slump. 

“I know he wants to be part of the offense,” Howe said. “He hasn’t been, and that’s frustrating. Now he can breathe a lot easier. He needed that and we needed that.” 

Zito won despite his third-shortest outing of the season. 

“That’s the frustrating thing,” Zito said. “I shouldn’t have to come out that early, but I understand why.” 

Oakland’s David Justice robbed Tony Graffanino of a home run in the first inning, reaching over the left-field wall to haul in the long drive. 

“That was a great catch,” Zito said. “It was discouraging to me to give up that pitch on the first hitter of the game.” 

Royce Clayton homered for the White Sox, who dropped their fourth straight. 

Dan Wright (8-11) gave up seven runs — five earned — on 10 hits to lose for the third time in four starts. 

“I kept making more mistakes as the game wore on and they took advantage,” Wright said.

SAN FRANCISCO — Commuters in the San Francisco Bay area are spending less time sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic, according to a state Department of Transportation study. 

The number of hours wasted in traffic declined 12 percent during 2001, the study said. That’s the biggest one-year decline since Caltrans began tracking traffic jams on state highways in 1981. It’s also the first time congestion levels have fallen since 1994. 

The number of freeway miles where traffic slows to a crawl also fell by 3 percent. 

Caltrans officials believe the reductions are a sign highway improvements are working. But many motorists believe unemployment’s responsible. 

“It’s the unemployment, definitely,” said Ray Torrefiel, who lives in Santa Clara and has noticed the lighter traffic. “People are moving out of the area. There’s no jobs.” 

Michael Cunningham, vice president of transportation for the Bay Area Council, an employers’ organization, agreed. 

“The generally accepted explanation is that a lot of people are out of work,” he said. “It’s not a surprise we’re seeing (a congestion reduction) here, but there is not evidence of any systemic improvement in how our transportation network works. When the economy comes back, every expectation is that traffic congestion is going to come back, too.” 

Caltrans Director Jeff Morales acknowledged the economy is contributing to the drop in congestion, but said the dramatic dips in some areas where traffic improvements have been completed show that the Caltrans projects are making a difference. 

Morales cited the addition of lanes and other improvements to Highway 87 in Santa Clara County, the Sunol Grade on Interstate 680 in Alameda County and Highway 101 in San Mateo County as examples. 

In 2001, Caltrans completed 115 traffic improvements, including freeway widenings, rehabilitation efforts such as the repaving of Interstate 880 and safety improvements. Other improvements, such as the introduction of Fastrak electronic toll collection have also had an impact, said Dennis Trujillo, a Caltrans spokesman. 

Congestion dropped in every Bay Area county but Alameda and Contra Costa, where it continued to rise. 

The biggest reductions came in San Mateo at 40 percent, San Francisco at 32 percent and Santa Clara at 28 percent counties.

To the Editor: 

It surprises me that in a city such as Berkeley I have not heard of any discussions (much less public rallies) in support of the peaceful spirit of the Palestinian cause – that is, to regain land taken from them in 1948. It seems to me that a community which is pro-civil rights has neglected this particular issue. 

Another point of history: During World War II, Europeans from Italy and Germany were imprisoned in camps in the Oakland area (and perhaps others as well), yet this is not discussed. They were not U.S. citizens, but I know personally a woman who, as a child, was imprisoned along with her mother, and she is still waiting for her apology, requested by her to various U.S. leaders over many years. As long as the 21st century is the time for political/social apologies why not be complete about it? 

Actually, I once listened to a National Public Radio show in which the guest was the author of a book about Japanese-American soldiers during World War II. A Mexican-American veteran called in and his contribution was joyfully received by the show host, but when an Italian-American called in mentioning the Italian internment camps, the host demonstrated what sounded as a rebuke and downplayed the significance of the Italian experience. 

C. Crapotta,  

Berkeley

CHASKA, Minn. – Playing as if he had nothing to lose, Rich Beem buried Tiger Woods and captured a PGA Championship even though he thought he had no business winning. 

Beem hit a 5-wood to within 6 feet for an eagle on the 11th hole to seize control, then put the finishing touches on a fearless round by rolling in a 35-foot birdie putt on No. 16 to thwart a final charge from Woods. 

Players in only their fourth major are supposed to wilt in the stifling pressure of the final round of the PGA Championship, not hit one career shot after another. 

“When I sat up here yesterday, I didn’t know if I had what it took to win it,” Beem said Sunday night, the Wanamaker Trophy at his side. “I found out today that I do. I’m elated beyond belief.” 

When he tapped in a meaningless bogey on the 18th hole at Hazeltine, Beem, who seven years ago sold car stereos, raised both arms and looked into the bright blue sky.

Daily Planet Staff 

The last public discussion on the Eastshore State Park General Plan resembled an outlandish daytime talk show Thursday, as a crowd of more than 300 people jeered planners, mocked opponents and even watched police drag a woman out in handcuffs. 

The park, billed as a bastion for personal contemplation and family recreation, stretches 8.4 miles along the coast from the Emeryville Crescent to Marina Bay in Richmond. 

After decades of public support for a state park, chief planner Don Neuwirth has seen consensus wither during the last 18 months in which environmentalists, playing fields advocates, dog walkers, artists and windsurfers have come forth with conflicting demands. 

The current plan tries to appease all parties. 

The plan allocates 40 percent of the land and 60 percent of the water for recreation, preserving the remainder for wildlife habitat.  

Among the highlights include playing fields, picnic facilities and bicycle rentals at the Berkeley Brickyard just south of the marina, preservation of the Berkeley Meadow just north of the marina, a boat launch and youth hostel at the North Basin Strip west of Gilman Street, up to five athletic fields at the Albany Plateau and a windsurf launch and continued off-leash dog walking at Point Isabel in Richmond. 

But attendees of last week’s meeting weren’t impressed. 

“The plan lacks vision,” said Norman La Force of the Sierra Club. “It is a hodgepodge of compromises that creates conflict between groups.” 

The central battleground concerns 40 acres of overgrown brush at the coastal landfill in Albany. For the past several years off-leash dogs and artists painting on driftwood have claimed the area. 

But the current plan calls for three to five athletic fields on the landfill’s eastern plateau, while the bulb-shaped western part is designated as sea bird habitat. To protect children and birds from dogs and human encroachment, the state will mandate leashes and prohibit art at the landfill. 

“We have not been taken into consideration one bit,” said Sasha Futran of Let It Be, a grassroots alliance of dog walkers and artists. Her group argues that unleashed dog walking and unlicensed art add to the vitality of the park and have not endangered birds or children. 

Neuwirth labeled the art, some of which depicts nudity, inappropriate for a public park and said efforts to compromise with artists have failed. 

Playing field advocates accepted the plan and defended the inclusion of fields on the plateau against environmentalists, who want the entire plot preserved for wildlife. 

“You guys aren’t really getting it. We play on fields with glass. A little wind isn’t going to hurt us,” said one teenage soccer player in response to a claim that the Albany fields would be too windy.  

Environmentalists argued that soccer and baseball players could disrupt the migratory birds that flock to the mud flats just north of the Albany landfill. They support an alternative Berkeley City Council resolution calling for playing fields along the western edge of Gilman Avenue. Playing field advocates say the city’s proposal is unrealistic because the land is private property. A field shortage, they said, has already cost Berkeley its spring little league. 

Windsurfers are also involved in the turf war. According to Berkeley resident David Fielder, the south end of the Albany bulb has the best wind in the park. Citing the heavy equipment windsurfers must carry, he wants planners to pave an established road and build a small parking lot so windsurfers can access the spot. 

Neuwirth doubted the windsurfers would get their way. He said the city of Albany owns the road and opposes a windsurf launch.  

The meeting got off to a contentious start. Inexplicably, before unveiling the plan, the planners played the Beatles’ “Let It Be” followed by the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” 

“It felt like a very sarcastic jab,” said Missy Bronsnan of Let It Be. 

Later, two East Bay Regional Park officers arrested a woman who asked a question out of turn and had started walking towards Neuwirth. She was not charged and was released into the custody of an attorney present at the meeting.  

Residents continued to trade barbs after the arrest. Even teenage girls were subject to abuse. After a group of uniformed female soccer players defended building fields, a woman replied, “Are you going to ride your bikes [to the field] or are your moms going to drive you in their SUVs.” 

Neuwirth warned that continued bickering could undermine the entire project. 

“If people don’t support state bond allocation to build it, the money may go elsewhere,” he said. 

The entire project, supported in conjunction with the East Bay Regional Park District and the California State Coastal Conservancy, will be implemented over 20 years. Neuwirth estimated the park would cost between $10 million and $50 million.  

Public comments on the plan and the environmental impact report are still being accepted. In November, a final plan will be presented to the State Parks Commission, which has the last say on the project. 

Contact reporter at matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor:  

Me, John Ashcroft, Hitler and other control freaks I have known: I confess! I am a control freak. I run my children's lives with an iron hand. Why? Because I can't stop myself! Elementary fact of life: Control freaks are control freaks because we are not in control. 

I myself am a control freak because when I was a child I had no control over anything. I was told what to say, what to think and what to do – 24/7. I was told that Jesus and God were spies for my parents and that they would report back even my thoughts to said parents. I was even told when I needed to go to the bathroom. Now, when I go into control freak mode, my children just shrug their shoulders and avoid me. 

However, when government leaders go into control freak mode, they shred the Constitution, push their religions down our throats, ruin the economy, try to take over the world and threaten us with an all-too-real Armageddon that involves concentration camps and nuclear destruction. You can't get much more out of control than that. Moral of the story: Let's stop letting control freaks run our world. Let's start learning to trust and to cooperate with our fellow man.  

Let's drop the control freak version of Jesus-as-Dominatrix and become more familiar with the real Jesus – Jesus, the Prince of Peace. And let's start voting for candidates who aren't constantly trying to toilet train us and run our lives. “Imagine a world where every child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World Peace in one generation!” Plus we will have children who know how to think for themselves. 

Jane Stillwater, 

Berkeley 

LOS ANGELES — A group of California legislators urged the Bush administration Friday to stay out of stalled negotiations between shippers and West Coast dockworkers. 

At a state legislative hearing convened in Wilmington, near the Port of Los Angeles, various state and federal representatives urged the Bush administration to respect the collective bargaining rights of members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. 

“The White House ought to be very concerned when the Legislature of the fifth largest economy in the world is concerned about federal intervention,” state Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-Los Angeles, said after the hearing. “It could affect our economy and the national economy.” 

The Bush administration met with both sides this spring and has been monitoring negotiations and exploring federal intervention strategies, including the possible use of the Navy to operate the ports during a labor disruption. 

Alarcon, chairman of the state Senate’s Labor and Industrial Relations committee, said using inexperienced Navy personnel to run the docks would pose a risk to national security. 

A more likely option would be for 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. 

Economists warn that with some $260 billion worth of goods — or more than 7 percent of the gross domestic product — moving through West Coast ports each year, a labor disruption could badly injure the nation’s sputtering economic recovery. 

The ILWU’s labor contract expired July 1 and members have been working under 24-hour extensions ever since. The two sides have met for less than 54 hours since talks began in May, according to the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shippers and stevedores. 

The next round of discussions is scheduled to begin Aug. 26. 

ILWU officials say the talks have been undermined by White House support for management. 

But the PMA, which attended the Friday hearing, said the White House has made it clear to PMA negotiators that they are on their own and that they must make some concessions to reach an agreement as soon as possible.

Pesky raccoons in your neighborhood? City Councilmember Linda Maio may have a solution: sterilization. 

Maio said she might propose a city-run trapping and neutering program in September in an effort to rid Berkeley homes of nesting raccoons and decrease the city’s raccoon population. 

“They create real problems,” Maio said. “And they just seem to proliferate.” 

But critics say the program may be cruel, unnecessary and unwieldy. 

“In theory it’s quite a nice idea, but I don’t know how we’d do it in practice,” said Kate O’Connor, manager of the city-run Berkeley Animal Care Shelter, arguing that a successful neutering program would require a significant increase in staff. 

O’Connor also raised questions about the need for the program. She said, by all indications, the Berkeley raccoon population has remained stable in recent years and the city’s problem is not any worse than those in surrounding municipalities. 

“My instinct is that [Maio’s idea] needs more study,” said City Councilmember Kriss Worthington. “It’s not clear that this would in any way be a cost-effective and practical solution.” 

Maio is the first to acknowledge that the issue needs more examination. But she said her own experience casts light on the extent of the raccoon problem and the need to pursue solutions. 

She noted that a house guest recently found two of the rascally critters in her car, eating cookies she had left in the front seat. 

Maio also shared a tale of raccoons invading a rental property on Delaware Street, breaking through wood and wire mesh, nesting in the attic and rotting out a ceiling. 

Maio said the city may have little alternative to a neutering program. State law prohibits the city from capturing raccoons and releasing them in the wild because the animals might disrupt their new habitat, and city residents probably aren’t prepared to take more drastic action, she said. 

“We’re not going to take out our shotguns and shoot animals,” Maio said. 

Jeffrey Hancuff of Berkeley’s Citizen Humane Commission, which advises the City Council, said a neutering program might prevent the city from going to a deadly extreme. 

“If we don’t sterilize them, it’s going to end up with us killing them,” he said. 

Maio said there is a precedent for neutering wild animals in Berkeley, noting that the city provides funding to a Berkeley group called “Fix Our Ferals” which spays and neuters stray cats. 

But Laura Simon, urban wildlife director for the Fund for Animals in New Haven, Conn., said a neutering program is “the wrong approach.” 

Simon said citizens should focus on securing trash can lids and closing off openings to their homes to prevent raccoon invasions. 

“Get rid of the food, get rid of the denning area and you’ll get rid of the nuisance,” she said. “Removing animals by spaying and neutering is dealing with the symptom, not the source of the problem.” 

Maio agreed that prevention is a key part of the solution, but said there are certain raccoon-attracting activities that Berkeley residents are never going to give up, like composting and growing fruit trees. 

Still, in the end, Maio said she may settle for a good public information campaign in the place of a catch ’em and cut ’em approach. 

Contact reporter at scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

Members of my family have been graduating from UC Berkeley since 1896. I was born while my parents lived in UC Village so I often refer to myself as a Cal brat. I graduated from UCB in 1978 and my son became an alumnus in 1993. I have been working here since 1985. So, as you might suspect, Cal is in my blood. I love this place. And I love my job. What price do I pay for the privilege of working here? I have to have a second job to pay the bills. 

I suppose working two jobs to support myself is good for the soul, but I envy those people who have the weekend off and actually have time to cook dinner every night. The other day I was excited about something for the first time in 10 years. I read in the paper that another CEO bit the dust. How sad that someone else’s misfortune is the only thing that can make me happy. But it just shows you how depressing it is to work for less pay than you deserve while people who run companies throw money around like it grows on trees. And, believe me, the University of California is looking more like Enron every day. 

My friends encourage me to have a positive attitude. Be optimistic they say. But how can I be upbeat when some people at UC get $30,000 raises while I would love to just take home $28,000 a year? The other day I heard on TV that there is a shortage of policemen because the starting salary was so low—it was only $45,000 a year. I was tempted to pass myself off as policeman, but I think the citizens of Berkeley might get suspicious if I offer to type up their correspondence instead of arresting the guy who stole their car. 

You might ask, what do I do for my exorbitant salary—which is only 21 percent behind my peers. Well, I make sure that eight professors are organized and ready to teach. I copy books, type books, edit books, prepare readers, re-stock the coffee in the faculty lounge when I have time and try to look happy when professor No. 8 appears at my door. His name is Mr. Procrastination. Great guy, but he can barely get into his office without me. He forgets his key every other day and when I am not here he is always late to class. 

My daughter has also worked for the university, at Cal Extension, for the last 10 years. She has seen her workload double and many of her friends laid off. She finally had to leave last month because she could not afford the commute and parking fees. I have always dreamed that we would both retire from the university. Now, I am not sure I can afford to stay. 

Does it sound like I am complaining about my job? I hope not, because I love my job. I am just unhappy about my salary. I need a raise every year to keep up with the rent. My landlord sends me a lovely Christmas card each December, with a little note attached telling me how much the rent will go up in January. If I can get just that much of a raise at work at least I could break even. 

Susan Peabody 

Berkeley

Alta Bates, Julia Morgan and Anna Head are among the remarkable women who lived in the Bay Area during the late 19th and early 20th century. Alta Bates was a nurse who founded a hospital, Julia Morgan an architect who designed Hearst Castle, and Anna Head was a teacher, founded a school.  

Anna Head was born in Boston in 1857, the daughter of Judge Edward and Eliza Head. Judge Head moved to Oakland in 1861 where he established a law practice and his wife established a French and English school. When Mrs. Head retired in 1887 she helped her daughter, Anna, start her own school in Berkeley, where no doubt the presence of the University of California was the reason for selecting Berkeley rather than Oakland.  

The school, initially located at Dana and Channing streets, moved to its present location between Channing and Haste streets at Bowditch Street, in 1892. Miss Head had this building, called Channing Hall, designed and built expressly for her school. Anna Head’s cousin, architect Soule Edgar Fisher, designed it. Channing Hall is the oldest shingled building standing in Berkeley. Subsequently additions built between 1895 and 1927 and mostly designed by Walter Ratcliff, Jr. resulted in a complex of shingled buildings set around a courtyards and gardens. 

The school operated as a day and boarding school for grades one to twelve. Anna Head remained owner and director until 1909 and the school has changed hands only four times since then. In 1964, when the university acquired the school, it was relocated to Oakland and reorganized, merging with a boy’s school, and renamed Head-Royce. A board of directors now operates it.  

Among the graduates were the daughter of John Muir; Helen Wills Moody, the British and American singles tennis champion in the 1920s; Helen Jacobs, four times the American singles tennis champion in the 1930s; Margaret Wentworth Owings, artist and conservationist; Miriam Dungan Gross, art critic for the Oakland Tribune; Mary Woods Bennet of Mills College; Marguerite Higgins, a war correspondent killed during the Vietnam War; and Margaret Jennings, photo-journalist for the New York Times. 

Although the University acquired the site in 1964, the buildings remain but are now surrounded by university parking lots rather than tennis courts, playing fields and gardens. Within feet of Channing Hall stand university office buildings said to be temporary. 

The school buildings, which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, are significant as the only large, planned ensemble of brown shingles buildings in the Bay Area. It somehow retains a sense of "country" and the gentle and human qualities that shingle building evoke. It is a contrast to a critically changed environment, providing this sometimes harsh and fragmented neighborhood an example of the gentle "building with nature" philosophy which dominated Berkeley’s architecture and way of life at the turn of the century.  

Join the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association on August 29th for an "Evening in the Southside." Historians will discuss and then lead a walking tour of this neighborhood. Call 841-2242 for information.  

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

The Berkeley Art Museum is showing the photography of longtime Berkeley resident Richard Misrach, an artist perhaps best known for his images of bomb testing sites in deserts in the American West. The BAM show includes only some of those sometimes gruesome pictures of irradiated livestock corpses – via open books under tabletop glass – while emphasizing the chronological ends of Misrach’s career. 

The early work, called “Telegraph 3AM” – black-and-white pictures of street culture taken along Telegraph Avenue in 1971-72 when Misrach was an undergrad – has been pushed into a small room off Gallery 2 at the museum. To visitors, walking into that room is an afterthought while examining the large, brilliantly colored prints of his newest work, “Golden Gate,” shot in 1997-2000 from his home in the Berkeley hills. 

Misrach sees the “Telegraph 3AM” series as the lesser of the two. In 1971 he was 22 years old, learning the medium and the market of photography with those pictures. The Dorothea Lange-like images of hippies and radicals along Berkeley’s historically charged one-way street are marked more by despair than the political hope that the radical movement a few years earlier. Many of the gaunt faces stare into the lens with dulled and dazed eyes. One wonders if they are angry or hungry. 

Berkeley residents might take a moment to identify the buildings along the famous Avenue or Julia, the bubble-blowing poetess. But most of the pictures are faces of forgotten street denizens. Like “Satan,” a cross-eyed poet wearing a fedora, or “Hawk and Dog,” a pair of men – one black one white – looking like leather-jacketed thugs.  

Not all the photos were taken on Telegraph, and not all were taken at 3 a.m., but the title speaks to an epicenter of counterculture and of a time of night shared by both the disoriented and the liberated. Looking into the faces – or at the arm of a junky or the body of a naked young woman lying in a tent – conjures Kris Kristopherson’s famous line sung by hippie siren Janis Joplin: “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” In the picture “Alan,” the writing is literally on the wall: two listless in a tiny attic apartment, underneath a beam on which is scrawled, “part of our lives is waste…the other is want.” 

Misrach said he doesn’t think of “Telegraph 3AM.” as an artistic achievement but rather a work of social documentary. The pictures on which both Misrach and the museum direct their attention is “Golden Gate,” 30 large-size prints (40x50 inches) of the Golden Gate bridge taken over a three-year period from the same point of view of Misrach’s own home in the Berkeley hills.  

The series is in no way like “Telegraph 3AM.” The content, formal representation, and Misrach’s motivation behind taking the pictures are worlds apart from black-and-white social documentary. To make “Golden Gate” Misrach did not move his tripod for three years. It is exactly the same position 30 times over. The dazzling achievement of the pictures is the spectacular changes of light and color played out in clouds and mist and fog and the vagaries of atmospheric nuance. The pictures are not, as the title suggests, about the Golden Gate, although the bridge is centrally represented in each picture, but about the air around it. 

Misrach’s consistent composition separates his photographs of the Bay Area’s most well known object from tourist postcards. The Golden Gate – with Alcatraz and Angel islands, the book ending spits of San Francisco and the Headlands, and the Berkeley pier poking up from frame’s edge – takes up about 10 percent of the bottom of the image. The vast majority of the each picture is the sky, huge and dramatic with its operatic cloud formations and supernatural color displays. But it is not supernatural; it’s perfectly ordinary if you look at the right time. 

The simplicity of the idea – shoot the same view hundreds of times – is contradicted by the complexity of the medium. It’s the job of a camera to capture light in an instant, and in essence, to freeze time in emulsion. With repetition “Golden Gate” expands the instantaneous shudder-click into the successions of moving time. 

“Day by day, hour by hour, even minute by minute, the change in light was phenomenal,” said Misrach in the museum’s Gallery 2. By photographing the same vista over and over he has represented what “Telegraph 3AM,” and photography is resistant to.  

There is an impossibly diverse range of images available from his one vantage point, and we want to project feelings into those images: claustrophobia, happiness, dread, awe. Nature, of course, is like the mechanical camera in being totally neutral. 

Misrach’s beautiful abstractions lend themselves to the pondering of essential aspects of the medium. Light, time, point-of-view are the issues at hand. And Misrach’s images are beautiful in their formal precision and extraordinary color. He acknowledged that their beauty might distract from implied social and political message hidden in them.  

Although the Golden Gate is a public object, getting a good view of it presupposes a certain privilege. Misrach said he was self-conscious about driving from his studio in the Emeryville flatlands to his home high in the Berkeley hills. In that commute he moved not through an aesthetic strata but an economic and social strata. He was able to take hundreds of pictures of that view in three years because he lived in a neighborhood with a great view of the bay. 

His books of desert photos, the ones of bomb-test craters and dead-animal pits, all have accompanying text to explain the environmental and political context of the pictures. Even his “Telegraph 3AM” wordlessly connote the social culture of the early 1970s. While “Golden Gate” is a collection of gorgeous color and abstract shape, aesthetic and social issues are buried within them. Misrach knows it: “Photographs are complicated things.” 

Saturday, August 17 

Benumb, Reagan SS, Bumbklaat & Faces of Death 

8 p.m. 

924 Gillman St. 

525-9926 

$5 

Composer Portraits with Sarah Cahill and Gabriela Frank 

Berkeley Arts Festival 

8 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

665-9099 

$10 

The Edios 

8 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 to 11 p.m. 

Café Eclectica, 1309 Solano Ave. 

527-2344 

$5 

Rita Sahal plus Siskana Chowdhury 

7 p.m.  

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

(415) 454-6264 

$15 to $20 

The Warlocks & Belle da Gama 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$8  

Sunday, August 18 

Ericka Luckett 

8 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 

Time in Malta, Panic, The Dream is Dead, Find Him & Kill Him 

5 p.m. 

924 Gillman St. 

525-9926 

Monday, August 19 

Northern California Songwriters Association Open Mic 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$4 at door 

Tuesday, August 20 

Baby Gramps 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Hawaiian Festival 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. Berkeley 

Featuring Kumo, Kalua, Lutgarda Eckell and her Polynesian dancers - Viola, Cora, Kumo, Kalua, Virginia, Iris, John. 

644-6107 

Free 

Hot Town Jubilee 

8:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$8/ Free for 12 and under 

Wednesday, August 21 

Kepa Junkera 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Steve Riley and the Maou Playboys 

9 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

8:30 p.m. dance lesson with Diana Castillo. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$14 door/ Free for 12 and under 

Tangria Jazz Trio 

8 p.m. 

Anna’s Bistro, 1801 University Avenue 

This week’s nightly music feature. 

849-ANNA 

$4 

Thursday, August 22 

Anton Barbeau, The Bellyachers & Darling Clementines 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$5  

Freight and Salvage Fiddle Summit 

Featuring Alasdair, Fraser, Ellika Frisell, Darol Anger and Mike Marshall 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Lost Weekend 

Harbor Lights and Cowboy Blues Tour 

9 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$10 door/ Free for 12 and under 

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra 

7:30 p.m. 

The Crowden School, 1475 Rose St. 

Mozart, Vivaldi and “Summertime” by violinists Karla Donehew and Jeremy Cohen. 

(415)255-9440 0r www.sfchamberorchestra.org 

$20 suggested donation 

"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 

Images of Love and Courtship 

Through Sept. 15 

Gathering Tribes, 1573 Solano Ave. 

Ledger paintings by Michael Horse. 

528-9038 

Free 

"Balancing Acts" 

Through Oct. 10 

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

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

http://www.oaklandcitycenter.com.  

Free 

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 

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

Through Sept. 7, Tues.-Fri. Noon to 5:30 p.m., Sat. noon - 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 ages 5-18, seniors and disabled; $4 for children 3-4; Free for children under 3, LHS Members and full-time Berkeley students. 

"Poems Form/From the Six Directions" 

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 7 to 9 p.m., Aug. 14, 21 and 28. 

883-1808 

Free 

BACA National Juried Exhibition 

Aug. 18 through Sept. 21, Wed.-Sun. Noon to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park 

40 artists from across the U.S. including 28 Bay Area artists. 

644-6893 

Free 

A Thousand and One Arabian Nights 

Through Sept. 28, Fri. - Sun. 8 p.m.; Sun. 4 p.m. 

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

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

415-499-4488 for tickets 

$12, youth; $20 senior; $22 general 

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 

Henry IV: The Impact Remix 

Aug. 30 through Sept. 8, Fri. and Sat. 8 p.m. and Sun. 7 p.m. 

Eighth Street Studio, 2525 Eighth St. 

Sept. 13 through 21, Fri. and Sat. 8 p.m. and Sun. 7 p.m. 

Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. 

Impact theatre’s first Shakespeare production staring Rich Bolster as Prince Hal and Bill Boynton as Falstaff. 

464-4468, www.impacttheatre.com 

$15 general/$10 students 

Wednesday, August 21 

Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik 

Featured poet: Solidad diCosta 

8:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$7 door, $5 with student I.D. 

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 28 

Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik 

Featured poet: Victor Harris 

8:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$7 door, $5 with student I.D. 

526-9105 

Free 

Saturday, August 17  

and Tuesday, August 27 

Magic School Bus Video Festival 

From 10:30 a.m to 1:30 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Drive 

Seven video adventures with Ms. Frizzle and her class aboard the Magic School Bus.  

642-5132 or www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

$6 for youth, $8 for adults, $4 for children 

Thursday, August 22 

Film: "Ralph Ellison: An American Journey" 

7 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  

Sunday, October 6 

His People 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 

1925 silent film tells the tale of an immigrant family whose traditions and values are shattered by their encounter with the New World. 

848-0237 

$2 suggested donation 

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 

Free 

"The Kids on the Block"  

Puppet Shows 

1:30 to 2:30 p.m 

Children's Hospital, Hall of Health, 2230 Shattuck Ave. 

Award-winning educational puppet troupe presents puppet show promoting acceptance and understanding of physical, cultural, mental and medical differences. 

549-1564 

$2 donation 

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 

Monday, August 19 

Berkeley Citizens Sunshine  

Coalition Meeting 

7 p.m. 

Downtown library: Meeting Room A, Kittredge and Shattuck Ave. 

Meeting to discuss better access to city government and school administration.  

B-Sunshine@yahoogroups.com  

Berkeley Ecological and Safe Transportation (BEST)  

Coalition meeting 

6 to 8 p.m. 

Central Library, Kitteredge St. and Shattuck 

Group joins pedestrians, bicyclists, mass transit users and land-use advocates. Topics of discussion include: Berkeley height initiative, pedestrian issues and employer incentive plans. Potluck. 

652-9462, imgreen@jps.net 

Food Addicts in Recovery  

Anonymous 

7:30 p.m. 

Herrick Campus, Alta Bates Hospital, Dwight Way  

A free 12-step recovery program for individuals who suffer from overeating, bulimia, anorexia and obsession with food. Morning and evening meetings are held seven days a week. See web site for schedule. 

(800) 600-6028, www.foodaddicts.org 

Free  

Parkinson's Support Group 

10 a.m. to noon 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

Guest speakers, gentle exercises, treatment updates and experience sharing for those with Parkinson's disease. Care-givers and families are welcome. 

527-9075 

Free 

Tuesday, August 20 

Berkeley Camera Club  

Weekly Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share slides, prints with other photographers. 

525-3565 

Free  

Berkeley Special Education  

Parents Network (BSPED) 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Ala Costa Center, 1300 Rose St. 

Guest, BUSD Superintendent Michele Lawrence will answer questions regarding re organization of the BUSD Special Education administration and the new Special Education Task Force comprised of parents, teachers, professionals and administrators. BSPED meets each month. 

525-9262, tmelton@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Free 

Escape to the Wine Country:  

California’s Napa, Sonoma and  

Mendocino 

Fodor’s text by Thom Elkjer, photography by Robert Homes 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 

Slide presentation and talk on the best wineries, vineyards, activities and dramatic countryside found in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino County.  

843-3533 

Free 

Thursday, August 22 

Free Melanoma 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 Aug. 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 

Berkeley Art Project Celebration 

2 to 6 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Project on the corner of Adeline St. and Stuart St.  

Event to gather community support for long-time Berkeley artist co-op. Festivities include puppet show, art raffle, silly animals, jugglers, music, free ice cream.  

548-5349 

Free 

UC Berkeley Circle K Garage Sale 

8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday) 

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.kerkeley.edu 

NEW YORK — Baseball’s union set an Aug. 30 strike date Friday, moving the sport closer to its ninth work stoppage in three decades and angering fans sick of money squabbles between players and team owners. 

The executive board of the players’ association voted 57-0 for the deadline, just four days after raising hopes for a deal by delaying a decision. 

Players were upset by management’s lack of movement on the key issue of a luxury tax on high-payroll teams, but management accused the union of refusing to agree to more compromises. 

“The baseball owners and baseball players must understand if there is a work stoppage, a lot of fans are going to be furious, and I’m one of them,” said President Bush, former owner of the Texas Rangers. 

Players are reluctant to have rules that would reduce salary increases and argue the luxury tax, when combined with additional revenue sharing, would act as a salary cap. 

“Clearly, the luxury tax is a major obstacle that has to be resolved before we’re going to get an agreement,” union head Donald Fehr said. “I think an agreement can be reached.” 

Baseball has a perfect record in labor talks, with eight stoppages in eight negotiations since 1972. The disruptions were caused primarily by management’s attempts to slow salaries in the free-agent era, which began in 1976. 

The last strike began Aug. 12, 1994, dragged on for 232 days and wiped out the World Series for the first time in 90 years. Average attendance dropped 20 percent the following season and still hasn’t fully recovered. 

“It’s ridiculous,” Brian Orndoff, a 24-year-old locksmith, said at Baltimore’s Camden Yards. “Most of the players make over $1 million a year. School teachers make it on 30 grand. What do they have to complain about? If they get what they want, ticket prices will go up. I’m not paying to watch million-dollar crybabies.” 

The sport generated $3.5 billion in revenue in 2001, and the average salary rose to a record $2.38 million at the start of this season. 

The last contract expired Nov. 7, and owners chose not to lock out the players after the World Series or before this season. Players fear owners would lock them out or change work rules if this season ends without a deal, and the union would rather threaten a strike heading into the final stages of playoff races, when the owners have more money to lose. 

Chicago Cubs chief executive officer Andy MacPhail called the union’s decision “regrettable,” and Bob DuPuy, baseball’s chief operating officer, was “disappointed.” Commissioner Bud Selig did not comment. 

“If you take a step back, it seems to me there’s been considerable progress made,” MacPhail said. “It seems to me we have one more hurdle to overcome.” 

If players walk out on the Friday of Labor Day weekend and the season is not completed, they would lose 16.9 percent of their base salaries. Texas shortstop Alex Rodriguez stands to lose the most, nearly $3.6 million of his $21 million salary this year. A player at the $200,000 minimum would lose about $34,000. 

“The average fan has already gone to other sports: soccer, golf and hockey,” Rodriguez said. “That’s sad. I just want to see us stop losing our fans.” 

A strike would take valuable time away from 38-year-old Barry Bonds, who just hit career homer No. 600 and needs another 156 to break Hank Aaron’s record. 

The walkout also would spoil a dream season for the American League Central-leading Minnesota Twins, a team baseball wanted to fold over the winter but now headed for its first postseason appearance since 1991. 

The St. Louis Cardinals’ game at the Chicago Cubs on Aug. 30 would be the first affected by a strike. Fourteen games are scheduled for that night. 

“Hopefully, the owners will realize that, ’Gosh, the players have given a lot,”’ Arizona’s Mark Grace said. “If nothing gets done, I think that means owners don’t want to get something done.”

A small claims court judge has ruled against activist Barbara George in her $5,000 personal injury lawsuit against City Council candidate Gordon Wozniak, according to court documents. 

George claimed that Wozniak kicked a chair that struck her chair and left her with back pain during a March 29, 2001 community meeting on the use of tritium, a radioactive isotope, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.  

George opposed the lab’s use of tritium and Wozniak, then a senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley, said activists’ fears were unfounded. 

“I’m glad that this is finally over,” said Wozniak, who argued that the suit had no merit. “My feeling is it was basically harassment for political reasons.” 

George filed suit five months ago after Wozniak announced his candidacy and just before the statute of limitations ran out. 

George, who now lives in Sacramento, said the suit was not politically-motivated. She said she waited nearly a year to file suit because she was busy with two moves after the incident and was wrapped up in her work as executive director of Women’s Energy Matters, an alternative energy advocacy group. 

“I don’t care who he is or what he’s running for,” she said. “I think it’s really reprehensible conduct. I think it needed to be aired in a public forum.” 

But, as public as the case may be, at least one of Wozniak’s opponents in the race for the 8th District City Council race, Zoning Adjustments Board Commissioner Andy Katz, said he will not make the case a campaign issue. 

“It shouldn’t effect the campaign because it’s not really part of the campaign,” he said. 

After two delays, Judge Pro Tempore Jeff Eckber finally heard the case of George vs. Wozniak July 30. Witnesses for the plaintiff and defense both agreed that Wozniak grew annoyed with George’s repeated objections during a lab presentation at the March 29 meeting and kicked a chair in front of him that skidded in George’s direction. 

But accounts of the force of the push and the likelihood of injury differed widely. Eckber did not make a ruling at the end of testimony July 30, taking the case under consideration, but he warned that the conflicting accounts had weakened George’s case. 

“They basically put a lot of doubt into the judge’s mind about whether I was injured,” said George, describing the testimony of defense witnesses who she branded as liars. 

At the trial, one of George’s witnesses, Robert Valentine, a physician’s assistant who attended to her at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center the night of the incident, testified that George had endured “minor trauma” including “a little redness” and some muscle spasms in the upper back. 

But Dr. Elmer Grossman, a witness who testified for the defense, said the kicked chair was too low to have caused the trauma alleged by George. 

Gene Bernardi, a George ally and member of the Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste, which has long fought with the lab over its use of tritium, said she was “disgusted” by the ruling and said Wozniak should not hold public office. 

“I just don’t feel comfortable with a person who can’t control himself being in a public position,” Bernardi said. 

But Nancy Carleton, who used to work closely with Wozniak on the Parks and Recreation Commission, and often disagrees with him on the issues, said Wozniak is “a civil and courteous person.” 

“I’ve always respected the way he’s worked with people of different political persuasions,” said Carleton, who is aligned with the city’s progressive faction. Wozniak is considered a moderate. 

Wozniak said he is eager to leave the case behind him and get on with a campaign that will focus, in part, on properly handling the city’s projected $3 million deficit. 

Wozniak will face Katz, Peace and Justice Commissioner Anne Wagley and immigrant and union activist Carlos Estrada. Housing Advisory Commissioner Jay Vega has withdrawn from the race. 

Contact reporter at scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net.

To the Editor: 

Before the World Trade Center victims’ families start licking their chops over the Saudis’ trillions which any American jury would be happy to hand them, they should remember that proving your case in a court of law generally takes some evidence. That’s why the Bush government prefers alternative approaches that require no evidence–or even a trial: Much easier to bomb religious fanatics in Afghanistan or stage a coup in Iraq. 

Going to court would actually be a refreshing recourse to democratic institutions and principles–something Americans have happily discarded in this “war on terrorism.” But just how to prove who flew the planes, how they gained the controls, or indeed, whether the 15 Saudis were even on board? Perhaps the plaintiffs can produce the box cutters? Or if proof is too difficult, we can always just wage a racist war of propaganda against the filthy-rich Saudis in the press. That should be good for 12 votes. 

John M. Hartenstein 

Berkeley

OAKLAND— Everything about the Oakland Athletics’ 1-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox was quick — except for one ill-fated changeup by Mark Buehrle. 

Cory Lidle extended his scoreless streak to 22 innings, and Jermaine Dye homered as the A’s beat Chicago in 2 hours, 16 minutes — Oakland’s fastest game and one of its most satisfying victories of the season. 

With quick, confident work by Lidle and one big drive from Dye on Buehrle’s low changeup, the A’s won yet again with their formula of starting pitching and homers. When it works properly, the A’s get to the clubhouse early with smiles on their faces. 

“It’s a lot of fun to be a part of a game like that,” said Lidle, who won his third straight start. “The way I feel out there, it’s probably the best I’ve ever felt.”

East Bay travelers heading to San Francisco International Airport on the new BART extension may be pleased with the cost of the trip. 

Under the fare-schedule recommended Thursday by BART staff, a one way-fare from Berkeley to the airport would cost $5.50, at the low end of previous cost estimations and far less than the cost of a shuttle or tax. 

On top of the base fare, riders who board or exit at the airport would pay an extra $1.50 premium. BART will use the surcharge to pay off $79 million in construction loans. The overall SFO project cost is $1.5 billion. 

The BART board is scheduled to vote on the fare recommendations on Aug. 22. Six of the nine board members must approve the proposal for the prices to take effect. The airport stop is scheduled to open in January. 

- Compiled from staff and wire reports

To the Editor: 

I am writing this letter because of the winter closure of the West Campus and Willard pools. 

For over 30 years I have enjoyed the noontime lap swimming at King or West Campus pool. I consider swimming an important part of a healthful life style. During the winter West Campus is the only pool where daytime lap swimming can be done. If all the swimmers from West Campus and Willard are funneled into King Pool 5:15 p.m. lap swim, it would become too crowded. As a senior citizen I do not like to walk home alone in the dark. Will daytime hours be provided at the King Pool? 

Recreational programs are rarely organized to make a profit. Many things in our society are provided to accommodate our way of life and enhance the well being of our citizens including schools, churches, hospitals, highways, parks and ball fields and libraries to name a few. We should be looking for ways to expand healthful programs, not eliminate them. 

I hope you will give this problem your consideration. 

Jean Johnsen 

Berkeley

With two political veterans vying for mayor this November, it will take something special to compete with front-runners Mayor Shirley Dean and Tom Bates. 

Little-known, third candidate John Boushell, 47, who goes by his middle name of Pat, says he’s got that special something. He calls it appeal to the post-Sept. 11 voter.  

“Circumstances have changed over the past year, both politically and economically. I think people now are looking for outside people to enter the political arena, not just professional politicians,” Boushell said. 

Boushell has admittedly never held political office before. He makes his living as a “freelance educator” who uses his English degree from Princeton University to drum up work as a tutor. He lives in subsidized housing in west Berkeley. 

Well-spoken and jovial, though unadorned in appearance and manner, Boushell describes himself as a life-long democrat who is tired of politics as usual. He is registered with the Green Party and is running for mayor on a platform of what he calls a “moderate American green.” 

Like the other two mayoral candidates, education and environmental protection play big on his agenda.  

What differentiates him from his rivals, Boushell says, is the fact that he’s not aligned with either of City Council’s political factions and is therefore accountable only to the needs of individuals, particularly the poor and underrepresented. 

“It’s good for political leadership to come from lower socio-economic rungs,” Boushell said. He said his experience living from “paycheck to paycheck” and enduring the fierce housing market of Oakland and Berkeley for the last 22 years has taught him fiscal responsibility, another tenet of his mayoral campaign. 

He said he would be more frugal about spending than past Berkeley politicians, but stopped short of criticizing City Council or his mayoral competition. 

“I’m tired of negative campaigning,” Boushell said. “I’m not running against any candidate. I’m running for me and I intend to win.” 

City Councilmember Dona Spring, a leader in Berkeley’s Green Party chapter and supporter of mayoral candidate Bates, doesn’t know of Boushell. But said she doesn’t think he should be running on a green platform. 

“Greens don’t just run on ideology, they run on action... and Boushell has not been involved in community politics at all,” Spring said. “We want to urge him not to run.” 

With Bate’s high-profile campaign, Spring doubted that Boushell would have much effect on the race even if she is unable to convince him to withdraw his bid. 

Boushell acknowledged that Spring had been trying to contact him, but said he would not return her mail because she is affiliated with Bates’ camp. 

Financial obstacles will also be weighing on Boushell. While Bates has already reported contributions of $35,000, as of July, and Dean with contributions of $8,000, as of July, Boushell had not reported any. 

Boushell downplayed the need for money. 

“My worth doesn’t come in the form of cash,” he said. “I’m working really hard to develop a network of individuals that will drive my campaign.” 

The filing deadline for the mayoral seat was Aug. 9. The race between the three candidates will play out Nov. 5. 

Contact reporter at  

kurtis@berkeleydailyplanet.net.

To the Editor: 

I am writing about a reported plan by the Parks and Recreation Department to close West Campus and Willard swimming pools during the winter to help balance the city budget. 

We should consider ourselves lucky to have these facilities and encourage greater use of them as a contribution to better health for Berkeley citizens. 

The closing of these pools will deprive people of the chance to enjoy outdoor swimming during daylight hours. If they close, we will have to come to a crowded pool (Martin Luther King) at 5:15 p.m. It gets dark by this time in the winter. 

Ralph K. Johnsen 

Berkeley

OAKLAND— A Sacramento judge has upheld an East Bay water agency’s three-decade battle to draw extra water from Delta tributaries. 

Leaders of the East Bay Municipal Utility District called the ruling — which favors the district’s intention to access water from the Sacramento River — a significant step forward because it appears to end a pair of lawsuits filed by coalitions of state and federal water contractors. 

Thursday’s ruling by Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Lloyd G. Connelly does not clear the way for the $690 million project. But EBMUD board president Katy Foulkes said it does validate the district’s water contract, which other groups challenged out of fear their own water supplies would be compromised. 

The district, which draws its water from the Sierra Nevada, wants to share access to the river’s water with the city and county of Sacramento and use its share for drought protection. Sacramento would use it for new houses and industry. 

The 85 agencies which currently take water from the Delta provide drinking water to more than 20 million Californians and irrigate more than 7 million acres of farmland. They say taking clean water just upstream of the Delta will increase the salt content and worsen the water quality for those downriver. Delta water agencies issued a statement soon after the ruling calling for EBMUD to negotiate “a less destructive solution to its drought-supply needs.” 

EBMUD says the project is unlikely to affect other water users. The district relies on a pair of reservoirs on the Mokelumne River, and has tried to supplement its supply since 1970. 

SAN JOSE – The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office announced today that a former employee of Adobe Systems has been arrested for allegedly embezzling more than $150,000 from the software company. 

Denise Marie Smith, 38, is currently in custody on $150,000 bail.  

She was arrested on Aug. 12 after being wanted in connection with the case since March, according to Deputy District Attorney Scott Tsui. 

Smith's responsibilities at Adobe included purchasing supplies for her department. She was provided with a company credit card that she allegedly used to make personal purchases including clothes, stereo equipment and in one case posting a $2,500 bail bond for a friend, Tsui said. 

If convicted, Smith faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison.

Computers, like people, last longer with some care and common sense. Some tips: 

It’s August, and that means it’s hot. Computers like heat even less than you do and become even flakier when there’s too much of it. That’s why the little muffin fan hums away. But if the air the computer is drawing is itself too hot, it’s set for problems. Common mistake: the computer is in an upstairs bedroom and the owner leaves for work, leaving the computer on, the windows closed, but turning the air conditioner off. Turn the computer off, too. 

If you have a dog or cat, take special care to keep the critters away from the machine during shedding season. That fur worms its way into the darndest places inside a PC case, and it’s a jim-dandy insulator. 

If pet fur does get inside the case, do not try to blow it out with the output of some industrial vacuum cleaner -- too much force. Use something gentler. Although cans of compressed air are sold at photo stores and such, a soda straw and some lung power will also do the trick. Naturally, you turn the computer off and disconnect the power supply before you open the case, right? 

Heat waves in some parts of the country turn on more air conditioning equipment than the power companies can feed. That results in brownouts and blackouts, and the machine doesn’t like either -- or the surge that sometimes pops up the line when power is retored. A small UPS (uninterruptable power system) that will smooth out the juice and provide 15 minutes of battery backup for an orderly shutdown is less than $100. 

Bear in mind that water and electricity don’t mix, so keep that cold drink somewhere else while you’re surfing the net, or get prepared to buy a new keyboard. And for those who park a drink atop the monitor, where high voltage lurks just beneath the vent holes -- well, natural selection will take care of the problem eventually. 

Unless you use the machine wearing white gloves, both mouse and keyboard will become grungy. Spray household cleaner (glass cleaner is fine) on a paper towel, not on the widget. I’ve also found the pre-moistened towelettes used on baby bottoms just fine for getting keycaps white again. Of course, do all this when the machine is off. 

Finally, don’t forget the peripherals, printers, scanners and such. They also like to be cool, clean and safe. On a flatbed scanner, take care to clean the surface using only a very soft, moist cloth, not a paper towel. Any scratches added will be part of your scans. 

Berkeley is considering suing the company responsible for the groundwater contamination that has delayed the opening of the Harrison Skateboard Park and has cost the city more than $250,000 to clean up. 

“We are seriously looking into the matter, but have not decided what action to take,” said City Attorney Michael Woo. 

Construction was halted in November 2000, when groundwater tested at the site was found to contain the carcinogen chromium 6, an odorless chemical used to make paint pigments. 

Western Roto Engravers Color Tech, two blocks from the park on Sixth Street, admits that created the contamination. But the company says that better communication between city officials and the original contractor, Morris Construction, could have prevented the contamination from affecting the skateboard park.  

Bill Mackay, general manager of Western Roto, said the city knew chromium 6 was in the groundwater. The city should have told Morris Construction so that during construction the company could have kept chromium 6 from spreading to the park, he said.  

“It was pretty dumb to be digging there,” Mackay said. 

City officials disagreed. 

An earlier environmental study of the neighborhood around Fifth and Harrison streets showed chromium 6 in groundwater near the park but not under it, said Hazardous Materials Supervisor Nabil Al-Hadithy. So, they went ahead with construction of the park, Al-Hadithy said.  

When contractors hit groundwater, they had to pump the water to continue digging. The pumping acted as a suction, and pulled nearby contaminated water toward the skateboard park. 

Local water officials, too, blamed the city for the skate park contamination. 

Will Bruhns, senior engineer at the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board, said the city failed to petition the water board for the permit that is required to pump groundwater, and it did not seek the board’s advice before pumping. 

“It seems there was miscommunication within the city in which city officials overseeing the chromium 6 cleanup didn’t tell park officials about the contamination,” he said. 

Had the water board been notified of the pumping, Bruhns said, they could have suggested ways to prevent contamination. 

Because skate parks are built like deep bowls, city officials originally wanted the park built below groundwater level so that police passing by could see what was happening at the park. However, after the contamination was found, the city redesigned the park to stand higher, above the groundwater. 

According to a city parks department report, the city spent about $265,000 to clean up the chromium 6. The city first used tanks to haul away the contaminated water. Then it used filters. 

Because of the contamination, the skate park’s cost went up about $280,000. It was first budgeted at $380,000 but will cost $660,000 upon completion. The park is slated to open next month. 

City attorneys would not comment further about the potential suit. 

Contact reporter at  

matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editors: 

Does the city of Berkeley have a pedestrian safety problem? 

There seems to be some confusion about what our recent report “Pedestrian Safety in California” (co-released with the Surface Transportation Policy Project [STPP] on Aug. 13) means for the city of Berkeley. 

To be clear about the facts: The city of Berkeley has the second highest pedestrian incident rate (106 injuries/104,600 population) of any city in California. 

Berkeley also has the highest rate of people walking in the state of California. In fact, according to the census, about 14 percent of Berkeley residents walk to work. This blows away San Francisco's 9 percent. 

What these two figures add up to in our report is a positive assessment of Berkeley's pedestrian environment relative to other cities in car-centric California. 

On the other hand, if you think that Berkeley has “fixed” the pedestrian problem just because it is a step ahead of sprawling cities like Vallejo and Los Angeles – think again. 

What the 14 member groups of California Walks! know is that the benefits of a “walkable community” extend far beyond a reduction in injuries. Children, seniors, people with disabilities, and businesses all benefit from a city that is organized around people walking rather than cars speeding. 

The message from our 14 grassroots member groups across the state to the city of Berkeley is, “You go girl!” Please keep on leading by investing in a livable, walkable city that the rest of the state can continue to look to as a model. 

Zachary Wald 

California Walks!

Photographer Andy Stewart first fell in love with photography at Berkeley High School in the 1960s then went on to further study the art at the UC Berkeley Extension program. This month his work graduates from the cafes of the East Bay to his first major solo show, “Ballroom,” at Scott Nichols Gallery in downtown San Francisco.  

Stewart has been a professional photographer for 10 years. If you’re a denizen of the Berkeley cafe and pub scene, you’ve probably seen his work on the walls of the Lanesplitter, Nabalom Cafe, Berkeley Espresso Cafe, Brewed Awakenings, The Albatross or Au Coquelet.  

This show is in a more formal gallery setting, and the subject matter is nothing if not formal. Stewart made contact with the Gaskell Ballroom Society through friends at the Renaissance Fair, where he has been taking pictures for more than 20 years. “I like to photograph people who are dressed up and having a good time. They’re more open to it,” he says. “I just love all the costumes and the motion. It’s like flying.” 

“Ballroom” comprises 19 black-and-white photographs, the result of seven years’ observation of the bimonthly Gaskell Balls at the Scottish Rites Temple on Lake Merritt. Stewart captures both the warmth and the motion of the dancers, setting his work apart from more traditional, stylized dance photographs.  

“I’m trying to capture a sense of the motion,” says the photographer. “I’m also trying to capture the light that’s there rather and a sense of an ambient atmosphere. You shoot more subtly without a flash. You blend in.” 

To blend in further, Stewart dresses in a tie and tails, as do many of the Gaskell Ball attendees. His equipment also helps him remain unobtrusive. Stewart uses a quiet, small Leica M-6 camera. He says the results are images of the dancers interacting in a more natural way than if they were posing for the camera. 

“People are more open to being themselves, rather than putting on their masks for the camera. The M6 is my favorite camera because it’s quiet and I can hand-hold it to slower shutter speeds. It’s inconspicuous, and has one of the best lenses [for a 35 millimeter camera].” 

The result of his work is scenes frozen in time. “I think the series has a timeless quality,” says Stewart. “I think color might date it more. I like the look of the black and white better, anyway. It leaves more to the imagination, and in so doing, draws people in. It has a little bit more of a nostalgic or romantic feel to it.”  

Heather Snider of the Nichols Gallery goes further, saying Stewart’s show sends a message to a disconnected world. “It shows a faith in human interaction,” she says. “Old and young people are coming together to do this thing in a formalized way. It’s romantic in the sense that it has this sort of love–just the gestures of people holding each other.” 

“There’s a lot of coming together, you feel like there’s a gravitation, people pulling together or moving forward together,” says Snider. “They must do this because it’s nice to touch each other.” 

It’s through these images of humanity’s oldest courting ritual that Stewart captures the need for human contact, which he offsets with constant motion: a shoeless dancer’s foot beneath a flowing formal gown, a young raven-haired couple juxtaposed with a pair of white heads; the touch of a hand on the shoulder or the small of the back; two pairs of eyes radiating warmth at each other, locked together as if no one else in the world can see. Whether taken yesterday or 100 years ago, Andrew Stewart’s images speak to the desire to reach out and touch–and to dance.

Friday, August 16 

Champion, Stay Gold, Terror & Circle Takes the Square 

8 p.m. 

924 Gillman St. 

525-9926 

$5 

Extreme Elvis & Sons of Emperor Norton  

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$6 

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. 

559-6910 

$10 general, $5 students/seniors 

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

7 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 

The Transparent Tape Music Festival 2 

8:30 p.m., Through Aug. 18 

Transparent Theater, 1901 Ashby Ave. 

415-614-2434 or tapecenter@sfSound.org or http://sfSound.org/tape.html 

$7 one night/ $15 festival pass 

Saturday, August 17 

Benumb, Reagan SS, Bumbklaat & Faces of Death 

8 p.m. 

924 Gillman St. 

525-9926 

$5 

Composer Portraits with Sarah Cahill and Gabriela Frank 

Berkeley Arts Festival 

8 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

665-9099 

$10 

The Edios 

8 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 to 11 p.m. 

Café Eclectica, 1309 Solano Ave. 

527-2344 

$5 

Rita Sahal plus Siskana Chowdhury 

7 p.m.  

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

(415) 454-6264 

$15 to $20 

The Warlocks & Belle da Gama 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$8  

Sunday, August 18 

Ericka Luckett 

8 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 

Time in Malta, Panic, The Dream is Dead, Find Him & Kill Him 

5 p.m. 

924 Gillman St. 

525-9926 

$5 

Monday, August 19 

Northern California Songwriters Association Open Mic 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$4 at door 

Tuesday, August 20 

Baby Gramps 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Hawaiian Festival 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. Berkeley 

Featuring Kumo, Kalua, Lutgarda Eckell and her Polynesian dancers - Viola, Cora, Kumo, Kalua, Virginia, Iris, John. 

644-6107 

Free 

Hot Town Jubilee 

8:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$8/ Free for 12 and under 

Wednesday, August 21 

Kepa Junkera 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Steve Riley and the Maou Playboys 

9 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

8:30 p.m. dance lesson with Diana Castillo. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$14 door/ Free for 12 and under 

Tangria Jazz Trio 

8 p.m. 

Anna’s Bistro, 1801 University Ave. 

This week’s nightly music feature. 

849-ANNA 

$4 

Thursday, August 22 

Anton Barbeau, The Bellyachers & Darling Clementines 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$5  

Freight and Salvage Fiddle Summit 

Featuring Alasdair, Fraser, Ellika Frisell, Darol Anger and Mike Marshall 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Lost Weekend 

Harbor Lights and  

Cowboy Blues Tour 

9 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$10 door/ Free for 12 and under 

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra 

7:30 p.m. 

The Crowden School, 1475 Rose St. 

Mozart, Vivaldi and “Summertime” by violinists Karla Donehew and Jeremy Cohen. 

(415) 255-9440 0r www.sfchamberorchestra.org 

$20 suggested donation 

Friday, August 23 

Irate, For the Crown, Beneath the Ashes & Pain of Sleep 

8 p.m. 

924 Gillman St. 

525-9926 

$5 

Deke Dickerson and the ecco-fonics & Calamity and Main 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$7 

Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums with Ms. Carmen Getit 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

8 p.m. dance lesson 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$12 door/ Free for 12 and under 

Peppino D’Agostino 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Friday, August 23 

The Damnations & Loretta Lynch  

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$7 

Saturday, August 24 

Anthony Brown Ensemble  

Doors open 7:30 p.m. Show 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library 2090 Kittredge at Shattuck 

Free Jazz Concert explores inspiration of Ralph Ellison. 

981-6100 

Free 

California Brazil All-star Band 

Brazil Camp Benefit 

9 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$10 door/ Free for 12 and under 

John McCormick 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

New Millennium Strings, conducted by Laurien Jones 

8 p.m. 

A concert featuring The Hebrides, Op. 26 (Fingal’s Cave) by Mendelssohn; Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin, Op. 64, E minor, Loretta Taylor, soloist; Debussy’s Afternoon of a Faun; and Children’s Corner Suite by Debussy. 

526-3331 

$10 general admission, $7 students and seniors, under 12 free 

Phantom Limbs, Dead and  

Gone & Pitch Black 

8 p.m. 

924 Gillman St. 

525-9926 

$5 

Sunday, August 25 

Dan & Dale Zola Present The Great Night of Rumi 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

Celebrating Persian poet Jelaluddin Rumi with spoken word, music and dance. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Benefit for the Neibyl Proctor Library 

Featuring Red Dust 

3 to 5 p.m. 

6501 Telegraph Ave. 

Benefit for a progressive research center for teachers, students and activists. 

595-7417 

$5 to $10, sliding scale 

Tuesday, August 27 

Zydeco Flames 

8:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

8 p.m. dance lesson with Patti Whitehurst. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$8 door/ Free for 12 and under 

Wednesday, August 28 

Barry Flanagan & Makana 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

Jimmy Ryan Jazz Quartet 

8 p.m. 

Anna’s Bistro, 1801 University Avenue 

This week’s nightly music feature. 

849-ANNA 

Thursday, August 29 

The KGB, Solemite & The Penomenauts 

8 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$7 door/ Free for 12 and under 

The Unreal Band 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$5 

Friday, August 30 

Capoeira Mandinga 

8 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

525-5024 or www.ashkenaz.com 

$10 door/ Free for 12 and under 

Gipsy Kings 

8 p.m. 

Greek Theatre, UC Berkeley 

642-9988 

$32.50 to $70 

The Lab Rats, Damage Done, The First Step & Diehard Youth 

8 p.m. 

924 Gillman St. 

525-9926 

$5 

The Pre-teens, Hansi & Flair 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$5 

Saturday, August 31 

Blue on Breen, Ian Butler & Green Man Gruvin’ 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$5 

Plan 9, Wormwood, Hit Me Back & Dystrophy 

8 p.m. 

924 Gillman St. 

525-9926 

$5 

"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.  

Lorenzo Alexander never left Berkeley, but he went from one of the best football teams in Northern California to one of the worst in the nation in less than a year. The short trip from St. Mary’s College High to Cal took Alexander from the CIF playoffs to a 1-10 season that couldn’t end soon enough for players, coaches and everyone involved with the Golden Bear program. 

Alexander is back with the Bears this season, and he’s in a battle for playing time with three other defensive tackles. Senior Daniel Nwangwu is almost assured of a starting spot thanks to seniority and some hard work this summer, so Alexander is likely fighting junior Josh Beckham and sophomore Tom Sverchek for the other tackle spot. 

Alexander, the youngest of the four, is being patient for now, playing his hardest in practice with the second team after losing 15 pounds this summer. But the 6-foot-3, 280-pounder is confident he’ll get his time to shine. 

“This is just a starting point for me,” said Alexander, who recorded 24 tackles and a sack last season while playing in all 11 games, including five starts. “Eventually I’ll be on the first team. I feel like we’re all equally as good, so it’s about who’s playing the best right now.” 

The prize of Cal’s 2001 recruiting class, Alexander’s strengths out of high school were his quickness and agility. The last year’s coaching staff encouraged him to bulk up in order to clog running lanes, but new defensive line coach Ken Delgado prefers smaller, more agile tackles who can make plays rather than stand still, so Alexander worked all summer to get back down to his high-school playing weight. 

“A lot of coaches get caught up in how big a guy is. But I’m not a coach who’s seduced by size,” Delgado said. “I don’t have positions for guys who can only cover two gaps. You have to be able to strike blockers, make plays and rush the passer.” 

That description fits Alexander well. He spent most of his high school career rushing the passer from all over the defensive line, and he is remarkably nimble for such a big man. Alexander played a key role on St. Mary’s state champion basketball team during his senior year, and he also possesses the hand-fighting skills necessary to succeed in the trenches. 

The tough two-practices-per-day fall schedule hasn’t worn down Alexander this season, thanks to the fact that he spent his summer working out twice a day, once at Cal and once with a personal trainer in Alameda. That hard work helped prepare him for the faster practices of the new coaching staff, with each practice broken down into 24 five-minute periods. 

“The new practice schedule is a big difference. Last year there was a lot of dragging around the field, and now it’s always up-tempo. We get a lot more done in less time,” Alexander said. “The team is a lot more enthused to work.” 

The increased stamina will benefit whoever wins starting jobs on the defensive line, as Delgado likes to play his starters as much as possible. Not only does that keep his best players on the field, he said, but it makes the competition for starting jobs that much more intense. 

“We’re not solid on our starters for the first game yet, but we’re definitely going to name two main starters (at defensive tackle),” Delgado said. “We have to place a high value on starting jobs. The last thing we want is an easy rotation, where everyone knows they’re going to play. Everyone can’t be happy. They have to want to fight for playing time.” 

While Delgado is a commanding presence, he also keeps things loose in practice with games and competitions among his charges. After playing for taskmasters like St. Mary’s line coach Steve Moore and Cal’s Bill Dutton, Alexander said Delgado’s coaching style is a nice change of pace. 

“I love (Delgado),” he said. “He’s just as intense as the other coaches, but he also leaves time for fun and games. He keeps things more loose, and that makes practice more fun.” 

Notes: Receiver Chad Heydorff’s Cal career is officially over, as the senior will not play this season due to a leg injury. It’s the same injury that has nagged at Heydorff for the past three seasons after he transferred to Cal from Glendale CC... Offensive linemen Scott Tercero and Andrew Cameron both practiced for the first time this fall on Thursday. Both are recovering from shoulder injuries... Receiver LaShaun Ward returned to practice Thursday morning, but re-aggravated his hamstring strain and will be re-evaluated... Tight end Terrence Dotsy sprained his knee and will be out 3-6 weeks... Receiver Michael Sparks left the team, saying he no longer enjoyed the game... Backup center Nolan Bluntzer suffered a shoulder injury on Tuesday and x-rays taken Wednesday showed no damage. Bluntzer was scheduled to have an MRI done on the shoulder on Thursday evening. 

In a surprising development Robert McKnight, an African American studies teacher at Berkeley High School, did not file papers to run for the Board of Education by the city’s Wednesday deadline. 

A new candidate, emergency room physician Lance Montauk, was among those who did meet the deadline this week, rounding out a field of seven who will vie for three slots on the five-member board in November. 

The final slate of candidates includes incumbents Shirley Issel and Terry Doran, parent activists Derick Miller, Cynthia Papermaster and Nancy Riddle, recent Berkeley High School graduate Sean Dugar, and Montauk. 

Incumbent Ted Schultz, who would be the third incumbent running this year, announced several months ago that he will retire at the end of his term. 

McKnight could not be reached for comment Thursday, but other candidates expressed surprise and regret that he will not run for office. 

“I feel it’s a shame,” said Papermaster. “He looked very promising in terms of providing some diversity on the board.” 

The board is currently composed of four white members and one Latino, Vice President Joaquin Rivera. 

Dugar, the recent graduate, said he was upset that McKnight had bowed out. But he said McKnight’s departure may provide his candidacy with a boost, since it leaves him as the sole African-American contender. 

“Berkeley is not an all-white district,” Dugar said. “Berkeley needs to represent its people.” 

But some say that one minority candidate is not enough. Earlier this year, a diverse group of reform-minded parents convened under the auspices of City Councilmember Linda Maio, in part to produce a slate of minority candidates who would join Dugar and McKnight in running for the board. 

The group, which does not have a name, was unable to produce any candidates. 

“It is a disappointment,” said Michael Miller, a school activist who took part in the group. “I can’t see that [the group of candidates who filed this week] will give the district what it needs.” 

McKnight’s departure may also have an impact on the candidacy of Derick Miller, president of the PTA Council. Miller and McKnight had discussed running for the board as a team. 

Miller could not be reached before the Daily Planet’s deadline. 

Montauk said his chief focus as a board member would be improving the public school system to attract Berkeley families who have chosen private schools instead. 

“Berkeley is, in my point of view, failing in that area,” said Montauk, who estimates that 20 to 25 percent of Berkeley’s school age children go to private school. 

Montauk sent his two children to private school up through eighth grade, racking up bills in excess of $100,000, before enrolling them in Berkeley High School, he said. Both children have graduated from Berkeley High. 

Issel, the current school board president, welcomed Montauk’s push. 

“I think it’s a very valuable goal – we need some understanding about why parents choose to put their children in the private schools,” she said. 

But Riddle raised some concerns about focusing too much on private school families. 

“Our schools should be excellent for all children,” she said. “I’m not sure we should be doing special things for one group of kids to attend.” 

Montauk has also voiced strong opposition to ballot Measure 3, which if approved would increase school board members’ salaries from $875 per month to $1,500 per month, effective in December. 

“It’s like rewarding Enron and WorldCom executives... before their companies go belly-up,” he said, referring to the school district’s estimated $2 million 2002-2003 deficit. 

School board member John Selawsky, the leading supporter of Measure 3, has argued that a raise is long overdue and that members could divert their salary increases to pay for board staff. The board currently has no staff to conduct research. 

With the race officially underway, there is a new focus on the fundraising game. 

As of June 30, the last filing date for campaign contributions, Doran led the pack with $1,500, including $500 total from mayoral candidate Tom Bates and his wife Loni Hancock, who is expected to win election as Berkeley’s representative in the state Assembly. 

Issel was a close second with $1,248 in contributions. Nancy Riddle had $885. 

Contact reporter at  

Scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

Our company is located near the developing skateboard park and we have watched it develop over the past two years. The article you printed characterized the surrounding community as anxious that “an influx of young skaters” could have negative consequences. That is not our feeling at all. We have watched the creation of a beautiful soccer field at the same site, and now look forward to the opening of the park. I am proud that the city has invested in our youth by building this new playground. There are so few outdoor recreational opportunities for kids of varying ages. Don't people realize that access to parks, playgrounds, schoolyards, and the like can reduce vandalism? While we expect the noise level to rise, and that we may have to deal with a rowdy teenager or two, the day-to-day experience of working in this neighborhood should be more interesting with our a bird's-eye view of the stunts and acrobatics of these urban pioneers.  

Just hope we don't have to witness too many scrubs and wipe-outs. Go boarders, go. 

Jannie Dresser 

Wilderness Press 

Berkeley

NEW YORK – Baseball’s labor talks hit a snag when negotiators delved deeper into the key economic issues, leaving the union’s executive board on track to set a strike date Friday. 

Rob Manfred, the owners’ top labor lawyer, has repeatedly expressed optimism, but even he admitted little headway was made at the bargaining table Wednesday. 

“Occasionally in this process, you have bumps in the road. Today probably would be a bump in the road,” he said. 

When it met Monday in Chicago, the union’s executive board deferred a decision on a strike date, preferring not to add pressure to talks when they were at a delicate stage. 

The board is to hold a telephone call Friday, and without progress probably would set a strike date, most likely Aug. 30, according to a person familiar with the players’ deliberations who spoke on the condition he not be identified. 

“I think Friday is a big day,” Seattle pitcher Paul Abbott said. “Setting a date would spark some negotiating.” 

Union officials did not comment after the day’s second bargaining session. Players and owners moved only slightly on the key issues, according to several people on both sides of the talks. 

The sides met Thursday morning, then broke for internal discussions. It was unclear if they would meet again later in the day. 

Management’s proposal for a luxury tax on the payrolls of high-spending teams, as expected, is a divisive issue, one that could cause baseball’s ninth work stoppage since 1972. 

Owners have proposed a 50 percent tax that would start with teams over $100 million, including 40-man rosters and benefits, with the full rate phased for the very highest spenders. 

The union has discussed a tax that would start with teams over about $140 million — only the New York Yankees project to be above that next year — with a much lower tax rate. 

Management wants the tax to restrain spending and salaries, while the union maintains a tax must be looked at in conjunction with revenue-sharing, both part of a system to transfer money from high-revenue teams to low-revenue teams. 

“I don’t believe that difference is an impediment to an agreement at this point,” Manfred said. 

But the difference in numbers is. Players fear that a large increase among the teams in the amount of shared locally generated revenue, when combined with a stiff luxury tax, would drain so much money from the high-revenue teams that it would cause a significant drop in salaries. 

“Negotiations are never easy. You work every day to make steady progress,” said Boston’s Tony Clark, the AL player representative. “I’m cautiously optimistic. It’s touch and go.” 

Manfred said the sides moved closer on drug testing Wednesday. While the union has proposed mandatory random resting for steroids only, owners also want testing for nutritional supplements like the testosterone-booster androstenedione and for “recreational” drugs such as cocaine. 

The sides, who spent part of Wednesday discussing licensing rules, also have unresolved differences on changes owners want in the amateur draft and salary arbitration, plus management’s desire for a $45 million minimum payroll — a figure only Montreal and Tampa Bay were below this year. 

“They have been opposed philosophically to the minimum club payroll and have maintained that position,” Manfred said. 

On Tuesday, Manfred had said he thought an agreement was possible “in the next several days.” 

“My overall view has not changed,” he said Wednesday, “despite that I recognize that today was somewhat of a bump in the road.” 

Fehr has refused to gauge the daily mood of the talks. 

“I know Rob is out there preaching whatever he preaches,” Fehr said Wednesday. “When I have something to say, everyone will know.”

State regulators, who earlier this month rejected Berkeley’s affordable housing plan – a verdict that could cost the city valuable state funds, received encouragement from an unlikely source: Berkeley residents. 

State officials this week released 24 letters and e-mails they received while reviewing the city’s plans. More than half were criticism from Berkeley. 

Correspondences of 13 residents and local developer Patrick Kennedy, of Panoramic Interests, offered a wide range of opinions, but they all shared the conclusion that the housing plan should be rejected. 

The plan, also called the housing element, sets forth the city’s housing policy. Berkeley was required to draft a new housing element that shows it will have 1,269 units of state-mandated affordable housing in the pipeline by 2007. City Council endorsed the housing element last December. The state rejected it Aug. 1. 

Most of the letters focused on a dispute between planning commissioners and city planners regarding the element’s appendix, which gives background on the plan. The critics sided with planning commissioners who said city planners made late revisions to the appendix without going through proper channels. 

An e-mail signed by planning commissioners Zelda Bronstein, Gene Poschman and Rob Wrenn cautioned the state that city planners added substantial language to the appendix without City Council approval. After that, the plan no longer complied with the city’s General Plan as state law requires, commissioners said. 

Other residents were more forceful with criticism. 

“City staff knowingly submitted their own work product to the state of California, knowing that it had not been reviewed elected officials... ,” wrote Berkeley resident Michael Katz. “By doing so, staff members intentionally evaded the public review process required by the state and by our city.”  

Only the developer Kennedy argued that the housing element should be rejected because of content, saying that development restrictions in the document were too strict. 

Kennedy urged the state to strike down city regulations that allow legally zoned developments to be rejected because of neighborhood objections or to preserve historical structures. 

State regulators appeared to side with Kennedy. They rejected Berkeley’s housing element, asking the city to reduce its constraints to development. 

State officials would not say whether the letters affected their decision, only that they read and considered all of the letters. 

The housing element is scheduled to be reconsidered by city staff and be presented to the planning commission in September. 

Contact reporter at  

matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net 

To the Editor: 

On Aug. 13 Manuela Albuquerque, Berkeley's city attorney issued an opinion on ex parte contacts and campaigning. The opinion attempts to explain the interaction of the council rule against ex parte contacts with the rule that candidates for public office are allowed to speak freely on issues of public interest. She suggests various options for resolving the tension between them. Unfortunately, her opinion is so poorly researched and written that it has caused some people to question what they may say at a public election forum, and thereby violates their First Amendment rights. Also, her opinion may have caused, or enabled some candidates not to disclose their position on fundamental political issues in the upcoming election.  

In her opinion, the city attorney cites City of Fairfield vs. Superior Court as showing that a community has a right to discuss issues of community concern – including development projects currently in process and then goes on to try to limit this. But the California Supreme Court actually went much further and stated that a council member has an “obligation to discuss issues of vital concern with his constituents and to state his views on matters of public importance” (City of Fairfield v. Superior Court [1975] 14 Cal.3d 768, 780). Given this stronger position, the city attorney's argument is pathetic. If they have an obligation, we certainly have a right.  

Albuquerque’s opinion also fails to mention the state attorney general's opinion 94-1003. The conclusion here is that “A city council member who signed a petition opposing a land use project is not disqualified from participation in the council proceeding during which the application for a conditional use permit for the project is considered.” One would think that if one could sign a petition opposing a project without violating due process, that one could simply listen to people and even state their current opinion. 

The City Council's rule on ex parte contact is founded on a confused idea of what it is to take evidence in a quasi-judicial matter. The rule serves the interests of “out of scale” developers by limiting the public’s access to their representative. It provides a shield for spineless candidates and councilmembers to hide behind and to pro-big-box-development candidates and councilmembers to hide their bias from the electorate. In a city known throughout the world as the birthplace of the free speech movement, it is ironic that the ex parte contact rule still exists – and that Albuquerque is still our city attorney. 

Tim Hansen,  

Berkeley

A 29-year old employee of the Hotel Durant was stabbed repeatedly with a butcher’s knife in the hotel parking lot Wednesday by a co-worker who had an unrequited attraction to the victim, according to the Berkeley Police Department. 

Sara Rodriquez suffered multiple stab wounds to her shoulders, back and neck at the hands of her attacker, but was fit to leave the hospital Thursday. 

Police allege that the suspect, Benito Meza-Ortega, 26, from Oakland, confronted the victim about 4:50 p.m. in the parking lot at 2600 Durant St., and without warning began stabbing her in the head and upper body. 

A hotel employee tried to stop the attack but was also assaulted by the suspect.  

With the suspect’s attention diverted, the victim tried to retreat to her car, but the suspect stopped her and continued his assault, police said. 

Police were called to the hotel at 4:53 p.m. When they arrived three minutes later the suspect had already fled. 

In a slightly different report of what happened, the hotel’s general manager, Jay Slattery, said Rodriguez was already in her car with her window down when she was attacked. 

Ryan Brown, the hotel assistant manager, saw the assault and pulled Ortega away from the car, Slattery said. Ortega was able to break free from Brown, then stabbed Rodriguez again before Brown forced Ortega to flee on foot. 

“Ryan pulled the assailant away from Sara and saved her life,” Slattery said. 

Berkeley and Oakland police pursued Ortega for hours after the attack, Berkeley police said. At about 6:30 p.m. Ortega was spotted near his Oakland home at 47th and Dover streets, but he eluded capture, police said. 

Rodriguez was taken to Highland Hospital. 

Slattery said Rodriguez, an assistant housekeeper, and Ortega, a dishwasher, were not friends. He described Ortega as “quiet” and said that Ortega had another dishwashing job at a nearby restaurant. Ortega was not working at the hotel on the day of the attack. 

Police describe Ortega as a Latino male, about 5 feet 8 inches tall, 140 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair. Police believe he may be fleeing to relatives in Mexico. 

Contact reporter at  

matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net

A string of five armed robberies of pedestrians early Wednesday morning – three that happened between midnight and 12:30 a.m. – could be related, police said. 

The robberies, which occurred in central, south and west Berkeley, involved three males ranging in age from 16 to 25, according to the Berkeley Police Department. 

The first robbery occurred at about 12:05 a.m. near the main library on Kitteredge Street. Two suspects, one who was armed with a handgun, robbed two people of cash and personal items. A third suspect reportedly waited in a getaway car described as a 1980’s Toyota Celica or Corolla. 

Then, at about 12:20 a.m., three suspects approached a man in front of his apartment at the 1500 block of Oxford Street. Two suspects punched the man, and the three forced themselves into his apartment, which they ransacked before leaving with cash and personnel items. No vehicle was seen. 

A third incident occurred at about 12:30 a.m. when two suspects robbed a couple leaving an ATM machine at University and San Pablo avenues. The couple reported seeing a third suspect waiting in a mid-size silver sedan. 

At about 5 a.m. a lone female was robbed at gunpoint near Shattuck and Oregon streets. The suspect allegedly got out of the rear passenger seat of a tan sports utility vehicle. 

Approximately 25 minutes later, two suspects, one who was armed with a handgun, robbed a 19-year-old male. The suspects took his wallet and fled in a dark color sports utility vehicle driven by a third suspect. 

Anyone with information about these crimes is asked to call police at 981-5724 or 981-5900. 

SAN RAFAEL — Signs are posted at four popular Marin County swimming holes, warning bathers to stay on dry land because of contaminated water. 

Testing by county health officials showed the water has been unfit to swim in since early last month because of high amounts of coliform bacteria. 

The signs are posted at Millerton Point in Marshall, Green Bridge in Point Reyes Station, Chicken Ranch Beach in Inverness and Samuel Taylor State Park. 

A sample taken June 19 at Chicken Ranch Beach contained twice the allowable level of the bacteria. 

The most recent samples were collected Aug. 6. They indicated all four locations still have higher-than-legal bacteria levels. 

A high coliform count often indicates fecal contamination. 

“We haven’t reached any conclusions as to where the contamination could be coming from,” said Phil Smith, chief of the county’s Environmental Health Services.

OAKLAND – While Berkeley leaders are pushing for a new tax to fund pedestrian safety measures this November, Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, D-Oakland, announced Wednesday the kick-off of an effort in neighboring Oakland to make streets safer for pedestrians. 

Forty pedestrians have been fatally injured by cars since 1996 in Oakland. In Berkeley, two fatalities have resulted this year from vehicles striking people.  

Chan’s announcement comes a day after a Washington D.C.-based pedestrian group, the Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP) released a report that lauded Oakland, along with San Jose and San Francisco, for their efforts to make streets safer for pedestrians. 

The STPP report ranked Oakland 29th out of the 58 most pedestrian- endangering California cities with more than 100,000 residents. To the surprise and reprehension of many, the report ranked Berkeley as the second safest California city with more than 100,000 residents, after Irvine.  

Chan said her pedestrian campaign is meant to complement the program started by county Supervisor Nate Miley when he was an Oakland councilmember. The program includes community education, street improvements and support from city officials and residents. 

The five-year report found on average some 600 pedestrians and more than 100 bicyclists are killed on California streets and roads each year. These fatalities account for one out of every four traffic-related deaths each year, the report said. 

The report also suggests that pedestrian deaths in the state are on the rise, jumping 5 percent from 2000 to 2001, from 689 to 721 deaths.  

Curbing those numbers is the focus of the pedestrian safety education campaign, which will urge motorists to acknowledge posted speed limits and includes a “Walk a Child to School Day” in Oakland on Oct. 2.  

The information will be presented by Chan, who will to tour Oakland in a van to provide safety information in English, Spanish and Chinese. 

Chan has already launched a similar effort in the city of Alameda, and plans to extend the services to Piedmont later this month. 

“We hope to reduce the accident rate, raise awareness and get people involved in pedestrian safety,” said Chan, who is co-author with state Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, of Senate bill 1555, which would dedicate some $3.25 million for pedestrian and bicycle safety programs. 

The pro-pedestrian nonprofit's report lists Vallejo as the most dangerous city for pedestrians. But according to Chan, despite Oakland's standing as the 29th most dangerous city for pedestrians, there are still significant problems to address, primarily with getting the message out to the elderly and minorities. 

According to Chan, the Alameda Congestion Management Agency has found that 25 percent of pedestrians hit by cars are seniors, even though people older than 65 make up little more than 10 percent of the population. 

-Compiled with staff and wire reports 

UNION CITY – When a class of third-graders asked state Sen. Liz Figueroa, D-Fremont, to make a law to ban homework, she said no.  

But she said yes when a high school class asked her to help topple a ban against cell phones at school, which will happen if Gov. Gray Davis signs a new bill recently approved by the Senate.  

The Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday to repeal a ban against “signaling devices,” a law passed 14 years ago to prevent drug deals on school grounds. 

Don Montoya, the principal of James Logan High School in Union City, approached the schools' student body after he decided that students should be able to have cell phones for their personal safety. 

“He had been thinking about it ever since September 11,” explained Christine Start, the school body president who spearheaded the legislation along with two other students. “And we thought, ‘why can't we use cell phones?’ It makes our lives so much safer and easier. So we decided to do something about it.” 

Start and other students then invited Figueroa to class and asked her to work to get rid of the ban against cell phones and pagers. “I thought at first just tell Senator Figueroa and she'll do the rest,” explained Start. “But she said OK, now get to work.” 

From that moment on, the senior years of Start and the two other student body leaders –Monica Esqueda and Juan Pagan – became much busier as the trio headed to Sacramento repeatedly to work on the legislation. 

“They did a wonderful job,” Figueroa said today. “They met with lobbyists, they testified on the bill, the got other school districts involved, they negotiated the bill and got a great deal of media attention.” 

Figueroa said that the bill did not have any opposition because it allows each school district to decide for itself whether or not to allow students to have cell phones.  

“School teachers are quite supportive,” she said, explaining that most kids carried phones anyway while school administrators looked the other way. “The world has really changed and we need to give young people as many opportunities as possible to act responsibly.”

SACRAMENTO — Two California state senators filed a formal complaint against the New York Stock Exchange and the National Association of Securities Dealers on Thursday, saying the two groups are stalling arbitration claims of California investors. 

Sens. John Burton and Martha Escutia said in a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt that the NYSE and NASD have delayed those proceedings as retaliation for California’s tougher ethics standards for arbitrators. 

The NYSE and the NASD have refused to proceed with new arbitration cases of investor claims in California since July 1, when the new ethics policies were enacted, said Burton, D-San Francisco, and Escutia, D-Commerce. 

The lawmakers said the delay was an “illegal and a misguided retaliatory action against the California Judicial Council’s new arbitrator ethics standards requiring disclosures of conflicts of interest.” 

Brokerage contracts generally require that investor complaints be handled through arbitration, and the NASD, which regulates brokerage firms, handles roughly 90 percent of cases that go through that process, said NASD spokesman Mike Shokouhi. The NYSE also handles arbitration cases. 

The NASD “appreciates Sen. Escutia’s concerns and will continue to talk with her, as we have done in the past,” said spokeswoman Nancy Condon. 

Both groups sued the California Judicial Council over its new ethics standards, saying the new standards shouldn’t apply in securities disputes.

SAN FRANCISCO — A former Genentech Inc. computer programmer agreed to pay $76,000 to settle charges she profited from inside information about a pivotal drug experiment, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday. 

News of the failed experiment sent the shares of a Genentech partner company plummeting, which allowed Lei Wang, 32, to reap an illegal windfall, the SEC said. 

The case is the latest scandal to hit the sagging biotechnology sector that allegedly involves an insider using the unpublished results of a clinical trial to profit on the stock market.

NEW YORK — The bonds of jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. plummeted more than 20 points into distressed territory Thursday following a downgrade of the San Francisco company’s debt into highly speculative territory. 

Levi Strauss, a privately held company in San Francisco that makes Levi’s jeans and Dockers pants, suffered a two-notch cut to its senior unsecured debt late Wednesday by Moody’s Investors Service, to Caa1 from B2. 

The company’s 11.625 percent notes of 2008 opened on a price basis Thursday down more than 20 points, trading as low as 67 cents on the dollar, from a close of around 91 cents. They have since recovered a bit to trade at 72 cents. 

Moody’s cited concern about the effect of the weak economy and global competition on the company’s cash generation, as well as “significant upcoming cash outlays” from plant closures and systems improvements related to the ongoing turnaround effort.

When we were younger, we took it for granted that if one lived in an apartment, condo, town house or duplex — any multifamily dwelling, for that matter — sharing secrets with your neighbor was the norm. We later discovered that sound can be substantially deadened between homes — without spending a fortune. 

We once built an apartment on the top floor of a seven-story mini-skyscraper in San Francisco. We built it inside an existing metal-walled structure. The air-conditioning system for the entire building was enormous. When it ran it was incredibly noisy. We couldn’t figure out how a home could be built within 40 feet of such a large and noisy machine without it having major noise problems. 

We met with an acoustical engineer who suggested that we cover the interior surface of the party wall with three layers of 5/8-inch wallboard. He told us to use R-30 fiberglass batt insulation in the stud cavities. We could not believe that three layers of wallboard and a layer of R-30 insulation would effectively quiet the roar of the massive air conditioner. 

It took about nine months to complete the construction. Much to our surprise, the noise outside stayed there once the sound wall was complete. 

Granted, there were no windows or doors in the sound wall; there were only the studs, R-30 fiberglass insulation and the three layers of wallboard on the inside surface — and the texture and paint. 

One could go outside and hear the roar of the equipment, and then go inside and hear no trace of it. We couldn’t believe our ears. We then were convinced that multiple layers of wallboard and a layer of R-30 insulation could do the job. And, we discovered that killing noise doesn’t have to be costly. Wallboard is rather inexpensive, as is fiberglass insulation. 

In homes where families live on opposite sides of a common wall, it is best for the studs on one side to be separate from the studs on the other side. We think that two separate walls work best. One wall for one side; one wall for the other. This way when someone pounds on his wall, the vibration isn’t transferred to the other side. Also, wallboard should not be applied between the common walls. The layer of wallboard can defeat the sound-deadening properties of the insulation layers in each of the walls. Remember the configuration: three layers of 5/8-inch wallboard, a stud wall filled with fiberglass insulation, a space between, another stud wall filled with fiberglass insulation and three more layers of 5/8-inch wallboard. 

We think that the building code ought to be up scaled to include a full separation between multiple dwellings and that the party walls should each have several layers of wallboard within each dwelling. Wall cavities should be filled with as much fiberglass batt insulation as will fit without compression to add more sound-deadening quality. No portion of the wall cavities should be without insulation. 

You can’t do all of these fancy framing things unless you’re building from scratch. But if you have room, you can build a wall inside your place holding it a few inches away from the existing one and adding as many layers of wallboard and-or soundboard as you can afford. Also, you can simply add wallboard to an existing wall. If the studs in the wall travel all the way to the other side, some sound might come through even with several layers of wallboard. 

There are some types of soundboard that come with fabric or wallpaper applied to one surface. Screwing soundboard to a wall is easy, but be sure to properly extend the electrical boxes. 

If you live in a rental with noisy neighbors and the landlord doesn’t care, consider moving. Your landlord might not want to spend the money it takes to silence the noisemakers, but you might have grounds to cancel your lease if his inaction is causing you to lose sleep. 

We recently returned from a visit to the research and development labs of Johns Manville in Denver. Their acoustic testing facility is one of the best in the country. If you want more information on sound control, check out their Web site at www.jm.com/sound. 

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark publication of Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man.” With its jazzy rhythms and unadulterated views of racism, the 581-page opus won the 1953 National Book Award, and today it continues to challenge readers to enter the dark corners of the American psyche.  

“It’s an odyssey that deals with just about every possible horror that can result from racism,” said Berkeley resident Bonnie Hughes. “It never lets up. Just when you think you’ve come out into the light, it’s back in again.” 

This month, Berkeley is sponsoring a citywide reading of Ellison’s “Invisible Man.” The “Invisible Man” Project, a collaboration of the Berkeley Arts Festival and the Berkeley Public Library, began with free distribution of 500 copies of the book in July, and continues through August with a series of public discussions. 

The idea is to connect an urban populace through literature, says Pat Mullan of the Berkeley Public Library. 

“We’ve tried to encourage people to talk about the book if they see each other with it,” Mullan said. “I’ve heard that it’s [already] been happening on the buses and other places.” 

The first official discussion of “Invisible Man is tonight, in the recently-renovated Central Library’s Community Room. Coming Aug. 22 will be a screening of local filmmaker Avon Kirkland’s documentary “Ralph Ellison, an American Journey.” 

In addition to being a writer, Ellison was a jazz trumpeter trained at the Tuskegee Institute. On Aug. 24, the influence of music on his writing will be discussed by UC Berkeley Visiting Professor Anthony Brown. Brown’s sextet will follow his lecture with a concert that is designed to focus on Ellison’s musical inspiration, including Thelonius Monk. 

Mullan said the idea for Berkeley’s community reading and ensuing activities came from Seattle. 

The program “If All of Seattle Read the Same Book” began in 1998 with Russell Banks's “The Sweet Hereafter” and has become an annual event. Other cities quickly caught the vibe. Chicago gave out more than 2,000 copies of Harper Lee’s classic “To Kill a Mockingbird” last fall, and Los Angeles is reading “Fahrenheit 451” this year. 

Elision, who died in 1994, did not complete another work of fiction beyond “Invisible Man” in his lifetime. Subsequent to his death, a book called “Juneteenth” was culled from a work in progress, but gathered more attention for the way it was put together than for its content. 

“Invisible Man” is a difficult read, Mullan says, but worth the effort. 

“The imagery is very intense, and the fact that it’s this kind of epic journey, rather than [following] the arc or story line of a regular novel makes it a little more challenging,” he said. 

In addition to the free books contributed by Friends of the Library – which were snatched up the first day they were given out – the project is being promoted by lapel pins which match the maroon color of the paperback. Local booksellers such as Cody’s are giving out the pins and offering a discount on the book. 

The following are activities scheduled this week: 

“Focus on Invisible Man: A Community Literary Discussion,” 7 p.m. Thursday. Community Room, Berkeley Public Library.  

Video screening: “Ralph Ellison: An American Journey” Commentary by filmmaker Avon Kirkland, 7 p.m. Aug. 22, Community Room, Berkeley Public Library.  

“Reading Between the Notes: Ralph Ellison’s Writings,” talk by Anthony Brown, 2 p.m. Aug. 24, Community Room, Berkeley Public Library.  

Anthony Brown Ensemble Jazz concert tribute to Ralph Ellison, 8 p.m. Aug. 24, Reading Room, Berkeley Public Library. 

To the Editor:  

On Aug.11, 100 people took two or three minutes out of their enjoyment of the Berkeley Arts Festival to write postcards to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer telling them that they as voters did not support President Bush's proposed war with Iraq. The cards were supplied by Berkeley Women For Peace. The 100 cards were collected for mailing in one hour. 

Everyone who has the right to vote has the responsibility to make their opinions known to their representatives in Congress, where the question of war or peace must be decided. 

Sylvia Levy  

Berkeley

Theater 

Sometimes all the elements of stagecraft—direction, acting and design—come together to create a show that’s seamlessly right, and that’s what’s happening now with Cal Shakespeare’s production of Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull,” at the Bruns outdoor theater in the Orinda hills. 

It’s an enchanting production. 

You can stumble out of a play trying to figure out what went wrong, but as you float out of this one, you just want to credit everyone who blended the elements so well. First prize has to go to director Jonathan Moscone, whose firm but light touch works magic on Chekhov’s delicate tragicomedy. Choosing Tom Stoppard’s recent sturdy adaptation, in which characters often quote Shakespeare, Moscone does Prospero-like work. Most of “The Seagull’s” characters whine, fuss and fail, but the play is never a pain because Moscone brings out its lovely, bittersweet flavor. Failure and loss are mingled with wisdom and become gently, exquisitely moving. 

Chekhov called “The Seagull,” a comedy in four acts, but it’s a comedy in the sense that Dante’s Commedia is one: an examination of people as fallible fools rather than heroes or buffoons, though unlike Dante, who could be vindictive, Chekhov is infinitely forgiving. 

“The Seagull” plays out (no surprise) on a country estate far from Moscow, where a disparate band—old and young, aristocrat and servant, writer and doctor—reveal their souls in a fugue of longing and disillusion. The members of this band are the actress, Irina Arkadina, who has come with her writer-lover, Trigorin, to her brother’s estate. Here her son, Konstantin, is about to put on a play he wrote that is starring a local girl, Nina. There are servants: the estate manager Shamraev, his wife Polina, and his daughter Masha. Two local people, Dorn, a doctor, and Medvedenko, a schoolteacher, drop by. 

Unrequited love drifts on the summer air like pollen. Polina loves Dorn. Medvedenko loves Masha, but she loves Konstantin, who loves Nina who loves Trigorin. Irina loves (or at least needs) Trigorin, who can’t resist Nina. 

Though it’s a preposterous tangle, our laughter is tempered by sympathy. After all, who of us would be out of place in a Chekhov play? 

Regret compounds the unhappiness: the elderly brother, Sorin, wanted to be a writer, and Tirgorin, who is a writer, regrets how the profession obsesses him. Meanwhile the young are busy manufacturing future regrets: a loveless marriage, a mistaken career, while talk of art fills the air. Must old theatrical styles make way for new? In one exquisitely funny moment Irina cries out during her son’s muddled play, “Am I the only one who isn’t getting this?” Who hasn’t said or thought the same? 

The pleasures of the production are many, beginning with John Coyne’s Chagallesque set of pink-tinted boards, punctuated by spindly trees and enhanced by a lovely golden moon hauled up by ropes. Katherine Roth provides handsome Edwardian suits, gowns and hats, while Christopher Akerlind nicely lights summer days and autumn evenings, and Cliff Carruthers adds thumping music or delicate sound. 

Fitting the choral nature of the play, the cast does splendid ensemble work. Kandis Chapell is imperious, self-centered Irina. Charles Dean is comically crusty Sorin. Sean Dugan reveals the torment in young Konstantin, who loves and longs intensely. Susannah Schulman brings a rich eagerness to Nina, crying, “I’m drawn here, like a seagull drawn to the lake!” Dan Hiatt has a pleasing ease as Dorn. James Carpenter is a tense, uneasy Trigorin. Emily Ackerman is hilarious as practical but melodramatic Masha (“I’m in mourning for my life,” she moans.) Brian Keith Russell is a warmly blustering Shamraev, and Sam Misner creates the self-effacing Medvenko. 

“What could be more weary than the sweet weariness of life in the country?” Dorn asks. What could be sweeter than an evening of near-perfect theater in midsummer? 

Cal Shakespeare provides the latter with its poignant production of “The Seagull.”

Thursday, August 15 

Colcannon 

8 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 

Rroland, Attaboy and Burke & Vacuum Tree Head 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$5 

Friday, August 16 

Champion, Stay Gold, Terror & Circle Takes the Square 

8 p.m. 

924 Gillman St. 

525-9926 

$5 

Extreme Elvis & Sons of Emperor Norton  

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$6 

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. 

559-6910 

$10 general, $5 students/seniors 

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

7 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 

The Transparent Tape Music Festival 2 

Through Aug.18, 8:30 p.m. 

Transparent Theater, 1901 Ashby Ave. 

415-614-2434 or tapecenter@sfSound.org or http://sfSound.org/tape.html 

$7 one night/ $15 festival pass 

Saturday, August 17 

Benumb, Reagan SS, Bumbklaat & Faces of Death 

8 p.m. 

924 Gillman St. 

525-9926 

$5 

Composer Portraits with Sarah Cahill and Gabriela Frank 

Berkeley Arts Festival 

8 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

665-9099 

$10 

The Edios 

8 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 to 11 p.m. 

Café Eclectica, 1309 Solano Ave. 

527-2344 

$5 

The Warlocks & Belle da Gama 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$8  

Sunday, August 18 

Ericka Luckett 

8 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 

Time in Malta, Panic, The Dream is Dead, Find Him & Kill Him 

5 p.m. 

924 Gillman St. 

525-9926 

$5 

Monday, August 19 

Northern California Songwriters Association Open Mic 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$4 at door 

"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 

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 

"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 full-time Berkeley students. 

"Poems Form/From the Six Directions" 

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 

Friday, August 16 

“Pericles, Prince of Tyre” 

8:00 p.m. 

Wells Fargo Annex, 2081 Center St. 

This romance follows Prince Pericles, hunted for a crime he did not commit, on an epic voyage around the Mediterranean. Presented by Woman’s Will, the Bay Area’s all-female Shakespeare Company. 

665-9496 

Free 

Saturday, August 17 

Mock City Council 

Berkeley Arts Festival  

7 p.m. 

Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way or Channel 25 

Comic rendition of a Berkeley City Council meeting presented by George Coates Productions. 

665-9099 

$10 

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 

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 

Open Mic hosted by Clair Lewis 

8:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

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 

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. 

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  

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 

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 

Three seniors are competing for final
spot alongside Klotsche and Nixon 

Four players. One starting job. The math isn’t hard to do. 

With two of Cal’s starting linebacker spots occupied by seniors John Klotsche and Matt Nixon, four special teams standouts are spending the fall battling for the last spot. Three of them are seniors, looking for a chance to shine in their final season in Berkeley. 

The leader for the position appears to be Paul Ugenti. A senior who has played mostly special teams for the last two seasons, Ugenti had a strong spring and has taken most of the reps with the first squad so far this fall. A highly-touted recruit at safety in 1998, Ugenti put on weight this summer to help him in run support, while his agility allows him to cover receivers out of the backfield as well as tight ends. 

Defensive leader Nnamdi Asomugha, who will play a hybrid linebacker/safety spot this season, said Ugenti has been a solid contributor who is ready to step up. 

“Paul has played as hard as he can for three years, and he’s earned everyone’s respect,” Asomugha said. “It’s not surprising to anyone that he’s stepped up his game.” 

But Ugenti has two classmates breathing down his neck. Calvin Hosey is the biggest of the candidates at 6-foot-4, 235 pounds and has the speed to rush the passer. Hosey is a vocal presence on the practice field but must prove to be a consistent player to earn more playing time. 

Marcus Daniels is more suited to an inside position, but with Klotsche returning as the leading tackler on the team, Daniels will likely have to play on the outside to see much time. Daniels is very athletic and has shown good hitting ability in practice, but he may be best suited for another year of backup duty while contributing on special teams. Yet Daniels has made an impression during the fall, showing good instincts in pass coverage that could make him valuable playing next to the hole-plugging Klotsche. 

The wild card in the competition is sophomore Wendell Hunter. Hunter’s high-energy style lets him flow from sideline to sideline, and he is probably the best coverage linebacker on the team. He may have to wait his turn with five seniors on the depth chart, but he could crack the rotation with a good fall. 

Nixon is the big-play guy of the group, which should keep him in the lineup on the weak side. While a bit undersized at 220 pounds, he has good instincts for the ball and has made 22 tackles for loss in the last two years while contributing on special teams, including a blocked field goal in last season’s Big Game. 

Klotsche, secure in his middle spot, said each player can bring different things to the field. 

“All of the seniors know what they’re doing out there, it’s just a matter of figuring out who’s best for each situation,” Klotsche said. “Some guys are better at covering, some are better at blitzing. We just need to make plays, it doesn’t matter who makes them.”

The city is prepared to take control of a student boarding house owned by a landlord notorious for substandard housing. 

Reza Valiyee, who has been charged several times for not maintaining his numerous Berkeley properties, has until Aug. 30 to remove illegal bedrooms at 2455 Prospect St. built more than 20 years ago, City Attorney Zach Cowen said. 

If Valiyee fails to comply with the Superior Court order to remove the rooms, the city will return to court to seek a “receiver,” which empowers the city to take over management of the building. The city could then use rents or other building assets such as a mortgage to pay for court-mandated adjustments. 

“It’s a pretty extreme remedy for a building that isn’t hazardous,” Cowen said. But Valiyee’s long history of stalling on city-mandated repair work has forced the city’s heavy hand, he said. 

Valiyee says that he has not complied with the court order because the city was late in presenting him with plans on how to bring the building into compliance with zoning law. 

“It took the city three years to come up with a plan that I could have done in two months,” Valiyee said. “The whole idea is to put me out of business.” 

The city and Valiyee have fought over the Prospect Street property for years. 

In 1994 the city sued Valiyee to force him to remove bedrooms officials say he built without a zoning permit. After Valiyee failed to comply with several court orders, a judge, in 1998, issued an injunction empowering the city to design a renovation plan that Valiyee would be required to implement. 

Valiyee now says that he wants to implement the plan, but hopes to combine it with a beautification project that would entail the creation of larger third-floor bedrooms and a new roof. 

City officials say the beautification project is just another in a series of stall tactics by the landlord. The beautification work requires Zoning Adjustment Board approval, but Cowan said Valiyee has yet to present a plan to the commission. 

“He’s been jerking the city around for years,” said Mark Rhoades, the city’s planning manager.  

Valiyee, however, says he has been a decent landlord and has accommodated his tenants’ needs. He said that when he bought the building in 1970, he reduced occupancy from 78 to 50 and seismically retrofitted it. 

The number of illegal bedrooms in the house is still unclear, with the resident manager and Valiyee providing conflicting numbers on how many total bedrooms are there. Valiyee said there are 50, but his property manager said there are 45. 

The illegal bedrooms, which provided additional rental income during the recent housing shortage, may not even work to Valiyee’s advantage this year. Boarding houses such Valiyee’s tend to fill up when there are few available rentals, but in the current market, students opt for apartments over boarding houses. The resident manager said that the basement rooms are currently vacant and that only18 rooms had been rented. 

This is not the first time Valiyee has been in trouble with the city. 

Last week the Rent Stabilization Board upheld a decision requiring Valiyee to pay 13 former tenants at his 2412 Piedmont Ave. boarding house between $894 and $3,284 in rent reductions. The tenants filed a grievance charging that toilets and sinks were left clogged, showers were not cleaned, the refrigerator did not work, and rodents ran throughout the house.  

“I have seen residential hotels in the Tenderloin better than that building,” said Rent Board Commissioner, Paul Hogarth, who helped the residents file their grievances.

To the Editor: 

I strongly oppose “bailing out” AC Transit. Booting out the entire antiquated system would give Berkeley a chance to install a true public transport service. 

Take the bus 51 for example. This dirty crowded bus meanders from Berkeley's Marina to Jack London Square. Thirty years ago this might have been a reasonable route. Now, with traffic quadrupled, it has no hope of keeping to a schedule. 

Better, in my view, would be a Berkeley city circular shuttle along the east-west corridors (Cedar, University, Ashby Avenues etc.) which would pick up intercity buses routed along the north-south corridors. 

I will gloss over the horror stories we all share – the driver who fails to see people waiting at designated stops, the driver who writes in his journal while letting go of the steering wheel, the driver who refuses to give a transfer when one gets on the wrong bus by mistake – because these are human errors of judgement. It is when one walks home along a bus route, and no bus appears in either direction during the 45 minutes it takes, that one realizes that there is something fundamentally wrong.  

The fundamental problem with AC Transit is its poor structure, and no amount of money will correct this. We have proof of this. A few years ago AC Transit received a grant of several million dollars from the federal government to install equipment which, I was told by an AC executive, would “tell us where the buses are.” This sounds to me like a colossal waster of our money. 

Let us get rid of this shambling behemoth and install something worthy of Berkeley – friendly, clean, small shuttle buses, efficiently run, cheap and environmentally excellent. 

Shirley Barker  

Berkeley

OAKLAND – Billy Koch needed just 12 pitches to redeem himself after a shaky outing. 

Koch pitched a perfect ninth inning to reach 30 saves for the fourth straight season as the Oakland Athletics defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 4-2 Wednesday. 

Eric Chavez hit a three-run homer, and Jermaine Dye also drove in a run for the A’s, who have won two straight after losing their last five to the Blue Jays. The A’s have won 10 of 15 overall. 

Shannon Stewart homered for the Blue Jays, who have lost six of eight. 

Koch, whom the A’s acquired from Toronto during the offseason, walked the first two batters he faced and allowed a run on Tuesday before nailing down his 29th save. 

“Any 1-2-3 outing feels great,” Koch said. “Pitching effectively, that’s the biggest thing. It was great to do that and not have Art (A’s manager Howe) have to pull his hair out. I never set a number on how many saves I want to get because that feels like a limitation. I just want to do my job.” 

Said Howe: “That was vintage Billy Koch. He went right after them.” 

Tim Hudson (9-9) won his second straight decision and evened his record for the first time since he was 3-3 on May 4. He gave up two runs – one earned – and seven hits in 7 1-3 innings. 

“Hudson’s movement today was outstanding,” Blue Jays manager Carlos Tosca said. “You have to be patient against a pitcher like that and try to take him deep in the count. He kept his pitches down and got the double plays when he needed.” 

While Hudson has a .690 career winning percentage in the major leagues, he hadn’t won consecutive decisions since June 30 and July 12. 

“It seems like, still, when I make mistakes they hit them,” Hudson said. “It also seems like I’m not making as many mistakes and when I got into those situations, I was able to get the groundballs.” 

Pete Walker (5-3) allowed four runs, four hits and four walks in six innings but didn’t give up a hit after Miguel Tejada’s single in the third. Walker retired 12 of his final 14 batters. 

“I just keep throwing too many pitches,” Walker said. “When I find my stuff it’s always too late. Chavez won the game for them in the first inning.” 

Chavez had a tiebreaking two-run single in the seventh inning of Oakland’s 5-4 win Tuesday, then hit his 26th homer of the season in the first inning following Scott Hatteberg’s single and Tejada’s walk. 

“You just have to adjust to what the pitcher is doing,” Chavez said. “It just feels comfortable right now knowing I can take the pitch the other way.” 

Dye’s groundout scored Hatteberg in the third for a 4-0 lead. 

Stewart homered leading off the sixth, and Josh Phelps had an RBI grounder later in the inning. 

Terrence Long saved a run with a diving catch on Tom Wilson’s soft liner to short left-center in the seventh inning. DeWayne Wise, who had doubled and gone to third on a groundout, said he wasn’t sure if he left early and went back to the base. 

Notes: Toronto SS Chris Woodward missed his second straight game after sustaining a bone bruise when he was hit by a pitch Monday. ... Dye stole his first base of the season. He had nine steals last year with the A’s and Royals. ... Blue Jays OF Jose Cruz Jr. missed the series because of a sprained left ankle, and will be reevaluated on Thursday. ... A’s LHP Ted Lilly, on the DL with an inflamed left shoulder, began throwing lightly Monday in preparation for a September return. ... Hudson is 6-1 with a 2.64 ERA in nine career starts against the Blue Jays. ... Toronto 3B Eric Hinske is four doubles shy of the team rookie record of 31 set by Shawn Green in 1995.

New Department of Conservation maps show that a significant portion of Alameda County could experience landslides and unstable ground conditions during a major earthquake. 

The California Department of Conservation released six Seismic Hazard Zone maps, which show that areas of Berkeley, Oakland, Hayward, Alameda, San Leandro, Emeryville and Albany could be affected by landslides and liquefaction during an earthquake of 6.0 or greater magnitude. 

Liquefaction is a term used to describe areas of water-saturated sandy soil that may become unstable during earthquakes, leading to cracks in the ground and damage to buildings and structures, underground pipes and utilities. 

Similar maps were released two years ago for the cities of Oakland and Piedmont. The new maps incorporate new information obtained through computer models and geologic explorations that included hundreds of borings performed by engineers. 

The maps, which become official after a six-month review period – are used by city planners, developers and those who sell property and housing. 

According to the Department of Conservation, the local building department must require developers to conduct geologic studies before any construction can take place on a property that is located in one of these “zones of required investigation.” 

Also, those who sell property or real estate in these areas must inform their potential clients about the designation, much in the way that sellers in designated flood and wildfire zones must inform their customers about those designations. 

Developers wishing to build in these areas must also turn in construction plans that show how they will address the problems, leading to better earthquake protection and less cost, since it generally costs more to seismically retrofit an existing building than it does to build in safety features at the design stages. 

Each of the maps covers some 60 square miles. Black and white copies of the preliminary maps can be obtained by calling BPS Reprographic Services in San Francisco at (415) 495-8700. Color copies of the official maps will be available through the California Geological Survey by calling (415) 904-7707. 

The maps can also be viewed online at http://gmw.consrv.ca.gov/shmp.

To the Editor: 

The United Seniors, the Gray Panthers, and the Bus Riders Union are very concerned with AC Transit's proposed fare increase and proposed parcel tax. These groups, and their staff, worked very hard to assure passage of Measure B and were assured that AC's major revenue problems would be solved. Now AC is again asking for more money. 

Why is it that it is always the riders who are required to meet the need for more revenue whether in the form of increased fares, reduced service or a parcel tax? If we are all – drivers, management, riders – one family, as the late general manager Sharon Banks used to say, why should not the other two members of the AC family also share the pain? 

What about eliminating travel costs of board members and employees? In these days of the Internet and faxes, telephone and television conferencing, it seems a large waste of money to send directors and employees zipping around the country and the world. How many millions would that save? 

What about reducing wages and salaries to meet this crisis? Public sector jobs are a lot more desirable, these days, than those in the private sector. Let's all share the pain. Furthermore, the union pension fund is non-contributory. How many more millions would it save if union members had to contribute some of their own money to this fund?  

We of the United Seniors, Gray Panthers, and Bus Riders Union would like to see AC Transit get serious about saving money, starting with the ways we suggest in this letter, rather than always sticking it to the riders, particularly seniors and the disabled. 

A final point. Instead of eliminating lines, why not increase their headways, rather than cut them out altogether? 

Charlie Betcher 

President, United Seniors 

Founder, Bus Riders Union 

Co-Convener, Gray Panthers

“When I’m in the air on a clear day, I don’t want it to end. When I’m on the ground I can’t wait to be back up in the sky,” wrote Barbara Cushman Rowell for her forthcoming memoir, “Flying South: A Pilot’s Inner Journey,” from Berkeley-based Ten Speed Press. “The cascading sensations of feeling vulnerable and exhilarated at the same time are much like falling in love.” 

Today, those words might serve as a sad and ironic epitaph for Rowell, a pilot, photographer and long-time Berkeley resident who died with her husband Galen Rowell, a world-famous nature photographer, in a plane crash early Sunday morning outside Bishop, California. 

“The fact that she died in a plane crash is a bittersweet ending,” said Kirsty Melville, publisher at Ten Speed. “It’s very sad that she’s not able to see the publication of the book.” 

Rowell, 54, was born in Hawaii to Lucille and Irving Cushman while her father was stationed at Pearl Harbor with the Navy. At the age of 5, her family was transferred to Texas for a brief stay before settling in California. 

A UC Davis graduate, she met her future husband in 1981 while working at The North Face clothing company as director of public relations. The two married within months and settled in Galen’s native Berkeley. 

Rowell soon became president of the couple’s Emeryville studio and press, Mountain Light Photography. A year and a half ago, the pair moved to Bishop in the eastern Sierra Nevada, bringing Mountain Light with them. 

Last weekend, the couple flew into Oakland after a three-week circumnavigation of the Bering Sea and chartered a twin-propeller plane to Bishop. 

The plane crashed two miles south of the Bishop airport at 1:24 a.m. during the approach, killing the Galens, pilot Tom Reid, 46, and Carol MacAfee, 38, of Bishop. 

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the incident, but findings will not be available for months.  

Rowell’s memoir, due for release in October, chronicles a three-month airplane journey that Rowell took in her Cessna 206 single-engine plane from Oakland through Latin America and back in late 1990 and early 1991. 

The book includes her own photos and several by her husband, who accompanied her for portions of the trip. 

In her memoir, Rowell wrote that she took the trip because she loved flying, and more importantly, because she wanted to do something independent of her famous husband. 

“I did take personal pride in watching Galen’s career skyrocket,” she wrote. “We complemented each other in business: his writing and photography paid our bills, and my organizational skills and vision took us to higher levels. 

“Still, it was a rude awakening when a man at a party given in Galen’s honor cornered me and asked, ‘How does it feel to be living in someone’s shadow’,” she wrote. 

Rowell noted that the flight offered an opportunity to step out of that shadow. 

“I wanted to know what it felt like to be on my own expedition and in control of my own destiny,” she wrote. “I wanted to wake up in the morning challenged to my core.” 

Challenged she was. During the 58-leg trip, which took her through Mexico, Peru and Argentina among other countries, Rowell suffered serious dental damage after a white water rafting accident, eventually requiring six surgeries, and faced continual sexism as men doubted her ability to fly. 

But she emerged with a new confidence in herself. 

“It was sort of a metamorphosis for her personally,” said Lyla Wolden, Mountain Light gallery manager and a close friend. “She lived in the shadow of her husband for years and this helped her define herself.” 

Melville of Ten Speed said “Flying South” gives powerful voice to Rowell’s metamorphosis, and after receiving approval from her family, the company will proceed with publication of the book. 

Melville said that decision dovetails with Rowell’s own wishes. In a recent conversation, Melville said, Rowell asked, “If I die in a plane crash, you will publish it, won’t you?”  

Slowest police pursuit ever 

BETHLEHEM, Pa.— It wasn’t your typical stolen vehicle — and it definitely wasn’t a textbook police pursuit. 

An officer on his way to work at 6:30 a.m. Monday was startled to see a 30-year-old man cruising down the shoulder of the street on a child’s Fisher Price Power Wheels car. 

The 180-pound rider was about 10 times the recommended age for the battery-operated car, which nonetheless held up under his weight, plugging along at 3 mph, police said. 

Police eventually stopped the man after perhaps the slowest chase on record. 

The officer sounded his car horn and showed his badge to the driver, who ignored him. So the officer got out on foot and walked up to the culprit. 

Police said the driver smelled of alcohol and stumbled as he tried to get up. He told police he was going to his uncle’s home, but didn’t say why he was using a toy to get there. 

The officer took the man to police headquarters and released him after he sobered up, police said. A woman who called police to report that her son’s toy car had been stolen opted not to press charges, but police charged the man with public drunkenness. 

No more bad vibes, OK dude? 

TELLURIDE, Colo. — A Town Council known for nasty squabbling called in a shaman to rid its meeting hall of bad vibes. 

Christopher Beaver conducted a “smudging ceremony” in the Telluride Town Council chambers earlier this summer after he declared the basement room full of negative energy. 

Members of the council say they’ve been in agreement more lately, but they’re reluctant to attribute that to the ceremony, which included burning imported menthol. But they say it opened their minds. 

“I’m not saying there is a connection,” said Mayor John Steel, a 67-year-old, cowboy-hat-wearing attorney. “What it really did maybe was to focus people’s minds on trying to seek higher ground.”

UC Berkeley’s student-run newspaper, which was recently faced with the threat of eviction, will retain its campus office. However, the Daily Californian may be forced to cede some of its space to other student groups. 

The university’s Store Operations Board, composed of students and administrators, voted unanimously Tuesday evening to authorize a renewal of the Daily Californian’s lease, ensuring that the paper will keep its sixth-floor office in Eshleman Hall on Bancroft Way. 

Newspaper officials cheered the move, arguing that a termination of the lease and a move off campus would have harmed the Daily California’s ability to recruit and retain student employees. The paper has 150 people on staff, almost all of them students. 

The Daily Californian, which operates independently of the university, first encountered lease troubles this spring when then-student body President Wally Adeyemo, who served on the Store Operations Board, suggested replacing the newspaper with a public service center on the sixth floor. 

Newspaper officials suggested that Adeyemo, who frequently clashed with the Daily Californian, made the recommendation for political reasons. Adeyemo said he simply wanted to provide space for campus groups that needed it. 

The board voted on May 14 to table Adeyemo’s proposal and order a study of office space in the seven-story Eshleman Hall. 

The board voted Tuesday night to renew the lease, but said the Daily Californian must be willing to make concessions. Citing the space study, which revealed that 142 student groups applied for about 70 slots in Eshleman this year, the board directed its lease negotiators to pursue a reduction in the Daily Californian’s square footage, freeing up room for other student groups. 

The board also recommended that the lease include a provision for more advertising space in the Daily Californian for the student government – the Associated Students of the University of California – and other campus groups. 

Under the terms of its current lease, which expired July 31 and is operating on a month-to-month basis, the newspaper pays part of its rent through advertising credits for student groups. The board has recommended an increase in the number of credits. 

Daily Californian Editor-in-Chief Rong-Gong Lin, II said he is looking forward to a “good compromise” in lease negotiations, but has “concerns” about the possible reduction in space and increase in advertising credits. 

Lin’s manager of classified advertising Corinne Chen gave voice to those concerns at the board meeting, arguing that an increase in advertising and a corresponding reduction in page space for articles would damage the integrity of the newspaper. 

She also said a reduction in office space is untenable because employees already share desks. 

“To reduce our space... would be nothing less than punishing us for providing the largest free speech forum on campus,” Chen said. 

But several board members said the Daily Californian does not merit an entire floor to itself, arguing that the paper must yield space to other student groups. 

“Who are you to weigh one service over another?” asked Han Hong, a board member and ASUC executive vice president. 

The newspaper’s rent will be a key element in the upcoming lease negotiations. The Daily Californian currently pays $7,428 per month, or $1.80 per square foot. The newspaper says the local real estate market has softened significantly since it signed the current lease three years ago and it is asking for a return to 1999 rates of $1.41 per square foot, or $5,770 per month. 

To support its claim that the rental market has softened, the Daily Californian presented the operations board with rental rates for five area properties, ranging from $1.15 to $1.55 per square foot. 

But Thomas Cordi, director of the ASUC Auxiliary, which manages Eshleman Hall, said he had “serious questions” about the Daily Californian’s figures. 

Cordi said several of the properties cited by the newspaper are not suitable office space, arguing that the rates for similar, appropriate space in the city range from $1.80 to $2.35 per square foot. 

Newspaper officials say they need the rent reduction because a nationwide slump in newspaper advertising sales, brought on by the economic downturn, has damaged the Daily Californian’s bottom line. 

General Manager Hubert Brucker said sales from national advertisers have declined 40 percent since the downturn and that local sales have also slumped.  

The virus is not known to exist in California 

The city of Berkeley is taking part in a statewide effort to monitor for the potentially fatal West Nile Virus, and the city manager’s office pledged Wednesday to keep residents informed. 

At present, the virus does not exist in California and has only been detected east of the Rocky Mountains. However, the California Department of Health Services says the virus, which lives in the tissue of birds and can be spread to humans through mosquitos, could reach the west coast within the next few years. 

The virus can induce fever-like symptoms in humans and be fatal to those with weak immune systems. In 2001, 66 cases of West Nile Virus were detected in the eastern United States. 

State officials are looking for the virus by asking residents who find dead birds to call so that they can dispatch safety teams to test for virus. The telephone number for reporting dead birds is 1-877-WNV-BIRD or 1-877-968-2477. 

In the meantime, officials are advising residents to take precautions. 

John Rusmisel, district manager of the Alameda County Mosquito Abatement District, emphasized the need for people to keep swimming pools and fish ponds clean because they can be breeding grounds for mosquitoes. 

“Residential areas produce as much mosquitoes as marshland,” he said.

SAN FRANCISCO — Just outside San Francisco Bay, about 17 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge, teams of divers are braving frigid, murky water to pump thick oil from a ship that sank nearly 50 years ago. 

Each pair of divers spends nearly a month in a pressurized environment — either 175 feet below the icy Pacific or in a special chamber aboard a barge that floats in the blustery wind above the sunken SS Jacob Luckenbach. 

The divers, and about 40 people who have lived on the barge since May, so far have pumped about 12,000 gallons of oil from the ship. It has stores of about 132,000 gallons. 

Each day, one diver stays inside the dive tank and keeps watch while the other, attached to a 100-foot cable, wades through the swift currents in the Gulf of the Farallones to try to drain oil from the ship. 

When they’re finished, the divers are put in a pressurized tank on the barge where they live for the 28 days they’re on the job. It’s known as “saturation diving.” 

The ship is too deep for the divers to descend on a regular dive. Humans can dive to about 130 feet, and they must be brought back to the surface slowly to avoid the painful — and potentially fatal — condition known as “the bends,” which happens when nitrogen forms bubbles in the divers’ bodily tissues. 

To avoid the bends, the divers breathe a combination of helium and oxygen while in the water and in their living quarters. They remain under pressure the entire time. 

After 28 days, a new team is sent in. The cleanup of the ship could take until the end of summer.

Shark sighting prompts
closing of Stinson Beach 

STINSON BEACH – A shark sighting at Stinson Beach means no swimming or surfing at the popular Marin County spot through the weekend. 

The National Park Service closed the waters off the beach Tuesday after a shark was spotted patrolling offshore. 

A group of youths told lifeguards they saw the shark about 100 yards offshore, according to park service spokesman Rich Weideman. 

On May 31, a surfer was attacked by a shark. He survived, but needed 100 stitches to close his wounds and spent a week in a hospital. 

County to get $1.6 million for
solar energy at Santa Rita jail 

DUBLIN – Alameda County officials will gather at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin Wednesday to receive a $1.6 million check from PG&E, a result of the county's investment in solar energy. 

The check is a rebate under the state's Self-Generation Incentive Program, in which the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. gives money back to those who build sources of renewable energy to help underwrite the installation. 

The $1.6 million rebate for Alameda County is the largest that the utility has given out. 

The solar panel on the roof of the jail, installed by Berkeley's PowerLight Corp., is believed to be the largest rooftop harvester of solar power in the United States and the fourth-largest solar installation in the world. 

Spreading out three acres and composed of some 9,000 photovoltaic tiles, the solar energy unit can produce 1.18 megawatts of electricity – or enough to power 1,100 homes. 

Wyoming man with loaded gun
arrested at San Jose airport 

SAN JOSE — A Wyoming man arrested after airport security screeners discovered a loaded semi-automatic handgun in his carryon luggage was being held in Santa Clara County jail. 

William Simmons, 57, was arrested around 2:45 Tuesday afternoon at Mineta San Jose International Airport after a screener found the gun in his luggage and notified police, said Officer Joseph Deras, a spokesman with the San Jose Police Department. 

Simmons was being held on charges of possessing a concealed loaded firearm, Deras said. Simmons was uncooperative with police and had to be forcibly arrested, he said. Simmons was taken to a nearby hospital after complaining he was hyperventilating. He was examined and released, Deras said. 

ANGELS CAMP — An animal rights group has declared the famed Calaveras County Jumping Frog Jubilee and similar contests around the country cruel and inhumane, saying frogs should not be taken from their native habitat for human entertainment. 

Members of the Animal Protection Institute, an 80,000-member animal rights group based in Sacramento, are encouraging other outraged frog lovers to write letters to the directors of the annual event in California’s gold country that features the acrobatics of frogs memorialized in Mark Twain’s classic 1865 short story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” 

Animal rights advocate Larisa Bryski says she remembers jumping frogs herself when she made a bid for Miss Calaveras County in 1988. Now, she’d prefer that humans stop jostling the amphibians in the hot summer sun altogether, saying constant handling of the frog’s permeable skin makes it easy for disease and infection to take hold. 

Longtime Calaveras County Fair manager Buck King said he’s not swayed. He said the frogs are treated with respect and noted all are returned to their shady homes in ponds and streams. 

“We are very conscious of how frogs are treated. If any frogs are mistreated, we deal with the person,” King said.

SANTA ANA — Lawmakers called for repairs to California’s sweeping school performance system after a newspaper reported it was so flawed that one in five students aren’t tested and millions of dollars were awarded based on unreliable scores. 

“We need to look immediately at these injustices,” said state Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Garden Grove. 

State Sen. Dede Alpert, the San Diego Democrat whose bill created the system, has asked the experts who created the process to fix it, the Orange County Register reported Wednesday. 

The Academic Performance Index, or API, has an average error rate of 20 percent that was not publicly announced until July, although the program was passed by the Legislature in 1999, the newspaper said in a series of articles. 

The state’s 7,300 public schools are judged by the results, which are used to dole out cash awards that can help a financially strapped school stock its library, playground or science lab. 

But the statistical scheme penalizes schools with multiple ethnic groups even when they show more academic improvement than all-white campuses, the paper said. 

The API was the centerpiece of Gov. Gray Davis’ efforts to improve California’s struggling schools. It was designed to measure academic performance and school growth with an academic scale that awards 200 to 1,000 points per school.

SAN FRANCISCO – The Federal Transit Administration's top official was in San Francisco on Wednesday to welcome about 100 transportation and security officials to a two-day forum on terrorism response coordination. 

FTA Administrator Jennifer Dorn traveled from San Jose, where a similar forum was conducted Monday and Tuesday for South Bay transportation officials. Wednesday's stop is the fifth of a 17-city tour in which FTA officials create a networking event for regional transportation officials and provide intelligence. 

A flurry of transportation and safety meetings occurred around the country following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks but Dorn said these current forums are going to be of more use because a coordinated effort was made to study the entire nation and then disperse that information locally. In addition, she said U.S. officials have talked to counterparts in other countries such as Israel to learn how they deal with terrorism. 

One of the key aspects of the federal effort is a comprehensive study of the country's top 37 transportation systems, including BART, AC Transit and Muni. Dorn said analysts scrutinized each system's security plan and developed recommendations that will be shared at the forums. 

Assistant Alameda County Sheriff Robert Maginnis said he is confident that the Bay Area is ready for anything, especially after developing a security plan for the 2012 Olympic host city bid that is under way. 

“In order to qualify, you have to have yourself together,” Maginnis said. 

Dorn acknowledged that the Bay Area is recognized as a leader because of its experience with earthquakes but said that is only one of an unknown number of potential scenarios. Terrorism can take many forms, she said, and what works for earthquakes might not be directly relevant to other, manmade disasters. 

“The plans have to be dynamic,” Dorn said. 

San Francisco Deputy Police Chief Richard Bruce, who is the head of the Special Operations and Security Detail, is in charge of a Police Department unit that responds to terrorist threats. Bruce was appointed to the position Aug. 5 but he said it took only four days for him to realize he needed some help coordinating a real-life response. 

Bruce was referring to a tip received Friday that terrorists were rumored to have been plotting to take a military airplane and attempt to crash it into the Golden Gate Bridge. The threat, which was deemed not credible, triggered a security alert through the weekend and caused Bruce to realize the importance of forums like the one Wednesday so local, state and federal officials can prepare for the next unexpected problem. “It's a dilemma we're going to face every day,” Bruce said.

Suit says U.S. Justice Dept.
official hid information 

SAN FRANCISCO — A public interest group on Wednesday filed a lawsuit alleging U.S. Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson engaged in some of the financial chicanery that he has vowed to punish in President Bush’s crusade against corporate crime. 

The civil complaint, filed by Judicial Watch Inc. in San Francisco federal court, focuses on Thompson’s role as a director at credit card issuer Providian Financial Corp. from 1997 until his May 2001 confirmation as the second-in-command at the U.S. Justice Department. 

Thompson assumed a higher public profile last month when he was appointed as the head of a “financial SWAT team” created to weed out corporate corruption and help restore confidence in the scandal-ridden stock market. 

The new role has focused attention on Thompson’s tenure as chairman of Providian’s audit committee, a part of corporate boards that is supposed to ensure companies issue accurate financial statements. 

The lawsuit alleges Thompson ignored his watchdog duties and helped Providian conceal deepening financial troubles that crippled the company and wiped out $15 billion in shareholder wealth during 2001. 

The Justice Department described the allegations against Thompson as “frivolous,” and noted that his record as a Providian director had been fully disclosed to the U.S. Senate before his unanimous confirmation. 

Thompson’s “actions have been entirely professional and proper at all times and in all respects,” Justice Department spokeswoman Barbara Comstock said. 

San Francisco-based Providian brushed off the suit’s allegations as irrelevant because the company is being run by a new management team. 

Besides Thompson, the lawsuit names four other former Providian executives and directors — Shailesh Mehta, David Alvarez, James Rowe and David Grissom. 

“On the face of it, (Judicial Watch) appears to be using Providian to make a political point,” said Providian spokeswoman Laurel Munson. 

The company previously has been hit with several other shareholder lawsuits alleging management covered up its problems during 2001. 

Providian’s shares plunged from a 2001 high of $60.91 to as low as $2.01 after management revealed the breadth of its problems last October. Providian’s shares rose 21 cents to close at $4.90 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. 

Before Providian’s stock began to plummet, Thompson sold his 89,651 shares during July 2001. Thompson hasn’t publicly disclosed how much he made from those sales. 

Providian’s stock price ranged from $46.13 to $59.95 during July 2001. Based on that range, Thompson’s stock sales generated somewhere between $4.1 million and $5.4 million. 

The suit alleges Thompson made the sales because he knew Providian’s stock would plunge once management laid out the company’s financial problems. The Justice Department says Thompson ordered his broker to sell his Providian stock to avoid possible conflicts of interest. 

“The timing of the sale was related to his confirmation (as deputy attorney general), not any other factor,” Comstock said. 

Judicial Watch’s allegations are the latest shot aimed at the past business conduct of Bush and his administration. 

In lawsuits filed by Judicial Watch and other critics, Vice President Dick Cheney has been accused of helping Halliburton overstate its revenues while he was chief executive officer of the oil services company. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Halliburton’s accounting practices during Cheney’s tenure as CEO. 

President Bush also has come under scrutiny for stock sales that he made while he was a director for Harken Energy Corp. 

Judicial Watch said its suit against Thompson illuminates the conflicts facing the Bush administration as it promises to crack down on corporate crime, said Larry Klayman, the Dallas-based group’s chairman. 

“The culture in Washington is to look the other way,” Klayman said. “It is always the high and mighty and powerful in Washington that goes free.” 

Judicial Watch is suing on behalf of Texas resident Robert Lake, who bought 132.9 shares of Providian stock through a retirement account. Lake is seeking $75,000 in damages. 

Although Providian’s stock crashed after Thompson’s departure from the board, Judicial Watch alleges he conspired to help keep the company’s troubles under wraps until he and other insiders could sell their stock. 

Now, the suit alleges, Thompson is blocking an investigation into Providian’s troubles — a charge Comstock called “completely baseless.” 

A year late and $280,000 over budget, the city plans to debut it’s 18,000 square-foot Harrison Skateboard Park – the biggest in the Bay Area – in west Berkeley next month. 

While skateboarders eagerly await the park’s completion, local businesses are concerned about the influx of young skaters. They fear that a crowded park, located in the industrial neighborhood at Fifth and Harrison streets, could lead to vandalism. 

“You should see the rave parties they have here [now],” said one local worker. 

But city officials say these concerns are being addressed. 

“We’re going to have someone there [supervising] two hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the afternoon, and then from 6:30 until closing at 9:30,” said Ed Murphy, project manager for the city’s parks and waterfront department. 

Murphy added that when there was no scheduled supervision, maintenance workers would patrol the park, and that after closing, the police department would make sure the park wasn’t used. The city is also constructing a 6-foot fence around the park to help enforce closing hours. 

The park will be open 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.  

There will also be safety regulations at the new park regarding the use of helmets and pads. 

But some skaters say added precautions are unnecessary. 

“If you put skaters in a cage and have cops roll by to tag them for safety violations, it’s lame,” said Kevin Thatcher, a staffer at the skater magazine THRASHER. “The design could be great [but] they could screw [the new park] up by over-regulating it.” 

Skate parks develop a community etiquette, skaters say, that allows skaters to regulate their own activities without outside supervision. 

“You can’t pay some nanny to run around and tell people what to do, said Jake Phelps, editor of THRASHER. 

The park will be the largest in the Bay Area and will feature two 8-foot bowls and 5-foot high ledges, rails and rolls. 

Phelps was impressed by the park’s design. “Some people have skated it already and say it’s pretty good.” 

With only a few concrete cracks to fill and a fence to build, Mark Mennucci, the skate park’s project manager, said the park should open sometime in September. 

The park was originally scheduled to open last summer. However, construction was halted in November 2000 when the contractor, Morris Construction, hit ground water contaminated with the carcinogen chromium 6. The city spent about $265,000 to clean up the contamination, and built a gravel base below the concrete bowls to prevent further contamination. 

“There’s no way waste is going to come up [now],” said Murphy. 

The project was initially budgeted for $380,000. However, most of that money was used to treat the contaminated water. In 2001, the city allocated another $400,000 to complete the project with new contractor, Altman Engineers. Murphy estimated total project costs at $660,000. 

Phelps expects a lot of skaters for the park’s opening months, but Thatcher says crowds tend to thin out after the first year.  

“Skate parks are never going to be the end all and be all,” he said. “There is too much free asphalt. Kids are still going to go to Pier 7 [in San Francisco]” 

When the park is ready for skaters, city officials are planning a low-key party. 

“There will be a little celebration,” said Lisa Caronna, waterfront and parks director. “Some private companies wanted to do promotions right away, but we want to get a feel for how to run it and make sure that it services the neighborhood.” 

To the Editor: 

With ruthless efficiency, the city's landscape crew recently eliminated the plant Madia sativa thriving in the median strip in front of our home. 

Commonly known as “coast tarweed.” Madia sativa is no weed. As you must know, it's one of our indigenous specimens and host to a variety of native insects. In ancient summers, long before the city of Berkeley existed, Madia sativa covered this area. 

Though it's certainly not a rare plant, I don't know where there's another patch on nearby public land. This year's crop was particularly abundant. I'm sorry to see it go. It might have flowered for another month or so, had it not been prematurely weed-whacked. 

We've lived at our current address for the past 14 years. In our view, this little patch of tarweed – this connection with pre-historic Berkeley – is one thing that makes our block special. We particularly enjoy introducing the plant to neighbors, many of whom know little about local ecology. 

Jim Sharp  

Berkeley

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 

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 

In the high-flying Pac-10, one of the most important things a team needs for success is a pair of good cornerbacks, sometimes even three or four. But thanks to some classroom troubles, the Cal Bears find themselves facing a season with just two experienced cornerbacks. 

Senior Ray Carmel and redshirt freshman Will Scott were both ruled academically ineligible earlier this week, bringing to three the number of cornerbacks the Bears have lost since last season due to grades. Atari Callen transferred to Idaho State earlier this summer after he was ruled ineligible. 

It’s not as if the players lost are slouches, either. Carmel and Callen came out of spring practice as the starters, while Scott’s athleticism probably would have found him some playing time this season. 

“Coming out of spring, (Carmel and Callen) were our top two guys, no question,” Cal defensive secondary coach J.D. Williams said. “It’s unfortunate that we had to lose them that way.” 

The mass exodus leaves senior Jemeel Powell and junior James Bethea as the only cornerbacks on the Cal roster with significant experience. Powell had an outstanding sophomore year before injuries held him back last season, but the speed and confidence that made him a good player seem to be lacking. Bethea started eight games last season, but that’s damning praise as the Bears were among the worst defensive teams in the nation. Bethea was burned deep repeatedly early in the season and played tentatively the rest of the way, going the entire year without an interception. 

With Bethea and Powell the likely starters, at least to start the season, several unknowns will get a shot at important roles. Redshirt freshman Harrison Smith has moved over from safety, as has senior Jeremy Drake. Harrison, a Skyline High (Oakland) graduate, is more known for his hitting than his coverage, and Drake has struggled to crack the starting lineup since coming in from Mt. San Antonio Junior College in 2000. Neither has elite speed, something the outstanding receivers in the conference would likely exploit at every opportunity. 

There are also three true freshmen who could break into the lineup with a good showing in the next few weeks. Wale Forrester, Donnie McCleskey and Tim Mixon all have good speed, and Mixon in particular has looked impressive in full-contact drills. But asking a true freshman to absorb a full college playbook in a few weeks is a bit too much, so don’t expect to see any of them in the opener against Baylor on Aug. 31. 

“(The freshmen) are a little overwhelmed by the playbook, and that’s to be expected,” Williams said. “We have to be able to run all of our plays, and if they can’t do that, they won’t play until they can.” 

Occasional help could come from a familiar source. Senior LaShaun Ward converted from cornerback to wide receiver midway through last season, and head coach Jeff Tedford said he might call on Ward for spot duty in nickel and dime situations. 

Notes: Sophomore wideout Chase Lyman underwent surgery on Tuesday for a broken pinkie on his right hand, suffered at the team’s first official practice on Saturday. The injury will take at least two weeks to heal, but a hamstring injury suffered at the same practice could hold him back even longer. Tedford said he thinks Lyman could be ready for the Bears’ first game. “Chase knows the offense, and I’m confident he’ll be able to jump right back into the thick of things,” Tedford said... Senior guard Scott Tercero has been held out of practice this week due to a shoulder injury, but is expected to be ready for the opener... Offensive lineman Jon Geisel suffered a hamstring injury during Tuesday’s afternoon practice. The severity of the injury was unknown... JC transfer receiver Jonathan Makonnen went through his first full-contact practice on Tuesday after breaking a finger a week ago... Tight end Terrence Dotsy lost 40 pounds this summer, and now weighs in at about 260 pounds.

Former Alameda County Board of Education member Jerome Wiggins said he will file suit next week against County Superintendent Sheila Jordan, her husband Larry Cooperman and her campaign committee, alleging slander. 

Wiggins, who represented Berkeley and the surrounding areas before losing a re-election bid in March, charges that Jordan and Cooperman made “racially tinged” accusations that he is violent and falsely asserted that he was arrested for an alleged November 1988 assault. 

Wiggins, who is black, said it is too early to determine how much money he will seek in damages. 

Jordan said she has never mentioned Wiggins’s race, or used a photograph of the former board member, when accusing him of violent behavior and intimidation tactics. 

She said that by raising the charge Wiggins has created the link between blacks and violence. 

“He’s the one who makes it racially-tinged,” she said. “I find that totally offensive that somehow being a bully is associated with being African-American.” 

Jordan and Wiggins are bitter enemies. The pair engaged in a high-profile budget battle last year that was often personal, and this year, Jordan contributed $10,000 to the campaign of Jacki Fox Ruby, who ousted Wiggins in March. 

In the closing days of the campaign, Jordan sent out campaign literature accusing Wiggins of threatening the superintendent, fellow board members and Ruby supporters. 

The campaign piece quoted several Wiggins e-mails, including one that accused a fellow board member of “unethical, racist and despicable” behavior. The campaign literature also quoted a statement Wiggins allegedly made to another county staff member threatening to bring a baseball bat and destroy county computers during an appointment with Jordan. 

Wiggins said he never threatened Jordan in the phone call and was simply making an animated point about the computer system. 

In July 2001, Cooperman wrote an Oakland Tribune column stating that Wiggins had “a previous arrest for politically motivated violence” in November 1988. Cooperman asserted that Wiggins, then a member of the AC Transit board, was arrested for an alleged assault on a pair of opposition campaign workers. 

But Wiggins was never arrested for the scuffle, according to the Berkeley Police Department. 

“They never went and checked the public record to verify the (arrest) allegation and that’s slander,” Wiggins said. 

Jordan acknowledged that Cooperman made a mistake, but said he was simply relying on what was reported in an erroneous article that appeared in the UC Berkeley student newspaper. 

Jordan said Cooperman has not repeated the accusation since learning that Wiggins was not, in fact, arrested. 

But Wiggins noted that Jordan included a clipping of the newspaper’s headline, which read “Candidate held after early morning scuffle,” in the campaign piece she sent out this year. 

Wiggins said Jordan, knowing he was not arrested, improperly implied that he was. 

Jordan said she has tried to put the ongoing feud with Wiggins behind her. But if Wiggins files suit, the superintendent said, she may bring up several “counter-charges.” Jordan declined to elaborate on what those charges might be, but suggested that they could prove harmful.  

“Jerome really needs to think about jeopardizing himself and his family further,” she said. 

Wiggins dismissed Jordan’s warning, arguing that any counter-charges would be rooted in hearsay. 

“This isn’t about violent behavior,” he said. “You went and told people that I’d been arrested. ... All the rest is innuendo.” 

Wiggins’s attorney Steve Anthony, with Oakland law firm Anthony and Carlson, declined to comment on the specifics of the suit until he files the claim next week. 

To the Editor: 

Why is it that businesses are allowed to sell coffee and food without being required to provide toilets? Why is it that public bathrooms in Berkeley parks are not equipped with sinks or toilet paper? I made Berkeley my home three years ago, and for the most part I love living here. But I am so completely horrified at how difficult and unsanitary it is to use the bathroom in Berkeley. 

There is no reason why any business in Berkeley should be allowed to sell coffee or food without providing clean bathroom facilities. This is basic zoning 101. There is a direct correlation between drinking coffee and needing to use the bathroom. Businesses should be forced to deal with people’s need to use the bathroom if they are to sell any sort of food, including prepackaged drinks. Most other civilized cities have such requirements. 

Berkeley park bathrooms are in desperate need of maintenance. Why is it that toilets are provided without sinks to wash your hands or toilet paper? This is disgusting. Are we really in such dire financial shape that we cannot afford to clean up our own waste in a sanitary manner? There are Thirds World countries that deal with their own waste better then we do. I’ve seen overflowing portable toilets in Berkeley Parks that made me want to vomit. It's very sad that a city so world renowned for it's revolutionary ideas is so far behind the rest of the world in our cleanliness. 

Zach Tomcich 

Berkeley 

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – Cal junior Natalie Coughlin broke the world record in the 100-meter backstroke at the U.S. National Championships and became the first woman to swim the race in under one minute. Her record time of 59.58 broke China’s Cihong He’s 1994 mark of 1:00.16.  

“This is very exciting. It’s a huge barrier in the sport of swimming and for it to be an American to break the world record is awesome,” said Cal head swimming coach Teri McKeever. “She definitely delivered when she needed to.”  

The championships, which take place from August 12-17, is used as a consideration for team selection to such events as the 2002 Pan Pacific Championships, 2003 World Championships and 2003 World University and Pan American Games.  

Coughlin has now set three world records to go along with her 24 American records. In her brief career, she is a two-time NCAA Swimmer of the Year, has won six individual NCAA titles and was named the recipient of the 2001-02 Honda Sport Award Winner for swimming April 3. She also was a finalist for the AAU James E. Sullivan Award as the nation’s top amateur athlete earlier this year and recently was one of five nominees for an ESPY award as Best Female Collegiate Athlete.  

In Monday’s opening events, Coughlin edged out 10-time Olympic medalist Jenny Thompson in the 100 fly and also placed in the 400-meter free relay, along with Danielle Becks, Staciana Stitts and Haley Cope, as the team finished fourth with a time of 3:48.79.

Despite two fatalities this year resulting from vehicles striking people, a report released Tuesday by Washington D.C.-based Surface Transportation Policy Project says Berkeley is the second safest pedestrian city in California. 

The report surveyed the state’s 58 largest cities with populations greater than 100,000 and found that only Irvine presents less of a vehicle threat than Berkeley. Nearby Richmond, Vallejo and San Jose ranked among California’s ten most dangerous for pedestrians. 

“Berkeley has a fairly high [pedestrian-vehicle] incident rate per capita, but only because there are so many people walking,” explained Kristi Kimabll, northern California Campaign Director of STPP. “People walking are less likely to get hit in Berkeley than in other cities.” 

Nearly 15 percent of Berkeley commuters walk to work, more than any other California city with at least 100,000 residents, according to 2000 census data.  

San Francisco was second to Berkeley with 9.4 percent of its commuters traveling by foot. 

Tuesday’s safety report comes just weeks after Berkeley leaders wrote a pedestrian safety tax measure for the November ballot. The proposed measure would raise property tax by 1.3 cents per square foot to fund the development of lighted crosswalks, pedestrian-activated traffic signals, traffic circles and other safety features. 

Supporters of the pedestrian tax measure say Tuesday’s report does not lessen the need for more pedestrian safety features in Berkeley. Some even questioned the report’s findings. 

“What this report tells us is that we do need to pursue safety measures,” said Wendy Alfsen, coordinator of pedestrian group Walk and Roll Berkeley. 

Alfsen said that the STPP report inappropriately factored the number of people who walk into the safety ratings, whereas the quantity of incidents should have been weighed more heavily. 

“In terms of absolute numbers, we’re very high,” said Alfsen. 

The report indicates that Berkeley is second only to San Francisco in the number of pedestrian-vehicle incidents per capita. 

The report calculations are based on 2001 data from the California Highway Patrol. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington, an advocate of the pedestrian safety tax, agreed that the report needs to be reviewed more carefully before conclusions can be drawn. 

“Numbers can be shifted into different verdicts,” he said. 

Opponents of the city’s proposed safety tax are certain to use the report to bolster their argument against the measure. 

“I don’t know that we need this tax because I don’t think it will help,” said Berkeley Resident Art Goldberg, who signed ballot arguments against the proposed tax. “And if Berkeley is really the second safest city, that would prove we don’t need it.”

To the Editor: 

Most of you reading this doubtless consider the San Francisco Bay Area a beautiful place to live. And yet all of us who drive are helping to despoil it. Smog lays like a pall over the whole area and spreads the length of the Great Central Valley, a globally significant source of food. Pollution and ozone were so extreme here on Friday the elderly and children were advised to stay indoors. 

We may think there's nothing we can do, but if each of us will abstain from driving even for just one day a week and commit to walking, biking, or using BART and buses, it will make a difference. 

We need to lobby our municipal and regional governments and especially CalTrans to commit more funds to public transportation and less to planning for ever more cars. The Bay Area Air Quality board must do more than levy small fines on the oil refineries that flout pollution regulations. 

We can do this, and we can teach our children why it is essential for their future that we convert to non-polluting modes of transportation and require Bay Area industries to clean up their smokestacks. 

Will you make one day a car-free day next week? And the next? You can do it. 

Charlene M. Woodcock 

Berkeley

OAKLAND – Chris Mullin, a five-time All-Star and the Golden State Warriors’ fourth-leading career scorer, rejoined the Warriors as a special assistant Tuesday. 

Mullin, who played 13 of his 16 NBA seasons with Golden State, will work in player development and evaluation while also playing a role in the team’s business operations, chief operating officer Robert Rowell said. 

He will not take a supervisory role above general manager Garry St. Jean. 

Mullin, the seventh overall draft pick in 1985, played his first 12 seasons with Golden State, averaging a career-high 26.5 points during the 1988-89 season. He was a star on the Warriors’ playoff teams in the early 1990s before the franchise began its current string of eight consecutive losing seasons.

UC Berkeley visiting professor Pedro Sanchez, the recently-announced winner of the prestigious World Food Prize, said his interest in agriculture and hunger issues began on his family’s farm in Cuba, where his father ran a soil business. 

“In a way, agriculture is in my blood,” said Sanchez, 61, in a statement. “My father’s love for the soil played a large role in my decision to devote my efforts to solving the world’s food problems.” 

Sanchez, who came to the United States in 1958 to study at Cornell University, has spent the last three decades using natural products, instead of synthetic fertilizers, to revitalize infertile soil and increase crop yields for hundreds of thousands of small farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America. 

“He is transforming the lives of African farmers who can now feed their families and become self-sufficient because of the programs he developed,” said Kenneth Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, in a statement. “His work perfectly embodies the spirit of the World Food Prize.” 

Quinn announced that Sanchez won the award Sunday at the International Horticultural Congress in Toronto. 

Sanchez will receive the $250,000 prize during an Oct. 24 ceremony in Des Moines, Iowa, where the foundation is based. The prize was established in 1986 by Norman Borlaug, winner of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in world agriculture. 

Sanchez, who chairs the United Nations Task Force on Hunger, said he feels an urgency in his work. 

“I’m impatient to get hunger over with,” he said. “There’s no room for complacency when you see kids who are malnourished and, as a result, are more susceptible to diseases.” 

Before coming to UC Berkeley in January, Sanchez spent 10 years as director general of the International Centre for Research in agroforestry, based in Kenya, now known as the World Agroforestry Centre. 

There he spearheaded efforts to use natural resources like rock phosphates, rather than costly fertilizers, to increase crop yields for African farmers two to four times, according to the foundation. 

Prior to his work at the agroforestry center, Sanchez was an assistant professor of soil science at North Carolina State University and worked to turn 75 million acres of acidic soil into productive farmland. 

“It was a paradigm shift in how people viewed tropical soils,” said David Zilberman, co-director of UC Berkeley’s Center for Sustainable Resource Development. “A region that had previously been dismissed as farmable land has since become a new breadbasket for Brazil.” 

During his time at North Carolina State, Sanchez was also able to shine a spotlight on the destructive effects of using bulldozers to clear land in the Amazon basin. 

His research eventually contributed to policy changes on land clearing in Peru, Brazil and Indonesia. 

“What’s unique about Pedro is that he is more than just a great scientist,” said Zilberman. “He is skilled in developing policy and building an institutional framework that takes the research into the real world.” 

To the Editor: 

The Planet sent a misleading message to the public by putting three recent articles on the top of the front page under the headlines “More payroll problems in school district,” “Payroll problems continue to plague school district” and “Personnel matter may have cost district its payroll precision” and by relying for its criticisms on a disgruntled former district employee who departed “under mysterious circumstances.” 

The district just completed the first issuance of payroll and vendor checks using a software program widely used by other districts and a computer system operated by the Pleasanton Unified School District. This reorganization of the districts financial information and data processing system is critical to remedying what for years has been a highly unreliable payroll system and antiquated financial reporting system. The district is moving forward to making available reliable financial and personnel information to district management and the school board.  

In a first round of any data conversion “glitches” will happen. That the new system ignored a zero at the beginning of a bank account number is hardly surprising and is easily remedied. So is a one-time miscalculation of payroll withholding taxes. This is not, as the former employee would have it, a “big mess.” The big mess was in the old system for which the former employee was responsible. It is incredible to suggest, as one article did, that the former data processing manager's employment ended because he was doing “too successful” a job. 

School Board President Shirley Issle is right when she says that the public needs to give the district time to iron out the minor problems with the new system – but not quite as much time as the six months she suggests. The district's financial crisis does not permit six months of patience. If this system is not operating smoothly in three months, we may well have a new “big mess.” 

Don Read 

Berkeley

ALBANY – Elvis might have left the building for good 25 years ago this week, but the “King” is helping two Albany police officers convey a message of traffic safety to teens throughout the state. 

Elvis impersonator Lt. Bill Palmini of the Albany Police Department and his guitar-playing colleague, Sgt. Art Clemons, have traveled throughout California as the band Elvis & the Lawmen, using the late rock-n-roller's songs to promote driving safety to teens. 

The band's new CD is called “One Way Ride,”and features 14 Elvis hits picked to convey a traffic safety message. 

The recording also includes the national anthem – which is also an Elvis impersonation. 

The band, which is a project funded by a grant of the California Office of Traffic Safety, has performed at more than 500 school assemblies.

Today’s Highlight in History: 

On Aug. 20, 1968, the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations began invading Czechoslovakia to crush the “Prague Spring” liberalization drive of Alexander Dubcek’s regime. 

On this date: 

In 1833, Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president of the United States, was born in North Bend, Ohio. 

In 1866, President Andrew Johnson formally declared the Civil War over, months after the fighting had stopped. 

In 1914, German forces occupied Brussels, Belgium, during World War I. 

In 1918, Britain opened its offensive on the Western front during World War I. 

In 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill paid tribute to the Royal Air Force, saying, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” 

In 1955, hundreds of people were killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria. 

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed a nearly $1 billion-dollar anti-poverty measure. 

In 1977, the U.S. launched Voyager II, an unmanned spacecraft carrying a 12-inch copper phonograph record containing greetings in dozens of languages, samples of music and sounds of nature. 

In 1979, swimmer Diana Nyad succeeded in her third attempt at swimming from the Bahamas to Florida. 

In 1994, Benjamin Chavis Junior was fired as head of the NAACP after a turbulent 16-month tenure. 

Ten years ago: In the early hours of Aug. 20, the Republican national convention in Houston renominated President George H.W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle. On the evening of the 20th, Bush delivered a hard-hitting speech in which he attacked the Democrats and promised to seek across-the-board tax cuts if re-elected. 

Five years ago: United Parcel Service drivers put away their picket signs, put on their brown shirts and shorts, and called on customers again as the delivery giant began to sluggishly recover from its costly strike. 

One year ago: Nikolay Soltys, a 27-year-old Ukrainian immigrant in Sacramento, Calif., fled after killing his wife and five other relatives. Soltys was captured and committed suicide in his jail cell in February. Sir Fred Hoyle, the astronomer who coined the term “Big Bang” but never accepted that theory for the origin of the universe, died in Bournemouth, England, at age 86. Actress Kim Stanley died in Santa Fe, N.M., at age 76. 

Today’s Birthdays: Writer-producer-director Walter Bernstein is 83. Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, a Maine Democrat, is 69. Singer-musician Isaac Hayes is 60. Broadcast journalist Connie Chung is 56. Rock singer Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) is 54. Actress Joan Allen is 46. TV personality Asha Blake is 41. Rapper KRS-One is 37. Rock singer Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit) is 32. Rock singer Monique Powell (Save Ferris) is 27. 

SACRAMENTO — Each bill cleared one house of the Legislature, then triggered searing soul-searching sessions about how to house struggling lower-wage workers and ease financial disparities between older cities and newer suburbs. 

But legislation designed to address both issues — finding affordable housing and reducing the sprawl of retail areas — ground down amid political pressures and cities reluctant to change. 

Experts say the demise of both bills reveals again how distrust between state and local governments blocks solutions at the troubled edges of California’s growth. In a state desperately short on housing and often seeing stores close in older neighborhoods only to reopen in newer ones a few miles away, balking cities downed both bills, fearful of heightened state power over their affairs. 

“Coming up with a different system that doesn’t make anybody demonstrably worse off is difficult and may be an impossible task,” said Paul Lewis, a government affairs specialist at the Public Policy Institute of California. 

The newest casualty of mutual state-local mistrust is SB910, which proposed the state levy stiff fines on an estimated 30 percent of California cities that shirk their share of affordable housing.

AC Transit is consolidating its bus stops at the downtown Berkeley BART station on Sunday. 

Eastbound stops on Center Street, at Shattuck, and northbound bus stops on Shattuck at Addison Street will be discontinued. The stops for northbound trips via local Lines 8, 15, 64, 65, 67 and transbay Line F will be grouped on Shattuck between Center and Addison streets. Northbound trips on Lines 7, 9, 43, 51, 604 and 605 will be grouped on Shattuck between Allston Way and Center Street. 

Southbound bus trips on Lines 7, 40/40L, 43, 51/51A, 65, 604, 605 and transbay Line F will connect at downtown Berkeley transfer center. The transfer center will include stops northbound and southbound grouped on Shattuck Avenue between Center Street and Allston Way. 

Also on Sunday, a new terminal will be introduced for Line 15 bus trips that begin or end in downtown Berkeley. Line 15's new Berkeley terminus will be in the UC Crescent (above Oxford Street between University Avenue and Center Street).

Today’s Highlight in History: 

Aug. 15, 1945, was proclaimed “V-J Day” by the Allies, a day after Japan agreed to surrender unconditionally. 

On this date: 

In 1769, Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the island of Corsica. 

In 1944, during World War II, Allied forces landed in southern France. 

In 1947, India became independent after some 200 years of British rule. 

In 1948, the Republic of Korea was proclaimed. 

In 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened in upstate New York. 

In 1971, President Nixon announced a 90-day freeze on wages, prices and rents. 

In 1998, 29 people were killed by a car bomb in Omagh, Northern Ireland; a splinter group calling itself the Real IRA claimed responsibility. 

Ten years ago: While Republicans were gathering in Houston for their national convention, President Bush was spending a weekend at Camp David, his renomination secure. 

Five years ago: The government expanded its recall of ground beef sold under the Hudson brand name to 1.2 million pounds because of new evidence of possible contamination by E. coli bacteria. The Justice Department decided against prosecuting senior FBI officials in connection with an alleged cover-up that followed the deadly 1992 Ruby Ridge siege in Idaho. 

One year ago: A Texas appeals court halted the execution of Napoleon Beazley just hours before he was scheduled to die for a murder he had committed as a teenager. He was executed in May. The Air Force gave the go-ahead to build its new F-22 fighter, but said it would build fewer planes for more money than it had once planned. Astronomers announced the discovery of the first solar system outside our own. 

Today’s Birthdays: Cooking expert Julia Child is 90. Attorney and civil rights activist Vernon Jordan is 67. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is 64. Musician Pete York (Spencer Davis Group) is 60. Author-journalist Linda Ellerbee is 58. Princess Anne is 52. Actor Ben Affleck is 30.  

Four cloned calves genetically engineered with human DNA and currently grazing in Iowa could hold the key to creating herds of identical cows that produce medicines in their milk and blood. 

“Cows are ideal factories,” said James Robl, president of Hematech LLC, which hopes to profit from drug-producing bovines. “Cows are big and have a lot of blood and produce a lot of milk.” 

Hematech of Sioux Falls, S.D., and its partner on the project, Kirin Brewing Co., aim to harvest groups of disease-fighting human proteins — called “immunoglobulins” — in cows. The protein groups are produced daily when the body comes under attack from foreign agents, and they’re typically tailor-made to attack each invader. 

The immunoglobulins hold great promise as medicines to treat a whole range of invaders from anthrax to earache-causing viruses in infants. Doctors already use them to treat such maladies as tetanus, rabies and even some cases of infertility. 

Problem is, these proteins can’t be grown in labs and factories and are available only from humans donors, limiting their supply. 

In many cases, it’s impossible to even get specific disease-fighters from human donors. For instance, the only way to obtain anthrax-fighting immunoglobulins is to infect people and provoke an immune response. 

Hematech hopes to solve this problem by producing the proteins through purposely infected cows. 

Other scientists have already spliced human genes into animals in the burgeoning field of molecular pharming. But those efforts have been limited to splicing a single human gene to produce a single protein to fight a specific disease.