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Vandals and malfunction still plague meters
Vandals and malfunction still plague meters
 

News

Parking Meter War Continues

By David Scharfenberg
Friday September 27, 2002

 

A squad of parking meter technicians is the city’s latest response to the continuing problem of meter failure. The move comes as vandalism and coin-recognition problems continue to drain city coffers and aggravate downtown drivers. 

In addition to the repair team, police crackdowns on vandalism are up. A surveillance team arrested two more UC Berkeley students Tuesday morning for jamming meters on Bancroft Way. 

Police charged Zhang Ying Yun, 20, and Shalomda Reynolds, 19, with two misdemeanors – vandalism and tampering with a coin-operated machine. The students face a six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. 

The Berkeley Police Department has now arrested four people for jamming meters near UC Berkeley in a series of three undercover stings dating back to April. 

City officials say vandalism, which has struck an estimated 30 to 40 percent of the city’s 3,200 meters, has cost the city roughly $1 million in repairs and lost revenue per year. 

Patrick Keilch, deputy director of public works, said repeated vandalism may have contributed to another nagging meter problem – failure to read coins properly. 

Lt. Bruce Agnew of the police department’s traffic bureau said residents using faulty meters get less time than they paid for, or no time at all.“That’s obviously frustrating for people,” he said. 

Berkeley resident Marianne Robinson said she has dropped coins into meters only to see a “fail” message flash. 

“It’s one of those things that gets to be a little maddening,” she said. 

The city spent more than $1.5 million to replace all of its meters in 1998 and 1999, according to Keilch. Duncan Industries Parking Control Systems, of Harrison, Ark., supplied the vast majority of those meters. 

Keilch said the city has reached an “amicable agreement” with Duncan Industries over the coin recognition problem. The company has provided free training to city staff in fixing meters and a limited number of free new parts. 

“They want these meters to work as much as we do,” said Keilch. 

Armed with the new parts and training, a full-time staff of four repair technicians are fixing city meters on a constant basis. Four of the city’s parking enforcement officers, or “meter maids,” also received the Duncan training and are conducting repairs on a part-time basis. 

Grace Maguire, assistant to the city manager, said the undercover stings are part of a multi-pronged effort to thwart vandalism. 

In July, as part of a six-month pilot program, the city placed green canvas bags over the 240 often-vandalized meters on Durant and Bancroft streets, between Dana Street and Piedmont Avenue, south of the UC Berkeley campus. 

Officials said most of the vandalism has occurred in this area, where parking is scarce and garages are expensive.  

The police department has dedicated one parking enforcement officer to patrol the relatively small area each day and issue $23 fines for people who exceed the parking time limit – usually one hour.  

Officials hope the new system might yield more revenue than a series of meters that were rendered useless by repeated vandalism. 

“We’re going to see how it works and gauge the effectiveness,” said Maguire. 

The city has not seen a significant jump in tickets since the program went into effect in mid-July, Maguire said, but that was before the students returned to school. Maguire hopes to see improvement in the coming months. 

A recently-passed City Council ordinance allowing traffic enforcement officers to issue multiple tickets for a car that remains in the same space too long should aid the effort. 

Kathy Berger, executive director of the Telegraph Area Association, a local community development organization, said the pilot program has paid another kind of dividend.  

Tight enforcement means that cars are moving in and out of the area quickly, Berger said. As a result, shoppers have an easier time finding parking spots and patronizing local businesses. 

“It appears to be working extremely well,” she said. “It has actually helped some people’s businesses.” 

For now, police department spokesperson Officer Mary Kusmiss said it is too early to measure the success of the city’s anti-vandalism efforts. 

“But getting the information out there that there is regular enforcement and conducting these stings, hopefully will mitigate the problem,” she said. 


A call to open the debate to Camejo

Howard G Chong
Friday September 27, 2002

To the Editor: 

Sacramento's “News 10” reports that 69 percent of voters would like to see Green Party gubernatorial candidate Peter Camejo in the Oct. 7 televised debate. Camejo has deep roots in Berkeley, having been active as an anti-war activist in Berkeley in the 60s – active enough that the powers-that-be expelled him after he won the presidency for the Associated Students of the University of California. 

Camejo espouses the positive platform of the Green Party and advocates for reforming our massive prison and criminal justice system, helping to fix our economy by making corporations responsible (not just accountable), and protecting our environment by having California take a leadership role in renewable energy. 

Davis, always the politician, is aiming to smear Simon and to ignore Camejo. Davis has refused to debate Camejo. Politicians, however, should not control the media. Berkeley has always stood for free speech. To open up the debates to other views (and there is a mountain of other views between Davis and Simon), Camejo, who is the leading third party candidate, needs to be included. This is a very Berkeley issue. 

If you agree, write the Los Angeles Times at letters@latimes.com  

demanding that Peter Camejo be included in the Oct. 7 gubernatorial debate. Point out that it is not their decision, that the people of California want Peter in the debate and that they, as a media outlet serving the public, must respect the will of the electorate. 

 

Howard G Chong 

Berkeley Rent Board candidate


Deep Space: A Compelling Irish Drama

By Robert Hall
Friday September 27, 2002

Transparent Theater strides into its second season sure-footedly with Alex Johnston’s two-person drama “Deep Space.”  

Johnston is one of the new breed of Irish playwrights. Raised in Dublin, he sets “Deep Space” in shabby digs there. Those digs, sketched in scenic artist Ann Goldschmidt’s skewed platform topped by a couple of mismatched stuffed chairs and a block-and-board bookcase, are occupied by two aimless blokes named Keith and Jaco. The Bay Area has seen quite a few of their type on the stage lately, from Charlie and Jake in “Stones in His Pockets,” to Howie and Rookie in Magic Theater’s sizzling “Howie the Rookie.” By the evidence of these works, and Johnston’s, young Irish men of the middle and lower classes are as full of blarney as they’ve always been, but their blowhard cynicism masks a lingering pathos. 

Rootless, they long for home; bewildered, they long for life to make sense; sarcastic, they long for love. 

“Deep Space” consists of a series of encounters in that Dublin flat over a period of weeks. Seemingly the more relaxed and philosophical of the roomies, lean, pale, curly-haired Keith is college educated but jobless, killing time smoking, reading the paper, watching telly and talking about seeking work. Smaller, wiry, crop-haired Jaco is a working class guy, an electrician who wriggles in his chair like a tadpole in a womb, his physical restlessness reflecting itchy longings. Crudely but touchingly articulate, he’s crazy about women, and he wants to find Miss Right. “I’m too old to do this anymore!” he cries. 

Women are a main theme of Keith and Jaco’s conversation, particularly one named Fionnula. She’s no dummy. “There’s lots of boys out there,” we’re told she observes, “but there’s not many men.” Keith knew her first, and though he claims not to be interested in her, he lies to Keith about her being a lesbian. 

Keith meets her by chance and falls into bed with her. 

He falls in love with her, too. 

Both men know she was once raped. She tells Jaco a story about a friend who was raped. That, and the play’s opening talk about “paradigm shifts” in sexual roles, lays the groundwork for dark developments. “Deep Space” is good at letting those developments sneak up. At first the play seems as cheery and aimless as its two characters, but Fionnula gradually comes between them, leading to a powerful climax of twin betrayals that’s unexpected yet convincing. 

Love doesn’t always lead to tenderness, and (though it’s politically incorrect to say so) rape may not be solely an act of violence. 

Transparent Theater gives Johnston’s spare, moving play a restrained and beautiful production. David Robertson provides mood-enhancing lighting, and Patrick Kaliski adds effective sound. Ryan Montgomery directs with a fine feeling for the nuances of the story, and the two actors are appealingly right. Drew Khalouf gives Keith’s existential torpor a tragic edge, and as Jaco Jason Frazier is both hilariously fidgety and touching. 

We never learn quite what brought this mismatched pair together, but the play, and the actors, make it clear what sunders them. Transparent Theater has converted a former church at Ashby Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way into a fine and welcome addition to the East Bay’s playhouses, and “Deep Space” is a good reason to visit it. 


Calendar

Friday September 27, 2002

Saturday, Sept. 28 

Free Legal Workshop:  

“Crossroads: Health and the Law.” 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

514 58th St. at Telegraph Avenue 

Navigate your way through legal issues when living with cancer or any serious illness. Panel presentation on employment, insurance and public benefits and one-on-one sessions with attorneys. Please, pre-register. 

601-4040, Ext. 102 for information  

or Ext. 103 to register 

Free  

 

Garage Sale/ Car Wash  

Belize/ Berkeley Scouts 

10 to 2 p.m. 

Epworth UMC, 1953 Hopkins St. 

International exchange fundraising effort for scouts. 

525-6058 

 

A Forum on the Arts with the Berkeley Mayoral Candidates 

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Aurora Theater, 2081 Addison St. 

558-1381 

Free 

 

Sunday, Sept. 29 

Tibetan Buddhism  

“Healing Mind” 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place 

Sylvia Gretchen discusses how the teachings cultivate the mind and redefine what healing means. 

843-6812 

Free 

 

“Iron Chef” Style Cook-Off  

3 to 4 p.m. 

(followed by reception, 4 to 6 p.m.) 

Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto 

1919 Fourth St.  

In this “Crabby Chef” Competition 2002, top East Bay chefs vie for this year’s title by creating the tastiest crab dish. Master of Ceremonies will be KGO-AM’s Gene Burns. 

 

City of Berkeley  

2002 Public Art Competition 

1 to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Central Public Library  

2090 Kittredge St.  

A public art informational workshop will be open to all artists regarding public art site proposals. 

981-6100 

Free 

 

Friday, Sept. 27 

The Cracked Normans,  

Paradigm & Soul Americana 

9:30 p.m. (21 and over) 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$5. 

 

Eric Bogle 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$16.50 in advance. $17.50 at door. 

 

Fair Weather, Liars  

Academy and Open Hand 

8 p.m. 

924 Gilman St. 

525-9926 

$5. 

 

Reggae Angels with Earl Zero  

and Jah Light Music 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

$15 door. 12 and under free. 

 

Saturday, Sept. 28 

Barry & Alic Oliver 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$16.50 in advance. $17.50 at door. 

 

From Monument to Masses,  

Victory at Sea and Yesterday’s Kids 

8 p.m. 

924 Gilman St. 

525-9926 

$5. 

 

Sunday, Sept. 29 

Si Kahn  

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance. $16.50 at door. 

 

Cellist Gianna Abondolo 

4 p.m. 

Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. 

Classical favorites and original  

compositions for cello. 

559-6910 

$10 general. 18 and under free. 

 

Weber Iago and Harvey Wainaple 

4:30 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

845-5373 

$10-$15. 

 

David Friesen and Uwe Kropinski 

8 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

845-5373 

$10-$15. 

 

Blowing Zen: A Performance of Shakuhachi 

7:30 p.m. 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church  

2626 College Ave. 

528-2027 

$12 at door. Children $5. Seniors $10. 

 

Chamber Music 

4 to 5:15 p.m. 

Crowden Music Center 1475 Rose St. 

Gianna Abondolo & Friends  

celebrate the release of their  

classical and jazz CD. 

559-6910 

$10. 18 and under free. 

 

Tuesday, Oct. 1 

Toshi Reagon 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance. $16.50 at door. 

 

Wednesday, Oct. 2 

Hookslide 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance. $16.50 at door. 

 

Thursday, Oct. 3 

Pete & Joan Wernick featuring Dr. Banjo  

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance. $16.50 at door. 

 

"Balancing Acts" 

Through Oct. 10 

Gallery 555, 555 12th St., 

Oakland City Center 

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

http://www.oaklandcitycenter.com.  

Free. 

 

“Hunger: What will you do about it?”  

Through Oct. 30, Mon.-Fri.,  

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

The Civic Center Building 

2180 Milvia St., 5th floor 

Featuring 40 photographs  

by Berkeley artist David Bacon. 

834-3663, Ext. 338, uchanse@secondharvest.org 

Richard Misrach, Berkeley Work 

Though Oct. 13 

UC Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way 

On view in Gallery 2, presents two photographic series by this internationally recognized Berkeley-based artist.  

642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

$7. $5 BAM/PFA members.  

$4 UC Berkeley students. 

 

“Recent Acquisitions” 

Oct. 13 through Dec. 14 

Thurs., Fri., and Sat., 1 to 4 p.m. 

Berkeley Historical Society, Veterans Memorial Building, 1931 Center St. 

848-0181 

Free. 

 

Misch Kohn - Celebrating Sixty Years of Printmaking 

Through Oct. 16. Tues.-Fri., Noon to 5:30 p.m.; Sat., noon to 4:30 p.m. 

Kala Arts Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 

549-2977, kala@kala.org 

 

Nancy Salz 

Through Oct. 23, Tues.-Fri. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Sat 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 

Barbara Anderson Gallery, 2243 5th St. 

848-3822 

 

Timoteo Ikoshy Montoya 

Through Nov. 1  

Reception Sept. 20, 6 to 8 p.m. 

Gathering Tribes Gallery  

1573 Solano Ave.  

Acrylic/air brush paintings  

by this Native American artist.  

528-9038 

 

Threads: Five artists who  

use stitching to convey ideas 

Oct. 6 through Dec. 15, Wed.-Sun., noon to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center 

Live Oak Park, 1275 Walnut St. 

Information: www.berkeleyartcenter.org, 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 for youth. $20 for seniors. $22 general. 

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar 

Through Oct. 12 

Thurs. through Sat. 8 p.m. 

LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre  

1834 Euclid Ave. 

234-6046 

$10. 

 

The House of Blue Leaves 

Through Oct. 27 

Berkeley Rep's Roda Theater  

2015 Addison St.  

647-2917 or 888-4BRTTIX 

$10-$54. 

 

The Shape of Things 

Through Oct. 20 

Aurora Theatre Company  

2081 Addison St. 

Play by writer/director Neil LaBute's spins a morality tale of a young art student, his art major girlfriend, and the Pygmalion-like changes that bring into question how far one should go for love. 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org for reservations 

$26-$35. 

 

Ceramics - Opening Reception 

Through Nov. 17 

3 to 5 p.m. 

A New Leaf Gallery, 1286 Gilman St. 

525-7621 

Free. 

 

Sunday, Sept. 29 

Margaret Kaufman & Robert Funge 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

845-7852, www.poetryflash.org 

$2 donation. 

 

Thursday, Oct. 3 

Brenda Hillman 

12:10 p.m. 

Morrison Library in Doe Library, UCB 

UC Berkeley’s Lunch Poems Reading Series. Author’s six books include “Loose Sugar” and “Cascadia”. 

http://www.berkeley.edu/calendar/events 

Free. 

 

Nathaniel Mackay and Trane Devore 

6 p.m. 

Maud Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall, UC Berkeley 

Part of Holloway Poetry Series for Fall 2002. 

jscape@socrates.berkeley.edu 

Free. 

 

 

 

Friday, Oct. 4 

Katherine Forrest 

7:30 p.m. 

Boadecia’s Books, 398 Colusa Ave. at Colusa Circle 

Reading from “Daughters of the Amber Moon” 

559-9184 

Free. 

 

Saturday, Oct. 5 

“Black Like Us: A Century of Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual African American Fiction” 

7:30 p.m. 

Boadecia’s Books, 398 Colusa Ave. at Colusa Circle 

Led by co-editors Devon W. Carbado and Donald Wiese, and several of the book’s writers. 

559-9184 

Free. 

 

Sunday, October 6 

Ledisi and The Braxton Brothers 

4:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Jazz School, 2087 Addison St.  

845-5373 

$15, $12 - students & seniors, $10 Jazzschool students 

 

Tuesday, Oct. 8 

Daniel Wilkinson 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Author Wilkinon and panelists from Global Exchange and Equal Exchange will discuss Guatemala, globalization, and book “Silence on the Mountain” 

(617) 351-3243 

 

Thursday, Oct. 10 

Daniel Wilkinson 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Wilkinson will read from his book “Silence on the Mountain” 

(617) 351-3243 

 


Fired-up Panthers serve up a big win

By Jared Green
Friday September 27, 2002

 

The St. Mary’s High girls’ volleyball team rode a quick start and some great serving to their first Bay Shore Athletic League victory on Thursday, beating Holy Names High, 15-9, 15-5, 15-13. 

The Panthers (3-1 overall, 1-1 BSAL) served up 19 aces in Thursday’s match, accounting for 42 percent of their points. The rest of the offense came from the trio of Natalie Bogan, Jazmin Pratt and Martha Ryan, who combined for 32 kills as St. Mary’s simply overpowered the Monarchs. 

“Today was awesome, just unbelievable,” St. Mary’s head coach Cherise Revell said. “We’ve been working a lot on our serves in practice, and it showed today.” 

Pratt blamed an earlier loss to St. Joseph High on poor serving and said the team had some extra motivation because Thursday was the Panthers’ home opener. 

“We really wanted to start off strong in our first home game,” said Pratt, who had 14 kills and seven aces. “All our work paid off today.” 

St. Mary’s got off to a scorching start, running up a 10-0 lead in the first game. Holy Names had serious trouble passing the Panthers’ serves to their setter, either missing altogether or putting the ball right at the net where Bogan was waiting for a block. Although the Monarchs managed a seven-point run of their own to pull within 11-8, they didn’t have the firepower to overcome such a big deficit. 

The Panthers started slowly in the next two games, getting behind 2-5 and 1-4, respectively. They had no problem coming back in the second game, scoring 13 straight points to take a 2-0 lead in games, but the final game was a different story. They handed Holy Names 12 points on errors and looked as if they would need a fourth game to put the Monarchs away. 

In stepped Pratt. After two kills for points to keep her team close, she fired her jump-serve for three straight aces to put the visitors back on their heels. When another point kill by Pratt made the score 13-12 in Holy Names’ favor, the Monarchs fell apart, making two hitting errors and a bad pass to finish the match. 

“[Holy Names] just got their momentum going in the last game,” Ryan said. “But we were juiced all day, and we weren’t going to lose.”


Mayor trails in endorsements

By Matthew Artz
Friday September 27, 2002

 

While Berkeley’s two primary mayoral candidates say they expect a tight election this November, the race for political endorsements has been a landslide. 

Progressive candidate Tom Bates, with ties and personal bonds he forged during 20 years as a state Assemblyman, has won the support of nearly every major local interest group and politician. 

Heavy hitters such as U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, state Assemblywoman Dion Aroner, D- Berkeley, are supporting bates. The Sierra Club, the National Organization for Women, Green Party of Alameda, Democratic Party of Alameda, and Alameda Council of Labor have endorsed him. All told more than 300 people and organizations back Bates. 

“I’ve got their support because of what I’ve done in the past and my history of providing good leadership,” Bates said. He says that Mayor Shirley Dean failed while in office eight years to develop the same relationships with local leaders. 

Dean, however, said Bates’ endorsements were about political ties than political record. 

“I do believe that I am up against a political machine that wants to control everything in the city,” she said. Dean represents a moderate faction in the City Council, which is the minority group by one-vote.  

Dean has won the support of state Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, the Berkeley Democratic Club, and more than 30 neighborhood activists. The police and fireman’s unions, as well as an offshoot of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce, all of which supported Dean in her past two successful campaigns, have not yet made an endorsement. 

Bruce Cain, a UC Berkeley professor with the political science department said Bates’ endorsements should give him an advantage but will not guarantee him victory in November. 

“At a local level, it can matter if groups are willing to do work and throw resources into the race,” he said. “Often in a low turnout election, if interest groups get the vote out, it will make the difference.” 

Bates agreed and said his supporters are more than just names to put on campaign fliers. “Groups are making phone calls to members and walking precincts,” he said, adding that Sierra Club will make a pro-Bates mailing to its estimated 5,000 Berkeley members. 

Dean, meanwhile, said she doesn’t need the support of leading politicians and interest groups to win the election. “The neighborhood knows my record and neighborhood support is the most important type of endorsements there are,” she said.


Are 7 days a big headache for stadium neighbors?

Kenny Byerly
Friday September 27, 2002

To the Editor: 

Neighbors of UC Berkeley's Memorial Stadium should quit their whining. Just because seven days a year they have to carefully time their shopping trips, they want the university to throw away 70 years of tradition and build a whole new stadium, inconveniencing tens of thousands of students, Cal fans, and alumni. Unless these residents moved in prior to 1928, they knew exactly what they were getting into by living near a stadium. Seven days of inconvenience is not that many, especially if you're told in advance exactly when they're going to happen. 

I'm glad the university has control of the situation. The Hayward fault is a definite concern that should be taken under consideration, but my vote is to keep the stadium right where it is, if for no other reason to keep these crybabies in a tizzy. 

 

Kenny Byerly 

Berkeley 


Jackets get stuck in shallow end

By Jared Green
Friday September 27, 2002

 

Call it a home-field disadvantage. 

The Berkeley High boys’ water polo team was shut out in both the second and fourth quarters against Bishop O’Dowd on Thursday, as the Dragons were twice able to wipe out Berkeley leads for a 9-7 win at Willard Middle School in Berkeley. The pool at Willard is only 3 feet deep on one end, which happened to be the end the Yellowjackets were shooting at in both quarters they were blanked. 

“[O’Dowd’s] goalkeeper was tall, and in the shallow cage he could just jump and cover the entire goal,” Berkeley’s Andy Turner said. “Our shot selection started to be off, and we just let the pressure get to us.” 

The Jackets (3-6 overall, 1-1 ACCAL) had one-goal leads at the end of both the first and third quarters, thanks in large part to Turner and Dominic Cathey. Turner had three goals and an assist, while Cathey contributed two assists and a goal. 

But O’Dowd (4-5, 1-0) got the last laugh. Down 7-5 with just seconds left in the third quarter, it looked as if Berkeley would have the momentum heading into the final seven minutes of play. But an apparent O’Dowd shot clock violation turned into a Dragon goal as no one secured the ball as both teams headed back down to the other end. When neither referee blew the whistle to stop play, however, an O’Dowd player alertly beat Berkeley goalkeeper Sammy Hammer to the ball and scored an easy goal, cutting the deficit to one. 

The fourth quarter was all Dragons, as captain Cason Schmit returned from a third-quarter ejection to create havoc in front of the Berkeley net. Schmit’s presence opened up shots for his teammates, and Hammer couldn’t stop every shot thrown at him. 

The tying goal came from a bit of luck for the Dragons. Patrick Bobb had the ball near the side of the Berkeley goal, but it slipped out of his hand and behind him. The defender dove for the ball, but Bobb reached back blindly and came up with it instead, leaving him alone with Hammer for an easy score. 

Berkeley had a golden opportunity seconds later as O’Dowd goalkeeper Elliot Carney was ejected for an intentional foul. But the Jackets took a needlessly quick shot during the resulting three-on-one that went over the bar, releasing Carney from the sideline. 

With a minute remaining, O’Dowd’s Jim Bowerman had the ball near midfield with the shot clock winding down and lasered in a desperation shot. It skipped off the water and deflected off of Hammer’s outstretched arm for an 8-7 O’Dowd lead. The Jackets couldn’t get a shot off on the next possession, and Bobb scored a fastbreak goal to put the game away.


More programs may return to high school

By David Scharfenberg
Friday September 27, 2002

 

One day after reinstating Berkeley High School’s African-American studies department, Superintendent Michele Lawrence said Thursday that she will consider bringing back the English language learners, visual arts and performing arts departments. 

Before this week, the district was poised to fold the African-American studies and English language learners programs into other, unspecified departments and to combine the visual and performing arts programs into one department under the terms of an Aug. 20 agreement with the teacher’s union. 

The move would not have affected the African-American studies, ELL or arts classes offered at the high school, but would have eliminated department chairs and, many feared, meeting time for teachers. 

When details of the agreement surfaced Tuesday, there was a public outcry over the planned consolidation of the 34-year-old African-American studies department, leading to a reinstatement of the department at the Board of Education meeting Wednesday night. 

Lawrence said the district will have to work with the Berkeley Federation of Teachers union to hammer out the details of reinstating African-American studies and any other department. 

“I’m certain we’ll have to go back to the table,” she said. 

BFT President Barry Fike, who has signaled a willingness to renegotiate, said the union is ready to return to the bargaining table and reinstate the departments. 

“We’re very pleased that there seem to be indications from the district that they are willing to renegotiate,” he said. 

One sticking point may be job descriptions and pay for the returning department chairs. 

The Aug. 20 agreement laid out 17 different duties for department chairs, ranging from ordering books to supporting teachers, and provided stipends of $5,000, $3,750 and $2,250, depending on the size of a chair’s department. 

Smaller departments, African-American studies and ELL, were to lose their chairs. District officials pushed for this reduction in the total number of chairs, during the August negotiations, because they hoped to save several thousand dollars for a district $3.9 million in debt. 

Lawrence suggested Thursday that the district was not interested in offering costly stipends to any returning department chairs – in African-American Studies, ELL or the arts – in light of the budget problems. 

Robert McKnight, chair of the African-American studies department, said he could care less about the stipend, as long as the program remains in place. 

“I don’t have a job,” explained McKnight, who led the reinstatement charge. “I’m on a mission.”  

But Fike said he was concerned that any agreement calling on chairs of small departments to perform extra duties without adequate pay could set a dangerous precedent. 

Still, Fike said the overriding concern for the union is bringing back the consolidated departments. He does not expect the salary issue to get in the way. 

“I’m confident that it’s not a stumbling block that can’t be overcome,” he said. 

 

Contact reporter at scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net 

 

 


Consequences of war with Iraq unpredictable

Taylor Bennett
Friday September 27, 2002

To the Editor: 

I want to express my strong support for the remarks of Sen. Tom Daschle condemning President George W. Bush's politicization of the proposed Department of Homeland Defense during his recent campaign fund-raising speech in Trenton, N.J. Mr. Bush and his allies in the House and Senate are gambling unconscionably with the world's future, while attempting to use the debate over a resolution to authorize the use of military force against Iraq for mere political gain before the November mid-term elections. Given Mr. Bush's past record of desertion from a Texas Air National Guard post, which he obtained by political influence (see awolbush.com), his willingness to put American military service members' lives in jeopardy is hypocritical and immoral. 

It is particularly appalling to note that the Bush administration has been planning for a war against Iraq since well before the events of Sept. 11, 2001 (see Sept. 22, 2002 New York Times article, “Bush's Push on Iraq at U.N.: Headway, Then New Barriers”). This makes it clear that the supposed urgency to take military action against Iraq is not rooted in any new intelligence information or threat posed by Iraq toward the United States. The administration has embarked on an extremely risky “wag the dog” foreign policy that is dominated by purely political considerations, rather than national security. 

I urge Congress to resist the Bush administration's attempt to railroad the U.S. into an unnecessary war with Iraq that would undoubtedly kill thousands of innocent civilians, as well as unforeseeable numbers of American and allied men and women of the armed services. The consequences of such a war are far from predictable and would likely be disastrous. Sen. Daschle is right to demand an apology from President Bush for his egregiously insulting and partisan comments during his recent speech in Trenton, N.J. 

 

Taylor Bennett 

Berkeley 


Who’s the Cougars’ quarterback? Bears say it doesn’t really matter

By Jared Green
Friday September 27, 2002

 

When Washington State takes the field against Cal on Saturday, there’s a chance the Cougars might be missing their Heisman-hopeful quarterback, Jason Gesser. But the Bears say they don’t really care. 

Gesser suffered separated cartilage in his ribs last week in a win over Montana State and is listed as questionable for Saturday’s game at Memorial Stadium. A second-team All-Pac-10 selection last season, Gesser is one of the nation’s top quarterbacks. 

But Gesser’s backup, junior Matt Kegel, is no slouch himself. Although he has limited game experience, there was talk before last season that Kegel might win the starting job away from Gesser. That obviously didn’t happen and Gesser established himself with an outstanding season, but Kegel likely wouldn’t be a huge step down if he were to play. 

“They run the same offense with both guys,” Cal head coach Jeff Tedford said. “Gesser’s a slippery guy, but Kegel’s athletic also. It’s not like a big switch with him in the game.” 

But Kegel is limping this week as well, as he hurt his knee against Montana State. The third-string quarterback is redshirt freshman Chris Hurd, a Deer Valley High (Antioch) graduate. Hurd finished the Cougars’ game last week and is taking the majority of the snaps in practice this week in case he has to play against the Bears. 

Washington State head coach Mike Price said Gesser will most likely start the game, although how long he can go will be up to Price himself. 

“[Gesser] is an inspiring guy, and he wants to play no matter what. Even if he’s in pain, he’s playing,” Price said. “The only way he’s not playing is if he’s going to get hurt more by playing. Then it will be my call, not his.” 

No matter which of the three quarterbacks ends up playing most of the game, the Bears know they’ll have to get pressure on him to be successful against Washington State’s explosive spread attack. 

Cal defensive tackle Daniel Nwangwu said the defensive linemen won’t be paying much attention to the number on the quarterback’s chest; they just want to make sure that jersey just gets dirty. 

“I just want to get to the quarterback no matter who he is,” defensive tackle Daniel Nwangwu said. “To concentrate on doing something different with a different quarterback in there is a waste of time.” 

Cornerback Jemeel Powell agreed with Nwangwu. 

“Who’s at quarterback doesn’t matter to me,” Powell said. “If we don’t cover correctly, any quarterback will hit the open man.” 

Those men Powell referred to will be Washington State’s impressive stable of receivers. With Mike Bush, a 6-foot-5 former basketball player, and Florida State transfer Devard Darling leading the charge, the Cougars have one of the most athletic and versatile sets of receivers in the country. They all can go over the middle for short passes or deep for big gains, and Bush excels at winning jump balls away from smaller cornerbacks. 

Tedford said he doesn’t expect to completely stop the Washington State passing game, which has been highly effective during Price’s 14 years as the school’s head coach. 

“I’m not going to sit here and say we’re going to shut down their receivers,” Tedford said. “We might be step for step with them, but they’re still going to make plays on the football.”


Watch for traffic cameras

By Matthew Artz
Friday September 27, 2002

Red light runners and speeders beware: What the police don’t see, the camera surely will. 

Berkeley may be the next city in line to install cameras on streets or traffic signals to protect pedestrians. 

At a transportation forum at the Willard Middle School Wednesday, Berkeley transportation head Peter Hillier, said he is hoping to start discussion by next summer about bringing traffic cameras to Berkeley. 

“I think they’ve been extremely successful in reducing red light running or speeding,” he said. Similar cameras have been installed in other United States cities, including San Francisco, and are prevalent in Europe and Canada. 

Several people, however, cringed at the idea of cameras monitoring public streets. 

“Surveillance cameras ... you know that sounds too much like ‘1984,’ It’s crazy,” said Ted Chabasinski of the 2900 block of Florence Street. 

Hillier, though, maintained that the cameras would be used to punish dangerous drivers, not to spy on residents. 

If Berkeley decides to install traffic cameras it will have several options. 

The most common type of camera is attached to a traffic signal and only takes photos of cars running a red light, Hillier said. Other cameras gauge speed and are installed in the sidewalk or kept inside a police car. A new traffic signal camera that tickets for both speeding and red light running is on the market, he said. 

Hillier said that public acceptance is stronger for cameras that monitor for red light violations than it is for cameras that watch for speeders, which is a more common offense. 

If community opposition doesn’t derail cameras, cost might. 

The city would have to spend about $100,000 to install any type of camera at just a few intersections, he said. 

Despite initial suspicion by some forum attendees, Hillier asked residents to withhold judgment until the idea is hashed out. 

“What is critical is to thoroughly research the practice,” he said. “If there is strong documented evidence of a benefit then the idea may seem better to people.”  

Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who has advocated traffic safety measures for his district, said he was open to the limited use of cameras. 

“If they were surveillance cameras to turn us into a police state, that would be a problem,” he said. “But when it’s a picture of a license plate, that might be OK.” 

 

Contact reporter at matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net


I hope teachers stand behind their messages

Devora Liss
Friday September 27, 2002

To the Editor: 

I wonder why Snehal Shingavi and others are so paranoid (Daily Planet, Sept. 20) about their rhetoric being monitored. I would hope instructors at UC Berkeley base their class material on truth, avoiding personal slants. If so, why are they up in arms when someone wants to quote them? Should they not be willing to stand behind and support the messages they promote in the classroom? Apparently Snehal is afraid to be challenged, according to his English class’ guideline advising “conservative thinkers” to enroll in a different section. Snehal seems to be the only one silencing speech, not those who wish to reveal biases in university classrooms. 

 

Devora Liss 

Berkeley


Scoreboard

Friday September 27, 2002

Girls tennis - Salesian 4, St. Mary’s 3 

The Panthers fall in BSAL play as Salesian wins three singles matches and a doubles match. Maren Sagat wins for St. Mary’s in the top singles match. Both teams are now 1-1 in league play. 

 

Girls golf - St. Mary’s 329, Berkeley 330 

The Panthers take down Berkeley in a cross-town rivalry matchup at Mira Vista Country Club. Berkeley’s Cameron Wilson leads the pack with a 59, but the Panthers win by one stroke. St. Mary’s improves its record to 3-1, while Berkeley drops to 2-2. 

 

Girls tennis - Berkeley 4, El Cerrito 3 

The Yellowjackets improve to 4-1 in ACCAL play with a win over El Cerrito (3-2 ACCAL). Berkeley sweeps the top three singles matches and the team of Ari Anisimov and Rachel Leibman wins the third doubles match to clinch the victory. 

 

Girls volleyball - Berkeley def. De Anza 15-6, 15-2, 15-0 

Berkeley (3-5 overall, 2-0 ACCAL) still hasn’t lost an ACCAL match in three seasons as the Yellowjackets notch another easy victory in league play. Vanessa Williams has six kills and eight digs for Berkeley, while Nadia Qabazard pitches in with seven digs and four aces. Setter Danielle Larue nearly serves out the final game, racking up 14 straight points before a Berkeley error ends her streak.


Two missiles fire into car in Gaza City

By Ibrahim Barzak
Friday September 27, 2002

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel tried to kill the mastermind of the Hamas bombing campaign Thursday, firing two missiles into a car in crowded Gaza City. Two bodyguards died and 35 bystanders were wounded in the helicopter attack, but the fate of the Palestinian militant remained uncertain. Hamas promised revenge. 

A senior Palestinian security official said the 37-year-old Mohammed Deif escaped with moderate injuries. Israeli police sources said the Israeli military told them Deif — atop Israel’s wanted list for years — was killed. The military had no public comment. 

Hamas official Abdel Aziz Rantisi said Deif was not even in the car. But he said the group would avenge the attack nevertheless. “We will hit Tel Aviv. We will hit everywhere.” 

In other violence, four Palestinians — including two gunmen, a civilian and a baby — and one Israeli were reported killed. Israel maintained its stranglehold on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah in defiance of Tuesday’s U.N. Security Council resolution to end the siege. 

Two helicopters appeared in the sky over Gaza just after 1:30 p.m., firing missiles that blew apart a green Mercedes sedan and sent a plume of white smoke over the Sheik Radwan neighborhood. 

“Suddenly we heard the sound of a big explosion,” said Mohammed Hajar, a hairdresser working in the area. “When I ran out, a second explosion took place.” 

Blood, body parts and shrapnel were strewn across a wide area and nearby windows were shattered. A large crowd, confused and angry, gathered as rescue workers led the wounded to ambulances. 

One man leapt on a car and shouted, “God is great.” 

Hamas sources identified the two dead men as members of Hamas, Abdel Rahim Hamdan, 27, and Issa Abu Ajra, 29. Rantisi said they were Deif’s bodyguards. 

More than a dozen children were wounded in the attack, the latest in a series of assaults the Israeli military calls “targeted killings” of Palestinians. 

The most controversial, a strike in Gaza that killed Hamas militant Salah Shehadeh, also killed nine children and five adult civilians. 

In the past two years, at least 78 wanted Palestinians and 52 bystanders have been killed in such attacks, which the Palestinians deride as a policy of assassination. Human rights groups have condemned the policy. 

“Today’s attack is another example that shows clearly that the Israeli army doesn’t care about the life of the innocent Palestinian victims,” said Samieh Mouhsen of the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights. “It constitutes a policy of lawless disregard for the most fundamental human rights, the right to life.” 

Israel says the targeted killings are its best means of preventing terror attacks, and accuses Arafat’s Palestinian Authority of doing nothing against the radical groups and even encouraging them. Palestinians argue Israel’s travel restrictions and military strikes have left their security services powerless. 

Israelis accuse Deif of having a role in dozens of suicide attacks over the past six years. He survived an Israeli airstrike earlier this year. 

Earlier strikes on top Hamas figures have led to increased violence. When Israel killed Deif’s mentor Yehiyeh Ayyash in 1996, Hamas responded with four suicide bombings that killed dozens of Israelis. 

An Israeli security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Deif had served as head of Hamas military wing after the killing of Ayyash. He surrendered the position after the more charismatic and ideological Shehadeh was released from a Palestinian jail in mid-2000. Deif took over again three days after Shehadeh’s killing, he said. 

Israel has long pressed Palestinians to seize Deif, and accused Arafat of sheltering him. Hamas, however, often as been at odds with Arafat. 

Palestinian officials arrested and held Deif for several months until December 2000. The Palestinians said he escaped. Israeli officials said his jailers set him free. 

Late Thursday, about 3,000 Hamas supporters demonstrated near the site of the attack. Organizers said the purpose was to give thanks for Deif’s safety.


University to battle bioterrorism

Daily Planet Wire Service
Friday September 27, 2002

 

BERKELEY – The University of California at Berkeley is working to be at the forefront of the battle against bioterrorism with the help of a new $2.8 million federal grant.  

The three-year grant will fund a new Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. The campus will be host to one of four new academic centers for public health preparedness. 

The others – at the University of Michigan, University of Oklahoma, and the University of South Carolina – are all a part of the $2.9 billion bioterrorism initiative launched by President George W. Bush earlier this year. 

“The weaknesses of the nation's public health infrastructure were made clear in last year's anthrax attacks,” said Arthur Reingold, head of epidemiology at UC Berkeley School of Public Health. 

“We learned that we need to improve coordination and communication throughout the public health system, from the local to the national level. These centers for public health preparedness are a major step forward in reaching that goal,” he said. 

As part of this new initiative, these centers will provide public health and law enforcement workers with training in response to bioterrorism incidents and naturally occurring infectious disease outbreaks. 

Additionally, the UC Berkeley campus will strive to improve communications with the media, by collaborating with the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. A training program targeting journalists in local and regional news organizations will be part of this new program. 

"This is a primary example of the school's commitment to moving the knowledge base from publication of research to public action,'' said Stephen Shortell, professor and dean of the School of Public Health.


Police Briefs

Friday September 27, 2002

Drug Arrest 

A resident of the 1800 block of Arlington Court called police shortly after midnight Wednesday morning after noticing that several lamps were missing from his carport and that a suspicious gold Cadillac was parked outside his house. The car left before police arrived, but at 5:25 a.m., a beat officer noticed a gold Cadillac on the 1900 block of El Dorado Avenue. The driver had the missing lamps as well as methamphetamine. Kevin Tugwell, 39, was arrested for drug possession and burglary. 

 

Suspected Arson 

An employee at American Medical Forensic Specialists on the 2600 block of Telegraph Avenue reported a fire Wednesday morning in a nearby recycling bin, police said, who arrived to find the bin filled with charred paper and water. 

 

Burglary 

A woman’s purse was stolen from the 2200 block of Shattuck Avenue, police said. The purse contained cash, a cell phone, keys and a checkbook. Police have no suspects. 

-Matthew Arts


Bey delays plea in sex charge

Daily Planet Wire Service
Friday September 27, 2002

OAKLAND – A leader in Oakland's Nation of Islam community appeared briefly in Alameda County Superior Court this morning but did not enter plea to a charge that he allegedly molested a 13-year-old girl 20 years ago.  

Yusef Bey, 66, entered the courtroom with his attorney, Andrew Dosa of Alameda, and an entourage of about 20 young, African-American men dressed in suits and bow ties. 

Bey, wearing a black pinstriped suit, black bowtie and fez, did not enter a plea during his three-minute appearance before Judge Allan D. Hymer in Oakland. He also waived a reading in open court of the charge against him. 

The arraignment was put off for a week, until Oct. 3. 

A complaint filed Sept. 18 charges Bey with one felony count of committing lewd act on a child under 14 in September 1981. He surrendered to police on Sept. 19 and immediately posted $50,000 bail, police said. 

According to police, a woman approached the authorities in early June to report that Bey had allegedly molested her about 20 years ago. She told police that she was 13 when she gave birth to a child allegedly fathered by Bey in June 1982. 

DNA samples confirm that Bey is the child's father, police said. 

Following the brief appearance Thursday, the same cadre of young men whisked Bey out of the courtroom and down the hallway to an elevator. The men shielded Bey from about a half-dozen television cameras attempting to film him. 

In response to a reporter's request for comment, Bey raised an index finger and said, “No comment yet.” His attorney also declined to speak to reporters. 

Deputy District Attorney Teresa Ortega has been assigned to the case.


Lawrence Berkeley scientist recognized

Daily Planet Wire Service
Friday September 27, 2002

LIVERMORE – Federal officials announced today that four Bay Area scientists have been recognized with awards for their work in atomic energy. 

U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham named seven winners of the prestigious E.O. Lawrence Award, including the four local scientists.  

They are Bruce T. Goodwin and Benjamin D. Santer of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Keith O. Hodgson of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center at Stanford University, and Saul Pearlmutter of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley. 

Goodwin, a physicist, will receive the award in the national security category for his work on the complex dynamics of triggers of thermonuclear weapons. 

Santer, also a physicist, was recognized in the environmental science and technology category for his research into the effects of human activity on the Earth's climate. 

Hodgson, a chemist and structural biologist, won in the chemistry category for his contributions to the investigation of biological structure and function. 

Pearlmutter, an astrophysicist, will receive the award in physics for his discovery through study of supernovae that the expansion of the universe is speeding up rather than slowing down. 

The E.O. Lawrence award was established in 1959 to honor the memory of Dr. Ernest Orlando Lawrence, who invented the cyclotron particle accelerator. 

Winners each receive a gold medal, a citation, and $25,000. The prizes will be awarded during a ceremony to take place in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 28.


Bay Area Briefs

Friday September 27, 2002

East Bay parks slated for  

financial infusion 

A grant infusion of more than $770,000 was set aside today for Contra Costa County parks and public access areas thanks to measures taken by the state Coastal Conservancy. 

With funds made available through Proposition 12, California's largest park bond to date, county park officials will invest in both renovation and improvement projects at the Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve in Antioch and the Martinez waterfront, according to a Coastal Conservancy spokesman. 

The spokesman said that the conservancy will provide the East Bay Regional Park District with $429,000 to improve the museum and visitor center at the Hazel-Atlas Mine, a historic landmark within the Black Diamond Mines Park. 

Additionally, the conservancy has slated $29,500 for necessary renovations to Black Diamond's historic Rose Hill Cemetery, which over the years has become an unfortunate gathering spot for vandals. 

The city of Martinez will also receive $250,000 to construct a 433-foot shoreline retaining wall necessary to protect the waterfront's planned plaza and restored marina. The marina project is expected to revitalize the recreational and commercial usage of the city's waterfront. 

Man who led police on  

U.S. 101 chase killed self 

NOVATO – Authorities say a man who led police on a chase on northbound U.S. Highway 101 in Marin County early Thursday apparently shot himself to death after driving a stolen pickup truck off the road near the state Highway 37 interchange. 

Novato Police Capt. Reginald Lyles said a shotgun or rifle was found in the white Chevrolet pickup and the man had suffered massive head wounds.  

The California Highway Patrol this afternoon identified the victim as Raymond Kobzeff, 44, of Petaluma. 

Authorities say Kobzeff apparently wanted police to shoot him because he told a U.S. Park Police officer who initially confronted him at 3:04 a.m. in the Marin Headlands, “You will have to shoot me.” 

U.S. Park Service Police Officer Michael Griffin approached Kobzeff at Conzelmann and McCullough roads when he determined that the 1990 Chevrolet pickup had been stolen in Petaluma and allegedly saw drug paraphernalia inside the truck. 

Griffin was dragged several feet when Kobzeff started driving away as the officer reached into the truck to try to shut off the engine, authorities said. 

The California Highway Patrol joined Griffin in the eight-minute, 12-mile pursuit through San Rafael. Authorities said Kobzeff drove as fast as 100 mph before slowing down to 40 mph and pulling off the highway near the state Highway 37 interchange in Novato. 

A special response team from the Novato Police Department searched the marshy, brushy area for Kobzeff, who at first was believed to have fled the truck. 

He was found dead inside the vehicle around 6:30 a.m.


State Briefs

Friday September 27, 2002

Report: Changing conditions could hurt U.S. housing market 

LOS ANGELES — Millions of Americans could see the possibility of home ownership slip away if a delicate balance of interest rates, personal income and real estate prices shifts, an economic report released Thursday said. 

Home prices compared to personal incomes are near record highs, but Americans have been able to keep buying thanks to the lowest mortgage interest rates in 40 years. 

If mortgage rates rise, or housing prices grow faster than incomes, the ability to own a home will disappear for many, according to the Milken Institute, an independent Santa Monica-based think tank. 

An immediate shift is unlikely, said the authors of the study, economists Susanne Trimbath and research analyst Juan Montoya. 

“Since interest rates are not expected to rise in the near future, and income is experiencing strong growth, the demand that supports the current crisis can be expected to remain stable for the near term,” the study said. 

But interest rates will eventually rise and U.S. policy-makers will face a growing challenge as more Americans get shut out of the real estate market, the report said. 

Immigrants urge Davis to sign bill for undocumented drivers 

SAN DIEGO — Immigrants-rights advocates want Gov. Gray Davis to approve a bill that would enable some illegal immigrants to obtain California driver’s licenses though it would not affect most of them. 

Supporters say all California drivers would benefit by allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain the licenses they need to get auto insurance. Others complain it encourages illegal immigration and grants a state privilege to lawbreakers. 

But both sides agree the bill, which faces a deadline of midnight Monday to win Davis’ approval, sets criteria unattainable to most illegal immigrants. It requires them to have a federal taxpayer identification number and have started the process to obtain legal immigration status. 

“This is definitely a high hurdle to meet,” Christian Ramirez, director of American Friends Service Committee, a San Diego group which assists immigrants, said Thursday. “We’re obviously not very happy. ... But we feel this is a step forward.” 

The bill’s author, Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, estimates as many as 1 million of the roughly 3 million undocumented immigrants in the state would be eligible to apply for licenses. But David Galaviz, Cedillo’s legislative director, acknowledged Thursday the actual number could be far lower. 

Davis signs bill to reduce  

childhood lead poisoning 

SACRAMENTO— Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill on Thursday that makes the presence of lead hazards in homes a violation of the state’s housing law. 

Lead poisoning, which is often caused by exposure to lead-based paint, can lead to serious health problems and lifelong learning disabilities. Lead hazards include deteriorating lead-based paint, lead-tainted soil or dust. 

“Today, California is taking the lead on lead,” Davis said. “Lead is a threat to the health of our children, our most vulnerable citizens.” 

The bill by Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, also gives the California Department of Health Services and local health agencies the authority to gather statewide information about lead poisoning and develop strategies for prevention. 

Gov. signs bill helping  

doctors against HMOs 

SACRAMENTO — A new doctors “bill of rights” signed into law Thursday by Gov. Gray Davis will level the playing field between doctors, medical groups and HMOs in contract negotiations, supporters said. 

Assemblywoman Rebecca Cohn, D-Saratoga, said she brought the bill because “of the imbalance in the relationship between the plans and the providers.” 

Because California was the laboratory for managed care, it’s where the laws regulating the relationship between doctors and HMOs need the most fine-tuning, said Steve Thompson, vice president of the California Medical Association, which represents doctors in California. 

“No other state has the degree of HMO penetration as exists in California,” he said. 

HMOs have ordered doctors to take on additional patients, been lax in payments to physicians and changed contracts without warning, Davis said in a statement. 

“Ultimately, none of this improves patient care,” he said. “In order to provide patients with world-class care, we must ensure our doctors have world-class rights.” 

Supporters, such as the CMA, said the bill will help stem the tide of physicians leaving the state or retiring early because they’re not happy with the working conditions in California. 

Of the 82,000 licensed physicians in California, about 50,000 are practicing, and a “discouraging” number desire early retirement, Thompson said. 

The California Association of Health Plans, which represents HMOs, questioned the CMA’s survey, saying it was based on anecdotes. Walter Zelman, the association’s president, said state medical board figures don’t show a decline in the number of people taking California’s licensing exam. 

“I continue to be concerned by primarily anecdotal information that physicians put out about HMOs overpowering physicians in the marketplace,” Zelman said. He also cites a study by the Medical Group Management Association, an Englewood, Colo.-based trade organization for medical group administrators, that “shows that for the third year in a row, physician income is going up in California.” 

Zelman’s group opposed the original version of Cohn’s bill, but dropped its objections after “onerous and inappropriate” conditions were removed. 

Now, doctors will determine how many patients they can handle and won’t be required by an HMO to add new patients, Cohn said. “When they get patients dumped on them, the waiting times for patients get enormous.” 

The new law also says that any changes in the contract between an HMO and medical group or doctor must be fully disclosed to the doctor before the changes take effect. 

Previously, doctors haven’t always been told of changes in patients’ benefits, said Dr. Ron Bangasser, of Redlands, Calif. 

That’s important “so we know when we talk to a patient what’s covered, what’s not covered, and what we can do with and without prior approval,” he said. 

—— 

On the Net: 

Read the bill, AB2907, at www.assembly.ca.gov 


Police to run Super Bowl security

By Seth Hettena
Friday September 27, 2002

 

SAN DIEGO — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has rejected a request to put the U.S. Secret Service in charge of security at the upcoming Super Bowl in San Diego, saying it has full confidence in local authorities, city officials said Thursday. 

Tom Ridge, the White House homeland security chief, told city officials this week that he was not granting their request to make Super Bowl XXXVII a National Special Security Event — a designation usually reserved for national political conventions and presidential inaugurations. 

Last year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans as well as the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City were both designated National Special Security Events in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. 

Instead, Ridge decided to put local police in charge of the Jan. 26 NFL championship game at San Diego’s 71,000-seat Qualcomm Stadium and related events throughout the city. The FBI, Secret Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state authorities will provide support. 

Under a new rating system created earlier this year, Super Bowl XXXVII will be a Special Event Readiness Level Two, Ridge told Mayor Dick Murphy late Wednesday. 

“He thought that Level Two was really appropriate for San Diego because, after having evaluated the situation, he thought the San Diego Police Department was so on top of this it was better to have them in charge,” Murphy said. 

Unaware of the brand new rating system, Murphy had requested the Secret Service handle Super Bowl security as a precaution. He said he was not disappointed by the decision. 

“We are going to be well prepared,” the mayor said. 

San Diego police were in charge of security at two previous Super Bowls at Qualcomm Stadium in 1988 and 1998. 

“It tells you the confidence the Department of Homeland Security has in this region and the work we’ve done in the past,” said Assistant Police Chief Bill Mayhew, who has been involved in security preparations for the past six months. “We as a community are very prepared for major events.” 

The city has budgeted more than $1 million for Super Bowl security. 


High-tech workers complain about immigrant visa program

The Associated Press
Friday September 27, 2002

The Associated Press 

 

SAN JOSE — High-tech workers who are U.S. citizens are complaining that companies are replacing them with guest foreign workers who are paid less, the San Jose Mercury News reported Thursday. 

The engineers and programmers say employers are hiring the foreign workers under the H-1B visa program, which was expanded during the height of the tech boom to address a shortfall of domestic programmers and engineers. 

“Betrayal is the word that comes to mind,” said Allan Masri, a San Jose engineer who was laid off last year from an engineering job at Netscape. 

Masri told the Mercury News he was replaced by a colleague who holds an H-1B visa. Netscape denied the claim. 

It’s not clear how many U.S. workers are reporting the problem. Complaints filed with the federal government are not made public until they are resolved. 

The Mercury News, however, reported scores of complaints at attorneys’ offices and government agencies ranging from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to the Labor Department. 

“One recruiter flatly told me they have 50 H-1Bs willing to work cheap ahead of me in line,” said James Stakelum, a database administrator who lives in Dallas. 

While Stakelum has not filed a complaint, others have. 

U.S. citizen Jenlih Hsieh claims SwitchOn Networks of Milpitas fired him after six months and replaced him with a foreign worker.  

According to his complaint with the EEOC, the H-1B worker earned $30,000 less a year. 

An attorney for the company said Hsieh’s dismissal had nothing to do with his citizenship. 

H-1B visas are used to bring skilled foreign workers into sectors that have shortages of qualified U.S. workers. They last six years. 

Program supporters say the visas help companies find qualified workers. They say U.S. schools aren’t producing enough computer engineers. 

Critics say companies are simply trying to cut costs. 

The Justice Department is investigating complaints that allege discrimination on the basis of their citizenship. 

The department is currently investigating Sun Microsystems Inc. based on a laid-off engineer’s complaint in April. 

“They’re very tough cases to prove,” an unidentified Justice Department official told the Mercury News. 


Briefs

Staff
Friday September 27, 2002

Jury orders Philip Morris to pay smoker $850,000 

LOS ANGELES — A jury found Philip Morris Inc., the world’s largest tobacco company, liable in a fraud, negligence and product liability lawsuit Thursday and awarded a woman dying of cancer $850,000 in compensatory damages. 

Jurors awarded Betty Bullock, 64, of Newport Beach, $750,000 in economic damages and $100,000 for pain and suffering. 

A second phase of the trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 1 to determine any punitive damages. 

William S. Ohlemeyer, Philip Morris’ vice president and associate general counsel, said the company had no comment on the verdict pending the completion of the trial’s second phase. 

In a shift from its strategy in earlier civil cases, Philip Morris did not try to defend its past actions. Instead, the company turned the spotlight on Bullock and her decision to smoke. 

“If she had stopped smoking .... even in the 1980s, she would not have lung cancer today,” Peter Bleakley, the attorney representing Philip Morris, told jurors at the start of the trial in August. 

Safeway’s third-quarter profit falls 9 percent  

PLEASANTON — Safeway Inc. reported a 9 percent drop in its fiscal third-quarter profit, reflecting lackluster sales growth and its continuing struggle with soft economic conditions. 

The Pleasanton-based grocery store chain said Thursday that net income came to $281.3 million, or 60 cents a share, for the quarter ended Sept. 7, compared with $309.2 million, or 60 cents a share, a year earlier. 

During a conference call in June, Safeway Chairman and Chief Executive Steven A. Burd told analysts the company expected third-quarter earnings of 60 cents to 62 cents a share. At that time, analysts had expected earnings of 75 cents a share. 

Redback shares tumble  

on third-quarter loss 

SAN JOSE — Shares of Redback Networks Inc. dropped nearly 43 percent Thursday after the maker of broadband and optical-networking equipment warned its third-quarter loss will be much wider than expected because of weak sales. 

Redback said it now expects a third-quarter loss, excluding items, of 23 cents to 25 cents a share on revenue of $15 million to $20 million. 

The estimate excludes inventory charges, restructuring expenses and other items considered part of ongoing operations under generally accepted accounting principles.


Disney exec to lead Gap

The Associated Press
Friday September 27, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO — Slumping retailer Gap Inc. is turning to an executive who ran Disneyland to make its turnaround dreams come true. 

Paul Pressler, who had been the head of Walt Disney Co.’s theme park and resort business since 1994, took over as Gap’s chief executive officer Thursday in a move that analysts viewed as a coup for the San Francisco-based company. 

As he leaves behind the land of Mickey Mouse, Pressler will join a business that has been dominated for the past two decades by another Mickey — the Gap’s renowned CEO Millard “Mickey” Drexler. 

Following through on plans that he disclosed in May, Drexler retired Thursday, ending a storied career in which he transformed Gap into one of the world’s best-known retailers. 

The last two years of Drexler’s reign were marred by poor fashion decisions that triggered 28 consecutive months of declining sales — something the Gap is counting on Pressler to change. 

“We are incredibly pleased with the outcome of our search and are greatly looking forward to having Paul lead the company,” said Gap Chairman Donald Fisher.


Park service to turn missile site into Cold War national park

By Chet Brokaw
Friday September 27, 2002

WALL, S.D.— For nearly three decades, an 80-foot hole dubbed Delta Nine played a vital role in the nation’s defense. 

The underground concrete silo on the edge of Badlands National Park held a Minuteman II missile that could deliver a nuclear weapon to a Soviet target in 30 minutes or less. 

After the Soviet Union’s demise and the signing of a 1991 arms reduction treaty with Russia, the missile program was scrapped. Now the silo, never used for war, is being used to educate. 

The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site eventually will tell the story of the Cold War and the nuclear weapons that were never used. 

“This site will be the first national park in the world whose primary purpose is to commemorate the events of the Cold War,” said Marriane Mills of Badlands National Park, which is handling the project. 

At a ceremony Friday, the U.S. Air Force will formally transfer the silo and a nearby launch control facility to the National Park Service. 

Park Service officials hope the site will be opened to the public sometime next summer, Mills said. The crew housing facility and underground control center, about 11 miles away, won’t open for two or three years because a visitors’ center and other facilities must be built. 

One of the officials expected at Friday’s ceremony will be Craig Manson, the assistant interior secretary. When Manson was in the Air Force in the late 1970s, he was a launch control officer for the missile silo. 

“In many respects, the transfer underscores that we accomplished our mission in the Cold War, protecting America from the threat of nuclear war,” Manson said. “This event will mark the transition of the Cold War from an everyday part of our lives to a chapter in our country’s history.” 

The 44th Missile Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City stood watch over Delta Nine and 149 missiles in western South Dakota for nearly three decades. The wing was inactivated July 4, 1994, in compliance with a U.S.-Russian treaty. 

Minuteman I missiles became active in 1962, about the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Kennedy told Soviet leader Nikita Kruschchev the Minuteman was his “ace in the hole.” 

The original missiles were replaced by Minuteman II models, which flew at 15,000 mph, had a range of 6,300 miles and weighed about 73,000 pounds. The missiles were designed to survive a first attack and then strike back.


News of the Weird

Friday September 27, 2002

Hail to the haggis king 

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Hardy stomached men from around the country will scarf sheep’s entrails for a chance to be named “haggis king.” 

The haggis eating contest Friday is part of Bethlehem’s Celtic Classic Festival. The winner will be the first to finish a pound and a half of the Scottish dish, a mix of sheep’s organs, oats and spices. 

Tensions are high this year as two former champions prepare to go head to head. Steve Cunningham, of Bethlehem, and Peter Stefchak, of Anchorage, Alaska, have both won twice. 

Stefchak said his training regimen includes starving himself for 24 hours before the contest. 

Of the haggis, he said, “It sounds awful, but it actually has a light liver taste.” 

Cunningham said he is confident. His son will enter with him. 

Patrick, 14, finished the haggis first last year. But he didn’t win overall because the rules require children to eat less. Cunningham said he has a special technique for getting it down, but hasn’t told anyone except his son. 

“Blood is thicker than haggis,” he said. 

Naked gets their attention 

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — Four years after Mayor Jim Whitaker walked his dog Naked through town to raise money for the city’s Paws-itive Partners animal shelter, the publicity stunt is still reaping rewards. 

The North Platte mayor raised a lot of eyebrows and some criticism in 1998 when he pledged to walk Naked if $5,000 was raised for the new animal shelter. 

He soon after made it known that Naked was a dog. 

Remembering the publicity stunt, a retired Bethlehem, Pa., couple has willed their personal property and any insurance to the animal shelter upon their deaths, which could add up to more than $400,000. 

“We hope to still be around awhile, but when we both go they will get everything,” said Marie Spivack. 

She and her husband, Marvin, made a donation to the animal shelter and have made several more since. The mayor ended up getting the attention of animal lovers nationwide and raised $9,000. 

What are the odds of this one 

LASALLE, Ill.— Police say a suspected bank robber wanted to get away in style. 

John Pope, 39, ordered a limousine to pick him up from his hotel in Moline after he robbed a bank Tuesday in the western Illinois community, police said. 

Unfortunately for Pope, his driver was a retired police officer. 

The driver, Don Madsen, of Moline, tipped off police that he had a suspicious passenger when he picked Pope up from the hotel. Madsen later got a call on his cell phone from one of his old colleagues, who warned that his passenger was suspected in a bank robbery. 

Madsen used cryptic language to indicate his location and state troopers found him at a LaSalle truck stop where they arrested Pope. 


New parking meters unveiled in SF

New parking meters unveiled in SF
Friday September 27, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco city officials gathered outside City Hall Thursday to unveil a brand new electronic parking meter system that is expected to add millions to city coffers. 

The device looks more like an early model video game than the parking meter of the future, but officials say the new meters will more efficiently track time and collect money. 

Supervisor Tom Ammiano was joined by Fred Hamdun, director of the city's parking and traffic department, and Paul Carpmael, a project director from Serco Management Services, the company responsible for installing the new system, to witness the unveiling of the new system Thursday. It is expected to increase revenues to the city by an additional $5.9 million. 

"Currently an estimated $3 million is lost each year due to theft,'' Ammiano said. "The current system is outdated and unreliable. It wasn't feasible to invest money in old technology.'' 

According to Hamdun, San Francisco will replace its entire stock of 23,000 meters, many of which have been vandalized. The new machines will take multiple coin denominations and accurately track time using electronic quartz timers. 

Under the current system, 1,700 mechanical meters are either broken or missing, frustrating motorists and law enforcement officers alike.  

The housing of the new meters is shaped to resist blows from heavy objects and is enclosed by a heavily protected coating. 

The city is not only installing a new metering system, Ammiano noted, but rather an entirely new management system. The elements of this system include meter installation, coin counting and collection services, maintenance and an advanced software system that audits itself. 

"The City of San Francisco is thrilled, not only because Serco is providing a new and improved system, but also because the company is committed to helping (the department) transition to the new system and will train ... staff on how to properly use equipment,'' Ammiano said. 

For the first time in 55 years, meter replacement began in the Tenderloin, Financial District and Excelsior districts in August and is scheduled for completion in March 2003.


For the love of dressing up cars

Kim Melton
Thursday September 26, 2002

Berkeley resident Harrod Blank, 39, was embarrassed to be seen driving a plain white 1965 Volkswagen bug. So he painted a rooster on it. It reminded him of the chickens he grew up with near the Santa Cruz Mountains. But he didn’t stop there.  

For 12 years Blank added stuff to his bug. The original white paint is now barely visible under the hood’s beach ball motif and the roof’s television and spinning sunflowers. The bumpers are made of plastic fruit and spoons. In place of a hood ornament sits a miniature Santa Clause with a plastic globe on its head.  

Blank described his car as a “mosaic” of what he feels and believes. “The pinnacle of my career is this car,” he said. 

Blank’s car he named Oh My God! is one of 80 vehicles participating in the ArtCar Fest this weekend in Berkeley, San Francisco and San Jose. When Blank and fellow artist Philo Northrop dreamed up the festival in 1997, they saw it as an opportunity for local artists to share their ideas and car creations. But now the festival has expanded to include cars from across the country and Canada 

Blank’s Volkswagon is familiar to many Berkeley residents. He drives it daily to get coffee. Inside the car, every inch is covered with objects of different colors and textures. On the front dashboard are words spelled out in scrabble letters. The ceiling is a collage of items like church fans, shamrocks and coins. 

On his second “artcar,” Blank used only cameras to decorate it. He secured 1,705 cameras to his 1972 Dodge van from fender to hood. Camera Van, which debuted in 1995, also has 10 working cameras that take pictures of people’s reactions. On a trip across the country, he took more than 5,000 pictures.  

According to fellow artist Kathleen Pearson, 23, of Bisbee Ariz., artcars are the ultimate way to showcase creativity. “We can take art to the masses,” Pearson said. “Being a painter and sculptor, your art only gets seen in galleries and museums. But cars are free for the public. It reaches people who would not normally walk into an art gallery.” 

Her first car, Gradually Love, is filled with childhood memorabilia like Minnie Mouse, Snoopy and Ninja turtles. Pearson hopes the 4,800 objects in the automobile will trigger childhood memories that make people smile.  

Pearson’s second car, Hex Mex, blends her Pennsylvania Dutch background with the Mexican influences of her Arizona hometown. Brightly painted with tulips, windmills and flamingos, the car is modestly accented with a pink ice cream cone and psychedelic Amish women on the roof and on the hood, large black and white dice. 

While some artists design their cars to express themselves, others used their cars to send a message. Emily Duffy’s car, Vain Van, addresses women’s issues.  

The front of Vain Van is covered with hundreds of bras organized in the shape of a giant bra that surrounds the headlights. The mirrors are bordered with gloves. The roof is filled with curlers and the back with fattening foods like donuts and potato chips. 

On the sides of the van is where Duffy makes her statement. She has written, “Who profits from your self-loathing?” Drawn beneath the back windows are a measuring tape and scale with the words, “I look fat? By whose measure?” 

“Women literally run up to me,” Duffy said, “and they just say ‘thank, thank you, thank you.’” 

Artcar designers say their trade takes not only artistic enthusiasm but time and commitment. 

“Some people say I have Peter Pan syndrome or I am Tom Hanks in ‘Big,’” said Berkeley’s Blank. “I have fun all the time. I don’t have a real job and I live in a shack in the back of my Dad’s house.” 

“It is not real lucrative,” he admits. “I can’t sell it like I would a painting. Cars are like stock. They generate some revenue but they take a lot to maintain.” 

The ArtCar Fest begins today with a reception and book signing for Harrod Blank’s new book ‘Art Car,’ an in-depth look at more than 20 artists and their artcars. The Fest will continue in San Jose Thursday and Friday, San Francisco on Saturday and finally conclude in Berkeley all day Sunday.


African American studies program one of a kind

Denisha M. DeLane
Thursday September 26, 2002

To the Editor: 

On the front page of the Daily Planet Sept. 24, I was horrified to find the heading “High School axes African-American Studies Program.” As a 1996 graduate of Berkeley High School, I am increasingly embarrassed and outraged by decisions made by the Berkeley Unified School District. 

It is interesting that these sorts of decisions to do away with few working aspects left at Berkeley High; continue to pass without public input, and at the very least communication with the department affected. Here we are in radical Berkeley, where we have more public forums than most city governments throughout the country, but just not on this particular issue. I will not for a moment believe that those involved ever intended on garnering the attention of the target population they are directly affecting. I am however convinced that this type of disregard will no longer be tolerated. 

Subsequent to all of this BUSD’s board and staff has no clear direction or plan to solve the high rate of drop out and failure of its students of color. Rebuilding a continuation school and passing it off as an alternative school that simply houses minority students is not the answer to the truancy and high failure rates. For far to long, minority students have been edged out of this so called “unified” district through tracking, and preferences. How long will we continue to be satisfied with extensions for accreditations? 

The African American studies department provides an avenue for education specific to African American culture that cannot be achieved anywhere else. It is a benefit to the entire BHS population. Thought its curriculum, and individual attention the department has instilled in these youth a sense of self worth, and pride for cross cultural diversity. Where else are these students going to be presented the works of WEB DuBois, Frederick Douglas, Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, Amiri Baraka, Maya Angelou, Julian Bond, and others?  

Are we expected to believe American history will include more than Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue?  

 

Denisha M. DeLane 

board member, NAACP 

Berkeley


a circus without animals but with lots of heart

Jennifer Dix
Thursday September 26, 2002

They come from Canada, they do fantastic things with trapezes and the human body, they use no animals in their act—and no, they are not Cirque du Soleil. The performance troupe that has descended on Zellerbach Hall is Cirque Eloize, and it is a phenomenon all its own. 

Despite similarities to Cirque du Soleil (both are based in Montreal and came out of the athletically-centered cirque nouveau movement), Cirque Eloize is quite distinct from the older and more famous Soleil. In fact, one critic suggested that Eloize is kind of “anti-Cirque du Soleil.” Soleil is known for huge spectacle, pageantry, and tableaux, but Eloize offers a more intimate show, with a dramatic storyline or multiple story lines that often tug at the heart. 

Named for the heat lightning flashes seen near the Magdalen Islands off the coast of Quebec, Eloize (pronounced el-was) does have a fiery, creative spirit that comes through in all its performances. An Edinburgh newspaper described it as “circus with atmosphere, poetry, humor and, above all, heart.” Previous shows have included “Cirque Orchestra” a poetic, acrobatic spectacle about a musician who yearns to fly, and “Eccentricus” an exuberant celebration of the performing arts from music to juggling to trapeze artistry. 

The troupe’s new show is “Nomade,” a title that seems especially appropriate to an international troupe that spends nearly all of its time on the road. Inspired by Roma music and culture, “Nomade” is loosely constructed around the story of two wandering gypsy troupes that encounter each other on the way to a wedding. From dusk to dawn the two clans play and compete, sometimes erupting in challenges and quarrels, but overall the spirit is of romance and celebration. Lucie Cauchon’s musical score is rich in folkloric tunes, featuring accordion, trombone, drums, and vocals in a make-believe language composed for this dreamy, surreal spectacle. 

In keeping with the theme of wandering romance, “Nomade” takes place at night, under the open sky. The rustic set features an enormous full moon, a haunting and romantic backdrop for everything from a sensual tango between two lovers to the acrobatic antics of clowns. There is a chatty narrator on a trapeze and a contortionist who bends her body into extraordinary shapes.  

The creators of “Nomade” acknowledge a debt to filmmaker Federico Fellini, well known for his love of the circus. “The scenes emerge like an image from an old postcard… We try to show these links between people, the tragic comedy of life and the spirit of the nomads,” according to artistic director Jeannot Painchaud. While many of the props used by the performers are straight out of centuries-old circus tradition, they are used in new and ingenious ways. A man balances on a large black ball as if floating on a cloud. The Russian bar, traditionally used in balancing acts, doubles as a prop for a children’s street game.  

Cirque Eloize’s directors showed pragmatism and humor in adapting the show to their performers, too. While the troupe members are accomplished acrobats, many had little or no musical background. One woman simply could not sing on pitch, although she gamely belted out her lines at the top of her voice. They made her a soloist, and she now is one of the funniest acts in “Nomade.” 

Critical buzz has it that this is the best offering yet by the nine-year-old Cirque Eloize. If true, it’s proof that the company has succeeded in staying true to its vision of a good performance with heart. According to Painchaud, technical virtuosity is only one criterion. “What we also look for are the eyes of the artist, to see them deeply inside,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “We prefer a very [performer] but with a very big personality and a big interest in being part of a community so that what the public receives is some kind of realistic feelings that these characters on stage, they could be your cousin or grandma or your son.”


Calendar

Thursday September 26, 2002

Thursday, Sept. 26 

Medical Marijuana 

6 p.m. to 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Central Library  

2090 Kittredge St.  

From Prop. 215 to Health and Safety Code 11362.5, a review of its history to present day current events. 

981-6100 

 

Saturday, Sept. 28 

Free Legal Workshop:  

“Crossroads: Health and the Law.” 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

514 58th St. at Telegraph Avenue 

Navigate your way through legal issues when living with cancer or any serious illness. Panel presentation on employment, insurance and public benefits and one-on-one sessions with attorneys. Please, pre-register. 

601-4040, Ext. 102 for information  

or Ext. 103 to register 

Free  

 

Garage Sale/ Car Wash  

Belize/ Berkeley Scouts 

10 to 2 p.m. 

Epworth UMC, 1953 Hopkins St. 

International exchange fundraising effort for scouts. 

525-6058 

 

A Forum on the Arts with the Berkeley Mayoral Candidates 

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Aurora Theater, 2081 Addison St. 

558-1381 

Free 

 

Sunday, Sept. 29 

Tibetan Buddhism  

“Healing Mind” 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place 

Sylvia Gretchen discusses how the teachings cultivate the mind and redefine what healing means. 

843-6812 

Free 

 

“Iron Chef” Style Cook-Off  

3 to 4 p.m. 

(followed by reception, 4 to 6 p.m.) 

Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto 

1919 Fourth St.  

In this “Crabby Chef” Competition 2002, top East Bay chefs vie for this year’s title by creating the tastiest crab dish. Master of Ceremonies will be KGO-AM’s Gene Burns. 

845-7777 or 845-7771 

Free 

 

City of Berkeley - 2002 Public Art Competition 

1 to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Central Public Library  

2090 Kittredge St.  

A public art informational workshop will be open to all artists regarding public art site proposals. 

981-6100 

Free 

 

Thursday, Sept. 26 

Kriby Grips, Michael Zapruder, Joe Bernson 

9:30 p.m. (21 and over) 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$5. 

 

Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$19.50 in advance. $20.50 at door. 

 

Friday, Sept. 27 

The Cracked Normans,  

Paradigm & Soul Americana 

9:30 p.m. (21 and over) 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$5. 

 

Eric Bogle 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$16.50 in advance. $17.50 at door. 

 

Fair Weather, Liars  

Academy and Open Hand 

8 p.m. 

924 Gilman St. 

525-9926 

$5. 

 

Reggae Angels with Earl Zero  

and Jah Light Music 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

$15 door. 12 and under free. 

 

Saturday, Sept. 28 

Barry & Alic Oliver 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$16.50 in advance. $17.50 at door. 

 

From Monument to Masses,  

Victory at Sea and Yesterday’s Kids 

8 p.m. 

924 Gilman St. 

525-9926 

$5. 

 

Sunday, Sept. 29 

Si Kahn  

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance. $16.50 at door. 

 

Cellist Gianna Abondolo 

4 p.m. 

Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. 

Classical favorites and original  

compositions for cello. 

559-6910 

$10 general. 18 and under free. 

 

Weber Iago and Harvey Wainaple 

4:30 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

845-5373 

$10-$15. 

 

David Friesen and Uwe Kropinski 

8 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

845-5373 

$10-$15. 

 

Blowing Zen: A Performance of Shakuhachi 

7:30 p.m. 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church  

2626 College Ave. 

528-2027 

$12 at door. Children $5. Seniors $10. 

 

Chamber Music 

4 to 5:15 p.m. 

Crowden Music Center 1475 Rose St. 

Gianna Abondolo & Friends  

celebrate the release of their  

classical and jazz CD. 

559-6910 

$10. 18 and under free. 

 

"Balancing Acts" 

Through Oct. 10 

Gallery 555, 555 12th St., 

Oakland City Center 

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

http://www.oaklandcitycenter.com.  

Free. 

 

“Hunger: What will you do about it?”  

Through Oct. 30, Mon.-Fri.,  

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

The Civic Center Building 

2180 Milvia St., 5th floor 

Featuring 40 photographs  

by Berkeley artist David Bacon. 

834-3663, Ext. 338, uchanse@secondharvest.org 

 

Richard Misrach, Berkeley Work 

Though Oct. 13 

UC Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way 

On view in Gallery 2, presents two photographic series by this internationally recognized Berkeley-based artist.  

642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

$7. $5 BAM/PFA members.  

$4 UC Berkeley students. 

 

“Recent Acquisitions” 

Oct. 13 through Dec. 14 

Thurs., Fri., and Sat., 1 to 4 p.m. 

Berkeley Historical Society, Veterans Memorial Building, 1931 Center St. 

848-0181 

Free. 

 

Misch Kohn - Celebrating Sixty Years of Printmaking 

Through Oct. 16. Tues.-Fri., Noon to 5:30 p.m.; Sat., noon to 4:30 p.m. 

Kala Arts Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 

549-2977, kala@kala.org 

 

Nancy Salz 

Through Oct. 23, Tues.-Fri. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Sat 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 

Barbara Anderson Gallery, 2243 5th St. 

848-3822 

 

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 for youth. $20 for seniors. $22 general. 

 

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar 

Through Oct. 12 

Thurs. through Sat. 8 p.m. 

LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre  

1834 Euclid Ave. 

234-6046 

$10. 

 

The House of Blue Leaves 

Through Oct. 27 

Berkeley Rep's Roda Theater  

2015 Addison St.  

647-2917 or 888-4BRTTIX 

$10-$54. 

 

The Shape of Things 

Through Oct. 20 

Aurora Theatre Company  

2081 Addison St. 

Play by writer/director Neil LaBute's spins a morality tale of a young art student, his art major girlfriend, and the Pygmalion-like changes that bring into question how far one should go for love. 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org for reservations 

$26-$35. 

 

Thursday, Sept 26 

As ad AbuKahil 

7 p.m. 

Revolution Books, 2425 Channing Way 

Author reads and signs his new book “Bin Laden, Islam and America’s New War on Terrorism” 

848-1196 

 

Steinbeck, “The Grapes of Wrath,” and Labor Issues of Depression-Era California 

7:30 p.m.  

Easing Going Travel Shop and Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 

843-3533 

Free. 

 

Sunday, Sept. 29 

Margaret Kaufman & Robert Funge 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

845-7852, www.poetryflash.org 

$2 donation. 

 

Thursday, Oct. 3 

Brenda Hillman 

12:10 p.m. 

Morrison Library in Doe Library, UCB 

UC Berkeley’s Lunch Poems Reading Series. Author’s six books include “Loose Sugar” and “Cascadia”. 

http://www.berkeley.edu/calendar/events 

Free. 

 

Nathaniel Mackay and Trane Devore 

6 p.m. 

Maud Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall, UC Berkeley 

Part of Holloway Poetry Series for Fall 2002. 

jscape@socrates.berkeley.edu 

Free. 

 

Friday, Oct. 4 

Katherine Forrest 

7:30 p.m. 

Boadecia’s Books, 398 Colusa Ave. at Colusa Circle 

Reading from “Daughters of the Amber Moon” 

559-9184 

Free.


Berkeley High runners break Alameda streak

Jared Green
Thursday September 26, 2002

A decade of dominance ended Wednesday as the Berkeley High cross country boys defeated Alameda High, the first time the Hornets have failed to win a league meet in more than 10 years. 

Junior Alex Enscoe, the reigning ACCAL cross country champion, led the Yellowjackets with a first-place finish of 15:56 on the three-mile course at Point Pinole in Richmond. Enscoe finished 14 seconds ahead of the second-place runner, Yoji Reichert of Alameda. 

Berkeley’s Nic Riley, however, was the key to the win, finishing third in 16:32. By beating Alameda’s Marty Skeels (who tied with Pinole Valley’s Nick Falzone for fourth place), Riley virtually assured the Jackets of victory. 

“Nic coming in third needed to happen for us to win,” Berkeley head coach Dave Goodrich said. “We actually did more than we needed to to win, but Nic was very important.” 

Clinching the race were Berkeley’s next four finishers, who finished 6-9 and keep the Hornets from grabbing any extra points. Bradley Johnson, Jon Finney, Sarmed Anwar and Alex Weisman came across the finish line before another Alameda runner to sew up the win. 

Goodrich said he compared his team’s results with Alameda’s at separate invitational meets last weekend and told each runner whom he needed to beat in order for Berkeley to win. The Jackets reached every one of their goals on Wednesday, the first of three ACCAL meets this season. 

“We just had a great race,” Goodrich said. “I asked a lot of guys to do certain things, and every one of them did what I asked.” 

Enscoe beat Reichert by a wide margin despite staying on his rival’s heels for almost the entire race. The Berkeley runner took off with 800 meters left in the race, using his saved energy to blow by Reichert. 

Enscoe and Reichert have run against each other numerous times, but Enscoe said he never knows exactly how things will shake out between the two of them. 

“I just went out with Yoji in front of me,” Enscoe said. “I just waited until the end to see how hard he would go. I just had more left at the end.” 

Enscoe and his teammates have been building toward beating Alameda for the last two seasons, nearly knocking off the Hornets in the final league meet last season. With Enscoe emerging as the league’s top runner and Riley making a big leap forward over the summer, the Jackets knew they were ready to finally take down the league’s power. 

“Last year we came pretty close to beating them,” Enscoe said. “I think we knew this was our best chance, and we went out and did it.”


Black studies program back at Berkeley High

David Scharfenberg
Thursday September 26, 2002

Berkeley High School’s African-American studies department has been reinstatement, said department Chairman Robert McKnight to wild cheers at a dramatic Board of Education meeting Wednesday night. 

An Aug. 20 agreement between the school district and the Berkeley Federation of Teachers called for the high school, in a cost-cutting measure, to fold the 34 year-old program into one or more unspecified departments this fall. 

The move would have brought an end to the first and only African-American studies department at a public high school in the nation. Classes would have remained in place, but the department would have lost its chairperson and meeting time for its teachers. 

The agreement went largely unnoticed until an article on the deal appeared in the Daily Planet Tuesday. Amid community outrage, McKnight met twice with Superintendent Michele Lawrence Wednesday before the school board meeting. 

Lawrence issued a one-paragraph statement announcing the reinstatement of the program Wednesday night. McKnight read the statement aloud at the meeting to the applause of dozens of parents and students. 

“I want to thank you, Dr. Lawrence, for your consideration and for this resolution,” said McKnight, after reading the release. 

“I do want to extend my apologies for any misunderstanding,” said Lawrence, as a few boos rose from the crowd. “There was no disrespect meant at all.” 

Lawrence told the crowd that neither she nor the school board knew about the details of the Aug. 20 agreement, and the consolidation of the department, until a story appeared in the Daily Planet Tuesday. Lower level staff, she said, had crafted the deal.  

School board President Shirley Issel said the consolidation of the department was “completely discrepant with the values of the board, with the values of the community. 

“I want to apologize on behalf of the board,” she continued, “and assure you that we are pleased with the [reinstatement] agreement you have heard tonight.” 

Members of the audience demanded to know why the district had pushed for the consolidation plan in the first place. Issel said she did not entirely know and could only offer a “lame” explanation.  

Issel told the audience that district negotiators pushed for the consolidation of African-American studies and several other small departments as part of an effort to close a $3.9 million budget deficit. 

“Decisions were made without an awareness of the consequences to the department. This is unimaginable to us that this lack of awareness would happen,” she said. “Once it came to our attention what the consequences were, we were all appalled and we took corrective action.” 

A parade of students, in the public comment section that followed, praised the African-American studies department and chastised the board and administration for letting the Aug. 20 agreement happen in the first place. 

“The next time you even think about looking at the African-American studies department ... you think about how many people are here today,” said Joseph Abhulimen, a Berkeley High junior, referring to the packed hearing room. “Because next time, there are going to be twice as many people.” 

At the start of the public comment period, Issel announced that the board would let students speak first, then parents. But after students spoke for nearly an hour, and a scheduled presentation on after school programs approached, Issel cut off the comment period. 

Several parents expressed frustration that adults were not allowed to speak and press the board on the issue. 

McKnight, in the end, said he was pleased with the reinstatement of the department. 

“I’m just extremely hopeful that they will stand by this decision,” he said. 

It was unclear at press time how other departments scheduled for consolidation as a result of the Aug. 20 agreement, including the English Language Learners and visual and performing arts departments, will fare. 

The Aug. 20 agreement focused on stipends for department chairs. Berkeley Federation of Teachers President Barry Fike said the union, during negotiations, wanted to keep all the existing departments in place. But, he said, BFT agreed to some consolidations, and the loss of a few department chairs, in exchange for “above average” stipends for the remaining department chairs.


Here's what's in the news

Carol Denney
Thursday September 26, 2002

To the Editor, 

According to the news, Oakland’s unemployment rate is 10 percent, a local group is pressuring to host the Olympic games, and my local Berkeley district council representative wants to neuter raccoons. 

Suddenly it all makes sense. 

 

Carol Denney 

Berkeley


Bears brush off loss

Jared Green
Thursday September 26, 2002

The Cal football team is facing adversity for the first time this season following a 23-21 loss to Air Force last weekend. But the Bears haven’t lost any confidence following their first setback of the season. 

“I don’t think we need to panic,” quarterback Kyle Boller said. “We lost one game by two points. It’s not the end of our season.” 

“We lost one game by two points. Big deal,” said wide receiver LaShaun Ward. 

Cal’s players were quick to point out that Air Force is a unique team, running schemes on both offense and defense that are unlike any other Division I program. The Falcons attempted just eight passes against Cal, sticking with the option for most of the game. 

With more conventional Washington State coming to town on Saturday for the Pac-10 opener, the Bears seem confident they can get right back on track. 

“I just can’t wait to be a defensive back again,” cornerback James Bethea said. “I felt like a linebacker [against Air Force]. I’m here to cover, so I’m not much on the hitting.” 

It helps that the Washington State schemes haven’t changed much during head coach Mike Price’s 14 years in Pullman. With a veteran defense, the Bears are pretty familiar with what they’re going to see from the Cougar offense. 

In fact, Cal can take comfort in the fact that they’ll be facing pass-heavy attacks for the rest of the schedule, as the Pac-10 is full aerial specialists. 

“Most of the Pac-10 teams are really similar, and we’ve played against Washington State before,” defensive tackle Daniel Nwangwu said. “We can prepare for most of these teams the same way.” 

Cal head coach Jeff Tedford said he’s pleased with how his team is responding following its first loss. His philosophy of positive reinforcement and not dwelling on mistakes has been a major factor in the team’s surprising start to the season, and he plans to continue with it even when the results aren’t great. 

Several Bears said Tedford was calm and in control after the loss, which in turn helped them to turn around and look toward the next game. 

“Monday’s practice was upbeat. The players are definitely disappointed about losing, but it helps them realize what it takes to win,” Tedford said. “I think we’re right where we need to be right now.”


Former Berkeley green Camejo takes aim at governor's seat

Judith Scherr
Thursday September 26, 2002

Green Party candidate for governor Peter Miguel Camejo racked up 9 percent of the statewide vote in the latest polls. Despite growing support, though, Gov. Gray Davis is unwilling to recognize his opponent in a formal debate. 

Bob Mulholland, campaign manager for the Democratic Party, argued that just like the San Francisco 49ers wouldn’t hand the ball to the opposing team, it doesn’t make sense for the Democratic Party to give space to someone who might take votes from them. Moreover, Camejo’s not qualified, Mulholland said, explaining that the governor has serious work to do, such as appointing judges. 

“How absurd that people who can’t get elected to the Berkeley City Council, run for governor,” he said.  

Camejo has lost races for a number of public offices. In 1967 the University of California student and anti-war activist ran for mayor of Berkeley. Three years later he made a run for the U.S. Senate against Ted Kennedy. In 1976 he made a bid for president of the United States. 

It’s not about winning at this point, said Camejo, jubilant over the latest poll figures. It’s about changing the rules of the game so that minor parties can have a seat at the table. Allowing third-party candidates into statewide debates and having run-off elections would go a long way toward democratizing the electoral system, Camejo said. 

At 62, the candidate’s hair is grayer and thinner than during his earlier runs for office. He’s traded his campaign-trail blue jeans for suits. But the man Ronald Reagan once called one of the 10 most dangerous men in California for his anti-war rallies in Berkeley, says that his message aimed at “social and environmental justice” has been consistent over the years. 

As a teenager in 1958 he picketed Boston’s segregated lunch counters. He marched with Martin Luther King in Selma, Ala. He organized opposition to the Vietnam war and he supported farm workers’ efforts to unionize.  

The Green Party candidate is calling for the following: abolition of the death penalty, an amendment to California’s three strikes law so that it does not apply to nonviolent offenses, legalization of marijuana so it can be regulated and taxed, elimination of no bid contracts and execution of campaign finance reform, including public financing of elections. 

Like the Senate Democrats, Camejo would reinstate the highest income bracket to close the state budget gap. He would also eliminate tax breaks for oil companies, eliminate the Proposition 13 mandate that allows corporate-owned property to be taxed at lower rates than homes and reinstate the vehicle license fee.  

In the past, Camejo has used a variety of tactics to make his point, including civil disobedience. He has spent time in the Berkeley jail for his political actions and got booted out of UC Berkeley after speaking at an unauthorized rally. 

“I believe in the rule of law and in democracy,” Camejo said. 

And seizing the opportunity to slide into a critique of President George W. Bush’s intent to go to war with Iraq, Camejo continued: “Bush opposes law. He opposes the world court.” A U.S. war in Iraq would be a violation of international law, he said. 

Camejo’s rapid-fire speech then veered quickly back to his run for governor and the governor’s alleged disregard for the law. 

He blasted Gov. Gray Davis for his fund-raising tactics, in particular, the May 2001 no-bid Oracle software contract with the state that Camejo called a “$95 million contract the state did not need.” The proof the contract was not needed, Camejo said, is that when the contract became an embarrassment for the governor’s campaign, it was canceled in July and never replaced. 

The Davis campaign has consistently argued that the governor is not influenced by campaign contributions. 

An unabashed leftist whose runs for president and senate were backed by the Socialist Workers Party, Camejo was born in New York when his Venezuelan mother was visiting her father there. He spent his first seven years in Venezuela, then moved to New York with his parents. 

In 1960, Camejo and his father, a wealthy developer, sailed in the Olympics for Venezuela. Currently Camejo is CEO of Progressive Asset Management, Inc., a socially responsible investment firm he founded in 1987 in Oakland. The firm moved to Concord a few years ago. 

Camejo freely admits his chances for becoming governor are nil. He says, however, that he has managed, in previous runs for office, to influence the political landscape. 

In his 1970 bid for the U.S. Senate seat against Ted Kennedy, Camejo said the pair debated three times. One of the questions posed to Kennedy at a debate at Boston University was about the senator’s position on an initiative on the Massachusetts ballot calling for an end to the war in Vietnam. Kennedy had yet to take a position on it. When Camejo came out strongly in its support, the crowd backed him up with cheers and applause. Camejo said he believes the debate was a critical factor when Kennedy came out a few days later in support of the initiative. 

There’s also the question of whether the Camejo bid could tip the balance in favor of Republican challenger Bill Simon. Locally, the Berkeley Democratic Club has not discussed the possible impact of the Camejo race taking votes from Davis. The Cal Berkeley Democrats have a policy of not talking to the media. 

Still, there are those who argue that the vote for Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader in Florida may have pushed Bush into the White House and that Camejo could similarly become a “spoiler.” 

That possibility looms even larger with the release Tuesday of the latest polling information from the ABC affiliate News10/Survey USA. When 849 registered voters were asked Sept. 21 and 22 for whom they would vote, results were as follows: Davis, 45 percent; Simon, 35 percent; Camejo, 9 percent; Gary David Copeland (Libertarian who will appear on the ballot, although he after spitting on a radio show host is no longer supported by his party), 4 percent. The margin of error is 3.5 percent. 

But Camejo throws the “spoiler” argument back to the Democratic party. The very reason there are run-offs on the local level and in other countries is so that a “spoiler” will not distort the outcome of the elections, Camejo said. In fact, the Democratic Party is the spoiler because it opposes run-offs, he says. He points out that if four candidates run for an office, and there are no run-offs, then someone who got 26 percent could win, even though 74 percent of the voters oppose the candidate.  

The Democrats not only oppose run-offs, but they refuse to debate Camejo and the three other minor candidates. But Camejo points to another poll that says the public wants to hear from him. 

An ABC/News 10 poll earlier this month showed that among 500 randomly-chosen adults, 69 percent called for Camejo to be included in the Oct. 7 Los Angeles debate sponsored by the L.A. Times; 25 percent opposed his inclusion and 6 percent were not sure. 

But, ever flexible in his tactics, Camejo says he’ll be at the debate anyway, picketing on the outside. “The rights of the people are being violated,” the candidate said.


Coffee initiative could mean mere pennies to you

Mark Tarses
Thursday September 26, 2002

To the Editor: 

There has been a lot of unfair criticism of the coffee law that will be on the Berkeley ballot in November. One of the often-heard arguments against this law is that it will raise the price of coffee to the point that it will be a luxury for rich people only. 

“PC Coffee,” as it is being called in the press, is expensive. It costs around $10 a pound at local stores compared to $2.50 a pound for mass-market coffee, like Maxwell House and Folger's. There is no denying that this is a big price difference, and on the surface, appears to be a powerful argument against this law. 

However, people don't drink coffee by the pound, but by the cup, and this law does not apply to coffee you make at home, only to coffee that you buy already brewed. 

What does a cup of coffee cost to make? 

A pound of coffee beans makes a lot of brewed coffee. The average American gets about 100 cups from a pound of coffee. Starbucks, which makes stronger coffee, gets 60 - 8 ounce cups of brewed coffee from one pound of beans. 

Of course, chain coffee shops, like Starbucks and Peet's, don't buy their coffee beans at retail stores. They buy “green coffee” directly from growers and importers. The international average price for “green” (unroasted raw coffee) has been on the decline in recent years. The average was 86 cents a pound in 1999, and currently is down to 76 cents per pound. 

That means that the cost of the beans required to make a 12 ounce cup of coffee at Starbucks is around 2 cents. Even if that cost were to double to 4 cents because of this new law, it should have very little, if any, effect on the price of a cup of coffee. 

 

Mark Tarses 

Berkeley


U.S. children escape Ivory Coast city

Clar Nichonghaile The Associated Press
Thursday September 26, 2002

YAMOUSSOUKRO, Ivory Coast — Waving U.S. flags and shouting ’Vive la France!,” American schoolchildren escaped a rebel-held Ivory Coast city under siege Wednesday, as U.S. special forces and French troops moved in to rescue Westerners caught in the West African nation’s bloodiest uprising. 

The evacuation came amid concerns that a full-scale battle could envelop Bouake, a central city of half-million residents. “We’re running out of everything,” said one frightened Ivorian woman, reached by telephone. “We are scared.” 

U.S. and French troops moved out in force Wednesday to safeguard Westerners caught in a six-day uprising after a failed coup Sept. 19 in which at least 270 people died. With insurgents holed up in two cities, Bouake and the northern city of Korhogo, President Laurent Gbagbo has pledged an all-out battle to root out rebels in what was once West Africa’s most stable and prosperous country. 

The 191 Americans evacuated from the school were escorted by the French military to an airfield in Yamoussoukro, where U.S. C-130 airplanes will fly them to Ghana Thursday morning, Pentagon officials said. 

The children waved American flags out of car windows as the convoy headed to safety down the region’s main road. “We’re very happy to get off campus,” one girl said as the convoy swept past. 

U.S. special forces spilled out of two C-130 cargo planes that touched down in Ivory Coast at midafternoon from a staging point in neighboring Ghana. Plane ramps came down and U.S. forces secured the tarmac of the forest-lined airstrip in Yamoussoukro, clearing the way for Humvees that came rolling out. 

American soldiers humping duffel bags and metal boxes rapidly set up a post at the strip, a base for French troops who arrived earlier to move in on behalf of Yamoussoukro’s foreigners. American officials would not say what the soldiers were going to do next. 

About 300 Americans live in Bouake, Ivory Coast’s second-largest city, which has been cut off from water, electricity and food since last week’s rebel takeover. 

“Our idea is to get as many out as possible,” Richard Buangan, a U.S. diplomat helping to coordinate at the staging area, said of Americans in Bouake after another night of firing outside the International Christian Academy on the city’s outskirts. 

About 100 well-armed French troops reached the whitewashed compound of the mission school at midday. “Everyone there is ecstatic,” said Neil Gilliland, speaking by telephone from the affiliated Free Will Baptist Missions in Nashville, Tenn., minutes after the troops’ arrival. 

The school houses 200 teachers, and children ages 5 to 18 of missionaries based across Africa. 

Firing broke out again on both sides of the mission at daybreak Wednesday, after panic two nights earlier when rebels breached the walls of the campus and fired from its grounds. 

“Nobody was firing at them, but there was gunfire all around,” Gilliland said of Monday’s shooting outside the school. 

Armed French troops escorted the teachers, staff and children back to Yamoussoukro, where U.S. forces were waiting. Waving U.S. flags and with many wearing U.S. flag T-shirts, the relieved children cheered out the windows at a French convoy headed the other way. 

“Vive la France!” — “Long live France!” they hollered. 

In Bouake, tense residents reached by telephone Wednesday said rebels still controlled the city and could be seen cruising the streets in commandeered vehicles. 

In Korhogo, rebels armed with guns and rocket launchers went house to house, rounding up any paramilitary police and soldiers not yet captured, and confiscating their weapons. 

Trapped in their houses, with no sign of a promised government offensive to rout the rebels, residents were becoming increasingly frustrated. 

“All my activities are paralyzed. I’m having trouble feeding my family,” said mechanic Souleymane Coulibaly. “If this continues, it is us who will go dislodge the mutineers.” 

As foreign troops scrambled to ensure the safety of Westerners, the hundreds of thousands of workers from neighboring Muslim countries were far more vulnerable in the uprising, which has sparked off deadly rivalries between the mainly Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south. 

A core group of 750-800 ex-soldiers — angry at their dismissal from the army for their suspected allegiance to the country’s former junta leader — were believed behind the insurgency. Paramilitary police killed the ex-junta leader, Gen. Robert Guei, in the first days of the coup attempt. 

On Wednesday, some 200 protesters threw stones at the French Embassy, demanding it turn over an opposition leader with a northern, Muslim base of support who is being sheltered by the mission. 

They then marched on the embassy of predominantly Muslim Burkina Faso, scaling the walls to pull down and tear up the country’s flag. 

Paramilitary police over the weekend burned a mostly Muslim shantytown in Abidjan, and Muslim northerners and guest workers reported arrests and beatings.


We enjoy our Eastshore State Park

Ruth Bird
Thursday September 26, 2002

To the Editor, 

I have attended most of the meetings about the Eastshore State Park plan and have heard no one speak in favor of the overdevelopment and over-concretization envisioned by the state. Most people enjoy the area, especially the Albany Bulb, as it is, with possible slight improvements such as toilets. Some speakers see the plan as a grab for control, control, control by the state and money, money, money by the concrete contractors. There were lyrical praises for friendly people, happy dogs, birds in the trees and little animals in the grass. Playing fields are needed, but not in waterfront areas. There are safer and more accessible locations. 

Save the Seabreeze. Small local enterprises like this are much more appropriate than generic cafes and shops. 

Bird breeding areas could be delineated as they are at Pt. Isabel, with slight limitation to, but not elimination of, off-leash dogs. 

 

Ruth Bird 

Berkeley


International Starbucks protest comes to town

David Scharfenberg
Thursday September 26, 2002

A dozen protesters picketed outside the Oxford Street Starbucks Wednesday as part of an international campaign urging the chain to buy more “Fair Trade” coffee from farmers. 

Under the Fair Trade system, designed to avoid exploitation of farmers, small coffee growers across the globe, organized into collectives, receive a minimum of $1.26 per pound regardless of the international price of coffee, which currently stands at 43 cents per pound. 

A Starbucks representative at the protest said the company has made significant progress on the issue, selling bags of Fair Trade coffee to customers since October 2000 and brewing it once a month in stores since May 2002. 

“To suggest we’re not doing something is not to acknowledge the facts,” said Gerry Argue, Starbucks’s regional director for the East Bay. 

Simon Harris of the Minnesota-based Organic Consumers Association, a lead organizer of the international campaign, said he was “encouraged” by the move to brew Fair Trade coffee once a month, but said the chain has not fully implemented the policy. 

Harris also argued that Starbucks should increase its purchases of Fair Trade coffee and brew it more frequently – once a week. 

“Thousands of coffee farmers can’t support their families and companies like Starbucks are making billions of dollars,” he said. 

Argue acknowledged that only 1 percent of the coffee purchased by Starbucks is officially certified as Fair Trade, but said Starbuck’s pays an average of $1.20 per pund for its coffee, just below the Fair Trade rate. 

The Oxford Street picket, on the west end of the UC Berkeley campus, was one of 300 Starbucks protests planned this week by the Organic Consumers Association and other fair trade activist groups, including the San Francisco-based Global Exchange. 

Other protests were scheduled for San Francisco, New York, Washington D.C. and international cities like London, England and Vancouver, Canada. 

Activists also called for the removal of bovine growth hormone from Starbucks products Wednesday. 

“Better safe than sorry,” said Michael Paurel, a student at Solano Community College in Vallejo, arguing that bovine growth hormone could have unforeseen impacts on consumers. 

Starbucks literature notes that the company offers organic and soy milk as an alternative to milk with bovine growth hormone, even though there is low customer demand for the alternatives.  

But Harris complained that Starbucks charges up to 40 cents extra for these products, discouraging consumers from choosing them. 

Valerie Orth, Fair Trade organizer for Global Exchange, said Berkeley residents can take local action by voting for Measure O in November. The measure would require Berkeley coffee sellers to brew only Fair Trade, organic or shade-grown coffee. The measure does not affect sales of ground coffee or beans.  

“It’s the most responsible way to brew coffee because we’re supporting farmers all over,” said Orth. “Berkeley can set the standard.” 

But Starbucks’s Argue said the initiative would put small coffee shops out of business by forcing them to pay too much for beans. 

“We could comply with the measure, if you got right down to it, but so many operators in Berkeley could not,” he said. 

Amy Von Nordheim, a Berkeley resident who picked up literature from the protesters, said she would consider the concerns of small coffee shops in voting on Measure O. 

But she said she was happy to be educated about the Fair Trade issues and added that the protesters’ arguments had reinforced her habit of staying away from the sprawling Starbucks chain. 

“I just think of them as an evil empire,” Von Nordheim said.


Santa Cruz denounces an attack on Iraq

The Associated Press
Thursday September 26, 2002

SANTA CRUZ — Upholding its famously liberal leanings, the Santa Cruz City Council has passed a resolution denouncing any pending military strike on Iraq led by U.S. forces. 

Tuesday’s 6-0 council vote even outpaced its liberal neighbor, Berkeley. Last year, Berkeley passed a resolution condemning the bombing of Afghanistan, but the city has yet to address the intensifying situation in Iraq. 

With passage of the resolution, the City Council authorized Mayor Christopher Krohn to send letters to President Bush and other national leaders relaying the council’s sentiments. 

“Locals brought this issue forward,” Krohn said. “Locals (would) fight this war. Some will not come back.” 

Though local supporters presented a petition with hundreds of signatures backing the resolution, there was some dissent. One resident, Bill Codiga, said the resolution was inappropriate and a waste of city time and money. His comments drew hisses from the crowd. 

Mayor Krohn and the City Council have made other headlines as of late, most recently for attending a marijuana giveaway in the courtyard of city hall in response to a federal agency raid on local medical marijuana farmers.


At least 15 homes damaged in Morgan Hill fire

The Associated Press
Thursday September 26, 2002

MORGAN HILL — Flames burned toward dozens of homes nestled in remote neighborhoods of the lushly forested Santa Cruz Mountains on Wednesday, with firefighters struggling in 90-degree heat to control one of the area’s largest wildfires in decades. 

The 2,529-acre blaze sent towering walls of flame through tinder-dry brush and trees. At least 11 homes were confirmed destroyed and four were damaged according to Steve Gasaway, a California Department of Forestry spokesman. 

CDF surveyed 30 percent of the area damaged by the 3-day-old fire. About 35 homes were checked by Wednesday evening, he said. There was no estimate on how many outbuildings had been affected. Six minor injuries were reported. 

Dozens of firefighters and helicopters worked to halt the advance of flames late Wednesday afternoon along the Santa Clara-Santa Cruz County line, midway between Corralitos and Morgan Hill. The intense flames shot 30 feet into the air and ashes snowed down on Summit Road, along the county border. 

Crews worked to build a fire line to keep the flames from jumping to the Santa Cruz County side of the road. 

Santa Clara County officials on Wednesday declared a state of emergency, which allowed them to bring in additional resources from outside and get disaster relief for residents, according to Pete Kutras, assistant county executive. 

“We know some homes have been lost and as the fire is moving, a great number of additional homes are being threatened,” Kutras said. 

The fire line was within a half mile of Kim Son Meditation Center, a Buddhist temple on Mt. Madonna, close to Loma Prieta peak. 

On Monday, more than 150 people were at the center for a retreat, but by Wednesday, just a handful remained. They hoped to stay, but were staying in touch with authorities. 

“If it becomes dangerous, then we’ll have to leave,” a nervous Thich Quang Chieu said. 

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials believe the fire was sparked Monday by a fire within a mobile home along the eastern side of the mountains.


Bay Area Briefs

Thursday September 26, 2002

5,000 acre additon to Golden Gate recreation area approved 

The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation today that will add 5,000 acres to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. 

In a written statement released today, bill sponsor Rep. Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, said, "All Californians have cause to celebrate today's vote.'' 

House bill 1953 expands the Golden Gate National Recreation Area to include Rancho Corral de Tierra, Devil's Slide and Martini Creek. 

"The new additions to the GGNRA covered by my legislation will be accessible to more than 6 million people who live within a one hour's drive of the park and will provide national park programs and experiences to millions of national and international visitors,'' said Lantos. 

Congress also approved a proposal to add another 10 years to the life of the Point Reyes National Seashore Citizens Seashore Advisory Commission. 

A Senate version of the bill passed earlier this year. Both pieces of legislation must by reconciled before a final vote, which is expected soon. 

Deadline passes for  

tree squatters to leave 

BRISBANE — The 30-day deadline for Besh Serdahely and Thelma Caballero to move out of their oak tree home of 12 years expired Wednesday, but the squatters say they’re not leaving without a fight. 

“She’s going to be hauled out in handcuffs. It’s going to take a big ol’ sheriff,” Serdahely said. “Nobody will convict her, it’s real. She really needs that place.” 

San Mateo County officials stapled a notice to the tree in a county park telling the couple that if they remained beyond the deadline, they could be cited for trespassing. 

Deputy County Manager Mary McMillan says she doesn’t want it to come to that, which is why county officials, mental health workers and housing coordinators will continue visiting the couple in hopes of persuading them to come down from San Bruno mountain. 

“We’re going to keep going up there with housing options and potentials for them should they find them appropriate,” she said. “It’s too bad, frankly. But what’s most important is doing what’s best for them. First and foremost, that’s what everyone is concerned with.” 

McMillan said the couple will not be evicted from the tree, but they also will not be permitted to stay. She said there’s no clean drinking water, human waste is being handled improperly and the environment is unsafe. 

“There was a 14-acre fire near there just last week,” she said. “The county is concerned for their health and safety and is not going to let them continue to inhabit the park.” 

Authorities moved to evict the couple after a recent review of property lines revealed that the hideaway is on land owned by the county rather than the state.


State adds to reputation as nation's trailblazer for laws

Jessica Brice The Associated Press
Thursday September 26, 2002

 

SACRAMENTO — California has enacted first-in-the-nation laws this year on family leave, auto emissions and stem-cell research, lending credence to the saying that wherever America is going, California will get there first. 

California rivals Washington, D.C., as an epicenter of change because of its size (34.5 million people, more than any other state) and economic clout (sixth-largest economy in the world, with a gross state product of $1.3 trillion). 

Lawmakers elsewhere look at California laws for direction. 

“If it works in California, it is likely to work in states throughout the country,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics in Charlottesville, Va. “The states are the laboratories for democracy, and California is the chief laboratory.” 

When the state passed the nation’s first “lemon law” in 1982 to protect consumers who buy cars with serious defects, the measure became the model for similar laws in all 50 states. California enacted the nation’s first ban on assault weapons in 1989; it was quickly adopted in six other states and led to a federal ban in 1994. California’s 1970 Clean Air Act is still the toughest in the nation. 

National firsts in California this year include a law explicitly allowing embryonic stem cell research, the country’s toughest auto emissions laws and a requirement that 20 percent of the state’s power come from renewable energy sources by 2017. 

Earlier this week, Gov. Gray Davis signed the nation’s first comprehensive paid family leave law, which allows workers to leave their job for up to six weeks at 55 percent pay to care for a newborn, newly adopted child or sick family member. 

Also, the gun control movement successfully pushed a measure this year making California the first state to repeal gun manufacturers’ special immunity against lawsuits. Davis is expected to sign the bill this week. 

“What we do here has tremendous impacts both in the message we send and its immediate impact on the health and safety of a large group of Americans,” said Luis Tolley of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. 

Because of California’s reputation as a liberal state, it often attracts interest groups that can’t get what they want from Congress. 

“Pro


UC Berkeley gets $2.1 million for smoking prevention study

The Associated Press
Thursday September 26, 2002

BERKELEY — University of California, Berkeley, was awarded a $2.1 million federal grant Wednesday to study the economic impact of smoking prevention efforts in China, the largest consumer of tobacco products in the world. 

The five-year grant was presented by the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health. 

Cigarette production in China has nearly doubled since 1982. The country now includes more than 320 million smokers, which represents one quarter of the world’s smokers. 

The study will compare disease rates among nonsmokers who live with a smoker compared to those who do not. In the vast majority of cases, the nonsmoker is a woman or child. Only 4 percent of women over 15 smoke in China, compared to 63 percent of men over 15.


Davis signs laws removing protections for gun industry

Angela Watercutter The Associated Press
Thursday September 26, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. Gray Davis cleared the way Wednesday for Californians to sue gun manufacturers if they believe the companies have been negligent in the advertising or production of firearms. 

The package of bills Davis signed removes a shield granted to gun makers regarding negligence lawsuits. Previously, gun manufacturers could not be sued if their products were used in the commission of a crime. 

A number of states have similar legal shields for gun makers. California is the first state to repeal such an immunity. 

“No industry should be allowed to hide from its own harmful conduct,” Davis said in a telephone press conference. “And except for gun manufacturers, no industry is. Current laws shield a gun manufacturer from its own negligence. These new laws strip away that shield.” 

California’s new laws have already gained the praise of gun control advocates. 

“These bills were our top priority this year, we’re thrilled that the governor has stuck by his position on this,” said Eric Gorovitz, Western policy director for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, a national grassroots organization. 

Gorovitz said he hopes the measure will make the gun industry more responsible because of the threat of lawsuits. 

Critics of the bills, however, argue that they could open the door to frivolous lawsuits. And, Chuck Michel, a spokesman for the California Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc., says the legislation is an attempt by gun-ban advocates to swamp gun manufacturers with lawsuits to bankrupt them. 

“They will use this to file multiple lawsuits based on their mistaken belief that firearms have no social utility,” Michel said. “They want a legitimate industry to pay for the inability of law enforcement and local authorities to control violent crimes.” 

The new law removes a lawsuit shield enacted in 1983 to protect manufacturers of cheaply made handguns known as Saturday Night Specials. 

The shield was cited by the state Supreme Court last year when it ruled that a gun company couldn’t be sued by survivors of a 1993 rampage for damages done when criminals use their products illegally. 

Also Wednesday, Davis signed 14 identity theft bills, including one that keeps mother’s maiden names and Social Security numbers out of public birth and death indexes. 

Supporters said the laws are needed to keep sensitive information out of criminals’ hands, but others said the restrictions will needlessly hurt law-abiding people, including genealogists and adoptees seeking birth records. 

“It is a terrible precedent,” said Terry Francke, general counsel for the California First Amendment Coalition. “There was no demonstrated harm. And I mean none.”


Briefs

Thursday September 26, 2002

Accounting stripped of license it voluntarily gave up 

SACRAMENTO — A California board has stripped accounting giant Arthur Andersen of its license to operate in the state, officials said Wednesday. 

The state Board of Accountancy took the action after Andersen waived its right to a hearing before an administrative law judge. 

A federal court jury in Texas found the company guilty of obstruction of justice in June for its role in the Enron scandal. Government attorneys contended Andersen shredded documents relating to Enron Corp. to hide financial irregularities by the now-bankrupt energy trader. 

The action by the California board follows a decision by officials in Texas to pull Andersen’s license there. 

Silicon Valley HMO closing 

SAN JOSE — Health care may be on the shopping lists of thousands of Silicon Valley employees during this year’s holiday season. 

Lifeguard, Inc., a Milpitas-based HMO, will cease operations Dec. 31, forcing nearly 165,000 patients to scurry for new medical coverage and leaving scores of doctors wondering whether they’ll be paid for services already provided. 

The California Department of Managed Health Care seized the company Sept. 13 and has since said it would become the fourth HMO state officials have closed since the department was established in 2000. 

For nearly 25 years, Lifeguard has covered employees both public and private — from the City of San Jose and the Livermore School District to high tech giant Hewlett-Packard and defense contractor General Dynamics. 

HP to cut 1,800 more jobs 

SAN JOSE — Citing continued weak demand, Hewlett-Packard Co. said Wednesday it will cut 1,800 jobs beyond the 15,000 reductions planned as part of its Compaq Computer Corp. acquisition. 

The cuts are expected to be completed by the end of fiscal 2003. As of the third quarter, which ended July 31, the company had reduced its net headcount by 4,740. 

In a note sent to employees Tuesday, the company blamed the latest reductions on a “continued market slowdown and HP’s clear intent to have a competitive, world-class cost structure.” 

HP expects to have reduced its work force by 10,000 by Oct. 31, the end of its current fiscal year. 

Davis signs bill for  

Armenian trade office  

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gray Davis signed legislation Wednesday creating California’s 13th overseas trade office — if the cash-strapped state can raise private donations to pay for it. 

The bill by Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena, directs the Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency to set up the office in the Republic of Armenia if it can raise money from an outside source to cover the cost. 

The head of the agency, Lon Hatamiya, and Scott said state officials hope to raise the money with help from California’s Armenian community.


PUC plans show how energy users will pay

The Associated Press
Thursday September 26, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO — Businesses and institutions who bypassed their local utilities to buy cheaper electricity from power sellers would have to pay a surcharge to help the state repay its energy debts, under a plan put forward by the state’s energy regulators Wednesday. 

The Public Utilities Commission released several draft proposals Wednesday that detail how consumers’ electric rates will pay for the state’s energy debts. 

The commission will vote on the plans at their Oct. 24 meeting. The proposals are necessary to get the state’s three investor-owned utilities back into the power-buying business, said PUC spokeswoman Terrie Prosper. 

One of the proposals would charge direct access customers an additional 2.7 cents per kilowatt hour so they pay a share of the state’s power debts. Consumer groups said that surcharge is too low. 

Utility customers pay about 14 cents per kilowatt hour, but the rates vary by utility, customer class and the amount of energy used. 

Direct access, one of the cornerstones of the state’s failed deregulation plan, allowed customers to buy electricity from sources other than their utilities. During the energy crisis of 2001, wholesale rates soared above the capped retail rates, causing the utilities to amass billions of dollars in debts and forcing the state to step in to buy energy for utility customers.


Sales fall for Sept. 11 books after one-year anniversary

Hllel Italie The Associated Press
Thursday September 26, 2002

NEW YORK — Sales for Sept. 11 books have dropped substantially since the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks, although a handful of titles remain best sellers. 

According to Neilsen BookScan, which tracks about two-thirds of retail sales, Lisa Beamer’s “Let’s Roll” was the most popular nonfiction hardcover book for the week ending Sept. 22. Beamer’s husband, Todd, is credited with helping lead the charge against the terrorists on United Flight 93. 

The third best-selling book was “Longitudes and “Attitudes,” essays and journals about Sept. 11 by Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Thomas Friedman of The New York Times. “What We Saw,” a retrospective with an introduction by CBS Anchor Dan Rather, ranked No. 12. 

Seven Sept. 11 books appeared in the top 15 on the BookScan list for the week ending Sept. 15, when the actual anniversary took place. Sales for all have since dropped, some by more than half. “What We Saw,” for example, sold 7,000 copies last week, compared to 15,000 the week before. 

“Interest has fallen off,” said Barbara Meade, co-owner of Politics & Prose, a Washington, D.C.-based store located about 10 miles from the Pentagon. 

“The Thomas Friedman book is selling better than anything we’ve had this year. But we have a table of Sept. 11 books that are not getting the sales they did before,” Meade said Wednesday. 

More than 100 books related to the attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon came out this fall, covering everything from religion to intelligence gathering. Publishers and booksellers have questioned how many would catch on with readers. 

“We don’t need every publishing company doing 10 or 12 books every Sept. 11,” said Mary Gay Shipley, owner of That Bookstore in Blytheville, Ark. “I don’t think we should ever forget, but I do get the feeling we’re moving on.”


Death sentence for couple who tortured Pleasanton woman in minivan

Daily Planet Wire Service and The Associated Press
Thursday September 26, 2002

OAKLAND — A couple accused of abducting, raping and murdering a 22-year-old Pleasanton woman in a minivan rigged for torture was sentenced to death Wednesday. 

James Daveggio, 41, and his then-girlfriend Michelle Michaud, 43, kidnapped Vanessa Lei Samson in December 1997. The Sacramento couple kept Samson inside their minivan, rigged with hooks and ropes, where they repeatedly tortured her with curling irons while driving east toward the Sierra Nevada. 

A motorist found Samson's body two days later, face down in the snow, about 30 feet down a embankment alongside a road in Alpine County. She had been strangled. 

Judge Larry Goodman ordered Wednesday morning that Daveggio be delivered to San Quentin State Prison within 10 days. 

Michaud was sentenced to death Wednesday afternoon. 

Daveggio, a bearded, burly man with numerous tattoos inked on his arms, showed no reaction to the sentence. 

Earlier in the morning, citing "overwhelming and undisputed'' evidence of Daveggio's guilt, Goodman denied an automatic motion to have the death sentence reduced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

In a monotone voice, Goodman said the court's independent review of the evidence found Samson's murder to be “vile, cruel, senseless, depraved, brutal, evil and vicious.” 

Deputy District Attorney Angela Backers said that never in the history of Alameda County has the criminal justice system seen such a case of “pure evil and utter depravity.” 

“These two defendants are simply the worst of the worst,'' Backers said. She called it “a good day for justice.'' 

Before killing Samson, Daveggio and Michaud raped six young girls and women, Backers said. The two called these attacks “huntings.” 

Prior to sentencing, several members of Samson's family, including her brother and mother, addressed Daveggio in court. 

Vincent Samson, the victim's older brother, placed a framed picture of his sister on the defense table in front of Daveggio before addressing him. 

“What do you say to someone who raped, molested and killed my sister?” Vincent Samson said. “What do you say to a demon that committed vile, inhuman acts on innocent children?” 

He remembered the “kid sister'' he used to pay to wrap his Christmas presents and the caring, giving and responsible young woman who was robbed of her future. 

Vincent Samson also asked Daveggio whether he had in fact killed Vanessa Lei Samson and whether he was sorry for the crimes he had committed. 

Just prior to his sentencing, Daveggio was allowed to respond to Vincent Samson's questions. Daveggio, dressed in bright red jail garb, turned around and looked directly at the Samson family. 

“I, in fact, did not kill Ms. Samson. By law I am as guilty of her death as Michelle is,” Daveggio said. 

“Do I care or feel for Ms. Samson? Yes, watching your family, unfortunately I have never seen love as you all have for her. Yes, I think about it every day.” 

Christina Samson said she is still haunted by the brutal slaying of her daughter. 

“She was in terror. Frightened beyond words,'' Christina Samson said, referring to her daughter's final moments. “She was brutally tortured and she was defenseless and alone.” 

The mother said that she still cries over the loss of her daughter, most often in the early morning hours so that her family members cannot hear her. 

“With the murder of my Vanessa Lei, a part of me died”' she said.


SF taking action on water system woes

The Associated Press
Thursday September 26, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO — A television news report that a major component of the city’s emergency water system had been neglected for more than a decade is prompting changes and a fire department investigation into how the system came to be neglected. 

A report by KGO TV on Tuesday found that several engines that drive pumps at San Francisco’s Pumping Station Number Two are could fail in a major disaster. Such engines are used to keep water flowing from San Francisco Bay to fire hydrants if the main system shuts down or leaks, as it did following the Loma Prieta earthquake. 

But an official department report shows the engines are in critical condition. The engines’ manufacturer recommends the oil be changed every 150 hours, or once a year. But the chief engineer charged with maintaining the station, Seung Hong, told the television station he hasn’t changed the oil in more than 10 years because the pumps only run four hours a month. 

The television station found Hong had been playing golf and working on his car inside the station, as well as lifting weights and tending to lettuce, tomatoes and spices in a contraband garden. 

San Francisco Fire Chief Mario Trevino said the city has two fire boats to use in an emergency, but has instituted a new maintenance program to ensure the emergency water supply will be reliable. He also is launching an internal review and has asked police for a criminal investigation.


UC study finds younger people more conservative

By David Scharfenberg Daily Planet Staff
Wednesday September 25, 2002

Young people are more conservative than their parents on school prayer, abortion and federal aid to faith-based charities, according to a new nationwide poll by UC Berkeley researchers. 

The survey found that 69 percent of teenagers support school prayer, compared to 59 percent of adults ages 27 to 59. Likewise, 67 percent of high school-age teens favor federal aid for faith-based charities, versus 40 percent of adults 27 to 59. 

An informal street poll of Berkeley residents found little support among young people for conservative religious issues like school prayer. But there was a broad consensus that even in Berkeley, renowned for its liberalism, a growing conservatism among young people exists. 

“Berkeley is so liberal,” said Josh Grassel, a Berkeley High School senior. “One way kids are rebelling from their parents is to be more conservative.” 

Grassel was quick to note that “conservative” in Berkeley would likely be considered liberal elsewhere. 

Phoebe Calef, a BHS junior, said her mother is more liberal than she is because she grew up during the protest era of the 1960s. 

“My mom was born and raised in Berkeley and graduated from Berkeley High in 1969,” Calef explained. 

Berkeley resident Toby St. John, 49, said her 16-and 19-year-old daughters are just as liberal as she is. But St. John agreed that young people are on the whole more conservative. 

“I think it’s a sad thing,” she said. “I think the values of this country and the values of youth are, ‘I’m here to get as much as I can.’ ” 

UC Berkeley Annie Bowman, a member of Berkeley Students for Life, took a more positive view of the survey results. But, as a student at UC Berkeley, she said there is little evidence of a growing conservatism. 

“It’s surprising,” she said, of the poll results. “My classmates, my friends here, try to make a point of showing their individualism. They try to fit in with radical views.” 

Bowman’s sister Molly, a junior at UC Berkeley, said her generation’s conservatism may be a response to the breakdown of the family, which she linked to “radical feminism” and other movements of the 1960s. 

But Chris Cantor, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine, disputed the notion that his generation is more conservative than the Baby Boomers. 

“The younger generation, I don’t think it’s more conservative, it’s more comfortable,” he said. 

Cantor argued that a record period of prosperity left his generation unconcerned with politics. Now that the economy is in decline he predicts things will change. 

“I’d expect that the younger generation is going to become more radical as the economic conditions become less accommodating,” he said. 

The UC poll found that while young people are more conservative about religious issues, they are more liberal than their parents on assistance for the poor and protection of the environment.  

The study found few generational differences on other issues like military defense, gun control, tax policy and criminal punishment. 

Researchers did not come to any conclusions about why there is a split on religious matters, but parity on other traditionally conservative issues. 

“We need to explore why youths seem to be more conservative than their elders when it comes to religious politics and abortion politics, but not other issues,” said Douglas Strand, project director at the university’s Survey Research Center. 

Strand speculated that the mobilization of religious conservatives in the late 1970s and an increase in pro-school prayer, anti-abortion messages may have affected young people’s political views. Baby Boomers, he noted, were not exposed to as many of these messages in their formative years.  

The UC poll, in addition to locating a “generation gap” on religious issues, found that individuals who do not participate heavily in politics are more conservative on “family values” issues, and are more liberal on racial issues, federal domestic spending and campaign finance reform. 

Mobilizing these people, the study suggests, could push the political debate over campaign finance reform or domestic spending to the left and pull the discussion on “family values” issues like homosexuality and abortion to the right.  


Here’s to democracy in Berkeley

Ron Rice Berkeley
Wednesday September 25, 2002

To the Editor: 

Democracy in Berkeley is to be much applauded. This week’s Parks and Recreation Committee patiently listened for two hours as 38 members of the community were each given the opportunity to speak. One speaker said that democracy in Berkeley is slow and challenging, but in the end, we in Berkeley end up with fabulous and unique accomplishments, like Dreamland for Kids, like the Harrison Street Skatepark, like the Pedestrian Overpass. 

It is precisely this engaged citizenry, this active creative and vital community which makes Berkeley a wonderful place.  

I can only hope that the school board will take its head out of the shell and start promoting democracy. Listen to citizen and community concerns, enter into dialog with us, involve us in problem solving. 

Don't keep emphasizing the “unified” in an attempt to homogenize and Mcdonaldize our community. Before you make any further cuts in the budget, or any additional changes to basic curriculum and schedules, hold democratic, public meetings, listen to your advisory committees and utilize what is rich and right with Berkeley.  

 

Ron Rice 

Berkeley


Jackets start ACCAL season by pounding on Richmond

By Jared Green Daily Planet Staff
Wednesday September 25, 2002

Although the Berkeley High girls volleyball team had a rough preseason, there’s one thing the Yellowjackets know they can count on: dominating the Alameda Contra-Costa Athletic League. 

Berkeley, just 1-4 before Tuesday’s league opener, needed just 30 minutes to overwhelm the Richmond Oilers, 15-1, 15-1, 15-5. The Oilers had just one kill in the match and didn’t score a point from play until halfway through the second game. 

Senior Amalia Jarvis led the Berkeley attack with seven kills and no hitting errors, while senior Rachel Phillips served her way to six aces. Junior Nadia Qabazard pitched in with five aces and five digs, and junior Chelsea Bowden had 10 assists. 

The Jackets towered over the Richmond (0-1 ACCAL) players, and it was quickly apparent that Berkeley is still the best team in the ACCAL. The Jackets haven’t lost a match in the two years of the league’s current configuration and don’t figure to break the streak this season. The Oilers struggled just to get Berkeley’s serves back over the net, with no player capable of hitting a spike with any authority. 

“There are a few teams in the league who at least have a player who can hit,” Berkeley head coach Justin Caraway said. “Our defense just doesn’t get a lot of work in these games.” 

Berkeley’s offense worked smoothly on Tuesday with just four hitting errors in the match. The Oilers didn’t exactly make it tough on the Jackets, dinking easy free balls over the net for easy passes and sets by Berkeley. Richmond’s only point of the first game came on a rotation penalty on the Jackets. Caraway doesn’t expect much better competition from the other teams in the league and said he will use ACCAL games to work on things like jump serving and offensive experimentation. 

But after winning the North Coast Section title last season, Caraway isn’t too happy with his team’s performance so far this year. Not-even-close losses to Bishop O’Dowd and Castro Valley, two of the teams Berkeley went through for the NCS title last season, have revealed a Berkeley team that is still reeling from the loss of 6-foot-5 middle blocker Desiree Guilliard-Young. Guilliard-Young left the Berkeley as the school’s all-time leader in kills and blocks. 

With senior Vanessa Williams moving to the middle and six-footers Claire Vacarro and Brittany Mabry providing quality depth, the Jackets will still have little trouble with the height-challenged teams of the ACCAL. But with Mabry ineligible at the moment and no Guillard-Young to scare the opposition, they will have to spread the offense around to be effective against top-level teams. 

“Once we get Brittany back, we’ll be in good shape,” Caraway said. “I’d like to see more motion in our offense, so we can mix up where we’re hitting the ball.” 

The Jackets will get another test when they play in the Top of the Bay Tournament this weekend in Santa Rosa. Most of Northern California’s best teams will take part in the tournament.


Mayor considers building new UC stadium

Matthew Artz Daily Planet Staffpandering to neighbors
Wednesday September 25, 2002

A proposal by Mayor Shirley Dean to consider moving the UC Berkeley football stadium from under an earthquake fault on the eastern side of campus has caused some pre-election rumblings. 

“It’s a preposterous plan,” said Tom Bates, her chief opponent in the November Election. “Where else in Berkeley can they build another football stadium,” he asked. 

Dean disagreed. 

“If there was an earthquake or a wildfire during a football game it would be very difficult to evacuate the area,” Dean said.  

In addition to safety concerns she cited traffic and distance from public transportation as reasons to consider a new stadium. 

The university is looking into a costly retrofit project for its 80,000-seat Memorial Stadium. 

Dean first floated the stadium move Sunday at a candidate forum held by neighborhood groups southeast of the campus, where neighbors have long complained about football game traffic. 

She called for the city and the university to study a plan to build a new stadium on the western edge of campus, near the intersection of Oxford Street and Shattuck Avenue and near BART. 

Dean also mentioned the possibility of unearthing a waterfall and creek she said are buried under Memorial Stadium. 

Bates, however, called Dean’s proposal an outright attempt to pander to stadium neighbors. But Dean said the timing was right to consider a new football field because of the current retrofitting needs. 

Built directly above the Hayward fault in 1928, Memorial Stadium is in need of a seismic retrofit, said Bob Rose of the university’s athletic office. Rose said the university is studying different proposals, but he would not discuss the final price for stadium upgrades. 

UC Berkeley, not the city, has final say over the location of its football stadium. 

Neighbors of the stadium say that traffic and parking are so bad on the seven home game days that they feel trapped in their homes. 

“You couldn’t believe how bad [traffic] is,” said Martha Jones, who lives on Derby Street. “If you have any errands to do you have to wait until after the football game begins and get back before the game is over.” 

Dean wants the city and the university to discuss a plan submitted last year by resident Rex Dietderich to build a new 50,000-seat stadium. 

Dietderich, a former Berkeley fire captain and financial supporter of UC Berkeley athletics, said that a retrofit would cost $100 million and would not fix all of the stadium’s structural problems. 

He suggested building a metal stadium at the grass field just south of Oxford and Center streets, with a five-level parking garage under it. This would cost $150 million, he said. 

“The university could have a top-notch stadium and solve its parking problems forever,” said Dietderich. 

University officials, though, said the plan is not feasible. 

“There isn’t enough land there,” said Jackie Bernier, principal planner for the university. The water level below the site is too high to accommodate underground parking, Bernier said. 

“If you built a stadium there you would have to build a huge structure because you couldn’t dig into the ground,” said Bernier.  

Dean said the plan might not be viable, but that the city and the university owe it to stadium neighbors to consider the plan. 

Bates said he supported retrofitting the current stadium and that the city and university should offer more public transportation to the stadium on game days.


Look at immigration

Tim Aaronson El Cerrito
Wednesday September 25, 2002

To the Editor: 

So, the Berkeley height initiative has enviros straddling the fence. (Daily Planet, Sept. 20, “Ballot divides environmental community”) 

As long as the Sierra Club and the Greens run from dealing with the underlying cause of sprawl – immigration-induced population growth – they will have to suffer the Hobbesian choice posed by Measure P. 

If that fence post is sharp they deserve the discomfort. Ignorance shouldn't be blissful. 

 

Tim Aaronson 

El Cerrito 

 


Teachers condemn cuts

By David Scharfenberg Daily Planet Staff
Wednesday September 25, 2002

Teachers and activists expressed concern Tuesday about cost-cutting moves that combine Berkeley High School’s visual and performing arts departments and fold the English Language Learners department into other, undetermined programs. 

The comments came one day after African-American studies advocates said they were outraged over a plan to fold the 34-year-old African-American studies department, the only one of its kind in the nation, into one or several other high school programs. 

The consolidations, which will go into effect in a matter of weeks, are the result of an agreement signed by the school district and the Berkeley Federation of Teachers Aug. 20. 

The district, in negotiations, pushed for consolidation of any department that offers fewer than 15 classes a year. The move eliminated the need for several department heads and saved several thousand dollars, helping close the district’s $3.9 million budget deficit. 

The union agreed to the consolidation, said BFT President Barry Fike, in part to win “above average” pay for the remaining department heads. 

Department chairs, under the agreement, will receive stipends of $5,000, $3,750 or $2,250 depending on the size of their programs. 

Teachers received copies of the agreement at the beginning of the school year, but the story did not receive broader public attention until Monday, with an article in the Daily Planet. 

The changes will not lead to a reduction or change in classes, but will eliminate department heads for the effected programs and, in some cases, prevent teachers from meeting on their own for planning purposes. 

Instead, teachers will have to report to staff meetings in their new, larger departments. Critics say instructors, as a result, will not have time to discuss issues relevant only to visual arts or English language learners. 

“There have been a lot of changes at the state level,” said Mike Walbridge, former chair of the ELL department, referring to new state standards and new state test. “We’re concerned we need to be spending time as a department on these new standards.” 

Walbridge gave the district credit for providing his department with a temporary reprieve – allocating funding from a federal Title VII grant to ELL teachers so they can continue to meet this year. 

“My biggest concern is when that grant runs out,” he said. 

A lack of meeting time, Walbridge said, could lead to “haphazard” planning, which would eventually effect students. 

“The concern, obviously, is that it’s a very special group of students,” said Father George Crespin of St. Joseph the Worker Church, which serves a large Latino population. “I understand the financial problems, but I would hope that the quality of the attention the students get would not be lessened.” 

About 300 students at Berkeley High, more than 10 percent of the total, are ELL students, according to Walbridge. Half of the students take ELL courses and the rest have moved into mainstream classes. 

The students speak roughly 30 languages, Walbridge said, including Spanish, Urdu, Arabic and Brazilian Portuguese. 

Miriam Stahl, a visual arts teacher, said instructors want to keep the visual and performing arts departments separate so they can have separate meeting time. 

“It’s not productive to meet together all the time when our curriculums are so different,” she said. 

Stahl added that the visual and performing arts programs would like to have separate department heads who could discuss their own, unique interests in discussions with school administrators. 

Performing arts teachers, for instance, have a particular concern with the management of performance space at Berkeley High, while the issue is less important for visual arts instructors, Stahl said. 

BFT President Barry Fike said Tuesday that he would be happy to take the issue of department consolidation back to the bargaining table, but that district officials seem unwilling to work out a new deal. 

District officials in the central office and at Berkeley High did not return calls for comment Tuesday, but Associate Superintendent for Educational Services Christine Lim told the Daily Planet Monday that the district was unlikely to renegotiate the consolidations. 

 

 


Read your history books

Hoang Phan SJP, Berkeley
Wednesday September 25, 2002

To the Editor: 

David Scharfenberg's story “Students Push Israeli Divestment” (Daily Planet, Sept. 19) was a good, balanced one. We of Students for Justice in Palestine, Berkeley hope that the regents read it. In particular, Regent David Lee should read the story. As a student of UC Berkeley, I was surprised to hear such an ignorant statements as Regent Lee made regarding the history of the conflict. His suggestion that the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians goes back over 1,000 years (almost 2,000, according to him) reveals his ignorance of the fact that the state of Israel was created in 1948. This is little over 50 years ago. Even right-wing Zionists will admit this historical fact. How do our Regents become administrators of the UC? As students and educators at this top institution, we would expect our regents to be more informed about the basics of history. Or at least wise enough not to speak on issues of which they are so little informed. To learn more, Regent Lee should also read SJP's divestment information (www.ucdivest.org), which we gave to the regents, the statements from dozens of faculty members we gave the Regents, or at the very least, read something on the history of the conflict. It is because so many are ignorant of even the basic history of the conflict that SJP focuses so much of our organizing energies on education. We therefore invite Regent Lee, and all other regents, to our upcoming teach-ins. 

 

Hoang Phan 

SJP, Berkeley 

 


Journalists show distaste for fast food

By Carol Hunet Special to the Daily Planet
Wednesday September 25, 2002

 

Processed foods are becoming less appealing to American eaters, say journalists debating the social and environmental impacts of factory foods at a UC Berkeley conference this week. 

On one side, food industry giants like McDonalds, Monsanto, Conagra are pushing for technological advances such as genetically modified crops and irradiated beef. They say the changes will lead to greater consumers convenience and productivity. 

On the other hand, critics fear that industry advances will hurt the environment, public health and American culture. 

Eric Schlosser, author of the New York Times bestseller “Fast Food Nation,” addressed a packed audience at Wheeler Hall Monday night, pushing to lessen the industrialization of food. 

Schlosser noted that 10 agribusinesses control 90 percent of the global food market. 

“There is a lot of talk about the current system being inevitable,” Schlosser said. “There is nothing inevitable about it at all.” 

In a conference titled “Food and the Environment: The Costs, Benefits and Consequences of Modern Food Production,” sponsored by the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and hosted by UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, Schlosser and a panel of authors kicked off the week-long gathering with some of the country’s most prominent food, science and agriculture journalists. The conference will also feature representatives from the food industry, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, nutritionists and other organizations. 

Panelist Michael Pollan, contributing writer for “The New York Times Magazine” and author of “The Botany of Desire” said that the food industry treats agriculture like a factory rather than as part of a larger and fragile ecological system.  

American agriculture’s centralized structure and vast acres of undiversified crops leave it vulnerable not only to environmental threats like pests and drought, but also to terrorism, Pollan said. “The system is very precarious.”  

There are, however, promising alternatives to factory foods. While food consumption is growing annually at a rate of 3 percent, the organic food sector is growing at a rate of 20 percent, Pollan said.  

Panelist Corby Kummer, senior editor of “The Atlantic Monthly,” talked about combining personal pleasure and the love of food with environmental responsibility. The argument is that when people build relationships with local food growers, they start seeing themselves as active participants in a dynamic environment rather than passive consumers. 

“You are the converted,” Kummer said. “Make relationships with that sassy person behind the counter at the Cheeseboard.” 

Chez Panisse owner Alice Waters, who catered dinner for conference participants Monday night, has long been an advocate of “slow food,” a protest to fast food. 

At her world-renowned restaurant, Waters focuses on using local, seasonal foods on her menus. “This is a delicious revolution,” she said. 

Mark Hertsgaard, a panelist who researched his book “Earth Odyssey” overseas pointed out that concerns such as obesity, organic farming and genetically modified foods are luxuries that most of the world cannot afford.  

“Worldwide, one in three people goes to bed hungry several times a week, and one in six is chronically hungry,” said Hertsgaard, who complained that news organizations seldom cover chronic hunger before it is a disaster. 

While proponents of industrial agriculture and genetically modified foods use world hunger to justify new, high-yield technologies, Hertsgaard said that hunger usually has more to do with poverty than with production. 

“The Green Revolution is biased in favor of people with capital,” he said. “As [agricultural] outputs become larger, [food] distribution becomes more uneven.” 

Orville Schell, dean of the university’s journalism school and author of the 1983 book “Modern Meat: Antibiotics, Hormones and the Pharmaceutical Farm” shared a similar view. 

“There is a paradox at work in the food industry,” Schell said. “We’ve made incredible progress, yet we take a step forward and surprise ourselves by raising a host of new problems.”  

A final question from the audience on Monday threw the panel: “When was the last time you ate at a fast food restaurant?” 

Berkeley’s Waters hemmed and hawed at the microphone, but finally relented. “It was a bit of a research project,” she said, explaining how she was late for a conference in Salina, Kan., and only had 10 minutes to eat. “I just went through the drive-through, took my order to the other side and ate it next to a trash can. I was finished in less than five minutes.” 

“Where? Where?” the audience asked. 

“It was McDonalds,” Waters confessed. “But it was over eight years ago.” 

Schlosser, on the other hand, is not tempted by McDonalds.  

“I go to In-&-Out Burger,” he said. “The fries are good. The shakes are good. And the religious messages on the cups are very entertaining.” 


Summer weather takes its toll

By Alan Sayre The Associated Press
Wednesday September 25, 2002

NEW ORLEANS — Cajun fishing towns cleared out, Navy ships steamed out for the open sea and inland hotels began filling up as Tropical Storm Isidore strengthened Tuesday and headed toward the Gulf Coast. 

The storm, which left two people dead and 300,000 homeless in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, moved back over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and was expected to hit Louisiana or Mississippi with hurricane force as early as Wednesday night. 

Emergency officials in Florida were watching another tropical storm, Lili, which has killed three people in the Caribbean and could strike the southern part of the state over the weekend. 

At 5 p.m. EDT, Isidore was about 550 miles south of New Orleans and heading north at around 7 mph. Its sustained winds, which had fallen to well below hurricane strength of 74 mph as the storm moved over land, rose to 60 mph and were expected to strengthen. 

Ahead of the storm, bands of rain lashed parts of the Gulf Coast. 

The forecast track put the eye of the storm over rural Terrebonne Parish, southeast of New Orleans, early Thursday. Storm advisories stretched from Jefferson and Orange counties in Texas to Destin, Fla. 

Grand Isle, an island resort south of New Orleans that has just one two-lane escape route, was placed under a mandatory evacuation order at midday Tuesday. Many of the town’s 1,500 residents were already on their way out. 

“We’re leaving. I’m getting my boat ready now,” said Leland McMaster, general manager at Poche’s Cabins and Apartments. 

In Terrebonne Parish, vulnerable coastal towns including Chauvin, Grand Caillou and Theriot were ordered evacuated. Officials expected an exodus of about 2,000 people. 

While early projections indicated Isidore could come ashore as a Category 4 storm with 155 mph winds, Tuesday’s forecasts were for a less powerful Category 1 hurricane — with wind in excess of 80 mph. 

Still, ships pulled out of the Naval Station at Pascagoula, Miss., for safer waters, and hotels north of coastal areas were swamped with reservations. 

“We’ve been having to turn people away,” said Denise Sullivan at the front desk of the Ramada Inn in Jackson, Miss. 

Officials along the Texas coast were battling Isidore-caused swells of 12 feet, and expected them to grow as the storm approaches. On South Padre Island, overnight tides swamped an emergency sand wall and water rushed onto streets. 

New Orleans, the nation’s biggest city with a low point below sea level, prepared for heavy rain by closing flood walls, putting all pumping stations in full operation, sandbagging roads near the water and even asking hospitals to delay elective surgeries. 

Mayor Ray Nagin said he was not ready to order or recommend evacuations.


City loan to house residents displaced by fire

Matthew Artz Daily Planet Staff
Wednesday September 25, 2002

City Council passed a measure Tuesday guaranteeing continued shelter for the 69 residents of the UA Homes left homeless by an Aug. 26 fire. 

Council authorized up to $150,000 to the subsidized housing complex Resources for Community Development (RCD). The loan will allow RCD to continue housing residents in nearby hotels even if repairs to the building on 1040 University Ave. are delayed. 

Since Red Cross disaster relief aid expired on Sept. 11, RCD has spent $42,000 taking care of residents at local hotels and other RCD complexes. RCD has a cash reserve to cover hotel bills until the second week of October, the date repairs at UA Homes are expected to be completed, Williams said. However, if the construction, which started last week, becomes delayed, RCD will not have enough money to support residents. 

The four-story building, founded to provide shelter and care to homeless people, burned after a pile of clothes accidentally caught fire, city officials said.  

Drew King of the city’s housing department said it is in Berkeley’s interest to keep RCD funded. 

“They have offered programs that are very valuable for us and provide housing that is very hard for a city to operate,” King said.  

Williams said that to maintain some cash reserves, he expected that RCD would apply for a $40,000 loan, approximately half the repair costs, assuming that construction is completed on time. 

Building repairs are scheduled to proceed in two phases. Phase one, scheduled to be finished by the second week of October, will repair all but the six most damaged rooms. Because there were six vacancies before the fire, all of the residents will be able to return when that work is completed.  

Phase two will repair the parts of the building most damaged by the fire and is expected to be finished within four months. 

In addition to free accommodations, RCD has worked with city agencies to make sure that the residents are given food and transportation passes to those who work. Because the hotel rooms do not have kitchens, many of the residents who don’t qualify for food stamps were concerned that they would not be able to eat. 

Terms of the loan have not been discussed, but King said the money would come from the city’s housing trust fund. 


Berkeley composer offers music amid New York’s post-Sept. 11 grief

The Associated Press
Wednesday September 25, 2002

NEW YORK - The faces said it all. No beaming smiles, only frozen stares. The 252 performers standing on stage at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City had just completed the world premiere of John Adams' “On the Transmigration of Souls,” a meditative tribute to the victims, survivors and heroes of Sept. 11. 

The 25-minute composition, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for its season-opening week, took the performers and audience on a solemn journey of pain, uncertainty, hope, loss, yearning, remembrance and resolution. 

“There are two eruptions of emotion, although not necessarily representing the collapse of the twin towers. I didn't want to turn it into some kind of musical documentary,” Adams said from his home in Berkeley. 

Besides the philharmonic, the huge ensemble, led by Lorin Maazel, included children's and adult choruses, two pianos, celesta, two harps and an array of speakers that engulfed the audience in a dizzying cityscape. Last week’s concert began with the recorded sounds of the whoosh of traffic, footsteps and a siren.  

Then a young boy slowly repeated “miss-ing, miss-ing,” before the hushed mantra of names started a sanctified roll call of unwitting martyrs. Moments later, the adult chorus entered, “re-mem ... re-mem-ber,” and repeated it two dozen times. 

The text, compiled by Adams, also quotes from missing persons' posters: “She looks so full of life in the picture.” Family comments published in The New York Times' “Portraits of Grief are also included: “The mother says: ‘He used to call me everyday. I'm just waiting.’ ” And a cellphone call from a flight attendant on the plane that crashed into the first tower is addressed: “I see water and buildings.” 

“It really has almost nothing to do with the violence or the cause of the event. My piece really is a piece of remembrance and reflection - it's really about loss and grief,” Adams said. 

Adams said he was trying to create an aural space for reflection rather than a requiem. “You know when you go into those great cathedrals in Europe?” he said. “Most people are quiet. But still, there's always sound. You hear people walking, and you hear city noises and I sort of wanted to bring that kind of feeling into the hall and into the piece.” 

The philharmonic, which began its season this month under new music director Maazel, commissioned the piece with financial support from an anonymous “longtime New York family. 

“It's our way of saying it's an event we would like to commemorate and we would like to continue to commemorate,” Maazel said in an interview shortly after enlisting Adams last January. 

Adams, one of America's most successful classical composers, has written operas about President Richard Nixon's trip to China and the hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro. He had only six months to finish this one. 

“I had very conflicting impressions when I was asked to do the piece,” he recalled. “I was very wary of having another piece on the pile of what's going to be going on in New York during that (first anniversary) month. I just wondered whether maybe the best thing to do was just be silent because I really feel that the country has just been overly saturated with imagery and continuous imploring to remember. On the other hand, I felt that it was something that I had a duty to do as an American artist, that it was something incumbent on me to accept.” 

After the final fadeout at Avery Fisher Hall, Maazel and the Philharmonic's musicians, the New York Choral Artists and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus stood stoically and the audience quietly applauded. As Adams entered the stage during subsequent curtain calls, the response warmed, crescendoing into an enthusiastic ovation. 


Pit bulls bite two children, officer in Richmond

Daily Planet Wire Service
Wednesday September 25, 2002

RICHMOND – Police say an argument between teenagers on Monday night resulted in two children and an animal control officer being bitten by a pair of pit bulls. 

At 5:30 p.m., police say they received calls that a number of girls were arguing in front of a house in the 300 block of South 23rd Avenue. 

Witnesses told police that one of the sisters went inside a house and retrieved a 4-year-old male pit bull during the disagreement. When she returned, the dog bit her and then lunged at a 12-year-old boy who was not involved in the argument. 

When an animal control officer was called to take the dog into custody, a female pit bull terrier and her litter were discovered. Police say the animal control officer suffered a minor bite wound from the female dog while confiscating the two adult dogs and 11 puppies. 

The boy's injuries were not life threatening but he was taken to Doctor's Medical Center in San Pablo. The girl may have been transported to Kaiser Hospital. 

Police are investigating the incident as an assault with a deadly weapon.


Riders’ cross-examination ends first day

Daily Planet Wire Service
Wednesday September 25, 2002

OAKLAND – An attorney for one of three former Oakland police officers on trial for criminal misconduct began his attempt Tuesday to chip away at the credibility of a key prosecution witness in Alameda County Superior Court. 

The witness, former rookie Oakland Police Officer Keith Batt, spent his third day on the stand. Deputy District Attorney David Hollister used two full days last week in his direct examination of Batt and wrapped up his questioning this morning. 

In what is referred to as the “Riders” case, Clarence “Chuck” Mabanag, 37, Matthew Hornung, 30, and Jude Siapno, 34, are charged with filing false police reports and conspiring to hide their misdeeds, including alleged beatings.


Oakland 4th in nation for murder

Daily Planet Wire Service
Wednesday September 25, 2002

OAKLAND – Preliminary statistics culled from U.S. Department of Justice records show that Oakland ranked fourth last year in the number of homicides among cities approximately the same size and could place higher next year given the rash of recent killings. 

Out of 11 American cities with populations between 350,000 and 450,000, Oakland – which has a population of 406,000 – ranked below St. Louis, Mo., with 148 homicides, Atlanta, Ga., with 144, and Kansas City, Mo., with 103. Oakland reported 84 homicides in 2001. 

The numbers come from a preliminary report released in June of this year that compiled data from cities with populations larger than 100,000. 

Franklin Zimring, head of criminal justice research at the UC Berkeley, said in an interview tuesday that Oakland could fare worse in 2002 given the increased number of slayings so far this year. 

“If you use 2001 as a benchmark, if no one else changes, Oakland is on track to move from No. 4 to No. 3 because Oakland already has 85 (homicides) so far this year,” Zimring said. 

The researcher said Oakland's demography is to blame. 

“Big cities with a concentration of African American ghetto areas and substantial Latino poverty areas create a recipe for being at the high end of homicide distribution,” Zimring said. 

The professor said that during the late 1990s, California experienced a 55 percent drop in homicide rates, a phenomenon that policy experts and researchers have yet to understand. 

“It's going to take serious scholars at least half a decade to figure out why the 90s experienced the longest and deepest decline in violent crime the United States had seen since World War II,” he said. 

Zimring said there are other cities with the approximate size and diversity as Oakland that have higher homicide rates. But because Oakland mirrored the sustained statewide downturn in killings during the 1990s, this latest upward trend in violent deaths – hitting 85 as of Monday night – is a great disappointment. 

“We now expect better,” Zimring explained. 

The report from the Department of Justice shows murder rates rose 3.9 percent around the nation overall. 

Among California cities, Los Angeles and Richmond ranked first and second, respectively, with Oakland third for homicides per capita.


Oakland rookie cop to be arraigned on sex charges

- Daily Planet Wire Service
Wednesday September 25, 2002

SAN LEANDRO – A rookie Oakland police officer is set to be arraigned Friday on charges that he allegedly had sexual relations with two high school students, police said. 

Efrain Cintron, 22, of San Francisco, is charged with four counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, three counts of oral copulation with a minor, and three counts of penetration with a foreign object of a minor, all felonies, police said. He is also charged with three misdemeanor counts of inappropriate touching of a minor. 

San Leandro police Lt. Steve Pricco said the alleged victims are two girls, one 16 and the other 17, both students at San Leandro High School. 

The investigation began Sept. 2 when the 16-year-old girl approached police. 

“She was very uncomfortable with the relationship,” Pricco said. The 17-year-old has not cooperated with investigators. 

The alleged crimes occurred between July 20 and Aug. 24 at different locations in San Leandro, San Lorenzo, Hayward and San Francisco.  

According to Pricco, Cintron and the two victims were “mutual friends” who had known one another for a few years. 

Pricco said Cintron graduated from the Oakland Police Academy within the last several months and has been placed on administrative leave. 


Bay Area Briefs

Wednesday September 25, 2002

School promotes peace with Guinness record handshake 

SANTA CLARA – A Santa Clara elementary school hopes to change the world tuesday with one big handshake, or at least break a world record. 

Montague Elementary School will host family, friends, public officials and local professional athletes in an attempt to make the Guinness Book of Records for the largest group handshake and, in the process, promote world peace. 

After lunch this afternoon, the crowd will gather in a circle on the school's outdoor playing field, join hands as they say a peace pledge, and then shake on it. 

When Montague officially sets the record, they will challenge schools in the local area and abroad to take their pledge and shake on it, hopefully breaking the record again and perpetuating the pledge of peace. 

“The goal of all of this is more meaningful than just a record pledge and handshake,” said Mark Austin, a parent involved in the event. 

Initially, the school wanted to host a group hug, but later found that a theme park on the East Coast had recently set that record. 

The event will take place at 1 p.m. at the elementary school, located at 750 Laurie Ave. in Santa Clara. 

SF most expensive  

rental market in country 

SANTA CRUZ — Four of the nation’s six least affordable rental markets are in Northern California, and the smallest on the list is Santa Cruz. 

A study from the National Low Income Housing Coalition in Washington, D.C., said you would have to earn at least $24.96 an hour to afford the median two-bedroom apartment. 

The study, titled “Out of Reach: Rental Housing for America’s Poor Families,” also found a minimum wage earner would have to work 145 hours a week to afford the same apartment. That leaves a generous 23 hours a week to eat, sleep and commute. 

The No. 1 least affordable community was San Francisco, where the study said it would take an hourly wage of $37.31 to afford the median two-bedroom apartment. 

San Jose is second on the list, with Oakland at No. 4. 

The Stamford-Norwalk, Conn., area was third and Boston was fifth. 

Woman charged in car death  

of 8-week-old grandson  

SAN LEANDRO – A 48-year-old woman whose infant grandson died last month after spending eight hours inside her parked car in San Leandro has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, police said. 

Bretta Kendall of Oakland was charged Monday and is scheduled to be arraigned at the Hayward Hall of Justice on Wednesday. 

“It appears to have been an unfortunate accident but still it resulted in the death of an 8-week-old,”San Leandro police Lt. Steve Pricco said tuesday. “She had responsibility for the care and welfare of that child.'' 

Pricco said that on Aug. 22, Kendall apparently forgot to drop the boy off at a baby sitter before going to work at the Albertsons distribution headquarters on Marina Boulevard. Kendall had only had custody of 8-week-old Marcello Alfonso Kendall for about two weeks at the time. 

Kendall arrived at work at 8:30 a.m., and because she brought her lunch, did not leave until 4:30 p.m., police said. 

When she emerged at the end of the day and approached her car, which was locked and had the windows rolled up, she noticed the car seat sitting directly behind the driver's seat and then saw Marcello, who had lost consciousness, police said. She brought the baby inside, but resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful. 

The Alameda County Coroner's Bureau has not yet determined the cause of death, though Pricco said Marcello probably died of heat or dehydration. 

Pricco said Kendall has been cooperating with investigators and is “very remorseful” over her grandson's death. 

Over the last year, two other cases of children dying after being forgotten in locked cars have been reported in the Bay Area. 

In July, San Martin father Brian Gilbert was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the July 24, 2001, death of his 5-month-old son, Kyle, who was forgotten inside a locked car. Gilbert, 25, faces a possible sentence of four years.


Governor puts off fund-raiser

The Associated Press
Wednesday September 25, 2002

SAN JOSE — Democratic Gov. Gray Davis postponed a second fund-raiser amid sharpened attacks from Republican opponent Bill Simon slamming him for raising money from special interests while considering legislation important to those groups. 

Davis was set to attend a town hall forum in Palo Alto and a $10,000-a-person tech fund-raiser on Tuesday, but postponed both events on Monday, the San Jose Mercury News reported. 

The TechNet fund-raising event in Palo Alto, co-sponsored by venture capitalist John Doerr and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, was organized at the same time that the tech industry has been lobbying Davis to veto legislation that would impose new fees on companies to pay for recycling environmentally hazardous computer parts, the Mercury said. 

Davis campaign spokesman Roger Salazar said the governor postponed the events only because he is pressed for time to sign or veto hundreds of bills. 

He called the report “speculation.” 

“I’m not sure how many people are really interested in that legislation,” Salazar said. “TechNet is not a company, it is a group of activists in the Silicon Valley some of whom are involved in the tech industry. TechNet has been very supportive of the governor in the past, they’ve held events for us in the past.” 

Last week, Davis canceled a fund-raiser organized by Rod Diridon, the governor’s appointee to chair the state’s High-Speed Rail Authority. 

The $1,000-a-person event at Diridon’s home was scheduled to take place the day after the governor signed a bill that will put a $10 billion bond measure on the 2004 ballot. If approved, the measure would pave the way for the state’s high-speed rail line. 

The event was canceled after it became public that Diridon had sent e-mails seeking contributions from executives who “will build, operate and maintain the system.” 

Simon went on the offensive Tuesday morning over the new fund-raising report. 

“Gov. Davis is in bed with moneyed special interests on a daily basis with his fund-raising activity,” Simon said after a campaign stop in Sunnyvale. 

Salazar dismissed Simon’s criticism as “wild imaginings.” 


Journalists banned from San Diego stem cell conference

By Paul Elias The Associated Press
Wednesday September 25, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO — Next month, some of the best minds in stem cell science will gather at a conference in San Diego to exchange notes, opinions and suggestions on how to invigorate a promising but struggling research field. 

Executives at the few companies hoping someday to turn the embryonic technology into profitable therapies will be out in full force. Venture capitalists, patent attorneys and even a representative from the President’s Council on Bioethics also plan to attend the two-day conference, organized by the Strategic Research Institute. 

Journalists, however, are banned. 

“I instituted this years ago as some members of your profession have caused irreparable ... damage with speaker relationships and in some cases their companies over coverage,” Strategic Research executive Mark Alexay wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “Hence no coverage. Over and out.” 

Conference organizers said some speakers also may be presenting sensitive research data to their peers that they don’t yet want publicized. 

“Furthermore, many speakers will not give their presentation if they are aware of press in the room,” Strategic Research head Stuart Williams wrote in an e-mail. 

Strategic Research executives declined to discuss the matter over the telephone. 

As a private company, New York-based Strategic Research has no obligation to open its doors to the media. At least one scheduled speaker, David Ayares of PPL Therapeutics of Dolly the cloned sheep fame, said he plans to present data he does not want publicized. 

Still, many of those attending the conference were surprised with the conference organizer’s policy, which some viewed as a public relations mistake. Even conference chairman Dr. Doros Platika, president and chief executive of Cambridge, Mass.-based Centagenetix, Inc. said he was unaware of the press ban until notified by a reporter. 

Religious conservatives and biotechnology foes oppose human embryonic stem cell research as immoral because days-old embryos must be destroyed in the process. Banning media coverage of the conference will only fuel opposition to the research, some conference attendees said. 

“It’s likely they are trying to keep a low profile until they can announce something positive,” said Daniel McConchie of the Christian-based Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, which opposes human embryonic stem cell research. 

“I can understand a ban could encourage people to speak their minds, but this is an area of extreme interest in the media, the public and at the presidential level,” said Joel Martin, a partner with the San Diego venture capital firm Forward Ventures. “Restricting the press raises the impression that something improper is being discussed, and that’s not going to be case.” 

Martin is scheduled to join a conference panel of fellow venture capitalists discussing the commercial possibilities of the technology. 

Martin and others believe opening the event to the press would do more good than harm for a field facing significant scientific, financial and legal obstacles. 

Last year, the Bush administration limited federal funding of human embryonic stem cells to 78 stem cell lines controlled by 14 different government-approved labs. But only a handful of the approved stem cell lines are fit for research, with demand far outstripping supply. 

The business of stem cells also is suffering. 

Menlo Park-based Geron Inc., the one publicly traded company developing human embryonic stem cells, laid off a third of its staff in June. Geron’s stock price hovers around $4 a share, near its 52-week low and far off its 52-week high of $14.48. 

Privately held San Diego-based Cythera recently settled a year-long dispute over ownership of the nine government-approved stem cell lines in its freezer, a fight that stopped scientific development. 

Cloning company PPL early this month announced it was closing its Scotland stem cell research division after failing to find a buyer for it.


UC Davis develops guide for ranchers

Daily Planet Wire Service
Wednesday September 25, 2002

DAVIS – Just in time for the fall harvest, the University of California has published a guide that could help farmers and ranchers solve each others' problems. 

For years, rice growers have struggled to find a way to get rid of rice straw, an environmentally challenging waste product. 

At the same time, beef cattle producers have been looking for a low-cost supplemental feed. 

“Feeding Rice Straw to Cattle,” written by Northern California advisors to the University of California Cooperative Extension, examines how rice straw can be used as cattle feed. 

Topics covered include the nutritional value or rice straw, how to take lab samples, how much to feed to cattle and how to keep the overall costs down. 

“Feed is the largest single cost of producing beef,” explained Nader, a Sutter/Yuba and Butte counties advisor to the University of California program who helped author the report. 

“Producers with access to alternative feeds have an economic advantage, but these types of feeds present unique challenges. Rice straw should be used only as part of the forage, not as a complete ration.” 

In the past, rice straw has been fed to cattle with mixed success, the team of advisors said. Their publication explains the road to successful use of rice straw as feed built on three principles, Nader added. 

First, know the nutritional quality of the rice straw, as it varies greatly. Second, determine the nutritional requirements of the cattle to be fed. And third, balance a ration to determine whether rice straw will meet your situation economically.  

 

The guide is currently available online at  

http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8079.pdf


City, unions reach deal

Matthew Artz
Tuesday September 24, 2002

After months of negotiations, Berkeley has reached a tentative six-year contract with its four municipal labor unions representing 60 percent of the city’s work force, city and union leaders said Monday. 

When final, the 1,119 union members who range from secretaries to engineers will get 28.5 percent raises over six years – nearly as high as the 31.5 percent increase awarded to police officers last year. 

Getting parity with public safety employees was a main point of contention in contract negotiations that began in January. Their last contract expired July 6. Since then union workers have been under terms of their old contract. The new contract will be retroactive to the July expiration date. 

The deal ushers in an era of relative labor peace in Berkeley. With the police union signing a six-year deal, and the municipal unions now in fold, the city’s labor costs are nearly fixed through 2007. Only the firefighters’ contract, which expires in 2004, looms.  

Locking up long-term union contracts benefits the city, said Dave Hodgkins, a city employee relations officer. He said that with the labor costs fixed, city officials can more accurately forecast future budgets. 

The deal is expected to win official approval from union members and City Council next month. 

Two unions, Local 1245 of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents city electricians, and the Local 790 of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represents clerical workers, have already ratified the agreement. 

The two other unions, Local 535 of SEIU, which represents social workers and planners, and Local One of the Public Employees Union, which represents professionals, will vote on the contract this week. 

Following union approval, City Council is expected to approve the contract. 

The contract provides for a cumulative 28.5 percent raise over six years. The workers will receive 6 percent in year one, 3.5 percent in year two, 5 percent in year three, 4 percent in year four and 5 percent in each of years five and six. 

Additionally, the city will maintain its policy of boosting salaries when workers with similar job descriptions in nearby communities earn more money. 

The new contract also enhances employee benefit packages. A new formula to calculate pension benefits will will result in a roughly 24 percent annual increase for workers 55 and older.  

To fund the pension increase, the city must increase the employee contribution to the program paid by all city workers from 7 percent to 8 percent. Because the pension provision will affect all city workers, not just employees in the four unions, it thus requires a separate vote by city employees. The vote is scheduled for next week. 

Union members say they are excited to put the negotiations behind them. 

“We’re very happy with the deal,” said Rick Chan, a shop Steward with the electrician’s union. “We feel we’re just as important as policemen and firefighters.” 


Mayor encourages performance audits for schools

Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean
Tuesday September 24, 2002

Recently the City Council heard a request from members of the community to place a charter amendment on the November ballot requiring the school district to conduct performance audits. The city attorney responded by asking an attorney with experience in this area for an opinion as to whether the city has the power to do this. The reply was that the district is already required to provide a “yearly audit of its books and performance,” and that there was no evidence that the current audit structure needed to be fixed or that the request to require a performance audit was workable. As a consequence, the proposal was derailed and sent to the Joint City-School District “2x2” Committee and the superintendent of schools. The council also directed staff to seek a further opinion from the Attorney General.  

Throughout the discussion, opinions were expressed, pro and con. Frankly little light was shed and the main point, establishing accountability, seems to have been lost. Our schools are probably our community's most important asset. We all pretty much agree that if we don't have good schools, we lose as a community. We also seem to agree that our schools urgently need as much community support as possible. Performance audits will help us pinpoint the problems. It isn't a question of costs, legalities, or individual personalities. It is a question of how best to proceed to fix the problems. A financial audit will tell us what the dollars were spent on, but a performance audit will dig deeper into the details of how and why the dollars were spent and the results those dollars achieved. 

We know the district is in financial trouble and we have read in the papers some of the reasons for that. It is the responsibility of everyone in the community to rally around our schools and to offer them support. It is also our duty to ensure that productive change occurs. Such change is occurring under the new superintendent and the school board, but to restore public confidence, we must ensure that the process is clear, understandable, verifiable and independent.  

If the governor signs AB 2859 (Aroner), the Fiscal Crisis Management Team that comes may be able to do this through their comprehensive assessment process in which they closely examine such areas as governance, community relations, personnel, facilities, and academics. This comprehensive assessment process may produce the same information as a performance audit. However, the public must still be assured that this will adequately meet their concerns, and that recommendations from this process will result in permanent and constructive change. This process must be a true partnership of board, superintendent, staff, parents and students and community, all pulling together with the common goal of supporting and improving our schools. Secondly, safeguards need to be in place so that the recommendations of the assessment team will be implemented and continue after the team leaves. This process must be open and above reproach if we are to achieve excellence in our schools. 

I am pleased that our city auditor has instituted a number of performance audits of city programs, and I encourage her to significantly expand this effort. In a time of a declining economy city and schools must spend our resources wisely to achieve the best possible result. The reason why I am disturbed enough to write this article urging the school district take similar action, is my distress over learning what had happened with the district's much-vaunted food policy and program. I am astonished to learn that in just one year the district ran approximately $1 million into debt for this one program and ended up serving more unhealthy meals today to fewer students than it did when the program started. 

It is just such issues that performance audits will examine so that real solutions can be found. That is what I am hoping to achieve. 

Recommending a performance audit should not be seen as a criticism of the school board or the superintendent, who are working hard on our behalf. In fact, I invite them all to join me in making sure performance audits are done, and then in making sure that solutions are developed and implemented. The time has come for performance audits to be done. It's a beginning step that I believe should be taken.  


Calendar

Tuesday September 24, 2002

Tuesday, Sept. 24 

Sustainable Business  

Alliance of the East Bay 

5:30 to 7:30 p.m. 

Panoramic Room of the Gaia Building  

Reception and talk by Mal Warwick of Mal Warwick Associates, entitled: “You Don’t Have to Choose: How One Company Does Good While Doing Well” 

282-5151 

members $8, nonmembers $12 

 

Vitamins, Minerals, and Nutritional  

Supplements: Possible Interactions with Medications 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst St. 

Discussed by Alic Meyers, RN 

981-5190 

 

Wednesday, Sept. 25 

Planning Commission workshop 

7 to 9:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, corner of Hearst and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

Interactive roundtable discussion about issues, problems, and opportunities relating to density and land use in Berkeley. 

981-7481 

 

Berkeley Gray Panthers 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst St. 

Berkeley Gray Panthers general meeting.  

548-9696 

 

Saturday, Sept. 28 

Free Legal Workshop:  

“Crossroads: Health and the Law.” 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

514 58th St. at Telegraph Avenue 

Navigate your way through legal issues when living with cancer or any serious illness. Panel presentation on employment, insurance and public benefits and one-on-one sessions with attorneys. Please, pre-register. 

601-4040, Ext. 102 for information  

or Ext. 103 to register 

Free  

 

Garage Sale/ Car Wash  

Belize/ Berkeley Scouts 

10 to 2 p.m. 

Epworth UMC, 1953 Hopkins St. 

International exchange fundraising effort for scouts. 

525-6058 

 

A Forum on the Arts with the Berkeley Mayoral Candidates 

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Aurora Theater, 2081 Addison St. 

558-1381 

Free 

 

Tuesday, Sept. 24 

Zydego Flames 

7:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

$8 door. 12 and under free. 

 

Wednesday, Sept. 25 

DP & Rhythm Riders 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

$15 door. 12 and under free. 

 

Karen Casey & the Niall Valley Trio 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance. $16.50 at door 

 

Thursday, Sept. 26 

Kriby Grips, Michael Zapruder, Joe Bernson 

9:30 p.m. (21 and over) 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$5 

 

Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$19.50 in advance. $20.50 at door 

 

Friday, Sept. 27 

The Cracked Normans,  

Paradigm & Soul Americana 

9:30 p.m. (21 and over) 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$5 

 

Eric Bogle 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$16.50 in advance. $17.50 at door. 

 

Fair Weather, Liars  

Academy and Open Hand 

8 p.m. 

924 Gilman St. 

525-9926 

$5 

 

Reggae Angels with Earl Zero  

and Jah Light Music 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

$15 door. 12 and under free. 

 

Saturday, Sept. 28 

Barry & Alic Oliver 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$16.50 in advance. $17.50 at door. 

 

From Monument to Masses,  

Victory at Sea and Yesterday’s Kids 

8 p.m. 

924 Gilman St. 

525-9926 

$5 

 

"Balancing Acts" 

Through Oct. 10 

Gallery 555, 555 12th St., 

Oakland City Center 

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

http://www.oaklandcitycenter.com.  

Free. 

 

“Hunger: What will you do about it?”  

Through Oct. 30, Mon.-Fri.,  

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

The Civic Center Building 

2180 Milvia St., 5th floor 

Featuring 40 photographs  

by Berkeley artist David Bacon. 

834-3663, Ext. 338, uchanse@secondharvest.org 

 

Richard Misrach, Berkeley Work 

Though Oct. 13 

UC Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way 

On view in Gallery 2, presents two photographic series by this internationally recognized Berkeley-based artist.  

642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

$7. $5 BAM/PFA members.  

$4 UC Berkeley students. 

 

“Recent Acquisitions” 

Oct. 13 through Dec. 14 

Thurs., Fri., and Sat., 1 to 4 p.m. 

Berkeley Historical Society, Veterans Memorial Building, 1931 Center St. 

848-0181 

Free. 

 

Misch Kohn - Celebrating Sixty Years of Printmaking 

Through Oct. 16. Tues.-Fri., Noon to 5:30 p.m.; Sat., noon to 4:30 p.m. 

Kala Arts Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 

549-2977, kala@kala.org 

 

Nancy Salz 

Through Oct. 23, Tues.-Fri. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Sat 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 

Barbara Anderson Gallery, 2243 5th St. 

848-3822 

 

Timoteo Ikoshy Montoya 

Through Nov. 1  

Reception Sept. 20, 6 to 8 p.m. 

Gathering Tribes Gallery  

1573 Solano Ave.  

Acrylic/air brush paintings  

by this Native American artist.  

528-9038 

 

Threads: Five artists who  

use stitching to convey ideas 

Oct. 6 through Dec. 15, Wed.-Sun., noon to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center 

Live Oak Park, 1275 Walnut St. 

Information: www.berkeleyartcenter.org, 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 for youth. $20 for seniors. $22 general. 

 

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar 

Through Oct. 12 

Thurs. through Sat. 8 p.m. 

LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre  

1834 Euclid Ave. 

234-6046 

$10. 

 

The House of Blue Leaves 

Through Oct. 27 

Berkeley Rep's Roda Theater  

2015 Addison St.  

647-2917 or 888-4BRTTIX 

$10-$54. 

 

The Shape of Things 

Through Oct. 20 

Aurora Theatre Company  

2081 Addison St. 

Play by writer/director Neil LaBute's spins a morality tale of a young art student, his art major girlfriend, and the Pygmalion-like changes that bring into question how far one should go for love. 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org for reservations 

$26-$35. 

 

Ceramics - Opening Reception 

Through Nov. 17 

3 to 5 p.m. 

A New Leaf Gallery, 1286 Gilman St. 

525-7621 

Free. 

 

Tuesday, Sept 24 

“Wild Splendors of California” 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Ave. at Rose 

Lalo Fiorelli, photographer and author, will give a multimedia presentation and talk. 

843-3533 

Free. 

 

Wednesday, Sept 25 

Poetry Slam with Host Charles Ellik 

9:30 p.m. (21 and older) 

Featured poet: Daphne Gottlieb 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-2082 

$7. 

 

“Healing Our Hearts  

for the Sake of the World” 

7:30 p.m 

First Congregational Church  

2345 Channing Way 

A reading by Sylvia Boorstein. Proceeds support  

The East Bay Dharma Center. 

595-0408 

$5 to $10 

 

Thursday, Sept 26 

As ad AbuKahil 

7 p.m. 

Revolution Books, 2425 Channing Way 

Author reads and signs his new book “Bin Laden, Islam and America’s New War on Terrorism” 

848-1196 

 

Steinbeck, “The Grapes of Wrath,” and Labor Issues of Depression-Era California 

7:30 p.m.  

Easing Going Travel Shop and Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 

843-3533 

Free.


Croatian sensation sparks Cal to fast start

Dean Caparaz
Tuesday September 24, 2002

 

Mia Jerkov could earn a salary playing volleyball right now but instead is leading Cal to its best start in 13 years. 

The 19-year-old sophomore from Split, Croatia, is a big reason why the Golden Bears, who had a 10-18 record last year, won their first nine matches this season. Jerkov, pronounced YAIR-cove, led the Bears with 152 kills and earned MVP honors in three tournaments as Cal won 27 straight games. 

Cal's 9-0 start matched what the Bears did in 1989, which was also the last time they had a winning season. However, just like the '89 team, Cal lost its 10th match, falling in three sets to Stanford last Friday night in Maples Pavilion. The Bears played the Cardinal close in the first two games, falling 30-28 and 30-25. Stanford, the defending national champion, closed out the final set 30-18. 

Jerkov led the Bears with 13 kills and had seven digs but wasn’t happy with her performance. 

“I was kind of looking for my own rhythm the whole match and couldn't find it,” she said. “We were struggling with them, battling. The first two games were really tight. If you ask, me we should've won those. But since Stanford is a much more experienced team, they battled and they won.” 

No matter what her rhythm, Cal coach Rich Feller is just glad to have her around. Jerkov played in only 10 games for Cal last year due to tendonitis in her left shin and commitments to the Croatian national team. 

That was a big hole to fill. 

“She's one of the top players out there,” Feller said. 

A 6-3, 157-pound outside hitter, Jerkov boasts an impressive resume: She is a member of the Croatian national team and has played in various youth and European championships. Jerkov comes from an athletic bloodline, as her 6-11 father, Zeljko, was a starting center on the Croatian national basketball team. 

Jerkov was playing for Croatia in the 1999 Youth World Championships in Portugal when she learned the Bears were trying to recruit her. Cal, along with USC, previously tried to contact Jerkov through Croatian officials, who did not pass on the news. Instead, Jerkov made her first Cal connection through a chance meeting with Cal assistant coach Lee Maes, then an assistant with the U.S. national team. The two ran into each other at an ice cream parlor in Madeira, Portugal, where Maes piqued her interest in playing in Berkeley. 

In 2000, Jerkov made a detour while visiting family friends in San Francisco. She watched as Cal lost to Florida, three games to one, in the Golden Bear Classic. 

Despite the loss, the Bears intrigued Jerkov. 

“I liked what I saw,” she said. “It was a good team and still is a good team.” 

Going to Cal was just one of her choices. Jerkov says that several Italian professional clubs – six teams in the first division and the entire second division – wanted to sign her up, based on her play with her national team. 

But she didn't want to sit on the bench in Italy, which boasts the best league in the world in which rookies tend to wait their turn behind veteran players. And she didn't want to play professionally anywhere else when she could hone her skills and get an education in the United States. 

“Going to Cal was the optimal solution,” she said. “It's a risk, because I want to play professionally afterwards, and you can never tell if you're going to develop into something great or something real bad. These are the crucial years as a player. That's one of the main reasons why I didn't choose Italy or a professional league. I didn't want to be that pressured and I wanted to feel normal about playing and developing myself as a player.” 

“We got lucky that this was the right school for her,” Feller said. “I don't think that happens unless we have something good to offer her here. She had to trust us that we were going to be good.”


High school axes African-American studies program

David Scharfenberg
Tuesday September 24, 2002

Teachers and community leaders are fuming about a cost-cutting move to fold Berkeley High School’s historic African-American studies department into one or several other departments. 

“I think it’s the manifestation of white supremacy at its zenith,” said Robert McKnight, a teacher and former chair of the department. “We are not going to just completely acquiesce.” 

But Associate Superintendent of Educational Services Christine Lim said the district is not picking on African-American studies. She said the program is just one of several small departments the cash-strapped district, $3.9 million in debt, is consolidating to save money. 

The change, scheduled in the coming weeks, will not limit the number of black studies courses offered, but will deprive the department of a chairperson and meeting time. 

The move will bring an end to the first – and Berkeley educators say only – African-American studies department at a public high school in the nation. The department has been in place since 1968. 

The school district won approval for the change in August, during contract negotiations with the Berkeley Federation of Teachers over pay for department heads.  

During talks, the district called for the consolidation of any departments with fewer than 15 classes per year, erasing the need for several chairpersons and saving thousands of dollars. 

The union agreed to the move, in part as a trade-off to win “above average” compensation for the remaining department heads, according to BFT President Barry Fike.  

Department chairs, under the agreement, will receive stipends of $5,000, $3,750 or $2,250 depending on the size of their programs. 

The two sides signed the pact on Aug. 20, folding the African-American studies and English language learners programs into other, unspecified departments, and combining the visual and performing arts departments. 

Associate Superintendent of Educational Services Christine Lim said the district has not yet decided how to redistribute the effected teachers. The African-American studies program could be transferred wholesale into the social studies department or an African-American dance class could go to the physical education department while a literature class goes to English, she said. 

McKnight said he was deeply disappointed that neither the district nor the union consulted him on consolidation before signing the agreement. 

“That’s a tremendous slight and insult to the department,” he said. 

Lim said it is the union’s job, during negotiations, to keep its membership informed. 

“It’s a negotiated item, so [they] have representatives at the table,” she said. “Where the communications broke down would have been [with the union].” 

Fike acknowledged that he did not consult with the department heads during negotiations over the issue of consolidation. But he said consultation was unnecessary – BFT knew that members wanted to retain all the existing departments and the union, in turn, pushed to keep them in place. The district, he said, simply would not budge on the issue. 

“When you go into negotiations, you don’t always get what you want,” Fike said. 

Fike, who has also received complaints from members of the English language learners and arts departments, said he is willing to take the issue of consolidation back to the bargaining table. 

But Lim said the district is unlikely to sign a new agreement. 

“I seriously doubt we would look again at something that has been negotiated,” she said. 

Several members of the community expressed outrage over the consolidation and the district’s failure to consult with the African-American studies department. 

“It seems that, for the past year or so, the trend has been to make decisions and let people know after the fact,” said Michael Miller, a member of Parents of Children of African Descent (PCAD), a group active on school issues. 

“Once the students find out, there’s going to be a large uproar,” said Sean Dugar, a recent graduate of Berkeley High who is running for the Board of Education. “I’ll make sure of that.” 

School board members Shirley Issel and Terry Doran, when contacted by the Daily Planet, said they had not heard about the shift and did not have enough information to comment at length. But Doran voiced general support for the African-American studies department. 

“I have always supported the African-American studies department as a distinct department and I still believe that that’s important for the school,” he said. 

Superintendent Michele Lawrence was out sick Monday and was unavailable for comment. 


Judge orders new trial in Raiders lawsuit against NFL

John Nadel The Associated Press
Tuesday September 24, 2002

LOS ANGELES — Citing jury misconduct, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Monday ordered a new trial in the Oakland Raiders’ $1.2 billion conspiracy lawsuit against the National Football League. 

In a 9-3 vote last year, a Superior Court jury rejected the Raiders’ claims that the NFL sabotaged the team’s plans to build a new stadium in the Los Angeles area and that the team still owned the NFL rights to the Los Angeles market. 

The Raiders moved back to Oakland from Los Angeles in 1995 — 13 years after they moved south. 

The misconduct allegation was raised after five jurors in last year’s six-week trial said they overheard one member of the panel say he hated the Raiders and team owner Al Davis and would never vote in their favor, Raiders attorney Larry Feldman said. 

The ruling calling for a new trial was made by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard C. Hubbell, who heard the first trial. 

“The Raiders are elated with the court’s decision and look forward to having an opportunity to try their case to a fair and impartial jury,” Feldman said. “The Raiders have always believed that they would be playing football games at a state-of-the-art stadium at Hollywood Park today if it were not for the NFL’s interference with their negotiations.” 

Feldman said a new trial date would be set Dec. 3. 

Feldman said the complaint was significant because the jury favored the NFL by a 9-3 vote. One additional vote for the Raiders would have resulted in a hung jury. 

“We’re disappointed. We will review the decision with our attorneys,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said from his New York City home. 

“We believe this is the right decision, a just decision,” Raiders chief executive Amy Trask said from her office in Oakland. “The NFL celebrated too soon.”


Maio clings to neutering idea

David Scharfenberg
Tuesday September 24, 2002

City Councilmember Linda Maio continues to explore the possibility of spaying and neutering Berkeley raccoons, considered a nuisance by many, despite a public outcry over the proposal. 

“I’m still quite concerned and I’m going to pursue this,” she said. 

Maio’s plan calls for trapping raccoons, neutering them and releasing them in the city. State regulations prohibit the city from releasing them outside of Berkeley. 

Critics say the council member should abandon the plan, deeming it unnecessary, unworkable and cruel. 

“I think it’s a loony idea,” said Nancy Ober, a member of the Berkeley Citizens Humane Commission. 

Maio, who has had her own problems with raccoons in a rental property she owns, said residents have reported an increase in raccoons knocking over trash cans and invading homes. 

But Kate O’Connor, manager of the city-run Animal Care Shelter, said there is no hard evidence of an increasing raccoon problem. 

Maio, who first floated the idea in August, said she needs to gather more information about the effectiveness of spaying and neutering before making a final decision on whether to bring a program before the City Council. 

Dr. Rene Gandolfi, a veterinarian with the Castro Valley Companion Animal Hospital, suggested that a program would probably not succeed. 

“In the immediate run, it will do no good, because you still have the same number of raccoons,” he said. 

Gandolfi said it would take eight to 10 years before the raccoons’ inability to reproduce would limit the size of the next generation and have any effect on the overall population. 

Gandolfi added that, even if the population eventually declined, raccoons from surrounding areas would simply fill the capacity, as long as there are enough food sources in the area. 

Eliminating those food sources, he said, is the best way to keep raccoons away. 

O’Connor urged residents to secure their garbage can lids and pick up dead fruit to cut off the food supply. 

Maio said educating the public on preventative measures is an important part of any strategy. At a minimum, the councilmember said, she will recommend a new public education effort at a City Council meeting in the next few weeks. 

But, she still holds out the possibility of adding a spaying and neutering program. Maio said a letter that appeared in the Daily Planet this weekend from a Berkeley resident who claimed to have received multiple rabies shots after a raccoon attack had added new urgency to the issue. 

The woman who wrote the letter could not be reached for comment. 

Gandolfi said the resident’s doctor may have administered rabies shots as a precaution, but that no raccoons on the West Coast have ever tested positive for rabies. 

O’Connor said any spaying and neutering program would tax city resources, requiring a significant increase in shelter staff. She added that the city does not have adequate facilities to house raccoons during the spaying and neutering process, which can take 24 to 48 hours. 

City Councilmember Dona Spring, known for advocating animal rights, said she would support a public education campaign but would not back a spaying and neutering effort. 

“We’ve been able to co-habitant with raccoons and skunks and possums for as long as I’ve been in Berkeley,” she said. 


A's focused on clinching division

The Associated Press
Tuesday September 24, 2002

 

OAKLAND — Terrence Long refused to pack enough for more than a week, figuring it could be bad karma. 

Besides, the outfielder is sure his Oakland Athletics will be at home in a week to start the playoffs, AL West title in hand. 

Not everyone was quite so confident as Oakland prepared for its final road trip of the regular season, starting Tuesday in Seattle. A sign in the clubhouse said: “Pack Warm. At NY?” 

The A’s hold a three-game lead over the Anaheim Angels in the division race and plan to maintain the same focus as they make their final push toward the postseason. 

Oakland can do no worse than the AL wild-card berth. But it would rather win the AL West, of course, and the team’s magic number for clinching the division is three. The A’s close with three games at Seattle and three at Texas. 

Lose the division title, and Oakland would head straight from Arlington, Texas, this weekend to New York to play the five-time defending AL East champion Yankees in the first round of the playoffs. 

“Too many things can still happen,” A’s manager Art Howe said. “We have the edge, but it’s up to us to take advantage.” 

His players celebrated quietly when they secured a playoff spot last week — and only once they’ve wrapped up the AL West will it be time to really have some fun.


Girl hit by police car recovering

Matthew Artz
Tuesday September 24, 2002

Frank and Veronica Thomas stood in disbelief on the blood-stained Berkeley street where their 7-year-old granddaughter was struck on her bike by a police car while visiting a relative Saturday. 

They know that a police review says the lieutenant who hit her was driving within the speed limit. But the Thomas’ doubt it and plan to hire an investigator. 

The girl, who lives with her grandparents in Concord, remains in Children’s Hospital in Oakland recovering from a concussion and a broken left leg, they said. Her name is not being released because of her age. 

At Children’s Hospital the girl’s spirit is strong, said Veronica Thomas, but she has been sedated to deal with the pain. 

“She sees our faces and knows that someone is there,” Veronica Thomas said. “Sometimes she asks for her brother and her mother.” 

The accident occurred shortly before 2 p.m. on the 2100 block of Roosevelt Street. The girl was visiting her aunt who lives on the block.  

According to police, the girl was riding without a helmet on the sidewalk. She entered the street between two parked cars, so would have been hidden from view.  

Lt. Eric Gustafson was driving a cruiser northbound and did not stop in time. The girl collided with the right front bumper. The impact launched her over the roof of the car, police said. 

Judging from orange measurements drawn on the street by police and the location of dried blood, the Thomas’ estimated that their granddaughter rolled 35 feet from the impact point. 

Gustafson was driving within the 25 mph speed limit, Police Information Officer Mary Kusmiss said. 

California Highway Patrol officer L.D. White concurred. A preliminary review did not show any wrongdoing by the officer, White said. CHP is required to investigate traffic accidents involving city police officers. 

The Thomas’, though, are not convinced by police findings. Equipped with a tape measurer and a camera, they studied the accident scene to piece together what happened. 

“It’s hard to figure out,” said Veronica Thomas, who has questioned several eye witnesses. “Some said [Gustafson] was driving too fast and some said he was driving 20 mph.” 

A full CHP report is expected to be completed within two weeks, but the Thomas’ aren’t taking much stock in the findings. 

“Were going to get an investigator,” said Frank Thomas, who doubted that Gustafson was driving within the speed limit.  

The injured girl has a long recovery ahead of her. The collision broke her tibia and femur and bent her fibula, the three largest leg bones. Her grandparents expect her to be released from the hospital in two weeks. They said she’ll wear a cast for three months and eventually have metal rods inserted into her leg. They hope she can return to school in a wheelchair within four weeks. 

Hospital spokesperson Susan Martinez was more optimistic. She said the girl was expected to be released within a few days and ultimately make a full recovery. 

The Thomas’ commended the Berkeley Police Department’s handling of the accident. Veronica Thomas said that acting Chief Roy Meisner visited the girl in the hospital and Gustafson had sent his condolences. 

They added that despite their granddaughter’s injuries, she was fortunate not to have been hurt more severely. 

“Her bike ended up under the car’s front wheels,” said Veronica Thomas. “I just thank god that she didn’t.” 


Gore blasts Bush on push for war

Ian Stewart The Associated Press
Tuesday September 24, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO — Al Gore harshly criticized President Bush’s push for war against Iraq, saying it has hurt the United States’ standing and could dangerously undermine the rule of law around the world. 

“After Sept. 11, we had enormous sympathy, goodwill and support around the world,” Gore said Monday. “We’ve squandered that, and in one year we’ve replaced that with fear, anxiety and uncertainty, not at what the terrorists are going to do but at what we are going to do.” 

In his first major speech on the Iraq situation, the once and possibly future Democratic presidential candidate accused Bush of abandoning the goal of a world where nations follow laws. 

“That concept would be displaced by the notion that there is no law but the discretion of the president of the United States,” he said. 

“If other nations assert the same right, then the rule of law will quickly be replaced by the reign of fear,” and any nation that perceives itself threatened would feel justified in starting wars, he said. 

Gore also told the enthusiastic crowd at the Commonwealth Club of California that he would decide in December whether to challenge Bush again for the presidency in 2004. 

Republicans quickly pounced on the speech as evidence of Gore’s weakness. 

“It seemed to be a speech more appropriate for a political hack than a presidential candidate by someone who clearly fails to recognize leadership,” said Jim Dyke, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee. 

Gore described his speech as an effort to lay out an alternative to the course of action pursued by the Bush administration. 

Even before securing United Nations support for a multinational war against Iraq, Bush has asked Congress to approve the use of “all means that he determines to be appropriate, including force,” in a unilateral effort to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. 

Gore urged Congress not to give the president such a broad mandate. 

“It needs to be narrowed,” said Gore, adding that Congress should urge Bush to go back to the U.N. Security Council and secure the “broadest possible international support” for a regime change in Iraq. 

Meanwhile, Gore said, “Bush should not allow anything to distract us from the mission of avenging the murder of 3,000 Americans.” 

Gore always has supported overthrowing Saddam, and was one of the few Senate Democrats who voted in favor of the Gulf War resolution after Iraq attacked Kuwait. He said he felt betrayed by the first President Bush’s “hasty withdrawal from the battlefield.” 

But like other leading Democrats, Gore has expressed reservations in recent months about military action against Iraq, suggesting the diplomatic costs would be extremely high. 

His speech Monday was much more critical, warning of ominous and untold consequences, ranging from a short-term power vacuum that could increase the danger of chemical and biological attacks, to the creation of legions of enemies angry and fearful about U.S. domination. 

“If we end the war in Iraq the way we ended the war in Afghanistan, we could easily be worse off than we are today,” Gore said. 


Four cows with personality corralled in Berkeley exhibit

Melissa McRobbie
Tuesday September 24, 2002

Volunteers with Berkeley’s Ohlone Greenway Group are introducing one of three new public art installations as “four steel cows with distinctive personalities.” 

One may wonder how a steel cow can have a distinctive personality, but after seeing Elsie, Ferdinand, Laxmi and Kali, the description begins to make sense.  

“Look at the way Ferdinand looks longingly at Elsie,” sighed Karl Linn, project coordinator for the exhibit. 

The new exhibit is located on the stretch of Ohlone Greenway between Peralta Avenue and Gilman Street. 

Linn, a garden lover known throughout the community, has lived near the Ohlone Greenway for more than 10 years. He stressed that many neighbors and volunteers that have made the project possible. 

The cows are the most striking of the three new works of art, but of equal interest are the adobe column “Peralta Gateway” and the mural “From Elk Tracks to BART Tracks.” 

The gateway commemorates the pre-Gold Rush period when California was part of Mexico with images, text and cheerfully colored tiles painted by local children. The 72-foot mural, a collaboration of six artists, depicts the history of transportation and migration in the East Bay.  

The aim of the exhibit is to teach people about the history of the area but also, according to Linn, to help build community. 

“The whole point is it bring people together. People take down their defenses and connect to their deeper core of being. They see the art and stop to talk to each other, animating the greenway,” he said. 

As if to prove Linn’s point, neighbor Rayce H. Mason paused in his stroll to examine the steel cows. 

“I like the cows,” said Rayce. “My grandmother had so many cows... I started milking when I was seven.” 

“Me too,” Linn replied. “Thirteen cows, three times a day.” 

The cows, created by artist Amy Blackstone, were landscape architect Ted Vorster’s idea, and were inspired by Vorster’s conversations with elderly Berkeley residents about life in the East Bay in the 1920s. 

“There were lots of cows, open fields and pastures,” said Vorster. “During the 1920s, cows would get loose, walk into gardens and soil sidewalks with cow patties. These days it’s only dogs we have to worry about.”  

Funding for the exhibit was provided by BART, the Berkeley Civic Arts Commission, and the city’s department of parks, recreation and waterfront, with fiscal sponsorship by Berkeley’s Partners for Parks.  

The dedication for the Ohlone Greenway Natural and Cultural History Interpretive Exhibit is 10 a.m. today. A public celebration is scheduled 2 to 4 p.m. Sept. 29. Ceremonies begin at the Peralta Community Garden on Peralta Avenue near Hopkins Street in north Berkeley. For more information call 464-6119.


$2.4 million grant goes to Oakland Army Base

Tuesday September 24, 2002

OAKLAND — A $2.4 million federal public works grant to start infrastructure design at the closed Oakland Army Base was announced Monday. 

The grant award from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration is the federal share of a $3.2 million public works project. The federal grant will allow the Oakland Base Reuse Authority to design and engineer the core infrastructure for the city’s planned Gateway Development Area at the former base. 

The authority will take over the 425-acre base this fall on behalf of the Oakland Redevelopment Agency. 

The base is situated on the Oakland waterfront, between the Port of Oakland and the eastern part of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.


Police Briefs

Matthew Artz
Tuesday September 24, 2002

n Assault and Robbery 

Two female teenagers were attacked and robbed by three females on the 2200 block of Durant Street at 5:26 p.m. Saturday, police said. One suspect grabbed a victim from behind by the hair and knocked her to the ground, while another suspect then started grabbing at her purse. Meanwhile, a third suspect grabbed a different victim’s purse. When the second victim resisted, the suspect punched her in the face, bloodying her nose. The three suspects then fled with purses in a car that pulled up at the crime scene. The car, driven by a male, is described as a tan 1984 Chevrolet station wagon, license 1KKM571. 

n Shoplifting 

Police arrested Kevin Grimes, 31, for shoplifting clothes from a retailer on the 2300 block of Telegraph Avenue Friday. 

n Robbery 

A robber pried open a window on the 2100 block of Haste Street Sunday afternoon, police said. The suspect stole books, a laptop and several CDs. 

n Car Theft 

A 1993 Mercedes Benz, license 4WBC433, was reported stolen from the 1600 block of Seventh street at 2:06 p.m. Saturday, police said. 


Buying or selling a house? Energy matters.

Alice La Pierre
Tuesday September 24, 2002

Purchasing a home can be a complex process, especially for first-time homebuyers. There are many forms to read and fill out, including termite inspections, appraisals, and of course, financing details. One form that is often passed on to the buyer is an acceptance of the responsibility for compliance with the Residential Energy Conservation Ordinance (RECO).  

RECO was adopted to improve energy and water efficiency in Berkeley’s existing housing, and was designed to protect homeowners from having high energy bills. RECO mandates that the seller installs basic energy conservation measures prior to closing. However, buyers may sign papers to assume this responsibility. If they do so without first getting an idea of the work that will need to be completed, it can be an unanticipated expense. 

Most first-time buyers aren’t aware of RECO. Wise buyers will familiarize themselves with the ordinance, and have an idea what it will cost them to come into compliance before signing the transfer.  

So, what needs to be done to make a residence comply with RECO? The following areas of energy consumption need to be addressed: the building “envelope,” meaning its walls, ceiling/attic, and floor; water fixtures, such as toilets, showerheads and faucets; and the heating and hot water systems. In homes with fireplaces, the chimney and flue need to be inspected for dampers. 

In the building envelope, the ceiling/attic must be insulated to a minimum of R-30, which is bout 9 inches of blown-in cellulose, or 7 inches of fiberglass. (“R-Value” is a material’s resistance to, or reciprocal of its thermal conductance. The higher this number, the greater a material’s insulating value.) 

If the home has knob-and-tube wiring, a licensed electrician must do a safety inspection first before insulation is installed. If the existing insulation is not R-30 more insulation must be installed to bring the R-value up to at least R-30. 

Exterior doors must have permanent, screwed-in place weatherstripping attached to the doorframe, and a door sweep installed along the bottom of the door. If weather-stripping is already there, it must be in good condition, without gaps or tears. This will prevent drafts, making the space more comfortable in cold weather. 

Low-flow devices must be installed onto showerheads and faucet aerators. Showerheads must have a maximum flow of 3 gallons a minute, and kitchen and bath faucets must have a flow rate of 2.75 gallons or less. These devices are available free from the East Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD; www.ebmud.com/conserving_&_recycling/conservation_devices/default.htm ), or for a nominal fee from Berkeley Conservation & Energy (BC&E; www.Ecologycenter.org ) available at all Berkeley Farmers’ Markets. 

Toilets must be low-flow, at a maximum of 1.6 gallons per flush; alternatively, complying flow-reduction devices can be installed. Any toilet replaced during a renovation must be replaced with a 1.6 gallons per flush model. 

Heating systems need R-3 insulation on exposed ductwork, or for hot water systems, R-3 insulation on hot water pipes. Hot water heaters must be wrapped with R-12 insulation, and the hot and cold water pipes at the tank must be insulated to a minimum of R-3 for the first two feet from the tank. For maximum heat retention, all exposed hot water pipes could be insulated at very little cost. 

How much should you spend on bringing the property into compliance? For single-family homes, a single-structure with two condos or live/work units or less, the maximum required expense is 0.75 percent of the sale price ($750 per $100,000). For one dwelling structure with three or more units, the rate is $0.50 per square foot. 

Note that any residential property that undergoes renovation with a total construction cost of $50,000 or more, must also comply with the requirements of the RECO ordinance. RECO inspection and documentation for renovation work is done through the normal building inspection process. 

To discover what your home may need to comply with RECO before buying or selling, check the full Compliance Guide available at Berkeley’s Energy Office at 2180 Milvia St., or call 981-5435. You may also visit the website at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ENERGY/RECO.html 

Perform the recommended measures for your home. Once the measures are installed, you should call for an audit, at 649-4854 weekdays, or 569-3080 weekday evenings. An authorized inspector will come to your home and conduct the audit. The current cost for the initial audit is $45 for a single-family unit, plus $5 for each additional unit.  

Once the building has passed the RECO inspection, you will receive a “FORM A, Certificate of Compliance,” which must be filed at the city’s Building and Safety Division at the Permit Service Center. Filing costs $15; once you have passed the audit and filed Form A, your home will be in compliance. Your energy bills will reflect this, saving you money and energy from now on. 

For more helpful tips on saving energy, visit the city’s Energy Office website at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ENERGY, or call 981-5435. 

Alice La Pierre is an energy analyst for the City of Berkeley. She promotes green building and energy conservation in Berkeley.


Bay Area Briefs

Tuesday September 24, 2002

Read Bay Area’s Olympic bid on the Internet 

The Bay Area team seeking to bring the Olympics to the region in 2012 said Monday it has placed its proposal on the Internet, pointing out that most of the needed facilities are ready and waiting. 

If the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee succeeds in beating New York City to become the U.S. candidate, and then in three years becomes the international choice for the 30th Olympiad, the activities would stretch from Napa County through both San Francisco and the East Bay to Santa Clara County and even Monterey's old Fort Ord campus. 

Added to the appeal of the Bay Area's bid is the region's moderate summer climate, renowned geography, cultural diversity and wealth of existing athletic venues. The boosters are calling their loop of sporting structures around the Bay the “Ring of Gold.”  

Partly because 80 percent of the needed infrastructure is already in place, proponents say the games would produce a $7 billion economic boost for the region and turn a $400 million profit for the U.S. Olympic Movement. 

The roughly 1,000-page bid, including finances and transportation plans, is available on the Internet at www.basoc2012.org. 

The next word for Bay Area Olympic boosters is expected on Nov. 3, when the U.S. Olympic Committee will select the U.S. candidate city. The United States has hosted the Games eight times. 

Richmond landfill fire out but area hot 

RICHMOND – A Richmond Fire Department spokesman says a two-acre landfill fire appears to be extinguished but firefighters will stay at the scene overnight in case it starts back up. 

Battalion Chief Jim Fajardo said the damaged portion of the landfill, which is located at the end of Parr Boulevard west of Richmond Parkway near Richmond, appeared black at 10:30 p.m. However, firefighters continued to spray water because of an unusual amount of steam, which he said means the area is still hot. 

“It looks impressive but not as impressive as the fire and smoke,” he said. 

The fire started at about 7 p.m. Crews assisted from Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, Pinole, Rodeo/Hercules, Richmond, Martinez, Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda.


Davis signs family leave bill

The Associated Press
Tuesday September 24, 2002

LOS ANGELES — California became the first state in the country to enact a comprehensive paid family leave program for workers under a bill signed Monday by Gov. Gray Davis. 

Supporters hoped the bill would serve as a nationwide model, while business groups denounced it as too costly for employers. 

“I don’t want Californians to choose between being good parents and good employees,” Davis said during a signing ceremony at the University of California, Los Angeles’ Mattel Children’s Hospital. 

The new law allows workers to take six weeks off to care for a newborn, a newly adopted child or ill family member. Under the plan, employees will be eligible to receive 55 percent of their wages during their absence, up to a maximum payment of $728 a week. 

The paid-leave law is the latest of several groundbreaking social and environmental laws passed in California this year. 

Earlier, California became the first state to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. On Sunday, Davis signed a bill to allow stem cell research in the state, hoping it will attract scientists who someday might be able to use the research to cure chronic diseases. Last year, President Bush restricted federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research to a select number of existing cell lines, but critics say many of those stem cells are in poor condition and are useless for research. 

Under the state’s new paid-leave program, workers would be allowed to start taking leaves as of July 1, 2004. 

The program would be funded entirely by employee payroll deductions, averaging about $27 a year and ranging up to $70 a year for those earning more than $72,000 annually. About 13 million of California’s 16 million workers would be eligible, exempting state and local government employees who contribute to a different plan. 

The bill does not provide protection for all workers. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees are not required to hold a job for a worker who takes paid family leave, according to the AFL-CIO, which helped write the bill.


UC Berkeley amoung schools watched on Middle East group's Web site

The Associated Press
Tuesday September 24, 2002

 

BERKELEY — A Philadelphia-based think tank has launched a Web site called Campus Watch on which plans to list and discuss instances of anti-Israeli sentiment around the country with a focus on activity at several universities, including three from the San Francisco Bay area. 

The site is managed by Middle East Forum, according to an introduction on the homepage, and will monitor reaction to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and profile individuals who teach the subject throughout the United States. 

It focuses, however, on 14 schools which have had experienced intense campus unrest related to the conflict, including the University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco State University and Stanford University. 

Harvard University, Colorado College and the University of North Carolina also are included on the list. 

The new site comes to the Internet just days after Harvard University president Lawrence Summers denounced as anti-Semitic a campaign, which began at Berkeley, that condemns Israel for human rights abuses and urges universities to divest in companies there.


Caltrans changes course: banners coming down

The Associated Press
Tuesday September 24, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO — The state Department of Transportation has reversed course on how it will comply with a judge’s order to treat U.S. flags and banners the same, saying Monday it now will remove them all from highway overpasses because of concerns about safety. 

Last week, Caltrans said it would comply with a January court order by leaving up all flags and banners that did not pose a safety hazard. 

Judge Ronald Whyte of U.S. District Court in San Jose issued the order in response to a lawsuit brought by Amy Courtney and Cassandra Brown last year. They argued their anti-war banners were taken down because of their content, while U.S. flags were left up. 

Whyte ordered the agency to enforce its rules on a content- and viewpoint-neutral basis, saying the agency could not grant exemptions for U.S. flags. Caltrans’ policy has been to take down all banners and signs except for American flags. 

The decision means the agency is reverting to its decision made shortly after the judge’s order.


Feds refer Edison settlement to California Supreme Court

The Associated Press
Tuesday September 24, 2002

 

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court has referred a lawsuit over a $3.3 billion settlement between California and one of the state’s largest utilities to the state Supreme Court. 

Both sides called the decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals a victory in the battle over whether the California Public Utilities Commission could use a court settlement to maintain record-high electricity rates for customers of Southern California Edison. 

The Utility Reform Network, a consumer advocacy group, sued to stop the agreement between the utility and its regulator, saying it was reached behind closed doors and violated the state’s deregulation laws that set a rate freeze for retail customers. 

Edison amassed about $6 billion in debts when wholesale electricity rates soared above the capped retail rates the utility charged its customers in 2000 and 2001. State lawmakers and Gov. Gray Davis debated for months on what role the state should play in Edison’s future, but legislation to bail out the utility failed. 

The PUC settled a federal suit with the utility in October to help Edison pay debts by maintaining for two more years a temporary rate increase approved a year earlier. 

The federal judges Monday upheld the PUC’s authority on several federal issues, which PUC and Edison officials said validated their arguments. 

“We are pleased that the court affirmed the settlement against all federal law challenges, and that the California Supreme Court will be deciding the important state law issues that it raises,” said Gary Cohen, general counsel for the PUC. “We are confident that the settlement ultimately will be upheld by the California Supreme Court.” 

But, the federal court said, there was “a serious question of whether the agreement between the commission and SoCal Edison violated state law, both in substance and in the procedure by which the commission agreed to it.” 

That means the state Supreme Court will have to choose whether to decide if the PUC violated the 1996 deregulation law and the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, said Nettie Hoge, executive director of TURN. 

Edison officials said the state’s open meeting law allowed an exception to allow state agencies to meet privately with attorneys and that’s what the PUC was doing while crafting a settlement of a lawsuit. 


Latinos hurt most by affordable housing crunch

The Associated Press
Tuesday September 24, 2002

 

LOS ANGELES — The shortage of affordable housing is affecting Latinos more than any other group of Californians and could force many immigrants and their families out of the state, according to a Pepperdine University study. 

Foreign-born Latino homeowners on average spend 43 percent of their income on mortgage payments, compared with an average of 32 percent among U.S.-born Californians, according to the study scheduled for release Tuesday. 

The affordability gap risks leaving the segment of the population “discouraged, alienated and politically detached,” the study said. It could also create conflicts between a permanent class of renters and homeowners, according to the report, whose sponsors included the Olson Co., a builder of affordable housing for minorities. 

Hispanics account for about 12 million of California’s 35 million residents and buy more than one in five homes sold in the state. 

By the middle of the century they are expected to form the majority ethnic group in the state. But many Latino families may instead choose to leave for more affordable regions of the country if the shortage of affordable housing is not properly addressed, the report said. 

The study calls on companies to extend credit to working and middle class families and on the government to adjust the tax system so it depends less on retail sales — a policy that can favor the development of shopping malls over residences. 


Briefs

Tuesday September 24, 2002

Google launches news page 

MOUNTAIN VIEW — Internet search engine Google has launched the beta version of Google News, a new Web page containing links to breaking news headline stories from 4,000 media outlets worldwide. 

The top stories are highlighted under common categories such as world, U.S., science and technology news, and each contains a reference to when the story was most recently updated. 

The placement of the stories on the page is determined by Google’s search term algorithm and doesn’t use the news editors that many other Web portals employ, according to Google product manager Marissa Mayer. 

Clicking on a link takes the reader to news sites that display stories by The Associated Press and other wire services, as well as their own content. Google News only links to stories generated within the past 30 days. 

Mayer said Monday the company has been working on the Google News project since January and will keep the Web page in a trial phase before looking at ways to possibly cash in on the feature in the future. 

Microsoft, HP to invest  

$50 million in promoting .NET 

REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft Corp. and Hewlett Packard Co. will spend $50 million over the next two and a half years to add sales and technical personnel to help drive adoption by businesses of Microsoft’s .NET-based software. 

HP, based in Palo Alto, Calif., and Redmond-based Microsoft plan to spend about $25 million each, said Rick Fricchione, vice president of Enterprise Ready Microsoft Services at HP. 

A formal announcement of the new effort was scheduled for Tuesday. 

JDS Uniphase cuts first-quarter sales outlook 

SAN JOSE — JDS Uniphase Corp., citing continued weakness in the telecommunications market, lowered its first-quarter sales outlook to between $190 million and $200 million. 

The San Jose-based optical technology company said Monday it expects to report an operating loss of 6 cents to 8 cents a share in the first quarter, excluding restructuring costs. 

The pro forma loss is unchanged from the company’s July outlook, and compares with analysts’ estimates of a loss of 6 cents a share for the period, according to Thomson First Call. 

JDS previously announced a first-quarter sales outlook in the range of $200 million to $210 million. 

The company said its lower sales estimate for the first quarter, which ends Sept. 30, reflects contract cancellations of $10 million to $20 million.


Police seek witnesses to electronics heist

Tuesday September 24, 2002

Berkeley police say they are looking for people who may have witnessed an armed robbery at the Cambridge Sound Works store at 2350 Shattuck Ave., Sept. 15, even though witnesses may not have known what was going on. 

Police say three men took over the store at about noon and stole more than $75,000 worth of electronics. One suspect has been arrested. Two remain at large. 

The robbers posed as store employees and ushered customers out of the business while employees were bound and locked in a bathroom. They locked the store doors and pretended to be closed after turning a number of customers away. 

Anyone who was at Cambridge Sound Works between noon and 2 p.m., Sept. 15 is urged to contact Berkeley police at 981-5742.


Feds file to overturn Oreg. suicide law

The Associated Press
Tuesday September 24, 2002

 

SAN FRANCISCO — The federal government resumed its bid to ban Oregon doctors from helping terminally ill patients commit suicide, filing papers Monday with an appeals court in an effort to strike down the only such law in the nation. 

Attorney General John Ashcroft is seeking to sanction and perhaps hold Oregon doctors criminally liable if they prescribe lethal doses of medication, as the voter-approved Death With Dignity Act allows. 

“The attorney general has permissibly concluded that suicide is not a legitimate medical purpose,” Justice Department attorney Jonathan H. Levy wrote in the appeal filed at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 

A federal judge in Portland, Ore., blocked the Justice Department from punishing Oregon doctors — such as stripping them of their ability to dispense medication if they prescribe lethal doses of medication to the terminally ill. 

The case is a classic states’ rights battle, with Oregon defending its assisted-suicide law against attacks from the Justice Department. 

In a sharp rebuke to Ashcroft, U.S. District Judge Robert Jones ruled in April that the Controlled Substances Act — the federal law declaring what drugs doctors may prescribe — does not give the federal government the power to say what is a legitimate medical practice. 

Ashcroft first declared the federal government had such power on Nov. 6, 2001, and the government reiterated that point Monday, arguing the act “prohibits physicians from prescribing controlled substances except for legitimate medical purposes.” 


Pacifica radio to return to Berkeley

By Matthew Artz
Monday September 23, 2002

The Pacifica Foundation radio network will return to Berkeley by March, three years after it fled the city amid protests and lawsuits. 

The radio network’s interim Board of Directors voted 12-1 Sunday to move its headquarters from Washington D.C. back to Berkeley, where it was founded more than 50 years ago. 

The surprisingly lopsided vote came after an interim board decision last month to put off the network’s move. 

Sunday’s vote means the network’s executive director and top decision making staff will again be stationed in Berkeley. To win the support of Washington interim board members who were opposed to the Berkeley move, the body decided to establish a national news bureau in Washington. 

Board members said the return to Berkeley was poetic justice after the destructive policies of the previous board. 

The 1999 board tried to fire staff members and moderate the political view of its Berkeley station KPFA. Station supporters took to the streets in protest and filed lawsuits against the board. In response, the board in January 2000, moved its headquarters under the cover of darkness to Washington.  

In addition to KPFA, Pacifica also holds licenses of community stations in New York, Los Angeles, Houston and Washington. 

“It’s important to right the wrongs of the past,” said interim board member Leslie Cagan. “One of those wrongs was the theft of the office from Berkeley.” 

Pacifica’s interim board was formed as part of a legal settlement between the former board and protesters.  

The board’s decision was not as simple as the 12-1 vote may appear. After it voted in March to return to Berkeley by the end of the year, a faction of board members tried to stall the move. 

Dominated by board members from Washington, they passed a resolution last month by a 7-4 vote that effectively halted the foundation’s return to Berkeley because of a lack of funds.  

After two years of internal legal wrangling, Pacifica has been left $1.5 million in debt, and interim treasurer Jabri Zakiya said a move would cost several hundred thousand dollars.  

However, at Sunday’s board meeting in Houston, new Executive Director Dan Coughlin presented a budget for 2003 that estimated the move at $120,000.  

Because Pacifica owns its Berkeley headquarters and rents its current site in Washington, Coughlin estimated that the move would actually save the network $73,900 a year and would pay for itself within two years. 

Additionally, rank-and-file members of the five stations pressured board members to support the move. According to interim board member Debbie Spooner, every station manager told board members that Pacifica could not heal from its recent turmoil until it had returned to its rightful home in Berkeley. 

Even Washington station members voted by a slim margin in favor of returning the headquarters to Berkeley. 

In the final vote, only Jabari Zakiya, the Washington-based treasurer voted against the move.Zakiya could not be reached for comment.


Concerns about coffee initiative

Fred Foldvary
Monday September 23, 2002

To the Editor: 

 

The Berkeley coffee initiative featured in the Sept. 20 issue, requiring retailers to sell only organic, shade grown, or Fair Trade coffee, may end up hurting the coffee farmers it is intended to protect. A better alternative would be to inform buyers of unfriendly coffee and that it may be harmful to the environment and unkind to small-scale coffee growers. Educated consumers would then have a choice and many would choose the friendly coffees. The initiative would mostly result in higher prices for brewed coffee, often with the buyer not knowing why. 

The informational approach could spread to other cities and make many people aware of the problem. The coercive approach, though, could be rejected by other cities as just another example of Berkeley's proclivity for intervention. By rejecting the educational approach, the coffee initiative treats Berkeley residents as heartless louts who would spurn friendly coffee if informed and given a free choice. When we force people to do good, it destroys the development of a good conscience. By voting in this initiative, we will never know how well voluntary methods would have worked. 

 

 

Fred Foldvary 

Berkeley


Golden Bears come up short against Air Force

By Jared Green
Monday September 23, 2002

For three weeks the Cal football team took advantage of just about every opportunity it had. On Saturday against Air Force Academy, missing out on those opportunities cost the Golden Bears their undefeated season. 

Cal (3-1) nearly took the game into overtime, failing on a last-gasp two-point conversion that would have tied the game, but lost 23-21 to the Falcons (3-0) at Memorial Stadium in front of a crowd of 31,816. 

The Bears wide receivers dropped 10 passes on Saturday, hurting both the team’s chances at winning and quarterback Kyle Boller’s passing numbers. After completing 63 percent of his passes in the first three games, Boller was just 13-for-37 for 216 yards against Air Force. Boller’s only interception of the day was caused by wideout LaShaun Ward’s bobble, with Air Force’s Wes Crawley taking the ball out of Ward’s hands in the first quarter. That turnover led to the Falcons’ first score, a 34-yard field goal that tied the game 3-3. 

Ward’s catching problems didn’t end there. With the Bears down 23-15 and two minutes remaining, Boller led the offense down the field for Cal’s only touchdown of the game on a 17-yard pass to Jonathon Makonnen. But the Bears could have scored several plays earlier when Ward dropped a wide-open post pattern, one of three drops by the senior on that drive alone. 

“We can’t drop the ball like that and expect to beat a good team like Air Force,” Cal head coach Jeff Tedford said. “But Kyle kept throwing darts and eventually someone made a play.” 

The ensuing two-point conversion attempt nearly tied the game, as Boller rolled out to the right and had tailback Joe Igber open for a split-second in the endzone. But Air Force safety Jeff Overstreet got a hand on the pass to clinch the Falcons’ upset victory. 

“I’ll probably have a nightmare over and over about that hand getting in there,” Boller said. “[Overstreet] couldn’t have timed it any better. That ball was going to hit Joe right in the chest.” 

But if Boller and the offense had been able to put just one more ball into the endzone earlier in the game the last-minute drive wouldn’t have been necessary. From the first play of the game, when Air Force quarterback Chance Harridge fumbled the ball away on his own 28-yard line, the Bears had plenty of chances to take the ball down the field. But six of their drives all stalled inside the Air Force 25-yard line, as penalties and dropped passes doomed them to six field-goal attempts. 

“It just came down to us kicking too many field goals and not scoring enough touchdowns,” Tedford said. “[Kicker] Mark Jensen did a great job, but we have to get touchdowns.” 

Jensen set a school record for field goals with five, with his only miss blocked by Air Force’s Wes Crawley. 

“I appreciated the fact that I’m getting the opportunity to help the team, but it’s a little bittersweet because it means the offense isn’t finishing drives,” Jensen said. 

The Cal defense did an admirable job against the Air Force option attack for most of the game, but gave up a few big plays at key moments. Fullback Steve Massie plowed through the middle of the line for a 45-yard gain in the third quarter that led to a six-yard touchdown run by Harridge that cut the Cal lead to 12-10.  

Then after the Falcons had taken a 16-15 lead on a two-yard touchdown by Harridge and forced the Bears into a three-and-out, the quarterback picked up 45 yards on four carries on his team’s final drive, including a 13-yard touchdown run. 

“We quit trying to run outside, we quit trying to run sweeps and we just started running the triple option right at them,” Harridge said of the second half. “They just couldn’t stop it. We ran right at them for the entire second half of the game.” 

Harridge seemed to get tougher to tackle as the game wore on, ending up with 124 yards on 25 carries after running for just 37 yards in the first half. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound junior repeatedly chose to keep the ball on the option rather than pitch out to a running back and took some big hits, but he just kept bouncing back up for more punishment. 

“We over-pursued at times when [Harridge] cut back against us,” Cal defensive coordinator Bob Gregory said. “The option is about assignments on defense. You have to take away the dive, the keeper and the pitch. If you have one part that’s not covered they’ll hurt you.” 

Notes: Cal linebacker Matt Nixon suffered a knee sprain in the fourth quarter. Tedford said he would be re-evaluated today... Igber moved into fifth on the Cal career rushing list with 2823 yards... The win over Cal gave Air Force victories over a Big Ten team and a Pac-10 team in the same season for the first time. The Falcons beat Northwestern earlier in the season.


County to aid school district with budget

By David Scharfenberg
Monday September 23, 2002

 

The likelihood that the Berkeley Unified School District will not balance it’s projected $3.9 million budget this year, will apparently have little effect on the district’s relationship with the Alameda County Office of Education, despite earlier concerns that it might. 

County Superintendent Sheila Jordan said Friday that, while she would prefer that the district close the gap this year, she will provide Berkeley Unified with some flexibility to pursue a multi-year deficit reduction strategy. 

“Obviously we would like them to eliminate [the deficit this year], but we are working together on it,” said Jordan. 

The county office rejected Berkeley Unified’s 2002-2003 budget early last week, in part because of the deficit problem. 

The office has ultimate sanction over the district’s budgeting. 

On Friday, despite county budget concerns, Superintendent Michele Lawrence said the Berkeley Unified School District will probably not make cuts necessary to erase the deficit this fiscal year. 

County rejection of the budget, coming in in a letter Tuesday, found fault not only with the $3.9 million deficit, but with a vague financial recovery plan. The district has until Dec. 15 to develop a more detailed blueprint for recovery. 

If the district fails to meet county standards, it will go back to the drawing board but will face no additional penalties, Jordan said. The county will take over the district if the budget is ultimately deemed unworkable, Jordan said. 

Lawrence said the district will comply with the Dec. 15 deadline for a revised budget and new, likely multi-year, recovery plan. But Berkeley’s complex budget problems may prevent the district from providing the sort of specificity in its recovery plan that the county is seeking. 

“It may not be as detailed as, perhaps, they would like,” she said. 

Jordan said there will likely be some “give and take” over the level of detail, but said the scheme will have to be a “viable” one. 

“We need to be assured that there really is a plan in place,” she said. 

The recovery plan will serve as the basis for future cuts. Lawrence said it is too early to speculate about what types of reductions will be on the list. But the board, which slashed millions in February through layoffs and class size increases among other measures, will face a particularly painful round of cuts this time, she said. 

“We’ve pealed away the onion layers and we’re at the heart of things,” Lawrence said. “The next cuts are going to be hard.” 

School board member John Selawsky said more layoffs are a possibility. 

“I would really hate to say it’s a probability, but I think, realistically, we’re going to have to look at it,” he said. “Personnel cuts are going to be on the table.” 

Mid-year layoffs are unlikely, and illegal in the case of certified teachers and administrators, but staff reductions could go into effect for the 2003-2004 school year. 

Community members have argued that the district did not include the public enough when it made the cuts last year.  

Lawrence has long contended that the district had to move quickly then because it did not learn the enormity of the budget crisis until January. This year, she said, Berkeley Unified will seek more public input. Lawrence said she has not yet determined how she will seek input. 

In her letter to the district Tuesday, Jordan laid out not only short-term, but long-term budget concerns for Berkeley Unified. A roughly 300-student drop in district enrollment, she noted, will lead to a dip in state funding next year. 

Lawrence said she is not overly concerned about the enrollment decline because, while fewer students means less revenue, it also means fewer costs. Berkeley Unified, for instance, may be able to cut down on the rent it pays for portable classrooms at overcrowded schools if it has fewer students to serve, she noted. 

The county office also raised concerns about the district’s ability to grant its employees salary increases in the face of a fiscal crisis. Board member Ted Schultz said those concerns are legitimate ones. 

“I’m hopeful that we can give reasonable salary increases, but I think Sheila Jordan is perfectly right – if we are in a real bind financially, that’s going to be difficult to do,” said Schultz. 

Stephanie Allan, business agent for Local 39, which represents classified employees in Berkeley Unified, said the district’s four unions are looking warily to the spring, when their contracts expire and the issue of wages resurfaces. 

“I can assure you the district has the money,” said Allan. “The question is, where do they spend it?”


Growth won’t stop anytime soon

Stuart Cohen
Monday September 23, 2002

To the Editor: 

 

Peter Teichner’s dismissal of smart growth (Forum, Sept. 17, 2002) typifies an attitude that unfortunately is gaining currency in the Bay Area as we contemplate our future and don’t like what we see. 

What we see is tremendous growth – approximately 1 million more people in the next 20 years and a 120 percent increase in automobile congestion, according to the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). It might be nice to slam the door on all these people and say “No more, you can’t come in,” but more than half of these are our children and the natural increase that they bring as we all live longer. The current economic slump is only temporary, and the Bay Area is still one of the most desirable places in the country in which to live and work despite its problems. 

If we do not provide denser and more affordable housing on transportation corridors that will enable people to live close to their work and have real transit options, they’ll live in sprawling suburbs and they’ll drive. A lot more of those cars will be traveling in and out of Berkeley. 

In Berkeley, some very well-designed 3-5 story buildings along our major transit corridors are creating a more vibrant, exciting, diverse city with thriving neighborhood stores and allowing our teachers and public workers to live here instead of in far-off suburbs. In my own neighborhood, a vacant lot was turned into a five-story building that houses a cafe and a Mexican ceramics store. It is a great addition to our community and because of the location along transit, the residents own many fewer cars than their counterparts in sprawling suburbs. 

Teichner rails against Berkeley’s big developers, but he has the wrong enemy in his sights. Our coalition teams up with Greenbelt Alliance and the Sierra Club to defeat large sprawling projects in the Bay Area Greenbelt. We fight the likes of Shea Homes and Sunset Developers, the mega-sprawl developers. We are successfully convincing voters in areas like Livermore to defeat new sprawl developments because we still have space in our underutilized transit corridors. The sprawl developers are just waiting for smart growth to fail so they can show the voters there is no antidote to sprawl and get their bulldozers to work in undeveloped outlying areas. 

Berkeley once had 8,000 more residents than it does today and we have to continue to provide housing. The alternative is to remain silent as farms and open space are plowed to make way for new homes. I urge all to oppose Measure P, which would bring new housing to a screeching halt in Berkeley. After all, among others, these are our children we are trying to house. I'd like them to have the choice of vibrant neighborhoods instead of more sprawl. 

 

Stuart Cohen 

Executive Director, 

Transportation And Land Use Coalition (TALC) 

 


Both Cal soccer teams win

By Jared Green
Monday September 23, 2002

 

Sophomore Mike Muñoz had a goal and an assist to lead the Cal men’s soccer team past San Francisco, 2-0, on Sunday at Edwards Stadium. 

The win was the third straight for the Bears (4-2-1), who haven’t given up goal during that stretch. 

The Bears out-shot USF 14-7 and controlled the ball for most of the second half, just missing on several opportunities to score additional goals. 

“Today was probably our best game from minute one to minute 90,” Cal head coach Kevin Grimes said. “We came out completely focused, motivated and anxious to play.” 

Cal scored just their second first-half goal of the season on Sunday. Muñoz drove a corner kick high into the area and freshman Tyson Wahl rose and headed the ball into the upper-right corner of the goal, just over a defender’s head. The 32nd-minute goal was Wahl’s first college score and Muñoz’s first assist of the season. 

“We’ve been working hard on set pieces in training, and it finally paid off today,” Grimes said. All of Cal’s previous goals came from the run of play. 

Muñoz gave the Bears a two-goal cushion in the 51st minute, with freshman Garrett Terracciano flicking a cross back onto Muñoz’s foot from near the goal line. Muñoz took a touch before slamming the ball past USF goalkeeper Mark Muleady for his team-high third goal of the season. 

The Bears travel to Santa Clara on Thursday to take on the Broncos, then host Tulsa on Sunday at noon at Edwards Stadium. 

 

• FRESNO – Cal freshman Tracy Hamm tallied her first career hat trick, scoring three goals against Fresno State on Sunday in a 4-1 win. Hamm leads the Bears with six goals on the season. 

Freshman Dania Cabello scored the other goal for Cal (5-1-1) off of a Carly Fuller corner kick, while Kotri Koivisto-Nokso scored for Fresno State (1-7). Kim Yokers and Kassie Doubrava also had assists for the Bears. 

Cal heads east next weekend for games against Penn and Hartford.


Button-maker bids farewell

By Matthew Artz
Monday September 23, 2002

For a city that has changed immeasurably since its hippie heyday, Telegraph Avenue can sometimes seem a land suspended in time. But some peace activists say that after this weekend, it will never be the same. 

John Vance, an icon among Telegraph avenue tablers has decided to pack up his “F--k Bush” bumper stickers and “Don’t Believe Everything You Think” pins and ride off into the sunset of San Diego. 

“Telegraph is like an outpatient clinic,” said Vance who has worked as a street merchant in Berkeley since 1991. “I’ve reached the point where I want to go somewhere for some quiet time.” 

But in fitting form, the Berkeley rabble rouser did not leave quietly. 

 

Friends and fellow activists threw Vance a rollicking going away party Sunday at another testament to Berkeley’s counter-culture past – People’s Park. 

In what seemed like a time warp, members of the original People’s Park movement, homeless activists and even a colony of nudists frolicked on the lawn in celebration of Vance’s contributions to Berkeley. 

The freewheeling scene reminded Vance why he decided to leave Oregon for Berkeley in 1991. 

“I thought Berkeley was a place where I could do what’s not so acceptable in other places,” he said. 

Since his arrival, Vance became the glue to Berkeley’s disparate activist community. From his table at the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Channing Way, Vance served as a liaison between activists of different causes and made a monthly calendar highlighting their events and rallies. 

Vance, though, has his own political agenda. Many of the stickers, pins and other paraphernalia he designs and sells express his distaste for President George W. Bush and his concerns about police brutality. 

Vance does not come off as the prototypical Berkeley leftist. A former landscaper and Vietnam veteran, with thick muscular hands, Vance seems more carpenter than activist.  

He said he never considered politics until he was in his 20s, when he watched a documentary about a Massachusetts’s company that poisoned the environment of a New England town. Since viewing the film, he began organizing for progressive causes and became a bit of a vagabond. He has crisscrossed the country several times, making several stops in Berkeley during the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. 

Although his imminent move to San Diego may signal a desire to slow down, Vance doesn’t plan on keeping his stickers and buttons in the moving box for too long. 

“I’ll be looking for a spot there too,” Vance said. “It will be interesting dealing with San Diego. They have a progressive community, but they also have a lot of Republicans who need to get woken up.” 


A Dean supporter speaks

Sam Herbert
Monday September 23, 2002

To the Editor: 

 

When my family moved to south Berkeley almost six years ago, this neighborhood was a frightening place. Drug dealers pedalled openly on the streets, soliciting all, and enlisting the active participation of young children. My neighbors were so overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the crime level that we had a hard enough time even reaching out to each other, much less anyone else and when we did, we had a hard time getting the city to take the situation as seriously as it warranted. That is, until we connected with Shirley Dean. Dean was, and is, the one reliable person who always listened and responded with appropriate action. She doesn't just talk a good line; every single time we talked to her about the desperate problems in our neighborhoods, she acted and did whatever was possible for each given situation. She made sure all the other city agencies, in a position to respond to our needs, were contacted and engaged. She followed through and we developed an active, constructive, three-way chain of communication with the police department, ourselves and the mayor. 

Not all the problems have been solved. Some of the problems have been plaguing south Berkeley for the past 30 years and even consistent, dedicated effort doesn't provide solutions to every woe. Nevertheless, south Berkeley is a far better, far safer place to live and raise your children than it was a few years ago and before I met Dean. Quite frankly, I can't imagine where we would be now had it not been for the mayor's tenacious support. I hope my neighbors will retain a clear memory about where we were, how far we've come and just how very much we owe to Dean when it's time to vote in the next mayoral election. 

 

 

Sam Herbert 

Berkeley


Pac-10 Football Roundup

Monday September 23, 2002

No. 25 Kansas State 27,  

No. 11 USC 20 

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Ell Roberson came off the bench to throw one touchdown pass and run for another score. 

 

No. 9 Oregon 41, Portland St. 0 

EUGENE, Ore. – Onterrio Smith ran for 115 yards and two touchdowns and Jason Fife threw for two more as No. 9 Oregon defeated Portland State 41-0. 

 

No. 17 Wisconsin 31, Arizona 10 

MADISON, Wis. – Anthony Davis ran for 110 yards and two touchdowns as 17th-ranked Wisconsin built a 24-point halftime lead and coasted to a 31-10 victory over Arizona. 

 

Colorado 31, No. 20 UCLA 17 

PASADENA – Chris Brown ran for 188 yards and three touchdowns Saturday as the Buffaloes upset No. 20 UCLA 31-17.  

 

No. 18 Washington State 45, Montana State 28 

PULLMAN, Wash. – Jermaine Green ran for two touchdowns and caught a pass for another as 18th-ranked Washington State beat Montana State 45-28 win.


Russian avalanche covers village

By Yuri Bagrov
Monday September 23, 2002

 

GIZEL, Russia – A 500-foot-high chunk of glacier crashed down a Caucasus mountainside, burying a village in ice, rocks and mud and leaving as many as 100 people missing and feared dead Saturday — among them, a popular Russian action star who was filming a movie. 

Part of the village of Nizhny Karmadon was destroyed, a government spokeswoman in Moscow said. The village, home to about 50 people, was almost entirely covered in ice, leaving little chance of finding anyone alive there, an emergency official at the scene said. 

At least 86 people were missing, said Lt. Gen. Ivan Teterin, the Emergency Situation Ministry official heading the search, including 17 people whose houses were destroyed in the village of Nizhny Karmadon, six of them children. The missing also included hikers and 40 people with the crew led by actor-director Sergei Bodrov Jr., said Marina Ryklina, a ministry spokeswoman in Moscow. 

She said officials suspected the total number of missing was about 100. 

The avalanche raged down the Karmadon Gorge in the Russian republic of North Ossetia late Friday after a glacier 495 feet tall broke off from below a peak in the rugged Caucasus Mountains, gathering a mix of mud, rocks and uprooted tree trunks its path. 

Moving at more than 62 mph, the avalanche slid 20 miles before it stopped on the Gizel-Karmadon highway about 6 miles from the regional capital of Vladikavkaz. 

Seen from the road, the path of destruction was about 300-400 yards wide. 

Teterin said that one man from the area near Nizhny Karmadon was found dead, his body seriously damaged. A spokesman for North Ossetian President Alexander Dzasokhov said four bodies were found, the Interfax news agency reported. 

Eight houses and a three-story sanatorium in the village were destroyed, but it was unclear whether anyone was in the sanatorium at the time, Teterin said. He said three people were plucked from the area near the avalanche by helicopters and 31 others found and taken to safety by rescuers. 

Mikhail Shatalov, the prime minister of North Ossetia, a tiny region about 940 miles southeast of Moscow, told the ITAR-Tass news agency that up to 100 people were feared dead. 

Bodrov had been filming a movie with a crew of 27 people in the area — where he has made movies in the past. Along with the crew were 13 drivers and other people who were also among the missing, Ryklina said. 

Mikhail Maltsev, a spokesman for STV film company, told Echo of Moscow radio that Bodrov’s crew had been filming a movie for the company in the mountains near the site of the avalanche. 

In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the avalanche was “truly a great tragedy.” 

“The main task is to find the missing people, restore the region’s infrastructure, I mean electric lines and vital necessities,” he told reporters after meeting Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov. 

Gulya Revazova, a spokeswoman for North Ossetia’s traffic police, said that two traffic police officers had accompanied the Bodrov’s group and were among the missing. 

Two border guards patrolling nearby also were missing as of Friday night, the emergency official said. The area is near the border with the former Soviet republic of Georgia. 

Several tourist campsites are located in the gorge where the glacier fell, but it was unclear whether they had been in the avalanche’s path. 

Ambulances and officials from North Ossetia and the nearby republic of Ingushetia converged Saturday on the blocked highway. Rescuers went over the ice and mud on foot to look for survivors. 

Murat Batayev, head of the rescue service of the nearby republic of Ingushetia, said in the late morning that 25 people had been rescued. He did not elaborate. 

Bodrov is best known for his roles in the Russian action movies “Brother” and “Brother 2.” His father is an acclaimed director and Bodrov Jr., 30, has starred in some of his films, including the acclaimed “Prisoner of the Caucasus,” set in the same mountains where he went missing Friday. 


Local NBA players acquitted of fraud

By Nick Wilson
Monday September 23, 2002

 

OAKLAND – An Alameda County jury decided in favor of NBA players Gary Payton and Brian Shaw Wednesday after a five-week civil trial in connection with a defunct Emeryville billiards club.  

The four plaintiffs, who demanded $300,000 compensation and punitive damages, accused Payton and Shaw as well as mutual friend William Brew and Payton’s agent Aaron Goodwin of reneging on a verbal agreement to invest in the club First Place Sports Bar and Billiards.  

Though the jury said in its questionnaire that it believed Payton and Shaw made false representations, it also said neither man crossed the line of fraud and owes nothing to the plaintiffs. 

Payton currently plays for the Seattle Supersonics and Brian Shaw plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. Both are originally from Oakland. 

Though Payton and Shaw were acquitted, the jury ordered Brew, a part owner of the club, to pay $150,000 to plaintiffs Michael Ohayon and brothers Robert and Victor Aissa and Goodwin to pay $38,160 to Glenn Matsuhara. 

In October 1995, under the name First Place Development Partnership, Ohayon, and the brothers became minority shareholders of First Place Sports Bar and Billiards. In a partnership with Brew and Matsuhara, Robert Aissa said he and his brother refinanced their home and invested $300,000 in hopes of expanding the business, which collapsed in 1998.  

Robert Aissa said Payton and Shaw gave numerous “legally binding” verbal assurances they would also invest in the billiard club. 

“They were hanging out at the club all the time, drawing people there, and telling us that they were in for sure,” he said. “Brian Shaw said he just needed to wait until after he renegotiated his contract with the [Orlando] Magic, [Shaw’s team at the time].” 

The defense attorneys for both players said the case had no merit. 

“The plaintiffs don’t have a right to money because Gary Payton has money,” said John Burris, Payton’s attorney, in his closing statement. “You don’t have to let someone ride your coattails unless you give them permission.” 

Robert Aissa said the partners planned to open up more billiards clubs in the East Bay and attract customers based on the popularity of other NBA players who expressed interest in the business.  

However, the business venture began to unravel in June 1997 when Matsuhara accused partner Brew of using $196,000 of the business’ funds for personal expenses. At the time, the club was late on rent payments and had taken on a $380,000 loan.  

In August 1998, Matsuhara said he sold his shares of the company as part of a deal in which Payton agreed to spend $150,000 on business expenses and Brew offered Matsuhara a $95,000 buy-out. Ohayon and the Aissa brothers said the deal meant that Payton should be liable for some of the their loses when the business went under, but Payton’s attorney said they were mistaken. 

“Payton would have been responsible for the corporation if he was a director or operator, but he wasn’t,” Burris said.  

David Bass, the attorney for Brian Shaw, argued that his client’s interest in the business did not qualify as commitment to invest. He added that Shaw and the plaintiffs had informal discussions, but no binding contract was signed. 

Plaintiff Robert Aissa said he was baffled by the jury’s decision. 

“They’re saying that [Payton and Shaw] lied, but didn’t commit fraud,” said Aissa. “I don’t understand the logic of the jury’s decision.” 

William Brew said the verdict against him could have been worse.  

“I’m very, very happy [with the jury’s decision],” Brew said.


Bay Area Briefs

Monday September 23, 2002

Man shot, killed on 580 

RICHMOND – The Richmond Police Department says a 20-year-old Vallejo man was gunned down on the Regatta Boulevard on-ramp to Interstate Highway 580 early Sunday morning. 

Officers summoned to the intersection of Regatta Boulevard and Erlandson Street at 2:30 a.m. today found the bullet-ridden body of Kamal Rasheed Moore lying beside Golden Gate Gas Station, Lt. Johan Simon said. 

The Contra Costa Coroner determined that Moore died at around 1:30 a.m. Evidence suggests that Moore was shot on the freeway on-ramp as he was driving a rented 2002 Dodge Neon. He then got out of the car and started to run away from the gunman, who continued to shoot at Moore until he collapsed, Simon said. 

Police found his car abandoned on the on-ramp with the engine running and the windows shattered, Simon said. 

Richmond Police say they have no suspects and no motive for the murder. 

 

Tiger attack victim released 

PALO ALTO — An investigation into whether a tiger that attacked a 6-year-old boy was under proper control by its handlers is expected to be forwarded to a state agency Monday. 

The attack occurred Friday during a Baymonte Christian School assembly in Scotts Valley. The 150-pound female tiger, Sima, lunged over a row of seats and clamped its jaws around the kindergartner’s head. 

“It’s really not a question of whether the tiger bit the child or not; it’s going to be a question of whether the tiger was under proper control by the handler,” said Scotts Valley police Sgt. John Wilson. 

The report will be forwarded to the Department of Fish and Game, which will decide whether to recommend the county prosecutor press charges. 

The boy sustained two 5-inch cuts on his head, which required 55 stitches. It is unclear whether the gashes were caused by the tiger’s teeth or by the silver medallions on the handler’s belt. 

The boy, whose name has not been released, was discharged from Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto on Saturday. 

Police have asked David Jackson, director of Zoo to You Wildlife Education Inc., which owns Sima, to keep the tiger confined.


Davis signs stem cell research bill

By Jennifer Coleman
Monday September 23, 2002

SACRAMENTO – California opened its doors Sunday to stem cell researchers whose research has been restricted by a federal limits on the cells that come from fetal and embryonic tissue. 

Gov. Gray Davis was joined by actor Christopher Reeve, a stem cell research activist since an accident left him paralyzed from the neck down, in announcing a new law that expressly permits the research. 

Davis, Reeve and other supporters said the legislation is necessary to keep California at the forefront of medical research. 

The bill was opposed by the Catholic Church and anti-abortion groups and contradicts President Bush’s efforts to limit stem cell research. 

Stem cells, which are found in human embryos, umbilical cords and placentas, can divide and become any kind of cell in the body. Opponents contend that the research is tantamount to murder because it starts with the destruction of a human embryo. 

Last year, Bush restricted federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research to a select number of existing cell lines. Critics say many of those stem cells are in poor condition and are useless for research. 

Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, authored the bill that states California will explicitly allow embryonic stem cell research, and allows for both the destruction and donation of embryos. 

The bill requires fertility clinics that do in-vitro fertilization procedures to inform women that they have the option to donate discarded embryos to research. It requires written consent for donating embryos and bans the sale of embryos. 

Ortiz and supporters of her bill said the research could be valuable in curing or alleviating chronic and degenerative conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and spinal cord injuries. 

Reeve, an ardent supporter of stem cell research, has been paralyzed since a horseback riding accident seven years ago. He has said that he has regained some feeling in his fingers and toes, but is urging further stem cell research as a way to treat paralysis. 

“Since stem cells were first isolated in 1998, the political debate has had a chilling effect on our scientists,” Reeve said Sunday. “It is painful to contemplate what advances could have been made” if that research wasn’t stifled. 

The move will attract “the best and the brightest” researchers to California, said Larry Goldstein, a professor at University of California San Diego, and halt the migration of stem cell researchers to other countries where it is permitted. 

Movie producer Jerry Zucker also joined Davis in the announcement, saying he learned about stem cell research after discovering that his young daughter had diabetes. 

“After learning the daily routine, we began to ask what was being done to cure diabetes,” he said. “Everyone told us that embryonic stem cell research is her best hope for a cure.” 

Zucker said he immediately discovered “that the biggest obstacle in finding a cure for our daughter is our own government.” 

Congress hasn’t acted on any stem cell research bills, or a bill to ban human cloning, and Ortiz said there was still a question over whether California’s law would be pre-empted by a federal statute. 

Measures pending in Congress range from allowing research to criminalizing it and prosecuting those who traveled abroad for treatment derived from stem cell research. 

Reeve said it will take a grass-roots movement to get federal policy that “truly expresses the will of the people” and he said he hoped California’s law would encourage other states to follow suit. 

“The debate will continue in the country, but these debilitating diseases affect nearly everyone in one way or another,” Davis said. “As the country ages, however, more and more Americans will see the value stem cell research has in enhancing the quality of life for the people they love.”


Economist challenges lowered state ranking

By Jessica Brice
Monday September 23, 2002

 

SACRAMENTO – A top state economist is challenging recent findings that California’s economy has slipped to sixth place overall in the world. 

A report released earlier this week by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. indicates that France has moved ahead of California and become the world’s fifth largest economy. 

The report puts California’s gross state product in 2001 at $1.309 trillion, or $1 billion below France’s estimated gross domestic product of $1.310 trillion. 

But Howard Roth, chief economist of the California Department of Finance, said the California number seems too low. 

Official numbers won’t be released by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis until June 2003. 

In the meantime, Roth said state economists assume the gross California product has grown by the same amount as total state personal income. 

“Three independent sources estimate that California personal income increased in 2001,” Roth said. “Accordingly, we are very confident that California still ranks fifth largest in 2001.” 

California’s economy has been a bragging point for Gov. Gray Davis in his bid for re-election in November.


Literacy students publish book

Brian Kluepfel
Saturday September 21, 2002

Cornerstone principles of Berkeley Reads – the city library’s free adult literacy program – are fostering voice and action. A new publication of student writings demonstrates these ideas. 

Today 10 authors who gained their skills through Berkeley Reads will be reading their work and signing free copies of “Another Leaf Has Fallen,” the book they wrote, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Berkeley Main Library. 

Student Will Wright, who learned to read with an education tool that scans books and reads them back to its user, is one of the contributors. He writes: 

People are made of places, they carry with them the remembrance of the places they lived 

As if they have a bag of memories, they take with them wherever they go.  

Snowy white cotton fields, shotgun houses. 

These are my oldest memories with the smell of warm greens, neck bones and hot water corn bread. 

Contributors to “Another Leaf has Fallen,” are of various backgrounds and ages. Although it’s not an English as a Second Language (ESL) program, Berkeley Reads caters to pupils from many different nations. 

In the book Nepali-born Bijaya Simmons discusses her dream of revisiting her homeland. She also wrote an essay on how computers made it simpler for her to contact her family in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001. 

Elsie Blount attends the Small Group roundtable on Monday evenings, at which students share ideas among themselves and with teacher Kristin Papania. Elsie wrote an epigram using the first letters of her name. 

Charles Joseph spent many years in the Navy and government service before a work supervisor referred him to Berkeley Reads. Now he turns out powerful poetry. “The Mighty Sea,” details his experience as a young sailor: 

Come and go with me,  

let us ride upon the bosom 

of this angry sea,  

Hoping, watching, that some great thought might come to me. 

Joseph uses metaphor to describe his journey to literacy, in a story called “The Dungeon of 

Darkness.” The “monster that dogged his steps is dead,” he writes, noting that with the help of the program, he's made many gains during the last six years.  

Gloria Ashford has been involved in literacy for 14 years, first as a student and now as an outreach coordinator. In her contribution called “My Easter Sunday,” she recounts her Berkeley childhood, full of delightful sights and smells, including Langendorf Bakery's jelly rolls and the now closed jawbreaker factory between Hearst Avenue and Delaware Street in west Berkeley. 

Berkeley Reads Director Amy Prevedel said the book documents the students’ progress. 

“I think the book is a testament to the process,” Prevedel said. “It's evidence that quality work is being done,” said , who has headed the program for three years. When you actually get a book done, it's evidence that dynamite things are happening. It just represents so much dedication to something higher.”  

Five hundred copies of the 84-page collection are available to the public. After tomorrow’s reading Mayor Shirley Dean will give the students certificates.


A bizarre raccoon attack story

Susan Charlip
Saturday September 21, 2002

To the Editor: 

Recently, I had the occasion, while sitting in a waiting room at Oakland Kaiser, of reading a letter in these pages from a raccoon sympathizer who advocated for the neutering of bad Berkeley drivers over these pathetic scavengers, forced to break into cars for stale snack foods. Imagine my surprise, when later that evening while walking my two miniature dachshunds – as if scripted in some bizarre book of fate – I was attacked and bitten by a wild raccoon in my south Berkeley neighborhood. 

It was early in the evening, about 8 p.m., when we approached a corner lot, and my dogs began growling at the pack of barking dogs within the fenced yard. As I coaxed my dogs down the street, I was assaulted from behind by a large adult raccoon. It jumped on me, clawed at my legs and bit me. I screamed hysterically and picked up my terrified dogs while it repeated its attacks to my back and legs. After a few jumps, the raccoon simply ran back down McGee Avenue and behind another house. 

Concerned neighbors ran out of their homes wielding baseball bats, brooms, and army surplus-sized flashlights. 

Recognizing my shock, one promised, “Oh, it couldn't have been one of ours. Ours never leave the yard.” 

“One of your...raccoons?” I stammered. “You keep raccoons in your yard?”  

“Yeah, but that wasn't one of ours, because ours never leave the yard.” I assumed it is illegal to keep wildlife in your yard in the city. I decided to report the attack as well as my neighbors did. 

When the police arrived at my door, the officer questioned me about the identity of my attacker. “This is a rather delicate question,” he hesitated, “but, did you get a good look at this raccoon?”  

It was about 30 pounds, wearing dark glasses and a fur coat. 

I have been reading these letters debating the value of Berkeley's increasingly bold, hostile pests while awaiting my rabies injections at Oakland Kaiser. So far, I have had 13 of 14 injections. The first 10 were extremely painful. 

My last one will be this week. Anyone who thinks that rabies are innocuous or neighborly critters in need of our friendship and protection, should come see my scratches, bites and injection sites.  

 

Susan Charlip 

Berkeley


Berkeley's Campanile has a connection to Renaissance Venice

Steven Finacom
Saturday September 21, 2002

 

Did a beautiful Berkeley landmark rise in part because an Italian landmark fell? It’s speculation, but an interesting possibility.  

The Berkeley landmark is our famous bell tower, the Sather Campanile, designed by John Galen Howard and completed in 1914 as a centerpiece for the UC Berkeley campus. 

There were, of course, other famous free standing bell towers well before Berkeley’s Campanile. A century ago (July 14 1902), half a world away residents of Venice were shocked to hear and see one such tower—their cherished and ancient campanile in the Palazzo San Marco – give way and collapse to earth in a hail of shattered masonry and statuary.  

An eyewitness to the Venice collapse wrote in the Times of London, “On Monday, early, the Campanile was resplendent in the sunshine...Suddenly I saw it slowly sink directly downward behind a line of roofs, and a dense gray dust rose in clouds...On arrival the sight was pitiful. Of that splendid shaft all that remained was a mound of white dust, spreading to the walls of St. Marks (Cathedral).” 

Venice’s venerable brick campanile had been begun in the 12th century, and was considerably modified and expanded during the Renaissance, in the 16th century. After the collapse, Venetians decided to reconstruct their treasured tower. The replica, completed in 1912, still stands today.  

When the Venetian campanile collapsed, architects around the world surely took note of the dramatic structural failure of such a prominent building. One who heard the news, presumably, was John Galen Howard, the University of California's supervising architect. 

We don't know how news of the Venetian tower's collapse might have affected Howard. We do know, in the words of author Harvey Helfand, that Howard was, in part, “inspired by the campanile of San Marco in Venice” in his design for Berkeley’s Sather Campanile. 

Like other architects trained at the famous Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris, Howard was inclined to model his designs on great buildings of the past while also improving on the original. And perhaps he considered the Venetian collapse in his work to design a campanile for Berkeley that would be both beautiful and strong. 

Howard’s final design for Berkeley’s campanile was about the same height and visually similar in many respects to the ill-fated Venetian campanile but sheathed in granite over steel, instead of red brick. The first known Howard sketches of different concepts and designs for the Berkeley tower date to February, 1903, coincidentally, or not, only about six months after the Venetian tower fell. 

It is also known that with the assistance of his consulting engineer on the project, Berkeley’s Dean of Engineering, Professor Charles Derleth, Jr., Howard made Berkeley's tower exceptionally resilient to collapse. 

Berkeley’s Campanile is not only a beautiful building but makes beautiful music with its world-renowned Carillon of 61 bells. A high quality recording of music of the Campanile is available, on a CD produced by the Berkeley Historical Society available in local stores. You can attend the CD’s “Release Party” 3 to 5 p.m. Sept. 29 at the Berkeley History Center, 1931 Center St. The event is free. 


Here's a Big sadistic slice

By John Angell Grant
Saturday September 21, 2002

Feminists objected loudly in 1997 to the content of Neil LaBute’s striking but misogynistic film “In the Company of Men.” In that tale, two corporate Gen-X guys abused and humiliated a woman for fun. 

The movie went on to win the Filmmaker’s Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival and a New York Film Critics Circle Award. LaBute himself rode the notoriety to further film success, soon directing “Nurse Betty” with Renee Zellweger and “Possession” with Gwyneth Paltrow. 

But LaBute began his career as a playwright, and he continues to produce plays. On Thursday, Aurora Theater in downtown Berkeley opened a production of LaBute’s 2001 London stage hit “The Shape of Things to Come.” 

In some ways, “Shape of Things” turns the tables on “In the Company of Men,” calling for a woman to give a man a big, sadistic slice of humble pie. 

In “Shape,” a young college art student (the secretive Stephanie Gularte) spraypaints the genitals of a museum statue as a statement against “false art.” In the process, she takes up with a naive literature student (the shy Craig Marker) who is moonlighting as a museum security guard. 

Before it’s all over, she has taught him a big lesson about trust, betrayal and art. The problem is – intriguing concept aside – the play itself isn’t very good. 

In “Shape of Things” the young couple works on their new relationship, contrasting to f the relationship of two engaged friends (obnoxious frat boy Danny Wolohan and bland blonde co-ed Arwen Anderson). Each pair of romances is between a weak-willed person and a strong-willed person. 

In 10 scenes over two hours, with no intermission, the four meet in various combinations at the museum, in a restaurant, at Starbucks or in the park, to hash and rehash interminable relationship issues. 

It’s like a fourth-rate episode of “Friends” without the glamour or the sitcom jokes. A twist at the end digs the story out at the 11th hour, but by then the play has stretched to an unwieldy and unbearable length. 

In many ways this feels like a formulaic college playwriting class project. It opens with that familiar elliptical dialogue which is the son of Mamet, which is the son of Pinter, which is the son of Beckett. 

The characters are not particularly original or interesting. They have the predictable range of relationship problems, but who cares? The stakes just don’t seem very high for such vanilla people. 

Here’s a dialogue sample. Man says, “Love is a big word.” Woman answers, “I know. That’s why I used it.” 

Further, the characters spend a lot of time fumbling inarticulately and tediously through plot points that the audience already understands. 

Director Tom Ross and the talented Aurora team try valiantly to blow air into this leaky balloon. The play is well directed, acted and staged, although the actors are too old to play college kids. 

On a pale wood-bare stage, scenic designer Kate Boyd cleverly uses large white blocks that become alternately a bed, or chairs, or museum pedestals, or park benches. 

Sound designer Yvette Janine Jackson’s music breaks get the blood flowing. Between scenes she samples house, jazz, rock, new music, electronic, all with a strong beat, like a heartbeat.  

Costume designer Maggie Whitaker’s work simulates authentic youth clothing, with an appropriately gaudy twist for the woman artist. 

But you can do only so much with a sophomoric script. It seems a pity that the women in “Shape of Things” weren’t given a stronger vehicle by which to avenge their shabby mistreatment in “The Company of Men.” 


Arts Calendar

Saturday September 21, 2002

 

Saturday, September 21 

Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$19.50 in advance, $20.50 at door 

 

Fernando, Garrison Star  

and Old Joe Clarks 

9:30 p.m. (21 and older) 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-2082 

$7 

 

Jack Wembly, Phemomenauts  

and Rock ’n Roll Adventure Kids 

8 p.m. 

924 Gillman St. 

525-9926 

$5 

 

West African Highlife Band 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

$11 door/ Free for 12 and under 

 

Sunday, September 22 

Broceliande 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

 

Dick Hindman Trio 

4:30 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

845-5373 

$10-$15 

 

Grito de Lares 

5:30 to 8:30 p.m. 

The Black Box, 1728 Telegraph,  

downtown Oakland 

Celebrate el Grito de Lares with Prophets of Rage, Piri Thomas,  

and live bomba music. 

389-5660 

 

Les Yeux Noirs 

8 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

$12 door/ Free for 12 and under 

 

Monday, September 23 

Pieta Brown w/ Bo Ramsey 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

 

Tuesday, September 24 

Zydego Flames 

7:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

$8 door/ Free for 12 and under 

 

Wednesday, September 25 

DP & Rhythm Riders 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

$15 door/ Free for 12 and under 

 

Karen Casey & the Niall Valley Trio 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

 

Thursday, September 26 

Kriby Grips, Michael Zapruder, Joe Bernson 

9:30 p.m. (21 and over) 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$5 

 

Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$19.50 in advance, $20.50 at door 

 

Friday, September 27 

The Cracked Normans,  

Paradigm & Soul Americana 

9:30 p.m. (21 and over) 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$5 

 

Eric Bogle 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$16.50 in advance, $17.50 at door 

 

Fair Weather, Liars  

Academy and Open Hand 

8 p.m. 

924 Gilman St. 

525-9926 

$5 

 

Reggae Angels with Earl Zero  

and Jah Light Music 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

$15 door/ Free for 12 and under 

 

Saturday, September 28 

Barry & Alic Oliver 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$16.50 in advance, $17.50 at door 

 

From Monument to Masses,  

Victory at Sea and Yesterday’s Kids 

8 p.m. 

924 Gilman St. 

525-9926 

$5 

 

Sunday, September 29 

Si Kahn  

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance, $16.50 at door 

 

Cellist Gianna Abondolo 

4 p.m. 

Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. 

Classical favorites and original  

compositions for cello. 

559-6910 

$10 general, 18 and under free 

 

Weber Iago and Harvey Wainaple 

4:30 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

845-5373 

$10-$15 

 

David Friesen and Uwe Kropinski 

8 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

845-5373 

$10-$15 

 

Blowing Zen: A Performance of Shakuhachi 

7:30 p.m. 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church  

2626 College Ave. 

528-2027 

$12 at door / children $5 / seniors $10 

 

Chamber Music 

4 to 5:15 p.m. 

Crowden Music Center 1475 Rose St. 

Gianna Abondolo & Friends  

celebrate the release of their  

classical and jazz CD. 

559-6910 

$10, 18 and under free  

 

BACA National Juried Exhibition 

Through Sept. 21, Wed.-Sun. Noon to 5 p.m. 

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

40 artists from across  

the U.S. including 28 Bay Area artists. 

644-6893 

Free 

 

"Balancing Acts" 

Through Oct. 10 

Gallery 555, 555 12th St., 

Oakland City Center 

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

http://www.oaklandcitycenter.com.  

“Hunger: What will you do about it?”  

Through October 30, Mon.-Fri.,  

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

The Civic Center Building 

2180 Milvia St., 5th floor 

Featuring 40 photographs  

by Berkeley artist David Bacon. 

834-3663, ext. 338, uchanse@secondharvest.org 

 

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

Through Sept. 21, Mon.-Fri.  

8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. 

Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St.,  

Exhibit by Ken Burson; digitally enhanced photos of Oakland. 

644-1400 

Free 

 

Richard Misrach, Berkeley Work 

Though Oct. 13 

UC Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way 

On view in Gallery 2, presents two photographic series by this internationally recognized Berkeley-based artist.  

642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

$7, $5 BAM/PFA members  

$4 UC Berkeley students 

 

“Recent Acquisitions” 

October 13 through December 14 

Thurs., Fri., and Sat., 1 to 4 p.m. 

Berkeley Historical Society, Veterans Memorial Building, 1931 Center St. 

848-0181 

Free 

 

Misch Kohn - Celebrating Sixty Years of Printmaking 

Through Oct. 16: Tues.-Fri., Noon to 5:30 p.m.; Sat., noon to 4:30 p.m. 

Kala Arts Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 

549-2977, kala@kala.org 

 

Nancy Salz 

Through Oct. 23, Tues.-Fri. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Sat 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 

Barbara Anderson Gallery, 2243 5th St. 

848-3822 

 

Timoteo Ikoshy Montoya 

Through Nov. 1  

Reception Sept. 20, 6 to 8 p.m. 

Gathering Tribes Gallery  

1573 Solano Ave.  

Acrylic/air brush paintings  

by this Native American artist.  

528-9038 

 

Threads: Five artists who  

use stitching to convey ideas 

Oct. 6 through Dec.r 15, Wed.-Sun., noon to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center 

Live Oak Park, 1275 Walnut St. 

Information: www.berkeleyartcenter.org, 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 

 

Henry IV: The Impact Remix 

Eighth Street Studio, 2525 Eighth St. 

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 

 

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar 

Through Oct. 12 

Thurs. through Sat. 8 p.m. 

LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre  

1834 Euclid Ave. 

234-6046 

$10 

 

The House of Blue Leaves 

Through Oct. 27 

Berkeley Rep's Roda Theater  

2015 Addison St.  

647-2917 or 888-4BRTTIX 

$10 - $54 

 

The Shape of Things 

Through Oct. 20 

Aurora Theatre Company  

2081 Addison St. 

Play by writer/director Neil LaBute's spins a morality tale of a young art student, his art major girlfriend, and the Pygmalion-like changes that bring into question how far one should go for love. 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org for reservations 

$26 to $35  

 

Ceramics - Opening Reception 

Through Nov. 17 

3 to 5 p.m. 

A New Leaf Gallery, 1286 Gilman St. 

525-7621 

free 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, September 21 

“Memorizing Windows” 

8 p.m.  

Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St.  

Dancer Lucinda Weaver and writer Alan Bern bring to Berkeley their program of dance, poetry and stories. 

526-7901 or abbern@sbcglobal.net 

 

Sunday, September 22 

Piri Thomas & Max Schwartz 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

845-7852, www.poetryflash.org 

$2 donation 

 

Monday, September 23 

“What is a lesbian date?” 

7 p.m. 

Boadecia’s Books, 398 Colusa Ave. 

559-9184 

Free 

 

Tuesday, September 24 

“Wild Splendors of California” 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Ave. at Rose 

Lalo Fiorelli, photographer and author, will give a multimedia presentation and talk. 

843-3533 

Free 

 

Wednesday, September 25 

Poetry Slam with Host Charles Ellik 

9:30 p.m. (21 and older) 

Featured poet: Daphne Gottlieb 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-2082 

$7 

 

Thursday, September 26 

As ad AbuKahil 

7 p.m. 

Revolution Books, 2425 Channing Way 

Author readds and signs his new book “Bin Laden, Islam and America’s ‘New War on Terrorism’” 

848-1196 

 


Out & About

Saturday September 21, 2002

Saturday, September 21 

Buddhist Peace Fellowship with The Deer Park Monastery - Public Lecture 

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Lake Merritt, Oakland  

Lakeside Park, Bandstand Area 

Join Vietnamese peace activist Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn for a public lecture: “Coming Home: a day of community and healing” 

433-9928 

$45, $25 - seniors, $65 - donor level  

 

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 

 

Berkeley Alliance of Neighborhood Associations (BANA) 

9:15 to 11 a.m. 

St. John’s Church, 2727 College Ave. 

mtbrcb@pacbell.net 

Free 

 

Do-It-Yourself all-Natural  

Body Care from Your Kitchen 

Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Learn how to make your own  

all-natural skin care from products you might already have in your  

own kitchen. 

548-2220, Ext. 233,  

erc@ecologycenter.org 

$10 for members 

$15 for nonmembers 

Puppet Shows 

1:30 and 2:30 p.m. 

Hall of Health, 2230 Shattuck Ave. 

Shows promote acceptance,  

understanding of physical,  

mental and medical differences. 

549-1564 

$2 suggested donation 

 

 

Third Annual David Brower  

Youth Awards 

6 p.m. 

Schwimley Theater, 1920 Allston Way 

Celebrate the next generation of environmental activists at Earth Island Institute’s award ceremony. R.S.V.P. 

(415) 788-3666, Ext. 260  

www.earthisland.org/bya 

 

Coastal Cleanup Day 

10 a.m. 

Work at the outflow of Strawberry Creek to clean up the  

San Francisco Bay coastline. 

info@strawberrycreek.org  

848-4008 

 

Fall Plant Sale 

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

200 Centennial Dr. 

Annual plant sale featuring rare  

and unusual plants. Members-only preview and auction from 9 to 11 a.m.  

643-2755  

www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden/ 

Free  

 

Sunshine Workshop 

10 a.m. to noon 

Sixth floor, City Hall, 2180 Milvia St. 

Get up to speed on open records laws, open meetings laws and sunshine ordinances. Experts, including Terry Francke of the California First Amendment Coalition, will speak. 

BerkeleySunshine@yahoo.com 

Free  

 

East Bay Shoreline Clean Up 

9.am. to 12 p.m. 

Sea Breeze Market and Deli  

meeting/staging area. 

On the corner of West Frontage Road and University Avenue,  

Arrive promptly to sign appropriate waivers , get coffee and listen to safety talk. We will provide bags, tally cards and a raffle of donated prizes; groups of ten or more need to pre-register by calling 644-8623. 

Free 

 

Sunday, September 22 

Yoga/Tibetan Jack van der Meulen on “The Theory and Practice of Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga.” 

3 to 5 p.m. - introduction;  

6 to 7 p.m.- Lecture by Jack van der Meulen, Tibetan Nyingma Institute 1815 Highland Place 

Kum Nye is a system of movement, breath, and awareness exercises. 

843-6812 

Free 

 

Candidates Forum 

4 to 7 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Faculty Club, Heyns Room 

Candidates forum for District 8 City Council and Berkeley mayor. 

 

Women’s Cancer Resource Center 

Seeking volunteers to help support women with cancer, their families  

and friends. 

601-4040 Ext. 109  

emicly@wcrc.org 

 

Tuesday, September 24 

Sustainable Business  

Alliance of the East Bay 

5:30 to 7:30 p.m. 

Panoramic Room of the Gaia Building  

Reception and talk by Mal Warwick of Mal Warwick Associates, entitled: “You Don’t Have to Choose: How One Company Does Good While Doing Well” 

282-5151 

members $8, nonmembers $12 

 

Vitamins, Minerals, and Nutritional Supplements: Possible Interactions with Medications 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst St. 

Discussed by Alic Meyers, RN 

981-5190 

 

Wednesday, September 25 

“Healing Our Hearts  

for the Sake of the World” 

7:30 p.m 

First Congregational Church  

2345 Channing Way 

A reading by Sylvia Boorstein. Proceeds support  

The East Bay Dharma Center. 

595-0408 

$5 to $10 

 

Berkeley Gray Panthers 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

Berkeley Gray Panthers general meeting.  

Thursday, September 26 

Medical Marijuana 

6 p.m. to 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Central Library  

2090 Kittredge St.  

From Prop. 215 to Health and Safety Code 11362.5, a review of its history to present day current events. 

981-6100 

 

Saturday, September 28 

Free Legal Workshop:  

“Crossroads: Health and the Law.” 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

514 58th St. at Telegraph Avenue 

Navigate your way through legal issues when living with cancer or any serious illness. Panel presentation on employment, insurance and public benefits and one-on-one sessions with attorneys. Please, pre-register. 

601-4040, Ext. 102 for information  

or Ext. 103 to register 

Free  

 

 

Garage Sale/ Car Wash  

Belize/ Berkeley Scouts 

10 to 2 p.m. 

Epworth UMC, 1953 Hopkins St. 

International exchange fundraising effort for scouts. 

525-6058 

 

A Forum on the Arts with the Berkeley Mayoral Candidates 

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Aurora Theater, 2081 Addison St. 

558-1381 

Free 

 

 

Sunday, September 29 

Tibetan Buddhism  

“Healing Mind” 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place 

Sylvia Gretchen discusses how the teachings cultivate the mind and redefine what healing means. 

843-6812 

Free 

 

“Iron Chef” Style Cook-Off  

3 to 4 p.m. 

(followed by reception, 4 to 6 p.m.) 

Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto 

1919 Fourth St.  

In this “Crabby Chef” Competition 2002, top East Bay chefs vie for this year’s title by creating the tastiest crab dish. Master of Ceremonies will be KGO-AM’s Gene Burns. 

845-7777 or 845-7771 

Free 

 

City of Berkeley - 2002 Public Art Competition 

1 to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Central Public Library  

2090 Kittredge St.  

A public art informational workshop will be open to all artists regarding public art site proposals. 

981-6100 

Free 

 


Defense leads Jackets to big win over Liberty

By Jared Green
Saturday September 21, 2002

The Berkeley Yellowjackets went into halftime of Friday’s game against Liberty High a team looking for their hearts. As they proved in the second half, the Jackets have plenty of it. 

Three touchdowns by the Berkeley High defense sparked a second-half scoring orgy that left Liberty (1-1) helpless, as the Jackets scored 49 points after halftime on the way to a 55-14 win in their first game of the season. 

Sophomore cornerback Patrick Henderson led the way with two interception returns for touchdowns, one in each half. The plays were nearly identical, with Liberty quarterback Bryan Beaver overthrowing his target into Henderson’s arms, right down to Henderson dancing down the left sideline into the end zone. 

“I basically just read the play both times, and he threw the ball at me. I just had to catch it,” Henderson said. “Then I was just thinking about the endzone.” 

Berkeley’s Aaron Boatwright got the Jackets going straight out of the locker room with an unusual-looking touchdown return. As the kickoff bounced toward him, he kicked the ball, then grabbed it on a bounce, ran into his own player, rebounded back five yards, and took off around the corner for 65-yard touchdown for a 13-6 lead that Berkeley would never give back. 

Senior defensive end Robert Hunter-Ford got the Jackets’ second defensive touchdown, recovering a Beaver fumble in the end zone in the third quarter. That score started a run of three Berkeley touchdowns in eight plays, as the Lions failed to pick up the ensuing kickoff and Berkeley recovered on the 25-yard line. Two plays later quarterback Jeff Spellman hit Craig Hollis down the middle for a touchdown and a 27-6 lead. 

On a third-and-long on the next series, Bryan threw Henderson’s second pick, which pretty much put the game away for the Jackets. 

“Our defense really kept us in the game in the first half, and the ball just bounced our way most of the time in the second half,” Berkeley head coach Matt Bissell said. “We just had to get our bearings, work out some kinks.” 

Berkeley would score three more touchdowns in the fourth quarter, one on an inside handoff to wide receiver Sean Young for a 56-yard score and the final one coming on a Chris Watson 17-yard scamper. Hollis had a 56-yard run of his own called back on a holding call. 

But the story of the day was the Berkeley defense. Although they allowed Liberty to gain 359 yards, most of them came on a 74-yard touchdown run by Alejandro Rivera near the end of the first half that tied the game 6-6 and some garbage-time passes by Beaver. The Jackets continuously made big plays, with Hunter-Ford coming up with two fumble recoveries and a sack, Rodney Jones two sacks and Finus Cokes one sack (and a touchdown run). Throw in Henderson’s two interceptions and Jamal Johnson-Lucas stuffing several inside runs, and it adds up to a dominating performance. 

“This is what we expected to do,” Hunter-Ford said. “We watched a lot of tape on Liberty, and our coaches told us what we had to do. We just went out and did it.” 

one coming on a Chris Watson 17-yard scamper. Hollis had a 56-yard run of his own called back on a holding call. 

But the story of the day was the Berkeley defense. Although they allowed Liberty to gain 359 yards, most of them came on a 74-yard touchdown run by Alejandro Rivera near the end of the first half and some garbage-time passes by Beaver. The Jackets continuously made big plays, with Hunter-Ford coming up with two fumble recoveries and a sack, Rodney Jones two sacks and Finus Cokes one sack (and a touchdown run). Throw in Henderson’s two interceptions and Jamal Johnson-Lucas stuffing several inside runs, and it adds up to a dominating performance. 

“This is what we expected to do,” Hunter-Ford said. “We watched a lot of tape on Liberty, and our coaches told us what we had to do. We just went out and did it.” 

Notes: Berkeley High’s junior varsity fell to Liberty High’s JV, 32-8... Sophomore runing back Antoine Cokes impressed his coaches with 43 yards on eight carries... Bissell was vague about whether Spellman would keep the starting quarterback job for next week’s game against Kennedy High. Backups Foster Goree and Dessalines Gant both played on Friday.


Mayor broke campaign laws

By Kurtis Alexander
Saturday September 21, 2002

Mayor Shirley Dean was dealt a blow by the city’s Fair Campaign Practices Commission Thursday, when commissioners found the mayor, who is rapt in her bid for re-election, to be in “probable violation” of Berkeley campaign finance law. 

The commission is asking Dean to admit she improperly accepted about $550 above contribution limits during her successful 1998 mayoral run. In a second decision, the commission is asking Dean to re-classify about $3,000 of office funds as 2002 campaign contributions. 

The decisions come in response to complaints filed by the treasurer of the Tom Bates For Mayor Committee, which is seeking to unseat Dean this November, and a fellow Bates supporter. 

Dean called the complaints a political ploy and criticized the Fair Campaign Practices Commission for heeding the grumblings of her opponents and making a big deal of a small issue. 

“Normally, they just ask you to re-file paperwork,” Dean said. “The commission wants me to confess to wrongdoing.” 

Dean said her financial reporting in question was approved by the city attorney’s office, and if any reporting was done incorrectly, it was because she acted on bad legal counsel. 

“It’s not a question of trying to hide anything,” Dean said. “I just followed the advice of city staff.” 

The city attorney could not be reached for comment Friday. 

In the first complaint against Dean, Berkeley resident Carrie Olson alleged that the mayor accepted five contributions above the $250 limit for her 1998 campaign. The total illegal contributions amounted to between $550 and $700, Olson said. 

“There was negligence somewhere and when you’re an elected official, it’s your responsibility [to make sure that doesn’t happen],” Olson said. 

Dean explained that the city attorney’s office advised her to declare some of the money as “office holders” for operational expenses, not campaign contributions. Thursday’s Fair Campaign Practices Commission decision contradicts the city attorney’s counsel, she said. 

Dean tried to reach the city attorney Friday to clear up the matter, but was unsuccessful. 

Dean also said that with more than 2,000 contribution checks coming into her office during the 1998 race, an accounting mistake is possible. 

In the second complaint against Dean, Bates campaign treasurer Mal Burnstein said Dean incorrectly declared $3,000 of surplus funds from her 1998 campaign as “office holders.” Since the money was spent after the 1998 race, Burnstein successfully argued that the money should be counted toward the mayor’s 2002 campaign expenses. 

“We want to make sure we have a level playing field [in this November’s race],” Burnstein said earlier this week. 

Dean said the misallocation complaint was merely a matter of “filing a form.” 

No financial penalties accompany the commission’s decisions.


Colo. woman boiling over coffee initiative

Sherrie Beshore
Saturday September 21, 2002

To the Editor: 

It is rare that news gets me so worked up that I take the time to respond but the CNN feature about the man who gathered enough signatures on a petition to have the type of coffee the people of Berkeley (and visitors too) can drink, restricted to three types left me in wonder.  

Yes, we have the freedom to bring a petition forward for a vote, but we are becoming a global joke. We sue for any number of inane reasons mainly because we have become a culture that chooses not to take personal responsibility for individual actions. Now someone with more time than good sense tries to force his version of what coffee the population of Berkeley should be drinking. (Germany1936 comes to mind.) Is this man sane? 

Would someone please remind this misguided fool we have a Constitution that guarantees me and everyone the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We have choices built in our Constitution and I'll encourage him to move to anyone of several dictatorships, operating on the planet where he might find the appreciation for our hard-fought freedoms and life here. What does he plan next? To help us all choose what cereal we can eat? Fabric we can weave for clothing? Good grief the list is incredible - and so is his logic. 

I'll not tolerate that type of suppression of my personal rights, nor will I seek to visit a place that functions on such a backward level. Perhaps the Dark Ages haven't past into history after all. 

 

Sherrie Beshore 

Fort Collins, Colo. 

 


Seventeen years after starting Farm Aid, Nelson still pushing for change

By Todd Spangler
Saturday September 21, 2002

PITTSBURGH — When Willie Nelson helped start Farm Aid in 1985, he and the other organizers — John Mellencamp and Neil Young — held out hope their message about the plight of America’s small family farmers would be heard, and Congress would react. 

Seventeen years later, Nelson is still waiting for that to happen. 

“What has changed is that nothing has changed,” the 69-year-old singer-songwriter said before this year’s Farm Aid benefit concert, the 15th in the series. “That’s what has made me more unhappy than everything else.” 

Nelson will be joined by Kid Rock, Neil Young, Mellencamp and other performers in the Saturday’s concert outside Pittsburgh. It will be broadcast live on CMT. 

In 14 concerts over 16 years, Farm Aid has raised some $24 million. Since the beginning, the money has financed organizations and efforts that directly help farmers struggling to keep their farms in the face of foreclosures. 

But Nelson — who was disappointed by passage this year of a farm bill he believes provides little benefit to small farmers — said that, when the concert series began, he thought politicians might rally to the cause and find a way to protect small farmers from losing their land.


Panthers fumble away lead in second half, lose to Gauchos

By Dean Caparaz
Saturday September 21, 2002

St. Mary’s High squandered a 20-7 halftime lead and lost, 29-20, at El Cerrito High Friday night. 

The Panthers (0-2) built their first-half lead with two touchdown runs by quarterback Steve Murphy and a blocked punt that defensive lineman Jarrell Booker returned for a touchdown. But an inspired Gauchos defense and three St. Mary’s turnovers – a Murphy interception and two fumbles by tailback Fred Hives – kept the Panthers out of the end zone in the second half. 

Hives finished the game with 18 carries for 86 yards and three fumbles. Murphy was just 3-of-10 passing for 39 yards and an interception. Lawson replaced Murphy with backup Scott Tully on St. Mary’s final drive, but Tully missed on all seven of his passes. 

“We let a good ball club stay in the game, and then momentum started to swing, and they really took it to us in the second half,” St. Mary’s head coach Jay Lawson said. “The came out a little bit more physical. A couple times we had people defensively out of position or in a deep-third zone and let somebody get behind them when they shouldn’t have. El Cerrito made plays.” 

“It seemed like every time we were on a drive, we’d cough the ball up and give them opportunities.” 

El Cerrito (1-1) was much more productive offensively in the second half. The Gauchos ran for 122 yards compared to just eight in the first half and quarterback Ricky Gatewood threw for 133 yards and two scores. For the game, Gatewood was 10-for-17 for 201 yards, three TDs and two interceptions. 

Gatewood began the comeback with an 11-yard toss to Elijah Vincent in the third quarter to make the score 20-14. The key play on the drive was a 25-yard screen pass on fourth-and-four that got the ball to the St. Mary’s 13-yard line. 

The Gauchos’ biggest play came on second and seven at their own 47 with 9:03 to go in the fourth quarter. Gatewood hit wide receiver Phillip Bique with a long pass and Bique streaked 53 yards down the right sideline for the score. The point after gave El Cerrito the lead for good at 21-20. 

The Gauchos tacked on a 3-yard touchdown run by John Norman and a 2-point conversion for the final score with 5:47 to go in the game. 

Things looked rosy for St. Mary’s in the first half, as Murphy scampered for 1- and 5-yard touchdowns in the second quarter. 

A turnover also hurt the Panthers in the first half. Murphy fumbled a punt return, which led to El Cerrito’s first score – Gatewood’s 19-yard throw to James Cannon. 

With 39.2 seconds remaining in the first half, the Panthers blocked El Cerrito’s punt deep near El Cerrito’s own end zone, and Booker rumbled six yards to paydirt. Cannon blocked Brendan Slevin’s PAT, Cannon’s second block of the night, to keep the score at 20-7 at halftime. 

Things went downhill from there for St. Mary’s. 

 

A turnover also hurt the Panthers in the first half. Murphy fumbled a punt return, which led to El Cerrito’s first score – Gatewood’s 19-yard throw to James Cannon. 

With 39.2 seconds remaining in the first half, the Panthers blocked El Cerrito’s punt deep near El Cerrito’s own end zone, and Booker rumbled six yards to paydirt. Cannon blocked Brendan Slevin’s PAT, Cannon’s second block of the night, to keep the score at 20-7 at halftime. 

Things went downhill from there for St. Mary’s.


UC foresees problems

By David Scharfenberg
Saturday September 21, 2002

 

University of California officials cited faculty recruitment, staff salaries and housing as chief long-term concerns at the Board of Regents meeting this week. 

With enrollment at UC’s nine campuses expected to jump 40 percent from 1998 to 2010, in a surge dubbed “Tidal Wave II,” university officials are moving to hire as many as 550 new faculty a year this decade to keep up with the growth. 

But a number of obstacles, most of them financial, have university officials worried. UC is paying faculty 7.5 percent less than eight universities it references for comparative purposes, officials said, which makes it harder to attract faculty candidates. 

The average UC full professor is making $109,214 per year, according to university statistics. The salaries are measured against not only public schools like the University of Virginia and University of Illinois but private universities like Harvard, Yale and Stanford. 

“We compete, very much, with leading private institutions for faculty,” said UC Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs C. Judson King. 

The salary shortfall is due, in part, to a decline in state funding in recent years. This year, the state Legislature gave UC only a 1.5 percent increase in funding for salaries. That figure falls well below the 4 percent target laid out in a partnership agreement between the university and the state dating back to the Wilson administration. 

With the short-term health of the state budget in doubt, UC officials are worried that they will not see the 4 percent increases anytime soon. Analysts predict a $10 billion state shortfall next year on the heels of this year’s $24 billion hole. 

But Vice President for Budget Larry Hershman held hope for a long-term economic recovery, which would boost state revenues and improve UC’s fortunes. 

“The fundamentals of the California economy are strong,” he said. “We will catch up again.”  

In the meantime, with hundreds of faculty hires in the pipeline, start-up costs are another concern. King said it costs the university an average of $200,000 to make lab modifications, provide new equipment and hire graduate students for new professors. 

Logistical concerns around the sheer number of searches to be conducted and physical space for new professors on campus are also at issue, King said. 

Officials from UC’s Housing Task Force said shelter, in the face of an expensive California housing market, is another long-term concern. Systemwide, UC is housing 26 percent of its students. UC Berkeley, at 20 percent, falls below the average, while UC Santa Cruz, at 42 percent, leads the pack. 

By the 2011-12 school year, UC hopes to house 38 percent of its students. The target at UC Berkeley is 29 percent. 

UC Berkeley has made progress this year on housing, opening a new 120-bed housing complex at the corner of College and Durant avenues and clearing the waiting list for housing for the first time in recent history. 

The university plans to have 1,100 new beds in place by the end of 2005. 

But some students say the university needs to do more. 

“There’s definitely still a need,” said Micki Weinberg, a UC Berkeley sophomore and candidate for Berkeley City Council. 

University officials, in a wide-ranging review of UC’s long-term health at the Board of Regents’ meeting, gave the institution high marks in a number of other areas. 

UC has exceeded goals for boosting undergraduate and graduate enrollment, for example, and has increased its share of federal research dollars in recent years, officials said.


City’s weapons policy a national headlineTo the Editor: What a load of compost and granola. Thanks to our City Council's forceful stand against space weapons in or above the city limits, Berkeley is finally comic relief not just for the rest of the cou

Heather Jacobsen
Saturday September 21, 2002

To the Editor: 

What a load of compost and granola. Thanks to our City Council's forceful stand against space weapons in or above the city limits, Berkeley is finally comic relief not just for the rest of the country but for the whole planet. For those who missed the resolution, you can read about it in the online Wall Street Journal under a heading, “Spaced Out.” 

I have not ceded the space above my home to Dona Spring, the City Council, the Jedi Council or the Evil Empire. Please do not speak for me in this matter. It's embarrassing. 

 

Heather Jacobsen 

Berkeley


Cal vs. Air Force Academy – 2 p.m. at Memorial Stadium

Jared Green
Saturday September 21, 2002

When Cal has the ball 

 

The ground game 

Tailback Joe Igber ran for a season-high 108 yards against Michigan State last week, a sign that the Bears’ running game might be coming around. Igber actually gained some yardage up the middle for the first time this season rather than bouncing everything outside, a good philosophy to follow against the undersized, speedy Air Force defense. Don’t expect head coach Jeff Tedford to use much of the option attack he pulled out of his hat in the second half, as the Falcons are good at defending the edges, but there should be plenty of holes up the middle for Igber to run through. 

 

In the trenches 

Air Force only uses three defensive linemen, but they blitz linebackers from all over. That means the Cal offensive line will have to move around and communicate efficiently, keeping blitzers off of quarterback Kyle Boller. One missed assignment can mean disaster against the opportunistic Air Force defense. The small Falcon defensive line shouldn’t pose much of a challenge, as they all give up more than 30 pounds to their Cal opponents. 

 

Taking to the air 

Boller should be able to continue his outstanding season against the Falcons, who haven’t faced a passing attack like Cal’s yet this season. Watch for some three-receiver sets from the Bears as Tedford takes advantage of size mismatches against the Air Force secondary. When’s the last time you heard that about Cal’s wide receivers? 

 

When Michigan State has the ball 

The ground game 

The Falcons are leading the nation in rushing yards per game, and the Bears looked vulnerable to the option against New Mexico State, a much less efficient option team. The key will be the Cal linebackers – if they can flow to the ball and swarm Air Force quarterback Chance Harridge quickly, they can stop plays before they start. But if Harridge can get to the outside and get the ball to halfback Leotis Palmer, who is averaging more than eight yards per carry, watch out. The Falcons are perfectly happy marching up the field without using big plays, as their discipline and fitness are unmatched. 

 

In the trenches 

Air Force is relatively small up front, but they do a good job holding their blocks while Harridge creates chaos. They also don’t have to worry much about pass-blocking, which makes them more aggressive. They also do a lot of cut blocking, which brings defenders to the ground and makes them worry about protecting their legs instead of tackling the ball-carrier. If the offensive line can get to Cal’s linebackers it will mean big plays for the Falcons. 

 

Taking to the air 

The only way the Falcons will beat anyone with the pass is if the opposition falls asleep. Harridge has completed just eight passes in two games and doesn’t have much talent to work with at receiver. As long as the Cal cornerbacks don’t get fooled, Harridge won’t hurt them with his arm. 


City could raise price of public input

Matthew Artz
Saturday September 21, 2002

With Berkeley’s coffers low, Councilmember Betty Olds wants the city to reduce one of its more frustrating expenses: zoning appeals.  

The city spends about $1,300 handling each appeal to the Zoning Adjustment Board, which determines whether building proposals comply with city law. 

This week, City Council approved Olds’ plan to consider raising the $63 fee for people who live more than 300 feet from a proposed building or development. Residents within the 300-mile radius would still pay $63. 

“Some people are appealing for the sake of appealing,” Olds said. “City staff doesn’t have the manpower to deal with all the frivolous claims.” 

The $1,300 cost estimate includes 12 hours of staff research and administration work, or $109 an hour, to prepare a report for City Council that details an appeal’s merits, City Planner Mark Rhoades said. At any time, city planning staff is working on five to nine appeals, which prevents staff from addressing other work that may be more pressing, , Rhoades said. 

The chief of out-of-neighborhood appeals, Olds said, is Berkeley resident Howie Muir. An opponent of dense development, Muir has led a campaign to stop several multistory housing projects throughout the city. 

On July 23, City Council heard three appeals in which Muir protested new housing developments. Of the three, Muir lived two blocks from one development, but was more than a mile away from the other two. 

Muir said he understood council’s concern, but said that Olds’ suggestion was unfair and didn’t solve the problem: Berkeley’s zoning ordinance is too vague. Because city zoning laws are devoid of uniform standards for developments, developers and neighbors often disagree about how to interpret the laws.  

When the ZAB sides with developers, residents accuse the board of favoring developers. 

Muir added that the city’s refusal to set population density standards has exacerbated the problem. Because there are no clear limits on units a developer may put in an apartment complex, Muir said they have an incentive to build as many units as they can. 

“Developers are always pushing the envelope to do denser buildings,” he said. Such developments anger many Berkeley residents who think that dense developments in certain neighborhoods threaten the vitality of the city. 

If council passes an appeal fee hike, Muir said he would continue his appeals and might challenge the hike’s validity as well. 

“It implies that residents shouldn’t have a say in their own city,” said Muir, adding that Berkeley neighborhoods extend beyond the 300 foot threshold suggested by Olds. 

Rhoades, however thought the proposal was fair. 

“If you live 2 or 3 miles away it can’t possibly have the same effect as if you live in the neighborhood,” he said. 

The proposal is still a long way from approval. The ZAB, Planning Commission and Landmarks Preservation Commission will all discuss it before city staff offers council a plan next year. 


School funding starts at state level

John Selawsky
Saturday September 21, 2002

To the Editor: 

On May 8, Berkeley, Oakland, Albany and other communities led and participated in a spirited rally and lobbying effort in Sacramento on behalf of our beleaguered public schools. School board members from Berkeley and Oakland joined with community members to get busloads of parents, teachers, students, and community activists to the state capital. 

I believe it is important to advocate for and lobby on behalf of public school funding on a regular basis in Sacramento. Most of a local school district’s funding begins in Sacramento, and almost all of the funding decisions that are made on the local level are actually defined by the level of state funding in any given fiscal year. California, as most of you know, has allocated far too little to our public schools for over 20 years now. Berkeley, with its uncommon community support for public education, has supplemented this inadequate state funding with local bonds and parcel taxes, starting in 1986 with the first Berkeley Public Schools Educational Excellence Project measure, to help alleviate this serious historical underfunding of our schools. 

I have the names and e-mail addresses of dozens of Berkeley residents who participated in last May’s event. I also have the names of additional people who expressed interest in continuing a presence in Sacramento at a community meeting I held on June 5. I intend to hold other community meetings this school year, at least in part to organize and get people involved in lobbying efforts in Sacramento. In my view, it is important that we start a regular, ongoing lobbying effort in Sacramento early in the budget process. 

Please contact me at jwebsky@earthlink.net or 848-0305 to add your name to those interested in lobbying efforts in Sacramento. Expect a notice of a meeting or meetings to begin sometime in late October. 

 

John Selawsky 

Berkeley School Board director 


German chancellor sends letter to Bush

By Colleen Barry
Saturday September 21, 2002

BERLIN — With an oblique but damaging comparison between George Bush and Adolf Hitler hanging over the final hours of his re-election campaign, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder sought Friday to defuse tensions in a conciliatory letter to the U.S. president. 

The letter was sent shortly before a defiant Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin again denied remarks attributed to her by a German newspaper. It had quoted her as saying Bush, like Hitler, was threatening war to distract attention from domestic problems. She claimed she was misquoted and libeled. 

“The minister has assured me that she never made the remarks attributed to her,” Schroeder said in the letter to Bush. “She has said this publicly, as well.” 

“I would like to assure you that no one has a place at my Cabinet table who makes a connection between the American president and a criminal,” he wrote. 

In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said he wasn’t convinced by Daeubler-Gmelin’s denials. “The statements made by the justice minister were outrageous and inexplicable,” he said. “The president continues to view this as a troubling event.” 

The opposition conservatives, hoping to oust Schroeder from power in Sunday’s election, called for Daeubler-Gmelin’s resignation. 

“Every day, every hour that this unbearable woman remains in office and represents Germany is damaging to Germany, very damaging,” Schroeder’s conservative challenger, Edmund Stoiber, told thousands of supporters at his closing campaign rally Friday night in Berlin. 

The ruckus with Washington, and the reference to Germany’s dark past, has tainted an election already characterized by unusually harsh rhetoric about the Bush administration. The United States helped rebuild Germany after World War II and has been one of its staunchest allies. 

Stoiber has accused Schroeder of damaging U.S.-German relations with his emphatic opposition to American military action to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. 

Tensions spiked after the Schwaebisches Tagblatt regional newspaper reported Thursday that Daeubler-Gmelin told a labor union meeting: “Bush wants to distract attention from his domestic problems. That’s a popular method. Even Hitler did that.” 

At a news conference Friday, Daeubler-Gmelin gave a different version. She said during the course of a chaotic discussion that touched on Iraq, she had referred to diversionary tactics and had used the words “we know that from our history, since Adolf Nazi.” But she denied saying the name Hitler. 

German analysts suggest it is Schroeder’s rhetoric that has created the combative atmosphere in which others feel free to launch more general attacks on the United States. 

“I think that his position certainly wasn’t intended as anti-American. But there has been perhaps some unintended consequences that people are feeling freer to challenge the United States,” said Deidre Berger of the American Jewish Committee office in Berlin. 

With the focus on the Middle East and the war on terrorism, some comments have broken taboos that German politicians have for two generations been careful to obey. 

The campaign has revealed “tones of anti-Americanism, tones of anti-Semitism and tones of anti-Zionism,” Berger said. 

For example, the liberal Free Democrats isolated their deputy leader and threatened to walk out of a rally in Bonn on Thursday if he didn’t leave. They were protesting his continued attacks on prominent German Jewish leader Michel Friedman. They vowed to seek his ouster. 

A leading member of Schroeder’s party, former Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping, was quoted by New York Times columnist William Safire this week as saying Bush wanted to overthrow Saddam to please “a powerful — perhaps overly powerful — Jewish lobby.” 

In protest, the World Jewish Congress sent letters to Schroeder, Stoiber and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer warning “that the hour may be too late” to undo damage already done. 

“Some of the ugly remarks of the past few days require immediate attention,” World Jewish Congress leader Israel Singer said in a letter to Fischer. “I know the hour is late. However, we need to remedy the situation which has resulted from gross insensitive and ugly behavior.” 

Even before her remarks were published, Daeubler-Gmelin denied them to the newspapers’ editors. She said she wasn’t comparing Bush and Hitler, but rather their methods. The newspaper claimed it had cleared the quote with her before it was published, as is the custom in German journalism. She denied that. 

On Friday, Daeubler-Gmelin showed no inclination to step down. 

“I don’t have to answer for the reporting ... but I believe that relations between our countries are good, despite the unbelievably emotion-charged discussion over the Iraq conflict,” she told reporters. 

She said it was “absurd and libelous to attribute to me a comparison between a democratically elected politician and a leading Nazi.” 

While Schroeder has had his own diplomatic rift with Washington over his Iraq position, the stand has resonated with Germans, most of whom oppose a new Middle East war, according to polls. 

After trailing Stoiber for months in the polls over the weak economy, Schroeder pulled slightly ahead. The election stands to be one of the closest since World War II. 


Record crowds at celebrity match

-Melissa McRobbie
Saturday September 21, 2002

A step in the fight against breast cancer was made last weekend, when sports and entertainment celebrities raised $200,000 at Berkeley’s Alta Bates Summit 2000 Celebrity Classic. 

The celebrity lineup included KTVU-TV’s Faith Fancher as master of ceremonies, comedian Bob Sarlatte as the headline entertainment and a variety of exhibition matches including a face-off between tennis greats Tracy Austin and Zina Garrison. 

“People loved the quality of the tennis, it was a beautiful day, and the energy from the crowd was electric,” said Steve Lundin, president of the Alta Bates Summit Foundation. 

Proceeds from the event will go to the Comprehensive Breast Center, a soon-to-be built breast cancer diagnostic center and prevention clinic at Alta Bates Summit, at 2450 Ashby Ave. 

Lundin said breast cancer screening at the new center will be “unparalleled in Northern California” in its speed and accuracy. 


Appezzato memorial service Monday

Daily Planet Wire Service
Saturday September 21, 2002

ALAMEDA – Alameda city officials have announced plans for a memorial service for Mayor Ralph Appezzato, who apparently commit suicide Monday. He was 67. 

Appezzato had been diagnosed with prostate cancer several months ago and died of a gunshot wound, police said. 

Appezzato, who retired as a colonel from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1983 after 26 years, had served as mayor of Alameda since 1994. He was seeking a seat on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors at the time of his death. 

The public is invited to attend the service scheduled 10 a.m. on Saturday aboard the USS Hornet at Alameda Point.


Three overnight killings push Oakland homicides to 84

Daily Planet Wire Service
Saturday September 21, 2002

OAKLAND – Three unrelated shootings overnight in Oakland pushed the city's number of homicides this year to 84, police officials said. 

Sgt. Paul Figueroa said the first slaying occurred at 9:51 p.m. Thursday near 30th and Magnolia streets in West Oakland. A 53-year-old man was shot and killed and a woman was also shot but she was said to be in stable condition Friday. 

The second killing occurred at 1:12 Friday morning in front of 1067 21st St. in West Oakland, just a few blocks from the first homicide. Figueroa said a 19-year-old man was shot and killed. 

The third killing, the city's 84th of the year, occurred in the 1200 block of 49th Avenue in East Oakland at about 1:15 a.m. Friday. An unidentified man was found shot and killed in a car.


Police Briefs

Matthew Artz
Saturday September 21, 2002

n Attempted arson 

An man went to put gas in his car at 8 a.m. Wednesday and found that someone had stolen his gasket and stuck a partially burnt white cloth inside the gas tank. This is a common method to try to set a car on fire. According to police, the man suspects that a family member did it. 

n Graffiti 

Enterprise Rent-A-Car on the 3000 block of Shattuck Avenue was tagged with graffiti sometime early Wednesday morning. 

n Stolen car 

A white Toyota van, license 2M58246, was reported stolen from the 2100 block of Ashby Avenue at 11:22 p.m. Wednesday night. 

n Stolen bike 

A yellow Diamondback Sorrento 21 speed girl’s bicycle was reported stolen from the 1800 block of Fairview Street at 9:49 a.m. Tuesday. 

 

 


Bay Area Briefs

Saturday September 21, 2002

Fairfield police investigate  

pipe bombing 

FAIRFIELD –Fairfield police are still investigating the explosion of a pipe bomb in a parked car on San Clemente Street Wednesday night. No one was injured. 

Police said they heard the 10:10 p.m. explosion a mile away from the blast that threw metal from the destroyed 1987 Subaru GL into homes and cars as far away as 200 feet. 

Lt. Mike Hill said Friday police have information regarding a suspect or suspects but declined further comment on the investigation. The owner of the car has been identified, Hill said. 

The rear end of the vehicle was blown out and the car was engulfed in flames when police arrived. 

The pipe bomb blast was the second violent explosion in Solano County within a week.  

Vallejo police are investigating the firebombing of a Vallejo home on Sept. 13. Four suspects threw Molotov cocktails into a Miller Street home, sending twin, 12-year-old boys to the hospital with serious burns. 

Hill said Fairfield police see no connection between the two incidents. 

Judge denies 13-year-old’s request for injunction 

FAIRFAX — A Marin County Superior Court judge cleared the way for Friday’s election at White Hill Middle School. 

The judge Thursday rejected a request from a 13-year-old student to halt the vote until resolution of a suit she filed as a candidate for student body president. 

Eighth-grader Elektra Fike-Data sued the school for refusing to let her give a campaign speech that involved student participation. 

Judge Michael Dufficy refused to halt the election, but Fike-Data’s attorney says his client will pursue the suit anyhow. 

“I’m not in this to win the battle, I’m in this to win the war,” said attorney James Wall. “Life is a series of setbacks, but you have to go on.” 

Fike-Data had planned to ask the assembled students to all scoot over a few inches and introduce themselves to the person sitting next to them. 

Then she would say “See, I just cleaned the gym and improved student relations. Just think of what I could do in a year as president.” 

The school rejected the speech because of the participation aspect. 

Officials say a rule banning student participation in such speeches has been in place for years. 

“The real issue is that a 13-year-old girl wanted to get students to scoot five inches to the left then five inches to the right and shake hands with the person next to them,” Wall said. “If that is so frightening that it threatens the security of the school, then other issues need to be addressed, not Elektra’s speech.” 

8th-grader threatens to shoot  

KENTFIELD — A Kent Middle School student may be expelled for allegedly firing a pellet gun at one classmate and threatening another on campus this week. 

The eighth-grade boy said, “I wonder if this hurts,” then allegedly shot another boy in the thigh with a plastic pellet, according to Marin County sheriff’s deputy Gary Wilbanks. The victim suffered a welt on his leg. 

The boy then showed the gun to other students and threatened to shoot one of them with a real gun when the boy said he was going to turn him in.


Tiger attacks kindergartner

By Michelle R. Smith
Saturday September 21, 2002

 

SAN FRANCISCO — A 6-year-old boy spent the night in a hospital recovering from a gash to his hairline after he was attacked by a tiger at a school assembly in Scotts Valley. 

The female tiger, called Sima, was being led on a leash out of an auditorium at Baymonte Christian School by her trainer Friday afternoon when she leaped over a row of seats and grabbed the boy’s head in her jaws, said Capt. Harry Bidleman, Scotts Valley Police. Authorities have not identified the boy. 

Anita Jackson, an employee of the business that owns Sima, said the incident was not an attack, but simply a case of a playful tiger. 

Principal Steve Patterson was sitting one row behind the boy and wrestled him away from the animal, said school spokeswoman Jenny Paul. 

The boy was airlifted to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, where he was doing well Friday afternoon and was receiving stitches for a laceration along his hairline, according to Dr. Phillip Harter. 

“He’s a very lucky young man. He’s been up talking to us and smiling,” Harter said. A CT scan found no other injuries, he said. 

Police said the tiger was in custody of its owner, Zoo to You Wildlife Education Inc., a Southern California-based company that makes educational presentations at schools. Police planned to coordinate any possible investigation with Santa Cruz County Animal Services and the state Department of Fish and Game. 

“It sounds more accidental than criminal, but there could be some overseeing bodies that would want this completely investigated,” Bidleman said. 

The school said the 1-year-old tiger was brought to the school as a reward for children who had sold 10 or more magazine subscriptions. About 150 students, from kindergarten through eighth grade, attended the assembly and were kept clear of the animal during the event, Paul said. 

“(She) was here last year when (she) was a little cub. It was (her) second visit here,” Paul said. 

Zoo to You did not immediately return calls for comment. 

But in a televised interview Friday evening in San Jose next to an open van with the tiger inside, the company’s supervisor of animal care and training said Sima had not attacked the boy, but was just playing. Anita Jackson said the children had been asked to sit down as Sima left the room but several jumped up, attracting the tiger’s attention. 

“Of course, we’re going to think about what happened today. But I don’t think we have a problem with her. She was never aggressive,” Jackson said. “She just saw them playing and she wanted to play as well.” 

She said the 140 to 150 pound animal had been used in at least 150 assemblies. Sima never had been aggressive and the company has no plans to stop bringing her to schools, she added. 

Scotts Valley is about 60 miles south of San Francisco. 


State Briefs

Saturday September 21, 2002

Sick sea otter to get MRI exam at human hospital 

SALINAS — A wild sea otter suffering grand mal seizures successfully underwent a magnetic resonance imaging exam — believed to be the first administered to a sea otter — at a hospital for humans Friday. 

The female otter, which is between 1 and 2 years old, rode into the examination room at Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System wrapped in ice on a gurney Adrienne Laurent, a hospital spokeswoman. 

The otter, which does not have a name, has been at the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Sea Otter Research and Conservation program since being found stranded at San Simeon Beach, south of Big Sur, on July 17. 

The otter is believed to be suffering from domoic acid poisoning, which otters can contract by eating shellfish that fed on toxic plankton. The toxin is suspected of killing hundreds of animals, from sea lions to dolphins to sea birds, along California’s coast this year. 

The creature has not responded to treatment, and veterinarians believe domoic acid poisoning may have caused brain damage leading to the seizures. 

If the otter does not show improvement over the next week or so, it likely will have to be euthanized. 

Davis cancels fund-raiser  

in face of criticism 

LOS ANGELES — Gov. Gray Davis canceled a controversial fund-raiser with bullet train advocates a day after he authorized a vote on a $9.9-billion high-speed rail bond. 

“We’ve always had a strict line between discussing policy and our finance events ... under the circumstances, the governor didn’t think it was appropriate,” campaign Press Secretary Roger Salazar said, less than two hours before the Friday evening event was to begin. 

The fund-raiser was planned at the Santa Clara home of Rod Diridon, Davis-appointed chairman of the California High Speed Rail Authority. 

Republican challenger Bill Simon blasted Davis over the fund-raiser at a morning press conference in Santa Monica. After the cancellation, he went to Diridon’s home, set up a podium outside the closed door and called for an investigation of Davis’ fund-raising. 

“Davis seeks to exploit the power of his signature to further his campaign contributions,” Simon said. 

Judge bars enforcement of slate-mailer disclosure  

SACRAMENTO — A federal judge Friday blocked enforcement of a slate-mailer campaign disclosure requirement imposed by California voters when they passed Proposition 34 in 2000. 

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton granted a preliminary injunction sought by four slate-mailer publishers, saying the plaintiffs had shown a “high likelihood” the requirement violated the First Amendment. 

“With the November 2002 elections on the immediate horizon, absent an injunction, plaintiffs will have to choose between self-censorship or the real possibility of an enforcement action” by the state Fair Political Practices Commission, Karlton said. 

“This harm outweighs any that would be suffered (by the FPPC) or the public by the issuance of a preliminary injunction.” 

Proposition 34 was mainly about limiting the size of campaign contributions to state candidates, but it included a provision requiring slate mailers resembling a communication from a political party to state in bold letters if voter positions advocated by the mailers differ from those of the party. 

Slate mailers are brochures sent to voters advocating positions on candidates or ballot measures. Candidates frequently pay to be listed on the mailers. 

The FPPC, charged with enforcing Proposition 34, said the disclosure provision is needed so that voters aren’t tricked into thinking that the mailers come from a political party. 

But the publishers argued that the Proposition 34 disclosure language takes up valuable space and violates their free-speech rights. 

They said they would continue to use a previously required disclosure requirement that says the mailers were not published by an official party organization. 

Sigrid Bathen, a spokeswoman for the FPPC, said commission officials were studying Karlton’s decision and had no comment. 


Packard Foundation slashes staff, grants

By Ian Stewart
Saturday September 21, 2002

 

SAN FRANCISCO — A pillar of the U.S. philanthropic scene, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation may cut up to half its staff and reduce its nonprofit grant programs for next year, a foundation spokesman said Friday. 

For the second year in a row, the foundation will slash its grant program, though not as dramatically as in 2002, said foundation spokesman Chris DeCardy. 

The 2003 budget will be slashed by $50 million. In 2000, the foundation handed out more than $616 million. That was cut to $450 million in 2001, and again cut by $200 million for 2002. 

“We saw tremendous expansion in the 1980s and knew it had to plateau,” DeCardy said. 

Money for grants typically comes from the endowment earnings, leaving it to the whim of the stock market, he said, adding that the impact of the latest cutbacks will be felt internally more than in the grant programs. 

The Los Altos-based foundation has been among the country’s most prominent grant makers. With its future made uncertain by diminishing endowment funds, however, the organization is redirecting its mission and consolidating its grant programs. 

“We need to narrow the range of our work to keep depth in what programs we’re keeping,” DeCardy said. 


Briefs

Saturday September 21, 2002

West Coast ports  

return to normal 

LOS ANGELES — Goods flowed on schedule through the nation’s largest port complex on Friday, as West Coast operators and union dockworkers stepped back from the brink of a major work stoppage. 

The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents 87 shipping companies and terminal operators, suspended its threat to lock out workers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach Thursday night after it said the union had ended a three-day slowdown at a Long Beach terminal. 

The two ports were operating “relatively normally” on Friday, although cargo traffic was heavy and not all requests for labor could be filled, PMA spokesman Steve Sugerman said. 

There were no reports of slowdowns at any other of the 29 West Coast ports, he said. 

State gets tentative approval for PG&E creditor revote 

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal bankruptcy judge tentatively approved a request from state power regulators that would give creditors of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. a second chance to indicate which of two visions for the utility’s future they’d prefer. 

California’s Public Utilities Commission and a key committee of PG&E’s creditors asked the court to let thousands of businesses and individuals to whom the utility owes more than $13 billion vote again. 

The PUC’s plan won approval from only one class of creditors this summer, despite the backing of the creditors committee. However, voters had little time to digest the state’s revised plan before they had to cast their ballots. PG&E, whose plan garnered the most approval, opposes a re-vote. 

Oracle chairman resigns from Apple Computer board 

SAN FRANCISCO — Software mogul Larry Ellison resigned from Apple Computer Inc.’s board Friday in a move that analysts attributed to investors’ demands for more vigilant directors. 

Ellison, the flamboyant chief executive officer of Oracle Corp., had attended less than 75 percent of Apple’s board meetings during each of his five years as a director, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. No other Apple director missed as many meetings during that time. 

Ellison stepped down after concluding his attendance record wouldn’t improve in the upcoming months, given his duties at slumping Oracle and his upcoming bid to win the America’s Cup yacht race. 

“My schedule does not currently allow me to attend enough of the formal board meetings to warrant a role as a director,” Ellison said.


Father of 401(k) takes pride in brainchild despite account’s flaws

By Michael Liedtke
Saturday September 21, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO — Like any proud father, Ted Benna takes pride in the accomplishments of his brainchild, the 401(k) account. 

But that doesn’t mean he ignores his progeny’s shortcomings — flaws facing more scrutiny as the nation’s once-ballooning 401(k) savings deflate under the weight of a bearish stock market and corrupt companies. 

Yes, Benna says, it was a bad idea to let so many 401(k) investors buy the stocks of their employers. The employees at scandal-ridden Enron Corp. hammered this point home when they loaded up on company stock and lost a collective $1.3 billion after the energy trader collapsed late last year. 

And Benna knows that many of the nation’s 48 million 401(k) participants might not have lost so much money during the past two years had they been given more guidance and choices by their employers. 

He will even bluntly admit that 401(k) accounts “stink” when it comes to helping financially struggling workers making less than $10 per hour. 

What you won’t hear Benna say is that the country would have been better off if he hadn’t unveiled the first 401(k) plan nearly 22 years ago. 

“People can beat up the 401(k) all they want, but this is the only retirement plan a lot of employees are ever going to have,” Benna said in an interview after a recent financial seminar in San Francisco. 

“I’ve had people come up to me to complain they only have $70,000 in a 401(k) account that had $100,000 a couple of years ago and I say, ’Well, how much would you have saved now without the account?’ That usually makes them stop and think.” 

A closer look at 401(k) plans is long overdue, said Karen Friedman, director of policy strategy for the Pension Rights Center, a Washington, D.C. watchdog group. She thinks the stock market’s recent troubles have proven that most people aren’t ready to manage their own retirement accounts, a skill that 401(k) plans require. 

“There really has never been a policy debate about this because no one really criticized 401(k)s during the 1990s when the stock market was raging and everyone thought their accounts would just keep rising with the tide,” Friedman said. “Now, a lot of people are discovering that 401(k)s might not be quite what they are cracked up to be.” 

Benna, 60, is doing his part to help people learn more. His latest book, “401(k) for Dummies” will be released next month by Wiley Publishing. In the meantime, Benna continues to give financial seminars throughout the country while heading up the 401(k) Association, a Jersey Shore, Pa., group dedicated to improving plan benefits. 

While he supports efforts to better educate 401(k) investors, Benna believes most employers sponsoring the plans aren’t up to the challenge and probably never will be. 

About 97 percent of the nation’s 400,000 401(k) plans are offered by small and medium-sized businesses with fewer than 500 employees, Benna said, leaving them “no better equipped for making investment decisions than the participants are.” 

Congress is considering a variety of 401(k) changes, including limits on the amount of employer stock that can be held in the plans and reforms in the way the plans are run. 

Benna agrees some changes may be in order, but prefers a free-market approach to government mandates. 

Friedman believes the government should play a greater role because 401(k) accounts provide one of the nation’s biggest tax breaks — about $60 billion annually. That figure likely will rise over the next few years as the maximum annual 401(k) contribution per investor rises from $11,000 this year to $15,000 in 2006.


U.S. Rep. aims to rescue coffee growers through campaign

Daily Planet Wire Service
Saturday September 21, 2002

 

U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, on Wednesday derided what he calls the "pure corporate greed'' that causes large coffee buying companies to purchase coffee at prices that are lower than the cost of production. 

Farr claims the practice results in millions of Latin American growers and their families being forced to live lives of poverty. He was supported by political activist Bianca Jagger and Santa Cruz resident Nancy  

Abbey. 

The congressman made his remarks Wednesday as the international relief agency Oxfam released a report showing that coffee prices are at a 100-year low in real terms. A glut of low-quality beans has left 25 million  

coffee farmers broke, banks have collapsed and malnutrition is on the rise among the farmers' children, the report found. 

"We've got a dire situation where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing,'' said Farr, who recently co-sponsored a congressional hearing on the coffee crisis in Latin America. 

"The U.S. government spends billions of dollars on economic and social development in Latin America while U.S. private industry undermines our foreign policy by buying cheap, low-quality coffee and ruining the lives and livelihoods of Latin American coffee farmers. 

"I will keep raising awareness on Capitol Hill about the coffee crisis and encouraging my colleagues to buy Fair Trade Coffee,'' he avowed. 

To become Fair Trade certified, an importer must meet stringent international criteria -- paying a minimum price per pound of $1.26, providing credit to farmers and providing technical assistance such as help  

transitioning to organic farming. 

Jagger pleaded with large U.S. coffee-buying companies to show more concern for the survival of coffee-growing countries. 

"Free trade is not Fair Trade, and Fair Trade is a matter of life and death,'' said Jagger, who was born and raised on Nicaragua. 

Abbey, a member of the U.S.-Cuba Sister Cities Association, is one of a group of Santa Cruz residents actively pursuing a relationship between both the city and county of Santa Cruz and the region of Santiago de Cuba. 

Abbey is a staunch supporter of lifting the trade and travel embargo to Cuba, according to Farr, and will travel with a delegation in January to strengthen ties with this region. 

"If we're ever going to be able to trade with Cuba, you can be sure our organization will support Fair Trade Coffee for its coffee growers.'' 


UC Berkeley, CSU offer joint doctorate in education

Daily Planet Wire Service
Saturday September 21, 2002

Educators hope a joint doctorate program between two educational systems will create more accessible and affordable education, while bolstering urban school district leadership throughout the Bay Area. 

Made possible by a $405,000 grant, the University of California at Berkeley and California State University campuses in San Francisco, San Jose and Hayward on Wednesday announced plans to offer a joint three-year doctorate degree in education, beginning next year. 

"This joint doctoral program builds upon the mutual strengths of our four universities to prepare future leaders for California's urban public school systems and community colleges to meet the needs of K-12 students,'' said Emily Brizendine, co-coordinator of the joint doctoral program and associate dean of Cal State Hayward's School of Education and Allied Studies.  

By creating the joint program and using CSU campuses, the universities are developing a more affordable and accessible alternative for working educators. 

According to CSU figures, only 21 percent of Californians live within 10 miles of a UC campus, compared with 56 percent who live the same distance from a CSU campus. In relation to cost, CSU tuition and fees for graduate study is less than half the cost of the University of California. 

California's lack of affordable Ed.D programs is evident in comparison with other states, since it is less than two-thirds the national average, California State University Chancellor Charles Reed said in a speech last year. 

Brizendine explained that the degree program will provide up to 15 graduates a year with the skills to lead urban school districts in the state. 

The initiative to allow California State University campuses to offer doctoral studies programs was formalized last November after the two systems agreed on the need to make such programs more accessible and affordable to working educators in all regions of the state.


Rural crime prevention program created

Saturday September 21, 2002

SACRAMENTO — Rural California counties will receive more than $20 million for crime prevention efforts under two bills signed Friday by Gov. Gray Davis. 

Part of the money will go to safeguard food, water and agriculture chemicals from terrorist threats, said the sponsor of the first bill, Assemblywoman Barbara Matthews, D-Tracy. 

It creates a new Central Valley Rural Crime Prevention Program encompassing Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Tulare counties.


Silicon Valley planners worry about future congestion

Saturday September 21, 2002

SAN JOSE — The Silicon Valley looked itself in the mirror Friday, and what it saw was scary. 

By the end of the decade, the heartland of American high technology will have recovered from its devastating economic downturn and be coping with increased population, continuing housing shortages and more traffic. The big question is whether the infrastructure can keep up. 

That was the image projected in a report on demographic trends through the year 2010 released by the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group at a day-long series of panel discussions held at San Jose State University heavily attended by representatives of non-profit organizations and public agencies. 

Key predictions in the 48-page “Projections 2002: Silicon Valley” report: 

— Population in the Silicon Valley, covering Santa Clara, San Mateo and parts of Alameda and Santa Cruz counties, is expected to jump 13 percent, from 2,771,148 to 3,128,426. 

— Employment will have recovered and there will be almost 1.7 million jobs, an increase of almost 190,000 over 2002 levels that have been impacted by layoffs and business failures costing nearly 100,000 jobs. 

— The number of households will increase 12 percent to an estimated 1,074,942, requiring additional housing in a region already stretched almost to the limit, and the need for affordable housing will be critical. The report estimates nearly 152,000 new homes will be needed by 2010. 

— Traffic will remain stalled. It’s estimated vehicle traffic in the region will increase 20 percent to 40 percent and traffic on the San Mateo and Dumbarton bridges will jump almost 50 percent. While a variety of transportation projects designed to alleviate some of the worst congestion in the country are slated for completion between late this year and 2007, the long-awaited BART extension to San Jose isn’t expected to be operational until at least 2012. 

— The region’s educational system will be severely taxed, with an estimated 650,000 school-aged children by 2010 and enrollments up nearly 5 percent. 

— Strains on power and water systems will increase. The use of recycled water alone is expected to jump from 10 million gallons per day in 2001 to more than 6 billion gallons in 2010. Despite growing conservation, energy demand is expected to increase significantly — although precise projections can’t be made. 

Acknowledging that it’s hard to accurately predict the future, keynote speaker Richard Carlson, president of Spectrum Economics in Mountain View, offered an upbeat peek at what he sees ahead. 

“This economy will revive,” he said. “It’s stalled now but it will revive beginning this fall or early next year, but it will lag behind other sectors by three to six months.” He predicted it will take at least four years, probably five or six, “before we get back where we were.” 

Carlson foresees a slow but steady growth in jobs, and a strong housing market that will show improvement from “ghastly to terrible.” 

“As long as we get a modest economic recovery and interest rates are low, I can’t see any collapse in housing prices,” he said. But commercial real estate is another matter, said Carlson and it will remain in the doldrums for “a long, long time” before it fully revives. 

“We’re in a very special recession,” said Carlson, “an investment collapse recession and there’s a very real risk of deflation. It’s a consumer heaven and manufacturer’s hell.” 

Why the hard times? In part, Carlson said, he thinks Silicon Valley’s suffering is due to the problems of too much money. 

“There’s no limit to sillyness when companies have billions of dollars,” he said. 


California nonprofits hurting from state budget cuts

By Louise Chu
Saturday September 21, 2002

 

SACRAMENTO — More than a year after they first reported funding losses, California’s nonprofits are still feeling the crunch. 

A survey conducted last September by California Cares, a coalition of the state’s nonprofits, found that nonprofits have faced dramatic funding losses and increased demand since the stock market decline and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. 

After managing to break even by the end of the year, they now have another money concern: the California state budget. 

The state’s plan for the new fiscal year chops about $7.5 billion from state programs, affecting thousands of nonprofit organizations throughout the state. Nonprofits on average receive about 30 percent of their money from the government, according to the California Association of Nonprofits. 

Child Welfare Services, for instance, had to let go of 500 social workers after losing $49.5 million in state money, and the California Arts Council cut its budget by 40 percent. 

Ken Larsen, public policy director of CAN, said the cutbacks have especially affected areas of aging, developmental disabilities and mental health. 

Last December, California Cares released a report claiming an estimated year-end $25 million drop in donations for the state’s nonprofit organizations, who were also experiencing a 20 to 40 percent increase in demand for services. 

The startling figures prompted California Cares to launch a statewide ad campaign, urging donors to continue giving. A follow-up survey released in June reported that most nonprofits ended up receiving the same, if not more, money than they had projected. 

But there may be more tough times ahead. 

Adding to the recent budget woes, Californians seem to be continuing to keep a firmer hand on their pocketbooks during these economically lean times. 

The Napa Valley Wine Auction, touted as the world’s largest charity event, raised almost $6.2 million for local charities last June, but the total was a significant dip from the event’s all-time high of $9.5 million raised in 2000 at the peak of the dot-com wave. 

“People are a little more cautious right now,” said Jeri Hansen, a spokeswoman for the Napa Valley Vintners Association, which organizes the annual wine auction benefiting various local charities. 

Foundations have also been reeling from the stock market plunge. 

“As recently as two years ago, some of our work was in the stratosphere,” said Sterling Speirn, president of Peninsula Community Foundation. “Now we’re down into the atmosphere.” 

Speirn said the state’s community foundations have also taken on the extra burden of closing the gap for nonprofits left by the government cutbacks. 

Many have been forced to cut their grant-making to nonprofits by 20 to 30 percent, Larsen said. But some, including PCF and the California Endowment, the state’s largest health care foundation, have opted to absorb the financial difficulties. 

“At this point, we’re committed to maintaining the same level of grant-making,” said Julie Tugend, chief executive officer of the California Endowment. “We have a very diversified portfolio, so we’re already been seeing some rebound.” 

Investment experts have said the David and Lucile Packard Foundation should do the same. Almost entirely invested in Hewlett-Packard stock, the Los Altos-based foundation has seen its $13 billion asset base cut in half since 1999, when HP’s stock slide began. This year, it expects to award $250 million in grants, down from $450 million in 2001. 

Meanwhile, nonprofits have relied more heavily on fund-raising events rather than government or grant funding, Larsen said. Some have also looked into entering partnerships or mergers to stay financially afloat. 

Despite uncertain futures for California’s nonprofits, Speirn remains optimistic. 

“When times are hard, it inspires more giving,” he said. “People who weren’t giving at a certain level are now giving ... because they can really see where it makes a difference.” 


Stanford scientists find faults in earthquake prediction model

By Angela Watercutter
Saturday September 21, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO — A new study by two Stanford University scientists could shake up a long-held theory that helps geologists forecast earthquakes. 

The theory holds that earthquakes are “time-predictable,” meaning the energy buildup that causes them happens on a somewhat regular basis. But the scientists found that wasn’t the case in a rather geologically simple area of the San Andreas fault near Parkfield. 

Stanford geophysicists Jessica Murray and Paul Segall say in the Sept. 12 issue of Nature that their research in Parkfield shows the time prediction model failed in what should have been an ideal locale for its application. 

“I think we’ve really shown that quantitatively this model doesn’t work at this location,” Murray said. “I think that this will lead people to realize how uncertain this model is.” 

The Stanford team’s findings make the successful application of the theory even harder in complex fault regions such as the San Francisco Bay area. 

Scientists in Parkfield have been waiting for a substantial earthquake since 1988, when time prediction said the area was due for a quake. Midsize earthquakes have hit the area roughly every 22 years since 1857. 

The Stanford researchers used a long history of data from the Parkfield site, as well as data on how much the earth had moved. They found there was enough energy for an average-sized quake, and showed that effects from nearby temblors had passed. 

No quake came, leading them to believe the time prediction theory didn’t work. And the current lapse of time between earthquakes is one of the longest in recorded history, according to Murray. 

However, it could just be that Parkfield isn’t as timely as scientists had originally thought, and now the site is showing it can be as irregular as anything else in nature, according to Ross Stein, of the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park. 

“On the one hand it’s almost one complete cycle late, yet we have to acknowledge we see that kind of variability everywhere,” Stein said. 

Earthquakes are caused by the constant scraping of the North American and Pacific continental plates. When the ground gets stuck it jerks loose in sudden bursts that shake the ground. What scientists still hope to determine is how to predict when they’ll occur. 

Even if the Stanford team’s findings lead to dismissal of the time-prediction theory, there are still other theories scientists can investigate and use. Some attempt to predict the size of the shake, but not when it will happen. Others look at how earthquakes interact to anticipate where the next section will break. 

“It’s an important study, and every time we can test something we assume we’re ahead of the game no matter what the consequences,” Stein said. 


Feds consider listing state fish as endangered

By Colleen Valles
Saturday September 21, 2002

 

SAN FRANCISCO — The federal government has determined California’s state fish, the golden trout, may need to be listed as an endangered species. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Friday there’s substantial evidence to support listing the trout. The finding comes almost a year after the conservation group Trout Unlimited sued the agency to force it to consider such a move. 

The fish’s population has declined because of habitat loss, hybridization, competition with non-native trout, and even overgrazing by livestock. At one time, the fish were found in 450 miles of streams in the Southern Sierra Nevada, but over the past 100 years that has dwindled to just over 80 miles. 

The service now will begin a 12-month review to determine if a listing is warranted and, if it is, whether that listing will be as a threatened species or as an endangered one. A threatened species is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future, and an endangered one faces the threat of extinction throughout part or all of the range where it lives. 

Native populations of the fish now are found only in the Golden Trout Creek and South Fork of the Kern River. The rivers are both in the Golden Trout Wilderness in Inyo National Forest. 

“It’s great news,” said Scott Yates of Trout Unlimited. “What’s interesting is the habitat for these fish is on federal land. The Endangered Species Act could really be productive in terms of focusing conservation efforts and trying to get the state to conserve native fish.” 

Yates said the biggest threat to the fish is hybridization, or breeding with other species of trout. 

Trout Unlimited sued the Fish and Wildlife Service in November 2001, and this June a federal judge gave the service three months to start the process of listing the fish. 

The Fish and Wildlife Service faces a backlog of other endangered species requests and lawsuits. 

“We’ve gotten so many petitions; we’re responding to many, many lawsuits,” said Jim Nickles of the service. “We’d like to be able to act on them as quickly as possible, we just have a real crunch in the resources we have.” 

So far, fishing of the colorful trout, a subspecies of rainbow trout, is not affected. If the fish is listed as endangered, state fish and game regulators would need to come up with guidelines for taking the fish. 


First northern right whale calf sighted in Pacific in a century

The Associated Press
Saturday September 21, 2002

WASHINGTON — The first northern right whale calf to be seen in the eastern North Pacific Ocean in perhaps a century was reported by the National Marine Fisheries Service on Friday. 

Marine mammal specialists at the service called the sighting a cause for celebration. 

“The North Pacific right whale population is in danger of extinction. A mother and calf embody hope for the whales,” said Jim Balsiger, regional administrator for the fisheries service in Alaska. 

The northern right whale is the most endangered whale in the world, the agency said. 

There is no reliable population estimate for that whale in the eastern North Pacific and scientists have seen only a dozen or so in the area in recent years. 

The calf was spotted on Aug. 24 by fisheries researchers who were studying whales in the southeastern Bering Sea. 

“The weather was heavily overcast when we first made the sighting,” said scientist Lisa Ballance, who led the research cruise. “We immediately launched a small boat with three scientists aboard to get a closer look, and to take photographs and biopsy samples.” 

After studying for about an hour, they concluded it was a female and her calf. The calf was smaller than the other whale and it swam in alongside the flank of the larger whale in a drafting position typical of whale calves. The larger animal seemed intent on keeping itself between the small boat and the calf, Ballance said. 

Photos do not show much, since the sighting was at night, but study of a skin sample from the larger whale confirmed it was female. 

Since 1997 scientists have identified six individual eastern North Pacific right whales, all male. 

In July 1996, another NOAA research expedition came across right whales in the same area, possibly including a calf, but the photo evidence was not clear enough to confirm the calf sighting. 

Between 1900 and 1994 there were only 29 reliable sightings of right whales in the eastern North Pacific. Since then scientific expeditions have found a few whales — between about four and 13 individuals — in the eastern North Pacific each year. 

Right whales were hunted extensively in the early 1900s because they were easy to catch, and floated after they were killed. Right whale flesh is very rich in oil. They’ve been listed as endangered since 1973. 

The National Marine Fisheries Service is part of the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 


In Alaska, an ancestral island home falls victim to global warming

By Joseph B. Verrengia
Saturday September 21, 2002

 

SHISHMAREF, Alaska — Stripped to his shirt sleeves on a desolate polar beach, the Inupiat Eskimo hunter gazes over his Arctic world. 

The midnight sun glitters on navy waves surrounding his island village. The town sits amid the ruins of dugouts that his ancestors chipped from the permafrost when pharaohs were erecting pyramids in the hot sands of Egypt. 

His children and their cousins play tag on a hummock where his wife’s parents and their parents are buried. 

Thousands of years ago, hungry nomads chased caribou here across a now-lost land bridge from Siberia, just 100 miles away. Many scientists believe those nomads became the first Americans. 

Now their descendants are about to become global warming refugees. Their village is about to be swallowed up by the sea. 

“We have no room left here,” says 43-year-old Tony Weyiouanna. “I have to think about my grandchildren. We need to move.” 

Weather dictates survival in the Arctic. Always it has been the fearsome cold that meant life or death. Now, Native Alaskans are alarmed by a noticeable warming trend. 

Average temperatures in the Arctic have risen more than 4 degrees since 1971 — about the same time, coincidentally, that the first snowmobile made an appearance. 

Weyiouanna still remembers, “It was mind-boggling to see a sled move without dogs pulling it.” 

Snowmobile aside, this is still a very rustic village. Its forlorn breakwater of sandbags, tires and rusting vehicles, is often breached by storms. Recently, four homes tumbled into the sea as villagers huddled in the Lutheran church. 

Fuel and water tanks teeter just a few strides from the brink. Another gale or two and the entire island — a half-mile at its widest, 10 feet at its highest — could be inundated. 

Weyiouanna’s ancestors simply would have loaded their dogsleds and mushed inland. But in modern times, moving a town means Shishmaref’s 600 residents must vote. 

It will cost at least $100 million, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says. 

It’s a staggering sum even by standards of Shishmaref, where a light bulb costs $10 at the Nayokpuk Trading Co. (They’re down the aisle from the Pringles and the wolf pelts.) 

Residents figure the government will pay, although state and federal officials say no relocation fund exists. 

It’s an upheaval many Americans might face in coming decades. 

In June, the Bush administration submitted a report to the United Nations acknowledging for the first time that climate change is real and unavoidable. The administration recommends adapting. 

Still unresolved is whether rising temperatures are caused by smokestacks and traffic jams pumping more heat-trapping emissions into the atmosphere. Or, natural variations in the complex relationship between the oceans, the atmosphere and the sun. Maybe it’s a little of each. 


News of the Weird

Saturday September 21, 2002

Burger King pulls ad  

making fun of students 

COEUR d’ALENE, Idaho — Community colleges had it their way. Burger King has decided to pull a television commercial that poked fun at students in two-year schools. 

In the ad, two students are shown chatting with a talking menu, which decides they probably don’t have a lot of money and likely never will because they attend a junior college. 

A Burger King spokeswoman confirmed Thursday that the spot is being pulled because of complaints from numerous junior colleges and community college officials. 

Michael Burke, president of North Idaho College, said he recognized when he saw the ad Wednesday that it was supposed to be funny, but it didn’t work for him. 

“It implies that community college students don’t receive a quality education,” he said. “Our students leave here and are very successful at university work. Those who leave our professional-technical program enter the work force making an excellent salary. It certainly doesn’t reflect reality.” 

He shot off an e-mail to Norma Kent, vice president of communications for the American Association of Community Colleges, who wrote back that she registered the complaint with Burger King in Miami. 

“They are pulling the disgusting ‘junior college’ spot. Will take a couple days to get it out of the pipeline, and then it goes into the trash heap of ad history where it belongs,” Kent wrote. 

Burger King spokeswoman Michelle Miguelez said the students didn’t know they were being filmed, then were asked if they’d be willing to be in an ad and were shown the film. 

“They found the ad to be funny,” Miguelez said. “They were not offended in the least.” 

From Fredbird to jailbird 

ST. LOUIS — Donny Chilton, who worked in 2000 as a backup to the feathered St. Louis Cardinals’ mascot known as Fredbird, was found guilty Wednesday of first-degree burglary and misdemeanor stealing. Circuit Judge Robert Dierker Jr. revoked Chilton’s bond and ordered him jailed pending sentencing Oct. 11. 

Chilton, 21, and two others entered Busch Stadium in the early hours of May 9, 2000, got into a storage area near the Cardinals’ clubhouse and took a player’s set of golf clubs, one yellow baseball used in batting practice and a batting helmet. Court records do not identify the player whose clubs were taken. 

A team employee spotted the three leaving the ballpark, followed them across the street and questioned them — and they dropped the loot, authorities said. 

Cardinals officials plucked Chilton after they matched his employee identification photo with a videotape image from a surveillance camera, assistant circuit attorney Amy Fite said. Authorities were unable to identify the two others. 

Jurors recommended Chilton get a five-year prison term — the minimum — on the felony burglary charge and a fine for stealing. 

A spokesman for the Cardinals did not return a phone call seeking comment. 

——— 

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Alice Morrison was looking for a better way to seal her pickles. What she heard made her want to seal her ears. 

The 71-year-old Sunday school teacher was unhappy with the canning lids on her sweet pickle jars. So she reached for her box of Kerr mason lids and called the consumer help number printed on the side. 

Instead of advice for her lids, she was greeted by a recorded, raspy voice that she was about to hear “sexy introductions from callers” and that for $1.99 a minute she could “join the fun.” 

“I assure you, I wasn’t looking for any hotline,” Morrison said. 

It isn’t the first time people seeking information about canning have discovered themselves hooked up to a phone sex line. 

Officials with the company that makes the lids have fielded plenty of confused and sometimes angry calls from across the country, said Judy Harrold, manager of consumer affairs for Alltrista Consumer Products Co. 

Harrold said that about a year and a half ago, Alltrista decided to consolidate two canning companies, Ball and Kerr, under one helpline. Kerr’s old 800 number was returned to the phone company, she said, and the phone company assigned it to a phone sex company. 

“We attempted all we could to get that number back,” Harrold said. “But once it was released, there was nothing we could do.” 

Kerr’s new packaging is printed with the consolidated 800 number. Morrison wasn’t sure she would try the other number. 

“I might just put everything in the refrigerator and eat it now rather than messing with another number,” she said. 

——— 

SEATTLE (AP) — It didn’t take long for Barb Trenchi to spot her car after she reported it stolen: It was speeding toward her, with police in hot pursuit. 

“I guess it missed me by about 4 inches,” she told The Herald of Everett. 

Trenchi reported the stolen car Thursday morning and then took the bus to her job in downtown Seattle. 

After getting off the bus, she was crossing the street when she spotted a car barreling toward her, followed by police cars, their lights flashing. 

Trenchi said she barely stepped out of the way of the speeding car when she noticed the Vanderbilt sticker in the window and recognized it as her own. 

Police said the car ran a red light, swerved onto a sidewalk, hitting a woman, and then crashed into cars in a parking lot. 

The injured 67-year-old woman was taken to Harborview Medical Center with a broken leg and other injuries. 

Police arrested the driver and two other young men in the car. 

Trenchi said the heavily damaged car was being held by police for their investigation. 


Davis signs bill to clean beaches

By Louise Chu
Saturday September 21, 2002

 

SACRAMENTO — On the eve of California’s 18th annual Coastal Cleanup Day, Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill Friday to allocate part of a $2.6 billion bond measure to protect the state’s coastal waters. 

The bill, by Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, will apply $223 million from Proposition 40 to a number of water conservation programs to reduce pollution of the state’s water resources. 

Water conservation groups applauded the spending plan. Joe Caves, a legislative advocate for The Nature Conservancy, called it “the most important and comprehensive water quality bill we’ve passed in decades.” 

Pavley said she designed the legislation to allow environmental groups fair access to the money. It will be distributed through competitive grant programs, rather than earmarked it for specific projects. 

The largest chunk, nearly $47 million, will go toward watershed restoration projects like controlling erosion, protecting fish and habitat and reducing contamination. Another $46 million will go toward cleaning up beaches. 

The remainder will go to grant programs to help small communities meet water pollution control requirements, help reduce storm water runoff pollution, improve agricultural water quality. 

Last March, voters approved the $2.6 billion bond proposal to improve air and water quality, fund state and local parks and protect water resources. It specifically devoted $375 million to water resources. 

Davis has not taken a position on Proposition 50, another water conservation bond up for a vote on the November ballot. 

However, he has signed bills by Sens. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, and Mike Machado, D-Linden, that allocate money from that bond in the event it passes. That may provide an indicator of his views, said Mary Nichols, secretary of the California Resources Agency. 

“Our beach and our coastline are a precious part of California’s character,” Davis said in a prepared statement Friday. “It’s our historic obligation in future generations to do everything we can to keep our beaches healthy and clean.” 

Coastal Cleanup Day, organized by the California Coastal Commission, organizes volunteers to help clean up more than 400 beaches. It takes place on the third Saturday of each September. 


Opinion

Editorials

UC Berkeley chops trees to reduce fire danger

By Kurtis Alexander
Friday September 27, 2002

 

Following last week’s 10-acre wildfire near the Berkeley-Oakland border, crews are working to douse residents’ anxieties about the fire-prone hills by chopping down trees. 

Four acres of eucalyptus, an invasive and fast-burning tree, are being cleared from UC Berkeley-owned land at the top of Claremont Canyon, about a quarter-mile from the Sept. 20 blaze along the ridgeline.  

If a tree were to start burning, the grove stands amid a funnel of hot easterly winds that could accelerate a fire into a larger blaze, said Tom Klatt, director of emergency planning for the UC Berkeley Police Department. 

“The [current] work is a strategic change in how the forest is going to look,” said Klatt, adding that the new landscape will be less prone to fire. “The benefits will accrue next year and for decades to come.” 

Last week’s fire at Claremont Canyon started when a car caught fire in the area of Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Fish Ranch Roak in Oakland. More than 100 firefighters from seven agencies fought for three hours to contain the blaze.  

No structures were damaged. However, two firefighters suffered minor leg injuries. 

Fire officials say that fire danger remains high.  

“October starts next week. ... That’s the worst of our season,” said David Orth, assistant Berkeley fire chief. 

The Claremont Canyon eucalyptus removal coincides with stepped-up fire monitoring on campus hill property, further vegetation reduction in the Panoramic Hill area and more frequent communication between East Bay fire agencies. 

High fire season will end with the first major rainfall, typically in mid-November, fire officials said. 


Police Briefs

Thursday September 26, 2002

n Egging 

More than 40 cars were splattered with eggs in the Berkeley hills late Monday night, according to residents. 

“All up and down our street - there was one egg per car,” said Nancy Mint, who lives on the 400 block of Vincente Avenue. 

About a mile southeast on the 700 block of Keeler Avenue, a resident who wished not to be named painted a similar picture. 

“There were at least six cars hit by eggs,” she said. “When I called the police Monday morning, they said they had gotten more than 40 complaints.” She said neighbors reported empty egg cartons strewn along local streets. 

Police responded to four reported cases of car eggings Monday morning, but do not have any suspects. 

None of the victims saw the vandals, police information officer Mary Kusmiss said. 

The crime is not as petty as some might think. 

“If eggs are affixed to a car for a long period of time they can damage paint jobs,” Kusmiss said. 

Mintz was able to hose her car clean, but did notice a strange phenomenon. 

“None off the eggs had yolks,” she said, guessing that local animals sucked out the nutrient-laden core before residents awoke Monday. 

 

n Stolen laser 

Three men stole a $15,000 laser used for underground construction from a truck that was stopped at a traffic light at the intersection of Cedar Street and Cornell Avenue, police said. At approximately 2:10 p.m. Tuesday, three men pulled up next to the victim who was driving a delivery truck. While the victim was stopped at the red light, the men opened the unlocked truck, took the laser and sped away.  

 

n Brawl 

A large fight erupted at a nightclub on the 2200 block of Shattuck Avenue at 1:36 a.m. Sunday Morning, police said. Police broke up the fight and ordered the club closed for the evening. They did not make any arrests. 

 

n Unknown Gunfire 

Four teens were seen shooting an unknown type of gun at beer bottles on the 100 block of Seawall drive at 11:05 p.m. Tuesday night. According to police, a witness saw the shooting and assumed the suspects were firing a pellet gun. Police arrived after the four suspects had driven away and did not see evidence of and pellet fire or any other type of ammunition. The suspects escaped in a 1990s white Pontiac Sunbird with a black bra over the front of the car.  


Wildfire threatens hundreds of LA homes

The Associated Press
Wednesday September 25, 2002

LA VERNE — A wildfire in the foothills above Los Angeles jumped from 8,000 acres to 12,000 acres in just a few hours Tuesday, sending smoke pouring over the sprawling metropolitan area and triggering public health warnings. 

The fire, spread across 11 miles of the San Gabriel Mountains, has destroyed 44 cabins and homes and threatens hundreds of others. Flames raged unchecked as firefighters worked in rugged canyon terrain against erratic winds and triple-digit temperatures. 

Some two dozen aircraft dropped water and fire retardant on the fire, which authorities said had the potential to grow to 20,000 acres. 

Fear of new fires led officials to close the 650,000-acre Angeles National Forest, which includes the mountains, to recreation. 

“We certainly can’t afford another fire,” said Darren Drake, a fire spokesman. “This has got our hands full.” 

Conditions were so hot and dry around the fire 40 miles northeast of Los Angeles that brittle chaparral and other brush virtually exploded in flames when hit by sparks. 

“It’s whompin’,” Drake said. 

The fire threatened upscale homes in La Verne, San Dimas and other suburbs. 

“It’s very stressful. You work all your life and to see it threatened to this degree,” said George Villegas, 37, an insurance salesman who took a day off work to keep watch on his $600,000 home. His belongings were packed into his three cars and his wife and two sons were staying with relatives. 

Other residents described flames that towered 50 feet in the air and jumped between ridges. 

Voluntary evacuations were called for at least 500 homes and 1,000 people. A mandatory evacuation was ordered for 77 recreational cabins in San Dimas Canyon, and more than 200 youngsters were taken out of two juvenile detention camps. 


Bush considers lowering alert

The Associated Press
Tuesday September 24, 2002

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is seriously considering lowering the nationwide terror alert back to code yellow because of disruptions in the al-Qaida terrorist network, including the arrest of a suspected Sept. 11 plotter, government officials said Monday. 

President Bush raised the alert to orange — the second-highest level — after U.S. intelligence warned of a “high risk” of a terrorist attack in connection with the Sept. 11 anniversary two weeks ago. 

Officials stressed that Americans should remain alert; even at code yellow, the nation faces a significant risk of attack. 

The change could be made as early as Tuesday as senior administration officials review new intelligence, weigh the potential for attack on U.S. targets and prepare a recommendation for Bush, said two officials familiar with the deliberations. They spoke on condition of anonymity. 


Police Briefs

-Matthew Artz
Monday September 23, 2002

n Carjacking 

A man was forced from his car at gun point at approximately 1:50 a.m. Wednesday morning. According to police, the victim had stopped on Harmon Street to talk to a friend when a male acquaintance interrupted them and asked for a ride to San Pablo Avenue. The victim obliged, but during the ride, the suspect pulled out a gun and said, “This is a robbery.” The suspect stole the victim’s jewelry and ordered him to drive to 57th Street and San Pablo Avenue in Oakland. There, the suspect ordered the victim out of the car and proceeded to drive away. 

n Car burglary 

A thief busted through a car window to steal a stereo and two bags of clothes on the 2900 block of Benvenue Avenue Wednesday, police said 


Crews control 10-acre Oakland blaze

Daily Planet Wire Service
Saturday September 21, 2002

OAKLAND – Firefighters remained at the scene of a four-alarm fire Friday that tore through roughly 10 acres of brush in the Oakland Hills Thursday evening, a spokeswoman for the Oakland Fire Department said. 

According to the spokeswoman, more than 100 firefighters from multiple agencies controlled the blaze in the area of Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Fish Ranch Road at 12:20 a.m. Friday. 

The spokeswoman says that crews are expected to conduct a fire watch in the immediate area for two to three days. 

Initially reported at 9:25 Thursday evening, a fourth alarm was struck about 40 minutes later and the fire was contained by 12:15 a.m. 

No structures were damaged, however, two firefighters suffered minor leg injuries and were taken to a local hospital.