Worried about a legal challenge from the right, the Berkeley Unified School District may drop a policy requiring racial balance in schools, district officials said Wednesday. 

Berkeley currently mandates that most of its schools reflect the racial make-up of the surrounding area. But, faced with a growing number of California court rulings that forbid the consideration of race in governmental decision-making, officials said they may use other factors like household income and parent education levels to ensure diverse schools. 

“We’re going to have to go to another means of achieving diversity,” said Board of Education President Shirley Issel. 

Any policy shift, though, will face significant resistance. Three of the school board’s five members have expressed strong reservations about a school assignment system that does not include race. 

“I want to make sure that we don’t go back to segregated schools,” said Vice President Joaquin Rivera at the school board’s Wednesday night meeting. “I think that would be a horrendous mistake.” 

Rivera said he is open to other approaches, but is skeptical that assignments based on household income or parent education level will result in racial diversity. 

Legal experts say the cash-strapped district will be vulnerable to a costly law suit if it continues to assign students by race. UC Hastings law professor David Hastings, who worked to overturn San Francisco’s race-based school assignment policy, said Berkeley has been exposed since 1996 when California voters approved Proposition 209, prohibiting preferential racial treatment by public entities. 

“They’ve had their heads in the sand for quite some time,” said Levine. “It seems to me that it’s just utterly foolhardy, given the law, for them [to keep the current policy in place.]” 

District officials have periodically revisited Berkeley’s desegregation plan since 1996 but have declined to make any changes, arguing that Proposition 209 language is vague and does not necessarily apply to school assignment plans. Several board members made the argument again Wednesday night. 

But in May, a state appellate court in southern California ruled that Proposition 209 forbids schools from using race to balance schools. In August, the California Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal, leaving the appellate court ruling as the law of the land. 

School board member John Selawsky said the case, which involved the Huntington Beach Union High School District, should be studied. But, he said he is still leaning toward a school assignment system that includes race, even if it results in a costly law suit. 

“I think it is important to stand up for what we believe in,” he said, predicting that liberal advocacy groups would come to the district’s aid and pay any legal fees. Berkeley Unified currently faces a $3.9 million budget shortfall. 

UC Berkeley law professor emeritus John Coons warned that, in the wake of the Huntington case, a policy making explicit use of race is unlikely to pass legal scrutiny. But he argued that there are ways to ensure diversity without relying upon race. 

The Student Assignment Advisory Committee, a citizen group that has worked with the Berkeley Unified School District for two years, has developed the outlines of an alternative plan. 

At the Wednesday night school board meeting, the committee recommended that the district, in assigning students, weigh some combination of four factors: household income, parental education level, English proficiency and single-parent family status. 

The citizen group will present a more detailed plan at the board’s Nov. 20 meeting and will seek public input at a Dec. 4 forum. The board is currently scheduled to vote on a final plan Dec. 11, but indicated Wednesday night that it may delay the vote until after Christmas. 

Nancy Riddle, an advisory committee member and newly-elected school board member who will take office next month, said the group’s proposal has tested well in simulations. Although it does not weigh race, she said, it still results in the sort of ethnically-diverse schools that are currently in place. 

But school board members worry that, as Berkeley demographics change, the new system may not continue to produce racially-mixed schools. 

Roia Ferrazares, also of the Student Assignment Advisory Committee, counters that the district could track racial diversity, English proficiency and other factors from year-to-year and make adjustments in school assignments. 

But Sharon Browne, an attorney with Sacramento-based Pacific Legal Foundation, which sued the Huntington Beach district, warned against using measures like household income and English proficiency as stand-ins for race. 

“If they’re using different social indicators as a proxy for race, that would violate Proposition 209,” she said. 

Contact reporter at scharfenberg@ 

berkeleydailyplanet.net

Some feel America is now trading personal liberty for increased security in the current fight against terrorism. Opinions about the wisdom of this choice vary along the political spectrum. 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre chimed in on the question Wednesday with the opening of “Menocchio,” a new play written and directed by Lillian Groag. 

Intended as a cautionary tale about today’s narrowing political climate, “Menocchio” is a comedy/drama about one man’s discovery of independent thought in 16th century Italy. 

Playwright Groag is a well-known director of New York, regional and international opera and theater who has made forays into the world of scriptwriting in recent years. 

Berkeley Rep showcased her wonderful “Magic Fire” a few seasons back. The play about European immigrants to South America was based on Groag’s own family. 

Her “Ladies of the Camellias,” about dueling turn-of-the-century stage divas Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse, has been widely produced. 

Berkeley Rep’s “Menocchio” proves to be a strong technical production of a script that’s not quite there yet. Its black-and-white, good-and-evil story tends to be obvious and simplistic, and lecture downwards towards its audience. 

Based on an actual historical figure, Menocchio (Charles Dean) is an uneducated man and the operator of a mill. Taught to read by a local priest (Peter Van Norden) during fishing trips, Menocchio then reads a few banned books.  

He becomes fascinated with ideas about science, religion and other heresies. Word of his love of thinking filters through the community and reaches the ears of the church, which puts him on trial before an inquisitor. 

The acting is good in this production. Charles Dean is an amusing, twitching Menocchio, simultaneously both a simple man and a burgeoning thinker, discovering new parts of himself. 

Jeri Lynn Cohen is loving and sarcastic as his witty, agitated wife, concerned that Menocchio will get himself in trouble with the authorities. 

Dan Hiatt is wonderful as Menocchio’s worried friend Bastian. In one of the show’s highlights, Hiatt plays a hilarious succession of five characters brought in as witnesses in the church trial of Menocchio. 

Van Norden has amusing moments as the exasperated local priest, fearful that Menocchio’s unorthodox ideas will land him in the soup. Robert Sicular plays several roles effectively, including a foppish local nobleman and a vicious state prosecutor. 

Ken Ruta creates an interesting, multi-faceted church inquisitor with a low-key manner in the play’s second half. 

Designer Alexander V. Nichols has staged the action on an enormous astrolabe, a device for measuring the stars. The astrolabe rotates, and people rotate on it, as a reminder in this world of feudal religious views that we are part of a solar system governed by laws of science. 

“Menocchio” is a bit like a Mime Troupe show, but not a great Mime Troupe show. Broad agitprop, it is written in humorous, anachronistic, modern-day speech. 

Especially in the first half, the story tends to be black and white politically. Further, the humor of the script seems labored. The work of making it funny falls on the shoulders of the actors. 

Because the play tips its message early, it doesn’t have anywhere to go thematically. The message seems patronizing in its unsubtleness. The audience doesn’t learn so much as watch a tableau of sarcasm and ridicule. 

A cartoony description of evolution, for example, sends a frightened crowd fleeing from a bar. Later, a debate between Menocchio and the priest on their differing views reiterates the obvious. 

In the second act, when the play sets a serious tone at Menocchio’s trial, it is often more successful. Carried away with humorous self-confidence, Dean comes alive in a wonderful interaction with Ruta’s subtle, disturbing inquisitor,  

“Menocchio” is a cautionary story about intellectual freedom. But there’s a self-contradiction in this tale about the importance of thinking. The play asks the big questions, but before allowing the audience to think about them, quickly slips in the answers.

Thursday was a bittersweet day for the St. Mary’s High cross country team, as the Panthers got one outstanding individual performance but saw their team hopes fall away at the Bay Shore Athletic League championship. 

Sophomore Gabriela Rios-Sotelo won the girls’ race by more than a minute, extending the St. Mary’s run of girls champions to four straight seasons. Current Cal runner Bridget Duffy won the last three BSAL titles for the Panthers. 

But it was Piedmont High that carried the day, winning both the girls’ and boys’ team titles. While the St. Mary’s coaches were prepared for the Highlanders’ depth to carry them in the girls’ race, the sloppy conditions and an outstanding effort from Piedmont kept the Panthers from contesting the boys’ race. 

After a steady downpour made the Joaquin Miller Park course a little muddy, a deluge just before the boys’ race made it a veritable pigsty. Combine steep, muddy hills with a pack of runners jostling for position and a fall is inevitable. Unfortunately for the Panthers, the tumble came from their best runner, sophomore Tino Rodriguez. Just after tossing his fogged-up glasses to coach Jeff Rogers, Rodriguez fell on a downhill stretch, moving him back three crucial spots. 

With each team’s first five finishers scoring points, the Highlanders looked like easy winners when their first four runners were in second, fourth, fifth and seventh place. The St. Mary’s runners came in almost as a pack, with Scott Howard taking eighth, Martinez ninth and Matt Mullarkey 10th. Emilio Flores and Jake Texara came in 12th and 14th, respectively, to close out the Panthers’ scoring, and all that was left was to wait for Piedmont’s fifth runner. St. Mary’s needed Joey Aurora to come in later than 34th, a hope that was dashed when he finished just behind the 24th competitor to lock up his school’s second title of the day. 

“I don’t think we lost it as much as Piedmont won it,” Rogers said. “They just ran a great race. Even if Tino hadn’t fallen, we wouldn’t have won.” 

On the girls’ side, Piedmont dominated the competition, but St. Mary’s sophomore Emily Olsen made a good showing. Considering her goal was to finish in the top seven, Olsen’s fourth-place finish was a remarkable achievement. But it was Rios-Sotelo who stole the show, increasing her lead on every lap and establishing herself as a favorite in the North Coast Section race in two weeks.

To the Editor: 

What stands in the way of success in our several wars? 

At first, our “War on Poverty” went OK, but eventually we lost ground and now seem to have given up. Our “War on Crime” continues, but it’s hard to say who’s winning. The net result of our “War on Drugs,” according to reports, is more drugs. Will our “War on Terrorism” follow the same inconclusive routine? What’s wrong? 

I found the answer a few weeks ago when I read about the opening of a brand new Air Force headquarters. A detachment of military personnel will be armed and ready for deployment, not against an enemy outside our borders, but anywhere there is trouble in the homeland. 

This proves that vital parts of our governing body are susceptible to the “American Policy Virus.” All policy-making organs are vulnerable; for instance, the use of vouchers to fix our broken down educational system may be the result of infection by the AP Virus. The AP Virus consists of: (a) identifying a problem, (b) giving it a name, and (c) using the name to deduce policy measures aimed at eliminating the problem. The active ingredient is (c). 

Very soon after the mass murder of 9/11, the Bush administration labeled the problem war, and as a metaphor, the label carried a double whammy – we do not take war lightly and once engaged we use every available resource to win. Then the AP Virus set in and our governing body proceeded to deduce policy measures from its metaphoric label – witness the almost unanimous passage of the so-called Patriot Act. 

An apt metaphor brings focus to a problem in the same way that a book’s title focuses attention on its contents. The AP Virus, in effect, causes the governing body to wave the book’s title fatuously about instead of opening the book, i.e. trying to find out what we can by rational analysis. 

It remains to be seen how much effect the AP Virus will have on the problem of worldwide terrorism. Is seems obvious that war as metaphor leads nowhere. 

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo

Friday, Nov. 8  

Alexander Cockburn’s Incendiary Rants 

7 p.m. 

AK Press Warehouse, 673-A 23rd St. 

Release party for muckraking maverick Alexander Cockburn’s new spoken word CD “Beating the Devil” 

208-1700 

Free 

Berkeley Women in Black Vigil 

Bancroft at Telegraph Ave. 

Weekly protest to “End the Occupation” 

Saturday, Nov. 9 

Book Sale and Auction 

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

The Center for AIDS Services, 5720 Shattuck Ave., Oakland 

This big sale will benefit the AIDS center 

655-3435 

An Afternoon of Mystery  

2 p.m. 

1901 Russell St. 

Berkeley’s South Branch Library presents mystery writers Jake Fuchs “Death of a Prof”, Owen Hill “The Chandler Apartments”, and Mary Halock “The Dog on the Roof” 

525-3948 

Free 

Sunday, Nov. 10 

World Run Day-national charity benefit 

All day 

Various cities across the nation  

(516) 859-3000, www.runday.com 

Tuesday, Nov. 12 

Holiday Craft Baazar 

10 a.m. to noon 

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

Handmade items, sweet treats, and knick knacks will be for sale. All are welcome 

845-6830 

Wednesday, Nov. 13 

Public Lecture by the Rev. Canon Naim Ateek 

7:30 p.m. 

UCC, on Dana St. between Durant and Channing 

Founder of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center and native of East Jerusalem, Rev. Ateek will lead a discussion sponsored by the First Congregational Church of Berkeley (UCC) and the Pacific School of Religion 

848-3696 

$10/ suggested donation 

League of Women Voters Meeting 

Noon 

LWVBAE office, 1414 University Ave. 

Discussion will focus on regional issues 

849-2154 

Thursday, Nov. 14 

Regret to Inform  

Reception 6:30 p.m. / Program 7 p.m. 

Berkeley High School Auditorium, 2234 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

A screening and discussion with filmmaker Barbara Sonneborn. 

979-0190, liz_vogel@facing.org 

Free 

Berkeley Path Wanderers Meeting 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. 

Meeting to include a presentation by best- selling author Adah Bakalinsky who will speak about her book, “Stairway Walks of San Francisco” 

Friday, Nov. 15 

“Imagining A World Without Prison” Opening Night Benefit 

8 p.m. to 1 a.m. 

Black Box, 1928 Telegraph Ave. 

The Prison Activist Resource Center events features dynamic speakers, music, art, and food. The exhibit, which features writing and artwork from prisoners, former prisoners, and family members of prisoners, runs Nov. 10 to 30  

For more information call 893-4648 or visit www.prisonactivist.org 

$5- $25 sliding scale 

Berkeley Free Folk Festival Meting 

4 p.m. 

2180 Milvia Way, 5th Floor, Red Bud Room 

Discuss final site location, date of 2003 festival, and volunteers 

649-1423, hlih@yahoo.com 

Free 

Saturday, Nov. 16 

Latina Leadership Conference 

9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Campus 

Lambda Theta Nu Sorority Inc. will provide non-college bound Latinas information about options in higher education and tackle the high drop out rate of Latina girls  

Free 

Puppet Show at the Hall of Health 

1:30 to 2:30 p.m. 

2230 Shattuck Ave, lower level 

Al children adn their parents are invited to see the award-winning puppet troupe, The Kids on the Block 

549-1564 

Suggested donation $2/ children under three free 

The First Ever Integrative Medicine Conference in Berkeley 

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

2060 Valley Life Science Building at the UC Berkeley campus 

Interactive day of speakers and workshops exploring alternative, complementary, and integrative medicine as a whole 

For information or reservations see www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~sim/conference 

$5 with pre-registration 

Sunday, Nov. 17 

17th Annual Jewish Genealogy Workshop 

12:30 to 4 p.m. 

Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 

Lectures and specialty sessions included 

Info at www.jewishgen.org/sfbajgs 

$5 for non-members 

Simplicity Forum 

7 to 8:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, Claremont Branch, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 

cecile@simplicitycircles.com 

Free 

Monday, Nov. 18 

Community Meeting 

6 to 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Alternative High School, 2107 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

Led by the Superintendent, this discussion aims to serve as a collaboration towards establishing a long-term planning process 

R.S.V.P. to Queen Graham  

644-87649 

Women and Welfare Reform: Who Benefits and Who Loses? 

5 to 6:30 p.m. 

Women’s Faculty Club Lounge, UCB 

Lecture featuring Mimi Abramowitz of CUNY’s Hunter College 

Struggles for Racial Justice in Education 

4:30 to 6:30 p.m. 

Oakland Technical High School Library, 45th and Broadway, Oakland 

The Peace and Justice Caucus of the Oakland Education Association sponsors this event, which addresses race, youth, and education through a variety of community speakers 

654-8613 or jzern1@yahoo.com 

Tuesday, Nov. 19 

Concensus Unit: State Community College Study 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, Central Branch 

Community Room 

Shattuck Ave. and Kittredge 

Sponsored by the Berkeley League of Women Voters 

549-9719 

History and Planting of Golden Gate Park 

1 p.m. business meeting, 2 p.m. program 

Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 

The Berkeley Garden Club presents Ernest Ng, volunteer city guide, who will speak about the history and planting of San Francisco’s historic park 

524-4374 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers 

9:30 a.m. 

Meet at Little Farm parking lot, Tilden Regional Park 

Join seniors and other slower walkers and enjoy the beauty of Tilden Park 

Contact Yvette Hoffner at 215-7672 or teachme88@yahoo.com 

Berkeley Intelligent Conversation 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St.  

Join the bimonthly discussion group informally led by fomer UC Berkeley extension lecturer, investment advisor and finncial planner Robert Berend. Open to all. Please bring light snacks or drinks to share. This session’s topic: To be determined by those present 

527-5332 

Free 

Friday, Nov. 8 

The Librarians, Bitesize, and Glitter Mini 9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

All age show 

$7 

Chaskinakuy 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

Beautiful vocal harmonies in Spanish and Quechua 

548-1761 

$15.50-$16.50 

An Evening of Cultural Harmony 

8 p.m. 

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

The Barbard Ensemble, the San Francisco Klezmer Experience, and Lichi Fuentes & Jackeline Rago will treat listeners to music from Iran, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. 

704-7480 x755 

$25 general admission 

Black Dice, Dearly Departed (ex-Subtonix), and The Mass 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

$8 

Saturday, Nov. 9 

An Evening of Cultural Harmony 

8 p.m. 

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

The Barbard Ensemble, the San Francisco Klezmer Experience, and Lichi Fuentes & Jackeline Rago will treat listeners to music from Iran, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. 

704-7480 x755 

$25 general admission 

Sunday, Nov. 10 

The Sheldon Brown Group 

4:30 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

Reservations: 845-5373 

$10-$15 

The Starry Irish Music Session with Shay Black 

8 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Tickets available on a sliding scale 

Monday, Nov. 11 

Renegade Sidemen 

8 p.m. 

Anna’s Jazz Bistro, 1801 University Ave. 

Featuring Calving Keyes 

$4 

Tuesday, Nov. 12 

Open Mike with Ellen Hoffman Trio 

8 p.m. 

Anna’s Jazz Bistro, 1801 University Ave. 

$4 

Wednesday, Nov. 13 

Classical Piano Concert 

1:15 p.m. 

North Bekeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. at MLK 

Solange Buillaume will be playing Beethoven, Bach and other cassical works 

Free  

John Wesley Harding 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

Harding’s biting social commentary and outrageous humor blend seamlessly with his warm, personal songs. 

548-1761 

$15.50-$16.50 

Jimmy Ryan Jazz Quartet 

8 p.m. 

Anna’s Jazz Bistro, 1801 University Ave. 

$4 

Thursday, Nov. 14 

Peter Mulvey, Mark Erelly 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

21+ 

$10 

Alef Null 

8 p.m. 

Anna’s Jazz Bistro, 1801 University Ave. 

Moroccan and Kurdish music 

$4 

Friday, Nov. 15 

Walter “Ogi” Johnson and His Native American Flute 

7:30 p.m. 

Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar St. 

Fellowship Cafe & Open Mike is sponsored by the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists. Poets, singers, musicians, and storytellers are invited to sign up for the open mike.  

540-0898 

$5-$10 donation 

Classis Jazz with Anna de Leon 

8 p.m. 

Anna’s Jazz Bistro, 1801 University Ave. 

$4 

Cynthia Dall 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

21+ 

$8 

Saturday, Nov. 16 

An Evening of Choral Music 

7 p.m. 

Pacific School of Religion Chapel, 1798 Scenic Ave. 

A wide variety of choral styles from Bay Area groups including Voci, Opus-Q, Let’s Do It!, and New Spirit Community Church Choir 

849-8280 

$15-$20, sliding scale 

Jeff Tauber and Friends 

8 p.m. 

Anna’s Jazz Bistro, 1801 University Ave. 

$5 

Sunday, Nov. 17 

Mingus Amungus 

4:30 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

This seven-piece band combines be-bop, funk and hip hop jazz. 

845-5373 

$10-$15 

“Shove Off to Birthday Island” 

Through Nov. 30 

Reception Nov. 2 from 5 to 8 p.m. 

Tue. through Sat., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

Ardency Gallery, 709 Broadway, Oakland 

A collaborative exhibition of Tonya Solley Thornton and Frank Haines including video and sculptural installations. 

836-0831 

Children of the Gulf War Photo Exhibit 

Through Nov. 30 

Mon. through Thurs., 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

Fri. through Sat.., 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

Sun., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 

Featuring works of Takashi Morizumi 

Information: www.savewarchildren.org 

Ceramics - Opening Reception 

Through Nov. 17 

3 to 5 p.m. 

A New Leaf Gallery, 1286 Gilman St. 

525-7621 

Free 

“Recent Acquisitions” 

Through Dec. 14 

Thurs. through Sat., 1 to 4 p.m. 

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

848-0181 

Free 

Menocchio 

Nov. 6 through Dec. 22 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St. 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre presents the world premiere of Lillian Groag’s charged comedy 

647-2949, www.berkeleyrep.org  

$38 and $54/ sliding scale 

Saturday Nov. 9 

Dorothy Allison and Jewelle Gomez appear in support of Boadecia’s Books 

8 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church 

559-9184 

$25/ sliding scale 

Tuesday, Nov. 12 

Open Mic 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

7:30 p.m. 

Free 

Wednesday, Nov. 13 

Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik 

8:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Cash prizes up to $90 

21+ 

$7/ general, $5/ students with ID 

Friday, Nov. 8 

“El Che” 

7 p.m. 

Redwood Gardens, 2951 Derby St. 

Film screening followed by salsa dancing to support Berkeley’s Cuban Sister-City Palma Soriano. 

548-6941 

$10 / sliding scale 

“Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times” 

7:30 p.m. 

First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way 

The Middle East Children’s Alliance will premiere a new film. 

548-0542 

$15 

Berkeley progressives weren’t the only ones cheering on election night. 

While the far left celebrated gains on City Council, more conservative tax and spending opponents won an unprecedented victory with voters rejecting three of four proposed tax measures. 

Ballot initiatives calling for new taxes to pay for pedestrian safety, affordable housing and a retrofit of old City Hall were all soundly rejected. Only a property tax increase to pay for a new animal shelter met with voter approval. 

“The story of this election was a tax revolt,” said Bob Migdal, a former candidate for the 4th District City Council seat. He argued that mounting city budget deficits and middle class hardships had soured residents on supporting tax hikes for new spending. 

“Look at Proposition M,” Migdal said, referring to a call to increase the tax on home sales to pay for affordable housing, homelessness prevention and apartment retrofits. “Everybody [in council] signed on to that and it lost overwhelmingly. The old Berkeley would have approved it,” he said. 

In fairness to Berkeley’s tax and spend reputation, California law makes it hard to do either. A two-thirds vote is required to pass a ballot measure raising taxes. 

Until Tuesday, that was almost never a serious hurdle. 

Since 1997 Berkeley voters have passed eight of nine ballot initiatives calling for higher taxes. 

The only tax measure defeated by voters was a 2000 initiative that proposed property tax hikes to pay for new street lights. Though losing, the measure garnered 63 percent of the vote. 

This year, Measure M won only 51 percent of the vote. Measure L, which would have increased property taxes to raise $10 million for pedestrian safety improvements fared a little better, winning 54 percent support. The most expensive ballot initiative, Measure J, which asked property owners to cough up $21.5 million to retrofit old City Hall was soundly defeated. Only 40 percent of voters supported the plan. 

Deputy City Attorney Phil Kamlarz chalked the defeat of the tax measures to the weak economy. “Berkeley voters have been very generous and they may have reached a saturation point,” he said. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington who championed Measures M and L agreed. “[In other years] the city was awash in cash, people were awash in cash,” he said. 

Now, according to recent budget information, Berkeley is running a $2.1 million deficit, which is projected to swell to $6.4 million in two years. Last month, council approved a temporary spending freeze until plans for the next two-year budget are finalized in June. 

Worthington though didn’t think voter rejection of the ballot measures amounted to a tax revolution. He said that if council had put fewer tax initiatives on the ballot, they may have won enough support to win.  

I think a lot of people saw all the tax measures on the ballot and said ‘OK, I’ll vote for three,’ said Worthington. “If we only had the animal shelter, pedestrian safety and affordable housing [on the ballot], I think they all might have won.” 

With Berkeley lacking in funds and tax hikes rejected, city officials need to find creative ways to fund programs.  

City Housing Director Stephen Barton said he would try to get more grant money to pay for building affordable housing, but said the city might have to tank its program to help keep at-risk, low-income residents from becoming homeless. 

“The city is facing a bunch of nasty trade-offs,” he said. “There are a lot of programs that are all good and important. I don’t know how you make trade-offs between child care and emergency assistance to keep people in their homes.” 

Contact reporter at matt@ 

berkeleydailyplanet.net 

NEW YORK — Three British exports from rock’s “new wave” of the late 1970s — The Police, The Clash and Elvis Costello and the Attractions — will join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year. 

They’ll be inducted along with the Righteous Brothers, blue-eyed soul singers of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” and Australian hard rockers AC/DC. 

The 18th annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held March 10 in New York and televised later on VH1. 

The Police’s relatively short career included hits such as “Roxanne” and “Every Breath You Take.” Lead singer Sting maintains an active solo career.

Having already clinched a league title, the Berkeley High girls volleyball team moved one step closer to its third consecutive undefeated Alameda-Contra Costa Athletic League season on Thursday with a straight-set win (15-1, 15-6, 15-7) over El Cerrito High. 

As the Yellowjackets’ last regular-season home game, Thursday night was Senior Night, and Berkeley (20-10 overall, 13-0 ACCAL) seniors certainly came through with the spotlight on them. All four of the elder members of the team had good performances, led by middle blocker Vanessa Williams’ 12 kills, nine digs and four aces. Her front line partner, outside hitter Amalia Jarvis, had six kills, 10 digs and two aces, while setter Danielle Larue served up six aces. Rachel Phillips, who is a spot starter, took advantage of her increased court time with a season-high six kills to go with 12 digs. 

Berkeley has just one match left, a Tuesday match against Alameda High, in the way of an unblemished league record. Head coach Justin Caraway said he is “cautiously optimistic” that his team can run the table, which may be a bit of an understatement. Caraway’s squad hasn’t lost more than one game in an ACCAL match in the three years since joining the league, and Berkeley’s dominance doesn’t seem likely to end anytime soon. 

After the regular season, the Jackets will try to duplicate their remarkable North Coast Section title run of last year. Although several players are back from the upset wins over Bishop O’Dowd High and Castro Valley High, Berkeley’s subpar performance against top competition this year has Caraway a little nervous. 

“O’Dowd will be a mental hurdle again, because they’ve beaten us so many times,” Caraway said. “I also have no idea where we’ll be seeded because we have so many losses. I don’t know how that will affect us.” 

Berkeley came out on fire against El Cerrito (5-8 ACCAL), with Jarvis and Williams pounding the ball all over the court. Although the Jackets did let up in the subsequent games, allowing the Gauchos some easy points, Caraway was pleased with the emotion his players brought to the match. 

“I thought we came out and played very well in the first game, really put [El Cerrito] on their heels,” he said. “We lost some focus from there. We’ve struggled with the mental challenge of playing weaker teams all season.”

o the Editor: 

Thank you Daily Planet. Web site sfgate.com couldn't provide sufficient election news. Not very surprising that sfbayguardian.com was asleep mid-week, and why did I waste time checking the Oakland Tribune and the San Jose Mercury News? Perhaps it's the agricultural runoff I've been drinking in the tap water. 

Thank you for being there in our own little planet so that I could get the news of Election Day. 

Sarah Savage 

Davis

After a several block car chase, police tracked down one of two armed robbers who put a gun to three UC Berkeley students early Thursday. 

According to police, the three students were standing on the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Channing Way at 12:41 a.m. when a man wearing a ski mask, whipped out a long black shotgun and demanded their money. 

The victims complied, and the suspect ran into a red get-away car, driven by an accomplice, said Officer Mary Kusmiss. 

Police were notified, and began searching the area. A patrol officer spotted the car at Shattuck Avenue and Channing Way and drove after the suspects, south on Shattuck and then west on Dwight Way. 

The suspects fled their moving car at Dwight and Martin Luther King Junior Way. Officers chased down one of the suspects behind a fence on the 2500 block of Martin Luther King.  

A search of the suspects’ car, which plowed into a tree on the 1800 block of Dwight, turned up a shotgun, a pistol and the victims’ belongings. 

Police arrested Jonathan Agreda, 19, from Oakland on charges of armed robbery and possession of a loaded gun. 

To the Editor: 

Do we need polling places? Do we need ballot glitches? Computer failures? Inept workers? Lines and traffic? 

My absentee ballots work just fine and, of course, includes the full identity of the voter. Most of us fill in those sample ballots we all get anyway. Why can’t we all vote by mail, saving a great deal of money and major headaches? 

I suspect we would get more voters as well. 

Gerta Farber 

Oakland

ACRAMENTO — Four former members of the Symbionese Liberation Army accused of killing a woman during a 1975 bank robbery pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Thursday. 

The four are William Harris; his ex-wife, Emily Montague; Michael Bortin; and Sara Jane Olson, who is already serving 14 years behind bars for a 1975 attempt to blow up two Los Angeles police cars. 

They face prison terms of six to eight years in the plea agreement they entered in Sacramento County Superior Court. Sentencing is scheduled Feb. 14. 

The pleas bring the legal proceedings involving the SLA, the radical group that became prominent when it kidnapped newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst in 1974, almost to an end. 

Montague admitted in court that she had pulled the trigger in the shotgun slaying of 42-year-old Myrna Opsahl during an April 21, 1975, robbery of the Crocker National Bank in suburban Sacramento. Montague received the longest term of eight years. 

Opsahl’s death was “a very violent, horrific senseless crime,” said Sacramento County Assistant District Attorney Robert Gold. 

Montague, 55, fought back tears and said the shotgun discharged accidentally. 

“I was horrified at the time,” she said. “There has not been a day in the last 27 years that I have not thought of Mrs. Opsahl and the tragedy I brought on her family.” 

She also denied ever calling Mrs. Opsahl a “bourgeois pig,” as Hearst alleged in her 1982 book, “Every Secret Thing.” Montague said she didn’t want anyone to think she considered Opsahl’s life insignificant. 

All four former SLA members apologized to Opsahl’s family, sitting in the front row of the courtroom. 

“I say that from the bottom of my heart,” said Harris, 57, of Oakland. He faces a seven-year sentence, unless he can convince prosecutors and Judge Cecil Thomas to lower it to six years, which Thomas called “an uphill battle.” 

Olson, 55, of St. Paul, Minn., will receive a six-year sentence under the plea agreement. She will be allowed to withdraw her plea if the state’s parole board disagrees with that agreement, authorities said. 

“I never entered that bank with the intent of harming anyone,” Olson said. “I am truly sorry, and I will be sorry until the day I die.” 

The state Board of Prison Terms in October lengthened Olson’s original prison term for the attempted bombing by five years, citing the potential for violence and harm from the multiple intended victims. 

Bortin, 54, a Portland flooring contractor, also received a six-year sentence. 

During the robbery, Bortin said in court Thursday, he held a handgun that he “waved a little bit” and was the one who announced it was a robbery. 

He was “devastated and very ashamed” about his role in the robbery and murder, Bortin said. “I know it doesn’t mean much to say I am sorry to the family. ... I just cannot imagine how horrible it must be.” 

Bortin said the actions of the revolutionary band did “horrible damage” to people who peacefully protested social conditions. 

The guilty pleas essentially mirror Hearst’s account of a bank robbery that wound up with an unintentional shooting. 

Hearst gave “the FBI this information first in 1976 and then she wrote a book about it in 1982 and from what I understand the information ... from the defendants in absolutely consistent,” said George Martinez, Hearst’s attorney. “Her reaction is basically gratitude that this chapter in her life may now hopefully be finished.” 

A fifth suspect in the case, James Kilgore, 55, has been a fugitive since the 1970s. 

Before the pleas, prosecutors had been building their case in the 27-year-old robbery and murder. They cited new forensic evidence in bringing the charges after the 1999 arrest of Olson, who had moved to Minnesota in the 1970s, changed her name from Kathleen Soliah and became a housewife and mother. 

Gold cited several reasons for accepting the pleas, including “evidentiary difficulties” that existed even when the case was fresh. Gold also explained that while the defendants were violent criminals at the time, for the last 20 years or more, “each defendant has led an otherwise law-abiding life,” and is no longer is a danger to society. 

He said the Opsahl family agreed to the case’s resolution as long as the defendant each publicly admitted responsibility for Myrna Opsahl’s death. 

All agreed to pay restitution if requested by the family, and to give up any rights to profit from selling their version of the high-profile national case. 

Myrna Opsahl’s son, Jon Opsahl, who led the fight to see his mother’s killers arrested and tried, was in the front row of the courtroom, sitting next to his widower father. 

A smiling Opsahl declined comment, saying “I want to see it before I believe it.” 

Olson, the only defendant in custody, appeared wearing orange pants, a yellow top, and was shackled at the wrists and ankles.

To the Editor: 

I and others in the coffee trade are glad that Measure O, the coffee initiative, went down to defeat. It was a short-sighted approach to a complex problem that could not have been solved by vote but rather by education of the public to the importance of what is an arguably better product, produced with greater respect to worthy concerns. 

In the future, the coffee trade will develop along the lines desired by Rick Young; that is already happening now. 

Consumer demand will drive the specialty coffee trade to produce more organic coffees to satisfy that demand. It is essential for the public to remember that their dollars are power – and that business has to answer to that power. 

John Rippo 

Publisher and editor, ESPRESSO 

San Diego 

Julia Wildwood, the 56-year-old grandmother who left Berkeley in late September to walk to Washington D.C., is now in Flagstaff, Arizona. 

Fed up with high rents and the sluggish job market, and facing the prospect of homelessness after the financial failure of her Berkeley baking business Looney Moon Cookies, the social activist decided she wanted out.  

“Those who know me know that writing and organizing for peace and justice has been my calling for some 33 years,” Wildwood said. “Those with a similar calling can relate to the difficulty of balancing such purpose with making a living.” 

Wildwood's solution to the dilemma was, simply, to walk. She left Berkeley Sept. 30 with nothing more than a backpack, a hat, sunglasses and two walking sticks. 

“Call it a protest. What it will accomplish, I don't know,” she said. 

With five weeks of the trek under her belt, Wildwood said she has had many adventures, including a spat with an armed security guard over a broken ATM machine. However, she says she’s “met mostly caring people along the way.” 

Wildwood expects to reach Washington, D.C. by June, 2003. 

– Melissa McRobbie

To The Editor: 

Leon Mayeri's selective views and history of Berkeley's voter-approved 1980 Rent Stabilization Ordinance quite literally turn reality on its head (Forum Oct. 24). 

Mr. Mayeri's suggestion that a 45 percent across-the-board rent hike between 1990 and 1994 – the greatest rent increase in rent board history – was “anything but disastrous” for Berkeley's 19,200 rent controlled households is unfortunate. For tenants living in Berkeley at the time, the economic impact of this rent hike was, without exaggeration, staggering. 

Passed by a real estate industry-backed rent board majority, this 45 percent rent hike led directly to the 1994 landslide election victory of an affordable housing rent board slate. Since 1994, affordable housing majorities have won four consecutive rent board elections by wide margins – a solid vote of confidence by Berkeley's voters. 

In his letter, Mr. Mayeri cites a 1990 court decision (the “Searle Decision”) that pertained to the Rent Board. Mr. Mayeri implies that this court decision “ordered” the Rent Board to raise rents across-the-board by 45 percent. This notion is a myth. 

The Searle Decision never mandated or cited a specific rent level adjustment, percentage or number. The judge's decision only required the Rent Board to address the concerns of property owners who owned or bought Berkeley rental units before 1980 – the year Berkeley's rent control program started. 

Seizing upon this 1990 court decision at the time, the real estate-backed Rent Board majority first imposed an arbitrary 28 percent citywide rent hike, then passed additional rent hikes totaling 17 percent over four years (45 percent total). 

The board also imposed this 45 percent increase upon thousands of renters who lived in units purchased by property owners after 1980 – a clear contradiction of the Searle decision's intent. Taken together, all 19,000 rent controlled units were blindsided by these unreasonable and egregious rent increases. 

Finally, Mr. Mayeri complains that no study has ever been conducted to determine the household income of Berkeley tenants (“for fear of revealing the facts” about renter income levels). In fact, the 1990 U.S. Census details both Berkeley renter and property owner income levels. According to the U.S. Census, the median renter-occupied household income stood at $19,000. The median owner-occupied Berkeley household stood at $50,000. Meanwhile, the value of Berkeley property has exploded by 300 to 400 percent between 1980 and 2000. 

George Azar 

Berkeley

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Two collegiate powerhouses, Yale and Stanford, have decided to take some of the stress out of the admissions process by ending their binding early decision programs. 

Starting next fall, students will be able to apply early but won’t be forced to attend if they get in. 

The presidents of both universities hope their switch to nonbinding “early action” policies will prompt other top colleges to end their binding early decision programs, which have been criticized for putting too much pressure on high school students. 

“This new policy offers those who have set their hearts on attending Stanford the opportunity to apply early in their senior year, without the additional pressure of having to commit before they are ready,” President John Hennessy said in a statement Wednesday. 

Binding early decision policies are especially difficult for students who need financial aid, because they cannot weigh aid offers from competing schools. 

Yale and Stanford’s new policies, however, won’t allow early applicants to apply for other nonbinding programs — unlike Harvard, which does. Harvard also does not require students who apply early to attend if they are accepted. 

Yale President Richard Levin acknowledged that the change may cost the Ivy League school up to 20 percent of its top applicants. 

“Our final thinking was that it would be unfortunate, but the value of making the change outweighs the concern,” Levin said. “Early decision programs help colleges more than applicants.” 

Early decision started at most elite colleges to allow top students to win admission to their first choice without having to go through the longer admissions process. Students apply in the fall, instead of in the spring. 

It’s not clear what effect the changes at Yale and Stanford will have on other top colleges. 

Brown, which reluctantly started offering early decision last year, is considering whether to alter its policy, university admissions officials have said. 

Princeton has no plans to change its binding early admissions program, spokeswoman Lauren Robinson-Brown said. 

SAN JOSE — A San Jose boy is lucky to be alive, and uninjured, after he and some friends decided to try a stunt they saw in the movie “Jackass.” 

The 14-year-old was spotted running down North Sixth Street in the downtown area by a San Jose Police officer on patrol Tuesday. The officer noticed him because he was yelling -- and his sweatshirt was on fire. 

“The flames were going above his head,” San Jose Police spokesman Sgt. Steve Dixon said this morning. 

The officer immediately pulled over, got a fire extinguisher from the trunk of her patrol car and sprayed the boy down.  

Amazingly, he suffered no burns and did not require any medical treatment, according to Dixon, who attributes that to the officer being in the right place at the right time. 

After the boy had been extinguished, the officer noticed a wet shirt around his neck. Dixon said the boy told her he and his friends had just seen the movie “Jackass” and he volunteered to be the guinea pig when the three decided to emulate one of the stunts for fun. 

The shirt had been dampened with lighter fluid. 

The boy was returned home to his mother, who “was not very happy,” Dixon said. 

“Jackass,” a movie based on the controversial MTV television series, stars Johnny Knoxville and a group of men who go around performing “a variety of strange, painful and often humiliating stunts for the amusement of themselves and those around them,” according to the movie's producers. 

Both the television series and the movie begin with this warning: “The following show features stunts performed either by professionals or under the supervision of professionals. Accordingly, MTV and the producers must insist that no one attempt to recreate or reenact any stunt or activity performed on this show. MTV insists that our viewers do not send in any home  

footage of themselves or others being jackasses. We will not open or view any submissions, so don't waste your time.” 

Regardless of the warning, Tuesday's incident in San Jose isn't the first time life has tried to imitate the new-age “art.” 

In January 2001, a 13-year-old Connecticut boy suffered second-degree burns when he copied a “Jackass” stunt in which Knoxville laid down on a barbecue in a fire-resistant suit hung with steaks. 

An 11-year-old boy, also from Connecticut, burned himself copying a stunt in which he soaked a rag with engine degreaser, wrapped it around his leg and set it on fire. 

In April 2001, an Ohio teen was injured after trying to jump over a moving car, a stunt that his friends videotaped and that spawned a lawsuit from the teen's parents.

SAN DIEGO — Jurors were asked Thursday to decide whether a county toxicologist murdered her husband to keep her drug use and office affair a secret or if he committed suicide. 

The seven-man, five-woman Superior Court jury began deliberating after two days of closing arguments. 

Kristin Rossum, 26, is accused of poisoning Gregory de Villers with a massive dose of fentanyl, a painkiller 80 times more powerful than morphine. 

His body was found in the couple’s bedroom on Nov. 6, 2000, with red rose petals scattered around him and a wedding photo propped up nearby. 

Rossum is charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances. She faces life in prison without possibility of parole if convicted. 

Prosecutors contend Rossum killed her husband to keep him from revealing to her employers at the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office that she was a methamphetamine addict who was stealing drugs from work and having an affair with her boss, Chief Toxicologist Michael Robertson. 

In his closing argument Thursday, defense attorney Alex Loebig said there was no reason for Rossum to poison her husband, whose death was a tragic, unexpected suicide. 

The defense contended de Villers killed himself because he was despondent that his wife was about to leave him for Robertson. Loebig also said Rossum was not afraid her colleagues would learn of her affair because many of them already knew about it. 

“This idea of a secret relationship ... is malarkey. It’s not true,” he said. 

Prosecutor Dave Hendren claimed she had motive and thorough knowledge of the drug that killed him — as well as easy access to it. 

“She is a poison expert,” Hendren said in rebuttal. “Greg de Villers was killed with the perfect poison.” 

Prosecutors allege Rossum staged a suicide scene, scattering rose petals around him to mimic a scene from her favorite film, “American Beauty,” then placed a wedding photo nearby.

San Francisco's Nancy Pelosi moved Thursday to become the highest ranking Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, after Rep. Richard Gephardt announced he would step aside. 

Following the Democrats' poor showing in congressional races around the nation, Gephardt announced he would let others take the day-to-day reins while he took stock of the overall situation. 

Pelosi released a statement thanking the departing Democratic leader and supporting his vision and values. But she also said she planned to become a candidate for his job immediately.  

“I look forward to building upon the strong foundation he has established,” she said. Fellow Democrat Rep. Tom Lantos, of San Mateo, also expressed his gratitude to Gephardt for his eight years of service during “particularly difficult years for our party.” 

Pelosi, D-San Francisco, has been in the House since 1987. Last fall she made history by becoming the first woman to be named Democratic Whip, the party's No. 2 position in the House. 

She serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and is a senior member of the Appropriations Committee as well as its Subcommittee on Labor Health and Human Services and Education.  

Pelosi has made human rights and health services, particularly AIDS and breast cancer, central themes in her legislative efforts.

SACRAMENTO — Voters’ widespread approval of state and local school bond measures marked a surprising victory in the face of the struggling economy, analysts said Wednesday. 

Californians approved most state and local school bond measures on Tuesday, putting $22.4 billion into the pipeline for construction and other projects. 

Topping the list was state Proposition 47, a $13 billion general obligation bond that is the largest in California history. It passed with a decisive 59 percent of the ballots cast. 

“That’s a big vote in a recession,” said Stephen Levy, a senior economist at the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy. “This is clearly an electorate that, in a time of recession, is saying these investments are important for the future and the state’s quality of life.” 

The funds generated by Proposition 47 will be used to make repairs and relieve overcrowding at schools throughout the state, from kindergarten to university campuses. 

Schools throughout California will be getting another $9.4 billion from 90 local school bond measures approved Tuesday, according to School Services of California, a company that provides consulting services to school districts. 

In many areas, school bonds are being used to make up for decades of a swelling student enrollment and limited school construction. 

Kim Rueben, a public finance economist at the Public Policy Institute of California, said the bonds also help local districts access state money, which often requires districts to provide matching funds. 

Proposition 39, approved two years ago, made it easier to pass local school bonds by lowering the percentage of votes required for approval from two-thirds to 55 percent in most cases. 

Among the measures passed Tuesday was a $3.35 billion bond for the Los Angeles Unified School District — the largest local bond in California history. The district intends to use the money to build 120 new schools and create 115,000 new classroom seats. 

The measure passed decisively with 68 percent of the vote. The LAUSD previously passed a $2.4 billion school bond in 1997. 

Elsewhere, a $685 million bond will be used to make safety repairs and upgrade facilities for the 100,000 students enrolled in the San Diego Community College District. The San Juan Unified School District in Sacramento County will put the $350 million from its successful bond measure toward “basic needed repairs of the schools we already have,” said Deidra Powell, spokeswoman for the district. 

Taxpayer groups and other opponents rallied against many of the measures, saying the money used to pay off California’s enormous bond debt would eventually come out of the pockets of taxpayers and the budgets of other state programs. 

But Levy drew a distinction between state and local school bonds. 

When voters approve local bonds, they also sign off on specific property tax increases to pay them off, he said. With state bonds, however, there’s an illusion that the money’s free because the measures are paid for from the state general fund.

TAHOE CITY — Raindrops and snowflakes were falling on Lake Tahoe Thursday, but drought has left the lake at its lowest level in eight years — falling below the spillways that feed the Truckee River. 

“The bottom line is were not getting any water out of the lake,” said federal Water Master Garry Stone. 

Officials hope a series of strong storms expected through the weekend and a strengthening El Nino could help reverse dry conditions plaguing the region the last three years. 

If dry conditions continue this winter, substantial water supply problems could come next summer and suppliers would be forced to tap water stored in upstream reservoirs for drought emergencies. 

Sufficient storage remains in Boca Reservoir to maintain the federally mandated flows in the Truckee for a couple more weeks, Stone said. 

By the end of November, only natural flow from creeks and springs will enter the river, which could go nearly dry in places until the spring runoff. 

Tahoe currently is a few centimeters above the spillway rims of 6,223 feet above sea level. Its lowest level ever recorded was 6,220.26 feet on Nov. 30, 1992, in the midst of a lengthy drought. 

When the lake is full, up to 6 feet of water is stored above the natural rim for release into the Truckee River. 

“We’re back in a drought situation again and its just a matter of waiting for some precipitation,” Stone said. 

To raise Lake Tahoe far above its diminished levels, a significantly above-average if not epic winter will be needed, said Lori Williams, general manager of the Truckee Meadows Water Authority.

SAN FRANCISCO — As the stock of drug maker Titan Pharmaceuticals crashed to all-time lows, at least one savvy shareholder made a killing: its chief executive officer. 

Dr. Louis Bucalo legally cashed in 200,000 shares on Oct. 2 for about $9.5 million, according to federal filings, giving him a windfall nearly 40 times greater than the $1.28-per-share price average investors sold at that same day. 

Bucalo’s good fortune can be attributed to an investment strategy known as a stock collar — a popular tool in the hedging community but a rare and controversial move for an executive to make with his won company’s stock. 

Two years ago, Bucalo simultaneously made two bets: first that the stock would fall below $51.02 a share, second that the price would rise above $78.86. 

That collared his sale price between those two numbers — locking in a guaranteed minimum value for his shares. In exchange, he sacrificed potential profits should the stock rise above $78.86. 

At the time, Titan was reporting positive results from a Phase III trial of its experimental schitzophenia drug iloperidone. Its stock hovered near its all-time high of $65 a share. 

Since then, Titan’s shareholders lost $1.6 billion as the company’s stock tumbled with the market. 

When Bucalo’s two bets came due Oct. 2, the stock had cratered and he was able to sell 200,000 shares at $51.02. 

Bucalo initially disclosed the move in a November 2000 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and again last month. Now, some are criticizing Bucalo for betting against the company he leads as chief executive and chairman. 

“It’s just not right for a chief executive of a development-stage company like Titan, which has never posted a profit, to bet against his company,” said David Miller, co-founder of the investment newsletter Biotech Monthly. 

Miller said the technique erodes investor confidence in money-losing startups and should be used only — if ever — by insiders at blue chip companies. 

Bucalo referred a telephone call for comment to Titan lawyer Fran Stoller of New York’s Loeb & Loeb. 

Stoller defended the collar as legal and appropriate, and said it was the first time Bucalo sold Titan stock since he founded the company in 1991. 

“After being in a company for ten years, it was time to do something,” Stoller said. “Everything he owns is in the company.” 

Judy Shine, president of money manager Shine Investment Advisory Services in Englewood, Colo., said it’s a good idea to hedge like Bucalo did when a person’s portfolio is loaded with a single stock. 

“I have presented this to people left and right,” Shine said. “It makes sense for a person with a highly concentrated portfolio to get into a collar.” 

Stoller said when Bucalo entered into the collar, nobody foresaw the stock’s crash. At the time, she said, Bucalo risked never realizing potential profits if the company’s stock soared past the $78.86 a share price. 

“He is no Ken Lay,” Stoller said. 

Stoller said the collar was a popular hedging strategy at the time. Miller and others disputed that, saying it’s rare among executives trading shares of their own companies. 

In the latest issue of Biotech Monthly, where Bucalo’s deal was first reported, nine biotechnology companies unanimously said they prohibit their executives from entering into similar deals, with one saying it was a fireable offense. 

“It happens, but not that often,” said Lon Gerber, director of insider research at Thomson Financial. “It is not a common practice.” 

SEC filings also show Bucalo bought 250,000 Titan shares at about $1.50 each in the week after his windfall. He now holds 300,231 shares in Titan, which is also developing drugs to fight cancer and Parkinson’s disease.

An international student group started a campaign that urges shoppers to avoid Gap clothing stores this holiday season by placing ads Thursday in newspapers at several leading universities. 

The United Students Against Sweatshops said it is acting in response to anti-union activity at factories manufacturing Gap products in El Salvador and South Africa. 

Ben McKean, the group’s spokesman, said Gap suppliers in those two countries have used physical harassment, termination and blacklisting to impede organizing efforts. 

“It’s hard enough to organize unions in a lot of these countries,” McKean said. “For management to take such a hard line is really unacceptable.” 

He called the group’s action a two-month “holiday campaign” meant to convey a message from the foreign factory workers to the American public. McKean said the effort is not a boycott, which he characterized as a movement that continues indefinitely. 

The organization will assess the effectiveness of the campaign early in the new year to determine if it will continue, McKean said. 

A spokeswoman for San Francisco-based Gap declined comment, referring to a section of the company Web site on “ethical sourcing,” where the retailer pledges to promote fair treatment for workers by the vendors who make Gap clothing. 

“All of us at Gap Inc. want factory workers to be treated with dignity and respect,” a statement on the site says. 

The anti-Gap campaign is starting with advertisements in five college newspapers, including those at Harvard University, the University of Arizona and the University of Michigan.

SAN FRANCISCO — Just because Gap Inc.’s sales rose for the first time in 2 1/2 years doesn’t mean the long-slumping retailer finally has turned the corner, company executives and industry analysts said Thursday. 

Gap raised hopes for better times by reporting October sales that far exceeded expectations. The San Francisco-based company’s same-store sales — a key measure of how a retailer is faring compared to the previous year — climbed 11 percent in October. 

The surge ended 29 consecutive months of declining same-store sales at the Gap. Spurred by a catchy advertising campaign tied to the “Green Acres” theme song, the Gap’s discount chain — Old Navy — fueled the comeback with a 24 percent increase in same-store sales. 

Business rebounded so much during October that Gap said its third-quarter profit will be at least two times higher than investors previously expected. 

Gap expects to earn 12 cents to 14 cents for its just-completed fiscal quarter, well above the previous consensus estimate of 6 cents among analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call. 

Investors cheered the news. Gap’s shares climbed 65 cents Thursday to close at $13.42 on the New York Stock Exchange. 

“The company is really starting to make things happen again, but it’s still too early to declare victory,” said industry analyst Richard Jaffe of UBS Warburg. 

Gap management isn’t ready to celebrate yet, either. 

“While we are pleased with October’s results, our outlook remains cautious until we see more consistent performance over time,” said Heidi Kunz, Gap’s chief financial officer.

SAN JOSE — A group that provides inexpensive and clean lighting to the poor around the world was among five innovators honored for applying technology to benefit humanity. 

The Alberta, Canada-based Light Up The World Foundation will split a $250,000 cash prize with the other four winners of the second annual Tech Museum Awards ceremony held Thursday night. 

The awards, which are presented by the San Jose-based Tech Museum of Innovation and chip-equipment maker Applied Materials Inc., were established to encourage individuals, organizations and companies to implement technology to address global challenges. 

“The heartwarming and inspiring stories of these remarkable people and organizations remind us of the potential goodness of technology,” said Tech Museum chief executive Peter Giles. 

The Light Up The World Foundation uses White Light Emitting Diodes to generate comfortable reading light that consumes only one-tenth of a watt of electricity and provides light for 10 years. 

So far, the group has lit up more than 500 homes in Nepal, 100 homes in India and 50 homes in Sri Lanka for $17,350. 

Organizers estimate a third of the world’s population relies on dirty, fuel-based lighting after nightfall. Wood fires and kerosene lamps not only provide poor lighting but also generate toxic fumes.

SACRAMENTO — The author of Proposition 51, the traffic congestion measure that failed passage this election, has resigned as executive director of the Planning and Conservation League. 

Gerald Meral said his departure has nothing to do with heavy criticism that Proposition 51 was a “pay for play” initiative designed to benefit developers and Indian tribes. 

Meral said he resigned because his wife, who’s a schoolteacher, is retiring and they plan to move to the Northern California coast. He said he will work part-time to raise money for an endowment for the Planning and Conservation League Foundation. 

Meral denied any pressure to step down, although Senate President Pro Tem John Burton wrote a letter to the league’s board of directors in September, calling the group’s approach to Proposition 51 “shortsighted, simplistic and heartless.” Burton also accused the group of “becoming a whore for the self-aggrandizement of Jerry Meral instead of being an organization committed to saving the environment.” 

Proposition 51 was one of only two state initiatives to lose Tuesday. Meral blamed newspaper coverage and legislative hearings for swaying voters. 

The initiative would have shifted about $900 million generated from vehicle sales tax revenue toward funding for more than 40 different projects. Though the league called the initiative a “traffic congestion relief and safe school bus act,” the projects ranged from construction of a railroad museum in Sacramento.

DURHAM, N.C. — The stone gargoyles perched atop the doors to Duke University’s new Gothic dormitory were meant to surprise and honor two wealthy donors. 

The university succeeded at surprise: Aubrey and Kathleen McClendon, who gave $5.5 million to build the dorm, were shocked to find their own likenesses staring down from the hall that bears their name. 

So shocked that the sculptures will be taken down at the couple’s request. 

“They were grateful,” said Peter Vaughn, spokesman for Duke’s development office. “They just didn’t approve of the way we showed our appreciation.” 

The caricatures resemble bobble-head dolls, with oversized smiling heads and tiny bodies. 

The sculptures of Aubrey McClendon, a 1981 graduate and CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corp. in Oklahoma City, and his wife, Kathleen, a 1980 graduate, will remain on McClendon Tower until new ones are crafted to replace them, university officials said. A plaque will honor the couple instead. 

In addition to the gift to Duke’s charitable trust, the McClendons’ have given other gifts to the university, including a $1 million donation to the Duke Basketball Legacy Fund.

DURHAM, N.C. — The stone gargoyles perched atop the doors to Duke University’s new Gothic dormitory were meant to surprise and honor two wealthy donors. 

The university succeeded at surprise: Aubrey and Kathleen McClendon, who gave $5.5 million to build the dorm, were shocked to find their own likenesses staring down from the hall that bears their name. 

So shocked that the sculptures will be taken down at the couple’s request. 

“They were grateful,” said Peter Vaughn, spokesman for Duke’s development office. “They just didn’t approve of the way we showed our appreciation.” 

The caricatures resemble bobble-head dolls, with oversized smiling heads and tiny bodies. 

The sculptures of Aubrey McClendon, a 1981 graduate and CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corp. in Oklahoma City, and his wife, Kathleen, a 1980 graduate, will remain on McClendon Tower until new ones are crafted to replace them, university officials said. A plaque will honor the couple instead. 

In addition to the gift to Duke’s charitable trust, the McClendons’ have given other gifts to the university, including a $1 million donation to the Duke Basketball Legacy Fund.

SACRAMENTO — School districts that grant charters to independent public schools don’t watch the schools to ensure they’re financially sound and meeting academic goals, a state audit released Thursday found. 

Charter schools are public schools run by nonprofit or private organizations, such as parent and teacher groups and, in some cases, for-profit companies. The schools are monitored by individual school districts that grant the charter and are allowed to bypass much of the red tape that bogs down regular public schools in exchange for increased accountability. 

The schools are required to hired only credentialed teachers, offer a minimum number of instructional time and certify that their students have participated in the state’s testing program. 

Too often, however, the districts that grant charters are not “ensuring compliance with these legal requirements at each of their charter schools,” the report said. 

Districts also don’t examine the school’s finances well, the report said. 

While districts can charge schools a fee for the financial oversight, none of the districts examined had documented their costs and may be charging schools too much or too little, the auditors said. 

The four public school districts examined by the state auditor — Fresno, San Diego, Los Angeles and Oakland — submitted lengthy rebuttals to the audit, saying the state’s education code is vague when it comes to district’s responsibilities. 

Fresno Unified School District’s response called the report “fundamentally flawed” because the auditors misunderstood the state’s charter school laws. 

Charter schools “do not exist for the purpose of being held accountable to public school districts,” the school district’s response said. Instead, charter schools were created to give parents, teachers and students “different and innovative teaching methods” and other alternative programs within public schools, Fresno officials said. 

The audit “fails to understand that charter schools are not, and never were intended to be, subdivisions of school districts,” the response said. 

Assemblywoman Sarah Reyes, who asked for the audit following the collapse of the Gateway Academy in Fresno, disagreed with the districts’ assessment of the law. 

“Your right and responsibility in signing an agreement with a charter school is to make sure they’re successful and that those students benefit,” she said. 

The failure of Gateway, which closed in January after it racked up a $1.3 million debt, Reyes said, showed that “the state is largely in the dark about oversight procedures used by chartering entities to oversee schools that they have chartered.” 

But Reyes, D-Fresno, said she was most surprised about the lack of oversight of charter schools’ academic progress. 

“That is the responsibility of the charter school, but it is also the responsibility of the entity that grants that charter,” she said. “By not assessing student performance against the charter terms, the schools are not demonstrating their accountability for meeting their academic goals.” 

A Reyes bill signed by Gov. Gray Davis this year will require charter schools to operate in the district’s boundaries or in the same county. That bill was designed to make it easier for local communities to oversee charter schools. 

The new law also set up financial requirements for schools that close, and required charter high schools to notify parents and students if their classes do not match up with college requirements. 

Reyes said she was considering legislation for next year that would further clarify the districts’ responsibilities. 

California spends $524 million each year on charter schools, Reyes said, and more oversight needs to be in place to make sure state money isn’t lost. 

Gary Larson, a spokesman for the California Network of Educational Charters, said the school districts needed more guidance on how to oversee the charter schools. But new laws directing oversight might not answer the audit’s criticism, he said. 

“It’s difficult to legislate problems out of existence,” he said. “If that were the case, we’d see a better system of public education with all the legislation enacted in the last 30 years.”

San Luis Obispo County is oak-studded hills, lush wineries and dramatic coastlines. But when the state ordered the region to zone for more than 18,000 homes in the next few years, it got anything but a bucolic response. 

The San Luis Obispo Council of Governments, representing six cities and the county, opposed the state figure as being 4,000 houses too many. Its members split recently on whether to wage a court fight, leaving the issue up in the air. 

For the first time in a decade, the state is issuing quotas to deal with California’s housing crisis, but some cities and counties are balking at what they see as forced urbanization. 

“They’re always afraid of becoming another Los Angeles,” said Ronald L. DeCarli, executive director of the San Luis Obispo government council. 

The council and some two dozen counties have until the end of next year to develop and adopt zoning plans to meet state projections of how much housing they will need in the next five years. Deadlines for other regions have been staggered, with the current cycle beginning in 1999 with San Diego County. 

Dense inner cities and rural towns alike have challenged the figures in court, in some cases arguing their growth rates won’t be as great as the state estimates. Local officials fear the consequences of rapid growth — from clogged freeways to water shortages — and worry they won’t be able to afford the roads, sewer lines and other services that waves of new residents will require. 

One recent lawsuit involves the Southern California Association of Governments, which represents a six-county area with 17 million residents. 

Even more governments have haggled with the state, negotiating to reduce the number of homes they must account for in zoning plans. 

“This has been something that communities haven’t had to struggle with for almost a decade, so they’ve kind of gotten out of the habit,” said Cathy Creswell, deputy director of the state Department of Housing and Community Development. “But the growth that has been projected is also higher than people have experienced in quite a long time.” 

Nobody argues that California is in a housing crisis. The nation’s most populous state is growing by 600,000 people a year and its population is expected to reach 52 million by 2030. 

An estimated 220,000 new housing units must be created each year to meet current growth, according to the state Department of Housing and Community Development. 

The best projections from government and industry sources have construction falling short by more than 50,000 units — in effect, the creation of a mid-sized town every year. 

With too many people and too few places to live, home prices and rental rates have soared in recent years, becoming a constant topic of conversation. The statewide median home price — the point at which half the homes sell for more and half for less — climbed to $323,310 in September, up more than 17 percent from a year earlier, according to the California Association of Realtors. 

The figure was much higher in some areas: $450,520 in Orange County and $529,250 in Santa Cruz County. 

Nine of the 10 least affordable metropolitan areas in the United States last year were in California, with the San Luis Obispo-Atascadero-Paso Robles area rated fourth, according to the National Association of Home Builders. 

The median home price there in September was $341,660, according to the real estate group. 

The lack of affordable housing has created both overcrowding and traffic congestion. State officials say garages are being converted into bedrooms, multiple families are packing into single households and people are moving farther from work, in some cases 100 miles or more, just to find housing they can afford. 

But state efforts to mandate planning for more homes has run up against public fear that building them will lead to urban sprawl, even worse traffic congestion, higher smog levels and crowded schools — in short, that runaway growth will destroy the charm of their local communities. 

The inexorable population growth has created a public backlash. Two years ago, there were 60 land-use initiatives on local ballots, most involving preserving land or slowing growth, said Dan Carrig of the League of California Cities, a nonprofit lobbying group for 477 cities. 

At least 25 growth issues are on Tuesday’s ballots in cities throughout the state. 

“You just have to look at the initiatives they are putting on the ballots ... to tell their own city councils when and where they’ve had enough,” Carrig said. 

Many local governments differ with state officials over how many housing units they’ll need through 2007. 

State law requires the so-called housing needs assessments to be made every five years, although budget cuts halted planning during the recession of the early 1990s. 

Using projected regional growth rates based on state Department of Finance population projections and other figures, the Department of Housing and Community Development issues a housing mandate to regional councils, who in turn divvy up the requirements to the counties, cities and towns that are their members. 

Those members then have a year to create zoning to allow the houses — although the law doesn’t require that a single home actually be constructed. 

So far, only about half of the cities and counties in the state currently have zoning plans that comply with state law. The state housing department believes it will achieve 70 percent compliance in the next few years. 

The state has no penalties for violating its requirements, but communities that fail to meet them aren’t eligible for potentially tens of millions of dollars in state and federal housing funds. 

If they adhere to the state numbers, many local government officials said they won’t be able to pay for the services required by the thousands of new residents who will follow new home construction. 

Local governments already twisting in the economic wind fear water supply problems and the cost of providing roads, sewer lines and schools to meet those obligations. Proposition 13, the 1978 initiative that capped property taxes, means single-family homes and other types of housing are money-losers, costing more in services than they provide in taxes, Carrig said. 

Cities and counties also are concerned they could overbuild if growth is slower than the state anticipates. 

“I think we know what we’re doing here. I think we have a good plan... I don’t think the state needs to tell us how to do this,” said Frank Mecham, mayor of Paso Robles, a town of 26,000 in San Luis Obispo County. 

Mike Rawson, director of the California Affordable Housing Law Project in Oakland, said he is involved in at least seven lawsuits involving elements of the state housing requirements. His group supports the state mandates as a way of providing critically needed housing. 

To Rawson, the critics have it wrong: making communities denser won’t create urban problems. Sprawl will. 

In his view, the age of the tract home is over. It leads only to clogged freeways and paved-over farmland. 

Rawson sees California cities being transformed into vibrant Paris-like communities of apartments and condominiums flourishing in the midst of restaurants, museums, parks and public transit. 

“Some communities have the vision of the ideal single-family neighborhood with tree-lined streets and everybody having a back yard and a front yard and two-car garage, and that’s not possible for half the families in California,” Rawson said. 

“There’s gonna be more urbanization,” he said. “Barring building a wall around the state and saying no one else can come in, that’s the only solution.”

FLORENCE, Colo. — Tom and Cece Sanders always know when fall has arrived. 

It’s not when the aspens start to change color or when an occasional dusting of snow tops Pikes Peak. 

It’s when the dozen black bear cubs and yearlings penned up in their back yard in Custer County begin to eat endlessly. Invariably, their consumption picks up when the weather cools. 

It’s the nature of the beast. 

To make it through six months of winter hibernation, the bears will have to eat at least 20,000 calories a day, nearly 10 times the amount a human eats. 

So the bears have been devouring everything the Sanders manage to scrounge. 

For nearly 16 years, the couple’s Wet Mountain Wildlife Rehabilitation on 80 acres near Colorado Springs has served as a temporary orphanage for wayward bears. 

The cubs, their mothers nowhere to be found, usually become lost while searching for food along countless creeks leading to cities such as Trinidad, Pueblo and Colorado Springs. 

The bears were picked up by Division of Wildlife officers during the summer and will be released into the wild in November. 

This year has been unusually bad because the drought has dried up much of the state’s scrub oak, virtually killing all the acorns, which are the black bear’s primary food source. 

Not one of the bears the couple took in last summer weighed more than 25 pounds — opposed to the 100-plus pounds the animal should weigh. Of the dozen bears the Sanders care for, at least six were picked up in Colorado Springs. 

One was found in June after his mother was illegally shot by a hunter. Another was discovered in July about 100 yards from Interstate 25. In August, a third bear was retrieved from an automobile dealership parking lot. 

“We maintain them, feed them, clean them, then ignore them, hoping we can give them some sort of second chance,” said Cece Sanders, 55, whose hands are as rough as leather from years of looking after the bears. 

She paused, then added jokingly: “Basically, we’re slaves.” 

But somebody has to do it. 

As people move to Colorado in record numbers and foothills subdivisions continue to grow, more of the state’s estimated 10,000 black bears lose their natural habitats and cross paths with people. 

Two decades ago, rescuing bears in the middle of the city simply didn’t happen, because there was less development and black bears had a much wider range to roam. 

If people encountered a black bear, chances were they were hunting it. 

But today bear rehabilitation has become a common practice among dedicated animal lovers such as the Sanders, former Pueblo schoolteachers who created the Wet Mountain Wildlife Rehabilitation nine years ago as a not-for-profit organization. The legal distinction allows them to apply for grants.

Stanley Ward, also known as “Farmer Stanley”, came to Tilden’s Little Farm three years ago. 

“Things were a bit run down,” Ward admitted, “and there was room for improvement.” 

But now, an increased sense of order and care permeate the Little Farm that sits in the Berkeley hills off of Grizzly Peak Boulevard. Ward’s knowledge experience and hard work have made their mark. Fences are renewed and sturdy, animals gambol “oink” and “quack” in clean pens and reseeded pastures.  

Ward’s animal farm, operated by East Bay Regional Parks, has provided Berkeley families a chance to learn about small farming for decades. There is no cost and the farm is open during regular park hours. With Ward tending the farm five days a week, there’s a good chance you’ll see Ward hard at work. 

“This is just the kind of work I enjoy,” he said. “I like being outdoors, I enjoy meeting the public, and I like working with nice breeds of animals on a small scale. (Because it’s a park,) I don’t have to squeeze profit out of the animals.” 

When asked how many animals he had at the farm, Ward said confidently, “19 hens, 2 roosters, 5 geese, 11 ducks, 5 female goats, 1 male goat, 16 female sheep, 2 rams, 3 cows-one is away at the bull to be bred, 2 calves, 2 pigs, 4 turkeys, and 2 rabbits, because the others were stolen, there should be 8.” 

Ward grew up in London and as a young boy had an interest in farming. His mother bought him the “Farmer’s Weekly” magazine. Ward took part in youth camps descended from the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry and was quickly introduced to the English countryside. 

At age 15, Ward became disillusioned with the state schooling he was receiving in London, he said, and left to hitchhike around Great Britain. Since he was good at carpentry, he found carpentry jobs and helped farmers with their hay harvests. He learned to shear sheep and became so good at shearing that he traveled to remote farms in Wales shearing as many as 280 sheep in an eight hour work day. 

In Wales, Ward later attended an agricultural college, becoming technically and practically trained in Animal Husbandry and Grassland Production. 

On holidays Ward liked to travel, sometimes to Ireland, sometimes farther a field; eventually he visited Sri Lanka. There he led bird safaris in wildlife sanctuaries and National Parks throughout India. In India he met his wife, Raju, who is from Orinda. 

This brought him to California in 1990 and, for several years, he studied geography and cartography at San Francisco State while working as a carpenter and landscape gardener. In 1998 he was hired by the East Bay Regional Parks as a carpenter and became the farmer at the Little Farm in 1999. 

One of Ward’s greatest accomplishments at the farm is his successful breeding program last year. He bred lambs, kids, calves and one litter of six piglets. One visitor, an Albany grandmother who brings her grandsons as often as possible, came to the farm last spring. They saw a nanny goat lick her just-born kid, and watched curly haired lambs leaping four feet into the air. The woman’s grandsons have stout boots like Ward and sometimes come to the park as much as twice a day.  

Over the past year, teachers and children alike have petted the real life versions of Wilbur, the pig from “Charlotte’s Web.” “Pigs are the most popular thing with the public, especially the baby pigs,” Ward said.  

Unfortunately, due to staffing restraints, the result of financial cut backs in the East Bay Regional Park system, the breeding program will not be possible this year. Ward has other goals. Among them, he would like to have a stronger educational emphasis. He believes urban and suburban people need more information about farming and the problems of real farmers. He thinks they should be educated about where their food is coming from and what is going on to produce it. 

Ward and his wife Raju are now raising their three-year-old daughter in Orinda so Ward intends to stay at the Little Farm for many years to come. 

To the Editor: 

I want to congratulate the Daily Planet, and reporter David Scharfenberg in particular, for his outstanding coverage of the local campaigns this election cycle. His concise, objective reporting was not swayed or tilted to either side of the traditional partisan political process, yet he reported both the positive sides and the warts of every campaign with the same candor and lack of ulterior motive. 

I am also pleased that the Daily Planet did not make specific endorsements so as to be able to stand apart from the partisanship that has affected (some might say infected) local politics here for decades. My candidates took a beating at the polls – so be it. That is what democracy is all about. I'm glad, and you should be proud, that neither side took a beating in your paper but had their message relayed and their campaigns reported upon fairly and accurately. 

Gregory S. Murphy 

Berkeley

Thursday, Nov. 7 

“Water, the Beverage of Life” 

11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

Aaron Miller, SF State Intern will discuss 

981-5190 

Additional Ferries from East Bay Sites 

noon to 2 p.m. 

Albany Public Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 

Discussion with a representative of the San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters 

843-8824 

Free 

Panel Discussion - “Resistance to the Free Trade Agreements in Mexico and Central America” 

7:30 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 

Featuring video presentation of “Tierra Si, Aviones No”, and performance by the NoPPP Players 

$5 and $10/ suggested donation 

Friday, Nov. 8  

Alexander Cockburn’s Incendiary Rants 

7 p.m. 

AK Press Warehouse, 673-A 23rd St. 

Release party for muckraking maverick Alexander Cockburn’s new spoken word CD “Beating the Devil” 

208-1700 

Free 

Berkeley Women in Black Vigil 

Bancroft at Telegraph Ave. 

Weekly protest to “End the Occupation” 

Saturday, Nov. 9 

Book Sale and Auction 

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

The Center for AIDS Services, 5720 Shattuck Ave., Oakland 

This big sale will benefit the AIDS center 

655-3435 

An Afternoon of Mystery  

2 p.m. 

1901 Russell St. 

Berkeley’s South Branch Library presents mystery writers Jake Fuchs “Death of a Prof”, Owen Hill “The Chandler Apartments”, and Mary Halock “The Dog on the Roof” 

525-3948 

Free 

Sunday, Nov. 10 

World Run Day-national charity benefit 

All day 

Various cities across the nation  

(516) 859-3000, www.runday.com 

Tuesday, Nov. 12 

Holiday Craft Baazar 

10 a.m. to noon 

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

Handmade items, sweet treats, and knick knacks will be for sale. All are welcome 

845-6830 

Wednesday, Nov. 13 

Public Lecture by the Rev. Canon Naim Ateek 

7:30 p.m. 

UCC, on Dana St. between Durant and Channing 

Founder of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center and native of East Jerusalem, Rev. Ateek will lead a discussion sponsored by the First Congregational Church of Berkeley (UCC) and the Pacific School of Religion 

848-3696 

$10/ suggested donation 

League of Women Voters Meeting 

Noon 

LWVBAE office, 1414 University Ave. 

Discussion will focus on regional issues 

849-2154 

Thursday, Nov. 14 

Regret to Inform  

Reception 6:30 p.m. / Program 7 p.m. 

Berkeley High School Auditorium, 2234 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

A screening and discussion with filmmaker Barbara Sonneborn. 

979-0190, liz_vogel@facing.org 

Free 

Berkeley Path Wanderers Meeting 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. 

Meeting to include a presentation by best- selling author Adah Bakalinsky who will speak about her book, “Stairway Walks of San Francisco” 

Free 

Thursday, Nov. 7 

Gary Thorp 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Thorp will read from “Caught in Fading Light” 

845-7852 

The Non Prophets  

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Performing with special guest Vince Welnick of the Grateful Dead 

21+ 

$10 

Bandworks Recital 

7:30 p.m. to midnight 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

Hear student bands play rock, blues, and pop at this annual recital event 

525-5054 

$11 

Friday, Nov. 8 

The Librarians, Bitesize, and Glitter Mini 9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

All age show 

$7 

Chaskinakuy 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

Beautiful vocal harmonies in Spanish and Quechua 

548-1761 

$15.50-$16.50 

An Evening of Cultural Harmony 

8 p.m. 

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

The Barbard Ensemble, the San Francisco Klezmer Experience, and Lichi Fuentes & Jackeline Rago will treat listeners to music from Iran, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. 

704-7480 x755 

$25 general admission 

Black Dice, Dearly Departed (ex-Subtonix), and The Mass 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

$8 

Saturday, Nov. 9 

An Evening of Cultural Harmony 

8 p.m. 

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

The Barbard Ensemble, the San Francisco Klezmer Experience, and Lichi Fuentes & Jackeline Rago will treat listeners to music from Iran, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. 

704-7480 x755 

$25 general admission 

Sunday, Nov. 10 

The Sheldon Brown Group 

4:30 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

Reservations: 845-5373 

$10-$15 

The Starry Irish Music Session with Shay Black 

8 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Tickets available on a sliding scale 

“Shove Off to Birthday Island” 

Through Nov. 30 

Reception Nov. 2 from 5 to 8 p.m. 

Tue. through Sat., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

Ardency Gallery, 709 Broadway, Oakland 

A collaborative exhibition of Tonya Solley Thornton and Frank Haines including video and sculptural installations. 

836-0831 

Children of the Gulf War Photo Exhibit 

Through Nov. 30 

Mon. through Thurs., 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

Fri. through Sat.., 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

Sun., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 

Featuring works of Takashi Morizumi 

Information: www.savewarchildren.org 

Ceramics - Opening Reception 

Through Nov. 17 

3 to 5 p.m. 

A New Leaf Gallery, 1286 Gilman St. 

525-7621 

Free 

“Recent Acquisitions” 

Through Dec. 14 

Thurs. through Sat., 1 to 4 p.m. 

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

848-0181 

Free 

Threads: Five artists who use stitching to convey ideas 

Through Dec. 15, Wed. through Sun., noon to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center 

Live Oak Park, 1275 Walnut St. 

Information: www.berkeleyartcenter.org, 644-6893 

Free 

Menocchio 

Nov. 6 through Dec. 22 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St. 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre presents the world premiere of Lillian Groag’s charged comedy 

647-2949, www.berkeleyrep.org  

$38 and $54/ sliding scale 

Thursday, Nov. 7 

“Desert Hearts” 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

A 1950s lesbian romance featuring Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau. 

Friday, Nov. 8 

“El Che” 

7 p.m. 

Redwood Gardens, 2951 Derby St. 

Film screening followed by salsa dancing to support Berkeley’s Cuban Sister-City Palma Soriano. 

548-6941 

$10 / sliding scale 

“Cinemayaat: The Arab Film Festival” 

Through Nov. 12 

Various locations throughout Berkeley, San Francisco, and San Jose. 

For more information contact the Arab Film Festival at info@aff.org, (415) 564- 1100, or www.aff.org 

Saturday Nov. 9 

Dorothy Allison and Jewelle Gomez appear in support of Boadecia’s Books 

8 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church 

559-9184 

$25/ sliding scale 

Tuesday, Nov. 12 

Open Mic 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

7:30 p.m. 

Free 

Wednesday, Nov. 13 

Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik 

8:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Cash prizes up to $90 

21+ 

$7/ general, $5/ students with ID 

Saturday Nov. 16 

Alice Walker and Brenda Boykin 

appear in support of Boadecia’s Books 

8 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda at Solano 

559-9184 

$25/ sliding scale 

Monday, Dec. 2 

Adam David Miller and Rita Flores Bogaert 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave 

The Last Word announces a poetry reading that will include an open mic and featured readers 

649-1320 

Free

“Jazz is an idea that is more powerful than the details of its history – a concept bigger than any single one of its partisans could ever hope to define.” 

– Pat Metheny 

By Jane Yin 

Special to the Daily Planet 

Music without words sometimes speaks louder than lyric-filled melody. The Pat Metheny Group is case and point. Their latest musical creation “Speaking of Now” is a compilation of nimble jazz instrumentations that converse with the soul. With flavorful piano progressions running alongside Pat Metheny’s earth-shivering guitar-playing, the now six-piece group presents us with nine poignant pieces. The group performs at Zellerbach Hall next Tuesday evening. 

At the ripe age of 18, the mastermind guitarist and creator of the group, Pat Metheny, had already escalated his musical career far beyond that of most of his fellow musicians when he became the youngest instructor at the University of Miami. A year later, he became the youngest teacher in the history of Boston’s Berklee College of Music. As a musician and composer, Metheny has received more than 23 Grammy Awards for a number of achievements, including best electric guitarist and best guitar synthesizer. Metheny also performs as a solo artist and with his other group, the Pat Metheny Trio. Metheny is known for his extensive incorporation of the synthesizer in jazz music, even being hailed as an innovator by many musical experts. 

“My first relationship to any kind of musical situation is as a listener,” explained Metheny. “I have always considered myself to be someone who is a big fan of music in general who happens to occasionally find themselves in the middle of having to play or write something.” 

The seven-time Grammy-winning group has performed in more than 40 countries to sold-out audiences. The group’s sound, like the colorful collage that decorates their new album insert, inspires imagination of travel and exploration within listeners. Their music is a melting pot of the best sugars and spices, yet each instrument is granted an equal voice. 

“Speaking of Now” opens with “As It Is.” The track’s lurid piano and trumpet notes immediately captivate interest. “You,” track five on the album, is crafted with intricate artistry; the vocals provide a tender melody. The journey continues with the fast-paced, energized “A Place in the World” and slows down to a stroll with “Afternoon.” 

After taking a three-year break, the jazz greats constituting the original trio – Metheny as well as Lyle Mays and Steve Rodby – got back together after doing individual projects to add three new members and record “Speaking of Now.” They’ve acquired internationally recognized musicians, including drummer Antonio Sanchez, from Mexico City and Richard Bona, who is from Cameroon in West Africa. It wasn’t an effortless search for Metheny’s new members; some were a little more difficult to find than others. 

Metheny stumbled upon his last member, Cuong Vu, while listening to the trumpeter on an Internet radio station. Still overwhelmed by the excellent horn skills, Metheny quickly called fellow musicians to locate the musician with no luck. 

“Finally I just thought, ‘Well, how many Cuong Vu’s could there be in the phone book?’ I called 411, and it turned out that there was just one, a Brooklyn number, a likely place for a young aspiring musician in New York to live.” 

Metheny, armed with an undying passion for Jazz music, always looks toward the future, as he exclaimed, “We have to get our collective imagination working hard on a vision that is more concerned with what this music can become than what it has already been.”

What a difference a year makes. 

A full season after winning his first cross country race, Berkeley High junior Alex Enscoe repeated as the Alameda-Contra Costa Athletic League champion, winning Wednesday’s varsity boys race at Tilden Regional Park by 31 seconds. But in addition to Enscoe’s individual triumph, he led his team to its first ACCAL team title, ending Alameda High’s long reign at the top. 

“This was our most important race as a team,” Enscoe said. “Winning this one was our main goal going into the season.” 

After years of trailing Alameda, the Yellowjackets won Wednesday’s final race with a true team effort. While the Hornets had the second- and fourth-place finishers, Berkeley placed in spots five through eight to push for the title through strength of numbers. Although Alameda had the next two finishers, Berkeley wrapped things up by taking the 11 and 12 spots to close out the scoring and win by a margin of 23-34. 

“Berkeley has had a superb season,” Alameda coach Brian Lodge said. “They were good last year, but they’ve improved so much this year. We’re going to have to come up with something next year to challenge them.” 

Berkeley head coach Dave Goodrich said Wednesday’s win was the payoff for a hard summer and fall of work for his varsity group, which has largely been running together for three years. 

Just as in the first league meet of the season, Enscoe watched Alameda’s Yoji Reichert and Marty Skeels take an early lead in the race. Enscoe doesn’t like to be the pace-setter, preferring to sit back and let the other runners tire themselves out. By the time the race reached the top of the final hill, he knew the title was his. 

Enscoe’s emergence this season has been startling, even considering his breakout race last year at this event. He won all three of Berkeley’s ACCAL meets and has established himself as a favorite for North Coast Section honors. He ran Wednesday’s race with the cock-sureness of an undertaker, just waiting for his targets to fall. 

“Last year I knew I had a chance to win, but I had never won a race before,” Enscoe said. “This year I came in feeling a lot more confident, like I couldn’t lose.” 

Enscoe crossed the finish line before Reichert even came into view along the final stretch for a time of 16:54. Reichert came in at 17:25, then Pinole Valley’s Austin Hicks at 17:45. Skeels finished soon after, but then a flood of Berkeley runners filled the lane. Nic Riley, Bradley Johnson, Alex Weissman and Jon Finney crossed the finish line in that order with Enscoe urging them on, sealing the win. Sarmed Anwar and Gordon Jenkins finished Berkeley’s day, finishing just before the 20-minute mark. 

Alameda’s dominance didn’t take a holiday in the girls’ race, with the Hornets taking the top seven spots. Corrine Roberts was the first-place finisher.

It was a little past midnight Wednesday morning. 

Mayor-elect Tom Bates had already given his victory speech, received by wild cheers from more than 200 campaign workers and allies crowded into his Shattuck Avenue headquarters. 

Next it was campaign co-chair Russ Ellis’ turn. The former UC Berkeley vice-chancellor hummed into the microphone, grabbing the attention of the excited crowd, a mix of students, neighborhood activists and old old-guard Berkeley Citizens Action stalwarts. Ellis lifted a glass – actually a plastic cup – of champagne to toast the grinning, weary-looking Bates.  

The mayor-elect had been positive in his victory speech, but Ellis didn’t hesitate to take a jab at the losing candidate. 

“There was a moment in this campaign when we realized that (Mayor) Shirley Dean was not about song,” he said. “Tom Bates is. We’re gonna make some music. We’re going to make some moral music.”  

Activists at the gathering agreed, saying a Bates’ victory – along with the victories of progressive councilmembers Linda Maio, Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington – would bring significant positive change to the city. There will be a run-off in the 8th District race between graduate student Andy Katz, supported by progressives, and retired scientist Gordon Wozniak, supported by moderates. The progressives will have either a 6-3 majority or a 7-2 majority, depending on the runoff results. 

Now what does a supermajority mean? Will every council meeting will be an example of perfect harmony? Not necessarily. 

“The progressives are not monolithic,” said one attendee at the Bates victory party, who asked that his name not be used. Others around him agreed heartily. 

Progressive Councilmember Maudelle Shirek, who was not up for re-election Tuesday and could not be reached Wednesday, did not join her political allies this election season. She endorsed neither Bates nor his wife Loni Hancock, who won the state Assembly seat vacated by term-limited Assemblymember Dion Aroner. 

While the five members of the progressive block often vote together, they don’t do so exclusively. Councilmember Margaret Breland, for example, supported an early iteration of a very controversial housing project for San Pablo Avenue, while her council colleagues demanded modifications requested by neighbors before they would support it. 

Progressives also fought each other over whether police should be allowed to carry pepper spray. 

While citing Dean’s support for a McFrugals at the present Berkeley Bowl site and her support for office space in zones restricted to light industrial uses, Gene Poshman, vice chairperson of the Planning Commission, said he’s glad Dean will be out of the picture. Still, he said he’s not sure, without Dean as a common enemy, that the progressive supermajority will be united around planning issues. 

“The devil is in the details,” he said. 

One clearly uniting principle among all the councilmembers is that Berkeley’s vision for the future is better than that of the nation as a whole, moderate Councilmember Mim Hawley said, reflecting on the loss of the U.S. Senate to Republicans. “That (uniting vision) could be a start,” she said. 

Joe Brulensky, an active Bates’ supporter, has been a teacher in the Berkeley Unified School District for 33 years and looks forward to the new dynamic on council and Bates at the helm. 

Brulensky said he was excited about the education summit of teachers and public officials Bates promoted during the campaign. 

Berkeley librarian Jane Scantlebury had walked precincts for Bates, dropping literature and talking to neighbors about the race. She said that not only was Bates good for Berkeley as a whole, but that he would be able to bring the libraries and the city into closer collaboration. Under the current administration, the library has been a “separate, removed entity,” she said. “It was considered as an afterthought. Tom Bates is more conscious that it is part of the community.” 

Dave Fogarty is another city worker who pounded the pavement for Bates. He works in economic development and says the council bickering “affects the city’s reputation nationally,” which is not good for attracting new businesses. “Businesses just give up. They say nothing can be done in this environment.” 

He added that he hopes Bates’ leadership would make a difference, not only in bringing peace to the council, but in streamlining a slow permitting process. “The new mayor could make a difference over time,” he said, adding the caveat: “But there’s no guarantee.” 

South Berkeley neighborhood activist Joy Moore worked with Bates on improving Berkeley schools’ food, a project which, she said, was abandoned by the high school before it was given a chance to succeed. “School food is served to people with limited resources, African American and Latino children – our kids are eating that food,” she said, adding that she believed that Bates would have the clout to get additional resources for the project. 

Moore took a shot at Dean for ignoring the neighborhoods. She cited the current mayor’s campaign statements touting her role in economic development – for example attracting clothing store Eddie Bauer to the city. “The first thing out of her mouth is downtown. What about Sacramento (Street) and Ashby (Avenue)?” Moore asked. 

Among the most joyful at the Bates’ victory was Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who had first dropped his plan to run for the state Assembly, when Assemblymember-elect Hancock put her name into the running, then Worthington put aside plans to run for mayor when Bates put his candidacy forward. Worthington said Hancock and Bates both had better chances to win their respective seats than he did. 

In his bid for a third term on the council, Worthington trounced Dean-supported challenger, Micki Weinberg, an 18-year-old student active in the UC Berkeley Israeli Action Committee. In what Bates called an attack of “guilt by association,” Dean targeted Worthington in debates and campaign literature, arguing that it made it difficult for her to work with the university after Worthington joined an overnight student demonstration at the chancellor’s home protesting the lack of student housing.  

“For six years I have been abused and attacked (by Dean),” Worthington said. (Dean, in turn, has said she feels attacked by Worthington.)  

Councilmember Linda Maio, who won her council race with ease, said, similarly, that Bates would be a problem solver, building bridges between moderates and progressives. “He has the ability to work collectively,” she said. 

Moderate Councilmember Betty Olds, who lost both her longtime council ally Councilmember Polly Armstrong, who did not to run for a new term and ally Shirley Dean, said, when reached Wednesday by phone, that she was sick and unable to talk. 

Moderate Hawley, on the other hand, was able to react to the defeat with some lightheartedness – she had gone shopping Wednesday morning to relieve some of the stress.  

She also expressed the sadness she felt at the loss of her council colleagues. “I’m going to miss Shirley and Polly,” she said. “It means a lot to have people to talk to on the issues, even if there is some disagreement.” 

Still Hawley said she thought there were a number of projects on which she could work easily with Bates, such as cooperating with neighboring cities, particularly on the housing-jobs imbalance problem: tens of thousands of people come into Berkeley to work every day, but do not live in the city. 

Hawley also remarked that she has allies among the progressive faction. “I’ve worked with Linda (Maio) on various things. I enjoy working with her,” she said. “And (Vice Mayor) Maudelle (Shirek) and I co-sponsored a couple of kid-related things.” 

Still, “It sure is going to be different,” Hawley added.

To the Editor: 

It is very disheartening that Measure O, which intended brewed coffee served in the city to “be Fair Trade, shade-grown, OR organic”, was listed in the Alameda County touch screen voting as “be Fair Trade, shade-grown, AND organic”. Only one of the three conditions was required in the Berkeley Responsible Coffee Initiative – not all three. This misrepresentation of the measure is a great disservice to voters and the coffee farmers who may have benefited from its fairly chosen adoption. 

Travis Jordan 

Berkeley 

SAN FRANCISCO — The Asian Art Museum will postpone the opening of the new renovated museum, located at the San Francisco Civic Center, a spokeswoman announced Wednesday. 

Construction snafus have caused the museum to push its grand opening date back two months to March 20, 2003. 

“This construction project - seismic upgrade, historical renovation and adaptive re-use of an existing landmark building - is extremely complex, and our original opening date was quite optimistic,” said Emily Sano, museum director. “While construction schedules typically change ... the museum realized that the status of the building's renovation had impacted the schedule.” 

Once completed, the Asian Art Museum will encompass 40,000 square feet of gallery space, expanded educational service and state-of-the-art storage and conservation facilities.

Panthers third in BSAL 

The St. Mary’s High girls volleyball team will be the third seed in the Bay Shore Athletic League playoffs next week after beating St. Elizabeth High 15-9, 15-6, 15-12 on Tuesday. Jazmin Pratt had eight aces and six kills for the Panthers (9-3 BSAL), while Brittney Murrey had seven kills and nine assists. 

Sweeney wins ACCAL tournament 

Berkeley High swept the singles competition at the Alameda-Contra Costa Athletic League girls tennis championship tournament this week. 

Sophomore Megan Sweeney, who was undefeated as Berkeley’s top singles player, won three matches to take home the league title. She beat teammate Clara Mattei, 6-1, 6-2, in the final. 

Mattei beat No. 2 seed Gina Gossette of El Cerrito High to reach the final.  

Sweeney gets an automatic spot in the North Coast Section tournament, while Mattei will apply for an at-large berth. The Yellowjackets will also apply for team at-large berth. 

Cal water polo gains top ranking 

The Cal men’s water polo team was unanimously voted the top-ranked team in the country this week by the American Water Polo Coaches Association. 

The Bears, ranked No. 3 last week, beat formerly top-ranked Stanford last weekend as well as UC Davis. Their 15-4 record has them near the top of the MPSF Conference, led by junior All-American Attila Banhidy’s 40 goals. 

In addition, Cal senior goalkeeper Russell Bernstein was named MPSF Player of the Week after blocking 12 shots in his team’s 9-8 win over Stanford, including a save of a penalty shot. 

Cal returns to action on Saturday against MPSF-leader Pepperdine. The game starts at 10 a.m. at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Just when you thought it was over, Berkeley’s election season, it appears, will continue. 

With nearly all the votes counted Wednesday, moderate 8th District City Council candidate Gordon Wozniak fell just short of the 45 percent threshold required to avoid a run-off for the seat, taking 42 percent of the vote. Progressive-backed UC Berkeley graduate student Andy Katz finished second at 36 percent in a four-way race to succeed retiring council moderate Polly Armstrong. 

Now voters in the 8th District, which stretches south of the UC Berkeley campus, will choose between Wozniak and Katz in an election that will help shape the political contours of a sharply-divided City Council. 

Before Tuesday, Berkeley’s progressive faction held a 5-4 edge over the moderates. On Election Day, the left built on its majority. Progressive incumbents won re-election in Districts 1, 4 and 7 and progressive mayoral candidate Tom Bates thumped moderate incumbent Shirley Dean. Berkeley’s mayor sits on the City Council, and with Bates in place, the progressives will have at least a 6-3 advantage. A Katz victory would increase the majority to 7-2. 

Moderates are intent on securing a Wozniak victory and avoiding a 7-2 progressive edge. 

“I think it would be a pity to have such an overwhelming progressive majority,” said moderate City Councilmember Miriam Hawley, who did not face re-election this year. “We need some balance on the council.” 

Katz and Wozniak play down the moderate-progressive divide. Both argue that they will work as independent officials, cooperating with council members of all political stripes and focusing on nuts-and-bolts issues like housing and safety. But, just a day into the new campaign, Berkeley’s political schism is already playing a role. 

“I think there is certainly a large constituency in my district and other districts that deserve representation – what the press calls the ‘moderates,’” Wozniak said. “I think it’s important that we keep this seat in the moderate column.” 

Katz, for his part, said the progressive gains in this year’s election demonstrate that Berkeley voters “want a change,” arguing that he can be a part of that change. He also suggested that his ties to the progressive majority would help him deliver for the district. 

“Certainly having support from the mayor-elect and five members of the council shows that my working relationships with them will help me bring back the best for District 8,” he said. 

Human rights consultant Anne Wagley finished third in the 8th District race, with 19 percent of the vote, and observers say the runoff between Wozniak and Katz could turn on which candidate wins over Wagley supporters. 

Precinct-by-precinct vote totals were not yet available Wednesday, so it was difficult to tell if Wagley’s support came from tenants, homeowners, students or some combination. Wagley, who ran a centrist campaign focused on improved public process, said Wednesday that her support is broad-based. 

She said she will probably endorse Katz or Wozniak, but declined to tip her hand. Wagley was closer to Katz on several campaign issues and the UC Berkeley student said he would push Wagley’s concerns if elected. 

“The issues Anne brought up in the race are very important to me – fiscal accountability and openness in government,” Katz said. 

But Wozniak argued that Katz’s constituency is among students, while he probably split the residential vote with Wagley. Wozniak, who has pushed the concerns of small homeowners in the campaign, suggested that residential voters will naturally gravitate toward his candidacy. 

Voter participation will be a key factor in the run-off. Just over 4,000 8th District voters participated in the Tuesday election, although the number may rise by a few hundred when the final absentee and provisional ballots are counted, said City Clerk Sherry Kelly. She added that participation usually drops by about one half in Berkeley run-off elections, predicting that roughly 2,000 voters will cast ballots.  

The 8th District run-off voting will be conducted by mail, with ballots scheduled to arrive in mailboxes on Nov. 15 or 16. Voters will have until Dec. 3 to mail back or drop off their ballots. 

Katz said the chief hurdle in mobilizing his supporters will be simply letting them know that there is a run-off and ensuring that they don’t accidentally throw away ballots. But, the candidate may face the additional hurdles of student malaise and a run-off that will coincide with finals season at UC Berkeley. 

Wozniak said he had not yet devised a “get out the vote” strategy for the run-off, but suggested that a mail-in campaign might require a different tack than the general election. 

Contact reporter at scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net 

To the Editor: 

Yesterday I voted using one of those new Accuvote-TS systems the city spent a great deal of money on, ostensibly to secure more reliable voting. The intent was to give citizens a greater assurance that their vote was being counted. The Accuvote-TS system, however, had the opposite effect. 

I am a former software entrepreneur. I am no Luddite. I know computer technology well enough that I trust paper ballots far more than I will trust a touch screen computer to record my vote. While with paper ballots there are actual ballot boxes that have to be thrown into the bay in order to accomplish wholesale voter fraud, it only takes a few clicks of a mouse to commit fraud in an electronic voter system. The Accuvote-TS provides for no audit trail and no accountability. 

To add insult to injury, the voting “booths” were hardly booths. What has happened to the secret ballot? There was no privacy given to me when I was voting. Everyone in the room could have seen how I voted. 

Please give us back the paper ballot. 

Sameer Parekh 

Berkeley 

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco Giants announced Wednesday that they will not retain Dusty Baker as manager, only weeks after he led the team and the city to Major League Baseball's World Series Championship. 

A three-time National League Manager of the Year, Baker has worked with the Giants for 15 years.

Micki Weinberg, we hardly knew you. The UC Berkeley sophomore was one of seven City Council candidates to come up short Election Day. But as this year’s crop of overmatched and outspent longshots counted their losses, most took defeat with a stiff upper lip and an endearing sense of humor. 

“I didn’t really ever think I was going to win,” said 4th District candidate Bob Migdal, who garnered 20 percent of the vote compared to Dona Spring’s 67 percent. 

When told last week by a Spring supporter that she had been working 12 hours a day for three months on the campaign, he said reality set in. 

“I don’t want it that much,” Migdal said. “I don’t have it in me.” 

Still the disappointment of losing in Berkeley’s cut-throat political circus can leave scars. 

“I didn’t have to travel to the Congo to see the heart of darkness,” said Weinberg who managed 39 percent of the vote in a surprisingly nasty race against Councilmember Kriss Worthington in the 7th District. 

LA Wood, who like Migdal trailed far behind Dona Spring, expressed frustration with the entrenched support enjoyed by sitting council members. 

“I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to unseat an incumbent,” Wood said. “It was wishful thinking.” 

Berkeley politics has never been conventional, but the power of incumbency is as strong on the council as it is elsewhere in the nation. In the past two City Council elections incumbents have won six out seven contested seats. 

Norene Smith who ran an unsuccessful bid in 2000 to unseat Betty Olds in District 6 now muses on the difficulty of running an insurgent campaign. “She outspent me $38,000 to $7,000 and, let me tell you, after all her beautiful glossy mailings, if I weren’t an informed voter I would have voted for Betty too,” she said. 

“I tried ringing door bells, but in [hilly] District 6 I had to climb up 85 stairs and then the person doesn’t answer,” she added. 

This year’s candidates experienced many of the same frustrations. “I learned it’s very hard to run against two established machines,” said Anne Wagley who finished third behind the moderate and progressive candidates in the 8th District. 

Wagley spoke for most of the candidates when she expressed relief that the campaign was finally over. “I’ll be having dinner with my family tonight,” she said noting that making personal time for loved ones hadn’t been easy during the past few months. 

But, she and others said they plan to stay active in Berkeley politics. 

“I’m winding up not slowing down,” said LA Wood who said he will remain a fixture at City Council meetings. Still, despite his disappointment at losing, he acknowledged there was some upside to defeat.  

“It will be nice to still be able to go home [from council meetings] at a reasonable hour and indulge in my own passions. We have so little time,” he said. 

Contact reporter at matt@ 

berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

To my “fellow Americans”; 

I prayed for a dream to be realized before voting day, and it seems that the answer to this prayer is coming in a different form than I had imagined. I had hoped more people would get out and vote, and had prayed that no matter how disgusted we were about business as usual, we would still exercise this right. I am feeling let down by the results of this election. But perhaps it is because we still have work to do on a grassroots level and with our consumer votes. 

Now, my challenge to all of my country men and women is to send a message to the corporate criminals by refusing to shop. What if everyone who is so disgusted by this new regime decided to choose only one day out of the month to do something other than go to the store to buy stuff? What if we chose to buy secondhand only for a while? What if we chose to stop driving so much, use mass transit wherever possible, and do recreational activities at home or closer to home, within our own communities? What if we chose to buy items from locally owned small businesses and stopped going to the larger big box blights on the landscape? What if we decided to conserve all of our resources, not only because it is the right thing to do, but because we would not be putting more money into the hands of the corporate criminals? What if we all looked at our options for change and realized that without our money, the minority group of small minded fearful businessmen and women (who seem to need desperately to control everything) would not be getting richer at our expense, and then the power of greed would not be running the show? Perhaps we would all look at the problems of the world in a different way and then we would see we are all in this together.  

If we don't, we will have seen that this human experiment was a good idea while it lasted. Mother Earth will decide to get rid of us (with our cooperation, of course) and start again. Perhaps we will understand next time 

Kathleen Lassiter 

Jenner 

Eight Berkeley residents remain stranded in local hotels and a property owner says he faces financial peril after a suspicious fire damaged three south Berkeley buildings last week. 

“[City inspectors] won’t allow us back until the building is brought up to code,” said Shawn Goad, who lives one story above J&B Fine Foods at 3242 Adeline Street, where the displaced residents lived. 

Ali Kassim who owns both the ground floor shop and the building on Adeline Street says he doesn’t have the money to repair electrical circuits damaged by the fire and cannot pay relocation costs of the now homeless residents. 

The Red Cross is currently paying for temporary lodging, but after the aid expires Friday, Kassim is obligated to pay for the difference in the tenants’ housing costs for the next three months or until they can move back, as required by Berkeley law. 

“I’m in so much debt, I don’t even have enough money to pay my rent,” he said. 

The fire damaged the building’s electrical wiring, prompting fire inspectors to order power shut off to the building until repairs are made. 

Kassim said the lack of power at his store cost him $10,000 in spoiled foods and is now depriving him of further income he could use to repair the building. 

City officials said Kassim should take out a short-term loan to make repairs and get his business re-opened. Without a loan, Kassim likely will have to wait until his insurer sends a check, which city officials said could take months.  

Before tenants will be permitted to move back, Kassim must show city inspectors that all of the fire damages have been repaired and that no outstanding code violations exist. 

Goad who has been put up at the Shattuck Hotel by the Red Cross, said the top floor is not nearly ready to re-occupy. 

“The landlord hasn’t cleaned up at all,” he said. “There are scraps hanging from the ceiling, the floors are soaked, and there are holes in the back stairway,” he said. 

City officials said evidence at the scene of the fire points to arson as the cause of the fire. 

“It appears from fire inspectors that an excelerent [highly flammable material like gasoline] was present,” said Berkeley police spokesperson Mary Kusmiss. Police have no suspects in the case. 

Nobody was hurt in the three-alarm blaze that fire officials estimate caused $130,000 in damages. 

About 40 to 50 percent of Berkeley fires are intentional said Fire Department Assistant Chief David Orth, noting that Berkeley was ranked among the upper fifth of California cities for arson. 

The south Berkeley fire came one week after 69 residents of the UA Homes at 1040 University Ave. were allowed to return to their apartments after spending nine weeks in hotels while the building’s owners made repairs. That fire was not believed to be arson related. 

Contact reporter at matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net

SAN PABLO — She’s short, strong-willed and has a taste for KFC chicken dinners and Twinkies. Meet 113-year-old Mary Christian of San Pablo — the newest oldest American. 

Christian was pronounced the oldest American last week by the Gerontology Research Group, a nonprofit collection of volunteer demographers who study aging and chronicle those who age long and gracefully. 

Christian became the nation’s eldest after last week’s death of Mary Parr, 113. After Parr’s death, John McMorran, also 113, held the title briefly until Christian’s age was confirmed. 

Born in Taunton, Mass. on June 12, 1889, Christian now holds the distinction all to herself. 

“She’s physically in good health. She’s always astounding her doctors,” said her great-granddaughter, Sharon Hanney. “She had a cold when she was 102 and got over that.” 

Christian moved with her family from Massachusetts to California at age 10. She was working in a Richmond chocolate factory when the 1906 earthquake hit, and she recalled for relatives that the boss let employees take bits of the broken sweets home after they fell on the floor from the shaking. 

Christian now lives at the Creekside Care Center in San Pablo, an eastern suburb of San Francisco. Only a few of her closest relatives can hold a conversation with her, as she only recognizes their familiar voices, Hanney said. 

The elderly woman worked at a cannery, and later at a Macy’s, and grew up in Richmond before the city held that name. Christian has lost much of her vision, and essentially is bedridden, but retained her taste for fast food until two years ago. 

“She used to be just crazy about Kentucky Fried Chicken. We would take her to KFC,” Hanney said. “She also loved Twinkies.” 

It’s the genes Christian inherited that are whetting the academic appetites of researchers, says Dr. Stephen Coles, an instructor of gerontology the UCLA school of medicine. 

“Supercentenarians live as long as they do because they grow old more uniformly and they don’t have a weak link like heart disease that takes them out of the running early,” Dr. Coles said. 

Dr. Coles is part of the group that verified Christian’s age.

OAKLAND — Voters approved adding 100 police officers to Oakland’s streets, but refused to raise taxes to pay for them. Supporters say that means they want the department to increase efficiency, but some opponents argue voters didn’t understand the ballot. 

Measure FF, which passed Tuesday with 53 percent of the vote, would put 100 new police officers on the streets, paying their salaries with new tax revenue. The proposal was put on the ballot by Mayor Jerry Brown in response to the city’s rising homicide rate. 

But the three separate measures intended to fund the new jobs failed — all with more than 56 percent of the vote. They would have raised taxes from 7.5 percent to 8 percent on hotel stays, parking and utilities including electricity, gas and alternate fuels, as well as telephone and cable television. The tax increase would have amounted to $63.5 million over five years. 

That additional revenue would have paid for the new officers, who were to form new foot and bicycle patrols and work in neighborhoods impacted by the recent rise in crime. 

“People want more police and more crime prevention programs,” Brown said Wednesday. “But they want City Hall to prioritize and become more efficient. The voters are saying, ’Take a second look, do your job, but don’t come back to us with more taxes.”’ 

But a leading opponent of the measure, Oakland City Council member Nancy Nadel, said the outcome doesn’t necessarily mean that people want more cops on the streets. She said the measure, called “violence prevention” on the ballot, was confusing. 

“It’s very hard to vote against violence prevention, but most people don’t consider cops to be violence prevention,” Nadel said. “We need actual job programs, a mini WPA for our ex-offenders, after-school programs ... Police are just a small part of it.” 

Oakland, with a population of 406,000, is on track to surpass 100 homicides by year’s end for the first time since 1995. This year’s pace harkens back to the years of 1986 to 1995, when the city averaged 138 murders a year. 

As voters went to the polls Tuesday evening, the city’s murder toll rose to 96 when a 38-year-old man was killed in East Oakland just before 6 p.m.

Voters in Castro Valley have rejected a proposal to become an incorporated city and Fremont voters passed a $51 million fire station bond measure, according to complete unofficial election returns. 

Voters Tuesday night overwhelmingly rejected Measure Q, which would have created the new city of Castro Valley. The proposed city would have existed as of July 1, and been governed by a five-member city council. Some critics of the plan had said they were worried that the city would not be able to support itself financially. 

Nearly three in four Fremont voters approved Measure R, a $51 million bond measure that will replace three small fire stations and seismically upgrade seven others. A two-thirds was required for passage. 

Measure S, a bid to raise the salaries of Fremont City Council members and the mayor, went down to defeat. Under the measure, the monthly salary of each member of the City Council would have increased to $2,083 from  

$1,407 and the salary of the mayor would have increase to $2,916 from $2,211 per month. 

Alameda County voters passed Measure C, which will amend the county charter to specify that any county chief probation officer taking office after Wednesday will be appointed by, and serve at the pleasure of, the Board of Supervisors. 

On Friday, the current probation chief, Sylvia Johnson, announced that she would retire from office on Jan. 31. 

Measure A, approved by the voters, will allow the county to adopt a hotel and lodging tax of 10 percent of the rental charge that would apply to unincorporated areas of the county. With the exception of Piedmont, all cities in the county currently impose a hotel and lodging tax of 8 to 12 percent. 

Measure B, passed by the voters, will enable the county to continue to impose a business license tax in unincorporated areas. 

Measure AA, which would enable the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District to levy a $24 annual parcel tax over the next five years, to protect bus services for children and seniors, help ensure passenger security and help reduce traffic congestion and air pollution appeared to have been passed by at least two-thirds of the voters in Alameda County in final unofficial returns. However, the measure was falling just shy of the two-thirds mark in Contra Costa County returns. 

Measure BB would allow the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District to issue up to $1.05 billion in bonds to perform seismic upgrades on BART facilities in Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties. The passage of the measure is still too close to call by unofficial election returns. Measures AA and BB require a two-thirds majority in multiple counties for passage.

S.F. sues major contractor 

SAN FRANCISCO — The city of San Francisco has sued the major contractor that worked on San Francisco International Airport’s expansion, accusing the company of defrauding the city of tens of millions of dollars. 

The suit, filed Friday in federal court, seeks $30 million in damages from Sylmar-based Tutor-Saliba Corp., as well as forfeiture of profits and possibly millions more in damages from Tutor-Saliba and its partners, Massachusetts-based Perini Corp. and Pennsylvania-based Buckley and Co. It also seeks to keep Tutor-Saliba from bidding on future contracts in San Francisco. 

The city claims the company overbilled and company manipulated and defrauded the city-run minority contracting program to win lucrative airport contracts it shouldn’t have gotten. 

Company owner Ronald Tutor denies the charges. 

“I’m really taken aback. I did not believe they would do anything so unreasonable,” he said. 

U.S. Postal Service offers amnesty 

SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Postal Service is offering an amnesty to anyone in possession of its white plastic bins, commonly used to distribute large amounts of mail to businesses. 

The post office says about 10 percent of its 10 million boxes are missing nationwide. Each bin is worth about $3.50, but misuse of a single box can lead to a $1,000 fine or possible jail time. 

Each container, which is government property, clearly warns in blue print that the theft or misuse of it can entail the fine and a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment. 

Diversity enrollment up due to smaller class size 

BERKELEY — This fall’s diversity increase in enrollment at UC Berkeley is mainly due to a smaller freshman class than last year’s, said a university representative. 

The freshman class has a total of 3,655 students, a 5 percent decrease from last year, said assistant vice chancellor for admissions and enrollment, Richard Black. The university received 36,000 applications, accepting roughly one in four. 

Hispanics, blacks and American Indians compose 15.6 percent of the fall freshmen class, up from 14.7 in fall 2001. In 1997, the year before the Prop. 209 ban on affirmative action went into effect, the percentage of underrepresented students was 21 percent. 

Asian Americans increased to 46 percent.

LOS ANGELES — A grainy, security camera videotape has upstaged Winona Ryder’s movie work. 

Footage of the two-time Academy Award nominee walking out of a Beverly Hills Saks Fifth Avenue store with $5,500 worth of unpurchased items culminated Wednesday in two convictions. The jury in the shoplifting trial found the star of “Girl, Interrupted” guilty of felony grand theft and vandalism but cleared her of burglary. 

Ryder, 31, is expected to receive sentences of community service and probation — but the lingering embarrassment of the scandal may become an unofficial punishment. 

Months before the trial, the actress attempted to make light of the theft accusations during appearances to promote her films “Mr. Deeds” and “Simone.” 

In a “Saturday Night Live” monologue, Ryder deadpanned: “You know, people have been acting a little strange around here. You know, there’s like, you know, a lot of like locking of doors and — and shifty eyes and — and a lot of frisking.” 

In a later shoplifting sketch, she mockingly scolded other characters for stealing. 

Ryder also appeared on the cover of W magazine wearing a “Free Winona” T-shirt. 

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office bristled at her apparently unremorseful attitude, rejecting Ryder’s efforts to get her charges reduced to misdemeanors.

SAN JOSE — Cisco Systems Inc.’s fiscal first-quarter earnings beat Wall Street expectations Wednesday despite the weak economy and soft demand for networking gear. 

But the company, which has managed to outperform competitors in recent quarters, predicted a soft fiscal second quarter with sales remaining flat or falling slightly. 

For the three months ended Oct. 26, Cisco earned $618 million, or 8 cents per share, on sales of $4.85 billion. For the comparable period last fiscal year, the company lost $268 million, or 4 cents a share, on revenues of $4.45 billion. 

Excluding special items, Cisco earned $1 billion, or 14 cents per share, compared with a profit of $332 million or 4 cents a share in the same period last fiscal year. 

Analysts were expecting a first-quarter profit of 13 cents per share on sales of $4.81 billion, according to a survey by Thomson First Call. 

“Despite the challenging market, we continued to execute ahead of our competitors, resulting in another solid quarter for Cisco,” said John Chambers, the company’s chief executive. 

In August, the company said first-quarter sales would range from flat to a slight percentage increase from the $4.83 billion reported in its fiscal fourth quarter. 

“They’re really driving the operational execution of the company to a very high tempo,” said Barry Jaruzelski, managing partner of the global technology practice at Booz Allen Hamilton, a consulting firm. 

Cisco has been particularly hard hit by the meltdown in spending by telecommunications companies, which drove much of its growth in the late 1990s. To compensate, the company has dramatically cut costs and focused more attention on other business opportunities. 

Chambers told analysts he remains optimistic about the company’s long-term prospects, saying Cisco’s results will quickly follow improvements in its customers’ sales and profits. 

“It is no surprise given our customers’ visibility is limited that our own visibility is limited,” he said. 

The company expects its fiscal second-quarter revenues to be flat to down as much as 4 percent over the first quarter, said Larry Carter, Cisco’s chief financial officer. 

In the worst-case scenario, Cisco’s second-quarter sales would be $4.6 billion. The consensus analyst estimate for the period was $4.9 billion. 

“It would not be a big surprise if factors increased or decreased,” Chambers said. “As our customers’ business improves, so will our business with a slight lag time.” 

Cisco, the leading maker of routers, switches and other network equipment, has managed to continue posting profits even as rivals Lucent Technologies, Alcatel and Juniper Networks Inc. post losses. 

Jaruzelski compared Cisco’s performance to Dell Computer Corp. in the personal computer business. 

“It’s a flat, not attractive marketplace with penny-pinching customers,” he said. “They’re getting more than their fair share ... at the expense of others. They’re not doing it by giving their products away.” 

In the past month, Cisco’s shares have risen about 50 percent. 

On Wednesday, shares closed up 27 cents, to $12.96, in trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. After the company released its earnings, shares gained 10 cents in extended-session trading.

LOS ANGELES — The federal government is investigating whether Tenet Healthcare Corp. hospitals overbilled Medicare millions of dollars for costly procedures, the company said Wednesday. 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will audit Tenet’s accounts at several hospitals. The probe was triggered by an insurance company reporting concerns over billings for a higher-than-average number of procedures, such as heart surgeries, that qualify for special payments. 

The so-called “outlier” payments are meant to reimburse hospitals for expenses over and above the flat fee Medicare pays for certain conditions. 

“We’re seeing indications of a problem there and want to see how extensive it is,” said Katherine Harris, a spokeswoman for the inspector general’s office of the health department. 

The payments in question were made over a period of months this year, Harris said. 

“We’re going to visit hospitals to be sure Medicare claims complied with Medicare regulations and were based on usual and customary charges for private pay patients,” Harris said. 

“We are pleased to cooperate with this audit, as we are confident that it will demonstrate that our hospitals did, in fact, obey the rules,” said Jeffrey Barbakow, chairman and chief executive officer of the Santa Barbara-based company. 

Last week, federal agents searched the office of two doctors who practice at a Tenet hospital in Redding. Tenet also is investigating allegations that the two performed unnecessary heart surgeries. 

The California medical board is seeking a restraining order against the two doctors, saying the evidence to date constitutes probable cause that the pair performed unnecessary invasive heart surgeries.

Palm handhelds were something of a revelation when first launched in April 1996 — small, nifty computers that did a great job of organizing personal data and ran for weeks on a single set of batteries. 

Yet the very thing that let Palm succeed where others had failed — a simple, stripped-down operating system — is what’s been holding it back in recent years. 

The operating system and antiquated processors it runs on simply doesn’t have the muscle and the flexibility to support wireless network cards, cameras and stereo music. 

Palm’s new operating system, called OS 5, attempts to remedy that.

SACRAMENTO — A California state budget process that broke down last summer, triggering a record impasse between Republicans and Democrats, may become still more difficult next year with Republican election gains in the state Assembly. 

Assembly Democrats, who already needed four Republican votes for a two-thirds majority to pass a budget, now need six crossover votes — and possibly seven — in the two-year legislative session that begins in January. 

The final tally hinges on a lone San Joaquin Valley Assembly race that remained undecided on Wednesday. 

Elections officials in Kern, Kings, Tulare and Fresno counties said it may take two weeks to determine a winner in the 30th Assembly District. While thousands of absentee and provisional ballots remained uncounted, Democrat Nicole Parra held only a 475-vote edge over Republican Dean Gardner.

Progressive Tom Bates who returned to Berkeley politics last May, fresh off a six-year political hiatus, declared victory Tuesday night in his race to unseat Mayor Shirley Dean. 

“The work has just begun,” the former state Assemblyman told more than 200 supporters at his campaign headquarters on Shattuck Avenue. 

With 85 percent of the vote counted, Bates held a commanding 56 to 42 percent lead over the moderate incumbent at press time early Wednesday morning. 

Bates’ triumph ends a race that featured two of the city’s pre-eminent politicians. The pair offered similar visions for the city, but did so in contrasting and sometimes antagonistic styles. 

Bates, positioning himself as a consensus builder, won support of voters tired of a City Council that has been marred by partisan bickering. 

Noting nationwide gains for Republicans Tuesday, Bates insisted late Tuesday that Berkeley now has a mission to keep the progressive spirit alive. 

“We need to provide hope for the nation going in the wrong direction,” he said. 

Dean gave a short speech to supporters early Wednesday, but campaign officials refused to comment on their apparent defeat. 

Berkeley election returns filtered in slowly Tuesday night, with voters packing polling stations up to the 8:00 p.m.. closing time. Many polls remained open until 9:30 p.m. to accommodate crowds, according to City Clerk Sherry Kelly.  

The candidates’ headquarters told the story of the vote. 

While Bates’ headquarters was a raucous party with supporters cheering with each updated vote total, Dean played host to roughly 35 mostly subdued supporters, most of whom filed out by 10:30 p.m.  

The race for mayor pitted two political Goliaths who were close on many policy issues but stood on opposite sides of Berkeley’s moderate versus progressive divide for nearly 30 years. 

Dean, a 15-year member of City Council, was elected mayor in 1994, ending the progressives’ 16-year stranglehold on the office. Bates rode his progressive Berkeley base to 20 years in the state Assembly until term limits forced him to retire in 1996. 

The race, which saw both candidates raising roughly $150,000, was one of the most expensive in Berkeley history and sometimes appeared driven more by personal animosity between the candidates than by substantive policy differences. 

Dean fired the opening salvos, blasting Bates for allegedly blocking the construction of student housing and warning voters that a Bates victory would mean a return to run-down buildings and a derelict downtown. 

Bates eventually fired back, calling Dean a mean-spirited person. He blamed her for the partisan bickering at City Council meetings and noted her ballyhooed trip to Ohio to dig up dirt on arch rival Councilmember Kriss Worthington. 

The campaigns also dueled in the ring of campaign finance. Bates’ treasurer Mal Burnstein found that Dean had misfiled approximately $3,000 in campaign contributions from the 1998 race. Dean was ultimately ordered by a citizen commission to re-allocate the money to her previous campaign and file amended fundraising reports with the city. 

Dean’s campaign responded by plugging two citizen petitions, accusing Bates of illegal fundraising. Both charges against Bates were dismissed by the citizen commission.  

With both candidates calling for a Berkeley with more housing along transit corridors, better public transportation, good relations with the university and support of small businesses, Dean and Bates often ended up debating who was better suited to achieve their similar visions. 

Bates said his political connections throughout the state gave him an edge. Noting his ties to Sacramento politicians, including his wife, former Berkeley Mayor Loni Hancock, who was overwhelmingly elected to fill Bates’ former Assembly seat, Bates said he was better positioned to win state grants and negotiate with the university from a position of strength. 

Dean insisted that she had already made progress on these issues, and that Bates was at the head of a political machine that sought to control city politics.

To the Editor: 

My nine year old son and I were at the demonstration against the war in Iraq on Saturday in San Francisco. It was astounding, with apathy at appalling rates, to see so many thousands of individuals show up for anything. This was not just students or young people; there were lots and lots of families, young and old, brown, black, white and every color under the rainbow. When I said to a friend, “This is amazing,” she answered, “Yes but will the media cover it?” And I thought, “Of course they will.” 

Generally, I'm am very cynical about things, but I thought (mistakenly) that there was no way the media could ignore these numbers protesting our government’s war policy. I’m astounded I could have been so naive and so wrong. Where was most of the media? The demonstrations involved over 100,000 people in Washington D.C., and 50,000 in San Francisco, and concurrent events throughout Europe in the pouring rain. There was no real main stream reporting and, even when it was mentioned, no analysis. 

It saddens me, almost as much as our government's war policies, to realize that if these demonstrations had not been peaceful and nonviolent, they would have been considered newsworthy. When was the last time that many folks have turned out for any one event? 

Ann Lehman 

El Cerrito

Wednesday, Nov. 6 

North Berkeley Senior Center Advisory Council Meeting 

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

981-5190 

Community Members Welcome 

Monthly Birthday Party 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

Featuring Jim Steinke, guitar and mandolin wizard 

981-5190 

2002 Surjit Singh Lecture 

5:30 p.m. 

Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Common Room, 2451 Ridge Rd. 

649-2440 

“The Chinese and Religion in the Context of Globalization” 

Reception 5:30 p.m. / Lecture 7 p.m. 

Bade Museum at Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. 

A noted scholar and author, Professor Zhuo Xinping speaks 

649-2440 

Thursday, Nov. 7 

“Water, the Beverage of Life” 

11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

Aaron Miller, SF State Intern will discuss 

981-5190 

Additional Ferries from East Bay Sites 

noon to 2 p.m. 

Albany Public Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 

Discussion with a representative of the San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters 

843-8824 

Free 

Panel Discussion - “Resistance to the Free Trade Agreements in Mexico and Central America” 

7:30 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 

Featuring video presentation of “Tierra Si, Aviones No”, and performance by the NoPPP Players 

$5 and $10/ suggested donation 

Friday, Nov. 8  

Alexander Cockburn’s Incendiary Rants 

7 p.m. 

AK Press Warehouse, 673-A 23rd St. 

Release party for muckraking maverick Alexander Cockburn’s new spoken word CD “Beating the Devil” 

208-1700 

Free 

Berkeley Women in Black Vigil 

Bancroft at Telegraph Ave. 

Weekly protest to “End the Occupation” 

Saturday, Nov. 9 

Book Sale and Auction 

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

The Center for AIDS Services, 5720 Shattuck Ave., Oakland 

This big sale will benefit the AIDS center 

655-3435 

An Afternoon of Mystery  

2 p.m. 

1901 Russell St. 

Berkeley’s South Branch Library presents mystery writers Jake Fuchs “Death of a Prof”, Owen Hill “The Chandler Apartments”, and Mary Halock “The Dog on the Roof” 

525-3948 

Free 

Sunday, Nov. 10 

World Run Day-national charity benefit 

All day 

Various cities across the nation  

(516) 859-3000, www.runday.com 

Tuesday, Nov. 12 

Holiday Craft Baazar 

10 a.m. to noon 

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

Handmade items, sweet treats, and knick knacks will be for sale. All are welcome 

845-6830 

Wednesday, Nov. 13 

Public Lecture by the Rev. Canon Naim Ateek 

7:30 p.m. 

UCC, on Dana St. between Durant and Channing 

Founder of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center and native of East Jerusalem, Rev. Ateek will lead a discussion sponsored by the First Congregational Church of Berkeley (UCC) and the Pacific School of Religion 

848-3696 

$10/ suggested donation 

League of Women Voters Meeting 

Noon 

LWVBAE office, 1414 University Ave. 

Discussion will focus on regional issues 

849-2154 

Thursday, Nov. 14 

Regret to Inform  

Reception 6:30 p.m. / Program 7 p.m. 

Berkeley High School Auditorium, 2234 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

A screening and discussion with filmmaker Barbara Sonneborn. 

979-0190, liz_vogel@facing.org 

Free 

Berkeley Path Wanderers Meeting 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. 

Meeting to include a presentation by best- selling author Adah Bakalinsky who will speak about her book, “Stairway Walks of San Francisco” 

Free 

Wednesday, Nov. 6 

Zabava! Izorno and Brass Menagerie 

7 p.m. doors open/ 8:30 live performance 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

Enjoy this celebration with live music from the Balkans, including dance lessons begining at 7:30 

525-5054 

$8 

Christopher Hitchens 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Hitchens will discuss “Why Orwell Matters” 

845-7852 

Saadet Turkoz with Miya Masaoka and George Cremaschi 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

Mysterious improvisations based on ancient Central Asian music in collaboration with local luminati Masaoka and Cremaschi on contrabass 

548-1761 

$15.50-$16.50 

Thursday, Nov. 7 

Gary Thorp 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Thorp will read from “Caught in Fading Light” 

845-7852 

The Non Prophets  

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Performing with special guest Vince Welnick of the Grateful Dead 

21+ 

$10 

Bandworks Recital 

7:30 p.m. to midnight 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

Hear student bands play rock, blues, and pop at this annual recital event 

525-5054 

$11 

Friday, Nov. 8 

The Librarians, Bitesize, and Glitter Mini 9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

All age show 

$7 

Chaskinakuy 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

Beautiful vocal harmonies in Spanish and Quechua 

548-1761 

$15.50-$16.50 

An Evening of Cultural Harmony 

8 p.m. 

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

The Barbard Ensemble, the San Francisco Klezmer Experience, and Lichi Fuentes & Jackeline Rago will treat listeners to music from Iran, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. 

704-7480 x755 

$25 general admission 

Black Dice, Dearly Departed (ex-Subtonix), and The Mass 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

$8 

Sunday, Nov. 10 

The Sheldon Brown Group 

4:30 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

Reservations: 845-5373 

$10-$15 

Images of India-2002 

7 p.m. 

International House Auditorium, 2299 Piedmont Ave. 

‘Asha for Education,’ a campus based non-profit organization, holds its 12th annual event  

665-4889, ioi@ashanet.org 

$15-$25 / $10 students 

The Starry Irish Music Session with Shay Black 

8 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Tickets available on a sliding scale 

“Shove Off to Birthday Island” 

Through Nov. 30 

Reception Nov. 2 from 5 to 8 p.m. 

Tue. through Sat., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

Ardency Gallery, 709 Broadway, Oakland 

A collaborative exhibition of Tonya Solley Thornton and Frank Haines including video and sculptural installations. 

836-0831 

Children of the Gulf War Photo Exhibit 

Through Nov. 30 

Mon. through Thurs., 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

Fri. through Sat.., 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

Sun., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 

Featuring works of Takashi Morizumi 

Information: www.savewarchildren.org 

Ceramics - Opening Reception 

Through Nov. 17 

3 to 5 p.m. 

A New Leaf Gallery, 1286 Gilman St. 

525-7621 

Free 

“Recent Acquisitions” 

Through Dec. 14 

Thurs. through Sat., 1 to 4 p.m. 

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

848-0181 

Free 

Threads: Five artists who use stitching to convey ideas 

Through Dec. 15, Wed. through Sun., noon to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center 

Live Oak Park, 1275 Walnut St. 

Information: www.berkeleyartcenter.org, 644-6893 

Free 

Menocchio 

Nov. 6 through Dec. 22 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St. 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre presents the world premiere of Lillian Groag’s charged comedy 

647-2949, www.berkeleyrep.org  

$38 and $54/ sliding scale 

Thursday, Nov. 7 

“Desert Hearts” 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

A 1950s lesbian romance featuring Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau. 

Friday, Nov. 8 

“El Che” 

7 p.m. 

Redwood Gardens, 2951 Derby St. 

Film screening followed by salsa dancing to support Berkeley’s Cuban Sister-City Palma Soriano. 

548-6941 

$10 / sliding scale 

“Cinemayaat: The Arab Film Festival” 

Through Nov. 12 

Various locations throughout Berkeley, San Francisco, and San Jose. 

For more information contact the Arab Film Festival at info@aff.org, (415) 564- 1100, or www.aff.org 

Wednesday, Nov. 6 

Poetry Slam with host Nazelah Jamison and Karen Ladson 

8:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Cash prizes up to $90 

21+ 

$7/ general, $5/ students with ID 

Saturday Nov. 9 

Dorothy Allison and Jewelle Gomez appear in support of Boadecia’s Books 

8 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda at Solano 

559-9184 

$25/ sliding scale 

Tuesday, Nov. 12 

Open Mic 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

7:30 p.m. 

Free 

Wednesday, Nov. 13 

Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik 

8:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Cash prizes up to $90 

21+ 

$7/ general, $5/ students with ID 

Saturday Nov. 16 

Alice Walker and Brenda Boykin 

appear in support of Boadecia’s Books 

8 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda at Solano 

559-9184 

$25/ sliding scale 

Monday, Dec. 2 

Adam David Miller and Rita Flores Bogaert 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave 

The Last Word announces a poetry reading that will include an open mic and featured readers 

649-1320 

Free

NEW YORK — Randy Johnson won yet another Cy Young Award and then he teed off. 

No, not on baseball. The Big Unit was getting ready to play Pebble Beach Golfs Links when his latest honor was announced Tuesday, and rather than delay his round, Johnson grabbed a cell phone and talked about his fastballs and sliders while deciding among woods and wedges. 

“I’m trying to make a putt on No. 2 right now,” he said, the California coast off to his side. 

No doubt, his score Tuesday was far lower than his perenially high strikeout total. 

Johnson was a unanimous pick over Arizona teammate Curt Schilling, winning a record-tying fourth straight National League Cy Young and fifth overall — one short of Roger Clemens’ record. 

The Big Unit, who will earn an additional $4 million because of the award, received all 32 first-place votes and 160 points from a panel of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. 

“The big picture, obviously, is to get to the World Series. If you remain consistent and have a good year, it’s kind of a bonus,” Johnson said, referring to the award. “This has come from maintaining consistency, hard work and dedication, and my teammates being very supportive offensively, defensively and in the bullpen.” 

Schilling was runner-up for the second straight season, getting 29 second-place votes and three thirds for 90 points. Atlanta closer John Smoltz was third with 21 points. 

Johnson matched Greg Maddux (1992-95) as the only pitchers to win four straight Cy Youngs and became the NL’s 11th unanimous winner, the first since Maddux in 1995. Johnson and Schilling became the first pitchers to finish 1-2 in Cy Young voting in consecutive years. 

Johnson, who has won the award in all four seasons since signing with the Diamondbacks as a free agent, earned his first Cy Young with Seattle in 1995. 

“I’ve got them in my office, and they’re displayed nice,” he said. “I’m a very simple person, and I work hard, and I push myself, and this is the reward.” 

The Big Unit went 24-5 with a 2.37 ERA and 334 strikeouts, becoming the first major leaguer since Boston’s Pedro Martinez in 1999 and the first NL player since the Mets’ Dwight Gooden in 1985 to win pitching’s triple crown. 

The 39-year-old Johnson set a career high for wins, led the major leagues in strikeouts for the ninth time and became the first pitcher to reach 300 in five straight seasons. He also led the majors in innings (260) and complete games (eight), and led the NL in opponents’ batting average (.208). 

Schilling went 23-7 with a 3.23 ERA, 316 strikeouts and just 33 walks in 259 1-3 innings. Schilling, who has never won a Cy Young, was 21-5 with a 2.77 ERA though Aug. 31, while Johnson was 19-5 with a 2.63 ERA. 

Johnson sealed the award by going 5-0 with an 0.66 ERA in September as Schilling was 2-2 with a 6.19 ERA. On Sept. 20, Schilling allowed eight earned runs for only the third time and a career-high 14 hits in 9-4 loss to Colorado at Coors Field. 

Arizona, the NL West champion, was 55-15 when Johnson or Schilling started, 43-49 the rest of the time. The defending World Series champions were swept by St. Louis in the first round of the playoffs. 

Last year, Johnson and Schilling were co-MVPs of the seven-game World Series win over the New York Yankees. Johnson called that the “top of the mountain” and recalled the thrill of having his family at the Diamondbacks’ parade. 

Injuries to Luis Gonzalez and others crippled Arizona.

Berkeley’s two most-watched ballot measures appeared well on their way to defeat late Tuesday night. 

With 68 percent of city precincts reported, residents were appearing jittery about calls for socially-conscience coffee, voting 70 to 30 percent against the initiative that would require retailers to brew and sell only organic, shade-grown or “Fair Trade” cups of coffee. 

Berkeley voters also weighed in on the increasingly contentious issue of urban growth, rejecting an initiative that aimed to steer high-rise housing out of the city. 

With 68 percent of precincts reported, the initiative was losing 79 to 21 percent. 

Both Measure P, the height initiative, and Measure O, the coffee initiative, pushed historic thresholds of citizen-driven initiatives, bringing such issues as international trade and population growth into the realm of local policy-making. 

While disappointed by the loss of the height initiative, supporters remained confident that their attempts to put limits on the heights of new buildings could be established through other means. 

“There are three lawsuits against the city in regard to development and others in the pipeline,” said height initiative author Howie Muir, claiming that the city has illegally approved oversized projects and will likely be admonished by the courts. 

The height initiative had sought to reduce Berkeley’s population density by cutting permissible height limits along several major traffic corridors. On sections of San Pablo Avenue, under the initiative, limits would have dropped from four stories to two and on parts of University, Shattuck and College avenues height limits would have dropped an average of one story. 

“We’re the 20th densist city in the country for cities with more than 100,000 people,” Muir noted. 

While campaign literature conjured images of the Manhatten skyline taking shape in Berkeley, opponents of the height initiative said the rhetoric was overdone. 

Garnering support from the League of Women Voters, the entire City Council and advocates of so-called smart growth, the opposition made the case that much-needed housing opportunities would be lost if the measure passed. 

“We need to be able to continue revitalizing corridors like San Pablo and provide affordable housing along transit corridors. Measure P wouldn’t allow either of these things,” said Stuart Cohen, executive director of the Oakand-based Transportation and Land Use Coalition. 

A sign held by an opponent of the measure read, “Don’t P on Berkeley.” 

Opposition to Berkeley’s high-profile coffee initiative met with similar success. 

Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Starbucks Coffee and the National Coffee Association, each throwing more than $10,000 into the opposition effort, argued that politically correct coffee would hurt both local businesses and consumers because of its higher wholesale cost. 

Supporters of the coffee initiative, though, said untold costs of labor exploitation and environmentally-destructive farming practices would far exceed any local price increases. 

“If this would have passed, my money would have gone to small farmers who are struggling to survive. Now it goes to corporate farms and companies that don’t care about labor practices,” said Rick Young who authored the coffee initiative.

To the Editor: 

Interpreting the population density numbers being bandied about is a challenge. Let me address impacts on transit. As most of you know, that has been my field for 30 years. 

Average density for cities or neighborhoods is irrelevant to transit ridership. What counts is how many people and what activity is within walking distance of stops or stations. The rule of thumb is that people walk up to five minutes to a bus stop. On flat land, that is around a quarter mile. Both numbers stem from research on how far passengers actually walk. I have done some of the research. Our results duplicated those of other investigators. Historically, people have tended to walk further to rail transit stations. 

It is important to understand what the quarter mile means. It means that few passengers walk further. Beyond a quarter mile, you are looking at the tail of the distribution. Most passengers come from less than that. Since they come from all directions, imagine concentric circles, the market penetration (riders per unit of area) tails off even more rapidly with distance from the stop. 

Residences and activities have to be clustered really densely around stops if we expect many people to use transit. “Around” means just that. The high-density node should extend a block or two on either side of the arterial as well as along it. 

If we seek to shift future travelers from automobiles to transit, zoning must encourage high density at stops, not inhibit it. 

Robert R. Piper 

Former Director of Transportation 

Berkeley 

NEW YORK — Pallbearers wearing white unlaced Adidas carried the body of slain Run-DMC star Jam Master Jay from a funeral service Tuesday at which he was remembered as “the embodiment of hip-hop.” 

A funeral cortege of white stretch limousines and luxury SUVs was lined up outside the Allen A.M.E. Cathedral in the rapper’s native Queens. Inside, bandmates Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniel eulogized their friend, whose real name was Jason “Jay” Mizell, as a great man and groundbreaking musical force. 

“Jason helped build hip-hop, and his job is finished,” said Joseph Simmons, now an ordained minister, wearing a broad-brimmed black hat and clerical collar. “He just couldn’t leave without drama.” 

The funeral came six days after Mizell was shot to death in his Queens recording studio by a masked assailant. No one has been charged. 

A who’s who of hip-hop attended the service. LL Cool J, Chuck D of Public Enemy, Queen Latifah and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, the brother of Joseph Simmons, were among the mourners. Many in the church and among the crowd outside wore the white Adidas and black leather that Run-DMC turned into a fashion trend in the 1980s. 

As DJ for the pioneering group, Jam Master Jay had worked the turntables as Simmons and McDaniels rapped a string of hits over nearly 20 years. 

McDaniels brought the overflow crowd of 2,300 to its feet with his eulogy, getting in a dig at anyone who would call the slaying just another example of rap violence. 

“Jam Master Jay was not a thug,” McDaniels said. “Jam Master Jay was not a gangster.”

ANAHEIM — The World Series champion Anaheim Angels aren’t about to let anyone monkey around with their mascot, especially when it comes to a movie. 

Larry Cano, an executive producer of the 1983 film “Silkwood,” views the Rally Monkey as a perfect role model for kids and wants to make a movie featuring the crowd-pleasing primate. 

Cano has filed both a trademark application for the term “Rally Monkey” and a script treatment with the Writer’s Guild of America. 

There’s only one problem. The Angels and major league baseball say they have prior rights to the name, and have already begun to enforce them against others looking to make a buck from the monkey. 

“The mere fact that somebody filed for trademark registration does not give them any special legal status,” said Rick Schlesinger, an attorney for the Angels. “Our position is that ’Rally Monkey’ is a protected trademark of the Angels and has been so since we first used it in the fall of 2000.” 

Not to mention the fact that The Walt Disney Co., which owns the Angels, might want to make its own Rally Monkey movie someday. 

The monkey with seemingly miraculous powers first made his appearance on June 6, 2000, when the Angels, losing to the San Francisco Giants, needed a boost. The operator of the video scoreboard in right-center field played a clip from the movie “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” that showed a capuchin monkey jumping up and down. 

Fans went wild, the team won and a tradition was born. 

Until this year, the monkey restricted his appearances to inside the stadium. But as the Angels moved closer and closer to the baseball playoffs, the monkey made his way to T-shirts and other items.

In a recent union vote, local teachers overwhelmingly approved Berkeley High School’s controversial shift from a seven- to a six-period day, averting the financial cost and logistical nightmare of a mid-year switch back to the seven-period schedule. 

“I can start sleeping nights,” joked Berkeley High Co-principal Laura Leventer. “We’re very happy we don’t have to switch back to the seven-period day.” 

Teachers from all 15 of Berkeley’s public schools voted 297-54 to approve the switch during a two-week voting period, Oct. 14-25. A rejection would have required the high school, which has operated on a six-period schedule since August, to return to a seven-period day at the start of the spring semester. 

Proponents say the move to a six-period day has saved the cash-strapped district money, increased overall classroom time for students and eliminated “gaps,” or periods without class, for most pupils. Erasing gaps, they argue, has cut down on the number of students roaming the hallways and improved safety. 

Opponents complain that the move has cut into the high school’s successful double-period science program and reduced the number of electives available in music and African-American Studies. But district officials note that the overall number of electives has actually increased this year, with new classes in ceramics, photography, acting and other areas. 

Opponents also argue that the shift to a six-period day, which eliminated teacher hall duty, has cut down on the adult presence in the hallways during class and reduced student safety. 

The teachers’ vote ensures that the controversial schedule will remain in place at least through the end of the school year. But, with the current teacher contract set to expire in June, the issue will be on the bargaining table again in a matter of months. 

“Who knows what will come out of the negotiations this spring?,” said Berkeley Federation of Teachers (BFT) President Barry Fike, noting that teachers might re-assess the six-period day after a year of experience with the new schedule.  

The Board of Education approved the shift to a six-period schedule in February and determined that it would go into effect in August, with the start of the 2002-2003 school year. 

But the union argued, at the time, that the board could not unilaterally implement a six-period day. BFT held that the shift would affect the teachers’ contract and therefore had to be negotiated. This summer, an independent arbitrator agreed with the union, throwing the issue into formal negotiations. 

On Oct. 7, after six grueling sessions, the district and union hammered out a deal. The union agreed to accept the six-period day in exchange for several small concessions. But the deal did not go into effect until the rank-and-file membership approved it with the Oct. 14-25 vote. 

Initially, union and district officials had real concerns about teacher approval of the agreement. Shortly after inking the Oct. 7 deal, the union conducted a non-binding, informal poll of high school teachers who only approved of the agreement by a slim 62-46 margin. 

At the time, Fike said opposition was rooted in general disapproval of the six-period day and concerns, among some, about the quality of the concessions the union was able to win from the district. 

In the end, Fike said, fears of disrupting the Berkeley High schedule halfway through the year weighed on some teachers in voting for the deal.

To the Editor: 

Jeff Hoffman wrote a misleading and inaccurate letter to the editor (Forum, Nov. 4). Mr. Hoffman thinks that AC Transit should convert to hydrogen power immediately to reduce the use of oil and thereby pollution. While I wholeheartedly agree that we need to reduce our use of oil, Mr. Hoffman evidently doesn't understand that making hydrogen requires energy which is made using oil (hydroelectric power is all spoken for by our houses – additional energy is made from burning oil). Making hydrogen uses lots of energy – more than the hydrogen gives back. In fact, making hydrogen uses 50 percent more oil than the equivalent power obtained from putting the oil directly into a car. And hydrogen is not green. Just because a hydrogen powered bus isn't spewing pollution, doesn’t mean it is non-polluting. It just relocates the pollution to where the power is made, someone else’s neighborhood, and 50 percent more pollution to boot. 

We should support hydrogen power for the right reasons – as part of research into alternative energy systems. Just understand that every hydrogen powered vehicle right now is burning more oil and creating more pollution than if that vehicle were conventionally powered. They say that instead of learning how to make hydrogen powered vehicles, we should be learning how to make hydrogen cost effectively. 

Greg Hoff 

Oakland 

Berkeley’s progressive political faction appeared on course to win at least three of four City Council races and the mayor’s race late Tuesday night, solidifying its control over local politics. 

Incumbent councilmembers Kriss Worthington, Dona Spring and Linda Maio, all progressives, led by significant margins after midnight and former state Assemblyman Tom Bates, also a progressive, had declared victory over moderate Mayor Shirley Dean. 

Moderate Planning Commissioner Gordon Wozniak held a solid lead in a four-way race for the empty 8th District City Council seat. If he wins, Wozniak would succeed retiring moderate Polly Armstrong. 

But, just after midnight, with 80 percent of precincts counted, Wozniak had not reached the 45 percent threshold required to avoid a run-off. Wozniak held a 43 to 35 percent edge over his closest competitor, progressive-backed UC Berkeley student Andy Katz. 

If neither candidate wins 45 percent, the city will mail ballots to 8th District voters for a Wozniak-Katz runoff. The votes would be tallied Dec. 3. 

The Berkeley City Council consists of eight councilmembers and the mayor. Before Tuesday, progressives held a 5-4 edge on the panel. A Bates victory, coupled with the re-election of Worthington, Spring and Maio, would increase the progressive majority to 6-3. A Katz victory would mean a 7-2 edge. 

Four of Berkeley’s eight council members – moderates Betty Olds and Miriam Hawley, and progressives Margaret Breland and Maudelle Shirek – did not face re-election this year. 

A 6-3 or 7-2 re-alignment, progressives said, would lead to greater harmony on a council that has been sharply divided by partisan bickering. 

“We will have a completely different environment and tenor on the council,” said an exuberant Maio, late Tuesday night. “I’m looking forward to it.” 

Worthington was reluctant to declare victory in his own race, despite a late 60 to 38 percent lead over UC Berkeley student Micki Weinberg, but rejoiced in Bates’ apparent win.  

Still, Worthington played down the idea of a new progressive super-majority on the council and said Bates will work with both progressives and moderates. 

The 8th District race for an empty seat was the most competitive City Council contest this year. Moderates lined up behind Wozniak, while progressives backed Katz, who hopes to be the first student elected to City Council since 1984. Human rights consultant Anne Wagley and air conditioning mechanic Carlos Estradaran outside Berkeley’s two dominant political factions.

To the Editor: 

We at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley join our colleagues at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology and other voices around the world in urging the U.S. government not to attack Iraq. As Christians, we share a strong moral presumption against war. 

As members of international Jesuit centers for the study of Roman Catholic theology, it is our judgment that unleashing massive violence in a military invasion of Iraq is neither necessary or moral. 

We find the situation in Iraq and throughout the world deeply troubling. We share, with others, overwhelming concern about the stockpiling of biological and chemical weapons in Iraq and elsewhere. 

However, as persons of conscience, we are persuaded that the present circumstances do not warrant the use of force against Iraq. Our “Just War” tradition insists that peaceful and diplomatic alternatives must first be exhausted. It has not been demonstrated to the satisfaction of allies of the U.S. or its public that we have reached the point where war is our last resort. 

For 12 years innocent Iraqi civilians, especially children, the elderly and the infirm have suffered the effects of desperate deprivation brought about by military strikes and economic sanctions against their nation. 

As we read the signs of our times, we cannot remain silent in the face of a haunting moral question: What would become of a divided and chaotic Iraq after an attack? Given the course of U.S. interventions in Haiti, Somalia, Afghanistan and elsewhere, we cannot fail to observe that in the recent past the U.S. has demonstrated little of the patience that is required for the task of reestablishing order after imposing regime changes. Indeed the very phrase “nation-building” has acquired stigma in foreign policy discourse. 

In light of these observations and questions, we urge creative efforts in cooperation with United Nations, allies of the U.S. and the international community to find ways to contain and curtail Saddam Hussein’s threats without resorting to a military attack on Iraq. 

We, as followers of Jesus Christ, appeal to you: Pursue the ways of peace through diplomacy, not war. 

Graduate Theological Union 

Berkeley

With 85 percent of city precincts reporting late Tuesday night, it appeared Board of Education members Shirley Issel and Terry Doran would win re-election and parent activist Nancy Riddle would take the third school board seat up for grabs this year. 

A total of six candidates ran for three slots on the five-member panel. The two seats held by board members Joaquin Rivera and John Selawsky were not up for re-election this year. 

After midnight, Riddle had 24 percent of the vote. Doran was second with 21 percent and Issel had 20 percent. The next closest competitor, recent Berkeley High School graduate Sean Dugar, had nearly 13 percent of the vote. 

“I’m feeling pretty good,” said Riddle, who is chief financial officer for Monster Cable of Brisbane, speaking to the Daily Planet late Tuesday night. “I think probably the financial background helped a lot.” 

Issel and Doran won re-election despite persistent fiscal woes plaguing the Berkeley Unified School District, which faces a $3.9 million budget shortfall this year. 

Issel said her re-election marked an endorsement of the steps the board has taken in the past few years to bring solvency to the district. 

“I think the message is really clear – the voters feel we’re on the right track,” said Issel. 

The district’s financial woes were a chief issue in the campaign. Riddle suggested that the board, which slashed millions last year and still faces the $3.9 million budget shortfall, has taken a haphazard approach to cuts. 

She said members must demand detailed budgets and a range of cost-cutting options rather than “highly summarized budgets” and a few recommendations for cuts from Superintendent Michele Lawrence. 

Riddle also said the district needs to engage in long-term financial planning, rather than year-to-year cuts, if it hopes to get out of a cycle of financial crises. 

But Issel and Doran argued that the board has taken important steps on the road to fiscal recovery, replacing most of the district’s upper-level management in the last couple of years and putting a new data processing system in place that will help fix sloppy accounting practices.

LOS ANGELES — Once considered a future presidential contender, Gray Davis was content to win re-election Tuesday as governor of the nation’s most populous state. 

Davis’ aspirations were rarely mentioned as he struggled to combat a steep decline in popularity to secure his re-election against a lackluster candidate. 

Despite spending $68 million and facing rookie Republican challenger Bill Simon, Davis barely held onto his lead. 

As he enters a second term, he faces a multibillion dollar budget shortfall and the remnants of a statewide energy crisis that drove down his support. 

Even Davis’ confidantes concede he likely won because of the amount he spent and because of Simon’s low popularity and controversies surrounding his business practices. 

“If you have a sitting governor whose job ratings tanked a year-and-a-half ago and have never recovered, and you have roughly half the people in the state who think the state’s headed down the wrong track, those two things combined are usually a death knell for a sitting governor,” said Davis’ senior campaign adviser Garry South. “We are going to win anyway, in spite of that. That’s what our money got us.” 

Davis blamed his declining popularity on a nationwide recession and a generally negative mood among voters. 

A man who rarely lets down his guard, Davis has marched through 20 years in elected office defined by moderate politics and rare and unbending personal and professional discipline. 

He insists on being kept abreast of state business, is preoccupied with his public image and guarded about personal activities. He often focuses on headline-making issues while brushing off smaller troubles until they swell into crises. 

On the eve of the election, Davis vowed a state takeover of the tiny West Fresno Elementary School District after a fiscal crisis led teachers and staff to walk out. Davis had previously vetoed legislation that would have authorized a takeover and averted the crisis. 

Davis finds supporters in a range of groups — from environmentalists to police unions. He is credited with boosting spending for schools and signing scores of laws from expanding health care for poor children to ensuring overtime pay after an eight-hour workday. 

Personally, Davis, 59, is not known for small talk and is meticulous in his appearance.

A Berkeley plumbing contractor who hit hard times recently is now finding himself surrounded by friends. Greg Ticehurst, a Berkeley resident of 14 years, was involved in a motorcycle accident that left him paralyzed in late September.  

Ticehurst had been in the process of remodeling his home when the accident occurred and was unable to complete the project. Now, a group calling themselves “Friends of Greg” is determined to finish the job for him. 

The group, organized by longtime friend Gregory Sieben of Innovation Builders in Emeryville, is composed of friends, acquaintances, and other volunteers. Currently, said Sieben, there are about nine volunteers per weekend working on Ticehurst’s house. Local companies and individuals have donated money and materials for the project, and Sieben expects the remodel to be completed by Dec. 1. 

Many “Friends of Greg” know Ticehurst from the contracting industry. But Sieben said he is struck by the fact that many of the volunteers and donors are total strangers. He attributed the community’s generosity to karma. 

“Greg is a really giving person and has always helped people himself. He’s the type of guy who inspires this kind of giving in others,” said Sieben. 

Ticehurst was not able to comment on the effort, due to medical conditions from the accident. 

Donations can be made care of Innovation Builders at 1467 Park Avenue, Emeryville, CA 94608. Checks should be addressed to “Friends of Greg.” 

– Melissa McRobbie

SAN FRANCISCO — Two young sisters who had disappeared during a custody battle were dropped off at the doorstep of a San Francisco Bay area television station. 

Two members of a group that helps parents get custody of children in county protective care delivered Anna Nunez, 6, and her sister Emily, 4, safely to KGO-TV studios in San Francisco Monday. 

The girls had been at the center of a custody dispute after the 1999 divorce of their parents, Danny and Kelli Nunez of Contra Costa County. 

The mother had accused Danny Nunez of child abuse, and the girls disappeared in April after Kelli Nunez picked them up from a day care center. Danny Nunez has never been charged with child abuse. 

Kelli Nunez was arrested shortly after the disappearance, after telling a judge she had given the girls to strangers and had no idea where they were. She has been held on contempt of court charges at Contra Costa County jail.

OAKLAND – The Oakland Police Department says homicide detectives began investigating the city's 96th slaying of the year Tuesday night. 

Police were called to the scene of a multiple shooting in East Oakland, near the intersection of 105th Avenue and Acalanes Drive, at 5:55 p.m. 

A total of four people were injured by gunfire, police said.  

Three of the victims were taken by ambulance to Highland Hospital, where one of them was pronounced dead on arrival, a nursing supervisor said.  

A fourth victim from the same shooting walked in to the hospital. 

The three surviving victims were listed in stable condition Tuesday night.

WASHINGTON —The Supreme Court struggled Tuesday over the constitutionality of a California sentencing law that put a man who shoplifted children’s videocassettes in prison until 2046 and gave another man a life sentence for taking three golf clubs. 

Their sentences are due to California’s three-strikes-you’re-out law, which has been challenged as cruel and unusual punishment. The law requires tough sentences for repeat offenders. 

“No other state in the country would impose a punishment like this,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, the attorney for the man who stole $153 worth of videotapes. 

The three-strikes law was passed in 1994 after voters endorsed tougher sentences amid public furor over the kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas. The law has been credited with lowering crime in California, and state officials said it gets career criminals off the streets. 

“There comes a point when the state has a right to say enough is enough,” Douglas Danzig, a deputy attorney general in California, told justices. 

More than 7,100 inmates are serving third-strikes sentences, including about 350 who received life terms for petty offenses, officials said. Justices are considering if the punishment fits the crime. 

Justice Antonin Scalia said the crimes may be more serious than they appear to be because of the potential for violence. 

But Justice John Paul Stevens questioned if states could also give long prison sentences to people who repeatedly break traffic laws, because of public safety concerns. 

Some court members seemed unsure how to handle the cases. 

“We cannot convert this court into a sentencing commission,” noted Justice Stephen Breyer, who also said the crimes seemed minor. 

Leandro Andrade, a heroin addict had previous burglary convictions when he was caught shoplifting nine videotapes, including “Snow White” and Cinderella,” from Kmart. Under his three-strikes sentence, he’ll be at least 87 when he gets out of prison. 

The California law requires a sentence of 25 years to life in prison for any felony conviction if the criminal was previously convicted of two serious or violent felonies. It is one of the toughest sentencing laws in the nation, although most states also impose longer terms for revolving-door criminals.

SAN CARLOS — The federal Food and Drug Administration has approved a new non-surgical method of female sterilization developed by a San Carlos company.  

The Essure device, manufactured by San Carlos-based Conceptus, Inc., can be implanted in a woman's fallopian tubes under a local anesthetic and without the need for any incisions. 

“Unlike other currently available surgical sterilization procedures for women, placement of the device does not require an incision or general anesthesia,” according to an FDA statement. 

The device is a small spring-like metallic implant that causes scar tissue to form in the fallopian tubes, blocking sperm from fertilizing an egg. 

None of the more than 600 women that have been successfully implanted with Essure devices in both fallopian tubes have become pregnant, according to the FDA. 

An estimated 700,000 women a year undergo sterilization by tubal ligation, a surgical procedure requiring general anesthesia and a hospital stay. Conceptus President Steve Bacich believes that Essure will provide an attractive alternative for women seeking permanent birth control. 

“After researchers have worked for more than three decades to develop an alternative to surgical tubal ligation, Conceptus is extremely proud to have developed Essure and be one step closer to bringing this breakthrough option to women seeking permanent birth control,” Bacich said in July when a FDA committee approved the product. 

The FDA formally approved the device Monday. The company hopes to begin offering the device nationwide by next spring.

LOS ANGELES — California Democrats hoping for their first sweep of statewide offices in more than a century found only the Republican nominee for state controller standing in their way Tuesday night. 

With more than two-thirds of precincts reporting, well-funded Democratic incumbents won their races for attorney general, treasurer and lieutenant governor. Democrats also were elected as insurance commissioner, secretary of state and superintendent of public instruction. 

Only state Sen. Tom McClintock, the Republican nominee for state controller, threatened to spoil the Democrats’ party — they haven’t swept all statewide offices since 1882. 

But McClintock, a veteran lawmaker, saw his lead dwindle as the evening wore on. Both he and Democrat Steve Westly, a dot-com millionaire who poured more than $5 million of his own money into his campaign, had 45 percent of the vote. 

Democrat John Garamendi defeated Republican challenger Gary Mendoza, 46 percent to 42 percent, to recapture the office he held as the state’s first insurance commissioner from 1991-1994. 

The state GOP had considered Mendoza a good bet to win and directed more than $1 million to his campaign in the final week. 

The only current Republican statewide officeholder, Secretary of State Bill Jones, has to give up his seat because of term limits. 

After trailing early in the race for secretary of state, Assembly Majority Leader Kevin Shelley, D-San Francisco, beat Republican Keith Olberg, a former Assemblyman, 46 percent to 42 percent. 

Gov. Gray Davis and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante became the first pair of top office holders from the same party to win re-election in 40 years. 

Bustamante beat Sen. Bruce McPherson, a moderate Republican from Santa Cruz, 49 percent to 42 percent. 

Attorney General Bill Lockyer was already looking beyond his race against Republican state Sen. Dick Ackerman to a potential run for governor in four years. Lockyer won with 51 percent of the vote to Ackerman’s 40 percent. 

Treasurer Phil Angelides beat Greg Conlon, who struggled with a record as a former public utilities commissioner who advocated electricity deregulation, 49 percent to 41 percent. 

In nonpartisan races, three members of the California Supreme Court, justices Marvin Baxter, Carlos Moreno and Kathryn Werdegar were voted to another term. In the contest for superintendent of public instruction, teacher-turned-legislator Sen. Jack O’Connell, D-San Luis Obispo, defeated Katherine Smith, an Anaheim School Board president, 61 percent to 39 percent. 

In 1998, only two Republicans kept statewide office, Jones and Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush, who was forced to resign in scandal in 2000. 

Republican leaders feared another poor showing could stall efforts to rebuild the party in the nation’s most populous state, leave few viable candidates for future statewide races and hurt their chances to help President Bush in 2004.

REDWOOD CITY – A 55-year-old Redwood City woman was sentenced Monday to 35 days in the San Mateo County Jail for making bomb threats to her son's former parochial school last year. 

Linda Chulbna was also ordered to pay $360 in probation fees and $200 in restitution fines. She was actually sentenced to 60 days in jail, but has been credited for 25 days already served, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office. 

Chulbna was accused of making a number of threatening phone calls to the Mt. Carmel Catholic School, at least one of which falsely reported a bomb, in April and May 2001. Administrators took the bomb threat very seriously, and on May 1 last year had to evacuate the 200-300 students there so that the campus could be checked for explosives. 

Chulbna was arrested after the calls were traced to her home and to St. Raymond's School, where she worked as a teacher's aide. 

Prosecutors said Chulbna had a grudge against Mt. Carmel school because her son was not allowed to remain going there more than six years before the threats were made. 

Originally charged with three counts of making criminal threats and one count of falsely reporting a bomb, Chulbna waived her right to a jury trial and was convicted of the bomb charge in August. The prosecution dismissed the threats charges before her trial before Judge Phrasel Shelton. 

Chulbna is scheduled to begin serving her jail sentence on Dec. 14, and until then remains free on $50,000 bail

SAN JOSE — After years of dreams and hype, Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates will launch digital tablets that can handle text like a paper notepad but run all the programs of a notebook PC. 

The “Tablet PC” is nothing but revolutionary, according to Gates, who has predicted the ultralight gadgets will be the most popular personal computer style within five years. 

But analysts who have toyed with the devices are not so impressed, particularly with the limited screen real estate and short battery life. And it’s not clear customers see the need, they say. 

“A lot of system architects are scratching their heads trying to figure out what the big advantage is here,” said Richard Doherty, director of The Envisioneering Group, a research firm. 

On Thursday, Gates will officially launch a version of the Windows XP operating system specifically for the devices. Thirteen hardware vendors from Hewlett-Packard Co. to Fujitsu will unveil models based on Microsoft’s software. 

All the tablets weigh about 3 pounds and are about the size and shape of a standard ultralight notebook. They have swiveling screens that can be written on with a pen-like stylus. 

The tablets are based on one of two designs, with a few mixing elements of both. Some are only tablets, with no input device other than the digital pen. Others are notebook computers in which the keyboard can be folded away and the screen used for entering data. Others still can be docked into a unit that provides network connections or additional drives. 

Microsoft’s operating system includes software that recognizes handwriting scribbled on the screen and converts it into plain text. Jotted notes also can be used in programs as graphics. 

Prices vary. Hewlett-Packard’s entry model costs $1,699 without wireless capability and $1,799 with wireless. Acer’s starts at $2,199 without wireless and $2,395 with the feature. 

Analysts say the devices are especially handy for those who have to enter data into forms while on the go, such as insurance or health care workers. Similar devices, which essentially bolted Windows onto proprietary hardware and software, have been available for 10 years and have sold well in industries where mobile form entry is important.

SAN FRANCISCO — With its “What Can Brown Do For You?” ad campaign, United Parcel Service Inc. uses its familiar brown-garbed workers and brown trucks to remind people of the company’s role in their lives and work. 

The ads also show a different UPS — a one-stop problem solver that handles a range of chores for corporate customers. They’re part of CEO Michael Eskew’s drive to develop services to complement the company’s bread-and-butter package delivery business. 

Under Eskew’s plan, more companies would hire UPS to serve as a distribution hub, an inventory warehouse, a high-tech repair shop and even a telephone call center for customer inquiries. 

“He has clearly articulated this vision — no ifs, ands or buts about it,” said industry analyst Stephen Jacobs of U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray. “It’s an absolutely pivotal strategy for UPS.” 

To diversify, Atlanta-based UPS has spent $1.3 billion on 27 acquisitions since 1998. The biggest deals came last year, when UPS picked up retail shipping chain Mail Boxes Etc. and freight forwarding service Fritz Cos. 

The shopping spree helped UPS’s non-package business generate revenue of $1.93 billion through the first nine months of this year, a 36 percent increase from the same time last year. UPS operates in 200 countries, generating more than $30 billion in annual revenue while delivering about 3 billion packages each year. 

Although this year’s shipping volume is slightly lower than last year and the company isn’t making as much money as investors hoped, UPS stock has held up well amid Wall Street’s turmoil. The company’s shares are up 13 percent so far this year, compared with a 21 percent decline in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. 

Eskew, who became CEO 10 months ago, recently talked to The Associated Press about UPS’s performance and his plans for the future.

SAN JOSE — Calpine Corp. on Tuesday said third-quarter net income plunged 50 percent as higher fuel and project development costs and falling prices hammered the company’s bottom line. 

The San Jose energy concern Tuesday said profit fell to $161.3 million, or 36 cents a share. It earned $320.8 million, or 88 cents a share, in the same quarter last year. 

The latest results included a gain of $12.9 million, or 3 cents a share, from the sale of discontinued operations. 

The company also booked charges totaling 5 cents a share, including severance and other costs, deferred project-cost write-offs and a loss on the sale of turbines. 

Excluding items, the company said it earned $170.9 million, or 38 cents a share, below its August earnings estimates of 40 cents to 55 cents a share. The results, however, matched analysts’ expectations, according to Thomson First Call. 

Revenue, meanwhile, slipped 1 percent to $2.5 billion from $2.52 billion. 

Fuel expenses jumped 60 percent to $525.5 million, and project development costs more than quadrupled to $23.9 million.

Mayor 

*75 precincts reporting 

Tom Bates 56% 

Shirley Dean 43% 

John Patrick Boushell 1% 

City Council; District 1 

*8 precincts reporting 

Linda Maio 86% 

Rhiannon 14% 

City Council; District 4 

*7 precincts reporting 

Bob Migdal 21% 

Dona Spring 66% 

David A. Freeman 2% 

L.A. Wood 10% 

City Council; District 7 

*10 precincts reporting 

Micki Weinberg 39% 

Kriss Worthington 61% 

City Council; District 8 

*10 precincts reporting 

Carlos Estrada 3% 

Andy Katz 36% 

Anne Wagley 19% 

Gordon Wozniak 42% 

City Auditor 

*75 precincts reporting 

Ann-Marie Hogan 99% 

Director, Rent Stabilization Board (5 Elected) 

*75 precincts reporting 

Howard G. Chong Yes 

Chris Kavanagh Yes 

Selma Spector Yes 

Pinkie Payne Yes 

Robert J. Evans Yes 

Berkeley Unified School 

District (3 elected) 

*75 precincts reporting 

Lance Montauk 7% 

Cynthia Papermaster 8% 

Shirley Issel 20% 

Derick Miller 6% 

Nancy Riddle 25% 

Terry S. Doran 21% 

Sean P. Dugar 13% 

Measure I; New Animal Shelter 

(General Obligation Bond) 

*75 precincts reporting 

Yes (2/3 vote required) 68% 

No 32% 

Measure J; Old City Hall Retrofit (General Obligation Bond) 

*75 precincts reporting 

Yes (2/3 vote required) 40% 

No 60% 

Measure K; School Board Director Pay Raise (Charter Amendment) 

*75 precincts reporting 

Yes 67% 

No 33% 

Measure L; Property Transfer Tax for Pedestrian Safety Improvements 

*75 precincts reporting 

Yes (2/3 vote required) 54% 

No 46% 

Measure M; Property Transfer Tax 

*75 precincts reporting 

Yes (2/3 vote required) 51% 

No 49% 

Measure N; Waterfront Amendment 

*75 precincts reporting 

Yes 67% 

No 33% 

Measure O; Brewed Coffee Sale Restrictions (Citizen Initiative) 

*75 precincts reporting 

Yes 30% 

No 70% 

Measure P; Building Height Limits (Citizen Initiative) 

*75 precincts reporting 

Yes 20% 

No 80%

County Measures 

Measure A; Hotel and Lodging Tax (Majority Approval Required) 

*930 precincts reporting 

Yes 53% 

No 47% 

Measure B; Business License Tax (Majority Approval Required) 

*930 precincts reporting 

Yes 64% 

No 36% 

Measure C; Probation Officers (Charter Amendment - Majority Approval Required) 

*all precincts reporting 

Yes 59% 

No 41% 

Measure AA; Property Tax for Transportation – Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (2/3 Vote) 

*568 precincts reporting 

Yes 68% 

No 31% 

Measure BB; Seismic Safety – San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (Bond Issue - 2/3 Vote) 

*930 precincts reporting 

Yes 66% 

No 34% 

State Executive 

Governor 

*19, 314 precincts reporting 

Peter Miguel Camejo, Green 5% 

Gray Davis, Dem. 48% 

Bill Simon, Rep. 42% 

Lieutenant Governor 

*18, 516 precincts reporting 

Bruce McPherson, Rep. 42% 

Donna J. Warren, Green 4% 

Cruz M. Bustamante, Dem. 50% 

Secretary of State 

*18, 521 precincts reporting 

Kevin Shelley, Dem. ..................46% 

Larry Shoup, Green ......................4% 

Keith Olberg, Rep. .....................42% 

State Controller 

*19, 108 precincts reporting 

Tom McClintock, Rep. 45% 

Laura Wells, Green 6% 

Steve Westly, Dem. 45% 

State Treasurer 

*17, 503 precincts reporting 

Jeanne-Marie Rosenmeier, Gr. 5% 

Phil Angelides, Dem. 49% 

Greg Conlon, Rep. 41% 

Attorney General 

*17, 508 precincts reporting 

Glen Freeman Mowrer, Green 4% 

Bill Lockyer, Dem. 51% 

Dick Ackerman, Rep. 41% 

Insurance Commissioner 

*17, 362 precincts reporting 

Gary Mendoza, Rep. 42% 

John Garamendi, Dem. 46% 

David I. Sheidlower, Green 4% 

State Superintendent of Public Instruction 

*17, 416 precincts reporting 

Katherine H. Smith 39% 

Jack O’Connell 61% 

State Assembly 

Member; District 14 

*103 precincts reporting 

Lori Hancock, Dem. 98% 

Board of Equalization 

Member; District 1 

*930 precincts reporting 

Mark S. Bendick, Rep. 27% 

Carole Migden, Dem. 67% 

Judicial 

California State Supreme Court 

*930 precincts reporting 

Carlos R. Moreno Yes 

Marvin R. Baxter Yes 

Kathryn M. Werdegar Yes 

State Court of Appeal; 

District 1, Division 1 

*930 precincts reporting 

Sandra L. Margulies Yes 

William D. Stein Yes 

James J. Marchiano Yes 

State Court of Appeal; 

District 1, Division 2 

*930 precincts reporting 

J. Anthony Kline Yes 

State Court of Appeal; 

District 1, Division 3 

*930 precincts reporting 

Stuart R. Pollak Yes 

William R. McGuiness Yes 

Joanne C. Parrilli Yes 

State Court of Appeal; 

District 1, Division 4 

*930 precincts reporting 

Patricia K. Sepulveda Yes 

Maria P. Rivera Yes 

State Court of Appeal; 

District 1, Division 5 

*930 precincts reporting 

Mark Simons Yes 

Barbara Jones Yes 

Linda M. Gemello Yes 

Superior Court Judge; County of Alameda; Office 5 

*930 precincts reporting 

Lise Pearlman 32% 

Trina Thompson Stanley 68% 

Special Districts 

Director; East Bay Municipal Utility District; Ward 4 

*97 precincts reporting 

Charles L. Whitbeck 14% 

David Richardson 85% 

State Propositions 

Proposition 46; Housing and Emergency Shelter Act of 2002 

*930 precincts reporting 

Yes 65% 

No 35% 

Proposition 47; Public 

Education Facilities Bond Act 

*930 precincts reporting 

Yes 68% 

No 32% 

Proposition 48; Court 

Consolidation 

*930 precincts reporting 

Yes 76% 

No 24% 

Proposition 49; Before and After School Programs 

*930 precincts reporting 

Yes 55% 

No 45% 

Proposition 50; Water Quality and Supply 

*930 precincts reporting 

Yes 63% 

No 37% 

Proposition 51; Distribution of Existing Motor Vehicle Sales and Use Tax 

*930 precincts reporting 

Yes 44% 

No 56% 

Proposition 52; Election Day Voter Registration 

*930 precincts reporting 

Yes 51% 

No 49% 

U.S. Congress 

U.S. Representative; District 9 

*431 precincts reporting 

Jerald Udinsky, Rep. 15% 

Barbara Lee, Dem. 81% 

Berkeley politicians have done their best to stir up interest in an election that will determine the city’s next mayor and the height of new buildings. But despite a virtual Shirley Dean–Tom Bates road show that has included 27 debates and has both candidates admitting the race is too close to call, Berkeley voter turnout is expected to hit all-time lows. 

“Everything we know says statewide there is going to be very low turnout,” said David Mermin of Lake, Snell, Perry and Associates, a polling firm hired by the Dean campaign. 

The latest Field Poll suggests low turnout as well. According to the non-partisan survey group, only 55 percent of registered California voters are projected to cast ballots today. 

Like most political observers, Councilmember Kriss Worthington fears that voter disenchantment with the major party candidates for governor will keep many Berkeley voters away from polling stations. 

“The turnout will be really low because there is no liberal gubernatorial or presidential candidate to get excited about,” he said. 

Early indications attest to Worthington’s pessimism. Only about 150 voters cast ballots during two weeks of early voting this October, said City Clerk Sherry Kelly. In 2000 she said about 500 residents took advantage of early voting. 

History suggests that Berkeley voters are more likely to turnout for presidential elections than off-year elections. In 2000, 76 percent of registered voters cast ballots compared to 60 percent in 1998, the year of the last Mayoral election. 

But UC Berkeley student leaders say a surge of student registrations could boost turnout and affect two key races. 

Eight thousand students have registered to vote this semester, about 6,000 more than were registered during the 2000 campaign, said Jimmy Bryant Vice President of External Affairs for the Associated Students of the University of California. 

“This is the biggest voter drive we’ve ever done,” he said. Bryant said he hoped that between 40 to 50 percent of the newly registered voters will vote today. 

Students make up about 30 percent of the city’s population, but historically they choose not to vote or opt to vote via absentee ballot in their home towns. 

Bryant believes a large student turnout should help 8th Council District candidate Andy Katz, a UC Berkeley graduate student as well as progressive mayoral candidate Tom Bates. 

“Housing is the biggest issue for most students,” Bryant said. Both Katz and Bates support current rent control laws, while their most prominent opponents Gordon Wozniak and Mayor Shirley Dean both support eliminating rent control for wealthy tenants. 

Dean campaign manager, Bryan Schwartz, however, said he thinks a high student turnout could play into Dean’s hands. 

“We anticipate having a lot of student support,” Schwartz said, noting that the UC Berkeley newspaper the Daily Californian endorsed Dean Monday. 

There is no historical correlation between high voter turnout and success for either of Berkeley’s political factions. 

In 1994, the year Dean was first elected mayor and moderates won a council majority, 61 percent of all eligible voters cast ballots. In 1996, when progressives regained the a council majority, 60 percent of eligible voters turned out. 

Both mayoral candidates will do everything in their power to make sure their supporters get to polling places. The Dean and Bates campaigns will both provide cars for voters who otherwise would not be able to get to a polling station. They have also assigned local campaign captains for nearly every neighborhood to make sure that their supporters cast ballots. 

Voting itself will actually be more inconvenient this year. Berkeley will have only 77 polling stations for this election down from the usual 93. 

Bradley Clark, of the Alameda County Registrar’s Office, said stations were dropped because a new law allows any resident to vote by absentee mail ballot. 

The consolidation of voting stations will most adversely affect residents of the 7th Council District on a 3-block stretch north of campus from Hearst to Le Conte avenues, that is primarily home to students. They will have to go about 10 blocks to the nearest voting booth on Bancroft Way, on the other side of campus. 

Contact reporter at  

matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net 

To the Editor: 

Smart growth in city planning is intended to introduce and sustain a number of innovations. One of these is increased and facilitated public transportation, along with walkable destinations. Work and leisure activity would not, in theory, require automobile use or ownership for persons residing in large mixed-use buildings in the Berkeley downtown and on transit corridors. The Daily Planet (Oct. 26-27), has developer John DeClerq saying he would open his Library Gardens parking lot to the public on the assumption that residents would drive to work for the day. This statement contradicts smart growth intentions in regard to automobile use. It seems that ideology and practice in this case of development are not aligned. Opportunity and profit for the developer, usually disguised by claims of smart growth planning, are here revealed as the real motives for building big in Berkeley. 

Marc Mathieu 

Berkeley

Tuesday, Nov. 5 

Flu Shots for Everyone 

10 a.m to 12:30 p.m. 

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

Sponsored by the Berkeley Public Health Department 

845-6830 

Berkeley Intelligent Conversation 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 

Join the bimonthly discussion group informally led by fomer UC Berkeley extension lecturer, investment advisor and finncial planner Robert Berend. Open to all. Please bring light snacks or drinks to share. This session’s topic: Work ethic vs. playing and having fun 

527-5332 

Free 

Wednesday, Nov. 6 

North Berkeley Senior Center Advisory Council Meeting 

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

981-5190 

Community Members Welcome 

Monthly Birthday Party 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

Featuring Jim Steinke, guitar and mandolin wizard 

981-5190 

2002 Surjit Singh Lecture 

5:30 p.m. 

Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Common Room, 2451 Ridge Rd. 

649-2440 for more info 

“The Chinese and Religion in the Context of Globalization” 

Reception 5:30 p.m. / Lecture 7 p.m. 

Bade Museum at Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. 

A noted scholar and author, Professor Zhuo Xinping speaks 

649-2440 

Thursday, Nov. 7 

“Water, the Beverage of Life” 

11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

Aaron Miller, SF State Intern will discuss 

981-5190 

Additional Ferries from East Bay Sites 

noon to 2 p.m. 

Discussion with a representative of the San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters 

Albany Public Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 

843-8824 

Free 

Panel Discussion - “Resistance to the Free Trade Agreements in Mexico and Central America” 

7:30 p.m. 

Featuring video presentation of “Tierra Si, Aviones No”, and performance by the NoPPP Players 

La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 

Requested donations between $5 and $10 

Friday, Nov. 8  

Alexander Cockburn’s Incendiary Rants 

7 p.m. 

Release party for muckraking maverick Alexander Cockburn’s new spoken word CD, Beating the Devil at the AK Press Warehouse, 673-A 23rd St.  

208-1700 

Free 

Berkeley Women in Black Vigil 

Bancroft at Telegraph Ave. 

Weekly protest to “End the Occupation” 

548-6310 

Saturday, Nov. 9 

Book Sale and Auction 

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

The Center for AIDS Services, 5720 Shattuck Ave., Oakland 

This big sale will benefit the AIDS center. 

655-3435 

An Afternoon of Mystery with Authors 2 p.m. 

1901 Russell St. 

Berkeley’s South Branch Library presents mystery writers Jake Fuchs (Death of a Prof), Owen Hill (The Chandler Apartments), and Mary Halock (The Dog on the Roof) 

Free 

Sunday, Nov. 10 

World RunDay - national charity benefit. 

All day 

Various cities across the naton - contact www.runday.com 

(516) 859-3000 for more info 

Tuesday, Nov. 12 

Holiday Craft Baazar 

10 a.m. to noon 

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

Handmade items, sweet treats, and knick knacks will be for sale. All are welcome 

845-6830 

Wednesday, Nov. 13 

Public Lecture by the Rev. Canon Naim Ateek 

7:30 p.m. 

UCC, on Dana St. between Durant and Channing 

Founder of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center and native of East Jerusalem, Rev. Ateek will lead a discussion sponsored by the First Congregational Church of Berkeley (UCC) and the Pacific School of Religion 

848-3696 

$10/ suggested donation.  

League of Women Voters Meeting 

Noon 

LWVBAE office, 1414 University Ave. 

Discussion will focus on regional issues 

849-2154 

Thursday, Nov. 14 

Regret to Inform  

Reception 6:30 p.m. / Program 7 p.m. 

Berkeley High School Auditorium, 2234 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

A screening and discussion with filmmaker Barbara Sonneborn. 

979-0190, liz_vogel@facing.org 

Free 

Berkeley Path Wanderers Meeting 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Hillside, Club, 2286 Cedar St. 

Meeting to include a presentation by best- selling author Adah Bakalinsky who will speak about her book, “Stairway Walks of San Francisco” 

Free 

Tuesday, Nov. 5 

Garrison Keillor 

7:30 p.m. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, entrance on Dana between Channing and Durant 

Keillor will be reading from “Good Poems”  

www.codysbooks.com 

$10 / $5 with purchase of “Good Poems” 

The Duo-Tones 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

Paul Johnson and Gil Orr play pure, essential surf music like you’ve never heard before. 

548-1761 

$15.50-$16.50 

Wednesday, Nov. 6 

Zabava! Izorno and Brass Menagerie 

7 p.m. doors open, 8:30 live performance 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

Enjoy this celebration with live music from the Balkans, including dance lessons begining at 7:30 

525-5054 

$8 

Christopher Hitchens 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Hitchens will discuss “Why Orwell Matters” 

845-7852 

Saadet Turkoz with Miya Masaoka and George Cremaschi 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

Mysterious improvisations based on ancient Central Asian music in collaboration. 

548-1761 

$15.50-$16.50 

Thursday, Nov. 7 

Gary Thorp 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Thorp will read from “Caught in Fading Light” 

The Non Prophets  

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Preforming with special guest Vince Welnick of the Grateful Dead 

21+ 

$10 

Bandworks Recital 

7:30 p.m. to midnight 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

Hear student bands play rock, blues, and pop at this annual recital event 

525-5054 

$11 

Friday, Nov. 8 

The Librarians, Bitesize, and Glitter Mini 9 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

All age show 

$7 

Chaskinakuy 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

Beautiful vocal harmonies in Spanish and Quechua. 

548-1761 

$15.50-$16.50 

Saturday, Nov. 9 

An Afternoon of Mystery 

2 p.m. 

South Branch Berkeley Public Library, 1901 Russell St. at Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

Featuring local Bay Area authors Jake Fuchs, Owen Hill, and Mary Madsen Hallock 

525-3948, Kimmac@pacbell.net 

Free 

An Evening of Cultural Harmony 

8 p.m. 

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

The Barbard Ensemble, the San Francisco Klezmer Experience and Lichi Fuentes & Jackeline Rago will treat listeners to music from Iran, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. 

704-7480 x755 

$25 general admission 

Black Dice, Dearly Departed (ex-Subtonix), and The Mass 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

$8 

Sunday, Nov. 10 

The Sheldon Brown Group 

4:30 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

Reservations: 845-5373 

$10-$15 

Images of India-2002 

7 p.m. 

International House Auditorium, 2299 Piedmont Ave. 

‘Asha for Education,’ a campus based non-profit organization, holds its 12th annual event  

665-4889, ioi@ashanet.org 

$15-$25 / $10 students 

The Starry Irish Music Session with Shay Black 

8 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Tickets available on a sliding scale 

“Shove Off to Birthday Island” 

Through Nov. 30 

Reception Nov. 2 from 5 to 8 p.m. 

Normal hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday 

Ardency Gallery, 709 Broadway, Oakland 

A collaborative exhibition of Tonya Solley Thornton and Frank Haines including video and sculptural installations. 

836-0831 

Children of the Gulf War Photo Exhibit 

Through Nov. 30 

Mon. through Thurs., 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

Fri. through Sat.., 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

Sun., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 

Featuring works of Takashi Morizumi 

Information: www.savewarchildren.org 

Ceramics - Opening Reception 

Through Nov. 17 

3 to 5 p.m. 

A New Leaf Gallery, 1286 Gilman St. 

525-7621 

Free 

Menocchio 

Nov. 6 through Dec. 22 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St. 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre presents the world premiere of Lillian Groag’s charged comedy 

647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org for tickets 

Regular tickets between $38 and $54, with group, student, youth, and senior discounts available 

Tuesday, Nov. 5 

Open Mic 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

21+ 

Free 

Wednesday, Nov. 6 

Poetry Slam with host Nazelah Jamison and Karen Ladson 

8:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Cash prizes up to $90 

21+ 

$7/ general, $5/ students with ID 

Saturday Nov. 9 

Dorothy Allison and Jewelle Gomez appear in support of Boadecia’s Books 

8 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda at Solano 

559-9184 

$25, sliding scale 

Tuesday, Nov. 12 

Open Mic 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

7:30 p.m. 

Free 

Steve Murphy is a man without a position – because he plays everywhere. 

Well, not quite everywhere, but the St. Mary’s senior football player lines up wherever head coach Jay Lawson and the Panthers need him. 

Nominally the quarterback, Murphy also plays tailback and cornerback – when he isn’t returning kicks and punts, that is. His production in different facets of the game has led the Panthers to a 4-3-1 record so far this year. 

“His season is going very well,” Lawson said. “He came into the season as one of the big leaders on our team, starting on offense and defense for us. He’s very versatile and is a very instrumental part of our team.” 

St. Mary’s takes advantage of Murphy’s athleticism and speed, particularly on offense, as the 5-foot-10, 180-pounder runs a 4.5 40-yard dash. 

“We see Steve as an offensive weapon who can score anytime he touches the ball,” Lawson said. “We use him in different matchups. He can run inside or outside. We can throw to him out of the backfield. He has a quick change of direction and is able to run people over. From last year to this year, he developed his speed and now has that breakaway speed.” 

St. Mary’s has the luxury of moving Murphy around because it occasionally uses Scott Tully at quarterback. The Panthers coaches anticipated playing the sophomore somewhat this season, and they had played him a few plays here and there prior to the Oct. 11 Oakland Tech game. But a deep thigh bruise to Murphy against Tech forced their hand, and Tully started the following two games against Kennedy and Albany. 

Murphy’s thigh healed and allowed him to take back the reigns to the offense in the last week’s game, a 40-35 loss at St. Patrick-St. Vincent. 

Even though Murphy is healthy, Lawson says he will continue to bring in Tully when the situation warrants, which is fine with Murphy. 

“I’m still going to be starting the games, and when it’s time, he’ll bring Scott in,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with that. Me and Scott, we don’t compete against each other at all. Coaches try to pump it up like that in practice, but we don’t take it like that at all.  

“We have our roles. My role is to start and to lead the team. His role is to come in and keep us putting points on the board and do his thing.” 

Tully is more of a drop-back passer than Murphy, whose speed allows him to make plays in and out of the pocket. Bringing in the former allows the Panthers to pair Murphy with leading rusher Fred Hives in the backfield. 

Whatever position he plays, Murphy is the team’s unquestioned leader. 

“Steve’s our starting quarterback,” Lawson said. “The team really follows him. He’s really mobile and allows us to do different things. We like to bring in Scott, which gives us both Steve Murphy and Fred Hives, who emerged last month as an outstanding running back for us. It makes defenses defend us honestly, so they can’t key on one back. With Scott in as QB, we’re actually more dangerous running the ball.” 

With all his success on the offensive side of the ball, Murphy will likely play defense, and just one position, in college. Murphy, who’s being recruited by several schools, with Cal and Oregon as the frontrunners, says he knows he’ll end up as a cornerback, which is his favorite position. 

“I like the contact,” he said. “I like to hit people and like to be able to guard people. It’s a challenge.”

The Coalition of University Employees (CUE), which represents 18,000 secretaries, library assistants and other clerical workers at the University of California, rejected a comprehensive UC contract offer last week. The rejection will probably lead to state intervention in a 1 1/2-year-old contract dispute over wages and workplace safety that has sparked strikes on five of UC’s nine campuses since late August. 

The clericals’ Oct. 31 refusal came just one day after UC lecturers, locked in a 2 1/2-year-old battle with the university over wages and job security, turned down a contract offer of their own. State intervention in that fight also appears likely. 

CUE and the University Council-American Federation of Teachers, which represents the lecturers, will have separate meetings with the university in the next two weeks. But UC officials are not optimistic, in either case, about a break in contract talks. 

If there are no new agreements, university officials suggest that they will declare an “impasse” in both negotiation processes, sparking state intervention. 

“We’ve been negotiating with CUE for a year and a half and it’s time to bring these talks to a close, even if that means impasse proceedings,” said Gayle Cieszkiewicz, executive director of UC labor relations, in a statement issued after the clericals rejected the university offer. 

If the university declares an impasse, in the case of CUE, the state’s Public Employment Relations Board, or PERB, would decide if a true deadlock exists and could then appoint a state mediator. If there is still no resolution after mediation, a PERB panel would make a non-binding “finding of fact” and recommend a contract settlement. If both sides reject the proposal, the university would have the power to impose a final contract. 

The process would be the same for the lecturers, but would skip the mediation phase because a state mediator has already been involved in negotiations. 

CUE’s chief negotiator Margy Wilkinson, criticized the university for moving toward state intervention. 

“We don’t see any need to go impasse when there’s still room for negotiation,” said Wilkinson, arguing that the two sides are close on layoff and workplace safety procedures, among other elements of the contract. 

One issue where the two sides remain far apart is wages. The union is asking for a 15 percent pay hike over two years, while the university is offering 3.5 percent.  

UC officials say they can offer no more because of limits in state funding for salary increases. Union officials say the nine-campus UC system has a $2.3 billion unrestricted reserve that it could tap for salary increases. But UC says the money is labeled “unrestricted” for technical reasons only and is in fact tied up in several obligations. 

Wilkinson said the union, scheduled to meet with the university Nov. 13 and 14 at UC Riverside, is unlikely to change its demand for a 15 percent pay hike in the coming week. The university appears rigid as well. 

“We don’t have any more movement to make on wages,” said university spokesperson Paul Schwartz. 

UC Berkeley clericals and lecturers went on strike in August, claiming that the university has engaged in bad faith bargaining. Lecturers at UC campuses in Santa Cruz, Irvine, Davis, Riverside and Santa Barbara walked off the job in October. Clericals joined in at all the campuses except for Irvine. 

The lecturers’ union has indicated that future strikes are possible. Wilkinson, of the clericals’ union, declined to comment on the possibility of future work stoppages. 

“I just can’t predict the future,” she said. 

The university has argued that the strikes are illegal and counterproductive. 

Contact reporter at scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

President Bush should be applauded for taking a courageous stand against Saddam Hussein's outlaw regime and its reckless pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. As the president noted in his recent address to the nation, the riskiest option for dealing with Iraq is to do nothing. Inaction would only give Hussein time to complete his malicious pursuit of nuclear weapons and would embolden tyrants and terrorists everywhere.  

Acting now to disarm Hussein, using military force if necessary, is the only way we will keep America safe from weapons of mass destruction that fall into the hands of freedom's enemies. President Bush is right – our nation cannot let world events be dictated by brutal and lawless dictators.  

Paul Schafer 

Concord 

SAN FRANCISCO — Manager Dusty Baker’s future should be much more clear within days. 

Baker’s agent, Jeff Moorad, has spoken with San Francisco Giants general manager Brian Sabean to discuss whether Baker will remain with the organization, a team official said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity. Now the Giants are waiting to hear back from Moorad. 

Baker’s contract expires Wednesday, 10 days after the Giants lost Game 7 of the World Series to the Anaheim Angels. 

Sabean agreed to a new multiyear deal with the Giants last week, and one of his first priorities is hiring a manager. 

Before Game 7 of the World Series, Baker made it sound as if he was on his way out. He said he had not been convinced the Giants wanted him to return. 

When asked what he would need to hear from Giants owner Peter Magowan to stick around, Baker said, “If somebody wanted me back, a lot of times they wouldn’t wait until the last minute to tell them.” 

The 53-year-old Baker, who just completed his 10th year with the Giants, said when the playoffs began that he did not intend to “break the bank” — meaning the $6 million a year Joe Torre got from the Yankees — “but I want to be near the bank.” 

Neither Baker nor Sabean could immediately be reached for comment. 

Baker’s name has been mentioned for the vacant managerial jobs in Seattle and with the Chicago Cubs — two attractive openings that have yet to be filled after many clubs have already made their hires. 

While the Cubs haven’t expressed interest in Baker publicly, their search for a new manager is on hold until he resolves his situation. 

General manager Jim Hendry hasn’t interviewed anyone new, and is in Arizona for the team’s organizational meetings. 

Mariners general manager Pat Gillick has been careful not to call Baker a candidate, saying he didn’t want to comment when Baker was still under contract. But Seattle, which has been openly naming its candidates, has said it has a “mystery candidate” in the mix.

An Alameda County Superior Court judge has rejected a request by 32 pro-Palestinian student activists facing possible expulsion to intervene in UC Berkeley student conduct hearings. 

The protesters, who participated in the April 9 takeover of the university’s Wheeler Hall, asked Judge James Richman, among other things, to block the use of police videos, reports and testimony in the student conduct hearings. The students argued that such testimony was legally banned and would unfairly bias the disciplinary process. 

But Richman, who heard the case Oct. 28 and mailed out his ruling Oct. 30, agreed with university arguments that the courts should not get involved, if at all, until after the hearings are completed. 

“The university is pleased with the result,” said Jeff Blair, who argued the case for UC. 

Richman based his decision on a number of prior court rulings which have established that “as a general rule” the courts will not intervene in quasi-judicial hearings until the “administrative agency,” in this case the university, issues a final ruling. After a ruling, the case law suggests, the accused can go to court if they feel the administrative agency has handled the case improperly. 

“I am disappointed, but I’m not surprised,” said Dan Siegel, lead attorney for the students. “It was a relatively low probability of success, but we thought we had a strong case.” 

The students and their attorneys attempted to put the best spin on the ruling, noting that Richman did not rule on the substance of the case, but rather on the timing of court intervention. 

“All he really said is, I can’t deal with this at this time,” said Roberto Hernandez, 23, one of the students facing conduct charges. 

UC Berkeley began the first conduct hearing Sept. 30, focusing on the Hernandez case in particular, but suspended the proceeding when the students filed suit Oct. 7. Now that Richman has issued a ruling, UC Berkeley officials say they plan to restart hearings “as soon as possible.” 

Siegel said that, if the rest of the hearings mirror the Hernandez proceeding, the students will almost certainly take the university to court when the hearings are complete. But Blair said he is confident that the university would win a court case on the merits. 

The students’ lawyers have complained, among other things, about a university decision to close the Hernandez hearing to the public and about the composition of the committee hearing the Hernandez case. 

But university officials say they have acted within the UC Berkeley student code of conduct. The rules allow the hearing committee chairperson to close the proceedings to preserve order and university officials say there had been talk of activists storming the Hernandez proceeding, a charge that activists deny.  

University lawyers also note that, while the code of conduct dictates that a five-person committee should run a conduct hearing, it allows a quorum of three, as in the Hernandez case, to preside. 

The students sought remedies on the issues of open hearings and committee composition, in addition to a block on police evidence, in their Oct. 7 lawsuit. But Richman declined to intervene in any way. 

A total of 79 protesters, including students and community members, took over Wheeler Hall April 9, demanding that the nine-campus University of California system divest from Israel. 

In June, the Alameda County District Attorney dropped all criminal charges against the activists, including resisting arrest and, in Hernandez’s case, assaulting an officer. The county agreed to a “factual finding of innocence” for all the protesters, including a seal on all the activists’ arrest records. 

But the university decided to proceed, on a separate track, with student conduct charges against the 41 students who took part in the Wheeler Hall takeover. 

Nine of the 41 students agreed to a “stayed suspension,” essentially a one-semester probation, leaving 32 to face formal student conduct hearings. 

Last week the students’ lawyers argued that, under the terms of the deal with the District Attorney, all “records of arrest,” including videos, reports and even officers’ testimony, are under seal and cannot be used in any setting, including student conduct hearings. 

The university argued that the law only requires it to eliminate any direct reference to arrest in the evidence. Last month, UC Berkeley blacked out any mention of the word arrest in the Hernandez police report, but kept the rest of the report in the record. 

Blair said the university will have to decide how to handle the police videos, which depict UC police officers walking or dragging protesters away from the foyer of Wheeler Hall and booking them in a hallway. 

Blair said UC will have to remove images of bookings, which is a clear “record of arrest,” but may be able to show officers walking or pulling activists away from the foyer. 

“Just because you’re removing a student from a room doesn’t mean you’re arresting them,” he argued. 

Contact reporter at scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

President Bush’s threats and blandishments against Iraq make sense only if we plan to bomb Saudi Arabia in the morning, getting our just desserts in the desert, or so to speak. 

Equally nonsensical is Bush’s letting Bin Laden’s boys beat it out the back door in Afghanistan. And does anyone really believe that Bin Laden is on the outs with his family? Trust me, the rich know how to dispossess one of their own. 

The big game is back on, folks. It may be only days until 1914, and oil is king. In a recent book review in the “Scientific American,” it was stated that a significant fraction of the world’s petroleum geologists and engineers believe that Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves will begin to tap out in the next five to 10 years. If true, this might explain much about our leader’s animus against Iraq. But then, I may be wrong. 

Gary Gresher 

Berkeley 

OAKLAND — Oakland Raiders place-kicker Sebastian Janikowski pleaded innocent in Alameda County Superior Court Monday to two misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of alcohol. 

Janikowski, 24, who was born in Poland and now resides in Castro Valley, was not in court for Monday's arraignment in misdemeanor court in Oakland. 

A complaint filed Oct. 9 charges the football player with driving under the influence and driving with a blood-alcohol content in excess of 0.08 percent. 

Janikowski's attorney, Cris Arguedas of Emeryville, entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of her client Monday. The lawyer is scheduled to return to court for a pre-trial hearing in the matter on Nov. 19. 

“We entered a plea of not guilty,” Arguedas said outside of court. “Now I'll take a look at the reports and we'll see what we're going to do after we see the evidence.” 

Commissioner Beverly Daniels-Greenberg ordered Monday that while the matter is pending, Janikowski, who remains free on his own recognizance, refrain from driving while there is any “measurable amount” of alcohol in his blood. 

According to a California Highway Patrol report of the arrest, on Oct. 1 at about 11:55 p.m., an officer on patrol in the area of eastbound Interstate Highway 580 near High Street observed a red Mercedes-Benz S-500 allegedly traveling at 86 mph. 

The officer pulled over the vehicle, which bore the license plate “CBASS11,” apparently in reference to Janikowski's nickname, Sea Bass, and his jersey number. 

Janikowski was behind the wheel, and a friend, Mike Qutob, 38, of Castro Valley, was in the passenger seat. Qutob was not charged in the case. 

The officer wrote in a report that Janikowski allegedly had alcohol on his breath, red watery eyes and “slow and slurred speech.” The report also noted that Janikowski was polite.

Arnold Schwarzenegger may be big at the box office, but pollsters say even he doesn’t have enough star power to attract voters to the polls for an election that includes a lackluster governor’s race, secession in Los Angeles and homelessness in San Francisco. 

Only 58 percent of registered voters are expected to go to the polls today — a fraction of a percent better than 1998’s record low for a gubernatorial race, Secretary of State officials said Monday. 

Analysts say Democrat Gray Davis and GOP challenger Bill Simon have turned off their constituents with repeated allegations of corruption and incompetence. Voter after voter complained they were ignoring issues. 

An estimated 25 percent of California voters didn’t commit to either major candidate. 

Ray Wirta, a 58-year-old lifelong Orange County Republican, said he believes Davis has done little in office but he is only voting for Simon as “the lesser of two evils.” 

Democrats, meanwhile, will try for their first sweep in state history. A new poll shows them with significant leads for five of seven offices, including incumbents in the races for lieutenant governor, attorney general and treasurer. 

Los Angeles residents will be asked whether to split Hollywood and the sprawling San Fernando Valley into separate cities. Supporters say LA’s downtown government has short-shrifted the regions on services while critics say the resulting new cities wouldn’t do any better. 

“Secession is by far the foremost issue,” said Dan Biers, a 45-year-old Valley resident who planned to vote against the measure. “There’s very little way I could affect the national issues. There is no president in this election, no senators.” 

A raft of state initiatives and local measures take aim at untamed growth and the sickly California economy. 

With California facing a $15 billion budget deficit, voters are being asked to put the state further into debt by approving more than $18 billion in bond measures for education, water and housing projects. 

Proposition 49, championed by Schwarzenegger, would allocate as much as $550 million in existing school money to before- and after-school programs. 

A Los Angeles County measure seeks a new tax to save the county trauma system from financial collapse. 

A proposed $3.3 billion bond, the largest local bond in California history, would build 120 new schools and create 115,000 new classroom seats in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second-largest.

To the Editor: 

Few Berkeley residents understand the injustices brought about by rent control. Consider the following actual case. 

A single mother with two children and editor of a local magazine, needs to buy and move into a house soon. Just divorced, she wants to stabilize a home for her children. She purchases a house in Berkeley occupied by tenants who have resided there for 18 months. The tenant's lease has expired. They have been aware of the sale for months. In theory, single family homes are exempt from rent and eviction controls but not in practice. A lawyer tells the tenants that in Berkeley they can prolong eviction for months. The attorney tells the buyer this and suggests she offer relocation money to secure a vacancy. When it is suggested to the attorney that this is extortion, he responds: “In Berkeley this is how it's done.” Final outcome, single mom pays thousands of dollars to move into her own home.  

I am personally familiar with numerous cases of such extortion facilitated by Berkeley rent laws. Such cases are only the tip of the iceberg. The devil is in the details. The details regarding rent control expose a system that regularly violates common sense and basic rights.  

John Koenigshofer  

Berkeley 

WASHINGTON — U.S. forces killed a top associate of Osama bin Laden in Yemen in a missile strike, expanding the war on terror with America's first overt attack on suspected al-Qaida operatives outside of Afghanistan, a U.S. official said Monday. 

Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi was one of several al-Qaida members traveling by car in northwest Yemen when a Hellfire missile struck it Sunday, killing him and five others. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the attack was believed to have been conducted by a CIA aircraft, possibly a missile-carrying Predator drone. 

The official Yemeni news agency, local tribesmen and the U.S. official confirmed the strike killed al-Harethi. Witnesses said they saw an aircraft, possibly a helicopter, in the area. Hellfires can also be launched by attack helicopters. 

The others killed were believed to be low-level operatives. The attack occurred in the northern province of Marib, about 100 miles east of Yemen's capital of San`a, where al-Qaida is considered active. 

U.S. counterterrorism officials have said al-Harethi, also known as Abu Ali, was al-Qaida's chief operative in Yemen and a top target of U.S. anti-terrorism efforts. An associate of bin Laden since the early 1990s in Sudan, al-Harethi is a suspect in the bombing of the destroyer USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, on Oct. 12, 2000. 

The CIA declined comment. On Monday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told a Pentagon press conference, “It would be a very good thing if he were out of business.” 

A Yemeni official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “Authorities have been monitoring this particular car for a while and we believe those men belonged to the al-Qaida terror network.” 

Many al-Qaida operatives fleeing the U.S.-led war on Afghanistan have joined comrades in Yemen. After the United States detected growth in al-Qaida presence there this spring, hundreds of U.S. troops deployed to Djibouti, the tiny African nation facing Yemen across the Gulf of Aden, officials said. The Marine amphibious assault ship Nassau recently replaced the USS Belleau Wood in the waters between the two nations. 

Inside Yemen, U.S.-trained Yemeni troops deployed to suspected al-Qaida hotbeds in August. 

Besides al-Harethi, at least one more Yemeni al-Qaida operative linked to the Cole attack, Mohammad Hamdi al-Ahdal, is thought to be in Yemen, U.S. officials say. In the Cole attack, two suicide bombers slammed an explosives-laden boat into the hull of the ship, killing 17 U.S. sailors and disabling the vessel. 

Also believed to be in Yemen are Shaykh Dabwan and Suwaid, described as al-Qaida operatives who plan and provide support to terror operations, and an al-Qaida communications expert known as Miqdad, said a U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

Many al-Qaida followers in Yemen, bin Laden's ancestral homeland, are led by Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, bin Laden's Persian Gulf operations chief, U.S. counterterrorism officials said. 

U.S. intelligence believes Yemeni-based terrorists linked to al-Qaida carried out the Oct. 6 attack on a French oil tanker, the Limburg. A small boat apparently crashed into the ship and exploded, blowing a hole in its hull and spilling 90,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Aden. One crewman was killed. 

Since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, the CIA has used remotely operated Predator drone aircraft to make pinpoint strikes on al-Qaida leaders and do reconnaissance. 

Mohammed Atef, bin Laden's military chief and a Sept. 11 organizer, was killed in November near Kabul in a joint airstrike by a Predator and U.S. military aircraft. 

A Predator targeted Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar at the start of the war on Afghanistan.

SAN JOSE — Three planes were evacuated, at least 56 flights were delayed and hundreds of people were cleared out of Mineta San Jose International Airport after a suspicious bag slipped past screeners last weekend. 

The airport’s most serious security problem since the Sept. 11 terrorist attack began when a piece of luggage tested positive during a routine swabbing for explosives. A second test of the luggage was negative and the passenger left the checkpoint with the bag. 

When a supervisor was told what had happened, the alert began Sunday afternoon. 

When screeners checked the explosives detection machine, they determined that almost 30 minutes had passed since the alarm had been activated. At least one flight had departed before a Transportation Security Administration supervisor was alerted to the security breach, police spokesman Joseph Deras said. 

Once that plane landed in San Diego, all passengers were rescreened, officials said.

Less church for Marin residents 

SAN RAFAEL — Marin County residents are below the national average in church attendance, but are far from being spiritually disenfranchised, according to a study by a San Francisco-based religious think tank. 

The study, “Religious and Spiritual Change in America: the Experience of Marin County, California” was done by the Institute for Jewish & Community Research’s Gary Tobin and Patricia Lin. 

“I think it’s a great laboratory at looking at the ways religious identity and belief and practice are changing,” Tobin said. 

Second of two protesters dead 

SAN FRANCISCO — The second of two North Bay protesters died Sunday from massive head trauma received while standing through the skylight of a double-decker bus passing through Broadway Tunnel in San Francisco Saturday Oct. 26. 

According to San Francisco General Hospital nursing supervisor Gloria Rodriguez, Sebastopol resident Diana Canning died at 2 p.m. Sunday in the intensive care unit. Marin resident Tony Hernandez died Oct. 30, he too was housed in the intensive care unit.

Days before voters in Alameda County will be asked to give the Board of Supervisors control over the county's next chief probation officer, the current officeholder announced her retirement. 

Sylvia J. Johnson, the current chief probation officer, said Monday she plans to step down on Jan. 31. She said she provided notice of her intentions on Friday. 

“This will be the conclusion of a career spanning 45 years,” Johnson said Monday, reading from her retirement memo. “I have enjoyed and valued every moment.” She thanked members of her staff for their support over the years. 

Asked Monday about the timing of her retirement announcement, she said simply, “You live, you work, you age, and you retire. Forty-five years.” 

Johnson, who said she began as an entry-level probation officer in 1958 and became chief probation officer in Alameda County in October 1993, said she does not plan to seek another job. 

“I will enjoy my grandson,” she said. 

Johnson said it is her belief that she will be remembered for bringing positive change to the Probation Department. 

“What people have told me is that I brought resources and service to people who are at risk, children and families who are involved in the criminal justice system and in need of intervention,” she said. 

Johnson said that she could not offer her successor any advice on negotiating county politics because the situation is “dynamic.” 

The Board of Supervisors currently has no control over Johnson, who is supervised by the presiding judge of the Alameda County Juvenile Court. The supervisors control the probation department's budget, however. 

Measure C, if approved by a majority of those casting ballots, would not apply to Johnson, only to her successor. The ballot measure would amend the county charter so that any county probation officer taking office after Wednesday would be appointed by, and serve at the pleasure of, the five-member Board of Supervisors.

SAN JOSE — The Santa Cruz couple who ran a medical marijuana farm raided by federal agents in September argued Monday that their pot plants, as well as confiscated videos and photo albums, should be returned to them. 

Federal prosecutors said they need the seized items as evidence. 

U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel said he would make a ruling in a few weeks. 

Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested Valerie and Michael Corral and cut down the 130 plants they grew for the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana. 

Valerie Corral said the alliance continues to grow medical marijuana at a secret location. 

State law and city and county ordinances say marijuana is legal if recommended by a doctor, but under federal law, it is illegal as a medicine or a recreational drug. 

Nearly two weeks after the raid, Michael Corral helped distribute medical marijuana to people gathered outside City Hall. Several city leaders attended to show their support of medical marijuana, and no law enforcement was present.

LOS ANGELES — Jewish Defense League leader Irv Rubin, jailed on charges of plotting to bomb a mosque and the office of an Arab-American congressman, was brain dead Monday after what federal authorities called a suicide attempt. 

“We’re told that he is brain-dead and on life support,” said Rubin attorney Peter Morris. Rubin’s wife and two sons were called to his bedside, he said. 

U.S. marshal’s spokesman Bill Woolsey described Rubin’s condition as critical after more than two hours of surgery at an undisclosed hospital. 

Rubin used a razor to slash his neck and throat and then fell or jumped from a prison balcony as he and other inmates lined up for breakfast before 5:30 a.m., Woolsey said. 

“There is no evidence at this point that it was anything but a suicide,” Woolsey said. 

Rubin fell as far as 18 feet at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center, said Mark Werksman, an attorney representing Rubin’s co-defendant. Rubin was not handcuffed at the time, Woolsey said. 

Initially, hospital personnel told prosecutors and defense attorneys that Rubin had died in surgery, said Bryan Altman, also a Rubin attorney. Lawyers in turn told Rubin’s family that he had died. 

The FBI was investigating what it was calling a “crime in a government property,” said spokeswoman Laura Bosley. She could not confirm that it was a suicide attempt. 

Rubin’s family alleged that Rubin had been attacked by someone. 

“My husband would never kill himself. This was a hit, this was a hit,” said his wife, Shelley Rubin. 

“I saw my husband yesterday. He was just the same as before. He didn’t say goodbye. He said I will see you in court tomorrow. He was fine,” she said. 

Rubin and associate Earl Krugel were arrested Dec. 11 on charges of plotting to bomb the King Fahd mosque in suburban Culver City and an office of Rep. Darrell E. Issa, R-Calif., who is the grandson of Lebanese immigrants. 

Rubin and Krugel were arrested after an FBI informant delivered an explosive powder that authorities believed was the last component in making pipe bombs. The charges carry up to 40 years in prison upon conviction. 

Rubin, who by his own account has been arrested more than 40 times, joined the JDL early in the 1970s and quickly moved up, becoming chairman in 1985. 

In 1989, the leader of the rival Jewish Defense Organization was charged with firing shots at Rubin and wounding three others in New York. Mordechai Levy was convicted of assault. 

According to his biography, Rubin learned to fight anti-Semitism while growing up in Montreal, “where some hotel owners and other business people hung signs reading ’No Dogs or Jews Allowed’ on their doors and where French Canadian schoolchildren taunted him because he was Jewish.”

SAN FRANCISCO — Taking their cue from the skittish stock market, venture capitalists continue to scale back their fund-raising efforts for future investments, according to industry figures released Monday. 

Venture capitalists raised $1.7 billion in the third quarter, a 76 percent drop from the same time last year when the industry collected $7 billion from investment partners, said Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association. 

The slowdown continued a retrenchment that began after the dot-com investment bubble burst 2 1/2 years ago. 

As the Internet business woes spread throughout the high-tech industry, the stock market turned a cold shoulder toward most of the unprofitable startups financed by venture capitalists. 

The frigid investment conditions have saddled venture capitalists with the worst losses in the industry’s history and made them more reluctant to finance other startups. Venture capitalists invested $16.9 billion during the first nine months of this year, a 50 percent drop from last year, according to Venture Economics. 

“If the market is ugly, why should you raise more money and risk losing even more? It’s better to wait until things get better,” said Wes Raffel, a general partner with Advanced Technology Ventures in Palo Alto. 

Like a lot of venture capital firms, Advanced Technology is still sitting on a pile of money raised during the boom times. An estimated $90 billion in venture capital still needs to be invested, lessening the need to raise more money. 

Most of that money poured into venture capital during the Internet frenzy of 1999 and 2000, when the industry raised $159 billion. 

The industry’s surplus is so large that venture capitalists refunded $2.7 billion during the second quarter. An insignificant number of refunds occurred in the third quarter, said Jess Reyes, a vice president for Venture Economics. 

Based on the patterns of past industry slumps, Reyes expects the venture capital drought to last at least six more months. 

This already shapes up as the industry’s driest year since 1993, when venture capitalists raised $3.7 billion. Venture capitalists this year are on pace to raise $7.3 billion, slightly below the $7.8 billion collected in 1994, according to the National Venture Capital Association. 

Some venture capitalists think the industry should throttle back even more. 

“We are still raking in too much money,” said Mark Saul, general partner with Foundation Capital in Menlo Park. “There are still too many venture capitalists chasing after a limited number of good deals.”

SAN JOSE — Semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials Inc. said Monday it will cut 1,750 jobs, or 11 percent of its work force, as it struggles with the continuing high-tech slump. 

The Santa Clara-based company said about 800 of the jobs will be cut at its Silicon Valley operations and another 200 from its Austin, Texas, facility. The remaining reductions will take place at other locations. Employees will be notified starting Tuesday. 

“This was a painful but necessary decision to make in order to enable the company to align our operations with the current level of business and position for future growth,” said James C. Morgan, Applied Materials’ chief executive. 

The job cuts were necessary despite other cost-cutting measures, Morgan said. 

Applied Materials, the leading supplier of products and services to computer chip makers, said it will post a restructuring charge in its fiscal first-quarter results. It did not specify the amount. 

In September 2001, the company cut 2,000 positions. At the end of the year, it announced it was cutting another 1,700. 

Applied Materials currently has 16,000 employees around the world. 

Before the company announced the cuts, shares of Applied Materials closed up 73 cents to $16.45 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

SAN FRANCISCO — Teamsters pledged Monday to shut down two Rolling Stones concerts this weekend at Pacific Bell Park if the promoter, Clear Channel Communications, does not agree to use union workers. 

“We’ve been having trouble with Clear Channel for years,” said William Cromartie, president of Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 85. “They want to bring in kids to work for $6 or $7 an hour and give them a T-shirt.” 

About 50 Teamsters picketed Monday outside Pac Bell Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, as tractor-trailers began arriving to deliver equipment for the Friday and Saturday shows. At least three trucks turned around without making deliveries after Teamsters talked to the drivers. 

The Teamsters say they should be unloading those trucks and unionized stagehands should be setting up the stage and the lights. Instead, Bill Graham Presents, San Francisco’s largest concert promoter and a subsidiary of Clear Channel, will use its own nonunion workers. 

Cromartie said that means union members will miss out on about 100 jobs during the next eight days. 

Calls placed to San Antonio-based Clear Channel were not immediately returned. 

Bill Graham Presents said it’s never had a relationship with the Teamsters. 

“We have the expertise developed to do those jobs,” said spokeswoman Sherry Wasserman. “They are using this high-profile show to strongarm us.” 

Wasserman said the San Francisco concert promoter does have a relationship with the stagehands’ union. But if they refuse to work, nonunion workers will be hired to replace them. 

“Some of their work starts today,” Wasserman said. “If they decide to honor this strike for union reasons, we will have a crew ready and we will have a show.” 

Giants Enterprises, which organizes non-baseball events at the stadium, uses union workers to sell concessions, to serve food and beverages and to clean the park. 

But when they sign contracts with concert promoters, “we don’t provide the service that they need for their staging equipment,” said spokeswoman Shana Daum. “We don’t dictate who they can and can’t use.” 

Mark Fabris, a trade show foreman picketing on Monday, also spent $608 for two 18th row tickets for Friday’s show. He said Teamster bylaws prohibit him from crossing any picket line. 

“I’m a big fan. I’ve never seen them before,” he said. “But I’ve been a Teamster for almost 20 years and I’m not going to go if this is still going on.”

LOS ANGELES — The chain-reaction crashes that piled up nearly 200 cars on the Long Beach Freeway likely could have been avoided if drivers had simply slowed down when they hit foggy conditions, California Highway Patrol officials said Monday. 

The crashes, which left a five-mile section of the freeway looking like an auto junkyard, shut down the highway for 11 hours Sunday. Eight people suffered critical or serious injuries in the accidents that took place within minutes along the one-mile stretch of freeway. 

Motorists reported driving into fog so thick that it reminded some of being on an airliner as it travels into the clouds. 

“In that weather condition, we’re sure if drivers had drastically reduced their speeds, this could have been avoided,” said California Highway Patrol Officer Luis Mendoza. 

A total of 198 cars and trucks were involved in the crash 25 miles south of Los Angeles, with a total of 41 people hurt. Nearly 150 vehicles, torn and tangled, ended up in one pile, with nearly 50 others crammed together a half mile away. 

After the injured were treated or taken to five area hospitals, tow trucks began hauling away the remains of crumpled vehicles, including some that ended up on top of others. 

Scores of emergency personnel and stranded motorists were fed by the Red Cross. Portable toilets were brought in as some people waited by their cars. Others sat on the road away from the heavy smell of leaking fuel. 

With visibility reduced to only 50 to 100 feet “the fog moisture caused the roadway to become slippery so that braking vehicles slid into others,” Mendoza said. 

“All of a sudden you see a wall,” William Carter of Long Beach said of the fog resembling a cloud. He told the Long Beach Press-Telegram he skidded to a stop among other cars without a collision, but soon his car was hit from behind. 

“It was crazy unreal,” Joe Bozek of Upland said of watching cars sliding about before his pickup was hit in the rear. 

CHP Capt. Cliff Williams said, “Today’s accident is living testimony of the importance to slow down when there is fog like this.” 

Seven Long Beach fire engines were sent to the scene, along with a rescue truck containing a “Jaws of Life” device firefighters used to cut into crumpled cars and rescue trapped motorists. 

“I’ve never seen anything like it,’ said Jan Andriese, a 13-year firefighting veteran who was on his way to work when he saw cars smashing into each other in front of him. 

“I checked as many cars as I could, to the front and the back,” Andriese said. He found two trucks leaking fuel, and joined with other motorists to channel it into roadside dirt so it could be absorbed. 

Fire Department spokesman Wayne Chaney said Andriese also helped stabilize a driver with broken ribs while other rescuers worked to get the man out of his car. 

“Everyone knew exactly what their role was,” Chaney said of the emergency response worked out in disaster drills. “We were able to give patients the best care, take them to the right hospital and do it in a timely manner.’

The Coast Guard radio call came in at about 6 p.m. Saturday. An unidentified boat with its lights off was heading for the Port of Oakland. 

Officer Ed Galvan of the Berkeley Police Department didn’t hesitate. In seconds he had Police-One, a 26-foot rescue and patrol boat, going 45 mph, darting through tame tides underneath the Bay Bridge. 

The Port of Oakland is a prime target for terrorists, explained Sgt. Guy Craig, as he grabbed hold of a post on the open-air boat, the wind whipping against his face. 

Within minutes he spotted the boat – a million-dollar yacht christened Chardonnay – sloppily traversing a narrow corridor between a barge and a freighter.  

Galvan flashed the blue police light, then a spotlight. 

Finally after several minutes, out stepped the captain. Bearing a striking resemblance to Governor Gray Davis, he asked if there was problem. 

“You need to turn your lights on,” scolded Galvan. 

The lights went on, but the police were not amused. “That guy didn’t have a clue,” Galvan said. “He could have really messed up his boat.” 

Messed up boats are something Craig and Galvan know all too much about. If a vessel is in distress anywhere in the bay Wednesday through Saturday from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., the BPD – not the Coast Guard – will likely handle the call. 

The BPD maritime program started in 1997 after the Coast Guard alerted local cities that budget cuts meant they would have to police their own waters. To start the program, the BPD was given one boat by the Coast Guard and bought a second one via a state grant.  

The BPD cooperates with other Bay Area cities, including Oakland, San Francisco, Richmond and Redwood City, with each city taking a shift to make sure the bay is constantly patrolled. 

Most of the maritime officers’ work is similar to that performed by regular traffic police. They make sure that boaters keep their lights on in the dark, look out for drunk captains, and enforce the rules of the sea. But about four times per month they are called upon to perform rescue missions. 

The most harrowing rescue came last year, when the Coast Guard asked them to come to the aid of 42-foot boat that was taking on water underneath the Bay Bridge. Within 30 seconds after they got the sailors onto the rescue boat, the distressed boat sunk. 

“They were going to die,” Craig said. 

Their most recent rescue was just as timely but far more strange. 

Last month, a woman, in an apparently drug-induced furor, jumped out of her boyfriend’s car on West Frontage Road, threw off her clothes and started swimming in the bay. At temperatures that average about 53 degrees and can result in death within a couple of hours, the woman had been in the bay for about 30 minutes and would likely have swum to her death if not for Craig and Galvan. 

“We drove up next to her, and I reached down got a big clump of hair and lifted her into the boat,” Craig recalled. The woman was treated at a local hospital. 

If a rescue is their most rewarding task, recovering dead bodies is their most sobering. At one point Saturday, Galvan flashed the spotlight into the water thinking he had seen human remains. A man thrown overboard from a party boat last Saturday night in the waters off Hunter’s Point is still missing, and his body could now be anywhere in the bay floating close to the surface. 

The spotlight did not reveal a body on this occasion, but Craig estimated that they recover about two bodies a year. 

The officers also patrol the bay for fish poachers and serve as the region’s first line of defense against suspicious boats that terrorists might use to target either the Oakland port or the Richmond oil refinery. 

Galvan also serves as patrol officer for the Berkeley Marina, keeping watch over the restaurants and the residents of floating homes. He said marina residents tend to more friendly and more willing to compromise with neighbors than resitents of typical Berkeley beats. “A lot of [police officers] think we have it easy and we have the best job on the force,” he said. 

“Well they’re wrong on the first part – it’s hard work, but it is definetely the best job on the force.” 

Contact reporter at matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

I would like to take the opportunity to commend Berkeley Police Department officer J.S. Hall for her outstanding service Halloween night. My son and his friend, both 13 years old, were trick-or-treating on College Avenue near Derby Street when they were mugged by a group of about 10 older teenage boys and had their candy bags torn out of their arms. No one was injured and the crime was minor in comparison to the increasing concerns of the neighborhood, but the violation done to those boys was as painful as any bruise. 

I reported the incident to the police and officer Hall responded promptly. She took the matter seriously and immediately gave the boys the feeling that this was not insignificant or a waste of her time, but that it was a real crime. More importantly, she allowed them to feel that they were having a positive impact in dealing with this by taking their statements and even asking them to help identify a group of teens held under similar charges (they weren’ t the same teens, unfortunately). 

Officer Hall’ s rapport with these boys helped salve the hurt and anger they experienced as crime victims. Her easy yet professional manner turned a nasty Halloween “trick” into a real treat. My son and his friend discovered that they were important in the eyes of the community, and that they handled the situation with maturity, calmness, and wisdom - all through the positive interaction with officer Hall. 

Gregory S. Murphy 

Berkeley

Monday, Nov. 4 

Berkeley Gray Panthers Home Owners Support Group 

3 p.m. 

Berkeley Gray Panthers Office, 1403 Addison St. 

Resources for low and middle-income home owners, and home maintenance 

548-9696 

Albany talk on Marin Salmon 

7 p.m. 

1249 Marin St., Albany 

Watershed biologist Reuven Walder will speak at the monthly meeting of Friends of Five Creeks 

848-9358, f5creeks@aol.com 

Free 

“Pathways to Collaboration” 

7:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

Kroeber Hall, Rm. 160, UC Berkeley 

A lecture by Dana Plautz, director of research communications for Intel Corporation, followed by live music 

Free 

Tuesday, Nov. 5 

Flu Shots for Everyone 

10 a.m to 12:30 p.m. 

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

Sponsored by the Berkeley Public Health Department 

845-6830 

Berkeley Intelligent Conversation 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 

Join the bimonthly discussion group informally led by fomer UC Berkeley extension lecturer, investment advisor and finncial planner Robert Berend. Open to all. Please bring light snacks or drinks to share. This session’s topic: Work ethic vs. playing and having fun 

527-5332 

Free 

Wednesday, Nov. 6 

North Berkeley Senior Center Advisory Council Meeting 

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

981-5190 

Community Members Welcome 

Monthly Birthday Party 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

Featuring Jim Steinke, guitar and mandolin wizard 

981-5190 

2002 Surjit Singh Lecture 

5:30 p.m. 

Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Common Room, 2451 Ridge Rd. 

649-2440 for more info 

“The Chinese and Religion in the Context of Globalization” 

Reception 5:30 p.m. / Lecture 7 p.m. 

Bade Museum at Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. 

A noted scholar and author, Professor Zhuo Xinping speaks 

649-2440 

Thursday, Nov. 7 

“Water, the Beverage of Life” 

11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

Aaron Miller, SF State Intern will discuss 

981-5190 

Additional Ferries from East Bay Sites 

noon to 2 p.m. 

Discussion with a representative of the San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters 

Albany Public Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 

843-8824 

Free 

Panel Discussion - “Resistance to the Free Trade Agreements in Mexico and Central America” 

7:30 p.m. 

Featuring video presentation of “Tierra Si, Aviones No”, and performance by the NoPPP Players 

La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 

Requested donations between $5 and $10 

Friday, Nov. 8  

Alexander Cockburn’s Incendiary Rants 

7 p.m. 

Release party for muckraking maverick Alexander Cockburn’s new spoken word CD, Beating the Devil at the AK Press Warehouse, 673-A 23rd St.  

208-1700 

Free 

Berkeley Women in Black Vigil 

Bancroft at Telegraph Ave. 

Weekly protest to “End the Occupation” 

548-6310 

Saturday, Nov. 9 

Book Sale and Auction 

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

The Center for AIDS Services, 5720 Shattuck Ave., Oakland 

This big sale will benefit the AIDS center. 

655-3435 

An Afternoon of Mystery with Authors 2 p.m. 

1901 Russell St. 

Berkeley’s South Branch Library presents mystery writers Jake Fuchs (Death of a Prof), Owen Hill (The Chandler Apartments), and Mary Halock (The Dog on the Roof) 

Free 

Sunday, Nov. 10 

World RunDay - national charity benefit. 

All day 

Various cities across the naton - contact www.runday.com 

(516) 859-3000 for more info 

Monday, Nov. 4 

Mike Davis 

7:30 p.m. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, entrance on Dana between Channing and Durant 

Mike Davis will discuss “Dead Cities: A Natural History” in collaboration with Working Assets president Michael Kieschnick 

www.codysbooks.com 

$10 / $5 with purchase of “Dead Cities” 

Tuesday, Nov. 5 

Garrison Keillor 

7:30 p.m. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, entrance on Dana between Channing and Durant 

Keillor will be reading from “Good Poems”  

www.codysbooks.com 

$10 / $5 with purchase of “Good Poems” 

The Duo-Tones 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

Paul Johnson and Gil Orr play pure, essential surf music like you’ve never heard before. 

548-1761 

$15.50-$16.50 

Wednesday, Nov. 6 

Zabava! Izorno and Brass Menagerie 

7 p.m. doors open, 8:30 live performance 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

Enjoy this celebration with live music from the Balkans, including dance lessons begining at 7:30 

525-5054 

$8 

Christopher Hitchens 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Hitchens will discuss “Why Orwell Matters” 

845-7852 

Saadet Turkoz with Miya Masaoka and George Cremaschi 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

Mysterious improvisations based on ancient Central Asian music in collaboration. 

548-1761 

$15.50-$16.50 

Thursday, Nov. 7 

Gary Thorp 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Thorp will read from “Caught in Fading Light” 

The Non Prophets  

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Preforming with special guest Vince Welnick of the Grateful Dead 

21+ 

$10 

Bandworks Recital 

7:30 p.m. to midnight 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

Hear student bands play rock, blues, and pop at this annual recital event 

525-5054 

$11 

Friday, Nov. 8 

The Librarians, Bitesize, and Glitter Mini 9 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

All age show 

$7 

Chaskinakuy 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

Beautiful vocal harmonies in Spanish and Quechua. 

548-1761 

$15.50-$16.50 

Saturday, Nov. 9 

An Afternoon of Mystery 

2 p.m. 

South Branch Berkeley Public Library, 1901 Russell St. at Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

Featuring local Bay Area authors Jake Fuchs, Owen Hill, and Mary Madsen Hallock 

525-3948, Kimmac@pacbell.net 

Free 

An Evening of Cultural Harmony 

8 p.m. 

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

The Barbard Ensemble, the San Francisco Klezmer Experience and Lichi Fuentes & Jackeline Rago will treat listeners to music from Iran, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. 

704-7480 x755 

$25 general admission 

Black Dice, Dearly Departed (ex-Subtonix), and The Mass 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

$8 

Sunday, Nov. 10 

The Sheldon Brown Group 

4:30 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

Reservations: 845-5373 

$10-$15 

Images of India-2002 

7 p.m. 

International House Auditorium, 2299 Piedmont Ave. 

‘Asha for Education,’ a campus based non-profit organization, holds its 12th annual event  

665-4889, ioi@ashanet.org 

$15-$25 / $10 students 

The Starry Irish Music Session with Shay Black 

8 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Tickets available on a sliding scale 

“Shove Off to Birthday Island” 

Through Nov. 30 

Reception Nov. 2 from 5 to 8 p.m. 

Normal hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday 

Ardency Gallery, 709 Broadway, Oakland 

A collaborative exhibition of Tonya Solley Thornton and Frank Haines including video and sculptural installations. 

836-0831 

Children of the Gulf War Photo Exhibit 

Through Nov. 30 

Mon. through Thurs., 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

Fri. through Sat.., 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

Sun., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 

Featuring works of Takashi Morizumi 

Information: www.savewarchildren.org 

Ceramics - Opening Reception 

Through Nov. 17 

3 to 5 p.m. 

A New Leaf Gallery, 1286 Gilman St. 

525-7621 

Free 

“Recent Acquisitions” 

Through Dec. 14 

Thurs. through Sat.., 1 to 4 p.m. 

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

848-0181 

Free 

Timoteo Ikoshy Montoya 

Through Nov. 1  

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 

Through Dec. 15, Wed. through Sun., noon to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center 

Live Oak Park, 1275 Walnut St. 

Information: www.berkeleyartcenter.org, 644-6893 

Free 

Alarms and Excursions 

Nov. 15 through Dec. 22 

Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison St. 

Michael Frayn's comedy about  

the irony of modern technology. 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org for reservations 

$26 to $35. 

Menocchio 

Nov. 6 through Dec. 22 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St. 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre presents the world premiere of Lillian Groag’s charged comedy 

647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org for tickets 

Regular tickets between $38 and $54, with group, student, youth, and senior discounts available 

Tuesday, Nov. 5 

Open Mic 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

21+ 

Free 

Wednesday, Nov. 6 

Poetry Slam with host Nazelah Jamison and Karen Ladson 

8:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Cash prizes up to $90 

21+ 

$7/ general, $5/ students with ID 

Saturday Nov. 9 

Dorothy Allison and Jewelle Gomez appear in support of Boadecia’s Books 

8 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda at Solano 

559-9184 

$25, sliding scale 

Thursday, Nov. 7 

“Desert Hearts” 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

A 1950’s lesbian romance featuring Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau. 

Friday, Nov. 8 

“El Che” 

7 p.m. 

Redwood Gardens, 2951 Derby St. 

Film screening followed by salsa dancing to support Berkeley’s Cuban Sister-City Palma Soriano. 

548-6941 

$10 / Sliding scale$15 

The Cal women’s soccer team faces two must-win situations after losing, 2-1, to top-ranked Stanford on Saturday at Edwards Stadium. 

After a promising start to the season that included wins over defending NCAA champion Santa Clara and national power Texas A&M, the Golden Bears have struggled since hitting the Pac-10 part of the schedule. Head coach Kevin Boyd’s team raced out to a 7-2-1 start but has since posted a 2-5-0 record in one of the strongest conferences in the country. 

All-American forward Laura Schott scored early against Stanford to put the Golden Bears up 1-0 and move her within three goals of tying Joy Fawcett’s all-time Cal record of 55. But the Cardinal got two first-half goals from their own All-American forward, Marcia Wallis, to complete the comeback. 

Cal’s overall record fell to 9-7-1. Stanford, which has now beaten Cal two consecutive years after the Golden Bears had won the previous three in a row, improved to 16-1 (7-0 Pac-10). 

The Bears will likely need to beat Arizona this Friday and Arizona State on Sunday to advance to the NCAA tournament. 

“We played well,” Cal coach Kevin Boyd said. “It was a dead even game with the No. 1 team in the country.” 

Stanford outshot Cal, 12-9, and forced Bears goalkeeper Sani Post to make four saves. Cardinal keeper Nicole Barnhart stopped three shots. 

Cal’s Brittany Kirk set up Schott’s second-minute strike, passing the ball to a streaking Schott in the Stanford penalty area. The Cal forward got her right leg on the ball before Barnhart lunged out to grab it. Barnhart got a hand on the shot but couldn’t keep it from falling into her net. 

“It was kind of a thigh ball,” Schott said. “I’ve played with Nicole for a long time, and I knew if I took two touches she’d smother me. I just had to get whatever on it that I could.” 

Kirk’s assist gave the senior midfielder sole possession of third place on the all-time Cal assist list, with 19. Fawcett also holds that record with 23 assists. 

Cal controlled much of the early going, but the dangerous Cardinal eventually woke up. A corner kick produced its first shot and first goal. In the 22nd minute, Marcie Ward took a short corner and passed to Kelsey Carlson, who quickly passed to Natalie Spilger. The defender sent a short ball into the Cal penalty area to Wallis, who turned and fired the ball past Post. 

In the 33rd minute, Stanford forward Jennifer Farenbaugh dropped a long ball into the Cal area to Wallis, who had two shots saved by Post before sending her third effort into the net. 

Despite the loss, Boyd was encouraged by the effort of his Bears, who lost last weekend to Washington and Washington State. 

“We came off a weekend last weekend where the whole team was in the dumpers,” Boyd said. “We had to do a real character check and a team check this whole week to try to make things right. I thought we did that. It’s tough to come out, do that and then lose and feel like you didn’t accomplish it. But in fact we did.” 

If Cal hopes to make the postseason tournament, the Bears need to sweep the Arizona schools in the final weekend of the regular season. 

“If we split, I think we go into the selection show with a rabbit’s foot and hoping we get a little luck,” Boyd said. “I think if we win both, we’re in, and if we lose both, we’re out.”

Tomorrow, months of mudslinging and campaign promises will come to a head, with Berkeley voters deciding a tight mayoral race and four City Council contests. But what does it all mean? 

With City Council currently split 5-4 between Berkeley’s “progressive” and “moderate” factions, including Mayor Shirley Dean on the moderate side, activists on both sides say that the stakes are high, with issues like affordable housing, rent control, and the environment hanging in the balance. 

While the candidates have had difficulty distinguishing themselves on most issues with all favoring more affordable housing and better environmental protection, rent control, by contrast, has provided a real dividing line. 

Moderates like Dean and 8th District City Council candidate Gordon Wozniak are calling for curbs on the rent control program, much to the dismay of progressives. But any significant change in rent control policy would require a ballot measure, and citizen support for the program remains strong, making a shift unlikely. 

Everyone agrees that the election could have a significant impact on the tenor and quality of Berkeley’s notoriously divisive political debate. 

Moderates have focused on the 7th District race, where they are backing UC Berkeley student Micki Weinberg in his attempt to unseat progressive City Councilmember Kriss Worthington. Moderates say Worthington is one of the chief instigators of the moderate-progressive brawl and argue that City Council would be more productive without him. 

Worthington, expected to win re-election, says the City Council factionalism is regrettable, but argues that it is rooted in real policy differences on affordable housing and the environment that are worth debating.  

Worthington lays the blame for any personal bickering on Dean. The mayor’s chief opponent, former state Assemblyman Tom Bates, also faults Dean for failing to “reach across the aisle.” 

“I think it’s been demonstrated that the mayor cannot work across lines,” said Bates, arguing that he could bring peace to the council. 

But Dean, who says that she has been able to make real progress in her eight years in office despite the factionalism, argued that a Bates victory and progressive triumphs in the City Council races would have a negative impact on local debates over key issues. 

“It’s 5-4 now. If it went 6-3 or 7-2, that would really mean that the wonderful exchange of ideas that makes Berkeley such a wonderful place would all go down the tubes,” Dean said. “It would be a real tyranny of the majority.” 

Progressives, expected to win at least three of the four council seats up for grabs, play down the idea of a leftist super-majority on the council, arguing that the current slate of progressive councilmembers is splintered on many issues. 

“I don’t think it’s going to be a monolithic majority,” said Worthington. 

In addition to Worthington, progressive incumbents Linda Maio in the 1st District and Dona Spring in the 4th District face re-election and are expected to win. The 8th District seat is open after the retirement of moderate Councilmember Polly Armstrong. Moderate Planning Commissioner Gordon Wozniak is considered the favorite by many, but centrist human rights consultant Anne Wagley and progressive-backed UC Berkeley graduate student Andy Katz are strong candidates. 

Voters could shake up the moderate-progressive balance if they elect one of the “independent” candidates in the race. All the challengers, from the moderate Wozniak to the more progressive Katz, say they will provide an independent voice on the council. But a few candidates, like Wagley in District 8 and LA Wood in District 4, make a more plausible claim to falling outside the city’s two “machines.” Both say they will work with both sides if elected. 

Contact reporter at scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net 

To the Editor: 

While it is very good news that AC Transit is thinking about replacing oil-consuming, polluting, diesel buses with hydrogen-powered ones, AC Transit should not have to demonstrate that “fuel cell buses are more reliable, easier, and cheaper to maintain than” diesel buses in order to change to hydrogen. The fact that hydrogen buses do not consume oil (one of the most environmentally destructive activities an individual can engage in) and do not emit any pollutants should be enough reason to change. Reliability and other factors are minor details compared to the environmental destruction that will be eliminated by ending the use of diesel. 

Jeff Hoffman 

San Francisco

OAKLAND – Jose Cortez seized his second chance to win the Battle of the Bay – and Jerry Rice didn’t get much of a chance at all. 

After missing a short field goal as regulation ended, Cortez made a 23-yard field goal seven minutes into overtime as the San Francisco 49ers beat the Oakland Raiders 23-20 Sunday. 

Rice, who set every significant NFL receiving record during 16 seasons with the 49ers, had six catches for 74 yards for the Raiders. But when the game was on the line, he paced on the sideline as San Francisco controlled the ball for more than 15 straight minutes to end the game. 

Cortez made the final kick, but the victory really belonged to Jeff Garcia and the San Francisco offense, which held the ball for the last 6 1/2 minutes of regulation and all of overtime. 

Garcia was 25-of-36 for 282 yards, completing 17 of his 19 passes after halftime to keep the 49ers moving relentlessly downfield. Terrell Owens caught 12 passes for 191 yards, including several key third-down grabs. 

But Cortez sent the Coliseum crowd into delirium and added another remarkable chapter to this entertaining rivalry when he shanked a 27-yard field-goal attempt on the last play of the fourth quarter, leaving the game tied at 20. 

But the 49ers (6-2) won the coin toss and simply never stopped moving, with Garcia completing more than a dozen consecutive passes. That set up Cortez for another kick, and this time he made no mistake. 

The Raiders have lost four straight following a 4-0 start. 

Rich Gannon was 18-of-28 for 164 yards, ending his NFL-record streak of six straight 300-yard games. 

Garcia hit Tai Streets with a 2-yard TD pass in the middle of the end zone with 12:57 left in regulation, giving San Francisco a 20-13 lead. But Gannon completed a fourth-down pass to Porter to extend the next drive, which ended with a 10-yard TD run by Charlie Garner with 6:28 left. 

On the final drive of regulation, the 49ers moved from midfield to the Oakland 9 with deliberate precision that exhausted the Raiders’ timeouts and silenced the Coliseum. But Cortez, who had made 12 straight field goals entering the game, pushed the easy kick wide left. 

In the first regular-season meeting of teacher and student, Owens outshone Rice – but only because the 49ers simply wouldn’t allow Rice, Gannon and company on the field. 

Excelling against the Raiders’ spotty bump-and-run coverage, Owens got open repeatedly in the middle of Oakland’s secondary. Even the return of Pro Bowl cornerback Charles Woodson, who’d missed the last seven weeks with a broken shoulder, didn’t slow down Owens in his biggest game of the season. 

The players claimed they don’t have any special enmity for one another, but the rivalry brought the first sellout crowd of the season to the Coliseum. 

Thousands of Raiders fans in full regalia booed the Niners at every turn, but fans of both teams sat peacefully together in every section.

Voters in cities across Alameda County will elect a county supervisor on Election Day, as well as a Bay Area Rapid Transit District director, mayors, and city council members. 

Oakland voters will elect a 4th District council member to replace Dick Spees, who decided not to seek re-election this year following a 24-year run on the City Council. Jean Quan, a member of the Oakland Unified School District Board of Education, Is running against attorney David A. Stein for the seat. 

City of Alameda voters will elect a new mayor among councilmembers Barbara A. Kerr and Beverly Johnson, retired Navy Capt. Bill Withrow, and school supervisor Denise Timney Ranish. Voters in the island city will also elect two members of the City Council. 

Voters in the cities of San Leandro, Dublin, and Pleasanton will all elect mayors and members of the city council on Nov. 5. Voters in Fremont and Albany will choose two members of the city council. 

The voters of Castro Valley, who will also vote on whether to become an incorporated city, will elect five members for the possible city council for the proposed municipality. 

In the Board of Supervisors race, 3rd District incumbent Alice Lai-Bitker is running against the late Ralph Appezzato, former mayor of Alameda who took his own life in mid-September, but whose name remains on the ballot. 

If Appezzato is elected, the Board of Supervisors will then have 60 days to make an appointment to the vacant seat. In the event that the board does not make an appointment, it would be up to the governor to fill the seat. 

Thomas M. Blalock and Nancy Jewell Cross are vying for the 6th District seat of San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit.

Strong words against a war with Iraq 

To the Editor: 

We firmly oppose the call to a new war with Iraq made by the Bush administration and recently approved by the U.S. Congress. 

We call on our leaders to step back from the brink of war. We call on the American people to seek solutions to the forces of division and violence in our midst. 

The case for a pre-emptive attack on Iraq fails to persuade us or the world community. In particular, there is no evidence that Iraq is an imminent threat. A pre-emptive attack by the United States to deal with weapons proliferation would establish a dangerous precedent 

Unilateral military action against Iraq is detrimental to U.S. interests. The U.S. must cooperate with international efforts to constrain militarization in the region. 

The human cost of the new war would be enormous. The ordinary people of Iraq should not bear the burden of deprivation and death such a war would surely exact on them. 

We expect our government to reflect the values we hold dear – pursuing peace not war; self-defense with courage; working with the community of nations; respecting international law and treaties while holding in high regard all human life. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley, Peace and Justice Ministry Team 

Berkeley

Scoreboard 

Football - St. Patrick 40, St. Mary’s 35 

The Panthers (4-3-1, 2-1) suffered their first BSAL loss as St. Patrick’s (4-4, 2-1) Pat O’Donnell ran for the winning touchdown with 37 seconds left, then intercepted a pass to end the game. O’Donnell rushed for 316 yards and four touchdowns, outmatching St. Mary’s Fred Hives’ 229 yards and three scores. 

Men’s Water Polo - Cal 11, UC Davis 5 

The third-ranked Bears followed up their upset of No. 1 Stanford by beating the Aggies. Attila Banhidy racked up a hat trick for Cal (15-4, 4-2), while Tom Jay did the same for UC Davis (14-11). 

Women’s Volleyball - UCLA 3, Cal 0 

The Bruins (13-10, 6-7) prevailed 30-23, 32-30, 30-24 as Cal star Mia Jerkov watched from the sideline with a sprained ankle. Freshman Jenna Brown led the Bears (15-8, 5-8) with 14 kills. 

Field Hockey - Cal 2, Stanford 1 (OT) 

Cal All-American Nora Feddersen scored the game-winner in the 81st minute to clinch a perfect NorPac Conference season for the Bears (11-6, 6-0). Amanda Billmyer tied the game for Stanford (8-10, 4-2) with seven minutes remaining in regulation.

After nine weeks of living in local hotels, the 69 residents of fire-damaged UA Homes finally moved home last week. 

A two-alarm fire burned the 75-unit, low-income residential hotel at 1040 University Ave. in the early morning hours of Aug. 26. The building passed final safety inspections last Wednesday, and all but eight units have been restored. Those most heavily damaged units will be ready in January, said Mikal Pruitt the administrator of UA Homes.  

Resources for Community Development, which owns UA Homes, has been eager for the residents, who are primarily seniors, disabled, and recipients of federal subsidies, to return.  

“It’s finally here and we’re breathing a big sigh of relief,” said Linda Webster director of operations at RCD. “It was a strain on the tenants. They have really prevailed and done well.”  

Rose Patterson, a tenant of UA Homes since 1993, was among those who spent the past nine weeks at the Flamingo Hotel in Berkeley while her apartment was refitted.  

“We function on what we can,” said Patterson wearily as she waited to see her apartment for the first time since the fire. “We survive.”  

The August fire spread through the center of the building through the light well, an open shaft used for ventilation. The recent renovations include constructing a new ventilation system and installing carpeting.  

Pruitt estimated that by January, the cost of renovating the building and relocating the tenants will total nearly half a million dollars. Most of the tab was picked up by RCD and its insurers.

To the Editor: 

While the homicide rate in Oakland is already nearing one hundred this year, the country is being pushed into a war and a sniper has just held the nation hostage. Do you really think it is a good idea to have an article about deer hunting in Mendicino county (Daily Planet, Oct. 30.) Please take your staff to see Michael Moore’s new movie “Bowling For Columbine.” After watching it, my guess is that you will reevaluate what you print that glorifies gun use. 

D. Perry  

Berkeley 

No. 8 Washington State 44,  

No. 16 Arizona State 22 

PULLMAN, Wash. – Jason Gesser threw three touchdown passes as No. 8 Washington State took over sole possession of first place in the Pac-10 Conference with a 44-22 win over 16th-ranked Arizona State on Saturday. 

Jermaine Green scored on runs of 13 and 10 yards as Washington State became the front-runner for the Rose Bowl. 

The Cougars kept star Sun Devils defensive end Terrell Suggs away from Gesser, who broke Jack Thompson’s school record for career yards passing. Jerome Riley caught two TD passes. 

Gesser was 18-of-32 for 250 yards and was intercepted twice. 

Walter completed 31 of 51 passes for 328 yards, finding Mike Pinkard for scoring passes of 35 and 23 yards, but the Cougars stopped the Sun Devils twice on downs inside the 3-yard line. 

Arizona State was held to 37 yards rushing, while the Cougars ran for 135 yards. 

No. 19 Oregon 41, Stanford 14 

EUGENE, Ore. – Jason Fife threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score Saturday as No. 19 Oregon bounced back from two straight defeats with a 41-14 win over Stanford. 

The Ducks, coming off home losses to Arizona State and Southern California, beat Stanford for just the second time in six tries at Autzen Stadium. 

The Cardinal handed Oregon its only loss last season en route to its second consecutive Pac-10 title and a No. 2 national ranking. 

With the exception of Jason Siegel’s field goal with 1:20 left, the Ducks did all their scoring in the first half — building a 38-7 lead by halftime. 

UCLA 34, Washington 24 

SEATTLE – Tyler Ebell ran for 102 yards and three touchdowns, and freshman quarterback Drew Olson was steady if not spectacular in his first start to lead UCLA past Washington 34-24 Saturday night. 

Ebell’s fifth straight 100-yard game helped the Bruins improve to 4-1 on the road this season. UCLA also handed the struggling Huskies their third straight loss. 

Linebacker Spencer Havner sealed the win with 1:17 to play by intercepting a pass from Washington’s Cody Pickett and returning it 41 yards for a TD. 

Oregon State 38, Arizona 3 

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Steven Jackson ran for 134 yards and two touchdowns Saturday as Oregon State beat Arizona 38-3 – the exact score they beat the Wildcats by last season. 

It was the fifth straight loss for the Wildcats, who are the Pac-10’s lone winless team. 

Arizona had minus-23 yards rushing and 93 yards overall. It was the second fewest rushing yards allowed by Oregon State in school history. OSU held Oregon to minus-24 yards in 1966. 

Derek Anderson passed for 239 yards and a score for the Beavers, who won their second straight after losing three in a row.

CAIRO, Egypt – Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said in a rare interview that he believed the American and British determination to make war on Iraq could collapse under the weight of anti-war sentiment in the two countries. 

“Time is in our favor, and we have to buy more time hoping that the U.S.-British alliance might disintegrate because of ... the pressure of public opinion on American and British streets,” Saddam told the Egyptian weekly Al-Osboa in the interview published Sunday. 

“The demonstrations in the Arab and Western world include hundreds of thousands of peace-loving people who are protesting the war and aggression on Iraq,” he said, apparently referring to protests in the United States and around the world last month. 

Pointing to Arab public opinion as a force in Iraq’s favor, Saddam also appealed to Arab leaders to defend Iraq. Arguing that Washington’s goal was to control Mideast oil, he said that after attacking Iraq, U.S. forces could strike at other Arab countries and non-Arab Iran. 

Most of Saddam’s statements were standard Iraqi rhetoric – he blamed “Zionist schemes” for Iraq’s troubles and said invading Iraq would not be “a picnic” for American and British forces. 

But his references to anti-war demonstrations in the West were the first signal he believed protests could undermine President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the chief advocates of attacking Iraq. 

Al-Osboa published two pictures of its reporter Sayed Nassar with Saddam — one of the interview and the other of the two shaking hands. 

The newspaper said the interview took just over two hours and was conducted at one of Saddam’s presidential palaces on the outskirts of Baghdad, with Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz present. 

Nassar made the trip from his hotel in Baghdad to the interview in three different government-owned luxury cars, each with curtains over the side windows. 

While the United States has said it wants to oust Saddam to eliminate Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, the Iraqi president maintained in the interview that America’s real design is to take control of Middle East oil to serve the interests of its ally, Israel. 

“The Arab oil will be under the U.S. control and the region, especially where oil flows, will be under full American hegemony. All this serves Israel’s interest with the aim of turning it to a vast empire in the region,” Saddam said. 

U.S. officials have consistently argued their goal is not to control Iraq’s oil.

Tuesday 

Girls Volleyball - St. Mary’s vs. St. Elizabeth, 5:15 p.m. at St. Mary’s High 

Girls Volleyball - Berkeley vs. Hercules, 7 p.m. at Berkeley High 

Wednesday 

Cross Country - ACCAL Championship, 2 p.m. at Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley 

Thursday 

Cross Country - BSAL Championship, TBA at Joaquin Miller Park, Oakland 

Girls Volleyball - St. Mary’s vs. Piedmont, 5:15 p.m. at St. Mary’s High 

Girls Volleyball - Berkeley vs. El Cerrito, 7 p.m. at Berkeley High 

Friday 

Women’s Soccer - Cal vs. Arizona, 11:30 p.m. at Edwards Stadium 

Men’s Soccer - Cal vs. UCLA, 2:30 p.m. at Edwards Stadium 

Football - Berkeley vs. Alameda, 7 p.m. at Alameda High 

Football - St. Mary’s vs. John Swett, 7:30 p.m. at John Swett High, Crockett

SAN FRANCISCO – Public pot gardens in San Francisco may be more than just California dreaming. 

Voters here will decide Tuesday whether they want the city to consider growing and distributing marijuana for medical use. 

Passage of the citywide initiative, the first of its kind in the country, would not see green thumbs out Wednesday morning planting public pot patches. Instead, the proposal is a “sense of the voters” measure that would make it city policy to explore establishing a marijuana growth-and-distribution program. 

The proposal comes in response to a series of raids by the Drug Enforcement Agency on marijuana distribution centers that give or sell pot to people with a doctor’s recommendation. 

“Of course we’re pushing the point here, but we’re forced to do this because the federal government has continued to proactively interfere with our most ill and vulnerable citizen’s access their medicine,” said San Francisco Supervisor Mark Leno, the initiative’s author. 

DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson said it’s not good public policy. 

Providing marijuana to sick people is not only against the law, he said, but could be harmful because “the scientific and medical communities have concluded that there is no future in smoked marijuana as medicine.” 

“When it comes to deciding what is safe and effective medicine, I think it would be wise to follow the guidance of science,” Hutchinson said. 

The American Medical Association and the San Francisco Republican Party are also opposed, but the initiative is widely supported by state and local leaders and most San Francisco political organizations. 

Tuesday’s vote is the latest salvo in a community fight to legalize marijuana for medical use. 

Marijuana is illegal under federal law, but legal under California law and San Francisco ordinance if it’s part of a medical treatment. 

The result? 

“It’s pretty much OK to smoke pot here,” said Clark Sullivan, who lit up openly with dozens of other marijuana law reform advocates at a fund-raiser last weekend. 

Snacking on hors d’oeurves and smoking marijuana, Sullivan pointed to the city’s police headquarters just a block away. 

“If a cop rolls by and sees you smoking a joint, you’re OK,” said Sullivan. “That’s one of the reasons I live here.” 

A few feet away, District Attorney Terrence Hallinan, the prosecutor who routinely refuses to prosecute medical marijuana cases, said the initiative sends an important message but could be difficult to carry out. 

“The idea that the city would actually grow marijuana is to my mind a little dangerous in that it could provoke a direct confrontation with the federal government,” he said. 

DEA agents have already raided several of San Francisco’s medical marijuana providers, as well as providers in other California communities during the past year. For the most part, those raids took place without support from local law enforcement. 

“This has been a political hot potato for the Bush administration” said Tim Lynch, director of the conservative Cato Institute’s project on criminal justice. “The president talks about federalism, and yet the stance of the administration in these drug cases undermines what he says.” 

In 1996, California became the first state to approve the use of marijuana for medical ailments. Since then, eight other states have passed medicinal marijuana laws. 

San Francisco’s health department issues medical marijuana use cards to patients who have a doctor’s recommendation. Police have refused to participate in raids and last year city leaders declared San Francisco a sanctuary for medical cannabis use. 

“We’re not expecting our mayor or our board of supervisors to become part-time agriculturists growing this herb,” said Wayne Justmann, who’s been HIV positive for more than 15 years, carries the first city-issued ID card and operates one of San Francisco’s 11 remaining pot clubs. 

Justmann said there are other people in San Francisco – patients and caregivers – who are experienced at growing pot and could help the city’s government. 

“San Francisco is on the front line on the war against drugs,” said Keith Stroup, a Washington, D.C. public interest attorney who founded the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in 1970 and currently heads the organization. 

Marijuana law reform initiatives are also on the ballots in Arizona, South Dakota and Nevada and several legal cases challenging federal authority are working their way through state courts.

n Suspicious package 

Berkeley police responded to a bomb scare Wednesday at Mechanics Bank on the 1800 block of Solano Avenue. According to police at about 8:30 a.m. an assistant bank manager noticed a box with the word “BOMB” scrawled on it in ball point pen. Police diverted traffic from the block and evacuated employees of nearby businesses. Bomb Squad officers x-rayed the box and determined that it was empty. The box was taken to be examined for evidence. 

n Bike safety 

Police drug task force officers stopped a man for riding his bicycle on the sidewalk at Heinz and 8th streets at 12:23 p.m. Monday. The man turned out to be on probation for dug offenses and was in possession of approximately two grams of suspected methamphetamine, syringes and over $400 in cash. Jody Allen Curtis, 42, was arrested for possession of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and probation violation. 

S.F. Opera fined for accident 

SAN FRANCISCO – The state is leveling a $70,000 fine on the San Francisco Opera after a stagehand fell 22 feet from a hydraulic lift. 

Francis Kenny, 43, suffered a broken leg and head trauma in the June 27 fall. 

Now, the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration is fining the opera for allegedly knowing the lift was dangerously unstable. Cal-OSHA says the opera committed a “willful serious violation” by removing two of the lift’s legs to fit it into a tight space. 

“It says right on the equipment not to operate without all four outriggers deployed,” OSHA spokesman Dean Fryer told the San Francisco Chronicle. 

Cal-OSHA has issued 16,915 citations in the last year and only 37 have been designated as “willful.” 

Opera officials said they will probably appeal the citation. That means an administrative law judge would hear the case. 

The opera is “as safe as other theaters,” said Patrick Markle, its technical director. “And we are taking proactive steps to create an even safer environment for our workers.” 

Clerk faces charges for flashing gun 

PALO ALTO – A 74-year-old liquor store clerk is facing misdemeanor charges after flashing his revolver to scare a teenager who was allegedly trying to steal sweets. 

Claude Ferris Baker Jr. faces charges of brandishing a weapon. If convicted, he could face up to a year in jail. 

Baker says he never threatened to shoot the boy.

L.A. wants $1.4 billion from feds for health care 

LOS ANGELES – Federal health officials have proposed giving Los Angeles County $150 million to bolster its ailing health care system. But the offer falls far short of the $1.4 billion county officials say is needed to avert massive cuts. 

Federal authorities stressed Friday that negotiations are not over and the offer is not final. 

County residents will vote Tuesday on a ballot initiative that would raise property taxes to pump $168 million into the county’s emergency and trauma care network. If Measure B is approved, an owner of a 1,400-square-foot home would pay about $42 more annually. 

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said the $150 million offered by the federal government is nowhere near enough. 

Missing meerkats found 

SANTA BARBARA – Five meerkats that were loaned, lost and finally found in Texas will be returned Sunday to their rightful home at the Santa Barbara Zoo, 

The turnout for the homecoming is expected to be large, said zoo director Rich Block. 

Meerkats are slim-tailed members of the mongoose family, native to Southern Africa’s Kalahari Desert. 

The case of the missing meerkats has drawn attention from animal lovers across the state who feared the furry critters had become supper for the coyotes, bobcats, cougars and buzzards that roam the rural Texas hills outside San Antonio. 

The saga began two years ago, after a meerkat population boom hit the zoo. Most of those babies were loaned to well-known, accredited zoos. 

But five males went to the unaccredited New Braunfels Zoo in Texas. It closed a short time later and the meerkats disappeared. 

Block estimates that the rescue effort will wind up costing between $15,000 and $20,000. 

“We have the most expensive meerkats in history, I think,” he said. 

Cops visit adult Web sites at work 

CORONA – Local police dispatchers visited adult, gambling, job-hunting and other inappropriate Web sites while using police computers on the job, according to records obtained by The Press-Enterprise in Riverside. 

The records also show several dispatchers have been disciplined. 

Corona police officials refused to discuss measures taken against the workers or discuss what types of Web sites were visited.

LOS ANGELES – With less than 48 hours until election day, Gov. Gray Davis and challenger Bill Simon raced to seal key votes Sunday and urged residents to get to the polls. 

Davis set out on a two-day sweep through the state, jetting from port cities to the farm-rich inland valley. He was with fellow candidates on a slate that hopes to win the first Democratic sweep of statewide offices in California history. 

Davis began the day at the West Angeles Church of God in Christ, telling a predominantly black congregation that he has worked to improve access to health care and education for all. 

He urged them to vote for Democrats. 

“This election is not about me,” he said. “It’s about you and your future. It’s about your children and their future. With your help and God’s blessing, we’ll continue to make progress for all Californians.” 

Davis then took a charter jet to San Diego for a get-out-the-vote rally with union workers. 

Meanwhile, Simon and his Republican ticketmates were joined by Arizona Sen. John McCain at a rally in San Diego’s Balboa Park. About 200 people were at the outdoor stop. 

McCain, co-author of the bill that overhauled federal campaign finance rules, delivered a stinging attack against the governor’s fund-raising practices. 

Davis “has put a for-sale sign on the governor’s office of the state of California, in violation of everything I’ve ever stood for and believed in,” McCain said. 

There have been a series of controversies surrounding the governor’s collection of some $68 million in contributions, including some from donors with personal stakes in state business. 

In his speech, Simon repeated his attacks on the governor’s fund-raising tactics and handling of the state’s recent energy crisis. 

“He’s broken his word on so many occasions, and that’s why when Gray Davis asks for four more years, I respond, how about three more days?” Simon said.

SACRAMENTO – They’re the indecisive and waiters, middle of the roaders, inattentive, the late deciders. Just hours shy of polls opening, they’re still holding their noses and up for grabs — the greatest bumper crop of disaffected voters in California memory. 

At Baron’s Books in Anaheim, employee Myra Vevenecia, a 39-year-old Orange County Republican, says, “I haven’t made up my mind on which one, only because they both seem pretty rotten. It’s not going to be Simon or Davis. I’m thinking, actually, the Green Party guy, I don’t know his name. That will be a first.” 

Pollsters say they’ve never seen anything like it. An estimated 25 percent of California voters aren’t committing to either major candidate. A political analyst says the race for insurance commissioner may draw more votes. 

“That is, to my mind, a shocking statistic,” says Stanford University political science professor Shanto Iyengar. “I think that’s extraordinarily high. It’s emblematic of the mud. A plague on both houses.” 

“I am disgusted with both candidates,” explains Monika Weiler, 50, who works at a downtown San Francisco law office. “I was very unhappy with the way Davis handled the power crisis and Simon is too conservative. It truly is choosing the lesser of two evils.” 

Weiler usually votes for Democrats and supported Davis in 1998. Now, in a mind that California needs change, she may try Simon. 

Such sentiment swells Republican hopes for an upset. But Iyengar says, “Going out on a limb, I’d be shocked if Simon won. People are risk averse. Often, I think they prefer the devil they know to what they don’t.” 

The newest Field Poll reveals that most Protestants favor Simon while a majority of Roman Catholics likes Davis. It holds that women, union members, African-Americans and Hispanics prefer Davis, while whites in general prefer Simon. 

But beyond such certainties lies mainly mystery about Tuesday. What will the 25 percent – the independents, nonpartisans, the less informed and less interested, the disaffecteds – really do in the booth? Will the 8 percent who favor third parties remember Ralph Nader’s effect on the 2000 presidential race and lose their nerve? Will three percent who say they’ll leave the ballots blank really do it? 

Among the undecideds, Jonathon Condit, a 33-year-old San Francisco waiter, still doesn’t know. Reflecting sentiment reported by pollsters, he says, “The whole campaign has turned me off to the election. I couldn’t get to the issues. You come away with a feeling not of the issues, but of who can sling the most mud.” 

Political pros acknowledge it’s been that kind of campaign. 

“When a candidate is calling the other a criminal and the other is calling his opponent an incompetent, there’s not a lot left for most voters,” says Dan Schnur, a Republican consultant and former aide to Gov. Pete Wilson.

SAN JOSE – Microsoft Corp.’s rivals vowed to continue to push for a stronger antidote to the software giant’s domination of the software market after a court ruling largely upheld the federal government’s remedies. 

Sun Microsystems Inc., long one of Microsoft’s harshest critics, urged the nine states that objected to the federal government’s antitrust settlement to appeal the decision made Friday by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly. 

“Choice, innovation and competition form the foundation of the technology industry,” said Sun Microsystems attorney Michael Morris. “(Friday’s) ruling does little to advance these principles or to protect the millions of developers and businesses that want an open marketplace.” 

AOL Time Warner Inc.’s Web browser subsidiary, Netscape, will continue to battle Microsoft in a pending lawsuit “designed to promote competition and deter further anticompetitive behavior,” said Paul T. Cappuccio, the company’s general counsel. 

Microsoft nearly drove Netscape out of business in the late 1990s when it melded its own Explorer Web browser into the Windows operating system that controls more than 90 percent of all personal computers. 

AOL wound up buying Netscape after it relinquished its leadership in the Web browser market to Microsoft. 

“The effort to constrain Microsoft’s monopoly has neither ended, nor been without result,” Cappuccio said. 

Jon von Tetzchner, CEO of another Web browser maker Opera Software in Oslo, Norway, also expressed disappointment with Kollar-Kotelly’s decision. 

“It isn’t very much of a settlement at all,” he said. “Microsoft was found guilty. There were no real remedies, no actual punishment.” 

Morris said Palo Alto-based Sun will continue to pursue its own civil lawsuit against Microsoft so the company “does not continue to use its monopoly position to become the gatekeeper of the Internet.” 

University of Baltimore law professor Bob Lande characterized the decision as “either a total victory for Microsoft or close to it. 

“They ought to be celebrating in Redmond tonight. The states just didn’t convince the judge of the bulk of their issues,” Lande said. “The judge didn’t buy their story ... it’s going to be really hard for the states to appeal this successfully.” 

Nine states, including California, had argued that the settlement didn’t go far enough in protecting consumers and giving competitors a fair chance to compete with Windows products. 

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said an appeal of Friday’s decision is possible, but indicated he is inclined to enforce the provisions of the federal government’s settlement. 

“I would regard the outcome as neither total victory nor total defeat.” Lockyer said. 

Consumers shopping at popular computer store in the heart of Silicon Valley Friday had a mixed reaction to the ruling. 

“I like Microsoft products, and I don’t have a vendetta against (chairman) Bill Gates, but they really needed to be slapped down,” said Mark Banks, 41, of Morgan Hill, Calif. “Only time will tell if (these sanctions) are enough, but it sounds like a good start.” 

As he carried a computer with the Windows XP system, Kevin Wallace of Fremont said the decision virtually assures nothing will change in the high-tech industry. “There is just too much Microsoft and not enough of the little guy.” 

Preserving the status quo sounded fine to Ernest Yu of Hayward. 

“I have tried a lot of different things out there and I haven’t seen anything that can run the number of applications that Windows does. I haven’t seen anything that is perfect. I like Windows.”

SAN FRANCISCO – The growing popularity of CD burning and illegal song-swapping over the Internet has caused online music sales to tumble this year, according to a survey to be released Monday. 

Online sales of prerecorded music lagged behind last year’s totals through the third quarter by $185 million in sales, or 25 percent, according to the study conducted by research firm comScore Networks. 

Music sales via the Internet this year have reached $545 million through the third quarter, well behind last year’s total of $730 for the same time period. 

The study showed former Napster users flocked to alternative file-sharing networks such as Kazaa and Morpheus. After Napster went offline for good in the summer of 2001, Morpheus’ user base grew from less than one million in June 2001 to 7.2 million in March 2002, comScore found. 

Phil Leigh, an analyst for Raymond James & Associates, said consumers increasingly are seeking the instant gratification from free downloads with which online CD orders can’t compare. And the ability to burn those downloads to blank CDs offers computer users even more personalization and choice that CDs don’t offer, Leigh said. 

“The primary message of the CD burner is the consumer doesn’t want to be straightjacketed into buying a prepackaged CD,” Leigh said. “I think what we’re seeing is not only the death of the physical form factor, but the death of the prepackaged concept.” 

There also are legitimate ways to buy downloads online, such as Listen.com’s Rhapsody service as well as MusicNet and pressplay, two joint ventures launched by the major recording companies to counter illegal song-sharing. 

But those services have yet to release any figures on how many people have actually signed up and it is hard to gauge their popularity in the face of free downloads from Morpheus and Gnutella network programs. 

Leigh said free downloads and CD burning have liberated the consumer “so that she can have what she wants on a disc, and not three (songs) she wants and five she doesn’t.”

PASADENA – The California Institute of Technology has the lowest percentage of black freshmen among the nation’s top 25 universities, according to a survey by the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. 

The journal tracked the number of black students accepted at universities ranked the best by U.S. News & World Report this year. It found that only three of the 13 black students accepted by Caltech actually enrolled, which is slightly more than one percent of the freshman class. 

In contrast, 63 black students enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this year. The university also had 443 black applicants compared to only 44 at Caltech. However, both schools reported a similar acceptance rate for black applicants, close to 29 percent. 

The leading schools in the survey were Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Stanford University. The 2002 freshman class at these three schools was more than 10 percent black. 

The survey also found black enrollments declined this year by 6.6 percent at the University of California, Berkeley. There are 142 black freshmen, making up 3.9 percent of the first-year class. 

The survey said the university is still trying to recover from Proposition 209, which banned affirmative action at California state universities. As a result, black enrollments dropped from 273 in 1997 to 113 in 1998. 

Over the years, Caltech officials said they have made an effort to boost minority enrollment. In 1997, the university established presidential scholarships that considered diversity and merit. That year, Caltech had the largest number of black freshman, with eight students. 

“Change doesn’t happen overnight,” said Miriam Feldblum, a special assistant to Caltech President David Baltimore. “But we are very optimistic about all the different initiatives we’ve put in place.” 

Caltech has created new staff positions to focus on minority affairs, encouraged administrators to create scholarships and initiatives for underrepresented students and urged faculty members to expand outreach efforts. 

“If a prospective African-American student comes and sees very few (peers), that makes it more difficult. We initially had a very similar problem with women,” said Gary Lorden, a Caltech mathematics professor and former vice president of student affairs. 

John Dabiri, a black graduate student from Toledo, Ohio, said Caltech needs stronger recruitment efforts. 

“Some people worry about stigma of affirmative action, but I think there are so many well-qualified women and minorities in science and engineering now it really becomes a moot point,” he said.

PLEASANTON – The California Highway Patrol arrested a person on suspicion of drunken driving Sunday morning after a car collided with a truck on Interstate Highway 680 and killed one person. 

Preliminary reports indicate that a medium-sized, delivery truck was parked on the shoulder of the highway when it was struck by a Honda compact, apparently traveling at high speed, at 1 a.m. on southbound I-680 near Sunol Boulevard. 

“They got the car that was crunched into a tight ball onto a flat bed,” reported on eyewitness, who also said that a body was lying behind the truck on the ground. 

The California Highway Patrol had been working to extricate the driver of the Honda before making an arrest for suspicion of drunken driving at 3:25 a.m.

Rather than fearing death, Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) winks at it, seeing it simply as part of the natural cycle of life. Throughout Latin America and other places where the tradition is honored, the first two days of November are a time to remember deceased friends and relatives with altars, visits to their graves and offerings of music and food. 

Berkeley sculptor Carol Stewart first discovered Day of the Dead in her travels through Latin America. Soon afterward she was incorporating them into her art work. “When people in my family died, we didn’t know how to deal with it,” she said. “We could never express our grief. In Latin America, they thumb their nose at death, and see it as the other side of the coin. I think that’s really healthy.”  

In recent years, awareness of the Day of the Dead has grown outside its traditional boundaries. Several Berkeley artists, including Stewart, were chosen this year to make contributions to San Francisco gallery SomArts’ Day of the Dead exhibit, and in doing so, have shown how the non-Latino community has embraced the day of remembrance. 

Stewart’s contribution to the exhibit “Under the Skin” is a collection of figurines draped with fabric, encircled with wire and illuminated from behind.  

She said the piece represents her father’s death this year from melanoma, with the figures symbolizing the body and the wire symbolizing the cancer. “There’s a thin veil between life and death,” she said. “I saw that with my father.”  

Printmaker and Berkeley resident Elizabeth Addison’s altar, “She Could Have Danced All Night,” pays tribute to her friend Nancy Wilcox who also died of cancer this year. Wilcox loved dancing and parties, said Addison, and her exhibit includes prints of couples dancing and embracing. 

“It really took on a life of its own,” said Addison. Her tribute reveals traditional and modern influence. It includes a collage that Wilcox made entitled “Mexican Dresses” and computer-generated music by Wilcox’ son. A slide projection of William Shakespeare’s 30th Sonnet, which Addison read at her friend’s memorial service this spring, enfolds and completes the altar.  

Addison spoke highly of show curator Rene Yañez, who has been organizing Day of the Dead events in the Bay Area for three decades. “Rene really tries to make it cross-cultural, and we all bring our own sensibilities to it. It’s not something that’s strictly Hispanic,” she said. 

Berkeley artist Jos Sances agreed. “I’ve been working with Rene for over 20 years, and he was always a guy who was into sharing culture, not keeping it separate,” said Sances, whose own tribute to the late Fetterly Gallery director Dan Robeski is included in the SomArts show. “The cross-hybridization adds 

vitality to the show,” he said.  

For Sances, who grew up in New England, Day of the Dead evokes “the bittersweet melancholy of autumn. There’s an understanding that the light is diminishing and the cold of winter is in front of you,” he said. “It’s a very profound time for me and as close to spiritual as I get.”  

Sances says that the Halloween he grew up with does not come close to its Latin American counterpart. “It never had the resonance of Day of the Dead,” he said. “This really ties it all together for me.”  

Curator Yañez has personally experienced how the Day of the Dead has changed. “At first, Day of the Dead was celebrated solely within the Mexican-American community,” said Yanez. “Now, it’s been adopted by people of many cultures and religions. The Bay Area can take credit for celebrating the Day of the Dead and influencing mainstream U.S. culture.”

To the Editor: 

I was dismayed, although not surprised considering the source, to see such misleading information in the recent mass mailer against Measure O, the initiative demanding organic, fair-trade, or shade-grown coffee. Why does the mass mailer mislead voters by implying that a violation automatically brings a six-month jail term? The truth is that the penalty is up to a $100 fine or up to six months in jail, or both; a range of penalties are provided and left to a judge's discretion. A possible jail component is standard for a misdemeanor, which in Berkeley includes such things as an unauthorized barbeque on public property or riding a bicycle on the sidewalk. Ever hear of anyone going to jail for doing those things? Here’s another idea for coffee vendors: comply with the law and don’t worry about the penalty. 

The opposition, who call themselves - believe it or not - Friends of All Small Farmers, is funded almost entirely by political action committees and big corporate coffee interests, such as Peet's and Starbucks. Do Berkeley voters really think that these corporations truly have the interests of small farmers in mind? Can they be trusted to protect the environment? Why do you think these “Friends” refused every opportunity to debate the proponents of the initiative? Coffee corporations would rather be unregulated and unaccountable, allowing them to reap record profits while the environment suffers and workers struggle to survive.  

Eric Gilmore 

Berkeley

After the electric streetcar was introduced in 1891, and then consolidated and expanded in 1903, the streets along the routes, and within walking distance of a streetcar stop, were subdivided for homes. Martin Luther King, Jr. Way (formerly Grove Street) was the location of the earliest electric street car, and today is lined with 2 to 3 story houses called “Classic Boxes.”  

The Classic Box was so popular after the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, that streetcar suburbs across the United States and Canada were soon filled with them. They are quintessentially North American and were built with little regard for climate or location from Key West to Vancouver, British Cloumbia.  

With established electric streetcar lines, Berkeley became an increasingly popular residential community especially after the 1906 earthquake and fire which resulted in a sudden increase in Berkeley's population. Many who had lost their homes in San Francisco considered Berkeley a safer alternative and the city's population grew from 13,000 in 1900 to 42,000 in 1910.  

It was during this building boom that the Classic Box was so popular. There are many variations of this square or rectangular boxy style, but they usually are 2 to 3 stories high and have hipped roofs with central dormers. Some were designed by architects, some are wide and large, and some narrow and small. Some have elaborate classic details and others are plain and covered with brown shingles in the “Craftsman Style.” Some were designed to look like single family dwellings but were actually built with two to four units. They have a good flexible floor plan, and are easy to convert to multiple units or for making additions to the rear without changing the facade. In Berkeley they date from about 1895 to 1915, so they are rather old.  

Because these houses were built along major public transportation corridors, and in the now older sections of town closest to downtown, they are being lost at an alarming rate everywhere. Berkeley, over the years, has lost entire blocks of these large, handsome houses, particularly in central Berkeley.  

Buildings such as these Classic Boxes, and later the California bungalows, give Berkeley a special character not found in the newer communities of California where the majority of the population lives. They provide housing options that are more varied than the corporate alternative.  

Berkeley is a very nice and rather interesting older American city with layers of history in a real setting. It can never be a European city. Preserving Berkeley's homes and its neighborhoods protects those aspects of Berkeley, which make it unique, worth living in and exploring. 

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

NEW YORK — As one of the forefathers of rap, with a history of social activism, Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay was an unlikely target for the kind of violence that killed rappers Tupac Shakur or the Notorious B.I.G. 

He was married with three kids, and a fixture in the Queens neighborhood where he grew up. Yet authorities were searching Thursday for the gunman who killed the 37-year-old disc jockey with a gunshot to the head inside his recording studio. 

“Jam Master Jay was a longtime family man and one of the founders of the group that knocked down all the doors for hip-hop, and a dear friend of mine,” said Russell Simmons, the hip-hop impresario whose brother Joe was Jay’s bandmate. 

“I loved him,” said a devastated Simmons. “I will miss him. He is irreplaceable.” 

Chuck D, frontman for rappers Public Enemy, agreed with that sentiment. 

“You draw the comparison to when John Lennon was shot,” he said. “It’s an enormous loss to the genre.” 

The DJ — whose real name was Jason Mizell — was the man behind the music, working the turntables as Joe “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels rapped over his hard rock beats on hits like “Rock Box,” “King of Rock” and their Top 40 cover of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way.” 

“He was family to me,” McDaniels said. “He stuck to the true essence of what a DJ in a hip-hop performance should be. The whole music industry has lost a great talent.” 

He spun and scratched records on twin turntables simultaneously, creating a new style and sound that was copied by endless disc jockeys. “If Grandmaster Flash was the first famous DJ, Jay had to be the second,” said Andre Harrell, a Mizell contemporary who now heads Nu America Music. 

While breaking new ground, Run-DMC made hip-hop commercially viable, becoming a platinum-selling act that earned a 1987 Grammy nomination. 

In a 2001 interview with The Associated Press, Mizell talked about how some initially said rap was a passing fad. 

“I hated that, because even before we were making records, I knew it couldn’t be a fad because it was the biggest thing in the world to me,” he said. 

Run-DMC created opportunities for untold rappers to follow, expanding their work into movies and a line of clothing. 

“It’s a terrible loss,” Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys, who joined Run-DMC on a national tour in the mid-1980s. “If Jam Master Jay and Run-DMC hadn’t looked out for us way back when, I don’t know where we’d be now.” 

Run-DMC, three friends who hailed from the Hollis section of Queens, was always above the thuggishness that later came to dominate hip-hop. “It’s not like we just have scrambled brains and gold chains,” McDaniels once told the AP. 

Last year, Simmons said: “We never talked about nothing that was ungodly too much anyways. Run-DMC was no thugged-out gangsta killers, cursing all over their records.”

The Berkeley Yellowjackets had a 7-0 record heading into Friday night’s showdown with Pinole Valley High, built mostly on overwhelming wins over underwhelming opponents. Berkeley had surrendered just 55 points all season and had the second-rated defense in the Bay Area. The question was, were the Jackets ready to take down a quality opponent and beat the Spartans for the first time in seven years? 

The Berkeley defense answered that question with a resounding yes. It held the Spartans scoreless while the Jacket offense got three scores off of Pinole Valley turnovers, and Berkeley (8-0 overall, 5-0 ACCAL) prevailed, 17-0, to take command of the Alameda-Contra Costa Athletic League race. 

“I knew we were good enough to shut them out, but once the game starts, mistakes get made,” Berkeley defensive coordinator Ronald Moore said. “But the defense played pretty much a perfect game tonight.” 

The Yellowjackets intercepted three Anthony Lopez passes, including Patrick Henderson’s pick that the sophomore returned 78 yards to the Pinole Valley 10 with four minutes left in the game. Fellow sophomore Antoine Cokes scored on a sweep on the next play to give the Jackets an insurmountable 17-0 lead. 

Pinole Valley (6-2, 4-1) managed just 142 yards in the game, including a meager 33 in the first half. Berkeley’s offense wasn’t much better, gaining just 181 yards, but the Yellowjackets didn’t commit a turnover and took advantage of some great field position in the second half. 

“The idea was not to be too aggressive and not make mistakes,” Berkeley offensive coordinator Clarence Johnson said. “We wanted to use the field position that our defense gave us.” 

The Jackets were almost too patient, failing to score touchdowns on two drives inside the Pinole Valley 10-yard line in the first half. But the Jackets did put the winning points on the scoreboard when kicker Terrell Elliot made a 27-yard field goal as time expired in the first half. 

Berkeley caught the break it needed right away in the second half, as Pinole Valley’s Damarea Johnson fumbled the opening kickoff right into the waiting hands of Berkeley’s Finus Cokes on the 14-yard line. Quarterback Dessalines Gant used a nice second effort to score from the 1 for a 10-0 Berkeley lead. 

The Berkeley defense stood strong against the vaunted Pinole Valley running game, allowing the Spartans less than three yards per carry. Anchored by tackles Jamal Lucas-Johnson and Myron Seals and with Robert Hunter-Ford, Rodney Jones and Julian James attacking from the edges, the Yellowjackets swarmed the Pinole Valley running backs every time they touched the ball.  

The Jackets also had three sacks of Lopez, all in the second half, and Jones caused one of the interceptions by dragging Lopez down as the quarterback threw the ball into cornerback Robert Young’s arms in the third quarter. Hunter-Ford came up with Berkeley’s first interception, reading a screen pass and stepping into the passing lane just before halftime to set up Elliot’s field goal. 

While the victory was certainly enjoyed by all of the Berkeley players, Johnson-Lucas was more grateful than most. The 300-pound senior missed last season’s ACCAL-title-deciding game against the Spartans due to academics, and he took out two years’ worth of frustration on Friday night. Johnson-Lucas was a monster in the middle, pile-driving any Spartan running back who dared run up the gut. 

“I had a whole lot to prove tonight,” Johnson-Lucas said. “I just wanted to go out with a bang. I guess we did that, didn’t we?” 

With games against Alameda and El Cerrito left in the regular season, the Jackets figure to finish undefeated and with an automatic berth to the North Coast Section playoffs. It would be the first postseason appearance for every Yellowjacket player and coach, a nice reward for the most talented Berkeley team in recent memory. 

“This is such a great feeling,” middle linebacker Owen Goldstrom said. “Now we just have to make sure we win the rest of our games and make the playoffs. Once we’re there, that’s when we can do some real damage.”

Berkeley candidates for public office will raise and borrow nearly $500,000 this year, according to campaign finance records. 

Mayor Shirley Dean and challenger Tom Bates have raised roughly $300,000, making their quests for Berkeley’s highest office the most expensive race this year. 

As of the last official filing deadline on Oct. 19, Dean held a roughly $9,000 fundraising edge, $142,293 to $133,963. Both candidates have taken in thousands of dollars in additional contributions since then. 

The totals put this year’s race on par with the last two mayoral contests. In 1994, according to the city clerk’s office, Dean and opponent Donald Jelinek raised about $390,000, including funds for a runoff. In 1998, Dean and Jelinek faced off again, raising roughly $320,000. 

Fundraising has been the source of heavy sniping between the mayoral camps, with both sides filing charges of campaign finance improprieties against the other. The city’s Fair Campaign Practices Commission has absolved Bates of all charges but found that Dean’s 1998 campaign made a $3,000 accounting error. Dean has since corrected the error. 

The two sides have also raised questions about their opponents’ donors. Rent Board Commissioner Paul Hogarth, who supports Bates, has attacked Dean for taking some $20,000 from landlords and real estate interests. The Dean campaign, in turn, has criticized Bates for taking money from politicians outside Berkeley. 

Of this year’s City Council races, the contest for the 8th District’s open seat, vacated by retiring Councilmember Polly Armstrong, has been the most costly. As of Oct. 19, the four candidates had raised a cumulative $80,000, including more than $14,000 of their own money.  

Planning Commissioner Gordon Wozniak led the pack in the 8th District at $40,562, none of it personal funds. UC Berkeley graduate student Andy Katz followed with $25,225, including $8,250 of his own money, and human rights consultant Anne Wagley had $14,915, including $6,000 in personal funds. Air conditioning mechanic Carlos Estrada had not raised any money as of his last filing. 

Fundraising has taken its place alongside issues like rent control, traffic and safety in the 8th District race as a hot topic of debate. Wozniak said his significant fundraising edge shows the depth of his support in the district, which stretches south of the UC Berkeley campus. 

He said the heavy personal loans that Katz and Wagley made to their own campaigns and the significant number of contributions his rivals secured from outside the district indicate a lack of grassroots support. 

But Wagley, who has tried to position herself outside the traditional “moderate” and “progressive” camps in Berkeley politics, charged that Wozniak had an edge because he inherited the moderate fundraising “machine” from the retiring Armstrong. 

“That’s just not true,” Wozniak replied. “I’ve lived in the district for 30-some years. I have a lot of friends and neighbors.” 

In the 4th District, progressive incumbent Dona Spring led in fundraising as of the Oct. 19 filing, with $17,138, none of it personal money. Moderate-backed challenger Bob Migdal was second with $13,277, including $2,768 in personal funds. Candidate LA Wood had $12,990, nearly all of it – $11,900 – his own money. 

In the 7th District, progressive incumbent Kriss Worthington had out-raised challenger Micki Weinberg, a UC Berkeley student, $20,559 to $7,656 as of the last filing deadline. 

In the 1st District, progressive Councilmember Linda Maio had raised $850 as of Oct. 19. Her one-named challenger, Rhiannon, had raised nothing. 

In the six-candidate Board of Education race, school board President Shirley Issel led the way with $24,289 as of the Oct. 19 filing deadline, including $8,909 in personal funds. 

Candidate Sean Dugar, 18, who graduated from Berkeley High School last summer, had raised $8,105 by Oct. 19, including $6,500 in personal funds. He said Friday that he was going to add $7,000 more of his own money to help pay for mailers. 

Dugar said he inherited the money. 

Contact reporter at scharfenberg@ 

berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

I have lived and voted in Berkeley for 32 years and taught in the Berkeley public schools for 31 years. In that time, I have never received the kind of negative campaign literature for a Berkeley election than I have received for the Dean campaign this year. My family, neighbors and the people I have spoken with around Berkeley are disgusted and turned off by the personal attacks on, and the spreading of false information about, Tom Bates.  

One piece of literature sent out by Mayor Dean's campaign shows pictures of lots of lips and a picture of Tom Bates. The headlines say: “Talk is cheap” and “Tom Bates is all talk.” I think this tactic is a cheap shot and a look at Tom's record shows nothing could be further from the truth.  

Mayor Dean's literature belittles Tom Bates' call for an education summit. But I believe such a summit would be very useful. Many of the problems we face in Berkeley's schools are due to demands placed on the schools for programs that are mandated by state and federal laws, but which receive no funding for implementation. These are issues we cannot solve without developing a partnership with other levels of government and without help from a wide range of sources. Tom Bates has the ability and positive personal qualities to draw people together and build coalitions that can solve our city's problems in education and all the other areas of concern to us as Berkeley citizens. 

Carole Bennett-Simmons 

Berkeley 

NEW YORK — In this shooting gallery within an art gallery, a pellet gun and a bull’s-eye over a human target evoke images of the recent sniper shootings. 

“Shoot Me,” by Miyoung Song at the Puffin Room in Manhattan’s SoHo district, is a video installation about the darker side of human nature. 

Despite its similarities, “Shoot Me” is not based on the Washington-area sniper shootings. “It’s a metaphor,” the artist said. The exhibit opened on Sept. 21 — more than a week before the first shooting — and a similar show by Song was first exhibited last year. 

Song’s work is part of a larger exhibit on Korean American art that runs through Nov. 10. 

The show is intended to explore violence in the United States, especially toward women, and the country’s obsession with guns. “The human subconsciousness is the most violent terror,” Song said. 

The installation, in the gallery’s dimly lighted basement, has a target superimposed over video images of women and children. A faux handgun loaded with plastic pellets and headphones playing techno music give it the feel of an arcade.

Berkeley loses playoff berth 

The Berkeley High girls tennis team was denied an automatic berth into the North Coast Section team playoffs when Alameda High’s Erika Fong won the final set of her match with Berkeley’s Gail Nipitnorasete on Friday at Old Grove Park in Berkeley. 

The match was postponed due to darkness Thursday evening with the team match tied 3-3. The two teams finished the ACCAL season 9-1 and split their matches, resulting in co-champion status. The playoff, which started at El Cerrito High, was played to determine which team would get the league’s automatic bid to the playoffs.  

Each player had won a set on Thursday night, and a protracted battle over when and where to play the final set added drama to the event. 

Nipitnorasete came out strong on Friday morning, taking a 5-4 game lead and serving for three set points. But Fong managed to fight off the points and forced a tiebreaker, which the Alameda freshman won 8-6. 

Berkeley head coach Alex Kopel said he intends to apply for an at-large berth into the NCS playoffs, but isn’t holding out much hope. 

“From what I’ve heard, I don’t think we have a very good chance,” Kopel said. 

The NCS individual playoffs start on Monday at El Cerrito High. Berkeley’s Megan Sweeney, who was undefeated this season, is the top seed and has a first-round bye. Berkeley’s other entry, Clara Mattei, is the No. 4 seed and will play her first-round match at 12:15 p.m. 

Bears win exhibition opener 

Newcomer Timea Ivanyi scored a game-high 15 points as the Cal women’s basketball team defeated Team Concept, 69-57, Friday night at Haas Pavilion in its first exhibition of the 2002-03 season.  

The Bears were in control most of the game and led by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter before a late surge by Team Concept cut the margin to 12.  

“I thought they played very well,” said Cal acting head coach Barb Smith. “We didn’t have every play in place for the year. We didn’t have every out of bounds play [in place]. We didn’t have every defensive thing that we’re going to do this year in place, but they played together, and they played hard. That made a difference.”  

Smith, a first-year assistant coach at Cal, coached the Bears in place of Caren Horstmeyer, who gave birth to Kylie Joy on Monday, Oct. 28. Horstmeyer will rejoin the team next week.  

Ivanyi, a junior center who transferred to Cal from Jefferson College, scored on a variety of nice moves in the paint. Cal’s sophomore point guard Kristin Iwanaga pitched in 13 points, six assists and four steals. Teammates Kiki Williams and Leigh Gregory each had 12 points. Gregory also led the Bears with nine rebounds.

A group of south Berkeley neighbors wants to meet the first African American to officiate a professional football game. But they’re not asking for his autograph. They want to tell him to fix up his run-down property on the corner of Sacramento and Julia streets. 

Blighted property is a citywide phenomenon, said Michael Caplan, a city neighborhood services liaison and a member of the city manager’s problem property team. Team members track derelict properties and work with neighbors who have become increasingly willing to take action against troublesome tenants and owners. 

Burl Toler, a San Francisco resident, a retired National Football League official and current board member of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, has owned the south Berkeley lot where the defunct King Liquors store sits since 1994. 

The shop closed down in the mid–80s’, and since then, neighbors say the lot has been used as a dumping ground. 

“A lot of homeless people come here to go through the trash. It makes the place look ghetto,” said Runni Vermel who lives directly behind the lot. 

Last December, fed-up neighbors sent Toler a letter imploring him to either renovate the property or sell it to somebody who would. 

Toler never responded. Now the neighbors, represented by the Russell, Oregon and California Street Neighborhood Organization, are considering legal recourse. 

Mark Goldowitz, an attorney who lives and works near the lot has offered his assistance in organizing a small claims suit against Toler. Neighbors who live in the lot’s immediate vicinity could sue Toler for $5,000 because of the negative effects his derelict property has had on adjacent homes, Goldowitz said. 

Stephanie Roesner, a neighbor, said that the tactic worked 13 years ago on Russell Street when more than 20 neighbors filed individual suits against the owners of the crime–ridden Rosewood Apartments on the 1600 block of Russell Street. The owners lost in court and ultimately sold the building to the city. 

However, Toler’s son, Gregory, said legal action will not be necessary in this case. 

“We’re going to work with the city of Berkeley as best we can to make sure the property is maintained until it is developed in the near future,” he said, adding that last week he had trash removed from the lot. 

Taj Johns, a city neighborhood services liaison, met with Toler and his father on Tuesday and said they made progress on addressing the neighbors’ concerns. 

In the short term, the Tolers agreed to do weekly maintenance and install lights on the property, Johns said. If the Tolers fail to keep the lot free of trash, the city has the authority to put a lien on the property. 

The ultimate future of the plot, though, remains unclear.  

Gregory Toler said his family would like to build a small development with a ground floor shop and fewer than 20 units of housing above. 

But he acknowledged that developers have not shown interest. He and his father are working on financing the project themselves. They have not hired a designer and have no timetable on when their plans will be finalized. 

Neighbors cringed when told of the Tolers plans. “He’s got to be kidding,” said Roesner, noting that at 3,100 square feet, the lot is less then a tenth of an acre and smaller than the nearby lots with single family homes. “Certainly a retail space is needed with maybe one or two apartments above, but anything else is totally out of scale,” she said. 

Neighborhood cleanup efforts continue today in south Berkeley with a city sponsored cleanup of Sacramento Street from Dwight Way to the Oakland border. 

Contact reporter at matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

I address this to those that are still undecided in the Berkeley mayoral race. 

I find that an interesting comparison can be made in the headquarters of the two mayoral campaigns. That of Mayor Shirley Dean is located in a bright, resurgent downtown surrounded by a bevy of new business and shops. The headquarters for Tom Bates' campaign are in a dingy south Berkeley, graffiti-laden building near closed stores and a massage parlor. This is likely the future for Berkeley if the idealistic but impractical ideas of the progressives are given the power of the mayor's office. 

Berkeley is better off after Mayor Dean's efforts in office.  

Eric Goedken 

Berkeley

The famed radio host, author, and critic Garrison Keillor, known for his feel-good anecdotes and humorous food-for-thought, has recently delivered “Good Poems” to bookstands. The collection is just that – an all-embracing compilation of straightforward, graceful poems, some of which he will be reading next Tuesday at the First Congregational Church in Berkeley.  

“Good Poems” is a collection of the poetry he reads on morning National Public Radio show “The Writer’s Almanac” providing listeners more than sugar with their coffee. The markedly honest poems discuss topics like lovers, failure, music and beasts. The story lines range from the feeling you get after watching a movie to, just pages later, “Master Works of Ming” which describes a woman who fills bowls with rice. Keillor has selected and arranged the poems to provide solace, invoke laughter and force the reader to pause for reflection. 

Being a native of Minnesota, Keillor began careers in his home state both in radio and writing. He has always written short stories, many of which he began sending to “The New Yorker” in the 1960s and anxiously waited for editors to accept or decline them. In 1969 Keillor began to work for Minnesota Public Radio. In 1974, he began his own live variety radio show “Prairie Home Companion.” By 1980, the show had gained national success but was brought to an end seven years later when it became too tiring for Keillor to continue. The popular radio show host soon regretted this decision and resumed the show in 1989. Again, it was broadcast from its original location, the World Theater in St. Paul, Minn.  

Keillor is an author of more then 10 books, including “Lake Wobegon Summer 1956” and “Wobegon Boy.” Many of his works focus on childhood and the culture of the American Midwest. He has also authored several children’s books.  

“I look on writing as simply something I do every day,” explained Keillor, “as some people attend Mass and others tend gardens, so I sit down and write. I’d like to be a man of letters, capable of fiction, poetry, drama and criticism, and I have a long way to go.” 

Not only can humor be found in his fictional anecdotes, but he reveals it within his own life. He speaks of his job hunt right out of college when he lived in a boarding house that he later discovered was a halfway house. 

“The residents sat in the dayroom, stunned by Thorazine, and jabbered,” reminisced Keillor, “I sat and recorded some of their thoughts, imagining that I’d write a story about this. One man claimed to have known Dorothy Parker. I listened to him talk about Dotty for hours, trying to decide if he was telling the truth or not, and finally decided I didn’t care.” 

Now, years later, his work as a radio host and writer are so well-known and enjoyed that he and his show have become a fixture in many people’s lives. 

“Every Arbor Day I get together with some of my fellow archetypes – Donald Trump and Sally Ride and Willard Scoot and Martha Stewart – and we talk about what it’s like. Frankly, it’s OK. It’s not a dignified life, but we seem to serve a useful function as landmarks, like the Chrysler Building or the pier at Santa Monica.

Tuesday voters will choose between two seasoned politicians vying for mayor. Both incumbent Mayor Shirley Dean and former state Assemblymember Tom Bates are Democrats and claim many of the same goals: the creation of housing for all income levels built along transit corridors; standing up to UC Berkeley to make it pay costs the city incurs on the university’s behalf; creating a sustainable city, including support for solar power and reduction of the use of fossil fuels. Both candidates want to address the gap in health and education between flatlanders and hills residents.  

The candidates, however, differ in their strategies and alliances. Bates supports rent control; Dean supports rent control but wants it tied to need. Dean demands more parking downtown; Bates says the city must ascertain whether it’s needed before building it. 

Bates wants to create a Rules Committee to streamline council meetings; Dean calls the proposal undemocratic. 

Each tout local, state and national allies, ties which they say gives them clout to get their programs implemented. Dean’s nationwide ties include people from the Conference of Mayors where she chairs a committee on cities and universities; and she has developed a close working relationship with state Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland. Her supporters include the three council moderates, the Berkeley Democratic Club, the police and firefighter unions, and the dog aficionados’ organization, Bark. 

Bates touts ties from his 20 years in the Assembly, including Attorney General Bill Lockyer and, of course, his spouse, former mayor Loni Hancock who is assemblymember elect from Berkeley. He also has a close working relationship with Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland. Bates is supported by four of the five progressive councilmembers and backed by Berkeley Citizens Action, the Green Party, and the Alameda Central Labor Council. 

The Daily Planet was unable to reach a third candidate, John Patrick Bouchell, who, on the statement filed with the city clerk, says he’s 47 and a graduate of Princeton University. He writes: "In my lifetime I have been primarily a student, a teacher, and an absolutely astounded witness to the human drama and, at times, comedy."  

On this page, the Daily Planet looks at ways in which Dean and Bates differ.

To the Editor: 

Aftim Saba’s letter (Forum, Nov. 1) suggests that he is somewhat confused. The bulk of the letter is a long and involved discussion about how council candidate Micki Weinberg would be a bad Israeli politician. As a brief correction or clarification, allow me to point out that Weinberg is running for Berkeley City Council, which is not part of the Israeli government, thereby making his views on Israeli politics irrelevant. 

Saba then goes on to say that Weinberg is “rabidly anti-free speech” for his view that students who disrupt classes should face consequences. If a group of students was to burst into Saba's home and scream about a cause, and if Saba was to call the police and press charges, I wonder if it would be appropriate to label Saba as “rabidly anti-free speech.” The university is an educational institution. Disruption of education on a university is not free speech. Amazingly enough, while Saba objects heartily to the university trying to allow its students to get an education “uninterrupted by anyone,” Saba goes on to claim that he is proud that Berkeley is “politically-correct.” Political correctness and free speech are at dramatic odds with one another. Perhaps Saba is the type who thinks that a group such as the KKK is not entitled to free speech, because they are politically incorrect. 

Justin Azadivar 

Berkeley 

SAN FRANCISCO — Celebrated Vietnamese actor Don Duong has played an army commander, a refugee and a pedicab driver from post-war Saigon. Now he’s been cast as an outlaw by the nation’s communist leaders, forbidden to leave Vietnam and banned from acting for five years. 

Branding Duong a “national traitor,” Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture and Information recommended that the actor be punished for his portrayal of a North Vietnamese commander in the Paramount film “We Were Soldiers.” 

The treatment of Duong, one of Vietnam’s most popular actors, has outraged people in the large Vietnamese communities in California. 

“This incident just shows that Vietnam’s communists have no freedom of speech,” said Ky Ngo, the advisor to the President of the Vietnamese-American Community of Northern California. 

“I’m happy this has happened. This shows the American people that Vietnam has no freedoms,” he said. 

Officials at Paramount said Thursday that they were monitoring the situation and did not have an immediate comment. 

An official in Ho City Minh City, formerly Saigon, said Duong had not been detained or arrested. His final fate has yet to be determined. 

But Culture Ministry spokeswoman Pham Thuy Thanh said “We Were Soldiers” did not portray North Vietnam’s war aganst the United States in an accurate light. 

Duong also was criticized for playing a refugee in “Green Dragon” — a role the Vietnamese government labelled a distortion of the country’s past. 

“I haven’t seen these two movies myself, but authoritative personnel who have seen the movies “We Were Soldiers” did not correctly reflect the true history of the legitimate struggle of the Vietnamese people,” she said at a news conference. 

Vietnam’s communist government has led a strident campaign against “We Were Soldiers” in the country’s state-controlled media, accusing it of distorting history and harming the image of Vietnamese soldiers.

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met Friday with former premier Benjamin Netanyahu, a sometimes ally and sometimes rival, and offered him the job of foreign minister in the fragile minority government. 

The talks at Sharon’s sheep farm in the Negev desert ended with neither man speaking to the reporters. A senior Israeli diplomatic official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Sharon was offering Netanyahu the foreign minister’s post. 

The official said the two agreed to meet again Sunday — an indication that Netanyahu had not turned down the offer. “The door hasn’t been closed,” the official said. 

The moderate Labor Party, the largest faction in Sharon’s coalition, quit the Cabinet this week over a budget dispute, leaving the government without a majority. 

The walkout made vacant the foreign affairs portfolio, formerly held by Labor’s Shimon Peres. 

Peres was a welcome visitor in foreign capitals and a skilled advocate of Israeli policies at a time when they face fierce criticism abroad. 

Netanyahu is widely expected to challenge Sharon for the leadership of the Likud party before the next election. The American-educated Netanyahu is skilled in using the media and experienced in diplomacy. 

When Netanyahu was prime minister from 1996-99, he brought Sharon in as foreign minister for part of his tenure. 

It appeared Sharon would prefer to bring Netanyahu into the government, where he would be subject to Cabinet discipline, than allow him to offer up criticism from the outside. 

Sharon has offered Labor leader Binyamin Ben-Eliezer’s post as defense minister to former army chief of staff Shaul Mofaz. 

Mofaz has a reputation as a hard-liner and oversaw the army’s crackdown against the Palestinian uprising for most of the past two years. Mofaz also has advocated exiling Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. 

Sharon is looking to small, far-right parties in an attempt to maintain a viable coalition, but he said he would not change his positions to accommodate them. 

“I am on the way to forming a government with a different makeup,” he told the Maariv newspaper. “Policy lines will remain exactly the same policy lines and its goals won’t change: war on terror, renewing political negotiations and reaching an agreement.” 

Sharon’s coalition now has only 55 seats in the 120-seat parliament. 

One candidate for inclusion is the far-right National Union-Israel Beiteinu party, which has seven seats, enough to restore the government’s majority. 

The party was originally part of Sharon’s coalition when it was formed last year, but later left amid policy disputes. 

National Union legislators have said they want Sharon to distance himself from some of the policies they believe were put in place to appease the Labor Party. 

The National Union opposes negotiations with the Palestinians and favors annexing the West Bank and Gaza Strip, lands the Palestinians want for a future state. Some party members support expelling the Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. 

Israeli newspapers reported that Sharon talked to U.S. administration officials on Thursday, and gave them assurances he would not make major policy changes. 

Meanwhile, in a move that signals the declining relations between Israelis and Palestinians, Israel has decided to put the military and civilian offices responsible for contacts with the Palestinians under one umbrella. 

Israeli officials say the move is meant to make things more efficient for Palestinian security officials who coordinate with the army, and for Palestinian civilians who use the offices to obtain work permits, entry permits to Israel and other documents.

Tom Bates 

Age: 64 

Born: San Diego 

Education: B.A. in speech, UC Berkeley 

Occupation: Worked in real estate and as a developer before elected to state Assembly; recently did non-profit work 

Offices held: state assemblymember (Berkeley), 1976 - 1996; Alameda County supervisor, 1972-1976 

Endorsements: Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, councilmembers Linda Maio, Margaret Breland, Dona Spring, Kriss Worthington 

Campaign Spending: raised $134,000 as of Oct. 19 

Rent control 

Supported rent control while in the state Legislature; continues to support it. Would make sure landlords who make repairs can pass costs on to tenants.  

Housing Trust Fund: Wants fund used for nonprofits to build affordable and low-income housing, not loaned to for-profit developers. 

Second Units: Wants to build second units behind homes to increase housing supply. To encourage that, change parking regulations to allow “tandem parking” where one car is parked directly in front of another. 

Divisiveness vs. cooperation : 

In Assembly, worked well with opposition and got 220 bills signed, mostly by Republican governors. He and wife, former mayor Loni Hancock blocked bulldozers about to demolish a UC Berkeley building, demonstrating their activism. (University tried to demolish the building at 6 a.m. without alerting community, Bates says.) Built amicable relations with Ira Michael Heyman, then UC Berkeley chancellor; Heyman supports Bates for mayor. Says Dean is divisive, citing her trip to Councilmember Kriss Worthington’s school in Ohio where she tried to get “dirt” on him. Dean’s negative campaign pieces indicate negative leadership style.  

Streamlining council meetings: To streamline council work, wants to establish Rules Committee: one progressive council member, one moderate and the mayor, staffed by the city manager; meetings open to the public. Wants the committee to establish the agenda, determine whether an item is placed on the council agenda, referred to the city manager for fiscal/program analysis, or sent to a board or commission for consideration and recommendation. Council meetings will end by 11 p.m. 

Streamlining city government: Wants to reduce number of boards and commissions by consolidation; allow some commissions to take their own minutes, freeing up staff; create department of the environment to consolidate functions in various departments addressing the environment. 

Addressing budget deficit: Says one reason for deficit is that city allowed police and fire to adopt rules that allows personnel to retire at age 50, with a sizable retirement; Suggests hiring freeze, getting citizen input on where cuts can be made, attracting new businesses and make university pay fees when it takes property off the tax roles. 

Economic development: Wants to attract businesses to bring sales taxes, rezone parts of Gilman Street and Ashby Avenue to allow neighborhood-serving retail below housing. Says there is a need for retail space for west Berkeley artisans; wants to market San Pablo and University avenues area as “International Market;” advocates streamlined permitting process. 

Parking: Not sure more parking needed; need to do study before building more parking.

Judge blocks ordinances 

LOS ANGELES — Citing free speech guarantees, a federal judge has blocked two ordinances enacted this year that would allow the city of Los Angeles to collect more than $3 million in annual fees from owners of outdoor billboards. 

U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson issued the 17-page ruling Thursday. 

At issue was a $314-per-sign fee imposed for annual inspections of about 10,000 billboards that are supposed to protect the city’s aesthetics and ensure public safety. 

“The only hardship the city will suffer is lost revenue, which can be recouped if the ordinances are ultimately found to be constitutional,” Wilson wrote. 

Three media conglomerates, Clear Channel Outdoor Inc., Viacom Outdoor Inc. and National Advertising Co., had sought the preliminary injunction against the ordinances, which were set to take effect Thursday. 

Richard Kendall, who represented the billboard companies, said his clients were gratified by the judge’s ruling, while a spokesman for the city attorney’s office said he was disappointed. 

Women testify against officer 

SAN BERNARDINO — Three women who testified at a pretrial hearing for a former police officer alleged he used his late-night patrols to hunt for potential sexual-assault victims. 

Ronald VanRossum, who has been fired from the department, faces 43 felony counts of rape and other charges involving 13 women, including several who have filed claims against the city seeking damages. 

The three women who testified at Thursday’s hearing — all referred to as “Jane Doe” — are all convicted felons. They told Superior Court Judge Kurt J. Lewin that VanRossum intimidated them with threats of arrest and violence. 

Jane Doe No. 3 said she was on methamphetamine when she met VanRossum in late 2001. She said he handcuffed her, drove her around the city for about 30 minutes, then took her to an abandoned building, where he allegedly raped her. 

In the following weeks, VanRossum allegedly drove near her home and stared at her, she said. 

“That man stalked me,” she said. 

But defense attorney Bill Hadden accused her of fabricating the story in order to sue his client and the city for $5 million. She denied the allegation. 

Jane Doe No. 2 said she was outside a liquor store in August 2000 when VanRossum approached. She said she was driven to a parking lot near an abandoned building and raped behind the officer’s car, then warned not to report the incident. 

Teacher pleads guilty 

VENTURA — A former elementary school teacher has pleaded guilty to child pornography charges, a prosecutor said. 

James Robertson, 57, of Thousand Oaks pleaded Thursday to one count of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of possessing child pornography, Deputy District Attorney Howard Wise said. He faces up to nine months in jail when he is sentenced Dec. 9. 

Robertson taught at White Oak Elementary in Westlake Village and was an educator for nearly 30 years in the Las Virgenes Unified School District. 

He was arrested Aug. 5 after police received a tip and found a cache of child pornography at his home, most of which had been downloaded from the Internet, Wise said.

OAKLAND — A 17-year-old boy charged with shooting an Oakland police officer in the head last month delayed entering a plea Friday in Alameda County Superior Court. 

A complaint filed Oct. 16 charges Terrance Laverne Hunter of Oakland in adult court with attempted murder of a police officer, assault with a firearm upon an officer, and unlawful possession of a firearm. 

Hunter, who is being held without bail, appeared in court in Oakland Friday morning wearing eyeglasses, a navy blue sweatshirt and tan pants. 

His court-appointed attorney, Gary L. Sherrer of Oakland, requested that the entry of plea be delayed until Nov. 8. The attorney said he has received 10 audiotapes from the prosecution in connection with the case but is still waiting for investigators' logs to be provided to him. 

Judge Allan D. Hymer agreed to put the matter over for one week. 

Sherrer declined to comment on the case outside of court. 

The charges stem from Sept. 27, when Officer Ilario Juarez, 30, stopped in front of the Mosswood Motel at 683 W. MacArthur Blvd. at about 2:45 a.m. 

As Juarez, who was patrolling alone, approached a group of individuals lingering in the motel's driveway, one person immediately separated himself from the others and fired on the officer, police said. Three bullets grazed Juarez's head, according to court documents. 

Hunter was stopped by police on the day of the shooting and later arrested when a check revealed that he was wanted on a probation violation, police said. He was arrested in connection with the shooting on Oct. 14. 

Court documents state that Juarez picked Hunter out of a photo lineup as the alleged shooter.

The East Bay Regional Park District will hold a dedication ceremony for the Waterbird Regional Preserve near Martinez on Saturday. 

The heart of the 198-acre preserve is the Al McNabney Marsh, situated on land owned by the park district and the Mountain View Sanitary District. 

The marshland is part of the Pacific flyway for migratory birds and home to many species of native waterfowl. The completion of the preserve is the result of restoration and rehabilitation of a habitat damaged by an environmental spill in 1988. 

The marsh is part of a larger wetlands area connected by Peyton Slough, which empties into Suisun Bay. 

Speakers at Saturday's ceremony are scheduled to include U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, state Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla, D-Pittsburg, Contra Costa County Supervisor Gayle Uilkema, and Will Travis, executive director of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission.

RICHMOND — The Richmond police are requesting the public's assistance with their investigation of an attempted double homicide that occurred Thursday. 

Police say that at 1:30 p.m. they received a report of gunshots being fired in the area of the 1600 block of Portrero Avenue. Officers located evidence of a shooting there, but could not locate a victim. 

Six minutes after this first call, police were notified that two gunshot victims had arrived at Kaiser Hospital. 

The two victims, Marcio Williams, 28, of San Pablo and James Robert Lewis, 19, of Richmond were able to drive themselves to the hospital after being shot by an unknown assailant.  

According to reports, the victims were seated inside a white Mitsubishi sedan when the shooter approached on foot and open fired. 

Williams is currently listed as being in critical condition, while Lewis is described as stable. 

Police say that there is no known motive for this shooting, and anyone with information is asked to call Detective Joe Valle at (510) 620-6628, or Detective Terry Ellis at (510) 620-6625.

OCEANO — The body of a stuntman who had been missing since parachuting into the Pacific Ocean during filming of a Bruce Willis movie was recovered Friday, officials said. 

The body of Michael Kent Barber, 39, was found shortly after 7 a.m. on Oceano Dunes State Beach, said Lt. L.R. Davis of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department. 

Barber, a Phoenix resident, disappeared Tuesday afternoon after jumping among nine skydivers from an airplane 14,000 feet above the ocean. 

All were supposed to land on a beach about 180 miles north of Los Angeles.

SAN FRANCISCO — West Coast longshoremen and shipping companies reach an important — albeit tentative — agreement Friday on the use of technology, the major sticking point in their bitter contract talks. 

Both sides hailed the deal on how to introduce new cargo tracking systems to the waterfront as the first tangible progress since negotiations resumed after last month’s lockout of dockworkers closed down shuttered major Pacific ports for 10 days. 

The dockworker’s union and the association representing shipping lines were compelled to restart talks after a federal judge granted President Bush’s request for an 80-day “cooling-off” period that reopened the ports. 

“The parties have worked long and hard,” federal mediator Peter Hurtgen said in a written statement Friday. 

The deal concerned “the key issues of new technology and retention of union’s jurisdiction for marine clerk work,” the statement said. 

Hurtgen would not disclose details of the agreement, which he said was reached at 4 a.m. PST Friday after all-night talks. 

Still, it was clear that the deal entailed compromise on both sides. 

The 10,500-member International Longshore and Warehouse Union had said it would agree to cuts in the number of marine clerks, whose jobs will be obsolete with a freer flow of electronic information, only if the Pacific Maritime Association agreed that new jobs created by the technology be under the union’s jurisdiction. 

“We had our bottom line on jurisdiction on what we could do, what we could accept, and they met our bottom line,” union spokesman Steve Stallone said. “So we consider this a real victory and the first real progress we’ve had in these negotiations.” 

Like Hurtgen, Stallone emphasized that the deal on technology isn’t the only issue separating the two sides — and if talks break up over issues such as pensions and arbitration of disputes, the technology deal could be moot. 

Shipping lines and terminal operators will save hundreds of millions of dollars through the technology, “and we want a piece of that action,” primarily in the form of increased pensions, Stallone said. 

A Pacific Maritime Association spokesman also said the deal could prove to be an important breakthrough, but had no further comment, citing Hurtgen’s request for a media blackout on the negotiations. 

The tentative agreement comes as the two sides have been sparring over who’s to blame for slow progress in clearing a massive backlog of cargo off the docks since the lockout ended Oct. 9. 

The association complained to the Justice Department that dockworkers have intentionally slowed work, cutting productivity by 30 percent in some cases. The union countered that mismanagement by shipping lines and terminal operators has led to dangerous congestion and disarray. 

The nation’s 29 West Coast ports handle more than $300 billion in trade each year. Some economists estimated that the U.S. economy lost $1 billion each day as cargo piled up at the docks and ships waited at anchor offshore. Some factories had to shut down for lack of supplies.

NEW YORK — Wall Street shook off a trio of disappointing economic reports and forged ahead with its fall rally Friday, posting a fourth consecutive weekly win for the first time in more than two months. 

Analysts attributed the recovery and subsequent rally to buying momentum that built up throughout October. 

“Investor psychology has changed. The market has become very resilient to bad news. Today is a good example of that,” said Michael Murphy, head trader at Wachovia Securities in Baltimore. “Nobody wants to be left behind.” 

Stocks overcame news that consumer spending and manufacturing activity declined and that the unemployment rate increased. 

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 120.61, or 1.4 percent, at 8,517.64, after falling as much as 87 in early trading. The advance came after the Dow had its second-best October with a gain of 10.6 percent, just short of the 10.7 percent advance in October 1982. It also was the Dow’s best month since January 1987 when the blue chips rose 13.8 percent. 

The broader market also recovered, moving into positive territory. The Nasdaq composite index rose 30.95, or 2.3 percent, to 1,360.70, having advanced 13.5 percent in October. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 15.20, or 1.7 percent, to 900.96, following its monthly advance of 8.7 percent. 

The indexes scored a four-week winning stretch for the first time since the four weeks that ended Aug. 23. For the week, the Dow rose 0.9 percent.

LOS ANGELES — Edison International, parent of utility Southern California Edison, swung to a profit in the third quarter on higher revenues, the company said Friday. 

The quarter also benefited from major write-offs last year from power plants sold in the United Kingdom. 

Edison said it was well along in collecting the cost of buying power during California’s power crisis, when a rate freeze was in effect, and raised its full-year earnings expectations. 

Edison reported net income of $352 million, or $1.08 per share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30. That compares with a loss of $413 million in the same quarter last year. 

On an operating basis, which excludes the $1.2 billion Edison wrote off last year for the sale of its power plants in England and a one-time adjustment at SoCal Edison, the company had a net income of $351 million compared to $283 million in the same quarter last year. 

The results easily beat the expectation of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call, who had expected earnings of 82 cents per share. 

Higher operating and maintenance costs at SoCal Edison were offset during the quarter by the effects of decisions made.

Vermont’s law granting marriage benefits to gay couples and Wisconsin’s ban on concealed weapons are just two of the volatile issues whose fate could be determined by the outcome of close races for control of many of the nation’s legislatures. 

Democrats and Republicans hold majorities in both legislative chambers in almost the same number of states — 18 versus 17 — but redistricting, term limits and retirements likely will change that Tuesday. 

A transfer of just four seats or less in 25 states could shift the power from one party to another in one or both legislative chambers. And that, in turn, has the potential to reshape the outcome of tax, school and health-care bills — all at a time when money is tight everywhere. 

“A whole new set of people will be leading and setting the agenda. That makes a huge difference,” says Tim Storey, an elections analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures in Denver. 

Even before Election Day, 22 percent of 6,214 state lawmakers chosen will change because of term limits, retirements or primary losses, Storey notes. He predicts an additional 5 percent turnover after the votes are counted. 

These changes could have a dramatic impact. For example: 

— In Michigan, one of many states facing budget problems, lawmakers will take their cue from a new governor. If Republicans maintain control of both chambers, they may reconsider a bill to increase the number of charter schools. If Democrats take over, they may try to ban Canadian trash from disposal in Michigan and raise the minimum wage. 

— In Kentucky, if Democrats take the Senate — the GOP has a 20-18 edge — that will improve prospects for a mandatory state seat belt law and continued partial public financing of gubernatorial campaigns. 

— In Wisconsin, if Republicans control both chambers — they have a majority in the House, though Democrats hold a three-vote advantage in the Senate — there could be a push to expand the Milwaukee schools voucher program in the state and end a 150-year ban on concealed weapons. 

— In Vermont, a switch to Republican control in the Senate — Democrats hold a two-seat edge — could lead to a move to repeal the civil union law passed two years ago that grants marriage benefits to gay couples and possibly replace it with a broader reciprocal benefits law. 

No matter who is in charge, both Democrats and Republicans will share one problem: money. 

“Next year it’s going to be budget, budget, budget. Everything else is going to be relegated to fifth of sixth place,” says Constance Campanella, president of Stateside Associates, a consulting firm that tracks legislation.

FRESNO – The board of the insolvent West Fresno School District could secure a county loan to pay teachers and staff their back pay, but only if the board puts the county school superintendent in control of the district temporarily. 

The board and the superintendent have been in a standoff over control of the district that resulted in canceled classes Friday as most teachers skipped school and most pupils stayed home. 

The walkout was the climax of a two-year feud over finances between the district’s governing board and the Fresno County Office of Education. 

James Tucker, president of the five-member district school board, said county schools Superintendent Pete Mehas is withholding the money the district needs to pay salaries and expenses. 

But Mehas claims he doesn’t have the money because the district, which has an annual budget of $8.3 million, spent it. He estimates the school is at least $220,000 in debt and perhaps as much as $2 million. 

The money issue is just one of the district’s well-publicized problems. It has hired convicted felons, been sued by more than 20 former employees and has had six superintendents in the last year and a half. 

Mehas, who approves budgets for 34 school districts, has offered to loan about $1 million from his office to the district, but he wants authority over personnel and expenses. Tucker said he won’t surrender control to Mehas. 

Among other things, Tucker claims Mehas is crazy. Mehas says the “rogue board” is inept and corrupt. 

In all the controversy, classes have never been canceled. The state Department of Education said the crisis was a first for the state. 

“There have been situations where a school district needed financial assistance, but that has been welcomed by all parties,” said Nicole Winger, state education spokeswoman. “There are certainly political elements to this situation.” 

The tiny two-school district was a chaotic landscape as teachers and staff called in sick in epidemic numbers the day after they didn’t get their monthly paychecks. 

“It was pitiful, absolutely tragic,” said Terry Flanagan, a union representative for nonteachers. “Young children were in tears because their teachers weren’t there. They were afraid to go with any other teacher. They were clinging to their parents.” 

In some cases, parents dropping off their children were angry and frustrated because they had to choose between going to work or leaving their kids with strangers. With little instruction planned, some parents took their children home. 

On Thursday, the board delayed a decision until Saturday on the compromise proposal that would make the county loan available and put Mehas in control until the county and district agree on a temporary administrator. If they can’t agree, the state will appoint one.The board’s decision Thursday might have kept the elementary and middle schools running smoothly Friday. 

Instead, only six of the 59 teachers and about 120 of the 1,000 students came to school Friday. About half of the 65 support staff reported to work. 

The handful of adults had to police a rowdy cafeteria of students at the middle school. Student were seen bolting across a field and hopping a fence. 

For students who stuck around, there were peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and even some impromptu entertainment. 

Mayor Alan Autry intervened in the crisis, bringing Dexter the Magician to amuse the kids. 

But Dexter didn’t perform any trick that made the teachers come back.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A stolen handgun has been found near the scene of the Sept. 21 shooting that helped police zero in on sniper suspects John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo. 

Police Chief John Wilson said the gun fits the make and model of a weapon believed used in the shooting outside a Montgomery liquor store that left one employee dead and another wounded. 

Someone found the weapon Wednesday along the route where a police officer said he chased a gunman after the shooting, Wilson said. The gun was underneath leaves in an area of abandoned apartments, he said. 

Wilson said the gun, stolen July 20 at an El Paso, Texas, gun show, will be tested to determine if it is connected to the Alabama shooting. 

Investigators also believe a rifle was used in the Montgomery shooting. Police have said ballistics tests showed that the rifle was also used in the sniper attacks. 

Muhammad and Malvo face state and federal charges in the sniper spree that left 10 people dead and three wounded in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. They also have been charged in the Alabama shooting and a Sept. 23 slaying in Louisiana, and are suspects in a February killing in Washington state. 

Authorities closed in on the suspects after a man — apparently the sniper — called and suggested that they check out the Alabama shooting. 

Wilson said witnesses reported seeing the flash of a handgun during the shooting that killed store employee Claudine Parker and wounded co-worker Kellie Adams. There was no witness account of a rifle being fired, he said, but he expressed confidence that the crime would be solved.

NEW YORK — Her book club is on hold, but the publishing industry has not forgotten Oprah Winfrey. The talk show host is receiving an honorary award from the Association of American Publishers. 

“She’s brought unparalleled excitement and attention to books. All of America should be grateful to her,” Jane Friedman, president and CEO of HarperCollins and vice chair of the publishers association, said in a statement Tuesday. 

The award will be presented next February at the AAP’s annual meeting, in Washington, D.C. Previous winners include Dolly Parton, “for her efforts to improve the lives of children through books,” and to National Public Radio, “for ongoing and outstanding book coverage.” 

Winfrey, who helped make best sellers out of Anita Shreve, Joyce Carol Oates and many other writers, received an honorary National Book Award in 1999. She announced last April she was cutting back on her book club picks, saying she was having a hard time finding worthy selections. 

The Association of American Publishers is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry and has approximately 300 members.

ROCKLIN — Bill Simon swept through Northern California Friday, rallying support in GOP strongholds and invoking memories of California’s favorite Republican at a factory for Jelly Bellys, Ronald Reagan’s favorite sweet. 

With three days left to catch up to Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and a new poll showing him seven points behind, Simon urged voters in Rocklin, Redding and Fairfield to the polls while he stepped up criticism of Davis’ fund-raising practices. 

“Four more days and we will be done with the reign of Gray Davis!” he said at the Jelly Belly Candy Co. in Fairfield, midway between San Francisco and Sacramento. “My administration will be built upon sound public policy, not campaign contributions,” Simon said. 

Behind him hung a Jelly Belly mosaic of Reagan. One of Simon’s ads uses Reagan’s famous line, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” 

Davis, who starts his own barnstorming tour Sunday, was in Los Angeles picking up the endorsement of Mayor James Hahn, a notable holdout when the governor announced a round of endorsements from the state’s mayors in August. Davis endorsed Hahn’s opponent in the mayoral election this year. 

“Unlike previous governors, you have not balanced the state’s budget on the back of local governments. We appreciate that,” Hahn said in announcing his support with other city officials outside Los Angeles City Hall. 

Davis lashed out at Simon and predicted victory, despite voter apathy about a campaign that has centered on mudslinging by two candidates who are both viewed unfavorably. A Friday Field Poll showed 25 percent of voters either remain undecided or plan to vote for minor party candidates or leave the ballot for governor blank. 

“I really believe we’ve made progress in the face of a national recession and a terrible energy crisis. I believe we will see a substantial number of people coming out to the polls to vote for me because of the four good years we’ve had,” Davis said. 

“I believe in paying your dues. My opponent wants to parachute right in,” he said. 

Simon, his wife Cindy, campaign aides and reporters traveled in a Gulfstream 3 jet provided by GOP donor and real estate developer William Lyons. Simon mingled with voters at Marie Callendar’s in reliably Republican Redding and pumped up a lunchtime crowd gathered to see local conservative talk show host Eric Hogue in Rocklin, a Sacramento suburb. 

Simon unleashed a new attack against Davis’ fund-raising practices, bringing up 14-year-old allegations of campaign improprieties that a former state official made against Davis when he was the state’s controller. 

Former deputy attorney general Vincent Reagor wrote a 1988 memo urging prosecution of Davis for allegedly using state employees, time, facilities and equipment during his campaign to be controller. Reagor’s superiors did not prosecute for lack of evidence. 

The allegations were reported then and two years later Reagor’s memo was reported. 

The Republican Party has been trying for weeks to get reporters to write about the allegations. The party finally arranged a meeting between Reagor and a KCBS-TV Los Angeles reporter. 

KCBS aired the story Thursday and Simon used that Friday, even as he sought to distance himself from the allegations and demurred when asked whether he believed Davis committed a crime. 

“I’m not making any suggestions, no accusations, let me be very clear about that. The question is this. Mr. Davis, you owe the people of California an explanation, you owe the people of California an explanation for your pay-to-play practices,” he told reporters. 

In Los Angeles, Davis said: “He’s got a lot of problems of his own. He is using this to deflect from his own lack of vision and the hot water that he is in.” 

It’s the third time that Simon, a former federal prosecutor, has sought to link Davis to criminal behavior as he struggles to overcome the governor’s lead in fund-raising and polls. 

Earlier this month Simon accused Davis of illegally accepting a campaign check in the state Capitol, but had to retract the claim when it was shown the photo Simon used as evidence was taken in Santa Monica. 

Then Simon called on Davis to answer questions about decade-old allegations of impropriety made by a convicted felon, which were unsealed Monday by a federal judge. Prosecutors decided at the time, as in the Reagor case, not to pursue the allegations. 

Simon repeatedly pushed reporters this week to focus on the allegations, but said he was not making accusations. 

“There’s a distinction in my own mind between accusations and questions that get raised by other people,” he said.

Tabby owner tracked down 

ELKHART, Ind. — A tiger-striped tabby is home after 10 months thanks to factory workers who took in the wayward feline and tracked down its owner. 

The gray-and-silver cat, named Mercedes, disappeared after running out the door of Beverly VanZandt’s mobile home in Osceola on an unseasonably warm January day. When a snowstorm three days later lowered temperatures to almost zero, VanZandt figured she had seen the last of her cat. 

But on Wednesday, VanZandt got a phone call from an employee at Monaco Coach Corp. in Elkhart. 

Mercedes somehow wandered to the recreational vehicle factory 10 miles east of Osceola, and had been staying there for the past month. The cat was wary of humans for weeks, but finally let a worker get close enough to read its tag so its veterinarian and then VanZandt could be traced. 

VanZandt and Mercedes were reunited Thursday at Monaco Coach. 

“It’s like she died, and now she’s alive again,” VanZandt said. 

Candy thief finally caught 

DETROIT — A retiree paid $100 as reimbursement for stealing candy from a school pantry 55 years ago. 

The 1947 Detroit Southeastern High School graduate anonymously mailed a letter and a $100 bill to the school district a few weeks ago. 

The donor admitted raiding the pantry while doing chores in the lunch room a couple times a week. 

“I am a retired professional who has been highly respected all my life,” the letter read. “I have certainly been guilty of much greater offenses over the years, but that basic breach of trust has remained in the back of my mind.” 

The thief admitted taking Hershey bars and a few handfuls of almonds. 

The donor noted that the value of the food “might not have been as much as a dollar at that time.” 

Detroit Public Schools Chief Executive Kenneth Burnley plans to take the money to Southeastern on Friday to teach students that’s its never too late to right a wrong. 

Mistake makes glass collectible 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A mistake on the first run of the 2003 Kentucky Derby glass has apparently created a collectible. 

The glass mistakenly lists 1932 Derby winner Burgoo King as a Triple Crown winner and neglects to note that 1937 Derby winner War Admiral did win the Triple Crown. 

Churchill Downs officials said Tuesday that 100,440 glasses, about 20 percent of the glasses that will be produced for next year’s race, contain the error. 

The bad glasses, which retail for between $2 and $3, were expected to be more valuable than the corrected glasses. 

“It’s Christmas morning for those who collect them,” said Churchill Downs spokesman John Asher. “It adds to the fun. We’re unhappy they’re out there — we want everything we market to be perfect — but it’s exciting for the collectible community.”

CARSON CITY, Nev. — A Washington, D.C.-based organization has poured $1.28 million into a campaign to legalize possession of up to 3 ounces of marijuana in Nevada, far outspending opponents of the ballot question. 

Three major Nevada casino-hotel corporations provided most of the funding for opponents of Question 9, on Tuesday’s ballot as a proposed constitutional amendment. 

The latest report from Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement, pushing Question 9, showed virtually all its funding came from the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. 

Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement also reported spending $1.1 million. 

The Committee to Keep Nevada Respectable, which is trying to defeat the marijuana petition, reported getting $143,800 in contributions in the August-October quarter — half of that from the Venetian megaresort on the Las Vegas Strip. 

Other big contributors included casino-owning Park Place Entertainment and Boyd Gaming, for $25,000 apiece; and Sunbelt Communications, which contributed $10,000. 

The Committee to Keep Nevada Respectable spent $128,265. Of the expenses, $107,000 went to FFG Advertising and $20,000 went to Rogich Communications for consulting. 

A group called Nevadans Against Legalized Marijuana collected $6,325 and spent $6,225. The major contributor to this group was Stop DUI, which gave more than $5,000. 

The Coalition for the Protection of Marriage, which is supporting a ban on gay marriages in Nevada, reported it collected $351,468 since the primary election in September. At that point it had a balance of $523,231. In its latest report, the coalition said it spent $730,231 since the primary. 

The figures were in campaign finance reports filed this week with the Nevada Secretary of State’s office.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE — Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., blames environmental ally the Sierra Club for Congress’ failure to pass legislation last month to thin national forests to reduce wildfire threats in the West. 

Sierra Club President Carl Pope said Republican leaders are responsible, and a timber industry leader points the finger at Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., who he accused of “election year politics.” 

All sides agree it’s unlikely that Congress will move in its lame duck session after Tuesday’s general elections to seek consensus to reduce the threat of fires that have consumed an estimated 6.5 million acres across the nation this year. 

“You have a very polarized community when it comes to fire and how they view fire,” Feinstein said. 

“The Sierra Club roasted me,” she said. 

The former mayor of San Francisco has averaged a 91 percent scorecard rating from the League of Conservation Voters the past six years, but confounds environmentalists by insisting that logging be used to help ease wildfire threats. 

She said she will press the Senate to hold hearings early next year and that she will attempt to build support among conservationists and others for an emergency program she hopes to develop with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Republicans on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. 

Feinstein said she was close to securing a bipartisan agreement with Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, that would have sacrificed some trees to reduce fuel loads and make 7 million acres of forests near urban areas safer from fires. 

“I think the Sierra Club did it in to be honest with you. There was just real opposition,” Feinstein told reporters after a speech to an environmental conference last week at Lake Tahoe. 

Feinstein said the Sierra Club made it impossible for her to gather the support she needed among Democrats to cut off debate and force a vote. 

“So the effort kind of collapsed,” she said. 

Chris West, vice president of the timber industry’s American Forest Resource Council based in Portland, Ore., said Feinstein is partially right. But he puts the blame more squarely on Democratic leaders. 

“From our perspective, the reason nothing moved in the Senate that was workable was because of Daschle. It was all election-year politics,” West said. 

Craig, chairman of the Senate subcommittee on forests and public lands, offers a similar account of the Senate’s refusal to consider his amendment to a spending bill for the Interior Department that still needs congressional approval. 

“The Dianne Feinsteins of this world have every reason to be frustrated and angry. I think she felt herself a friend of that organization only to have them bite her as hard as they did,” Craig said. 

“She kept going to her leadership and got nothing. In the end, Tom (Daschle) did not want to put his people at risk taking a tough vote — which was the right vote — on something the environmental people have so effectively polarized,” he told The Associated Press this week. 

Pope said there was agreement on a plan to do emergency thinning in as much as 23 million acres the Forest Service identified as overstocked forests near homes, known as “urban interface” areas. 

But he said GOP leaders refused to provide funding unless normal environmental reviews for projects outside those areas were suspended, too. 

“Basically, they blackmailed the Senate. And we said, ‘No, that blackmail is not acceptable.’ So in that sense, yes Sen. Feinstein is correct” about the group’s role in blocking legislation, he said. 

Aides to Daschle said he was willing to expedite thinning, even in some areas outside “urban interface zones,” but not with the prohibitions on legal challenges GOP leaders demanded. 

“We agreed that some streamlining of the process makes sense, particularly if you focus most of the resources on thinning in the urban interface zone. But the notion of depriving folks of opportunities they have now for judicial review was going too far and something we were not prepared to support,” said Eric Washburn, a senior legislative to Daschle. 

The conflict centers on disagreement over the amount of logging that should be allowed to remove unnaturally high levels of brush and small trees that have resulted from decades of suppressing fires. In the past, fires periodically cleared forests of such undergrowth. 

Critics say the thinning programs are abused to remove larger, commercial-sized timber and, in some cases, increase fire risks. 

Pope said he doubts any new policy will be adopted during the “lame duck” session of Congress. 

“I would think that what was driving people on both sides (last month) is they wanted to take something home to run on,” he said. 

Feinstein said she understands environmentalists are distrustful of proposals to use logging to reduce fire threats. 

“What we really need to do is build confidence and work with environmentalists to try to come together, just as they have here,” she said at Lake Tahoe where competing interests have united to work to restore the lake’s clarity. 

“This used to be very fractionated community. It is not so any more,” she said. 

Feinstein also criticized the Bush administration for failing to provide necessary funding. 

“Grooming the forests has to become a major priority for this administration. To this date ... it isn’t.”

LOS ANGELES — Police Chief William Bratton said Friday he has opened an internal investigation into the possible mishandling of tips about dangerous practices by faith healers. 

The investigation comes four days after a man died when an unlicensed faith healer allegedly injected him with an unknown substance. 

Bratton said he recently learned that the Police Department’s narcotics division had received tips about the illegal injections as far back as May 2001 but had failed to investigate. The tips continued over the past 18 months, he said. 

“I’m concerned, very concerned, about how the tip was handled, and I have many questions,” said Bratton, who was publicly sworn in on Monday. “We are going to try to convince the public of our sincere interest in determining what went wrong so that those mistakes are not made again.”

SACRAMENTO — Power outages and traffic accidents brought in the rainy season Thursday, as northern and central Californians stumbled their way through their first storm of the fall. 

About 73,000 customers in the San Francisco Bay area lost power sometime during the day, according to Paul Moreno, a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. spokesman. All but 7,300 had their power restored by early evening. 

“It’s a very busy outage,” Moreno said, explaining that high winds were taking a toll on power lines. “We definitely feel this one.” 

The gusts blew tree limbs onto electric lines that then tumbled into each other, which can cause a short circuit. Mighty winds also prompted the California Highway Patrol to shut down the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge Thursday night due to construction debris blowing across the roadway. 

The lights also went out in Sacramento County for 1,500 homes, said Chris Capra, spokesman for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. 

Some of the outages were caused by high winds, he said, but most were the result of “typical first-storm conditions.” 

That’s when the first storm doesn’t carry enough rain to wash off the accumulated dust and dirt on power lines, he said. Instead, there’s just enough moisture to create “a mud-like substance that drips down the lines to the pole.” 

“Electricity is always seeking ground, and the mud now provides an off-ramp and will short-circuit the lines,” he said. 

The CHP also spent Thursday scrambling to respond to a slew of traffic accidents caused by drivers struggling to adjust to lower visibility and more slippery roads. 

“The oil is clearly mixing with the water, and it’s becoming a formula for disaster in our state and local highways,” said Sgt. Wayne Ziese of the CHP’s Golden Gate Division, which oversees most of the Bay Area. 

Incidents of cars spinning out and crashing in that area have more than tripled overnight since the rain hit, Ziese said. 

The National Weather Service has issued a high surf advisory along much of the California coast and coastal flood watch in the northern and central part of the state through Sunday. 

The wet weather has been a much-needed change for California’s skies, after a hot, dry summer that has driven Central Valley farmers to request federal relief funds. 

Rainfall has been down as much as 70 percent in the San Joaquin Valley and southern California. 

The rain broke Sacramento’s third longest dry spell in recorded history — 167 days without rain. The city only saw less rain in 1903, with 174 consecutive dry days, and 1880, with 194. 

The storm, covering most of northern and central California, has also laid down a fresh layer of snow on the slopes. The Boreal ski resort announced it would be the first California slopes to open on Saturday, thanks to recent snowfall. 

Meteorologists are predicting unstable weather conditions in the coming months because of El Nino, a warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean that can dramatically affect weather patterns across much of the world. 

This year’s El Nino, considered a moderate but solid one, is expected to bring above-average rainfall across much of the South, Nevada and California.

UNITED NATIONS — The United States pushed for a quick U.N. vote Wednesday on a revised Iraq resolution which threatens Saddam Hussein with “serious consequences,” while trying to ease concerns about setting off a new war. 

But after eight weeks of intensive wrangling in the Security Council, and some major concessions by the Bush administration, France and Russia are still not satisfied. 

French President Jacques Chirac called Russia’s Vladimir Putin Wednesday to discuss the new text and both agreed that “ambiguities” that could be used to trigger an attack on Iraq must be removed, Chirac’s spokeswoman said. 

Nonetheless, both leaders saw “many improvements” in the new U.S. proposal, Colonna said. 

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said the United States intends to put the draft resolution to a vote on Friday and “deserves consensus support.” 

If the resolution is adopted on Friday, Iraq would have seven days to accept the terms. U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix said an advance team would be in Baghdad within 10 days of its acceptance. 

Inspectors would have 45 days to actually begin work, and would have to report to the council 60 days later on Iraq’s performance. 

While the revised draft offers concessions to critics, including a greater role for the Security Council, it still meets the Bush administration’s key demands: toughening inspections, threatening Iraq with “serious consequences,” and freeing the United States to take military action against Iraq if inspectors say it isn’t complying. 

At the same time, it gives Iraqi President Saddam Hussein “a final opportunity” to cooperate with weapons inspectors, holds out the possibility of lifting 12-year-old sanctions imposed after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait and reaffirms the country’s sovereignty. 

Negroponte officially introduced the new text at a closed-door council meeting, where Blix and other members noted several problems. “We’ll see if we can find some way to accommodate the concern that other delegations expressed and the points that Dr. Blix made,” Negroponte said. 

But the U.S. administration said that it was now in the endgame and that the new text offered Iraq an opportunity to avoid war. 

The Security Council scheduled another round of negotiations on Thursday, and Singapore’s U.N. Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani said “it’s very clear that we are moving closer and closer to consensus.” 

But whether the United States, and its co-sponsor Britain, can get all 15 council members on board remains to be seen. 

For a resolution to be adopted, it needs at least nine “yes” votes and no veto by a permanent member — the United States, Russia, France, China and Britain. 

No council member has mentioned a veto. Syria, Iraq’s Arab neighbor, remains opposed to any new resolution. Norway, Colombia and Bulgaria appear to be on board with the United States while Mexico and Singapore said their governments were studying the draft. 

“We are not there yet,” said Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Sergey Lavrov. 

He wouldn’t comment publicly on the new U.S. text, but diplomats said that inside the council, Lavrov said Moscow still saw several hidden triggers for the use of force. France had similar concerns, which Chirac and Putin discussed, diplomats said. 

Negroponte sidestepped a question on whether the new draft could authorize military action. 

Instead, he noted that President Bush believes “the use of force, war, would be a last resort. He wants to give the United Nations and the Security Council a chance.” 

Negroponte said the new resolution “is the best way to achieve the disarmament of Iraq by peaceful means provided that Iraq complies fully with those obligations.” 

Negotiations for a new Iraq resolution began after Bush’s Sept. 12 speech to the U.N. General Assembly, when he challenged world leaders to deal with Iraq’s failure over the last 11 years to comply with resolutions or stand aside as the United States acted. 

Both France and Russia initially favored two resolutions, one giving Iraq a chance to cooperate, and a second authorizing military action only if Iraq failed to comply. But the United States insisted on a single resolution which would not “handcuff” the administration. 

During negotiations, Washington modified language that would have authorized the use of force against Iraq and agreed to a two-stage process: inspectors would report any Iraq violations to the Security Council, which would then consider what to do. France’s U.N. Ambassador Jean-David Levitte said “very important progress” had been made on this issue. 

The latest draft softens one reference to Iraq being in “material breach” of its obligations to disarm under U.N. resolutions. Moscow and Paris believe the legal reference could be used by Washington to launch a war without Security Council authorization. 

But there is a second reference to Iraq being in “further material breach” if it makes any “false statements or omissions” in the declaration of its weapons programs and fails to cooperate with inspections. That still bothers Russia and France, diplomats said. 

Secretary of State Colin Powell spent a second day on the phone discussing the text with his French, British and Russian counterparts. 

A cornerstone of the U.S. proposal is a tough new inspections regime responsible for hunting for illicit weapons and reporting on any Iraqi failures to comply with its disarmament obligations. 

It requires Iraq to provide inspectors with “immediate, unimpeded, unconditional, and unrestricted access to any and all” areas, including eight presidential sites, where advance notice was previously needed for inspections. 

Inspectors could also decide whether to interview Iraqi scientists and government officials.

WASHINGTON — Republicans narrowly seized control of the Senate on Wednesday, ousting Democrats in Georgia and Missouri and giving President Bush’s legislative agenda a major boost in the next Congress. 

By winning their 50th seat in Missouri, the GOP was ensured control of the chamber next year because Vice President Dick Cheney will cast tie-breaking votes. 

Democrats took just one seat from Republicans when Arkansas Attorney General Mark Pryor, the son of former Sen. David Pryor, defeated incumbent Sen. Tim Hutchinson. 

In Georgia, Republican Rep. Saxby Chambliss defeated moderate first-term Democratic Sen. Max Cleland, a triple amputee from the Vietnam War, after chiding him for opposing President Bush’s plan for creating a new Department of Homeland Security. 

The GOP also could take control of the lame-duck session of the current Congress, which convenes next week to tackle unfinished budget business and perhaps other legislation because of Rep. Jim Talent’s victory in Missouri. 

Talent could be quickly sworn into office after defeating Democratic Sen. Jean Carnahan. She was appointed to the seat after her husband, Mel Carnahan, was elected in 2000, three weeks after he was killed in a plane crash. That would give the GOP at least 50 seats in Senate returning next week — enough for control because of Cheney. 

Rep. John Sununu was victorious for the GOP in New Hampshire, retaining a Republican-held seat that Democrats had high hopes of winning. He defeated Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, despite a lack of help from many conservatives bitter over his primary defeat of Republican Sen. Bob Smith. 

In Colorado, incumbent Republican Sen. Wayne Allard held off lobbyist and former U.S. Attorney Tom Stickland in a rematch of their race six years ago. 

The triumph came on a night that began with Democrats clinging to a one-seat margin, and it meant they will have to relinquish the majority they have held since Vermont Sen. James Jeffords abandoned the GOP in June 2001. 

With at least 47 senators, Democrats will still be able to use filibusters — procedural delays — to kill Republican initiatives because such roadblocks need only 41 votes to succeed. 

Even so, the GOP’s capture of the Senate denied Democrats their major remaining source of power. Republicans already control the White House and they recaptured their House majority Wednesday.

SAN PABLO — More than 400 nurses turned out Monday to strike at Doctors Medical Centers in San Pablo and Pinole, leaving patients under the care of temporary healthcare workers. 

The company that owns the two hospitals, the Santa Barbara-based Tenet Healthcare Corporation, has signed a 30-day contract to bring in nurses from out of state in order to operate the hospital during the strike. 

Officials from the California Nurses Association and Tenet have been negotiating without much progress since July and nurses have been working without a contract since August. 

Nurses want a defined benefit plan for retirement that that goes beyond the 401K plan that Tenet presently offers, including pension payments and health coverage. 

While nurses have walked out, a Tenet spokesman says patient care has not changed. 

“There has been no effect on quality of care, we still have elected procedures and the emergency room is open as normal,” said David Langness, a spokesman for Tenet Healthcare Corporation. “Patient care is not in jeopardy.” 

Nurses on strike disagree however, saying that the strike compromised hospital services. “Emergency room nurses have told us that the hospital is overcrowded,” said Tami Roncskevitz, a spokeswoman for the California Nurses Association. “Tenet is doing a disservice to the community.”  

A spokesman for the Doctors Medical Centers in San Pablo and Pinole, Michel Burleson, said earlier Monday that some nurses may cross the picket line. 

But Liz Jacobs, a registered nurse at Doctors Medical Center, said that only a handful of striking nurses returned to work Monday. 

“Nurses are digging their heels in,” said Jacobs.

SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco lost its bid Saturday to host the 2012 Summer Olympics. Instead, New York City, the emotional favorite, will be the American candidate to sponsor the games. 

On a weighted scale of voting by the 123 members of the U.S. Olympic Committee board of directors, New York received 132 points out of possible total of 223. 

At San Francisco’s city hall, members of the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee, which organized the quest for the games, were joined by former Olympians and politicians to await the announcement. 

Moans and sighs filled the ornate rotunda the moment the bad news came. Many felt New York was selected to help ease the lingering pain of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. 

“Sympathy is a strong human emotion,” said committee member George Broder. “It clearly impacted the voters. How could it not?” 

New York will now compete internationally for the right to host the games — Toronto, Rome, Paris, Moscow and Rio de Janeiro could be among the competitors. The International Olympic Committee will choose the host city in 2005. 

USOC president Marty Mankamyer said the compact nature of New York’s bid was a prevailing factor in her decision. 

“Something that is still fresh in my mind from Sydney was trying to get to the venues with all the traffic,” she said. “So one of the biggest issues was the compactness of the bid.” 

“The wonderful thing about this region is that it transcends particular venues or particular events,” said city Supervisor Gavin Newsom. “You don’t need a Superbowl. You don’t need a World Series. We have so much going for us.” 

The Bay Area committee had driven San Francisco’s bid. It was created in the 1980s to bring events to the area and was later used to bid on the 1996 Summer Olympics. Although that bid was awarded to Atlanta, Bay Area officials worked over the next few years to land the World Figure Skating Championships and the World Cup. 

Broder said national committee members have suggested New York may automatically get the bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics if it’s not chosen to host the 2012 games. 

“It’s great to be one of the two finalist cities, but we obviously would have liked to be the candidate,” Anne Cribbs, BASOC president, said from Colorado Springs, Colo. “When you lose, and that’s what this is even though I said I didn’t come here to lose, you want to go back and reassess. I don’t know whether we’ll do that. What we’ll do is just say ’Hey, we put together a great team and we’re proud of the results,’ and move on.” 

Committee members put a lot of planning into the 2012 Summer Olympic games campaign. The vision included Olympic mountain biking in Napa vineyards, sailing events on San Francisco Bay and other sports held within a “Ring of Gold” connecting four sites — San Francisco, Oakland/Berkeley, Stanford and San Jose/Santa Clara. 

Bay Area backers noted that 80 percent of the sports facilities targeted for the 2012 Olympics, including 85,000-seat Stanford Stadium, already exist. That would have kept costs down, and bid officials proposed capital investment of just $211 million — extremely low by Olympic standards. 

The games would have had a projected $7.2 billion statewide fiscal impact. 

The bidders also promised a $409 million surplus for the USOC that would be used for the future development of Olympic sports in the United States. And, they argued, the low capital investment and the support of Silicon Valley corporations meant San Francisco could have avoided the crass commercialism that tainted the 1996 Atlanta Games. 

“I’m heartbroken,” said Jerome Reitenbach, a former Olympic tae kwon do official. “I can’t believe they made the decision to give it to New York because we just have everything here in our city. I think the Olympic Committee made a big mistake.” 

San Francisco would have become the third California site in Olympic history. Los Angeles has hosted the Summer Games twice and Squaw Valley has hosted the Winter Games.

Shirley Dean 

Age: 67 

Born: Eaton, Colo.  

Education: Graduated Berkeley High School; B.A. in Social Welfare. UC Berkeley  

Occupation: Mayor; Retired in 2000 from the Office of Undergraduate Admission and Relations with Schools at UC Berkeley 

Offices held: Mayor of Berkeley,1994 to present; Berkeley council member, 1975-1982, 1986-1994 

Endorsements: State Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, former Sen. Nicholas Petris, D-Oakland, councilmembers Betty Olds, Polly C. Armstrong and Miriam Hawley 

Campaign Spending: raised $142,000 as of Oct. 19 

Rent control: Supports rent control, but advocates changes. Wants it tied to renter’s need. During current recession, says landlords hold units vacant because market rents are low; if they rent and market rents go up, they continue to receive below-market rent-controlled rate. Says rents would decrease faster and more units would be available without rent control. 

Housing Trust Fund: OK to lend Housing Trust Funds to for-profit developers when they use it to build affordable/low income units. Says for-profit builders repay loan funds, while non-profit developers generally don’t. 

Second Units: Says parking limitations should remain as they are; tandem parking unworkable for people in separate households. Don’t increase density in sensitive areas, such as areas prone to landslides. 

Divisiveness vs. cooperation: Works to build good relations with the UC Berkeley. Says her work is made difficult by public officials’ inappropriate behavior, for example when Bates was legislator and wife, Loni Hancock was mayor, they used a car to block a university demolition project. 

Good relations with university; co-chairs Berkeley Alliance – an organization that brings schools, city and university together – with Chancellor Robert Berdahl. Went to Ohio, not to dig up dirt on Councilmember Kriss Worthington, as claimed, but was there on business and used the opportunity to find out about him in order to improve working relations. Dean’s home phone number is listed in the phone book; available to talk to the public “24/7.” 

Streamlining council meetings: Says Bates’ Rules Committee proposal is undemocratic, “limits speech”: Would prevent boards/commissions from giving direction to council and councilmembers from proposing ideas, and says council meeting would be taken up with appeals of rules committee decisions. Better to work cooperatively with a council that coalesces around ideas, not factions. Way council meetings are currently run works, especially the ability to move items listed for discussion to “consent” agenda, where items are approved as a group without discussion. 

Streamlining city government: Wants to reduce number of boards and commissions by consolidating some; boards and commissions need to be staffed so they benefit from staff work and vice versa. 

Addressing budget deficit: Wants to attract businesses, a selective hiring freeze, no new programs unless funds are identified, performance audits to see if spending funds the best way, attract businesses; as new chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayor’s task force on cities and universities, will have help getting university to pay in lieu taxes in addition to fees already pays. 

Economic development: Wants to attract smaller, more unique, “Berkeley-like,” businesses; “No big box” such as Home Depot or Target. Succeeded in getting Eddie Bauer and Pyramid Brewery to come to Berkeley. Supported ordinance allowing west Berkeley businesses to sell art from their studios. 

Parking: Need additional parking to attract businesses; re-examine policy that says no public money should be spent on parking