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On Saturday night around 11 p.m. police received a call from a motorist who said he was driving eastbound on Marin Avenue near Santa Barbara Street when he heard something hit the right rear window of his car.  

When officers arrived at the scene, they heard a pellet gun fired on the hill above them.  

One officer went to investigate and several pellets were shot in his direction although he was not struck.  

The officer saw two young boys and ordered them not to move. Both ran off. At the same time two other motorists were struck by BBs, one on his forehead through an open window.  

Police detained two teenage boys, 15 and 16, one of whom immediately confessed to the shootings. Both boys are residents of the Berkeley Hills. They were taken into custody, charged with assault with a deadly weapon and then released to their parents.  

—John Geluardi 

Meditation monkey style 

Spiritual enlightenment can hurt sometimes. A man meditating in a tree in the Berkeley hills learned this the hard way today when he fell to the ground 30-feet below, then tumbled 50-feet down a steep ravine, said Chief Mike Migliore of the Berkeley Fire Department. 

"This is a first for me,'' Migliore said. 

Around 2 a.m. today, Ben Mann, 18, fell 30-feet from a tree he had perched in to meditate, said Migliore. Mann, who had been in the tree since about 10 p.m. Saturday, fell to the ground, then tumbled another 50-feet down a steep ravine located in a wooded section of the Berkeley hills.  

An early-morning hiker heard Mann calling for help around 2:30 a.m. and called 911. Rescuers arrived on scene near 100 Stonewall Dr. at 2:45 a.m. and, using a rope and rescue basket, were able to remove Mann two hours later, Migliore said. 

According to Migliore, paramedics took Mann to Highland Hospital where he was treated for minor leg and back injuries and a possible head injury. 

Migliore said that Mann told rescuers he was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol when the incident occurred. 

- Bay City News