The Berkeley City Council on Tuesday will consider whether it will join a regional governing body that would oversee the development and operation of sports fields throughout the East Bay. 

The formation of the joint powers authority, called the East Bay Sports Recreation Authority, would allow Berkeley and other member cities to coordinate their efforts and tap into resources not available to individual cities. The cities of Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, El Cerrito and Richmond will possibly become members of the JPA, which can be legally formed with a minimum of two cities. 

Advocates of the proposed JPA say it would make it possible for member cities to fund development of much-needed organized sports fields in the region. 

“It is very difficult for municipalities to get money,” said Yolanda Huang, a member of the Berkeley Parks and Recreation Commission, which voted 5-3 to approve the formation of the JPA at its Oct. 9 meeting. “The idea is that by having a collective, it’s easier for these cities to get grants.” 

The first project for the proposed JPA involves the development of a 16-acre plot of land located in Golden Gate Fields. Under the proposal, the JPA would lease the $12 million parcel from the East Bay Regional Parks District and construct sports fields on the land with funds available through Proposition 40. 

Advocates of the JPA, including representatives from the area’s youth sports’ league, are urging cities to quickly approve the JPA so that it can apply for state grant money. Deadlines for two applicable grants are Dec. 15 and Jan. 15. 

Huang said she initially had concerns about the JPA when it was presented to the commission its Sept. 29 meeting, but voted in favor of it at the Oct. 9 meeting. She said an earlier draft of the JPA proposal did not grant cities ultimate authority over the development of the land. A newly revised draft, which will be presented to the Berkeley City Council Tuesday, contains language that gives individual cities the power to veto any development they don’t want, Huang said. 

The revised version of the proposal also addresses the concerns of the major environmentalist players in the campaign to form the JPA. Robert Cheasty is president of Citizens for Eastshore Park, a 1,800-acre park that runs from Emeryville into Richmond. 

The Eastshore Park was designated a state park in December after 20 years of lobbying by Cheasty and other East Bay residents. CESP proposed the idea of forming a JPA for the purpose of developing fields on the Gilman site, which is surrounded by but not part of the state park. One of the reasons for forming the sports field JPA, Cheasty said, is to protect the Albany Plateau, a site located within Eastshore State Park that environmentalists consider a valuable wildlife sanctuary. 

But when the original draft of the JPA proposal went to the Albany City Council for approval on Oct. 7, Cheasty and other environmentalists objected. 

“We thought the original version was too broad and didn’t have enough environmental protections,” Cheasty said, adding that the original proposal would have allowed for commercial development at the expense of environmental protection. 

The Albany City Council voted down the proposal, pending revisions to the plan that would address environmentalists’ concerns. 

In the two weeks following the Albany meeting, Cheasty said, all parties involved have worked together to come up with a draft proposal that addresses the environmental concerns. The revised version includes language protecting the environment and barring damage to habitat and existing species, he said. It also specifically forbids creating ballfields on the Albany Plateau. 

“We think we have reached a JPA draft that everyone can live with,” Cheasty said. “The idea that everyone would put aside their concerns and cooperate is amazing. There are a lot of strong personalities, so to manage to get everyone on the same boat is very difficult to do.” 

Still, others are urging caution and vigilance on the issue. Marco Barrantes is one of three Parks and Recreation commissioners who voted against the proposal. He said he is somewhat comforted that Cheasty and others have managed to get more environmental protection guarantees into the proposal, but said the creation of a regional entity for the sole purpose of creating ballfields will inevitably mean that other uses, such as community gardens and less formal recreation space, will take a back seat. 

“This JPA is a powerful governing body that is going to tilt the balance of power related to land use,” Barrantes said. “It would have the ability to have eminent domain over lots of land that could go to a lot of other uses and would be able to generate a lot of money for the sole purpose of sports fields.” 

He added that even though cities would have veto power under the new proposal, such power may not significantly dilute the power of the JPA. “It is rare for secondary bodies to oppose something that has been approved by a primary body. For example, if something is approved by the Parks and Recreation Commission, it usually isn’t voted down at the City Council,” he said. “It usually requires someone who is really willing to fight and is politically tactful enough to get enough votes. It doesn’t happen that often.”

FRIDAY, OCT. 17 

Dance Benefit for Berkeley Liberation Radio 104.1FM at 8 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. With Sokrates the Virgo, Elementactics, Space Vacuum, Jay Jay Johnson, and many others. $10 donation requested.  

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 548-6310. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. 496-6000, ext. 135. www.bpf.org 

Charity Fashion Show by the Asian Business Association at 7 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. All proceeds benefit the Alameda County Community Food Bank. Tickets are $10 for ABA members, $12 general. For more information visit www.juliamorgan.org  

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with G. Steven Detlinger, Vice President, Morgan Stanley, on “Today’s Market.” Luncheon 11:45 a.m. $11.50 - $12.50. Speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020. 

SATURDAY, OCT. 18 

Berkeley Association of Neighborhood Associations meets at 9:15 a.m. in the Sproul Room, St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 587-3257. www.berkeleycna.com 

Berkeley High School Independent Studies Garage Sale, Bake Sale and Car Wash from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Also on Sunday. Held at the Independent Studies Campus at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Derby Sts. Money raised will help Art, French and Spanish students on a trip to Europe.  

Michael Moore, award-winning documentarian and author, on the “American Economic and Political Climate” at the Greek Theater at 1 p.m., Tickets are $15 and $30. 642- 9988. 

Autumn in Asia, walking tour through the Asian Area of the Botanical Garden, with Horticulturalist Elaine Sedlack, from 9 to 11 a.m. Space is limited, registration required. 643-2755. http:// 

botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu  

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour of the Berkeley Kensington border at 10 a.m. Reservations and a donation of $8 required. Please make check payable to Berkeley Historical Society, and mail to P.O. Box 1190, Berkeley, CA 94701-1190. 848-0181. 

Wilderness First Aid with Steve Donelan, covering subjects ranging from hypothermia to frostbite, stings to injuries, water purification to first-aid kits. From 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.at the Sierra Club, SF Bay Chapter, 2530 San Pablo Ave, near Dwight. Cost is $50, plus $15 for Sierra Club membership if you aren’t a member already. Reservations required. For information email donelan@wildernessemergencycare.com or visit www.wildernessemergencycare.com 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Earthquake Retrofitting for anyone who lives or works in Berkeley, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 812 Page St. Register on-line at www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes or by calling 981-5506. 

Yoga for Seniors at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St., on Saturdays from 10 to 11 a.m. The class is taught by Rosie Linsky, who at age 72, has practiced yoga for over 40 years. Open to non-members of the club for $8.00 per class. For further information and to register, call Karen Ray at 848-7800. 

Pet Adoptions, sponsored by Home at Last, from noon to 5 p.m., Hearst and 4th St. 548-9223. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, OCT. 19 

Fun Run/Walk Benefit for the Uninsured, sponsored by LifeLong Medical Care. Registration at 8 a.m., run/walk begins at 9 a.m. at the Berkeley Marina. Donation to enter is $25. 704-6010, ext. 255. 

Spice of Life Food and Arts Festival, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto, on Shattuck Ave. between Francisco and Vine Sts. 540-6444. info@northshattuckassociation.org  

Growing Food in the City, from 1 to 4 p.m. with Daniel Miller, Project Director of BOSS Urban Gardening Institute, at the Subsistence Garden Center, 2838 Sacramento St, at Oregon. karenjoy@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Prehistoric Plants Life cycles and natural history of liverworts, hornworts, mosses and ferns will be our theme as we walk the Pack Rat Trail, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. 525-2233.  

Mewsic and A Howling Good Time, benefit for Hopalong Animal Rescue from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Oakland Zoo. Tickets are $35 in advance, $40 at the door. For reservations call 530-5154, ext. 505. www.hopalong.org 

“Digital Democracy: The Effect of the Internet in Participatory Politics,” with MoveOn.org cofounder Joan Blades; Ask Jeeves founder Garrett Gruener; Lauren Gelman, assistant director, Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society; Zane Vella, executive director, Campaign Video Project; and Tyler Ziemann, CEO, Affinity Engines, at 6 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. $10 donation at the door. 

California Peace Action Network meets at 4 p.m. at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

“Is Anti-Zionism Anti-Semitic?” A panel on Counter Punch’s new book, “The Politics of Anti-Semitism,” with Alexander Cockburn, Jeffrey Blankfort, Lenni Brenner and Scott Handleman at 7 p.m. at 145 Dwinnelle, UC Campus. A donation of $5-$10 requested. Sponsored by the Middle East Radio Project and Students for Justice in Palestine. 415-255-9182. 

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 5 p.m. with the Cal Sailing Club. Bring warm waterproof clothes and come to the Berkeley Marina. For more information see www.cal-sailing.org 

Tibetan Buddhism “World Peace Ceremony,” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

Free Hands-on Bicycle Repair Clinic from 11 a.m. to noon at REI. 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140.  

MONDAY, OCT. 20 

Friends of Strawberry Creek will meet at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library Public Meeting Room, 2090 Kittredge. Please note this is a change of location. For more information email bjanet@earthlink.net, jennifemaryphd@hotmail.com, caroleschem@hotmail.com 

“Looking at the Middle East Conflict from the Heart and from the Head” with Riva Gambert and Dawn Kepler of Building Jewish Bridges, at 7:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. For information on the speakers, call 839-2900 ext. 347. www.jfed.org/interfaith 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

Investigative Reporting: Past, Present and Future, with Frank McCulloch, Stephen Engelberg, David Barstow, and Mark Schapiro, in conversation with Lowell Bergman, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Graduate School of Journalism Library, North Gate Hall, UC Campus. 643-9411. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 6 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, OCT. 21 

Student Study Skills Strategies for Success, a Berkeley High/PTSA program, featuring Nat Lewis, Eileen Abrams and Rory Bled, at 7 p.m. in the BHS Little Theater.  

“The Case Againt the Chilean Military Death Squad” with Sandra Coliver of the Center for Justice and Accountability and Zita Cabelo, sister of Winston Cabello, an Allende government economist executed by a Chilean military death squad, at 7:30 p.m. at International House, Home Room, Piedmont at Bancroft. 642-9460. 

“The Struggle for Socialism From Below in South Africa” at 4 p.m. at 652 Barrows Hall. Sponsored by the Center for African Studies. 642-8338. asc@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley Garden Club hosts Larry Lee, Horticulturist at U. C. Botanical Garden, who will speak on “Strange and Unusual Foliage.” Guests are welcome to attend the meeting at 1 p.m. and the free program at 2 p.m. Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 524-4374. 

“Success in School: How to Help Your Child Thrive and Still Get into College,” with Denise Pope Clark. Ph.D., Stanford educator and author, at 7 p.m. at The College Preparatory School Auditorium, 6100 Broadway (north), Oakland. Admission is $10 adult, $5 student. 658-5202. 

St. John’s Prime Timers meet at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Charles Fitch will show travel slides. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers are a few slowpoke Seniors who walk between a mile or two each Tuesday, meeting at 9:30 a.m. in the Little Farm parking lot. To join us, call 215-7672 . 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 525-3565. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 22 

Celebrating 20 years of Community Service Gala Annual Dinner to benefit Berkeley Booster Programs at 6:30 p.m. at The Doubletree Hotel, 200 Marina Blvd., Tickets are $65 per person, $500 for a table of 8. For reservations call 843-6542. www.berkeleyboosters.org 

“Africa on the Edge: Fighting Debt, AIDS and War” with Nunu Kidane from Eritrea, member, Priority Africa Network, at 1:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Sponsored by the Berkeley Gray Panthers. 548-9696. 

“The Spirit of the Laws in Mozambique,” with Juan Obarrio, Dept. of Anthropology, Columbia University, at 4 p.m. at 652 Barrows Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Center for African Studies. 642.8338. asc@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Sta- 

tion, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Free Marketing Workshops, sponsored by Sisters Headquarters, for women entrepreneurs, every Wed. from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 643 17th St. Oakland. For information call 238-1100. 

Prose Writers Workshop meets 7 to 9 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut, at Rose. For information call 524-3034. 

Berkeley CopWatch, open office hours 7 to 9 p.m. Drop in to file complaints, assistance available. For information call 548-0425. 

Community Dances, traditional English and American dances, 8 p.m. every Wednesday, $9. 7 p.m. first Sunday, $10. Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St. 233-5065. www.bacds.org 

Free Feldenkrais ATM Classes for adults 55 and older at 10:30 and 11:45 a.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut at Rose. For information call 848-0237.  

THURSDAY, OCT. 23 

Green Living Series: Green Building Materials Learn about healthier building materials, and how to lower your utility bills, reduce home maintenance, and minimize remodeling construction waste, with Greg VanMechelen, architect. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave., near Dwight Way. Cost is $10 for Ecology Center members, $15 general, no one turned away. 548-2220 ext. 233. erc@ecologycenter.org 

“Optics for Birding” Ed Lehman, retired science teacher, will discuss principles of binoculars and telescopes, show how to test yours for common faults, compare models. Free admission. At 7:30 p.m., Oakland Public Library, Rockridge Branch, 5366 College Ave. 652-0107 or 654-4830. 

“Berkeley Reads” orientation for new volunteer tutors in the Berkeley Public Library’s adult literacy program, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the West Branch Library, 1125 University Ave. at San Pablo. For more information call 981-6299. 

Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh, recreational free duels, please bring your own cards. From 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the Story Room at the Berkeley Central Library, 2090 Kittredge, 981-6223. www.inforpeople.org/bpl 

“Thoughts about Suicide Bombers and their Families,” with Ms. Amira Hass, Haaretz Correspondent in the Palestinian West Bank and the Gaza Strip, at 5 p.m. at 340 Stephens Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. 642-8208. cmes@uclink4.berkeley.edu 

ONGOING  

Flu Shots will be offered at a number of Berkeley locations during the month of October, by Sutter VNA and Hospice. For a location near you call 1-800-500-2400 or visit www.suttervnaandhospice.org 

Acting and Storytelling Classes for Seniors, offered by Stagebridge. Wednesdays and Fridays, at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at Arts First Oakland, 2501 Harrison St., close to BART and AC Transit. 444-4755. www.stagebridge.org 

Free Energy Bill Payment Assistance The City of Berkeley has money to help low-income households pay their gas and electric bills. For applications contact the Energy Office at 644-8544. TDD: 981-6903. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/energy 

East Bay Center for International Trade Development (EBCITD), part of the Economic Development Program at Vista Community College, offers seminars to assist companies, professionals and entrepreneurs with international trade related issues. Foe details on the seminars, visit http://eastbay.citd.org or call 540-8901, ext. 23.  

Free Smoke Detectors for City residents and UC Berkeley students who live off-campus. Applications are available from the Environment, Health & Safety office of UC Berkeley, at any Berkeley Fire Station, or at the Fire Admin. Office located at 2100 MLK, Jr. Way. 981-5585.  

CITY MEETINGS 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Mon., Oct. 20,  

at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche 644-6128 ext. 113. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent 

Peace and Justice Commission meets Mon., Oct. 20, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Manuel Hector, 981-5510. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/peaceandjustice 

City Council meets Tues., Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Berkeley Housing Authority meets Tues., Oct. 21, at 6:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. ww.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/housingauthority 

Civic Arts Commission meets Wed., Oct. 22, at 6:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Mary Ann Merker, 981-7533. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/civicarts 

Disaster Council meets Wed., Oct. 22, at 7 p.m., at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. Carol Lopes, 981-5514. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/disaster 

Energy Commission meets Wed., Oct. 22, at 6:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Neal De Snoo, 981-5434. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/energy 

Mental Health Commission meets Wed., Oct. 22, at 6:30 p.m., at 2640 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. Harvey Turek, 981-5213. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/mentalhealth  

Planning Commission meets Wed., Oct. 22, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Ruth Grimes, 981-7481. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/planning 

Police Review Commission meets Wed., Oct. 22, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Barbara Attard, 981-4950. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/policereview 

West Berkeley Project Area Commission meets Thurs., Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. at the West Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7520. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/westberkeley  

Zoning Adjustments Board Thurs., Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.ber 

keley.ca.us/commissions/zoning

The West Coast’s largest showing of Cuban Poster art, an exhibit called “One Struggle, Two Communities,” is underway at the Berkeley Art Center, highlighting the release of a new book that chronicles the island nation’s rich history of cultural and political posters. 

The book, Revolution! Cuban Poster Art, written by show curator and Berkeley resident Lincoln Cushing, is being hailed by some as the newest Buena Vista Social Club. Like the movie, the book and show are meant to showcase a rich art form well-known in Cuba but unfamiliar to many in the United States—in part due to the two countries’ less than friendly political relations. 

The show features 60 Cuban posters but also includes several Bay Area political poster artists, building what Cushing calls a “dynamic interchange.” The decision to include the two different communities, partly at the behest of the art center, also shows what Cushing calls “currency between art communities”—where ideas and styles are able to “ebb and flow” between countries without regard for political barriers. 

The posters span a time period between the mid-60s into the 1980s, and, as Cushing puts it, “are stylistically all over the map.” Themes range from baseball to Imperialism, from Japanese samurai movies to the Black Panther party. Artistically, the style is unique, fusing simplistic symbolism with complicated themes and bright pastel colors to create a captivating presence. 

Cushing explains that Cuban posters were originally produced by three main agencies: the Cuban Communist Party, the Cuban Film Institute, and the Agency For International Solidarity. 

As posters, the graphics served as propaganda tools, alerting the public to issues of concern such as the conservation of water and electricity and the war in Vietnam, and as art they livened up a country that—unlike the U.S.—is not dominated by advertising and marketing billboards and placards. 

This unique dual purpose helped to inspire at least one of the Bay Area artists in the show, Juan Fuentes, whose trips to Cuba and political involvements in the United States drew him towards posters, which he says offered the perfect blend of politics and art. 

“Posters were a way to popularize an image and not make it so singular,” he said. 

Fuentes said he graduated from San Francisco State in the early 1970s at a politically charged time during the height of the struggles in Latin America and at the beginning of the Native American Movement and the Third World Liberation Movement. 

He said that, at the time, several of his friends were involved in organizations that today might be labeled as terrorist cells, where members studied how to assemble and maintain guns to train before moving off to places like Central America to participate in the liberation struggles. Fuentes said that when he realized he might wind up dead if he went the same route, he began to recognize that his contribution was going to come through art. 

Fuentes began to volunteer his services to political groups and has since become a well-known political artist, producing posters for a wide variety of groups, several of which are at the show. 

Cushing, who himself has spent years creating political posters, was born in Cuba, where his father was stationed at the American embassy. During several of his return trips, he said, he “realized that there was a huge amount of work that hadn’t been disseminated to the American public,” inspiring him to begin collecting, cataloging and preserving the posters. 

A political activist himself, Cushing said that his push to expose the art was an attempt to help people look at Cuba with open eyes. 

“Cuba has been demonized in this country and I want people to be able to have an open mind,” said Cushing. “I’m trying to build bridges, not walls.” 

The exhibit itself is carefully assembled and well-displayed, making it very hard to pick a favorite poster. Cushing’s own pick is the first poster he ever acquired. The central image is an inverted conical straw peasant’s hat, still in the making, suspended over the South and North Vietnamese flags, which are fused into one. The strands of straw from which the hat is being woven and the threads that complete the neat meshwork pattern spell out the word “solidarity” in several languages. Completing and empowering the image is the falling bomb the hat intercepts as it hurtles toward the flags. 

The image’s simplistic style and its direct yet complex message is characteristic of many of the other posters, whose messages hit home, often with amazing force. 

The show is a worthy stop for anyone with an eye for politics or art—and especially to those who appreciate both. The book is also a must for anyone interested in the range and vitality of this little-known art form. 

The show will be up until Dec. 13 and admission is free. 

The Berkeley Art Center is located at 1275 Walnut St., tel. 644-6893. For more information see the Center’s website: www.berkeleyartcenter.net Revolution! Cuban Poster Art, 132 pages, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, $19.95. 

FRIDAY, OCT. 17 

French Sculpture An exhibit of photographic prints by Howard Barkan at the Westside Bakery Café, 2570 Ninth St. Mid-show party from 6 to 9 p.m.  

FILM 

Heddy Honigmann: “The Underground Orchestra” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Sammy and Rosie Get Laid,” at 8 p.m. at the Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. Wheelchair accessible. 540-0751. www.thelonghaul.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Susan Snyder will show slides and discuss her new book, “Bear in Mind: The California Grizzly,” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. www.codysbooks.com 

George Packer and Todd Gitlin introduce “The Fight is For Democracy: Winning the War of Ideas in America and the World,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. www.codysbooks.com 

Randy Fingland will be featured at the Fellowship Café & Open Mike, from 7:30 to 10 p.m. at the Fellowship Hall, Cedar and Bonita Sts. A donation of $5-$10 is requested. 540-0898. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Chamber Music Concert with Jerry Kuderna, piano and Elaine Kreston, cello, at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery, 2324 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10. 665-9496. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com 

The Starry Plough’s 30th Anniversary with Chuck Prophet and Stephanie Finch, the Moore Brothers, Bart Davenport, Etienne de Rocher, and Willow Willow at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Free. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

“Another Abstraction” with Joel Davel, marimba lumina, percussion; Roberto Morales, piano, buchla piano bar, jarocho harp, flute, pre-Columbian flutes, electroacoustics; and Matt Wright, electroacoustics, percussion, at 8 p.m. at The Center for New Music and Audio Technologies, 1750 Arch St. Cost is $10 general admission, $5 students. Wheelchair accessible. For map and directions see www.cnmat.berkeley. 

edu/Home/WhereisCNMAT.html 

Steve Lucky and The Rhumba Bums, with Ms. Carmen Getit perform East Coast Swing and Lindy Hop at 9 p.m., with a dance lesson with Nick and Shanna at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

La Peña Community Chorus presents “Canto Para Una Semilla,” a cantata based on the autobiographical verses of Violeta Parra, at 8 p.m., at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Ellen Robinson, jazz vocalist, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door.  

548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Denise Perrier at 9:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

All Bets Off, Powerhouse, Life Long Tragedy, Love Hope and Fear at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Spinside, featuring members of Solomon Grundy, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

The Skin Divers perform funky blues rock at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. beckettsirishpub.com 

Tim Barsky, Ashkenazi storyteller and oral historian, at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$15, no one turned away for lack of funds. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

SATURDAY, OCT. 18 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Asheba, improvisational singer/songwriter from Trinidad, at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Kids on the Block Puppet Show, promoting acceptance and understanding of physical and cultural differences at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shattuck Ave., lower level. Sug- 

gested donation $3. Children under 3 free. 549-1564. 

FILM 

Festival Film Program, “I Have a Dream,” by recent Berkeley High graduates, “Of Rights and Wrongs,” “Let’s Face It,” “Across Time & Space,” “A Home on the Range: The Jewish Chicken Farmers of Petaluma” and other films, from noon to 6 p.m. at Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery, 2324 Shattuck Ave. 665-9496. 

New Latin American Cinema: “Bolivia” at 5:25 and 8:50 p.m. and “Maids” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

A Tribute To Pablo Neruda, an evening of poetry readings, music, and a preview of an upcoming documentary on his life and work, at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Janna Levin explains “How the Universe Got its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Richard Lupoff will speak on “Versatility: The Writer as Jack of All Trades” from 10 a.m. to noon, Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. www.berkeleywritersclub.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Starry Plough’s 30th Anniversary with the Naked Barbies, George Pederson and His Pretty Good Band, Mark Growden, and Faun Fables at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Free. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

An Evening of Improv Comedy with Platypus Jones at 8 p.m. at La Val’s, 1834 Euclid. Cost is $10, $7 with student i.d. 338-3899. www.platpusjones.com  

“Another Abstraction” - see listing for Fri. Oct. 17.  

Bluegrass Intentions, traditional bluegrass quintet, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $16.50 in advance, $17.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Stephanie Bruce performs at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Tickets are $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Tim Barsky, Ashkenazi storyteller and oral historian, at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$15, no one turned away. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Kotoja performs Afro-Beat at 9:30 p.m. with an African dance lesson with Comfort Mensah at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Mind Club at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Nicole McRory at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. beckettsirishpub.com 

Octomutt, with members of Drizzoletto, at Epic Arts Studios, 1923 Ashby. Donation of $7-$10. 644-2204. 

The Pitt of Fashion Orchestra at 9:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Cripple Bastards, Phobia, Born Dead Icons, La Fraction, Depressor at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, OCT. 19 

Berkeley Potters Guild Tour and Demonstration at 1 p.m. at the Potters Guild, 731 Jones St. at 4th. 524-7031. 

FILM 

Fernando de Fuentes: From the Revolution to the Comedia Ranchera, “Prisoner Number 13” at 5:30 p.m. and “El Compadre Mendoza” at 7:05 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Late Marriage,” an Israeli film about arranged marriages among Georgian immigrants in Haifa, at 2 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Suggested donation $2. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry at Cody’s with Geoff Brock and Sidney Wade at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Peter Nichols discusses his new book, “Evolution’s Captain: The Dark Fate of the Man Who Sailed Charles Darwin Around the World,” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. www.codysbooks.com 

Guided Tour: Gene(sis): Contemporary Art Explores Human Genomics, at 2 p.m., Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Piano Concert with Jerry Kuderna performing Scriabin, Debussy, Swift and Chopin at 3 p.m. at Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery, 2324 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10. 665-9496. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com 

Peace it Together An exporation of the elements of lasting peace and building community through collaborative art and performance, with Betsy Rose, singer/songwriter; Adam David Miller, poet; Gael Alcock, cellist; and Tomoko Murikami, dancer and visual artist, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Charlie Dohr Park, 2216 Acton. Free. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com 

Organ Recital by David R. Hunsberger performing the music of Sweelinck, Buxtehude, Bach, Hindemith, and Rheinberger at 7 p.m. at St. John's Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave.  

Classical Encounter Philharmonia presents music of four of the most popular composers of the Classical era at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, Channing at Dana. Tickets are $29-$60 and are available from 415-392-4400, or on-line at www.philharmonia.org  

Student Gamelan Ensemble performs in the Morrison/Hertz Breezeway, UC Campus, at 3 p.m. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Afro-Caribbean Music, featuring Francisco Barroso, Afro-Cuban Rumba, Susana Arenas, Hector Lugo, Puerto Rican Bomba at 6:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. A fundraiser in support of Yaya Maldonado’s effort to continue his studies of Ifa in Africa. Cost is $12-$15 sliding scale. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Music from Scotland, England and Beyond with Fil Campbell with Tom McFarland at 7:30 p.m. Donation of $12 in advance, $15 at the door. For reservations and location email sally@greenberg.org 

Metta Quintet, performing from their new CD, at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10-$15. 845-5373. www.jazz- 

school.com 

Vasen, Swedish folk revivalists, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $16.50 in advance, $17.50 at the door.  

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

Americana Unplugged, with The Saddle Cats at 4 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

TUESDAY, OCT. 21 

FILM 

The Cinema of Ernie Gehr, Program 3, with the filmmaker in person, at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Berkeley Writers at Work: John McWhorter, professor of linguistics, discusses his book “The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language,” and the writing process from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Morrison Library, 101 Main Library, UC Campus. Free, but registration requested, 642-6392. 

Joan Didion disusses “Where I Was From,” at 7:30 p.m. in the Large Assembly at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, entrance on Dana. Tickets are $5. Sponsored by Cody’s Books and the Graduate School of Journalism. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Dianne Bunnell will discuss her new book “The Protest,” inspired by the religious hijaking of her daughters, at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Ain't Misbehavin’,” starring Vivian Jett from the original Broadway cast, Oct. 21, 22, 24, 26 at 8 p.m., Oct. 25 at 2 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Theater. Tickets are $29.50 - $50, and are available from 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Mimi Fox, solo guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Tish Hinojosa, Texas folk roots, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $16.50 in advance, $17.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Dayna Stephens House Jam at The Jazz House. Donation $5. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 22 

FILM 

Heddy Honigmann: “2 Minutes Silence, Please” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Cine Documental: “From the Other Side” Through images and interviews with Mexicans and U.S. law enforcement officers, this film examines the plight of Mexicans who try to immigrate to the U.S. illegally. At 7 p.m. at 160 Kroeber Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Center for Latin American Studies. 642-2088. teodora@uclink.berkeley.edu  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

David Maraniss introduces his new work, “They Marched into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

“Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950’s and 1960’s” with Gerald Nachman at 7:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Co-sponsored with Berkeley Hadassah and Black Oak Books. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

Cy Tymony will demonstrate “Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble.  

Café Poetry and Open Mic hosted by Paradise at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Donation requested. 849-2568.  

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7, $5 with student i.d. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert with Benjamin Simon, viola, Gianna Abondolo, cello and Karen Rosenak, piano perform Honegger and Abondolo at the Chevron Auditorium at International House, corner of Bancroft and Piedmont Aves. Admission is free. 642-4864. 

From the Cafetorium in Berkeley: Better Bad News Berkeley artist Gerge Coates’ independent media project will be shown at 7 p.m. on BTV Channel 25. Ordinary citizens reverse the flow of information using the internet to rewrite the text fed to professional newscasters on the teleprompter. With veteran formers Kurt Reinhardt, Annie Larson, Kris Welch, Doctor Mozzarella, Karen Ripley, Betty Halpern and students of the BUSD Adult School. 665-9496.  

www.berkeleyartsfestival.com 

All Wrecked Up! performs post-mountain American music at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761.  

www.freightandsalvage.org 

Edessa with Brenna MacCrimmon at 8:30 p.m. with a Balkan dance lesson with Gerry Duke at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jules Broussard, Bing Nathan and Ned Boynton at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Ross Hammond Trio at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donations of $8-$15 suggested. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Mas Cabeza, Latin salsa, funk, jazz band at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Nicole McRory at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. beckettsirishpub.com 

THURSDAY, OCT. 23 

THEATER  

Dept. of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies presents “The Story of Susanna” by Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, at 8 p.m. in Zellerbach Room 7. Admission is $7. 642-9925. jreil@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Woman’s Will, “Othello” The Bay Area’s all female Shakespeare company presents Shakespeare’s tragedy at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $12-$25. 420-0138.  

FILM 

Memorial Project Vietnam, two films by Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library’s Central Community Room, 2090 Kittredge. 981-6233. 

Genetic Screenings: “Hybrid” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Potters, Painters and Weavers of Ecuador Gallery talk with Javier Guerro, senior curator at the San Diego Museum of Man at noon at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum, Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way at College Ave. 643-7648. www.gal.berkeley.edu/~hearst/ 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with featured readers Carol Hochberg and Ruth Levitan, followed by an open mic, at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. 526-5985 or 205-1749.  

Al Franken brings his “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right,” to Zellerbach Hall at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20-$36 and are available from642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Lara Starr will introduce her new book, “The Partygirl Cookbook” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble.  

Guided Tour: Gene(sis): Contemporary Art Explores Human Genomics, at 12:15 and 5:30 p.m., Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Secluded Journalists, Ayentee, Megabusive, Destined and Gavin, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Beth Custer at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donations of $10-$20 suggested. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Grateful Dead DJ Night with Digital Dave at 10 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Monks of Doom and Jonathan Segel at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $9.  

841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Tree Leyburn & Friends perfrom acoustic folk at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$15. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Davka performs new Klezmer/ 

Middle Eastern jazz fusion at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $16.50 in advance, $17.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Keni El Lebrijano, flamenco guitar, at 8 :30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Autana, light rock at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. beckettsirishpub.com 

“When the sixties finally ended in Berkeley, sometime around 1994, the only thing left standing from that bygone era was the Cheese Board. Odd that a time and place so thoroughly associated with outrage and rebellion should all melt down into 400 or so tasty blobs of Camembert, Port Salut, and Bleu des Causses. Those of us old enough to remember its first tiny storefront have watched fads in politics, haircuts, nose rings and bread dough come and go, but the Cheese Board stands alone.”  

—Alice Kahn, writer and Cheese Board customer 

Hoorah! 

Berkeley’s seminal landmark, the Cheese Board Collective, has finally put together a big, beautiful, wonderful book of stories and recipes that will warm the hearts, tongues and tummies of anyone who likes to eat. 

Unlike any other cookbook, The Cheese Board: Collective Works has been created from 35 years of collective baking experience. In other words, a lot of blood, sweat, tears, salt, flour and butter have gone into the making of this tome. 

With a forward by Gourmet Ghetto resident and neighbor Alice Waters, and support from cooking luminaries such as Mollie Katzen (The Moosewood Cookbook), Michael Wild (chef-owner of BayWolf), and Lindsey Shere (former pastry chef of Chez Panisse), the Cheese Board Collective can’t complain about lack of lofty endorsements. And as any Cheese Board customer knows, it’s praise that is well deserved. 

Started in 1967 in a hole-in-the-wall space wedged into a converted alleyway on Vine Street in North Berkeley, Elizabeth and Sahag Avedisian dreamed of running a small cheese store and making use of their “down time” to pursue other interests and studies. They envisioned a slow-paced, neighborhood specialty shop based on a European model. 

Despite having no real retail experience and little knowledge of cheese, Sahag and Elizabeth soon had a steady stream of customers and within months it was necessary to hire helpers for the busy store. 

The first employees were friends and frequent visitors to the nearby Berkeley Consumer Co-operative grocery store and Peet’s, a newly established coffee shop. “Creativity and personal expression were supported by the staff and owners. Most people worked part-time in order to pursue their outside interests,” Kahn writes. 

“The combination of the store’s character, the appreciation of European culture and the changing politics of the times created exactly the right environment to foster experiments in alternative work and lifestyles. People began to drop by out of curiosity as well as for cheese.” 

Inspired by time spent on an Israeli kibbutz, Elizabeth and Sahag offered to sell the shop, at cost, to their employees. In 1971, the two owners and six employees formed a worker-owned collective. In 1975 bread was introduced into the equation and soon thereafter local writer Alice Kahn labeled the neighborhood the “Gourmet Ghetto.” 

By then, the Cheese Board was surrounded by other small specialty shops and restaurants including the Pig-by-the-Tail Delicatessen, Lenny’s meat market, North Berkeley Wine, Cocolate, the Fish Market, the Juice Bar and Chez Panisse. “The neighborhood exchanged ideas over food, and there was a shared belief that good food was essential, honest, and important,” Kahn writes. 

In 1985, when the recession hit, the business suffered and the collective brainstormed on ways to stay viable. What started out as a regular staff lunch—pizza—ended up reinvigorating sales. It was so successful that an entirely separate storefront and new members were added to the collective in order to handle the volume. 

The Cheese Board: Collective Works is divided into seven chapters including The Morning Bakery, Yeasted Breads, Sourdough Breads, Rye Breads, Holidays, The Cheese Counter, and The Pizzeria. Also included are sections on equipment, ingredients and methods, a source list, a bibliography and a directory of cooperative and collective organizations. 

Within the pages are many black and white photos, recent and archival, that lovingly depict the day-to-day operations and challenges of the Cheese Board Collective. Wonderful illustrations by Ann Arnold and Collective members make this much more than just a cookbook. 

Thumb through casually and stop on any page. Readers will be charmed by the photos, the personal anecdotes, the special sections that impart important, quirky information such as: “Cheese Facts (or Fiction),” “Can I Eat the Rind?” “Cheese and the Sourdough Connection,” or my personal favorite, “The Nasal Tour” in which the store’s goat cheese section is described as smelling like a “barnyard” and the Muenster section is labeled “stinky feet,” 

The facts and information are almost endless, and I, for one, look forward to many evenings of simply leafing through this cookbook’s rich pages and imagining the smells, sounds and tastes of the Cheese Board Collective. Naturally, I also plan on trying out the recipes. Which one will I follow first? The Stinky Cheese Plate, of course! 

Currant Scones 

“This is the original Cheese Board breakfast scone, and for years it was the only kind of scone … baked. …The production of this scone has changed from its humble beginnings of about sixty scones a day to over six hundred being made on Saturdays.”  

Makes 10 to 12 Scones 

Preparation time including baking: 45 minutes 

Ingredients: 

3-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1 tablespoon baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 

3/4 cup sugar 

1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes 

1 cup dried currants 

3/4 cup heavy cream 

3/4 cup buttermilk 

Topping 

1/4 cup sugar 

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

Preheat the oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat. 

Sift the flour, baking soda and baking powder together into a large bowl.* 

Add the salt and sugar to the bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Add the butter and cut it in with a pastry cutter or 2 dinner knives until is the size of small peas. Using the spoon, mix in the currants. Make a well in the center and add the cream and buttermilk.  Mix briefly, just until the ingredients come together; some loose flour should remain at the bottom of the bowl.   

Gently shape the dough into balls about 2-1/4 inches in diameter (they should have a rough, rocky exterior) and place them on the prepared pan about 2 inches apart. 

For the topping, mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Sprinkle the mixture on the top of the scones. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Transfer the scones to a wire rack to cool. 

The Cheese Board: Collective Works 

Bread-Pastry-Cheese-Pizza 

Ten Speed Press 

230 pages/$21.95

Berkeley school officials tempered optimism about skyrocketing test scores for Berkeley High School students reported in the Daily Planet (“BHS Student Test Scores Soar,” Oct. 14-16) with cautions that the upbeat numbers failed to take into account differing testing populations and the worrisome stagnation of some groups of students. 

“I’m pleased Berkeley kids did better than the state average, but it is a serious concern to me that we have almost 200 juniors (nearly 25 percent of the class) that, had this counted for them, might not have been able to graduate,” said Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Michele Lawrence. 

The state Monday released scores from last spring’s California State Exit Exam, which—starting with the class of 2006—all students must pass in order to graduate. The test, aimed to ensure that students acquire basic language and math skills, was initially set to have gone into effect for the class of 2004, but state education officials, faced with thousands of failing grades, pushed back the requirement this July. 

Students who fail the test as sophomores will be given seven tries to pass during their next two years. 

Results just released showed marked improvements from the 2002 scores, but BUSD Director of Research and Evaluation Peter Bloomsburg said comparison between the two years were unfair because the testing populations were different. 

Students aren’t required to take the test until they are sophomores, but hundreds from the class of 2004 volunteered to take the test in 2001 as freshmen. Those who passed were excused from taking the test again, so the bulk of test takers in 2002—unlike those in 2001 or 2003—had either failed the test the year before or had elected not to take it as freshmen. 

The best comparison to measure progress, Bloomsburg said, is to match sophomores from the class of 2005—who took the test for the first time last spring—against freshman from the class of 2004, who took the test for the first time in 2001. 

Of the roughly 700 sophomores who took the test last spring, 75 percent passed the math section, compared to 64 percent of freshmen in 2001, and 86 percent passed English, compared to 76 percent in 2001. In 2002, 39 percent passed math and 57 percent passed English. 

Among tenth-graders taking the exam for the first time last summer, Berkeley continued to outpace students from across the county and the state. In Alameda, 65 percent of sophomores passed math and 75 percent passed English, compared to statewide passing rates of 59 percent and 78 percent. 

But district officials said the news wasn’t all good. 

Students who took the exam as juniors last year after failing one or both sections as sophomores did poorly, with 29 percent passing math and 39 percent passing English. That meant that had the state kept the exit exam as a graduation requirement, more than 200 members of this year’s senior class would be in danger of not receiving diplomas. 

Similarly distressing was the performance of English learners—foreign students who have yet to score in the 50th percentile on standardized English tests. They trailed their counterparts across the state in English with a passing rate of 31 percent compared to 33 percent statewide. 

“Our kids need to be better than the state,” said Lawrence, adding that English learners were a difficult subgroup to analyze because many were recent arrivals in the district. 

High stakes tests like the state high school exit exam have mushroomed over the past five years in response to concerns that students—especially in poor urban and rural districts—graduate without a grasp of basic skills. 

Gov. Davis signed the exam law with bi-partisan support in 1999, but a growing legion of critics is questioning the fairness and effectiveness of the tests. 

“They’re a political tool,” said Tammy Johnson, director of the Race and Public Policy Program at the Oakland-based Applied Research Center. “The districts and politicians get the headline that scores are up. Meanwhile students suffer with emergency licensed teachers and out-of-date textbooks.” 

She and other critics argue that exit exams lead to more spending on test preparation courses instead of on enrichment classes, stifle teacher creativity, and create a biased system in which kids in poorer districts lacking educational resources are expected to compete with students in wealthier schools. 

Test scores show that, across the state, economically disadvantaged students scored far lower than other students, with passing rates of 31 percent for math and 51 percent for English, compared to 51 percent and 75 percent for wealthier students. 

Recent studies of high school exit exams now mandated in 19 states show mixed results. 

Keith Gayler of the Washington-based, non-partisan Center on Education Policy authored a report released in August that found that exit exams highlighted educational disparities and led to more funding for poorer districts. 

His study also found exit exam schools did a better job of teaching to state curriculum standards. “Talking to teachers, they said [the exams] really change what they do for kids because they know the stakes are higher for them,” he said. 

But the high stakes can have devastating implications for students struggling to pass the test, leading to increased dropout rates. “These tests are the tipping point for many students,” he said. “If they fail, that’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back.” 

Recent news accounts have spotlighted districts that push struggling students towards lower diplomas to keep district test scores improving. A scandal erupted in the Houston school district—praised as a model for the benefits of high stakes testing by former Texas Governor George W. Bush—when investigators found that 16 of the district’s middle and high schools had falsified student records and listed dropouts as transfers in order to boost test scores. 

Another concern for Gayler is that states are mandating the tests without providing districts money to help students struggling to pass it. 

Lawrence said that has been an issue in Berkeley, where the district faces a steep budget deficit and has limited resources to help students at risk of failing. The district offered a summer prep course for students who failed previous tests, said Berkeley High Vice Principal Mike Hassett, but demand evaporated after the state pushed back the requirement to the class of 2006.  

District officials said they had set up a test prep course for English Learner students, focused math and English classes to address exam material, set up a community-assisted volunteer writing lab, and opened opportunities for students to take an extra class in a subject in which they are struggling. 

The California test remains on shaky ground despite the two-year postponement. 

Mike Kirst, a professor at Stanford who helped design the test, said that if failure rates continue to hover around 20 percent, state legislators would face enormous pressure to postpone the exam again. This year several states, including Nevada, Washington and Florida either postponed their tests or eased standards due to low scores. 

Kirst warned the test could be prone to a lawsuit, after the state’s independent analyst, Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO), found that many districts had so far failed to absorb the state curriculum, potentially hindering those districts’ students from passing the test. “If I’m a lawyer, I take that report and hang it around the state’s neck,” Kirst said. 

The HumRRO report suggested that students who fail the exam but pass their classes could possibly receive a supplemental diploma. 

Lawrence derided the proposal as a “terrible idea,” arguing that a lesser diploma would segregate students and take the pressure off the district to make sure that students are prepared to pass the exam.

FRANKLIN VANDALS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I have it on good authority that the Franklin site is being vandalized on a regular basis. This has been happening more since all of the hoopla in the paper. We all know that the school district is not rich with throw away money but that is what they are doing because of all the broken windows in the school. Every time they find a broken window they must send out a couple of workers to board up the window. This usually happens at night when the night crew, funded by Measure BB, is working. They have to stop doing the needed upkeep and repairs to the school site that they are at and go board up the window(s). 

I would like the neighbors around the school to keep a sharper eye out for the vandals that are wasting your tax dollars. If the vandalism is stopped the night crew can continue doing the repairs and maintenance that you want them to do. After all they are working on your dime. 

Name withheld  

• 

NEWSPAPER THEFT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding Berkeley’s plan to outlaw the theft of newspapers in the city, this is rather oxymoronic. It is already illegal to steal newspapers nationwide, and it is illegal (and immoral) to dump said newspapers to hide information from the public. It is astonishing that Bates’ atonement for a crime that has been repeated so often on the Berkeley campus will turn out to be so flaccid and devoid of originality. Perhaps instead he would allow that the various city papers have the opportunity to air their election choices on the steps outside city hall. Except that he might turn off the microphone on that plan. 

John Parman 

• 

BAY TRAIL EXTENSION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It will be a big mistake and waste of money to build the Bay Trail through the southern part of the Berkeley Marina. This is a park with picnic areas, playgrounds and Bay and wildlife viewing sites along a shoreline connected by an 8-foot-wide path. 

Replacing this path with a 16-foot-wide (12-feet pavement, 4-feet shoulder) roadway, plus pavement for the “interpretation point/overlook/bench/seawall” will require reducing the size of the small much-used lawn areas, and removing the windbrakes of trees and shrubs which shelter them. The widening of the pathway creates a hazardous roadway with fast-moving cyclists riding two to three abreast through a place where people have gathered to stroll, play and relax. This design is a detriment to public safety and the enjoyment of the park. 

Cyclists can access the park from the Bay Trail by walking their bikes on the path, or riding into is on the roads at the Sailing Basin, Shorebird Park and Seawall Drive from the Bicycle Lane on University Avenue. People enjoying the park should not have to dodge bicycles. 

The Bay Trail website lists the benefits of the Bay Trail to be: “accessible recreation opportunities, wildlife observation, broader environmental education” and “a comfortably scaled place that brings people together.” The exiting park at the Berkeley already meets these benefits of the Bay Trail. It is an asset to our community. 

Redesign this proposal so that the Bay Trail is connected to the Berkeley Marina—but does not go inside the park.  

Sheila Andres 

• 

BUILDING BLOCK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Chips ahoy, matey. It was truly depressing to read (“City Adopts Controversial RFID Chips,” Daily Planet, Oct. 10) that the public library system in the supposedly “progressive” City of Berkeley has approved the installation of Radio Frequency Identification chips (RFIDs) into all library materials. This new system of tiny electronic chips, which are about the size of a single grain of wheat, is currently being considered for imbedding in consumer clothing and other goods.  

Some experts have falsely claimed that these RFIDs can be “deactivated” as you leave the store or the library. These are passive devices that are energized by signals broadcast by any properly configured remotely-based external scanner. The only way that they can be “deactivated” is by being physically crushed, say with a hammer or a pair of pliers. This new RFID universal surveillance system is an important building block in the construction of the coming worldwide corporate police state, from Cheney-Bush-Haliburton Inc. to Walmart Inc. to your local public library. Chips ahoy, matey.  

James K. Sayre 

Oakland 

• 

MONUMENTAL BLUNDER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

If Berkeley ever needs a monument to bureaucratic blundering, we don’t have to look further than the city’s radio tower. It took extraordinary blindness to stick that thing in our historic civic center. It took Neanderthal obtuseness to plunk it across the street from a residential neighborhood. It took breathtaking carelessness to build it without plans or drawings. It took amazing arrogance to build the second tallest structure in Berkeley without any public review. 

A consultant has told City Council that we don’t have to live with the bureaucrats’ blunder. We can do it differently. We can get the radio services we need without violating virtually every standard of planning, process and elementary aesthetics that citizens have a right to expect from responsible government. Let’s demonstrate the courage and decency for which Berkeley deserves to be known and get rid of this shameful monument. 

Arthur and Carol Dembling 

Critics of former Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean used to say that under her chairmanship, Berkeley City Council meetings used to bog down under the endless partisan bickering until the late hours of the night. 

At Mayor Tom Bates’ Council there’s been a lessening of partisan bickering. Some have begun to charge that the Mayor’s attempts to reorganize and streamline the Council process has led to a lessening of public debate on important issues as well. 

And while Bates’ Council meetings end earlier than Dean’s, they also often begin two hours earlier with a working session, so the end result may be a statistical wash. 

Last Tuesday night, Council set aside all of the scheduled one-and-a-half hours of its 5 p.m. public working session to discuss four proposed ballot measures. One would be a property tax increase bond referendum to shore up the $10 million of the projected $15 million structural deficit beginning with next year’s city’s budget, while the other three are proposed city charter amendments that would substantially alter the way candidates are elected in the city. 

In order for them to appear on the March, 2004 ballot, Council must agree to sponsor the proposed measures—with exact ballot language included—by the end of November. 

But discussion of the actual content of the proposed measures got short shrift at the working session. Instead, Council took more than half of its time listening to reports. 

First a slide show presentation from pollster David Binder—who conducted last month’s Berkeley voter survey to gauge support for a bond measure—explaining how the results of the survey pointed to the possible passage of a bond referendum. 

Then a report from former Assemblymember Dion Aroner—who chaired the mayor’s Revenue Task Force—explaining why the task force came to recommend the property tax bond measure as the best way to plug the budget gap. 

Then, finally, a second slide show report—this time from City Clerk Sherry Kelly—explaining the variables of changing the present four-week runoff schedule for Berkeley elections. 

That left little time for Council questions, and almost no discussion of the other two proposed electoral ballot measures: adopting Instant Runoff Voting and changing the cost and other requirements for candidates to run for Berkeley elections. 

There was no public comment about the ballot measure proposals, which were released to the public in preliminary form last week. 

All of the proposed ballot measures are scheduled to be the subject of next week’s 5 p.m. Council public working session. That leaves little time for public input before Council must take a final vote on the matter Nov. 25. That is the deadline for measures to be put on the March, 2004 ballot. Council is not scheduled to meet on Oct. 28 or Nov. 11. 

Council was a little more productive at its regular 7 p.m. session Tuesday. It took up two issues of intense interest to wheelchair-bound Berkeley residents, moving forward on recommendations to bolster sidewalk and street safety issues in the wake of the recent automobile accident death of disabled activist Fred Lupke, but putting off a decision to issue city permits specifically for wheelchair-approved taxis. 

Lupke was hit while riding in his wheelchair on the side of Ashby Avenue last Sept. 18, reportedly after he was forced into the street because his wheelchair could not navigate a sidewalk default. He died a week later. 

After hearing emotional testimony from Councilmember Dona Spring—also wheelchair-bound—and from members of the city’s Disability Commission, Council voted to take several actions to improve wheelchair safety on the city’s streets, including replacing and widening the sidewalks on the north side of Ashby between MLK and Ellis where Lupke was killed, pressuring Caltrans to make other pedestrian safety improvements along Ashby, and conducting a study to see what improvements the city can do itself. 

The Council resolution said that the situation on Ashby Avenue “currently poses a very dangerous threat to the lives of disabled people.” 

Representatives of the city’s disabled community were considerably less satisfied with Council’s decision to delay a request from both the Commission on Disability and Commission on Aging to issue 10 permits specifically for taxis equipped with the capability of carrying wheelchair-riding passengers. No such taxis currently operate in Berkeley. Council referred the request to the city manager’s office, with instructions to come back with recommendations at its Nov. 25 meeting. 

After the meeting, the chairperson of the Disability Commission, Emily Wilcox, expressed “disappointment” at the delay, and explained that Berkeley’s disabled community had been working on the wheelchair-accessible taxi plan for several years. “We’ve been paring down our request over time so that we could get something passed,” she said. 

Wilcox also said that the city’s disabled community doesn’t have the ability to mobilize large numbers of wheelchair-bound citizens to come to a Council meeting to show their concern “because many of them don’t have any way to get to Council meeting; that’s why the taxis are needed.” 

The newest member of the Disability Commission, Ed Gold, said he once had to push his wheelchair-bound daughter five miles through Berkeley because his van got towed downtown and he was not going to a destination near a bus route. Wilcox declined further statement, but said that she would “certainly have something to say” after the city manager’s report comes back in a month and a half. 

Council also passed, without debate, the first reading of a measure making it a misdemeanor to steal newspapers from racks in the city. Council also agreed to move forward with the Precautionary Principle, a model for making proactive, environmentally-sensitive decisions in city purchasing, contracting, and other activities. City staff was directed to come back in a year with a draft ordinance and purchasing policy to implement the principle.

One of the most peaceful, tranquil, calming experiences in Berkeley is about to be unalterably destroyed. 

I am referring to the path just south of the Marina Boulevard intersection with University Avenue. When you take this left off Marina Boulevard you will immediately be on a narrow 7-to-8-foot path adjacent to pecking, scurrying sandpipers and other shorebirds in the tide and mud flats below you to the east. You can stand on this path and quietly enjoy this restful, contemplative experience or enjoy it from the 40-foot span of lawn to your west. This soft verdant lawn area is bordered by large Monterey pines making for a very contained, wind free environment. The current plan authored by 2M Associates, at city staff’s request, is to replace this path with 12 feet of concrete with 2-foot borders on each side for a total of 16 feet. This will guarantee much faster traffic flowing through here. Bicyclists at 5 to 15 miles per hour versus the walkers, rollerbladers, wheelchairs and even bicyclists now sauntering through at a leisurely 1 to 3 miles per hour. The border of Monterey pines will be clear cut along with 98 other trees in the Marina. Yet there is “no negative impact to either biology, aesthetics or habitat,” states the LSA Mitigated Negative Declaration.  

Take a stroll down this path and come to your own conclusions about the proposed changes.  

Rather than destroy this oasis, one alternative solution is to bring the Bay Trail extension into the southwest perimeter at the first western most parking lot. There were supposed to be three public workshops regarding this important realignment of our Marina; instead there was one. The windsurfers obtained their demands: a step-down entrance into the Bay on the western side of His Lordship’s with adjacent parking. A multi-million dollar bridge over the mouth of strawberry creek was also shelved for a less expensive one by demand from Friends of Five Creeks. Walkers, birders’ and other environmentalists’ issues were not considered, though the price for the plan to the city taxpayers was $200,000. 

The Waterfront Commission voted to retain the current width of the path around the southwest perimeter and hold at least one more public workshop, preferably two. Staff and consultants were not happy with this and went straight to City Council. Bicyclists’ needs were addressed there and voted on but no one addressed walkers and your garden variety path wanderers. City Council approved the initial study that night, July 15, 2003. There is already a perfectly good high speed bicycle path straight down University Avenue to the Berkeley pier. This could be enlarged from the more than generous auto lanes on this end of University Avenue. The two auto lanes are 18 feet each. Four feet could be cut from each lane to create an 8-foot bicycle path. Parking is prohibited on this end of University Avenue. The sidewalk here should be re-surfaced also, for wheel chair usage. This would be a fraction of the cost of tearing up the southwest perimeter path from Marina Boulevard to His Lordship’s. The plan also states it will replace only one of every four trees cut down. If you want a concrete, sanitized bleak Berkeley Marina, do nothing. 

Otherwise avail yourself of one of the few copies of this study that are supposed to be available at all Berkeley libraries, but of course are not; only the city clerk’s office has them. This means working folks cannot easily obtain a copy. If you have access to a computer go to the Berkeley web site, Department of Parks, Recreation and Waterfront. Please inform yourself of this major change to our Berkeley waterfront and make your objections know directly to City Councilmembers. The Coastal Conservancy will pay for this paving over of the Marina but Berkeley doesn’t have to say yes. We can say a resounding, NO. It is our city property, not the state’s. The trail between our beautiful, aqua pedestrian bridge, past the Seabreeze Deli and down University Avenue to the Marina Boulevard must be paved and expanded. Right now the culvert over Strawberry Creek forces pedestrians right out into traffic as the path there is about 2 feet wide. It is a most scary experience with speeding cars whisking right past your shoulders. The rest of the marina can remain as is. “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” Sage advise appropriate here. 

Consider making your thoughts known about this proposed drastic makeover to our Berkeley Marina to all our City Councilmembers. Betty Olds and Dona Spring voted for the Waterfront Commission version, still you might include your comments to them also. 

Norine M Smith is a Berkeley Waterfront Commissioner. Her opinions are her own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the commission.

Workers at the Claremont Hotel were joined by scores of supporters Wednesday as they rallied in front of the resort to dramatize their long-running battle to force the Claremont to negotiate new contracts for workers throughout the resort. 

For over two years, the hotel has been embroiled in a battle with the Oakland-based Hotel Employees and Restaurant Workers Union (HERE) Local 2850, which has been promoting a boycott against them and is currently trying to help employees in the food and beverages department and rooms division negotiate new contracts. 

The union is also involved in helping workers at the resort’s spa negotiate their first-ever contract through a card-check agreement. 

Organizers said the theme of the rally was “Together at Last,” because it was the first time workers from all three parts of the hotel could demonstrate together. Until recently, workers from the rooms division—which includes workers from room service and the front desk—were still under contract and prohibited from walking a picket line. 

Workers were joined Wednesday by a host of elected officials who came out to show their support, including Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, State Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, Berkeley City Councilmember Linda Maio and a representative from Barbara Lee’s office. 

“I support business and want everyone to thrive, but at the same time, especially here in the East Bay with the high cost of living, we need the workers to be compensated,” said Carson. “If you have happy workers you have a healthy business.” 

Claire Darby, a Local 2850 organizer working with the Claremont employees, said everyone involved was happy to see the turnout and felt confident that the Claremont is getting the message from the community that they want them to provide all the workers with a fair contract. 

“I was really excited to see the political and community support,” said Darby. “It just shows that the support is getting stronger and stronger.” 

Darby said that ever since the room services department’s contract expired it has been obvious that the Claremont has “been living in fear” of a possible worker walkout from all departments which could effectively shut the resort down. 

“They were fearful that the rally was going to be a worker stoppage, so they sent out a letter to employees saying that if there was a walkout they would lock them out,” she said. 

The Claremont did not return calls concerning the rally. 

Darby said the resort has returned to the bargaining table with new offers that are closer to what the workers are demanding—offers she described as positive but still inadequate. 

“They have moved a lot on health care, one of the main issues, but the workers have said we can do better,” Darby said, adding that workers had compared the offer to other East Bay union contracts and decided it didn’t match up.  

“People know what they want and what they deserve and are going to keep fighting for it,” she said.

Usually when folks speak of being strong supporters of labor I discern an echo of the mantras “I’m a uniter, not a divider,” and “fair and balanced reporting.” With supporters like that, who needs enemies? The Berkeley Budget Oversight Committee’s analysis, though expansive, is shallow and misleading. Several of the statements are factually inaccurate or thinly veiled attacks on labor, charities, and the less privileged.  

Follow the bouncing ball as I try to make sense of the Oct. 14 letter from the BBOC. It’s the same pattern as the call for war on Iraq: First, scare the audience with the specter of an imminent disaster; next, try to convince the audience there is specific proof even though the evidence is dubious or inadequate; divide the audience between those reasonable would-be victims that agree with your story, and those dead-enders who are evil; then tell the audience there is only one tough but necessary solution; finally, prepare an excuse for any disappointing aftermath by pointing out the lack of perfect knowledge. 

Many of Berkeley’s public service workers, like myself, used to, but no longer live within the city limits only because we cannot afford to buy a home here on the salaries we make. We economic refugees live in Oakland, Emeryville, and beyond only because we can’t afford to live in Berkeley. However, we do buy cars, food, clothing, entertainment, gardening and building materials in Berkeley, just like residents. 

Homeowners should disbelieve the contention that Berkeley’s taxes are too high when compared to Hayward, Emeryville, and Oakland; the truth is you get what you pay for. San Francisco living does not bear the same cachet as life in Daly City. Like San Francisco, Berkeley is beautiful. It has clean streets, good public schools, art and music, restaurants, well-maintained parks and waterfronts that the other towns can’t hold a candle to. The handicapped and seniors seem to live better in Berkeley than in neighboring towns. When out-of-state friends visit me, they notice that violent crime and social desperation are less prevalent on the north side of Alcatraz Avenue. They wander around Berkeley for hours yet never seem to yearn for a stroll down A Street. Sure, you could live in a city where taxes are lower, but expect that your quality of life will be lower too. I’d gladly pay more taxes to have my sow’s ear more resemble a silk purse. 

Labor costs are repeatedly cited as a problem, while misleadingly omitting the fact that labor is what delivers services. Inevitably, some of the deliverers get hurt doing their jobs. It might save the city a lot of money if the injured simply evaporated when hurt, but long ago the state decided that it might not be so bad to help them live to work again. While again scapegoating labor, and downplaying the effect of Prop.13, Enron, and W., the writer fails to mention that Berkeley’s labor force does not determine workers compensation law. State law is made in Sacramento, not on Milvia Street, and it is a little disingenuous to repeatedly lump in tales of workers’ compensation abuses and expense with disgruntlement about fairly negotiated wages that remain lower than those of other jurisdictions. 

They write about “overcompensated city employees,” but I’ll be damned if the letter names one, or specifically states the manner or amount of overcompensation. Is it the meter maid who gets spat on and crushed by cars? Maybe they meant the sewer maintenance guy who risks infections from hepatitis as he toils in the wet, cold, dark streets. The mental health worker who tries to calm the Telegraph Avenue denizen who has had too much of a bad thing could be one of the overcompensated, but probably not as likely as the animal control officer with the abandoned pit bull snapping at her leg. In fact, if you follow the pointed finger, you’ll only find a scapegoat being targeted. Perhaps, like weapons of mass destruction, merely stating the existence of the thing is proof enough. 

Though the “prior labor contracts” may have caused envy among ex-mayoral aides, wiser brothers and sisters may recall that Berkeley city workers were paid less than the workers in other jurisdictions. Unlike the closeted regressives, labor union members actively support fairness for all workers. It is our desire that all workers and non-workers enjoy a good living standard, regardless of their skills or education. The so-called envious workers are actually fine, but struggling people—due to lack of experience, marketable skills, social status, or a decent break—are relegated to low paying jobs with few fringe benefits. They all know the truth we workers share: Achieving an unimaginable dream begins at schools that prepare people for higher paying occupations, though even that is not always enough. The BBOC solution seems to be to reduce the standard of living so that no worker is envious. It sure worked during slavery. We workers generally welcome change in the economic relationships long established outside of Berkeley’s city limits, but inciting dissension within the workers’ ranks will not make the erroneous analysis any truer. In true regressive form, the BBOC solution includes hiring a new expert audit team that would receive a cut of the money fund (maybe they deem the existing audit team is among the “overcompensated.”)  

Lastly, we are threatened with what? Recall? Revolution? Arnold? The serious budget problems deserve better analysis and more thoughtful, comprehensive solutions than the knee jerk reaction proffered by the BBOC.  

Patrick McCullough is an employee of the City of Berkeley and an Oakland resident.

October is Domestic Violence Prevention Month and Berkeley Police are trying to help a rarely talked about, but significant percentage of its victims—men. 

Men comprise about 14 percent of Berkeley’s domestic violence victims, about even with the Alameda County average, said Detective Jennifer Louis of the BPD’s Domestic Violence Prevention Unit. 

Reported violence against men is up approximately four percent, she added, since the mid-1990s. 

Last year Berkeley reported 339 cases of domestic violence, 44 of which were attacks on males. Four of those attacks were male-on-male violence while women perpetrated the other forty. 

The rise in reports ofdomestic violence against men follows changes in California law several years ago that mandated arrests in certain cases, and corresponding police training that instructed officers to determine which partner was the aggressor. 

Det. Louis said men are still hesitant to make calls requesting police help and that usually the partner or a neighbor will call to report the violence. “There is still a stigmatism,” she said. “If we do get calls, it’s men saying they want [their partner] removed from the house.” 

While men account for a clear minority of domestic violence victims, they make up nearly half of all domestic violence deaths, said Chief Assistant District Attorney Nancy O’Malley. Some of the deaths were retribution murders for past abuse, she said, “but not as many as you’d think.” 

Last year, six of the 19 Alameda county residents killed in domestic violence disputes were men. 

Now one advocate is urging county officials to provide more services for male victims. 

“You’ve got a shelter for the women, you’ve got counseling for the women, but there’s nothing out there for the men,” said Darnell Levingston, an Oakland resident who has pushed for such services for years and found out recently how vital they could be. 

Stuck in a relationship with a woman he said verbally abused him, Levingston decided to leave her home, but had nowhere to go. “There were no resources out there, no shelter or safe place,” he said. Levingston spent several nights in his car looking for a place to spend the night. “I tried the police, Catholic Charities, non-profit shelters. They all said they didn’t have any beds.”  

Det. Louis said the county has few services to assist battered men or their female abusers. While anyone convicted of domestic violence is required to enroll in a year-long batterer’s program, Louis said Alameda County doesn’t have a public women’s program, so locals are often made to seek treatment in San Francisco or Marin. 

Levingston said he is working with O’Malley to set up a hotline for men to call for help, and would like to start a shelter if he can raise the funds. “We need to get a place for these guys to live while they’re going through this,” he said. 

To assist any victim of domestic violence get the help they need, the BPD has created two new pamphlets, one designed for batterers and the other for male victims. Police urge any resident who is the victim of domestic violence to call the DVPU at 981-5736.

Senior Beaten, Kidnapped and Robbed 

A 76-year-old Berkeley man suffered no serious injuries after two armed men plucked him from a sidewalk, forced him at gunpoint into their car, beat him inside the car and then made him withdraw money from an Oakland ATM machine. According to police, the man was walking towards the corner of Shattuck Avenue and Parker Street at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday when two men driving south on Shattuck pulled up next to him. The men, one carrying a gun and the other a knife, jumped out of the car, grabbed the pedestrian and threw him into the backseat, where they began to punch him in the head. Then they drove to a Bank of America near Lake Merritt, where they made him withdraw money. The robbers took the cash and fled in a late 80s or early 90s full-sized green sedan. The victim called a taxi to get home, suffering from a cut on his head that did not need medical attention. 

Security Guard Stabbed 

An Alta Bates Emergency Room patient stabbed the hospital security guard Tuesday night while she was waiting for a doctor. Police said the guard noticed the woman walking maniacally in and out of the bathroom. When he approached her, she plunged a pair of scissors into his left shoulder. The wounded guard managed to pin the woman against the wall until other emergency room workers could subdue her. She was taken to the psychiatric ward, while the guard stayed in the emergency room for stitches to close his wound. 

Armed Robbery 

A robber fired two shots at a store clerk and threatened to shoot the only customers—a woman and two-year old baby—before fleeing a convenience store on the 1400 block of Sixth Street with the cash from the register. Police said the gunman entered the store at 7:20 p.m. Tuesday, showed the clerk his gun and demanded money. When the clerk said he couldn’t open the register, the gunman shot at him, but missed. He then grabbed a female customer who was clutching her two-year-old daughter and pointed the gun at them threatening to shoot both if the clerk didn’t hand over the money. The clerk complied, but after taking the money, the bandit fired another shot at the clerk, again missing, then ran outside. No one has been arrested.

City Vote Totals Reported 

Preliminary city results released by the Alameda County Registrars Office show a predictable Berkeley vote in last week’s recall election. Berkeley voters overwhelmingly opposed the recall, 40,490 to 5,005. 

In addition, Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante garnered by far the top Berkeley vote to replace Gov. Gray Davis, netting 31,720 votes out of a total 45,495 votes cast. Tied for a distant second and third were Green Party candidate Peter Camejo and the now-Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger with 3,744 and 3,720 respectively. Republican Congressmember Tom McClintock got 1,288 Berkeley votes and political commentator Arianna Huffington, who dropped out at the last moment to throw her support to Bustamante, got 578 votes in the city. 

The two ballot propositions also lost heavily in Berkeley. Proposition 53, the infrastructure setaside, was defeated 30,196 to 10,855 while Proposition 54, UC Regent Ward Connerly’s color consciousness measure, was defeated 38,935 to 5,485. 

A spokesperson for the Registrar’s office said the results have not yet been certified, and do not include some absentee and challenged ballots, some of which have not yet been counted. 

—J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 

PAL to Hold Annual Dinner 

The Berkeley Boosters/Police Activities League will hold an Annual Dinner Gala Wednesday night, Oct. 22, to celebrate 20 years of working with low-income Berkeley youth. The dinner, which includes a silent auction of various items, will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel in the Berkeley Marina. 

The Boosters/PAL was formed in 1983 at the request of the chief of the Berkeley Police, and came at a low point in relations between the city’s police department and many of its low-income young citizens. Volunteers consist of Berkeley police officers as well as other community residents. The organization now operates a number of youth-oriented programs; from a wilderness experience component that includes whitewater rafting and sea kayaking, sponsorship of several sports teams, and Adventure Camp summer programs. 

Individual tickets to the 20th Annual Dinner are $65, with VIP eight-table seating for a $500 donation. Tickets can be purchased by contacting the Boosters/PAL office at (510) 843-6542. 

—J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 

Panel Judges UC Students 

Three UC Berkeley students from the Berkeley Stop the War Coalition walked away from their own hearing Monday shortly before a panel ruled they had violated two parts of the student code and acquitted them of two other allegations. 

Rachel Odes, Snehal Shingavi and Michael Smith were arrested March 20 along with 119 others from a crowd of 400 who were staging a sit-in at Sproul Hall as part of a large anti-war protest. 

According to UC spokesperson Marie Felde, the panel for the hearing—made up of representatives from UC Berkeley faculty, staff and students—found the three responsible for one count each of disturbing the peace and a second count of non-compliance with the directives of a university officer. 

Smith was also separately found responsible for resisting officers. 

The three were found not responsible for allegations of unlawful entry and disruption of the university. 

A sentencing hearing has been set for Oct. 28. Students say that along with their appeal they plan to protest the current charges at the hearing. 

The university will not comment on the range of penalties that the students might face. 

—Jakob Schiller 

Print Media Pumped Up Schwarenegger’s Campaign 

The print media pumped up Arnold Schwarzenegger’s gubernatorial campaign, spotting the bodybuilder-turned-governor considerably more coverage than his top democratic recall rival, according to a report released this week by a UC Berkeley professor. 

“Californians were bombarded with mostly positive messages of Schwarzenegger for the first few weeks of the campaign,” said Bruce Fuller, a UC Berkeley Professor of education and public policy who headed the study. “Soon thereafter, Schwarzenegger’s support rose from 20 percent to over 40 percent of those polled.” 

Fuller’s team at the Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), a think tank at UC Berkeley, examined more than 1,500 news stories written during the nine-week campaign by staff writers from the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News. Just under 75 percent of the stories focused on Schwarzenegger. 

The paper most under Arnold’s spell? By far, The New York Times.  

“I was surprised that the Times could be so star-struck with a new political celebrity,” Fuller said, noting that of 35 headlines the paper printed about the recall, 34 included Schwarzenegger’s name, and that the movie star appeared in 87 percent of the Times’ recall articles—compared to 44 percent for Bustamante. 

Serious candidates even had trouble getting out from the shadow of Schwarzenegger’s famous wife on the pages of the Times. Maria Shriver’s name appeared three times more often in campaign coverage than Green Party candidate Peter Camejo. 

—Matthew Artz

A drug known as “soma” is making a dangerous resurgence among Asian Pacific Americans, according to Michael Kinoshita, manager of Wellness Programs at the Asian American Recovery Services (AARS) in San Francisco. 

Among the risks of the sedative’s prolonged use are brain seizures. The consequences of its abuse, however, extend beyond that, according to Kinoshita. 

“For parents, it’s hard watching your son or daughter die slowly in front of your face when they’re full blown into it,” Kinoshita said at the AARS center on Mission Street. “It’s too late by the time you see the dangers.” 

Soma, otherwise known as carisoprodol or “Danz,” is available as a prescription drug to relieve muscle tension; but it is also available on the street for a relatively low cost of one to two dollars per pill. 

Soma may cause the user to feel less inhibited, which may be a contributing factor to its popularity among APAs, according to Darryl Inaba, CEO of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic in San Francisco. He noted that people in the Japanese, Chinese, South East Asian and Filipino populations have historically gravitated towards sedatives. 

“Quaaludes,” which were pills of the sedative methaqualone, were popular with APAs in the 60s and 70s, but were eventually banned due to the high level of their abuse, Inaba explained. Today, soma may be taking their place. 

One of its appeals may be the fact that close to one-half of APAs experience a “flushing” effect as a result of drinking alcohol, in which the individual’s face turns red and he or she becomes nauseous, according to Inaba. A user of soma may feel drunk without the flushing result. 

Those aged 19 to 28 and in their mid-to-late 30s are the main age groups using the drug, according to Kinoshita, who added that there are people surfacing who have been using it for the past eight to 10 years. He also noted that there are younger users, some of whom take it after using ecstasy. 

The Richmond and Sunset districts of San Francisco are among the areas where soma is more commonly being used, Kinoshita said. 

Of recent concern has been the use of soma among APA females. Women comprise close to a third of the patients treated at the Bill Pone Memorial Unit, a subdivision of Haight Ashbury that focuses on services for APAs, according to Magdalen Chang, the center manager. Overall drug use in the female population, however, is on the rise, she said. 

Kinoshita also talked about APA women and soma. 

“The bottom line is you can get taken advantage of,” Kinoshita said. “It’s really sad to see them messed up on it.” 

Soma blocks pain receptors in the body which can cause a relaxed physical feeling. This is due to its effect of slowing down the activity of the brain that, in turn, affects the heart, blood pressure and other body reactions. 

“Unfortunately, as time progresses, you start to get dependent on it, and you’re taking more,” said Kinoshita, who added that those who are addicted “are putting their life in danger and anybody else’s, because they can seize up driving a car. They can seize up and die.” 

While the pills are available in the pharmacy and on the street, they can also be purchased on the Internet through companies that sell generic brands of carisoprodol. 

AARS, established in 1985, is one organization aiming to diminish substance abuse among APAs in the San Francisco Bay Area. The service runs educational programs in local high schools and also offers treatments for drug dependency, such as an intake and assessment program for patients. 

“We’ve had clients here that have seized up, and we’ve had to call 911,” Kinoshita said. 

AARS also makes referrals to drug treatment centers, such as the Haight Ashbury Free Clinics, where patients can go through medical detoxification. Haight Ashbury also provides counseling and medical and psychiatric evaluation. 

While the center regularly treats patients who are addicted to cocaine, heroine and methamphetamine, the number of individuals with soma- related cases has been on the rise, according to Inaba, who attributes this increase partly to the lack of laws regulating its abuse. 

Chang said that the influx in soma-related cases has hit the Bill Pone Memorial Unit over the past few months. She explained that soma’s abuse may be the result of “a sense of maladjustment with the environment” and that its users may see its effects as “a way of escape.” 

The Bill Pone Memorial Unit operates drug prevention programs, through such means as presentations coordinated with the Japanese Community Youth Council, Korean Center, Vietnamese Youth Development Center, Chinatown Youth Center and West Bay Philipino Multi-Services Center. 

Those involved with prevention efforts speak at community centers and at schools. The unit also offers counseling in Chinese, Korean and Japanese. The Haight Ashbury Free Clinics also runs services dedicated to the needs of the African American, Latino and gay communities of the Bay Area. 

Both the Clinics and AARS have made commitments to educating the public about the dangers of substance abuse, including that of soma. 

“It’s sad to see our community, Asians in general, or anybody tore up,” Kinoshita said. “All we do here is try to do the best we can and give them hope and give the family hope.”

Governor-elect Schwarzenegger is publicly floating the idea that—to take quick advantage of his electoral popularity while it lasts—he is considering initiating a November, 2004 referendum to ask the voters to put a constitutional cap on state spending. And isn’t that a chilling reminder of the first days of the Jerry Brown era in Oakland? 

For those readers who don’t know the history, Brown was elected mayor of Oakland in a landslide victory in the spring of 1998. Even before he took office, Brown announced plans to ask voters to expand the mayor’s powers. The result was the passage of Measures X and D, the first to give the mayor (among other things) control of the city’s bureaucracy, the second to allow the mayor to appoint three members to a formerly all-elected Oakland Unified School District Board. We can discuss the details of this when we have more time, but five years later, with business development stalled, crime soaring, and the public schools seized by the state, many Oaklanders are now feeling that our arrangement with Jerry Brown—like that between the young Count Vlad and God in Francis Ford Coppola’s “Dracula”—has not turned out entirely satisfactorily. 

Act in haste. Repent at leisure. Or so some people say. 

Measures X and D were passed in the euphoria of the original Brown election, without a lot of reading of the fine print, or much of a discussion of the possible pitfalls and long-term implications. In preparation for a revote on Measure X next year, Oaklanders have recently been studying the law at some length, trying to figure out exactly what it was that we did. This is sort of a barndoor-horse-escape kind of a thing. Perhaps Californians in general might want to learn from the Oakland lesson and do the careful review of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s proposed referendum before the fact, rather than after. But we shall see. 

Meanwhile, at the risk of having all of my good Republican friends admonish me to get over it, I’m wondering if we are going to have any sort of resolution of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s Affair Of The Fifteen Women. 

For those of you who missed that one (or held your hands over your ears and shouted, “I don’t wanna hear it! I don’t wanna hear it! I don’t wanna hear it!”), shortly before the recall election, the Los Angeles Times released a story saying they’d found some 11 women who said that Mr. Schwarzenegger had physically assaulted them over the past several years. After the story was published, another four women came forward with similar charges. 

I deliberately use the term “physically assaulted” rather than “groped” (the term that most newspapers used when reporting the incidents) for a reason. “Groped” has a sort of teenage-boy-snicker sound to it, a sort of “yeah, the girls might have squealed but they really liked it” feel. “Assault,” on the other hand, is the legal term used when someone puts their hands on you without permission (its close cousin, “battery,” is used when that assault leads to physical harm). And that’s what the 15 women accused Mr. Schwarzenegger of doing. Not of being boorish. Of breaking the law. 

Immediately after the charges against Mr. Schwarzenegger surfaced, my conservative friends accused my liberal friends of “hypocrisy” because—according to the argument—liberal Democrats were castigating Mr. Schwarzenegger for the same activity that they, the liberal Democrats, so recently excused in the former President Clinton. 

This type of thinking must have been filed under the “It Happened To Women And It Had Something To Do With Sex, So It Must All Be The Same” category. 

As far as I can tell from the public record—and the public record here is more extensive than one might desire—Mr. Clinton was never accused of putting his hands on a woman who did not so desire. Mr. Schwarzenegger was, and is. The difference is enormous. This does not mean that Mr. Clinton was not wrong. It merely means that Mr. Schwarzenegger—if he did, indeed, do the things of which he stands accused—was wronger. 

I can understand (while not agreeing with) why so many of my conservative friends chose not to listen to the charges about Schwarzenegger before the election. After all, if conservatives stood up and took the charges seriously and believed them, it left these conservatives with a difficult choice. If they went ahead and voted for Schwarzenegger, they would have to admit—to themselves in the privacy of the ballot booth, if not to the public—that all this loud, chest-beating self-righteousness they have subjected the nation to on moral issues these past few years has been so much blown smoke. On the other hand, if they followed their consciences and moral compasses and didn’t vote for Schwarzenegger, conservatives risked leaving the state in the hands of either Gray Davis or Cruz Bustamante (lagging in the polls, Tom McClintock could probably not pulled it out under any circumstances). So just say that it’s all a liberal plot or a Gray Davis dirty trick. But the election is now over, and we have no more excuses. 

For Californians of all political persuasions, the questions now hang: did our governor-elect assault 15 women and, if he did, do we think that’s okay? 

As the father of four daughters, I’m especially interested in the answer.

When the Berkeley Police Department presented its proposal for a K-9 unit with its civilian oversight commission last week, almost a decade had passed since the city last had a police dog.  

“I think we blew it in terms of deploying and training it,” Police Chief Roy Meisner told the Berkeley Police Review Commission at a South Berkeley Senior Center meeting.  

He was talking about Pepper. 

In the early 90s, when crack cocaine clogged city streets, a black Labrador mix named Pepper was recruited as a “find and bark” drug dog. But city officials and community members said he wasn’t a good fit. So he was reassigned to the California Highway Patrol, where he has recovered over $5 million worth of drugs. 

The chief said the department is looking for a breed of dog that is smart enough to adapt to training and big enough to handle problems. Like a German Shepherd. 

Doberman Pinschers, Rottweilers, Dutch Shepherds and Belgian Malinois are also being considered. 

The proposal calls for $30,000 for the purchase, care and training of two dogs to enhance the city’s Community Safety Program. The new unit is slated to help locate missing persons and crime scenes and apprehend dangerous suspects.  

According to the proposal, approximately 85 percent of the nation’s police departments have K-9 units, and Berkeley occasionally borrows dogs from neighboring municipalities and agencies, including BART’s K-9 unit.  

But the chief said Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates had urged him to create a new canine unit, complete with dogs, handlers and procedures. If approved by Bates and city council, the Berkeley unit could be on the job within six months. 

“This is a big policy change,” Police Review Commissioner Jacqueline Debose said. “I think that it needs to start from the bottom rather than be pushed from the top.” She proposed community hearings to gauge the public’s response to having dogs capable of attacking suspects on Berkeley’s streets. 

Commissioner Jack Radisch said it was hard not to associate the unit with images of Eugene “Bull” Connor, the infamous Birmingham, Alabama, sheriff who ordered police dogs to attack civil rights demonstrators in 1963. 

Chief Meisner said the dogs would not be used for crowd control. 

Instead, he cited the approximately 70 Alzheimer patients and others who walked away from Alta Bates Summit and Herrick hospitals this year. Instead of tying up half of his patrol staff looking for walkaways, the chief said, police could rely on the dogs. 

Two of the seven commissioners present said they supported the creation of the unit, but sought assurances that the dogs would not be used to attack or needlessly maul suspects. 

Andrea Pritchett of Berkeley’s Copwatch, a volunteer organization that monitors police activity, said she was skeptical about any assurances. She said there are reports throughout California about unresisting suspects who are bitten by police dogs. 

“It’s kind of weird to have attack dogs doing search and rescue,” she said. “I’d like to see the documented instances when police couldn’t apprehend or find someone and only a dog could help.”  

“Police dogs are typically used to move people along. That’s what BART does,” Pritchett said. “They don’t search and rescue.” 

The Berkeley Police Review Commission will delay plans for its 30th anniversary celebration, members said, and focus instead on holding open hearings about the police dog program.

Berkeley City Council was set to decide tonight (Tuesday, Oct. 14) whether to present voters with three controversial ballot measures—possibly as soon as next March. If passed by the electorate, the proposed measures would profoundly alter the way elections are held in the city. 

Council will consider asking voters to consider a range of election change options, including: 

* Raising the campaign contribution limit for citywide elections from its present $250 while keeping that limit for council races; 

* Requiring candidates to either pay a filing fee or collect nominating signatures; 

* Public financing of election campaigns; 

* Extending the time period between general and runoff elections from its present four weeks to as long as long as eight months; and 

* Allowing Berkeley to implement instant runoff voting (IRV) once such a system is put in place by the Alameda County Registrars Office. 

Also on the table for discussion for the 5 p.m working session was Council’s proposed March, 2004 special tax bond referendum. 

Council is scheduled to debate the election change proposals both tonight and at its Oct. 21 5 p.m. working session. 

In order to appear on the March 2004 ballot, the text of the proposed ballot measures would have to be presented to Council for review on Nov. 4 and for final vote no later than Nov. 25. Council could, however, delay putting the measures on the ballot until the November, 2004 general election, or later. 

Mayor Tom Bates originally presented the election change proposals to Council in bare bones form on May 13, co-sponsored by Councilmembers Kris Worthington and Gordon Wozniak. At Council’s request, the City Manager’s office has spent the last five months fleshing out the ideas, developing background material and working up detailed recommendations. 

In defending the idea of requiring filing fees for candidates for Berkeley office, Bates said last May that “I don’t want to keep anybody off the ballot. I just think that a candidate should be serious. The guy who ran against me [for Mayor] paid nothing, got 200 words [of his candidate statement printed in the official election pamphlet] that went out to every voter, and appeared nowhere. I think you should have to make some minor contribution.” 

Bates also said that while keeping the present system of campaign contribution limits at $250 a person favored incumbents such as himself, he said that such limits gave an unfair advantage to wealthy candidates, who could put up their own money. Bates said he also favored raising the limits “so that candidates don’t have to spend all of their time trying to raise money.” 

If passed by the voters in March, the proposals would begin implementation during the November, 2004 general election. 

If the May 13 meeting is any indication, the mayor’s election proposals will spark lively discussion over the next few weeks. Council engaged in a contentious, 30-minute debate on the matter last May, including a heated back-and-forth between an impatient Bates and a clearly frustrated Councilmember Dona Spring. 

Spring lost on a motion to table the discussion on the proposals and then led the unsuccessful opposition to including the extension of the time between general and runoff elections and the raising of campaign contribution limits. 

Spring said at the time she opposed raising the fees because of what she called the “escalating arms race” of the cost of running for office in Berkeley. Councilmember Margaret Breland also opposed raising the contribution limits, saying she believed it would lessen the political influence of low-income contributors. 

The only proposal that did not receive a no vote at the May meeting was the Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), which eliminates any possible runoffs by allowing voters to list their second (and third, and fourth, and so on) choices in the event their first choice doesn’t win. Currently, Santa Clara County, San Francisco, San Leandro, and Oakland have all amended their charters to allow IRV. 

Although Bates included the IRV proposal in his recommendations, he abstained on the IRV motion, causing Spring to question his position, shouting out, “You campaigned on supporting this! Jeez!” 

At the same May meeting, Councilmember Worthington lost 3-4 on a motion to ask city staff to explore lowering campaign contributions for City Council races. Councilmember Linda Maio lost 3-4 on a motion to explore abolishing runoff elections altogether. Councilmember Miriam Olds was not present at the May meeting.

TUESDAY, OCT. 14 

Memorial for Edward Said at 7 p.m. in Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. For additional information please contact ghannam@itsa.ucsf.edu or hats@igc.org  

Fall Fruit Tasting at Berkeley’s Farmers’ Market, Derby St. at MLK Jr. Way, from 2 to 4 p.m. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org  

Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (BACH) meets at 7 p.m. at the Rockridge Library, 5366 College Ave., near Rockridge BART. 835-6303.  

The Wellstone Democratic Club meets at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Alternative School, MLK and Derby, to assess the results of the October 7 elections.  

Tuesday Tilden Walkers We are a few slowpoke Seniors who walk between a mile or two each Tuesday, meeting at 9:30 a.m. in the Little Farm parking lot. To join us, call 215-7672.  

“Introduction to Islam” with the Arab Association of the Bay Area at 7:30 p.m. at Interna- 

tional House, Home Room, Piedmont at Bancroft. 642-9460. 

“Israel Yes, Occupation No” with Marcia Freedman, former Israeli Parlimentarian, and founder of the Alliance for Peace and Justice, at 7 p.m. at 30 Wheeler Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by Tzedek. 845-7793. 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Anna Swardenski from the Coalition for Seniors and People with Disabilities will speak about Emergency Preparedness for seniors. 845-6830. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 525-3565. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 15 

Gray Panthers Night Out with Alison Wier, co-founder, “If Americans Knew: Information on Israel and Palestine.” Political discussion and light supper at 7 p.m. at 1403 Addison St. All welcome. 548-9696. 486-8010. 

Prose Writers Workshop meets 7 to 9 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut, at Rose. For information call 524-3034. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities. 

com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Amnesty International Berkeley Community Group meets at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1606 Bonita Ave., at Cedar St. 872-0768. 

Berkeley CopWatch open office hours 7 to 9 p.m. Drop in to file complaints, assistance available. 548-0425. 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets at 7:15 a.m. at Hide-A-Way Café, 6430 Telegraph Ave. For information call 925-682-1111, ext. 164. 

THURSDAY, OCT. 16 

“The Ohlone Culture,” with Beverly Ortiz, naturalist, at 7:30 p.m. at Coyote Hills Regional Park Visitors Center. Lecture is part of the 150th Anniversary of Ocean View, Berkeley’s earliest settlement, sponsored by The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association and Berkeley History Society. Tickets are $12. For information call 841-8562.  

“Civil Rights in the 21st Century Conference: Connecting the Dots!” Join prominent activists, educators, and civil rights organizations in a two-day conference to examine the state of Civil Rights in the 21st century. Fri., 7 to 10 pm., Sat., 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. MLK Student Center, Telegraph Ave. & Bancroft Way. Free. 868-8318. www.sacredroots.net 

“Peace Zones: The Philippine Experience” with Renia Corocoto, Rotary Peace Scholar, at 7:30 p.m. at International House, Home Room, Piedmont at Bancroft. 642-9460. 

UC Botanical Garden Docent Training at 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Fee and registration required. 643-1924.  

Faith, Land, and Agriculture: A GTU Faculty Panel, the second of a Series on Topics in Ecology, Theology, and Ethics at 7 p.m. in the GTU Dinner Board Room. Panel includes Drs. Marvin Chaney (SFTS), Lisa Fullam (JSTB), and Naomi Seidman (GTU, Center for Jewish Studies). 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2560. 

Stop Breast Cancer Where it Starts - Stop Toxic Pollution Find out how pharmaceutical and chemical company Astra Zeneca conceived of Breast Cancer Awareness Month to increase their sales of tamoxifen, that is also on the Prop 65 list of cancer causing chemicals. From 7 to 9 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 540-2220 ext. 233. www.ecologycenter.org 

Stroke Prevention and Treatment, a free community workshop offered by the Ethnic Health Institute of Alta Bates Summit at 6:30 p.m. at the Health Education Center, Samuel Merritt College, 400 Hawthorne Ave. For information and reservations please call 869-6737. 

Improving the Chemotherapy Experience a free, open session for cancer patients, their families and friends, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center Auditorium, 2450 Ashby Ave. For more information call Jill Bender at 415-625-1135.  

League of Women Voters meets at 6:45 p.m. at the South Branch Library to discuss the October 7 election. 843-8824. 

Simplicity Forum, “Take Back Your Time” Speaker and attendees will share about the impact of time deprivation and ways they are getting back time in their lives, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Claremont Branch Library, 2940 Benvenue Ave. For more information call 549-3509, or go to www.simpleliving.net.  

Lawyers in the Library at 6 p.m. at the Claremont Branch, Benvenue at Ashby. 981-6280. 

Berkeley Liberation Radio 104.1 FM meets at 7 p.m. at the Long Haul Info Shop, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 595-0190.  

FRIDAY, OCT. 17 

Dance Benefit for Berkeley Liberation Radio 104.1FM at 8 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. With Sokrates the Virgo, Elementactics, Space Vacuum, Jay Jay Johnson, and many others. $10 donation requested.  

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 548-6310. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. 496-6000, ext. 135. www.bpf.org 

Charity Fashion Show by the Asian Business Association at 7 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. All proceeds benefit the Alameda County Community Food Bank. Tickets are $10 for ABA members, $12 general. For more information visit www.juliamorgan.org  

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with G. Steven Detlinger, Vice President, Morgan Stanley on “Today’s Market.” Luncheon 11:45 a.m. $11.50 - $12.50. Speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020. 

SATURDAY, OCT. 18 

Berkeley Association of Neighborhood Associations meets at 9:15 a.m. in the Sproul Room, St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 587-3257. www.berkeleycna.com 

Berkeley High School Independent Studies Garage Sale, Bake Sale and Car Wash from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Also on Sunday. Held at the Independent Studies Campus at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Derby Sts. Money raised will help Art, French and Spanish students on a trip to Europe.  

Michael Moore, award-winning documentarian and author, on the “American Economic and Political Climate” at the Greek Theater at 1 p.m., Tickets are $15 and $30. 642- 9988. 

Autumn in Asia, walking tour through the Asian Area of the Botanical Garden, with Horticulturalist Elaine Sedlack, from 9 to 11 a.m. Space is limited, registration required. 643-2755. http:// 

botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu  

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour of the Berkeley Kensington border at 10 a.m. Reservations and a donation of $8 required. Please make check payable to Berkeley Historical Society, and mail to P.O. Box 1190, Berkeley, CA 94701-1190. 848-0181. 

Wilderness First Aid with Steve Donelan, covering subjects ranging from hypothermia to frostbite, stings to injuries, water purification to first-aid kits. From 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.at the Sierra Club, SF Bay Chapter, 2530 San Pablo Ave, near Dwight. Cost is $50, plus $15 for Sierra Club membership if you aren’t a member already. Reservations required. For information email donelan@wildernessemergencycare.com or visit www.wildernessemergencycare.com 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Earthquake Retrofitting for anyone who lives or works in Berkeley, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 812 Page St. Register on-line at www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes or by calling 981-5506. 

Yoga for Seniors at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St., on Saturdays from 10 to 11 a.m. The class is taught by Rosie Linsky, who at age 72, has practiced yoga for over 40 years. Open to non-members of the club for $8.00 per class. For further information and to register, call Karen Ray at 848-7800. 

Pet Adoptions, sponsored by Home at Last, from noon to 5 p.m., Hearst and 4th St. 548-9223. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, OCT. 19 

Spice of Life Food and Arts Festival, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto, on Shattuck Ave. between Francisco and Vine Sts. 540-6444. info@northshattuckassociation.org  

Growing Food in the City, from 1 to 4 p.m. with Daniel Miller, Project Director of BOSS Urban Gardening Institute, at the Subsistence Garden Center, 2838 Sacramento St, at Oregon. karenjoy@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Prehistoric Plants Life cycles and natural history of liverworts, hornworts, mosses and ferns will be our theme as we walk the Pack Rat Trail, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. 525-2233.  

Mewsic and A Howling Good Time, benefit for Hopalong Animal Rescue from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Oakland Zoo. Tickets are $35 in advance, $40 at the door. For reservations call 530-5154, ext. 505. www.hopalong.org 

“Digital Democracy: The Effect of the Internet in Participatory Politics,” with MoveOn.org cofounder Joan Blades; Ask Jeeves founder Garrett Gruener; Lauren Gelman, assistant director, Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society; Zane Vella, executive director, Campaign Video Project; and Tyler Ziemann, CEO, Affinity Engines, at 6 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. $10 donation at the door. 

California Peace Action Network meets at 4 p.m. at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

“Is Anti-Zionism Anti-Semetic?” A panel on Counter Punch’s new book, “The Politics of Anti-Semitism,” with Alexander Cockburn, Jeffrey Blankfort, Lenni Brenner and Scott Handleman at 7 p.m. at 145 Dwinnelle, UC Campus. A donation of $5-$10 requested. Sponsored by the Middle East Radio Project and Students for Justice in Palestine. 415-255-9182. 

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 5 p.m. with the Cal Sailing Club. Bring warm waterproof clothes and come to the Berkeley Marina. For more information see www.cal-sailing.org 

Tibetan Buddhism “World Peace Ceremony,” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

Free Hands-on Bicycle Repair Clinic from 11 a.m. to noon at REI. 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140.  

MONDAY, OCT. 20 

Friends of Strawberry Creek will meet at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library Public Meeting Room, 2090 Kittredge. Please note this is a change of location. For more information email bjanet@earthlink.net, jennifemaryphd@hotmail.com, caroleschem@hotmail.com 

“Looking at the Middle East Conflict form the Heart and from the Head” with Riva Gambert and Dawn Kepler of building Jewish Bridges, at 7:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. For information on the speakers, call 839-2900 ext. 347. www.jfed.org/interfaith 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

Investigative Reporting: Past, Present and Future, with Frank McCulloch, Stephen Engelberg, David Barstow, and Mark Schapiro, in conversation with Lowell Bergman, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Graduate School of Journalism Library, North Gate Hall, UC Campus. 643-9411. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 6 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

ONGOING  

Flu Shots will be offered at a number of Berkeley locations during the month of October, by Sutter VNA and Hospice. For a location near you call 1-800-500-2400 or visit www.suttervnaandhospice.org 

East Bay Center for International Trade Development (EBCITD), part of the Economic Development Program at Vista Community College, offers seminars to assist companies, professionals and entrepreneurs with international trade related issues. Foe details on the seminars, visit http://eastbay.citd.org or call 540-8901, ext. 23.  

Free Smoke Detectors for City residents and UC Berkeley students who live off-campus. Applications are available from the Environment, Health & Safety office of UC Berkeley, at any Berkeley Fire Station, or at the Fire Admin. Office located at 2100 MLK, Jr. Way. 981-5585.  

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., Oct. 14, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., Oct. 15, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Katherine O’Connor, 981-6601. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/humane 

Commission on Aging meets Wed., Oct. 15, at 1:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Lisa Ploss, 981-5200. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/aging 

Commission on Labor meets Wed., Oct. 15, at 6:30 p.m., at Berkeley Work-Source, 1950 Addison St., Suite 105. Delfina M. Geiken, 644-6085. www.ci.-berkeley.ca.us/commissions/labor 

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed., Oct. 15, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Marianne Graham, 981-5416. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/welfare 

School Board meets Wed. Oct. 15, at 7:30 p.m., in the City Council Chambers. Queen Graham 644-6147 or Mark Coplan 644-6320.  

Design Review Committee meets Thurs., Oct. 16, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Anne Burns, 981-7415. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/designreview  

Fair Political Practices Commission meets Thurs., Oct. 16, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Prasanna Rasaih, 981-6950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/faircampaign 

Transportation Commission meets Thurs., Oct. 16, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Peter Hillier, 981-7000. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/transportation 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Mon., Oct. 20,  

at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche 644-6128 ext. 113. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent 

Peace and Justice Commission meets Mon., Oct. 20, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Manuel Hector, 981-5510. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/peaceandjustice

NO SPEED BUMPS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

The bicycle advocates who favor speed bumps do not speak for all bicyclists. Speed bumps can damage delicate items, shake loose packages and recycle goods, and create a hazard when drivers swerve into the gutter/bike lane so one set of wheels can avoid the bump. We’d much rather share the lane with a wheelchair than with a swerving car. California law states it is illegal for pedestrians to walk in bike lanes when sidewalks are available, but obviously they are not available for people in wheelchairs. 

Cars and trashcans blocking the sidewalk were in our way too when our kids were little and riding or wagoning on the sidewalk. In most cases, cars are left there parked in the sidewalk, not just there temporarily for unloading. 

Widening the sidewalk won’t help if no effort is made to enforce rules against parking on the sidewalk. It may even backfire if it creates enough room for a car to be fully off the street (and on the sidewalk) in a place where there wasn’t sufficient room before. Imagine what would happen if cars blocking the sidewalk were routinely ticketed or towed even if no one phoned in to complain. That is, the parkers would complain, but sidewalks would be clearer and safer. The sidewalk cracks and holes would still need fixing, of course. (It’s not a problem because no wheelchair users use your street? Maybe they can’t.) 

We agree with Steven Finacon (Letters, Daily Planet, Oct. 7-9) that we need to pay to allow our trash collectors enough time to set the cans neatly along the curb. They used to place the cans back along in peoples‚ back or side yards. 

Making the major streets easier to cross would make side streets a more useable option. 

Finally, we want to express our amazement that the person who hit Fred Lupke did not get a ticket for driving at an unsafe speed. If visibility conditions prevent you from driving safely, drive slower, until you are moving slowly enough to be safe. That used to be the law. 

Barbara Judd and Robert Clear 

• 

ADVANCE NOTICE 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

How courageous of Ms. Weir to have gone to her office despite the warning left on her voicemail that if she did go she’d be risking her life. (“Telephone Bomb Threat Follows Campus Debate,” Daily Planet Oct. 7-9). The U.S. often being a trend setter, I hope that Palestinian suicide bombers will take note and start announcing in advance the day, time and place of the deadly act they intend to commit.  

Kathryn Winter 

• 

BLAME CALTRANS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

It has been widely misreported that Fred Lupke, much-loved Berkeley activist who was struck by motorcar while riding his wheelchair along Ashby Avenue and later died of his injuries, was breaking the law. This terrible untruth was first propagated by the Berkeley Police Department (which despite years of citizen efforts, holds an abysmal record on knowing and upholding the rights of non-drivers).  

Lupke rode his wheelchair in the parking lane on Ashby Avenue, where the sidewalk is dangerously impassible. There is no law against doing so; no law requires those who use wheelchairs (who are legally pedestrians) to stay on the sidewalk. Yet the driver of the vehicle that killed Fred certainly violated the unsafe speed law (CVC 22350) by driving into the setting sun—which by her own admission, blinded her—at such a speed as to throw him 55 feet! She also violated his basic pedestrian rights. But aggressive, kill-risky drivers are commonplace—even as the police fail to cite or arrest them. The true culprits of this death are Caltrans, who engineered the dangerous condition there and have stubbornly refused to tender local control of Ashby Avenue to the city through which it passes, even after numerous similar tragedies. Perhaps they still pine to build the community-crushing Ashby freeway. 

Ashby is a trap lined with pedestrian and bicycle-slaying features. Caltrans’ constantly changing lanes endangers drivers and non-drivers alike. The driver who killed Fred surely made a rapid lane switch into the briefly vacant parking lane where Fred was forced to ride. Such racetrack-style lane switches increase speeding and are especially deadly to pedestrians, unseen by drivers jockeying to pass. The vicious cycle perpetuates: another fellow activist against this madness has been cut down by it. 

It’s time for the institutional biases to go, and for all travelers to be protected equally. Fred’s death was no “accident.” 

Jason Meggs 

California State Coordinator 

Bicycle Civil Liberties Union 

• 

THE BIG CIRCUS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

After the balloting that climaxed our recall circus last week news junkies are free to turn again to the four-ring circus taking place in the nation’s capitol. 

In Ring One, Congress dithers over the four score and seven billion bucks der leader needs to Continue to hang onto the tiger’s tail in Iraq. 

In Ring Two, Rummy, aged white male secretary, contends with Condi, young brown female advisor, over who gets top position. 

In Ring Three, verbal contortionists twist failures into successes, invasion into liberation, occupation into rebuilding and spin each death into a step on the road to democracy.  

The magical acts in Ring Four follow the theme of putting different saddles on the same ol’ donkey. Inability to find WMDs proves the deception of Hussein the Mad. Tax cuts turn into jobs. The horrific scene of three thousand dead civilians is conjured over and over into fantasies of a future in which tens and possibly hundreds of thousands are rescued in the nick of time from “the most lethal weapons known to man.”  

In due course Fourth Ring acts are mimicked by the congressional performers in Ring One, thus completing the circus circuit. 

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo

Thirty years after a bunch of politically charged Irish-music-loving dreamers opened South Berkeley’s Starry Plough, Irish music night can still draw just about anyone from around town. 

Among those gathered at the bar Sunday were a plumber who used to rock the house in the 70s, an unemployed technology professional, a UC Berkeley professor and some heavily tattooed university students, all of whom stopped talking the moment a woman of Japanese descent rose from to sing the famous Emerald Isle ballad “The Sally Gardens.” 

While some old timers lamented that their bar had lost some of its spunk, everyone agreed it was still a great place to hang out. 

“This place always had a living room feel,” said Paul, who, like several other in attendance Sunday night, had worked as a voluntary bartender during the pub’s early years when profits took a back seat to politics. 

This week, the Starry Plough celebrates a wild 30 years at the heart of Berkeley’s political and musical scenes. To understand what the pub has meant to its founders and first patrons, one must understand the era that reared it. 

“1973 was a hearty year for political stuff,” said Kevin Cadogan, who belonged to the cooperative that ran the bar until 1980. “You had the fight for civil rights in Northern Ireland, the anti-war movement, Pinochet in Chile. We started this as a way of promoting Irish music and politics.” 

The early days of the bar oozed with Irish Republican patriotism, old timers said. The only Irish bar in Berkeley at the time, the Plough hosted Republican Club meetings and collected money in wine bottles to send to the IRA and families of Irish Catholic prisoners in British jails. Small wonder, since one of the pub’s founders was the grandson of Irish Nationalist James Connolly, killed by English troops in the 1916 Easter Uprising and whose famous statement on Irish independence hangs on the pub’s wall. 

The Starry Plough, though, is a bit of a chameleon, at times a blue collar neighborhood bar, rock venue and Irish folk house. A reporter asking patrons about the pub sometimes wonders if they are talking about the same place. 

For Eoghain M’Bean, a black man and a professor of Gaelic Studies and Linguistics at UC Berkeley, the music and the camaraderie have kept him coming since he first walked through the door in 1973 to find six people gathered around the stage listening to a performance of the Chieftains, now a famous Irish band. “There were zero blacks in here in 1973 except for me,” said M’Bean, who grew up in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, where Irish and Scottish folk music reigned supreme over American rock and roll.  

M’Bean started playing and dancing with local musicians, using his connections at UC Berkeley to bring in foreign music students to study under local music phenom Kevin Keegan. “This bar has welcomed everyone,” he said. “It has always been willing to accept everyone from the community.” 

Rick Purcell loved a different Starry Plough. “This place used to roar,” the burly plumber said as he faced the stage where in the mid-70s he played base guitar with the band Natural Grit. He recalled happy hours when the bar was filled with plumbers, carpenters and other craftsmen networking about their trades. 

In the early years, Purcell said, late nights were for partying, not politics. “We ruled this place,” he said, recalling nights when regulars stayed past the 2 p.m. closing time to suckle on beer taps while women danced naked on the bar. 

The uproarious party days didn’t last long though. In 1980 with the unwieldy collective falling apart, Mehrdad Naima and Rose Hughes, a daughter of two of the original collective members, bought the pub. Gone were the volunteer bartenders and other remnants of the wild 70s, but the couple has remained committed to providing a place for self expression and Irish music. 

“We’ve been open to everybody,” said Naima. “If you come with a tie you’re welcome. If you come with a hole in your shirt, you’re welcome.” 

One of the pub’s biggest attractions is a Wednesday night poetry slam where poets come from as far away as Santa Cruz to compete against the gladiators of the Bay Area’s spoken word scene. While the slam attracts a predominantly younger crowd than the Sunday night Irish music gathering, old timers say the energy on Wednesday reminds them of the pub’s early days. “The poetry slam is an amazing new development,” said Cadogan. “That’s the kind of energy there used to be.” 

As the pub and Berkeley have changed, politics has taken a back seat at the Starry Plough. “I haven’t seen any political activism here,” said Chad Goerzen who was so impressed by the Irish music when he came last year that he bought a flute and now plays along.  

The pub’s walls are a testament to political vigor grown tame. Posters call for an end to the U.S. air bombardment over Southeast Asia, a united Ireland, and the overthrow of Chilean Dictator Agusto Pinochet. Anyone looking them over would be led to believe that political activism ceased with the 1979 Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua.  

“Times have changed, the political struggle in Northern Ireland has changed. It’s a little less extraordinary, but it’s still a great Irish pub,” Paul said. 

But for a new generation of residents the pub remains a vibrant treasure. “This is my only bar,” said Susan Mashiyama, the woman who silenced the pub with her singing. Mashiyama, a UC Berkeley graduate student, came to Irish music night five years ago and was so entranced, she dusted off the violin she hadn’t played since middle school and started studying Irish music. 

“They let me play right away even though I couldn’t quite keep up,” she said. “I don’t like bars in general, but this place is so nice.” 

In celebration of the pub’s 30th anniversary, all shows this week are free. In addition to Tuesday’s open mic night and Wednesday’s poetry slam, the pub will host free music all weekend. See the Arts Calendar on Page Nine for details.

TUESDAY, OCT. 14 

FILM 

The Cinema of Ernie Gehr, Program 2, with the filmmaker in person, at 7:30 p.m at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is  

$4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jonathan Raban reads from “Waxwings” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. www.codysbooks.com 

Best of Open Mic Invitational and Showcase at 7:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7, $5 with student i.d. 841-2082. 

www.starryploughpub.com 

The Whole Note Poetry Series, with Alan Clay and Selene Steese, at 7 p.m. at The Beanery, 2925 College Ave., near Ashby. 549-9093 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Blue” Gene Tyranny, composer/pianist in a rare West Coast appearance, will play pieces from his new album, “Take Your Time” for electromagnetically-stimulated piano, and “Spirit” for computer-edited harmonics and piano, at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery, 2324 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $10-$15. 665-9496. 

Mimi Fox, solo guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Courtableu performs at 8:30 p.m. with a Cajun dance lesson with Diana Castillo at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Dayna Stephens House Jam at The Jazz House. Donation $5. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 15 

FILM 

Heddy Honigmann: “Good-Bye” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Molly Ivins reads from “Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush’s America” at 7:30 p.m. in the Sanctuary at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, entrance on Dana. Sponsored by Cody’s Books and the Graduate School of Journalism. Tickets are $5. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Artists Forum “One Struggle, Two Communities: Late 20th Century Political Posters of Havana Cuba and the San Francisco Bay Area,” with Lincoln Cushing at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Poetry Reading with Art Goodtimes and friends at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220 ext. 227. www.ecologycenter.org 

Berkeley Poetry Slam special anniversary theme with birthday cake and prizes at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7, $5 with student i.d. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Emmy Werner on the “Conspiracy of Decency: Rescue of the Danish Jews during World War II” at 7:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert, Alexandra Roedder, cello, Adam Scow, violin and Tiffany Shiau, piano, perform Bach and Turina at the Chevron Auditorium at International House, corner of Bancroft and Piedmont Aves. Admission is free. 642-4864. 

Brenda Boykin and Big Soul Country perform at 9 p.m. with a swing lesson with Nick and Shanna at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Baby Gramps, vo-calisthenics and stunt guitar, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Nicole McRory at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. beckettsirishpub.com 

Jules Broussard, Bing Nathan and Ned Boynton at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Sarah Manning Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

THURSDAY, OCT. 16 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

Addison Street Windows, “Natural Forces” paintings by Bill Douglas, Corrine Innis and Orlonda Uffre, opening reception from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at 2018 Addison St. 658-0585.  

FILM 

Genetic Screenings: “Tecknolust” with filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson in person, at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Community Reading of “Grass Roof, Tin Roof” at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Publc Library’s Central Community Room, 2090 Kittredge. 981-6233. 

Guided Tour: Gene(sis): Contemporary Art Explores Human Genomics, at 5:30 p.m., Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Mark Baldassare discusses public polling and voter behavior, drawing on his book “A California State of Mind: The Conflicted Voter in a Changing World” at 7 p.m. at UC Press, 2120 Berkeley Way. Free. Part of the series “Minds on Fire: Conversations with UC Press Authors.” 642-9828. 

Tim Holt, author of “Songs of the Simple Life,” will speak on his philosophy of living at 7 p.m. at the North Branch of the Public Library, 1170 The Alameda. 981-6250. 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with featured readers N-Side and Avotcja, at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985.  

Alison Wright, photojournalist, introduces her new book, “Faces of Hope: Children of a Changing World,” at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave at Rose, 843-3533. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Multi Media Concert Chris Jonas and Lolly Sturgess in a performance for voices and instruments at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Arts Festival Headquarters, 2110 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $8. 665-9496. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com 

The Starry Plough’s 30th Anniversary with the Cowlicks, Loretta Lynch and Yardsale at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Free. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Daniel Pearl Music Day, A tribute to Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Bob Norman and Alan Senauke, songs of social change at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10, $8 students and seniors. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Steve Baughman and Robin Bullock, Celtic guitar summit, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The Shots, traditional Irish, American bluegrass, at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. beckettsirishpub.com 

Keni El Lebrijano, flamenco guitar, at 8:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

FRIDAY, OCT. 17 

French Sculpture An exhibit of photographic prints by Howard Barkan at the Westside Bakery Café, 2570 Ninth St. Mid-show party from 6 to 9 p.m.  

FILM 

Heddy Honigmann: “The Underground Orchestra” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Sammy and Rosie Get Laid,” at 8 p.m. at the Long Haul, a reading room, library and community center in South Berkeley located at 3124 Shattuck Ave. Wheelchair accessible. 540-0751. www.thelonghaul.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Susan Snyder will show slides and discuss her new book, “Bear in Mind: The California Grizzly,” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. www.codysbooks.com 

George Packer and Todd Gitlin introduce “The Fight is For Democracy: Winning the War of Ideas in America and the World,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. www.codysbooks.com 

Randy Fingland will be featured at the Fellowship Café & Open Mike, from 7:30 to 10 p.m. at the Fellowship Hall, Cedar and Bonita Sts. A donation of $5-$10 is requested. 540-0898. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Chamber Music Concert with Jerry Kuderna, piano and Elaine Kreston, cello, at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery, 2324 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10. 665-9496. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com 

The Starry Plough’s 30th Anniversary with Chuck Prophet and Stephanie Finch, the Moore Brothers, Bart Davenport, Etienne de Rocher, and Willow Willow at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Free. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

“Another Abstraction” with Joel Davel, marimba lumina, percussion; Roberto Morales, piano, buchla piano bar, jarocho harp, flute, pre-Columbian flutes, electroacoustics; and Matt Wright, electroacoustics, percussion, at 8 p.m. at The Center for New Music and Audio Technologies, 1750 Arch St. Cost is $10 general admission, $5 students. Wheelchiar accessible. For map and directions see www.cnmat.berkeley. 

edu/Home/WhereisCNMAT.html 

Steve Lucky and The Rhumba Bums, with Ms. Carmen Getit perform East Coast Swing and Lindy Hop at 9 p.m., with a dance lesson with Nick and Shanna at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

La Peña Community Chorus presents “Canto Para Una Semilla,” a cantata based on the autobiographical verses of Violeta Parra, mother of la nueva canción of Chile and Latin America, at 8 p.m., at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Ellen Robinson, jazz vocalist, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door.  

548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Denise Perrier at 9:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

All Bets Off, Powerhouse, Life Long Tragedy, Love Hope and Fear at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Spinside, featuring members of Solomon Grundy, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

The Skin Divers perform funky blues rock at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. beckettsirishpub.com 

Tim Barsky, Ashkenazi storyteller and oral historian, at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$15, no one turned away for lack of funds. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

SATURDAY, OCT. 18 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Asheba, improvisational singer/songwriter from Trinidad, at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Kids on the Block Puppet Show, promoting acceptance and understanding of physical and cultural differences at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Health, 2230 Shattuck Ave., lower level. Sug- 

gested donation $3. Children under 3 free. 549-1564. 

FILM 

Festival Film Program, “I Have a Dream,” by recent Berkeley High graduates, “Of Rights and Wrongs,” “Let’s Face It, “Across Time & Space,” “A Home on the Range: The Jewish Chicken Farmers of Petaluma” and other films, from noon to 6 p.m. at Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery, 2324 Shattuck Ave. 665-9496. 

New Latin American Cinema: “Bolivia” at 5:25 and 8:50 p.m. and “Maids” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

A Tribute To Pablo Neruda, an evening of poetry readings, music and a preview of an upcoming documentary on his life and work, at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Janna Levin explains “How the Universe Got its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Richard Lupoff will speak on “Versatility: The Writer as Jack of All Trades” from 10 a.m. to noon, Barnes and Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. www.berkeleywritersclub.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Starry Plough’s 30th Anniversary with the Naked Barbies, George Pederson and His Pretty Good Band, Mark Growden, and Faun Fables at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Free.  

841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

An Evening of Improv Comedy with Platypus Jones at 8 p.m. at La Val’s, 1834 Euclid. Cost is $10, $7 with student i.d. 338-3899. www.platpus- 

jones.com  

“Another Abstraction” with Joel Davel, marimba lumina, percussion; Roberto Morales, piano, buchla piano bar, jarocho harp, flute, pre-Columbian flutes, electroacoustics; and Matt Wright, electroacoustics, percussion, at 8 p.m. at The Center for New Music and Audio Technologies, 1750 Arch St. Cost is $10 general admission, $5 students. Wheel- 

chair accessible. For map and directions see www.cnmat. 

berkeley.edu/Home/WhereisCNMAT.html 

Bluegrass Intentions, traditional bluegrass quintet, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $16.50 in advance, $17.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Stephanie Bruce performs at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Tickets are $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Tim Barsky, Ashkenazi storyteller and oral historian, at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$15, no one turned away. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Kotoja performs Afro-Beat at 9:30 p.m. with an African dance lesson with Comfort Mensah at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Mind Club at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Nicole McRory at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. beckettsirishpub.com 

Octomutt, with members of Drizzoletto, at Epic Arts Studios, 1923 Ashby. Donation of $7-$10. 644-2204. 

The Pitt of Fashion Orchestra at 9:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Cripple Bastards, Phobia, Born Dead Icons, La Fraction, Depressor at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, OCT. 19 

Berkeley Potters Guild Tour and Demonstration Members will demonstrate potters’ wheel throwing and hand building techniques, at 1 p.m. at the Potters Guild, 731 Jones St. at 4th. 524-7031. 

FILM 

Fernando de Fuentes: From the Revolution to the Comedia Ranchera, “Prisoner Number 13” at 5:30 p.m. and “El Compadre Mendoza” at 7:05 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Late Marriage,” an Israeli film about arranged marriages among Georgian immigrants in Haifa, at 2 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Suggested donation $2. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry at Cody’s with Geoff Brock and Sidney Wade at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Peter Nichols discusses his new book, “Evolution’s Captain: The Dark Fate of the Man Who Sailed Charles Darwin Around the World,” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. www.codysbooks.com 

Guided Tour: Gene(sis): Contemporary Art Explores Human Genomics, at 2 p.m., Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Piano Concert with Jerry Kuderna performing Scriabin, Debussy, Swift and Chopin at 3 p.m. at Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery, 2324 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10. 665-9496. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com 

Peace it Together An exporation of the elements of lasting peace and building community through collaborative art and performance, with Betsy Rose, singer/songwriter; Adam David Miller, poet; Gael Alcock, cellist; and Tomoko Murikami, dancer and visual artist, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Charlie Dohr Park, 2216 Acton. Free. www.berkeleyartsfestival.com 

Organ Recital by David R. Hunsberger performing the music of Sweelinck, Buxtehude, Bach, Hindemith, and Rheinberger at 7 p.m. at St. John's Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave.  

Classical Encounter Philharmonia presents music of four of the most popular composers of the Classical era at 7:30 p.m. at First Congragational Church, Channing at Dana. Tickets are $29-$60 and are available from 415-392-4400, or on-line at www.philharmonia.org  

Student Gamelan Ensemble performs in the Morrison/Hertz Breezeway, UC Campus, at 3 p.m., under the direction of Heri Purwanto. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Afro-Caribbean Music, featuring Francisco Barroso, Afro-Cuban Rumba, Susana Arenas, Hector Lugo, Puerto Rican Bomba at 6:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. A fundraiser in support of Yaya Maldonado’s effort to continue his studies of Ifa in Africa this winter. Cost is $12-$15 sliding scale. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Music from Scotland, England and Beyond with Fil Campbell with Tom McFarland at 7:30 p.m. Donation of $12 in advance, $15 at the door. For reservations and location email sally@greenberg.org 

Metta Quintet, performing from their new CD, at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10-$15. 845-5373. www.jazz- 

school.com 

Vasen, Swedish folk revivalists, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $16.50 in advance, $17.50 at the door.  

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

Americana Unplugged, with The Saddle Cats at 4 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277.

Berkeley High School’s revolving administrative door spun again this month with the unexpected departure of Clare Davies, director of the school’s special education program, and Kenneth Purser, one of the school’s two deans—re-igniting concerns about stability at the 2,700-student school. 

Davies will leave next week to accept a promotion as Director for Special Education for the Benicia school system. Purser, who left without giving notice, wrote administration officials that he planned to seek opportunities at an area experimental school. His wife is the principal of an Oakland small school, said BUSD Spokesperson Mark Coplan. 

Berkeley High Principal Jim Slemp said that while losing two administrators after the first month of school wasn’t typical, the departures did not signify continued instability at the high school. 

“It’s a loss,” Slemp said, calling them both fine administrators, adding that other officials would be able to carry their load until replacements were found. 

Stability at the high school has been an ongoing concern, and this year has seen significant changes at the top. In May, Co-Principals Mary Ann Valles and Laura Leventer resigned. They were to serve as vice-principals this year under newly-hired principal Patricia Christa, but Christa shocked district officials by resigning eight days after Valles and Leventer, paving the way for Slemp to take over. 

Purser’s resignation leaves the bulk of student discipline to first-year Dean Denise Brown, who had previously taught in the district. “People know it’s just me for now , so everyone on the safety team helped out to take the load off of me,” said Brown, who in addition to being in charge of discipline for tenth through twelfth graders, must now handle ninth graders and members of small school programs within the high school. 

Despite Purser’s resignation and the loss of the school’s two locker room attendants due to budget cuts, parents say they can’t remember the high school ever being safer.  

“Four years ago the place was insane,” said Laura Menard, who sits on the PTSA Safety Commission. “Now it’s so much better.” 

Deans at the high school were reintroduced three years ago after a scathing report from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) threatened to rescind accreditation if the school did not address 11 problem areas, including student safety. Since the report, the school has devised a safety plan that it is now implementing. 

Brown didn’t have fight statistics for the new school year, but she estimated that there have been only three, way down from previous years. She credited reductions in fights and truancy to two things: a new policy in which the school’s nine security guards roam the campus instead of standing at fixed check points, and staff familiarity with the six-period day implemented last year. 

This is the first year that all students have classes from second to fifth periods, which means that hall monitors know that from 9:36 a.m. to 2:14 p.m. students have no excuse not to be in class, she said. 

Ken Jacopetti, district director for special education, said Davies’ departure would be a blow to the program. “It’s a mixed blessing,” he said. “We’re all happy for her promotion, but she’s going to be tough to replace.” 

Davies arrived at the high school three years ago, and supervised 18 special education teachers who instruct 270 high school students. Jacopetti said she played an important role on the school’s ongoing special education task force which will present proposals to improve the program. 

Jacopetti said finding a replacement in the middle of the school year should not be difficult because Berkeley has a good reputation as a leader in special education. Candidates interviews will begin next month, he said. In the meantime, teachers and guidance counselors will pitch in to do Davies’ work.

This letter from the Berkeley Budget Oversight Committee was addressed to Mayor Bates, City Manager Weldon Rucker and City Council.  

We are opposed to any increase in Berkeley’s real property tax on homeowners, and we hope that our elected city Council does not go forward with this ill-conceived March ballot measure. There are many reasons to scrap this idea and there are alternative and fairer ways to balance the city budget and preserve the most important of our worthwhile city services and jobs. 

The Gargantuan Berkeley Budget Deficit 

• Right now, the projected all-fund city deficit moves from about $9.4 million in 2004-2005 to $16.4 million in 2007-2008. If the recently-triggered Vehicle License Fee increase is somehow repealed, as threatened, the city will lose an additional $6 million annually, bringing the all-fund deficit to about $15.4 million next year and $23 million in just four years. And these figures do not account for other likely losses due to additional cuts in outside fund infusions (foundations and federal and state grants) and additional losses resulting directly or indirectly from the effects of economic recession on our taxpaying residents. 

• Clearly, we have an enormous budget problem that will require very painful actions. The city’s increased labor costs are the biggest part of the problem. Labor costs account for about 75 percent of the city budget of $250 million. Due to the recently-negotiated labor contracts, the annual increases in city labor costs are, very conservatively, about 5 percent, or about $9.375 million annually. Having examined these contracts and compared them to others, and despite being strong supporters of labor, we must assert that these contracts are excessive, that our city employees, while generally exceedingly competent, are now being overcompensated, and the labor contracts are the proximate cause of the city’s budget problem. The prior labor contracts must certainly have been the envy of beleaguered and underpaid workers at Berkeley Bowl, BOSS, the Claremont, and in our child care centers, and these new ones must seem like an unimaginable dream. 

• One could fairly state that the real estate tax increase proposed to be levied on our highly-taxed property owners will go directly into the pockets of our excellent but overcompensated city employees. 

Why New Homeowner Real Estate Taxes Are a Very Bad Idea 

• Most Berkeley homeowners are not multimillionaire corporate plutocrats who have enriched themselves at the expense of others. Rather, they are regular hardworking people who have sacrificed to buy a home and who are struggling to meet expenses. The vast majority of them of them do not have the job security, defined-benefit pension, and numerous other benefits enjoyed by our city employees. 

• Berkeley homeowners are already paying a far higher real property tax than their neighbors in Oakland, Hayward, Emery-ville, and the other pertinent jurisdictions selected by our own city Manager as comparisons. 

• Relative to the entire Berkeley community, Berkeley homeowners do not use more public services than other Berkeley groups who currently pay far less or nothing toward the cost of their upkeep. For example, many tax-exempt religious/educational establishments with multiple housing units are heavy public service users and they pay zero taxes for these services. 

• The proposed March ballot measure (purportedly for fire and police services but in reality simply a backfill to the General Fund) is but the first in a series of likely tax and fee increase measures that will, when taken together, cost the so-called average Berkeley homeowner between $1,000 and $2,000 annually. I am talking about a new BUSD measure, the Gann reauthorizations with recurring annual increases and now with a proposed 5 percent annual inflator, more money for the Berkeley Library (which has already received a substantial 14 percent increase), and likely measures for BART, East Bay Regional Parks, and our local bridge tolls. To these new homeowner costs one must add the already-approved and effective cost increases for parks and recreation, paramedic, special school taxes, clean storm water, and others. 

• There are serious and predictable consequences to further reducing the discretionary income of the homeowner segment of Berkeley’s population. These are the families that spend substantial money in Berkeley. They fix up their homes using Berkeley stores and Berkeley contractors. They buy big ticket items, such as cars, appliances, electronics, and furniture, in Berkeley. They contribute money to worthwhile causes in Berkeley, such as school fund raisers. And they patronize our local artistic establishments and better restaurants. For most of these homeowners, a hit of $1,500 will seriously impact their spending behavior and, in consequence, negatively impact our already-weakening economic infrastructure. 

We Need to Face Our Budget Reality and Stop Looking for Scapegoats 

• Yes, Proposition 13 caused problems, Bush is spending excessively on the military, Enron executives are criminals who should be in jail, the State of California has taken all our money, etc. Expounding about these matters does not help us face the reality that the Berkeley budget is simply not sustainable, cuts must be made, some fair new taxes and fees assessed, and the fragile local economic ecosystem must not be further impaired. 

• The property tax hike proposed for the March ballot will not solve the underlying problem and might make it worse insofar as it re moves big money from those who might spend it more productively in our town and it deludes the community into thinking that we are addressing our budget problem in a fair and effective manner. It will promote selfish thinking on the part of many who receive services while paying little for them, it will encourage labor union recalcitrance, and it will forestall necessary financial discipline within the bureaucracy. 

Alternative Budget Balancing Measures 

• We all know that the city will have to lay off many, many city workers and severely cut city services. This scenario will be minimized if the city renegotiates the labor contracts in a manner such that all our city employees take a small hit but all get to keep their jobs and keep providing services. This alternative is, obviously, infinitely preferable and would serve the greatest good for the greatest number of persons. If our city leaders were willing to forcefully stake out this honorable position now, as have leaders in most other communities, there is no doubt that it would come to pass.  

• Many other smaller belt-tightening measures have been initiated, such as Workman’s Comp reform ($1.2 million annually if I recall correctly) and a reduced workforce by attrition. We need to make sure that these measures are not sidetracked by temporary cash infusions. 

• Many other taxes and fees have been proposed for exploration that would more equitably spread the burden of government among the entire community, including but not limited to a car tax, a resident tax, bicycle license fees, residential parking fees and fines tied to the family necessity, value, and environmental detriment of the vehicle, and luxury taxes. These fees would not only, cumulatively, add substantial revenue, but they would also promote more appreciation for our services, a better sense of community participation, and a real reciprocity in the interactions among residents and between residents and the city. In the mad rush to get a new homeowner real property tax on the ballot, the mayor’s Revenue Task Force and city staff pooh-poohed most of these ideas as difficult, time-consuming, and chump change. This strikes us as a very wrongheaded and cavalier approach. 

• Many, many residents have come to realize that institutional expansion by tax-exempt organizations threatens both our land use balance and our city budget. Apart from UC (which owns or controls 30-40 percent of Berkeley parcels according to Phil Kamlarz!), there are hundreds of exempt organizations owning land and assets worth multimillions or more. Many of these rich nonprofits are very high service users. There is also evidence that some profitmaking entities are inappropriately benefiting from the “welfare exemption” (State law appears to only permit this exemption for qualifying nonprofits with qualifying uses, or, in a few rare instances, for partnerships with qualifying uses where the Managing General Partner is a qualified nonprofit). So, before any new real property taxes are levied, we need a thorough and independent audit of each and every exempt parcel/owner to determine, first, if the exemption is legal and second, if payments in lieu of taxes are warranted for that parcel/organization. Throughout this country, there are thousands of examples of nonprofits that make a financial contribution to the governing entity for schools, parks, paramedics, and all the other city services to which they have unfettered access. Retaining an expert audit team and getting a full report in the very near future should be an immediate order of city business. And we might consider paying this audit team, as is done in similar circumstances, with a percentage of the net tax/payment revenue garnered through the audit. 

These are just a few of the thoughts we want to convey to you now in the hope of influencing you to think this situation through comprehensively, rationally, and fairly. New property taxes are a dead end: They will not solve the problem; they will make the local economic situation worse; there will be many distressed and financially-stressed homeowners; and there are other fairer ways to address the budget problem. Regardless of the results of the (flawed) Voter Survey that pandered to people’s worst fears and desire for others to pay instead of themselves, as word gets out about the magnitude of the budget problem, the magnitude of the likely cumulative cost to property owners, and the inappropriateness of the labor contracts, you may well face serious anger and outrage of the sort that shakes up political stability. We believe that this outcome is unnecessary and avoidable, only it require your courage and leadership and not conducting business (taxing) as usual. 

Barbara Gilbert and Viki Tamaradze are co-chairpersons of the Berkeley Budget Oversight Committee.

Rosa Equihua knows how vital and precarious after-school programs are in Berkeley. As a working single mother who can’t be home when school lets out, she sends her two elementary school-aged daughters to the nonprofit Bahia Program. 

When last summer’s state budget stalemate froze program funds, the nonprofit needed emergency city loans to pay its bills. “That was a frightening time,” Equihua said. “This program is essential. It allows me to earn a living.” 

Equihua was one of hundreds of Berkeley parents who turned out last Thursday for Lights On After School, a national event aimed at drawing attention to the benefits of after-school programs so that governments—facing mounting deficits—think twice before slashing their funding. 

According to Alameda County, 2,022 out of 6,448 Berkeley school-aged children are enrolled in after school programs run by the school district, the city and various charitable groups. Berkeley places a higher percentage of students in such programs than most neighboring cities, but not enough, city and district officials say, to prevent waiting lists of at-need students at numerous after-school programs. 

Most Berkeley programs follow a set formula, providing youngsters an afternoon snack, tutoring them for the first hour after school and then providing recreational opportunities, such as dance classes, crafts and sports. Teachers include full-time district employees and part-time instructors teaching to groups of between 12 and 20 students. 

Program advocates have clamored for more funds to boost enrollment, pointing to studies that show students in such programs do better scholastically and stay out of trouble—although a recent study has called those findings into question. 

Berkeley has long championed funding after-school activities, and twice as many students proportionately are enrolled in such activities here as in neighboring Oakland. 

After-school opportunities for Berkeley kids flowered in 1998 when the school district utilized a new state grant to implement programs at six of the district’s elementary schools and all three junior high schools. 

Last year, despite a budget crunch, the city continued to earmark about $2 million for city programs and nonprofit after-school providers. 

State funding—which provides for most of the district’s programs—has also remained stable despite the budget deficit, but city and school officials say current funding levels are insufficient to meet the needs of all Berkeley students. 

A funding shortfall this summer forced the city to trim two weeks from its youth summer program. 

Kimberly Watson Fox, director of the district’s after-school programs which serve 1,500 students, said increased program costs, especially teacher medical benefits, have forced reductions in enrichment programs and tuition hikes for wealthier families. The district now charges parents according to a sliding scale fee from between $0 and $300 per month—still less than the county average maximum tuition of $480. 

Many of those participating in Lights On took solace that the event’s Honorary Chairperson Arnold Schwarzenegger will soon be calling the shots in California. 

“I think with Arnold now governor, program funding won’t get cut,” said Michael Funk, director of an after-school program in San Francisco. 

But Julie Sinai, aide to Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, said she feared that should Schwarzenegger succeed in repealing the increase in vehicle license registration fees—which city officials estimated would add $6.2 million to the general fund—Berkeley could be forced to cut funds for after-school programs. “What the state does has a direct impact on our ability to fund community organizations,” she said. 

Last year Schwarzenegger championed Proposition 49, passed overwhelmingly by California voters, which could potentially raise state funding for after-school programs from the current $135 million to $550 million. However, no cities have yet received a cent because the law mandates that funds can only be released when there is a state budget surplus. 

Federal funding hasn’t kept pace with program demand either. 

As part of President Bush’s No Child Left Behind policy, funding for the federal block grant 21st Century After-school Learning Program—which funds some of the Berkeley school district’s programs—was to increase to $1.75 billion in 2004. Instead Bush asked Congress this year to cut funding for the program nearly in half from $1 billion to $600 million. Congressional opposition allowed funding to remain at $1 billion. 

While the funding battle continues, a debate is brewing over the effectiveness of the programs. A 2002 UC Irvine study found that California students enrolled in after-school programs performed better on the SAT-9 Reading and Math tests, had better attendance records, and reported more positive attitudes towards their school. 

However, a recent federal Department of Education report on the 21st Century program found that, nationwide, students enrolled in program-funded activities showed zero scholastic improvement and did not feel safer or more positively inclined towards their schools. The report’s authors blamed poor attendance for the results, noting that middle school students enrolled in the programs showed up, on average, only once a week. 

Equihua, though, said that Bahia, which offers bilingual education to West Berkeley’s Latino community, provides services no tests can measure. “This is a safe place for kids to go to feel accepted and get a sense of community,” she said. “My daughters love it here.”

In the third (and what the mayor undoubtedly hopes is the last) act in Mayor Tom Bates’ Great Newspaper Theft drama, City Council will discuss at its regular meeting tonight (Tuesday, Oct. 14) an ordinance to ban the stealing of newspapers in the City of Berkeley. 

The drama’s first act occurred on the day before last November’s mayoral election, when some 1,000 copies of the Daily Cal, which contained an endorsement of Bates’ opponent, former Mayor Shirley Dean, were stolen from the campus. 

Act two came when Bates pleaded guilty to stealing and trashing the papers and was fined $100 by the Alameda County Superior Court. At the time he confessed, Bates also promised to introduce a newspaper theft ordinance to City Council. 

The proposed ordinance would ban the theft of newspapers in Berkeley, whether the thefts were for the purpose of curbing free speech or for resale to a recycler. Violation of the ordinance would come under the City Charter’s general misdemeanor provision, which calls for a fine of not more than one thousand dollars and/or imprisonment not to exceed six months. 

Theft of newspapers to silence speech is a growing national problem, particularly affecting college student newspapers. Earlier this year the Student Press Law Center in Arlington reported 25 incidents of theft of college student newspapers during the past academic year. 

Also at tonight’s meeting, Council is set to discuss a resolution, introduced by Councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Margaret Breland and recommended by the Community Environmental Advisory Commission, that could change the way the city acquires and uses possibly harmful commodities and services. 

Called the “Precautionary Principle,” the resolution would “shift the responsibility for demonstrating the safety of a potentially harmful substance or activity to the proponent of the activity,” and would concentrate in the areas of minimizing health risks to staff and residents, minimizing the city’s contribution to global climate change, improving air quality, protecting the quality of ground and surface waters, and minimizing the city’s consumption of resources. 

If adopted, the resolution would require city staff to create a draft “Precautionary Principle” ordinance and purchase policy within one year. 

Other highlights of tonight’s City Council agenda include a proposed ordinance to ban smoking in Berkeley’s bus shelters and recommendations to improve wheelchair and pedestrian safety on Ashby Avenue.

Pro-union shoppers at the Berkeley Bowl Sunday tied colorful balloons to their carts to show their support of workers who will be voting Oct. 30 on whether to certify the union many of them have been working tirelessly to organize since early May. 

A favorable vote would create the first union contract at the store since its move to the new location—but it wouldn’t be the first time the Bowl sported a union label. 

Berkeley veterans who knew the old Bowl—located across the street in a converted bowling alley—might remember that for a brief stint in the 1980s, workers had a contract through the same United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) now running their organizing effort—albeit through another local. 

The store was much smaller then, with 40 to 50 employees compared to the 250 it now employs. 

Many in the current organizing drive said that since the days of the old union and with the Bowl’s rapid growth, a whole new string of problems has developed which have pushed them to organize. 

According to one employee who worked at the Bowl before the move, store workers have always needed a union. 

Jose Mena, a former Bowl employee who now works at Andronico’s on Solano Avenue, said the Berkeley Bowl has always put business first and employees second. 

Mena, who worked 60-hour weeks at the old store for three years just after the original union left, said the work environment then was high-pressure and unfriendly. 

“I worked so many hours but was always told I was slow,” said Mena. 

In those days, he said, the store’s employees, though fewer in number, did have perks like full health care coverage. Mena said he finally left because he was not being paid enough and was working too many hours. 

“The owner said he would give union wages, but it never happened. And raises? They came whenever the boss wanted instead of on a schedule like with a union,” said Mena. 

Shelton Yokomizo, another former Bowl employee who now works for a union store, disagreed with Mena about the atmosphere at the store but said he was also forced to leave because he needed a retirement plan that included full health coverage—something the Bowl was unwilling to provide. 

“It was nice because it was a smaller store,” said Yokomizo. “For example, all the employees used to take breaks together and the owner’s parents used to bring in food for us. I enjoyed every minute of it.” 

Yokomizo, unlike Mena, saw the opportunity to work long hours as a perk. He said that, at the time, the store’s structure was more fluid. Employees could show up after or before their scheduled start times so long as the work got done and they put in the necessary hours. 

But Yokomizo, who suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol, said he had to find work at a union store because he already had several years with a union and only needed a few more to receive the most comprehensive retirement package. Now 60, he said he couldn’t have afforded to wait to see how the new Bowl developed and whether or not management would pay for his health care plan. 

Like other employees at the old Bowl, Yokomizo voted to decertify the union after its first contract expired because he felt the store was friendly and workers didn’t need a union. 

Mena said that even though Yokomizo might still think positively about the store and the long hours, he was being duped by the store’s image. 

“That’ s not fair to Shelton after he worked there for over twenty years,” he said in reference to the Bowl’s refusal to provide a benefit package. “It was a nice store, but they still needed to treat everybody better.” 

Both Yokomizo and Mena said they are happy at the union stores where they currently work. Mena said his wife recently had a knee replacement that would have cost him $64,000 without the union’s health-care plan—which required him only to make his regular monthly copayments. He said he is guaranteed a raise after a set number of hours with no questions asked, something he said never happened at the Bowl. 

At the new Bowl, pro-union workers said that if the representation vote passes, they hope all the issues both old and new will disappear and that the store will continue to thrive.

Probably no creature native to North America has inspired more fear and awe than the Grizzly bear. 

Consider the Latin name assigned by taxonomists: Ursus arctos horribilus, the horrible northern bear. 

And of all the regions of what became the United States, none proved more hospitable to the massive omnivores than California, the state which adopted the fearsome beast as its totem and emblazoned it on its flag. 

Of course, bears have a special connection with UC Berkeley, home both of the Cal Bears and of the Bancroft Library, that magnificent historical repository that is the Bancroft Library. How appropriate then, that a lavish tribute to the creature derived from the Bancroft’s unique resources should come from Heyday Books, a Berkeley publisher. 

Susan Snyder, a Point Richmond resident who heads the Bancroft’s Access Services department, has drawn on the remarkable collection at her disposal to create Bear in Mind: The California Grizzly, a tribute in words and images that does unique justice to a creature now long vanished from the California landscape. 

A beautifully designed 244-page coffee table book, Snyder’s creation follows the Grizzly from the legends and myths of indigenous cultures, through the eras of Spanish and Mexican dominion and into the modern era (which itself began with the declaration of the Bear Flag Republic), in which the now-vanished creature has been reincarnated as a symbol and as an advertising icon. 

While Bear in Mind can be consumed as a linear read, as with all good exemplars of the coffee table genre, the book can be picked up and opened at will, offering visual and verbal delights. 

As the reader proceeds through the 11 sections, the Grizzly begins as a mythic being and first emerges as a fleshly being in the descriptions and anecdotes of the Spanish, Mexican and Anglo settlers. With Ursus horribilus now vanished from the land over which it once held dominion, it has reentered the world of myth, albeit in a commodified, commercialized form. 

The artwork ranges from crude sketches to photos, intricate paintings to airbrush advertisements, reproductions of manuscript pages to lurid “Wild West” magazine covers. Particularly haunting are the hand-tinted lithographs of Francis Florabond (Fannie) Palmer, whose style manages to meld the geometric formalism of Japanese block prints with the thematic context of the American frontier. 

The literary vignettes range from a brief autobiography from an anonymous “Mission Indian” to the tale of how “Oski” came to be the mascot of UC Berkeley. In one, William Heath Davis recounts for Hubert Howe Bancroft the night he spent huddled in terror on the flats between modern-day Berkeley and Oakland, listening as the creatures prowled outside his tent. 

Snyder reserves a full section for the story of John “Grizzly” Adams, the much celebrated frontiersman-turned-showman who amazed audiences around the world with his remarkable troupe of performing bears. 

Particularly poignant is the section that looks at the Grizzly’s sad plight as a creature sacrificed to the blood lust of spectators in Gold Rush-era arenas, a reminder of the perilous nature of that thin veneer we call civilization. 

Bear in Mind is both a delightful experience in reading and looking, and a superb holiday gift for anyone fascinated by history, wildlife, and the power of the media to shape our images of the world around us. It’s one of those books a reader will flip through again and again, drawn both by the well-selected words and artwork that is carefully chosen, often surprising, and sometimes hauntingly moving. 

Bear in Mind, edited by Susan Snyder, 244 pages, Heyday Books, Berkeley. $49.50 through Dec. 31; $60 thereafter. 

Richard Brenneman is managing editor of the Daily Planet and author of Deadly Blessings [1991] and Fuller’s Earth [1983].

Berkeley’s first American-era settlers arrived in 1853, which seems quite a long time ago. Yet this area had been chosen and shaped as a good place to live by others at a much earlier date—not 150, but at least 5,000, years ago. 

The most familiar physical remains left by those early inhabitants are the Bay Area’s shoreline “shell mounds,” including West Berkeley’s landmark site, now largely buried beneath parking lots, buildings, train tracks and industrial sites. 

The archaeology of the shell mounds was explored in an evening talk earlier this month at West Berkeley’s Finn Hall by UC Berkeley Professor Kent Lightfoot, an expert in local archaeology.  

Lightfoot was joined by local publisher and author Malcolm Margolin who also spoke about the native peoples and culture of the Berkeley area. 

Their presentations were the first in a series of events commemorating the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the little manufacturing hamlet of Ocean View, Berkeley’s first modern settlement.  

Interpretation of the Bay Area’s shell mounds is tied up with the development of modern archaeological programs at the Berkeley campus of the University of California, Lightfoot said. 

Archaeologist Max Uhle began excavations at Emeryville’s shell mound in 1902. “He did some of the first stratigraphic excavation in the United States,” said Lightfoot. “It was something that was very innovative at the time.” 

In 1903 Danish immigrant Nels Nelson arrived in Berkeley and in 1906 he began work in local archaeology, funded by UC Regent Phoebe Hearst and others. “From the period of 1906 to 1911 he did very important work with these shell mounds. He went out on a very small budget to locate and record all the archaeological sites he could find in the Bay Area,” said Lightfoot. Nelson ultimately documented some 125 shell mounds and excavated several. “A lot of this was done before there was real heavy development,” Lightfoot noted. Today, it’s difficult to even find many of the sites. 

Later, researchers at UC added to the knowledge of shell mounds, eventually documenting about 425 around the Bay Area. They are “typically found in clusters of four to six mounds,” Lightfoot said, and some were monumental, “covering a couple of football fields in size” and rising up to 40 feet high. The mounds contain a complex stratigraphy, layering ashes, artifacts, and the remains of animals including elk, deer, seals, sea otters, fish and birds, as well as enormous numbers of shells.  

“Literally tons and tons of shellfish made up those mounds,” Lightfoot said. Nelson had estimated that some 17 million shells had been deposited at a mound he excavated in Richmond. 

Five thousand years ago sea levels were rising and “the Bay began to develop the configuration we know today,” Lightfoot said. “The earliest of the shell mounds go back about 5,000 years. West Berkeley, in fact, has the earliest Carbon 14 dates in the Bay Area for a shell mound.” 

The Bay Area mounds were used for millennia, particularly between 500 B.C. and A.D. 900—what Lightfoot called their “Golden Age.” Initially, Lightfoot said, scholars thought the shell mounds were essentially “trash dumps.” In the 1940s a theory emerged that they were mounded villages and “that’s probably the most common way the mounds are interpreted today.” 

Later theories have developed, holding that the mounds were not used all year but served ceremonial purposes, for burials or for annual gatherings. Hundreds of burials have been found in Bay Area shell mounds, often in pairs or small groups. Lightfoot said some scholars now believe that the significance of Bay Area mound burials may center on connecting the deceased to the natural world. “People were being buried not in ‘trash’ but in what gave them life,” the shell fish. 

Although there are prehistoric mounds across the country, the Bay Area shell mounds may be unique across North America in that they don’t appear to have had substantial villages built on them and, elsewhere, “you don’t have massive burials like we did here,” Lightfoot said. 

Lightfoot places the Bay Area’s shell mounds in the “archaic period” of hunter/gatherer mound building in North America, before agrarian cultures emerged. He took note of more recent work by researchers, including Berkeley historian Richard Schwartz, who “has detected extensive midden deposits up in the Berkeley Hills,” in areas long covered by subdivisions. “It’s amazing what may be out there—the archaeology that may be in your backyard.” 

Many native settlements along East Bay creeks, associated rock art, and burials found elsewhere in the Bay Area date from the “Golden Age” of shell mounds. 

“What’s happening is we’re seeing a little more complicated picture. You have the mounds down by the Bay shore, but in the uplands there’s something going on as well.” 

Lightfoot called for “a two-pronged plan of action.” First, “preservation and protection of the local archaeology” and, second, analysis of the extensive materials already in museum collections “to try to do a better job of understanding the lifeways of the early native peoples here.”  

Following Lightfoot’s slide-illustrated presentation, author and local publisher Malcolm Margolin spoke movingly about Bay Area native culture. Noting that the first European settlements in the Bay Area came in the 1770s, only “two and a half long lifetimes ago…amazingly close,” Margolin outlined his sense of the Berkeley area before the Spanish arrived. 

“This was a land that was tended,” he said. “This was not a wilderness. The people who lived here lived in a land that was well known, that was comfortable,” shaped by fire and other human interventions to produce plant and animal resources in abundance. Instead of land “ownership,” Berkeley’s natives probably possessed rights to hunting, to fishing, and other opportunities to gather resources from the landscape. They left some enduring artifacts, but others—prayer flags, hunting trails, places where certain types of bulbs or basket making materials would be gathered, art created of perishable items—have now vanished from the landscape. 

“These little villages would have 60 to 70 people in them, perhaps 100,” Margolin said. “Living in a world where you would rarely see a stranger…a tight world of community, of familiarity.” Life revolved around changes in the natural landscape such as the ripening of acorns or berries, or the arrival of migrating birds or salmon. “It was linked events, and each village and its place had its own.” And “it was a world that was very personal.” Objects were created one by one, for their individual users, with individual character. “Everything you owned was unique. Everything had history, resonance.” 

Finally, Margolin said, “it was a world of tremendous religious intensity. There was a sense that the things in the world were as alive and intelligent as we are.” Animals could do things humans could not—eagles flew, bears were immensely strong, antelope had great speed. “Animals still had power in the world. They still had the power to inspire. In a way, they were another kind of people.” 

Margolin concluded by noting that elsewhere in the United States, native peoples, were often able to negotiate treaties with the American government and retain fragmentary lands and some sovereign rights. But in the Bay Area, decades of Spanish/Mexican rule scattered and dispossessed the original inhabitants. “Native peoples were invisible to the Anglos who came in” and land and rights were never secured. 

However, “one of the most glorious things I’ve seen has been the revival of Indian culture over the past 30 years,” he concluded. “What has been marvelously regained is culture.” 

Both Lightfoot and Margolin took questions and commented on the recent construction of a shopping mall on the site of the Emeryville shell mound.  

“They had the opportunity, I think, do some preservation in place and they chose not to. It’s a real shame what happened,” Lightfoot said. 

Margolin added, “as long as people wait around for something to be destroyed, and then go in to try to fight it, not much is going to happen.” That was the case at Emeryville, where development plans were already well advanced when organized protests began. 

“I think the thing that needs to be done is to identify these cultural sites right now to make certain that cities acknowledge them, to make certain they’re written into school curricula, to make certain they’re given special status…” 

The celebration of Ocean View’s 150th anniversary continues with once-weekly lectures and events through late November. Next up, on Thursday, Oct. 16, is a talk at Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont, by naturalist Beverly Ortiz. She will be speaking about the native culture of the Bay Area at a site where, unlike Berkeley, much of the natural landscape has been preserved. The talk is at 7:30. Call 795-9385 for directions. Tickets are $10 at the door; series tickets are also available. Call 841-8562 for more information on the series, or e-mail bahaworks@yahoo.com.  

Went to church again last night, for the second time this fall. Following Rev. Al Sharpton at Allen Temple Baptist Church on the revival circuit, this time the preacher was Rev. Molly Ivins, appearing at Berkeley’s First Congregational under the auspices of Cody’s Books to preach about her latest, “Bushwhacked.” The choir was all there to shout hallelujah—Berkeleyans of all descriptions who couldn’t be counted on to have a civil conversation at a commission meeting in the North Berkeley Senior Center, but who do realize that politics stops at the water’s edge. The water’s edge, in this case, is the easily predictable Bush-Schwarzenegger deal to carve up California and feed it to the corporations, especially the energy czars and the lumber barons. (Entrail readers on the Internet, notably Greg Palast, have seen the auguries in Arnie’s meeting with Enron honchos a couple of years ago.) And on the other shore, we’re on the edge of the deep muddy that is the Iraq occupation.  

Rev. Molly didn’t get into that kind of stuff—she didn’t need to. Her congregation already knows what’s up, chapter and verse, and what they really wanted to find out was what to do about it. 

Earnest Dean devotees in matching t-shirts asked leading questions designed to elicit an Ivins endorsement for their guru, which didn’t happen. Molly allowed as how she, like most political commentators, bets on elections, but, she says, she wins real money, unlike the others. Her secret is waiting until six weeks before the election to put her money down. With all due respect, that’s not a hard time to make the call. 

What’s hard, judging by the questions from the audience, is to know what to do now. 

Ivins told them she wasn’t doing what she’d done in the past, endorsing the candidate who best represented her political philosophy. No Kucinich, Sharpton or Moseley Braun for her this time. Even her Nader vote, she confessed, was kind of cheating, since in a state where Bush was sure to win she paired with a Republican in a swing state. So, what now, asked the congregation. She kind of likes Edwards, who’s turning out to be a pretty good populist. Kerry has more Elvis than she thought at first. She didn’t seem ready to comment on Clark.  

More questions, all with an underlying theology: How do we avoid one of the Sins Against the Holy Ghost, despair? Let a little sunshine in, said Rev. Molly. If her talk had one theme, it was that Politics Should Be Fun. That’s a hard sell in Berkeley. Her audience had come looking for some fun, and they laughed at all the jokes in the sermon, but when they stopped laughing the little worry lines were right back on their foreheads.  

As an action item she endorsed a standard piece of advice for liberal do-gooders: register new voters. To survivors of the Schwarzenegger coup this one seems tricky—who were all those people who voted for him, anyhow? Wouldn’t want to register more of them, whoever they were. Journalism students in the group asked how you inform the people when they don’t read anymore. No good answer to that one…. 

Where do we go from here? My own stock answer for a while now has been that we should put together bus-loads of non-threatening middle-aged Bay Area women to trek to the swing states in the middle of the country to encourage other older women to oppose Bush in a more vigorous way. They already know he’s a disaster. Women of a certain age consistently profile out as having the most sense in any electorate—the gender gap. We just need to let them know that they’re not alone. The Grandma-to-Grandma strategy…it could work. And if the Rev. Molly Ivins would agree to lead this crones’ crusade, it could even be fun.  

Becky O’Malley is executive editor of the Daily Planet.

I’d left the hot, dirty city in order to find peace and inspiration in the remote woods of northern Minnesota. A record number of young black men (97 and still counting) had been killed on the streets of Oakland during the past few months. There were drive-by shootings, drug deals gone askew, heavy gang activities. 

The bloodshed barely affected me. I read about it in the newspaper. It was occurring just a few blocks from my home, in a city that claimed to be the most integrated in America. 

In Minnesota I found the harmony I was looking for: a quiet house on acres of rich farmland, set beside an unspoiled river that flowed softly into the brown Mississippi, rolling south toward far-off New Orleans.  

There I lived with poets and composers, storytellers and sculptors, a woman from New Mexico, a couple from Wisconsin, a prolific writer of children’s books and an elderly Israeli holocaust survivor/freedom fighter/retired chemical engineer/woodworker/writer, and his adoring wife. 

Together and apart we ate and slept, talked and worked, creating art in the daylight hours, arguing politics, religion and sports at night. 

Indian summer turned to fall and during our stay the war in Iraq continued although our country’s leaders said otherwise. The poets, composer and children’s book writer were alarmed. The Israelis, Ephraim and Shoshana, saw it differently. 

Late at night while others slept, I read Ephraim’s memoir, tales of torture and pain, entire families killed in death camps, clandestine operations to immigrate to Palestine, more war, more death, more blood spilled.  

I came to know Ephraim and Shoshana through his words. A brief marriage ceremony on a desolate kibbutz, the wedding night spent on a hard cot in a tent, the next day back to work in the fields. “It was a difficult life,” Shoshana told me. “But we were young and strong and without our families. The war in Europe had ended. There were many possibilities; so many new and interesting opportunities.” 

I took the shuttle bus into town each morning with Ephraim. We swam at the YMCA and shared coffee at a nearby café. The bus driver flirted with him. “Please,” he said. “You are killing me with your compliments. Would it not be better if you took a pistol or knife and killed me in this way instead of with kindness?” The bus driver laughed and took another long drag from her carcinogenic cigarette. 

As time went on, rising at 6:30 in the morning for our swim became easier. I was awake when he gently knocked on my door, warning me that I had just 10 minutes before the bus arrived. Sometimes I was already up, and when I told him I was ready, he said, “That is called involuntary indoctrination. You are becoming a very good soldier.” 

The references to war and death continued. A restaurant was bombed near their home in Haifa. They worried about their children and grandchildren in Israel, the day-to-day errands and activities that had become life threatening. 

As I helped Ephraim edit his manuscript, memories of a life lived in fear and intolerance, I asked him, “Do you ever want to move from Israel, to someplace safer and less violent?” He looked at me with patient annoyance. “Israel is our only home. We cannot leave and we never will.” 

Shoshana told me that she believed God had sent me to help her husband with his manuscript. I disagreed. I told her that God and I didn’t have such a great relationship and that I was certain he wasn’t interested in sending me as his representative anywhere or to anyone. Shoshana said that I should not think too much about it. She had a wonderful relationship to God.  

While in Minnesota I came to an unexpected conclusion: God hadn’t dispatched me to the Israelis, but he had sent them to me. I went back to my home in Oakland, renewed, reinvented, re-awakened to the world around me. I returned to the big city, where now the headlines loudly proclaimed, “Murder rate at an all-time high. 98 dead in Oakland.”