The Week

Jakob Schiller: A fallen bicycle, a sports bag and police evidence tags mark the murder scene at the intersection of Alcatraz Avenue and Adeline Street Monday afternoon where an argument ended in Berkeley’s third murder of the year, less than a month after the first..
Jakob Schiller: A fallen bicycle, a sports bag and police evidence tags mark the murder scene at the intersection of Alcatraz Avenue and Adeline Street Monday afternoon where an argument ended in Berkeley’s third murder of the year, less than a month after the first..
 

News

Local Youth’s Death Is City’s Third Murder in 4 Weeks: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday August 17, 2004

A youth was shot dead and witnesses said another was wounded in broad daylight Monday at the corner of Adeline and and Harmon streets, the third murder in South Berkeley in the past month. -more-


Casinos, Malls and Politics Mix at East Bay Meetings: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday August 17, 2004

In the realm of strange political bedfellows, pairing off a massive petroleum firm with a gaggle of environmental activists has to rank as one of the oddest couplings ever. -more-


Green Council Candidate Courts Left-Out Voters: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday August 17, 2004

Here’s how one city councilmember described her fellow Green Party member running in the District 5 council race. -more-


Green Presidential Candidate Makes Pitch for Local Votes: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday August 17, 2004

Making a weekend campaign stop in Berkeley, Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb asked party faithful not to judge him on his showing in November. -more-


Pro-Tenant Candidates Dominate Rent Board Field: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday August 17, 2004

Last June, Berkeley Property Owners Association President Michael Wilson said emphatically that his group did not plan on running a pro-landlord slate for the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board in this November’s election. -more-


Poet, Teacher Czeslaw Milosz Dies in Poland: By PEGGY SIMPSON

Special to the Planet
Tuesday August 17, 2004

Czeslaw Milosz, in his 1953 groundbreaking book The Captive Mind, spelled out the many subtle and insidious mind-control methods he said Soviet communists used to attempt to dominate countries handed over to Josef Stalin after World War II. -more-


Friends, Family Remember The Dashing Dr. Lipscomb: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday August 17, 2004

Some 200 friends and relatives gathered on Sunday afternoon in the auditorium of the International House to commemorate Dr. Wendell Lipscomb, the 84-year-old Berkeley native and African-American physician and former Tuskegee Airmen flight instructor who died last May in a downtown Berkeley automobile accident. -more-


How to Garner an Invitation With the Scrabblettes: From Susan Parker

Tuesday August 17, 2004

“How did you hook up with the Scrabblettes?” asked my friend Laura. She had just given each of the ‘Lettes a large bag of personal hygiene products. Laura’s husband, Rob, works for a consumer products company. Her Walnut Creek garage is filled with boxes of free samples. The Scrabblettes were so delighted with their bags of goodies that they threatened to rent a U-Haul, back it into Laura’s driveway, and fill it with more free stuff. Laura had instantly become their friend. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Tuesday August 17, 2004

SNEAKY LEGISLATION? -more-


Quiet Censorship: By Gray Brechin

Commentary
Tuesday August 17, 2004

Editors, Daily Planet: -more-


You Can’t Have it Both Ways: Community Policing is a Two-Way Street (By SAM HERBERT)

Commentary
Tuesday August 17, 2004

Mr. Allen-Taylor’s recent article regarding community citizens buying cell phones for their beat officers reveals more about his prejudices about law enforcement than about uneven access to the police. Cell phone use is just one more tool to help solve local problems, not a substitute for any level of traditional police service. Further, responsibility for communication between the police and the community they serve is a two-way street, and only effective when both sides are active participants. -more-


Not A Good Idea: By John Delmos

Commentary
Tuesday August 17, 2004

Death of a Redwood: By PETER SCHORER

Commentary
Tuesday August 17, 2004

Last week I arrived at 2812 Hillegass to see a beautiful redwood tree had been cut, ground into sawdust, and loaded onto a truck. I and two neighbors were the only persons there apart from the workmen. My guess is that the tree was at least 40 years old. How is it that we have an ordinance in this town that prohibits cutting of live oaks, but doesn’t prohibit the cutting of redwood trees? I know of several other cases of cutting of old redwoods. -more-


Moderne Masterpiece Evokes Art Deco Glamour: By STEVEN FINACOM

Special to the Planet
Tuesday August 17, 2004

Two generations ago many architects, designers, and their patrons were throwing out the traditional rulebooks and conventions and venturing into new territory. Sleek buildings and vehicles appeared, matched with equally avant-garde clothing, appliances, furniture, music and art. It was the height of the Deco or Moderne era. -more-


UC Swimmer Triumphs in Athens

Tuesday August 17, 2004

UC Berkeley Senior Natalie Coughlin won Olympic gold in the 100-meter backstroke Monday. The Concord native, who already owned the world record in the event, has a shot at two more gold medals when she competes in the 100 meter Freestyle and the 4X100 meter Freestyle relay. -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday August 17, 2004

TUESDAY, AUGUST 17 -more-


Honey Locusts Cast Golden Glow on City Streets: By RON SULLIVAN

Special to the Planet
Tuesday August 17, 2004

We’re getting a bit of fall color already, especially in the row of smallish honey locusts on Cedar Street between MLK and Sacramento. There are a few of their golden brethren around the corner, too, and more scattered around town and in people’s yards. This is a nice, easy tree if you want light shade and a little drought tolerance. It’s often one of the first trees to go deciduous here, but it seems everyone’s putting the fall colors on early this year. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday August 17, 2004

TUESDAY, AUGUST 17 -more-


Election Contests Set (By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR) In All Four City Districts

By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Friday August 13, 2004

After a hectic period that began with the announcement of veteran Councilmember Maudelle Shirek’s disqualification for the November ballot, the filing deadline for candidates in the fall Berkeley City Council election closed with some minor shakeups, the non-appearance of one potential major candidate, and some interesting, competitive races developing. -more-


Environmentalists Team With Chevron To Offer Pt. Molate Park — Not Casino (By RICHARD BRENNEMAN)

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday August 13, 2004

Bay Area environmental groups have teamed up with petro-giant Chevron to launch a new proposal that could spell trouble for a Berkeley developer’s plans to install a massive casino and hotel complex on Richmond’s Point Molate. -more-


Berkeley Technophiles Launch Campaign Software Revolution By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday August 13, 2004

The newest revolution to emerge from Berkeley may seem quieter—even geekier—than those surrounding People’s Park and the Free Speech Movement, but its architects hope its effects will prove even more enduring in reshaping the fabric of the American body politic. -more-


Berkeley This Week Clanedar

Friday August 13, 2004

FRIDAY, AUGUST 13 -more-


South Berkeley Residents See New Ed Roberts Campus Plans By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday August 13, 2004

South Berkeley residents who live near the Ashby Bart Station gathered Wednesday night to view the latest plans for the Ed Roberts Campus, the two-story center for disability rights, education, training and advocacy named after the founder of the city’s internationally known Center for Independent Living. -more-


U.S. May Root For Chavez in Venezuelan Referendum By FRANCISCO JOSÉ MORENO Pacific News Service

By FRANCISCO JOSÉ MORENO Pacific News Service
Friday August 13, 2004

President Hugo Chávez seems almost certain to win the recall referendum called for this coming Sunday in Venezuela. -more-


Police Blotter

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday August 13, 2004

Berkeley Heist Leads to Serial Robber Bust -more-


The President Turns a Phrase, Not a Corner By DAVID KUSNET AlterNet

By DAVID KUSNET AlterNet
Friday August 13, 2004

Just as the Democratic Convention was wrapping up in Boston, President Bush’s handlers announced that he’d be hitting the campaign trail with an amped-up stump speech. -more-


John LeConte Jory

Friday August 13, 2004

John LeConte Jory died Aug. 8, 2004. He was born in Berkeley on Sept. 3, 1924 and missed his 80th birthday by only one month. He grew up in Berkeley, spent World War II as a pharmacist’s mate in the Navy in the South Pacific, studied business administration at Cal, worked for the City of Berkeley as a recreation supervisor for 15 years, took care of his handicapped wife, Cathy, until she died in 1988 and after that, took care of other elderly people. -more-


Raised in America, Cambodian Youths Face Deportation By KATHERINE SEAR Pacific News Service

By KATHERINE SEAR Pacific News Service
Friday August 13, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO—Ratana Som, 24, is trying to turn his life around. The ex-drug dealer works at a nonprofit in the city’s Tenderloin district, a high-crime neighborhood where his family and many other Cambodian refugees first arrived in the early 1980s. But along with 1,400 other young Cambodian Americans convicted of aggravated felonies, Som faces deportation. -more-


Buying Police Access With a Pre-Paid Cell Phone J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Friday August 13, 2004

We come across an article in this Wednesday’s San Francisco Chronicle, headlined “Community Buys Into Cleaning Up Its Streets.” An awful idea emerges. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Friday August 13, 2004

POLICE BLOTTER -more-


Those Phantom Parking Tickets

Friday August 13, 2004

Editors, Daily Planet: -more-


ZAB Failed to Make Required Findings In La Farine Decision; Council Punts By ZELDA BRONSTEIN

By ZELDA BRONSTEIN
Friday August 13, 2004

Zoning Adjustments Boardmember Laurie Capitelli wishes that “people would get their facts straight” about ZAB’s unanimous approval of La Farine’s application for a use permit for a retail bakery with incidental seating at 1820 Solano Ave. (Letters, Daily Planet, Aug. 6-9). -more-


Neighbors Gain Ground By RICHARD BRENNEMANIn Battle to Scale BackSisterna Tract Duplexes

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday August 13, 2004

The ongoing battle between neighborhood preservationists and the developer who plans a pair of duplexes in the recently landmarked Oceanview Sisterna Historic District flared anew this week during a three-hour-plus hearing before the Landmarks Preservation Commission. -more-


Reunion Celebrates World Music Anniversaries By GRAEME VANDERSTOEL Special to the Planet

By GRAEME VANDERSTOEL Special to the Planet
Friday August 13, 2004

One of the first uses of the phrase “world music” was in 1974, when the Center for World Music opened its doors at what is now the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts on College Avenue in Berkeley. The Oxford English Dictionary lists it first in 1977, apparently missing all the previous uses in the Bay Area press coverage of the period. Today, a Google search on “world music,” brings up a list of 13,500,000 references within a half second. -more-


Arts Calendar

Friday August 13, 2004

FRIDAY, AUGUST 13 -more-


Sonoma-Marin Cheese Tour Makes a Tasty Trip By KATHLEEN HILL Special to the Planet

By KATHLEEN HILL Special to the Planet
Friday August 13, 2004

One of the most satisfying and relaxing rides you can take in the Bay Area is a tour of local artisan cheese producers in Sonoma and Marin counties. Starting with Vella’s Cheese in Sonoma and ending at Cowgirl Creamery in Point Reyes Station, the trip is about 100 miles roundtrip from Berkeley. -more-


Opinion

Editorials

When the FBI Comes Calling: By BECKY O'MALLEY

Editorial
Tuesday August 17, 2004

The New York Times reported on Monday that “the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been questioning political demonstrators across the country, and in rare cases even subpoenaing them, in an aggressive effort to forestall what officials say could be violent and disruptive protests at the Republican National Convention in New York.” The report went on to say that “FBI officials are urging agents to canvass their communities for information about planned disruptions aimed at the convention and other coming political events, and they say they have developed a list of people who they think may have information about possible violence.” -more-


Editorial: Cluelessness Rampant By Becky O'Malley

Becky O'Malley
Friday August 13, 2004

Chalabys in the news again. Treason, espionage, murder…who knows where it will end? And who’s surprised? Evidently, yet again, the people in Washington who are supposed to be running the country. It’s scary. What I still fail to understand (and I’m sorry to keep coming back to this point, but it haunts me) is how many of us here in little Berkeley, not to mention our friends in New York and Boston and even in Illinois, West Virginia and Indiana, knew from day one that Chalabys I and II were bad apples, and Bush’s guys didn’t. It’s been all over the Internet, in letters to the editor in hundreds of papers, and the subject of conversation in probably thousands of cafes around the world. -more-