The Week

 

News

Taggers Stage Costly Raids On Telegraph,College Avenue By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday April 08, 2005

Graffiti vandals armed with glass-etching acid struck hundreds of windows along College and Telegraph avenues on two consecutive nights this past week, inflicting hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. -more-


Margaret Breland Dies at 69 By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday April 08, 2005

Margaret Breland, one of Berkeley’s toughest political fighters, has succumbed to her long struggle with cancer. She died in her sleep at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley Thursday morning. She was 69. -more-


Teachers Rally at Board Meeting As Contract Dispute Escalates By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Friday April 08, 2005

Berkeley teachers took their increasingly rancorous contract dispute back to the Berkeley Unified School District board meeting Wednesday night, filling the Old City Hall Council chambers with union members and supporters chanting “Fair Contract Now!” -more-


Thai Temple Doesn’t Hesitate to Tear Down Garden By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday April 08, 2005

For urban gardeners and several neighbors of the Thai Buddhist Temple, it was the Berkeley chainsaw massacre. For the temple it was a new beginning. -more-


Staff Charges Library Dumped Too Many Books By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday April 08, 2005

Several Berkeley library employees contend that a stepped-up effort to thin the library’s collection in the past year has been so rushed that valuable books were carted off in dumpsters. -more-


Firefighters Fired Upon by Pellet Gun While on Drayage Patrol By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday April 08, 2005

Firefighters withdrew from their round-the-clock watch outside the Drayage warehouse Tuesday evening, one day after being fired upon from the warehouse by a pellet gun. -more-


County Worker Surrenders In Rose Garden Slasher Case By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday April 08, 2005

The Alameda County mental health worker who was accompanying a 16-year-old girl at the time the teen slashed the throat of a Berkeley woman last month was arraigned and charged as an accessory to the attack Thursday, Berkeley police said. -more-


Creeks Task Force Asks for $100,000 to Begin Work By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday April 08, 2005

The Creeks Task Force unanimously approved a work plan Monday asking the city for $100,000 as it begins work to recommend a new creeks ordinance. -more-


Special Council Meeting for Foothill Bridge By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday April 08, 2005

The City Council will meet Monday, April 11 at UC Berkeley’s foothill dorms to discuss the university’s proposal to suspend a pedestrian bridge over Hearst Avenue to connect the two halves of the residential community. -more-


Spirited Landmarks Meeting Focuses On Maybecks, Preservation Ordinance By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday April 08, 2005

In one of its more rancorous sessions, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) was attacked by citizens accusing it of obstructionism, and in turn assailed Planning Commissioners with the same allegation. -more-


Two Berkeley Landmarks Singled Out for Honors By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday April 08, 2005

Two Berkeley landmarks have been singled out recently for recognition, one a Craftsman creation and the other the embodiment of Art Deco. -more-


Feds Launch Corruption Probe of New Bay Bridge By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday April 08, 2005

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched a major public corruption investigation of alleged misconduct involving welds in the construction of the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge. -more-


Negroponte Film Coincides With Nomination to New Post By JAKOB SCHILLER

Friday April 08, 2005

In the film The Ambassador, human rights workers and former victims of torture in Central America sometimes look straight into the camera when they talk about former American ambassador to Honduras John Negroponte. -more-


Laurette Goldberg, 1932-2005 By ROBERT P. COMMANDAY

Special to the Planet
Friday April 08, 2005

Laurette Goldberg, pioneer, prime mover and doyenne of early music in the Bay Area, died of heart failure Sunday morning in Alta Bates Hospital where she was undergoing treatment for other conditions. She was 73. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Friday April 08, 2005

BORDER PATROL -more-



Jerry Brown Gives Us the Aging Rock Star Tour J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Undercurrents
Friday April 08, 2005

It appears that with a full two years still left in his term, Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown is going the aging rock star route, giving us a sort of nostalgic farewell tour, complete with “the best of Jerry” retrospectives by local media as he waves his way out the City Hall door. Our friends at the San Francisco Chronicle have been leading the pack, absolutely gushing over Mr. Brown as they describe the “success” of the mayor’s promise to bring 10,000 new residents to downtown Oakland (“Downtown Brown,” March 20), his increasingly law-and-order stances as he bucks up his credentials for California Attorney General (“Tough Penalties For ‘Sideshows’—Mayor Proposes Curfews For Those Convicted Of Reckless Driving,” March 30), or his wedding to Anne Gust (too numerous to mention in one column). -more-


Fire Department Log By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Friday April 08, 2005

Buena Vista Blaze -more-


RFID: Many Problems, Little Public Discussion By PETER WARFIELD and LEE TIEN

Commentary
Friday April 08, 2005

Decisions about public libraries should be made publicly. But just as radio frequency identification (RFID) tags in library books can be secretly read and tracked, the Berkeley Public Library (BPL) installed RFID technology with little public awareness or discussion. Indeed, it appears that BPL did not tell the library’s governing body about known problems with RFID at other libraries before RFID was approved in April 2004. We think this gives the Board of Library Trustees (BOLT) ample reason to reconsider and reject RFID in Berkeley. -more-


Firefighter Compensation a Complicated Issue By DAVID SPRAGUE-LIVINGSTON

Commentary
Friday April 08, 2005

I would like to pose several questions and also state a couple of facts that were left out of your article discussing public safety overtime in the City of Berkeley. -more-


Maria King Memorial

Friday April 08, 2005

A memorial service for Maria King scheduled for Saturday, April 9, has been postponed. The memorial will now be held at 4 p.m. May 15 at St. Joseph The Worker Church. King, a homeless woman, was stomped to death earlier this year.? -more-


Arts Calendar

Friday April 08, 2005

FRIDAY, APRIL 8 -more-


Extraordinary Encounters with Insects in Gardens and Houses By SHIRLEY BARKER

Special to the Planet
Friday April 08, 2005

Several years ago on a visit to Los Angeles I passed a woman who seemed to me quintessentially Californian. She wore immaculately tailored jeans, a crisp shirt, her burnished hair flowed luxuriantly, her complexion glowed, she was the very picture of health and elegance. And she was swinging along on rollerblades. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Friday April 08, 2005

FRIDAY, APRIL 8 -more-


Firefighter Overtime Costs City Millions By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday April 05, 2005

Fourteen Berkeley firefighters took home more than $30,000 in overtime last year, while six earned more than $50,000 over their base salary, city records show. -more-


Point Molate Casino Foes, Fans Testify At Hearing By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday April 05, 2005

Foes and fans of a Berkeley developer’s plans for a Las Vegas-style casino resort pleaded their cases before federal and Richmond officials last week. -more-


Bevatron Demolition Plan Alarms Residents By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday April 05, 2005

Environmental activists and North Berkeley residents told Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory officials Thursday night to leave intact an unused building full of toxic and low-level nuclear wastes on its present four-acre site atop the Hayward Fault in the Berkeley hills. -more-


UC Workers Rally, Win Promise of Meeting with Chancellor By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday April 05, 2005

A noon rally of angry UC Berkeley workers in front of California Hall last Friday had a surprise result—a chance sidewalk encounter between union leaders and Chancellor Robert Birgenau in which Birgenau agreed to a formal, fact-finding meeting with worker representatives. -more-


Over the Edge By JAKOB SCHILLER

Tuesday April 05, 2005

A hydraulic crane pulled a runaway construction truck out of the side of a house in the Berkeley hills Monday afternoon. No one was in the house when the driverless vehicle went barreling into the side of the structure. The 17,000-pound truck held equipment for a crew that was re-paving part of a private driveway about 100 feet up the hill. Although Berkeley police found that the parking brake was engaged and the truck was in gear, it managed to roll several feet before it went over a curb and into the house. Neighbors on the two streets below the house were evacuated until the truck was pulled out. One room of the house was destroyed. The damage was estimated at $50,000 to $100,000.. -more-


Lee Urges Immigrants to Work for Policy Reforms By LYDIA GANS

Special to the Planet
Tuesday April 05, 2005

“Reuniting families, protecting refugees, encouraging diversity and cultural exchange—that’s what our country is supposed to be about.” -more-


Le Chateau Will Challenge Nuisance Ruling By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday April 05, 2005

The University Students Cooperative Association voted last week to appeal a small claims judgment won by neighbors of the student co-op, Le Chateau. -more-


Berkeley Leaders Support Children’s Health Initiative By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday April 05, 2005

Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates and Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Michele Lawrence joined religious and health leaders and education and children’s activists at a downtown press conference Monday to announce support for a statewide California for Healthy Kids (CHK) campaign. -more-


School Board Will Discuss Budget Cuts By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday April 05, 2005

With Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Michele Lawrence calling the district’s budget situation “precarious,” the Berkeley public will get its first look at the possibility of a slightly leaner face of public education in the city when the district directors consider “Anticipated Budget Reductions and Program Modifications” at the school board’s meeting Wednesday night. -more-


Two Casino Hearings Planned for Tuesday By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday April 05, 2005

Two major East Bay casino debates are scheduled for today (Tuesday), one in Washington D.C. and the other in Martinez. -more-



Letters to the Editor

Tuesday April 05, 2005

AIR QUALITY -more-


In the Wake of Loss, The Healing Impact of Organ Donation By SUSAN PARKER

Column
Tuesday April 05, 2005

It was by coincidence that I was catching up with Eleanor Vincent a day after Terri Schiavo passed away and at the start of National Donate Life Month, but the significance was not lost on either of us. Thirteen years ago Eleanor’s daughter Maya was declared brain dead by her doctors after a freak accident left her in an irreversible coma. At the request of Maya’s neurosurgeon, Eleanor made the life affirming decision to donate Maya’s organs to others in need. Last year her memoir, Swimming with Maya: A Mother’s Story was published by Capital Books. In it, she describes this heart wrenching event, and the repercussions Maya’s death has had on her, Maya’s younger sister, Meghan, family members, friends, and the recipients of Maya’s organs. -more-


Police Blotter By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday April 05, 2005

Theater Heist -more-


Student Questions UC’s Data Security By IRENE NEXICA

Commentary
Tuesday April 05, 2005

I appreciated reading your article on the laptop computer that was stolen from UC Berkeley’s Grad Division—it answered some questions I had that the UC-generated press releases and web info lacked, such as if there was any encryption/password protection on the computer at all. I am a graduate student at UCB, and received a notice from the university that my data was among that stolen with the laptop. -more-


Native American Casinos Will Provide Financial Benefits to California By ZACHARY RUNNING WOLF

Tuesday April 05, 2005

I, Zachary Running Wolf, provide leadership and effort on behalf of 85,000 Native Americans here in the Bay Area (the second largest urban native population after Oklahoma City). -more-


Daily Planet Commentary Page Policy and Submission Guidelines

Tuesday April 05, 2005

The views expressed on the Daily Planet’s commentary page are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the paper or its staff. -more-


Remembering John Paul II, the Actor Pope By RICHARD RODRIGUEZ Pacific News Service

Commentary
Tuesday April 05, 2005

As a handsome young man, Karol Wojtyla was a playwright and an actor. In the course of his life, Wojtyla sensed as much about the role of the actor as Chaplin or Garbo or Winston Churchill. He was one of the great theatricals of the century. -more-


‘Poetry and its Arts’ Explores the Visuals in Poems By JOHN McBRIDE

Special to the Planet
Tuesday April 05, 2005

Closing April 16 at the California Historical Society (678 Mission, at Third, San Francisco), “Poetry and its Arts, Bay Area Interactions 1954-2004,” celebrates the visual arts wrapped around the poetry heard at the San Francisco State University Poetry Center. -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday April 05, 2005

TUESDAY, APRIL 5 -more-


Mimicry and Practice to Get the Bird Song Right By JOE EATON

Special to the Planet
Tuesday April 05, 2005

Earlier this year, PBS ran (in its usual annoying fashion, all three episodes back to back) a documentary about American English, with Robert MacNeill traveling around the country and reporting on the state of the language. It was in part an elegy for dy ing dialects (Southern Appalachian, Gullah) and in part a forecast of linguistic change (the Northern Cities Vowel Shift, the lingo of rappers, skateboarders, text-messagers). -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday April 05, 2005

TUESDAY, APRIL 5 -more-


Opinion

Editorials

Public is Watching School Dispute By BECKY O'MALLEY

Editorial
Friday April 08, 2005

It seems that the suggestion in this space and in a letter or two that some teachers somewhere might be less than optimum touched a nerve. We’ve received and printed a number of very defensive letters from teachers, many of them zeroing in on one sentence in a long editorial which was generally supportive of teachers’ demands for better pay and smaller classes. This is the offending sentence: -more-


Poseys and the Pursuit of Pleasure at Pinnacles By BECKY O'MALLEY

Editorial
Tuesday April 05, 2005

A lovely spring weekend sparked an impromptu trip to see wildflowers last Sunday. Pinnacles National Monument is about an hour and a half south of the Santa Cruz grandchildren, so it seemed like the right destination. We spent Saturday night in Santa Cruz in order to leave by 7 a.m. on Sunday, though daylight saving and the five-minute rule (add five minutes to departure time for every person in the party) got us going with our five adults and four children at about 10 instead. While we were waiting for everyone to get organized, we had an unusual opportunity to read the fat Sunday edition of the metro daily, something we usually skip because the ratio of ads to interesting content is unappealing. -more-