Ever since he moved into the neighborhood earlier this year, Don Oppenheim wished for the demise of Grove Liquor in the heart of the fledgling Ashby Arts District. 

But when the liquor store on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Ashby Avenue lost its lease last month, Oppenheim, who lives a block away, knew it was too early to celebrate.  

“A coffee shop, small cafe or even a pool hall could really help this neighborhood turn the corner,” he said.  

During the past few weeks, city officials and local merchants have implored the building’s owner, Sucha Singh Banger, who also owns the troubled Black & White Liquor at 3027 Adeline St., not to open a new liquor store at the Grove Liquor site. 

“Another liquor store would be devastating,” Oppenheim said.  

Reached at his store Monday, Banger said neighbors would likely get their wish. “It’s not going to be a liquor store,” he said. “It will probably be a cafe or a grocery store.” 

Days earlier, Banger’s brother told the Daily Planet that Grove Liquor would become “Black & White Two.” Banger said his brother must have been joking. 

A series of troubles at Black & White began in June when police arrested the night clerk, Satnan Singh, for buying stolen liquor. Then, a month later, a fire that Berkeley Deputy Fire Chief David Orth said appeared to have been intentionally set, gutted the shop and upstairs residence. A search of the apartment later turned up a cache of illegal military-grade firearms. 

Black & White is shut now due to the fire damage and Banger said he intends to reopen at the location, but did not know when. Some neighbors had speculated that Banger planned to move his operation to the now empty Grove Liquor site about a block away, but Banger said that was not his plan. 

Local merchants and city officials say Banger is charging too much rent for the location to lure potential cafe operators, sparking fears he still intends to open a second liquor store at the Grove site. 

A second Black & White is not what Ashby Arts District organizations have in mind. Anchored by Epic Arts, a community art center and concert space, and the Ashby Stage, home to Berkeley’s Shotgun Players, the area now has evening events but few food establishments to support the venues, said Shotgun Artistic Director Patrick Dooley.  

“A vibrant business that the community supports would do wonders for us,” he said. Dooley added that he often had to pick up empty beer bottles and plastic vodka containers from outside Grove Liquor and watch men selling drugs on the corner.  

“Since the store closed almost overnight all that traffic has gone away,” he said. “I don’t think it matters who’s running the shop. A liquor store and selling drugs go hand-in-hand.” 

Councilmember Max Anderson said he wants to see a book store or coffee shop on the corner, but cautioned that the city had few options to force Banger’s hand.  

City officials have put potential cafe operators in touch with Banger, but no one could hammer out a lease. 

“He’s asking for too much money,” said Dave Fogarty of the city’s Office of Economic Development. Banger said he is asking $4,500 a month for the shop, about $1,000 more a month than he charged to the operators of Grove Liquor.  

Epic Arts Executive Director Ashley Berkowitz said he also failed to sway Banger to either sell the building or agree to terms with a tenant that wasn’t a liquor store or dollar store. “He’s not being realistic about what the building’s worth,” Berkowitz said. 

According to Berkowitz, the storefront is a “tear-down,” and Banger hasn’t expressed much interest in making improvements that would attract a café operator. Banger told the Daily Planet that he was willing to fix up the building. 

Black & White Liquor is facing a 20-day liquor suspension and three-years probation for buying stolen liquor during a police decoy operation. Banger can’t escape the penalties by switching his liquor license to the former Grove Liquor, according to Alcohol Beverage Control District Administrator Andrew Gomez. 

“We would move to transfer the disciplinary history to the new shop,” Gomez said. He added that ABC couldn’t punish Banger for his tenant’s illegal weapon cache, and that Black & White received only a 20-day suspension because it was the night clerk, and not Banger, who police caught buying the stolen alcohol.  

However, Gomez said that if Banger, or any other potential liquor store operator, should seek a license to set up shop at the former Grove site, neighbors have the right to protest the license application.  

And if police and residents could show that the store was in an area with a high crime rate and an over-concentration of liquor stores, Gomez said the city could possibly block the license or at least restrict hours of operation or the types of containers sold in the shop.  

Michael Caplan, a City of Berkeley neighborhood services liaison, said Berkeley had few options to stop Banger from opening up a new liquor shop at the corner.  

“There’s no zoning mechanism to say it can’t be a liquor store,” he said. Caplan added that the city would have to go through its nuisance abatement process to fight the license. Showing that a liquor store on the corner would constitute a nuisance would be difficult, he added, because Grove Liquor didn’t generate many complaints.  

“It’s not that Grove was bad,” Caplan said. “It’s more that people would like to see it be something more beneficial.”

Berkeley police waited too long to call for paramedics as a man died in their custody last year, a three-person panel of the Berkeley Police Review Commission concluded. 

In a report issued last week, the panel sustained four allegations against Officer George Hamilton and Jailer Lee Erby for not following protocol when a man in their custody stopped speaking and was bleeding from inside his mouth. 

The commission ruled that the officers made mistakes by never searching the man’s mouth and waiting nearly an hour to call paramedics. 

Tyrone Hughes Jr. died in custody last March after he swallowed five plastic bags of cocaine when stopped in his car by police. 

The PRC panel did not blame the officers for Hughes’ death. In the autopsy report, Dr. Paul Herrmann wrote that Hughes had “the highest blood level of cocaine I’ve ever seen.” 

He concluded that Hughes would have died even if police had called paramedics earlier, according to PRC Secretary Dan Silva. 

Still PRC Commissioner Sharon Kidd wrote that the response from the two officers “was neither adequate nor timely, nor in accordance with BPD policies and procedures.” 

Hughes’ son Tyrone said the PRC ruling, which has no legal consequence for the officers, did not diminish his anger towards Berkeley police. 

“To watch a person die and not do anything?” he said. “I’m waiting for a white person to die like that.” 

The BPD’s Internal Affairs Unit also investigated Hughes’ death, but its findings are confidential. 

On the early morning of March 29, Officer Hamilton stopped Hughes’ car when he noticed the two-door convertible had no front license plate. A records check found that Hughes had an outstanding felony warrant for drug possession. Two baggies of illegal drugs were later recovered from Hughes jacket pocket by jailer Erby. 

Hughes arrived at Berkeley jail at 1:26 a.m. and while booking him, Hamilton noticed a couple of drops of blood coming from between Hughes’ lips, according to the PRC report. 

When Hamilton asked Hughes if he needed medical attention, Hughes shook his head indicating “no,” and Hamilton continued filling out paper work. 

As Hughes’ condition worsened, both Hamilton and Erby began wondering if Hughes was hiding drugs in his mouth, according to the PRC report. 

Hamilton put his hands on Hughes’ face but didn’t force open his mouth. Hamilton later told police investigators that he thought “there might be some medical circumstances going on and my pressing on [his mouth] wasn’t going to help him.... So I decided not to do that.” 

Hughes was then strip-searched by Erby. After the search, which did not involve looking inside Hughes’ mouth, Hughes slumped to the floor and the officers again saw blood coming from his mouth. 

Hamilton told BPD investigators that he then left the cell for a minute to ask other jailers what a “dope sick person looked like” because he “hadn’t seen one before.” 

Hamilton returned to find Hughes “lying and twitching on the floor as if he was having a seizure.” 

Then, according to fire department records, Hamilton called for paramedics at 2:21 a.m., nearly an hour after first seeing blood fall from Hughes’ mouth. 

Paramedics removed two pieces of chewed up plastic from Hughes’ mouth and rushed him to Alta Bates Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 3:27 a.m. 

The three-member PRC panel unanimously sustained one allegation against Erby for not providing prompt medical assistance. The commissioners were troubled that Erby gave conflicting testimony. He testified at the panel hearing that he knew Hughes was in trouble and was under the impression that the fire department had been called. However, in his interview with PRC investigators he said he had no reason to call paramedics and that the blood “could have been anything ... bleeding gums ... some kind of illness that made him bleed ...”  

By a vote of 2-1, the panel also ruled that Hamilton failed to provide medical assistance and that Erby and Hamilton had acted improperly by not searching Hughes’ mouth. 

In dissent, Commissioner Jack Radisch, a retired prosecutor, said there was no law requiring police “to make a violent, intrusive entry into the body cavity of a person.” Radisch continued, “There was probably little or nothing that could have been done to save the life of a man who refused to complain even when it must have been apparent that he had a serious problem.” 

›

Former gubernatorial and vice-presidential candidate Peter Camejo told a gathering of progressives in Oakland Saturday that recent events in New Orleans and the drop in American support for the occupation in Iraq “is a tremendous opening for the Green Party. This is a peculiar moment where we can win over people massively by explaining to them what is happening in our country and in the world.” 

The speech by Camejo, the Green Party co-founder, was the keynote of a “Back to School Not War” rally at Oakland’s Laney College, part of a two-day statewide conference sponsored by the party. 

The event was the first general gathering of California Greens in three years. 

Camejo said his comments on Iraq were prompted by a New York Times/CBS poll showing that 44 percent of individuals polled believed that the United States made the right decision in taking military action against Iraq, a figure the New York Times said was “the lowest rating since the question was first asked by this poll more than two years ago.” 

The newspaper also reported that 52 percent of people interviewed called for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, “even if that means abandoning President Bush’s goal of restoring stability to that country.” 

The war in Iraq was also the subject of the speech by the rally’s other main speaker, rising local Green Party star Aimee Allison, a Gulf War conscientious objector who placed fourth last May in a nine-person race for the District 2 Oakland City Council race. 

“I am thinking that we know right now in this country what it must have felt like to be in Germany in the 1930s,” Allison said, “when ordinary Germans saw Hitler take over the courts, used an attack on the national legislature to take over the legislature, and waged war abroad as well as on the German people.” 

Without naming George W. Bush by name but in an obvious reference to the president, Allison declared to shouts and applause from the audience that “we have a war criminal in our midst. I don’t want to see him out of office. I want to see him jailed.” 

Allison announced that she will be a Green Party candidate for the Oakland City Council. 

Ragina Johnson, the campaign director for the November College Not Combat ballot advisory proposition asking San Francisco voters to call for the banning of military recruiters from the city schools, linked Iraq and Hurricane Katrina together, stating that “the war is being paid for with the lives of people in the gulf coast.” 

It was an allusion to the fact that National Guard troops were unavailable for rescue work following the hurricane and floods because many of them were on duty in Iraq. 

The rally’s third major speaker, former Black Panther Party Chairperson Elaine Brown, could not deliver her speech by telephone from Brunswick, Ga., because of technical problems. Brown is a Green Party candidate for Brunswick mayor. 

But Brown’s place on the program was taken by two last-minute additions recently returned from the New Orleans hurricane disaster, San Francisco paramedics Larry Bradshaw and Lorrie Beth Slonsky, who received a heroes’ welcome from the crowd. 

Bradshaw and Slonsky said they “happened to be in New Orleans when the hurricane hit,” and their e-mail account of their horrific experiences during the disaster was widely circulated around the Internet this month. The message included stories that Jefferson Parish sheriff’s deputies in neighboring Gretna, La., fired shots over the heads of New Orleans hurricane survivors to prevent them from walking across a Mississippi River bridge into Gretna, and charges that a Jefferson Parish deputy later looted food from those survivors after they were forced to disperse. 

Bradshaw said he wanted to dispel the myth that New Orleans citizens simply sat around following the hurricane and waited to be rescued. 

“We witnessed incredible acts of heroism being carried out by ordinary people,” he said, “maintenance workers using forklifts to carry out the sick and the wounded, refinery workers stealing boats so they could rescue people trapped by the floodwaters, engineers hotwiring cars and then using them to transport people out of the disaster area.” 

Slonsky contrasted those actions of “ordinary people” with their experiences with many police and National Guard officials, who they said often hampered relief efforts rather than helping them. 

“It was clear that if you were black and poor, you were not going to be able to get out of New Orleans immediately after the hurricane,” she said. Both Bradshaw and Slonsky are white. 

Workshops during the two-day event were divided between progressive issues—- such as education, American Muslims in the era of the Patriot Act, universal health care, for example—and strategies for building the Green Party and winning elections. 

Alameda County Green Party central council member Greg Jan said that the state party holds two to three decision-making sessions a year among party officials, but “wants to hold more informal gatherings on a regular basis so that we can network among ourselves and share information with other progressive organizations.” 

At one of the Saturday workshop sessions, a Green Party presenter said it “felt good to be able to debate some of these ideas in person; usually we’re just exchanging e-mails.” 

›

What is the shame of the American nation? 

Longtime American educator, civil rights advocate and activist, and award-winning author Jonathan Kozol believes it is the “restoration of apartheid schooling in American education,” and it is the subject of his recently released book The Shame of the Nation. 

An educator himself, Kozol began his teaching career in a black elementary school in his native Boston in 1964, shortly after the news of the assasination-murder of three Mississippi Freedom Summer workers had shocked the conscience of the nation. He has been an active advocate for reform of the nation’s education system ever since. 

Kozol brings his thoughts on the issue to Berkeley this Friday evening when he speaks at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School on Rose Street at 7:30 p.m. A reception precedes the talk at 6:45, and a book-signing follows. 

Admission to the event is $10 ($8 for students), with proceeds to go to the Chez Panisse Foundation for Berkeley’s School Lunch Initiative. 

In The Shame of the Nation, Kozol charges that America’s public education system has reverted to a segregation that is in many ways worse than was seen before the Supreme Court’s historic Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954. As in many of his previous books (among them Death at an Early Age, Children of the Revolution and Savage Inequalities), The Shame of the Nation takes its main sources not from newspaper articles or academic studies, but from the author’s tireless wanderings of the nation’s inner city school hallways and cafeterias and classrooms, probing, observing, chatting with principals and teachers and students alike. His conclusions, therefore, are drawn from the “is,” rather than what politicians or educational professionals might either want it or believe it “to be.” 

The re-segregation of American schools, he writes, has turned into a situation where mostly-white suburban schools are often havens for critical thinking and holistic personal advancement, while mostly-black and Latino inner-city schools are relegated to prepare their charges for entering the low-income working class. He chides the corporate takeover of large portions of inner-city public education. 

“When business and the world of commerce are permitted to invade the precincts of our public schools,” he writes, “they tell the urban school officials, sometimes in so many words, that what they need the schools to give them are ‘team players.’” He adds that “there will, I am afraid, be fewer fascinating mavericks, fewer penetrating questioners, and fewer powerful dissenters coming from our inner-city schools before too long if this agenda cannot be reversed. Team players may well be of great importance to the operation of a business corporation, and they are obviously essential in the military services; but a healthy nation needs its future poets, prophets, ribald satirists, and maddening iconoclasts at least as much as it needs people who will file in a perfect line to an objective they are told they cannot question.” 

It is to Kozol’s credit that he is one of the few national figures who has continued to point out the value to America of the production of such individuals in the nation’s less-affluent schools. 

Kozol’s condemnation of the current national educational policy is unrelenting. 

“I went to Washington to challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations,” he quotes President George W. Bush in a 2004 re-election campaign speech. “It’s working. It’s making a difference.” And, according to Kozol, “it is one of those deadly lies which, by sheer repetition, is at length accepted by large numbers of Americans as, perhaps, a rough approximation of the truth.” Kozol calls the president’s claim that the national policies to uplift the education of minority and low-income students is “not an innocent misstatement of the facts [but] a devious appeasement of the heartache of the parents of the black and brown and poor.” 

But while he sees a bleak picture in many inner-city schools both from lack of money and motivation, Kozol has high praise for the many highly-competent educational professionals who have stayed in the inner city and dug in deep and fought to make a difference. 

With a writing style like a man who has so many words to get out so fast that they seem to pile upon themselves as they fall out onto the page, Kozol notes that “beneath the radar of efficiency technicians and the stern disciplines of instructional approaches based on strict ... controls, one still may find humane and happy elementary schools ... within poor neighborhoods in which affectionate and confident and morally committed teachers do not view themselves as the floor managers for industry whose job it is to pump some ‘added value’ into undervalued children.” Kozol praises these teachers for ‘com[ing] into this very special world of miniature joys and miniature griefs out of their fascination and delight with growing children and are thoroughly convinced that each and every one of them has an inherent value to begin with.” 

Amtrak passengers no longer have to leap onto commuter trains at Berkeley’s rail stop. 

On Saturday Berkeley opened its new rail platform at Third Street and University Avenue, giving passengers easy access to Amtrak trains.  

Since Berkeley lost its train station more than 30 years ago, the waiting area had consisted of two benches on a dimly lit street with no rain shelter other than the University Avenue overpass. Passengers had to board trains from the street-level track, a nearly impossible task for wheelchair users. 

“We were the worst stop on the line,” said Berkeley Redevelopment Manager Iris Starr, who managed the $2.4 million project. 

Besides a new platform, the new rail-stop renovation also includes trees, benches, lighting and a hub for AC Transit’s 51 bus that will serve the station. A rain shelter is nearly finished, and the Civic Arts Commission is deciding on a public art installation for the platform, Starr added. 

Amtrak makes 18 stops a day in Berkeley, serving about 80 passengers along its Capital Corridor line from San Jose through Sacramento, according to Starr. She said the city hoped the new platform would convince Amtrak to add Berkeley as a stop to the San Joaquin line that goes through Stockton on its way to Bakersfield. 

Amtrak spokesperson Vernae Graham said the rail agency would consider restoring a Berkeley stop to the line. Amtrak removed the stop several years ago because of a lack of ridership in Berkeley, she said. 

Graham said Amtrak had no plans to rebuild a full-service train station in Berkeley. Most stations outside the northeast are owned by cities or private owners, she said. 

A new platform had been the top priority for Berkeley’s Redevelopment Agency. The agency received just over $1 million in federal and state grants through Caltrans for the $2.4 million project. 

Along with the new platform, the city is installing six 10-hour parking meters for commuters, Starr said. Unlike many other train stations in the state, there is no free parking available at the Berkeley stop. 

In 1971, the Southern Pacific Railroad sold the Berkeley train station, which later became a Chinese restaurant, according to Phil Gale of the Berkeley Historical Society. That same year, he said, Amtrak, which took over Southern Pacific’s routes, stopped train service in Berkeley.  

In the 1980s, Amtrak reopened the Berkeley stop for its Capitol Corridor line. 

The original train station, designated a structure of merit by the city Landmarks Preservation Commission, might become the new home of Brennan’s Restaurant, which is being forced from its home on Fourth Street to make way for a condominium project.

String is not a material known for its lasting qualities. Just right for tying up a package, substituting for a shoelace or belt, fashioning a phone between two cans or serving as a memory enhancer tied around your finger, you wouldn’t expect to find your accountant’s office hung with string assemblages. String wouldn’t be your first choice for a grocery list or message to a friend. 

Yet in the Incan Empire, multiple strings with a series of knots were used for just these tasks. Recently new discoveries have been made in the difficult attempt to decipher their meanings. 

Peru’s “Children of the Sun” controlled over 5,000 miles of land, stretching from Ecuador to Chile, and over six million people. With great military strength the Incas conquered cultures and collected massive amounts of information regarding textile techniques, architecture, gold-working, irrigation, pottery and healing. The Inca state relied on a foundation of well-organized and efficient agriculture. Huge surpluses of food grown in irrigated deserts and on terraced mountainsides filled great storehouses.  

Armies marching thousands of miles had no need to carry provisions as a vast network of tambos (lodges with storehouses) were situated every six miles. Each major tambo and bridge employed a khipukamayaq, an accountant who kept track of all the people and goods moving along the road, and sent these records to the administrative heads in Cusco, the Incan capital. 

Khipukamayaqs were also in charge of levying the critical labor tax in the form of yearly workdays on state projects. Incans were organized into accounting units based on ten. Groups of 10, 50, 100 and 500 laborers were then organized into larger and larger administrative units. While the upper hierarchy controlled distribution, it was critical for local officials to maintain accurate records of laborers, units and work days completed. 

The one thing the Inca Empire did not have was any form of writing. How then was this massive amount of numerical data kept and transferred? 

Records were kept on khipu. Used as communication devices for census, financial and military data, they were, effectively, the ledger books for this far-reaching empire. Orders were issued down through the hierarchy then transferred between different accounting levels in the Inca administrative system on these assemblages of string. 

Khipu resembled a grass skirt: a single, long cord from which would be suspended up to 2,000 pendant strings, each with an array of knots. Three types of knots were used: simple overhand, long knots of two or more turns and figure eight knots. Simple knots were used for digits in the positions of ten or higher. Long knots represented digits in the units position, a figure eight knot represented one and no knot stood for zero. A pendant string with a cluster of six simple knots, followed by a cluster of four simple knots and a long knot with three turns would stand for the number 643. 

Today between 600 and 700 khipu remain, an amazing feat in itself. Information about how khipu were used died out long ago. Without written records, much that had been deciphered was compiled from investigations on a small scale. More and more, anthropologists are intrigued with the role khipu played. Could they be a three-dimensional form of textile-based writing? Could the sequences of knots represent more than mathematical information? Recent studies, especially the work done by Harvard’s Gary Urton and Carrie Brezine, have begun to answer some of these questions. 

The first large-scale study was done by Marcia and Robert Ascher of Cornell University, who catalogued over 200 khipu according to several factors: type of cord, placement, length, color, knot type and position. The Aschers’ studies determined that many cords represent numbers and mathematical operations but that a good percentage of the strands appear to represent something else, perhaps a place, person or object. Their work also sparked renewed efforts toward decoding khipu. 

In 1956 Peruvian archeologists working at Puruchuco, an Incan administrative center near Lima, unearthed a vessel hidden beneath the ruins of the floor of a small building near the palace. Inside what may have been the home of the khipukamayaq, they discovered 21 khipu. Anthropologist Gary Urton and mathematician-weaver Carrie Brezine developed a relational computer database for analysis of 7 of these khipu, of a type labeled “accounting hierarchy” khipu. 

Brezine found that the seven khipu all used a hierarchal arrangement of three interconnected, mathematically related levels. It is thought that successive officials utilized them in compiling totals where upward movements on the strands signified additions while downward movements were sub-divisions. In this way, values could be added or subtracted as the khipu moved between local villages and upward to the powerful central government in Cusco. 

Brezine’s computer database was used to search data on nearly half of the existing khipu. It located patterns in khipu consisting of 2 to 500 strands of varying colors and lengths. From this, Urton and Brezine concluded that a specific detail found at the beginning of all the 21 khipu—three figure eight knots—could code for Puruchuco, making it the first “word” derived from Inca khipu. 

Urton’s previous research suggested that khipu recovered from burial sites could also have been used as calendars. Containing 730 strings arranged in 24 sets, these khipu exactly represented the number of days and months in two years. 

Almost simultaneous research by Ruth Shady Solis of Lima’s National University of San Marcos supports the theory that khipu were more than numeric. Working at Caral, an ancient city north of Lima, Solis discovered ladder-like assemblages of twelve cotton strings between 4000 and 4500 years old. The pendant strings twisted around small sticks could be among the oldest means of communication. 

Though the Inca Empire no longer exists, its mysteries continue to intrigue both travelers and scientists alike. Computers offer new methods for unraveling ancient puzzles but questions remain. Were khipu more than mathematical ledger-books? If so, how were the identities of objects recorded in these knotted strings? As long as the strings exist, research will delve into their past and their meaning. ›

BATON ROUGE, La.—The New Orleans Stare. You can see it in the faces of Katrina survivors here at the evacuation shelter at the River Center in Baton Rouge.  

A woman looks blankly at nothing—rubbing her face and short graying afro with wrinkled brown hands, sitting on a lonely chair outside the complex. Old men sit on the curb smoking cigarettes and talking quietly to one another. Young men try to occupy themselves by talking with relief workers and National Guardsmen with M-16s. The stare—the facial manifestation of overwhelming loss—is in all of the evacuees’ eyes.  

About 2,000 people call the River Center home. The vast majority is African American. Though their immediate physical needs are being met, the mental health issues black people are dealing with are off the radar screen in the debate surrounding the recovery of the Gulf Coast region.  

Dr. Rasheda Perine, 32, a New Orleans native, is an assistant professor of psychology at Southern University in Baton Rouge and a practicing clinical psychologist. Her immediate family and a family friend are staying with her, all evacuees from New Orleans. The East New Orleans neighborhood where she grew up has been completely destroyed.  

Baton Rouge has added 260,000 new residents in the last 14 days, making it the fastest-growing city in America. Most of the newcomers are from New Orleans.  

Dr. Perine knows that seeking help through therapy is an issue for black people.  

“There is a lot of stigma in the black community about therapy,” Perine says. “You are supposed to deal with your own problems. We are like super-people—we’re not supposed to cry.”  

She says African Americans suffer “a lot of self-hatred because we won’t express ourselves,” and thinks that most Katrina victims will face Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.  

“When you go through something very traumatic, you re-live it over and over again,” Perine says. “You have nightmares, a lot of anxiety. You can’t function as you normally would for months and sometimes years.”  

Dr. Perine herself has the look. As she talks, the tears are just beneath the surface of her face, like river water behind a levee about to burst.  

“I don’t think I have actually cried about it yet,” she says, “I think it is going to happen soon but I have to be strong for my family.”  

She has, however, taken the time to process what the destruction of New Orleans means for American society, especially black people.  

“I think racism is so much a part of our culture that it is covert. I don’t think that President Bush outright dislikes black people, but it is so much a part of our culture that when you see a black face you don’t feel as much sympathy or empathy as you do a white face. If there were cameras showing the white faces, the evacuation would have been quicker.”  

Lenard Rochon, 32, is from the lower ninth ward in New Orleans. He got his rap name, Venom, by “doing sneaky things and living a sneaky life and learning the hard way, basically.” He’s lived at the River City shelter with 24 members of his family since August 28, the day before the storm.  

“It’s stressful, it’s hard, because I know I lost a lot of people down there in the ninth ward,” says Rochon, who hasn’t accessed any mental health services at the shelter. He deals with the stress by writing rhymes.  

“I don’t express my problems and my feelings by telling them to people,” Rochon says. “Most of the time I express them by rappin’ and thinking. I talk to my wife sometimes, but that’s about it.”  

Rochon wrote the following rap in the shelter, and as he busts it one of his young family members comes over. The child, no more than 5, knows the chorus and does the background vocals.  

“So where you at, Mr. President / You know we need help leaving us up in a situation by ourselves / Take a look all around you man see there’s nothing left / Except for problems in the streets no food up on the shelf / And the water is contaminated you can see that man / But they steady tellin’ lies I can’t believe that man.”  

Rochon sings the chorus softly with his young hype man.  

“So lord won’t you help me / I think I’m going crazy / Many of my people died / But most of them they really loved / If you look up in my eyes / I tell you this is for my people that find our passion see / They telling all these lies but if you sending help / Then tell your people come and rescue me / So won’t you help me lawd.”  

“The 9/11 people didn’t have to wait,” Rochon says. “The tsunami people didn’t have to wait. The people in Florida with the hurricanes didn’t have to wait. Why I gotta wait?”  

According to Dr. Perine, the black poor in New Orleans “already had issues of anger, feelings like life has no meaning, that (they) could care less about things—then this thing happens, and they feel like the nation does not care while we are basically drowning or sitting in the hot sun.”  

Ahmad Ellis, 17, is a dark chocolate-brown long and skinny youngster from the downtown area of New Orleans. Baby dreds jut out from all over his head, on top of a 6-foot frame. He is bouncing a ball inside the shelter, watching his homies play video games. Hundreds of people are resting and talking to one another—cots, tents and blankets line the walls and floor. The stare is everywhere.  

Ellis is having trouble sleeping. The flooded river city is never far from his mind. “I been thinking about New Orleans, how it’s gone,” he says. “I just don’t talk about it. I just, I be—I can’t take it no more. Can’t sleep right. I been having dreams about it. Bad weird dreams. I thought I was dead. The last dream I had, I was drowning and the rescue workers came and rescued me. I feel weird, it be hot but I’m waking up in cold sweats.  

“I have to deal with it. I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I don’t feel safe talking to anybody,” Ellis says.  

Dr. Perine says that for blacks in the South, the pastor or priest, not the therapist, is where people go to talk.  

“One of the things I tell people is, ‘Maybe God brought the therapist here to help alongside your pastor.’ And then I ask, ‘Can you tell your pastor everything without being judged? You are supposed to be able to tell your therapist everything without judgment. If you feel that way about your pastor, that’s fine as long as you are talking to someone.’”  

Stacie Condley Barthelemy, 29, is a statuesquely beautiful dark brown woman with a big smile and a quick tongue. She escaped from New Orleans just before the storm. She has been in and out of the shelter, where 12 of her immediate and extended family reside. Katrina destroyed her day-care business and her home.  

Barthelemy has talked to the many preachers who come to the shelter to counsel evacuees.  

“I have been leaning on faith all the way because you can’t depend on these people to help you. You call FEMA, and you can only get so much money per household. And when you apply you still don’t get it. It can take a toll on you.”  

Of the hundreds of therapists in the Baton Rouge area, only a handful—about 40, according to the Association of Black Psychologists—are African American. Dr. Perine has advice for her white colleagues who may counsel some of the evacuees.  

“Black people might want to get their feelings of anger out that they got left behind. If you can express empathy, I think that is the most important piece. You may see someone who talks about how they feel racism had an impact. It would hurt that person if a therapist tries to get away from that conversation.  

“You have to be willing to listen and not let your own biases get in the way,” Perine says.  

Kevin Weston is editor-in-chief of YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia, a journal of young life in the Bay Area..›

On Sept. 16, 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costillo gave the grito (shout) and launched the Mexican war for independence from Spain. Meanwhile, a convention in the Kingdom of Spain was debating a constitution for representative government for the homeland and the colonies. Similarities appear in having debates in Spain for a constitution for Mexico, and debating one for Iraq, not in Iraq proper, but in the Green Zone, under the watchful eye of the U.S. top representative. 

Significantly enough, the U.S. top man in Iraq a year ago was Paul “the Viceroy” Bremmer. Other similitudes between Mexico then and Iraq today include the actions of, and propaganda about, the insurgents, the home-grown ones, that is, Mexico had only a brief period with any notable number of foreign ones. 

The delegates to the constitutional Cortes (assembly) in Spain in 1810 were under intense pressure to produce, due to political developments which found their King held captive by the French of Emperor Napoleon. They felt they needed to reach out broadly for support, or Spain might be lost to the French. Thus, the constitution was to apply to the colonies as well as the homeland. 

Delegates from the colonies who swore allegiance to the Empire were allowed at the Cortes. They were only some 20 percent of those in attendance, when by population count the numbers should have been reversed. And the colonial delegates were an elite group of the wealthy and well educated. The stringent qualifications were such that no candidate was found to represent the province of Texas. 

Hidalgo initially had support within the elite, but quickly lost it. His peasant followers reacted with violent enthusiasm to his decrees abolishing tribute taxes, the discriminatory laws of the caste system and the institution of slavery. He ordered that masters must free their bond-servants immediately upon receipt of the decree or suffer the penalty of death. 

Mansions of Spaniards and rich Mexicans alike were attacked and many residents hacked to death by Hidalgo’s mobs. Spain’s Royal defenders said the insurgents functioned merely on hatred. A more nuanced assessment came from a cleric in Puebla who said the problem with the rebels was that they lacked a coherent program. Some “wanted democracy, others aristocracy and others monarchy.” It was three years into the war before rebel leadership found agreement on complete independence under a representative government.  

In Spain, the delegates were divided among those who genuinely desired a modern republic, and others who sympathized with the King and wanted safeguards in the constitution that ensured that the lower orders would not jeopardize power. The debates dragged through 1811. The option of granting Mexico self-rule was rejected. Supposedly, without Spain’s guidance, Mexicans would destroy one another. 

As one Royalist wrote, if warfare was so bloody between “enlightened countries among citizens of the same color, the same laws, religion and interests, what can we expect ... where there are European Spaniards, American Spaniards ... (and) Indians, Mulattos, Lobos, Negroes and other castes at odds among themselves.” 

Hidalgo was captured in the Summer of 1811 and beheaded and his skull hung in public to dissuade other European-looking Mexicans from siding with the insurgents. Talk in the mansions of Mexico City was that the revolution was in its last gasp. But the Mexican cause had been carried by a plentiful group, small town priests devoted to the poor, and after Hidalgo the revolution was rebuilt and given new strength by Father Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon, a small town priest who was of mixed African, Indigenous and Spanish heritage. 

The constitution appeared ready for passage in 1812. Agreement was reached on articles for free elections, freedom of assembly, a free press and voting rights. Then came Article 22. It denied the designated rights to anyone with any African ancestry. Members among the delegations from the Americans were irate. They pointed out, more than once, that in mixed race Spanish America, counting all the territories, those with at least a little bit or more of African blood were the biggest single group. To deny them rights would disenfranchise whole regions, for lack of qualified voters to fill a quorum—the province of Veracruz, for instance. American delegates warned that anger over Article 22 could cost Spain its colonies. The delegates intimated, but would not say directly, that the black exclusion meant that political office holders in the colonies would come from the ranks of those with little respect for representative government.  

On the matter of exclusion, the Spanish delegates circulated a petition that the Cortes had received from Spaniards living in Mexico City. The petitioners said their experience showed them that it was questionable to even give White Mexicans rights; that the Indigenous should be excluded by reason of a lack of intelligence for self-rule; and as for the blacks, they were deemed a devious people, who “congregate in the dark corners of our cities forming a class of unproductive ruined poor. They should not be given access to improve, for with more money they will only be better able to satiate their vicious indulgent habits...” 

To this, a delegate from Lima, Peru, a city with a sizable African population, declared that the petition should be burned for spreading discord and disturbing the peace of the Empire. 

The black exclusion article passed with overwhelming Spanish support. The constitution was promulgated. In Mexico, the grant of free press and assembly lasted only a few months before the Viceroy declared those clauses void. 

The insurgency spread. Royal propagandists declared Morelos an insane fanatic who promulgated a blasphemous religion. Morelos was indeed a fiery orator; his bushy hair made the scarf he always wore appear like a turban. “God is on our side,” he railed, “Stand in fear Gachupines (Spaniards in Mexico). Your end is near. Stand in fear of America, not only because of our bravery, a good amount of which you have experienced, but also because of the righteousness of the cause which we defend with all our hearts...” 

Morelos’s war program called for infrastructure destabilization: Mine shafts were flooded, haciendas torched, tobacco and cane fields set ablaze, bridges blown up. Belongings of Royalists were distributed half to the revolution and half to the local people in need. 

Morelos was captured and executed late in 1815. Many now quit the insurgency, believing it had fallen into chaos, and that the chances for success were slim. But Spain spent the next few years in continual mopping up exercises in which Royal troops descended upon “insurgent strongholds” with reportedly much success, only to repeat at the same place a few months later. Spanish soldiers tired of the chase, and increasing numbers of Mexicans had to be conscripted to fight for the empire. 

In 1820, Spain’s king, back on his throne, ordered a widespread conscription of his countrymen, declaring it was time to end the colonial uprisings once and for all. But great numbers of his soldiers and officers refused to get on the boats for the New World. The military revolt led to the dormant Cortes being called back in session. The delegates decided that the only way to keep the colonies was to give them genuine democratic power at the local level. It was granted. 

Across Mexico, newly formed town councils voted not to fund the militia, militia members being the majority of Spain’s fighters in Mexico. Guns piled up in the town squares. A top Spanish general was the Mexican Agustin Iturbide, who decided to seek out the Mexican Commander in Chief, Vicente Guerrero, for a deal unifying their armies against the foreigners. Significantly enough, Guerrero, a descendant of slaves and a former lieutenant under Morelos, insisted that he and Iturbide’s unity plan of Iguala include an equality clause. 

It read, “All inhabitants of New Spain, without distinction to their being Europeans, Africans, or Indians are citizens ... with the option to seek all employment according to their merits and virtues.” With the plan’s publication, conscripted Mexicans on the Spanish side deserted in massive numbers. 

In September 1821 the joint army of Iturbide and Guerrero marched into Mexico City. The war was over. Mexico was free. But the economy was in ruin; hundreds of thousands had been displaced from their homes; and handling the problems would create a long period of political instability. 

During the years of recuperation, eleven individuals who fought against Spain would serve as presidents of Mexico. Only one of the 146 Mexican delegates to the sessions of the Spanish Cortes received that honor. 

The Legacy of Vicente Guerrero: Mexico’s First Black Indian President (University Press of Florida, 2001) was the source for most of the history in this article.  

'

NEW DELHI—In Pakistan, Sarabjit Singh is an “Indian spy’’ whose death sentence has been upheld by the country’s Supreme Court for his alleged involvement in 1990 bomb blasts in Lahore. In India, Sarabjit is an innocent man, a farmer and father of two teenage girls, who mistakenly ventured into Pakistan 15 years back in an inebriated condition and was picked up by Pakistani security personnel, as happens quite often.  

Sarabjit has been in a Pakistan jail since along with hundreds of Indian prisoners, several of whom are said to be innocent—fishermen, petty traders, shepherds, farmers who live along the India-Pakistan border and are regularly detained when they accidentally stumble across. Many never make it back, are thrown into jails, tortured to make false confessions and live in horrible conditions. They are branded spies and terrorists, sometimes even by the country they belong. More are picked up if Indo-Pakistan relations happen to deteriorate. There are perhaps an equal number if not more Pakistanis languishing in Indian jails as well, with similar unfounded charges. 

In a way, death (even if in the form of a court sentence) could have been the only means to Sarabjit’s salvation. Apart from his family which has been pursuing his case with the authorities for the past many years, nobody has been interested in his fate and forcefully pleading his plight. Sarabjit’s sister has been knocking the doors of bureaucrats and politicians for more than a decade, to no avail until the death sentence rang a bell and the media spotlighted his case. Now any politician from Punjab, the state that Sarabjit comes from, is seen sharing the media space with her.  

Like elsewhere, when the Indian television channels find an issue, whether relevant or irrelevant, it becomes the subject of abundant talk which is very lucky for Sarabjit and his family. The voices of his sister and two daughters now resonate in every corner of the country, which has joined the chorus. Prayer meetings and protest marches have followed; TV channels run a ticker on the messages pouring in from hours of talk on the issue. An organization in Bhopal has organized 200,000 emails to be sent to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. 

India’s top Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan, who recently essayed the role of a person falsely implicated as an Indian spy by Pakistan, has also issued an appeal. In the movie, Sharukh makes it back. Many will wish the same for Sarabjit. 

In a live telecast, Sarabjit’s sister handed over a petition via the border security force officials to Musharraf at the Wagah border with Pakistan, near the city of Amritsar. The memorandum urges Musharraf “to rise above political considerations and legal ramblings, considering Allah has bestowed him grace and power to pardon.” She has also appealed to the Indian President. 

Predictably, with such attention the power-holders in the country, who had long forgotten the case of Sarabjit and countless others who will perhaps never be heard, have awakened to the pressure. Last week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said “appropriate messages” have been sent to Pakistan on the issue. Foreign minister K. Natwar Singh has taken up the case with Pakistan High Commissioner Aziz Ahmed Khan and urged him to convey New Delhi’s hope that Islamabad treats it as a humanitarian issue. Cutting across party lines, the Indian Parliament expressed concern at the death sentence awarded to Sarabjit. 

In a minor breakthrough Pakistan has granted consular access to Sarabjit for the first time in 15 years, which means that he will be provided with legal help and a fresh look into the facts of the case. Two Indian officials have met Sarabjit. This is significant as Indian officials say that similar consular access has been denied by Pakistan to 107 other Indian detainees. The Sarbjit issue as well as the fate of prisoners will also figure in the ongoing two day home secretary level talks between India and Pakistan. 

The path to his release is still long drawn. Apart from the legal route of a review petition to the Supreme Court, Musharraf can pardon Sarabjit. Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said an appeal for clemency can be made to Musharraf, but it will not be an easy decision, given the various forces, that include the Islamic and the militant, that need to be balanced within Pakistan. Musharraf knows their hold on Pakistani society more than anybody else. 

Musharraf’s own Information Minister Sheikh Rashid has said that under Islamic law Sarabjit could be pardoned only by the relatives of the victims of the Lahore blasts. “As per the Pakistan Islamic law, only families of those who died in the bomb blasts can give him pardon and no other person. This is my understanding of the Islamic law. The President cannot pardon the accused,” said Rashid. 

Militant outfits have asked the Pakistan government to seek clemency for Mohammed Afzal, sentenced to death in India in the Parliament attack case, before granting pardon to Sarabjit. 

“Pakistan should first seek clemency for Kashmiri youth Mohammed Afzal before India seeks release of Sarabjit Singh, whose death penalty has been upheld by the Pakistani Supreme Court for his involvement in bomb blasts in Pakistan,” Hizbul Mujahideen leader and Chief of the United Jehad Council (UJC) Syed Salahuddin said in a statement. 

While the negative aspect of Indian prisoners in Pakistan jails or vice versa has been highlighted in the Sarabjit case, there is yet a silver lining to the entire issue.  

Like the case of Cindy Sheehan in USA which has rallied the anti-war protesters, Sarabjit now symbolizes all that is possible in the current context of improved Indo-Pakistan relations and peace talks.  

In the years of hostility that have marked Indo-Pakistan relations there will be wrongs that cannot be corrected overnight. However, it is important that once errors that have been committed in the past come to the fore, they are dealt with sufficient sensitivity as well as care about the needs of the other nation, its people and the families.  

Indian officials say Pakistani jails hold 371 Indian fishermen and 74 other civilian prisoners, while 611 Pakistan prisoners are being held in Indian jails. The peace process has seen both the countries swap prisoners. Pakistan released 589 Indians last year, and India released 182 Pakistanis, according to officials. India has offered to release another 177 Pakistani prisoners whose identities have been identified. 

The media has played a stellar role so far in highlighting the case of Sarabjit as well as engendering a public movement for his release. But, given the fickle nature of the media which will quickly move on to the next big news, it becomes important that both India and Pakistan continue to work the channels to eliminate the baggage of history. This includes a fair hearing for Sarabjit given any new evidence and more like him.  

Siddharth Srivastava is a New Delhi-based journalist.  

http://www.jfdefreitas.com/index.php?path=/00_Latest%20Work

Rape 

A resident called police on the night of Sept. 13 to report hearing cries of help from a teenage girl. Police located the girl and several men in a home on the 1500 block of Allston Way, said Berkeley Police Public Information Officer Joe Okies.  

Police arrested Ryan Garvey, 23, and Lawrence Hardin, 29, for rape and lewd acts with a minor. Okies said the two men were acquaintances of the victim. 

Flying Manhole Covers 

A motorist driving at the intersection of Telegraph Avenue and Bancroft Way got a shock Monday afternoon when a manhole cover burst from the street and struck his car. The vehicle’s air bag deployed, but the driver was unharmed, Okies said. 

The manhole cover dislodged when a high tension wire shorted out underground, sparking an explosion. Berkeley firefighters extinguished the fire from wire and police rerouted traffic away from the scene. 

Music to piano owner’s ears 

Some alert residents near the intersection of Fairview and California streets called police Wednesday evening when they saw three men walking off with a neighbor’s piano. The robbers didn’t get very far, Okies said. Police arrested Troy Burton, Charles Rodgers and Myron Head for grand theft. 

Robbery at gunpoint 

Four men, including one armed with a pistol, robbed a man of his wallet and cell phone while he walking along Hearst and Milvia Street just after midnight Friday. 

Assault 

Two men got into a fight at the 700 block of Harrison Street Wednesday. When it was over, the victim called Berkeley police to report he had been struck with a blunt object, Okies said. 

Robbery 

The clerk at a grocery store on the 1500 block of San Pablo Avenue avoided being slashed by a knife-wielding robber last Tuesday evening. He did, however, surrender all of the money inside the store’s cash register. 

›

• 

AN OPEN LETTER TO CHANCELLOR BIRGENEAU 

Dear Mr. Chancellor, 

I recently got a letter from you asking for some money. I knew the campus had budget troubles, but I kind of thought you might throw some of that $200,000-plus salary you get into the pot before you came to me, since despite being a graduate and all, I still don’t make much. 

I wanted to ask you about that and about cutting the trees in People’s Park. We have these traditions there, which, being new and from Canada and all, I figure you might not know about, and I thought I better tell you. 

We try to show a little respect for other people and trees and stuff, and check in before we do anything dramatic like cutting down a tree. It’s not that hard to write a letter or post a poster or have a meeting or something, and it’s a good way to avoid riots. 

Anyhow, maybe you wanted to start a riot and I’m way off base. I just wanted you to know that if you, like all the other chancellors, want to put your mark on People’s Park, you don’t have to cut down trees to do it. 

Come on up and help build a bench with the salvaged wood from the tree, for instance. I think that would be a really nice gesture, or at least don’t arrest the rest of us when we go ahead without you. But don’t be afraid to join us, we’re kind of a nice bunch. And next time you get an urge to cut down a tree, please first give me a call. 

Carol Denney 

• 

OPEN LETTER TO BERKELEY HONDA 

To the owners and management of Berkeley Honda: 

I hope it’s becoming abundantly clear to you that you brought your management style to the wrong city. In Berkeley, we don’t give up easily on an institution that we’ve come to respect over the years—one that has given us excellent service. And we will not support any group or individual who attempts to deprive us of that service. Consequently, until you come to the table honestly and are willing to bargain fairly, we will continue to picket and make our voices heard, loudly. And we will take our business elsewhere. 

You will find us patient to the point of stubbornness. 

George Crowe 

A former patron of Doten Honda 

BHS ACCOUNTABILITY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

For years Berkeley High School has struggled with “how to institute accountability.” Now that the new administrative and governance structure has been designed and the whole debate about small schools vs. large schools has been decided, can we finally get real about accountability? 

What is the process of resolving a concern/complaint about a teacher’s methods, practices or actions? I have been informed by the administrations that Principal Slemp wants all concerns taken up directly with the classroom teacher. 

While there are some issues best resolved at this level, problems regarding the teacher’s ability to deliver curriculum can only be addressed by their supervisors. It is the responsibility of administrators to evaluate, monitor, mentor, train, and sanction their teaching staff. Expecting students and parents to do this job does nothing to improve the dysfunctional aspects and educational inequity that still occur at BHS. 

I would like to hear a clear policy from our principal as to how the administration monitors complaints and how they remedy problems. I hope the parent/student representative to the governing bodies make a thorough assessment of current practice and offer recommendations based on real experiences from the consumers of the system, the students/parents. Counselors can be a good resource as they have a clear picture of what is working and what is not. 

During the past several years of drama about “how to best educate,” there has been plenty of rhetoric and little development of systems of teacher accountability. During my last reading of the BUSD teacher’s contract it stated in bold text, “Teachers have a right to teach the curriculum as they see fit.” While state standards now dominate instruction, Berkeley has a history of staff independence and variation of materials covered within a similar class. This is a gap students can no longer afford. 

Laura Menard 

• 

TRAFFIC CIRCLES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I just returned from a two-week vacation to find a Public Notice for Traffic Circles that had been delivered to me during my absence. From it, I learned that yet another circle is planned for the intersection of Chestnut Street and Hearst Avenue. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why. To my knowledge, there haven’t been any traffic or pedestrian incidents at that intersection during the three years that I have lived in the neighborhood, and traffic proceeds through it in an orderly manner. If anything, a stop sign at the intersection of Chestnut and Berkeley Way would be appropriate to slow traffic that hurtles onto Chestnut from University Avenue, along with a size-limit notice for trucks proceeding west on Berkeley Way. Those factors regularly cause problems at that intersection. Otherwise, existing stop signs along Chestnut seem to do an effective job of keeping streets in the area safe.  

I also learned from the leaflet that the city proposes to encourage planting trees within the circles (many of which can be expected to add debris to the roadway). That, I fear, will raise the probability of accidents by seriously restricting visibility of oncoming traffic. I have already experienced the problem of trying to see where oncoming traffic intends to proceed at various circles, and am concerned about being forced to drive in the bicycle lane on Hearst in order to circumnavigate a circle there. In no case have I experienced or observed others experiencing any need to slow down in the blocks between circles. Rather, they create confusion and hazard where none previously existed.  

Lastly, the leaflet informs me that “[t]he neighborhood will plant and maintain the plants. The circles will not have irrigation systems.” Under what compulsion am I or anyone else in my neighborhood to undertake such an enterprise? No one consulted me or anyone that I know about our being either willing or able to be responsible for doing that.  

As far as I can discern, the new traffic circles are a massive waste of taxpayers’ money and a looming disaster for pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists. Whose bright idea was it to put them in anyway, and why? Can they be stopped?  

Nicola M. Bourne 

• 

“UNDER GOD” 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Our pledge of allegiance used to have, “one nation indivisible,” which was changed to “one nation under God” in the 1950s. The country is divided now. Conservatives (who are really reactionaries), liberals, progressives, fundamentalist Christians, pro and anti-Iraq war activists .... We are separated down the middle. 

I suggest that we go back to being less divisible than we have become “under God.” 

Harry Gans 

• 

NATIONAL GUARD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I speak for many when I tell you how deeply disappointed we are that the Berkeley Daily Planet did not cover to any meaningful extent the adoption of the Resolution to Bring Home Our Guard from Iraq Immediately by the Berkeley City Council on Sept. 13. 

We would expect a full report when our City Council takes action on something so vital and important to the ending of this war in Iraq, and so extremely timely and necessary to the protection and well-being of Californians, as bringing home our Guard. 

It has been made too painfully clear after Hurricane Katrina the price our citizens‚ pay when our Guard and our equipment is not around to do the job they signed up to do—assist citizens in times of emergencies. 

The warning from FEMA in the beginning of 2001 should be what we heed these days: not the fear tactics of our president who needs our Guard and Reservists to supply 45 percent of his fighting forces in Iraq. This warning alone should make all of us in California insist that our Guard be returned immediately. 

And the movement that is swelling in California to return the Guard, with Berkeley City Council once again in the vanguard, should be front-page news in our local paper. 

Suzanne Joi 

• 

PULLING STRINGS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

City government needs to be weeded out of highly paid lazy bureaucrats. There are more highly paid bureaucrats in the City of Berkeley than other city governments in the Bay Area. Library Director Jackie Griffith wants to lay off low-level workers and create more highly paid high-level bureaucrat jobs—padding and insulating herself by hiring loyal supporters and overpaying them. They sure are not going to be standing there checking and shelving books, so what are they going to do? You can’t have all chiefs and no Indians. The city government has too many corrupt individuals moving into key positions now. 

Capitelli, Wozniak and Olds live in districts with strong UC/LBNL constituencies. Maio worked at and is now retired from LBNL and has refused to recuse herself from voting on LBNL issues where she nearly always votes in their favor. She is Bates’ poodle. 

Max Anderson and Darryl Moore are mysteries to me—but they sort of go along with the bully boy Bates. Darryl has some disgusting alliance with Wozniak, the smirking monkeys who sit side by side at the council meetings and constantly turn to each other smirking and throwing their heads back. 

Through the physical violence, verbal abuse, and dirty politics on the environmental commission, I got a very good idea of who and how UC/LBNL is pulling the strings on the commission and on the city council. 

Wozniak kicked a chair into the back of a citizen Barbara George at a public meeting on UC property and she ended up in the hospital. The UC cop said he saw nothing and LA Wood caught Wozniak on tape with a demonic grin. Betty Olds appointed someone named Krumme to the commission and he kicked a Peace and Justice Commissioner (my boyfriend) in a wheelchair taping my presentation on radiation as Krumme stormed out the door. He returned and angered a black woman from Richmond so much by denying that dioxins are a health risk that she stood up and started hollering at him for ten minutes. The very next day Betty Olds walked by me in City Hall and gave me a sickly sweet simpering smile.  

Many many other horrible things have been perpetrated by the UC/LBNL faction and then they blame us for the bad behavior —including Arietta Chackos and the former City Manager Weldon Rucker. 

You are right, its time to fight back... if Cindy Sheehan can stand up to President Bush—in his own back yard (the rancher next door to Bush has just given Cindy 130 acres to use so she can “get closer to Bush”) then we can certainly stand up to what is going on here now in Berkeley... and it is primarily a major takeover of the town by UC and LBNL—facilitated by our “progressive Trojan Horse mayor. Thank god we have a great paper... what town has anything like the Berkeley Daily Planet?  

Leuren Moret 

• 

FIX THE LEVEES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I want to express my condolences to the people in New Orleans and the rest of the Deep South, who are suffering from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I was seeing on TV, the water that is flooding New Orleans as a result of the levees breaking. 

One thing people should understand however is that the levees in New Orleans would have been prevented from breaking if the city of New Orleans had been given the funds from the federal government to fix the levees. However, President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress had cut off the funding so that they can spend billions of dollars on the so-called war in Iraq instead of domestic priorities such as fixing the levees. 

By cutting off funding to fix the levees, President Bush and the Congress should be held accountable for the deadly flooding in New Orleans. 

Billy Trice, Jr. 

Oakland 

• 

KPFA’S SCHEDULE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am a pretty regular listener to KPFA, and have been for about six years now. I especially listen to three programs: “Democracy Now!” at 6 a.m. when I am getting up and getting my kids off to school and me to work, “Sunday Salon” on Sunday mornings, and the 6 p.m. news on most days. 

I don’t understand when so-called “peoples” or “democratic” groups who seem to use KPFA as their playpen for personal power games and political one-upmanship think they can intrude on listener habits and preferences, and as we’ve seen in a bunch of Daily Planet columns recently, pester the obviously professional and accomplished (and in my mind, indispensable) staff people who host these programs. 

Moving “Democracy Now” to another time is not putting it into what the power trippers around KPFA call “prime time.” I wouldn’t be able to hear it, for example. And I imagine even more people would miss it at 9 a.m. But the further point is: there doesn’t seem to have been any survey, outreach or discussion of the change, merely a cabal of “democratic” outsiders—some of them “elected” by the tiny minority of listeners who bother to vote in station elections. 

KPFA has enough problems without insider/outsider manipulations. Most of us listen to it for the programmers, not the background static of the endless pressure groups and power trippers who “democratically” continue to destabilize this precious resource. 

Mary Constantinu 

• 

MELEIA’S KILLER? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The West County Times newspaper has urged the man accused of killing Meleia Willis-Starbuck to turn himself in—which could be more to his advantage in court than for him to be captured—and unless you, as apparently your columnist J. Douglas Allen-Tayor does, sympathize with him, I wish you would also urge him to surrender to the police, and also I wish you would publish a picture and description of him and ask anyone who sees him to immediately notify the police. Since I do not believe it could be possible for him to have for so long avoided capture if he did not have the support of many persons who sympathize with him, I hope that all those who are harboring that fugitive will also be captured and prosecuted. The trouble is that there are so many people who identify with such a man, the same as they identify with Malcolm X or any other demagogue who tries to project himself as the champion and defender of the black underclass. As to Mr. Taylor’s attempts to justify that fugitive’s carrying a gun, I remember that when somebody told Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that he should buy and carry a gun, he said that he would not have a gun even if someone gave him one. I wish everybody would say that. 

If, instead of sympathetically identifying with such people as the man accused of killing the Dartmouth College young woman, black persons and white persons would read and study intensely Dr. King’s book of sermons entitled “Strength to Love” (Fortress Press, 1963, Philadelphia) they could, by applying what they learn there, solve many of the problems we now have, including the worst of all problems in this state of black men killing black men and white men killing white women. The same success in problem -solving could also be achieved by the Palestinians, the Iraqis, and the contentious parties in Ireland by the application of what was preached and taught by Dr. King. The first sermon in Dr. King’s book was preached on the text where Jesus said, “Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” (Matthew. 10”16), and in more than seventy years of attending churches, and more than fifty of those years as an organist and choir director, I have never heard any other clergy preach a sermon on that text. If that is because they do not know how, then I would be glad to demonstrate for them how that can be done—even though if I did I would probably not know when to stop. Religious ritutals—or sacraments, if you want to call them that—never have and never will solve problems among us humans on this earth, and clergy could be of great help if they would put aside all their gaudy vestments and rituals as the eighth century prophet Amos demanded and concentrate their attention on learning and teaching non-violent attitudes and behavior. 

Charles J. Blue. Sr. 

• 

ON THE MEDIA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

“Nowadays, so efficient are the media, one can participate daily and vicariously in the horrific misfortunes which befall others. As one sits comfortably sipping a drink, pictures of death, agony and catastrophe, bounced off satellites between commercials, are skillfully presented on the tragic lantern. The results of the latest famine, earthquake, war or bomb outrage blend into weather forecasts, football scores and advertisements for cat food and breakfast cereals. The newspapers flourish on the offal of other people’s disasters. It has become easy to satisfy a fundamental, human, ghoulish instinct and appetite.” 

(J.A. Cuddon, writing in the introduction to the Penguin Book of Horror Stories) 

Randall Reed  

• 

SOLUTIONS AND IDEAS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’ve read stories on the Internet, and am putting together some facts, my intuitive impressions, and some guesses on my part. I believe that there are people in our government and military, who are trying to take over the U.S.A., overthrow the Bush administration through a military coup, and are putting New Orleans under Martial Law. I hear rumors of FEMA officials turning back many buses, supplies, rescue personnel, and other needful things, from the people still stuck in New Orleans. 

I am assured by one of my New Age e-newsletters that America won’t be put under Martial Law, and that a violent coup against Bush and Co. is NOT the answer. But NESARA is! 

NESARA is the acronym for the National Economic Salvation and Reform Act. It’s been in the works for years, and it says it will restore constitutional law in America, stop all American war activities immediately, and help ensure a fair, honest re-distribution of wealth. You haven’t heard much, if anything, about this, because it’s been under a Gag Order. Whether or not this is an Urban Legend or “too good to be true,” it IS a very good idea! I believe NESARA is real, true, and about to come. This is the economic side of world peace, and will help get our troops home. Do an Internet search on it to find out more. 

My solutions and ideas: I highly suggest that everybody learn to pray and meditate daily. That you learn to put your mind and body into a state of sustained ecstasy and happiness. This will be a different process for everybody. It won’t help to sit around and get angry at Bush and Co., FEMA, and so forth. What you put out, you get back, according to Universal Laws of Consciousness. You will hear all kinds of rumors on the news, Internet, TV, papers. Some of this will be false. A lot of it is very scary and spooky. Therefore I strongly, strongly suggest that everybody learn to listen to their intuition, their heart, their love, their higher psychic senses, to see what is REALLY going on in the world today. 

Why meditation, prayer, and ecstasy? Because your thoughts and feelings of peace, love, and sheer joy WILL bring about world peace faster! And you’ll feel better. Since when has worrying about all the bad news actually improved your life? 

My name is Linda. I live in Berkeley. I know that World Peace is coming. Cindy Sheehan and the CodePink people and many, many others not named here are working to bring it. 

My final suggestion: It’s probably a much better idea to not waste time dwelling on fearful things or the scary rumors. It is much more useful to all of us to build up strong, specific mental pictures of world peace. Visualize everybody cooperation. Visualize all the kids getting education and food, and freedom for gays and lesbians and other such to MARRY, not just get domestic partnership. Visualize a better world for all. Use your heart-radio to radiate love for all of creation. Extend a smile or a hug or a kind word to strangers as well as people you know. 

I could go on about some of the wilder rumors I’ve heard; true or not, God’s love and We the People of Planet Earth, will WIN this game in the end. 

Linda Smith

“Pregnant,” people echo, their faces lighting up—most with true hormonally induced baby fever, others because they sense it’s expected of them. And then—“Congratulations!” 

I squirm. And squeeze out my own slightly unnatural expected reaction. “Thanks!” 

Six months into gestation, I have still not been able to pinpoint my discomfort with these generally heartfelt offers of congratulations, other than the fact that they feel unjustly earned. In my understanding of the concept, congratulations are offered upon hard-won achievement—completing one’s education, saving enough to buy a house, getting a sought-after job. 

What level of achievement am I boasting with the fact that I had sex with my husband for the umpteenth time and the arrow happened to hit the mark? What kind of achievement is it for which a million horny teenagers every year would by that logic earn our congratulations? 

Of course, horny teenagers achieve the same result largely unintentionally so presumably it’s our wish fulfillment that people are congratulating. Only, most of them really don’t have a clue whether it’s wish fulfillment—for all they know it’s an unhappy accident we are making the best of. It isn’t, in this case, but they don’t know that. 

Perhaps it’s the sheer act of generating new life people are congratulating. Hooray, they’re thinking, one more to swell our ranks in case of global disaster. Or maybe congratulations are proffered in admiration of the unmitigated gall it takes to believe you have What It Takes to raise a Good Person—or the fearless (er, reckless?) optimism underlying the decision to introduce a new person to humanity’s dwindling supply of natural resources, societal opportunities, and basic civility. 

Whatever the reason, “congratulations” continues to feel like a bizarre non sequitur when I share the news. I make an instinctive half-turn to see who else they might be talking to. “Congratulations, your parts are in working order” seems a pale occasion to accept kudos. Congratulate me instead when I don’t accidentally kill the fragile thing in its first six months. Congratulate me when he learns to speak and his first words aren’t “Bad mommy.” Congratulate me when I figure out how to balance parenthood with the other beloved activities and relationships that have fulfilled me all my life. 

Congratulate me when I stop feeling ambiguous about the decision and am wholeheartedly excited about the impending miracle myself. 

Oops—unintentional self-revelation. I suppose the bottom line of my discomfort with procreational congratulations is of the “it’s not you, it’s me” variety. While hurdling inexorably towards babyville, I still have one foot stubbornly planted in my former life—and that foot twitches whenever it’s reminded that it will soon have to join its twin. 

Maybe Brittany Spears had the right idea after all, I find myself musing—do the baby thing before you amass a couple decades of solitary life experiences to mourn the loss of. 

I guess that’s the ultimate function of congratulations to pregnancy news, whether or not the well wishers even realize it—a reality check. A reminder that, um, yes, those words (“I’m pregnant”) came out of ‘your’ mouth, you idiot: get used to it, and get ready! In which case I say, bring it on—congratulate me up the wazoo. About three more months worth and I will be ready. 

Won’t I? 

Sonja Fitz is 39-year old mom-to-be and 19-year veteran of career ambiguity, so why would parenthood be any different?

I have to go to the bank today because it is payday at our house. Every day is payday at our house so, in fact, it will be my 292nd visit to the bank this year, but who’s counting? 

I go to the bank every day because I do not like to keep extra cash on me. It has a way of disappearing in the form of loans to the people who help me with my husband Ralph’s care.  

It is payday every day here because our housemates/employees do not have ATM or credit cards, pin numbers, checkbooks, passbooks, or savings accounts. Several years ago there was a man who lived with us who had an ATM card but his relationship with the card ended badly. Another man in our employ had a credit card but that didn’t work out either. And there was one caregiver who had multiple checking and saving accounts at multiple banking institutions and lending operations around the Bay Area, but he is no longer welcome at any of those establishments. 

I pay the people who work for us in paper currency because they are unable to cash checks anywhere but the nearby check cashing joint, and, as they have pointed out to me, that costs money.  

They spend their pay on cigarettes, lottery tickets, hair products, and on an occasional St. Ides beer, bought one can at a time at the corner liquor store. 

The rest of their daily wage goes to paying off the people they owe money to. I was formerly that person until I started going to the bank every day so that I wouldn’t be. It got very confusing, and I did not like the idea of loaning money to the people who live with me, even when they informed me that the loan was money they would eventually earn. In theory that would be correct, but it didn’t always transpire in that way. 

Today I go to the bank earlier than usual because Hans, a former employee (and someone I used to loan money to until I announced a zero tolerance decree on lending), needs a cash infusion. Ralph says he will make Hans a loan, because Hans already owes him money anyway. Ralph keeps a running tab in his head and adds new transactions onto Hans’s old bill. But today Ralph doesn’t have any money to loan Hans because he has loaned his stash to Andrea. Hans asks me to go to the bank for Andrea so she can pay back Ralph’s loan, and then he, Hans, can borrow from Ralph. I think about this for a minute and then I say OK, because, even though I’m not 100 percent sure that this explanation makes sense, I still have to pay Andrea for today’s work. 

Hans leaves and says he’ll come back later, but before I can get out of the house someone knocks on the door and asks for Andrea. It is the person who Andrea borrowed money from last weekend, the person she has borrowed money from Ralph in order to reimburse.  

I go to the bank. I look at my account balance and make calculations that involve food, transportation, and the number of days left in the month. I come home and pay Andrea. Andrea pays Ralph the cash she owes him. Hans returns and Ralph issues him a loan. 

A new person appears on our front steps. It is a friend of our housemate, Willie. He says Willie borrowed 10 dollars from him and told him to get it from Andrea because Andrea owes Willie a 10 spot. Andrea says that isn’t true, that Willie, in fact, owes her money from a loan she made to him yesterday.  

I go upstairs to my bedroom and close the door. I have already been to the bank today and I won’t be returning until tomorrow.  

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Jonathan Wornick, Councilman Wozniak’s appointee to the Peace and Justice Commission, has already written at least two op-eds in the Daily Planet attacking a U.S. Department of Peace (DOP). His most recent, entitled “Is Free Speech Dead in Berkeley?”, not only continued that attack, but personally tried to brand me and others in the peace movement as radical leftists. In fact, he used that term no less than eight times. 

Any attempt to place simplistic labels on citizens should be considered both reprehensible and offensive. It is nothing less than a politically motivated ploy to marginalize people into convenient groups in order to divide the citizens of Berkeley and confuse the issues. 

Does he actually believe Berkeley’s citizens are proud that the radical-right sent our National Guard to secure Iraq’s oil fields and left our country defenseless in time of natural disaster? Shouldn’t he be appalled by what we have recently witnessed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by the slow response of the Guard and FEMA? Recent polls even before Katrina show Bush’s approval rating has never been lower?  

Wornick states that I am a man with limitless amounts of free time and a self-described long-time advocate of progressive causes. I consider that a compliment. 

The last 12 years I spent working with children, advocating for school butterfly gardens, promoting nonviolence and founding Musicians and Fine Artists for World Peace that now has over 1,260 members, including Patti LaBelle, Pete Seeger, the Dalai Lama, Dr. Patch Adams, Holly Near and Country Joe. My work was acknowledged by the City of Berkeley and by the conservative Republican-dominated legislature of Pennsylvania, which gave me a citation for what they said was my “inspiring work in raising global consciousness, promoting environmental stewardship, education, conservation and world peace through the symbolic beauty of butterflies.” In 1999 we organized 10,000 children in the East Bay to raise butterflies for Earth Day. Planet readers can check that out at www.butterflyspirit.org.  

Wornick justifies his opposition to national peace initiatives by saying, “Nowhere in our job descriptions does it say that the mayor or the City Council is supposed to have a position on issues like Middle East politics or war.” Now he claims, “I strongly believe our local officials have been elected solely to run the City of Berkeley.”  

He accused me of attacking his negative vote on the DOP and that I believe he doesn’t belong on the commission. I never brought up the issue until he wrote an editorial opposing the DOP after the council passed it. Why does this self-proclaimed advocate for free speech complain when others use it only in refuting his outrageous accusations?  

Wornick states that I obfuscated his actions and words and that he is truly an advocate for peace, but with a different view on how to achieve it. If anyone is trying to obfuscate the issue, it is Wozniak’s appointee. How can this man proclaim to be an advocate for peace when he attacks the very mission the Peace and Justice Commission was created to fulfill time and time again, a commission that he took an oath of office to support? 

Once again I ask, has this commissioner forgotten the commission’s mandate passed by City Council? That ordinance established the Peace and Justice Commission to advise the City Council and the School Board on all matters relating to the City of Berkeley’s role in issues of peace including the issues of ending the arms race and abolishing nuclear weapons.  

He claimed that he “dared” to vote against a resolution supporting a DOP because in his analysis the legislation would fail and was seriously flawed, yet he didn’t bother to elucidate. I suppose since he claims to be a student of political science we should all accept his opinion. 

Peace and Justice Commissioner Elliot Cohen wrote an op-ed claiming that Wornick harbors a secret agenda. He claims that in being opposed to DOP, Commissioner Wornick deceitfully omitted his father’s role as founder of the Wornick Company, the largest supplier of military food rations and to vote against a DOP while his family profits from war raises ethical conflicts requiring investigation.” Wornick claims his family no longer owns the company, but perhaps his family’s previous connections to the military has tainted his ability to see the benefits a DOP might bring. Has his past influenced his views on Peace and Justice issues?  

He asks, “Is free speech dead in Berkeley? Is the radical left so fragile that it can’t tolerate an opposing view?” 

If he is interested in free speech, why is he portraying himself as a victim while going about placing labels on anyone that questions his hypocrisy? He has a right to free speech, but when he speaks dishonestly and evasively as a public official, he deserves to be challenged and held accountable. 

If he has a different view on how to achieve peace, perhaps the citizens of Berkeley would better be served by his explaining what they are? Why not come forth with some meaningful answers, rather than with vague and misleading attacks. 

It is my opinion that Wozniak’s appointee is not fit, honest or deserving enough to be called a Peace and Justice commissioner, not only because he has shown disrespect for his oath, but because of his continuing efforts to undermine the very mission of the commission. If obstructionists like Wozniak’s appointee don’t believe in the commission’s mission and impede the good work of those that do, they deserve to be exposed. 

Wornick’s tactics are more reminiscent of a radical right-winger than the moderate Democrat he professes to be. I wouldn’t be surprised that his real motives are designed to grab publicity for the expressed purpose of duping Berkeley’s conservative voters into supporting him in some future run for office.  

Will we be fooled again when the big bad wolf comes into our midst disguised as a peace-loving sheep? I certainly hope not. We have too much to lose. Perhaps the best way to prevent that is for people to attend the commission meetings and act as watch dogs.  

Alan Moore is a member of East Bay DoPeace Committee, Musicians and Fine Artists for World Peace and the International Association of Educators for World Peace.  

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“We don’t care, we don’t care” was the chant of pro-war, pro-Bush hecklers across the street from the Camp Casey peace vigil in Crawford, Texas, in late August 2005. This “we don’t care” chant pretty much sums up the attitude of the Bush Syndicate toward the rest of us in America. Actually, Bush, Cheney and the rest of this idiotic neoconical government believe that the only true function of the federal government is to create private moneymaking opportunities for themselves, their friends, and their corporate contributors. Any activity other than waging aggressive war to invade, colonize and steal other countries’ natural resources falls into the category of “we don’t care.” 

The breaking of the New Orleans levees happened after the massive Hurricane Katrina had passed the city. It was both predictable and preventable. The Bush flood and the slow-as-Texas-molasses-in-January Bush response to it has ripped off the facade of the inept Bush Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its subsidiary, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The upper echelons of both of these massive federal bureaucracies have been staffed by incompetent and uncaring Bush buddies, cronies, hacks, frat brothers, former roommates, horse attorneys, duct tape dudes, political contributors and other miscellaneous nincompoops. In making his appointments to the executive management of DHS and FEMA, Bush gave little if any thought to their actual qualifications in the field of emergency management. 

Over the last several years, Bush and the GOP-controlled House and Senate have poured over one hundred billion tax dollars into the highly touted “Homeland Security.” What did we get as the federal response to Hurricane Katrina? We got homeland stupidity. After the massive flooding of New Orleans, which initially covered about 80 percent of the city, thousands of residents were herded to the Superdome where they were denied water, food, medicine, bedding, toilet facilities, police protection and bus transportation out for several long days. Meanwhile, the Bush gang partied and carried on with their “business as usual” and “let them eat cake” imperial attitudes. George strummed his guitar, raised campaign funds, cut cake with Senator McCain, while Connie Rice did her best Imelda Marcos imitation, shopping for expensive shoes in New York City before going to a Broadway play, while Cheney first went on a Wyoming fishing vacation and then did mansion shopping in Maryland, while Rumsfeld made do with going to a professional ball game.  

In the first several days of the flooding of New Orleans cable news reporters had shown us many searing images of human suffering and had to point out the severity of the suffering of thousands of people in the Superdome to the heads of FEMA and DHS. These two bureaucrats had apparently followed the lead of the ever-clueless Bush by not watching the unfolding disaster being revealed on television. Now we are told that several days after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, a Bush staffer had to make up a special cable news DVD to show Bush about the flooding disaster of New Orleans. And this clown brags about not watching television news. Start watching, buster: you claim to be in charge... 

The conduct of the inept corrupt Bush regime in this unnatural disaster is nothing short of criminal. Since the illegitimate Bush regime came to power in January 2001, they have been severely cutting back on federal funds for levee strengthening and levee rebuilding in the New Orleans area. They have also have allowed and encouraged developments in the natural low-lying wetlands around New Orleans. The presence of these wetlands traditionally helped to protect New Orleans from the storm surges that accompany hurricanes. One of the first actions of FEMA after Hurricane Katrina and Flood Bush struck New Orleans was to try to stop almost all of the volunteer, state and federal help from coming into the disaster area. FEMA blocked volunteer help from WalMart, the Coast Guard, the Red Cross, AMTRAK, hundreds of airboats from Florida, the City of Chicago emergency teams, Loudoun County (Virginia) sheriffs, the Nevada police, the New Mexico National Guard, fire fighting planes from the U. S. Forest Service and even the U. S. Bataan, a hospital ship stationed in the Gulf of Mexico. FEMA also stopped or ignored offers of help from foreign countries including Canada, Cuba and Venezuela, over twenty European counties and Asian countries including Iran and India.  

One supposes that volunteer help and aid undercuts the Bush Syndicate’s system of private corporations making bags of money off of the Bush war on Iraq and the Bush expedited flooding of New Orleans. It is troubling to see many no-bid federal contracts being given to large corporations for reconstruction along the Gulf Coast. The concepts of “no-bid contracts” mean that the corporations get to charge their profits as a percentage of costs incurred, so there is no incentive to be thrifty; in fact, it is the opposite, the more money that the corporate contractor spends on construction, the higher their corporate profits. Add to this the fact that Bush just signed an executive order that suspended the traditional requirement of the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 that required federal contractors to pay labor the prevailing wages, instead the federal contractors can now pay workers as little as minimum wage. So the folks who are the poorest and who have suffered the most, again get kicked by Bush. New Orleans should be rebuilt on a cooperative local basis. Habitat for Humanity should be the model used for the reconstruction of the many flood-damaged homes in New Orleans. As many physically-able local residents as possible should be quickly trained and then employed in the reconstruction of their neighborhoods. All of the poor renters who were flooded out in New Orleans should be given title to their newly rebuilt homes and the land underneath them, after the landlords have been properly compensated for the fair pre-flood value of their properties. We owe these people a great deal as some compensation for the years of neglect that they have suffered at our hands.  

James K. Sayre is an Oakland resident. 

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In the year 2001, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was created in response to the lack of international presence in Palestine. ISM aims to support and strengthen the Palestinian popular resistance by providing the Palestinian people with two resources: international protection and a voice with which to nonviolently resist an overwhelming and brutal military occupation force—a military occupation fully funded by U.S. tax dollars.  

From the very beginning, ISM has been attacked by those who support the continuing military policies of the Israeli government. This includes a few readers of the Daily Planet, and even a few members of the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission. They seek to mislead people about ISM and the Palestinian struggle for dignity and justice. ISM does not support any attacks against civilians, Palestinian or Israeli. Yet our opponents continue these false accusations, and even stoop to dishonoring a young woman, Rachel Corrie, who was killed while protecting the home of Gaza residents.  

We must be clear: Rachel Corrie was killed by the Israeli military while she was protecting a home threatened with destruction by that same military. Rachel was concerned that the home of her friends, the Nasrallah family, would meet the same fate as hundreds of other homes in Gaza. Instead of bulldozing the home on that day, the Israeli military driver of the Caterpillar bulldozer ran over Rachel Corrie. The destruction of the Nasrallah family home was carried out months later, when no internationals were present.  

The ISM, the Corrie family, Amnesty International and even the U.S. State Department all agree that the investigation carried out by the Israel military with regard to Corrie’s death has been inadequate. What we sought by the City Council speaking out was nothing more than what is supposed to be done for any other citizen killed under suspicious circumstances in a foreign country, an independent investigation. Instead, the U.S. government has failed to do an investigation of its own, independent of the Israeli military, which may be complicit through negligence or intention in Corrie’s death. You can be sure that the Israeli government and the U.S. government worked together to thoroughly investigate each death of those U.S. citizens thought to be killed by Palestinians. Why was Rachel Corrie’s death an exception?  

The International Solidarity Movement continues to do the work it set out to do from the beginning. In the West Bank village of Bil’in, villagers have waged an astonishing and creative campaign for months to stop Israel’s Wall of Shame that will effectively destroy that village if completed. The villagers have welcomed Israelis who have come as guests and work for peace for both peoples. ISM volunteers from around the world, including some from the Bay Area, have also been there to witness and support what is really one of the most remarkable nonviolent struggles of our time. 

We anticipate hosting two leaders of this campaign in late October. Ayed Morrar, known as a “Palestinian Gandhi,” and an Israeli coworker, Jonathan Pollak, will speak to Bay Area audiences. Please see www.norcalism.org for details.  

We will not back down, despite the barrage of falsehoods spread by a few. We will continue to be part of this march toward freedom, standing in solidarity with the people of Palestine who have suffered so much. We will not be silent as U.S. politicians continue to loot the treasury to fund the despicable Israeli occupation of Palestine, sending bombs, bullets, and bulldozers to dispossess Palestinians from their homes. This represents a theft from poor Americans who are being denied funds so they can build homes and strengthen their communities here. Therefore, this is both a global issue and a local issue, and more than anything, a human issue.  

Jim Harris and Paul Larudee are members of the NorCal International Solidarity Movement. 

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As we longtime residents know, Berkeley can be an odd place. We have led the nation in some great directions. But sometimes our national reputation for nuttiness is actually well deserved. I happened to be in Germany the day the Berlin Wall fell. It was an amazing scene watching hordes of East Germans flood across the old barrier for their first look at freedom. Several days later I arrived back at SFO and grabbed a cab home. As soon as I said I was going to Berkeley, the driver identified himself as a Berkeleyan. He proceeded to give me a long harangue about how wonderful it was that the Wall had fallen because now everyone will know what an evil Stalinism had been, and what an evil Leninism had been. Now the whole world, at long last, will welcome the great truth of Trotskyism. Right! Only in Berkeley. 

Raging anti-Israelism is a study in such nuttiness. As far as I am aware, this is unique in all the country to our fair city and seems to rest on a confluence of four intertwined sources: 

1) The Peace and Justice Commission, which was until recently peopled almost exclusively by Berkeley’s radical left. Peace and Justice found support on the City Council for their hateful anti-Israelism from Linda Maio and Kriss Worthington.  

2) The Daily Planet’s editor, Becky O’Malley, who has turned this paper into a bastion of anti-Israelism. She has even gone so far as to recently appoint Henry Norr as her Middle East reporter, even though Norr is in the Middle East as a member of ISM, an anti-Israel group which praises and supports Palestinian terror. I will, however, allow that Ms. O’Malley has the integrity to consistently publish the letters and commentaries of her adversaries in this matter. 

3) KPFA, where one can routinely hear some of the most vile and hateful anti-Israelism and even anti-Semitism imaginable in America. KPFA does not generally share Ms. O’Malley’s integrity by inviting knowledgeable people to rebut their propaganda. 

4) A cohort of anti-Israel activists who claim to be Jews. Their letters appear frequently in the Daily Planet. They usually begin with words to the effect, “I am a Jew, and here is why I hate Israel.” Some of them are, frankly, liars—they are not now and never were Jews (they share this feature with many of the members of Jews for Jesus, another Bay Area group). Two such people I met, who claimed to be Holocaust survivors, couldn’t even name the camps they were in. But some really are Jews. In Berkeley, they are noisy and they are organized. But they have no national footprint whatsoever, and even in Berkeley these Jews represent a tiny minority of the community at large.  

Here some history is in order. Prior to World War II, there were three major strains of European Jewish anti-Zionism. There were the assimilationists who felt that a Jewish particularism should be forsaken for the benefits of European hoch cultur. These people were given up by their highly cultured non-Jewish neighbors and for the most part perished in the ovens. There were the ultra-orthodox, who believed that the establishment of a secular democratic Israel was a sin. According to them, Israel could not be established by the hand of man before the arrival of the messiah. They, too, mostly perished in the ovens. There were the communist Jews of Eastern Europe and Russia, who believed in a new Universal Man. They mostly perished in the gulags and the purges. The rump survivors of all three strains of anti-Zionism found their way to America and brought their bankrupt philosophies with them. The ultra-orthodox anti-Zionists now reside mostly in New York; the assimilationists have melted away in the sun of Southern California; and Berkeley seems to be the nexus of the communist strain of anti-Zionism. Even those rabid Israel bashers who are bona fide Jews are Jews only in the sense that Clarence Thomas is black. Their Jewish identity has been entirely superceded by their radical left identity, just as Thomas’ blackness has been obviated by his radical right ideology. 

Many of us have had just about enough of Berkeley’s hateful witch’s brew of anti-Israelism. I pointed out in a recent letter to this newspaper that Berkeley mirrors the UN General Assembly. Last year, with its automatic Islamic and third world majorities, it passed 88 separate anti-Israel resolutions, while passing a total of only four such resolutions about all other issues in the entire world put together. Someone wrote back that this must only mean that Israel deserves it. Only, dear Berkeley, if justice is to be measured by the size of a lynch mob that metes it out. 

John Gertz is s former president of the Jewish Community Center. 

In a stark circle of light a man sits on the floor, shackled, humming “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me,” the title—not title song—and the opening scene of Frank McGuinness’s play about hostages in Beirut, now at the Berkeley City Club as staged by Wilde Irish Productions. 

Another spot of light opens up on another chained man vigorously doing push-ups, who identifies the song as an Ella Fitzgerald hit, one of his desert island wish-records—along with a book on beermaking and a beermaking kit—“And Ella would sing to me, and I’d be happy on a desert island.” 

But no such luck. These two are Adam (D. Anthony Harper), an American, and Edward (Mike Vaughn), an Irishman, held hostage in Beirut by captors we never see, but whose offstage presence we can watch them feel.  

The two men are caught in a vicious circle, cut off from the world, but never alone, only able to keep talking and playing games to pass the time, verbally sparring to stay in mental shape for tougher battles that may come—and as hostage Brian Keenan said upon his release in 1990, “hanging by ... fingernails over the edge of chaos and feeling ... fingers slowly straightening.” 

“Hostage is a mutant creature, full of self-loathing, guilt, and death-wishing,” Keenan again, and this is what is acted out onstage, both for real and, provocatively, as a counter-irritant to the reality, an innoculation to the dangers of hysteria. 

This provides what would be a grim, too-literal “chamber play” with a good deal of play indeed. The men are in a twilight state, exposed and hidden, too desperate and too hopeful, each thrown back on himself, yet depending on the other. 

When they’re joined by a third, it changes from the verbal volleys of a mock tennis match to real theater. 

“Fighting is our business,” Edward says. “What do you do about the fighting?” 

Adam is a doctor come to study the effects of civil war on young minds. But Michael (Robert Hamm, in a strong, sensitive performance) is a seemingly effete teacher of Old and Middle English whose school has been downsized. Arriving in Beirut to teach English, he’s been kidnapped while at the marketplace to buy pears for a flan. Apolitical and deliberately ignorant of Beirut and the terms of its civil war, a textbook Little Englishman, Michael is himself schooled by his fellow prisoners in the hard lessons they have learned and taught each other during their months in captivity, first one alone, then two together. 

Sometimes the tensions between limey and mick flare up from “joking,” casual taunting to battling reprisals of history or outbursts of sheer paranoia. They act out in many ways, and catch themselves and each other when slipping down the narrow crack between honest fear and self-pity. And slowly each is revealed in strength and weakness. 

There are games of shooting movies. They mix each other imaginary drinks and toast a future they are brash with made-up confidence over. Their only reading matter is the Bible and the Qu’ran, and D. Anthony Harper’s readings from certain Surahs both find unexpected lines bespeaking dignity and hope: “The Night of Power—greater than a thousand months ... angels and spirits descend; peace it is from night until dawn; peace it is in the house,” giving some sense depth of Muslim scripture. This is paralleled by The Song Of Songs: “Make haste, my beloved. Why have you turned aside from me?” 

The unbelieving Irishman, lonesome for his wife, says, ”I can see how someone could go for that.” 

But there is more than what is on the sacred page. The English teacher recites a George Herbert poem as a kind of elegy. Comforting one of the others, he tells of his wife’s accidental death. The Irishman recites the names of towns at home with longing. They talk out the letters they can’t write. Sharing everything they have--hopes and self-loathing—they depend on each other, even through wariness. 

The simplicity of Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me belies an internal motor that revs up more and more as we watch, and absorb. Gemma Whelan’s direction of a good cast follows the acting out of a triple inwardness, sometimes with humor and boisterousness. Paradox follows paradox; the end is neither unexpected nor as expected, not all broad daylight nor complete shadow. There is a streak or two of sentimentality, but gripped by the action of the play, we’re most with these captives the farther away they roam in speech, in scorn—but not denial—of their chains. 

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TUESDAY, SEPT. 20 

CHILDREN 

“Germar the Magician” at 6:30 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Fascinated with Faces” Works by Ted Gordon, Attilio Crescenti and Willie Harris through Dec. 10 at The Ames Gallery, 2661 Cedar St. 845-4949. www.amesgallery.com 

FILM 

Madcat Presents: “The Phantom of the Operator” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Maafa 2005: Hurrican Katrina Poetic Protest Fundraiser at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Suggested donation $5-$25. 849-2568. 

Milvia Street’s 15th Anniversary Reading with past and present contributors at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6132. 

Wavy Gravy, clown, satirist, last of the hippies, speaks at 7:30 p.m. at Moe's Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Shana Penn reads from “Solidarity’s Secret: The Women Who Defeated Communism in Poland” at 5 p.m. in the Dinner Boardroom, GTU Hewlett Library, 2400 Ridge Rd. RSVP to 649-2420. 

Culinary Historians of Northern California read from recent works at 4 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

John Hubner reports on “Last Chance in Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

African Showboyz, from Ghana, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Ellen Hoffman and Singers’ Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Veretski Pass at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Uroboros at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Celso Fonseca, from Brazil, at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazzschool at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Dred Scott, solo jazz piano, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 21 

EXHIBITIONS 

“All Dolled Up” Exhibition of works by California doll makers to Sept. 30 at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

“Exquisite Corpse Show” collaboratively made art pieces. Reception at 7:30 p.m. at the North/South Gallery, 5241 College Ave. at Broadway. www.geocities.com/exquisitecorpseshow 

“Laughter is the Best Medicine” Art, Healing and Humor Reception at 5 p.m. at the Richmond Health Center, 100 38th St., Richmond. Exhibition runs to Jan. 1. www.artschange.org 

FILM 

Tropical Punch: The Video 

works of Tony Labat “Left Jab” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Café Poetry hosted by Paradise at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $2. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Terry Prachett reads from his new novel “Thud!” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert, with Christy Dana Quartet at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864.  

Whiskey Brothers, Old Time and Bluegrass at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Calvin Keys Trio Invitational Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Ned Boynton Trio at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Omar Torrez & Cuchata, guitar, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Candela at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Dance lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

James Whiton at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Celso Fonseca, from Brazil, at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, SEPT. 22 

FILM 

International Latino Film Festival “A Silent Love” at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $7. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Dutch Voices: Jos de Putter and Peter Delpeut “Alias Kurban Said” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

THEATER 

DMCF Productions “Florence” by Alice Childress and “The Pot Maker” by Marita Bonner, Thurs.-Sat at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Malonga Casquelourd Center, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Tickets are $12-$25. 633-6360. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Patsy Krebs: A Decade” Lecture and reception at 5 p.m. the Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2500. 

Nomad Spoken Word Night at 6 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Jill Soloway describes “Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Barbara Ehrenriech describes “Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Word Beat Reading Series with Mike Hardy and David Gollub at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Albany Music in the Park with La Familia, Afro-Cuban music at 6:30 p.m. at Albany’s Memorial Park. 524-9283. www.albanyca.org  

Dhol Patrol at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $12-$15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Mark Morris Dance Group at at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $30-$58. 642-9988.  

Crasdant, music from Wales, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Za’tar and The Klez-X, Jewish music benefit for Congregation Netivot Shalom, at 7:30 p.m. at 1316 University Ave. Tickets are $10-$20. 549-9447. 

Loose Wig Jazz Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. 

Mia and Jonah, Austin Willacy, Jason Miller at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Dave Weckl Band at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $12-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com  

FRIDAY, SEPT. 23 

THEATER 

Aurora Theatre “The Price” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m., through Oct. 9, at 2081 Addison St. Tickets are $38. 843-4822.  

Contra Costa Civic Theater, “You Can’t Take it With You” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Pomona Ave. at Moeser Lane, El Cerrito, through Oct. 22. 524-9132.  

DMCF Productions “Florence” by Alice Childress and “The Pot Mker” by Marita Bonner, Thurs.-Sat at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Malonga Casquelourd Center, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Tickets are $12-$25. 633-6360. 

Impact Theater “Nicky Goes Goth” at 8 p.m., Thurs.-Sat. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid, through Oct. 1. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468.  

Lunatique Fantastique “Executive Order 9066” Thurs.-Sat. at 7 p.m. at 2120 Allston Way. Through Oc. 21. Tickets are $15-$22. 415-826-5750.  

Shotgun Players, “Owners” at 8 p.m., Thurs.-Sun. through Oct. 16 at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Reservations suggested. 841-6500.  

Wilde Irish Productions “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me” Thurs. -Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m., at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., through Oct. 2. Tickets are $18-$22. 644-9940. www.wildeirish.org 

FILM 

Films from Along the Silk Road: “The Roof of the World” at 5 p.m. “Angel on the Right” at 7:p.m. and “Osama” at 8:50 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jonathan Kozol describes “The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America” at 7:30 p.m. at King Middle School, 1780 Rose St. Sponsored by Cody’s Books. Tickets are $8-$10. 845-7852.  

Dutch Voices: Jos de Putter and Peter Delpeut at 1:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808.  

Ariel Levy examines “Female Chauvanist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Los Cenzontles in concert, and the documentary “Pasajero: A Journey of Time and Memory” at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $15. 925-798-1300.  

Oakland Opera “La Belle et la Bete,” Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. through Oct. 2 at the Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway at 2nd. Tickets are $18-$32. 763-1146.  

Mark Morris Dance Group at at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $30-$58. 642-9988.  

Sarah Cahill, solo piano recital at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $10-$15. 701-1787. 

Dick Hindman Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373.  

Samora & Elena Pinderhughes, nine and 13 year old jazz musicians, at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10, $5 for children 12 and under. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Stephanie Bruce & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Groundation at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Pam & Jeri Show at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Due West, progressive California bluegrass, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Stephanie Rearick, Good for Cows, John Lindenbaum and Liam Carey at 7 p.m. at Mama Buzz Cafe, 2318 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $6.  

Julie Hardy Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Linh Nguyen at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

The Morning Benders, The Paranoids, The Family Arsenal at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082.  

The Phenomenauts, The Sting Ray, The Knights of the New Crusade at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

Kofy Brown at 10 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Slydini, funk-jazz, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Dave Weckl Band at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $12-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, SEPT. 24 

EXHIBITIONS 

Institute of Mosaic Art Faculty Exhibition Reception at 6 p.m. at 3001 Chapman St., Oakland. 437-9899. www.instituteofmosaicart.com 

THEATER 

“The Art of Aging Festival” at 7 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Theater. Tickets are $20. Workshops on Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sponsored by The Center for Creative Aging West and Stagebridge Senior Theater Co. 222-3988.  

FILM 

Farewell: A Tribute to Elem Kilmov and Larissa Shepitko at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival from noon to 5 p.m. at the North Fork of Strawberry Creek, Valley Life Sciences Building lawn, UC Campus. www.poetryflash.org 

“Take Back the Power: Bread Roses and Revolution” in conjunction with UC Theater’s production of “The Cradle will Rock” at 4 p.m. at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus. http://theater.berkeley.edu 

Huston Smith reflects on “The Soul of Christianity: Restoring the Great Tradition” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Donation of $10 suggested. Sponsored by Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Rhythm & Muse with poet Zara Raab at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center. Free. 527-9753. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trinity Chamber Concerts presents Vicki Trimbach, pianist and composer at 8 p.m. at 2320 Dana Street, between Durant & Bancroft. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. http://trinitychamberconcerts.com  

Benefit Concert for the Friends Committee on Legislation with folksongs by local musicians at 7 p.m. at Friends Meeting House, 2151 Vine St. Donation $20-$25, no one turned away. 848-7357. 

Mark Morris Dance Group at at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $30-$58. 642-9988.  

The Fourtet Jazz Group at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473.  

Megan Slankard, The Bittersweets, Keith Varon at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Frankye Kelly & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Eric Bogle, Australian singer-sonwriter, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Joe Vasconcellos from Chile at 9 p.m. at at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $20-$25. 849-2568.  

Hali Hammer and Rany Berge Family Concert at 7 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7 per family. 558-0881. 

Tom Peron/Bud Spangler Interplay Quartet at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Kotoja at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. African dance lesson with Comfort Mensah at 9 p.m. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054.  

Fog with Brian Maxwell, Peter Barshay and others at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Nate Cooper at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Verbal Abuse, Death Toll, Useless Wood Toys, One in the Chamber at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

André Similius Quartet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

SUNDAY, SEPT. 25 

CHILDREN  

Space Station Mars, a book party with children’s author Daniel San Souci at 2 p.m. at Chabot Space and Science Center, 10000 Skyline Blvd., Oakland. Free with general admission. 336-7373. www.chabotspace.org 

FILM 

Dutch Voices: Jos de Putter and Peter Delpeut “Nagasaki Stories” at 2 and 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Sacred Sites” films about the struggle to protect sacred sites at 3 p.m. at Fantasy Recording Studios, 10 and Parker Sts. Donation $10. 525-1304. www.sacred-sites.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash with Peter Campion and Laton Carter at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852.  

“Hurricane Dramathon” Six hours of staged readings of plays set in New Orleans, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. by the Teen Council at the Nevo Education Center, 2071 Addison St. Donations welcome, benefits victims of Hurricane Katrina. 647-2972. 

“From Africa to America - A Voicing Exploration” with Jacqui Hairston on black musical styles at 2 p.m. at Phoebe Hearst Museum, Bancroft and College. 643-7648. http://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu 

“Modern Girls (Unless They’re French) Don’t Wear Kimono” a lecture by Lisa Dalby, the only American to have worked as a geisha, at 3 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum Theater. 642-2809. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Pacific Collegium “Music from the Eton Choir Book” at 3 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft. Tickets are $8-$18. 459-2341. pacificcollegium.org 

James Tinsley, organist and pianist, “Five Centuries of Music” at 4 p.m. at All Souls Parish, 2220 Cedar St. Donation $15, $10 students. Benefits Open Door Dinner and Youth Arts Studio. 848-1755.  

Benefit Concert for the Friends Committee on Legislation with Jesse Palidofsky at 7 p.m. at Friends Meeting House, 2151 Vine St. Donation $20-$25, no one turned away. 848-7357. 

Rudolf Buchbinder, piano, at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42. 642-9988.  

Robert Temple and His Soulfolk Ensemble CD release of “What Would You Do?” at 6 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568.  

Art Lande/Mark Miller Duo at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $20. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Ronnie Gilbert & Adrienne Torf at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $20.50-$21.50. 548-1761.  

Ryan Burke and Valerie Troutt at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Geezerpalooza at 3 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $8. 525-5054.  

Shotgun Ragtime Band at 10 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Americana Unplugged: Jeannie & Chuck’s Country Round-Up at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

MONDAY, SEPT. 26 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Arlene Blum, mountain climber describes “Breaking Trail: My Path to High Places” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

“Science and the Soul: J. Robert Oppenheimer and ‘Doctor Atomic’” Peter Sellars and John Adams about the making and meaning of their opera at 8 p.m. at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. 642-9988. 

Poetry Express Theme Night: “Beginnings and Endings” at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trovatore, traditional Italian music, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Luciana Souza & Romero Lubambo at 8 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Long before Labor Day, the shorebirds began moving south. I’ve been seeing good numbers since early August: black-bellied plovers still in their dapper breeding plumage, least and western sandpipers working the tidelines, red knots, dowitchers, curlews. Among the migrant throngs, in singles and small clumps, are a couple of personal favorites, the small chunky sandpiper relatives called turnstones. 

There are two species, the wide-ranging ruddy turnstone and the strictly-east-Pacific black turnstone. These odd birds have been shunted back and forth between the sandpiper and plover families and even assigned a family of their own; current thinking places them among the sandpipers, close to the knots. Black turnstones are in fact mostly black with white streaking on the face, white bellies, and blackish legs; ruddies have black-and-white heads, red-brown wings, and orange legs. In flight, both turnstones have a striking black-and-white pattern, with white back, wingstripes, and tail.  

The name is descriptive. Both turnstone species forage by looking under things—stones, shells, seaweed, all kinds of beachwrack and jetsam—and flipping them over with their short, slightly upturned bills. (Turnstones are not quite as anatomically specialized as another shorebird, the wrybill, a plover whose beak curves to the right. If I ever get to New Zealand, I intend to look up the wrybill.) Under the stones or whatever are tiny crustaceans called amphipods and isopods, worms, and snails. At Bodega Bay, black turnstones have been observed flipping over the edge of algal mats and using their bills and heads to push the algae away in a snowplowing motion. They like clams, too, and follow clam diggers across the mudflats, scavenging their leftovers. 

But turnstones have more than one card to play. Both species are pretty opportunistic in their foraging methods and adventurous in their tastes. At some seasons, the diet of black turnstones consists largely of herring roe. They use those stout bills to hammer open barnacles and mussels and pry limpets off rocks. They’ll also head-butt clumps of seaweed to flush out kelp flies and other arthropods. Bradford Torrey described this technique in 1913: “…they drew back a little and made a run at [the seaweed] as men do in using a battering ram.” In southwestern Alaska, they follow streams inland to feed on the carcasses of spawned-out salmon. 

Ruddy turnstones have an even more diverse diet, with seasonal variations. During their breeding season in the far north, they switch from seafood to vegetarian fare, mainly the seeds of rushes and sedges; later, to insects and spiders. Ruddies don’t mind carrion, either, or the meat scraps they find around human homes and hunting camps. The population that migrates up the Atlantic coast in the spring gorges on horseshoe crab eggs at Delaware Bay, a key shorebird stopover threatened by overexploitation of the adult crabs for fishbait, fertilizer, and medical uses.  

What ruddy turnstones are most notorious for, though, is egg predation. When their migrations coincide with the breeding seasons of other seabirds, they can wreak havoc in nesting colonies. Almost 80 years ago, ornithologist Alexander Wetmore watched turnstones attacking the eggs of sooty and gray-backed terns on remote Laysan Island. As his party of scientists and sailors walked through the tern colony the turnstones followed, going after the nests when the terns rose to protest the intrusion: “The turnstones ran quickly about driving their bills into the eggs without the slightest hesitation, breaking open the side widely and feeding eagerly on the contents, sometimes two or three gathering for an instant to demolish one egg and then with this one half-consumed running on to attack another.” 

In 1977, Robert Loftin and Steve Sutton watched a gang of ruddy turnstones wipe out a royal tern colony in Florida’s Nassau Sound. 

Although they would defend their nests against larger predators like gulls, the terns seemed nonplussed by the turnstone assault. They eventually abandoned the colony. Other reports of nest depredation come from colonies of sooty terns in the Dry Tortugas, common terns off Long Island and near Toronto, and multiple seabird species in Finland. 

Black turnstones have been caught in the act too, but only on their Alaskan breeding grounds. Pairs of turnstones drive incubating phalaropes and longspurs off their nests, then puncture the eggs. But the black turnstone’s oddest dietary quirk has been documented here in California where many winter. Burney Le Boeuf of UC Santa Cruz, who has studied the northern elephant seal colony at Año Nuevo for years, has seen the birds picking at open cuts and sores on the seals’ bodies, feeding on their blood. 

Vampire birds? As odd as that seems, the blood-drinking habit has evolved several times among birds. The closest parallel is a small songbird called the tussockbird that feeds on the blood of southern elephant seals in the Falkland Islands. The red-billed and yellow-billed oxpeckers of Africa, aberrant starlings that usually pluck ticks from the bodies of large mammals, sometimes eliminate the middleman. And on Wolf and Darwin Islands in the Galapagos, the sharp-beaked ground finch uses its sharp beak to peck the wings and tails of the large and notoriously dim seabirds called boobies, and drinks the blood that flows from the wounds. 

The natural world is full of extreme specialists—insects that feed on the nectar of a single species of flower, parasites that live not only on a single host species, but a specific body part of that species. In his ever-timely essay entitled “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution,” Theodosius Dobzhansky mentioned a fungus that grows only on the rear portion of the wing covers of one species of beetle, itself confined to a couple of caves in the south of France. But resources are always unpredictable, and in the long run it often pays to be a generalist. Creatures like the black and ruddy turnstones, willing to eat anything from seal blood to garbage, may be around long after more specialized species have died out.›

TUESDAY, SEPT. 20 

Berkeley Garden Club “Great Vegetables for East Bay Gardens” with Pam Peirce, author of Golden Gate Gardening plus tomato tasting and produce exchange, at 1 p.m. at Epworth Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 527-5641. 

Breaking Trail: An Evening with Climber Arlene Blum at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Maafa 2005: Hurrican Katrina Poetic Protest Fundraiser at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Suggested donation $5-$25. 849-2568. 

Berkeley Salon Discussion Group meets to discuss “Crossroads for Planet Earth” from 7 to 9 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Please bring snacks and soft drinks to share. No peanuts please. 601-6690.  

“Race, Racialization and Colonialism” with Steve Martinot, Tues. at 7 p.m., through Oct. 3, at Unitarian Fellowship, Education Building, 1606 Bonita St. 528-5403. 

Introduction to Rosen Method to transform muscle tension at 7 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. at Cedar. 549-9200. 

Free Prostate Cancer Screening for uninsured or low-income African-American and Hispanic men, at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, Oakland. To make an appointment call 869-8833. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. S 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

“Driving and Aging” at 4 p.m. at Center for Older Adult Services, 828 San Pablo Ave. To register call 558-7800. 

“Clinical Trials of Medications for Fibromyalgia” at noon at Maffly Auditorium, Herrick Campus, Alta Bates, 2001 Dwight Way. 644-3273. 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 21 

International Day of Peace Activities and music from 4 to 7 p.m. at Civic Center Park, followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. 981-7170. 

“Peace One Day” a documentary about British actor/filmmaker Jeremy Gilley’s successful attempt to have the United Nations declare Sept. 21 an international day of cease fire. At 7:30 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar, wheelchair accessible. Cost is $5. www.hillsideclub.org 

“Immigration Wars: Open or Closed Borders for America?” with Peter Laufer, author of “Wetback Nation: The Case for Opening the Mexican-American Border” at 7 p.m. at The Independent Institute, 100 Swan Way, Oakland. Cost is $10-$35. For reservations, call 632-1366. 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters welcomes curious guests and new members at 7:15 a.m. at Au Coquelet Cafe, 2000 University Ave. at Milvia. 435-5863.  

Entrepreneurs Networking at 8 a.m. at A’Cuppa Tea, 3202 College Ave. at Alcatraz. Cost is $5. 562-9431.  

Walking Tour of Oakland Chinatown Meet at 10 a.m. at the courtyard fountain in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza at 388 Ninth St. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

Grizzly Peak Cyclists meets at 7:30 p.m. at The Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Gordon Wozniak will talk on bicycling in Berkeley. 527-0450.  

North Berkeley Senior Center Book Group will discuss “English Creek” by Ivan Doig, at 1 p.m. at the NBSC. All welcome. 558-7232. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Action St. 841-2174.  

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. 548-9840. 

Sing your Way Home A free sing-a-long at 4:30 p.m. every Wed. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

Prose Writer’s Workshop at 7 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. georgeporter@earthlink.net 

Stitch ‘n Bitch Bring your knitting, crocheting and other handcrafts from 6 to 9 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

THURSDAY, SEPT. 22 

Autumn Equinox Gathering at 6:15 p.m. at the Interim Solar Calendar, Cesar Chavez Park, Berkeley Marina. Bring your questions about the workings of sun, moon and earth. www.solarcalendar.org 

“Honoring the Families of Incarcerated Children” with Books Not Bars and Van Jones at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison St. at 27th. Donation $10, no one turned away. 428-3939, ext. 228. www.ellabakercenter.org 

“Cancer in So Many Words” Authors read to cancer patients at 6 p.m. at Fontain Auditorium, Alta Bates, 400 Hawthorne Ave., Oakland. Donation $10, no one turned away. To register call 800-870-8705. 

Oakland Car Free Day A Transportation and Smart Growth Festival from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Frank Ogawa Plaza, 14th and Broadway.  

WriterCoach Connection Training Sessions Thurs. Sept. 22 and 29 at 6:30 p.m. Help students improve their writing and critical thinking skills. To register call 524-2319. www.writercoachconnection.org 

Protest Rally at Berkeley Honda, Shattuck and Parker, every Thursday 4:30 to 6 p.m.  

Easy Does It Disability Assistance meets at 6:30 p.m. at 1744A University Ave. All welcome. 845-5513. 

“The Mistresses of Zorro” A conversation with Isabel Allende and Sandy Curtis at 7:30 p.m. at International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Cost is $5. 642-9460.  

Center for Art and Public Life Open House from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the California College of the Arts, 5275 Broadway. 594-3763. 

Venezuela Update with Margaret Prescott at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. 528-5403. 

The Revolutionary Communist 4 with Carl Dix, Joe Veale, Akil Bomani, and Clyde Young at 7 p.m. at Longfellow Middle School Auditorium, 1500 Derby St. Donations requested. 848-1196. 

“Does Religion Matter?” A conversation with Huston Smith and Katherine Gumbert at 7:30 p.m. at College Prep School, Buttner Auditorium, 6100 Broadway, Oakland. Cost is $5-$10. 339-7726.  

“Don’t Be Six-Feet Under Without a Plan” Learn about creating a Living Will, Powers of Attorney and making final arrangements at 6 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave. at Pleasant Valley Rd., Oakland. 562-9431. 

Communication for Caregivers An ongoing free Berkeley Adult School class at 1 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5170. 

“How To Prevent Falls” at 4 p.m. at Center for Older Adult Services, 828 San Pablo Ave. To register call 558-7800. 

Center for Buddhist Studies “What Mahayana Sutras Mean” with Jonathan Silk, Dept. of Asian Languages and Cultures, UCLA, at 5 p.m. at the IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th Flr. http://ieas.berkeley.edu 

FRIDAY, SEPT. 23 

Reduced City Services Today Call ahead to ensure programs or services you desire will be available. 981-CITY. www.cityofberkeley.info 

Berkeley High School Class of ‘60 Reunion Tour of BHS at 4 p.m. followed by get-together at Beckett’s. RSVP to Suzanne Fowle Horning at 505-994-2660 or Susan Goodwin Chase at 526-4284. 

Watershed Nursery’s Fall Native Plant Sale from 3 to 7 p.m. and Sat. from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 155 Tamalpais Rd. www.TheWatershedNursery.Com 

“The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America” with author Jonathan Kozol, at 7:30 p.m. at King Middle School, 1780 Rose St. Sponsored by Cody’s Books. Tickets are $8-$10. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Activism Series with Ann Fagan Ginger and Aimee Allison at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. 528-5403. 

Californian Indian Day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Phoebe Hearst Museum, Bancroft and College. 643-7648. http://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Sayre Van Young, author of “London’s War.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020.  

Lunar Lounge Express Music, movie shorts and a Sonic Vision planetarium show at 8 p.m. at Chabot Space and Science Center, 10000 Skyline Blvd., Oakland. Tickets are $15-$20. 336-7373. www.chabotspace.org 

Spirit Walking Aqua Chi A gentle water exercise class at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley High Warm Pool. Cost is $3.50 per session. 526-0312. 

Jewish Cooking with Joan Nathan at 11:30 a.m. in a private home. For information call 839-2900, ext. 203. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 8 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 548-6310, 845-1143. 

Kol Hadash Humanistic Shabbat with Rabbi Jay Heyman, music led by Bon Singer, at 7:30 p.m. at Albany Community Center 1249 Marin Ave. Please bring finger dessert to share, and non-perishable food for the needy. Info@kolhadash.org 

SATURDAY, SEPT. 24 

Berkeley High School Class of ‘60 Reunion Picnic at noon at Cordornices Park, Euclid Ave. Reception and Buffet Dinner at 6:30 p.m. at Golden Gate Fields Clubhouse. RSVP to Suzanne Fowle Horning at 505-994-2660 or Susan Goodwin Chase at 526-4284. 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class in Disaster First Aid from 9 a.m. to noon at 997 Cedar St., between 8th and 9th. To sign up call 981-5605. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/fire/oes.html 

Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival from noon to 5 p.m. at the North Fork of Strawberry Creek, Valley Life Sciences Building lawn, UC Campus. www.poetryflash.org 

“Going Native” Symposium on California native plants, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., field trip on Sun. Cost is $125, plus $45 for the field trip. Sponsored by the Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden. To register call 527-9802. www.nativeplants.org 

“A Union Man: The Life and Work of Julius Margolin” a film by George Mann at 8 p.m., followed by discussion and music, at Berkeley Fellowship, 1924 Cedar St. Donation $5-$10. 841-4824. 

Memorial for Marylin Davis Glover at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Yacht Club, 1 Seawall Drive. 

Eldercare 101 Learn about care options for seniors, how to pay for it, and communication on difficult topics at 9:30 a.m. at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 6013 Lawton Ave., Oakland. Cost is $39, registration required. 415-661-3271. eldercoach@sbcglobal.net 

Child Health and Safety Fair with games and activities, free immunizations and safety information, for families with children ages 1-12, from 1:30 to 5 p.m. at Highland Hospital, 1411 E. 31st St., Oakland. Sponsored by the Alameda County Medical Center. 437-4644. 

Kids’ Night Out Carnival Benefit for Berkwood Hedge School, with piñatas, slide shows, basketball and art projects. From 5 to 10 pm. at Berkewood Hedge in downtown Berkeley. Tickets are $40, siblings $25. 540-6025. 

Asthma Walk at Lake Merritt at 9 a.m. starting across the street from the Rotary Nature Center, 600 Bellevue Ave., Oakland. Sponsored by the American Lung Association of the East Bay. 800-586-4872.  

International Maritime Center Shoreline Stroll Walkathon Registration on-site begins at 8 a.m., walk begins at 9 a.m. The $75 entry fee will be waived for participants who obtain pledges for donations on a per-mile basis that total $75 or more. Korean-style barbecue lunch at 11:30 a.m. 839-2226. www.sfbayfarer.org 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland around the restored 1870s business district. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of G.B. Ratto’s at 827 Washington St. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

ActivSpace Art and Crafts Sidewalk Fair Sat. and Sun. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 2703 7th St. 

School of the Madeleine Fall Festival from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 1225 Milvia St. Live entertainment, children’s games, vendors, farmers market and more. 526-4744. 

“Deer Resistant Plants” with Aerin Moore at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. 

Pacific Coast League Players’ Reunion at 11 a.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Meet the players and see the exhibition “Baseball As America.” 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Free Quit Smoking Class for pregnant and parenting women from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Alta Bates, first floor auditorium, 2450 Ashby Ave. Childcare provided. Free but registration requested. 981-5330. quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Bilingual and Multicultural Program Orientation for Hispanic/Latino children ages 2-10 at 10 a.m. at Centro VIDA, 1000 Camelia St. For more information call 525-1463. 

Free Help with Computers at the El Cerrito Library to learn about email, searching the web, the library’s online databases, or basic word processing. Workshops held on Sat. a.m. at 6510 Stockton Ave., El Cerrito. Registration required. 526-7512.  

SUNDAY, SEPT. 25 

How Berkeley Can You Be? Parade at 11 a.m. at University Ave. at Sacramento. Festival from noon to 5 p.m. at Civic Center Park. www.howberkeleycanyoube.com 

Re-Opening of the Berkeley Public Library Sunday Hours Celebration at 1 p.m. with a presentation of a check from friends of the Berkeley Public Library. 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6115. 

Out and About in Rockridge Street Fair from noon to 5 p.m. on College Ave. between Alcatraz and Broadway. Music, food and activities for children. Free trolleys up and down College Ave. www.rockridgedistrict.com 

Breakfast with the Beasts Bring a donation of fresh produce to share with the animals and learn how the animals are cared for. From 8 to 10 a.m. at the Oakland Zoo. 632-9525. www.oaklandzoo.org 

“Sacred Sites” films about the struggle to protect sacred sites at 3 p.m. at Fantasy Recording Studios, 10 and Parker Sts. Donation $10. 525-1304. www.sacred-sites.org 

Berkeley City Club free tour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tours are sponsored by the Berkeley City Club and the Landmark Heritage Foundation. Donations welcome. The Berkeley City Club is located at 2315 Durant Ave. For group reservations or more information, call 848-7800 or 883-9710. 

Fall Plant Sale at the UC Botanical Garden from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755. 

Meet the Guinea Pigs and learn about basic small animal care at 2 p.m. at Rabbitears, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 525-6155. 

“Hollywood Hats” the film at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0237. 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

“Probing the Interface Between Science and Religion” with David Lingenfelter at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

MONDAY, SEPT. 26 

“Getting Adequate Rest As We Age” at 6 p.m. at Center for Older Adult Services, 828 San Pablo Ave. To register call 558-7800. 

Critical Viewing An ongoing group to examine the art/craft(iness) of short films and television productions and its effects on our daily lives, at 1 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Free. 848-0237. georgeporter@earthlink.net 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., Sept. 20, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., Sept. 21, 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. Sept. 21, at 1:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/aging 

Commission on Labor meets Wed., Sept. 21, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Delfina M. Geiken, 981-7550. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/labor 

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed. Sept. 21, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Kristen Lee, 981-5427. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/welfare 

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Sept. 22, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/zoning›

Berkeley Planning and Development Director Dan Marks unveiled the draft work program for the joint city/UC Berkeley Downtown Area Plan (DAP) at Monday night’s meeting of the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). 

Marks said he will present the work plan to the City Council on Sept. 27. 

Several commissioners made it clear they were uneasy with the notion of an expansive university in the midst of a massive buildout having a decisive say in the fate of the city’s landmarks-rich urban core. 

The DAP, the key provision of the settlement of the city’s lawsuit filed in response to the university’s Long Range Development Plan, is designed to ease the impacts of the university’s projected 800,000 square feet of development and 1,300 new parking spaces in the city center. 

The new DAP will cover an area between Hearst Avenue on the north and Dwight Way on the south and Oxford Street on the east and Martin Luther King Jr. Way on the west. 

Marks presented commissioners Monday with copies of his three-page letter to UCB Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor for Physical and Environment Emily Marthinsen, who is filling the shoes of the recently departed Tom Lollini until a permanent replacement is named. 

Marks wrote that the city is close to hiring a lead planner to work full-time on the project, with Principal Planner Jennifer Lawrence filling a similar role for the university. Both would serve on a staff-level planning committee tentatively consisting of himself, city Land Use Planning Manager Mark Rhoades, a city transportation planner and Kerry O’Banion, another principal planner from UCB.  

The pitch 

While Marthinsen accompanied Marks to the microphone, she left most of the speaking to her city counterpart. 

Marks said “both Tom (Lollini) and I were very excited by this opportunity” when they learned the results of city/university settlement’s provisions. 

He said that the university’s expansion was one of several developments which have arisen since the existing downtown plan was adopted that merited another go at the planning process. 

“Bus Rapid transit will bring profound changes,” Marks said, referring to AC Transit’s planned development of bus express lanes in downtown Berkeley and along Telegraph Avenue. 

A joint university/corporate development project, including a hotel, conference centers and art museums, slated for most of a two-block area between Center Street and University Avenue and Oxford Way and Shattuck Avenue, may go forward while the downtown plan is being decided, Marks said. 

As part of the information-gathering phase, Marks said a new survey of historical buildings in the planning area is needed, which would include participation of the LPC and the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. 

“I want to be sure we capture all the historical resources downtown,” Marks said. 

He then turned to the composition of the advisory committee. Marks said, city “staff does not want the committee to be a full public participation” process. 

“The ideal size would be 15 people,” said Marks. “The more you go beyond that, the harder it is to manage.” 

He said that he wouldn’t recommend that the city adopt the workshop model with open public participation. 

“There will be public workshops, though only to get input and not as a way to get consensus building,” he said. 

The response  

“I’m concerned it could become Novartis West,” said commissioner Carrie Olson, alluding to the university’s controversial deal between the College of Natural Resources and the international chemical giant. “The separation of the town’s needs from the gown’s needs is a big deal to me.” 

Commissioner Patty Dacey said she was concerned that “the new steroid-driven downtown area is now to include LeConte. No one in my neighborhood is applauding. They look with fear and loathing. It looks like the university will have veto power over our entire downtown plan if it’s not satisfactory. We see this as something that could take over our residences downtown.” 

In addition, she said she was also concerned both about what she said was the city’s surrender of sovereignty and the fiscal penalties the city will have to pay if the plan is not produced within the narrow time frame. 

Dacey said that “the only way this mistrust and fear can be dissipated is with an open and inclusive democratic process where stakeholder groups are acknowledged and can appoint their own members, rather than by appointment by the City Council.” 

Whatever the composition of the new committee, she said, she wanted to make sure that the LPC had a seat. 

Commissioner Steven Winkel agreed. “One person per councilmember might make sense” for a citywide plan, but with a more focused plan, the council “should select members not by district but by interests.” 

“The exciting thing about downtown Berkeley is that it unifies all the taxpayers,” said Commissioner Leslie Emmington. “It is the heart of the city, both physically and spiritually ... It’s everybody’s downtown. This is a serious thing.” 

While “27 stakeholders participated in the current plan,” Dacey said, in the current proposal “the university is a stakeholder, city council is a stakeholder and staff is a stakeholder, but where are the people?” 

Olson pointed out zthat in addition to property held in its own name, the university has effective use of property which foundations and other groups are holding for the school. She asked Marks to be sure all those sites were included in the list UC Berkeley gave the city on Aug. 27. 

“We are aware that the university holds property in different names, and we have asked them to include that,” he said. 

During the ongoing questioning, mostly from Dacey and Emmington, Marks said the UC hotel itself wasn’t part of the 800,000 square feet of new building that would be the focus of the plan. “It is a private project on land owned by the Bank of America ... the site would go in under the current downtown plan or we could change it.” 

Winkel, who offered up the resolution that won unanimous approval from his colleagues, calling for the LPC to be considered a coequal stakeholder on an “appropriately sized” task force appointed by the council with the specific proviso that the planning commission would be an equal and not dominant participant, “especially after what we went through with the (revisions to the Landmarks Preservation) Ordinance.” 

Taking a few weeks to consider an ordinance years in the shaping, the planning commission proposed significant changes that didn’t sit well with the LPC. 

The timeline 

Accompanying Marks’ letter to Martinsen was his proposed timeline for the process. Between now and next January, he said, city and university staff and the advisory panel, appointed by the City Council, will gather information and establish goals and visions for the area. 

Between next February and November 2007, staff and the panel will develop and consider various development scenarios, then select one for a draft plan to be reviewed by city commissions. The City Council and the UC Berkeley chancellor will make the final approval of the draft plan. 

Another year will be spent preparing an Environmental Impact Report that will consider the preferred plan along with alternatives. During the final eight months, the plan will be reviewed by city commissions. The Planning Commission will make a recommendation to the City Council, which will vote on the final document in May 2009. 

Last word 

Commissioner James Samuels, in his last meeting as a landmarks commissioner, wryly offered that representation selected by stakeholder groups could be considered a conflict with the goal of having a truly democratic process. 

Monday marked his last LPC meeting before heading to his new seat on the Planning Commission, where he was Councilmember Laurie Capitelli’s replacement for the outgoing David Tabb and thus he was able to hear Marks again two nights later.  

Planning Commissioners made clear Wednesday that they want to take the lead as the city and UC Berkeley begin rewriting downtown zoning laws. 

“It’s completely absurd that all we do is come in at the end and recommend a plan to the council,” said Commissioner Rob Wrenn after the meeting. “They can’t just shove the Planning Commission out of the way and then bring it back at the last minute.” 

As stipulated in a legal settlement last spring, the city and UC Berkeley are beginning work on a new land-use plan for downtown, where UC Berkeley intends to do the majority of its new construction over the next 15 years. 

While the Downtown Berkeley Association supports a new land use plan, which it believes can help coordinate several new buildings and transportation developments proposed for the city center, several commissioners have publicly criticized the undertaking. They fear a new downtown plan will lead to taller buildings and give the university too much say in city zoning. 

Before work can begin on the plan, the City Council must form a citizen task force to guide staff on preparing the plan. Several planning commissioners Wednesday sparred with city staff, demanding the Planning Commission lead the task force. 

“Given that we have statutory responsibility to advise the council on area plans, it is really important that the Planning Commission be at the heart of the process,” said Planning Commissioner Sara Shumer. 

But city staff said they would not make any recommendations to the City Council regarding the committee’s hierarchy. 

“Staff’s view is that the City Council ought to decide what it wants to do,” said Planning Director Dan Marks. He said that staff would offer several options for the council in forming the task force at its Sept. 27 meeting. Marks did say that he would recommend the task force be limited to between 15 and 20 members. 

“As it gets larger, it gets more difficult to reach a consensus,” Marks said after the meeting. 

The last downtown plan, which included a working group of more than 25 residents, took five years to complete. The area plan for South Campus neighborhoods is now in its eighth year. 

Shumer countered that the task force would need more members to give a voice to all downtown stakeholders. 

“The community is already worried about the legitimacy and democratic nature of this process,” she said. “If it’s not an open process, people won’t see the plan as legitimate.” 

Harry Pollack, the commission chair, said he thought the task force should be “a manageable size” and added that he hadn’t formed an opinion on whether the commission should lead the task force. “We’re going to have a significant role in the process,” he said. “There will be regular communication between the commission and whatever body is set up.” 

The Planning Commission will vote on recommendations to the council at its next meeting on Sept. 28—one day after the council is scheduled to consider the issue. Commissioner Wrenn said he expected the council to hold off on making a final decision on the task force until the commission offers its proposals. 

“We have to pass the final plan before it can even go to the council,” he said. “If they want us to pass it they should make sure they solicit our input before they decide the process.” 

Besides the process for formulating the plan, there is still debate on whether planners should ignore the Downtown Plan or use it as a base for the new rules. 

Planning Manager Mark Rhoades said the UC-City agreement stipulated a new plan. “It doesn’t say revise the Downtown Plan, it says enter into a collaborative process for a Downtown Area Plan.” 

While agreeing that planners were devising a new plan, Marks, the planning director, said the current plan would not be ignored. “My assumption is we will start with the existing Downtown Plan. How we change it I can’t say.”›

Did George W. Bush steal America’s 2004 elections? 

For some 200 East Bay political activists gathered at the “Elections In Crisis!” symposium at Oakland’s Grand Lake Theater this week, that’s not even an issue any more. The question they posed, over and over, in speeches, PowerPoint presentations, and movie documentaries, was how to stop it from happening again. 

According to Dan Ashby of the Voting Rights Task Force of the Wellstone Democratic Club, the sponsoring organization for the one-day symposium, electronic voting machines continue to be the main problem. 

“Any electronically-counted vote on proprietary software produced by private companies is inherently insecure,” Ashby said. “We need to end elections run by private companies. We need to return to hand-counted paper ballots, which has the most measure of security.” 

The vulnerability of electronic voting machines to fraud and vote-manipulation was the subject of the slide show presentation by Washington State investigative reporter Bev Harris, the author of Black Box Voting, a recently-published book on ballot tampering in the 21st century. 

Because vote-altering subprograms can be introduced into voting machines through the insertion of source codes that do their work and then erase all trace of their own existence, “we will never know exactly how many of these elections were stolen,” Harris said. “If it’s done right, there will be no trail.” 

But Harris gave examples of how her organization hired computer experts to hack into Diebold voting machines to alter vote totals, sometimes within a matter of a few seconds, during authorized tests in which she said Diebold security personnel stood by and watched but did not detect the hacking. 

Diebold manufactures the touch screen voting machines that are used in Alameda County elections. 

Harris said that a major vulnerable point for the Diebold machines is not necessarily the machines themselves, but the electronic memory card—similar in appearance to an ATM card—which is used by elections supervisors to interface with the machines. 

“What our expert found was that the program to count the votes was not on the individual voting machines themselves, but in the cards,” she said, explaining that at the end of an election, the vote card is inserted into the individual machine. It downloads the machine’s vote totals, and then is inserted into a second machine that electronically transmits the total to a central tabulating computer assembling the votes from all of the machines. “Our expert also found that these vote cards were available on the Internet, for $300,” Harris said. 

Harris said that her source was able to write his own program on the purchased vote card that, when slipped into the Diebold voting machine, altered the vote totals. 

While most of the symposium’s speakers, as well as Voting Rights Task Force member Ashby, pointed to the Republican administration as the main manipulator of election vote totals. Harris said that electronic voting machine votes were subject to voter theft and fraud from any number of directions, including disgruntled computer company employees and local business interests seeking to change the outcome of bond measures. 

Pointing out that many of the companies involved in the production and operation of electronic voting machines were both interconnected and strewn with high-level operators who had previously been convicted for computer fraud and other similar crimes, Harris said that “the potential for manipulation is widespread, and it can vary from place to place.” 

The other main speaker, Bob Fitrakis, blasted American voting officials for allowing the country to operate elections that “don’t meet minimal international standards.” Fitrakis is an Ohio journalist and editor of the phonebook-sized Did George W. Bush Steal America’s 2004 Election?, a collection of documents related to Republican election actions primarily in Ohio. 

Noting that he served as an international observer in the El Salvador elections of 1999, Fitrakis said “if I had gone into a precinct and was told that the votes were going to be counted in secret, with no public access, by representatives of an organization with close ties to the ruling junta, I would have immediately written that the election was a fraud.” 

Fitrakis said this was exactly the situation in the 2004 Presidential election, when many votes were counted on proprietary-software machines operated by Diebold, a company whose founders had close ties to the Republican administration. 

Wellstone’s Ashby said that the major purpose of the symposium was “to bring together in one place and one time activists and organizers and experts” concerned about vote-stealing and vote-manipulation. 

“This is going to be a multi-pronged effort,” he said. “We’re hoping that people in the audience will become interested in one of the many proposals that were introduced.” 

Other speakers at the symposium asked support for legislation proposed by state Rep. Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) to limit the influence of big-money donations on elections (AB 583), to urge Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign two pieces of legislation (SB 370 and AB 1636) that would provide for more secure and verifiable electronic voting, to support open source codes for electronic voting machines, and to conduct “parallel voting” activities during elections to verify whether the electronic vote totals accurately reflect the way people actually voted. 

Ashby said his organization’s next major concern was the upcoming November special election, where he said there will be no paper audit trail for electronic voting machines. Such an audit trail is not scheduled to go into effect in California until January 2006. 

“This is one reason we think the governor was in such a rush to hold this special election,” Ashby said. “We’re looking into what our organization can do to prevent an illegal Republican takeover of this election through manipulation of the voting machines.”

With disaster preparedness suddenly on everyone’s minds, the Berkeley Unified School District published its District Emergency Response Plan in last week’s school board packet for the first time in what school officials called “many years.” 

Board members were quick to point out the obvious flaw in the plan: the same district staff which will be directing emergency response is presently housed in an unsafe facility. 

The four-page document envisions that in the event of a major disaster, an Emergency Operations Center will be set up at the Berkeley Alternative High School. 

With an earthquake being the most likely such disaster in the East Bay, BUSD Facilities Director Lew Jones told board members that the Alternative High School was chosen because it is a one-story building less likely to suffer earthquake damage than the district’s present administrative offices. 

But board members noted that the emergency staff personnel on the district’s command list to operate the Emergency Operations Center would all have to come from either the district’s administration headquarters at Old City Hall or from the district’s Oregon-Russell street facilities. Both of those facilities are considered earthquake unsafe, and the obvious but unstated implication was that in the case of a catastrophic earthquake, many of the staff members needed to manage the district’s emergency response might not even be able to make it out of the buildings. 

During the discussion, Superintendent Michele Lawrence shook her head in a gesture of dismay and frustration. Lawrence has made it a priority to move district operations out of the Old City Hall and Oregon-Russell street facilities to the West Campus property on University Avenue. But because of renovations needed for the University Avenue property, that relocation is still several years away. 

The Alternative High School facility is six blocks down Martin Luther King Jr. Way from the district’s administrative offices. Closer alternatives to the Alternative High School site would be the Berkeley High School facility across the street, or the City of Berkeley’s projected emergency operations center at the city’s Public Safety Building. That building is next door to the district’s administrative offices at Old City Hall. 

Part of the district’s emergency planning involves the stockpiling of emergency supplies at strategic locations and conducting ongoing emergency training for school and district personnel. 

District staff members presented the board with a disaster command chart which listed staff assignments, along with alternates, for the various disaster response responsibilities. 

Facilities Manager Lew Jones was the overall Incident Manager, with finance head Eric D. Smith and curriculum and instruction head Neil Smith as his alternates. Listed under the Incident Manager were staff assignments for liaison with the City of Berkeley and Alameda County, liaison with Berkeley High School, public information, safety, operations, planning and intelligence, logistics, and finance and administration. Many of those categories were broken down into sub-category assignments, including such items as medical, transportation, damage assessment, and care and shelter. 

Also included in the document was a Communication Plan based upon close to 200 district-owned two-way radios, which have been distributed throughout the district’s schools and non-instructional sites. The document said that the two-way radios were preferable to other forms of communication, which it said “are vulnerable to significant disruption in the event of an earthquake.” 

Board President Nancy Riddle said that school officials have been meeting regularly with city disaster planners, and that the district has been assigned a special emergency channel for its communications separate from other agencies. 

District officials said that the district’s emergency preparedness plan will be continuously updated, as well as being aligned with the various individual school safety plans..

Sensitive Data Said to be Uncompromised 

UC Berkeley police have recovered a university laptop computer stolen from the campus last spring, but UC officials said they do not believe that any of the sensitive data on the computer’s hard drive was ever accessed. 

When it was recovered, the computer’s original hard drive material had been erased and written over. 

The laptop was recovered by UC authorities from a South Carolina man, who purchased it over the Internet in April from a San Francisco man. That San Francisco man, who has not been identified, was arrested and charged with possession of stolen property. He is not considered by police to be the individual who actually stole the computer from UC. 

The laptop containing personal information of more than 98,000 UC graduate students and other individuals was stolen last March from the university’s Graduate Division. UC police believe that the theft was a crime of opportunity, done while the offices were momentarily left unstaffed and unguarded during lunchtime. 

The San Francisco man arrested reportedly told UC police that a woman had sold him the stolen computer and provided police with a description that matched reports of a woman seen leaving the UC Graduate Division offices shortly before the theft was discovered. 

UC officials said that detailed testing could not determine whether any of the personal information originally on the computer had been accessed, but said that since the theft, they have not detected any pattern of identity theft from any of the individuals whose information was on the computer. 

Bowing to pressure from a well-organized opposition, Oakland Vice Mayor Jane Brunner has withdrawn her plan to expand an existing redevelopment district to include 800 acres immediately south of the Berkeley border. 

In an e-mail to constituents sent Tuesday, Bruner said that because “response to the proposal has been mixed ... I therefore have concluded that the current proposal does not have the kind of support that it would need to be successful. I have requested city staff to withdraw their proposal for expansion of the redevelopment area.” 

City staff had prepared a proposal which said the new district would bring in $196 million in additional revenues through tax increment funding which would funnel a total of $272 million into improvements in the district. 

The funding method would have fixed the share of property taxes going to local governments and schools at the current level and required the state to make up the estimated $120 million in school funding that would have otherwise been lost. 

Much of the money would have gone toward streetscape improvements and eminent domain buyouts of so-called blighted commercial properties to make way for new development. 

But the words “eminent domain” made neighbors nervous and skeptical of the city’s promise to target only run-down commercial property. The anxiety grew after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Kelo v. the City of New London, which held that local governments can seize private property for private development if the project would benefit the public. 

That ruling galvanized opposition organized by neighborhood activists Bob Brokl and his companion Alfred Crofts, who turned out in force at an Aug. 28 meeting they organized in North Oakland. 

That meeting, attending by representatives of the several legislators and Oakland City Councilmember Nancy J. Nadel, brought together an unusual alliance of property rights libertarians like Orange Count Supervisor Chris Norby, anti-corporate progressives and residents and businesspeople who feared their homes and businesses were on the line. 

Nadel said she had “heard from a lot of people ... both at community meetings and here in the office.” 

While she said many were enthusiastic about the prospect of economic development, “many others are concerned about the impact of redevelopment on the General Fund and fearful about the potential for abuse of redevelopment powers.” 

She said the lack of a strong consensus led her to pull the plug.  

Just 21 years old, Jesse Arreguin, a UC Berkeley senior and tenants’ rights advocate, has made a name for himself in Berkeley. 

He’s been elected to the Rent Stabilization Board, appointed to the Housing Advisory Commission (HAC), of which he is the acting chair, and at Tuesday’s City Council meeting he emerged victorious in what some of his opponents dubbed “The Jesse Arreguin Affair.” 

By a 6-2-1 vote (Wozniak and Olds, no, Capitelli, abstain) the council passed an ordinance so that Arreguin could continue to serve in both offices. 

“I think it was clear to everybody that there has been a partisan attack by the property owners to smear me,” Arreguin said after the meeting. 

The vote ended a dispute over the past week as the Berkeley Property Owners Association (BPOA) and its political allies mounted a campaign to unseat Arreguin from the HAC. They cited an opinion issued by the office of City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque last May, at Arreguin’s request, concluding that the two offices Arreguin holds present potential conflicts of interest under state common law. 

Tuesday’s vote by the council overrode the state doctrine. Councilmembers approved a city ordinance making it legal for a resident to sit on more than two decision-making boards that might have overlapping responsibilities. Had the council not acted, Arreguin would have had to resign from the HAC. 

As a member of the pro-tenant Rent Board and the HAC, Arreguin has been at the heart of the board’s long-running dispute with the BPOA. Most recently he has supported laws, set to go to the council next week, that would make it more expensive for property owners to convert rental units to condos and give tenants lifetime leases to protect them from condo conversions. 

“It’s true Jesse Arreguin is not a political friend of ours,” said BPOA President Michael Wilson. “But that doesn’t change the fact that the city attorney found instances where he would have conflicts of interest and it doesn’t mean those six councilmembers should sacrifice principle for the sake of a political ally.”  

The council majority held that it was the BPOA that was playing politics. “We’ve got a conflict here, but it’s a political conflict, not a conflict of interests,” said Max Anderson, a former Rent Board member. 

“This is quite political with the BPOA,” said Councilmember Linda Maio. “I see no reason for it.” 

In calling for the issue to be held over until next week, Councilmember Gordon Wozniak said the council, which had not seen the city attorney’s opinion, needed more information before voting. 

“I’m reluctant to overturn her opinion,” he said. “It’s not good public policy to change the law for one individual.” 

Years earlier Albuquerque issued an opinion that Wozniak had a conflict of interest by serving on the city’s environmental commission while working as a scientist at Lawrence Berkeley Lab. In that case as well, the council voted to overturn the city attorney and allow Wozniak to continue serving on the commission. 

Arreguin is not the first elected official to also serve as an appointee on a different decision making body. His colleague on the Rent Board, Chris Kavanagh, had also served on the HAC until last year. 

Arreguin, who has pledged to recuse himself from votes that could be construed as having conflicts of interests, requested the opinion from the city attorney’s office last March. At the time, the Rent Board was scheduled to vote on passing through $200,000 in affordable housing funds that the HAC administers. 

Arreguin said he voted for the transfer after the Rent Board’s attorney issued an opinion finding no conflict of interest. However Albuquerque found several instances where the jurisdiction of the two bodies overlap.  

For instance she wrote, in the case of the Drayage, the West Berkeley warehouse where building officials have ordered tenants to vacate, the HAC could be called on to hear appeals of city abatement orders. Yet, as a member of the Rent Board, Arreguin has already voted in favor of a resolution supporting the tenants and calling on the board to consider legal action if they are evicted. 

“Conflicts of interest can be about divided loyalties,” Albuquerque told the council. “It’s based on the notion that the role one plays on one body may make it difficult to play a role on the other.” 

Under the new rule, Albuquerque said it might be possible for a citizen to be appointed to several similar decision making bodies including the Planning Commission, Zoning Adjustment Board and Landmarks Preservation Commission. 

Other Matters 

• The council voted unanimously to call for the California National Guard to be immediately returned from Iraq. 

• By a 6-1 vote, the council called for a new public hearing on a proposed new house in the Berkeley hills, that one neighboring family says will obstruct their views. 

• A proposal to send new business quota rules in the Elmwood to the Planning Commission for review was held over while Councilmembers Wozniak and Kriss Worthington settle disagreements over the plan. 

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The Berkeley City Council meets Tuesday at 7 p.m. Items on the agenda include: 

• A proposal to have the Planning Commission review proposed changes to the Elmwood Business District quota system. The council held off on the plan last week while Councilmembers Gordon Wozniak and Kriss Worthington began working on a compromise proposal. 

• Two proposals from the Transportation Commission. One proposal would request that the Water Transit Authority proceed with a comprehensive environmental review of ferry service for Berkeley. The second calls for including a commission member on any task force dealing with the Downtown Area Plan. 

• A recommendation from the Housing Advisory Commission (HAC) that the council add all four members of its subcommittee on the Density Bonus and Inclusionary Housing to the city’s Joint Density Bonus Subcommittee. The members are Jesse Arreguin, Marie Bowman, Victoria Liu and Andrew Murray. 

• An ordinance from the HAC to amend the city’s law on converting rental units to condominiums. The amendments would make it more expensive for property owners to convert units. 

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The Library Board of Trustees voted unanimously Wednesday to reopen the main branch of the public library on Sundays starting Sept. 25. 

The library will be open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., the same Sunday hours the library kept until last July when a lack of money forced the library to close on Sundays. 

Last Sunday night I stood with another reporter in the middle of the street in a neighborhood near downtown New Orleans. I had been sent to capture photographs of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, but at that moment all I could see in front of me was blackness, interrupted only by the occasional lights from a passing police car and the yellow glow from a nearby light run by a generator. 

We were exhausted from a day of slogging through the submerged cities and towns around the region and felt overwhelmed by the devastation we had seen. This was the first moment we had to try to make sense of what we saw, but none of it seemed real as we stared into the blackness. 

When we drove through downtown the day before, the streets were filled with trash. Big spray-painted signs that read “Looters will be shot” had not saved most stores. The only cars on the street were army Humvees. Troops and BlackWater security workers stood guard on empty street corners. 

You could close your eyes as you drove through the city and tell when you passed a fast-food restaurant or grocery store. The smell of rotting meat was overpowering. 

The smell of the water was just as bad as I imagined. Feces, oil and chemicals made the water turn dark green, brown and sometimes black. We all knew that the stray dogs wandering around were going to die from disease because that was the only water they had to drink. 

A couple of days earlier we had been in Empire, La., a small town in the bayou, about 60 miles south of New Orleans. The town, and several others like it, was built on a narrow strip of land between the Mississippi river and the delta. When the hurricane hit, the winds and flooding waters from either side destroyed almost everything. 

As we drove down, I couldn’t process what I saw. House after house was flattened into piles of wood. A large delivery truck lay resting in the top of the tree, its trailer pierced by the trunk. The town church had moved completely off its foundation and come to rest over a tree that jutted out of its front door. Inside a muddy statue of Jesus lay on the ground looking up at the ceiling as if in disbelief. 

In the Empire harbor, 40- and 50-foot boats were stacked on top of each other. An RV lay smashed under a house that had floated off its stilts. Emaciated stray dogs hung around, begging for attention and food. 

Helicopters constantly passed overhead, shuttling National Guard troops and search and rescue teams to remote areas. Two New York City police cars passed by late in the afternoon. 

Sometimes the rescue effort seemed organized and efficient. Rescue teams piled through debris looking for bodies, dead or alive. They marked houses with spray paint signals that let people know if the house was clear, or whether they found a body. I never saw a dead body, but I had no doubt that many were hidden under the debris of the houses we passed. 

Other times it took rescue teams hours to get anything done. It was mid-afternoon before some teams got to work because they spent the whole morning loading their equipment and trying to map out where they were going. 

I had never been to New Orleans before. As I stood on that dark corner in the hot and muggy night, I wondered what the city once looked like with lights. 

In the roadway median I saw a few beads from Mardi Gras. Instead of the bright metallic gleam they usually give off, these beads were covered in the green/brown muck left over from receding water. 

I wondered, how long it would be before tourists and residents walked down this street again instead of National Guard troops? I heard some locals dispute whether there will be a Mardi Gras next year. Some say it will take years before Mardi Gras comes back. Others said Hurricane Katrina was an excuse to make this coming celebration the biggest yet. 

We were standing in a middle- to upper-class neighborhood on the border of where the flooding stopped. On the street there were downed trees and cars destroyed by the water; most of the houses seemed inhabitable. Clean-up crews had already started to clear the debris. 

Meanwhile, 50 percent of the city was still under water two weeks after the hurricane hit. Just north of where we were, we saw entire houses that had collapsed. I heard that in a neighborhood near one of the levee breaks only one house was still inhabitable. The water was receding several blocks each day, but I knew it would be weeks before it was all gone. 

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Palo Alto Daily News is a free daily newspaper published by Knight-Ridder, which also publishes Berkeley’s East Bay Daily News. The East Bay paper uses the same “Town Talk” format found in its Palo Alto counterpart.  

Like a light bulb flipping on in a dark room, like an epiphany sung sweetly by a choir, new ideas can open new worlds and teach us imaginative and creative ways to approach what we do.  

Since this column is written about people and events in the community, there is now a new policy for anyone who wants to appear in a future column.  

It’ll cost you.  

Checks are OK, but cash is greatly preferred.  

This is not an original idea, however. It’s borrowed from another publication.  

Grade the News, based at San Jose State University (formerly at Stanford University), is a small but respected non-profit effort that critiques Bay Area news media. It is currently publishing a three-part examination of free daily newspapers, including the Palo Alto Daily News.  

It was the first installment that sparked my idea to start charging for this space. The article—entitled, “At free dailies, advertisers sometimes call the shots,” by Associate Director Michael Stoll—is on the organization’s website: www.gradethenews.org.  

Stoll discovered that some editorial content in the Daily News is written by the newspaper’s advertising department.  

The paper’s “Town Talk” is a promotional column that masquerades as editorial content—written by the advertising department—and the paper’s “Buzz” entertainment section “is a seamlessly laid-out blend of articles penned by the advertising staff but presented as news,” Stoll wrote.  

For those unfamiliar with the newspaper business, reporters and editors are responsible for the editorial content (stories, columns, reviews, editorials) while advertising sales representatives persuade advertisers to buy ads to woo readers to become customers.  

This is generally known as the “separation of church and state” in journalism, Stoll notes. Others call it a “firewall” between a newspaper’s journalistic and business efforts.  

The problem is that when one part of a newspaper’s editorial content is bought and paid for it raises questions about all the other editorial content, too.  

Stoll also discovered that Daily News reporters are encouraged to write favorable stories about advertisers—as part of the Daily News’ philosophy, penned in 1995.  

It’s worth quoting in full: “In addition to covering business as a news beat, (the reporter) must also cover local business from the perspective of the business owner, or, as their partner. This means promoting the business as their own. This is the key to early and continued success. If we embrace our advertisers and help them promote with good writing and photos, they will become our strongest supporters.”  

If some news stories are tainted by the newspaper’s business interests, what about all the rest? Where is the line drawn? Is there a line?  

Instead of being rightfully embarrassed by any of this, the Daily News seems proud of it.  

“We’re not going to knock them (the advertisers). That’s our community. They’re our people,” Robby Schumacher, who is both a Daily News entertainment-guide columnist and an advertising sales representative, told Stoll.  

Stoll wrote that Daily News Publisher Dave Price “laughed off any suggestion that the ads-as-news printed in his paper could be misunderstood. ‘Do you have to label a duck a duck?’ Mr. Price said.”  

The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics urges reporters and editors to “distinguish news from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.”  

So much for professional ethics.  

In the future, see my agent to place yourself or your business in this prime Page Four space.  

Are you a City Council candidate whose polls are lagging? Don’t give up! Is business at your store slow? The dinner trade at your restaurant leaving too many empty tables? That can be changed!  

Dr. Don’s Elixir of Magic Words can cure whatever ails you!  

I have a brand-new thesaurus with nifty words, called adjectives. I can learn to use them, especially the glowing ones. I also found the never! before! used! exclamation-point on my keyboard. 

And if you pay by check, make it a big one, please. I’ll only be renting this space, but I’ll be selling my soul.  

Republished with permission 

Robert Purdy, 85, a World War II veteran, ex-P.O.W., hero, and activist, died in Berkeley on Sunday, Sept. 11 after a short illness. 

The son of Elinor and Harry Purdy, he was born in Wisconsin and raised in Detroit. He began work as a machinist and tool and die maker in the auto industry. He worked for the Marchant Calculator Company, became an educator at the East Bay Skills Center and Southern Illinois University, and was a manufacturing engineer for SKS Die Casting until his retirement.  

In 1942, he and his two brothers enlisted in the Army Air Corps to fight Hitler’s fascists. He was a B24 pilot in Italy, where, after 17 missions, he was shot down and captured by the Nazis who sent him by boxcar from Vicenzia, Italy to Stalagluft I in Barth, near the North Sea, where he spent 18 months. He was freed by the Russians on May 1, 1945. Much to his sorrow, his brother Harry was lost over England. 

On his return, he settled in Detroit working in the auto industry, where his daughter Laura was born. After his marriage ended, he moved to California. In 1961, he and his friend Lionel Martin, a journalist, decided to go to Cuba to support Fidel Castro’s revolution. They arrived shortly after the Bay of Pigs invasion. In Cuba for nine years, Bob became the head of a small industry where he taught the tool and die trade to Cubans, was a member of the  

National Tool and Die Nomenclature committee, working under the Minister of Industry, Che Guevara. While in Cuba, he married and had his daughter Maida.  

In 1969, he returned to California and taught the machinist trade at the East Bay Skills Center for several years. He married Margot Smith and moved with her to Illinois for two years, where he taught engineers at Southern Illinois University.  

In Berkeley, he began to build a Veri-Easy foam fiberglass plane designed by Burt Rutan, and finished it in Illinois. He and Margot flew it across the country several times. They returned to Berkeley in 1980.  

After retirement, he took up video production under the tutilege of film maker Judy Montell. His best known videos were Canada’s Single Payer Health System: A Model for Reform (introduced by the late Senator Paul Wellstone) and Democracy in the Workplace: Three Worker-Owned Businesses in Action (about the Cheeseboard, Rainbow Grocery and Inkworks). They were shown on many local PBS stations. 

He was active in the peace movement, the Berkeley Gray Panthers and Democratic Socialists of America. As a youth Bob was a member of the Communist Party and was an ardent union member. He left the communist party when Krushchev revealed the abuses by Stalin in the USSR. However, he always believed that Socialism was a way to achieve a fair and just society and continued to work for a socialist America. 

His survivors include his wife, Margot Smith of Berkeley, his daughters Laura Purdy (married to John Coleman) of Ithaca, N.Y., Maida Purdy Salinas (Alejandro Salinas) and grandchildren Olivia and Alex of Havana, Cuba, and step-children Walter (Carolina), Peter (Nancy) and Larry (Maryellen) Smith and Janet (Bob) Linney, and their children. 

He is also be missed by his brother James (Lois) Purdy of Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz clan, his brother Alan (Jo) Purdy of San Diego, and many nieces and nephews. His family would like to thank brother Jimmy and niece Catherine Cavette, nephew John Muster, and their daughter Cassy for their support in his final days. 

A memorial service in celebration of his life will be held on Sunday, Oct. 9 at 2:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarians, 1924 Cedar St. Contributions in his memory may be made to the Berkeley Gray Panthers, 1403 Addison St. For information please call 486-8010. 

Christopher Wilson, the 20-year-old charged with murder in the death of his friend, Berkeley High graduate Meleia Willis-Starbuck, was given a three-week extension to enter a plea. 

At Wilson’s request, Superior Court Judge Winfred Scott on Monday held over the plea hearing until Oct. 4. She also revised the terms of Wilson’s bail so that he can attend an evening class at Vista College. 

Wilson’s attorney, Elizabeth Grossman, said after the hearing that the postponement was necessary because she was still receiving new police reports and video statements. 

She added that Wilson intended to plead “not guilty” to the charge of homicide. 

Police say that last July when Willis-Starbuck, a 19-year-old Dartmouth sophomore, and her friends became embroiled in a late-night dispute with several men on College Avenue, she called Christopher Hollis and asked him to “bring the heat.”  

According to police, Wilson drove Hollis to the corner of College and Dwight Way, where Hollis jumped out of the car and fired shots into the crowd, striking only Willis-Starbuck. 

Hollis, 21, remains at large. Asked if Hollis’ disappearance might impact Wilson’s defense, Grossman replied, “I think it would be best for Mr. Hollis to come forward.”  

In July, Wilson was released on $326,000 bail to the custody of Robin Baker and Ralph Silber, the parents of a friend. After appearing before the court two previous times in shackles and a prison jump suit, Wilson seemed relaxed Monday, wearing a black shirt and tie. He smiled often and spoke with several with several of about 15 friends in the court room as they waited for the hearing to begin. 

Baker said after the hearing that besides studying at Vista, Wilson, who had attended Cabrillo College in Aptos, is also doing community service work. 

“I think he’s handling himself as well as possible,” she said. “He’s doing what he can to get through this somehow. We’re all heartbroken about what’s happened.” 

Here’s the story of my attempt to virtually join the U.S. Army. 

This year, UC Berkeley supersized the old registration-week tradition of the freebie bag. For a two-day event called “Caltopia,” the cavernous Recreational Sports Facility hosted rows of exhibitors giving away brochures and free stuff. The organizers even bought a full-page ad in the Express to invite the community. 

So of course I went.  

And I got some great stuff. But my strangest bit of schwag came in an Associated Students bag handed to me (and perhaps 30,000 other attendees) at the front door. 

It’s a video game called “America’s Army: Special Forces,” subtitled: “The Official U.S. Army Game. Empower Yourself. Defend Freedom.” The sunblasted cover art unmistakably depicts desert combat. Its rating seal says “Teen,” “Blood,” and “Violence.” 

Intrigued by my new acquisition, I checked the game’s FAQ page at www.americasarmy.com. There I learned that “players progress toward the goal of wearing the coveted Green Beret by completing progressive individual and collective training missions,” which include indentification [sic] of vehicles” and “identifying friend from foe on the battlefield.” 

I could hardly wait to start. 

But my disappointment with “America’s Army” began as soon as I launched the installation program. It would proceed only if I agreed “to be bound by ... the government’s acceptable use policy and such other policies as it may from time to time establish.” 

Now why should I grant an advance blank check of approval to any “policies [the government] may from time to time establish” in the future? That sounded disturbingly like the “stop-loss” fine print by which the real Army has ensnared so many enlistees and reservists. Thinking they were signing up for a two-year tour of duty, or a few weekends of training per year, they’ve found themselves bound to perpetual involuntary servitude in Iraq. 

Still, my country called. Plus, how often do I get a chance to enter “a portal ... designed to provide young adults and their influencers with virtual insights into entry level Soldier training ... so that young adults can see how our training builds and prepares Soldiers to serve in units in defense of freedom?” 

The game’s website also reassured me that “just as is the case with the Army, the game has a firm grounding in values. For example, the game establishes rules for engagement and imposes significant penalties for violations of these rules.” Plus there are parental controls: “Parents can disable all the blood in the game” and can “enable a language filter” against naughty words. 

So I bit my lip, and clicked “I accept” and “Next.”  

But my second disappointment was seeing how long it took the game to install (a long slog from two CD’s) and to launch. I realized that this game, just like the real America’s Army, was a very slow-moving institution with excessive hardware needs. 

Still, I eventually got a main menu. There, I chose “Training.” The only available category was “Basic Training: Marksmanship,” so I clicked “Deploy.” 

Here, things soon improved. Now I had a huge automatic-rifle barrel in front of me, which already made me feel like more of a man. An impressive graphics engine allowed me to point it up, down, or 360 degrees around—aiming at buildings, trees, a mean-looking sergeant, and some blobs swathed in red burqas which (I assumed) represented hapless Iraqis whom Allah has placed atop Our Oil. 

But this quickly yielded to my third disappointment: I couldn’t fire at anything. An indicator at the bottom of the screen kept flashing “Reload.” I had no ammo! 

Oddly, this increased my respect for the simulator. I felt that I now better understood the plight of the young recruits in the real America’s Army, whom Rumsfeld’s Pentagon and Cheney’s Halliburton have stranded in Baghdad without body or vehicle armor. 

To get some ordnance, I needed to create a “Personnel Jacket”—an account on the game’s website. The registration page there required me to choose a user name and to enter a valid e-mail address, without which I could not complete registration. 

Here, I froze. I’m damned if I want to start receiving spam from military recruiters.  

But the game’s website soothingly told me that “privacy is a big concern for us ... the Army will not know the names and addresses of players unless these players deliberately request information.” 

“Within the Game,” it continued, “players operate under a nom-de-guerre that protects their anonymity. ... This veil of anonymity is only raised” if players click “web links through which players can connect to the Army of One homepage [where] you can explore Army career opportunities or contact a Recruiter.”  

Again biting the bullet, I typed in a real, but disposable, e-mail address. Drawing on my knowledge of military culture from Vietnam and Iraq combat films, I tried to create a realistic user name. 

That led to my next big disappointment—a major lapse in verisimilitude. The site told me that my carefully chosen user name (“fuckthis”) was “not a valid name.” 

At this point, I confess that I gave up on America’s Army. Just as I hope Cal students and teenage video gamers will give up on the real thing until our military gets better civilian leadership. Enlistees deserve a commander in chief who will task them to valid missions (like defending the nation from real threats, keeping the peace, and building flood-control levees)—not betray their courage by sending them on a desert suicide mission in order to settle a petty family score. 

Missions impossible (if I may coin a military phrase) rot downward from the top. A Pentagon survey last year revealed that 72 percent of Iraq-based troops felt their units suffered from low morale. Almost 75 percent rated their battalion-level commanding officers as poor. The Pentagon sat on those findings for three months. 

But just as with the real thing, it’s not so easy to leave “America’s Army.” After I clicked “exit” from the menu, I was prompted to confirm: “Are you sure you want to exit?” Yet the bloated game had so bogged down my computer that I simply couldn’t maneuver my wobbly mouse pointer over the “Yes” button. 

Recognizing this as the drug-compounded exhaustion depicted in grunt’s-eye films like Apocalypse Now, I resorted to drastic measures. I pressed Ctrl-Alt-Delete, and aborted the game. 

Except I wasn’t really free. “America’s Army” was so memory-hungry that it took down much of my computer’s video memory with it. I was left with a psychedelic, high-contrast, color-impaired display. Like an estimated one-third of Vietnam War veterans, my computer was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. 

These simulated flashbacks helped the game win back some points for both realism and immediacy. The military’s own surveys show that a sixth of its personnel are returning from Iraq scarred by psychological disorders. Experts predict that this grim statistic will eventually match its grimmer Vietnam-era counterpart.  

Thousands more enlistees have suffered physical injuries. And no video game could be expected to replicate the experience of the nearly 1,900 (and counting) servicemen and women who won’t come home at all. 

In fairness to Col. E. Casey Wardynski, Steven “TUFFENUF” Elton, Robert “ScrewJack” Gibson, and their fellow game developers, “America’s Army” evidently has a genuine following—with some five million registered accounts. My cousin Adam, who produces video games, says gamers seem to love its Internet-based, multiple-player features. 

So if you have the snappy 1.3 GHz processor and the 2 GB of disk space that this game needs to run acceptably, you might want to check it out. Just think twice before you sign on any dotted lines. 

And if you’re a Cal student, you might ask your favorite Associated Students officer why the ASUC chose to distribute this Trojan Horse on behalf of military recruiters.

Landmarks commissioners gave their blessing to Roy Nee’s plans for the venerable Shattuck Hotel on Monday, while casting a more critical eye at Darrell De Tienne’s plans for the former Durkee Famous Foods warehouse at 740 Heinz Avenue. 

Nee’s plans for the hotel call for a major structural retrofit, a reconfiguration of the floor plans to create larger rooms and a major renovation of the old nondescript Hink’s Department Store building on Allston Way that will enlarge the structure and add a roofline and features that will bring it into architectural harmony with the larger hotel building. 

While Nee hopes to win approval by October, Planning and Development Director Dan Marks said the process could take longer. 

While Nee’s plans aren’t of such a scope as to require a full environmental impact report, Marks said a transportation analysis needs to be prepared before city staff could prepare a mitigated negative declaration, a prerequisite before the Zoning Adjustments Board can approve use permits, after which the project would come back to ZAB for a signoff. 

“This is a very high priority project for the city, and we’re very excited about it,” Marks added. “We’ll be moving ahead faster than we ever have for a project of this size.” 

The commissioners made it clear they liked Nee’s project. 

“The staff will take back information that probably surprises you because we have no major concerns,” said Commissioner Carrie Olson. 

The commissioners greeted De Tienne with more skepticism. 

He appeared in company with Chris Barlow of Wareham Properties, a major developer of office and laboratory space in Berkeley and the East Bay. Barlow told the commission his firm has already invested over a $1 million in various plans for the site. 

De Tienne noted that he had already received a demolition permit, but Marks said he wouldn’t rush the demolition of a landmark since the city didn’t consider the structure was in imminent danger of falling down. 

However, he said, “we are virtually certain it will fall down in the next earthquake.” 

While the developers said preservation of existing walls would require a costly brick-by-brick tear-down and reconstruction, Olson said that preservation of three walls would preclude the need for a costly and time-consuming environmental impact review. 

De Tienne disagreed, saying he believed the building was ready to fall down at any time. 

The developers asked the commission to help them select a structural engineer who specializes in historic buildings. The LPC voted to appoint a subcommittee to find someone to recommend to the city staff to assist in the environmental review process. 

Immigrant and civil rights activists have managed to get several key questions, including some from Berkeley attorney James Brosnahan, into the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Judge John Roberts. The questions spotlight their growing concerns about the vulnerabilities of immigrants and ethnic minorities.  

Ted Wang, a public policy consultant for nonprofit groups and foundations, is concerned about a memorandum the nominee wrote criticizing the U.S. attorney general for not actively supporting a Texas law that allowed elementary schools to bar undocumented children. “I want to know why doesn’t he see immigrants as part of the U.S. community,” Wang says.  

Immigrant rights groups had sued the state (Plyler v. Doe), and the Supreme Court in 1982 struck down the Texas law in a 5-4 decision, at which point Roberts wrote the critical memo.  

Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Cal.) raised the same question about the memo, but Roberts was evasive. He told Durbin that the memo was merely a reminder that the Justice Department’s hands-off position was inconsistent with the attorney general’s “litigation policy approach.”  

Durbin pressed on, saying millions of Hispanic children have benefited from access to education, a policy Roberts “apparently disagreed with 23 years ago.”  

Later, Feinstein also asked Roberts if he believed education should be made available for all regardless of immigration status. The nominee remained noncommittal, repeating that he was merely pursuing a legal issue, not a policy issue, as a staff lawyer.  

For Maria Blanco, executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, the key question is about the independence of the court as a check on executive power and potential abuse of that power.  

“Does he believe that the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right of all persons not to be detained without charges brought against them?” Blanco asks.  

Blanco is referring to a recent 4th Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding that suspected Al Qaeda member Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen designated by the White House as an “enemy combatant,” can be indefinitely detained without charges.  

The Padilla case is expected to go to the Supreme Court, so Roberts will not go into its specifics. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), however, asked if he had any concerns about the United States secretly sending suspects to foreign countries where they could be tortured, or “the federal government using immigration laws to round up and detain people for months often without regard for whether they had any connection to the September 11th investigation?”  

Roberts declined to comment, saying a number of related cases were expected to be brought to court. He did agree with Feingold that the decision to incarcerate Japanese Americans during World War II was one of the Supreme Court’s worst rulings in history.  

Trial attorney James Brosnahan, who defended John Walker Lindh against charges of fighting for Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, would like ask Roberts about “an ethical matter.”  

Brosnahan wants to know why, when Judge Roberts was presiding over a terrorism case being pursued by the Bush administration (Hamdan v. Rumsfeld), he met with the White House and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales for an interview as a prospective Supreme Court nominee.  

“Why didn’t he recuse himself, or at least step aside until the case was decided before meeting” with representatives of one side of the case, Brosnahan would like to know. Other legal experts said Roberts should have avoided the appearance of conflict or impropriety by not meeting with the administration while the case was being tried.  

Roberts’ three-judge panel ruled unanimously in favor of the administration, allowing the use of military commissions to try terrorist suspects held at the U.S. Guantanamo base in Cuba.  

Feingold grilled him on the same question on the second day of the hearings. Feingold told the nominee that a constituent came up to him saying Roberts’ role in upholding the government’s ability to try a Guantanamo Bay detainee by military commission “should disqualify you from being on the Supreme Court.”  

Roberts declined to comment, saying, “The case itself is still pending, I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to address that.”  

The next day, however, Roberts said the decision in favor of the administration was drafted before a vacancy occurred in the Supreme Court and was finished before he was interviewed by Bush for the nomination.  

Pacific News Service editor Rene P. Ciria-Cruz is also a long-time editor for Filipinas Magazine.  

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In the pre-dawn hours of Sept. 17, 1862, a division of Confederate soldiers moved into place just south of a cornfield near where the Hagerstown Pike runs past a white, clapboard church on its way to the town of Sharpsburg, Md. Northeast of the Confederates, Union Major General Joseph Mansfield was getting his XII Corps into line facing a small forest. 

The lesson of what happened within the shadows cast by those trees—known in thousands of military histories as simply “the East Wood”—is something the Bush administration is letting the nation re-discover these days. 

The battle of Antietam, where simple place names like “the cornfield,” the “sunken road,” and “Piper’s farmhouse” became synonymous with almost unimaginable carnage, was the single bloodiest day in U.S. military history. In a single day, armed with muzzle loading rifles and cannons, 20,000 men were wounded, and 6,500 killed. More soldiers died that day than in all the American wars of the 19th century; four times more than fell storming the Normandy beaches. 

Early on that terrible day, two units came together in the East Wood. Recruited from small towns in the eastern part of the state, the 1st Texas was a hard-nosed regiment in John Bell Hood’s division. The 12th Massachusetts was Boston born and bred, marching off to war behind an enormous flag of white, blue and gold presented to them by the good women of Beacon Hill. 

Within less than a half an hour both units had essentially ceased to exist. The Texas regiment absorbed 82 percent casualties. The 12th took 334 men into the wood. It came out with 114, most of them wounded. Fewer than three dozen rallied around the colors after the retreat. 

Most regiments in the Civil War were recruited by towns or city neighborhoods. The idea was that you went off into the cauldron of war with your neighbors, friends, even family. Neighbors took care of one another because they had grown up together, worked together, raising barns, sowing and harvesting crops, or laying track. It made sense. 

Until they all died together. Then the heart went out of a New York neighborhood, a Boston ward, or a small rural town in Texas or Vermont. If you’re ever back East, driving the back roads of upstate New York or Connecticut, stop in the village commons and look at the modest granite monuments with their odd stone chains and cement anchored cannons. Read the names carved into the plaques and imagine what this meant to the town in 1862. That there were times—as in a copse of trees on a September morning—when a significant portion of a town, age 18 to 35, just vanished at the places whose names are chiseled on the memorial obelisks: Wilderness, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Cold Harbor.  

Multiply those names by siblings, parents, grandparents, spouses, children and friends, and you begin to understand the special way that particular war affected the country. 

After the Civil War, the U.S. Army realized it wasn’t a good idea to put a whole town or city in harm’s way. They got rid of local regiments, so if a unit took a beating, the burden wouldn’t fall on one town or region. It made sense. The exceptions were the National Guard and the Reserves, who were still recruited by locale. That made sense as well. These people were weekend warriors. If there was a real national emergency, like World War II, then you had some trained people in place, but most joined for the educational grants and small stipends that came with the job. And to hang out with people they knew. 

But if you happened to be in Iraq with the Georgia National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 108 Armored, serving together meant dying together. On the week of July 18, four of them made it into the New York Times’ death watch list. Don’t bother looking up their towns in your Rand McNally. Hiram, Norcross, Douglasville, and Sharpsburg (some irony there) are too small to show up. Most are probably not all that different from the towns those boys from the 1st Texas came out of more than 140 years ago. 

They died because the Bush administration changed the rules. 

The Guard and Reserves were mobilized only nine times between World War I and the Gulf War, so members figured it was a pretty good bet they wouldn’t be dying in a war. But they lost that bet. In the past 12 years they have been called up 11 times, with deployments lasting 12 to 15 months and more. Since Sept. 1, 2001, more than 300,000 have been mobilized, and they make up 35 percent of the troops in Iraq. 

The reason is simple: they are cheap. Reserve and Guard troops are much less expensive than regular troops, because the military only foots the bill for them when they are on active duty. When they come home, they’re on their own. As conservative Christopher Caldwell at the Weekly Standard notes, “It is hard not to see a similarity between the army’s shift to part-time soldiering and businesses’ preferences for part-time vs. full-time labor.” Think of it as a sort of temp agency armed with the latest in firepower. 

So is this about saving money? It certainly is not about saving lives or mental well being. According to the British Guardian, 75 percent of the troops shipped home for mental health reasons are reservists, and their casualty rate is greater per capita than regular troops. 

No, it’s about getting elected. The military budget is going up, not down. And don’t pay attention to that $419 billion figure because it doesn’t cover minor things like nuclear weapons, veterans’ benefits, Homeland Defense, or the actual cost of the war. Pull everything together, hit the add button, and the figure is more like $700 billion. 

The soldiers won’t see any of that money. The average front-line trooper makes $16,000, the same as a Wal-Mart clerk, and according to Nickel and Dimed author, Barbara Ehrenreich, more than 25,000 military families are eligible for food stamps. 

The arms corporations are another matter. Lockheed-Martin (the largest arms corporation in the world), Boeing, and Northrop Grumman will corner one out of every four of those dollars. 

In gratitude, the defense industry pours money back into the election cycle at a rate of 65 percent for the Republicans, 35 percent for the Democrats (and there are lots of them that take the 20 pieces of silver). Iraq has pretty much broken the Guard. Retired General Barry McCaffrey told the Senate that the organization is “in meltdown and in 24 month we will be coming apart.” Like the 12th Massachusetts, there won’t be many left to rally ‘round the colors. 

But if you’re a Republican or a Blue Dog Democrat, the only important thing is getting re-elected. So the Guard and the Reserves will be fed into the Iraq meat grinder until there aren’t any more of them, and then the aerospace industry can just flatten the place. 

In the meantime little towns in Georgia and Ohio will bury their dead, while Lockheed Martin figures out how to fix the next election. 

Conn Hallinan is a journalist and an analyst for Foreign Policy in Focus.

The traditions of community service and citizen participation have been at the heart of American civic culture since before the nation was founded. Historically, our greatest strength as a nation has been to be there for one another. Citizen participatio n has been the lifeblood of democracy. 

As Thomas Paine put it, “The highest calling of every individual in a democratic society is that of citizen!” Accidents of nature and abstract notions of improvement do not make our communities better or healthier p laces in which to live and work. They get better because people like you decide that they want to make a difference.  

Volunteering is not a conservative or liberal, Democratic or Republican issue; caring and compassion simply help to define us as being h uman.  

It is within our power to move beyond a disaster and economic crisis like the one that has engulfed New Orleans and to create new opportunities. What it comes down to is assuming personal responsibility. If we decide to become involved in voluntar y efforts, we can restore idealism, realism, responsiveness, and vitality to our institutions and our communities.  

At her memorial service, it was said of Eleanor Roosevelt, the most influential American woman of the twentieth century, that “she would r ather light a candle than curse the darkness.” What was true for her then is true for us now. The choice to make a difference is ours. 

How to help those individuals and communities hurt by Hurricane Katrina through donations and volunteering 

The followi ng organizations and groups that provide direct emergency assistance: 

American Red Cross 

(800) HELP NOW (English) 

(800) 257-7575 (Spanish) 

www.redcross.org 

America’s Second Harvest 

(800) 344-8070 

www.secondharvest.org 

American Friends Service Committee 

(215)241-7000 

www.afsc.org 

B’nai B’rith International 

(888) 388-4224 

http://bnaibrith.org 

Catholic Charities, USA 

(703) 549-1390 

www.catholiccharitiesusa.org 

Christian Disaster Response 

(941) 956-5183 

www.cdresponse.org 

Church World Service 

(800) 297-1516 

www.churchworldservice.org 

Feed The Children 

(800) 525-7575 

www.feedthechildren.org 

Lutheran Disaster Response 

(800) 638-3522 

(no web site) 

Oxfam America 

(800) 77-OXFAM or (617)482-1211 

www.oxfamamerica.org 

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance 

(800)8 72-3283 

www.pcusa.org/pda 

Salvation Army 

(800 725-2769 

www.salvationarmyusa.org 

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief 

(800) 462-8657 

www.namb.net/site/c.9qKILUOzEpH/b.224451/k.F902/Hurricane_Katrina_Disaster_Relief_Update__Donations.htm 

Union For Reform Jud aism 

(212) 650-4140 

http://urj.org/index.cfm? 

Unitarian Universalist Service  

Committee 

(617)868-6600 

www.uusc.org 

United Jewish Communities 

(877) 277-2477 

www.ujc.org 

United Methodist Committee On Relief 

(800)554-8583 

http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/ 

Volun teers of America 

(800) 899-0089 

www.voa.org 

YMCA of the USA 

(800) 872-9622 

www.ymca.net 

YWCA of the USA 

(800) YWCA US1 

www.ywca.org/site/pp.asp?c=djISI6PIKpG&b=284783 

The following organizations and groups provide direct or indirect assistance and/o r advocate for policies and programs to assist victims or stricken communities. This is particularly important because of the failure of the federal government and this administration to provide leadership and competence before and during the disaster. Vo luntary efforts should not be a substitute for government action, and advocacy groups must take the initiative to assure that the government fulfills its responsibility to the American people.  

ACORN 

(877) 55ACORN 

www.acorn.org 

Campaign for America’s Fut ure 

(202) 955-5665 

www.ourfuture.org 

Catholic Campaign for Human  

Development 

(202) 541-3000 

www.nccbuscc.org/cchd/ 

Center for Health, Enviroment and  

Justice 

(703) 237-2249 

www.chej.org 

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities 

(202) 408-1080 

www.cbpp.org 

Children’s Defense Fund 

(202) 628-8787 

www.childrensdefense.org 

City Year 

(617) 927-2500 

www.cityyear.org 

Coalition on Human Needs 

(202) 223-2532 

www.chn.org 

Common Cause 

(800)926-1064 

www.commoncause.org 

Community Action Partnership 

(202)265-7546 

www.communityactionpartnership.com 

Corporation for Supportive Housing 

(212) 986-2966 ext. 500 

www.csh.org 

Field Mobilization Department of the  

AFL-CIO 

(202)637-5000 

www.aflcio.org 

Habitat for Humanity 

(229) 924-6935 

www.habitat.org 

www.MoveOn.org 

NA ACP 

(877) NAACP-98 

www.naacp.org 

National Congress for Community Economic Development 

(877) 44-NCCED or 202 289-9020 

www.ncced.org 

National Council of La Raza 

(800)311-NCLR 

www.ncced.org 

National Neighborhood Coalition 

(202) 408-8533 

www.neighborhoodcoalition.org 

National Urban League 

(212) 558-5300 

www.nul.org 

National Mental Health Association 

(800)969-6642 

www.nmha.org 

People for the American Way 

(800) 326-7329 

www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general 

Project America 

(804) 358-1605 

www.project.org 

Sierra Club 

(415) 977-5500 

www.sierraclub.org 

In addition to contributing money, basic supplies and services; the healthiest response for individuals is to volunteer to do community service in your own home town. 

For a more complete in-depth list see: Make A Diffe rence: America’s Guide to Volunteering and Community Service by Arthur I. Blaustein (Jossey Bass/Wiley) 

Please contribute to the health and vitality of our communities by sharing this list with as many people as possible. 

Reprinted with permission. 

Art hur I. Blaustein is a professor at the UC Berkeley where he teaches urban policy and community development. He served as chairman of the President’s Council on Economic Opportunity under Jimmy Carter. His most recent books are Make a Difference and The Am erican Promise: Justice and Opportunity.  

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http://www.jfdefreitas.com/index.php?path=/00_Latest%20Work 

UC THEATRE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding the Daily Planet’s Sept. 9-12 front-page article, as a jazz fan I applaud converting the UC Theatre into a jazz club. However, Kimball’s would be a lousy choice. Witness that their poor programming ran the splendid Emeryville venue into bankruptcy at the same time that Yoshi’s thrived at remote Jack London Square. Why not consider Yoshi’s and others to reincarnate the UC Theatre as a jazz club, rather than Kimball’s which has failed in Emeryville and is likely to fail again in Berkeley?  

Bruce Beyaert  

Richmond 

• 

BROWER MEMORIAL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Let me suggest a location for the David Brower memorial sculpture: the northeast corner of Bancroft and Oxford.  

Currently, this corner is occupied by a right-turn lane, a left-over piece of 1950s traffic engineering that was designed solely to speed up traffic.  

This corner could be redesigned as a conventional intersection and still accommodate all its traffic. It would need a wide turning radius for buses, but it does not need this right turn lane.  

This redesign would free enough land for the Brower memorial sculpture. It would also contribute to the revival of downtown by making the corner safer and more pedestrian friendly, with slower traffic and an easier crossing.  

This is an appropriate location for the Brower memorial because it is much more prominent than the other proposed locations. It is right next to downtown, right next to UC Campus, and only two blocks from the proposed Brower Center.  

Just as important, this is an appropriate location because it would take a corner that now looks like a freeway interchange and make it look more like a park. David Brower would undoubtedly approve.  

The city should refer this issue to the traffic engineer to determine the cost of rebuilding this intersection. Then the city should raise the needed money, so we can put the Brower memorial sculpture at the prominent location that it deserves.  

Charles Siegel 

• 

A PERFECT MATCH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Let’s face it; the poor homeless blue ball sculpture belongs ... in the “arts district”! The hypocritical phoniness of the “arts district” and the alleged “memorial” to David Brower are a perfect match. Richard List is right: Install the ball!  

Carol Denney 

• 

EMERGENCY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

If it is true, as reported in the Daily Planet, that the City of Berkeley is now down to one part-time employee to work on emergency preparedness, then we are asking for big trouble. When the next disaster strikes—and surely it will when least expected—we could face unprecedented life-or-death situations throughout the region. Citizens and government at all levels may be hard pressed to overcome all the challenges. We have only to look at recent disasters to realize we could be on our own for a long time. 

Berkeley has done much to ready its public buildings and schools for earthquakes. But much remains to be done to keep our citizens, businesses, and government prepared. To short-change our staffing for emergencies, and the continuing coordination and planning that must take place at all levels, is to court disaster. 

Alan Goldfarb 

• 

WILDCAT CANYON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Just a comment on Marta Yamamoto’s Sept. 12 Wildcat Canyon article. It is one of my favorite places, but there’s an important and extremely dangerous “unwanted hiking companion” that was not even mentioned: acorns. I know because about two months ago, out exploring Alvarado Park with a friend, while photographing a stately tree, I suddenly slid on what looked like leaves and wood shavings. I came down hard and dislocated and fractured my ankle in three places. It was like skating on ball bearings! This was only a few feet from the walkway with no warning signs to be seen. I am still in pain and still angry with the Parks Department for not giving me any idea that this was possible—not only the physical suffering, but of course the grave expenses for a senior like me. All for lack of a warning sign! 

It’s not only the snakes and ticks that bite, it’s the bite into one’s life that comes from a really preventable accident. Hikers beware!  

A.R. Tarlow 

San Pablo 

• 

BUS ROUTES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A correction to Marta Yamamoto’s Wildcat Canyon piece: The No. 67 bus no longer serves the entrance to Wildcat Canyon Park. It doesn’t serve anything: the route was discontinued over a year ago. 

The route, which served sections of El Cerrito, Richmond, and San Pablo, and provided the only transit to unincorporated East Richmond Heights, didn’t have good patronage. Many people needed to find other ways to get around, usually by auto. The reasons were simple: 

• The buses ran only once per half-hour. 

• The buses were scheduled to arrive at the Del Norte BART station one minute after the San Francisco train left. 

• In the reverse direction, the No. 67 left the BART station one minute after the San Francisco train arrived at the platform, ensuring that the bus had left before passengers could get through the exit turnstiles. 

A San Francisco commuter had to endure 45 minutes every day standing around waiting for connections due to this Balkanized scheduling. Non rush-hour connections were the same, causing most off-peak riders to drive if they wanted to get to our major travel destination. I submit that half-hour transit scheduling is not practical for most people. And when this interval is compounded because there’s no coordination with connecting vehicles, failure is assured. 

The No. 67 bus was timed to drive away business and to ensure that the farebox recovery was dismal. It was a lose-lose situation. If we’re going to get people out of their cars, we need to have positive connections between vehicles, modes of travel, and our myriad of uncoordinated transit agencies throughout the region. The Europeans know how to do this, enabling people to get around on foot without pain. I’ve observed good integration in Boston, too, although the connections are provided by a single agency. So far, the only sign of progress that I’ve seen in these parts is the development of an integrated multi-agency fare card. We need more. 

Richard Steinfeld 

• 

PEACE AND JUSTICE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On Aug. 2, I wrote a letter to the Daily Planet expressing the belief that difficulties in passing resolutions at the Peace and Justice Commission were due to procedural issues around absences and new appointments rather than political factionalism or supposed hostile takeovers. I wrote that I expected the commission to be able to pass resolutions by a clear consensus when we reconvened in September. 

I am pleased to report that I was correct. On Monday the Peace and Justice Commission voted on five resolutions. Two resolutions (on an international peace concert and supporting an investigation on Bush administration intelligence manipulations leading to the Iraq war) passed unanimously. Two resolutions (opposing the Lawrence Berkeley Lab demolition of the Bevatron and urging the City Council to join the international campaign against the death penalty) passed 13-0 with two abstentions. The resolution on withdrawing the California National Guard from Iraq passed with 10 votes. Those who did not vote for the resolution were evenly divided in saying it went too far and not far enough.  

Commission chair, Steve Freedkin is to be commended for his thoughtful opening remarks stressing respect, and for his fair and impartial leadership of the meetings. I would also like to thank all my fellow commissioners across the progressive spectrum for their thoughtful discussion and desire to make the world a better place. I think that citizens of Berkeley who come and see the Peace and Justice Commission in action will get a positive impression of its work, and I look forward to their attendance at a future meeting. 

Jane Rachel Litman  

Member, Peace and Justice Commission  

•

• 

DERBY STREET 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Sept. 13 letter from Doug Fielding is not totally correct. The first meeting about the park did present the proposed plans for the park with the full-size baseball field. That was over seven years ago. I live in the neighborhood and went to that meeting. I was excited about it and looked forward to a new park in our community. I was shocked that anyone would be against a park in Berkeley.  

The latest design has been revised with input from East Campus, The Early Childhood people and the Fire Department, among others. It has fantastic upgrades for the farmers’ market, including power for each stall. The closed-Derby design is clearly superior to the open-Derby plan. 

The kids is my neighborhood were in ninth grade at the time the park was first proposed. They played sports in the street throughout their high school days. Now they are all moved out of the area. There are more boys and girls than ever participating in high school sports. The community benefits greatly from a big park and greenspace. I really see no reason not to build the biggest and best park we can. 

This is a park that will last for many generations and many years. No houses need to be torn down, no businesses moved. Lets not be shortsighted and go with an inferior design, just to save some money in the short term. We as neighbors need to trust the school district to hire the top planners, designers and architects, and let them do their jobs. Let’s build a park we can be proud of like the Rose Garden, Live Oak and Cordonices, to name a few. These well designed parks have stood the test of time.  

Beyond all the sports field issues is the fact that we have an opportunity to build a great park in a dense old city like Berkeley. Lets not get sentimental about 27,000 square feet of concrete. Close Derby and build a great park. 

Bart Schultz 

• 

JUDGE ROBERTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Roberts confirmation hearing: Let’s hope John Roberts is not an ideologue on a mission.  

Do you get the feeling Supreme Court nominee Roberts is deceiving America much as George W. Bush did? We’ve had to wait five years to figure out Bush, and what he was up to. Will we have to wait another five years to figure out what Mr. Roberts is up to? He’s sure not telling anyone at the confirmation hearing. 

Look how President Bush has turned America upside down over the past five years. Where is America headed? Will Roberts do the same with the judicial system? 

Bush pushed his war agenda on America and now he is pushing John Roberts as Chief Justice for the Supreme Court—a flashing red light. 

Ron Lowe 

Nevada City 

• 

CONSTITUTION DAY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Walking through Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley, the gathering point for my university, I heard a series of patriotic songs. Drawn by “God Bless America” and a country song that claims putting a boot up people’s behinds is the American way, I wandered to a series of tables where a group had set up flags, patriotic signs, and gave away Bush/Cheney stickers to passersby. These young men were getting a head start celebrating Constitution Day, Sept. 17. 

Starting this year, all educational institutions across the country receiving federal money are forced to commemorate yearly the signing of the Constitution. The law was slipped into an otherwise mundane spending bill by Robert Byrd, a Democrat from West Virginia. 

Constitution Day is being hailed across the country as a triumph for civic education, a law that will help supplant ignorance of the Constitution with knowledge and admiration. Andrea Neal, in the Indianapolis Star, says “the idea behind Constitution Day is to help more young Americans understand why the Constitution is special.” Others echo Neal’s enthusiasm, applauding a seemingly inoffensive inquiry into the most fundamental document of American government. Unfortunately, theory differs from practice. 

What Constitution Day really means for students across America is presaged by the ways we are told to celebrate it. Pamphlets and websites are adorned with flags, the preamble, dramatic lighting, and founding fathers—all juxtaposed to evoke a feeling of awe. Constitution Day, Inc., a non-profit group promoting Constitution Day, has dedicated it to the military, and endorses the reading of the preamble across the country. The day will finish with “bells ringing across America” they say. 

If the goal is to teach young people about American government, this event will do nothing to further the goal. The preamble is the only part of the Constitution that says nothing about how the government will actually work. The point of the event, it seems, is to provoke emotional reaction to the Constitution and the military. 

Students need thoughtful deliberation and reasoned criticism, not chauvinistic patriotism. Constitution Day, unless done in a thoughtful manner, will only lead to guttural responses toward government policy, which is exactly the opposite of what we need today. 

Gene Zubovich 

UC Berkeley student 

• 

HOUSING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Construction of concentrated low-income housing, as advocated by Randy Silverman, rent control commissioner, is a natural step as the era of rent control recedes. But every experience of large low-income projects from Chicago to San Francisco also has a tale of woe attached to it. Dispersal of affordable units in larger market-rate buildings is better for the beneficiaries and the public. 

CSU East Bay, where I teach, does not endorse any political or economic model to the contrary of Glen Kohler’s statement. Berkeley succeeding as a city is the best living endorsement of the enlightened liberal politics I advocate. For that to happen the schools must be good, the crime rate low and the quality of life high even as the blessing of diversity is experienced.  

Berkeley does not succeed in showing what liberal policy can achieve if our schools do not perform. Currently one-third of students are testing below minimum standards. The unique policy of non-enforcement of residency is root to why the schools are always broke yet are uncommonly well funded. A city as intellectually and artistically gifted as Berkeley simply must do better. Parent and taxpayers yearn for some forum to reevaluate this policy.  

David Baggins 

• 

MIDDLE EAST HISTORY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Janet Sakamoto’s revision of Middle East history (Sept. 13) would make the stuff of great comic relief if it didn’t add to the expanding maw of ignorance and bigotry so prevalent in these parts.  

Sakamoto would have you believe that in 1967, Nasser’s army moved into the Sinai simply to take the sun. Apparently, she isn’t aware that Nasser openly stated that his intent was the destruction of Israel. Moreover, if the U.S. saw thousands of well-armed followers of Bin Laden on its borders, how do you think this country would respond? 

Later Sakamoto makes the outrageous claim that in 1948, the armies of five Arab nations moved toward the Israeli border specifically to protect the “new Palestinian state.” Ms. Sakamoto makes such a ludicrous pronouncement in utter disregard of numerous verbal and printed statements of Arab leaders stating unequivocally that their purpose was to eliminate the then embryonic Jewish state. Hey Janet, if you actually believe the Arab invasion was launched to simply protect the poor Palestinians, I have a bridge to sell you.... 

Now what is the source of such rich historian fiction? I once overheard pro-Palestinian propagandist Alison Weir advise those she wished to convert to read The Middle East for Dummies. Not surprisingly, Ms. Sakamoto cites the Encyclopedia Britannica—a Readers Digest for Dummies—as the source of her Middle Eastern fantasies.  

Gee Janet, I’d like to think it won’t have been beyond the scope of your intellect to have cracked open any of the myriad excellent examinations of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict written by highly regarded historians. Or would that be too much to ask of a Palestinian partisan?  

Dan Spitzer 

Kensington 

• 

MORE ON MIDDLE EAST 

To emphasize the core point of my recent letter, that those who dislike facts tend to sling insults, Janet Sakamoto of Albany says I “can’t help (myself) from lying,” and asks why I don’t invite readers to consult sources. 

First: If Ms. Sakamoto conclusively disproves any of the other 11 statements of fact in my recent letter, I will take her to Berkeley Honda and buy her a car. 

Second: I encourage anyone more interested in fact than in fundamentalism to read Politics, Lies and Videotape by Yitschak Ben Gad; Jewish Literacy by Joseph Telushkin, or Battleground by Samuel Katz. 

I would also like to request that the Daily Planet cease and desist from publishing libelous character attacks against me. 

David Altschul 

• 

STILL MORE ... 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Ms. Sakamoto calls David Altschul (who I don’t know) and myself “liars” for respectively asserting that the Arabs started the 1948 War and the Six Day War. Harsh stuff. She bases her accusations on information she uncovered in the Encyclopedia Britannica (EB). Fearing that Altschul and I have been deprived of new cutting edge research, I ran to Berkeley’s new downtown library. The entire EB contains only a few scant sentences on either war, mostly in an entry entitled, “Arab-Israeli Wars.” This is a mere half-page article covering all of the wars (no wonder the last time I relied on the EB was in the sixth grade). First, the 1948 War. Contrary to Sakamoto, the EB does not say that Israel started the war, but states the order of events as (1) the Arab armies occupied Palestinian areas, then (2) they attacked and destroyed the oldest part of Jewish Jerusalem, and then (3) they marched down the valley that leads to Tel Aviv, where they were repulsed. Elsewhere, in the entry under “Israel,” the EB clearly indicates who did start the war : “On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was proclaimed and Egypt, Transjordan (later Jordan), Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq declared war on the new country. Israel won the war.” Altschul is vindicated. 

But has Sakamoto also wronged me?  

When one places a person’s written words within quotation marks, it is accepted practice to use the exact words, especially when the quote is used to justify an accusation of lying. Ms. Sakamoto explicitly calls me a liar based upon the following made up quote: “The War (1967) began when Nassar sent his armies into Sinai.” My actual words published in the Daily Planet’s Sept. 2 issue were: 

“Arafat’s attacks on Israel began in 1965 precisely because he did not recognize that [armistice] line, and the 1967 war was precipitated by the Arabs who felt that Israel’s true border should be the sea. The war began when Nasser famously boasted ‘I will throw the Jews into the sea.’ He then blockaded Israeli shipping (an act of war) and sent his armies into Sinai.” 

The venerable EB backs me up. Under “Palestine” EB writes that the PLO was created in 1964 and was dedicated to “the destruction of Israel.” There is only one short paragraph about the Six Day War in the half page “Arab-Israeli Wars” entry. It reads in its entirety: “In early 1967 Syrian bombardments of Israeli villages had been intensified. When the Israeli Air Force shot down six MiGs in reprisal, Nasser mobilized his forces near the Sinai border. During this war Israel eliminated the Egyptian air force and established air superiority.” A brief entry under “Nasser” indicates that “war broke out after Nasser had requested the U.N. to remove its peacekeeping troops from the Gaza Strip and Sharm ash-Sheykh [i.e., Sinai], then closed the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping.” For those who desire more details than these about the lead up to war, I recommend Michael Oren’s definitive history, Six Days of War, or simply go back to archived news accounts of those days, especially the period of May-June, 1967.  

With a score of 2-0, I believe that Sakamoto owes Altschul and me a published retraction and apology.  

John Gertzr

My teacher anxiety dreams started in mid-July, even though I retired in June. The dreams keep coming, warning me of my failings and of imminent disaster. Never mind that I will not ever have to step back in any classroom again. The dreams are vivid attacks on my confidence. They aren’t true nightmares, filled with chasing or falling, but they are enough to make the next day gloomy. 

The main scenario is repeated over several nights with different characters seen from different angles, as though my inner cinematographer is trying to perfect the shot. A young teacher I worked with last year is talking about me behind my back. 

“I like Mary,” she tells another teacher, “but she’s not ‘all that.’ Don’t let her into your classroom. She won’t be any help at all.” 

When the teacher sees me, she begs me to come help her again soon. “It’s all good,” she says to me. I smile but underneath my acquiescence, my heart is rent with self-doubt. 

Even as parents worry about their child’s schooling and children about homework and Nikes, most teachers are in the grip of anxiety dreams. One young teacher dreamed all summer that she hasn’t done what she needs to do. 

“It’s the night before school starts. I haven’t set up anything in my classroom at all. There’s no furniture in place, no name tags. I ask my mom and dad to come help me. They come but the chairs are not the right sizes for the little children. As I start to wake up, I think ‘it’s still early, if I get up now maybe I can get some things ready before the bell rings.’ Then I wake up all the way and realize it’s two months before school starts. My friend wants me to go to therapy to get rid of these dreams!” 

I assure her none of us, no matter how much therapy we’ve had, have gotten rid of these dreams. Blanche, who’s taught 40 years and has retired, too, reports she’s had three major anxiety dreams this summer. 

“They all have the same theme. My room is never prepared. Nothing is set up. The custodians left the furniture smooshed against the wall. I open the cupboards and they are completely bare. There aren’t even pencils. I have no money, so I get old shoe boxes and start cutting off the tops to make pencil boxes for the kids. It’s pitiful. Then my co-teacher, whose room is set up beautifully—it’s like Martha Stewart’s—offers to help me.” 

Carole, a veteran kindergarten teacher, is still anxiously dreaming too.  

“The basic outline is that I’m teaching and there’s hundreds of students. They come and go, in and out the doors. No one is paying any attention to me. Several parents and district administrators are observing the situation. My main concern is with the safety of the children. I’m appalled that there could be so many children. Then, in the next scene, I’ve lost my hearing; I can’t hear the bell ringing. The students are waiting outside but I don’t know it. Eventually I show up and discover they’ve raided another teacher’s storage cabinet.” 

Paul, a high school art teacher, has a recurring dream that he’s late and can’t find the class he’s supposed to teach. Next he dreams that someone finally notices his teaching isn’t good enough. The person sarcastically says, “You get paid for this?” 

Pamela, who teaches first grade in a private school, is in front of the class in her underwear. “I’m always in various degrees of disrobe. I realize something is not right and I had better do something fast, but I don’t know what it is. At first everything feels normal; but, then I realize I’m exposing myself.” 

Joe, a veteran first grade teacher in a public school, dreams short vignettes of field trips where every little thing goes wrong. “The bus is late, the lunches fall in the lake, a kid gets lost, but then is found. There’s never lots of detail; but there’s always lots of worried feelings.” 

Becky, an elementary teacher, dreams she’s been assigned to teach in junior high. She’s told, by an administrator, he can place her anyplace he wants, so there! In Jan’s dream, she’s naked during an interview. When she gets back out to her car, she wonders if the interviewers noticed. Barbara dreams that, as she teaches, the room expands and expands and there are students way, way off in the distance. She’s panicked because she knows her voice can’t carry that far. 

Rita’s anxiety is about the end of the year. She’s required to let go of the children next spring. She’s on a magic carpet flying over the city. 

“It’s a colorful Turkish carpet with fringes. I’m sitting on the magic carpet picking up kids. I reach down and pluck them. There’s laughter on the carpet but an underlying feeling of dread. I have to place the children with their next teacher. I’m afraid the next teacher won’t appreciate them especially because these children are the difficult ones. They are in my heart you know. ‘Where will they go,’ I wonder, but I have to let go of them. I’m moving on, and I put them down; it’s like they’re lost.”  

I hope there is a statute of limitations on my teacher dreams. Did my inspiring teachers dream? Are they still? 

Mary J. Barrett is a retired Berkeley Unified School District teacher of 35 years.  

›

You ever wonder what happens to sensational stories that hit the local media, get everybody talking for a few days, and then just drop off the face of the earth? How many times in these situations do you see a follow-up story—either in the media or in some government agency—to find out how much of the original story was true? And if we don’t have a follow-up, how much effect does the original story—true or not—have on city policies? 

An example would be the story about the seven shots that were supposed to have been fired at two Oakland police officers following a motorcycle club charity event at the Kaiser Convention Center on the last Saturday in August. (According to the reports, you may remember, nobody, including the officers, were hit with the bullets.) 

There doesn’t seem to be any doubt that the bullets were fired. But the question I’m still waiting to have answered is whether it’s ever been determined that anyone actually fired at the officers—as the newspaper and television stories said—or if the officers were unintended targets. 

Today’s lesson, however, is on another interesting thing that came out of that night. 

In its story following the Kaiser Convention events, the Oakland Tribune reported that the fundraiser was sponsored by four motorcycle organizations, which the newspaper identified as the Shadows of the Knight, Kings of Cali, Wiseguys and Goodfellas. The Trib story went on to say that “[Oakland Police] Lt. Paul Berlin said the group had another event planned for the Kaiser Convention Center next weekend. He said he would ask city officials this week to revoke the group’s permit because of the commotion Saturday night. ‘We have enough problems here in Oakland,’ Berlin said.” 

Yes, we do, but maybe one of those problems isn’t the motorcycle clubs. 

Me, I was curious about what happened to that event on the following weekend, so I checked the calendar website at the Kaiser Convention Center first, to see what actually had been scheduled. Sure enough, there was a motorcycle club event on the Convention Center calendar for Sept. 3, the Saturday after the “seven shots.” But it wasn’t being put on by the four motorcycle clubs that had put on the charity event the week before. It was the 47th Annual Dance sponsored by the East Bay Dragons. 

The Oakland Police Department still hasn’t released to the public—at least as far as I can find—any information that the four motorcycle clubs had anything to do with the problems that occurred after their Aug. 27 event. Those motorcycle groups have denied that the turmoil that happened afterwards was their fault. But even if it was—and, as I said, that hasn’t been determined yet—why should the Oakland police take it out on another group—the East Bay Dragons—who didn’t have anything to do with the original event at all? Because they’re all black motorcycle clubs? 

And if you think that maybe the Tribune reporter might have misinterpreted what Lt. Berlin was saying, other members of the local media were getting the same impression. The day after the shootings, CBS Channel 5 reported that “there is another Shadows of the Knight event scheduled for the Kaiser Convention Center next weekend.” 

Was this a deliberate falsehood by Lt. Berlin, or just an “honest” mistake by a police official who talked to the press without first checking his facts? I have no way of knowing. But it makes you sort of wonder, doesn’t it, what other sorts of incorrect information gets spread around by public officials hereabouts that never gets corrected, and so the public ends up believing that it is true. (I’ve got my own list, which I’ll be glad to share with you.) 

Anyway, I know a little bit about the East Bay Dragons, since their 88th Avenue and International Boulevard headquarters is within walking distance of where I grew up. In the ‘50s, the Dragons were considered a wild and rough group in our neighborhood. But like the rest of us, they’ve grown older and more responsible with the passing years and besides, what we thought was wild and rough in the ‘50s would be considered tame now by the sometimes-vicious standards of today’s mean streets of Oakland. 

Anyways, I walked around to the clubhouse last weekend and asked them what happened with their Sept. 3 event at the Kaiser. They said that it didn’t get canceled, and went on without any problems. But some of the members did have complaints about other OPD crackdowns on their weekend activities. 

On the Friday before Labor Day, they said that Oakland Police forced them to shut down a dance at their headquarters at 10 p.m. because the police said they didn’t have a cabaret license. The East Bay Dragons members said they’ve been holding the annual dance for years with no cabaret license and no problems; it’s set up for visiting motorcycle clubs who come into town for the Dragons’ Labor Day weekend gathering. 

And on the Sunday before Labor Day, Oakland police shut down the Dragons’ annual 88th Avenue block party at 5 p.m., and then conducted a sweep in which they ordered the crowds of people off of International Boulevard in the vicinity of the Dragons’ clubhouse. 

The Dragons do this every year on Labor Day weekend, blocking off 88th between International and A Street and playing music and selling sodas and barbecue. They have events for the kids as well as for teenagers, young adults, and the older crowd. It’s one of the yearly highlights of our neighborhood. The crowds are enormous, and club members handle both the security and the cleanup themselves. In fact, when the police wanted the block between 88th and 87th on International cleared of the crowds, they first went to the Dragons for assistance. One of the Dragons walked down the street with a bullhorn, telling people that the party was over and it was time to go home. Nobody voiced any complaints, and within minutes, the sidewalk was virtually empty. Oakland police, trying the same thing, usually get met with resentment and noncooperation. 

But since East Bay Dragon community gatherings are peaceful events, and since the people of East Oakland have been complaining that we don’t have enough things to do in our neighborhood, why did the Oakland police shut things down early, long before dark, while neighborhood people were still hanging out, enjoying themselves, with no signs of problem? And why was it necessary to cut off the Dragons’ Friday night dance so early, killing the dance altogether? Did OPD decide this on their own, or were they under orders from city officials? 

We keep hearing that the city can’t set up alternatives to the sideshows because, since they involve spinning cars, they would be too dangerous. But when East Oaklanders like the East Bay Dragons set up other long-term alternative events that don’t involve cars and don’t get violent, those things are now getting shut off, too. What, then, is the problem? 

I’m not going to speculate—not just yet, anyways—but I’d be interested in hearing if the OPD has an answer, or if either Mayor Jerry Brown or any of the members of the Oakland City Council have anything to say about it. 

Your brief Sept. 2 item on the ZAB subcommittee on 3045 Shattuck may have misled some readers to believe that the subcommittee’s purpose is to seek a compromise between neighbors and the developer, Christina Sun. In fact its purpose is simply to work with Ms. Sun’s architect to find a more attractive, less blocky, higher-quality design that she and ZAB would both find acceptable. 

Neighbors are not a party to these discussions, and our other concerns about and suggestions for the project are not on the table. Design issues aside, our main objections regard parking and due process. 

Ms. Sun, planning staff, and ZAB continue to flout the zoning code regulations regarding the number and location of off-street parking spaces. The current proposal for the property provides the required two parking spaces for the two residential units, but locates one of them within 10 feet of the property line with the adjacent residence. Per Berkeley Zoning Code section 23E.04.050, that would be allowed only if ZAB were to find that it provided “greater privacy or improved amenity” to a neighboring residence, when here the effect is clearly the opposite. 

The current proposal provides zero parking for the commercial unit, for the simple reason that there is nowhere to put one space, let alone the two required by the Zoning Code. This is fallout from Ms. Sun’s failed attempt to expand her illegal rooming house by passing it off as a two-story single-family house (one space required) over a first-floor cafe (two spaces). The City Council nullified her permits for that project after neighbors provided evidence that she had been running a rooming house and did not intend to use the expanded residence as a single-family house. By that time, Ms. Sun had already expanded the building’s footprint, leaving just enough room for three standard nine-foot spaces. 

Since the upstairs has now been split into two units, that leaves one for the commercial space. However, per state law the first space for the commercial unit has to be five feet wider to accommodate vans with wheelchair lifts. So, as a direct result of her scofflaw behavior, Ms. Sun has nowhere to put parking for the commercial space except in the building. To date she has rejected all suggestions that she do so. 

Instead, Ms. Sun has arbitrarily redefined all but 1149 square feet of the first floor as “owner storage.” Staff in turn are pretending (with ZAB’s blessing) that such storage is not a commercial use, rounding off the 149 square feet, and exempting the remaining 1000 square feet as provided by Zoning Code section 23E.52.080.C. Staff has offered no rationale for allowing that discretionary exemption. Nor has staff explained how it could enforce the requirement that the “owner storage” not be used by whatever business occupies the commercial unit. 

The Zoning Code gives ZAB the power to resolve all of these parking issues by holding a public hearing and issuing a use permit under section 23E.52.080 reducing the parking requirement. Unfortunately, Ms. Sun adamantly refuses to apply for any use permits. More unfortunately, instead of rejecting her application on that basis, staff (again with ZAB’s blessing) is pretending that no use permits are required. Thus, after two years of effort, thousands of dollars in legal fees, and thousands of hours preparing for and attending tangential hearings, neighbors continue to be denied our right to a public hearing on the required use permits. 

Robert Lauriston represents 150 neighbors of 3045 Shattuck Ave.

I have seen New Orleans clinging to a tower. 

Eighteen children on a roof. 

Intelligent design? A half a million terror. 

A thirsty baby's signs of ending life. 

Geraldo at his network microphone 

describes the scene and cries. 

Mothers and fathers in a sweaty daze. 

Where were the rescuers to keep them safe? 

Some trudge along in water mixed with shit. 

The cisterns overflowing and not yet 

clean water, bread and milk. 

Federal heart of stone 

until Geraldo fiercely shouted out. 

The huddled masses only stand and wait. 

Thank you Geraldo. You got the  

president going. 

Brown bodies left there still. All is not well. 

What is the half mast flag exactly  

saying? 

Body or soul. 

I hear New Orleans crying 

a summer's tale. 

Claire Burch is the artistic director for 

Art and Education Media Inc.›

Can Berkeley elect and maintain a government worthy of our progressive ideals? Can we once again ignite a movement? 

That is the challenge which you are invited to consider at 7 p.m. Monday Sept. 19, when the Berkeley Progressive Alliance will be meeting at the Unitarian Fellowship at Cedar and Bonita. We believe that it is possible to win elections AND work as a movement. 

Writing a political platform, for example, which the Berkeley left hasn’t done in a long time, can be an exercise in community organizing. If it is done right, then all the organizations from all constituencies have to talk to each other. Labor people, the peace community, people dealing with hunger, poverty and homelessness, with transportation, with neighborhood ecology, city gardeners, religious groups, people of color, students and youth; we all need to talk in order to write down our principles. And in so doing we gain in focus and strength, and become more enthusiastic campaigners for candidates who will implement our positions. Our job now is contact these organizations so that we can prepare a platform which will bring us together. 

Every constituency, however, needs to consider not only what it requires from government, but also what it can do for itself, and who its allies are. We should not wait for elections or platforms to start organizing.  

Consider labor, for example. The union at the Honda strike would not likely have lasted this long, nor have much chance of success, without the enthusiastic support of the Berkeley community, including some members of the Progressive Alliance. (You are always welcome to join the picket line at 2600 Shattuck, especially this Saturday at 1 p.m. when the Labor Chorus will be singing.) 

But on a larger scale, the time is right for a vibrant new labor-community coalition. The growth of “service industries,” health, education, retail, etc., means that workers and community members are more and more in touch. And although bosses can fire and outsource workers, they can’t fire the customers who are helping with strikes and boycotts. Unions know this, and have begun to create “associate” union membership for community people who will be eligible for union health insurance and other benefits.  

Should the Progressive Alliance help spread these associate memberships to Berkeley neighborhoods? Will neighbors then be more willing to help on picket lines, or even, with union training perhaps, help to organize new worksites? Unions and neighborhoods can become real partners. We will have to talk about these possibilities in our Labor and Union Support Committee. 

And while we’re talking about neighborhoods, why not a few pilot projects for ecological sustainability? We would have to bring together various ecological organizations: organic vegetable gardeners, community supported agriculture to ship in low cost food, bio-diesel brewers, solar energy, all focused in one neighborhood. 

We know we have to reduce the use of fossil fuels, both because of global warming and because of peak oil. We don’t know exactly when, but in not too many years the price of gas is going to shoot out of reach. Neighborhoods are going to have to prepare, with sustainability and with community, and our Progressive Alliance should help. 

But whether we are supporting labor or greening our neighborhoods, we are going to need the energy and idealism of students and youth, and of Berkeley’s religious communities. 

Religious people in Berkeley are doing indispensable work. The Ecumenical Chaplaincy for the Homeless, Berkeley Organized Congregations for Action, (BOCA) which works with immigration and with health care for children, and the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, are only a few. And we could learn a few things from spiritual groups about building community, and about listening quietly, even at meetings. So we will see what our Religious and Spiritual Liason Committee can do. 

Besides Labor and Religions we are also talking about work teams for the following.  

1) City Government Watch—which might subdivide into various topics (education, housing, etc) as we grow. 

2) Elections and Precinct Work. Our first job is to help defeat Arnold’s anti-labor initiatives this November. Also Instant Runoff & clean  

elections.  

3) Inclusiveness and Outreach—especially to people of color and to students and youth. 

4) Any other progressive project you can convince people to join. 

One thing we learned from New Orleans, if we didn’t know it already, is that the cavalry is not going to arrive on time (and watch out when it does.) If we want a world of justice and solidarity we are going to have to build it ourselves and with each other. Hope to see you on Monday, 7 p.m., Cedar and Bonita. 

Laurence Schechtman, Judy Shelton, Jesse Townley are members of the Co-ordinating Committee for the Berkeley Progressive Alliance. 

?

“I ask you to remember: with used furniture, you cannot be emotional!” 

—Ray Reinhardt as Gregory Solomon 

Over a jumble of old-fashioned furniture, stacked every which-way, as if stored in an attic, is a smoggy skylight. Into this crowded room, empty of people, comes a cop, who muses over the scene. He rights an upended chair on which he places his unbuckled belt and holster with his cap rather than sitting down, all the while glancing at his watch. After hefting an oar and unpacking a fencing mask and foil, he starts spinning sides on a victrola—old novelty records, one just of laughter, which he joins in. 

These wordless moments introduce the Aurora Theatre production of Arthur Miller’s The Price on Richard Olmstead’s set, and its protagonist, Victor Franz (Charles Dean), a somewhat diffident man. When he is joined by his wife, Esther (Judith Marx) the dialogue begins and won’t let up; it only varies in intensity and tone until the last minutes of the play. 

The situation seems of the simplest familial obligation, though in this case, one long overdue: the disposal of Vic’s family household items, years after the death of his father, who was ruined in the Depression and a widower soon after.  

All the social complications of an Arthur Miller play arise out of the relentless dialogue, which starts out easy enough in conversational rhythms between man and wife, establishing that Vic left college and his pursuit of a scientific career to support his father (“a busted man like thousands of others”), while his brother Walter went to medical school.  

Vic is now 50-ish, desultorily putting off retirement, and the selling of the old furniture, on and off trying to contact the now-successful and aloof Walter about his wishes—and share—in its disposal, now that the old house is to be torn down. Esther urges Vic to seek Walter’s help in finding a new career that he loves, maybe going back to school. The two brothers haven’t spoken in 16 years. Vic’s cynical about his brother’s potential spirit of helpfulness: “That’s why he’s got Cadillacs—people who love money don’t give it away.” 

As they talk about old times and spoiled dreams—and the furniture —the dealer, Gregory Solomon comes in, flattering Esther shamelessly. Even after her departure, he remarks, “I like her. She’s suspicious ... a girl who believes everything, how can you trust her?” 

Ray Reinhardt’s Solomon is very much a humorous version of his namesake: the judge who divvies up everything literally and in equal portions. Unleavened in a way himself, he’s the comic leavening of the drama. Ever diffident, Vic at first seems to rebuff the ancient appraiser, but while going over the goods—an old laprug for a lavish open car, an opera hat—he begins talking about his once-rich father. 

The hybrid nature of Miller’s dramas is seldom discussed; mostly it is his often brilliant adaptation of dialogue and storytelling techniques from radio, though there are times when the unutterable and ineffable are mulled over with oratorical overkill. In this case, the counterpoint of the humorous Solomon offsets the almost turgid character of the family dispute that gradually surfaces. He is a genial grotesque who paces the tight-lipped morality play. 

Just as Vic has agreed to a price, and Solomon is counting out the cash in hand, brother Walter (John Santo) walks unexpectedly through the door. He is also complimentary to Esther, and declaring he doesn’t want anything‚ proceeds to offer Vic various deals. Esther sides with Walter. Slowly the Cain-and-Abel tale of their falling out emerges. 

Unlike Miller’s Oedipus tale of Death of a Salesman, there is no real primal scene that objectifies the breach, just a few insistent images from memories. Nothing is objectively settled; all is open to question, conditioned by each brothers’ character. Walter, the self-made man, erases a past he feels was a tissue of hypocrisy. Vic, who perhaps sacrificed his own dreams unnecessarily to make a lifelong ethical gesture to a ruined father, says, “I just didn’t want him to end up on the grass.” 

Miller said in a 1999 interview that The Price was in response to two issues: the so-called Theater of the Absurd—and the “seemingly permanent” war in Vietnam, which never mentioned in the dialogue. 

Set in 1968, this chamber play in a musty attic says something about both the humorous and pathetic absurdity of modern existence, and the personal backstory of the Depression and World War II survivors (now glibly dubbed “the greatest generation”) going into the crisis and breakup of the post-New Deal “Great Society” with, literally, all their baggage. 

With Joy Carlin’s direction, this quartet of actors delivers a real evening in the theater from Miller’s play—dense with dialogue that is peppered with off-beat repetitions, neatly constructed, if not filled with the inspired moments (as well as awkward ones) of his earlier dramas, yet resilient enough to rise above banality.  

The Price shows at 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays and at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 9 at the Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison St. $38. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.com.  

FRIDAY, SEPT. 16 

THEATER 

Aurora Theatre “The Price” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m., through Oct. 9, at 2081 Addison St. Tickets are $38. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Impact Theater “Nicky Goes Goth” at 8 p.m., Thurs.-Sat. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid, through Oct. 1. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. www.impacttheatre.com 

Shotgun Players, “Owners” at 8 p.m., Thurs.-Sun. through Oct. 16 at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Reservations suggested. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Wilde Irish Productions “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me” Thurs. -Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m., at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., through Oct. 2. Tickets are $18-$22. 644-9940. www.wildeirish.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Seamarks” works by Carol Dalton. Reception at 6 p.m. at Cecile Moochnek Gallery, 1809-D Fourth St. Exhibition runs to Nov. 13. 549-1018. www.cecilemoochnek.com 

FILM 

Films from Along the SIlk Road: “Taskir and Zukhra” at 7:30 p.m. and “Tenderness” at 9:20 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Gallery Talk on “Wholly Grace” works by Susan Duhan Felix at 1 p.m. at Bade Museum, 1798 Scenic Ave. Free. 

“Art, Activism and the New Hip Hop Aesthetics” A night of performance and conversation with Adam Mansbach, Aya de Leon, Keith Knight and Craig Watkins at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland Opera “La Belle et la Bete,” Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. through Oct. 2 at the Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $18-$32. 763-1146. www.oaklandopera.org 

Hurricane Benefit with Ledisi at 8 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $25. 238-9200.  

Amy Likar, flute, Miles Graber, piano at 8 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Cost is $12-$15. 848-1228.  

National Ballet of China “Raise the Red Lantern” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $36-$68. 642-9988.  

Community Action Series with Fuga at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Hal Stein Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Dick Hindman Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373.  

Izum, world-beat and jazz-groove, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

O-Maya at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10. 548-1159.  

Faith Winthrop Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Sila and the Afrofunk Experience at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11-13. Benefit for Save the Children Fund in Niger. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Corrine West at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Berkeley Old Time Music Convention with Mike Seeger, Kenny Hall and Eric & Suzy Thompson at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50-$16.50. 548-1761.  

Gomer Hendrix at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Collisionville, Love Like Fire at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Lights Out, Life-Long Tragedy, Jealous Again, Never Healed at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

SATURDAY, SEPT. 17 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Darkroom Drawings” black and white photographs and mixed media by Robert Tomlinson. Reception at 6 p.m. at Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St. Exhibition runs to Oct. 22. 644-1400.  

THEATER 

California Shakespeare Theater, “Nicholas Nickleby” Parts 1 and 2 Sat. and Sun. at 8 p.m. at Bruns Amphitheater, 100 Gateway Blvd., Orinda. Tickets are $10-$55. 548-9666.  

FILM 

Rediscovering British Silent Cinema: “The Triumph of the Rat” at 7 p.m. and “Downhill” at 9 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Charles Mann describes “1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Jon B. Eisenberg looks at “Using Terri: The Religious Right’s Conspiracy to Take Away Our Rights” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

String Band Contest including a Youth Showcase, and over 20 competing string bands from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Civic Center Park. 548-3333.  

Richard Koski, Finnish-American master of two-row accordion, at 3 p.m. at Finnish Kaleva Hall, 1970 Chestnut St. at University. 524-6217. irmatj@aol.com 

National Ballet of China “Raise the Red Lantern” at 2 and 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $36-$68. 642-9988.  

San Francisco Early Music Society “Lute Concertos of Karl Kohut” at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$25. 528-1725. www.sfems.org 

Broceliande “Songs of Autumn and Harvest” at 7:30 p.m. at the Emil Melfi Clubhouse, 555 Pierce St., Albany. Donation $10-$15. 569-0437. 

Melanie O’Reilly and Tir Na Mara at 8 p.m. at Valley Center for Performing Arts, Holy Names Univ., 3500 Mountain Blvd. Oakland. Tickets are $20. 436-1240. www.hnu.edu 

Hurricane Benefit with Sunny Hawkins at 8 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $15. 238-9200.  

Jazz Foundation of America Hurricane Benefit at 2 and 5:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373. 

Robin Gregory & Rudy Mwongozi Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Art Maxwell Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Dynamic, jazz, funk, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Lunar Heights, The Attik, Illa-Dapted at 10 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $8. 548-1159.  

Dance Naganuma “Voices of the Powerful Child” at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $12-$15. 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Araucaria, traditional songs and dances from Chile, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568.  

Faith Petric, 90th birthday celebration, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Old Time Square Dance with caller Bill Martin and music by the Government Issue Orchestra at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Megan McLaughlin with cellist Patty Espeth, at 7 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

7th Direction, AJ Roach, Claire Holley at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Dr. Know, Naked Aggression, Retching Red, New Earth Creeps at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, SEPT. 18 

CHILDREN  

Asheba at Ashkenaz at 3 p.m. Cost is $4-$6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

Matrix 218: Carla Klein “Scape” opens at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. Artist’s talk at 4 p.m. 642-0808. 

“Exquisite Corpse Show” collaboratively made art pieces opens at the North/South Gallery, 5241 College Ave. at Broadway. www.geocities.com/ 

exquisitecorpseshow 

FILM 

“8 1/4” A film by Claire Burch at 2 p.m. at at 5:30 p.m. at the Paci- 

fic Film Archive. Free. 547-7602. 

Dutch Voices: Jos de Putter and Peter Delpeut “The Making of a New Empire” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

Found Footage Festival at 6 p.m. at The Parkway Theater, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. Cost is $6. 814-2400.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

California Poets in the Schools with Linda Elkin, Grace Marie Grafton, Tobey Kaplan, and John Oliver Simon at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

Poetry Flash with Karen Benke, Kathy Evans and Prartho M. Sereno at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852.  

David Zirin reads from “What’s My Name Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Hurricane Benefit with Taj Mahal at 8 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $30. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Chanticleer “Earth Songs” at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. www.chanticleer.org 

National Ballet of China “Raise the Red Lantern” at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $36-$68. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Live Oak Concert with Cuban pianist Almaguer Martinez at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893.  

Broceliande “Songs of Autumn and Harvest” at 4 p.m. at Montclair Presbyterian Church, 5701 Thornhill Drive, Oakland. Donation $10-$15. 339-1131. 

Organ Recital with Jonathan Dimmock, organ and Christine Brandes, soprano at 4 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $15. 845-8630. 

Rudolf Buchbinder, piano, at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Joan Getz & Ellen Hoffman Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Kim Nally Quintet with Allen Smith at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazz- 

school. Cost is $18. 845-5373.  

Old Time Cabaret from 2 to 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

MONDAY, SEPT. 19 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Kay Trimberger looks at “The New Single Woman” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Zigi Lowenberg and Raymond Nat Turner from the jazzpoetry ensemble UpSurge! at 7 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, Jack London Square, Oakland. 527-1141. 

Aurora Script Club, moderated by Paul Heller with guest director Tom Bently, at 7:30 p.m. at Aurora Theater. 843-4822. 

Poetry Express with Kirk Lumpkin at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trovatore, traditional Italian music, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Doug Wamble at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $6-$12. 238-9200.  

TUESDAY, SEPT. 20 

CHILDREN 

“Germar the Magician” at 6:30 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Fascinated with Faces” Works by Ted Gordon, Attilio Crescenti and Willie Harris through Dec. 10 at The Ames Gallery, 2661 Cedar St. 845-4949. www.amesgallery.com 

FILM 

Madcat Presents: “The Phantom of the Operator” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Maafa 2005: Hurrican Katrina Poetic Protest Fundraiser at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Suggested donation $5-$25. 849-2568. 

Milvia Street’s 15th Anniversary Reading with past and present contributors at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6132. 

Shana Penn reads from “Solidarity’s Secret: The Women Who Defeated Communism in Poland” at 5 p.m. in the Dinner Boardroom, GTU Hewlett Library, 2400 Ridge Rd. RSVP to 649-2420. 

Culinary Historians of Northern California read from recent works at 4 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

John Hubner reports on “Last Chance in Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

African Showboyz, from Ghana, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Ellen Hoffman and Singers’ Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Veretski Pass at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Uroboros at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Celso Fonseca, from Brazil, at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazzschool at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Dred Scott, solo jazz piano, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 21 

EXHIBITIONS 

“All Dolled Up” A exhibition of works by California doll makers to Sept. 30 at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

“Exquisite Corpse Show” collaboratively made art pieces. Reception at 7:30 p.m. at the North/South Gallery, 5241 College Ave. at Broadway. www.geocities.com/exquisitecorpseshow 

“Laughter is the Best Medicine” Art, Healing and Humor Reception at 5 p.m. at the Richmond Health Center, 100 38th St., Richmond. Exhibition runs to Jan. 1. www.artschange.org 

FILM 

Tropical Punch: The Video 

works of Tony Labat “Left Jab” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Café Poetry hosted by Paradise at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $2. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Terry Prachett reads from his new novel “Thud!” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert, with Christy Dana Quartet at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864.  

Whiskey Brothers, Old Time and Bluegrass at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Calvin Keys Trio Invitational Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Ned Boynton Trio at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Omar Torrez & Cuchata, guitar, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Candela at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Dance lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

James Whiton at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Celso Fonseca, from Brazil, at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, SEPT. 22 

FILM 

International Latino Film Festival “A Silent Love” at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $7. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Dutch Voices: Jos de Putter and Peter Delpeut “Alias Kurban Said” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

THEATER 

DMCF Productions “Florence” by Alice Childress and “The Pot Maker” by Marita Bonner, Thurs.-Sat at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Malonga Casquelourd Center, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Tickets are $12-$25. 633-6360. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Patsy Krebs: A Decade” Lecture and reception at 5 p.m. the Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2500. 

Nomad Spoken Word Night at 6 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Jill Soloway describes “Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Barbara Ehrenriech describes “Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Word Beat Reading Series with Mike Hardy and David Gollub at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Albany Music in the Park with La Familia, Afro-Cuban music at 6:30 p.m. at Albany’s Memorial Park. 524-9283. www.albanyca.org  

Dhol Patrol at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Bhangra dance lesson at 9 p.m. Cost is $12-$15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Mark Morris Dance Group at at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $30-$58. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Crasdant, music from Wales, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Za’tar and The Klez-X, Jewish music benefit for Congregation Netivot Shalom, at 7:30 p.m. at 1316 University Ave. Tickets are $10-$20. 549-9447. 

Loose Wig Jazz Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Mia and Jonah, Austin Willacy, Jason Miller at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

Dave Weckl Band at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $12-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com  

Arlene Blum, a chemist who contributed to the banning of three toxic chemicals, leader of mountaineering expeditions and founder of Berkeley’s annual Himalayan Fair, will appear at two local celebrations of her new book, Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life. 

Blum will speak about her book at REI on Tuesday and at Cody’s Books on Sept. 26. Breaking Trail is scheduled to be published by Scribners-Lisa Drew on Oct. 15. 

Blum led the all-women expedition to scale Annapurna in the Himalayas in 1978 and wrote A Woman’s Place is on Top about the climb. She said, “I recently learned that it is one of the most difficult and dangerous mountains to climb. That’s not what we were looking for! We expected something easier. My first book, which has amazingly become a little classic, took a year to write. Breaking Trail, in which I ask how and why I, who consider myself a fairly reasonable, not risk-taking person, started climbing, took me 20 years to write.” 

Blum said that by the time she was 25, half her friends had died climbing. 

“I had to ask these questions,” she said. “And I never found a model in another adventure book in which you could learn about a great adventure as well as the psychological motivations, what goes on inside as well as outside.” 

A Woman’s Place is on Top has been named one of the 100 best adventure books ever by National Geographic Adventure magazine and Fortune included it on the magazine’s 75th anniversary list of the 75 best business books. 

“The 5 percent of Breaking Trail about myself took the longest to think over and write,” Blum said. “The rest is all adventures. I learned about myself, solved a few family mysteries, and found out something about why people try such hard things and a little about how they succeed.” 

Coming from a Chicago family of “people with strong and difficult agendas,” Blum said she had to, “from an early age, be extremely tactful.” 

Later, she said, that helped her develop leadership skills for leading expedition teams.  

“They made me want to escape that house into the freezing cold,” Blum remembered. “I’ve always gone out into the cold. And I got a lot of flak for doing things girls weren’t supposed to. What seemed like adversities gave me a lot of strength.” 

Her remarkable achievements in science and in climbing weren’t made according to a plan. 

“I was afraid of science and math,” she explained. “Girls couldn’t do them! Then Sputnik went up, and I had to take them in school. And I found out I loved them. I’ve done theoretical work on the structure of nucleic acids. Then, in Bombay—which is an industrial town overpopulated with very poor people—I had a conversion experience: I wanted my scientific work to help problems like overpopulation.” 

She came to realize that such problems are like scissors that cut with two blades: overpopulation in the developing countries and the proliferation and abuse of chemical substances in the United States. 

“I wanted to wake people up to how these chemicals in the body, accumulating in body fat, are more dangerous than terrorists from the skies,” Blum said. 

She also began a research project on examining fire retardants in children’s sleepwear. 

“I found two that did cause mutations, that were persistent organic pollutants, that later were found to be carcinogenic,” she said. “I wrote papers on them, about banning them, and later about an agricultural fumigant that helped caused sterility in workers in Richmond. All three toxic chemicals have been banned.” 

Mountain climbing “just seemed to happen,” Blum said. 

“I always loved nature and it was the first thing I tried,” she said. “My lab partner in Portland was handsome and a climber, so I went along with him. I did it in spite of the risk, not because of it. I talk in the book about how connections in my scientific work arose in my mind while climbing. That’s part of the reason for climbing, too—it’s an extreme meditation; where you place your hands and feet determine whether you live or die. That empties the mind, makes room for creativity.” 

In 1981-82, Blum spent 10 months walking across the Himalaya region, “and fell in love with the people there, so hardworking, incredible and so poor.” Determined to “channel back” something, she remembered “the wonderful music and dancing we saw all the way across the region, and wanted to share it back home.” The Himalaya Fair was the result in 1983. 

“We didn’t know if anybody would come; 6,000 people attended that weekend. It struck a chord from the beginning.” The Himalayan Fair contributes about $35,000 a year to charities in the region. 

Writing Breaking Trail led Blum to discover “that my family led to climbing, led to liberating myself, to widening horizons,” she said. 

Arlene Blum will read from Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life at 7p.m. Tuesday at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave., and at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 26 at Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. For more information, see www.Arlene Blum.com.e

FRIDAY, SEPT. 16 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Andrew E. Barshay, PhD on “Japanese POWs in the Gulag,1945-56” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-2925. 

“Redemption - The Stan ‘Tookie’ Williams Story” a special screening with Barbara Becnel, hosted by the Fr. Bill O’Donnell Social Justice Committee, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. Donations accepted. 482-1062. 

Berkeley Folk Dancers begins a 13-week course of beginners’ lessons at 7:45 p.m. at Live Oak Park, 1301 Shattuck. Cost for the series is $40. 655-9332. www.berkeleyfolkdancers.org  

Spirit Walking Aqua Chi A gentle water exercise class at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley High Warm Pool. Cost is $3.50 per session. 526-0312. 

Environmental Science Activities for Children from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Whole Foods, Telegraph Ave. at Ashby. www.kidsforthebay.org 

Movement: Chi Gung to improve energy and health, at 1 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Scottish Country Dancing Enjoy the traditional social dances of Scotland at a free introductory party at 6:30 p.m. for youth, 8 p.m. for adults at Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St. 234-8985. 

“The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear” a BBC docmentary at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. 528-5403. 

“The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity” a workshop led by Mac Lingo, Fridays at 1:30 p.m. through Nov. 4 at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Donation $30. To register call 525-1881.  

Berkeley Chess Club meets at 8 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

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

SATURDAY, SEPT. 17 

California Coastal Cleanup Day in Berkeley, from 9 a.m. to noon. Meet behind the Seabreeze Market. Everyone needs to sign waivers. We give you trash /recycle bags, pencils, tally cards and a map of the areas we need to clean. There are seven sites, most within walking distance. There are also clean-up sites in Emeryville and Albany. 981-6720. www.ci.ber 

keley.ca.us/marina/marinaexp/cleanup.htm For Oakland venues call 238-7611. www.oaklandpw.com/creeks 

Cerrito Creek Coastal Cleanup Meet at at 10 a.m. at the south end of Yosemite St. (two blocks west of San Pablo Ave., south of Central Ave.) in El Cerrito. Bring your own picnic. Sponsored by Friends of Five Creeks. 848-358. www.fivecreeks.org 

Marina Bay Beach Cleanup Meet at 9 a.m. at Shimada Friendship Park in Richmond. Wear old clothes, sturdy shoes and work gloves. Followed by BBQ at noon. 374-3231. 

Discounted Bay-Friendly Car Wash from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Kaady Car Wash, 400 San Pablo Ave., Albany. 452-9261, ext. 130. www.savesfbay.org  

Berkeley Firefighters “Three-Alarm Barbeque” A fund-raiser for Berkeley Rep at 11:30 a.m. at 2015 Addison St. Tickets are $15-$25. Additional cost to see matinee of “Our Town.” 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Back to School - Not War A day of workshops on peace and social justice at Laney College, Oakland, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. with an Anti-War Rally at 6 p.m. Tickets are $20-$40, $10 for students, includes breakfast and lunch. Sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County. www.BackToSchoolNotWar.org 

String Band Contest and Crafts Fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Civic Center Park. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org 

Celebrate Berkeley’s New Rail Stop at University and 3rd St. from 1 to 4 p.m. with music, food, speeches, tours and the ribbon-cutting. Sponsored by Berkeley Redevelopment Agency. For more information, contact Marti Brown at 981-7418. 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour of the Claremont - Elmwood to discover a variety of early 20th century houses, estates and paths, from 10 a.m. to noon. Cost is $10. 848-0181. www.cityofberkeley.info/histsoc/ 

“Hot Tips: A Fire Safety Program” from 10 a.m. to noon at the Tilden Nature Center. 981-5506. 

Cajun/Zydeco Festival for Hurrican Relief with Tommy Michot & Edward Poullard, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Brian Jack and the Zydeco Gamblers and many more, plus Lousiana cuisine, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Ardenwood Historic Farm, Fremont. Tickets are $18 at the gate, children $1. Sponsored by the East Bay Regional Park District. 

Bay Area Rockin’ Solidarity Labor Heritage Chorus performs on behalf of the Berkeley Honda striking workers at 1 p.m. at Shattuck and Parker.  

Friends of the Albany Library Book Sale from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1247 Marin Ave., Albany. Fiction, mysteries, children’s books, library discards, magazines and records. 536-3720, ext. 5. 

California Writers Club Berkeley Branch meets with Joshua Braff, author of “The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green” at 10 a.m. at Barnes & Noble, Jack London Square, Oakland. 482-0265.  

Untraining White Liberal Racism introductory workshop from 1to 5 p.m. at the Berkeley High School Library, 1980 Allston Way. Donation $10-$50, no one will be turned away for lack of funds. 

“Salud!” A Celebration of Latino Art, Health and Community from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Women’s Cancer Resource Center, 5741 Telegraph Ave. 420-7900. 

Klezmer and Yiddish Culture Festival at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Tickets are $12-$15. 415-789-7679. 

Peace Corps Cultural Festival Learn about different cultures with Returned Volunteers. Displays, crafts, live performances and games. Bring a picnic. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Peacock Meadows, Golden Gate Park, SF. peacecorpsfestival@yahoo.com  

Walking Tour of Historic Oakland Churches and Temples Meet at 10 a.m. at the front of the First Presbyterian Church at 2619 Broadway. Tour lasts 90 minutes. For reservations call 238-3234. 

Luna Kids Dance Open House with free parent/child dance class at 11:30 a.m. at Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St. 644-3629.  

Feng Shui for Home and Office at 10 a.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. at Cedar. 549-9200. 

“Untold Stories: Baseball and the Multicultural Experience” at 7 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Historical and Botanical Tour of Chapel of the Chimes, a Julia Morgan landmark, at 10 a.m. at 4499 Piedmont Ave. at Pleasant Valley. Reservations required 228-3207.  

“Making a Backyard Wildlife Garden” with Glen Schneider at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. 

Oakland Outdoor Cinema “The Station Agent” at 8 p.m. on Washington St. between 9th and 10th Sts. Limited seating, bring chairs and blankets. 238-4734. www.filmoakland.com 

SUNDAY, SEPT. 18 

“Feed the Nation” Concert with Jennifer Johns. Support black farmers from the Mandela farmers’ market, at 10 a.m. at Splash Pad Park, Grand Ave. and Lakeshore Blvd., Oakland. 415-454-0174. www.mobetterfood.com 

Klezmer and Yiddish Culture Festival from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Tickets are $18-$20, teens and children free. 415-789-7679. 

Bike Tour of Oakland A leisurely-paced tour covering the history of Oakland. Meet at 10 a.m. at the 10th St. entrance of the Oakland Museum of California. Registration required, 238-3514. 

“Viva Chile!” Views and Voices, a slide show by photographer Thea Bellos at 6 p.m. at La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568. 

Omulu Capoeira Annual Children’s Batizado at 2 p.m. at the Malonga Casquelord Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Donation $5. 286-7999. www.omulu.org 

Family Exploration: Shadow Puppets at noon at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 238-2200. 

Sycamore Japanese Church Bazaar from noon to 5 p.m. at 1111 Navellier St., between Schmidt and Moeser Aves., El Cerrito. Japanese food, baked goods, BBQ, handcrafts, door prizes and games for children. 525-0727. 

Berkeley Cybersalon with Jim Dolgonas, President and CEO of CENIC at 6 p.m. at The Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $10-$20. whoisylvia@aol.com 

International Women’s Writing Guild with Jordan Tircuit at 3 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

Hands-on Bike Maintenance Learn how to do a bicycle safety inspection at 10 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Bring your bike and tools. 527-4140. 

Fall Equinox Goddess Circle from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph Ave. RSVP to 690-0467. 

Shamanic Journeying: Meeting Your Spirit Animal Allies at 1 p.m. at Rabbitears, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Cost is $60. Registration required. 525-6155. 

Alternative Healing, using the Inner Dowsing Method, with Cea T. Hearth, at 2 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph Ave. Cost is $5. 415-282-2287. 

“Odessey: My Spiritual Quest and the Violin” with Donna Lerew at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

Kol Hadash Brunch Program Bernie Rosen on “Jewish Viewpoint in Medical Ethics” at 9:30 a.m. at Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Donation of $5 requested. programs@kolhadash.org 

“Martin Buber’s A Land of Two Peoples” re-release party at 2 p.m. at Kehilla Community Synagogue, 1300 Grand Ave., Piedmont. 547-2424. 

MONDAY, SEPT. 19 

Berkeley Progressive Alliance meets at 7 p.m. at Unitarian Fellowship, Cedar and Bonita. Choose a work team: City Gov. Watch; Elections-precinct work; Labor Support; Religious Liason; Outreach. 540-1975.  

“What’s My Name, Fool?” Sports and Resistance in the United States with author Dave Zirin at 7 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak St. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Critical Viewing An ongoing group to examine short films and television productions and its effects on our daily lives, at 1 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Free. 848-0237. georgeporter@earthlink.net 

Tibetan Qigong for People Living with Parkinson’s Disease at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Everyone is welcome. 528-8853. 

TUESDAY, SEPT. 20 

Berkeley Garden Club “Great Vegetables for East Bay Gardens” with Pam Peirce, author of Golden Gate Gardening plus tomato tasting and produce exchange, at 1 p.m. at Epworth Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 527-5641. 

Breaking Trail: An Evening with Climber Arlene Blum at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Maafa 2005: Hurrican Katrina Poetic Protest Fundraiser at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Suggested donation $5-$25. 849-2568. 

Berkeley Salon Discussion Group meets to discuss “Crossroads for Planet Earth” from 7 to 9 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Please bring snacks and soft drinks to share. No peanuts please. 601-6690.  

“Race, Racialization and Colonialism” with Steve Martinot, Tues. at 7 p.m., through Oct. 3, at Unitarian Fellowship, Education Building, 1606 Bonita St. 528-5403. 

Introduction to Rosen Method to transform muscle tension at 7 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. at Cedar. 549-9200. 

Free Prostate Cancer Screening for uninsured or low-income African-American and Hispanic men, at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, Oakland. To make an appointment call 869-8833. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. S 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

“Driving and Aging” at 4 p.m. at Center for Older Adult Services, 828 San Pablo Ave. To register call 558-7800. 

“Clinical Trials of Medications for Fibromyalgia” at noon at Maffly Auditorium, Herrick Campus, Alta Bates, 2001 Dwight Way. 644-3273. 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 21 

International Day of Peace Activities and music from 4 to 7 p.m. at Civic Center Park, followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. 981-7170. 

“Peace One Day” a documentary about British actor/filmmaker Jeremy Gilley’s successful attempt to have the United Nations declare Sept. 21 an international day of cease fire. At 7:30 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar, wheelchair accessible. Cost is $5. www.hillsideclub.org 

“Immigration Wars: Open or Closed Borders for America?” with Peter Laufer, author of “Wetback Nation: The Case for Opening the Mexican-American Border” at 7 p.m. at The Independent Institute, 100 Swan Way, Oakland. Cost is $10-$35. For reservations, call 632-1366. 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters welcomes curious guests and new members at 7:15 a.m. at Au Coquelet Cafe, 2000 University Ave. at Milvia. 435-5863.  

Entrepreneurs Networking at 8 a.m. at A’Cuppa Tea, 3202 College Ave. at Alcatraz. Cost is $5. 562-9431.  

Walking Tour of Oakland Chinatown Meet at 10 a.m. at the courtyard fountain in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza at 388 Ninth St. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

Grizzly Peak Cyclists meets at 7:30 p.m. at The Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Gordon Wozniak will talk on bicycling in Berkeley. 527-0450.  

North Berkeley Senior Center Book Group will discuss “English Creek” by Ivan Doig, at 1 p.m. at the NBSC. All welcome. 558-7232. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Action St. 841-2174.  

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. 548-9840. 

Sing your Way Home A free sing-a-long at 4:30 p.m. every Wed. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

Prose Writer’s Workshop at 7 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. georgeporter@earthlink.net 

Stitch ‘n Bitch Bring your knitting, crocheting and other handcrafts from 6 to 9 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

THURSDAY, SEPT. 22 

Autumn Equinox Gathering at 6:15 p.m. at the Interim Solar Calendar, Cesar Chavez Park, Berkeley Marina. Bring your questions about the workings of sun, moon and earth. www.solarcalendar.org 

Oakland Car Free Day A Transportation and Smart Growth Festival from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Frank Ogawa Plaza, 14th and Broadway.  

WriterCoach Connection Training Sessions Thurs. Sept. 22 and 29 at 6:30 p.m. Help students improve their writing and critical thinking skills. To register call 524-2319. www.writercoachconnection.org  

Easy Does It Disability Assistance meets at 6:30 p.m. at 1744A University Ave.All Welcome. 845-5513. 

“The Mistresses of Zorro” A conversation with Isabel Allende and Sandy Curtis at 7:30 p.m. at International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Cost is $5. 642-9460.  

Center for Art and Public Life Open House from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the California College of the Arts, 5275 Broadway. 594-3763. 

Venezuela Update with Margaret Prescott at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. 528-5403. 

The Revolutionary Communist 4 with Carl Dix, Joe Veale, Akil Bomani, and Clyde Young at 7 p.m. at Longfellow Middle School Auditorium, 1500 Derby St. Donations requested. 848-1196. 

“Does Religion Matter?” A conversation with Huston Smith and Katherine Gumbert at 7:30 p.m. at College Prep School, Buttner Auditorium, 6100 Broadway, Oakland. Cost is $5-$10. 339-7726.  

“Don’t Be Six-Feet Under Without a Plan” Learn about creating a Living Will, Powers of Attorney and making final arrangements at 6 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave. at Pleasant Valley Rd., Oakland. 562-9431. 

Communication for Caregivers An ongoing free Berkeley Adult School class at 1 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5170. 

“How To Prevent Falls” at 4 p.m. at Center for Older Adult Services, 828 San Pablo Ave. To register call 558-7800. 

Center for Buddhist Studies “What Mahayana Sutras Mean” with Jonathan Silk, Dept. of Asian Languages and Cultures, UCLA, at 5 p.m. at the IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th Flr. http://ieas.berkeley.edu 

CITY MEETINGS 

Creeks Task Force meets Mon. Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Erin Dando, 981-7410. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/planning/landuse/Creeks/default.html 

City Council meets Tues., Sept. 20, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., Sept. 21, 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. Sept. 21, at 1:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/aging 

Commission on Labor meets Wed., Sept. 21, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Delfina M. Geiken, 981-7550. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/labor 

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed. Sept. 21, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Kristen Lee, 981-5427. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/welfare 

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Sept. 22, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/zoningÌ

The Berkeley Unified School District Board of Directors meets Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Old City Hall at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Items on the agenda include: 

• Second reading of a revamped district policy on the sale, lease, and/or rental of district-owned property. The district is currently contemplating the future of one of its unused properties, Hillside School, which has been ruled unsuitable for public school use because it sits directly on the Hayward earthquake fault. Last January, the board authorized the creation of an advisory committee to review the possible sale of the building and property at the school. 

• An update of the district’s facilities and construction plan. The district has either recently finished or is still in the midst of a number of major construction projects, including renovations at Berkeley High School, Willard Middle, and several elementary schools. The report will give information on projects already finished, as well as outline the district’s goals for future construction projects. 

• A report on class size reduction. Such reductions are mandated by the Berkeley Schools Excellence Project bond monies and were a major issue in last spring’s BUSD teacher job action and contract talks. 

Looks like the jackals are already gathering in New Orleans, before the flood waters have been pumped away. The areas which took the worst of the flooding were the homes owned and rented by poor people, who have traditionally lived in the bottom lands of southern American cities, where the residents were subject to malaria, cholera and other hazards of life in swampland. Despite all the evidence that the Katrina disaster was made worse by disregarding environmental axioms about building in marshes, the speculators are clearly looking at the ravaged zones as one big building site, this time controlled by the right people. On the radio Thursday, a New Orleans economic development honcho was interviewed saying that from now on it was going to be a city for middle-class people, and another city employee rhapsodized about how new programs were going to turn all those poor folks middle class. (Tell me again about the rabbits, George….) 

New Orleans, the Big Easy, is not famous for its shopping malls, like Milpitas. It’s not famous for its electronics industry, like San Jose. It’s not even famous for moving money, as San Francisco once was.  

Another optimistic New Orleans economic development official opined that the city could be rebuilt as “Hollywood South,” with movie production and video editing and all that great stuff. But when they do make movies in New Orleans, it’s not because of its studio space. It’s the history, as reflected in its gorgeous people and buildings, that makes New Orleans a prime location for film shoots. And the musicians are part of the scene too. 

One tool which has just been sharpened up by the Supreme Court will be a big help for the speculators. Eminent domain will make it possible for politicians, famous as a class in New Orleans for their adeptness at wheeling and dealing, to decide that little guys, both small-time landlords and homeowners, aren’t rebuilding fast enough, aren’t making the highest and best use of their property. They’ll be able to seize damaged buildings and empty lots and turn them over to anyone who floats a big-time building scheme.  

You think that can’t happen? There’s a guy in Santa Cruz right now whose lot on Pacific Avenue, the main shopping street, is being taken by the city because he didn’t rebuild right out to the street after the Loma Prieta earthquake, despite the fact that his family runs the best restaurant in downtown Santa Cruz on the back part of the property. Never mind, the city of Santa Cruz in all its wisdom thinks that yet another t-shirt boutique would be nice there instead. And in Oakland, we have the family-owned tire business which has been taken for Jerry Brown’s redevelopment dreams.  

Under the headline “Redevelopment as Ethnic Cleansing” the blog “World War Four” reprints a Wall Street Journal article which quotes New Orleans industrialist James Reiss: “The new city must be something very different, Mr. Reiss says, with better services and fewer poor people. ‘Those who want to see this city rebuilt want to see it done in a completely different way: demographically, geographically and politically,’ he says. ‘I’m not just speaking for myself here. The way we’ve been living is not going to happen again, or we’re out.’”  

Exactly where does Mr. Reiss think the poor people are going to go? Eminent domain will establish the fair market value of their now-empty lots as approximately bupkas, not enough even to rent an apartment in the distant suburbs. And what kind of city will remain if all those colorful po’folk leave? Some sort of Dallas East perhaps, relying on the legendary charm of shopping malls, parking garages, and high-rise condos to attract tourists?  

The next Battle of New Orleans might be starting now. There does seem to be a movement developing to put the re-building of New Orleans in the hands of the people who were living there until Katrina came. A key organizer is Community Labor United (CLU), a coalition of the progressive organizations throughout New Orleans, which has set up a People’s Hurricane Fund that will be directed and administered by New Orleanian evacuees. Donations can be made out to:  

The People’s Hurricane Fund 

c/o Vanguard Public Foundation 

383 Rhode Island St., #301 

San Francisco, CA 94103 

There are also a variety of websites where donations to this organizing effort can be made, including one administered by Ben Cohen’s True Majority fund: https://secure.truemajority.org/03/clu. 

The most cynical view is that the redevelopment machine is already grinding away, devouring everything in its path, and nothing can be done to stop it. Many commentators have noted the presence of the Halliburton Corporation on the scene, salivating. And of course, even on the left it will be tempting to see this as an opportunity to enact all of the schemes for “improving” cities that are always percolating in Washington think tanks. NYU Professor Paul Light, who used to be at the Brookings Institution, said in a radio interview that he thought interest groups and lawmakers, left and right, see hurricane relief as an opportunity to get money to do what they’d been wanting to do anyway, whether the locals want it or not. Chances are that contributing to CLU is the best way to avoid that outcome, but even the progressive organizations need to be watched for a couple of years. 

B