Opinion

Panic attack! In recent days we’ve been bombarded with examples of how the late 20^th century pop-psych emotion of “feeling threatened” has turned into a license for armed men to do stupid things with dire consequences. -more-

Reader Tom Hunt, who worked in retail on Telegraph for many of the same years I worked in a computer startup there, directed my attention to a photo of the participants in the "Telegraph Avenue Project" which appeared on the Berkeleyside website.

"Guess what I thought when I saw the photo of the 'Telegraph Project' attendees?" he asked.

It looked to me like a bunch of old white guys hoping to remake Telly in their own image, one which is quite different from the UC students and staff who are the Ave's main users.

Tom, a math major in his days at Cal, thoughtfully provided data to quantify the obvious—see accompanying chart.

Not, of course, that I have anything against old white guys. Some of my best friends.... -more-

If the woes of the world are getting you down, the perfect antidote is the witty Tom Stoppard double bill now down to its last seven performances at Point Richmond's Masquers' Theater. The Real Inspector Hound is a clever send-up of every English house party murder mystery you've ever read, and it manages to nick Downton Abbey's copious clichés into the bargain, even though it predates the wildly popular Masterpiece Theater soap opera. That's the main act. The encore is The Fifteen-Minute Hamlet—same author, same cast, also sidesplitting funny. I hate British accents badly done by inept Americans, but this performance manages to avoid that trap. -more-

This week I'm going back to the previous "new issue" schedule, creating a new dated issue only on Friday, probably late in the day. This seems to be a better way of tracking events as they happen during the week. Our arts writers have also requested that their previews and reviews stay current for a full week, to help build audiences, which seems reasonable. New articles will be posted daily in the current issue as usual, often marked new, and usually at the top of their category. -more-

The Berkeley Police Department will have a new Public Information Officer, replacing Sgt. Mary Kusmiss, sometime this summer. According to Capt. Andrew Greenwood, Investigations Division Commander, "the PIO position is among several others (e.g. some detective positions, etc.) that are due for rotation at our next shift selection/rotation process, currently scheduled for late June." -more-

East Bay Regional Parks Directors will vote to approve or reject Ordinance 38 changes on April 17, 2012. East Bay Regionals Parks staff proposes changes to Ordinance 38 that impact those with mobility and visual challenges—and they refuse to acknowledge the barriers to park access these will create for a vulnerable and underserved population. East Bay Regional Park Ord 38 regulates domestic animals in the EBRPD, including dogs. For example, dogs must be leashed in parking lots, developed areas and on paved roads. -more-

SOME BACKGROUND: -more-

They had helmets. They had batons, radios, gloves, guns, tasers, pepper balls, and, of course, oleoresin capsaisin (OC) spray, commonly known as pepper spray. -more-