It never occurred to Anne Marie Foley that she could end up homeless.  

That was something completely alien to her, growing up in suburban Alameda County. But five years ago, when her alcoholic husband became abusive, Foley took their four children and left.  

Relatives and friends either couldn’t or wouldn’t help. “I think my family thought if they didn’t help me, I would go back and be a good wife,” Foley says.  

Eventually, the 35-year-old homemaker found herself living with her kids, aged 4 through 15, in a homeless shelter. “I never thought it would happen to me.” 

Foley’s ordeal lasted five months. She moved from place to place, since shelters allow residents to stay only 30 days at a time. Some nights the shelters were full – once, she was told there was room for only two of her children. “What was I supposed to do with the other two?” she asks rhetorically. (That night, they found an acquaintance who let them all sleep on the floor of her house.) 

Today, Foley is self-sufficient, living in a rented home in Alameda and working an office job. Her oldest daughter is in college, and the children are all doing well.  

Foley credits this turnaround to a number of factors, including her own strength and determination.  

But there is one special place she remembers that helped get her through her darkest days – the Women’s Daytime Drop-in Center in Berkeley.  

Since 1989, the WDDC has served women and children who are homeless or in crisis, providing them with meals and a safe place to come during the day. The center serves an average of 150 women and children each month. One client calls it “the most compassionate and honest agency dealing with homeless people.” 

Housed in a cozy brown-shingled bungalow, the home at 2218 Acton Street is situated next to a tot park in a quiet, safe-feeling West Berkeley neighborhood. The living room has a large, comfortable sofa. A playroom is stocked with toys. 

The center serves breakfast and lunch each weekday. Volunteers and clients together prepare meals and clean up.  

Children can play and women can chat, read the paper, or get counseling.  

But this is not just a place to hang out – staff members are on the premises to work individually with each client to assess her needs and try to connect her with the services available. Many of the women are struggling with drug or alcohol problems. Some have fled domestic violence. Others have disabilities or mental illnesses. Even those who are not clinically ill are likely to be suffering from depression due to their circumstances. 

“Everyone who walks in here is in crisis,” says WDDC activities coordinator June Cummings. “I tell them, ‘You know what? We’re going to help you with everything.’”  

The first priority is trying to find permanent shelter. The center staff draw on numerous resources to find out if clients are eligible for one of several government assistance programs. Clients can use the WDDC phone to search for jobs, contact a doctor, or make other appointments. 

While some may wonder if getting a job first isn’t more important, Cummings has seen firsthand what homelessness does to a person’s life and psyche. 

“Lose your home and you lose everything,” she says. Without a phone, there’s no way to call or arrange a job interview. Without a shower or laundry, it’s hard to be presentable. If you have dependent children, the crisis is magnified.  

Just as renters and home buyers have been driven by escalating housing costs out of San Francisco to the East Bay and out of the East Bay to points north, so are the homeless being pushed from place to place. “We have people coming over here from San Francisco. The shelter systems are flooded with people. If you call the shelter hotline, three out of five days there are no spaces available,” says Cummings.  

The housing crisis is intensified among lower-income residents, as formerly-housed people are forced out into the streets and the homeless ranks swell. 

“A lot of people who were making it before are not making it today,” Cummings observes. Nationwide, the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population is women with children.  

A lot of WDDC clients “are not the people you see out on the streets,” says Lisa Spinas, who coordinates children’s activities at the center. “They’re trying to keep their kids safe, and lots of times there’s nowhere to go during the day.” 

On a recent morning, the WDDC is filled with women of all ages, with and without children.  

A new client, a young mother with a baby and two more young children in tow, keeps to herself, shy but dignified. They have left an abusive home in Arkansas.  

The children are clean and neat as pins.  

The oldest, a six-year-old girl, wears her hair in tidy ponytails fixed with matching barrettes. Spinas takes the girl and her brother out to play so their mother can feed her baby without distractions. 

In the living room, women gather. They don’t talk much; some peruse the newspaper, others gaze vacantly into space. It’s hard to get a good night’s rest at a shelter, or sleeping outdoors in a park.  

Now and then, signs of stress erupt without warning. In the hallway, a woman who has been conversing calmly with a friend suddenly breaks down in sobs. 

It’s understood that the WDDC is a safe haven.  

Clients are not allowed to enter the house if they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but some come here between fixes, knowing they are accepted while they wait to get into a treatment program. 

While many women pass through the drop-in center only briefly, others are regulars, coming back for months, even years, as they ease their way into a more stable life. Patrice, 47, is a Berkeley native who started using drugs as a teenager.  

“We were dropping reds at University and Ninth in junior high!” She began coming to the WDDC five years ago, when she was homeless, jobless, and fighting addiction.  

Today, although she still lives in a shelter, she’s been sober for six months and she holds down a data entry job.  

She is friendly and gracious, welcoming newcomers to the house on Acton Street like a hostess.  

“Sally,” a simple, open-faced woman who prefers that her real name not be used, first came to the drop-in center four years ago. “It’s nice, clean, safe, and everybody’s friendly,” she says. “There are no scary people coming here.”  

Sally became homeless after a series of mishaps that included moving in with some people in Vallejo who stole her belongings and threatened her. “I thought they were friends, but they turned out bad.”  

Sally now has her own place at the Lakehurst Hotel in Oakland. When she turned 50 last month, Patrice baked a birthday cake for her.  

“In a year, maybe, I think I will look back on this as one of the richest experiences of my life,” says one client.  

“There is a connection with the other women and it’s from the heart.” 

Those who work at the drop-in center say they witness victories every day, and that out of the despair can come unparalleled joy. “I’ve seen some real miracles,” says counselor Maryann Schwink-Mathews.  

“I get to see people go from living in hell to having all the doors open they never thought could open and all the things happen they never thought would happen.”

Thursday, August 24

Community Dance Party 

7:45-9:45 p.m. 

Live Oak Park 

1301 Shattuck Ave.  

Dance instructions will be provided by The Berkeley Folk Dancers.  

Teens $2, adult non-members $4. 

524-7803 

Movie: “Anastasia” 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

Featuring Bergman, Brenner, and Hayes. 

644-6107 

Fair Campaign Practices  

Commission 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Health Room 

The agenda will include a discussion with the city clerk about the use of the web site for publication of campaign contribution information. 

West Berkeley Project Area  

Commission 

7 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth St. 

Among the items to be discussed are the request for proposals for a parking garage and a Fifth Street public market. 

League of Women Voters  

Luncheon 

noon 

Bay Holiday Inn  

1800 Powell St. 

UC Berkeley Professor Bruce Cain will speak 

$45 

Call: 642-1657 

Friday, August 25

Bridge 

1 p.m. 

Live Oak Community Center 

1301 Shattuck Ave. 

The games are open to all players 

For partnership and other informa- 

tion, please call Vi Kimoto at (510) 

223-6539 

Girls golf clinic 

8:30 a.m.-noon 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

The California and San Francisco women’s golf teams Co-host a free clinic as part of the national “golf for women/national golf Coaches Association “Get a Girl Golfing Day.” For girls/teens age 8-17. Bring clubs, if possible, but this is not required. 

643-7940 

Saturday, August 26 

“Wild about Books” 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Public Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

“Hats Off to Reading!” You’ll hear about lost hats, matching hats, paper hats-and make your own to take home with you. Frog and Toad plant a garden together. 

Sophocles’ “Antigone” 

1:30 p.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity, garden 

411 28th St. and Broadway 

Oakland 

A staged reading of an adaptation of “Antigone” by Walter Springer.  

Contributions. 

451-5818 

Open House Tour of the  

Dharma Publishing Showroom  

and Tibetan Aid Project.  

10:30 a.m. - 12 noon 

The tour will show traditional Tibetan book making, sacred art projects, and spinning copper prayer wheels. The video provides a look at the World Peace Ceremony in Bodhgaya, India. A vegetarian lunch will be served to all who stay and volunteer on one of the projects.  

RSVP lunch and volunteers only, 1-3 p.m. 

548-5407 or 848-423 

Last scheduled Underhill  

movie night 

9 p.m. 

Underhill lot at College and Channing 

Protesters against the development of the Underhill lot as a parking structure will have the last movie-showing of the year: “Berkeley in the 60's” and “Pulp Fiction.” 

http://www.bclu.org/underhill/ 

CREW-CUT 

Volunteer Orientation at Bird  

Rescue 

10 a.m.-noon 

699 Potter St., Aquatic Park 

International Bird Rescue and Research in Berkeley will be holding a volunteer orientation for people who want to help injured and orphaned native birds and to learn more about the skill of wildlife rehabilitation. 

call 841-9086 to register 

Star Alliance 15th  

Anniversary 

1-4 p.m. 

Live Oak Park 

1301 Shattuck Ave. 

Star Alliance — an institute for world peace — initiates its 15th  

Anniversary Year with a free concert they’re calling “Sitar, guitar & song.” The public is invited! Topping the bill is Indian sitarist Habib Kahn, freshly returned from concerts in Lebanon. Ballads in English and Spanish will be sung by composer-vocalist Michael DeWall. Brian Wallace will perform on the sarood. 

The event is free. 

848-2764 

Sunday, August 27

“Hearing the Voice of the Lad  

Where He Is: Rosh Hashanah” 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond JCC 

1414 Walnut St. 

Rabbi Ben Hollander, from Israel, presents a free evening lecture, in English, with the cooperation with the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay. 

World Music Festival 

Noon to 6 p.m.  

Durant Avenue just above Telegraph.  

Telegraph merchants, artists, craftspeople, restaurants, and clubs will participate in this exciting event, which is Free and accessible to the entire Bay Area community. 

Featured artists include ten-piece salsa veterans Orequestra Charanson; the modern Afro-beat band Kotoja; the West Coast's premier zydeco band, Zydeco Flames; and Liza Silva & Voz do Brazil. 

The Festival is seeking volunteers, sponsors, and booth vendors. For further information, call 510-649-9500 or e-mail taa@transbay.net.

Voters should think about the president’s veto power 

Editor: 

Flooded with oratory by the candidates, it is not amiss to reflect that as a nation we never vote on issues, only for persons who make promises which may be, but often are not, kept once they are in office. 

European countries hold national plebiscites on continuing a monarchy, joining the European Union, accepting Euros in place of francs, guilders, pesos, etc. 

We, however, persist as an elitist representative republic, not a direct democracy; nationally, we trust to fortune that our elected betters will work the common will. 

Initiative, referendum, and recall laws still accord fewer than half our states direct vote on local issues. 

Because national plebiscites could bypass the congress and the president, national initiative, referendum, and recall can be established only by constitutional amendment. In the 1970s such an amendment was proposed and backed by many, including Ralph Nader. However, introduced in congress (a body often timid to legislate but always jealous of its primacy), any National Initiative Amendment proposal was bound to fail to secure the needed two thirds vote there. 

That failure need not be the final word however, for the U.S. Constitution offers an alternative which bypass any vote by Congress. Article V states: “The Congress...on the Application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which...shall be valid...when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof...” 

Cautioning the U.S. against “national initiatives” Washington Post writer David Broder warns fearfully, in his new book Democracy Derailed: “the experience with the initiative process at the state level in the past two decades is that wealthy individuals and special interests have learned...to subvert the process to their own purposes.” 

Broder only barely notes in passing that this latter-day corruption, which Oregon and Colorado law sought to eliminate, is now protected by the very body meant top shield the states, the U.S. Supreme Court: The court recently ruled unconstitutional that laws permitting only unpaid circulation of ballot petitions; signatures, the court ruled, may still, in effect, be bought. 

Therefore it is important that any amendment to enable direct national vote on issues guarantees that beyond a measure’s central or local headquarters, signatures on petitions for place on nationwide ballot be sought by unpaid volunteers only and that solicitation at workplaces is prohibited and petitions printed as paid advertising disqualified. 

Passage by a nationwide simple majority should exempt a measure from presidential veto, or congressional amendment or nullification. 

National issues could be economically balloted at presidential and biennial congressional elections, after notification of congress that two-thirds of all state legislatures have verified petitions on a measure from 5 percent of their electorates. Petition circulation and verifying for federal plebiscites would be done in the states responsible for election details. 

Foreseeing the bright possibilities in national plebiscites, might not our dropped-out voters return to the polls – and help elect president the candidate who proposes to work for passage of an afore-outlined constitutional amendment? 

Judith Segard Hunt 

Berkeley

The College Avenue repaving project, with its clogs and glitches, is just about complete, but area residents and merchants are not ready to sit back in silence to enjoy the slick black road. 

There are too many other traffic-related problems that have been smoldering for years. 

At a Tuesday evening meeting at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, people who live and work on and near College Avenue met and breathed fire in the city’s direction and hissed at each other during a raucous meeting to address traffic concerns. 

Merchants in the area complained that their customers need easier access to their businesses.  

Residents argued that motorists speed through their neighborhoods and use them as shortcuts to UC Berkeley and the freeways. And they say that the city has been unfair when distributing traffic calming devices. 

Newly-hired traffic planner Jeff Knowles and Director of Public Works Rene Cardinaux took notes and did their best to answer questions at the meeting, also attended by Mayor Shirley Dean and City Council members Polly Armstrong and Kriss Worthington. Cardinaux said that he and Knowles are listening to the residents and merchants’ problems and ideas to help them put together a solution, if one exists. 

“We’re trying to figure out the problem,” he said. “We don’t want to use traffic calming devices if there are too many cars. We want to divert them. I understand the concerns, but it has to be a neighborhood-wide study to see if there is a problem.” “We owe them a good hearing, and there’s a lot of wisdom in a group of people,” Cardinaux said. “You just need to cull it out.” 

He said that they plan to have one more of the “listening sessions” before he begins to zero in on solutions.  

However, the College Avenue area won’t be the only district affected. “You can’t solve a traffic problem in one area without looking at another area,” he said. “It’s not just the (College) neighborhood that has these concerns. It’s every part of the city.” 

He said that, ideally, they hope to solve the traffic problems in one area then work their way around the city. 

In the College Avenue area, Cardinaux said that the traffic diverters and other temporary devices to slow the traffic, assembled for the paving project, will be removed, and the area will be returned to the pre-construction status quo within the next week. The traffic overflow and the devices used to check the overflow during the three-month re-paving of College from Dwight Way to Alcatraz Avenue, fumed area merchants and residents. 

Cardinaux said in the past five years residents have said that the city has neglected their complaints of traffic in the neighborhood, and now that they’re in the spotlight because of the construction, they want to continue a dialogue. 

“This is about safety and nothing else!” said a fiery Paul Tuleja, who lives near the Benvenue Avenue and Ashby Avenue intersection. “Benvenue is the only unobstructed residential side street between the Oakland border and the university. Is it any wonder that this intersection is a repeated accident place?” 

“This intersection is so dangerous,” he said. “We need a temporary solution while the city works on its four or five-year plan for everyone else.” 

Tuleja said he thought that putting in 24-hour right-hand turn only lanes at the intersection, or blocking the street off with bollards – a round concrete barrier the city uses to divert traffic and prevent entrance – to prevent northbound traffic, would help.Hillegas Avenue resident Marguerite Barron questioned the reasons that neighborhoods east of College were blocked off by bollards and diverters. 

“Why should neighborhoods east of College be pockets of privilege?” she said. 

Several residents said that the diverters do more than just keep cars out.  

“I never thought that neighborhoods were about cars. I thought they were about people,” said Mark Chekal. 

“We should open our streets and our hearts to the city,” said Edith Yu. “The problem is that all are streets are blocked off... we should open all of our streets so everyone bears the burden of their own local traffic.” 

Adrian Custer, a bicyclist, said he was ready to move because of the drivers in the area. 

“What needs to happen is you need to educate people,” he said. “And we need better enforcement of traffic laws.”\With his son in his arms, College Avenue resident Dave Walker said that slowing down cars is the real issue. “There is certainly a need for safe streets,” he said. “But diverters create more problems than they solve. If they work so well, why can’t I have them on College Avenue. It’s a residential area and I pay my taxes.” Councilmember Polly Armstrong said that residents have been asking the city to make Dwight Way and Haste Street two-way thoroughfares for years to ease the traffic along College and in the surrounding neighborhoods. 

“If that doesn’t happen, you’ll need to give a detailed explanation to these people,” she said to Cardinaux and Knowles. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who just a month ago was being threatened with a lawsuit by the Elmwood Merchants Association because of the traffic problems resulting from the paving project, tried to find a happy medium between residents and merchants. 

“The City Council’s job is not to get applause,” he said. “Our job is to find how we balance these things.” 

He said that he would like to improve short-term parking for businesses on College and said that limiting the long-term parking by the employees of UC Berkeley and Alta Bates Hospital is one way to do it. 

He also said that “pinchers,” the little orange sticks that force traffic into one lane, have appeared to limit traffic speed. 

“I’d like to give it a one-year trial program in a neighborhood and give it a chance,” he said. “It’s a step forward.”

It’s a Berkeley Sabbath.  

This Sunday, there will be communion in the streets: frenzied dervishes whirling to Juju and Charanga rhythms, pilgrims seeking transcendence at the bottom of a microbrew, and seers vending visions of other dimensions.  

Or, in plain English, a free music festival replete with food, drink, and art. The second annual Berkeley World Music Festival will kickoff at high noon in the crossroads of Telegraph and Durant avenues. 

Dancers will hear Orestes Vilato, a legendary Cuban timbale player, jam with San Francisco’s Orquesta Charanson, a Charanga band known for hard charging salsa. With Anthony Blea on the violin, the ten piece band carries on a tradition of one of Vilato’s original bands, Tipica ’73. Vilato has played with literally everyone- from Willie Nelson to Mongo Santamaria to Herbie Hancock. Also featured is Kotoja, a juju band of Nigerian and U.S. musicians headed by Ken Okulolo, himself a treasure of rhythm and musical knowledge.  

The street party could help revive the image of the Telegraph District as a cultural hot spot, which some residents say has tarnished over the last few years. 

“Telegraph’s more about shops, and shopping than culture these days,” says Carlos Juzang, a Berkeley-based illustrator. “People like to shop, but culture, you can’t say that’s really there anymore. Think about it - for businesses to stay there, they have to make money, and culture is something you can’t put a price to.”  

There will be plenty of culture this weekend, however. The free show will feature Brazilian music and Oakland-based poet and musician Avotcja, who recites and sings, accompanied only by a rain stick.  

Presented by the Telegraph Area Association, a coalition of merchants, residents, and students, who say they are dedicated to “achieving a safe and attractive area that will be an economic and social asset to the Berkeley community,” the street dance party will also serve up ethnic foods, microbrews, and arts and crafts.  

“I’ll go check it out,” says Drew Gauldin, a youth organizer who lives in Oakland, “but I think it’ll be a big crew of gray ponytails.” Regardless, those gray ponytails, the city of Berkeley will be swirling to the world groove all Sunday long. 

The Festival is also sponsored in part by KPFA, the city of Berkeley, U Berkeley, and the East Bay Community Foundation. Festivities last from noon to 6 p.m

Rosa Parks Elementary School Principal Rebecca Wheat says that over three decades as an educator in Berkeley have simply sailed by. 

“It doesn’t really seem possible I’ve been doing it that long,” she said. 

After 32 years as an teacher, principal and director of the early childhood education program for the Berkeley Unified School District, Wheat is retiring. She says that commitment to literacy and the embracing of diversity by the community has been her secret to longevity. 

“I consider it very exciting to work in a district like the BUSD that really does appreciate diversity,” she said. “The community is always trying to make things better.” 

She began her career with the district as a substitute in 1968 when she was an undergrad at UC Berkeley. 

She went on to get her Master’s in Early Childhood Education and her doctorate in Educational Psychology from UC Berkeley before becoming a first and second grade teacher at LeConte Elementary School. 

In 1985, she became the principal at Arts Magnet Elementary School where she served for five years. She then took over as head of the district’s Early Education Program. 

In the fall of 1997, she was asked to head Columbus Elementary School, which was re-built in 1997 with school bond funds. The name was changed to Rosa Parks Elementary in March.  

Because of her extensive work in early childhood education, she was a natural selection for the school that was chosen to offer a medley of before and after school programs. 

“She was my choice,” said Superintendent Jack McLaughlin. “She has a great skill in bringing people together. She was involved from the very beginning and helped in getting the school up and running.” 

Under Wheat’s guidance, Rosa Parks now offers child care, and offers specialty classes in science adventure and puppetry. And the school has a Title 7 grant to support Spanish language classes. 

It also has a social service component that includes individual and family counseling, dental care and health referrals for the students. “School starts at 7:30 a.m. and goes to 6 p.m.,” she said. “It’s really an exciting school, I’ve been very fortunate.” Wheat is going back to early childhood education at the collegiate level. She’s going to  

teach part -time at San  

Francisco State. 

“Being a principal is very tough,” she said. “But it’s also very rewarding.”  

During her career she said that she’s been focused on early childhood education, especially in getting children to read at an early age. 

“The taxpayers in Berkeley are great. The community has made a strong commitment to literacy,” she said. “It’s a wonderful investment. If you can teach a child to read early on... the better their education will be.” 

She said that the district’s early childhood program that she headed begins teaching children to read before they are three years old. 

She said she’ll miss the children, her colleagues and the families that she’s worked with. 

“But there’s a lot I won’t miss,” she said. “I live in the community so I still get a chance to see the kids and families around the neighborhood.” 

Ever the educator, she  

was at the school  

Tuesday  

morning.“Oh I’ve just come in to help get set up,” she said. “There are a few things that just can’t wait.”

UC Berkeley Police and and Berkeley Police bomb squads checked out the car of a UC Berkeley employee that was parked on city property Tuesday evening after the employee recieved several threatening calls saying there was a bomb in the car, said Lt. Bud Stone, Bomb Squad Commander for the police. 

He said the threats were vague, and after interviewing the owner of the car they didn’t appear to be valid. 

“But you can’t say that the threat isn’t real and say ‘here’s the keys, you start it,’ ” he said. 

So the bomb squad spent nearly three hours making an extensive search of the vehicle before determining that there was no bomb. 

“Everybody went home happy,” he said.

Who’s paying? It’s the question of the Millennium. 

Either the city or Fourth Street businesses will foot the bill for a proposed central parking lot to be built near the burgeoning west-side gourmet ghetto.  

As the shopping public flocks to Fourth Street – a boulevard of new age pastel, boutiques and restaurants – parking has gotten so bad, that many business owners say they are actually losing customers because they can’t park. Some shoppers have even resorted to chauffeurs to avoid having to park in lots three or four blocks away. 

“A guy came up in his limo today and just parked it illegally in our lot,” says Michelle Tagger, manager at Cody’s Book Store on Fourth Street. “I said, you’ve got to move it and he said, ‘where?’”  

“I told him, ‘Drive around ‘til you find one, just like everyone else!’ He didn’t like that- and he wouldn’t move it either.” said Tagger. 

“Parking is definitely a problem around here,” adds Meghan Ritchie, an employee at the Vivarium, the well-known reptile retailer. “Our driveway here is always full because people can’t find parking and nobody wants to pay for it at the Spenger’s lot.”  

Spenger’s Fish Grotto, a landmark of old Berkeley that many first time visitors see upon arrival, is located a few blocks from the main shopping center. 

Fourth Street is an obstacle course of construction crews, sauntering shoppers, and the inevitable fleets of reversing SUV’s. Parking is scarce, even in the myriad lots already available to the legions of high-end consumers.  

“To get a parking spot in those lots, you have to be in by 9 a.m.,” says Ritchie. 

Owen Maercks is co-owner of the Vivarium.  

“I’ve had customers call me up and say they’ve gone around the block 20 times and just couldn’t get a parking spot. It’s ridiculous,” he says. 

Bringing things to a head however, are plans to expand the shopping district. A proposed outdoor market on 5th street would close the block between Hearst and University on weekends, attracting even more traffic to the area. “Before the city starts handing out more permits and licenses,” says Maercks, “it should solve the parking problem. I’ve been here 12 years, and it’s just gotten worse.” 

To relieve the jam, business owners have proposed a central parking lot, estimated to cost in excess of $7 million dollars. Where that money will come from, however, has yet to be decided. Originally, Rick Millikan asked for matching funds from the city for a public garage to be built over his Fourth Street property. While owners feel that the city should foot $3 million of the bill for “business infrastructure costs,” Berkeley City Councilman Kriss Worthington calls the proposal the “most outrageous giveaway of taxpayer money in my entire time in office.” 

“I agree that the Fourth Street parking problem should be addressed,” says Worthington, “but the law is very simple. When a new business opens it has to create parking for its clientele. If we license new businesses, it is their responsibility to cover those costs.”  

Maercks, however, disagrees. “The city should solve the parking problem here first, then grant new business licenses. They make money from taxes and licensing, and it is their responsibility to upkeep infrastructure. That’s why I pay taxes.” 

The final decision will be left up to the City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency. The Berkeley Redevelopment Agency Project Area Commission, which will meet Thursday night to discuss the possible manifestations and funding of such a “garage concept,” may make a recommendation for or against the project to the Redevelopment Agency. 

According to an August 24th report by Daniel Vanderpriem, Berkeley Redevelopment manager, there does not appear to be sufficient support on the Redevelopment Agency Board to pursue the endeavor. Already $1 million of the $3 million proposed for the garage has been redirected toward the I-80 overpass project. The remaining $2 million also seems likely to end up elsewhere. 

Furthermore, the fact that there is quite a bit of unused parking only a few blocks away from the shopping district makes the board less likely to move forward with a multi-level garage.  

But some long-time residents see the entire quandary from a different perspective.  

Gino Borgna, a 40-something handy man who has lived in West Berkeley for most of his life, feels that the added business has been positive for the area, but a downside also exists. 

“The expansion of business has moved people out of the neighborhood, people who couldn’t really afford to live here anymore. You don’t see the same kind of diversity here anymore.” says Borgna, who recently bought a home in San Pablo. 

The Ocean View neighborhood, once predominately working class and largely people of color, has undergone radical change over the last five years. Small homes have become condos, warehouses have become businesses, and the “blight” has become neon light. Home to Berkeley’s industrial zone, the gentrification has chased many lifelong Berkeley residents out of the city, which is no longer affordable to them. 

“I bought my home for $90,000. I couldn’t even rent a parking spot in Berkeley for that much,” says Borgna. 

The West Berkeley Project Area Commission will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday at the West Berkeley Senior Center at 1900 Sixth St.

Tuesday, August 22

Meeting to address traffic  

concerns 

7:30-9:30 p.m. 

St. John’s Church 

2727 College Ave. 

First in a series of city-sponsored meetings addressing traffic concerns in the Ashby-College avenues area. 

665-3440 

Dr. Art’s Guide to Planet  

Earth 

7 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave. 

Dr. Art Sussman, author of “Dr. Art’s Guide to Planet Earth,” combines scientific demonstrations with audience participation to introduce easy-to-understand principles that explain how our planet works. 

Blood Pressure Measure 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

With Alice Meyers. 

644-6107 

Wednesday, Aug. 23

Disaster Committee 

7 p.m. 

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar Street 

Agenda includes a discussion led by Jeanne Perkins of Association of Bay Area Governments on a housing study by the Association of Bay Area governments and a discussion of disaster preparedness in the schools. 

Low Vision Speaker 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

John Mortimore from Accessibility Incorporated will demonstrate a closed circuit magnifying TV. 

644-6107 

Meeting on Nextel Antennas 

7 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church 

941 The Alameda 

Nextel has applied to the city to install 12 radiation-emitting antennas for cell phone transmisson on the roof of the Oaks Theater. Neighbors are hosting an informational meeting. A Nextel representative will attend.  

524-0121 

Bridge 

1 p.m. 

Live Oak Community Center 

1301 Shattuck Ave. 

The games are open to all players 

For partnership and other informa- 

tion, please call Vi Kimoto at (510) 

223-6539. 

Thursday, August 24

Community Dance Party 

7:45-9:45 p.m. 

Live Oak Park 

1301 Shattuck Ave.  

Dance instructions will be provided by The Berkeley Folk Dancers.  

Teens $2, adult non-members $4. 

524-7803 

Movie: Anastasia 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

Featuring Bergman, Brenner, and Hayes. 

644-6107 

Fair Campaign Practices  

Commission 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Health Room 

The agenda will include a discussion with the city clerk about the use of the web site for publicaton of campaign contribution information. 

West Berkeley Project Area  

Commission 

7 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth St. 

Among the items to be discussed are the request for proposals for a parking garage and a Fifth Street public market. 

League of Women Voters  

Luncheon 

noon 

Bay Holiday Inn  

1800 Powell St. 

UC Berkeley Professor Bruce Cain will speak 

$45 

Call: 642-1657 

Friday, August 25

Bridge 

1 p.m. 

Live Oak Community Center 

1301 Shattuck Ave. 

The games are open to all players 

For other information, please call Vi Kimoto at 223-6539 

Girls golf clinic 

8:30 a.m.-noon 

Tilden Park Golf Course 

The California and San Francisco women’s golf teams cko-host a free clinic as part of the national “golf for women/national golf Coaches Association “Get a Girl Golfing Day.” For girls/teens age 8-17. Bring clubs, if possible, but this is not required. 

643-7940 

Saturday, August 26

“Wild about Books” 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Public Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

“Hats Off to Reading!” You’ll hear about lost hats, matching hats, paper hats-and make your own to take home with you. Frog and Toad plant a garden together. 

Sophocles’ “Antigone” 

1:30 p.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity, garden 

411 28th St. and Broadway 

Oakland 

A staged reading of an adaptation of “Antigone” by Walter Springer.  

Contributions. 

451-5818 

Open House Tour of the Dharma Publishing Showroom and Tibetan Aid Project.  

10:30 a.m. - 12 noon 

The tour will show traditional Tibetan book making, sacred art projects, and spinning copper prayer wheels. The video provides a look at the World Peace Ceremony in Bodhgaya, India. A vegetarian lunch will be served to all who stay and volunteer on one of the projects.  

RSVP lunch and volunteers only, 1-3 p.m. 

548-5407 or 848-423

When Karen Craig and other disabled members of various city commissions have health or wheelchair emergencies, they would like to attend meetings via speaker phone.  

City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque ruled that this is OK, but only as long as the accommodation is requested 72 hours in advance – that’s the time the state’s open meeting law requires for public posting of meetings. She also said the place from which the disabled person would be calling would have to be open to the public. 

Craig, a former chair of the Commission on Disability, learned the hard way, how problematic the city attorney’s Brown Act interpretation could be. 

In mid July, Craig’s wheelchair got stuck in an uneven gap at the Ashby BART station. The chair lost power. The disabled woman eventually got home from BART via emergency transportation, but found it would take some time to have the chair back in working order.  

Meanwhile Craig had a subcommittee meeting to attend the next day. 

But Albuquerque nixed Craig’s proposed use of the speakerphone to participate in the meeting, contending that it would violate the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law, since she had not made the request 72 hours before the meeting was to take place. 

In response, Craig has filed a grievance with the city, contending that, under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act “my rights to accommodations have been denied.” 

“The Brown Act of the State of California ensures that no function of government is held in secret,” Craig wrote. “An accommodation under Title II of the ADA, especially a last minute one, namely a speaker phone, where everyone at the meeting, including the public, knows that a qualified disabled person is on the speaker phone and all discussions and votes are heard publicly by everyone attending, is an accommodation under the ADA and does not fall under the intent and definition of teleconferencing in the Brown Act.” 

In an Aug. 15 response, Albuquerque stuck to her original interpretation of the Brown Act. However, she said, she is waiting for input from experts on the ADA and, given their input, she might reconsider her opinion. 

In her response to the grievance, Albuquerque explained that the city is obliged to follow the Brown Act.  

Its rules “help ensure that the functions of government are carried out publicly, rather than in secret, and...insulate governmental action from apparent or actual impropriety due to favoritism, corruption or undue influence from special interests....Full compliance with the Brown Act is the very essence of the operation and function of state and local government,” Albuquerque wrote. 

The city is obligated to follow both the Americans with Disabilities Act, which says that disabled people need reasonable accommodation to participate in meetings, and the Brown Act, she said. 

But waiving the Brown Act requirements for 72-hour notice of meetings “is not required under the ADA.” 

“If members of any city commission, board, committee or the City Council wish to participate in meetings of their respective governing bodies by telephone, the Brown Act must be strictly followed in all respects; including provision of 72 hours’ notice of the teleconference and permitting the public access to the remote teleconference location,” she concluded. 

Ken Stein, manager of the U.S. Department of Justice-funded ADA information line, disagrees with Albuquerque. Under the ADA, there is an obligation to modify policies to accommodate people with disabilities, he said. That would include the Brown Act. 

“It is a violation of the ADA to not allow parties (access to meetings) via speaker phone,” he said. 

Stein said the Department of Justice would be responding to Albuquerque’s decision. Albuquerque said she would welcome that. 

“I could have turned tail and run (away from the problem),” Craig said, explaining why she’s pushing forward with the complaint. “I chose not to do so.”

In the wake of the tragic house fire that killed a UC Berkeley student and her parents, the Fire Department and campus delegates are trying to get students and residents to take responsibility and learn fire safety. 

Berkeley Fire Chief Reginald Garcia, UC Berkeley Assistant Vice Chancellor Harry LeGrande and Campus Information Officer Marie Felde talked to reporters Tuesday about fire safety. 

“I think tenants should take more responsibility,” said Garcia. “Most landlords are responsible and install smoke detectors, but if they don’t, you should buy one and bill the landlord.” 

The fire that killed student Azalea Jusay and her parents, Francisco and Florita Jusay early Sunday morning at 2610 Martin Luther King Jr. Way was “preventable and tragic,” Garcia said. 

The owner of the house, Manuel Reburiano of Daly City, may be in violation of city and fire codes for not installing smoke detectors and having un-openable windows. 

Investigators have found no evidence of a smoke detector, and it was reported by the fire’s sole survivor, Michelle Plesa, that the window in Azalea But Garcia says new renters should check for smoke detectors and test them for audibility, familiarize themselves with their environment and plan an escape route, and make sure windows will open as soon as they move in. 

Garcia, Felde and LeGrande wanted to focus on those who rent single-family homes, and hoped to open up the fire-safety education process. 

“Because of the high demand, a lot of people don’t feel like they can ask for much,” Felde said. “We want to get the message out that: ‘You don’t have to live in a unsafe place.’” 

LeGrande said that he plans to encourage landlords that post rentals with Cal Rentals to be familiar with the fire code and to keep the homes they rent in compliance. 

He added that the University has plans to incorporate fire safety into workshops preparing students for the move off campus. 

Garcia said that it’s imperative that people learn fire safety, and said that the Fire Department’s website contains valuable information and links. 

He also said that there are a series of classes called Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) to prepare people for emergencies. 

Garcia said that the leading causes of residential fires were heating appliances, electrical appliances and kitchen fires. He warned of overloading outlets, putting combustibles near heating sources and using candles. 

“Candles are the leading cause of fires in dormitories,” he said. “We recommend that you don’t burn them.” 

He also said that, though the fire code doesn’t call for it, that every house should have a fire extinguisher. Apartments are required to have one fire extinguisher every 75 feet, he said. 

“Fire extinguishers are good for five to seven years and are under $20,” Garcia said. 

Garcia said that the fire code also calls for one openable window in a room. 

“The code calls for windows should be openable without tools or much physical strength,” he said. “A child or a disabled person should be able to easily open it.” 

He added that fixed window bars on windows are against the fire code, and anyone with fixed bars on their windows should call the Fire Department.

A masked man pulled a knife on the owners of U.S. Liquors at 2997 Sacramento Street around 4 p.m. Sunday and robbed the store while the husband had the couple’s infant son in his arms, police said. 

Berkeley Police Capt. Bobby Miller said that the owners, Bao Truong and Be Nguyn Truong, were behind the counter when a masked black man, estimated to be around 30 years-old, about 6 foot 170 lbs., wearing black jeans and a camoflauge jacket, suddenly jumped over the counter and shoved the wife into a corner. 

Bao Trung, who was out of view playing with the couple’s infant son, said he saw the suspect pull a five-inch knife, and he yelled at his wife to give him all the money in the register. 

The suspect then walked over to Truong brandishing the knife and grabbed him by the throat and forced him to lay face down on the ground, Truong said. Truong said he still had his son in his arms. 

Nguyn Truong subsequently opened the register and the suspect cleaned it out, Truong said.  

Bao Truong said no one was injured. He said that he thinks the suspect has been in the store before, but couldn’t make him out because of the suspect’s black mask. 

The suspect then fled East on Ashby Avenue. Miller said he had not been caught by press time. 

***** 

A man was robbed at gunpoint at his residence on the 1700 block of Woolsey Street after two young men followed him from downtown, said Capt. Bobby Miller of the Berkeley Police. 

The victim said he first saw the suspects at Bancroft Way and Fulton Street, and then saw them again at the downtown BART station.  

Miller said the man didn’t think anything of it, and rode BART to the Ashby station and began walking home down Woolsey Street. 

He then encountered the same young men on the street, and said they followed him to his residence where they pulled a handgun and demanded money. 

Miller said the man gave them his wallet and the suspects fled on foot. 

One of the suspects is described as a black male, around 20-years-old, 5 ft 11 in., about 180 lbs wearing a red hooded sweatshirt with black lettering, and dark pants. 

The other is described as a black male around 16 or 17-years-old, around 5 ft. 7 in., 140 lbs. He was wearing a dark T-shirt and dark pants.

At around 5 p.m. Tuesday, police began closing off streets in the area of Milvia and Carleton streets, area residents said. 

It appears there was a suspicious package in the area. It also appears that the incident ended well. 

Details, however are extremely sketchy. 

Capt. Bobby Miller of the Berkeley Police Department, when reached in his office at about 9:30 p.m., said he knew nothing of what was going on. He referred the Daily Planet to the watch commander who said there had been an evacuation due to a suspicious package found in a vehicle. 

However, the watch commander said he could give out no further information, because the case was a UC Berkeley police case since “the incident happened on UC property.” 

Once the UC Berkeley police were reached, Sgt. Jim Macedo said he could give out no information on the incident, because it was a city of Berkeley case. 

One can assume that the incident ended well, as the person on the police radio called out: “They’re happy campers now.” 

Who’s on first, anyway?

Arash Azarkhish said he did all he could to help his new neighbors across the street escape from the deadly fire Sunday. 

When he heard shouts that a house was on fire, he said he immediately called 911 and ran across the street to 2610 Martin Luther King Way just as Michelle Plesa was jumping from a smoke -filled, second story window into the arms of another good Samaritan. 

“I grabbed an ax, a pick, a ladder and a hoe,” he said. “I went and broke some windows and smoke came out, but I didn’t hear any screaming or anything.” 

The recent UC Berkeley graduate said that Plesa was screaming that there were three more people in the house. 

But he said that the house went up in flames in a matter of minutes. 

“There was nothing we could do,” he said. “It was very quick – two or three minutes before the fire took over the entire house.” 

“They didn’t really have a chance,” he said of Azalea, 21; Francisco, 46 and Florita Jusay, 46, who perished in the fire. “They didn’t break any windows out or anything. Maybe they couldn’t?” 

The Jusays immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines when Azalea was just three-years-old, said UC Berkeley spokeswoman Marie Felde.  

Azalea was a straight-A student majoring in integrative biology. Last year she had ran her first marathon and was a resident advisor at the Unit 3 dormitory. She was valedictorian at St. Joseph’s High School in Lakewood, in Southern California. 

In a statement to the press, Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl said he was “deeply saddened.” 

“News of this tragedy is so very, very sad. On behalf of the entire campus community, I wish to extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of those who died. To lose a student and her parents in such a terrible fire is difficult for us all to comprehend. We are, however, enormously thankful to the neighbors who assisted in the rescue of the young woman who survived and to the Berkeley firefighters who responded to the fire,” Berdahl said. 

Azarkhish said he woke when he heard shouts of “the house is on fire,” by another man who was passing by on a bicycle and spotted the flame. 

He said that another man who was happened to be walking by also assisted in the rescue of Plesa. 

“We didn’t hear any alarms, it was very quiet,” said Susan Azarkhish, Arash’s mother. 

Gloria Ramirez, who was visiting her mother at 2614 Martin Luther King Way, next door to the house, said that Plesa said she and the Jusays had tried to open the windows the day before, but were unable to because they were painted shut. 

Azarkhish said that Plesa stayed at his house until her mother arrived from Lakewood. 

Jason Smith, the Chapter Director of Public Affairs for the Bay Area Red Cross said that members of the Red Cross disaster action team arrived on the scene to provide support for Plesa and the other young women who have been displaced by the fire. 

He said that the organization has provided two of the young women vouchers for clothing and meals, as well as motel housing, and he was scheduled to meet with another of the roommates. 

He said that they will also provide disaster mental health counseling to the women if necessary. 

Felde said that the university promised the other women that they will help them as much as needed. She said that two studio apartments have already been offered for the students to rent. 

“If that doesn’t suit their needs, we’ll be sure to take care of them,” she said. 

Anyone interested in helping may call the Bay Area Red Cross at 1-888-4-HELP-BAY.

Tuesday, August 22

Meeting to address traffic  

concerns 

7:30-9:30 p.m. 

St. John’s Church 

2727 College Ave. 

First in a series of city-sponsored meetings addressing traffic concerns in the Ashby-College avenues area. 

665-3440 

Dr. Art’s Guide to Planet  

Earth 

7 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave. 

Dr. Art Sussman, author of “Dr. Art’s Guide to Planet Earth,” combines scientific demonstrations with audience participation to introduce easy-to-understand principles that explain how our planet works. 

Blood Pressure Measure 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

With Alice Meyers. 

644-6107 

Wednesday, Aug. 23

Disaster Committee 

7 p.m. 

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar Street 

Agenda includes a discussion led by Jeanne Perkins of Association of Bay Area Governments on a housing study by the Association of Bay Area governments and a discussion of disaster preparedness in the schools. 

Low Vision Speaker 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

John Mortimore from Accessibility Incorporated will demonstrate a closed circuit magnifying TV. 

644-6107 

Meeting on Nextel Antennas 

7 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church 

941 The Alameda 

Nextel has applied to the city to install 12 radiation-emitting antennas for cell phone transmisson on the roof of the Oaks Theater. Neighbors are hosting an informational meeting. A Nextel representative will attend.  

524-0121 

Thursday, August 24

Community Dance Party 

7:45-9:45 p.m. 

Live Oak Park 

1301 Shattuck Ave.  

Dance instructions will be provided by The Berkeley Folk Dancers.  

Teens $2, adult non-members $4. 

524-7803 

Movie: Anastasia 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

Featuring Bergman, Brenner, and Hayes. 

644-6107 

Fair Campaign Practices  

Commission 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Health Room 

The agenda will include a discussion with the city clerk about the use of the web site for publicaton of campaign contribution information. 

West Berkeley Project Area  

Commission 

7 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth St. 

Among the items to be discussed are the request for proposals for a parking garage and a Fifth Street public market. 

League of Women Voters  

Luncheon 

noon 

Bay Holiday Inn  

1800 Powell St. 

UC Berkeley Professor Bruce Cain will speak 

$45 

Call: 642-1657 

Saturday, August 26

“Wild about Books” 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Public Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

“Hats Off to Reading!” You’ll hear about lost hats, matching hats, paper hats-and make your own to take home with you. Frog and Toad plant a garden together. 

Sophocles’ “Antigone” 

1:30 p.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity, garden 

411 28th St. and Broadway 

Oakland 

A staged reading of an adaptation of “Antigone” by Walter Springer.  

Contributions. 

451-5818 

Open House Tour of the Dharma Publishing Showroom and Tibetan Aid Project.  

10:30 a.m. - 12 noon 

The tour will show traditional Tibetan book making, sacred art projects, and spinning copper prayer wheels. The video provides a look at the World Peace Ceremony in Bodhgaya, India. A vegetarian lunch will be served to all who stay and volunteer on one of the projects.  

RSVP lunch and volunteers only, 1-3 p.m. 

548-5407 or 848-4238 

Sunday, August 27

“Hearing the Voice of the Lad  

Where He Is: Rosh Hashanah” 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond JCC 

1414 Walnut St. 

Rabbi Ben Hollander, from Israel, presents a free evening lecture, in English, with the cooperation with the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay. 

World Music Festival 

Noon to 6 p.m.  

Durant Avenue just above Telegraph.  

Telegraph merchants, artists, craftspeople, restaurants, and clubs will participate in this exciting event, which is Free and accessible to the entire Bay Area community. 

Featured artists include ten-piece salsa veterans Orequestra Charanson; the modern Afro-beat band Kotoja; the West Coast's premier zydeco band, Zydeco Flames; and Liza Silva & Voz do Brazil. 

The Festival is seeking volunteers, sponsors, and booth vendors. For further information, call 510-649-9500 or e-mail taa@transbay.net. 

MUSEUMS 

Habitot Children’s Museum 

Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 

“Back to the Farm.”  

Ongoing 

An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels like an earthworm, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more.  

Cost: $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under.  

Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

647-1111 or www.habitot.org 

Judah L. Magnes Museum 

2911 Russell St.,  

549-6950 

Free. 

Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 

“Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season” 

Through May 2002.  

An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. Highlights include treasures from Jewish ceremonial and folk art, rare books and manuscripts, contemporary and traditional fine art, video, photography and cultural kitsch. 

“Spring and Summer.”  

Through Nov. 4. 

“Chagall: Master Prints and Posters, Selections from the Magnes Museum Collection.”  

Through Sept. 28. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum 

2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley 

“Mandala: The Architecture of Enlightenment,” through Sept. 17.  

An exhibit of rare and exquisite works featuring more than forty mandalas and related objects including sculptures and models of sacred spaces. 

“Doug Aitken/MATRIX 185: Into the Sun,” through Sept. 3.  

An exhibit of works primarily in video and film, using the interplay of art and media to evoke deserted landscapes. 

“Autour de Rodin: Auguste Rodin and His Contemporaries,” through August.  

An exhibit of 11 bronze maquettes on loan from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation in Los Angeles. The bronzes range in style from the artist’s classically inspired “Torso of a Woman” to the anguish of “The Martyr.” Some of the maquettes were cast during Rodin’s lifetime, others have been cast fairly recently under the aegis of the Musee Rodin which alone is authorized to cast his sculptures posthumously.  

“Hans Hoffmann,” open-ended.  

An exhibit of paintings by Hoffmann which emphasizes two experimental methods the artist employed: the introduction of slabs or rectangles of highly saturated colors and the use of large areas of black paint juxtaposed with intense shades of oranges, greens and yellows.  

THE ASIAN GALLERIES 

“Art of the Sung: Court and Monastery,” open-ended.  

A display of early Chinese works from the permanent collection.  

“Chinese Ceramics and Bronzes: The First 3,000 Years,” open-ended. 

“Works on Extended Loan from Warren King,” open-ended. 

“Three Towers of Han,” open-ended. 

$6 general; $4 seniors and students age 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 11 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

642-0808. 

UC Berkeley Museum of  

Paleontology 

Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley 

“Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing.  

A 20-foot tall, 40-foot long replica of the fearsome dinosaur. The replica is made from casts of bones of the most complete T. Rex skeleton yet excavated. When unearthed in Montana, the bones were all lying in place with only a small piece of the tailbone missing. 

“Pteranodon,” ongoing.  

A suspended skeleton of a flying reptile with a wingspan of 22 to 23 feet. The Pteranodon lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. 

California Fossils Exhibit, ongoing. An exhibit of some of the fossils which have been excavated in California. 

Free. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 

642-1821. 

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst  

Museum of Anthropology 

Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way and College  

Avenue, Berkeley 

“Modern Treasures from Ancient Iran,” through Oct. 29.  

This exhibit explores nomadic and town life in ancient and modern Iran as illustrated in bronze and pottery vessels, and textiles.  

“Approaching a Century of Anthropology: The Phoebe Hearst Museum,” open-ended.  

This new permanent installation will introduce visitors to major topics in the museum’s history, including the role of Phoebe Apperson Hearst as the museum’s patron, as well as the relationship of anthropologists Alfred Kroeber and Robert Lowie to the museum. 

“Ishi and the Invention of Yahi Culture,” ongoing. 

This exhibit documents the culture of the Yahi Indians of California as described and demonstrated from 1911 to 1916 by Ishi, the last surviving member of the tribe who wandered out of a forest as “the last savage man.” 

$2 general; $1 seniors; $0.50 children age 17 and under; free on Thursdays. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

643-7648. 

Mills College Art Museum 

5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland 

“The 100 Languages of Children,” through October.  

An exhibit of art created by children from the region of Reggio Emilia, Italy. At Carnegie Building Bender Room. 

Free. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. 

430-2164. 

The Oakland Museum of  

California 

1000 Oak St., Oakland 

“Helen Nestor: Personal and Political,” Aug. 17 through Oct. 15.  

An exhibit of images documenting the Free Speech Movement, the 60s civil rights marches, and women’s issues. 

Artist Reception, Aug. 17, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. 

“California Classic: Realist Paintings by Robert Bechtle,” through Oct. 1.  

An exhibit of 18 paintings and drawings by the Bay Area artist dating from 1965 to 1997. 

SPECIAL EXHIBIT – “Meadowsweet Dairy: Wood Sculpture,” through Sept. 15.  

An exhibit of 12 sculptures made with materials found and salvaged to reveal the beauty of the natural object. At the Sculpture Court, City Center, 1111 Broadway. Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

SPECIAL EVENTS AND LECTURES – Free after museum admission unless noted.  

“Family Workshop: A Sense of Place,” Aug. 20, 2 p.m.  

Create landscape drawings inspired by your personal view of nature. For reservations 238-3818. 

$6 general; $4 seniors and students; free children age 5 and under; second Sundays are free to all. Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; first Friday of the month, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

Call (888) OAK-MUSE or visit www.museumca.org for more information 

MUSIC 

The Greek Theatre 

Gipsy Kings,  

Hearst Avenue and Gayley Road 

Aug. 18, 8 p.m.  

$27.50 to $65.  

444-TIXS 

Freight and Salvage 

1111 Addison St. 

Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 

David Nachmanoff, Aug. 17. $13.50 to $14.50. 

Jack Hardy with Kate MacLeod. Aug. 18. $14.50 to $15.50. 

Dix Bruce and Jim Nunally, Carol Elizabeth Jones and James Leva, Aug. 19. $14.50 to $15.50. 

Burach, Aug. 20. $13.50 to $14.50. 

548-1761 or 762-BASS. 

Ashkenaz 

1317 San Pablo Ave.  

525-5099 

For all ages 

www.ashkenaz.com 

Grateful Dead DJ Night with Digital Dave, Aug. 17, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. $5. 

Johnny Nocturne Band with Kim Nalley, Aug. 18, 9:30 p.m. $11. 

Tippa Irie, Root Awakening, Warsaw, Aug. 19, 9:30 p.m. $11. 

Near East/Far West with Transition and Edessa, Aug. 20, 8:30 p.m. $11. 

924 Gilman St. 

924 Gilman Street is an all-ages, member-run no alcohol, drugs, and violence club. Most shows are $5. Memberships for the year are $2. Shows start at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted.  

Call 525-9926.  

Raw Power, Capitalist Casualties, Lifes Halt, Tongue, What Happens Next. Aug. 18. 

Dead And Gone, Time In Malta, Run For Your Fucking Life, Suicide Party. Aug. 19. 

The Hoods, 18 Visions, Punishment, New Jersey Bloodline, Lowlife. Aug. 25. 

Tilt, The Nerve Agents, The Missing 23rd, Turnedown, Larry. Aug. 26. 

The Albatross Pub 

1822 San Pablo Ave. 

843-2473 

All shows begin at 9 p.m. 

Mad and Eddie Duran Jazz Duo, Aug. 15 and 29.  

Keni “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar, Aug. 17 and 24. 

Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet, Sept. 2. 

The Jazz School/La Note 

2377 Shattuck Avenue 

845-5373 

Free admission, reservation recommended 

“Vocal Sauce” Vocal Ensemble Directed by Greg Murai. Aug. 17 at 7 p.m. 

Valerie Bach And “Swang Fandangle.” Aug. 20 at 4:30 p.m. 

Vocalists Ed Reed; Vocal group Zoli Lundy and “Zoli’s Little Thing.” Aug. 24 at 7 p.m.  

Walnut Square 

150 Walnut Street near Vine St. 

11:30 a.m., Aug. 12, 19 and 26. 

Chamber Music for the Inner Courtyard, a classical ensemble, will perform the music of Haydn, Bach, Mozart.  

Call 843-4002. 

THEATER 

“The Green Bird” by Carlo  

Gozzi 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre 

2025 Addison St. 

Adapted by Theatre de la Jeune Lune and directed by Dominique Serrand.  

“The Green Bird” runs from September 8 - October 27. For tickets contact the box office at 845-4700.  

“The Philanderer” by George  

Bernard Shaw 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave. 

Performed by the Aurora Theatre company, “The Philanderer” takes on the challenging and often humorous exploration of gender roles and the separations that exist between the sexes. 

Preview dates are September 8-10 and 13, tickets for preview showings are sold at $26. Opening night is September 14, admission is $35. Showtimes run Wednesday through Saturday through October 15 at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees show at 2 p.m., plus selected Sunday evenings at 7 p.m. Admission for regular performances is $30. Student discounts are available. For tickets and information call 843-4822 or visit www.auroratheatre.org. 

“The Caucasian Chalk Circle”  

by Bertolt Brecht  

Zellerbach Playhouse  

Directed by Lura Dolas  

"Terrible is the temptation to do good." (Bertolt Brecht) Based in part on an ancient Chinese tale, Brecht’s epic parable tackles an insoluble human dilemma: How to behave well, act justly, and remain humane in a world in which chaos reigns, good is punished, and evil often triumphs. Played by a cast of 15 actors in 86 roles, this musical rendition of the play features an original gypsy-jazz/klezmer score by John Schott. “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” runs from October 6-15. Shows are 8 p.m. on October 6, 7, 13, 14, and 2 p.m. on October 8 and 15. For Tickets contact Ticketweb at 601-8932 or at www.ticketweb.com 

“Endgame” 

Theatre in Search  

Live Oak Theatre 

1301 Shattuck Ave. 

8 p.m., Aug. 17-19 at 

A one act play by Samuel Beckett about a man who likes things to come to an end but doesn’t want them to end just yet. 

Also, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, Aug. 24 - Sept. 2 at La Val’s Subterranean 1834 Euclid Ave. Berkeley. 

Directed by George Charbak. Call: 524-9327. 

EXHIBITS 

The Artistry of Rae Louise  

Hayward 

The Women’s Cancer Resource Center Gallery 

3023 Shattuck Ave. 

548-9286, ext. 307 

Aug. 12 - Sept. 27 

Rae Louise Hayward, one of the founders of The Art of Living Black, Bay Area Black Artist Annual Exhibition and Open Studios Tour. 

Haywards’ art celebrates the beauty of African culture from its people to its music. The opening reception with the artist will be held Aug. 26 noon-3 p.m.  

Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday 1-7 p.m., Saturday 12-4 p.m. and by appointment.  

Traywick Gallery 

1316 Tenth St.  

527-1214 

Charles LaBelle 

Sept. 9 - Oct. 15 

LaBelle’s new series of large-scale color photographs highlight nighttime nature in Hollywood. He recreates trees at night using a hand-held spotlight and playing on the beam across the leaves and branches. The opening reception will be held on September 12 from 6 to 8 p.m.  

Blue Vinyl by Connie Walsh  

Sept. 9 - Oct. 15 

This multimedia project combines video, sound and printmaking to explore concepts of intimacy and its relation to private space. 

The opening reception is on September 12 from 6-8 p.m. 

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11-6 p.m. and Sundays 12-5 p.m. 

READINGS 

Judah L. Magnes Museum 

2911 Russell St. 

Aug. 22 6 -7:30 p.m. 

Bat Area poets Dan Bellin, Adam David Miller, Mary Ganz, and others will read from their works in “Poetry through Time.” The program will include a brief open-readings period after the featured poets. Sign-ups will start at 5:45 p.m.  

TOURS 

Golden Gate Live Steamers 

Small locomotives, meticulously scaled to size, run along a half mile of track in Tilden Regional Park. The small trains are owned and maintained by a non-profit group of railroad buffs who offer rides.  

Free. Trains run Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sunday, noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Lomas Cantadas Drive at the south end of Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley.  

486-0623.  

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

Scientists and engineers guide visitors through the research areas of the laboratory, demonstrating emerging technology and discussing the research’s current and potential applications. A Berkeley lab tour usually lasts two hours and includes visits to several research areas. Popular tour sites include the Advanced Light Source, The National Center for Electron Microscopy, the 88-Inch Cyclotron, The Advanced Lighting Laboratory, and The Human Genome Laboratory. Reservations required at least two weeks in advance of tour. 

Free. University of California, Berkeley. 

486-4387. 

Berkeley City Club Tours 

Guided tours through Berkeley’s City Club, a landmark building designed by architect Julia Morgan, designer of Hearst Castle. 

$2. The fourth Sunday of every month except December, between noon and 4 p.m.  

2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. 

848-7800. 

MUSIC 

The Greek Theatre 

Gipsy Kings,  

Hearst Avenue and Gayley Road 

Aug. 18, 8 p.m.  

$27.50 to $65.  

444-TIXS 

Freight and Salvage 

1111 Addison St. 

Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 

David Nachmanoff, Aug. 17. $13.50 to $14.50. 

Jack Hardy with Kate MacLeod. Aug. 18. $14.50 to $15.50. 

Dix Bruce and Jim Nunally, Carol Elizabeth Jones and James Leva, Aug. 19. $14.50 to $15.50. 

Burach, Aug. 20. $13.50 to $14.50. 

548-1761 or 762-BASS. 

Ashkenaz 

1317 San Pablo Ave.  

525-5099 

For all ages 

www.ashkenaz.com 

Grateful Dead DJ Night with Digital Dave, Aug. 17, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. $5. 

Johnny Nocturne Band with Kim Nalley, Aug. 18, 9:30 p.m. $11. 

Tippa Irie, Root Awakening, Warsaw, Aug. 19, 9:30 p.m. $11. 

Near East/Far West with Transition and Edessa, Aug. 20, 8:30 p.m. $11. 

924 Gilman St. 

924 Gilman Street is an all-ages, member-run no alcohol, drugs, and violence club. Most shows are $5. Memberships for the year are $2. Shows start at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted.  

Call 525-9926.  

Raw Power, Capitalist Casualties, Lifes Halt, Tongue, What Happens Next. Aug. 18. 

Dead And Gone, Time In Malta, Run For Your Fucking Life, Suicide Party. Aug. 19. 

The Hoods, 18 Visions, Punishment, New Jersey Bloodline, Lowlife. Aug. 25. 

Tilt, The Nerve Agents, The Missing 23rd, Turnedown, Larry. Aug. 26. 

The Albatross Pub 

1822 San Pablo Ave. 

843-2473 

All shows begin at 9 p.m. 

Mad and Eddie Duran Jazz Duo, Aug. 15 and 29.  

Keni “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar, Aug. 17 and 24. 

Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet, Sept. 2. 

The Jazz School/La Note 

2377 Shattuck Avenue 

845-5373 

Free admission, reservation recommended 

“Vocal Sauce” Vocal Ensemble Directed by Greg Murai. Aug. 17 at 7 p.m. 

Valerie Bach And “Swang Fandangle.” Aug. 20 at 4:30 p.m. 

Vocalists Ed Reed; Vocal group Zoli Lundy and “Zoli’s Little Thing.” Aug. 24 at 7 p.m.  

Walnut Square 

150 Walnut Street near Vine St. 

11:30 a.m., Aug. 12, 19 and 26. 

Chamber Music for the Inner Courtyard, a classical ensemble, will perform the music of Haydn, Bach, Mozart.  

Call 843-4002. 

THEATER 

“The Green Bird” by Carlo  

Gozzi 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre 

2025 Addison St. 

Adapted by Theatre de la Jeune Lune and directed by Dominique Serrand.  

“The Green Bird” runs from September 8 - October 27. For tickets contact the box office at 845-4700.  

“The Philanderer” by George  

Bernard Shaw 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave. 

Performed by the Aurora Theatre company, “The Philanderer” takes on the challenging and often humorous exploration of gender roles and the separations that exist between the sexes. 

Preview dates are September 8-10 and 13, tickets for preview showings are sold at $26. Opening night is September 14, admission is $35. Showtimes run Wednesday through Saturday through October 15 at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees show at 2 p.m., plus selected Sunday evenings at 7 p.m. Admission for regular performances is $30. Student discounts are available. For tickets and information call 843-4822 or visit www.auroratheatre.org. 

“The Caucasian Chalk Circle”  

by Bertolt Brecht  

Zellerbach Playhouse  

Directed by Lura Dolas  

"Terrible is the temptation to do good." (Bertolt Brecht) Based in part on an ancient Chinese tale, Brecht’s epic parable tackles an insoluble human dilemma: How to behave well, act justly, and remain humane in a world in which chaos reigns, good is punished, and evil often triumphs. Played by a cast of 15 actors in 86 roles, this musical rendition of the play features an original gypsy-jazz/klezmer score by John Schott. “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” runs from October 6-15. Shows are 8 p.m. on October 6, 7, 13, 14, and 2 p.m. on October 8 and 15. For Tickets contact Ticketweb at 601-8932 or at www.ticketweb.com 

“Endgame” 

Theatre in Search  

Live Oak Theatre 

1301 Shattuck Ave. 

8 p.m., Aug. 17-19 at 

A one act play by Samuel Beckett about a man who likes things to come to an end but doesn’t want them to end just yet. 

Also, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, Aug. 24 - Sept. 2 at La Val’s Subterranean 1834 Euclid Ave. Berkeley. 

Directed by George Charbak. Call: 524-9327. 

EXHIBITS 

The Artistry of Rae Louise  

Hayward 

The Women’s Cancer Resource Center Gallery 

3023 Shattuck Ave. 

548-9286, ext. 307 

Aug. 12 - Sept. 27 

Rae Louise Hayward, one of the founders of The Art of Living Black, Bay Area Black Artist Annual Exhibition and Open Studios Tour. 

Haywards’ art celebrates the beauty of African culture from its people to its music. The opening reception with the artist will be held Aug. 26 noon-3 p.m.  

Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday 1-7 p.m., Saturday 12-4 p.m. and by appointment.  

Traywick Gallery 

1316 Tenth St.  

527-1214 

Charles LaBelle 

Sept. 9 - Oct. 15 

LaBelle’s new series of large-scale color photographs highlight nighttime nature in Hollywood. He recreates trees at night using a hand-held spotlight and playing on the beam across the leaves and branches. The opening reception will be held on September 12 from 6 to 8 p.m.  

Blue Vinyl by Connie Walsh  

Sept. 9 - Oct. 15 

This multimedia project combines video, sound and printmaking to explore concepts of intimacy and its relation to private space. 

The opening reception is on September 12 from 6-8 p.m. 

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11-6 p.m. and Sundays 12-5 p.m. 

READINGS 

Judah L. Magnes Museum 

2911 Russell St. 

Aug. 22 6 -7:30 p.m. 

Bat Area poets Dan Bellin, Adam David Miller, Mary Ganz, and others will read from their works in “Poetry through Time.” The program will include a brief open-readings period after the featured poets. Sign-ups will start at 5:45 p.m.  

TOURS 

Golden Gate Live Steamers 

Small locomotives, meticulously scaled to size, run along a half mile of track in Tilden Regional Park. The small trains are owned and maintained by a non-profit group of railroad buffs who offer rides.  

Free. Trains run Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sunday, noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Lomas Cantadas Drive at the south end of Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley.  

486-0623.

Some citizens have been butting heads with bureaucrats, demanding to see the text that would accompany Measure AA, the schools’ facilities bond measure to appear on the Nov. 7 ballot. 

Rosemary Vimont, a citizen not working with an organized group, and B Soffer, working with the Green Party of Alameda, called the Daily Planet Monday, to say they believed that someone was keeping the text from them.  

They said they could not believe that the schools would come to taxpayers for $116 million and not say exactly where the money was going. 

But, it turns out, that is the case – more or less. 

The expenditures proposed under the bond measure are spelled out in an imprecise paragraph. There is no “full text” of the measure. The following will be before the voters on Nov. 7. 

“To repair, upgrade and add new classrooms to address overcrowding and facilitate reduced class sizes at Berkeley High School, King Middle School and other Berkeley schools, shall Berkeley Unified School District issue $116,500,000 in bonds at interest rates within legal limits, to finance acquisition or improvement of property for school safety and improved environment including building new classrooms; increasing seismic safety; replacing deteriorating floors, windows, restrooms, and roofs; upgrading school kitchens; modernizing science labs; and improving fire safety?” 

Vimont said that is not enough for the voters. “The devil is in the details, when you’re authorizing bonds,” she said. “They could do anything. I want to know where every dime’s going.” 

Vimont is opposing the ballot measure and was trying to write a ballot argument against it. She said that the money might be used to build a baseball field on the former site of East Campus, without citizens’ approval.  

Elaine Ginnold of the Alameda County registrar’s office confirmed that the only documentation she had to put on the ballot was the short paragraph. She said that often bond measures don’t include details, although they can, and if the school district had provided other documentation, she would have included it. 

School Board President Joaquin Rivera said he was not aware that there was not more detailed documentation about proposed expenditures submitted to the county to accompany the summary on the ballot. 

He said specific expenditures had been detailed in a document the school board examined on June 21, when they approved the ballot measure. 

The Daily Planet obtained a copy of the document from school district Public Information Officer Karen Sarlo. 

It details approximately $28 million in expenditures for the high school, $8 million for King Middle School, $4 million for Willard Middle School, about $5 million for Franklin, about $8 million for the adult school, and about $6 million for child care. 

Other district-wide improvements add up to about $27 million. And bond costs and program management, insurance and inflation costs are on top of that. 

Because the Daily Planet received the documentation from the school district after business hours, the weight of the document – whether the school district would have any obligation to follow it – is unknown at this time.

Fire Inspectors have determined that the fire Sunday at 2160 Martin Luther King Way that claimed the lives of UC Berkeley student Azalea Jusay, 21, and her parents, Francisco and Florita Jusay, both 46, of Lakewood, began when someone left a box of clothes or papers on top of or too close to a floor heater on the first floor of the two-story, 60 year-old wooden home. 

Berkeley Fire Chief Reginald Garcia opened a press conference Monday by expressing regret and giving condolences to the family and friends of the victims on behalf of the city. It is a “deep loss for the community,” he said. 

Garcia said that the investigation found that the victims were likely overcome with smoke, and that they have found no evidence of smoke detectors at this point.  

Garcia said that when the Fire Department responded to the call at 6:40 a.m. Sunday, the first floor of the house was completely engulfed and smoke was pluming out the of second-story windows. 

Firefighters from Station 5 aggressively attempted to enter the building, but were unable to do so. Garcia said that they dispatched another alarm upon arrival and that a total of 29 firefighters were able to contain the blaze. 

Sadly, the family had already succumbed to the heavy smoke. They were found in separate bedrooms, he said. 

Michelle Plesa, 21, escaped the fire by jumping out of a second story window at the front of the house after she was alerted by a passing bicyclist who was outside the house yelling that the house was on fire. 

Plesa warned firefighters that there were three other people in the house, but the fire progressed too rapidly for the firefighters to get inside. 

He said that, after the fire, a firefighter was unable to open Azalea Jusay’s bedroom window in the rear of the house. 

An investigation is underway to determine if the owner of the house, whose name Garcia wouldn’t release, was in violation of a city law requiring windows to be able to be opened and to have working smoke detectors in the house. 

He said if violations are found, the results will be referred to the district attorney.  

Capt. Bobby Miller of the Berkeley Police Department said that if the owner is found in violation of city laws, that it would be a misdemeanor offense. Neither the city attorney nor assistant city attorney were available for comment Monday. 

Garcia said that the investigation will address the municipal code, the fire code and housing code, all of which require smoke detectors and operable windows. 

A violation of the fire code requiring smoke detectors carries a $100 fine for the first offense, $200 the second and $500 for repeated violations, Garcia said. 

Garcia said that if the case is not one of criminal negligence, the fire department would rely on code compliance. The district attorney would bring any liability or negligence charges, if they are found. 

Throughout the 30-minute conference, Garcia stressed the importance of smoke detectors in every room. 

“You can’t have enough smoke detectors,” he said. 

Garcia said that investigators sifted through every piece of debris in the area where a detector should be. 

“Generally we find evidence or residue or a battery,” he said. “It’s unusual to find no evidence, but it’s possible.”  

He said the owner of the house told him that a smoke detector was in place at the top of the staircase. 

Supervising Housing Inspector Carlos Romo said that in a single family home, every level with a bedroom requires a smoke detector. But a centrally located detector in a stairwell could serve all the bedrooms, he said.  

The light-blue house had four bedrooms on the top floor, and one downstairs, he said. 

Garcia said that all rooming houses, hotels and dormitories are required to have a smoke detector in every sleeping room, but there is no such requirement for a single family home. 

“We generally wouldn’t inspect that home,” Garcia said. 

Romo said that the last time the house was inspected was in September, 1995, and violations were found. He said that the owners at that time remedied the problem and installed a smoke detector. 

Neighbor Arash Azarkhish, who attempted to help rescue the victims, said he was awaken by a man yelling that the house was on fire, but didn’t hear a smoke detector. 

“It was all very quiet,” he said. 

The house was being rented to Jusay, Plesa and three other young women, all students at UC Berkeley. The Jusays were helping their daughter move in, said Assistant Fire Chief Michael Migliore. 

Geralyn Villaflor, 21, had just moved her belongings in the day before, but decided to stay with her parents that evening at a hotel near the airport. 

Another woman had moved her belongings in Friday, but had gone to Las Vegas, and the other roommate was still in Southern California, Migliore said. 

Garcia said the tragedy was avoidable.  

The city employs a “very aggressive public fire safety education program,” and gives away free smoke detectors to citizens, he said. 

He added that batteries in detectors should be changed twice a year. 

“You should change the battery in a smoke detector every time you change your clock,” he said. 

Migliore urged everyone, especially parents moving their kids into rented houses to check for – and test – smoke detectors. 

“We have never investigated a fatal fire where there was a smoke detector,” he said. “Smoke detectors do save lives.” 

Last November a 17-year-old teen died from carbon monoxide poisoning in a Berkeley apartment where a vent was determined to be clogged. The landlord was not held responsible.

Councilmember Margaret Breland decided to stand up and confront the whispers. At a Monday evening press conference, the 65-year-old councilmember announced that she was fighting a winning battle over breast cancer. 

“I do have breast cancer,” she told the group of reporters outside the Francis Albrier Center at San Pablo Park where she was about to hold a community meeting. “I am going to defeat it.” 

Running for a second term on the council, Breland underscored that she is able to continue her duties as council member through the remaining seven chemotherapy treatments and beyond. “Even though people say I’m sick, I am not,” she said, adding that her doctor has given her the green light to continue her council work and run a re-election campaign. 

Breland discovered she had a malignancy four months ago during a routine mammogram and had a lumpectomy in June at Alta Bates Medical Center. She has had one chemotherapy treatment and will have seven more treatments, each three weeks apart. 

The retired registered nurse is facing four contenders for the District 2 council seat in south west Berkeley. When one reporter asked how the cancer would affect her race, Breland responded: “I think they might try to use it as an advantage to them.” She said there were rumors going around that she is in ill health and unable to serve on the council. 

She emphasized that, in addition to squelching the murmurings about her ill health and inability to hold office, she wanted her discovery to serve as a warning to others that they must get regular mammograms. 

It is not an accident that Breland, who is African American, is the council’s liaison to the city’s Community Health Commission and very active in the work to address last year’s Health Disparity Study that showed that the health in Berkeley’s African American community is dramatically poorer than in the Caucasian hills community, as measured, by the number of premature deaths and premature births. 

Breland said she is thankful she found the malignancy early. “I’m lucky I have insurance and go to the doctor,” she said. “There are those who can’t.”

The Big One never came. But its threat inspired a new generation of public buildings designed to endure the inevitable devastation. Though delayed by a few months, the Ronald Tsukemoto Public Safety Building is scheduled for an early October occupation by the Berkeley Police Department and the Fire Department’s administrative team. 

“We love it,” says Captain Doug Hambleton of the Berkeley Police Department. “It’s earthquake proof. It means we can respond to emergency situations rather than being part of the emergency.” In addition, the new building would be wired for modern internet services, better access for the disabled and ensures public safety in the event of a massive power outage. 

The Tsukemoto building, a “base isolated edifice,” is designed “to stay in one place when the ground moves,” says Lorin Jensen, the supervising civil engineer. Equipped with power generators and enough fuel for 72 hours of off-grid operations, the building “will be up and running within seconds in the event of an earthquake-born power outage,” says Jensen. 

But the building was born of bureaucracy and ordained into existence not by the Berkeley public, but by a city judge, say critics. Its controversial beginnings, claims Kriss Worthington, a member of the Berkeley City Council, smack of backroom political maneuverings that eliminated the public from the decision-making process to build it. 

In 1992, Berkeley voters agreed to Measure G, allocating $12.8 million to retrofit the city’s public safety buildings. The money was earmarked to re-model the existing Hall of Justice and Fire Department headquarters, both built in the 1930’s.  

Instead, both older buildings are set for demolition in the next year – they will be replaced by parking lots - and a new Public Safety Building, housing the entire Berkeley police department as well as the Fire Department administration, will open in early October. 

The building commemorates Ronald Tsukemoto, the first Berkeley officer killed in the line of duty. Born in Tule Lake, CA, one of a dozen “relocation camps” where all west coast Japanese-Americans were sent during World War II, Tsukemoto met his end on University Avenue, when an unknown assailant fatally shot him before escaping in a waiting car. 

“How did a simple bill upgrading “essential services” become the basis for an entirely new construction project?” asks Worthington. “The original ballot (measure), called Measure G, gave money to the fire and police departments to retrofit their buildings- not build a new one,” says Worthington.  

By means of a “validation action,” allowing the City Council to unilaterally re-allocate funds, the $12.8 million delegated for the retro-fitting became the basis for the new hall of justice. 

“This building was decreed when the city sued itself.” says Worthington. “In 1995 it got a judge to switch the intention of the ballot from one objective to another without any public input. The city took a Measure, a binding public decision, and altered it without consulting them.” 

Others disagree, saying Measure G, as it stood, was an inefficient waste of public money. 

“Back in 1995, a cost comparison between upgrading current police headquarters and constructing a new building showed that a new building was a better use of money,” says Lorin Jensen, supervising Civil Engineer of the Department of Public Works. 

“Retrofitting always costs more than construction because there are so many unknowns before actual work begins,” he continues. 

So the $12.8 million Measure G money was put away, earning 1.7 million in interest between 1992 and 1998. Focus swung from a retrofit to a new building and the City Council went through a few designs before settling on the present proposal from S.J. Amoroso, a Foster City based construction crew. With the addition of a $3.5 million state grant, the entire project totaled $18.5 million. 

City officials wax enthusiastic when discussing the new building. 

“We ended up replacing the old Hall of Justice and McKinley Hall (Fire Department administration building) with one single building built to a higher standard of earthquake safety,” says Renee Cardinaux, the city’s director of public works.  

“Now, the 911 response unit and fire department HQ is fully operational even if there is power failure in the city that knocks out the grid,” continues Cardinaux. 

But inside the new edifice is a 43-bed jail, which Cardineaux, laughing, says is for, “our overnight guests.” A temporary holding cell for inmates either on short stays or on their way to Santa Rita jail, it’s the highly nuanced regulations surrounding the building of a new jail cell which are slowing up completion.  

“The department of corrections came in and inspected our jail cells. There were some problems with the spacing of gaps between the bunks and the wall, and the worry is that some inmates could rip their clothes into strips, slip these into the gaps, and hang themselves from the bunk. So there’s welding that’s going on to correct that.” 

Such delays, Hambleton says, are routine in building new police facilities. 

“There are just so many specs that go into a police facility that don’t go into regular buildings, from communication and radio, to internet and jails. Just cleaning those details up is what’s causing the delay,” he adds. 

After these details are corrected, a one month “shakedown cruise” commences, quips Hambleton. 

“We don’t want to settle in until we know everything is in order.” he says. 

And while groundbreaking ceremonies took place last month, largely symbolic of an unmet construction schedule, communication units are already being moved into the building. A fleet of Pac Bell trucks and technicians are busy re-wiring the Berkeley police into the 21st Century.

Sunday was D-day in Berkeley. D stands for “Dorm,” by the way.  

Caravans of U-Hauls containing the possessions of thousands of soon-to-be Cal students stormed the city, while other modern-day packhorses swallowed up virtually every space in the South Berkeley area. This was the official UC Berkeley dormitory move-in day. 

The simultaneous observation of such a great number of family units was unusual. Once disembarked, students and their families stood in lengthy lines awaiting elevator service to the high-rise units, not unlike the line to an outhouse at Woodstock. 

Just what is it that attracts droves of students to the dorms anyway? 

“I don’t want to clean out bathrooms; I don’t want to clean other people’s urine,” says sophomore Ben Yuen of Ida Sproul Hall in Unit 3. “I don’t want to cook my own meals and I don’t want to do dishes. I’ll use that extra time to study more or go out.” 

And there you have it.  

Like many students, the Berkeley housing crunch led Yuen to opt for a second year in the dorms. Not surprisingly, as the Berkeley apartment market grows tighter, the growing number of students in the dormitories have become more and more scrunched together. Rooms built for two students now accommodate three. Former student lounges have been converted into bedrooms (Yuen lives in a former lounge, complete with a big glass window on the door. He chose the room, however, for its ample lighting).  

“I’m not too happy about it, but we’ll work it out,” said Elizabeth Shemaria, a junior transfer who found herself in a converted triple in Unit 2’s Ehrman Hall. “I just didn’t have a lot of time to find housing and it was easier to fill out a form and get housing that way.” 

As a transfer, Shemaria and a bevy of older students in the dorms will have to adjust to a number of overtly paternalistic rules governing everyday life. There will always be a Resident Assistant nearby to make sure you turn the music down, put out that cigarette, don’t lean on the windows, take the hubcap off your bulletin board or put down that bottle of Jack Daniel’s (especially that last one).  

In addition to learning to follow the rules (or elude them), dorm residents are about to undergo one of the joys of co-ed living – sharing the halls, lounges and even the bathrooms.  

“I asked to be on the co-ed floor, but I forgot about men in the bathroom,” said Ida Sproul resident Cynthia Park. “I don’t think it’ll be an issue. Well, at least for right now. I only got here a couple of hours ago.” 

We’ll see how she feels in a few more hours. Other students were more wary of the grooming habits of the opposite sex.  

“My sister goes to Cal Poly and they have male and female wings over there. We went into the male wing and it was so smelly!” said Ehrman Hall resident Jennifer Haug. “Here we have girls in every other room, so that ought to cut the smelly factor.” 

Offending females’ olfactory senses is something one rarely has to worry about at all-male Bowles Hall, the classic “They put me WHERE?” dorm at Cal.  

“I requested Units 1, 2 and 3 and got Bowles,” said freshman Tom Walker. “Co-ed living, I would have liked that. Oh well. It happens.” 

While Walker and others will not be able to participate in the wondrous experience of meeting members of the opposite sex without even trying (at least this year), Bowles Hall residents are rewarded with a gorgeous house, marvelous view and what is traditionally the best Dining Commons on campus.  

The Daily Planet wanted to know about the truth of tales of Grade-D (tasting) meat and walking rice. But one four-year dorm veteran claimed “DC” food was on the up-and-up (and with a straight face!). 

“My freshman year, it was bad. Well, maybe not bad. It was always edible, so that’s good,” says senior Tanveer Makhani, a resident assistant at Ida Sproul. “Dorm food is much improved.” 

Makhani may not know it, but RAs have been saying that since the Campanile was just a gleam in John Galen Howard’s eye. If this year is like any other, more than a few students will actually lose the “Freshman 15,” skipping dorm meals to survive on a diet of Mountain Dew and Clorets. But at least they can suffer in a co-ed environment (sorry Bowles).  

“It’s OK,” says Bowles resident Dan Spence. “It’s only my first year. I’ll get wild and crazy pretty soon.”

Monday, August 21

55 Alive Driving Class 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

With AARP. 

Admission fee $10.  

644-6107 

San Pablo Plan 

7-8:30 p.m. 

Frances Albrier Center 

San Pablo Park 

Community meeting with Councilmember Margaret Breland to hear about a strategic plan Breland has proposed for San Pablo Avenue and talk about how the neighborhood will be involved in the planning process. 

644-6400 

Tuesday, August 22

Meeting to address traffic  

concerns 

7:30-9:30 p.m. 

St. John’s Church 

2727 College Ave. 

First in a series of city-sponsored meetings addressing traffic concerns in the Ashby-College avenues area. 

665-3440 

Dr. Art’s Guide to Planet  

Earth 

7 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave. 

Dr. Art Sussman, author of “Dr. Art’s Guide to Planet Earth,” combines scientific demonstrations with audience participation to introduce easy-to-understand principles that explain how our planet works. 

Blood Pressure Measure 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

With Alice Meyers. 

644-6107 

Wednesday, Aug. 23

Disaster Committee 

7 p.m. 

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar Street 

Agenda includes a discussion led by Jeanne Perkins of Association of Bay Area Governments on a housing study by the Association of Bay Area governments and a discussion of disaster preparedness in the schools. 

Low Vision Speaker 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

John Mortimore from Accessibility Incorporated will demonstrate a closed circuit magnifying TV. 

644-6107 

Meeting on Nextel Antennas 

7 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church 

941 The Alameda 

Nextel has applied to the city to install 12 radiation-emitting antennas for cell phone transmisson on the roof of the Oaks Theater. Neighbors are hosting an informational meeting.  

524-0121 

Thursday, August 24

Community Dance Party 

7:45-9:45 p.m. 

Live Oak Park 

1301 Shattuck Ave.  

Dance instructions will be provided by The Berkeley Folk Dancers.  

Teens $2, adult non-members $4. 

524-7803 

Movie: Anastasia 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

Featuring Bergman, Brenner, and Hayes. 

644-6107 

Fair Campaign Practices  

Commission 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Health Room 

The agenda will include a discussion with the city clerk about the use of the web site for publicaton of contribution information. 

West Berkeley Project Area  

Commission 

7 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth St. 

Among the items to be discussed are the request for proposals for a parking garage and a Fifth Street public market. 

League of Women Voters  

Luncheon 

noon 

Bay Holiday Inn  

1800 Powell St. 

UC Berkeley Professor Bruce Cain will speak. 

$45 

Call: 642-1657 

Saturday, August 26 

“Wild about Books” 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Public Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

“Hats Off to Reading!” You’ll hear about lost hats, matching hats, paper hats-and make your own to take home with you. Frog and Toad plant a garden together. 

Sophocles’ “Antigone” 

1:30 p.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity, garden 

411 28th St. and Broadway 

Oakland 

A staged reading of an adaptation of “Antigone” by Walter Springer.  

Contributions. 

451-5818

Berkeley’s Impact Theater specializes in new plays for a 20-something audience that grew up on television, film and music, without much experience in live theater. 

In that vein, the company opened its fifth season Friday at Eighth Street Studio in Berkeley with the world premiere of Erin Carr’s play “TV Sucks My Ass.” In line with Impact’s mission, this play is about 20-somethings just out of college, struggling to find meaningful lives and work. 

Running about 75 minutes without an intermission, “TV Sucks My Ass” is a rambling episodic story about a 24-year-old former actress named Van (Alyssa Bostwick) who works as a production assistant on an exploitative and uninspiring television show. 

Feminist Van hates her job and dreams of producing her own television series about a woman who travels backwards in time to meet famous women of history and help them through their times of personal difficulty. 

In her personal life, Van has a crush on musician roommate Adam (Eric Herzog), but since she is not thin and glamorous, Van feels romantically challenged. 

Van’s professional break comes unexpectedly when she is offered the role of a zaftig woman who undergoes liposuction on live television, on a show called “Lighten Up.” From the idea of liposuction, Carr’s play takes its title, “TV Sucks My Ass.” 

A large cast show with more than ten actors, several doubling in multiple roles, “TV Sucks My Ass” is part didactic political dissertation and part romantic melodrama. The show has a feminist spin, and deals with the gender politics of body image and women’s feelings of physical inadequacy. 

But it is a rambling story that zigs and zags disconnectedly in varying directions. At times “TV Sucks My Ass” has the feel of a script workshopped to the point where it has lost its focus. 

Additionally, many of the play’s gags are familiar, and not that funny. For example, an exploitative radio station has the call letters “KRAP.” 

Likewise, the play’s sleazy or macho men (J. McMullen, Noah James Butler and Dominic Vignolo) may be a reality in present-day life, but the characterizations and storylines around their behaviors aren’t fresh. We’ve seen them many times before in television and movies. 

Most important, at the play’s end when Van is faced with the conflicts of working on an exploitative liposuction show that contradicts her personal principles, the story takes a fluky twist. This twist allows the character of Van to equivocate, copping out on the character’s deeper development, and the story’s resolution. 

Under Sarah O’Connell’s hesitant direction, the acting in the show is rough-edged, from a mostly youthful cast. Many of the lines are given heavy sarcastic readings by the actors, but it would take more than hammy satirical posing to maximize the comedy of this script. 

As the play’s central character, Bostwick’s Van is not a strong presence, although she warms to the performance as the show progresses. Noah James Butler’s drag Zsa Zsa Gabor is one of the evening’s funniest bits. 

Director O’Connell has designed an appropriately cheesy living room for most of the action, with satellite spaces for the television production scenes. 

Playwright Carr graduated this past spring from Middlebury College, where she was a theater major. Her plays “Frostbite” and “Communication Breakdown” have both been finalists in the Actors Theater of Louisville National Ten Minute Play Contest. 

Producing new plays is always a gamble, and most established theater companies are afraid to do it. Kudos to the people at Impact for taking chances and avoiding the easy route. Producing world premieres in the theater world makes a difference. 

And if it turns out you are 24 years old, just out of college, and struggling with a career in the film or television business, “TV Sucks My Ass” just might describe your life. 

“TV Sucks My Ass,” presented by Impact Theater at Eighth Street Studio, 2525 8th Street, Berkeley, $5 (students), $10 (general). (510) 464-4468.

City efforts increase danger on University Ave.  

Editor: 

Two of Berkeley’s worst intersections for bicyclists just got worse. 

As a bicycle commuter, I shudder whenever I cross the intersections of Shattuck/University and Milvia/University.  

Both are confusing, alarming – and statistically dangerous: Police reports show that Shattuck/University is the city’s most collision-prone intersection for nonmotorists, while Milvia/University is tied for fifth-worst.  

The city could make both intersections safer by phasing the signals, to separate turning vehicles from nonmotorists (and others) who are going straight.  

Incredibly, the city has instead made both intersections worse. At the southeast corner of Shattuck Square and University, a new concrete “bulb-out” (sidewalk extension) removes cyclists’ ability to turn right on red lights after stopping. 

Across University, another wide “bulb-out” needlessly forces cyclists out into aggressive, rapidly turning traffic. At Milvia and University, still another concrete bulb-out complicates cyclists’ right turns. And at the mid-block crosswalk near the UC Theatre, two more wide bulb-outs infringe on cyclists’ paths. Violating the city’s past promises to cyclists, several of these bulb-outs are considerably wider than parked cars. 

There are two morals to this story. The first: If you see more cyclists riding on downtown sidewalks, please don’t blame the cyclists. Blame the city for taking away our right to use the road safely. 

The second moral is sadder: I suspect that everyone involved in planning these University Ave. changes had the best of intentions. (I’ve met some of these people; they genuinely wanted to make things better.) But good intentions and promises didn’t translate into safe designs or competent concrete pours. So everyone has ended up worse off: cyclists have a more hostile and dangerous downtown; city residents are paying higher taxes to fund these “Measure S” projects; and several downtown merchants lost business for months as construction dragged far behind schedule. 

The moral is that if we can’t make constructive, consensus-based changes, the best option may be no change at all. Too much planning is making Berkeley a dull, gridlocked, inaccessible city. 

Michael Katz 

Berkeley 

2700 San Pablo neighbors not NIMBYS, want lower building 

Editor: 

Amid all the comments about the proposed development at 2700 San Pablo, the opposition has been mischaracterized as being against affordable housing and against development. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. 

We would love to see the site developed and would welcome affordable housing – in fact, a development of all affordable housing would be appropriate. 

We do feel that care must be taken with the part of the site that has not been cleaned of toxics and that a three-story building would be welcomed by our community. 

Bob Kubik 

Berkeley 

Trying to find a place to park downtown before 5 p.m. is about as frustrating as a Rubik’s cube. 

And when the teenage drivers, some 200 employees of Berkeley High School and the thousands of UC Berkeley students and faculty go back to campus, the situation will just get worse. 

School District Superintendent Jack McLaughlin said the school board has until mid-November to solve the school’s tricky parking predicament. 

Currently, Berkeley High School is clearing a space for thirty cars at the corner of Milvia Street and Allston Way by moving the 16 portable buildings – brought in to replace the burned-out B building – to an area along Channing Way, which was formerly a parking lot. 

It will leave a dirt area parking space for roughly 30 cars at Milvia and Allston Way, and there is room for another 30 cars in front of the B building on Bancroft Way, McLaughlin said. 

However, these spaces will be used for construction needs, when the school’s two-year building project begins in November. The construction will include repair of the B building and building new classrooms and a library. 

That will leave the school with only the 75 parking spaces it has leased since the fire from area garages. 

Traffic engineer Jeff Knowles said he recently asked the School Board to put together a detailed list of how many spaces the school will need so a solution can be found.  

McClaughlin said he hopes he will have it by next week. 

But the problem is bigger than BUSD and the solution needs to be broader, city officials say. 

Councilmember Dona Spring says that downtown is reaching a “crisis level” and a partnership between the big four downtown employers – the School District, the U.S. Post Office, UC Berkeley and city – needs to be made to find an answer to alleviate the parking plight. 

“We’re at a peak capacity,” she said. “Our streets are really crowded. We need to start looking at an alternative.” 

Spring says that the four should work together to push for incentives to use public transportation and explore the possibility of shuttling employees.  

“The only way it would be affordable is if it were a partnership,” she said. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington concurs. He says that more should be done in support of public transit, and says the specific reasons why people drive to work should be looked at comprehensively. 

He said if the employers would consider providing day-care, for example, and transit passes, the amount of auto trips could be reduced. 

“This could be an excellent opportunity for all the employers to work together,” he said. 

Planning Commission Chair Rob Wrenn said the city is working on a Transportation Demand Management Study to explore possible solutions to the problem. 

Although the study’s not quite finished, Wrenn said that it concludes that building more parking is not necessary. 

He said the study found that encouraging use of public transportation and better use of existing parking would ease the crammed downtown. 

“Expanding parking within a four block radius of BART sends a message that the city wants people to drive.” 

He said that the TDM study calls for extending the “classpass” program for students, in which a student pays a small amount when they pay their fees, and receive a pass to use AC Transit for the semester. 

“The same principle could be applied to businesses,” he said. 

“A lot of the grumbling is that you can’t park right in front of where you’re going,” he said.  

He pointed out that a 1997 study showed that the city’s major lots are not fully utilized. 

McLaughlin says that he’s looking at ways to encourage public transportation, and said that the district is negotiating with Golden Gate fields to become a satellite lot that may be served by shuttles. 

“We’re looking to locate a place to shuttle,” he said. “It’s a real problem. We first have to negotiate with our employees. Maybe discounts or free BART tickets, but we have to look at the budget first.”

LOS ANGELES — Lisa Fithian marched, jogged, skipped and trudged more than 20 miles this week through the streets of Los Angeles. She pleaded with police officers. She cajoled angry, masked anarchists clad in black. She chanted into megaphones. 

By the end of the week, Fithian, a labor and community organizer, wasn’t tired. She was dancing. 

“We proved this week that the protests are not just a unique, one-time instance,” she said. “This is a new movement. We’re vigorous.” 

Thousands of demonstrators who spent the week of the Democratic National Convention marching in the streets and occasionally clashing with police said they got their message out and energized their movement, one that barely registered during the party’s last convention in Chicago. 

If there was one unified cause in Los Angeles, it was against police brutality. In many protesters’ eyes, that cause took on new meaning after Monday night, the first night of the convention, when police broke up a rally of thousands firing rubber bullets and pepper spray at the crowd. 

“We tamed the LAPD!” proclaimed Sarah “Seeds” Willner, 49, a veteran organizer from Berkeley, as she helped lead the week’s final march to the Los Angeles county jail Thursday. 

The demonstrators also proved their organization, she said, by setting up three to four marches each day of the four-day Democratic convention. 

“We were supposed to get knocked on our butts in L.A., that’s what the police wanted,” Willner said. “If delegates didn’t get the message, then at least the police did.” 

She also claimed a victory in the clash between police and the media after reporters claimed they were targeted by riot police wielding nightsticks and rubber-bullet guns. 

“The media coverage showed things from our point of view because the media was getting knocked around just like we were,” she said. 

The movement, while a continuation of activism that is an intrinsic part of U.S. history, was revitalized last year in Seattle when some 50,000 protesters took over the city center in opposition to World Trade Organization meetings being held there.  

Thousands of anti-globalization protesters again showed up in April in Washington when the International Monetary Fund and World Bank held their spring meetings, and protests also went on just weeks ago during the Republican Convention in Philadelphia. 

In Los Angeles, there were demonstrations for women’s rights, gay rights and youth rights. There were marches against police brutality, against U.N. sanctions imposed on Iraq, against global corporatization. And there were rallies, sometimes as many as 10 a day, where demonstrators with dozens of different causes joined together to chant slogans and listen to speeches. 

“There’s been a resurgence of protesting and activism,” said H. Eric Shockman, associate professor of political science at the University of Southern California and an expert on protest movements. 

“The means look very similar; the goals seem to be different,” he said. “I get a real sense we’re on the cusp of a very different paradigm when we’re looking at the connections of protest movements.” 

Justin Eckert, who watched a demonstration of about 2,000 people trudge through a traffic tunnel in Los Angeles, agreed. He said he was impressed by “a definite groundswell of movement.” 

But, in a concern that was expressed by other protesters, he said he feared the diversity was a drawback: With so many different causes, he doubted any particular message was getting out. 

“Obviously there are a lot of very passionate people here, but there’s no central message,” he said. “I’ve seen a sign for every extremist political cause there is marching past me.” 

David Bolog, who rode his bicycle in most of the demonstrations, said that while everyone has their own cause (his is to support the Green Party), all of the causes remained interrelated. 

On Thursday night, at the end of his last protest of the week, the 30-year-old masseuse from Santa Monica ran his fingers through his sweaty, spiked red hair and said he’s proud of what was accomplished at the convention. 

“By joining together, we were able to realize that there’s a lot more people who are concerned about the well being of this country than we, as caring individuals, originally thought,” he said. 

Alan Wolfe, a sociologist at Boston College, acknowledged that “something’s happening.” But he said the movement seemed passive, responding to events such as the Democratic National Convention rather than setting its own agenda of actions and protests. 

“It’s reacting, rather than taking the initiative,” he said.

It’s not quite big brother, but the Berkeley Unified School District is on the county’s “watch” list. 

That’s because the district’s budget has had insufficient funds on reserve, Alameda County Superintendent of Schools Sheila Jordan said Friday. 

“The district has been walking on the edge,” she said, underscoring that it is not in danger of being taken over by the county, whose job it is to oversee the budget. The situation is not that bad, she said.  

“We’re below the state requirement for 3 percent in reserves,” acknowledged Superintend Jack McLaughlin, noting that the district put a good chunk of its funds into teacher raises last school year. Berkeley teachers had been the lowest paid in the county. 

He added that the situation could change when the first-of-the-school year child count comes in and classified and administrative salary hikes are determined. 

Jordan said the watch list is a prudent measure. “We work on the prevention side,” she said. 

“We’re going to OK (Berkeley’s) budget.” 

Dublin, Oakland and San Leandro districts are also on the “watch” list. 

While Jordan said BUSD needs to be cautious in its expenditures, she lauded the Berkeley schools for its programs.  

“It’s not to say they’re not doing wonderful things,” she said, pointing to the city’s busing program which creates an economic mix in the elementary and middle schools and blunts the divide that might otherwise occur between the lower income flatlands’ children and the higher income hills’ children. Paying the bus drivers, however, is an expense, she said. 

Jordan also lauded Berkeley’s low class size, innovative programs and its ability to support curricula that emphasizes racial and cultural diversity without sacrificing academic achievement. 

She also noted that special education has a “big encroachment” on the regular education budget.  

Jordan, a union activist when she was a special education teacher some years ago, said she would not deny the teachers their raises. “They were at the very bottom,” she said. “They clearly needed the raise.” 

County staff will continue to work with Berkeley staff to see in what areas expenses can be pared down, she said, underscoring, however, that “We don’t tamper with a school board’s autonomy,” except in a situation as in Emeryville where the county advisor plays a greater role. 

That school district required a $600,000 county bailout in the last fiscal year. A county-appointed financial advisor will remain in the district until financial stability is assured. 

McLaughlin said he doesn’t mind being on the “watch list.” 

“As far as I’m concerned, all the districts should be on the watch list,” he said.

Saturday, August 19

“Wild about Books” 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Public Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

“Soap and Water, Please!” Bath time isn’t always the same old thing when “There’s a Hippo in My Bath!” Take a dip with Frog and Toad. 

Re-opening of the United  

Nations Association Info  

Center 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

1403 “B” Addison St. 

The volunteer-operated UN/UNICEF Center will celebrate its grand re-opening at its new location. 

849-1752 

Free Puppet Shows: Program  

on Physical and Mental  

Differences 

Two shows: 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

2230 Shattuck Ave., lower level 

Performed by The Kids on the Block, this educational puppet troupe promotes acceptance and understanding of physical and mental differences. For children all ages and their parents. Admission is free.  

549-1564 

Introduction to Tibetan  

Medicine 

7-9 p.m. 

Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists 

Cedar and Bonita streets 

Sponsored by the Nyerongsha Institute of Tibetan Medicine and Culture. 

$15, $10 for seniors and students 

415-386-8413 

Sunday, August 20 

Cuba from the Inside 

7 p.m. 

Berkeley Fellowship Hall 

Cedar and Bonita 

Benefit screening of Fidel: A New Documentary by Estela Bravo. Special guests will include Karen Wald, a Havana-based writer, journalist, teacher and foreign correspondent. 

Among the topics she will discuss are human rights, religion, health care, education, economics, race relations and US-Cuba relations. 

Sliding scale $10-$25 per person. 

“The Meditating CEO” 

4-5:30 p.m. 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church 

2727 College Ave.  

Arran Stephens, president of Nature’s Path organic foods and creator of Essene Bread, presents a free public talk and personal demonstration of meditation on the inner light and sound. 

635-2290 

Free Hands-on Bicycle Repair  

Clinics  

11:00 a.m. - noon 

REI  

1388 San Pablo 

Come learn how to fix your own bicycle. Bike technicians will teach a free one-hour clinic covering brake adjustments. Bring your bike. Tools and guidance provided. 

527-7377 

Oakland Art, Architecture and  

History by Bike 

10 a.m.  

Oakland Museum of California 

10th and Oak streets 

Oakland 

A leisurely paced 5.5 mile bike tour led by the museum’s bike-tripping docents, focusing on Oakland’s history and architecture. For reservations call 239-3514 

Tickets $2 

Family Workshop: “A Sense of  

Place” 

2-4 p.m.  

Oakland Museum of California 

10th and Oak streets 

Oakland 

Learn the ways artists have captured California’s natural beauty. A museum artist leads a workshop in creating landscape drawings inspired by your personal view of nature. Space is limited. Call for reservations. 

238-3818 

“Fictitious Marriage” 

2-4:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

What happens when an Israeli is mistaken for an Arab laborer? Eldad Natan is a quiet high school teacher from Jerusalem. As he sets out for a trip to New York, he suffers a mid-life crisis where he discards his identity as husband, father, Israeli and Jew. An insightful film which explores the ironies of Israel life and asks what defines us and binds us to one another. 

$2 suggested donation 

848-0237 

Monday, August 21

55 Alive Driving Class 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

With AARP. 

Admission fee $10.  

644-6107 

San Pablo Plan 

7-8:30 p.m. 

Frances Albrier Center 

San Pablo Park 

Community meeting with Councilmember Margaret Breland to hear about a strategic plan Breland has proposed for San Pablo Avenue and talk about how the neighborhood will be involved in the planning process. 

644-6400 

Tuesday, August 22

Meeting to address traffic  

concerns 

7:30-9:30 p.m. 

St. John’s Church 

2727 College Ave. 

First in a series of city-sponsored meetings addressing traffic concerns in the Ashby-College avenues area. 

665-3440 

Dr. Art’s Guide to Planet  

Earth 

7 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave. 

Dr. Art Sussman, author of “Dr. Art’s Guide to Planet Earth,” combines scientific demonstrations with audience participation to introduce easy-to-understand principles that explain how our planet works. 

Blood Pressure Measure 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

With Alice Meyers. 

644-6107 

Wednesday, Aug. 23

Disaster Committee 

7 p.m. 

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar Street 

Agenda includes a discussion led by Jeanne Perkins of Association of Bay Area Governments on a housing study by the Association of Bay Area governments and a discussion of disaster preparedness in the schools.

Out here in the Bay Area, one doesn’t often find a bayou, riverboat or streets named after distilled liquors. One can, however, find plenty of the music that fits these images – just like cayenne pepper goes with shrimp etouffee.  

“I’m from Eunice, Louisiana, and I was born and raised into that music,” says Danny Poullard, a fourth-generation Cajun musician and one of the elder statesmen of the Bay Area Cajun scene. “The Bay Area, I would say, probably has the biggest Cajun scene other than Louisiana. There’s a whole lot of adrenaline that goes through you when you play that music; it’s really dance music, a happy type of music and fun to dance to.” 

The seeds of Bay Area Cajun culture were planted on December 7, 1941, a day that will live in infamy. When Pearl Harbor catapulted the United States into World War II, Richmond quickly became one of the nation’s largest shipyards. Workers from around the nation traveled westward in search of jobs, many of them from the Louisiana area.  

While many of those original Cajuns are almost all gone, their influence is not forgotten.  

“Well, I’ve seen a dance in a ballroom that’s had 550 people in it have to turn away 100 people,” says Billy Wilson, a Cajun and Zydeco musician for the last 20 years. “That’ll give you an idea of the hardcore dance community in the Bay Area. In the Bay Area alone, there are probably 15 bands that can play this kind of music. I don’t think that exists anywhere other than Louisiana and here.” 

Cajun music’s solid roots in the Bay Area hearken back to the Semien brothers, Joe and Little John, who arrived in the 1940s. Playing at church dances and folk festivals, a young Poullard joined Little John’s band in the early ’60s as a bass player. Picking up tips from Little John and his own father, Poullard learned to play the accordion, and eventually fronted his own bands. Along with the Semien brothers, Poullard taught a number of local musicians his Cajun stylings, including Wilson.  

“What has really kept the culture alive is people who were not from Louisiana got interested in the music and dancing,” says Poullard. “They’ve brought things to where they are today.” 

Rather than playing solely to a Cajun crowd at church socials, today’s musicians play to large, diverse crowds at local festivals. One of the most established is the Cajun & More Festival at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, which is now in its 11th year.  

Scheduled for today at Center Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., this year’s lineup includes Danny Poullard & Friends, Gerard Landry and the Lariats (featuring Wilson on steel guitar), Johnny Harper’s Carnival and Wild Buds (with former Hot Tuna harmonica virtuoso Will Scarlett).  

“The Cajun crowd is the go-for-the-fun crowd,” says Berkeley Farmers’ Market co-manager Kirk Lumpkin, who is also the lead vocalist for Wild Buds. “It’s not like back when I played with the original rock scene when people would always kind of think ‘is this band cool enough that I might want to dance?’ With the Cajun crowd, on the first tune from the first band,  

they’re up and dancing. They’re there to have fun and dance.”  

Offsetting the down-home Cajun and Zydeco of Poullard and Landry (a Poullard disciple), Lumpkin has opened up the field with the “funky New Orleans R & B” of Johnny Harper and “West Coast Mardi Gras” of Wild Buds. 

Harper, the Carnival’s lead singer and guitarist, describes his six-piece band’s music as sounding a bit like The Meters, Dr. John and New Orleans legend Professor Longhair. Setting New Orleans R & B apart from your garden variety R & B is the centrality of the Caribbean-influenced piano and “second-line rhythm” in the percussion session.  

“In a New Orleans parade with a brass band and a bunch of drummers, the second line are people who are not part of the organized parade but are people from the community who come in and join because a parade is a good time to be had,” explains Harper, who used to strum with Poullard as a fill-in guitarist for the Louisiana Playboys 20-odd years back. 

“This adds a tremendous amount of rhythmic complexity and extra percussion.” 

Yet while the format of the Berkeley Farmers’ Market Cajun fest has changed a bit, the end goal is still the same: Have a good time.  

“It’s just fun music, you know?” says Landry. “It always puts you in a good mood.”

The East Bay Chapter of the United Nations Association Information and UNICEF Center is celebrating its re-opening today, next to the Berkeley Gray Panthers headquarters. 

The festivities will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1403 B Addison St. 

The 36-year-old chapter, dedicated to promoting the peace-keeping mission of the United Nations, was forced to leave its larger quarters because of rising rents, said Interim Director Mary Trampleasure.  

The chapter is “narrowing down to more of an advocacy role,” she said. 

Historically, the organization has lobbied the U.S. government to take a larger role in the United Nations and has raised money for the United Nations Children’s Fund by selling greeting cards, United Nations’ member flags and gifts from around the world. 

Trampleasure said that the volunteer organization just couldn’t afford to stay at the location at 1798 Shattuck Ave., where it had been for 10 years. The smaller space means the boutique will sell less merchandise.  

UNICEF cards and gifts, and United Nations-related items, such as books, flags and maps, will still be offered for sale, she said. 

“We don’t mind the smaller space,” she said. “It’s a perfect fit with the Gray Panthers. It’s good unity.” 

She said that the library will continue to be a “source of valuable information on current and historical U.N. topics.” 

Trampleasure said that the Gray Panthers couldn’t afford two rooms and offered the UNA a sub-lease of the adjacent room to their headquarters.  

The East Bay chapter of the organization began in 1964 when the American Association for the United Nations, a citizen-based organization led by Eleanor Roosevelt, merged with the U.S. Committee for the United Nations. 

Trampleasure said she has been with the organization since its local beginnings as a director and volunteer. 

The chapter is one of 175 nationwide and part of the worldwide UNA network in 70 countries.

A California-based animal rights group is doing what it can to force circuses to stop using elephants in their acts, even invoking the Endangered Species Act in its quest. 

At a press conference Thursday at the Oakland Zoo, PAWS, the Performing Animals Welfare Society, spoke out against the use and treatment of elephants in circus acts. They are taking legislative action against using elephants as well as suing Ringling Brothers’ circus to stop what they say is abuse of the animals.  

PAWS says that elephants in circuses pose a threat to trainers and audience members alike. They are supporting HR 2929, a bill to prohibit the use of elephants in traveling shows and elephant rides. HR 2929 is currently in the Crime Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee. 

PAWS claims that the public is at considerable risk from elephants in traveling shows because of the harsh training and the restrictive conditions the elephants endure. The problem is that there is no healthy way to house elephants in a traveling environment. This, says ex-elephant handler Tom Rider, is why elephants shouldn’t be allowed in circuses at all. 

“The reality is that unless you have a facility like (the Oakland Zoo), you can’t take elephants off restraints,” he said.  

PAWS is also bringing suit against Ringling Brothers circus claiming that they routinely violate the Endangered Species Act and the Animal Welfare Act in the training and handling of the elephants. 

Among charges filed, the complaint cites Ringling Brothers with the forcible removal of baby elephants from their mothers before the age of two and with the inhumane use of beatings and chains in training. These are in violation of the AWA, which states that “physical abuse shall not be used to train, work, or otherwise handle animals.” 

“At Ringling facilities, baby elephants are torn from their mothers at an unnaturally young age and subjected to harsh treatment,” says PAWS’ Director Pat Derby. “Both mothers and babies suffer greatly from the unnatural and unethical treatment imposed on them at these training facilities.” 

Feld Entertainment, the owners of Ringling Brothers, argues that there is no basis for the allegations made by PAWS. Their staff “consistently provides the highest standards in the hands-on care of all (their) animals,” they said in a statement issued Thursday. 

We are “outraged by the allegations contained in two lawsuits brought against the company,” the Feld statement said. “(We will) aggressively defend our good name and reputation.”  

Despite these claims by the circus, Derby hopes that the PAWS’s lawsuit will serve as a model for others to follow.  

“Our lawsuit is the first brought against a circus under the Endangered Species Act,” she said. “We hope it will be a pioneer for performing animals rights.”

Panthers join Bay Shore Athletic League, will face schools closer to their own enrollment. 

Well, it’s David versus Goliath no more. 

Beginning this in September, St. Mary’s College High School will join the new Bay Shore Athletic League (BSAL), which means it will be competing against schools as small as it is, rather than the huge schools it was matched against in the Alameda Contra Costa Athletic League (ACCAL) for the past decade. 

But according to St. Mary’s Athletic Director and head football coach Dan Shaughnessy, the old rivalries will still be present, just not necessarily during the regular season. 

“We still want to compete against the schools we’ve been playing for the past 10 years,” Shaughnessy said. “It’ll just have to be in non-league games.” 

Some of the old rivals came with St. Mary’s to the new league. Holy Names, Kennedy (Richmond), Albany, Piedmont and St. Joseph (Alameda) all made the switch, and all have similar enrollments to St. Mary’s, about 500-600 students. Also joining the BSAL are John Swett (Crockett), St. Patrick - St. Vincent (Vallejo) and Salesian. 

But St. Mary’s will no longer be obligated to play schools with gigantic student bodies, such as Berkeley High and El Cerrito High, which have two-to-three times more students than St. Mary’s. 

“We’ve always been a small school competing against larger schools,” Shaughnessy said. “Some of our sports were getting overwhelmed in league play, and this should help us get away from that. The new schools are much more aligned with our size.” 

The new schedules for St. Mary’s teams will be more of a reshuffling, putting the old league opponents into the non-league schedule in many sports. 

“We don’t necessarily want to break our ties with those big schools. We had real good competition with them, and we formed close bonds. Our games with them will still hold bragging rights for the winner,” Shaughnessy said. 

St. Mary’s football schedule, for instance, still contains El Cerrito and De Anza, but the Panthers will battle those teams early in the season as a warm-up for their league schedule. 

One of the new opponents will be St. Patrick-St. Vincent in Vallejo. Their athletic director said that the new league will be good for the teams and players, as the competition should be fierce. 

“It’ll be a very competitive atmosphere and our coaches like that,” said Andrew Strawbridge, who also coaches the men’s basketball team. “We look forward to it with great anticipation. In some sports, like football, we were being overmatched by the larger schools. 

“It’ll be good to play against schools that are similar to us as far as size.” 

The new league is more far-flung than the ACCAL, and the travel will be more demanding for both St. Mary’s athletes and their parents. St. Patrick-St. Vincent and John Swett are both farther away than any school in the old league. But Shaughnessy said travel shouldn’t get in the way of the teams winning or the parents seeing the games. 

“There shouldn’t really be any problems with transportation for the kids, and Mom and Dad will go to Cucamonga to see the kids play,” he said.

Big Mountain 

7:30 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave. 

Join the Berkeley Ecology Center, Diane Patterson and Green Eye Records Foundation for an evening of music, information and community.  

548-2220, ext. 233 

Opera: Idomeneo, Part 1 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

644-6107 

Monthly Birthday Party and  

Fish Fry Fund Raiser 

5-10 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth St.  

“John Turk and Friends” will supply music to dance to at this event sponsored by the WBSC Advisory Council. Admission is free, red snapper or catfish dinners are $10. 

644-6036 

Introduction to Tibetan  

Astrology 

7-9 p.m. 

Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists 

Cedar and Bonita streets 

Sponsored by the Nyerongsha Institute of Tibetan Medicine and Culture. 

$15, $10 for seniors and students 

415-386-8413 

“Wild about Books” 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Public Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

“Soap and Water, Please!” Bath time isn’t always the same old thing when “There’s a Hippo in My Bath!”  

Re-opening of the United  

Nations Association Info  

Center 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

1403 “B” Addison St. 

The volunteer-operated UN/UNICEF Center will celebrate its grand re-opening at its new location behind Andronico’s University Ave. Market. 

849-1752 

Free Puppet Shows: Program  

on Physical and Mental  

Differences 

Two shows: 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

2230 Shattuck Ave., lower level 

Performed by The Kids on the Block, this educational puppet troupe promotes acceptance and understanding of physical and mental differences. For children all ages and their parents. Free.  

549-1564 

Introduction to Tibetan  

Medicine 

7-9 p.m. 

Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists 

Cedar and Bonita streets 

Sponsored by the Nyerongsha Institute of Tibetan Medicine and Culture. 

$15 regular $10 for seniors and students 

415-386-8413 

Sunday, August 20 

Cuba from the Inside 

7 p.m. 

Berkeley Fellowship Hall 

Cedar and Bonita 

Benefit screening of Fidel: A New Documentary by Estela Bravo. Special guests will include Karen Wald, a Havana-based writer, journalist, teacher and foreign correspondent. 

Among the topics she will discuss are human rights, religion, health care, education, economics, race relations and US-Cuba relations. 

Sliding scale $10-$25 per person. 

“The Meditating CEO” 

4-5:30 p.m. 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church 

2727 College Ave.  

Arran Stephens, president of Nature’s Path organic foods and creator of Essene Bread, presents a free public talk and personal demonstration of meditation on the inner light and sound. 

635-2290 

Free Hands-on Bicycle Repair  

Clinics  

11:00 a.m. - noon 

REI  

1388 San Pablo 

Come learn how to fix your own bicycle. Bike technicians will teach a free one-hour clinic covering brake adjustments. Bring your bike. Tools and guidance provided. 

527-7377 

Oakland Art, Architecture and  

History by Bike 

10 a.m.  

Oakland Museum of California 

10th and Oak streets 

Oakland 

A leisurely paced 5.5 mile bike tour led by the museum’s bike-tripping docents, focusing on Oakland’s history and architecture. For reservations call 239-3514 

Tickets $2 

Family Workshop: “A Sense of  

Place” 

2-4 p.m.  

Oakland Museum of California 

10th and Oak streets 

Oakland 

Learn the ways artists have captured California’s natural beauty. A museum artist leads a workshop in creating landscape drawings inspired by your personal view of nature. Space is limited. Call for reservations. 

238-3818 

“Fictitious Marriage” 

2-4:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

What happens when an Israeli is mistaken for an Arab laborer? Eldad Natan is a quiet high school teacher from Jerusalem. As he sets out for a trip to New York, he suffers a mid-life crisis where he discards his identity as husband, father, Israeli and Jew. An insightful film which explores the ironies of Israel life and asks what defines us and binds us to one another. 

$2 suggested donation 

848-0237 

55 Alive Driving Class 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst and MLK Jr. Way 

With AARP. 

Admission fee $10.  

644-6107

Elk-eater should fight crime and poverty, not radioactivity 

Editor: 

Once again, the Daily Planet published a letter from a member of the cult of radiophobes who constantly warns us of the danger of radioactivity. This time a member retold the urban legend of a person who became contaminated by eating elk in Northern Canada. Apparently, this elk-eater kept tripping off radioactive alarms wherever he went. 

Unfortunately, we never learned from the cultist, why the grass in Canada makes people radioactive, while the grass here does not. Also, I wonder where the elk-eater traveled to trip off so many radioactive alarms. At work, I see radioactive monitors; during my travels, I have never seen any.  

Maybe, this legendary elk-eater journeys to other lands than you and I. 

It is fun to have urban legends. We all enjoy the tale of the two youngsters, whose braces get stuck together while kissing. However, it is not a joke when these cultists, who will believe anything bad about radioactivity, convince the Berkeley City Council to spend taxpayers money and time to protect us against these urban legends. It is sad that they divert resources in our community against things such as fighting poverty and crime. 

Howard Matis  

Nuclear Physicist 

Oakland

After enduring yet another arson fire early Saturday morning, the School Board put off a decision to approve the installation of security cameras, which some say could deter such mayhem and protect the students at Berkeley High. 

Superintendent Jack McLaughlin told the board Wednesday night that he didn’t expect them to vote on the matter without more details on exactly how the cameras would be used, how much they would cost and what the ramifications would be.  

“I need more details... we need a very clear policy,” said Board Vice President Terry Doran. “Is there precedent for this, and what is the feeling within the schools that use them?” 

McLaughlin said he would have a detailed policy for the board next week. 

“My concern is the security at the school and the feelings of students at the school. I wouldn’t want a system that would keep kids from acting like kids,” Doran said. 

Newly sworn-in Student Director Niles Xi ‘an Lichtenstein echoed Doran’s comments and asked that a dialogue be opened with the students so they could have a voice in the matter. 

“The cameras may give the feeling that school is becoming more of a controlled area than what school should be,” he said. “There should be communication with the students to find a comfort level.”  

He added that it may prove costly, not just for the installation and use, but because the “Big Brother” atmosphere the cameras could create may make them targets for vandalism. 

“Students would be prone to break the cameras in the hallways, because they represent a symbol of oppression,” he said. 

He added that the cameras might make underclassmen feel a little safer in the hallways. 

“I remember what it was like being a freshman, and being intimidated by the older kids,” he said. 

Speaking in favor of the cameras, School Board President Joaquin Rivera said the cameras would act as a watchful eye on student behavior. The point is to have an aid in investigations and a deterrent for the firestarters and vandals, he said. 

“We’re not putting in the cameras to monitor the students,” he said. “We want to make sure that Berkeley High is a safe place and we want to deter any activity that may harm students.” 

“The truth is security cameras are already everywhere,” he said. 

University of California scientists say the northern half of the Hayward Fault that runs beneath the east San Francisco Bay area may not be as dangerous as previously thought. 

However, they caution the findings don’t reduce the risk of earthquake from that fault and others crisscrossing the region. 

“The hazard is still high,” said U.S. Geological Service scientist David Schwartz. “The shaking doesn’t care where a line on the map is drawn.” 

The new findings, published Thursday in Science magazine, stem from research by UC Berkeley geophysicist Roland Burgmann. Using new measuring techniques, Burgmann and his team concluded that the northern section of the Hayward Fault is moving at about the same rate at the surface and deep underground. 

That means there isn’t the kind of pressure buildup that can result in a catastrophic earthquake. 

The Hayward Fault stretches more than 60 miles and is a branch of the San Andreas Fault. The northern segment begins at the Oakland/Berkeley border and ends in San Pablo Bay. 

Last year, a statewide team of seismologists estimated a 32 percent chance of a major earthquake originating somewhere on the Hayward Fault in the next 30 years. A major quake is one of magnitude 6.7 or greater. 

Looking at the northern half of the fault separately, the team calculated a risk of 16 percent. That figure is unchanged because it took into account the findings by Burgmann’s team, which included scientists from the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC-Davis. 

“In terms of the need for people to be prepared for earthquakes and retrofit their house, this study doesn’t make a difference at all,” Burgmann said. 

The focus of the study, Burgmann said, was the high-tech methods used to study earthquake mechanics. The team used data from satellites measuring ground motion to determine movement of the fault within a few millimeters. They combined that with analysis of microquakes, tremors too small to be felt that indicate movement miles below ground. 

Scientists concluded that the northern segment of the Hayward Fault is slipping underground at a rate of about 5 to 7 millimeters per year, about the same as it does at the surface. 

——— 

On the Net: A radar image of the area around the Hayward fault, http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/download/2000/08/pub5.html

Another arson at Berkeley High School doesn’t bode well for the coming school year, just two weeks away. 

Superintendent Jack McLaughlin said that Saturday morning around 3:40 a.m. someone dumped a flammable fluid through a window screen at the Boys Gym on Milvia Street then tossed a road flare inside to ignite it. 

Deputy Fire Chief Debra Pryor said that the fire occurred in the weight room, and that it scorched a wall, damaged a floor and burned athletic matting. 

She estimated that the fire caused around $26,000 damage. 

She said that the damage, mainly the matting, was valued at $1,000, while the property damage – the floors and walls – was valued at $25,000. 

“The water and smoke damage was pretty significant,” she said. 

The automatic sprinklers extinguished the fire before the Fire Department arrived, she said. 

McLaughlin remained upbeat and said that the school’s doors will open as planned Aug. 30. 

“It might set us back for a moment,” he said. “But we’re moving on and we’ll open up school and get going.” 

“It’s tough, but we’re doing the best we can,” he said. 

The school hasn’t recovered from the April 12 fire that did $2 million in damage to the Administration Building 

That fire forced district officials to set up a colony of portables so students could finish out the year. 

Sixteen of those portables will still be in use when school starts, McLaughlin said. 

Construction for a new library, classrooms and student union will begin in November. 

And construction will also begin in November to repair the fire damaged B Building. Until construction is complete, he said students will have to use the portables. 

McLaughlin said that two security guards on duty Saturday morning said they heard the alarms but did not see the arsonist. 

Robbery appears to be the motive in the shooting murder of Dwight Cornell Garland, 34, of Berkeley early Wednesday morning, Berkeley Police say. 

Lt Russell Lopes said that the man, well known to the area, was “just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” 

“Everything appears to be a robbery,” Lopes said. “He was a true victim in every sense of the word.” 

Police were responding to a report of a shooting at the apartment building in the 1200 block of Haskell Street at 12 minutes past midnight. Lopes said Garland was shot and killed standing in the driveway of the building. 

He was taken to Highland hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. 

Lopes said that there are currently no suspects. 

This was Berkeley’s third homicide this year. 

***** 

A break-in and robbery of the Wicked store at 2431 Telegraph Ave. Monday night looks like the work of professional thieves, police say. 

Lt. Russell Lopes said that the robbers broke in through a skylight, disabled the alarm system and video cameras and stole over 300 blown glass smoking pipes worth over $40,000. 

“It’s a professional job,” he said. 

He said the burglary wasn’t discovered until the business opened the next morning and that there are currently no suspects.