The City Council heard arguments from corporate representatives Tuesday who want to place 12 telecommunications antennae on the roof of the Oaks Theater and from neighbors who say the installations are unattractive and pose a health threat. 

The Zoning Adjustments Board approved a permit allowing Nextel Communications to install 12 antennae on the roof of the theater at 1861 Solano Ave. in November. Neighbors appealed the permit and the City Council held a public hearing to listen to arguments for and against it. The public hearing will continue at the council’s Feb. 27 meeting. 

The Telecommunication Act of 1996 prohibits any municipality from regulating the antennae for health reasons.  

“We can only consider the appearance of the antennae,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington who supports increased access to new technology such as cell phones. “I think there are reasonable ways to protect neighbors without wiping out access to new technology.” 

The placement of wireless communications antennae that support cell phone use has become an issue in Berkeley as the number of installations increases along with worries about health threats posed by the radio wave radiation the antennae emit. 

Sprint PCS recently withdrew an application to place several antennae on the roof of the Jewish Community Center on Walnut Street. Center directors decided against the antennae after they held a meeting in which members, mostly parents, expressed worries about harmful effects from antennae emissions. The JCC offers a variety of children’s programs. 

After listening to community concerns, the City Council adopted an emergency 45-day moratorium on all new wireless antennae on Dec. 19. It expires at the end of the month. 

Even though the city cannot regulate the antennae for health reasons, worries about radiation emissions are the main concern of neighbors. 

Neighbors of the theater cite recent studies in the United Kingdom claiming a growing body of evidence that exposure to radio wave radiation, associated with cell phone use and their supporting antennae, are potentially harmful, especially to children. The United Kingdom has recently launched a public awareness campaign geared to reducing cell phone use among children and teenagers. 

Dr. Jerrold T. Bushberg, a specialist in radiation biology and health physics hired by Nextel, told the council that there is no scientific evidence that wireless antennae are harmful. “This is a learning process,” he said. “There are scientists and commissions that have literally put years of study into these cases and I encourage people to consult as much scientific literature as possible.” 

Dr. Leonard Schwarzburd, who lives near the theater and opposes the antennae installation, said he puts very little faith in governing bodies and regulatory commissions.  

“They are asking us to trust the same regulatory commissions that gave us the Ford Pinto, Firestone tires and the PG&E energy crisis,” Schwarzburd said Wednesday. “There is a long history of these bodies failing the public.” 

Bushberg agreed that scientists have been wrong. “The best minds come to the wrong conclusions,” he said. “But if you look at history, they’ve been right a great deal more than they’ve been wrong.” 

Mayor Shirley Dean said the public hearing raised more questions than it answered. She said the council can’t consider health risks from the antennae but it may be able to consider the cumulative emission levels of other antennae in the area. 

“It is still unclear what the cumulative radiation levels are and just how we calculated them,” she said. 

There are several antennae installed and operating on the roof of the office building at 1760 Solano Ave. about a block from the Oaks Theater. 

The City Council will hold a special meeting on Jan. 30 to determine if the emergency moratorium should be extended. In order to continue the moratorium, seven of nine councilmembers will have to vote to approve the item, which was instituted as an emergency, necessitating the supermajority vote.  

“I am very reluctant to support the moratorium as it exists now,” Worthington said. “I think it is too extreme to stop all antennae installation citywide when there are areas where everybody agrees its a good thing.” 

Thursday, Jan. 25

Spirits in the Time of AIDS 

6 - 8 p.m. 

Pro Arts Gallery  

461 Ninth St.  

Oakland 

Pro Arts reception for the opening of their new exhibition seeking to expand the understanding of HIV and AIDS and the people who are affected by them.  

Call 763-9425 

Free “Quit Smoking” Class 

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis (at Ashby)  

Cease your smoking with the help of this free class offered to Berkeley residents and employees. 

Call 644-6422 to enroll or e-mail quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

West Berkeley Project Area Commission  

7 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth St.  

Review of the initial environmental study and recommendation on a request for establishment of a public market. Also, consideration of a petition requesting that diagonal parking and parking meters not be installed on Fifth St. 

Climbing Mt. Everest  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Bob Hoffman, organizer and leader of four environmental cleanup expeditions on Everest, will give a slide presentation. Free 

Call 527-4140 

Duomo Readings Open Mic 

6:30 - 9 p.m. 

Cafe Firenze  

2116 Shattuck Ave.  

With featured poet Glenn Ingersoll and host Louis Cuneo.  

644-0155 

Women in Salsa  

8 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave.  

Orquesta D’Soul, a San Francisco based band, is hosting this benefit featuring the musical talents of local bay area women in salsa.  

$8 in advance, $10 at the door 

Call 849-2568 or visit  

www.lapena.org 

West Berkeley Project Area  

Commission  

7 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth St.  

Discussions will include review of the initial environmental study and recommendations on a request to establish a public market. Also, consideration of a petition requesting that diagonal parking and parking meters not be installed on Fifth St. 

Take the Terror Out of  

Talking 

12:10 - 1:10 p.m. 

Department of Health Services  

2151 Berkeley Way  

State Health Toastmasters Club is hosting an open house to celebrate Toastmasters International Week and to kick-off the start of “Speechcraft,” a six-session workshop to help participants overcome nervousness and learn basic public speaking skills. 649-7750 

Middle East Crisis Teach-In  

7 p.m. 

2040 Valley Life Sciences 

UC Berkeley  

Ben Klafter of the San Francisco Israel Center, Zack Bodner, deputy director, AIPAC, Leeron Kaley, AIPAC student liaison, and Randy Barnes, UC Berkeley undergraduate. Sponsored by the Israel Action Committee.  

Housing Advisory  

Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St.  

Zoning Adjustments Board  

7 p.m. 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

Second Floor Council Chamber 

Friday, Jan. 26 

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program. 549-2970  

 

“The Aftermath of the  

National Election” 

11:45 a.m. luncheon 

12:30 p.m. speaker  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

Susan Rasky, senior lecturer at the graduate school of journalism at UC Berkeley will speak.  

$11 - $12.25 with luncheon, $1 with coffee, students free 848-3533 

 

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or  

visit www.stagebridge.org 

 

Crisis in Colombia 

7 p.m. 

Berkeley UU Fellowship Hall  

1924 Cedar (at Bonita)  

Peter Dale Scott, UC Berkeley professor and Daniel de la Pava, of the Colombia Support Network will, will discuss the U.S. role in perpetuating the violence and how to organize to help.  

$5 - $10 donation requested  

Call 704-9608 

 

Yiddish Conversation  

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave.  

With Allen Stross 

Call 644-6107 

---

Saturday, Jan. 27

 

Clori, Tirsi & e Fileno 

8 p.m. 

Crowden School  

1475 Rose St. (at Sacramento) 

Teatro Bacchino, the Bay Area’s Baroque Opera company, will be performing Handel’s story of jealousy in love. Pre-concert talk 45 minutes before the performance.  

$15 - $20 658-3382  

 

Cuddly, Soft, Furry Things & Friends 

10 - 10:50 a.m. & 11:10 a.m. - Noon  

Lawrence Hall of Science  

UC Berkeley  

A special workshop for two - three year-olds to meet, pet, and feed rabbits, doves, and snakes.  

$22 - $25, $10 for additional family members, registration required  

Call 642-5134 

 

Book Publishing Seminar 

10 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

Regent Press 

6020-A Adeline St.  

Mark Weiman presents an overview of the business of book publishing oriented towards the author considering self-publication. Call 547-7602 or e-mail: regent@sirius.com 

 

Free Tae-Bo Classes for Adults  

10 - 10:45 a.m.  

Frances Albrier  

Community Center  

San Pablo Park 

2800 Park St. 644-8515 

 

Free Martial Arts Classes  

for Kids  

11:15 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Frances Albrier  

Community Center  

San Pablo Park  

2800 Park St.  

Classes taught by Michael Johnson, a fourth degree black belt. Ages 5 - 7, 11:15 a.m. - Noon; Ages 8 - 12, 12:15 p.m. - 1 p.m.; Ages 13 to adults, 1:15 p.m. - 2 p.m. 644-8515 

 

One-Day Travel Careers Class 

8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. 

Vista College  

2020 Milvia St.  

Room 210 

Learn about new employment opportunities in travel in the 21st century. Class will include a look at salaries, travel benefits, necessary education and preparation required. Bring payment by check to the class.  

$5.50 for California residents 

Call Marty de Souto, 981-2931  

 

Intuitive Healing 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

1502 Tenth St.  

Marcia Emery, Ph.D., will discuss the deeper meaning of illness, the way to tune into any body part to heal it and your intuitive X-ray or body scan ability. 

$85 Call 526-5510 

 

“Arab-Jewish Co-Existence: Reality and  

Challenges Ahead” 

1 - 2:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Hillel 

2736 Bancroft  

Walid Mula, an Arab-Israeli educator and activist who specializes in training and facilitating dialogue groups and educating for co-existence between Arabs and Jews, will speak and discuss. All are welcome at this free event.  

E-mail: israeloncampus@hotmail.com 

 

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

 

---

Sunday, Jan. 28

 

Clori, Tirsi & e Fileno 

7 p.m. 

Crowden School  

1475 Rose St. (at Sacramento) 

Teatro Bacchino, the Bay Area’s Baroque Opera company, will be performing Handel’s story of jealousy in love. Pre-concert talk 45 minutes before the performance.  

$15 - $20  

Call 658-3382  

 

Reimagining Pacific Cities  

6 - 8:30 p.m. 

New Pacific Studio  

1523 Hearst Ave.  

“How are Pacific cities reshaping their cultural and environmental institutions to better serve the needs and enhance the present and future quality of life of all segments of their societies?” A series of ten seminars linking the Bay Area, Seattle, Portland, and other pacific cities.  

$10 per meeting  

Call 849-0217 

 

Finns in Berkeley and Co-op Beginnings 

3 - 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Historical Society  

1931 Center St.  

A panel discussion on Finnish and Co-op history and on the Consumers Cooperative of Berkeley.  

$10 donation  

Call 848-0181 

 

Mediterranean Plant Life 

3:30 p.m. 

UC Botanical Garden  

200 Centennial Drive  

Peter Dallman, author of “Plant Life in the Mediterranean Regions of the World,” will motivate attendees to look closely at California native plants and experiment with dramatic and drought-tolerant species in their own gardens.  

Call 643-2755  

 

Rhythm & Muse Open Mike 

2 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Museum, Conference Room 

2621 Durant (at Bowditch)  

Poet Katharine Harer and jazz guitarist Joe Vance.  

Call 527-9753 

 

“Reclaim the Streets Wants You!” 

5 p.m. 

The Long Haul 

3124 Shattuck Ave.  

RTS invites you to an evening of videos, brainstorming, and Action planning. Anyone interested in helping with future actions or in learning more about RTS is encouraged to attend. Dinner and party will follow. Free  

Call 415-820-9658  

 

Unitarian Universalism at Millennial Transition 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists  

1606 Bonita St. (at Cedar St.)  

Paul Sawyer, long-time Berkeley activist and former minister at the Berkeley Fellowship and Dr. Cary Wang will speak.  

Call 841-3477  

 

---

Monday, Jan. 29

 

Poetry with Nancy Wilson 

2 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call 644-6107 

 

Starving For Love? 

7 - 9 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Keith Braselton invites you to experience love all the time and claims he can show you how.  

Call 707-435-5425 

 

Homeless Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave.  

 

---

Tuesday, Jan. 30

 

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

Call Wade, 531-8664 

 

Digital Photography  

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Allen Stross 

Call 644-6107 

 

Free! Early Music Group  

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

A small group who sing madrigals and other voice harmonies. Their objective: To enjoy making music and building musical skills.  

Call Ann 655-8863 or e-mail: ann@integratedarts.org 

 

Opening of Thousand Oaks Elementary School 

5 p.m. 

Thousand Oaks Multipurpose Room  

840 Colusa  

The ribbon-cutting will take place at 5 p.m. and tours will follow the ceremony.  

 

---

Wednesday, Jan. 31

 

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra  

8 p.m. 

Zellerbach Hall  

UC Berkeley  

Featuring “Berkeley Images,” a world premiere by Jean-Pascal Beintus.  

$10 - $35  

Call 841-2800 

 

Conversations in Commedia 

7:30 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave. (at Prince) 

Mime Troupe vet and St. Stupid’s Day creator, Ed Holmes, and 84-year-old Bari Rolfe, a mime for over 30 years, give dialogues on satire.  

$6 - $8  

Call 849-2568 

 

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

 

Berkeley High Poetry Slam  

6:30 p.m.  

Berkeley High School  

2246 Milvia St., Room G-210 

A preliminary round for the regional poetry slams sponsored by youth speaks.  

 

Human Welfare & Community Action Commission 

7 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St.  

 

Disabled with service dogs don’t have to reveal disability  

Editor:  

Robert Lauriston’s letter to the Planet of Jan. 17, 2001 is ludicrous.  

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) states clearly that it is a violation of the ADA to ask a person “What is your disability?” or “What is the nature of your disability?” No documentation of the disability is required.  

Many people with hidden disabilities have service animals. I personally know people who use service animals to guide them, to alert them and to carry objects for them. Among these disabilities are people with low vision, post polio, decreased hearing, physical instability, chronic dizziness, early stages of multiple sclerosis, seizures, fibronyalgia, decreased spacial awareness, and some developmental disabilities.  

You cannot tell by looking at any person whether they have a hidden disability. Nor, under the ADA, does anyone with a hidden disability have to reveal their disability when asked. And, by definition, any person with a mental or physical impairment that substantially limits major life activities is considered disabled.  

It follows then that Michael Miniasian does not have to “prove” that he has a disability or reveal it. All we need to know is that he says he is disabled and that his dog, King, is a service animal. That’s the law.  

The challenges of dealing with ignorance is the most difficult disability we face. I sincerely hope that Mr. Lauriston never develops a disability - hidden or obvious. Because, if he does, he will have to eat his words.  

Karen Craig 

Co-Chair, Commission on Disability 

Anti-inaugural protest holds hope 

Editor:  

Bush gives an anti-abortion rights ruling the first day in office. He nominates right wingers to the cabinet, and there is a repressive police presence at his inaugural. The signals are for a grim future, but then there are the signals given off by the anti-inaugural protest demonstration in San Francisco this past Saturday.  

The behavior and composition of Saturday’s massive march is something this old Berkeleyan has not seen since the Vietnam war and Cal’s FSM demonstrations. Demos in the 1980s and 1990s featured “the usual suspects” among whom I guess I am one. We used to come in organized contingents that supplied pre-made signs and we shouted clichés. This Saturday’s crowd had a flood of home made signs, very few “leaders,” and few specific contingents.  

Personal rather than ideological feelings marked many signs, such as “Hope my First Vote Counts,” and “We Wuz Robbed by King George the Turd.” The people with bull horns skipped the united people never being defeated cheer and instead had us chanting, “Cocaine, DUI, Bush ain’t got no alibi. He’s stupid. He’s stupid.” 

After the march from civic center to Jefferson Square about a thousand people turned back toward downtown in a spontaneous, no-permit march that took over Van Ness and then Market Street. At Powell and Market Street, there was a half-hour long spontaneous break dancing contest to rave music blaring from a demonstrator’s boom box. Later the cable car turnaround was filled with demonstrators who made it a twirling merry-go-round, until police stepped in, at which point another original cheer was heard, “Whose merry-go-round thingy? - Our merry-go-round thingy!” 

All in all, this was a happy multi-racial, multi-aged crowd, one that will probably come back for more protests.  

Ted Vincent  

Berkeley 

Answer to BHS lunch problem: build a cafeteria 

The Daily Planet received this letter addressed to Mayor Shirley Dean: 

This letter is regarding the large number of BHS students in the downtown area at lunchtime and their negative impact on the area.  

As a retired High School counselor, I suggest the solution is having an adequate cafeteria right on campus and keeping the kids on campus.  

Your idea of "Working with the High School on a code of conduct and ways to commit the students to more positive behavior," is a hopeless idea.  

Jay Wagner  

Berkeley 

Poems can be protest 

Editor: 

How did I spend this Inauguration Day after spending Bill Clinton’s special days in 1993 and 1997 waving my United Nations flag among the tens of thousands on the Mall? I didn’t seem to need to be among the George W. protesters in San Francisco or D.C. 

I know! Since the best thing about both of those events was Maya Angelou reading her poem “On the Pulse of Morning,” I spent 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. downtown between BART and the Farmer’s Market giving people a chance to read or hear her still inspiring and very much-needed words.  

My sometimes Berkeley Daily Planet cart, my UN flag and my Berkeley Millennium Peace Bell seem like good ways to attract attention to Maya’s still beautiful words of hope.  

Bill Trampleasure 

Berkeley 

Spend funds on housing not hotels 

Editor: 

Like many others I have spent some time homeless in Berkeley as an unsuccessful gutter poet and painter. I’ve got a lot of opinions but I have one creative one: I went to the City Council meetings last winter to see about a hotel voucher for the homeless issue. I was a bit too frightened by the cameras and people to talk but I think it’s stupid to think that tens of thousands of dollars is granted so that a homeless person can stay in a hotel a few nights with a referral. Sounds like a good plan for some one with a hotel.  

Berkeley is my favorite place in the United States and I think it’s very advanced with its own order to it. If that money could be organized into low maintenance housing instead of stuffed up shelters. This is all I asked for as a teenage panhandler there. I wanted a closet to store my stuff and sleep safely, and a order of dollar Chinese everyday.  

Berkeley has a very warm and tolerant way of dealing with things but I think there is potential to make things better. Homelessness is becoming obsolete but there isn’t much of an alternative for people who aren’t stable enough to pay $500 a month for rent.  

My point is grant money going to hotels is wasteful and no solution to the problem. 

-dZel 

Berkeley 

The prevailing wisdom in the BSAL boys’ soccer league is that there are three top teams, and everyone else scraps for wins at the bottom. But that perception is changing with every game St. Joseph’s plays. 

The Pilots are 1-3 in league play after losing 2-1 at St. Mary’s on Wednesday, but they have played much better than their record indicates. They lost to league-leading Kennedy earlier this week by just one goal, and St. Mary’s scored their winning goal on Wednesday in injury time. St. Joseph’s head coach Jason Eisele feels his team is ready to take a run at the big boys of the league. 

“We’re going to be in the playoffs, and we’re going to do some damage,” Eisele said. “We’re going to upset someone in the playoffs, I promise.” 

Eisele’s team plays the last of the big three, Piedmont, on Friday. A St. Joseph’s victory would clinch a first-round playoff bye for St. Mary’s (5-0-1 BSAL) as one of the top two finishers in the BSAL. St. Mary’s will face off against undefeated Kennedy on Friday in a game that will likely determine the regular-season champ. 

St. Mary’s head coach Teale Matteson said he wasn’t surprised that the Pilots were able to give his team such a tough game. 

“I got a game tape of the St. Joe’s-Kennedy game, and they’re a strong team,” Matteson said. “We knew we were in for a dogfight today.” 

Wednesday’s game was a tense, physical affair, as the Pilots came out determined to make their mark. But St. Mary’s had most of the early chances with quick runs down the sidelines for crosses. A Stephon McGrew cross went just over forward Patrick Barry’s head, then McGrew controlled a loose ball in front of the goal, only to hit his shot straight at Pilot goalkeeper Chris Goin. Barry took advantage of a turnover to hit yet another cross, but Goin got just enough of the ball to tip it past an outstretched McGrew. 

But once the Pilots got their offense going, they put serious pressure on the tentative St. Mary’s outside defenders. Right fullback Alex Tapp turned the ball over in his own end, and Panther ’keeper Nick Osborne made a fine save on the quick shot by Victor Ramirez, tipping the ball over the crossbar. 

But the ensuing St. Joseph’s corner kick spelled disaster for the Panthers. Jeffrey Gonzalez found a wide-open Ian Mason at the near post, and Mason flicked the ball over Osborne to give the Pilots a 1-0 lead in the 31st minute. 

The intensity of the game rose from there, with both teams going into tackles and 50-50 balls with abandon. The Pilots stayed on the attack, hitting through balls that Osborne was barely able to corral. St. Mary’s midfielder Zack Huddleston had an open look from a counter-attack, but shot just over the bar. 

St. Joseph’s David Gordon had the final opportunity of the half, taking the ball wide and slotting the ball just wide across the goalmouth. Again, the shot came from a St. Mary’s turnover, this time by defender Remik Starkharper. 

The Panthers came out of halftime with one thing on their minds: a tying goal. They sent attacks at the St. Joseph’s goal in waves, with Barry and McGrew in the middle of most moves. Barry finally finished a scoring chance in the 42nd minute, taking a clever pass from left fullback Sean Rogan and slipping it calmly past Goin to tie the score. 

Barry got another chance two minutes later, breaking free of the defense only to be stopped by an aggressive charge by Goin. Pilot forward Andrew Snider answered with a breakaway of his own, but Osborne made a diving save to keep the score knotted. 

McGrew and Barry continued to pepper Goin with shots, but were unable to finish any chances. An over-aggressive Osborne nearly handed St. Joseph’s a go-ahead goal in the 65th minute, charging out of his goal only to have a throw-in sail over his head and across the goal, but no one was home for the Pilots, and the ball trickled meekly into the touchline. 

With a minute remaining in regulation, McGrew juked two defenders and was wide open inside the box. But Goin was equal to the task, diving to his left for an outstanding save that could have meant the game. 

Barry waited all of a minute to set up McGrew’s next chance. The lanky senior drifted down the left side, then streaked past two Pilot defenders to come free at the baseline. He surveyed the scene in front of him, then hit a grounder just out of Goin’s reach. Forward Kyle Low just missed the ball, but McGrew was at the far post and easily put the ball into the back of the net. 

“I felt just wonderful when I scored, but it was a sense of relief too,” Mcgrew said. “It was a great way to end it.” 

But the game wasn’t over, and St. Mary’s had to endure two more scares. Ramirez somehow got a breakaway, but hit the ball right at Osborne. But the Panthers couldn’t clear the ball from their zone, and Gonzalez found himself open at the top of the box with the ball at his feet. His shot was headed for the upper left corner of the goal, but Osborne covered it with ease just before the final whistle. 

Eisele said those unconverted chances were typical of his team’s season. 

“If we just start converting, we’ll start winning,” he said. “We’ve been coming so close this year.”

Both the School Board and City Council embraced a proposal by parents Wednesday night to intervene on behalf of ninth-grade students failing classes their first semester at Berkeley High School.  

The city government’s affirmation of the proposal added muscle to the partnership between parents and educators to create a system to serve struggling students.  

In a 4-1 vote, with School Board Vice President Shirley Issel dissenting, the board adopted the plan, created by a group called Parents of Children of African Dissent, which would place students that are failing both math and English into intensive courses with a low student-teacher ratio. In addition to the new courses, struggling students will be targeted with an aggressive attendance policy, and parents and mentors will keep a close eye on their progress by means of regular teacher contact. 

As of the 15th week of the school year, 242 ninth graders are likely to fail at least one core class, English or math, in their first-semester. Eighty-three students are failing both English and math. The parents hoped to serve as many of the students as possible with the smaller student-teacher ratio by Jan. 30, the beginning of the new semester, in order to prevent students from falling even further behind.  

An overview of resources available at Berkeley High School found that although the school offers many programs, students are not accessing them, such as an after school program to assist failing students with algebra and English and lunchtime math tutorials.  

Board President Terry Doran wanted to make certain that new resources for a new program would not join that list. “Will the PCAD program tie the kids that need the help with the help we already have?” he asked. 

Principal Frank Lynch said it would, “unequivocally.”  

“It’s risky because it’s new,” Lynch said . “The one thing that sells this program is the parent support.” Lynch said regardless of the mechanics of a program, the most important aspect is parental involvement. Because of that, the PCAD program has unprecedented prospects for  

success “if these parents can turn the light on to other parents,” he said. 

Parents asked for $225,000 to hire teachers for about 180 of the 242 failing students they estimated would participate in the program. Lynch and the Berkeley High administrative staff recommended the plan be adopted for a smaller number of students – those 60 to 80 students failing two or more classes – with the possibility for further expansion. The school offered six classroom spaces and three teachers for the reduced class size program. The school board offered to pay for another three salaried teachers out of the general fund.  

Lynch said he thought finding qualified teachers on such short notice, especially during a teacher shortage would be a major barrier. PCAD members said they already have 26 resumes submitted from interested parties. 

One important part of the plan involves “learning partners” to follow the students’ progress and demand success. The role that learning partners would play in the program was not mentioned explicitly at the school board meeting, although parent Valerie Yerger said they hoped to take advantage of an existing mentor program, the Link Program, which partners seniors with freshmen to help them ease into Berkeley High. 

After more than an hour of vociferous and sometimes angry testimony from parents of African-American students in the Berkeley school system, Issel expressed her feeling that the School Board was being railroaded into adopting a proposal.  

“I’m shocked by the way that we’re proceeding,” Issel said. “I can’t vote for something that comes from threats.” 

While strident parental demands were off-putting to Issel, others focused on the positive side of enthusiastic parental participation. “If there’s anything we’ve always longed for it’s a systematic, informed, motivated, organized and not prepared-to-leave group of parents.” Russ Ellis, former UC Berkeley vice-chancellor said in the meeting. 

After the Board of Education meeting the parents carried their momentum to the City Council meeting, where the council was asked to provide resources for the program. A usually politically divided City Council voted unanimously to adopt the plan, and asked the city manager to unearth resources to assist the collaboration. At the special meeting Jan. 30, City Manager Weldon Rucker will report on city resources available to the school district. 

Reporter John Geluardi contributed to this story.

BHS girls now 6-2 in ACCAL 

If Berkeley High’s athletic field was built on dirt, players would have been treated to a mud bath during Tuesday’s waterlogged girl’s soccer match that saw the host Yellowjackets defeat Richmond High 2-1. 

As it were, the artificial field kept the players’ uniforms clean while the rain poured down, causing water to splash and the ball to skid each time it touched the turf. 

“We’re used to playing here, so I thought they did a pretty good job of adjusting,” Berkeley coach Suzanne Sillett said. “When the turf gets wet, the ball hits it and it skids. I don’t think it really affected us that much.” 

For Richmond, the constant drizzle and a slick surface combined with Berkeley’s remarkable ball control was too much to overcome. 

“They played hard,” Oilers coach Jaime Anguiano said. “The turf definitely made a difference. We’re not used to that and the wet ball would just skid really fast.” 

The win marked Berkeley’s second straight come-from-behind victory as the Jackets improved to 6-2 in the Alameda Contra Costa Athletic League.  

“The first 15 minutes we really didn’t have the intensity we wanted,” said Berkeley forward Maura Fitzgerald. “It was a lot like the last game we played (against Bishop O’Dowd) when we took control in the second half.” 

After Richmond’s Isela Cazarez scored on a break-away shot midway through the first half, Berkeley regrouped to tie the game at one heading to the break when sophomore Rocio Guerrero scored on a pass from Fitzgerald. 

“What I didn’t like was that it took (Richmond) to score a goal before we woke up and started playing the way we should have been playing all game,” Sillett said. “I think once they scored their goal, we started doing what we needed to do.” 

After a quick wringing of the jerseys at halftime, the ’Jackets carried their late first-half momentum into the second period. At the 66th minute, Berkeley sophomore Annie Borton connected on a strike that found the top left side of the net to seal the ’Jackets’ victory. 

“Borton had a great game,” Sillett said. “She worked really well off the ball and made a lot of runs up top to give us options in our attack.” 

Up next for Berkeley is a road game on the natural grass field at Pinole before the team visits Alameda in a rematch next week. 

“Alameda will be a huge game next Tuesday because they beat us here already this season,” Sillett said.  

A top priority for the rest of the season, Sillett added, is playing the way the Jackets have played all year, with one exception. 

“Finishing,” she said is what Berkeley’s missing. “Our inability to finish is definitely a big weakness that caused us to lose some games this year and barely scrape out games that we clearly have dominated, but the score doesn’t represent that.”  

The Jackets maintained their trademark one- and two-touch game throughout Tuesday’s contest to keep control of the ball and force Richmond’s defenders to work extra hard. 

Berkeley outshot the Oilers by a dozen in the first half and 11-3 in the second. Also contributing, Sillett said, was Veronica Searles, a reserve who stepped in for a sick Esther Schmidt.

One month after what KPFA activists are calling the “Christmas Coup” – the firing of several staff members and banning certain volunteers from a sister station in New York City – a group of local activists was arrested Tuesday at the San Francisco law offices of Epstein, Becker & Green. 

The same day, nine persons were arrested at the New York station when they tried to attend an advisory board meeting. 

The San Francisco protesters were targeting John Murdock, an attorney who works at the firm’s offices in Washington, D.C. Murdock is a member of the Pacifica Board of Directors, which governs five community radio stations – KPFA in Berkeley, WBAI in New York and others in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Houston. 

Large demonstrations occurred in Berkeley in the summer of 1999 as a result of tensions between the listener-sponsors and staff of the station on the one hand and the board on the other. Activists say the board ought to be a democratic institution, representing the listener sponsors.  

The board changed its governing rules two years ago and became self-selecting. Board members were previously appointed by the various stations’ Local Advisory Boards. 

Murdock was appointed to the board last year.  

Aaron Glantz, KPFA’s Sacramento reporter who resides in Berkeley and Sacramento was among the eight arrested Tuesday. In a phone interview Wednesday, Glantz said that Murdock was targeted for several reasons. One is that Epstein Becker & Green is a “union busting” firm. Glantz pointed out that the company’s website says: “For almost 30 years, Epstein Becker & Green has effectively represented employers in all facets of traditional labor law including...maintaining a union-free workplace....”  

Glantz claims that Murdock has been charged by the board with re-writing its bylaws and says he fears that the result will be that the board will be able to sell the stations with greater ease – among the reasons for the 1999 summer protests was the receipt (in error) by a local activist of an e-mail written by one of the board members who discussed the possible sale of WBAI and/or KPFA. 

Glantz further pointed out that the board has recently hired Murdock’s law firm to defend it against the various listener lawsuits which have been filed. “That’s kind of sleazy,” he said.  

“The same board members who locked out the journalists at KPFA are at it again at WBAI,” said Media Alliance Director Andrea Buffa in a written statement. “People who censor and ban journalists at their stations have no place running the only progressive radio network in the United States.” 

To make their point, Glantz and seven other activists showed up Tuesday morning at the Epstein Becker & Green law firms offices in San Francisco and refused to leave until Murdock resigned from the board. The group was arrested and released. 

They returned outside the offices Tuesday afternoon to join a picket of some 40 or 50 KPFA protesters. “It was an informational picket outside; it was not meant to be confrontational,” Glanz said. 

However, when the group moved to the ground floor of the building, which is a mall, the manager called police and Glanz and three others were arrested. After being held in the San Francisco jail until about 1 a.m., Glanz said charges against the four were dropped. The eight persons arrested Tuesday morning have a March court date. 

East Coast activists have staged similar protests at the law firm’s Washington, D.C. headquarters.  

And Tuesday evening, when a group of listeners tried to attend a Local Advisory Committee meeting at the New York station, the station manager – recently appointed by the Pacifica executive director after the firing of the former manager – refused to allow their entry into the station and eventually had nine of them arrested by the New York Police Department on trespassing charges. 

Daily Planet wire reports contributed to this story.

Project Impact presents an educational series on earthquake and fire hazards prevention through March on Berkeley Community Media's Cable Television Station Channel 25. These are educational, pre-produced videos that come in a variety of formats reaching people of all income brackets, nationalities, and physical abilities.  

The first series provides an overview on Project Impact and includes a do-it-yourself guide to bidding and contractor selection, when to apply for permit, and costs. It will also give information on foundation and cripple wall retrofit techniques. Earthquake preparedness focuses on both individual and neighborhood planning, with special attention given to senior and disabled people. Its next airing is Jan. 30 at 4 p.m.  

The second series features a guided tour through the home of a disabled woman, who modified her apartment to reduce earthquake hazards after the Loma Prieta Earthquake. This program describes and demonstrates steps that can make a family child care home safer in earthquakes and how to handle the difficulties that may follow a damaging quake. Its next airing is Feb. 6 at 4 p.m. 

The third series shows everything you need to know to reduce the fire risk to your home in the urban/wildland interface. Produced just a month before the Oakland Hills fire in 1991, this videotape discusses prudent landscaping and vegetation management, and explains how fire-resistant building and roofing materials can increase your safety. Its next airing is Feb. 13 at 4 p.m. 

The complete schedule is on the city website: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us. Project Impact is at 705-8168. Its e-mail address is projectimpact@ci.berkeley.ca.us

SAN FRANCISCO — Paul Torello is upfront about his life. He sells sex on the streets for drug money, and he’s HIV positive. It’s a story he tells all of his male clients before he lets them chose whether to proceed with or without a condom. 

But more often than not, his words have little effect. 

“It’s sex that they really want to have,” Torello said. “That’s primarily the attitude in the city. It’s a fun thing for them.” 

That attitude is partly responsible for an alarming new report released Wednesday that finds the HIV infection rate has more than doubled among San Francisco’s gay men in four years. 

The report estimates that 2.2 percent of San Francisco’s gay men will contract the virus — up from 1.04 percent in 1997. If nothing changes, 748 gay men in San Francisco will fall prey to HIV this year, the report projects. 

That draft analysis, released Wednesday, combines more than 25 studies by the University of California, San Francisco, that surveyed some 10,000 gay men. 

“We’ve been at this for 20 or 21 years, and people are tired of it,” said Dr. Tom Coates, director of the UCSF Aids Research Institute and one of two dozen researchers and experts on the panel that released the report. “People would rather not have to talk about difficult issues and not take precautions if they think there’s a form of chemicals available to help them.” 

Indeed, the new antiviral drugs responsible for extending the lives of many HIV patients may big the biggest catalyst driving up the incidence rate of new infections. 

Long life spans make it possible for victims to spread the virus to more people, said Mike Shriver, Mayor Willie Brown’s adviser on AIDS and HIV policy and an organizer of the research panel. In addition, he said, the drugs – first released in the mid-1990s – have eased the horror of watching loved ones die a slow, agonizing death. 

“Why is it going up among men having sex among men?” said Coates, who’s been HIV-positive since 1985. “The whole idea of gay liberation is having sex with whom you want to have sex. It’s breaking down old moralistic barriers. But it carries with it something lethal, and it’s hard for the gay community to come to grips with.” 

Coates said he’s seen a 50 percent decrease in HIV rates among intravenous drug users. He also hasn’t seen any increases in the heterosexual population. 

Yet a quarter of the city’s estimated 46,800 gay men are HIV-positive. And 80 percent of HIV infections in the city are among gay men, the study found. 

That means stories like Torello’s aren’t uncommon. 

A native of Hamden, Conn., Torello, 36, came to San Francisco three years ago and contracted HIV in the past 18 months. He was sharing dirty needles to shoot-up speed and having unprotected sex with whomever would pay. He’s not sure how he contracted the virus. 

Still, he continues to prostitute himself. 

“Every person who I ever hook up with, I tell them. Always,” said Torello. “But I’ve only been turned down once or twice.” 

The increase isn’t unique to San Francisco. Coates said numbers are on the rise in Sydney and Vancouver. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta reports an increase in syphilis and gonorrhea among gay males in Los Angeles, Miami and Seattle. 

“We’re definitely concerned about gay men across the county,” said Robert Janssen, the CDC’s director of the division of HIV/AIDS prevention. “We’re pulling together and have begun to look at a variety of ways to improve intervention and prevention programs for gay men and to begin to look at specific things we need to do.” 

———— 

On the Net: 

http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu 

LOS ANGELES — The plea bargain that will imprison white supremacist Buford Furrow Jr. but keep him off death row outraged some who knew the victims of his 1999 shooting rampage but brought satisfaction or relief to others Wednesday. 

Furrow, 39, pleaded guilty to killing Joseph Ileto, a Filipino-American mail carrier, and other crimes involving his Aug. 10, 1999, assault on the North Valley Jewish Community Center in which three boys, a teen-age girl and a woman were wounded. 

In exchange for his plea, Furrow won’t face the death penalty originally sought by prosecutors but he agreed to spend the rest of his life in prison. He will be sentenced in March. 

“It’s fine with me that he’s forced to spend the rest of his life behind bars,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Museum of Tolerance. “Sometimes the death sentence is a deterrent, but the death sentence is over relatively quickly.  

If a person knows that for 30 to 40 years he will never be a part of society, that can be a greater deterrent to others.” 

Not everyone believed Furrow’s life should be saved and were disgusted that taxpayers’ dollars will support him while in prison. 

“It’s absolutely outrageous,” said Sonny Castellano, who worked with Ileto at a post office in Chatsworth.  

“He tried to injure children and that alone shows his life is worthless. It seems this was a coward’s way out.” 

Prosecutors said there was extensive evidence showing Furrow’s previous mental problems, which was a major factor in reaching the plea bargain with defense attorneys. U.S. Attorney Alejandro Mayorkas said the victims’ families as well as other law enforcement agencies were advised of the deal. 

“We have the full support of the Ileto family and the victims of the JCC center...,” Mayorkas said.  

“We have decided not to seek the death penalty based upon information obtained after our initial decision that revealed a long history of his (Furrow’s) mental illness.” 

Some people who supported the decision, sidestepped the touchy subject.  

Ileto’s brother, Ismael, declined to comment on how family members felt about the death penalty. Nina Giladi, executive director of the Jewish center, also declined. 

“We trust the judicial system will work in an effective and fair manner,” Giladi said. 

Support for the death penalty appears to be waning in California.  

A Los Angeles Times poll conducted in November 2000 found that 58 percent of those surveyed supported the death penalty, down from 78 percent in 1990. 

But some people who knew the victims said they would rather have closure than endure a lengthy legal process. 

“It wasn’t the resolution I would have liked personally,” said Ramona Burke, postmaster of the Chatsworth post office.  

“We are relieved the situation is now behind us and know Furrow will be punished for his actions.” 

Handcuffed and shackled, Furrow was thin and clean-shaven – a far cry from the pudgy, mustachioed man who was arrested last year.  

He answered softly, “Guilty, your honor,” 16 times. 

Furrow sprayed the North Valley Jewish Community Center in the San Fernando Valley with more than 70 bullets, wounding three boys, a teen-age girl and a woman.  

Hours later, he killed Filipino-American Joseph Ileto, shooting him nine times as the man was delivering mail. 

Furrow surrendered in Las Vegas the next day. 

Furrow, of Olympia, Wash., had a long history of involvement with anti-Semitic groups operating in the Pacific Northwest, among them the Aryan Nations. 

Authorities said he told them he shot up the community center to send a “wake-up call to America to kill Jews.” Prosecutors said he shot Ileto because the man appeared to him to be Hispanic or Asian. 

Prosecutors had planned to seek the death penalty. But U.S. Attorney Alejandro Mayorkas said prosecutors changed their mind after the defense submitted extensive evidence of Furrow’s previous mental problems. 

Mayorkas said the material showed Furrow sought psychiatric help for 10 years before the crime and complained of being plagued by homicidal and suicidal thoughts. Furrow’s lawyers had planned to make his mental condition an issue at his trial. 

In a statement, Furrow’s lawyers said: “The crimes committed by our client ... were tragic in their consequence to many, many people. ... Together with the government’s lawyers, we believe this is the appropriate resolution to this case.” 

Mayorkas said Furrow’s attempt to spread a message of hate had been thwarted. “The only statement he made is he is a pathetic cowardly man. What he did was remind us that we are all one,” the U.S. attorney said. 

Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, said he is satisfied that Furrow will go to prison for life. 

“In one respect Buford Furrow was right when he said he was trying to register his crime as a ‘wake-up call to America,”’ Hier said.  

“What these haters are doing in this country and all over the world is showing how much damage a single individual bent on destroying society can accomplish.” 

The Ileto family on Wednesday occupied a back row of the courtroom, listening quietly to the plea, which they had agreed to in advance. 

“We are just relieved that this is closed, that we don’t have to go to court to hear any testimony,” said Ileto’s brother, Ismael.

SACRAMENTO — California wrapped up a desperate power auction Wednesday, hoping to find electricity supplies on a long-term basis at a price that won’t break the state. 

At the end of the 27-hour bidding period, governor’s spokesman Steve Maviglio would say only that at least one bid was received. A formal announcement was expected later Wednesday. 

“I predict that what those bids will look like will not cause people to do back flips for joy,” said Assemblyman Fred Keeley, the Legislature’s lead negotiator during the power crisis. 

Power managers have called on Californians to do everything they can to conserve, even suggesting people planning to watch Sunday night’s Super Bowl do so in groups. 

The state has been frantically scrounging power for days to avert rolling blackouts, buying megawatts on the expensive spot market from as far away as Canada. 

State officials say they have already spent more than $113 of a $400 million fund approved last week by lawmakers to buy power for cash-strapped Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric, which are on the verge of bankruptcy. 

At that rate, the remaining state money would be depleted in less than a week, said Kellan Fluckiger, chief executive of the Independent System Operator, which manages most of California’s power grid. 

Gov. Gray Davis began accepting bids Tuesday for electricity contracts ranging from six months to 10 years. He hoped suppliers would agree to sell for $55 per megawatt, though wholesalers have suggested they are more interested in the $80-per-megawatt range. 

Spot market prices have soared as high as $600 per megawatt in the past year. 

Energy suppliers also said they have sold most of their generating capacity for the next year or more, leaving little to offer to California in the near future. 

“We are 90 percent sold for 2001, and a substantial portion is sold for 2002,” said Tom Williams, spokesman for Duke Energy, which owns four power plants in California. 

The crisis is blamed largely on the state’s 1996 deregulation law, which ordered utilities to sell their power plants and buy wholesale power, but capped the rates they could charge customers. 

As a result, when energy prices began to rise last year, SoCal Edison and PG&E were unable to raise their rates. Other problems, including a shortage of new power plants, transmission glitches, low hydroelectric output and plant maintenance, have left the state precariously low on megawatts. 

Lawmakers are pursuing other solutions, including one in which California would take over hydroelectric plants or transmission systems of SoCal Edison and PG&E. 

There is little time left to develop a plan – perhaps only a matter of days, said Keeley, D-Boulder Creek. 

The state’s two largest utilities, both nearly bankrupt, are losing about $250 million per week and trying to ward off creditors from seizing their assets in court, Keeley said. 

Both utilities went to court to block the Power Exchange, the state’s largest electricity marketplace, from seizing energy contracts to raise cash. Both have missed multimillion-dollar payments to the exchange. 

A Los Angeles judge temporarily barred the power exchange from selling Edison long-term power contracts. Superior Judge David Jaffe’s order came after the attorney general’s office intervened, saying the governor wants to retain the option to seize the contracts. 

Davis declared a state of emergency last week, giving him a wide range of powers to address the electricity crisis, including the power to commandeer any private property he considers necessary. 

The attorney general’s office filed a brief arguing that the auction of the long-term contracts would “have a severe effect on California’s already calamitous electricity situation.” 

The judge gave Davis a week to decide whether to seize the contracts. David Chaney, senior assistant attorney general, said he didn’t know whether Davis was considering such a seizure, but added that the governor “wants to keep his options open.” 

President Bush made it clear Wednesday that California cannot look to Washington for a solution. 

Federal orders requiring wholesalers to sell electricity and natural gas to California despite concerns about utility solvency will stay in effect for two more weeks only, White House officials said. 

“The federal arsenal is not well equipped to get California out of this problem,’ Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said. 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.caiso.com 

SACRAMENTO — Farmers, conservationists, water districts and some legislators fear a state proposal to take over hydroelectric plants could endanger California’s water supply. 

The Assembly is considering a plan to take over hydroelectric plants owned by Pacific Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison in return for helping the utilities with their overwhelming debt. But those who depend on that water for irrigation fear the state might run reservoirs dry as it struggles to produce enough electricity. 

“We’re an irrigation district first and a power district second,” said Bill Carlisle, general manager of both the Southern San Joaquin Municipal Utility District and the Friant  

Power Authority. 

Carlisle, who testified at an Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee hearing Wednesday, worries that the state’s push for electricity might reverse those priorities even in dry years. 

“We’re the good guys, not the bad guys, but we’re getting sucked into the black hole of the state owning everything,” Carlisle said. 

Committee Chairman Dean Florez shares that concern. 

“We’re fixing a short-term problem and maybe creating a long-term problem in terms of water reliability,” said Florez, D-Shafter. 

The alternative is far worse in terms of darkened homes and bankrupt utilities, said Assemblyman Fred Keeley, a Boulder Creek Democratic sponsoring the hydroelectric proposal. 

The proposal is one of many lawmakers are considering as they try to find a way to ease California’s deregulation-induced electricity crisis, which plunged the northern two-thirds of the state into scattered outages last week and has left SoCal Edison and PG&E on the verge of bankruptcy. 

Assembly leaders want the utilities to agree to give the state their hydro plants, valued at $4 billion to $7 billion, in return for the state’s help in buying electricity and paying off some of their $12 billion debt. 

The hydro plants’ estimated $1.25 billion annual revenues would be enough to pay off long-term bonds the state would use to buy more electricity at wholesale prices, said Guy Phillips, Keeley’s water consultant. 

The state would make no changes to the hydro plants’ operation, Phillips said, and would reimburse local governments for lost property taxes under the plan. 

Senate leaders want the state to take the utilities’ power transmission lines instead of their hydro plants. But Phillips argued those produce no revenue and in fact would cost billions to improve. 

Meanwhile, small electricity producers like the Friant Power Authority are hurting from the utilities’ hard times. 

The authority produces a mere 25 megawatts of electricity for PG&E from its hydroelectric generators in the San Joaquin River, enough for about 25,000 homes. But it is owed about $180,000 by PG&E with no payment in sight. 

“We’re just a little guy, but we’re getting squashed in the process,” Carlisle said. 

WASHINGTON — A trade group filed a federal suit Wednesday seeking to block a California ban on the fuel additive MTBE, which reduces air pollution but is blamed for fouling groundwater across the state. 

Gov. Gray Davis ordered a ban on MTBE after Dec. 31, 2002, because contamination forced the closure of drinking water wells in Santa Monica and South Lake Tahoe. MTBE has been found in 10,000 groundwater sites statewide, with as little as a tablespoon in an Olympic-sized pool making water taste and smell like turpentine. 

But the Oxygenated Fuels Association filed suit in U.S. District Court in Sacramento asking a judge to invalidate the ban under the argument that it violates the Clean Air Act.  

The group contends the ban would dictate ethanol as a fuel additive rather than tackle the real problem of fixing leaking underground fuel tanks that taint water. 

Two other federal cases against similar MTBE bans are pending. The trade group filed a similar lawsuit in July 2000 challenging a New York law banning MTBE in that state by 2004. 

Methanex Corp., based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and the world’s leading producer of methanol – a key element in MTBE – has a $1.4 billion lawsuit against the U.S. government for what it contends is a violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement relating to California’s ban. 

MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether, is included in about one-third of the nation’s gasoline under the 1990 Clean Air Act, which required higher oxygen content in gas sold in the most-polluted cities such as Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento. The goal was to fight smog through cleaner-burning gasoline. 

MTBE is the most widely used of such fuel additives, called oxygenates, while corn-based ethanol is the choice in much of the Midwest. 

A California ban on MTBE would have a far-reaching effect on gas production because the state consumes about 40 percent of the 250,000 barrels produced each day, while only about 5 percent is produced within the state. 

But the Environmental Protection Agency labeled MTBE a possible carcinogen. The material moves swiftly through groundwater after spilling in traffic accidents or leaking from underground storage tanks. 

A Senate committee approved a ban last year on MTBE, but the bill went no farther. The Clinton administration considered for months whether to grant California a waiver to the requirement for oxygenates in gasoline, but didn’t act before its term ended Jan. 20.  

The Bush administration hasn’t taken a position on such waiver requests. 

The Oxygenated Fuels Association argued in its suit that Congress didn’t make any choice between which kind of additive should be used in fuels, so a state ban on MTBE would be unconstitutional. MTBE burns cleaner than ethanol, is less expensive to make and is easier to distribute, the group said. 

“Retaining MTBE as an oxygenate will enable California to continue to reap the air quality benefits and cost effectiveness associated with MTBE,” said Tom Adams, the group’s president. 

A Davis spokesman didn’t immediately return two calls for comment Wednesday. 

But environmental groups have advocated ethanol as a better option to reduce pollution. 

“The Oxygenated Fuels Association has proven that its bottom line is far more important than protecting the public’s right to clean drinking water,” said Russell Long, executive director of the Bluewater Network based in San Francisco. “It’s very upsetting that they would try to force Californians to drink polluted water.” 

——— 

On the Net: The Oxygenated Fuels Association is at http://www.ofa.net 

Bluewater Network is at http://www.earthisland.org/bw 

WASHINGTON — Hispanic girls have a higher high school dropout rate than girls in any other racial or ethnic group and are the least likely to earn a college degree, according to the American Association of University Women. 

Schools must do more to recognize cultural values that saddle Hispanic girls with family responsibilities, such as caring for younger siblings after school, that take away from educational endeavors, researchers said in a report Wednesday. 

“If we want Latinas to succeed as other groups of girls have, schools need to work with and not against their families and communities and the strengths that Latinas bring to the classroom,” said Angela Ginorio, the study’s author. 

The report, citing Census Bureau statistics, said the dropout rate for Latinas ages 16 to 24 is 30 percent, compared with 12.9 percent for blacks and 8.2 percent for whites. 

Only 10 percent of Hispanic women completed four or more years of college, compared with 13.9 percent of blacks and 22.3 percent of whites, according to the National Council of La Raza, an umbrella organization for Hispanic groups. 

“Many Latinas face pressure about going to college from boyfriends and fiances who expect their girlfriends or future wives not to be ‘too educated’ and from peers who accuse them of ‘acting white’ when they attempt to become better educated or spend time on academics,” the study said. 

At the University of Texas at El Paso, the Mother-Daughter Program targets sixth-grade Latinas, using tutoring and “big sisters” to encourage the girls to graduate from high school and attend college.  

It also helps Hispanic mothers return to school. 

“Part of the dropout rate problem has been the belief that the girl has to work to help the family and besides, she’s going to get married anyway so why go to college?” said Josefina Tinajero, the program director. 

“I think there needs to be a tremendous awareness in communities about this, especially in those that have smaller numbers of Hispanics,” she said. “They need to know how to work with this population.” 

Latinas are the country’s fastest-growing female minority population, while Hispanics as a whole will account for 25 percent of the nation’s school population in 2030. 

The researchers recommended educators pay closer attention to the cultural issues faced by Hispanic girls, recruit Hispanic teachers who can serve as role models and involve entire families in decisions about college. 

Among the study’s other findings: 

• Hispanic girls are underrepresented in gifted and talented and advanced placement courses. 

• Hispanic girls are less likely to take the SAT college entrance exam than their white or Asian counterparts, and those who do score lower on average than the other girls. 

• Among Hispanics, more girls than boys take the SAT exam, but the girls score lower. 

• More Hispanic women than men obtain associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees, but more men earn professional and doctorate degrees. 

Raul Gonzalez, National Council of La Raza education policy analyst, said having qualified teachers and rigorous curriculums are the best ways to improve the performance of Hispanic girls and boys. 

“I think the bottom line is we need to improve schools for Hispanics altogether,” Gonzalez said. 

——— 

On the Net: 

The study: http://www.aauw.org/2000/latinapress.html 

NEW YORK — Less than a week after a major revamp at CNN, newly formed media giant AOL Time Warner is making sweeping job cuts that will result in an additional 2,000 positions being lost. 

The cuts, announced to employees Tuesday, affect the company’s music business, its America Online division, the Time Inc. magazine company and its movie studios. The cuts are part of an overall belt-tightening to make good on a promise to investors that the merger would deliver a major boost to earnings. 

Combined with the 400 positions eliminated last week at CNN, the total of 2,400 job reductions would represent about 3 percent of the company’s work force of 85,000, company spokesman Ed Adler confirmed Wednesday. 

The job toll could rise even further over the coming months if the company ends up closing its 130 Warner Brothers retail outlets, which employ 3,800 people. The company is hoping to sell the stores but may close them if a sale proves impossible, Adler said. 

New Line Cinema let about 100 people go, or nearly 20 percent of its work force. New Line has had a poor showing at the box office recently and Michael de Luca was fired as the studio’s president last week, with Toby Emmerich replacing him. 

Warner Music Group, another division that senior management has singled out for poor performance, will lose 600 jobs through attrition and early retirement packages, or about 5 percent of its work force. 

AOL, now a division of AOL Time Warner, will also reduce 725 positions, including a number at its former headquarters in Dulles, Va. The combined company’s headquarters is in New York. 

Some 400 jobs are being trimmed from the staff of Time Inc. The job cuts will be made at a back-office operation in Birmingham, Ala., and at a direct marketing office in Alexandria, Va. 

Time Inc. is also closing three of the 20 consumer magazines it acquired last year in its purchase of Times Mirror Magazines from Tribune Co. Senior Golfer magazine is being combined with Golf magazine, Outdoor Explorer is being closed, and Today’s Homeowner is being merged into This Old House magazine. A total of 40 jobs will be affected in addition to the 400 cuts announced at Time Inc. 

Another 100 jobs will be cut at the Warner Bros. movie studio, where the Entertaindom.com Web site is being melded into the studio’s own site, and another 100 jobs are being shed at its corporate headquarters. 

The cuts across AOL Time Warner came less than a week after a major reorganization at CNN, where about 400 jobs are being cut. CNN is also installing several new executives, overhauling its newsgathering infrastructure and shaking up its programming schedule in an effort to get ratings out of a slump. 

Competitors MSNBC and Fox News Channel have been chipping away at CNN’s audience with feisty talk show hosts like Chris Matthews and Bill O’Reilly, and several new shows on CNN’s lineup are aimed squarely at winning those viewers back. 

AOL Time Warner has made other executive changes in the 10 days since the $106 billion deal closed, including a new management lineup at AOL. Sarah Crichton is leaving as head of Little, Brown & Co., an imprint Time Warner Trade Publishing. Michael Pietsch was promoted to replace her. 

Other divisions of the conglomerate are not facing cuts this time. The WB broadcast network and the cable systems operations did not have any job cuts, and the HBO cable network already implemented a 10 percent job reduction over the past year. 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.aoltimewarner.com 

NEW YORK — The New Economy, not even a teenager yet, is beginning to look frayed and strained, and the most dour of the calamity crowd are claiming it is seriously ill and in need of intensive care. 

Here it is, still new to this world, and nobody has even clearly defined its characteristics, the traits of personality that have had such an impact on modern society. 

“I wake up each morning in the same bed, watch the garbage get picked up in the same way, and watch TV to get the early news,” so that couldn’t be it, says William Dunkelberg, who seeks to elucidate what makes it new. 

“I’m looking for that ’new economy’ that is nothing like the old one,” he says. “Yes, there’s a chip in everything these days, but that’s not a new economy, it’s just a more efficient one,” he says. 

The more specific you try to be about what makes the New Economy new, the more elusive it becomes, suggests Dunkelberg, an academic economist at Temple University who probes more deeply than most into such things. Whatever it is, he says, we can be sure of two things. One, it changes how we do things, but less what we do, including what we buy. “Are there really new products, or just better ones?” he asks. 

Secondly, he says, the chip and the computer are at the core of it all, observing that that high-tech growth has accounted for about one-third of our gross domestic product in recent years. 

If that is so, he continues, then maybe we can find some clues in job growth. 

Yes, he agrees, electronics has been growing twice as fast as nonfarm private-sector employment. “But the real hot growth areas have been segments like amusement and moving pictures and entertainment.” 

He agrees, on the other hand, that labor-intensive Internet services require lots of people to install, maintain and customize the software that runs on all the new computers. But if higher employment and changes in jobs skills are defining characteristics, they are hardly new ones. 

John Cunniff is a business analyst for The Associated Press 

He looks elsewhere others might not – to immigration as perhaps a vital element in changes that produced the New Economy. Immigration reached historic proportions in the late 1990s, he points out, and it was different from earlier immigrations. 

For one thing, he explains, it created new, insular environments so large as to produce ethnic economies within the larger economy that affect education, culture and communication. He calls it fractionalization, a definite change but hardly defining. 

Back to the chip. If it is indeed the chip that defines New, he observes, “then most of our economy is or will be ’new.’ ” But much of what we call new has origins way, way back in history. 

That is, “appliances, cars, communications devices, heating and cooling systems, security systems, lighting systems — all have chips at their core,” he explains. More efficient and creative, but not new. 

Still, the definition of New seems to be in the chip. In the speed at which the chip works, lowering costs, raising productivity, improving quality, increasing the availability of information and the effectiveness of management. 

But Dunkelberg, while agreeing that the speeding up of discovery and progress has been stunning, “it is not new — it’s been happening for centuries.” 

So what’s his conclusion? “There is no New Economy that is entirely different from the old.” 

The Internet, he says, reduces the cost of what business always did, and the chip makes it possible to do it better, more efficiently and with higher quality. And communications technologies make it possible to do it world wide. 

The so-called New Economy is different, to be sure. It has changed the face of the labor market. And there is clearly a higher return to education in the boom, “but again, that has always been the case.” 

And on it goes. What we see as new seems to be a consequence of our limited appreciation of history. In truth, what is new may be only the “New Economy.” 

End Adv PMs Thursday, January 25. 

NEW YORK — Investors refrained from making any big commitments on Wall Street Wednesday, leaving stocks little changed as the market tried to discern a trend in earnings and the economy. 

Blue chips fluctuated amid a series of bleak profit reports and forecasts. Tech stocks fared better but struggled to stay in positive territory. 

With blue chips including DuPont and McDonald’s issuing downbeat reports Wednesday, investors were taking few chances. 

Analysts said it’s hard to predict how upcoming earnings announcements will affect trading each day. Wall Street’s overall mood seems optimistic, but there’s some uncertainty about whether bad earnings news has been factored completely into the cheaper prices of many stocks. 

“The general tone is positive even though the market is weighing things,” said Dan Ascani, president and research director at Global Market Strategists in Gainesville, Ga. “Generally speaking, the market is digesting (earnings) well.” 

What investors are most concerned about is the future. Shares of many companies that meet or beat fourth-quarter earnings expectations have slipped when those firms also warned that first-quarter results will be disappointing. 

That was the case Wednesday with DuPont, which surpassed profit forecasts by a penny but said challenging business conditions will pinch earnings into the first half of this year. The chemical company fell 19 cents to close at $41.88. 

McDonald’s, after warning that the first quarter will be difficult, tumbled $2.06 to $30.81. McDonald’s also missed fourth-quarter earnings forecasts by a penny. 

Although investors still are trading with some caution, they seem to be growing more confident that profits and the economy will improve, partly because of lower interest rates.  

The market is hopeful that the Federal Reserve will reduce rates for the second time in a month when it meets next week. 

— The Associated Press 

“An edge of optimism has come into the market,” said A.C. Moore, chief investment strategist at Dunvegan Associates in Santa Barbara. “There’s the thought that the economy may have a soft landing as a consequence of the Fed’s action.” 

There’s evidence of the market’s increasing optimism in its recent preference for tech stocks over so-called defensive issues, such as drug stocks, that tend to perform better in bearish markets. 

Drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb fell $1.38 to $64.88, despite beating earnings forecasts by a penny. Analysts say the drug sector has become overpriced as investors sought safer bets during last year’s high-tech tumble. 

Trading in the tech sector was mixed Wednesday. 

Texas Instruments, which on Tuesday issued a disappointing earning report and first-quarter outlook, fell $1.50 to $43.50. But Dell, which warned of weaker profits on Monday, climbed 75 cents to $27.13. 

Advancing issues nearly matched decliners on the New York Stock Exchange where consolidated volume was 1.57 billion shares, compared with 1.48 billion on Tuesday. 

The Russell 2000 index advanced slightly, up 0.19 at 502.25. 

Overseas, stock markets were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.7 percent, and Germany’s DAX index slipped 0.2 percent. Britain’s FT-SE 100 rose 0.8 percent, and France’s CAC-40 advanced 1.0 percent. 

A team of bird-rescue experts from Berkeley’s International Bird Rescue Research Center is on its way to the Galapagos Islands, the site of a monstrous oil spill. 

The islands, 600 miles west of Ecuador, are home to a variety of birds and wildlife unknown in other parts of the world. Friday, a ship went aground, spilling 170,000 gallons of diesel fuel, coating masked booby birds, pelicans, sea lions, iguanas and other wildlife with the life-threatening oil. 

“The Darwin Foundation called us the first day the spill happened,” said Coleen Doucette, the rescue center’s rehabilitation manager, referring to the organization located in the islands and dedicated to preserving the fragile environment there. 

That means the team will be able to get an early start on the process that must be completed within a month for the birds to survive, Doucette said.  

At this point, bird rescue staff in Berkeley does not know how many creatures have been contaminated. 

Staff from the bird rescue center recently rescued some 18,000 birds after a spill off the coast of South Africa. 

Doucette said the team of experts has developed a procedure they follow after each spill. 

First they set up a location to which all the oiled birds can be brought.  

They do a physical exam of each bird and clean off its eyes and nose.  

“Once they are stable they start the wash process,” Doucette said.  

Using dish-washing soap, they do a thorough wash process that can include four to 20 different tubs of soapy water.  

The birds cannot have even a drop of oil on it, since that would cause damage to its natural “waterproofing.” The birds’ “waterproofed” feathers prevent water from reaching their skins and causing damage.  

“Once the bird is completely washed, it goes to the rinse,” Doucette said. This part of the process is as important as the wash and must be done just as completely, since the soap can also cause the birds to lose their waterproofing. “With seabirds, there’s no margin for error,” Doucette said. 

The last step before release is placing the birds in a pool for three days where they will be observed to make sure they are fully washed and physically able to survive in the wild. 

The Galapagos Islands were catapulted to fame in the 19th century, when naturalist Charles Darwin developed his theory of evolution by studying wildlife there. Formed roughly 4 to 5 million years ago by underwater volcanos, the islands are mostly arid and rocky, dotted more by cactuses than lush vegetation.  

Karen Benzel, spokesperson for the International Bird Rescue Research Center, pointed out that this rescue marks the thirtieth anniversary of the center, founded Jan. 21, 1971 after a big tanker collision in the Bay. At the time, inexperienced volunteers responded to that catastrophe and only 3 percent of the 7,000 birds that were collected survived. Now the center works with professionals to do the rescues, she said. 

Wednesday, Jan. 24

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling Classes for  

Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Planning Commission Meeting 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Discussion of the next steps in the Southside plan. Also discussion of the interim controls on office development in the mixed use-light industrial district in West Berkeley.  

Energy Commission Meeting 

5:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

The report on renewable energy and the report on residential energy consumption will be discussed. Also up for discussion and possible action is the referral regarding municipalization of the electric system. 

Lawrence Laboratory RCRA Public Meeting 

6:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Classrooms A & B 

The meeting will be hosted by the Department of Toxic Substances Control. The purpose is to present information regarding the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) Facility Investigation Report. Public comment to the report will be taken orally and in writing at the meeting.  

Call Ramon Racca, 916-445-9543 or e-mail: rracca@dtscca.gov 

Human Welfare & Community Action Commission  

7 - 10 p.m. 

2939 Ellis St. (at Ashby) 

Agencies seeking funding will present and will include: Youth Radio, Tinkers Workshop, a youth bike clinic, Alzheimer’s Services, Crisis Support Services, and others.  

Police Review Commission  

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Discussion of the policy complaint filed by Michael Minasian regarding service animals and the ADA.  

Task Force on Homelessness  

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Presentations from agencies which have applied for city of Berkeley funds for homeless service programs. 

Thursday, Jan. 25

Spirits in the Time of AIDS 

6 - 8 p.m. 

Pro Arts Gallery  

461 Ninth St.  

Oakland 

Pro Arts reception for the opening of their new exhibition seeking to expand the understanding of HIV and AIDS and the people who are affected by them.  

Call 763-9425 

Free “Quit Smoking” Class 

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis (at Ashby)  

Cease your smoking with the help of this free class offered to Berkeley residents and employees. 

Call 644-6422 to enroll or e-mail quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

West Berkeley Project Area Commission  

7 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth St.  

Review of the initial environmental study and recommendation on a request for establishment of a public market. Also, consideration of a petition requesting that diagonal parking and parking meters not be installed on Fifth St., and that no one-way conversion of the block between University and Hearst occur.  

Climbing Mt. Everest  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Bob Hoffman, organizer and leader of four environmental clean-up expeditions on Everest, will give a slide presentation on the Inventa 2000 Everest Environmental Expedition’s recent ascent. Free 

Call 527-4140 

Duomo Readings Open Mic 

6:30 - 9 p.m. 

Cafe Firenze  

2116 Shattuck Ave.  

With featured poet Glenn Ingersoll and host Louis Cuneo.  

644-0155 

Women in Salsa  

8 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave.  

Orquesta D’Soul, a San Francisco based band, is hosting this benefit featuring the musical talents of local bay area women in salsa.  

$8 in advance, $10 at the door 

Call 849-2568 or visit www.lapena.org 

Conversations in Commedia 

7:30 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave. (at Prince) 

Mime Troupe vet and St. Stupid’s Day creator, Ed Holmes, and 84-year-old Bari Rolfe, a mime for over 30 years, give dialogues on satire. $6 - $8  

Call 849-2568 

West Berkeley Project Area  

Commission  

7 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth St.  

Discussions will include review of the initial environmental study and recommendations on a request to establish a public market. Also, consideration of a petition requesting that diagonal parking and parking meters not be installed on Fifth St. 

Take the Terror Out  

of Talking 

12:10 - 1:10 p.m. 

Department of Health Services  

2151 Berkeley Way  

State Health Toastmasters Club is hosting an open house to celebrate Toastmasters International Week and to kick-off the start of “Speechcraft,” a six-session workshop to help participants overcome nervousness and learn basic public speaking skills.  

Call 649-7750 

Middle East Crisis Teach-In  

7 p.m. 

2040 Valley Life Sciences 

UC Berkeley  

Ben Klafter of the San Francisco Israel Center, Zack Bodner, deputy director, AIPAC, Leeron Kaley, AIPAC student liaison, and Randy Barnes, UC Berkeley undergraduate. Sponsored by the Israel Action Committee.  

Friday, Jan. 26

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program. 549-2970  

“The Aftermath of the  

National Election” 

11:45 a.m. luncheon 

12:30 p.m. speaker  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

Susan Rasky, senior lecturer at the graduate school of journalism at UC Berkeley will speak.  

$11 - $12.25 with luncheon, $1 with coffee, students free  

848-3533 

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Crisis in Colombia 

7 p.m. 

Berkeley UU Fellowship Hall  

1924 Cedar (at Bonita)  

As part of their “war on drugs,” the Colombian government is set to implement Plan Colombia, aided by military hardware and training from the U.S. Peter Dale Scott, UC Berkeley professor and Daniel de la Pava, of the Colombia Support Network will, will discuss the U.S. role in perpetuating the violence and how to organize to help.  

$5 - $10 donation requested  

Call 704-9608 

Yiddish Conversation  

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Allen Stross 

Call 644-6107 

Saturday, Jan. 27

Clori, Tirsi & e Fileno 

8 p.m. 

Crowden School  

1475 Rose St. (at Sacramento) 

Teatro Bacchino, the Bay Area’s Baroque Opera company, will be performing Handel’s story of jealousy in love. Pre-concert talk 45 minutes before the performance.  

$15 - $20  

Call 658-3382  

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

Cuddly, Soft, Furry Things & Friends 

10 - 10:50 a.m. & 11:10 a.m. - Noon  

Lawrence Hall of Science  

UC Berkeley  

A special workshop for two - three year-olds to meet, pet, and feed rabbits, doves, and snakes.  

$22 - $25, $10 for additional family members, registration required  

Call 642-5134 

Book Publishing Seminar 

10 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

Regent Press 

6020-A Adeline St.  

Mark Weiman presents an overview of the business of book publishing oriented towards the author considering self-publication. From page layout to promotion and distribution, Weiman will cover all practical aspects of independent book publishing.  

Call 547-7602 or e-mail: regent@sirius.com 

Free Tae-Bo Classes for Adults  

10 - 10:45 a.m.  

Frances Albrier Community Center  

San Pablo Park 

2800 Park St.  

Call 644-8515 

Free Martial Arts Classes for Kids  

11:15 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Frances Albrier Community Center  

San Pablo Park  

2800 Park St.  

Classes taught by Michael Johnson, a fourth degree black belt. Ages 5 - 7, 11:15 a.m. - Noon; Ages 8 - 12, 12:15 p.m. - 1 p.m.; Ages 13 to adults, 1:15 p.m. - 2 p.m. 

644-8515 

One-Day Travel Careers Class 

8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. 

Vista College  

2020 Milvia St.  

Room 210 

Learn about new employment opportunities in travel in the 21st century. Class will include a look at salaries, travel benefits, necessary education and preparation required. Bring payment by check to the class.  

$5.50 for California residents 

Call Marty de Souto, 981-2931  

Intuitive Healing 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

1502 Tenth St.  

Marcia Emery, Ph.D., will discuss the deeper meaning of illness, the way to tune into any body part to heal it and your intuitive X-ray or body scan ability. 

$85 

Call 526-5510 

“Arab-Jewish Co-Existence: Reality and  

Challenges Ahead” 

1 - 2:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Hillel 

2736 Bancroft  

Walid Mula, an Arab-Israeli educator and activist who specializes in training and facilitating dialogue groups and educating for co-existence between Arabs and Jews, will speak and discuss. All are welcome at this free event.  

E-mail: israeloncampus@hotmail.com 

Sunday, Jan. 28

Clori, Tirsi & e Fileno 

7 p.m. 

Crowden School  

1475 Rose St. (at Sacramento) 

Teatro Bacchino, the Bay Area’s Baroque Opera company, will be performing Handel’s story of jealousy in love. Pre-concert talk 45 minutes before the performance.  

$15 - $20  

Call 658-3382  

Reimagining Pacific Cities  

6 - 8:30 p.m. 

New Pacific Studio  

1523 Hearst Ave.  

“How are Pacific cities reshaping their cultural and environmental institutions to better serve the needs and enhance the present and future quality of life of all segments of their societies?” A series of ten seminars linking the Bay Area, Seattle, Portland, and other pacific cities.  

$10 per meeting  

Call 849-0217 

Finns in Berkeley and Co-op Beginnings 

3 - 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Historical Society  

1931 Center St.  

A panel discussion on Finnish and Co-op history and on the Consumers Cooperative of Berkeley.  

$10 donation  

Call 848-0181 

Mediterranean Plant Life 

3:30 p.m. 

UC Botanical Garden  

200 Centennial Drive  

Peter Dallman, author of “Plant Life in the Mediterranean Regions of the World,” will motivate attendees to look closely at California native plants and experiment with dramatic and drought-tolerant species in their own gardens.  

Call 643-2755  

Rhythm & Muse Open Mike 

2 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Museum, Conference Room 

2621 Durant (at Bowditch)  

Poet Katharine Harer and jazz guitarist Joe Vance.  

Call 527-9753 

“Reclaim the Streets Wants You!” 

5 p.m. 

The Long Haul 

3124 Shattuck Ave.  

RTS invites you to an evening of videos, brainstorming, and Action planning. Anyone interested in helping with future actions or in learning more about RTS is encouraged to attend. Dinner and party will follow. Free  

Call 415-820-9658  

Unitarian Universalism at Millennial Transition 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists  

1606 Bonita St. (at Cedar St.)  

Paul Sawyer, long-time Berkeley activist and former minister at the Berkeley Fellowship and Dr. Cary Wang will speak.  

Call 841-3477  

Monday, Jan. 29

Poetry with Nancy Wilson 

2 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call 644-6107 

Starving For Love? 

7 - 9 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Keith Braselton invites you to experience love all the times and claims he can show you how.  

Call 707-435-5425 

Tuesday, Jan. 30

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

Call Wade, 531-8664 

Digital Photography  

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Allen Stross 

Call 644-6107 

Free! Early Music Group  

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

A small group who sing madrigals and other voice harmonies. Their objective: To enjoy making music and building musical skills.  

Call Ann 655-8863 or e-mail: ann@integratedarts.org 

Opening of Thousand Oaks Elementary School 

5 p.m. 

Thousand Oaks Multipurpose Room  

840 Colusa  

The ribbon-cutting will take place at 5 p.m. and tours will follow the ceremony.  

Wednesday, Jan. 31

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra  

8 p.m. 

Zellerbach Hall  

UC Berkeley  

Featuring “Berkeley Images,” a world premiere by Jean-Pascal Beintus.  

$10 - $35  

Call 841-2800 

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Berkeley High Poetry Slam  

6:30 p.m.  

Berkeley High School  

2246 Milvia St., Room G-210 

A preliminary round for the regional poetry slams sponsored by youth speaks.  

A Question of initiative  

Editor: 

Last spring, as an emergency move to quell proposals allowing very tall/dense structures in many parts of Berkeley, people from various communities put together an Initiative for the ballot to establish maximum building heights. At that time, members of the group set up a booth at the Earth Day Festival and got dozens of signatures from citizens willing to circulate petitions. Of the more than fifty visitors talked with that day, only three persons were in favor of high-rise development, indicating high support in the ecology community for the initiative. 

When the text of the final Initiative was completed and legally formatted, the document was submitted to city officials as the last step before being circulated for voters’ signatures. The city attorney issued an opinion declaring the proposed measure was beyond the powers of voters to enact as an Initiative. Furthermore, to do so would require a Charter amendment, she said. 

To our disadvantage, the collection of enough signatures to amend the Charter would require three times the number needed for an Initiative. By the time this legal judgement was delivered on April 3, it was not feasible to collect in one month the more than 6,000 signatures before the presidential election deadline. As a consequence the project was shelved. 

Maximum height advocates might go for a Charter amendment with more than a year in which to do the petitions. First, a clarification of the city attorney’s judgement needs to be made in view of the fact that the City Charter itself gives direct legislative powers to voters in the Initiative section. Article XIII says:  

“The qualified voters of the City shall have power through the initiative and otherwise, as provided by this Charter and general laws of the State, to enact appropriate legislation to carry out and enforce any of the powers of the City or any of the powers of the Council.” 

The city attorney’s interpretation that “the Initiative was beyond the power of the voters” is clearly a contradiction of the letter of the law as stated in Article Xlll.  

Since a questionable city attorney opinion, of interfering with a city commission, has been headlined in local newspapers, yet another complaint should be aired involving the Initiative process.  

What are our rights as voters under Charter Article XIII ?  

Why is the Initiative process being limited ?  

Would a City Council workshop on the issue be appropriate ? 

Martha Nicoloff 

Berkeley 

The defense rested its case Tuesday in the misdemeanor trial of a San Francisco police officer accused of striking his girlfriend in the face at her Berkeley apartment and binding her hands with a nylon strap.  

The afternoon court session brought to a close three days of sometimes graphic testimony about sex, violence and an extramarital affair between the defendant, 52-year-old James McKeever, and his 36-year-old girlfriend, who testified McKeever broke a cap off one of her teeth before tying her up with the strap from a harness the pair had used during a sex act the day before. 

Closing statements are expected Wednesday morning in the courtroom of Judge Carlos G. Ynostroza in Oakland Superior Court. The case is being heard by a jury of eight women and six men, including two alternates.  

The sex harness, introduced as an exhibit on the first day of trial, has come to symbolize the prosecution’s account of a troubled five-year relationship which Deputy District Attorney Tara Desautels told the jury was “about control, absolute control” of the victim by McKeever.  

In an opening statement Friday, and in subsequent testimony, the defense argued that the roles were reversed, and that the alleged victim had been harassing and stalking McKeever in the months leading up to the Aug. 7 incident in an attempt to break up his marriage. McKeever said the woman, who has asked not to be identified, started the fight that led to his arrest last summer on battery and false imprisonment charges.  

The alleged victim took the witness stand Friday afternoon for questioning by the district attorney. She testified at length about her relationship with the defendant and the events leading up to the alleged attack. 

On the night of the incident she testified that she and McKeever argued at her apartment on Seventh Street in West Berkeley and that the defendant then struck her in the face, breaking off a crown on her tooth. “I felt a crunch and my jaw felt numb immediately,” she told the jury. “I thought maybe he had broken my jaw.” 

She testified McKeever then threw her to the floor. “The whole apartment vibrated like an earthquake,” she said. At this, a half-dozen McKeever supporters seated behind the defendant reacted disdainfully and had to be admonished by the bailiff.  

During testimony by the alleged victim McKeever sat back in his chair at the defense table and regarded the witness solemnly, passing occasional notes to his attorney.  

The woman testified that after McKeever bound her hands behind her back he then tried to tie her feet as well but the harness, which has a number of nylon straps and fittings, was not long enough. Deputy DA Desautels donned a rubber glove each time she handled the apparatus during the elaborate evidentiary rituals that took place each time the exhibit was presented to a witness.  

During cross examination, Defense Attorney Michael Cardoza sought to cast doubt on the alleged victim’s version of events by introducing a statement the woman made in connection with her application for a restraining order against McKeever. In the signed statement, she told an investigator that she struck McKeever first.  

But the alleged victim testified that the statement, along with a number of others in the report, was inaccurate. Still, her voice grew fainter as the cross-examination went on and she appeared flummoxed on several occasions. She eventually asked the judge if she could take a break.  

The trial began Friday with testimony by a neighbor of the alleged victim that she was awaken by screaming in an adjoining apartment and called police. Berkeley police officer Craig Lindenau testified that he responded to a call and upon entering the alleged victim’s apartment found her partially undressed with her hands tied tightly together. He said he had to cut the strap off her hands with a knife. Lindenau testified that she had bruises and abrasions on her neck, leg and wrists.  

Although the case has received scant attention in the press, Judge Ynostroza imposed a gag order on attorneys and jurors in the case, forbidding discussion with news media while the trial is taking place. The court file has been unavailable to the public during the trial and motions have been heard in the judge’s chambers.  

But it appeared the defense had won a motion to exclude from the trial evidence that McKeever was involved in a similar assault in Texas two weeks after the Berkeley incident. McKeever has been charged with felony injury to a child in connection with an alleged attack on his stepdaughter at the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport Aug. 24. He is scheduled to appear for a hearing in Tarrant County, Texas superior court in April.  

Neither McKeever’s defense lawyer in Texas nor Tarrant County Deputy District Attorney Michelle Hartmann, who is prosecuting the felony case against McKeever, returned calls seeking comment. A witness to the incident at the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport whose name appears on a police report also refused to comment Tuesday.  

McKeever testified during the trial that he gave the alleged victim money and helped her purchase a home in Berkeley. He said on the night of his arrest he was trapped in the apartment because the front door was locked from the inside and the alleged victim had hidden the keys.  

In a dramatic final note to the testimony phase of the trial, DA Desautels asked McKeever at the end of her cross-examination Tuesday why the defendant had not worn his wedding ring during the trial but had worn a watch given to him by the alleged victim.  

“I don’t wear a wedding ring,” he said. “And it’s a good watch. It tells the time.” 

If convicted, McKeever faces a possible jail term and fines. Even if he is not convicted of the criminal charges in Alameda County, McKeever could still face a hearing before the San Francisco Police Commission. According to a Police Department spokesman, McKeever could be suspended from the force or terminated. He is now on desk duty. 

The $37 million Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center renovation is nearly complete. When city offices are reinstalled in the 60-year-old building, employees will find a sunlit, airy and nearly earthquake-proof workplace. 

The two-year project cost about $10 million more than originally estimated but Public Works Director René Cardinaux said the building has been completely renewed.  

“Everything has been renovated and upgraded, there’s new data cabling, heating and plumbing, elevators and finishing,” Cardinaux said. “It is 100 percent 2001 technology and it still conveys its depression-era look.” 

In September 1999, the project was budgeted at $25 million, most of which was slated for earthquake retrofitting. As the renovations moved forward, the budget began to grow for the usual reasons such as temporary rental space for displaced city offices and unanticipated asbestos removal, Cardinaux said.  

The biggest budget increases were a result of unanticipated complications installing the 74 base isolators, which will stabilize the building in case of an earthquake, according to Cardinaux.  

The additional funds came mostly from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Cardinaux said the agency was originally scheduled to contribute $3 million for retrofitting the building. According to the most recent project accounting, FEMA granted $16 million to the city. 

Other funding sources included $16 million raised by the voter-approved bond Measure S, and $2.8 million from the city’s general fund. 

The weight of the building now rests on the flexible isolators. Each isolator is 30 inches in diameter and 30 inches high. They are comprised of alternating, quarter-inch layers of rubber and steel and are designed to absorb up to 40 percent of ground movement during an earthquake.  

Cardinaux said the building will sway 30 inches in any direction and then settle back into place.  

Even the stately stairway that leads to the main entrance of the building has been modified to withstand a major quake. The concrete stairway has the appearance of anchoring the building to solid ground. But on closer inspection, it is actually hovering about an inch above ground. Suspended from the building’s side, the stairway will sway without crumbling or splitting apart during a quake. 

The building had a total of 93,000 square feet prior to the renovation and after the work is complete will be approximately 76,000 square feet. The space was lost in the building’s basement, which was extensively redesigned to accommodate the base isolators. The addition of a sixth floor, which contains two meeting spaces, partially offset the loss of basement space. 

The office space, which was dark and sectioned off before the renovation, is now much brighter with natural light pouring into spacious open offices, according to one city employee. 

“This place used to be like a maze,” said contract compliance officer Lee Hightower. “Now there’s an openness and it doesn’t have the same cold feeling it used to have.” 

The move back into the building will be carried out in five highly organized phases. The first phase has already been accomplished, with the offices of the auditor and the Finance, Parks and Waterfront, and Public Works departments already back in the building. The final phase is scheduled to be completed Feb. 18. 

Parks and Waterfront Director Lisa Caronna, who is in the process of moving back into the Civic Center building, said she is glad to have her department’s administrative offices located in one office. “We’ve been getting set up (in our offices) between meetings,” she said. “I think it’s going to be great.” 

A ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled for March 18. 

More than 50 million people from East India and Bangladesh drink and bathe in the arsenic-polluted water from the Bengal Basin.  

Effects of arsenic poisoning range from skin lesions, which often lead to gangrene, to stomach, lung, and kidney cancer, experts say. 

“This catastrophe in Bangladesh is the worst in the world,” said Professor Richard Wilson of Harvard, who studies arsenic poisoning worldwide. 

Wilson was one of many speakers at UC Berkeley Saturday, at a seminar sponsored by the Bengal Basin Working Group, started by Berkeley resident Rash Ghosh. 

Ghosh, 51, is a native of rural Bajitpur, Bangladesh. An activist and experienced toxicologist, Ghosh recruits scientists and activists internationally to help those suffering in his homeland. 

“Many villagers tell me, ‘I don’t have food. Why should I care for the environment?’” said Ghosh.  

“I say, ‘Do you love your children? Then you need to have clean water for them.’ There’s been a tremendous response. That makes me work harder than ever,” he added. 

Working along with basin locals, the group hopes to find long and short-term solutions to measure and eradicate arsenic from basin drinking water. 

Simple, cheap solutions made from locally available materials are needed in order to save those in the basin, said Wilson. 

A filtering system made of sand and iron filings removes much of the water-soluble arsenic, he said. But it’s only available in about 50,000 homes thus far, he added. 

Inge Harding-Barlow, a noted toxicologist and co-founder of the group, hopes to find basin plants that, when eaten, raise arsenic tolerance. 

“The crucial question is getting the villagers to do it,” Wilson said. The Bangladesh government has not adequately educated its citizens on arsenic poisoning and how to avoid it, he added. 

Of even more concern is how to dispose of the resulting sludge, which holds the concentrated arsenic. “You end up with a high level that makes disposing of nuclear waste look easy,” Wilson said. 

In 1992, Ghosh and Harding-Barlow discovered alarming amounts of arsenic in the basin. The poison had been used as fertilizer for decades, Ghosh said. 

In the sixties, Bengalis often died of water-borne diseases from consuming bacteria-infested surface water.  

To stem death tolls, UNICEF and the World Bank funded the building of tubewells, simple wells running eight meters deep. They were cheap and easy to build, Ghosh said. 

However, the well water was laden with arsenic.  

But, said Wilson, no single group is to blame for the tragedy.  

“The British Geological Survey tested the water and said it was perfectly safe,” Wilson said. “But they didn’t test for arsenic.” 

Here in Berkeley, Ghosh found support from many scientists and students at the university.  

Although there is no official affiliation between the school and Ghosh’s group, 28 students in the natural and environmental sciences have volunteered to study the basin. 

“The real blessing is the UC Berkeley students,” said Ghosh. “I have 15 PhDs wanting to work with me on a project. They didn’t ask me for money, they said, ‘We’ll bring our own money.’ I was amazed!” 

Rishi Das, 24, volunteered as an undergraduate while taking classes from Associate Professor Claudia Carr, who also works on the basin project. Das’ family is originally from rural West Bengal. 

“It’s part of a larger problem,” said Das. “In a lot of third world countries, pollution is a problem.” 

Ghosh hopes the group will be an inspiration to other developing nations finding their water supplies in danger due to industrialization, he said. 

“Although we’re studying the Bengal Basin, we want to use our experience to help other emerging economies,” Ghosh said.

Millimeter deviations from the expected wobble of the Earth's axis are giving geophysicists clues to what happens 1,800 miles underground, at the boundary between the Earth's mantle and its iron core.  

A new theory proposes that iron-rich sediments are floating to the top of the Earth's core and sticking like gum to the bottom of the mantle, creating drag that throws the Earth’s wobble off by a millimeter or two over a period of about 18.6 years.  

“The wobble is explained by metal patches attached to the core-mantle boundary,” said Raymond Jeanloz, professor of geology and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley. “As the outer core turns, its magnetic field lines are deflected by the patches and the core fluid gets slowed down, just like mountains rubbing against the atmosphere slows the Earth down.”  

The theory, first proposed by Bruce A. Buffett of the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of British Columbia, also explains a peculiar slowing of seismic waves that ripple along the core-mantle boundary.  

Buffett laid out the theory at the December meeting of the American Geophysical Union and in an article with Jeanloz and former UC Berkeley post-doctoral fellow Edward J. Garnero, now at Arizona State University's Department of Geological Sciences in Tempe, in the Nov. 17 issue of Science. Much of the work was done while Buffett was on sabbatical at UC Berkeley.  

The wobble values that the theory explains have been adopted by the International Astronomical Union as its standard for calculating the position of the Earth's axis into the past as well as the future.  

As the Earth spins on its axis the moon and sun tug on its bulging equator and create a large wobble or precession, producing the precession of the equinoxes with a period of 25,800 years. Other periodic processes in the solar system nudge the Earth, too, creating small wobbles – called nutations – in the wobble. The principal components of the nutation are caused by the Earth's annual circuit of the sun and the 18.6 year precession of the moon’s orbit.  

While these nutations have been known for many years, extremely precise geodetic measurements of the pointing direction of the Earth's axis have turned up unexplained deviations from the predicted nutation.  

An annual deviation that lagged behind the tidal pull of the sun first suggested to Buffett 10 years ago that strange processes may be going on at the boundary between the mantle, made up of viscous rock that extends 1,800 miles below the crust, and the outer core, which is thought to be liquid iron with the consistency of water. The inner core, made of very pure, solid iron, rotates along with the outer core, dragging the Earth’s magnetic field with them.  

“The Earth is getting pulled and tugged at regular periods, but we observe a difference in the way the Earth responds to these tugs and pulls and what we predict,” Buffett said. “One of the ways you could explain that is by having some dissipation in the vicinity of the core-mantle boundary as the fluid moves back and forth relative to the mantle. But the viscosity of the fluid core is comparable to water, and having water slosh back and forth relative to a rigid mantle wasn't going to produce the kinds of dissipation we needed to see.” 

He hit on another way the rotating core could dissipate energy: via electrical drag.  

Buffett suggested that silicon-containing minerals would float to the top of the liquid outer core, carrying iron with it. Together they would form an iron-rich, porous sediment at the mantle boundary that would stick to the mantle, settling into depressions.  

Because the Earth's core rotates about a slightly different axis than the mantle (due to the tug of the Sun and Moon), the core's magnetic field is dragged through the mantle, passing unhindered because the mantle does not conduct electricity. The porous, iron-containing sediment stuck to the mantle, however, would resist the rotation of the magnetic field, creating just enough tug to perturb the Earth’s rotation.  

“As the core rotates it sweeps the magnetic field with it, which easily slips through the mantle with no resistance,” said Buffett. “But if the bottom of the mantle has conductivity, then it's not so easy to slip the magnetic field lines through the mantle. The magnetic field tends to stretch and shear or pull out right across the interface. That generates currents, and those currents damp out the motion and create the kind of dissipation we need to explain this lag in response."  

The sediment layer would have to be less than a kilometer thick (about half a mile) in order to have the observed effect, and would probably cover only patches of the outer core.  

Support for the idea that a thin layer of iron-rich silicates may be plastered to the underside of the mantle came from Garnero and his colleagues, who use seismic waves to probe the mantle and core. Using Buffett's ideas, Garnero modeled what a thin silicate layer would do to seismic waves and found agreement with the data.  

The team subsequently predicted where these patches are located, based on where seismic waves slow down substantially and where they do not.  

“Think of it as a fuzzy boundary between the mantle and the core, with patches perhaps 

10 to 20 kilometers across and up to a thousand meters thick,” Jeanloz said.  

The rising sediment eventually would squeeze out the iron, leaving the silicate sediments tucked to the bottom of the mantle as the iron falls toward the solid iron inner core. The rising of the silicate contaminants and the subsequent fall of metallic iron would create a convection in the outer core consistent with what geologists think to be the source of the core’s magnetic field. Thus, the rising sediments and falling iron could rev up the Earth’s dynamo.  

“In one of the popular models, created by Gary Glatzmaier and Paul Roberts, the dynamo is powered mainly by the growth of the inner core as light elements get excluded and float up through liquid iron, driving convection that powers the dynamo,” Buffett said. “If this idea about sediments is right, the sediments would add a component to drive flow from the top down. This is going to have a pretty important effect on the style of fluid motions in the core, and even in the way in which the magnetic field gets generated.” 

The silicates stuck to the mantle also might be caught up in mantle convection and carried to the surface, accounting for reports of core material in lava erupting from hot spot plumes like that under Hawaii.  

Though Buffett first proposed his theory 10 years ago in his doctorate thesis, the data to prove it were not available. In particular, long-term measurements were needed to accurately determine an out-of-phase anomaly in the 18.6 period wobble.  

The work was supported by the National Science Foundation, the University of California Institute of Geophysics and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

SAN FRANCISCO — A conservative group, claiming a 12-year-old boy was traumatized by viewing Internet pornography at Livermore’s main library, asked an appeals court Tuesday to block such access to minors. 

In a hearing before a panel of the state appeals court, the city of Livermore fought the challenge – the nation’s first test of whether libraries must accommodate parental demands to limit Internet access. 

If the group is successful, parents in California could demand that courts order local libraries to curtail or reduce Internet access, a decision opposed by the state’s counties, civil libertarians and library associations on grounds it violates patrons’ rights to access free speech. 

A panel of three justices of the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco did not indicate when or which way it would rule. But one justice noted that a Virginia library was subjected to a successful suit when it blocked pornographic access and was ordered to reinstate full access. 

On the other hand, the California appellate court was asked Tuesday to sanction suits against libraries for not filtering such material. 

“The libraries are basically in a dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t position,” Justice Patricia K. Sepulveda said. 

Bringing the suit was Public Justice Institute, a conservative, family values group in Sacramento. The group said a young boy over several days downloaded a host of obscene, pornographic pictures from the library and printed them at a relative’s house. 

“We’re not talking about simple Playboy pictures,” institute lawyer Michael Millen said. “We’re talking about extremely obscene images.” 

The city maintains that children or adults don’t have a “constitutional right to be free from this material that comes over the Internet,” said Daniel G. Sodergren, assistant city attorney. 

Also, Sodergren said, the library is immune from the suit – as are Internet service providers, such as America Online, which Congress said cannot be prosecuted for hosting indecent material on its network. 

Making this case unique is that the institute and the boy’s mother are not suing for damages. Instead, they are seeking a court order to prevent the library from allowing children to access pornographic material on the Internet. Such a request has never been tested in the nation’s courts. 

“This is not about money,” Millen said. 

Congress recently approved legislation demanding that libraries use so-called pornography-blocking filters on computers to prevent children from being exposed to indecent material. 

That measure, which the American Civil Liberties Union is challenging, does not apply to the Livermore case.  

The law requires filters for libraries that accept federal funding, and Livermore’s three branches do not. 

In Tuesday’s argument, the ACLU argued that limiting access to children could hinder the rights of adults. It argued that Internet filtering devices are unreliable and they often screen material that is not considered indecent. 

Even so, libraries throughout the country have taken preventative measures. Some have required parental consent to use the Internet, while others have equipped all or some computers used by minors with filters.

LOS ANGELES — White supremacist Buford O. Furrow Jr., who admitted to fatally shooting a Filipino-American postman and shooting up a Jewish community center filled with children, has agreed to plead guilty to federal hate-crime charges, a U.S. Attorney spokesman said. 

“Buford Furrow is expected to be in court tomorrow morning to plead guilty,” Thom Mrozek said Tuesday night. 

He declined to discuss details of the plea agreement because it had not been filed yet with the court.  

But sources close to the case said Furrow will plead to all 16 counts of the indictment against him. 

The sources said Furrow has agreed to spend the rest of his life in prison without possibility of parole as part of his plea bargain with the government. 

Prosecutors had said they were going to seek the death penalty against Furrow if he went to trial. His public defenders had been negotiating to save his life and depicted him as psychotic. 

They were prepared to mount a mental-illness defense if the government insisted on going to trial.  

Furrow had a history of hospitalizations for mental problems. 

Furrow was charged with killing letter carrier Joseph Ileto on Aug. 10, 1999, hours after he allegedly wounded three boys, a teen-age girl and a woman at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in the San Fernando Valley. 

In pretrial legal filings, prosecutors detailed statements by Furrow in which he admitted his actions and said they were motivated by racial hatred. 

In spite of his statements admitting responsibility, Furrow pleaded innocent.  

His public defenders argued that the federal death penalty statute was unconstitutional and that the factors presented to justify it in Furrow’s case were too vague.

FRESNO — When Woody Deryckx got out of the U.S. Navy and into organic farming 30 years ago, most conventional farmers dismissed his efforts as an idealistic pipe dream better suited to hippie communes than modern commercial agriculture. 

“The kinds of innovations I was proselytizing about in the 1970s were totally rejected as being insane by the agricultural establishment,” Deryckx said. 

Now, there are about 6,600 certified organic farmers nationwide, with about 2,000 registered in California. Consumers, leery of pesticides and other contaminants, are spending about $3.5 billion a year on organic food. 

This week, Deryckx and about 100 other farmers, agricultural scientists and government officials from around the country are gathering in Pacific Grove to help their industry take the next step into the mainstream. 

They’ve come for the second meeting of the Scientific Congress on Organic Agricultural Research, a national organization developed with the help of farmers from around the country and researchers from Ohio State University, Iowa State University, North Carolina State University, Tufts University and the Organic Farming Research Foundation in Santa Cruz. 

“It’s an effort to begin writing a national organic research agenda. We need a blueprint; we need to say there must be more money ... this is how it should be spent,” OFRF director Bob Scowcroft said. 

“We’re starting a whole new movement of research, and the education that follows will support the growing movement of organic farming,” said Deryckx, a full-time organic potato and vegetable farmer in Malin, Ore., and president of OFRF. 

Last year marked a turning point of sorts for the nation’s organic farming industry. Organic growing techniques were codified in U.S. law as a “good farming practice” for the first time, allowing farmers who shun pesticides and other chemicals to be eligible for better crop insurance programs. 

Also, in December, the U.S. Department of Agriculture published national organic standards. Foods grown and processed according to the standards, a decade in development, will bear a seal of “USDA Organic.” 

“A lot of those methods we developed now are recognized as standard techniques,” said Deryckx, widely acknowledged by fellow organic farmers as being one of the industry’s most tenacious pioneers. 

Still, the bulk of research dollars is being spent on conventional farming studies. 

On Wednesday, OFRF will release a study of the organic research being done in the nation’s 67 land grant universities. Citing a 1997 OFRF study, the authors of “Organic Farming Systems Research and Land Grants 2000-2001” say that less than 0.1 percent of federal agricultural dollars were spent on organic farming research. 

Of the 886,000 acres of research land at universities nationwide, there are just 151 certified organic acres – and none in California, where about half the nation’s organic food is produced. 

“The land grant system’s institutionalized focus on purchased chemical inputs and mammoth-scale production marginalized many other areas of inquiry, including smaller-scale and more environmentally appropriate farming techniques,” the study says. 

In 1999, the USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program, which funds some organic research, received $8 million, or 2 percent, of the total of $402 million USDA spent on university research, according to the study. 

“We need to develop the 21st century ideal for organic systems research” and see that the ideal is fully funded, Scowcroft said. “There has to be organic research in every state of the union.” 

The consensus among most farmers and scientists is that organic research has to be taken as a whole system approach and has to be done on an organic farm. 

“You can’t understand an organic farm when you’re at a research station with a history of chemical abuse,” Deryckx said. 

An example of the type of research organic farmers want to see more of is being conducted at the Center for Environmental Farming Systems at North Carolina State University. 

Researchers there are studying organic crop systems over the long term, some non-chemical weed control methods and techniques to turn soil used for conventional farming into organic production. 

Scientists from several different disciplines, including entomologists, plant pathologists, soil scientists and horticulturists, are cooperating in research that evaluates the entire organic farm system, not just one or two pieces of the puzzle. 

“It’s very complicated. I think that’s why, in part, researchers have stayed away from organic in the past,” said Nancy Creamer, head of the organic unit in North Carolina State’s Department of Horticultural Science. 

Complaints about the meager resources dedicated to organic research nationwide don’t seem to come as much of a surprise to federal agriculture officials or university administrators, who tend to admit that organic farming research hasn’t been adequately funded. 

“That’s certainly one of the things organic farmers have advocated for a number of years,” said Keith Jones, program manager for the USDA National Organic Program, which was responsible for developing the national organic rules. 

Only in recent years have farmers and researchers been organizing in sufficient numbers to have an influential political voice, Jones said. 

Sean Swezey, director of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program at the University of California, is more blunt. 

“(The funding) has not been enough,” Swezey said. 

The university has spent $1.3 million on 25 research projects since 1987 that have benefits for organic farmers. 

“There is tremendous interest in broadening the consumption of these organic products. We predict that in the next 25 years, as much as 20 percent of the total agricultural production in California will be organic.” 

That’s welcome news to the thousands of farmers who’ve dedicated themselves to the production of organic agriculture with a near-religious zeal. 

“Having been laughed at and ridiculed all these years, it’s astonishing to see it all come together now. But it’s just the beginning, we have a lot of work to do,” Deryckx said.

SACRAMENTO — President Bush extended emergency orders Tuesday keeping electricity and natural gas flowing to California as blackouts threatened and state spending on emergency power mounted. 

The orders, which direct energy suppliers to sell to the state despite fears about utility solvency, were initially issued by the Clinton administration and had been due to expire at midnight. 

State officials said they were “burning through” a $400 million fund California is using to buy electricity from wholesalers on behalf its two largest utilities, both nearly bankrupt. More than $113 million has been spent since last Thursday. 

“Everyone knows the clock is ticking,” Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio said. 

Adding to the drama, power grid officials narrowly avoided blackouts at least twice Tuesday, including outages that could have hit during the morning and evening rush hours in San Francisco and other Northern California cities.  

The Independent System Operator said the supply would remain tight through the evening. 

Overnight, grid officials bought 1,000 megawatts from suppliers in the Pacific Northwest and Canada. Hours later, those sellers canceled their promise to keep the power flowing as hydroelectric capacity in their regions began to wane and demand increased. 

“They don’t have it to give,” ISO spokesman Patrick Dorinson said. “We’re watching the ramp now for any changes and doing the delicate dance as well as we can.” 

A Stage 3 alert – with reserves near or below 1.5 percent – was expected to remain in effect all day for the eighth straight day. 

Bush’s extension of the emergency orders – in effect for at least two weeks – came as time starts running out for California lawmakers to find a solution to the energy crisis. 

The state already has spent more than one-quarter of the $400 million allocated to buy power from wholesalers who are refusing to sell to Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. The fund, created under a law signed by Davis last Thursday, was meant to keep lights burning for about 10 days. 

Spending started slowly, “but now we’re burning through it and it’s increasing on a daily basis,” said Assemblyman Fred Keeley. 

As the Davis administration began accepting bids from electricity suppliers Tuesday, lawmakers continued negotiating details of measures that would put the state into the power-buying business for perhaps a decade or longer. 

One key plan would let the state sign long-term contracts with electricity wholesalers at lower prices than the state or utilities are paying now, and sell that power directly to consumers using Edison’s and PG&E’s infrastructures. 

Other proposals would have the utilities donate their hydroelectric plants or transmission systems to the state in exchange for continued state power-buying and halve the price Edison and PG&E pay for expensive alternative energy such as solar and wind power. 

Officials anxiously awaited the results of the special electricity auction, conducted by sealed bid. 

California is asking power producers for contracts from six months to 10 years to try to restore stability to the power system and financial solvency to the investor-owned utilities ravaged by the state’s botched deregulation. The bids will not be known until Wednesday. 

“There is a great deal of anxiety,” said Keeley, exhausted by negotiations that began last Friday. “I know that the Legislature has no appetite for any further general fund money being appropriated for this purpose.” 

If the bids are affordable an end to the crisis is in sight, the Boulder Creek Democrat said. 

“If they come in high, we’re going to be scrambling,” Keeley said. 

ISO officials urged consumers to “make conservation a way of life.” 

And in San Francisco, Mayor Willie Brown ordered city departments to cut electricity and natural gas use 5 percent by summer. 

Stage 3 alerts were likely through the week until California power plants shut down for maintenance resume operation. 

The state lost the ability to save as much as 300 megawatts – enough to illuminate 300,000 homes – Monday night when PG&E reached the annual limit of hours it can shut off power to “interruptible” customers. Those businesses agree to outages during times of scarce supply in exchange for lower rates. 

In addition, a key hydroelectric plant near Fresno was low on water; a transmission glitch in Oregon persisted; and offers to sell the state electricity were lower than expected. 

PG&E, which serves much of Northern California including San Francisco, is asking the owners of large office buildings to dim lights and reduce elevator service to save power. 

A tight supply, high demand, high wholesale prices and the financial shakiness of the state’s two biggest utilities have pushed California into its hour-by-hour search for electricity and resulted in two days with rolling blackouts last week. 

The problems are blamed on California’s 1996 utility deregulation law, which required the state’s investor-owned utilities to sell their power plants and buy wholesale power, but capped the rates they can charge customers. SoCal Edison and PG&E say they’ve lost more than $10 billion. 

Keeley said his plan would buy time for the two utilities to restore their credit while lawmakers work on long-term solutions to the state’s botched deregulation laws. 

He acknowledged the contracts could put the state in the power business for upward of a decade, but said energy providers would need several years to make a profit at the lower prices. 

SACRAMENTO — While the national average for organ donations rose in the first half of last year by about 4 percent, organ donations in California dropped by 13 percent, according to national health officials. 

California’s organ donation system is “woefully inadequate” and has led to a decline in lifesaving donations, Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Daly City, said Tuesday. 

She has introduced a bill to create a statewide databank of people willing to be donors.  

Similar registries in other states have led to higher numbers of donors, she said. 

Medical officials and those who match donors with recipients say having the registry would help, but more public education is needed – especially among minorities, who make up 70 percent of the list of those waiting for an organ. 

Organ donations among minorities are lower than the rest of the population, said Dr. Lorenzo Rossaro, chief of hepatology at UC Davis Medical Center.  

And because recipients often need an organ from someone with the same ethnicity, minorities are less likely to find a matching donor. 

Up to seven organs – heart, two lungs, two kidneys, pancreas and liver – can be recovered from a dead person, so each donation potentially could save seven lives. 

One donor saved the lives of Paul White of Fresno and his daughter. White found out his kidneys were failing in 1982 and his 14-year-old daughter was diagnosed with kidney disease a few years later. 

“I was at work when I got the call that there was a kidney for me and a kidney for my daughter.  

“We both received kidneys from the same donor,” he said. 

White’s two sons also have been diagnosed with kidney disease and his daughter’s kidney transplant was rejected in 1990. She is waiting for an organ donation. 

Because there are strict medical guidelines on donations, only about 1,200 people each year in California die in a manner that they can be considered for organ donations. 

“But over 50 percent of families say no when asked to donate their loved ones’ organs,” Speier said at a Capitol news conference announcing her bill. 

Under Speier’s bill, the state Department of Motor Vehicles would offer hand out a registration card that would be mailed to the registry.  

The registry also would have a simple way for people to remove their name from the list, she said. 

Even if people have signed up for the registry, or put the pink sticker on their drivers’ license, transplant officials still ask their families’ permission to recover organs, said Phyllis Weber, with the California Transplant Donor Network in Oakland. 

“Most procurement groups say if families say no, they’re not going to proceed. But in reality, it’s not a problem” if the deceased has indicated they want to donate their organs, said Weber. 

Families often turn down donation because they are unsure if that’s what the deceased wanted, she said. 

“This would be a gift to families. I can’t tell you how many families say they just don’t know what to do,” Weber said. 

The registry would be sufficient proof of a donor’s intentions if no family member could be found in 12 hours, she said. 

Speier estimates that the registry would cost $500,000 to start and $250,000 a year to run. 

On the Net: 

Speier’s bill, SB108, can be read at www.sen.ca.gov

LOS ANGELES — People buying guns from Los Angeles dealers would have to be fingerprinted under a measure proposed by a City Council committee. 

The Public Safety Committee on Monday recommended drafting the ordinance and sending it to the full council for consideration. 

Councilman Mike Feuer said his proposal would help authorities track down convicted felons who are barred by law from purchasing firearms. 

The city already requires people buying ammunition at gun shops to provide their thumbprints. 

Police Chief Bernard C. Parks and the city attorney’s office have endorsed the concept but gun store owners criticized it. 

“It’s a bad idea,” said Jim Hoag of Hoag Gun Works in Canoga Park.  

“We’re going to more regulation, which will lead to confiscation. It wouldn’t touch felons. The only ones it will affect are law-biding citizens.” 

Steve Jacobson, who owns a gun store and pawnshop near the Coliseum, said the state Department of Justice already checks the applications of gun buyers to make sure they are not convicted felons. 

“It’s just a waste of time,” Jacobson said of the proposed city measure. “There are so many regulations on guns already. A lot of gun stores are going out of business.” 

Feuer said state background checks blocked gun sales to nearly 5,000 people in California in 1999, including 17 convicted killers. 

But Steve Helsley of the National Rifle Association said felons caught trying to buy guns from licensed dealers are rarely prosecuted. 

“This is political posturing,” he said, noting that Feuer is running for city attorney. 

Fingerprints would give prosecutors more confidence in filing cases, said Carmel Sella, special assistant city attorney. 

For privacy reasons, the gun dealers would keep the records for their own stores, and the prints would only be examined by the government if the state felt a particular application was suspicious, Sella said. 

LONG BEACH — The number of California State University freshmen needing help with college math courses has dropped, while the number needing remedial English has remained the same, according to a report released Tuesday. 

The report to the CSU’s Education Policy Committee also found that nearly 80 percent of incoming freshmen who need remedial education completed the courses by the end of their first year. 

CSU, the nation’s largest public university system with 23 campuses, established guidelines in 1997 to improve remedial levels by requiring students to improve math and English skills within a year or leave the CSU system until they could prove proficiency. 

CSU officials have pledged to reduce the number of incoming freshman needing remediation to 10 percent by fall 2007 from a high of 68 percent in 1996. 

“We’re doing better. We’re on the trajectory to exceed the math standard. But we’re not having the same success with English and we’re going to have to take a look at that,” CSU Chancellor Charles Reed said.  

“We think, but we’re not sure, part of it might be the number of people who are English language learners – where English is not the first language in their home.” 

The report found that of the 33,822 freshmen entering CSU in 2000, 15,289 students, or 45.2 percent, needed assistance with college-level math.  

That number was down 3 percentage points from the previous year. 

But there was little improvement in the number of students not needing remedial English.  

According to the report, 15,448 students, 45.6 percent of entering freshmen, needed remedial English. 

“On balance, it’s good news. But it does tell us we need to look at English learners,” said David Spence, executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer. 

In assessing each student, not all needed a full semester of math or English in order to pass the proficiency exam, while others needed an intensive curriculum, Spence said. 

Some students sought tutors while others attended classes or summer session. 

However, the report found a continuing disparity between the number of white students and minorities needing remedial education at CSU. 

The report found 73 percent of black students and 60 percent of Hispanics needed math remediation compared with 37 percent of whites.  

It also found 65.8 percent of blacks and 58 percent of Hispanics needed English remediation compared to 28 percent of whites. 

“It’s a socio-economic situation. Many of these groups have fewer education opportunities,” Spence said. 

Reed noted that CSU was increasing outreach to kindergarten through 12th grades in urban areas with fewer educational opportunities in hope of reducing the number of incoming freshmen needing remedial classes. 

“It’s going to take a lot more work and partnerships in the public schools.  

“I think that’s where the action has to be” to get the numbers down, Reed said. 

ANAHEIM — An immigration reform group wants the Anaheim City Council to allow local police agencies to be the first in the nation to use a little-known federal law to arrest suspected illegal immigrants. 

The Orange County-based California Coalition for Immigration Reform planned to ask the city Tuesday to adopt an ordinance that asks the federal government for immigration code enforcement powers, which would allow local police to make arrests solely on the grounds of undocumented status. 

Cities may ask the U.S. attorney general’s office for such powers under 1996 immigration reform legislation. Currently, officers can turn over to the Immigration and Naturalization Service any suspected illegal immigrants arrested for other violations. 

“They will not be suspected if they have the proper documentation,” Barbara Coe, chairwoman of the immigration reform group, told the Los Angeles Times.  

“If they can’t provide documentation that they are here legally then they are subject to arrest.” 

Coe, who co-authored Proposition 187, the 1994 measure that sought to deny public assistance to immigrants and was later struck down by the court, said her organization has begun a grassroots movement to push other cities to follow suit.  

She did not immediately return a telephone call Tuesday from The Associated Press. 

The issue promises heated debate in this community of 300,000, 50 miles south of Los Angeles, where in 1999 the high school board of trustees, led by board member Harald Martin, voted to ask the federal government to recoup the cost of educating children of illegal immigrants.  

The resolution died after the Justice Department said the board had no legal standing for such a demand. 

Martin, an Anaheim police officer acting as a private citizen, unsuccessfully petitioned the City Council last year to adopt an ordinance granting police federal immigration enforcement powers. 

He began the campaign anew, printing hundreds of copies of the proposal and distributing them door-to-door in the city. The city estimated it has received several hundred signatures in support of the proposal. 

“My goal is not to attend a police officer’s funeral or hold an officer’s body in my hands who has been shot by an illegal alien,” he said. 

Both sides in the immigration debate were expected to attend the city council meeting in large numbers. 

“It just reeks of racism,” said Zeke Hernandez, president of the local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens. “This is purely an anti-immigration move that is meant to target people who look different than what some people think an American should look like.” 

Even before the meeting, council members were taking sides. 

Councilman Tom Tait said he opposes the resolution because he believes it’s a federal matter and it could have a chilling effect on people reporting crimes. 

“If there’s a victim of a crime who thinks they could be arrested because of their status, they aren’t likely to report the crime,” he said. 

Tait also said it was a moot issue because the INS has already posted an agent in the city’s jail. 

“If a person is arrested for a crime, then they will see an INS agent anyway,” he said. “The police are busy enough handling regular crime — theft, robbery, those things.” 

Several council members said they did not have enough information to make a decision. 

“It’s a huge issue, and I’m not sure you can solve it with one broad sweep,” said Councilwoman Lucille Kring. 

NEW YORK — So you think your worries will disappear if you become wealthy? 

Well, think again. Take a tip from the wealthiest of the wealthy: Your worries might change, but they don’t disappear. 

The majority of very wealthy parents, for example, worry that their kids will place too much emphasis on material possessions, or be naive about the value of money or that they’ll spend beyond their means. 

Avoiding such traits isn’t easy work, not when being a rich parent means you you’ll be paying for music, art or dance lessons (92 percent), summer camp (87 percent) and international travel (83 percent). 

These results are from US Trust Co.’s annual survey of its clientele, which is the top 1 percent of wealthy Americans, meaning net worth of $3 million or adjusted cross income of $300,000-plus. 

Each year the survey changes. Prior surveys included attitudes and behavior toward investments, retirement, estate planning, and baby boomers; this year’s was on financial issues that affect children. 

Every parent, poor or well-off, worries about teaching children the value of money. But we’re talking big money here, like setting up a checking account for offspring (63 percent) or a brokerage account (55). 

It might also entail privileges at a private country club, yacht club or tennis club (49 percent), expensive electronic equipment other than computers (48) and special events such as debutante balls (46). 

Such things can give young people the wrong impression, so 99 percent of respondents expect their offspring to clean up their bedroom, take out the trash (85 percent), set the dinner tables and do the dishes (83). 

About three-quarters of this year’s respondents said their children had, or will have, a part-time job during junior high or high school and work at least some of the summers between those school years. 

“These are rational and responsible wealthy families,” said U.S. Trust president Jeffrey Maurer. “They work very hard to provide benefits to their children.” 

But do they sometimes contradict themselves, he was asked.  

To which he responded: “What the use of being rich if you cannot provide a solid education, music lessons, computers and summer camps?” 

When you are very rich, you may also have money you can’t or do not wish to use up in a lifetime. It means inheritances, and of course the younger family members are quite aware that this lies in their future. 

On average, the respondents thought 29 was the youngest age at which an individual should be entrusted with a significant inheritance of, say, $3.4 million.  

On average, parents thought that up to that sum could be entrusted before having a negative effect on the recipient’s values. 

While most agree it’s nice to leave something, there is the ever-present matter of taxes. 

Little wonder that 66 percent of the wealthy parents said their should be no federal estate tax at all. 

John Cunniff is a business analyst for The Associated Press

Gateway cuts 140 jobs  

in manufacturing 

SAN DIEGO — Computer-maker Gateway Inc. will stop producing network servers at a plant in Orange County and eliminate 140 jobs, the company said Tuesday. 

Server production will be moved from Lake Forest to a Gateway manufacturing facility in North Sioux City, S.D., spokesman Tyson Heyn said. 

“We’re just trying to improve efficiency in manufacturing,” Heyn said. 

A server is a specialized computer that stores and manages shared information for a network of computers. Gateway ranks sixth in U.S. server sales and ninth worldwide. 

Gateway will continue to employ about 660 workers in sales and marketing, product development, and sales support in Lake Forest. But additional cuts are likely, he said. 

San Diego-based Gateway announced Jan. 11 that it would cut about 3,000 of its 24,000 employees worldwide in response to a slowdown in technology spending.  

J.C. Penney plans to close stores to help chain 

PLANO, Texas — J.C. Penney Co. Inc. plans to close about 50 department stores as new management tries to repair the troubled retailer, officials said Tuesday. 

The company also is shuttering an undisclosed number of Eckerd drugstores, a spokesman said. The Plano-based retailer will announce the closings and release a list of affected stores later this week. 

Penney has seen its market share slip for several years as it was outflanked by discounters and trendier retailers. Analysts say the company was slow to update its stores and suffered from poor marketing and stale merchandise. 

Sega may stop making Dreamcasts by March 

NEW YORK — Sega Corp. is reportedly planning to stop the production of its Dreamcast game console by the end of March, focusing its efforts on developing and supplying its home software games to such rival companies as Sony Computer Entertainment and Nintendo Co. 

Sega will no longer accept new orders for Dreamcast, instead only assembling units from parts in inventory, according to a story in Tokyo-based The Nihon Keizai Shimbun’s Wednesday edition. 

Sega of America issued a statement late Tuesday, saying the company does not comment on rumors. The Tokyo-based Sega, which trails behind Sony Corp. and Nintendo in U.S. market share for consoles, was expected to benefit from Sony’s well-publicized shortages of PlayStation 2, introduced in the U.S. last October, and Sega Dreamcast’s new online connection. 

Modified corn creator agrees to settlement 

DES MOINES, Iowa — The creator of a genetically modified corn that ended up in the food supply and prompted the recall of taco shells and other products has agreed to pay millions in compensation to farmers and grain elevators across the country. 

Miller said the four-year agreement between Aventis and 17 states, mainly in the Midwest, calls for the company to pay farmers up to 25 cents per bushel for tainted corn, and reimburse them for other losses. The total amount of grain has not been determined. 

— The Associated Press 

Holocaust survivors file suit against Yahoo! 

PARIS (AP) — Holocaust survivors and their families said Tuesday they have filed suit against the chief executive of online giant Yahoo! Inc., accusing the company of downplaying the Holocaust with its former online auctions of Nazi paraphernalia. 

The decision to sue chief executive Tim Koogle for a symbolic one French franc — about 15 cents — was a further step in French human rights groups’ high-profile, trans-Atlantic legal battle to hold the U.S. Internet portal responsible for racist material that has appeared on its Web pages. 

The suit was filed two months after a French court, in response to an earlier lawsuit, ordered Yahoo to block Web surfers in France from auctions where Nazi memorabilia are sold. 

GENEVA (AP) — The world will have to create half a billion new jobs over the next 10 years to reduce unemployment and accommodate new workers coming into the labor force, the International Labor Organization said Tuesday in its annual report. 

It said technological innovations would probably create many more jobs, but it was not clear whether they would be in the countries with the highest levels of unemployment. 

The ILO, a U.N. agency, estimates that 160 million people are unemployed, a rise of 20 million since the onset of the Asian economic crisis in 1997. 

NEW YORK — Wall Street sent stocks higher Tuesday as investors decided to place some cautious bets on bargain-priced shares instead of punishing companies for lower earnings. 

Despite the market’s healthy advance, analysts said investors are struggling to balance caution with optimism. 

Investors seem to be growing more confident that profits and the economy will improve, partly because of lower interest rates.  

The market is hopeful that the Federal Reserve will lower rates for the second time in a month when it meets next week. 

One sign of increasing optimism is that the market seems to again be favoring tech stocks rather than so-called defensive issues that tend to perform better in bearish markets. 

“People feel it might be time to take some money out of the defensive issues and get back into tech,” said Richard Dickson, technical analyst at Scott & Stringfellow Inc. in Richmond, Va. 

At the same time, investors are wary as they try to determine whether bad earnings news has been factored completely into the cheaper prices of many stocks. 

— The Associated Press 

Some investors “take encouragement that many high-techs have managed to rebound from earnings disappointments. But others are thinking that first-quarter earnings are going to be bad, and so are second quarter’s,” Dickson said. 

With a long list of companies reporting fourth-quarter results, earnings still promise to be a focus for the next few sessions. But analysts say it’s hard to tell day to day how earnings will affect trading. 

“It could be just as downbeat tomorrow,” said Charles G. Crane, strategist for Spears, Benzak, Salomon & Farrell. 

Compaq, which announced after the market closed Tuesday that it beat earnings expectations by 2 cents a share, was unchanged in extended-hours trading after rising 23 cents to $20.05 in the regular session. 

Texas Instruments fell $3.56 to $45 after a disappointing earnings report and first-quarter outlook. 

Drug stocks fell despite positive earnings news. Merck, which met Wall Street’s forecasts, dropped $2.75 to $79.56. Johnson & Johnson reported it beat expectations by a penny, but its stock fell $1.63 to $92.69. 

Analysts said the pharmaceutical sector, which has had a recent run up as investors sought safe havens, has become too expensive. 

However, another defensive sector got an earnings-related boost. Energy company Dynegy picked up $1.50 to trade at $50.25 after beating earnings predictions by 4 cents a share. 

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 5 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume was 1.48 billion shares, compared with 1.41 billion on Monday. 

The Russell 2000 index rose 11.91 to 502.06. 

Overseas, stock markets were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.3 percent, as did Britain’s FT-SE 100, and France’s CAC-40 slipped 0.7 percent. Germany’s DAX index rose 0.7 percent. 

——— 

On the Net: 

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com 

Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com 

Berkeley became the first California city to adopt into law mandatory inspection of gas heaters in rental units. Tonight it will consider an amendment to charge property owners for the administrative costs of the new ordinance. 

The gas appliance inspection ordinance was adopted in principle Nov. 21, without setting fees for the inspections. Tonight the City Council will consider charging rental-property owners $12 per unit to pay the estimated $50,000 it will cost to process the required documentation. The council is also considering modifying a requirement to inspect units every three years, reducing the frequency of inspections and also waiving fees for landlords who install carbon monoxide detectors. 

If the amendment is approved tonight, landlords who install detectors will not pay any administrative fees and will only be required to have their gas appliances inspected every five years, according to the staff report. 

The mode of inspection is up to the property owner. Interim Director of Housing Stephen Barton said landlords will be able to hire private contractors to carry out the inspection, which may cost as much as $75 per hour, or they can take advantage of a free inspection service offered by PG & E.  

Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that is produced when any fuel is incompletely burned. There are about 200 carbon monoxide deaths each year in the United States from poisoning associated with home fuel-burning heating equipment, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. 

Some property owners said the new ordinance will be costly and at best provide tenants with a false sense of security because it is impossible to predict when gas appliances will malfunction.  

Property manager Primo Facchinni said the best way to protect tenants is to install carbon monoxide detectors and require property owners to certify their installation every year when they pay registration fee to the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board. 

“You can have the inspector come out and tell you everything is all right and as soon as he leaves something can go wrong,” he said. “This law doesn’t do what it sets out to do, save lives.” 

Dr. Michael Apte, who works at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, will make a presentation to the City Council at tonight’s meeting about the benefits of inspection programs as well as ways to encourage the installation of carbon monoxide detectors. 

Mayor Shirley Dean said she isn’t sure if carbon monoxide detectors are enough. “My first concern is safety, and I intend to listen very carefully to what Dr. Apte has to say and expect to rely on his input.” 

Facchinni said there are other problems with inspections including gaining access to rental units. “If you have 14 units, you have 14 problems,” he said. “You have to coordinate the inspections with tenants’ schedules and people are busy and there’s always complications.” 

He said the cost of the inspections could become punitive if PG & E stops offering the free inspections. “PG & E representatives have told me there’s no guarantee they will continue these inspections,” Facchinni said. 

Barton also said he is concerned about PG & E’s ability to continue to offer the free inspections. The utility’s solvency has been in question and electricity suppliers are currently under federal orders to sell electricity to California utilities despite their alleged inability to pay. 

But PG & E spokesperson Staci Homrig said PG & E will continue to offer the free inspections. “We’ve offered the service for a number of years now and we’ll continue to offer that service as long as customers call and schedule in advance.” 

The inspection ordinance was authored by Councilmember Maudelle Shirek after the November 1999 carbon monoxide death of Indian immigrant Chanti Jyotsna Devi Prattipati, 17. Prattipati died in an apartment at 2020 Bancroft Way when an air vent became clogged as a result of roof repairs. The landlord, Lakireddy Bali Reddy was not charged with her death, which was ruled accidental. 

Tuesday, Jan. 23

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

Call Wade, 531-8664 

PSR’s annual Earl Lectures 

9 a.m. - 10 p.m.  

First Congregational Church of Berkeley  

2345 Channing Way  

Celebrating their 100th anniversary of lectures, this year will focus on Christian mission in a pluralistic age. This year there are 28 workshops and three panels of national religious leaders and scholars. Free  

Call 849-8274 

Elderly mental illness 

1:30 - 3 p.m. 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Herrick Campus, CC Conference Room  

2001 Dwight Way 

Dr. Robert Dolgoff, Chief Psychiatrist at the Berkeley Therapy Institute will discuss the course of action to be taken when the best efforts of medical professionals no longer helps older folks with mental illnesses.  

Call 869-6737  

Blood pressure for seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Alice Meyers. 

Call 644-6107 

Costs of illness 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Attorney Walter Rosen will discuss how to protect you home and savings from the financial effects of catastrophic illness.  

Call 644-6107 

Wednesday, Jan. 24

Free acting & storytelling classes for seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit  

www.stagebridge.org 

Thursday, Jan. 25

Spirits in the Time of AIDS 

6 - 8 p.m. 

Pro Arts Gallery  

461 Ninth St.  

Oakland 

Pro Arts reception for the opening of their new exhibition seeking to expand the understanding of HIV and AIDS and the people who are affected by them.  

Call 763-9425 

Free “Quit Smoking” Class 

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis (at Ashby)  

Cease your smoking with the help of this free class offered to Berkeley residents and employees. 

Call 644-6422 to enroll or e-mail quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Climbing Mt. Everest  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Bob Hoffman, organizer and leader of four environmental clean-up expeditions on Everest, will give a slide presentation on the Inventa 2000 Everest Environmental Expedition’s recent ascent. Free 527-4140 

Duomo Readings Open Mic 

6:30 - 9 p.m. 

Cafe Firenze  

2116 Shattuck Ave.  

With featured poet Glenn Ingersoll and host Louis Cuneo. 644-0155 

Women in Salsa  

8 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave.  

Orquesta D’Soul, a San Francisco based band, is hosting this benefit featuring the musical talents of local bay area women in salsa.  

$8 in advance, $10 at the door 

Call 849-2568 or visit www.lapena.org 

Conversations in Commedia 

7:30 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave. (at Prince) 

Mime Troupe vet and St. Stupid’s Day creator, Ed Holmes, and 84-year-old Bari Rolfe, a mime for over 30 years, give dialogues on satire.  

$6 - $8  

Call 849-2568 

West Berkeley Project Area  

Commission  

7 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth St.  

Discussions will include review of the initial environmental study and recommendations on a request to establish a public market. Also, consideration of a petition requesting that diagonal parking and parking meters not be installed on Fifth St. 

Take the Terror Out  

of Talking 

12:10 - 1:10 p.m. 

Department of Health Services  

2151 Berkeley Way  

State Health Toastmasters Club is hosting an open house to celebrate Toastmasters International Week and to kick-off the start of “Speechcraft,” a six-session workshop to help participants overcome nervousness and learn basic public speaking skills. Call 649-7750 

Friday, Jan. 26

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program.  

Call 549-2970  

“The Aftermath of the  

National Election” 

11:45 a.m. luncheon 

12:30 p.m. speaker  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

Susan Rasky, senior lecturer at the graduate school of journalism at UC Berkeley will speak.  

$11 - $12.25 with luncheon, $1 with coffee, students free  

848-3533 

Stagebridge free acting & storytelling classes for seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Call 444-4755 or visit  

www.stagebridge.org 

Crisis in Colombia 

7 p.m. 

Berkeley UU Fellowship Hall  

1924 Cedar (at Bonita)  

As part of their “war on drugs,” the Colombian government is set to implement Plan Colombia, aided by military hardware and training from the U.S. Peter Dale Scott, UC Berkeley professor and Daniel de la Pava, of the Colombia Support Network will, will discuss the U.S. role in perpetuating the violence and how to organize to help.  

$5 - $10 donation requested  

Call 704-9608 

Yiddish Conversation  

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Allen Stross 

Call 644-6107 

Saturday, Jan. 27

Clori, Tirsi & e Fileno 

8 p.m. 

Crowden School  

1475 Rose St. (at Sacramento) 

Teatro Bacchino, the Bay Area’s Baroque Opera company, will be performing Handel’s story of jealousy in love. Pre-concert talk 45 minutes before the performance.  

$15 - $20  

Call 658-3382  

Cuddly, Soft, Furry Things  

& Friends 

10 - 10:50 a.m. & 11:10 a.m. - Noon  

Lawrence Hall of Science  

UC Berkeley  

A special workshop for two - three year-olds to meet, pet, and feed rabbits, doves, and snakes.  

$22 - $25, $10 for additional family members, registration required  

Call 642-5134 

Book Publishing Seminar 

10 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

Regent Press 

6020-A Adeline St.  

Mark Weiman presents an overview of the business of book publishing oriented towards the author considering self-publication. Call 547-7602 or e-mail: regent@sirius.com 

Free Tae-Bo Classes for Adults  

10 - 10:45 a.m.  

Frances Albrier Community  

Center, San Pablo Park 

2800 Park St. 644-8515 

Free Martial Arts Classes for Kids  

11:15 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Frances Albrier Community  

Center  

Classes taught by Michael Johnson, a fourth degree black belt. Ages 5 - 7, 11:15 a.m. - Noon; Ages 8 - 12, 12:15 p.m. - 1 p.m.; Ages 13 to adults, 1:15 p.m. - 2 p.m. 

— compiled by  

Chason Wainright 

644-8515 

One-Day Travel Careers Class 

8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. 

Vista College  

2020 Milvia St.  

Room 210 

Learn about new employment opportunities in travel in the 21st century. Class will include a look at salaries, travel benefits, necessary education and preparation required. Bring payment by check to the class.  

$5.50 for California residents 

Call Marty de Souto, 981-2931  

Intuitive Healing 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

1502 Tenth St.  

Marcia Emery, Ph.D., will discuss the deeper meaning of illness, the way to tune into any body part to heal it and your intuitive X-ray or body scan ability. 

$85 

Call 526-5510 

Sunday, Jan. 28

Clori, Tirsi & e Fileno 

7 p.m. 

Crowden School  

1475 Rose St. (at Sacramento) 

Teatro Bacchino, the Bay Area’s Baroque Opera company, will be performing Handel’s story of jealousy in love. Pre-concert talk 45 minutes before the performance.  

$15 - $20  

Call 658-3382  

Reimagining Pacific Cities  

6 - 8:30 p.m. 

New Pacific Studio  

1523 Hearst Ave.  

“How are Pacific cities reshaping their cultural and environmental institutions to better serve the needs and enhance the present and future quality of life of all segments of their societies?” A series of ten seminars linking the Bay Area, Seattle, Portland, and other pacific cities.  

$10 per meeting  

Call 849-0217 

Finns in Berkeley and Co-op Beginnings 

3 - 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Historical Society  

1931 Center St.  

A panel discussion on Finnish and Co-op history and on the Consumers Cooperative of Berkeley.  

$10 donation  

Call 848-0181 

Mediterranean Plant Life 

3:30 p.m. 

UC Botanical Garden  

200 Centennial Drive  

Peter Dallman, author of “Plant Life in the Mediterranean Regions of the World,” will motivate attendees to look closely at California native plants and experiment with dramatic and drought-tolerant species in their own gardens.  

Call 643-2755  

Rhythm & Muse Open Mike 

2 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Museum, Conference Room 

2621 Durant (at Bowditch)  

Poet Katharine Harer and jazz guitarist Joe Vance.  

Call 527-9753 

In 1975, Judge James Meredith approved a consent decree that attempted to address residence-based racial imbalance in St. Louis schools and to prevent lengthy and angry litigation. That same year my family moved to Brentwood a small suburb of St. Louis. I was five years old.  

John Ashcroft was then Missouri’s Assistant Attorney General. In 1976 he would become Missouri’s Attorney General, a position he would hold until 1985, the year I left the state.  

Without realizing it at the time, woven through my childhood years in Missouri would be the story of St. Louis’ community struggle to end school segregation and the efforts of John Ashcroft, acting as the agent of the State, to derail the process. 

During our residence in Missouri, my parents would be part of ad hoc committees, school boards, and interdistrict coordinating councils to support voluntary metropolitan-wide desegregation.  

The voluntary desegregation plan was to involve genuine student and parent choice. It promised a commitment to improve the quality of all city schools, while holding the districts accountable for rectifying previous and ongoing practices that had the effect of discrimination against African American students based on race.  

The plan was not perfect, but it was a genuine attempt to avoid the white flight that was taking place in cities such as Detroit where mandatory intradistrict remedies were imposed. 

In April of 1982, Brentwood School district joined the volunteer desegregation program.  

That following September, a handful of new students stumbled off a school bus and entered my Junior High School. 

Angry mobs, TV cameras, or armed security did not greet them, never the less, they were the legacy of the Little Rock Nine; Jefferson Thomas, Carlotta Walls, Gloria Ray, Elizabeth Eckford, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Pattillo, Terrance Roberts, Minniejean Brown, Ernest Green.  

These were students standing up to make real, educational opportunities which had been promised them more than twenty-five years before in the landmark Supreme Court ruling Brown vs. the Board of Education.  

My classmates’ names will not be recorded in any history books, but the story of the struggle for desegregation of the St. Louis schools takes on new meaning with the nomination of John Ashcroft as Attorney General of the United States.  

Close to a half century after Brown, it is unfathomable to me that we could reward a man whom I personally witnessed making his political career stonewalling desegregation in the Missouri schools by giving him the job of enforcing the civil rights laws of this land. 

As I listen to the first days of John Ashcroft’s confirmation hearings, politicians and scholars are telling me that John Ashcroft is a man of integrity and intelligence.  

None of these pontificators know John Ashcroft the way I knew John Ashcroft, through the eyes of a schoolchild. As John Ashcroft, himself struggles to distance himself from the very actions, which brought him to political power; I cannot forget our joint past. 

I never met Missouri Attorney General John Ashcroft in person, but his specter was a frequent uninvited guest at my family’s many dinner-table debates.  

Ashcroft failed to comply with a court order, filed another court appeal, or used his office as a bully pulpit to rally community fears about voluntary desegregation being an “outrage against human decency.”  

His words and actions invaded my home; scorched my parents’ tongues, and sent them off into hours of animated resistance to his beliefs about race, religion, and community.  

I learned then that Ashcroft would use tactics of division and dogmatically drive a wedge of fear into a community if it served a strategic purpose aligned with his own narrow moral code. 

Ashcroft seemed to view promoting “community safety” as a mainstay of his civic duties. In his mind, this meant using his office to fight desegregation in the same way he would wage a war on drugs.  

Though the friendships that I was forming across lines of race, class, and geography were not illegal, they violated Ashcroft’s social code.  

Remembering those days, I want to ask Ashcroft, what were you so afraid of? Was it the litter of kittens shared across neighborhoods, or the stale box of valentine chocolates offered across race?  

My memories are harmless. His actions were not. 

Since my school days, Ashcroft has given me many reasons to oppose him as Attorney General for this country, from his extreme positions on women’s rights, civil rights, freedom of choice, hate crimes, the death penalty, gay rights, and domestic violence prevention.  

However, it is for his actions from two decades ago as Attorney General of Missouri that embolden me to take pen in hand.  

In a Missouri classroom, I learned how a bill became a law; in a Missouri community, I learned how the law can be manipulated in the hands of an Attorney General to benefit a few and hurt many. 

Mr. Ashcroft, the children that you stepped on climbing the political ladder have grown up. 

Jennifer Rakowski is the associate director of San Francisco-based Community United Against Violence.

At tonight’s City Council meeting, a public hearing will be held on the appeal of neighbors who say the permit to place 12 wireless communications antennae on the roof of the Oaks Theater will create health risks. 

In July, the Zoning Adjustments Board approved the application by Nextel Communications to place the antennae on the roof of the theater, located at 1861 Solano Ave.. The appeal was filed by neighbor Kevin Sutton and other neighbors in August.  

The appeal claims that it is inappropriate to place antennae so close to Thousand Oaks School given the potential for adverse health effects from long-term exposure to electromagnetic radiation emissions that are generated by the antennae. With the growing demand for cellular telephones, telecommunications companies have been increasingly eager to place the antennae in residential neighborhoods. 

Tonight the council could refer the matter back to the ZAB which would then be directed to hold further public hearings, or the council could deny the appeal and approve the placement of the antennae on the theater, or schedule additional City Council hearings on the appeal. 

The council unanimously approved a 45-day moratorium on all wireless communication antennae in December due to concern from residents who think the antennae should not be allowed in residential neighborhoods. 

Parents of Children of African Decent 

As nearly 35 percent of Berkeley High School freshmen are faltering in their studies, Parents of Children of African Descent are asking the community at large to be part of the solution. 

PCAD will make a presentation to the council asking for support of a plan designed to strengthen the failing freshman through community support. The council will also be asked to assist by providing space and financial contributions. 

The PCAD plan is to institute a “stone soup” concept that will encourage everybody to throw something into the pot. According to the group’s written plan, PCAD is asking parents, students, teachers, administrators and community leaders to become partners in the turnaround of underachieving students. 

“We need all the sectors and individuals of our community who influence and care about our children to bring the resources and ideas they have and put them into the pot so that we can collectively nourish and educate these children.” 

The 17-page plan calls for a variety of solutions including study programs, parent development and in-school mentors. 

West Berkeley Public Market 

The council will consider waiving operating fees for proposed West Berkeley Public Market, which is designed to provide a venue for low-income entrepreneurs.  

The market will be held on the north side of University Avenue between Third and Fourth streets starting on May 28 and ending October 28.  

It is being organized by the West Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporation. Organizers say the market will be able to open on schedule if the fees are waived. 

Berkeley vs. Schwartz 

The council will likely approve a resolution allowing Berkeley resident Frieda Schwartz to avoid going to court by paying $36,205 for topping three redwood trees. Schwartz obtained a permit to top one tree along Tamalpais Path in 1999. However she ultimately topped four trees, three of which are partially owned by the city. 

A city board’s determination that five units in a building on Piedmont Avenue are illegal will be refuted by the property owner at tonight’s City Council meeting. 

Reza Valiyee is appealing the Zoning Adjustment Board’s decision to declare the multi-unit property at 2412 Piedmont Ave. a “public nuisance.” 

The property, located close to campus, includes five units that the ZAB said were built without permits. 

The city and landlord Valiyee have wrestled a number of times over the years over code issues.  

Valiyee has spent time in jail and paid fines for violations at his various properties, said Councilmember Kriss Worthington.  

Worthington would not comment on the specifics of the Piedmont Avenue allegations because their veracity will be determined by the council.  

Valiyee could not be reached for comment. 

His appeal is based on a claim that the city has known about the five units for a decade and that the ZAB decision is simply harassment. 

“The failure to recognize this fact demonstrates the bias and prejudice of the ZAB with regard to Mr. Valiyee,” Valiyee wrote in his appeal letter to the council. “The (ZAB) decision reflects the personal bias and animosity of the ZAB members against Mr. Valiyee personally and the decision represents personal animosity rather than reasoned thinking.” 

Further, Valiyee said that the decision, which would result in obligating him to remove the five units, constitutes a “‘taking’ in violation of state and federal law” and that it would be an irrational act on the part of the city to destroy part of its much-needed housing stock. 

A report signed by Wendy Cosin, acting planning director, argues to the contrary. “This step culminates a long history of enforcement efforts by the city,” the report says. The property owner first asked the city for a permit to build four units in the basement of the property and was denied the permit in 1981, Cosin wrote. “The property owner was issued infraction citations on five separate occasions between the period September 1990 and September 1991.” 

A fifth unit was constructed without permits on the second floor, the report says. There have also been closets built under stair spaces and in hallways and electric panels installed throughout the building, all without permits, the report says. 

In addition to the five allegedly illegal units, the city’s report also details other code violations, such as a steel trellis-like structure that protrudes into the front yard in violation of a 15-foot setback requirement. 

The report adds that the owner was given many chances over the years to correct the violations, but has not done so. 

Eric Almanza is a student who lives in one of the rooms in the building he says includes “30 to 40” rooms and apartments. Paint is chipping off the walls and doors. Floors in the hallways are soiled. 

Almanza has lived there since the beginning of the school year and said, although the common bathrooms are not clean, he couldn’t complain. He says he pays $600 per month and is happy just having a roof over his head.

Berkeley High School freshmen Everton Luis Santini died Saturday at Children’s Hospital in Oakland. 

The 14-year-old suffered a stroke, which stemmed from complications following a fall while he was ice skating at a rink in Berkeley Dec. 29.  

In a coma for 22 days, Everton was visited by a number of teachers from Berkeley High and Willard Junior High, said his father Joseph Santini.  

Everton loved drawing and the outdoors – he loved being on wheels and he loved ice skating. “At least, he injured himself doing something he loved,” Joseph Santini said. 

Everton was known as a joker. “He always had tricks up his sleeve,” Santini said, adding that the jokes brought people together and helped them socialize. 

He had hoped to be a volcanologist. “He was crazy about volcanoes,” Santini said. 

Everton is also survived by his his mother Ivonete Maria of Sao Paulo, Brazil; brother Elton, 10, and sister Jennifer, 9, of Berkeley. Everton was buried Sunday at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Oakland. A celebration of his life will be held Jan. 24 at Newman Hall Parish, 2700 Dwight Way. There will be a wake at 6:30 p.m. and a mass at 7:30 p.m. 

Contributions can be made to the Oakland Children’s Hospital Foundation at 747 52nd St. Oakland, Calif., 94609-1859

The Department of Energy and the University of California have agreed to extend the school system's contract to manage the Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos National laboratories through 2005. 

Rep. Ellen Tauscher said today that changes have been made by the Energy Department, the university and the National Nuclear Security Administration to rectify long-standing problems. The university has improved security and counterintelligence and streamlined reporting procedures, as well as project management to protect nuclear secrets, she said. Tauscher pledged to closely monitor the implementation of the contract to make sure lab employees and their working environment is at the forefront of technological advances. 

SACRAMENTO — Transmission problems aggravated California’s power crisis on Monday, as authorities warned that homes and businesses in the north of the state might go dark again Tuesday morning. 

Officials at the Independent System Operator, which runs the state power grid, said rolling blackouts could be in place again between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. if substantial electricity were not found overnight. 

“We’re looking everywhere for energy,” said Kellan Fluckiger, the ISO’s chief operating officer. “We’re looking under every rock and bush like we always have been.” 

The electricity shortfall was predicted at 500 megawatts or enough power for half a million homes. 

Problems in the system are beginning to compound, with Pacific Gas & Electric having reached, just three weeks into the year, the annual total hours it can shut off power to its interruptible contract customers, Fluckiger said. 

Those customers are businesses and others that agree to accept outages during times of tight supply in exchange for lower rates. With those customers shut down for several hours daily last week and several hours Monday, PG&E has reached the annual limit of 100 hours. 

Without the ability to cut interruptible customers, Fluckiger said, the system will face a deficit of 300 megawatts from that source. One megawatt is enough to power roughly 1,000 homes. 

In addition, reservoirs at a key hydroelectric plant near Fresno were low on water to turn generators, transmission glitches in Oregon persisted and could take several days to fix, and offers to sell the state electricity were lower than expected. Meanwhile, power usage routinely climbs as the week progresses, Fluckiger said, which is further expected to exacerbate the problem. 

Stage 3 alerts — the most severe and the prelude to rolling blackouts — were ordered to remain in effect until at least midnight Tuesday. 

Even though blackouts were not necessary Monday, the transfer of power between south and north was slowed when the three major conduits were jammed at a bottleneck consisting of just two 500,000-volt lines in central California. 

“The ISO is caught in the middle, caught in a system not improved in three years,” ISO spokesman Patrick Dorinson said. 

Blackouts did occur briefly Sunday for as many as 75,000 customers in Northern California, but they were caused by a spike in power from Oregon, not from shortages. 

Amid this backdrop, lawmakers considered several potential solutions to the crisis, including one under which the state’s two largest utilities — Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric — would donate their hydroelectric plants to the state. 

In exchange, California would begin buying additional power needed for the state through long-term contracts and on the spot market, both of which have led to enormous debts for the utilities. The plan would make California one of the largest owners of hydroelectric power in the nation. 

Another plan, proposed by Assemblyman Fred Keeley, would put the state in the electricity business for up to five years, buying power at low rates and selling it directly to consumers. The Assembly has already approved it. It still needs approval in the state Senate and would have to be signed by the governor. 

Keeley said his plan would buy time for the state’s two largest utilities to restore their credit while lawmakers work on long-term solutions to California’s botched deregulation laws. 

Gov. Gray Davis is reviewing both ideas, but considers the hydroelectric plan more attractive, spokesman Steve Maviglio said. 

Consumer groups, meanwhile, gave Davis’ office more than 5,000 petition signatures from people rejecting what they called a multibillion-dollar bailout for the utilities. 

“We see the cancer spreading, if you will,” said Graham Brownstein of The Utility Reform Network, a San Francisco-based group. 

PG&E and SoCal Edison have been on the verge of bankruptcy for weeks. They blame their more than $10 billion in losses on California’s 1996 deregulation law, which bars them from passing skyrocketing wholesale power costs onto consumers. 

The Legislature and governor last week allocated $400 million to buy power over the next several days because the utilities, whose credit ratings have been downgraded to junk bond status, can no longer find wholesalers willing to sell them power on credit. State officials hope the plan will help avoid blackouts while lawmakers work on longer-term solutions. 

The state’s Department of Water Resources, the agency authorized to buy power under the emergency legislation, has spent at least $113.2 million since Thursday, including $35.2 million for Monday’s power needs, said Mike Sicilia, a spokesman for Davis’ office. 

In addition, DWR spent $38 million last week under a state of emergency declared by Davis until the emergency legislation became law, Sicilia said. 

In Washington, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and other Bush administration officials met to discuss the California crisis. There was no immediate word on whether Abraham will extend an emergency order by his predecessor, Bill Richardson, keeping power flowing to California despite concerns about utility solvency. 

That order is due to expire at midnight Tuesday. 

Also Monday, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer announced the nomination of Curt Hebert, who has argued against federal involvement in the California problems, as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which regulates wholesale power markets. 

On the Net: 

California ISO: www.caiso.com 

Read Keeley’s power-buying legislation, AB1X, at www.leginfo.ca.gov 

When computers, cash registers and traffic lights go dark, it’s more than just an inconvenience. It’s a public safety issue. 

Business owners and law enforcement say advance notice of the rotating outages would make a difficult affair easier. But utility companies argue that security concerns and a constantly changing power situation make that kind of warning impossible. 

“We don’t announce it in advance for security reasons,” said Ron Low, spokesman for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. “We don’t want burglars to know where the power’s going to be off and where security alarms are going to be down.” 

A tight power supply sparked two days of rolling blackouts in the northern two-thirds of California last Wednesday and Thursday. 

When the California Independent System Operator decides that such temporary blackouts are necessary, it tells the utility company to reduce its electricity consumption by a certain number of megawatts. It’s up to each utility company to decide where the outages will occur. 

“Supply and demand is such a dynamic situation that we are often waiting until the last minute possible to make that decision, hoping that some additional supply will become available or conservation measures might kick in at the last minute,” ISO spokeswoman Lorie O’Donley said. 

“We’re managing the grid. ... If we’ve got too much demand and we need to offload 500 megawatts, we call them and give them that number. They select the blocks and make that decision.” 

Both PG&E and Southern California Edison say they have plans in place as to whose power goes out next, but neither company releases that information to the public. They also say they get no advance warning from the ISO and when it calls, they usually have less than a half-hour to begin shutting customers down. 

Both say they warn local Offices of Emergency Services, which, in turn, notify police and fire departments that an outage is imminent. 

But Lucien Canton, director of San Francisco’s Office of Emergency Services, says he usually finds out about outages when the public does – after the lights go out. 

“If you could tell me a half-hour or an hour in advance, that would be wonderful,” Canton said, adding that he knows which block is up next for an outage, but he doesn’t know specifically where that block is or when the power there will be shut off. “PG&E has maintained this is proprietary data and they withhold it for security reasons.” 

Canton said his office has repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, pressed the utility to provide earlier warning. 

The system runs a bit more smoothly in Stanislaus County where that region’s PG&E representative has a good working relationship with the OES and notifies them about an hour before an outage. 

“If PG&E calls us and says Block 3’s going out, we can look at a map and see which area of the county is going to be impacted,” said Virginia Madueno with Stanislaus County’s OES. She immediately notifies hospitals, large business owners, police and fire departments. “We’re definitely at an advantage. In San Joaquin County, they don’t have any advance notice. I find that very, very surprising.” 

San Francisco Police spokesman Sherman Ackerson says knowing about an outage an hour or so in advance would make a big difference. 

“Usually there’s so little advance warning that by the time we dispatch officers the blackout happened,” he said. “Traffic signals are the biggest problem. ... We obviously want advance warning. The more advance notice we get the better off we are.” 

PG&E maintains it notifies local Offices of Emergency Management before blackouts and if law enforcement doesn’t get proper notification, it may be a lack of communication elsewhere. 

“The amount of notice depends on the ISO,” Low said. “It’s an hour by hour, minute by minute situation.” 

Not all utilities are keeping their lips locked. Officials at the Sacramento Municipal Utility District on Monday changed their notification policy. Starting Tuesday, the utility will post on its Web site the next neighborhoods in line for blackouts. 

SMUD spokesman Gregg Fishman said customers complained that the outages came without warning. 

“The idea is giving advance notice so people can plan their lives. There are health situations that could be affected by power loss and that outweighs the possible loss of security,” said Fishman, who added that police already canvas areas affected by blackouts. 

The information will not be entirely accurate but will give customers a better idea about the likelihood they will be without power, Fishman said. 

California Steel Industries Inc. in Fontana has been forced to shut down six times since Jan. 1, said spokeswoman Kyle Schulty. In 1986, the company began receiving discounted electricity in exchange for volunteering to be at the top of the list if voluntary outages became necessary. They also agreed to receive just 30 minutes notice of a power interruption — and that’s exactly what they’ve gotten. 

“You can’t just turn a steel plant on and off. ... Anything would be better than a half hour,” Schulty said. “But hindsight is 20-20.” 

WASHINGTON — President Bush will nominate Curt Hebert, who has argued against federal involvement in the California electricity crisis, as chairman of the agency that regulates wholesale power markets. 

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer announced the selection as senior administration officials, including Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, met at the White House to discuss the California power situation. 

Hebert, the former state utility regulator in Mississippi, is the only Republican on the current five-member Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which he will head. 

A close friend of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., Hebert has argued forcefully in recent weeks against FERC imposing price controls on wholesale electricity sales into California. 

When FERC in mid-December took modest steps to help California cope with its surging electricity prices, Hebert agreed with the measures, but said he would rather have favored eliminating all price controls. 

In an interview last week, Bush also expressed his opposition to imposing price controls – in the form of FERC-mandated price caps on wholesale power – on the California market, saying they would be counterproductive. 

California Gov. Gray Davis and the state’s cash-strapped utilities have urged FERC to intervene in the wholesale market, arguing that power generating companies were price gouging. FERC has so far rejected the plea. 

Hebert was described by power industry officials as a free-market advocate when it comes to the electricity industry and has favored leaving decisions on electricity deregulation to states instead of the federal government. 

Hebert will replace William Massey, a Democrat, who was elevated to the chairmanship by President Clinton on Jan. 19, after James Hoecker, another Clinton appointee, unexpectedly resigned. 

Hebert, 38, a former Mississippi state legislator and member of the state Public Service Commission, joined FERC in November 1997. His current term expires in 2004. 

He comes from Pascagoula, Miss., as does Lott. 

With Hoecker’s resignation there remain two vacancies on the commission, which has been at the center of both the natural gas and electricity industry’s shift to deregulation in recent years. 

It was FERC that issued rules that opened the nation’s electric power grid to competition in the mid-1990s, prompting many states — led by efforts in California — to embrace electricity industry deregulation amid promises it would lead to lower consumer prices because of competition. In most cases, deregulation has not led to substantial savings for consumers. 

In California, where the effort has been acknowledged as a failure, power prices have soared amid shortages that have produced rolling blackouts in recent days and threatened two of the state’s major investor-owned utilities with bankruptcy. 

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Monday to rule on a case that could affect how quickly American consumers see greater choice for local phone service — and perhaps lower prices – in a national market still dominated by the offspring of the old Bell system. 

The case involves a dispute over the fees that dominant local phone companies charge to lease their lines to rivals that want to offer competing services. The 1996 Telecommunications Act, which sought to crack open the local phone monopoly, laid this out as a key way for upstart companies to get into the market. 

The law allowed for telecom businesses, including long-distance providers, to lease phone lines and connect to existing networks run mostly by the regional Bells, the local phone companies severed from AT&T in the 1980s. 

Rival providers serve less than 7 percent of the nation’s 192 million local phone lines, according to government figures. A majority of these companies rely on the networks of the Bells and other dominant players to compete in the market. 

The fight before the high court involves the Federal Communications Commission’s system for how much competitors must pay phone companies to lease this equipment. In implementing the 1996 law, the FCC decided the rivals should pay based on the current and future worth of the existing network and its services. 

But Bell companies such as Verizon Communications – formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE Corp.– say the FCC’s pricing structure ignores the billions of dollars they have spent over the years to build and maintain the phone system. 

They want a rate structure that includes the historical costs of running the network over the years. Verizon said Monday it was pleased by the court’s decision to review the case. 

The Bells also object to the way the commission required them to combine elements of existing phone networks for lease to companies that want to enter the market, if those companies request it. 

Local competitors, which support the FCC’s system, aren’t all fledgling upstarts. Such heavyweights as long-distance companies like WorldCom are also trying to get into local business. 

The FCC’s pricing structure “is critical if consumers are to finally have a choice for local phone carriers as promised by Congress nearly five years ago,” said Julie Moore of WorldCom, which leases Bell lines to offer local service in a number of markets. 

The commission contends its rules will spur “the development of competition in all communications markets,” said FCC general counsel Christopher Wright. 

Some companies have sought to bypass the existing phone networks. For example, AT&T and other cable operators have begun offering local phone service over their cable lines directly to people’s homes. And some consumers have replaced their regular phones with wireless service at home. 

But consumer advocates say these options are just developing and that a fair pricing structure is still needed to bolster competition for traditional local phone service. 

The court’s decision will determine “whether we are going to see choices develop in the marketplace at or below today’s prices levels or only at much higher price levels,” said Gene Kimmelman of Consumers Union, which supports the FCC’s rates. 

An appeals court threw out the government’s pricing structure last year, saying the costs should be based on actual equipment being provided by local phone companies rather than on hypothetical systems using the most efficient technology. 

But the appeals court did not embrace the Bell companies’ arguments that they should be compensated for their investment over the years in maintaining the phone system. 

Local phone companies, their rivals and the FCC all asked the Supreme Court to get involved. The court will not hear the case this term but is likely to do so in the fall. 

The case is a follow-up to a January 1999 Supreme Court ruling that upheld the federal government’s authority to set the price rules. 

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who has stock in AT&T and MCI, did not participate in the decision to review the case. 

The cases are Verizon Communications v. FCC, 00-511; FCC v. Iowa Utilities Board, 00-587; General Communication Inc. v. Iowa Utilities Board, 00-602; AT&T Corp. v. Iowa Utilities Board, 00-590; WorldCom Inc. v. Verizon, 00-555. 

On the Net: Federal Communications Commission: http://www.fcc.gov 

Economic activity gauge plunges in December 

NEW YORK — A key gauge of U.S. economic activity plunged 0.6 percent in December, the largest drop in five years and a signal of continued weakness in the U.S. economy. 

The New York-based Conference Board said its Index of Leading Economic Indicators, which has been statistically revised and rebased, fell to 108.3 last month after two consecutive drops of 0.4 percent in October and November. 

Three consecutive declines in the index traditionally has been seen by analysts as a signal that the U.S. economy is headed into recession. 

ar brand by selling it to such mass outlets as Costco Warehouse Club without approval. 

Dell Computer Corp. says it won’t meet expectations 

AUSTIN, Texas — A slowing economy and diminishing demand for personal computers and services caused Dell Computer Corp. to warn Monday that it won’t meet fourth-quarter earnings and revenue expectations. 

Dell said earnings for the three months ending Feb. 2 would be between 18 cents and 19 cents per share, down from the 26 cents the company originally expected and down from the 25 cents estimated by analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial. Revenue for the quarter will total $8.5 billion to $8.6 billion, 1 percent to 2 percent lower than expected, the company said.  

Bill would make it harder to erase debt in court 

WASHINGTON — The Senate Banking Committee chairman said Monday he plans to send President Bush a new bankruptcy overhaul bill that would make it harder for people to erase their debts in court. 

Congress overwhelmingly passed a similar bill last year, but it was vetoed by President Clinton, who said it was unfair to ordinary debtors and working families who fall on hard times. 

Bush is widely expected to sign such legislation if it reaches his desk. 

That would mean a stricter stance toward debtors, particularly wealthy ones, who abuse the bankruptcy court system, Gramm indicated. 

NEW YORK — Profit-taking sent stocks modestly lower Monday as Wall Street rested after three weeks of healthy gains in the high-tech sector. An earnings warning from Dell Computer had little effect on the markets. 

“We’ve had a pretty fabulous run since the Fed initially lowered rates on Jan. 2. Stock prices have done well,” said Steven Goldman, market strategist at Weeden & Co. “There was some bad news today, but investors appear to be looking ahead, instead of focusing on the rear-view mirror and bad earnings news for this last quarter.” 

Dell, which fell 13 cents to $25.50, became the latest high-profile technology company to lower its earnings forecast because of the slowing economy and slumping consumer confidence. 

So far this year, the market has had little reaction to similar warnings, reflecting many investors’ belief that weak earnings were already priced into stocks, and Monday’s trading continued that trend.  

The Federal Reserve’s decision to lower interest rates earlier this month – and expectations that it will lower rates again next week – have made investors more confident even as companies release disappointing earnings outlooks. 

“Six months ago, the same news would have sent Dell down 25 to 30 percent, but its stock is already down,” said John Forelli, portfolio manager at Independence Investment Associates.  

“I think investors are starting to feel like the bad news is factored into stocks.” 

Tech stocks were mixed, with losses primarily coming from profit-taking.  

“This is part of the rotation that we’ve been seeing. Financial, utility and health care stocks are rebounding somewhat today after spending the first part of the year down,” Forelli, the Independence Investment manager, said. “It’s catch-up time now for some of these groups, so we’re seeing tech a little down as that happens.” 

— The Associated Press 

Manufacturing and retail stocks gained as well, with 3M rising $2.13 to $108.88 and Sears gaining $2.92, or more than 8 percent, to reach $36.60. 

And Amgen shot up nearly 13 percent, gaining $7.63 to $67.63, on a court ruling that preserves the biotech company’s monopoly on its top-selling drug, Epogen. 

Also Monday, a key gauge of U.S. economic activity plunged 0.6 percent in December, signaling continued weakness in the U.S. economy. The news from the New York-based Conference Board’s Index of Leading Economic Indicators was taken as yet another sign that the economy is slowing, giving the Fed more reason to lower rates. 

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners about 7 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 1.40 billion shares, compared with 1.68 billion Friday. 

The Russell 2000 index was up 2.06 at 490.15. 

Overseas, stocks were higher. Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.3 percent, as did Germany’s DAX index, up nearly 0.4 percent. Britain’s FT-SE 100 also gained nearly 0.4 percent, and France’s CAC-40 was up 0.6 percent. 

——— 

On the Net: 

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com 

Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com 

Psychotherapist Karen Rose was served an eviction notice several months ago to move out of her office of 12 years. Her deadline to vacate is today, but Rose has not yet packed. 

Rose, who shared a suite with four other therapists, first received notice to move from the historic office building at 1942 University Avenue last August so the building owners could repair some fire damage to the roof as well as carry out some remodeling. Rose, who is blind, never moved out during the remodeling. Now that it is completed, Rose said the owner still wants her out but won't say why. 

Rose has since been unable to find another space in downtown Berkeley that would accommodate several of her clients who rely on wheelchairs.  

"It's not just that there's nothing affordable, there's nothing available," she said.  

Rose is willing to pay more rent for her office but said the property owner, Reddy Reality, or its representative, Matt Gondak, of MRE Commercial Realty refuse to return her calls. She said she is sure there is some solution to the problem but owners don't seem to want to discuss it. 

The owner of Reddy Reality is Lakireddy Bali Reddy, who

Monday, Jan. 22

Berkeley Rail Stop  

Community  

Design Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center  

1900 Sixth St.  

The public is invited to suggest ideas and comment on plans for design-development at the rail stop/transit plaza area of West Berkeley.  

Call 644-6580 

Urban Homelessness  

& Public Policy Solutions 

9 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

Alumni House  

UC Berkeley  

This day-long conference will include key scholars, service providers, and policymakers in the homelessness field. Some of the subjects to be covered will be: Homeless population dynamics and policy implications, health issues in homelessness, and legal and political issues in homelessness. Free and open to the public.  

For more info, visit: http://urbanpolicy.berkeley.edu/homeless.htm 

Building or Remodeling? 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Glen Kitzenberger discusses what you need to know before building or remodeling. 

Call 525-7610 

Wishes Versus Reality 

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

A discussion with Betty Goren.  

Call 644-6107 

Tuesday, Jan. 23

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

Call Wade, 531-8664 

PSR’s Annual Earl Lectures 

9 a.m. - 10 p.m.  

First Congregational Church of Berkeley  

2345 Channing Way  

Celebrating their 100th anniversary of lectures, this year will focus on Christian mission in a pluralistic age. This year there are 28 workshops and three panels of national religious leaders and scholars. Free  

Call 849-8274 

Elderly Mental Illness 

1:30 - 3 p.m. 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Herrick Campus, CC Conference Room  

2001 Dwight Way 

Dr. Robert Dolgoff, Chief Psychiatrist at the Berkeley Therapy Institute will discuss the course of action to be taken when the best efforts of medical professionals no longer helps older folks with mental illnesses.  

Call 869-6737  

Blood Pressure for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Alice Meyers. 

Call 644-6107 

Costs of Illness 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Attorney Walter Rosen will discuss how to protect you home and savings from the financial effects of catastrophic illness.  

Call 644-6107 

Wednesday, Jan. 24

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling Classes for  

Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755.

City government should give back utility tax 

Editor:  

It would be really nice if the city would repeal the 7.5 percent Energy User Tax we pay on our utility bill every month.  

Since rates are going up, it would stabilize our gas and electric bill. Many lower income people are having to cut back on use of the furnace this winter.  

Or at least suspend the tax til summer or until we see what is happening with rates. Do other cities employ a tax like this and, if so, how much is it?  

William Telson 

Berkeley  

Government needs to  

regulate utility monopoly 

Editor: 

The following is my dictionary’s definition for extortion: “The act of excavating an exorbitant price for something.” The electric power producers selling to our state’s distribution systems are extortionists, in the purest sense of the word.  

The owners of those plants, apparently unregulated by law or morality, are getting hog rich exploiting a natural power monopoly, without regard for the adverse impact on California’s economy.  

A couple of weeks ago, I saw the CEO of PG&E on television, explaining his company’s perception of the electricity problem. In his impassioned presentation he seemed to imply that PG&E is as much an innocent victim as we are, and that our pain is also PG&E’s pain. I want to nominate him for an Oscar.  

More important was what PG&E’s CEO neglected to say. He didn’t tell us that PG&E was one of the principle promoters of this deregulation fiasco back in 1996, or that the PG&E company transferred billions from the sale of power generation plants to the PG&E parent corporation and now conveniently doesn’t seem to know how to get it back. Or how they now are trying to reorganize the corporation to protect those transferred assets from retrieval by re-regulation, or how much he and the other PG&E executives have personally invested in those price gouging power generators. 

It isn’t difficult to calculate what the fair price of electricity should be — in terms of the original production costs at the wellhead, the costs for transmission, conversion and efficiency losses, plus a reasonable profit. The price now demanded of the consumer is many times what a reasonable profit should be. It is unconscionable greed.  

The consequence of exorbitantly priced electricity will be disastrous to California industry, businesses and residents. Unless and until the price of electricity is somehow brought back down to its real cost, major industries will leave the state, marginal energy dependent businesses like restaurants will close, and bankruptcies will accelerate. No other commodity drives inflation like the price of energy, whether it is electricity, natural gas or oil. The price Californians pay for all these energy sources have gone up sharply in the past year. Unless the costs of energy are controlled, a recession will be inevitable.  

It is the responsibility of government to regulate monopolies in the best interest of the public and the economy. It is our responsibility to demand it of our representatives.  

John R. Shively 

Oakland 

Bush owes Renhquist a thank you for selection 

Editor: 

Someone forgot to gell George W. Bush to thank Supreme Court Chief Justice William Renhquist for handing the election towards him when the federal courts should have minded their own business.  

Oh well, lets stop crying about it and get on with our lives. There is always 2004. 

David Gee 

Alameda  

Dog is my co-pilot 

Editor:  

I'm writing in response to the letter, “Good intentions are taken to an absurd level,” about service dogs in public places, (Friday, January 19th). The author, John Ayra, voices an obviously over-determined and irrational fear of service dogs, which I find both shrill and rather incoherent.  

Mr. Ayra contends that only guide dogs should be allowed in public places under the A.D.A., since the need for a guide dog is "constant and obvious, and the frequency is modest". He further insists, in ignorance, that service dogs other than guide dogs are only "pets" who should be left at home. Mr. Ayra is entitled to his opinions, but needs some disability awareness training on the roles service dogs play in the lives of those people with disabilities who are fortunate enough to have one.  

I have MS, and have a service dog who picks up the many things I drop daily, and, because of various physical problems, I drop many of the things I touch. She also retrieves items I need that would. without her assistance, be out of my reach. She is trained to stand and allow me to lean on her for balance when I'm in transition from one place to another. The tasks that she manages for me allow me a measure of self reliance and a degree of autonomy. She mitigates my need to depend on the kindness or politeness of strangers passing by, many times throughout the day. These service dogs fill an important function and allow people with a physical disability to maintain some dignity in public situations. My dog is, literally, my co-pilot.  

It is true that some dogs may cause an allergic reaction in some people with allergies. Similarly, scents worn by others, vehicle exhaust emissions and many other irritants in our daily lives cause allergic reactions in some people. Living in the world, as we do, contact with some of these substances is unavoidable. I apologize in advance in the unlikely event that the presence of my service dog, who does not, I assure you, have "mouth parts that have been in contact with rotting garbage or dead animals, and whose fur is not laced with poison oak, herbicides, pesticides, ticks and fleas", should cause a problem for anyone. Her presence in my life and in the public places where I go is vital, important and legal.  

If Mr. Ayra feels, as he says, that "dogs are smelly nuisances, with fecal matter at both ends", etc., than I suggest that he not get a dog, himself, that he not get close to any service dog in a public place, and that he consider consulting a mental health professional to gain some understanding of his illogical and ill-founded fears.  

Susan Fleisher  

Berkeley 

Transit strike insight found to be encouraging 

Editor:  

(letter to David Bacon) Mr. Bacon, I was recently shown your editorial, “L.A. Transit Strike Forges New Alliance,” of Oct. 23, 2000.  

I have been a member of the Bus Riders Union since 1994. I thank you for your valid insights. I found the article encouraging.  

Phil Kanehl 

Los Angeles

After the Cal-St. Mary’s rugby match on Saturday, Cal head coach Jack Clark said he wasn’t happy with his team’s performance, and “at least now we know what it is we have to work on.” 

All-American Shaun Paga said, “we were sloppy today, but we have a lot of potential.” 

To put the comments into perspective of the sky-high expectations for the Bears this season, consider that they beat the Gaels 78-14 in their first match of the year. 

The Bears, winners of 10 straight national championships, thoroughly dominated the action on Witter Field for almost the entire game, save a 10-minute stretch during which St. Mary’s scored both of their tries on sudden breakaways. Although the Gaels were a game bunch, they were simply outmatched by the nation’s best collegiate team. 

Cal (1-0) scored 12 tries on the day, including two each by backs Michael Bonetto, David Guest and Cameron Bunce. They were ferocious on defense, turning the Gaels (0-1) back twice in the second half from less than two yards out. Even when Paga was sin-binned for 10 minutes for putting his boots to a St. Mary’s player, the Bears went forward and scored a try with only 14 players. 

“This is one of the best Cal team’s I’ve ever seen,” said St. Mary’s head coach Mike O’Dea. He should know; O’Dea was a member of the first four teams in the current national title streak. 

“It’s exciting to come back and be a part of the lore of Strawberry Canyon, but it’s tough when you’re playing against the best in the nation,” he said. “Their defense was just phenomenal today.” 

Both Clark and Paga disagreed, as they made identical statements after the game. 

“We got off to a sloppy start on defense,” each one said. 

Both also complimented the Gaels for their enthusiasm. The St. Mary’s players were perfectly willing to trade hits with the Bears, a rarity for a team facing a clearly superior foe. But they were clearly tiring near the end of the match, allowing three easy tries in the final 13 minutes, including an easy interception that Bunce turned into a 50-yard try at the final whistle. 

Cal took just four minutes to score their first try of the match and season, with flanker Mark Vickers punching the ball into the right corner of the end zone from a Cal scrum.  

The Bears were leading 15-0 before St. Mary’s got on the board, with center Ryan Thompson breaking a spectacular 40-yard run after busting through Cal’s backline in the 19th minute. Gael scrumhalf A.J. Anton-Giovanni scored with a short dive over the goal line 10 minutes later, but the Gaels couldn’t muster much more offense in the game, and were turned back twice when they got near another score. 

The Bears travel to Chico State this Saturday.

Berkeley schools and staff may also receive cash awards 

The 19 teachers at Cragmont Elementary School are each eligible for up to a $25,000 bonus because of the school’s improvement in the state’s academic performance index.  

And teachers, custodians, librarians and secretaries at all other Berkeley schools — with the exception of Berkeley High School, Longfellow Middle School and Washington Elementary School — will be eligible for bonuses of up to $750 each at the end of this month.  

The schools themselves will be eligible for up to a $68 to $150 per student bonus, which for a 400-student school, could mean the bonus could range from $27,200 to $60,000 per school.  

That money could be used for additional text books, staff development and extra tutors, according to Karen Sarlo, Berkeley Unified School District spokesperson. 

More than $677 million in teacher, staff and school incentives will be divvied up this year as a result of three award programs passed by the state legislature in 1999 and 2000. The California Department of Education released academic performance numbers for every state school last week, which will be used to determine which schools met certain requirements to receive the money. The API is based on results of the Stanford-9 achievement test in conjunction with the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program. 

Right now, spokesperson Kathleen Sieborn said the department is in the midst of calculating how many schools qualify for the bonuses and how much they should recieve.  

All Berkeley schools scored higher on the API than last year, but Sarlo said Cragmont is a frontrunner for the Certified Staff Performance money because of its vast improvement. This year, Cragmont scored a 731 out of 1,000. Last year, Cragmont scored a 607 out of 1,000. The teacher bonus ranges from $5,000 to $25,000 and may not be awarded until next Fall since teachers must fill out an applicaton for the money beginning in March, said Cragmont Principal Jason Lustig. All other money will be distributed before the end of this school year and as soon as February 20, Sieborn said.  

“The intent of the award is to reward sites and staff for academic achievement,” she said.  

Although Lustig said he is pleased that his staff may recieve the bonuses, he is also cautious. Because all teachers are working hard, Lustig said it may have made more sense to make the amount smaller so more teachers could benefit. 

“Certainly people are aware that it’s there and they are excited about it,” he said. “But there are always issues because everyone is working hard and only certain people are being awarded quite significantly. It may encourage cheating, teaching students just for the test and it may create tension between the schools.” 

But overall, Lustig said the API is a brilliant idea because it provides a tangible score that both parents and the public can understand. 

“It motivates kids and it shows meaningful change. This is awesome. We never had things like this before,” he said. “I just hope that they don’t get wrapped up in the lingo and start basing it more on the Sat-9.” 

Sarlo also hopes that the API will soon start reflecting student work all year long. 

“There are arguments about the whole process for and against,” she said. “But it’s really nice for the teachers to rewarded for the work that they do.” 

Stanford win streak now at 15 

On Saturday afternoon, Cal’s women’s basketball team saw the chance to rid themselves of a haunting 14-game losing streak to Stanford. To Cal faithful, Saturday afternoon was to be their chance to turn the tables on their struggling arch-rivals.  

Though the Bears had the once-mighty Cardinal on its heels, they could not deliver the knockout blow. The Cardinal, led by freshman forward Nicole Powell’s 19 points and 12 rebounds, defeated the Bears 63-56 at Haas Pavilion, their 15th consecutive victory over Cal. The loss dropped the Bears record to 5-10, and 1-4 in conference play.  

“We are very disappointed,” said Cal head coach Caren Horstmeyer. “Our team came into this game with a lot of confidence that we could win.” 

The Bears were led by their senior backcourt of Courtney Johnson and Kenya Corley. Corley used her superior athleticism to repeatedly slash to the basket and led the team with 18 points. Johnson chipped in with 17 and was an imposing force on defense, leading both teams with six steals. But valiantly as they tried, neither could put the vulnerable Cardinal team away when they needed to, and neither were in the mood to celebrate any kind of moral victory after the game.  

“We lost; it doesn’t matter how close the score was,” said Johnson.  

The game was a nip-and-tuck affair, with the final outcome in question for most of the afternoon. With 2:15 remaining, the Cardinal got the ball inside to forward Lindsey Yamasaki, who scored on a nifty inside shot to give the Cardinal a 56-54 lead. After a Corley miss on the Cal end, Powell raced down the court, posted up the smaller Johnson, and scored on a short jumper that stretched the Cardinal lead to four with just 1:31 remaining. Though the Bears would come as close as three points late in the game, they could not even the score as time expired.  

Powell, playing point guard due to Stanford’s backcourt injuries, managed to hand out four assists, record four steals, and block a shot in her afternoon – none of which was possible, according to her, without her lucky headband.  

“I couldn’t think of what I forgot to pack, and when I was getting ready for the game, I couldn’t find my headband,” Powell grinned sheepishly. Luckily, Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer’s sister, Heidi, was able to pick up the equipment while en route to Berkeley. “Thank goodness for the headband,” said VanDerveer after the game. Without Nicole Powell, we would have been in real trouble.”  

The Bears were able to use their athleticism and quickness to disrupt the Cardinal offense, causing 24 Cardinal turnovers. However, the Cardinal hammered the Bears on the boards, out-rebounding them 49-34.  

“They’re a big team, and if you’re smaller, you’d better block out,” said Horstmeyer. “We didn’t do what we needed to do.”  

For Johnson, Corley, and the team’s remaining seniors, their final chance to defeat Stanford will come next month in the unfriendly Maples Pavilion.  

The Bears will stay home next week, as they host Washington State Thursday and Washington on Saturday. Both games will begin at 7:30 p.m.

A powder-caked woman, dressed in lemon-yellow skirts and covered in shiny sequins marched down San Francisco’s Grove Street on stilts Saturday, like a lemon-meringue pie making a stiff debut.  

“I was told that people on stilts were barred from the inauguration,” she said. “So I’m dressed like someone at an inaugural ball.” 

An outraged, sometimes outrageous, parade of protesters marched from San Francisco’s Civic Center to Jefferson Park on Saturday to protest the inauguration of the George W. Bush as President of the United States. The rally swelled with citizens who felt the Republican party had corrupted the democratic process.  

Berkeley resident Kath Rodgers, who wore a paper sign that declared, “He’s not my president.” 

“There’s no way you could stay home today,” Rodgers said. “Then you’d have to accept the lie,” she said.  

Signs attested to that sentiment with slogans like saying “Hail to the Thief,” “Don’t blame me, I voted with the majority,” and “Prune the shrub.”  

While wry humor abounded — a common way to deal with what many called “tragic” election results — one earnest sign encapsulated many of the feelings of the crowd — George W. Bush, selected though racism and voter fraud. 

Denise Stripling was among the group who had come from the Unitarian Fellowship in Berkeley. Stripling, an African-American originally from South Florida condemned the voting irregularities in her home state, but said they were not out of the ordinary. But this year Stripling could not approve of business as usual. 

"We have to send a message to the new president that their failure to adhere to the people's selection is akin to a Texas lynching," she said. 

Police estimated that between 10,000 and 15,000 people attended the rally and march, but Richard Becker, Western Region Co-Director of the International Action Center said that well over 15,000 people were in attendance.  

That number, he said, is two to three times as many as the International Action Center expected when they began planning the rally in October. The rally was planned to protest the inauguration of either Bush or Vice President Al Gore. The events surrounding the election brought out a crowd of people about the election, but the main point of the rally was to look beyond the question of Florida’s electoral votes. 

“Is Bush legitimate? No he’s not. But if Gore had won, that doesn’t mean the election would be fair,” said Becker. 

“The unfairness of the electoral process goes much much deeper. Both Bush and Gore were selected to be the nominees by big money.” He said that the International Action Center organized the rally to educate people about issues like racism, the death penalty and US militarism. Speakers touched on issues like socialism and the US embargo on Iraq. 

Many Berkeley groups heeded the call, and came out to representing their organizations. Penny Rosenwasser from Berkeley's Middle East Children's Alliance, rallied the crowd, reminding them the 5,000 children die each month in Iraq from sanctions there. 

A large contingent from UC Berkeley — Students for Justice in Palestine — wore black armbands and brought signs calling for a reexamination of the US’s support of Israel. UC Berkeley Law student Will Youmans felt that the 2000 elections provide a window into the lack of democracy in foreign policy making.  

“Everyone there will have feelings that the elections are a fraud. Our ability to link the shoddy state of democracy to biased foreign policy might be illuminating to people who have not made the connection,” he said. 

Although Becker hoped that the Monday’s rallies across the nation would begin a new movement to, he said, “put the needs of people here and around the world first.” Many of the marchers felt the most important point, at least for now, was to start with a condemnation of the inauguration. 

Kate Kline May of Berkeley made the trek on Saturday specifically to challenge what she views as a corruption of democracy. 

“I believe sincerely, as do many lawyers and professors, that they stole the election by chicanery,” said Kline May of Berkeley.  

While the confluence of causes brought spirit and numbers, she worried that what for her was the major issue, the election, could become obfuscated by the myriad causes. 

Long-time Democrat Joyce Glick agreed that the march made one pointed message. “I think it has to go down in history that this election was a fraud,” she said. 

Judith Scherr contributed to this report. 

It was ugly, but it was a win. 

Despite committing a season-high 23 turnovers, the Cal men’s basketball team beat South Florida 79-69 on Saturday at Haas Pavilion, pulling away in the final two minutes.  

Up by just one point after South Florida’s Reggie Kohn hit a three-pointer with 2:15 left in the game, Cal went on a nine-point run to finish the game. The run was ignited by Shantay Legans’ pull-up three and closed with a fast-break three-point play by Ryan Forehan-Kelly. 

The Bears overcame their sloppy ball-handling by shooting a season-high 60.5 percent from the field, and by holding South Florida’s B.B. Waldon and Altron Jackson to a combined 24 points on 9-of-28 shooting. Waldon and Jackson had been averaging nearly 38 points per game coming into the game. 

“Those are two players who are on every NBA scout’s list,” Cal head coach Ben Braun said. “I thought we did a great job on them tonight.” 

Kohn took up the slack by scoring 18 points, all on three-pointers. 

“We didn’t expect that from him,” Cal forward Sean Lampley said. “The point guards were told to lay off of him.” 

Cal won the game at the free-throw line, shooting 35 freebies to just 13 by the Bulls. That fact didn’t go unnoticed by South Florida head coach Seth Greenberg, who said he thought the officiating crew would be mixed, rather than the Pac-10 crew that worked the game. 

“It’s real hard to win the game when they go to the line that many more times than us,” he said. 

The Bears came into the game looking to shake the memory of their 26-point loss to Stanford on Wednesday, but the South Florida 1-3-1 zone confused them for nearly the entire game. The Cal offense was totally out of sync in the first half, as the guards tossed the ball back and forth without showing much initiative. Braun told Lampley at halftime that he needed to go get the ball for the offense to run correctly. 

“Coach told me that it was my fault we weren’t doing anything,” said Lampley, who led all scorers with 16 points. “So I stepped to the high post to help out.” 

Braun said he isn’t afraid to put the pressure on his lone senior’s shoulders. 

“I tell Sean all the time he’s the reason we’re good and he’s the reason we’re bad,” Braun said. “He’s a senior and he can take it.”

LOS ANGELES – President Clinton may have heeded federal prosecutors’ pleas to deny Michael Milken a pardon, but the financier’s case is unlikely to fade completely. The man who built Wall Street’s junk bond market continues to spend much of his wealth on cancer research and other charitable causes. 

Milken takes quick offense at suggestions that his philanthropic activities, which moved into high gear after his release from prison in 1993, are an attempt to restore his public image or win a pardon. And he has many friends to argue his case. 

“I’ve never met anyone who was more passionate about truly making the world a better place for people to live, as corny as that may sound,” Ted Virtue, a Milken colleague at Drexel and president of Deutsche Bank Securities, said. “I don’t think it’s a facade.” 

Milken pleaded guilty to six counts of security fraud in 1990 and was barred from the securities business for life. In 1995, federal authorities began investigating Milken again, soon after it became public that Milken received a fee of $50 million for helping to broker Time Warner’s purchase of Turner Broadcasting. 

The SEC sued Milken in February 1998 for violating his pledge not to re-enter the securities business. Without admitting to or denying the allegations, Milken agreed to repay $47 million in brokerage fees. 

As President Clinton prepared to hand over office, he was considering scores of pardon requests, including one on Milken’s behalf. 

Milken and his family have given more than $750 million away over the past 30 years, according to a Milken spokesman. Much of it is channeled through the Milken Family Foundation, founded in 1982, which funds education and medical research, especially in the area of cancer. 

Several Milken family members have suffered from cancer. Only days after his release from a federal prison, after serving 22 months of a 10-year sentence for securities fraud, Milken was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which is now in remission. He responded by launching CaP CURE, an association to fund cancer research into the deadly disease. 

Milken, 54, is also chairman of the Milken Institute, a nonprofit think tank, and Knowledge Universe, a for-profit company that invests in a variety of young companies. 

Samuel Broder, a former head of the National Cancer Institute who now is vice president of Celera Genomics, said Milken’s efforts have greatly accelerated research into prostate cancer and other diseases and had a lasting impact on the careers of many scientists. 

“He fostered a lot of research activity that would not have gotten done otherwise,” Broder said. 

Federal officials acknowledge his charitable activities, but have argued that they should not overshadow the harm they say he has done to the country’s financial markets. 

Richard Walker, enforcement director of the Securities and Exchange Commission, wrote the White House opposing a presidential pardon saying, “Few people have done more than Milken to undermine public confidence in our markets.” Walker also wrote, “Philanthropy cannot provide a license to violate the law.” 

Milken’s misconduct during the 1990s, Walker said, showed Milken’s “continuing contempt for the law and discredits any claim that he has learned from his mistakes and has been rehabilitated.” 

Friends and associates of Milken reject the notion that Milken used his philanthropy as a shield for illegal activities or wants a pardon so he can resume his securities activities. 

Geoffrey Moore, senior vice president of Knowledge Universe and Milken’s spokesman, said Milken is not planning a return to high finance should he be pardoned. 

“He feels he has more than a lifetime’s worth of work in his medical research and education initiatives,” Moore said. 

Wall Street observers generally agree that Milken made lasting contributions to the financial markets. They differ on whether those achievements, along with his philanthropy, merit a pardon. 

“Michael Milken helped bring many companies to market that otherwise would not have been able to,” said Alan Shapiro, a professor of banking and finance at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. 

Shapiro believes Milken may have angered investment bankers, corporate leaders and federal regulators with his aggressive tactics, prompting authorities to make him an example. 

“If it had been anyone other than Milken, he wouldn’t have been prosecuted,” he said. “At best, he should have had civil, not criminal, penalties imposed.” 

A presidential pardon may change Milken’s legal status, but it is unlikely to change many minds. 

“Milken was a crook. He pleaded guilty to felony counts,” said Mark Eaker, a professor of business administration at the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia. “Regardless of what else he has or hasn’t done or what you think of him, that’s a fact.”

About three dozen police officers swarmed into the downtown area Friday afternoon when a high school rivalry involving about 150 students nearly turned into a riot. 

According to Berkeley Police Lt. Russell Lopes, at approximately 4 p.m., two officers called for all available units to the intersection of Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way. The officers had been trying to disperse the large group of teenagers when several youths began shoving and punching each other. The two officers called for backup after several bottles were thrown in their direction from the crowd. 

“We all bailed out of the station when we got the call,” Lopes said.  

Traffic was blocked at the intersection of Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way for about 30 minutes while Berkeley, BART and University police quickly dispersed the crowd of teenagers. Lopes said there were no injuries and no arrests. 

Around the time classes were dismissed for the weekend, as many as 50 Richmond High School students showed up at the Berkeley High campus apparently to retaliate for a previous altercation, according to Lopes.  

“It’s one of those back and forth things,” Lopes said. “Some Richmond kids beat up a Berkeley kid and then some Berkeley kids beat up a Richmond kid, etc.,” 

Berkeley merchants have long-complained about students flooding downtown both during the lunch hour and after school.  

School officials lock the Berkeley High campus after school lets out. Lopes said the two groups of students apparently moved from campus to the downtown area when trouble began. 

Two female Berkeley students at the scene, who refused to give their names, said it was the result of an ongoing rivalry between the two high schools. “El Cerrito and Richmond kids just don’t like Berkeley kids and Berkeley kids don’t like them,” one said. 

The police formed a line of about 10 officers and moved the Berkeley students south down Shattuck to Kittredge Street while another line of officers directed the Richmond students north on Shattuck to the BART station. 

“Kids were fighting, rioting, throwing bottles and we moved them down the street,” said one police officer redirecting foot traffic who did not want to give his name. “We’re separating them. We’re telling the Berkeley kids to go home and telling the Richmond kids to go home. There’s too many of them and not enough of us.”  

Joranso Burton, a student teacher at Berkeley High, was walking by during the melee.  

“There was some loud talking and then it escalated into a push and a shove and then the police swarmed in,” he said. 

Vickie Reed, a downtown business owner located on the corner where the near-riot occurred said it seemed like an isolated incident and that she was never scared.  

“We locked the door. We have bulletproof glass. A few customers came in [visibly shaken] and we locked them in,” she said. “It’s just like the old days in the 60s.” 

Don Washington, a Berkeley guide that walks downtown said it was difficult to see what happened because it all went down too fast.  

“The police got everything under control pretty fast,” he said. “And there was no unnecessary force. It’s good that they’re here.” 

Officers let the late-afternoon traffic flow again after the crowd dispersed.  

“It don’t matter that they broke it up, it’s going to happen another day,” said a female student who did not want to give her name. 

Saturday, Jan. 20

On Death & Dying 

9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Buddhist Temple  

2121 Channing Way (between Shattuck & Fulton)  

Kathleen Gustin, Zen priest, and Rev. Ronald Nakasone of the Graduate Theological Union speak at this workshop designed to help those considering their own ending or that of loved ones.  

$20 per person (box lunch included) 

Call Ken Kaji, 601-5394 

Free Tae-Bo classes for adults  

10 - 10:45 a.m.  

Frances Albrier Community Center  

San Pablo Park 

2800 Park St.  

Call 644-8515 

Free Martial Arts classes  

for kids  

11:15 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Frances Albrier Community Center  

San Pablo Park  

2800 Park St.  

Classes taught by Michael Johnson, a fourth degree black belt. Ages 5 - 7, 11:15 a.m. - Noon; Ages 8 - 12, 12:15 p.m. - 1 p.m.; Ages 13 to adults, 1:15 p.m. - 2 p.m. 

644-8515 

Building and remodeling 

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Glen Kitzenberger discusses what homeowners need to know before building or remodeling. Skip Wenz discusses the pros and cons of building an addition. Free 

Call 525-7610 

Free Puppet Shows  

1:30 & 2:30 p.m. 

Hall of Health  

2230 Shattuck Ave.  

The Kids on the Block, an award-winning educational puppet troupe, includes puppets with such conditions as cerebral palsy, blindness and Down syndrome.  

Bengal Basin seminar 

3 p.m. 

Warren Hall, Room 22 

UC Berkeley 

Part of the Third International India Bangladesh Symposium for reducing the impact of toxic chemicals on the Bengal Basin. With World Poet Rabindranath Tagore. 841-3253 

Flu shot clinic 

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Safeway  

5130 Broadway  

Flu vaccines for $12; Pneumonia vaccines for $25. Free for seniors covered by Medicare. Vaccinations for ages 13 and up.  

Call 1-800-500-2400  

Sunday, Jan. 21

Saying No To Power 

10:30 a.m.  

Berkeley Richmond  

Jewish Community Center  

1414 Walnut St. (at Rose) 

Bill Mandel, author and activist talks about his new book.  

$4 - $5 848-0237 

Single Parents and Step  

& Blended 

Family Interfaith Fellowship 

4 - 6 p.m. 

Beth El Synagogue  

2301 Vine St. (at Spruce)  

An interfaith and very open group that welcomes parents and their children of all affiliations and orientations.  

Monday, Jan. 22

Berkeley Rail  

Stop Community  

Design Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center  

1900 Sixth St.  

The public is invited to suggest ideas and comment on plans for design-development at the rail stop/transit plaza area of West Berkeley. Call 644-6580 

Urban Homelessness  

& Public Policy Solutions 

9 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

Alumni House  

UC Berkeley  

This day-long conference will include key scholars, service providers, and policymakers in the homelessness field. Free For more information: http://urbanpolicy.berkeley.edu/homeless.htm 

Building or remodeling? 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Glen Kitzenberger discusses what you need to know before building or remodeling. 525-7610 

Wishes versus reality 

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

A discussion with Betty Goren.  

Call 644-6107 

Tuesday, Jan. 23

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

Call Wade, 531-8664 

— Compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

PSR’s Annual Earl Lectures 

9 a.m. - 10 p.m.  

First Congregational Church of Berkeley  

2345 Channing Way  

Celebrating their 100th anniversary of lectures, this year will focus on Christian mission in a pluralistic age. This year there are 28 workshops and three panels of national religious leaders and scholars. Free  

Call 849-8274 

Elderly Mental Illness 

1:30 - 3 p.m. 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Herrick Campus, CC Conference Room  

2001 Dwight Way 

Dr. Robert Dolgoff, Chief Psychiatrist at the Berkeley Therapy Institute will discuss the course of action to be taken when the best efforts of medical professionals no longer helps older folks with mental illnesses.  

Call 869-6737  

Blood Pressure for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Alice Meyers. 

Call 644-6107 

Costs of Illness 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Attorney Walter Rosen will discuss how to protect you home and savings from the financial effects of catastrophic illness.  

Call 644-6107 

Other cities should pay for Berkeley’s homeless 

Editor: 

Homelessness is a serious and growing problem. I have sent the following letter to Councilmember Margeret Breland and I urge other concerned citizens to present their ideas to their council-members.  

I have seen a number of articles on actions taken by the city council with regards to the homeless problem in Berkeley, but none of them seem to come to grip with the regional problem. Homeless papers have documented a pervasive trend towards displacing the homeless: San Francisco's "Matrix" program, Albany's removal of the homeless from the Albany landfill, Santa Cruz's sleeping ban, and so on. The point of many of these policies is to get the homeless to move out - preferably out of town, to some other town, like Berkeley. The city of Berkeley has enough problems dealing with its own population; we cannot deal with other citys' problems too. The city council needs to immediately lodge formal protests with each and every city which is failing to properly deal with its own homeless problem. The city council should further request the state to withdraw social services funding from those cities and areas which are flagrantly abrogating their responsibilites, and to redirect those funds to the cities which have continued to try to deal with the problems. I further suggest that city consider direct lawsuits, with a request for penalty amounts to cover the quality of life costs for the housed population in dealing with the influx of homeless people. 

Robert Clear 

Berkeley

Coming off of what Berkeley head coach Gene Nakamura called the most severe defeat of his career, the Lady ’Jackets rebounded nicely, thrashing the Alameda Hornets and nearly breaking triple digits on the scoreboard. 

Although the Yellowjackets’ final shot rimmed out, it was a convincing 98-40 win for a team that was beaten by 34 points less than a week ago. 

Senior forward Robin Roberson led the way, as usual, with 25 points, but the ’Jackets spread the scoring around, with five players in double figures. 

After Alameda’s Kumauri Willis found holes in the Berkeley defense for two layups that tied the game at 4-4, Berkeley (12-5 overall, 4-0 ACCAL) went on one of their signature runs, using a fierce full-court press to force turnovers and get easy buckets. Before the Hornets (7-10, 1-3) could recover their senses, they had committed 12 turnovers and were behind 25-4. Roberson was hitting from the inside and outside, scoring 11 points and pulling down six rebounds in the quarter despite sitting with 2:30 on the clock. 

“I really neede to step it up mentally,” said Roberson, who had a sub-par game against Hanford. “I wanted to focus on the little things, like rebounding and setting good screens. The shots just came to me.” 

Roberson shook off a slight shooting slump with a 10-of-14 performance, including making both of her three-pointers. 

Alameda lost all five starters from last season, and was missing two of this year’s starters due to injury. But head coach Brad Thomas said that probably didn’t make a huge difference. 

“We’re just not in the same league as them right now,” Thomas said. “Even with our full team, we still lose this game by a lot. Maybe not quite as much, but a lot.” 

Nakamura emptied his bench for most of the second quarter and pulled back the press for the rest of the game, and the Hornets responded started hitting three-pointers. Jenny O’Neall, Meghan Pipkin and Willis all hit long bombs to pull their team to within 20 points, but that was as close as they would come for the rest of the night. They continued throwing up threes, however, and seemed content to settle for perimeter shots against the bigger ’Jackets. 

“That’s the kind of team they are, they love shooting three-pointers,” Nakamura said. “If you give them 62 open threes, they’ll take 62 threes.” 

Friday’s game marked the return to the starting lineup of senior Danielle Milburn, who had been riding the bench for a few games as her play had dropped off early in the season. Nakamura has rotated players in and out of the point guard spot all year. 

“I’m still looking for a fifth player to step up and take the spot alongside my four starters,” Nakamura said. “Danielle showed that she can do that tonight.” 

Milburn started quietly, distributing the ball for most of the first quarter and getting her teammates good shots. But she came out of halftime looking to score, and quickly hit two three-pointers to get Berkeley out of the gate running. 

“I was a little shaky at the start, because I didn’t want to mess up my first game back as a starter,” she said. “But I got comfortable, and decided to shoot the ball more.” 

Milburn finished the game with 10 points, and may have cemented her starting spot, at least for a few games. 

The only drama left was to see whether Berkeley could break 100 points for the first time this year. Although Nakamura said he didn’t really want to hit triple digits, his starters were in full roar on the bench, encouraging the players on the floor to go for it. The ’Jackets got the ball back with 6.5 seconds left on the clock, and could only manage an off-balance jumper by freshman guard Joy White that rolled around the rim before dropping off. 

“We wanted to break 100, but coach didn’t want to put us back in,” Roberson said. 

Nakamura said he thought going for a huge point total was disrespectful of the opponent. 

“If I wanted to, we could score 150 points a lot of nights,” he said. “But that’s low-class.”

School officials are expressing delight in the state’s recent publication of the Academic Performance Index in which the majority of Berkeley schools showed improvement over last year.  

While most schools ranked just below their growth targets, they were mostly on par with similar schools. Two schools – Thousand Oaks Elementary and Rosa Parks Environmental Science Magnet School – were ranked four out of 10, but school officials said that could be attributed to several factors.  

“Thousand Oaks has one of the largest populations where the student’s primary language is not English,” said Terry Doran, president of the Berkeley Unified School District. “I believe they should be tested in their native language first, but we just have to deal with that. We feel these students are right on track.” 

Doran said the same holds true for Parks School which has a two-way language immersion program that he feels is superior to the program at Thousand Oaks.  

Both Doran and Superintendent Jack McLaughlin said that the API is important as a way to assess student growth, but also indicated that it is merely one indicator of how a school  

is doing.  

“Test scores are a snap shot of how [students] are on that day of the test,” McLaughlin said. “It doesn’t assess day to day progress.” 

Attendance, reading achievement, intervention for troubled students and even minute details like nutrition are important factors in student success, Doran said.  

“We’re looking beyond test scores,” he said.  

Ann Gaebler, president of the Thousand Oaks Parent Teacher Association and a parent at the school for 10 years, said the test results hold little weight for her. 

“Personally as a parent, I’m more concerned with what the teachers are doing in the classroom. ... As far as test scores go, it’s a reflection of the diverse community that goes to that school. A huge range of non-native speakers go to the school and they are not tested in their language,” she said. “I don’t think, ‘Oh my God, what kind of school am I sending my kid to?’ I know what kind of school I send my kids to, one of the best schools in Berkeley.”

A Berkeley bakery collective is closing its doors early today so its workers can go to the San Francisco protest of President George W. Bush’s inauguration. 

“Everyone is upset because no one on this area voted for Bush,” said Jim Stockton, a worker at Nabolom Bakery in the Elmwood neighborhood for the past seven years.  

Two weeks ago, Stockton planted a small placard on the bakery’s counter announcing the noon protest at San Francisco’s civic center. This week, he placed a sign announcing that the 25-year-old collective would shut down at 11 a.m. so its 20 workers can attend the protest.  

“Hopefully we’ll see some good speeches and get some ideas about what to do about the next four years,” he said.  

Elsie Lee, a baker at Nabolom for the past eight years, said the bakery used to more political but that movement waned for a few years before Stockton arrived.  

“Jim brought us back and it feels like we’re starting something,” she said.  

Lee said the protest will have two  

purposes for her. First, she’s concerned that rent and the cost of living is skyrocketing in this area.  

“It’s so high in the area that we won’t be able to stay where we grew up,” she said.  

The second purpose is Bush’s questionable election. 

“You vote and suddenly they’re taking away your vote,” she said. “It definitely sends a message that it doesn’t count to vote.” 

Customers, Stockton said, have shown overwhelming support for the protest and have even left positive notes on napkins and left them on the counter below the sign. 

“Maybe it’s because it’s a little gesture and the community here appreciates it,” Stockton said.  

Chris Ain, who was reading the paper and waiting for a friend inside the bakery, said he supports the protest.  

“I’m in favor of anything that embarrasses Bush,” he said. “Bush annoys me.”

Drivers who rely on radio traffic reports may soon have an easier way to navigate the dreaded freeway commute.  

A University of California, Berkeley, professor and his team of students have developed a way to get updates on traffic hotspots, alternative routes and travel times – up to an hour in advance – via the Internet or cellular phone.  

The freeway Performance Evaluation Monitoring System, or PeMS, will be unveiled tomorrow (Thursday, Jan. 18) at the UC Berkeley-sponsored Bay Area transportation town meeting. Developed by Pravin Varaiya, UC Berkeley professor of computer science and electrical engineering, PeMS converts freeway monitoring data into real-time traffic updates accessible via a Web portal.  

Varaiya is one of the main researchers in the proposed UC Berkeley-led Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS). A joint program with UC Santa Cruz and UC Merced, CITRIS is a research initiative dedicated to creating technology to improve everyday living. 

Currently PeMS is only available to engineers at the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and to the research community. But Varaiya hopes his invention will soon enjoy widespread use through Internet service providers and public agency traveler information efforts.  

At the heart of Varaiya's invention is software that converts data from Caltrans' existing vehicle detection network into easy-to-read tables and graphs. The PeMS Web page provides a map of the entire freeway system in a given urban area. A color-coded link provides the freeway speed, and an animation shows how congestion starts and spreads. By selecting an origin and destination on the map, the user can see how long each route to the destination will take. PeMS also analyses traffic patterns and predicts travel times up to an hour in advance.  

While PeMS has obvious advantages for commuters, Varaiya, who is UC Berkeley’s Nortel Networks Distinguished Professor, originally designed the system to help Caltrans officials monitor traffic patterns. "PeMS can be used by managers to get an overall view of traffic trends, by engineers to spot and eliminate bottlenecks and help them design solutions, by planners to evaluate proposals for new routes," Varaiya said.  

Caltrans officials have already begun using PeMS. "The real benefit of PeMS is it gives us a better understanding of what is happening on the freeways," said John Wolf, chief of the Office of System Management Planning in the Caltrans Traffic Operations Program.  

According to Varaiya's calculations, appropriate traffic management in the Los Angeles area could save more than $1 billion per year in lost time and fuel costs. And this estimate did not include costs associated with pollution, increased accidents or stress.  

Using PeMS, Varaiya found that the most efficient way to reduce commute times is to keep freeway traffic moving at 60 miles per hour.  

The best way to maintain this speed during peak use hours, he said, is to limit the number of cars allowed onto the freeway. This could mean longer waits at on-ramps, but, overall, the trip time would be shortened.  

Varaiya envisions a system where drivers could be notified of the best time to leave for the journey. “Instead of being parked on the freeway, you could spend ten more minutes on your coffee break or in your office,” he said.  

In addition to its use in traffic management, PeMS can predict travel times.  

For example, a 40-mile trip across Los Angeles on Interstate-10 can take from 40 to 130 minutes, depending on traffic. By accessing PeMS, a traveler could inform business clients of her arrival time.  

Although the software for each urban area must be customized, a new Caltrans district can be added within weeks. Varaiya and his students are currently adapting software for Los Angeles, which generates one gigabyte (one billion bytes) of data per day. The entire state generates an average of two gigabytes per day.  

PeMS is not yet applicable in the Bay Area, where traffic has worsened dramatically in the past five years, said Varaiya.  

But Caltrans has recently increased availability of data from the detectors at least 10-fold, said Judy Chen, chief of the Caltrans Office of Traffic Systems.  

Caltrans also feeds data to TravInfo, a traffic information system - dial 817-1717 in the nine-county Bay Area – maintained by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. But PeMS provides more detailed analyses that can be used for research.  

Each vehicle-counting device, or loop detector, consists of an electrical wire buried in the pavement.  

When a vehicle passes over the wire, the metal in the vehicle causes fluctuations in the electric current. A detector that monitors a four-lane highway can cost $100,000 or more.  

For PeMS, the loop detectors send data every 30 seconds to a Sun 450 computer 

workstation in the basement of UC Berkeley's Cory Hall. PeMS software combines the 30-second readings into 5-minute readings that yield the number of cars and their average speed for each lane, and then combines the lane-by-lane data into an overall measure of freeway flow, occupancy and speed.  

Traffic monitoring systems like PeMS can accommodate future demand for the next five years, Varaiya said.  

However, long-term solutions will require automated vehicle guidance systems like those being developed by California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH), a collaborative public and private effort to apply advanced technology to reducing traffic congestion, air pollution and energy consumption.  

Meanwhile, Varaiya is working with computer science professor Jitendra Malik to add video monitoring to PeMS. This project involves placing video monitors atop buildings to track vehicle speed and direction.  

Eventually, through CITRIS, the proposed UC Berkeley center, Varaiya and Malik plan to expand their traffic monitoring research to deploy tiny wireless sensors that can beam traffic data to a central computing facility, yielding even more precise estimations of traffic flow.  

PeMS is supported by Caltrans and the National Science Foundation through California PATH.

SACRAMENTO — The driver of a big rig that rammed the state Capitol told acquaintances and family members he was upset over his new wife and his new job, investigators said Friday. 

Investigators determined that 37-year-old Michael Bowers of Hemet was despondent and did not act as part of a larger group, said California Highway Patrol Commissioner D.O. “Spike” Helmick. 

Medical examiners used dental records to positively identify Bowers Friday as the driver of the 18-wheeler that plowed into the Capitol’s south porch Tuesday. 

He was not killed instantly in the impact, as investigators initially assumed.  

He died of smoke and carbon monoxide inhalation, and subsequently was incinerated when the truck burst into flames, said Sacramento County Coroner Paul Smith. 

Smith said an autopsy could not determine if Bowers was conscious after the crash, or for how long. 

“At this particular time it is our belief that this gentleman was by himself, he was not any kind of a terrorist or working with other individuals with a desire to do significant damage,” Helmick said. 

“He is an individual who we believe, because of some personal issues, was angered that particular day, ... very distraught that particular day.” 

The mentally ill former prison inmate apparently was upset over his souring relationship with his new wife, Helmick said, and he didn’t like the job he had held for 10 days with Salt  

Lake City-based Dick Simon Trucking Inc. 

Bowers had a valid truck driving license, a valid medical clearance good through February 2001 – and he was cleared to transport hazardous materials, though at the time of the crash he was transporting a load of powdered milk. 

He apparently picked the Capitol as a target of opportunity to vent his anger at his life and at the prison and mental health systems he blamed for keeping him locked up much of his adult life, Helmick said. 

There is no indication he was trying to hurt any particular individual, though he had asked Gov. Gray Davis and a state senator for help in getting released from custody in 1999. 

Helmick said Bowers’ talk of being part of a “New World Order” apparently was delusional. 

However, it led to two fights with his wife, who along with his parents was formally informed Friday of his death. 

Bowers was released Jan. 3 after a month in the Riverside County jail after he pleaded guilty to assaulting his new wife during an argument over odd statements he made about his role with the “New World Order,” said Riverside County sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Mark Lohman. 

Bowers married the woman Nov. 27 after her release from prison, Lohman said, but then made her hitchhike back to Riverside County from their honeymoon in the Bishop area in east central California after a previous argument over his comments about the group. 

Medical examiners obtained enough blood to analyze for drugs and alcohol, which Smith said may help explain Bowers’ actions. Results aren’t expected for at least two weeks. 

Authorities said Bowers suffered from a schizo-affective disorder that gave him grandiose and fantastic delusions. His mother, Sharon Bowers, 60, of Perris, told reporters her son was fine when he took his psychotropic medication, but threatening without it. 

Bowers had a criminal record dating to 1986, and had been in and out of state mental health hospitals. 

He picked up the truckload of powdered milk in Modesto Tuesday and was supposed to deliver it to North Dakota. Instead, he drove his 18-wheeler into the Capitol building, severely damaging the south porch but injuring no one but himself. 

On Friday, the California Highway Patrol released tapes of frantic 911 calls to and from dispatchers after Bowers’ truck accelerated across the Capitol lawn, lodged between two ornate concrete-and-steel pillars, and erupted in flames shortly after 9 p.m. as the state Assembly was adjourning for the night. 

The truck’s tires and hundreds of cans of powdered milk in the trailer began exploding, leading witnesses to falsely believe the truck was packed with explosives. 

Grainy surveillance videos show the truck’s approaching headlights before it wedges between the Capitol’s pillars and explodes in a ball of flame that momentarily whites out the camera’s eye.

SAN FRANCISCO — Mayor Willie Brown says he’s going to be a dad again. 

Carolyn Carpeneti, the mayor’s chief-fundraising coordinator, is pregnant with Brown’s child, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday. The baby girl is due in late April or early May. 

Brown, 66, is known to enjoy going out on the town with female friends. He has been separated from his wife, Blanche, for 20 years, and said he does not plan to divorce or get remarried.  

He has three grown children and two grandchildren. 

“This was something certainly not planned, and to be honest, it’s something that I never in my life expected to happen at (this) age,” Brown told the Chronicle. 

“She asked how it would affect my career, and I told her that wasn’t an issue,” said Brown, who is supportive of her decision. “That’s what ’choice’ is all about – the mother’s choice.” 

Brown said he wants to protect the privacy of Carpeneti, a 38-year-old divorced mother. 

“There’s nothing unseemly about this at all,” Brown said. “She’s a great friend.” 

Brown’s re-election committee paid Carpeneti $380,000 for fund-raising in the mayoral race. The two also have gone on trips together to Paris and to the Academy Awards. 

SACRAMENTO — Saying insolvency was no excuse, state regulators slapped California’s two largest utilities with an order Friday barring them from cutting off power to the 25 million people they serve. 

The Public Utilities Commission order lasts at least until a Jan. 29 hearing. But it didn’t erase the possibility of more rolling blackouts ordered by managers of the state power grid. 

Power authorities were cautiously optimistic they could avert more of the random blackouts that have snarled traffic and disrupted lives across the northern half of the state. But they issued no guarantees the lights would stay on this weekend. 

“Things will be tight,” said Jim Detmers, managing director of Independent System Operator, which manages the grid. 

Effects of the escalating crisis spread through the state’s economy, threatening to push up prices for commodities from gasoline to milk and forcing manufacturers to shut down for hours or days at a time for lack of electricity. 

Miller Brewing Co. halted production at its brewery in Irwindale on Friday and California Steel Industries Inc. in Fontana closed its plant and idled most of its 1,000 workers for the day. Textron Aerospace Fasteners in Santa Ana sent 400 employees home for the day with half-pay. 

The state’s main gasoline pipeline is running only part of the day, threatening supplies to airports and service stations and prompting warnings that prices will start to climb. 

Standard & Poors put the state’s bonds on credit watch Friday, reflecting a lack of investor confidence in California’s ability to dig its way out of the crisis. 

In a stopgap rescue effort, Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill Friday that frees $400 million for the state to buy power on the open market and sell it to utilities. The Department of Finance reported spending $7.9 million in taxpayer money buying power for the statewide grid Thursday under a previous authorization. 

Nobody the state plan it would do more than help California squeeze through until the Legislature adopts a more comprehensive rescue. Assemblywoman Sarah Reyes called it a Band-Aid for “a bleeding body.” 

Random blackouts of about two hours swept across Northern California on Wednesday and Thursday – the culmination of a crisis that has left the state’s two biggest utilities on the verge of bankruptcy. 

Southern California has been spared so far, partly because of the layout of the power grid. Los Angeles has a municipal utility with its own power sources, and a few other areas are similarly protected. 

The crisis peaked when soaring natural gas prices and a shortage of hydroelectric power drove up the wholesale price of energy. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison Co. – prevented by a flawed deregulation effort from raising prices to cover their costs – are unable to buy power on credit. They estimate their debt at more than $11 billion. 

The power mess also has been complicated by soaring natural gas prices, a shortage of hydroelectricity for sale, power delivery problems and a number of power plants shut down for repairs and maintenance. 

While the rolling blackouts get the headlines, most of the damage to business is coming from agreements big customers have made with the utilities. In exchange for lower rates, some 1,200 companies have agreed to let the power companies shut them down when electricity runs short. 

Throughout the state, businesses have been forced to turn off the switch, with no indication of when the crisis will pass. 

SoCal Edison and PG&E both warned this week that they might cut service beginning Saturday. PG&E also told state officials it would use only the power it produces itself beginning Saturday – not nearly enough power for the 14 million people it serves. 

The PUC responded with the temporary induction, guaranteeing the utilities “will not and may not abandon service to customers,” Chairwoman Loretta Lynch said. She said the panel’s role was to “preserve the public’s safety.” 

In other developments: 

• The Senate Energy Committee considered long-term contract legislation, which would let the state deal with electricity wholesalers to buy power at about one-fifth the current market rate. The power would be resold to consumers, through the utilities. 

• Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, calling California’s power supply “precarious,” issued an order requiring companies to continue shipping natural gas into California. The action was taken to ensure that utilities will not be cut off by natural gas suppliers. 

On the Net: 

ISO: www.caiso.com 

PUC: http://www.cpuc.ca.gov 

CHICAGO — The Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow-PUSH Coalition said Friday it paid $35,000 in “severance pay” to the woman he had a child with in an extramarital affair. 

Members of the board also voted unanimously not to entertain any thought of Jackson resigning his leadership of the civil-rights group over the extramarital affair, said James Meeks, a Chicago pastor who is second-in-command. 

Meeks said the group made payments to Karin Stanford, former head of the group’s Washington office, when she moved to Los Angeles, where she now lives with her 20-month-old daughter. Meeks denied reports of other payments to Stanford. 

“We do not pay her any monthly compensation,” Meeks said. “Number two, we are not buying her – nor are we paying for – a house.” 

Earlier in the day, Rainbow-PUSH spokesman John Scanlon said Stanford received the $35,000 in two payments from Rainbow-PUSH – $20,000 in moving expenses and a $15,000 advance on a contract to do consulting for the organization. 

Jackson personally pays Stanford $3,000 a month in child support, he said. 

A spokeswoman cut off the news conference about the payments after only a few questions from reporters. Meeks said the organization’s finance and budget committee would eventually give board members a more extensive written report about the $35,000. 

He raised questions about the timing of the story’s being leaked to the National Enquirer. He said it appeared to be a deliberate attempt to silence Jackson’s protests of the presidential election results in Florida. 

“We think that there is something awfully suspicious about the timing of this 2-year-old story,” Meeks said, noting that it broke three days before Jackson was to help lead a rally Saturday in Tallahassee, Fla. Meeks said he did not know who could be behind the alleged plot to silence Jackson. 

Rainbow-PUSH officials said it is unlikely that Jackson will attend the rally. 

“We need him,” said the Rev. Willie Barrow, co-founder of the coalition.  

“We cannot afford to have Rev. Jackson on the sidelines for an undetermined time.” 

Jackson released a statement early Thursday about the affair and child after learning that the Enquirer planned to run a story. In the statement, he apologized and asked for time with his family to deal with the matter. 

Jackson, 59, and his wife, Jackie, have been married for 38 years and have five children. 

Meeks said the board has agreed to honor Jackson’s request for time away. 

Jackson will attend a service at Meeks’ Salem Baptist on Sunday and will also attend Rainbow-PUSH’s annual Wall Street conference in New York next week, Meeks said. The conference is aimed at increasing minority involvement in business and investing. 

Meeks said Jackson got a phone call of support from President Clinton, whom Jackson counseled after Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky. 

On the Net: 

Rainbow-PUSH coalition: http://www.rainbowpush.org

OKLAHOMA CITY — Federal officials are considering a closed-circuit telecast of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh’s execution because of the large number of victims and relatives who might want to watch him die. 

McVeigh is scheduled to die by injection May 16 at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., for blowing up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995. 

Eight seats at the prison are open for victims to witness the execution, and the government is sending out letters to 1,100 people asking if they want to attend. 

The number of potential witnesses dwarfs those in other cases, and all options are being considered, including closed-circuit television, federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman Dan Dunne said. 

Eight bombing survivors have asked attorney Karen Howick of Oklahoma City to go to court if necessary to get the closed-circuit telecast. Howick said there is a good chance the government will agree if enough victims are interested. 

She said that she knows of no execution in the United States that was shown over closed-circuit television, but no law forbids it. 

It was Howick who persuaded Congress to allow McVeigh’s Denver trial to be broadcast in an Oklahoma courtroom for victims’ relatives. 

McVeigh is allowed execution seats for two attorneys, a spiritual adviser and three adult family members or friends. The government will have a few seats and the media will be given 10. 

McVeigh has halted his appeals and has until mid-February to file a request for clemency from the president. 

He would be first inmate put to death by the federal government since 1963. 

McVeigh attorney Nathan Chambers said he and his client have taken no position on a possible telecast. “It’s an interesting issue,” he said. “If someone makes a formal application to do that, we’ll address that.” 

WASHINGTON — George W. Bush proclaimed himself ready on Friday to accept “with pride” and “with honor” the job of commander in chief. He also made plans to quickly begin pushing his agenda once he takes the oath as the nation’s 43rd president. 

Even a forecast of rain turning to sleet for Saturday’s ceremonies did little to dampen Bush’s spirits as he moved buoyantly from one celebratory event to another and prepared to hit the dance floor with wife, Laura, at an evening “Black Tie and Boots” ball honoring Texans. 

Aides said Bush would waste little time in beginning to exercise his presidential powers. 

He may act as early as Saturday to issue an executive order to block or delay a variety of President Clinton’s executive orders and last-minute rules, transition aides said. 

Among his first official acts: formally submitting the nominations of his Cabinet to the Senate. 

Bush set aside much of the first week of his presidency to focus on education, including a Tuesday ceremony at the White House to submit his educational package to Congress. 

For most of Friday, Bush accepted second billing – first at an event honoring American writers hosted by Laura Bush and later at a preinaugural celebration for veterans presided over by Vice President-elect Dick Cheney. 

At the writers’ event, Bush said of his wife, a former librarian and school teacher: “Her love for books is real, her love for children is real and my love for her is real.” 

Acknowledging his parents sitting in the front row, Bush said: “Mr. President. It’s got kind of a nice ring to it.” 

Later at the salute to veterans, Cheney, who was secretary of defense during the Persian Gulf War, said that of all the duties he will assume when he is sworn in Saturday, “none is greater than preparing our military for the challenges and dangers to come.” 

Bush, in brief remarks to the same group, pledged, “We will make sure our soldiers are well-paid and well-housed.” 

Looking forward to Saturday’s ceremony, Bush said he was ready to “to become the commander in chief of the greatest nation. ... I accept that honor with pride, I accept that honor with purpose.” 

In an early evening appearance at a youth concert with retired Gen. Colin Powell, his choice for secretary of state, Bush proclaimed that he and Powell would “work hard to make sure that the world is more peaceful. But we’re also going to work hard to make sure the great potential and promise of America reaches through every neighborhood and every state all across this great land.” 

Bush also planned to get in a final round of practice on his inaugural address. 

In the address, “he’s going to talk about the unity of America,” said Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer. While not referring to his narrow margin of victory, Bush will make a fresh appeal for unity, Fleischer said. “It’s the same speech he would be giving whether he won with a landslide or a narrow vote.” 

Asked whether Bush would stay in his limousine for the inaugural parade or walk part of the route, Fleischer said, “That could depend somewhat on the weather.” 

The National Weather Service’s forecast for Saturday called for a nearly 100 percent chance of precipitation. With that forecast for a wintry mix of rain, sleet and snow, inaugural officials considered moving the swearing-in ceremony inside the Capitol. But Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., chairman of the congressional inaugural committee, said it seemed likely the ceremony would be held outdoors. 

Aides said Bush was poised to begin signing executive orders, some of them dealing with housekeeping issues but others aimed at a rash of eleventh-hour rules and regulations issued by Clinton. 

All of these Clinton orders, ranging from new environmental regulations to new guidelines for managed care programs, are under scrutiny. 

Rather than trying to pick them off one at a time, Bush is likely to issue a moratorium that would block for now any new regulations from being printed in the Federal Register, advisers said. 

That would essentially freeze in place the most recent of Clinton’s executive orders since most rules can’t take effect until they’ve appeared in the Federal Register for a certain period of time. 

Fleischer, Bush’s spokesman, said such a moratorium “is under review and it very well may happen,” possibly as soon as Saturday. Other Bush aides cautioned against expecting any major assaults on Clinton’s policies on a day on which Bush hopes to emphasize national unity. 

Then-President Ronald Reagan used a similar technique in 1981 to block scores of last-minute executive orders by his predecessor, Democrat Jimmy Carter. 

When he took office in 1993, Clinton moved quickly to block several orders that Bush’s father, George Bush, had put in place in the closing days of his administration. 

Some Bush advisers suggested that the younger Bush might gleefully move to reimpose some of those blocked orders — including one that would have required federal contractors to inform nonunion members of their rights, including refunds of any dues withheld from their paychecks. 

Meanwhile, a new dispute flared over abortion issues after Laura Bush said Friday that while she thinks more can be done to limit the number of abortions, she does not believe the landmark Roe v. Wade pro-abortion rights ruling should be undone. 

“No, I don’t think it should be overturned,” she said on NBC’s “Today” show. 

Her husband has said he believes the ruling was wrong. During the campaign, he suggested he would like to see it overturned — but also indicted he would not take the lead in such an effort. 

Fleischer declined to comment on Laura Bush’s remarks, saying they were her “personal views.” As for the president-elect, Fleischer said, “he’s made it clear throughout the campaign: he’s pro life.” Fleischer reiterated, as he has before, that Bush favored a number of initiatives “that can make abortion more rare.” Overturning Roe v. Wade is not on the list. 

EUGENE, Ore.— Ianto Evans and Linda Smiley build from the ground up – from the ground itself, in fact. 

On forested land outside Cottage Grove, they have built cob cottages, courtyards, garden walls, benches and ovens, by themselves and with their students. 

The structures are rustic, to be sure – earthen brown, thick-walled, hand-shaped, with a hint of both the gnomish and the prehistoric. 

So named by the British several hundred years ago, cob is a building material of earth, straw, sand and water (no corn involved). 

It’s mixed with the feet and hand-shaped into rounded lumps known in Old English as cobs, which then are sculpted into load-bearing walls. 

A cob structure retains this hand-shaped curvature, unlike an adobe house built of earthen bricks and mortar. 

Evans and Smiley are cob evangelists, of a sort. Their Cob Cottage Co., founded with partner Michael Smith, is considered an authority on the subject among natural-building proponents. 

The company’s second book on cob building will come out next year. 

Since 1993, the couple have held more than 80 cob workshops in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, teaching more than 1,000 people that mud dance of mixing cob and the joys of communal building. 

Cob construction combines their fields of expertise. Evans is a Welsh-born architect, while Smiley is trained as a recreational therapist. 

“I’ve focused on the health aspects of people working together, kind of like an Amish barn-raising type of approach, and the sense of community, of people working together and how empowering it is for people to build their own cottage,” Smiley said. 

On a sunny morning in their cob cottage, over tea, Evans and Smiley explain how they came to build with earth. 

“As you can probably tell, I’m British,” Evans lilts. “I’m from Wales, and cob is indigenous where I’m from.” 

Living in the Northwest for more than two decades, watching log trucks roll by, inspired him to investigate alternative building materials, which reminded him of his homeland. 

In the 1980s, Evans and Smiley went to the British Isles to do research on cob houses that were hundreds of years old, despite facing rougher winters than those in the Northwest. They liked what they saw. 

“We built a very experimental little cob place in the late ’80s,” Evans said. “We didn’t tell anybody, because we were very unsure as to how it would fare in the Northwestern climate.” 

Pleased with the results, in 1993 they built the more elaborate structure they’re sitting in now. Built on a stone foundation, the cob walls are two stories high and 1 1/2 to 2 feet thick. 

Evans explains the construction: “You make mud out of your soil, and straw and water. ... You tread it with your feet, or with a machine; some people use a tractor. 

“You take it in forkfuls or handfuls and make earthen balls called cobs – the size of a lump you can get both hands around – and you slap them on the wall.” 

Windows and door shapes are molded to allow space for frames and glass, he said, and several styles of roof are compatible. 

“If you want, you make an earthen floor of a very similar mixture,” he said, indicating the smoothed, chocolate-brown floor beneath our feet. 

The cottage took about five months to complete, from June to November. “Technically, it’s not a house; it’s a garden cottage,” he stresses. A large main house sits beside the cob compound, which has no bathroom, for one thing. 

The cottage’s sitting room has built-in cob bookshelves, nooks and a wide, low bench covered with brightly colored cushions, plus a table and chairs besides. It shares the downstairs with a cozy kitchen. The upstairs contains a bed, dresser and separate office space. 

Most of the noncob materials are recyclables. The beams, framing and some furniture are made of salvaged wood: madrone, Pacific yew, Pacific dogwood, cedar. 

The kitchen counters are made of thick, salvaged cutting boards and salvaged ceramic tile worked into a mosaic. 

The cottage has electricity and running water; the pipes and wires are molded in the earth walls. With floor-to-ceiling windows facing south, the cob walls and floor absorb some solar heat during the day. A wood-burning stove provides heat in winter. 

All of this is packed into a snug 119 square feet. “Round feet,” Evans corrects. 

And, Smiley points out, “It’s in the shape of a heart.” 

NEW YORK — California’s energy crisis has created some clear winners and losers on Wall Street. 

Certainly, the stocks of PG&E Corp. and Edison International, the debt-ridden parents of California’s two largest public utilities, are hurting.  

But the companies that sell power to the utilities are enjoying higher profits and stock prices. 

California’s power troubles, which included state-ordered blackouts this past week, have caused the Dow Jones utility index to lose the gains it had been building since August.  

The index reflecting the performance of 15 utility stocks closed Friday at 351.30 after recently soaring above 400. 

California’s utilities – PG&E and Southern California Edison – blame their problems on the state’s 1996 deregulation plan, which was supposed to lead to lower rates for consumers. Under the plan, utilities were forced to sell their power plants and buy electricity from companies like Duke Energy Corp. 

But wholesale prices for electricity have soared and rate caps imposed under deregulation prevent utilities from passing on those costs to customers.  

PG&E and SoCal Edison, which estimate they have lost more than $11 billion, have defaulted on millions in dollars in bills and warned they’re headed toward bankruptcy. 

The situation has been a boon to power generators such as Duke and Dynegy Inc., which have the energy California lacks and which have benefited from soaring wholesale energy costs. 

Stocks of companies such as Ballard Power Systems Inc. and FuelCell Energy Inc., which make alternative forms of energy, are also up on hopes they’ll also profit from California’s problems. 

The list of stock market losers, however, could get much longer as the power woes persist. 

Retailing stocks could suffer if rising energy costs make already cautious consumers more nervous.  

High power prices and energy blackouts also stand to pinch the weakened profits of the many technology companies based in California. 

“If consumers are faced with high energy costs in California and reduce their spending, that can have a big impact on the U.S. economy because it is such a large state,” said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer at First Albany Corp.  

“If businesses have problems and have to shut down every other day, there can be meaningful reduction in supplies sent to other parts of the country.” 

Banks and financial institutions also could be hurt, Johnson said, if PG&E or SoCal Edison go bankrupt. 

“It can create real money problems,” Johnson said. 

But Wall Street has reaffirmed the winners and losers. PG&E lost 11.9 percent for the week, closing at $10.19. Edison, the parent of SoCal Edison, managed to rise 3.6 percent, ending the week at $8.94. 

Meanwhile, Duke gained 5.3 percent after closing Friday at $72.81, and Dynegy advanced 10.7 percent after finishing at $47.19. FuelCell rose 23.2 percent after closing at $77.19, and Ballard picked up 16.2 percent, ending at $75.31. 

Duke also got a boost from a strong earnings report this past week, announcing results that beat Wall Street expectations by a solid 6 cents a share. 

Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke benefited handsomely from the energy price spike because it owns four California power plants that generate with a total capacity of 3,300 megawatts, enough to supply nearly 500,000 homes. 

Whether the stock market gains for the likes of Duke and FuelCell and the losses for PG&E and Edison hold up will rest on how the power crisis is resolved. 

“It depends on whether or not the generators end up signing long term contracts and whether the (large) margins they were able to achieve in 2000 are sustainable,” said Paul Fremont, electric utility analyst for Jefferies & Co. 

However, Duke and its competitors, such as Reliant, Dynegy and Southern Energy, which on Friday became Mirant Corp., might not be able to count on California for big profit margins in the future, Fremont said.  

They would lose if the state moved back toward more regulation – for example, if legislators capped the prices generators can charge for supplying power to California utilities.

NEW YORK — Investors, more cautious than relieved after a week of earnings news that turned out better than expected, took profits Friday and sent stocks mostly lower. 

Blue chips tumbled after Home Depot warned of disappointing quarterly results. Tech stocks advanced, but disappointing revenues from Sun Microsystems helped offset the gains in the Nasdaq composite index. Analysts downplayed the declines, noting they occurred at the end of a healthy week, particularly for the tech sector.  

“The market is somewhat overbought now,” said Charles Pradilla, chief investment strategist at SG Cowen Securities. “The market is ready for some pullback, some consolidation and profit-taking. We’re not out of the woods yet, but I don’t see a huge dive from here.” 

By the time this summer rolls around, Shaun Paga should know every blade of grass on Witter Field like the back of his hand. 

Paga spent most of his afternoons this fall running around the lawn as a member of the Cal football team, which practices on Witter during the season. Paga now roams the turf as a captain of the Golden Bear rugby squad. By the way, each of Paga’s four previous rugby seasons resulted in a national championship for the Bears, extending the Cal streak to 10 straight titles. 

Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Paga comes from a rugby family. But they moved to the U.S. when Paga was nine years old, and football became his first love. He didn’t take up rugby until a trip back to New Zealand, where rugby is the national sport, during his junior year in high school. He joined a local team upon his return, and quickly became a premier player. 

Recruited to play football by Boise State and Idaho out of Menlo-Atherton High School, Paga chose instead to walk on at Cal, making the team as a special teams player as a freshman and a reserve linebacker as a sophomore. But it was his contribution to the Cal rugby program as a loose forward that attracted the most attention. 

“Rugby is in his blood, and he happens to be a very gifted, explosive athlete,” says head coach Jack Clark. “He’s a courageous player, and he’s always there in important moments in the match.” 

Paga, 23, returned to the Cal football program for the 2000 season after taking two years off to concentrate on rugby. That dedication to rugby resulted in selection to the Eagles, the U.S. national team, and a trip to Ireland for Rugby World Cup 1999, where he played in all three of the Eagles’ matches, including one against eventual champion Australia. 

“That’s really why I left football, that opportunity to represent your country and play in an international tournament, against the best players in the world,” Paga says. “It was a great honor, and something really special to me.” 

The football staff accepted Paga’s decision to devote himself to rugby once he explained what he could accomplish. 

“I think they understood that I had a great opportunity in rugby,” he says. “They definitely wanted me to come back, though.” 

Paga’s return to the football team for his senior season was welcomed by both players and coaches. The Bears’ projected starting rush end, Wayne Hunter, transferred out of Cal, and the position was wide open going into fall camp. Paga, who had never played defensive line, was thrown into the mix. 

“I didn’t know him very well, and I had never seen him play football or rugby,” says Cal defensive line coach Bill Dutton, who came to Cal program during Paga’s absence. “But (defensive coordinator) Lyle Setencich and (head coach) Tom Holmoe had very positive things to say about him. They said he was very competitive and had a real desire to play. He had to get on-the-job training, and he was the first one on the field for practice every day and spent hours and hours in the film room.” 

Paga quickly went about learning his new position, and he had help from the team’s two defensive stars, defensive end Andre Carter and tackle Jacob Waasdorp. 

“Andre and Jacob helped me get up to speed, because I had never played defensive end before,” Paga says. “They were very instructive and helpful.” 

After a strong showing at camp, Paga was ready to play when the season started. He started the Bears’ first game against Utah, and he and sophomore Tully Banta-Cain waged a battle for playing time the entire season. Dutton says the competition brought out the best in both players. 

“I told them every week that whoever graded out the best would start, and they both went down deep into their gut-bucket every week in practice,” Dutton says. “Without Shaun, Tully wouldn’t have been the same player he was.” 

The competition went right down to the final game against Stanford, and both players had their best game of the season that day, according to Dutton. 

“I always wanted to come back and play my last year, and I was lucky to come back when there was an opening,” Paga says. 

Paga says the two sports are very comparable, which makes sense. Football’s roots come from rugby, and they involve many of the same skills and physical demands. 

“They’re both really competitive games. Rugby’s definitely more cardiovascular, since there aren’t so many stoppages in play. You have to be fitter, so you’re a little lighter,” Paga says. “But football’s probably a little more physical, so you come back and you’re ready to hit harder.” 

Dutton feels Paga’s two years away from football were offset by the benefits of playing rugby at its highest level. 

“Rugby gave him a sense of confidence as an athlete to perform, and he brought that with him into football,” he says. 

Both of Paga’s coaches think he can continue with their own sport, a choice he has yet to make. 

“Shaun has the ability to play professional rugby overseas if he chooses,” Clark says. “He just has to work on a few of his skills.” 

“With all of the football available to us here, there could definitely be a spot for him somewhere,” Dutton says. 

When asked which sport he thinks will attract him after college, Paga laughs. 

“I’d say I’m more of a football player. When you get to the international level, most of the guys have been playing since they were little kids. I’m still learning the game on a lot of levels.”

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm.”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. $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. Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

Judah L. Magnes Museum “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. “Second Annual Richard Nagler Competition for Excellence in Jewish Photography” Through Feb., 2001. Featuring the work of Claudia Nierman, Jason Francisco, Fleming Lunsford, and others. 2911 Russell St. 549-6950  

UC Berkeley Art Museum “Tacita Dean/MATRIX 189 Banewl” through Jan. 28. A film instillation by British conceptual artist Tacita Dean of the total solar eclipse of Aug. 11, 1999. “The Mule Train: A Journey of Hope Remembered,” through March 26. An exhibit of black and white photographs that capture the fears and faith of those who traveled from Marks, Mississippi to Washington, D.C. ,with mule-drawn wagons to attend the Poor People's Campaign in December, 1967. $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. 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. 642-0808. 

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 by 40-foot replica of the fearsome dinosaur 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” A suspended skeleton of a flying reptile with a wingspan of 22-23 feet. The Pteranodon lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. 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 “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.“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. $2 general; $1 seniors; $.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. Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way and College Ave. 643-7648  

Lawrence Hall of Science “Math Rules!” Ongoing. A math exhibit of hands-on problem-solving stations, each with a different mathematical challenge.“Within the Human Brain” Ongoing. Visitors test their cranial nerves, play skeeball, master mazes, match musical tones and construct stories inside a simulated “rat cage” of learning experiments. “Vision,” Jan. 20 - April 15, 2001. Get a very close look at how the eyes and brain work together to focus light, perceive color and motion, and process information. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza. $7 for adults; $5 for children 5-18; $3 for children 3-4. 642-5132 

Holt Planetarium Programs are recommended for age 8 and up; children under age 6 will not be admitted. $2 in addition to regular museum admission. “Constellations Tonight” Ongoing. Using a simple star map, learn to identify the most prominent constellations for the season in the planetarium sky. Daily, 3:30 p.m. $7 general; $5 seniors, students, disabled, and youths age 7 to 18; $3 children age 3 to 5 ; free children age 2 and younger. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu  

924 Gilman St. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted $5; $2 for a year membership 

Jan. 19: Plus Ones, Anti 45, Strike-O-Matics, The P.A.W.N.S., The Bob Weirdos, This Bike Is A Pipebomb; Jan. 20: Groovie Ghoulies, Pansy Division, Subincision, The Potatomen, The Sidekicks; Jan. 26: Tragedy, Yaphet Kotto, Esperanza, Under a Dying Sun; Jan. 28, 5 p.m.: 18 Visions, 12 Tribes, Blood Has Been Shed, Anti Domestix; Feb. 2: Nerve Agents, Jemuel, The Blottos; Feb 3.: Time In Malta, The Cost 525-9926  

Ashkenaz Jan. 19, 8 p.m.: Musicians for Medical Marijuana with Jemimah Puddleduck, Cosmic Mercey; Jan. 20, 9:30 p.m.: Kotoja, dance lesson at 9 p.m.; Jan. 21, 6 p.m.: Melinda & Nova Trova, Ray Cepeda & The Neo Maya Experience; Jan. 23, 9 p.m.: Creole Belles, dance lesson at 8 p.m.; Jan. 24, 8 p.m.: Fling Ding, Bluegrass Intentions, Clogging w/Evie Ladin; Jan. 25, 9 p.m.: Berkeley & Oakland Students for South African Relief Benefit with Moxi Heartbeat, Neglected Dialectz, DJ Eklectyk, Sugarflip 1370 San Pablo Ave. (at Gilman) 525-5054  

Eli’s Mile High Club Jan. 26: Carlos Zialcita; Jan. 27: Mark Hummel; Feb. 2: Henry Clement; Feb. 3: Daniel Castro; Feb. 9: Red Archibald; Feb. 10: Kenny Blue Ray; Feb. 16: Little Johnny & the Giants; Feb. 17: Ron Thompson 3629 MLK Jr. Way Oakland  

Freight & Salvage All shows begin at 8 p.m. Jan. 19: Chris Smither; Jan. 20: Marley’s Ghost; Jan. 21: Jesse Winchester; Jan. 23: Peter Finger, Teja Gerken, Claus Bossier-Ferrari; Jan. 24: Pierre Bensusan; Jan. 25: Ben Graves, Erika Lucket, Austin Willacy; Jan. 26: Adrian Legg; Jan. 27: Mike Greensill; Jan. 28: Okros Ensemble w/Balogh Kalman & Aladar Csiszar; Jan. 31: Slack Key Guitar Festival w/George Kahumoku, Jr., Princess Owana Salazar, Daniel Ho 1111 Addison St. 548-1761  

Jupiter All music begins at 8 p.m. Jan. 19: Sex Fresh Trio; Jan. 20: Mamas Boy. Jan. 24: Realistic w/DJ Turtle; Jan. 25: Joshi Marshall Project; Jan. 26: Paula Murray Trio; Jan. 27: Solomon Grundy 2181 Shattuck Ave. Call THE-ROCK  

Crowden School Sundays, 4 p.m.: Chamber music series sponsored by the school. 1475 Rose St. (at Sacramento) 559-6910 

Jazzschool/La Note All shows at 4:30 p.m.Tickets are $10 - $12  

Jan. 21: The BlueJazzHouse Party with Brenda Boykin and The Eric Swinderman Quartet; Jan. 28: Ann Dyer Trio; Feb. 4: Jeff Chambers and the J2W Project 2377 Shattuck Ave. 845-5373 

Cal Performances Jan. 19, 8 p.m.: Gospel ensemble The Mighty Clouds of Joy and The Campbell Brothers, $16 - $28; Jan. 20, 8 p.m. and Jan. 21, 3 p.m.: Aeros, Featuring 15 members of the Romanian Gymnastics Team in a demonstration of equilibrium and harmony, bending the boundaries of dance and sport. $20 to $32; Jan. 27,8 p.m. and Jan. 28, 3 p.m.: The Peking Acrobats $18 - $30 Feb. 2 & 3, 8 p.m.: Allee der Kosmonauten by Berlin choreographer Sasha Waltz with video installations by New York artist Elliot Caplan, $20 - $42; Feb. 4, 4 p.m.: Russian National Orchestra, $30 - $52. Zellerbach Hall UC Berkeley. 642-9988 or www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

BHS Video Production Bomb Squad Jan. 19 & 20, 8 p.m. An encore performance featuring the fall BHS Orchestra & Band concert, featuring the hardworking musicians under the direction of Karen Wells. Berkeley B-TV Channel 25  

Live Oak Concerts Jan. 21, 7:30 p.m. Marvin Sanders, flute, Becky Lyman, harpsichord, and Alexander Kort, cello will perform the music of J.S. Bach and Antonio Vivaldi. $8 - $10. Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893  

“Women in Salsa” Jan. 25, 8 p.m. Orquesta D’Soul, a San Francisco based band, is hosting this benefit featuring the musical talents of local bay area women in salsa. $8 in advance, $10 at the door. La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 or visit www.lapena.org 

Duets for Dance & Piano Jan. 25, 8 p.m. Maxine Heppner, choreographer/dancer, with John Sharpley, composer/pianist. $20 Takara Sake Tasting Room 708 Addison St. 527-1892 

“Sweet Honey” Jan. 26, 8 p.m. This Grammy award-winning African American female a cappella ensemble has deep musical roots in the sacred music of the black church including spirituals, hymns, gospel, as well as jazz and blues. Their words will also be interpreted in American Sign Language. $25 - $27.50 Zellerbach Hall UC Berkeley 642-9988 

“Clori, Tirsi e Fileno” Jan. 27, 8 p.m.; Jan. 28, 7 p.m. Pre-concert talk 45 minutes before each performance. Teatro Bacchino, the Bay Area’s Baroque Opera company perform Handel’s opera. $15 - $20. Crowden School Theater 1475 Rose St. (at Sacramento) 658-3382 

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra Jan. 31, April 3, and June 21, 2001. All performances begin at 8 p.m. Single $19 - $35, Series $52 - $96. Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley 841-2800  

Eighth Annual Robert Burns Birthday Celebration Feb. 2, 8 p.m. and Feb. 4, 7 p.m. A celebration of Scotland’s beloved 18th century poet: his songs, his letters, his life. St. Alban’s Episcopal Church 1501 Washington Ave (at Curtis) Albany 848-3422 

Empyrean Ensemble Feb. 3, 3 p.m. The ensemble will present “The Soldier’s Tale,” by Igor Stravinsky, “Prosperous Sould, Gregarious Heart,” by Peter Josheff, and “Horizon Unfolds,” by Yu-Hui Chang. $4 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. (at Derby) 925-798-1300 

Flauti Diversi Ensemble Feb. 4, 7:30 p.m. Performing the music of 17th and early 18th century composers on baroque instruments in a program titled “Bell Fiore, Belle Fleur.” $10 - $15 Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley 1 Lawson Rd. 525-0302 

Theater 

“Fall” by Bridget Carpenter Jan. 19 - Feb. 11. $15.99 - $51. Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2025 Addison St. 647-2949, www. berkeleyrep.org 

“Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett Through Feb. 3, Thursday - Saturday, 8 p.m. $8 - $12. Subterranean Shakespeare La Val’s Subterranean 1834 Euclid (at Hearst) 234-6046  

“The Road to Mecca” by Athol Fugard Jan. 26 - Feb. 24, Friday - Saturday, 8 p.m. Feb. 22, 8 p.m. $10 Live Oak Theatre 1301 Shattuck 528-5620 

Films 

“Abel Paz Durruti & the Spanish Revolution” A new documentary film made in 1998. Feb. 11, 7:30 p.m. $7 donation requested. La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. LaborFest, 415-642-8066  

Human Rights Watch International Film Festival Jan. 26, 7:30 p.m.:“Long Nights Journey Into Day,” presented by filmmakers Deborah Hoffman and Frances Reid. Jan. 27, 5 p.m.: “Pripyat,” “Crazy,” and “Bread & Roses.” $7 for one film, $8.50 for multiple films. Pacific Film Archive 2575 Bancroft (at Bowditch) 642-1412  

“Magnetic North” Six programs of experimental Canadian video from the past 30 years that range from documentary to conceptual art. In all, 40 tapes from 46 artists will be shown on six Wednesday evenings. Through Feb. 28. $7. Pacific Film Archive 2575 Bancroft (at Bowditch) 642-1412  

Exhibits 

Berkeley Historical Society “Berkeley’s Ethnic Heritage.” An overview of the rich cultural diversity of the city and the contribution of individuals and minority groups to it’s history and development. Thursday through Saturday, 1 – 4 p.m. Free. 1931 Center St. 848-0181 

“Consecrations: Spirits in the Time of AIDS,” Jan. 24 - Feb. 24. An exhibit seeking to expand the understanding of HIV and AIDS and the people affected by them. Wednesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Pro Arts Gallery 461 Ninth St., Oakland. 763-9425  

“Celebration” An exhibit of artists working and living in the East Bay. Through Feb. 3; Tuesday - Saturday, 11 - 6 p.m.; Sunday, 11 - 5 p.m. !hey! Gallery 4920-b Telegraph Ave., Oakland 428-2349 

Acrylic Paintings of Corinne Innis Paying homage to her subconscious, Innis uses rich colors in her acrylic paintings. Through Feb. 26; Opening reception Jan. 20, 5 - 7 p.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, 1 - 7 p.m. and by appointment. Women’s Cancer Resource Center 3023 Shattuck Ave. 548-9286 x307  

Drawings & Watercolor Paintings of Daniel Hitkov Hitkov is a young Bulgarian artist whose subjects are the real and unreal in nature, people and things. Through Feb. 12. Red Cafe 1941 University Ave. 843-7230 

“Trees With Frosting” Stevie Famulari decorates landscapes with sugar and frosting, making her artwork edible and changeable by viewers. This particular display will remain for two months. Through February Skapades Hair Salon 1971 Shattuck Ave. 251-8080 or steviesart@hotmail.com 

BACA Members’ Showcase Exhibition Nearly 150 artists submitted art in every imaginable medium: Painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, and mixed media. More than ever before. Through Feb. 3 Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St. Live Oak Park Wednesday through Sunday, Noon - 5 p.m. 644-6893  

“Dorchester Days,” the photographs of Eugene Richards is a collection of pictures portraying the poverty, racial tension, crime and violence prevalent in Richards’ hometown of Dorchester, Massachusetts in the 1970s. Jan. 25 - April 6; Opening reception Jan. 25, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.; Public lecture and screening of “but, the day came,” a film written, produced and directed by Richards, Jan. 26, 7 p.m. UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism 121 North Gate Hall #5860 642-3383 

“Still Life & Landscapes” The work of Pamela Markmann Through March 24, Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Red Oak Gallery 1891 Solano Ave. 527-3387 

Readings 

Boadecia’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted Jan. 19: Marcy Sheiner and local contributors read from “Best Women’s Erotica 2001”; Jan. 20: Jenny Scholten reads from “Daystripper”; Jan. 27: Susan Swartz reads from “Juicy Tomatoes: Plain Truths, Dumb Lies, & Sisterly Advice About Life After 50” 398 Colusa Ave. Kensington 559-9184. www.boadeciasbooks.com 

Cody’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted Jan. 19: Anita Roddick discusses “Business As Usual”; Jan. 22: Mona Halaby discusses “Belonging: Creating Community in the Classroom”; Jan. 23: Rebecca Walker reads from “Black, White, & Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self; Jan. 24: “Grrrrr Anthology” poets CB Follett, Lynne Knight, Rafael Jesus Gonzalez, Robert Aquinas McNally, & John B. Rowe; Jan. 25: Norman Stolzoff presents “Wake the Town and Tell the People: Dancehall Culture in Jamaica”; Jan. 26: James Carroll discusses “Constantine’s Sword: The Church and the Jews”; Jan. 28: Poetry of Lynne Knight & Kathleen Lynch; Jan. 29: Tim Wohlforth discusses “On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left”; Jan. 30: James Elkins discusses “how to use Your Eyes”; Jan. 31: Poetry of Steven Ajay & Anita Barrows  

“Strong Women - Writers & Heroes of Literature” Mondays Through June, 2001, 1 - 3 p.m. Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program. North Berkeley Senior Center 1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 549-2970  

Duomo Reading Series and Open Mic. Thursdays, 6:30 - 9 p.m. Jan. 25: Glenn Ingersoll; Feb. 1: John Rowe; Feb. 8: Tom Odegard; Feb 15: Kathleen Lynch; Feb. 22: Charles Ellick; March 1: Eliza Shefler; March 8: Judy Wells; March 15: Elanor Watson-Gove; March 22: Anna Mae Stanley; March 29: Georgia Popoff; April 5: Barbara Minton; April 12: Alice Rogoff; April 19: Garrett Murphy; April 26: Ray Skjelbred. Cafe Firenze 2116 Shattuck Ave. 644-0155. 

Holloway Poetry Reading Series Jan. 23, 8 p.m. Tony Lopez, author of numerous books of poetry including “A Theory of Surplus Labour,” “Stress Management,” and “False Memory,” reads with Trane Devore, author of “series/mnemonic.” as party of this series of free readings sponsored by the Department of English at UC Berkeley. Reading followed by reception. Maude Fife Room (315) Wheeler Hall UC Berkeley 653-2439 

Tours 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387 

Berkeley City Club Tours 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. 848-7800  

The fourth Sunday of every month, Noon - 4 p.m. $2  

Golden Gate Live Steamers Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Lomas Cantadas Drive at the south end of Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley. 486-0623  

Small locomotives, meticulously scaled to size. Trains run Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sunday, noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting.  

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden Centennial Drive, behind Memorial Stadium, a mile below the Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley. 643-2755 or www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden/  

The gardens have displays of exotic and native plants. Tours, Saturday and Sunday, 1:30 p.m. $3 general; $2 seniors; $1 children; free on Thursday. Daily, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. 

Lectures 

Berkeley Historical Society Slide Lecture & Booksigning Series Sundays, 3 - 5 p.m. $10 donation requested Jan. 28: “The Finns in Berkeley and Co-op Beginnings,” a panel discussion on Finnish and Co-op history; March 11: Director of Berkeley’s International House, Joe Lurie, will show a video and dicuss the history and struggle to open the I-House 70 years ago. Berkeley Historical Center Veterans Memorial Building 1931 Center St. 848-0181 

“Great Decisions” Foreign Policy Association Lectures Series Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - Noon, Feb. 13 - April 3; An annual program featuring specialists in the field of national foreign policy, many from University of California. Goal is to inform the public on major policy issues and receive feedback from the public. $5 per session, $35 entire series for single person, $60 entire series for couple. Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant Ave. 526-2925 

City Commons Club Social Hour & Speaker Series Fridays, 11:15 a.m., Through 26; Jan. 19: “Evidence-Based Practice - How It May Effect You,” Eileen Gambrill, professor of social welfare at UC Berkeley; Jan. 26: “The Aftermath of the National Election,” Susan Rasky, senior lecturer at the graduate school of journalism at UC Berkeley. Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant Ave. 848-3533 

AC Transit does indeed ignore riders needs 

Editor:  

You sure hit a nerve with your AC Transit cover story of January 4. It is common practice to omit runs on the line 64 that goes from Merritt College, through Montclair (near my home) and into Berkeley when there is a shortage of drivers. Family members have been late for work many times because a bus fails to arrives.  

In addition I had a distressing experience when taking the bus while my car was in the shop. While waiting at Rockridge BART I noticed a blind woman with her guide dog struggling to make sense of her surroundings. In case you have never caught a bus at Rockridge, let me explain that buses wander into the general area, but do not stop at any specific place.  

Sometimes they load in the middle of the street. Unlike BART, they do not announce what bus they are or where they are going.  

I learned the woman was looking for the line 51 and she asked if it would stop near her. I knew it could stop just about anywhere in a half block area, so when my bus came I asked if he had any kind of radio to contact the line 51 and let the driver know someone needed assistance. His response was to tell me to pay attention to how I was inserting my transfer and to mind my own business.  

Instead of getting off the bus right away to help her, I continued to work, not wanting to be half an hour late by waiting for the next bus. I still feel guilty about it.  

We have reported problems and written letters but we never have received a response or apology. A friend, who knows I am writing this letter, has asked me to mention the driver who told a wheelchair-abled passenger there was no room on his bus (even though there was). The driver just didn't want to be bothered with helping the him on board.  

Andrea Daniel  

Oakland  

Clarification of ADA statement 

Editor:  

I read Robert Lauriston’s letter titled “Liars can take pets anywhere,” in the Jan. 17 issue, and thought it important to clarify a statement made therein.  

Mr. Lauriston writes: “As Minasian would have it, anyone wishing to bring a pet into a restaurant need only claim they are disabled and that their pet is a service animal.”  

California Penal Code Section 365.7 states that “...Any person who knowingly and fraudulently represents himself or herself...to be the owner or trainer of any canine...identified as a guide, signal, or service dog...shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months, by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by both that fine and imprisonment.”  

Business owners in Berkeley have a right to expect diligent enforcement of this provision by the Berkeley Police Department, and those who would seeks to gain entry to public establishments while misrepresenting their pets as service dogs should be forewarned of the serious consequences.  

Michael Minasian 

Berkeley 

Good intentions are taken to an absurd level 

Editor:  

Thanks for the January 12 article “Service Animals Provoke Quandary.” This part of the A.D.A. is an example of good intentions taken to an absurd level.  

Trained seeing-eye dogs have been used by the blind for decades and the health and safety laws regarding dogs have correctly been waived for these situations, and it’s worked because the need is constant and obvious, and the frequency is modest.  

Unfortunately, “service animals” under A.D.A. has come to mean that one group of people gets to bring their pets into virtually any indoor public place and the health, safety and comfort of others is legally disregarded. I have observed “service animals” in various places here in the East Bay and they are indeed pets. Rationalizations abound for “service animals” in public indoor places but factually if a person falls out of a wheelchair, another person, not a dog, will remedy the situation.  

If a person has a seizure a fellow human, not a dog, will place an object between the teeth and phone for medical help. If a disabled person in our library drops a pen or book, it is vastly easier and quicker if a staff person or patron picks up the object. And so on.  

If a disabled person wants to have a dog, great! If the dog is a comfort in that person’s home, better yet, however there are other people here in our community and the restrictions on dogs are quite necessary. Why can’t dogs go anywhere? After all, dog is god spelled backward, for some folks their dogs are even a “co-pilot.” And isn’t it a nice gesture to let the disabled have their pets in indoor public places? 

Tens of thousands of people are injured yearly, some severely, from bites, scratches and knockdowns by dogs. Even today we still caution our children about dogs as a single bite can be fatal in the case of rabies. Hundreds of thousands of people suffer respiratory and/or skin allergies from the skin and fur of dogs. Symptoms or exposure include cold-like respiratory problems, rashes and asthma.  

The allergens from dogs can remain in the indoor environment for hours or days after the animal has left. Md.’s treating such allergies always advise avoidance over drugs, but this is increasingly difficult, with frequent encounters with “service animals.”  

For millions, dogs are intrusive, smelly nuisances, best avoided - they have fecal matter on both ends, the mouth parts may have been in contact with rotting garbage or dead animals, the fur can be laced with poison oak, herbicides, pesticides, ticks and fleas. Dogs are, after all, just dogs and they can make us ill. I certainly want to avoid restaurants where there are animals. 

The A.D.A. has generally been good for our country and good for my immediate family. My partner is in a wheelchair and better access has helped. The “service animal” part of the A.D.A. should be changed to give special access only to seeing-eye dogs.  

Recently an uncaged, 200 pound plus pig was allowed in the cabin of a U.S. Airways flight. The airline didn’t want the pig onboard, but was afraid of a lawsuit under the “service animal” section of the A.D.A.  

The pig provided “emotional support” for it’s owners, they claimed; it also roamed around, made loud noises and defecated. What of the emotional well-being and health of the other people on board?  

John Ayra 

Berkeley 

Green with envy, or Green with indigestion? 

Editor: 

It’s not much of a surprise that the Green Party letter (well, advertisement) you ran on Wednesday betrays the same cluelessness we’ve come to expect from the party whose slogan ought to be “Not just a symbolic vote anymore – now we're doing real damage.” 

Green Party members seem determined to ignore the differences between the European parliamentary system, in which Greens have sometimes been able to secure a share of power (despite the repugnance of many Greens for actual participation in government), and the presidential system in the United States, which has thwarted power-sharing. 

In a nutshell: While in a parliamentary system chief executives serve at the pleasure of a legislative body, in the states we chose them by periodic direct election (unless they're Democrats, in which case they need judicial approval as well).  

While you can bargain in a parliamentary system, exchanging the votes of your party's legislature bloc for positions in the executive, no such negotiating is possible here. Any attempt to affect the outcome of a presidential election must take the form of "promise us something and we'll try to throw our support your way," which is how in previous elections Jesse Jackson tried to employ what muscle the Rainbow Coalition could muster.  

Instead, while acknowledging they couldn't win, the Greens argued that the two parties were so disappointingly alike that the best thing their supporters could do was to help the Greens get enough votes to qualify for federal election funding, so they could run a "real" campaign in 2004.  

With such a pathetic platform, it's not hard to see why they didn't come within spitting distance of their already minuscule 5 percent goal. 

If the Green Party is ever going to recover from the the Nader candidacy devastation, they need to stop alienating their natural constituencies and proclaim their intention to only run candidates in races where there is some realistic hope of victory. (Meaning basically, for the foreseeable future of this very weak party, municipal offices and a handful of state legislature races where they can actually argue clear and tangible differences with the Democrats.) 

The considerably wiser heads of the small, also left-wing New Party recognized the cause of the third-party dilemma three years ago, and sued to force all states to allow them to endorse candidates from other parties for offices for which they chose not to put forth a candidate.  

In New York, for instance, the Liberal Party has their own line on the ballot, but lists major party candidates they've cross-endorsed for statewide races. Had they prevailed, smaller parties would have been able to run statewide and nationwide campaigns without having to be spoilers. 

The New Party lost their case in a predicable split vote before the Supreme Court, the composition of which will be determined, should any vacancies occur, by the man Ralph Nader kept absurdly insisting was in practice indistinguishable from Al Gore. 

Dave Blake 

Berkeley

Friday, Jan. 19

Strong Women - Writers  

& Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program. 549-2970  

“Evidence-Based Practice - How it May Effect You” 

11:45 a.m. luncheon 

12:30 p.m. speaker  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

Eileen Gambrill, professor in the department of social welfare at UC Berkeley with speak. 

$11 - $12.25 with luncheon, $1 with coffee, students free  

848-3533 

Stagebridge Free Acting  

& Storytelling  

classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Call 444-4755 or  

visit www.stagebridge.org 

“Presidential Pardon for Leonard Peltier” prayer circle 

Noon - 1:30 p.m. 

Oakland Federal Building  

Clay (between 12th & 14th) 

Oakland 

The Peltier Action Committee are asking President Clinton to pardon political prisoner Leonard Peltier. Today is the last day Clinton can pardon Peltier. The Oakland Federal building is located within walking distance of the 12th St. BART station.  

Call 464-4534 or e-mail: thepac2000@hotmail.com 

Saturday, Jan. 20

On Death & Dying 

9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Buddhist Temple  

2121 Channing Way (between Shattuck & Fulton)  

Kathleen Gustin, Zen priest, and Rev. Ronald Nakasone of the Graduate Theological Union speak at this workshop designed to help those considering their own ending or that of loved ones.  

$20 per person (box lunch included) 

Call Ken Kaji, 601-5394 

Rockridge Writers 

3:30 - 5:30 p.m. 

Spasso Coffeehouse  

6021 College Ave.  

Poets and writers meet to critique each other’s work. “Members’ work tends to be dark, humorous, surreal, or strange.”  

e-mail: berkeleysappho@yahoo.com 

Corinne Innis Reception 

5 - 7 p.m. 

Women’s Cancer Resource Center 

3023 Shattuck Ave.  

Paying homage to her subconscious, Innis uses rich colors in her acrylic paintings.  

Call 548-9286 

Free Tae-Bo classes for adults  

10 - 10:45 a.m.  

Frances Albrier Community Center  

San Pablo Park 

2800 Park St.  

Call 644-8515 

Free martial arts classes  

for kids  

11:15 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Frances Albrier Community Center  

San Pablo Park  

2800 Park St.  

Classes taught by Michael Johnson, a fourth degree black belt. Ages 5 - 7, 11:15 a.m. - Noon; Ages 8 - 12, 12:15 p.m. - 1 p.m.; Ages 13 to adults, 1:15 p.m. - 2 p.m. 

644-8515 

Building and remodeling 

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Glen Kitzenberger discusses what homeowners need to know before building or remodeling. Skip Wenz discusses the pros and cons of building an addition. Free 

Call 525-7610 

Free Puppet Shows  

1:30 & 2:30 p.m. 

Hall of Health  

2230 Shattuck Ave.  

The Kids on the Block, an award-winning educational puppet troupe, includes puppets with such conditions as cerebral palsy, blindness and Down syndrome.  

Bengal Basin Seminar 

3 p.m. 

Warren Hall, Room 22 

UC Berkeley 

Part of the Third International India Bangladesh Symposium for reducing the impact of toxic chemicals on the Bengal Basin. With World Poet Rabindranath Tagore.  

Call 841-3253 

Flu shot clinic 

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Safeway  

5130 Broadway  

Oakland 

Flu vaccines for $12; Pneumonia vaccines for $25. Free for seniors covered by Medicare. Vaccinations for ages 13 and up.  

Call 1-800-500-2400  

Sunday, Jan. 21

Live Oak concert 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center 

1275 Walnut St.  

The music of J.S. Bach and Antonio Vivaldi played by the trio of Marvin Sanders, flute, Becky Lyman, harpsichord, and Alexander Kort, cello.  

$8 - $10  

Call 644-6893 

Saying No To Power 

10:30 a.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center  

1414 Walnut St. (at Rose) 

Bill Mandel, author and activist talks about his new book.  

$4 - $5  

848-0237 

Single Parents and Step  

& Blended 

Family Interfaith Fellowship 

4 - 6 p.m. 

Beth El Synagogue  

2301 Vine St. (at Spruce)  

An interfaith and very open group that welcomes parents and their children of all affiliations and orientations. This meetings discussion topics will be a supportive and advice oriented look at dating.  

Monday, Jan. 22  

Berkeley Rail Stop Community  

Design Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center  

1900 Sixth St.  

The public is invited to suggest ideas and comment on plans for design-development at the rail stop/transit plaza area of West Berkeley. 644-6580 

Urban Homelessness  

& Public Policy Solutions 

9 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

Alumni House  

UC Berkeley  

This day-long conference will include key scholars, service providers, and policymakers in the homelessness field. Some of the subjects to be covered will be: Homeless population dynamics and policy implications, health issues in homelessness, and legal and political issues in homelessness. Free and open to the public.  

For more info, visit: http://urbanpolicy.berkeley.edu/homeless.htm 

Building or Remodeling? 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Glen Kitzenberger discusses what you need to know before building or remodeling. 

Call 525-7610 

Wishes Versus Reality 

10 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

A discussion with Betty Goren.  

Call 644-6107 

Tuesday, Jan. 23 

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

Call Wade, 531-8664 

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

PSR’s Annual Earl Lectures 

9 a.m. - 10 p.m.  

First Congregational Church of Berkeley  

2345 Channing Way  

Celebrating their 100th anniversary of lectures, this year will focus on Christian mission in a pluralistic age. This year there are 28 workshops and three panels of national religious leaders and scholars. Free  

Call 849-8274 

Elderly Mental Illness 

1:30 - 3 p.m. 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Herrick Campus, CC Conference Room  

2001 Dwight Way 

Dr. Robert Dolgoff, Chief Psychiatrist at the Berkeley Therapy Institute will discuss the course of action to be taken when the best efforts of medical professionals no longer helps older folks with mental illnesses.  

Call 869-6737  

Blood Pressure for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Alice Meyers. 

Call 644-6107 

Costs of Illness 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Attorney Walter Rosen will discuss how to protect you home and savings from the financial effects of catastrophic illness.  

Call 644-6107 

Wednesday, Jan. 24 

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Thursday, Jan. 25  

Spirits in the Time of AIDS 

6 - 8 p.m. 

Pro Arts Gallery  

461 Ninth St.  

Oakland 

Pro Arts reception for the opening of their new exhibition seeking to expand the understanding of HIV and AIDS and the people who are affected by them.  

Call 763-9425 

Free “Quit Smoking” Class 

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis (at Ashby)  

Cease your smoking with the help of this free class offered to Berkeley residents and employees. 

Call 644-6422 to enroll or e-mail quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Climbing Mt. Everest  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Bob Hoffman, organizer and leader of four environmental clean-up expeditions on Everest, will give a slide presentation on the Inventa 2000 Everest Environmental Expedition’s recent ascent. Free 

Call 527-4140 

Duomo Readings Open Mic.  

6:30 - 9 p.m. 

Cafe Firenze  

2116 Shattuck Ave.  

With featured poet Glenn Ingersoll and host Louis Cuneo.  

644-0155 

Women in Salsa  

8 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave.  

Orquesta D’Soul, a San Francisco based band, is hosting this benefit featuring the musical talents of local bay area women in salsa.  

$8 in advance, $10 at the door 

Call 849-2568 or visit www.lapena.org 

Conversations in Commedia 

7:30 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave. (at Prince) 

Mime Troupe vet and St. Stupid’s Day creator, Ed Holmes, and 84-year-old Bari Rolfe, a mime for over 30 years, give dialogues on satire.  

$6 - $8  

Call 849-2568 

West Berkeley Project Area Commission  

7 p.m. 

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth St.  

Discussions will include review of the initial environmental study and recommendations on a request to establish a public market. Also, consideration of a petition requesting that diagonal parking and parking meters not be installed on Fifth St. 

Take the Terror Out of Talking 

12:10 - 1:10 p.m. 

Department of Health Services  

2151 Berkeley Way  

State Health Toastmasters Club is hosting an open house to celebrate Toastmasters International Week and to kick-off the start of “Speechcraft,” a six-session workshop to help participants overcome nervousness and learn basic public speaking skills.  

Call 649-7750 

Jam Session  

7 p.m. 

Maurice’s Cafe 

6038 Telegraph 

Oakland 

Call 653-6775 

Friday, Jan. 26 

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program.  

Call 549-2970  

“The Aftermath of the National Election” 

11:45 a.m. luncheon 

12:30 p.m. speaker  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

Susan Rasky, senior lecturer at the graduate school of journalism at UC Berkeley will speak.  

$11 - $12.25 with luncheon, $1 with coffee, students free  

848-3533 

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Crisis in Colombia 

7 p.m. 

Berkeley UU Fellowship Hall  

1924 Cedar (at Bonita)  

As part of their “war on drugs,” the Colombian government is set to implement Plan Colombia, aided by military hardware and training from the U.S. Peter Dale Scott, UC Berkeley professor and Daniel de la Pava, of the Colombia Support Network will, will discuss the U.S. role in perpetuating the violence and how to organize to help.  

$5 - $10 donation requested  

Call 704-9608 

Yiddish Conversation  

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Allen Stross 

Call 644-6107 

Saturday, Jan. 27  

Clori, Tirsi & e Fileno 

8 p.m. 

Crowden School  

1475 Rose St. (at Sacramento) 

Teatro Bacchino, the Bay Area’s Baroque Opera company, will be performing Handel’s story of jealousy in love. Pre-concert talk 45 minutes before the performance.  

$15 - $20  

Call 658-3382  

“Waiting for Godot” 

8 p.m. 

La Val’s Subterranean  

1834 Euclid (at Hearst) 

Presented by Subterranean Shakespeare and directed by Yoni Barkan, director of last summer’s “A Midsummers Night Dream.”  

$8 - $12  

Call 234-6046 

Cuddly, Soft, Furry Things & Friends 

10 - 10:50 a.m. & 11:10 a.m. - Noon  

Lawrence Hall of Science  

UC Berkeley  

A special workshop for two - three year-olds to meet, pet, and feed rabbits, doves, and snakes.  

$22 - $25, $10 for additional family members, registration required  

Call 642-5134 

Book Publishing Seminar 

10 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

Regent Press 

6020-A Adeline St.  

Mark Weiman presents an overview of the business of book publishing oriented towards the author considering self-publication. From page layout to promotion and distribution, Weiman will cover all practical aspects of independent book publishing.  

Call 547-7602 or e-mail: regent@sirius.com 

Free Tae-Bo Classes for Adults  

10 - 10:45 a.m.  

Frances Albrier Community Center  

San Pablo Park 

2800 Park St.  

Call 644-8515 

Free Martial Arts Classes for Kids  

11:15 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Frances Albrier Community Center  

San Pablo Park  

2800 Park St.  

Classes taught by Michael Johnson, a fourth degree black belt. Ages 5 - 7, 11:15 a.m. - Noon; Ages 8 - 12, 12:15 p.m. - 1 p.m.; Ages 13 to adults, 1:15 p.m. - 2 p.m. 

644-8515 

One-Day Travel Careers Class 

8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. 

Vista College  

2020 Milvia St.  

Room 210 

Learn about new employment opportunities in travel in the 21st century. Class will include a look at salaries, travel benefits, necessary education and preparation required. Bring payment by check to the class.  

$5.50 for California residents 

Call Marty de Souto, 981-2931  

Intuitive Healing 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

1502 Tenth St.  

Marcia Emery, Ph.D., will discuss the deeper meaning of illness, the way to tune into any body part to heal it and your intuitive X-ray or body scan ability. 

$85 

Call 526-5510 

Sunday, Jan. 28  

Clori, Tirsi & e Fileno 

7 p.m. 

Crowden School  

1475 Rose St. (at Sacramento) 

Teatro Bacchino, the Bay Area’s Baroque Opera company, will be performing Handel’s story of jealousy in love. Pre-concert talk 45 minutes before the performance.  

$15 - $20  

Call 658-3382  

Reimagining Pacific Cities  

6 - 8:30 p.m. 

New Pacific Studio  

1523 Hearst Ave.  

“How are Pacific cities reshaping their cultural and environmental institutions to better serve the needs and enhance the present and future quality of life of all segments of their societies?” A series of ten seminars linking the Bay Area, Seattle, Portland, and other pacific cities.  

$10 per meeting  

Call 849-0217 

Finns in Berkeley and Co-op Beginnings 

3 - 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Historical Society  

1931 Center St.  

A panel discussion on Finnish and Co-op history and on the Consumers Cooperative of Berkeley.  

$10 donation  

Call 848-0181 

Mediterranean Plant Life 

3:30 p.m. 

UC Botanical Garden  

200 Centennial Drive  

Peter Dallman, author of “Plant Life in the Mediterranean Regions of the World,” will motivate attendees to look closely at California native plants and experiment with dramatic and drought-tolerant species in their own gardens.  

Call 643-2755  

Rhythm & Muse Open Mike 

2 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Museum, Conference Room 

2621 Durant (at Bowditch)  

Poet Katharine Harer and jazz guitarist Joe Vance.  

Call 527-9753 

Monday, Jan. 29  

Poetry with Nancy Wilson 

2 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Call 644-6107 

Tuesday, Jan. 30 

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

Call Wade, 531-8664 

Digital Photography  

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

With Allen Stross 

Call 644-6107 

Wednesday, Jan. 31 

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra  

8 p.m. 

Zellerbach Hall  

UC Berkeley  

Featuring “Berkeley Images,” a world premiere by Jean-Pascal Beintus.  

$10 - $35  

Call 841-2800 

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Thursday, Feb. 1 

Free “Quit Smoking” Class 

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis (at Ashby)  

Cease your smoking with the help of this free class offered to Berkeley residents and employees. 

Call 644-6422 to enroll or e-mail quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Duomo Readings Open Mic.  

6:30 - 9 p.m. 

Cafe Firenze  

2116 Shattuck Ave.  

With featured poet John Rowe and host Randy Fingland.  

644-0155 

Hiking the California Desert  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Steve Tabor of the conservation group Desert Survivors presents a slide-show of highlights from his reconnaissance trips along more than 400 miles of trail. Free  

Call 527-7377  

Berkeley Metaphysical Toastmasters Club  

6:15 - 7:30 p.m.  

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysics come together. Ongoing first and third Thursdays each month.  

Call 869-2547 

Open Mic. 

7 p.m. 

Maurice’s Cafe 

6038 Telegraph 

Oakland 

Call 653-6775 

Friday, Feb. 2 

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program.  

Call 549-2970  

Allee der Kosmontauten 

8 p.m. 

Zellerbach Hall  

UC Berkeley  

Performance of Berlin choreographer Sasha Waltz 1996 work in its West Coast premiere. Also features the film work of Elliot Caplan.  

$20 - $42  

Call 642-9988 or e-mail tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu  

“A Night In Oakland” 

8 p.m. 

Alice Arts Center 

1428 Alice St. (at 14th St.) 

Oakland  

Savage Jazz Dance Company launches their 2001 spring season along with the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra.  

$10 - $15 

Call 496-6068 or visit www.savagejazz.org 

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Taize Worship Service  

7:30 - 8:30 p.m. 

Loper Chapel  

(adjacent to) First Congregational Church of Berkeley  

2345 Channing Way  

Call 848-3696 

Saturday, Feb. 3 

“Waiting for Godot” 

8 p.m. 

La Val’s Subterranean  

1834 Euclid (at Hearst) 

Presented by Subterranean Shakespeare and directed by Yoni Barkan, director of last summer’s “A Midsummers Night Dream.”  

$8 - $12  

Call 234-6046 

Rockridge Writers 

3:30 - 5:30 p.m. 

Spasso Coffeehouse  

6021 College Ave.  

Poets and writers meet to critique each other’s work. “Members’ work tends to be dark, humorous, surreal, or strange.”  

e-mail: berkeleysappho@yahoo.com 

Spirits in the Time of AIDS Artists Talk 

1 p.m. 

Pro Arts Gallery  

461 Ninth St.  

Oakland  

As part of “Consecrations,” the public is invited to hear artists speak about their work and show slides. Free 

Call 763-9425 

Free Tae-Bo Classes for Adults  

10 - 10:45 a.m.  

Frances Albrier Community Center  

San Pablo Park 

2800 Park St.  

Call 644-8515 

Free Martial Arts Classes for Kids  

11:15 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Frances Albrier Community Center  

San Pablo Park  

2800 Park St.  

Classes taught by Michael Johnson, a fourth degree black belt. Ages 5 - 7, 11:15 a.m. - Noon; Ages 8 - 12, 12:15 p.m. - 1 p.m.; Ages 13 to adults, 1:15 p.m. - 2 p.m. 

644-8515 

Sunday, Feb. 4 

“Under Construction No. 10” 

7:30 p.m. 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church  

2727 College Ave.  

Experience the unusual rehearsal-reading format that lets the audience experience the collaboration between conductor, orchestra and composer in the Berkeley Symphony’s unique series presenting new works or works-in-progress by local Bay Area composers.  

Call 841-2800 

Russian National Orchestra  

4 p.m. 

Zellerbach Hall  

UC Berkeley  

On their tenth anniversary tour, the RNO will perform Shostakovich’s symphony No. 5 and Tchaikovsky’s piano concerto No. 2.  

$30 - $52  

Call 642-9988 or e-mail tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu  

From Flatlands to the Stars  

9:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

Diamond Park  

Fruitvale Ave. (at Lyman Rd.) 

A hardy hike along Sausal Creek in Oakland’s unexplored Diamond and Joaquin Miller parks. A free hike sponsored by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call 415-255-3233 for reservations or visit www.greenbelt.org 

Timbrels & Torahs: Celebrating Wisdom,  

Celebrating Age  

10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Miriam Chaya and Judy Montell discuss their Simchat Hochmah ceremony, which celebrates a woman’s transition from mid-life to her eldering years.  

Call 848-0237 x127 

“A Night In Oakland” 

2 & 8 p.m. 

Alice Arts Center 

1428 Alice St. (at 14th St.) 

Oakland  

Savage Jazz Dance Company launches their 2001 spring season along with the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra.  

$10 - $15 

Call 496-6068 or visit www.savagejazz.org 

Spiritual & Cultural Context of Mbira  

8 p.m. 

Shambhala Booksellers  

2482 Telegraph Ave.  

Berkeley native Erica Azim has played Shona mbira music for 30 years, and is the foremost mbira performer and recording artist in the U.S. The mbira has metal keys which are plucked with two thumbs and one forefinger, “creating relaxing yet invigorating polyphony and polyrhythms.” Free 

Call 848-8443 

Solving the East Bay Energy Crisis 

3 p.m. 

Berkeley Fellowship Unitarian Universalists 

Fellowship Hall  

1924 Cedar (at Bonita) 

Barbara George of Women’s Energy Matters and a Utility Reform Network representative, Kris Worthington, Berkeley city council member, Ross Mirkarimi of the Green Party, and others will discuss the past and future of the energy situation in the East Bay, including possibilities of conservation, clean, renewable energy and municipally-owned public utilities.  

Call 233-3175 

Tuesday, Feb. 6  

Berkeley Intelligent Conversation  

7 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

Jewish Community Center  

1414 Walnut Ave. (at Rose)  

With no religious affiliation, this twice-monthly group, led informally by former UC Berkeley extension lecturer Robert Berent, seeks to bring people together to have interesting discussions on contemporary topics. This evenings discussion topic is sex, love, dating, and relationships in celebration of Valentine’s Day.  

Call 527-5332  

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

Call Wade, 531-8664 

Wednesday, Feb. 7  

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Thursday, Feb. 8 

Free “Quit Smoking” Class 

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis (at Ashby)  

Cease your smoking with the help of this free class offered to Berkeley residents and employees. 

Call 644-6422 to enroll or e-mail quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Duomo Readings Open Mic.  

6:30 - 9 p.m. 

Cafe Firenze  

2116 Shattuck Ave.  

With featured poet Tom Odegard and host Dale Jensen.  

644-0155 

Great Mt. Diablo Day Hikes 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Ken Lavin, former president of Mt. Diablo Interpretative Association, for a slide-show of his favorite day hikes in Mt. Diablo State Park.  

Call 527-7377  

Jam Session  

7 p.m. 

Maurice’s Cafe 

6038 Telegraph 

Oakland 

Poetry with jazz featuring Jimmy Sands.  

Call 653-6775 

Friday, Feb. 9  

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program.  

Call 549-2970  

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Berkeley PC Users Group 

7 p.m. 

Vista College 

2020 Milvia St., Room 303 

E-Mail: meldancing@aol.com 

Saturday, Feb. 10  

Spirits in the Time of AIDS Open Mic.  

1 p.m. 

Pro Arts Gallery  

461 Ninth St.  

Oakland  

As part of “Consecrations,” the public is invited to see special performances, spoken word, commentary and more.  

Call 763-9425 

Masters of Persian Classical Music 

8 p.m. 

Zellerbach Hall  

UC Berkeley  

Featuring vocalist Mohammad Reza Sharjarian and his son, Homayoun Sharjarian.  

$20 - $40  

Call 642-9988 or e-mail tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu  

Dreams & Intuition 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

1502 Tenth St.  

Marcia Emery, Ph.D., will discuss how to attune your intuitive dream antenna, intuitively unravel the symbolic message of a dream symbol and apply an intuitive dream interpretation method to the entire dream.  

$85  

Call 526-5510 

Sunday, Feb. 11  

Ruth Acty Oral History Reception 

3 - 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Historical Society  

Veterans Memorial Building 

1931 Center St.  

In 1943 Miss Ruth Acty became the first African American teacher to be hired by the Berkeley Unified School District. She taught thousands of students until her retirement in 1985. Oral History Coordinator Therese Pipe interviewed Acty in 1993-94 for the Berkeley Historical Society. Free  

Horacio Gutierrez  

3 p.m. 

Hertz Hall 

UC Berkeley  

The Cuban-American pianist will perform Berg’s Sonata, Op.1, George Perle’s Nine Bagatelles, Schumann’s Fantasie, Op. 17 and Beethoven’s Sonata No. 29.  

$24 - $42  

Call 642-9988 or e-mail tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu  

Reimagining Pacific Cities  

6 - 8:30 p.m. 

New Pacific Studio  

1523 Hearst Ave.  

“How are Pacific cities reshaping their cultural and environmental institutions to better serve the needs and enhance the present and future quality of life of all segments of their societies?” A series of ten seminars linking the Bay Area, Seattle, Portland, and other pacific cities.  

$10 per meeting  

Call 849-0217 

“From Swastika to Jim Crow” 

2 - 4:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Due to the depression and anti-Semitism in the ‘30s, many Jewish “refugee scholars” found they had difficulty finding jobs and were embraced by black universities. Both students and teachers, in the pre-Civil Rights era, found they shared a common experience of living under oppression and a passion for education. Guest speaker Jim McWilliams.  

$2 suggested donation  

Call 848-0237 x127 

Tuesday, Feb. 13 

“Great Decisions” - U.S. Trade Policy 

10 a.m. - Noon  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

The first in a series of eight weekly lectures with the goal of informing the public of current major policy issues. Many of the lectures are presented by specialists in their field and are often from the University of California. Feedback received at these lectures is held in high regard by those in the government responsible for national policy.  

$5 single session, $35 entire series for single person, $60 entire series for couple  

Call Berton Wilson, 526-2925 

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

Call Wade, 531-8664 

Wednesday, Feb. 14 

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Thursday, Feb. 15 

Simplicity Forum 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Library 

Claremont Branch  

2940 Benveue Ave.  

Facilitated by Cecile Andrews, author of “Circles of Simplicty,” learn about this movement whose philosophy is “the examined life richly lived.” Work less, consume less, rush less, and build community with friends and family.  

Call 549-3509 or visit www.seedsofsimplicity.org  

Basics of PCs 

9 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science  

UC Berkeley 

A class for adults that will cover file management, loading software, software management, downloading pages from the Web, and more. 

$30 - $35, registration required  

Call 642-5134  

Free “Quit Smoking” Class 

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis (at Ashby)  

Cease your smoking with the help of this free class offered to Berkeley residents and employees. 

Call 644-6422 to enroll or e-mail quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Duomo Readings Open Mic.  

6:30 - 9 p.m. 

Cafe Firenze  

2116 Shattuck Ave.  

With featured poet Kathleen Lynch and host Mark States.  

644-0155 

Climbing Mt. Shasta 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Tim Keating of Sierra Wilderness Seminars will give a slide presentation on climbing and skiing this North California peak.  

Call 527-7377  

Berkeley Metaphysical Toastmasters Club  

6:15 - 7:30 p.m.  

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysics come together. Ongoing first and third Thursdays each month.  

Call 869-2547 

Friday, Feb. 16 

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program.  

Call 549-2970  

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Saturday, Feb. 17  

“Go-Go-Go Greenbelt!” 

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Rockridge BART  

Oakland  

A bike tour on this ride into the rolling East Bay hills. A free ride sponsored by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call 415-255-3233 for reservations or visit www.greenbelt.org 

Rockridge Writers 

3:30 - 5:30 p.m. 

Spasso Coffeehouse  

6021 College Ave.  

Poets and writers meet to critique each other’s work. “Members’ work tends to be dark, humorous, surreal, or strange.”  

e-mail: berkeleysappho@yahoo.com 

Valentine’s Dinner Dance Benefit Gala 

4:30 p.m. - 10 p.m. 

Berkeley Fellowship Unitarian Universalists hall  

1924 Cedar (at Bonita)  

Dance to the music of Toru Saitu & his band. Benefits BFUU.  

$10 donation  

Call 849-9508 

Sunday, Feb. 18  

Waterfalls of Berkeley  

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

North Berkeley BART  

Sacramento at Delaware  

On this urban waterfall hike, discover three waterfalls along rushing creeks hidden in Berkeley neighborhoods. A free hike sponsored by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call 415-255-3233 for reservations or visit www.greenbelt.org 

Kaleidoscope Performances  

2 p.m. 

Julia Morgan Center for the Arts  

2640 College Ave. (at Derby)  

Yassir Chadley, traditional Moroccan musician and Sufi storyteller.  

$5 - $10  

Call 925-798-1300 

Tuesday, Feb. 20 

“Great Decisions” - China & Taiwan 

10 a.m. - Noon  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

The first in a series of eight weekly lectures with the goal of informing the public of current major policy issues. Many of the lectures are presented by specialists in their field and are often from the University of California. Feedback received at these lectures is held in high regard by those in the government responsible for national policy.  

$5 single session 

Call Berton Wilson, 526-2925 

Berkeley Intelligent Conversation  

7 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

Jewish Community Center  

1414 Walnut Ave. (at Rose)  

With no religious affiliation, this twice-monthly group, led informally by former UC Berkeley extension lecturer Robert Berent, seeks to bring people together to have interesting discussions on contemporary topics. This evenings discussion topic is different cultural, ethnic and religious values.  

Call 527-9772  

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

Share your slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

Call Wade, 531-8664 

Wednesday, Feb. 21 

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Thursday, Feb. 22 

Free “Quit Smoking” Class 

5:30 - 7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis (at Ashby)  

Cease your smoking with the help of this free class offered to Berkeley residents and employees. 

Call 644-6422 to enroll or e-mail quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Duomo Readings Open Mic.  

6:30 - 9 p.m. 

Cafe Firenze  

2116 Shattuck Ave.  

With featured poet Charles Ellick and host Louis Cuneo.  

644-0155 

Rivers of the World  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Pamela Michael, writer, educator and river conservationist, will highlight her new anthology “The Gift of Rivers: True Stories of Life on the Water,” showing slides of nearly 100 of the world’s great rivers. Free 

Call 527-4140 

Friday, Feb. 23 

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program.  

Call 549-2970  

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Sunday, Feb. 25  

“Imperial San Francisco: 

Urban Power, Earthly Ruin” 

3 - 5 p.m. 

Berkeley History Center 

Veterans Memorial Building 

1931 Center St.  

Gary Brechin speaks on the impact and legacy of the Hearsts and other powerful San Francisco families. Free 

Call 848-0181 

Reimagining Pacific Cities  

6 - 8:30 p.m. 

New Pacific Studio  

1523 Hearst Ave.  

“How are Pacific cities reshaping their cultural and environmental institutions to better serve the needs and enhance the present and future quality of life of all segments of their societies?” A series of ten seminars linking the Bay Area, Seattle, Portland, and other pacific cities.  

$10 per meeting  

Call 849-0217 

Authors in the Library: Lois Silverstein 

11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Writer and performer, Silverstein, will read selections from “Oh My Darling Daughter,” “Behind the Stove,” and a work-in-progress, “Family Matters.” Discussion and book signing will follow. Free.  

Call 848-0237 x127 

Planetary Temples 

8 p.m. 

Shambhala Booksellers  

2482 Telegraph Ave.  

Employee Don Frew will show slides of teh ruined city of Harran. Free 

Call 848-8443 

Tuesday, Feb. 27 

“Great Decisions” - Missile Defense  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

The first in a series of eight week

Helen Low doesn’t seem too concerned that her grocery store, Bayside Foods, closed its doors Saturday after nearly 37 years of business.  

The store will re-open under new ownership next week.  

Low, whose husband opened Bayside Foods in 1964 at 2020 San Pablo, and later moved the store to 2032 San Pablo, said she’s been running the store by herself, working seven days a week, for over 10 years because her husband left the store to run another business.  

“I’m old enough to collect social security,” Low said. “I might as well.” 

Low, 63, said when the store opened it was the only grocery store in the area, but that many new grocery stores have since opened in the area.  

“It’s getting too crowded in here for me. There’s too much competition.” She said it will be nice to have some time for herself. 

Low is said she is saddened she won’t see a lot of her regular customers anymore, many of whom she considers to be like family. Many customers were shocked and upset when she told them about closing, she said.  

Looking out on the sidewalk near Bayside, Low spots Annie Carter, a customer since the store opened in 1964.  

Carter, 65, grew up in Berkeley and said her kids, the oldest of whom is 50, grew up with Low’s children. The stores closure, she said, saddens her. 

“I hate it. I’ve known them so long, they’re family.” 

Walking back to the store, Low is approached by Pat Brooks, another customer. “I need meat, Helen! Where am I going to go now?” Brooks, now 47, moved from Texas to Berkeley with her family in the fifth grade and said her whole family has always shopped at Bayside. “I can’t believe it [is closed]. It’s sad.”  

Low said that she has seen three or four generations of some families coming to shop at Bayside. Almost everybody who came in knew her by name, but she admitted she had a hard time remembering everybody’s names. But always remembered their faces. She is still receiving phone calls from customers who didn’t realize the store was closed. 

Low thought the grocery business was okay as long as she didn’t have any problems, like shop-lifting or fighting. She remembered a female customer trying to shop-lift goods in a bag, which Low attempted to retrieve from the woman. The woman struggled with Low and then bit her in the hand and ran away. Low said the woman eventually came back to the store after about a year, perhaps thinking that Low had forgotten the incident.  

“What can you do? You’re open to the public,” she said. 

Low said the new owners, a husband and wife, own two meat markets in the Bay Area, and will carry many of the same items she carried. She said that in a lot of ways the store will remain the same when it re-opens next week.  

“I told them ‘Don’t be too long because people know Bayside and may go elsewhere,’” she said.  

Parents concerned with the high failure rate of Berkeley High School freshman packed the school district board meeting Thursday night to urge passage of a nearly $500,000 plan they feel is crucial to the success of their children. 

But when school board president Terry Doran told parents that he wanted to hear from only three representatives instead of the 17 that wished to speak, parents protested.  

Vikki Davis, a parent of a Berkeley High freshman, told boardmembers that discussion of their plan should be an action item. And before Davis asked boardmembers to think about what she just said for two full minutes of silence, she said, “It’s a shame we have to do this to get support.” 

Davis is a member of Parents of Children of African Descent, a grassroots organization formed a month ago after it was reported that 250 freshman were failing core subjects. To do that, parents want the school district to enact an intervention program comprised of teachers, counselors and members of the community with the sole responsibility of making sure that students get back on track for graduation.  

“The bottom line is that there’s a point that everybody in the community knows what’s going on. If a teacher is not doing their job, then the whole community needs to know,” said Michael Miller, another parent. “This is a level of accountability that hasn’t existed before.” 

But parents are frustrated that the school board is not taking more immediate action.  

“It’s more of the same of them putting us off,” Davis said, adding that the she wanted to provide parents who do not regularly meet with school officials an opportunity to voice their opinion. ”You just can’t pick three of us. The board really needs to hear parents because the board is seeing the same parents.” 

Doran, however, said he wanted to give everyone at the meeting a fair chance at speaking.  

“I tried as board president to be flexible in running the meeting and it was not part of the normal agenda to discuss PCAD. Limiting the amount of speakers is not unusual” he said, adding that a special board meeting has been called for next Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. “I tried my best to be fair and give opportunities to speak out on all various issues that people wanted to speak about.” 

The intervention program is crucial, Doran said, to identify why students were failing classes and to ensure their success. At the meeting next Tuesday, Doran said he wants to identify what the school is presently doing and what more needs to be done. 

“We need as many intervention programs as we can get before the semester starts in February. But this is very clearly not a new problem and numerous attempts have been made in past years,” he said. 

Shirley Issel, school board vice president, said she doesn’t know wat needs to be done or how soon it can be done but she emphasized the need to identify who the students are and find ways to help them.  

“What the parents are asking for is a confident assessment of academic, psychosocial and medical needs of the kids and to create and intervention to address the needs of students who are at risk at a variety of levels,” she said. “That’s what parents are supposed to do.” 

Even Darryl Moore, trustee for the Peralta Community College District, emphasized the need to implement the PCAD program for intervention to new interim superintendent Steve Goldstone. 

“It should be the first order of business on your desk Feb. 1 at 8 a.m.,” he said.  

Although Goldstone did not want to comment on the plan until he looked at in-depth, he did say he is impressed with the parent effort. 

“Parent involvement is just critical and it’s exciting to see that as expressed here,” he said.  

Although Barry Fike, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, has yet to discuss the proposal with district teachers, he said he is also encouraged by the parent effort.  

“On the whole it is very thorough and it does address a lot of needs,” Fike said. “And boardmembers are intent on meeting the same goals that members have identified.” 

A proposal by the city attorney to amend the definition of what a creek is has caught the attention of creek preservationists who say the amendment is confusing and appeared suddenly without notice.  

The amendment to Berkeley’s Creek Ordinance appeared on the City Council’s agenda Tuesday but was pulled by Councilmember Kriss Worthington who said the language of the recommendation wasn’t clear. “It doesn’t have enough wording here to explain what a creek will be under the new definition,” Worthington said. “I just want to make sure all creeks are included.” 

The 1989 Creek Ordinance protects waterways in three ways, it prohibits any kind of obstructions, culverting and new construction within 30 feet of creek center. 

The written recommendation called for an amendment to the Berkeley Creek Ordinance to “define ‘creek’ as any above-ground creek appearing on the most recent version of the Berkeley creeks map.” 

Worthington said redefining exactly what a creek is, should be done very carefully. He said he was particularly concerned with the language of the recommendation, which seemed to change creek definition to only surface creeks. 

“The recommendation only says ‘above ground creeks,’” Worthington said Thursday. “A very large percentage of city creeks run underground through culverts and I want to make sure that all natural water courses are protected and that means above, below and partially below ground.” 

Wendy Cosin, acting director of Planning and Development, said the wording was taken from the current definition in the Creek Ordinance and is not meant to exclude culvert sections of creeks.  

“In fact a new map would show the approximate undergrounding of all watercourses.” 

City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque said the amendment was written because a homeowner challenged the Creek Ordinance while applying for a remodel permit for his Bret Harte property.  

The homeowner challenged the ordinance because he wanted to build within the 30-foot setback of the branch of Codornices Creek that runs through his property. That section of the creek does not appear on either the Geological Survey Map or the 1975 Berkeley Creeks Map, which are currently used to define creeks in Berkeley. 

Albuquerque told the council Tuesday her intention is to strengthen the current ordinance and that the definition should be broadened to include, “all natural occurring waterways.” 

She also said there would be a provision in the amendment that would allow any creek or waterway not currently mapped to be immediately updated and protected by the Creek Ordinance. 

Urban Creeks Council Vice Chair Carol Schemmerling, who was one of three people to write the Creek Ordinance, said there was some concern among preservationists because no one in the UCC or Friends of Five Creeks was consulted before the amendment was written. 

“The amendment looks like it’s OK, but it needs to be looked by people who are familiar with Berkeley’s creeks. ” she said. “We’re just asking that nothing be done until we can look at the changes.” 

Cosin said the City Council will consider the amendment to the Creek Ordinance again at its March 13 meeting. 

By David Olson 

Daily Planet correspondent 

East Bay hospitals are not living up to their obligations to take care of low-income and uninsured patients, speakers at a Wednesday night forum said. 

Both nonprofit and for profit hospitals were accused of negligence by participants, including California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, public health officials and a man who has had to wait months for vitally important eye care. 

“This is a topic that is of life and death,” U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, told the crowd gathered inside Resurrection Lutheran Church near Lake Merritt. “It’s a shame we have to talk about charity care during a time of economic boom in this country.” 

“Charity care” is the free health care that hospitals are supposed to provide the poor and uninsured. Nationally, nonprofit hospitals devote an average of 3 percent of its revenues to charity care, according to several speakers.  

In Alameda County, hospitals on average spend less than 1 percent of revenues on charity care, said Sal Rosselli, president of Local 250 of the Service Employees International Union. That union represents workers at Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley and other hospitals. 

Rosselli said hospitals should be required to either increase their charity care or should help fund public hospitals and clinics.  

“Hospitals – whether for profit or nonprofit – have an obligation to serve the communities they’re located in,” Rosselli said. 

Spending on charity care has been declining for the past several years, said Julio Mateo, an attorney and health-care consultant. Yet nonprofit hospital chains such as Sutter – which owns Alta Bates and is the East Bay’s largest hospital group – receive generous tax exemptions in exchange for taking care of the poor. 

The low charity care spending shows that hospitals “are not keeping their end of the bargain,” he said. 

Mateo cited a 1996 study in the journal Health Affairs that found that a fifth of California non-profit hospitals spend less money on charity care and bad debt – which in general terms is money that hospitals cannot collect from non-indigent patients – than they receive in tax subsidies. 

In 1999, Alta Bates and Summit combined, provided more than $48 million in community benefit programs, 

serving more than 176,000 people, according to spokesperson Carolyn Kemp.  

“At private not-for-profit hospitals, most charity care is delivered through the emergency department. The Alta Bates and Summit Emergency Departments treat all patients, regardless of their ability to pay. In increasing numbers people use the Emergency Department as their source for primary care. Yet, the Emergency Department is the least effective and most expensive way to provide that care,” Kemp said in a prepared statement. “Our goal is to provide programs and services such as the Ethnic Health Institute, Health Ministry/ Parish Nurse Program, Asthma Management Resource Center and Diabetes Center to help people better manage their health and receive preventive and primary care in the appropriate setting.” 

Kemp added that the Hospital supports Assemblywoman Dion Aroner, D-Berkeley, and other state legislators in addressing the increasing need to provide primary and preventive care.  

Lee said she supports either federal legislation or stiffer federal rules to require a certain level of charity care. 

San Francisco hospitals are no more generous than East Bay ones, said Dr. Mitchell Katz, director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health. There, too, hospitals on average spend less than 1 percent of their revenues on charity care. The only exception is St. Luke’s Hospital, which, as an independent institution, has stronger links to the community, he said; St. Luke’s spends about 3 percent of its revenue on charity care. But, Katz noted, Sutter is trying to purchase St. Luke’s, and that makes city officials worry that the amount of money spent on charity care there will decline.  

San Francisco General Hospital is an option for the poor, but it is overcrowded, Katz said. So is Highland General Hospital in Oakland, said Roger Peeks, Highland’s interim chief executive officer. People sometimes spend days in the emergency room waiting for care at Highland and wait months to receive an appointment at a clinic, he said. 

Lamont Stewart, 50, a homeless man from Berkeley, said he suffers from glaucoma and burst blood vessels behind his eyes. Stewart said first tried to make an appointment at Highland in October but only recently was given a slot, for Feb. 6. 

"My vision and my life are almost on hold," he said. 

Hospitals would like to spend more money on charity care, said Rebecca Rozen, regional vice president for the Hospital Council, which represents hospitals in northern and central California. But it is difficult to do so because hospitals increasingly face financial problems as a result of state and federal cutbacks on reimbursement for patient care, she said. Almost two-thirds of hospitals are not profitable, Rozen said. 

In addition, she said, hospitals provide other types of “community benefit,” including health education, training of nurses and community grants. 

Lockyer said hospital mergers and consolidations have made the problem worse. According to experts, between 50 and 125 of California’s approximately 450 hospitals may close during the next five years, Lockyer said. 

Wednesday’s hearing was set up by Aroner, but she was not able to attend her own event. She was stranded in Sacramento because of legislative debate over how to deal with the electricity crisis. Lee acted as the moderator in her stead. 

A Berkeley teenager pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of oral copulation with a 12-year-old girl and will testify against fellow classmates facing similar charges. 

The 13-year-old boy is scheduled to be sentenced next month. He and eight others are accused of sexually assaulting their classmate at Willard Middle School. 

The case shook the Berkeley community in late October after the assault because the same girl and her 12-year-old friend were allegedly attacked five days later after the first attack at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School.  

Berkeley Unified School District officials knew of the second attack but did not immediately alert parents who were trying to understand the situation’s impact on their own children.  

After the second attack was reported, district officials handed out fliers to students explaining why the media was at the school.  

At the time, police advised the school district not to allow the girl back in school for fear of her own safety.  

Some people criticized the school district for not protecting the girl who was allegedly attacked twice in 14 days at two different schools. 

District Superintendent Jack McLaughlin said student safety is a top priority and that school employees were being questioned about the two incidents to see if the school system can do anything to better protect all students. 

Parents of some of the boys accused in the first attack are angry and say the sexual relations were consensual.

SAN FRANCISCO — The icy waters of San Francisco Bay complete a stunning vista that includes wild islands, a famous bridge and a sparkling skyline. 

Exactly 30 years ago, though, those waters were fouled when two oil tankers, shrouded in fog, collided at night and spilled more than 800,000 gallons of thick goo. 

It was an environmental disaster that became one of the driving forces for navigation safety and regulations that have made tankers safer and led to a reduction in oil spills along the nation’s waterways. 

But oil spills remain a threat, especially to the health of the bay. 

“These regulations that took place in 1972 and the strengthening of those in 1990 has definitely reduced the danger of oil spills,” said David Schmidt, a writer and environmental historian with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

“But in San Francisco Bay, where you have a lot of ships going through a very narrow corridor, sometimes in complete darkness and heavy fog, an accident could happen at any time. We’re not in the clear.” 

Following the Jan. 19, 1971, collision of the two Standard Oil tankers, the Oregon Standard and the Arizona Standard, the U.S. Coast Guard implemented the vessel traffic system, a way of monitoring where ships are and where they are planning to go. 

The system, which is used in a number of nations, uses radar, cameras and civilian and military controllers to get the information to the vessels. 

The vessel traffic system was first put into place in the United States in 1973 as a result of the San Francisco crash. It is now used all along the nation’s coastlines. 

Certain ships, including oil tankers, are required by federal law to participate in the system and to be tuned into the same frequency so they can give and receive information from the area. 

Transmitting information was a problem in the 1971 crash, said Lt. Dawn Black, a Coast Guard operations officer. At the time, a voluntary, experimental vessel traffic system, called the Harbor Advisory Radar Project, was being tried out in the San Francisco Bay. 

“They collided, and they were actually being watched by the HARP,” she said. “Because there was no backing by law, they didn’t have to participate; they didn’t even have to be on the same channel. So we actually, literally watched the two come together – there was nothing we could do. 

“Part of the problem was nobody could get in touch with the vessels,” Black added. “They literally did not see each other coming.” 

The vessel traffic system was financed through the Ports & Waterways Safety Act of 1972. An oil spill regulation, the Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasures regulation, was included in the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, which later became the Clean Water Act. 

The SPCC control allowed the regulation of the discharge of oil from vessels and onshore and offshore facilities, and the establishment and enforcement of rules for procedures and equipment to prevent or contain spills. 

The 1971 collision resulted in about 840,000 gallons of partially refined oil covering the water. The heavy oil prevented waves from crashing on the shore, said Peter Warshall, a biologist who helped clean up the spill. 

“It floated on top of the surface of the water, kind of like heavy molasses, then it solidified in the water and was globby, like asphalt,” he said. “It looked like a parking lot.” 

People rigged booms to keep the oil out of a lagoon wildlife sanctuary, and at a makeshift rescue center volunteers tried to figure out how to save birds coated with oil. 

“In 1971, there were no real methods for cleaning up oil,” Warshall said. “People started literally experimenting on what might be done. 

“During that process we learned how to finally take care of birds,” he added. “We found out you had to cover the bird in cornmeal and wash the cornmeal out with mineral oil. The problem was the birds then froze to death. The hard part to learn was you had to hold a bird inside a tub of water, and then it would start to preen itself again and spread its own oil over its body.” 

About 7,000 birds were harmed by the spill. Volunteers tried to save about 4,300, and of those, more than 3,400 died. 

Still, Warshall said, that’s better than the birds affected by the 1969 spill in the Santa Barbara Channel, when birds were just left to die. During that spill, one of the worst off the California coast, more than 3 million gallons of crude oil flowed out of cracks in the channel floor caused by oil drilling. 

Although tankers are now much safer than in 1971, disasters still threaten. The Neptune Dorado, a Singapore-registered tanker that was to unload 580,000 barrels of Australian crude oil at the Tosco Refinery in Rodeo, a city northeast of San Francisco, was stopped in September after oil was found leaking into the ship’s ballast tanks. 

The leaks prompted fears of an explosion, and the captain was arrested and charged with ordering the crew to falsify ship logs. 

Also, rocks below the surface of the water pose a danger to vessels traveling through the bay, and tankers can be seen zigzagging to avoid them. 

The London-based International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation says the number of major spills worldwide has decreased significantly in the last three decades. There were 24 in 1970 and the high was in 1979, when there were 34. In 1999, there were five, according to the ITOPF. 

The 1971 spill was not the biggest in San Francisco Bay history. That happened in 1937, when an oil tanker hit a passenger steamer and spilled 2.73 million gallons a mile west of the Golden Gate Bridge. An attempt was made to pump out some of the oil still in the tanker, but a storm about two weeks later sent the whole thing into the ocean. 

About 22,000 birds are believed to have died in that spill, and no effort was made to rescue them. In fact, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals patrolled the oily beaches for birds and killed them to prevent them from dying slow deaths. 

One of the worst tanker spills in the United States was the Exxon Valdez spill, which dumped more than 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1989. 

SACRAMENTO — A state tax board member filed suit Thursday to reduce an arbitration panel’s decision to give $88.5 million to five law firms that fought the state over smog impact fees. 

Dean Andal of the Board of Equalization filed the complaint in Sacramento Superior Court one day after Attorney General Bill Lockyer also sued on behalf of Gov. Gray Davis to reduce the lawyers’ payment. 

Andal’s lawsuit argues the arbitration was unconstitutional because it is the Legislature’s duty to appropriate tax dollars. 

Thousands of motorists who registered out-of-state vehicles in California in the 1990s had to pay the fees, but they were found unconstitutional in October 1999. The Legislature and Gov. Gray Davis agreed last year to set aside $665 million to refund the fees, including interest. 

The amount paid to the lawyers was decided in binding arbitration, but Davis and state Controller Kathleen Connell say that award – which amounts to about $8,800 per hour – is excessive. 

In its filing Wednesday in Sacramento Superior Court, the state and its Department of Motor Vehicles argue that the arbitration panel exceeded the law by granting an award that “plaintiffs’ counsel could not have obtained had they prevailed through all appeals” and that the lawyers couldn’t have obtained through the Legislature.

The University of California, which had seemed in danger of being ousted from its historic role as manager of the nation’s nuclear labs, signed an agreement Thursday extending its contract to 2005. 

The renegotiated contract leaves UC in control of implementing security at the facilities but gives the federal government significant new powers in deciding who works there. 

The agreement extends UC’s current contract by three years and was signed by UC regents and the Energy Department in the waning hours of the Democratic administration. It follows months of turmoil at the two facilities, the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory near San Francisco. 

UC had come under withering criticism from some in Congress after a string of scandals that included the alleged, but never proved, leak of secrets to China, problems with Livermore’s superlaser project and the disappearance of hard drives containing classified information. 

At one point, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson announced he was making major changes in security procedures and said he had not ruled out putting the management contract out to competitive bid.  

That is an option UC, which has managed Los Alamos and Livermore for the federal government since they were created a half-century ago, made clear it wouldn’t pursue. 

However, the Energy Department announced last October it was extending UC’s contracts providing there were changes. 

UC regents unanimously approved those changes Thursday less than 48 hours before Richardson’s term expired. 

The timing was close, but UC President Richard C. Atkinson said he believes there is bipartisan support for UC’s role. 

“I believe it’s always been in the nation’s best interests to have these labs managed by the University of California. We truly do it as a service to the country,” Atkinson said. 

Key changes in the modified contracts are provisions allowing the government to dock UC’s performance fee for safety and security violations and allowing the Energy Secretary to order the removal – although not the firing – of any lab employee. UC negotiators won a provision giving them 60 days to review a removal request, but the Energy Secretary has final say. 

On the issue of security, UC must bring in experts as consultants but remains in control. 

The contracts retains much of the old language, including a commitment to preserving an academic atmosphere. 

However, the government now has the power to reduce UC’s performance fee for environmental, safety or security problems or for failure to meet management objectives.  

The maximum performance fee remains $14.4 million for both labs through 2002 and increases to $15.8 million after that.  

The maximum penalty would be the entire fee, which is a fraction of the labs’ overall budget of $2.6 billion but would be a significant embarrassment for UC. 

UC also gets a base management fee, which brings the fee total to about $25 million a year. UC manages the labs on a nonprofit basis and any surplus goes back into the budget. 

The modified contracts do not include the third lab UC manages for DOE, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which does not conduct classified research and remains on its five-year contract signed in 1997. 

Regents approved the modified contracts with almost no discussion, a stark contrast to the noisy public debate that has swirled about the labs. 

Among the problems was the two-month disappearance of the Los Alamos hard drives, still a mystery, and the repercussions that followed Richardson’s discovery that Livermore’s $1 billion laser project, which he had been assured was on track, was hundreds of millions over budget and faced substantial delays.  

Lab troubles began in early 1999 when Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee was fired amid an espionage investigation.  

Lee was charged with mishandling classified information and jailed, but was freed last September after the government dropped all but one of 59 charges. Lee was never charged with espionage and denied passing secrets to anyone. 

In his statement Thursday, Richardson called the modified contracts a “tremendous achievement.” 

“I think we’ve turned a corner in our management challenges, and I’m very comfortable turning this over to a new administration,” he said. 

PASADENA — The state Department of Education has determined that adults apparently altered students’ standardized test results in two third-grade classes at an elementary school here to improve the scores. 

An analysis of tests administered at Willard Elementary School last spring showed an unusually high number of answers that had been erased and changed from wrong to right, school officials said Wednesday. 

Interim Superintendent Edgar Seal said the Pasadena Unified School District has conducted its own review and will not contest the findings. 

“Our teachers didn’t admit it, but the irregularities showed it was something we can’t contest,” Seal said. In both classes, about 90 percent of the erased answers were changed from wrong to right, officials said. 

The state uses the Stanford 9, a multiple-choice test, to calculate the Academic Performance Index scores that evaluate schools from year to year. Schools that post significant gains are eligible for financial rewards, including bonuses to teachers. 

Willard had been eligible for the highest-level reward, which would have given each school employee between $5,000 and $25,000. The findings will mean that Willard is not eligible for those incentives, Seal said. 

The school, which has 780 students, will not get the incentives next year either, because it will have no base from which to compare any improvement. 

“It does hurt our pride,” said Willard Principal Kathy Onoye, who investigated the allegations. “We believe we’re a very good school. This is a real hard blow.” 

The California Department of Education has invalidated scores at 26 schools and is still investigating about 30 others for testing irregularities, said Pat McCabe, an administrator in the office of policy and evaluation. There are more than 7,000 schools statewide. 

McCabe said that in each case, a district has been determined to have had “adult testing irregularities,” either erased and corrected answers or inappropriate test preparations by teachers. 

Seal said both teachers who administered the exams denied altering the results. 

He said the district is exploring possible disciplinary action against the teachers, whose names were not release. One teacher continues to teach at Willard; the other left the district late last year. 

School officials said they do not believe that the principal or her administrators played any part in the irregularities, which were discovered after the publisher of the Stanford 9 test, Harcourt Brace and Co., spotted them last fall and notified the state. 

SACRAMENTO — The lights went out in nearly 2 million California homes and businesses Thursday in a second straight day of blackouts as state lawmakers struggled to find a way out of the deepening crisis. 

The blackouts began about 10 a.m. and stretched from the Bakersfield area of central California to Oregon, 500 miles away. The rolling outages lasted about two hours. 

Power managers said they expected to have enough power to avoid more blackouts at night, though more problems were possible Friday. 

Meanwhile, lawmakers considered a stopgap $400 million rescue plan in which the state would buy power on the open market and provide it to strapped utilities at little cost. The Senate Energy Committee approved it 10-7; the full Senate was expected to consider it Thursday evening. 

Gov. Gray Davis said he hoped to have the proposal, which would assure power over the next few days, on his desk by late evening. 

“It would be enormously helpful and it would save the state money, if I could sign a bill by late tonight,” Davis said. 

Hospitals and airports were exempt from the outages. And home-care patients who rely on electrically powered medical equipment because of lung disease or other ailments usually have batteries or backup generators. 

Utilities refused to disclose which areas were blacked out, but the effects were obvious: Traffic lights went out for a second day across the San Francisco Bay area, causing fender-benders in Palo Alto.  

Computer screens went dark, heaters and bank machines were silent and lights went out in classrooms. 

The power outage in Sun City Lincoln Hills, a retirement community near Sacramento, prompted Jim Datzman, 62, and his wife, Sandy, 59, to take their two grandsons to a community playground.  

The 2-year-old twins, Corbin and Quinn, had been watching Barney on television when the power went out. 

“We saw a lot of our neighbors lifting our garages up manually, which of course isn’t too good for seniors,” Datzman said. 

With no end to the crisis in sight, Californians began stocking up on flashlights, candles and firewood. Stores were swamped with calls from businesses looking for generators. 

The Independent System Operator, keeper of the state power grid, said the latest blackouts were caused by a loss of thousands of megawatts from the Northwest, where hydroelectric dams are low on water. One megawatt is enough to power 1,000 homes. 

The first mandatory blackouts came Wednesday, also in northern and central California. Northern California has faced the outages first because of a transmission-line bottleneck that makes it harder for the northern part of the state to bring in power. Southern California has been spared from rolling blackouts so far. 

On Wednesday, Davis declared a state of emergency and ordered the state Water Resources Department to temporarily buy up to $1 billion in power from wholesalers and provide it to the state’s two largest utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison. Both are short on power and in deep financial trouble. 

Davis made no mention of making the utilities pay for the power. That means the cost could fall on the taxpayers. 

In the Legislature, meanwhile, lawmakers tried to work out longer-term solutions under which the state would buy even larger amounts of power for up to five years.  

Many lawmakers were concerned about whether the state would get its money back from the utilities. 

“We are in a terrible situation,” said Sen. Debra Bowen, who heads the Senate energy committee. 

The emergency action didn’t help the utilities’ standing in the financial community, where the companies have become pariahs. 

The state’s move “stops the bleeding, but these companies have lost so much blood that it’s going to take a lot to pump them back up again,” said Richard Cortright, an analyst for Standard & Poor’s, which has downgraded the utilities’ credit ratings to junk status. 

The governor signed legislation Thursday afternoon overhauling the ISO board to remove those with a direct stake in buying and selling power. Instead, the governor will appoint a five-member board. 

Davis also signed a second piece of legislation that would roll back California’s deregulation by dropping a requirement that utilities sell their power plants. 

The crisis is blamed in part on the Northwest’s limited supplies of hydroelectric power and California’s deregulation of its electricity industry. 

Under the plan, utilities were forced to sell their power plants and buy electricity on the open market, an approach that was supposed to lead to lower rates. But wholesale prices for electricity have soared and rate caps imposed under deregulation have prevented utilities from passing on those costs to customers. 

PG&E and SoCal Edison estimate they have lost more than $11 billion. They have both defaulted on millions in dollars in bills and lender payments and have warned that they are sliding toward bankruptcy. 

SoCal Edison was forced to buy power outside the state Power Exchange on Thursday after missing a deadline for paying $215 million to cover the utility’s unpaid bills. 

That forced the exchange to seize Edison’s forward contracts as collateral to cover the debt. The utility must post collateral before it can return to the market, exchange spokesman Jesus Arredondo said. 

Edison spokesman Kevin Kelley declined to comment on the move: “Things are too much in flux,” he said. 

Arredondo would not say where SoCal Edison bought its power Thursday. When asked what the utility could do were it unable to post collateral, Arredondo said, “Go shopping for energy somewhere else.” 

The utility was expected to be able to obtain power through the state, although it has not yet done so, said Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio. 

PG&E has also warned that it may have to cut off the supply of natural gas to customers that include power plants. Suppliers are threatening to stop dealing with the cash-starved utility for fear they won’t be paid. 

The stock market appeared a little more hopeful about the utilities’ outlook as the stocks of their corporate parents edged up Thursday. PG&E Corp.’s shares gained 12 1/2 cents to close at $9.75 and Edison International’s shares rose 12 1/2 cents to close at $9. 

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On the Net: 

California Independent System Operator: http://www.caiso.com 

SANTA CLARA — California’s energy crisis has not yet caused a mass departure of businesses but a group of Silicon Valley leaders warned state lawmakers Thursday that having reliable power is crucial to their future plans. 

“We intend to grow in California, and power is important to our growth,” said Ellen Hancock, chief executive officer of Exodus Communications, Inc. “There are two things our customers need: They need bandwidth. They need power.” 

Exodus Communications, a Santa Clara-based company that provides server-storage services for Internet companies, including eBay and Yahoo, hosted a private meeting Thursday between some 80 members of the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group and state legislators and their aides. 

The meeting, planned over a month ago, coincidentally fell on the second consecutive day of rolling blackouts, which affected half a million Northern Californians on Wednesday and millions more Thursday. Many lawmakers planned to attend the meeting, but were called into an emergency session on power in Sacramento. Five participated in the meeting by phone. 

The region’s tech leaders have tried to hammer in the point for some time – that the New Economy could be short-circuited unless steps are taken to upgrade California’s power grid. 

At a regional energy summit last June – after a record heat wave drained the state’s power supply and forced scattered outages in Northern California – Silicon Valley leaders warned the U.S. Department of Energy that extended blackouts could represent the potential loss of billions of dollars to high-tech firms that rely on uninterrupted power sources. 

The cost of Wednesday’s rolling blackouts to Silicon Valley businesses was still being tallied but it’s already in the “tens of millions of dollars,” said Carl Guardino, president of the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, which represents 200 companies. 

And, Guardino said, consider this: during the power outages on June 14, members of the trade group collectively lost about $100 million in a single day. 

While the high-tech industry consumes massive amounts of the region’s power, it does want to be part of the solution as well, Guardino told reporters at a press conference following the meeting. 

The steps the region’s high-tech employers agreed to take included: 

—reducing their power consumption by 10 percent over the next two years, even as they grow; 

—increasing participation in a campaign to create more energy reserves; 

—creating more power generation plants, including at company sites; and 

—lobbying and working with state leaders on effective deregulation of the power industry. 

Though leaving California was not raised during Thursday’s meeting, Guardino said that several companies’ chief executives had told him earlier they were considering exit strategies if California did not get its power act together. 

“It’s not a threat. It’s a reality of business,” Guardino said. 

For its part, Exodus Communications is moving ahead with plans to build an onsite power co-generation plant, Hancock said. She would not disclose a specific location but said the company hopes to win the support of the local government for such a project. 

Exodus has more than 30 Internet data centers in the United States — five of them in Silicon Valley — where client companies store their servers inside a secure vault. The centers are equipped with backup generators in case of emergencies, but a reliable source of power is key to the company’s growth, Hancock said. 

“What’s important to us is the generation of power to meet the growing demand of the growing economy,” Hancock said. “The message we want to give is that conservation is not enough.” 

The state’s population has grown by more than 6 million people over the past decade, yet there has been little increase in power sources, Guardino said. “That means 6 million more refrigerators, washer and dryers, cell phones, computers and Palm Pilots,” he said. 

Guardino said the trade group is urging state and local leaders to work together on ways to increase power generation and transmission across California. 

High-tech employers also said they would like to see more government incentive programs, including tax credits, that would reward energy-conserving businesses. 

A spokesman for State Sen. John Vasconcellos, a member of the Senate Energy Committee who joined Thursday’s meeting by phone, called the session with Silicon Valley leaders “productive” and “candid.” 

The group of lawmakers, said Rand Martin, Vasconcellos’ chief of staff, learned more about the difficulties companies face in building their own generation plants. They learned that two state laws seem to contribute to the problem: an arbitrary limit of a so-called mini-turbine plant to 50 megawatts and the lack of a statewide standard for transmission between those power distribution points. 

The legislators did not immediately agree to any action, but Martin said they would explore issues “that we think we can do some good on.” 

At the same time, the lawmakers urged the business leaders to lobby federal regulators to do their part in getting energy suppliers outside California “to stop their greedy, gouging ways,” Martin said. “We’re at their mercy, and as long as the generators can charge (California utilities) whatever they want, we’re at a loss to fix the system.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group — http://www.svmg.org 

Indian cultural and religious sites on the edge of Arizona would be irreparably harmed by putting an open-pit gold mine near them, said Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in announcing he was killing the project. 

Babbitt’s action Wednesday blocked Glamis Gold Ltd. of Reno, Nev., from opening the mine on 1,571 acres of Bureau of Land Management property about 45 miles northwest of El Centro, Calif. Angry company officials said they would try to reverse the decision in court. 

The National Mining Association called the decision “outrageous” and said it would deny Imperial County 120 well-paying jobs and millions of dollars in economic benefit. 

“We are very disappointed that the outgoing administration has abandoned the domestic mining industry,” said Kevin McArthur, Glamis’ president. 

The Quechan Tribe, whose reservation sits near the proposed mine, was jubilant. 

“No amount of gold – whatever they pay, whatever it costs – will take the place of history,” said a tearful Quechan President Mike Jackson. “History was saved.” 

The tribe said the project would harm archaeological remains such as rock carvings, ceremonial circles and trails across the volcanic desert terrain. The so-called spirit trails, which connect sacred sites, have been used for thousands of years. 

The company, which had spent $1 million trying to mitigate the Indians’ concerns, argued that the decision was based on what it said was an erroneous ruling earlier this month by Interior Solicitor John Leshy.  

He determined that under a 1976 mining law Babbitt has veto power over projects at odds with Indian historical or ceremonial lands. 

Babbitt said his decision represented the first mine rejection under that law, which allows denial of mining permits for “undue degradation” to the environment. 

“I think this is in fact a momentous occasion,” Babbitt said.  

“No administration has ever taken these recommendations seriously, but I do.” 

He said his decision was based on the proposal to remove 450 million tons of rock and ore from a 21/2-square-mile area, then rinse the ore with cyanide to obtain about 50 file boxes worth of gold. 

He held up a box to illustrate what he described as just a small amount of gold that would be recovered. 

Glamis, which has spent more than $14 million developing the project, estimated the mine would yield 1.1 million ounces of gold worth about $300 million. 

On the Net: 

Bureau of Land Management report: http://www.ca.blm.gov/elcentro/imperial—project.html 

Glamis Imperial Corp.: http://www.glamis.com 

Sanding is one of the most common construction and repair tasks you have to do around your home. It is the final step that determines the final appearance of your work. Done right, it makes your paint job perfect. Done badly, it shows through the most skillfully applied finish. Sanding is also one of the easiest jobs to do right, if you select the correct abrasives. Use them properly and it’s almost impossible to do a bad job. However, the wrong abrasives can make it almost impossible to get good results no matter how hard you work with them. 

Sandpaper can be identified by three things: the type of abrasive particles on its surface, the grit (or coarseness) of each particle, and the actual amount of abrasives on each sheet. 

The two most common types of sandpaper are coated with abrasives made from flint and garnet. Flint is cheaper and this makes it a logical choice when working on surfaces like paint and soft, gummy woods that clog the paper quickly. Garnet grits form a tougher, longer-lasting surface and are a better choice when working on hardwoods like walnut and oak. 

Silicone carbide is the hardest abrasive grit generally available for consumer use. These abrasive sheets are ideal for sanding nonferrous metals, composition boards and plastics. When applied to waterproof papers or cloth backing materials, silicone carbide can also be used for wet sanding with water or mineral oil for rubbing down varnish, polyurethane and lacquer finishes. 

The closest thing to an all-purpose paper is aluminum oxide paper. It can be used on wood, metal, plastics and fiberglass. 

The grit size of the abrasive on a sheet of sandpaper is identified by a number on the backing material. The higher the number, the finer the grit. Extremely coarse papers with relatively open coats of abrasives – each granules spaced out from the others – remove heavy layers of paint, enamel or varnish from relatively rough surfaces. They’re fine for preparing the surface of a house for painting, but would be wrong for taking even a heavy paint buildup from fine interior paneling or furniture. 

Medium grits remove light stock from wood and prepare walls for painting inside the house as well as smoothing rougher sanding for finer finishing. Fine and very fine grits carry this process the rest of the way for a perfect finish, removing sanding scratches to make a surface ready for primer or sealer. 

With most sandpapers you have a choice of open or closed coatings. A closed coat covers the entire sheet with abrasive particles while a more open coat may give no more than 50 percent or 70 percent coverage. Spacing the grits far apart makes the sandpaper cut more slowly because there are fewer grits to do the job, but the paper doesn’t load up with paint or gummy wood. 

As for sanding techniques, to finish wood smoothly, sand with the grain. Plastics have no grain, but some of them melt when heated by friction so the surface smears rather than smoothes. Fiberglass sands well, but the dust contains tiny glass fibers, so you should wear a dust mask for protection. 

A tropical plant that bears a most delectable fruit has been parading as a mere houseplant. Its a common houseplant, and you may even be growing it. Perhaps you grow it under the unassuming name of split-leaf philodendron, or the more descriptive name of Swiss-cheese plant. The plant is really a philodendron look-alike with the botanical name Monstera deliciosa. 

Monster can have rather monstrous leaves, and that may be how it got that part of its name. Along the edges of Mexicos steamy, tropical jungles, wild monsteras grow leaves that are a foot or more across. In that bright, dappled light, the leaves are pocked with large holes much like Swiss cheese, and also are cut deeply in along their edges. Indoor growing conditions are often not good enough for the leaves to develop large size or holes. 

The name monstera could have come about because of the size of the plant itself. In a tropical forest, this vine will grasp a tree trunk with its aerial roots, then clamber 30 feet or more skyward.  

Still, monstera is one of the easiest houseplants to grow – another similarity, besides leaf shape and vining habit, it shares with philodendrons. The better the growing conditions, the better the plant looks.  

Except in summer, monsteras love high humidity and as much light as possible. Being truly tropical, the plants prefer year-round heat; not mere warmth, but heat. 

With good growing conditions, a monstera vine needs support. One way to provide support is to roll up a length of chicken wire, pack it full of coarse sphagnum moss, then stake that mossy column next to the plant. This sphagnum moss cylinder increases the humidity near the plant and provide moist support to which the aerial roots can cling. The plant is almost as happy climbing any rough piece of wood. 

What about that “deliciosa” fruit? The ripe fruits, which follow the spearlike flowers, look like a cross between an ear of corn and a pine cone. The fruit must be dead ripe before it can be eaten, at which point the flavor is a tasty blend of pineapple and banana. Although a monstera plant is very easy to grow, its hard to bring it to bear fruit without a tropical climate or a perpetually warm greenhouse. 

Lee Reich is a columnist for The Associated Press

Q: My home has a heating system with a metal chimney that runs up through the attic and terminates above the roof. Since the temperature of the chimney in the attic is not high enough to ignite wood, why is it necessary to have a 2-inch clearance between the chimney and the wood framing in the attic? 

A: The ignition temperature of wood is defined as the temperature at which it begins to burn. Wood and other combustibles undergo a physical change when continually exposed to elevated temperatures. This reduces their ignition temperatures. 

Wood normally begins to burn at about 400 F to 600 F. However, when it’s continually exposed to temperatures between 150 F and 250 F, its ignition temperature can become as low as 200 F. 

The lowering of the ignition temperature of wood and other combustible materials can take years to occur. When it does, should the wood’s temperature coincide with its lowered ignition temperature, it will ignite and burn spontaneously. This is the basis for the clearance requirements in building and fire codes. 

Q: A musty odor that gives us headaches is coming from under our sink. A plumber checked the drains and vents. The city has checked the sewers and there are no leaks under the house. Nor are there any dead animals under it. This odor suddenly appeared two months ago in my 51/2-year-old house. It’s worse when it rains. Any suggestions? 

A: As you’ve had your sewage system checked thoroughly, this is only one option. After turning off the water, remove the base cabinet under the sink.  

Then remove the drywall behind the sink, as there are cases where rodents have entered the walls from either attics or basements and, when they cannot find their way out, they die and decompose. This might tie in with the two months you mention.  

You might also want to get the opinion of a reliable exterminator before you tear your kitchen apart. 

Q: I have just noticed this since I had my rooms remodeled, and I had insulation put on first. Now I find mold spots forming inside glass picture frames on the shelves. My basement is a dirt floor under the living room. Could the dirt floor be causing this problem? 

Answer: Yes. Even when the dirt feels dry to the touch, it wicks up subsurface water, and this is released into the area under the living room and eventually into the living room itself. 

Before you remodeled your rooms, there apparently were enough open joints in the walls through which the moisture could escape to the outside. After you remodeled, those joints were sealed, causing the moisture to remain in the rooms. To control the moisture buildup, you should cover the dirt floor in the basement with a vapor barrier, such as 4- or 6-mil-thick polyethylene plastic sheets. Overlap the sheets and tape the joints shut. 

To submit a question, write to Popular Mechanics, Reader Service Bureau, 224 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019. The most interesting questions will be answered in a future column. 

SAN JOSE — Fourth-quarter profits at eBay Inc. beat Wall Street expectations Thursday, as the mammoth Internet auction site said it had added a record 3.5 million users in the last three months of 2000. 

In the quarter ended Dec. 31, eBay earned $23.9 million, or 9 cents per share, compared with $3.8 million, or 1 cent per share in the year-ago quarter. Revenues rose 81 percent to $134 million. 

Analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial were expecting profits of 7 cents a share this quarter. 

The news sent shares of San Jose-based eBay soaring as high as $52.06 in after-hours trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. “We are extremely pleased with the strength of our business and with the tremendous momentum we have going into the new year,” said Meg Whitman, eBay’s president and CEO. 

The report came off as exceptionally glowing, considering the recent parade of unmet goals and grim outlooks from e-commerce sites and high-tech companies. 

“There’s been a lot of questions about almost every other model on the Internet beside eBay, and this quarter they proved they’re immune from all the various issues surrounding the Internet,” said Adria Markus, Internet analyst at Epoch Partners. 

EBay said its international growth, new partnerships and the increase in the types of items available on the site has swelled its ranks to 22.5 million registered users, more than twice the 10 million counted at the end of 1999.  

In the fourth quarter alone, users traded $1.6 billion worth of goods, and eBay said it saw a big bump in sales of holiday items despite a soft season for traditional retailers. 

Analysts said that was likely because of the strength of eBay’s brand and the value proposition it offers. 

“You could make the case that even a slowing economic environment would not be a negative environment for these guys,” said Steve Weinstein, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities. 

EBay was bullish on its 2001 outlook, saying its recent $120 million purchase of a majority stake in Internet Auction Co. Ltd., a South Korean online bidding site, likely will help push revenue toward $150 million in the current first quarter and $665 million for all of 2001. 

EBay said this week it is increasing the fees sellers must pay to auction goods on the site, a move aimed at increasing profits, reducing some clutter and funding future service upgrades. 

EBay, which has at times suffered hobbling and costly outages, upgraded its servers last week and will invest significantly in similar improvements over the next year and a half, Chief Operating Officer Brian Swette said. 

Markus said she was impressed that eBay’s gross margins were higher than expected, with the number of users growing rapidly but the costs of acquiring new customers staying flat. 

“They’re obviously doing something right in terms of managing efficiencies,” she said. 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.ebay.com 

SAN FRANCISCO — Employers are increasingly hiring welfare recipients into positions paying above minimum wage and providing health benefits, apparently because of the current tight labor market, a new study reports. 

Employers with more job openings were more likely to hire welfare recipients than those with fewer vacancies, which suggests an economic downturn could also mean a decrease in demand for welfare recipients, said Harry Holzer and Michael Stoll, authors of “Employers and Welfare Recipients: The Effects of Welfare Reform in the Workplace,” a study by Public Policy Institute of California. 

“There are a lot of jobs out there for welfare recipients and a lot of employers willing to hire. And once they do hire them a lot of performance measures are higher than we expected,” said Holzer, a professor of public policy at Georgetown University.  

On the upside, more than 3,000 employers surveyed in Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland and Milwaukee during 1998 and 1999 said they were willing to hire welfare recipients – particularly those situated near public transportation or worker neighborhoods.  

Between 30 and 40 percent of the employers surveyed said they have hired welfare recipients over the past two years, most frequently in clerical and service positions. 

In all four cities, the study found that jobs filled by welfare recipients pay an average of $7 per hour and generally provide 40 hours of work each week. Employers were also willing to provide health care coverage in two-thirds of the jobs. 

However, a significant portion of the jobs filled by welfare recipients still pay low wages, provide few working hours or offer no health insurance.  

And employees consider the performance of half of all welfare workers comparable to other workers in each metropolitan area and 25 to 40 percent are viewed as better than the average employee. 

Only 10 to 25 percent of workers are considered worse, the study said. High turnover, weak performance and absenteeism linked to child care and transportation issues were criticisms cited by the employers surveyed. That may be because the more welfare workers hired, the greater the chance of hiring those who turn out to be unqualified for the job, Holzer said. 

“The easy people left the rolls and got employed and now we’re in the more difficult part of the case load,” Holzer said. 

Race and education often make or break a job seeker’s chances, the study found. Minority welfare workers, who tend to live in inner city and rural areas, are hired less frequently than whites, likely because of their limited transportation options to jobs in suburban areas, the study found. High school dropouts also did not fare well in the job market. 

“Though a lot of the jobs exist, a lot of them may not be accessible to lower income folks who live in the inner city or in rural areas,” Holzer said. 

Welfare workers had better luck in some regions than others. Los Angeles employers hire fewer welfare recipients, though the job performance of workers appears better. Milwaukee hires the most, but also faces a low job retention rate. 

Governments and institutions should invest in training and support services, such as child care and transportation, to create greater job stability among welfare workers before the next recession, Holzer said. That would mean fewer workers returning to the welfare rolls and a chance for the unemployable to try community service jobs or other programs. 

Deirdre Mulligan, an attorney and leading advocate for free speech and individual privacy rights on the Internet, is the new director of the Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Boalt Hall).  

The law clinic, which opened Monday, will provide a moral voice and public conscience for Silicon Valley and for cyberspace in general. Much of Mulligan's background is in this area.  

The daughter of a social worker and a nurse, 34-year-old Mulligan grew up with a strong belief in public service. While attending Georgetown University Law Center, Mulligan worked at the American Civil Liberties Union's Privacy and Technology project where she honed her interest in preserving and enhancing civil liberties and democratic values.  

After law school, she became a founding member of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a high-tech, civil liberties public interest organization based in Washington, D.C. For the last six years, Mulligan has been staff counsel at the center.  

She has worked with federal lawmakers, governmental agencies, the judicial system, public interest organizations, and the high-tech business community, with the goal of enhancing individual privacy on the Internet, thwarting threats to free speech on the Internet, and limiting governmental access to private data.  

“This is an incredible opportunity,” Mulligan said of her selection to work as clinic director. “Through the clinic, Boalt will be one of the first law schools to offer students the experience and skills necessary to serve the public interest in the dynamic area of new technology.”  

Law school faculty members selected Mulligan as clinic director following a national search.  

“Mulligan's experience and insight into the Washington policy process will be a great asset to the high tech clinic,” said clinic founder and Boalt Hall law professor Pamela Samuelson.  

“More and more, young lawyers need to understand how to do legislative lawyering as well as transactional and litigation work. She’s one of the top people in this field.” 

Samuelson, an expert on cyberlaw and intellectual property funded the clinic last spring. She and her husband, Robert Glushko, an engineering fellow at Commerce One (an electronic commerce services and software provider), donated $2 million to endow the program.  

In addition, Mitchell Kapor, founder of Lotus Development Corp., donated $300,000, and the New York-based Markle Foundation, headed by Boalt Hall alumna Zoe Baird, donated $300,000.  

Mulligan said she has always had an interest in teaching and is looking forward to teaching Boalt Hall students more than substantive law and traditional legal skills.  

She wants students to gain skills that are essential in the environment of high-tech law - the ability to combine legal and technical computer knowledge, build coalitions, and craft solutions to public policy concerns.  

“We know that Deirdre Mulligan will build a fine clinical program that will be a credit to its founders,” said Jerry Berman, executive director of the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT).  

“She has the vision, expertise, and skills to lead students into the world of Internet and digital media policy and contribute to the development of Internet law and policy embodying democratic values. We will miss her at CDT, but look forward to working with the her and the Samuelson clinic on many projects.”  

Mulligan lives in Berkeley with her husband, Benjamin Tice Smith, a photo editor with the Time-Warner magazine eCompanyNow, and her newborn daughter, Marlene.  

The Samuelson clinic is part of Boalt Hall's Center for Clinical Education. The center also houses the International Human Rights Clinic and, beginning in July, will open a Death Penalty Clinic in which students will investigate and handle appeal cases for California's death row inmates.  

Boalt Hall also is home of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, established in 1995 to encourage the ethical development of intellectual property law and related fields of law. 

The assumption that immigrants are a burden to California’s economy is challenged by a study that found poverty levels have declined among long-term foreign-born residents, researchers said Monday. 

“Now that time has passed and they’re staying longer, they become more established,” said the study’s co-author, Dowell Myers, a demographics professor at the University of Southern California. 

The researchers commented on the study in advance of its scheduled release Tuesday. The researchers used the censuses of 1970, 1980 and 1990, and the Current Population Survey of March 2000 to measure poverty rates over three decades. 

The study documents a decline in poverty levels among California immigrants the longer they live in the state, the researchers said. Long-term residency and assimilation have contributed to more skilled workers, homeowners and drivers, Myers said. 

The study, titled “Demographic Futures for California,” focused on California’s immigration patterns for the last 30 years because it has the nation’s largest immigrant population. 

The 2000 Census found that 25.9 percent of Californians are foreign-born. Nationwide, there are about 28.3 million foreign-born residents, or one out of every 10 people. 

“California is the bellwether for the rest of the nation,” Myers said. 

Researchers say their findings could affect public policy decisions such as education,  

health behavior, smoking, transportation, welfare and  

home ownership. 

The study challenges a common belief that immigrants in general lack skills and depend on welfare, said co-author John Pitkin from Analysis and Forecasting Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. 

Myers said some of the impacts are evident in everyday life.  

The housing demand has peaked as immigrants have moved out of apartments and shared rooms into their own homes.  

And while new immigrants initially depend on public transit, many learn to drive, adding to the number of cars on California’s congested roadways. 

The study also highlighted the need for education. 

“California is totally dependent on the education levels of Latinos,” Myers said about the state work force. “If California wants to be high tech, it has to scale up to the future. Evidence shows there’s a real upward trend. It’s not as pessimistic as you think.” 

The study also found that the children of immigrants are increasingly better educated than their parents, Myers said. 

The research was funded by USC, the USC Tobacco Center and the Fannie Mae Foundation of Washington, D.C. 

The authors planned to release the study Tuesday afternoon at a USC news conference. 

The Federal Highway Administration on Friday picked a site for a bypass bridge to lift heavy traffic from the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River. 

The agency submitted a final environmental report selecting Sugarloaf Mountain as the preferred of three alternatives, said Ken Davis and Nathan Banks, project engineers in the highway administration’s Phoenix office. 

The move starts the clock on a 30-day comment period before the agency approves plans for a four-lane bridge above Hoover Dam. 

The nearly $200 million arch, a quarter-mile downstream from the dam, would carry U.S. 93 connecting southern Nevada and northwestern Arizona. 

After final approval and design, construction could begin in 2002 and take five years, Banks said. 

All sides agree something needs to be done to relieve a perpetual conga line of tractor-trailers, motor homes and cars snaking through two-lane hairpin turns and crawling through camera-toting pedestrians. 

The Sugarloaf route is the least expensive of three options that Banks said have been under study for more than 10 years. Alternate bridges at Gold Strike Canyon, one mile downstream from the dam, and Promontory Point, over Lake Mead  

about 1,000 feet north of the dam, were rejected. 

Fred Dexter, chairman of the Sierra Club’s Hoover Dam Bypass committee and a resident of nearby Boulder City, said he expects challenges will be lodged against the plan by the Feb. 20 deadline on legal, environmental, emotional and aesthetic grounds. 

He said the Sierra Club is prepared to sue to stop project planning. 

“We strongly support a Hoover Dam bypass,” Dexter said.  

“It is absolutely necessary. But they’ve never given full study to the Laughlin-Bullhead alternative.” 

He said a bridge on U.S. 95 between Laughlin and Bullhead City, Ariz., some 60 miles downstream from the dam, would be less expensive, take less time to build and pose less risk to the environment. 

American Indian tribes in the area point to the cultural significance of the river to the earliest inhabitants of the arid southwest. 

The highway administration says it received comments from 13 tribes. 

Richard Arnold, executive director of the Indian Center in Las Vegas, has compared building on Sugarloaf Mountain to bulldozing a church or religious shrine. 

The highway administration says the current road carries 11,500 vehicles a day and has an accident rate three times that of roads with similar volumes. 

Trucks make up almost one in five of all traffic on the dam. The route has become a shipping lifeline in and out of fast-growing Las Vegas, 30 miles away. 

The bridge would let authorities ban vehicles transporting explosives, radioactive material and flammable or caustic chemicals from the dam that forms Lake Mead, the area’s key drinking water reservoir. 

On the Net: 

Hoover Dam Bypass  

Project: http://www.hooverdambypass.org

A group of parents are brainstorming ways to keep more Berkeley High School students on campus for lunch by providing hot lunches and places to sit and eat. 

They want benches, tables, gazebos and a temporary shelter in the main courtyard and are looking at the possibility of providing a mobile food preparation unit (also referred to as a “roach coach”) on campus.  

The mobile food unit would be able to provide students with 400 lunches a day.  

“With this little bit of space we want to serve as many students as possible,” said Gail Keleman, chair of the Berkeley High School Master Plan and Land Use Committee.  

The food unit could take up to four months to be approved, according to Dana Richards, a teacher at the school who serves on the committee. 

Eventually, the committee wants to develop the food court concept at the high school because downtown merchants have long-complained of up to 3,300 students infiltrating their businesses during lunch.  

The school has been without a cafeteria since it was damaged by the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. The school does have a food facility – referred to as “Elsie’s Shack” – for making lunches for low-income students. But that facility is slated for demolition as part of $20 million in improvements to the school. A few members of the committee have also suggested taking the equipment and constructing a new permanent facility instead of paying up to $80,000 for the temporary facility. Another suggestion is to move some food services into the “Good Food Café,” a state-of-the-art kitchen now used by children with special needs to learn valuable skills and provide meals for campus staff.  

All of these suggestions are still early in the planning stages but they are part of the work the committee has focused on for the past four years. Since 1996, Keleman said the Berkeley High School Master Plan and Land-use committee has looked at ways to create a uniform look for campus improvements. Before then, Keleman said many improvements were piecemeal projects with no unifying theme. 

“We would get a tomato plant next to a Redwood tree. It was a mish-mash of things,” she said. “We wanted to group so we didn’t end up with benches all over the place and Redwood Trees next to fruit trees.” 

We wanted a group so we would