Two area businesses destroyed but no one injured  

A quick-spreading fire destroyed two Telegraph Avenue business before Berkeley and Oakland fire fighters could bring the four-alarm blaze under control. 

The fire apparently started in the boiler room of Milt’s Coin-Op Laundry at 3055 Telegraph Ave. around 4:45 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, quickly spread throughout the attic and then into the adjoining business, Avenue Liquors at 3051 Telegraph Ave. 

Fire Officials estimated that the blaze, which sent up a plume of dark gray smoke visible for miles around, caused at least $700,000 damage. No injuries were reported.  

“I had just changed my clothes and was ready to go home when somebody started screaming there was smoke,” said Laundry owner Gary Kim. “Then I saw smoke coming out of the back room where the water tanks are.” 

Kim said his wife, one employee and several customers were inside the Laundry when the fire broke out. “We are very lucky everybody got out and is safe,” he said. 

Fire Chief Reginald Garcia said the flames, which took two hours to bring under control, spread so quickly that within 15 minutes of the first fire engines arriving on scene, the fire was upgraded to three alarms. 

“At that stage we essentially had all of the Berkeley Fire Department here,” he said.  

But even with all of Berkeley’s available hands on deck, the fire was not under control. Garcia said that soon after the fire was upgraded to a fourth alarm, which brought in three units from the Oakland Fire Department. 

“This was a very hard fire to fight because it spread so quickly,” he added. 

Berkeley police blocked off traffic on Telegraph Avenue between Ashby and Alcatraz avenues and about 20 police officers were on scene to control the crowd of approximately 300 people who gathered across the street from the Laundry to watch the blaze. 

On Sunday morning Assistant Fire Chief Lucky Thomas said the cause of the fire was still being investigated. “We’ll have security posted around the site tonight, and tomorrow we’ll bring in a back hoe to help us find out where the fire started,” he said.  

The two businesses burned by the fire are surrounded by single-family homes. Several neighbors on Prince Street and Dowling Place were evacuated from their homes until the fire was brought under control. 

Thomas O’Connell, who lives immediately behind the Laundry at 2413 Prince St., was watching flames shoot up from the Laundry roof about 70 feet from the rear of his home when a fire fighter asked him to evacuate. 

“I’ll think I’ll take your advice,” O’Connell said, answering the firefighter and then left his home without taking any possessions. 

Avenue Liquor owner Charlie Huh stood across the street from the fire and watched as smoke billowed out of the broken windows of his store. “Somebody came in yelling ‘call 911, call 911’ and then we saw the smoke and got out of the store,” he said.  

Regina Tolliber and her mother, Evelyn Richardson had just put several loads of laundry in the dryer and gone next door to the liquor store when smoke came billowing out the front door of the Laundry. 

“I tried to get back in to get my clothes but it was already too late,” said Tolliber who works as nurse. “Most all of my clothes and all of my uniforms are still in there.”  

Friday, Jan. 25

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Women’s Health After  

Menopause 

10:30 a.m. - noon 

Summit North Pavilion, Cafeteria Annexes B & C 

350 Hawthorne Ave., Oakland 

A comprehensive presentation on women’s health and exams after menopause. 869-6737 

 

City Commons Club  

Luncheon 

11:15 a.m. 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave. 

Douglas R. Powell presents slides and gives a lecture entitled “A Graphic Portrait of a Tortured Land - Afghanistan”. Social hour begins at 11:15. Lunch is served 11:45 - 12:15. Speaker begins at 12:30. $11 - 12.25 with lunch, $1 otherwise. 848-3533 

 

Dr. Helen Caldicott  

8 p.m. 

Berkeley First Congregational Church 

2345 Channing Way 

Nobel Prize Nominee and spokesperson for world anti-nuclear movement speaks about peace, survival, and free speech in dangerous times. $15. 415-437-3425. 

 

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Saturday, Jan. 26

Bay Area Women in Black  

2 - 3 p.m. 

4th & Hearst Streets 

A silent vigil to oppose the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Please wear black, everyone is welcome. 486-2744, bayareawomeninblack@earthlink.net. 

Vocal Jazz Workshop and  

Jazz Jam 

9:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. 

Albany Adult School 

601 San Gabriel St. 

Workshops for singers and instrumentalists led by Richard Kalman to explore Jazz in a small jazz combo format. $5-$12 per class. 524-6796, richkalman@aol.com. 

Puberty Seminar for Girls 

10:30 a.m.- 2 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

2230 Shattuck Ave. 

For girls 8-14. Understand why your body is changing, and celebrate your rite of passage. Refreshments. $25-$30. (Mothers free. ) 595-3814. 

Book Talk and Signing 

3 - 5 p.m. 

The Berkshire Assisted Living Community 

2235 Sacramento Way 

Victor Bogart will discuss his new book “Assumptions” and “6 steps for Shifting Gears on the Senior Highway.” 841-4844. 

Magic School Bus Video  

Festival 

10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Dr., above the UC Berkeley Campus 

Watch Ms. Frizzle take her skeptical class from outer space to inside a dog’s noise in seven different video adventures shown on the big screen and lasting for three hours. 

Youth and Race: 

Issues and Solutions 

9:30 a.m. - noon 

Elihu Harris State Building Auditorium 

1515 Clay St., Oakland 

Assemblywoman Dion Aroner (D-Berkeley/Oakland) will convene a town hall meeting of elected representatives, youth advocates, and public policy makers to identify and develop solutions for the problems facing young people. 540-3660. 

Sunday, Jan. 27

Neighborhood Clean-Up Day 

11 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Services Center 

1730 Oregon St. 

Clean up blocks: Russell St., Oregon St., McGee, Stuart, Grant and California St. 981-6670, www.ci.berkeley.ca.us. 

School Open House 

10:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. 

School of the Madeleine 

1225 Milvia St. 

Applications for K-8 available. Kindergarten informational meeting at noon. 526-4744, www.themadeleine.com. 

Organ Music 

5 p.m. 

MusicSources 

1000 The Alameda 

Ron McKean performs Ferscobaldi, Froberger and Bach, and improvises in the style of each composer. Reception follows concert. $15 - $18. 528-1685. 

Japanese Traditional  

Drumming 

2 p.m. 

Julia Morgan Center 

2640 College Ave. 

Emeryville Taiko presents a fun and interactive event for children and families. $10 adults, $5 children. 925-798-1300. 

Monday, Jan. 28

 

East Bay Heritage Quilters 

7:30 p.m. 

First Unitarian Church 

1 Lawson Rd., Kensington 

Guest Speaker, Alice Kolb, offers instruction on how to narrow many ideas into a focused garment. $3 non-members, free for members. 834-3706 

 

Writing an Ethical Will Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Writers of ethical wills hope to convey what they have learned in life. All writing levels and native languages welcome. $30. To register call: 848-0237 X127. 

 

Institute of Government Studies 

12 p.m. 

223 Moses Hall 

UC Berkeley Campus 

Ronald Rogowski discusses majoritarian electoral systems and consumer power. 642-4608, www.igs.berkeley.edu 

 

Institute of Government Studies 

12 p.m. 

119 Moses Hall 

UC Berkeley Campus 

John Skrentny discusses “The Minoriy Rights Revolution”. 642-4608, www.igs.berkeley.edu 

 

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Tuesday, Jan 29

Berkeley High School Site Council Meeting  

4 p.m. 

Berkeley High School 

Room H105 

2246 Milvia St.  

On the agenda will be a vote on staff development and discussion of the school site plan. The meeting is open to the BHS community. www.bhs.berkeley.k12.ca.us/ssc/.  

Experimental Music Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Tuva Space 

3192 Adeline 

The Cardew Choir announces three public experimental music workshops led by visiting composer and poet Joseph Zitt. Free and open to the public. 204-0607, www.metatronpress.com/artists/cardewchoir/. 

Camera Club Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church 

941 The Alameda 

Weekly meeting of the Berkeley Camera Club offers the opportunity to share slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. 547-4514 

Dens(c)ity: Two or Three Things  

about Architecture  

and the New World Order 

12:30 - 2 p.m. 

UC Berkeley 

119 Moses Hall 

Lesley Naa Norle Lokko is a Principal Lecturer and Academic Leader in the 

School of Architecture and Interior Design, University of North London. Her research focuses on questions of race and cultural identity and their relationship to architectural and urban culture. 642-5992, bcgit@uclink.berkeley.edu. 

Wednesday, Jan. 30

Baby Bounce and Toddler Tales 

7 p.m. 

Public Library, West Branch 

1125 University Ave. 

A participatory program for families with children up to age 3. Stories, songs and fingerplays as entertainment and as a way for parents to learn some new material to share with their young ones. 981-6270. 

Peace Walk and Vigil 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley BART Station 

A peace walk and vigil to demonstrate opposition to U.S. bombing of Afghanistan. Ends at MLK Civic Center Park. www.indymedia.org. 

American Political History Seminar 

4 p.m. 

UC Berkeley 

109 Moses Hall 

Haynes Johnson, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, will be talking about his new book, “The Best of Times: America in the Clinton Years.” 642-4608, www.igs.berkeley.edu:8880/. 

Debtors Anonymous 

6:30 - 7:45 p.m. 

Mandana Community Recovery Center 

3989 Howe St., Oakland 

Weekly Meeting. 415-522-9099. 

Experimental Music Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Tuva Space 

3192 Adeline 

The Cardew Choir announces three public experimental music workshops led by visiting composer and poet Joseph Zitt. Free and open to the public. 204-0607, www.metatronpress.com/artists/cardewchoir/. 

Thursday, Jan. 31

Backpacking the Diablo Trail 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Seth Adams will share slides and information on backpacking. 

527-4140 

In a letter to the editor printed last week several juveniles were named in allegations made by one parent regarding a schoolyard altercation. 

This letter is written as an apology to these children and their families. 

We have been informed that because of this letter and our negligence in allowing it to ever be printed that these youths have been subject to criticism from the community.  

We would like to say that after speaking with the parents involved in this case, the principal of La Conte Elementary School as well as the Berkeley Police Department, it appears that the allegations written in were either false or grossly exaggerated.  

It is our policy at the Berkeley Daily Planet to never allow the names of the innocent, especially innocent children, to be marred in print. 

Our Forum Page is meant to be a community bulletin board where individuals may voice their opinions about issues, events, and other things that are important to them. 

This is a useful tool of free speech but much like any tool it can be abused.  

For this reason, we would also like to clarify that it is not our policy to allow the pages of this publication to be used to spread disparaging untruths about adults or children and the names of anyone who is accused of wrongdoing should therefore accompany substantiating proof.  

But in general, we would prefer that if you have personal issues — be that with your neighbors, the parents at your children’s school or meter maids you feel are unfairly targeting you with parking tickets — that you deal with them in the course of your own personal lives and not in print. 

We apologize for any inconvenience that letter may have caused these children or their families. 

Sincerely, 

Devona Walker 

Editor-in-Chief 

Berkeley Daily Planet 

Romanian-French playwright Eugene Ionesco’s 1959 play “Rhinoceros” is a theater-of-the-absurd fable about the conflict among human beings between impulses towards individuality and desires for conformity. 

Ionesco wrote the play in the aftermath of World War II, reflecting on the dangerous emotional dynamics of Nazism that had caught the world off-guard and wreaked so much havoc after igniting in the hearts and minds of many Germans and other Europeans. 

On Friday, Berkeley Repertory Theater opened a thoughtful production of this disturbing play on its smaller thrust stage, featuring an all-star Bay Area cast. Berkeley Rep is obviously aware that “Rhinoceros” is worthy of consideration in 2002, as our fast-moving, digital planet erupts in conflicting, chauvinistic spasms of political and religious conformity in the United States and elsewhere. 

“Rhinoceros” centers on a frazzled, put-upon Everyman in the form of middle-aged newspaper proofreader Berenger, played smoothly and ably in this production in a largely straightforward dramatic performance by nationally regarded former Pickle Family Circus clown Geoff Hoyle. 

Heavy in his soul, but light on his feet, Hoyle’s Berenger is rumpled in his a gray suit, but without the tie which he’s lost during a night of binging. A depressed character who drinks, Berenger expresses his malaise, “I just can’t get used to life.” 

Acting as Berenger’s foil is his well-dressed pal Jean (Berkeley Rep vet Jarion Monroe), a smug, self-satisfied friend who lectures Berenger on working hard, having a positive attitude, bucking up, and pulling himself together. 

As the two chat in an outdoor café, a rhinoceros suddenly appears on the street and generates a hullabaloo in town. Café patrons marvel at the event, and then debate about what just happened and what it might mean. Later there are more rhinos. Things turn ominous. 

Much of director Barbara Damashek’s Berkeley Rep production is an ensemble performance piece containing distinctive creations from the cast of twelve, several of whom play multiple roles. Jennifer Taggart is a stylish French café waitress from the 1950s. 

Gerald Hiken is a wonderful timid, confused café patron, and later a dangerous, supercilious, conspiracy-obsessed proofreader. Here he’s a man with all the answers, regardless of the questions.  

As a “professional logician,” Warren Keith manages to confuse the café rhino debate until none of the concepts are clear. 

Susan Marie Brecht is the trotting, high-heeled ingénue Daisy — who walks more slowly and deliberately by the end of the play. Andrew Hurteau is wonderful as smooth and affable business executive Dudard, reassuring Berenger that the rhinos aren’t as bad as he fears. 

The minus to “Rhinoceros” is that it is basically a simple metaphor about conformist impulses, stretched into a full-length play. Much of the dialogue is airless, philosophical debate that turns absurd. 

Such dialogue requires the director and cast to create subtexts and private, personal story lines in the characters to humanize the performance and make it interesting. The Rep production is largely successful in this task.  

In its initial lift-off, Damashek gives the ponderous dialogue a light touch and a colorful staging. The moments of chaos are well-orchestrated. 

Christopher Barreca’s lively scenic design creates a magical world that at times is like a human performance sculpture. Patches of orange paint surreptitiously appear on the ground following early rhino sightings. Stacks of newspaper fly into a printing shop. 

But “Rhinoceros” has a formulaic and predicable second half, and here the production bogs down. The play makes its basic point again and again, and tends to telegraph its turning points in advance. 

The conjugal prowl between male and female near the end is two-dimensional gender politics from an earlier era, nowadays cartoon-like at the moment when “Rhinoceros” needs a final, desperate emotional boost. 

Playwright Ionesco was born in Romania in 1909 to a French mother and Romanian father who fought and separated. He grew up in both countries. 

A literary critic, at age 40 he wrote his first play “The Bald Soprano,” which was produced in Paris in 1950. All of his playwriting from the 1950s uses a didactic writing style that seems common among former literary critics turned playwright, such as Bernard Shaw and Tom Stoppard. 

“Rhinoceros” mixes the personal and the political. Berenger suffers from depression and alcoholism, ailments that Ionesco himself experienced. 

And although it’s sometimes hard to know who, exactly, is crazy in this world of “collective hysteria,” as Ionesco described his play, its portrayal of a dangerous epidemic of social conformity is something we would be well advised to guard against today. 

Planet theater reviewer John Angell Grant has written for “American Theatre,” “Backstage West,” “Callboard,” and many other publications. E-mail him at jagplays@yahoo.com. 

“Rhinoceros,” presented by the Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addison Street, through March 10. Call (510) 647-2949, or visit www.berkeleyrep.org. 

Cal can’t pull off another miracle comeback 

The Associated Press 

LOS ANGELES – Dan Gadzuric heard cheers instead of whistles, and his lack of foul trouble provided a defensive difference for No. 13 UCLA. 

For the first time in four games, Gadzuric had fouls to give in the second half when the Bruins needed his presence to beat California 64-57 on Saturday. 

“If we keep Dan out of foul trouble and play good defense, we’ll win,” said Billy Knight, who had 16 points as the Bruins avoided a three-game losing streak for the first time in two years. 

Gadzuric had no fouls in the first half. He finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds in 34 minutes. He wasn’t whistled for his first foul until there was 8:26 remaining, drawing cheers from 12,275 at Pauley Pavilion. 

“I tried my best to stay out of foul trouble. I did a good job, I got to play a lot more and be a lot more of a presence in there,” he said. 

The Bruins (14-5) moved into a tie for third in the Pac-10 at 6-3 with No. 10 Arizona, and avoided a sweep by the Bay Area schools at the midpoint of the conference season. 

UCLA lost 86-76 to No. 17 Stanford on Thursday, and had blown a 20-point lead before losing to the Wildcats a week ago. 

“We really needed this game,” UCLA’s T.J. Cummings said. “We needed to get back on top of our game. This was our opportunity to be able to hop back on top.” 

California (14-4, 5-3) had its four-game winning streak snapped and dropped into a tie with Stanford for third in the league. 

Jason Kapono led the Bruins with 17 points. 

Joe Shipp scored 15 points to lead the Golden Bears, who tossed up several desperation 3-point attempts in the final minute. But they all missed, unlike Thursday night when the Bears surprised No. 23 Southern California 92-91 in overtime on a 3-pointer by Shantay Legans. 

The Bears, the league’s worst 3-point shooting team, were 5-of-15 from beyond the arc. Legans missed all six of his attempts. 

“People say Dan is foul-prone, but we didn’t test him,” Cal freshman Jamal Sampson said. “We didn’t get the ball inside and we didn’t hit outside down the stretch. We made so many outside shots against USC, I think we depended on that too much.” 

Gadzuric’s defense helped the Bruins hold the Bears to a season-low 20 field goals on 37 percent shooting. 

“When he plays 30-plus minutes, we’re a dominant team,” UCLA coach Steve Lavin said. “Dan did a better job of staying on his feet and not putting himself in the position where he’s off-balance or lunging or reaching or even giving an official a chance to make a call. Just stay down and be big.” 

Although UCLA led the entire second half, twice the Bears got within one point with 10 minutes remaining. Both times the Bruins answered with baskets — on a layup by Matt Barnes off freshman Cedric Bozeman’s alley-oop pass and freshman Dijon Thompson’s score off a steal. 

Bozeman scored inside to give UCLA a 50-45 lead with 8:54 remaining. Free throws by Sampson and Shipp drew California within three. 

Gadzuric missed two consecutive 1-and-1 opportunities, then Bozeman missed the front end of a 1-and-1 as the Bruins clung to their three-point lead. 

But Knight then sparked a 14-10 run with two consecutive baskets to close out a game in which the Bruins tied their second-lowest scoring output of the season. They also had 64 points in a victory over Columbia. 

The Bears had planned to attack Gadzuric, a strategy that Stanford used effectively in its win. 

“Gadzuric is the most active big man in the Pac-10. If he doesn’t get in foul trouble, he’s a real threat,” California coach Ben Braun said. “I told the guys they were settling for too many perimeter shots and not taking the opportunities to go inside.” 

Kapono’s basket gave UCLA a six-point lead and then he hit two free throws to stretch the lead to nine points with 22 seconds left. 

The Bruins fell behind by six with seven minutes left in the first half on a series of turnovers and fouls. Dennis Gates hit consecutive 3-pointers to give the Bears their largest lead of the half, 23-17. 

UCLA revived itself with a 15-7 run, including 12 in a row, to end the half ahead 32-30. Kapono hit a 3-pointer off a steal and Bozeman followed with a 3.

Looking out a café window at the stop-and-go procession of cars, trucks and buses on University Avenue, the city’s new assistant city manager for transportation sipped coffee and spoke about reducing personal automobile use. 

“My greatest challenge is to bring about a paradigm shift amongst my colleges in the transportation field away from focusing on the personal automobile,” Peter Hillier said, his English accent softened by his years in Canada. “I want to change the emphasis more towards pedestrians, cyclists and public transportation.” 

Hillier, as manager of the newly-created Office of Transportation, will be responsible for all transportation planning, traffic engineering and alternative transportation programs. Ultimately he will manage a staff of 12 planners and engineers. His office is expected to have an annual budget of $1.5 million. 

Hillier, the former Manager of Operational Planning and Policy for the City of Toronto, began work last week. One of Hillier’s primary functions will be mapping out a long-term transportation plan and traffic engineering strategy for the city as it braces for increased traffic flow resulting from greater population density and a large spurt of growth a UC Berkeley. 

“A big, big issue will be the absolute need to move some motorists into alternate forms of transportation,” he said. “It’s now a worldwide phenomenon to look at personal motor vehicle usage as becoming non-sustainable to the environment.” 

Another, and more immediate, task for his office, will be to improve safety on Berkeley’s streets.  

“The City of Berkeley has a high collision rate and that has to be addressed immediately,” he said.  

The Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Task Force report, released in March, 2000, found that Berkeley has four times the state average for bicycle collisions and twice the state average for pedestrian collisions as cities of similar size. 

Past planning problems 

Hillier’s arrival is expected to consolidate what has been divided and troubled effort in Berkeley to improve traffic conditions for pedestrians and bicyclists and increase ridership on public transportation. 

Some of the city’s traffic and transportation problems have been characterized by personal problems. In December, 2000, the city’s traffic engineer, Jeff Knolls, quit after being employed for only eight months. Then last May, the city’s first transportation planner, Joe Kott, quit three weeks after he was hired.  

Both Knolls and Kott cited internal conflict between the Department of Planning and Development, Public Works and at least three transit-oriented commissions as partial reasons for their departures. 

Since that time, City Manager Weldon Rucker has made transportation and traffic issues a priority. He created the Office of Transportation, which will operate out of the City Manager’s Office in the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center.  

“For the most part the city has approached transit issues in a fragmented manner,” Rucker said. “The new office is an attempt to get us all on the same page around these critical issues.” 

Many roads to Berkeley 

Hillier, 49, was born in London but is a citizen of Canada where he has lived for the last 32 years. He received a degree from the University of Toronto and has worked in transportation planning and engineering for the last 27 years. For the first 17 years of his career he worked in Guelph, a university town about the size of Berkeley. 

For the last 10 years, Hillier has worked in the City of Toronto, which has a population of 2.3 million. Hillier was head of Toronto’s Transportation Services Department, which maintained 3,100 miles of roads, 5,000 miles of sidewalks and 500 bridges. 

Hillier said that the larger Toronto, has many of the same traffic and transportation issues as Berkeley.  

“If you look at the freeway system in the Bay Area, there are a lot of the same congestion issues as in Toronto,” he said. “And the issues of pedestrian and bicycle safety and access for the disabled are common to Toronto and Berkeley.” 

Hillier, his wife, Kim, and their 6 and 10-year-old daughters, are currently looking for a home in Berkeley. He said it is essential for him to live in the same city in which he works.  

“I want to know the city intimately,” he said. “If I am going to be effective it’s important that I know firsthand the city’s transportation environment.”  

Editor:, 

In today's paper there is a story about the contributions received as of January 25 by the three Assembly candidates. I don't know where you got your numbers, but they are all wrong. According to the filings with the Secretary of State, which anyone can access on the web, the totals as of January 25 are as follows: Ramsey $250,865 (not $300,000!), Hancock $219,486, and Brown $116,764. 

Furthermore, your story ignores the fact that Loni Hancock has received significant labor contributions as well as Ramsey.  

But Ramsey's labor contributions are almost all from the building trades unions, while Loni has received many contributions from teachers unions and public employees; nor are Loni's union contributions as high a percent of her total contributions as Ramsey's approximately 40% of his total. Loni has hundreds of individual contributions, far more than Ramsey.  

By the way, Ramsey has more than PG&E to explain in his list of contributors; why is he accepting money from "The Evictors" in 

this district of small home owners and tenants?  

I know your paper has tried to be accurate and impartial in this race; but I don't know where you got the incorrect figures in your story.  

As a final point, you might research the amount of money on hand for each candidate. If you do, you will see that that, despite raising somewhat more than Loni to date, Ramsey has $15,000 less on hand. And it is what is on hand that counts. 

mal burnstein 

Treasurer, Loni Hancock for Assembly

The Cal women’s basketball team finally put up some decent offensive numbers on Saturday against Arizona. Unfortunately, they ran into a Wildcat team that was just a little too big and strong for the Bears to beat. 

Forwards Elizabeth Pickney and Lakeisha Taylor dominated the offensive glass for Arizona, combining for 34 points, most of them coming on putbacks of their teammates’ misses, as the Wildcats pounded their way to a 76-68 win. 

Amber White scored a season-high 14 points for Cal, and reserve forward Kiki Williams also put in 14 points in just 16 minutes of action. But although the Bears showed improvement in their offensive game, they couldn’t stop Arizona enough times to secure a win. 

“I feel it’s a different story, even though the outcome is similar,” Cal head coach Caren Horstmeyer said of her team’s ninth defeat in 10 Pac-10 games. “We had balanced scoring, we didn’t turn the ball over and we had 20 offensive boards. If we can continue to play as a team like that, good things are going to come.” 

Senior Ami Forney pulled down 7 offensive rebounds and scored 10 points, shaking a slump that has dogged her throughout conference play. But the big surprise was the play of Williams, who didn’t get any playing time in Cal’s loss to Arizona State on Thursday. Williams came off the bench early against the Wildcats and was aggressive on offense, taking 11 shots in her limited action. 

“When I get into the games, that’s how I expect myself to play every time,” Williams said of her offensive outburst. “I just need to get consistent and do that every day in practice and in every game I’m in.” 

The Bears started the game well, getting out to a 17-13 lead, but the game turned on a dime when Arizona guard Aimee Gryzb hit a 3-pointer, then backcourt mate Julie Brase stole a lazy inbounds pass for an easy layup. Suddenly the ’Cats were up 18-17 and had new life. Taylor and Pickney went to work on the inside, overwhelming Forney, who was Cal’s only low-post presence and fouled out late in the second half. Arizona went on a 10-0 run to grab a 32-22 lead, but White banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the deficit to seven points at halftime. 

The second half was much of the same, with Taylor and Pickney making life miserable down low for the Bears. The two were a combined 14-of-20 from the floor, not surprising since most of their shots came from within two feet of the basket, and the Wildcats shot 51 percent for the game. Pickney finished with a game-high 14 rebounds, and Taylor had 5 on the offensive side alone. Their inside presence opened up the outside for Arizona’s guards to shoot the 3, and they were 6-of-11 from beyond the arc. Gryzb hit 3-of-4 from long range on the way to a 15-point effort. 

Arizona took its biggest lead at 64-48 with seven minutes to play. Although the Bears put together an 8-0 run to get back within eight points, but Arizona guard Candice Allen answered with a 3-pointer to put down any hopes of a comeback. 

NOTES: Robin Roberson, the leading scorer from last season’s state finalist Berkeley High girls’ team and an Arizona freshman, had a disappointing homecoming on Saturday, playing just 10 minutes for the Wildcats. Roberson turned the ball over the first two times she touched it and finished with 2 points.

Copwatch: the name conjures up street battles of yore, with proud and defiant demonstrators asserting their legal rights to lunky, baton-wielding police. 

Indeed, the Berkeley branch of Copwatch prides itself on being at the vanguard of several seminal battles against the forces of oppression – the fight, in 1991, to keep the Freebox in People’s Park, and the ongoing effort to keep pepper spray out of the hands of the Berkeley Police Department, to name just two. 

Berkeley Copwatch, which has been around for almost 12 years, is best known for showing up at the scene of an arrest to document the conduct of the police. 

But sometimes, of a Saturday morning, Copwatch just likes to sit down over coffee and bagels to discuss the particulars of the California Penal Code. 

Saturday morning’s “advanced training session” at Copwatch HQ played like a literary salon, with special guest Jason Cox of the National Lawyers Guild fielding questions on car searches, anti-gang law and the legality of photographing or videotaping police officers in action. 

The eight veteran Copwatchers who came to the training didn’t protest when the conversation with Cox wandered away from Copwatching proper. They were eager to understand the finer points of various infractions, misdemeanors and felonies, because such things were interesting in themselves. 

Andrea Prichett, who co-facilitated the training, wanted to know when a police officer had the right to ask someone for their identification. 

“Cops can always ask someone for their I.D.,” Cox said, “the question is when the cops can demand I.D.” 

Cox gave an example: a policeman pulls over a car for speeding. In theory, the policeman has the right to demand the driver’s I.D., but he may only ask for the passenger’s. 

However, the issue gets sticky if the policeman has a reasonable suspicion that there may be another crime connected to the car. The officer may smell marijuana, or see a gun underneath the driver’s seat. 

In that case, the cop may ask for the passenger’s identification as well. He may even detain the passenger. 

The situation would be quite differently if the cop had found the two people walking together down the street. In that case, he would have to have a reason to suspect the non-suspect – the “passenger” – of a crime. 

“There’s a whole automotive exception to the Constitution,” Cox said. 

What if the cops found two juveniles sitting on the street with a beer between them, Prichett wondered. Would the officer have to ascertain who the beer belonged to before asking for I.D.? 

Cox said that he would not. The situation was similar to that found in many drug busts. If police enter a home and find several people and several pound of marijuana, it may not be immediately clear who owns it. They may consider everyone in the house a suspect. 

“You can have what’s called ‘joint possession,’” Cox said. 

“Literally!” interjected Copwatcher Russ Bates, to much amusement. 

Much of Cox’s information that pertained directly to Copwatching had to do with how people could record the police in action.  

He said that photographing police was always legal, as long as they were in a public place and the photographer was not interfering with the arrest. 

Videotaping was something of a gray area, Cox said, because of the audio track. California law prohibits the recording of a conversation unless both parties give their consent. 

However, he noted, the law only applied when parties in a conversation had a reasonable expectation of privacy. Given that the policeman would be expected – even compelled – to give an account of a conversation made during an arrest, there should be no expectation of privacy. 

So, Cox concluded, Copwatchers videotaping an arrest should be on solid legal ground. 

Copwatcher Karin Hilton said that she was concerned about the other side of the equation – police videotaping political activists at rallies and demonstrations. Shouldn’t there be a law?  

“As best as I can figure out,” said Cox, “cops have as much a right to videotape you as you have to videotape them.” 

Aspiring Copwatchers are asked to attend a workshop on Feb. 6, from 7 to 10 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. For more information, call 548-0425.

Editor: 

It would seem prudent to refrain from torturing Taliban prisoners so that American captives will not be similarly mistreated. 

The Enron executives, however, are another matter. 

Carol Denney 

Berkeley

Monday 

Boys Soccer – St. Mary’s vs. Piedmont, 3:30 p.m. at Piedmont High School 

Boys Basketball – St. Mary’s vs. John Swett, 7 p.m. at John Swett High School 

Girls Basketball – St. Mary’s vs. John Swett, 7 p.m. at St. Mary’s College High School 

Tuesday 

Girls Soccer – Berkeley vs. DeAnza, 3:30 p.m. at DeAnza High School 

Boys Soccer – Berkeley vs. DeAnza, 5 p.m. at Berkeley High School 

Boys Basketball – Berkeley vs. DeAnza, 7 p.m. at DeAnza High School 

Girls Basketball – Berkeley vs. DeAnza, 7 p.m. at Berkeley High School 

Wednesday 

Boys Basketball – Berkeley vs. Richmond, 7 p.m. at Richmond High School 

Boys Basketball – St. Mary’s vs. Albany, 7 p.m. at St. Mary’s College High School 

Girls Basketball – Berkeley vs. Richmond, 7 p.m. at Richmond High School 

Girls Basketball – St. Mary’s vs. Albany, 7 p.m. at Albany High School 

Thursday 

Boys Soccer – Berkeley vs. Richmond, 5 p.m. at Richmond High School 

Girls Soccer – Berkeley vs. Richmond, 5:30 p.m. at Berkeley High School 

Men’s Basketball – Cal vs. Arizona, 7 p.m. at Haas Pavilion 

Friday 

Boys Soccer – St. Mary’s vs. St. Patrick, 3:30 p.m. at St. Patrick High School 

Girls Soccer – St. Mary’s vs. St. Patrick, 3:30 p.m. at St. Mary’s College High School 

Boys Basketball – Berkeley vs. Pinole Valley, 7 p.m. at Berkeley High School 

Boys Basketball – St. Mary’s vs. St. Joseph, 7 p.m. at St. Joseph High School

Editor: 

Perhaps President Bush, the brilliant, ethical American leader of the War on Terrorism, should consider--being that he is dismayed by Palestinians' importing arms into the occupied territories--declaring to the world that the U.S. will observe a moratorium on arms and munitions shipments to Israel if the Palestinians will also abide by such a moratorium. Lacking such reciprocity the brilliance of our President's pronouncements may appear, to some, tarnished.  

On the other hand, of course, President Bush's concern for the victims of his "former" number one booster and pal Ken Lay, are unquestionably sincere. Bush had nothing to do with assuring Mr. Lay's energy deregulation agenda. Right?  

Marc Sapir, MD  

Berkeley 

SAN FRANCISCO — About 200 friends and supporters of Diane Whipple held a candlelight in a rain-soaked park Saturday to show they hadn’t forgotten the popular woman mauled to death by dogs at her doorstep last year. 

“What really happened is a wonderful, capable, loving memorable woman lost her life under circumstances that were eminently and completely avoidable,” said Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. 

Whipple, 33, was attacked in a hallway Jan. 26, 2001, as she carried groceries to her luxury apartment in the Pacific Heights neighborhood. 

Kendell’s organization and several other groups, including Friends of Diane, organized the vigil. 

Several members of Whipple’s St. Mary’s lacrosse team huddled together on the park grass, hugging and sharing memories of their former coach. Whipple’s partner, Sharon Smith, remembered her as a competitive athlete and a teacher in life. 

“In the seven years I spent my life with Diane Alexis, she was most proud of her athletic accomplishments,” Smith said, referring to Whipple by her middle name. 

Whipple enjoyed poetry, long hikes, the ocean and her friends, Smith said. 

“She believed in living your life to the fullest,” Smith said. 

The two large Presa Canarios that attacked Whipple weighed more than 100 pounds each and belonged to her neighbors Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel. 

Knoller is charged with second-degree murder. Both Knoller and Noel are also charged with involuntary manslaughter and keeping vicious dogs. The murder charge carries up to 15 years in prison, the manslaughter charges up to four. 

The criminal trial starts in March in Los Angeles, a change of venue because of the national media attention the case has received. 

Knoller, who was walking the dogs when the attack happened, said she was dragged down the hall by one of the animals. Whipple’s larynx was crushed and her neck ripped open. 

In response to the dog attack last year, the city tightened enforcement of its leash laws. Citizens expressed outrage at large dogs being in public places. 

Knoller and Noel have also been outspoken in the past, calling the dogs’ behavior out of character. The media has centered on several bizarre twists in the case, including the couple’s friendship with a prison inmate who owned the dogs and possible sexual evidence in the case. 

Smith has filed a separate wrongful death suit against Knoller and Noel. 

Smith won a court ruling to allow same-sex couples to file wrongful death suits. Courts had previously considered such suits unconstitutional. The civil suit is in the discovery process. 

WALNUT CREEK — Generose Yambao is accused of stealing the identities of 22 people and nearly $400,000 in goods and services before she was arrested in Florida. 

Yambao was arraigned last week in Oakland in federal court, but has not entered a plea. 

Federal prosecutors say Yambao, 22, of San Ramon, used, among other things, information on a video store membership application to buy a sport utility vehicle and that she used information on a student loan statement to finance a shopping spree in which she allegedly spent more than $38,900. 

Her public defender and family members did not comment to the Contra Costa Times. 

A grand jury indicted Yambao on suspicion of possessing and using credit account numbers, identity theft, fraudulently using a Social Security number and transporting a stolen vehicle across state lines. While the indictment names 22 people, prosecutors believe Yambao may have used the identities of more than 50. 

OAKLAND — Deaf and hearing impaired students at two University of California campuses are suing, claiming the schools don’t adequately accommodate their disability. 

The class-action suit was filed in Alameda County Superior Court on behalf of almost 200 students at UC Berkeley and UC Davis. 

The suit claims the campuses do not meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The students claim such deficiencies as videos being shown without closed captioning and an emergency phone system that won’t work for deaf people. 

The universities say they comply with the act and provide adequate services. The suit is a companion to a federal suit brought two years ago that is scheduled for trial in June. 

WASHINGTON — When Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s interim leader, meets President Bush on Monday, he is expected to seek a continuing U.S. commitment to help restore the peace in his violence-torn country, Afghan officials say. 

Karzai arrived here Sunday afternoon, the first Afghan leader to visit Washington in 39 years. 

Before leaving for the United States, Karzai told Afghan television that he would use the trip to push for the expansion of a multinational peacekeeping force into the rest of Afghanistan. 

Afghan officials believe troops are needed in the countryside to deal with regional warlords and armed gangs. They also have indicated they want American troops to participate. 

“This is the determination of the Afghan people,” Karzai said. 

The Bush administration has resisted U.S. involvement in the 2,500-person British-led international security assistance force operating in Kabul. Thousands more troops are expected. 

Karzai, 44, attended a prayer service at a mosque in suburban Virginia in the afternoon and planned an evening address at Georgetown University. 

Several hundred Afghan-Americans at the mosque were brought up to date on the situation in Afghanistan by Karzai, who spoke in one of the main languages of Afghanistan. 

The predominantly male audience applauded frequently during his 25-minute presentation. 

No translation was provided. 

The Bush administration is undecided on how long U.S. troops, currently numbering about 4,000, should remain in Afghanistan. 

Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah said in an interview Friday he believes U.S. and international forces should remain in Afghanistan beyond the six-month life of the interim government. 

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said last week that American troops will remain in Afghanistan at least until the summer. The interim government steps down in June and will be replaced by a government selected by a national council. 

The American military focus in Afghanistan has been on hunting down remnants of the Taliban regime that was deposed in November and the al-Qaida terrorist group, headed by Osama bin Laden. 

Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday he believes bin Laden, blamed for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, is still alive. 

“We haven’t seen him, obviously, in the flesh recently, and he’s been very quiet,” Cheney told “Fox News Sunday.” “He hasn’t released any videos or made any public pronouncements. But I think, if he were dead, there’d be more indications of it than we’ve seen.” 

In addition to security issues, Bush and Karzai are expected to discuss rebuilding Afghanistan, and political issues such as the role of women in Afghan civic institutions, a U.S. official said. 

Karzai will be a guest of honor Tuesday when Bush delivers the State of the Union address. 

SANTA CLARA — A long-awaited new wireless handheld from Palm Inc. was set to hit store shelves Monday, giving the world’s leading PDA maker an important weapon in the fight against encroaching rivals. 

The new i705 personal digital assistant has a built-in antenna for wireless Web access and secure, “always-on” access to business or personal e-mails and instant messages through its Palm.net service. The device is a replacement to the Palm VII models that were bulkier and did not have as many features or a rechargeable battery. 

The PDA weighs 5.9 ounces and has the same SD-expansion card and universal connector slots like that of other new high-end Palm products. To avoid the battery drain of a color screen, Palm said it is releasing only a monochrome model. 

The $449 device is targeted for the lucrative and growing corporate customer market — a segment Palm wants to dominate and one that company officials and industry observers say is critical for Palm’s long-term success. 

Palm holds the lead in worldwide market share but saw its share drop to 43.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2001 from 53 percent in the year-ago period, while shares of Microsoft Corp.’s Pocket PC-based devices, such as Compaq’s iPaq and Hewlett-Packard’s Jornada, grew, according to the International Data Corp. market research firm. Research In Motion’s BlackBerry e-mail pager, which was previously the only handheld device offering an integrated “always-on” connection, has also been popular among business customers. 

“Pocket PC continues to be a powerful and serious option for the (corporate market), but now Palm has a serious offering that takes it on head-to-head,” said analyst Tim Bajarin of market research firm Creative Strategies. 

Palm — already struggling last year to recover from operational missteps, including a massive inventory glut from the economic downturn and stalled sales from pre-announcing its m500 line — took more criticism when it twice delayed the i705 launch. 

Company officials acknowledged they needed the time to make software refinements. “We could have pushed it out the door, but it wouldn’t have been the right thing to do,” said John Cook, Palm’s senior director of technology marketing. 

The delays were probably prudent, Bajarin said. It’s better to do it right now than to have done it wrong three months ago and have egg on their face,” he said. 

WASHINGTON — Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday defended President Bush’s right to refuse to identify the executives the White House met with in formulating the administration’s energy policy. 

Amid the Enron scandal, Congress’ investigative arm will soon decide whether to sue to force the White House to turn over documents on the meetings last year with representatives of energy companies. They included the now-collapsed Enron Corp., a Houston-based company with deep ties to Bush. 

Cheney acknowledged that the dispute “probably will get resolved in court.” Last week, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer had left open the possibility of a compromise. 

The White House said recently that representatives of Enron, an energy trader that was ranked as the seventh-largest U.S. corporation, met six times on energy issues last year with Cheney or his aides. Thousands of employees and big and small investors nationwide lost fortunes in Enron’s plunging stock as the company spiraled into the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history on Dec. 2. 

MAPUTO, Mozambique — Enron Corp.’s bankruptcy has canceled plans for a natural-gas fueled factory that would have produced steel for export from Mozambique, the Mozambique News Agency reported Sunday. 

The Maputo Iron and Steel Project was supposed to be built on the outskirts of the capital Maputo and was expected to produce as much as 1.8 million metric tons of steel slabs annually. Houston-based Enron would have invested $1.1 billion in the project. 

An official from the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy said the departure of Enron all but ended the government’s hopes that a similar project could be set up in the southern African nation. 

WASHINGTON — The White House on Friday ordered a review of $70 million worth of federal contracts with Enron Corp. and the Arthur Andersen accounting firm to determine whether the embattled companies are worthy of government business. 

In a letter to the General Services Administration, which oversees government contracts, budget director Mitchell E. Daniels said charges of document shredding, manipulative accounting practices and other activities “could reflect poorly” on the companies and their ability to meet government ethics standards. 

In a somber development elsewhere on Friday, a former Enron executive was found shot to death in a car in a suburb of Houston — an apparent suicide, police said. 

The executive, 43-year-old J. Clifford Baxter, had challenged the company’s questionable financial practices and resigned last May. 

WASHINGTON — American Airlines and British Airways walked away from a proposed alliance rather than give up takeoff and landing slots at London’s Heathrow Airport. 

The decision marks the second time in five years that the two airlines dropped their request to set rates and routes together and sell each other’s tickets because federal regulators insisted that they give up the coveted slots as part of the deal. 

The two airlines said Friday they would still try to work together within existing rules. 

Transportation Department spokesman Leonardo Alcivar said the airlines’ decision means the agency will not act on the carriers’ current application for an alliance. The airlines could come back with a new plan, Alcivar said. 

DETROIT — Bankrupt retailer Kmart Corp. has begun an internal investigation after receiving an anonymous letter claiming to be from employees that raised questions about its accounting. 

The nation’s third largest discount retailer, which filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday, said it notified the Securities and Exchange Commission and is cooperating with the regulatory agency, which is conducting its own investigation. 

The disclosure comes amid heightened sensitivity about accounting issues in the wake of the collapse of energy trader Enron Corp. amid questionable accounting practices. 

Kmart said Friday that the letter, which it received just over a week ago, was addressed to its auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers, its board of directors and the SEC. 

The City Council will meet in closed session Tuesday to discuss a developer’s threat to sue the city over its affordable housing ordinance. 

John DeClercq, senior vice president of TransAction Companies, is threatening to sue the city if an appeal, which is currently before the City Council, is not decided in his favor. DeClercq filed the appeal against his own 175-unit project known as the Library Gardens at 2020 Kittredge St., which was approved by the Zoning Adjustments Board in November.  

DeClercq’s appeal asks that the City Council exempt Library Gardens from the Inclusionary Housing Restriction, which requires all developments of five or more residential units to include affordable housing. 

During the meeting, the council will confer with the City Attorney’s Office about the validity of DeClercq’s legal challenge. 

The basis of the threatened lawsuit is that the Inclusionary restrictions in the city’s Zoning Ordinance are inconsistent with an element in the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act that requires residential development built after 1995 not be subject to rent control. 

Neither DeClercq nor his attorney returned calls to the Daily Planet on Friday.  

Councilmember Polly Armstrong said she was unfamiliar with the particulars of the case but said the lawsuit, if successful, could potentially damage diversity in the downtown area. 

“I always thought the Inclusionary Housing ordinance was a wonderful thing for downtown diversity,” she said. “But this is something that needs to be straightened out. We need to find out what’s legal.” 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said if the affordable housing requirement is stricken from the Zoning Ordinance, it could have a devastating effect on the city’s affordable housing stock.  

“It’s a pretty drastic threat to the ability of Berkeley or any other city to integrate affordable housing throughout the city,” he said.  

DeClercq won approval by the ZAB to build the Library Gardens, a 176-unit apartment building with 9,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and 455 parking spaces in the heart of downtown Berkeley. The ZAB approved the project on Nov. 11 by a vote of 7-1. 

But despite having the project approved, DeClercq has taken the unusual step of appealing the ZAB’s decision. The appeal is asking the council to remove the affordable housing requirement.  

The Director of Housing Stephen Barton said the city’s Inclusionary Housing Requirement mandates that one in every five units be set aside for low-income tenants. He said half of those set asides are required to go to Section 8 tenants and the other half for tenants who earn 80 percent of the areas median income. 

According to Barton, 80 percent of the median income in Berkeley is $45,000 per year for two people, an income that would require them to not pay more than $1,045 for a small two-bedroom apartment. 

Barton said that about 64 jurisdictions in California that have Inclusionary zoning ordinances.  

“An adverse ruling on Berkeley’s Inclusionary ordinance could have negative effects on a lot of places,” he said.

Saturday, Jan. 26

Bay Area Women in Black  

2 - 3 p.m. 

Fourth & Hearst streets 

A silent vigil to oppose the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Please wear black, everyone is welcome. 486-2744, bayareawomeninblack@earthlink.net. 

Vocal Jazz Workshop and  

Jazz Jam 

9:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. 

Albany Adult School 

601 San Gabriel St. 

Workshops for singers and instrumentalists led by Richard Kalman to explore Jazz in a small jazz combo format. $5-$12 per class. 524-6796, richkalman@aol.com. 

Puberty Seminar for Girls 

10:30 a.m.- 2 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

2230 Shattuck Ave. 

For girls ages 8-14. Understand why your body is changing, and celebrate your rite of passage. Refreshments. $25-$30. (Mothers free. ) 595-3814. 

Book Talk and Signing 

3 - 5 p.m. 

The Berkshire Assisted Living Community 

2235 Sacramento Way 

Victor Bogart will discuss his new book “Assumptions” and “6 steps for Shifting Gears on the Senior Highway.” 841-4844. 

Magic School Bus Video  

Festival 

10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Dr., above the UC Berkeley Campus 

Watch Ms. Frizzle take her skeptical class from outer space to inside a dog’s noise in seven different video adventures shown on the big screen and lasting for three hours. 

Youth and Race: 

Issues and Solutions 

9:30 a.m. - noon 

Elihu Harris State Building Auditorium 

1515 Clay St., Oakland 

Assemblywoman Dion Aroner (D-Berkeley/Oakland) will convene a town hall meeting of elected representatives, youth advocates, and public policy makers to identify and develop solutions for the problems facing young people. 540-3660. 

Sunday, Jan. 27

Neighborhood Clean-Up Day 

11 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Youth Services Center 

1730 Oregon St. 

Clean up blocks: Russell St., Oregon St., McGee, Stuart, Grant and California St. 981-6670, www.ci.berkeley.ca.us. 

School Open House 

10:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. 

School of the Madeleine 

1225 Milvia St. 

Applications for grades K-8 available. Kindergarten informational meeting at noon. 526-4744, www.themadeleine.com. 

Organ Music 

5 p.m. 

MusicSources 

1000 The Alameda 

Ron McKean performs Ferscobaldi, Froberger and Bach, and improvises in the style of each composer. Reception follows concert. $15 - $18. 528-1685. 

Japanese Traditional  

Drumming 

2 p.m. 

Julia Morgan Center 

2640 College Ave. 

Emeryville Taiko presents a fun and interactive event for children and families. $10 adults, $5 children. 925-798-1300. 

Monday, Jan. 28

East Bay Heritage Quilters 

7:30 p.m. 

First Unitarian Church 

1 Lawson Rd., Kensington 

Guest Speaker, Alice Kolb, offers instruction on how to narrow many ideas into a focused garment. $3 non-members, free for members. 834-3706 

Writing an Ethical Will  

Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Writers of ethical wills hope to convey what they have learned in life. All writing levels and native languages welcome. $30. To register call: 848-0237 X127. 

Institute of Government  

Studies 

12 p.m. 

223 Moses Hall 

UC Berkeley Campus 

Ronald Rogowski discusses majoritarian electoral systems and consumer power. 642-4608, www.igs.berkeley.edu 

Institute of Government  

Studies 

12 p.m. 

119 Moses Hall 

UC Berkeley Campus 

John Skrentny discusses “The Minority Rights Revolution.” 642-4608, www.igs.berkeley.edu 

Tuesday, Jan 29 

Berkeley High School Site 

Council Meeting  

4 p.m. 

Berkeley High School 

Room H105 

2246 Milvia St.  

On the agenda will be a vote on staff development and discussion of the school site plan. The meeting is open to the BHS community. www.bhs.berkeley.k12.ca.us/ssc/.  

Experimental Music Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Tuva Space 

3192 Adeline 

The Cardew Choir announces three public experimental music workshops led by visiting composer and poet Joseph Zitt. Free and open to the public. 204-0607, www.metatronpress.com/artists/cardewchoir/. 

Camera Club Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church 

941 The Alameda 

Weekly meeting of the Berkeley Camera Club offers the opportunity to share slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. 547-4514 

Dens(c)ity: Two or Three Things  

about Architecture  

and the New World Order 

12:30 - 2 p.m. 

UC Berkeley 

119 Moses Hall 

Lesley Naa Norle Lokko is a Principal Lecturer and Academic Leader in the 

School of Architecture and Interior Design, University of North London. Her research focuses on questions of race and cultural identity and their relationship to architectural and urban culture. 642-5992, bcgit@uclink.berkeley.edu. 

Wednesday, Jan. 30

Baby Bounce and Toddler Tales 

7 p.m. 

Public Library, West Branch 

1125 University Ave. 

A participatory program for families with children up to age 3. Stories, songs and fingerplays as entertainment and as a way for parents to learn some new material to share with their young ones. 981-6270. 

Peace Walk and Vigil 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley BART Station 

A peace walk and vigil to demonstrate opposition to U.S. bombing of Afghanistan. Ends at MLK Civic Center Park. www.indymedia.org. 

American Political History  

Seminar 

4 p.m. 

UC Berkeley 

109 Moses Hall 

Haynes Johnson, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, will be talking about his new book, “The Best of Times: America in the Clinton Years.” 642-4608, www.igs.berkeley.edu:8880/. 

– Compiled by Guy Poole 

High on a Berkeley hillside stands an unusual structure. Called Temple of Wings it served as the home and dance studio for Florence Treadwell Boynton and later for her daughter and son-in-law Sulgwynn and Charles Quitzow until the mid-1980s.  

Florence Treadwell Boynton grew up in Oakland and was a childhood friend and admirer of Isadora Duncan. Isadora (1878-1927) was born in San Francisco, but grew up in Oakland where she began giving dance classes as early as the age of 10. Initially inspired by the movement of the ocean, Isadora developed a theory of expressive dance which broke from the restrictive movements of classical ballet.  

Inspired also by ancient Greek sculpture and painting, Isadora found images that were the models for her flowing costumes. Isadora told her pupils in her 1927 autobiography, My Life, to “...listen to the music with your soul ... feel an inner self awakening deep within you...”  

And she described herself: “... My art is an effort to express truth in gesture and movement ...” 

According to some sources, Isadora was the main force in bringing interpretive dance to the mainstream of the creative arts and was one of the most innovative, and internationally famous, turn-of-the 20th-century modern dancers.  

Although Isadora lived her adult life in Europe, Florence Treadwell Boynton created a home and dance school that reflected Isadora’s theories and inspirations. Temple of Wings was originally designed and constructed as a Greco-Roman colonnaded open-air residence. The first drawings for the temple were done by Bernard Maybeck in 1911 and the project was completed in 1914.  

After the 1923 fire destroyed all but the reinforced concrete Corinthian-style columns, Mrs. Boynton built the present two-story house constructed within the framework of the original columns. It contains two living units on either side of an open U-shaped courtyard. On the ground floor of each unit there is a single large room designed as a dance studio. As a building, the Temple of Wings enhanced the interrelationship of art and daily life symbolizing Berkeley’s reputation at the turn-of-the-twentieth century as the “Athens of the West.” 

At the Temple of Wings generations of Berkeley children learned the theories of expressive, interpretive dance under the guidance of Mrs. Boynton or her daughter or son-in-law. Berkeley photographer, Margaretta K. Mitchell captured the dance recitals performed at Temple of Wings during the 1970s in a portfolio entitled “Dance for Life.”  

Margaret Norton of the San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum referred to Temple of Wings as “one of the crucibles in which modern dance ... was forged.” 

Susan Cerny is author of “Berkeley Landmarks” and writes this in conjunction with the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.  

Editor: 

Until earlier today I was not going to write a letter about the sexual content broadcast time that was voted on at the last Berkeley Community Media Board of Directors meeting. Although I feel that 2-4 a.m. is extreme and likely to be taken as an act of censorship I had already stated that at that meeting when the vote was held.  

However, today I read an article in the Berkeley Daily Planet about a violent shooting in South Berkeley, very close to my home, that shocked and appalled 

me. I began to wonder how someone could consciously commit such a horrific act of violence, and then I realized that our culture encourages this through 

the violence portrayed on television, in the movies and on videogames.  

This brings me to my point about the decision made by the BCM board at this last meeting. I agree with the concerned parents who are worried about what 

their children might see while watching a TV channel that does not censor. This is why I support the 10 p.m. adult content timeslot. I can even see moving it to 11 or 12. However, if those parents are so concerned, why are their children watching television without supervision late at night? I understand that as an organization we cannot question the parenting skills of Berkeley residents. However, when I have children I will be more concerned with the amount of violence that is accessible, even during the day, on every TV channel, including B-TV. In my opinion a sexual act is far more natural then an act of gun violence. I could launch into a tirade about how I feel about the societal views of sex and violence in our country, however this is not the place.  

It seems to me that public access television is the ideal platform for issues such as these. It seems to me that public access television is instituted so that individuals are able to make their voices heard, so that we can hear the common person's views, and not just the views of those who fund national television. Isn't part of our mission to “encourage creative expression and democratic involvement”? My question is this: if we are going to separate sexual content from adult content, what happens when a producer decides to play ultra violent programming? Who are we to decide what is appropriate to play at 10 p.m. and what needs to be held until 2 a.m.? 

I understand that this decision is meant to be a temporary one until a better solution can be found. I also do not like being known as “that channel that plays porn”.  

BCM is so much more than that to our community. I understand that we all have personal opinions that need to be overlooked when making a decision such as this. I understand that this is a hot issue in the community right now that needs to be addressed. However, I urge the Board of Directors to rethink 

their decision.  

I fully support moving all adult programming to 11 p.m. or even 12 a.m. I also suggest the idea of planning some sort of informational forum where this issue 

can be discussed and aired for the community at large. I do feel that although this is an important and timely matter, time must be put into finding a solution. 

I hope that a solution can be found and thought about at length before being put into action. I am willing to share any information that I have on the legality 

of obscenity on community television with anyone interested.  

Again, I had not planned on writing this letter. I have heard numerous complaints from both BCM members, and Berkeley residents, though far fewer than 

Brian Scott has fielded. I understand that this is a tricky matter and as I said before I am willing to provide input or suggestions if anyone is interested. 

Sage Mandzik 

Assistant Director 

Berkeley Community Media

Many people think writer-director Todd Solondz’s films are about outcasts and the heartbreaking things people do to them. They’re not, and they wouldn’t be so good if they were. 

Like his previous films “Welcome to the Dollhouse” and “Happiness,” Solondz’s “Storytelling” looks unsentimentally at the heartbreaking things outcasts do to themselves. It’s better by far than “Happiness” or “Dollhouse,” both of which were remarkable. 

Divided into two parts called “Fiction” and “Nonfiction,” “Storytelling” is rich with exquisite and sad details, from the gorgeous Belle and Sebastian songs that begin and end the film to the slurpy throat-clearing actor Leo Fitzpatrick uses to convey the pain cerebral palsy brings to his character, Marcus. 

“Fiction” focuses on a creative writing class at a third-rate college in the early days of political correctness. It’s taught by Mr. Scott (Robert Wisdom), a black author whose Pulitzer Prize isn’t enough to get him a better job. 

Full of resentment, his only release is tormenting students, as he does when Marcus writes a story about a girl who helps his protagonist overcome cerebral palsy. Mr. Scott doesn’t spare Marcus’ feelings. 

“You ride on a wave of cliches so wan it almost approaches the level of grotesquerie,” he says, in one of his mellower critical pronouncements. 

The students, especially Vi (Selma Blair), are too taken with their teacher’s talent — and his race — to call him on his cruelty. 

Vi, who wanders around campus in T-shirts saying “Biko Lives” and “USA for Africa,” fights the urge to think anything bad about her professor when she finds pictures of tied-up coeds in his apartment. 

“Don’t be racist! Don’t be racist! Don’t be racist!” she tells herself. 

Desperate to avoid doing anything Mr. Scott or Marcus might find condescending, she does nothing at all. Looking pathetically for Mr. Scott’s approval, she consents to have sex with him while screaming a racial slur he tells her to use. 

To avoid an NC-17 rating, Solondz agreed to insert a large red rectangle over parts of the scene. Rather than distracting us, as might be expected, it adds to the sense of shame and exploitation. 

Only 30 minutes long, “Fiction” has the directness and shock value of a great punk song. 

Fine acting and intelligent touches also abound in “Nonfiction,” which begins with an uncomfortable but very funny what-if scenario: What would it be like to call a former high school classmate whose yearbook entries still beckon, “Keep in touch!” or “I will always love you!” 

“Nonfiction” begins with Toby (Paul Giamatti) giving in to the sentiments that better-adjusted people dismiss, phoning a girl who had a crush on him. He pitifully reveals to her that he’s failed at everything he’s attempted since his promising high school years. 

He tries to recapture his past glory by making a documentary, and finds a subject in Scooby, a New Jersey stoner he discovers lighting up in a school restroom. 

Toby tells administrators and Scooby’s parents (John Goodman and Julie Hagerty) that he wants to focus on Scooby’s decisions about college. But Toby also thinks he can milk a few laughs by mocking Scooby and his dream of hosting a talk show. 

To make a film ridiculing Scooby’s life, he has to win his trust. 

Mark Webber does a skillful job of making the taciturn and often intoxicated Scooby into the film’s most sympathetic character. Solondz, like Toby, walks a fine line between portraying Scooby’s family sympathetically and sarcastically — until he eventually makes them out to be an awful bunch. 

Several misfortunes fall their way, the worst of which involves their housekeeper Consuelo (Lupe Ontiveros). In countless stupid movies, housekeepers are played for laughs. But Consuelo’s life is hard, not funny, and the last laugh is hers. 

You know a movie’s going to be jarring when it has a cameo by Conan O’Brien, one of the funniest people alive, and he’s self-consciously unamusing. 

But “Storytelling” doesn’t just shoot down expectations for the sake of shaking up its audience — it has thoughtful and important things to say about exploitation, condescension, and telling stories both honestly and otherwise. 

And complicated as its characters and structure may be, “Storytelling” couldn’t be more honest. 

“Storytelling,” a Fine Line Features release, is rated R for strong sexual content, language and some drug use. Running time: 87 minutes. 

——— 

Motion Picture Association of America rating definitions: 

G — General audiences. All ages admitted. 

PG — Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children. 

PG-13 — Special parental guidance strongly suggested for children under 13. Some material may be inappropriate for young children. 

R — Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. 

NC-17 — No one under 17 admitted. 

924 Gilman Jan. 26: Mile Marker, Yaphet Kotto, Pirx the Pilot, Himsa, Confidante; Jan. 27: Bane, Over My Dead Body, Striking Distance, Breath In; Feb. 1: American Steel, Pitch Black, Fleshies, The Blottos, Sexy; Feb. 2: Dead and Gone, Black Cat Music, The Cost, The Frisk; Feb. 8: Divit, Scissorhands, Rufio, Don’t Look Down, Fenway Park; Feb. 9: Pansy Division, Subincision, The Fadeaways; All shows start a 8 p.m. unless noted; Most are $5; 924 Gilman St. 525-9926. 

ACME Observatory Contemporary Performance Series Jan. 27: 8 p.m., Jane Rigler; Feb. 3: 8 p.m., Gail Brand from London, Carlo Actis Dato from Italy; $0-$20 TUVA Space, 3192 Adeline, http://sfSound.org/acme.html. 

The Albatross Jan. 26: Al Guzman Jazz Quartet; Jan. 31: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Feb. 2: Paul Schneider; Feb. 5: Carla Kaufman and Larry Scala; Feb. 6: Whiskey Brothers; Feb. 7: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Feb. 9: 9:30 p.m., Tipsy House Irish Music; Feb. 12: Mad & Eddie Duran; Feb. 14: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Feb. 18: Paul Schneider; Feb. 19: Carla Kaufman and Larry Scala; Feb. 20: Whiskey Brothers; Feb. 21: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Feb. 23: 9:30 p.m., Dave Creamer Jazz Quartet; Feb. 26: Mad & Eddie Duran; Feb. 28: Keni “El Lebrijano”; All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless noted. 822 San Pablo Ave., 843-2473, albatrosspub@mindspring.com. 

Anna’s Bistro Jan. 26: Robin Gregory & Bliss Rodriguez; Jan. 27: “Acoustic Soul”; Jan. 28: “Renegade Sidemen” w/Calvin Keyes; Jan. 29: Tangria; Jan. 30: Bob Schoen; Jan. 31: Jason Martineau & Dave Sayen; Music starts at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., 1801 University Ave., 849-2662. 

Blake’s Jan. 26: Dank Man Shank, TBA, $5; Jan. 27: Motivators, Funklogic, $3; Jan. 28: All Star Jam Featuring The Steve Gannon Band, $4; Jan. 29: Funkanauts, Len Patterson Trio, $3; Jan. 30: Sunru, Slaptones, DJ Kurse, $10; Jan. 31: Electronica w/ Ascension, $5; 2367 Telegraph Ave., 877-488-6533. 

Club Jjang-Ga Jan. 26: Krenshaw, Bearing, Lucid Inc., Zodiacal Circle; 400 29th Ave., Oakland, 261-1108, savageproductions1@ yahoo.com. 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Jazzschool Jan. 27: 4:30 p.m., Michael Zilber, Sons of Bitches Brew; Feb. 3: 4:30 p.m., Art Hirahara, Todd Sickafoose and Scott Amendola Trio; $6-$12. 2087 Addison St., 845-5373, www.jazzschool.com. 

Jupiter Jan. 26: Berkeley Jazz School Presents: Fourtet; Jan. 30: Joel Harrison Quartet; All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless noted. 2181 Shattuck Ave., 843-7625, www.jupiterbeer.com. 

La Pena Cultural Center Jan. 26: 8 p.m., Naked Barbies: The Concert, $10-$15; Jan. 26: 10:30 a.m., Gary Lapow, $4 adults, $3 Children; Jan. 27: 7:30 p.m., Leticia Servín, $10-$8; 3105 Shattack Ave, 893-4648.  

Live Oaks Concerts: Berkeley Art Center Jan. 27: 7:30 p.m., Elaine Kreston, Laura Carmichael, $10, BACA Members $8, Students and Seniors $9. Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., 644-6893. 

Oakland Symphony Chorus Jan. 26: 9 a.m. - 1 p.m., Conductor Tony Pasqua will lead a study of Joseph Haydn’s “Harmoniemesse” and Johannes Brahm’s “Schicksalslied.” $25, $30 door; St. Peter’s Episcopal Church 6013 Lawton St., Oakland, 465-4199. 

The Starry Plough Feb. 1: 9:30 p.m., Tempest, Cyoakha Grace and Blind Land, $10; Feb. 2: 9:30 p.m., Banshees of Winter Festival: Jewlia Eisenberg, Faun Fables, Robin Coomer, Gene Jun, Jane Brody, Nicholas Dobsen, Leigh Evans, Jamie Isman, $6; Feb. 3: 8 p.m., The Starry Irish Music Session led by Shay Black, $ sliding scale; Feb. 4: 7 p.m. class, 9 p.m. session, Dance class and Ceili, free; Feb. 5: Open Mic, free; Feb. 6: 8:30 p.m., Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik, $5; Feb. 7: 9:30 p.m., Asylum Street Spankers, $12; 3101 Shattuck Ave., 841-2082. 

Tuva Space Mar. 21: 8 p.m., Blues Translation; Mar. 22: 8 p.m., Electro-Acoustic Quartet; Mar. 23: 8 p.m. Solo Guitar Performance, 9:30 p.m. Country, Folk, and Blues Standards. $8 All shows $8. 312 Adeline St. 649-8744, acme@sfsound.org 

Berkeley Black Repertory Theatre Jan. 26: 6:30 - 10 p.m., The City of Berkeley and the Berkeley Black Repertory Theatre pay tribute to and welcome the return of “The Dru Band”; $5. 3201 Adeline St., 625-2120. 

Berkeley Art Center Jan. 26: 7 p.m., Rhythm & Muse, Rudi Mwongozi; 1275 Walnut St., 527-9753. 

Organ Music Jan. 27: 5 p.m., Ron McKean; $15 - $18. MusicSources, 1000 The Alameda, 528-1685. 

Annie Nalezny, Piano Recital Feb. 3: 3 p.m., Beethoven's Sonatas "A Therese" & "Les Adieux," Bruce Nalezny's "Poeme & Finale" and Chopin's 12 Etudes op. 10. $12-$15 donation. Berkeley Piano Club, 2724 Haste St. 

“Chamber Music Series” Feb. 3: 4 p.m., The Pacific Piano Quartet perform Brahms Piano Quartet in c minor and the Faure Piano Quartet No. 1, also in c minor. $10. Crowden School, 1475 Rose St., 559-6910 x110, jamie@thecrowdenschool.org. 

“Baroque Etcetera” Feb. 3: 7 p.m., Local baroque musicians perform instrumental and vocal works of Bach, Strozzi, Vivaldi, Corelli and Picchi. Church of Saint Mary Magdelen, 2005 Berryman at Milvia, 525-0152. 

Antonio Literes’ “Jupiter Y Semele” Feb. 9: 8 p.m., Feb. 10: 7:30 p.m., Presented by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra with guest conductor Eduardo López Banzo. $34-$49. 415-392-4400, www.philharmonia.org.  

“Larry Schneider Quartet” Feb. 10: 4:30 p.m., Featuring: Matt Clark, Jeff Chambers and Eddie Marshall. $6-$12. Hardymon Hall/Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St., 845-4373, www.jazzschool.com. 

Dance 

Kun Shin Dancers celebrate the artistic traditions of mainland China and Taiwan. Intricate fan and ribbon dances, athletic sword dance, drum duet, courtship piece, peacock dance, and a hoop dance. $8-$10. Calvin Simmons Theatre in the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, Ten 10th St., Oakland, 465-9312, www.danceforpower.org.  

“Merce Cunningham Dance Company” Feb. 1 and 2: 8 p.m., The engagment features a world premiere by Cunningham (as yet untitled), with music by Christian Wolff and costumes by Terry Winters. $24-$26. UC Berkeley, Zellerbach Hall, 642-0212, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. 

“Frogz” Feb. 8: 8 p.m, Feb. 9: 2 p.m., 8 p.m., A bevy of balletic frogs, poor-spelling sloths and other curious mischief-making characters roll, leap, and slink around the stage. $18 -$30. Cal Performances, Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, 642-0212 

Theater 

Word for Word double bill Feb. 1: 7 p.m., Feb. 2: 5 p.m., Feb. 3: 2 p.m.: Julius Lester’s short children’s play “John Henry”; Zora Neale Hurston’s “The Gilded Six Bits.” Both children and adults will view John Henry together, then the children leave the theatre to participate in art exercises that help them enter the spirit of the play. Meanwhile, the adults remain in the theatre to view The Gilded Six Bits. $16 adults, $11 children. Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave., 845-8542, www.juliamorgan.com. 

“Unmasked!” Feb. 1: 8 p.m., Feb. 2: 8 p.m., Feb. 3: 5 p.m.: An evening of two short student-directed plays, “The Lesson” by Eugene Ionesco and “Beyond Therapy” by Christopher Durang. $7 adults, $5 students and seniors. Albany High School Little Theather, 603 Key Route Blvd., Albany, 559-6550 x4125, theaterensemble@hotmail.com. 

“James Joyce, Marcel Duchamp, Erik Satie: An Alphabet” Feb. 5: 8 p.m., Originally conceived as a radio play, John Cage’s imagined conversations between 15 artistic and cultural figures, their dialogue, historical materials, and musings that Cage simply made up. Director Laura Kuhn, Composer Mikel Rouse. UC Berkeley, Zellerbach Hall, 642-0212, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. 

“Every Inch a King” Through Feb. 9: Thur. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 5 p.m.; Three sisters have to make a decision as their father approaches death in this comedy presented by the Central Works Theater Ensemble. $8 - $18. LeValls Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave. 558-138, www.centralworks.org.  

“Sisters” Through Feb. 16: Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., The Prozorov sisters look at the gap between hope and fulfillment in their lives. Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattack, www.actorsensemleofbkerkeley.com. 

“The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek” Through Feb. 10: Wed. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 and 7 p.m., playwright Naomi Wallace’s story about Dalton, a 15-year-old who dreams of escaping to college, and Pace, the town’s 17-year-old tomboy. Stuck in a town with no real prospects, the pair begins a deadly contest of chicken with the daily express train. Directed by Søren Oliver. $30-$35. Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison St., 843-4822, www.auroratheatre.org. 

“Night, Mother” Feb. 8, Feb. 15 - 16, Feb. 22 - 23: 8 p.m., A drama exploring one young woman’s decision to take control of her life with one furious and heartbreaking act. Directed by Bahati Bonner. $12, $8 seniors. La Val’s Subterranean Theatre, 1834 Euclid Ave. 496-1269 x1950, nightmother@onebox.com 

“Rhinoceros” Jan. 23 through Mar. 10: Check theater for specific dates and times. An absurdist tragic-comedy about a small provincial town whose citizens slowly but surely transform into large cumbersome rhinoceroses. Directed by Barbara Damashek. $38 - $54. Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St. 647-2976 www.berkeleyrep.org. 

“Murder Dressed in Satin” by Victor Lawhorn, ongoing. A mystery-comedy dinner show at The Madison about a murder at the home of Satin Moray, a club owner and self-proclaimed socialite with a scarlet past. Dinner is included in the price of the theater ticket. $47.50 Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison St., Oakland, 239-2252, www.acteva.com/go/havefun. 

Film 

Pacific Film Archive Jan. 22: 7:30 p.m., New Arab Video 1; Jan. 23: 3 p.m., The Terms of Cinema; 7:30 p.m., Telling It, Differently; Jan. 25: 7:30 p.m., The Aviator’s Wife; 9:30 p.m., A Good Marriage; Jan. 26: 6:30 p.m., Patrick Macias; 7 p.m., Battle Royale; 9:30 p.m., Blood and Law; Jan: 27: Children’s Film Festival, 1 p.m., Ikingut, 3 p.m., Peter Pan; 5:30 p.m., Sir Arne’s Treasure; 7:35 p.m., Song of the Scarlet Flower; Jan. 28: 3 p.m., The Jazz Singer; 7 p.m., Underground Kisses; Jan. 29: 7:30 p.m., New Arab Video 2; Jan. 30: 3 p.m., The Nickelodeon; 7:30 p.m., New Arab Video 3; 2527 Bancroft Way, 642-1412. 

Parkway Theatre Jan. 29: 6:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m., Boom! The Sound Of Eviction, a Just Cause Oakland benefit screening. $6-$20. 1843 Park Blvd., Oakland, 464-1011. 

“Human Rights International Film Festival” Feb. 22 through Feb. 24: Nine provocative films will be shown, many followed by question and answer sessions with local and visiting filmmakers. Check theater for films and times. Pacific Film Archive, 2527 Bancroft Way, 642-1412  

Exhibits  

GTU Exhibit: “Holocaust Series” by Cleve Gray Through Jan. 25: Comprised of 21 works on paper that constitute “a catharsis... for all of humanity.” Mon. - Thurs. 8:30 a.m. - 9:45 p.m., Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sun. noon - 7 p.m.; Free. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541 www.gtu.edu. 

“Group 19 Exhibition” Through Jan. 27: A showcase of recent work by local artists. Sat. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., 6 p.m. special musical performance, Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. The Figtree Gallery, 2599 Eighth St., No. 42. 540-7843 

“Prints and Paintings by Liao Shiou-Ping” on view through Jan. 31; Tues. to Fri.10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sat.10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Free. Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388-9th St., Suite 290, Oakland, 238-4491. 

“Rhythms” Through Feb. 2: Art installation of sculpture, neon, music and video projections by Kati Casida; Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St., 845-5373 

Pro Arts: “Juried Annual 2001-02” Through Feb. 2: Exhibition of painting, sculpture, mixed media, photography and more by Bay Area and regional artists; Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St., www.proartsgallery.org. 

“All Grown Up” Through Feb. 2: New paintings and drawings by Amy Chan. Thurs. 1 p.m. - 8 p.m., Fri -Sun 1 p.m. -6 p.m., 21 Grand Ave., Oakland, 444-7263. 

“Water Media” Through Feb. 8: An exhibit by Christine “Caipirinha” Mulder. Capoeira Arts Cafe Gallery, 2026 Center St., 666-1349 for hours. 

“New Work by Dennis Begg and Steve Briscoe” Through Feb. 9: Dennis Begg’s sculpture. Steve Brisco’s paintings. Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Traywick Gallery,1316 10th St., 527-1214. 

“Enduring Wisdom: Artwork and Stories by Homeless and Formerly Homeless Seniors” Through Feb. 15: 18 homeless and formerly homeless elders reveal how they learned and applied wisdom that is timeless. Mon. - Fri. and Sundays 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.; Free. St. Mary’s Center, 635 22nd St., Oakland, 893-4723 x222. 

“Envisioning Ecology” Through Feb. 15: Paintings by Michelle Waters. Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave., 548-2220 x233. 

“The Other 364 Days: A Day in the Life of the Queer Community” Through Feb. 16: An exhibit of black and white photographs by East Bay photographer Limor Inbar-Hansen. Mon. - Fri., 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Sat., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St., 644-1400, limor@indelible-images.com. 

“Adventures in La Land” Through Feb. 23: Installations by Suzanne Husky and Paintings by Amy Morrell. Tues. - Sat., 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; 4920 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, 428-2349. 

“Transformations: Through the Eye of a Needle” Jan.24 - Feb. 23: Two-person exhibition by Rebecca Bui and Linda Lemon including procelain and fabric dolls and mixed media works on handmade paper. Tues.-Sat., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Ardency Gallery, 709 Broadway, Oakland, 836-0831, www.artolio.com 

“Ton of Joy” Through Mar. 1: Group show of twelve painters and sculptors: Simone Anders, Susan Brady, Erin Fitzgerald, Karen Frey, Kei Hanafusa, Nancy Legge, Burke Rainey, Robin Sebourn, Kristen Throop, Clay Vajgrt, Whitney Vosburgh, Ann West; Mon. - Sat., 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Hollis Street Project, 5900 Hollis St., Emeryville. 

“Celebrating the African Diaspora” Jan. 29 - Mar. 1: A Black History Month Exhibit celebrating the contributions of Africans in America and throughout the Diaspora. 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.; University of Creation Sprituality, 2141 Broadway, Oakland, 835-4827 x31 

“Ansel Adams in the University of California Collections” Through Mar. 10: A selection of photographs and memorabilia presenting a different perspective on Adam’s career as one of the leading figures in American photography; Jan. 16 through Mar. 24: “Migrations: Photographs by Sebastiao Salgado,” over 300 black-and-white photographs of immigrants and refugees taken by the Brazilian photographer. Wed. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 7 p.m., $4- $6. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. 

“A Retrospective Show” Feb. 1 - Mar. 13: The Women’s Cancer Resource Center will participate in this year’s The Art of Living Black, an Open Studios event for local African American artists. The Gallery features a retrospective show of the work of the late Jan Hart-Schuyers. Mon. - Thurs. 9 a.m. - 3 p.m., Sat. 12 - 4 p.m., Women’s Cancer Resource Center, 3023 Shattuck Ave., 548-9286 x307, www.wcrc.org. 

“Average Female (Perfect)” Jan. 27 through Mar. 24: Manhattan-based artist Sowon Kwon projects footage of the first ever perfect-scoring gymnasts: Romanian, Nadia Comanece and Russian, Nelli Kim at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Kwon superimposes over the gymnasts a hand-drawn outline of the “average” female body to direct the audience’s attention to the gymnasts’ movements throughout their performances. Wed. - Sun 11 a.m. - 7 p.m., $4 - $6. University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

"Earthly Pleasures" assemblage and photographs by Susan Danis, Through March 30: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Mon. - Sat.; Sticks, 1579 B, Solano Ave., 526-6603.  

“Domestic Bliss” Through Apr. 4: Collection of abstract paintings and mixed medium by Amy St. George. Albany Community Center Foyer Gallery, 1249 Marin Ave., Albany, 524-9283. 

“The Legacy of Social Protest: The Disability Rights Movement” Through April 30: The first exhibition in a series dealing with Free Speech, Civil Rights, and Social Protest Movements of the 60s and 70s in California. Photograghs by: Cathy Cade, HolLynn D’Lil, Howard Petrick, Ken Stein. The Free Speech Cafe, Moffitt Undergraduate Library, University of California-Berkeley, hjadler@yahoo.com.  

“The Art History Museum of Berkeley” Masterworks by Guy Colwell. Faithful copies of several artists from the pasts, including Titian’s “The Venus of Urbino,” Cezanne’s “Still Life,” Picasso’s “Woman at a Mirror,” and Botticelli’s “Primavera” Ongoing. Call ahead for hours. Atelier 9, 2028 Ninth St., 841-4210, www.atelier9.com. 

“Jurassic Park: The Life and Death of Dinosaurs” Feb. 2 through May 12: An exhibit displaying models of the sets and dinosaur sculptures used in the Jurassic Park films, as well as a video presentation and a dig pit where visitors can dig for specially buried dinosaur bones. $8 adults, $6, youth and seniors. Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Dr., above the UC Berkeley campus, 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Readings 

Coffee With a Beat Jan. 26: Paradise; Feb. 2: Julia Vinograd, Shauna Rogan; Feb. 9: Sydney Bell, Debrale Pagan; All readings 7-9 p.m., free and followed by open mike. 458 Perkins, Oakland, 526-5985.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore Jan. 22: Lee Foster discusses his new guide “Northern California History Weekends”; Feb. 5: William Chapman presents slides and reads from his book, “The Face of Tibet”; Feb. 7: A panel of female travel writers read from their works published in “The Unsavvy Travelers”, a chronicle of hilarious tales of cathartic misadventures on the road; Feb. 19: Christopher Baker, author of “Costa Rica: Moon Handbook” presents a slide show demonstrating what makes the Central American country so appealing; Richard Sterling, author of Lonely Planet’s “World Food: Greece”, presents a culinary tour revealing the culture and character of Greece through the medium of her cuisine’s; Feb. 28: Terrence Ward reads from his book “Searching for Hassan: An American Family’s Journey Home to Iran”; All readings are free and start at 7:30 p.m., 1385 Shattuck Ave. at Rose, 843-3533. 

Poetry 

Poetry Flash @ Cody’s Jan. 23: Paul Hoover, Elizabeth Robinson; Jan. 27: Wanda Coleman, Austin Straus, Kate Gale; Jan. 30 Ralph Angel, George Higgins; Feb. 6: Adrianne Marcus, Diana O’Hehir; Feb. 10: Cathy Coldman, Judith Serin; Feb. 13: Murray Silverstein, Gillian Wegener, Helen Wickes; Feb. 17: Sharon Doubiago, Doren Robbins; Feb. 20: Linda Elkin, Steve Rood; Feb. 27: Stephen Kessler and John Oliver Simon; All events begin at 7:30 p.m., $2 donation. 2454 Telegraph Ave., 845-7852. 

Tours 

Golden Gate Live Steamers Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Lomas Cantadas Drive at the south end of Tilden Regional Park Small locomotives, scaled to size. Trains run Sun., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sun., noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. 486-0623. 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Fridays 9:30 - 11:45 a.m. or by appointment. Call ahead to make reservations. Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387. 

Museums 

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm” An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more. “Recycling Center” Lets the kids crank the conveyor belt to sort cans, plastic bottles and newspaper bundles into dumpster bins; $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Mon. and Wed., 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tues. and Fri., 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thur., 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111 or www.habitot.org. 

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 foot 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. Mon. - Fri., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821. 

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology will close its exhibition galleries for renovation. It will reopen in early 2002.  

Lawrence Hall of Science Through Jan. 26: Scream Machines: The Science of Roller Coasters; “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. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza; Open daily, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., $7 for adults; $5 for children 5-18; $3 for children 3-4. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley, 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org. 

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, www.lhs.berkeley.edu. 

Send arts events two weeks in advance to Calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.net, 2076 University, Berkeley 94704 or fax to 841-5694.

The St. Mary’s Panthers played one of their worst games of the season on Friday night. Luckily for them, their opponent played even worse. 

The Panthers survived a myriad of turnovers and missed shots to beat Kennedy, 66-58, in Berkeley, to preserve their undefeated league record. With Kennedy’s two top players fouled out early in the fourth quarter, St. Mary’s still struggled to pull away, but guard Terrence Boyd scored 8 points down the stretch to ensure the win. 

“It’s good to get out alive of a game like that,” St. Mary’s head coach Jose Caraballo said. “Even though we didn’t play well, we were still able to pull out the victory.” 

Caraballo got 14 points from forward Chase Moore and 12 points each from Boyd and point guard DeShawn Freeman, but shooting guard John Sharper suffered a terrible slump, hitting just 2-of-14 from the field and missing all six of his 3-point attempts. For a player who led the team in scoring during Freeman’s extended absence earlier this season due to a stress fracture, it was an uncharacteristic night. 

Sharper, Freeman and Moore combined for 13 steals in the game. The St. Mary’s press caused bunches of turnovers by the Eagles, including 10 in the third quarter alone, but the Panthers didn’t turn them into points, keeping the game close. They didn’t grab a lead of more than eight points until Kennedy stars Devin Peal and Leland Mapp both fouled out with more than five minutes left in the game. With the two forwards on the bench, St. Mary’s opened a lead of 60-47 before several baskets by Kennedy point guard Jay Doss closed the gap with seconds remaining. 

Both Peal and Mapp sat for long stretches of the first half with foul trouble, and Peal ended the game with just 4 points. Mapp had 17 points in his limited action, but it was Doss who gave St. Mary’s the most trouble, scoring a game-high 26 points on a variety of drives and pull-up jumpers. 

“It actually seemed like they played better without (Peal and Mapp). The point guard killed us tonight,” Caraballo said. 

But Doss’s heroics weren’t nearly enough for the Eagles, as their bench players contributed little and looked spooked trying to get the ball through the St. Mary’s press. Caraballo said even when his team shoots as badly as it did on Friday night, he can always count on defensive effort to give them a chance. 

“One thing my kids always do is play hard,” he said. “They’ve got experience and hustle, and that’s what got us through tonight.”

West Contra Costa County School Board member Charles Ramsey and former Berkeley Mayor Loni Hancock are so far raking in the lion’s share of campaign money for the 14th District Assembly seat according to the most recent disclosures. 

As of Friday, Ramsey reported donations of $300,000, Hancock $225,000 and Dave Brown, former chief of staff to Alameda County Supervisor Alice La-Bitker, reported $120,000. 

The three candidates are seeking Assemblymember Dion Aroner’s seat, being made vacant because of term limits. The 14th District includes sections of cities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, among them Berkeley, Albany, Richmond, El Cerrito and El Sobrante. 

Ramsey’s list of contributors includes trade unions, police and fire department unions and businesses, including PG&E. Hancock’s contributors include many individuals, healthcare organizations women’s political organizations and broadcasting interests. Brown’s contributors include family members, individuals and some small businesses. 

According to Bruce Cain, the Director of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley, a candidate’s contributors list is an indication of a candidate’s policy positions but not a guarantee of how they will vote on those issues once elected.  

“Contributions can tell you a lot about where a candidate already stands on certain issues,” he said. “For instance if there’s a lot of trade unions you have a good indication of how the candidate will vote on regulatory issues such as minimum wage, workman’s compensation making union labor a requirement on public projects, etc.” 

However Cain did say that Ramsey accepting money from PG&E was interesting because of the energy company’s controversial association with last summer’s energy crisis. 

“I think it’s pretty courageous for anybody to take money from PG&E in the 14th District. That’s taking a risk.” he said. “Especially with all the heat Gov. Gray Davis has taken for accepting energy money and that was before the energy crisis and the Enron debacle.” 

But Ramsey’s campaign consultant Phil Giarrizzo said it would be inappropriate to make a value judgment on any single contributor. 

Giarrizzo said that because a candidate takes money from a paticualal type of contributor it does not mean that “you are in that contributor’s pocket,” he said.  

“Most contributors don’t donate money because they think they are buying votes, they contribute because they believe the candidate will listen and give a fair hearing,” he said.  

State assembly candidates are required to submit contribution statements periodically throughout the campaign. The first filing date was Sept. 30, the second Jan. 10 and the most recent was Thursday. The Democratic Primary Election will take place on March 5th. 

Individuals, unions and businesses are limited to $3,000 contributions and certain qualified small donor pacts can contribute up to $6,000. All three of the candidates have signed a voluntary campaign spending limit of $400,000.  

Among Ramsey’s largest contributors are a wide range of trade unions including the Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union #342, Sheet Metal Worker’s Locals 102 and 104 and the Sprinkler Fitters and Apprentices Union all of which contributed $3,000 each. The State Building and Construction Trades Council of California contributed $6,000. 

Other contributors in the $3,000 range include PG&E, the Association of California Insurance Companies and the California African American PAC. All toll, Ramsey has 37 separate contributions of $3,000 compared to both Hancock and Brown who both have 13.  

Ramsey also lists financial backing by the Oakland Officers Association, the Richmond Police Officers and the Black Fire Fighters Association.  

“Charles has an interesting coalition of supporters,” Giarrizzo said . “He has been a hard proponent of public safety, and that’s why you see the support police and fire and working men and women.” 

Hancock’s list of contributors is predominantly represented by individuals who have contributed in the $100 to $500 range. Hancock contributed $67,000 of her own money to the campaign because she got into the race late, according to her Campaign Coordination Molly O’Shaughnessy. 

Among her larger contributors are Assemblymember Dion Aroner, the Alameda National Women’s Political Caucus and the Women’s Political Committee State Account.  

“She has a lot of support from the woman’s Caucus in the legislature,” O’Shaughnessy said. “As well as support from casual groups of women.” 

O’Shaughnessy pointed to a recent neighborhood meeting in a neighbor’s home where a group of women met and discussed issues that were important to them and a decided to support Hancock. “After the meeting they got out their checkbooks it was like a mini-Emily’s List,” she said. 

O’Shaughnessy added that two fund raisers, one hosted by Sen. Barbara Boxer on Feb. 2 and another hosted by Californian State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin on Feb. 10, are expected to raise significant donations. 

Dave Brown’s contribution list also shows mostly individual contributors. His largest contributors, those in the $3,000 range, include Pinnacle Entertainment, INC., the Burger Family Trust and the Hollywood Park Casino.  

Brown also shows support from at least two healthcare organizations, the Becton Healthcare Resources INC. and American Medical Response. 

“I have over 500 individuals who have contributed to this campaign,” Brown said. “Mostly from friends, family and people I’ve worked with on public policy.” 

Brown said he has garnered support from healthcare organizations largely because of the work he has done in recent years to provide medical insurance to working families. 

He added that he has spent a good deal of time raising money for his campaign.  

“I’ve been raising money mostly through word of mouth and many, many phone calls,” he said. “I don’t have the same institutional backing as by competitors do but we plan to raise enough to win this race.”

Editor: 

Chris Kavanagh’s recent letter about housing represents a confusion that is common in Berkeley. Dona Spring was attacked for not supporting more housing, and Kavanagh defended her by listing the publicly funded affordable housing projects she has supported. 

But we will never build enough subsidized housing to solve the crisis of affordability caused by the Bay Area’s housing shortage. 

There was plenty of affordable housing in Berkeley in the 1950s and 1960s, much of it in elegant old homes. But during the 1970s, the NIMBY movement became very influential, and there were down-zonings in Berkeley and throughout the Bay Area. Because of the housing shortage they caused, affordable units were gentrified away. 

When I came to Berkeley in 1970, I rented a room in a nice old 1920s house for $40 a month. But during the 1970s, that house shifted from rental to owner-occupancy. Recently, it sold for $500,000. 

If progressives back affordable housing but not market rate housing, the people who would have bought that market-rate housing do not disappear. 

They bid up the price of the existing housing stock. 

When there is a housing shortage, the rich are not the ones who end up onthe street. Poor people are displaced from their homes as prices go up. 

On the other hand, if progressives all over the Bay Area were strong supporters of smart growth – of new market rate housing as well as affordable housing concentrated around transit nodes and corridors – we could ease the housing shortage before it becomes bad enough to gentrify away the remaining affordable units in the East Bay. 

Unfortunately, Berkeley's progressive councilmembers have supported affordable housing, but they have been lukewarm (at best) about supporting housing in general. No city in the Bay Area makes life harder for developers who want to build housing. 

Charles Siegel 

Berkeley

BEVERLY HILLS — Robert Redford is getting an honorary Academy Award. 

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Friday that its Board of Governors chose Redford for an honorary Oscar with the inscription, “Robert Redford — Actor, Director, Producer, Creator of Sundance, inspiration to independent and innovative filmmakers everywhere.” 

Honorary Oscars are given for “exceptional distinction in the making of motion pictures or for outstanding service to the Academy.” Previous recipients include Ernest Lehman, Stanley Donen, Deborah Kerr, Federico Fellini, Ralph Bellamy, Michael Kidd, Alex North and Hal Roach. Redford’s award will be presented during the March 24 Academy Awards. 

“Bob’s dedication to independent filmmaking has had an enormously positive impact on the motion picture industry since he created Sundance 20 years ago, and young filmmakers for years to come will continue to benefit from the training that his institute provides and the world-class showcase that his festival offers,” academy president Frank Pierson said. 

Since his acting debut in the 1962 drama “War Hunt,” Redford has appeared in more than 35 films including “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “The Way We Were,” “All the President’s Men” and “The Sting.” He was nominated for an acting Oscar for “The Sting.” 

Redford won an Academy Award in 1980 for directing “Ordinary People” and he was nominated twice in 1994 for producing and directing best-picture nominee “Quiz Show.”

The St. Mary’s boys’ soccer team lost its first BSAL game of the season Friday, falling 1-0 to rival Kennedy in Berkeley. 

Kennedy midfielder Daniel Perez scored the only goal of a fast, physical game in the 35th minute, taking a throw-in at the top of the St. Mary’s box and turning on one touch to hammer the ball past St. Mary’s goalkeeper Nick Osborne. 

“It was just a momentary lapse in communication,” St. Mary’s head coach Teale Matteson said of Perez’s freedom on the play. “One player though another had (Perez), and the other thought the opposite.” 

While the loss at least momentarily knocked the Panthers (10-11-1, 5-1-1 BSAL) from the top of the league standings, they still have a good shot at finishing in the top two and earning a first-round playoff bye. Last year’s team just missed a bye, finishing in third place, and were upset in the first round by St. Joseph. 

“It’s pretty important to get a bye, if just to get some extra practice and rest,” Matteson said. “But we’ve got two tough opponents to play, so nothing’s guaranteed. All the games are now crucial.” 

St. Mary’s still has games against Piedmont and St. Patrick left on the regular season schedule. Piedmont is one of the league’s top teams, while St. Patrick tied Kennedy earlier this season, so they aren’t likely to be an easy touch. 

Another reason a bye would help the Panthers is to help them get healthy. Nearly every starter on the team has missed at least one game due to injury or illness, and Matteson knows he’ll need a full squad to advance through the BSAL playoffs. 

“We’re starting to get healthy,” said Matteson, who had just two players sidelined for Friday’s game, a season-low. “But we’ve still got a couple of guys limping around out there.” 

St. Mary’s offense looked hobbled against Kennedy, getting off just five shots. They played long ball for most of the game, an ineffective strategy against Kennedy sweeper Giovanni Mejia, one of the league’s best players. Mejia constantly turned back Panther attacks, covering the field from sideline to sideline. Anything that got past Mejia ended up in the hands of goalkeeper Oscar Rivera. Following Perez’s goal, both Bryan Warren and Pat McMahon managed shots from awkward angles that Rivera saved fairly easily. 

“They have a strong goalkeeper, and he did a good job today,” Matteson said. “And Giovanni cleaned up the back the way he’s supposed to.” 

The Panthers didn’t put much pressure on Mejia and Rivera in the second half, with the goalie making two saves. McMahon had the best chance for St. Mary’s, getting a cross from Sean Rogan in the Kennedy box, but his shot went wide under pressure.

Earlier this month, at the Jan. 9 meeting of the Board of Education, board President Shirley Issel officially welcomed Jerry Kurr as the Berkeley Unified School District’s new associate superintendent of business. 

“I’m absolutely delighted to be part of the BUSD family,” Kurr replied. “And yes,” he joked, discussing his decision to take the job, “I am of sound mind.” 

Kurr, who worked as a business consultant for the district starting in July, before taking the reins as associate superintendent Jan. 2, faces quite a task.  

The Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, or FCMAT, a state agency that has been providing the district with financial advice since October, has projected a $1.6 million deficit in the district budget this year, a $7.8 million shortfall next year, and a $16.7 million deficit the following year if the board doesn’t make cuts. 

In calculating this year’s $1.6 million deficit, FCMAT included a one-time payment from the district’s general fund to its “self-insurance fund,” which is $2.5 million in debt. 

In an interview Friday, Kurr said the district may be able to eliminate this year’s deficit by spreading out payments to the self-insurance fund, which covers worker’s compensation and other liabilities, over several years. 

But, the district will still have to make substantial cuts to avoid the shortfalls predicted by FCMAT in the next two years.  

In the coming weeks, Kurr will be working with Superintendent Michele Lawrence, FCMAT and district staff to identify several million dollars in cuts for next year’s budget, and present the board with a package at its Feb. 20 meeting. 

The district must move quickly because cuts will likely include layoffs, and, according to state law, the board must inform certain classes of teachers and certificated administrators by March 15 if the district intends to lay them off next year. 

Berkeley educational leaders, and people who have known Kurr for years, say the associate superintendent of business will bring important skills and priorities to the table in identifying budget cuts. 

“He’s facing some real major budget work this year,” said school board member John Selawsky. “For someone new to the district I can imagine that would be unnerving...But he seems unflappable. There’s a calmness and steadiness to him that I appreciate.” 

Selawsky said Kurr’s experience in educational finance, including a 14-year stint as Associate Superintendent of Administration and Business Services with the Riverside County Office of Education, will also be helpful. 

Dale S. Holmes, former Riverside County Superintendent, said that Kurr has developed an appreciation for the connection between finance and the classroom over the years. 

“Jerry went from being just a business person to a person who understood what the funds in the district did to support the teacher in the classroom,” Holmes said. “He would know how to cut and he would cut from the non-instructional side first.” 

“He’s very trustworthy, very dependable, very knowledgeable, very creative,” Holmes added. “When I’d leave on a Friday night, and saw his smile, I’d be happy, because I’d know that the computers would be working and the paychecks would be out on time.”  

That sort of skill with basic systems is a hot commodity in the Berkeley Unified School District where, according to Kurr, an outdated, inadequate data system, and breakdown in basic business practices, have contributed to payroll problems, and the current budget mess. 

Kurr said one of his top priorities this year will be moving the district toward a better financial data system. The current system, he said, is not “self-balancing.” When an employee makes an entry for an expenditure, for instance, it does not automatically transfer that expenditure to the “general ledger,” which accounts for the district’s total assets and liabilities. Instead, it requires a manual entry in the general ledger, creating room for error. 

This year, Kurr will oversee a $700,000 transfer to a new self-balancing data system called Quintessential School Systems. The transfer should be at least partially complete by July 1.  

Another top priority, Kurr said, is ensuring that employees are paid accurately and on time. The faulty data system, flawed processes for entering data into the system, the complexities of employee contracts, and recent turnover in the personnel and business offices have all conspired to create payroll problems, Kurr said. 

For instance, he noted, contract changes have not been quickly reflected in employees’ actual paychecks since he has worked at the district. 

But there are not just systems problems to be fixed, Kurr said. The associate superintendent of business said he will work to build a sense of teamwork in a department with historically low morale. 

John Malone, who worked alongside Kurr as a business consultant earlier in the school year, predicts success in this area. “He’s a top notch manager of people,” Malone said. “He really makes sure the people he works with know how much they’re valued.” 

In time, Kurr said, systems and cultural reform will pay dividends. “I really think this can be one of the best school districts in the state,” he said. 

Editor: 

I’ve heard of goat milk, but goat silk? Quebec-based Nexia Biotechnologies, Inc. is trying to genetically engineer goats to produce milk that contains spider silk proteins in order to manufacture a material lighter and stronger than steel.  

Not only is this experiment bizarre, it’s cruel and worthless. Eighty to ninety percent of genetically altered animals die within hours or days, and those who do survive are frequently born with severe physical abnormalities, including missing limbs, facial clefts, and massive brain defects. Tinkering with animals’ genes often causes physiological and immune system problems that researchers can neither anticipate nor control.  

Nexia president and CEO Jeffrey Turner acknowledged that “Mother Nature spent 400 million years to perfect this process—she knows a little better than we do,” yet Nexia is still trying to “perfect” the way the goats “spin” the silk—and hoping to reap profits from the animals’ misery.  

Experiments on genetically altered animals will not be any more useful or relevant than experiments on nongenetically engineered animals. It’s just not nice to fool with Mother Nature.  

Heather Moore 

PETA 

Correspondent

Is it true that nice guys always finish last? If so, there’s something missing from “The Gold and the Blue: A Personal Memoir of the University of California (1949-1967),” by Clark Kerr, who was chancellor of the Berkeley campus from 1952 to 1958, and president of the university from 1958 to 1967… while at the same time working as a highly-respected professional labor arbitrator in some of the biggest labor-relations conflicts in America.  

Clark Kerr comes across as mild-mannered, able to deal with difficult people with infinite patience, and so modest you don’t realize right away that he’s incredibly smart.  

Clark Kerr’s meteoric rise from visiting graduate student to president of UC Berkeley makes engaging reading. Kerr describes arriving in the fall of 1932 in a Model-A Ford, and being impressed with his first view of Berkeley: the sight of the Campanile looming up at the end of Telegraph Avenue. Kerr writes that this view of the Campanile is still his favorite view on or off campus. 

Clark Kerr began his tenure in UC Berkeley’s Economics Department and at a special new division he headed called the Institute of Industrial Relations. He writes affectingly of his joy in teaching…. He was especially appreciative of the veterans who flooded the Berkeley campus after World War II as a result of the G.I. Bill. According to Kerr these students, who had faced death, were more serious about attaining their career goals, and were fearless in asking questions.  

Clark Kerr writes equally affectingly of his anguish over painful situations which surfaced during his watch. During the McCarthy era, for example, congress required all University of California faculty members to sign loyalty oaths. Faculty members with affiliations to the Communist Party were dismissed; as were those who refused to go along with the McCarthy Era oath-signing on principle. The faculty members were led to believe that they could get their jobs back if they were cleared by a special committee, but this promise was broken by the board of regents. Even though the jobs were later reinstated, Kerr remains embittered over the broken promises and dismissals. 

Kerr says less about any personal anguish. We learn little about what went on behind the scenes in 1967, when then-Gov. Ronald Reagan dismissed Kerr himself. Was the dismissal related to the 1967 riots at People’s Park? We learn little of Kerr’s nonprofessional life beyond hearing about his near idyllic childhood in rural Pennsylvania; his identity as a Quaker; his dedication to peacemaking; and a mention, here and there, of his supportive wife and children. 

“The Blue and the Gold” is a long book – 540 pages – which minutely covers many of the challenges, issues, and strategic moves made by the UC Berkeley while Clark Kerr was present. The strength of this book lies in his description of how this academic organization became one of the finest educational establishments in the world; for example, the book closely covers the growth of each of the nine campuses in the University of California system.  

Gold stands for the gold in the California hills. Blue stands for the blue of Yale, since Yale alumni initiated the university. The next volume of Clark Kerr’s memoir of the gold and the blue will cover the public life of the university.  

Sari Friedman teaches writing in local colleges and can be reached via sari2@ earthlink.net.

Electrical service in the downtown area went on the fritz for about an hour and a half Wednesday afternoon. Lights began to flicker on and off, and people rushed to their computers hoping to save files before they disappeared. 

Jason Alderman, spokesman for Pacific Gas and Electric Co., said the problem was due to voltage problems at a substation on the Berkeley/Oakland border. More than 15,000 customers in Berkeley, Emeryville and Oakland were affected. 

“We’re very sensitive, especially when it hits a core area like downtown Berkeley,” Alderman said. “As far as outages go, we got this one back on pretty quick.” 

Alderman said although voltage surges can damage sensitive electronic instruments, such as computers, PG&E had not received any damaged-equipment complaints from consumers. 

He added that anyone whose gear was damaged could call the company at (800)PGE-5000. 

The outage was unrelated to brown-outs, which occurred in the same area last week, according to Alderman. He said those problems were due to work being done on underground lines along Shattuck Avenue. 

Alderman, on behalf of his employer, apologized to the Berkeley citizens for both of the service disruptions. 

“We never like outages, but we’re even more chagrined when it happens in two consecutive weeks,” he said.

Debate over the city’s proposal to build a new fire station in the Berkeley Hills erupted once again at Thursday’s meeting of the Zoning Adjustments Board. 

This time, the occasion was the certification of the final Environmental Impact Report for the proposed station, which would be located at 3000 Shasta Rd. on property currently owned by the East Bay Municipal Utilities District. 

Certification of the EIR – a document required by state law for all projects that are expected to have a significant impact on the environment – would mean that the board found the report to be complete and accurate.  

After almost three hours of public comment and debate, though, the board withheld its seal of approval.  

They asked Fire Chief Reginald Garcia and John Courtney, whose firm, Lamphier-Gregory, prepared the document, to come back to their next meeting with some minor changes. 

Board member Dave Blake asked Courtney to clear up some apparent confusion over geological studies performed at the site of the new station.  

An early study by two geologists seemed to insinuate that there could be potential stability problems at the site in case of an earthquake. 

Garcia and Courtney said that an in-house geologist had refuted the problem, but the board asked them to spell out their geologist’s reasoning.  

During the public comment period, fire station fans and detractors fired furious salvos at one another. 

Despite Board Chair Carolyn Weinberger’s oft-repeated injunction that speakers should restrict their comments to the EIR, and not the project itself, both sides used the occasion to stump for or against the station. 

“This station will give us the resources, space and ability to respond to fire emergencies in the area,” Garcia said. 

A number of neighborhood representatives echoed the sentiment, some of them, at least, making an attempt to tie it to the matter at hand. 

“I’ve read every page of this report,” one resident told the board, “and it’s a very good one.” 

Opponents argued that the new station would not satisfy the requirements of Measure G, funding from which will be used to build it. 

Measure G, passed by Berkeley voters soon after the devastating 1991 hills firestorm, called for a new station to battle wildfires that threatened to spread into residential areas.  

The measure specified that the new station would be “multi-agency” – it would be staffed by more than one jurisdiction, and it would serve as a command center in the event of such a fire. 

Peter Cukor, a hills resident opposed to the new station, argued that the EIR was inadequate because it didn’t consider a large, multi-agency facility as an option. 

The mattter will be heard again at the Feb. 14 board meeting, after which the board will consider the details of the project itself.

Q. Steve asks: We’ve put laminate flooring in the living-dining area. I have located replacement stair treads (oak) and have cut them to length, finished and varnished them. The stringer is routed for the treads and risers. The treads and risers are installed from underneath. The underneath area of the staircase is accessed from within our shop area. I can access four of the five steps and treads. I anticipate the fifth will be cut out in pieces because it is not accessible from below (due to finished wall that encloses the shop). 

I anticipate the sequence will be as follows: remove old wedges from risers, remove risers, remove wedges from tread and remove tread. I was thinking (dangerous I know) that the risers could be spared, but the more I look and ponder, I anticipate that even the tread will be difficult to remove. Any easy way to remove wedges or shims to make the replacement process easier? 

A. Sometimes a project seems so complicated we tend to overlook the simplest alternatives. Getting out old hardwood wedges with a chisel can be a bear, especially if the area is tight. You need “little” here — not “big.” Try a miniature drill motor. Several companies make really good ones for use in crafts and model building. You probably can pick one up with many attachments for under $40. Once you own one, you and your family will fight over who gets it next. Use a tiny grinding tip or an emery wheel. It acts just like a tiny reciprocating saw. 

Q. Melissa asks: The flue is rusted shut on my earth stove (fireplace insert). How can I get this unstuck? 

A. The thing that is rusted shut is called the damper. This is going to be a tough one if you can’t get to the damper itself. Rust is not uncommon at this location, and if not dealt with on a regular basis it can rust to the point where replacement will be the only way to get it open. Spraying the perimeter of the damper with cutting oil is the first order of business. We use WD-40. Spray an ample coat on and let it sit for an hour or so. Next, gently tap the perimeter of the damper with a small heavy object such as a hammer. Repeat this process as many times as necessary. If it doesn’t come loose after several hours, you might have to pull the stove and use heat. A propane-soldering torch (in a can) can be used to warm up the area surrounding the damper. Usually, once heat is applied, the metal surrounding the damper expands just enough to break the rusted connection. Whatever you do, don’t get angry. Anything other than a gentle hand here could damage the damper. 

Q. John asks: Do I need to put a floor leveler over a plywood subfloor before laying down an unfinished floor (3/4-inch x 2-1/4-inch oak). What about rosin paper? Do I need it and how do I place it on the floor? 

A. We would not use a floor-leveling compound between the subfloor and the hardwood floor. They tend to break up over time. If the floor is way out of level, the house might be due for a jack-up. In any event, we suggest that you attach the hardwood planks directly to the subfloor with only a coat of rosin paper overlapped 2 inches each way, and stapled in place. Don’t use solid plastic sheeting. 

Q. Lena asks: After flushing the toilet, when the tank is almost filled up there is a noise. It appears to be the wire and bulb vibrating. Can this be fixed or do we need to get a new valve with parts? 

A. Few things are more irritating than a noisy toilet. Fortunately, a toilet has few moving parts. And usually, only one of them will make noise as the toilet tank becomes full. That’s the ball-cock, or water inlet, valve. This valve is operated by the “wire” and “ball” mentioned in your question. The wire is called the float arm and the ball is called the float ball. During the flush cycle, water travels from the tank into the bowl. As the water level in the tank drops, so do the float ball and arm. The dropping float arm opens the ball-cock valve, letting water into the tank to refill it. As the water level nears the top of the tank, the reverse happens — the float and float arm begin to close the ball cock. This is where the noise occurs. A dry or deteriorated ball-cock valve gasket can make the valve vibrate. When this happens, the arm and ball also might vibrate. Your repair is simple: Replace either the gasket in the ball-cock valve or the valve itself. Replacing the gasket is less expensive, but replacement of the entire assembly is easier, and probably prove to be the less expensive in the long run. 

Q. Denise asks: Our basement walls have spots that freeze in the winter. The moisture has caused the paneling to discolor. Upon taking one panel off, we discovered that they did insulate with foam sheets but failed to put up a moisture barrier. Can we just add vinyl covering and new paneling on top of the old paneling or must we remove the old paneling first? We’re going to panel instead of drywall because it is a large area and will be much faster just to panel vs. drywall. What do you recommend? 

A. You can add a layer of plastic over the existing paneling but you should be aware that the moisture barrier should have been added directly to the basement walls — before the rigid insulation was added. Adding a vapor barrier on top of the insulation and paneling will put the barrier on the “warm side” of the wall and condensation will be more likely to form in the insulation and the paneling. You have no idea what kind of havoc this may create down the road. The foam sheets actually comprise a pretty good moisture barrier. However, we would take off the paneling, remove the insulation, add a vapor barrier directly to the block wall (two or three layers), reinstall the rigid insulation, add a second layer of new rigid insulation and then install your paneling. Anything less will come back and bite you. 

——— 

Q. George asks: I need to know how much coverage an 80 lb. bag of stucco mix will provide with a 1/4-inch thickness. The information on the bag does not give coverage amount. Thank you so much for your time. 

A. Good question. Stucco is usually applied in three coats and is referred to as 7/8-inch three-coat stucco. The first coat is known as the “scratch coat,” the second is known as the “brown coat” and the final coat is known as the “color coat” or “finish coat.” There are various other processes, but the one we refer to is most common. The first coat is about a half-inch thick, the second coat is about a quarter-inch thick and the final coat is about an eighth-inch thick. The first coat is troweled onto the paper-backed wire lath and then the surface is scratched with a comb-like trowel, which results in a ribbed or grooved or “scratched” finish. The scratched surface provides an irregular plane that provides lots of “tooth” onto which the second or “brown” coat can bond. The color coat is nothing more than stucco with color in it. If you are doing patchwork just use plain old gray for your final coat and paint it to match. Anyway, the color coat is usually applied in two phases first a smoothing layer and then texture. The texture can be troweled, sprayed or splattered on. 

Each of the first two coats must cure for a minimum of seven days before application of the following coat. Also, stucco cures best at temperatures between 55 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. 

For each 80 pound bag of mix you can figure on getting about 40 square feet of coverage for your first (scratch) coat and about twice as much per bag on your second (brown) coat. Pretty logical since the second coat is exactly half the thickness of the first coat. Figure double again for the finish coat, which, again, is half the thickness of the previous coat. You will experience more or less coverage depending upon how much you spill. Oh, and once you spill it leave it for clean-up later — don’t use it on the wall. 

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For more home improvement tips and information, visit our Web site at www.onthehouse.com. 

This last holiday season one Carey brother finally broke from tradition and purchased an artificial Christmas tree. Turns out to have been a good move. The tree stands 10 feet tall and comes in four sections. It has collapsible branches that are prewired with hundreds of twinkle lights. The prospect of never having to string another set of lights or add water to the reservoir, along with future annual savings, was all it took. 

The new tree survived the holidays well. In contrast to previous cut trees, it looked as good as the day it was put up. It came apart the same way that it was assembled, and in a matter of minutes, was placed neatly on the garage floor. It was only at that moment the Carey brother in question began to panic. Where was this new addition to spend the other 11 months of the year? 

The two-car garage already was cluttered to the point where it barely accommodated one vehicle. The artificial tree, only moments before a marvelous find, became the enemy, as it threatened a man’s final frontier and most sacred of all places — the garage. 

Necessity is the mother of invention, and it was time to win back the garage. Its walls were lined from floor to ceiling and wall to wall with boxes of all shapes and sizes. The mission was to make room for the tree and as many of the boxes as possible. The answer was to convert dead attic space above the finished garage into a storage area. 

This was accomplished by cutting a hole in the garage ceiling and installing a pull-down attic staircase, along with several sheets of plywood flooring atop the ceiling joist. Since the underside of a pull-down attic staircase usually consists of plywood and is, therefore, not fireproof, the fireproof configuration needed to be preserved by installing a solid-core fire door at the ceiling. 

Besides storing the tree, the space accommodated all the boxes, making room in the garage for a second car. 

Not all storage stories have such a happy ending, however. Often, a garage ceiling is either unfinished or consists of pre-manufactured roof trusses, which make it virtually impossible to use the area for storage. Recently we came across a new product that offers a storage solution for those who are space-challenged. HyLoft overhead storage (www.hyloftusa.com) converts otherwise useless overhead garage space into valuable storage real estate. 

The system consists of one 4-foot-by-4-foot wire-grid shelf unit that hangs from the ceiling of the garage. The lightweight grid sits atop two metal support bars that are fastened to four downrods. The downrods are in turn anchored to the underside of two ceiling joist. A previous homemade incarnation of this system consisted of 2-by-4s and plywood, which were, unfortunately, exceedingly heavy, thus limiting the weight of items to be stored. The four downrods on the system can be adjusted from 16 inches to 28 inches from the ceiling. One aspect that makes this system especially appealing is it can be installed immediately above a garage door, providing there is a minimum of 17 inches clearance. Properly installed, the system will not interfere either with garage doors or openers. 

One 4-foot-by-4-foot overhead storage system will provide about 35 cubic feet of storage and is warranted to hold a maximum of 250 pounds, evenly distributed. To adequately disperse the stored load, not more than two HyLoft units should be installed on any two ceiling joist. 

The installation consists of locating the ceiling joist, measuring the bracket locations and anchoring the brackets to the ceiling joist with the screws provided. Complete the job by fastening the downrods and attaching the crossbar supports. You get instant storage in a location that might otherwise have gone unused. 

For more home improvement tips and information visit our Web site at www.onthehouse.com.

Avoid Scalding 

Every year thousands of people are scalded by overheated tap water. When is hot water too hot? At 120 F, 130 F, 140 F? At 130 F, serious burns occur in 30 seconds. At 140 F, it takes only five seconds. And, for the elderly and small children it happens in half the time. 

To prevent injuries, water heaters should be set between 120 F and 125 F, and, for children, bath water should be no more than 100 F. It’s a good practice to run some cold water first, then add hot water — testing it with your hand. 

Here’s how to test your water temperature: Run hot water until you’re sure it’s reached its peak, then fill a glass and use a thermometer. First fill and empty the glass a time or two to warm it so it will not cool down the tap water. Then adjust your water-heater thermostat as needed. Whenever you make a change wait 24 hours before again testing the temperature. 

– James and Morris Carey

The kitchen takes a beating during the holidays with food preparation for dinners, brunches, parties and food gifts. So now, with that season behind us, it’s a good time to take stock of what works and what doesn’t in the most-used room in the house. 

Good storage is the key to how well your kitchen functions. To help determine what kind of storage you need, answer some key questions: 

• How big is your family? 

• How much do you cook? What is your lifestyle and your cooking style? 

• Do you entertain often? 

• Do you like to do a special type of cooking? 

• Do you need cookbook storage? What appliances do you use? 

• Do you prefer utensils, small appliances and mugs within easy reach, or do you prefer uncluttered countertops? 

• How often do you shop for groceries? Do you cook mostly from the freezer or from the pantry? 

There are ways to make your kitchen more efficient without gutting existing cabinets. Carve out a pantry from a sliver of wall space. For narrow but deep space, fit the space with pullout shelving. Install shallow shelves between wall studs to store canned goods one row deep. 

Store dry staples — rice, beans, flour, sugar, cornmeal, cereal — in sealed see-through containers. Use a small container to corral packets of sauce mixes that can get lost in a cabinet. Squared containers are more efficient than round ones. 

To save time, store appliances used every day on the counter. Hang others from hooks, on pegboards or on a metal grid with S-hooks. For small items, such as mugs or salt and pepper shakers, add a small shelf above the backsplash to keep them off the counter. 

Store fresh produce in baskets for an easy reach, and consider adding a lazy Susan to a corner cabinet for more efficient use of space. If space allows, consider a freestanding cabinet or baker’s rack for display and function. 

Check home centers for racks for glasses and hooks for cups. There are other inside-the-door attachments for space-savers, too. 

If space is really at a premium, buy a multitiered plate rack to store dishes used every day.  

Use baskets with compartments to store frequently used flatware and napkins. Collect baskets in one style to arrange on the top of cabinets to hold extra tools or napkins. Kitchen storage ideas: 

—Drawer dividers: Organize everyday flatware with dividers. Laminate, plastic, wire and wood dividers are sturdy and easy to clean. 

—Double lazy Susans: Make the most of cabinet space with double lazy Susans. With an adjustable top shelf, there’s room for tall canned goods, spices and condiments. 

—Spice stairs: Staggered shelves let you see what you have on hand. 

—Wire baskets: Use attractive and durable baskets to organize nonrefrigerated produce, such as potatoes, onions and bananas, or to store linens. 

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“Better Homes and Gardens Making a Home” (Meredith Books, $29.95) 

WASHINGTON — With little worry about their own re-election, some members of California’s congressional delegation are playing active roles in party primaries for the two U.S. House districts in which no incumbent is running. 

Those districts, as well as the San Joaquin Valley seat of Democratic Rep. Gary Condit, are the only ones in which the outcome is in doubt, political operatives in both parties agree. 

Of California’s 53 House districts — the state is gaining a seat because of population growth — incumbents are widely expected to win re-election in 50 of them. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, has no major-party opponent and Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Pleasanton, faces one primary challenger who likes her record. 

The Legislature’s once-a-decade redistricting that followed the 2000 Census placed a premium on protecting incumbents and making congressional districts either safely Democratic or Republican. “After redistricting, there are no competitive congressional seats left in California,” said Dan Schnur, a veteran Republican aide. 

Even in the two districts with no incumbent running, the March 5 primary is expected to be decisive. Condit’s seat is competitive race because of the incumbent’s relationship with Chandra Levy, the 24-year-old former federal intern from Modesto, Calif., who disappeared in Washington in May. 

Many members of Congress stay neutral in primaries, reasoning little good can come from meddling. 

But Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Bakersfield, chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, and eight other House Republicans are backing 28-year-old Devin Nunes in the race for an agriculture-based Central Valley seat representing parts of Fresno and all of Tulare counties. Nunes was briefly a Bush administration appointee, serving as state director for rural development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, until he stepped down to mount his second campaign for Congress. 

Thomas’s role has irritated Nunes’ more politically experienced opponents, state Assemblyman Mike Briggs and former Fresno mayor Jim Patterson. “The last thing we need is another congressman from Kern County,” Briggs said. 

Briggs was one of four Republicans who joined Democrats last year to break a stalemate over Democratic Gov. Gray Davis’s budget. He said he seized an opportunity to extract concessions from Assembly Democrats that have aided local farmers. Patterson touts the reduction in crime in Fresno during his time as mayor. 

Briggs, 42, and Patterson, 53, have been trying to make an issue of Nunes’ age. “Voters are going to look for a serious, experienced, trusted person who’s got a few years on them,” Patterson said. 

Nunes promotes himself as the only farmer and the only Tulare County resident among the major candidates. 

In the Los Angeles area, an open seat is expected to be another gain for the state’s growing Hispanic population and for Democrats. The three major Democratic contenders are all Hispanic. 

Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Garden Grove, who upset Republican longtime Rep. Bob Dornan in 1996, is heavily involved because her sister, Linda, is a candidate. 

Hector de la Torre, a South Gate city councilman, is running a strong race in some polls. Assemblywoman Sally Havice, 64, who has won three competitive races for the Legislature, said she is building support among “thousands of former students” from her English class at Cerritos College. 

Loretta Sanchez has lent her sister her press secretary, Carrie Brooks, who also remains on the congressional staff in a reduced role. The congresswoman’s popularity has been a big boost to her younger sister, who is 32. 

“The message is not, ’Vote for me because I’m Loretta’s sister,”’ Linda Sanchez, a lawyer, said. “Vote for me because I happen to be very qualified and passionate about Democratic issues. The fact that Loretta has high name ID helps convey that to voters.” 

Emily’s List, a Washington-based organization that raises money for women who support abortion rights, has endorsed Sanchez. 

De La Torre, 36, is a former Clinton administration aide, who has picked up the endorsements of Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte. “I’m the only candidate with any Washington experience,” said de la Torre. 

In Condit’s district, the embattled incumbent from Ceres is holding a series of sidewalk chats, presenting himself as the most experienced and knowledgeable of the candidates, said Chad Condit, the congressman’s son and campaign manager. 

His major primary opponent is Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza, a one-time protege who has secured support from prominent Democrats who say Condit’s saga has embarrassed them. Republicans say they will focus on this Democratic-leaning seat in the fall if Condit survives the primary. 

SACRAMENTO — Gray Davis has donated money to GOP gubernatorial candidate Richard Riordan’s campaign, but it’s not exactly how it looks. 

A Southern California computer consulting firm owner — who happens to share the name of the Democratic governor Riordan wants to unseat — donated $1,000 to Riordan’s campaign in November. 

“It’s definitely not us,” said Roger Salazar, the governor’s re-election campaign spokesman, Friday. 

Davis and Riordan, considered the front-runner for the GOP nomination in November, are locked in a fund-raising race in which each has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars weekly. 

The “Davis” donation to Riordan, however, is particularly ironic because Riordan has been criticized by fellow Republicans for donating $12,500 to Davis and thousands to other Democratic candidates in the past. 

Davis, the non-governor, said he knew it would raise eyebrows when he wrote the check to Riordan at a Beverly Hills fund-raiser on Nov. 5. 

“I thought it was going to be funny,” he said. 

He said he does, in fact, support Riordan. Davis, the computer firm owner, said he worked for the former Los Angeles mayor’s business team before he began his own company, he said. 

His full name is Wade Gray Davis, but he goes by his middle name and owns a computer consulting firm called Gray Davis & Associates in El Segundo, Calif. He said he is registered to vote as “declined to state,” and that he has supported Davis, the governor, in the past.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — For some Alaska Natives, Gravina Island equates to the Costco of traditional food. A short skiff ride from Ketchikan, the island feeds families with abundant deer, salmon, Dungeness crab and goose tongue seaweed. 

“We call it our food locker,” said Joe Williams, tribal president of the Organized Village of Saxman. 

Located in the southern tip of the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska, Gravina Island is also a storehouse of commercially valuable trees and a popular spot with non-Native hunters, fishermen and locals seeking a wilderness getaway. 

Gravina has become the eye of a national political storm over the future of one-third of national forests, and it has thrust Alaska Natives into a battle where loggers and environmentalists are the usual warriors. 

It’s a bitter dispute sparked by a year-old Clinton-era initiative to protect 58.5 million acres of wild forest from logging, road building and mining. By failing to defend the so-called “roadless” policy in court and by issuing a series of modifications, the Bush administration over the past year has been diluting the reach of the plan as well as other environmental initiatives put in place in the waning days of the Clinton administration. 

The spotlight is on Gravina Island because the U.S. Forest Service is proposing a timber sale there next year, one of the first nationally since the roadless order was unveiled. 

Under the Clinton rule, the timber sale could not occur because roads would be needed for the logging. But the Bush modifications allow the sale and 22 miles of logging road on the primitive 200-square-mile island wedged between Ketchikan and Metlakatla. 

The Forest Service is targeting a swath of spruce, hemlock and cedar trees, enough lumber to build about 35,000 homes. 

The timber sale would give a much-needed boost to the region’s ailing logging industry. Besides cutters, road engineers and heavy equipment operators would also get work and a virtually impenetrable forest would be opened to home builders, hikers and Winnebagos. 

Ketchikan political leaders are squarely behind the project. Companies that have suffered since the town’s pulp mill — the major private employer — closed four years ago are salivating at the prospect. 

“It would be more than a season’s work for our crews. Probably in the neighborhood of a $3 million project,” said Jan Paulson, vice president of South Coast Inc., a Ketchikan company that builds roads. 

Besides the usual players in Tongass timber wars, Natives have weighed in heavily, with many speaking out against the sale in public comments and at hearings. Two tribes have gone on record opposing the sale in its entirety. Other Natives have said they wouldn’t mind the logging so much as long as the Forest Service watches out for the fish, wildlife and plants that fill their plates, said Jerry Ingersoll, district ranger in Ketchikan. 

Among those guarded advocates is Sol Atkinson, a Tsimshian Indian and former mayor of Metlakatla, who has gathered food in Gravina since World War II. As a Boy Scout in the 1940s, Atkinson used to camp on the island and catch steelhead trout in Bostwick Inlet. 

“I don’t really care about the logging as long as subsistence is protected,” he said. Atkinson doesn’t want to see a road or log dump in Bostwick Inlet. 

“History tells us that subsistence dies after that,” he said. 

A final environmental review of the Gravina sale is expected in four months, with a sale in 2003, Ingersoll said. 

Some 5,000 to 6,000 people nationwide have written comments about the project, most of them opposing it, Ingersoll said. That’s a high number of comments for a Tongass timber sale, he said. 

Conservationists say it shows that environmental protection, and national forests in particular, are close to the hearts of Americans. They point to the 1.6 million comments the Forest Service received on Clinton’s roadless plan. 

“There were over 600 public hearings and a record number of comments from 50 states on the roadless policy,” said Jane Danowitz, director of the Heritage Forests Campaign. The vast majority of comments supported the road ban. 

Of all the country’s national forests, Alaska’s Tongass has the largest block of roadless terrain — about 9.4 million acres. The Tongass is the biggest national forest, roughly the size of West Virginia. 

The roadless rule was considered one of the most ambitious forest conservation efforts since Teddy Roosevelt set aside vast tracts of forest and parkland for conservation some 100 years ago. 

The Bush administration quickly froze the rule, saying it required more review and public input, especially from people who live near national forests. The policy also became the subject of nine lawsuits by the timber industry, off-road vehicle groups and state governments including Alaska. An Idaho federal judge blocked the roadless plan with a preliminary injunction last May. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is reviewing that decision and is expected to rule any day. 

Although both Attorney General John Ashcroft and Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman publicly pledged to uphold the rule in the early days of the Bush presidency, the administration didn’t appeal the Idaho injunction, although environmental groups did. And it has chipped away at the policy through a handful of densely worded directives that roll back many of the environmental safeguards. 

Forests such as the Tongass, for example, with newly updated long-term management plans, are excluded from roadless protections under Bush modifications.  

So the Forest Service is free to offer timber sales in areas that otherwise would have been protected. 

Bush administration officials deny that they’re eviscerating forest preservation. They say the Clinton policy went too far and didn’t adequately consider local, tribal and state concerns. 

“The president believes there needs to be a new way of thinking when it comes to protecting environment,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. “He recognizes that we can encourage job creation and economic growth while finding innovative ways such as using 21st century technology to safeguard and protect our environment.” 

In the Tongass, businesses and communities that depend on logging are applauding Bush’s position on the roadless rule. 

“At least the arrogance that we saw in the previous administration is gone and there’s a willingness to listen,” said Errol Champion, vice president of Juneau-based Silver Bay Logging. The company employs 40 people year-round and up to 300 seasonally. 

If the appeals court reverses the Idaho injunction and allows the roadless rule to go forward, the company probably would not survive, he said. 

Another black cloud for the logging industry is a separate lawsuit in Anchorage federal court involving another injunction on logging in the Tongass’ unroaded lands. Last year, U.S. District Judge James Singleton found that the Forest Service should have evaluated Tongass roadless acres for possible wilderness status when it updated the forest management plan. 

He imposed an injunction that halted most logging on the Tongass. Responding to industry and local pressure, Singleton lifted it pending a review of the injunction’s harm. The next hearing in the case is slated for next month. 

If Singleton reinstates the logging ban, two of the five operating mills in Southeast, including Silver Bay, said they will close. 

If those shutdowns happen, the Alaska logging industry would become even more a shadow of its past. In the logging heyday of the 1970s and 1980s, as much as 600 million board feet of timber were cut off the Tongass annually. Logging restrictions, lawsuits and changing markets have pummeled the industry. Last year, just shy of 50 million board feet were harvested, the lowest level since 1942, according to Owen Graham, executive director of the Alaska Forest Association. 

Among the hard-liners on both sides of the Tongass wars, there’s often little room for compromise. On the Gravina timber sale at least, there could be common ground. The biggest concern of Natives who use the area is that Bostwick Inlet not be touched. There’s archaeological evidence that the area has been used for subsistence food gathering for thousands of years, according to Natives and the Forest Service. 

With relics of smokehouses, fish camps and tribal houses in and around the inlet, most area Natives consider Bostwick an important place. 

But the rest of Gravina, at least for some, isn’t quite as sacred. 

“We don’t have a problem with logging,” said Victor Wellington, mayor of Metlakatla, an Indian reservation just across the water from Bostwick. “We oppose logging in a subsistence area.” 

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., which operates the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, is laying off an unknown number of its 1,025 workers as it reorganizes amid flat North Slope oil production. 

The oil consortium also said it plans to cut spending by about $10 million, for a budget of about $520 million this year. 

Alyeska has been looking at ways to be more efficient and found it can reduce its work force while still safely running the 800-mile pipeline and Valdez tanker port, said Dan Hisey, Alyeska’s chief operating officer. 

During the next three to four months, Alyeska will decide how many jobs it will cut.  

The layoffs could hit managers and supervisors, engineers and business analysts, office workers and administrators, he said. Maintenance and other front line workers won’t be affected. 

“We will not diminish in any way our focus on pipeline integrity, safety and maintenance,” Hisey said. 

Anchorage-based Alyeska, a consortium owned by six major oil companies, has about 240 staff and contract workers in Anchorage, with the rest mainly in Fairbanks, Valdez and along the pipeline.

HOUSTON — A former Enron Corp. executive who reportedly complained about the company’s questionable accounting practices and resigned last May was found shot to death in a car Friday, an apparent suicide. 

J. Clifford Baxter, a 43-year-old former vice chairman of the energy giant, was discovered dead in a Mercedes-Benz parked on a median not far from his home in the Houston suburb of Sugar Land. He had been shot in the head. 

Police said a suicide note was found. Its contents were not disclosed. 

Baxter resigned several months before Enron’s collapse in the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Enron’s sudden downfall and accounting practices are being investigated by federal prosecutors, the FBI, securities regulators and 11 congressional committees and subcommittees. 

The House Energy and Commerce committee had asked to interview Baxter.  

He had not been subpoenaed, and no date had been set for an interview. He had also been named in a federal lawsuit accusing him and other Enron executives of reaping huge profits on Enron stock before its collapse. 

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our friend and colleague, Cliff Baxter. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends,” the company said in a statement. 

Enron spokesman Mark Palmer had no additional comment. 

Baxter was identified by name in the explosive warning that Enron executive Sherron Watkins wrote last August to company chairman Ken Lay. 

“Cliff Baxter complained mightily to (then-CEO Jeff) Skilling and all who would listen about the inappropriateness of our transactions with LJM,” Watkins wrote. LJM is one of the partnerships that were used to keep half a billion dollars in losses off Enron’s books. 

Watkins’ letter to Lay warned that “we will implode in a wave of accounting scandals” unless the company changed its ways. 

Thousands of Enron workers eventually lost their jobs and watched their retirement savings all but evaporate after the company disclosed the losses. Enron chairman Kenneth Lay, one of President Bush’s strongest supporters, resigned this week. 

Baxter was one of 29 former and current Enron executives and board members named as defendants in a shareholder lawsuit that alleges they made $1.1 billion by selling Enron stock between October 1998 and November 2001. The lawsuit said Baxter had sold 577,436 shares for $35.2 million. 

His body was found around 2:30 a.m. by a police officer checking on a car parked in a residential area. He was in the driver’s seat, shot with a revolver. The ID he was carrying indicated he worked for Enron. 

Jim Richard, a Fort Bend County justice of the peace, ruled Baxter’s death a suicide but ordered an autopsy as a precaution. 

Baxter’s family could not be reached for comment. A woman answering the telephone at the home hung up. 

At the time his resignation was announced, Enron said Baxter’s primary motive was to spend more time with his family. 

Skilling himself abruptly resigned in August, citing personal reasons. Skillling was “absolutely devastated at the loss of a very good friend,” said his spokeswoman, Judy Leon. 

Baxter had joined Enron in 1991 and was chairman and CEO of Enron North America before being named chief strategy officer for Enron Corp. in June 2000 and vice chairman in October 2000, the company said. 

He was born in Amityville, N.Y., and graduated from New York University. He was a captain in the Air Force from 1980 to 1985 and received an MBA from Columbia University in 1987, according to the company. 

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The father who beat another man to death at their sons’ hockey practice was sentenced to six to 10 years in prison Friday after the dead man’s 13-year-old boy urged a judge to “teach him a lesson.” 

“Let the world know that a person can’t do what he did to my family,” Michael Costin said in an unwavering voice. “No matter how much of a sentence that you give to Thomas Junta, my dad got more.” 

Junta, 44, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter earlier this month for beating Michael Costin, 40, on July 5, 2000, in one of the country’s most shocking episodes of a parent losing control at a child’s sporting event. Junta and Costin argued after Junta got angry over rough play on the ice. 

Junta testified at his trial that he tried to avoid a fight and only struck Costin in self-defense. A medical examiner said Costin suffered severe brain injuries, and others said Junta pounded Costin’s head and was red-faced with rage. 

The burly truck driver could have gotten up to 20 years in prison. 

Judge Charles Grabau followed the prosecutors’ recommended sentence, though it called it “most generous” and said he had considered exceeding it. 

Junta made only a brief statement, saying in a low, barely audible voice: “I’d just like to apologize to both families and thank my family for all their support for me.” He did not call any character witnesses. 

Junta sat handcuffed, his head hung low, as Costin’s children, sister, mother and father told the judge how the slaying had affected their lives. 

“I can still remember being hysterical trying to wake him up as the blood streamed down his face,” said Brendan, 14, Costin’s oldest son. 

Junta sobbed as his lawyer read from letters Junta wrote to his two children. Junta’s 12-year-old son, Quinlan, witnessed the fight and testified for his father at the trial. 

“Remember, you told the truth,” Junta wrote. “Remember, hockey is supposed to be fun, but it’s just a game.” 

Before being led away, Junta raised his shackled hands, waved and blew a kiss to his family. One of his sisters sobbed as other siblings tried to comfort her. 

Junta must serve at least six years before he becomes eligible for parole. Defense attorney Thomas Orlandi Jr. said he will appeal. 

Costin’s sister, Mary Barbuzzi, and prosecutors said they considered the sentence fair. “We believe justice has been served,” Barbuzzi said. “Our prayers will be with the Junta family, and our family will try to move beyond this tragedy.” 

During the trial and sentencing, prosecutors painted Junta as a 270-pound bully who picked on a much smaller man. Junta’s supporters described him as a “gentle giant,” a devoted husband and father who fell victim to “a very bad set of circumstances.” 

But the judge cited Junta’s own words to explain his sentence. Moments after the deadly fight, Junta told a police officer: “I got the better of him. I got in a few more shots.” 

The judge said he also considered a previous incident in Junta’s life, which was not brought up at trial: Junta’s wife was granted a restraining order in 1991 after accusing him of beating her in front of their children. 

Costin, who had four children, ages 11 through 14, had had a drinking problem and had been in and out of prison for much of his adult life, but had been working as carpenter and painter, according to his father. 

The defense brought up Costin’s past in letters submitted to the court, prompting criticism from the judge, who called it an “attempt to shift the focus to the victim as the culprit.” Grabau said the references “cheapen the value of human life.”

BALTIMORE — King Herod, the bloodthirsty Judean ruler who reputedly tried to kill the infant Jesus, died an excruciating death, brought on by kidney disease and finished off by gangrene, a medical sleuth said Friday. 

“It’s a very unpleasant way to die,” said Dr. Philip Mackowiak, the director of the Historical Clinicopathological Conference at the University of Maryland medical school. 

At the annual conference, doctors apply their diagnostic skills to historical figures whose deaths have not been satisfactorily explained. Previous conferences concluded rabies killed Edgar Allan Poe and that the Roman emperor Claudius died from eating poisonous mushrooms. 

Before his death in 4 B.C., Herod suffered an array of symptoms — intense itching, painful intestinal problems, breathlessness, fever, swelling in the feet, convulsions and, finally, gangrene of the genitalia. 

Peter Richardson, a religion professor at the University of Toronto, found the description of Herod’s ailments in the writings of the first-century historian Flavius Josephus. 

Fournier’s gangrene, rare today, probably killed Herod, said Dr. Jan Hirschmann of the University of Washington medical school, who examined Herod’s case history. The disease would have killed the king in a week or less. 

The symptom of itching led Hirschmann to conclude Herod suffered from kidney disease. Itching might have led to the gangrene as well, causing Herod to scratch his skin and open it to infectious bacteria. 

Many have speculated that Herod had gonorrhea, but Hirschmann said there’s no evidence to support that. Debunking such popular theories is the point of an intensive, clinical approach to Herod’s death, Mackowiak said. 

Kidney disease may also explain some of Herod’s brutal acts — including the executions of several family members. The untreated accumulation of bodily wastes can result in mental illness. 

“He had some mental changes — depression and a suicide attempt, as well as paranoia,” Hirschmann said. “These may be part of the disease, or they may be extensions of what he was like before.” 

According to religious tradition, Herod, fearing the coming of a Messiah after Jesus’ birth, ordered the execution of infant boys in Bethlehem, forcing Mary, Joseph and the child to flee to Egypt. 

Federal judge to decide who oversees the energy utility and handles its rates 

SAN FRANCISCO — California’s largest utility argued in bankruptcy court Friday that a federal judge should shift its power plants and transmission systems out of the state’s control, a move that could free Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to raise rates. 

Nine months after PG&E’s $13.2 billion bankruptcy, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali soon will determine who will oversee the utility’s activities and how much it charges for energy in California. 

Bankruptcy experts say Montali’s decision will make or break PG&E’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy, because the plan relies on overriding dozens of state laws and regulations that govern its operations. 

The state Public Utilities Commission and the attorney general vehemently oppose PG&E’s plan, in part because PG&E is asking Montali to relieve it from buying electricity for its 4.5 million customers beyond what the state buys and its own power plants provide. 

“Under state law, PG&E has an obligation to provide safe and reliable service to all the customers in its service area,” said Gary Cohen, PUC counsel. “PG&E’s basically saying, ‘It’s not our problem, it’s the state’s problem.”’ 

The bankruptcy’s resolution will have broader consequences beyond whether customers pay more for energy or thousands of creditors get paid: 

— Farmers, environmental groups and campers worry that a post-bankruptcy PG&E might sell some of the nearly 140,000 acres it owns. That could block grazing and public recreation in the wilderness due to logging, and compromise access to irrigation and drinking water that pours through the utility’s dams in the Sierra Nevada. 

— Shareholders wonder if PG&E is a solid investment, and whether shares of the nearly 100-year-old utility will return to pre-bankruptcy heights. 

— Consumer advocates fear a federally regulated PG&E would control much of California’s power market and use the advantage to drive up prices, just as officials allege out-of-state power companies forced prices skyward last year. 

In the hearing Friday, PG&E told Montali that legal precedent indicates the transfer of multibillion-dollar lands and assets away from state environmental reviews and regulation is not illegal so long as PG&E obeys the law after it comes out of bankruptcy. 

The utility wants to form three new companies to handle transmission, generation and natural gas, borrow against its assets to pay debts, then resume buying electricity for its customers — all without a rate increase. 

“We don’t think the state has a right to say just because we weren’t born this way — in several companies — doesn’t mean we can’t become this way,” said Laurence Tribe, a Harvard law school professor representing PG&E. 

The utility says customers won’t see rates rise under the plan because it plans to lock in a price for energy over the next 12 years. 

But consumer advocates and state regulators say it’ll still be more than customers pay now, and that PG&E is using the bankruptcy court to rejigger itself into a deregulated entity. Instead of transferring away its most valuable assets, it should use its available $4.9 billion and borrow money to pay creditors instead, they say. 

The Utility Reform Network says PG&E’s plan would cost ratepayers $20 billion extra over the next 12 years, based on its analysis of PG&E’s bankruptcy plan and financial figures. PG&E disputes that assertion. 

No one’s sure of the outcome, but Lynn LoPucki, a UCLA bankruptcy professor, said he doubts Montali would let PG&E bypass so many state laws because it would set a precedent for future utility bankruptcies. 

It would prove “that a debtor in bankruptcy can sell anything regardless of what state law might say about it or why state law says it. Imagine a debtor saying they want to sell alcohol to minors?” LoPucki said. 

Before PG&E can emerge from bankruptcy, it must win support for its reorganization plan from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Judge Montali, and a majority of its thousands of creditors, which have included America’s largest banks, as well as ice cream shops, home builders, power sellers and the state. 

So far, the official creditors committee backs the plan. Other agencies have not yet responded. 

Most creditors are just waiting and watching. 

“We’re all hoping for the best, that we do get all our money back,” said Aline Varanese, an accountant with Oakland-based Bay Rubber Company, which is owed nearly $4,000 for items such as gaskets and fittings.

GLENDALE — The beverage division of Nestle USA and Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. have agreed to share production and purchasing operations in order to trim costs. 

Over time, Nestle will shift manufacturing of its Libby’s Juicy Juice and Libby’s Kerns Nectars to Ocean Spray facilities, the companies said Friday. 

The two companies will pool their resources to buy raw ingredients, such as sugar, packaging materials and other supplies and are talking about sharing warehousing, transportation and other resources. 

No jobs are expected to be lost as a result, a Nestle spokeswoman said. 

“By bringing Nestle’s juice production into our plants and joining forces with them on purchasing and distribution, we will establish an economy of scale that will boost the profitability of both companies,” said Ocean Spray president and chief operating officer Randy Papadellis. 

The alliance makes sense, especially for Ocean Spray, which saw its single serving juice box business decline by 66 percent in 2001, said John Sicher, editor of Beverage Digest, a trade publication. 

ImClone Systems Inc.’s woes mounted Friday and its stock tumbled to the lowest level in a year after the company disclosed two federal agencies are investigating the biotechnology firm. 

The New York City company said in a regulatory filing Friday that the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are probing allegations that ImClone executives misled investors about troubles surrounding its highly anticipated cancer drug Erbitux. 

A congressional panel announced last week it would investigate insider trading at ImClone, as well as the company’s handling of its failed application for Food and Drug Administration approval. 

“The company intends to cooperate fully in response to these inquiries,” ImClone spokesman Jason Farber said Friday. 

ImClone also announced that Peter Peterson resigned from the company’s board. Peterson, chairman of The Blackstone Group and secretary of commerce under President Nixon, was appointed in November. 

He did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. Farber said Peterson cited “time constraints” as his reason for resigning. 

ImClone’s stock was down 16 percent to $16.49 at the close of trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, its lowest level in a year. 

“It’s more of the same,” said Jason Kantor, an analyst with JP Morgan. “This thing has taken on a life of its own.” 

The company’s stock has plummeted more than 70 percent from $55.25 a share since Dec. 28, when it disclosed that the FDA refused to consider its application to market Erbitux. At the time, the executives said they could overcome the FDA’s concerns and expressed confidence Erbitux could be approved by the end of this year. 

Earlier this month, information released by a trade publication indicated problems with the application were more serious than ImClone had led investors and analysts to believe. 

Analysts who follow ImClone still believe the FDA will approve Erbitux, but no earlier than the end of 2003. 

“I think the drug is a viable drug and cancer patients would benefit,” said Brian Rye, an analyst with Raymond James & Associates Inc. “Unfortunately, the way it has been handled leaves a lot to be desired.” 

Angry shareholders have filed at least two dozen federal class action lawsuits alleging fraud. 

On Thursday, Bristol-Myers Squibb wrote off $735 million of the $1.2 billion it recently invested in the company.  

In September, Bristol-Myers Squibb announced it would pay $1 billion to purchase 19.9 percent of ImClone, valuing the biotechnology firm at $71 a share. In addition, it paid $200 million to ImClone to share in the future profits of Erbitux and promised another $800 million in payments once the drug cleared FDA hurdles. 

“We couldn’t be more disappointed with the turn of events since the filing,” Bristol-Myers Squibb chief executive Peter Dolan told investors on a conference call Thursday. 

A Bristol-Myers Squibb spokeswoman couldn’t be reached for comment Friday. 

Dolan said the company was doing everything it could to refile the application without conducting additional tests and that bringing the drug to market was a top priority. He also said Bristol-Myers Squibb would pursue “all options” to protect its shareholders. 

Bristol-Myers Squibb’s share price was down slightly at the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange to $46.25, its lowest level in a year. 

—— 

On the Net: 

ImClone: http://www.imclone.com 

SEC: http://www.sec.gov 

Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov 

FDA: http://www.fda.gov 

An artificial rose and an empty bottle of Hennessey cognac sit on a porch at 3331 King St., right next door to the scene of the double shooting Tuesday morning that took the life of Rammar Johnson and left Noel Turner, Jr., in critical condition. 

But this small tribute to a fallen friend is not intended for Johnson or Turner. The flower, the bottle and a card are for James Earl Solomon, a 44-year-old resident of 3331 King St. found dead in his apartment on Jan. 4. Solomon’s cause of death is still being investigated by the coroner’s office. 

The card features a heart marked “63rd” and pierced with a knife. It carries a number of signatures and farewell messages. 

“Thanks for being a good friend and a good person,” reads one, “no matter what they say about you.” 

In this south Berkeley neighborhood, the few blocks of Berkeley that sit on the other side of Alcatraz Avenue, one heartbreak bleeds into the next. 

“It was a quiet neighborhood in 1985 – a nice, quiet neighborhood,” said Charles Daniels, a 17-year resident of 62nd Street.  

Daniels is the president of the 62nd Street Neighborhood Association, a group that its members say was formed three years ago in response to a sudden increase in drug activity in the neighborhood. His home is half a block away from the site of the Tuesday morning shootings. 

According to many who live on the block, Tuesday’s tragedy is merely the culmination of years of criminal activity in the neighborhood. 

Daniels can recount a long, sad list of crimes on his block over the past few weeks. There were about 20 people fighting on the street on Christmas Eve. One person was stabbed. 

Daniels said his group has been increasingly frustrated at city government’s apparent lack of concern. He said that everyone from Vice-Mayor Maudelle Shirek, who represents the district on the City Council, to the city manager’s office has turned a blind eye. 

“She doesn’t answer our letters,” Daniels said of Shirek. “She ignores us.” 

“Tom Myers (the city manager’s community liaison) came to one of our neighborhood meetings, and he’s ignored us ever since.” 

Shirek’s office did not return calls on Thursday. 

Myers said that a number of city departments have been working on blighted houses and other issues, but that they had a long way to go. 

“We haven’t solved all these problems, and we haven’t worked as closely with the neighborhood group as we could have,” he said. 

Myers said that from his perspective, the 62nd Street group’s activism seemed to have waned in recent months, and that he hoped that more people would become more involved in the neighborhood. 

“It’s unfortunate that there has to be an incident (like Tuesday’s shooting) that brings out activity on both sides – government and neighborhood groups,” he said. 

Phil Kamlarz, deputy city manager, added that the lines of communication between his office and the neighborhood were open. 

“We want people to feel safe in neighborhoods,” he said. “That’s what we’re here for.” 

Karen Klitz, Walker’s neighbor and another active member of the neighborhood association, said that drug pushers began moving in around the spring of 1999.  

No one knows exactly why they picked the neighborhood, she said, but she suspected that there must have been a police crackdown on drug activity in Oakland that pushed them across the border. 

Nowadays, according to Klitz, the pushers have taken over the neighborhood to such an extent that many neighbors, especially the elderly, live in a continual climate of fear. 

“Neighbors have been threatened when they’ve told the druggies to get off their property,” she said. “They’ve been told that their house would be firebombed.” 

On a recent clean-up party organized by the neighborhood association, residents were intimidated by the dealers – many of them teenage children – who muttered threats at them under their breath. 

Sam Dykes, president of the Adeline/Alcatraz Merchants Association, said that he sees drug sales from his store on Adeline Street every day. 

“There’s a group of kids that walk up and down the street all day, all night and in any kind of weather,” he said. “They’re operating a drug supermarket.” 

Dykes said that when police conduct sting operations in the neighborhood, it always turns out that many, if not most, of the buyers and sellers of drugs are commuting into the neighborhood – the buyers from Walnut Creek and Concord, the sellers from Richmond and Oakland. 

Both Walker and Klitz said that the only city agency they felt was concerned about their troubles is the Berkeley Police. They had particular praise for Officer Rob Rittenhouse, who patrols the area four days a week. 

“He has been the most helpful,” said Daniels. “He comes to every neighborhood meeting when he can. He gives us suggestions about how to handle some of these things.” 

But Daniels took exception to a recent statement by the BPD that there was no known gang activity in the area. 

“With what I’ve seen, I’d have to say otherwise,” he said. 

“There have been huge gang fights here – as many as 40 people fighting on that corner. It’s one bunch of people trying to run another bunch out.” 

“And they say it’s not gang-related. If it’s not gang-related, what is it?” 

Daniels added that he’d like to see the BPD tackle the problem a little more aggressively. 

“I think the cops in Oakland are a bit harder than the Berkeley police,” he said. “I’ve seen the Oakland police pull up to a corner and fill their car with people, where the Berkeley police will just get out and talk to them, then drive away.” 

“The druggies aren’t afraid of the Berkeley police.”  

Klitz said that she “didn’t want to turn into a Nazi about this,” but that the problem had gotten do far out of control that more direct and forceful action had to be taken. 

“Almost everyone on this street is a good, law-abiding person,” she said. “We all want to see this neighborhood cleaned up.”

Friday, Jan. 25

Women’s Health After  

Menopause 

10:30 a.m. - noon 

Summit North Pavilion, Cafeteria Annexes B & C 

350 Hawthorne Ave., Oakland 

A comprehensive presentation on women’s health and exams after menopause. 869-6737 

City Commons Club  

Luncheon 

11:15 a.m. 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave. 

Douglas R. Powell presents slides and gives a lecture entitled “A Graphic Portrait of a Tortured Land – Afghanistan”. Social hour begins at 11:15 a.m. Lunch is served 11:45 - 12:15. Speaker begins at 12:30. $11 - 12.25 with lunch, $1 otherwise. 848-3533 

Dr. Helen Caldicott  

8 p.m. 

Berkeley First Congregational Church 

2345 Channing Way 

Nobel Prize Nominee and spokesperson for world anti-nuclear movement speaks about peace, survival, and free speech in dangerous times. $15. 415-437-3425. 

Saturday, Jan. 26

Bay Area Women in Black  

2 - 3 p.m. 

Fourth & Hearst streets 

A silent vigil to oppose the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Please wear black, everyone is welcome. 486-2744, bayareawomeninblack@earthlink.net. 

Vocal Jazz Workshop and  

Jazz Jam 

9:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. 

Albany Adult School 

601 San Gabriel St. 

Workshops for singers and instrumentalists led by Richard Kalman to explore jazz in a small jazz combo format. $5-$12 per class. 524-6796, richkalman@aol.com. 

Puberty Seminar for Girls 

10:30 a.m.- 2 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

2230 Shattuck Ave. 

For girls ages 8-14. Understand why your body is changing, and celebrate your rite of passage. Refreshments. $25-$30. (Mothers free. ) 595-3814. 

Book Talk and Signing 

3 - 5 p.m. 

The Berkshire Assisted Living Community 

2235 Sacramento Way 

Victor Bogart will discuss his new book “Assumptions” and “6 steps for Shifting Gears on the Senior Highway.” 841-4844. 

Magic School Bus Video  

Festival 

10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Dr., above the UC Berkeley Campus 

Watch Ms. Frizzle take her skeptical class from outer space to inside a dog’s noise in seven different video adventures shown on the big screen and lasting for three hours. 

Youth and Race: 

Issues and Solutions 

9:30 a.m. - noon 

Elihu Harris State Building Auditorium 

1515 Clay St., Oakland 

Assemblywoman Dion Aroner (D-Berkeley/Oakland) will convene a town hall meeting of elected representatives, youth advocates, and public policy makers to identify and develop solutions for the problems facing young people. 540-3660. 

Sunday, Jan. 27

Neighborhood Clean-Up Day 

11 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Youth Services Center 

1730 Oregon St. 

Clean up blocks: Russell Street, Oregon Street, McGee, Stuart, Grant and California Street. 981-6670, www.ci.berkeley.ca.us. 

School Open House 

10:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. 

School of the Madeleine 

1225 Milvia St. 

Applications for grades K-8 available. Kindergarten informational meeting at noon. 526-4744, www.themadeleine.com. 

Organ Music 

5 p.m. 

MusicSources 

1000 The Alameda 

Ron McKean performs Ferscobaldi, Froberger and Bach, and improvises in the style of each composer. Reception follows concert. $15 - $18. 528-1685. 

Japanese Traditional  

Drumming 

2 p.m. 

Julia Morgan Center 

2640 College Ave. 

Emeryville Taiko presents a fun and interactive event for children and families. $10 adults, $5 children. 925-798-1300. 

Monday, Jan. 28

East Bay Heritage Quilters 

7:30 p.m. 

First Unitarian Church 

1 Lawson Rd., Kensington 

Guest Speaker, Alice Kolb, offers instruction on how to narrow many ideas into a focused garment. $3 non-members, free for members. 834-3706 

Writing an Ethical Will  

Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Writers of ethical wills hope to convey what they have learned in life. All writing levels and native languages welcome. $30. To register call: 848-0237 X127.

Editor :  

RE: Reporting On Causes of Fires 

The article about the fire in the Fox Court apartment building on University Ave. (D.P. 1-23-02) by John Geluardi describes a very common possible origin of fires, “either smoking material or a faulty electrical appliance.” The community at large needs to hear about specific causes of fires. I hope you will follow up with more details about how the fire ignited and spread, and specially on whether smoke detectors were operating or not, the type, in which rooms were they located, and did the occupants hear them. I have noticed that no mention has been made of smoke detectors in other recent house and apartment fires. This information would be a valuable lesson that could save lives in the future. Is there a reason for this lack of disclosure? 

Ken Norwood,  

Architect and City Planner 

Executive Director  

Shared Living Resource  

Center, Inc.

Controversial Japanese action film ‘Battle Royale’ drops in on Berkeley 

The most cruel and violent blood-sport from Japan is coming to Berkeley, filled with visceral spectacle to delight and offend. 

Battle Royale, a new film by legendary Japanese action filmmaker Kinji Fukasaku, drops a class of 42 junior high school students on an island where they are ordered to kill each other until there is one survivor. They are outfitted with a metal band around their necks, and if they don’t follow the rules the necklace explodes. A running tally at the bottom of the screen tracks the escalating body count. It is little wonder the film has stirred a controversy in Japan.  

“Children and violence is not an easy mix on either side of the Pacific,” said Patrick Macias, author of the newly published “Tokyoscope: The Japanese Cult Film Companion,” who will be present at the Pacific Film Archive on Saturday to read from his book and introduce the screening of Battle Royale.  

Each student in the film is issued a randomly selected weapon. The lucky students receive a gun or a knife, the unlucky ones might have to go into battle with a pair of binoculars, or a global positioning scanner or, for laughs, a cooking pot lid. 

As 15-year-olds, the students must also contend with hormones, friendship allegiances, fear and rage during their sudden-death survival game.  

The epic pre-pubescent struggle to admit you like another girl or boy is compounded by the possibility of the severed head or a classmate with a live grenade stuffed into his or her mouth crashing through the window. 

Certainly in America, with our national sensitivity to school shootings and video game violence, the concept of teenagers pitted against each other to the death will strike an uncomfortable nerve. But that agitated nerve coupled with Fukasaku’s filmmaking bravado and the ingenuity of violence lifts BR above the garden-variety slasher film and makes for an impressive piece of bloody action movie thrills. 

In Japan the film has come under attack by politicians and the PTA which tried to enforce edits of the bloodier scenes, and later to ban the film from exhibition. “We could say it’s the violence and children that offended a lot of people,” said Macias, “but perhaps the real reason [for the controversy] was the fact that it’s pointing the finger at the people on top.” 

The film’s ghastly game of survivor is created by a fictional government trying desperately to curb the skyrocketing youth crime rate. The politicians are never present on the screen but the products of their decision are smeared across it in lurid color.  

“Battle Royale is a film that incriminates everyone in Japan as being to blame for the, at times, sad state of things,” said Macias. The premise of Battle Royale is close to post-bubble Japan’s economic and social difficulties, and that might be why the film has had problems. In an interview with Fukasaku published in “Tokyoscope,” Macias asked the filmmaker why he thinks the film caused a political outcry: “It’s clear that this measure [the Battle Royale] that was decided upon by politicians, but no politicians show up in the film. This makes politicians who see the film very uneasy, because they don’t have the floor to say anything in it.” 

Macias said Fukasaku has always been a filmmaker to push limits.  

Fukasaku made his mark in Japanese movies with yakuza films, particularly the Fight Without Honor And Humanity cycle of gangster films. Yakuza are Japanese gangsters with a deep and rich history, famous for the intricate tattoos on their backs. Like the Samurai, yakuza are warriors operating with a code of conduct, called jingi – a word which Macias admits is difficult to translate literally but in written Japanese is composed of the characters for “honor” and “humanity.” In the 1970’s Fukasaku burst the myth of the yakuza and turned them into anti-heroes and urban thugs fighting, as the title suggests, without honor and humanity. His movies were fast, violent, and exciting.  

“There’s a lot of rage, a lot of confusion in his films which is really scathing and real,” said Macias, comparing Fukasaku’s work in yakuza films to what Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah did to the Western. “That’s his reputation… he’s an A-class, B director.” 

Fukasaku was 15 when the Allied forces occupied Japan after the war, and he saw the Americans attack and kill his countrymen, then immediately afterward offer assistance of food and clothing. He says the war and its aftermath were formative, and the films he makes now, over 50 years later, are still influenced by W.W.II. “Battle Royale really plugs emotionally right back into those feelings,” said Macias. “He could relate to children in a war-like scenario.” 

The emotions of Battle Royale are desperate and brutal, and at the same time trace common, even banal feelings of early teenagers. If you thought the sanctity of the high school clique was given melodramatic treatment in the work of John Hughes (The Breakfast Club) Fukasaku turns it up to a fevered pitch when a gaggle of girls determine friendship loyalties with the barrel of automatic rifles. As the student body diminishes the story wonders if the purist expression of love is suicide or murder. Beginning as a studio hack in the early 60’s, Fukasaku has made 62 films so far (he’s over 70 years old and still working) and a lot of them have been relegated to late-night TV. Macias reviewed several of them in “Tokyoscope”. He said some of the films are troubled by hokie plots and rickety productions but they all have evidence of passionate, energetic filmmaking. “You can see glimpses of it,” said Macias. “You can’t see it at midnight on whatever channel with 6-pack of Burgie. But it’s there. It’s definitely there in all his films. And I think in Battle Royale in particular.”

924 Gilman Jan. 25: Ludicra, Brain Oil, Creuvo, Scurvy Dogs, Arftificum Sanguis; Jan. 26: Mile Marker, Yaphet Kotto, Pirx the Pilot, Himsa, Confidante; Jan. 27: Bane, Over My Dead Body, Striking Distance, Breath In; Feb. 1: American Steel, Pitch Black, Fleshies, The Blottos, Sexy; Feb. 2: Dead and Gone, Black Cat Music, The Cost, The Frisk; Feb. 8: Divit, Scissorhands, Rufio, Don’t Look Down, Fenway Park; Feb. 9: Pansy Division, Subincision, The Fadeaways; All shows start a 8 p.m. unless noted; Most are $5; 924 Gilman St. 525-9926. 

ACME Observatory Contemporary Performance Series Jan. 27: 8 p.m., Jane Rigler; Feb. 3: 8 p.m., Gail Brand from London, Carlo Actis Dato from Italy; $0-$20 TUVA Space, 3192 Adeline, http://sfSound.org/acme.html. 

The Albatross Jan. 26: Al Guzman Jazz Quartet; Jan. 31: Keni “El Lebrijano”; All shows begin at 9 p.m. 1822 San Pablo Ave., 843-2473, albatrosspub@mindspring. com. 

Anna’s Bistro Jan. 25: Anna & Ellen Hoffman; Jan. 26: Robin Gregory & Bliss Rodriguez; Jan. 27: “Acoustic Soul”; Jan. 28: “Renegade Sidemen” w/Calvin Keyes; Jan. 29: Tangria; Jan. 30: Bob Schoen; Jan. 31: Jason Martineau & Dave Sayen; Music starts at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., 1801 University Ave., 849-2662. 

Blake’s Jan. 25: Shady Lady, Blue Room, $6; Jan. 26: Dank Man Shank, TBA, $5; Jan. 27: Motivators, Funklogic, $3; Jan. 28: All Star Jam Featuring The Steve Gannon Band, $4; Jan. 29: Funkanauts, Len Patterson Trio, $3; Jan. 30: Sunru, Slaptones, DJ Kurse, $10; Jan. 31: Electronica w/ Ascension, $5; 2367 Telegraph Ave., 877-488-6533. 

Club Jjang-Ga Jan. 26: Krenshaw, Bearing, Lucid Inc., Zodiacal Circle; 400 29th Ave., Oakland, 261-1108, savageproductions1@ yahoo.com. 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Jazzschool Jan. 27: 4:30 p.m., Michael Zilber, Sons of Bitches Brew; $6-$12. 2087 Addison St., 845-5373, www.jazzschool.com. 

Jupiter Jan. 23: Mitch Marcus Quintet; Jan. 24: Chris Shot Group; Jan. 25: The Sardonics; Jan. 26: Berkeley Jazz School Presents: Fourtet; Jan. 30: Joel Harrison Quartet; All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless noted. 2181 Shattuck Ave., 843-7625, www.jupiterbeer.com. 

La Pena Cultural Center Jan. 24: 7 p.m., Colombian Cultural Explosion, $5-$15; Jan. 25: 8 p.m., Wild Mango, $12; Jan. 26: 8 p.m., Naked Barbies: The Concert, $10-$15; Jan. 26: 10:30 a.m., Gary Lapow, $4 adults, $3 Children; Jan. 27: 7:30 p.m., Leticia Servín, $10-$8; 3105 Shattack Ave, 893-4648.  

Live Oaks Concerts: Berkeley Art Center Jan. 27: 7:30 p.m., Elaine Kreston, Laura Carmichael, $10, BACA Members $8, Students and Seniors $9. Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., 644-6893. 

Oakland Symphony Chorus Jan. 26: 9 a.m. - 1 p.m., Conductor Tony Pasqua will lead a study of Joseph Haydn’s “Harmoniemesse” and Johannes Brahm’s “Schicksalslied.” $25, $30 door; St. Peter’s Episcopal Church 6013 Lawton St., Oakland, 465-4199. 

Roda Theatre Jan. 22 and 23: both at 8 p.m., The Berkeley Symphony, Schubert’s Symphony No. 5. $21, $32, $45, $10 students. 2015 Addison St., 841-2800, www.berkeleysymphony.org. 

Rose Street House Jan. 25: 8 p.m. DivaBands Showcase: Bern, Elin Jr., Roberta Donnay, Christy Claxton and Tiger Zane. $8-$20. 1839 Rose St., 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@yahoo.com. 

The Starry Plough Feb. 1: 9:30 p.m., Tempest, Cyoakha Grace and Blind Land, $10; Feb. 2: 9:30 p.m., Banshees of Winter Festival: Jewlia Eisenberg, Faun Fables, Robin Coomer, Gene Jun, Jane Brody, Nicholas Dobsen, Leigh Evans, Jamie Isman, $6; Feb. 3: 8 p.m., The Starry Irish Music Session led by Shay Black, $ sliding scale; Feb. 4: 7 p.m. class, 9 p.m. session, Dance class and Ceili, free; Feb. 5: Open Mic, free; Feb. 6: 8:30 p.m., Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik, $5; Feb. 7: 9:30 p.m., Asylum Street Spankers, $12; 3101 Shattuck Ave., 841-2082. 

Berkeley Black Repertory Theatre Jan. 26: 6:30 - 10 p.m., The City of Berkeley and the Berkeley Black Repertory Theatre pay tribute to and welcome the return of “The Dru Band”; $5. 3201 Adeline St., 625-2120. 

Berkeley Art Center Jan. 26: 7 p.m., Rhythm & Muse, Rudi Mwongozi; 1275 Walnut St., 527-9753. 

Organ Music Jan. 27: 5 p.m., Ron McKean; $15 - $18. MusicSources, 1000 The Alameda, 528-1685. 

Annie Nalezny, Piano Recital Feb. 3: 3 p.m., Beethoven's Sonatas "A Therese" & "Les Adieux," Bruce Nalezny's "Poeme & Finale" and Chopin's 12 Etudes op. 10. $12-$15 donation. Berkeley Piano Club, 2724 Haste St. 

Dance 

Kun Shin Dancers celebrate the artistic traditions of mainland China and Taiwan. Intricate fan and ribbon dances, athletic sword dance, drum duet, courtship piece, peacock dance, and a hoop dance. $8-$10. Calvin Simmons Theatre in the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, Ten 10th St., Oakland, 465-9312, www.danceforpower.org.  

“Merce Cunningham Dance Company” Feb. 1 and 2: 8 p.m., The engagment features a world premiere by Cunningham (as yet untitled), with music by Christian Wolff and costumes by Terry Winters. $24-$26. UC Berkeley, Zellerbach Hall, 642-0212, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. 

Theater 

Word for Word double bill Feb. 1: 7 p.m., Feb. 2: 5 p.m., Feb. 3: 2 p.m.: Julius Lester’s short children’s play “John Henry”; Zora Neale Hurston’s “The Gilded Six Bits.” Both children and adults will view John Henry together, then the children leave the theatre to participate in art exercises that help them enter the spirit of the play. Meanwhile, the adults remain in the theatre to view The Gilded Six Bits. $16 adults, $11 children. Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave., 845-8542, www.juliamorgan.com. 

“James Joyce, Marcel Duchamp, Erik Satie: An Alphabet” Feb. 5: 8 p.m., Originally conceived as a radio play, John Cage’s imagined conversations between 15 artistic and cultural figures, their dialogue, historical materials, and musings that Cage simply made up. Director Laura Kuhn, Composer Mikel Rouse. UC Berkeley, Zellerbach Hall, 642-0212, www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. 

“Every Inch a King” Through Feb. 9: Thur. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 5 p.m.; Three sisters have to make a decision as their father approaches death in this comedy presented by the Central Works Theater Ensemble. $8 - $18. LeValls Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave. 558-138, www.centralworks.org.  

“Sisters” Through Feb. 16: Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., The Prozorov sisters look at the gap between hope and fulfillment in their lives. Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattack, www.actorsensemleofbkerkeley.com. 

“The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek” Through Feb. 10: Wed. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 and 7 p.m., playwright Naomi Wallace’s story about Dalton, a 15-year-old who dreams of escaping to college, and Pace, the town’s 17-year-old tomboy. Stuck in a town with no real prospects, the pair begins a deadly contest of chicken with the daily express train. Directed by Søren Oliver. $30-$35. Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison St., 843-4822, www.auroratheatre.org. 

“Rhinoceros” Jan. 23 through Mar. 10: Check theater for specific dates and times. An absurdist tragic-comedy about a small provincial town whose citizens slowly but surely transform into large cumbersome rhinoceroses. Directed by Barbara Damashek. $38 - $54. Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St. 647-2976 www.berkeleyrep.org. 

“Murder Dressed in Satin” by Victor Lawhorn, ongoing. A mystery-comedy dinner show at The Madison about a murder at the home of Satin Moray, a club owner and self-proclaimed socialite with a scarlet past. Dinner is included in the price of the theater ticket. $47.50 Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison St., Oakland, 239-2252, www.acteva.com/go/havefun. 

Film 

Pacific Film Archive Jan. 22: 7:30 p.m., New Arab Video 1; Jan. 23: 3 p.m., The Terms of Cinema; 7:30 p.m., Telling It, Differently; Jan. 25: 7:30 p.m., The Aviator’s Wife; 9:30 p.m., A Good Marriage; Jan. 26: 6:30 p.m., Patrick Macias; 7 p.m., Battle Royale; 9:30 p.m., Blood and Law; Jan: 27: Children’s Film Festival, 1 p.m., Ikingut, 3 p.m., Peter Pan; 5:30 p.m., Sir Arne’s Treasure; 7:35 p.m., Song of the Scarlet Flower; Jan. 28: 3 p.m., The Jazz Singer; 7 p.m., Underground Kisses; Jan. 29: 7:30 p.m., New Arab Video 2; Jan. 30: 3 p.m., The Nickelodeon; 7:30 p.m., New Arab Video 3; 2527 Bancroft Way, 642-1412. 

Parkway Theatre Jan. 29: 6:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m., Boom! The Sound Of Eviction, a Just Cause Oakland benefit screening. $6-$20. 1843 Park Blvd., Oakland, 464-1011. 

Exhibits  

GTU Exhibit: “Holocaust Series” by Cleve Gray Through Jan. 25: Comprised of 21 works on paper that constitute “a catharsis... for all of humanity.” Mon. - Thurs. 8:30 a.m. - 9:45 p.m., Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sun. noon - 7 p.m.; Free. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541 www.gtu.edu. 

“Prints and Paintings by Liao Shiou-Ping” on view through Jan. 31; Tues. to Fri.10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sat.10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Free. Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388-9th St., Suite 290, Oakland, 238-4491. 

“Rhythms” Through Feb. 2: Art installation of sculpture, neon, music and video projections by Kati Casida; Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St., 845-5373 

Pro Arts: “Juried Annual 2001-02” Through Feb. 2: Exhibition of painting, sculpture, mixed media, photography and more by Bay Area and regional artists; Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St., www.proartsgallery.org. 

“All Grown Up” Through Feb. 2: New paintings and drawings by Amy Chan. Thurs. 1 p.m. - 8 p.m., Fri -Sun 1 p.m. -6 p.m., 21 Grand Ave., Oakland, 444-7263 

“Water Media” Through Feb. 8: An exhibit by Christine “Caipirinha” Mulder. Capoeira Arts Cafe Gallery, 2026 Center St., 666-1349 for hours. 

“New Work by Dennis Begg and Steve Briscoe” Through Feb. 9: Dennis Begg’s sculpture. Steve Brisco’s paintings. Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Traywick Gallery,1316 10th St., 527-1214. 

“Enduring Wisdom: Artwork and Stories by Homeless and Formerly Homeless Seniors” Through Feb. 15: 18 homeless and formerly homeless elders reveal how they learned and applied wisdom that is timeless. Mon. - Fri. and Sundays 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.; Free. St. Mary’s Center, 635 22nd St., Oakland, 893-4723 x222. 

“Envisioning Ecology” Through Feb. 15: Paintings by Michelle Waters. Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave., 548-2220 x233. 

“The Other 364 Days: A Day in the Life of the Queer Community” Through Feb. 16: An exhibit of black and white photographs by East Bay photographer Limor Inbar-Hansen. Mon. - Fri., 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Sat., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St., 644-1400, limor@indelible-images.com. 

“Adventures in La Land” Through Feb. 23: Installations by Suzanne Husky and Paintings by Amy Morrell. Tues. - Sat., 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; 4920 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, 428-2349. 

“Transformations: Through the Eye of a Needle” Jan.24 - Feb. 23: Two-person exhibition by Rebecca Bui and Linda Lemon including procelain and fabric dolls and mixed media works on handmade paper. Tues.-Sat., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Ardency Gallery, 709 Broadway, Oakland, 836-0831, www.artolio.com 

“Ton of Joy” Through Mar. 1: Group show of twelve painters and sculptors: Simone Anders, Susan Brady, Erin Fitzgerald, Karen Frey, Kei Hanafusa, Nancy Legge, Burke Rainey, Robin Sebourn, Kristen Throop, Clay Vajgrt, Whitney Vosburgh, Ann West; Mon. - Sat., 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Hollis Street Project, 5900 Hollis St., Emeryville. 

“Ansel Adams in the University of California Collections” Through Mar. 10: A selection of photographs and memorabilia presenting a different perspective on Adam’s career as one of the leading figures in American photography; Jan. 16 through Mar. 24: “Migrations: Photographs by Sebastiao Salgado,” over 300 black-and-white photographs of immigrants and refugees taken by the Brazilian photographer. Wed. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 7 p.m., $4- $6. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. 

"Earthly Pleasures" assemblage and photographs by Susan Danis, Through March 30: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Mon. - Sat.; Sticks, 1579 B, Solano Ave., 526-6603.  

“Domestic Bliss” Through Apr. 4: Collection of abstract paintings and mixed medium by Amy St. George. Albany Community Center Foyer Gallery, 1249 Marin Ave., Albany, 524-9283. 

“The Legacy of Social Protest: The Disability Rights Movement” Through April 30: The first exhibition in a series dealing with Free Speech, Civil Rights, and Social Protest Movements of the 60s and 70s in California. Featuring photograghs by: Cathy Cade, HolLynn D’Lil, Howard Petrick, Ken Stein. The Free Speech Cafe, Moffitt Undergraduate Library, University of California-Berkeley, hjadler@yahoo.com  

“The Art History Museum of Berkeley” Masterworks by Guy Colwell. Faithful copies of several artists from the pasts, including Titian’s “The Venus of Urbino,” Cezanne’s “Still Life,” Picasso’s “Woman at a Mirror,” and Botticelli’s “Primavera” Ongoing. Call ahead for hours. Atelier 9, 2028 Ninth St., 841-4210, www.atelier9.com. 

Readings 

Coffee With a Beat Jan. 26: Paradise; Feb. 2: Julia Vinograd, Shauna Rogan; Feb. 9: Sydney Bell, Debrale Pagan; All readings 7-9 p.m., free and followed by open mike. 458 Perkins, Oakland, 526-5985.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore Jan. 22: Lee Foster discusses his new guide “Northern California History Weekends”; All readings are free and start at 7:30 p.m., 1385 Shattuck Ave. at Rose, 843-3533. 

Poetry 

Poetry Flash @ Cody’s Jan. 23: Paul Hoover and Elizabeth Robinson; Jan. 27: Wanda Coleman, Austin Straus and Kate Gale; Jan. 30 Ralph Angel and George Higgins; All events begin at 7:30 p.m., $2 donation. 2454 Telegraph Ave., 845-7852. 

Tours 

Golden Gate Live Steamers Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Lomas Cantadas Drive at the south end of Tilden Regional Park Small locomotives, scaled to size. Trains run Sun., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sun., noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. 486-0623. 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Fridays 9:30 - 11:45 a.m. or by appointment. Call ahead to make reservations. Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387. 

Museums 

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm” An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more. “Recycling Center” Lets the kids crank the conveyor belt to sort cans, plastic bottles and newspaper bundles into dumpster bins; $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Mon. and Wed., 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tues. and Fri., 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thur., 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111 or www.habitot.org. 

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 foot 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. Mon. - Fri., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821. 

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology will close its exhibition galleries for renovation. It will reopen in early 2002.  

Lawrence Hall of Science Through Jan. 26: Scream Machines: The Science of Roller Coasters; “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. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza; Open daily, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., $7 for adults; $5 for children 5-18; $3 for children 3-4. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley, 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org. 

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, www.lhs.berkeley.edu. 

Send arts events two weeks in advance to Calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.net, 2076 University, Berkeley 94704 or fax to 841-5694.

LOS ANGELES – Shantay Legans’ 3-pointer with three seconds remaining in overtime lifted California to a 92-91 victory over No. 23 Southern California on Thursday night. 

Legans scored the final five points for the Golden Bears (14-3, 5-2 Pac-10), off to their best start in 42 years. 

USC (14-4, 6-2) took a 91-87 lead on a jumper by Sam Clancy with 1:05 remaining and two free throws by Brandon Granville with 37 seconds left, but Legans made a layup 10 seconds later to draw the Bears within two. 

Cal got the ball back when they forced a jump ball with 14 seconds left, and the Bears worked the ball around before Legans nailed his shot from the left wing. 

That was the Bears’ first lead since they went on top 49-48 with 15:08 to play in the second half. USC was unable to get off a shot before time expired. 

Legans, a 5-foot-10 junior, hadn’t scored since the first half before scoring the final five points. He finished with 13 points. 

Brian Wethers, another reserve, led the Bears with 24 points – all but four after halftime. Joe Shipp added 20, including two 3-pointers late in the second half and another in overtime, and also had nine rebounds. 

Clancy led the Trojans with 26 points and 11 rebounds. David Bluthenthal added 20 points, but scored only three in the second half on his sixth and final 3-pointer. Granville added 19 points and six assists. 

A 3-pointer by Wethers with 4.6 seconds remaining in regulation tied the game at 79 and forced the overtime. USC’s Errick Craven hit the back rim on a 25-footer as time ran out. 

A 3-pointer by Desmon Farmer and a baseline jumper by Clancy capped a 16-5 run that gave the Trojans a 64-54 lead with 10:12 remaining. Neither team led by more than five points before the spurt. 

Cal cut USC’s lead to 77-76 on a 3-pointer by Shipp with 1:17 to play and a steal and layin by A.J. Diggs with 45 seconds left. 

Craven’s tip-in with 10 seconds to go put USC up by three points, but Wethers hit from the right corner to tie it. 

The Bears and Trojans entered the game ranked first and fourth, respectively, in scoring defense in the Pac-10, but there was plenty of offense in the first half as USC took a 42-40 lead. 

Bluthenthal went 5-for-6 from 3-point range in the half including a two-hander from about 55 feet away as time expired to cap an 8-3 run and put the Trojans on top. 

Cal’s previous 16 opponents averaged 60.8 points and USC’s first 17 averaged 66.7. 

The game was played before a crowd of 7,582 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

Superintendent Michele Lawrence called for a controversial change in school policy Wednesday night at a Board of Education meeting, suggesting that Berkeley High School close its doors to transfer students from outside the district, starting as early as next year. 

Lawrence and members of the board also discussed public participation in upcoming budget cuts, and sparred over reopening the small schools debate. 

Lawrence’s proposed change in attendance policy would make school capacity the top consideration in deciding whether to accept a student from outside the district. The change would effect transfers to every Berkeley school, but the focus was on BHS at the Wednesday meeting.  

“Berkeley High School, presently, is attractive to many people,” Lawrence said. “But the excess numbers are creating some untenable situations. It’s a small campus. It’s overcrowded.” 

The high school has a current enrollment of 3,055, according to district figures, including 239 students from outside the district admitted through an “inter-district permit.”  

Community activists have long complained that the school is too large, and that too many students slip through the cracks. 

But board members Terry Doran and John Selawsky raised concerns about Lawrence’s proposal, arguing that it would be unfair to current middle school students, on inter-district permits, who are expecting to attend the high school. 

“I am very uncomfortable with thinking that we may have students on inter-district permits, in our system right now...who have to take into account that they won’t be able to go to Berkeley High School,” said Doran, arguing that, if the policy is put in place, it should be phased in so that current middle school students are not affected. 

According to district figures, there are currently 127 students in Berkeley middle schools on inter-district permits. 

Board President Shirley Issel said inter-district students have made important contributions to the district, and that it would be difficult to block their entry to BHS. But, she sharply disagreed with Doran’s gradual approach.  

“I think the idea of not implementing that for current sixth graders is silly,” Issel said. “I don’t think they’re entitled (to attend the high school).” 

Issel added that the district should accompany any shift in policy on inter-district permits with a concerted effort to remove out-of-town students who are attending BHS illegally, using false Berkeley addresses. 

“The perception in this community is that there are large numbers of these students,” she said. 

The board tabled a vote on the proposed change to attendance policy. 

The superintendent, Board members and local activists also discussed the proper extent of public participation in upcoming decisions around budget cuts. A state agency called the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, or FCMAT, which has been providing the district with financial advice since October, has projected a $1.6 million deficit this year, a $7.8 million shortfall next year and a $16.7 million hole the following year if the district doesn’t make cuts. 

Mary Riter, who works with the Berkeley Schools Excellence Project, a local group that funds class size reduction through a special local tax, called on the board to open up the budget process, and provide BSEP with attendance and teacher salary figures that it will use to make cuts. 

Lawrence said the district can provide BSEP with the specific figures it has requested, but warned that the district will not be able to engage the public as fully as it would like in making budget cut decisions. 

According to state law, if the district hopes to lay off certain teachers and certificated administrators next year, it must inform those employees by March 15. 

Lawrence said she hopes to provide layoff recommendations to the board by its Feb. 20 meeting, in anticipation of the March 15 deadline, and argued that the district does not have the time to engage the public before then. 

The board also voted, Wednesday night, to schedule four “special study sessions,” open to the public, on Feb. 27, March 13, May 15, and Oct. 16. The board will look at specific issues in depth at the sessions, but will likely not vote on anything.  

Board members agreed to focus largely on the budget for the first two sessions. But Selawsky suggested that a future session center on the high school, including a controversial proposal by the Coalition for Excellence and Equity, a community group, to divide BHS into a series of small, themed schools in 2003. 

The board elected not to discuss the coalition’s proposal at a raucous meeting in December despite a request by Doran, the one coalition ally on the board, to do so. 

Selawsky was one of the board members who stood in the way of the December discussion, but, in an interview Thursday, he said the board could engage in a more productive discussion of the small schools proposal later this year, once the district had gathered more information on the current health of the high school. 

Doran supported Selawsky’s recommendation Wednesday night, but Issel suggested that re-opening the emotional, divisive debate over small schools would be too much of a burden, given the difficulties the district will face with budget cuts later this year.

Editor: 

David Scharfenberg’s story in Thursday’s Planet is misleading.  

At various points in your article, you mention both librarians and library media technicians somewhat interchangeably, which they are not!  

There haven’t been certificated (that is librarians who hold MA's in Library Science as well as valid CA teaching credentials) in each elementary school since 1980!  

At that time 18 of us worked in Berkeley’s elementary schools; we were cut to half-time, having two schools as late as 1977-79, as your article mentions. Then we were laid off altogether.  

According to California state law, we couldn’t be replaced by classified/library technicians, as that would be replacing an union person (teacher-librarian) with a clerk, in essence. However the following year, clerks were hired. In the pre-1966 K-6 libraries, volunteers were all we had; now I see from reading your article that they are back!  

The library-media-specialists you site are valuable to protect collections from walking away.  

They are no substitute for teacher-librarians, which we were, to be partners in every area of the school curriculum. It seems to me that another budget category could be considered before the $600,000 allocated for books, computers, & library supplies be usurped for salaries of these same technicians. 

After leaving Berkeley Schools I was able to find employment in the Oakland Public Schools until I retired in 1998. 

Sylvia P. Scherzer 

Emeryville

The Berkeley High girls’ soccer team continued their undefeated run in ACCAL play on Thursday with a 3-0 win over El Cerrito, getting two goals from junior forward Annie Borton and one from sophomore Maura Fitzgerald. 

Borton and Fitzgerald have combined to score 27 goals in league play, with Fitzgerald the leading scorer with 16 goals. 

Fitzgerald got the scoring started early, hitting a long shot that bounced once and slipped past Gaucho goalkeeper Jenna Brace in the sixth minute. Borton scored just before halftime, taking a nice pass from Veronica Searles and just beating the oncoming Brace to tap the ball into the net. 

“(Brace) is a good goalie, but the ball just seemed to bounce around a lot today,” Borton said. “Sometimes you just need a little luck.” 

Although the ’Jackets had plenty of opportunities in the second half, they didn’t score their final goal until the 76h minute, when freshman Dea Wallach made a nice run down the right side and cracked a shot off the crossbar. The ball bounced around in front of the goal a few times before Borton headed it home. 

“Annie works so hard that she gets those scrappy goals,” Berkeley head coach Suzanne Sillett said. 

The ’Jackets are now 10-0 in league play, making an undefeated ACCAL season a distinct possibility. They have yet to trail in a league game and have recorded eight shutouts. 

With four games remaining, they face challenges in a home date against Richmond, then an away match at Alameda to finish the season. The Oilers held onto a scoreless tie for 65 minutes in their first match with Berkeley before falling 3-0, and Alameda will have home-field advantage against the ’Jackets, who play on a turf field. 

“We usually struggle on the road, because we’re not used to playing on a muddy field,” Sillett said. “But if the last game is for the league championship, we’ll be ready.” 

It would take some strange results for the final game to mean much beyond an undefeated season for the ’Jackets. El Cerrito was sitting in second place at 5-2-2 before Thursday’s game, so the Berkeley can clinch the league title with one more win, a virtual certainty against lightweights De Anza and Pinole Valley. 

The issue of motivation is one Sillett doesn’t worry about, even with her team clearly the class of their league. With last year’s season-ending 1-0 loss to Amador Valley in the North Coast Section playoffs still fresh in most players’ minds, she knows there will be no slacking off for her team. 

“We have a corps of players that motivate the rest of the players,” she said. “We have enough players on this team that are intrinsically motivated to be good soccer players that they don’t need a lot of pushing.”

One day melanoma, the most deadly forms of cancer, will be cured. And two patients at the East Bay Cancer Center in Oakland, part of a national study at 13 medical clinics, are working stridently toward making that happen. 

They will participate in the testing of a synthetic skin cancer vaccine, which may one day cure melanoma.  

The trials, led by the National Cancer Institute, are a follow-up to the initial clinical vaccine trials lead by Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg. In the initial study, 31 patients with metastasized melanoma, the most advanced form of skin cancer, were injected with the vaccine and interleukin-2, a standard treatment for skin cancer. Tumors shrank by 50 percent in some cases. Interleukin-2, by itself, can shrink tumors by 17 percent. 

“The (initial) results are promising,” said Dr. Jai Balkissoon, who is administering the second trials at the center.  

But smaller tumors don’t free a patient of the disease, and the new trials will separate the effects of the vaccine from interleukin-2, to determine whether the vaccine will fight off cancer altogether. “It will take time to find out if this is an actual cure,” said Dr. Balkissoon. 

The tests began six months ago and are expected to continue for the next couple years. As is the custom in these trials, known as randomized trials, Dr. Balkissoon’s patients are unaware if they’ve been given interleukin-2 or interleukin-2 and the vaccine. 

“Vaccines are the trend for today and tomorrow, because melanoma doesn't respond well to chemotherapy,” Dr. Raymond Ramirez of the Department of Dermatology at the University of California - San Francisco, said Tuesday at a brown-bag talk on the dangers of skin cancer.  

The vaccine being tested nationally contains large amounts of a man-made antigen, a protein that stimulates the body to fight off disease. The body automatically produces the antigen when cancer appears, said Dr. Balkissoon, but not in amounts sufficient enough to trigger a full-blown immune response.  

With vaccines still years away, Dr. Ramirez reminded his audience that people should rely on common sense to prevent the disease, especially in a sun belt state like California. 

“Geographically, if you look at the weather channel, the UV index is high in California,” he said. “Even in Northern California; so you have to take the sun seriously.” Skin cancer rates have risen California, and Dr. Ramirez reminded listeners to use sunscreen, wear protective clothing, including a wide-brimmed hat, and to avoid the sun between 10 am and 4 pm. He said people should check skin regularly for changes, paying particular attention to the evolution of moles. Self-vigilance is key in stopping melanoma, he said. 

“Prognosis is excellent provided it’s caught at an early stage.” says Dr. Elizabeth Zettersten at the UCSF Melanoma Center. “Otherwise it can cause death.” 

Editor: 

This is in direct response to R. Walker’s remarks in the Forum section of your paper.  

I am not going to degrade the true issues concerning the contrived reasons used to justify the unjust revocation of Brothers Liquor Store operating license or make statements to derail all real and potential support. 

Opinions have a place, however, an opinion is just like the buttocks, everybody has one. 

First of all, I was referred to in the article as she. For the record, I am an aboriginal male. 

Let’s deal with some facts. R. Walker and family are not members of “PAIN” and, therefore, may not be aware of some pertinent facts.  

In my e-mail to your office, a portion of which appeared in the Volume 3, Issue 240 edition, I made the following statement “The picture on your front page article of Volume 3, Issue 238, is reminiscent of a Sproul Hall protest, complete with signs and media support. Only this time, the Berkeley P.D. is in full support of the demonstrators, even to the extent of conducting sting operations, and using sting statistical data in a way to sway the vote of the City Council members…” 

It has been recently revealed by a “PAIN” insider that they were advised by Police Lt. Allen Yuen to make at least 20 calls per month to the police department, and “make” complaints against Brother’s Liquor Store. They were being “shown” what tactics to use that would result in the closure of the store by a Berkeley Police Lieutenant. This same police officer, along with another “minority” officer, participated in the sting operation that produced data, which they offered to the City Council, as evidence in favor of store closure.  

As I stated in my e-mail mentioned above, “I think that this ill-conceived conspiracy, initiated by these yuppie gentrification cells, is worthy of international press attention and should be investigated by higher authority. After all, what happens in Berkeley has major impact on others, so we must be very clear and careful concerning what messages are sent out concerning those who we elect and trust to call the shots and who they choose to align themselves with. There are many issues that at stake here.” 

Those who have an ear, let them listen and those who have intelligence, let them ponder and be mindful. 

Dr. L. Dawud Said  

Going into the second half down just two points, the Cal women’s basketball team looked as if it had a shot at beating Arizona State, the Pac-10’s second place team. But first the Bears went slack on defense, then went absolutely limp on offense on the way to a 56-40 defeat in Haas Pavilion. 

The Sun Devils (16-5, 7-3 Pac-10) hit their first seven shots of the second half to open up a 41-29 lead, but that wasn’t the worst of it for Cal. The Bears went nearly 10 minutes without scoring a point, wasting a defensive resurgence and dooming them to a loss. Their 40 points was a season-low. 

The Bears (6-12, 1-8) missed nine straight shots, failed to get to the free throw line a single time and committed six turnovers during the 9:41 break in scoring. They watched their score stay at 29 while the Sun Devils’ point total crept slowly upward from 33, culminating in a Amanda Levens layup that made the score 45-29 with six minutes left in the game.  

“A lot of credit goes to (Arizona State’s) defense,” Cal head coach Caren Horstmeyer said. “They stopped our penetration, and we didn’t get the ball into the post very well.” 

Amber White’s short jumper finally ended the Bears’ misery, but it was clear they wouldn’t get their second conference win for at least one more game. 

“You’ll probably think this is odd, but I thought we played a really good game,” said Horstmeyer, which probably says more about her lack of expectation than her team’s performance. “Arizona State came out and hit some shots, but we held them to 56 points. The problem is we only had 40.” 

Forward Cian Carvalho led the Sun Devils with 14 points and 7 rebounds, scoring their first five points of the second half to get them off and running after a lackluster opening half that ended 24-22 in her team’s favor. 

“When you get two good defensive teams together, it’s often ugly,” Arizona State head coach Charlie Turner-Thorne said of the first half. 

But the second half was only ugly on one side, and that was Cal’s. They shot just 30 percent from the floor in the second half, compared to 55 percent from ASU even though the Sun Devils were just 1-of-7 from the 3-point line in the half. Take that away, and Turner-Thorne’s crew shot 10-of-13 after the break. 

Meanwhile, the Bears were getting killed on the glass. After out-rebounding ASU 18-14 and giving up just two offensive boards in the first half, Cal collected just 8 rebounds in the second half, while the Devils pulled down 10 on the offensive side alone. 

Cal lost big despite holding ASU’s top threats, Levens and center Melody Johnson, to a combined 18 points. While Carvalho had some big baskets, it was clearly Cal’s lack of offense that decided the game. 

Guard LaTasha O’Keith led the Bears with 13 points, with no other Cal player in double figures. Senior Ami Forney, the team’s leading scorer with 12.9 points per game coming into Thursday’s contest, took just four shots and had only 7 points. 

“We need to get the ball into the post better, and get Ami more shots,” Horstmeyer said. “We aren’t shooting well enough to live on the outside.”

Editor: 

This is in direct response to R. Walker’s remarks in the Forum section of your paper.  

I am not going to degrade the true issues concerning the contrived reasons used to justify the unjust revocation of Brothers Liquor Store operating license or make statements to derail all real and potential support. 

Opinions have a place, however, an opinion is just like the buttocks, everybody has one. 

First of all, I was referred to in the article as she. For the record, I am an aboriginal male. 

Let’s deal with some facts. R. Walker and family are not members of “PAIN” and, therefore, may not be aware of some pertinent facts.  

In my e-mail to your office, a portion of which appeared in the Volume 3, Issue 240 edition, I made the following statement “The picture on your front page article of Volume 3, Issue 238, is reminiscent of a Sproul Hall protest, complete with signs and media support. Only this time, the Berkeley P.D. is in full support of the demonstrators, even to the extent of conducting sting operations, and using sting statistical data in a way to sway the vote of the City Council members…” 

It has been recently revealed by a “PAIN” insider that they were advised by Police Lt. Allen Yuen to make at least 20 calls per month to the police department, and “make” complaints against Brother’s Liquor Store. They were being “shown” what tactics to use that would result in the closure of the store by a Berkeley Police Lieutenant. This same police officer, along with another “minority” officer, participated in the sting operation that produced data, which they offered to the City Council, as evidence in favor of store closure.  

As I stated in my e-mail mentioned above, “I think that this ill-conceived conspiracy, initiated by these yuppie gentrification cells, is worthy of international press attention and should be investigated by higher authority. After all, what happens in Berkeley has major impact on others, so we must be very clear and careful concerning what messages are sent out concerning those who we elect and trust to call the shots and who they choose to align themselves with. There are many issues that at stake here.” 

Those who have an ear, let them listen and those who have intelligence, let them ponder and be mindful. 

Dr. L. Dawud Said  

Venture capital researchers say new money is stuck in old investments.  

With fewer new public offerings, known as IPOs, the venture capitalists are “getting stuck with young companies because the money continues to be tied up,” said Stephanie Tibbetts, program director for the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. 

This means venture capitalists must bring the companies further along instead of cashing out once the company becomes public, she said. 

Until public offerings increase, fewer new companies will be backed.  

The number of initial public offerings crashed to 37 in 2001, compared to 226 in 2000, according to the National Venture Capital Association in Washington and Venture Economics, a New York investment and securities-tracking firm as reported in the Wall Street Journal. 

At the peak of new investment, venture capitalists put $50.9 billion in new companies in 2000 compared with $30 billion in 2001. 

Although venture capital investment took a hit with the dot-com bubble burst, venture capital firms are still investing, only not at the peak levels that were hit during 1999 and 2000.  

“Typical comparisons to the watershed years of 1999 and 2000 are unrealistic,” said Tracy Lefteroff, global managing partner of the Venture Capital Practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers, in a press release.  

She said she expected 2001 spending to reach $30 billion, which far exceeds the 1998 levels of $17.5 billion.  

Jennifer Fonstad, director of the venture capital firm, Draper Fisher Jurvetson said she expects investment to increase in three areas: nanotechnology, networking infrastructure and storage. 

Nanotechnology, often applied in microscopic robotics, uses atoms and molecules to manipulate materials.  

Fonstad said investment in data storage has been increasing as long as the Internet has been around. “The explosion of the amount of data and information being collected, analyzed and stored has contributed to the trend,” she said. 

The events of Sept. 11 played a role in the shift of some investment money being used for security. “People began investing more in security as a result of the tragedy in New York,” Fonstad said.

Enrolling at BHS 

Recent arrivals in Berkeley, and residents currently enrolled in private school, are now free to enroll for the upcoming semester at Berkeley High School, which runs from Jan. 29 to June 13. 

According to new procedures, in effect since Aug. 1, parents must go to the Parent Access Office, 1835 Allston Way, and get an official school assignment for BHS. 

To complete enrollment, parents should visit Sandra Henneman at the admissions office at the high school, located in the administrative portable at the center of campus, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

Enrollment for the upcoming semester is open until the end of the school year. 

Any parent wishing to enroll a student at BHS for next year should wait until March, then follow the same procedure.  

E-mail David Scharfenberg at scharfenberg@ berkeleydailyplanet.net with school news for “Class Notes,”appearing (almost) every Thursday (or Friday).

Because of an editing error, an article in Thursday’s Daily Planet, “Council gives Outback the go-ahead,” contained incorrect information. 

The article stated that Outback Senior Homes “was the only one of the six applicants awarded money” from the city’s Housing Trust Fund.  

The sentence should have read that Outback “was only one of the six applicants” given money from the fund. 

The City Council gave five other applicants, including BOSS and Resources for Community Development, HTF funding totaling almost $1.5 million. 

The Daily Planet regrets the error.

The deluge of credit card offers on campuses nationwide, with pitches in person, by phone and e-mail, has some college students and their schools looking for ways to stop the flood. 

University regents in Nevada on Thursday were considering a demand that they stop selling student names and addresses to credit card vendors. 

The proposal followed complaints from Denise Wilcox, a part-time community college student from Henderson, Nev., who says one mail pitch suggested she “show your school pride” by getting a credit card. 

The student government at the University of California, Berkeley, is among those that now require vendors on campus to hand out information about the financial risks involved with credit cards. Lawmakers in California and several other states also have voted to ban companies from luring students to apply for credit with gifts such as T-shirts and calculators. 

Greg Combs, a senior at the University of Texas at Dallas, is so fed up he’s taken matters into his own hands. He’s unlisted his phone number, added his name to “black lists” aimed at stopping credit card vendors from calling and added filters to his e-mail. 

His university also has banned vendors from setting up booths on campus. Yet Combs says he still gets credit card applications in his home mailbox every week and sees advertisements on campus bulletin boards “everywhere!” 

He thinks the only way to solve the problem is to ban anyone younger than 25 from having them. But bankers and credit card companies scoff at this idea. 

They say college, and in some cases high school, is the perfect time for students to learn fiscal responsibility. Most students, they say, manage their credit cards well. 

“How they get the card is really less of an issue than how they handle it,” says Joe Belew, president of the Virginia-based Consumer Bankers Association, a national trade association of banks that specializes in retail and consumer financial services. 

Some university administrators agree with Belew’s assertion that education about fiscal responsibility — sponsored by anyone from credit card vendors to the students themselves — is key. 

“Limiting information is not the answer to this problem,” says Richard Black, an assistant vice chancellor at UC Berkeley, where credit card education sessions will soon be added to orientations for new students. 

Black says he is concerned about statistics showing that 6 percent of freshman and a quarter of incoming juniors at his school have credit card debt of $2,000 or more — figures that jibe with other national surveys. 

But even if the university banned credit card vendors from campus, he says, they can — and do — set up shop across the street on private property. 

Still, some critics have questioned the real motivation of universities that sell student lists, or lend their logos to credit cards in exchange for a small slice of the profits. 

Wilcox, the Nevada student, says universities should realize that affiliating with credit card companies gives the companies “more credence” with some students. 

“By association, a student may feel more comfortable getting a card by the mere fact that the university has allowed it,” she says. 

Steve Sisolak, a Nevada regent from Las Vegas, agrees that the university system shouldn’t sell information without students’ knowledge. 

“I’m OK with releasing it if we get permission,” he says, suggesting that student be asked to check a box on their applications to indicate their preference.

SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer said Thursday they will support Dennis Cardoza in his bid to replace Rep. Gary Condit. 

Thursday’s announcement came a day after former Congressman Tony Coelho said he won’t support Condit, his successor, for another term. 

While California Assembly Member Cardoza continues to tout his growing list of endorsements, he’s steering clear of confrontations with his one-time mentor, Condit. 

Cardoza missed the only candidates forum of the campaign, which drew 10 other hopefuls for the 18th Congressional District, including Condit. 

Now, Cardoza’s bowing out of a forum with Condit and Democratic businessman Ralph White that will be taped Friday at KFSN-TV in Fresno. 

Spokesman Doug White said Cardoza is trying not to attend events where Chandra Levy’s name is bound to be mentioned. 

“We prefer not to talk about Chandra Levy,” he said. “Dennis will participate in debates, but only if questions come from people who actually vote in this race.” 

Levy, an intern with whom Condit reportedly had an affair, has been missing since last April.

SAN FRANCISCO — The judge in the dog mauling murder case has released a letter one of the defendants wrote to his inmate client and adopted son in which he calls the dog’s victim a “little mousy blonde.” 

The seven-page, typewritten letter from Robert Noel to Pelican Bay State Prison inmate Paul “Cornfed” Schneider is dated just two weeks before Diane Whipple was mauled to death by two large dogs owned by Noel and his wife, Marjorie Knoller. 

In it, Noel gives Schneider a report of the dogs’ behavior, including details about a run-in with Whipple, whom he calls a “timorous little mousy blonde.” 

Noel and his wife, Marjorie Knoller, face involuntary manslaughter charges in last year’s death of their 33-year-old neighbor. Knoller, who was walking the dogs when Whipple was attacked, also faces a second-degree murder charge. 

Superior Court Judge James Warren, who unsealed the letter, has rejected defense requests to exclude any testimony about Schneider and his relationship to the couple, who are his adoptive parents, ruling it could be relevant to the trial. 

Schneider and fellow inmate Dale Bretches were accused of running a dog breeding ring from prison. The dogs Knoller was walking when Whipple was attacked were theirs, but allegedly weren’t fit for fighting. 

In the letter, marked “confidential legal mail,” Noel also tells Schneider about the couple’s decision to legally adopt him, calling him Knoller’s second husband. 

“It is the one form of legal action which can join the three of us in a binding family unit,” Noel wrote. “If it were permitted to be accomplished through a second marriage that would have been the medium, but we have become a family and Marjorie and I are prepared to go as far as possible to formalize that arrangement.” 

Prosecutor Jim Hammer has argued that Knoller, Noel and Schneider created an “elaborate fantasy world” that included the dogs. 

“This case began and ended with their relationship with Mr. Schneider,” Hammer said last week in a San Francisco courtroom. “It is astonishing the degree to which they discussed the activities of these dogs.” 

Hammer says Knoller, Noel and Schneider “worked actively together and enjoyed creating these monster dogs.” 

Schneider, 39, is serving a life sentence for attempted murder.

SACRAMENTO — Republican gubernatorial candidate Richard Riordan collected more than $600,000 and outpaced Gov. Gray Davis during a frenzied fund-raising period in the first three weeks of the year. 

Riordan, considered the front-runner in the GOP race to challenge Davis, fetched an average of $31,880 a day between Jan. 1 and Jan. 19 from a variety of donors. 

Davis trailed him slightly — raising $472,000 during the same period — but continued to build up an enormous campaign treasury and spend lavishly on his re-election bid months before the general election. 

Riordan also raised far more than his opponents in the March 5 primary, Los Angeles businessman Bill Simon and Secretary of State Bill Jones. 

Univision chief Jerry Perenchio, Riordan’s top contributor during the period, gave him $100,000 on Jan. 18. Perenchio already had chipped in $150,000 to Riordan’s campaign last year and has donated to Davis’ re-election bid. Since February 2000, Perenchio has given Davis at least $350,000. 

Riordan spent $2.1 million during the three-week period — nearly all of it going to consultant Don Sipple for television airtime and production costs for two TV commercials that already have aired statewide. 

Davis, meanwhile, spent more than $2 million for a statewide television commercial that began airing last week. Davis has no significant primary opponent, but his advisers said he began airing ads months before the general election to counter a spate of criticism directed at him from the GOP hopefuls. 

During the year’s first three weeks, Davis’ largest contributor was the International Association of Firefighters, which gave $75,000. 

Davis has plenty more to spend: He had $33 million on hand on Jan. 19. 

Simon, a political newcomer who has lent his campaign more than $2 million from his personal fortune, raised $196,000 in the first 19 days of the year. Although Simon’s aides have said for months that their candidate was prepared to spend $60 million running for governor, his latest finance report gave no indication that he will reach that. 

Meanwhile, Jones took in $237,000, but continued to lag behind Riordan and Davis in fund-raising and had the least cash on hand at the end of the reporting period. Jones is the only one of the three Republicans and Davis who has yet to air statewide television commercials.

SAN JOSE — A former Los Alamos National Laboratory computer expert awaiting trial on hacking charges violated his bond agreement by accessing the Internet, a prosecutor alleged Thursday. 

Jerome Heckenkamp, 22, has been in jail since Jan. 18, when he asked that his $50,000 bond be revoked and the money be returned to the friend who posted it. Heckenkamp said he didn’t want the friend to be liable for his actions as he sought to represent himself at trial. 

Heckenkamp ultimately decided not to fire his lawyer, and is now seeking to be released on his own recognizance. 

But prosecutor Ross Nadel told a federal magistrate Thursday there is evidence Heckenkamp violated his original bond agreement by having more than one computer where he was staying and by using one of them to access the Internet.  

Someone also tried to tamper with evidence the computer had been used to surf the Web, Nadel said. 

A hearing on the matter is set for Tuesday. 

Heckenkamp’s father, Thomas, said the accusations are false. Jerome’s use of a second computer was approved, and the young man did not go on the Internet, the father said. The father said he had used the Internet when he borrowed the computer’s hard drive while Jerome was visiting his family in Pewaukee, Wis., over the holidays. 

“They jumped to conclusions,” Thomas Heckenkamp said. 

Jerome Heckenkamp was charged last January in San Jose and San Diego with breaking into the networks of eBay, Exodus Communications, Qualcomm, Juniper Networks, ETrade, Lycos and Cygnus Support Solutions and causing more than $1 million in damage. The acts allegedly occurred before he was hired as a network security specialist at the national lab in New Mexico. 

Hacking charges each carry five years in federal prison.

OAKLAND — Edy’s Grand Ice Cream has recalled 5,000 cartons of its Limited Edition Girl Scouts Samoas Cookie Ice Cream because they may contain peanuts and egg not identified on the label. 

The recalled cartons were distributed in Columbus, Ohio, and parts of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennesee and the Florida Panhandle. 

People with an allergy or severe sensitivity to peanuts should not eat the ice cream, the company said Thursday. They should send the bottom of the carton to the company for a refund and throw the rest of the ice cream away, the company said. 

The cartons in question are the 1.75-quart size and have a code date of 48-18-42 09 20 AL on the bottom. No other Edy’s ice cream products are affected, and no consumers have reported symptoms of allergic reaction. 

The company is working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network to alert customers and investigate the incident. 

Send carton bottoms to Edy’s Grand Ice Cream, Consumer Relations, 5929 College Avenue, Oakland, Calif., 94618, or call 1-888-837-4438 with questions.

SAN FRANCISCO — Death row inmate Stephen Wayne Anderson lost another round Thursday in his legal battle to stay alive. 

Anderson, 48, is scheduled to be executed early Tuesday. He has asked Gov. Gray Davis for clemency, but at the same time has asked the courts to take the decision away from Davis. 

Anderson’s attorneys say Davis is biased and is sure to reject the clemency request, which would commute his sentence from death to life in prison without parole. 

A federal judge turned down Anderson’s claim last week. That decision was upheld Thursday by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. 

The appellate court said Anderson didn’t show that Davis can’t be fair. 

Anderson was sentenced to die for shooting 81-year-old Elizabeth Lyman in her Southern California home in 1980. Prosecutors said Anderson broke in, shot Lyman and then watched television in her living room and made himself a meal in her kitchen. 

Last week, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker said the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee clemency reviews for inmates. Because of that, whether Davis is biased against murderers is immaterial, Walker ruled in declining to order Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante to review the clemency petition. 

Davis has not yet released his decision on Anderson’s request for clemency. His spokesman, Byron Tucker, said the case will be decided “solely on merit.” 

The governor has rejected all three previous clemency petitions from death row inmates since he took office three years ago. 

In his clemency petition, Anderson claims he had inadequate legal representation and that the victim’s family opposes his execution. 

The case is Anderson v. Davis 02-70109. 

Father convicted of child abuse

MARTINEZ — An Antioch man convicted of child abuse after beating his 11-year-old stepson with an electrical cord for eating the last hamburger at dinner was sentenced Thursday to seven years in state prison. 

After the beating, Joseph Buggs forced his stepson to bathe in salt and alcohol, said Contra Costa County prosecutor Molly Manoukian. Three days after the beating, school officials called police when they noticed the boy had a broken wrist and other injuries. 

Buggs must complete at least 85 percent of his sentence before being released, Manoukian said. He was charged with inflicting corporal injury to a child. 

His wife, Pamela Buggs, pleaded guilty last July to abusing and endangering the health of a child and was sentenced to 180 days in county jail and four years of probation. 

The child now lives with his father. 

Livermore lab director gets raise before quitting

LIVERMORE — The director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is getting a pay raise before he quits. 

Bruce Tarter announced last year he is stepping down as soon as a new director is found. 

University of California regents last week approved a 12 percent raise for Tarter, taking his salary to $315,700. That’s the same salary paid to John Browne, director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. UC runs Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos under contract to the Energy Department. 

Two years ago, regents didn’t give Tarter a raise following revelations of a $1 billion cost overrun at the National Ignition Facility project at Lawrence Livermore. The project is intended to some day allow scientists to simulate nuclear explosions. 

Since the bad news broke about the project, Tarter has reorganized lab management and hired new associate directors. 

Everyone is familiar with the ominous looking leaves of the Venus’ flytrap, spiked at their edges, hinged at their centers, and ready to clamp shut around unwary prey. There’s little chance of a fly alighting on the leaf this time of year, so you might consider dropping in a piece of hamburger. 

But Venus’ flytrap won’t eat hamburger — without some coaxing, at least. The trap might not even close up around a piece of hamburger. It closes only if two of the usually sensitive six hairs on its surface are bent, or if one hair is touched twice. It’s the kind of stimulation an insect might give walking across the trap. 

Even if all those hairs are just touched, the plant still might not eat the hamburger. The plant isn’t a finicky eater; it just feels the same about that lump of hamburger as it does about any small stick or seed that might accidentally fall into the trap. The plant wants live food. Venus’ flytrap recognizes a live catch by sensing movement within the trap for a few minutes after it clamps shut. 

Other than having to hunt up suitable food for the plant, you won’t find Venus’ flytrap difficult to grow as a houseplant. It is native to infertile, acidic bogs in North Carolina and South Carolina, so it thrives in a potting soil that is rich in sand and peat, without any lime or fertilizer added. This is one potted plant that you can leave standing in water, or even under water, for extended periods of time. If your tap water is alkaline, just add some vinegar (1/2 teaspoon per quart), collect rainwater or melt snow. A terrarium with some ventilation is ideal. 

Given humidity, a suitably poor, moist, and acidic soil, and as much light as possible, a Venus’ flytrap not only will grow, but might even flower, as well. The flowers are not showy, but they are followed by seeds — scores of them. Planted soon after ripening in moist sphagnum moss, the seeds germinate within a couple of weeks. 

New plants also can be propagated from the underground stems. Cut pieces from the mother plant, remove all but one attached leaf, then stick them into moist moss to root. 

Incidentally, you can trick the plant to eat a dead fly or hamburger by gently massaging the trap after it closes, mimicking movement of a live insect within. Bon appetit.

If your New Year’s resolution to lose weight or get organized already fell prey to old habits, it’s not too late to make important commitments where they’re really needed — your home. 

Weatherization, interior improvements and repairs, even value-added projects such as decks or additions, should be on your short list of things to do, according to The Home Service Store. 

The problem is, resolutions tend to be driven by emotion and guilt. Take a few moments — if not a few days or weeks — to really give hard thought to what your home needs and what you can accomplish. Make a list and check it twice — if not more often. 

Try to exclude routine tasks that are done as a matter of course, such as lawn mowing or washing dishes. Keep your focus on items that wouldn’t ordinarily get done, not everyday functions. 

Break your needs assessment into several elements, including budget estimates. Categories might include: 

• Exterior: New paint or masonry repair, clean and repair leaky gutters, caulk around doors and windows, plot a small vegetable garden or locations for new shrubs, replace kitchen counters or cabinet hardware. 

• Interior: Do portions of the home need to be weatherized? Do windows or carpets need cleaning? What about adding storage amenities to closets? Or tidying up the garage? 

• Target one room at a time for a makeover. Assemble paint chips, wallpaper samples, etc., to help you plan. Keep a design theme in mind that can spread from one room to the next. Rank tasks in each category in order of importance. Then rank the categories. Opinions will vary between household members about what needs to be done and when. Everyone in the family will have a say in the matter — and they should have roles in the projects, too. 

Resolve to not bite off more than you can chew. This applies to household budget, available time and your own skills. Homeowners do themselves a disservice when they place too many items on too many lists.  

A big list invites big frustrations. You’ll get more satisfaction by polishing off a few items on your agenda. 

If your cutting, sawing and painting abilities aren’t the best, don’t hesitate to sub out the work to reputable contractors. 

—- 

(The Home Service Store manages home maintenance, repair and improvement tasks in more than 130 markets nationwide and can be found at www.TrustHSS.com.) 

LOS ANGELES — Graphic artist Dan Simon scored when the biggest football game of the year needed a new logo to reflect the mood of the nation after Sept. 11. 

His redesign of the Super Bowl XXXVI logo featuring an eye-popping, red, white and blue outline of the continental United States has appeared on billboards and advertisements across the country during the past month. 

“After Sept. 11, the game was no longer about the city it was in. It was about the fact that it was in America,” said the 40-year-old Simon. “It says we’re the United States, and this is our big game.” 

The original logo of pro football’s championship game featured a gold and mauve box highlighted with strands of ivy reminiscent of the balcony grillwork found throughout New Orleans, the host city of the Feb. 3 game. 

But as patriotism washed over the nation in the weeks after the attacks, National Football League officials wanted an image that would spotlight the game as an All-American event. 

“It was up to us to create something American and patriotic,” said Brad Jansen, executive art director for the league. “Redesigning something this close to the game — it was a fire drill.” 

Most Super Bowl logos are developed over several months and finalized about a year before each game, Jansen said. 

But with advertising and memorabilia set to hit the streets less than three months after the attacks, the league’s design team needed some outside help to get the job done. 

An artist who often free-lances out of his home in the Tarzana area of Los Angeles, Simon had been working as art director for the Dodgers baseball team when the NFL came calling. 

The Bronx native and New York Jets fan has designed everything from bobble-head dolls depicting players to stadium murals honoring past greats such as Sandy Koufax and Willie Mays. 

“I’m a die-hard Yankees fan,” he said. “But it’s hard not to get caught up in (Dodgers vice president) Tommy Lasorda’s enthusiasm.” 

Simon had one week to create five logo concepts for the NFL, which meant working through lunch breaks at Dodger Stadium and staying up until 3 a.m. to flesh out his ideas. 

“You want them all to be equally good,” he said. “Chances are they’ll pick the one you wouldn’t want them to pick.” 

Along with the tight deadline, it was also a challenge for Simon to create an image that would appear new yet familiar at the same time. 

“The concept was very clear — do something patriotic. But when you think about it, that could mean so many things,” he said. “How do you in a real simple way say something that’s patriotic and not necessarily a cliche?” 

Instead of resorting to simple flags or stars, Simon found inspiration in a program from a World War II-era sporting event featuring the silhouette of the United States. He dressed the shape in a pattern resembling Old Glory and tilted it for a dynamic impact. 

“The layout had an intriguing movement happening, and it incorporated the shape of the United States, which appealed to a lot of people,” Jansen said. 

Other designers created novel images, including one that resembled a police or firefighter insignia. But NFL officials picked Simon’s logo because it had everything they were looking for. 

The concept “says united we stand,” Jansen said. “It positions the Super Bowl as an All-American event.” 

For Simon, designing the logo for the single most-watched sports event of the year was his way to join the patriotism that has swirled since the attacks. 

“To be able to create something that Americans can look at and grab on to and feel some kind of pride — I felt like I’ve done a little something,” he said. 

SAN FRANCISCO — A divided California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that law enforcement authorities may conduct warrantless searches on motorists who do not possess identification or proof they own the vehicle. 

Ruling 4-3 on two cases, the justices said authorities could search vehicles for such documentation “within a vehicle where such documentation reasonably may be expected to be found.” 

The decision expands earlier rulings that clearly stated authorities were allowed to search a car’s sun visor and glove compartment for those papers without a warrant. 

But Thursday’s decision written by Chief Justice Ronald M. George sanctioned authorities to look under the seats, into door pockets or other areas on the vehicle’s console, legal experts said. 

Even so, the court stopped short of granting authorities carte blanche powers to search anywhere in a vehicle. And the decision affects only motorists stopped for traffic infractions, the court noted. 

George wrote that the ruling does not “condone the equivalent of the full-scale search for contraband.” 

The decision upheld the convictions of two different motorists. They were stopped for traffic infractions, could not produce proper identification and were found to be concealing drugs in their vehicles. 

The U.S. Supreme Court already has ruled that motorists pulled over on an officer’s reasonable suspicion that a crime was committed may be searched without consent. 

But lawyers for the two defendants in the California cases said the nation’s highest court has not delved into the specific issue presented in those cases and are considering asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the outcome. 

Justices Joyce L. Kennard and Janice Rogers Brown wrote that the decision was an affront to motorists’ expectations to be free from unreasonable searches and “chips away at one of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by our federal Constitution.” 

The cases are In re Arturo D, S085213 and People v. Hinger, S085218. 

SALT LAKE CITY — The way Tom Price sees it, Olympic organizers missed a golden opportunity to make the Winter Games the most environmentally friendly international event ever. 

Instead of aiming high — developing a mass transit system, say, or installing solar power at competition sites — the Salt Lake Organizing Committee settled for middling goals, such as recycling and tree planting, the activists contend. 

The conservation group Save Our Canyons, in a report issued this week, said the committee dropped the ball. “Not just dropped it, but kicked it out the window, then burned and buried it,” said Tom Price, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance’s Olympics coordinator. 

Diane Conrad Gleason, environmental spokeswoman for the organizing committee, dismissed the criticism, citing an independent review of the committee’s environmental achievements by CH2MHILL, a business consulting firm. That review said the Olympic committee was successful in meeting 12 specific environmental goals it set for itself. 

“We met our commitments and we raised the bar on the environment compared to other games,” she said. 

Gleason cited three main pillars of the 2002 environmental plan — zero additional emissions, zero waste and an urban forestry program that will plant 18 million trees. 

The committee pledged to make the air cleaner with an emission program reliant on businesses donating air pollution credits. The credits essentially give a business the right to create a certain amount of pollution. 

The committee bought some credits from Utah companies; businesses got a tax break and the credits went out of circulation, lessening pollution. Gleason said 180,000 tons of pollution will not be generated in Utah because of the program. 

Another initiative involves recycling 85 percent of Olympic trash that not only recycles glass, plastic and paper but composts food products. After the games, Salt Lake County will have its first functioning food-waste composting site. 

The committee also will use 8,600 bins for trash and recycling, many of which will be donated to local agencies after the games. 

“SLOC has done everything they can do to meet the recycling goals. ... We are quite pleased,” said Amber Sundin-DeBirk, director of the Recycling Coalition of Utah. 

Olympic sponsors also were encouraged to use environmentally friendly products, she said. For instance, instead of a wax-coated cup, Coca-Cola developed a paper cup coated in plant starch that is completely biodegradable. 

Ivan Weber, chairman of the Utah Sierra Club, said he’s happy to give the committee full credit for promoting a badly needed recycling program in Utah. “But the question, is how high were those expectations?” he asked. 

Price said the Olympic committee could have done much more. He said it had years to coordinate meaningful environmental plans and yet some crucial issues, such as a transportation plan that minimized pollution, were not accomplished. 

The committee’s main plan for moving 70,000 spectators a day relies on driving and parking near venues before taking a short shuttle bus ride. Environmentalists said more effort should have been put into a massive bus effort. 

About 900 buses are already on loan from transit agencies around the country. 

Environmentalists said the committee did not take the lead on larger issues. 

“The Olympics was a chance and we blew it,” Weber said. “These things they’ve done should be a baseline way of behaving. They are good things, but they are so much less than we could have seen.”

SACRAMENTO — A tax-sharing and regional planning bill aimed at metropolitan Sacramento cleared a significant legislative hurdle Thursday and picked up a key endorsement from state Treasurer Phil Angelides. 

The bill, AB680, which proposes to put the region’s cities on equal financial footing and has statewide implications for growth, moved out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee to the Assembly floor for a vote next week. 

The bill must pass the Assembly by Jan. 31 or die. 

Angelides, a former real estate developer, called the bill important “for the signal it sends to the rest of the state. It’s not radical. It just says, ’We’re in this together.”’ 

The idea, proposed by Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and patterned after a 1970s program sharing $314 million in property taxes this year among 187 local governments in metro Minneapolis-St. Paul, would similarly divide sales taxes in the Sacramento region. 

Steinberg also changed the bill Thursday, giving counties an escape clause form tax sharing if they ban new development in their rural areas. Changes also levy regional impact fees on new development to fund regional projects. 

Among opponents, Roseville Mayor Claudia Gamar said the “poison pill” of tax-sharing remains. 

Steinberg’s idea has sowed bitterness among older and newer cities in a six-county Sacramento region of 1.8 million people. Newer suburbs, rich with auto malls and regional shopping centers, are putting up $90,000 to defeat the measure. The city and county of Sacramento are putting up $120,000 to support it. 

The Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, claiming 2,500 business members in six counties, opposes the bill. Other cities, including Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Santa Rosa and Hayward, also weighed in against it. 

Steinberg proposes to split growth in sales taxes three ways: a third to the city where the sale occurs, a third to the region and a third to the original city if it meets goals for affordable housing.

LOS ANGELES — Unocal Corp. has opened a new chapter in its legal battle to collect royalties on sales of cleaner-burning gasoline by suing Valero Energy Corp. for alleged violations on its patent for the fuel. 

The civil complaint, filed Tuesday in a Los Angeles federal court, echoes claims Unocal has made in a long-running dispute with several other oil giants. The latest suit also adds a new twist. 

With the Valero complaint, Unocal is alleging the refiner violated a patent for producing the cleaner-burning gasoline sold during the summer months. 

Unocal so far has won legal rulings upholding its patent for gasoline made during other times of the year. 

Valero and other oil giants say Unocal’s patent claims are invalid. They warn that consumers will end up paying more for gasoline if Unocal is empowered to collect royalties of up to 5.75 cents per gallon. Unocal says it is willing to license its gasoline-making formula for as little as 1.2 cents per gallon. 

In its complaint, Unocal alleges San Antonio-based Valero has shown “complete disregard” for its gasoline patents. 

Valero described Unocal’s suit as “an incredible slap in the face of the California motoring public.” If Unocal wins the right to collect royalties, Unocal estimates Californians will pay an additional $580 million for gasoline sold in the summer. 

By some estimates, the legal victories that Unocal has already won could drive up gasoline prices nationwide by $1.1 billion annually. Unocal says those estimates are inflated and doubts its rivals will pass on the expense to motorists.

SAN FRANCISCO — Consumer advocates claim Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy could cost ratepayers an estimated $20 billion more than they would pay if the utility remains regulated by the state. 

The utility has asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali to let it override dozens of state laws and regulations and transfer its power plants, transmission system and hydroelectric dams from state to federal oversight. The utility plans to borrow against those assets and pay its $13.2 billion debt. 

Nettie Hoge, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, charged Thursday that “this is not a plan to simply pay off creditors. This plan is first and foremost a plan to create windfall profits for shareholders at the expense of ratepayers.” 

PG&E sharply disputed the claims. California’s largest utility filed for federal bankruptcy protection nearly 10 months ago after falling into debt from soaring power costs it could not fully collect from ratepayers. 

San Francisco-based TURN says it reviewed and analyzed PG&E’s financial data and reorganization plan and concluded the average PG&E ratepayer would pay $1,100 extra over the next 12 years should PG&E’s plan move forward. 

At a news conference, Hoge said that conclusion was based on boosts in natural gas prices, forfeits of ratepayer refunds and a host of other factors. 

“This is the story of an agenda where PG&E has single-mindedly focused on making sure the most valuable assets go into the parent corporation,” Hoge said. “The most tragic thing about this reorganization plan is that it’s unnecessary.” 

California’s largest utility has said such a conclusion is wrong, since its reorganization plan calls for 12 years of fixed prices for the electricity it churns out at its hydroelectric dams and power plants. 

“From initial materials, it appears TURN lives in a parallel universe where you don’t have to pay taxes, money grows on trees, there’s no inflation and things never break or wear out,” Ron Low, a PG&E spokesman, said Thursday. 

Critics, including the state Public Utilities Commission and consumer groups, say the PG&E plan could lead to higher energy costs for Californians and lower environmental standards on the nearly 140,000 acres the utility owns throughout Northern California. 

“Most of the allegations made about PG&E echo the PUC’s concerns,” said Sheri Inouye, a PUC spokeswoman.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Shorn of his long hair and beard, John Walker Lindh quietly faced his government’s charges Thursday that he conspired to kill fellow Americans in Afghanistan. 

“Yes, I do, thank you,” he answered when asked at his first court appearance if he grasped the accusations that he conspired to kill Americans abroad and aided terrorist groups. 

His lawyers, in a signal of the defense they will pursue, strongly criticized the FBI’s questioning of the 20-year-old shortly after his capture in Afghanistan. 

Lindh “asked for a lawyer, repeatedly asked for a lawyer,” from Dec. 2 on, his lead attorney, James Brosnahan, said outside the courthouse. 

The government countered that Lindh had made his own decision to waive his right to an attorney before that questioning — and to join the Taliban and support Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terrorist organization. 

“John Walker chose to join terrorists who wanted to kill Americans, and he chose to waive his right to an attorney, both orally and in writing, before he was questioned by the FBI,” Attorney General John Ashcroft said at a news conference. 

“Mr. Walker will be held responsible in the courtroom for his choices,” the attorney general said. 

With his parents watching from the second row in a federal courtroom, Lindh stood erect facing the judge when he was addressed. He wore a green jumpsuit with the word “prisoner” on the back, and spoke three times. 

First he said he understood the charges. Then U.S. Magistrate Judge W. Curtis Sewell asked whether he understood the possible penalties, including life in prison. 

“Yes I do, sir,” Lindh said in a quiet voice. 

He responded, “No sir, I don’t have any questions,” when told he would be kept in custody for now but would have another hearing Feb. 6. 

At that time, the judge will determine whether Lindh will remain in custody without bail. 

At the White House, presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer said of the highly publicized case: “The president has faith in our impartial system of justice. ... The president looks forward to justice being done in the court.” 

Outside the courthouse, Lindh’s parents — who met with their son for the first time in two years before the hearing Thursday — said he never intended to harm Americans. 

“John loves America. We love America. John did not do anything against America. ... John is innocent of these charges,” said Frank Lindh. 

Lindh’s mother, Marilyn Walker, fought tears as she said: “It’s been two years since I last saw my son. It was wonderful to see him this morning. My love for him is unconditional and absolute.” 

Brosnahan, who met with Lindh before and after the hearing, said that despite “the government’s effort to demonize him, he’s a nice young man.” 

The government’s criminal complaint paints another picture. While at an al-Qaida training camp in June, Lindh “learned from one of his instructors that Osama bin Laden had sent people to the United States to carry out several suicide operations,” according to an FBI affidavit. 

The criminal complaint accuses Lindh of: 

—Conspiring to kill Americans outside the United States. 

—Providing material support and resources to a terrorist organization, Harakat ul-Mujahideen, in Kashmir. 

—Providing material support and resources to bin Laden’s al-Qaida. 

—Contributing goods and services to the Taliban and to people whose property and interests are legally blocked in the war against terrorism. 

Lindh’s initial appearance of nearly 15 minutes was not held to argue legal issues. But Brosnahan told reporters outside the courthouse that the FBI affidavit should not be admissible, because Lindh made statements without a lawyer present. At the time, Lindh was recovering from a gunshot wound in his leg. 

The government countered that Lindh signed a statement waiving his right to an attorney before the FBI interviewed him Dec. 9 and 10. 

Heavy security surrounded Lindh’s arrival at the courthouse, just a few miles from the Pentagon, which was extensively damaged in the Sept. 11 attacks. 

Snipers stood on the roof and armed officers patrolled outside the building, where the government also is prosecuting Zacarias Moussaoui — the only person charged with helping the Sept. 11 attackers. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Kelley said the government was insisting Lindh remain in custody because of a risk that he would try to flee and because of potential danger to the community. Sewell granted the request. 

Lindh was captured in November near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif after an uprising by Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners there. An American CIA officer, Johnny “Mike” Spann, was killed during the uprising. 

Lindh left this country two years ago to study Arabic and Islam in Yemen, and then apparently went to Pakistan and from there to Afghanistan. 

When he learned of the Sept. 11 attacks on the radio, Lindh told the FBI according to an affidavit, it was his understanding “that bin Laden had ordered the attacks and that additional attacks would follow.” 

Lindh, a Californian who converted to Islam at age 16, said he trained for seven weeks in an al-Qaida camp where bin Laden visited three to five times, giving lectures “on the local situation, political issues, old Afghan/Soviet battles, etc.,” the affidavit says. 

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — There have been some notable additions to the city jail since Sept. 11. 

Outside, an 8-foot-tall, chain-link fence, topped off with razor wire, and visitor checkpoints have been added to increase security for the eight-story, rust-colored brick building. 

Inside, terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui entered the inmate population. And now John Walker Lindh. They have joined confessed FBI double agent Robert Hanssen, who is still being debriefed, to form a rogue’s gallery of high-profile suspects confined at the city jail. 

Visitor parking, meanwhile, has been moved as far away from the building as possible. 

“We’ve just extended the security perimeter outside,” Alexandria Sheriff James H. Dunning said Thursday. “We’ve broadened it, we’ve hardened it to some extent.” 

Lindh, the American Taliban fighter who arrived a day earlier, was driven under extraordinary security Thursday the two blocks to U.S. District Court for a reading of the charges against him. 

The 20-year-old Californian faces charges that include conspiring to kill fellow Americans in Afghanistan. He will be held at the jail until a preliminary hearing, set for Feb. 6. 

The gathering of Lindh, Hanssen and Moussaoui — so far, the only person charged in the Sept. 11 attacks — is almost routine at the jail, which has housed several other spy suspects over the years, including Aldrich Ames and Harold James Nicholson, as well as alleged killers and drug kingpins. 

Inmates such as Lindh and Moussaoui are in “administrative segregation” and will spend 23 hours daily behind the bars of their identical 80-square-foot cells. 

Each has a mattress atop a concrete slab for a bed, an elevated concrete writing surface and stainless steel sink and toilet. Narrow openings pass as windows. 

“They’re limited in their movement, they’re limited in their activities and especially limited in the contact they have with other inmates,” Dunning said. “However, they are treated with dignity and respect and managed very safely and very securely.” 

With suspected terrorists among the inmates, Dunning said, “We’re concerned, but we’re not terribly worried” that the jail itself may become a target. 

No one has ever died while in custody at the jail, nor escaped from it, he said. 

Officials had begun reviewing security needs before the Sept. 11 attacks. “Obviously the events on that day, and since, have influenced our thinking,” said Dunning. 

The Alexandria Adult Detention Center opened in May 1987, built to house 343 inmates. 

The facility held about 400 inmates Thursday, including about 150 federal inmates as part of a long-standing contract with the U.S. Marshals Service, as well as city inmates. 

The jail is getting more attention and publicity lately because of its newest residents, but it has always handled “very, very high-risk, high-security and very dangerous inmates,” Dunning said. 

“Whether people are sociopaths or psychopathic killers or public inebriates, we have to handle the whole spectrum,” he said. 

A roomful of neighborhood activists went home disappointed Tuesday night, after the City Council approved funding for a housing project for seniors. 

Affordable Housing Associates, a local nonprofit developer, was awarded $874,000 of Housing Trust Fund money to help build “Outback Senior Homes,” a 44-unit project that would reserve a number of places for low-income seniors. 

The project was the only one of the six applicants awarded money from the city fund, and it was the only one that met with significant opposition from neighbors. 

Neighbors of the Outback project, who protested at the council meeting, argued the city should instead give the money to a competing project – Ursula Sherman Village, a Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS) project for low-income and homeless families. 

“Don’t let it be said that Berkeley let go of the opportunity to house the homeless,” said Helene Hunter, whose home is directly behind the Outback site. 

Marissa Shaw, who lives next to the proposed site in the Dwight Way Apartments, echoed the sentiment. 

“I fully support projects for the homeless,” she said. “I think it would be wiser for the council to support the projects (like Ursula Sherman Village) that incorporate universal design.” 

The Dwight Way Apartments, constructed two years ago by Resources for Community Development, were themselves built with Housing Trust Fund money, and despite strong community opposition. 

In the end, the council voted 7-1 in favor of funding the Outback project, with Councilmember Betty Olds voting against and Mayor Shirley Dean absent. 

In December, the Housing Advisory Commission reviewed each of the applications to the Trust Fund and issued recommendations to the council on how the money should be awarded. 

The HAC’s recommendations were largely the same as those approved by the council. The HAC had recommended that the council not fund Ursula Sherman Village at this time, partly because of the high per-unit cost of the project to the city. 

The City Council partly reversed this part of the HAC’s recommendations by awarding $150,000 to BOSS for the project. 

Housing director Steve Barton explained on Wednesday that the money grant was partly symbolic – BOSS could use it to show other potential funders that the city supported the project.  

Outback Senior Homes is currently wending its way through the city’s development process. The Zoning Adjustment Board is scheduled to hear the project sometime in February. 

Kevin Zwick, AHA project manager, said on Wednesday that the Outback project has evolved considerably since it was first proposed, due to input from the neighbors. 

The first version of the project was to be a 33-unit complex for low-income families – largely the same clientele that Ursula Sherman Village is designed for – but that neighbors had objected.  

“It’s been a real challenge to be able to meet the concerns of the neighbors while at the same time having a financially feasible project and addressing the major housing needs of the city,” he said. 

"We’re excited that the city council has put their support behind this project.” 

Councilmember Linda Maio said on Wednesday that affordable senior housing was an important city priority. 

"Seniors are a particularly vulnerable population,” she said. “They have special needs, and we don’t have nearly enough senior housing.” 

Maio, one of the founders of Resources for Community Development, added that she hoped that non-profit builders would not be discouraged by neighborhood opposition. She said that they have to work with neighbors – but that neighbors have to understand them, too. 

“I’d like people to understand how difficult it is to do this kind of housing,” she said. “Developers can make a choice – they can decide to do housing for people with disabilities or seniors they can do other kinds of projects.”

St. Mary’s scored three goals in the first half, then held on during an uninspired second half to beat St. Joseph, 3-1, on Wednesday in Berkeley. 

Senior forward Chelsea Sera scored the first two goals for the Panthers, both from Margot Davis crosses, which were enough to beat the Pilots, who played the game with no substitutes and were visibly tired by the end. 

Kimberley McConnell added the third St. Mary’s goal in the 31st minute with a precise chip from the left corner of the goal box to the far post. 

The Panthers (5-4 overall, 3-3 BSAL) had a few chances to score early in the second half, as McConnell and Sera each had breakaway shots, but both were right at the St. Joseph goalkeeper. The Pilots never really looked dangerous enough to score St. Mary’s, but they did manage to pull back a goal with 10 minutes left in the game. 

“I’d have liked to have gotten a couple more goals in the second half, just to finish them off,” St. Mary’s head coach Donny McGuire said. “But we try not to pile on the goals, and (St. Joseph) played well in the second half.” 

St. Mary’s goalkeeper Ashley Frazier didn’t have much to do against the Pilots, who got just three shots on goal. 

As the regular season winds down, McGuire finds himself looking ahead to the BSAL playoffs, which start on Feb. 5. He considers his young team a threat to pull an upset from their likely four- or five-seed spot, and thinks they even have a chance to win the whole thing. 

“We could be the surprise team of the playoffs,” he said. “The cool thing is that it’s like a whole new season. It gives us a chance to get into the (North Coast Section playoffs).” 

To do that, the Panthers will have to beat at least one, and probably two, of the teams they have lost to in league play: Piedmont, Salesian and Berean Christian. But with a team that has just two senior starters, McGuire isn’t out of line to expect the Panthers to keep improving with every game.

Thursday, Jan. 24

Sea Kayaking in Baja and the  

Bay Area 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Mitch Powers presents slides of some of his favorite paddling destinations in Baja and the Bay Area and gives tips on planning kayaking trips. 527-4140 

Winter Holistic Health Groups  

1:15 – 2:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave.  

For ages 55 and older. This week’s topic: How To Be Your Own Health Advocate . 526-0148. 

Friday, Jan. 25

Women’s Health After  

Menopause 

10:30 a.m. - noon 

Summit North Pavilion, Cafeteria Annexes B & C 

350 Hawthorne Ave., Oakland 

A comprehensive presentation on women’s health and exams after menopause. 869-6737 

City Commons Club  

Luncheon 

11:15 a.m. 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave. 

Douglas R. Powell presents slides and gives a lecture entitled “A Graphic Portrait of a Tortured Land – Afghanistan.” Social hour begins at 11:15 a.m. Lunch is served 11:45 - 12:15. Speaker begins at 12:30. $11 - 12.25 with lunch, $1 otherwise. 848-3533 

Dr. Helen Caldicott  

8 p.m. 

Berkeley First Congregational Church 

2345 Channing Way 

Nobel Prize Nominee and spokesperson for world anti-nuclear movement speaks about peace, survival and free speech in dangerous times. $15. 415-437-3425. 

Saturday, Jan. 26

Bay Area Women in Black  

2 - 3 p.m. 

4th & Hearst streets 

A silent vigil to oppose the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Please wear black, everyone is welcome. 486-2744, bayareawomeninblack@earthlink.net. 

Vocal Jazz Workshop and  

Jazz Jam 

9:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. 

Albany Adult School 

601 San Gabriel St. 

Workshops for singers and instrumentalists led by Richard Kalman to explore jazz in a small jazz combo format. $5-$12 per class. 524-6796, richkalman@aol.com. 

Puberty Seminar for Girls 

10:30 a.m.- 2 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

2230 Shattuck Ave. 

For girls ages 8-14. Understand why your body is changing, and celebrate your rite of passage. Refreshments. $25-$30. (Mothers free.) 595-3814. 

Book Talk and Signing 

3 - 5 p.m. 

The Berkshire Assisted Living Community 

2235 Sacramento Way 

Victor Bogart will discuss his new book “Assumptions” and “6 steps for Shifting Gears on the Senior Highway.” 814-4844. 

Magic School Bus Video  

Festival 

10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Dr., above the UC Berkeley Campus 

Watch Ms. Frizzle take her skeptical class from outer space to inside a dog’s nose in seven different video adventures shown on the big screen and lasting for three hours. 

Sunday, Jan. 27

Neighborhood Clean-Up Day 

11 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Services Center 

1730 Oregon St. 

Clean up blocks: Russell St., Oregon St., McGee, Stuart, Grant and California St. 981-6670, www.ci.berkeley.ca.us. 

School Open House 

10:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. 

School of the Madeleine 

1225 Milvia St. 

Applications for K-8 grades available. Kindergarten informational meeting at noon. 526-4744, www.themadeleine.com. 

Organ Music 

5 p.m. 

MusicSources 

1000 The Alameda 

Ron McKean performs Ferscobaldi, Froberger and Bach, and improvises in the style of each composer. Reception follows concert. $15 - $18. 528-1685. 

Japanese Traditional  

Drumming 

2 p.m. 

Julia Morgan Center 

2640 College Ave. 

Emeryville Taiko presents a fun and interactive event for children and families. $10 adults, $5 children. 925-798-1300. 

Monday, Jan. 28

East Bay Heritage Quilters 

7:30 p.m. 

First Unitarian Church 

1 Lawson Rd., Kensington 

Guest Speaker, Alice Kolb, offers instruction on how to narrow many ideas into a focused garment. $3 non-members, free for members. 834-3706. 

Writing an Ethical Will  

Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Writers of ethical wills hope to convey what they have learned in life. All writing levels and native languages welcome. $30. To register call: 848-0237 X127. 

Tuesday, Jan 29

Experimental Music Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Tuva Space 

3192 Adeline 

The Cardew Choir announces three public experimental music workshops led by visiting composer and poet Joseph Zitt. Free and open to the public. 204-0607, www.metatronpress.com/artists/cardewchoir/. 

Camera Club Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church 

941 The Alameda 

Weekly meeting of the Berkeley Camera Club offers the opportunity to share slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. 547-4514. 

Wednesday, Jan. 30

Baby Bounce and Toddler Tales 

7 p.m. 

Public Library, West Branch 

1125 University Ave. 

A participatory program for families with children up to age 3. Stories, songs and fingerplays as entertainment and as a way for parents to learn some new material to share with their young ones. 981-6270. 

Peace Walk and Vigil 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley BART Station 

A peace walk and vigil to demonstrate opposition to U.S. bombing of Afghanistan. Ends at MLK Civic Center Park. www.indymedia.org. 

Debtors Anonymous 

6:30 - 7:45 p.m. 

Mandana Community Recovery Center 

3989 Howe St., Oakland 

Weekly Meeting. 415-522-9099. 

Editor: 

On Thursday Jan. 17 at about noon during lunch period, our daughter Ashley M. Barlow along with another student was assaulted, brutally beaten and orally discriminated by five girls. The five girls identified are of African-American decent with the names of: Ashley Moore, Branaya, Essence, Keshana and Emerald; all fifth- graders. 

Ashley Barlow and the other student who was assaulted as well immediately reported the incident to the principal’s office and were dismissed by the office worker named “Donna,” who stated “go tell the teacher on duty on the playground outside.” They then reported to the teacher outside who appeared not to understand the girls as she was not English speaking.  

The girls then all had to report to class after lunch while Ashley Barlow was in pain due to punches to the chest and abdominal regions. Her classroom teacher was aware of this incident and did nothing, but offer to discuss the situation with the entire classroom the next Tuesday, Jan. 22.  

After Ashley came home, we called the school but they were closed, so the next morning, we kept Ashley home from school because she was bruised, in pain and emotionally distraught.  

We reported to the school’s answering machine early that morning that Ashley would not be going to school and explained the issue in great detail. We had not received a call back from the principal, so a few hours later, we called again and was told the principal wasn't available. Finally, a few hours later, we received a call from Pat Saddler who identified herself as the Principal and reported the five girls were suspended from school that day. 

We feel the action taken by the school is inadequate, and the school has seriously failed to report and respond to this complaint accordingly. We seek adequate retribution for the injuries our daughter suffered. 

Therefore we are filing a formal complaint with the superintendent of the Berkeley school district and notifying the Berkeley Police Department regarding this bias crime. 

Maria Estrella Michael Barlow  

Berkeley

924 Gilman Jan. 25: Ludicra, Brain Oil, Creuvo, Scurvy Dogs, Arftificum Sanguis; Jan. 26: Mile Marker, Yaphet Kotto, Pirx the Pilot, Himsa, Confidante; Jan. 27: Bane, Over My Dead Body, Striking Distance, Breath In; Feb. 1: American Steel, Pitch Black, Fleshies, The Blottos, Sexy; Feb. 2: Dead and Gone, Black Cat Music, The Cost, The Frisk; Feb. 8: Divit, Scissorhands, Rufio, Don’t Look Down, Fenway Park; Feb. 9: Pansy Division, Subincision, The Fadeaways; All shows start a 8 p.m. unless noted; Most are $5; 924 Gilman St. 525-9926. 

Anna’s Bistro Jan. 24: Carl Garrett; Jan. 25: Anna & Ellen Hoffman; Jan. 26: Robin Gregory & Bliss Rodriguez; Jan. 27: “Acoustic Soul”; Jan. 28: “Renegade Sidemen” w/Calvin Keyes; Jan. 29: Tangria; Jan. 30: Bob Schoen; Jan. 31: Jason Martineau & Dave Sayen; Music starts at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., 1801 University Ave., 849-2662. 

Blake’s Jan. 24: Electronica w/Ascension, $5; Jan. 25: Shady Lady, Blue Room, $6; Jan. 26: Dank Man Shank, TBA, $5; Jan. 27: Motivators, Funklogic, $3; Jan. 28: All Star Jam Featuring The Steve Gannon Band, $4; Jan. 29: Funkanauts, Len Patterson Trio, $3; Jan. 30: Sunru, Slaptones, DJ Kurse, $10; Jan. 31: Electronica w/ Ascension, $5; 2367 Telegraph Ave., 877-488-6533. 

Club Jjang-Ga Jan. 26: Krenshaw, Bearing, Lucid Inc., Zodiacal Circle; 400 29th Ave., Oakland, 261-1108, savageproductions1@ yahoo.com. 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Jazzschool Jan. 27: 4:30 p.m., Michael Zilber, Sons of Bitches Brew; $6-$12. 2087 Addison St., 845-5373, www.jazzschool.com. 

Jupiter Jan. 24: Chris Shot Group; Jan. 25: The Sardonics; Jan. 26: Berkeley Jazz School Presents: Fourtet; Jan. 30: Joel Harrison Quartet; All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless noted. 2181 Shattuck Ave., 843-7625, www.jupiterbeer.com. 

La Pena Cultural Center Jan. 24: 7 p.m., Colombian Cultural Explosion, $5-$15; Jan. 25: 8 p.m., Wild Mango, $12; Jan. 26: 8 p.m., Naked Barbies: The Concert, $10-$15; Jan. 26: 10:30 a.m., Gary Lapow, $4 adults, $3 Children; Jan. 27: 7:30 p.m., Leticia Servín, $10-$8; 3105 Shattack Ave, 893-4648.  

Live Oaks Concerts: Berkeley Art Center Jan. 27: 7:30 p.m., Elaine Kreston, Laura Carmichael, $10, BACA Members $8, Students and Seniors $9. Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., 644-6893. 

Rose Street House Jan. 25: 8 p.m. DivaBands Showcase: Bern, Elin Jr., Roberta Donnay, Christy Claxton and Tiger Zane. $8-$20. 1839 Rose St., 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@yahoo.com. 

ACME Observatory Contemporary Performance Series Jan. 27: 8 p.m., Jane Rigler, $0-$20; TUVA Space, 3192 Adeline, http://sfSound.org/acme.html. 

Oakland Symphony Chorus Jan. 26: 9 a.m. - 1 p.m., Conductor Tony Pasqua will lead a study of Joseph Haydn’s “Harmoniemesse” and Johannes Brahm’s “Schicksalslied.” $25, $30 door; St. Peter’s Episcopal Church 6013 Lawton St., Oakland, 465-4199. 

Berkeley Black Repertory Theatre Jan. 26: 6:30 - 10 p.m., The City of Berkeley and the Berkeley Black Repertory Theatre pay tribute to and welcome the return of “The Dru Band”; $5. 3201 Adeline St., 625-2120. 

Organ Music Jan. 27: 5 p.m., Ron McKean; $15 - $18. MusicSources, 1000 The Alameda, 528-1685. 

“Every Inch a King” Through Feb. 9: Thur. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 5 p.m.; Three sisters have to make a decision as their father approaches death in this comedy presented by the Central Works Theater Ensemble. $8 - $18. LeValls Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave. 558-138, www.centralworks.org.  

“Sisters” Through Feb. 16., Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., The Prozorov sisters look at the gap between hope and fulfillment in their lives. Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattack, www.actorsensemleofbkerkeley.com. 

“Rhinoceros” Jan. 23 through Mar. 10: Check theater for specific dates and times. An absurdist tragic-comedy about a small provincial town whose citizens slowly but surely transform into large cumbersome rhinoceroses. Directed by Barbara Damashek. $38 - $54. Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St. 647-2976 www.berkeleyrep.org. 

“Murder Dressed in Satin” by Victor Lawhorn, ongoing. A mystery-comedy dinner show at The Madison about a murder at the home of Satin Moray, a club owner and self-proclaimed socialite with a scarlet past. Dinner is included in the price of the theater ticket. $47.50 Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison St., Oakland, 239-2252, www.acteva.com/go/havefun. 

Pacific Film Archive Jan. 25: 7:30 p.m., The Aviator’s Wife; 9:30 p.m., A Good Marriage; Jan. 26: 6:30 p.m., Patrick Macias; 7 p.m., Battle Royale; 9:30 p.m., Blood and Law; Jan: 27: Children’s Film Festival, 1 p.m., Ikingut, 3 p.m., Peter Pan; 5:30 p.m., Sir Arne’s Treasure; 7:35 p.m., Song of the Scarlet Flower; Jan. 28: 3 p.m., The Jazz Singer; 7 p.m., Underground Kisses; Jan. 29: 7:30 p.m., New Arab Video 2; Jan. 30: 3 p.m., The Nickelodeon; 7:30 p.m., New Arab Video 3; 2527 Bancroft Way, 642-1412. 

Parkway Theatre Jan. 29: 6:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m., Boom! The Sound Of Eviction, a Just Cause Oakland benefit screening. $6-$20. 1843 Park Blvd., Oakland, 464-1011. 

GTU Exhibit: “Holocaust Series” by Cleve Gray Through Jan. 25: Comprised of 21 works on paper that constitute “a catharsis... for all of humanity.” Mon. - Thurs. 8:30 a.m. - 9:45 p.m., Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sun. noon - 7 p.m.; Free. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541 www.gtu.edu. 

“Prints and Paintings by Liao Shiou-Ping” on view through Jan. 31; Tues. to Fri.10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sat.10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Free. Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388-9th St., Suite 290, Oakland, 238-4491. 

“Rhythms” Through Feb. 2: Art installation of sculpture, neon, music and video projections by Kati Casida; Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St., 845-5373 

Pro Arts: “Juried Annual 2001-02” Through Feb. 2: Exhibition of painting, sculpture, mixed media, photography and more by Bay Area and regional artists; Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St., www.proartsgallery.org. 

“All Grown Up” Through Feb. 2: New paintings and drawings by Amy Chan. Thurs. 1 p.m. - 8 p.m., Fri -Sun 1 p.m. -6 p.m., 21 Grand Ave., Oakland, 444-7263 

“Water Media” Through Feb. 8: An exhibit by Christine “Caipirinha” Mulder. Capoeira Arts Cafe Gallery, 2026 Center St., 666-1349 for hours. 

“New Work by Dennis Begg and Steve Briscoe” Through Feb. 9: Dennis Begg’s sculpture. Steve Brisco’s paintings. Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Traywick Gallery,1316 10th St., 527-1214. 

“Enduring Wisdom: Artwork and Stories by Homeless and Formerly Homeless Seniors” Through Feb. 15: 18 homeless and formerly homeless elders reveal how they learned and applied wisdom that is timeless. Mon. - Fri. and Sundays 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.; Free. St. Mary’s Center, 635 22nd St., Oakland, 893-4723 x222. 

“Envisioning Ecology” Through Feb. 15: Paintings by Michelle Waters. Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave., 548-2220 x233. 

“The Other 364 Days: A Day in the Life of the Queer Community” Through Feb. 16: An exhibit of black and white photographs by East Bay photographer Limor Inbar-Hansen. Mon. - Fri., 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Sat., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St., 644-1400, limor@indelible-images.com. 

“Adventures in La Land” Through Feb. 23: Installations by Suzanne Husky and Paintings by Amy Morrell. Tues. - Sat., 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; 4920 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, 428-2349. 

“Transformations: Through the Eye of a Needle” Jan.24 - Feb. 23: Two-person exhibition by Rebecca Bui and Linda Lemon including procelain and fabric dolls and mixed media works on handmade paper. Tues.-Sat., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Ardency Gallery, 709 Broadway, Oakland, 836-0831, www.artolio.com 

“Ton of Joy” Through Mar. 1: Group show of twelve painters and sculptors: Simone Anders, Susan Brady, Erin Fitzgerald, Karen Frey, Kei Hanafusa, Nancy Legge, Burke Rainey, Robin Sebourn, Kristen Throop, Clay Vajgrt, Whitney Vosburgh, Ann West; Mon. - Sat., 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Hollis Street Project, 5900 Hollis St., Emeryville. 

“Ansel Adams in the University of California Collections” Through Mar. 10: A selection of photographs and memorabilia presenting a different perspective on Adam’s career as one of the leading figures in American photography; Jan. 16 through Mar. 24: “Migrations: Photographs by Sebastiao Salgado,” over 300 black-and-white photographs of immigrants and refugees taken by the Brazilian photographer. Wed. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 7 p.m., $4- $6. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. 

"Earthly Pleasures" assemblage and photographs by Susan Danis, Through March 30: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Mon. - Sat.; Sticks, 1579 B, Solano Ave., 526-6603.  

“Domestic Bliss” Through Apr. 4: Collection of abstract paintings and mixed medium by Amy St. George. Albany Community Center Foyer Gallery, 1249 Marin Ave., Albany, 524-9283. 

“The Legacy of Social Protest: The Disability Rights Movement” Through April 30: The first exhibition in a series dealing with Free Speech, Civil Rights, and Social Protest Movements of the 60s and 70s in California. Featuring photograghs by: Cathy Cade, HolLynn D’Lil, Howard Petrick, Ken Stein. The Free Speech Cafe, Moffitt Undergraduate Library, University of California-Berkeley, hjadler@yahoo.com  

“The Art History Museum of Berkeley” Masterworks by Guy Colwell. Faithful copies of several artists from the pasts, including Titian’s “The Venus of Urbino,” Cezanne’s “Still Life,” Picasso’s “Woman at a Mirror,” and Botticelli’s “Primavera” Ongoing. Call ahead for hours. Atelier 9, 2028 Ninth St., 841-4210, www.atelier9.com. 

Readings 

Coffee With a Beat Jan. 26: Paradise; Feb. 2: Julia Vinograd, Shauna Rogan; Feb. 9: Sydney Bell, Debrale Pagan; All readings 7-9 p.m., free and followed by open mike. 458 Perkins, Oakland, 526-5985.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore Jan. 22: Lee Foster discusses his new guide “Northern California History Weekends”; All readings are free and start at 7:30 p.m., 1385 Shattuck Ave. at Rose, 843-3533. 

Revolution Books Jan. 25: 6:15 p.m., Eric Schlosser, Author of “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the American Meal,” will appear for a book signing. 2425 Channing Way, 848-1196.  

Poetry 

Poetry Flash @ Cody’s Jan. 23: Paul Hoover and Elizabeth Robinson; Jan. 27: Wanda Coleman, Austin Straus and Kate Gale; Jan. 30 Ralph Angel and George Higgins; All events begin at 7:30 p.m., $2 donation. 2454 Telegraph Ave., 845-7852. 

Tours 

Golden Gate Live Steamers Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Lomas Cantadas Drive at the south end of Tilden Regional Park Small locomotives, scaled to size. Trains run Sun., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sun., noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. 486-0623. 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Fridays 9:30 - 11:45 a.m. or by appointment. Call ahead to make reservations. Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387. 

Museums 

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm” An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more. “Recycling Center” Lets the kids crank the conveyor belt to sort cans, plastic bottles and newspaper bundles into dumpster bins; $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Mon. and Wed., 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tues. and Fri., 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thur., 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111 or www.habitot.org. 

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 foot 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. Mon. - Fri., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821. 

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology will close its exhibition galleries for renovation. It will reopen in early 2002.  

Lawrence Hall of Science Through Jan. 26: Scream Machines: The Science of Roller Coasters; “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. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza; Open daily, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., $7 for adults; $5 for children 5-18; $3 for children 3-4. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley, 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org. 

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, www.lhs.berkeley.edu. 

Send arts events two weeks in advance to Calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.net, 2076 University, Berkeley 94704 or fax to 841-5694.

The Berkeley Police Department is investigating the first murder case of the year, after one of the victims in a south Berkeley shooting early Tuesday morning succumbed to his wounds later that afternoon. 

Rammar Johnson, 28, died at Highland Hospital at around 6 p.m. The other victim in the shooting, Noel Turner, Jr., 29, remained in critical condition on Wednesday. 

Both men were residents of Oakland. 

The two men were shot in the head near the corner of 63rd and King streets at around 2:40 a.m. When police arrived, they found the victims inside a car parked near the intersection. 

Two people were seen fleeing the scene, according to the BPD’s Lt. Cynthia Harris. 

Historically the neighborhood where the crime took place – which is bounded by Martin Luther King, Jr. Way/Adeline Street, Ashby Avenue, San Pablo Avenue and the Oakland border – has had the worst homicide rate in the city. 

Twenty-three people were murdered in the area in the 11 years between 1990 and 2000.  

The crime is the second murder in Berkeley in a month. On Dec. 30, police arrested Lazarus Ortega for the murder of his adoptive mother, Charlotte Ortega.  

Ortega is scheduled to enter his plea in the Berkeley Courthouse on Jan. 30. 

The BPD has not released any speculation on the motives for Tuesday’s shootings, and has not yet arrested any suspects.  

Anyone who may be able to provide additional information is asked to call the Homicide Detail at 981-5741.

Editor: 

“Come on, you guys,” I said to Ashley and Tee, “Let’s do something for Martin Luther King’s birthday today!” 

“Sorry. Can’t,” replied Tee, our exchange student from Thailand. “Got a math final on Tuesday. I gotta study.” 

“It's too early in the morning!” replied Ashley. “And besides, I’ve got that Sakai interview today.” 

Ashley’s local Girl Scout council was choosing girls to send on an exchange with Sakai, Japan in 2002 and she really wanted to go on it. 

“Well. Fine.” I said. “I'll just go by myself.”  

But not without delivering a lecture first! “No one else on this entire planet seems to believe in peace and love and, hopefully, the evolution of the human spirit into something more wondrous and beautiful than just a neo-Nazi killing machine straight out of the Stone Age,” I lectured. “Except only me.” 

“Go, Ma!” said Ashley. 

“And if I have to hold to higher ideals for the human race all by my poor lonely misbegotten self – then I’m still going to believe in Peace! A Person’s gotta do what a Person’s gotta do!” 

Ashley and Tee cheered me on! (Actually, they were just hoping I’d leave so they could go back to studying and sleeping...) 

“Martin Luther King was onto something,” I continued despite the flagging interest from my audience. “Even George Washington and Abraham Lincoln used violence and killing and nasty stuff to gain their ends. King didn’t. He won his war using love. That’s incredible!” 

I had recently gotten into a very heated argument with someone I really liked – which shocked me very deeply. How can I hope for world peace when I myself was not even able to be peaceful with someone I trusted and loved – let alone those nasty strangers lurking in nightmares and trying to blow up babies. 

Human nature is filled with land mines. 

“Peace is much harder than blowing things up,” I warned the kids (and myself) one last time and left out the door to attend the Allen Temple Baptist Church’s “Take Back the Dream” celebration in East Oakland.  

The pastor said, “Let’s ALL work together in peace – all the peoples of the earth.” The stranger next to me smiled and patted my hand. I felt better, more hopeful and also not so alone. 

Happy Martin Luther King’s birthday! 

Love,  

Jane Stillwater 

PS: My former neighbor’ s friend Paul (larudee@pacbell. net) is working with a Palestinian-Israeli peace group to use non-violent techniques to end the conflict in Isreal and to protest Israeli settlers' illegal seizures of Palestinian homes, vineyards, orchards, businesses, etc.  

Not many people are aware that, in the last few years, it was very common for an Israeli “settler” to see a prosperous Palestinian farm, like it and seize it. “If you do not like what we're doing,” the settler would then tell the rightful owners, “we will kill you. This land is mine! God gave this land to ME.” The Palestinean family would then be forced to leave.  

If you don't believe that Israelis are capable of doing that, just rent the old movie “Exodus.”

Yesterday local nurses were applauding the end to a 10-year long battle to attain safe nursing standards statewide and were lauding the new 4-1 nurse-to-patient ratio as being essential to the current staffing crisis that has plagued the industry. 

But Carolyn Kemp, public information officer for Alta Bates Medical Center, said the new standards authorized Wednesday by Gov. Gray Davis bring with them some serious budgeting implications. 

“We will go along with whatever the state wants us to do,” Kemp said. “Clearly, it’s going to be very difficult for some hospitals to comply.” 

According to Kemp Alta Bates/Summit lost $50 million last year and are not receiving adequate compensation for the services they supply to patients. In order for the hospital to be able to afford the additional nursing staff now mandated by the state, she says it will be necessary for the hospital to reconfigure their compensation rates. 

“It’s going to be very difficult for us to balance this out,” Kemp said. “We’re not getting paid for all the services we provide. It’s going to be a very difficult balancing act, and it will be interesting for us all to through this process together.”  

Kemp said it was too early for the hospital to take a stand on whether it supports the new safe nursing standards, but she did say the hospital had every intention of complying. 

“We are waiting to see how this all comes out. It’s too premature for anyone to jump on any bandwagon,” she added.  

But for some members of the California Nurses Association the waiting is over. 

“It’s a great day for patient safety. It’s a great day for nurse safety,” said Walnut Creek Kaiser Permanente Register Nurse Trande Phillips. “The fight we’ve had in the last ten years has been about quality of care and staffing. And it existed primarily because the hospitals wanted to staff based on a budget.” 

“It has been a constant battle for years now to have enough staff to provide the proper care for patients, and each time we come to them they’ve said “I’m sorry we can only afford this much staff to care for patients no matter what.” 

“This is going to go a great deal towards solving the nursing shortage because it will show nurses who have left the profession that they can now return. It will show them that there is a light to the end of the tunnel,” McVay said. “ Now they can return to an acute care setting and take the time to do what their job and what they’ve been educated and trained and want to do -- take care of people.” 

McVay also said that now with the mandatory staffing ratio that there will be more trained staff available which will go towards relieving the other battle nurses have waged with hospital administrators, mandatory overtime.  

“Now they will no longer be allowed to staff hospitals in a panic. There will be a pool of nurses available and scheduled to work,” Phillips said, echoing McVay’s remarks. 

Kemp said that California faces the most intensive nursing shortage in the nation and that getting enough nurses to care for the sick is priority number one for everyone concerned.  

“There’s a lot for us to learn on this issue,” Kemp said. “We hope this will bring the nurses back.” 

According to Davis office any hospitals found to be violating the new standards will be subject to penalty.

The City Council voted to activate the Public Safety Building tower antenna Tuesday night after hearing public comment from city staff and police officers who said the tower is critical for public safety and from neighbors who argued it’s an eyesore and was erected without public process. 

The council approved the activation by a 6-2 vote with councilmembers Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington voting no. Mayor Shirley Dean, who is currently attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C., did not vote on the issue. 

The vote to activate the tower was taken after another motion by Spring to table the issue until the council’s Feb. 5 meeting failed to get the five votes necessary for approval. 

Spring said on Wednesday that Tuesday’s vote does not resolve the issue. 

“It’s not over, and I am bound and determined by hook or crook that the tower is going to be taken down.” she said. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take but I am strongly committed to it’s removal.” 

Director of Public Works Rene Cardinaux said after the council’s vote that he is most concerned about the immediate future. 

“I’m not arguing the long-term solution but for the short-term it makes the best sense from a safety perspective to turn the tower on,” Cardinaux said adding it should be activated within the next two weeks. 

Councilmember Polly Armstrong agreed. 

“It’s irresponsible of us to not vote for a resolution that will make the City of Berkeley safer,” she said. “We need to turn that antenna on and protect the citizens of Berkeley.” 

The three-legged steel tower, which is located behind the Public Safety Building at 2100 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, has never been activated because of the controversy that erupted as soon as the tower was erected.  

Neighbors have fought to have the tower either removed or redesigned during the last two years, saying its five-story design is inappropriate for a residential neighborhood. 

In addition, neighbors say the tower never went through the city’s normal public process, which would have included review by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Design Review Committee and the Zoning Adjustments Board. 

But citing citywide safety concerns and the unreliability of the two, 60-year-old antennae currently used by the police and fire departments for radio communication, Cardinaux, the fire and police chiefs and the director of the Department of Planning and Development, urged the council to activate the new tower. Five police officers also called for the activation of the tower during the public hearing.  

But nearly 30 residents told the council that the tower has lowered real estate values and has altered the quality of life in their neighborhood.  

“The tower has changed the neighborhood,” said Carrie Sprague who lives nearby the tower. “When you come out your front door, you don’t think about your rose bushes or your tomato plants or whether the dog got out the front gate, you just get mad at that tower.” 

Other neighbors focused on the lack of the public process.  

“As near as I can tell the structure was built on a change order, which is appropriate for a light bulb but not a 170-foot tower,” he said. “In the end what we really need is a public process.” 

Neighbors advocated for the city to replace the tower with two smaller, “flag-pole” styled towers. 

City Manager Weldon Rucker, who was not city manager during the construction of the Public Safety Building or the tower, admitted that the public process may have been lacking.  

“In the future we’ll have to be more open and consistent with the public,” he said. “But from a practical standpoint our recommendation is to activate the tower as soon as possible.” 

Also arguing for the tower, five police officers addressed the council during the public hearing. They said the 60-year-old antenna system is unreliable. In fact, the antennae did not operate for two hours last Thursday when a gas generator failed to start during a power outage. 

“Not being able to do our jobs because of aesthetic reasons troubles us,” said Berkeley Police Association President Randy Files, adding that radio communication is critical to officer safety. “I work with other officers and if one of them is in trouble, I need to know where he is, how he is and how to get to him.” 

In addition to aesthetic concerns, Erica Etelson who was a member of the neighborhood Tower Committee formed by the City Council in October 2000, said the tower’s electromagnetic field could pose a health threat. 

“Kaiser has recently released a study that shows these towers have been associated with a six-fold increase in the risk of miscarriage,” she said adding that they have recently been restricted in Britain and Spain. 

But city staff cited a report prepared by MACRO Corporation that determined the tower’s electric magnetic field would not cause adverse health effects. 

Spring said the tower will return to the council’s agenda on Feb. 5, and that she will ask that it be refereed to the Design Review Committee to begin the process of redesigning the tower, which is estimated to cost about $300,000. 

“With the safety issues no longer in the way, I’m hoping the council will support going for some alternatives,” she said. “We have to make this right and there’s no ifs, ands or buts about it.”

SAN FRANCISCO — John Walker Lindh’s lead defense lawyer said he’s hired a team of former federal prosecutors to represent the American Taliban, and one of their first orders of business will be to challenge Lindh’s alleged confession to FBI agents in Afghanistan. 

“I try not to get personally upset, but I’ve not known a case where a person was clearly headed toward the criminal courts in the view of the government, and from almost the first day has been held incommunicado,” James Brosnahan said Wednesday night. 

“He has been interrogated for 54 days, and has been denied not only the parents’ communications — never mind a visit — but his lawyer,” Brosnahan said. “We’ll bring appropriate motions and that will be for the court” to decide. 

Brosnahan talked with The Associated Press by phone just before escorting Lindh’s parents, Frank Lindh and Marilyn Walker, to attempt to meet with their son at the city jail in Alexandria, Va. It would have been the family’s first reunion in the more than two years since Lindh left California for the Middle East. 

“We’re a little disappointed, but the guard was able to tell us that he is in good condition,” Lindh said of his son. Brosnahan said jail authorities felt the meeting should be put off until Thursday. 

Lindh, who turns 21 on Feb. 9, was charged last week with conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens, and could face life in prison if convicted. He was captured in Afghanistan after a November uprising by Taliban prisoners in which a CIA officer was killed. 

Brosnahan would not comment on specific elements of his defense strategy but suggested that he would file motions with the judge concerning Lindh’s constitutional due process rights. 

“A person has to be arraigned within 48 hours of the charges and the charges were made last Tuesday,” Brosnahan said. “This is a week, plus one day later, and he still hasn’t been arraigned. I think it’s off the charts from a criminal procedural standpoint. It’s unprecedented.” 

Brosnahan said he hired Bill Cummings, the former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and former federal prosecutors George Harris and Tony West. Harris worked with Brosnahan in prosecuting former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger in the Iran-Contra scandal, and West worked under Attorney General Janet Reno in the Justice Department. 

Brosnahan said he and Lindh’s parents received a letter from him on Wednesday, dated Jan. 8, in which Lindh thanked his parents for hiring Brosnahan to represent him and reassured them he was in good health. “It is comforting to know that you found a lawyer,” said the letter. 

Brosnahan said Lindh’s letter should dispel any confusion U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft may have had concerning whether or not Lindh had legal representation. 

Ashcroft had earlier questioned whether Lindh even had a lawyer. 

“There’s been some kind of white noise coming from mahogony fox holes in the Department of Justice about well, ’Gee we really don’t know whether he has a lawyer,”’ Brosnahan said. “And now it turns out since Jan. 8 they knew exactly that he was glad that he had a lawyer.” 

WASHINGTON — Local and federal officials signed an agreement on Wednesday aimed at cleaning up hazardous waste and building new housing at San Francisco’s old Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. 

But the agreement sets out neither a timetable nor a budget to complete the work at a facility that has been closed since 1974 and on the list of highly contaminated Superfund sites since 1989. The 936-acre site that abuts the bay in San Francisco’s southeastern corner is the largest tract of undeveloped land in the city. 

Still, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, members of Congress and Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England hailed Wednesday’s accord as a new day in the often contentious relationship between the city and the Navy. 

“It will be done,” England said at a ceremony in the Capitol office of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco. 

Brown called the agreement historic and said the first parcel, 66 acres of land on the site that have been cleaned, would be transferred to San Francisco’s control within days. A developer who plans to put affordable housing on the site said work could begin in the spring of next year. 

If the signing ceremony seemed familiar, Brown and other Navy officials agreed on a four-year cleanup plan in November 2000. 

“This is a landmark day for the Bayview-Hunters Point community,” he said then. 

Now, nearly 15 months later, Brown said the difference is that the Navy, not the city, is providing the impetus for finally cleaning a site that is contaminated with fuel, batteries, solvents and radioactive waste. 

England said the Navy would be pushing for similar agreements at other contaminated sites it owns. “We want to be out of land management,” he said. 

Reaction from community advocates was restrained. Saul Bloom, executive director of a Bay Area nonprofit group that has worked on the Hunters Point issue, said agreements have been in hand before with little to show for them. Bloom, who heads Arc Ecology, characterized Wednesday’s agreement as an “addendum to a non-binding agreement.” 

Pelosi, whose district includes the neighborhood, alluded to the project’s troubled history. “So many times before we thought we had an agreement,” said Pelosi, newly installed as the No. 2 Democrat in the House. 

Pushed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Congress recently voted to spend $50 million on the Hunters Point cleanup. Feinstein inserted the money in a spending bill only after she learned that the Navy was planning to spend less than $10 million on decontamination there. 

Brown aide Jesse Blout, the city’s lead negotiator in talks with the Navy, said the Navy’s budget for the cleanup is more than $100 million. But Navy officials did not provide any budget figures. 

The Navy has done sporadic cleanup work at Hunters Point. It halted work in 1999, saying costs were higher than expected.  

The Navy also came under heavy local criticism for waiting two weeks to inform the Environmental Protection Agency of an underground fire at a landfill on the site in 2000. 

BART takes a bite from recession 

OAKLAND — The recession is putting the bite on the Bay Are Rapid Transit System. 

BART officials said Tuesday the transit system is looking at a $32 million deficit for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends in June. To meet the challenge, BART is moving toward running shorter trains, delaying some projects and perhaps even laying people off. 

A year ago, ridership was at an all-time high. But it’s down 7 percent – and fare revenues are down 6 percent. Even worse, revenue from a half-cent sales tax is down 9 percent. 

“The challenge in public transit when times are lean is to cut costs but not cut service,” BART Director Dan Richard said. “Because service cuts lead to ridership loss, which leads to revenue loss. You don’t want to get into that cycle.” 

Among the steps BART is considering are to cut 10-car trains to nine cars, as well as to reduce service for special events like concerts or sporting events. BART would also eliminate 78 jobs, 53 of which are already vacant. 

BART directors will take up the problem at the board meeting Thursday. 

Mile of Bay Bridge receives funding 

SAN FRANCISCO — Caltrans officials awarded a $1.04 billion contract Tuesday – the largest in the agency’s history – for construction of a nearly mile-long stretch of the eastern Bay Bridge replacement span. 

The work to be done by Kiewit/FCI/Mason Joint Venture will take four years to complete and will cost $300 million more than the most recently revised Caltrans estimate. 

State transportation officials also said Tuesday that the span work on the bridge should resume later this week or early next week. The project was halted after Oakland painter Darryl Clemons was killed in an accident Jan. 4. 

Caltrans spokesman Jeff Weiss said the project’s contractor has submitted a safety plan. The plan calls for a report by an “independent safety auditor.” The plan will also assign full-time field safety officers to the job to assess hazardous conditions and work practices.

Deliveryman’s watch  

and pizza stolen 

A pizza deliveryman was robbed while making his rounds on the evening of Jan. 17, according to Lt. Cynthia Harris of the Berkeley Police Department. 

The victim was on a delivery in the 1600 block of Parker Street at around 8:45 p.m. when three men jumped out of some bushes and told him to hand over his money. One of the suspects reportedly said that he had a gun. 

The suspects went through the victim’s pockets and took his money. They also gained possession of his watch – and the pizza – before fleeing on foot. 

The three are described as black males around the age of 21. One suspect was approximately five feet, six inches tall and was wearing a light gray jacket or sweater with a hood and jeans. 

Access denied 

A woman tried and failed to cash a stolen check at the Shattuck Avenue branch of Calfed Bank Saturday afternoon, according to Lt. Harris. 

At around 12:25 p.m., the woman asked a teller to cash a check for more than $1,600. The teller began to process the transaction, but found that the account was flagged. As the teller went to consult with a manager, the woman sat down next to a man in the lobby. 

After a short time, the woman asked the teller why the transaction was taking so long. The teller replied that they were checking the account. The woman asked the teller to return the check and her identification. The teller said that she could not. 

The woman and the man she was sitting next to then calmly left the bank. 

Later, police determined that both the check and the identification used by the suspect had been stolen from two San Francisco residents. Apparently, the suspect had written out the stolen check to the person described in the stolen I.D. card, then attempted to cash the check with that I.D.  

The suspect is described as a black female between the ages of 28 and 32. She was around 5 feet, 4 inches tall and was of medium build. She had orange hair, and she was wearing a lime-green T-shirt, a heavy black jacket with a hood and black pants. 

There was no description of her suspected accomplice. 

The BPD is conducting an investigation of the case. 

Man takes video at  

gunpoint 

A video rental store was held up at gunpoint Sunday afternoon, according to Lt. Harris. 

At around 3 p.m., the suspect asked the clerk at Videomaniacs, 1484 University Ave., if the store carried a particular movie. The clerk directed the suspect to the section where the movie was located. 

Upon returning to the register, the suspect pulled up his shirt to reveal the video tucked into his waistband next to a large, silver semiautomatic handgun. 

The suspect told the clerk to empty her cash register. The clerk complied, handing the money to the suspect. The suspect then fled the store. 

The suspect is described as a black male of medium complexion in his late 20s. He was approximately 6 feet, 1 inch tall and weighed about 175 pounds. He was wearing a plaid shirt, dark jeans and a red beanie cap. 

LOS ANGELES — Given new urgency by Enron’s collapse, the debate over auditor independence is shifting to corporate shareholder meetings. 

Union pension funds representing about $220 billion in assets have launched a nationwide campaign to put the issue on shareholder agendas. 

A study by the Investor Responsibility Research Center revealed that as much as 75 percent of fees paid to accounting firms in 2000 were related to non-audit consulting services. 

“People were shocked at the high proportion of non-audit fees,” said Carol Bowie, director of governance research services for the center. 

Last year was the first time companies were required by the Securities and Exchange Commission to itemize amounts paid to accounting firms for different services. 

Under former chairman Arthur Levitt, who stepped down last year, the SEC adopted several rules restricting the activities of corporate auditors because of concerns that some accountants had become too cozy with the companies they audited. 

The relationships threatened the integrity of financial reports and undermined investor confidence, Levitt and others warned. 

At Motorola Inc., for instance, the company paid $3.9 million to KPMG for the audit of its 2000 financial statements, according to documents Motorola filed with the SEC. It paid the accounting firm another $62.3 million for consulting services – a ratio of 16 to 1. 

Apple Computer Inc. spent $2.26 million for its 2000 audit, also performed by KPMG. Apple paid the firm $28.5 million for other services — a ratio of more than 12 to 1. 

Based on such data, union pension funds decided to launch a volley of shareholder proposals this year to prevent firms that do independent audits from providing lucrative consulting services as well. 

“The union funds have a particular interest in a situation like what we saw at Enron, where it’s not just shareholders who are suffering, but workers,” Bowie said. “This is workers’ pensions at risk.” 

Funds controlled by unions for carpenters, plumbers and other building trade workers have filed proposals at 29 companies. Six of them, including Apple and Motorola, have asked the SEC to intervene and reject the proposals on various grounds. 

Most shareholder proposals usually garner little support the first year they appear on proxy statements. It generally takes several years to gain enough steam to either pass or force companies to negotiate with the people making the proposals. 

But Enron may have changed all that. 

“I think there’s steam from day one,” said Ed Durkin, director of special programs for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, which is sponsoring the bulk of the proposals. “I think we’ll see votes that will send pretty good messages.” 

The independence of Enron’s auditing firm, Arthur Andersen, has been questioned after it was revealed that Andersen was paid millions to consult for the energy company while Enron was reporting questionable financial results. 

The first vote will come at the annual meeting of The Walt Disney Co., scheduled for Feb. 19 in Hartford, Conn. 

In 2001, Disney paid PriceWaterhouse Coopers $8.6 million for its audit and $32 million for other services – a ratio of 3.7 to 1. 

Disney management recommends that shareholders vote against the proposal, using arguments some believe will be repeated by other companies during the year. 

Disney argues that its audit committee already has strict guidelines to govern the hiring of accounting firms as consultants, and that the disclosure required by the SEC gives shareholders adequate information when considering the choice of an independent auditor. 

“We believe there is little chance for abuse and no benefit to the company or its shareholders from an arbitrary limitation on the power of management and the board of directors to exercise business judgment in the selection of auditors or other outside vendors,” the company states in its proxy. 

Shareholder activists say even if the proposals do pass, other safeguards are needed to prevent potential conflicts. 

“It would be largely a cosmetic solution if that’s all that happened,” said Nell Minow, a Washington, D.C., shareholder activist and editor at the Corporate Library, an information service on corporate governance. 

Minow and others believe that rotating auditors and giving audit committees more authority are also necessary. 

“Shareholder resolutions are a relatively weak way to get at this problem,” said Melissa Moye, chief economist, trust and investment services, at Amalgamated Bank in New York. “There needs to be tighter regulation.” 

Lawmakers supporting more restraints hope that the Enron collapse and the attention generated at shareholder meetings will aid legislative efforts to address the problem. 

“It’s a no-brainer,” said U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who this week introduced a bill to restrict the work done by accounting firms. “But there are special interests, the very large accounting firms, opposing this.” 

SAN JOSE — Scientists at Hewlett-Packard Co. and UCLA said Wednesday they have patented a means of getting around a significant hurdle in the race to build computer chips at the molecular level. 

The breakthrough could give researchers an efficient way to control the flow of information on such minuscule circuits, a requirement if tiny but enormously powerful molecular computers are ever to become a reality. 

Researchers in the burgeoning field of nanotechnology hope to someday create computers small enough to be sprinkled like dust, embedded in materials or perhaps even injected into the bloodstream to serve as diagnostic sensors. 

With molecular circuitry, a supercomputer could easily fit in a person’s hand. 

Today’s computers are run by silicon chips crammed with millions of transistors that turn on or off extremely quickly. 

But many researchers believe that by the middle of the next decade, because of the physical limitations of silicon, computer makers will cease being able to fit more and more transistors on a chip. 

In hopes of getting around that barrier, scientists are seeking ever-smaller materials for computer parts. Some have shown that individual sections of molecules can made into switches that turn on or off. 

The Hewlett-Packard-UCLA team, which is partly funded by the Defense Department, already has patented a way to connect molecular-scale switches with chemical “wires” that are just six to 10 atoms wide and two atoms tall — about 100 times smaller than the tiniest wires on chips today. 

They also have described a way to make the molecular systems run despite imperfections found everywhere in nature. 

Last year, R. Stanley Williams of HP and Philip Kuekes and James Heath of UCLA developed a chemical process and computer program that would allow the circuitry to be mapped like perpendicular city streets — so a computer’s central processing unit could know exactly where on the molecular grid certain information is being stored. 

But simply providing routes for electrical impulses to travel is not enough. For a molecular circuit to really work, researchers need to have a way of managing the way the signals travel. 

So to govern their small city, the HP-UCLA team propose creating a rough equivalent of traffic lights — an electric-chemical process that can sever the conductivity of certain points on the grid. Essentially, that creates a series of wires of varying lengths, mimicking the circuitry in existing computers. 

That process won a patent in November. 

“I believe that in 10 years we definitely will have hybrid molecular-silicon circuitry,” Williams said. “Molecules will take over more of the computational tasks of the system and the silicon will become just the input-output device and the power supply.” 

The federal government finds so much promise in molecular computing it is spending $604 million to support research in the field, up 43 percent from last year, said Mihail Roco, who heads the White House’s National Nanotechnology Initiative. 

He said the HP-UCLA process announced Wednesday “is a significant step in creating real circuits” that can connect to larger systems. 

“This breakthrough is a manifestation of the fact that we are moving from long-term, exploratory research to applied research in this field,” Roco said. “The developments are much faster than expected.” 

James M. Tour of Rice University, a nanotechnology researcher who has launched a private company to capitalize on developments in the field, said the HP-UCLA researchers still need to find a molecule that would hold up in circuitry for long-term use. 

But he said they appeared to have made an important step, “and they are to be praised.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

Researchers: http://www.hp.com, http://www.cnsi.ucla.edu 

Government nanotechnology site: http://www.nano.gov 

Tour’s company: http://www.molecularelectronics.com 

SAN JOSE — With a stern rebuke in a newspaper ad and a scathing report to shareholders, sons of Hewlett-Packard Co.’s late founders hit hard Wednesday at the company’s $23.8 billion plans to acquire Compaq Computer Corp. 

The bickering has been going on for months, as Hewlett and Packard heirs and foundations with 18 percent of HP stock have pledged to vote against the deal. Meanwhile, only one major HP investor, with 1 percent of the stock, is openly in support. 

But the attacks have gotten harsher lately, with HP trying to discredit chief opponent Walter Hewlett as a “musician and academic,” not a businessman. 

On Wednesday, the son of co-founder David Packard took issue with HP’s frequent use of a Packard quote — “to remain static is to lose ground” — in its arguments that buying Compaq is essential for survival. 

In a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal headed “There You Go Again!” heir David W. Packard wrote that HP chief Carly Fiorina is misleading people by claiming her “disruptive” merger plan is the only possible choice for HP other than keeping the status quo. 

Packard, who spent 12 years on the HP board but left in 1999, said he has gotten hundreds of letters from employees opposing the merger. 

“HP thrived for 60 years without a single colossal merger remotely approaching the scale of Compaq. Was HP ‘losing ground’ all those years?” Packard wrote. “You recall another one of my father’s famous sayings: ‘More companies die of indigestion than starvation.’ 

“There is now a real danger that HP will die of a broken heart.” 

Hours later, Walter Hewlett gave the Securities and Exchange Commission a detailed report disputing the financial benefits HP says the Compaq deal will bring. 

Hewlett, an HP board member and the eldest son of co-founder William Hewlett, has filed several other critical reports with the SEC as the basis for his effort to persuade shareholders to vote the deal down. 

But this salvo targeted HP’s recent projections that acquiring Compaq will generate $5 to $9 per share in additional shareholder value. Hewlett, citing research from his financial advisers, claimed the deal actually would wipe out $4.50 a share. 

He also said HP is refusing to acknowledge how risky the deal would be, saying management’s “optimism about integration reflects the triumph of hope over experience.” 

“HP has never done anything like this before, and both HP and Compaq management have a history of being over-optimistic,” he said, partly referring to Fiorina’s run of lowering targets for Wall Street in 2000 and 2001. 

HP spokeswoman Rebeca Robboy declined to comment on the Packard ad and had no immediate comment on the Hewlett filing. 

HP shares rose 35 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $22.16 on the New York Stock Exchange, where Compaq gained 43 cents, or 4 percent, to $11.37. 

Palo Alto-based HP and Houston-based Compaq are awaiting regulatory clearance before setting a date for a shareholder vote. 

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Nearly 13 years after the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound, federal scientists estimate about 10,000 gallons of oil remain buried under the shoreline. 

Jeff Short, a scientist with the National Marine Fisheries Service, released the findings of a survey of beaches conducted last summer. Short presented his data Tuesday on the first day of a four-day conference on the lingering effects of the spill. 

The survey of beaches in the spill area found that much of the oil lies beneath sediments in areas that are home to mussels, clams and other creatures. 

“We did indeed find quite a lot more oil than we expected to see,” Short said. “Most of the subsurface oil was in the fresh oil category, and by fresh oil I mean chemically, compositionally — it hasn’t really changed very much since late in the summer of 1989.” 

The beach survey was conducted to gather enough data to make a meaningful estimate of how much oil remained. 

Over 90 days last summer, a field crew visited 91 sites along about five miles of beaches, covering about 20 percent of the area classified as heavily or moderately oiled between 1989 and 1993, Short said. 

The workers dug 6,775 pits at random locations, then dug dozens of additional pits every time they found oil to calculate how far it had spread. 

The field crews discovered oil at 53 of 91 sites, in 568 different pits — about eight times more often than the scientists had expected. 

Although most of the pits were “lightly oiled,” about 20 contained oil that looked as fresh as that just a few weeks after the 1989 spill — “highly odiferous, lightly weathered, and very fluid,” they wrote in a preliminary report. 

In the end, Short and his team estimated that about 10,000 gallons of Exxon Valdez crude remains buried under about 27 acres spread along about 4.3 miles of shoreline scattered throughout the area. 

Other studies presented at the conference documented problems among certain species that forage on the nearby sea floor. They suggest that lingering oil is leaching into the food chain, where it hurts local populations of sea otters and harlequin ducks. 

Exposure to this oil may no longer threaten overall animal populations. But sea otters and harlequin ducks near Knight Island and Green Island have been ingesting hydrocarbons and apparently suffering liver and tissue damage, according to reports by biologists Brenda Ballachey of the U.S. Geological Survey and Dan Esler of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. Otter and duck numbers in oiled areas have continued to decline, while populations in nonoiled bays fare much better. 

The fact that Exxon Valdez oil still has the power to harm wildlife, even if on a limited scale, is one of the most startling findings to come from a decade of research and monitoring, several scientists said. 

“The oil was quite a bit more persistent and quite a bit more toxic than we thought in 1989,” Short said. 

An Exxon Mobil official and a Maine chemist dismissed the idea that the spill still causes significant damage to life in the Sound. 

“What science has learned in Alaska and elsewhere is that while oil spills can have acute short-term effects, the environment has remarkable powers of recovery,” company vice president Frank Sprow said in a statement released from Exxon Mobil’s headquarters in Irving, Texas. 

Bowdoin College biochemist David Page, who has conducted studies for Exxon, said he was skeptical of Short’s findings. Page says that, for at least the last seven years, natural factors in Prince William Sound have been the major factor in governing ecological change.

NEW YORK — CNN has hired Connie Chung away from ABC News to be the anchor of a nightly news show, ratcheting up the stakes in a heated competition among cable news networks. 

The hiring is expected to be announced at a news conference scheduled by CNN on Wednesday. The hiring was confirmed by executives at ABC and CNN, who spoke on condition of anonymity. 

Chung declined to comment on Tuesday. 

Her hiring is the splashiest move yet by CNN in its ongoing war with Fox News Channel, which has made inroads against CNN’s former monopoly in cable news — mostly through its lineup of colorful prime-time talk shows. 

Earlier this month, Fox News Channel poached CNN’s Greta Van Susteren to be host of a 10 p.m. EST news show, opening a hole in CNN’s lineup at 8 p.m., when Van Susteren had worked. Chung is expected to take that prime-time slot. 

“Connie has been a valued member of the ABC News family,” said ABC News President David Westin. “This is a very important opportunity for her to have her own program. We wish her nothing but great success and happiness in her new job.” 

At ABC, Chung landed the most high-profile interview in the pre-terrorist attack world last year, a prime-time chat with Gary Condit. While the congressman — who was embroiled in the story of government intern Chandra Levy’s disappearance — revealed little, Chung’s performance generally drew positive reviews. 

Chung was usually third in the pecking order behind Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer among ABC News employees who sought big interviews. At a time when budgets are becoming tight, the CNN job enabled ABC to lose a big salary. She had a year to go on her ABC contract. 

Chung is a veteran newscaster who has worked primarily in newsmagazines over the past decade. She had an ill-fated pairing with Dan Rather on the “CBS Evening News” that ended in 1995. 

She’ll compete against Fox’s highest-rated talk show host, Bill O’Reilly. 

“We have profound respect for Connie Chung as a journalist and we wish her well,” said Fox News Channel spokesman Brian Lewis. 

Under new management the past year, CNN has sought to cultivate a “star system” of personalities to undercut a bland image. It heavily promotes morning show anchor Paula Zahn and evening anchor Aaron Brown. 

In the past month, CNN has hired former MTV personality Serena Altschul, much-traveled sportscaster Keith Olbermann and Anderson Cooper, a former ABC newsman who was host of “The Mole.” 

SAN JOSE — The first GOP gubernatorial debate left the landscape of the campaign essentially unchanged, analysts said, leaving the candidates six more weeks before the March 5 primary to sway voters. 

“There’s very little chance that the debate changed anything,” said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College. 

“None of the candidates made a stroke of genius, none of the candidates made a disastrous gaffe — and I doubt very many people watched the debate in the first place.” 

Tuesday night’s face-off was the first of three among Secretary of State Bill Jones, ex-Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and Los Angeles businessman Bill Simon, a former federal prosecutor. It was televised statewide from California State University, San Jose. 

The moderate Riordan leads by large margins in polls, and before the debate speculation centered on whether he would commit a gaffe, as he’s been known to do. He didn’t. 

“Since he didn’t lose it, that means he won it,” said Allan Hoffenblum, publisher of the nonpartisan California Target Book, which tracks political races. 

That leaves the candidates where they started — faced with relying mostly on costly television advertisements to catch voters’ eyes. 

Riordan and Simon, both independently wealthy, have an advantage there. Jones is lagging in funding and is the only one of the three who hasn’t started running ads. 

“This is still a campaign to get the public’s attention there’s an election in March,” said Republican analyst Tony Quinn, noting that past primaries have come in June. 

“I think what you’re going to find, more than in any election we’ve had for a long time, is they’re just going to have to pour it on in the media to get people’s attention.” 

The winner of the primary will take on Democratic incumbent Gray Davis in November. 

The Jones and Simon camps contended the morning after the debate that Republican primary voters tend to be conservative, and that’s who they impressed Tuesday night. 

Simon pledged during the debate not to raise taxes, Jones emphasized his record and experience as the only statewide elected Republican, and Riordan repeatedly pledged to hire strong managers and “empower” them. Jones and Simon emphasized their Republican beliefs, while Riordan didn’t budge from his moderate stances on abortion and other issues. 

“The people who were watching this debate very closely were the people who will be high-propensity voters,” said Jones strategist Sean Walsh, “and in that, Bill Jones achieved what he needed to, which is continue to raise doubts about Riordan’s Republican credentials.” 

“The conservative voters out there who were watching — they weren’t looking to see whether or not Dick Riordan would stumble over his words, they were looking to see who was most in tune with them,” said Simon strategist Jeff Flint. 

Not all political experts agreed with that analysis. Republican primary voters are not necessarily ideological, and for many the top goal is to oust Davis, said Quinn. 

“I don’t think the issue of Riordan’s having given money to lots of Democrats as of yet has had much impact with the ordinary Republican voter,” Quinn said. “Their first priority is a general dislike of Davis.” 

A two-alarm fire raged through the Fox Court apartment building at 1472 Universtiy Ave. early Tuesday, displacing seven residents and causing $300,000 in damage. 

The Berkeley Fire Department evacuated the 21-unit, mixed-use building deemed as a national landmark shortly after the fire was reported at 2 a.m. The residents of two adjoining buildings were also evacuated. No injuries were reported.  

The fire gutted two residential units, and at least four other units received water, smoke and structural damage. All of the units were left without water, gas or electricity. The three commercial spaces at the front of the complex were not damaged. 

Built in 1927, the “storybook” complex with its 18 residential units and three small commercial shops is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also a designated Berkeley architectural landmark. 

Assistant Chief David Orth said the cause of the fire is still being investigated but that initially it appeared to be started by either smoking material or a faulty electrical appliance. 

Orth said the fire was difficult to fight.  

“It took about an hour to bring the fire under control because it got into a hidden attic space and ran to other units,” he said. “We has to cut about eight holes in the roof before we could cut it off.” 

Twenty-five-year resident Brenda Herbert said she was awakened about 2 a.m. by a commotion in the garden courtyard outside her apartment.  

“I thought there was a fight or something and called 911 to report it,” Herbert said. “They told me it was a fire and the next thing I knew someone was knocking at my door and I was being rushed out to the street in my night clothes.” 

The Red Cross dispatched its Disaster Reaction Team to the scene to provide emergency services to the 18 evacuated residents who were huddled in a fire vehicle for warmth. The DRT supplied blankets and later called in an AC Transit bus for the residents to stay warm in, many who were not dressed for the cold weather. 

Red Cross Disaster Manager Matt Rosenberg said the Red Cross would make sure that displaced residents would be provided with hotel rooms and that hot meals were also available. Rosenberg said that most of the displaced residents had alternate places to stay with friends in the area.  

Supervising Building Inspector Susan Spott was on site Tuesday morning to determine the extent of the damage and also to provide management with the necessary permits to reconnect gas, water and electricity to units that received little or no damage. 

The Fox Court built by the Fox Bros. Construction Company in 1927. It was designed by Carl Fox, who was a was a graduate of UC Berkeley’s Mining Engineering Department in 1911. Fox Bros. built a number of picturesque, cottage-styled buildings in Berkeley between 1924 and 1953. 

The Fox Court is described in Susan Cerny’s “Berkeley Landmarks, an illustrated Guide to Berkeley’s Architectural Heritage,” as characterized by a garden courtyard, steep gable roofs and brick chimneys that are of an irregular cylindrical shape. Cerny wrote that the winding paths, small-paned windows and curving staircases add to the “storybook” appearance of the complex. 

“An irregular, haphazard-looking arrangement, diminutive in scale and set in lush landscaping, it is a charming excursion into a stage-set plan that exploits small-scale spatial relationships to create mystery and surprise.” 

The property was listed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1977. It was also one of the first buildings that was designated as a City of Berkeley Architectural Landmark in 1977, shortly after the city adopted the landmark ordinance in the early 70s.

Early in Tuesday’s game against Encinal, the ’Jackets wowed the crowd with their athleticism. Late in the game, they impressed their coach with their developing composure. 

After letting the Jets tie the game at 43-43 with five minutes left in the fourth quarter, Berkeley went on a 8-0 run, then hit their free throws down the stretch to pull out a 58-49 win. 

“We’re maintaining our composure much better than earlier this season,” Berkeley head coach Mike Gragnani said of his young squad. “This game is a positive step for this team.” 

The ’Jackets (10-7, 4-1 ACCAL) were especially impressive from the free throw line in the final quarter, going 8-for-10 from the charity stripe, including 4-for-4 from guard Lee Franklin, his only points of the game, while Encinal was just 3-of-8. Nate Simmons shook off a bad shooting game to hit a huge 3-pointer for a 49-43 lead and Berkeley never looked back. 

Senior center Damien Burns led the ’Jackets with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 4 steals, while point guard Shawn Burl scored 11 points. Encinal was led by Danny Dozier and Brian Kindem with 12 points each, but were out-rebounded 28-18 for the game. 

Berkeley started the game slowly, falling behind 7-0 within the first two minutes. After some early trouble with Encinal’s 2-3 zone got them off to a 4-for-15 start from the field, the ’Jackets went to high-percentage shots: dunks. Sophomore Khion Tate gave his team its first lead at 12-11 with a cherry-picking slam, then brought the Berkeley crowd to its feet with a baseline jam over two defenders. 

“I didn’t think I was going to make it over them, but I just went for it,” Tate said of his second dunk. He finished the game with 7 points. 

Encinal (6-11, 2-3) answered back to end the first quarter with a 3-pointer from Danny Delmore to tie the game at 14-14, but the ’Jackets continued their sky-walking ways in the second quarter. Burns got a steal, ran the floor and was rewarded by a nice dish from point guard Burl, slamming it home for a 20-14 lead. After a 3-pointer from Encinal sophomore Drew Dozier, Lee Franklin nabbed another steal and found Kenneth Alexander breaking to the basket. Alexander rose above the crowd for a tomahawk jam that again incited the crowd to a near-riot, and the ’Jackets rode the momentum to a 41-38 halftime lead. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a team with more than one dunk in a season,” Gragnani said with a smile. “But we need to learn to use that athleticism within the team concept, and we’re still working on that.” 

Berkeley laid off the fast-break action and pounded the ball inside after halftime, getting two inside baskets each from Alexander and Burns, along with a putback by Simmons. Although the Jets got within a point near the end of the quarter, a tip-in by Burl gave the ’Jackets a 41-38 lead heading into the final stanza. 

Berkeley then caught a break when Kindem and Danny Dozier each missed two free throws with a chance to tie the game. But Kindem hit a 3-pointer, then James Johnson got a steal and found Kindem on a breakaway. Burns caught up with Kindem but was called for an intentional foul, and Kindem made the free throws this time to tie the game at 43-43. 

The ’Jackets held Encinal to just one point until Drew Dozier hit a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left in the game, by which time Berkeley had put the game away. Tate put the finishing touch on the win with another breakaway dunk, this time off an inbounds pass from Burns. The defensive stand impressed Gragnani, but he knows his team has a lot of work to do in upcoming games. 

“We aren’t consistent enough on defense,” he said. “We had defensive lapses, especially on the offensive boards. We gave them way too many second chances.” 

Wednesday, Jan. 23

Baby Bounce and Toddler  

Tales 

7 p.m. 

Public Library, West Branch 

1125 University Ave. 

A participatory program for families with children up to age 3. Stories, songs and fingerplays as entertainment and as a way for parents to learn some new material to share with their young ones. 981-6270. 

Public Works Commission 

1 p.m. - 3 p.m. 

2020 Wake Ave. 

Oakland 

Presentation and tour of EBMUD’s Wastewater Treatment Plant 

Moving Them Into a  

Retirement Home 

5 - 7 p.m. 

Alta Bates Medical Center, Auditorium 

2450 Ashby Ave. 

Donna Quinn Robbins, co-author of the book “Moving Mom and Dad,” gives guidelines for helping elders and their families cope with moving into a retirement home. Free. 869-6737. 

Peace Walk and Vigil 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley BART Station 

A peace walk and vigil to demonstrate opposition to U.S. bombing of Afghanistan. Ends at MLK Civic Center Park. www.indymedia.org. 

Berkeley Gray Panthers 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

The Gray Panther’s general meeting features Wanda Remmers, Director, Housing Rights, to discuss Section 8 and other housing concerns, and Lisa Romero and Seleena Gupte to discuss the Report on Senior Housing Survey. 548-9696. 

Debtors Anonymous 

6:30 - 7:45 p.m. 

Mandana Community Recovery Center 

3989 Howe St., Oakland 

Weekly Meeting. 415-522-9099 

Israel and the Arab World  

Presentation 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Professor Ze’ev Brinner discusses Islam, the Islamic world, its attitude towards the Jews, Israel and America. $5. 

Thursday, Jan. 24

Sea Kayaking in Baja and the  

Bay Area 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Mitch Powers presents slides of some of his favorite paddling destinations in Baja and the Bay Area and gives tips on planning kayaking trips. 527-4140 

Winter Holistic Health Groups  

1:15 – 2:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave.  

For ages 55 and older. This week’s topic: How To Be Your Own Health Advocate . 526-0148. 

Friday, Jan. 25

Women’s Health After  

Menopause 

10:30 a.m. - noon 

Summit North Pavilion, Cafeteria Annexes B & C 

350 Hawthorne Ave., Oakland 

A comprehensive presentation on women’s health and exams after menopause. 869-6737 

City Commons Club  

Luncheon 

11:15 a.m. 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave. 

Douglas R. Powell presents slides and gives a lecture entitled “A Graphic Portrait of a Tortured Land – Afghanistan.” Social hour begins at 11:15 a.m. Lunch is served 11:45 - 12:15. Speaker begins at 12:30. $11 - 12.25 with lunch, $1 otherwise. 848-3533 

Dr. Helen Caldicott  

8 p.m. 

Berkeley First Congregational Church 

2345 Channing Way 

Nobel Prize Nominee and spokesperson for world anti-nuclear movement speaks about peace, survival and free speech in dangerous times. $15. 415-437-3425. 

Saturday, Jan. 26

Bay Area Women in Black  

2 - 3 p.m. 

4th & Hearst streets 

A silent vigil to oppose the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Please wear black, everyone is welcome. 486-2744, bayareawomeninblack@earthlink.net. 

Vocal Jazz Workshop and  

Jazz Jam 

9:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. 

Albany Adult School 

601 San Gabriel St. 

Workshops for singers and instrumentalists led by Richard Kalman to explore jazz in a small jazz combo format. $5-$12 per class. 524-6796, richkalman@aol.com. 

Puberty Seminar for Girls 

10:30 a.m.- 2 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

2230 Shattuck Ave. 

For girls ages 8-14. Understand why your body is changing, and celebrate your rite of passage. Refreshments. $25-$30. (Mothers free.) 595-3814. 

Book Talk and Signing 

3 - 5 p.m. 

The Berkshire Assisted Living Community 

2235 Sacramento Way 

Victor Bogart will discuss his new book “Assumptions” and “6 steps for Shifting Gears on the Senior Highway.” 814-4844. 

Magic School Bus Video  

Festival 

10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Centennial Dr., above the UC Berkeley Campus 

Watch Ms. Frizzle take her skeptical class from outer space to inside a dog’s nose in seven different video adventures shown on the big screen and lasting for three hours. 

Sunday, Jan. 27

Neighborhood Clean-Up Day 

11 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Services Center 

1730 Oregon St. 

Clean up blocks: Russell St., Oregon St., McGee, Stuart, Grant and California St. 981-6670, www.ci.berkeley.ca.us. 

School Open House 

10:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. 

School of the Madeleine 

1225 Milvia St. 

Applications for K-8 grades available. Kindergarten informational meeting at noon. 526-4744, www.themadeleine.com. 

Organ Music 

5 p.m. 

MusicSources 

1000 The Alameda 

Ron McKean performs Ferscobaldi, Froberger and Bach, and improvises in the style of each composer. Reception follows concert. $15 - $18. 528-1685. 

Japanese Traditional  

Drumming 

2 p.m. 

Julia Morgan Center 

2640 College Ave. 

Emeryville Taiko presents a fun and interactive event for children and families. $10 adults, $5 children. 925-798-1300. 

Monday, Jan. 28

East Bay Heritage Quilters 

7:30 p.m. 

First Unitarian Church 

1 Lawson Rd., Kensington 

Guest Speaker, Alice Kolb, offers instruction on how to narrow many ideas into a focused garment. $3 non-members, free for members. 834-3706. 

Writing an Ethical Will  

Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Writers of ethical wills hope to convey what they have learned in life. All writing levels and native languages welcome. $30. To register call: 848-0237 X127. 

Tuesday, Jan 29

Experimental Music Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Tuva Space 

3192 Adeline 

The Cardew Choir announces three public experimental music workshops led by visiting composer and poet Joseph Zitt. Free and open to the public. 204-0607, www.metatronpress.com/artists/cardewchoir/. 

Camera Club Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church 

941 The Alameda 

Weekly meeting of the Berkeley Camera Club offers the opportunity to share slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. 547-4514 

Wednesday, Jan. 30

Baby Bounce and Toddler Tales 

7 p.m. 

Public Library, West Branch 

1125 University Ave. 

A participatory program for families with children up to age 3. Stories, songs and fingerplays as entertainment and as a way for parents to learn some new material to share with their young ones. 981-6270. 

Peace Walk and Vigil 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley BART Station 

A peace walk and vigil to demonstrate opposition to U.S. bombing of Afghanistan. Ends at MLK Civic Center Park. www.indymedia.org. 

Debtors Anonymous 

6:30 - 7:45 p.m. 

Mandana Community Recovery Center 

3989 Howe St., Oakland 

Weekly Meeting. 415-522-9099. 

Experimental Music Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Tuva Space 

3192 Adeline 

The Cardew Choir announces three public experimental music workshops led by visiting composer and poet Joseph Zitt. Free and open to the public. 204-0607, www.metatronpress.com/artists/cardewchoir/. 

Editor: 

Re: Said’s Forum Letter of this weekend, since when does going up against crime, vagrancy, garbage, drugs and drunkenness become a black vs. white or yuppie issue? If Brothers Liquor is in your neighborhood, what have you been doing to rectify conditions that are unacceptable to all ethnic groups? 

N. Wilson 

Berkeley

The Dance Theatre of Harlem is coming to town this week (January 23-26) at UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall for a series of Bay Area and West Coast Premieres.  

The company was founded in 1968, by Arthur Mitchell in a remodeled garage in Harlem, New York, to “provide African- American children with the chance to dance ballet,” an art form few African- Americans were allowed to participate in, let alone achieve the high professional status as Mitchell, who at that time was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, the first African-American to be a member of a major ballet company.  

This year, Bay Area resident Ikolo Griffin makes his debut with the company. The former member of the San Francisco Ballet Company's Corp de ballet, is excited about his first season with DTH as a soloist. This production in Berkeley will be the first time his family has seen him since he and his girlfriend took the train to New York in July of last year. 

The first dancer to be recruited from SFBC's Dance in the Schools Program, Griffin who excelled at eight years old in the after school program, then joined the company at 18 as an apprentice, said that what was so “wonderful about DTH is that everyone gets a chance to dance – Mitchell sets a great table, then invites them to eat.” 

A smaller company, about 40 members, to SFBC’s 65 or so, the excited Griffin, who signed a soloist contract last fall says though he loves it, he finds dancing so many leads a challenge.  

“When you're dancing ensemble you’re dealing more with people in a group, (but) when you dance principal leads you have to command the stage. One of the things I try to do is let the music come from me, and really try to dictate that.” 

We’ll be able to see Griffin throughout the DTH run this season at Zellerbach in both programs A & B as soloist in Laveen Naidu’s “Viraa” and in DTH member, Augustus van Heerden's “Passion of the Blood,’ an emotional ballet based on Garcia Lorca's original story ‘Blood Wedding,’” (both Program A: 1/24, 1/26 evenings). He'll also be soloing In Billy Wilson's “Concerto in F,” then perform as a member of Corp de ballet in Robert Garland's “New Bach” (both Program B: Jan. 25 evening, Jan. 26 matinee.)  

Griffin says that although he knows the company director was impressed with his work when he hired him last fall, he still needs to show DTH “what he's all about,” as he learns more about the company. “I feel it (goes) both ways,” he said excitedly. 

Although the dancer lived in Japan, his stepdad’s home, when he was 11, and is fluent in the language, he was ready for a change, so Griffin’s move to New York is the first time he's been “officially” away from home on his own.  

And even though things were hard, especially after Sept. 11, he decided to stay in New York with DTH, where his “very DNA, vibrates at a different level.” 

The biracial dancer traveled to Europe and throughout America during his seven years with SFBC, but he didn’t feel “comfortable in all those places, at home, or inspired,” which is something he definitely has felt with DTH.  

“Something very dormant in me was aroused, dancing with such a diverse group of dancers. Most companies are not as diverse as the DTH, so one of the things I enjoy is the diversity. I feel very comfortable. I'm biracial and I've never been surrounded by this many biracial dancers in my life. Already I feel a kinship.” 

A graduate of San Francisco public schools, the former Corp de ballet member says of his 10 years with the San Francisco Ballet Company though he feels he was “born to dance,” if he hadn’t had the chance to participate in SFBC’s Outreach Program, where he received a scholarship in the third grade, he might not have chosen that direction for his life.  

And even when he was 13 and 14 years old, he began to have doubts as peer pressure pulled him in other directions, Griffin, now 27, says his 10 years in the school, then almost another 10 with the company, gave “(him) a good foundation and good training the structure of ballet really offered (him), and (his) talent (or ) my knack for it (I don't know what you want to call it), coupled with hard work and determination and focus and discipline – led to his love for ballet.”  

This discipline is something Griffin likes to share with the many children he reaches in a variety of after-school programs that he has participated in. 

He says, “I know that not all kids are going to become dancers, but even if there's that one young boy or one young girl who goes ‘wow!’ I had so much fun today, like what happened to me, then that is what makes it worth it, and that's my motivation. I am very much the Pokemon/Nintendo generation. I’m very in tune with that and I feel that I'm able to communicate with them on some levels that they understand as well, whereas sometimes the older generation doesn't (quite) understand where Pokeman or these young kids are coming from. I feel that I have a grasp of their work and what their day to day is. Doing outreach definitely fills my heart. It feels like I'm completing the circle, (and) that's very important to me. I was given the opportunity and to go to the schools and take (dance) to (children) and tell them: ‘hey, it can change your life,’ (that) with focus (and) discipline, anything you can imagine is possible (is very rewarding).”

924 Gilman Jan. 25: Ludicra, Brain Oil, Creuvo, Scurvy Dogs, Arftificum Sanguis; Jan. 26: Mile Marker, Yaphet Kotto, Pirx the Pilot, Himsa, Confidante; Jan. 27: Bane, Over My Dead Body, Striking Distance, Breath In; Feb. 1: American Steel, Pitch Black, Fleshies, The Blottos, Sexy; Feb. 2: Dead and Gone, Black Cat Music, The Cost, The Frisk; Feb. 8: Divit, Scissorhands, Rufio, Don’t Look Down, Fenway Park; Feb. 9: Pansy Division, Subincision, The Fadeaways; All shows start a 8 p.m. unless noted; Most are $5; 924 Gilman St. 525-9926. 

Anna’s Bistro Jan. 22: Doug Arrington; Jan. 23: Junebug; Jan. 24: Carl Garrett; Jan. 25: Anna & Ellen Hoffman; Jan. 26: Robin Gregory & Bliss Rodriguez; Jan. 27: “Acoustic Soul”; Jan. 28: “Renegade Sidemen” w/Calvin Keyes; Jan. 29: Tangria; Jan. 30: Bob Schoen; Jan. 31: Jason Martineau & Dave Sayen; Music starts at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., 1801 University Ave., 849-2662. 

Blake’s Jan. 22: Hot Buttered Rum String Band, Wildsang, $3; Jan. 23: Mindz Eye, Hebro (Upstairs in the Tinibar), $5; Jan. 24: Electronica w/Ascension, $5; Jan. 25: Shady Lady, Blue Room, $6; Jan. 26: Dank Man Shank, TBA, $5; Jan. 27: Motivators, Funklogic, $3; Jan. 28: All Star Jam Featuring The Steve Gannon Band, $4; Jan. 29: Funkanauts, Len Patterson Trio, $3; Jan. 30: Sunru, Slaptones, DJ Kurse, $10; Jan. 31: Electronica w/ Ascension, $5; 2367 Telegraph Ave., 877-488-6533. 

Club Jjang-Ga Jan. 26: Krenshaw, Bearing, Lucid Inc., Zodiacal Circle; 400 29th Ave., Oakland, 261-1108, savageproductions1@ yahoo.com. 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Jazzschool Jan. 27: 4:30 p.m., Michael Zilber, Sons of Bitches Brew; $6-$12. 2087 Addison St., 845-5373, www.jazzschool.com. 

Jupiter Jan. 23: Mitch Marcus Quintet; Jan. 24: Chris Shot Group; Jan. 25: The Sardonics; Jan. 26: Berkeley Jazz School Presents: Fourtet; Jan. 30: Joel Harrison Quartet; All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless noted. 2181 Shattuck Ave., 843-7625, www.jupiterbeer.com. 

La Pena Cultural Center Jan. 24: 7 p.m., Colombian Cultural Explosion, $5-$15; Jan. 25: 8 p.m., Wild Mango, $12; Jan. 26: 8 p.m., Naked Barbies: The Concert, $10-$15; Jan. 26: 10:30 a.m., Gary Lapow, $4 adults, $3 Children; Jan. 27: 7:30 p.m., Leticia Servín, $10-$8; 3105 Shattack Ave, 893-4648.  

Live Oaks Concerts: Berkeley Art Center Jan. 27: 7:30 p.m., Elaine Kreston, Laura Carmichael, $10, BACA Members $8, Students and Seniors $9. Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., 644-6893. 

Rose Street House Jan. 25: 8 p.m. DivaBands Showcase: Bern, Elin Jr., Roberta Donnay, Christy Claxton and Tiger Zane. $8-$20. 1839 Rose St., 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@yahoo.com. 

ACME Observatory Contemporary Performance Series Jan. 27: 8 p.m., Jane Rigler, $0-$20; TUVA Space, 3192 Adeline, http://sfSound.org/acme.html. 

Oakland Symphony Chorus Jan. 26: 9 a.m. - 1 p.m., Conductor Tony Pasqua will lead a study of Joseph Haydn’s “Harmoniemesse” and Johannes Brahm’s “Schicksalslied.” $25, $30 door; St. Peter’s Episcopal Church 6013 Lawton St., Oakland, 465-4199. 

Roda Theatre Jan. 22 and 23: both at 8 p.m., The Berkeley Symphony, Schubert’s Symphony No. 5. $21, $32, $45, $10 students. 2015 Addison St., 841-2800, www.berkeleysymphony.org. 

Berkeley Black Repertory Theatre Jan. 26: 6:30 - 10 p.m., The City of Berkeley and the Berkeley Black Repertory Theatre pay tribute to and welcome the return of “The Dru Band”; $5. 3201 Adeline St., 625-2120. 

Organ Music Jan. 27: 5 p.m., Ron McKean; $15 - $18. MusicSources, 1000 The Alameda, 528-1685. 

“Every Inch a King” Through Feb. 9: Thur. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 5 p.m.; Three sisters have to make a decision as their father approaches death in this comedy presented by the Central Works Theater Ensemble. $8 - $18. LeValls Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave. 558-138, www.centralworks.org.  

“Sisters” Through Feb. 16., Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., The Prozorov sisters look at the gap between hope and fulfillment in their lives. Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattack, www.actorsensemleofbkerkeley.com. 

“Rhinoceros” Jan. 23 through Mar. 10: Check theater for specific dates and times. An absurdist tragic-comedy about a small provincial town whose citizens slowly but surely transform into large cumbersome rhinoceroses. Directed by Barbara Damashek. $38 - $54. Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St. 647-2976 www.berkeleyrep.org. 

“Murder Dressed in Satin” by Victor Lawhorn, ongoing. A mystery-comedy dinner show at The Madison about a murder at the home of Satin Moray, a club owner and self-proclaimed socialite with a scarlet past. Dinner is included in the price of the theater ticket. $47.50 Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison St., Oakland, 239-2252, www.acteva.com/go/havefun. 

Pacific Film Archive Jan. 22: 7:30 p.m., New Arab Video 1; Jan. 23: 3 p.m., The Terms of Cinema; 7:30 p.m., Telling It, Differently; Jan. 25: 7:30 p.m., The Aviator’s Wife; 9:30 p.m., A Good Marriage; Jan. 26: 6:30 p.m., Patrick Macias; 7 p.m., Battle Royale; 9:30 p.m., Blood and Law; Jan: 27: Children’s Film Festival, 1 p.m., Ikingut, 3 p.m., Peter Pan; 5:30 p.m., Sir Arne’s Treasure; 7:35 p.m., Song of the Scarlet Flower; Jan. 28: 3 p.m., The Jazz Singer; 7 p.m., Underground Kisses; Jan. 29: 7:30 p.m., New Arab Video 2; Jan. 30: 3 p.m., The Nickelodeon; 7:30 p.m., New Arab Video 3; 2527 Bancroft Way, 642-1412. 

Parkway Theatre Jan. 29: 6:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m., Boom! The Sound Of Eviction, a Just Cause Oakland benefit screening. $6-$20. 1843 Park Blvd., Oakland, 464-1011. 

GTU Exhibit: “Holocaust Series” by Cleve Gray Through Jan. 25: Comprised of 21 works on paper that constitute “a catharsis... for all of humanity.” Mon. - Thurs. 8:30 a.m. - 9:45 p.m., Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sun. noon - 7 p.m.; Free. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541 www.gtu.edu. 

“Prints and Paintings by Liao Shiou-Ping” on view through Jan. 31; Tues. to Fri.10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sat.10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Free. Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388-9th St., Suite 290, Oakland, 238-4491. 

“Rhythms” Through Feb. 2: Art installation of sculpture, neon, music and video projections by Kati Casida; Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St., 845-5373 

Pro Arts: “Juried Annual 2001-02” Through Feb. 2: Exhibition of painting, sculpture, mixed media, photography and more by Bay Area and regional artists; Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St., www.proartsgallery.org. 

“All Grown Up” Through Feb. 2: New paintings and drawings by Amy Chan. Thurs. 1 p.m. - 8 p.m., Fri -Sun 1 p.m. -6 p.m., 21 Grand Ave., Oakland, 444-7263 

“Water Media” Through Feb. 8: An exhibit by Christine “Caipirinha” Mulder. Capoeira Arts Cafe Gallery, 2026 Center St., 666-1349 for hours. 

“New Work by Dennis Begg and Steve Briscoe” Through Feb. 9: Dennis Begg’s sculpture. Steve Brisco’s paintings. Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Traywick Gallery,1316 10th St., 527-1214. 

“Enduring Wisdom: Artwork and Stories by Homeless and Formerly Homeless Seniors” Through Feb. 15: 18 homeless and formerly homeless elders reveal how they learned and applied wisdom that is timeless. Mon. - Fri. and Sundays 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.; Free. St. Mary’s Center, 635 22nd St., Oakland, 893-4723 x222. 

“Envisioning Ecology” Through Feb. 15: Paintings by Michelle Waters. Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave., 548-2220 x233. 

“The Other 364 Days: A Day in the Life of the Queer Community” Through Feb. 16: An exhibit of black and white photographs by East Bay photographer Limor Inbar-Hansen. Mon. - Fri., 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Sat., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St., 644-1400, limor@indelible-images.com. 

“Adventures in La Land” Through Feb. 23: Installations by Suzanne Husky and Paintings by Amy Morrell. Tues. - Sat., 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; 4920 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, 428-2349. 

“Transformations: Through the Eye of a Needle” Jan.24 - Feb. 23: Two-person exhibition by Rebecca Bui and Linda Lemon including procelain and fabric dolls and mixed media works on handmade paper. Tues.-Sat., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Ardency Gallery, 709 Broadway, Oakland, 836-0831, www.artolio.com 

“Ton of Joy” Through Mar. 1: Group show of twelve painters and sculptors: Simone Anders, Susan Brady, Erin Fitzgerald, Karen Frey, Kei Hanafusa, Nancy Legge, Burke Rainey, Robin Sebourn, Kristen Throop, Clay Vajgrt, Whitney Vosburgh, Ann West; Mon. - Sat., 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Hollis Street Project, 5900 Hollis St., Emeryville. 

“Ansel Adams in the University of California Collections” Through Mar. 10: A selection of photographs and memorabilia presenting a different perspective on Adam’s career as one of the leading figures in American photography; Jan. 16 through Mar. 24: “Migrations: Photographs by Sebastiao Salgado,” over 300 black-and-white photographs of immigrants and refugees taken by the Brazilian photographer. Wed. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 7 p.m., $4- $6. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. 

"Earthly Pleasures" assemblage and photographs by Susan Danis, Through March 30: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Mon. - Sat.; Sticks, 1579 B, Solano Ave., 526-6603.  

“Domestic Bliss” Through Apr. 4: Collection of abstract paintings and mixed medium by Amy St. George. Albany Community Center Foyer Gallery, 1249 Marin Ave., Albany, 524-9283. 

“The Legacy of Social Protest: The Disability Rights Movement” Through April 30: The first exhibition in a series dealing with Free Speech, Civil Rights, and Social Protest Movements of the 60s and 70s in California. Featuring photograghs by: Cathy Cade, HolLynn D’Lil, Howard Petrick, Ken Stein. The Free Speech Cafe, Moffitt Undergraduate Library, University of California-Berkeley, hjadler@yahoo.com  

“The Art History Museum of Berkeley” Masterworks by Guy Colwell. Faithful copies of several artists from the pasts, including Titian’s “The Venus of Urbino,” Cezanne’s “Still Life,” Picasso’s “Woman at a Mirror,” and Botticelli’s “Primavera” Ongoing. Call ahead for hours. Atelier 9, 2028 Ninth St., 841-4210, www.atelier9.com. 

Readings 

Coffee With a Beat Jan. 26: Paradise; Feb. 2: Julia Vinograd, Shauna Rogan; Feb. 9: Sydney Bell, Debrale Pagan; All readings 7-9 p.m., free and followed by open mike. 458 Perkins, Oakland, 526-5985.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore Jan. 22: Lee Foster discusses his new guide “Northern California History Weekends”; All readings are free and start at 7:30 p.m., 1385 Shattuck Ave. at Rose, 843-3533. 

Revolution Books Jan. 25: 6:15 p.m., Eric Schlosser, Author of “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the American Meal,” will appear for a book signing. 2425 Channing Way, 848-1196.  

Poetry 

Poetry Flash @ Cody’s Jan. 23: Paul Hoover and Elizabeth Robinson; Jan. 27: Wanda Coleman, Austin Straus and Kate Gale; Jan. 30 Ralph Angel and George Higgins; All events begin at 7:30 p.m., $2 donation. 2454 Telegraph Ave., 845-7852. 

Tours 

Golden Gate Live Steamers Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Lomas Cantadas Drive at the south end of Tilden Regional Park Small locomotives, scaled to size. Trains run Sun., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sun., noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. 486-0623. 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Fridays 9:30 - 11:45 a.m. or by appointment. Call ahead to make reservations. Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387. 

Museums 

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm” An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more. “Recycling Center” Lets the kids crank the conveyor belt to sort cans, plastic bottles and newspaper bundles into dumpster bins; $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Mon. and Wed., 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tues. and Fri., 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thur., 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111 or www.habitot.org. 

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 foot 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. Mon. - Fri., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821. 

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology will close its exhibition galleries for renovation. It will reopen in early 2002.  

Lawrence Hall of Science Through Jan. 26: Scream Machines: The Science of Roller Coasters; “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. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza; Open daily, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., $7 for adults; $5 for children 5-18; $3 for children 3-4. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley, 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org. 

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, www.lhs.berkeley.edu. 

Send arts events two weeks in advance to Calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.net, 2076 University, Berkeley 94704 or fax to 841-5694.

Two people were shot in the head and gravely wounded near the corner of King and 63rd streets early Tuesday. 

According to Lt. Cynthia Harris of the Berkeley Police Department, the department began receiving telephone calls about shots being fired in the south Berkeley neighborhood around 2:40 a.m. 

When police arrived on the scene, they found the victims in a car parked on the east side of King Street. The victims – whose names the BPD declined to release pending notification of their next of kin – were transported to Highland Hospital. 

A spokesperson for Highland said the two were in “very critical condition” late Tuesday afternoon. 

Two people were seen fleeing the scene on foot going northwest, according to Harris, who said the BPD has no physical descriptions of the suspects. 

Residents of the block were reluctant to discuss the crime later Tuesday morning. 

One woman who lives next to the crime scene said she did not hear the shots, but woke when police cars began arriving in the neighborhood. 

She said she looked out her window and saw a “swarm” of police around what looked like a late-model Honda or Acura. 

The neighbor said police woke her again around 7:45 a.m. to question her.  

“I don’t hang out around here,” she said. “I just go to the store, get my things and go home.” 

Lt. Harris said there was no known gang activity in the neighborhood. She added, though, that there had previously been several drug-related crimes in the area. 

Berkeley sophomore Kamani Hill posted two goals and had six assists despite playing only the second half on Tuesday, leading the ’Jackets to a 13-0 win over Encinal. 

Hill leads the ACCAL with 25 goals in just nine games, and more than doubled his assist total for the season against the helpless Jets. Both Hill and senior midfielder Chris Davis started the game on the bench for Berkeley due to missed practice time. 

“We have a rule that if you miss practice or you’re late, you don’t get to start,” Berkeley coach Janu Juarez said. “Kamani missed practice altogether, so he didn’t play until the second half.” 

But what a half it was. With the ’Jackets already comfortably ahead, 4-0, at halftime, Hill came on with specific instructions from his coach. 

“I told him to spread the offense around,” Juarez said. 

Hill did exactly that, needing just seven minutes to rack up four assists, just one short of his season total of five coming into the game. His first came when he missed a one-on-one opportunity, with Davis putting away the rebound. Hill then set up Roberto Meneses at the top of the box, and his fellow sophomore hit a shot that eluded the Encinal goalkeeper. 

Hill continued his assist streak with precise through balls to Liam Reilly and Chris Altieri-Dove, both of whom finished their chances calmly. He followed that with his first goal of the game, getting free in a crowd in front of the goal to score off of a Davis corner kick. 

The ’Jackets finally put together a goal without Hill’s input soon after, with defender Sam Geller hitting a beautiful ball about 40 yards upfield and all the way across to Reilly, who put it away for his second goal of the game to make the score 10-0. But Hill came back to score the next goal, as Micah Burger forced a turnover deep in Encinal territory. The ball bounced right to Hill, who dribbled around the goalie and slotted the ball home with his left foot. 

The Encinal goalkeeper apparently tired of having wave after wave of Berkeley attackers come at him, so he decided to turn the tables, charging far from his area to challenge Hill on the left flank. But Hill simply lofted the ball to the goalmouth, where Burger held off a defender and volleyed the ball into the net. All that remained was a Davis goal from yet another Hill assist to set the final score, with Hill dropping back to sweeper with 10 minutes left in the game. 

Berkeley forward David Ngov had two goals in the first half before sitting out the second half. 

Tuesday’s win puts the ’Jackets at 8-1 in league play, with their lone loss a 3-2 shocker at Alameda last week. While Juarez termed the loss “a robbery,” with a late Berkeley goal disallowed by the officials and two questionable Alameda penalty kicks, the ’Jackets still hold their own fate in their hands. If they can sweep through the five remaining regular season games, they will win the league title and earn an automatic bid to the North Coast Section playoffs.

Editor: 

Attorney General John Ashcroft appears spineless to take the lead on Enron.  

It is also my opinion, “attorney advice” and “director indemnity” are shields which should be dissolved whenever innocent victim(s) will be created. 

This Enron debacle is so severe that all advising attorneys and directors and benefiting agents, need to be prosecuted. 

Our country’s legal system must be allowed to weigh: their actions against the appropriate standards-of-conduct; determine innocence or guilt; and render judgements, where warranted. 

In addition, why aren’t the Enron victims, worldwide, entitled to a US Attorney General to act on their behalf? 

John Bauer 

Berkeley

With the school district in financial trouble, elementary school librarians, already part-time employees who operate part-time libraries, are worried about further cuts. 

“My concern is that we need to increase hours, not decrease,” said Ilene Sheng, library media technician at Oxford School. “The elementary school libraries are already closed one-third of the time.” 

Last week, a state agency called the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, which has been providing the Berkeley schools with financial advice since October, added new urgency to the concerns.  

FCMAT attached concrete figures to long-simmering fears about a budget deficit, projecting a $1.6 million shortfall this year, followed by deficits of $7.8 million and $16.7 million the next two years if the district does not make cuts. 

The district has a history of chipping away at the library budget in times of need. In the mid-1970s, Berkeley moved from full-time to half-time librarians. In 1981, the district replaced credentialed librarians at the elementary school level with library media technicians, who do not hold credentials. 

In 1994, the district made the elementary school technicians part-time employees. Those technicians now work 20 to 25 hours per week, depending on enrollment at the school. 

The district has kept full-time, credentialed librarians in place at the middle school and high school levels.  

Members of the Board of Education say it is too early to determine where they will trim the budget. But, board member Ted Schultz suggested that cuts to portions of the district’s $600,000 library budget are a possibility. 

“We’ll just have to see how things unfold in terms of whether we can maintain what we have,” said Schultz, “because that is an area where we tend to cut.” 

District funds go to salaries and benefits exclusively. State grants and money from the Berkeley Schools Excellence project, or BSEP, a special local tax, fund books, technology and technical assistance.  

John Selawsky, another board member, acknowledged that protection of teachers and classroom resources will be a top priority when it comes to cuts. But, he said he will work to give libraries top billing as well. 

“Certainly you want to make your cuts as far from the classroom as possible,” he said. “But for me, the library is at the heart of the school...and at some point, you can’t cut anymore.” 

Advocates say the school libraries serve a vital function. Susie Goodin, a library volunteer and consulting librarian for the district, points to studies in Pennsylvania, Colorado and Alaska demonstrating a link between well-stocked, well-staffed libraries, and higher test scores. 

School librarians add that they provide a whole range of vital, day-to-day services, beginning with the management, maintenance and building of the school’s book collection. 

Nancy Charlson, library media technician at Cragmont School, noted that many districts just use volunteers to maintain library collections.  

A librarian, she suggested, can be a lot more effective. “Having someone on site to maintain these expensive collections is very important,” she said. “Otherwise, (the books) would just walk off.”  

Sheng adds that school librarians are able to support classroom curricula, noting that she recently pulled out a series of biographies on famous African-Americans for a fifth-grade teacher to complement classwork. 

But, Sheng said, as a part-timer, she does not have nearly enough time to collaborate with teachers, or teach students basic research skills. 

“I would love to teach library skills, but I don’t have the time,” said Sheng, who meets with each class, once a week, for half an hour. 

Ellie Goldstein-Erickson, librarian at Berkeley High School, said that, as a full-timer, she is able to collaborate with teachers and instill research skills. 

The librarian cited work earlier this year with ninth grade Identity and Ethnic Studies classes, in which students looked up five key terms used in the class, and studied the relative values of dictionary and encyclopedia definitions at the same time. 

But staffing is not the only issue for the district’s libraries. Earlier this month, the school board submitted a plan to the state, drafted by district staff and consultants, that set a number of goals, including technological and furniture upgrades. 

But, with a deficit looming, it appears that these goals will have to wait. 

Editor: 

Public School Preach “Peace Loving” Islam 

I am utterly flabbergasted. 

A public school system in California is telling its seventh graders as part of their course work that for three weeks they must don Muslim robes in class, adopt Islamic names, pray to Allah and stage their own mock “jihads.” 

This in celebration of the “peace loving” religion whose fundamentalist fanatic followers killed three thousand Americans on 9-11. 

Supposedly, the curriculum is intended to promote “understanding.” 

I understand one thing. 

If my school district ever tried teaching my daughter to pray to any strange god, she’ll be home for as long as it takes to sit out the Arabian flu, even if he has to repeat a grade. 

By the way, have you noticed how the ACLU is sitting this one out? 

Alexander Magnus 

Internet Newspaper Reader  

and former California teacher

On Jan. 17, a residential robbery and assault occurred on the 3300 block of Claremont Avenue. The suspect entered the residence and demanded and confronted the 60-year-old female resident.  

The suspect demanded money and used a sharp object to assault the victim. The suspect took money from the victim and fled on foot in an unknown direction. 

The suspect is described as an African- American male adult, approximately 27 to 32 years old, 5 feet, 7 inches tall, of thin build weighing 165 pounds, with short, black hair and a clean-shaven face. He was last seen wearing a dark shirt and colored pants. 

The Berkeley Police Department has obtained a composite sketch of the suspect, which is being distributed to the public in an effort to identify the suspect. 

The BDP is seeking the public’s help in solving this case. 

If you have any information regarding the suspect in this crime, please contact the Berkeley Police Department Robbery Detail at 981-5742. 

Editor:  

In the debate over the United States possibly deciding to officially engage in torture of prisoners there is much talk of how proper legal safeguards would be observed in any instance of our government practicing torture.  

Irregardless of legal procedures, however, nations and governments that engage in torture have historically been remembered for the pain and suffering they inflicted rather than their legal procedures. Do we want to end up with the reputation of 16th Century Spain, for example? During the conquest of Mexico a solemn torture was arranged for the last Aztec King, Cuauhtemoc. With officials and high ranking priests in attendance his feet were burned off. Then the torture stopped. The applicable law did not authorize burning off enough of him to kill him. 

Does the world remember the Spanish legal safeguards? No. It recalls the image of Spaniards eager to inflict pain in the ill fated hope that Cuauhtemoc would reveal the location of an alleged massive stash of Aztec gold.  

Ted Vincent  

Berkeley 

p.s. Discussion of the burning of Cuauhtemoc and the legal safeguards that saved his life can be found in the section on the conquest in Vicente Riva Palacio, “Mexico a traves de los Siglos” various editions.

SAN JOSE — Secretary of State Bill Jones came out swinging in the first statewide debate of the Republican gubernatorial candidates. 

He delivered stinging appraisals of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and of his opponents, former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan and businessman Bill Simon. 

The debate provided the first taste for many voters of the trio of Republicans who want to challenge Democratic Gov. Gray Davis. 

Jones boasted of his experience, Riordan his ability to delegate. Simon said he won’t raise taxes. And all three immediately and repeatedly criticized Davis Tuesday night in the hour-long debate at California State University, San Jose. 

It was the first of three scheduled debates among the three candidates. 

Wearing nearly identical dark suits, white shirts and red ties, the trio of candidates called Davis’ first term a “disaster” for California. 

Jones trumpeted his experience as the only Republican holding statewide office in California and said he could best articulate Republican ideals, while Riordan has contributed to many Democratic campaigns. 

Analysts have called Jones’ debate performance crucial, because he is lagging in the polls and unable to raise as much money as Riordan or Simon. 

Touting authorship of the “Three Strikes” law and success in winning two statewide elections, he repeatedly challenged Riordan’s positions on solving the state’s energy and budget crisis. 

“It’s not enough to say you are going to hire the best and the brightest,” Jones said, responding to Riordan’s declaration that he would delegate to help solve the state’s major problems. 

On energy, Jones said to Riordan “you were busy trying to make sure that Los Angeles made as much money as it could off California.” 

Riordan repeatedly said he would “empower” others to do the difficult work of state government. 

“What I would do is bring the best and the brightest people that I could find in the world to help me solve those problems,” Riordan said. 

For Simon, who has never run for public office, it was a chance to boost his visibility across the state and prove he can compete in a political debate. 

Simon stressed the state’s failure to keep up with infrastructure needs, saying, “I notice we’re $175 billion behind in keeping our wonderful house of California in shape. We’ve got to take action now.” 

Simon answered questions about his inexperience by repeatedly saying his experience as a prosecutor, businessman and philanthropist has prepared him to be governor. 

“I’ve made a career of being a problem solver and a builder and I know that I can solve these problems,” Simon said. 

But he also had to defend his voting record, noting that he missed voting during three of the last five primary elections. 

“My track record is I voted in every general election,” he said. 

The candidates each said that Davis has failed the leadership test. 

Said Riordan, “In short, Gov. Davis has fumbled, fiddled and failed our state.” 

“His procrastination and timidity are legendary,” Jones said of Davis. 

The Davis campaign responded in kind Tuesday night. 

“I think neither one of these guys have shown any indication they’re up to the job of governor,” said Davis press secretary Roger Salazar, who watched from a lecture hall near where the debate was held with members of the public. “It was like Larry, Curly and Moe up there.” 

Jones also criticized Riordan — who said he was pro-abortion rights and supported providing public education and health care to some illegal immigrants — as too liberal for the party. Most observers had considered Riordan the most likely to blunder during the debate, and at times he seemed uncertain and forced to consult handwritten notes. But none of the three made any major gaffes. 

Four out of 10 likely voters still haven’t decided whom they are going to support in the race, according to a recent Public Policy Institute of California poll. The Republican hopefuls also are trying to woo independent voters, who can vote for any party in the semi-open primary. 

Tuesday’s debate was broadcast in all of California’s major markets. During the face-off, the candidates were seated, facing a panel of three Northern California journalists, rather than standing at the traditional podiums. 

A second televised debate is scheduled for Feb. 13 in Long Beach. The three candidates also have agreed to debate on Feb. 9 at the state Republican Party convention in San Jose, but it will not be televised. 

The primary winner will challenge Davis on Nov. 5. 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.billjones.org 

http://www.simonforgovernor.com/ 

http://www.riordanforgovernor.org/ 

LOS ANGELES — Gov. Gray Davis released proposed government ratios Tuesday that would mandate the number of nurses to patients in California hospitals. 

The new rules, still to go through a normal regulatory review process, will make California the first state in the nation to set minimum nurse staffing levels. 

Officials from the Department of Health Services have spent more than two years developing the ratios, which were legislated in a 1999 bill. 

Nurses responded enthusiastically to the requirements, saying they will improve patient care and stem the tide of nurses leaving hospital jobs because of poor work conditions. 

“This is the most sweeping systemic health care reform that you’re going to see,” said Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association, which represents some 40,000 nurses. “This measure will effect every hospital in the state of California.” 

Some other states are watching California’s lead, including Massachusetts, where law makers have discussed a similar plan. 

Julie Pinkham, executive director of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, said the California regulations will likely have a national impact. 

“Nurses across the country are waiting for this. California has put it out there. Now it’s going to go across the nation. It’s long overdue,” she said. 

Under the California proposal, every four patients put through triage in an emergency room will be assured at least one nurse between them. Currently, the ratio averages between 1-to-6 and 1-to-8, DeMoro said. 

In general medical and surgical wards, there will eventually be a minimum of five nurses per patient, compared with a wide range of existing ratios, that vary from 1-to-3 to 1-to-20, she said. 

California already imposes staffing requirements in some hospital units, including intensive and critical care, operating rooms and nurseries, but hospitals have been free to assign nurses as they wanted in other areas. 

The hospital industry said the new rules will be a financial burden and could actually hurt patient care because of a severe nurse shortage in the state. 

“Although hospitals will obey the law, the way we meet the law may have unintended consequences,” said Jan Emerson, vice president of external affairs for the California Healthcare Association, which represents nearly 500 hospitals in the state. 

If a hospital has 10 available beds in its emergency room, but only enough nurses to staff five of them under the new law, the remaining beds will have to be taken out of service, Emerson said. 

Already, California hospitals are operating with 15 percent fewer nurses than they need, and by 2006, the state is forecast to have a shortage of 25,000 registered nurses. California ranks second last among all states in terms of nurses per capita, she said. 

Davis said 5,000 additional nurses will be needed to implement the staffing ratios. That represents the total number of new nurses the state trains each year just to keep up with attrition and population growth, Emerson said. 

The California Nurses Association, however, said there are already enough nurses in the state to meet the proposed ratios. 

“They just won’t work in the hospitals,” said DeMoro. “We must make hospitals an appealing place for nurses to come back.” 

Almost two-thirds of California hospitals lose money today, and some said the new mandated ratios bring an additional financial burden. 

“This is one of those unfunded mandates that can have a negative impact on our industry. It’s difficult to pass the costs on,” said Bill Gleeson, spokesman for Sutter Health, a not-for-profit network of 26 hospitals in Northern California. 

The California Healthcare Association estimates that the new regulations will cost hospitals a minimum of $400 million a year in extra wages and benefits. 

A new study by a San Francisco-based consulting firm says the University of California at Berkeley is the fifth-largest employer in the Bay Area and contributes more than $1 billion annually overall to personal income in the region. 

The report this month by Sedway Group, “Building the Bay Area’s future: A Study of the Economic Impact of the University of California, Berkeley,” also indicates that the school's research and educational enterprise generates more than a half-billion dollars in new money annually for the regional economy. 

“What struck me was that when we commissioned this study more than a year ago, the Bay Area was enjoying an economic boom. Now, we are feeling the effects of a recession. But this report shows that whatever the climate, UC Berkeley is a major contributor to the vitality of the Bay Area economy and in the quality of life we enjoy here,” said UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl. 

The study, which provides data on the campus' purchasing,employment and research activity, examines the economic impact of the school on the city of Berkeley, the East Bay and the Bay Area as a whole. 

The study found that in 1998-99, the university employed 13,520 workers, paid out $603 million in salary and wages and generated 20 jobs for every $1 million the campus spends. 

Additionally, the researchers reported that the campus generates more than $1.1 billion annually in personal income in the Bay Area and that the school does business with 2,400 vendors -- 40 percent of whom are small business owners. 

The report also indicated that UC Berkeley has a more significant impact on the local economy than Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Columbia universities do in their respective communities. Those three universities are considered to be major employers in their regions. 

“UC Berkeley is more closely aligned with the local economy than other universities,” the report states, even though the other three institutions also have their own medical schools and affiliated hospitals, unlike UC Berkeley. 

Finally, the study took into account the school's construction spending and how new projects help create jobs and new business for contractors and other vendors. Currently the campus has 98 major projects under way, with costs estimated at $766 million; upcoming projects are expected to total an additional $259 million. 

“What you see in these findings, and what is particularly gratifying, is that the enterprise we call UC Berkeley is more tightly woven into the fabric of life in the Bay Area, and especially in the East Bay, than most people may realize,” Berdahl said.

PORTLAND, Ore. — A city that marketing analysts say is loaded with Internet shoppers can now cruise Safeway aisles electronically in a test the grocery chain hopes will show it can succeed where online competitor Webvan failed. 

After burning through nearly a billion dollars in capital, Webvan declared bankruptcy last July and has been auctioning off assets to fetch just pennies on the dollar for creditors. 

Safeway managers watched Webvan carefully, all the way through its crash, and they believe they can avoid its mistakes. 

“We’ve been asked over and over why Webvan failed,” said Safeway spokeswoman Debra Lambert. “And this project has been different from the very beginning.” 

The key, Lambert says, is starting small and working out of existing stores that already have brand recognition with consumers. 

Instead of building a big, expensive central warehouse and distributing groceries across a wide area like Webvan, the Safeway stores will take orders from customers only in their neighborhoods. 

Safeway employees will use an electronic grocery list to fill special containers right from store shelves, then load them into vans divided into dry goods, refrigerated items and frozen foods. 

For a $9.95 charge, the vans will deliver in the area around the store, just hours after a customer has pointed and clicked a mouse on a home computer to order the groceries. 

“It’s much different than the Webvan model,” said Charles Lemos, an analyst with Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown in San Francisco. “The big warehouse model was just too expensive.” 

Webvan, based in Foster City, Calif., had attracted about 750,000 customers in several large cities — including San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Chicago and Portland. 

“I think that Webvan proved successfully there was niche for it,” Lemos said. 

“Unfortunately, Webvan threw away billions in cash to pursue it on a grand scale,” he said. “Grocery stores like Safeway are doing it on a much smaller scale.” 

Lambert said the delivery time will be shorter and routes more efficient, shoppers are already familiar with the Safeway name and its products, and stores can manage inventory at the local level while taking advantage of the chain’s international purchasing power. 

“We’ve taken a conservative approach,” she said. “It’s an add-on to our business — it’s not our only business.” 

Safeway chose Portland and Vancouver, Wash., because market analysis shows about 70 percent of the households have Internet connections and consumers are Web savvy. 

The project, officially launched last week, is built on the highly successful model that the British grocery chain Tesco pioneered in the United Kingdom. 

The two companies are partners in the U.S. online venture, with Tesco providing much of the computer expertise to Safeway, based in Pleasanton, Calif., just across the San Francisco bay from Webvan. 

“The big question in my mind is to what degree the Tesco success in the United Kingdom is a function of the U.K. market, which is more favorable to online grocery shopping and delivery,” said Ken Cassar, an analyst with Jupiter Media Metrix in New York. 

“The population density is greater in Britain, the grocery stores are not as spacious and parking is more difficult. And it’s less likely that a British household will have two cars while it’s very likely in the U.S.,” Cassar said. “All this makes for more fertile ground in the U.K. than the U.S.” 

If the Safeway project proves wildly successful, store shoppers could find themselves competing with employees trying to fill orders off the shelves, he said. 

But Lemos said he doubts it would reach that point because grocery stores are typically busy only at peak evening hours and have plenty of idle time during the day, when orders would be filled. 

And the analysts agree the model is best suited to dense, urban areas, whether in the United States or Britain. 

“Is this going to work in rural Nebraska? No, but nobody’s expecting it to work there,” Lemos said. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Safeway stores: http://www.safeway.com 

SAN JOSE — Back in the early days of the World Wide Web, Netscape Communications Corp. pioneered the commercial development of Internet browsers and even charged for the software. 

Then Microsoft Corp. began giving away Internet Explorer with its Windows operating systems, sparking the so-called browser wars and adding fuel to monopoly arguments against Microsoft. 

The rest is history. Today, Netscape, a subsidiary of AOL Time Warner, has only 8 percent of the total browser market compared to Internet Explorer’s 91 percent, according to research firm WebSideStory Inc. 

“Microsoft was extremely successful in bundling the Explorer browser with the operating system and that was the best distribution for it,” said Ken Allard, senior vice president of research at Jupiter Media Metrix. 

On Tuesday, Netscape’s parent company sued Microsoft, seeking damages for anticompetitive behavior. The federal government’s antitrust case against Microsoft had been largely hinged on the old browser battles. 

But analysts say Netscape suffered because some of its later efforts were inferior to Internet Explorer. And it lost momentum — and key talent — when it was taken over by America Online in November 1998. 

Mountain View, Calif.-based Netscape sprang to life in April 1994, founded by Silicon Graphics pioneer James Clark and software developer Marc Andreessen, who was instrumental in developing one of the first Web browsers — NCSA Mosaic — as a student at the University of Illinois. 

Sixteen months after its founding, Netscape held its initial public offering, which gave the start-up a $2 billion market value even though it had only $20 million in sales. 

That same month, Microsoft awoke to the promise of the Web and released Internet Explorer. At the time, most users laughed off Microsoft’s buggy attempt to compete. 

But over the ensuing months, each company released improved versions with more capabilities with some users awaiting the next version as eagerly as the next installment of Star Wars. 

Netscape’s share of the market began to decline. 

on Jan. 22, 1998 — four years to the day before Tuesday’s lawsuit — Netscape capitulated and began giving away its software for free. 

At the same time, Netscape was hemorrhaging money. In November, AOL announced plans to acquire the Internet pioneer. 

AOL was more interested in Netscape’s media property, the Netscape.com Web site that many users kept as their home pages. Other Netscape initiatives, such as browser development, enterprise software and services did not receive as much attention, Allard said. 

AOL also never integrated the Netscape browser into its proprietary online service, instead relying on a version of Internet Explorer. 

Netscape 6.0 was released in April 2000 and was uniformly criticized for being incomplete and buggy. 

Netscape fixed the problems with later versions, but “the damage was already done, said Geoff Johnston, a browser market analyst at WebSideStory. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Netscape: http://www.netscape.com 

SAN BRUNO — San Francisco International Airport is trying to secure explosive-detecting luggage scanners before an ordering rush from other airports. 

Airport commissioners on Tuesday agreed to pay $19.3 million for 11 new scanners, an expenditure the airport’s board of supervisors must also approve. 

“There will be a tremendous demand for these units,” airport spokesman Ron Wilson said. “We want to get ourselves in line.” 

Though the airport already has 13 such scanners, it will need 60 more by Dec. 31 to meet new federal deadlines to look for bombs in all luggage. 

The airport plans to order the scanners from Newark, Calif.-based InVision Technologies Inc., one of two manufacturers approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. 

Wilson said the airport will have to spend several million dollars more to create space to house the mini van-sized scanners. 

He said the purchase is contingent on federal reimbursement and that the FAA has agreed verbally to reimburse the airport for the costs of the machines. 

San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown said Tuesday he spoke with Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, a fellow Californian, who “looked with favor” on the reimbursement request. 

“We’re willing to pay the $19 million up front provided we know ... they will reimburse us,” said Brown, who was in Washington for the Conference of Mayors meeting. 

Rosa Parks students, staff adorn school in colorful tiles 

Local schools, and many area businesses, were closed Monday to honor the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. But Phoebe Ackley, an after-school art teacher at Rosa Parks Elementary School, was hard at work – on a very appropriate project. 

Ackley, working with two tile setters from Doty Tile of Oakland, affixed the last of 400 tiles, commemorating civil rights leader Rosa Parks, to a pair of benches in front of the main entrance to the school. 

Students from kindergarten to fifth grade created the majority of the tiles in October and November as part of a five-week curriculum combining art and civil rights education. School staff and parents crafted a number of their own tiles in subsequent weeks. 

“I think it’s an incredible project, it has incredible aesthetic value,” said Rebecca Herman, parent of two children at the school. “But it also includes a valuable message about the legacy of the civil rights movement.” 

“I think one of the really important things (for the students), aside from the educational component,” said Ackley, “is the idea of collaborating on something that doesn’t belong to them, that becomes part of the community, that they can look at with pride.” 

The tile project is one of several initiatives in a year-long dedication of the school. Rosa Parks, formerly Columbus, was damaged during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The district completed construction on the “new Columbus” in the mid-1990s, and, a year-and-a-half ago, renamed the school in honor of the civil rights activist. 

On Nov. 29, the school hosted a dedication night for families, and three weeks ago, Rosa Parks received its first school sign emblazoned with its new name. Rosa Parks will hold a larger dedication from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. March 23, replete with local officials and activities for kids. 

Kathy Freeburg, curriculum coordinator at Rosa Parks, worked with kindergarten teacher Marti Mogensen to win a $4,000 grant from the Berkeley Public Education Foundation to fund the dedication activities, including a portion of the $9,000 tile project. 

Funding for the project came in part from the Berkeley Schools Excellence Project, a taxpayer-funded pool of money set aside for the district, and Rosa Parks’ “school improvement funds” paid for the rest. 

Freeburg says the dedication activities, including the tile project, have helped bring the school community together around its new name. 

“It’s an identity piece for the school,” she said. “Each tile has a personal meaning. But as a whole work of art, it has a larger meaning.” 

Principal Alison Kelly said the project is particularly important for a school with a diverse student population.  

“We have to make sure the kids feel the school represents them,” she said. “They need to have some ownership.” 

Ackley worked with the Museum of Children’s Art, or MOCHA, in Oakland, to develop the project. MOCHA staff crafted the curriculum to accompany the project, and trained school staff on how to put the curriculum into action. 

After the trainings, Ackley and MOCHA’s Eric Haber divided the school’s classrooms between them, and visited each one for an hour each week, for five weeks. 

Ackley and Haber began by talking with the students about Rosa Parks and public art, and brainstorming around words they associated with the leader of the famous Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott of 1955.  

Then, students began drawing images that represented their thoughts and feelings about Parks. Eventually, they transferred those images – of hearts, peace signs and buses – onto tiles, using glaze. 

Leah Goodwin, education director at MOCHA, said the use of symbols helps students grapple with difficult subject matter.  

“It’s a way of getting kids to hold onto what they’re learning,” she said, labeling the concept “visual literacy.” 

“It makes the material more exciting when there’s a hands-on connection,” added Ackers. 

Laura Carr, a parent who volunteered in her daughter’s second grade classroom during the creation of the tiles, is thrilled with the result. 

“Not only did they learn about Rosa Parks,” she said, “but they learned how to paint beautiful tiles.” 

Those interested in the March 23 dedication should call Kathy Freeburg at 644-8655. The school is particularly interested in drawing alumni of the old Columbus School.  

Tuesday, Jan. 22

Candlelight Vigil to Protect  

and Advance Roe v. Wade 

5 p.m. 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center  

2450 Ashby Ave. 

Part of a nationally coordinated campaign marking the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, the National Organization for Women Oakland/East Bay Chapter will hold a candle light vigil in remembrance of the women who died as a result of illegal abortions. 287-8948, www.now.org. 

Forum on the Catholic  

Church 

7:30 p.m. 

St. Mary Magdalen Parish 

2005 Berryman St. 

The first in a series of weekly meetings for anyone who is interested in finding out more about the Catholic Church. 526-4811 x19 

Auditions for “Long Day’s  

Journey Into Night” 

7 p.m. 

Live Oak Theatre 

1301 Shattuck Ave. 

No appointment needed, and there is no pay. Director requests a two-minute monologue and a reading from the script. Roles needed: three men – 20-75, and two women with Irish accent – 18-30 and 50-65. 424-0370, www.actorsensembleofberkeley.com.  

Camera Club Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church 

941 The Alameda 

Weekly meeting of the Berkeley Camera Club offers the opportunity to share slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. 547-4514 

Wednesday, Jan. 23

Baby Bounce and Toddler  

Tales 

7 p.m. 

Public Library, West Branch 

1125 University Ave. 

A participatory program for families with children up to age 3. Stories, songs and fingerplays as entertainment and as a way for parents to learn some new material to share with their young ones. 981-6270. 

Public Works Commission 

1 p.m. - 3 p.m. 

2020 Wake Ave. 

Oakland, CA 

Presentation and tour of EBMUD’s Wastewater Treatment Plant 

Moving Them Into a  

Retirement Home 

5 - 7 p.m. 

Alta Bates Medical Center, Auditorium 

2450 Ashby Avenue 

Donna Quinn Robbins, co-author of the book “Moving Mom and Dad,” gives guidelines for helping elders and their families cope with moving into a retirement home. Free. 869-6737. 

Peace Walk and Vigil 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley BART Station 

A peace walk and vigil to demonstrate opposition to U.S. bombing of Afghanistan. Ends at MLK Civic Center Park. www.indymedia.org. 

Berkeley Gray Panthers 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

The Gray Panther’s general meeting features Wanda Remmers, Director, Housing Rights, to discuss Section 8 and other housing concerns, and Lisa Romero and Seleena Gupte to discuss the Report on Senior Housing Survey. 548-9696. 

Debtors Anonymous 

6:30 - 7:45 p.m. 

Mandana Community Recovery Center 

3989 Howe St., Oakland 

Weekly Meeting. 415-522-9099 

Israel and the Arab World  

Presentation 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Professor Ze’ev Brinner discusses Islam, the Islamic world, its attitude towards the Jews, Israel and America. $5. 

Thursday, Jan. 24

Sea Kayaking in Baja and the  

Bay Area 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Mitch Powers presents slides of some of his favorite paddling destinations in Baja and the Bay Area and gives tips on planning kayaking trips. 527-4140 

Winter Holistic Health Groups  

1:15 – 2:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave.  

For ages 55 and older. This week’s topic: How To Be Your Own Health Advocate . 526-0148. 

Editor: 

L. Dawud Said (”Brothers Liquor closure is a sign of the ‘yuppies rule’ time,” in Forum, 1/19/02) writes that “Berkeley is being invaded by dot.com Yuppies.” 

If Said truly paid attention to what’s going on she’d see there’s been an exodus of such professionals since the dot-bomb. What’s left in their wake is a skeleton crew of families and working class people, like the neighbors of Brothers Liquor, who have lived here for decades.  

My South Berkeley neighborhood is rich only in diversity. We have few trees and the air is heavy with car exhaust. Neighbors have various-paying jobs; many are retired, unemployed and disabled. My family doesn’t belong to PAIN (“PALE,” as Said calls it), but we are grateful the city realizes the increased burden Brothers has placed on us.  

The motivating factor to close Brothers is this: Most residents, regardless of skin color, don’t want a neighborhood where selling drugs, prostitution and murder is the norm. Those from the “gentrification terrorist cells” don’t want our kids to be offered pornography or crack cocaine when they go to a cornerstore for candy. Many of the people who feel this way, who Said describes as “well-heeled immigrants’ infiltrating the neighborhood,” are third-generation families who have been battling Brothers for years.  

People who live in close vicinity of Brothers (unlike Said who lives blocks away), citizens who s/he calls “self-interest groups,” are woken at night by screaming people and screeching tires all related to sales of drugs and sex. Gunfire is not unusual. 

Like many of Said’s “Hatemongering Yuppies” on my block, prior to the crackdown on Brothers I had a special morning ritual that befit my posh lifestyle: Before I walked my child to Malcolm X, I’d go in the yard and pick up used condoms, syringes, human feces, broken liquor bottles, and beer cans in brown bags. Is it my hosing of a drunk’s vomit off the sidewalk that Said calls a “modus operandi a form of racial cleansing to make room for more white people?” 

Said writes that “the Berkeley Police Department was used or manipulated “to justify the newcomers nefarious paranoia.” My neighbor said the last time she was in Brothers the cashier asked her to sign a petition protesting the illegal activities occurring on the store premises. This petition was in truth presented to the Berkeley City Council as a list of Brothers’ supporters. Said defends a business that operates “by whatever means (influencing or manipulating by deception).” 

R. Walker, 

South Berkeley Resident 

*All quotations L. Dawud Said 

924 Gilman Jan. 25: Ludicra, Brain Oil, Creuvo, Scurvy Dogs, Arftificum Sanguis; Jan. 26: Mile Marker, Yaphet Kotto, Pirx the Pilot, Himsa, Confidante; Jan. 27: Bane, Over My Dead Body, Striking Distance, Breath In; Feb. 1: American Steel, Pitch Black, Fleshies, The Blottos, Sexy; Feb. 2: Dead and Gone, Black Cat Music, The Cost, The Frisk; Feb. 8: Divit, Scissorhands, Rufio, Don’t Look Down, Fenway Park; Feb. 9: Pansy Division, Subincision, The Fadeaways; All shows start a 8 p.m. unless noted; Most are $5; 924 Gilman St. 525-9926. 

Anna’s Bistro Jan. 22: Doug Arrington; Jan. 23: Junebug; Jan. 24: Carl Garrett; Jan. 25: Anna & Ellen Hoffman; Jan. 26: Robin Gregory & Bliss Rodriguez; Jan. 27: “Acoustic Soul”; Jan. 28: “Renegade Sidemen” w/Calvin Keyes; Jan. 29: Tangria; Jan. 30: Bob Schoen; Jan. 31: Jason Martineau & Dave Sayen; Music starts at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., 1801 University Ave., 849-2662. 

Blake’s Jan. 22: Hot Buttered Rum String Band, Wildsang, $3; Jan. 23: Mindz Eye, Hebro (Upstairs in the Tinibar), $5; Jan. 24: Electronica w/Ascension, $5; Jan. 25: Shady Lady, Blue Room, $6; Jan. 26: Dank Man Shank, TBA, $5; Jan. 27: Motivators, Funklogic, $3; Jan. 28: All Star Jam Featuring The Steve Gannon Band, $4; Jan. 29: Funkanauts, Len Patterson Trio, $3; Jan. 30: Sunru, Slaptones, DJ Kurse, $10; Jan. 31: Electronica w/ Ascension, $5; 2367 Telegraph Ave., 877-488-6533. 

Club Jjang-Ga Jan. 26: Krenshaw, Bearing, Lucid Inc., Zodiacal Circle; 400 29th Ave., Oakland, 261-1108, savageproductions1@ yahoo.com. 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Jazzschool Jan. 27: 4:30 p.m., Michael Zilber, Sons of Bitches Brew; $6-$12. 2087 Addison St., 845-5373, www.jazzschool.com. 

Jupiter Jan. 23: Mitch Marcus Quintet; Jan. 24: Chris Shot Group; Jan. 25: The Sardonics; Jan. 26: Berkeley Jazz School Presents: Fourtet; Jan. 30: Joel Harrison Quartet; All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless noted. 2181 Shattuck Ave., 843-7625, www.jupiterbeer.com. 

La Pena Cultural Center Jan. 24: 7 p.m., Colombian Cultural Explosion, $5-$15; Jan. 25: 8 p.m., Wild Mango, $12; Jan. 26: 8 p.m., Naked Barbies: The Concert, $10-$15; Jan. 26: 10:30 a.m., Gary Lapow, $4 adults, $3 Children; Jan. 27: 7:30 p.m., Leticia Servín, $10-$8; 3105 Shattack Ave, 893-4648.  

Live Oaks Concerts: Berkeley Art Center Jan. 27: 7:30 p.m., Elaine Kreston, Laura Carmichael, $10, BACA Members $8, Students and Seniors $9. Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., 644-6893. 

Rose Street House Jan. 25: 8 p.m. DivaBands Showcase: Bern, Elin Jr., Roberta Donnay, Christy Claxton and Tiger Zane. $8-$20. 1839 Rose St., 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@yahoo.com. 

ACME Observatory Contemporary Performance Series Jan. 27: 8 p.m., Jane Rigler, $0-$20; TUVA Space, 3192 Adeline, http://sfSound.org/acme.html. 

Oakland Symphony Chorus Jan. 26: 9 a.m. - 1 p.m., Conductor Tony Pasqua will lead a study of Joseph Haydn’s “Harmoniemesse” and Johannes Brahm’s “Schicksalslied.” $25, $30 door; St. Peter’s Episcopal Church 6013 Lawton St., Oakland, 465-4199. 

Roda Theatre Jan. 22 and 23: both at 8 p.m., The Berkeley Symphony, Schubert’s Symphony No. 5. $21, $32, $45, $10 students. 2015 Addison St., 841-2800, www.berkeleysymphony.org. 

Berkeley Black Repertory Theatre Jan. 26: 6:30 - 10 p.m., The City of Berkeley and the Berkeley Black Repertory Theatre pay tribute to and welcome the return of “The Dru Band”; $5. 3201 Adeline St., 625-2120. 

Organ Music Jan. 27: 5 p.m., Ron McKean; $15 - $18. MusicSources, 1000 The Alameda, 528-1685. 

“Every Inch a King” Through Feb. 9: Thur. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 5 p.m.; Three sisters have to make a decision as their father approaches death in this comedy presented by the Central Works Theater Ensemble. $8 - $18. LeValls Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave. 558-138, www.centralworks.org.  

“Sisters” Through Feb. 16., Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., The Prozorov sisters look at the gap between hope and fulfillment in their lives. Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattack, www.actorsensemleofbkerkeley.com. 

“Rhinoceros” Jan. 23 through Mar. 10: Check theater for specific dates and times. An absurdist tragic-comedy about a small provincial town whose citizens slowly but surely transform into large cumbersome rhinoceroses. Directed by Barbara Damashek. $38 - $54. Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St. 647-2976 www.berkeleyrep.org. 

“Murder Dressed in Satin” by Victor Lawhorn, ongoing. A mystery-comedy dinner show at The Madison about a murder at the home of Satin Moray, a club owner and self-proclaimed socialite with a scarlet past. Dinner is included in the price of the theater ticket. $47.50 Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison St., Oakland, 239-2252, www.acteva.com/go/havefun. 

Pacific Film Archive Jan. 22: 7:30 p.m., New Arab Video 1; Jan. 23: 3 p.m., The Terms of Cinema; 7:30 p.m., Telling It, Differently; Jan. 25: 7:30 p.m., The Aviator’s Wife; 9:30 p.m., A Good Marriage; Jan. 26: 6:30 p.m., Patrick Macias; 7 p.m., Battle Royale; 9:30 p.m., Blood and Law; Jan: 27: Children’s Film Festival, 1 p.m., Ikingut, 3 p.m., Peter Pan; 5:30 p.m., Sir Arne’s Treasure; 7:35 p.m., Song of the Scarlet Flower; Jan. 28: 3 p.m., The Jazz Singer; 7 p.m., Underground Kisses; Jan. 29: 7:30 p.m., New Arab Video 2; Jan. 30: 3 p.m., The Nickelodeon; 7:30 p.m., New Arab Video 3; 2527 Bancroft Way, 642-1412. 

Parkway Theatre Jan. 29: 6:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m., Boom! The Sound Of Eviction, a Just Cause Oakland benefit screening. $6-$20. 1843 Park Blvd., Oakland, 464-1011. 

Exhibits  

GTU Exhibit: “Holocaust Series” by Cleve Gray Through Jan. 25: Comprised of 21 works on paper that constitute “a catharsis... for all of humanity.” Mon. - Thurs. 8:30 a.m. - 9:45 p.m., Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sun. noon - 7 p.m.; Free. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541 www.gtu.edu. 

“Prints and Paintings by Liao Shiou-Ping” on view through Jan. 31; Tues. to Fri.10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sat.10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Free. Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388-9th St., Suite 290, Oakland, 238-4491. 

“Rhythms” Through Feb. 2: Art installation of sculpture, neon, music and video projections by Kati Casida; Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St., 845-5373 

Pro Arts: “Juried Annual 2001-02” Through Feb. 2: Exhibition of painting, sculpture, mixed media, photography and more by Bay Area and regional artists; Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St., www.proartsgallery.org. 

“All Grown Up” Through Feb. 2: New paintings and drawings by Amy Chan. Thurs. 1 p.m. - 8 p.m., Fri -Sun 1 p.m. -6 p.m., 21 Grand Ave., Oakland, 444-7263 

“Water Media” Through Feb. 8: An exhibit by Christine “Caipirinha” Mulder. Capoeira Arts Cafe Gallery, 2026 Center St., 666-1349 for hours. 

“New Work by Dennis Begg and Steve Briscoe” Through Feb. 9: Dennis Begg’s sculpture. Steve Brisco’s paintings. Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Traywick Gallery,1316 10th St., 527-1214. 

“Enduring Wisdom: Artwork and Stories by Homeless and Formerly Homeless Seniors” Through Feb. 15: 18 homeless and formerly homeless elders reveal how they learned and applied wisdom that is timeless. Mon. - Fri. and Sundays 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.; Free. St. Mary’s Center, 635 22nd St., Oakland, 893-4723 x222. 

“Envisioning Ecology” Through Feb. 15: Paintings by Michelle Waters. Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave., 548-2220 x233. 

“The Other 364 Days: A Day in the Life of the Queer Community” Through Feb. 16: An exhibit of black and white photographs by East Bay photographer Limor Inbar-Hansen. Mon. - Fri., 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Sat., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St., 644-1400, limor@indelible-images.com. 

“Adventures in La Land” Through Feb. 23: Installations by Suzanne Husky and Paintings by Amy Morrell. Tues. - Sat., 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; 4920 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, 428-2349. 

“Transformations: Through the Eye of a Needle” Jan.24 - Feb. 23: Two-person exhibition by Rebecca Bui and Linda Lemon including procelain and fabric dolls and mixed media works on handmade paper. Tues.-Sat., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Ardency Gallery, 709 Broadway, Oakland, 836-0831, www.artolio.com 

“Ton of Joy” Through Mar. 1: Group show of twelve painters and sculptors: Simone Anders, Susan Brady, Erin Fitzgerald, Karen Frey, Kei Hanafusa, Nancy Legge, Burke Rainey, Robin Sebourn, Kristen Throop, Clay Vajgrt, Whitney Vosburgh, Ann West; Mon. - Sat., 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Hollis Street Project, 5900 Hollis St., Emeryville. 

“Ansel Adams in the University of California Collections” Through Mar. 10: A selection of photographs and memorabilia presenting a different perspective on Adam’s career as one of the leading figures in American photography; Jan. 16 through Mar. 24: “Migrations: Photographs by Sebastiao Salgado,” over 300 black-and-white photographs of immigrants and refugees taken by the Brazilian photographer. Wed. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 7 p.m., $4- $6. The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. 

"Earthly Pleasures" assemblage and photographs by Susan Danis, Through March 30: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Mon. - Sat.; Sticks, 1579 B, Solano Ave., 526-6603.  

“Domestic Bliss” Through Apr. 4: Collection of abstract paintings and mixed medium by Amy St. George. Albany Community Center Foyer Gallery, 1249 Marin Ave., Albany, 524-9283. 

“The Legacy of Social Protest: The Disability Rights Movement” Through April 30: The first exhibition in a series dealing with Free Speech, Civil Rights, and Social Protest Movements of the 60s and 70s in California. Featuring photograghs by: Cathy Cade, HolLynn D’Lil, Howard Petrick, Ken Stein. The Free Speech Cafe, Moffitt Undergraduate Library, University of California-Berkeley, hjadler@yahoo.com  

“The Art History Museum of Berkeley” Masterworks by Guy Colwell. Faithful copies of several artists from the pasts, including Titian’s “The Venus of Urbino,” Cezanne’s “Still Life,” Picasso’s “Woman at a Mirror,” and Botticelli’s “Primavera” Ongoing. Call ahead for hours. Atelier 9, 2028 Ninth St., 841-4210, www.atelier9.com. 

Readings 

Coffee With a Beat Jan. 26: Paradise; Feb. 2: Julia Vinograd, Shauna Rogan; Feb. 9: Sydney Bell, Debrale Pagan; All readings 7-9 p.m., free and followed by open mike. 458 Perkins, Oakland, 526-5985.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore Jan. 22: Lee Foster discusses his new guide “Northern California History Weekends”; All readings are free and start at 7:30 p.m., 1385 Shattuck Ave. at Rose, 843-3533. 

Revolution Books Jan. 25: 6:15 p.m., Eric Schlosser, Author of “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the American Meal,” will appear for a book signing. 2425 Channing Way, 848-1196.  

Poetry 

Poetry Flash @ Cody’s Jan. 23: Paul Hoover and Elizabeth Robinson; Jan. 27: Wanda Coleman, Austin Straus and Kate Gale; Jan. 30 Ralph Angel and George Higgins; All events begin at 7:30 p.m., $2 donation. 2454 Telegraph Ave., 845-7852. 

Tours 

Golden Gate Live Steamers Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Lomas Cantadas Drive at the south end of Tilden Regional Park Small locomotives, scaled to size. Trains run Sun., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sun., noon to 3 p.m., weather permitting. 486-0623. 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Fridays 9:30 - 11:45 a.m. or by appointment. Call ahead to make reservations. Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387. 

Museums 

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm” An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more. “Recycling Center” Lets the kids crank the conveyor belt to sort cans, plastic bottles and newspaper bundles into dumpster bins; $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Mon. and Wed., 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tues. and Fri., 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thur., 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111 or www.habitot.org. 

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 foot 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. Mon. - Fri., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821. 

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology will close its exhibition galleries for renovation. It will reopen in early 2002.  

Lawrence Hall of Science Through Jan. 26: Scream Machines: The Science of Roller Coasters; “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. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza; Open daily, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., $7 for adults; $5 for children 5-18; $3 for children 3-4. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley, 642-5132, www.lawrencehallofscience.org. 

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, www.lhs.berkeley.edu. 

Send arts events two weeks in advance to Calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.net, 2076 University, Berkeley 94704 or fax to 841-5694.

Neighbors of Berkeley’s new Public Safety Building will get a chance to sound off tonight on the 170-foot emergency radio tower they say is not only an eyesore but was erected without proper public review. 

Neighbors, who are supported by Councilmember Dona Spring, say they will ask the City Council during tonight’s public hearing to reduce the tower’s visual impact by breaking it into two, smaller “flag pole” style towers. The tower is located behind the Public Safety Building at 2100 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. 

But they face opposition from the City Manager’s Office and the Department of Public Works, which are recommending the council leave the tower as is and activate it immediately to support police and fire department radio communication. 

The three-legged, five-story, steel structure, which neighbors compare to an “oil derrick,” was constructed in early 2000. The tower is designed to withstand a major seismic event and to continue providing critical communication during a major disaster response by multiple police, fire and medical agencies. 

City officials claim the tower, which has never been used, is located in position to best serve all sections of the city. It will also be valuable for daily emergency responses. 

“In an average calendar year, Berkeley police and fire departments each receive approximately 10,000 emergency calls,” a Department of Public Works report reads. “Wireless communication allows field personnel to effectively and efficiently respond to these incidents.” 

But neighbors say the tower is too large, and its design is inappropiate for its location next to a residential neighborhood and a historic district. Neighbors also charge that the tower was erected without the proper public review and permits. 

“This is Berkeley’s version of Tower Gate,” said Spring. “The process was a scandal, and it would be an assault to allow (the tower) to remain in place.” 

Spring said the tower should be broken into two or more parts and relocated atop the Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center. She also supports dismantling the existing tower and replacing it, in the same approximate location, with two “flag pole” styled antennas, which would be more visually appropriate for the neighborhood. 

MACRO Corporation studied the situation last year, which cost the city $50,000, and found the best alternative to the existing tower would be two towers, approximately 110 feet tall in the general area of the nearby, old Hall of Justice, its report said. The consultant estimated the cost of the redesign to be $300,000. There was no estimate of the cost to relocate the antennas on the roof of the Civic Center. 

Neighbors also claim the tower never went through the city’s normal approval process prior to construction.  

“This is a historical district and the tower is right next to Old City Hall, which is one of the finest examples of public architecture in the East Bay,” said Vito Lab, who lives across the street from the tower. “And this project never went to Design Review, never went to the Zoning Adjustments Board and never went to the Landmarks Preservation Commission.” 

But according to the Department of Public Works report, there was public input on the tower design. The report cites a design competition for the Public Safety Building, in which drawings were available for public viewing and a backyard presentation, which included computer-generated images, at PSB neighbor Deborah Green’s home. The report also says the tower was described in the PSB Environmental Impact Report. 

Lab said any description of the tower was lost in the overall presentation of the PSB plans and argues the public review process was clearly lacking. 

“I would say this tower is the second tallest structure in Berkeley and you don’t just trot out a plan in front of three or four people in Debbie Green’s backyard and say that’s a public review,” he said.  

Editor: 

Perhaps it is time to take a look at the underlying causes of the problem with health care (“Doctor's New Practices Offer Deluxe Service for Deluxe Fee” New York Times 1/15/02). With physicians jumping ship so that they can spend more time with patients, hundreds of thousands to millions uninsured, many more underinsured, drug companies defending their right to hold patents on life-saving medications, and stories on the poor state of public health in light of the anthrax crimes, isn't it at least possible that these separate problems have a common root cause? I would contend that it is our country's policy that values money over health that is the underlying cause of all of these problems. It is time that we in the United States take a long look at ourselves, at least in the area of health care policy. 

Lara Wright, M.D. 

Berkeley 

About 300 people shook the pews with their cheers Saturday night as three familiar voices from Free Speech Radio spoke about the U.S. war in Afghanistan and their own war with Pacifica Network News.  

Locals from all across the Bay Area packed St. John the Worker’s Church, wearing “End the War” buttons and passing out flyers about how to improve KPFA 94.1 FM, the station that broadcasts FSR in Berkeley. 

The event featured Verna Avery Brown, the host of FSR, Fariba Nawa, an Afghan-American journalist who reported from the front, and Jeremy Scahill, a reporter who covered the U.S. bombing campaigns in Iraq and Yugoslavia. The event was a benefit for FSR – a program produced by an international group of freelance reporters, who went on strike from Pacifica in 2000 over issues of censorship.  

The night was billed as an opportunity to hear reporters who had just returned from the war in Afghanistan. Nawa was FSR’s woman on the ground there, dropping her graduate program at New York University to head for the refugee camps in Pakistan. 

She witnessed the collapse of the World Trade Center.  

“As an Afghan-born, American-raised journalist who interviewed the Taliban last year, I was shocked and horrified,” she said. “I knew where the destruction was going to be next – my homeland.” 

Although her main job in Islamabad was to translate her Farsi phone conversations with Northern Alliance commanders on the frontline into English for the Associated Press, she was also interested in detailing the complexities of the emotions in the camps she visited.  

“The Afghans I met were supportive of kicking out the Taliban,” she said, “But they were not supportive of the bombing. No one knew how long it would last.” 

Nawa also talked about misguided assumptions about the Taliban. Although Taliban and Northern Alliance forces might shoot at each other during the day, she said, they often have tea together at night. “They’re in it because of the money, to feed their kids. It’s the foreigners who come in and believe in the ideology and fight to the death.” 

When Pakistan deported her in December – because she had lunch with an Indian journalist, she thinks – Nawa went to Bonn to cover the U.N. conference on creating an interim government in Afghanistan. Heartened by the “intelligent and capable people” who were chosen, Nawa said, “Afghanistan comes out the winner in all of this.” Although she hates the bombing campaign, she said, “What I tell my friends is that it’s for us now. We have to decide our fate.” 

“I’m glad I can go home now and write about reconstruction and not just about bullets and war,” she said. 

While both Avery Brown and Scahill also denounced the bombing campaign in their speeches, they, and the host of the evening Larry Bensky, focused on the other war that needed ending. Although the Pacifica Foundation, which oversees the nation’s largest progressive radio network, says its mission is “to promote cultural diversity and pluralistic community expression,” the Pacifica Reporters Against Censorship (PRAC) charged the management with censoring their work and called for the return of editorial independence for local affiliates. 

Bensky began the night by announcing the end of the feud between Pacifica and PRAC, the reinstatement of Dan Coughlin as Pacifica’s executive director and his own rehiring. 

Avery Brown declared the end of “Pacifica Lite” and told the crowd she had accepted a position as second in command to Coughlin. Although she admitted there was still much work to be done in straightening out staffing and financial issues, she said, “We’re going back and we’re in charge.” 

Scahill was the most rousing speaker of the night, denouncing the “shameful” way Pacifica had been operating and calling for the “return of rebel radio.” 

“Radio is the most revolutionary medium we have in our world,” said Scahill. “One of the saddest things is the media failing to shake the institutions of power.” 

Although he applauded the change in management at PNN, he was still not entirely satisfied. “I promise you I will not do a single story for PNN until the grievances are resolved and democracy is returned,” he said. 

Their grievance – with Pacifica and the government – was about patriotism, they said. Avery Brown said she was not unpatriotic and had relatives who served in the armed forces, but she hesitated to wave the flag from her grandfather’s state funeral. “I will wave my grandfather’s flag when I see Bush on TV and he says every life is precious,” she said, “even those of Afghans who were not involved in the World Trade Center attack.” 

People do not owe their allegiance to the U.S. government, said Scahill, since it only seems to be causing “wanton destruction in already devastated country.” But, they do owe allegiance to America. “To be patriotic in this country today,” said Scahill, “is to be a dissident.” 

Audience members pumped fists in the air and shouted their agreement. Longtime KPFA listener Helene Knox was particularly impressed by Scahill. Praising his courage for staying on the ground while bombs were falling and his capacity to see the big international picture, the Oakland resident said, “For insight, Jeremy is number one in my book.” 

Melodie Barclay of Oakland found Nawa’s remarks most informative. Although she came because she was against the bombing campaign in Afghanistan, she said she was surprised by the upbeat picture Nawa painted of Afghanistan’s future. “It was good to hear her perspective,” she said. 

The thunderous applause at the end of the night was followed by another sound: The unzipping of bags to find wallets and checkbooks. 

Because its $26,500 per month operating budget comes mostly from listeners, FSR had asked audience members to contribute $10 to $20 at the door. “I can’t afford much,” said Knox, “but I gave them $20 to begin with.” When the collection buckets came around at the end of the passionate speeches, she said, “I gladly threw in another $20.” 

The Berkeley Daily Planet is seeking local columnists to appear on the Forum pages on a regular basis. If you have an idea for an interesting and regular column, please send a column sample and the topics you would like to raise to readers to: 

COLUMNIST WANTED 

Devona Walker 

Editor 

Berkeley Daily Planet 

2076 University Ave., Berkeley CA 94707 

or e-mail devona@berkeleydailyplanet.net

The City Council will consider a number of issues during the regular meeting tonight including a study of reduced access to recreation for the city’s youth, approval of $2.3 million for the construction of five affordable housing projects and a schedule for adopting the remaining elements of the Draft General Plan. 

Recreation access 

Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek and Councilmember Miriam Hawley are requesting the city manager to determine if middle and high school students have an acceptable amount of access to informal recreation at the city’s parks, school yards and sports fields. 

According to the recommendation, parents have been complaining of a decline in recreation opportunities for a variety of reasons – including budget constraints, reduced open space and lack of access to public school sites many of which have prohibited skateboards, bicycles and scooters. 

The assessment will include a survey of the Youth Commission, the Parks and Recreation Commission, Berkeley Unified School District and other appropriate groups. 

“Access to informal recreation space is particularly important for middle school and high school students because many teenagers are reluctant or unable to joint organized activities,” the recommendation reads. “Both parents and their teenage children benefit if the young people have opportunities near their homes for informal an healthful outdoor activities.” 

Housing trust 

The council is expected to approve $2.3 million from the Housing Trust Fund for five affordable housing projects. The projects, once completed, will add 27 units of permanently affordable housing for seniors, developmentally disabled children and low-income residents.  

Applications for the projects were approved by the Housing Advisory Commission after review by housing staff, the Planning Commission and the Commission on Disabilities, among others.  

The Housing Trust Fund, which is distributed once a year, consists of many funding sources, the largest of which is HUD. 

The projects include the Adeline Street Apartments at 3222-24 Adeline St. The 19-unit project, which will be developed by Resources for Community Development, received loan approval for $310,000. 

Affordable Housing Associates received approval for a loan of $874,000 to develop 38 units called the Outback Senior Homes at 2517 Sacramento St. 

Jubilee Restoration will receive $873,000 for developing Jubilee Senior Homes, a 27-unit project at 2577 San Pablo Ave. The transitional housing program McKinley House was approved for $190,000 and a disabled children’s housing project will receive $66,000. 

Draft General Plan schedule 

The council will likely endorse a schedule to approve the remaining elements of the Draft General Plan. On Dec. 18, the council approved the Land Use, Housing and Transportation elements. The remaining elements are Disaster Preparedness, Open Space and Recreation, Environmental Management, Economic Development, Urban Design and Preservation and Citizen Participation. 

The proposed schedule will have the councilmembers submit their proposed amendments on Feb. 1. They will be distributed to the public prior to the Feb. 19 council meeting and then discussion and consideration of the amendments on March 12 and final approval on March 19. 

Measure K 

The council is expected to endorse an Alameda and Contra Costa counties ballot measure which will impose a parcel tax of $1 per month on single family homes to raise $8.4 million annually for maintenance of the East Bay Regional Parks.  

The EBRP maintains 59 regional parks and more than 1,000 miles of trails on 93,000 acres in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Along with East Bay population growth, park usage has greatly increased. The additional parcel tax will fund environmental maintenance, public safety and public access. 

Other matters: 

• The council will consider a resolution to ensure the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory clean up sites contaminated by tritium, a radioactive isotope, used by the recently closed National Tritium Labeling Facility in medical research. 

• The council will consider a recommendation from the Waterfront Commission to oppose any expansion of the San Francisco Airport that would include filling in the Bay. According to the commission’s recommendation “nearly one-third of the Bay has been filled in and consequently (the Bay Area) has lost an economic, environmental and recreational resource.” 

The City Council meeting will be held tonight at 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. The meeting will also be broadcast live on the KPFA Radio, 89.3 and Cable B-TV, Channel 78.

OAKLAND — A Sacramento couple accused of torturing, sexually assaulting and strangling a Pleasanton student in a minivan is scheduled to go on trial starting Tuesday. 

James Daveggio, 41, and girlfriend Michelle Michaud, 43, could face the death penalty if convicted of snatching and killing community college student Vanessa Lei Samson, 22, in December 1997. 

The two allegedly raped and killed Samson inside a minivan converted into what authorities have described as a mobile torture chamber, complete with hooks and ropes. They allegedly kidnapped Samson on her way to her clerical job at an insurance office less than a mile from her house. 

They are charged with repeatedly raping Samson with two curling irons while forcing her to wear a gag to muffle her screams, police said. She then allegedly was strangled with a nylon rope and dumped face-down on a snow-covered embankment in Alpine County. She was fully clothed, and her backpack and wallet were found beside her. 

Prosecutors have said the couple “formed a predatory team to sexually assault young, vulnerable women for their own depraved sexual gratification.” 

An Alameda County jury is set to hear opening statements Tuesday. Testimony is expected later in the trial from a former Reno community college student who was kidnapped, raped and sodomized in 1997 prior to Samson’s death. 

Michaud pleaded guilty in that case and is serving a 15-year prison sentence. Daveggio received a 25-year sentence in that case. 

According to prosecutors, Daveggio and Michaud were obsessed with modeling their crimes after Gerald and Charlene Gallego, the 1970s couple who made headlines with their so-called “sex-slave murders.” 

No one under 18 will be allowed in the courtroom during the trial because the judge is concerned about the potentially disturbing nature of the expected testimony. 

Daveggio’s daughter, then 16, told a grand jury her father had asked her to come along on what he called “hunting.” 

“He told me I would never know if I’d like killing someone unless I had tried,” according to grand jury testimony.

SAN JOSE — A coalition of scientists and technology companies is asking people around the world to use their computers’ extra processing power to help search for a cure for anthrax. 

The project follows similar efforts to use “distributed computing” to hunt for extraterrestrial life and a cure for cancer. 

This effort is being launched Tuesday to help Oxford University researchers find potential ways to treat anthrax that is beyond the stage at which antibiotics can work. It comes as fighting anthrax and other agents of bioterrorism has become an international priority. 

The project is based on the premise that the average personal computer uses between 13 percent and 18 percent of its processing power at any given time. Like Napster, it employs “peer-to-peer” technology, in which millions of computers can share files over the Internet. 

Participants download a screen-saver that runs whenever their computers have resources to spare, and uses that power to perform computations for the project. When the user connects to the Internet, the computer sends data back to a central hub and gets another assignment. 

The company that designed the program, United Devices Inc. of Austin, Texas, promises that no personal information on participants’ PCs can be compromised while they take part. 

With enough participants, the project gives researchers 10 times more power than the world’s best supercomputer, said Graham Richards, the Oxford professor leading the study. 

“The screen-saver doesn’t cost you anything, and at least you’re taking part in something, adding your bit,” he said. 

Scientists have discovered that the anthrax toxin is made up of three proteins — which are not toxic on their own but become so after binding together. 

The Oxford scientists want to scan 3.5 billion molecular compounds to see if any can block the process and keep the toxin from reproducing. 

The results, which could serve as blueprints for late-stage anthrax drugs, will be turned over to the U.S. and British governments, Richards said. 

The project is funded by Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. and supported by the National Foundation for Cancer Research. 

A similar program launched last April, to help Richards’ team find a molecule that might counteract a protein involved in the growth of leukemia, is harnessing the power of 1.3 million PCs around the world. 

“We’re now in a new era of computing directed at improving the quality of life,” said Pat Gelsinger, chief technology officer at Santa Clara-based Intel. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Screen-saver download site: http://www.intel.com/cure 

Richards’ cancer project: http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/curecancer.html 

Information inundation being what it is these days, culling what’s valuable from media listings – TV and radio programs, news bulletins, movies, music – is a daunting, time-consuming chore. 

What we all need is an interactive media guide that’s updated constantly and tailored to our individual tastes and needs – not just by media companies but also by the people we trust most. 

And that’s not all. This guide should alert us immediately to something vital, like a news flash. Let it also be a conduit, like instant messaging, that allows people we specify to reach us in real time. 

Creating the foundation for such a service is the latest project of one of the Internet’s most innovative provocateurs, Carl Malamud, and a team of programming heavyweights who previously helped write the Internet’s traffic laws, set the speed limits, even design the vehicles. 

This past week, Malamud converted the endeavor, dubbed NetTopBox, into a nonprofit venture. 

“We really call it a public works project,” Malamud said. “It is no different from building a public park or a railroad or dam.” 

Except, of course, that it would be at once everywhere and nowhere. And no one would own it. Many different media companies would feed it. 

At least that’s the idea. 

Author, programmer and agitator, Malamud has long worked on trying to ensure that grassy public parks coexist on the Internet beside its crass commercial strips. 

When the World Wide Web was in diapers, Malamud was already producing the Internet’s first talk-radio program. Long before RealAudio, he was webcasting National Press Club speeches. 

In 1994, Malamud made available online the full text of corporate filings to the Security and Exchange Commission. Later, he added large databases of other key federal agencies. 

Malamud’s nonprofit Internet Multicasting Service crowned those shoestring efforts in 1998 by pressuring the government to place its patent database on the Internet. 

“Carl has an amazing track record of accomplishing what he sets out to do,” said Tom Kalil, a former technology adviser to President Clinton. 

Malamud, 42, and his Web designer wife, Rebecca, co-founder and equal partner in NetTopBox, originally launched it as a startup that attracted $1 million in private capital. But when the investment climate soured last year, they and their partners decided the Internet Multicasting Service would purchase the venture. 

A year ago, the Malamuds moved from New York City to a log home on the northern California coast to begin putting together the software infrastructure – or protocols – and raise an infant son. 

Their team is now seeking sponsors, courting media companies and seeing potential allies in network news divisions in particular. 

Rod Prince, executive producer at NBC Weekend Nightly News for seven years until his December retirement, met with NetTopBox officials last year and liked the idea. 

“If in fact the flexibility, the immediacy and the ease of use can be demonstrated, I think all the content providers would be to happy to go with them,” Prince said. 

Among reasons for taking NetTopBox nonprofit, one loomed large: The interactive programming guide world is currently dominated by TV Guide brand owner Gemstar, which vigorously defends its patents. 

Although Malamud says he’s not competing with Gemstar, he reckons he could be in for an eventual legal tussle. Gemstar officials would not comment, saying they have not seen a product. 

Driving NetTopBox are objections to the current closed, proprietary systems that portion out programming information. Malamud complains that the market is “ossifying because there’s not enough small innovative players.” 

Now that set-top boxes are becoming Internet-enabled and computing more decentralized, there’s no reason they can’t allow viewers to communicate with one another through core software that is in the public domain, just like the code underlying the rest of the Internet, Malamud argues. 

With NetTopBox, the program guide would know what gadgets you have, your interests and your willingness to share preferences. 

So if your haute cuisine pal across town wants to alert you a particular cooking show, and you happen to be in front of the TV, it’s a simple matter of a click or two. If network TV is pre-empting scheduled shows for a bulletin, and you’re away from the television, you could be alerted through your cell phone. 

Malamud’s team is developing the underlying technology, using approaches such as those employed by the Google search engine for page rankings and by Amazon.com for predicting customer preferences. 

Media companies – and databases such as CDDB, which catalogues music CDs – would then help contribute the listings and content. 

Malamud estimates the project will cost $3.5 million over two years. 

NetTopBox may never catch on. Malamud readily acknowledges the risk of opting for an ambitious “proof of concept” rather than attempting to create a niche business in collaborative media. 

The programming required to create an open interactive programming guide “shouldn’t be hard in and of itself,” said Fred Baker, chairman of the Internet Engineering Task Force from 1996-2001. 

“What will probably be hard is getting that information given to him (Malamud) in real time without getting a money feed going back to those who are providing it,” he said. 

“Of course he’s pretty good at making those things happen,” Baker added. “If there’s a wheeler-dealer, it’s Carl.”

PALO ALTO — A mutual fund with 1.1 percent of Hewlett-Packard Co. shares has endorsed the $24.3 billion plan to buy Compaq Computer Corp., giving HP valuable support as it prepares for a proxy fight over the deal. 

Lewis Sanders, vice chairman of Alliance Capital Management Holding L.P., told The Wall Street Journal he believes merging would give HP and Compaq the best chance of cutting costs and surviving consolidation in the computer and data-storage markets. 

An Alliance Capital spokesman said he could not immediately confirm Sanders’ comments because of Monday’s holiday. 

But HP spokeswoman Rebeca Robboy said the Palo Alto-based technology giant was aware of Alliance’s support. Top HP executives had lobbied Alliance for its vote and plan to meet with other large shareholders in coming weeks, Robboy said. 

“Our messages are resonating and we’re making great progress with investors,” she said. 

As of Sept. 30, Alliance Capital was HP’s 17th-largest stockholder, with more than 21 million shares. 

No other large institutional investors have come out in support of the deal, which is opposed by Hewlett and Packard family interests with 18 percent of HP shares. HP board member Walter Hewlett, eldest son of one co-founder, is leading the fight against the deal. 

HP and Compaq are awaiting clearance from U.S. and European regulators before announcing a date for a shareholder vote.

MOUNTAIN VIEW — IBM Corp. and network security provider VeriSign Inc. have formed a broad technology and marketing partnership aimed at improving authentication and access-control services for businesses. 

Financial terms of the deal, which is to be formally announced Tuesday, were not disclosed. 

In addition to developing new security services together, Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM and Mountain View-based VeriSign said they would help market each other’s existing offerings. 

IBM already supplies VeriSign with some servers and other hardware, and the deal calls for more such purchases. But VeriSign also will continue to equip itself with gear from Sun Microsystems Inc., executives said

SACRAMENTO — He’s likely still out there, somewhere. He is probably gray as middle age settles in and he escapes his radical past. 

James William Kilgore hasn’t been seen since he fled federal charges in 1976 as a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the group perhaps best known for kidnapping newspaper heiress Patty Hearst. 

“He’s been in the wind for over 20 years, and we have no solid leads on his whereabouts,” said Sacramento County Sheriff’s Sgt. James Lewis. “We don’t even know where to start.” 

Kilgore, 54, was charged last week with murder in connection with a deadly bank holdup in 1975 that was blamed on the SLA. Four alleged accomplices were charged and taken into custody. 

But investigators say Kilgore is nowhere to be found. They say he has done a remarkable job eluding authorities — with not a single confirmed sighting in more than two decades. 

He allegedly met up with Hearst in a cheap Las Vegas motel room in late September 1974, a .38 caliber revolver shoved in his waistband in case they were recognized. 

Kilgore and the most hunted woman in America hopped a bus to Sacramento to rendezvous with other members of the SLA who had escaped a Los Angeles police shootout that spring. 

They were joined at a rundown “safe house” by Steven and Kathleen Soliah, Emily and Bill Harris, and intermittently by Michael Bortin, Hearst told investigators after her eventual capture. 

There, they began elaborately plotting the bank robbery that would result in the death of 42-year-old Myrna Opsahl, Sacramento County prosecutors alleged in court filings last week. 

The Harrises, Bortin, Kathleen Soliah and Kilgore were charged with Opsahl’s murder Wednesday, after prosecutors said they developed new evidence corroborating Hearst’s account. 

Bortin is fighting extradition to California from Oregon, while Kathleen Soliah, now known as Sara Jane Olson, pleaded innocent to the charges Friday. The Harrises will plead innocent, their attorneys said. 

All are in custody except Kilgore, an intellectual and calm voice of reason in those frantic days, Hearst recounted in her 1982 book, “Every Secret Thing.” 

“He’s clearly more intelligent than the average criminal, to sever any ties in the Bay area that might lead us to him,” said Andrew Black, a spokesman for the San Francisco FBI office that is leading the search. “He’s smart enough, we feel, to establish a new identity, to establish credit.” 

Profilers have said Kilgore probably lives in North America. He was a sports fanatic with an undergraduate degree in economics who worked as a cook and house painter during his radical years. 

Investigators have no reason to believe Kilgore is dead — but he could be. He hasn’t been arrested even on a petty charge, because his fingerprints haven’t turned up. 

The FBI stepped up the search after Olson was arrested in June 1999 in St. Paul, Minn. She was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison Friday for trying to blow up Los Angeles police cars in 1974. 

The FBI recently offered a $20,000 reward and unveiled a bust and computer-enhanced photographs of what a clean-shaven, gray-haired Kilgore might look like now. 

He was featured on TV’s “America’s Most Wanted,” and tips poured in — more than 200 in the last two years. They yielded no success. 

“It appears he’s able to blend into society,” Black said. “He’s probably somebody’s neighbor and very likely could be living quietly, as Kathleen Soliah was.” 

Kilgore was born in Portland, Ore., and grew up in the San Francisco Bay area town of San Rafael. The 5-foot, 10-inch Kilgore was athletically inclined and the FBI said he may play basketball and golf. 

Kilgore was originally charged with having a pipe bomb at his San Francisco residence in September 1975, just as the group’s remaining members fled for life underground. 

Now they hope adding a murder charge might prompt someone, somewhere, to turn him in. 

Hopefully, someone will recognize him,” Black said. “It’s been a long time, though.”

RENO, Nev. — Reno and Las Vegas rank near the middle nationally but continue to boast some of the most-affordable housing in the West. Santa Cruz, Calif., edged out San Francisco for the least-affordable housing in the nation. 

The results come from the National Association of Home Builders, which compiles the list each year by comparing family incomes and home prices for metropolitan areas around the country. The latest survey is based on third-quarter numbers for 2001. 

The Santa Cruz metro area’s median income is $65,000, and the median home price is $420,000, up $5,000 from the previous quarterly survey. 

San Francisco dropped to second, as its median home price fell $10,000 to $520,000, still the most expensive median home price in the country. 

In the West, Anchorage, Alaska, claims the most-affordable housing, with about 80 percent of its housing affordable to families with median incomes, the report said. 

That’s due in large part to the relatively large median family income in Alaska — $60,500 in 2001. The median sales price for a home there was $145,000. 

Phoenix ranked second among the 48 major metropolitan areas in the West in terms of most-affordable housing, followed by Albuquerque, N.M. 

Reno-Sparks tied with Bakersfield, Calif., for fourth regionally, with about 68 percent of the housing in both areas affordable to families with median incomes. Las Vegas was next at 67 percent, followed by Viaslia-Tulare-Porterville, Calif.; Salt Lake City; Tucson, Ariz., and Olympia, Wash. 

The median family income in the Reno-Sparks metropolitan area in 2001 was $58,400 with a median home sale price of $167,000. In Bakersfield, the houses are cheaper, $109,000, but the median income is lower as well, $40,300. 

Las Vegas reported median income of $52,100 and houses priced at $150,000. 

Nationally, Reno and Bakersfield tied for 97th in terms of affordability with Las Vegas at 150 out of 186 metropolitan areas. 

The regional figures are somewhat skewed in the West because nine of the 10 least-affordable markets in the nation are in California. The Salinas metro area in Monterey County was third, followed by San Jose, which has a $450,000 median home price — the second-most expensive median home price in the nation. 

Rounding out the top 10 behind San Jose were Santa Rosa, the Vallejo-Fairfield-Napa area, the San Luis Obispo-Atascadero-Paso Robles area, Oakland and San Diego. The Portsmouth-Rochester area in New Hampshire and Maine took 10th in the study. 

The most affordable housing was found in Rockford, Ill., which has a median home price of $99,000 and a median family income of $57,100. 

Among cities of more than 1 million people, Indianapolis was the most affordable, with a median home price of $130,000 and a median income of $60,700. 

Santa Cruz has been vehemently anti-growth, but with such an expensive housing market, the City Council is trying to come up with solutions for environmentally sound and affordable housing.

RENO, Nev. — Blustery winds could not snuff the Olympic torch or the enthusiasm of thousands of people who lined northern Nevada streets on Monday to cheer the flame as it makes its way to the Winter Games in Utah. 

A day after celebrants welcomed the Olympic flame back to the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley USA, torch bearers braved winds gusting up to 40 mph along the eastern front of the Sierra range on a one-day visit to northern Nevada. 

Jessica Young made it to the downtown Reno arch about a half-hour behind schedule as thousands of onlookers cheered at a midday rally and sent the torch on a last leg through nearby Sparks before continuing on to Oregon. 

In Genoa, one of Nevada’s earliest settlements, several hundred people turned out in the early-morning chill to watch the relay as it began the day against the backdrop of the Sierra Nevada. 

From there, the relay progressed north up U.S 395 to Carson City. 

Daryl Nourse, 18, was among those who carried the flame through Nevada’s capital city. 

A Carson City native, Nourse, who is a freshman at Montana State University in Bozeman, flew home on Saturday to participate in Monday’s torch relay. 

He planned to fly back to Montana later in the day. 

“I hadn’t really thought about carrying the torch until I was chosen,” he told the Nevada Appeal. “It makes you think about being in the Olympics.” 

World champion freestyle skier Glen Plake sported a foot-high, red, white and blue mohawk hairdo as he helped shuttle the torch through Carson City. 

From Carson, the torch was driven to the south end of Reno, where another group of carriers dressed in official torchbearer sweat suits took up the cause. 

One group of spectators had crafted a makeshift arch out of red, white and blue balloons for the torch relay to pass under as it entered Reno’s southern limits. 

But whipping winds gusting to 25-40 mph tore the delicate architecture before the relay arrived. 

Still, the weather didn’t dampen the spirits of the runners or onlookers. 

Mills Lane, the former star of the “Judge Mills Lane” show who nearly boxed his way into the 1960 Summer Olympics, was among those who helped pass the torch through Reno. 

“It was a kick in the tail. I enjoyed it,” said Lane, an ex-county prosecutor and district court judge, boxing referee and promoter. 

“I was one fight away from the Olympics in 1960. I got beat in the finals. Now to be involved in this way — this is just a great country. 

“This is what it’s all about. Race, creed, color, gender, makes no matter. We’re all Americans.” 

In downtown Reno, many people waved flags and cheered as Young carried the torch along the last leg of the run down Virginia Street and lit the Olympic cauldron under the famed arch proclaiming Reno as the “The Biggest Little City in the World.” 

The University of Nevada, Reno student who donated a kidney to her sister in April described her Olympic experience as uplifting and “a rush.” 

Young said participating in the torch run and Olympics as a whole have instilled “pride and spirit in our country, especially when we need it.” 

After a brief ceremony in downtown Reno, the torch headed toward Sparks. 

From there, it will be taken by train to Klamath Falls, Ore., where it will continue its journey through Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado before arriving in Salt Lake City on Feb. 8 in time for the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Olympic Games. 

LOS ANGELES — As many of his kin hibernate, a black bear dubbed Arthur is as active as the debate that persists over his fate. 

Middle-aged with a limp, and weighing just 309 pounds, the bear is living in a Department of Fish and Game facility near Sacramento. Its haunches are half-shaven, but the bear is still heartier-looking than it was when state officials took him in last November. 

Then, the animal was walking on three legs — holding up its right rear paw — and living in a golf course culvert in Mammoth Lakes, a ski resort town in the eastern Sierra Nevada that is home to about 30 bears. 

Animal welfare advocates had monitored and videotaped the bear for nearly a month while urging the state to do something about the animal. 

“It was an easy one to fix: Either kill the bear or help him,” said Steve Searles, who works with the Mammoth Lakes Police Department on a bear aversion program. 

The Humane Society of the United States and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals called for the bear to receive treatment. 

Fish and Game officials finally stepped in to help, but Searles contends the delay amounted to cruelty to the animal. 

He has submitted videotapes, letters and other evidence to Mono County prosecutors. District Attorney George Booth said last week he was examining the information but declined to comment further. 

Searles and others believed Arthur had a gunshot wound. But Fish and Game officials said they didn’t see one and initially decided to let the animal deal with its injury naturally. 

“It’s not like, ’my dog is limping, I need to take it to the vet,”’ said Doug Updike, a senior wildlife biologist with Fish and Game. “I don’t think that’s respectful of the fact that these are wild animals.” 

The bear was able to move around and even climbed 60 feet up a tree to get away from officials, said agency spokesman Steve Martarano. 

“We probably should have just let the bear stay in the wild; it’d be hibernating right now,” he said. “Once we put our hands on them, it’s not a good situation for the bear.” 

After the bear was captured, veterinarians found that a bony growth — probably triggered by a bacteria or fungus — was responsible for the bear’s lameness. They found no open wound but did discover three pieces of buckshot in its hip. 

Fish and Game officials said the shooting of the bear had nothing to do with its bone injury. 

But John Hadidian, director of the Humane Society’s urban wildlife program, said the bone problem and the shooting appear to have happened at about the same time. 

“The bulk of the evidence does suggest the gunshot had a big, big role to play in this,” he said. 

The Humane Society and other groups are urging authorities to find and prosecute whoever shot the bear. 

Veterinarians have put the bear on antibiotics and painkillers. Now it’s putting weight on its left rear leg, although it still favors the right one. It’s also living in a pen covered in burlap to minimize exposure to humans. 

State officials say they can’t release the bear back into the wild, and that it probably will end up in a zoo. 

“The bear was taken out of a situation where it was living in and out of garbage cans. Putting a bear back in that ... isn’t the responsible thing,” Updike said. 

Searles contends that Arthur resorted to eating garbage only when he became too weak to compete with other bears to find anything else. The bear should be set free — even if that means an early death, he said. 

“The only way I see to right the wrong that’s happened is to set him free and let nature take its course,” Searles said. “He is not afraid of death like you and I are. Nothing worse could happen than what already has occurred to him.” 

A year later, many families have not been compensated in $1.3 million fraud, breach of contract lawsuit against landlords 

NAPA — A legal group that helped 120 low-income Napa families win $1.3 million in a lawsuit against their landlord has sued another law firm that was supposed to administer the trust fund from which the families were to be paid. 

Legal Aid of Napa’s suit against San Francisco’s Tehin and Partners accuses the San Francisco firm of fraud, breach of contract, negligence and converting client money to other uses. The Napa group says that a year after the victory, most of the residents still have not gotten their money. 

James Krieg, an attorney representing Tehin and Partners, said he thinks the suit has no substance to it. 

Krieg said Tehin decided to dispense the settlement checks directly to families instead of using Legal Aid, and that families who go to the Tehin law office in San Francisco can get their money and that some have. 

The settlement agreement called for Legal Aid to hand out the checks, which range from $3,000 to $13,000, with the average slightly more than $10,000. 

The full settlement was $2 million, and about $700,000 of that was for attorneys fees, which went to Tehin, and Tehin in turn gave Legal Aid a donation. Legal Aid is asking that Tehin give up the fees as well as pay punitive damages to Legal Aid. 

The families sued landlord Ed Keith in 1999 alleging some of his apartment complexes violated state habitability standards. Keith admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement with the tenants. 

Proposition 40: 

“The California Clean Water, Clean Air, Safe Neighborhood Parks and Coastal Protection Act.” 

• Issues $2.6 billion in debt to pay to improve water and air quality; protect beaches; improve parks; and preserve open space, farmland and wildlife habitat. 

• Estimated cost: $4.3 billion over 25 years, including $1.7 billion in interest, or $172 million a year from the state’s general fund. Potential annual cost of tens of millions of dollars to maintain or operate parks. 

• Supporters include the National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, League of Women Voters of California. 

• Opponents including the National Tax Limitation Committee say the state can’t afford more debt in a faltering economy, and that the money will be spent “on more pork, not ... parks.” They note voters approved $4 billion in bonds for parks and clean water efforts in 2000. 

Proposition 41: 

“Voting Modernization Bond Act.” 

• Issues $200 million in debt for grants to counties to buy modern voting equipment to replace punch card (“chad”) systems such as caused problems in Florida in the 2000 presidential election. 

• Estimated cost: $255 million over 10 years, including $55 million in interest, or $26 million a year from the state’s general fund. Annual operating cost estimated at tens of millions of dollars. 

• Supporters including California Common Cause, the League of Women Voters of California and the secretary of state say California needs to eliminate the punch card systems. 

• Opponents including the National Tax Limitation Committee and Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association say existing tax money could be used to buy new voting machines. 

Proposition 42: 

“Transportation Congestion Improvement Act.” 

• The state’s 6 percent sales tax on gasoline traditionally goes into the state’s general fund, but a law last year dedicates the money to transportation improvements from 2003-2009. Proposition 42 would write that law permanently into the state Constitution. 

• Estimated revenue: $1.4 billion in 2008-2009. Of that, 40 percent would go to local street repairs, 40 percent to major road projects and 20 percent to public transit. 

• Supporters, including the California State Automobile Association and California Organization of Police and Sheriffs, say roads, bridges and mass transit systems badly need repair that should be supported with a dedicated gasoline sales tax. 

• Opponents, including the California Teachers Association and California State Firefighters’ Association, say the money is needed more for education, health and public safety. 

Proposition 43: 

“Right to Have Vote Counted.” 

• Explicitly guarantees the right of a voter to have his or her vote counted, letting county elections officers petition the Superior Court to extend postelection deadlines so votes can be counted or recounted. 

• Supporters, including California Common Cause and the League of Women Voters of California, say California could find itself in the same predicament as Florida, where postelection deadlines stopped recounts during the 2000 presidential election. 

• Opponents, including the Voter Information Alliance, say the measure could prompt lawsuits or invalidate elections by requiring that every vote be counted even when those votes have no chance of affecting the outcome of the election. 

Proposition 44: 

“Chiropractors. Unprofessional Conduct.” 

• Bars chiropractors from employing others to procure patients; revokes a chiropractor’s license for 10 years upon two or more insurance fraud convictions; and requires the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners to investigate insurance fraud charges against chiropractors unless the district attorney objects. 

• Supporters, including the California District Attorneys Association, say the measure would deter insurance fraud. 

• Opponents say license revocation should be reserved for chiropractors who harm patients, and there should be no limit on methods chiropractors employ to attract patients. 

Proposition 45: 

“Legislative Term Limits. Local Voter Petitions.” 

• Voters could petition to let their incumbent legislator run for re-election and serve a maximum of four years beyond the current two four-year terms allowed for state senators and three two-year terms permitted for Assembly members. The provision could be used just once by each legislator. 

• Supporters say the proposition would keep the term limits adopted by voters in 1990, while letting voters extend the terms of extraordinary lawmakers. 

• Opponents say the measure would destroy term limits, reinstating career politicians and special interests who are backing the proposition. 

Question: 

My lease calls for an automatic one-year renewal at the end of the first year, unless I inform the landlord before the term ends that I will be moving out. I thought that a landlord and tenant had to sign a new lease in order to extend the term for another year; otherwise it automatically became a month-to-month rental agreement. Is an automatic renewal clause legal? 

Answer: 

Yes, but only if certain requirements are met. Under state law, a lease provision for the renewal of all or part of the full term of the lease can be valid, where the tenant remains in possession after the lease expires or fails to give notice before the lease expires of his or her intent to vacate (Civil Code sec. 1945.5). However, if the lease is printed, this automatic renewal clause must appear in at least eight-point boldface type, and a statement that this clause is contained in the body of the lease must also appear in eight-point boldface type immediately before the place the tenant signs. 

If these requirements are not met, you may void the automatic renewal clause. In this case, if you remain in possession after the lease expires, and the landlord accepts rent, you are presumed to have renewed the agreement on the same terms, except on a month-to-month basis, assuming your rent is due monthly (Civil Code sec. 1945). 

Question: 

My tenant moved into a rent-controlled apartment on March 1, 2001, and signed a lease that ends on February 28, 2002. The rent is $1,000. If he wants to stay after this February, I’d like him to sign another one-year lease. Can I require this, or is he allowed to stay even if he refuses to sign a new lease? Also, if he agrees to a new lease, I know I cannot increase the rent by the 2002 Annual General Adjustment (AGA) because his tenancy began in 2001. But in January 2003, may I increase the rent in accordance with the AGA for that year, or am I stuck with my current rent until the lease expires in March 2003? 

Answer: 

At the end of a fixed-term lease, a landlord may require a tenant to sign another lease that is substantially identical to the previous lease; if the tenant refuses, it is grounds for eviction, as long as the landlord does not accept rent from the tenant beyond the term of the first lease period (See the Rent Ordinance, Berkeley Municipal Code section 13.76.130 A.4). If your tenant signs a new one-year lease this year for $1,000, you may increase the rent in January 2003 by the AGA for 2003, only if you include a clause in the lease providing for such an increase. 

You can e-mail the City of Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board at rent@ci.berkeley.ca.us for individual questions, or you can call or visit the office at 2125 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA. 94704 (northeast corner of Milvia/Center Streets) Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, between 9 a.m. and 4:45 p.m., and on Wednesday between noon and 4:45 p.m. Our telephone numberberkeley.ca.us/rent/. 

This column appears two Fridays a month.

A very vital part of the ongoing battle about Berkeley City Council district boundaries has been the 32,000 students at UC Berkeley, and that’s just the way the Associated Students of the University of California want it, says Vice President of External Affairs Josh Fryday.  

“It’s almost impossible for students to get elected,” said the 20-year-old political science student. “The fact that students represent 22 percent of the Berkeley population demands that we have a chance to participate in Berkeley politics.” 

The ASUC’s push for a student district is part of a larger effort to increase UC Berkeley student involvement in city politics, said Andy Katz, the most recent student appointed to Berkeley’s powerful Zoning Advisory Board.  

“What we try to do is show students they have a stake in the community and are part of the city,” said Katz, who also serves as the ASUC’s director of city affairs lobby. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said he appointed 15 students who are currently serving on city boards and commissions. During his five year tenure, he has appointed 30 students to different boards.  

“This has nothing to do with political correctness,” he said. “It has to do with fairness. It’s part of a broader effort to get diversity in city government.”  

City boards and commissions are often the training grounds for future city council members, he added.  

“People under 40 never get appointed to city boards,” he said. “That’s denying young people what they need to serve in city government.”  

Students have unique needs and perspectives they should be allowed to represent, said Devra Bachrach, the 24-year-old UC Berkeley graduate student who chairs the Energy Commission.  

“I definitely bring the student perspective,” said Bachrach, a student in the Energy and Resources Group. “Most students are renters and face different circumstances.”  

Popular programs, like rebates for buying energy efficient appliances, don’t allow students to control their energy use, Bachrach said. Students need energy-efficient light bulbs and alternative sources of energy, which Bachrach says are two of the commission’s main focuses.  

Fryday lauds the City Council’s appointment of students to boards and commissions, but insists students need student representation on the city council.  

“The major issue here is that students have been excluded from Berkeley,” he said.  

But Susan Wengraf, Councilmember Betty Olds’ legislative aide, disagreed.  

“Don’t the students feel represented now by councilmember Worthington?” she said.  

According to Fryday the answer to that question is no. Instead, many are calling for their own district that would give them a 71 percent voting majority.  

Last October, the city scrapped a redistricting plan that would have given students a slight majority in District 8, which is represented by Councilmember Polly Armstrong, a moderate. Under pressure from moderates the city agreed to redo the plan.  

The ASUC is hoping to capitalize on the delay by working to draft an amendment to the city charter, which will allow the city to create a district that is 71 percent students. With this majority, Berkeley is likely to elect a student to the City Council for the first time in 17 years, Fryday said. 

The City Council has agreed to set up a committee to work with the students on such an amendment, but in the meantime it is also moving ahead with its redistricting plan. Any new amendment to the charter is unlikely to have an impact on student representation until 2004.  

Councilmember Olds, a moderate, might support the ASUC’s push to for a student district, Wengraf said.  

“I don’t think she’s flat out against it,” Wengraf said. But she asked, “What isn’t Councilmember Worthington doing that they want him to do?” 

Fryday disagreed and said the issue is not about Worthington’s performance on council at all. He said the ASUC is concerned with issues like affordable housing, safer streets and better public transportation and they need a student on Council to be heard.  

“Kriss Worthington is not a student and our feeling is that unless you have a student sitting on city council you can’t fully understand what it’s like,” Fryday said. “Worthington has other constituencies he’s accountable to, including homeowners and others who don’t support student interests.”

SAN FRANCISCO — John Walker Lindh’s parents had the first word in the battle to shape his image, calling him a “good kid,” releasing cute family pictures and suggesting he was brainwashed by the Taliban. 

The government painted a far darker picture based on his interviews with the FBI in Afghanistan, where he was captured in November. Attorney General John Ashcroft suggested Lindh alone decided to take up arms with the Taliban against the United States. 

Some of the people who met the young American during his first trip to the Middle East suspect the government’s view of Lindh’s actions is closer to the mark — even then, he seemed solely responsible for the choices he was making. Now, they say, he is clearly a danger to society. 

Lindh, who turns 21 on Feb. 9, was charged last week with conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens, and could face life in prison if convicted. He was being moved Tuesday from an American warship to Virginia, where he will stand trial. 

Thomas White, who studied Arabic with Lindh at the Yemen Language Center in San‘a, Yemen’s capital, agrees it would be good to keep him off the streets of America. 

“He was well-cooked before he arrived” in the Middle East in 1998, said White. “There was not much critical thinking going on.” 

Other students in Yemen remember Lindh as a recluse who studied the Koran in his room and often left the secular school to meet more fundamentalist Muslims. They quickly learned that when it came to Islam, there was no reasoning with the student who called himself “Suleyman.” 

“He was like, ’I found the truth and I’m not going to think about it. What I stand on is right, and what you stand on is wrong,”’ White recalled during a phone interview from his home in the West Bank. 

Michael Kleinman, Lindh’s roommate at the school, said the teen-ager was serious, studious and immature. 

“There was a lack of restraint. He went from zero to fundamentalist in two minutes,” said Kleinman, now a law student in Massachusetts. “There was also a lack of awareness of what was going on.” 

Lindh seemed to get his ideas in part from a pile of small pamphlets that he kept in his room, White recalled. 

“He used to sit around with ... these 20-page little scrap pamphlets on why Jesus was wrong and why Muhammad was right,” White said. “He had a stack of these things, and he argued from that.” 

Haifa Covey, a Yemen native who worked as a recruiter and liaison in California for the school, remembers Lindh as a somewhat naive and impressionable teen-ager who was anxious to journey overseas. He asked her for advice on everything from hiking boots to blankets. 

“This boy, I feel bad for him. I want to cry for him,” Covey said. “God knows who washed his brain. He was a good Muslim, a good boy. He didn’t have any problems, but give him the freedom to choose and God knows who played with his mind.” 

Covey said Lindh’s mother had serious reservations about the teen’s safety in a country where the State Department recommends that Americans travel with armed guards outside the capital. 

“His mom was calling and calling. ’Oh they will kill him there. It’s not safe. How much money will he need?”’ Covey recalled. “She gave us a hard time, the mother — calling, calling, calling. She was saying she didn’t feel safe for him to study in my country.” 

Lindh came to Yemen in the summer of 1998. After less than a semester he vanished from the school, former students said. 

Lindh apparently never warned his family he was leaving, but complained to school officials about having to study with women and criticized other Muslims for not praying enough. Months later, Yemeni security forces caught him at an airport trying to leave without a visa, according to Sabri Saleem, the school’s owner. 

Saleem says he was happy to see Lindh go after taking anguished calls from his mother and dealing with the American’s attitude toward other Muslims. 

“I was not happy with his personality,” Saleem said. “He isolated himself by asking students to go and pray. He had no right to talk to any of the students about that.” 

Lindh returned home to Marin County, Calif., for about eight months in 1999, then went back to the Middle East. He told the FBI he met Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, received weapons training and was sent to fight the northern alliance, which became a U.S. ally in the fight against the Taliban. 

Lindh also allegedly told the FBI he had learned a full three months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that bin Laden had dispatched suicide squads to the United States. 

Lindh’s parents, through their lawyer, declined comment for this story. After weeks of silence since their son was captured in Afghanistan, they issued a statement last week saying they still love and support him. 

Covey also remembers Lindh as “a very good person,” and said she’s withholding judgment until the trial. But she says he should be put to death if he had advanced warning of the Sept. 11 attacks, because it would make him a despicable Muslim and a bad American. 

“I don’t know what happened to him,” she said. “He met with the wrong people, with the wrong group.” 

Kleinman says he’s unsure what punishment Lindh deserves, and he’s waiting to see what evidence surfaces during the trial. He does, however, believe Lindh is responsible for his actions. 

“I don’t think you can write this off as youthful indiscretion,” Kleinman said. 

White remains torn — he saw the Californian as a misguided youth blindly searching for faith, but he also saw the lengths to which Lindh was willing to go to remain true to his interpretation of Islam. 

“They wouldn’t haven’t given a hoot about the guy if Sept. 11 hadn’t happened, and he would have come back to the U.S. and started a mosque,” White said. “The real question is what to do with this guy? As an American, I couldn’t trust him to be out on the streets. But then again, I don’t think he’s guilty of all that much. Maybe you send him back to Afghanistan.” 

STANFORD — Nearly 34 years after black students stormed a stage at Stanford University, grabbing the microphone and demanding change, several are returning to the school this week to discuss whether their demands have been met. 

The group of about 70 students took over the stage on April 8, 1968, four days after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was gunned down at a Memphis motel. 

The students made 10 demands for change, then walked off the Memorial Auditorium stage without incident, returning the microphone to Provost Richard Lyman. They received a standing ovation. 

“When Lyman starts talking, we decided, we’re not going to hurt him — we’re not going to hurt anybody — but we are going to have our say,” said Keni Washington, a senior philosophy student at the time and co-chair of the Black Student Union. “We were tired of listening.” 

As part of a two-week celebration of King’s life and accomplishments, Washington and others who participated that day will return to their alma mater Wednesday to talk about positive changes on campus and what still needs work. 

The original demands included increasing Stanford’s minority enrollment, hiring more minority professors, offering minorities more financial aid and introducing more classes that deal with minority issues. 

“We felt the university had no one that could speak to the black experience at school,” said Charles Countee, who served as co-chair of the black organization with Washington. “Even if they were well-intentioned, they couldn’t understand the level of concern black students had.” 

The microphone incident led to the formation of African and African-American studies, Stanford’s first ethnic studies program, as well as the start of several campus minority groups, including the Committee on Black Performing Arts, Ujamaa House, Kuumba Dance Ensemble and the gospel choir. 

Prior to 1960, only two black students had enrolled at Stanford. By 1966, there were 35 and about 100 the following year. 

This year’s graduating class includes 166 blacks, and black students account for 9 percent of Stanford’s enrollment. In colleges nationwide, blacks make up 12 percent of enrollment. 

But some say it’s still not enough. 

“We do not have enough black faculty or women faculty, and when you combine the two, it’s dismal,” said Jan Barker Alexander, assistant dean of students and director of the Black Community Services Center. 

Black faculty increased at the university from 27 to 47 in the 1990s, but that represents only 3 percent of the total. 

“One thing Dr. King understood fervently was to not take action in the face of a wrong was a signal, in fact, a surrender,” Countee said.