The Alameda City Council continued this week to move forward with a $23.7 million multi-faceted project that would restore the long-abandoned 77-year-old Art Deco Alameda Theater in the heart of the city’s downtown, as well as building an adjoining seven-screen cineplex and an adjacent six-story parking garage. 

At Tuesday’s council meeting, after two rancorous back-to-back public hearings that featured close to 80 speakers and continued until after midnight, the council decided by identical 3-1-1 v otes to accept revised designs for the cineplex and adjoining parking garage and to reject an appeal to the city Planning Board’s approval of use permits. 

Santa Rosa developer Kyle Conner has been brought in by the city to restore the theater and build t he cineplex, but title to the property itself will remain with the city. City officials and downtown business leaders hope that the restoration and added public parking will help revive the city’s Park Street area. 

In the early hours of Wednesday morning after the latest round in the Alameda Theater Project wars, Conner appeared drained and apprehensive of the next battle, while opponents of the project seemed upbeat. 

Asked what his next steps would following two separate council votes at Tuesday’s publ ic hearings to move the Historic Alameda Theater Project forward, an exhausted Conner said, “We really have to see what happens with this next thing.” 

And after Citizens For A Megaplex Free Alameda leader Valeria Ruma said, “The council vote was not tota lly unexpected so we don’t consider this a setback.” She told supporters, “Now it’s on to the next step.” 

Both sides were talking about a pending CEQA lawsuit filed early last month by the citizens’ group in Superior Court, asking the court to order an e nvironmental impact report for the project. The city has not yet filed a response to the lawsuit complaint. 

If the court rules that the project can move forward without an EIR, Conner said that he expects to submit construction drawings to the city’s Bui lding Department in four to six months for approval. 

Mayor Beverly Johnson held the hearings without a break “so that speakers will be able to talk at a reasonable time.” 

Councilmember Tony Daysog cast both no votes, while Councilmember Doug deHaan abst ained both times. Daysog said that while he supported restoration of the theater, he continued to be concerned that the city was not recouping enough money from the project. 

Project proponents said the project had been studied enough and urged the council to move the project forward, while opponents argued that the council should put a halt to the project while considering alternate plans. 

Several charges by speakers from both sides reflected some of the bitterness of the continuing months-long battle. One proponent said that a citizen lawsuit filed against the project “smacks to me of blackmail; that’s not appropriate” while an opponent accused councilmembers of “already having your hearts set. I’m disgusted with you. I truly suspect corruption.” 

John Spangler, a project opponent, said, “I’m really sad tonight. I have friends on both sides of this issue. There have been a lot of words said in anger that should not have been said. I don’t think we want a divided body politic, but we have one.” 

Unlike an August City Council hearing , where close to 100 people spoke and opposition speakers outnumbered proponents 7 to 1, opinion for and against the cineplex/garage project at Tuesday’s hearing was more evenly divided. 

While there is almost universa l support in Alameda for restoration of the theater, opposition from the grassroots Citizens For A Megaplex Free Alameda group has emerged in recent months to oppose both the cineplex portion of the project and the parking garage. 

Last summer, organizati on leaders said they had collected more than 3,000 citizen signatures in opposition to the cineplex and parking garage. Robert Gavrich, one of the two organization leaders who filed an appeal to the Planning Board’s use permit approvals, said Tuesday, “Ou r numbers are growing every week. We’re not going to stop.” 

Despite the heated rhetoric by some on each side, there are signs that the two sides are inching closer to each other. 

In response to opposition complaints about the portions of the project’s e xterior design—last August, Councilmember deHaan called the parking structure “butt-ugly”—the council has called in Oakland architects Komorous-Towey, specialists in art-deco restoration work and a firm that participated in the restoration of San Francisco’s City Hall. 

Komorous-Towey’s proposed changes to the exterior cineplex and parking garage design—which council approved on Tuesday night—won praise even from many speakers who oppose the overall project. 

Roma said that while the new design “does not really change the size and massing of the garage, I want to complement the architect. This is a vast improvement.” 

Kevin Frederick, an opponent to the project who said he coined the “butt-ugly” description of the proposed parking garage that deHaan later repeated, said that the “current design is way better than the previous design” and said that he was glad that the city had gotten rid of the previous project architect, whom Frederick called “a hack.” 

Praise for Komorous-Towey’s changes were echo ed by project proponents. Vice Mayor Marie Gilmore, who voted to move the project forward last August and again this week, said that she was “particularly pleased with the way the parking garage came out. We got a lot more of what we wanted, and we knew w e wanted it when we saw” what KTA had proposed. 

Citizens for a Megaplex-Free Alameda (CMFA) have also produced an alternate development plan which they say will meet the city’s goals for the restoration of the Alameda Theater as well as deal with opposit ion complaints about the approved project plan. 

CMFA’s plan would cut the number of screens in the project from seven to five, add a town plaza and other amenities, and move the parking garage to another nearby location which the group calls more appropr iate. CMFA speakers asked the council to consider their proposal. 

CMFA member Alice Ray said in a statement, “I see the alternative we are presenting as one of several that could all fit the constraints of this project. I’d be happy to support not just t his configuration but others that meet the same criteria.” 

›

Berkeley Court Commissioner John Rantzman heard several hours of testimony from neighbors of a South Berkeley homeowner on Thursday describing the personal and economic damages they claim they have suffered living near what they say police call “the most notorious house in Berkeley.” 

“I’m a prisoner in my own house,” community college teacher Monica Bosson, who lives three doors from the Oregon Street home owned by 75-year-old Lenora Moore, told the court. Bosson said she has watched numerous drug deals in the Moore house. 

“I can’t garden in my front yard, and I love to garden. I’ve found needles, drug baggies, condoms, and liquor bottles in my front yard. I’ve been the victim of a home invasion,” she said. “People walk by and urinate in my yard. Lenora Moore not only does not stop this activity, her acquiescence condones the actions that are going on through her house.” 

Fifteen neighbors of Moore have filed suit in Small Claims Court in Berkeley claiming that Moore’s house is a hub of South Berkeley drug dealing by Moore’s children and grandchildren. The neighbors are asking $5,000 in damages apiece. 

There have been no allegations from neighbors that Moore herself is involved in the drug dealing. But with several of Moore’s children having been convicted of drug dealing offenses, the neighbors are alleging that Moore either will not or cannot prevent her offspring from using the house for illegal activities. 

Moore, who has seven children, 37 grandchildren, and 20 great-grandchildren, lives in the Oregon Street house with her disabled husband, two of the grandchildren, and a live-in attendant who takes care of her husband. She works at the West Oakland Senior Center. 

Thursday’s session was the second half-day of testimony in the case, and Commissioner Rantzman set a third session for Nov. 28. Testimony is expected at that time by Taj Johns, Neighborhood Services Liaison for the City of Berkeley, concerning the history of her office’s intervention at Moore’s house. 

Activity in the courtroom showed the unusual amount of interest in a small claims case. Former Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean, who has continued her interest in Berkeley political and neighborhood activities, was there. Plaintiffs were assisted in preparing their filings and court case by the Oakland-based nonprofit organization Neighborhood Solutions, although one of the plaintiffs, Paul Rauber, is presenting the case in court. Moore is being represented in court by Berkeley paralegal Leo Stegman. 

Ms. Moore testified briefly on Thursday. Asked by Stegman what she felt about drugs, Moore said, “I feel very bad about drugs. I don’t like them. I don’t use them. I’m against anyone around me using them.” 

She said that she has never seen anybody selling drugs on her property. And when Stegman asked if she had confronted anyone “hanging out, playing loud music, screaming or shouting” on her property, Moore answered, “Yes. I’ve chased them away. I’ve told them to get away from the front of my house.” 

With plaintiffs having presented their case at the first hearing last month on allegations of drug activity coming out of the Moore house, Commissioner Rantzman limited their testimony on Thursday to the damages they claim they have suffered. Plantiffs gave two hours of allegations of slashed tires, stalking and surveillance by what they called “associates of Ms. Moore,” burglaries, violence, speeding, loud noise, calls to the hospital to pick up people with drug overdoses, and other activities associated with drug trafficking and drug use. 

Rauber said, “My 2-year old daughter found a hypodermic needle while we were working in the yard. She held it up and asked me, ‘What’s this, Daddy?’” Pausing, his voice breaking up, Rauber asked, “What kind of father am I to raise my child in an environment like this?” 

Suzanne Baptiste described the social and political toll that South Berkeley drug activity has taken on her. 

“I used to be the stereotypical Berkeley liberal,” Baptiste said. “I believed that drugs should be legalized. I’ve been to Amsterdam. But I now know without a shadow of a doubt that drugs bring violence. I don’t like the change that has come over me. I’ve become harder and less compassionate. I now believe in the three strikes law. And though I’m not proud of it, I’ve learned to use a firearm.” 

Baptiste did not put all of the blame on Moore, however, saying that she was “extremely disappointed in the city of Berkeley” for not addressing neighbors’ concerns about the South Berkeley drug problems. 

“Berkeley is culpable,” she said. “The city has let us down.” 

Offering rebuttal after each plaintiff’s testimony, Stegman did not refute their allegations of drug-related activity, but repeatedly argued that the plaintiffs had not tied much of that activity to Moore’s house. 

“They want to blame this one lady for all the crime in Berkeley,” he said. At one point, when a plaintiff said that one of Moore’s grandchildren had assaulted her child, Stegman said that “small claims court is not the place to handle fights between children.” 

At another point, Stegman accused the plaintiffs of racism against the African-American Moore. Reacting to a plaintiff’s remark about the diversity in their South Berkeley neighborhood, Stegman retorted, “What they really want in the neighborhood is for everybody to be the same color and do the same thing. That’s not diversity. The plaintiffs are all the same culture and almost all the same color.” 

Before Commissioner Rantzman cut him off, Stegman said, “It just sickens me, this psuedo-diversity. It’s phony, a fake, and a fraud.”›

Seacology, a Berkeley nonprofit dedicated to saving the imperiled ecologies of islands and coral reefs around the world, racked up another honor this week. 

The Achievement in Innovation Award came from the California Association of Nonprofits, which hailed the organization’s unique relief efforts in response to the Dec. 29, 2004, tsunami that devastated communities in Southeast Asia and along the shores of the Indian Ocean. 

The honor was presented at the association’s annual meeting in San Francisco. 

“We set up a very unusual program,” said Seacology Executive Director Dune Silverstein. “One hundred percent of the donations we received went for relief. Seacology didn’t keep one penny.” 

Because major charities and relief efforts were dealing with the immediate needs of survivors, Silverstein said Seacology concentrated on longer-term issues, focusing their efforts on four villages. 

“We asked them, ‘What do you need?,’” he recalled. “For a village in the Andaman Islands, the answer was 20 chickens and one goat for each family.” 

The animals not only met the villagers’ needs for sustenance, but they also provided a source of revenue. 

“Sadly,” Silverstein said, “many organizations don’t listen to the wishes of the people.” 

Another village asked for replacements for fishing gear that had been swept away by the massive quake-generated wave; another asked for boats. 

“We worked with trusted village leaders so we knew we would have significant impacts, rather than spreading our efforts over hundreds of thousands,” Silverstein said. 

Seacology raised $261,716 for tsunami relief efforts, and every donor, regardless of the size of her or his gift, received a detailed account of how the money was spent, along with photographs. 

Seacology’s goal is to save the environments in and around the earth’s islands. 

“Islands contain some of the world’s most endangered ecosystems,” Silverstein said. “You hear a lot about endangered rain forests in the Amazon and in Africa, but well over 50 percent of the total species extinctions—and 90 percent for birds and reptiles—have occurred in the islands. People think of islands as isolated, but with global warming, acid rains and other factor, they are no longer isolated the way they once were.” 

To save the vanishing ecologies of the world’s islands, Seacology’s staff meets with villagers to learn their needs and then agrees to provide them—if the villagers agree to set up a preserve on the island or in the coral reefs near the shoreline. 

In the organization’s 12 years, it has managed to create reserves totaling 1.7 million acres. The group has only five staff members in the Berkeley headquarters and several part-time staffers scattered throughout the world. Seacology accomplishes all this with a modest budget of about $1.2 million a year. 

“In the developing world,” Silverstein explains, “a little money goes a long way.” 

Seacology’s efforts and methods have won high praise. A 2002 article in Pacific Magazine on the organization carried the subheadline, “American NGO Seacology Shuns Environmental Colonialism.” 

Its advisory board includes some of the greatest luminaries in the scientific world, including noted author Jared Diamond, Harvard entomologist Edward O. Wilson, Thomas Elmqvist, scientific research director of the Swedish Biodiversity Center, and John Ogden, director of the Florida Institute of Oceanography. 

Dr. Paul Cox holds a special place on the advisory panel as the founder of Seacology. 

A specialist in island botany and the ethnobotany of island cultures, Cox has won numerous awards and currently serves as Executive Director of the Institute for Ethnobotany of the congressionally chartered National Tropical Botanical Garden, which is based in Hawaii and Florida. 

He was named a “Hero of Medicine” by Time magazine in 1997 and is a recipient of the Goldman Environmental Prize. 

Silverstein was serving as executive director of the San Francisco-based Goldman Environmental Fund, when Cox won the award for his work in saving the rain forest in Samoa, inspiring Cox’s later move to Seacology when it gained an office and full-time staff in Berkeley. 

It takes only a few seconds’ conversation with Silverstein to catch his infectious enthusiasm for Seacology’s work. 

Unlike many environmental groups, Seacology does not offer memberships, which eliminates some financial burden. 

The group’s operating style has won the highest four star rating from Charity Navigator, the leading reference base on nonprofits relied on by contributors who want to see that their dollars are well spent. 

From a modest office at 2009 Hopkins St., a small Seacology staff is making a big effort to save a vanishing but critical part of the world’s ecosytem.

A demonstration outside the gates of Richmond’s ChevronTexaco refinery Tuesday morning ended in a massive police turnout, two arrests and conflicting reports about what happened. 

Even Lt. Mark Gagan, spokesperson for the Richmond Police Department, wasn’t quite sure who did what to whom. Dean O’Hair, spokesperson for the refinery, said he wasn’t sure either. 

“The more time goes by, the less I know,” O’Hair said. “We do know there were some picketers and the Richmond police worked to keep the roadway clear.” 

Conflicting news accounts haven’t helped, including one that described the event as a “melee,” a label strongly disputed by two union members interviewed for this story. 

The pickets, including both union members and community activists, were protesting the arrival of a large contingent of out-of-state workers, many non-union, who had arrived at the refinery as part of a major maintenance program. 

At least 30 police cars were on hand at one point during the morning, including officers from Albany, El Cerrito and the California Highway Patrol. 

Greg Feere, president of the Contra Costa Building and Trades Council, said he witnessed the arrest of Tom Baca, president of Local 549 of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers. 

“Tom had been in the hospital for kidney stones and he’d had four units of blood, and I asked him what he was doing out here. He was there only 10 or 15 minutes, and he said he didn’t feel good and was going home,” Feere said. 

Baca’s car was on the other side of Richmond Parkway, and when he started to cross with the green light and the walk light, Feere said, a cop told him he couldn’t cross. 

“The cop said he’d arrest him, but he said he had to go home and started to cross,” Feere said. “The cop told him ‘Fuck you,’ and when he started to cross, he was arrested. It was totally outrageous.” 

Lt. Gagan said Baca was charged with section 148 of the California Penal code, which covers “obstructing, resisting and delaying an officer” in the performance of his or her duties. 

The second suspect was arrested on suspicion of vandalism, possibly from an incident where an arriving contract worker swung at a picketer who Feere said “may have brushed his car, and the picketer allegedly booted his car” in return. 

Feere’s account was corroborated by another member of Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 342 who also witnessed Baca’s arrest. 

Don Gosney, vice president of Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 342, said his members are angry that the oil giant was bringing in non-union contract workers, many from Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, to do work that Contra Costa County union members could do just as well or better. 

“The only qualification they have is that they’re willing to work for a lot less money and do whatever the company tells them to do,” Gosney said. 

O’Hair disagreed. “What we want and what elected officials and members of the community want, is that we hire the right workers,” he said.  

“We have hired both local and out of state workers, and the companies that do this kind of work are concentrated where a lot of the facilities are, which is along the Gulf Coast,” he said. “Our preference is to hire locally, but sometimes we can’t.” 

Feere charged that the contract employees are paid between $7.50 and $21 an hour, lower than union wage scales. Contract workers also don’t receive pension and health care benefits, Feere said, “so if anything happens to them, they have to go to county facilities, and we taxpayers end up paying for it.” 

Union members and community activists charge that Sgt. Joe Silva aggravated an already tense situation by his conduct on the scene, including his arrest of Baca. 

Andres Soto, a Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA) activist and one-time City Council candidate, encouraged union members to make complaints to the Richmond Police Commission. 

City Council and RPA member Gayle McLaughlin also voiced her disapproval of Silva, who ordered that the cars of protesters be ticketed and towed. 

McLaughlin said she first learned of the planned picket over the weekend, when she received a flyer from a group calling itself the Concerned Citizens of West Contra Costa County, which had called for the demonstration to protest “the outsourcing of 1,000 local jobs to non-union, out-of-state, out-of-area workers.” 

The protest began before 6 a.m., and after the demonstrators dispersed, officers were back for the evening shift change, but no demonstrators appeared. They were back again Wednesday morning, but again, all was quiet. 

The refinery is both Richmond’s largest employer and the focus of many residents’ concerns and fears.Ã

A juvenile court judge today referred a 17-year-old Oakland girl who admitted stabbing a 75-year-old woman at the Berkeley Rose Garden in March to a California Youth Authority facility for evaluation. 

Alameda County Juvenile Court Referee Mark Kliszewski said the girl, who was dressed in light red jail clothes at her court appearance today, “won’t be in any danger’’ during the 90-day evaluation at the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility for Girls in Camarillo. 

Kliszewski said he also believes that sending her to the CYA “is the safest way’’ to get her to the Porterville Development Hospital, a state facility that prosecutor Walter Jackson and defense attorney Cliff Blakely agreed is the best institution for her so she can get treatment for her mental health problems. 

The girl is scheduled to return to court on Feb. 22 to be sentenced. 

Blakely objected to the girl being sent to the CYA, even for just an evaluation, calling such as placement “inappropriate and unlawful.’’ 

Blakely said that because of ongoing litigation against the agency, the CYA has an internal order dating back to 2003 requiring it to reject minors with mental health problems and a San Francisco Superior Court judge also has barred it from taking such youths. 

After the hearing, Blakely said, “I’m worried about my client and her stability’’ because she’ll be disrupted by being removed from the Alameda County Juvenile Hall in San Leandro, which he said has been a calming environment for her, and transferred to Camarillo. 

Blakely said he thinks it would be better for the girl to be evaluated by a regional center, while still housed at juvenile hall, and then sent to the Porterville Development Hospital. 

Placing the girl has been difficult because her most recent test showed she has an IQ of 55 and many mental health facilities won’t take people who have an IQ below 70. 

However, Blakely said he believes the girl’s results were skewed because she was “extremely psychotic’’ at the time of the test. He said she currently is on medication and is more stable now. 

On Sept. 6, the girl pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon for the March 16 stabbing incident, which shocked North Berkeley residents. 

The girl admitted to grabbing the elderly woman, who was walking with her husband in the 1200 block of Euclid Avenue in Berkeley about 6:30 p.m., and slashing the woman’s throat from behind with a kitchen knife. 

The victim was able to recover from her wounds. 

Several weeks after the stabbing incident, Hamaseh Kianfar, 30, an Alameda County Juvenile Hall guidance counselor who had worked with the girl in the past, was charged with being an accessory to attempted murder for allegedly being with the girl at the time of the attack, driving her from the scene and failing to report the incident to police. 

Kianfar, who resigned from her job shortly after she was charged, is scheduled to return to Alameda County Superior Court on Nov. 18 for a pretrial hearing. 

—Bay City News›

The board of directors of the East Bay Regional Park District has postponed an eminent domain action on 238 acres along the Richmond shoreline in order to allow all the parties the chance to attempt to work out an agreement. 

Board members heard 22 speakers at a public hearing on the Breuner Marsh property Tuesday afternoon before voting to defer any action for at least 30 days. 

The property owners, with the support of the Richmond City Council, want to develop a mix of 1,000 residential units and retail development on the site, along with a transit station. But at the request of a coalition of Richmond residents and environmental preservationists who say they want to preserve the area as an open space wetlands habitat, park district staff recommended that the park district acquire the property through eminent domain and add it to the adjacent Point Pinole Park. 

The Richmond City Council then authorized city staff to challenge the park district’s eminent domain action in court if the district board authorized the proposal. 

Representatives of the park district, the City of Richmond, the property owner, and the property manager are expected to meet over the next month to see if a compromise can be reached. 

—

“I’ll tell you why I am a fundamentalist Muslim,” said a Sri Lankan city council member named—I kid you not—A. Marika. “When you are grading a grammar test, if the student writes, ‘I will get a apple from the store,’ will you grade it correct or incorrect? The meaning is clear; is it correct or not?” 

Thus began one of the more interesting conversations I had at the Sixth World Conference of Mayors for Peace in Hiroshima, Japan, where I was privileged to represent Berkeley at the behest of Mayor Tom Bates. In coming weeks, planning meetings will begin for the many cooperative ventures hatched at that conference, including sending a Berkeley delegation as part of the cities contingent to the World Peace Conference in Vancouver next June. 

Mr. Marika told me that those who engage in terrorism under the guise of Muslim fundamentalism are not acting as true Muslims, but rather misusing Islam to promote political agendas. He attaches great importance to nonviolence—and to a nuclear-free future. 

The depth of that commitment may be deduced from a few striking facts. The 35 delegates (plus interpreters) from Sri Lanka constituted by far the largest representation from one country, other than Japan. To attend the conference, Mr. Marika and the others each spent enough money to buy a small home in Sri Lanka. 

Activists follow our lead 

During the three-day conference held Aug. 4-6 (ending on the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombing), I was struck by the degree to which delegates throughout the world were interested in the leadership provided by a small, faraway city called Berkeley, Calif. 

On previous trips to Japan, I learned that peace activists in the Land of the Rising Sun are inspired by Berkeley’s leadership on global-justice issues. This was reinforced during an international peace conference near Tokyo July 30-31, at which Berkeley was asked to help lead a new movement to declare war-free cities around the world, inspired in part by the Nuclear Free Berkeley Act. Peace-and-justice leaders from Japan, Iraq, the Philippines, England, Switzerland, and Mexico expressed interest in Berkeley’s activist heritage and ways to work together in the future. I also spoke in Hiroshima, Sakai (Berkeley’s sister city), and Nishinomiya (near Osaka) at meetings where activists watched a documentary about Berkeley’s activism and discussed ways to apply the “Berkeley model” in their communities. 

On this, my fourth visit to Japan, I was unsurprised (but still awed) at Berkeley’s status as a touchstone for such activists. But I did not know what to expect at Mayors for Peace. This was an assemblage of government representatives, not grassroots activists; and they came from throughout the world, not just the progressive “hot-spots” represented at gatherings I’d previously attended. 

Cities also look to Berkeley 

What I found was this: Berkeley is looked to as a leader in the burgeoning movement of local governments acting on global issues. Consider: 

• With citizens and their local representatives increasingly frustrated by the destructive policies of their national governments (often at the behest of the current U.S. administration), Mayors for Peace has more than doubled in membership since its last world conference four years ago. It now includes more than 1,000 cities working to get rid of nuclear weapons. 

Participant after participant spoke about why it’s appropriate and necessary for localities to address global concerns. 

“It is on cities that nuclear bombs will fall, not governments,” said Mayor Garry Moore of Christchurch, New Zealand, whose interest in Berkeley led him to visit our city and have dinner with Mayor Bates and Assemblymember Hancock earlier this year. Mayors, he said, must protect their cities’ residents—including from the nuclear threat. Mayor Moore said it is possible and necessary “to be both idealistic and pragmatic at the same time.” 

• After my brief presentation about the Nuclear Free Berkeley Act, delegates from numerous cities approached me seeking assistance to develop similar policies for their communities. 

• In subsequent conference sessions, various delegates cited the Berkeley model as one to follow. A Massachusetts delegate particularly focused on the Berkeley-led South Africa boycott. 

• With an expected 20,000 participants, next year’s World Peace Forum in Vancouver, Canada will be the largest event of its kind to date, and will feature substantial participation from local governments. As Berkeley’s representative, I was lobbied heavily to participate in a meeting to organize local-government involvement in the forum. 

• On another issue, Berkeley was recently asked to join a global coalition of cities working to eliminate the death penalty worldwide, initiated by European cities impatient with national governments’ inaction. The Peace and Justice Commission’s recommendation to join the coalition is pending before the City Council. 

Clearly, the Berkeley model of thinking globally and acting locally is mushrooming worldwide. 

A responsibility to lead 

With so much admiration for Berkeley shown by Mayors for Peace delegates, I naturally felt great pride in the activist heritage of our town. I also felt a sense of responsibility, because such a reputation creates an opportunity—and therefore a duty—to lead. We owe it to our history; we owe it to our future. 

In a world threatened with nuclear annihilation, terrorism, grave social disparities, injustices against almost every social group, and environmental destruction, we do not have the luxury of parochialism. Having been handed the bat and ball, we must step up to the plate. 

As if to underscore that point, just as I was writing the preceding paragraph an e-mail message arrived from Namiho Nagata, who is running for City Council in the city of Kobe. “I will try to become a council member of Kobe city, and make a peace-loving city like Berkeley from my community,” she wrote. 

Can cities really help rid the world of the ultimate weapon of mass destruction? To the naysayer, we can point to our own city’s legacy. Was it “pie-in-the-sky” idealism to expect that apartheid could be brought down largely by a boycott started in a small California city? Was it “wishful thinking” for UC Berkeley protesters to believe their Free Speech Movement could break the shackles of censorship on campuses throughout the country? 

More than once, global challenges have been successfully confronted by innovative, effective action emanating from our small town. Ending the nuclear arms race may be a bigger challenge than campus free speech or ending apartheid, but we begin with a head-start over those earlier victorious efforts: A global movement is already in place, involving the elected leaders of more than 1,000 cities and coordinated by the politically astute Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba of Hiroshima. We’ve shown ‘em before that the pessimists can be wrong. Let’s sock it to ‘em once again!  

Steve Freedkin is chairperson of the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission and publisher of ProgressivePortal.org. 

›

If you see nothing on the screen but snow when you turn on a Berkeley Community Media (BCM) TV channel Monday, it’s not the fault of your television: It’s a protest. 

Operation Snowstorm has been organized by local community access stations around the country to protest a federal government proposal to stop requiring that cable television providers offer public and local governments access to airwaves. 

BCM Executive Director Brian Scott said, “It’s an action of solidarity with the Alliance for Community Media, a nationwide organization which is challenging the huge lobbying efforts by corporate media like Comcast, TimeWarner and SBC that are taking over the airwaves.” 

While most community stations are limiting their efforts to a series of short snowstorms on Nov. 7, BCM members are working on something more elaborate, Scott said. 

“We want to leave some power in the hands of the community,” he said. “We’re working on a series of spots that will explain what’s going on.” 

In Berkeley and other cities, Scott said, Comcast TV is trying to get out of their contracts which require some public and educational TV. Berkeley’s 15-year Comcast contract expires in 2006. 

“If there’s no voice for the people, all you’ll have is what the corporate media want you to believe, while with public access television, people can tell the truth and the station won’t have to fear losing advertising dollars,” Scott said. 

City Councilmember Kriss Worthington said he supports the protest. 

“It’s a national issue, and I’m glad to see Berkeley people are getting so involved,” he said.  

i

www.jfdefreitas.comI

PROGRESSIVES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Supporters of Lenora Moore call themselves “progressive.” They don’t seem to realize that their attitude has caused the declining of progressivism during the last few decades.  

If “progressives” support policies that perpetuate crime, drug-dealing, and unsafe neighborhoods, then most Americans will vote for conservatives.  

Andrea Prichett says we should look for the root causes or systemic causes of drug dealing in south Berkeley. I suggest that one of those root causes is her own “progressive” belief that people not responsible for their own behavior, that their problems are the fault of the system.  

Only in Berkeley! In other cities where people have used small claims court to free their neighborhoods from drug dealer, I have not heard about “progressives” trying to keep the drug dealers in the neighborhood. Let’s hope this news does not get out of Berkeley, because it will just provide more ammunition for conservatives.  

Charles Siegel 

• 

RAUBER AND CRITICS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It boggles the mind. 

Liberal journalist Paul Rauber is lead plaintiff in a civil suit against a neighbor, Lenora Moore, suing her for damages related to the criminal behavior (of her relatives and others) in their neighborhood. 

The critics of this lawsuit charge that Rauber and company are trying to force Moore out of her home and that their logic is one of collective punishment. In his most recent letter to the editor, Rauber offers his rebuttal. 

Rauber claims that it is false that the stated intent of the lawsuit is to force Moore to sell her property. “Before we filed our suit, we told her that if she would sell her house and leave the neighborhood, we would drop the action,” he explains. Well then. 

Likewise, Rauber bristles at the suggestion that Moore is not to blame for crime in the neighborhood. Despite his best efforts to report crimes to the authorities, he says nothing has changed, “largely because the Alameda County district attorney doesn’t take the matter seriously”. Well then. 

Am I crazy, or does Rauber actually agree with his critics? 

Christopher Cantor 

• 

INTOLERANCE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I feel the need to respond to Laura Menard’s letter (“Lies and Intolerance”), in which she advocates the censure of a local teacher, simply for expressing views that differ from her own. 

Ms. Menard, I have lived here in the Bay Area for all 23 years. I consider Berkeley my second home. I often think about how lucky I am to live in an urban place spread with a wonderful feast of opinions and views. These range from conservative to liberal to anarchist-radical, and each one adds richness and texture to our home. 

If Ms. Prichett is fired or disciplined solely for her political opinions, what does that say about our community as a feast of views that can exist side by side? What will happen to other teachers who hold strong opinions? Will the next generation of young learners have the chance to taste a variety of beliefs including, but not limited to, those on the left? Or will our young people face a sparse, meager political table? 

For the sake of our Bay Area, and our world, I hope not. 

Alexis Johnson 

Oakland 

• 

TRUE CORRUPTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Aren’t Andrea Prichett and Paul Rauber both overlooking the true corruption in this debate? Would moving all the South-Berkeley “criminal-aiding-grandmas” to other neighborhoods be a rational solution? Even incarcerating all the guilty would only waste more scarce millions by providing employment for increased law enforcement.  

Pritchett speaks of recognizing “the systemic causes of drug addiction, crime, and poverty.” This is not rocket science; those who are benefiting from our ignorant outdated drug laws are the true criminals. Those who have apparently given up any hope of using our wasted millions for vitally needed education, jobs, housing, etc., are continuing a seemingly endless unproductive debate about the wrong crimes! 

Gerta Farber 

• 

LOSS OF COMPASSION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The loss of compassion is so saddening. As I read Paul Rauber’s rationalizations for his lawsuit against Ms. Moore, my heart sinks to think that his way of thinking can possibly be popular. I know it is not nice to find paraphernalia of see someone urinating in the neighborhood but compare that level of suffering to some of your neighbor’s problems; not having resources for their family to have a proper home, lack of access to decent jobs, discrimination, mental and physical illnesses and no available treatment. Please, can’t you see the bigger picture? It is immoral to persecute those of your community suffering from the lack of abundance you have. Attacking the victims is easier than finding the solutions. But it is wrong. 

Cyndi Johnson 

• 

AVIAN FLU 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The current fuss about the avian flu is all about fear and ignorance. Whenever we’re fearful and ignorant, we do crazy things.  Perhaps some well-meaning politician will soon declare a “war on the flu.” A war destined to be lost, no doubt, much like the wars on cancer, AIDS, poverty, etc. have all been lost years ago (although the money continues to flow). We need to change the way we think. 

     What the politicians don’t know (and the media won’t tell you) is that germs are a natural part of life. Their very important job is to attack weak organisms. We are not all at risk as has been reported by the government and the media. If your condition is weak, you are at risk. If it is strong, you are not. The problem is that next to no one in the modern world is willing to change dietary habits, lifestyle or spiritual condition. We’d rather pop magic pills and take magic shots. The avian flu is our karma. 

Michael Bauce 

• 

NEW TIMES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Becky O’Malley’s insistence that New Times papers “toe the establishment line” and sully the legacy of I.F. Stone sure got our number. In September, for example, the East Bay Express was the first newspaper in the country to report that American soldiers were trading pictures of disfigured Iraqi corpses for pornography. I’d like to thank Patrick Kennedy and Chevrontexaco CEO David O’Reilly for tipping us off to the story. I can’t figure out just how their business interests were advanced by the piece, but who am I to argue? The next three columns are all yours, fellas—just tell me what to write. 

Chris Thompson 

• 

P&J COMMISSION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It is my belief that the conservative members of the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission are actively attempting to undermine and obstruct the work of that commission which deals with local, national and international issues. 

This appears to be in retaliation to the successful majority vote of that commission recommending that the U.S. government conduct an investigation into the tragic killing of Rachel Corrie in Palestine by an Israeli soldier driving a bulldozer. 

Like it or not, we do not live in a political, economic, or social vacuum. The City of Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission has long been an important voice in the community for connection of conscience and action to this greater perspective. 

To this end, I believe it is our responsibility to investigate, condemn, and protest against actions committed by our government or by another directly or indirectly with the aid of our government and/or our citizenry. We must not tolerate any attack on our First Amendment right to free speech. Support the Peace and Justice Commission by notifying your councilmember and requesting that the obstructionist members of that commission either stop their behavior or step down. 

Chris Walter 

• 

EXECUTE DYLESKI 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Yes. If a person murders another person in cold blood he must be executed also. The Bible says, “An eye for an eye.” 

But, if Scott is old enough to be tried as an adult why can’t he vote, buy cigarettes, consent to sex with an adult, sign a legal contract, buy beer, get married, etc. 

If Scott is old enough to murder a human and old enough to be executed as an adult then let’s give adult status to all 16-year-old Americans. 

My parents brought me here in 1942 from Louisiana. I was 12 years old. I worked in a little grocery store. I went to Roosevelt Jr. High School with white kids for the first time. When I turned 14 I got a license to drive. Now we consider 12- and 14-year-old kids as babies. They are not babies. Sixteen-year-old Scott murdered a woman. Other 16-year-olds in Richmond and Oakland murder people. They are adults. Treat them like adults and they will act like adults. Give them adult privileges, responsibilities, and most of all, if they break the law, they must suffer adult penalties. 

Ella Jensen 

El Cerrito 

• 

NEEDS VALIDATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Since letter-writer Joanna Graham is so eager to share Israeli/Palestinian “information” in these pages, she needs to provide specific background material to be taken seriously. Namely: Education? Professional background? On-the-ground experience in the region? Where? When? Duration? 

Without validation, we can only assume she is simply venting. 

Rhoda Levinson 

• 

PROP. 73 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Proposition 73 would require parental notification before a teen can have an abortion. There is a provision for a cumbersome, time-consuming judicial waiver. 

Most teens do tell their parents. Some don’t because they are afraid of being beaten up and thrown out of the house. This has happened. 

The California Constitution today defines abortion as “medical treatment intended to induce the termination of a pregnancy.” Prop. 73 will define abortion as “causing the death of the unborn child, a child conceived but not yet born.” Who can doubt that 73 is just one more step toward outlawing all abortions? 

Prop 73. will require judges to submit reports of the number of judicial waivers they grant each year. Judges are not required to keep records of any other kind of decisions they make. Obviously these records will be used in the judges’ reelection campaigns. 

Prop. 73 will require doctors to notify the California Department of Health of the number of abortions performed each year. They will have to supply details. 

The University of California at San Francisco recently did a study of states that have parental notification laws. They concluded that, “research suggests that parental notification can have the negative consequence of putting adolescents’ health at risk by delaying and otherwise complicating access to care.” 

The American Medical Association, California Nurses’ Association, Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, the National Organization for Women, the American Association of University Women, and American Civil Liberties Union urge to vote no on Proposition 73. 

Nancy Ward 

• 

COMPASSION DEFICIT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We’re all entitled to our opinions. What some consider tough-minded common sense, others might find vicious and mean-spirited. I read a letter from a Mr. Rockett, commenting on the lady who gave birth in the BART stairwell. He asserted that he was not “culturally insensitive,” since he did no indicate the race of the mother. We are to believe that he didn’t notice that the woman on the front page was dark skinned and of African descent. He was outraged that tax-payers are paying for the premature triplets, who are presumably living-it-up in the neonatal ICU at Alta Bates. Would he prefer the infants be left on the steps to expire and be swept away with the trash? He indignantly demands to know where the father is. That it’s none of his business never occurs to him. He notices that the woman’s other children are not in her custody, and that she has a social worker. Mr. Rockett’s clear implication is that this sort of person has no business having children. Mr. Rockett no doubt fancies himself a man-of-the-world, one who clearly knows what’s what and how people should behave. Things like this could never happen to superior beings like him. One thing he doesn’t know is what chain of sorrowful events led Mrs. Lewis to be in her present circumstances. She obviously loves her babies and is most likely torn up by being away from the other children. He thinks he knows, but he doesn’t. He has pre-judged her. Pre-judgment being prejudice. Mr. Rockett admits to being confused, so I hesitate to brand him with the name of “bigot,” even though prejudice and bigotry are often used interchangeably. At the least, he has a serious compassion deficit. When he thinks: “Follow the Money,” he would be better off thinking: “What the World Needs Now, Is Love, Sweet Love.” 

Barbara Henninger

Bangkok, Thailand—Traveling through South East Asia, the rapid pace of development confronted us everywhere: once remote Laotian villages now have electricity, clean water, and public schools; small Cambodian towns, where Mercedes sedans share the road with Vespas and water buffalo, support Internet cafes; and tourists and goods cross borders with unparalleled ease. Yet, lurking behind this progress are disturbing problems: many of our trading partners are democracies in name only, horrendous damage is being done to the environment, and women are treated as chattel—denied basic human rights. 

There’s a tendency for Westerners to be judgmental of others on the subject of women’s rights. But the truth is that while democracy is an old concept in the West, the notion that women are equal to men and deserve the same rights is new. American women gained the right to vote in 1920; nonetheless they remain second-class citizens in terms of equal pay for equal work and other important social parameters. 

Given the reality in the United States, it’s not surprising that women in Asia are struggling for their rights even while the male leaders of their countries boast of the progress of their emerging democracies. In every country we visited women spoke of their repression. The most horrendous stories came from Burma where ethnic women are thrown off their ancestral lands and subjected to gang rape by the military. But in all the countries, we heard tales of sex trafficking of women and differential access to healthcare, education, and the ballot; 45 percent of Cambodian women are illiterate compared to twenty percent of the men. 

What is surprising is that there is no moral leadership from the Buddhist church in these countries. While the population is overwhelmingly Theravada Buddhist, and there are active temples in each town, one never hears of Buddhist leaders taking a stance in favor of equal rights for women—or democracy, for that matter. 

Towards the end of our tour, we met with the International Women’s Partnership for Peace and Justice, in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Their charismatic leader, Ouyporn Khuankaew, has an analytic framework linking spirituality, feminism, and democratic social development. 

She pointed out that throughout South East Asia, Buddhism is rigidly segregated and male monks control the positions of power. Wherever women are permitted to become novices and monks, they are relegated to servile positions. Even Buddhist theology is turned against women. Ouyporn noted that when wives complain to monks about spousal abuse, they are counseled to meditate on this, told that it is most likely their fault—part of their “karma.” The Buddhist church supports the patriarchy and, thereby, is complicit in the suppression of women throughout the region. 

If this sounds familiar, it’s because there’s a similar pattern in the United States. One of the prime objectives of the American conservative movement has been to diminish the rights of women. When the Bush administration reduces federal entitlements, such as healthcare, this has a differential impact on women, and their children. When Republicans seek to eliminate the right of women to obtain confidential medical advice, the GOP has the strong support of the male leadership of the conservative Christian church. 

In traditional values’ Christianity, women are taught to be subordinate to their husbands, trained to see themselves as second-class citizens with restricted rights. Given what’s happened in America, as a result of the conservative onslaught, it’s not surprising to find globalization in South East Asia trampling on the rights of women. 

In George W. Bush’s second inaugural address he declared that the United States has a responsibility to spread democracy around the world, “The concerted effort of free nations to promote democracy is a prelude to our enemies’ defeat … one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.” 

Bush assured Americans that one of the key aspects of our democracy initiative would be equal rights for women. Yet, the reality is that during his administration, women’s rights have been set back across the globe. Iraq and Afghanistan are prime examples: fundamentalists now control vast stretches of both countries, and where they do, Islamic law prevails. Sharia views women as second-class citizens who cannot hold elected office, must observe a strict dress code, and can be beaten by men if they appear immodest. There is a conservative tsunami washing away women’s rights and, at the same time, undermining democracy. 

When conservatives, such as President Bush, speak of democracy they don’t mean “social democracy,” where there is respect for the individual, equality, and the notion that the people are the ultimate source of political power, but instead “trade democracy,” the creation of the global marketplace. Worldwide advocacy of trade democracy explains why so many emerging democracies are, in reality, plutocracies—forms of government that contain some elements of democracy but where, ultimately, the wealthy rule. The conservative support for globalization explains why Asian countries have made amazing progress in many areas, but not in terms of support for the rights of women. 

The crux of the problem is that conservatives disagree with the concept that women deserve the same rights as men. Progressives must respond that without guarantees for the human rights of women there is not true democracy, that human rights for everyone is what the founders meant by the phrase, “liberty and justice for all.”  

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., famously remarked, “No one is free, until everyone is free.” Globalization may eventually prove to be a good thing, but it is not a substitute for real democracy, where men and women have equal rights. 

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer and activist. He can be reached at bobburnett@comcast.net.f

Suppose you heard the news that there were, say, 30 arrests at last weekend’s Dias De Los Muertos celebration in Oakland’s Fruitvale District. There weren’t actually 30 arrests at last weekend’s Dias De Los Muertos celebration, not even any reports of the kinds of problems that might lead to such arrests, but for the sake of this discussion, let’s pretend that there were. 

How long do you think it would take before local newspapers, television reporters, Oakland City Councilmembers, somebody in the mayor’s office, and various community leaders would call for something to be done—either severe police restrictions on the event, or outright closing it down? 

But let’s not limit the speculation to the Latino-based Los Muertos. Oakland police have been more than eager to try to shut down any Oakland gatherings where there was even the potential for trouble, much less actual arrests. So you would be willing to bet—wouldn’t you?—that an ongoing event that regularly had more than 30 arrests each time it took place would have little, if any, chance of continuing its run in the City of Oakland. 

The clever ones amongst you are already saying “not necessarily,” even if you don’t know where we’re actually going with this. 

Anyways, we learned last week that there is an ongoing Oakland event that regularly gets away with more than 30 arrests each time it is held, with politicians, police, and the press well aware of the situation, but turning a blind eye. 

In an Oct. 27 column entitled “Are Rowdy Fans Sinking Raiders?,” San Francisco Chronicle columnist C.W. Nevius reveals that according to Oakland Police Lt. David Kozicki, the OPD “was probably making 70 arrests per game in years past” at Oakland Raiders games. Mr. Neivus contends that “things are looking up,” however, since the lieutenant says that “now we are down to half of that.” Half of 70 arrests per game is 35 arrests per game, by my unofficial count. 

The issue is being noticed by more people than Mr. Nevius. 

After 38 people were arrested at the Raiders-Chiefs game in Oakland in September—compared to only three people arrested at a Chiefs-Jets game earlier in the month in Kansas City—reporter Greg Reeves of the Kansas City Star said that OPD Special Events Coordinator Sgt. Tom Hogenmiller told him the problem comes from what Hogenmiller called “one-game wonders that show up and think that to be a Raider fan you’re supposed to act crazy and disrupt other people’s enjoyment. … These are the [people] that come and think they can get stupid. Drink too much. They just act like idiots. Those are the ones that seem to eventually get in trouble.” 

The arrests are so commonplace that they have even become running jokes among the Raider fans. In speculating in advance how the Raiders would fare—on the field—against the Chiefs in that same September game, the writer of the Raiders Blog in the Contra Costa Times asked, rhetorically, “Can the Raiders sustain their high-octane offense over a full game this week? Will Chiefs quarterback Trent Green get so much as a grass stain on his jersey? Will the Raiders secondary commit more penalties than it makes tackles? Will the first arrest of the evening come in the Black Hole or in the Kansas City backfield? [my emphasis added].” 

(For those of you who don’t follow these things, the “Black Hole” is what Raider fans call the part of the stadium where the most outrageously-dressed fans set up camp during the games. It’s important to note, however, that while Black Hole participants tend to dress up in violent-looking costumes, make a lot of noise, and get the attention of the television cameras, the drunken rowdiness at the stadium is not centered there, but in other parts of the stadium.) 

I am not certain if any statistics are kept, or disseminated, on exactly what types of offenses lead to these Raider game arrests. My guess is that no small number of them are for public drunkenness. But there have also been well-publicized incidents in the past of violent assaults on property and on the fans of other teams (Nevius himself recounts the time his own car was vandalized at a game). And, in fact, it is the threat of assaults that has led Oakland Raiders fans to get a reputation around the league and around the nation for celebrating the thug life. 

During a national broadcast back east of a Raider game at the Coliseum some years ago, an announcer said that a player was probably going to be assessed a $50 fine by the league for throwing the ball up into the stands during a touchdown celebration. “Heck, for $50, I’d go up in the stands and get the ball back myself!” the second announcer laughed. The first announcer paused a moment, thought about it, and said evenly “Not in those stands.” 

That was during the years when the Raiders were first here, before they moved to Los Angeles, and during the period when ticket prices were low enough that many of the fans at the game were actually from Oakland. But since the Raiders returned from Los Angeles 10 years ago, game prices consistently rank in the top three in the league. In 1993, those prices averaged more than $60 apiece, more than a notion for lots of folks in the Fruitvale or West Oakland. And so these days, my guess is that fans actually attending Raider games are more likely to be from the more affluent areas outside of the city—Livermore, Concord, Pleasanton, Hayward, and so forth. A few years ago, Oakland had a rash of people coming in from just such areas dumping truckloads of trash on our streets and in convenient alleyways, presumably using the “moral” justification of the movie gangster Zaluchi, who told his fellow Mafia dons in the Godfather that he intended to keep the drug traffic out of his own neighborhood and restrict it to “the dark people—the colored. They’re animals anyway, so let them lose their souls.” 

I’m only guessing, but maybe some Raider fans from outside of the city think it’s OK to come to Oakland and act up at a Raider game—get drunk and assault people, for example—because, after all, that’s what people do in Oakland. Isn’t it? But since we aren’t being told where the arrestees are coming from, we don’t know if this is one of the causes of the problem. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Nevius of the Chronicle says that after all these years, the Oakland Raiders management is finally getting the message. Lt. Kozicki, whose duties include both coordinating Coliseum security and suppressing Oakland’s sideshows, interestingly enough, told him that “recently the Raider management has been taking an active role in fan behavior,” And Mr. Nevius quotes Alameda County Board of Supervisors chairperson Gail Steele as saying “I think it is an issue and I think the Raiders are concerned about it. I know for a fact that they are trying to work on it.’’ 

Does that mean that in order to discourage excessive drinking at the Coliseum, Oakland police are going to begin to make “Operation Impact”-type stops of “random” vehicles leaving the Coliseum on game day and make all of the occupants get out while they check everybody’s ID, smell breaths, and do a visual check on the seats and floorboards for anything that they can charge somebody with? Or is that only allowed while stopping young African-Americans and Latinos along the International Boulevard and MacArthur Boulevard corridors? 

In any event, it is interesting to wonder if this type of activity-widespread arrests happening regularly at an ongoing public event-would be tolerated in Oakland so long for any other group than people attending Oakland Raiders games. And if it wouldn’t, then why has it been tolerated for the Raiders? 

Mysterious attack 

Berkeley police are asking for the public to help them learn more about the assault of a woman who knocked on a door in the 1100 block of Delaware Street about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, bearing the marks of a severe beating. 

Berkeley Police Spokesperson Officer Joe Okies said the woman asked the resident for help. She was rushed to a local hospital, where her condition prevents her from helping in the investigation. 

“At this point, we can’t confirm where the crime took place,” said Okies. 

Officers also don’t know if a sexual assault was involved. 

Anyone with information is requested to contact the department by e-mail at police@ci.berkeley.ca.us or by phone at 981-5900. 

Multiple bandits 

Four robbers, one of them armed with a pistol, robbed a 25-year-old woman of her backpack in the 1800 block of Francisco Street at 7:23 p.m. on Halloween. 

Three juveniles were arrested after they robbed a 19-year-old woman in the 2500 block of Regent Street at about the same time. 

Laptop larceny 

Folks at the Publishers Group West office at 1700 Fourth St. called police Wednesday afternoon to report that someone had made off with at least three laptop computers in recent weeks. 

Wednesday robberies 

A strong-arm bandit robbed a 62-year-old woman of her purse at about 5:20 p.m. in the 1800 block of Rose Street. 

A muscular bandit punched a 36-year-old woman in the 2200 block of McGee Avenue at 10:55 p.m., grabbing her purse and contents, which he subsequently dropped while fleeing down Bancroft Way. They were restored, intact, to the owner. 

At the same time, two men, one packing a gun, robbed a man of his cash and credit cards in the 2500 block of Hillegass Avenue.

In the mid 1970s, the Supreme Court extended First Amendment Constitutional protection to the corporate financing of elections. Since that historic decision, corporations have virtually taken over the electoral process. Unlike individuals and other groups, corporations are able to amass huge concentrations of shareholder wealth and have demonstrated a willingness to spend it within the political system to ensure that they are able to pursue their self-interests (i.e.: profits and returns for investors) without interference.  

It is no coincidence that while the influence that corporations have on politics has risen sharply over the last 30 years, there has been a corresponding decline in workers’ real wages, retirement security, and access to quality, affordable health care. After all, corporations rightly see employee compensation as a cost, and costs must be cut in order to ensure greater profits. Corporations have been enormously successful, for example, at beating back modest attempts by workers to gain a living wage, to protect their pensions, and to legislate that corporations bear a greater share of employee healthcare costs.  

Labor unions, the collective political voice of the working class, have largely been rendered obsolete by the corporation’s rise to dominance over the last 30 years. Corporations outspend unions 24 to 1 in terms of political contributions. Union membership has declined from 25 percent of the U.S. work force in the late ‘70s to about 12 percent today.  

In the public sector, however, labor unions are more prominent and workers are therefore compensated more humanely. For example, here in California, public employee unions recently defeated a fierce and well-funded campaign by the governor and by corporations in California to privatize workers’ pensions.  

Apparently, the modest gains made by California’s public sector workers are unacceptable to the corporations that dominate California’s economy. Their response is Proposition 75, and their aim is clear: public employees must be made to shut up once and for all so that they are rendered incapable of fighting back against the corporate takeover of California politics. 

The initiative would prohibit public employee unions in California from spending union dues on political donations without the explicit consent of members. The initiative would have the obvious effect of forcing unions to divert resources away from political action and toward the heavy administrative procedures mandated by Prop. 75. Proponents of 75 state that they are fighting on behalf of public sector workers. This claim is dubious at best, given that the major funding for the initiative has come from a group calling itself the Small Business Action Committee. Turns out that by “small,” this Committee must mean “huge,” as nearly all of their funding in 2004 came from major corporations and executives, including Ameriquest, the former GAP Chairman Donald Fisher, Phillip Morris, and PG&E. 

Vote no on 75 and stop the corporate hijacking of California’s political system. 

Michael Marchant is a social worker and union member living in Albany. 

Four years ago many Berkeleyans were involved in a passionate debate over a proposal to divide Berkeley High entirely into small schools. The School Board eventually resolved that controversy by adopting a compromise plan which called for a Berkeley High School with half its students in small schools and half its students in a large, comprehensive school. 

This fall a proposal is working its way quickly and quietly through BHS which, if approved by the School Board, would effectively render that compromise null and void. While the label “comprehensive high school” would remain, every student considered a comprehensive high school student (by virtue of not being enrolled in a “small school”) would be enrolled in one of two “small learning community” programs—Academic Choice or a new International High School (IHS) program. IHS would start next year as a program for 9th and 10th grade and add a grade each year until it becomes a four-year program, offering International Baccalaureate (IB) as an option in the 11th and 12th grades. Since this proposal was instituted by BHS’s powerful and popular principal, Jim Slemp, there is a widespread assumption at the high school that it will be approved. 

Under the proposed new configuration for the high school, students will be assigned to one of the small schools, Academic Choice or International High School using the same lottery system as was used to assign students for the current year. IHS will simply replace “large school” as one of the choices. Students enrolled in International High School would take three classes within the program each semester, plus they will be required to take a world language of their choice all four years. This compares to Academic Choice where students take two classes within the program each semester and small schools where students take four to six classes within their school.  

This year, programs and schools were required, via the lottery, to match the diversity of the school as a whole in 9th and 10th grade, but 11th and 12th grade students were allowed to continue wherever they were. After two more years, however, the administration has said it intends to maintain matching diversity in all schools and programs at all grade levels. This implies that a student won’t be able to transfer out of a school or program unless there is an opening for students of their diversity category in the school or program they want to join. I fear that students’ ability to change programs could be very limited. 

Imagine a college where every freshman is required to declare a major from among only half a dozen choices, with little possibility of changing it if it doesn’t suit. Then imagine that those students are only 13 years old and, to top it off, that they may have to accept a major that is their second or third choice. Would anyone apply to such a school? BHS could become that school. The variety of choices which were once the hallmark of BHS and which were a large part of what people valued in the comprehensive school would be gone. What a shame. 

There is no question that International Baccalaureate is a high quality, rigorous academic program. Although lately it seems to have become something of an educational flavor-of-the-month (much as small school reform was four years ago) it has a long established, internationally recognized reputation. However, Berkeley High already has a vigorous Advanced Placement program (open not just to Academic Choice students, but to everyone except some students whose small school won’t let them passport out). The needs of students who are ready to do college level work while still in high school are being met (at least in 11th and 12th grade). It is the needs of the many students who are failing at Berkeley High that should be our primary focus. The IHS proposal does nothing to specify how its 9th and 10th grade program would better help those students to succeed. Taking IB tests would be optional for IHS juniors and seniors, which would very possibly produce a two tier International High school with the same achievement gap that our entire educational system currently suffers from.  

The IHS proposal seems to be geared to overcome the disappointment of students who requested Academic Choice or a small school but were placed by lottery selection in the general comprehensive school. Although the lottery has accomplished its very desirable goal of making all programs and schools equally diverse, it has forced our academic programs to compete with each other and turned school choice into a popularity contest. There will always be losers in such a contest. Next year the outcry may come from Academic Choice parents who wanted their kids in IHS, or perhaps the small schools—once the darlings of Berkeley High—will become the place where the “leftovers” are placed. The small schools are already struggling against the misperception in some minds that they aren’t college prep programs. Creating a “comprehensive” school where everyone is in a program that can (but doesn’t necessarily) lead either to IB or AP won’t help small schools.  

For every action to change things at BHS there is a reaction. When will we learn to anticipate the fallout from the endless, countless changes made at BHS? We have a multi-year action plan to raise academic achievement while eliminating the achievement gap. When Berkeley High’s accreditation was reviewed last spring, that plan earned our school WASC’s highest level of approval. Nowhere does that plan propose converting the remainder of the comprehensive high school into another small learning community or to an International High School. Can’t we stay the course even one year and follow through with our laboriously laid plans? Must we always be pulling in some new thing that will suck away attention and resources from solving the basic, long term problems at BHS? 

Whereas the small school RFAs (request for authorization) and the Academic Choice program proposal previously approved by the School Board were lengthy, detailed documents written by large committees of teachers, parents and students over a period of time, the International High School (IHS) proposal is a four page document written by Jim Slemp. An IHS design committee with members from the various stakeholder groups has now been appointed, but Principal Slemp says he does not anticipate that the proposal will change much before being presented to the school board in January. The devil is in the details as they say. I implore the community and the Board of Education to take a long, hard look before leaping off in yet another direction at Berkeley High. 

›

This Tuesday, Californians will vote on a ballot measure that, if approved, will place some teenagers in “serious jeopardy.” 

That’s how Natalie LeBlanc, the legislative coordinator for NARAL Pro-Choice California, describes Proposition 73. Proposition 73, which requires physicians to notify a parent 48 hours before performing an abortion on a minor, poses a threat to the health and safety of young women under the age of eighteen. 

Although most teenagers involve their parents in a decision to have an abortion, many teenagers can’t tell their parents for fear of disappointing them or being abused. If Proposition 73 is passed, these young women will have very limited options, such as navigating a complicated judicial bypass system or seeking an illegal abortion. 

Proposition 73 does allow teenagers to petition the court for a waiver of parental notification; however, it’s often difficult for teenagers to go to court. LeBlanc points out that the teenagers who most need a waiver from the court—those who come from abusive families or who can’t communicate with their parents—are frequently the least prepared to go to court, as they may be feeling scared and alone, and often lack a support network. 

Because of the difficulties of obtaining a waiver by going to court, many teenagers will seek illegal abortions. These abortions are much more dangerous than legal abortions done in clinics by doctors. Before Roe v. Wade guaranteed abortions for adult women, hundreds (if not thousands) of American women died each year from these “back-alley abortions.” For young women who are unable to discuss their pregnancy with their parents or obtain a judicial bypass, the passage of Proposition 73 would mean a return to the days of these dangerous and often deadly illegal abortions. 

In an ideal world, parents should be involved in their daughters’ lives and teenagers should be able to talk to parents about important decisions such as having an abortion. However, many teenagers are unable to talk to their parents about such an issue and may suffer serious medical complications or even death from illegal abortions if Proposition 73 is passed. Even though parents should be able to know what is happening in their teenagers’ lives, is this right to know really more important than the life of a teenage girl? 

Elizabeth Hopper is a senior at Bentley School in Lafayette. b

When Beverly Hill chanced to open mail from the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce 10 days ago, she saw red—as in red state. The owner of Rainbo Graphix, just over the city line in Emeryville, she had been a proud member of the Berkeley Chamber for years. Knowing Berkeley, she took it for granted that the chamber, if it took political positions, would be as liberal as the whole city is. That’s not what she found.  

Instead, in the flyer she received, the chamber went down the line in support of the Schwarzenegger positions in Tuesday’s election. With no position on the anti-abortion Prop. 73, the Chamber endorsed 74 through 78, and was only against the two liberal initiatives, 79 and 80. Hill had seen enough. By return mail she sent a scathing letter to the Chamber, resigning her membership.  

Hill didn’t stop there. She e-mailed fellow members of the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club, which has been actively campaigning against 73 to 78 and for 79 and 80. The club has been putting most available energy into precinct walking, but Hill and I started studying the Chamber and then contacting members.  

The Chamber’s members are a motley crew, as might be expected of Berkeley. In its top-ranked “Platinum Level of its Chairman’s Circle” are just three organizations: the pharmaceutical giant Bayer, the University of California and the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (The latter two, as taxpayer-supported institutions shouldn’t be taking political stands at all.) Far down the list, are the businesses most of us think of as such—places like Cody’s Books, Saul’s Deli, Picante Restaurant and Chez Panisse, as well as this paper, among others.  

So how did the chamber end up with the positions they took? According to Roland Peterson, head of the Government Affairs Committee of the Chamber, his committee met twice and finally voted for a mix of endorsements far different from the final ones. He says the Chamber only takes positions on measures it believes will affect businesses. When asked how that justifies taking a stand on Prop. 75, the measure to force public employee unions to get signatures allowing political expenditures from each member, he refused to comment. Anyway, the committee’s endorsements then went to the board of directors, heavily tilted towards big business, who then voted “something like 7 to 5” to support the full Schwarzenegger agenda.  

Small business owners in Berkeley tend to be too busy to have much time for politics. Still, Andy Ross of Cody’s took time out from opening his new San Francisco store to send a message to the Chamber’s CEO, Rachel Rupert. “I am loath to send this e-mail. But I must,” he began. 

“Apparently the chamber has endorsed a number of the state propositions that I feel are simply vehicles of the Republican party to score points against the Democrats,” Ross wrote. “I am sure that the membership would not support these propositions. I also have been getting flack from my customers for being a member of an organization with this kind of political agenda. In this instance, I would have to agree with my customers. ... the chamber’s position seems to be needlessly provocative.” 

Ross concluded, “I really don’t want to make a big stink and resign from the chamber. But I feel the chamber would be best served by changing their position on these issues to ‘neutral.’” 

Other businesses are likely to weigh in over the next few days.  

Michael H. Goldhaber is a member of the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club. 

FRIDAY, NOV. 4 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley ”Six Degrees of Separation” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. through Nov. 19. Tickets are $10. 649-5999.  

Albany High School Theater Ensemble “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at the Albany High School Little Theater, 603 Key Route Blvd. 558-2500, ext. 2579. 

Berkeley Rep “Finn in the Underworld” opens at 8 p.m. at the Thrust Stage and runs to Nov. 6. Tickets are $43-$59. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Central Works “Achilles & Patroklos” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at The Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., through Nov. 20. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1381.  

Impact Theatre “Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake)” Thurs. through Sun. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean Theater, 1834 Euclid Ave., through Dec. 10. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468.  

Masquers Playhouse “Dear World” Jerry Herman’s musical, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. through Dec. 17 at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond. Tickets are $15. 232-4031. www.masquers.org 

Youth Musical Theater Company “Sweeney Todd” Fri. and Sat. at 7:30 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m., also Nov. 10-12 at 7:30 p.m. at Longefellow Middle School Auditorium, 1500 Derby St. Tickets are $12, $6 students. 595-5514. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Oaktown: Art About Oakland and Our Communities” Reception at 7 p.m. at Women’s Cancer Resource Center, 5741 Telegraph Ave. 420-7900.  

Clint Imboden “6 x 6” six projects spanning six years. Reception at 6 p.m. at Lobot Gallery, 1800 Campbell St., Oakland. www.lobotgallery.com 

FILM 

The Battles of Sam Peckinpah “Ride the High Country” at 7 p.m., “The Ballad of Cable Hogue” at 9 p.m. at Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poems and Songs to the Dead with Cedric Brown, Barbara Heredia, Leticia Hernandez and others at 8 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, Tenth and Oak Sts. 238-2200.  

Mary Roach reads from “Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

University Chorus and Chamber Chorus at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $3-$10. 642-9988.  

Vera Breheda, piano, at 8 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Cost is $12-$15. 848-1228. www.giorgigallery.com 

Stone-Zimmerman Duo at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $10-$15. 701-1787. 

Moh Alileche & Danse Maghreb at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

E.W. Wainwright’s African Roots of Jazz at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

De Rompe y Raja, Afro-Peruvian, at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $13-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Dre & Meghan Baker at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. www.epicarts.org 

Houston Jones at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Battlefield Band at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The Unravellers at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Tressa Armstrong, vocals, at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Kirk Keeler & Cowpokes for Peace at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe. 595-5344.  

Bitches Brew at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

“... and Words by Barry Warren” a vocal jazz concert at at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373.  

Shotgun Wedding Quintet, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Battleship, Vholtz, Rubber O Cement, Sixes at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SATURDAY, NOV. 5 

CHILDREN 

Bonnie Lockhart & Fran Avni at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBTIONS 

“The Art of Metal” Jewelry, sculpture, and tableware by 73 California artists. Reception at 1 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St.  

“Tinta Bella” color photographs by Jenna Zabin. Reception at 5 p.m. at Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St. 644-1400. 

“Looking Glass” with works by Sydei SmithJordan, Zoe Martell, Susan Sarti and others. Reception at 6 p.m. at a Fusao Studios, 646 Kennedy St., Suite 108, Oakland.  

Mary Roehm, new work in wood fired porcelain. Reception at 5 p.m. at Trax Gallery, 1812 5th St. 540-8729.  

THEATER 

Beijing People’s Art Theater, “The Teahouse” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$68. 642-9988.  

Woman’s Will “Happy End” by Bertolt Brecht, Sat. at 7 p.m. and Sun. at 2 p.m. at Luka’s Lounge, 2221 Broadway at Grand Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $12-$25. 420-0813. www.womanswill.org 

“The Arab-Israeli Cookbook” a play by Robin Soans at 8 p.m., Sun. at 7 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Tickets are $22. 848-0237.  

FILM 

Taisho Chic on Screen “Souls on the Road” at 6 p.m. and “The Golden Bullet” at 9 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu  

“NBT Never Been Thawed” with co-writers Sean Anders and John Morris at Landmark’s Act 1&2, 2128 Center St. Tickets are $9.25. 464-5980. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Bay Area Poets Coalition Annual Contest and Poetry Reading from 3 to 5 p.m. at Strawberry Creek Lodge, dining hall, 1320 Addison St. 527-9905.  

Al Franken reads from his new book “Truth (with Jokes)” at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley High Campus. Tickets are $5 with purchase of the book at Cody’s. 845-7852.  

Poetry Flash with Denise Duhamel and Virgil Suárez at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE  

Harvest of Song with new works by Peter Josheff, Allen Shearer and Mark Secosh at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Pre-concert discussion at 6:30 p.m. Cost is $9-$10. 527-5059. 

Wildcat Viols performs England’s greatest masters of song at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$25. 528-1725. www.sfems.org 

Voices Lesbian Choral Ensemble at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $10-$15.  

The Meeting House Strings benefit concert for the Friends Committee on Legislation at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Friends Meeting House, corner of Walnut and Vine. Donation $5.  

Sorelle, women’s vocal ensemble, performs Handel’s “Dixit Dominus” with the Gentlemen of the Pacific Boychoir at 8 p.m. at Lake Park Methodist Church, 281 Santa Clara Ave., Oakland. Donation $10-$12. www.sorelle.org 

Marian Anderson String Quartet at 7:30 p.m. at Calvin Simmons Theater, 10 Tenth St. Tickets are $25-$40. 601-7919.  

Berkeley Saxaphone Quartet at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864.  

University Chorus and Chamber Chorus at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $3-$10. 642-9988.  

SambaDá Lecture and demonstration at 8 p.m., performance at 9:15 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054.  

Rhonda Benin and Soulful Strut at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Cas Lucas Acoustic Series at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts Center, 1923 Ashby Ave. www.epic 

arts.org 

Braziu at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10-$12. 548-1159.  

Somethingfour at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Carolyn Chiung Jazz Trio at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Samantha Raven & Friends at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Reilly & Maloney at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Kasey Knudsen Sextet at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373.  

Orishas, Cuban hip-hop, at 9 p.m. at Sweets Ballroom, 1933 Broadway, Oakland. Tickets are $23-$28. Sponsored by La Peña Cultural Center. 849-2568.  

Elijah Henry & Keren at 7 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Turn Me On Dead Man, The Radishes at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Arlington Houston at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Deadfall, Knife Fight at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, NOV. 6 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Justice Matters: Artists Consider Palestine” A exhibition of works by fourteen Palestinian and American artists. Reception at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

“Taisho Chic: Japanese Modernity, Nostalgia and Deco” guided tour at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-0808. 

THEATER 

Beijing People’s Art Theater, “The Teahouse” at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$68. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

FILM 

Taisho Chic on Screen “Eternal Heart” at 3:30 p.m. and “Rebirth of the Capital” at 6:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Senator Barbara Boxer introduces her debut novel, “A Time to Run” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poetry Reading with Shanna Compton and Jennifer L. Knox at 8 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Harvest of Song with new works by Peter Josheff, Allen Shearer and Mark Secosh at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Pre-concert discussion at 6:30 p.m. Cost is $9-$10. 527-5059. 

Sorelle, women’s vocal ensemble, performs Handel’s “Dixit Dominus” with the Gentlemen of the Pacific Boychoir at 2 p.m. at Lake Park Methodist Church, 281 Santa Clara Ave., Oakland. Donation $10-$12. www.sorelle.org 

Carol Alban, flute, at 3:30 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. Donation $10 and up. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to displaced hurricane Katrina victims now living in Oakland. 595-9009. 

Quartet San Francisco at 4 p.m. at Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. at Sacramento. Tickets are $12, free for chidren. 559-6910.  

Christopher Taylor performs Ligeti’s complete piano etudes at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32. 642-9988. 

Emeryville Taiko at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $12, $10 for children. 925-798-1300. 

Twang Cafe, acoustic and Americana, at 7:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. www.epicarts.org 

Jesse Engel Group at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Alexa Weber Morales at 6:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $20. Benefit for Melrose Elementary School. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Mark Levine Trio at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373.  

Lucy Kaplansky & Richard Shindell at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Cost is $24.50-$25.50. 548-1761.  

Jared Karol and Nate Cooper at 10 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

MONDAY, NOV. 7 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jung Chang and John Halliday on “Mao: The Unknow Story” in conversation with Orville Schell, at 7 p.m. at Anderson Auditorium, Haas School of Business, UC Campus. 845-7852.  

Greg Critser, Clara Jeffrey and Julia Whitty discuss “Generation Rx: You’ll Never Feel the Same About the Pills You Take” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Co-sponsored with Mother Jones magazine. 845-7852. www.cody’sbooks.com 

Poetry Express with Sandra Gey and Leah Steinberg at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

Actors Reading Writers: “The Thanksgiving Visitor” by Truman Capote at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., includes book exchange, bring a book, take a book. 845-8542, ext. 376. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

SF Contemporary Music Players, with Kathleen Rowland, soprano, at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. tickets are $3-$10. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

“The Fools of Prophecy” from Israel, at 8 p.m. at Pauley Ballroom, UC Campus. Tickets are $5-$25. www.ticketweb.com/hillel 

UC Jazz Ensembles at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, NOV. 8 

THEATER 

Shotgun Theater Lab, “Cry Don’t Cry” Tues.-Thurs. at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through Nov. 17. Tickets are $10. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

FILM 

Alternative Visions “The Pittsburgh Trilogy” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Mark Crispin Miller discusses “Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election and Why They’ll Steal the Next One Too (Unless We Stoop Them)” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Patrick Lane discusses his emergence from a lifetime of alcohol and drug addiction in “What the Stones Remember” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

Whole Note Poetry with Julia Vinograd and Debra Khattab at 7 p.m. at The Beanery, 2925 College Ave. 549-9093. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Steve Young at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Alam Khan, classical music of North India, at 8 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Tickets are $20. 525-5211. 

Creole Belles with Andrew Carriere at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

David Jeffrey Jazz Function at 8:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Ellen Hoffman Trio and singer’s open mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 9 

THEATER 

Propeller, “The Winter’s Tale” Wed.-Fri. at 8 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 8 p.m., Sun at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus. Tickets are $65. 642-9988.  

FILM 

Cine Documental “Madrid” and “Robinson Carusoe Island” at 7 p.m. at the CLAS Conference Room, 2334 Bowditch St. 

The Unofficial Histories of Péter Forgács “Wittgenstein Tratacus and Meanwhile Somewhere” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Restoration of the Palace of Fine Arts, Bernard Maybeck’s Pan Pacific International Exposition masterpiece with Hans Baldauf, Chairman of the Board of the Maybeck Foundation, at 8 p.m. at the The Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Tickets are $12, $8 for members. 843-8982. 

Cultural Diversity Authors’ Night with readings by Deborah Santana, Gail Tsukiyama and Denise Sherer Jacobson at 6:30 p.m. at Nile Hall, Preservation Park, Oakland. Benefit for Center for Independent Living. Tickets are $100. 841-4776, ext. 153. 

Vikram Seth reads from his new memoir “Two Lives” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

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

Café Poetry hosted by Kira Allen at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $2. 849-2568.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

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

Ashkan Ghafouri, Aryan Rahmanian, Fares Hedayati, Persian classical music. Lecture and demonstration at 7 p.m., performance at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $12. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

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

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

Jazz Mafia Unit at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Eric & Suzy Thompson, Jody Stecher & Kate Breslin and others in a fundariser for the Halleck Creek Riding Club for the Disabled at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org

Where has the time gone? Late summer wildflowers have morphed into sere grasses and again into autumn foliage greedily drinking in the first rains as we head for the final Challenge hike. It’s worthy of a graduation jaunt and a good test of skills acquired since June. Trails will lead through two parks, so be prepared to look for signposts and carefully follow directions. On this trek the Challenge booklet is a must. 

Before beginning, reflect on the land we’ve hiked. With 65 regional parks encompassing a myriad of habitats at our fingertips, this is a good time to consider the concept of stewardship; to be keepers of nature as responsible caretakers of natural resources for ourselves and for future generations. This is the purpose of the park district a nd one that should be embraced by each one of us, every time we step onto park land. 

Considering all the pleasures open space and wildlife provide, it’s easy to take the next step and consider how one can give back in kind. On each Challenge hike, I’ve n oticed and described areas where additional work is needed. With reduced resources, park staff alone can’t solve many environmental “problems.” Here we can contribute, as trail or wildlife volunteers.  

Like the painting of the Golden Gate Bridge, maintenance is an ongoing endeavor, curtailing growth of vegetation and erosion. Trail volunteers contribute time, supplies or both to improve trails, create new ones and ensure the safety of visitors. They gain by increasing their knowledge of conservation and stewardship. If working with large pipes and pruning shears or building retaining walls and causeways sounds worthwhile, the trail volunteers welcome your help. 

Wildlife volunteers work toward improving the habitat and quality of life for birds and wildl ife through conservation and resource management projects. Members are trained and participate first hand in important field research. Monitoring riparian songbirds, wetland nesting birds, quail and grassland reptiles provide vital data to the preservatio n of these species. 

Restoring pond habitat for California’s red-legged frog by increasing native flora and removing bullfrogs or studying the range of common lizards in grassland areas in relation to the density of grass cover are two projects undertaken this year. Open to all ages, the experiences gained are priceless. 

The Trails Challenge hikes have provided their own accomplishments. Hoofing over 20 miles through nine parks, enjoying time outdoors, exercising, communing with nature and hopefully, cha nging outlooks, one can’t help being awed by the natural resources around us and the importance of their preservation. Hopefully that awe will extend to falling into the rhythm of taking time to appreciate the outdoors. 

While the official Challenge period may be coming to an end, maintain your commitment. Other parks and open space preserves await you during crisp fall, cold winter and rainy spring days. Enjoy them all.  

Trails Challenge No. 7: Sibley Volcanic Preserve to Huckleberry Botanical Regional Preserve: 6.5 miles, rated moderate. 

Sibley’s rich geologic history and Huckleberry’s diverse botanicals are both visited during this outing that follows the ridge, descends to a creek and rises again onto a nature trail before looping back to the starti ng point. Having written about Huckleberry last spring, I’ll focus on Sibley Volcanic Preserve. 

Once home to volcanoes, Sibley is one of the park district’s original properties, dedicated as a preserve in 1936. Over the last 10 million years the land com prising the Berkeley hills underwent action resembling a roller coaster, experiencing uplifting, folding and tilting. One of the highest peaks in this area, Round Top, was created during this process. Through erosion and folding, volcanic dikes, mud and l ava flows tell the story of Sibley’s geologic past. With wide, open paths and far reaching views of Mt. Diablo and the Las Trampas hills, Sibley’s 660-acres effortlessly increase our geological knowledge while providing an engaging tramp. 

My hike began a t Sibley’s Visitor Center, an open pavilion of stone and wood, where three Interpretive Panels offered an introduction to the diverse plant communities within the park and to its tumultuous past: the survival of land under transition. Before me was an artist’s palette of plant communities: grassland, brushland, mixed broadleaf woodland and conifer forest; home to coast live oak, bay laurel, madrone, Monterey pine, buckeye, big leaf maple, eucalyptus, coyote bush, wild currant, snow berry and huckleberry. A diversity of habitats is matched by a diversity of animals, many utilizing the quarries and natural rock outcrops to soak up the warmth of the sun or nestle in rocky dens. 

The richness of vegetation greeted me as soon as my feet hit the trail. I breathed in air that was clean and crisp, refreshed by recent rains as was the foliage bordering the trail. I felt a deep sense of seasonal change and the cycle of life, from deciduous plants discarding leaves to reveal the symmetry and hues of their framework to small pine seedlings emerging above thick leaf litter. 

Through verdant greens I saw glistening white berries, the bright red of poison oak, the tiny white buds and flowers on coyote bush and the brightness of new eucalyptus leaves. Happy bird song abounded while gentle drops of water were bounced off foliage by the slight breeze. The rain had stopped but a deep mist remained creating its own mood. Though a challenge to photography it was a wonderful climate for walking. 

With park pamphlet in hand, I took a detour off the Challenge hike to the Round Top loop to follow the self-guided tour. Round Top volcano’s interior and layers of tuff-breccias were visible at the former quarry pit. Other signposts signaled redbeds, red streaks and layers of oxidized iron and good fossil sources, and massive sandstone blocks left over from the Age of Dinosaurs. Lessons in geology were almost overshadowed by the wealth of flora. Tall summer grasses beaten down, as though recently bedded by a brontosaurus, formed intri guing patterns and sepia hues. Spider webs were gauzily delineated by clinging moisture. Ready for the upcoming holidays, a red-leafed tree was bedecked in green lichen. 

Retracing my steps I accessed Skyline Trail leading to Huckleberry Preserve. The wor ld seemed to change to one of far-reaching pines, bay laurel and oak. Where Sibley’s greens were muted, here brightness prevailed. Foliage greens contrasted with the deep russet of pine and leaf litter, coating trunks and like confetti under my feet. 

Nat ure’s power was evident on each trail. On Round Top, blasted rocks were embedded in the dirt trail; here, a network of gnarled exposed roots, supporting and giving life, formed an integral part of the path. 

The trail soon narrowed as it snaked a steep d escent into the canyon. Magnificent oaks spread tentacle-like branches above the trail, their trunks tinted green. Plush moss blanketed boulders. Moisture scented the air, gladdened the banana slug at my feet and coated the shiny leaves of coast huckleber ry as it led me the canyon’s floor. Here the waters of Huckleberry Creek encouraged my final challenge up to Huckleberry Preserve and the remainder of my hike.  

›s

FRIDAY, NOV. 4 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Al Young, the California Poet Laureate on “Creativity is Human Survival: A Poet’s View” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020. 

Benefit with Dolores Huerta, United Farmworkers at 7:30 p.m., at St Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison. Donation $10. To benefit School of the Americas Watch. 597-0171. 

Latinos in Baseball with Tito Fuentes and Diego Segui at 7 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, Tenth and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

“Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage” with author Heather Rogers at AK Press, 674A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

Asian Business Association Benefit Fashion/Variety Show at 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$12.  

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

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

SATURDAY, NOV. 5 

Morning Chores at the Little Farm Feed the animals, collect the eggs, and do other chores at 9 a.m. at Tilden Little Farm, Tilden Park. Dress to get dirty. 525-2233. 

Kid’s Garden Club for ages 7-12 to explore the world of gardening, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 636-1684. 

Bay Nature Hike: Point Pinole Regional Shoreline covering about four miles to see wildlife and learn th elocal history. Begins at 10 a.m. Wear sturdy shoes and bring a hat, sunscreen, water, lunch, and snacks. RSVP to 528-8550. hikes@baynature.com 

Sick Plant Clinic UC plant pathologist Dr. Robert Raabe, UC entomologist Dr. Nick Mills, and their team of experts will diagnose what ails your plants from 9 a.m. to noon at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755.  

“Preparing Your Garden for Winter” at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. 

Al Franken “The Truth (with Jokes)” at 7:30 p.m.. at Berkeley Community Theater, 1930 Allston Way on the Berkeley High Campus. Cost is $12, or $5 with pre-purchase of the book from Cody’s. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

“Build Cross-Class Alliances” with Betsy Leondar-Wright on how to build stronger movements for social change, at 2 p.m. at the Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave, Oakland. Cost is $5-$25. To register email simcha3@msn.com, www.classmatters.org 

Berkeley Digital Media Conference on the emergence and implications of the digital lifestyle at the Haas School of Business, UC Campus. Cost is $60 for students, $125 for general admission. 642-0342. 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Basic Personal Preparedness from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at West Berkeley Senior Center. To sign up call 981-5506.  

Global Warming Summit with workshops and panel discussions for high school and college students on the UC Campus. For information see www.energyaction.net/casummit 

“The Big Bang” with author Simon Singh at 7 p.m. at Chabot Space & Science Center. Tickets are $7. 336-7373. www.chabotspace.org 

“Latest Theories About the Universe” Theoretical Physics Made Easy from 1 to 5 p.m. at Lawrence Hall of Science. Tickets are $80 available from www.ticketweb.com 

Anahat Second Annual South Asian Acappella Competition at 6:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $15-$20.  

East Bay Atheists Berkeley Meeting with Dr. Anthony Somkin on the nature of death at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St., 3rd floor Meeting Room. 222-7580. 

Travel Tips for Alaska A day-long workshop beginnning at 8:30 a.m. at Vista Community College, 2020 Milvia St. 981-2931. www.peralta.cc.ca.us 

Healthy Oakland Health Fair with food, music, children’s activities, social services booths, and health screenings from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the East Oakland Deliverance Center, 7425 International Blvd. www.blackwallstreet.org 

Karamu: A Pan-African Celebration with food, music and artisans, from 5 to 9 p.m. at 338 Ninth St., Oakland. Tickets are $40. 435-5074. 

Anime Convention with vendors, contests and original artwork from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. in the Pauley Ballroom, MLK Student Union, UC Campus. Cost is $15, children 8 and under $8. amimage.berkeley.edu 

Sample Dance Classes at The Beat including tap, tango, jazz, salsa, samba, zydeco, belly dance, ballet, from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 2560 9th St. 548-5348. www.the-beat.org 

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

Flower Essence Therapy for Animals at 3 p.m. at Rabbitears, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Donation $20. 525-6155. www.rabbitears.org 

Heal Your Back and Straighten Your Spine at 10 a.m. at Phamaca Integrative Pharmacy, 1744 Solano Ave. 527-8929. 

SUNDAY, NOV. 6 

Watershed Hike to explore Wildcat Creek. Meet at 9:30 a.m. at the Nature Center, Tilden Park. Bring lunch and drink. Dress for rain and mud. Hike is about 3 miles. 525-2233. 

Conversations with Nature A journal and art workshop at 2 p.m. at Change Makers, 6536 Telegraph Ave. RSVP to wolfbird7@sbcglobal.net 

Daniel Ellsberg on “National Security Whistle-Blowing: Ethics and Law” at noon at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Sponsored by the ACLU. 

Native Plants and Peoples Tour with demonstrations and hands-on experiences from noon to 3 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755.  

Haiku and You Make a recycled journal and be inspired to write some haiku poetry from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. For ages 10 and up. 525-2233. 

Gumbo by the Bay at Sunset An afternoon of food, art and music from 3 to 6 p.m. at Western Drive, Pt. Richmond. Cost is $50-$75. Benefits ArtsChange. 231-1348. www.artschange.org 

Flu and Pneumonia Shots from 1 to 5 p.m. at Phamaca Integrative Pharmacy, 1744 Solano Ave. Cost is $25 and $35. 527-8929. 

Free Entree for Veterans, in appreciation for their service to our country, at Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto, 1919 Fourth St. 845-7771. 

Integrative Medicine and Alternative Health Conference with speakers and workshops from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus. Free. www.studentsforintegrativemedicine.info 

UC Berkeley Folkdancers Reunion at 1:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $7. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

“Ancient Malta: Crossroads of Mediterranean Cultures” at 1 p.m. in Room 101, Archeological Research Facility, UC Campus. 415-338-1537. 

Circus Arts in the Schools with acrobats, clowns, jugglers and musicians at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at Kofman Auditorium, 2200 Central Ave., Alameda. 510-4636. 

Meet Rescued Rats available for adoption and learn about their care and feeding at 2:30 p.m. at Rabbitears, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 525-6155. www.rabbitears.org 

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring warm waterproof clothes. www.cal-sailing.org 

“Esoteric Energy Work from Around the World” with Irving Feurst, at 10 a.m. at International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Breath workshop follows. 245-3737, ext. 7. 

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

MONDAY, NOV. 7 

Sacred Site Shellmound Peace Walk beginning in Vallejo and ending at the Emeryville Huchiun Shellmound on Nov. 25. For information call 453-9002. shellmoundwalk@yahoo.com 

“Mao: The Unknown Story” a conversations with authors Hung Chang and Jon Halliday with Orville Schell, Dean of the Grad. School of Journalism, at 7 p.m. in Anderson Auditorium, Haas School of Business, UC Campus. http://ieas.berkeley.edu 

“About GMOs” Prof. Ignacio Chapela will speak on the introduction of genetically-modified organisms into our food supply at 7:30 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. at Arch. 843-8724. 

Positive Parenting A six-week class on raising healthy, competent children, at 7 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave., Oakland. 658-7353.  

“Greek Hate: Athenian War Propaganda and the Persians” The W. Kendrick Pritchett Lecture with Maureen Miller, Univ. of Sydney at 8 p.m. in the Alumni House, UC Campus. 415-338-1537. 

Tour of the Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, including access to selections from the GTU’s collection of rare books, at 5 p.m. at 2400 Ridge Rd. Reservations required. 649-2420. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, NOV. 8 

Remember to Vote Today For information regarding polling place locations please call 663-VOTE (8683). www.smartvoter.org/ca/state/  

Birdwalk on the MLK Shoreline from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. to see the shorebirds here for the winter. Binoculars available for loan. 525-2233. 

Flu Shots for Berkeley Residents age 60 or over or “high-risk” from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Health Clinic, 830 University Ave. For information call 981-5300. 

Introduction to Voting for Children from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Cost is $6 for children, $5 for adult. 647-1111. 

“A Climbing Life Reexamined” with David Roberts at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

“Glaciers and the California Waterscape” with Prof. Kurt Cuffey at 5:30 p.m. at Goldman School of Public Policy, Room 150, 2607 Hearst. 642-2666. 

“Engineering Communism,” spies, Silicon Valley, and modern intelligence failures with author Steven Usdin at 7:30 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $5. 415-850-5431. 

Guitars in the Classroom Free guitar and music lessons for teachers at 7:30 p.m. at 2304 McKinley Ave. 848-9463. www.guitarsintheclassroom.com 

Michael Oren, fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, on current complexities of the modern Middle East at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Hillel Auditorium, 2736 Bancroft Way. www.berkeleyhillel.org 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. In case of questionable weather, call around 8 a.m. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Introduction to Buddhist Meditation at 7 p.m. at the Dzalandhara Buddhist Center in Berkeley. Cost is $7-$10. Call for directions. 559-8183. www.kadampas.org 

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

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

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 9 

The Hungry Owl Project Fundraiser with dinner and speaker Allen Fish, Director of the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, at 6:30 p.m. at the Marin Art & Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Ross. Tickets are $40, reservations recommended. 415-454-4587. www.hungryowl.org 

Save The Bay Native Planting Day from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oakland. Gloves, tools and snacks provided. 452-9261, ext. 109. www.savesfbay.org 

Choosing Infant Care A workshop on the options at 10 a.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave. Babies welcome. Registration required. 658-7353.  

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation at 10 a.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Advance sign-up needed 594-5165. 

“Higher Ground” An action documentary film on skiiing and snowboarding at 8 p.m. at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. Tickets available at REI. 

“Chavez: Venezuela and the New Latin America” A documentary interview filmed in 2004, at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $5. 393-5685. 

Poetry Writing Workshop with Alison Seevak at 7 p.m. at Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 16. 

“Supporting Cast or Supporting Caste: Minor Characters in Biblical Narrative” with Prof. GIna Hens-Piazza at 7 p.m. in the Chapel, Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. 649-2440. 

“In the Footsteps of Jewish Fusgeyers” with Jill Culiner, brown bag lunch at noon at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $5. 848-0237. 

THURSDAY, NOV. 10 

Stephen Hawking “New Perspectives on the Origin of the Universe” at 8 p.m. at the Paramount Theater, Oakland. Tickets are $35-$125, available from 625-TIXS. www.ticketmaster.com 

Human Rights Watch Panel DIscussion with honorees Omid Memarian from Iran, Salih Mahmoud Osman from Sudan and Beatrice Were from Uganda at noon at the School of Journalism Library, North Gate Hall, UC Campus.  

“EcoNest: Creating Sustainable Sanctuaries of Clay, Straw, And Timber” at 7:30 p.m. at Builders Booksource, 1817 Fourth St., 845-6874. 

Grizzly Peak Flyfishers meets at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Ave. Stu Stewart will speak on fly fishing in the lakes and streams of the Mt. Lassen area. 547-8629. 

Herbs and Remedies to Counteract Overeating at 5 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200.  

“Ways to Lower Your Blood Pressure” with the Hypertension Work Group of the South and West Berkeley Health Forum at 6 p.m. at St. Paul A.M.E. Church, 2024 Ashby Ave. 981-4131. 

Flu Shots for Berkeley Residents age 60 or over or “high-risk” from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Health Clinic, 830 University Ave. 981-5300. 

Headaches and Heartaches Learn about the relationship between physical and emotional pain at 5:30 p.m. at Phamaca Integrative Pharmacy, 1744 Solano Ave. 527-8929. 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping the public schools, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Red Cross Mobile Blood Drive from noon to 6 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1706 Shattuck Ave. To make an appointment call 1-800-448-3543.  

“Detained at Angel Island: Stories, True Stories and Statistics” at 1:30 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, Tenth and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

“Got a Book That Needs Publishing?” Panel discussion with book editors at 7 p.m. at the Journalism Library, corner of Hearst and Euclid, UC Campus. Sponsored by the American Society of Journalists and Authors. Cost is $5. RSVP to 530-6699. 

LGBT Family Night with Family Fun Zone and meetings with national leaders at 7 p.m. at Oakland Marriott City Center. 415-981-1960. 

Little Readers and Friends Night with storyteller Ayodele, at 5 p.m. at at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Free 647-1111. 

East Bay Mac User Group meets to discuss mail clients for OS X at 6 p.m. at Free Expression College for Digital Arts, 6601 Shellmound, Emeryville. http://ebmug.org 

World Affairs/Politics Group for people 60 years and older meets at 3:30 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Cost is $2.50, includes refreshments. 524-9122. 

World of Plants Tours Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5. 643-2755.  

CITY MEETINGS 

Creeks Task Force meets Mon. Nov. 7, at the West Berkeley Senior Center. Erin Dando, 981-7410.  

Council Agenda Committee meets Tues. Nov. 7, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St. 981-6900. 

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Mon., Nov. 7, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Gisele Sorensen, 981-7419.  

Peace and Justice Commission meets Mon., Nov. 7, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Manuel Hector, 981-5510.  

Youth Commission meets Mon., Nov. 7, at 6:30 p.m., at 1730 Oregon St. Philip Harper-Cotton, 981-6670.  

Commission on Disability meets Wed., Nov. 9, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Don Brown, 981-6346. TDD: 981-6345.  

Homeless Commission meets Wed., Nov. 9, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jane Micallef, 981-5426.  

Library Board of Trustees meets Wed. Nov. 9, at 7 p.m. at South Berkeley Senior Center., Jackie Y. Griffin, 981-6195.  

Planning Commission meets Wed., Nov. 9, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Janet Homrighausen, 981-7484. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/planning 

Police Review Commission meets Wed., Nov. 9, at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-4950.  

Waterfront Commission meets Wed., Nov. 9, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. Cliff Marchetti, 981-6740.  

Community Health Commission meets Thurs., Nov. 10, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Kristin Tehrani, 981-5356.  

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., Nov. 10, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Oscar Sung, 981-5400.  

West Berkeley Project Area Commission meets Thurs., Nov. 10, at 7 p.m., at the West Berkeley Senior Center. Iris Starr, 981-7520.  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Nov. 10, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. ?

Agreeing with critics and city staff that their planned five-story, two-building project at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and University Avenue wasn’t the best piece of design Berkeley has ever seen, the developers tried to get a city board to come up with an alternative Thursday. 

The project would be built at the site of the strip mall at the northwest corner of the intersection that now houses the Kragen Auto Parts store. 

Chris Hudson and Evan McDonald walked into the Zoning Adjustments Board meeting kn owing that the city planning staff had called the board to reject the mass and five-story height of the 1885 University Ave. complex so the developers could come up with an alternative. 

But the only things Hudson and McDonald had to show ZAB members were the same plans and drawings that ZAB had spurned six months earlier, along with two letters, one an admonition-laced missive from their attorney. They told the board that if they didn’t like the plans for the building, they should come up with another design themselves. 

Senior Planner Debbie Sanderson said city staff recommended a rejection so the developers could then present a new plan to the city’s Design Review Committee, the first step towards bring the proposal back to ZAB for a final approval. 

“They want recommendations more specific than last time,” she said, referring to the April session when ZAB members last looked at the Hudson McDonald LLC proposal. 

‘Like San Quentin’ 

To say that members disliked the original plans by architect Kirk Peterson is almost faint praise compared with member Jesse Anthony’s critique Thursday. 

“Some buildings make you happy to see them,” Anthony said. But as for the design for 1885 University Ave., “Put bars on it, and it looks like a prison,” he said. “To me, it looks like San Quentin. It’s an indecent building. It just looks terrible.” 

“I’m more uncomfortable than ever with this,” said ZAB member Dave Blake. “It’s going to be very hard to give direction on a building that isn’t going to look like this.” 

For mer Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean, filling in Thursday for absent member Bob Allen, said she favored outright denial.  

Member Dean Metzger asked Sanderson if the board could simply deny the project so that the applicants could start the process over with an entirely new design. 

Because the application has been pending in the Planning Department for two-and-a-half years, Sanderson said, “We think it is fairer and more expeditious to give them very specific directions for specific boundaries for a redesign.” 

“Its not our job to design a building,” said member Chris Tiedemann. “Given that this is not the design that anyone contemplates, we should focus on the staff recommendations and keep our suggestions simple.” 

The developer said the city staff report “is seriously flawed and contains many factual errors” and presented the panel with a four-page letter challenging the document as well as a second four-page letter from San Francisco attorney Allen Matkins threatening litigation should the city deny the p roject. 

McDonald’s letter faulted the staff report for its declaration that their project had raised significant opposition, charging instead that most of it came from “a small number of dedicated opponents.” 

He didn’t add that the opponents were heavily drawn from residents who live on Berkeley Way, which borders the project on the north and Grant Street to the west, and would be most impacted by the project. 

Neighbors worried 

“The project needs to die a timely death,” said Steve Wollmer, a neighbor and an activist with PlanBerkeley.org who offered praise for the staff report. “There needs to be more adult supervision and participation between neighbors and the developer.” 

Regan Richardson, another Berkeley Way resident, reiterated Wollmer’s call to include neighbors in the planning process and faulted the plans for inadequate parking and insufficient setbacks from smaller adjacent residences. 

Sarah Hilders, a Grant Street resident, said the expanded commercial space would lead to further traffic p roblems on her street and called for speed bumps to be added to both Grant and Berkeley Way to keep traffic under control. 

Valerie Artese, who lives three doors down Berkeley Way from the project site, said the building would cast her garden into long ho urs of shadow in the summer months and create “a huge, huge parking mess.” 

Trader Joe’s 

Neighbors were especially concerned to hear that the developers are planning to include 15,000 square feet for a Trader Joe’s market. 

“There needs to be a better me chanism for informing the public,” said Jonathan Stillman, who lives 150 feet from the site. He complained that he had only received the city staff report on the day of the meeting. 

“I will lose my view of the hills,” said Stephen Olson, president of the University Lofts Homeowners Association, a condominium project at University and Grant. He also predicted more traffic in the area as a result of the Trader Joe’s. 

Tom Hunt, a Berkeley Way resident, said he agreed with former Mayor Dean that “you should deny this and move on to something that the developer, the people in the neighborhood and you can all be proud of.” 

In rebuttal, Chris Hudson said that any denial would be immediately appealed because any new project would have to adhere to the new zoning policies of the University Avenue Strategic Plan (UASP), which he said virtually precludes development on the thoroughfare. 

“I hope there will be a series of meeting with neighbors, with written outcomes so there are no misunderstandings,” said Dean. “It will be a difficult and controversial process.” 

Dean also said she didn’t think the traffic problems generated by the presence of a popular market could be solved simply by establishing a traffic light at MLK and Berkeley Way, and said that the devel opers should have to prove that their project couldn’t be built under the UASP zoning. 

“This is a real loggerhead,” said Hudson. “State law is clear that it conforms to the zoning. We have to protect the rights given to this piece of property.” 

In the e nd, with only Dean Metzger voting to reject the plan, the board sent the project back to the developers with the criticisms generated in April and recommendations to add a setback and landscaping along Berkeley Way and to include more open space for residents of the complex.?t

With only City Councilmember Kriss Worthington’s two appointments yet to be named, the panel responsible for helping to formulate a new downtown plan is almost in place. 

Mayor Tom Bates and councilmembers Dona Spring, Darryl Moore and Max Anderson announced their appointments Monday, with Bates picking Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) Executive Director Will Travis to serve as chair of the 21-member panel. 

Travis also served on the staff of the California Coastal Commission and was a consultant on the master plan for the East Bay Regional Parks District. 

Bates’ other pick is Juliet Lamont, an outspoken advocate of daylighting the city’s buried creeks. She holds a doctorate in environmental planning from UC Berkeley. Among her other involvements, she recently served as vice chair of the Sierra Club executive committee. 

Each of Berkeley’s nine councilmembers has two appointments to the committee, and the Planning Commission has three. 

The panel is the result of the settlement of the city’s suit challenging UC Berkeley’s Long Range Development Plan for 2025. The group is charged with preparing a draft plan no later than November 2007, when it will then disband. 

Councilmember Spring appointed another Sierra Club activist, Wendy Alfsen, who also served on the Planning Commission’s UC Hotel Task Force, which formulated suggested guidelines for a hotel the university is planning for the northeast corner of the intersection of University Avenue and Center Street. 

Alfsen lives a half-bloc k outside the committee’s planning area and is active in the McKinley Addison Allston Grant Neighborhood Association (MAAGNA), Spring said. 

Her other appointment, Lisa Stephens, has lived in the planning area since 1990 and served on the group that prepa red the city’s existing downtown plan in 1990. She also served as Spring’s representative on the Parks and Recreation Commission from 1993 to 2001 and, like Lamont, is a creek daylighting proponent, Spring said. 

Councilmember Darryl Moore appointed Berke ley High School Lead Safety Officer Billy Keys, who has also served on the school’s site committee. Moore’s other appointment, Maria Guadalupe Gallegos-Diaz, is director of Chicano/Latino Affairs at UC Berkeley. She also serves on the board of the Chicana/Latina Foundation. 

Councilmember Max Anderson appointed former City Councilmember Carole Kennerly, who currently works for the Alameda County Health Department. 

“She has a wealth of experience,” Anderson said. 

His other appointment, Planning Commissio ner Rob Wrenn, also serves on the Transportation Commission and served on the UC Hotel Task Force as well. 

With the addition of Wrenn, the panel now has five planning commissioners, potentially a problem under the Brown Act, which would consider the meet ings when all five were present to be legally meetings of that commission. 

The others are Planning Commission Chair Harry Pollack, who was previously appointed by Councilmember Gordon Wozniak, and members Gene Poschman, Helen Burke, another Sierra Club a ctivist, and Susan Wengraf, Councilmember Olds’ aide, who were chosen by a vote of the planning commission against the wishes of Pollack and Wengraf. 

Wozniak’s other choice was University of California journalism faculty member Linda Schacht. 

Councilmem ber Laurie Capitelli’s choices were former Councilmember Mim Hawley and Zoning Commissioner Raudell Wilson, the chair of the Downtown Berkeley Association. Betty Olds picked retired University of California planning executive and Livable Berkeley board member Dorothy Walker and Jenny Wenk of the Downtown Berkeley YMCA. Linda Maio named Victoria Eisen, a planning consultant who has worked for the Association of Bay Area Governments and Winston Burton of BOSS, a social service non-profit. 

Worthington said Monday that he’s still interviewing candidates, and asked that anyone interested contact him at his office in City Hall. 

Four candidates are scheduled for interviews today (Tuesday), Worthington said, “and I’m looking for more to find just the right comb ination. It’s very hard to find someone who’s familiar with planning, land use, landmark, housing and the other issues the committee will be dealing with. I’m happy to talk to anyone who wants to serve.” 

Cisco DeVries, chief of staff for Mayor Bates, said Monday that “it won’t cause any calamity” if Worthington misses the 5 p.m. deadline. “I’m sure we’ll survive,” he added.?

Peralta Community College District Trustee Marcie Hodge stepped up two campaigns last week—one against Peralta’s Office of International and Global Education, the other for the 6th District Oakland City Council seat currently held by Desley Brooks. 

Hodg e sent out a mass mailing of a four-page political campaign-looking “This has got to stop!” brochure last week announcing that “Waste and frivolous spending in the Peralta Community College District has gone on for too long. Help me clean house.” 

The cha rges were aimed at the district’s international student recruitment office that came under intense scrutiny several years ago under the administration of former Chancellor Ronald Temple. At that time, the Alameda County Civil Grand Jury conducted an inves tigation into charges that Temple and several trustees made numerous unnecessary trips abroad under the office’s budget. As a result of that controversy, international travel by Peralta trustees was curtailed. 

Hodge’s brochure was sent to residents in he r Area 2 trustee district as well as to residents of the Oakland City Council 6th District who do not live in Hodge’s trustee district. While both districts are in East Oakland, Hodge’s trustee district is further towards the San Leandro border than the 6th District, and there is only a small area near Seminary Avenue where the two districts overlap. 

Money for the brochures was reportedly provided by a $1,000 a head fund-raiser sponsored for Hodge by Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente. 

Responding to the same charges listed in the brochure made by Hodge at a trustee meeting last September, fellow Peralta trustee Linda Handy said, “I recognize that Trustee Hodge is campaigning for office, and unfortunately it’s going to be on the backs of our employees.” 

Hodge and her brother, former Oakland School Board member Jason Hodge, could not be reached for comment for this article. Jason Hodge’s residence telephone number is listed as the contact number on the “This has got to stop!” brochures. 

The brochures include a letter from Hodge addressed to “dear neighbors,” which charges that staff from Peralta’s International and Global Education department “spends lavishly, traveling the world while tuition for students rises. ... Help me demand an e nd to this shameful waste.” 

The brochure reproduces several receipts from international locations made out by International Studies Director Jacob Ng and charged to the Peralta Community College District. All of the receipts reproduced appear to have 200 3 dates. 

The brochure also includes a petition supporting Hodge’s campaign to establish “strict controls on all travel and related spending” for the department, which Hodge asks residents to sign and mail to Peralta Chancellor Elihu Harris.  

Part of the job of Peralta’s international office is to recruit students to the district from other countries. International students pay a higher tuition to the district than students who live in Peralta’s service area, and the money obtained from international stu dents goes directly to the district. In-district student tuition is funneled through the state, which withholds some of the amount before sending it to Peralta. 

Responding to Hodge’s charges, Peralta Public Information Officer Jeff Heyman said that “we f eel that these are events that happened in the past. They were looked into, and worked on. We’ve done our duty. The issue isn’t relevant any longer.” 

And Peralta Federation of Teachers President Michael Mills said that “we think that the travel element o f this office has been thoroughly reviewed.” Mills said the PFT is working with the district on a “review of the content of the program to determine how we can maximize its potential.” 

The information contained in the Hodge brochure are a reprisal of charges the first-term trustee originally made at a September 13 Peralta Trustee meeting, which ended in a virtual shouting match between Hodge and Trustee President William Riley when he tried to limit her remarks. Trustees later rejected Hodge’s motion to eliminate the International and Global Education Department outright. 

Hodge’s sister Nichole, an Oakland attorney, told trustees that she had made a written request to Chancellor Harris last spring “asking for records of foreign students who actually came to the Peralta Colleges as a direct result of the recruiting efforts” by the International and Global Education Department. Nichole Hodge said she received a letter from the district in June stating that “Peralta does not have such records.” 

Hodge had requested that Ng attend that Sept. 13 meeting to answer her concerns about the department, and was visibly angered when Ng did not show up. Instead, Ng’s report was given by his supervisor—Peralta Vice Chancellor Margaret Haig—who had only been on the jo b four days before the meeting. 

Hodge said that she had directed her sister to send the letter to Harris concerning what she called “this so-called office,” and charged that Ng “has racked up thousands of dollars traveling around the world and nobody can tell me how many students have been recruited. How can we justify cutting classes and salaries and then send this man around the world?” 

And after Riley cautioned Hodge about making personal attacks against an employee, Hodge said that she would ask Ng himself the questions, but he was not at the meeting as she had requested. 

“Is there some kind of coverup or something illegal going on?” she asked. 

In her report to the Sept. 13 meeting, Vice Chancellor Haig said that it was her intention to “conduct a review of the international education office, including the finances and the mission of the office,” but that she hadn’t been on the job long enough to be able to answer questions. 

Trustees Cy Gulassa and Bill Withrow both agreed with Hodge’s concerns a bout the International and Global Education Department, but specifically rejected her call to abolish it. 

Criticizing a report sent in by Ng through Vice Chancellor Haig as “unacceptable to someone who’s trying to understand what’s going on in this progr am,” Gulassa said “we need to learn the plain facts. If you’ve gone to Bangkok, let us know how many students later came to Peralta from Bangkok. And if you can’t answer that, maybe you shouldn’t be going to Bangkok.” 

Gulassa added that “I’m not advocati ng any closure of this office. We just want an accurate accounting.” 

Withrow, one of the trustees who has demanded increased fiscal accountability from the district in other areas, said that “while there is concern about this program in the community; it’s been shrouded in secrecy and there has been a lack of data.” He noted that the international office was bringing in a net of $2.2 million to the district while operating on a $470,000 budget. 

“Whether or not the program money is being spent efficientl y, if we do away with this program, we are going to have to identify $2.2 million in the budget that we will have to cut,” he said. “This is not a game. We need to take a look at this program, but we need to approach it from a focused, business standpoint.” 

Hodge has said she will not think about any plans to run for the City Council against first-term Councilmember Brooks, but De La Fuente said that he was approached earlier this year by Hodge and her brother, asking for De La Fuente’s support in a run for the 6th District Council seat. 

Last month, the Oakland Tribune reported that De La Fuente sponsored a fund-raiser for Hodge in Oakland’s Fruitvale District, with the newspaper indicating that Hodge would use the proceeds “to send newsletters to her constituents to keep them updated on issues she’s facing as a trustee.” 

“In fact,” the Tribune article concluded, “Hodge said her first letter would continue to demand answers to questions about the way Peralta’s international student program is operated.”›

Were drums of radioactive waste from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory buried in South Richmond? 

A multi-jurisidictional investigation to determine just that is now being launched after a survey detected buried metal where a retired UC Berkeley worker said he helped bury the drums along the South Richmond shoreline. 

All parties caution that the presence of metal could be anything from hubcaps to scrap metal, and that only an excavation at the site will determine what is buried in the landfill. 

Rick Alcaraz, a retired groundskeeper at the university’s Richmond Field Station (RFS), said he and other workers made repeated trips to the laboratory in the late 1960s to collect heavy 55-gallon drums. 

He said they dumped the containers in the landfil l at a site where confirmation of the presence of submerged metal at the site was made on Aug. 18 by a UC Berkeley crew who surveyed the area with a magnetometer. 

The discovery was disclosed in a status report released last week by Barbara J. Cook, the B erkeley-based chief of Northern California coastal cleanup for the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). 

There was a delay between Alcaraz’s report and the survey because of uncertainty about which jurisdiction owned the site. 

The owner t urned out to be the City of Richmond Redevelopment Agency, which subsequently granted authorization for the UC Berkeley survey.  

“We’re the lead agency,” Ron Baker, Sacramento-based chief of the DTSC’s information office, said Monday. 

“We are aware of t hose allegations and we are in the process of looking into them,” he said. “We fully intend to go out and look at this.” 

Baker said the investigation would include the Radiological Health Branch of the state Department of Health Services, which has the m ission “to enhance and protect public health, safety, and environmental quality in California by regulating the use of and exposure to radiation.” 

Cook said Monday that the DTSC will be using LFR-Levine Fricke, which has the cleanup contracts for the RFS and adjoining Campus Bay sites, to conduct a thorough examination of the site, hopefully concluding by the end of the month. 

Alcaraz said he reported the incident because he was afraid that when the drums were exposed, children and others might experien ce what happened to him when he opened one of the drums and examined some of the rocks he found inside. 

Alcaraz said that later that evening, “I began to bleed from my eyes, ears and nose, and my feet swelled up. I don’t want that happening to anyone els e.” 

Treated at Brookside Hospital at the time, Alcaraz said he was told that his symptoms were caused by an allergic reaction to the eucalyptus trees at RFS. 

“I don’t believe it,” he said. 

The disposal site is just to the northeast of the field station, one of several sites along the Stege Marsh shoreline which were heavily contaminated by a century of chemical manufacturing. 

The field station and the adjoining Campus Bay site, where a development combine hopes to install 1,330 units of housing atop a massive mound of buried hazardous waste, were transferred from the jurisdiction of the Regional Water Quality Control Board to the DTSC earlier this year after protests and a campaign by area activists. 

Cook said Monday that the excavation will be done cautiously and in coordination with a variety of agencies that have jurisdiction over waterfront activities 

Among the agencies that the DTSC is keeping informed are the Richmond Redevelopment Agency, which owns the site, the Bay Conservation and Developm ent Commission, the Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the state Department of Fish and Game, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

The U.S. Department of Energy, which runs the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab oratory, is not involved at this point because the agency has no record of drums being disposed of at the site, Cook said. 

Cook told a gathering of the Community Advisory Group that is offering guidance to her staff on toxic sites in the South Richmond a rea that the core drilling normally used to detect the presence of underground contaminants couldn’t be utilized for fear that something hazardous might be released from a buried drum. 

Cook said Monday that the site would have to be excavated layer by la yer in a process similar to an archaeological dig, with crews removing two feet of soil, then gathering further magnetometer readings and testing for volatile organic toxins, followed by another two-foot slice with more testing, and so on. 

Leah Brooks, a spokesperson for the state Department of Health Services in Sacramento, said her agency will be involved as well if radioactive waste is discovered, with the DTSC serving as the lead agency. 

Brooks’ agency has clear responsibilities in all cases where p otential radiological health risks are involved, said the DTSC’s Baker. 

Sherry Padgett, a spokesperson for Bay Area Residents for Responsible Development (BARRD), which has been the most visible organization in challenging development at the polluted sites, said she had mixed feelings about the news. 

“If you’re sitting in an auditorium and you smell smoke, it could mean a fire—or it could mean that someone’s just lit a cigarette,” she said. “The best of all cases would be that nothing comes of it. It’s just some buried metal. But if it turns out to be something else...” 

The East Bay’s self-styled “social capitalist” organization Rubicon Programs officially opens in Berkeley Thursday morning with a celebration at its downtown offices. 

The ribbon-cutting ceremony and office tour will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the organization’s new Berkeley offices at 1918 Bonita Ave. NBC 11 television reporter Christien Kafton, a Berkeley native, will serve as master of ceremonies for the event, with Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates and Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson serving as honorary hosts. 

The organization has been operating its Berkeley satellite office since July of this year. 

Based in Richmond, the 32-year-old social service organization provides what Vice President Jane Fischberg describes as a “wide range of caree r development and housing services all across the Bay Area, primarily in the East Bay.” 

The organization’s website says that “each year, Rubicon helps over 3,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area—most of whom are homeless or living in poverty—get jobs, housing, legal support, and the skills they need to create better lives for themselves.” The website also notes that Rubicon “funds over 50 percent of our $15.3 million budget from revenues generated by our enterprises, fees from services, and rental pr operties.” 

The organization operates a bakery at its Richmond headquarters and operates what Fischberg calls a “high-end commercial landscaping operation” that in part handles all of the landscaping at Treasure Island. Fischberg said that Rubicon also pr ovides housing for 44 formerly homeless people at Treasure Island. 

Rubicon also operates legal aid and mental health care services. 

Fischberg says that the Berkeley office, with 16 employees, will provide services for residents of the cities of Berkeley, Albany, Emeryville, and Piedmont. 

“It will serve in part as a career center where prospective employees can meet with employers,” she said. “We will also provide networking assistance. And a big part of our mission will be to partner with the various p ublic agencies in the area that provide career and employment services.” 

The organization will also provide what Fischberg calls “intense services for people transitioning out of homelessness. We coordinate with landlords to provide permanent housing for the formerly homeless, and provide training and other services to help people retain that housing. We also provide special job training for formerly homeless people who have additional needs in finding and keeping employment.” 

The California Department of Rehabilitation will provide both funding for the office as well as deliver on-site services to the program participants. 

The organization’s Berkeley area work is also funded in part by the Workforce Investment Board, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Alameda County Social Services Department, and the Mental Health and Housing departments of the City of Berkeley.

Neighbors of the Berkeley Adult School (formerly Franklin School) planted the northeast corner of the site (Curtis and Virginia streets) on Saturday. Schoolhouse Creek Commons, which is allied with Partners-for-Parks, welcomes donations and assistance with the project. For more information, contact James Day at 559-8368 or dayork@infinex.com..

The Zoning Adjustments Board voted unanimously Thursday to declare Dwight Way Liquors a public nuisance and to order its closure. 

The decision pleased the 30-plus area residents who attended the meeting. 

The resolution adopted by the board cited a long litany of complaints from neighbors and police against the shop at 2440 Sacramento St., including—between August 2004 and September of this year—32 violations of the store’s liquor license and 34 calls for police service at the site. 

Complaints from neighbors included discoveries of empty fortified wine bottles, needles and other drug paraphernalia in their yards, noise, public urination, liquor sales to minors, indecent exposure, drug sales and other problematic behavior by the store’s customers. 

Addulazziz Saleh Saleh, the current liquor license holder, didn’t appear to protest the decision, which was passed unanimously by the board. 

The decision held that the store “is operated in such a manner as to constitute a public nuisance and orders the operation thereof to cease.” 

The decision can be appealed to the City Council. 

i

Dolores Huerta is coming to Berkeley this Friday to advocate against the School of the Americas where Latin American soldiers are trained in torture techniques. 

Huerta, a dynamic speaker who energizes her audiences, has no time for despair.  

Co-founder of the United Farm Workers Union with Cesar Chavez, she is a life-long organizer and lobbyist. Huerta urged others to join her in the struggle. 

It is imperative for people to connect “their street politics with electoral politics,” she said, “otherwise our representative government is not going to work.” 

When she went to the Peace March in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 24, she said she wished that even a few of the people at the march would become full-time activists. 

“Of the 200,000 people there, if only 5,000 or even 1,000 would go up to [Capital Hill] and start lobbying, we could have stopped maybe the confirmation of John Roberts to the Supreme Court,” she said.  

A mother of 11, she advises people to set their priorities by finding something that is really important and do it before thinking of all the reasons they can’t. 

“If cleaning the house is going to have an impact 50 years from now, then clean your house,” she said. “If going out to that demonstration to change some policy is going to have a better impact, then definitely go to that demonstration.” 

Winner of the Puffin Foundation Award for Creative Citizenship in 2002, she poured her $100,00 grant from the award into creating the Dolores Huerta Foundation Organizing Institute. Her youngest daughter, Camila Chavez, is the executive director of the Bakersfield-based foundation. 

The institute is setting up training for people interested in working full-time as organizers. But already there is a paid staff organizing against Proposition 73, the “notify parents before abortion” measure on this November’s special election ballot. Huerta said the prominence of issues like women’s rights and gay rights is sometimes used to obfuscate the fact that corporations are taking over our government. 

Even at 75, Dolores Huerta is so politically active it is hard to catch up with her. 

She just received the Pace e Bene Award for non-violent activism this month, and on Friday she will be at Berkeley’s St. Joseph the Worker Church talking with Father Louie Vitale against the School of the Americas. This military school, funded by U.S. tax dollars, and which has been renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, is responsible for deaths and disappearances throughout Latin America, Huerta said. 

“Every issue is interrelated,” she said. “What happens in Latin America affects what happens here. Father Louie Vitale and Father Bill O’Donnell have gone to prison over this issue. The United States should not be involved in training terrorists. This is a very just issue that people need to find out about.”  

Her own non-violent training began early, in the Catholic teaching of “turn the other cheek” and in reading about St. Francis and Gandhi. When her philosophy of non-violence met the reality of violence during the United Farm Workers’ strikes, Huerta said, it showed how effective the philosophy of non-violence was. 

“When we were on the picket lines, the growers came at us with violence and you saw the strikers were not violent, you saw how that really made the picket line stronger, it made the workers stronger,” she said. 

Even after being beaten by San Francisco police, she says her non-violent attitudes were reinforced.  

Huerta, who has negotiated several contracts for the U.F.W., offers advice to union negotiators, techniques she learned from people like Lou Goldblatt of the Longshoreman’s Union. 

She said, “First, when you negotiate you’re always honest both with the workers and the companies you’re bargaining with. Number two, the workers have to be involved in negotiations. A lot of people think you have to be an attorney to negotiate; you don’t have to be. Then, always be reasonable and try to come to a common agreement with the employer, not to make it contentious.” 

Huerta said she avoids feeling discouraged by looking for the good that can come out of something bad. 

“Katrina was a horrible disaster in terms of the people that got killed, but it is certainly showing the true face of our government in such a stark way, even those who had some confidence in this government are now starting to question it,” she said.  

After being very ill, Huerta says she has regained energy very slowly. Yet, as she speaks, she fulfills what her grandfather said of her, that she must have seven tongues because she speaks so fast. An unflagging organizer, she brings her audiences along with her, translating English to Spanish, urging agreement. 

With one fist raised in solidarity, she calls out “Si, Se Puede”—“Yes, We Can.” 

Dolores Huerta is scheduled to be at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St., Friday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. for a conversation with Father Louie Vitale regarding the School of the Americas.›

Prosecutors have filed felony charges against the 46-year-old Oakland man whose car ran a red light and killed a 20-year-old UC Berkeley student at about 2:30 a.m. Thursday. 

Christine Phan Dao died in the crash after her car was struck by a vehicle driven by Kenneth Ray Wheeler as he drove north on San Pablo Avenue at the University Avenue intersection. 

Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies said Wheeler was charged with running a red light and a variety of other intoxication and driving counts under the California Vehicle Code. 

Wheeler was transferred to the Alameda County Jail after he was treated for injuries at Highland Hospital. 

Because of incorrect information received for the Oct. 28 paper, the Daily Planet reported that Ms. Dao was riding a motorcycle. She was, in fact, driving a car. 

Wheeler was driving a Ford Mustang, Okies said. 

—

Gunshot 

Someone capped off a round near the corner of Ellis and Fairview streets shortly after midnight Thursday. No one was injured, Okies said. 

Strong-arm heist 

A 15-year-old was robbed of his valuables near the corner of Allston Way and Martin Luther King Jr. Way just after 3 p.m. Thursday. The robber was a big fellow between 17 and 20 years of age and standing about 6’3”. 

Rape averted 

A 47-year-old woman narrowly averted rape after a man grabbed her as she walked into an alleyway in the 2000 block of Shattuck Avenue at 9:20 a.m. Friday, Okies said. 

The victim described her assailant an a bald African American man in his early 20s who stands about 6’3” and weighs about 180 pounds. 

He was wearing a dark baseball cap, a dark zip-up sweatshirt, jeans and sneakers. Anyone with information about the crime is requested to contact the department at police@ci.berkeley.ca.us orthe department’s Sex Crimes detail at 981-5735. 

Callers may remain anonymous. 

iPod ear-jacking 

Three teenagers staged a strong-arm robbery of a Berkeley man who was walking along the 2000 block of Allston Way at 4:25 p.m. Thursday. 

Their loot? The earpieces through which their victim was listening to the sounds of his iPod MP3 player. 

Police arrived in time to apprehend the miscreants and recover the listening gear. 

Stomping busts 

Police arrested four suspects on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and battery after they stomped a 31-year-old man in the 3000 block of Shattuck Avenue shortly before 5:30 Friday afternoon. 

The victim, who was later treated at a hospital emergency room, was able to describe the red vehicle in which his assailants had fled and officers arrested them moments later. 

Sex grab arrest 

A 21-year-old woman flagged down a police car moments after a man had groped her as she walked along the 2400 block of Haste Street. The officers were able to quickly locate and arrest the 21-year-old man the victim identified. 

He was booked on suspicion of sexual battery. 

Bizarre robbers 

A man in a bathrobe and accompanied by four would-be felons clad in more traditional garb approached a man in his car in the 2500 block of Park Street and asked for money at 3 a.m. Saturday. 

When the driver refused, the odd assemblage began pounding on his window. The driver and his car escaped, possessions intact. 

Hallo-weenies 

The seasonal counterparts of the Grinch made off with two pumpkins a resident of the 700 block of Contra Costa Avenue had on display outside his home Saturday morning. 

The three gourdnappers were last seen departing the scene of the crime in a white Monte Carlo, said Officer Okies. 

Party-bashers 

A group of young men drove to the 2600 block of Regent Street at 11:21 p.m. Saturday and attempted to crash a party then under way. 

In the course of their efforts, one of the group bashed one of the legitimate revelers over the head with a bottle before the group fled the scene. 

Armed robbery 

Two men robbed a 38-year-old man of his cash, laptop computer and other belongings near the corner of Cedar and Franklin streets just before 9:45 p.m. Sunday, then fled in late model American car. c

To view Justin DeFreitas’ latest editorial cartoon, please visit  

www.jfdefreitas.com To search for previous cartoons by date of publication, click on the Daily Planet Archive.



VOTE! 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A large margin is needed to “Nix the First Six” Nov. 8. 

The evidence is overwhelming that the 2004 election was stolen by the Republicans, in part via manipulation of electronic voting data. The Nov. 8 special election, with its Republican agenda for California, is a prime target for more of the same. So, we not only need a majority of votes to defeat the Governator’s destructive power-grab, we need a large enough margin to make it impossible to fraudulently tip the election. 

Remember: Make sure to vote, and make sure your friends, relatives, neighbors, coworkers, etc. vote to “nix the first six” on Nov. 8. 

Diane Shavelson 

• 

WAG THE DOG 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

One, among many positive things, that may result from the Scooter Libby indictment is that Bush wont dare to start another war ... hopefully. But then think about it, he’s in such deep doo-doo that it may be his only way to refocus our attention away from his corrupt administration I remember that movie Wag the Dog, in which Karl Rove types are brought in to stave off a White House scandal and the solution is to go to war. Bush’s track record on phony war is 100 percent; flushed with success he may try again.  

Robert Blau  

• 

SOUTH BERKELEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

More than any other issue it has been the inability to deal seriously with crime than has kept progressives at the sidelines of American politics. Hence it is depressing but not unexpected that Kriss Worthington’s response to soaring crime in his district is to change the map index to mask the crime rate. Serious leadership would require deploying police to penalize and then sell the infamous drug house under the penal code as a locus of criminal conspiracy, petition the university to end People’s Park as a vector of South Berkeley’s woe, and reclaim Telegraph Avenue as a thriving and safe commercial hub for the university community. South Berkeley deserves better leadership.  

David Baggins 

• 

APOLOGISTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I lived on Oregon Street in 1989 one block from the Moore family. There was a lot of trouble in the neighborhood ... drugs, burglary, prostitution, intimidation and violence. The Moore household was one locus of problems then. 

Sixteen years have passed, 16 years of neighborhood efforts to make a peaceful and civilized life and yet the problems remain. 

I remember feeling abandoned by the city as I was compelled to enclose my yard, install security lights, and constantly be on the watch. My porch was set on fire, my house broken into and I was assailed at knifepoint. My neighbors—African American, Hispanic, Pakastani and white—had similar problems.  

It is not a question of race but a question of civility. The first right one has is the simple right to live without fear. The government’s first role, as an extension of the collective will, is to provide basic peace and safety.  

It is astounding how impotent the City of Berkeley and its agencies have been. Perhaps they fear those like Osha Neumann, apologists for uncivilized behavior—because their apologies are wrapped in politically correct language. Or perhaps Berkeley, still blinded by “progressive” ideology, is unable to simply say: “People are responsible for their own actions. If one cannot behave in a civilized manner then one can’t live here.”  

The suit against the Moores is a suit on behalf of all of us. It is filed against disorder, threat and violence—filed on behalf of civility, thoughtfulness and peace. I wish Paul Rauber, Laura Menard and all other brave citizens the best of luck. 

John Koenigshofer 

• 

ENOUGH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I have been following the case of Lenora Moore with great interest. Charges of racial intolerance, racial discrimination, gentrification and class bias have flown fast and furious. Enough is enough. The issue here has absolutely nothing to do with race, class or gentrification.  

Our homes are our sanctuary for our families. Regardless of race or class, we have the right to the safe and peaceful enjoyment of our homes. Remember the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Paul Rauber and others near Mrs. Moore have had that right repeatedly violated for too long.  

For better or worse, Mrs. Moore is the magnet that continues to attract those who have no respect for community. Nobody, regardless of race or class, wants the byproducts of drug dealing which often include: endless streams of traffic; increased property crimes; vandalism and graffiti; litter; dangerous pit bulls roaming the streets; young thugs hanging out on the street drinking 40-ouncers; and blight. I know. I live in the North Oakland-South Berkeley border area. Drug dealing is the number one concern. One drug house can wreak havoc for a whole neighborhood and keep residents in constant fear.  

Recently, a drug house just down the street from me was shut down by the Berkeley Swat Team. Since then, we have witnessed a dramatic difference in our neighborhood. I do agree with Daily Planet Executive Editor that the Berkeley and Oakland Police Departments must be more aggressive in addressing crime in the North Oakland-South Berkeley border area with more frequent patrols. The City of Berkeley and Oakland must also play a stronger role in proactively dealing with issues of blight. Residents also need to step up and play an active role in community policing. I applaud Paul Rauber and others for stepping up and trying to reclaim their homes as a sanctuary. Forcing Mrs. Moore to move through a small claims nuisance suit won’t eliminate crime in the South Berkeley area, but it is certainly a step in the right direction and will dramatically improve the lives of those living near her. Apologists for Mrs. Moore are misguided. They should try living next to a drug house.  

Jeffrey G. Jensen 

Oakland 

• 

B.S. ARTISTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I wholeheartedly agree with every word of Paul Rauber’s commentary (“South Berkeley’s Crime Enablers,” Oct. 28) and sympathize with the horrible ordeal he and his family have been subjected to. And I think the overwhelming majority of Berkeley citizens agree with me when I say: We are sick to death of these useless B.S. artists who have nothing better to do than to muddle the issue by playing the same old useless “race card” that we’ve already heard a thousand times before, that has nothing to do with the real issue of trying to deal with these violent maniacs—of whatever race—who are in the process of ruining our neighborhoods.  

Ace Backwords 

• 

BLOATED WORK FORCE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Michael Marchant’s defense of city workers (Oct. 28) is informative and reasonable, but misses an essential point. No one would deprive competent, productive workers of a reasonable income, retirement, or health care. But Berkeley is burdened with workers who are flakey at best and obstructionist at worst, spreading the workload as thin as possible in order to pad their departments with ever more friends and relatives. If the least productive 25 percent of the work force were laid off, the rest could run the city efficiently. That is why our work force is more bloated and costly than that of any other city in the East Bay. 

Jerry Landis 

• 

REMEMBERING ROSA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Usually I enjoy reading J. Douglas Allen-Taylor’s columns, but I was very disappointed in his Oct. 28 effort on Rosa Parks. 

I don’t know the sources of Allen-Taylor’s information, but interviews with Mrs. Parks and others who were in Montgomery at the time contradict his premises that the Dec. 1 1955 event was staged, and that the consequent boycott was not spontaneous. 

It is true that Mrs. Parks and her husband had been actively involved in the NAACP. It is also true that prior to Mrs. Parks, other African-Americans with less admirable qualities had been arrested for refusing to give up their seats. But there was no plan for Rosa Parks to resist that particular day. The situation arose, and Mrs. Parks simply took a moral stand against something she knew was not right. 

Likewise, there was no pre-planning of the bus boycott which followed Mrs. Parks’ arrest. In fact, it started as a one-day reaction, and the success of that one day inspired what turned into a year-long boycott. 

It is also true that many heroes accomplished great deeds before Rosa Parks existed, and many more will rise to the occasion in the future. But we must not diminish the impact this courageous woman had on our country and abroad. Oppressed people around the world have been and can be inspired by Mrs. Parks’ act of resistance. She deserves every bit of respect and recognition she has earned. 

I have found some of Allen-Taylor’s data questionable in the past, but now I know for sure to take his column with a grain of salt. 

Mary Hill  

Richmond 

• 

CALCULATED STRATEGY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thanks to J. Douglas Allen-Taylor for his excellent “Rosa Parks is Not the Beginning of the Story” (Oct. 28). It is vital to point out that Rosa Parks was not just the little lady on the bus who was too tired to give up her seat to a white man, but an actor in a carefully planned and calculated strategy to fight racial injustice. Allen-Taylor rightly insists that many people took part in many courageous acts over a period of many years, building carefully the movement that most honors 20th-century America. I first learned of Septima Clark in the 1980s, when I read Ready From Within, an as-told-to autobiography, written by Berkeley author/educator Cynthia Brown, condensed from many hours of interview tapes with Septima Clark, and approved by Clark. It’s still worth reading, if you can find it: short, unpretentious, straightforward, focussed, and smart, as Ms. Clark and all the people she credits had to be. Stories like hers remind us that to reform society we need more than passion; we need sustained, thoughtful planning; cooperation with folks we may often disagree with or even dislike; open minds ready to learn from whatever source; and the ability to stick it out for the long haul, without caring about who gets the credit. 

I’m grateful to Allen-Taylor for reminding us of what true heroism is.  

Dorothy Bryant 

• 

DRAWING CONCLUSIONS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It really depends on which Norman LaForce you choose to believe. The one who makes statements in public and on record, or the one that denies them. 

In the Aug. 17 2004 edition of the Daily Planet the report goes “The Sierra Club’s Norman LaForce floated the organization’s own plans for the race track site, contrasting Magna’s proposal (which was for 600,000 square feet) with the (Sierra) club’s proposal for a much smaller 325,000-square-foot hotel and shopping area—which would include ballfields at the base of Gilman Street.” 

Norman is on record as one of the most forceful opponents of off-leash dog parks and in his response refers to the already heavily overused Point Isabel. However dogwalkers and artists at the Albany Landfill attempted to have meaningful discussions with LaForce and the State Park Planners and were rebuffed at every turn. Norman did at one point tell me privately that he “could save the art” as long as Albany Let It Be would abandon their commitment to protecting 20 years of responsible off-leash access at the Albany Waterfront. 

This visceral dislike of dogs and the people who love them is partly what prompted Norman and Mayor Tom Bates to have a meeting with Jean Siri, our exemplary area representative on the board of East Bay Regional Park District, and suggest that perhaps she was getting a little old for the job and perhaps a younger man, LaForce, might be better in the post. This led to Jean’s public comment, reported in the media, that Berkeley’s mayor was both ageist and sexist. 

Most politicians fearing the loss of Sierra Club votes are pretty much held to LaForce’s way or no way. He has said to more than one listener that wildlife values trump human needs. LaForce is a lawyer who defends the insurance industry against claims by little humans like you and me.  

Draw your own conclusions.  

Jill Posener 

• 

MISSION STATEMENTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Berkeley taxpayers and Berkeley Public Library management, employees and patrons need to be aware of these statements: 

Berkeley Public Library Mission Statement 

• The Berkeley Public Library supports the individual’s right to know by providing free access to information. 

• The Central Library and four neighborhood Branch Libraries are committed to developing collections, resources, and services that meet the cultural, informational, recreational, and educational needs of Berkeley’s diverse, multi-cultural community.  

• The Library supports independent learning, personal growth, and the individual’s need for information.  

• Helpful and expert staff welcome the opportunity to provide quality library services and programs.  

• The Berkeley Public Library—an institution shaped by Berkeley’s traditions, characteristics, and environment—belongs to the entire community.  

—Adopted by the Board of Library Trustees December 1987 

The Board of Library Trustees Mission Statement 

Charged with management and control of the Berkeley Public Library under Section 30 of the Charter. Formulates major policies and long-range plans for the Library. Four members are appointed by the Council for a term of four years. The fifth member is a Councilmember, also appointed by the Council, whose term expires on December 1 of the year their term expires.  

City of Berkeley Mission Statement 

As City of Berkeley employees, our mission is to provide quality service to our diverse community; promote an accessible, safe, healthy, environmentally sound and culturally rich city; initiate innovative solutions; embrace respectful, democratic participation; respond quickly and effectively to neighborhood and commercial concerns and do so in a fiscally sound manner. 

These statements are hollow at the Berkeley Public Library when teen services are reduced at the branch libraries; award-winning and long-running programs are cut; RFID is installed without a public hearing; and from what I hear at public meetings, an environment that is rife with distrust, retaliations, and unsafe work practices.  

Jack Corviday 

• 

BERKELEY HONDA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’m going to make a prediction: The next person who asks Berkeley Honda for her car repair records will be unable to obtain them because the printer will be broken. Nor will she be able to receive her records via fax, directly from the computer, because the printers are “too old” to accommodate that function. Management will be sorry for the inconvenience, but perhaps the customer can try again next week? 

That is what’s been happening for the last several weeks to customers who want to pull their records from Berkeley Honda in order to establish a relationship with another car repair shop. The printer is always broken. And yet their printer has no difficulty spitting out work orders and bills. 

Now I’ll make another prediction: As soon as Berkeley Honda reads this letter, their printer will become fully functional again. Anyone want to make a little bet on that? 

Judy Shelton 

Berkeley Honda Labor and Community Coalition 

• 

PROPOSITION 73 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In California, small-minded men, Republicans and anti-abortionists, have commandeered the initiative process, much like Gov. Schwarzenegger has, to bring us Proposition 73. Prop. 73 is an abomination, a farcical exploitation, concocted by an immoral minority of religious extremists who are trying to force parental notification and their anti-abortion viewpoint on the majority of Californians.  

Republicans, hardcore conservatives and religious right-wingers would like nothing better than to have you to sit at home on your duffs Nov. 8. Low voter turnout favors their abuse of power and misuse of the election process. 

Prop. 73 is a stealth, anti-abortion propaganda tool. Follow the money; look who’s sponsoring it. Anti-abortionists of all stripes and colors, fundamentalists, religious right-wingers, evangelicals. What does that tell you? 

Vote no on 73. Say No to Schwarzenegger and send a message to religious zealots and ultraconservatives alike. And after the election ask the governor why he wasted $50 million dollars of taxpayer monies on a special election.  

Ron Lowe 

Nevada City 

• 

THE TWO Rs 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Rumsfeld and Rice are in charge of representing our country to the world. This duo, a septuagenarian career insider and a young super-achieving ingénue, perform impossible tasks with the nimbleness of acrobats and the dexterity of jugglers. Each can hold firm to incompatible positions as if balanced on more than two feet in order to shift when the rationale supporting their stance disappears.  

Rumsfeld, following orders, invaded Iraq with “shock and awe” but with insufficient personnel, handles a quagmire as a mere “long, hard slog” and now extols Iraq’s burgeoning democracy, a window dressing necessary to deflect attention from pointless and horrendous slaughter. He tells China to halt its military expansion and at the same time he encourages development of his own “bunker busters.”  

Rice doesn’t hesitate to tell other nations what to do—China must free market its currency; Syria must punish the assassins of Lebanon’s former prime minister; Iraq and Afghanistan must separate church from state and guarantee universal suffrage. She tells the Senate that the effort to rebuild Iraq ought to be infused with the same spirit that rebuilt Germany and Japan despite the fact that invading Iraq was a war of choice and lasted less than two months while World War II was forced upon us and lasted four years. She interrupts her diplomatic efforts to polish her image using gender and skin color, like make-up, to identify with three martyred girls in Birmingham half a century ago and with death and misery in New Orleans initiated by Hurricane Katrina.  

The two Rs do nothing to restore the admiration our country once enjoyed because the country they represent has rejected the ideals that merited admiration. It is not the country we want. 

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo 

ƒ

In the morning, before anyone is awake, I go downstairs and make coffee. From the living room I hear the pop and bubble of my husband’s oxygen machine. In the kitchen I feel the cold, uneven, sticky floorboards under my bare feet and I am annoyed. 

At some point the boards will need to be replaced, and not just these individual boards, but the entire kitchen floor because it’s beginning to show signs of stress. We don’t have the money to buy new flooring, but when we have to replace it, what should we replace it with? 

Ralph’s wheelchair is heavy and damaging. It puts holes in the plaster and drywall, it breaks cabinet windows, shoves the stove out of alignment, knocks lamps and pictures and what-nots off shelves. Area rugs are a liability (the wheelchair chews them up), and wall-to-wall carpeting is not an option for a kitchen in constant use by a house full of first-class slobs. 

Tile won’t work because it sometimes cracks, and because in-between tile grout cleaning is not my forte. We should purchase linoleum, real battleship linoleum, made from linseed oil and other stuff, not the fake linoleum that comes in long, fat rolls, made to mimic tile, but doesn’t actually look or act the least bit like tile. Glued down with gummy adhesive, the wear and tear of an electric wheelchair will cause it to split, rip, and roll up at the corners. But real linoleum is expensive, and its shiny, seemingly benign, clean surface reminds me of hospital hallways, ER, ICU and Dr. X’s office where we go once a month to have the tube inserted in Ralph’s bladder replaced. 

I so don’t want to be reminded of Kaiser Permanente’s Urology Department in the morning when I’m waiting for the coffeemaker to finish its job. 

I stare at the hissing plastic and glass machine and because I’m desperate to get away from the uneven floor and thoughts of doctors and medical emergencies, I do what I always do: I pour myself a small cup of coffee even though it isn’t finished percolating. 

One of these days I will need to learn how to use the autotimer on the coffeemaker so the coffee will be done before I come downstairs. But that won’t happen in a million years, like me cleaning grout, or learning the different functions on my digital camera, or how to use the text messaging feature on the cell phone. 

I sip the coffee. It isn’t hot, and the flavor tastes sharp, acidic, and bitter. 

I go upstairs and find my slippers, slip them on, and return to the kitchen for more coffee. Now I can’t feel the uneven boards beneath my feet. I fill my mug and enter the dining room where I look up and admire the newly plastered ceiling, work done by our neighbor, Tondre. 

With the ceiling no longer full of holes and cracks and hanging chads of plaster, I vow to spend less time looking down and complaining about the uneven kitchen floorboards, and more time looking up, thankful for no water stains, fissures, or views of the upstairs bathroom pipes; grateful for a floor beneath my feet, and a permanent roof above my head. 

After reading Paul Rauber’s commentary “South Berkeley’s Crime Enablers,” I feel sure that he misunderstood my opinion piece. Mr. Rauber refers to my “venomous Oct. 25 commentary” accuses me of “tossing around incendiary” charges of racism and then concludes by saying that my opinions “Make a firebomb look kind of benign by comparison.” Mr. Rauber’s choice of language and metaphor suggests that by merely raising the question of racism, I have somehow caused a harm comparable to the destruction of a firebomb. This is a surprising repudiation of the value of free expression coming from a man who makes his living as a writer. 

Mr. Rauber, I know that your situation is difficult. It is difficult for many of us. I have been held up at gunpoint in my neighborhood by teenagers. It isn’t pretty. Poverty, crime, lack of education and opportunity all conspire to make life hard for many of us. There is tremendous suffering in South Berkeley that goes unaddressed year after year. This is the reality that much of Berkeley seems determined to ignore. 

As naïve as this may sound, I really was hoping that we could work toward solutions if we involve the actual people with whom you have a conflict, identify what help the city is prepared to offer, and let go of the requirement that Ms. Moore sell her home as a prerequisite to the mediation. We need to look at the root causes of the conflict. This is not your responsibility nor is it Ms. Moore’s alone. The City of Berkeley and all of its residents have a responsibility to address poverty issues and the underlying causes of street level crime. We have neglected our young people and ignored the income gap in our city for too long and at our own peril. 

Mr. Rauber, please be assured that I had no “venom” in my heart when I wrote my article. My point was to encourage us to see Lenora Moore’s situation in its historical context. Looking at the bigger picture is not meant to minimize your suffering. It is meant to help us correctly diagnose a social problem so that we can create real solutions. Your group seems to be blaming Ms. Moore because it is convenient to do so, not because you really believe that she is the problem. 

Mr. Rauber, by bringing up the issue of institutional racism in Berkeley, I didn’t mean to imply that you were practicing racism. However, you can’t deny that gentrification is taking place right before our very eyes. The number of African Americans in Berkeley has declined steadily from a high of 30 percent in the ‘60s to our current level of 13 percent. African Americans in Berkeley live an average of 10 years less than white residents. They are also four times as likely to be stopped by police and profiled than white people in Berkeley. The “achievement gap” in high school education continues to impair the ability of our young people of color to compete for the kinds of jobs that would enable them to remain in Berkeley. Mr. Rauber, can you really believe that the legacy of racism and current economic conditions play no part in this situation and put no pressure on young people to participate in the underground economy ? 

By the way, I would like to remind you that I went to court with Ms. Moore in 1992 and am well aware of the problems in your neighborhood. I read the entire case that your group presented to Ms. Moore and tried to help her formulate a response. Be assured that I would love to meet with you and/or your group to discuss the root causes of the drug problem in Berkeley and how we can organize to address it.  

However, I find it a bit alarming that simply raising difficult questions about racism and the complexity of justice is enough to get me branded by you as a race-baiter and a crime-enabler. Even worse, my words actually inspired one of the plaintiffs to contact my place of work to complain that I had “encouraged” young people to commit criminal acts. I don’t know how you folks found out where I work, but I would hope that as the lead plaintiff you would encourage the others not to harass me at my job. 

Maybe your group will win in court. Maybe the judge will blame Ms. Moore for not being more aggressive in the fight against street crime. However, there are other grandmothers out there. I can point to numerous examples of grandmothers who are struggling to raise their grandchildren and to keep them away from the drug culture. What if we just go ahead and move all those grandmothers right out of Berkeley, too? Maybe we can pressure them to sell their homes, too. Surely we can replace them with some nice, young couples who are looking to get into the housing market through the purchase of an old “fixer upper.” And yes, Mr. Rauber, if we fail to look at the systemic causes of drug addiction, crime and poverty, then when those newcomers apply their fresh coats of paint, they might as well just paint over the history of African Americans in Berkeley, too. 

Andrea Prichett is a member of CopWatch and a South Berkeley resident.›

It’s me again, lead plaintiff for the 14 South Berkeley citizens suing our South Berkeley drug house, responding to the latest distortions of our case in the editorial pages of the Daily Planet. In her Oct. 28 editorial, Executive Editor Becky O’Malley’s paints us ordinary neighborhood folks as vindictive harpies “with blood in their eyes” intent on unconstitutional punishment of Lenora Moore, owner of the drug house at 1610 Oregon Street. “If anyone . . . has broken a criminal law,” O’Malley asks, “shouldn’t they be charged and tried in accordance with the Constitution?” 

O’Malley is ignoring the difference between civil and criminal law. We are not charging Moore with a criminal infraction; we are making civil claims for the pain and suffering she has inflicted on our South Berkeley neighborhood by running an open drug house for many years. O’Malley claims that our “stated intent. . . is to force the defendant, a neighboring homeowner, to sell her property, whether she wants to or not.” This is false. Our intent is to collect cash damages from Moore. Before we filed our suit, we told her that if she would sell her house and leave the neighborhood, we would drop the action. She refused. Therefore we’re proceeding with our civil suit. Ms. Moore has allowed her house to be a public nuisance, and she owes her neighbors restitution for the open drug dealing, prostitution, casually discarded drug paraphernalia, and midnight fights her mismanagement of her property has inflicted on us. We all think it would be a fine thing if she would sell her property and move away, but that is not a penalty that small claims court can exact, nor that we can ask of it. 

O’Malley magnanimously allows that “No one should have to live in a neighborhood where criminal behavior is tolerated. But stopping criminal behavior should be the responsibility of the police, not of the small claims court, which can do nothing to stop real crimes.” In fact, we have been working closely with the police for many years. We keep our crime logs, call in drug deals we witness, identify violators of restraining orders, etc. But it hasn’t worked, largely because the Alameda County district attorney doesn’t take the matter seriously. Here’s a prime example: Recently, due to the hard work and good policing of the Berkeley Police Department, Lenora Moore’s daughter was arrested for possession of crack. Here was one of the worst actors in the neighborhood, finally in the hands of the criminal justice system. And what did the district attorney do? Gave her five years unsupervised probation. Now she’s back on the street, dealing as before. That’s why we’re pursuing a civil solution: It’s the only avenue left us. If Becky O’Malley is serious in her contention that we stick to purely criminal remedies, I look forward to her editorials in favor of stiff, mandatory sentences for those convicted of drug offenses. Until then, please allow us to deal with the situation as best we can. 

Finally, O’Malley calls us “dangerously naïve” for thinking that forcing Moore to move will stop drug dealing in our neighborhood. None of us is so deluded. However, it would stop a whole lot of drug dealing in our neighborhood, and I think we’d all be pretty darn happy with that. Surely O’Malley is not suggesting that since drug dealing is going to go on somewhere, it might as well be next door to us? That’s an easy argument to make for someone whose idea of a neighborhood nuisance is how high the sunflowers in her verge are allowed to grow.  

South Berkeley resident Paul Rauber is an editor at Sierra Magazine and a former columnist for East Bay Express.›

It had just started to drizzle and I had ducked under a freeway overpass to keep dry. I was tired from walking all day and sat down on a worn, discarded mattress. I looked around at bottles and trash strewn everywhere and a rat scurried near my foot. It was starting to get dark so I decided to take my chances in the rain. I headed out, not sure where I was going, hungry, getting cold and I had to go the bathroom. My cell phone rang. It was my wife. She was finally home! I had locked myself out and left my wallet home. Homeless for a day? No, I was keyless. 

There are many people we call homeless, who to me, are better described as keyless. They were born here, raised here and went to school here. They came home from Vietnam, played sports for the home team and to them for all extent and purpose they are home!  

I once interviewed a young man (18 years old) who was trying to get into a homeless shelter. He told me he was born and raised in Oakland, his parents live in Oakland, and he also had friends in the area. I looked him straight in the eye and said, “Why did you rip your family off?” “How did you know that?” he asked. I told him, “When you have family and friends nearby, and you can only live with strangers, you must be doing something wrong. No one trusts you with keys!” 

Unfortunately the word homeless is too often being used as a noun, but keyless is still an adjective. We’ve moved from describing people as homeless, and are now calling them The Homeless. Recently the news media stopped calling victims of Hurricane Katrina homeless and referred to them as evacuees. 

Think about it! Many of the actions for which homeless and street people are derided, are the same things we do—sleeping, drinking, arguing, urinating. These are not aberrant behaviors! Most of us do the same thing everyday, but it’s behind closed doors. The difference is we have keys. 

Winston Burton is a Berkeley resident.l

“I sing the wrath of Achilles ...” If The Iliad doesn’t recount the fall of Troy so much as it does the seemingly endless war of attrition that preceded it, and of deeds of arms on the field, and vanity and wounded pride in the tents behind the lines—then Gary Graves’ Achilles and Patroklos (staged by Central Works at the Berkeley City Club) isn’t just a deliberately anachronistic parallel between Homeric heroics and the quagmire of occupation following the invasion of Iraq, as it is more an attempt to view the different facets of interpersonal experience as conditioned (and distorted) by an interminable war. 

Opening with the crash of waves over the inarticulate sound of whispering voices, a figure enters in the plain dark dress and covering mantle that have been worn by women in the Mediterranean and the Middle East for millennia. Then a G.I. in camouflage enters, on his helmet stenciled “Achilles” (Cole Smith) next to his pack of smokes, brandishing his automatic weapon. He challenges the woman, who approaches him from the shadows, announcing herself as Cassandra (Pamela Davis) with a warning that the gods intend his death in the war. 

He frisks her as she loudly protests, and tells her, “Your gods can kiss my ass.” 

This tone of deliberate anachronism and of bellicose cruelty and sharp, humorous non sequiters syncopates the dialogue and also gives the action a shaggy, vernacular texture. Cassandra starts declaiming something like Homer in prose, accusing Achilles with a list of the names “that go on and on” of those he’s killed. She has a fit, falling to the floor, as lanky, laconic Patroklos (Alex Klein), Achilles’ comrade-in-arms, stalks in to ask, “What’s wrong with her?”—“She’s a nut!”  

Cassandra has come out from the besieged city into the field of battle to warn Briseis (Jessica Camacho), another daughter of Troy’s King Priam, to return within the walls to safety. Achilles and Patroklos confront and kill Briseis’ husband offstage. Briseis tries to stab the Greek hero, who takes her and her country estate as spoils of war. And, as it develops, to Cassandra’s uncomprehending shock, Briseis likes the arrangement, garishly (and hysterically) illustrated by the most outrageous scene of the play, a kind of R&R romp of the two combat vets with their girl, very much a ménage-a-trois, as Achilles demonstrates when, cross-dressed and in a long blonde wig falling past his dark stubbled chin, he kisses Patroklos, who towers over him. 

The quick-change act of anachronism creates ambiguities: are Cassandra’s prophesying trances part of an act to get her own way? Do these slangy G.I.s really believe the archaisms they casually sling along with barracks talk, or are the quick epithets just throwaway clichés in deference to tradition? But like Fate—or the incongruous combinations of blasphemy and belief in magic spells—unlikely things come about that seem to carry the seal of divine will. Or are they from the desperate whims of shell-shocked, war-weary souls losing their grip? 

Agamemnon (Matthew Joseph), who has figured in a few salty remarks Achilles has made to Patroklos, arrives on the scene to recall the errant hero to the line of duty.  

The play’s at its best when the hybrid dialogue and action- run full-bore. When on message, the speeches become too expository, the strange tone that powers the play gets lost. Sometimes, the various strands that compose the unusual dialogue unravel, and things start sounding like a B-movie untempered by burlesque. In other moments, a narrative or rhetorical mode becomes a virtue: Patroklos’ Shade tells (and acts out for) Briseis of his death when he enters the fray in Achilles’ “equipment” to raise the spirit of the Greeks and scare the enemy.  

The indirectness of the presentation of combat only increases its effectiveness, putting the emphasis on its effects, not the sensation. As usual Central Works has assembled a good cast and displayed high production values. Christopher Herold’s direction creatively uses every inch of the stage, as well as offstage space, and designers Robert Ted Anderson, Tammy Berlin and Gregory Scharpen have lit, costumed and added the dimension of sound and music very well.  

As a play using deliberate anachronism, Achilles and Patroklos shows originality and application. There are moments when the waywardness of battle fatigue becomes a wayward presentation of the same, and story and theme are not so much advanced as added on through exposition. But as theater, this play’s an unusual addition to the “war is hell” dramatic literature, which stretches back 2,500 years to the Greeks themselves. And it’s a great deal more than that, as spectacle onstage. 

Central Works presents Achilles and Patroklos at 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and at 5 p.m. Sunday through Nov. 5 at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. $9-$25. For more information, call 558-1381 or see www.centralworks.org. ›

TUESDAY, NOV. 1 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Trees: A Favorite Subject in Japanese Art” including works by Hoshi, Saito, Tanaka, Hasui and Sekino at the Scriptum-Schurman Gallery, 1659 San Pablo Ave. 524-0623. 

“New Works” by Andrea Voinot at North Berkeley Gallery, 1744 Shattuck Ave. 549-0428. 

THEATER 

Unconditional Theater “Swing State Stories” at 7:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. www.epicarts.org 

FILM 

Alternative Visions: New York City: Four Shorts by Ernie Gehr at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Davy Rothbert reads from his short stories in “The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Margaret Cho explains why “I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $4.50. 548-1761.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra performs Schumann’s “Rhenich” Symphony at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $10-$54. 841-2800. www.berkeleysymphony.org 

Edessa, Balkan music, at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Dance lesson at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Singer’s Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

Josh Workman, solo guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 2 

EXHIBTIONS 

“The Art of Metal” Jewelry, sculpture, and tableware by 73 California artists opens at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St.  

FILM 

The Unofficial Histories of Péter Forgács “The Bartos Family and Dusi and Jeno” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Candice Millard tells the story of Teddy Roosevelt’s trip up the Amazon in “The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

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

MUSIC AND DANCE 

St. Mark’s Choir at 7:30 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way at Ellwsorth, Donations accepted. 845-0888. 

Concerto Competition at 7:30 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. tickets are $3-$10. 642-4864.  

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

Gerard Landry & The Lariats at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

Eric Rangle & Orquestra America at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Teja Gerken, Claus Boesser-Ferrari, Adam Levy at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50- $18.50. 548-1761.  

Calvin Keys Trio Invitational Jam at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

THURSDAY, NOV. 3 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Taisho Chic: Japanese Modernity, Nostalgia and Deco” guided tour at 5:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-0808. 

THEATER 

“The Arab-Israeli Cookbook” a play by Robin Soans at 8 p.m., Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 7 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Tickets are $22. 848-0237.  

Theater Rice Modern Asian American Theatre Showcase at 8 p.m. through Sat. at 155 Dwinelle UC Campus. Tickets are $2-$5.  

FILM 

Embracing Diversity Films “The Mexican Laborer” at 7 p.m. in the Albany High School Library, 603 Key Route Blvd. 527-1328. 

The Unofficial Histories of Péter Forgács “The Maelstrom” at 5:30 p.m. and Selling Democracy: Films of the Marshall Plan at 7:30 at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ernesto Cardenal, poetry and conversation with the former Minister of Culture of the Sandinista government of Nicaragua at 6:30 p.m. at the Bade Museum, Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. 849-8232. 

“The American Self in Film” with David Thomson and Mike Katovich at 7:30 p.m. at College Prep School, Buttner Auditorium, 6100 Broadway, Oakland. Cost is $5-$10. 339-7726. www.college-prep.org/livetalk 

Deema Shehabi, Palestinian poet, at 7 p.m. at Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 16. 

Lunch Poems with California Poet Laureate, Al Young, at 12:10 p.m. at Morrison Library in Doe Library, UC Campus. 642-0137.  

Nomad Spoken Word Night at 7 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Richard Clarke introduces his first novel “The Scorpion’s Gate” at 12:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Walter Kirn introduces his novel of the American West “Mission to America” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Word Beat Reading Series with Julia Vinograd and Richard Silberg at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sarine Balian, jazz and traditonal Armenian songs, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568.  

George Brooks & Shweta Jhaveri, new Indian jazz, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jazz Fourtet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. 841-JAZZ.  

Fishtank, Romainian, gypsy, flamenco at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. www.epicarts.org 

The Wailin’ Jennys at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Casey Nell, Cas Lucas at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082 .  

Terry Rodriguez, piano and Sheldon Browne, reeds, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

FRIDAY, NOV. 4 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley ”Six Degrees of Separation” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. through Nov. 19. Tickets are $10. 649-5999.  

Albany High School Theater Ensemble “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at the Albany High School Little Theater, 603 Key Route Blvd. 558-2500, ext. 2579. 

Berkeley Rep “Finn in the Underworld” opens at 8 p.m. at the Thrust Stage and runs to Nov. 6. Tickets are $43-$59. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Central Works “Achilles & Patroklos” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at The Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., through Nov. 20. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1381.  

Impact Theatre “Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake)” Thurs. through Sun. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean Theater, 1834 Euclid Ave., through Dec. 10. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468.  

Masquers Playhouse “Dear World” Jerry Herman’s musical, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. through Dec. 17 at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond. Tickets are $15. 232-4031. www.masquers.org 

Youth Musical Theater Company “Sweeney Todd” Fri. and Sat. at 7:30 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m., also Nov. 10-12 at 7:30 p.m. at Longefellow Middle School Auditorium, 1500 Derby St. Tickets are $12, $6 students. 595-5514. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Oaktown: Art About Oakland and Our Communities” Reception at 7 p.m. at Women’s Cancer Resource Center, 5741 Telegraph Ave. 420-7900.  

Clint Imboden “6 x 6” six projects spanning six years. Reception at 6 p.m. at Lobot Gallery, 1800 Campbell St., Oakland. www.lobotgallery.com 

FILM 

The Battles of Sam Peckinpah “Ride the High Country” at 7 p.m., “The Ballad of Cable Hogue” at 9 p.m. at Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poems and Songs to the Dead with Cedric Brown, Barbara Heredia, Leticia Hernandez and others at 8 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, Tenth and Oak Sts. 238-2200.  

Mary Roach reads from “Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

University Chorus and Chamber Chorus at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $3-$10. 642-9988.  

Vera Breheda, piano, at 8 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Cost is $12-$15. 848-1228. www.giorgigallery.com 

Stone-Zimmerman Duo at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $10-$15. 701-1787. 

Moh Alileche & Danse Maghreb at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054.  

E.W. Wainwright’s African Roots of Jazz at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

De Rompe y Raja, Afro-Peruvian, at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $13-$15. 849-2568.  

Dre & Meghan Baker at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Houston Jones at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Battlefield Band at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

The Unravellers at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Tressa Armstrong, vocals, at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Kirk Keeler & Cowpokes for Peace at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe. 595-5344.  

“... and Words by Barry Warren” a vocal jazz concert at at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373.  

Shotgun Wedding Quintet, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Battleship, Vholtz, Rubber O Cement, Sixes at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SATURDAY, NOV. 5 

CHILDREN 

Bonnie Lockhart & Fran Avni at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBTIONS 

“The Art of Metal” Jewelry, sculpture, and tableware by 73 California artists. Reception at 1 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St.  

“Tinta Bella” color photographs by Jenna Zabin. Reception at 5 p.m. at Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St. 644-1400. 

“Looking Glass” with works by Sydei SmithJordan, Zoe Martell, Susan Sarti and others. Reception at 6 p.m. at a Fusao Studios, 646 Kennedy St., Suite 108, Oakland.  

Mary Roehm, new work in wood fired porcelain. Reception at 5 p.m. at Trax Gallery, 1812 5th St. 540-8729.  

THEATER 

Beijing People’s Art Theater, “The Teahouse” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$68. 642-9988.  

Woman’s Will “Happy End” by Bertolt Brecht, Sat. at 7 p.m. and Sun. at 2 p.m. at Luka’s Lounge, 2221 Broadway at Grand Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $12-$25. 420-0813.  

“The Arab-Israeli Cookbook” a play by Robin Soans at 8 p.m., Sun. at 7 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Tickets are $22. 848-0237.  

FILM 

Taisho Chic on Screen “Souls on the Road” at 6 p.m. and “The Golden Bullet” at 9 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

“NBT Never Been Thawed” with co-writers Sean Anders and John Morris at Landmark’s Act 1&2, 2128 Center St. Tickets are $9.25. 464-5980. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Bay Area Poets Coalition Annual Contest and Poetry Reading from 3 to 5 p.m. at Strawberry Creek Lodge, dining hall, 1320 Addison St. 527-9905. poetalk@aol.com  

Poetry Flash with Denise Duhamel and Virgil Suárez at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852.  

Al Franken reads from his new book “Truth (with Jokes)” at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley High Campus. Tickets are $5 with purchase of the book at Cody’s. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE  

Harvest of Song with new works by Peter Josheff, Allen Shearer and Mark Secosh at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Pre-concert discussion at 6:30 p.m. Cost is $9-$10. 527-5059. 

Wildcat Viols performs England’s greatest masters of song at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$25. 528-1725. www.sfems.org 

Voices Lesbian Choral Ensemble at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $10-$15.  

The Meeting House Strings benefit concert for the Friends Committee on Legislation at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Friends Meeting House, corner of Walnut and Vine. Donation $5.  

Sorelle, women’s vocal ensemble, performs Handel’s “Dixit Dominus” with the Gentlemen of the Pacific Boychoir at 8 p.m. at Lake Park Methodist Church, 281 Santa Clara Ave., Oakland. Donation $10-$12. www.sorelle.org 

Marian Anderson String Quartet at 7:30 p.m. at Calvin Simmons Theater, 10 Tenth St. Tickets are $25-$40. 601-7919.  

Berkeley Saxaphone Quartet at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864.  

University Chorus and Chamber Chorus at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $3-$10. 642-9988.  

SambaDá Lecture and demonstration at 8 p.m., performance at 9:15 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Rhonda Benin and Soulful Strut at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Cas Lucas Acoustic Series at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts Center, 1923 Ashby Ave. www.epic 

arts.org 

Braziu at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10-$12. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

Carolyn Chiung Jazz Trio at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Samantha Raven & Friends at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Reilly & Maloney at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Kasey Knudsen Sextet at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373.  

Orishas, Cuban hip-hop, at 9 p.m. at Sweets Ballroom, 1933 Broadway, Oakland. Tickets are $23-$28. Sponsored by La Peña Cultural Center. 849-2568.  

Elijah Henry & Keren at 7 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Turn Me On Dead Man, The Radishes at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Arlington Houston Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Deadfall, Knife Fight, Career Suicide at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, NOV. 6 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Justice Matters: Artists Consider Palestine” A exhibition of works by fourteen Palestinian and American artists. Reception at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

“Taisho Chic: Japanese Modernity, Nostalgia and Deco” guided tour at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-0808. 

THEATER 

Beijing People’s Art Theater, “The Teahouse” at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$68. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

FILM 

Taisho Chic on Screen “Eternal Heart” at 3:30 p.m. and “Rebirth of the Capital” at 6:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Senator Barbara Boxer introduces her debut novel, “A Time to Run” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poetry Reading with Shanna Compton and Jennifer L. Knox at 8 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Harvest of Song with new works by Peter Josheff, Allen Shearer and Mark Secosh at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Pre-concert discussion at 6:30 p.m. Cost is $9-$10. 527-5059. 

Sorelle, women’s vocal ensemble, performs Handel’s “Dixit Dominus” with the Gentlemen of the Pacific Boychoir at 2 p.m. at Lake Park Methodist Church, 281 Santa Clara Ave., Oakland. Donation $10-$12. www.sorelle.org 

Carol Alban, flute, at 3:30 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. Donation $10 and up. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to displaced hurricane Katrina victims now living in Oakland. 595-9009. 

Quartet San Francisco at 4 p.m. at Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. at Sacramento. Tickets are $12, free for chidren. 559-6910.  

Christopher Taylor performs Ligeti’s complete piano etudes at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32. 642-9988. 

Emeryville Taiko at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $12, $10 for children. 925-798-1300. 

Twang Cafe, acoustic and Americana, at 7:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. www.epicarts.org 

Jesse Engel Group at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Alexa Weber Morales at 6:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $20. Benefit for Melrose Elementary School. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Mark Levine Trio at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373.  

Lucy Kaplansky & Richard Shindell at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Cost is $24.50-$25.50. 548-1761.  

Jared Karol and Nate Cooper at 10 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. ?

The little Crataegus trees—hawthorns, thorntrees—in that grassy strip of Sacramento Street between Dwight Way and University Avenue bloom in the spring with pretty white flowers, but this is the season when they come into their own. They dress themselves in red berries while they still have leaves, then drop the leaves and keep the berries. On their slender horizontal branches, the berries hang gracefully and usefully all winter. 

They look seasonally jolly through Yule and feed our winter birds, too. I’ve seen flocks of cedar waxwings passing berries to one another, and robins in rowdy groups large enough to make the branches droop. The resident youth gangs of crows seem to spend a lot of time on the grass in those strips, and I suspect that fallen berr ies might be part of the attraction. (Crows and ravens typically spend a year or two after fledging in a roving group of their age-mates before claiming territories and pairing off to breed.) 

There are zillions, to use a technical term, of Crataegus spec ies and they hybridize madly. So I’m not going to venture a guess about whether these are European or North American thorns until I’ve talked to whoever procured them, and I’d be cautious then. 

They’re small trees or multi-stemmed shrubs, when left to th eir own devices; the shrubby kind is often pruned up into tree shape for gardens. They’re good for a small space, as they have small leaves, fruit, and flowers—all in scale—and their pale bark and interesting twig patterns reward a close look. The “haw” i n the often-used name “hawthorn” is an old words for “hedge,” and some species and individuals, though by no means all, do indeed have thorns. 

Bering members of the rose family, they’re subject to its troubles: fireblight, assorted fungi and diseases, th e usual bugs. But they’re not nearly so touchy as the average garden rose, and I haven’t seen a lot of sick hawthorns. (Knock wood.) 

One thing all the species have in common is that they’re good winter wildlife chow; another is that they’re also fodder f or myths and legends. Vance Randolph, the legendary Ozark folklore chronicler, wrote: 

Both redhaw [Crateagus] and blackhaw bushes are common in the Ozarks, and both are connected in the hillman’s mind with sexual misadventures-rapes and unfortunate pregn ancies and disastrous abortions and the like. 

This association probably traveled to our continent with the whole unruly bundle of European thorn tree legends. Consider the ballad “Down by the Greenwood Side:” “She leaned her back up against a thorn/… And there she had two little babes born.” The birth in question was not a welcome one, and the subject of the song ends up condemned to “seven years in the flames of Hell” for drowning them like kittens. 

Older European traditions about hawthorn include some contradictory stories; Greeks considered it the flower of married and general conjugal love, sacred to Hymenaeus, who among other activities played his lute for newlyweds. (In fact, if you read the various tales of Hymenaeus and his fellow Erotes, you’ll wonder where he found the time for musicianship. Not your average wedding singer, this guy.) 

Farther north, the Nordic folks regarded hawthorn as fit wood for a funeral pyre, as its smoke bore souls into the afterlife. I wonder if their habit of holding berries in winter qualified them for that. Today, on All Saints’ Day, one of the Dias de los Muertos, they’re doubly in season. 

As part of the Celtic sacred trio of Oak, Ask, and Thorn—which I notice some perhaps crypto-Pagan city garden planner has contrived to plant together along that stretch of Sacramento—hawthorns are variously the abode and disguise of witches, sacred to the Sidhe, a charm against evil spirits and fouling of meat or milk in storage and for better milk production in the dairy barn, and carried for good luck in fishing. 

Christians adapted all this luckiness by a declaring that Joseph of Arimathea carried a hawthorne staff and planted it in Britain, where it grew into a grand tree, the ancestor of all English thorns. Cromwell’s sold iers supposedly cut it down, but its seedlings have been passed from hand to hand and grown all over the island and beyond. 

Photograph by Ron Sullivan 

Crataegus trees—hawthorns, thorntrees—bloom with white flowers in the spring, but this is the season wh en they dress themselves in red berries.¥

TUESDAY, NOV. 1 

Birdwalk on the MLK Shoreline from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. to see the shorebirds here for the winter. Beginnners welcome, binoculars available for loan. 525-2233. 

Flu Shots for Berkeley Residents age 60 or over or “high-risk” from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Health Clinic, 830 University Ave. For information call 981-5300. 

WriterCoach Connection Training Sessions from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., also on Nov. 8. Help students improve their writing and critical thinking skills; become a mentor to students at Berkeley High, Willard, King or Longfellow Middle Schools. Commit to 1-2 hours per week during the school day. To register call 524-2319. www.writercoachconnection.org  

Discussion on Political Discourse with George Lakoff at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Nonviolent Activists from Palestine/Israel Palestinian Ayed Morrar and Israeli Jonathan Pollak will speak on their work in nonviolent resistance to the occupation in Palestine at 7 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 236-4250. www.norcalism.org  

“Ghostwriters in the Colonial Library: African Islam” with Prof. Sean Hanretta, Stanford Univ. at 4:30 p.m. at 652 Barrows Hall, UC Campus. 642-8338. 

Outdoor Digital Photography with Brandon Andre at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $20-$35. Registration required. 527-4140. 

Zonta Club of Berkeley meets at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant. The speaker will be Rita Maran, President United Nations Association, East Bay. Dinner is $21. Reservations required. Please RSVP to 925-376-4370. www.zonta.org 

Berkeley Salon Discussion Group meets to discuss “Current Elections” from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Please bring snacks and soft drinks to share. No peanuts please. 601-6690. 

University Press Books Book Party celebrating new books by Charis Thompson and Trinh T. Minh-ha at 5:30 p.m. at 2430 Bancroft Way. 548-0585. 

“Professionalizing Your Home-Based Business” with Leslie Philbrook, of Biesheuvel, Scarpa & Co. at 7 p.m. at the El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Avenue, El Cerrito. 526-7512. 

Sing-A-Long from 1 to 2 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. 524-9122. 

Family Story Time at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Branch Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Free, all ages welcome. 524-3043. 

“Daytime Care for Older Adults” with Maureen Dixon of Alameda County Services at 4 p.m. at Center for Older Adult Services, 828 San Pablo Ave., Albany. 558-7800. 

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

Introduction to Buddhist Meditation at 7 p.m. at the Dzalandhara Buddhist Center in Berkeley. Cost is $7-$10. Call for directions. 559-8183. www.kadampas.org 

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

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 2 

“The Dirty War in Argentina” with Patricia Isasa at 7:30 p.m. La Peña. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Venezuela Bolivariana: People and Struggle of the 4th World War” a documentary at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Free, donations of $5 accepted. 393-5685.  

Bookmark Reading Group meets to discuss Jared Diamond’s “Guns, Germs and Steel” at 6:30 p.m. at 721 Washington St., Oakland. 336-0902. 

University Press Books Book Party celebrating a new book by Roger Hahn at 5:30 p.m. at 2430 Bancroft Way. 548-0585. 

Community Dinner at Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda at 6:15 pm. Cost is $8 for adults; $3.50 for children under 12. For reservations call 526-3805.  

“Comparative Religious Thought and Culture” with Dr. Felix Wilfred, Univ. of Madras, India at 7 p.m. at Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. 649-2440. 

Aerial Classes for adults and children in spinning, climbing, sitting and dancing on trapeze begin at Studio 12, 2525 Eighth St. 587-0770. www.moving 

out.org  

Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College Open House at 6 p.m. at 2550 Shattuck Ave. Tours of classrooms and clinics and information for prospective students. To RSVP call 666-8248, ext. 106.  

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

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

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

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

Prose Writer’s Workshop An ongoing group made up of friendly writers who are serious about our craft. All levels welcome. At 7 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. georgeporter@earthlink.net 

Salsa Dancing Lessons at 7 p.m. at the Lake Merritt Dance Center, 200 Grand Ave., Oakland. Cost is $15. 415-668-9936. 

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

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

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, NOV. 3 

Flu Shots for Berkeley Residents age 60 or over or “high-risk” from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Health Clinic, 830 University Ave. For information call 981-5300. 

“The American Self in Film” with David Thomson and Mike Katovich at 7:30 p.m. at College Prep School, Buttner Auditorium, 6100 Broadway, Oakland. Cost is $5-$10. 339-7726. www.collegeprep.org/livetalk 

Embracing Diversity Films “The Mexican Laborer” at 7 p.m. in the Albany High School Library, 603 Key Route Blvd. 527-1328. 

Wardrobe for Opportunity Fall Fashion Show at 5 p.m. in the Rounda Building, 300 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland. Wardrobe for Opportunity is a nonprofit providing professional clothing and career support to disadvantaged jobseekers. Cost is $40 in advance, $50 at the door. www.wardrobe.org 

Consumer Protections for Seniors: How to Avoid Scams and Frauds at 1:30 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

Internet Resources on Aging at 4 p.m. at Center for Older Adult Services, 828 San Pablo Ave., Albany. 558-7800. 

Prostate Cancer Screening for uninsured or low-income men from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at Alta Bates Markstein Center. Free, but appointments required. 869-8833. 

“Harvesting the New American Dream” AnewAmerica’s 6th Annual Gala, celebrating immigrants, refugees, and new citizens, as successful micro entrepreneurs, at 6 p.m. at the Holy Redeemer Conference Center, 8945 Golf Links Rd. Oakland. Tickets are $75. 540-7785. www.anewamerica.org 

Better Referral Network Visitors Day at 7 a.m. at Cafe de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck at Cedar. 527-5267. www.bni.com  

World of Plants Tours Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

FRIDAY, NOV. 4 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Al Young, the California Poet Laureate on “Creativity is Human Survival: A Poet’s View” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020. 

Benefit with Dolores Huerta, United Farmworkers at 7:30 p.m., at St Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison. Donation $10. To benefit School of the Americas Watch. 597-0171. 

Latinos in Baseball with Tito Fuentes and Diego Segui at 7 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, Tenth and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

“Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage” with author Heather Rogers at AK Press, 674A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. www.akpress.org 

Asian Business Association Benefit Fashion/Variety Show at 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$12.  

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

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

SATURDAY, NOV. 5 

Morning Chores at the Little Farm Feed the animals, collect the eggs, and do other chores at 9 a.m. at Tilden Little Farm, Tilden Park. Dress to get dirty. 525-2233. 

Kid’s Garden Club for ages 7-12 to explore the world of gardening, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 636-1684. 

Sick Plant Clinic UC plant pathologist Dr. Robert Raabe, UC entomologist Dr. Nick Mills, and their team of experts will diagnose what ails your plants from 9 a.m. to noon at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755.  

“Preparing Your Garden for Winter” at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. 

Al Franken “The Truth (with Jokes)” at 7:30 p.m.. at Berkeley Community Theater, 1930 Allston Way on the Berkeley High Campus. Cost is $12, or $5 with pre-purchase of the book from Cody’s. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

“Build Cross-Class Alliances” with Betsy Leondar-Wright on how to build stronger movements for social change, at 2 p.m. at the Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave, Oakland. Cost is $5-$25. To register email simcha3@msn.com, www.classmatters.org 

Berkeley Digital Media Conference on the emergence and implications of the digital lifestyle at the Haas School of Business, UC Campus. Cost is $60 for students, $125 for general admission. 642-0342. 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Basic Personal Preparedness from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at West Berkeley Senior Center. To sign up call 981-5506. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

fire/oes.html 

Global Warming Summit with workshops and panel discussions for high school and college students on the UC Campus. For information see www.energyaction.net/casummit 

“The Big Bang” with author Simon Singh at 7 p.m. at Chabot Space & Science Center. Tickets are $7. 336-7373. www.chabotspace.org 

“Latest Theories About the Universe” Theoretical Physics Made Easy from 1 to 5 p.m. at Lawrence Hall of Science. Tickets are $80 available from www.ticketweb.com 

Anahat Second Annual South Asian Acappella Competition at 6:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave., Tickets are $15-$20.  

East Bay Atheists Berkeley Meeting with Dr. Anthony Somkin on the nature of death at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St., 3rd floor Meeting Room. 222-7580. 

Travel Tips for Alaska A day-long workshop beginnning at 8:30 a.m. at Vista Community College, 2020 Milvia St. 981-2931. www.peralta.cc.ca.us 

Healthy Oakland Health Fair with food, music, children’s activities, social services booths, and health screenings from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the East Oakland Deliverance Center, 7425 International Blvd. www.blackwallstreet.org 

Karamu: A Pan-African Celebration with food, music and artisans, from 5 to 9 p.m. at 338 Ninth St., Oakland. Tickets are $40. 435-5074. 

Anime Convention with vendors, contests and original artwork from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. in the Pauley Ballroom, MLK Student Union, UC Campus. Cost is $15, children 8 and under $8. amimage.berkeley.edu 

Sample Dance Classes at The Beat including include tap, tango, jazz, salsa, samba, zydeco, belly dance, ballet, from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 2560 9th St. 548-5348. www.the-beat.org 

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

Flower Essence Therapy for Animals at 3 p.m. at Rabbitears, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Donation $20. 525-6155. www.rabbitears.org 

Heal Your Back and Straighten Your Spine at 10 a.m. at Phamaca Integrative Pharmacy, 1744 Solano Ave. 527-8929. 

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

SUNDAY, NOV. 6 

Watershed Hike to explore Wildcat Creek. Meet at 9:30 a.m. at the Nature Center, Tilden Park. Bring lunch and drink. Dress for rain and mud. Hike is about 3 miles. 525-2233. 

Conversations with Nature A journal and art workshop at 2 p.m. at Change Makers, 6536 Telegraph Ave. RSVP to wolfbird7@sbcglobal.net 

Daniel Ellsberg on “National Security Whistle-Blowing: Ethics and Law” at noon at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Sponsored by the ACLU. 

Native Plants and Peoples Tour with demonstrations and hands-on experiences from noon to 3 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755.  

Haiku and You Make a recycled journal and be inspired to write some haiku poetry from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. For ages 10 and up. 525-2233. 

Free Entree for Veterans, in appreciation for their service to our country, at Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto, 1919 Fourth St. 845-7771. 

Gumbo by the Bay at Sunset An afternoon of food, art and music from 3 to 6 p.m. at Western Drive, Pt. Richmond. Cost is $50-$75. Benefits ArtsChange. 231-1348. www.artschange.org 

Flu and Pneumonia Shots from 1 to 5 p.m. at Phamaca Integrative Pharmacy, 1744 Solano Ave. Cost is $25 and $35. 527-8929. 

Integrative Medicine and Alternative Health Conference with speakers and workshops from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus. Free. www.studentsforintegrativemedicine.info 

UC Berkeley Folkdancers Reunion at 1:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $7. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

“Ancient Malta: Crossroads of Mediterranean Cultures” at 1 p.m. in Room 101, Archeological Research Facility, UC Campus. 415-338-1537. 

Circus Arts in the Schools with acrobats, clowns, jugglers and musicians at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at Kofman Auditorium, 2200 Central Ave., Alameda. 510-4636. 

Meet Rescued Rats available for adoption and learn about their care and feeding at 2:30 p.m. at Rabbitears, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 525-6155. www.rabbitears.org 

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring warm waterproof clothes. www.cal-sailing.org 

“Esoteric Energy Work from Around the World” with Irving Feurst, at 10 a.m. at International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Breath workshop follows. 245-3737, ext. 7. 

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

MONDAY, NOV. 7 

Sacred Site Shellmound Peace Walk beginning in Vallejo and ending at the Emeryville Huchiun Shellmound on Nov. 25. For information call 453-9002. shellmoundwalk@yahoo.com 

“About GMOs” Prof. Ignacio Chapela will speak on the introduction of genetically-modified organisms into our food supply at 7:30 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. at Arch. Free. Wheelchair accessible. 843-8724. 

Positive Parenting A six-week series of classes on raising healthy, competent children, at 7 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave., Oakland. 658-7353. www.bananas.org 

“Greek Hate: Athenian War Propaganda and the Persians” The W. Kendrick Pritchett Lecture with Maureen Miller, Univ. of Sydney at 8 p.m. in the Alumni House, UC Campus. 415-338-1537. 

Tour of the Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, including access to selections from the GTU’s collection of rare books, at 5 p.m. at 2400 Ridge Rd. Reservations required. 649-2420. 

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

CITY MEETINGS 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., Nov. 2, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Tasha Tervelon, 981-5190. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/women 

Community Environmental Advisory Commission meets Thurs. Nov. 3, at 7 p.m., at 2118 Milvia St. Nabil Al-Hadithy, 981-7461. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/environmentaladvisory 

Public Works Commission meets Thurs., Nov. 3, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jeff Egeberg, 981-6406. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/publicworks 

3

Thanks to the dogged work of the fearless Martin Snapp, the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain’s embedded reporter who is a member of Berkeley’s Veterans’ Day Committee, you can now read about the latest permutation of the city’s Nov. 11 observance in the San Jose Mercury News, the Contra Costa Times, the West County Times, the Berkeley Voice and the East Bay Daily Snooze, and perhaps in many more of the chain’s saturation coverage outlets in the Bay Area. Tuesday’s bottom line, if we think the Merc’s story was the end of the tale: Bill Mitchell, co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace, has decided to skip the Berkeley event in favor of a Santa Monica one, and that means the local Disabled American Veterans are back in the line-up.  

First, the instant replay: Country Joe McDonald and Mayor Shirley Dean organized the current form of commemoration eight or nine years ago. Country Joe, a counter-culture icon in the ‘60s, looked to some observers like he was doing penance for his youthful, shall we say, intemperate attitude to conventional patriotism. He recruited a dream team of politicians and veterans to join him, and it became an official city event in 2003 or thereabouts. But this year the committee noisily split over the invitation to Mitchell, whose son died in Iraq, to take part in the program. After a lot of sturm und drang, duly chronicled by the embedded Snapp, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, himself a veteran who resigned his captain’s commission because of the Vietnam War, brokered a short-lived “compromise” which had Mitchell speaking, but with promises not to offend. It wasn’t good enough for the DAV, who bailed. And evidently it wasn’t great for Mitchell either, since now he’s bailed too. 

Really, you can’t follow the players without a scorecard, or at least without your own embedded reporter, which the Daily Planet doesn’t approve of and can’t afford. But it’s only Nov. 4, and things could still change in the next week. For example, new Berkeley resident Cindy Sheehan, the co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace, might be asked to speak, prompting still others to pull out.  

This interval gives the rest of us who aren’t committee members time to step back and think about what this seriously over-hyped event is, where it came from and where it should be going. First of all, when I was a child, we didn’t have Veterans’ Day at all. What we had was Armistice Day. They still have it in other countries, like Britain. A two-minute silence is observed at 11 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month because this is when World War I came to end in 1918. It is a celebration of peace, not of war. 

In this country in my childhood Armistice Day was a solemn occasion on which to reflect on the horrors of war. It was not about the heroism of fighters, but a somber reflection on the tragedy of the loss of so many lives, which happened on an unprecedented scale in the First World War. Pacifists and veterans alike could take part in good conscience. 

The day was taken over in 1954 by the superpatriotism of the Eisenhower era and turned into Veterans’ Day. Rah-rah trappings like parades were added over time. Those of us who are neither absolute pacifists nor knee-jerk patriots have been pushed aside in the last 50 years in favor of the idea that any veteran is worth celebrating, no matter what war he or she fought in.  

Many of us who were around for America’s most unpopular war don’t share that attitude. Not everyone who fought in every war regardless of the cause or consequences is equally deserving of honor. The reason that we fought so hard to stop the Vietnam War is that we knew that a lot of unwilling young men were being sucked into it, and we wanted to bring them home. We’re sorry we couldn’t stop the war sooner so that they didn’t have to serve at all.  

Bravery comes in many forms. We’d also like to honor people like the brother of a friend of mine, a draftee who went out by himself on a lonely California beach one night and broke his own hand with a sledgehammer because he didn’t want to be sent to Asia to kill guys that he had nothing against. That’s a brave man—he later became a firefighter. And there were many more of the same caliber who refused to kill for a cause they couldn’t support, and who suffered all kinds of penalties for it.  

We’d like to commemorate the inadvertent victims of wars as well, like the African-American kids from the South who had no idea what they were getting into in the Army, and who died without ever experiencing the benefits of being American citizens because of segregation. We want to remember Berkeley’s Women for Peace, many of whom have now left us, including Country Joe’s mother Florence. These brave women started questioning what was going on in Vietnam in the early ‘60s. 

World War II is the war that keeps many of us from adopting absolute pacifism. It’s hard to know how Hitler could have been stopped without military action. But the World War II veterans that were around when I was a child didn’t boast of their exploits and weren’t eager to celebrate their war experience. My father told many stories about the interesting places he visited and the people he met, but none about how much he enjoyed combat.  

The unseemly squabble that is now taking place in Berkeley honors neither veterans nor the equally honorable patriots who refuse to support the wrong wars. It’s time to call the whole thing off and return to what Armistice Day was originally intended to be: dignified mourning for the loss of life in war, of combatants and non-combatants alike, and sober reflection on how to avoid it in the future. The people of Berkeley should liberate the event from the high school pep bands, the self-appointed committees and the posturing politicians. Next Friday, let’s gather on the steps of old City Hall on our own as true and thoughtful patriots, at 11 a.m. on 11-11-05, for two minutes of silence. And that’s all. 

Monday’s “revelation” that the Tonkin Gulf resolution, the basis for U.S. entry into the Vietnam conflict, was somehow “doctored” provides yet another opportunity to marvel at the apparent inability of the people who are supposed to be running this country to find out what’s going on. If we are to believe Robert McNamara, Lyndon Johnson’s secretary of defense, it’s news to him. According to the New York Times, “Mr. McNamara, 89, said he had never been told that the intelligence might have been altered to shore up the scant evidence of a North Vietnamese attack.“ 

Well, we’ve never believed McNamara before, so there’s no real reason to start now. But if he’s telling the truth, it’s deeply shocking. He’s a bright guy, and was well placed at the time to find things out, and he didn’t know?  

The news accounts this week indicate that a historian looking at old National Security Agency documents figured out what went on with the Tonkin Gulf incident back in 2002, but intelligence officials kept his findings secret because they might engender public doubt about the rationale for entering the war on Iraq, just then being ginned up for the 2003 invasion.  

Well, yes. Those of us who were pretty sure, at least by 1965, that the push to get into Vietnam was based on phony evidence were not surprised to see the pattern repeated in March of 2003. But just about everybody in Congress except Barbara Lee endorsed the Iraq invasion. So did most of the self-important newsies—not just the obvious neocons but “liberals” working in the major media, like Thomas Friedman of the New York Times and David Remnick of the New Yorker. They didn’t seem to remember the Tonkin Gulf resolution, or perhaps didn’t know that it was a fraud.  

The philosopher George Santayana is often quoted in contexts like this: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (Sometimes the quote is modified to “those who do not know history,” but history can be falsified, as today’s story shows.) 

Those of us who have been around for a while have an advantage here. I was about 25 when I began to doubt what they were telling us about the Tonkin Gulf incident, and 40 years later I’m fortunate enough to be able to remember how the scam unfolded, unlike those who might not have been taught the true history of the Vietnam war in school.  

But how did I find out what was going on in 1965? I can’t quite remember any more. I wasn’t an important person, just the wife of a grad student, the mother of two babies, the part-time editor of a medical magazine and a Democratic Party volunteer. No special sources. I checked with my long-time partner in crime, and with another old friend and co-conspirator from those days, and they can’t remember how they knew either. “Everyone knew,” my friend said. By the spring of 1966, we’d found an anti-war candidate to run in the Democratic congressional primary. (Though he lost, because “everyone” didn’t know quite yet.) 

This has become a familiar theme in these pages. Why do many of us who are not highly placed in the U.S. power hierarchy know more about what’s going on than those who are supposedly powerful and well-informed? What caused the executive editor of the little Berkeley Daily Planet and many of its opinion contributors to doubt Judith Miller’s story about the aluminum tubes from the first moment they saw it, while the editorial executives at the rich and powerful New York Times claim to have swallowed it whole hog?  

One key factor is the role of the alternative media. In the mid-’60s we had only one real alternative, I.F. Stone’s Weekly newsletter. We probably found out what we knew about Vietnam from Izzy Stone, who found out what he knew by pouring over government documents. His secret weapon was that he’d taken a good hard look at the world, and had some idea of what he was looking for as he worked.  

Stone’s heirs were all of the alternative newspapers which sprang up in the ‘60s and ‘70s, fueled by their founders’ convictions as Stone had been by his. These crusading publications are sadly diminished in numbers these days because of the corporate acquisition of what turned out to be profitable businesses. One worthy survivor, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, is in the process of launching a crusade against a deal which the Bay Guardian first reported on in August. The two largest alternative newspaper chains, New Times Media and Village Voice Media, are planning to merge in a deal that will give Phoenix-based New Times Media control over 17 alternative weeklies, including the East Bay Express and SF Weekly. These papers by and large toe the establishment line. Their rhetoric is outraged, but their allegiance is conventional, with successful local real estate developers particular favorites.  

If the anti-trust laws have any purpose at all, it ought to be to prevent mergers like this one. The Bay Guardian is already suing the New Times chain for another unfair practice, predatory pricing of advertising: selling ads below cost in order to put the competition out of business. In an editorial, Guardian Executive Editor Tim Redmond noted that California Attorney General William Lockyer’s office is now looking into possible antitrust violations by the chain. He said that “in an era of increased news media consolidation, when major news outlets are the print and broadcast equivalent of McDonald’s, the pact could bring more homogeneity to the last bastion of irreverence and print muckraking. It ought to be a matter of public concern.” We strongly agree. Without the principled alternative press, there will be even more frauds like Tonkin Gulf and the fictitious weapons of mass destructions, repeated and amplified by an ever-gullible mainstream press establishment.