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Saturday, June 3 -more-

Great Britain’s Queen Victoria – everyone’s favorite pear-shaped monarch and popularizer of “The Royal We” – gave her name to an era most commonly associated with prudishness, rampant imperialism and pretty buildings. -more-

Vacancy decontrol good for Berkeley -more-

THEATER -more-

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A 21-year-old man was arrested Friday afternoon after he allegedly hit a Berkeley police officer who stopped the vehicle because of an expired vehicle registration. -more-

Tertius P. Chandler, historian, writer and Berkeley resident has passed away at age 85. -more-

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After just 11 days, the Greens are beating the Grease at Malcolm X Elementary School. -more-

Friday, June 2 -more-

Our youth must be served. Berkeley athletic facilities are abysmally small and inadequate for the needs of our city, and especially the students of Berkeley High School. This city (and School District) has a golden opportunity to expand our existing athletic facilities on the property around Derby Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way and show our young people that we care about them and want them to participate in healthy and productive activities to the fullest. -more-

URORA THEATRE -more-

Rick Young will continue battling the university over plans to build a parking structure on the Underhill lot – but he probably won’t be making his point by camping there in the near future. -more-

Many people, especially parents of children in the baseball program at Berkeley High School, were disappointed by the City Council’s recent vote not to consider a proposal to close Derby Street in order to build a hard ball field at Derby and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. This was a difficult vote for me because I am a strong supporter of programs for our young people. Initially, I favored the baseball field and felt that closing the street to build one was reasonable. Then I came to realize it was not that simple. As I considered the neighborhood around Derby at MLK, I realized it had always seemed to lack a sense of place. Large institutional uses surround the site, Iceland and a UC administration building to the east, East Campus and a large childcare program on the site itself, and a major thoroughfare, MLK, to the west. The neighborhood and the many families would not be well-served by a large, fenced field that will tend to further erode its sense of cohesion. When I visualized closing Derby and fencing off the vacant land, almost two whole blocks, for a baseball field, I could not agree. The extensive fencing loomed like a barrier, one that would further cut into the residential soul of this neighborhood. -more-

ASHKENAZ -more-

Tibetologist, professor and filmmaker Richard Jay Kohn succumbed to cancer at his home in Kensington on Sunday. He was 51 and had been diagnosed over five years ago. -more-

UC BERKELEY ART -more-

Laubach Literacy’s Women in Literacy/USA (WIL/USA) initiative awarded Berkeley-based Women Take Care, Take Action a $6,000 grant to implement a leadership, literacy and policy development project called “Picturing Change.” -more-

BERKELEY PUBLIC LIBRARY, SOUTH BRANCH -more-

During this week’s Employee Recognition Day for school district employees, top Berkeley Unified officials thanked the various BUSD staff members, city employees and others who helped get Berkeley High School “up and running” after the April 12 arson fire in the B Building. -more-

Wednesday evening, the Berkeley Unified School District honored employees who retiring at the end of this school year, along with employees who have reached major employment milestones with the BUSD. -more-

The chants were no different then they’ve been since the hotel and restaurant workers began union organizing efforts nine months ago. -more-

Wise Council vote on Derby playing fields -more-

The Shlepperellas or, as they also like to call themselves, Mothers Gone Mad, are a comedy musical review comprised of three Bay Area women, all married, all with children, who do skits about trying to survive in the increasingly competitive Bay Area world that demands that women do it all. -more-

The second week of work on the playground at Aquatic Park began Wednesday morning with some 80 volunteers on hand. -more-

THEATER -more-

Hey – thanks for the thoughts/concerns, those of you who called or e-mailed thinking some bigwig earwig ordered us to buzz off after our last column. -more-

A memorial services will be held at 5 p.m. Friday for Berkeley Arts Magnet School fifth-grade teacher Janice Kohler, who died Tuesday after a fight against cancer. -more-

Police closed off the block of Hearst Avenue between Shattuck Avenue and Milvia Street on Wednesday afternoon when a cast iron water main broke and water leaked out onto the street. -more-

Congresswoman Barbara Lee came to lunch in Berkeley on Wednesday and asked 75 women to muscle their support behind issues that affect women and children at home and overseas. -more-

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Wednesday, May 31 -more-

THEATER -more-

The city manager, who fought for and won a new contract with a hefty raise from a bitterly divided council last year – after a series of more than a half-dozen closed door evaluation sessions – is now looking to cactus country for a new home base. -more-

Festival set -more-

Festival set -more-

The Police Review Commission wants the City Council to hire independent legal counsel to evaluate the extent of a possible appeal process by police officers when complaints against them have been sustained by the PRC. -more-

There will be a benefit concert for Mumia Abu-Jamal’s legal defense fund, as well as the Prison Radio Project and KPFA Radio on June 10 at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley Community Theater. -more-

An Emeryville man was arrested Friday in connection with an attack in the parking lot of the Smart and Final store at 1941 San Pablo Ave. -more-

The Shakespeare Festival will offer summer camps for eight to 14 year-olds in Berkeley this summer. The sessions will be held June 19-30, July 17-28, and August 14-25 at John Hinkle Park, on Southampton Place at Arlington Avenue. -more-

A pit bull ran out of a building in the 1700 block of Ward Street and attacked two dogs going for a walk with their owner at 3 a.m. Sunday. -more-

The Pacific Mozart Ensemble (PME), under the direction of Richard Grant, will present its annual a cappella jazz and pop concert on June 10 at The Crowden School in Berkeley at 5 p.m. -more-

Phase Two of the construction project for the new playground at Aquatic Park gets under way Wednesday morning, and organizers are reissuing their call for volunteers. -more-

Tuesday, May 30 -more-

Berkeley High track and field coach Darrell Hampton received some criticism for his “big meet” strategy in 2000 – taking it easy in league meets to conserve and strategize for the more prestigious weekend invitationals. -more-

Repairs to the warm pool, purchase of a portable firefighting system, upgrades to the branch libraries, beautification of the University Avenue median, improving parks maintenance and lighting the streets – all could be placed before Berkeley citizens in November. -more-

After wrapping up the North Coast Section team titles at last weekend’s Bay Shore meet, the ultra-deep St. Mary’s boys and girls track teams already knew they had quantity entering this past weekend’s NCS Meet of Champions. And after winning seven events en route to qualifying 13 athletes for CIFs at Edwards Track Stadium on Saturday, it’s safe to say the Panthers also have plenty of quality. -more-

Five police officers will receive letters of commendation from the Berkeley Police Department for their rescue effort in last week’s house fire on Josephine Street. -more-

More than 2 million people are helping researchers at UC Berkeley in their search for intelligent signals from space. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO – A funnyhouse at a carnival contains distorted mirrors where the viewer’s reflection is bent in unexpected and eerie ways. -more-

Paul F. Wendt, a co-founder of the real estate program at UC Berkeley and one of the first scholars to apply modern finance theory to real estate, has died at the age of 91. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO – An all-day public information workshop on the future of the Bay Area’s major airports will be held Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the auditorium of the Hiram W. Johnson State Office Building, at 455 Golden Gate Ave. in San Francisco. -more-

A 20-year-old man and a 15-year-old youth were attacked by six to eight youths as they walked toward the Hare Krishna temple about 6:45 p.m. Friday evening. -more-

The Berkeley City Commons Club recently heard talks from Dr. Nicolas Riasanovsky, professor of history at UC Berkeley, on political and cultural aspects of historical and contemporary Russia, and from John Fowler, science and Health Editor for KTVU Channel 2 on issues related to the environment and the media. -more-

Stage Door Conservatory, a musical theater day camp with three unique programs for kids and teens, will run June 19-August 11 at the Epworth United Methodist Church. -more-