Everyone at the Piedmont Lodge near the UC-Berkeley campus seems to have horror stories to tell about the conditions there. 

Roger Pao showed the red spots on his arm that he said were caused by bed bug bites. Joseph Enayati told how it was sometimes difficult to open the front door because of trash piled up in the foyer. Jordan Epperson said when he complained about his poorly functioning toilet he was told to throw used toilet paper in the garbage can. 

Five residents of the Piedmont, 2434 Piedmont Ave., took their complaints Wednesday to a campus meeting of a City Council-Rent Board Joint Task Force on Housing. 

City Councilmember Dona Spring listened to the complaints in disgust. “It sounds like a slumlord,” she said. “It’s really appalling that people should live like this.” 

The next day, city housing code enforcement inspectors were at the Piedmont. The city investigation is in its early stages, because as of Friday afternoon, inspectors had not been able to enter most of the residents’ rooms. But the inspection so far has found that some smoke detectors either had dead batteries or no batteries at all, and that the heat had been illegally shut off, said Carlos Romo, the city’s supervising housing inspector.  

Other city departments are also scheduled to inspect the rooming house. The fire department will inspect the building to respond to allegations of loose cables, blocked entrances and a faulty fire escape, Romo said. Planning department inspectors will determine whether rooms were illegally subdivided, he said. Housing inspectors counted five more rooms in the building than city records indicate existed only a year ago, he said; the subdividing was “possibly” carried out without permits, Romo said. 

More than 30 people live at the Piedmont, said building owner Barbara Lee (not to be confused with another individual of the same name who is a Bay Area congresswoman.) The rooms are small, there is only one kitchen, and most tenants share bathrooms, but rents – usually $880 for a room with two beds – are lower than at apartment buildings. 

Some Piedmont residents – most of whom are UC-Berkeley undergraduates – said they knew beforehand of the substandard conditions at the lodging house, but said that the Piedmont was their only housing possibility in the extremely tight Berkeley housing market. 

“Everyone is desperate in Berkeley for housing,” said Irshad Alam, a graduate student in Middle Eastern studies who has lived at the Piedmont for more than a year. “I want to move out but I can’t find another place to live.” 

“The battle in Berkeley is not just finding quality housing: it’s finding any place at all where you can sign a lease,” said Nick Papas, external affairs vice president for the student government. “Once they find that place, students are often willing to overlook deficiencies.” 

“They feel if they complain, they’ll get kicked out,” said City Councilmember Linda Maio. “We have a certain number of unscrupulous landlords who are willing to take advantage of that. There’s a lot of money to be made.”  

But tenants at the Piedmont finally realized things would not improve unless they publicly complained, said Gurpreet Sandhu, a first-year extension student. Residents posted leaflets advertising Wednesday’s meeting on their doors; one leaflet had “Stop Barbara” written in red marker. 

Sandhu showed a photograph of an arm covered in red marks. The marks are from the bed bugs or mites that bit her, she said. 

“I started my first week in school with hideous welts on my face” as a result of bug bites said Sandhu’s roommate, Guelda Voien, a first-year extension student. 

“My daughter called me one day crying, saying she had gotten bitten all over her body,” said Catherine Ro, mother of Jennifer Ro, a first-year student who lived for a month in the Piedmont before breaking her lease because of the conditions there. Lee suspected the bugs were living in the wooden bed frames and eventually replaced them with metal frames, apparently solving the problem for most students. But 

Roger Pao, a freshman extension student, said he still has a wooden frame and got bitten for the first time earlier this week.  

An unannounced visit by the Berkeley Daily Planet after Wednesday’s meeting confirmed many of the residents’ complaints. 

A television cable lay loose across the second-floor hallway at the foot of a stairway and on the path to the bathroom; residents said they have tripped over the cable. A water hose draped the top stairs of the fire escape on the third floor. The bottom vertical ladder of the fire escape itself protruded several inches above the railing and appeared difficult to climb on to. Sandhu said she took it for granted that she would not be able to climb to safety if there were a fire. 

Plastic bottles and other objects propped up windows that do not stay open by themselves. The three washing machines – one of which was broken – had rust stains. 

Residents said the basement laundry room regularly flooded. The back stairway to the building was dark because no light bulb was installed. 

Until about two weeks ago, a desk in the building foyer was practically surrounded by trash, said Joseph Enayati, a second-year student in molecular cell biology. “There was so much, it was hard to even open the ( outside) door,” he said. “Nobody knows how it gets there. The worst thing is it smells like sewage.”  

Residents said their rooms were dirty when they moved in. “It was filthy,” said Jeanne Phung, a first-year student in history and ethnic studies. “There were used sheets on my bed, (used) socks in the drawer and flies in the kitchen.” Several residents complained of toilets that clog regularly and do not flush easily. 

Lee said residents share some of the blame. Trash does sometimes pile up in the foyer, but that is because the residents put it there, she said. 

Lee acknowledged that the laundry room floods. “I don’t know how that can be done (repaired),” she said. Lee also acknowledged that the back stairway was too dark. “Maybe I should have put a bulb in there, huh?” she said. 

The toilets regularly clog because tenants “put too much paper in there,” she said. “If they have too much paper, they can just throw it (the used toilet paper) in the garbage can,” Lee said. 

Lee denied the fire escape is unsafe – “I don’t think anybody would have a problem” climbing on to the ladder, she said – but she acknowledged that the hose “shouldn’t be on” the steps. “Yeah, I’ll have to get that organized,” she said. 

Lee said she attempts to keep the Piedmont as clean as possible, but admitted that perhaps the rooms “collected dust over the months” before new tenants arrived in August. 

Residents repeatedly complained about power outages that ranged from a few minutes to a few hours. But Lee said that is tenants’ fault for “overloading the electricity” by using too many appliances at the same time. 

Jennifer Ro, the student who broke her lease and moved out after a month at the Piedmont, said she is happy to have found a place in the university residence halls. But she and her mother are still trying to recover the three months of rent they paid Lee. Catherine Ro said she paid Lee $1,720 – for rent plus a security deposit – and that Lee had verbally agreed to return all the money. But Lee sent a check for only $300, she said.  

Lee, who denied she promised to return the $1,720, said the $300 covered most of the security deposit – $100 was deducted as “application” and “processing” fees, and to cover long-distance calls to Ro’s Torrance home – but said she will not return the rest, because Ro had broken her lease. 

A building owner does have the right to collect rent for the entire term of a lease if a tenant breaks a lease and the owner “makes an effort” to find another renter, said Tom Brougham, senior management analyst with Berkeley’s rent stabilization board. But, he added, “the landlord has a responsibility to deliver to tenants a safe, habitable and peaceful enjoyment of the property.” 

If a tenant breaks a lease to escape poor living conditions, the owner must return the rent payments, he said.

Saturday, Oct. 28

Shakespeare Festival’s annual costume and garage sale  

9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Featuring one-of-a-kind costumes, props, and set pieces from previous productions. Free. 701 Heinz Ave., Berkeley. (510) 548-3422 ext. 120. 

Buddhist Peace Fellowship 

9 a.m. – 5 p.m. 

A Day of Mindfulness with Claude Anshin Thomas 

A day of meditation, dialogue, teachings and reflection on transforming violence in ourselves an in the world. 

We the People Auditorium, 200 Harrison St. 

Donations excepted 

496-6072 

Community Workshop to  

discuss the strengths and  

weaknesses of Berkeley High  

School  

9 a.m. – noon 

Florence Schwimley Little Theater at Berkeley High School 

Students, parents, teachers, business owners, neighbors, and others are invited to a discussion on that will help set the course for future school improvements and provide the basis for accreditation review. 

Iris Starr, AICP, 540-1252 

tinstarr@earthlink.net 

“Grassroots Globalization vs.  

Elite Globalization” 

2 p.m. 

Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library 

6501 Telegraph Ave. 

595-7417 

“Halloween Mask Making” 

Tilden Regional Park 

2 p.m. 

Come learn the origins of Halloween and make a plaster-gauze mask. Registration required. $4. Take Canon Drive off Grizzly Peak Boulevard, Berkeley. (510) 525-2233. 

Pedaling the Green City 

11 a.m. -3:30 p.m.  

Take a leisurely bike ride along the future San Francisco Bay Trail. One in a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations  

Wild About Books? 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

Halloween for the little guys with (not so) scary stories, music, and more. 

Call 649-3943  

Haunted House 

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

1818 5th St. 

Free 

Donations benefiting youth activities in Berkeley appreciated. 

644-3305 

St. John’s Church and Camp  

Elmwood Haunted House  

6:30 to 8:30 p.m.  

Party for teens from 8:45 to 10 p.m.  

Free. Wear a costume and bring a canned good, book or toy donation.  

845-2656 

“The 3rd annual Habitot  

Halloween” 

Habitot Children’s Museum  

10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

A not-too-spooky Halloween event for young children with entertainment, parades, games, magic and songs. Come in  

costume. Registration strongly suggested. $4 general; $6 for the first child age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 

647-1111 

“Not Very Scary Halloween  

Celebration” 

10:30 a.m. at La Pena  

Betsy Rose performs songs and activities to celebrate the harvest season and the ancestral spirits. Children are invited to come in costume. $4 general; $3 children. 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2572. 

New School’s Halloween  

Bazaar 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m.  

1606 Bonita St. (at Cedar) 

Free to the public, this annual event features face painting, mask-making, children’s games, apple bobbing, pumpkins, live entertainment, and a vast array of other delights. Proceeds benefit the New School’s scholarship fund and the playground project. Free.  

Call 548-9165 

Run Your Own Landscape Business: Part 3 

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave. (at Blake) 

Local horticultural consultant and UC Master Gardener Jessie West will teach you how to plant, prune, control weeds, and more. This is the final class in the series. 

$15 general; $10 for members; $5 materials fee 

Call 548-2220 x223 

West Coast Live Comes to Berkeley 

10 a.m. - Noon 

Freight & Salvage 

1111 Addison (at San Pablo) 

Broadcast around the world this live, on-stage radio show will feature The Austin Lounge Lizards, author Anne Lamott, and others. The show can be heard on KALW at 91.7 FM.  

Reservations: 415-664-9500 or www.TicketWeb.com 

Battle of the Drills 

2 p.m. 

Veterans Hall  

1931 Center St. 

Presented by the Flaming Five this fifth annual battle will feature drums squads, fancy trick, precision, and dance. 

$5 

Denice Cox, 841-1126 

Sunday, Oct. 29

“Almost Halloween Hike”  

Tilden Regional Park 

10 a.m.  

Explore the nature of Halloween folklore on the trails.  

“Wake the Dead: A Music  

Concert”  

Celebrate the Celtic “Day of the Dead” (Halloween) with folksong artists Paul Kotapish and Danny Carnahan.  

2 to 4 p.m.  

(510) 525-2233 

“Gateway to Knowledge” 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Pl. 

Barr Rosenberg describes how to master new knowledge and take the power to shape our lives in wise and compassionate ways.  

843-6812 

compiled by Chason Wrainwright

It’s not quite opening time for the merry-go-round at Tilden Park this sunny Saturday morning, but already toddlers and parents are arriving in eager hordes.  

Several small children press against the metal gate that surrounds the carousel and peer in at the painted menagerie. “I’m going to ride on the dragon!” shouts one little boy. “There’s no dragon,” a smaller boy says scornfully. “Yes, there is,” the first insists. “See?” He points to a fantastical green creature with the head and claws of a griffin and a long serpentine tail. 

Matthew Thomas of Albany is here with his son, Henry, who is 20 months old. This is Henry’s second or third visit to the carousel, and “he’s just getting okay with it,” says his dad. He has overcome his initial trepidation and is happy today to ride on a horse with his father close beside him. Dad is drawn to the carousel for his own reasons: nostalgia for his own childhood visits to amusement parks, and an appreciation for the historic 1911 structure. 

“It’s got old-world charm,” he says, noting the detail on the carved figures and the painted roof. “They don’t make them like this anymore.”  

The entire setting seems to conjure up days gone by. Set in a wooded grove where the air is permeated with the smell of eucalyptus, the carousel is next to an old-fashioned candy shop, where visitors can purchase everything from popcorn and candy to sparkly stickers to Beanie Babies. There’s a vintage organ within the carousel enclosure (played on Sundays), and decorations change continually with the seasons. This month there are jack-o-lanterns and straw bales and swags of artificial colored leaves. Beginning the day after Thanksgiving, the carousel will be decked with holiday ornaments and lights, and special family entertainment is offered nights until Christmas Eve. 

At the heart of this year-round festivity is Terri Holleman Oyarzún, a cheerful mother of four who seems to believe completely in the magic of the place. Oyarzún and her family have managed the Tilden Park carousel since 1992, when she took over from longtime operators Jeanette and Harry Perry. 

Oyarzún calls her transition to carousel operator “one of those cosmic, karmic things.” She was working as a probation officer when she stumbled upon her new job.  

“I came up here with my kids one day and it was closed, with a sign saying the Perrys were retiring,” Oyarzún recalls. Her first reaction was dismay. “Then I started thinking, ‘Hey, maybe I could do this.’” 

It was the beginning of a new life that Oyarzún calls “pretty much a 24-hour commitment.” With a small staff that ranges in age from teens to retirees, she runs the carousel, the gift shop, and the summer concession stand at Lake Anza. Any given day may find her cleaning or retouching the carousel animals, driving down the Peninsula in search of the perfect holiday decorations, or climbing struts to repair the carousel mechanism. On top of that, she and her husband, Egon, run Goats R Us, an Orinda ranch that raises goats for hire to graze brush and reduce fire hazards. 

But Oyarzún wouldn’t have it any other way. “I’ll be doing this forever. I’ll go until I can’t go around anymore.” 

Her youngest son, 9-year-old Zephyr, has never known any other life. When not in school, he helps with the ticket sales and the upkeep of the antique carousel, polishing the brass poles and repainting the horses’ hooves – ”and sometimes the saddles,” he adds. 

Oyarzún delights in pointing out highlights of the carousel. Built in 1911 by the Herschell-Spillman Company, this is a merry-go-round in the “County Fair” style, with muted colors and a kind of primitive country charm. The side of the animal that can be seen from outside the carousel is known as the “romance side,” and is more elaborately decorated than the inside. There is a lead horse, more lavishly carved and bejeweled than the others. She is nicknamed “Rosie,” for the red rose in her bridle, and is a particular favorite with little girls. 

“Can you guess which figure is the most valuable?” Oyarzún asks.  

There’s so much to choose from. The mythical sea monster? The spotted giraffe? The stork, with a tiny baby carved in its saddle? 

None of these, as it turns out. It’s the frog – or frogs, to be more precise. The Tilden Carousel has two of them. What makes them unique is that they are clothed, in cheerfully painted britches and jackets that suggest Mr. Toad from The Wind in the Willows.  

All the staff are “very protective” of the historic structure, Oyarzún says, and their shared enthusiasm makes the people who work at the Tilden carousel something of an extended family. Oyarzún likes the fact that the merry-go-round draws all kinds of people: not just children, but adults with special needs and the elderly. For her younger employees, she says, it provides valuable exposure to a broad spectrum of humanity.  

“They learn that there’s nothing wrong with being different,” she says. “It’s the cycle of life. It’s all part of being human.” 

Oyarzún clearly derives great satisfaction from her job. “I think the best part of this is presenting something where families can make memories,” Oyarzún says. “Usually children don’t know what their parents go through; life can be hard, with worries and struggles and bills to pay. But you can come here and know that life can be okay… Life can be just a ride on a merry-go-round.” 

The Tilden merry-go-round is open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. weekends during the school year, with extended hours Nov. 24-Dec. 23. For more information, call 524-6773, or visit the regional parks website at www.ebparks.org. 

University must pay fair share 

Editor: 

It was great to see “fairness injected into discussion of the city-University relationship. Hegarty’s letter accurately pointed out that there are other tax and fee exempt entities in town and added that UC contributions “easily total in the millions each year.” But the question is what is a fair and reasonable share? While no letter could possibly do justice to a topic which warrants an extensive study, several points may contribute to this critical, ongoing dialogue.  

The direct payments itemized in Hegarty’s letter constitute less than half of 1 percent of the city’s budget. A decade ago, then Mayor Loni Hancock initiated an effort to gain recognition of and compensation for UC costs. The payments vary – some are time-limited annual payments, others are one-time only or in kind donations, and some are not made to the city but to the school district, which is a separate jurisdiction. Some payments have been instituted to replace fees eliminated by new state laws.  

A study by the city’s Planning Department of a few select services some years ago concluded that UC cost the city at least $11 million. A full analysis of the services the city provides the university’s extensive, expansive, dense land uses needs to be renewed and include new UC developments. A look at one city project, sewer rehabilitation, may serve to put the issue in perspective. 

According to an Aug. 14 Public Works Commission communication to the Planning Commission, deferred sewer maintenance is currently nearly $500 million, double the city’s total annual budget. As the largest single user of the city’s sewer system, UC is contributing $250,000 annually toward repairs as noted in Hegarty’s letter. At that rate, it will take 500 years for UC contributions to fund even twenty-five percent of current sewer repair needs.  

If the repairs were done today, as some argue is prudent, what would be the cost per person? If the city paid all the cost, each resident of Berkeley would pay $5,000. On the other hand, if the state were to pay the total bill, the cost for each resident of California would be about $20. 

This is only one example of the burdens which seem unreasonably heavy for one small city’s taxpayers. The city and UC both have an interest in good maintenance of the city’s basic services. The city cannot fund these services alone with its severely reduced tax base.  

It seems reasonable and fair to request that the state consider taking more responsibility for state institutions, particularly when these are located in dense urban areas where the state institution has displaced many revenue generating land uses and constitutes a comparatively large proportion of the land uses, and thus the demand for services. This does seem fair! 

Nancy Holland 

Berkeley 

Town-gown need to work together 

Editor: 

I am writing in response to a recent later to the Editor and a news article, concerning proposed university development in the Southside neighborhood. 

The letter from John English, titled “UC must respect the historic district” states that the proposed Centralized Dining and Student Services Building should conform to its historic neighbors and that the university has ignored the concerns of the city committees and commissions and concerned citizens. From my own close involvement with the project I can say this is not true. 

Conformity and contextuality in architecture are highly subjective - and controversial matters. One building’s attempt to “blend in” with its neighbors may be seen by some as mimicry or a cartoon of older features and styles. Another building may express an individuality some may feel is intrusive to the surrounding character. 

In most cases where a new building is inserted in the midst of older, well-designed neighbors a very careful design process is necessitated. In a neighborhood as rich and varied as the Southside, this process is mandated. This careful process took place in planning the Centralized Dining and Student Services Building, proposed at the center of Bowditch and Channing.  

As part of the Underhill Area Master Plan, of which the dining facility is a component, the campus prepared detailed design guidelines for the properties involved, guidelines that called for inclusive designs sensitive to the scale and character of the neighborhood. While the campus does not prescribe a design style when planning a new building, a palette of materials and colors was recommended. Further, the guidelines prescribes a strong relationship of new buildings to the street, building massing broken down to a neighborhood scale, and creating pedestrian-active sidewalks.  

The guidelines intent was realized in the new Centralized Dining and Student Services Building. This design was not easy to achieve, as any new building on this site would have its challenges. But the neighborhood building style is quite eclectic. The site’s neighbors include the brown-shingled Anna Head School across the street, the stuccoed Casa Bonita adjacent, a modern apartment building faced with plywood to the north, and the shingled Shorb House diagonally across Channing. No style predominates, and how each “fit in” to each other is a highly relative notion.  

The campus Design Review Committee, chaired by Harrison Fraker, Dean of the College of Environmental Design, held numerous meetings to resolve the building’s design and to refine its elements to be a good, albeit modern, neighbor. The massing, fenestration, orientation, and materials (still being developed) have been carefully debated and eventually received a recommendation for approval.  

At each meeting I transmitted the comments of the City Design Review Committee and Landmarks Preservation Commission, and the concerns of local citizens; these comments played a constructive role in the buildings evolution.  

I have two comments on the Friday, Sept. 29 article “Campus pavilions may be leveled.” In the article, Landmarks Preservation Commission member and BAHA staff Lesley Emmington Jones asks the question, “...Does the southside of campus become a neighborhood community based on the needs of the community or an institutional expansion zone...?”  

My first comment is that the Southside is and has been a campus-oriented neighborhood since its initial development in the 19th century. Indeed, the land was once owned by the campus and was sold to finance the nascent College of California, UC’s predecessor. In this neighborhood the university is also “the community.” the notion that the university is not an integral part of this neighborhood belies the fact that 8,000 of the 10,000 residents are students, that the churches, businesses and apartment buildings are here due to the university’s presence, and that the ongoing and celebrated vitality of the neighborhood is due in major part to the university’s presence, reputation, and stature. 

My second comment is that we need to transform the seemingly endless debate over the future of the Southside into a true dialogue between campus, city and community. The Southside Plan had true promise when it started out almost three years ago. Campus and city worked effectively as a team gathering information and holding many meetings with community and campus members. The opinions on the direction of future plans were as diverse as Berkeley is today. This process resulted in the Draft Southside plan published last January.  

Since then, contrary to the initial agreement between the city and the University, the City Planning Commission has decided to develop its own Southside Plan without the active partnership of the University. The University awaits the results of this effort.  

I am hopeful we can find common ground between town and gown, and not create barriers to dialogue or dig into opposing positions. The Southside has traditionally been a place of creativity and toleration. Only if the campus, city and community approach this effort in a spirit of cooperation, rather than confrontation, will it be possible working to create a common vision for the Southside. 

David Duncan 

Community Planning & Urban Design ManagerCapital ProjectsUC Berkeley 

Cuba is misunderstood 

Editor, 

Thank you for Tuesday’s (10/24) front page article on the Pastors for Peace challenge to the Cuba embargo. I do believe, however, that the author misrepresents Cuba’s repression of civil rights on the island. It is true, as he alleges, that Amnesty International and other human rights groups have found fault with Cuban policies toward dissident groups and trade unions. But we would do well to try to understand these policies within the larger international context that motivates them. 

Since the beginning of the revolution until today, The United States has been carrying out a campaign of high- and low-intensity warfare against Cuba. The U.S. interventions that have made it into the history books – including the seizure of Cuba from Spain at the turn of the century and the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 – make up only the proverbial tip of the iceberg. For more than four decades now, a deadly campaign against Cuba has been waged by paramilitary groups in Florida and elsewhere. These groups have, for example, bombed hotels in Cuba, tried to sabotage Cuba’s food supply, and have worked with CIA operatives to carry out assassinations of Cuban leaders (there have been several such attempts on Fidel’s life). 

This adversity has encouraged something of a siege mentality in Cuba. Political repression in Cuba is in large measure a response to decades of aggression directed at the island by its northern neighbor. What I find impressive is that, under such difficult circumstances, Cuba has nevertheless accomplished so much, in education (achieving a higher literacy than in any other Latin American country), universal health care, and the arts, for example. 

If our aim is to support democratic participation and civil rights in Cuba, we’ll work to end the U.S. embargo. 

Raymond Barglow 

Berkeley 

"Hoping 

Al Gore will protect the environment, is like praying Jerry Farwell will 

protect abortion" 

Why Al Gore could be the worse thing to happen to the environment since 

James Watt 

by Elliot Cohen 

Besides destroying trees to print "Earth In the Balance" what has Al Gore done for the environment? In 1992 Gore criticized Bush administration plans to license an Ohio hazardous waste incinerator, writing a letter that promised not to "...issue the plant a test burn permit until all questions concerning compliance" were answered. That promise was broken. Even after the plant failed two test burns – emitting 92 percent more mercury then it was supposed to – the Clinton/Gore administration granted a commercial operating permit. Since then that incinerator has burned over a half million tons of waste, spewing airborne mercury, lead, and dioxin into the Ohio river, and affecting thousands of people in Ohio and West Virginia. 

Gore personally lobbied to repeal the ban on importing tuna caught with dolphin killing nets. Gore personally assured Norway sanctions would not be imposed for killing 300 whales. Court orders aimed at protecting the spotted owl had brought the logging of ancient Northwest forest to a virtual halt. 

After election the Clinton/Gore administration had the court orders lifted, and permitted logging so intensive that with-in five years the spotted owl population declined more than environmental impact statements predicted would have happened in a forty year period under the previous Bush administration plan. Millions of acres of National Forest were clear-cut after the administration exempted certain timber sales from environmental laws and judicial review. The administrations failure to enforce strip mining laws destroyed more than 1,000 miles of streams.  

Gore supports NAFTA and other environmentally destructive trade pacts. He opposed an outright ban on whaling as detrimental to free trade. Gore convinced Clinton to use the CIA against free trade opponents. With-in months the London Daily Telegraph was reporting the CIA had targeted environmental minister Michael Meacher for questioning Monsanto's plan to sell genetically engineered crops. The administration also killed an international Biosafety Convention to protect the biotech industry. 

Most frightening is Gores cavalier attitude toward nuclear power. Gore took credit for negotiating a deal to sell China up to ten nuclear reactors, claiming it was good for the environment because nuclear waste was preferable to burning coal. Gore convinced the Energy Department to triple spending on commercial nuclear power, pushed trade pacts to sell nuclear reactors to Argentina and Brazil, and agreed to pay Russia ten billion dollars for the right to dump 200 tons of high level radioactive waste in the Urals, securing what the nuclear industry needs most: a place to dump it's poison. In essence Gore's stance, that he favors environmental protection, except on the nuclear issue, is like supporting woman's rights, except on the issue of abortion! 

Environmental groups, heavily invested in lobbying, support the candidate they believe will make the best back room deals, so they endorsed Gore despite his record. But as a voter you can make a far wiser choice, and vote in a way that leads to long term efforts to protect the environment. The environment has an amazing capacity to restore itself. With-in years after pollution destroys an area plants and trees begin to take hold. This does not mean protecting the environment doesn't matter, but it shows why who is president during the next four or eight years is less important then long term environmental policies. If Ralph Nader attracts enough votes to make the election very close, or to cause Gore to lose, future Democrats and Republicans, will take environmental policy far more seriously. Voting for what you believe is not throwing your vote away. If you care about environmental protection and nuclear proliferation voting for Gore could be the biggest ballot box mistake you ever make. 

Elsa Tranter  

To:  

dailycal@dailycal.org, voice@cctimes.com, calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.com, Ebxpress@aol.com, mreiley@cctimes.com, 

dscardina@cctimes.com 

PRESS RELEASE: League of Women Voters of  

Berkeley, Albany & Emeryville 

1414 University Avenue Suite D 

Berkeley CA 94702 

Contact: Elsa Tranter 

(510) 642-1657 days 

(510) 524-8970 evenings 

etranter@uclink4.berkeley.edu 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

PRESS RELEASE: League of Women Voters of  

Berkeley, Albany & Emeryville 

1414 University Avenue Suite D 

Berkeley CA 94702 

Contact: Elsa Tranter 

(510) 642-1657 days 

(510) 524-8970 evenings 

etranter@uclink4.berkeley.edu 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Berkeley 

Dear Editor, 

I don't understand why the price of gasoline here in the San Francisco Bay Area is higher than most other regions in the USA. There are several refineries making it here, yet the price for middle-grade gasoline has been hovering around $ 2 a gallon. 

Republican politicians blame taxes and the price of imported oil from OPEC. If those were the reasons for the high price, then oil company profits would be about the same this year as last year. They would simply have pushed through their higher costs to the customer, right? Wrong! 

Chevron's third-quarter profits increased three times higher than last year, from $ .58 billion to $ 1.53 billion. Exxon Mobil's profits doubled to $ 4.29 billion, up from $ 2.21 billion in the same quarter last year. 

These numbers aren't fuzzy. The clearly focus on price gouging. 

If Bush gets elected President, will his team help us drivers? Well, Dubya was the head of a failed oil company in Texas, and has often expressed sympathy for others "working the oil patch". V.P. candidate Cheney received a generous severance payment that included future stock options from the Halliburton oil company which he headed. If Halliburton's profits drop, so will Cheney's golden parachute. Bush's foreign policy advisor, Condolezza Rice, has served on Chevron's board of directors since 1991; they even named a new tanker after her. His economic advisor, Michael Boskin, has been a director of Exxon-Mobil since 1996. Bush's campaign economic advisor, Lawrence Lindsey, is a close consultant to Enron. Is this crowd going to protect us from the oilgopolies? Get real! Quick! 

We've got only one chance to prevent a Republican-controlled government from colluding with Big Oil to squeeze ever more profits from our wallets. That chance is to vote against Bush on November 7. 

Bruce Joffe 

Subject:  

measure Y 

Date:  

Fri, 27 Oct 2000 16:35:53 PDT 

From:  

"John Koenigshofer"  

To:  

opinion@berkeleydailyplanet.com 

Dear Editor 

Like rent control, measure Y will further reduce the number of rental units  

available in our city. 

The facts speak for themselves. Every time a new restriction is placed on  

rental housing more units are removed from the market and those who would  

develop new housing are less likely to do so. 

The path of hyper-regulation is counter productive. History proves this.  

Whether in Berkeley or the Soviet Union, intrusive bureaucracies merely  

suppress creativity and inventiveness. 

Randy Silverman and other rent board cronies have spent tens of millions of  

dollars in the past 20 years but have never created a single housing unit!  

Rather they have reduced the number of rental units in our city. What a  

solution! 

They have wasted an extraordinary amount of money supporting their Orwellian  

Bureaucracy and promoting their reactionary agenda while the housing  

shortage grows worse. 

I for one, with a lot less money, have created several new homes and units  

in Berkeley. I have also seen many units pulled off the market and projects  

abandon as the result of the totalitarian mentality of Silverman and his  

comrades. 

I know for a fact, if Y passes several more housing units will be removed  

permanently from the market. I also know that some housing proposal  

currently on the drawing board will be abandon. 

Measure Y is a suicide mission. It will hurt property owners and renters  

alike. It is time we reject these old school bureaucrats who haven't created Editor: 

It's wrong to ask Nader to drop out because he spoils Gore's chances. If the Nader votes are honestly cast, the nation should know that Greens are a coming power. Voting is a group activity: each vote shows solidarity with a group. It's an insult to tell Green voters that they are "really" voting for Bush. 

The problem is not Nader; it's that too many people have been talked into voting for Bush. Perhaps all those people really do want the EPA dismantled, corporations free to do what they like, and the Christian Right imposing their religious  

beliefs on the rest of us. If a substantial number of Bush voters do not favor these things, then they are the ones who should drop out, not Nader. 

Steve Geller 

Berkeley 

one unit with all their money and power. All they do is attack the  

creativity and vision of others. 

Randy Silverman and the rent board should stop meddling and use their  

multimillion dollar budget to create housing. 

John Koenigshofer 

Berkeley, Ca. 

(510) 848-7509 

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http://profiles.msn.com. 

LOS ANGELES – California sophomore midfielder Brittany Kirk scored the game-winning goal with 1:15 remaining in the second overtime period to lift the No. 5 Golden Bears to a 2-1 victory over No. 12 USC Friday at McAlister Field. The Bears improved to 15-1-1, 5-1 in Pac-10 play, while the Trojans dropped to 11-4-2 and 3-2-1 in league play. The win also avenged the Bears 2-1 double overtime loss to the Trojans last season in Berkeley.  

The game was scoreless until the 80th minute when Cal's go-to player Laura Schott posted her Pac-10-best 21st goal of the season. Senior midfielder Natalie Stuhmueller sent a 30-yard free kick in front of the Trojan goal, and Schott headed the ball into the net for her league-best 42nd and 43rd point.  

Less than a minute later, USC's Jessica Edwards tied the score by converting on a Christy Callier pass from eight-yards out.  

The game went to overtime with the score 1-1 and the shots even at 11-11. USC also was forced to play down a player in the 81st minute when Katie Ticehurst was issued her second yellow card.  

With the second and final 15-minute overtime period winding down, the Bears held a 7-4 edge on shots, but the game looked as if it was going to end in a tie. With 75 ticks on the clock, Kirk nailed her second-game winning goal of the season on the Bears eighth shot in extra time, and senior forward Regina Holan was credited with the assist on Kirk's 10-yard winning strike. Kirk's other game-winning goal came in Cal's 2-1 overtime victory against Missouri Sept.15 in Winston Salem, N.C.  

The Bears created more dangerous opportunities throughout the match, as USC's goalkeeper Shaelyn Fernandes was forced to make nine saves, while Cal's Maite Zabala only had to save three shots with the help of a veteran Bear defense.  

Cal remains in second-place in the Pac-10 with second-ranked Washington (16-1, 7-0 Pac-10) defeating Oregon State, 2-1, in double overtime Friday afternoon.  

Cal looks to remain in the Pac-10 title hunt when it battles No. 3 UCLA Sunday at 1 p.m.

Frances Beal has devoted her life to fighting racism. Long before race, class, and gender became popular topics in literary academic theory, Beal identified these concepts as the theoretical basis for oppression, in her 1969 pamphlet “The Black Women’s Manifesto.” From protesting Jim Crow laws in the 1950s to her current work with the Black Radical Congress, which she helped to found, she has been at the forefront of the struggle for social justice. 

It hasn’t been easy. A Bay Area resident since 1981, Beal remembers weeping as she watched the 1988 film A World Apart, which showed a daughter’s pain at the disruptions to her life caused by her activist parents.  

“My mother was active in leftist politics, and I sometimes felt some resentment because we were ‘different.’ And there were times my children complained because I wasn’t there for them,” Beal recalls. “That’s the human side to this, the sacrifice you make.” 

This Sunday, Beal and other Bay Area trailblazers will be honored at the second annual Sisters of Fire Awards Ceremony, honoring “women who light the way.” The awards are sponsored by Berkeley’s Women of Color Resource Center, which celebrates its 10th anniversary at the same event. 

The honorees are an impressive group, a reminder that the Bay Area truly is a center of liberal activism. Besides Beal, the women include former Ms. magazine editor Helen Zia, an award-winning journalist who has led the way in giving a voice to Asian-American women’s experiences; Avotcja Jiltonilro, a popular Latina poet and musician; and Yuri Kochiyama, a lifelong human rights activist who was imprisoned with other Japanese Americans in an American internment camp during World War II. The ceremony also recognizes the local youth organization Third Eye Movement and Native American activist Nilak Butler. Entertainment at the Sisters of Fire ceremony includes poetry, dance, and music, including a performance by the Korean women’s drum group Jamae Sori. 

The Women of Color Resource Center has a lot to celebrate. For ten years it has provided information and developed reports and curricula meant to empower minorities and connect women of different ethnic backgrounds. It boasts an board of directors that includes luminaries such as Angela Davis. Director and co-founder Linda Burnham was a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, as was Frances Beal and many other leaders. 

The Center has this year brought out two publications that are finding a wide and avid audience. Working Hard, Staying Poor is a report on the effects of welfare reform intended to balance the generally sunny reports seen in the mainstream media. “We find that in fact it has largely hurt women, especially women of color and increased their economic insecurity,” says center staff member Jung Hee Choi. 

Another publication, Women’s Education in the Global Economy, is a curriculum guide to study the impact of globalization on women around the world. It has received “a tremendous response,” says Choi. Besides the community, religious, and labor organizations one might expect to be interested in the program, the center has received orders from hundreds of university professors of women’s studies and ethnic studies across the country. The demonstrations at the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle and subsequent protests have probably helped spur interest in the topic, says Choi. 

The Center’s 10th Anniversary and Sisters of Fire Awards ceremony will be held Sunday at 3 p.m. at the First Unitarian Church of Oakland. Tickets range from $15 to $50. For more information, call 848-9272. 

Practice makes perfect. 

After an intensive week of staying after the Cal men’s soccer team’s regular practices to work on his shooting, forward Kendall Simmonds made his extra work pay off by scoring both of his team’s goal in Friday’s 2-0 win over Oregon State. 

“My coaches had me out there for an hour every day to work on my shooting,” Simmonds said after the game. “I guess they really helped me out, and it showed today.” 

The win puts the Bears back in contention for the Pac-10 title at 2-2-1 in conference play with leader Stanford coming into Berkeley to play on Sunday. A win in that game would put Cal within a half-game of the Pac-10 lead. 

“We’re definitely in the picture right now,” Simmonds said. “We’re as good as any team in this league.” 

Simmonds scored both of his goals in the second half, despite taking a hard fall that injured his shoulder and ribs. 

The first goal came off of a pass from forward Austin Ripmaster in the 68th minute. Simmonds got the ball clear of two OSU defenders, then slotted the ball past goalkeeper Peter Billmeyer for his fourth goal of the season. 

Rather than being happy with a one-goal lead, the Bears continued to play the ball forward to Ripmaster and Simmonds. The attacking style paid off again six minutes later, as Simmonds trapped a high ball, dribbled across the top of the goal box and feathered a shot over Billmeyer, who had come off of his line. Ripmaster was credited with his second assist of the game on the play. 

“It was a composure shot. He drew the ’keeper out and then put the ball right over him,” Cal head coach Kevin Grimes said. “He was definitely the man of the match today.” 

Simmonds now lead the Bears with 11 points for the season. 

The victory continued the team’s three-game winning streak, which was started by a win over highly-ranked UCLA. It also gives the Bears a 4-1 record when playing at Edwards Stadium this year, while they have yet to win away from home. 

“I think at home, our guys are more comfortable,” Grimes said. “When we’re here, we can make life miserable for our opponents, and that’s what we’re going to keep trying to do.” 

Simmonds agreed with his coach. 

“This is Bear territory, baby,” the senior said. “We can beat anybody on our home turf.”

The Committee to Support Our Parks wants to make sure measures S and W pass on Nov. 7 and they’re not taking any chances. So far the committee has spent more money than any of the other campaigns for the various tax and bond measures on the ballot.  

Supporters say the increased revenue is needed to maintain city parks, which have been built up in the last few years. Much of the work was done by volunteer labor, through organizations such as Berkeley Partners for Parks. 

According to campaign statements filed at the City Clerk’s Office Oct. 21, the campaign for the two measures has spent about $30,000. Berkeley Citizens for a Safe and Sound Schools, promoting Measure AA and BB, is second at about $24,500. Those promoting other local ballot measures have spent about $10,000 or less.  

Currently Berkeley maintains 306 acres of parklands which include 50 parks, 80 landscaped medians, 100 pathways and 35,000 trees. 

Measures S and W are both special taxes, one is new and the other was passed in 1997. The state considers a tax special when the revenue raised by the tax is spent on a single program such as parks. A general tax is spent on any program deemed necessary by city governments. 

Voters must approve special taxes by a two-thirds majority. If a special tax passes it then must go before the voters every four years for approval to spend its revenue. The four-year approval requires only 50 percent of the vote. 

Measure S is a new special tax intended to increase the 1997 tax. 

If approved, the annual increase in parks taxes for a person with a 1,900 square-foot home will be $15, bringing the total to $169. 

Promoters of the measure said that additional money will be well spent. Campaign Coordinator Nancy Carleton said Berkeley parks are improving by leaps and bounds. “Most of the recent improvements were done by volunteers who put in thousands and thousands of hours to make the city better.” 

Even though much of the work was done by volunteers, it will take additional tax dollars to maintain the improvements. “This is a modest fee that will raise $600,000 every year which will allow the city to take care of its parks,” she said.  

Carleton said recent additions to the parks system include the Gabe Catalfo Playing Field, a new soccer field on Harrison Street, the Dreamland For Kids, a playground designed with the help of kids at Aquatic Park and the soon to be completed Bay Trail. 

“Those are just a few. There are updated play areas, recently planted street trees. Soon there will be the pedestrian bridge. All these things need to be maintained,” said Carleton. 

Measure W is a special tax passed by voters in 1997 and is now due for its four-year reapproval. If Measure S passes, Measure W, which only requires 50 percent voter approval, will not even go into effect.  

Detractors of the two measures said in printed arguments in the County of Alameda Sample Ballot that taxes are already too high and the revenue is ill spent on costly projects that always seem to require more taxes. The argument was signed by former City Councilmember John Denton, Evelyn Giardina, Martha Jones and Marie Bowman. 

Denton said he’s voting against the measure out of protest against city councilmembers who always seem to vote together when it comes to increasing taxes and spending despite deep philosophical differences. He said the dog area in Cesar Chavez Park is an example of mismanagement. “That area has the prime view of the Bay and San Francisco and they made it a dog park, which precludes anyone else from using it.” 

Measures S and W have been endorsed by eight of the nine members of the City Council, the Berkeley Democratic Club, Berkeley Citizen’s Action, the Sierra Club, the entire school board and a host of present and past public officials.  

The largest contributors to the S and W campaign are two city workers’ unions SEIU Local 790, which contributed $7,500 and SEIU Local 535, which threw in another $7,000.  

Carleton said the workers don’t stand to gain anything from the passage of the measures other than securing the means to do their jobs well.  

Carleton said taxes for city parks are strongly supported among most residents because they have such a positive effect. She said there good for kids and homeowners are usually in favor because they can raise the value of property. “It’s a win, win situation,” she said. 

Pinole Valley deals ’Jackets their first ACCAL loss 

Please forgive the Pinole Valley Spartans. They can just be downright rude at times. Not only are they possessive, direct, and offensive, but they demand constant attention. Nobody looks for these traits when they’re trying to find that special someone. But to find these characteristics in a high school football offense? If only everyone could get this lucky. 

The Spartans (7-1, 3-1 ACCAL) rode their dominating offense to a 47-28 win over the Berkeley Yellowjackets (3-5, 3-1) by scoring on seven of their 10 offensive possessions, cruising out to 40 first half points, racking up 446 total yards, and scoring on the very first play from scrimmage when running back D’Andre McFarland transformed a sweep right into a broken tackle and a 67-yard touchdown jaunt. 

Early scores are nothing new for the sixth-best yardage offense in the Bay Area. McFarland finished the night with 168 rushing yards, 75 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Call him Big Play D’Andre: McFarland tallied runs of 26, 43, and 67 yards and scored a 67-yard touchdown reception late in the first half. For the night, the Spartans pulled off nine plays of at least 20 yards, averaging 9.3 yards per play. Move over, St. Louis Rams! 

Throwing McFarland the football was the Bay Area’s top-rated passer, quarterback Adrian Smith, who entered the game with 14 touchdowns and 1091 passing yards. Smith added to his league-leading statistics by completing 10 of 13 pass attempts for 173 yards and three touchdowns.  

Four different Spartans tallied at least two receptions. Leading the way was super split end Marcus Maxwell, who entered the game with the third-highest yardage (624) and fifth-highest reception (34) marks in the Bay Area. The ‘Jackets "held" Maxwell in check for most of the game, however, to just three receptions for 81 yards and a 27-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter. 

As for Berkeley, the ’Jackets found themselves playing catch-up all game long. This limited the number of carries for the sixth-best rusher in the Bay Area, Ramone Reed. A true warrior, Reed rushed 15 times for 121 yards and caught four passes for 97 yards and a touchdown. Reed alone accounted for 218 of Berkeley’s 369 total yards and beckoned his teammates on during the game, noting "this is not the day to be walking!" Nothing could stop Reed on this night, not even an injury to his right leg that forced him to retreat to the sidelines for a series. 

The ‘Jackets pulled out all the stops in the second half. Down 40-14, Berkeley head coach Gary Weaver utilized the reverse, the halfback option pass to the quarterback, and even the good ol’ hook and lateral pass. But it was too little, too late, and not even a sensational 65-yard punt return in the fourth quarter by Anthony Lee Franklin could rescue the ‘Jackets from their misery. 

Penalties continue to be the thorn in Berkeley’s side, as the ‘Jackets committed eight infractions for 60 yards. Six of the eight penalties were either false starts or encroachment gaffes, and a 40-yard pass reception by Charles West with 1:53 remaining in the first half was wiped out because of a personal foul. 

Berkeley faces another difficult opponent next week when they square off at home against the El Cerrito Gauchos at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 3.

SAN FRANCISCO – A California judge who ordered the recall of 1.7 million Ford Motor Co. cars and trucks said Friday he would stand by the decision. 

“I’m not likely to change my mind,” Alameda County Superior Court Michael E. Ballachey said. 

Ford had asked Ballachey to reconsider almost three weeks after he ruled that the automaker concealed a dangerous design flaw that can cause some vehicles to stall in traffic. Ford said the ignition devices are not defective for the 1983 through 1995 model years in question. 

Ballachey’s recall order, which won’t become effective until a court-appointed expert decides how to repair the faulty ignition devices, was the first from a state judge. Government agencies normally order recalls, but Ballachey said California law gives him that power. 

The recall order came in response to a class-action suit filed on behalf of millions of former and current Ford owners in California. 

After Ballachey said the recall would move forward, Ford attorney Richard Warmer asked Ballachey to remove himself from the case — the second time Ford had made that request. 

“I didn’t do it last time and I’m not doing it this time,” Ballachey said in a terse tone from the bench Friday. 

After the hearing, Warmer told The Associated Press that Ford believed the judge was biased against the automaker. 

“We don’t believe he is impartial,” Warmer said. 

It was not the first time that Ballachey appeared upset with Ford. When he ordered the recall Oct. 11, he said Ford was living an “Alice in Wonderland” dream for repeatedly denying the vehicles were dangerous. 

Ballachey said Ford sold as many as 23 million vehicles nationwide with the flaw, but his jurisdiction does not extend beyond California. Similar class-action suits are pending in Alabama, Maryland, Illinois, Tennessee and Washington. 

The judge said as early as 1982 Ford knew the vehicles were prone to stalling, especially when the engine was hot, but failed to alert consumers and repeatedly deceived federal regulators. 

The ignition device was put on 29 models between 1983 and 1995, including the Taurus, LTD, Ranger, Bronco, Mustang and Escort, the company has reported. During that period, the Taurus was one of the top-selling cars in America. 

Ballachey said he expects a court-appointed referee to suggest how to fix the vehicles by March. 

He also said he would call a jury, perhaps in April, to hear the case. Before that, however, he must decide whether jurors should have a trial to decide for themselves whether the devices were faulty, or whether the jury can rely on the judge’s findings and move directly into a punitive damages phase of trial.

Arizona’s big hitters too much for Cal 

The University of California women's volleyball team fell to No. 5 ranked Arizona, 3-0 (15-9, 15-5, 15-10), Friday night at the RSF Fieldhouse on the Cal campus.  

The talented Wildcats (19-2, 12-1), who have won 19 of their last 20 matches, were led by Allison Napier, Marisa DaLee and Lisa Rutledge with 13, 12 and 10 kills respectively. The Bears (9-10, 4-8) were paced by senior outside hitter Alicia Perry with a team-high 14 kills.  

In game one, Cal was tied with Arizona, 5-5, with the help of kills from Perry, sophomore Leah Young and freshman Gabrielle Abernathy, and a block by freshman Heather Diers. The Wildcats then took control with a 5-0 run to lead 10-5 and ended up winning 15-9. The closest the Bears could get was 12-9 behind back-to-back block assists by Diers and sophomore setter Caity Noonan.  

Arizona completely dominated game two, 15-5, with most of Cal's points coming off Wildcat errors. Game three was probably the Bears best game as they came back from a 9-1 deficit to get within 10-9. Cal's comeback was fueled by an ace by freshman Ashleigh Turner, block assists by freshman Jessica Zatica and Perry, back-to-back kills by Young, an ace by Noonan, block assists by freshman Lisa Collette and Young, and a solo block by Collette. With the score, 10-9, Arizona took the next four points before Noonan's second service ace got the Bears to 14-10, but the Wildcats scored again to take the game and the match, 15-10.  

The Bears will next host Arizona State, Saturday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. at the Recreational Sports Facility Fieldhouse.

Korean immigrant helped introduce books of leading English poets and Buddhist writers to Korean readers 

Ok-Koo Kang Grosjean, noted poet and translator, died last night in her home in Albany. She would have been sixty years old on November 1 and had been diagnosed with liver cancer earlier this year.  

She is best known for introducing the work of leading English language poets and Buddhist writers to Korean readers through her translations of several books including the Dalai Lama's Policy of Kindness and Ocean of Wisdom, Thich Nhat Hanh's Being Peace and The Heart of Understanding, J. Krishnamurti's Flame of Attention and Education and the Significance of Life and Gary Snyder's No Nature.  

She also translated works from Korean into English, most notably with the volume Selected Poems by Park Nam Soo. Her own books of poetry, Horizon and A Hummingbird's Dance remain in print, and a book of recent poems entitled Delightful Encounters is forthcoming. About her poetry she once said, "I let myself flow in the mysterious stream of the heart."  

Ok-Koo Kang was born in Kwang-Ju, Korea, and emigrated to the United States in 1963 with a pharmacy degree from I-Hwa Women's University in Seoul.  

She attended Columbia University and San Francisco State University before receiving a master's degree in nutrition (biochemistry) from U.C. Berkeley.  

She immediately got work as a chemist for the USDA labs in Albany and continued there until taking early retirement in 1995.  

She met Glen Grosjean ("grow-zhahn") at Cal, where he was an associate in speech (he later held various academic positions there until his retirement) and they were married in 1965.  

She had been raised Presbyterian but was gradually drawn to Buddhism through her husband's interest - he had been a Zen monk for three years in the 1950s at Shogenji, a monastery in Japan - and in response to the loss of her sister to cancer in 1968.  

Her garden was a great passion, and Ok-Koo was also a devoted musician, playing viola da gamba, piano, recorder, lute and the Korean kayageum (koto).  

Her husband survives her along with their son, Charles, who lives in Pasadena.  

A Buddhist service will be held on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. in the Chapel of Light at Skylawn Memorial Park on Half Moon Bay Road, off Skyline Boulevard.

Cal water polo upsets No. 3 Long Beach St. 

LONG BEACH, CA - The No. 5 ranked Cal men’s water polo team (9-7, 3-2) defeated No. 3 ranked Long Beach State (12-7, 2-1), 11-6, in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play Friday afternoon at Long Beach State’s campus pool. It was the first home loss of the season for the 49ers.  

Cal took control in the second half of what was a close game. The Bears outscored Long Beach State 6-3 in the final two periods. Freshman Attila Banhidy led Cal with four goals. Senior Eldad Hazor added three goals and junior Joe Kaiser chipped in two goals. Goalie Tim Kates had seven saves.  

The Bears will next face USC, Saturday, Oct. 28 at 1:30 p.m. at McDonald’s Olympic Swim Stadium 

Bear swimmers dominate at Pacific meet 

STOCKTON, CA - The California men’s (1-0) and women’s swimming teams (2-0) dominated host Pacific Friday afternoon in Stockton. The Bears won 22 of the meet’s 28 events at Chris Kjeldsen Pool on the Pacific campus. Cal’s men won 120-104, while the Bear women captured 10 of 14 events to win 131.5-92.5. No other information was provided by Pacific.  

Nort Thornton’s men’s team will next host CS Bakersfield Friday, Nov. 3 at 1 p.m. at Spieker Aquatics Complex. Teri McKeever’s women’s team next travels to Athens, GA to face two-time defending national champion Georgia Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. ET, before visiting South Carolina Nov. 4.  

Andre Carter to chat with fans online 

On Tuesday, October 31, Cal defensive end Andre Carter will drop by ESPN.com to chat with the fans beginning at 11:00 a.m. PT.  

A preseason All-American and a semifinalist for the Lombardi award, Carter has been a stalwart for the Bears as the defensive end has been on the field for all but two defensive plays this season for the 2-5 Bears.  

Carter leads the Bears with a total of seven sacks this season, despite constant double-teaming by opponents. That figure is tied for second place on the Pac-10 sack list heading into Saturday's clash with USC.

There has never been a flu epidemic like it. In one year - 1918 – half a million Americans died from a contagion often identified as the deadliest epidemic of the 20th century, a flu so severe that the fear of it happening again causes public health authorities to go on global alert. 

Now a researcher in demography at the University of California, Berkeley, has evidence that undetected tuberculosis, or TB, actually may have caused much of the mortality in 1918. 

If so, such a deadly flu may not occur again, at least not in the United States which has low rates of TB infection, reports Andrew Noymer, UC Berkeley doctoral student in demography, a department in the College of Letters and Science. He published his findings in the current (September) issue of Population and Development Review, the main journal of the Population Council.  

Noymer’s evidence comes from patterns of mortality in the U.S. population in the years after the epidemic year. Death rates from tuberculosis fell dramatically in 1919 and 1920 and, for decades thereafter, changed an historic gender pattern in mortality. 

Apparently, those who died from the flu already had diseased lungs. When they got the flu, it turned into pneumonia, which in those people with TB became especially severe. It was the pneumonia complicated by TB that killed them, said Noymer. Their early demise depressed the death rate from TB in the following years.  

He said tuberculosis creates cavities in the lungs that are notorious breeding grounds for staphylococcus A bacteria that causes a pneumonia that was actually the killer in 1918. Noymer’s findings explain a peculiarity of the 1918 pandemic that killed at least 20 million people worldwide.  

Normally, the influenza virus is not lethal to young and middle-aged people. Most of its victims are elderly. But in 1918, the typical victim was a man between the ages of 20 and 40, a group that normally has a very low death rate, said Noymer. 

In the early 20th century, however, tuberculosis was a major killer of men in that age group, apparently because of transmission in factories where men worked in densely-packed, poorly-ventilated conditions, Noymer said. Men were about 30 percent more likely to die from TB than women were- a pattern closely paralleled during the flu epidemic.  

In 1918, men were 35 percent more likely than women to die from flu. Of the 500,000 Americans who died that year, 280,000-300,000 were men.  

“This can’t be a coincidence,” said Noymer. “I think TB is the missing piece of the puzzle. It explains why younger people, especially men, died in such great numbers. Scientists since 1918 have been searching for clues for why the 1918 epidemic was so deadly, especially in middle age. But people did not look at what happened to tuberculosis death rates, not only in the epidemic year, but in the years afterwards.”  

His findings explain another mystery. Scientists who have attempted to study the gene sequence of the 1918 influenza virus have seen nothing out of the ordinary, nothing to explain the flu’s virulence.  

“Never before or since have we seen a flu epidemic that was so virulent,” said Noymer. “The spread was extremely rapid, as was the development of the infection. Almost everyone who died was gone in two weeks. 

“I do believe my finding explains most of the deadliness of the 1918 epidemic. It doesn’t prove that, if another strain were to appear, that the U.S. population would be safe, but it strongly suggests that we would fare much better.”  

Noymer’s analysis shows that the 500,000 people who died in 1918 were almost exactly the number who would have been in various stages of disease from TB. Using pre-1918 death rates, Noymer calculated that 500,000 more TB deaths would have occurred between 1918 and 1932 had there never been a flu epidemic.  

As a result of the excess death among men in 1918, a healthier male population was left, said Noymer. For years afterward, the life expectancy of men, which usually lagged behind women by six years, moved up to more closely resemble the female pattern. It was this startling change that sparked Noymer’s research, when he saw something no demographer had ever noticed before - a precipitous drop in 1919 in the gender differential from six to two years.  

“When I saw that,” said Noymer, “ I said to myself, ‘That’s the flu!’ And, surprise, surprise, it leaves the same mortality patterns on age and sex that TB does.”

Man convicted of manslaughter had 16 priors 

MARYSVILLE – An Olivehurst man who was recently convicted of manslaughter in connection with a drunken-driving car crash that killed two people had 16 prior drunken-driving convictions on his record, court records show. 

Ronald Bushers Sr., 51, is expected back in court Dec. 8 for sentencing. He faces a prison term of 15 years to life. 

The accident that killed the two Paradise people occurred November 1999 on Highway 70. 

California Highway Patrol officers said Bushers had a blood-alcohol content of .22. A level of .08 is considered legally intoxicated. 

Prosecutors said they found that Bushers’ first drunken-driving conviction was in March 1970. 

Treatment programs introduced in the 1980s seemed to have little impact on Bushers, said Yuba County District Attorney Patrick McGrath. 

The state chairman of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Linda Oxenreider, said she has never heard of anyone with more drunken-driving convictions. 

Former politician and wife busted for marijuana, could face other drug charges 

AUBURN – A former gubernatorial candidate and his wife on trial for growing marijuana may also have to defend themselves against other drugs found in their house. 

Prosecutors have pointed out that a half gram of a psilocyben mushroom was also found in the house of Steven and Michele Kubby. 

The drug, also known as magic mushrooms or shrooms, is usually ingested for its hallucinogenic effects. 

Defense attorneys say the mushrooms have been used as medicine and spiritual aids in other countries. 

The Kubbys argue they were legally growing more than 250 marijuana plants found in their Squaw Valley home last year. They have been vocal advocates of medicinal marijuana and say they had permission to use the drug to treat their ailments. 

Steven Kubby was the Libertarian candidate for governor in 1998. 

Students under fire for paper’s content 

SACRAMENTO – A behavioral hearing was postponed for two Sacramento students suspended for editing an underground newspaper. 

Administrators at Sacramento High School say the publication included several racial slurs and sexual references. 

School officials said the hearing was postponed Thursday because not all people involved in the hearing were available at the time. 

Some students say the publication was distributed off campus and brought to school by other students. 

One of the editors’ parents is protesting the suspension. He claims the boys have a First Amendment right to publish the newspaper. 

The hearing has not been rescheduled, school officials said Thursday. 

UC Davis police call for removal of their chief 

DAVIS – Police officers working for the University of California, Davis, are calling for the removal of their chief and asking for an audit of the entire department. 

Officers say they are frustrated by the mismanaged police force and the department’s practice of underreporting crimes that happen on campus. 

In a letter to university Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef, the officers and department staff announced a vote of no confidence in Chief Calvin Handy, who has been the department’s top officer for the past seven years. 

An attorney for the officers said there have been “serious allegations of abuse of authority” in the department. 

In a prepared statement, Handy said he was open to hearing any complaints from officers and hoped to revolve the issues dividing the department. 

UC Davis spokeswoman Lisa Lapin said Thursday that the officers’ letter was the first formal complaint of the department in 10 years. 

Similar problems recently bothered the Davis Police Department, where officers took a vote of no confidence against Chief Jerry Gonzales. The city hired a consultant to examine the complaints.  

Gonzales’ said his last day on the job was Friday.

Aryan Nation will take to the streets of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho despite impending loss of their rural compound 

SPOKANE – This weekend, days before they lose their rural compound, members of the Aryan Nations will march defiantly down the streets of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. 

Saturday’s march is the most visible sign that Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler is not going away despite the $6.3 million judgment awarded against him in a civil rights lawsuit Sept. 7. 

“It’s to drive home the point that I’m not running out of town like a whipped dog,” Butler said after filing for the parade permit. 

It’s not clear how many supporters of the neo-Nazi group will march in support of its anti-Semitic, white supremacist message.  

Past parades have had close to 100 participants. Last year’s event drew fewer than two dozen, who were greatly outnumbered by various protesters and news media representatives. 

Butler’s supporters have been using the Internet to try and draw marchers to Coeur d’Alene, 30 miles east of Spokane. 

“This is a white pride and racial awareness march where true Aryans are standing together ... and showing the fine folks of north Idaho and the national media that we are not going to be silenced,” wrote Vincent Bertollini of the white-supremacist 11th Hour Remnant Messenger. 

Bertollini, a wealthy computer executive who lives in Sandpoint, Idaho, recently bought a house in nearby Hayden that Butler is living in. 

One protest group, the Seattle-based United Front Against Fascism, plans to attend the 11 a.m. parade. 

“Fascism cannot be vanquished in the courts alone,” said Luma Nichol, a founder of the group. 

Coeur d’Alene city officials have tried to block past parades in court, but failed because of constitutional free-speech protections. 

Human rights groups in the area say they do not believe in directly confronting the Aryans. The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations will use the parade as the occasion to roll out its new “Idaho, the Human Rights State” public relations campaign. 

Protesters say that’s the wrong approach when dealing with a hate group such as the Aryan Nation. 

“Turning your back on the fascists only encourages them,” said Gil Veyna of the United Front. 

All Coeur d’Alene police officers will work Saturday, and they will be joined by staff from the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department and Idaho State Police. Officers will reportedly set up barriers along the parade route in an attempt to keep marchers and protesters apart. Anyone who crosses the barriers will be arrested, Sheriff Rocky Watson has said. 

Butler took out a permit for more than 100 participants on Sept. 8 — the day after losing the lawsuit brought by Victoria and Jason Keenan, a mother and son. 

The Keenans were chased and shot at by Aryan Nations security guards when they drove past the group’s compound near Hayden Lake, Idaho, in 1998. A Kootenai County, Idaho, jury found Butler and the Aryan Nations negligent in hiring and training the guards. 

On Thursday, a judge denied a request for a new trial for the Aryan Nations, clearing the way for the victorious Keenan family to take over the 20-acre compound as soon as next week.

Ewing interfered with fair housing rights for neighbor 

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Attorney's Office said today a Lake County man has been sentenced to six months in jail and six months of home detention for making racist threats against his Clearlake neighbor last year. 

U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer sentenced Gregory Ewing, 43, yesterday in San Francisco after he pleaded guilty to interfering with fair housing rights. Ewing will begin serving his prison term on Dec. 5. 

According to a U.S. Attorney's spokesman, Ewing yelled racist slurs and threatened his 68-year-old neighbor after she invited her grand daughter, her daughter's African American husband and their daughter to her home on May 11, 1999. 

Ewing admitted going to his neighbor's porch and shouting racial epithets as well as building a 9-foot, 4-inch cross on his lawn. He also threatened to kill his neighbor and burn the cross, according to prosecutors. 

The woman contacted the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People when Clearlake police failed to immediately respond. Police arrived after the NAACP contacted them. Ewing was arrested, released on bail and a restraining order was issued. Local charges were filed but dismissed, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. 

Ewing made more racist slurs on Aug. 3 during another visit by the neighbor's granddaughter and great-granddaughter, prosecutors say. 

On Oct. 14 Ewing threatened to burn his neighbor's house down and kill her following a visit by the NAACP representative. 

Ewing was arrested again, released on bail on Oct. 18 and another restraining order was issued.  

The NAACP then filed a complaint with federal authorities and the FBI began an investigation.

LOS ANGELES – The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the nation’s second-largest health benefits provider, will lose $96 million this year on its self-insured health plans, according to a newspaper report. 

The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that CalPERS officials will consider double-digit rate hikes and higher co-payments in the next two years to offset some of the losses. 

The health fund’s reserves will drop to $73.1 million, enough to last six weeks should unexpected medical costs or other emergencies hamper the fund’s ability to draw from it regular cash flow to pay claims. The recommended industry standard is to have at least three months of reserves. 

The health fund losses will not impact CalPERS’ ability to pay retirement benefits to members or destabilize other programs. 

CalPERS attributes the losses to an increase in membership to its self-funded plans. The increase is largely from members in the state’s rural areas who are joining because health maintenance organizations are pulling out of the counties where they live. 

“This is the only option that is available statewide,” said Allen Feezor, CalPERS assistant executive officer for health. 

Unlike HMOs, which can leave when it becomes too expensive to operate, CalPERS is obligated to provide care for all its members no matter where they live. 

The result, Feezor said, is that the PERSCare and PERSChoice plans have suffered high increases in the cost of doctor and hospital visits, as well as high prices and increased demand for prescription drugs. 

About 22 percent of CalPERS’ 1.1 million members are enrolled in the two plans. The plans are preferred provider organizations where there is no primary-care gatekeeper and patients don’t need a referral to see a specialist. 

Premium increases will be instituted in 2001 that will average 19 percent more than this year, officials said. An increase of 24 percent is needed to stem the losses and premiums, deductibles and co-payments may be raised in 2002, Feezor said. 

The CalPERS board voted last month to increase by 300 percent the amount that some board members receive to attend meetings. The compensation for some board members, who attend about 75 meetings a year, will increase to an annual average of $30,000 from about $7,500 a year.

VENTURA – Fisherman Aaron Plunkett can talk about his whale of a catch that didn’t get away: The Lake Casitas angler snagged fossilized bones of a 25 million-year-old toothed baleen whale, a first-of-its-kind find in California. 

“They’ve been found before in Washington and Oregon and Baja, but we’ve never found one in California,” said Howell Thomas, a paleontologist at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum. “This is the only one ever found in California. 

“We were just kind of waiting to see where the first one would be found. It’s exciting because it proves tooth baleen whales were off the coast of Southern California.” 

Plunkett, an Ojai musician, was fishing at Lake Casitas on Jan. 19 when he noticed what appeared to be bones among the pebbles along the shoreline. The mountain lake is 80 miles northwest of Los Angeles. 

“Twenty-five million years ago, that was all under water,” Thomas said Friday. 

Plunkett contacted paleontologists and they were thrilled. 

“We said, ’Hey, that looks like a primitive bone,” said Thomas, who then accompanied Plunkett to the site and gathered parts of the skull, an ear bone and a tooth and brought them back to the museum adjacent to the Coliseum. 

“He’s a musician,” the paleontologist said. “How he noticed it was a vertebrate is anybody’s guess.” 

The toothed baleen whale, which was about 30 feet long, represents a rare evolutionary link between whales as we know them — with their brushy, plankton-catching plates — and their ancient, toothy ancestors. 

The toothed baleen whale dates back to the earliest part of the Miocene Epoch, and the Casitas find may be one of the last of the toothed baleens to survive past the Oligocene Epoch. 

Plunkett, whose telephone number isn’t listed, has been very protective of his fossil find. In a written statement, Plunkett said he hoped to create an Ojai learning center to house the skeletal remains. 

“I feel it appropriate for the whale to remain in the Ojai Valley,” Plunkett said. 

But Thomas said he is hoping to dig up the entire skeleton later, once the museum is able draw up a budget for digging and cleaning. 

Doug Ralph, director of the Lake Casitas Recreation Area, said he would like excavation to occur quickly for fear scavengers might descend on the site.

CHICO – Manslaughter charges could be filed against some members of a fraternity where an 18-year-old student died, the Butte County district attorney has announced. 

Adrian Heideman died Oct. 7 during a party where he tried to drink a bottle of brandy. 

The California State University, Chico, freshman from Palo Alto had a blood-alcohol content of .37, more than four times the legal limit for driving. 

District Attorney Mike Ramsey said Thursday that he had only recently been given the results of the police investigation, but added that he was considering charges against members of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity. Heideman was a new member of the fraternity. 

Medical reports show that Heideman died of asphyxiation due to alcohol poisoning. 

Ramsey said medical examiners found that the alcohol stopped Heideman’s ability to vomit the alcohol. Instead, it filled his lungs. 

The fraternity could also be charged with manslaughter. If the organization is charged, it could face criminal fines of up to $10,000.

PEBBLE BEACH – This is some of the world’s most prized real estate – looming Monterey pine and cypress trees, top-caliber golf courses and achingly lovely mansions, all giving way to a pristine, rocky shoreline. 

But the celebrities and other investors who paid $820 million last year for 2,600 acres of this land say beauty alone can’t pay the bills. They want to build a new golf course and expand resorts in the area – and some residents and environmentalists say they’re tricking voters into going along with it. 

The Pebble Beach Co. – whose investors include actor-director Clint Eastwood, former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth and golfer Arnold Palmer – is making an intriguing offer in its development plans. The company says 425 forested acres it owns, now zoned for housing, should be preserved forever as open space. 

“We’re doing this because we love the area and we want to keep it always great,” said Eastwood, who has lived in Monterey County for nearly 40 years and served two years as mayor of nearby Carmel in the 1980s. “I guess everybody has a little bit of nostalgia. I’d like to see Pebble Beach remain the same, as much as it can in the real world.” 

The company has placed an initiative on the Nov. 7 ballot in Monterey County, asking voters to change zoning rules so the company can carry out both its expansion and the forest preservation. 

The initiative, Measure A, is supported by the local residents’ association and endorsed by the local newspaper, the Monterey County Herald. If the measure passes, parts of the development itself could still be vetoed by county officials and the California Coastal Commission. 

But critics say a ballot initiative is the wrong way to carry out complicated changes in land-use plans, which usually require laborious public hearings and environmental impact studies. The company says all such procedures will still take place before it begins its expansion. 

The opponents say the company has given voters a deceptively titled ballot measure – the Del Monte Forest Preservation and Development Limitation Initiative – and are using Eastwood’s reputation to present itself as a bunch of preservationists, rather than golf course builders. 

“Clint and Ueberroth and Palmer want some return on their big, big investment, and I don’t blame them,” said Ted Hunter, co-chairman of the opposition group, Concerned Residents of Pebble Beach. “We’re saying they’re getting too greedy, they ought to do it the right way, the way any other developer would.” 

Though the opposition consists mostly of well-off residents of Pebble Beach and nearby communities, they clearly are outgunned. As of Sept. 30, the company’s campaign already had spent $734,235, while the opponents had spent just $4,224. Pebble Beach Co.’s executive vice president, Mark Stilwell, said the company is willing to spend “whatever it takes.” 

The company wants to send at least four mailers to every voter in the county and might air commercials with Eastwood, to draw the interest of far-away county residents who might never cruise the area’s famed 17-Mile Drive or tee up at Spyglass Hill. 

Gillian Taylor, who chairs the local Sierra Club chapter, said Measure A contains provisions that restrict the ability of county officials and the Coastal Commission to refine certain elements of the company’s plans. She fears that if the initiative passes, other developers will feel emboldened to try the same tactic. 

Pebble Beach Co. contends nothing sneaky is going on. The company says the initiative merely lets it know now, rather than years down the road, whether it will be able to carry out an expansion that Stilwell estimates will cost more than $100 million. 

The previous owner of the Pebble Beach Co. – Taiheiyo Club Inc., a Japanese company – had proposed 315 new homes in the area, though it is zoned for as many as 890, in addition to a new golf course. 

Under the new plan, the company could only add 38 new residential units, adjacent to existing streets, though it could add as many as 210 new guest rooms at the resorts. An equestrian center in the area would be moved to an old quarry, with the new golf course in its place. 

The opponents say they fear increased traffic from big events at the new golf course and effects on their water supply. 

They also say Measure A does not save as much forest as it purports. While it blocks residential development, some areas will be rezoned for “recreational open space” – meaning a golf course that will require cutting down some trees. 

Alan Williams, a developer who has worked on other Eastwood properties in the area and is advising Pebble Beach Co. on this project, said trees removed for the golf course can be moved elsewhere on the property. 

“We try to educate people in what we’re trying to do,” Eastwood said. “And I think if we let them down, we deserve to not have their faith, and not have the project.”

Open-records advocates praise Judicial Council’s decision;  

opponents claim ruling hurts defendants’ privacy 

SAN FRANCISCO – California’s trial judges no longer can seal court records automatically under a new rule adopted Friday. 

The rule, an outgrowth of a California Supreme Court decision last year, requires judges to state on the record why they are sealing a record. The reasons must be in accordance with guidelines spelled out by the high court. 

Open-records advocates hailed the rule, approved 18-1 by the Judicial Council — the administrative arm of California’s court system. 

The only negative vote came from John Collins, a Pasadena lawyer appointed by the State Bar to sit on the council. He said the Judicial Council has no place to adopt such a controversial rule, adding that is the state legislature’s job. 

“There is an awful lot of stuff that may get daylight that shouldn’t,” said Collins, whose vote does not reflect the position of the State Bar that represents all of California’s lawyers. 

Advocates said the rule would stop judges from the common practice of “casually” sealing records at the request of attorneys. 

“It’s not going to stop all sealings. But I think it will cut down on the number of casual sealings that occur without any good reason except that the parties in the case think it is OK,” said Terry Francke, counsel of the California First Amendment Coalition. 

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Ronald Robie agreed with Francke. Robie, a Judicial Council member, said judges immediately seal records at the request or by so-called “stipulations” of lawyers, regardless of whether the documents should remain open. 

Now a judge must conduct a hearing and state the reasons for sealing, which might make judges leery of sealing a record, Robie said. 

“It eliminates stipulations,” he said. “That happens frequently.” 

When a judge seals a record, the judge must find an “overriding” interest. That is the standard the California Supreme Court spelled out last year when the high court ruled that a lower court erred when it excluded the public and media from portions of a civil trial in which the jury was not present. 

The high court said there was a First Amendment right to access courts and the justices requested the Judicial Council propose how and when court records could be sealed. 

Even so, the definition of an overriding interest is at the judge’s discretion. Such interests include sealing trade secret information in a lawsuit, the addresses and phone numbers of witnesses and, in some cases, psychiatric and medical reports. 

However, even under the new rules, settlement agreements of lawsuits remain confidential as well as a host of juvenile court records and documents of family mediation disputes. 

Some lawmakers have said they may introduce legislation next year requiring that lawsuits settled out of court become public records.

OAKLAND – The man accused of shooting and killing three meat inspectors on a visit to his linguisa factory in June has pleaded innocent to murder charges. 

Stuart Alexander, 39, is accused of shooting U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors Thomas Quadros, 52, and Jeannie Hillery, 56, and state inspector Bill Shaline, 57 at his Santos Linguisa Factory in San Leandro. Another state inspector, Earl Willis, escaped unharmed. 

The Alameda County district attorney’s office has said it will seek the death penalty. 

The next court date is for discovery on Dec. 8. 

On surveillance tapes from the June 21 shooting, Alexander is seen grabbing three handguns in his office, loading them, then closing the window blinds. The next scene, from a surveillance camera high above the retail section of the factory, shows the inspectors falling after being shot. 

The black and white tapes show Alexander coming into the room, shooting at prone inspectors Quadros, Hillery and Shaline. Alexander then runs outside to chase another Willis. 

Hillery is seen lifting her head and moving her right arm, and Quadros appears to be moving, as Alexander re-enters the room. The factory owner reloads, then moves over to each of the inspectors and shoots them several times. 

Alexander, who is seen pacing his office before grabbing the handguns, appears calm during the shootings. 

Shaline was shot six times. Hillery was shot four times. Quadros was shot three times. All died in the factory.

SAN FRANCISCO – Pacific Bell could face more than $2 million in fines levied by state regulators who appear likely to punish the company for tricking customers into signing up for unwanted telephone service options. 

California Public Utilities Commissioner Josiah Neeper said Pac Bell scared customers into dropping the “complete blocking” option by telling them they might experience difficulties completing calls. 

When customers choose the “complete blocking” option, their numbers do not appear on Caller ID boxes, making the devices a tough sell for Pac Bell. 

Neeper, who previously said no fine was needed, now recommends Pac Bell pay a $2.4 million fine. 

Neeper’s about-face came as a surprise to the company. 

“This entire case is a sad commentary on the regulatory system, as there were virtually no facts on customer complaints to support the proceeding,” said Pac Bell spokesman Bill Blase. 

Commissioner Richard Bilas has begun drafting a separate proposal to fine Pac Bell for a different amount, a sign that a majority of the five CPUC commissioners would endorse such a penalty on the company.

SAN FRANCISCO – U.S. Senate contenders Dianne Feinstein and Tom Campbell clashed sharply Friday on drugs, economics and immigration, as raucous Green Party protesters rushed the television station where they debated and demanded their candidate be allowed to participate. 

There were no injuries. After the hour-long debate, Feinstein left the building through a rear entrance to avoid some 100 protesters, who remain jammed in the building’s lobby. 

Supporters of Green Party candidate Medea Benjamin began their protest on the sidewalk in front of KRON-TV, then pushed into the stations’ lobby. Benjamin was excluded from the debate under ground rules adopted by the station and the Feinstein and Campbell campaigns. 

About a dozen police officers blocked the demonstrators and arrested two people. One was identified as Northern California campaign director June Brashares. Both were immediately released. 

The protest did not delay the debate’s start. 

Meanwhile, in the upstairs studio, Campbell and Feinstein differed on immigration and the Republican Campbell’s proposal to help addicts kick the habit by giving them access to drugs. 

They also clashed on Social Security financing, with Democratic incumbent Feinstien opposing Campbell’s proposal — similar to that of Texas Gov. George Bush —to invest some Social Security funds in the stock market. 

The disagreements began with an exchange on drug policy. 

Campbell said the federal government’s plan to give $1.3 billion to Colombia for an anti-drug program was the first step toward a “third world jungle war.” 

“Don’t spend this money on Colombia, spend it on rehabilitation,” he said. 

Feinstein said though current anti-drug efforts have not succeeded, she opposed offering drugs to addicts. 

“It’s folly to legalize narcotics,” she said. 

Campbell also said Feinstein supported a national ID citizenship card as a citizenship test — which she denied — and restricted levels of legal immigration. 

As the two met in the studio, their scant, newly released television ads peppered the air waves — the first TV spots in the no-frills campaign. 

Feinstein’s 30-second spot focuses on education, health care and crime, while Campbell’s ad centers on his drug treatment proposal. Campbell says giving addicts drugs in controlled settings with local authorities’ approval would help treatment and limit crime. Feinstein has ridiculed the idea. 

By election day, Feinstein is likely to spend roughly $5 million on her general election and Campbell little more than half that — cheap in a state known for costly campaigns. 

Campbell, 48, a Harvard-trained Stanford University law school professor with a decade in the House, has raised issues he says distinguish him from Feinstein. 

Those include replacing the personal income tax with a national sales tax. He also notes that he refuses to accept contributions from special-interest political action committees. 

Feinstein, 67, opposes Campbell’s position on taxes and drug rehabilitation, and accepts PAC funds. 

Both favor gun control and abortion rights, two hot-button issues in California. 

Any differences on issues have been overshadowed by Campbell’s claim that Feinstein has conflicts of interest arising from her husband’s financial dealings and that she failed to fully disclose them. 

Campbell raised the issue in their first debate Tuesday in Santa Monica. He hammered it again at a San Francisco news conference Friday afternoon. 

Feinstein’s husband, international investment banker Richard C. Blum, has an array of financial interests, including some in China affected by Feinstein’s Senate votes, Campbell said. 

Feinstein denies Campbell’s assertions. She said she has supplied complete disclosure information. 

A Los Angeles Times poll released Friday showed Feinstein with a 25-point lead over Campbell among likely voters. The survey’s margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.

SACRAMENTO – Californians continue to drift away from the two major political parties, with 14 percent of voters now registered as independents, figures released Friday show. 

That compares to 11 percent four years ago. In all, 15.7 million Californians are registered to vote Nov. 7, a record high, according to the report by Secretary of State Bill Jones. 

The figure is only 45,184 voters higher than it was for the 1996 presidential election, but Jones declared it a victory. 

County elections officials wiped more than 1.5 million names of voters who had died, moved away or were otherwise ineligible to vote from the rolls in the last four years, he said. 

The increase in independents comes directly at the expense of the Republican and Democratic parties, which both saw their slice of the electorate shrink slightly. 

Democrats still hold a sizable registration advantage over Republicans, 45-35 percent, roughly the same spread as in 1996. 

And they registered 449,920 new voters since the March 7 primary, compared to 344,516 for the GOP and 223,648 for decline-to-states. 

The Green Party has 0.88 percent of the California electorate, up slightly from 1996, and the Reform Party 0.5 percent, down a bit. 

“It’s just incredible, that despite all the efforts of the major parties, the voter group that is expanding at the fastest rate in California continues to be people who choose neither major party,” said pollster Mark Baldassare. 

“It’s one of the two most powerful political trends in the state, the other being the growth of the Latino vote,” he said. 

Bob Mulholland, a spokesman for the California Democratic Party, said the defection from the parties mirrored a general decline in loyalty. 

“It’s the baby boomers, plus the X Generation, have little loyalty to institutions — they change car dealerships, spouses, jobs,” he said. “Parties are one of last bases they’re hanging in with.” 

“California is an independent state,” said Stuart DeVeaux, a spokesman for the state GOP. “And when young people are registering to vote, they’re registering independent, and saying, ’Work for my vote, work for my participation.”’

Eatery closed after one diner dies, dozens of others sick 

REDWOOD CITY – One woman died and dozens of other diners were sickened after eating at a restaurant, and officials shut Viva Mexico down after finding a number of health code violations at the restaurant. 

Constance Williams-Pennel, 53, of Sunnyvale, ate lunch at Viva Mexico last Friday. She died Monday, and at least 30 other people reported they became sick — with several requiring hospitalization — after eating at the same restaurant, county officials said Thursday. 

The Environmental Health Services Division of the San Mateo County Health Services Agency shut the restaurant down this week, less than half an hour after beginning an inspection into the establishment. 

Preliminary laboratory reports say Williams-Pennel apparently died from shigella poisoning, or shigellosis, an infectious disease caused by bacteria.  

Final autopsy results won’t be released until toxicology tests are completed later this week. 

Dean Peterson, director of the health services division, said they were alerted by a person who became seriuosly ill after eating at Viva Mexico on Friday. 

“They stay closed until we are completely confident they have the ability to provide a safe product to the public,” Peterson said. 

Inspectors said they found serious violations, including open containers of food left in a walk-in cooler; plastic tubs used to cool potentially hazardous chicken products, beef and beans; cooking and reheating temperatures not regularly checked by cooks; an inaccurate thermometer used to check the temperature of food; shrimp thawing in standing, rather than running, water; and cutting boards and food preparation surfaces not cleaned between uses. All are violations of the California Health Code. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said people infected with the bacteria develop bloody diarrhea, high fever and stomach cramps beginning a day or two after they are exposed. The disease usually subsides in about a week. 

About 18,000 cases of shigellosis are reported in the United States each year. 

S.F. supervisor promises zoning to help protect non-profits 

SAN FRANCISCO – Supervisor Michael Yaki said he will introduce interim zoning protections in the mid-Market area of the city in an effort to buy time for more than two dozen threatened nonprofit organizations. 

The legislation would limit the number of new uses in the area, a move that would forbid existing nonprofit space from being rented to commercial businesses. The measure would not prohibit evictions, but would force property owners to bring in another tenant with the same or similar use. 

The protections would last 12 months and give San Francisco time to apply long-term solutions, said Yaki, who called his plan a drastic but necessary step to stop a wave of displacements sweeping the neighborhood. 

“This tsunami isn’t going to take out an individual group, it’s going to wash out a whole village,” Yaki said. “It’s like building a temporary dam. Right now, the river is washing away nonprofits one by one and now it’s about to hit a whole group of them. This gives us time to work and figure out what to do.” 

There are about 30 or more organizations in the area that have been kicked out, face eviction or have been hit with up to 400 percent rent increases.  

Feds commit $8 million for S.F. salt ponds 

WASHINGTON – The federal government has committed $8 million for the purchase of nearly 20,000 acres of San Francisco Bay salt ponds, which have been used for salt production since the Gold Rush era. 

The salt ponds, now eyed as a wildlife sanctuary, are located mainly in Alameda, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. 

The money will be added to the $25 million that Gov. Gray Davis pledged last month toward the downpayment on the land owned by Cargill Salt Co. and estimated to be worth $300 million. 

Environmentalists worry that buying the ponds will speed San Francisco International Airport’s proposal to build new runways.  

Paying to restore the ponds to their natural condition is considered a way for the airport to mitigate environmental damage from the expansion. 

When Harvey Smith went away on vacation, he had no idea that when he came back to his quiet north Berkeley neighborhood, he would find that a modest cottage a half block from his house had disappeared. 

“I thought it was going to be remodeled,” said Smith, who had understood that the tiny house was getting an addition. “I was gone for three days and when I came back the house was gone. I was shocked.” 

Residents of the quiet tree-lined street said they are outraged a miniature 1,020 square foot cottage at 1728 Delaware St. could be razed when the owner Patrick Mebine led them to believe it was only going to be remodeled. They said the cottage was consistent with the neighborhood and the new home, three times the size of the original, is not. 

“He was slick,” said Richard Robyn who lives across the street from the site. “Initially he said he was going to remodel and even showed us plans and then the next thing we know he tore down the entire home.” 

Patrick Mebine did not return calls from the Daily Planet. 

The residents are echoing complaints of other Berkeley neighborhoods as small homes are being torn down and replaced with larger ones. Anthony Bruce, president of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, said his organization has heard of at least five homes in the last six months that have either been demolished or have a pending demolition application. 

Bruce said the situation is new to Berkeley, but has been a problem in other cities. The problem became so bad in San Jose in recent years the city enacted a Monster Home Ordinance last year, which limits the size of new homes and expansive remodels.  

“I’m surprised this sort of thing has taken so long to reach Berkeley,” Bruce said.  

Mark Rhodes of Berkeley’s Planning and Development Department said the process is a very public one and that the neighbors of the project attended a public hearing on the project. The Berkeley Building Code requires developers to post notices of public hearings as well as mailing notices to all residents within 300 feet of building sites. 

Rhodes said even though developers go through legal channels and neighbors are offered the chance to participate they can still be shocked once a home is demolished or remodel doesn’t meet their expectations. 

“This is happening all over the city,” Rhodes said. “There’s a lot of money and people want to remodel and build homes and others feel like the city is changing around them.” 

Carrie Olson, a Landmarks Preservation commissioner, said that even though the process is public, it is very complicated and unless concerned neighbors are familiar with building code terminology project plans can be confusing. 

In the case of 1728 Delaware St., the Zoning Adjustments Board was apparently confused by the presentation of the project at their Aug. 8 meeting. “This is a very, very strange decision,” said Gene Poschman, a ZAB commissioner. “We thought we were talking about an addition. At no time during the review did we discuss a complete demolition.” 

Rhodes said the Planning Department determined the demolition of the more-than 80-year-old home on Delaware Street and the construction of the larger home would not be detrimental to adjacent properties. He said the term “detrimenta” is interpreted in the code as blocking sunlight and views. 

“Just because people are upset about it doesn’t mean it’s going to be detrimental to the neighborhood,” he said. 

Olson said the demolition trend is a serious one and that Berkeley should institute a design review process for residential structures. Currently Berkeley only reviews the design of commercial buildings. 

Friday, Oct. 27

“Transportation: What’s in Store?” 

11:45 a.m. 

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

Larry Dahms, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Council speaks at 12:30 p.m. Luncheon is served at 11:45 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. Luncheon: $11 

More info and reservations:  

848-3533 

“Right Ways to Get Out of a Lease” 

2000 Tenants’ rights week 

hourly 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

ASUC/Rent Board booth at Sather Gate on the Berkeley campus. 

644-7714 

Haunted House 

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

1818 5th St. 

Free 

Donations benefiting youth activities in Berkeley appreciated. 

644-3305  

Conversational Yiddish 

1 p.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst 

644-6107  

Halloween Haunt at  

the Downtown YMCA 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Downtown Berkeley YMCA 

2001 Allston Way 

A haunted house, ghosts, Halloween crafts, a family swim in the “bat cave,” and face painting among other happenings. Free and open to the public. The Y is asking for a $1 donation to benefit the YMCA’s Youth and Government Program. 

Call 665-3238 

Women in Black 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Bancroft at Telegraph 

Women for peace in  

the Middle East 

Saturday, Oct. 28

Shakespeare Festival’s annual costume and garage sale  

9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Featuring one-of-a-kind costumes, props, and set pieces from previous productions. Free. 701 Heinz Ave., Berkeley. (510) 548-3422 ext. 120. 

Buddhist Peace Fellowship 

A Day of Mindfulness with Claude Anshin Thomas 

A day of meditation, dialogue, teachings and reflection on transforming violence in ourselves an in the world. 

9 a.m. – 5 p.m. 

We the People Auditorium, 200 Harrison St. 

Donations excepted 

496-6072 

Community Workshop to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Berkeley High School  

9 a.m. – noon 

Florence Schwimley Little Theater at Berkeley High School 

Students, parents, teachers, business owners, neighbors, and others are invited to a discussion on that will help set the course for future school improvements and provide the basis for accreditation review. 

Iris Starr, AICP, 540-1252 

tinstarr@earthlink.net 

“Grassroots Globalization  

vs. Elite Globalization” 

2 p.m. 

Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library 

6501 Telegraph Ave. 

595-7417 

“Halloween Mask Making” 

Tilden Regional Park 

2 p.m. 

Come learn the origins of Halloween and make a plaster-gauze mask. Registration required. $4. Take Canon Drive off Grizzly Peak Boulevard, Berkeley. (510) 525-2233. 

Pedaling the Green City 

11 a.m. -3:30 p.m.  

Take a leisurely bike ride along the future San Francisco Bay Trail. One in a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations  

Wild About Books? 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

Halloween for the little guys with (not so) scary stories, music, and more.  

Call 649-3943  

Haunted House 

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

1818 5th St. 

Free 

Donations benefiting youth activities in Berkeley appreciated. 

644-3305 

St. John’s Church and Camp Elmwood Haunted House  

6:30 to 8:30 p.m.  

Party for teens from 8:45 to 10 p.m.  

Free. Wear a costume and bring a canned good, book or toy donation.  

845-2656 

“The 3rd annual Habitot  

Halloween” 

Habitot Children’s Museum  

10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

A not-too-spooky Halloween event for young children with entertainment, parades, games, magic and songs. Come in  

costume. Registration strongly suggested. $4 general; $6 for the first child age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 

647-1111 

“Not Very Scary Halloween  

Celebration” 

10:30 a.m. at La Pena  

Betsy Rose performs songs and activities to celebrate the harvest season and the ancestral spirits. Children are invited to come in costume. $4 general; $3 children. 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2572. 

New School’s Halloween Bazaar 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m.  

1606 Bonita St. (at Cedar) 

Free to the public, this annual event features face painting, mask-making, children’s games, apple bobbing, pumpkins, live entertainment, and a vast array of other delights. Proceeds benefit the New School’s scholarship fund and the playground project. Free.  

Call 548-9165 

Run Your Own Landscape  

Business: Part 3 

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave. (at Blake) 

Local horticultural consultant and UC Master Gardener Jessie West will teach you how to plant, prune, control weeds, and more. This is the final class in the series. 

$15 general; $10 for members; $5 materials fee 

Call 548-2220 x223 

West Coast Live Comes  

to Berkeley 

10 a.m. - Noon 

Freight & Salvage 

1111 Addison (at San Pablo) 

Broadcast around the world this live, on-stage radio show will feature The Austin Lounge Lizards, author Anne Lamott, and others. The show can be heard on KALW at 91.7 FM.  

Reservations: 415-664-9500 or www.TicketWeb.com 

Battle of the Drills 

2 p.m. 

Veterans Hall  

1931 Center St. 

Presented by the Flaming Five this fifth annual battle will feature drums squads, fancy trick, precision, and dance. 

$5 

Denice Cox, 841-1126 

Sunday, Oct. 29

“Almost Halloween Hike”  

Tilden Regional Park 

10 a.m.  

Explore the nature of Halloween folklore on the trails.  

“Wake the Dead: A Music Concert”  

Celebrate the Celtic “Day of the Dead” (Halloween) with folksong artists Paul Kotapish and Danny Carnahan.  

2 to 4 p.m.  

(510) 525-2233 

“Gateway to Knowledge” 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Pl. 

Barr Rosenberg describes how to master new knowledge and take the power to shape our lives in wise and compassionate ways.  

843-6812 

An Evening with The Professor 

5 - 9:30 p.m. 

Mambo Mambo 

1803 Webster St.  

Oakland 

Berkeley resident Geoffrey A. Hirsch, better known as the Tie Guy from the “How Berkeley Can You Be” parade got his start in comedy in 1996. A professor in real life, Hirsch tell the story of how he became a funny guy.  

$5 for show only, $10 for show and dinner 

Call Geoffrey Hirsch at 845-5631 to reserve tickets 

“Liberty Heights” 

2 - 4:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Directed by Barry Levinson, this film introduces the Kurtzmans, middle class Jews living in Baltimore in the 50s’. A discussion of the film will follow.  

$2 suggested donation 

Call 848-0237 

“The Key of Happiness” 

3 p.m. 

St. John’s Church  

2727 College Ave.  

Carlos Lozano, former Columbian Ambassador to India and Egypt, will speak on meditation. Free. 

Call 707-529-9584 

“Lezziepalooza!” 

8 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave. 

A night of music, presented by Orchestra D’Soul, and comedy, featuring the members of the “I Love Lezzie” troupe. Part of the La Lesbian performance and film series. $12 advance, $14 door 

Call 654-6346 

Rhyme & Reason Open Mike  

2:00 p.m.  

UC Berkeley Art Museum 

2621 Durant 

Featured poets Fernando Brito and Lara Dale followed by open mic. Each open mic. performer is limited to five minutes. 

Call Joan Gatten, 642-5168  

Monday, Oct. 30

“BYOP: Pumpkin Carving By Porch and Hearth,” 

Tilden Regional Park 

4 to 7 p.m. “Bring your own pepo” 

Take Canon Drive off Grizzly Peak Boulevard,  

Berkeley. (510) 525-2233 

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

Tuesday, Oct. 31

Sing-A-Long 

11 a.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

644-6107 

Haunted House 

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

1818 5th St. 

Free 

Donations benefiting youth activities in Berkeley appreciated. 

644-3305 

Wednesday, Nov. 1

Kathak Dancing with Pandit Chitresh Das 

7:30 p.m. 

Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 

2640 College Ave.  

The Graduate Theological Union presents a free lecture-demonstration with Pandit Chitresh Das, a master of India’s Kathak dance form. This event is free. 

Call 649-2440 for additional info 

Mountain Adventure Seminar 

In-store, registration required 

6 p.m.-9 p.m. 

Learn about equip,emt. fundamental climbing techiques and safety procedures. 

$100 REI members, $110 for non members 

To register (209) 753-6556 

Task Force on Telecommunications 

7 p.m. 

North Berkely Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Fire Safety Commission 

7:30 p.m.  

Fire Training Division 

997 Cedar St.  

Discussion will include undergrounding of utilities in Berkeley and a proposal to the City Council for additional support for the Fire Department.  

Citizen’s Budget Review Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Board of Education 

7:30 p.m. 

Old City Hall 

Council Chambers, 2nd Floor 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

Thursday, Nov. 2

PASTForward Panel Discussion 

2 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum 

Bancroft Way (below College) 

In conjunction with the White Oak Dance Project’s performances, a panel discussion with Judson era dance choreographers Yvonne Rainer and Deborah Hay. Free. 

From Morgan to Modern 

“Saddling the Site: The Environmental Designs of Wurster, Church and Others” 

7:30 p.m. 

The Hillside Club 

2286 Cedar St. 

$10. 841-2242 

Berkeley Metaphysic Toastmasters Club 

6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysic come together at Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters. Meets first and third Thursdays each month. 

Call 869-2547 or 643-7645 

Spirit of the Road 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Ave. (at Rose) 

Don Patton, general editor and Vice President of Publishing for the California State Automobile Association presents a slide show celebrating the first one hundred years of the automobile and the CSA. Free. 

Call 843-3533 for more info.  

BOSS Graduation 

6 - 8 p.m. 

First Congregational Church of Oakland 

27th & Harrison 

Oakland 

Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency’s graduation gala for poor, disabled, and homeless folks who have worked hard to achieve jobs, housing, education, training, and other milestones. There will be special guests, music, and a buffet. The community are invited. 

Call 649-1930 

Friday, Nov. 3

Taize Worship Service 

7:30-8:30 p.m. 

An hour of quiet reflection and song. First Friday of the month. 

Loper Chapel on Dana Street between Durant and Channing Way. 

848-3696 

“Want to Transform your Dreams Into Reality?” 

Lecture by Leonard Orr, world known for creating the Rebirthing and Conscious Breathwork Movement. 

7:30 p.m., 

The Berkeley Friends Church, 1600 Sacramento St. 

$25, 843-6514 

Circle Dancing 

7:45 - 10 p.m. 

Finnish Brotherhoos Hall 

1970 Chestnut St. 

Simple folkdancing in a circle. Beginners welcome and no partners are required.  

Call John Bear, 528-4253 

Marga Gomez 

8 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave. 

Comedian Marga Gomez was one of the founding members of Culture Clash and the Latino comedy ensemble. Part of the La Lesbian performance and film series. 

Call 654-6346 

Women in Black 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Bancroft at Telegraph 

Women for peace in the Middle East  

Saturday, Nov. 4

Breathtaking Barnabe Peak 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

Hike through Samuel P. Taylor State Park’s lush forests and climb to the heights of Barnabe Peak, overlooking Point Reyes. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Wild About Books? 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

Dublin Library’s resident storyteller and featured teller at the 1998 National Storytelling Festival tell kids aged 3 to 7 her favorite tales.  

Call 649-3943  

New Science & Ancient Wisdom Conference 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

International Center 

2222 Harold Way 

Featured speakers include Father Charlie Moore speaking on “The Cosmic Origins of Man,” Dolores Cannon speaking on “Visions of Nostradamus,” and David Hatcher Childress speaking on “Technology of the Gods.” Event runs through Sunday.  

Pre-registration admission, $65; after Oct. 27, $85 

Call Charles Gotsky, 650-343-5202 

The Next Ivory Trade? The Intellectual Property Rights of University Faculty 

A conference sponsored by the Berkeley Faculty Association/American Association of University Professors Coalition 

9 a.m. tp 3:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley International House 

841-1997 

Collecting Chinese Decorative Art 

10 a.m. - Noon 

Oakland Museum  

1000 Oak St.  

Dessa Goddard, director of the Asian Department at Butterfields, and a panel discuss. Followed by a collectors’ tea. Included in admission price to museum.  

Call for reservations, 238-2022 

“Broadway to La Scala” 

7 p.m. 

First Congregational Church of Oakland 

2501 Harrison St. (at 27th St.) 

A benefit concert for the Oakland Lyric Opera featuring a selection of Broadway musicals and arias from operas, including “Madame Butterfly.”  

$25 

Call 836-6772 

Sunday, Nov. 5

Buddhist Psychology 

6 p.m.  

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Pl.  

Buddhist teacher Sylvia Gretchen on “Beyond Therapy and Into the Heart of Buddhist Psychology.” Free. 

Call 843-6812  

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour 

Downtown Berkeley  

Tour new construction, new uses, historic rehabilitation and public improvments that are completed or still in the works.  

Noon 

RSVP required 841-0181 space is limited. 

Tickets: $5 for members, $10 for nonmembers. 

A Dispirited Rebellion 

10 a.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Author, television personality and columnist Gadi Taub will explore the literary and cinematic changes in Israeli society since the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin. A brunch will be served at 10 a.m.  

Admission: $7 non-JCC members; $5 members 

Call 848-9237 

Soprano Stephanie Pan Sings 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center 

1275 Walnut St. 

Soprano Stephanie Pan is joined by Meg Cotner on harpsichord, Salley Blaker on cello, and Alex Jenne on lute. They will perform the music of Barbra Strozzi, Jacopo Peri, Giovanni Felice Sances and others.  

$10 general; $9 students and seniors; under 12 Free 

Call 644-6893 

“Bigger Things” 

7 p.m.  

La Pena Cultural Center  

3105 Shattuck Ave.  

Judith-Kate Friedman celebrates the release of her new CD.  

$12 general; $20 reserved seating 

Info and tickets: 654-7464 or 849-2568 

Monday, Nov. 6

Airports vs. the Bay 

7 p.m. 

Albany Community Center 

1249 Marin St.  

Albany 

David Lewis, Executive Director of “Save the Bay” will speak on the airports’ plans to expand into the SF Bay and other challenges to Bay restoration.  

Contact: Friends of Five Creeks, 848-9358 

Tuesday, Nov. 7

Zonta Club dinner 

5:30 p.m. 

Berkeley City Club 

$20 per person 

Dr. Sylvia Earle, a marine bioligist, author and Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, will be the featured speaker. 

For more information call 845-6221 

Thursday, Nov. 9

The Life and Art of Chiura Obata 

7:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Public Library 

1170 Alameda (at Hopkins) 

A slide show and lecture presented by Obata’s granddaughter, Kimi Kodani Hill, celebrating Obata’s book, “Topaz Moon: Chiura Obata’s Art of the Internment,” and the retrospective exhibit of Obata’s work to appear this Fall at SFs De Young Museum. 

For details call 644-6850  

From Morgan to Modern 

“Bay Area Modern” 

7:30 p.m. 

The Hillside Club 

2286 Cedar St. 

$10. 841-2242 

ESL Teacher Job Fair 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Adult School 

1222 University Ave., Room 7  

ESL program representatives from adult schools in Alameda and Contra Costa counties will provide information about desired qualifications, current job openings, credentialing requirements, and more.  

Call Kay Wade, 644-6130 

“Feeding the Moon: A Nutritive Approach to Feminine Fertility” 

Lern how fertility is affected by the environment and how it can be enhanced by healthy lifestyle choices 

7:30 to 9 p.m. 

The Ecology Center 

2530 San Pable Ave.  

558-1324, free 

“Diabetes: What to Know Head-to-Toe” 

Health Education Center, 400 Hawthorne Ave. 

12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Free 

869-6737 

Love and Betrayal: A Musical Journey 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Mezzo Soprano Sylvia Braitman discusses the role Gustav Mahler, Kurt Weill, Arnold Schoenberg, and Hanns Eisler played in the development of modernity in German, Austrian and Western music.  

Tuition: $8 for general; $5 JJC members (class code A101-BJ) 

Call 848-0237 for more info.  

Friday, Nov. 10 

Dragon and Phoenix Banquet Cooking Contest 

7 p.m. 

Oakland Museum  

1000 Oak St.  

Students from Bay Area cooking academies present original dishes based on the “Dragon and Phoenix” theme to a panel of celebrity judges. Fee and price of admission to museum. 

Reservations: 238-2022  

Women in Black 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Bancroft at Telegraph 

Women for peace in the Middle East  

Saturday, Nov. 11

Moonlight on Mt. Diablo 

1 - 10:30 p.m.  

Hike up the Devil’s Mountain by daylight, catch a glorious sunset and hike back by the light of the moon. One in a series of free outing organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Sunday, Nov. 12

Views, Vines and Veggies 

9:15 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.  

Climb Bald Mountain in Sugarloaf State Park and peer down upon the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. Then please your palate at the Landmark Winery and visit Oak Hill organic vegetable and flower farm. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

“Time Across Cultures” 

2 - 4 p.m. 

St. Clements Church 

2837 Claremont Ave.  

The annual Roselyn Yellin Memorial lecture with a slide-illustrated panel discussion. Also a tour of the “Telling Time” exhibit at the Judah L. Magnes Museum followed by a reception at the museum, 4 - 5 p.m.  

More info: 549-6950 

Buddhism & Compassion 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Psychiatrist and teacher Bobby Jones on “Healing through Compassion.” Free.  

843-6812 

“Road To Mecca” Auditions 

2 p.m.  

Live Oak Theatre 

1301 Shattuck (at Berryman) 

The Actors Ensemble of Berkeley is auditioning roles for two females, 60-70 and 25-35, and one male, 60-70. Auditioners should prepare a monologue no longer than two minutes. No appointments. 

Call Debra Blondheim, 667-9827 

Monday, Nov. 13

An Evening with Barbara Kingsolver 

7:30 p.m. 

King Middle School 

1781 Rose St. 

Barbara Kingsolver’s works include “Animal Dreams,” “High Tide in Tucson,” “The Poisonwood Bible” and “Prodigal Summer” 

free parking $10 in advance, $13 at the door 

Benefits KPFA and Urban Ecology. 

848-6767 

From Rossi to Bernstein 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Bay Area musician Mark Levy discusses the works of Jewish classical composers beginning with the sixteenth century. The first in a series of three Monday evening classes on music.  

Tuition for all three classes: $30 general public; $20 JJC members, seniors and students  

Individual classes: $10 general; $8 JJC members, seniors and students 

Call 848-0237 

Berkeley Preschool Fair 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Epworth United Methodist Church 

1953 Hopkins St.  

Sponsored by the Neighborhood Parents Network, this fair features representatives from local preschools. The topic will be how to evaluate preschool education philosophies and make the most of the admissions process. A fair featuring many local preschools will follow panel discussion. 

$5 non-members; Free to NPN members 

Call 527-6667 or visit www.parentsnet.org 

Tuesday, Nov. 14

Take a Trip to the Steinbeck Museum and 

Mission San Juan Bautista 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

This is an outing organzied by the Senior Center.  

$40 with lunch, $25 without  

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107 

“The Hand of Buddha” 

7:30 p.m.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck (at Rose) 

In her new book poet, columnist and travel writer Linda Watanabe McFerrin explores the lives of women from different ethnic backgrounds and in moments of crisis. Free 

Call 843-3533 

Thursday, Nov. 16

Reminiscing in Swingtime 

7:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Library  

1170 Alameda (at Hopkins) 

George Yoshida, author and jazz drummer, presents a multi-media program recounting the big band experience in the Japanese American internment camps. The presentation will be capped with a set of live jazz by the George Yoshida Quartet. 

Call for more info: 644-6850 

Berkeley Metaphysic Toastmasters Club 

6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysic come together at Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters. Meets first and third Thursdays each month. 

Call 869-2547 or 643-7645 

Free blood pressure screenings 

Health Education Center, 400 Hawthorne Ave. 

free 

869-6737 

Friday, Nov. 17

Community Dance Party 

7:45 - 9:45 p.m. 

Live Oak Park 

1301 Shattuck (at Berryman) 

Come learn to dance with easy instructions presented by the Berkeley Folk Dancers.  

Teens $2; Adult Non-members $4 

Information: 525-3030  

Women in Black 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Bancroft at Telegraph 

Women for peace in the Middle East  

Saturday, Nov. 18

S.F. Stairs and Peaks 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m.  

Begin the day with a visit to the farmer’s market, then meander up the stairways and streets of Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower. Then up Russian Hill, descending to Fisherman’s Wharf for a ride back on the new historic streetcar line. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 

Berkeley Free Folk Festival 

11 a.m. - 1 a.m.  

Ashkenaz  

1317 San Pablo Ave. 

Fourteen hours of free concerts, workshops, jam sessions and to top it off a Saturday night dance. The fifth annual Folk Festival will feature Shay & Michael Black, Spectre Double Negative & the Equal Positive, Larry Hanks, Wake the Dead and many others. Sponsored by Charles Schwab and the City of Berkeley.  

More info or to volunteer: 525-5099 

Berkeley Video & Film Festival 

2 - 11 p.m. 

2451 Shattuck Ave. 

Screenings of 35 documentaries, features, short features, animation, comedy, commercials, educaitonal and art video and film works. Featuring a number of local filmakers.  

$8  

Call 843-3699 

ONGOING EVENTS

Sundays 

Green Party Consensus Building Meeting 

6 p.m. 

2022 Blake St. 

This is part of an ongoing series of discussions for the Green Party of Alameda County, leading up to endorsements on measures and candidates on the November ballot. This week’s focus will be the countywide new Measure B transportation sales tax. The meeting is open to all, regardless of party affiliation. 

415-789-8418 

Mondays 

Baby Bounce and Toddler Time 

10:30 a.m. 

Oct. 16 - Dec. 11 

Berkeley Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

For children ages 6 to 36 months. Get those babies off to a good start with songs, rhymes, lap bounces, and very simple books. 

649-3943  

Tuesdays 

Easy Tilden Trails 

9:30 a.m. 

Tilden Regional Park, in the parking lot that dead ends at the Little Farm 

Join a few seniors, the Tuesday Tilden Walkers, for a stroll around Jewel Lake and the Little Farm Area. Enjoy the beauty of the wildflowers, turtles, and warblers, and waterfowl. 

215-7672; members.home.com/teachme99/tilden/index.html 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2-7 p.m. 

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

548-3333 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share your slides and prints with other photographers. Critiques by qualified judges. Monthly field trips. 

531-8664 

Computer literacy course 

6-8 p.m. 

James Kenney Recreation Center, 1720 Eighth St. 

This free course will cover topics such as running Windows, File Management, connecting to and surfing the web, using Email, creating Web pages, JavaScript and a simple overview of programming. The course is oriented for adults. 

644-8511 

Wednesdays  

10:30 a.m. 

Preschool Song and Story Time 

Berkeley Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

Music and stories for ages 3-5.  

649-3943 

Thursdays 

The Disability Mural 

4-7 p.m. through September 

Integrated Arts 

933 Parker 

Drop-in Mural Studios will be held for community gatherings and tile-making sessions. This mural will be installed at Ed Roberts campus. 

841-1466 

Fridays 

Ralph Nader for President 

7 p.m.  

Video showings to continue until November. Campaign donations are requested. Admission is free.  

Contact Jack for directions at 524-1784. 

Saturdays 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m.-3 p.m. 

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

548-3333 

Poets Juan Sequeira and Wanna Thibideux Wright 

2nd and 4th Sunday 

Rhyme and Reason Open Mike Series 

2:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum, 2621 Durant Ave. 

The public and students are invited. Sign-ups for the open mike begin at 2 p.m. 

234-0727;642-5168 

Tuesday and Thursday 

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109 

Compiled by Chason Wainwright 

The Berkeley High girls’ volleyball team gave up just four points in three games against the Pinole Valley Spartans. They haven’t lost a match in league play. So they must be playing very well, right? Wrong, according to their coach. 

“We’ve pretty much underachieved this season,” Justin Caraway said after the dominating victory by his Yellowjackets team. 

Considering a season in which the ’Jackets are undefeated in ACCAL league play would be considered harsh for most teams. But Caraway has come to expect easy victories in the new league, and he isn’t happy with just winning the league. He scheduled four tournaments for this year, and with three gone, Berkeley has yet to win one. 

Caraway’s team spent last weekend at the Moreau Tournament, where they lost two matches and finished tied for seventh. They will travel to the Acalanes Tournament this weekend, and the coach expects better results. 

“We haven’t come prepared to play in the tournaments,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s because we haven’t had tough games in league play, but we need to get better.” 

One problem has been the absence of star player Desiree Young, who has been unavailable for several weeks due to injury. Caraway said he expects Young to return this weekend. 

“It takes a huge part of our game away,” Caraway said of missing his 6-5 hitter. “She’s about one-third of our offense, and she blocks five or six balls every game. Her presence on the court alone gets us two or three points a game.” 

In addition to the upcoming tournament, Caraway pointed to upcoming ACCAL matches against Encinal and Alameda as good tests for his team. 

“Alameda took a game from us earlier this year, so those matches should be a bit tougher,” he said. 

Thursday’s match against Pinole Valley was never really competitive. The Spartans managed just two side-outs as the Yellowjackets jumped out to a 14-0 lead before giving up their first point. The game ended 15-1 on the strength of four kills by outside hitter Lizzi Akana and two by middle hitter/setter Caitlin Everett, and it was evident the visiting Spartans, who haven’t won a match all year, were in for a long afternoon. 

“We bring three solid hitters into every match, and most teams aren’t ready for that,” Caraway said. 

Akana showed her versatility in the second game, as she tallied two kills, one block and six service points. The Yellowjackets made several errors in the match, seeming to lose intensity. But despite going into a 2-0 hole to begin the game, Berkeley wouldn’t give up another point before scoring 24 straight, spanning the rest of the second game and giving them a 9-0 lead in the third. The final game of the match was highlighted by nine service aces by the Yellowjackets, including four by freshman Nadia Qabazard and two each by Ilana Barr and Akana. 

“We knew we would win the match, but we didn’t think it would be that easy,” Caraway said. 

Akana finished the match with seven kills and one block, while Everett chipped in with three kills and nine assists in her hybrid role. With Young out, Everett has been playing as a hitter, away from her natural position of setter. Caraway praised Everett for her versatility. 

“She gives us a good match from two different positions, which is always useful,” he said. 

Still, with Northern California Sectional playoffs looming on the horizon, Caraway knows his team will have to bring its best game every time. 

“The playoffs are going to be really tough,” he said. “You can’t win in NCS without playing your best.”

Elect knowledgeable bus rider to AC board 

Editor: 

As the outgoing representative on the AC Transit Board for Berkeley, Albany, and West Contra Costa County, I have carefully examined the qualifications and records of the candidates running for my seat on the Board. The choice is clear. I urge you to vote for Joe Wallace. 

Joe has a long record as a champion of the best interests of the public and of AC Transit.  

• Joe rides the bus every day. He knows the special needs of women, families, commuters, seniors, kids, and disabled persons for safe, reliable public transit.  

• He has been a strong voice at regional agencies for adequate funding for bus services.  

• Joe played a leading role in bringing the No. 376 bus to North Richmond to serve the needs of people in that impoverished community for night service to employment sites and medical facilities. 

• He is an effective leader. He is a member of the steering committee for Urban Habitat programs, chair of the AC Transit Riders’ Advisory Committee, a member of the board of the North Richmond Neighborhood House, and chair of the North Richmond Municipal Advisory Committee.  

Joe’s endorsers include a member of Congress, State legislators, local elected officials, community leaders, and many ordinary citizens, as well as the Sierra Club, the Berkeley Democratic Club, and Berkeley Citizens’ Action. 

Joe’s skills, experience, and integrity will make him an outstanding AC Transit Director. He will be a strong, responsive and effective representative for all of us. Please vote for him on November 7th. 

Mim Hawley 

AC Transit Board Member, Ward I  

AC should trade in polluting monsters 

Editor: 

“Bus” -- a huge, noisy, polluting vehicle that runs in a static state with disregard to neighborhoods, traffic lights, environment, bicycles, pedestrians and passengers. After commute hours, buses can be see on Telegraph, Shattuck and College Ave., at times, two and three bumper to bumper with the front bus transporting all the passengers and the other two empty. In the late evening hours on College Ave., it is not uncommon to see these monstrosities running pass midnight with one or two passengers. Not only does this produce unnecessary traffic, noise, pollution and consumption of petroleum products, but it serves as a stage for the ineffective and uncreative AC Transit management. It is disturbing that AC Transit does not employ an analyst to research and report recommendations. Can it be so difficult to replace these inefficient monstrosities with small economical vans to serve the one or two passengers after commute hours? This would provide more street for bicycles to pass, less pollution, less noise, conservation of petroleum products and it will cut costs for AC Transit not only for bus purchases, but for fuel and maintenance.  

Robert Radford 

Berkeley 

Police behavior was inappropriate 

Editor,  

I feel it is necessary for me to respond to the incident reported on the front page of last Thursday’s Daily Planet, in which my wife, Carrie Sprague, was publicly singled out at the Berkeley City Council meeting by the President of the Berkeley Police Association. 

Later, in the hallway outside the Council Chambers, Carrie was surrounded by 20-30 hostile and shouting police officers. Towering one and a half feet above her, Randy Files, President of the Police Association, threatened her with arrest and shouted that all the members of the Police Association personally hate her to the cheers of his cronies. 

It is ironic that some police officers blame Carrie and other neighbors for their difficulties in finding parking for their personal vehicles. During many, many planning meetings for the new Public Safety Building, Carrie repeatedly addressed the need for adequate Police Department employee parking.  

Unfortunately, neither the Police Department nor the Police Association ever sent representatives to these meetings to discuss employee parking. In addition, Carrie sent a letter to the Berkeley Police Association more than a year ago requesting that they meet with neighborhood representatives to discuss mutually beneficial solutions to parking problems. No response was ever received.  

I believe that the personal hostility toward Carrie has come about because she has worked for effective enforcement of the Residential Permit Parking ordinance. She continues to insist that police officers may not disrespect our law or our neighborhood. 

As for the effort by some Police Association members to bully Carrie, I can assure all those who are concerned for her safety that she was not in the least intimidated. Having lived with me for 20 years Carrie readily recognizes bluster without substance when it occurs.  

Stan Sprague 

Berkeley 

Police inappropriate 2 

Editor:  

The debate over controlled neighborhood parking took an abrupt turn last week when police officers affiliated with the Berkeley Police Association appeared at the City Council to lobby for parking access at the Civic Center (Daily Planet, Oct. 19) 

The action marks one of those rare moments when the BPA rank-and-file having publicly demonstrated. As city employees, police officers have every right to demonstrate. And there was nothing wrong with them chanting, “What do we want? Parking! When do we want it? Now!”  

However, when shouting officers, and in particular the president of the BPA, Officer Files, targeted local neighborhood activists at council, it raises questions about proper police conduct. To publicly single out particular residents as the source of their parking woes, was not only shortsighted, but unprofessional. 

Berkeley officers should realize that their parking ticket woes are to be blamed on their employer, the City of Berkeley, and not local residents. Further, most residents are in support of city employees having off-street parking at their work places. Certainly adequate parking is demanded of other large businesses in Berkeley.  

A decade ago, the city committed itself to reducing both its fleet size and the number of employee commuter cars when it signed onto the Clean Air Act. Throughout the nineties, Berkeley government unfortunately did nothing to address these two issues, preferring to exempt itself from any changes in this area of transportation.  

The concerns of Civic Center residents parallels the experience of the neighbors living around the Public Works Corporation Yard in District 2. These neighbors have fought a futile battle to reduce city employee on-street parking for over twenty years.  

In 1992, the city’s traffic engineer performed an employee parking study at the corporation year. The parking study, set against current numbers, shows a significant increase in employee on-street parking. Frustrated residents have even resorted to identifying and counting city employee cars, the very activity which so enraged the police officers in question. 

Perhaps the greatest deterrent to open dialogue in a neighborhood dispute is the phrase, “I can arrest you.” This statement was repeatedly shouted by Officer Files as he and other BPA members took their demonstration outside council chambers and directed their ire at a single citizen. He only stopped when their conduct was challenged by some of the public who had joined in the yelling match. It is doubtful that any of those young officers stopped to consider the chilling effect such threats and actions have on public discourse and participation. 

The officers in question would be quick to state that they were off duty. Yet, when the would-be arresting officer asserted, “I can arrest you,” is this officer then still off duty? Even if officers are technically off the clock, they should never display the kind of conduct witnessed both inside and outside council. 

Moreover, this is an inappropriate use of one’s position and should be subject to review. Two years ago, the noted criminal lawyer John Burris spoke in Berkeley about police conduct and civilian review. He stated that the greatest asset to any officer is not the gun, baton, or pepper spray, but the officer’s ability to listen as well as to communicate respectfully.  

L.A. Wood 

Berkeley 

City keep out  

Editor: 

I find it a little disheartening that the Berkeley City Council has once again stuck its nose where it does not belong and making things just a little bit harder for business owners to run their own businesses as they see fit. Their consideration of an ordinance to ban certain types of cigarette displays is just another sign of the utter insignificance this City Council has to real life problems.  

I understand the need for people to want their children not to smoke, and if the city is serious about wanting to stop children from acquiring cigarettes, it would be simpler to send undercover teens into these stores and see if cigarettes are available for sale to them. If it is, fine the business. Why create another silly ordinance to take away the rights of business owners? The argument that certain types of display makes it easier to steal cigarettes is even sillier. Most of the displays I see at convenience stores around Berkeley are located behind the cash register (including the one at the Fast Mart which is discussed in the article). It would take an effort to steal anything from it and if the teens are stealing it, who is the victim, the store or the teen? 

Leave the business owners to do what is right. If stealing becomes a problem, they will do something about it. 

The only thing more disappointing about this subject was the article itself. The article contains at least 4 intelligent arguments for the ordinance. The only counterpoint available was a “no comment” from convenience store manager located not more than 200 feet from your office. I know of at least 5 stores within that range and not one of them was quoted. Couldn’t you have found at least one owner to quote? I don’t think asking for a semblance of unbiased coverage is too much to ask of a quality newspaper such as yours. 

Jim Tamietti 

Berkeley 

(Editors note: our reporter John Guluardi called a number of business owners in an effort to find an opposing view, but found none. Thanks for stepping forward.) 

lion. A full analysis of the services the city provides the university’s extensive, expansive, dense land uses needs to be renewed and include new UC developments. A look at one city project, sewer rehabilitation, may serve to put the issue in perspective. 

According to an Aug. 14 Public Works Commission communication to the Planning Commission, deferred sewer maintenance is currently nearly $500 million, double the city’s total annual budget. As the largest single user of the city’s sewer system, UC is contributing $250,000 annually toward repairs as noted in Hegarty’s letter. At that rate, it will take 500 years for UC contributions to fund even twenty-five percent of current sewer repair needs.  

If the repairs were done today, as some argue is prudent, what would be the cost per person? If the city paid all the cost, each resident of Berkeley would pay $5,000. On the other hand, if the state were to pay the total bill, the cost for each resident of California would be about $20. 

This is only one example of the burdens which seem unreasonably heavy for one small city’s taxpayers. The city and UC both have an interest in good maintenance of the city’s basic services. The city cannot fund these services alone with its severely reduced tax base.  

It seems reasonable and fair to request that the state consider taking more responsibility for state institutions, particularly when these are located in dense urban areas where the state institution has displaced many revenue generating land uses and constitutes a comparatively large proportion of the land uses, and thus the demand for services. This does seem fair! 

Nancy Holland 

Berkeley 

841-0214 

Editor: 

I am writing in response to a recent later to the Editor and a news article, concerning proposed university development in the Southside neighborhood. 

The letter from John English, titled “UC must respect the historic district” states that the proposed Centralized Dining and Student Services Building should conform to its historic neighbors and that the university has ignored the concerns of the city committees and commissions and concerned citizens. From my own close involvement with the project I can say this is not true. 

Conformity and contextuality in architecture are highly subjective - and controversial matters. One building’s attempt to “blend in” with its neighbors may be seen by some as mimicry or a cartoon of older features and styles. Another building may express an individuality some may feel is intrusive to the surrounding character. 

In most cases where a new building is inserted in the midst of older, well-designed neighbors a very careful design process is necessitated. In a neighborhood as rich and varied as the Southside, this process is mandated. This careful process took place in planning the Centralized Dining and Student Services Building, proposed at the center of Bowditch and Channing.  

As part of the Underhill Area Master Plan, of which the dining facility is a component, the campus prepared detailed design guidelines for the properties involved, guidelines that called for inclusive designs sensitive to the scale and character of the neighborhood. While the campus does not prescribe a design style when planning a new building, a palette of materials and colors was recommended. Further, the guidelines prescribes a strong relationship of new buildings to the street, building massing broken down to a neighborhood scale, and creating pedestrian-active sidewalks.  

The guidelines intent was realized in the new Centralized Dining and Student Services Building. This design was not easy to achieve, as any new building on this site would have its challenges. But the neighborhood building style is quite eclectic. The site’s neighbors include the brown-shingled Anna Head School across the street, the stuccoed Casa Bonita adjacent, a modern apartment building faced with plywood to the north, and the shingled Shorb House diagonally across Channing. No style predominates, and how each “fit in” to each other is a highly relative notion.  

The campus Design Review Committee, chaired by Harrison Fraker, Dean of the College of Environmental Design, held numerous meetings to resolve the building’s design and to refine its elements to be a good, albeit modern, neighbor. The massing, fenestration, orientation, and materials (still being developed) have been carefully debated and eventually received a recommendation for approval.  

At each meeting I transmitted the comments of the City Design Review Committee and Landmarks Preservation Commission, and the concerns of local citizens; these comments played a constructive role in the buildings evolution.  

I have two comments on the Friday, Sept. 29 article “Campus pavilions may be leveled.” In the article, Landmarks Preservation Commission member and BAHA staff Leslie Emmington Jones asks the question, “...Does the southside of campus become a neighborhood community based on the needs of the community or an institutional expansion zone...?”  

My first comment is that the Southside is and has been a campus-oriented neighborhood since its initial development in the 19th century. Indeed, the land was once owned by the campus and was sold to finance the nascent College of California, UC’s predecessor. In this neighborhood the university is also “the community.” the notion that the university is not an integral part of this neighborhood belies the fact that 8,000 of the 10,000 residents are students, that the churches, businesses and apartment buildings are here due to the university’s presence, and that the ongoing and celebrated vitality of the neighborhood is due in major part to the university’s presence, reputation, and stature. 

My second comment is that we need to transform the seemingly endless debate over the future of the Southside into a true dialogue between campus, city and community. The Southside Plan had true promise when it started out almost three years ago. Campus and city worked effectively as a team gathering information and holding many meetings with community and campus members. The opinions on the direction of future plans were as diverse as Berkeley is today. This process resulted in the Draft Southside plan published last January.  

Since then, contrary to the initial agreement between the city and the University, the City Planning Commission has decided to develop its own Southside Plan without the active partnership of the University. The University awaits the results of this effort.  

I am hopeful we can find common ground between town and gown, and not create barriers to dialogue or dig into opposing positions. The Southside has traditionally been a place of creativity and toleration. Only if the campus, city and community approach this effort in a spirit of cooperation, rather than confrontation, will it be possible working to create a common vision for the Southside. 

David Duncan 

Community Planning & Urban Design Manager 

Capital Projects 

UC Berkeley 

Subject:  

John Geluardi’s Article for 10/24/00 

Date:  

Thu, 26 Oct 2000 17:27:05 -0700 

From:  

Jim Tamietti  

Organization:  

Environmental News Network 

To:  

Dear Editor, 

I find it a little disheartening that the Berkeley City Council has once again stuck it’s nose where it does not belong and making things just a little bit harder for business owners to run their own businesses as they see fit. Their consideration of an ordinance to ban certain types of cigarette displays is just another sign of the utter insignificance this city council is to real life problems.  

I understand the need for people to want their children not to smoke, and if the city is serious about wanting to stop children from acquiring cigarettes, it would be simpler to send undercover teens into these stores and see if cigarettes are available for sale to them. If it is, fine the business. Why create another silly ordinance to take away the rights of business owners? The argument that certain types of display makes it easier to steal cigarettes is even sillier. Most of the displays I see at convenience stores around Berkeley are located behind the cash register (including the one at the Fast Mart which is discussed in the article). It would take an effort to steal anything from it and if the teens are stealing it, who is the victim, the store or the teen? 

Leave the business owners to do what is right. If stealing becomes a problem, they will do something about it. 

The only thing more disappointing about this subject was the article itself. The article contains at least 4 intelligent argument for the ordinance. The only counterpoint available was a "no comment" from convenience store manager located not more than 200 feet from your office. I know of at least 5 stores within that range and not one of them was quoted. Couldn’t you have found at least one owner to quote? I don’t think asking for a semblance of unbiased coverage is too much to ask of a quality newspaper such as yours. 

Jim Tamietti 

Berkeley, CA 

510-644-3661 ext 20 daytime 

510-644-3005 fax 

jtamietti@enn.com 

Ebony Museum of Arts 

The museum specializes in the art and history of Africa.  

Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.  

30 Jack London Village, Suite 209. (510) 763-0745. 

Habitot Children’s Museum 

Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 

“Back to the Farm.”  

Ongoing 

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

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

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

647-1111 or www.habitot.org 

Judah L. Magnes Museum 

2911 Russell St.  

549-6950 

Free 

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

“Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season” 

Through May 2002.  

An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. Highlights include treasures from Jewish ceremonial and folk art, rare books and manuscripts, contemporary and traditional fine art, video, photography and cultural kitsch. The exhibition will expand Nov 5, 2000, to encompass all four seasons and a collection of rare treasures from Jewish, Tibetan, Mexican-American, and other cultures. 

“Second Annual Richard Nagler Competition for Excellence i Jewish Photography” 

Nov. 5 - Feb. 2001. 

Featuring the work of Claudia Nierman, Jason Francisco, Fleming Lunsford, and others.  

UC Berkeley Art Museum 

2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley 

Wednesday – Sunday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Open Thursdays til 9 p.m.  

Through Jan. 16, 2001: “Amazons in the Drawing Room”: The Art of Romaine Brooks  

Predominantly a portrait artist, Brooks paintings were influenced by elements of her life and are a visual record of the changing status of women in society and her own refusal to conform to the social order of early twentieth-century Europe.  

Pacific Film Archive  

Theater Gallery 

2625 Durant Ave. 

Through Jan. 8, 2001: “Continuous Replay: The Photographs of Arnie Zane” 

Best known as the cofounder of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Zane began his exploration of the human form through photography. 

Through Dec. 17: Wolfgang Laib/Martrix: “188 Pollen from Pine” 

The Asian Galleries  

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

A display of early Chinese works from the permanent collection.  

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

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

“Three Towers of Han,” open-ended. 

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

642-0808. 

UC Berkeley Museum of  

Paleontology 

Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley 

“Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing.  

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

“Pteranodon”  

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

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

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

642-1821. 

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst  

Museum of Anthropology 

Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way and College  

Avenue, Berkeley 

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

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

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

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

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

$2 general; $1 seniors; $.50 children age 17 and under; free on Thursdays. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

643-7648 

Mills College Art Museum 

5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland 

“The 100 Languages of Children,” through October.  

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

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

430-2164 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

“Math Rules!” Ongoing. A math exhibit of hands-on problem-solving stations, each with a different mathematical challenge. 

“Within the Human Brain” Ongoing. Visitors test their cranial nerves, play skeeball, master mazes, match musical tones and construct stories inside a simulated “rat cage” of learning  

experiments. 

“In the Dark,”through Jan. 15, 2001. Plunge into darkness and see amazing creatures that inhabit worlds without light.  

“Saturday Night Stargazing” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza.  

“ChemMystery,” through January 1, 2001. The LHS becomes a crime scene and a science lab to help visiting detectives to solve two different crime scenarios.  

“Grossology,” LHS Family Halloween Party, Oct. 28, 6:30 - 9 p.m. Featuring the creation of “gross” stuff with household products and ChemMystery, a hands-on crime lab for kids.  

$12 for adults; $10 for kids 12 and under.  

Call 643-5134 for tickets  

Open daily, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

$7 for adults; $5 for children 5-18; $3 for children 3-4 

642-5132 

Holt Planetarium  

Programs are recommended for age 8 and up; children under age 6 will not be admitted. $2 in addition to regular museum admission. 

“Moons of the Solar System,” through Dec. 10. 

Take a tour of the fascinating worlds that orbit Earth and other planets out to the edge of the Solar System.  

“Constellations Tonight” Ongoing. Using a simple star map, learn to identify the most prominent constellations for the season in the planetarium sky. Daily, 3:30 p.m. $7 general; $5 seniors, students, disabled, and youths age 7 to 18;  

$3 children age 3 to 5 ; free children age 2 and younger. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Centennial Drive, University of California,  

Berkeley. (510) 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu 

The Oakland Museum of  

California 

1000 Oak St., Oakland 

“Secret World of the Forbidden City” Through Jan. 24, 2001. A rare glimpse of over 350 objects which illustrate the opulence and heritage of the Chinese Imperial Court Under the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China from 1644 - 1911. For this exhibit: $13 general, $10 seniors and $5 for students with ID.  

For museum: $6 general; $4 seniors and students; free children age 5 and under; second Sundays are free to all. Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; first Friday of the month, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Many special events scheduled for November and December related to “Secret World of the Forbidden City.” Call the museum or check the Out & About calendar listings for upcoming events. 

(888) OAK-MUSE or www.museumca.org. 

Music 

Bruce Hornsby 

Nov. 4, 8 p.m. $29.50.  

Berkeley Community Theatre, 1900 Allston Way, Berkeley.  

(510) 444-TIXS 

Ashkenaz 

1317 San Pablo 

Oct. 27, 9 p.m., Sam Mangwana (Congolese rumba, world) 

Call TicketWeb, 594-1400 or Ashkenaz, Tuesday through Sunday during showtimes, 525-5054 

Oct. 31, 9 p.m. A Reggae Halloween Party with Ras Kidus and guests, An evening of soca, calypso and reggae music featuring Haf Breed, Jah Flyy, Pode Vill Crew and DJ Jah Bonz. $9 

924 Gilman St. 

All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted 

$5; $2 for a year membership 

525-9926 

Oct. 27: Elliot, The Jazz June, Lovelight Shine, Killing Independent 

Oct. 28: Haloween show includes From Ashes Arise, Born Dead Icons, Time in Malta, Le Shok, Lesser of Two  

Nov. 3: Slow Gherkin, Tsunami Bomb, Loose Change, Flatus, Homeless Wonders 

Freight & Salvage Coffee House 

1111 Addison St. 

All music begins at 8 p.m. (doors open at 7:30 p.m.) 

Oct 28: Solas (Irish traditional band) 

Oct. 29: Austin Lounge Lizards (Texas lunacy) 

Oct. 30: Bill Miller (singer/harpist from Wales) 

Nov. 1: Wake the Dead (Celtic Grateful Dead) 

Nov. 2: Gerry O’Beirne (Irish guitarist & singer) 

Nov. 3: Darryl Henriques (humorist) 

Call 762-BASS or 601-TWEB for advance tickets 

For additional info call Ashkenaz showline, 548-1761 

Cal Performances 

Oct. 29, 3 p.m.: Ian Bostridge, Tenor, performs music of Schubert and Hugo Wolf, $28 - $48.  

Nov. 5, 3 p.m.: Julia Fischer, Violinist, performs music of Tartini, Beethoven and Cesar Franck, $28 - $48.  

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley (Bancroft at College) 

Nov. 19, 3 p.m.: Deborah Voigt, Soprano, performing music of Strauss, Schoenberg, Wagner, and others, $28 - $48 

Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley 

For tickets and info for these events call 642-9988 

Yoshi’s 

Oct. 30, The big fUn philharmonic featuring Aaron Bennett, Kimara, John Finkbeiner, and others. Presented by Jazz In Flight. $8 general; $6 for JIF members and students 

Oct. 31, 8 p.m. Halloween Salsa Dance Party, With Jesus Diaz y su QBA. The dance floor will be open. $14 

Unless otherwise noted, music at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.; Sunday 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. (510) 238-9200 or (510) 762-BASS. 

The Jazzschool/La Note 

2377 Shattuck Ave. 

All music begins at 4:30 p.m. 

Oct. 29, Mimi Fox Trio 

Nov. 5, Victor Lewis Quintet  

Nov. 12, Ledisi with special guests, The Braxton Brothers 

$12; $10 students/seniors; $6 for Jazzschool students and children under 13 

Reservations: (510) 845-5373 

Live Oak Concert Series 

Berkeley Art Center 

1275 Walnut St. 

Oct. 29, 7:30 p.m., The Horizon Wind Quintet 

$10; $8 for members; $9 for students and seniors; Children under 12 admitted free 

Julia Morgan Center for the Arts Presents: 

The Empyrean Ensemble: “Trading Places: Trios Old and New” 

2640 College Ave.  

Nov. 11, 8 p.m. with pre-concert audience interactive discussion with pianist Gwendlyn Mok at 7 p.m.  

Tickets: $18 and $14 for seniors and students; groups of 10 or more, $14 each 

For tickets: 925-798-1300 

Eli’s Mile High Club 

3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland 

(510) 655-6661 

Doors open at 8 p.m. 

Beginning Oct. 26, Funk & Soul with DJs Styles, Kendread and special guests. Ongoing Thursdays.  

Oct. 28. Halloween party featuring Takezo. Doors at 8 p.m.  

Albatross Pub 

1822 San Pablo Ave. 

All bands play at 9 p.m. 

Nov. 1: Whisky Brothers (old time & bluegrass) 

Nov. 2: Keni “El Legrijano” (flamenco guitar) 

Nov. 4: Larry Steel Jazz Quartet 

Films 

Berkeley Video & Film Festival 

Fine Arts Cinema 

2451 Shattuck 

Nov. 18 & 19, 2 - 11 p.m.  

Screenings of 35 documentaries, features, short features, animation, comedy, commercials, educational and art video and film works. Sundays program will feature work of Berkeley residents: Shola Ogunlana’s “Indigenous Woman: Passing,” Even La Magna’s “People + Their Power,” and Aidan Fraser’s “Unbroken Glass.” The final feature of the festival will be Albany resident Chris Hokuala Uchiyama’s film “Bliss,” which is loosely based on the shootings at Columbine high school.  

$8 per day. Call for tickets and schedule, 843-3699 

Pacific Film Archive 

2575 Bancroft (at Bowditch) 

Nov. 1, 7:30 p.m. “Political Advertisement 2000” 

Nov. 3, 7 p.m.: “The Elders,” 8:50 p.m.: “On & Off the Res with Charlie Hill and The Laughing Club of India” 

Nov. 4, 7 p.m.: Ottawa Animation Festival 2000 - Program 1 

Nov. 5, 3:30 p.m.: “Liebe Perla,” 5:05 p.m.: “Teatro Amazonas,” 6:30 p.m.: “Angelos’ Film” 

Nov. 6, 7:30 p.m.: “The Land of the Wandering Souls” 

Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m.: Field Studies: Films by Gunvor Nelson 

Fine Arts Cinema  

2451 Shattuck (at Haste) 

Nov. 11 & 12  

La Lesbian Film Festival 

Festival begins both days at 2 p.m. 

Individual screenings, $7; Festival pass, $35; disabled discounts 

Call 654-6346 or visit www.lapena.org 

Theater 

“The Green Bird”  

by Carlo Gozzi 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre 

2025 Addison St. 

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

“The Green Bird” runs through Oct. 27. For tickets contact the box office at 845-4700 

Impact Theatre Presents: 

“Impact Briefs 4: Impact Smackdown!” 

Oct. 20 - Nov. 18 

Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m.  

$10, Students $5 

Call 464-4468 for tickets & reservations 

La Val’s Subterraniean  

1834 Euclid 

“Fanny at Chez Panisse” 

Julie Morgan Theatre 

2640 College Ave., Berkeley 

Musical based on the book with opening proceeds going to the Verde Partnership Garden in Richmond. 

Through Oct. 29 

Runs Wednesday - Sunday, 7 p.m.  

$26 - 34  

1-888-FANNY06 

“Moonlight”  

by Harold Pinter 

A Last Planet Theatre production 

Potrero Hill Playhouse 

953 De Haro 

San Francisco 

Pinter’s most recent play features a man named Andy who is dying and his wife, Bel, who can’t get their two sons to pay them a visit. A story of infidelity, sibling rivalry, marital combat and moonlight and memory.  

Runs Thursday - Saturday, through Oct. 28. All shows at 8:30 p.m. No show Oct. 26.  

$20 opening night, $10-15 regular run, $5 preview 

More info and tickets: 845-2687 

“A Midsummer Nights Dream” 

Saint Mary’s High School 

1291 Albina St. 

Oct. 27-28, 7:30 p.m.; Oct. 29, 2:30 p.m. 

$6 general  

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley Presents: 

“Inherit The Wind” by Lawrence & Lee 

Live Oak Theatre 

1301 Shattuck (at Berryman) 

Friday and Saturday through Nov. 18. All shows at 8 p.m. One Thursday performance on Nov. 16.  

$10; discounts for groups of 15 or more 

Reservations: 528-5620  

Berkeley Rep School of Theatre 

“Sundiata” 

Martin Luther King, Jr. High School 

1781 Rost St.  

The world of premiere of Edward Mast’s tale of Djata, a handicapped boy who discovers he is the lost son of the murdered king of the Mali Empire. As the empire’s last hope, he is called upon to reclaim his heritage as the Lion King.  

Nov, 4, Noon 

Free to the public, but reservations are encouraged. 

Call 647-2972  

“Dinner With Friends” 

by Donald Margulies 

Nov. 10 through Jan 5, 2001 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre 

2025 Addison St.  

845-4700, www.berkeleyrep.org 

Barestage Productions Presents 

“Avengeline” by Adia Shy 

Nov. 2 - 11, Thursday - Saturday, 8 p.m. and Saturday, 10 p.m.  

Choral Rehearsal Hall 

UC Berkeley 

$5 

Call for info and directions, 642-3880 

Dance 

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company  

“You Walk?” 

Oct. 27-28, 8 p.m. 

$20 - $42 

“Past Forward”  

White Oak Dance Project Present:  

Nov. 1 - 4, 8 p.m.  

Mikhail Baryshnikov and company celebrating the influence of post-modern choreographers.  

$36 - $60  

Zellerbach Hall 

UC Berkeley 

Call for tickets, 642-9988 or try TicketWeb.com 

Exhibits 

Berkeley Art Center 

“Ethnic Notions: Black Images in the White Mind,''  

Through Nov. 12. An exhibit by Janette Faulkner exploring racial stereotypes in commercial imagery. Free. Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Live Oak Park, 1275 Walnut St., Berkeley. (510) 644-6893 

California College of Arts and Crafts  

Free. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Oliver Art Center, 5212 Broadway, Oakland. 594-3712 

Starbuck’s Coffee presents Mark Harper: “MMII”  

Acrylic paintings 

3839 Emery St., Emeryville 

Every day, 6 a.m. - 8 p.m.  

Call 893-2891 

Traywick Gallery 

Photographs of Marco Breuer, through Nov. 26. Tuesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. and Sunday, Noon - 5 p.m.  

1316 Tenth St., Berkeley 

Kala Gallery 

Kala Art Institute 1999 Fellowship Awards Exhibition Part II through Oct. 31. Features work by Margaret Kessler, Barbara Milman, Michele Muennig, and David Politzer.  

Tuesday through Friday, Noon - 5 p.m. or by appointment. 1060 Heinz Ave. Call 549-2977. 

Berkeley Historical Society  

“Berkeley’s Ethnic Heritage.” An overview of the rich cultural diversity of the city and the contribution of individuals and minority groups to it’s history and development.  

Thursday through Saturday, 1 – 4 p.m. Admission free.  

1931 Center St.  

Call 848-0181 

Lizabeth Oliveria Gallery 

Paintings by Timothy Buckwalter, Hilary Harkness, and Jerry W. King, Through Oct. 28. 

Gallery hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.  

942 Clay St., Oakland. Call 625-1830 for more info. 

Pro Arts Gallery 

Early Bird Holiday Art Fest. Oct. 25 - Nov. 11. Shop early for unique gifts made by local artists. Free opening reception, Oct. 28, 1 - 4 p.m. featuring live music and artist demonstrations.  

Gallery hours: Wednesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

461 Ninth St., Oakland. Call 763-9425  

Bucci’s 

Photographs by Jan Wison Kaufman, “Through the Crystal Ball” 

Through Nov. 17, Monday - Friday, 7 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.; Saturday, 5:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.  

6121 Hollis St., Emeryville. Call 547-4725  

Ames Gallery 

“Left Coast Legends: California Masters of Visionary, Self-taught, and Outsider Art,” featuring the work of Dwight Mackintosh, Alex Maldonado, A.G. Rizzoli, Jon Serl, and Barry Simons, Through Dec. 2.  

2661 Cedar St., Call for more info: 845-4949 

Women’s Cancer Resource Center Gallery 

Alan Leon: Hebrew Calligraphy and Illuminations, Nov. 1 - Dec. 15. Opening reception, Nov. 4, 1 - 3 p.m.  

Gallery hours: Tuesday - Thursday, 1 - 7 p.m.; Saturday, Noon - 4 p.m. and by appointment.  

3023 Shattuck Ave., Call 548-9286 x307 for more info 

!hey! Gallery 

Paintings by Atiba Azikiwe Andrews, through Nov. 11. 

4920-b Telegraph (at 51st), Oakland 

Call 428-2349 

The Oakland Museum of California 

“La Flor y la Calavera: Altars and Offerings for the Days of the  

Dead,” through Nov. 26.  

The 7th annual exhibit in observance of Dias de los Muertos featuring ofrendas, altars and artworks created by artists, community groups and students in observance of Mexico’ s Day of the Dead. $6 general; $4 seniors and students; free children age 5 and under; second Sundays are free to all. Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; first Friday of the month, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 1000 Oak St., Oakland.  

(888) OAK-MUSE or www.museumca.org 

Readings 

Rhyme and Reason Poetry Series 

Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive 

2621 Durant Ave. 

2nd and 4th Sundays of each month. 

Includes featured readers and open mike poetry. Free 

2 p.m. sign-up. Program runs from 2:30 - 4 p.m. 

Oct. 29: Fernando Brito, Lara Dale 

234-0727 

Holloway Poetry Reading Series 

8p.m., Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall 

For more information call 653-2439 

Nov. 1: John Yau and Garrett Caples, books include “Forbidden Entries” and “My Symptoms” 

Nov. 7: Marie Howe and Brian Glaser, “The Good Thief” and “What the Living Do” 

Cody’s Books 

2454 Telegraph Ave., 845-7852  

& 1730 Fourth St., 559-9500 

Telegraph events (all begin at 7:30 p.m, unless noted): 

Oct. 28, 11 a.m. - Noon, American Folk Songs for Young People 

Oct. 29, The poetry of Kim Addonizio & Jim Natal 

Oct. 30, Martin Davis, “The Universal Computer: the Road from Leibniz to Turing” 

Forth St. events: 

Oct. 29, 2:30 p.m., Robert San Souci, children’s writer, to chat and sign “Cinderella Skeleton” 

Lunch Poems: A Noontime Poetry Reading Series 

Morrison Room, Doe Library 

UC Berkeley 

12:10 - 12:50 p.m.  

Call 642-0137 

Under the direction of Professor Robert Hass, this is a series of events on the first Thursday of each month. Free.  

Nov. 2: Goh Poh Seng 

Dec. 7: Fanny Howe, Mark Levin, and Carol Snow  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Ave. (at Rose) 

843-3533 

All events begin at 7:30 p.m. 

Nov. 2: Don Patton discusses “The Spirit of the Road: One Hundred Years of the California Automobile Association” 

Nov. 14: Linda Watanabe McFerrin discusses “Stories: The Hand of Buddha,” a book that explores the lives of women. 

Nov. 29: Travel writer Jeff Greenwald and others discuss and read from “Salon.com’s Wanderlust: Read Life Tales of Adventure and Romance”  

Tours 

Lawrence Berkeley National  

Laboratory 

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

Free. University of California, Berkeley. 

486-4387 

Berkeley City Club Tours 

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

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

2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. 

848-7800 

Golden Gate Live Steamers 

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

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

486-0623  

Oakland Historic walking tours 

Runs through October.  

The tours cover downtown Oakland and its historic waterfront. All tours begin promptly at 10 a.m. and last between an hour and an hour and a half.  

Free. Call for reservations. Oakland. (510) 238-3234. 

University of California at Berkeley Botanical Garden 

The gardens have displays of exotic and native plants. 

Botanical Garden Tours, Saturday and Sunday, 1:30 p.m. Meet at the Tour Orientation Center for a free docent tour. $3 general; $2 seniors; $1 children; free on Thursday. Daily, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Botanical Garden, Centennial Drive, behind Memorial Stadium, a mile below the Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley. (510) 643-2755 or www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden/ 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tours 

Nov. 5 - What’s Happening Downtown? led by Debbie Badhia 

More info call 848-0181 

Attorneys for Skates by the Bay have sued the city, saying the amended Living Wage Ordinance that covers Marina properties unfairly discriminates against them and will cause them and their employees irreparable harm. 

In June, the city passed a Living Wage Ordinance that requires employers doing business with the city or leasing property from the city to pay their employees a “living wage,” determined to be $9.75 per hour plus $1.62 if benefits are not paid. 

Advocates for workers at the Marina lobbied for an amendment to the ordinance to cover low-paid hotel and restaurant workers at the Marina. All Marina property is owned by the city and leased by various corporations, the largest of which are restaurants and a hotel-restaurant. 

Without the amended ordinance, Marina businesses which have more than six employees and generate more than $350,000 annually, would be covered by the ordinance only after their leases are renegotiated with the city. In some cases, that would be in 20 years. 

The City Council amended the ordinance in September, stating that the use of the Marina by a private enterprise is a privilege and should not “exacerbate the problems associated with inadequate compensation of workers.” 

The Marina lands, as Public Trust tidelands, “are for the use and benefit of the public,” according to the ordinance. “The public interest is best served by ensuring that the public is not deterred from visiting the Public Trust tidelands because they do not wish to patronize businesses (that) do not pay their employees a living wage or provide them with health care benefits.” 

Zachary Wasserman, attorney with Wendel Rosen, Black & Dean of Oakland, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court earlier this month. Wasserman said by enacting the amendment, the city “unilaterally” altered the leases of the four affected businesses at the Marina. 

The lawsuit explains that Skates employs about 170 people. “The estimated cost of implementing the provisions of the amendment, not including administrative fees, is a minimum of $175,000 per year,” the lawsuit states, noting that the administrative fees would be considerable, given the various ways different employees’ health benefits are calculated. 

The consequences of paying out that sum of money could include “increased prices, consolidation of jobs, elimination or reduction of part-time employment, elimination of non-mandated benefits, reduced hours of operation or potentially closing the restaurant depending on the total impact,” according to the suit. 

If prices were raised at the Marina restaurants to compensate for increased costs, other restaurants in the city which do not suffer the same requirement to pay a living wage, would have an unfair advantage, Wasserman said. 

He further points out that “the city puts more money into downtown than it does at the Marina,” yet the downtown businesses, which benefit from that support, are not subject to the provisions of the Living Wage Ordinance. 

The new ordinance would not affect many of Skates’ workers, Wasserman said. “Many waiters, many employees at Skates earn more than the Living Wage,” he said. Others are students who opt to work part time, and there are others for whom the Skates’ job is a second part-time job.  

One of the problems is the mandated 12 paid days off per year, which includes paid holidays. “The restaurant industry typically does not give paid vacations until the employees have been there a significant amount of time,” Wasserman said. 

Amaha Kassa of the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, one of the organizations which has supported the unionization of workers at the Berkeley Marina Radisson Hotel, argued that the RUI Corp. would have no problem paying its workers more money. He points to the June, 1998 Puget Sound Business Journal which says that each of RUI Corp’s restaurants were expected, after some time, to bring in about $5 million. A June 23, 2000 article said the corporation had taken in $105 million in 1998 and $117 million in 1999. 

In a written statement, City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque said her office had looked closely at the ordinance and its amendment and believes it is defensible.  

“Because the city has severely restricted development in this special zone, businesses such as Skates located there enjoy a monopoly position and hefty profits,” she wrote. “By applying the Living Wage to businesses in this zone, the Berkeley City Council has said that a tiny amount of those profits need to be shared with those invisible hard-working men and women in these businesses who do not get a living wage, yet who make it possible for the rest of us to dine, cruise and vacation in stunning surrounding, financed by public funds.”

The Pac-10 title is on the line this week when No. 5 Cal travels to Los Angeles to face No. 12 USC Friday at 3 p.m., and No. 3 UCLA Sunday at 1 p.m. The Bears are 14-1-1 and in second place in the Pac-10 with a 4-1 record. Washington leads the league with a 6-0 mark.  

A strong finish could help the Bears attain a bye in the first round of NCAAs and possibly one of eight seeds in the 48-team field, which will be announced Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. 

USC is ranked No. 12 this week by Soccer America with an 11-3-2 record and is tied for third in the league with UCLA with a 3-1-1 mark. The Trojans are led by freshman forward Jessica Edwards, who has 20 points, and Canadian World Cup midfielder Isabelle Harvey, who has 15 points.  

“USC plays a very direct style, so it’s hard to keep your composure,” said Cal head coach Kevin Boyd. “We’ll have to work hard and play our game.” 

UCLA is 12-2-1 and ranked No. 8 by Soccer America. Forward Tracey Milburn leads the team with 27 points (12G, 3A). UCLA and Cal will likely have a defensive battle, as the teams have combined to allow only 12 goals all year. Cal trails USC, 2-3, in the all-time series, and is even with UCLA at 3-3.  

“UCLA’s defense is good because their offense is so good,” Boyd said. “It’s hard to keep the ball in their end.”

RICHMOND — An explosion and fire rocked a plastics recycling center Thursday morning, killing one worker, injuring several others and forcing 12 nearby schools to cancel classes. 

The two-alarm fire began about 2 a.m. at MBA Polymers, Inc., a research and commercial recycling operation. Witnesses say they heard two loud explosions at the scene. 

Jeremiah Spritz, 26, of Richmond was killed, Jim Fajardo of the Richmond Fire Department said. Four other workers  

were treated for smoke inhalation  

and were reported in stable  

condition. Spritz, whose relatives say he had only been working at the company for five months, was found about 60 feet inside the warehouse where the explosions occurred. 

The cause of the explosions has not been determined. The fire was contained at about 8 a.m., but destroyed the company’s entire center warehouse. 

Firefighters said they had a difficult time fighting the blaze because of the toxic fumes emitted and the tangle of pipes and uneven flooring in the warehouse. The structure is one of three located behind an office area in the 500 block of West Ohio Avenue. 

One firefighter reportedly described it as “trying to climb through  

a jungle gym.” 

A fire engine from Chevron was called to assist, bringing with it thousands of gallons of foam to suffocate the fire. Water only cools it down, while foam can actually extinguish the flames. Regular fire trucks normally carry about 10 to 20 gallons of foam. 

People living near the plant were told to stay indoors and keep windows closed until 1 p.m. Smoke from the fire contained the chemical polystyrene, which can cause respiratory problems, Fajardo said. 

Richmond Fire Chief Jim Fajardo said the Ford plant at 700 National Court was evacuated and employees at other nearby offices and residences were advised to shelter in place to avoid the toxic fumes. Tollboth operators were told to go inside where there was air conditioning and people crossed the Richmond Bridge without paying the toll. 

Students were sheltered in schools and their parents were notified. 

Some 4,800 students were affected at schools in Richmond, San Pablo, North Richmond and Point Richmond. The schools were Peres Elementary, Chavez Elementary, Coronado Elementary, Dover Elementary, Lincoln Elementary, Washington Elementary, Nystrom Elementary, Verde Elementary, Harbour Way Academy and Gompers Continuation High, North Campus Continuation High, and the Transition Learning Center. 

All schools will reopen Friday, a West Contra Costa Unified School District spokesman said. 

Kaiser Permanente’s Richmond hospital reported it had treated dozens of people for respiratory complications related to the plant fire. “We’ve treated about 50 people here today,” said Cynthia Gregory, spokesperson for the Richmond Kaiser. 

Patients generally complained of chest pains or shortness of breath, she said. All were treated and released. Three employees from the plastics plant also were treated at the hospital and released. 

Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo reported it had treated 30 people for ailments as well. Spokesman Andy Williams said none of the injuries was serious, and all patients were treated and released. 

SAN JOSE— Bill Peacock, the leading opponent of Democrat Mike Honda in the March primary, is crossing party lines to endorse Republican Jim Cunneen in the hotly contested 15th Congressional District race. 

The endorsement coup for Cunneen, announced Wednesday, is another sign of the blurred lines that have marked the tossup Silicon Valley race. 

The Democratic Party has targeted the seat as one of six it needs to regain control of the House of Representatives. 

But in a move against his party, Peacock, a high-tech investor and Portola Valley businessman, said he will endorse Cunneen. 

It’s not a case of sour grapes, said Peacock, a lifelong Democrat and former Carter administration assistant secretary of the Army. Peacock said he spent six months researching the records of the two candidates – both are state assemblymen – before making the decision. 

“In a heartbeat, if (Honda) were to move up to the state Senate, I’d write him a check,” Peacock said. “But I think Jim Cunneen, with his education and high-tech background, is a far better bet to represent the needs of all the people in the 15th Congressional District.” 

Peacock also said he agrees on issues more often with Cunneen than Honda. 

During the March primary, Honda was the front-runner in a Democratic field of five. He faced tough competition from Peacock, who spent nearly $1 million of his own money on the race. Honda raised $139,000. 

Honda won the party nomination with 40 percent of the votes, nearly triple Peacock’s total. 

“It’s obviously a disappointment when a Democrat abandons his party,” said Honda’s campaign spokesman Vince Duffy. “But he’s entitled to his opinion and we wish him well in his further endeavors.” 

Democrats boast a 45-36 percent voter registration advantage in the upscale district. But voters elected Tom Campbell, a moderate Republican, for the past four terms. Now, Campbell is running for the Senate against Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

SAN FRANCISCO — Volunteers spread out across the city Thursday night to tally how many homeless people call San Francisco home. 

The effort will be the second homeless count by Mayor Willie Brown’s Office of Homelessness. The first, conducted in April with about 100 volunteers, concluded that 3,610 people live on city streets. 

But city officials believe they undercounted by at least 15 to 20 percent, and want to get a more accurate number. 

After Brown and Supervisor Gavin Newsom kick off the event, teams of volunteers will begin canvassing the city. They are scheduled to return by midnight. 

This time, unlike the April count, the geographic boundaries of the city’s new supervisory districts will be used to count the homeless, Brown spokesman P.J. Johnston said. 

The purpose of the count is to assist in short-term and long-term planning for the city’s homeless services, said George Smith, director of the city’s office of homelessness. He said it will become a semiannual event that will yield accurate numbers within two years. 

A homeless advocacy group, the Coalition on Homelessness, puts the number as high as 14,000 people – more than four times the mayor’s last count.

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Board of Education has voted to drop tough graduation requirements for the high school class of 2001 after learning that 30 percent of the city’s seniors failed to meet the requirements. 

The board voted unanimously Tuesday to rescind the tougher requirements and deflected blame from the students to themselves. 

“We didn’t provide the resources,” said board member Jill Wynns. “We had trouble providing the classes needed.” 

The board acknowledged there were not enough tutors or extra-period classes to support the students. 

In 1997, the board nixed electives such as wood shop and journalism, electing to raise academic standards by requiring more math, English, science, arts and foreign language courses. The board also raised graduation requirements from 220 to 240 credits. 

At the time, the board anticipated the state would pay for programs to support programs such as a longer school day for extra courses and tutoring, but such reimbursement never was approved. 

The class of 2001, the first to matriculate under the tough standards, was left scrambling for credits and nearly a third of the 1,120 high school seniors were not on track to graduate with their class. 

A new, long-term plan for graduation requirements is to be presented to the school board by February.

Legally troubled Napster, Inc. set its sites on Apple computer users, making its popular music swapping software available for Macintosh operating systems. 

The company announced Napster for the Mac on Wednesday and the program was available for download from Napster’s Web site. 

Despite making inroads to new users, Napster is still embroiled in a copyright infringement lawsuit brought against it by members of the Recording Industry Association of America. 

In July, a federal judge granted an injunction against that portion of Napster’s service that makes possible the unauthorized trade of copyrighted music. A federal appeals court stayed the injunction, heard testimony from both sides on Oct. 2 and a trial is pending. 

Napster claims 32 million users of its software and the music-sharing phenomenon shows no signs of slowing, despite the legal battles. The Internet tracking company Media Metrix found that the number of Napster users per month increased from 1.1 million in February to 6.7 million users in August. 

On the Net: 

http://www.napster.com 

http://www.riaa.com

SAN FRANCISCO — A poisonous puffer fish, considered a dining delicacy in Japan, may hold the key to sequencing the human genome. 

An international consortium of scientists will attempt to sequence the genome of the Fugu in less than six months, and hope that information speeds similar work on human genetic makeup. 

Researchers at the U.S. Energy Department’s Joint Genome Institute, who announced the plan Thursday, said the Fugu genome contains less “junk” DNA to sort through, making the process of finding and controlling the genes an easier task. 

“This genetic information from a distantly related vertebrate will help us read the book of human life with new understanding and knowledge,” Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said in a statement. 

The research involves scientists in the United States, Britain and Singapore. 

The compactness of the Fugu genome makes it a cost-efficient model to study, researchers said. Fugu lack certain sequences of mammalian genes. 

Virus-like invaders into the human genome bypassed or apparently were warded away from the Fugu’s evolution.

The Associated Press 

SACRAMENTO — A member of the California Earthquake Authority’s ruling board demanded Thursday that the agency be overhauled, contending the complex financial structure that sustains the CEA could fail in the event of a catastrophe. 

State Treasurer Philip Angelides, one of three state officials who decide broad policy for the CEA, urged the Legislature to scrutinize the nation’s first state-run, privately financed earthquake insurer and come up with changes in the multibillion-dollar system. 

Angelides, who has been critical of the CEA’s operations in the past, told key lawmakers that “the Legislature, when it returns in January, should make review and reform of the CEA a key priority.” 

A fundamental problem, Angelides said, is the CEA’s “layer-cake” financing, which is composed of a mix of funds from reserves, insurers’ assessments, Wall Street investors and reinsurance. 

But Angelides said the $7.5 billion pool – particularly the critical reinsurance piece – could unravel in the event of a catastrophe, such as a major quake and multiple aftershocks, that exhaust the pool and leave policyholders unprotected. 

Angelides also said the CEA needs to be more competitive in attracting policyholders, particularly low-risk customers. The fear of Angelides – and some executives in the insurance industry – is that private companies will siphon off the best customers, while the CEA will be left with the high-risk policyholders. 

The CEA, which covers about 850,000 policyholders, should “be financially sound and capable of carrying out its responsibilities over the long term,” the treasurer added in a detailed letter to the heads of the Senate and Assembly insurance committee, the top executive at the CEA and to Insurance Commissioner Harry Low. 

But the CEA said the agency is well-financed, pointing a recent independent audit sought by the board. 

“We would conclude that the CEA’s current capacity to pay claims is as good as or better than that of private catastrophe insurers,” said CEA spokesman Mark Leonard, citing the auditors’ conclusion. 

Leonard also said the CEA policies, called “mini-policies,” would be able to protect policyholders in the event of a devastating quake like the 1994 Northridge earthquake. 

“The mini-policy was to designed to provide catastrophic coverage, to rebuild people’s homes, and it was designed to reduce the exposure to the industry,” he said. 

“It was a choice between the mini-policy and no coverage for the earthquake, and it never would have passed (the Legislature) without the sponsorship and support of responsible consumer groups,” Leonard said. 

But one major consumer group, the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, says the 15 percent deductibles in the CEA policies – $30,000 in the case of a $200,000 home – means people often must foot the bill for the damages, because the average home damage is less than the deductible. 

“Unless you have extraordinary, catastrophic damage, the policy is worthless. That has to be the long-term concern here,” said Foundation spokesman Doug Heller. 

The CEA, the first agency of its kind in the nation, was created in 1996 in response to the turmoil in California’s homeowners’ insurance market following the devastating 1994 Northridge earthquake. 

The Authority is a pool of funds provided by insurers and investors to cover quake losses. 

The idea of the CEA was prompted mainly by large insurers, who under California law are required to offer quake insurance to people who buy their homeowners’ coverage. 

That law crippled many carriers, who faced huge losses because of their Northridge earthquake claims. 

The CEA was set up to market quake policies and cover the claims. Companies representing about two-thirds of California’s quake insurance market participate in the CEA. 

The mini-policies average about $2.79 per $1,000 of insured value statewide, or roughly $560 annually for a $200,000 home. The policies can cost as little as 80 cents per $1,000 in low-risk areas, and up to $8.70 per $1,000 in the most quake-prone zones for unreinforced masonry homes. 

More than nine out of every 10 homes insured by the CEA are wood-frame houses, costing up to $5.70 per $1,000 — or $1,140 for a $200,000 home. 

The CEA’s mini-policy covers the dwelling, but not related structures, such as fences, garages, landscaping, sheds, pools and walkways, among other items. 

——— 

On the Net: 

www.insurance.ca.gov/docs/FS-CEA.htm 

SACRAMENTO — School districts that have been complaining for 20 years that the state has shortchanged them for special education will get $520 million for past costs and $100 million more a year, Gov. Gray Davis announced Thursday. 

“All sides agree that this settlement puts the problem behind us once and for all and adequately funds our important special education programs,” Davis said in a statement. 

The California School Board Association, which has led the legal and negotiating battle, applauded the settlement. 

CSBA executive director Davis Campbell said the governor and his team “negotiated in good faith and their support for the settlement is a huge contribution to special education programs.” 

The governor said the $520 million in retroactive payments will be doled out over 11 years. The state will give school districts $270 million for the current year and $25 million in each of the following 10 years. 

He also agreed to increase special education funding by $100 million a year, a 3.5 percent increase that begins July 1, 2001. 

The Legislature, which returns in December, will have to approve the funding. 

The lawsuit was first filed by Riverside County in 1981. Other school districts joined the lawsuit as it made its way through the courts. 

The districts claimed the state did not give them sufficient money to pay for services the state required districts to provide for special education students.  

The state had always maintained that the general funding provided districts was sufficient. 

The constitution requires the state to reimburse local governments, including school districts, for things it requires them to do. 

An appellate court judge ruled that the state had to pay for specific programs that were required by state law but exceeded federal mandates.

By James and Morris Carey 

The Associated Press 

In this age of high-priced construction, countertops are getting as hard to choose as plumbing fixtures or light fixtures. There are the solid-surface materials such as Corian, Gibralter, and Avonite. There are plastic laminates from Formica to Wilsonart. And don’t forget ceramic tile, porcelain tile, slab and tile granite, concrete, slab and tile marble. And what about stone? How easy it is to become confused by all that’s available. 

In a kitchen, the countertop has as much to do with the overall appearance as the cabinets do. 

In order of cost, we will class countertops into six basic categories, with the three in most common use listed first (laminates, tile and synthetic solid-surface products):  

Plastic Laminate Countertops 

Plastic laminate has been around since the beginning of modern kitchens. We actually saw it made once. Several layers of resin-coated paper are sandwiched together (and held under heat and pressure) to form what we think of as Formica. Plastic laminate tops come in many colors and textures. The latest rage is having your plastic laminate custom-designed to your own color, texture and style, but be prepared to spend a few bucks here. With standard plastic laminate tops, the color is in the final layer. When it is applied at corners, you see the resin coated layers of paper as a black line. With higher quality plastic laminate all layers of the material are colored — not just the final one. When this material is applied to a corner there is no black line. An entire laminate counter can be installed for somewhere between $600 and $1,800 for most kitchens.  

Ceramic & Porcelain Tile 

There is no limit to what you can do with ceramic tile. Inlaid with real gold, burnished for texture and hand-painted finishes are just a few of the choices. The problem here is grout lines. No one seems to want to deal with grout cleaning any more. Tile grout does require regular maintenance. Sealing the grout only means that cleaning will be easier to do. So far we haven’t heard any complaints about tile except that the surface begins to dull after about 40 years if abrasive cleaners are constantly used. Porcelain is harder than a rock and far more durable than conventional ceramic tile. It also is more expensive. Fewer color choices are available in porcelain. Ceramic tile and porcelain are more than twice the price of plastic laminates.  

Solid-Surface Countertops 

New synthetic solid surface countertops are growing in popularity. The grout cleaning and maintenance problem disappears with solid-surface materials. We consider all of these products a good bet. Each manufacturer has its own series of colors. Although Dupont’s entry, Corian, can be sanded if burned or gouged, it remains a surface somewhat susceptible to scratching and similar damage. Other brands are harder, but cannot be repaired on the spot by a novice. Bottom line — if you decide on any of the solid-surface products, be sure to take it easy. You will be trading off grout cleaning for a surface that is less durable than tile. Solid-surface countertop prices begin where tile prices leave off. Here the sky is the limit.  

Marble, Granite and Stone Tile 

Marble, granite and stone tiles are for those who would prefer them in slab form. The neat thing about these tiles is that the grout line can be extremely thin. This reduces the need for extensive grout cleaning, but does not completely eliminate the chore. Most marble is susceptible to damage from citric acid and alcohol. Vinegar is another mild acid that will quickly remove the shine from most polished marble surfaces. In a few seconds the surface can be devastated. The same is true for many polished stone surfaces. Marble and granite tiles are about the same price as the solid-surface products. 

Tip: If you want to test stone to ensure that it won’t fail as a countertop, lay a sample in the kitchen sink and pour vinegar onto the polished surface. If the shiny surface dulls, you know what will happen when it becomes a countertop. 

Granite is the best of the stone tiles. It is the hardest and is impervious to just about anything. Unfortunately, because all of these products are natural, you are limited to what Mother Nature has to offer. We think that granite tiles give ceramic tile a real run for the money when it comes to elegance.  

Concrete Slab (poured in place) 

We don’t see a lot of concrete being poured on kitchen counters (inside the home at least), but they are gaining in popularity. Concrete countertops are expensive, require a sealant and must be treated with care. Prices for concrete tops are all over the board. Expect to pay through the nose.  

Slab Marble or Granite 

Slab marble has the same problems as marble tiles. Alcohol and mild acids are bad medicine. Tile or slab must be handled with kid gloves. Many types of hair spray contain alcohol. Granite, on the other hand, is extremely hard, incredibly durable and absolutely maintenance-free. Our experience is that slab granite is the single most maintenance-free surface. You can expect to pay as much as $200 per square foot for certain colors of slab granite. 

The good news is, that with its sudden popularity, granite is getting cheaper and easier to buy. Today the big box stores are offering granite installed for $70 per square foot. Expensive yes, but better than the $100-plus weve been seeing. We recently spoke with a fellow named Steve Neal, owner of Straight Line Importers in Martinez, California, who is part of a small new group of stone contractors selling pre-fabbed 8-foot long counters — ready to install — for $30 to $50 per square foot (depending upon the color). That’s less than the cost of most popular synthetic solid-surface materials. Steve says that colors are limited to five now, but 12 will be available soon.

Stairs leading directly from a living room or central hallway look more attractive and inviting when carpeted. And, a carpeted stairway will quiet your home by softening footsteps and absorbing sound waves. Carpeted stairs are safer, too, lessening your chances of slipping. 

Avoid utility-grade carpeting. Stairways get heavy wear, especially along the tread nosing. Choose an easy-to-clean variety with a dense pile. Carpet with attached cushion backing is cheaper and easier to put down, but isn’t recommended for stairways. Since you want a long, narrow runner, you may be able to buy remnants of high-quality carpeting at much less than the going rate for a room-size piece. The runner need not be one length. Two or more sections can hide the seam under the tread nosing where it will be unnoticeable. 

Remember, the pile on each piece should always lie facing toward the bottom of the stairs. Both ascending and descending, the pressure of your foot is mostly toward the tread nosing, so unless the pile faces the same way, wear will be excessive -- perhaps doubled. Feel pile direction by running your hand lightly across the carpet. 

The most common method for carpeting a stairway with a closed wall on one side and open balusters at the other is to roll both edges under. Allow about 1 inch from the wall with 1-and-1-quarter-inch roll-under at the edges. If your carpeting won’t unravel at a cut edge, you can butt it against the sidewall without roll-under. 

Determine the total length of the runner by measuring one tread and one riser, wrapping the tape measure around the nosing and holding it against the riser below the tread with your thumb. Add 1 inch to allow for the thickness of the padding under the carpet. Multiply this figure by the number of steps. Remember to allow extra carpeting if your runner is in two or more sections, since each section must join under a tread nosing. 

To get width, measure from the wall to the base of the balusters, or whatever portion of the step you will be covering. Add 2-and-1-half inches for rolling the edges under – 1-and-1-quarter inches for each side. Since you will probably need to trim at least one edge along the runner’s length, allow an additional inch for this. If your carpeting has irregular edges, be sure you have enough material to trim the full length of both sides straight. 

Measure a stairway with a landing as if the landing were one deep step. Ideally, cover the landing and the first riser above it with one piece. If you can’t, include the riser with the steps above it. Winder steps – wedge-shaped steps that turn a corner – require carpeting about 50 percent wider than a straight runner, and waste considerable material. You need a separate piece for each step and the riser above it. The pile on each tread must be at right angles to the nosing and facing downstairs. 

If your stairs have been carpeted, remove old nails or tacks and any quarter-round trim or molding, check treads and risers for looseness and secure any that need it using glue and 8d finishing nails. Refinish the parts of the treads and risers that will show before putting down carpeting. 

SACRAMENTO — A Web site offering to sell 21,000 votes for president to the highest bidder has changed its domain name and switched its registrar to a company based in Germany. 

Federal and state laws prohibit the sale of votes, but the Austrian owners of www.vote-auction.com denied they had moved operations overseas to avoid legal challenges. 

Instead, investor Hans Bernhard wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press, research showed that users frequently tried to type the new name of the site instead of the old name, which lacked the hyphen. 

The site asks voters to fill out personal details and then offers to sell the votes – in blocks broken down by state – to the highest bidder. The technique, the Web site says, brings the “big money of campaigns directly to the voting public.” 

The site offers to deliver the votes to any corporation or individual, but it hasn’t identified voters, bidders or said when the sale will end. 

The owners say the U.S. vote auction is a test to determine how they can make money. They still need to work out how voters would be paid and how to verify that they cast the right ballot. 

Election officials in Michigan and New York have criticized the scheme and a court challenge in Illinois led to the closing of the old site. California Secretary of State Bill Jones warned any vote sellers they could face felony charges and a minimum of three years in prison. 

The site was reopened this week with the help of CSL Computer Service of Germany. By Thursday, more than 2,500 California voters had offered their votes and the leading bid was $48,000 or $19.61 per vote. 

“Truthfully, this could probably go on forever, so long as it is known by those who wish to use the service, for lack of a better term,” said Steve Jones, a professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago, who follows the Internet. 

Shad Balch, a spokesman for California’s secretary of state, said the domain name change would not affect California’s investigation into the site and its employees. 

Industry experts say it would be almost impossible to identify voters by using technology. 

“There is virtually no legal way to check who is using the site without a subpoena or warrant, which is unlikely when the operations are international,” said Stewart Farley of Internet Products Inc., a San Diego company that makes Web-filtering products.

LOS ANGELES — It’s a dirty-air puzzle that befuddles scientists: When other pollutants punch out for the week, smog-causing ozone starts working overtime in some parts of the state. 

In the Los Angeles area, ozone levels typically are 32 percent higher on Saturdays and Sundays than they are Monday through Friday when freeways are clogged with commuters. The difference is 25 percent in San Francisco. 

Other pollutants – even those that help form smog – drop on weekends. The so-called ozone weekend effect doesn’t happen everywhere, however. A draft report released this week by the California Air Resources Board found no statistically significant differences between weekend and weekday ozone levels in Sacramento and the San Joaquin Valley. 

The phenomenon in Los Angeles and San Francisco, first noticed in the 1980s, has four possible explanations, according to the report. Among the theories: 

l Weekends produce a different kind of traffic volume that could encourage smog production. Morning traffic is much higher on weekdays, but weekend traffic catches up later in the day, when nitrogen oxides can produce ozone more efficiently. 

l Ozone produced on weekdays could drift over the ocean, then return to shore over the weekend. 

l The atmosphere could contain more soot on weekdays than on weekends. That could help absorb some of the ultraviolet radiation that otherwise would help form ozone. 

Automakers support another possible reason that suggests government regulators could reduce weekend smog by allowing an increase in one smog-causing pollutant: nitrogen oxides. 

Experiments show the ratio between hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides plays an important role in the formation of smog. Decreasing nitrogen oxides when levels of that pollutant are low compared to hydrocarbons actually increases smog, the experiments indicate. 

Researchers found that nitrogen oxide levels decrease at a greater rate than hydrocarbon levels on weekends. 

Even if further studies support the automakers’ theory, that would be a poor reason to turn back the clock on decades of regulation and technological improvements aimed at reducing nitrogen oxides in the air, Air Resources Board spokesman Richard Varenchik said. 

“The big picture overall is that ozone has been cut by two-thirds in the last 30 years,” Varenchik said. “The strategy we’ve been using is certainly the correct strategy.” 

The South Coast Air Basin, which includes Los Angeles, saw ozone levels of 200 parts per billion or higher about every other day 35 years ago. 

Cleaner air has prevailed in recent years.The basin hasn’t seen such a “Stage I episode” for two years. 

Nitrogen oxides need to be kept out of the air not just because of their role in forming smog but because they also contribute to pollution from particulate matter and toxic air contaminants, said Bart Croes, chief of the air board’s research division. 

“There’s only one component of air pollution that’s worse on the weekends,” he said. “We shouldn’t devise a control strategy based on one pollutant.” 

SACRAMENTO — With California up for grabs, George W. Bush doubled his advertising effort and announced a campaign swing with one-time rival John McCain, while Gov. Gray Davis packed his bags for a week of barnstorming for Al Gore and other Democrats. 

Heartened by California polls showing Gore’s lead narrowing to 5 to 7 percentage points, the GOP presidential nominee is making an aggressive final push on the airwaves, and returning for a campaign visit Monday and Tuesday. 

Bush will air two ads, one in Spanish and English targeting Hispanics and the other in English saying he trusts individuals more than Gore. They will total about $2 million through Election Day. 

On top of that, Republicans will spend about $6 million in California between now and Nov. 7 on a series of Bush ads, including one in Spanish. 

“We are committed to winning California, and he is willing to put his time and the money on the line to win,” said Bush California campaign chairman Gerry Parsky. 

Gore has spent nothing on TV ads, and he has not visited the state since Sept. 20, though he also faces a challenge from Green Party candidate Ralph Nader. Gore has no plans to return before Election Day. 

But Gore is getting help on two fronts in the homestretch. President Clinton will campaign here late next week, and Davis plans to hopscotch the state for at least seven days beginning Sunday. 

Some Democrats have grumbled privately that Davis has done too little for Gore. The governor is California chairman of Gore’s campaign, and Garry South, an adviser to both, said electing Gore would be Davis’ “number one political priority in 2000.” 

Since the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, Davis has done little publicly to promote Gore. He swung into action this week, touting Gore in TV interviews, but only when three Republican governors campaigned in Sacramento for Bush. 

Told of the criticism, Davis said in an interview: “I beg to differ.” 

“I’ve been working for Al Gore for a year and a half,” Davis said. 

He waited until the week before the election to actively stump for Gore because “turnout is everything,” he said. 

Both Clinton and Davis enjoy high approval ratings in California, and they are likely to appear together.

LOS ANGELES — The Internet has revolutionized the way Americans talk, study, work, play and spend money. 

But could the first casualty in this revolution be our humanity? 

Not according to those responding to “Surveying the Digital Future,” a study released Wednesday by the University of California, Los Angeles. 

Nearly two-thirds of all Americans have ventured online, and most users surveyed deny the Internet creates social isolation, said Professor Jeffrey Cole, the study’s lead researcher and director of the UCLA Center for Communication Policy. 

Internet technology has been a popular communication tool for only the past five years, however, and Cole speculates the Web will have profound long-term effects that most users can’t yet detect. 

“The Internet changes everything from our values to communication patterns and consumer behavior,” Cole said. 

Spending long hours surfing the Web “can even change how many neighbors we recognize by their faces,” he added. 

The study tracked the online habits of 2,096 respondents – both Internet users and nonusers – who mirror the nation’s ethnic, economic and geographic makeup. Researchers said it had a margin of error of 2 percentage points. 

The researchers hope to use its figures to begin investigating the specific effects of Internet innovation on human behavior. 

Do the benefits of online research in schools outweigh the risk that children may happen upon risque material? (About 70 percent of adults believe children’s grades stay the same despite Internet activity.) 

Can Internet commerce cripple traditional retail stores or create healthy competition? (About 65 percent of Internet purchasers say they buy less from traditional shops.) 

Will people ignore relatives and friends in favor of chat-room acquaintances? (Three-quarters of respondents say they are not ignored.) 

Ironically, lack of privacy is the greatest concern of those surveyed. 

About two-thirds of Internet users agree that people who go online put their privacy at risk, the study showed. 

“What we’ve found is that almost no one is afraid of the government monitoring us,” Cole said. “They’re afraid corporations are watching what they do.” 

The most consistent source of profit on the Internet, Cole said, is pornography. But he acknowledged it was too difficult to get survey participants to answer truthfully to draw any conclusions on its impact. 

The survey also leaves other questions unanswered. 

Does Internet access make workers more productive or does it tempt them to slack off? What do people sacrifice to spend time online: hobbies, television, exercise, sleep? 

Cole said he hopes to continue the study over the next 10 to 20 years in an effort to address more issues relating to the technology. 

Right now, Internet users say that e-mail, Web sites and chat rooms have a “modestly positive impact” on their abilities to make new friends and communicate more with family, according to the survey. 

Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, said the report supports his own findings that the Internet is a tool that unites more people than it isolates. 

“There is some evidence that people make and sustain long distance friendships online,” Rainie said. “They get health care information that they couldn’t get before. A goodly number say it helps them manage finances better.”

AUBURN — It’s no coincidence that Court Commissioner Colleen Nichols holds her weekly drug court inside the Placer County Jail.  

Bailiffs pounce on offenders who test dirty for drugs, skip treatment or otherwise break her strict rules.  

They are handcuffed and sit shamefaced next to the judge’s bench. Soon, they are whisked away to serve short jail sentences _ punishment meant as the adult equivalent of being sent to sit in the corner. 

Those who stay clean, on the other hand, are rewarded with Nichols’ praise and applause from the dozens of other drug offenders waiting their turn. 

They emerge from her jammed courtroom beaming, often to hugs from their spouses or children. Most will have their records wiped clean once they complete the program.  

Drug courts stem from a realization by judges and prosecutors a decade ago that they needed a new tool to battle the crush of crack-cocaine users clogging courts and prisons, said Jeff Tauber, who presided over California's first drug court. They adopted a carrot-and-stick approach that rewards users who stay clean and punishes those who backslide, said Tauber, president of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals.  

There are nearly 700 drug courts nationwide and at least 300 more are planned. They are in 48 of California's 58 counties, and the rest will have them by year’s end, said Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Stephen Manley, president of the California Association of Drug Court Professionals. 

The drug courts reflect a recognition by politicians, judges and prosecutors that simply jailing addicts doesn't work without treatment, Attorney General Bill Lockyer said.  

Lockyer, along with several judges and other law enforcement officials, said that effort would be harmed rather than helped by a drug treatment measure on California’s Nov. 7 ballot.  

Proposition 36 would ban incarceration for those convicted for the first or second time of being under the influence of drugs or possessing drugs for their personal use, instead sending them to treatment programs. 

The initiative, sponsored by the California Campaign for New Drug Policies, would end the short jail sentences at the heart of the drug courts’ strategy. 

Effective as they are for offenders who end up in them, drug courts by their own estimates reach just 5 percent of users, while thousands more go untreated in prisons or jails, replied Dave Fratello, campaign manager for the California Campaign for New Drug Policies. 

Proposition 36 would help drug courts by pouring $120 million a year into treatment, Fratello said.  

“We feel this will complement drug courts,” Fratello said. “There's simply more options for judges if there are more programs out there.”  

Judges can use community service or residential treatment programs instead of jail to punish offenders who test positive for drugs or skip treatment sessions, Fratello said.  

But without the threat of jail, users can walk away from community service or treatment programs, Nichols said in an interview after she finished with her 83rd and final drug offender for the day. Proposition 36 would impose one- to three-year prison sentences on those who repeatedly fail treatment by using drugs or refusing to show up for sessions, but it entails a long process so complex the initiative’s proponents use a flow chart to explain it. 

The intensity of Nichols’ supervision varies based on offenders’ drug history or the severity of their drug crime, and diminishes as offenders work through the 12- to 18-month program. 

Each undergoes periodic drug tests, regular court appearances, counseling or drug classes and self-help meetings such as Alcoholics Anonymous. It’s a busy schedule, and those who mess up know Nichols will immediatel order them led away in handcuffs.  

``One of the cornerstones is accountability and consequences,'' said Nichols, 

who has been running the drug court for 2 1/2 years. ``Without that, you have a 

whole group of people who have no reason to be clean and sober.''  

Participants said it is the frequent testing and threat of jail that forced them to 

stay clean.  

``It keeps you honest,'' said xxx, 22, of Roseville, who went to jail twice 

after testing positive for heroin. ``They're doing it to help you, not to punish 

you.''  

xxx, 30, and xxx, 19, both of Roseville, met in a residential 

treatment program last year: ``It's a love match made in rehab,'' joked xx.  

They entered Placer County's drug court program a year ago, and are among 40 

participants scheduled to graduate next month.  

There will be more hugs and cheers, congratulations from Nichols and other 

law enforcement officials, and each graduate will get a T-shirt proclaiming: ``I 

did it and I'm proud.''  

xx and xx have both spent time in jail, and neither thinks it helped 

them with their drug problem _ except as a deterrent.  

``If people don't have sanctions, if they don't have consequences, then they 

don't have reasons not to use,'' xx said.  

Steven Belenko of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at 

New York's Columbia University, found that drug courts were more effective 

than other community treatment programs, and had lower re-arrest rates for 

graduates.  

He worries that Proposition 36 doesn't require any minimum length of 

treatment, unlike drug court programs that run at least a year.  

``I just don't think this kind of short-term, sporadic treatment is appropriate for 

that kind of (addicted) population,'' Belenko said.  

SAN DIEGO — Border Patrol agents reported hearing shots fired when 10 uniformed men bearing rifles came onto U.S. soil in a canyon east of San Diego. 

Border Patrol officials said the incident occurred Tuesday about four miles east of the Otay Mesa border crossing. 

Agents said the uniform wearing intruders came within 20 yards of the U.S. officers before turning and walking back to Mexico, said Merv Mason, a Border Patrol spokesman in San Diego. 

They did not identify themselves nor could agents recognize any distinguishing markings on their uniforms. 

Although Border Patrol agents said they took cover and radioed for help when they heard shots, a spokesman for the Mexican Consulate in San Diego said there were no shots fired. 

“There has been confusion,” said Roberto Gonzalez. “There were no shots.” 

Nevertheless a Border Patrol helicopter was sent to retrieve the U.S. agents. No one was injured. 

Mason said U.S. officials were consulting with Mexican authorities to determine who the men were and why they crossed.  

They reportedly entered near Otay Mountain in a rural zone where the border is marked by a knee-high fence to bar vehicles from entering the United States illegally. 

Gonzalez was still unsure if any group had entered the U.S territory, saying rugged terrain in that area makes it hard to determine where the border lies. 

U.S. officials say the incident is one of several in which Mexican soldiers and agents have strayed into the United States, mainly along sections where official border markers are sparse. 

Mexican authorities have also accused U.S. border agents of chasing suspected illegal immigrants onto Mexican soil. 

The countries are working to identify “critical” border sections and improve marking by installing poles with flashing lights and coated in reflective paint.

LOS ANGELES — The number of bars complying with California’s smoke-free workplace law has risen dramatically and, rather than losing business as some feared, revenue has increased since the 1998 cigarette ban. 

“I think we’ve seen a cultural change,” Jonathan E. Fielding, county director of public health, said Thursday in announcing results of a survey showing a 46 percent rise in bars complying with the smoke-free law. 

“People now expect a smoke-free environment. While the level of support continues to increase, the bottom line is the bottom line – and that is that business has increased,” Fielding said. 

Most importantly, Fielding said, there’s been an increased number of bar employees who are protected from the dangers of secondhand smoke. 

“We are making great progress in educating the public, including smokers, about the dangers of secondhand smoke. More and more smokers are choosing to step outside instead of risking the health of those around them,” Fielding said. 

A county survey of 600 to 700 establishments with liquor licenses, picked at random, found a 46 percent increase in compliance by stand-alone bars. Overall, including restaurants with bars, compliance was up 15 percent. 

Strong public support and stepped up law enforcement has also helped with the compliance effort. 

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky joined in the compliance announcement. 

“Despite the tobacco industry’s false predictions of doom and gloom when the smoke-free bar law was enacted in January 1998, support for the law continues to increase and business among California restaurants and bars continues to grow,” Yaroslavsky said. 

Mark Lifland, owner of the Philly West bar in West Los Angeles, said he’s benefited from the smoke-free workplace law. 

“Our employees and customers appreciate a smoke-free environment,” Lifland said.

The City Council soundly rejected the mayor’s civic center parking plan at Tuesday’s meeting in favor of a more comprehensive plan that includes education, housing and a strong emphasis on alternative modes of transportation. 

The comprehensive plan passed by a 7-1 vote with only the mayor voting no and Councilmember Diane Woolley absent. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who co-wrote the plan with Councilmembers Linda Maio and Dona Spring, said he was delighted the plan passed and was surprised it won by such a large margin. He said the difference shows the city is ready to try new solutions to the parking problem. “The mayor’s plan screamed parking, parking, parking. Our plan considers education, housing, commuter checks and cost to the city,” he said. 

Mayor Shirley Dean said the approved recommendation is little more than a motion to sit and wait. Dean was especially critical of the plan’s component that directs the city to wait for completion of the Transportation Demand Management Study. The study, which cost more than $50,000, will present an analysis of traffic trends and available parking and suggest possible solutions. It is due within seven weeks.  

“That’s such a smokescreen I can’t believe it,” Dean said. “The study won’t tell you how much parking you need or where to put it.” 

Dean said her recommendation called for a two-pronged approach that would encourage transit and develop a plan for providing parking. She said that something needs to be done quickly. “This situation is a house of cards and parking is getting tighter and tighter and tighter.” 

It is undisputed that there is a shortage of parking for city employees around the civic center and it will get much worse when City Hall is re-occupied in late January. The question before the city is what direction it will take to solve the problem. The mayor, while giving a nod to a Transit First Policy, said a 100 percent transit workforce is impossible to achieve and there will always be a need for some parking and the city should determine the need and provide for it. 

But the other council faction said it’s time for the city to take a more progressive approach. They want to increase incentive for alternate forms of transportation, launch an education program that stresses the importance of using public transit and look into the creation of more affordable housing, so hard-pressed city employees and teachers, can afford to live closer to work.  

Worthington said the proposed parking lot on Oxford Street is an example. “If we build a parking lot at the Oxford Street location we lose the opportunity to create housing on the site,” he said. 

Councilmember Polly Armstrong voted for the comprehensive plan although she took a cautious approach to it. She said people’s lives are complex and the city can’t eliminate parking without having systems in place that will provide for emergencies and other necessities. She suggested the city make cabs available in case a city employee has a home emergency and has to leave work. 

“It’s easy for transit supporters to say leave the car at home and take public transportation but life is more complicated than that,” she said. “We need to humanize whatever parking or transit plan goes into place.” 

Maio, a co-author of the plan, also voiced caution based on a recent report by the city manager. The report, which painted a bleak picture of available parking, analyzed current parking conditions while various construction projects are ongoing and looked at future parking availability once construction is complete.  

“According to the city manager’s report there will be a permanent shortfall of 142 spaces in the civic center area after all construction is done,” she said, “That’s a lot of spaces and something we’ll have to be very aware of.” 

The Berkeley Police Association left no doubt it wants more parking around the new Public Safety Building. At last week’s meeting 20 off-duty officers made their views clear during the public comment portion of the meeting, as well as participating in some Berkeley-style protest chanting in the hallway outside the Council Chamber.  

During the public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting, a succession of speakers got frequent applause from the 30 supporters in the audience, when they spoke against the creation of more parking. 

Carrie Sprague was singled out the previous week by police officers as contributing to the parking problem. Sprague is known to walk the neighborhood near the Public Safety Building with a clipboard recording the license numbers of people who are parked in excess of the two-hour limit. She was heralded by speakers at Tuesday’s meeting. One suggested a huge statue of a woman holding a clipboard should be erected in front of City Hall. 

Robert Wrenn, chair of the Berkeley Planning Commission, said it was time Berkeley stop talking about transit programs and actually put one in place. There’s language in the 1997 Civic Center Urban Design Plan that calls for the city to encourage Civic Center employees to take public transit. But it was never aggressively pursued. 

“Every time I turn around someone is suggesting another parking garage. It’s time we put the same energy into transit.” 

Worthington added that according to financial reports from the two city-owned garages in the area there is only a parking shortage around lunch time.  

“This is not about parking, it’s about free parking,” he said. “If anyone who works for the police department can’t find a parking space they bring me their car and I’ll find a space for it. They’ll have to pay, though.” 

Thursday, Oct. 26

“A Contemporary Food Fight: GM Foods in the market place” 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

A discussion with Dr. Peggy Lemaux, professor of Plant and Microbiology at UC Berkeley, and Dr. Petra Frey from Switzerland, of the scientific basis for biotechnology, it’s risks and benefits. 

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

“What Does Rent Control Do For You” 

2000 Tenants’ rights week 

hourly 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

ASUC/Rent Board booth at Sather Gate on the Berkeley campus. 

644-7714 

New Science & Ancient Wisdom Conference 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

International Center 

2222 Harold Way 

Featured speakers include Father Charlie Moore speaking on “The Cosmic Origins of Man,” Dolores Cannon speaking on “Visions of Nostradamus,” and David Hatcher Childress speaking on “Technology of the Gods.” Event runs through Sunday.  

Pre-registration admission, $65; after Oct. 27, $85 

Call Charles Gotsky, 650-343-5202  

From Morgan to Modern 

Julia Morgan and Hearst Castle:Designing and American Country House 

7:30 p.m. 

The Hillside Club 

2286 Cedar St. 

$10 or $35 for series that continues through November. 

841-2242 

Adult Aerobic Class 

9:30 - 11 a.m.  

Berkeley Adult School 

1414 Walnut St.  

Get fit doing simple routines to upbeat music. Adaptable to those with physical limitations. Free. Every Thursday.  

Call Dolores, 540-0771 

East Bay Science  

& Arts Middle School 

Noon  

BART Plaza, Downtown 

Middle school students perform dances of folk, swing, and Cuban rueda styles. Free.  

Contact Carrie Ridgeway, 549-2230 

Proposition Brown Bag 

Noon - 1:30 p.m.  

Institute of Governmental Studies 

109 Moses Hall 

UC Berkeley 

Hear presentations about and discuss the eight propositions on the California ballot. 642-4608 

Tai Chi 

2 p.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst 

644-6107 

Homeless Action Center’s 10th anniversary Benefit 

Club Muse 

The Vagabond Lovers, comedian Doug Ferrai 

856 San Pablo Ave. Albany 

For ticket information call 540-0878 

Christmas in April  

This volunteer based service renovates homes and community centers for low-income, elderly and disabled persons. They are seeking applications for free home repairs to be completed in 2001. Applicants should be low-income seniors, 55 or older, or disabled residents who own their homes. Applications are due November 1.  

Call 644-8979 

Zoning Adjustments Board Meeting 

7 p.m.  

Old City Hall 

Council Chambers, 2nd Floor 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

West Berkeley Project Area Meeting 

7 p.m.  

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth Ave. 

Friday, Oct. 27

“Transportation: What’s in Store?” 

11:45 a.m. 

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

Larry Dahms, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Council speaks at 12:30 p.m. Luncheon is served at 11:45 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. 

Luncheon: $11 

More info and reservations: 848-3533 

“Right Ways to Get  

Out of a Lease” 

2000 Tenants’ rights week 

hourly 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

ASUC/Rent Board booth at Sather Gate on the Berkeley campus. 

644-7714 

Haunted House 

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

1818 5th St. 

Free 

Donations benefiting youth activities in Berkeley appreciated. 

644-3305  

Conversational Yiddish 

1 p.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst, 644-6107  

Haunted House 

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

1818 5th St. 

Free. Donations benefiting youth activities in Berkeley appreciated. 

644-3305 

Halloween Haunt  

at the Downtown YMCA 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Downtown Berkeley YMCA 

2001 Allston Way 

Free and open to the public. The Y is asking for a $1 donation to benefit the YMCA’s Youth and Government Program. Call 665-3238 

Saturday, Oct. 28

Shakespeare Festival’s annual costume and garage sale  

9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Featuring one-of-a-kind costumes, props, and set pieces from previous productions. Free. 701 Heinz Ave., Berkeley. (510) 548-3422 ext. 120. 

Buddhist Peace Fellowship 

“A Day of Mindfulness with Claude Anshin Thomas” 

A day of meditation, dialogue, teachings and reflection on transforming violence in ourselves an in the world. 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. 

We the People Auditorium, 200 Harrison St.Donations excepted 

496-6072 

Community Workshop to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Berkeley High School  

9 a.m. – noon 

Florence Schwimley Little Theater at Berkeley High School 

Students, parents, teachers, business owners, neighbors, and others are invited to a discussion on that will help set the course for future school improvements and provide the basis for accreditation review. 

540-1252, tinstarr@earthlink.net 

“Grassroots Globalization  

vs. Elite Globalization” 

2 p.m. 

Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library 

6501 Telegraph Ave. 

595-7417 

“Halloween Mask Making” 

Tilden Regional Park 

2 p.m. 

Come learn the origins of Halloween and make a plaster-gauze mask. Registration required. $4. Take Canon Drive off Grizzly Peak Boulevard, Berkeley. (510) 525-2233. 

Pedaling the Green City 

11 a.m. -3:30 p.m.  

Take a leisurely bike ride along the future San Francisco Bay Trail. One in a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations  

Wild About Books? 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

Halloween for the little guys with (not so) scary stories, music, and more.  

Call 649-3943  

Haunted House 

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

1818 5th St. 

Free. Donations benefiting youth activities in Berkeley appreciated. 

644-3305 

St. John’s Church and Camp Elmwood Haunted House  

6:30 to 8:30 p.m.  

Party for teens from 8:45 to 10 p.m. Free. Wear a costume and bring a canned good, book or toy donation. 845-2656 

“The 3rd annual Habitot Halloween” 

Habitot Children’s Museum  

10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

A not-too-spooky Halloween event for young children with entertainment, parades, games, magic and songs. Come in costume. Registration strongly suggested. $4 general; $6 for the first child age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 647-1111 

“Not Very Scary  

Halloween Celebration” 

10:30 a.m. at La Pena  

Betsy Rose performs songs and activities to celebrate the harvest season and the ancestral spirits. Children are invited to come in costume. $4 general; $3 children. 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2572. 

New School’s  

Halloween Bazaar 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m.  

1606 Bonita St. (at Cedar) 

Free to the public, this annual event features face painting, mask-making, children’s games, apple bobbing, pumpkins, live entertainment, and a vast array of other delights. Proceeds benefit the New School’s scholarship fund and the playground project. Free.  

Call 548-9165 

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

Run Your Own Landscape Business: Part 3 

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave. (at Blake) 

Local horticultural consultant and UC Master Gardener Jessie West will teach you how to plant, prune, control weeds, and more. This is the final class in the series. 

$15 general; $10 for members; $5 materials fee 

Call 548-2220 x223 

Sunday, Oct. 29

“Almost Halloween Hike,”  

Tilden Regional Park 

10 a.m.  

Explore the nature of Halloween folklore on the trails.  

“Wake the Dead: A Music Concert”  

Celebrate the Celtic “Day of the Dead” (Halloween) with folksong artists Paul Kotapish and Danny Carnahan.  

2 to 4 p.m.  

(510) 525-2233. 

“Gateway to Knowledge” 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Pl. 

Barr Rosenberg describes how to master new knowledge and take the power to shape our lives in wise and compassionate ways.  

843-6812 

An Evening with The Professor 

5 - 9:30 p.m. 

Mambo Mambo 

1803 Webster St.  

Oakland 

Berkeley resident Geoffrey A. Hirsch, better known as the Tie Guy from the “How Berkeley Can You Be” parade got his start in comedy in 1996. A professor in real life, Hirsch tell the story of how he became a funny guy.  

$5 for show only, $10 for show and dinner 

Call Geoffrey Hirsch at 845-5631 to reserve tickets 

“Liberty Heights” 

2 - 4:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Directed by Barry Levinson, this film introduces the Kurtzmans, middle class Jews living in Baltimore in the 50s’. A discussion of the film will follow.  

$2 suggested donation 

Call 848-0237 

“The Key of Happiness” 

3 p.m. 

St. John’s Church  

2727 College Ave.  

Carlos Lozano, former Columbian Ambassador to India and Egypt, will speak on meditation. Free. 

Call 707-529-9584 

Monday, Oct. 30

Fun with Oragami 

10 a.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

644-6107 

“BYOP: Pumpkin Carving By Porch and Hearth,” 

Tilden Regional Park 

4 to 7 p.m. “Bring your own pepo” 

Take Canon Drive off Grizzly Peak  

Boulevard, Berkeley. (510) 525-2233. 

Tuesday, Oct. 31

Sing-A-Long 

11 a.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

644-6107 

Haunted House 

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

1818 5th St. 

Free 

Donations benefiting youth activities in Berkeley appreciated. 

644-3305 

Wednesday, Nov. 1

Kathak Dancing with Pandit Chitresh Das 

7:30 p.m. 

Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 

2640 College Ave.  

The Graduate Theological Union presents a free lecture-demonstration with Pandit Chitresh Das, a master of India’s Kathak dance form. This event is free. 

Call 649-2440 for additional info 

Mountain Adventure Seminar 

In-store, registration required 

6 p.m.-9 p.m. 

Learn about equip,emt. fundamental climbing techiques and safety procedures. 

$100 REI members, $110 for non members 

To register (209) 753-6556 

Task Force on Telecommunications 

7 p.m. 

North Berkely Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Fire Safety Commission 

7:30 p.m.  

Fire Training Division 

997 Cedar St.  

Discussion will include undergrounding of utilities in Berkeley and a proposal to the City Council for additional support for the Fire Department.  

Citizen’s Budget Review Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Board of Education 

7:30 p.m. 

Old City Hall 

Council Chambers, 2nd Floor 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

Thursday, Nov. 2

PASTForward Panel Discussion 

2 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum 

Bancroft Way (below College) 

In conjunction with the White Oak Dance Project’s performances, a panel discussion with Judson era dance choreographers Yvonne Rainer and Deborah Hay. Free. 

From Morgan to Modern 

“Saddling the Site: The Environmental Designs of Wurster, Church and Others” 

7:30 p.m. 

The Hillside Club 

2286 Cedar St. 

$10. 841-2242 

Berkeley Metaphysic Toastmasters Club 

6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysic come together at Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters. Meets first and third Thursdays each month. 

Call 869-2547 or 643-7645 

Spirit of the Road 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Ave. (at Rose) 

Don Patton, general editor and Vice President of Publishing for the California State Automobile Association presents a slide show celebrating the first one hundred years of the automobile and the CSA. Free. 

Call 843-3533 for more info.  

Friday, Nov. 3

Taize Worship Service 

7:30-8:30 p.m. 

An hour of quiet reflection and song. First Friday of the month. 

Loper Chapel on Dana Street between Durant and Channing Way. 

848-3696 

“Want to Transform your Dreams Into Reality?” 

Lecture by Leonard Orr, world known for creating the Rebirthing and Conscious Breathwork Movement. 

7:30 p.m., 

The Berkeley Friends Church, 1600 Sacramento St. 

$25, 843-6514 

Saturday, Nov. 4

Breathtaking Barnabe Peak 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

Hike through Samuel P. Taylor State Park’s lush forests and climb to the heights of Barnabe Peak, overlooking Point Reyes. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Wild About Books? 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

Dublin Library’s resident storyteller and featured teller at the 1998 National Storytelling Festival tell kids aged 3 to 7 her favorite tales.  

Call 649-3943  

New Science & Ancient Wisdom Conference 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

International Center 

2222 Harold Way 

Featured speakers include Father Charlie Moore speaking on “The Cosmic Origins of Man,” Dolores Cannon speaking on “Visions of Nostradamus,” and David Hatcher Childress speaking on “Technology of the Gods.” Event runs through Sunday.  

Pre-registration admission, $65; after Oct. 27, $85 

Call Charles Gotsky, 650-343-5202 

The Next Ivory Trade? The Intellectual Property Rights of University Faculty 

A conference sponsored by the Berkeley Faculty Association/American Association of University Professors Coalition 

9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley International House 

841-1997 

Sunday, Nov. 5

Buddhist Psychology 

6 p.m.  

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Pl.  

Buddhist teacher Sylvia Gretchen on “Beyond Therapy and Into the Heart of Buddhist Psychology.” Free. 

Call 843-6812  

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour 

Downtown Berkeley  

Tour new construction, new uses, historic rehabilitation and public improvments that are completed or still in the works.  

Noon 

RSVP required 841-0181 space is limited. 

Tickets: $5 for members, $10 for nonmembers. 

A Dispirited Rebellion 

10 a.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Author, television personality and columnist Gadi Taub will explore the literary and cinematic changes in Israeli society since the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin. A brunch will be served at 10 a.m.  

Admission: $7 non-JCC members; $5 members 

Call 848-9237 

Monday, Nov. 6

Airports vs. the Bay 

7 p.m. 

Albany Community Center 

1249 Marin St.  

Albany 

David Lewis, Executive Director of “Save the Bay” will speak on the airports’ plans to expand into the SF Bay and other challenges to Bay restoration.  

Contact: Friends of Five Creeks, 848-9358 

Tuesday, Nov. 7

Zonta Club dinner 

5:30 p.m. 

Berkeley City Club 

$20 per person 

Dr. Sylvia Earle, a marine bioligist, author and Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, will be the featured speaker. 

For more information call 845-6221 

Thursday, Nov. 9

The Life and Art of Chiura Obata 

7:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Public Library 

1170 Alameda (at Hopkins) 

A slide show and lecture presented by Obata’s granddaughter, Kimi Kodani Hill, celebrating Obata’s book, “Topaz Moon: Chiura Obata’s Art of the Internment,” and the retrospective exhibit of Obata’s work to appear this Fall at SFs De Young Museum. 

For details call 644-6850  

From Morgan to Modern 

“Bay Area Modern” 

7:30 p.m. 

The Hillside Club 

2286 Cedar St. 

$10. 841-2242 

ESL Teacher Job Fair 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Adult School 

1222 University Ave., Room 7  

ESL program representatives from adult schools in Alameda and Contra Costa counties will provide information about desired qualifications, current job openings, credentialing requirements, and more.  

Call Kay Wade, 644-6130 

“Feeding the Moon: A Nutritive Approach to Feminine Fertility” 

Lern how fertility is affected by the environment and how it can be enhanced by healthy lifestyle choices 

7:30 to 9 p.m. 

The Ecology Center 

2530 San Pable Ave.  

558-1324, free 

“Diabetes: What to Know Head-to-Toe” 

Health Education Center, 400 Hawthorne Ave. 

12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Free 

869-6737 

Love and Betrayal: A Musical Journey 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Mezzo Soprano Sylvia Braitman discusses the role Gustav Mahler, Kurt Weill, Arnold Schoenberg, and Hanns Eisler played in the development of modernity in German, Austrian and Western music.  

Tuition: $8 for general; $5 JJC members (class code A101-BJ) 

Call 848-0237 for more info.  

Saturday, Nov. 11

Moonlight on Mt. Diablo 

1 - 10:30 p.m.  

Hike up the Devil’s Mountain by daylight, catch a glorious sunset and hike back by the light of the moon. One in a series of free outing organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Sunday, Nov. 12

Views, Vines and Veggies 

9:15 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.  

Climb Bald Mountain in Sugarloaf State Park and peer down upon the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. Then please your palate at the Landmark Winery and visit Oak Hill organic vegetable and flower farm. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

“Time Across Cultures” 

2 - 4 p.m. 

St. Clements Church 

2837 Claremont Ave.  

The annual Roselyn Yellin Memorial lecture with a slide-illustrated panel discussion. Also a tour of the “Telling Time” exhibit at the Judah L. Magnes Museum followed by a reception at the museum, 4 - 5 p.m.  

More info: 549-6950 

Buddhism & Compassion 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Psychiatrist and teacher Bobby Jones on “Healing through Compassion.” Free.  

843-6812 

Monday, Nov. 13

An Evening with Barbara Kingsolver 

7:30 p.m. 

King Middle School 

1781 Rose St. 

Barbara Kingsolver’s works include “Animal Dreams,” “High Tide in Tucson,” “The Poisonwood Bible” and “Prodigal Summer” 

free parking $10 in advance, $13 at the door 

Benefits KPFA and Urban Ecology. 

848-6767 

From Rossi to Bernstein 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Bay Area musician Mark Levy discusses the works of Jewish classical composers beginning with the sixteenth century. The first in a series of three Monday evening classes on music.  

Tuition for all three classes: $30 general public; $20 JJC members, seniors and students  

Individual classes: $10 general; $8 JJC members, seniors and students 

Call 848-0237 

Berkeley Preschool Fair 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Epworth United Methodist Church 

1953 Hopkins St.  

Sponsored by the Neighborhood Parents Network, this fair features representatives from local preschools. The topic will be how to evaluate preschool education philosophies and make the most of the admissions process. A fair featuring many local preschools will follow panel discussion. 

$5 non-members; Free to NPN members 

Call 527-6667 or visit www.parentsnet.org 

Tuesday, Nov. 14

Take a Trip to the Steinbeck Museum and 

Mission San Juan Bautista 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

This is an outing organzied by the Senior Center.  

$40 with lunch, $25 without  

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107 

“The Hand of Buddha” 

7:30 p.m.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck (at Rose) 

In her new book poet, columnist and travel writer Linda Watanabe McFerrin explores the lives of women from different ethnic backgrounds and in moments of crisis. Free 

Call 843-3533 

Compiled by Chason Wainwright 

Measure R is  

a life saver 

Editor: 

As a senior citizen and one of many to whom the passage of measure R will be a life saver, I am writing you concerning the warm-water pool run by the City of Berkeley as part of the Berkeley Unified School District. 

This pool has served the community for over 20 years and is now badly in need of renovation. Due to a spinal condition I swim there several times a week. I find it the one most effective pain reliever I have experienced so far, and it is the only place where I can get the weightless exercise essential to my general health.  

Of the people who I see there and who share my experience there are many who have serious disabilities, many who are in wheel chairs, some who are elderly, some who are quite young, and some obviously in pain. All of them find relief and healing in the warm water of this pool. 

Measure R, if passed, will provide the needed money to save this pool, as neither the City nor the School District reportedly have the funds available to do this.  

I can only have implicit trust in the compassion and humanity of my fellow voters in their support of Measure R. We will be infinitely grateful.  

Augusta Lucas-Andreae 

Berkeley 

Measure R: warm water pool, a partnership 

Editor: 

I was so pleased when I learned that the Berkeley City Council has placed Measure R on the ballot for the November election. This is a wonderful opportunity to rescue and renovate an important community resource—the warm water swimming pool located at Berkeley High School. 

The warm water pool, a cooperative effort between the City of Berkeley and the Berkeley Unified School District, has offered programs to the public for more than twenty years. The pool is located on the Berkeley High School campus and maintained by the city. 

The pool is heated to 93 degrees, ideal for people who need warmth and a low-impact environment to be able to exercise. The pool is regularly used by senior citizens, and people of all ages who are physically disabled because of stroke, injury, cerebral palsy, other neurological conditions, or arthritis. For some, it has been an integral part of their lives for many years. For others, it is a means of recovery from shorter-term injuries or surgery. 

During my years on the Berkeley School Board, the Board received many letters and phone calls from community pool users and medical professionals urging us to preserve the warm water pool, rather than use the space for other purposes, as well as advising us of the need for renovations. I found their descriptions of the physical and emotional benefits of the warm water pool very compelling. One woman explained that the pool was the only place she could exist in the world without pain. Others told how the pool improved the quality of their lives and uplifted their spirits. I had never realized what a broad segment of the community benefited from the warm waters of the pool. 

A few years ago the School Board and Superintendent made a commitment, as part of the new Master Plan for Berkeley High School, to preserve the warm water pool’s place on the high school campus. However, neither the school district nor the city has the funds to pay for the substantial renovations the aged pool requires. Measure R would provide the approximately $3 million needed to save the pool, and cost the average taxpayer only $4 per year. 

I am sure most of us could think of relatives, friends or neighbors whose lives would be helped by swimming in the warm water pool. And those of us who do not need it now might need it someday! Please vote November 7th for Measure R. 

Miriam Topel 

Former Member, Berkeley School Board 1990-98 

Measure Y could cost you $4,500 

Editor: 

Homeowners beware! Measure “Y” applies to you - just as does Section 13 (Good Cause Required for Eviction) of Berkeley’s rent law, which it modifies (= tightens). 

Say you’re renting a room or an in-law suite to a student or other low-to-moderate income person. Under “Y” you would have to pay that person $4,500 “relocation expenses” if you wanted to reclaim the accommodations after a year for your own or your family’s use. Worse yet, if your tenant, regardless of age or disability status, had been there for at least five years, he/she would have gained a lifetime estate, and you’d have to pay even more to dislodge him/her or hire a lawyer and go to court -whichever cost less - in order to regain full possession of your home. Not to speak of the nightmarish scenario which could arise, were you to leave for a year (Sabbatical?) and rent out your home while you’re away. 

Read the proposed measure in all its details (2 and 1/4 full pages in your voter information pamphlet!). It applies to you! Vote NO on “Y”. 

Peggy Schioler 

Candidate for the Rent Stabilization Board 

Measure Y opens the door to discrimination 

Editor: 

How refreshing to see such honesty come from Berkeley Property Owner Association President Robert Cabrera when he states that Measure Y will “grease the skids for discrimination.” 

Is Mr. Cabrera actually saying that by passing legislation protecting certain vulnerable classes of our population (elderly and the disabled) from certain types of evictions that his landlord constituency will then discriminate by not renting to these people? 

And that, in essence, Measure Y should thus be defeated? Following this rationale all Civil Rights legislation passed since the Civil War and all legislation which protects any vulnerable group from discrimination should thus be repealed since the argument is the same. Why hire a woman, a senior, an ethnic minority or a disabled person, since they have legal protection from discrimination? I simply won’t hire them.  

How refreshing indeed to see the President of the Property Owner’s Association reveal true colors when it comes to their sincerity and compassion towards Berkeley renters.  

Matthew Siegel 

candidate for Rent Board 

Olson takes campaign to cyberspace 

The Daily Planet received this press release from Carrie Olson’s District 5 City Council campaign: 

Berkeley City Council candidate Carrie Olson is taking her campaign to the Internet, by launching an online discussion forum to address the issue of growth in California’s 3rd densest city. Landmark Commissioner Olson, who operates MoveOn.org, a national citizens action website, has created a unique on-line venue she calls an ActionForum. This award winning venue is effectively an electronic town hall, using a reader rating system to give every citizen’s comment a chance to rise to the top. ActionForum.com was also used by the Berkeley for citizen discussion of the city’s controversial General Plan draft and by MoveOn.org for their National Goals forum. 

“By engaging citizens in online discussion,” said candidate Carrie Olson, “I’m working to focus the election on important issues facing the city, like the stunning growth anticipated for this already dense town, and away from political-machine partisanship.” 

Citizens using ActionForum are able to join in a dialogue over the Internet with their fellow citizens, where all participants in the forum have the opportunity to be heard and where the highest rated comments rise to the top. ActionForum participants not only rank comments, they also indicate if they agree with the comment. A tally is automatically kept. Citizens can easily change their mind and the tallies are automatically updated. 

Go to: http://www.actionforum.org/national/carrie.html 

Rodefer touts  

health reform 

The Daily Planet received this press release from Benjamin Rodefer’s Distric 5 council campaign.  

Benjamin Rodefer announced today the details of his “Berkeley Care” program, a plan that would offer health insurance to every resident of Berkeley.  

“The goal of Berkeley Care” Rodefer says, “is to address the great disparity in health care coverage among our diverse resident population. The long term hope is that we will be able to divert existing health care funding earmarked for city health services, as well as other County, State, Federal and private funds to augment Berkeley Care and thereby lower enrollee costs. Eventually we hope to be providing universal health care to every resident of Berkeley, and in the process providing National leadership on this crucial issue.” 

How “Berkeley Care” works: 

• The City of Berkeley creates a citywide pool, consisting of both uninsured residents and currently insured residents wishing alternative coverage. 

• The City seeks bids from HMO’s to cover the pool. The higher the city’s enrollment percentage, the lower the insurer’s risk, and hence the lower the corresponding rates. The contract would have a tiered rate structure. 

•. There would be two premium rates: standard and low income. City residents would work directly with the HMO to establish their residency and income status.  

4. The HMO contract would stipulate that a small monthly fee, based on total enrollment for that period, be returned to the city as contribution towards City’s costs. 

5. The City of Berkeley would actively pursue further funding options for Berkeley Care. 

For more information contact Benjamin Rodefer at 510-525-9263 

Or CityCouncil@HipNow.com 

Editor: 

How refreshing to see such honesty come from Berkeley Property Owner Association President Robert Cabrera when he states that Measure Y will “grease the skids for discrimination.” 

Is Mr. Cabrera actually saying that by passing legislation protecting certain vulnerable classes of our population (elderly and the disabled) from certain types of evictions that his landlord constituency will then discriminate by not renting to these people? 

And that, in essence, Measure Y should thus be defeated? Following this rationale all Civil Rights legislation passed since the Civil War and all legislation which protects any vulnerable group from discrimination should thus be repealed since the argument is the same. Why hire a woman, a senior, an ethnic minority or a disabled person, since they have legal protection from discrimination? I simply won’t hire them.  

How refreshing indeed to see the President of the Property Owner’s Association reveal true colors when it comes to their sincerity and compassion towards Berkeley renters.  

Matthew Siegel 

candidate for Rent Board 

Subject:  

AC Transit Needs Transition 

Date:  

Wed, 25 Oct 2000 20:33:16 EDT 

From:  

Robehelen@aol.com 

To:  

opinion@berkeleydailyplanet.com 

“Bus” -- a huge, noisy, polluting vehicle that runs in a static state with  

disregard to neighborhoods, traffic lights, environment, bicycles,  

pedestrians and passengers. After commute hours, buses can be see on  

Telegraph, Shattuck and College Ave., at times, two and three bumper to  

bumper with the front bus transporting all the passengers and the other two  

empty. In the late evening hours on College Ave., it is not uncommon to see  

these monstrosities running pass midnight with one or two passengers. Not  

only does this produce unnecessary traffic, noise, pollution and consumption  

of petroleum products, but it serves as a stage for the ineffective and  

uncreative AC Transit management. It is disturbing that AC Transit does not  

employ an Analyst to research and report recommendations. Can it be so  

difficult to replace these inefficient monstrosities with small economical  

vans to serve the one or two passengers after commute hours? This would  

provide more street for bicycles to pass, less pollution, less noise,  

conservation of petroleum products and it will cut costs for AC Transit not  

only for bus purchases, but for fuel and maintenance.  

Robert Radford 

Berkeley  

Editor: 

To often, Berkeley “Activist” groups work separately or take different approaches to solve the same problem. Your article about the southwest Berkeley neighborhoods opposition to a new fast food complex at 1200 Ashby Ave. appeared above an article stating that southwest Berkeley residents have a life expectancy of 20 years less than those residents in the Berkeley hills. 

There is a major connection here between these two groups of activists and they should be working to help each other. Those residents in southwest Berkeley ( read African American) die at a younger age not only because of a lack of healthcare but because of poor eating habits. A recent study on health showed that black youth get 40 percent of their daily vegetable intake from french fries. An article about the free lunch program in Oakland High schools revealed that very few of those elegible took part but instead bought fast food.  

Obesity among all Americans has increased more than 60 percent since 1990. There is more of a health crisis than a health care crisis.Those who want healthcare for everyone should think in terms of wanting a healthy life for everyone. Help people to enjoy their lives by improving their quality of life not just prolonging it. Berkeley is proud of the fact that it promotes the use of bycyles and not the automobile. It is time for Berkeley to promote healthy lifestyles and ban fast food.  

Caring about health is as important as caring about healthcare. 

Michael Larrick  

(510) 849-4572 

Editor: 

Hello, my name is Kinchasa Taylor and I am and have been a resident of Carrison Street for the past 23 years. I am upset by the article written about the block and how the people who live on the block are represented. 

I believe that the opinions in opposition to the plans to build a fast-food restaurant and mini mart are valid and I would agree with them. 

What I do not agree with is the way my new neighbors portrayed Carrison Street as a “street overrun with drug dealers and prostitutes.” I’d like to point out that Vicki and Mike Larrick have not lived on Carrison Street for eight year as stated. Drug dealers and prostitution has never been a problem on Carrison Street. 

Until they moved in, this street was filled by senior citizens. 

Actually the house in which they live was owned by a senior citizen until her death. They moved in her house maybe 4-5 years after she died. 

I know this because up until they moved in I watered the grass. I believe that my anger is mostly directed at this couple because of their portrayal of themselves as saviors to the community. 

The community expects people who move into the neighborhood to show respect for those that have lived here before and have raised successful families. It saddens me that we have lost our predominantly African American neighbors. 

But as people move in to clean up the neighborhood they must keep in mind that are new that they are joining the group that was already established and attempting to make a change themselves. 

It is really sad to see that my neighborhood is being represented as a bad black neighborhood until it was saved by it’s new white residents. Some of the arrivals of the migration to South Berkeley, do not respect the people, the community, or the residents they have joined with. 

Our land, our efforts, our homes are being taken over by people that have only one thing on there mind: how can I live here and make it the way I want it to be, not how can I become a part of this community and help with the efforts being made.  

If you want to write something about the community, write about the gentrification, genocide, and mentacide occurring in south Berkeley. It’s real and it’s occurring. 

If you don’t believe me ask my old neighbors, senior citizens with historically fixed rents, uniformed of there rights and Measure Y, why they had to move out there homes, and move after over 25 years of occupation.  

Kinchasa Taylor, 

Berkeley 

Berkeley passes last major test in league play; Encinal up next 

In a battle of the ACCAL’s only remaining undefeated boys’ water polo teams, Berkeley High came out on top of Alameda, 12-9, Tuesday afternoon. 

Playing in the smallest pool in the conference, the action was fast and furious as counterattacks came one after another. The visiting Yellowjackets (12-6, 4-0 ACCAL) never trailed in the match and never lost their lead after the first quarter, but the outcome was in doubt until the final two minutes of the final period. 

“We’ve played these guys three times this year, and we’ve won every time,” said Yellowjacket Carl Nasman. “But it’s always close, and they really know how to play in their own pool.” 

Berkeley couldn’t maintain more than a one-goal lead for most of the match, but they didn’t let the Hornets establish their offense enough to tie the match either. Up 9-8 with less than four minutes remaining in the match, the ’Jackets pounded the ball in side to Joe Ravera and David Schooley, who each scored a goal to put the visitors up 11-8 with just two minutes left and remove any doubt about which team was going to win. 

The Yellowjackets main concern on defense was keeping the ball out of the hands of Alameda hole setter Artie Cortez, the Hornets’ best player and the hub of the team’s offense.  

“Our coach told us to double-team him if he got the ball in the hole, and we stopped his pretty well,” Nasman said. 

With Ravera and Schooley playing tough defense on Cortez, the Hornets were reduced to taking shots from the perimeter for much of the match, which played right into the hands of the Berkeley defense. 

“We were terrible shooting and passing today,” said Alameda coach Robert Rodd. “We made their goalie look like and all-star.” 

That goalie, Chris May, made 12 saves in the game and also watched numerous Alameda shots go wide and high of his net. 

“I thought they were actually pretty good shooting out of their set offense,” May said. “But once I got used to the small pool and shots coming from anywhere, it was easier to stop them.” 

May also praised his team’s play against Cortez. 

“We had really good hole-set defense today, and he didn’t get many shots close in,” he said. 

Berkeley jumped out to a quick two-goal lead on goals from Ravera and Schooley, but the Hornets came rushing back to tie the score with two goals of their own in less than a minute of action. Nasman scored a goal before the first intermission to give the ’Jackets a 3-2 lead. 

The second period was more of the same, as both teams scored three goals for a 6-5 halftime score. Cortez got his first goal during the quarter, but it was a shot from the outside as he looked to escape the ’Jackets’ tough interior defense. 

The third quarter was highlighted by spectacular saves from each goalie, as Alameda’s James Britton knocked down inside shots from Ravera and Schooley. But Schooley went to his backhand in the final period, scoring three straight goals for Berkeley to finish with five scores. 

“He beat the same guy with the same moves three times in a row,” Rodd said. “It’s hard to win a game like that.” 

When Ravera found himself three yards out from the Alameda goal with the ball in his hand and no defender in sight, he put the game away with his third goal to put Berkeley up 11-8. Cortez finally got his second goal with a minute left, but Alameda’s frustrations boiled over as Steve Lodigiani was ejected from the action following his third intentional foul, and Berkeley’s Dominic Cathey scored with 37 seconds left on the clock to set the final score and deal the Hornets their first ACCAL loss. 

The girls’ game was considerably less competitive, as the ’Jackets (7-8, 2-3) scored four goals in less than two minutes during the first quarter. From there the rest of the game was just a formality, as Berkeley’s Cody Keffer racked up a second-half hat trick to match the three goals from teammate Carrie Guilfoyle as the Yellowjackets rolled to a 9-3 win. Berkeley goalie Amy Degenkolb made 10 saves in the winning effort.

More than 200 people turned out in the Wednesday morning downpour in front of the Martin Luther King Jr. Way studios of KPFA chanting, as they did during the summer of 1999, “Who’s station? Our station!”  

As during that summer, the protesters were demonstrating over claims that Pacifica Foundation, which governs the five Pacifica stations and holds their licenses, “gags” programmers, dictating what they can and cannot say. 

This time, the protesters were not focused on local programming but on national radio news-magazine co-host Amy Goodman who co-anchors Democracy Now!, a hard-hitting unabashedly left leaning show that has won awards for reporting on police brutality, Chevron’s role in Nigeria, East Timor and more.  

Speakers claimed Goodman is being micro-managed by her Pacifica bosses and saddled with new work rules, which Goodman describes in an e-mail as a “desire of management to reign in and exert political control over Democracy Now!” 

Demonstrations were held Wednesday at each of the five Pacifica stations. 

“This is about a political housekeeping purge,” noted author and media critic Norman Solomon told the morning rally, which spilled off the sidewalk and onto the street.  

“They’re trying to implement an ideological litmus test. If you’re more progressive than Al Gore, get off our air waves,” he said. 

Goodman describes the situation in an e-mail distributed by Northern California Pacifica board member Tomas Moran. 

She talks about going into a meeting in mid October with the Pacifica program director and executive director which she said she believed was to “resolve a series of escalating conflicts which have erupted in recent months between (program director Stephen) Yasko, Executive Director Bessie Wash, myself and the Democracy Now! staff....Instead we were suddenly faced with this list of ‘ground rules’ and the threat to fire me.” 

Among the rules is a demand to present a list of topics for shows for the next week and to accept only speaking engagements that have been preapproved by the program director.  

Goodman further claims that two new producers are being imposed on her and co-host Juan Gonzales without their approval. “The two producers – our only producers – are the heart of this show,” Goodman writes. “It is clear from all of management’s actions, they are using this opportunity to change the political direction of the program.” 

Pacifica’s public relations department’s voice mailbox in Washington, D.C., was full Wednesday and Executive Director Bessie Wash was traveling and unavailable for comment.  

Pacifica did issue a statement on the matter on Monday, noting that Democracy Now! “has become one of our most valued programs.” 

The Pacifica memo further asserted: 

• It has not dictated Democracy Now! programming, nor has it censored the programming. “Comments were not presented to Ms. Goodman as directives. Such input is part of the collaborative radio production process.” 

• Goodman’s bringing Ralph Nader onto the floor of the Republican Convention in order to get his live commentary from there and using a borrowed press pass, “put all of Pacifica in danger of not receiving credentials for the Democratic Convention,” the memo said, explaining that is why management did not allow Democracy Now! hosts to get Democratic Convention press passes. 

• Contrary to claims, Goodman has been part of conversations in the process of choosing new producers. It is intended for both Goodman and Yasko to interview candidates together. 

• Pacifica has not tried to limit Goodman’s free speech, but asked her to inform the Foundation of Pacifica-related speaking activities and to get approval. “National radio hosts are Pacifica ambassadors and intrinsically represent the organization at an function where they make public remarks.” 

For more information, see www.mediademocracyow.org or www.pacifica.org. 

Alameda deals Berkeley second loss of season 

It was a battle of the stinging insects on Tuesday when the Berkeley High Yellowjackets’ women’s tennis team fell to Alameda High’s Hornets by a score of six matches to one. 

With the loss, their second of the season to Alameda, the ‘Jackets fell to 4-2 in league play. Alameda are now 5-0 and are clear favorites to claim the ACCAL title. 

Alameda swept six of seven matches from the Yellowjackets in decisive fashion and looked like a force to be reckoned with in the upcoming NCS playoffs. 

Berkeley’s top singles player, the nationally-ranked Megan Sweeney, fell to Alameda’s Megan Falcon in a tough match in which the scoreline wasn’t reflective of the run of play. It was a battle of baseliners, and while Sweeney seemed to overpower her opponent at times, Falcon was steadier throughout the contest. Falcon’s victory was an excellant example of the technique known as pushing, in which a player seeks to outlast her opponent through keeping her shots soft and deep. 

At No. 1 doubles, Talia Gracer and Carly Kleiman were defeated by an Alameda pair, Valerie Surh and Liz Lam, who were simply more aggressive. While Berkeley’s tandem often let balls bounce near the net, Surh and Lam pounced on short balls, creating easy volleys and putting them away nicely. The Alameda couple played fundamental doubles, taking big swings from the baseline and attacking the net. 

Joanna Letz was the lone standout in an otherwise dissapointing day for the ‘Jackets, as she cruised to an easy victory in 45 minutes. Her individual triumph combined with her support from the sideline were not enough to power her teammates to victory, and Alameda had clinched the four matches necessary for the win well before the 90-minute mark. 

Berkeley loses only two seniors after this season, Talia Gracer and Sarah Lesser, and have two freshman in their top four spots. “Our freshman have been a big part of the team,” Letz said.  

The team also has five juniors and is likely to improve next season. The strength of Berkeley and Alameda’s programs, combined with the schools’ similar mascots and colors (Berkeley’s Yellowjackets wear red and gold; Alameda’s Hornets wear black and gold) could produce quite a tennis rivalry in the future of the ACCAL. 

“Berkeley’s an up and coming team,” said Alameda coach Glen Oetman. “Those freshman will be a force to be reckoned with. Next year this will be a real challenging match.” 

“The score may look one-sided, but the play hasn’t shown that,” Oetman added.  

“I’m happy with everyone’s performance,” Berkeley coach Dan Seguin said of his players. “Everyone did better than last time when we played (Alameda). Alameda was just a better team.” 

Berkeley finished dead last in the competitive EBAL last season, and will most likely improve to a second place finish this year. 

“It’s good to be winning,” said Letz. 

Still, Seguin is already looking forward to next season, when he hopes Berkeley can challenge for the ACCAL title.  

“We’re going to look better. We have a good shot at winning league.”

The U.S. Attorney released new specific charges Wednesday against Berkeley’s largest landlord and four members of his family charged with fraudulently bringing foreign workers to the country for cheap labor and sex.  

In a letter dated Oct. 19, the attorney states that Lakireddy Bali Reddy, his sons Vijay Kumar Lakireddy and Prasad Lakireddy, his brother Jayprakash Lakireddy and his wife, Annapurna Lakireddy will enter guilty pleas next week. 

The “superseding information” filed Wednesday is far more detailed than the charges filed early last year. It names the persons whom the Reddy family allegedly brought to the United States fraudulently, includes charges against the three other members of the family and adds filing a fraudulent tax statement to the charges Reddy faces. 

Each of the family members is alleged to have helped numerous persons enter the country fraudulently. Reddy is charged with bringing in some two dozen people and is also charged with making false statements on his Income Tax Return. While he claimed he had no interest or authority over financial accounts in another country, in 1998, he had a financial account in India, according to the U.S. Attorney’s documents. 

Reddy’s wife, who will be assisted by a translator when she enters a guilty plea Tuesday, is alleged to have helped 10 persons enter the country fraudulently; his brother, Jayprakash is charged with aiding the entry of three persons; his older son is alleged to have aided nine. The younger son, Vijay is alleged to have aided six persons, most having come in on high-tech visas to work for his Berkeley-based Active Tech solutions and be paid about $43,000 annually. He is accused of bringing a woman to “work without pay as a nanny.”  

New charges mean that persons already arraigned must be newly arraigned, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. Vijay Lakireddy was arraigned Wednesday, Reddy will be arraigned today and the three others will be arraigned on subsequent dates. 

The specific charges explain that Reddy, hist two sons and wife would submit fraudulent visa petitions to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, then the four, plus Prasad Lakireddy would arrange for Indian nationals to come into the United States on the basis of the fraudulent petitions. Four among those charged (Prasad Lakireddy is not so charged) would arrange for the Indian nationals to be picked up at the airport and taken to businesses or apartments owned by the defendants. 

Four of the defendants ( Reddy’s wife is not so charged) would employ the illegal immigrants in their businesses – Jay Construction, Reddy Realty and Pasand Restaurants, all in Berkeley – “and would employ these aliens at various times without paying them the minimum wage or overtime premium as required by law.” 

Reddy and Lakireddy are further charged with bringing minor female Indian nationals “for purposes of engaging in illegal sexual activity for defendant Lakireddy Bali Reddy.” 

A hearing on these charges is scheduled in U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong’s Oakland courtroom Monday. 

Despite much protest among its members late Tuesday night, the City Council narrowly passed a design concept for the Aquatic Park Sound Barrier, which was described by one Councilmember as a “rusty steel wall with flowers on it.” 

Councilmember Polly Armstrong said the council did not have a chance to review the new $3.5 million design and was pressured to make a late-night decision. “It’s 11:30 p.m. and we’re talking about a multimillion dollar project that will either be a work of art or a very expensive disaster,” she said. 

The concept was approved by a vote of 5-3, with Mayor Shirley Dean and Councilmembers Betty Olds and Polly Armstrong voting against the motion. Councilmember Diane Woolley was absent. 

The 3,100-foot sound barrier will consist of a sheet-pile metal wall punctuated approximately every 200 feet by clusters of thick concrete pipes standing on end, filled with compacted dirt and topped with plants and flowers. The wall will run between the east side of Interstate 880 and the 32-acre Aquatic Park, which is part of the Pacific Flyway for migratory birds. 

The City Council wanted something else than the generic California Department of Transportation wall and hired a group of engineers and architects to design a sound barrier that was unique. After going through a difficult approval process with Caltrans, the engineering and architecture firm, The Crosby Group, was able to put together an initial design concept and presented in to the Council late Tuesday night.  

There was pressure on the Council to decide Tuesday because it won’t meet again until Nov. 15 and the design concept had to be approved by Nov. 13 or the city would risk losing state funding.  

Mayor Shirley Dean said she was furious with the last-minute review and vote. She said it was amazing that the project was not presented to the Council sooner. “This is a project that I’ve fought for and been very involved with and to be out of the loop and then have it plucked down on me at 11:30 p.m. at night is outrageous.” 

Dean said that this is an example of a frequent problem of city decision-makers not having enough time to review projects and then having to quickly make a decision. “This has got to stop,” she said. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington complimented Parks and Waterfront Director Lisa Caronna for putting the creative project together. He added Caltrans is not known for being very open to creative new ideas when it comes to sound barriers. “It’s a miracle that we made it this far.” 

Thousands of hospital workers are striking today, affecting services at eight hospitals in Alameda, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano and Lake counties. 

The walkout of some 3,500 doctors, registered nurses, emergency employees, technicians and other members of the Health Care Workers Union SEIU Local 250 was prompted by the hospitals' alleged unlawful practices during negotiations and their refusal to bargain in good faith, said union spokesman Allen White. 

The strike is at three Catholic Healthcare West hospitals, including Seton Medical Center, Saint Francis Memorial Hospital and St. Mary's Medical Center, and five Sutter Health Hospitals, including Alta Bates Medical Center, Eden Medical Center, Summit Medical Center, Sutter Solano Medical Center and Sutter Lakeside Hospital. 

White says the union has filed more than 20 charges against CHW and Sutter for actions taken against employees, including threatening employees and conducting illegal surveillance

SAN FRANCISCO — Of the 337 car and pedestrian collisions this year where the driver was likely at fault, only one in 10 drivers received a citation, the San Francisco Examiner reported Monday. 

The paper’s review of police records of accidents and citations from January to June found that drivers who hit and killed 28 pedestrians this year did not receive tickets, though a few are being prosecuted for vehicular manslaughter.  

Fifty-four of the accidents were hit and run. 

Police issued just 39 citations at the same time that Mayor Willie Brown, Police Chief Fred Lau and Supervisor Mabel Tend pledged to toughen enforcement and make streets safer with new ads, longer green lights and talking pedestrian signals.

Three Berkeley residents and two Berkeley organizations will be honored tonight at the Berkeley Community Fund’s Seventh annual Awards Dinner. 

The event will be hosted by Board President Narsai David and will continue the 71-year tradition of bestowing the Benjamin Ide Wheeler Medal for long-time service to Berkeley.  

This year, Chief Justice of the United States District Court for Northern California Thelton E. Henderson, will receive the prestigious award.  

Judge Henderson is honored for his lifetime of work in the areas of civil rights, constitutional principles and mentoring of young minority lawyers.  

Berkeley Community Awards will be awarded to individuals who have served the community well. 

This year’s recipients are Carolyn North, founder and mainstay of the Daily Bread program; and Harry Weininger, civic and cultural leader and consensus builder.  

North took a simple and courageous step when she decided to connect excess food from restaurants and bakeries with hungry people. 

Weininger has shown Berkeley the importance of “seeing the commonalties” in people and the danger of political polarization within a community.  

Bay Area Outdoor Recreation Program and the New Bridge Foundation will receive the Berkeley Community Award for nonprofit groups that comes with a grant of $5,000. 

In addition to these grants, the fund has awarded 18 grants to community organizations in Berkeley, as well as three $2,000 college scholarships to deserving Class of 2000 Berkeley High School graduates Jabris Patterson, Jimmy Tran and Dana Troy. Grants and scholarships come from community contributions and foundation grants. 

Because the board of directors covers all administrative costs, all contributions go directly into grantmaking and scholarships.  

The Berkeley Community Fund was founded in 1992 by civic, business and community leaders committed to improving life in Berkeley by philanthropy focused on solutions to social and economic problems at the local level.  

The Dinner will be at H’s Lordships in the Berkeley Marina. A reception will begin at 6 p.m., dinner at 7 p.m. 

Ticket prices for this event, with dinner and entertainment, are being kept to $35 to make the event affordable to a larger number of people. The costs for the dinner and awards are being underwritten by local businesses and individuals. For more information, call 843-5202

SACRAMENTO — The nation’s drug czar has weighed in against a proposal on California’s Nov. 7 ballot that would require treatment instead of incarceration for nonviolent drug users. 

Proposition 36 threatens California’s existing drug treatment programs, White House Drug Policy Director Barry R. McCaffrey said Wednesday in an open letter to actor Martin Sheen. Sheen is honorary chairman of California United Against Drug Abuse, the proposition’s primary opponent. 

McCaffrey’s opposition four years ago wound up energizing supporters of a successful 1996 California proposition that permitted the use of marijuana for medical purposes, said Dave Fratello, campaign manager for the pro-36 California Campaign for New Drug Policies. 

“People really just reject the notion that the top cop for the drug war would tell them how to vote,” Fratello said. “By always picking losers, I think he’s shown he’s out of step.” 

McCaffrey said Proposition 36’s lack of funding for drug tests, coupled with a ban on short jail sentences, would mean less effective treatment for addicts, and would undermine judges’ discretion.  

The proposition requires treatment instead of jail or prison for those convicted for the first or second time of possessing drugs or being under their influence. 

Opponents had asked McCaffrey to consider holding a news conference outlining his objections. No such news event is scheduled with less than two weeks before the election, said Jean Munoz, a spokeswoman for opponents. 

Meanwhile, supporters of the proposal are launching a new 30-second television ad that dramatizes a California drug user going to jail while an Arizona user gets treatment. Arizona voters approved a drug treatment initiative in 1996. 

SAN FRANCISCO — A state court upheld assault and alcohol convictions against a former Pelican Bay State Prison guard on Wednesday. 

The 1st District Court of Appeal said there was no evidence to reverse Jose Garcia’s conviction last year for assaulting a sex-offender convict. Garcia was sentenced to nearly five years imprisonment for charges that included possessing alcohol in prison. 

He was accused of soliciting or directing inmates to assault sex offenders in 1994 and 1995. He rewarded the assaulting inmates with deodorant, booze and silk underwear 

The state appeals court was not swayed by Garcia’s contentions that he was framed, that there was a lack of evidence to uphold the conviction and that possessing alcohol was not forbidden. 

Garcia faces a federal trial on similar charges alleging that, from 1992 to 1995, he conspired to deprive five inmates of their civil rights. 

Garcia and another guard, Mike Powers, are accused of causing inmates to stab and punch five other prisoners, some of whom were convicted sex offenders or child molesters. 

That federal trial is pending. 

SANTA CRUZ — The city council of this fervently-liberal seaside city voted unanimously Tuesday to pass the nation’s highest living wage – $11 dollars an hour, or $12 without benefits. 

Like most of the roughly 50 other living wage ordinances nationwide, Santa Cruz’s would at first only cover full-time workers for the city or for-profit companies with city contracts. Most city workers already make more than $11 an hour. 

City officials want to extend the minimum wage to temporary workers employed by the city and to workers for social service agencies funded by the city. 

The ordinance had no formal opposition as it was being developed over the last few months. But the Santa Cruz Chamber Area Chamber of Commerce said Tuesday it did not support the measure because of key questions about its impact. 

Chamber President Ken Whiting said the City Council had not addressed whether the ordinance would price unskilled workers out of some jobs or whether it would reduce the amount of public services that can be provided in the city. 

While some economists contend “living wage” laws are symbolic and have little effect, supporters of the Santa Cruz ordinance believe it will give hundreds of people a boost, even in communities elsewhere in the county. 

The National Association of Home Builders recently ranked Santa Cruz the second-least affordable area in the nation – behind only San Francisco. 

On the Net: 

Santa Cruz County Coalition for a Living Wage: http://members.cruzers.com/cab/livingwage/livingwage.html

SANTA MONICA — The celebrity-filled Malibu shore is known for more than swaying palms, sun-roasted sands and bronzed surfers: The lapping waves also contain some of Southern California’s filthiest ocean water. 

The environmental watchdog group Heal the Bay released its annual Beach Report Card for Summer 2000 and Malibu’s Surfrider Beach led the list of Los Angeles County spots getting a failing grade for high bacteria levels. 

Surfrider is adjacent to the exclusive Malibu Colony gated outpost. 

Will Rogers, Big Rock, Santa Monica Pier, Herondo Street, Redondo, Cabrillo, Long Beach, Alamitos Bay and Avalon beaches also got “F” marks. 

Heal the Bay took weekly ocean samples at 373 beaches from Santa Barbara to San Diego counties between May and September and gave “A” grades to 257 beaches. There were 38 “B” marks, 34 “C’s” and 17 “D’s”. 

Beaches were graded on a 28-day rolling average based on the risk of ocean users becoming ill. 

“F” grades went to 27 beaches, including Santa Barbara County’s Gaviota and Arroyo Quemado beaches as well as Ventura County’s Peninsula and Channel Islands harbor beaches and Sycamore Cove beach. 

Orange County’s “F” beaches included Seal Beach, Huntington Harbour, Huntington State, Santa Ana River Mouth and Newport. San Diego County’s Oceanside, Encinitas, Mission Bay, Ocean Beach and San Diego Bay. 

On The Net: http://www.healthebay.org

SACRAMENTO — Booming state budget reserves will force a $1.1 billion, quarter-cent cut in California’s sales tax next year, saving the typical family of four $120, Gov. Gray Davis said Wednesday. 

The cut will be the fourth and largest reduction in sales taxes in California history. 

“I believe this is an appropriate way to share with the taxpayers of this state some of the bounty they have bestowed on us,” the Democratic governor said at a Capitol news conference. 

The cut is required by a 1991 law that says sales taxes must be slashed a quarter percent when budget reserves exceed 4 percent of the state general fund for two straight fiscal years. 

California ended the last fiscal year with a reserve that ballooned to about 10 percent, and Davis said his Finance Department was projecting the reserve at the end of this fiscal year would also top 4 percent. 

The cut means the sales tax will vary from 7 percent to 8.25 percent next year depending on the county. Many counties have approved sales tax increases for projects such as transportation. 

The state Finance Department will have to make another reserve assessment next fall to determine if the cut continues beyond 2001. 

Davis credited the state’s booming economy and his veto of $5.1 billion in appropriations over the last two years for the cuts. 

The Legislature’s Republican leaders contended that former GOP Gov. Pete Wilson, who signed the 1991 law, should get credit for the cut. 

Republicans also claimed that the timing of Davis’ announcement was political because of the upcoming election. They said the cut should be made permanent. 

Davis said he was required to announce the cut by Nov. 1 and would have faced more criticism if he waited until then. He also said the state’s long-term economic picture was too uncertain to make the cut permanent. 

“I’m trying to chart a prudent course and keep us somewhere in the middle,” he said at a news conference. “I don’t want to jump the gun on spending; I don’t want to jump the gun on tax relief.” 

He said the sales tax cut would come on top of $3.5 billion in other tax cuts enacted as part of the current state budget. 

The quarter-cent cut will cost the state $1.099 billion next year, a savings for taxpayers of about $31 per person. 

Someone buying a $25,000 car would save $62.50 because of the cut, said Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio. 

Republicans noted that Davis threatened to veto a budget-related bill in June because it could have triggered the sales tax cut. 

Davis said that at that point it was not clear what the state’s budget picture would be. 

Asked if he should have supported more aid for local governments instead of allowing spending to build up, Davis said he had been generous in supporting cities and counties, mentioning his $5.7 billion transportation plan. 

“This is a balancing act,” he said. “Different people might arrive at different conclusions.” 

State Controller Kathleen Connell, a Democrat who is running for mayor of Los Angeles next year, said the sales tax reduction was “an automatic and symbolic tax cut..., nothing more.” 

“With California’s economy continuing to grow, we are in a position to make even deeper and more meaningful tax cuts,” she said. 

SAN DIEGO — A growing number of people diagnosed with AIDS in San Diego have used intravenous drugs or had sex with people who injected drugs, according to the county’s health department. 

The report was released Tuesday, a week after the City Council moved a step closer toward authorizing a clean needle exchange program. 

“Cases attributable to directly injecting drugs and secondary spread to sexual partners and offspring account for a larger proportion of AIDS cases each year,” the report said. 

Since the first case of AIDS was reported in San Diego County in 1981, 10,244 people have been diagnosed with the disease, the third highest number of AIDS cases among California counties.  

An additional 4,700 to 9,000 are estimated to be HIV positive. 

In 1984, 2 percent of people with AIDS reported using intravenous drugs. By 1999, it was 13 percent. 

As of Sept. 30, nearly 7 percent of the 10,553 people with AIDS in the county were women, but among drug users with AIDS, females comprised nearly 33 percent.  

Additionally, a third of all people with AIDS were ethnic minorities but more than half of the people with AIDS who were also intravenous drug users were ethnic minorities. 

Sixty percent of women and 20 percent of men attributed their HIV infection directly to injection drug use or being a sexual partner of an injection drug user, the report said. 

While the county Board of Supervisors has refused to approve a clean needle exchange program, the City Council last week declared a health state of emergency, one of the first steps needed to implement a needle exchange. 

At least four California cities – Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Cruz – and Marin County have adopted emergency ordinances allowing such needle exchanges. 

The number of new HIV and AIDS cases in the county is similar to trends nationwide showing that the disease is spreading fastest among women and ethnic minorities. 

The number of AIDS cases among young men is also on the rise. Of the men testing positive for HIV and AIDS at the county’s clinics, more than a third are between the ages of 19 and 30, said Terry Cunningham, director of the county Office of AIDS Coordination, which compiled the report. 

New drug therapies have helped people with AIDS live longer, the report said. In 1996, 400 county residents died of AIDS compared with 151 deaths in 1998. 

CBS Inc. agreed to settle a class-action sex discrimination lawsuit involving some 200 women technicians for $8 million, attorneys said Wednesday. 

The agreement, which must be approved by a federal judge, also includes changes in how CBS handles job training and overtime opportunities, said Susan Stokes, one of the attorneys representing the women. 

The lawsuit, filed in 1996, accused CBS of discriminating against its female technical employees at television stations in Minneapolis, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit and Green Bay, Wis. Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Donavan Frank approved the case as a class action. 

The women claimed they were denied assignments, promotions, overtime and training and were forced to work in a sexually hostile work environment. 

CBS admitted no liability or wrongdoing in the settlement, Stokes said. 

A CBS spokesman did not immediately return a phone call. 

“We’re very pleased with it,” Stokes said of the agreement, which will go before a federal judge for preliminary approval Nov. 17. Final approval isn’t expected until January. “It provides a lot of important changes that will help make the playing fields level for everyone.” 

As part of the agreement, CBS must post open positions and training opportunities and set up a mechanism for technicians to express interest in working overtime or on certain assignments, Stokes said.  

The women in the class will get additional training “to make up for what’s been denied them in the past,” she said, and CBS will change its equal employment opportunity policy and complaint procedures. 

CBS’ compliance will be monitored for four years. 

The amount of money each woman will receive will be based on length of service and the type of claim, Stokes said. An average figure wasn’t available. 

In November 1999, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission determined that CBS had discriminated against female technicians at its stations. CBS has denied allegations about condoning a hostile and discriminatory workplace.

LOS ANGELES — A panel of scientists urged state officials to toughen standards for chromium 6 in water, stating there is compelling evidence that it causes cancer. 

In testimony Tuesday during a joint hearing of state regulatory agencies, toxicology professor John Froines of the UCLA School of Public Health said studies have shown chromium 6 to be a carcinogen when inhaled through air, which makes it a likely carcinogen when ingested through water. 

The state should quickly take action to purge water supplies of the chemical, even though scientists and regulators are still debating its risk, said Froines, chairman of the advisory board for the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. 

“You can take the political, legal and economic argument (against the tougher standard), and it will go on for 10 years,” Froines said. “We should assume the correctness of the state’s public health goal for chromium 6 and begin from there.” 

Froines was among nearly two dozen experts, regulators and citizens who testified before the joint hearing of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, the Senate Natural Resources and Wildlife Committee and the Assembly Committee on Environmental Safe and Toxic Materials. 

The hearing, which was attended by about 200 people, was called by state Senators Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, and Tom Hayden, D-Los Angeles. 

Schiff called on the state Department of Health Services to issue an “action level” directive, which would not have the force of law, but would urge local water agencies to meet a chromium standard as quickly as possible. 

Officials with the state Department of Health Services say it could take five more years to implement a new standard, which prompted Tuesday’s hearing. The agency has urged public water systems to test for chromium 6 and was drafting emergency regulations to require testing by the end of the year, said David Spath, the department’s drinking water chief. 

It was unlikely that the department would issue an emergency regulation, because chromium 6 is not an immediate public health threat, Spath said. 

“This is not a case of acute toxicity,” he told the joint committee. 

Chromium 6 has been suspected of causing cancer in several high-profile lawsuits. In a 1996 case made famous by the Julia Roberts film “Erin Brockovich,” residents of the San Bernardino town of Hinkley won a $333 million settlement from Pacific Gas & Electric because the company’s underground tanks leaked chromium 6 into ground water.

LOS ANGELES — Voters in California favor Vice President Al Gore over Texas Gov. George Bush by 7 percentage points in the race for president, according to a statewide poll published Wednesday by the Los Angeles Times. 

Gore once held a double-digit lead in California, which is a crucial state politically because it controls 54 of the 270 electoral votes needed for the presidency. A poll released Monday by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California also showed Gore’s lead over Bush shrinking from 9 to 5 points since last month. 

The Times poll found that Gore held a broad edge over Bush among women in the state and is only narrowly behind among men, which contradicts the national trends that have made the overall race a dead heat. 

The 48 percent to 41 percent lead for Gore comes despite a $6 million ad campaign waged by the Republican Party on Bush’s behalf. 

The poll found that Gore maintains strong connections in California, with 62 percent of the voters registering a positive impression of him, while only 37 percent have a negative view. Voters’ impressions of Bush are negative, with 51 percent expressing an unfavorable impression and only 46 percent a positive one. 

“California voters firmly believe that the nation and the state are going in the right direction, and these voters say they will back Gore,” said Susan Pinkus, director of the Times Poll. “It all hinges on turnout.” 

Four of five California voters believe Gore has the intellect and experience to be president, a majority so large that it includes many Bush voters.  

In Bush’s case, voters are ambivalent, with 47 percent saying he has enough experience and intellect, but 42 percents believe he does not. 

The Times poll interviewed 1,304 Californians, including 852 likely voters, from Thursday through Monday and has a margin of sampling error for likely voters of plus or minus 4 percentage points. 

What does a renter do when the toilet doesn’t work, the roof leaks and the landlord refuses to return the security deposit?  

It’s Tenants’ Rights Week on the UC Berkeley campus and answers were dispensed Tuesday at a booth in Sproul Plaza, where five volunteer students talked to a steady stream of renters who are having landlord trouble and are uncertain about their rights. 

The students are volunteers with UC Berkeley’s Renters’ Legal Assistance, an organization formed in 1998 to help tenants – especially students who make up about 30 percent of Berkeley residents – understand their options.  

“Student tenants come from other states, they’re often renting for the first time and they can be naive,” said Carlos Rios, a housing counselor with the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board the cosponsor of Tenants’ Rights Week. “Our effort is to make sure they are an informed body so they can conduct their business properly.” 

Two members of the Berkeley Property Owners Association heard about the event and set up a booth right next to Tenants’ Rights Tuesday morning. Claude Zamanian and Robert Englund handed out leaflets and cookies. However, since they are not students and did not have a permit, campus police asked them to fold up the table and chairs. Police allowed them to continue displaying a placard and handing out literature and cookies, however. 

“We are just here to present the landlords’ point of view,” Zamanian said.  

According to one of their fliers, property owners claim strict rent control creates a housing shortage and fewer controls means more rental space for students. Property owners argue that low rent created under rent control makes tenants unlikely to move. In one flier a landlord was quoted as saying: “I’d love to house the class of 2000, but I’m still housing the class of ’79.”  

The students are holding counseling sessions all week in Sproul Plaza from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday’s theme was “All About Security Deposits.” Tenants are often unsure of their rights when it comes to retrieving security deposits and landlords sometimes take advantage, organizers said. 

For example many tenants don’t know landlords are required to pay interest on security deposits in either rent rebates or cash payments, they said. Upon request they are also required to provide bank statements detailing the time during which the interest was earned and the amount of interest paid. 

“The other problem is landlords withholding a large percentage of deposits for repairs that were existing when the tenant moved in,” said Kim Encianas, a student volunteer with Renters’ Legal Assistance. 

Tenants are advised to take pictures of as much of dwelling as possible both when they move in and when they move out. 

Today’s theme is “How to Get Repairs Done.” The counselors will offer information about what steps to take when the landlord refuses to fix common problems such as heating problems, roof leaks and broken faucets. 

Eileen Lau, a UC student who pays $700 a month for a small room in a rooming house, was glad to get some definitive answers to her landlord problems. “The upstairs bathroom hasn’t worked in months and he refuses to fix it although it doesn’t stop him from charging exorbitant rent,” she said.  

Zamanian said landlords who aren’t getting what they deem to be a fair rent for apartments are sometimes not motivated to fix problems. “Landlords often feel like they’re not getting a fair return on their investment and are not so motivated to fix problems.” he said.  

He pointed out that last year the city allowed landlords to raise rents only $6 per month per unit and this year they could raise rents by $10. 

On Monday the counselors held a workshop called “How to Handle Problems With Your Roommate.” There is little legal recourse with these issues, but counselors offered advice on how to avoid common problems like paying utilities, loud music and dirty dishes.  

Thursday’s topic is “What is Rent Control and Friday’s is “How to Break Your Lease.” Though the various days have specific themes, counselors said they are happy to answer any housing questions the public might have. 

Encianas said that often tenants know their rights are being violated but have to get verification and also advice about how to proceed. “A lot of times they know the answers they just have to hear it from somebody.” 

There will be a public hearing on rent issues tomorrow on campus at the Associated Students’ Senate Chambers at 5:30 p.m.  

For more information about housing issues you can contact the Rent Stabilization Board at (510) 644-6128 or visit their web site at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us./rent/ or contact the Berkeley Property Owners Association at 525-3666. 

Wednesday, Oct. 25

International Jewish Video Competition Winners 

7:30 p.m.  

Pacific Film Archive 

2575 Bancroft Way 

Screening of the four winners in the Museum’s seventh annual competition.  

Call 549-6950 

“How to Get Needed Repairs” 

2000 Tenants’ rights week 

hourly 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

ASUC/Rent Board booth at Sather Gate on the Berkeley campus. 

644-7714 

Hearing with City Council/Rent Board Housing Committee  

5:30 p.m. 

Eshleman Hall Chambers 

644-7714 

Low vision support group 

1:15 p.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst 

644-6107 

Civic Arts Commission 

6:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St.  

Halloween Puppet Show with Hazel Jazel 

3:30 p.m.  

San Pablo Library, 1555 International Marketplace, San Pablo. (510) 374-3998. 

Free. 

Disaster Council 

7 p.m. 

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar 

Discussion on a City Council item about earthquake preparedness.  

Energy Commission 

5:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Discussion of a report on renewable energy and a report on residential energy consumption. 

Mental Health Commission 

6:30 p.m. 

Mental Health Clinic 

2640 MLK Jr. Way 

Planning Commission 

7 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St.  

Public hearing and comment on the planning commission draft general plan.  

Police Review Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St.  

Discussion of the relocation of the Police Review Commission’s offices.  

“Beyond Organic: The Vision of Fairview Gardens” 

7 p.m.  

Martin Luther King Middle School Auditorium  

1871 Rose Street  

Call 845-4595 

Thursday, Oct. 26

“A Contemporary Food Fight: GM Foods in the market place” 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

A discussion with Dr. Peggy Lemaux, professor of Plant and Microbiology at UC Berkeley, and Dr. Petra Frey from Switzerland, of the scientific basis for biotechnology, it’s risks and benefits. 

Contact Maribel Guillermo,  

642-9460 

“What Does Rent Control Do For You” 

2000 Tenants’ rights week 

hourly 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

ASUC/Rent Board booth at Sather Gate on the Berkeley campus. 

644-7714 

New Science & Ancient Wisdom Conference 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

International Center 

2222 Harold Way 

Featured speakers include Father Charlie Moore speaking on “The Cosmic Origins of Man,” Dolores Cannon speaking on “Visions of Nostradamus,” and David Hatcher Childress speaking on “Technology of the Gods.” Event runs through Sunday.  

Pre-registration admission, $65; after Oct. 27, $85 

Call Charles Gotsky, 650-343-5202  

From Morgan to Modern 

Julia Morgan and Hearst Castle:Designing and American Country House 

7:30 p.m. 

The Hillside Club 

2286 Cedar St. 

$10 or $35 for series that continues through November. 

841-2242 

Adult Aerobic Class 

9:30 - 11 a.m.  

Berkeley Adult School 

1414 Walnut St.  

Get fit doing simple routines to upbeat music. Adaptable to those with physical limitations. Free.  

Call Dolores, 540-0771 

East Bay Science  

& Arts Middle School 

Noon  

BART Plaza, Downtown 

Middle school students perform dances of folk, swing, and Cuban rueda styles. Free.  

Contact Carrie Ridgeway, 549-2230 

Proposition Brown Bag 

Noon - 1:30 p.m.  

Institute of Governmental Studies 

109 Moses Hall 

UC Berkeley 

Hear presentations about and discuss the eight propositions on the California ballot.  

Call 642-4608 

Tai Chi 

2 p.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst, 644-6107 

Homeless Action Center’s 10th anniversary Benefit 

Club Muse 

The Vagabond Lovers, comedian Doug Ferrai 

856 San Pablo Ave. Albany 

For ticket information call 540-0878 

Christmas in April  

This volunteer service renovates homes and community centers for low-income, elderly and disabled persons.  

They are seeking applications for free home repairs to be completed in 2001. Applicants should be low-income seniors, 55 or older, or disabled residents who own their homes. Applications are due November 1.  

Call 644-8979 

Zoning Adjustments Board Meeting 

7 p.m.  

Old City Hall 

Council Chambers, 2nd Floor 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

West Berkeley Project Area Meeting 

7 p.m.  

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth Ave. 

Friday, Oct. 27

“Transportation: What’s in Store?” 

11:45 a.m. 

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

Larry Dahms, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Council speaks at 12:30 p.m. Luncheon is served at 11:45 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. 

Luncheon: $11 

More info and reservations: 848-3533 

“Right Ways to Get  

Out of a Lease” 

2000 Tenants’ rights week 

hourly 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

ASUC/Rent Board booth at Sather Gate on the Berkeley campus. 

644-7714 

Haunted House 

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

1818 5th St. 

Free Donations benefiting youth activities in Berkeley appreciated. 

644-3305  

Conversational Yiddish 

1 p.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst 

644-6107  

Haunted House 

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

1818 5th St. 

Free 

Donations benefiting youth activities in Berkeley appreciated. 

644-3305 

Halloween Haunt at the Downtown YMCA 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Downtown Berkeley YMCA 

2001 Allston Way 

A haunted house, ghosts, Halloween crafts, a family swim in the “bat cave,” and face painting among other happenings. Free and open to the public. The Y is asking for a $1 donation to benefit the YMCA’s Youth and Government Program.Call 665-3238 

Saturday, Oct. 28

Shakespeare Festival’s annual costume and garage sale  

9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Featuring one-of-a-kind costumes, props, and set pieces from previous productions. Free. 701 Heinz Ave., Berkeley.  

(510) 548-3422 ext. 120. 

A Day of Mindfulness with Claude Anshin Thomas 

Buddhist Peace Fellowship 

A day of meditation, dialogue, teachings and reflection on transforming violence in ourselves an in the world. 

9 a.m. – 5 p.m. 

We the People Auditorium, 200 Harrison St. Donations excepted 

496-6072 

Community Workshop to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Berkeley High School  

9 a.m. – noon 

Florence Schwimley Little Theater at Berkeley High School 

Students, parents, teachers, business owners, neighbors, and others are invited to a discussion on that will help set the course for future school improvements and provide the basis for accreditation review. 

Iris Starr, AICP, 540-1252 

tinstarr@earthlink.net 

“Grassroots Globalization vs. Elite Globalization” 

2 p.m. 

Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library 

6501 Telegraph Ave. 

595-7417 

“Halloween Mask Making” 

Tilden Regional Park 2 p.m. 

Come learn the origins of Halloween and make a plaster-gauze mask. Registration required. $4. Take Canon Drive off Grizzly Peak Boulevard, Berkeley. (510) 525-2233. 

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

Pedaling the Green City 

11 a.m. -3:30 p.m.  

Take a leisurely bike ride along the future San Francisco Bay Trail. One in a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations  

Wild About Books? 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

Halloween for the little guys with (not so) scary stories, music, and more.  

Call 649-3943  

Haunted House 

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

1818 5th St. 

Free 

Donations benefiting youth activities in Berkeley appreciated. 

644-3305 

St. John’s Church and Camp Elmwood Haunted House  

6:30 to 8:30 p.m.  

Party for teens from 8:45 tp 10 p.m.  

Free. Wear a costume and bring a canned good, book or toy donation.  

845-2656 

“The 3rd annual Habitot Halloween” 

Habitot Children’s Museum  

10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

A not-too-spooky Halloween event for young children with entertainment, parades, games, magic and songs. Come in  

costume. Registration strongly suggested. $4 general; $6 for the first child age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 

647-1111 

“Not Very Scary Halloween Celebration” 

10:30 a.m. at La Pena  

Betsy Rose performs songs and activities to celebrate the harvest season and the ancestral spirits. Children are invited to come in costume. $4 general; $3 children. 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2572. 

New School’s Halloween Bazaar 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m.  

1606 Bonita St. (at Cedar) 

Free to the public, this annual event features face painting, mask-making, children’s games, apple bobbing, pumpkins, live entertainment, and a vast array of other delights. Proceeds benefit the New School’s scholarship fund and the playground project. Free.  

Call 548-9165 

Run Your Own Landscape Business: Part 3 

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave. (at Blake) 

Local horticultural consultant and UC Master Gardener Jessie West will teach you how to plant, prune, control weeds, and more. This is the final class in the series. 

$15 general; $10 for members; $5 materials fee 

Call 548-2220 x223 

Sunday, Oct. 29

“Almost Halloween Hike,”  

Tilden Regional Park 

10 a.m.  

Explore the nature of Halloween folklore on the trails.  

“Wake the Dead: A Music Concert”  

Celebrate the Celtic “Day of the Dead” (Halloween) with folksong artists Paul Kotapish and Danny Carnahan.  

2 to 4 p.m.  

(510) 525-2233. 

“Gateway to Knowledge” 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Pl. 

Barr Rosenberg describes how to master new knowledge and take the power to shape our lives in wise and compassionate ways.  

843-6812 

An Evening with The Professor 

5 - 9:30 p.m. 

Mambo Mambo 

1803 Webster St.  

Oakland 

Berkeley resident Geoffrey A. Hirsch, better known as the Tie Guy from the “How Berkeley Can You Be” parade got his start in comedy in 1996. A professor in real life, Hirsch tell the story of how he became a funny guy.  

$5 for show only, $10 for show and dinner 

Call Geoffrey Hirsch at 845-5631 to reserve tickets 

“Liberty Heights” 

2 - 4:30 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Directed by Barry Levinson, this film introduces the Kurtzmans, middle class Jews living in Baltimore in the 50s’. A discussion of the film will follow.  

$2 suggested donation 

Call 848-0237 

“The Key of Happiness” 

3 p.m. 

St. John’s Church  

2727 College Ave.  

Carlos Lozano, former Columbian Ambassador to India and Egypt, will speak on meditation. Free. 

Call 707-529-9584 

Monday, Oct. 30

Fun with Oragami 

10 a.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

644-6107 

“BYOP: Pumpkin Carving By Porch and Hearth,” 

Tilden Regional Park 

4 to 7 p.m. “Bring your own pepo” 

Take Canon Drive off Grizzly Peak  

Boulevard, Berkeley. (510) 525-2233. 

Tuesday, Oct. 31

Sing-A-Long 

11 a.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

644-6107 

Haunted House 

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

1818 5th St. 

Free 

Donations benefiting youth activities in Berkeley appreciated. 

644-3305 

Wednesday, Nov. 1

Kathak Dancing with Pandit Chitresh Das 

7:30 p.m. 

Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 

2640 College Ave.  

The Graduate Theological Union presents a free lecture-demonstration with Pandit Chitresh Das, a master of India’s Kathak dance form. This event is free. 

Call 649-2440 for additional info 

Mountain Adventure Seminar 

In-store, registration required 

6 p.m.-9 p.m. 

Learn about equip,emt. fundamental climbing techiques and safety procedures. 

$100 REI members, $110 for non members 

To register (209) 753-6556 

Task Force on Telecommunications 

7 p.m. 

North Berkely Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Fire Safety Commission 

7:30 p.m.  

Fire Training Division 

997 Cedar St.  

Discussion will include undergrounding of utilities in Berkeley and a proposal to the City Council for additional support for the Fire Department.  

Citizen’s Budget Review Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Board of Education 

7:30 p.m. 

Old City Hall 

Council Chambers, 2nd Floor 

2134 MLK Jr. Way 

Thursday, Nov. 2

PASTForward Panel Discussion 

2 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum 

Bancroft Way (below College) 

In conjunction with the White Oak Dance Project’s performances, a panel discussion with Judson era dance choreographers Yvonne Rainer and Deborah Hay. Free. 

From Morgan to Modern 

“Saddling the Site: The Environmental Designs of Wurster, Church and Others” 

7:30 p.m. 

The Hillside Club 

2286 Cedar St. 

$10. 841-2242 

Berkeley Metaphysic Toastmasters Club 

6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysic come together at Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters. Meets first and third Thursdays each month. 

Call 869-2547 or 643-7645 

Spirit of the Road 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Ave. (at Rose) 

Don Patton, general editor and Vice President of Publishing for the California State Automobile Association presents a slide show celebrating the first one hundred years of the automobile and the CSA. Free. 

Call 843-3533 for more info.  

Friday, Nov. 3

Taize Worship Service 

7:30-8:30 p.m. 

An hour of quiet reflection and song. First Friday of the month. 

Loper Chapel on Dana Street between Durant and Channing Way. 

848-3696 

“Want to Transform your Dreams Into Reality?” 

Lecture by Leonard Orr, world known for creating the Rebirthing and Conscious Breathwork Movement. 

7:30 p.m., 

The Berkeley Friends Church, 1600 Sacramento St. 

$25, 843-6514 

Saturday, Nov. 4

Breathtaking Barnabe Peak 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

Hike through Samuel P. Taylor State Park’s lush forests and climb to the heights of Barnabe Peak, overlooking Point Reyes. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Wild About Books? 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

Dublin Library’s resident storyteller and featured teller at the 1998 National Storytelling Festival tell kids aged 3 to 7 her favorite tales.  

Call 649-3943  

New Science & Ancient Wisdom Conference 

9 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

International Center 

2222 Harold Way 

Featured speakers include Father Charlie Moore speaking on “The Cosmic Origins of Man,” Dolores Cannon speaking on “Visions of Nostradamus,” and David Hatcher Childress speaking on “Technology of the Gods.” Event runs through Sunday.  

Pre-registration admission, $65; after Oct. 27, $85 

Call Charles Gotsky, 650-343-5202 

The Next Ivory Trade? The Intellectual Property Rights of University Faculty 

A conference sponsored by the Berkeley Faculty Association/American Association of University Professors Coalition 

9 a.m. tp 3:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley International House 

841-1997 

Sunday, Nov. 5

Buddhist Psychology 

6 p.m.  

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Pl.  

Buddhist teacher Sylvia Gretchen on “Beyond Therapy and Into the Heart of Buddhist Psychology.” Free. 

Call 843-6812  

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour 

Downtown Berkeley  

Tour new construction, new uses, historic rehabilitation and public improvments that are completed or still in the works.  

Noon 

RSVP required 841-0181 space is limited. 

Tickets: $5 for members, $10 for nonmembers. 

A Dispirited Rebellion 

10 a.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Author, television personality and columnist Gadi Taub will explore the literary and cinematic changes in Israeli society since the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin. A brunch will be served at 10 a.m.  

Admission: $7 non-JCC members; $5 members 

Call 848-9237 

Monday, Nov. 6

Airports vs. the Bay 

7 p.m. 

Albany Community Center 

1249 Marin St.  

Albany 

David Lewis, Executive Director of “Save the Bay” will speak on the airports’ plans to expand into the SF Bay and other challenges to Bay restoration.  

Contact: Friends of Five Creeks, 848-9358 

Tuesday, Nov. 7

Zonta Club dinner 

5:30 p.m. 

Berkeley City Club 

$20 per person 

Dr. Sylvia Earle, a marine bioligist, author and Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, will be the featured speaker. 

For more information call 845-6221 

Thursday, Nov. 9

The Life and Art of Chiura Obata 

7:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Public Library 

1170 Alameda (at Hopkins) 

A slide show and lecture presented by Obata’s granddaughter, Kimi Kodani Hill, celebrating Obata’s book, “Topaz Moon: Chiura Obata’s Art of the Internment,” and the retrospective exhibit of Obata’s work to appear this Fall at SFs De Young Museum. 

For details call 644-6850  

From Morgan to Modern 

“Bay Area Modern” 

7:30 p.m. 

The Hillside Club 

2286 Cedar St. 

$10. 841-2242 

ESL Teacher Job Fair 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Adult School 

1222 University Ave., Room 7  

ESL program representatives from adult schools in Alameda and Contra Costa counties will provide information about desired qualifications, current job openings, credentialing requirements, and more.  

Call Kay Wade, 644-6130 

“Feeding the Moon: A Nutritive Approach to Feminine Fertility” 

Lern how fertility is affected by the environment and how it can be enhanced by healthy lifestyle choices 

7:30 to 9 p.m. 

The Ecology Center 

2530 San Pable Ave.  

558-1324, free 

“Diabetes: What to Know Head-to-Toe” 

Health Education Center, 400 Hawthorne Ave. 

12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Free 

869-6737 

Love and Betrayal: A Musical Journey 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Mezzo Soprano Sylvia Braitman discusses the role Gustav Mahler, Kurt Weill, Arnold Schoenberg, and Hanns Eisler played in the development of modernity in German, Austrian and Western music.  

Tuition: $8 for general; $5 JJC members (class code A101-BJ) 

Call 848-0237 for more info.  

Saturday, Nov. 11

Moonlight on Mt. Diablo 

1 - 10:30 p.m.  

Hike up the Devil’s Mountain by daylight, catch a glorious sunset and hike back by the light of the moon. One in a series of free outing organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Sunday, Nov. 12

Views, Vines and Veggies 

9:15 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.  

Climb Bald Mountain in Sugarloaf State Park and peer down upon the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. Then please your palate at the Landmark Winery and visit Oak Hill organic vegetable and flower farm. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

“Time Across Cultures” 

2 - 4 p.m. 

St. Clements Church 

2837 Claremont Ave.  

The annual Roselyn Yellin Memorial lecture with a slide-illustrated panel discussion. Also a tour of the “Telling Time” exhibit at the Judah L. Magnes Museum followed by a reception at the museum, 4 - 5 p.m.  

More info: 549-6950 

Buddhism & Compassion 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Psychiatrist and teacher Bobby Jones on “Healing through Compassion.” Free.  

843-6812 

Monday, Nov. 13

An Evening with Barbara Kingsolver 

7:30 p.m. 

King Middle School 

1781 Rose St. 

Barbara Kingsolver’s works include “Animal Dreams,” “High Tide in Tucson,” “The Poisonwood Bible” and “Prodigal Summer” 

free parking $10 in advance, $13 at the door 

Benefits KPFA and Urban Ecology. 

848-6767 

From Rossi to Bernstein 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Bay Area musician Mark Levy discusses the works of Jewish classical composers beginning with the sixteenth century. The first in a series of three Monday evening classes on music.  

Tuition for all three classes: $30 general public; $20 JJC members, seniors and students  

Individual classes: $10 general; $8 JJC members, seniors and students 

Call 848-0237 

Berkeley Preschool Fair 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Epworth United Methodist Church 

1953 Hopkins St.  

Sponsored by the Neighborhood Parents Network, this fair features representatives from local preschools. The topic will be how to evaluate preschool education philosophies and make the most of the admissions process. A fair featuring many local preschools will follow panel discussion. 

$5 non-members; Free to NPN members 

Call 527-6667 or visit www.parentsnet.org 

Tuesday, Nov. 14

Take a Trip to the Steinbeck Museum and 

Mission San Juan Bautista 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

This is an outing organzied by the Senior Center.  

$40 with lunch, $25 without  

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107 

“The Hand of Buddha” 

7:30 p.m.  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck (at Rose) 

In her new book poet, columnist and travel writer Linda Watanabe McFerrin explores the lives of women from different ethnic backgrounds and in moments of crisis. Free 

Call 843-3533 

Thursday, Nov. 16

Reminiscing in Swingtime 

7:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Library  

1170 Alameda (at Hopkins) 

George Yoshida, author and jazz drummer, presents a multi-media program recounting the big band experience in the Japanese American internment camps. The presentation will be capped with a set of live jazz by the George Yoshida Quartet. 

Call for more info: 644-6850 

Berkeley Metaphysic Toastmasters Club 

6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysic come together at Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters. Meets first and third Thursdays each month. 

Call 869-2547 or 643-7645 

Free blood pressure screenings 

Health Education Center, 400 Hawthorne Ave. 

free 

869-6737 

Saturday, Nov. 18

S.F. Stairs and Peaks 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m.  

Begin the day with a visit to the farmer’s market, then meander up the stairways and streets of Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower. Then up Russian Hill, descending to Fisherman’s Wharf for a ride back on the new historic streetcar line. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 

Berkeley Free Folk Festival 

11 a.m. - 1 a.m.  

Ashkenaz  

1317 San Pablo Ave. 

Fourteen hours of free concerts, workshops, jam sessions and to top it off a Saturday night dance. The fifth annual Folk Festival will feature Shay & Michael Black, Spectre Double Negative & the Equal Positive, Larry Hanks, Wake the Dead and many others. Sponsored by Charles Schwab and the City of Berkeley.  

More info or to volunteer: 525-5099 

Sunday, Nov. 19

Soprano Deborah Voigt 

Cal Performances  

3 p.m.  

Voigt’s performance is a postponment from her original Oct. 15 date. The program will remain unchanged. 

$28-$48 For tickets call 642-9988 or e-mail tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Mt. Madonna & Wine  

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Hike through evergreen forests and visit the remains of a 19th century estate, then finish the day with a visit to Kruse Winery. One of many free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: (415) 255-3233 for reservations 

“Drawing Marathon”  

Merritt College’s Art Building 

Live models, group poses.  

$12 for half a day, $20 for a full day, senior and student discounts available. No cameras or turpentine. 

523-9763 

Monday, Nov. 20

The Music of Israel 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Bay Area musician Mark Levy discusses the music of Israel, from the early pioneers of Palestine to the latest rock.  

Tuition for all three classes: $30 general public; $20 JJC members, seniors and students 

Individual classes: $10 general; $8 JJC members, seniors and students  

Call 848-0237 

Compiled by Chason Wainwright 

Good food is better than supplements 

Editor: 

Your article on the dangers of so-called “natural” supplements never addressed why people turn to supplements in the first place: the failure of western medicine to successfully treat a wide variety of illnesses and ailments including, but not limited to, cancer, aids, heart-disease and diabetes (Daily Planet, Oct. 23). Unfortunately, the alternative health industries look very similar to western medicine, not only in terms of corporate profits, but more importantly, in their narrow-visioned attempts to treat symptoms, not causes, with pills and potions. While traditional peoples may have sometimes resorted to medicinal herbs and plants to treat disease, they always looked at food first. They understood the vital relationship between human health and natural foods. 

While we would all like to believe that their is a “magic pill,” yet to be discovered, that will “cure” not only minor ailments, but life-threatening ones as well. We have put all of our money and focus on finding a “cure;” a quick fix that will allow us to continue living our lives chaotically with absolutely no acceptance of any personal responsibility whatsoever. We have placed all of our faith in science, as if we are merely machines; as if modern science can explain life and health beyond cells and molecules; it obviously cannot as evidenced by the alarming lack of health today, by the failure of the “War on Cancer,” etc...etc... As human beings, we are much more than just a collection of genes and cells; we have emotions, imaginations and spiritual conditions that have an immense effect on our health. We have all freely chosen the physical, mental and spiritual conditions in which we now find ourselves (if not in this life, in past lives). Disease takes many years to manifest, so let’s stop investing our money and our lives in symptomatic, corporate solutions to disease...whether they be “natural” supplements or toxic drug therapy. There are no “magic pills,” no quick fixes. In these terms, disease can now be seen as a wake-up call; a teacher...and a friend. Make sure to listen carefully. 

Michael Bauce 

Berkeley 

Breland should speak out about 2700 San Pablo 

Editor: 

Regarding the front page story of the Oct. 21 Daily Planet, I for one am glad Councilmember Margaret Breland has proposed that there be no fast food service in that part of Berkeley and applaud Ms. Breland’s efforts on behalf of her constituents on this. However, I am puzzled about why she has remained silent on behalf of other members of her constituency, namely the families in the area surrounding 2700 San Pablo Ave. We too have “quality of life issues” in regards to the size and scope of the Kennedy/Choyce project planned there.  

Under their current proposal this massive building of 48 apartments takes up nearly an entire block, at 4-5 stories, towers over the surrounding 1 and 2 story homes and businesses and is built to the very edge of the property in all directions. In addition, there will be parking for 61 cars adding to the air pollution and traffic in this area. The Kennedy/Choyce plan also currently includes a permit for a fast food service. Why aren’t our “health ramifications” important to Ms. Breland? Like this other group, we also have a petition signed by 400 plus people living in the area, but we had to do it ourselves. Margaret Breland did not offer her services to us and was extremely difficult to reach when we did ask for her assistance. I have personally spoken with many members of this community – particularly elderly African-American homeowners who are very upset about this project but who are either too ill or too busy to do anything. Where is Ms. Breland in all this?  

Why has she chosen to represent the developers not her community? Not surprisingly, her list of campaign contributors include Patrick Kennedy and his wife as well as the Rev. Choyce. 

Our neighborhood would welcome this building if Kennedy/Choyce would simply modify their design to be a 3 story building. This could be economically feasible for them, still provide a great deal of necessary housing, create a sustainable precedent for future building and help San Pablo develop into a great avenue. Between Dwight and Ashby, there are 11 large lots that developers like Patrick Kennedy will want to develop into massive projects and companies like Shell Oil and Carl’s Jr. will want to stake their claim to with mini-marts that sell fast food and liquor. We need to tell developers and corporations that we want more desirable development that benefits our community! 

Phyllis Kamrin 

Berkeley 

Want to cross the street? try Fort Bragg 

Editor: 

While passing through Fort Bragg, there it was, in unmistakable glory, an outstanding piece of pedestrian crosswalk engineering. By pushing a button, a pedestrian activated not only flashing yellow lights on the crosswalk signs for approaching traffic, but flashing yellow strip-lights imbedded in the road surface along the crosswalk lines.  

Unmissable.  

Visible even in broad daylight. Such a feature not only provides pedestrians with an assurance that automobile drivers are made aware that someone is about to cross the road, but the driver receives an unmistakable and clearly visible signal about the location and imminent use of the crosswalk. Perhaps Berkeley could learn something useful from its cousin up north in its quest to improve pedestrian safety? 

Howie Muir Berkeley 

Editor,  

On United Nations Day I found myself wondering how my brother and sister Berkeleyans are observing this special day. Perhaps some of them could drop me a short note to tell me. (Contact me c/o the UN Information Center, whose address is below.)  

Perhaps some of them took time to notice the UN flag flying in its regular spot in Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center. Perhaps some of them noticed the plaque on the wall of the UC Printing Services building at Center and Oxford memorializing the Printing Services important role in preparing signatory copies of the UN Charter for the signing ceremonies in San Francisco in 1945. 

Perhaps some of them found their way to the United Nations Depository Library, part of the UC Library, or to the United Nations books in the Berkeley Public Library or to the small, but rich, collection of books and other materials at the East Bay United Nations Association Information Center at 1403B Addison, adjacent to the Adronico’s Market parking lot at University and Acton.  

My wife and I witnessed Oakland’s annual presentation of UN member nation flags and the raising of a new UN flag for daily flying at Jack London Square Saturday morning. We then heard Fred A. Lawson, professor of government at Mills College, speak eloquently and informatively on the United Nations and the Middle East.  

The next day we joined some 80 runners and walkers (plus supporters of various sorts) at the Berkeley Marina for the 2nd annual Run for Peace with flags flying. Pray for peace and the United Nations. It can’t hurt! 

Bill Trampleasure 

Berkeley 

Food for thought 

Editor, 

As a resident of Berkeley for over 70 years I cannot resist writing, re: “Sharing our heritage.”  

Last Saturday evening, at a traditional clubhouse on Cedar Street, a one-man show was presented. It was a fundraiser for Berkeley’s Adult Education Program by a highly skilled and gifted author, actor, and dramatist who hails from three continents. He was erudite, gentle, fiery, and had a message of kindness above all kindness. The champagne reception was charming and the message was revealing, nay life sustaining.  

The rent for the few hours was around $100 per hour, I’d guess. After years and years of living for and by and with human rights, there was no monetary profit whatsoever. To this Berkeleyan this isn’t a business as usual laissez-faire event. Nay, it was food for mental well being, emotional enjoyment; inspiration if you will.  

Is this our culture of poverty and/or the poverty of culture? Let’s re-think our values and act accordingly, i.e.: Let’s revive the golden rule in this “Athens of the West!” Artists need to eat. We all need food for thought. 

Lucretia Prentiss de Herget 

Berkeley 

It’s no park; let them build 

Editor, 

We live near the site where Congregation Beth El is planning to build its new synagogue, and we fully support the plan. 

We moved to this neighborhood because we wanted to be in an area that offered all the advantages of city living. We could have gone to the suburbs, but we deliberately chose to be near shops, offices and houses of worship. 

Though we are not members of any church or synagogue, we appreciate the contribution these religious institutions make to our community. We are particularly impressed with Congregation Beth El’s many social outreach programs, including its meals for the homeless. 

We are aware that the site Beth El has selected is zoned for the use it intends. It is not and never has been a public park. In fact, the city explicitly rejected the opportunity to acquire the property years ago. Much of the lot has remained open space until now only because the previous owners decided not to build the expanded church and school that was approved by the city. 

We think it is unfair and unwise for people who bought homes in this mixed use neighborhood to oppose the synagogue’s plan to move two blocks from its present home to a more appropriate location, and we urge you to support Beth El’s plan.  

Melvin & Dorothy Lemberger 

Berkeley 

Editor,  

As a senior citizen and one of many to whom the passage of measure R will be a life saver, I am writing you concerning the warm-water pool run by the City of Berkeley as part of the Berkeley Unified School District. 

This pool has served the community for over 20 years and is now badly in need of renovation. Due to a spinal condition I swim there several times a week. I find it the one most effective pain reliever I have experienced so far, and it is the only place where I can get the weightless exercise essential to my general health.  

Of the people who I see there and who share my experience there are many who have serious disabilities, many who are in wheel chairs, some who are elderly, some who are quite young, and some obviously in pain. All of them find relief and healing in the warm water of this pool. 

Measure R, if passed, will provide the needed money to save this pool, as neither the City nor the School District reportedly have the funds available to do this.  

I can only have implicit trust in the compassion and humanity of my fellow voters in their support of measure R. We will be infinitely grateful.  

Augusta Lucas-Andreae 

Berkeley 

525-5145 

Editor,  

I feel it is necessary for me to respond to the incident reported on the front page of Thursday’s Daily Planet, in which my wife, Carrie Sprague, was publicly singled out at the Berkeley City Council meeting by the President of the Berkeley Police Association. 

Later, in the hallway outside the Council Chambers, Carrie was surrounded by 20-30 hostile and shouting police officers. Towering one and a half feet above her, Randy Files, President of the Police Association, threatened her with arrest and shouted that all the members of the Police Association personally hate her to the cheers of his cronies. 

It is ironic that some police officers blame Carrie and other neighbors for their difficulties in finding parking for their personal vehicles. During many, many planning meetings for the new Public Safety Building, Carrie repeatedly addressed the need for adequate Police Department employee parking.  

Unfortunately, neither the Police Department nor the Police Association ever sent representatives to these meetings to discuss employee parking. In addition, Carrie sent a letter to the Berkeley Police Association more than a year ago requesting that they meet with neighborhood representatives to discuss mutually beneficial solutions to parking problems. No response was ever received.  

I believe that the personal hostility toward Carrie has come about because she has worked for effective enforcement of the Residential Permit Parking ordinance. She continues to insist that police officers may not disrespect our law or our neighborhood. 

As for the effort by some Police Association members to bully Carrie, I can assure all those who are concerned for her safety that she was not in the least intimidated. Having lived with me for 20 years Carrie readily recognizes bluster without substance when it occurs.  

Stan Sprague 

Berkeley 

Dear Judy! 

Homeowners beware! Measure "Y" applies to you - just as does Section 13 

(Good Cause Required for Eviction) of Berkeley's rent law, which it 

modifies (= tightens). 

Say you're renting a room or an in-law suite to a student or other 

low-to-maderate income person. Under "Y" you would have to pay that person 

$4,500 "relocation expenses" if you wanted to reclaim the accommodations 

after a year for your own or your family's use. Worse yet, if your tenant, 

regardless of age or disability status, had been there for at least five 

years, he/she would have gained a lifetime estate, and you'd have to pay 

even more to dislodge him/her or hire a lawyer and go to court -whichever 

cost less - in order to regain full possession of your home. Not to speak 

of the nightmarish scenario which could arise, were you to leave for a year 

(Sabbatical?) and rent out your home while you're away. 

Read the proposed measure in all its details (2 and 1/4 full pages in your 

voter information pamphlet!). It applies to you! Vote NO on "Y". 

Peggy Schioler, 1530 Henry Street, Berkeley 94709. 848-1828 or 848-1131 

(msg) 

Editor: 

To often, Berkeley “Activist” groups work separately or take different approaches to solve the same problem. Your article about the southwest Berkeley neighborhoods opposition to a new fast food complex at 1200 Ashby Ave. appeared above an article stating that southwest Berkeley residents have a life expectancy of 20 years less than those residents in the Berkeley hills. 

There is a major connection here between these two groups of activists and they should be working to help each other. Those residents in southwest Berkeley ( read African American) die at a younger age not only because of a lack of healthcare but because of poor eating habits. A recent study on health showed that black youth get 40 percent of their daily vegetable intake from french fries. An article about the free lunch program in Oakland High schools revealed that very few of those eligible took part but instead bought fast food.  

Obesity among all Americans has increased more than 60 percent since 1990. There is more of a health crisis than a health care crisis.Those who want healthcare for everyone should think in terms of wanting a healthy life for everyone. Help people to enjoy their lives by improving their quality of life not just prolonging it. Berkeley is proud of the fact that it promotes the use of bicyles and not the automobile. It is time for Berkeley to promote healthy lifestyles and ban fast food.  

Caring about health is as important as caring about healthcare. 

Michael Larrick  

(510) 849-4572 

Editor: 

Hello, my name is Kinchasa Taylor and I am and have been a resident of Carrison Street for the past 23 years. I am upset by the article written about the block and how the people who live on the block are represented. 

I believe that the opinions in opposition to the plans to build a fast-food restaurant and mini mart are valid and I would agree with them. 

What I do not agree with is the way my new neighbors portrayed Carrison Street as a “street overrun with drug dealers and prostitutes.” I’d like to point out that Vicki and Mike Larrick have not lived on Carrison Street for eight year as stated. Drug dealers and prostitution has never been a problem on Carrison Street. 

Until they moved in, this street was filled by senior citizens. 

Actually the house in which they live was owned by a senior citizen until her death. They moved in her house maybe 4-5 years after she died. 

I know this because up until they moved in I watered the grass. I believe that my anger is mostly directed at this couple because of their portrayal of themselves as saviors to the community. 

The community expects people who move into the neighborhood to show respect for those that have lived here before and have raised successful families. It saddens me that we have lost our predominantly African American neighbors. 

But as people move in to clean up the neighborhood they must keep in mind that are new that they are joining the group that was already established and attempting to make a change themselves. 

It is really sad to see that my neighborhood is being represented as a bad black neighborhood until it was saved by it’s new white residents. Some of the arrivals of the migration to South Berkeley, do not respect the people, the community, or the residents they have joined with. 

Our land, our efforts, our homes are being taken over by people that have only one thing on there mind: how can I live here and make it the way I want it to be, not how can I become a part of this community and help with the efforts being made.  

If you want to write something about the community, write about the gentrification, genocide, and mentacide occurring in south Berkeley. It’s real and it’s occurring. 

If you don’t believe me ask my old neighbors, senior citizens with historically fixed rents, uniformed of there rights and Measure Y, why they had to move out there homes, and move after over 25 years of occupation.  

Kinchasa Taylor, 

Berkeley 

In an unexpected development in a criminal investigation that began last fall with the death of an Indian immigrant, prosecutors say Berkeley’s wealthiest landlord and four family members will plead guilty next week to federal charges arising from their alleged importation of teenage girls from India for sex and cheap labor.  

The move comes as the result of an apparent plea agreement with the government discussed in court documents filed Thursday. 

Lakireddy Bali Reddy, 63, an Indian immigrant who is Berkeley’s largest residential landlord, will enter a guilty plea Oct. 30, as will his younger son, Vijay Lakireddy, 31, according to documents filed by the United States Attorney’s office.  

Three new defendants are also expected to enter guilty pleas to at least some of nine federal criminal counts handed down to Reddy earlier this year: Reddy’s wife, Annapurna Reddy, his 47-year-old brother, Jayprakash Lakireddy and Reddy’s older son, 42-year-old son Prasad Lakireddy.  

It was not known Tuesday what specific charges Reddy or the other defendants would plead guilty to, or what sentence they might receive.  

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment Tuesday. None of the five defense lawyers involved in the case returned calls yesterday seeking comment.  

In a typical plea bargain, government and defense lawyers will agree on reduced charges and jointly recommend a sentence. Under federal rules, however, federal district court judge Saundra Brown Armstrong is not obligated to accept the joint recommendation and may impose a harsher sentence if she chooses.  

Reddy and Lakireddy Bali Reddy have been charged, with importing aliens for immoral purposes and other immigration offenses. The father-son pair was arrested in January for allegedly bringing two teenage girls into the United States from their village in Southern India so the girls could engage in sexual relations with Reddy and perform manual labor on his rental properties and in his downtown Berkeley restaurant. 

Reddy faces a maximum sentence of 70 years in jail and $2 million in fines if found guilty on all nine counts. 

Vijay Lakireddy faces charges on three of the nine counts and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison plus $750,000 in fines. 

But with a plea agreement apparently having been reached, prosecutors will likely ask the judge to impose far lighter sentences in exchange for guilty pleas from the father-son pair.  

The minor girls, one of whom died accidentally from carbon monoxide poisoning in a Reddy-owned apartment on Bancroft Way in November 1999, were allegedly admitted to the country on fraudulent visa applications stating they were children of a man employed by Reddy. 

Several hearings in the case were put off in recent months after prosecutors asked the judge for more time to investigate and name additional defendants. It may be that government and defense lawyers were negotiating a plea deal during this time to avoid a trial. 

One of the defendants named Thursday, Jayprakash Lakireddy, owns an East Bay construction company, Jay Construction. The company was fined $6,000 last year by Cal OSHA, the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Agency last year for safety violations related to unsafe scaffolding during a painting job at Reddy’s Pasand Restaurant on Shattuck Avenue. The scaffolding lacked railings, was too narrow and did not have proper fall protection, according to OSHA spokesperson Dean Fryer. 

Reddy’s wife, Annapurna Lakireddy, is the only defendant who will need a language interpreter at the hearing on Oct. 30, according to court documents. 

SAN FRANCISCO — An Internet startup backed by six major airlines launched a cheap-seat service Tuesday that promises to undercut the prices of other online discounters who helped put the concept on the map. 

San Francisco-based Hotwire.com believes it will be able to beat the airline ticket prices of other popular online services such as Priceline.com and Expedia.com by tapping into a vast reservoir of unsold seats. An estimated 3.5 million airline seats are unoccupied each week. 

With Hotwire, the airlines hope to generate some revenue from those previously empty seats without diminishing the sales of their full-fare tickets. 

Six airlines that contributed part of Hotwire’s venture capital of $75 million are also supplying the service with an unspecified number of hard-to-sell seats on hundreds of domestic flights. The airline industry’s two biggest carriers, American Airlines and United Air Lines, are backing Hotwire in addition to Northwest Airlines, Continental Airlines, US Airways and America West Airlines. Hotwire said it expects to persuade other airlines to offer their unsold seats on the service in the months ahead. 

By launching its site Tuesday, Hotwire beat another online ticketing service called Orbitz that also has been backed by a group of 25 airlines. That site, which includes some of the same investors, also is promising to deliver low fares. 

After studying the market, Consumers Union recently asked federal regulators to investigate whether some online airline ticketing services favor certain carriers based on their financial relationships with the Web sites. Consumers Union hasn’t studied Hotwire nor Priceline yet. 

Hotwire CEO Karl Peterson said the company’s airline investors have no say in the company’s day-to-day operations. He said the service also has adopted a firewall to prevent the airlines from seeing how many seats each carrier is contributing to Hotwire’s inventory. 

Thomas Fogarty, an industry analyst with Thom Weisel Partners in San Francisco, doubts Hotwire will produce the same kind of consumer buzz that Priceline.com and other online travel services did when they hit the scene a few years ago. 

“This has become a bit of old hat for consumers,” he said. “People are much more used to the Internet now. They’re a bit more jaded.” 

Unlike Priceline.com, Hotwire will sell its seats at a fixed price and prospective travelers will be under no obligation to purchase the seats offered to them. 

To use the service, Hotwire visitors list their travel destinations and then receive a discount price quote. The customers can’t pick a specific airline or flight. 

“We are going to have the best prices anywhere, day in and day out,” Peterson said. 

The size of Hotwire’s discounts is expected to vary widely, depending on the destination. The more popular the flight, the smaller the discount is likely to be. Peterson said in some cases travelers who wait until the day before a flight to buy a ticket might save up to 90 percent on the ticket if seats are available. 

A request for a flight leaving San Francisco on Oct. 26 for New York’s JFK Airport and returning on Oct. 30 obtained a price of $381 on Hotwire, though flying times were unknown. The best price available on Expedia for the same dates at any time during the day was $1,084. 

Hotwire is entering the crowded field of online airline ticket discounters during a turbulent time for the best known of the lot, Priceline.com. The name-your-price service popularized by the off-kilter commercials of actor William Shatner recently closed an affiliated discount gas and grocery operation, and has been battered in the stock market because the business remains unprofitable. 

Priceline.com’s stock dipped 22 cents to close at $5.41 Tuesday. Priceline’s stock has plunged nearly 90 percent so far this year. 

Despite the downturn in its stock, Priceline remains popular among travelers. The company sold about 1.3 million tickets during the its most recent quarter, Fogarty estimated. 

——— 

ON THE NET: 

http://www.hotwire.com 

http://www.priceline.com 

http://www.expedia.com 

http://www.cheaptickets.com 

http://www.lowestfare.com 

CHP officials reported today that a Berkeley woman was killed Monday afternoon when her car collided head-on with another vehicle on U.S. Highway 101 in southern Mendocino County. 

The California Highway Patrol said the 3:48 p.m. accident claimed the life of Leisa Jean Rossman, 53, when her southbound 1983 Toyota Corolla crossed the double yellow line and collided head-on with a northbound vehicle about  

six miles from the Sonoma County line. 

Saranya Thianngern, 49, of San Francisco, a passenger in the northbound 2000 Honda CRV, is in critical condition at Stanford University Medical Center.  

She was transported there from Ukiah Valley Medical Center with several broken bones in her ribs, left wrist and left ankle, a lacerated liver and back injuries, the CHP said. 

Two other passengers in the Honda were treated for minor injuries at Santa Rosa’s Memorial Hospital.

PETALUMA — Trey Atkin was an active, gregarious 11-year-old, just the kind of boy you’d expect to spend a buddy’s birthday party leading the charge through the nearby bushes. 

Saturday was one such sparkling day, with a strong wind raking clouds from the fall sky and Atkin romping about a field just off Haverfield Lane west of Petaluma. 

It was there – perhaps because of the afternoon gusts, perhaps for no reason at all – that a 20-foot redwood branch broke off and struck Atkin, crushing his skull. 

People who saw the accident said he was running with a big smile on his face when the limb hit, said the boy’s father, Chip Atkin. 

Walter W. Atkin III, as Trey was born, died of severe brain damage Sunday morning at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. 

“The fact that he would be on that spot when he could be anywhere on six acres...” said Barbara Caswell, whose daughter had been friends with Atkin since they were toddlers. Caswell’s daughter had insisted that Atkin come to her party, like all years past, even though their families no longer shared a neighborhood. 

“He was an irresistible person to keep in her life. He was so kind to her,” Caswell said. “Trey was the kind of person with the socially conscious parents where we all thought he would grow up to make some kind of contribution to the world. As it turned out, he is making a contribution.” 

Atkins’ parents have decided to donate his organs to help others live. 

On Monday, students returned to Wilson School, where Atkin was a popular fifth grader and combined a gifted-and-talented intellect with skill on the basketball court. 

“He had many, many friends. Unlike a big-man-on-campus popularity, he was the kind of child other students sought out for help,” said principal Bob Raines. “He was an incredible little boy. We’re all really reeling with his loss.” 

Mondays at Wilson always begin with an assembly to discuss the upcoming week. For the second straight time, Raines has comforted his students – over the prior weekend, fourth grader Yobani Pulido died from an acute asthma attack. 

“Unfortunately, I’ve learned a lot more about grief among kids than I ever wanted to know,” Raines lamented. “And one of the things’ I’ve learned is that their emotions change all the time.” 

Many kids are angry, blaming the wind for their friend’s loss, wondering why life isn’t fair to everyone. 

That was the kind of question that Atkin had already started to ask in his own short life, friends and neighbors said. 

One neighbor remembered how Atkin organized a neighborhood watch after a home across the street was burglarized. 

Another neighbor, Pat Katen, watched Atkin grow up next door, shooting hoops in the driveway. She would kid around with him, but knew he was responsible enough to take care of her house when she left town. 

“He was just a good kid,” Katen said. “You could tell he was going to be a good man as well.” 

SAN FRANCISCO — A 20-year former FBI agent settled her sex discrimination claims against the government Tuesday in a case setting new precedent. 

Agent Kathleen Anderson claimed she was subjected to sexual taunts and ridicule by co-workers and supervisors over many years, denied equal job treatment and was punished when she complained. 

She settled for $150,000 plus undetermined costs and legal fees. The most Anderson could have reaped was $300,000 under federal anti-discrimination laws. The government admitted no wrongdoing. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker had ruled that he could not consider most of her claims of abuse dating back to 1986 because she failed to complain to a government equal-employment counselor within 45 days. 

According to her suit, between 1986 and 1990 her supervisor called her “gorgeous,” “the good little girl” and “the office sex goddess” and whistled at her. When she entered a room in 1987 to conduct a briefing, she saw an easel with a drawing of a pair of breasts and the words “Operation Cupcake.” 

Anderson also said she was passed over for promotions, excluded from critical meetings and denied backup agents who were provided to men. She said she was assigned to a dead-end job after filing her first complaint, and was transferred from a desirable case in retaliation for filing her suit in 1997. 

SACRAMENTO — Richard and Millie Hoagland had a “very sick truck,” a smoke-belching big rig they knew would not pass a smog inspection. 

They faced some unpleasant options: Come up with $27,000 to replace the engine or go out of business. 

Then the government came to the rescue. 

The Hoaglands, who run a one-truck hauling company in the Sacramento suburb of Elk Grove, were able to get $20,500 from a state program to put a rebuilt, cleaner-running 1989 engine in their rig. 

“Twenty-seven thousand would have been completely out of our range,” Millie Hoagland said. 

The Hoaglands and their truck were on hand Tuesday for a ceremony to kick off an expanded version of the program that helped them — a $95 million effort to reduce diesel pollution in the San Joaquin Valley and the Sacramento metropolitan area. 

Both regions are facing federal sanctions in the form of lost highway construction money if they don’t meet clean air requirements. 

The expanded program stems from a bill by Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, that allocated $50 million for the Sacramento region program and $25 million for the San Joaquin Valley. 

Sacramento officials are chipping in another $20 million for their effort. 

The programs will offer grants to owners of trucks and buses to help replace older engines, install pollution-reducing catalysts, make mechanical changes needed to use cleaner-burning fuel or buy a new vehicle with engines that are cleaner than currently required. 

The San Joaquin Valley program will also offer grants to clean up off-road diesel-powered vehicles, such as farm equipment, said Josette Merced Bello, a spokeswoman for the San Joaquin Valley Pollution Control District. 

Tom Swenson, a program coordinator for the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District, says the program is targeting trucks and buses because of the relatively high amounts of pollution they emit. 

The Sacramento program hopes to eliminate three tons of oxides of nitrogen, a key ingredient in smog, by 2005 by reducing emissions from up to 6,000 vehicles, he said. 

Alan Lloyd, chairman of the state Air Resources Board, said the Sacramento-San Joaquin program would complement a new ARB program requiring soot-catching filters on diesel engines. 

“We need both the carrot and the stick approach,” Lloyd said. “This is a wonderful example of the carrot.” 

Martin Tuttle, executive director of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, said the Sacramento-San Joaquin program could become a national or international model. 

——— 

On the Net: Read the bill, AB2511, at http://www.sen.ca.gov 

Read about the Sacramento program at http://www.sacog.org/secat 

LOS ANGELES — These are real Star-bucks. 

All 13 employees at a mid-city Starbucks, one of six boasting Earvin “Magic” Johnson as an investor, are winners of last weekend’s $87 million Super Lotto Plus jackpot. 

Despite their riches, manager Mary Champaine and other workers showed up before dawn to open the coffee house at La Brea Avenue and San Vicente Boulevard and serve lattes and frothy cappuccinos. 

“I’m a multimillionaire but I don’t have the money yet. I had to open the store. Starbucks has been good to me,” said Champaine, a 53-year-old widow whose husband died of cancer a year ago. 

The 13 workers will each get $6.7 million, before taxes, over 26 years, California Lottery spokeswoman Norma Minas said. 

They will each get a first check for $167,307 in three to six weeks, with annual payments increasing each year to a final $341,307 payment in the 26th year, she said. 

The retailer who sold the winning ticket, Thomas Lewis of L&E Liquor, gets $435,000. 

It was Champaine who collected $1 from each of her employees on Saturday after learning the jackpot had swelled. 

“Who wasn’t here I just went down in my purse and I found enough change, got enough to include everybody. I would hate for us to win and not everybody. We are a team here. I wanted all my team to be sharing in the winnings,” she said. 

What’s she going to do with the money? 

“Paint the house and get a new fence,” Champaine said. 

Employee Moisha Oliver, who rides a city bus to work, said she got a call Monday night from Champaine to let her they had won. She didn’t believe it. 

“I said, ’I’ll see you in the morning. If there’s cameras and lights, I’ll know we won,”’ she told reporters Tuesday staking out the Starbucks before dawn. 

Oliver said she was going to buy a house, stash college money for her kids and get a car. 

Asked how she could be so calm, she said: “I am doing toe touches and cartwheels inside. I’m trying to keep it calm, not get too crazy. I can’t do cartwheels because I have a skirt on. If I had pants on I think I’d be out there giving you a cheerleading show, jumping up and down on the tables. But I’ve got to be ladylike,” she said. 

Employee Keith Matthews was also on the job. There was no way to wipe the grin off his face. 

“I don’t know what to say. It’s the kind of news that makes you want to jump up and say hi to the guys in the shuttle,” Matthews said. 

It’s been a rough couple of years for Champaine. Besides the death of her husband, she had lost her job when a department store shut down. 

“I don’t drink coffee and I don’t know much about the culture, but Starbucks hired me and made me manager. I came to work today with only $7 in my pocket. God is wonderful,” Champaine said, adding she had no immediate plans to quit her job. 

A 440-square-mile sweep of jagged mountains and desert in Southern California became the country’s latest national monument under a law President Clinton signed Tuesday to protect the land from encroaching development. 

The Senate and House each passed the bill without opposition to create the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. The area forms the postcard backdrop for Palm Springs, rising from the desert floor to the 10,804-foot peak of Mount San Jacinto. 

The primary advantage to monument status – one step shy of recognition as a national park – will be a higher priority for federal funding and a coordinated management plan among various federal agencies that own the land. 

“The better able we are to acquire lands, the better all the agencies working together will be able to manage the resources and ensure that they stay pristine,” said Bill Havert, executive director of the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy, which pushed for the legislation. 

The bill’s sponsor, GOP Rep. Mary Bono, whose 39th birthday coincidentally was Tuesday, said she was thrilled with added protection for the rugged mountains that are walking distance from her home. 

The mountains are home to endangered peninsular bighorn sheep and the threatened desert slender salamander. Because the mountain range features drastic changes in elevation, the proposed monument has five distinct climate zones, from desert to pine forest and arctic pine at the summit.  

Hiking and horseback trails cross the hills, offering spectacular views. 

“It’s important that those lands be recognized as special,” said Jay Watson, California director of the Wilderness Society. “The protection is as permanent as the Santa Rosa Mountains are themselves.” 

Bono negotiated for more than a year with a local officials, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to protect the land as a monument.  

The legislative, bipartisan compromise defused the hard feelings that monument designations provoked in recent years. 

Clinton has used his authority under the 1906 Antiquities Act to designate 10 monuments spanning 3.7 million acres since he took office in 1993 – the most by any president except Jimmy Carter. Western Republicans often complain about the designations as federal “land grabs” that prevent access to public lands. 

Palm Springs developers had voiced concern about Bono’s proposal, fearing it would unfairly curb development.  

But she negotiated explicitly to prevent any impact to development outside the monument boundary and to allow planes approaching the Palm Springs airport to fly over the mountains. 

She said Clinton could ignore such rules if he declared the land a monument himself, a threat she said helped propel the bill to passage. 

Much of the Santa Rosa land already is protected by federal or state government, but declaring it a monument offers permanent protection rather than protection under current administrative management, which is subject to change. 

The monument includes the Santa Rosa Mountains National Scenic Area, part of the San Bernardino National Forest, the state’s San Jacinto Wilderness Area and part of the Indian reservation. 

For the first time, the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service, along with the tribe and a local advisory board, will create a joint management plan for the area. Advocates say the monument designation will make it easier to win federal funding for the plan, which is to be developed within three years. 

“It needs this approach with lots of grassroots involvement,” Bono said. 

Besides general protections for land and wildlife, the bill aims to preserve Indian ceremonial lands and archaeological sites. It would prohibit off-road vehicle use. Mining is banned, but grazing could continue under the bill. 

The bill is H.R. 3676. 

——— 

On the Net: 

The bill is at http://thomas.loc.gov. Rep. Bono’s site is at http://www.house.gov/bono 

SACRAMENTO — A Sacramento man charged with a 1994 rape might be the first person in the nation arrested using a DNA warrant, prosecutors say. 

Paul Eugene Robinson, 31, was arrested last month after state computers matched his genetic code to a warrant issued in the rape of a woman in August 1994, police said. 

The suspect listed on the warrant was only identified by a DNA sample. 

Other law enforcement agencies have filed such DNA warrants but Robinson is believed to be the first suspect arrested through one, said Norman Gahn, an assistant district attorney in Milwaukee, Wis. His office pioneered the concept of filing charges using only DNA identities. 

“This is all new territory, but hopefully in 10 years, it will be an everyday thing,” said Sacramento Police Detective Peter Willover. The rape was one in a series of attacks that police believed were related. The attacker was named the “Second Floor Rapist” for his penchant of assaulting women living on the second floors of apartment buildings. 

If investigators had not issued a DNA warrant in the case, they would have been unable to arrest Robinson because the statute of limitations is six years. 

A $50 million grant from the state Office of Criminal Justice Planning has been distributed to police departments around the state to do DNA testing done on old rape cases. 

Beginning in January, a new law will nearly eliminate the six-year limit on rapes in cases where DNA evidence is available. 

Some civil rights groups and defense attorneys say limiting the time to file charges ensures fair trials. Over several years memories fade and evidence gets lost or contaminated, said Johnny Griffin, Robinson’s attorney.

SACRAMENTO — A California ballot measure that would put thousands of drug offenders into treatment rather than behind bars wouldn’t solve the state’s prison crowding problem, Corrections Director Cal Terhune said Tuesday. 

Crowding is worst among the most violent inmates and those who face life terms under California’s three-strikes law, said Terhune, who is retiring Nov. 4. 

Nonviolent drug users, by contrast, are generally housed in 16 dormitory-style minimum-security community correctional facilities, most of which are run by public or private agencies under contract with the Department of Corrections. 

“That isn’t where our pinch is,” Terhune said in an interview. “I wouldn’t suggest anybody do too much experimenting with putting high-level security cases in those lower-security beds.” 

Regardless of whether Proposition 36 passes Nov. 7, the department must still  

reduce the number of violent inmates housed two-to-a-cell, Terhune said. 

All told, the system is housing nearly double the inmates envisioned in its design capacity. 

Terhune took no position on the merits of Proposition 36 itself during an extended interview.  

However, he said he favors drug treatment for those who need it.  

And he noted that the number of treatment beds in prisons have increased from 400 to 8,000 during his three-year tenure as director. 

The proposition would require treatment rather than incarceration for those convicted for the first or second time of being under the influence of drugs or possessing drugs for their personal use. 

That would divert as many as 24,000 nonviolent drug offenders a year who currently go to prison or are sent back to prison for violating their parole, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates. 

Many serve just a few months in prison, however, so the analyst projects the state would need 9,000 to 11,000 fewer prison beds if Proposition 36 is approved. 

“That’s a huge dent in the prison population,” said Dave Fratello, campaign manager of the California for New Drug Policies, Proposition 36’s prime supporter. 

A typical year of treatment costs about $4,000, compared to an average $23,000 to house an inmate in prison.  

However, a dormitory-style prison costs $15,000 to $17,000, the department said. 

The proposition would also cut parole caseloads by about 9,500 per year, the analysis estimates, because drug users wouldn’t be sent to prison in the first place. 

“It’s a solution to a crisis that’s been building for 10 years or more,” Fratello said. 

He doesn’t dispute that the state may still need more high-security beds.  

But Fratello argued there would be an incalculable long-term savings and social benefit from those whose early treatment deters them from other crimes that would eventually send them to prison. 

Lance Corcoran, vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, questions the analysis because he thinks most first-time drug offenders already are sidetracked into treatment programs. 

He also questions the social benefit of repeatedly sending drug users to treatment rather than prison. 

“We’re not talking here about ’Joe One-time-casual-user’ here who gets popped,” Corcoran said. 

On the Net: 

Read Proposition 36 and arguments pro and con at http://www.ss.ca.gov

FRESNO — To the golden trout of the Sierra Nevada: This Bud’s for you. 

Facing pressure from environmentalists, Anheuser-Busch suspended grazing on fragile Sierra Nevada meadows that threatened the habitat of the state fish. 

The controversy with the world’s largest beermaker has been brewing for years in the Golden Trout Wilderness of Inyo National Forest, about 200 miles north of Los Angeles. 

More than a century of grazing sheep and cattle high in the rugged mountains has trampled meadows, killed vegetation and muddied waters where the fish – prized for its brilliant colors and said to sparkle like a $20 gold piece – once thrived. 

“The fish are rare in one extreme, they spawn in degraded habitats,” said Brett Matzke, public lands director for California Trout in Fresno.  

“Now almost the entire river is spawning habitat so they’re starving to death.” 

Two weeks ago Trout Unlimited, a conservation organization, filed a federal petition to list the troubled trout as an endangered species, citing grazing as one of the hazards to its health. 

Earlier this summer, a number of environmental groups, including California Trout and the Sierra Club, threatened to boycott Anheuser-Busch products unless it removed its herd from the last natural habitat of the golden trout. 

The company, which makes Budweiser beer, said it was not those threats that drove its herd from the hills. 

“We’ve had people threaten to boycott us because we support the Humane Society because the Humane Society opposes cockfighting,” said Anheuser-Busch spokesman Charles Poole. “We thought it was the right thing to do for us at this time.” 

St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch has been in the cattle business in the Owens Valley since 1986. It bought the Cabin Bar Ranch in Olancha to lock up valuable groundwater rights in case it needs water for its Van Nuys brewery. 

The company also benefitted from the century-old ranching operation, cashing in on valuable permits to graze cattle on U.S. Forest Service land. 

In the summer, the ranch drives 900 cows and their calves onto 100,000 acres in the mountains between 8,000 and 11,000 feet. The cost is about $4,700 a year for the permits and the government picks up the tab of mending fences and other upkeep. A study by Inyo National Forest — home of Mount Whitney — found it spent about $80,000 a year to restore resources, manage permits and monitor the area. 

“It’s nothing more than a welfare system for cowboys,” Matzke said. “It’s unfair for people who graze private land and it’s unfair on the American taxpayer. We’re subsidizing these folks.” 

During the time Anheuser-Busch cows have grazed in the Golden Trout Wilderness, a forest service study found the meadows have continued to recover from degradation caused through the 1930s when grazing was poorly regulated. Improvements have occurred slowly and now the question is how fast recovery should take. 

The future of cattle in the area could forever be altered when the forest service presents a grazing plan next month. 

Eliminating grazing would be the quickest route to restoration, but the area can also recover amid grazing, said Del Hubbs, a range conservationist at Inyo National Forest. 

“It’s kind of like saying if you want your car to last you don’t drive it. But in the real world we do drive,” Hubbs said. “In the real world we have to manage a balance between all users.” 

The beermaker’s future in farming in the Sierra could be decided by the government’s plan. Anheuser-Busch will only say it won’t be grazing cattle in the wilderness next year. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Inyo National Forest Web site on the Kern Plateau: 

http://www.r5.fs.fed.us/inyo/kern 

California Trout: 

http://www.caltrout.org/ 

Anheuser-Busch: 

http://www.anheuser-busch.com/ 

Trout Unlimited: 

http://www.tu.org/ 

The City Council tonight will again broach the touchy topic of city employee parking near Civic Center.  

At last week’s council meeting about 20 off-duty Berkeley police officers got into a loud verbal exchange with a police station neighbor who records their parking violations and chanted “What do we want? Parking!” outside council chambers in protest over what they described as a parking nightmare.  

The mayor agrees with the officers as well as fire department employees and public school teachers who said they will be competing for sparse parking spaces when City Hall is re-occupied in January. She wants the city manager to make parking a top priority and to explore possible solutions including shuttles and the commandeering of existing spaces in city-owned garages near the Civic Center. 

The council faction that often opposes the mayor is presenting an opposing recommendation tonight. Councilmembers Kriss Worthington, Dona Spring and Linda Maio said in their recommendation that it’s too early to put such a high priority on parking. They ask that the council wait until the Southside-Downtown Transportation Demand Study is completed. The study will include analysis of existing parking conditions and make recommendations about possible solutions. The study is due in three to seven weeks. 

According to the councilmembers’ recommendation, some of the other options the council might consider include  

• Offering “Commuter Checks,” which would allow employees to use pretax dollars to purchase transit passes.  

• Creating programs to reduce automobile use by city employees. 

• Educating employees about the importance of using public transportation. 

On another parking topic, the council will consider the adoption of extended residential parking on Emerson Street between Tremont Street and Shattuck Avenue and all of Keoncrest and Catherine drives. The permit parking program allows Berkeley residents to decide for themselves whether or not they want permit enforcement on their blocks. The process requires signatures from at least 51 percent of residents on any given block.  

The Council will consider repealing private indoor entertainment ordinances, which focused on regulating participant behavior, and replacing them with new ordinances designed to enhance safety. The new ordinances would apply to indoor music events, live or recorded, that are open to the public and are expected to draw over 150 people. Sponsors would have to ensure that the building in which the event is to take place is up to code. This would include emergency access, the presence of fire extinguishers, functional sprinkler systems and fire alarms. 

Under the old system the sponsor would apply for a permit from the chief of police which regulated the nature of the event – whether alcohol was going to be served, whether there was lighting in dance areas and whether a prohibition on obscene dancing would be enforced. 

A sign that Berkeley is growing in popularity is the increased use of portable toilets. The city currently maintains a total of 14 portables in seven parks as well as supplying additional units for 13 special events each year such as Earth Day, How Berkeley Can You Be? and the Bay to Barkers. The increased popularity of the city’s parks and events has meant increased use of the units which has also caused maintenance cost to rise. Lisa Caronna, the director of Parks and Waterfront has recommended the City Council contract with the Portosan Company of Benicia, which submitted the lowest bid at $72,000 for 12 months, to maintain the portable toilets. Redwood Sanitary Service had the maintenance contract, which will expire at the end of the month. 

The session starts tonight at 6:30 p.m., with a Housing Authority meeting, followed by a Redevelopment Agency meeting scheduled for 7:20 p.m. and the regular meeting which is slated for 7:30 p.m. The meeting is at the Council Chambers at Old City Hall at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way and is broadcast on KPFB 89.3 and televised on Ch-25, then rebroadcast at 8 a.m. on Wednesday and 9 a.m. on Sunday. 

Tuesday, Oct. 24

“Security Deposits” 

2000 Tenants’ rights week 

hourly 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

ASUC/Rent Board booth at Sather Gate on the Berkeley campus. 

644-7714 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market Fall Fruit Tastings 

2 p.m. - 7 p.m.  

Derby St. at MLK Jr. Way 

Come taste a bounty of fall fruit varieties for free. 

Info: 548-3333 

Blood Pressure 

Alice Meyers 

9:30- 11 :30 a.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst 

644-6107 

Wednesday, Oct. 25 

International Jewish Video Competition Winners 

7:30 p.m.  

Pacific Film Archive 

2575 Bancroft Way 

Screening of the four winners in the Museum’s seventh annual competition.  

Call 549-6950 

 

“How to Get Needed Repairs” 

2000 Tenants’ rights week 

hourly 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

ASUC/Rent Board booth at Sather Gate on the Berkeley campus. 

644-7714 

 

Hearing with City Council/Rent Board Housing Committee  

5:30 p.m. 

Eshleman Hall Chambers 

644-7714 

 

Low vision support group 

1:15 p.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst 

644-6107 

 

Civic Arts Commission 

6:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St.  

 

Halloween Puppet Show  

with Hazel Jazel 

3:30 p.m.  

San Pablo Library, 1555 International Marketplace, San Pablo. (510) 374-3998. 

Free. 

 

Disaster Council 

7 p.m. 

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar 

 

Energy Commission 

5:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

 

Mental Health Commission 

6:30 p.m. 

Mental Health Clinic 

2640 MLK Jr. Way 

 

Planning Commission 

7 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St.  

 

Police Review Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St.  

 

Bay Area premier of Beyond Organic: The Vision of Fairview 

Gardens 

Reception begins at 7 p.m.; Program begins at 7:30 p.m. 

Martin Luther King Middle School auditorium, 1871 Rose Street, Berkeley, California. For more information call 845-4595 or e-mail info@ecoliteracy.org. 

---

Thursday, Oct. 26

 

“A Contemporary Food Fight: GM Foods in the market place” 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

A discussion with Dr. Peggy Lemaux, professor of Plant and Microbiology at UC Berkeley, and Dr. Petra Frey from Switzerland, of the scientific basis for biotechnology, it’s risks and benefits. 

Contact Maribel Guillermo,  

642-9460 

 

“What Does Rent Control  

Do For You” 

2000 Tenants’ rights week 

hourly 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

ASUC/Rent Board booth at Sather Gate on the Berkeley campus. 

644-7714 

 

From Morgan to Modern 

Julia Morgan and Hearst Castle:Designing and American Country House 

7:30 p.m. 

The Hillside Club 

2286 Cedar St. 

$10 or $35 for series that continues through November. 

841-2242 

 

East Bay Science  

& Arts Middle School 

Noon  

BART Plaza, Downtown 

Middle school students perform dances of folk, swing, and Cuban rueda styles. Free.  

Contact Carrie Ridgeway,  

549-2230 

 

Proposition Brown Bag 

Noon - 1:30 p.m.  

Institute of Governmental Studies 

109 Moses Hall 

UC Berkeley 

Hear presentations about and discuss the eight propositions on the California ballot.  

Call 642-4608 

 

Tai Chi 

2 p.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst 

644-6107 

 

Homeless Action Center’s 10th anniversary Benefit 

Club Muse 

The Vagabond Lovers, comedian Doug Ferrai 

856 San Pablo Ave. Albany 

For ticket information call 540-0878 

 

---

Friday, Oct. 27

 

“Transporation: What’s in Store?” 

11:45 a.m. 

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

Larry Dahms, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Council speaks at 12:30 p.m. Luncheon is served at 11:45 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. 

Luncheon: $11 

More info and reservations: 848-3533 

“Right Ways to Get Out  

of a Lease” 

2000 Tenants’ rights week 

hourly 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

ASUC/Rent Board booth at Sather Gate on the Berkeley campus. 

644-7714 

 

Conversational Yiddish 

1 p.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst 

644-6107  

Haunted House 

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

1818 5th St. 

Free 

Donations benefiting youth activities in Berkeley appreciated. 

644-3305 

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

 

 

 

 

 

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Saturday, Oct. 28

 

 

Shakespeare Festival’s annual costume and garage sale  

9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Featuring one-of-a-kind costumes, props, and set pieces from previous productions. Free. 701 Heinz Ave., Berkeley. (510) 548-3422 ext. 120. 

 

Buddhist Peace Fellowship 

A Day of Mindfulness with Claude Anshin Thomas 

A day of meditation, dialogue, teachings and reflection on transforming violence in ourselves an in the world. 

9 a.m. – 5 p.m. 

We the People Auditorium, 200 Harrison St. 

Donations excepted 

496-6072 

 

Community Workshop to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Berkeley High School  

9 a.m. – noon 

Florence Schwimley Little Theater at Berkeley High School 

Students, parents, teachers, business owners, neighbors, and others are invited to a discussion on that will help set the course for future school improvements and provide the basis for accreditation review. 

Iris Starr, AICP, 540-1252 

tinstarr@earthlink.net 

 

“Grassroots Globalization vs. Elite Globalization” 

2 p.m. 

Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library 

6501 Telegraph Ave. 

595-7417 

 

“Halloween Mask Making” 

Tilden Regional Park 

2 p.m. 

Come learn the origins of Halloween and make a plaster-gauze mask. Registration required. $4. Take Canon Drive off Grizzly Peak Boulevard, Berkeley. (510) 525-2233. 

 

Pedaling the Green City 

11 a.m. -3:30 p.m.  

Take a leisurely bike ride along the future San Francisco Bay Trail. One in a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations  

 

Wild About Books? 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

Halloween for the little guys with (not so) scary stories, music, and more.  

Call 649-3943  

 

Haunted House 

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

1818 5th St. 

Free 

Donations benefiting youth activities in Berkeley appreciated. 

644-3305 

 

St. John’s Church and Camp Elmwood haunted house  

6:30 to 8:30 p.m.  

Party for teens from 8:45 tp 10 p.m.  

Free. Wear a costume and bring a canned good, book or toy donation.  

845-2656 

 

“The 3rd annual Habitot Halloween” 

Habitot Children’s Museum  

10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

A not-too-spooky Halloween event for young children with entertainment, parades, games, magic and songs. Come in  

costume. Registration strongly suggested. $4 general; $6 for the first child age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 

647-1111 

 

“Not Very Scary Halloween Celebration” 

10:30 a.m. at La Pena  

Betsy Rose performs songs and activities to celebrate the harvest season and the ancestral spirits. Children are invited to come in costume. $4 general; $3 children. 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2572. 

 

Run Your Own Landscape Business: Part 3 

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave. (at Blake) 

Local horticultural consultant and UC Master Gardener Jessie West will teach you how to plant, prune, control weeds, and more. This is the final class in the series. 

$15 general; $10 for members; $5 materials fee 

Call 548-2220 x223 

 

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Sunday, Oct. 29

 

 

“Almost Halloween Hike,”  

Tilden Regional Park 

10 a.m.  

Explore the nature of Halloween folklore on the trails.  

“Wake the Dead: A Music Concert”  

Celebrate the Celtic “Day of the Dead” (Halloween) with folksong artists Paul Kotapish and Danny Carnahan.  

2 to 4 p.m.  

(510) 525-2233. 

 

 

“Gateway to Knowledge” 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Pl. 

Barr Rosenberg describes how to master new knowledge and take the power to shape our lives in wise and compassionate ways.  

843-6812 

 

An Evening with The Professor 

5 - 9:30 p.m. 

Mambo Mambo 

1803 Webster St.  

Oakland 

Berkeley resident Geoffrey A. Hirsch, better known as the Tie Guy from the “How Berkeley Can You Be” parade got his start in comedy in 1996. A professor in real life, Hirsch tell the story of how he became a funny guy.  

$5 for show only, $10 for show and dinner 

Call Geoffrey Hirsch at 845-5631 to reserve tickets 

 

---

Monday, Oct. 30

 

 

Fun with Oragami 

10 a.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

644-6107 

 

“BYOP: Pumpkin Carving By Porch and Hearth,” 

Tilden Regional Park 

4 to 7 p.m. “Bring your own pepo” 

Take Canon Drive off Grizzly Peak  

Boulevard, Berkeley. (510) 525-2233. 

 

---

Tuesday, Oct. 31

 

 

Sing-A-Long 

11 a.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

644-6107 

 

Haunted House 

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

1818 5th St. 

Free 

Donations benefiting youth activities in Berkeley appreciated. 

644-3305 

 

---

Wednesday, Nov. 1

 

Kathak Dancing with Pandit Chitresh Das 

7:30 p.m. 

Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 

2640 College Ave.  

The Graduate Theological Union presents a free lecture-demonstration with Pandit Chitresh Das, a master of India’s Kathak dance form. This event is free. 

Call 649-2440 for additional info 

 

Mountain Adventure Seminar 

In-store, registration required 

6 p.m.-9 p.m. 

Learn about equip,emt. fundamental climbing techiques and safety procedures. 

$100 REI members, $110 for non members 

To register (209) 753-6556 

 

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Thursday, Nov. 2

 

PASTForward Panel Discussion 

2 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum 

Bancroft Way (below College) 

In conjunction with the White Oak Dance Project’s performances, a panel discussion with Judson era dance choreographers Yvonne Rainer and Deborah Hay. Free. 

 

From Morgan to Modern 

“Saddling the Site: The Environmental Designs of Wurster, Church and Others” 

7:30 p.m. 

The Hillside Club 

2286 Cedar St. 

$10. 841-2242 

 

Berkeley Metaphysic Toastmasters Club 

6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysic come together at Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters. Meets first and third Thursdays each month. 

Call 869-2547 or 643-7645 

 

---

Friday, Nov. 3

 

 

Taize Worship Service 

7:30-8:30 p.m. 

An hour of quiet reflection and song. First Friday of the month. 

Loper Chapel on Dana Street between Durant and Channing Way. 

848-3696 

 

“Want to Transform your Dreams Into Reality?” 

Lecture by Leonard Orr, world known for creating the Rebirthing and Conscious Breathwork Movement. 

7:30 p.m., 

The Berkeley Friends Church, 1600 Sacramento St. 

$25, 843-6514 

 

---

Saturday, Nov. 4

 

 

Breathtaking Barnabe Peak 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

Hike through Samuel P. Taylor State Park’s lush forests and climb to the heights of Barnabe Peak, overlooking Point Reyes. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

 

Wild About Books? 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

Dublin Library’s resident storyteller and featured teller at the 1998 National Storytelling Festival tell kids aged 3 to 7 her favorite tales.  

Call 649-3943  

 

The Next Ivory Trade? The Intellectual Property Rights of University Faculty 

A conference sponsored by the Berkeley Faculty Association/American Association of University Professors Coalition 

9 a.m. tp 3:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley International House 

841-1997 

 

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Sunday, Nov. 5

 

Buddhist Psychology 

6 p.m.  

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Pl.  

Buddhist teacher Sylvia Gretchen on “Beyond Therapy and Into the Heart of Buddhist Psychology.” Free. 

Call 843-6812  

 

Berkeley Historical Society walking tour 

Downtown Berkeley  

Tour new construction, new uses, historic rehabilitation and public improvments that are completed or still in the works.  

noon 

RSVP required 841-0181 space is limited. 

Tickets: $5 for members, $10 for nonmembers. 

 

---

Monday, Nov. 6

 

Airports vs. the Bay 

7 p.m. 

Albany Community Center 

1249 Marin St.  

Albany 

David Lewis, Executive Director of “Save the Bay” will speak on the airports’ plans to expand into the SF Bay and other challenges to Bay restoration.  

Contact: Friends of Five Creeks, 848-9358 

---

Tuesday, Nov. 7

 

Zonta Club dinner 

5:30 p.m. 

Berkeley City Club 

$20 per person 

Dr. Sylvia Earle, a marine bioligist, author and Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, will be the featured speaker. 

For more information call 845-6221 

---

Thursday, Nov. 9

 

The Life and Art of Chiura Obata 

7:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Public Library 

1170 Alameda (at Hopkins) 

A slide show and lecture presented by Obata’s granddaughter, Kimi Kodani Hill, celebrating Obata’s book, “Topaz Moon: Chiura Obata’s Art of the Internment,” and the retrospective exhibit of Obata’s work to appear this Fall at SFs De Young Museum. 

For details call 644-6850  

 

From Morgan to Modern 

“Bay Area Modern” 

7:30 p.m. 

The Hillside Club 

2286 Cedar St. 

$10. 841-2242 

 

ESL Teacher Job Fair 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Adult School 

1222 University Ave., Room 7  

ESL program representatives from adult schools in Alameda and Contra Costa counties will provide information about desired qualifications, current job openings, credentialing requirements, and more.  

Call Kay Wade, 644-6130 

 

“Feeding the Moon: A Nutritive Approach to Feminine Fertility” 

Lern how fertility is affected by the environment and how it can be enhanced by healthy lifestyle choices 

7:30 to 9 p.m. 

The Ecology Center 

2530 San Pable Ave.  

558-1324, free 

 

“Diabetes: What to Know Head-to-Toe” 

Health Education Center, 400 Hawthorne Ave. 

12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Free 

869-6737 

 

Compiled by Chason Wainwright 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breland corrects the record  

Editor, 

Last week your paper published a letter from Robert Cabrera, the president of the Berkeley Property Owners Association, which was an attack against me.  

In his letter, Mr. Cabrera alleged that we had met and had a conversation about rent control. His report of our conversation cast me in a very bad light. This is a conversation that never happened.  

My opponent in the upcoming election is supported by the mayor, who has long been an opponent of rent control and is closely aligned with the Berkeley Property Owners Association. Mr. Cabrera owns a substantial amount of income property in Berkeley. He is likely experiencing a considerable increase in his income due to vacancy decontrol.  

I’m sure he is concerned about jeopardizing his returns. Mr. Cabrera knows well that I am a supporter of rent control and voted to place Measure Y on the ballot.  

Measure Y would protect the disabled, the elderly, and long time renters from bogus evictions. Mr. Cabrera’s letter was nothing more than a political attack, motivated by the upcoming election.  

He would clearly like to see me unseated and fabricated a conversation that never happened to influence District 2 voters. Unfortunately, election time tends to bring out the worst in people. 

Councilmember Margaret Breland 

Berkeley 

Enough parking already 

Editor, 

Is the supply of parking available to public employees working in the Civic Center area of downtown adequate? (Berkeley Daily Planet, 10/19) Yes, it is. 

When city employees choose to park six or eight or ten blocks away from where they are working, it’s not because there is no parking closer to their workplace. It’s because they are looking for free parking and don’t want to pay for parking in the numerous garages or lots that are only one to four blocks from where they work. 

The City of Berkeley should not provide free parking for any employee.  

From an environmental standpoint, provision of free parking is a very bad idea. Rides for Bay Area Commuters’ Commute Profile 2000 found that only 4.8 percent of commuters with free parking at work use transit. For commuters without free parking, the use of transit and other modes jumps to 42.1percent.  

There is no doubt that expanding the supply of long-term parking, especially if it is free, will encourage driving, undermine transit, and worsen traffic and air quality. 

In fairness to rank and file city workers, no city employee from the City Manager and department heads on down should be given free parking.  

City Councilmembers and their aides should also not be given free parking spaces. They should set an example and pay like everyone else.  

Or better yet, they should set a positive example by taking transit, riding a bicycle or walking. 

The city should collect money for the use of every parking space on city owned property used by city officials and city employees. All of this money should go into a fund to help cover the cost of transit subsidies for city employees. The Southside/Downtown Transportation Demand Management Study draft and the draft General Plan both call on the city, 

UC and other area employers to establish a transit subsidy program similar to UC’s “class pass” or the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s “Eco-Pass” program. 

Just as UC negotiated with AC Transit to provide UC students with a pass that is paid for by a nominal increase in student fees; so the City and other employers need to sit down with transit agencies to establish programs for employees.  

The money generated by charging all city employees full market rate in city owned parking spaces can be used to help cover the cost.  

The total cost is likely to be relatively minor compared to the cost of other employee benefits. The City should be a model employer and provide all employees with transit passes at no cost. 

The School District and the County courts, which currently do absolutely nothing to provide incentives for employees to use transit, should be encouraged to do the same.  

No effort should be made to provide more parking for BUSD and Alameda County employees. 

Eco-Pass in Silicon Valley has been a big success. At companies where employees get the free passes, transit use has increased by an average of over 70 percent. 

The Class Pass at UC has increased student use of buses. 

Will all employees use transit if provided with free passes? Of course not. But enough will to significantly reduce demand for existing parking in the area.  

People who choose to continue to drive will have more parking spaces to choose from. There is no need to expand the existing supply of parking. 

The City should also implement the trip reduction strategies in the Resource Conservation and Global Warming Abatement Plan which they adopted in 1998, including the proposal to subsidize bicycle use by city employees. 

For city employees who get off work late at night, the city can provide escorts or shuttles at the end of shifts to BART, bus stops and to parking areas just as UC provides escorts and shuttles for its students. 

The proposal made by members of the Police Officers Association to give city employees permits to park in residential areas is a terrible idea that would turn neighborhoods west of downtown into employee parking lots and would have a detrimental impact on neighborhood quality of life. 

The City needs to take a comprehensive approach that recognizes the inter-relationship of parking, traffic and transit. Piecemeal planning and looking at parking in isolation is counterproductive. 

Rob Wrenn  

Chair, Berkeley Planning Commission 

Fuel reduction service still carries on in hills 

Editor: 

Please note – the hills area still pays for and receives fire-fuel reduction service – chipper and bins for yard waste, during the summer. The fire district coincides, mostly, with refuse collection District 3.  

The Council, after a public hearing, raised refuse collection rates for District 3 to cover the fire-fuel removal services. 

Tania Levy 

Berkeley 

Measure Y: reasonable assistance for renters 

Editor: 

Measure Y will help senior, disabled and other long-term renters to remain in Berkeley. 

I am confident that once Berkeley voters find out the truth about Measure Y, they will give it their overwhelming support. 

Rental property owners succeeded in passing a State law that substantially weakened our local rent control program; it allows rents to be raised as high as possible whenever old tenants move out of apartment units and new tenants move in.  

Now, landlords have a strong incentive to change tenants frequently. 

Unscrupulous landlords attempt to drive out long-term tenants with reasonable rents so they can lease their apartments at sky-high rates to newcomers. Such landlords initiate evictions based on the assertion that they (or their relatives) want to occupy the tenants’ homes.  

Once the tenants leave, the landlords move in for a short while, then hang out a “For Rent” sign. These ‘owner move-in’ evictions can be fought only with difficulty under current law. Measure Y will strengthen tenants’ legal protections against this kind of abuse. 

Under Measure Y, long-term renters of larger landlords will be shielded from owner move-in evictions. After all, the landlords have many options besides driving out people who have put down roots in Berkeley and who, because of the current feverish market, will often be unable to find replacement housing they can afford anywhere in the Bay Area. 

Measure Y will discourage deceitful evictions by mandating that when landlords claim they need to push out tenants in order to occupy a rental unit, they actually intend to live there for a substantial period of time instead of just a few months. 

Measure Y will not restrict the ability of small “mom and pop” landlords to move into their property. 

Measure Y will provide reasonable relocation assistance to renters who are displaced by owners the same dollar amount of assistance that is required when landlords exercise their right under State law to go out of the rental business. Only low-income tenants who have lived in a place for at least a year will be eligible for this help. 

Measure Y will keep some of Berkeley’s most vulnerable residents from being unfairly forced out of their homes. Please vote “yes” on Measure Y. 

Randy Silverman 

Chair, Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board 

Citizen documents selective enforcement 

Editor: 

I agree with Steven Finacom’s point about the Berkeley police’s singling out of Carrie Sprague.  

There’s another issue, though. What Sprague is documenting is selective enforcement by the police for their own benefit. That’s corruption, actually, which may explain their overblown reaction to a woman with a clipboard.  

I sympathize with their desire for more parking, but it;s a two-fold abuse of their power both to flaunt the law and then harass the one who calls them on it.  

John Parman 

Berkeley 

Editor: 

Your article on the dangers of so-called “natural” supplements never addressed as to why people turn to supplements in the first place: the failure of western medicine to successfully treat a wide variety of illnesses and ailments including, but not limited to, cancer, aids, heart-disease and diabetes (Daily Planet, Oct. 23). Unfortunately, the alternative health industries look very similar to western medicine, not only in terms of corporate profits, but more importantly, in their narrow-visioned attempts to treat symptoms, not causes, with pills and potions. While traditional peoples may have sometimes resorted to medicinal herbs and plants to treat disease, they always looked at food first. They understood the vital relationship between human health and natural foods. 

While we would all like to believe that their is a “magic pill,” yet to be discovered, that will “cure” not only minor ailments, but life-threatening ones as well. We have put all of our money and focus on finding a “cure;” a quick fix that will allow us to continue living our lives chaotically with absolutely no acceptance of any personal responsibility whatsoever. We have placed all of our faith in science, as if we are merely machines; as if modern science can explain life and health beyond cells and molecules; it obviously cannot as evidenced by the alarming lack of health today, by the failure of the “War on Cancer,” etc...etc... As human beings, we are much more than just a collection of genes and cells; we have emotions, imaginations and spiritual conditions that have an immense effect on our health. We have all freely chosen the physical, mental and spiritual conditions in which we now find ourselves (if not in this life, in past lives). Disease takes many years to manifest, so let’s stop investing our money and our lives in symptomatic, corporate solutions to disease...whether they be “natural” supplements or toxic drug therapy. There are no “magic pills,” no quick fixes. In these terms, disease can now be seen as a wake-up call; a teacher...and a friend. Make sure to listen carefully. 

Michael Bauce 

Berkeley 841-5420 

I would like this to appear in the Daily Planet but I know that it is too long for a letter. Can it be a perspective piece? Any other suggestions about how I can get my voice heard 

on this? 

Editor, 

Regarding the front page story of the Oct. 21 Daily Planet, I for one am glad that there will be no fast food service in that part of Berkeley and applaud Ms. Breland’s efforts on behalf of her constituents on this. However, I am puzzled about why she has remained silent on behalf of other members of her constituency, namely the families in the area surrounding 2700 San Pablo Ave. We too have “quality of life issues” in regards to the size and scope of the Kennedy/Choyce project planned there.  

Under their current proposal this massive building of 48 apartments takes up nearly an entire block, at 4-5 stories, towers over the surrounding 1 and 2 story homes and businesses and is built to the very edge of the property in all directions. In addition, there will be parking for 61 cars adding to the air pollution and traffic in this area. The Kennedy/Choyce plan also currently includes a permit for a fast food service. Why aren’t our “health ramifications” important to Ms. Breland? Like this other group, we also have a petition signed by 400 plus people living in the area, but we had to do it ourselves. Margaret Breland did not offer her services to us and was extremely difficult to reach when we did ask for her assistance. I have personally spoken with many members of this community – particularly elderly African-American homeowners who are very upset about this project but who are either too ill or too busy to do anything. Where is Ms. Breland in all this?  

Why has she chosen to represent the developers not her community? Not surprisingly, her list of campaign contributors include Patrick Kennedy and his wife as well as the Rev. Choyce. 

Our neighborhood would welcome this building if Kennedy/Choyce would simply modify their design to be a 3 story building. This could be economically feasible for them, still provide a great deal of necessary housing, create a sustainable precedent for future building and help San Pablo develop into a great avenue. Between Dwight and Ashby, there are 11 large lots that developers like Patrick Kennedy will want to develop into massive projects and companies like Shell Oil and Carl’s Jr. will want to stake their claim to with mini-marts that sell fast food and liquor. We need to tell developers and corporations that we want more desirable development that benefits our community! 

What about it, Margaret? 

Phyllis Kamrin 510 548-3627 

Berkeley 

Editor: 

To often, Berkeley “Activist” groups work seperately or take different approaches to solve the same problem. Your article about the southwest Berkeley neighborhoods opposition to a new fast food complex at 1200 Ashby Ave. appeared above an article stating that southwest Berkeley residents have a life expectency of 20 years less than those residents in the Berkeley hills. 

There is a major connection here between these two groups of activists and they should be working to help each other. Those residents in southwest Berkeley ( read African American) die at a younger age not only because of a lack of healthcare but because of poor eating habits. A recent study on health showed that black youth get 40 percent of their daily vegetable intake from french fries. An article about the free lunch program in Oakland High schools revealed that very few of those elegible took part but instead bought fast food.  

Obesity among all Americans has increased more than 60 percent since 1990. There is more of a health crisis than a health care crisis.Those who want healthcare for everyone should think in terms of wanting a healthy life for everyone. Help people to enjoy their lives by improving their quality of life not just prolonging it. Berkeley is proud of the fact that it promotes the use of bycyles and not the automobile. It is time for Berkeley to promote healthy lifestyles and ban fast food.  

Caring about health is as important as caring about healthcare. 

Michael Larrick  

(510) 849-4572 

Editor: 

I am and have been a resident on Carrison Street for the past 23 years. I am upset by the article written about the block and the people that represent the block. I believe that the opinions regarding the plans are valid and I would agree with them. 

What I do not agree with is the way my new neighbors portrayed Carrison Street as a “street overrun with drug dealers and prostitutes.” I’d like to point out that Vicki and Mike Larrick have not lived on Carrison Street for eight year as stated. Drug dealers and prostitution has never been a problem on Carrison Street. 

Up until their move, the Larricks, this street was filled by senior citizens. 

Actually the house in which they vacate was owned by a senior citizen until her death. They moved in her house maybe 4-5 years after she died. 

I know this because up until they moved in I watered the grass. I believe that my anger is mostly directed at the Larricks because of there portrayal of themselves as saviors to the community. 

Carrison st was fine and it is fine and it will be and will always be with or without there contributions. From the moment they have moved in they have only acted as conquerors. They have showed no respect for those that have lived here before and have raised successful families.  

For example, Mike Larrick decided to appoint himself as block Captain, until residents became aware of his self-appointment and voted him out. There lack of knowledge and need to feel heroic is overtly present in this article. It saddens me that my neighborhood has gone from predominately black to racially mixed, whatever that means. 

But as people move in to clean up the neighborhood they must keep in mind that are new that they are joining the group that was already established and attempting to make a change themselves. 

It is really sad to see that my neighborhood is being represented as a bad black neighborhood until it was saved by it’s new white residents. Some of the arrivals of the migration to South Berkeley, do not respect the people, the community, or the residents they have joined with. 

The Larricks have made this apparent by the extreme measures they have taken to isolate themselves from the community until it is time for the Great White Hope to appear. It is like prehistoric times,,as a resident I feel like existing residents are like the Indians. Our land, our efforts, our homes are being taken over by people that have only one thing on there mind how can I live here and make it the way I want it to be, not how can I become apart of this community and help with the efforts being made.  

If you want to write something about the community, write about the gentrification, genocide, and mentacide occurring in south Berkeley. It’ real and it’s occurring. 

As a matter of fact you can interview the Larricks to find out how their efforts have contributed. They are recruiters for those looking for cheap property, occupied by residents of over 20 years, that they can ask to move and give them enough money to pay 3 months rent. 

If you don’t believe me ask my old neighbors, senior citizens with historically fixed rents, uniformed of there rights and Measure Y, why they had to move out there homes, and move after over 25 years of occupation. Oh yeah the people that bought the house were friends of the Larricks. If I am not mistaken Vicki Larrick assisted with the selling of the home. Try to help them.....Please. Thank You  

Kinchasa Taylor, 

Berkeley 

The City Council will consider an ordinance tonight that would ban stores from displaying tobacco products in a manner that encourages minors to attempt to purchase or steal cigarettes.  

A study conducted by the city last February showed that despite state and city laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco to minors, it still occurs with alarming frequency. The study showed that minors were able to purchase tobacco products in 33 percent of stores surveyed.  

“Study after study shows if you start young the more likely you are to form a lifelong habit,” said Fred Medrano, director of Health and Human Services. “This ordinance will further prevent the purchase or theft of cigarettes by underage folks.” 

The ordinance will require all sales of tobacco to be “vendor assisted,” which means a store clerk will have to physically hand the cigarettes to the customer. It would also prohibit displays that allow cigarette self service.  

According to a study commissioned by the City Council, minors are more likely to attempt to buy or steal cigarettes when they are within easy reach. It also showed that vendors are more likely to ask for age verification if they are required to retrieve tobacco products from a secured location behind the counter and physically hand items to customers. 

One store that will be affected by the new ordinance is Fast Mart on University Avenue near Shattuck. The small store stocks candy, soda pop and other items that would attract the large numbers of high school students who walk down the street after classes. But among the candy and gum near the counter is a large display of cigarettes that dominates the front of the store. The display is not designed for self service but it is within easy reach of customers. 

The manager of the store refused to comment about the new ordinance. 

Marcia Brown-Machen, the Berkeley’s Tobacco Prevention Program director, said that most Berkeley merchants are in favor of the ordinance. 

President of the University Avenue Merchants Association, Kirtal Khanna said he would strongly support any ordinance that would reduce smoking among minors or adults. He said he couldn’t speak for the entire association but was reasonably sure other members would agree with him.  

Khanna owns the Bazaar of India on University Avenue, a retail store that sells handcrafts, books and sundries. “My personal opinion is that smoking is terrible,” said Khanna who used to sell Indian cigarettes but took them off the shelves five years ago. 

Brown-Machen said her department sent out 140 letters last June to tobacco retailers alerting them about the proposed ordinance and not one store owner responded negatively.  

She added that a survey completed last year showed that out of 95 tobacco retailers only 19 had tobacco displays customers could reach. 

Brown-Machen said this ordinance might not have a huge impact on teen smoking but there is evidence that a combination of factors is causing reduced smoking among young people. “Non-smoking campaigns, state laws, city ordinances and various other community programs are having an effect,” she said. 

All the states that passed cigarette tax rate increases have shown a reduction in smoking. In fact, California now has the lowest tobacco-use rate in the United States. 

Brown-Machen said another barometer is that the tobacco companies now spend 10 times more in advertising since Californians passed Proposition 99, the Tobacco Tax and Health Protection Act of 1988, a state law that adds 25 cents tax on each package of cigarettes. The revenue goes to smoking prevention and research. 

The Berkeley Tobacco Prevention Program currently has a variety of programs designed to reduce underage smoking. One is Youth Purchase Surveys, in which trained minors, under the supervision of the Berkeley Police Department, attempt to purchase cigarettes from tobacco retailers. Responsible store clerks who refuse to sell to minors can be rewarded with a certificate signed by the mayor. Those who do sell cigarettes to minors are cited on the spot and fined $200 for the first offense. Fines increase with each additional offense. 

There is also an advertising campaign in the Yellow Pages of the UC Berkeley phone directory, which features “Debbie” a woman who communicates through a stoma, a hole at the base of the throat through which she breaths and speaks since having her larynx removed due smoking related cancer. 

Ben Weintraub and Michael Liu became poster guys for the Measure Y campaign Monday afternoon.  

Standing in front of an apartment from which they were asked to leave, the duo explained to the press that the eviction would not happen under the proposed Measure Y. 

Measure Y protects seniors and the disabled against owner move-in evictions, provides $4,500 to low income renters who are displaced and guarantees renters a comparable rental unit if one is available. 

Weintraub, Liu and a third roommate rented the two-bedroom apartment at 1404 Fulton for $1,371 in June 1998.  

The building was sold and on June 14, 1999, a year after they had moved in, they got a certified letter from Peter Kutrubes, attorney for landlords Grace Chizar and Michael Lai, telling them that “Mr. Lai desires to take back your apartment, Unit 308, to make it his own personal residence.” Attached was a 30-day notice. 

The three UC Berkeley students were offered a one-bedroom apartment in the same building for $1,400 per month. 

Instead, they found an apartment on Haste Street for $500 more rent than they had been paying and moved in. Liu and Weintraub said they do not believe that Lai lives in the apartment, since he is seen daily leaving a Haste Street apartment building that he also owns.  

Neither Lai nor Chizar, responded to calls for comment. 

There’s more to the story than a fraudulent owner move-in eviction,Weintraub and Liu said, flanked by advocates for Measure Y and pro-rent-control candidates for the Rent Stabilization Board. 

Under Measure Y, large landlords would not be permitted to evict tenants and move into the unit, if there are other comparable units available. If there are non-comparable units available, they need to offer one to the tenants. The fair rent would be determined by the rent board. 

“If the landlord owns another available unit, the tenant has the right of first refusal,” said Paul Hogarth, a candidate for the Rent Board. 

Hogarth said the students’ eviction may have been legal, if, in fact, a relative of one of the owners moved into the unit. The identity of the person who moved into the unit has not been determined. 

“It’s possible that it might have been legal, but it’s unfair,” he said. “Measure Y stops the legal loopholes that exist.” 

Berkeley Property Owners Association President Robert Cabrera takes a different view. He says that if, in fact, the owner move-in eviction was fraudulent, then the renters should have taken the landlord to court. He points to a San Francisco Bay Guardian story that tells of a $500,000 settlement tenants in San Francisco won against such a landlord. 

“There exist legal remedies that have teeth,” he said. 

Cabrera has been working hard against Measure Y and says, if passed, it will hurt those it seeks to protect. He talks about a studio apartment he just rented for $1,000. He said he had his choice among dot-comers, students and others to rent to.  

With this kind of choice, landlords will not choose to rent to seniors and disabled, who would gain protection under the measure, he said.  

“Measure Y greases the skids for discrimination,” he said. “All you’ll get is a transient population in Berkeley.”

A yellow school bus that carried those who will defy the United States embargo against Cuba stopped Sunday at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists. 

On its side, the vehicle sported a hand painted sign declaring “Cuba is not our enemy.” A tree of friendship adorned the left side of the bus and a blue dove of peace stood next to it. The portrait of Che Guevara was painted on the right side. On the rear window, a bumper sticker read: “Reality is for people who lack imagination.” 

The travelers, organized by Pastors for Peace, left Monday for Fresno. 

In San Antonio, Texas, it will meet other caravans from the East Coast and the midwestern states. The large group will then cross the border together and fly via the national Cuban airline from Tampico, Mexico, to Havana. Many Americans fly to Mexico or the Bahamas to avoid the watchful eye of U.S. authorities.  

“But we are publicly breaking the embargo, and telling the U.S. Treasury Department that we will go to Cuba,” said Alicia Jrapko, organizer of Sunday’s send off. 

For American citizens, it is legal to go to the Caribbean island. However, Americans are prohibited from spending money under laws governing trade with an enemy. 

“We oppose the embargo to demonstrate our solidarity with the Cuban people. This doesn’t mean that we’re Communists. We just believe in self-determination,” Jrapko said. “The Cuban system is not perfect, but it has a more humanist line than other regimes. While America bombs other countries, Cuba exports doctors,” she said. 

Inside church, a Cuban flag hung next to a poster of Che Guevara adorned with the slogan “Hasta la Victoria Siempre.” A group of musicians played John Lennon’s “Imagine,” and some Zapatista songs. 

Six people descended from the bus. Among them was Alfred Dale, a retired Methodist pastor from Washington, and leader of the West Coast caravan. He was the keynote speaker Sunday. 

“We will be among the 600 U.S. citizens who will attend the Second International Conference for Friendship and Solidarity with Cuba,” said Dale. He joined Pastors for Peace in 1988, and went to Cuba for the first time in 1992. “We also want to help install a solar plant in a school in the Pinar del Rio Province,” he said. 

“We believe the embargo is immoral, because sanctions are always aimed at the people,” he said. “Besides, we don’t think the government should block people’s right to go where ever they want to.” 

Regarding Pastors for Peace’s attitude towards political freedom on the island, Dale said that when he visited Cuba, he could talk to anyone and was followed only by his translators, since he doesn’t speak Spanish.  

“In the Cuban parliament, more than 80 percent of the members are new. That’s more than we have,” Dale said. 

When asked about his opinion on the status of political prisoners, he said: “If you are a saboteur, they throw you in prison. Every government defends itself against aggressors. There are more than 400 political prisoners in the U.S.”  

Regarding the treatment of dissident intellectuals, he said that he didn’t know of any such case, but that if intellectuals wrote against the government, it was because they felt under-compensated. “They get greedy. But if they cared about the people, they wouldn’t pay attention to that, “ he said. 

Amnesty International’s 2000 report on Cuba paints a different picture. It says there are more than 350 political prisoners. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights reports that in Cuba, groups using only peaceful means to stand up for human rights, including trade union rights, are persecuted in various ways.  

“They are charged with ‘enemy propaganda,’ ‘contempt,’ ‘unlawful association,’ ‘clandestine possession of printed matter,’ ‘posing a danger,’ ‘rebellion,’ and ‘acts against state  

security,’” according to the report. 

SAN DIEGO — A coalition of environmental groups have settled a lawsuit against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management after the agency agreed to limit the amount of land that could be used by off-road vehicle owners in an Imperial County wilderness area. 

The Center for Biological Diversity, along with the California/Nevada Desert Sierra Club and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, settled their lawsuit Friday when the bureau agreed to restrict off-road vehicles in 48,000 additional acres of the Algodones Dunes. 

The settlement went into effect  

Friday afternoon. The Dunes are located in Imperial County, near Interstate 8, about 125 southeast of San Diego. The agreement brings the total of protected acreage in the Algodones Dunes area to about 80,000 acres.  

The dunes cover about 150,000 acres. 

About 70,000 acres of the dunes will remain open to off-road vehicles. 

The groups sued the agency to force officials to deem more acres of the dunes area closed to off-roaders, which environmentalists complain trample critical habitat. 

Among the endangered species in the area is Peirson’s milkvetch, a silvery-colored perennial plant. According to the groups, the Algodones Dunes is the only area in the United States where the plant grows. 

Environmentalists are still at odds with the bureau over protection of other endangered species in the California Desert Conservation Area, which covers about 400 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border to Death Valley and the Sierra Nevada foothills. 

MIDDLETOWN — Firefighters who worked through the night proclaimed victory over a Lake County fire that had charred nearly 4,000 acres, but said it would take until Thursday to fully extinguish the blaze. 

The fire, which started Saturday, was 95 percent contained as of Monday morning. Officials said they hoped to have it fully contained by Tuesday morning. 

“There’s very little active fire at all,” Ann Rudesill, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said Monday. 

There were still 1,000 people working on the fire, which damaged four structures, including a barn, a vacant dwelling and a couple of sheds. Property losses were estimated at $200,000. 

Firefighters worked through the night to contain the 3,970-acre blaze. The fire started Saturday afternoon and was spread by strong northern winds. Most of the area consumed by the fire was remote ranchland and forested mountain country. 

Two minor injuries were reported, both of them to firefighters. An ember injured a firefighter’s eye, and another was involved in a traffic accident. There were no evacuations ordered, although some residents left their homes voluntarily. 

Improving weather conditions lessened the risk that the fire would spread. Wind slowed to 10 mph to 12 mph and humidity was up to 25 percent, compared to Sunday’s 10 percent humidity. 

Costs to suppress the fire reached $480,000, and were expected to reach $1 million. 

There were several other small fires around Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties, but firefighters were able to contain them within a few acres. And firefighters worked to keep fires in Oakland and San Jose under control. 

Firefighters in Oakland were on a fire watch and were clearing away dense brush and other fire hazards after a 10-acre grass fire Sunday at Mountain View Cemetery near Piedmont. 

In San Jose, the 25-acre fire that consumed a house and injured two in the eastern hills of the city was brought under control Sunday night.  

The fire started when a pine tree fell onto a power line. 

With lighter winds Monday, “we feel it’s a lot safer,” said Capt. Mark Mooney of the San Jose Fire Department. 

Most of the homes that lost power during the weekend’s high winds had regaining electricity by Monday afternoon. About 80,000 Bay Area customers lost power during the peak of the windstorms Sunday, with East Bay residents hit especially hard. 

SACRAMENTO — California’s minimum wage will rise $1 an hour to $6.75, one of the highest in the nation, under a decision Monday by the state Industrial Welfare Commission. 

The commission voted 5-0 for the minimum wage increase, which will take effect starting Jan. 1 with a 50-cent raise followed by another 50-cent raise Jan. 1, 2002. 

“I would have preferred it to go higher,” said Commissioner Barry Broad, who earlier acknowledged that he was in the minority on the board in seeking a bigger increase.  

“It should definitely go above $6.75 to help the families that are already struggling.” 

California last raised the state’s minimum wage in March 1998. 

Washington state and Oregon currently have the nation’s highest minimum wage, $6.50 an hour. In 2002, only Washington’s would be higher than California’s.  

Washington’s minimum wage is indexed to keep up with inflation and is expected to be slightly above $6.75 then, said Jean Ross with the California Budget Project, a liberal research group. 

The California increase was a blow to some business leaders who asked commissioners to wait until the federal government considered an increase in the federal minimum wage , which now stands at $5.15 an hour. 

Business leaders said a higher minimum wage would make it difficult for them to compete with companies in other states, which would have lower overhead costs because they could pay workers less. 

Farmers also protested the higher wages, arguing they would be unable to recoup their costs in the tight agriculture market. Grape grower John Baranek of Sacramento was the only speaker objecting to the increase Monday.  

He said the raise could keep California farmers from making their loan payments and leave them unable to compete internationally. 

“This will have a ripple effect, especially in the Central Valley,” Baranek said. “I ask that you postpone making a decision until it is determined what the shakeout is going to be.” 

California unions are pushing for a minimum wage of at least $8 an hour. They say a $1 increase is still not enough for minimum wage earners given California’s high cost of living. 

The increase approved Monday would affect 1 million workers currently making the minimum wage and 2 million workers who make less than $6.75, according to the California Labor Federation. 

The five-member Industrial Welfare Commission also withdrew exemptions for several classes of workers – including home health care assistants, actors and carnival workers – who were not covered by the state minimum wage law. 

An exemption for an estimated 100 shepherds in California was not removed Monday. 

The commission voted 3-2 to let a wage board examine the exemption before a final decision is made. That is expected to take six months. 

Shepherds work 24 hours a day and under federal law must be paid at least $900 a month and given free meals, housing and medical care. 

The shepherds’ employers were the only group to protest an end to the exemption, which persuaded commissioners to take a closer look at the issue, Bosco said. 

“It could be challenged in court if we try to take away that exemption, as most decisions are now days,” he said. “We want to make sure we are doing things the right way.”

SANTA CRUZ — The fervently liberal seaside city hopes to set an example Tuesday night by passing the nation’s highest “living wage” – $11 an hour, or $12 without benefits. 

Like most of the roughly 50 other living wage ordinances nationwide, Santa Cruz’s would at first only cover full-time workers for the city or for-profit companies with city contracts. Most, if not all, city workers already make more than $11 an hour. 

But officials in this surfing haven and college town of 56,000, 75 miles down the coast from San Francisco, have a more ambitious plan for the coming months. They want to extend the minimum wage to temporary workers employed by the city and to workers for social service agencies funded by the city. 

“Our hope is that the city can act as a role model,” Mayor Keith Sugar said. 

While some economists contend “living wage” laws are symbolic and have little effect, supporters of the Santa Cruz ordinance believe it will give hundreds of people a boost, even in communities elsewhere in the county. 

Theresa Espinoza, a 34-year-old single mother of five, works in nearby Watsonville as a receptionist for the Santa Cruz County Immigration Project, a nonprofit organization that gets money from the city of Santa Cruz. She said her organization recently decided to give her a raise from less than $9 an hour to $11 because it expects that will soon be mandated anyway by the new ordinance. 

Even so, she still has to work part-time as a library clerk to support her family. 

“I’m not even able to buy a house. I don’t think I’ll ever be able,” Espinoza said Monday. “I really think about those things. Do I have to wait to my children are of age to work? What I really want them to do is get an education and try to find a different way of life.” 

The California Industrial Welfare Commission voted 5-0 on Monday to raise the state’s minimum wage by a dollar, to $6.75, despite protests from business leaders and farmers who said it will give other states an unfair competitive edge. The federal minimum wage is $5.15. 

There was no formal business opposition to the Santa Cruz ordinance, which would take effect on Thanksgiving and lets companies facing hardships appeal for an exemption. Future increases in the minimum wage would be tied to the Consumer Price Index for the San Francisco Bay area. 

The National Association of Home Builders recently ranked Santa Cruz the second-least affordable area in the nation — behind only San Francisco. 

“Santa Cruz is a paradise destination for a lot of people, and our proximity to Silicon Valley and the big dollars there have a lot to do with why our housing prices and the cost of living have escalated here,” said city councilman Michael Hernandez, a supporter of the ordinance. 

Added Sandy Brown, coordinator for the Santa Cruz County Coalition for a Living Wage: “People who are performing service jobs and city work, child care, all of these industries are losing workers because people can’t afford to live here. We believe this will keep people living in our community.” 

The living wage in Santa Cruz would be the highest in the country, said Ron Bird, chief economist for the Employment Policy Foundation, a think tank in Washington, D.C. 

But he says such well intentioned laws have little effect, since they target only small slices of the workforce, and many companies forgo doing business with cities rather than greatly increase their labor costs. 

The federal government’s earned income tax credit, he said, is a more thorough and direct way of helping poor families. 

The Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties gets $57,000 a year from the city of Santa Cruz, and so executive director Willy Elliott-McCrea is preparing to make certain that all 20 of his employees make at least $11 an hour. A handful make less, as little as $9.40. 

He said the food bank, which serves 38,000 people, will have to work harder to raise money to cover the new living wage requirement, but he strongly supports the ordinance. “It’s clearly the right thing to do,” he said. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Santa Cruz County Coalition for a Living Wage: http://members.cruzers.com/cab/livingwage/livingwage.html 

City home page: http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us 

Employment Policy Foundation: http://www.epf.org 

There were speeches, cheers and a symbolic breaking of ground in an area of Berkeley often neglected by city officialdom – the 3200 block of Adeline Street. 

A $1 million grant and $200,000 from the city will bring bike lanes, add bulb-outs to make crossing the extra-wide street safer and more friendly, include public art and other amenities in the south Berkeley shopping center. 

No one could have been happier than Patricia Stocken, a nearby neighbor who had come out to hear the speakers. “It means bringing more people into the area. It means safety, friendliness, openness,” she said. 

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, was present to lend her support. She shepherded the federal transportation funds through Congress. Sam Dyke, head of the Alcatraz-Adeline Merchants Association, introduced the speakers. The mayor was there, and so were people from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek, in whose district the project sits. “This is another piece in the rising of South Berkeley,” Shirek said. “We aren’t done yet.”

OAKLAND – When Ralph Nadar took the stage Saturday night at Oakland’s Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium, the more than 7,000 people who filled the seats and sat in the aisles jumped to their feet. 

When he talked about George W. Bush as “nothing more than a corporation disguised as a human being,” the crowd went wild. 

Nadar was no less kind to Democrat Al Gore, whose politics, he argued, were identical to those of Bush, particularly concerning their support for the North America Free Trade Agreement, the World Trade Organization and belief in the death penalty. 

“The stronger we get, the more fearful they become,” said Cornell West, Harvard professor of Africa-American studies, who was among the luminaries who appeared at the rally in support for Nadar.  

The Oakland rally was one in a series of “superrallies” that have attracted thousands of people in Portland,Ore., Chicago, New York as well as others nationwide.  

In addition to west, the rally featured entertainers Patti Smith and Jello Biafra.  

Nadar pointed to the growing numbers of people who support his campaign, citing polls that say he has 8 percent support in Minnesota, 6-7 percent support in California, 9 percent in Connecticut and 17 percent in Alaska.  

With that support behind him, his condemnation of the system that refuses him entry into the presidential debates grows. Tuesday Nadar filed suit in state and federal courts against the debate sponsors, claiming violations of his civil rights.  

At a press conference that preceded Nadar’s speech to the rally, a Berkeley High School Jacket reporter was the first to pose a question. 

Nadar first questioned the youth’s membership in the local press corps, then responded to the question on his position on Proposition 38, the voucher initiative. “We won’t solve the problems by funding vouchers,” he said. 

When asked what he’d have said, if allowed to participate in the debates, Nadar responded that, on the tax question, he’d “raise taxes on stock transactions and crack down on tax loopholes.”  

On the question of immigration, he’d stop the “illegal” use of force against undocumented migrants, allow people to work short periods in the United States on contract, then return home, and stop support for “oligarchies” from which people flee. 

While Nadar campaigns furiously trying to capture every vote he can in order to get the 5 percent support nationally the Green Party needs to receive matching funds in four years, Democrats say it’s dangerous to vote for Nadar. If too many people throw their vote his way, Bush might win, the argument goes. And if Bush wins, he could stack the Supreme Court with his ilk and get rid of a woman’s right to choose. 

The Nadar camps’ reply could be seen in signs scattered around the auditorium: “Vote your hopes, not your fears.” 

Monday, Oct. 23

“Dealing With Roommate  

Problems” 

2000 Tenants’ rights week 

hourly 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

ASUC/Rent Board booth at Sather Gate on the Berkeley campus. 

644-7714 

“Guess the Weight of the Pumpkin,”  

through Oct. 28. Guess the correct weight of the pumpkin and bring it home in time for Halloween. 

Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington.  

(510) 524-3043. 

Berkeley Chinese Community Church Turns 100 

6 p.m. 

Nov. 4 

Silver Dragon Restaurant 

835 Webster St. 

Oakland 

Reservations: $30 per person 

More info: 548-5295 

Public Schools Parent  

Information Night 

7 - 9 p.m.  

Epworth United Methodist Church 

1953 Hopkins St. 

Parents, principals and other administrative staff from 11 elementary schools will speak about their schools. Sponsored by Neighborhood Parents Network.  

Admission: free to members, $5 non-members 

527-6667 

Parks & Recreation Board  

Meeting 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St.  

Solid Waste Management  

Commission 

7 p.m. 

Solid Waste Management Center 

1201 Second St. 

The Changes Happening with  

HMOs 

1 p.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst 

644-6107 

Tuesday, Oct. 24

“Security Deposits” 

2000 Tenants’ rights week 

hourly 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

ASUC/Rent Board booth at Sather Gate on the Berkeley campus. 

644-7714 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market Fall Fruit Tastings 

2 p.m. - 7 p.m.  

Derby St. at MLK Jr. Way 

Come taste a bounty of fall fruit varieties for free. 

Info: 548-3333 

Blood Pressure 

Alice Meyers 

9:30- 11 :30 a.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst 

644-6107 

Wednesday, Oct. 25

International Jewish Video Competition Winners 

7:30 p.m.  

Pacific Film Archive 

2575 Bancroft Way 

Screening of the four winners in the Museum’s seventh annual competition.  

Call 549-6950 

“How to Get Needed Repairs” 

2000 Tenants’ rights week 

hourly 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

ASUC/Rent Board booth at Sather Gate on the Berkeley campus. 

644-7714 

Hearing with City Council/Rent Board Housing Committee  

5:30 p.m. 

Eshleman Hall Chambers 

644-7714 

Low vision support group 

1:15 p.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst 

644-6107 

Civic Arts Commission 

6:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St.  

Halloween Puppet Show  

with Hazel Jazel 

3:30 p.m.  

San Pablo Library, 1555 International Marketplace, San Pablo. (510) 374-3998. 

Free. 

Disaster Council 

7 p.m. 

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar 

Energy Commission 

5:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Mental Health Commission 

6:30 p.m. 

Mental Health Clinic 

2640 MLK Jr. Way 

Planning Commission 

7 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St.  

Police Review Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St.  

Bay Area premier of Beyond Organic: The Vision of Fairview 

Gardens 

Reception begins at 7 p.m.; Program begins at 7:30 p.m. 

Martin Luther King Middle School auditorium, 1871 Rose Street, Berkeley, California. For more information call 845-4595 or e-mail info@ecoliteracy.org. 

Thursday, Oct. 26

“A Contemporary Food Fight: GM Foods in the market place” 

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House, Homeroom 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Ave.  

A discussion with Dr. Peggy Lemaux, professor of Plant and Microbiology at UC Berkeley, and Dr. Petra Frey from Switzerland, of the scientific basis for biotechnology, it’s risks and benefits. 

Contact Maribel Guillermo, 642-9460 

“What Does Rent Control  

Do For You” 

2000 Tenants’ rights week 

hourly 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

ASUC/Rent Board booth at Sather Gate on the Berkeley campus. 

644-7714 

From Morgan to Modern 

Julia Morgan and Hearst Castle:Designing and American Country House 

7:30 p.m. 

The Hillside Club 

2286 Cedar St. 

$10 or $35 for series that continues through November. 

841-2242 

East Bay Science & 

Arts Middle School 

Noon  

BART Plaza, Downtown 

Middle school students perform dances of folk, swing, and Cuban rueda styles. Free.  

Contact Carrie Ridgeway, 549-2230 

Proposition Brown Bag 

Noon - 1:30 p.m.  

Institute of Governmental Studies 

109 Moses Hall 

UC Berkeley 

Hear presentations about and discuss the eight propositions on the California ballot.  

Call 642-4608 

Tai Chi 

2 p.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst 

644-6107 

Homeless Action Center’s 10th Anniversary Benefit 

Club Muse 

The Vagabond Lovers, comedian Doug Ferrai 

856 San Pablo Ave. Albany 

For ticket information call 540-0878 

Friday, Oct. 27

“Transportation: What’s in Store?” 

11:45 a.m. 

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

Larry Dahms, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Council speaks at 12:30 p.m. Luncheon is served at 11:45 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. 

Luncheon: $11 

More info and reservations: 848-3533 

“Right Ways to Get Out of a Lease” 

2000 Tenants’ rights week 

hourly 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

ASUC/Rent Board booth at Sather Gate on the Berkeley campus. 

644-7714 

Conversational Yiddish 

1 p.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst 

644-6107  

Saturday, Oct. 28

Shakespeare Festival’s annual costume and garage sale  

9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Featuring one-of-a-kind costumes, props, and set pieces from previous productions. Free. 701 Heinz Ave., Berkeley. (510) 548-3422 ext. 120. 

Community Workshop to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Berkeley High School  

9 a.m. - noon 

Florence Schwimley Little Theater at Berkeley High School 

Students, parents, teachers, business owners, neighbors, and others are invited to a discussion on that will help set the course for future school improvements and provide the basis for accreditation review. 

Iris Starr, AICP, 540-1252 

tinstarr@earthlink.net 

— compiled by Chason Wainwright 

“Grassroots Globalization vs. Elite Globalization” 

2 p.m. 

Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library 

6501 Telegraph Ave. 

595-7417 

“Halloween Mask Making” 

Tilden Regional Park 

2 p.m. 

Come learn the origins of Halloween and make a plaster-gauze mask. Registration required. $4. Take Canon Drive off Grizzly Peak Boulevard, Berkeley. (510) 525-2233. 

Pedaling the Green City 

11 a.m. -3:30 p.m.  

Take a leisurely bike ride along the future San Francisco Bay Trail. One in a series of free outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations  

Wild About Books? 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

Halloween for the little guys with (not so) scary stories, music, and more.  

Call 649-3943  

“The 3rd annual Habitot Halloween” 

Habitot Children’s Museum  

10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

A not-too-spooky Halloween event for young children with entertainment, parades, games, magic and songs. Come in  

costume. Registration strongly suggested. $4 general; $6 for the first child age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 

647-1111 

“Not Very Scary Halloween Celebration” 

10:30 a.m. at La Pena  

Betsy Rose performs songs and activities to celebrate the harvest season and the ancestral spirits. Children are invited to come in costume. $4 general; $3 children. 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2572. 

Run Your Own Landscape Business: Part 3 

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave. (at Blake) 

Local horticultural consultant and UC Master Gardener Jessie West will teach you how to plant, prune, control weeds, and more. This is the final class in the series. 

$15 general; $10 for members; $5 materials fee 

Call 548-2220 x223 

Sunday, Oct. 29

“Almost Halloween Hike,”  

Tilden Regional Park 

10 a.m.  

Explore the nature of Halloween folklore on the trails.  

“Wake the Dead: A Music Concert”  

Celebrate the Celtic “Day of the Dead” (Halloween) with folksong artists Paul Kotapish and Danny Carnahan.  

2 to 4 p.m.  

(510) 525-2233. 

“Gateway to Knowledge” 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Pl. 

Barr Rosenberg describes how to master new knowledge and take the power to shape our lives in wise and compassionate ways.  

843-6812 

An Evening with The Professor 

5 - 9:30 p.m. 

Mambo Mambo 

1803 Webster St.  

Oakland 

Berkeley resident Geoffrey A. Hirsch, better known as the Tie Guy from the “How Berkeley Can You Be” parade got his start in comedy in 1996. A professor in real life, Hirsch tell the story of how he became a funny guy.  

$5 for show only, $10 for show and dinner 

Call Geoffrey Hirsch at 845-5631 to reserve tickets 

Monday, Oct. 30

Fun with Oragami 

10 a.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

644-6107 

“BYOP: Pumpkin Carving By Porch and Hearth,” 

Tilden Regional Park 

4 to 7 p.m. “Bring your own pepo” 

Take Canon Drive off Grizzly Peak  

Boulevard, Berkeley. (510) 525-2233. 

Tuesday, Oct. 31

Sing-A-Long 

11 a.m. 

Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

644-6107 

Wednesday, Nov. 1

Kathak Dancing with Pandit Chitresh Das 

7:30 p.m. 

Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 

2640 College Ave.  

The Graduate Theological Union presents a free lecture-demonstration with Pandit Chitresh Das, a master of India’s Kathak dance form. This event is free. 

Call 649-2440 for additional info 

Mountain Adventure Seminar 

In-store, registration required 

6 p.m.-9 p.m. 

Learn about equip,emt. fundamental climbing techiques and safety procedures. 

$100 REI members, $110 for non members 

To register (209) 753-6556 

Thursday, Nov. 2

PASTForward Panel Discussion 

2 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum 

Bancroft Way (below College) 

In conjunction with the White Oak Dance Project’s performances, a panel discussion with Judson era dance choreographers Yvonne Rainer and Deborah Hay. Free. 

From Morgan to Modern 

“Saddling the Site: The Environmental Designs of Wurster, Church and Others” 

7:30 p.m. 

The Hillside Club 

2286 Cedar St. 

$10. 841-2242 

Berkeley Metaphysic Toastmasters Club 

6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysic come together at Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters. Meets first and third Thursdays each month. 

Call 869-2547 or 643-7645 

Friday, Nov. 3

Taize Worship Service 

7:30-8:30 p.m. 

An hour of quiet reflection and song. First Friday of the month. 

Loper Chapel on Dana Street between Durant and Channing Way. 

848-3696 

“Want to Transform your Dreams Into Reality?” 

Lecture by Leonard Orr, world known for creating the Rebirthing and Conscious Breathwork Movement. 

7:30 p.m., 

The Berkeley Friends Church, 1600 Sacramento St. 

$25, 843-6514 

Saturday, Nov. 4

Breathtaking Barnabe Peak 

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

Hike through Samuel P. Taylor State Park’s lush forests and climb to the heights of Barnabe Peak, overlooking Point Reyes. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Wild About Books? 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

Dublin Library’s resident storyteller and featured teller at the 1998 National Storytelling Festival tell kids aged 3 to 7 her favorite tales.  

Call 649-3943  

Sunday, Nov. 5

Buddhist Psychology 

6 p.m.  

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Pl.  

Buddhist teacher Sylvia Gretchen on “Beyond Therapy and Into the Heart of Buddhist Psychology.” Free. 

Call 843-6812  

Monday, Nov. 6

Airports vs. the Bay 

7 p.m. 

Albany Community Center 

1249 Marin St.  

Albany 

David Lewis, Executive Director of “Save the Bay” will speak on the airports’ plans to expand into the SF Bay and other challenges to Bay restoration.  

Contact: Friends of Five Creeks, 848-9358 

Thursday, Nov. 9

The Life and Art of Chiura Obata 

7:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Public Library 

1170 Alameda (at Hopkins) 

A slide show and lecture presented by Obata’s granddaughter, Kimi Kodani Hill, celebrating Obata’s book, “Topaz Moon: Chiura Obata’s Art of the Internment,” and the retrospective exhibit of Obata’s work to appear this Fall at SFs De Young Museum. 

For details call 644-6850  

From Morgan to Modern 

“Bay Area Modern” 

7:30 p.m. 

The Hillside Club 

2286 Cedar St. 

$10. 841-2242 

ESL Teacher Job Fair 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Adult School 

1222 University Ave., Room 7  

ESL program representatives from adult schools in Alameda and Contra Costa counties will provide information about desired qualifications, current job openings, credentialing requirements, and more.  

Call Kay Wade, 644-6130 

“Feeding the Moon: A Nutritive Approach to Feminine Fertility” 

Lern how fertility is affected by the environment and how it can be enhanced by healthy lifestyle choices 

7:30 to 9 p.m. 

The Ecology Center 

2530 San Pable Ave.  

558-1324, free 

“Diabetes: What to Know Head-to-Toe” 

Health Education Center, 400 Hawthorne Ave. 

12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Free 

869-6737 

Saturday, Nov. 11

Moonlight on Mt. Diablo 

1 - 10:30 p.m.  

Hike up the Devil’s Mountain by daylight, catch a glorious sunset and hike back by the light of the moon. One in a series of free outing organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

Sunday, Nov. 12

Views, Vines and Veggies 

9:15 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.  

Climb Bald Mountain in Sugarloaf State Park and peer down upon the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. Then please your palate at the Landmark Winery and visit Oak Hill organic vegetable and flower farm. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 for reservations 

“Time Across Cultures” 

2 - 4 p.m. 

St. Clements Church 

2837 Claremont Ave.  

The annual Roselyn Yellin Memorial lecture with a slide-illustrated panel discussion. Also a tour of the “Telling Time” exhibit at the Judah L. Magnes Museum followed by a reception at the museum, 4 - 5 p.m.  

More info: 549-6950 

Buddhism & Compassion 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Psychiatrist and teacher Bobby Jones on “Healing through Compassion.” Free.  

843-6812 

Monday, Nov. 13

An Evening with Barbara Kingsolver 

7:30 p.m. 

King Middle School 

1781 Rose St. 

Barbara Kingsolver’s works include “Animal Dreams,” “High Tide in Tucson,” “The Poisonwood Bible” and “Prodigal Summer” 

free parking $10 in advance, $13 at the door 

Benefits KPFA and Urban Ecology. 

848-6767 

Tuesday, Nov. 14

Take a Trip to the Steinbeck Museum and 

Mission San Juan Bautista 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

This is an outing organzied by the Senior Center.  

$40 with lunch, $25 without  

Call Maggie or Suzanne, 644-6107 

Thursday, Nov. 16

Reminiscing in Swingtime 

7:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Library  

1170 Alameda (at Hopkins) 

George Yoshida, author and jazz drummer, presents a multi-media program recounting the big band experience in the Japanese American internment camps. The presentation will be capped with a set of live jazz by the George Yoshida Quartet. 

Call for more info: 644-6850 

Berkeley Metaphysic Toastmasters Club 

6:15 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysic come together at Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters. Meets first and third Thursdays each month. 

Call 869-2547 or 643-7645 

Free blood pressure screenings 

Health Education Center, 400 Hawthorne Ave. 

free 

869-6737 

Saturday, Nov. 18

 

S.F. Stairs and Peaks 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m.  

Begin the day with a visit to the farmer’s market, then meander up the stairways and streets of Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower. Then up Russian Hill, descending to Fisherman’s Wharf for a ride back on the new historic streetcar line. One in a series of free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: 415-255-3233 

 

Berkeley Free Folk Festival 

11 a.m. - 1 a.m.  

Ashkenaz  

1317 San Pablo Ave. 

Fourteen hours of free concerts, workshops, jam sessions and to top it off a Saturday night dance. The fifth annual Folk Festival will feature Shay & Michael Black, Spectre Double Negative & the Equal Positive, Larry Hanks, Wake the Dead and many others. Sponsored by Charles Schwab and the City of Berkeley.  

More info or to volunteer: 525-5099 

 

---

Sunday, Nov. 19

Soprano Deborah Voigt 

Cal Performances  

3 p.m.  

Voigt’s performance is a postponment from her original Oct. 15 date. The program will remain unchanged. 

$28-$48 For tickets call 642-9988 or e-mail tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Mt. Madonna & Wine  

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Hike through evergreen forests and visit the remains of a 19th century estate, then finish the day with a visit to Kruse Winery. One of many free fall outings organized by Greenbelt Alliance.  

Call: (415) 255-3233 for reservations 

“Drawing Marathon”  

Merritt College’s Art Building 

Live models, group poses.  

$12 for half a day, $20 for a full day, senior and student discounts available. No cameras or turpentine. 

523-9763 

Tuesday, Nov. 21

Fibromyalgia Support Group 

Noon - 2 p.m.  

Alta Bates Medical Center, Maffly Auditorium 

Herrick Campus 

2001 Dwight Way 

Call D.L. Malinousky, 601-0550 

Saturday, Dec. 2

Wild About Books? 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Central Library 

2121 Allston Way 

Storyteller Kellmar draws from her African-American roots with stories that touch the heart and the funnybone. For childen aged 3-7. 

Call 649-3943  

Compiled by Chason Wainwright 

LOS ANGELES — For decades, Los Angeles’ bus drivers and riders have looked at each other across the fare box with suspicion and distrust. 

The Metropolitan Transit Authority consistently told riders that drivers’ salaries were behind rising fares. Drivers, in turn, got the message that the only way to keep their jobs secure was to stick it to riders in the fare box. 

Yet, the recent 32-day drivers' strike saw drivers and riders forge a winning alliance against the MTA – an alliance that not only won the strike, but marks a shift in the city's balance of power.  

L.A. bus riders – overwhelmingly immigrants from Mexico and Central America – are the base of the city's new economy. The buses carry room cleaners in downtown luxury hotels, seamstresses from garment sweatshops, day laborers, domestics and janitors.  

A majority of the drivers are African-Americans. Over the last two decades, the closure of L.A.'s steel, auto and tire plants has left thousands of black workers in the street.  

Driving a bus today is one of the few secure jobs left carrying union benefits and a salary high enough to allow a family to buy a home. 

Defending those wages and conditions was an uphill struggle. 

As one picketer said, “there’s a lot of resentment out there against people of color, especially women, making $50,000 a year.” 

Los Angeles' changing economy has pitted these two sections of the workforce against each other, and many elected officials exploit the consequent hostility. Overcoming this divide in the course of a bitter labor dispute shows a new level of awareness in both communities. 

Riders and drivers saw clearly that the pressure to raise bus fares came not from salaries, but from the huge construction budgets for new rail systems bringing mostly white commuters in from the suburbs. 

The rail system will promote land development on the city's fringe –good news for the giant firms paid millions to do the work, and the building trades, the old guard of the city's labor movement. 

The MTA first tried to cut bus service to pay for rail, but the Bus Riders Union went to court and won a consent decree mandating minimum service levels. 

The transit strike started as a battle against MTA efforts to to pay ballooning construction costs by converting hundreds of full-time jobs to part time, reducing pay to affected workers and limiting overtime. 

Underlying these demands was a plan to break up the transit system into autonomous units serving smaller areas – a precondition for turning operations over to private contractors. 

As soon as the strike started, the riders' union began organizing big rallies to support the drivers. At the end of the strike, over 850 drivers signed letters demanding no cuts in service. 

“There was a radical change in the drivers' attitude towards the riders’ union,” says Eric Mann, a member of the riders’ union planning committee.  

“In the past, their union relied on an insider relationship with the MTA and saw us as troublemakers. That’s not true anymore.” 

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor also backed the striking drivers, breaking long-established relationships with two MTA directors – staunch Democrats Gloria Molina and Yvonne Braithwaite-Burke – who are also county supervisors elected with labor votes and dollars. The two made common cause with Republican Mayor Richard Reardon against the unions. 

Miguel Contreras, the first Latino head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, came to the drivers' defense, also breaking long-standing political relationships with the building trades and MTA management.  

Contreras took the side of the federation's most active unions today, which include janitors, hotel workers, and garment workers. 

Against this alliance, even Governor Gray Davis proved powerless. In the middle of the strike, Davis agreed to sign legislation guaranteeing MTA jobs, wages and union contracts for four years in the event of the breakup of the transit system.  

He then tried to use the agreement as leverage to get the supervisors and mechanics unions’ leaders to send their members across the drivers’ picketlines and back to work.  

The heads of these unions agreed, but the following morning, only eight of over 1,800 mechanics crossed the lines.  

The rest refused. Supported by Contreras, James Williams, head of the drivers' local of United Transportation Union, declined the governor's blandishments. 

In the process, both riders and drivers protected the integrity of the transit system. Since the agreement prevents the use of lower wages and broken unions as an incentive, at least for the next few years, it is less likely that the district will be broken up and privatized. 

The settlement that ended the strike is a compromise. It allows the MTA to begin hiring part-timers at lower wages. Overtime will be limited, and management will be able to intervene on work rules. 

But a new political truth overshadows this compromise – the city’s low-wage workers showed themselves willing to defend higher wage-earners. 

Latinos made common cause with African-Americans. Drivers came out against service cuts that would have bolstered rail service for suburban commuters at the expense of working-class bus riders.  

Just a few months ago, L.A.’s low-wage immigrant janitors fought a celebrated strike – the latest in a decade-long series of rebellions from below – for drastic improvements in pay and working conditions. 

They won the support of the city's emerging Latino political establishment, against the downtown old guard. 

When that movement came to the support of the drivers, it recognized a basic common interest. The city's low-wage workers desperately need the public sector – social welfare, public schools, subsidized transportation, free healthcare and other public services.  

L.A. county workers, for their part, find themselves engaged in a bitter struggle for wage increases and higher budgets for those public services. This new labor-based alliance has the power to redefine who will benefit from the city’s new economy. 

PNS associate editor David Bacon is a Berkeley resident who writes widely on immigrant and labor issues.

After a first half characterized by dropped passes and sloppy tackling, the tenacious play of unheralded St. Mary’s senior fullback Danny Wheeler sparked the Panthers to a 34-0 rout of Albany High (1-4) Saturday afternoon.  

Taking over after Albany’s first drive stalled on St. Mary’s 24-yard line, the Panther’s embarked upon a six-play, 3:10 drive capped by Wheeler breaking one tackle and rumbling into the endzone from 12 yards out. 

A back-up center for the Panther’s last year, Wheeler made the most of the opportunities afforded by an unsuspecting Albany defense to rush for 54 yards and one touchdown on nine carries, providing the backbone of the 237-yard Panther rushing attack.  

Commenting on his play, Wheeler said: "Most people key in on Trestin (George), but they have no idea that I’m there. I just run with my heart." 

After taking this seven-point lead, St. Mary’s fell asleep at the wheel and was unable to sustain any notable drives for the rest of the half, and accumulated only another 54 yards of total offense before halftime. Albany was similarly ineffective and put together only one more drive, pushing the Panther "bend but don’t break" defense to the 17-yard line.  

The Panthers woke up at halftime, and played the second half with all the intensity they had lacked in the first. After kicking off, St. Mary’s promptly forced Albany quarterback Yaw Yiadom to fumble, and Omar Young pounced on the loose ball to give the Panther’s their first scoring opportunity of the half. Starting on his own 37-yard line, St. Mary’s head coach Dan Shaughnessy turned to his newly founded inside-outside running attack. With the Albany defense keyed in on senior running back Trestin George, Wheeler pounded the ball up their gut and George stuck with his strength, sweeping downfield. Seven plays and 3:26 later the Panther’s took a 14-0 lead.  

After the game, Coach Dan Shaughnessy noted that "I was concerned about us being lethargic at the beginning, team-wise. We were slow getting ready. But that’s okay, we came through at the end." 

Wide awake and playing full-tilt, the Panther defense roared again, and forced Yiadom into his second consecutive turnover. Squeezed in a collapsing pocket, Yiadom tried to dump the ball to tight end XY. Junior Omarr Flood leaped, tipped, and intercepted the ball. His sprint to the endzone was short, and 20 yards later the Panthers took a commanding 21-0 lead.  

Looking confident after stopping Albany at midfield, St. Mary’s gave the ball to George, who sprinted 45 yards down the sideline to leave his Panther teammates salivating at the prospect of another six points. St. Mary’s pounded twice into the Albany line, and George bounded into the endzone on the third attempt to give his team a 27-point lead.  

After receiving another Albany punt on the 41-yard line, St. Mary’s gave the ball to George. In a deja vu, virtual replay of a few moments before, George took a sweep left, avoided two tacklers, and scampered 41 yards downfield. This time, however, George crossed the goal-line to earn his third touchdown of the afternoon, and giving him 159 yards for the afternoon and his team a 34-0 victory. 

The win carries St. Mary’s to 4-3 (2-0 BSAL) while Albany drops to 1-5. St. Mary’s goes on the road to take on St. Patrick’s High at 5:30 next Friday night.

Underground youth activist Jia Ching Chen has rappelled off buildings, been tear-gassed, and led throngs of multiracial youth in the first “hip-hop sit-in” at the San Francisco Hilton.  

Yet, the winner of this year’s Mario Savio Memorial Free Speech Award stumbled on his words while receiving his prize earlier this week. 

“I was nervous,” said the 27-year-old activist. “Maybe because it had a feeling of being mainstream.” 

He received $1,000 as part of the award from Lynne Hollander Savio, widow of Mario Savio, the famed Berkeley free speech activist in whose the honor the award is given.  

Chen was recognized for leading a new generation of activists in the fight for human rights and social justice with integrity, said Savio.  

He has led youth of all colors across the Bay Area in campaigns against police brutality. Last year, he organized a group that protested the World Trade Organization in Seattle. 

Although honored by his award, Chen later said he is more accustomed to addressing multiracial teenage groups and felt slightly awkward in front of the ceremony’s crowd.  

More than 200 activists and academics, many middle-aged and white, came to Pauley Ballroom Tuesday to see feminist authors Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Hochschild speak for the Savio Memorial lecture.  

“It’s a demographic that made me uncomfortable in my past,” he said.  

Growing up among few people of color in Salt Lake City, Chen, the son of Taiwanese immigrants, said he experienced racism. 

“It took me a long time to figure out what democracy really was,” he said. “That the government can provide checks and balances isn’t really true.” 

After getting his architecture and interdisciplinary arts degrees from the UC Berkeley, Chen became politically active.  

In 1998, he founded the East Bay chapter of the Third Eye Movement, a youth of color group that fights against police brutality. He has also worked with the Berkeley-based Ruckus Society, which trains people for the rigors of public demonstrations. 

A highlight in his short but vivid activist career was shutting down the WTO ministerial last year, he said. 

Seven months ago, Chen joined JustAct: Youth Action for Global Justice. This group educates other youth groups on how their individual issues, like gay and lesbian rights or environmentalism, tie in with global ones. 

“We’re trying to build a grassroots solidarity. To meet people engaged in similar struggles all over the world,” he said. 

The group often teaches workshops on world trade and banking to minority youth organizations. 

“We want to bring an understanding of global economics to traditionally marginalized constituents, explain its effects on their fights,” he said.  

Despite leading many in their struggles, Chen initially had doubts about how rallies with youth groups could change the world. 

“It can be really stressful and difficult,” he said. “It took me a while to feel empowered by working collectively,” he said. 

“In the beginning, I felt some discomfort at demonstrations,” he said. “But the need to act overcame that.” 

Daily Planet Wire Services 

SEATTLE - Washington scored 23 points in a 6:01 span of the fourth quarter to post a 36-24 come-from-behind victory over Cal Saturday afternoon in Husky Stadium.  

The Bears led for most of the game and entered the final period up, 24-13. However, two fumbles, an interception and a blocked punt in four straight possessions directly led to 23 UW points, giving the Huskies their 18th consecutive win over the Bears.  

Up to that point, Cal played one of its best games of the year. Joe Igber rushed for 116 yards and quarterback Kyle Boller threw for one touchdown and rushed for another. However, UW, which has outscored its opponents by more than 60 points in the fourth quarter this year, took control down the stretch.  

Cal enjoyed fine field position throughout the first quarter and broke into the scoring column on a 54-yard touchdown drive. The march was kept alive by a roughing the punter penalty, which set the ball at the Washington 30-yard-line. Two plays later, Boller hit freshman Geoff McArthur, who found a seam in the zone and he hauled in a 24-yard TD pass with 4:52 left in the quarter.  

Penalties also played a big role on the next drive. A Cal fumble recovery was negated by an offsides penalty and a Marques Tuiasosopo scramble inside Cal’s 10-yard line was wiped out by a holding penalty. However, the Huskies converted a 3rd-and-25 situation with a 28-yard pass to Paul Arnold at the Cal 16. Five plays later, Rich Alexis took the ball into end zone from one-yard out to tie the score on the first play of the second quarter.  

On its next possession, Cal marched all the way to the Husky 33, but failed on a fourth-down attempt.  

That field position paid off, though, as Cal got a major break on the next play. Andre Carter caused a Rich Alexis fumble and linebacker John Klotsche picked up the loose ball and rambled in 34 yards for a touchdown and a Bears 14-7 lead with 11:12 left in the half.  

Taking over at their own 23-yard-line with 2:51 left in the half, the Huskies used crossing patterns to quickly move down the field. After getting as far as the Cal 25. The Bears stiffened and John Anderson came on to nail a 42-yard field goal to make it 14-10 at the intermission.  

Cal began to take seemingly control of the game in the third quarter. After stopping the Huskies, the Bears again moved into Washington territory. A 40-yard run by Igber put the ball at the Husky 16. Three plays later, Boller dropped back, saw a wide open middle, and scrambled 15 yards for a TD and a 24-13 lead with 2:07 left in the third period.  

Washington attempted to get back into the game on its next drive. Thanks to a 4th-and-1 conversion at the Cal 30, the Huskies advanced deep into Cal territory. When the drive stalled, Anderson came on to attempt a 32-yard field goal attempt, but it sailed wide right with 12:37 left in the game.  

Disaster struck three plays later when Anthony Kelley came on a blitz and forced a fumble as Boller was attempting the throw. Linebacker Derrell Daniels fell on the ball at the Cal 12-yard-line. Cal’s defense rose to the occasion and this time Anderson hit a 29-yard field goal to make it 24-16 with 10:35 left in the game.  

Washington received yet another break on the next drive, when Swafford slipped trying to make a cut to the sidelines and the pass floated straight into the hands of cornerback Omare Lowe at the Cal 31-yard-line with just under nine minutes left in the game. A pair of first downs put the ball at the 10-yard-line with just over seven minutes to go. Tight end Jerramy Stevens culminated the drive when he hauled in a TD pass to pull the Huskies within two. A two-point pass conversion was negated by three penalties and everybody had to do it again. This time the pass across the middle was incomplete, knocked down by Jemeel Powell, and the Bears were clinging to a 24-22 lead with 6:49 left in the game.  

An illegal block on the ensuing kickoff put the Bears in poor field position at their own 12-yard-line. On the first play, Joe Igber fumbled the ball and Hakim Akbar recovered at the Cal 16-yard-line. Rich Alexis made the Bears play as he rambled 16 yards on an option pitch for the TD. With the extra point, Washington had its first lead of the day at 29-24.  

The trend continued for Cal on its next drive. After a 20-yard run by Igber, the Bears were eventually forced to punt. This time, UW blocked the Nick Harris kick, recovering the ball on the Cal 9-yard-line. Two plays later, Tuiasosopo his Todd Elstrom in the back of the end zone for the 36-24 lead.  

Boller finished the day completing 14-of-32 passes for 213 yards, including three each to Igber and Chase Lyman. Tuiasosopo was 19-for-35 on the day for 225 yards.

Ever since Martyn Smith, professor of toxicology at UC Berkeley and graduate student Christine F. Skibola, published their findings in the “Free Radical Biology and Medicine” journal, they’ve been inundated with phone calls and e-mails from very worried people.  

Their studies showed that an excessive intake of certain components of plant food, called flavonoids, in the form of supplements, could be toxic. High concentrations of flavonoids are present in popular products such as ginkgo pills, quercetin tablets, grape seed extract and flax seed.  

“People want to improve their own health, and unfortunately believe the wild claims made for these supplements. They believe that their memory is going to be sharpened by Gingko Biloba. There is absolutely no evidence for that in normal people. So, they’re trying to improve themselves, but in the effort, they may be doing more harm to themselves than good.”  

Smith and Skibola embarked on this study because they got tired of hearing only about the beneficial effects of flavanoids, which according to them are actually in fruits and vegetables. “The companies selling these compounds are touting the good things. But people have to be aware of the dangers they’re exposed to,” said Skibola.  

Smith points to the example of a supplement called Quercetin, which is widely advertised as an antihistamine, and is supposed to have anti-inflammatory properties. “The bottle of Quercetin in our lab has a skull and cross bones ‘poison’ sign on it. We handle it only with protective clothing. You can go to a health food store and buy it, and they recommend that you take a gram a day. There’s no warning on it. The first studies at Berkeley on that compound and others, which showed that it produced generic damage were done in 1977, and published in ‘Science’ on the Berkeley campus. People seem to have forgotten that. They seem to think that it’s a harmless natural substance, and that’s just not true.”  

Smith and Skibola don’t doubt that flavonoids are potentially very useful compounds. The duo say the benefits are in eating flavonoid-rich foods, like green teas, apples, onions, and other fruits and vegetables, and not in taking supplements with high flavonoid concentrations. “What is good for you in nature is not necessarily good for you in a concentrated form,” said Skibola. 

Smith said the crux of the problem is the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994. With the passage of this act, the dietary ingredients used in dietary supplements were no longer subject to the pre-market safety evaluations required of other new food ingredients or for new uses of old food ingredients. “The supplements can only be taken off the market if the Food and Drug Administration can prove that they are unsafe. The burden of proving that they are unsafe is on the government, and not on the manufacturer,” said Smith.  

But manufacturing companies insist that this doesn’t give them any leeway to do as they please. “The FDA does regulate us. Certain label claims have to be approved by the FDA. We have to adhere to their guidelines. We have a legal department and a regulatory department to deal with label claims,” said Jim Sword, director of corporate communications at Twin Labs. 

And it appears that many consumers would rather believe the labels than the studies. 

Andrew Saito, 21, an ethnic studies student at UC Berkeley, likes to use grapefruit extract and black currant oil. He believes that they help with acne and eczema. He wasn’t sure if the findings would make him stop using these supplements.  

“There are conflicting theories about everything. So, I don’t know what to believe,” said Saito. 

Many consumers agreed with him. So did the people on the other side of the counter. “A lot of people are doing research. One says one thing. Another says some thing else. I look at a lot of reference books, before I decide what to keep in my store. And my reading tells me that flavonoids are good, because they are a part of the natural environment.” said Baoul Scavullo, the owner of a health food store that sells various dietary supplements. “When people say that to me, I tell them that arsenic, mercury, benzene and lead are all perfectly natural,” said Smith. “There are all these poisons you can think of, which are perfectly natural, and there’s no demonstration that with time, that you become more resistant to them.”  

Smith and Skibla are worried that too many people are self-medicating themselves with these supplements, and not telling their doctors about it. This could confuse matters when the doctor is trying to make a diagnosis or prescribe treatment. The only way out, according to Smith, is legislation.  

“You can combat this only with new legislation, requiring the manufacturers to establish safe levels of intake and to demonstrate that their products are safe. I think the burden should be on the manufacturer, and not on the government.”  

Sabo, Mueller score as Cal gets third straight shutout 

In a game marred by high winds and dirty play, the Cal women’s soccer team came out on top, 2-0, over a plucky but overmatched Arizona squad. 

First-half goals by forward Kyla Sabo and defender Ashley Mueller provided the scoreline, but it was during the second half that things got interesting. After playing with the strong wind at their backs in the first half, the Bears struggled to keep Arizona (3-11-2, 0-5-1 Pac-10) from getting scoring opportunities with the wind in their faces, as the Wildcats sent high ball after high ball down the field.  

“I’ll take rain, even a little snow over this kind of wind,” Cal head coach Kevin Boyd said. “It effects the gameplay quite a bit. You feel like you’re running uphill when its in your face. I thought we played well in spite of the conditions.” 

Midfielder Ashley Gonzalez stopped many charges short with her steady play in the air, but the Cal backs were caught napping several times as the Wildcats attacked down the flanks and sent crosses through the box. But Arizona’s forwards couldn’t get a boot to the ball at the right time, and several balls went untouched past the Cal goal. 

The second half also saw a change in strategy by the Arizona defense, who supplemented their man-marking and persistent double-teaming of Pac-10 leading scorer Laura Schott with hard fouls. Schott spent most of the half being hacked at, and she eventually retaliated with a hard foul of her own on Arizona’s Cassidy Guinn, who stayed down for several minutes before continuing. Boyd removed Schott from the game soon after, ending the sophomore’s eight-game scoring streak. 

“I’m pretty sure their coach got on them at halftime about trying to match up and battle with our forwards, and the referee pretty much swallowed his whistle,” Boyd said. “We just had to work through it and deal with the fouls we took.” 

The physical play wasn’t limited to the Arizona defense, as several battles emerged in the midfield, and the Cal defense responded with some physical play of their own. 

“We have to control the game. If they’re going to foul our forwards, we’ll go in harder on theirs,” senior sweeper Tami Pivnik said. “We don’t like to play like that, but we’re going to do it if we have to.” 

Sabo’s goal came just seven minutes into the game. Cal midfielder Natalie Stuhlmueller streaked down the left sideline and served a cross right onto the onrushing Sabo, who headed the ball past Arizona goalkeeper Inger Airheart. The goal was Sabo’s sixth of the season, giving the junior a career-high 20 points for the year. 

Sabo, who also scored a week ago against archrival Stanford, has become a complementary scorer behind Schott, something the team needs as opponents begin to key on stopping the All-America candidate. 

“Teams are coming in saying ‘Laura’s the scorer, we’ll man-mark her and they won’t score.’ Kevin’s been telling me I have to step up and be more dangerous,” Sabo said. “They’re so concerned with Laura that they forget about whoever else is up front with her.” 

Cal’s second goal came in the 24th minute, as an Arizona defender cleared the ball right to Mueller. The sophomore stepped up and hit the ball with her left foot from 35 yards out, and the ball whistled into the left corner of the net pas the diving Airheart for Mueller’s first goal at Cal. 

“I hit it really hard and it just went in,” Mueller said. “I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so accurate. It’s nice because defenders don’t get much of a chance to score.” 

The win boosted the Bears overall record to 14-1-1 and put them in second place in the conference with a 4-1 record. 

Next up for the Bears is a tough road trip to Los Angeles, where they will play at USC (11-3-2, 3-1-1) on Friday and UCLA (12-2-1, 3-1-1) Sunday. Both teams were undefeated in Pac-10 play before this weekend, when both lost close games to conference leader Washington. 

This weekend’s games will likely determine Cal’s postseason fate. Boyd said he feels his team has earned a tournament spot and are now vying for a first-round bye and possible seeded spot. If the Bears earn a split next weekend and sweep the Oregon schools at home to close the season, Boyd expects a first-round bye. The coach said the team needs to win all four remaining games to earn a seeded spot in the tournament, something he thinks is a very real possibility. 

“I think we’re playing well. I think we can go in there and give them tough games,” Boyd said. “They’re going to have to do a lot to beat us, that’s for sure.”

California scored six unanswered goals to top Davidson, 6-1, on Sunday at Kleeberger Field to finish the conference schedule undefeated at 5-0.  

Davidson (6-12, 1-4 in NorPac) came out at the started of the match with an aggressive attack and a stifling defense that virtually created a human wall at one point to stop Cal’s leading scorer, Nora Feddersen, from advancing with the ball.  

The Wildcats only score of the game came off a penalty corner when Davidson’s leading scorer Lea Jaeger took a set shot for a 1-0 lead. 

Fighting winds of up to 25 miles at some points in the game, Cal bounced back and scored six straight goals as Stephanie Lyons scored on the Bears fourth penalty corner to knot the game at 1-1.  

Cal (9-4, 5-0 in NorPac) scored one more goal before the intermission as senior defender Leslie Katch scored off of a rebound on a penalty corner. Erin Booth tipped the initial save and Katch was there to put it home for her third goal of the season.  

“It really feels good to help out the team on offense,” said Katch. “Mainly I’m a defender, but, we’ve been working on having our defense come up and help out offensively. Even if they’re scored on corners, it’s just nice to contribute that way instead of just stopping the goals.”  

In the second half, the Bears continued their offensive outburst on another corner as Feddersen faked a shot from the top of the circle setting up junior, Amber Stockstill who collapsed down towards the goal, putting Cal up, 3-1.  

“I have to give the team some credit,” said coach Shellie Onstead. “I actually made one up (corner formation) on the fly and that’s the one that Amber Stockstill scored. I yelled to them what to do and they executed it perfectly.”  

Harkins third assist came when she found a streaking Pooja Mehta who handled the pass and lifted the shot passed Davidson goalkeeper, Amanda Mordavsky.  

“After they scored that first goal, we were upset because we’re conference champions and they’re up on us like right away,” explained Harkins. “So we decided that we had to get it back.”

OAKLAND — Green Party Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader rejected calls from a dozen of his longtime fellow activists that he rethink his campaign because he could cost Democrat Al Gore the election. 

Twelve old “Nader’s Raiders” urged Nader on Friday to drop out of the White House race in states where Gore is in close fights with Republican George W. Bush. 

“There’s a dozen former Nader’s Raiders out of several thousand who decided to raise this point,” Nader said Saturday at a news conference preceding a rally that hall officials said drew more than 6,000 people. 

“I think they’re well-intentioned, but frightened liberals who sided with the lesser of two evils,” Nader said of the dozen, who call themselves “Nader’s Raiders for Gore.” 

Some of the dozen have in recent years gone into corporate employment or work for the government, and don’t understand that times have changed for consumer activists, he said. 

“We can’t get done what we got done when they were working with us,” because of “big money in politics and the increasing homogenization of both parties into one party indentured to business interests,” he said. 

The dozen critics also said Nader broke a promise to campaign only in states where his candidacy would not hurt Gore’s chances for victory. 

Nader denied ever making such a promise, and made plain he intends to press on with his campaign nationwide, if only to build a viable third party for the future. 

“This is a 50-state campaign,” he said. Nader offered rally-goers a glimpse of government under his leadership. 

“We’ve got to go back to the people of this country and build the civic power that we’ll (bring) back to Washington and take our government back and bend it to our will,” he said. 

Nader said the Democratic party assumes that its liberal base has “got nowhere else to go.” 

“That’s quite a choice for the American people, between the bad Democratic party and the worse Republicans,” he said. “I think we need a better choice than that.” 

A Field Poll earlier this month showed Gore leading Bush by 13 percentage points, with Nader drawing 4 percent. But more recent polls show the race tightening significantly. Democratic surveys in California show Gore leading by as little as 6 points.

OAKLAND – Oakland Fire Department Chief Gerald Simon credited hard lessons learned in the 1991 East Bay hills wild fire for today's quick and effective response to new fire threats. 

Speaking at a news conference at the department this evening, Simon said by 10:30 a.m. reports from residents of branches blown into wires by the wind prompted officials to open the city's emergency operations center. 

By 11:05 a.m he said the center was fully operational and ready to handle a report nine minutes later of a fire on Wisconsin Street at 11:14 a.m. 

Soon after, at 11:32 a.m., he said a second fire was reported in the Oakland hills, near Claremont Avenue and Harbord Drive, that charred 10 acres of land. 

But no structures were damaged today, the chief said, and no one was injured. 

Simon said that from the city of Oakland alone, 150 people were on the scene dealing with the fires.  

He also praised mutual assistance teams, which he said were alerted early on that their aid could be needed because of lessons learned in the October 21, 1991 fire, in which 25 people died and 3,000 homes were destroyed in Oakland  

and Berkeley. 

Today's story could have ended far worse, because similar dry, windy conditions held the potential for another “disaster-type event,” the chief said. 

Simon said that at one point the fire was moving up a slope and, if it had jumped a small fire break or embers had blown across, could have reached within 35 feet of striking distance to homes. 

Crews will remain on duty all night to ensure that the fire does not flare up again. 

Extra staff members are being called in, in addition to some mutual aid that is being retained. 

The 1991 fire was believed to be a rekindling of a fire from the previous day that had not been thoroughly extinguished. 

Simon said firefighters will continue to monitor the area until there is a significant decrease in wind activity. Helicopters will be used for monitoring the area. 

Oakland City Manager Robert Bobb said the forestry division had been deferring maintenance on trees for a number of years, and the city will need to address that area. He said more resources will be put into forestry and vegetation maintenance.

SAN FRANCISCO — Researchers say they’ve discovered what’s draining 10 percent of the electricity in homes in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the world. 

Vampires. 

Also called power supplies, vampires are the chunky, two-pronged plugs that power everything from refrigerators to cellular phone chargers.  

But long after household appliances such as stereos, computers and bread machines are turned off, vampires continue draining standby power from the electrical grid – at an average cost of $80 a year per household. 

“You know they are working when you’ve turned off your appliance and you touch that vampire and it’s still warm,” said Alan Meier, a researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. 

A recent study by Meier and J.P. Ross of the University of California, Berkeley, found that standby power represents 67 watts, or 10 percent, of an average Bay Area home’s electricity use per year.  

With power rates expected to rise, every extra watt adds up, Meier said. 

Standby power use has become an international concern as more household appliances and electronics add features such as clocks and computerized displays that require a continual flow of power. 

Studies in Japan, Germany and the Netherlands have also found standby power accounts for as much as 10 percent of national residential electricity use.  

The quickest solution is unplugging the vampires, though Meier calls that unrealistic.  

He said the best solution is to convince manufacturers to use newer, energy efficient vampires for their products.  

The state recently gave the California Energy Commission $50 million to launch a campaign to cut power use by next June. 

State energy commission director Arthur Rosenfeld said under one proposal manufacturers would get a 50 cent rebate for each energy efficient vampire sold over the next year.  

The commission also proposes to provide funding for cities and other groups to install energy-efficient appliances and equipment. 

A growing number of portable devices charged by vampires, such as handheld computers, cellular phones and laptops makes cutting back on standby power imperative, says Craig Hershberg, manager of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy’s Energy Star program.  

At the federal level, the Energy Star program has given recognition to energy efficient products since 1992. 

Such programs have driven companies, such as Sunnyvale’s Power Integrations, Inc., a maker of power supplies, to incorporate energy efficiency into their product design, said Mike Matthews, director of strategic marketing. 

Their power supply design replaces traditional weighty iron and copper transformers with silicon chips and electronic components.  

This makes the power supply lighter, more energy efficient, and compatible with voltage around the world, Matthews said. 

Palo Alto’s Sun Microsystems, Inc., a network computing services provider, won an award this year from Energy Star for producing energy efficient products and workspaces. 

And Mountain View’s Cobalt Networks, Inc., also a computer networking services company, produces a server that uses only 30 watts of electricity, generates less heat and requires less work from cooling systems. 

Refrigerators, laptop computer chargers and set-top boxes for cable or satellite television are among the hungriest standby power appliances, the study said. 

Some appliances use more power in standby mode than when they are in use: A 1999 New Zealand study revealed that more than 40 percent of microwave ovens consumed more electricity in the standby mode than when heating food. 

On the Net: 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy’s Energy Star program: http://www.energystar.gov 

Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Web site about Leaking energy sources: http://eetd.lbl.gov/standby 

California Energy Commission: http://www.energy.ca.gov 

Power Integrations, Inc.: http://www.powerint.com 

Cobalt Networks, Inc.: http://www.cobalt.com 

Sun Microsystems, Inc.: http://www.sun.com

Trees around school playgrounds do more than shade kids after a fast-round of keep-away. If enough playgrounds and parking lots are shaded, the whole city will stay cooler. 

Changing black roofs and parking lots to white also can help, federal scientists say. 

Those nice, cool colors, green and white, are the keys to using information which NASA provided two years ago in infrared photographs pinpointing the hottest spots in Louisiana’s capital of Baton Rouge. 

Sacramento, Atlanta, Baton Rouge and Salt Lake City were pilot cities in a NASA-Environmental Protection Agency project that has since spread to Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago and Phoenix. 

The object: reducing urban heat islands where asphalt, concrete and steel hold and intensify heat. Cities can be 2 to 8 degrees hotter than the area around them. That, in turn, intensifies pollution. 

The first flights were over Atlanta in May 1997. NASA researchers reported this year that Atlanta’s heat creates nighttime thunderstorms when the sky outside the metro area is clear. 

Baton Rouge, Salt Lake City and Sacramento were heat-mapped two years ago. 

Baton Rouge architect Coleman D. Brown is already convinced that white roofs are best for the commercial buildings he designs. Helping the city is a bonus. 

He replaced the coal tar roof at Brown & Brown Architects five years ago with an insulated white roof. His air conditioning bills fell from about $2,500 a month to $1,800 to $2,000 a month. 

“Here’s the kicker,” he says: the roof cost much less than a coal tar roof. It won’t last as long, but the air conditioning more than makes up the difference. 

Fran Stewart, an environmental scientist at the Department of Environmental Quality, reports to NASA and EPA this week on what the city-parish is doing to get out of the blacktop. A committee is rewriting the landscaping ordinance. 

“I’d like to see pretty much all shade covering all parking areas,” said Peggy Davis, education director for Baton Rouge Green, a group dedicated to planting trees in the city. “I’m hoping for 60 percent.” 

Sacramento already requires new parking lots to include enough trees to shade at least half of the parking lot after 15 years. 

In January, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District plans to offer the nation’s first incentive for white roofs on both homes and commercial buildings, said Ray Tretheway, executive director of the Sacramento Tree Foundation. 

“They’re projecting they’ll rebate 20 cents a square foot if you go to a cool roof,” he said. 

The Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory has said that doubling the space shaded by trees and adding several square miles of light surfaces would cut Sacramento’s smoggy days in half, he said. 

In Baton Rouge, turning every roof and every street and parking lot in the city from black to white would get the city halfway to its total air quality goal, said Hashem Akbari, head of the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory’s urban heat project. 

It’s a long-term goal. 

“A lot of roofs are being changed every 10 years. And pavements also need to be resurfaced every seven to eight years. So we are hoping within 10 to 15 years, we would get to that objective,” he said. 

Salt Lake City isn’t changing its landscape ordinance, said Meryl Redisch, Executive Director of TreeUtah. 

She said she thinks it’s more important to work directly with developers and councils to get them to include cool community strategies. In the Highland community, she said, one of the architectural and landscape architecture firms is adding more trees in parking lots and more landscaping in general. 

Baton Rouge Green isn’t just working outside the schools, but teaching the children inside them. 

Both its tree planting and education programs were started well before the EPA’s urban heat initiative. Baton Rouge Green has been planting trees at 10 schools a year since 1992. 

The NASA data shows which schools need them most, Morris said. 

Architects in the city also began using white roofs before the project began, Brown said. A survey of the city’s biggest contractors found that they had installed 3.1 million square feet of white roofing — enough to cover the Superdome more than six times — over the past three years. The figure probably can be doubled to include all contractors, he said. 

A new roof isn’t always needed. Brown said one of his friends cut the temperature in his Houma boathouse by about 10 degrees just by painting the metal roof true white instead of off-white. 

——— 

On the Net: 

NASA: http://www.ghcc.msfc.nasa.gov/urban/ 

Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory: http://EandE.LBL.gov/HeatIslands/ 

EPA: http://www.livablecommunities.gov/toolsandresources/sg—heat.htm 

Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory: http://eetd.lbl.gov/HeatIsland/ 

Baton Rouge: http://www.batonrougegreen.com/ 

Sacramento: http://www.energy.ca.gov/coolcommunity/index.html 

Salt Lake City: http://www.treelink.org/treeutah/flyover.html 

OAKLAND — Oakland police have arrested an administrator with the city’s Office of Parks and Recreation on suspicion of embezzling more than $12,000 to pay for school supplies and a trip to the Virgin Islands. 

Lenora Hameed, 44, is the first employee of the office to be arrested as a result of a three-month police probe of the department. 

Hameed was arrested Friday morning as she left the Alhambra Academy School of Science and World Cultures, a school she co-founded. 

She was arrested on a $30,000 warrant charging her with two felony counts of embezzlement of public funds. 

Police believe the alleged embezzlement took place over the past year. 

Hameed has worked at the parks department since 1989. She has been on administrative leave from her position as administrative services manager since shortly before the new head took over the department in May.

LOS ANGELES — Southern California’s booming economy has pushed rents up so high that most apartments are far out of reach for lower-income families.  

And that’s contributing to a growing trend: entire families living – permanently or semi-permanently – in motels. 

“What’s different is that the people who are staying here are no longer the unemployed,” said Jim Parkin, owner of the Covered Wagon, a 70-unit motel in Anaheim that relies almost entirely on locals.  

“There’s no one here collecting cans.” 

The average apartment now goes for nearly $1,100 a month in Orange County and $838 in Los Angeles County.  

Rents are still climbing and the few new apartment projects under way are generally high-end. 

“We are reaching an unparalleled crisis in our housing,” Gary Squier, a consultant and former head of the Los Angeles Housing Department, told the Los Angeles Times. 

While there are no precise statistics on motel dwellers, motel owners in Anaheim, Long Beach and Van Nuys told the Times they’ve seen dramatic increases in the number of long-term motel residents. 

One such resident is 31-year-old Stephanie Hosey, who has lived since April at the Covered Wagon . 

Hosey earns little more than minimum wage answering phones at a nearby moving company and can’t afford an apartment in the area.  

All she can manage is a room in a roadside inn like the Covered Wagon, where she pays $161 a week. 

“If there wasn’t a place like this, I couldn’t stay in Anaheim,” Hosey said. 

In recent years income has soared for those in higher brackets.  

The more affluent have bid up home prices, locking out more of the middle class and, in turn, helping drive apartment rents to stratospheric levels. 

In few places are the working poor’s housing needs more acute than in Southern California, housing experts say. 

In Orange County, Southern California’s tightest housing market, monthly rent for a typical two-bedroom apartment has risen 26 percent over the last three years, according to Marcus & Millichap, a Palo Alto real estate brokerage. In Los Angeles County, rent for the same unit has jumped 20 percent. 

There are now four families for every low-income unit available in Southern California – the worst ratio in the nation, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington think tank.  

With land prices soaring, low-income homes have become difficult to build without government assistance, and housing needs far surpass available public resources. 

In the last decade, the population of the city of Los Angeles has grown by 300,000, but the total number of housing units has risen by only 31,000, according to city figures. More families are doubling or tripling up. 

Helen Dunlap heads Project Dignity, a Garden Grove group that aids motel families.  

She wishes more of the grants her organization gives would be used to pay for move-in costs. But they’re not, she says, because affordable apartments are so scarce.  

“There’s just nothing available.”

Findings from half-million-dollar study give go-ahead for next year 

SAN FRANCISCO – A seismic safety examination of plans for a new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has determined that the state Department of Transportation is on its way to designing a seismically safe bridge. 

A team of 25 engineers and scientists from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released the report Friday. 

The Army Corps’ findings are the result of a $500,000 two-phase study commissioned by the city of San Francisco and the state to help resolve the bitter and costly dispute over how to make the 65-year-old bridge withstand an earthquake. 

The Army Corps determined in September, after a first phase of the seismic safety study, that the eastern span of the bridge needs to be replaced, not repaired.  

But the findings of the second phase, which studied whether the current design meets seismic criteria, are less clear. 

The Army Corps said it did not have the data to evaluate the bridge according to a set of earthquake criteria it was asked to use, but expressed faith in Caltrans’ designers. 

Caltrans is “moving along a path to design a bridge that meets the seismic performance criteria,” the report states. 

“They’ve got the right kind of people with the right kind of knowledge and the design procedures they’re following appear to be on a path to meet the criteria they’ve established,” said Jim Taylor, an Army Corps spokesman. 

Part of the problem in the evaluation of data, according to the Army Corps, is that Caltrans is designing the bridge according to one set of earthquake standards, and the Army Corps was asked to evaluate it on a different set. 

Caltrans spokesman Dennis Trujillo said the difference between the two sets of criteria “is like inches versus centimeters — it’s a different methodology.” 

The Army Corps’ report said the quake it used to evaluate Caltrans’ plans would be larger than the quake Caltrans is designing the bridge to withstand. 

Trujillo said the report has not changed Caltrans’ plans for the new span, and that it will continue the process. 

The Army Corps spent four months evaluating 75,000 pages of data that Caltrans has drawn up for its plans so far. Construction on the four-year project could begin as soon as next year.