Only about 25 people turned out Thursday evening outside the Valley Life Sciences building to protest a speech on the UC Berkeley campus by David Horowitz, author of a controversial ad run in the Daily Californian opposing reparations for African Americans. 

The speech was sponsored by the Berkeley College Republicans and the Berkeley Conservative Foundation. 

“David Horowitz wants a lily-white campus,” said Diana Coleman, a member of the Spartacus League, speaking to the protesters.  

“He wants to return to the 1950s when women stayed in the kitchen and blacks stayed in the back of the bus.” 

Nearby, Libertarian counterprotesters, calling themselves Bureaucrash, held signs calling for “free speech.” 

Some 450 people filed into the auditorium to hear Horowitz and about 150 were left outside without tickets. Organizer Kelso Barnett, from the Berkeley Conservative Foundation, said they brought Horowitz to speak because there is a need for dialogue. “Tonight I think it’s important for people to be open to listening to him,” he said.  

Not all those going into the speech were fans of Horowitz. Freshman Nithya Krishnan said she was upset by the ad in the Daily Cal. “I’m reserving judgment until I hear the talk,” she said. 

Robb McFadden, chair of the Berkeley College Republicans, agreed that “Horowitz speaking on campus makes a statement that free speech is important. Some people on this campus will disagree.” 

The ad placed in the Daily Cal was called “blatantly racist” by those who called for and received an apology from the college paper. The ad said that blacks had no right to reparations because they had already received trillions of dollars in the form of welfare benefits and preferential contracts. It also said that blacks, like whites, benefited from the wealth created by slavery. 

See the weekend edition of the Berkeley Daily Planet for a report on the Horowitz speech. 

Friday, March 16

Stagebridge Free Acting  

& Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Living Philosophers  

10 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.  

Free Writing, Cashiering  

& Computer Literacy Class 

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

AJOB Adult School  

1911 Addison St.  

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700. 

www.ajob.org 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Gay & Lesbian Panel Discussion 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Everyone is welcome. 644-6107 

Scholastic Book Fair  

8 - 9 a.m. & 1:45 - 3:45 p.m. & 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. 

Jefferson School Cafetorium  

Acton & Rose  

Reasonably-priced Scholastic books will be sold to promote books and reading and to raise money for the school. Children and adults are invited to wear pajamas for Pajama-Rama reading night from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.  

525-7567  

Perspectives on Work 

9:30 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. 

Room 370  

Dwinelle Hall  

UC Berkeley  

A day-long conference featuring prominent sociologists and graduate students from UC Berkeley, Harvard and other universities. The conference will bring together research from around the country on work, the lure of work and consequences of overwork.  

643-7944 

Saturday, March 17

Rockridge Writers 

3:30 - 5:30 p.m. 

Spasso Coffeehouse  

6021 College Ave.  

Poets and writers meet to critique each other’s work. “Members’ work tends to be dark, humorous, surreal, or strange.”  

berkeleysappho@yahoo.com 

Light Search & Rescue  

9 a.m. - Noon  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

A free class as part of Community Emergency Response Training (CERT). Sponsored by the Berkeley Fire Dept. and the Office of Emergency Services. 644-8736 

Burma Human Rights Day  

2 p.m.  

Berkeley Fellowship Hall  

1924 Cedar (at Bonita)  

KPFA Journalist Dennis Bernstein and members of the Burmese Resistance Movement will speak. Sponsored by the Burmese American Democratic Alliance and the Berkeley Fellowship Unitarian Universalists Social Action Committee. 528-5403  

Berkeley Folk Dancers Fun Night 

7:45 - 10:45 p.m. 

Live Oak Park Hall  

Shattuck at Berryman  

“The Green Party” Dance  

$5 - $7  

655-3074 

Feminist Politics of Family  

9 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.  

Maude Fife Room (315) 

Wheeler Hall  

UC Berkeley  

A yearly symposium highlighting graduate student work. The focus of the conference this year is re-envisioning feminist conceptions of the 21st century family. Keynote speakers include Evelyn Nakato Glenn on “Caring” and Carol Queen on “Erotic Families in Choice.” Free and open to the public.  

643-3040 

Free Puppet Shows 

1:30 & 2:30 p.m. 

Hall of Health  

2230 Shattuck Ave.  

The Kids on the Block, the award-winning educational puppet troupe, which includes puppets with cerebral palsy, blindness and Down syndrome, promotes acceptance and understanding of physical and mental differences.  

549-1564 

Greenbelt Outing:  

Clean Up Cerrito Creek 

9:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Meet at El Cerrito BART 

Join Greenbelt Alliance and Friends of Five Creeks for a work party to clear invasive plants and restore native habitat to Cerrito Creek. Afterwards, take a moderate loop hike up to Albany Hill and down to the Bay Trail. Bring work gloves, weeding tools, rain gear if necessary, and a lunch. Snacks will be provided.  

415-255-3233 

Sunday, March 18

East Bay Men’s Chorus Rehearsal  

6:30 p.m. 

University Lutheran Chapel  

College & Haste  

UC Berkeley 

Calling for gay and bisexual men and their allies and friends to join this choral ensemble directed by J.R. Foust. There is no obligation to join the chorus after the first rehearsal. Rehearsal season runs March through July.  

Call to RSVP 664-0260 or e-mail eastbaymenschorus@yahoo.com 

“Parenting in the  

Second Half of Life” 

10:30 a.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish  

Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Author Roberta Maisel will discuss ways parents and their grown children can get on a positive and guilt-free path.  

848-0237  

“Hope Against Darkness”  

7:30 p.m. 

Newman Hall  

2700 Dwight Way (at College) 

Richard Rohr will respond to the questions: What is the darkness? What is hope? 848-7812  

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

The Bungalow - Tradition & Transformation 

10 a.m. - 1 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by architect/contractor and West Berkeley bungalow restorer Barry Wagner.  

$35  

525-7610 

Awareness In Action  

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place  

Barr Rosenberg will speak on the Skillful Means teachings and practices toward a joyous, energetic, and relaxed approach to work.  

843-6812 

T. Rex: Mover & Shaker  

2 p.m.  

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley  

John Hutchinson of the Department of Integrative Biology at UCB, using video and hands-on activities, will demonstrate how some of the largest creatures roamed the earth. Free with museum admission.  

Monday, March 19

Timber Framing  

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Instructed by builder/timber framer Doug Eaton.  

$35  

525-7610 

Socratic Solutions  

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House  

Home Room  

UC Berkeley  

The Socratic Society presents a lecture by Theoharis Kemos on Socratic insights into our social problems. Celebrate Socrates’ 2470th birthday anniversary. Free 

Social Dance  

1 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave.  

With the North Berkeley Senior Dancing Group.  

644-6107 

Pacifica radio is about listener participation 

Editor:  

Mel Baker’s letter to the Planet of Wednesday, March 7, urging the sale of KPFA and WBAI misses entirely one of the fundamental issues: Both stations are listener supported, which has also meant listener participation. The sale of these two transmitters would destroy this historic, democratic tradition and reduce them to commercial fare already abundantly available.  

Jack W. Fleming 

Berkeley 

Developing community’s not that hard 

Editor:  

And another front page article about “Berkeley Community Battles Developers.” I cannot understand why other Berkeley communities do not follow the model of North Berkeley, which nearly two decades ago put together the nation’s first truly community-generated Area Plan.  

I founded and organized the North Berkeley Alliance and the Area Plan, so you shouldn’t take my word for it; go on up to North Berkeley and look around. Ask around, and you’ll find people that remember what we all did. They’ll tell you about how homeowners and renters, Co-opers, collectivists, owners of small businesses and major developers, students and retired people, street people and workers, activists and folks simply curious worked together and produced the Area Plan.  

Nobody was paid. There were no outside “experts,” no consultant firms, and City Hall was told “hands off!” It was the people of North Berkeley, seeing preservation vs. developer battle after developer battle with no end in sight, who took control of the future of their community into their own hands.  

Go on up to North Berkeley and look around and you’ll see the result. It looks just about, well, almost exactly the way it looked 20 years ago. Back then it was a troubled community, with real fears of the “Gourmet Ghetto” becoming a regional shopping district, but now you’ll see a community two-decades-free of the anti-development battles that plague and exhaust every other community in Berkeley.  

I can’t understand why it isn’t done elsewhere. North Berkeley had nothing “special” about it, not a thing that said “We can do here, but you can’t do it there!”  

You can do it, too. Go and look around. Ask around. There are people on the City Council who were there. Ask around.  

Stop fighting the developers: It’s playing their game. They’ve got the time and the money, and all they have to do is win, say one out of five and in a couple of years they’ll have it all.  

Look. Ask. Do it.  

Richard Berkeley 

Berkeley 

In school issues fairness is key 

Editor:  

Thanks again to the Berkeley School Board for reaffirming its commitment to quality education for everyone at Berkeley High by supporting the “Rebound” program.  

Although the reorganization of the budget will be the next immediate problem to be solved, the selection of a new superintendent must remain at the top of the agenda. And I would like to recommend “fairness” as a key factor in determining just who this will be. Fairness, as in equal, just, impartial and unprejudiced must be a major component in the approach and application of our new leadership.  

Unfortunately, over the past few years, fairness has not been the main concern of our top administration. Yes, some significant buildings were constructed, but it is also obvious that even in this category, not all schools were treated in the same way. Some renovations were spectacular, others average, and still others substandard in size and improvements, e.g. the High school still does not have phone connections between classrooms and the main office or security, while some primary schools had new classrooms added that are half the size of other schools’ additions. 

Nor have our students been receiving a “fair” education, if we look at the important factor of test scores. Depending on which school a student attends, his or her scores may vary tremendously, and sometimes even within the same school. Thousand Oaks and City of Franklin score among the lowest in the state, while others are among the highest. Additionally, if you measure the rating that individual schools use as a guide for self-improvement, the picture is not as bad but still dismal, since a few schools couldn’t even reach the goals that they, themselves, set. E.g. City of Franklin, Washington, and Berkeley High School. The latter, of course, has stood out for years for having the most inequalities.  

Incredibly, Berkeley High was denied full accreditation the last two times, mainly because large groups of the student body were not being served adequately, particularly the Latin American and African American students. (It should come as no surprise that Washington, City of Franklin, and Thousand Oaks have very large numbers of African American and Latin American students). Meanwhile, other ethnic groups of Berkeley High continue to score among the highest in the nation.  

And then there’s the rules that are not being fairly enforced, like the difference in primary school racial enrollments. How has this been allowed to continue? Go into a southside school and you see a very different enrollment pattern from a northern one.  

In summary, as we come closer in our search for a new superintendent, fairness is going to have to be a key issue. A “Potempkin Village” of neat, new buildings cannot be allowed to hide some mighty inequalities.  

Bill Moore 

Berkeley 

Berkeley’s good cops 

Editor:  

Here’s how I made a mistake, for about 14 hours, of assuming my car was stolen off the street on March 6.  

I’d parked on Rose Street and walked to the Black Oak Bookstore to hear a talk that lasted about two hours. But instead of walking back to my car, I walked to where I mistakenly assumed it was located.  

If it was daylight and there wasn’t so much traffic and so many parked cars I might have seen my car, but I didn’t, even though I walked around a bit in the wrong direction looking for it. Finally, I walked to a bus stop, bused home and left a message on your “Auto Theft” telephone number.  

I called the department yesterday morning and was told that I needed to come to the department to give and sign a report. I promptly proceeded to the station and spoke with a policeman.  

It was good fortune to be interviewed by Police Officer Lester Soo, who offered to drive me through the area. As he made the left turn off Shattuck onto Rose, there was my 1963 Plymouth Valiant. To say I was gratefully surprised is putting it mildly.  

What I want you to know is how much I appreciated Officer Soo’s courteous and friendly concern and the manner in which he solved my problem. He made the incident one I shall never forget.  

Let me assure you that, as one who has always had great respect for members of police forces whose services are so vital to the maintenance of law and order in communities in our country, the way Officer Soo treated me measures and lives up to the very best traditional police conduct, for which citizens should have profound respect and gratitude.  

Alfred Williams 

Oakland

Judah L. Magnes Museum “Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season” Through May, 2002 An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. 2911 Russell St. 549-6950  

The Asian Galleries “Art of the Sung: Court and Monastery” A display of early Chinese works from the permanent collection. “Chinese Ceramics and Bronzes: The First 3,000 Years,” open-ended. “Works on Extended Loan from Warren King,” open-ended. “Three Towers of Han,” open-ended. $6 general; $4 seniors and students age 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 11 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 642-0808 

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 by 40-foot replica of the fearsome dinosaur made from casts of bones of the most complete T. Rex skeleton yet excavated. When unearthed in Montana, the bones were all lying in place with only a small piece of the tailbone missing. “Pteranodon” A suspended skeleton of a flying reptile with a wingspan of 22-23 feet. The Pteranodon lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. Free. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821 

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology “Approaching a Century of Anthropology: The Phoebe Hearst Museum,” open-ended. This new permanent installation will introduce visitors to major topics in the museum’s history.“Ishi and the Invention of Yahi Culture,” ongoing.This exhibit documents the culture of the Yahi Indians of California as described and demonstrated from 1911 to 1916 by Ishi, the last surviving member of the tribe. $2 general; $1 seniors; $.50 children age 17 and under; free on Thursdays. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way and College Ave. 643-7648  

Lawrence Hall of Science “Math Rules!” Ongoing. A math exhibit of hands-on problem-solving stations, each with a different mathematical challenge.“Within the Human Brain” Ongoing. Visitors test their cranial nerves, play skeeball, master mazes, match musical tones and construct stories inside a simulated “rat cage” of learning experiments. “Vision,” Through April 15 Get a very close look at how the eyes and brain work together to focus light, perceive color and motion, and process information. “T. Rex on Trial,” Through May 28 Where was T. Rex at the time of the crime? Learn how paleontologists decipher clues to dinosaur behavior. “Fossil Finding with Annie Montague Alexander” March 17 - 18, 24-25, 31 & April 21; “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza. Computer Lab, Saturdays 12:30 - 3:30 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. “Constellations Tonight” Ongoing. Using a simple star map, learn to identify the most prominent constellations for the season in the planetarium sky. Daily, 3:30 p.m. $7 general; $5 seniors, students, disabled, and youths age 7 to 18; $3 children age 3 to 5 ; free children age 2 and younger. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu  

924 Gilman St. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted $5; $2 for a year membership March 16: The P.A.W.N.S., Kill the Messenger, Phoenix Thunderstone, Sugarlips, Dory Tourette & The Skirtheads; March 17: The Hoods, Benumb, Above The World, Chronic Disorder, Eulogy; March 23: 18 Visions, Walls of Jericho, Time In Malta, Undying, Betray the Species; March 24: Workin’ Stiffs, The Bodies, Strychnine, East Bay Chasers, For the Alliance; March 30: Deathreat, Ahimsa, F*** God In the Face, The Black, Creation Is Crucifixion 525-9926  

Albatross Pub All music at 9 p.m. unless noted March 17: Maureen Brennan Group 1822 San Pablo 843-2473 

Ashkenaz March 16, 9:30 p.m.: Samba Ngo; March 18, 5 - 10 p.m.: Aid for Ahmedabad Earthquake Relief Concert featuring Vinyl, New Monsoon, Raja & Srini, plus Henry Kaiser, $20; March 22, 9:30: Groundation; March 24, 2 p.m. - 2 a.m.: Ashkenaz fourth annual dance-a-thon featuring Lavay Smith, African, Caribbean, reggae, Balkan, North African and cajun bands for 12 hours of nonstop dance music; May 6, 7 p.m.: Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble 1370 San Pablo Ave. (at Gilman) 525-5054 or www.ashkenaz.com  

Eli’s Mile High Club Doors open at 8 p.m. March 16: Little Jonny & the Giants; March 17: Sugar G; March 23: Carlos Zialcita; March 24: Daniel Castro; March 30: Craig Horton Blues Band 3629 MLK Jr. Way Oakland  

Freight & Salvage All music at 8 p.m. March 16: John Stewart; March 17: The Black Brothers: Shay, Michael & Martin; March 18: Hanes Family; March 19: Liam O’Flynn & The Pipers Call; March 21: Reverend Billy C. Wirtz; March 22: Sid Selvidge, Alan Smithline; March 23: Perfect Strangers; March 24: Barry & Alice Olivier; March 25: Boogie Woogie Piano Cavalcade w/Beverly Stovall, Sue Palmer, Wendy De Witt, Big Joe Duskin; March 27: Maria Muldaur; March 28: Todd Phillips, David Grier & Matt Flinner; March 29: Tom Paxton; March 30 & 31: House Jacks 1111 Addison St. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jazzschool/La Note All music at 4:30 p.m. March 18: Wayne Wallace Septet $6 - $12; March 22, 8 - 10 p.m.: Adult Big Band; March 25 & 27 - 29, 4 - 10 p.m.: Student Winter Recitals 2377 Shattuck Ave. 845-5373 or visit www.jazzschool.com  

Live Oak Concert Series All music at 7:30 p.m. March 18: Mark Sanders, flute, David Cheng, violin, Darcy Rindt, viola, Paul Rhodes, cello. Flute quartets of Haydn and Mozart; March 25: Horizon Wind Quartet play music of Mendelssohn, Rossini, Ravel, Ligetti and others All concerts $8 - $10 Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St.  

Cal Performances March 23, 7 p.m. & March 24, 1 & 8 p.m.: “The King Stag: A Tragicomic Tale for the Theatre” by Carlo Gozzi $24 - $46; April 1, 3 p.m.: Pianist Richard Goode play the music of Bach, Chopin and Beethoven $28 - $48 Zellerbach Hall UC Berkeley. 642-9988 or www.calperfs.berkeley.edu $32; Hertz Hall UC Berkeley 

“An Afternoon of Song” with Elaine Bernstein March 25, 2 p.m. Bernstein, soprano and Sally Munro, mezzo, with Gwendolyn Mok at the piano, will perform a variety of duets from the operas “Hansel & Gretel,” “Cosi Fan Totte,” “Der Rosenkavaher,” and “Lakme,” and more. $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300 

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra April 3 and June 21, 2001. All performances begin at 8 p.m. Single $19 - $35, Series $52 - $96. Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley 841-2800  

“Treacherous Crossings” March 16, 10:30 a.m. & 7 p.m. An opera about people looking for a better life, leaving Mexico to come to California. Produced entirely by 8 - 11 year olds Malcolm X Arts & Academics Magnet School Malcolm X Auditorium 1731 Prince St. 644-6313. 

John Santos & The Machete Ensemble March 17, 8:30 p.m. $12 - $14 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

Terry Gibbs March 18, 2 p.m. A concert/dance featuring the celebrated vibraphonist. $15 Longfellow School of the Arts 1500 Derby St. (at Sacramento) 420-4560 

New Century Chamber Orchestra present “Time Past and Time Present” March 22, 8 p.m. $25 - $30 St. John’s Presbyterian Church 2727 College Ave. 415-392-4400 

BHS Jazz Ensemble March 23, 7:30 p.m. The spring concert performance from the award-winning jazz ensemble. Proceeds benefit the students who will travel to Europe this summer to perform in Italy and Switzerland. $5 - $8 Florence Schwimley Little Theatre 1920 Allston Way  

Rebecca Riots March 24, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m. $12 - $14 Club Muse 856 San Pablo Ave. Albany 528-2878 

Benefit Concert for the Xiana Fairchild Volunteer Center March 25, 7:30 p.m. Featuring The Sick, Simplistic, Mastema, Drain, and an all-star jam with surprise guests. All proceeds to benefit the volunteer center. 18 and over show. $8 Blake’s on Telegraph 2367 Telegraph Ave. 848-0886  

Music in Great Berkeley Houses March 31, 7 p.m. $35 Gwendolyn Mok, piano, and Jean-Michel Fonteneau, cello, will play the music of Frank Bridge, Debussy, and Poulenc. Palache House Reserved tickets required 841-2242 

The American Bach Soloists present “How Desolate Lies the City...” March 31, 8 p.m. The cantatas of J.S. Bach and his contemporaries. $20 - $37 First Congregational Church of Berkeley 2345 Channing Way 415-621-7900 

Jesus Diaz y su QBA March 31, 9:30 p.m. Cuban timba dance music. $12 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568  

Berkeley Broadway Singers present “From Broadway to Brazil” April 1, 4 p.m. Berkeley Broadway Singers is a 70-member chorus led by Ellen Hoffman. They will be singing Motown classics along with class Broadway showtunes Free Saint Ambrose Church 1145 Gilman St. 524-0107 

Music on Squirrel Hill presents Trio Accorde April 1, 7:30 p.m. $10 - $15 Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley One Lawson Road Kensington 525-0302 

Hillbillies From Mars April 8, 2 p.m. Rocking the Bay for twenty years, the Hillbillies fuse rock n’ roll, swing, Latin and African beats. $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300 

UC Alumni Chorus presents “Bravo! Opera!” April 8, 7:30 p.m. A veritable Opera chorus smorgasbord with Bizet’s “Carmen,” Verdi’s “IL trovatore,” and Copland’s “The Tenderland.” $8 - $12 Hertz Hall UC Berkeley 643-9645 

Young Emerging Artists Concert April 10, 7 - 8 p.m. The Young Musicians Program Jazz Combo will perform jazz standards and original compositions. $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300 

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra presents “Under Construction No. 11” April 8, 7:30 p.m. A concert of new works by local composers, including Mary Stiles, Mark Winges, and David Sheinfeld. Free St. John’s Presbyterian Church 2727 College Ave.  

Theater 

“Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me” by Frank MacGuinness Through March 17, Thursday - Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, 8:30 p.m. The story of three men - an Irishman, an Englishman and an American held in a prison in Lebanon. $10 - $15 8th St. Studio Theatre 2525 Eighth St. (at Dwight) 655-0813 

“A New Brain” by William Finn Through March 18, Fridays & Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, 7 p.m. Watch as Gordon Schwinn, in the face of a life-threatening brain tumor, composes a farewell concert in which all the important figures in his life make show-stopping appearances. Presented by BareStage Productions $8 - $12 Choral Rehearsal Hall, Lower Level of Caesar Chavez Student Center UC Berkeley 642-3880  

“Little Shop of Horrors” Through Apri 1, Friday & Saturday, 8 p.m., Saturday & Sunday, 2 p.m., no show Friday, March 23; $12 Berkeley Community Little Theatre Allston Way at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way Call 943-SHOW  

“The Oresteia” by Aeschylus Through May 6 Directed by Tony Taccone and Stephen Wadsworth, Aeschylus trilogy will be the first production staged on the Berkeley Rep’s new prosenium stage. Please call Berkeley Repertory Theatre for specific dates and times. $15.99 - $117 Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2015 Addison St. (at Shattuck) 647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Chappy Knuckles (Semi-Regional Motorcross And) Family Fun Hour” March 19 & 20, 7 & 9 p.m. Shotgun Players’ Black Box Productions presents Old Man McGinty, who has a rubbing stone that he would love for you to touch. $10 LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. 655-0813 or visit www.shotgunplayers.com  

“The Tempest” by William Shakespeare Through April 14, Thursday - Saturday, 8 p.m. Presented by Subterranean Shakespeare and directed by Stanley Spenger $8 - $10 LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. (at Hearst) 237-7415 

Action Movie: The Play March 23 - April 21, Friday & Saturday, 8 p.m. Non-stop action and martial arts mayhem with comedy, surprise plot twists, and the occasional movie reference thrown in. $7 - $12 The Eighth Street Studio 2525 Eighth St. 464-4468 

Stagebridge presents the Tenth Annual Family Matinee Theatre and Ice Cream Social March 25 & April 1, 3 p.m. The premiere of Linda Spector’s “Strega Nona and Other Grandparent Tales,” with a cast aged 9 - 70. $4 - $8 First Congregational Church 2501 Harrison Oakland 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org.  

Films 

“Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win” March 18, 6 p.m. A historic documentary of the May - June 1968 General Strike in France. Directed by Paris working class filmmaker Jean Pierre Thorn. Also to be shown is “France on Strike,” on the 1995 French public workers strike by rail workers, teachers, electrical and postal workers. $7 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. (at Prince) 849-2568  

The Bullfighter & the Lady and Seven Men From Now March 17, 6:30 p.m. Join Budd Boetticher, director of Westerns, who will discuss his career and screen two of his favorites. $7 Pacific Film Archive 2575 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch St.) 642-1412 

“Dreamers” March 17 - 24 The American feature film debut of Chinese-born writer/director Ann Lu. The executive producer of the film is UC Berkeley alumnus Peiti Feng Fine Arts Cinema 2451 Shattuck Ave. 848-1143 

“Earth” April 7, 7:30 p.m. A 1930 film, set in Ukraine, by Soviet director Alexander Dovzhenko with an original music score created and performed by composer and musician Adrian Johnston. $7 2575 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch) 642-1412 

“Regeneration” April 8, 5:30 p.m. The first feature-length gangster movie, filmed around 1915 on the streets of New York’s Hell’s Kitchen. Directed by Raoul Walsh, the movie will have a new original music score created and performed by composer and musician Adrian Johnston. $7 2575 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch) 642-1412 

Exhibits 

Berkeley Historical Society “Berkeley’s Ethnic Heritage.” An overview of the rich cultural diversity of the city and the contribution of individuals and minority groups to it’s history and development. Thursday through Saturday, 1 – 4 p.m. Free. 1931 Center St. 848-0181 

“Dorchester Days,” the photographs of Eugene Richards is a collection of pictures portraying the poverty, racial tension, crime and violence prevalent in Richards’ hometown of Dorchester, Massachusetts in the 1970s. Through April 6. UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism 121 North Gate Hall #5860 642-3383 

“Still Life & Landscapes” The work of Pamela Markmann Through March 24, Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Red Oak Gallery 1891 Solano Ave. 527-3387 

“Contemporary Photogravure” Printing from hand-inked plates etched from a film positive, a unique exhibition of photographs with luxurious tones. Through March 30, Tuesday - Friday, Noon - 5 p.m. or by appointment Kala Art Institute 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977 

“Musee des Hommages,” Masterworks by Guy Colwell Faithful copies of several artists from the pasts, including Titian’s “The Venus of Urbino,” Cezanne’s “Still Life,” Picasso’s “Woman at a Mirror,” and Boticelli’s “Primavera” Ongoing. Call ahead for hours 2028 Ninth St. (at Addison) 841-4210 or visit www.atelier9.com 

“Sugar N’ Spice N’ Everything Nice: Live, Loves and Legacies of Women of Color” Through April 21, Wednesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Works by Aissatoui Vernita, Flo Oy Wong, Tomoko Negishi, Consuelo Jimenez and many others. Pro Arts Gallery 461 Ninth Street Oakland 763-9425 

Amanda Haas, New Paintings and Olivia Kuser, Recent Landscapes Through March 24, Tuesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Traywick Gallery 1316 Tenth St. 527-1214 

“Travels in Color” Wax crayon sketches by Pamela Markmann made over the past 35 years Through March 31, 5 - 8 p.m. daily Voulez Vouz Bistro 2930 College Ave. 548-4708 

“Chicano Art and Visions of David Tafolla” Vivid color acrylic and oil paintings with Latino imagery. Through April 12, Tuesday - Thursday, 1 - 7 p.m., Saturday Noon - 4 p.m. and by appointment. 548-9272 or www.wcrc.org 

Nylan Jeung and David Lippenberger Lippenberger renders figures in acrylic and Jeung work with ink and watercolor on rice paper, using traditional eastern techniques. Through April 7, Wednesday through Sunday, Noon - 5 p.m Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893 

Recent Works of Narangkar Khalsa & Pete Glover Through March 31; Opening reception March 10, 7 - 9 p.m. !hey! Gallery 4920-B Telegraph Ave. Oakland 428-2349  

“The Art of Meadowsweet Dairy” Objects found in nature, reworked and turned into objects of art. March 19 - May 15, call for hours; Opening reception: April 6, 6 - 9 p.m. Current Gallery at the Crucible 1036 Ashby Ave. 843-5511  

Readings 

Boadecia’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 16: Rik Isensee will read from his novel “The God Squad: A Spoof on the Ex-Gay Movement”; March 21, 7 p.m.: Gay/Bi Men’s Book Group will discuss “Lost Language of Cranes” by David Leavitt; March 24, 7 p.m.: Aliza Sherman will read and sign “Cybergrrl@Work: Tips and Inspiration for the Professional You” 398 Colusa Ave. Kensington 559-9184. www.boadeciasbooks.com 

Cody’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 18: Poetry of Yvonne Cannon, Lara Gularte, Richard Rocco; March 19: Jean Rouverol talks about “Refugees From Hollywood: A Journal of the Blacklist”; March 21: Poetry of James Schevill; March 25: Poetry of Beverly Matherne & A.J. Rathbun; March 28: Poetry of Craig Van Riper & Jaime Robles; April 4: Poetry of Carole Simmons Oles & Matthew McKay; April 11: Poetry of Kurt Brown & Al Young 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 27: Travel writer Edward Hasbrouck, author of “The Practical Nomad” will provide essential tips, advice, and consumer skills for the independent traveler; March 29: Katherine Widing, author of “Cycling France” will give a slide presentation/talk on just that 1385 Shattuck Ave. (at Rose) 843-3533 

“Strong Women - Writers & Heroes of Literature” Fridays Through June, 2001, 1 - 3 p.m. Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program. North Berkeley Senior Center 1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 549-2970  

Duomo Reading Series and Open Mic. Thursdays, 6:30 - 9 p.m. March 22: Anna Mae Stanley; March 29: Georgia Popoff; April 5: Barbara Minton; April 12: Alice Rogoff; April 19: Garrett Murphy; April 26: Ray Skjelbred. Cafe Firenze 2116 Shattuck Ave. 644-0155. 

Rhythm & Muse Open Mike March 25, 2 p.m. Featuring poet Paradise Berkeley Art Museum 2621 Durant (at Bowditch) 527-9753 

Lunch Poems First Thursday of each month, 12:10 - 12:50 p.m. April 5: Galway Kinnell; May 3: Student Reading Morrison Room, Doe Library UC Berkeley 642-0137 

“Slam the Prisons” April 6, 6 p.m. - 1 a.m. A benefit for prison activism featuring Tang, Company of Prophets, Sheryl D. Mebane and many others. Proceeds benefit the defense of New Afrikan political prisoner Khalfani X. Khaldun and the Prison Activist Resource Center. $10 La Pena Cultural Center 3205 Shattuck Ave. 898-0431  

Tours 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387 

Berkeley City Club Tours 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. The fourth Sunday of every month, Noon - 4 p.m. $2 848-7800  

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

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden Centennial Drive, behind Memorial Stadium, a mile below the Lawrence Hall of Science The gardens have displays of exotic and native plants. Tours, Saturday and Sunday, 1:30 p.m. $3 general; $2 seniors; $1 children; free on Thursday. Daily, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. 643-2755 or www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden/  

Lectures 

Berkeley Historical Society Slide Lecture & Booksigning Series Sundays, 3 - 5 p.m. $10 donation requested March 18: “Topaz Moon,” Kimi Kodani Hill will discuss artist Chiura Obata’s family and the WWII Japanese relocation camps. Berkeley Historical Center Veterans Memorial Building 1931 Center St. 848-0181 

UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Research Seminars Noon seminars are brown bag  

March 19, Noon: Anne Balsamo of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, will explore IT issues within the humanities; April 23, 4 p.m.: Mary Dudziach of USC will discuss “Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy.” 119 Moses Hall UC Berkeley 642-4608  

“Great Decisions” Foreign Policy Association Lectures Series Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - Noon, Through April 3; An annual program featuring specialists in the field of national foreign policy, many from University of California. Goal is to inform the public on major policy issues and receive feedback from the public. $5 per session, $35 entire series for single person, $60 entire series for couple. Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant Ave. 526-2925 

City Commons Club Lecture Series Fridays, 12:30 p.m. $1 general Students Free March 16: Paul H. Young, Jr. retired foreign service officer, will present “A Pilgrim’s Visit to Athos”; March 23: Guy Colwell, master painter of Nasters, will speak on “Using Painting to Teach Art History”; March 30: Jana Grittersova, professor of International Relations, UC Berkeley will speak on “The European Union - Integration and Expansion” Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant Ave. 848-3533 

“Color, Color, Color” March 26, 7:30 p.m. A lecture by Christine Barnes which looks at three characteristics of color common to all quilts: Value, temperature and intensity. Free - $3 First Unitarian Church One Lawson Road Kensington 834-3706 

When the Cal Bears tip off their NCAA Tournament opening round game tonight, they will be taking on a legend: Jerry Tarkanian, the ultimate rebel of big-time college basketball. But what they face on the court will be even tougher: a run-and-gun Bulldog squad that is as talented as any team in the country. 

The key to stopping the Bulldogs is simple, but hard to accomplish: stop Tito Maddox. The sophomore point guard, who joined the team midway through the season, has been spectacular at times, averaging 14 points and eight assists per game. But he has also been inconsistent, playing out of control at times and committing too many turnovers. 

The job of stopping Maddox will likely fall to Cal point guard Shantay Legans, who will give up six inches to the 6-foot-4 Maddox. Legans should get help from his wingmen, Joe Shipp, Brian Wethers and Ryan Forehan-Kelly, but the other Bulldogs can make the Bears pay if they double-team Maddox.  

Three other Fresno State players each average 15 points per game. Center Melvin Ely is the team’s leading scorer, and Berkeley post players Solomon Hughes and Nick Vander Laan will have their hands full with the senior, who is shooting 59 percent from the field. Shooting guard Demetrius Porter and wingman Chris Jefferies can also fill it up. 

The Bears, as usual, will lean heavily on their senior leader, forward Sean Lampley. The Pac-10 Player of the Year, Lampley leads Cal is points and rebounds, and the Bears can’t win without a solid game from him. If Lampley scores at least 20 points and controls the boards, he could lead a young Cal team to a win and a likely second-round matchup with Michigan State. 

But Cal will have to get points from someone else, and no Bear has shown a consistent ability to score, as Lampley is the only player averaging more than 10 points per game. The Bulldogs average 82 points per game, so Legans will have to get his teammates good shots and direct the offense, as well taking on the considerable task of containing Maddox.v

A joint committee of city and school district leaders vowed to get tough on violence at Berkeley High School Thursday after hearing a student paint a grim portrait of life at the school. 

“Berkeley High is a great school but it’s being run into the ground by (a violent) element,” Berkeley High student Varun Paul told the “2 x 2” committee, which includes Mayor Shirley Dean, City Councilmember Linda Maio, City Manager Weldon Rucker, Board of Education President Terry Doran and Board of Education Vice-president Shirley Issel. 

Paul said he had witnessed attacks on students and teachers and had been attacked himself in the hallways of BHS. 

“If you were to go there I think you would be shocked,” Paul said. “There are areas of the school where it is just extremely, extremely hazardous.” 

“It’s a culture full of retaliatory violence,” said Laura Menard, the parent of a Berkeley High student. She said she tells her son to “watch his back” when she drops him off at school each morning. 

“You have to move in and create real enforcement,” Menard said.  

The committee adopted a proposal by Menard Thursday to appoint a task force to come up with recommendations for reducing the number of violent incidents on campus. 

Dean said she hoped the task force would deal quickly with problems on the BHS campus today. 

“This time it gets taken care of,” Dean said. “I don’t ever want to hear about students getting beaten up at Berkeley High anymore. 

Meanwhile, students leaving Berkeley High Thursday, minutes after the committee meeting, reported seeing a fight in the C Building where one girl was lead away with her face “busted up.” 

Fights on campus – notably fights between  

girls – are a regular occurrence, the students said, and not something that can be easily prevented by the school’s teachers or security staff. 

“I don’t think they could stop it if they wanted to,” said sophomore Myron Seals. “If kids want fight they’re going fight.” 

Students underscored that those who picked fights were not part of a small clique. They said it was a general phenomena. Some said they believed as many as one-third of the school’s students might be involved in the fighting, which they said often stems from regional rivalries and friction between ethnic groups. 

Asked if he felt unsafe at Berkeley High, sophomore Rocky Garcia said : “I don’t really let myself feel uncomfortable. It’s kind of like wolves: If they smell fear they’re gonna call you on it.” 

Issel said the school district has implemented a number of initiatives to deal with violence at Berkeley High over the years but needs to step up its efforts in light of the stories told by Paul and others. 

“There’s something going on here that’s impacting our kids in ways that are very troubling to them and to us.” 

Doran agreed. The problem of violence at Berkeley High “is serious and it hasn’t been dealt with effectively and successfully in a long time,” Doran said.  

But Doran warned that there is a gulf between asking for more stringent rule enforcement and getting it.  

“What happens is the staff get overwhelmed and retreat to their classrooms because they feel their first commitment is to (the students there),” Doran said, referring to the high numbers of students out of class at any given moment at Berkeley High, a factor many agreed provides opportunities for misbehavior. 

Berkeley Unified School District Interim Superintendent Stephen Goldstone said the success of the proposed task force would depend on setting a firm time line for implementing its recommendations, and then making sure the city and school board defend the new measures if they should come under fire by unhappy Berkeley High parents. 

Others warned that the only way to protect new measures from coming under attack was to create an inclusive process for addressing the violence from the get go. 

Maio said, “We don’t want to be in the position where we hear shouts from the community that this is racist.”  

Unless the task force involves all the different segments of the community working together in partnership “we’re not going to get anywhere at all,” Maio said. 

Dean said the task force should include members of the 2 x 2 committee, students, police, parents and perhaps some mental health experts. 

Doran said it is important not to view more stringent enforcement of rules as a panacea for changing the environment at Berkeley High. Administrators should also consider how to reorganize academic programs at Berkeley High to relieve pressures that drive students to violence, he said. 

The sheer size of the campus leads to feelings of “alienation and anonymity” by students, Doran said, adding that the board is considering plans to implement additional “small learning” communities at Berkeley High to give more students a sense of belonging.  

Rucker supported the creation of a task force Thursday but said it would be better to deal with problems such as those described by Paul as they occur rather than in a committee meeting after the fact. 

“Why don’t we communicate better as responsible adults that we have some problems?” Rucker asked. “If someone is violating the law, then we need to enforce the law. Somebody needs to be observing this and reporting this at a much earlier stage.”  

Paul told the committee he warned school staff that out-of-town students in Berkeley for last week’s affirmative action protest were planning a “raid” on Berkeley High to start fights. His warnings went unheeded, he said. 

Berkeley Police Sergeant Steve Odom said police had known about the threat for days and did all they could to prevent it. Police anticipate such incidents and have a game plan for when they occur, he said.  

“The first thing we do is share the information with the school,” he said. 

Last week, Berkeley Police stationed additional officers around Berkeley High on streets the out-of-town students would likely traverse to get to the school, Odom said. They tried to be in all the places where large groups of Berkeley High students and students from the rival school might encounter one another. 

“The things that were done were the right things,” Odom said. “I really believe we prevented a lot of things from happening.” 

Panthers dominate Albany, St. Joe’s in first league meet 

The St. Mary’s track and field team has been an East Bay powerhouse for a while now, and they showed no signs of letting up in their first league meet of the year, thoroughly dominating Albany and St. Joseph’s on Thursday at St. Mary’s. 

The Panthers’ varsity boys beat Albany 95-20 and the Pilots 103-24, while the girls won 90-23 and 96-17, respectively. The boys won all but two individual events they entered, while the girls lost just one individual title. St. Mary’s didn’t enter the distance events, since they have a distance meet this afternoon. 

Multiple event winners for the Panthers were sprinter Chris Dunbar, who won the 200- and 400-meter dashes, Phil Weatheroy and Kamaiya Warren in shotput and discus, Quiana Shaw in the triple jump and high jump, and Brielle Plump, who won the 100-meter dash, 300-meter hurdles and high jump. 

There were several highlights from the meet that illustrated the Panthers’ dominance. Shaw, who was the only girl to clear higher than 4-foot-2 in the high jump, set a new personal record when she cleared 5-foot-2, then proceeded to make 5-foot-4. The Panthers took the top three places in the girls’ 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes, the triple, long and high jumps and shotput and discus, while the boys swept the 100, 200, long jump, 110-meter hurdles, shotput and discus. 

The boys lost just one event they entered, the 1600-meter race, while the girls lost only the 800-meter race. 

St. Mary’s long distance runners will take part in the Distance Carnival this afternoon at Piedmont High School, and the relay teams will travel to Contra Costa College tomorrow for the El Cerrito Relays.

An accidental spill of 630 gallons of water contaminated with chrome 6 that was being pumped out of the skate bowls at Harrison Field last Sunday has flowed into the Bay. 

Environmental experts said the spill resulted in a relatively small amount of chromium 6 reaching the Bay and it is likely that there would be no significant ecological impact. 

Secor International, an environmental engineering company, was in the process of pumping contaminated water out of partially constructed skate bowls when an improperly installed sump pump failed to shut off after a 20,000 gallon, above-ground tank had become filled.  

The water, spilling over at a rate of approximately seven gallons per minute, flowed into a storm drain on Harrison Street and into the Bay near the end of Gilman Street. 

According to Nabil Al-Hadithy, the city’s hazardous materials supervisor the water originally contained approximately .1 to .15 milligrams per liter of chromium 6, a carcinogen that is dangerous to humans if ingested or inhaled. Al-Hadithy said the chromium was diluted when it entered a storm drain that contained several hundred gallons of water. 

“Tests were done at the point the water flowed into the Bay and the ratio was .004 milligrams of chromium 6 per liter of water,” Al-Hadithy said. 

He said there was no exposure to humans, and tests are being conducted to determine if there are any ecological consequences to the Bay. 

Dr. Khalil Abu-Saba, environmental specialist with the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board, said there would probably be little ecological effect.  

“The limits on chrome 6 in water is 11 parts per billion for fresh water and 50 parts per billion for sea water,” Abu-Saba said. “If .004 per liter is accurate then the spill is below what would be considered safe for fresh water.” 

Dr. Angus McGarth, principle geochemist with Secor, said they have taken precautions to ensure against any more accidental spills. “I pride myself on cleaning up contamination, not contributing to it,” he said. 

Hesaid the cost of the spill in additional time and testing was about $2,500, for which Secor is taking responsibility. 

The Toxics Management Division discovered the contaminated water in November when groundwater poured into two pits that were being excavated for skate bowls at Fourth and Harrison streets. The contaminated water had been drawn into the bowls from a nearby chrome 6 plume that the city had known about since 1990. 

The city stopped construction of the park when the contaminated water was discovered. 

The plume was the result of a leaky storage tank located at Color Tech two blocks away.  

So far the city has paid approximately $150,000 in costs related to the clean up of the contaminated groundwater. 

The Parks and Waterfront Department plans to continue the construction of the skate park and recently began to accept bids for a new design that will raise the skate bowls above groundwater depth with is about 9 feet below the surface. 

Bouquets of flowers surround the traffic-light pole at Hearst and Shattuck avenues near where Jane Ash was struck by a cement truck Tuesday. The 35-year-old Berkeley resident, a controller in the tuberculosis section of the State Department of Health, is said by a nursing supervisor to be near death at Alameda County Medical Center. 

In a week laced with vehicular accidents, Theodore Resnick of San Francisco died at the scene about 1 a.m. Wednesday at San Pablo and Ashby avenues, after being hit by a driver pursued by California Highway Patrol officers. On Thursday an unoccupied AC Transit bus struck a lightpole sending a woman and her baby to the hospital. 

On Tuesday, Ash took a coffee break at the Berkeley Express, across Shattuck Avenue from her job on the sixth floor of the state health department at Hearst and Shattuck. Jerry Brecher, a regular customer at the Express said he heard the noise when the truck hit the pedestrian. “Thirty seconds before she was getting coffee,” Brecher said.  

Moments before the accident, Ash waited on the northwest corner of the street until the light turned green, then proceeded to cross inside the crosswalk, said Lt. Russell Lopes, spokesperson for the Berkeley Police Department. A cement pumper truck was headed west on Hearst, then turned left onto Shattuck, striking Ash, Lopes said. 

“The driver admits he did not see the woman,” Lopes said. “He heard the impact,” and saw people gesturing, then stopped. Berkeley Cement referred the Daily Planet to its attorney who said he could not comment because an investigation was still in process. 

Lopes said when Ash was hit, she fell to the ground, hitting her head on the pavement. She suffered massive brain injuries, Lopes said. 

“It’s hard for all of her friends,” said Ash’s friend, Carol Lopes, who works for the city. Lopes said Ash was being kept on life support, waiting for a recipient for organs which she had wanted to donate. “She is just a wonderful person,” said Lopes, using the words “happy” and “open-hearted” to describe her friend. 

Dr. Sarah Royce, chief of the T.B. control branch of the Department of Health Services, said Ash has worked in her department for three years. She has been active in her field as director of the California TB Controller’s Association, Royce said, calling Ash a “hard-working dedicated T.B. controller.” She had been working on next Friday’s World T.B. day, Royce said. 

An AC transit bus, parked on the northeast corner of Shattuck Avenue and Center Streets, took off on its own Thursday about 4 p.m., knocking over a traffic signal and sending a passerby and her baby to the hospital, witnesses said. 

Berkeley police at the scene said the pair were not hurt. An AC Transit spokesperson was not available for comment. 

“I heard a loud crash,” said a bystander, one of the Berkeley Guides, who wanted to be identified only as Guide No. 18. “The bus hit the pole. It looked like it hit the baby. The mother was screaming.” 

Anna Schavin and Mercy Star also saw the accident. They said the bus was traveling very slowly, at about 5-10 miles per hour. 

They said they witnessed the bus running into the pole and the pole going into the baby stroller. They said the mother grabbed the baby who was crying, but appeared unharmed. 

Henry Porche also witnessed the accident. “I looked up. There was no driver in the bus,” he said. 

Apparently, the driver had fixed the parking brake of the bus and had taken a break. The end of the No. 40 bus route is on the northeast corner of Shattuck and Center. No passengers were on the bus when it crossed Shattuck on its own.

SAN FRANCISCO — A powerful builders group sued the City of San Francisco Wednesday for banning live-work projects. 

The Residential Builders Association claims that voters should decide on the future of live-work lofts.  

Because the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a six-month moratorium on the housing units last month as a resolution rather than an ordinance, it cannot be challenged with a ballot measure. 

The association’s lawyers asked a judge to declare the moratorium an ordinance. A hearing is scheduled for next week. 

If the moratorium becomes an ordinance, it will take 19,000 signatures to put the issue on the ballot. If that happened, the moratorium would cease, meaning live-work construction would continue until the November election. 

Board of Supervisors President Tom Ammiano, who authored the moratorium, said resolutions take less time and study to approve than ordinances. 

The builders association had submitted a referendum petition calling on supervisors to rescind the moratorium or let the public vote on it, but the director of the Department of Elections refused to authorize it. 

The association asked Superior Court Judge A. James Robertson II on Wednesday for an immediate order to force the Department of Elections to accept the petition. That request was denied, and instead a hearing was set for March 22.

Gov. Gray Davis named the founder of the Gap clothing chain and a business and education lobbyist to the state Board of Education. 

The appointments of Donald Fisher, 72, of San Francisco and Suzanne Tacheny, 36, of Sacramento were announced Thursday.  

They replace two appointees of former Gov. Pete Wilson, Marian Bergeson of Newport Beach and Kathryn Dronenburg of El Cajon, whose terms expired in January. 

Fisher is founder and chairman of Gap Inc., which he and his wife started in 1969. 

Tacheny is executive director of California Business for Education Excellence, a lobbying group financed by businesses to push for improvements in public schools. 

The 11-member state Board of Education sets policy for public schools in areas such as textbook purchases, statewide tests and charter schools. 

Davis announced several other appointments Thursday to state boards. 

He selected Gerald O’Hara, 64, of Davis for the Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board, which handles appeals from employers of citations for workplace safety and health hazards. 

Named to the State Mining and Geology Board were Allen Jones, 51, of San Diego, Brian Baca, 46, of Solvang, Robert Hablitzel, 50, of El Dorado Hills, Maureen Rose, 36, of Oakland, Robert Tepel, 63, of San Jose and Donna Thompson, 47, of Bakersfield.  

The board deals with mineral resources, reclamation of mined land and geologic and seismic information. 

New members of the Exposition and State Fair Board are Gilbert Albiani, 63, of Elk Grove, Sonney Chong, 53, of Sacramento, Rex Hime, 53, of Loomis, John Growney, 53, of Red Bluff and Edward Phillips, 58, of Sacramento. The board oversees the state fair and manages the fairgrounds. 

Board members do not receive a salary. The appointments must be confirmed by the Senate. 

California’s next execution, scheduled for later this month, is mired in new litigation that’s not from the condemned inmate who dropped his appeals. 

A hearing was set for Thursday on a request by the state Corrections Department asking a federal judge to block a court order allowing witnesses at San Quentin to view executions in their entirety. 

Opposing that petition are media organizations and the American Civil Liberties Union, which jointly convinced a judge in July to order the state to abolish the practice of partial viewings of lethal injections. 

Citing security concerns, the Corrections Department adopted the restrictions in 1996, shortly before the state’s first lethal injection execution. On Feb. 23, 1996, at William Bonin’s execution, a curtain was pushed back to reveal Bonin already strapped to the table with needles and tubes inserted into his body. 

Afterward, officials reported Bonin’s last words and described the difficulty a staff member had in inserting a needle into a vein. 

The procedures were challenged by The Associated Press, the Society of Professional Journalists and the California First Amendment Coalition. 

They argued the state effectively prevented the public from learning what happens during an execution, and that the law demands that independent observers witness an execution, “not a corpse already on the table,” said Terry Francke, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition. 

It is uncertain whether U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker will reverse his own order demanding the executions be shown in their entirety. The state said it would appeal Walker’s ruling if he doesn’t reverse himself. 

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has been asked to intervene in the case twice. It sided with the state once and then with the media, ordering the state to allow witnesses full view of Keith Williams’ lethal injection execution on May 3, 1996. 

“We’re questioning whether the opinion Judge Walker made was correct,” said state Deputy Attorney General Thomas Patterson. 

The state already has appealed Walker’s original decision to the circuit court. But because of the slow appellate process, the state filed a petition asking Walker to block his own order before the scheduled March 27 execution of Robert Massie so the appeal can be heard after the execution. 

It’s a move the ACLU, which is representing the media groups, opposes. 

“There are absolutely no security problems resulting from the state opening up its execution,” ACLU attorney David Fried said. “And there was none at Williams’ execution.” 

Past and present San Quentin wardens testified before Walker in support of keeping reporters and other execution witnesses from seeing guards or the prisoner at a lethal injection until the chemicals begin flowing. 

Former wardens Arthur Calderon and Daniel Vasquez and the current warden, Jeanne Woodford, said allowing reporters to see more would increase the chances that guards would be identified and endangered. 

Walker said San Quentin’s policy was “an exaggerated response” to safety concerns. 

The media charged that claims of danger to guards were unfounded and could be addressed by protective measures such as using surgical masks to conceal their identity. 

The state countered that masks would be undignified and ineffective. Calderon, the warden during four executions, testified he thought a prisoner could tear off a guard’s mask in a struggle, despite being chained by the arms. 

Walker ruled in 1997 that an execution must be visible to reporters from start to finish. His order was in effect for only one execution before the 9th Circuit reinstated the state’s restrictions in 1998. The circuit said the public and press have, at most, a “severely limited” constitutional right to view executions, which must be balanced against the prison’s security concerns. 

The circuit returned the case to Walker to determine whether the state’s rules were an “exaggerated response” to its security needs. 

Eight inmates have been executed in California since voters reinstated capital punishment in 1978. 

The case is California First Amendment Coalition vs. Woodford, C-96-1291-VRW. 

LOS ANGELES — Students indignant over the University of California’s ban on affirmative action are threatening to stop recruiting minority prospects. 

Jackie Melendez, a UC Berkeley student, told regents meeting at UCLA Thursday that she and others in outreach groups weren’t willing to encourage minority students to enroll in the nine-campus system with the ban in place. 

UC officials are reviewing applicants this month and will make offers soon. That usually means a month of intensive recruiting of minorities as top campuses like Berkeley and UCLA try to boost enrollment of blacks and Hispanics, which has slipped since affirmative action admissions stopped in 1998. 

Melendez said students wouldn’t deliberately try to dissuade prospective students, but “we feel that the truth about what it feels like to be a student of color at UC Berkeley is discouraging enough. I’d like to send an invitation for you to walk to my classes. Walk through a day of life at UC Berkeley with me.” 

Several minority outreach groups at Berkeley announced earlier this month they would not help with recruiting. Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl said Thursday that if they carry through the threat he will withhold about $27,000 in campus funds usually given to the groups for their participation. 

“I hope they change their minds,” he said. “I think they’ve done nothing to date that would indicate that they actually have discouraged students.” 

Affirmative action wasn’t on the regents agenda for the meeting this week, which wrapped up Thursday. But some on the board do want to repeal the ban, and it could come up at the May  

meeting, which will be held  

in San Francisco. 

Repealing the ban will not restore affirmative action. A year after regents voted to drop affirmative action, state voters made a similar decision with passage of the ballot initiative Proposition 209 that forbade using race or gender in most public programs, including education. 

Wednesday, more than 1,000 students rallied outside the regents’ meeting to demand that they vote for repeal of the ban.  

About 200 students later occupied a campus auditorium, forcing cancellation of a planned debate among Los Angeles mayoral candidates. 

Thursday, protests were much quieter with a small group marching outside the building where regents met. 

Also Thursday, regents got an update on the 10th campus, UC Merced, which is scheduled to start accepting students in fall 2004. 

Funding for construction, a total of $162 million, had been taken out of the state budget by the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee earlier this month.  

But on Wednesday a Senate subcommittee reinstated the money after hearing from Merced Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey and others.

PASADENA — Astronomers have successfully linked the world’s two largest telescopes to create a single optical instrument powerful enough to pinpoint planets orbiting other stars. 

A team of National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronomers said Wednesday that its members had gathered the first starlight from the linked 33-foot telescopes at the W.M. Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea. 

Using a process called interferometry, the twin telescopes both captured the light from HD61294, a faint star in the constellation Lynx, late Monday.  

The starlight was then shuttled across the 275 feet separating the two telescopes and combined in a way to mimic the light-gathering potential of a single, larger telescope. 

“Successfully combining the light from the two largest telescopes on Earth is a fabulous technical advancement for science,” said Anne Kinney, director of NASA’s astronomical search for origins program, which includes the Keck interferometer. “Using them in this way gives us the equivalent of an 85-meter (279-foot) telescope.  

This will open the possibility of obtaining images with much greater clarity than ever before.” 

Astronomers will continue to test the Keck Interferometer through the summer, with limited science operations slated to begin this fall. 

One key role the new instrument will play is in the ongoing search for planets orbiting stars other than our own sun. 

Since 1995, astronomers have discovered nearly 50 planets, most Jupiter-sized, orbiting other stars. The Keck Interferometer will expand that hunt to include planets that orbit farther from their parent stars.

LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors in the case of an Algerian accused of a terrorist conspiracy on Thursday began laying groundwork to try to tie him to a worldwide network that allegedly aids Islamic extremists. 

But the U.S. District Court jury in the trial of Ahmed Ressam, 33, was not given an explanation of the various individuals whose names surfaced in testimony. 

Ressam was arrested Dec. 14, 1999, when he crossed the border from Canada to Port Angeles, Wash., in a car carrying explosives and timing devices. Federal officials say West Coast sites were to be attacked in conjunction with Year 2000 celebrations. 

Using videotaped testimony of witnesses speaking through translators, government attorneys introduced pictures of well-known figures in an Algerian community of refugees who immigrated to Canada and then spread out across Europe. 

A number of them are on trial in France on charges of criminal associations with a terrorist enterprise involving a fraudulent passport operation. 

Ressam is also on trial in absentia in the French proceeding, but the Los Angeles jurors were not told of the connections between the men whose pictures were flashed before them in benign settings such as restaurants where groups are seen smiling at the camera in social situations. 

Witnesses identified among them Fateh Kamel, a defendants in the French case, who acknowledged in the Paris trial last month that he met Ressam but insisted he did not know him very well. 

Kamel and Ressam allegedly trained in camps in Afghanistan and are suspected of links to Osama bin Laden, the exiled Saudi whom U.S. investigators claim was behind the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, that killed 224 people. 

Ressam’s fugitive co-defendant, Abdelmajid Dahoumane, also figured in testimony as witnesses remembered a time when he lived in a Montreal apartment with Ressam. 

But the witnesses, who testified in Montreal, appeared reluctant to give details of the Algerians’ relationships and said only that Ressam attended mosque with others, played soccer and often had coffee with his countrymen. 

One witness, Nabil Ikhlef, said he did not want to come to Los Angeles to testify “because of reasons of my security” and told of losing contact with Ressam for several years after they met in the mid-1990s in Montreal. In 1999, he said, they met up again in Vancouver. He was asked if he knew where Ressam had been in the interim. 

“I heard he was in Europe,” Ihklef said. 

The defense objected that the statement was hearsay. The prosecutor then suggested Ikhlef had been more forthcoming about it in a pretrial interview, saying he had talked to Ressam about his whereabouts. 

“Now that I have been sworn in I am not sure if I had that discussion,” said Ikhlef, 28, who did not provide any detailed personal history beyond immigrating from Algeria to Canada and being married. 

A Sudanese living in Montreal, Aboussian Adelrazik, said that he met Ressam at a mosque in Montreal and used to visit a friend who lived with Ressam. He said he stopped communicating with Ressam about two years ago. 

“I do not know anything. How would I know?” he testified at one point. 

The government also presented witnesses in person and on videotape to explain in minute detail how two men identified as Ressam and Dahoumane rented a motel suite in Vancouver which they occupied for nearly a month, paying in cash. 

Housekeepers testified that the men kept all the windows open in their suite even though it was winter and freezing. One maid said she smelled something funny in the room but could not identify the odor and that the men would not allow her to clean one of the rooms. When they checked out, they left behind an empty suitcase, a coffee grinder and a stain on a table top which appeared to be a burn. 

A Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer testified he went to a supermarket and purchased a jar of olives matching a jar full of explosives that was found in Ressam’s car. He showed the jury that the bottom of the jar matched the table burn mark. 

Prosecutors also sought to link Ressam to purchases at Canadian electronics stores that were used to make bomb components. 

Ressam was linked to the materials by credit cards issued in the name of his alias, Benni Noris, and signed in August and September 1999, a few months before he was arrested in Port Angeles. 

The credit card purchases included sockets, rolls of wire, integrated circuits, various types of glue, soldering equipment and circuit boards. 

Patricia May, manager of Active Electronics in Montreal, was shown a picture of the completed timing device found in Ressam’s rental car and said the only things in the picture that did not come from her store were a wrist watch and a miniature lamp. 

May said the purchases from her store were made in two visits in which the credit card user spent a total of about $300. 

The manager of another branch of that store said the same credit card was used to buy screws and cables on Sept. 3, 1999. Yves Gurin identified a screw on the timing device which he said came from his store. 

Neither manager was asked to identify Ressam in court because they did not handle the transactions.

SACRAMENTO — Reacting to suspicion that some power suppliers have shut down California plants to raise prices, the Assembly approved a proposal Thursday that would let state regulators fine generators that cannot justify their outages. 

The Legislature’s focus on the state’s electricity supply came as the managers of California’s power grid Thursday declared their first electricity alert since March 5. 

The Independent System Operator called the Stage 2 alert as power reserves fell below 5 percent. The falling supply was due in part to the loss of at least 1,600 megawatts from the Pacific Northwest. That’s enough power for roughly 1.6 million households. 

“This demonstrates how we’re still operating on the edge here, and how critical these imports from the Northwest are,” ISO spokeswoman Stephanie McCorkle said. 

Much of the lost power came from the federal Bonneville Power Administration. It had been supplying much of the Northwest power because it needed to run water over its dams to help salmon eggs hatch, BPA spokesman Mike Hansen said. 

However, the fish have hatched and Bonneville is cutting releases to build summer reserves, Hansen said. 

The unanticipated cut in imports came as California was already down about 10,000 megawatts due to power plant maintenance, ISO spokesman Patrick Dorinson said. That’s enough electricity for about 10 million households. 

Despite the tight reserves, the ISO did not immediately require “interruptible” customers — who get lower rates for turning off power when needed — to shut down. 

Also Thursday, the Assembly took several steps to cope with California’s energy crisis, passing bills that would regulate power plant outages and expand the utilities’ interruptible-service programs. 

A measure by Assemblywoman Carole Migden would give the ISO authority to coordinate plant outages to prevent too many from going off-line for maintenance at any one time. 

If a power plant seemed to have too many outages or was shut down for a suspicious length of time, the ISO could investigate. If the outages were found to be unwarranted, the state Electricity Oversight Board could order fines. The fines would be based on the cost of power the ISO had to buy as a result of a plant’s shutdown. 

“We have suspected that in some instances these generators have shut down and this has not been in the public interest,” said Migden, D-San Francisco, adding that she was not accusing anyone of wrongdoing. “What we’re trying to do is create an audit and accountability system.” 

The bill largely puts into state law an executive order issued last month by Gov. Gray Davis and goes further by giving the Electricity Oversight Board the power to issue fines. 

Senate leader John Burton on Wednesday announced a Senate committee will investigate whether electricity wholesalers illegally withheld power to drive up prices. 

He cited plant outages for scheduled and unscheduled maintenance that have contributed to the state’s strapped power supply and forced the ISO to scramble for power at premium prices to fill gaps on the grid. 

Duke, Dynegy, Mirant and Reliant will be among major providers included in the inquiry. The wholesalers deny any wrongdoing. 

The Assembly approved Migden’s plant outage bill 57-5 and sent it to the Senate, which is considering a rival bill to give the authority over generators to the California Public Utilities Commission. 

That bill by Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Daly City, was approved Wednesday by the Senate Appropriations Committee and sent to the full Senate. 

The Independent Energy Producers Association supports Migden’s bill, but opposes Speier’s. The PUC does not have the expertise to handle the task, IEPA executive director Jan Smutny-Jones said. 

The Assembly also passed two proposals to modify the utilities’ interruptible programs. Both measures were approved 67-0 and sent to the Senate. 

One would expand the program with an eye to the critical summer months; the other would let customers hit hard by frequent outages this year, such as schools, get out of the program now. 

The programs give participating factories and other large users a discount of about 15 percent for cutting their power during shortages. In the past, those interruptions have occurred in summer, leading many school districts to sign up. 

However, because of this winter’s problems, many customers have already hit their yearly limits for power interruptions. That could cause problems this summer when the flexibility will be most needed. 

A bill by Assemblyman Rod Wright, D-Los Angeles, would extend the programs through 2002 and create several new options, offering different credits for different conservation commitments. 

The new options could save 2,700 megawatts this summer, said Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla, D-Pittsburg. That’s enough power for 2.7 million households. 

A proposal by Assemblywoman Lynn Daucher, R-Brea, would give some relief to interruptible customers such as school districts that have been unable to cut power during this winter’s shortages and have faced huge penalties. 

The PUC last November prohibited customers from getting out of the program, then suspended the penalties for doing so Jan. 26. 

The bill would allow customers in the program at least a year to get out and would waive any penalties against them between November and Jan. 26. 

Also Thursday, the PUC voted to bar Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and Southern California Edison from cutting thousands of workers. The commission said the proposed layoffs could slow response time to power outages and harm service. 

PG&E and Edison representatives say the layoffs would help them conserve cash — as much as $100 million for PG&E if they were able to complete all layoffs, spokesman Jon Tremayne said. 

d.us 

WASHINGTON — Power blackouts “appear inevitable” in California this summer and could spill into neighboring Western states, the Bush administration says, even as stocks of a gasoline additive raise concerns of another summer of price spikes at the pump. 

Energy Secretary Spence Abraham told a Senate hearing that the administration is trying to find ways to increase power supplies in the West, where prices have soared because of shortages. The administration strongly opposes price controls, he said. “The problem will get worse, and blackouts this summer appear inevitable,” Abraham said. The administration’s hope is that “California doesn’t start a wave of blackouts that go beyond its borders,” he said. 

Abraham announced no specific actions to ease the Western electricity crunch, although he said he has discussed the possibility of a small amount of additional power being obtained from Mexico. 

He said the administration opposes price controls on wholesale power sales in the West, despite pleas from California and the Northwest that federal intervention in “a broken market” is essential. 

“Let me be clear on this,” he told a hearing on price control legislation, “Any action we take must either help increase supply or reduce demand. ... Price caps will not increase supply or reduce demand.” 

He said that California tried price controls and prices soared. He said the debate over wholesale prices is diverting attention from the need to find ways to increase supplies and prevent blackouts. 

“All we’re asking for is help to prevent price gouging,” added Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. She said her state faces a likely shortage of 5,000 megawatts of power during peak demand periods this summer. One megawatt supplies about 1,000 homes. 

Smith and Feinstein have proposed legislation to require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to limit prices charged by power generators across 11 states in the West. Wholesale electricity in California averaged $228 a megawatt hour in February, eight times what it cost a year earlier. 

At the White House, spokesman Ari Fleischer indicated Bush’s opposition to the Smith-Feinstein legislation. “The president does not support price controls,” Fleischer said. 

Meanwhile, there was growing concern that this summer may bring another series of price spikes for gasoline, although many energy experts said it was too early to tell if it will be another season of $2-a-gallon fill-ups. 

The Energy Information Administration forecast average gasoline prices this summer of $1.49 a gallon, about a dime higher than in recent weeks. 

“Gasoline inventories are below the average expected range. It’s something we’ve got to keep an eye on,” said Jonathan Cogan, a spokesman for the EIA. 

Refiners traditionally step up gasoline production in late March and April to build up stocks. But refiners reportedly are behind schedule in producing MTBE, the clean air additive, because of this winter’s high natural gas demand. MTBE is derived from natural gas. 

Such a shortage could affect gas supplies for major cities that must use the additive because of pollution. Last summer shortages of reformulated gasoline in Chicago and Milwaukee were blamed for gasoline prices above $2 per gallon. 

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., called in Abraham and Environmental Protection Agency head Christie Whitman to discuss the issue. 

After the Thursday meeting, Whitman said she planned to issue revised air quality standard for ethanol, the corn-based additive widely used in gasoline in parts of the Midwest, so it will be cheaper and less complex for refiners to produce. The change could ease supply concerns as it goes into effect when refiners begin building summer gasoline stocks. 

In New York, meanwhile, a report from the state’s Independent System Operator said the state could avoid the power problems that have hit California by speeding up the process under which new power plants are built. New York is nowhere near the crisis stage reached in California this year, “but we are going in the wrong direction,” said William J. Museler, ISO president. 

In Washington, Western electricity problems dominated the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing. 

Washington Gov. Gary Locke said rates could jump as much as 200 percent this summer as supplies dwindle. The region, which relies heavily on hydroelectric power, is in the midst of a drought and may face California-like rolling blackouts this summer. 

The high prices and shortages “will cripple the agriculture economy of our state,” he told the senators, pleading for federal intervention to control wholesale power prices. “We simply need a timeout.” 

But Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said, “We cannot continue to send false signals to the market” by holding back prices. He said his state is facing 35 percent higher power costs, more than consumers in California who are protected by retail price controls. 

Indeed, Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, said people in 37 states have higher electricity bills than California. 

Lake Michigan has a lesson for the thousands of homeowners who will install water gardens in their backyards this year. So does the Hudson River. 

The lesson: Mimic nature. Take the project easy. Make it natural. Fight Mother Nature, and you will lose, sooner or later. Even in your backyard. 

Such is the opinion of Greg Wittstock, president of Aquascape Designs, a Chicago-area firm that says it installs more water features – ponds, waterfall, fountains and so on – than anyone else in the country. 

Replicating the ecosystem of a large body of water is easier than most think, but in Wittstock’s opinion, flies in the face of much of what is written about water gardening. 

Water gardening is exploding in popularity. Some $750 million was spent at wholesale in 2000, and the industry is expecting growth at wholesale to reach $1.4 billion by 2005, Wittstock said. Most sales to date have been to do-it-yourselfers who secured supplies at a garden center or home center. 

Wittstock’s company installed about 150 gardens in the Chicago area in 2000, and most ranged in price from $5,000 to $7,000. A few topped $100,000. 

Much of its business is selling supplies and equipment to other installers and educating installers through workshops. 

Why the popularity? 

“Our customers are not enthusiastic gardeners. It’s the average person who wants to have a place to relax every day after work, rather than waiting for a vacation that is six months away,” Wittstock said. 

“Ask anyone with a water garden. They will tell you it is a place to escape to, that it is soothing, relaxing and environmentally friendly. These things are incredibly important now because people have less time and more stress in their lives.” 

Another reason for their surging popularity: Water gardens are still an unusual landscape feature, so they have “one-upmanship” value to many people. 

Back to Mother Nature and mimicking her design for an ecosystem.  

Wittstock believes the water garden must have these five components to deliver on its potential of beauty and maintenance that should take no longer than five minutes each week: 

• Rocks and gravel, to provide surface area for bacteria to colonize and be available to break down fish waste and other organic matter. 

• Plants, to consume nutrients from organic matter in the water and reduce the presence of algae. 

• Fish, to eat the algae that inevitably occur. 

• Recirculatory system, to move the water and by doing so, create pleasing movement and sound. 

• Mechanical and biological filters, to get rid of leaves and products of decomposition. 

Wittstock believes homeowners stumble early on by installing a pond that is too small to maintain itself and to accommodate the desire for more plants and fish. The right size to start with, he believes, is about 200 square feet.  

A pond of this size is big enough to create an ecosystem that largely maintains itself and gives the homeowner a chance to add more features such as fish, plants, fountains and so on in the future. 

Marvin Pritts, a professor of horticulture at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., recommends consumers think hard about the purpose of the garden. 

“The first step is to decide what you want the pond for – a reflection pool, water lilies and other aquatic flowers, fish, fountains. Each choice has implications for how the pond is built, particularly in relation to its size,” he said. 

Pritts believe the easiest water feature is a reflection pool. It can be as shallow as two to six inches. Create it with a black liner and the pool will reflect the landscape behind it. 

He agrees with Wittstock about size. “The larger the pond, the better buffered it will be against fluctuations in temperature and chemistry and the greater amount of oxygen that it can retain. Your success in maintaining a healthy fish and plant population is increased with pond size.” 

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For more information, search the Internet and as you explore, be aware that opinions differ. A few places to look: 

Cornell University - http://www.hort.cornell.edu/gardening/fctsheet/egfactsh/watergar.htm l 

Aquascape - http://www.aquascapedesigns.com. 

Mimosa is both inedible and homely, but you might want to grow it anyway for entertainment purposes. Touch the leaves on this tropical shrub and they suddenly collapse. 

The response to touch is the result of an electrical stimulus and a chemical stimulus which travel through the plant at about an inch per second. You can watch the leaves of a large plant collapse in a wave of motion after one leaf is touched. 

Response to touch is common in the plant kingdom. This spring, watch how your peas’ tendrils grab onto a trellis, or whatever else is nearby, to pull up the vines. Your bean vines will close in tight spirals around any poles you have set out for them. And how about the Venus’ flytrap, which closes its hinged leaf around any unwitting fly? 

Plants are discriminating about what they will move for. Venus’ flytrap distinguishes between living and dead prey by closing only if two different sensing hairs within its “jaws” are touched in succession, or if one hair is touched twice. Pea tendrils respond more quickly to rough or textured surfaces than to smooth or soft surfaces. 

All this moving around serves a purpose. Tendrils and twining stems help get plants off the ground. Leaves that close around a fly help nourish the Venus’ flytrap. “Fainting” of sensitive plants might be useful for helping the plant conserve water in drying winds, or for making the plant less appetizing to a hungry animal or insect. 

Lee Reich is a columnist for The Associated Press

Gardening books preview your horticultural treasures: 

• The ancient Egyptians treasured flowers because they symbolized life in that desert region, notes Malcolm Hillier in “Flowers: The Book of Floral Design.” 

Flower arrangements have evolved in life and art through history and to the present, when your own creative versions join the tradition – from the single flower on a cafe table to a complex design for a parade float. Hillier lays out the fundamentals and offers some intriguing ideas, including one arrangement that features a series of different blooms encapsulated under water in tumblers. 

• People in northerly climates have particular challenges to keep their gardens in good health. “Growing Shrubs and Small Trees in Cold Climates.” by Nancy Rose, Don Selinger and John Whitman, is full of practical advice on choosing, planting and maintaining the “bones” of northern gardens. 

• Growing annuals is a relatively inexpensive, quick-return way to creative gardening. “Annuals with Style” (Taunton Press, $29.95 hardcover), by Mike Ruggiero and Tom Christopher, offers ideas and inspiration for interesting ways to grow and display these flowers and plants. 

• The garden can be defined with something as simple as a picket fence or as complex as a classic arcaded trellis, pond or terrace. Some of the possibilities are included in “Smith & Hawken Garden Structures,” by Linda Joan Smith. 

• Some of the best landscaping and garden design advice appearing in Fine Gardening magazine has been compiled in a new series of practical paperbacks by the magazine’s publisher, Taunton Press. The first four titles in the Fine Gardening Design Guides series are “Creating Beds and Borders,” “Landscaping Your Home,” “Designing With Plants,” and “Exploring Garden Style.” Barbara Ashmun, Doug Ruhren, Sydney Eddison, Keeyla Meadows, Erica Glasener and Ken Twombly are among the experts whose bylines are included. 

They were growing and gathering herbs in the Appalachians of Western North Carolina probably before the 19th century, when the mountain folk called it “wildcrafting.” 

Now this cottage industry is big industry, generating $40 million or so every year for consumers newly interested in plants that can flavor, scent or maybe even heal. 

Alan Salmon is a veteran herb grower who now advises customers at his retail nursery, the Wildwood Herbal Flower Farm, in the valley just north of Asheville. 

For example: “If you are a card-holding Cilantro lover, you need to sow seeds every two weeks. Sow and cover them lightly in a pot or in your garden in a sunny spot, and water infrequently.” 

Limit the chemical fertilizers, he advises, because these can adversely affect flavor. And watch for late spring freezes. 

Other tips about herbs from Salmon and other growing experts: 

• Start early. Sow indoors during those weeks before early-morning frosts are over. You should be able to count on the heads of seedlings to be up and ready for planting outdoors. Keep in mind some herbs don’t germinate as well indoors as they do outside. 

• Give them a clip. Seedlings need a few weeks to get established, but then start cutting them back. Even if you want to leave flowers on the plants for the bees, cut most back for bushier, shaplier, plants. 

• Know what you grow. Check out books and references about herbs and their uses.  

• Grower beware. Some herbs can be harmful if used incorrectly. Always check with your doctor before trying herbs for medicinal use. And it’s important to know which part of the plant has medicinal benefits (flower, leaves or root). 

• Seasoning. Plant for all seasons, and if you’re in a colder area, try hardier herbs such as lavender, rosemary, thyme and sage. 

• Keep a journal. Make a record of new spring plantings and their care. Draw garden layouts so you’ll know where to look for the perennials to come up again and avoid planting something else on top of the established plant.  

• Diversify. Choose plants for texture, leaf and flower color, scent and taste.

In the wacky world of plastic laminates, river rocks never wash away, grass doesn’t need cutting, a heap of jellybeans never gets stale and a red-and-white checked picnic cloth doesn’t have to be laundered. 

Such frankly faux novelty patterns, along with metallic effects and unusual textures, can turn cabinet surfaces, counters and walls into conversation pieces. 

Through the use of digital photography, virtually any image – a logo, a photograph, lines of text – can be custom-printed onto a sheet of laminate. This conjures up thoughts of surfaces decorated with wedding invitations, children’s artwork, heirloom photographs and favorite pet portraits. 

Don’t be in a hurry to plan a room around little John or Jane’s latest art effort. At the moment, custom-designed patterns on laminates are available to large commercial clients rather than Mr. and Mrs. America and mainly employed in signs, point-of-purchase displays and restaurant and store interiors. 

“Our most popular installations are in hotels, retail displays, casinos and nightclubs – anywhere a designer wants to make an impact,” says Beverly Palmer, commercial marketing manager of Formica Corp. Cincinnati. 

As designers employ special effects in laminates and novelty laminate patterns in their own homes and for residential clients, the word is slowly trickling out. Furthermore, the number of patterns continues to grow. 

“There are two design trends,” says Grace Jeffers, design editor of Laminating Design & Technology Magazine, a trade publication in Fort Atkinson, Wis., and a consultant to Wilsonart. “One trend is for intriguing graphically bold patterns or effects, and the second trend is for dimensional textures. 

Among the more startling patterns, Jeffers singles out an iridescent pattern as well as a laminate that looks like troweled plaster (from Abet Laminate, an Italian company), those jelly beans and that picnic check (from Wilsonart), and a corrugated cardboard look (Formica). 

Formica introduced its DecoMetal this past summer with 48 patterns. Some unusual effects are created by combining two sheets of material. The top sheet is perforated to reveal a different material beneath. One pattern combines a perforated wood surface with a metal underlay exposed as small squares. 

At this point, it can be hard for a consumer to see samples of unusual patterns since they are rarely sampled by the big box retail outlets like Home Depot and Lowe’s.  

You might find some of these special patterns at showrooms of independent kitchen and bath dealers and in upscale home design centers. Another way to learn what’s new is to visit manufacturer Web sites or call their customer service numbers. 

Expect to pay a premium. Most of the unusual patterns are more expensive than standard patterns – about $5 per square foot instead of $1.25, Jeffers estimates. 

Perhaps more of the unusual is on the way. Already patterns are replacing solid colors in laminates. “At our design launch in April, Everything was some sort of pattern,” says Brenda White, public relations coordinator for Wilsonart International in Temple, Texas. “A pattern is more practical because you don’t notice stains or scratches.” 

When working with highly patterned laminates, there are some decorating dos and don’ts. “With the super-bold patterns, a little goes a long way,” Jeffers says.  

“It is a good idea to have a table or a few cabinet faces but not to plaster the pattern all over your kitchen cabinets.” 

When using laminates with highly reflective surfaces, Palmer says “if there is light shining directly onto the surface, you will see all the fingerprints and smudges. Duller finishes are more popular in residential use.” 

Those who like the newly fashionable look of stainless steel for a countertop won’t be happy with a laminate version for a surface that requires a workhorse material. They need an industrial sheet grade of metal attached with rivets. 

Another use for unusual laminates is as furniture. 

Gary Roberts of Cleveland is making desks, credenzas and pedestal filing cabinets surfaced with Formica’s Ligna laminates. The top surface of the laminate is actually a form of poplar embossed with a grain pattern duplicating various woods such as Birdseye maple. The pieces are made by hand and prices are fairly high – from $4,000 and up for a desk or a credenza. 

“When you tell people it’s a laminate, the perception is that it’s a cheap material. Actually, it’s a fairly expensive material that has a unique look. Formica’s pricing on this product is five to 10 times greater than what its lower products would cost,” says Roberts. “The laminates work well for furniture. They are as scratch-resistant as a wood veneer and they bring color and pattern to design.” says Roberts. 

Berkeley Repertory Theater opened the first show in its striking, new-built, steeply vertical 600-seat Roda Theater Wednesday with an ambitious production of “Agamemnon,” the first part of 5 century B.C. Greek playwright Aeschylus’ epic trilogy “The Oresteia.” 

Parts two and three of the trilogy – “The Libation Bearers” and “The Eumenides”– open next Wednesday, and then the full trilogy continues in repertory through the first week of May. 

“The Oresteia”– the only surviving example of an ancient Greek trilogy – is generally considered to be ground zero in Western dramatic tradition. As far as we know, playwright Aeschylus is the writer who invented dialogue on the stage. Only seven of his approximately 90 plays have survived. 

The Berkeley Rep production is an ambitious one. This trilogy is rarely performed in its entirety. 

“The Oresteia” is complicated epic story of human beings and gods locked in conflict with each other over land and power. 

Built around the events that triggered the Trojan War, and then the bloody outcome that ensued, “The Oresteia” centers on one family caught in a cycle of murder and revenge. 

By its end, the trilogy evolves from a story of murder and revenge to one of the discovery of self-determination among human beings, and the creation of justice. 

Rep Artistic Director Tony Taccone said, “In planning for the opening of our new theater. I wanted to go back to the roots of drama and western civilization.” 

“ ‘The Oresteia’ explores a community’s break from a cycle of vengeance,” he said. “It’s a formation of a new world of democracy and dispassionate justice.” 

The “Agamemnon” segment of the trilogy, which opened Wednesday, is a violent and bloody story of karmic retribution. 

In this play, Agamemnon, the commander-in-chief of the Greek army, returns home exhausted but victorious after a 10-year absence fighting the Trojan War, only to be murdered by his wife Clytemnestra. 

The wife’s act is one of revenge for her husband having sacrificed one of their daughters 10 years earlier in order to appease a god who caused ill winds that prevented the Greek army from sailing for Troy. 

In the second episode of the trilogy, opening at the Rep next week, wife and mother Clytemnestra herself is then murdered by son Orestes as revenge for her killing his father Agamemnon. 

“The Oresteia” is co-directed by Rep Artistic Director Tony Taccone and distinguished collaborator Stephen Wadsworth. 

In past seasons, Wadsworth has directed at the Rep productions of "The Triumph of Love" and "Changes of Heart," by Marivaux, and Oscar Wilde’s "An Ideal Husband." He is well-known around the country and around the world as the director of many distinguished productions of theater and opera. 

"Agamemnon" is a bleak story, but a powerful one. At its start, a chorus of citizens--led by the impressive Frank Corrado--wait around the palace for Agamemnon to return, retelling the long history of this family and its struggle, point by point. 

Directors Taccone and Wadsworth have effectively divided up the chorus lines among several chorus characters, to create some sense of individual personalities within the chorus. 

News of the arrival of Agamemnon soon brings joy and fear. The people of the land are glad to have him back, but Clytemnestra’s evil intentions are floating in the air. 

Among the actors, Robynn [sic] Rodriguez’ calculating and focused Clytemnestra is a force of nature, waiting for her estranged husband to arrive so she can kill him. L. Peter Callender has a very powerful segment as the herald arriving in advance of Agamemnon’s army to tell the story of their history and psychology. 

There are many subtle and moving directorial touches in this production, especially in the first half. The first meeting in ten years between Agamemnon (Derrick Lee Weeden) and Clytemnestra is a powerful cat and mouse game. 

There is a long, tantalizing segment in which Agamemnon (Derrick Lee Weeden) is reluctant to step off the carriage he arrives in, and touch the ground of his homeland for the first time in ten years. Agamemnon and Clytemnestra take a long time getting to their first kiss. 

In this primal story of war and political struggle, individual chorus members communicate subtle information about the gender politics of this world in unspoken background reactions. 

For me, the Berkeley Rep production is more powerful in its first half than its second half. When Agamemnon’s concubine from the war tells her long story of forecasting and divination, the staging gives up its interesting gloss on the action that the secondary characters in the chorus have provided early on with their distinctive individual reaction moments. 

Peter Maradudin’s stark lighting design is an important part of this telling, which begins in the darkness of night, and then changes with the time of day and the gloomy, unpredictable weather. 

“Agamemnon” opens with a vengeful wife’s grief and anger over a daughter’s murder. When the curtain falls, another daughter Electra is grieving over the latest family homicide, and contemplating her own revenge. 

The murdering continues with Part Two, next week. Welcome to a deep karmic nightmare. This is a scary family. 

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

SAN FRANCISCO — The number of songs being traded through Napster Inc. has dropped sharply since the company began policing its system for unauthorized songs, a research firm reported Thursday. 

Napster users were downloading 50 percent fewer files as the company beefed up its screening technology Wednesday, according to Webnoize, a firm that has followed Napster usage closely. 

Prior to upgrading its system in order to block access to infringing content, the average number of files shared per Napster user was 172.  

After the upgrade, the average number of files shared per user dropped to 71, Webnoize reported. 

Napster officials continue to disagree with the recording industry about the burdens the company must bear in policing its system for unauthorized content. 

Napster told U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel in a document filed Monday that “critical disputes” have arisen with the recording industry. 

The Redwood City-based company says the record labels are wrong in thinking the March 5 order meant Napster must search for infringing content even prior to proper notification form copyright holders. 

More specifically, Napster says many of the submissions of copyright works from the recording industry have no associated file names for the company to block. 

“Where a file name is connected to the work in the notice, Napster will exclude them. Where no file name is connected to the work, Napster will not,” the company’s compliance report to the court read. 

The recording industry has said Napster’s niggling over particulars is an attempt to buy more time. 

“We are not going to debate the fine points of the order’s implementation. We believe the court’s intent is clear.  

“Napster is required to stop infringing. Stall tactics are unacceptable,” RIAA spokeswoman Amy Weiss said Monday. 

Napster says the recording industry is failing to share the workload and provide required information. 

Part of the problem, according to Napster, is that the growing costs of implementing the new screening technology has interrupted other business plans. 

Napster claims it has spent $150,000 and more than 2,700 employee hours to develop and implement a screening technology to block access to unauthorized content. 

On Tuesday, Napster announced it had signed a deal with Gracenote, a Berkeley-based company that maintains a database of more than 12 million musical works cataloged by artist and title, including spelling variations that may have slipped through Napster’s system in the past. 

Pig Latin translators that automatically twist the names of artists and song titles proved popular as users sought an end-around to Napster’s screening technology.  

But Napster has cracked down on that, too. 

At the request of Napster, file-sharing firm Aimster removed from its Web site a program based on pig Latin that enabled users to continue sharing songs with slightly altered words. 

CLAIMING PROBLEMS  

Part of the problem, according to Napster, is that the growing costs of implementing the new screening technology has interrupted other business plans. Napster claims it has spent $150,000 and more than 2,700  

employee hours to develop and implement a screening technology to block access to unauthorized content.

SAN FRANCISCO — Software maker Oracle Corp. offered little hope Thursday of a quick recovery from a sudden sales slump that diminished its quarterly earnings, meeting analysts’ lowered expectations. 

For the three months ended Feb. 28, the Redwood Shores-based company reported net income of $582.7 million, or 10 cents per share. In the year-ago period, Oracle earned $763.2 million, or 13 cents per share, including investment gains. 

Two weeks ago, officials said a wave of last-minute sales losses would cause its earnings to fall below Wall Street’s consensus estimate of 12 cents per share. It marked the first time since December 1997 that Oracle has fallen shy of Wall Street’s earnings expectations. 

Oracle’s quarterly revenues totaled $2.67 billion, up 9 percent from last year’s $2.45 billion. 

In a conference call, management said the company is bracing for at least three more quarters of feeble demand. 

“Our assumption now is that things are not getting better and maybe they will get worse,” said Jeff Henley, Oracle’s chief financial officer. “I think it’s reasonable to think it will take a while to recover.” 

Oracle will likely follow in the footsteps of other tech companies and trim its payroll, but CEO Larry Ellison didn’t specify how many jobs might be cut. 

“You will see us controlling costs and one of the ways to control costs is to manage head count,” Ellison said. “There is no organization right now that isn’t being asked to do more with less.” 

As of Feb. 28, Oracle had 43,300 employees worldwide. In an interview, Henley said it’s unlikely Oracle will cut as deeply as fellow tech titan Cisco Systems Inc., which last week disclosed plans to lay off up to 8,000 workers. 

The sluggish climate comes at a particularly bad time for Oracle, because the next few months traditionally mark the high point of its business cycle. 

Oracle’s profit for this quarter should be about 15 cents per share, Henley said. The consensus estimate among analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial is 17 cents per share. 

“It looks like they are going to be slogging through a very tough period,” said industry analyst Bob Austrian of Banc of America Securities. “And the stock isn’t likely to go back up until we get through this malaise” 

The company’s stock has plunged 31 percent since its March 1 warning. Before Thursday’s earnings release, Oracle’s shares closed at $14.69, down $1.38, during regular trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. 

In after hours trading, the shares recovered somewhat slightly, rising to $14.88. The shares are well below their 52-week high of $46.46 reached last summer. 

In a bit of heartening news, Oracle’s sales of its database products – the heart of its business – improved 6 percent to $823 million, slightly better than management predicted two weeks ago. At that time, Oracle warned its database sales might have decreased during the quarter. 

The news might ease fears that Oracle is losing market share to rival IBM Corp., which sells a lower-priced database product that might be more appealing as corporate customers pinch their pennies during the current slowdown. 

“Oracle is the dominant player in the database market, but their product is three to five times more expensive,” said Meta Group analyst Mark Shainman. 

“They should be steamrolling the competition, but they aren’t because of their prices. It would behoove Oracle to lower its prices now.” 

Oracle has no plans to slash price to “unnaturally create demand,” Henley said. 

Ellison said Oracle’s eroding sales have nothing to do with tougher competition. 

“It’s an economic issue,” he said. 

Sales of Oracle’s software designed for companies trying to automate their businesses on the Internet were disappointing. Oracle said its application sales grew by 25 percent to $249 million, less than the 50 percent improvement management projected two weeks ago. 

In quarter ending May 31, Oracle expect database sales to remain flat and application sales to increase by 15 to 30 percent, Henley said. 

———— 

On The Net: 

http://www.oracle.com 

NEW YORK — The stock market stabilized Thursday following three days of volatile trading, but tense investors traded cautiously amid continuing uncertainty about the economy in this country and overseas. 

Although investors were hoping that the 317-point plunge blue chips took Wednesday would inspire a rally, they saw little reason to do much buying. 

The dive blue chips took Wednesday was particularly unsettling because such upsets had for months been largely reserved for the Nasdaq. Investors had taken comfort in thinking the slowing economy was hurting mostly the tech sector, leaving the broader market relatively intact. 

Thursday’s slim gains followed a positive session in Japan, in which stocks finished up 2.6 percent.  

— The Associated Press 

Economic instability in Japan, where the government admitted that the country is in a state of deflation, helped send shares skidding in the United States and in Europe Wednesday. 

Most analysts doubt the market here will move substantially higher anytime soon. They say investors still are grappling with fears that earnings and the economy will be weak for the foreseeable future. 

“The real question that is smacking us in the eyeballs is, has the stock market reached a level that can be stabilized and investors can be encouraged?” said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer for First Albany Corp. 

Unfortunately, “this is not an inspiring stock market today,” Johnson said. “I’m not impressed.” 

Thursday’s session mirrored the meager bump-up stocks made Tuesday after the Nasdaq’s big slide the day before. Analysts said that lack of commitment by investors doesn’t bode well for a rally. 

Stocks are expected to remain in a slump until companies report healthier earnings, but based on many firms’ lowered outlooks, it now appears a turnaround might not happen this year. And while the Federal Reserve likely will lower interest rates next week, that widely-anticipated move probably will have little effect on Wall Street. 

Investors’ nervousness and lack of inspiration was clear Thursday in the minimal gain in the Dow, the slight retreat in the Nasdaq and in more movement into safer sectors such as energy stocks, Johnson said. Enron rose $3.78 at $66.53, and Dynegy advanced $2.77 to $48.32. 

Bleak earnings outlooks pulled the tech sector lower. Software maker Intuit plummeted $12.63, or nearly 30 percent, to $29.63 after saying business will grow more slowly than expected. 

Oracle announced after the market closed that its third-quarter earnings met analysts’ lowered expectations. The software maker also warned it’s unsure how the economy will affect business, but its stock gained 11 cents in extended-hours trading, retracing some ground lost in the regular session, where it fell $1.38 to $14.69. 

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 8 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange where volume was 1.45 billion shares, compared with 1.63 billion Wednesday. 

The Russell 2000 index, which tracks the performance of smaller company stocks, slipped 1.53 to 452.16. 

European markets closed higher Thursday. Britain’s FT-SE 100 gained 1.8 percent, France’s CAC-40 rose 1.2 percent, and Germany’s DAX index advanced 1.7 percent. 

——— 

On the Net: 

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

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

NEW YORK — Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. says it will sell a second AIDS medication at below cost to African countries, a decision hailed by activists who have been urging drug makers to drastically reduce prices in poverty-stricken nations. 

The action, announced Wednesday, comes on the heels of an announcement by Merck and Co. that the drug maker will sell its two key AIDS drugs – Crixivan and Stocrin – to poor countries for about a 10th the U.S. price. 

Bristol-Myers said it will make AIDS drugs Videx and Zerit available to any African country for $1 a day for the two drugs, compared with $1.60 before. Videx’s price was unchanged at 85 cents – Bristol-Myers said it had already been reduced to below cost – and the daily cost of Zerit was cut from 75 cents to 15 cents. 

In the United States, the same drugs sell for about $18 a day. 

The company also said its patent rights for Zerit, which are owned jointly by Bristol-Myers and Yale University, will be waived in South Africa, which would open the market to generic versions from other companies. Bristol-Myers said it has no other patent rights elsewhere in Africa involving AIDS therapies. 

More than 25 million of the 36 million people infected with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa, one of the world’s most impoverished regions. Unlike in wealthier Western countries, the vast majority of the developing world’s people infected with the virus have no access to life-prolonging AIDS medication and will die from the debilitating effects of the disease. 

“This is not about profits and patents; it’s about poverty and a devastating disease,” said John L. McGoldrick, Bristol-Myers executive vice president. “We seek no profits on AIDS drugs in Africa, and we will not let our patents be an obstacle.” 

The Treatment Action Campaign, a South African AIDS activist group, called the decision a major victory. 

“This victory has come about as a result of the global effort by HIV/AIDS activists,” the organization said. “The pressure has become too much for (Bristol-Myers) and they are relenting.” 

The group also called on Bristol-Myers to drop out of a lawsuit it has filed with other drug companies in South Africa to keep generic-drug makers from making copycat medicines. 

Company executives said the lawsuit was needed because it applies to all prescription drugs. 

Bristol-Myers said it would offer the drugs through its existing partnerships with UNAIDS, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, UNICEF and the United Nations Population Fund. 

Merck’s Crixivan sells for about $6,016 annually per patient in the United States, but will be sold to developing nations for about $600 per patient per year.  

Stocrin will be sold for about $500 per patient per year, instead of the $4,730 it costs in the United States. 

On the Net: 

Bristol-Myers: http://www.bms.com 

Merck: http://www.merck.com

WASHINGTON — Half the adult Americans with disabilities have jobs, and the employed typically earn less than the average American, new Census Bureau estimates show. 

The disparity is worse among those people whose disabilities are considered “severe,” according to the Census Bureau report being released Friday. 

The results show that more needs to be done by the federal government and the private sector for people with disabilities who actively seek work to become more accepted in the workplace, said Olivia Raynor, director of the National Arts and Disabilities Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. 

Overall, 20 percent of Americans in 1997, or 52.6 million people, said they had disabilities. Of that total, 33 million said their disability was severe. 

The data, based on a survey separate from the 2000 census, were the latest available. 

Of the 27.8 million people age 21 to 64 with disabilities, half worked in 1997, with average earnings of $23,373 per year, the report said. 

Of those with severe disabilities in the same age category, 31 percent had a job, with average earnings of $18,631 per year. By comparison, 78 percent of all Americans age 21 to 64 worked, averaging $30,155 a year. 

The report comes 11 years after passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

Despite the landmark legislation, people with disabilities who seek jobs “already have two strikes going against them going into a job interview,” said Kirk Bauer, executive director of Rockville, Md.-based Disabled Sports USA. 

The term “disability” accounted for a variety of definitions, including those who use a wheelchair or cane; those who had difficulty performing simple tasks on their own, such as eating or bathing; and people with learning disability or mental retardation. 

Many employers are ignorant of the skills that people with disabilities bring to a job interview, and many potential bosses see their hiring as “expensive or litigious,” Bauer said. 

Those with disabilities also tend to have lower than average educational and training backgrounds, which leave them less prepared, especially during a time of low unemployment, advocates said. 

The study also found that 28 percent of those age 25 and over with severe disabilities lived in poverty, compared with 10 percent of those with disabilities considered “not severe” and 8 percent of people with no disability.

Claiming the University of California has not fairly negotiated a new labor contract, laboratory technicians and firefighters staged a one-day strike at the entrance to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on Wednesday. 

About 60 LBNL union employees participated in a strike action along Cyclotron Road, near the entrance to the laboratory early Wednesday morning, greeting fellow workers with strike signs and shouts of “take the day off,” and “support workers, honk your horn.”  

The University Professional and Technical Employees contract expired in September and for nine months the union and the university have been negotiating for a new statewide contract that will cover technical workers throughout the nine-campus UC system – LBNL comes under the purview of the UC Regents. On Monday workers staged a one-day strike at the UC San Francisco campus. Union representatives said more strikes will be scheduled at other campuses. 

UPTE represents various types of workers including fire department employees and radiation and laboratory technicians. There are 300 UPTE employees at LBNL and 10,000 system wide. 

Union representatives claim that in addition to a general pattern of bad faith bargaining practices, the University of California negotiators have violated the state’s Unfair Practice Law by not providing data necessary for negotiations. The union’s attorney, Oakland-based lawyer James Eggleston, filed a claim of unfair practices against the university with the state Public Employment Board on Jan. 25. 

UC spokespeople and negotiating staff deny the union’s charges saying they have offered fair salary increases. UC’s Chief Negotiator Peter Chester said the university has tried its best to work with the unions.  

He said the unions know negotiations are ongoing and they are simply trying to put pressure on the university to get larger raises. 

UPTE systemwide coordinator Daniel Martin said the union requested individual employee data from the university to determine if a merit-based salary system negotiated 15 years ago has been abused to favor  

some employees. The merit-based system increases salaries based on performance rather than a mandatory-raise system. 

“There’s no accountability for the merit-based system,” Martin said. “An outstanding employee in one department might get a 4 percent raise and someone else in another department will get a 6 percent raise and there’s no record of who’s getting what.” 

Martin said they requested individual race, ethnicity and gender salary data to determine if the university was favoring white workers. 

Chester said the university has cooperated with the majority of the union’s requests for information.  

“The underpinning of the unfair practice charge is that we did not provide the union with the information they requested,” Chester said. “In fact, they are up to date with all the information they’ve requested except the individual salary data which we can’t provide because it would violate the individual employee’s right to privacy.” 

Martin said the university’s reasons for not supplying the individual data was a smoke screen. “All they have to do is ink out the employee’s name,” he said. “They gave us the same information last year for non-unionized employees.” 

LBNL Fire Captain Wayne Nordby said the 15 firefighters employed by the laboratory are paid 20 percent less than firefighters in Berkeley or the at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. 

“The last three guys we’ve hired are commuting three hours each way because they can’t afford to live in the Bay Area on what LBNL is paying,” he said. 

Mayor Shirley Dean, who participated in the strike action to show support for the firefighters, said it’s important that LBNL have experienced firefighters because of fire danger posed by nearby wildlands. 

“If another fire were to come up from the wildlands, like it has twice before in 1929 and 1991, these guys are the first responders,” she said. “It’s so important that there are qualified and experienced firefighters here.” 

LBNL spokesperson Ron Kolb said it’s true the laboratory’s firefighters are paid less than those for the City of Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore Laboratory but there are also different circumstances. “There is a larger radius of responsibility for both those fire departments,” he said. “Berkeley has a variety of fire dangers it has to worry about and the firefighters at LBNL are required to have ‘acute clearance’ because its a nuclear facility.” 

Assemblyman Tony Cardenas, D-Sylmar, who is the Assembly Budget Committee chair, is watching the system-wide union negotiations carefully. His Chief of Staff Jose Cornejo said the university has a history of not being forthright with union employees. “The assemblyman wants to make sure the workers are treated fairly and will do what he can to ensure that they are,” he said.  

Cornejo said they will pay close attention to how the University responds to the workers during the 2002 budget discussions which have begun and will continue through May. 

The nine campuses in the UC system received $15 billion in funding last year compared to $5.1 billion for the 20-campus California State University system. 

Thursday, March 15

Simplicity Forum 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Library 

Claremont Branch  

2940 Benveue Ave.  

Facilitated by Cecile Andrews, author of “Circles of Simplicity,” learn about this movement whose philosophy is “the examined life richly lived.” Work less, consume less, rush less, and build community with friends and family.  

Call 549-3509 or visit www.seedsofsimplicity.org  

LGBT Catholics Group  

7:30 p.m. 

Newman Hall  

2700 Dwight Way (at College)  

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender Catholics group are “a spiritual community committed to creating justice.” This meetings discussions will center on Lenten Service.  

654-5486 

Harriet Tubman Re-created 

3:30 p.m. 

South Branch Library  

1901 Russell St.  

Storyteller and musician Jamie Myrick will present an interactive musical performance which introduces a heroine and her deeds. Information about the secret codes and maps used as part of the Underground Railroad will be shared. Free 

Berkeley Metaphysical  

Toastmasters Club  

6:15 - 7:30 p.m.  

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysics come together. Ongoing first and third Thursdays each month.  

Call 869-2547 

Cancer Support Group 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

Summit Medical Center 

Markstein Cancer Education & Prevention Center 

450 30th St., Second Floor  

Oakland  

Free support group for families, friends, and patients diagnosed with cancer.  

869-8833 to register  

Fair Campaign Practices  

Commission  

7:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. Discussion and action regarding possible violations of the Berkeley Election Reform Act with respect to the first and second pre-election statements filed Oct. 5 and Oct. 26, 2000, late contribution reports and semi-annual statements filed Jan. 31, 2001.  

Myanmar: The Golden  

Kingdom  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Philip Hassrick of Lost Frontiers will introduce you to Myanmar’s unique history and culture.  

Call 527-4140 

“Respecting Creation”  

7:30 p.m. 

King Middle School  

1781 Rose St.  

Winona LaDuke, Native American Indian activist, environmentalist, author, and Green Party Vice Presidential candidate will speak about the environmental situation under the Bush administration, including California’s power dilemma. A benefit for KPFA and Speak Out.  

$10 - $12  

Call 848-6767 x609 or visit www.kpfa.org 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Dam Them Rivers  

7 - 9 p.m. 

Wheeler Hall, Room 30  

UC Berkeley  

Steve Rothert of American Rivers and Steve Linaweaver of International Rivers Network will discuss the damming of the Nile and the Bujagoli Dam. Free  

Celtic Theology  

6:30 p.m. 

Dinner Board Room  

Flora Lamson Hewlett Library  

2400 Ridge Rd.  

Thomas O’ Loughlin, lecturer a the University of Wales, will present a lecture entitled “A Celtic Theology: The Dream, the Myth, and Some Questions for Academics.” 649-2490 

Jazz Singers’ Collective  

8 - 10 p.m. 

Anna’s Bistro  

1801 University Ave.  

Featuring Marya Ashworth, Rory Bakke, Vicki Burns and Kathy Freeburg with Mark Little on piano.  

Time Windows  

4 p.m. 

North Branch Library  

1170 The Alameda  

Kathryn Reiss, Oakland author of nine suspense novels for middle school and young adult readers will speak. Free 649-3943  

Scholastic Book Fair  

8 - 9 a.m. & 1:45 - 3:45 p.m. 

Jefferson School Cafetorium  

Acton & Rose  

Reasonably-priced Scholastic books will be sold to promote books and reading and to raise money for the school 525-7567  

Evaluate to Motivate  

12:10 - 1:10 p.m.  

California Department of Health Services  

2151 Berkeley Way, Room 804 

The State Health Toastmasters present “Take the Terror Out of Talking!” Session five of six. Free  

649-7750 

Berkeley Path Wanderers  

7 - 9 p.m.  

Live Oak Park Recreation Center 

1200 Shattuck Ave.  

Richard Schwartz, author of “Berkeley 1900: Daily Life at the Turn of the Century,” will speak on Berkeley’s early biways. Free  

527-2693 

“Hear. Youth. Speak.” 

6 - 8:30 p.m.  

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave.  

Speaker panel and community meeting. Speakers will include students from BHS who are part of the Activist Youth Coalition and members of Asian Pacific Environmental Network, a youth-driven environmental activist group. Free and open to the public.  

642-4475 

University Ave. Transportation Improvements  

Project Community Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Adult School Cafeteria  

1222 University Ave. 

The project is intended to make the segment of University Ave. between San Pablo Ave. and Sacramento St. more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly, improve the appearance of public areas, link residential and business districts on either side of University, and create easier access to the North Berkeley BART Station. Comments anyone?  

Friday, March 16

Stagebridge Free Acting  

& Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Call 444-4755 or  

visit www.stagebridge.org 

Living Philosophers  

10 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.  

Free Writing, Cashiering  

& Computer Literacy Class 

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

AJOB Adult School  

1911 Addison St.  

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and  

register or call 548-6700. 

www.ajob.org 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets. 644-6226 

—Compiled by 

Chason Wainwright 

Gay & Lesbian Panel Discussion 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Everyone is welcome.  

Call 644-6107 

Scholastic Book Fair  

8 - 9 a.m. & 1:45 - 3:45 p.m. & 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. 

Jefferson School Cafetorium  

Acton & Rose  

Reasonably-priced Scholastic books will be sold to promote books and reading and to raise money for the school. Children and adults are invited to wear pajamas for Pamjama-Rama reading night from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.  

525-7567  

Perspectives on Work 

9:30 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. 

Room 370  

Dwinelle Hall  

UC Berkeley  

A day-long conference featuring prominent sociologists and graduate students from UC Berkeley, Harvard and other universities. The conference will bring together research from around the country on work, the lure of work and consequences of overwork.  

643-7944 

Saturday, March 17

Rockridge Writers 

3:30 - 5:30 p.m. 

Spasso Coffeehouse  

6021 College Ave.  

Poets and writers meet to critique each other’s work. “Members’ work tends to be dark, humorous, surreal, or strange.”  

e-mail: berkeleysappho@yahoo.com 

Light Search & Rescue  

9 a.m. - Noon  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

A free class as part of Community Emergency Response Training (CERT). Sponsored by the Berkeley Fire Dept. and the Office of Emergency Services.  

Call 644-8736 

Burma Human Rights Day  

2 p.m.  

Berkeley Fellowship Hall  

1924 Cedar (at Bonita)  

KPFA Journalist Dennis Bernstein and members of the Burmese Resistance Movement will speak. Sponsored by the Burmese American Democratic Alliance and the Berkeley Fellowship Unitarian Universalists Social Action Committee.  

528-5403  

Berkeley Folk Dancers Fun Night 

7:45 - 10:45 p.m. 

Live Oak Park Hall  

Shattuck at Berryman  

“The Green Party” Dance  

$5 - $7  

655-3074 

Feminist Politics of Family  

9 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.  

Maude Fife Room (315) 

Wheeler Hall  

UC Berkeley  

A yearly symposium highlighting graduate student work. The focus of the conference this year is re-envisioning feminist conceptions of the 21st century family. Keynote speakers include Evelyn Nakato Glenn on “Caring” and Carol Queen on “Erotic Families in Choice.” Free and open to the public.  

643-3040 

Free Puppet Shows 

1:30 & 2:30 p.m. 

Hall of Health  

2230 Shattuck Ave.  

The Kids on the Block, the award-winning educational puppet troupe, which includes puppets with cerebral palsy, blindness and Down syndrome, promotes acceptance and understanding of physical and mental differences.  

549-1564 

Greenbelt Outing: Clean Up Cerrito Creek 

9:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Meet at El Cerrito BART 

Join Greenbelt Alliance and Friends of Five Creeks for a work party to clear invasive plants and restore native habitat to Cerrito Creek. Afterwards, take a moderate loop hike up to Albany Hill and down to the Bay Trail. Bring work gloves, weeding tools, rain gear if necessary, and a lunch. Snacks will be provided.  

415-255-3233 

Sunday, March 18

East Bay Men’s Chorus Rehearsal  

6:30 p.m. 

University Lutheran Chapel  

College & Haste  

UC Berkeley 

Calling for gay and bisexual men and their allies and friends to join this choral ensemble directed by J.R. Foust. There is no obligation to join the chorus after the first rehearsal. Rehearsal season runs March through July.  

Call to RSVP 664-0260 or e-mail eastbaymenschorus@yahoo.com 

“Parenting in the Second Half of Life” 

10:30 a.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Author Roberta Maisel will discuss ways parents and their grown children can get on a positive and guilt-free path.  

848-0237  

“Hope Against Darkness”  

7:30 p.m. 

Newman Hall  

2700 Dwight Way (at College) 

Richard Rohr will respond to the questions: What is the darkness? What is hope?  

848-7812  

The Bungalow - Tradition & Transformation 

10 a.m. - 1 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by architect/contractor and West Berkeley bungalow restorer Barry Wagner.  

$35  

525-7610 

Awareness In Action  

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place  

Barr Rosenberg will speak on the Skillful Means teachings and practices toward a joyous, energetic, and relaxed approach to work.  

843-6812 

T. Rex: Mover & Shaker  

2 p.m.  

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley  

John Hutchinson of the Department of Integrative Biology at UCB, using video and hands-on activities, will demonstrate how some of the largest creatures roamed the earth. Free with museum admission.  

Comments taken out of context 

Editor: 

Zoning Board Commissioner David Blake defamed me personally at a public meeting by taking my comments out of context and by misinterpreting my remarks.  

I want to set the record straight.  

Mr. Blake recalled my noting at the Zoning Board meeting on November 9 that that day was the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Night of the Broken Glass. On that night in 1938 Jewish homes and institutions in Germany and Austria were desecrated and destroyed. The “Berkeley Daily Planet” article of Weekend March 10-11, 2001, referred to Mr. Blake’s remark that my comment was a gentle way of reminding the board that its members could be considered anti-Semitic if a permit to develop the site at 1301 Oxford St. wasn’t approved. 

The truth is that, for me, it was very gratifying that the November 9 hearing was held on that day, because, as a refugee who saw the destruction of synagogues in my native Hungary, I was thrilled to be able to be part of a building project to construct a new synagogue in free America. That’s what I said, on more than one occasion. In fact, in the Nov. 10, 2000 “Express” I was quoted as follows: “You can imagine how happy I am to be building a synagogue when I saw in my lifetime the desecration and destruction of so many synagogues.” 

That’s what I said, and that’s what I meant.  

I strongly object to Mr. Blake’s interpreting my remarks in a way calculated to harm me and my congregation.  

Rabbi Ferenc Raj 

Congregation Beth El,  

Berkeley 

Sell KPFA; doesn’t reflect diverse territory covered 

Editor: 

I agree with the letter by Mel Baker advocating the selling of Pacifica in your March 7 edition. 

Since I‘ve been an occasional listener to KPFA I‘ve noticed that they put out one-sided propaganda of the crudest and most amateurish sort. Everyone interviewed seems to be of people within a narrow spectrum of political views. Not just interviews but chats, livingrooms and call ins seem to be of people who fall within this narrow band. I will admit that there is some good music and interesting narratives that I catch late at night while driving home. 

But regardless of my opinion it seems that the station should serve its listeners throughout its broadcast area. I am able to hear KPFA down to Monterey, up to Clearlake and almost to Tahoe. Shouldn’t the station be responsive to all its (potential) listeners which runs into the millions rather than some 10,000 who demonstrate on University Avenue? I realize that there are local listeners who contribute to Pacifica ( along with the Federal Government) but I feel the entire listening audience should vote with their dial on Pacifica. 

Wayne Huber 

Berkeley 

Fight against chemophobia; be scientific 

Editor: 

The Bauce letter (”Science not always the answer,” March 10) carries a critique (for environmental and health) as “science based” with a terminal comment that today’s (science) becomes tomorrow’s science fiction. He obviously knows neither science fiction nor science, as yesterday’s science fiction is today’s science fact.  

However, we scientists have been dealing with such ignorance for centuries. We tend to dismiss such, probably to our own detriment, instead of dealing with the debate. I have published (in print and on my web page) a discussion of the alternative objectives ecohysterics and chemophobics have in the critiques of our advancing society. See “Combatting Chemophobia and Ecohysteria” at “www.atheytechnologies.com”.  

Fortunately, there are medical/scientific communities that deal with environment and health issues in a rational manner. Those communities have protocols for what is acceptable evidence for a problem, and may recommend a solution of known, or do the research necessary to solve the problem if it is not known.  

I am reminded of the Shakespearean quote on “tale told by an idiot signifying nothing” by those who would downplay our scientific advances in health, medicine and life in general.  

Robert D. Athey Jr. 

El Cerrito 

Davis should back up claims with some facts 

Dear Editor, 

In response to Frank Davis, Jr.’s opinion of 13 March, 2001: 

At the bottom of Mr. Davis’ argument I hear the bitter whine of a greedy landowner who has been prevented from gouging absurdly high prices for modest accommodations.  

We’ve heard the same arguments from Peggy Schioler and Robert Cabrera; why, why, why can’t we just kick those low-paying tenants out and get us some new ones that bring in twice as much dough? After all, there was so much money to be had during the dot-com boom (R.I.P.)--what a shame that it was over so quickly! 

The people of Berkeley have made it clear, through their elections to the Rent Stabilization Board and the passage of Measure Y, that they support rent control for Berkeley; this despite heavy lobbying, generous monetary subsidies from out of town, and misleading campaign flyers from Mr. Cabrera and company. No amount of arm-flapping, hand-wringing and finger-pointing will change this fact. 

Mr. Davis claims, somewhat disingenuously, that rent control has somehow caused Berkeley’s population of black tenants and landlords to decrease. I‘m unclear as to how this has come about. To me, the opposite effect is implied: as long-term tenants leave their residences, landlords are free to charge whatever prices the market will bear for their properties. It would seem self-evident that this situation would not favor low-income tenants, black or otherwise, and that low-income blacks are leaving Berkeley because it’s too expensive to live here – but then perhaps Mr. Davis is privy to information I don’t have.  

Certainly he wouldn’t be referencing black issues in order to provide moral gravitas for his venality. Perhaps he’d be willing to share with us some of his “compelling evidence.” It might be very interesting to compare the rates of black flight from Berkeley pre-and post-Costa-Hawkins. 

Matthew Weber 

Curatorial Assistant 

Music Library, UC Berkeley 

Tool-lending library staff deserves support 

Editor:  

As relatively new home owners in Berkeley, we would just like to say thank you, thank you, thank you to Mike, Adam and Candida, who patiently instruct all of us lucky enough to have access to the tool library at the Martin Luther King (South Berkeley) branch of the Berkeley Public Library system.  

These guys (and woman) are always gracious and so helpful while schlepping those tools in and out for us come rain, shine or locusts. We sure hope the powers that be give these employees the hours and benefits they so richly deserve.  

Nestor Padron and 

Elizabeth Padron Vos 

Berkeley

924 Gilman St. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted $5; $2 for a year membership March 16: The P.A.W.N.S., Kill the Messenger, Phoenix Thunderstone, Lesser of Two, Dory Tourette & The Skirtheads; March 17: The Hoods, Benumb, Above The World, Chrome Disorder, Eulogy; March 23: 18 Visions, Walls of Jericho, Time In Malta, Undying, Betray the Species; March 24: Workin’ Stiffs, The Bodies, Strychnine, East Bay Chasers, For the Alliance; March 30: Deathreat, Ahimsa, F*** God In the Face, The Black, Creation Is Crucifixion 525-9926  

Albatross Pub All music at 9 p.m. unless noted March 15: Keni “El Lebrijano”; March 17: Maureen Brennan Group 1822 San Pablo 843-2473 

Ashkenaz March 15, 9 p.m.: Babatunde Olatunji; March 16, 9:30 p.m.: Samba Ngo; March 18, 5 - 10 p.m.: Aid for Ahmedabad Earthquake Relief Concert featuring Vinyl, New Monsoon, Raja & Srini, plus Henry Kaiser, $20; March 22, 9:30: Groundation; March 24, 2 p.m. - 2 a.m.: Ashkenaz fourth annual dance-a-thon featuring Lavay Smith, African, Caribbean, reggae, Balkan, North African and cajun bands for 12 hours of nonstop dance music; 1370 San Pablo Ave. 525-5054 or www.ashkenaz.com  

Eli’s Mile High Club Doors open at 8 p.m. March 16: Little Jonny & the Giants; March 17: Sugar G; March 23: Carlos Zialcita; March 24: Daniel Castro; March 30: Craig Horton Blues Band 3629 MLK Jr. Way Oakland  

Jazzschool/La Note All music at 4:30 p.m. March 18: Wayne Wallace Septet $6 - $12 2377 Shattuck Ave.  

Live Oak Concert Series All music at 7:30 p.m. March 18: Mark Sanders, flute, David Cheng, violin, Darcy Rindt, viola, Paul Rhodes, cello. Flute quartets of Haydn and Mozart; March 25: Horizon Wind Quartet play music of Mendelssohn, Rossini, Ravel, Ligetti and others All concerts $8 - $10 Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St.  

Cal Performances March 23, 7 p.m. & March 24, 1 & 8 p.m.: “The King Stag: A Tragicomic Tale for the Theatre” by Carlo Gozzi $24 - $46; Zellerbach Hall UC Berkeley. 642-9988 or www.calperfs.berkeley.edu March 25, 3 p.m.: Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio perform music of Beethoven, Ravel and Tchaikovsky $32; Hertz Hall UC Berkeley 

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra April 3, and June 21, 2001. All performances begin at 8 p.m. Single $19 - $35, Series $52 - $96. Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley 841-2800  

“Treacherous Crossings” March 15 & 16, 10:30 a.m. & 7 p.m. An opera about people looking for a better life, leaving Mexico to come to California. Produced entirely by 8 - 11 year olds Malcolm X Arts & Academics Magnet School Malcolm X Auditorium 1731 Prince St. 644-6313 

Za’atar Performance/Community Jam March 15, 7:30 p.m. $14 - $16 Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237 

Berkeley High School Concert Orchestra March 15, 7 p.m. Performing works by Beethoven, Haydn, Shostakovich, as well as student compositions. Sponsored by North Branch, Berkeley Public Library’s Teen Services, and the Friends of the Library Free North Branch Library 1170 The Alameda 

BHS Jazz Ensemble March 23, 7:30 p.m. The spring concert performance from the award-winning jazz ensemble. Proceeds benefit the students who will travel to Europe this summer to perform in Italy and Switzerland. $5 - $8 Florence Schwimley Little Theatre 1920 Allston Way  

Hillbillies From Mars April 8, 2 p.m. Rocking the Bay for twenty years, the Hillbillies fuse rock n’ roll, swing, Latin and African beats. $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300 

“Bravo! Opera!” April 8, 7:30 p.m. A veritable Opera chorus smorgasbord with Bizet’s “Carmen,” Verdi’s “IL trovatore,” and Copland’s “The Tenderland.” $8 - $12 Hertz Hall UC Berkeley 643-9645 

Young Emerging Artists Concert April 10, 7 - 8 p.m. The Young Musicians Program Jazz Combo will perform jazz standards and original compositions. $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300 

“Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me” by Frank MacGuinness Through March 17, Thursday - Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, 8:30 p.m. The story of three men - an Irishman, an Englishman and an American held in a prison in Lebanon. $10 - $15 8th St. Studio Theatre 2525 Eighth St. (at Dwight) 655-0813 

“A New Brain” by William Finn Through March 18, Fridays & Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, 7 p.m. Watch as Gordon Schwinn, in the face of a life-threatening brain tumor, composes a farewell concert in which all the important figures in his life make show-stopping appearances. Presented by BareStage Productions $8 - $12 Choral Rehearsal Hall, Lower Level of Caesar Chavez Student Center UC Berkeley 642-3880  

“Little Shop of Horrors” Through Apri 1, Friday & Saturday, 8 p.m., Saturday & Sunday, 2 p.m., no show Friday, March 23; $12 Berkeley Community Little Theatre Allston Way at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way Call 943-SHOW  

“The Oresteia” by Aeschylus Through May 6 Directed by Tony Taccone and Stephen Wadsworth, Aeschylus trilogy will be the first production staged on the Berkeley Rep’s new prosenium stage. Please call Berkeley Repertory Theatre for specific dates and times. $15.99 - $117 Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2015 Addison St. (at Shattuck) 647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Chappy Knuckles (Semi-Regional Motorcross And) Family Fun Hour” March 19 & 20, 7 & 9 p.m. Shotgun Players’ Black Box Productions presents Old Man McGinty, who has a rubbing stone that he would love for you to touch. $10 LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. 655-0813 or visit www.shotgunplayers.com  

“The Tempest” by William Shakespeare Through April 14, Thursday - Saturday, 8 p.m. Presented by Subterranean Shakespeare and directed by Stanley Spenger $8 - $10 LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. (at Hearst) 237-7415 

“Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win” March 18, 6 p.m. A historic documentary of the May - June 1968 General Strike in France. Directed by Paris working class filmmaker Jean Pierre Thorn. Also to be shown is “France on Strike,” on the 1995 French public workers strike by rail workers, teachers, electrical and postal workers. $7 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. (at Prince) 849-2568  

The Bullfighter & the Lady and Seven Men From Now March 17, 6:30 p.m. Join Budd Boetticher, director of Westerns, who will discuss his career and screen two of his favorites. $7 Pacific Film Archive 2575 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch St.) 642-1412 

“Dreamers” March 17 - 24 The American feature film debut of Chinese-born writer/director Ann Lu. The executive producer of the film is UC Berkeley alumnus Peiti Feng Fine Arts Cinema 2451 Shattuck Ave. 848-1143 

Boadecia’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 16: Rik Isensee will read from his novel “The God Squad: A Spoof on the Ex-Gay Movement”; March 21, 7 p.m.: Gay/Bi Men’s Book Group will discuss “Lost Language of Cranes” by David Leavitt; March 24, 7 p.m.: Aliza Sherman will read and sign “Cybergrrl@Work: Tips and Inspiration for the Professional You” 398 Colusa Ave. Kensington 559-9184. www.boadeciasbooks.com 

Cody’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 15: Randy Shaw talks about “The Activist’s Handbook: A Primer”; March 18: Poetry of Yvonne Cannon, Lara Gularte, Richard Rocco; March 19: Jean Rouverol talks about “Refugees From Hollywood: A Journal of the Blacklist”; March 21: Poetry of James Schevill; March 25: Poetry of Beverly Matherne & A.J. Rathbun; March 28: Poetry of Craig Van Riper & Jaime Robles; 2454 Telegraph Ave.  

845-7852  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 15: Lecture and demonstration by Philip Smith, editor of the “Gerardus Mercator’s 1595 Historic Atlas” of cartography, “Octavo” Editor Philip Smith will discuss the history of the Mercator Atlas; March 27: Travel writer Edward Hasbrouck, author of “The Practical Nomad” will provide essential tips, advice, and consumer skills for the independent traveler; March 29: Katherine Widing, author of “Cycling France” will give a slide presentation/talk on just that 1385 Shattuck Ave. (at Rose) 843-3533 

“Strong Women - Writers & Heroes of Literature” Fridays Through June, 2001, 1 - 3 p.m. Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program. North Berkeley Senior Center 1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 549-2970  

Duomo Reading Series and Open Mic. Thursdays, 6:30 - 9 p.m. March 15: Elanor Watson-Gove; March 22: Anna Mae Stanley; March 29: Georgia Popoff; April 5: Barbara Minton; April 12: Alice Rogoff; April 19: Garrett Murphy; April 26: Ray Skjelbred. Cafe Firenze 2116 Shattuck Ave. 644-0155. 

Lunch Poems First Thursday of each month, 12:10 - 12:50 p.m. April 5: Galway Kinnell; May 3: Student Reading Morrison Room, Doe Library UC Berkeley 642-0137 

Women’s Word March 14, 7:30 p.m. An evening of women’s word honoring International Women’s month and featuring Avotcja, Straight Out Scribes, Tureeda & Kira Allen. Hosted by Joyce Young. Open mic will follow. $4 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

“Slam the Prisons” April 6, 6 p.m. - 1 a.m. A benefit for prison activism featuring Tang, Company of Prophets, Sheryl D. Mebane and many others. Proceeds benefit the defense of New Afrikan political prisoner Khalfani X. Khaldun and the Prison Activist Resource Center. $10 La Pena Cultural Center 3205 Shattuck Ave. 898-0431  

Tours 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387 

Berkeley City Club Tours 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. The fourth Sunday of every month, Noon - 4 p.m. $2 848-7800  

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

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden Centennial Drive, behind Memorial Stadium, a mile below the Lawrence Hall of Science The gardens have displays of exotic and native plants. Tours, Saturday and Sunday, 1:30 p.m. $3 general; $2 seniors; $1 children; free on Thursday. Daily, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. 643-2755 or www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden/  

Lectures 

Berkeley Historical Society Slide Lecture & Booksigning Series Sundays, 3 - 5 p.m. $10 donation requested March 18: “Topaz Moon,” Kimi Kodani Hill will discuss artist Chiura Obata’s family and the WWII Japanese relocation camps. Berkeley Historical Center Veterans Memorial Building 1931 Center St. 848-0181 

UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Research Seminars Noon seminars are brown bag  

March 19, Noon: Anne Balsamo of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, will explore IT issues within the humanities; April 23, 4 p.m.: Mary Dudziach of USC will discuss “Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy.” 119 Moses Hall UC Berkeley 642-4608  

“Great Decisions” Foreign Policy Association Lectures Series Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - Noon, Through April 3; An annual program featuring specialists in the field of national foreign policy, many from University of California. Goal is to inform the public on major policy issues and receive feedback from the public. $5 per session, $35 entire series for single person, $60 entire series for couple. Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant Ave. 526-2925 

City Commons Club Lecture Series Fridays, 12:30 p.m. $1 general Students Free March 16: Paul H. Young, Jr. retired foreign service officer, will present “A Pilgrim’s Visit to Athos”; March 23: Guy Colwell, master painter of Nasters, will speak on “Using Painting to Teach Art History”; March 30: Jana Grittersova, professor of International Relations, UC Berkeley will speak on “The European Union - Integration and Expansion” Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant Ave. 848-3533 

The St. Mary’s baseball team finally got on track Wednesday, beating Redwood Christian 11-0 in just five innings. The Panthers (2-5) open league play Friday, visting St. Joseph’s to kick off BSAL play. 

Starting pitcher Tom Carman threw four shutout innings, giving up just two hits and two walks to get the win. Second baseman Chris Alfert supplied much of the offense for St. Mary’s, hitting a long three-run home run in the first inning and driving in two more runs with a triple in the second. 

“He’s been swinging the bat really well, and we’re hoping it’ll continue,” St. Mary’s head coach Andy Shimabukuro said. 

Alfert’s homer was hit to straightaway centerfield, the longest part of the ballpark, giving his team the early 3-0 lead. The Panthers tacked on two more runs in the first, three in the second, one in the third and two more in the fourth. Since they were winning by more than 10 runs after retiring Redwood Christian in the fifth, the game was called after four and a half innings. 

“We needed a win badly,” Shimabukuro said. “Our pitching has been the one good thing so far this year. Our defense has let us down and we haven’t started to hit the ball yet. Hopefully come Friday when league starts, we’ll be ready to go.” 

Right fielder Jeff Marshall came in to pitch the final inning for the Panthers, giving up one hit before retiring the side. 

The Panthers have struggled a bit so far this season, which is understandable considering they’ve played without two key starters. Shortstop Jeremiah Fielder and outfielder Chase Moore are members of the school’s basketball team, which will play for the Division IV state championship this Saturday, after which they will return to the diamond. Shimabukuro said the two will bring a new attitude with them. 

“The most important thing is their leadership, the energy they bring,” he said. “They’re good ballplayers, but the energy they bring can’t be measured.”

Malcolm X arts magnet school teachers Marilyn Hiratzka and Jennifer Adcock have directed enough student theatrical productions to know what’s doable and what’s dream. 

That’s why the fourth- and fifth-grade teachers turned to each other a few hours into a week-long New York Metropolitan Opera Guild teacher-training program last summer with knowing looks. 

“It can’t be done. What are they talking about?” Adcock said, remembering what she was thinking to herself. 

The Opera Guild experts had dreamed up the theatrical equivalent of JFK’s 1961 promise to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Give a group of fourth- and fifth-graders six months, they said, and they cannot only create a musical from scratch – write and perform the script, design and build the set, compose and play the music – but put on a performance they and their teachers would never forget. 

Adcock and Hiratzka were skeptical, but curious. Two theater veterans themselves, they understood the rewards of seeing a dramatic production through from start to finish. But could the kids stay focused on so many details? Could they make the tough decisions needed to move the production forward with limited teacher intervention? 

After six long months of labor, the answers to these questions are now on display for all to see. Forty Malcolm X fourth- and fifth-graders launched the world premier of their musical, “Treacherous Crossings,” Wednesday morning at the Malcolm X auditorium, to the roaring acclaim of a kindergarten and first grade audience. 

Through a democratic process, the students had decided to create a musical that would portray four Mexican youth attempting the hazardous crossing into California in search of work, education and “a better life.”  

There are few Latinos in the group, Adcock said, but fifth-grader Dylan Moniz persuaded his classmates to tackle the issue after he learned that hundreds of Mexicans die of thirst and exposure to the elements each year, attempting to cross into California over mountains or through the desert. 

“Mexicans don’t really have a chance to have a better life,” said Moniz, the musical’s production manager. “They have to work in the fields - and kids like my age have to do it too. I’m lazy and I couldn’t imagine working like that all day long.” 

Adcock and Hiratzka were at first a little mystified that Northern California students would choose this topic. But as they watched the musical develop the choice began to make sense, they said. 

“They feel injustice very strongly at their age,” Hiratzka said. 

Back in September it took a while for the musical to catch on with some students, but Adcock and Hiratzka demanded absolute dedication, telling the students to treat their roles in the production as a job that could be lost if they failed to live up to certain expectations. 

“People actually got fired,”said Erin McLaughlin, who portrayed one of the Mexican migrants Thursday. “We learned what it’s like to work with others, and what it is to keep a job.” 

In recent weeks the students’ enthusiasm for the project has gone beyond anything Adcock and Hiratzka have experienced before. 

“When they finally saw what it was they had done they went, ‘Ooo, this is good,’” Hiratzka said. 

“In all the productions I’ve done with kids this is the first time they’ve had a hand in everything,” Adcock said. “Boy howdy, did we get a totally different kind of focus and intensity.” 

“I’ll never go back to using a script that the students didn’t create because it makes all the difference in how committed they are (to the production),” Adcock said. 

In addition to the one period a day devoted to working on the musical, Adcock adjusted her fifth-grade curriculum to teach students more about the Mexican-American experience. In essence, she let the students dictate the focus in their instruction around issues such as civil rights and labor history, so students’ enthusiasm for the musical could carry over into the classroom. 

It’s students who typically are not engaged by classwork and homework who have benefited most by their involvement in the musical, Adcock said. 

“You put them in this context and they shine, and that’s reason enough to do it.” 

Treacherous Crossing shows at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday in the Malcolm X Arts & Academic Magnet School auditorium, 1731 Prince St. Those interested in seeing the show are advised to call ahead to reserve seats: 644-6313. 

In a game that took only two hours to complete, Andrew Sproul pitched five solid innings and Brian Horwitz had three hits and drove in a run to lead California past Columbia, 5-2, this afternoon at Evans Diamond. The win was the third in a row for the Bears, and improves their record to 13-9 on the season. 

Sproul (2-0) was solid in his five innings of work, striking out four and walking only one batter. The Cal right-hander gave up an RBI double to Columbia catcher Joe Catsom in the second inning, then settled in to shut down the Lion offense.  

“I thought our pitchers did well today, and we took advantage of opportunities to score,” said Cal head coach David Esquer. “We don’t always take advantage; we’re a young team, and we show that sometimes.” 

The Bears, meanwhile, were hitless going into the fourth inning. With two outs, Horwitz sent a Brian McKitish (0-2) fastball over the left field fence to tie the score. Horwitz’s first home run as a Golden Bear was followed by a walk to first baseman Clint Hoover and consecutive doubles into the left-centerfield gap by Conor Jackson and John Baker, giving the Bears a 3-1 lead. Horwitz was 3-for-4 on the afternoon, extending his hitting streak to 17 games.  

“(Horwitz) is hitting the ball very well for us,” said Esquer. “We need to get other guys to hit at his level.” 

The Bears tacked on insurance runs in the later innings. In the 6th, rightfielder Rob Meyer reached on a throwing error by shortstop Billy Hess, and advanced to third on Horwitz’ single to right. He scored on a groundout to second by Jackson. In the 7th, Carson White hit a leadoff double off of reliever Adam Schwartz and advanced to third on leftfielder PJ Monyihan’s fielding error, then scored on a sacrifice fly by catcher Spencer Wyman. 

The Lions’ final rally came in the top of the 8th inning. With one out, Keith Palmieri and Monyihan hit back-to-back singles off of reliever Ryan Lubner to put runners on first and third with one away. Matt Buckmiller popped up to short, but senior rightfielder Justin Berti came through with a two-out single to drive in Palmieri and push the score to 5-2. Hess, representing the tying run, hit a hard line drive to rightfield that ended up in Meyer’s glove, ending the inning and the threat. Matt Brown struck out two batters in the 9th to record his fourth save. 

The Bears will open their Pac-10 conference schedule this weekend as 4th-ranked Arizona State comes to Evans Diamond.  

“We have to pay attention to detail even more against a team like Arizona State,” commented Esquer. “Against teams like (ASU) and Stanford, the game is often decided by a small details.”  

Friday’s game begins at 2 p.m.; both weekend contests will start at 1 p.m.

The California Highway Patrol’s high-speed pursuit of a suspect alleged to be driving erratically ended at San Pablo and Ashby avenues in the death of a 33-year-old man from San Francisco, police said. 

The victim was not involved in the chase. 

The incident began in Richmond a little before 1 a.m. when CHP officers spotted a car driven by a man whom they allege appeared to be under the influence of alcohol.  

The officers chased the suspect, Lyle Eric Norbert, 41, down San Pablo Avenue through the cities of Richmond, San Pablo, El Cerrito, Albany and Berkeley, said Lt. Russell Lopes, spokesperson for the Berkeley Police Department. The speed was clocked at 85 mph, Lopes said. 

The Highway Patrol has the primary responsibility for patrolling the freeways, “but they can go anywhere they want,” Lopes said. HE said San Pablo and Ashby avenues are state highways. 

The victim, Theodore Resnick of San Francisco, was making a left turn from San Pablo onto Ashby when the car he was driving was hit by the car driven by the suspect, Lopes said. 

When asked about the Berkeley Police Department’s rules about high-speed pursuit, Lopes characterized it as “a very strict pursuit policy.” He declined to go into the policy in more detail. “I do not want to get into a question and answer about the pursuit,” he said, explaining that “the media” was trying to compare the BPD and CHP’s regulations and he did not want to do that until after the investigation into the incident was compete. 

Norbert, who lives in San Francisco, is in police custody, charged with felony hit and run, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and fleeing police officers. Lopes said. Berkeley police are likely to push for vehicular manslaughter charges against him for Resnick’s death, Lopes said.  

Cal senior Sean Lampley continued to add to his pile of awards on Wednesday, picking up an Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention. The award comes on the heels of Lampley being named the Pac-10 Player of the Year on Monday. 

Lampley, who leads the Pac-10 in scoring with 19.7 ppg, was the fourth Golden Bear to receive the Pac-10 honor, joining Jason Kidd (1994), Shareef Abdur-Rahim (1996) and Ed Gray (1997).  

Also an All-Pac-10 selection in 2000, Lampley was a member of the Pac-10 All-Freshman team in 1998. In addition to his scoring average, he ranks seventh in the conference in rebounding (7.2 rpg) and 10th in field goal shooting (51.0%).  

Earlier this season, Lampley passed Lamond Murray to become the school’s all-time leading scorer, and he heads into the NCAA Tournament with 1,763 points. The Bears take on Fresno State on Friday. 

Other awards for Lampley include The Sporting News Pac-10 Player of the Year, NABC first team All-District and collegeinsider.com All-American.

SAN FRANCISCO – At 9 p.m. on a quiet night 20 to 30 people moved trance-like around the stage of a small park in the Potrero Hill neighborhood, waving their arms in large circles while weaving amongst each other. In each of their hands they carried a flaming torch.  

“When you’re working with fire you need to be completely in the moment,” said Jehanne Rogowski-Hale, who led the group. “You can’t be thinking about anything except the fire in your hands and the people around you.” 

Tuesday was the final night of a series of fire handling classes Rogowski-Hale teaches twice a month in her artist studio near the Ashby BART station. These classes are attracting crowds of students, drawn by the mystique of the art of handling fire. 

Thus far, Rogowski-Hale has taught 20 classes with between eight and 10 people per group. She teaches students to make their own long-lasting torches (with a 10 to 15 year life span), what lighter fluids to use and how to move safely while holding fire. Her protégés can be found lighting torches on Tuesday nights in the park or demonstrating their art at parties.  

“I saw fire-dancing at Burning Man” was a common refrain amongst the new devotees of the dance, who referred to the week-long art festival held in the Nevada desert, where art isn’t subject to the stricter rules of polite society. Most of them do not intend to perform publicly with fire; they took the class for the experience of working with fire – safely.  

Towards the end of this final lesson in the series, Rogowski-Hale passes out a box of matches to each of the graduates saying, “May you always have fire.”  

The concept is a first for many of the newly-trained fire handlers.  

Christina Garden of Berkeley wasn’t allowed to touch matches until she was 13; for her, dancing with lighted torches means delving into the forbidden. “It challenges me in what I’m most afraid of,” she said. “It’s just really exciting because of that.”  

Rogowski-Hale first worked with fire for the first time during a stage performance in 1992, and she fell in love with it. “The thing that surprised me and that I think is part of the allure is the sound,” she said.  

Berkeley resident Anca Mosiu agreed, describing what she hears when she grips the ends of two flaming torches. “It’s a big roar like a waterfall, only it’s fire,” she said. “It’s something that’s only slightly out of control but not really because it’s at the end of your hand.” 

As far as Rogowski-Hale can tell, she is the only one giving fire-handling lessons in the Bay Area. Some of the same skills are passed along through informal teaching, but in Rogowski-Hale’s experience many people tend to guard their knowledge. 

“That seems to be the way with circus skills, some people are protective,” she said. But Rogowski-Hale is not concerned about the growing number of fire-handlers coming out of her studio. “I don’t feel any worry about competition. You don’t not teach people about playing the piano.” 

At the end of the final choreographed dance, the handlers all brought their fire together to make a huge flaming torch that lit up the concrete stage they were dancing on. Afterwards, a few continued slowly moving the fire, twisting it around their bodies and through their legs in careful, precise motions. 

Fire dancing requires practice, said Jacob Corbin adding, “In that sense it’s very “martial arty.”  

“You need to practice a lot in order to be good,” he said. 

Corbin compared fire-handling to another art form with resurgent popularity, partner dancing. “You have to feel another person when you’re partner dancing,” he said, “and you have to feel the torch’s momentum in order to work with it.” 

While students began to pack up, an advanced student did a fire-eating demonstration. A cloud of smoke swirled out of the woman’s open mouth and Rogowski-Hale applauded.  

Kids, don’t try this trick at home.  

Fire-handling, said Rogowski-Hale, requires careful attention to safety issues. Although fabrics won’t catch on fire if they get bumped by a flaming torch, polyester may melt against the skin causing burns. The biggest danger for fire-handlers is their very flammable hair, which is why all of Rogowski-Hale’s students wear hats. She also keeps a thick blanket near by to smother any accidental flames.  

Rogowski-Hale considers herself liable for any accident that does occur. Although she does have her students sign disclaimers, she doesn’t have a permit to practice fire-handling in public. After nine years of working with fire, however, she’s developed a strict policy for dealing with the fire department or police. Do what they say.  

In Vancouver, Rogowski-Hale’s past residence, she developed a relationship with the fire department after they came out on a fire call and found her group dancing with lit torches. She said she’s had no complaints so far in the Bay Area.  

At the end of the evening students put out their torches – homemade under Rogowski-Hale’s tutelage and then many of them headed out together for a beer.  

Garden says that part of what attracts her to fire-handling is the community of “dare devil free thinkers” who are drawn to the same dangerous, exciting, element – fire. Rogowski-Hale agrees that fire-handling as an important source of community; she teaches, in part, to create that special community of similar minded artists.  

“With fire either people want to do it or don’t want to do it. There’s no middle ground here,” she said. 

NEW YORK — The prospect of the economic slowdown spreading around the globe shook Wall Street Wednesday, sending the Dow Jones industrials below 10,000 and setting the blue chip index up for its worst week in more than 11 years. The drop followed a nosedive in prices overseas as investors simply had no reason to buy. 

The fears on U.S. markets matched those on exchanges in Europe and Asia – that slowing economies will continue to hurt corporate profits and, in turn, stock prices. 

“Anyway you put it, this is bad,” said Gary Kaltbaum, a technical analyst for First Union Securities. “You are in the vicious cycle now.” 

“It’s a combination of Japan and Europe getting slaughtered, and the ’throw in the towel’ mentality here,” Kaltbaum said. “I do not know where it ends.” 

While sellers have dominated the U.S. stock market recently, believing that poor earnings and the weakening economy in this country won’t recover in the near future, the prospect of economic crises in other countries, especially Japan, unnerved investors around the globe Wednesday. 

“You put all that together and this is more than the market (here) could take,” said Charles Pradilla, chief investment strategist at SG Cowen Securities. 

Wednesday’s session also brought a litany of other bad numbers for the stock market’s best-known barometer: 

• Already down about 6.3 percent this week, the Dow is poised to have its worst week in terms of a percentage decline since 1989, when it fell 7.76 percent the week ended Oct. 13. 

• So far this week, the Dow has lost 671.16, the second-largest weekly point drop. The most the Dow has ever lost in one week was nearly a year ago, when it fell 805.71 the week of April 14. 

Broader market indicators also skidded Wednesday. The Nasdaq composite fell 42.69 to 1,972.09, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 tumbled 30.95 to 1,166.71. 

It all added up to $270 billion loss in the total market value of New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq stocks on top of a staggering $554.5 billion beating Monday, according to Wilshire Associates of Santa Monica. 

Although Wednesday’s session was dismal for the Dow, analysts were quick to point out that blue chips have held up much better over the long term than other market indicators that include a greater number of riskier technology stocks. 

The Nasdaq composite index is about 61 percent off its record high of 5,048.62 set on March 10, 2000. Meanwhile, the Dow is down just 15 percent from its closing high, 11,722.98, recorded on Jan. 17, 2000. 

One reason for the Dow’s slide Wednesday was that it had nowhere to go but down; investors had recently bid blue chips higher while they bailed out of tech stocks. 

The Dow’s decline began as soon as the market opened. Investors, already struggling with a bleak outlook for U.S. corporate profits, were further shaken by news Japan’s admission Tuesday that the world’s second-biggest economy is in a state of deflation, an economic situation that can lead to recession. 

The fear is that Japan’s economic problems will cut into demand in that country for U.S. goods and services and in turn lead to a further drop in American stock prices. 

“The reaction to word that Japan is in a pretty tough spot is perhaps the prevailing issue driving the market down today,” said Charles G. Crain, strategist for Spears, Benzak, Salomon & Farrell, a division of Key Asset Management in New York. 

U.S. financial stocks suffered after 19 Japanese banks were placed on “negative watch” by an international rating agency. Uncertain how exposed American banks are to Japan’s crisis, investors drove J.P. Morgan Chase down $3.65 to $43.75, and Citibank down $3.49 to $44.90. Both are Dow components. 

Some tech companies, which have suffered the most from the U.S. economic slowdown, already have said business has suffered declining demand abroad, particularly in Asia. 

Cisco Systems’ CEO John T. Chambers, for example, told investors at Tuesday’s Merrill Lynch Global Communications Conference in New York business is getting tougher in Asia. The world’s biggest supplier of Internet networking equipment, whose grim outlook issued late Friday helped spur Monday’s big selloff, tumbled $1.13 Wednesday to close at $20.25. 

Japan’s Nikkei stock average closed up 0.2 percent Wednesday after falling to a 16-year low Tuesday. Japan’s economic problems were significant enough to turn investors’ attention away from bleak profit outlooks for American companies, which have been propelling stocks downward since late last year. 

“The earnings worries are sort of institutionalized now,” Crain said. 

Stocks fell hard in Europe, plummeting to 16-month lows. The biggest losses came from technology and telecommunications stocks, which recoiled on the Nasdaq’s instability. 

Germany’s DAX index tumbled 2.8 percent, Britain’s FT-SE 100 dropped 1.7 percent, and France’s CAC-40 fell 1.4 percent. 

Reports of weaker economies abroad dashed Wall Street’s hopes that the market here had put in a bottom on Monday and that Tuesday’s made modest gains could be the start of a rebound or even a short-term rally. 

While the U.S. Federal Reserve has lowered interest rates twice this year and is widely expected to push rates lower again next week, the central bank’s actions are not being viewed as aggressive enough to lift the economy out of its slump. 

Investors, who had thought business would pick up in the second half of the year, are now afraid earnings and the economy will remain in a slump all year. 

“A lot of this reporting about being in a bear market has started to seep through,” said Pradilla, the strategist for SG Cowen. 

There was no safe haven in the Dow on Wednesday when Procter & Gamble dropped $1.54 to $66.60 and Merck fell $1 to $71.93. 

Tech losses were widespread, including Yahoo!, down 75 cents at $15.31, and Intel, off 31 cents at $29.06. The companies, along with Cisco, brought about the market’s recent major tumble after warning late last week of poor business conditions. 

Declining issues outnumbered advancers more than 3 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume was 1.62 billion, compared with 1.60 billion on Tuesday. 

The Russell 2000 index, which tracks the performance of smaller company stocks, dropped 8.57 to 453.69. 

——— 

On the Net: 

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

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

Debate on a new bankruptcy law isn’t just about credit card abuses, as it sometimes seems, but over a much larger issue, that of the power of professional marketers over amateur consumers. 

Credit cards are the current focus their role in bankruptcies, their indiscriminate issuance, the questionable enticements offered, the targeting of the poor and student groups — but the issue is decades old. 

As old, at least, as the consumer revolt of the 1970s and the movement leading to the creation of consumer magazines, advocates, adult education courses, lobbying groups, research institutions and legislation. 

Issues then were rudimentary. With inflation raging, consumers felt exploited, and sought answers from grocery chains and others. Questions then spread to product quality, services, lending practices. Seeking to level the playing field, consumers demanded an education in marketing. 

They received it, and succeeded in shrinking the gap between them and the more sophisticated marketers. But gradually their zeal waned as living standards rose. All the same, the issue’s been there. And maybe growing. 

Critics find it difficult to argue against a strengthening of the personal bankruptcy law, which the credit card issuers seek, since clearly it is being misused by many consumers to avoid paying bills they incurred. 

But that’s just one side of the issue, the other being that many of these people were enticed into opening credit accounts by means of highly sophisticated marketing efforts that, some argue, bordered on deception. 

The intensity of the issuers’ effort, which reached a crescendo of as many as 3 billion solicitations a year, was unmatched by that of any other industry, except perhaps by magazine subscription sweepstakes. 

So intense was the quest for new users that eventually the poorest were seen as a relatively untapped market. Individuals with little credit history were offered minimal credit amounts, and those amounts raised if they managed to pay on time. Small print sometimes disguised terms. 

Students with little income or marketplace experience were cultivated in hopes they’d remain bonded to a card later in life. Colleges sometimes cooperated for a price, lending their names, an imprimatur of sorts. 

Going the limit without exceeding it has become an art among marketing people, one that perhaps can be practiced without dire consequences on educated consumers. 

The question, however and always, is whether or not the recipient is an informed consumer. 

Thanks to the consumer movement, the mass of consumers are vastly more informed than those of the 1970s. But times have changed, and maybe consumers haven’t changed with the times, as professional marketers have. 

The marketers have continued to grow in knowledge of the consumer, who is analyzed as never before, but the consumer may not be as industrious in analyzing the marketers. 

When you join a food chain’s in-house club you may receive discounts, but your purchases may be analyzed and profiled. In using your personal computer, you may leave a trail of your buying habits and interests for the edification of marketing people. When you buy a direct mail product, your name and address may be sold to another merchandizer. 

The gap may have widened again. Consumers may have to make a renewed effort. 

John Cunniff is a business analyst for The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — Napster Inc. told a federal judge it is complying with her order to police its system for unauthorized songs, but the company gave the recording industry low marks for allegedly failing to share the workload and provide required information. 

Napster told U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel in a document filed Monday that “critical disputes” have arisen as to what is required by an injunction  

and what has been requested by the recording industry. 

The Redwood City-based company says the record labels suing it have misconstrued the burdens the court placed on Napster, and have falsely interpreted the March 5 order to mean Napster must search for infringing content even prior to proper notification form copyright holders. 

More specifically, Napster says many of the submissions of copyright works from the recording industry have no associated file names for the company to block. 

“Where a file name is connected to the work in the notice, Napster will exclude them. Where no file name is connected to the work, Napster will not,” the company’s compliance report to the court read. 

Patel had ordered Napster to identify the steps it had taken to comply with the injunction within five business days of service of notice. 

The Recording Industry Association of America did not immediately return calls Wednesday, but a spokeswoman said Monday that Napster simply was trying to buy more time with the courts by wrangling over the intent of the injunction. 

“We believe the court’s intent is clear. Napster is required to stop infringing. Stall tactics are unacceptable,” RIAA spokeswoman Amy Weiss said Monday. 

Napster also requested in Monday’s compliance report that the court convene a hearing at which the parties could address their differences in understanding the injunction handed down by Patel. 

Napster said the growing costs of implementing the new screening technology has interrupted other business plans. 

Napster claims it has spent $150,000 and more than 2,700 employee hours to develop and implement a screening technology to block access to unauthorized content. 

On Tuesday, Napster announced it had signed a deal with Gracenote, a Berkeley-based company that maintains a database of more than 12 million musical works cataloged by artist and title, including spelling variations that may have slipped through Napster’s system in the past. 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.napster.com 

http://www.riaa.org 

http://www.gracenote.com 

NEW YORK — With corporate America unable to quiet its drumbeat of earnings and revenue warnings, economists and analysts say a dramatic rate cut by the Federal Reserve is needed to jolt sagging financial markets and restore investor confidence. 

Investors looking for indications that markets are healthy should wait for a string of solid days on Wall Street, analysts said. 

Worries of an international economic slowdown dragged down stocks Wednesday. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 317 points, closing below the 10,000 level for the first time since October. 

While the Fed is expected to slash interest rates by one-half point next Tuesday, Wall Street is seeking a fatter rate cut to trigger a rebound. 

Stock market declines “usually end when investor frustration is at its highest level,” said Gary Thayer, chief economist at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. “What is historically an encouraging sign is a market recovery on big volume. We’ve had some rally attempts, but the sentiment is still very negative.” 

Ricky Harrington, an analyst at Wachovia Securities, said a market rebound will not occur until investor sentiment is downright “pessimistic.” 

The dominant feeling among investors “has moved from complacency to concern,” he said. 

While investors remain focused on pessimistic financial forecasts by some of the nation’s biggest companies, including Intel Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc., earnings reports tend to be lagging indicators and not the best way to gauge the health of the U.S. economy, said Sung Won Sohn, an economist at Wells Fargo & Co. 

Low unemployment and rising wages, Sohn argued, suggest the average American is in reasonable financial shape. The key, he added, is to restore consumer confidence, which fell for the fifth month in a row in February to its lowest level in more than four years. 

“The reality is not as bad as the perception,” Sohn said. 

Sohn said Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan needs to pleasantly surprise investors by cutting rates by three-quarters of a point or more. “That could not only stop the slide, but start a small rally,” Sohn said. 

But not all economists believe reversing Wall Street’s slide is as simple as a shift in monetary policy. 

William V. Sullivan Jr., a senior economist at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, said evidence of a rebound in corporate profits is essential. And Steven Milunovich, the top strategist for technology investing at Merrill Lynch, believes the outlook for a near-term recovery in corporate profits remains grim. 

“We’re pretty much writing off 2001,” Milunovich said. “So you’re looking at 2002.” 

The 18-year-old cat complains mildly as veterinarian Bruce Max Feldmann inserts a needle in his neck and prepares to give him a fluid infusion.  

Veterinary nurse Annie Van Nes holds the animal firmly and croons in his ear as he growls softly. But for the most part, the procedure passes quickly and quietly. As soon as he’s done, Thomas Cat gets a nibble treat and instant gratification – release in the familiar surroundings of his own home.  

No hated cat carrier, no barking dogs or strange smells, no fluorescent lights or metal tables.  

Thomas is one of hundreds of local pets that get the doctor to come to him, rather than the other way around. While house calls for sick humans may have gone  

the way of the horse and buggy, a growing number of American veterinarians are switching to a traveling practice. The American Association of Housecall Veterinarians estimates there are at least 1,000 vets nationwide who make house calls their primary business. And many veterinary hospitals today offer the option of a home visit for certain procedures, most notably euthanasia. 

Vets are willing to make house all for one major reason: freedom. The cost of owning and operating a fixed clinic, especially with the Bay Area’s astronomic rents and housing prices, means that veterinarians today have to take on a lot of overhead. Most veterinary hospitals have several owners and a large staff. Feldmann, a Berkeley resident who ran his own practice in Kensington for 10 years, said, “I had a huge ‘nut’ of fundamental expenses I had to cover each month just to stay in business.” Now he has almost eliminated his overhead and he has much more flexibility to travel and take days off when he wants. 

Oakland-based Dr. Charles McKinney, who runs the All-Seasons Mobile Veterinary Clinic, went to work in a veterinary hospital when he graduated from UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in 1975. He assumed that was the setting in which he’d serve out his career. But as he got to know the business better, he could envision himself “suffocating in bills,” he said. 

“At a fixed clinic, I’d have to see at least eight patients a day, and I’d have to average $600 each to make my overhead,” McKinney said. Since he created his mobile practice 10 years ago, McKinney limits himself to a maximum of six visits a day.  

Making house calls inevitably takes the veterinarian into some unusual situations. While both Feldmann and McKinney decline to tell tales, McKinney says he’s “eliminated a whole class of people,” difficult and sometimes unreliable clients, by giving up night calls. As for the day-to-day experience of examining a pet in its own home, there are some tricks of the trade: See the animal in the kitchen (where the best light usually is), and ask the owner to be prepared for the visit (confine your cat before it runs under the bed). 

Feldmann and McKinney bill more up front for their visits than clinics charge. A typical office visit for a cat or dog runs $38 in Berkeley. Feldmann charges $60 for his house calls; McKinney charges $70 for his. But the traveling vets also can save their clients some money. Feldmann provides flea medicine at a discount to his customers, and McKinney says that while most pet vaccinations run $28 at a clinic, he charges only $11. 

House-call veterinarians are a minority among their colleagues. In the East Bay, there are three: Feldmann, McKinney, and Dr. Jenny Taylor, a holistic vet who runs a business called Creature Comforts out of Alameda. Initially, they may be viewed with a bit of suspicion by established clinics, but both Feldmann and McKinney say they often have customers referred to them now.  

“My best advertising is other vets,” McKinney said. “They realize there is a need for someone to go to the home to perform euthanasia, or where the owner is elderly and can’t easily get out.” Other clients include parents of young children or those with multiple animals.  

Veterinarians like Feldmann and Taylor do not have access to the specialized medical equipment of a fixed clinic, but all the same, they can take care of many of a pet’s basic needs: vaccinations, teeth cleaning, even minor surgeries. Feldmann claims he can take care of “98 to 99 percent of what needs to be done” right in the family kitchen. 

“He does surgery right on the counter; it’s so cool!” said Kim Zvik, who has had Feldmann come to her home to remove an abscess from her cat, Bear. With a menagerie that includes two dogs, a fish, a horse, and a couple of children, Zvik is only too happy to have a vet who comes right to her house. She’s been a customer for four years. 

McKinney is able to perform even more procedures with his mobile clinic, including spaying, neutering and treatment of simple fractures and wounds. More serious or specialized cases are referred to a veterinary hospital.  

The largest part of the house-call visit is also the hardest. Feldmann and McKinney estimate that about 20 percent of their calls involve putting a pet to sleep. Performing euthanasia at home eases the pain both of the animals and of the human guardians, who don’t want their sick pet to endure the stress of a trip to the hospital at the end of its life. As one client told Feldmann, “I don’t want my dog’s last experience to be the place he hates the most.”  

Wednesday, Mar. 14

Stagebridge Free Acting  

& Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

St. Patrick’s Day  

Musical Celebration  

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Guitar duo with Devon and Mark.  

Call 644-6107 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Making Additions Match  

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Avoid the tacked-on look with architect/columnist/instructor Arrol Gellner.  

$35 525-7610 

Ethics, Genetic Technologies  

& Social Responsibility 

3 - 6 p.m. 

Townsend Center for the Humanities 

220 Stephens Hall  

UC Berkeley  

What are the social responsibilities of scientists, policy analysts, and citizens in the proposed applications of genetic technologies? Join a panel of experts, including Charles Weiner of UC Berkeley, in attempting to answer this question.  

Scholastic Book Fair  

8 - 9 a.m. & 1:45 - 3:45 p.m. 

Jefferson School Cafetorium  

Acton & Rose  

Reasonably-priced Scholastic books will be sold to promote books and reading and to raise money for the school. Free  

525-7567  

Politics of Global Warming 

Noon  

Harris Room  

119 Moses Hall  

UC Berkeley  

Peter Lydon, IGS visiting scholar, and Antonia Herzog, UC San Diego/UC Berkeley, will discuss the political aspects of this global issue. Bring a brown bag lunch. 

Planning Commission  

7 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Discussion and possible action on a recommended set of General Plan Subcommittee Amendments to the Safety, Open Space and Environmental Management Elements. 

Commission on Disability  

6:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Discussion of the general plan and recommendations from the Housing Subcommittee and the Transportation Subcommittee. Also to be discussed will be the ADA Transition Plan.  

Thursday, March 15

Simplicity Forum 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Library 

Claremont Branch  

2940 Benveue Ave.  

Facilitated by Cecile Andrews, author of “Circles of Simplicity,” learn about this movement whose philosophy is “the examined life richly lived.” Work less, consume less, rush less, and build community with friends and family.  

Call 549-3509 or visit  

www.seedsofsimplicity.org  

LGBT Catholics Group  

7:30 p.m. 

Newman Hall  

2700 Dwight Way (at College)  

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender Catholics group are “a spiritual community committed to creating justice.” This meetings discussions will center on Lenten Service. 654-5486 

Harriet Tubman Re-created 

3:30 p.m. 

South Branch Library  

1901 Russell St.  

Storyteller and musician Jamie Myrick will present an interactive musical performance which introduces a heroine and her deeds. Information about the secret codes and maps used as part of the Underground Railroad will be shared. Free 

Berkeley Metaphysical  

Toastmasters Club  

6:15 - 7:30 p.m.  

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysics come together. Ongoing first and third Thursdays each month. 869-2547 

Cancer Support Group 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

Summit Medical Center 

Markstein Cancer Education & Prevention Center 

450 30th St., Second Floor  

Oakland  

Free support group for families, friends, and patients diagnosed with cancer.  

869-8833 to register  

Fair Campaign Practices  

Commission  

7:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Discussion and action regarding possible violations of the Berkeley Election Reform Act with respect to the first and second pre-election statements filed Oct. 5 and Oct. 26, 2000, late contribution reports and semi-annual statements filed Jan. 31, 2001.  

Myanmar: The Golden  

Kingdom  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Philip Hassrick of Lost Frontiers will introduce you to Myanmar’s unique history and culture.  

Call 527-4140 

“Respecting Creation”  

7:30 p.m. 

King Middle School  

1781 Rose St.  

Winona LaDuke, Native American Indian activist, environmentalist, author, and Green Party Vice Presidential candidate will speak about the environmental situation under the Bush administration, including California’s power dilemma. A benefit for KPFA and Speak Out.  

$10 - $12 848-6767 x609  

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107 

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

— 

Dam Them Rivers  

7 - 9 p.m. 

Wheeler Hall, Room 30  

UC Berkeley  

Steve Rothert of American Rivers and Steve Linaweaver of International Rivers Network will discuss the damming of the Nile and the Bujagoli Dam. Free  

Celtic Theology  

6:30 p.m. 

Dinner Board Room  

Flora Lamson Hewlett Library  

2400 Ridge Rd.  

Thomas O’ Loughlin, lecturer a the University of Wales, will present a lecture entitled “A Celtic Theology: The Dream, the Myth, and Some Questions for Academics.”  

649-2490 

Jazz Singers’ Collective  

8 - 10 p.m. 

Anna’s Bistro  

1801 University Ave.  

Featuring Marya Ashworth, Rory Bakke, Vicki Burns and Kathy Freeburg with Mark Little on piano.  

Time Windows  

4 p.m. 

North Branch Library  

1170 The Alameda  

Kathryn Reiss, Oakland author of nine suspense novels for middle school and young adult readers will speak. Free 

649-3943  

Scholastic Book Fair  

8 - 9 a.m. & 1:45 - 3:45 p.m. 

Jefferson School Cafetorium  

Acton & Rose  

Reasonably-priced Scholastic books will be sold to promote books and reading and to raise money for the school. Free  

525-7567  

Evaluate to Motivate  

12:10 - 1:10 p.m.  

California Department of Health Services  

2151 Berkeley Way, Room 804 

The State Health Toastmasters present “Take the Terror Out of Talking!” Session five of six. Free  

649-7750 

Berkeley Path Wanderers  

7 - 9 p.m.  

Live Oak Park Recreation Center 

1200 Shattuck Ave.  

Richard Schwartz, author of “Berkeley 1900: Daily Life at the Turn of the Century,” will speak on Berkeley’s early biways. Free  

527-2693 

Empowering Youth for Social Change 

6 - 8:30 p.m.  

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave.  

Speaker panel and community meeting. Free and open to the public.  

642-4475 

Friday, March 16

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Living Philosophers  

10 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.  

Free Writing, Cashiering & Computer Literacy Class 

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

AJOB Adult School  

1911 Addison St.  

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700. 

www.ajob.org 

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

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

Call 549-2970  

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Gay & Lesbian Panel Discussion 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Everyone is welcome.  

Call 644-6107 

Scholastic Book Fair  

8 - 9 a.m. & 1:45 - 3:45 p.m. & 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. 

Jefferson School Cafetorium  

Acton & Rose  

Reasonably-priced Scholastic books will be sold to promote books and reading and to raise money for the school. Children and adults are invited to wear pajamas for Pamjama-Rama reading night from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.  

525-7567  

Saturday, March 17  

Rockridge Writers 

3:30 - 5:30 p.m. 

Spasso Coffeehouse  

6021 College Ave.  

Poets and writers meet to critique each other’s work. “Members’ work tends to be dark, humorous, surreal, or strange.”  

e-mail: berkeleysappho@yahoo.com 

Light Search & Rescue  

9 a.m. - Noon  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

A free class as part of Community Emergency Response Training (CERT). Sponsored by the Berkeley Fire Dept. and the Office of Emergency Services.  

Call 644-8736 

Burma Human Rights Day  

2 p.m.  

Berkeley Fellowship Hall  

1924 Cedar (at Bonita)  

KPFA Journalist Dennis Bernstein and members of the Burmese Resistance Movement will speak. Sponsored by the Burmese American Democratic Alliance and the Berkeley Fellowship Unitarian Universalists Social Action Committee.  

528-5403  

Berkeley Folk Dancers Fun Night 

7:45 - 10:45 p.m. 

Live Oak Park Hall  

Shattuck at Berryman  

“The Green Party” Dance  

$5 - $7  

655-3074 

Feminist Politics of Family  

9 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.  

Maude Fife Room (315) 

Wheeler Hall  

UC Berkeley  

A yearly symposium highlighting graduate student work. The focus of the conference this year is re-envisioning feminist conceptions of the 21st century family. Keynote speakers include Evelyn Nakato Glenn on “Caring” and Carol Queen on “Erotic Families in Choice.” Free and open to the public.  

643-3040 

Sunday, March 18 

East Bay Men’s Chorus Rehearsal  

6:30 p.m. 

University Lutheran Chapel  

College & Haste  

UC Berkeley 

Calling for gay and bisexual men and their allies and friends to join this choral ensemble directed by J.R. Foust. There is no obligation to join the chorus after the first rehearsal. Rehearsal season runs March through July.  

Call to RSVP 664-0260 or e-mail eastbaymenschorus@yahoo.com 

“Parenting in the Second Half of Life” 

10:30 a.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Author Roberta Maisel will discuss ways parents and their grown children can get on a positive and guilt-free path.  

848-0237  

“Hope Against Darkness”  

7:30 p.m. 

Newman Hall  

2700 Dwight Way (at College) 

Richard Rohr will respond to the questions: What is the darkness? What is hope?  

848-7812  

The Bungalow - Tradition & Transformation 

10 a.m. - 1 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by architect/contractor and West Berkeley bungalow restorer Barry Wagner.  

$35  

525-7610 

Awareness In Action  

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place  

Barr Rosenberg will speak on the Skillful Means teachings and practices toward a joyous, energetic, and relaxed approach to work.  

843-6812 

T. Rex: Mover & Shaker  

2 p.m.  

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley  

John Hutchinson of the Department of Integrative Biology at UCB, using video and hands-on activities, will demonstrate how some of the largest creatures roamed the earth. Free with museum admission.  

Monday, March 19

Timber Framing  

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Instructed by builder/timber framer Doug Eaton.  

$35  

525-7610 

Socratic Solutions  

7:30 - 9 p.m.  

International House  

Home Room  

UC Berkeley  

The Socratic Society presents a lecture by Theoharis Kemos on Socratic insights into our social problems. Celebrate Socrates’ 2470th birthday anniversary. Free 

Tuesday, March 20 

“Great Decisions” - Mexico Reexamined  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

The first in a series of eight weekly lectures with the goal of informing the public of current major policy issues. Many of the lectures are presented by specialists in their field and are often from the University of California. Feedback received at these lectures is held in high regard by those in the government responsible for national policy.  

$5 single session 

Call Berton Wilson, 526-2925 

Berkeley Intelligent Conversation  

7 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

Jewish Community Center  

1414 Walnut Ave. (at Rose)  

With no religious affiliation, this twice-monthly group, led informally by former UC Berkeley extension lecturer Robert Berent, seeks to bring people together to have interesting discussions on contemporary topics. This evenings discussion topic is death and dying in celebration of the Ides of March.  

Call 527-9772  

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

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

Call Wade, 531-8664 

Free! Early Music Group  

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

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

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

Lavendar Lunch 

12:30 - 1:30 p.m. 

Pacific School of Religion 

1798 Scenic Ave.  

Mudd Bldg., Room 103  

Unitarian-Universalist minister Sean Parker Dennison discusses his experiences as a transgender minister working in parish ministry.  

849-8206 

Rethinking Creation  

7 p.m. 

Tucson Common Room  

Church Divinity School of the Pacific 

2450 Le Conte Ave.  

Dr. Sjoerd L. Bonting will speak on “Rethinking Creation: ‘Chaos Events’ and Theology.”  

Call 848-8152 

TREES Forum  

12:30 p.m. 

Hewlett Library  

2400 Ridge Rd., Dinner Board Room  

Marty Kheel will present “Women, Animals and Nature: Eco-feminist Reflections.”  

trees@gtu.edu 

Debate Lobbying 

Noon  

Harris Room  

119 Moses Hall  

UC Berkeley  

Kevin Esterling, Robert Wood Johnson Fellow, UC Berkeley, will discuss “Does Policy Research Matter in Lobbying Debates?” Bring a brown bag lunch. Free  

Advice for Life  

12:30 - 2:30 p.m. 

Albany Senior Center 

646 Masonic Ave.  

Albany  

A series of Tuesday presentations and discussions that will cover: Memory loss, assertiveness, loss, grief, insight into life changes, opening communication in relationships, and independence in the later years. Free  

Wednesday, March 21  

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Free Writing, Cashiering & Computer Literacy Class 

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

AJOB Adult School  

1911 Addison St.  

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700. 

www.ajob.org 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Chimneys From A - Z  

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by Irish Sweep Sally McKnight.  

$35  

525-7610 

Design Dung  

7 - 9 p.m.  

School of Journalism Library  

121 North Gate Hall  

UC Berkeley  

Part of the Terner Series, an informal salon-style discussion series, which brings together industry professionals, students, and interested community members. This session is a discussion of the failure to communicate good and bad architecture. Free 

Thursday, March 22  

Duomo Readings Open Mic.  

6:30 - 9 p.m. 

Cafe Firenze  

2116 Shattuck Ave.  

With featured poet Anna Mae Stanley and host Louis Cuneo.  

644-0155 

Trekking in Bhutan  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Ruth Ann Kocour and Elizabeth Rassiga will share slides of their 25-day journey along the Snow Leopard Trek to the sacred mountain Chomolhari and beyond. Free 

Call 527-4140 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Basic Electrical Theory & National Electrical Code 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by author, speaker and retired City of Oakland Building Inspector Redwood Kardon. 

$35  

525-7610 

Living Philosophers  

10 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.  

Friday, March 23 

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

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

Call 549-2970  

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

“Jewish Holidays from a Secular Perspective”  

8 p.m.  

Albany Community Center  

1249 Marin Ave.  

Albany  

Hershl Hartman, international authority on secular humanistic Judaism, will speak. Sponsored by Kol Hadash, Northern California Community for Humanistic Judaism.  

428-1492 

Saturday, March 24 

Ashkenaz Dance-A-Thon 

2 p.m. - 2 a.m.  

Ashkenaz  

1370 San Pablo Ave.  

Join Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers along with African, Cajun, North African, Balkan, reggae, and Caribbean bands in this twelve hour dance music-fest. This is Ashkenaz big fundraiser for making improvements, including a new dance floor and ventilation system.  

$20 donation  

525-5054 or visit www.ashkenaz.com  

Disaster First Aid 

9 a.m. - Noon  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

A free class as part of Community Emergency Response Training (CERT). Sponsored by the Berkeley Fire Dept. and the Office of Emergency Services.  

Call 644-8736 

“LGBT Family Night at the Y” 

6 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley YMCA  

2001 Allston Way  

The third annual free night for gay and lesbian families at the Y. The event will feature floor hockey, swimming, soccer, basketball and other sports, as well as arts and crafts. Free; donation requested.  

Call 848-9622 

Diabetes & Cardiovascular Disease Health Clinic 

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church  

2024 Ashby Ave.  

Dr. Lenore Coleman, Bayer Clinical Science specialist and certified diabetes educator and Dr. Cassandra Herbert Whitman, Alta Bates Medical Associates will be available to answer questions. Free comprehensive screenings will be given people to identify cardiovascular risk factors. Free 

848-2050 

Energy Ideas for Remodeling  

9:30 - 11 a.m.  

City Energy Officer Neal De Snoo will conduct a seminar on the options available for incorporating energy efficient fixtures and systems into residential remodeling and renovation projects. Sponsored by Truitt & White Lumber Company of Berkeley. Free 

Call 649-2674 for reservations  

Visit www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/energy for info. on energy conservation and efficiency 

Hunger Hike in the Redwoods  

10 a.m.  

Joaquin Miller Park  

Ranger Station on Sanborn Dr.  

Oakland  

Join the Alameda County Community Food Bank for this educational hike. Enjoy the views while learning about local edible and medicinal plants. Bring a bag lunch.  

$25 donation  

834-FOOD x327 

Sunday, March 25  

Women in Science & Technology  

1 - 4 p.m.  

Lawrence Hall of Science  

UC Berkeley  

In celebration of Women’s History Month, LHS presents a day to inspire and inform students. Women who work in such fields as computer graphics, geology, and astronomy demonstrate how they use math, science, and technology in their professional lives. Free with museum admission.  

Monday, March 26  

The New House of Representatives 

Noon  

Harris Room  

119 Moses Hall  

UC Berkeley  

Lois Capps, congresswoman, (D., Santa Barbara), will discuss “The Makeup of the New House of Representatives.” Bring a brown bag lunch. Free 

Tuesday, March 27 

“Great Decisions” - European Integration  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

The first in a series of eight weekly lectures with the goal of informing the public of current major policy issues. Many of the lectures are presented by specialists in their field and are often from the University of California. Feedback received at these lectures is held in high regard by those in the government responsible for national policy.  

$5 single session 

Call Berton Wilson, 526-2925 

Free Writing, Cashiering & Computer Literacy Class 

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

AJOB Adult School  

1911 Addison St.  

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700. 

www.ajob.org 

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

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

Call Wade, 531-8664 

Free! Early Music Group  

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

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

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

Wednesday, March 28 

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Conversations in Commedia 

7:30 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave. (at Prince) 

Mime Troupe/Reinhabitory Theatre legends Judy Goldhaft, Jane Lapiner and Peter Berg 

$6 - $8  

Call 849-2568 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Thursday, March 29  

Duomo Readings Open Mic.  

6:30 - 9 p.m. 

Cafe Firenze  

2116 Shattuck Ave.  

With featured poet Georgia Popoff and host Mark States.  

644-0155 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Friday, March 30 

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

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

Call 549-2970  

Living Philosophers  

10 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.  

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

“Yellowstone Buffalo” Screening 

7 p.m.  

Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists  

Cedar & Bonita  

A compilation video exposing the ongoing slaughter of Yellowstone’s wild buffalo herd. Seventy five percent of donations go to the Buffalo Field Campaign’s front-line efforts to protect the buffalo herd. Sponsored by A First Amendment Center, Berkeley. Free 

287-9406  

Saturday, March 31  

Shelter Operations Class  

9 a.m. - Noon  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

A free class as part of Community Emergency Response Training (CERT). Sponsored by the Berkeley Fire Dept. and the Office of Emergency Services.  

Call 644-8736 

Compiled by Chason Wainwright 

Rumors of demise nonsense 

Editor: 

I‘d like thank all of the kind people who called with condolences, thinking the beleaguered LPC Commissioners had lost our effort to insert some rationality into the city of Berkeley’s conflict of interest dogmas.  

To paraphrase Mark Twain, however, rumors of our defeat are greatly exaggerated. In fact, to quote John Paul Jones, “we have not yet begun to fight”. We petitioned the Court of Appeal to hear our case, but since they’re too busy we’ll just start our case in Superior Court instead. That’s all that’s happening. I hope it won’t take too long to get a decision on the merits.  

And on the Mark Twain web page (yes, there is one) I found an even better quote to paraphrase: We have a commission system which is superior to any in the world; and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding nine people every month who don’t know anything and can’t read. 

Becky O’Malley 

Berkeley 

Wozniak should step down 

Editor: 

The teapot tempest in Berkeley’s Community Environmental Advisory Commission over conflicting interests continues. Berkeley’s attorney has twice declared that senior scientist and general radiation booster Gordon Wozniak’s longtime employment at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab prevents him from voting on lab pollution issues without the appearance of personal benefit. Refusing to resign, Mr Wozniak is waving a writ from his own lawyer defending the right of public employees to serve in public positions like commissions.  

Unfortunately, this has nothing to do with the problem outlined by the city attorney. Mr. Wozniak is welcome to serve on any public body that is not regularly addressing controversial issues between the city and his employer, where his vote in the lab’s favor will always be suspect. Presently, there are serious environmental contamination issues with LBNL like their Tritium Labeling Facility, which has been regularly unloading radioactive waste on us in the form of tritiated water for decades.  

After the trees, groundwater and the next- door Lawrence Hall of Science were found to be radioactive enough to qualify for Super-Fund Status, the Berkeley City Council hired an independent science consultant whose first draft report just arrived. The report did not address all the concerns raised by the local watchdog group, the Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste, but it does demonstrate in numerous ways why the Tritium Facility should close immediately . Berkeley is depending on their environmental commission to translate the report and recommend an appropriate course of action, which probably means huge clean-up and relocation expenses for LBNL and the Dept. of Energy who run this circus. Mr. Wozniak claims that he is not rewarded for his 100 percent pro-Lab votes but I have to wonder whether he would have succeeded as well as he has if he had joined the growing chorus of scientific voices critical of DOE’s self-serving radiation standards.  

Another CEAC commissioner resigned after the city attorney claimed conflict with his newly elected school board position. I’ve been unable to imagine the school board pitted against CEAC over a pollution problem, but I do respect the ex-commissioner’s sacrifice for integrity and less controversy for our environmental process. It’s time to quiet this teapot.  

Mark McDonald 

Berkeley 

Teachers should take public transit 

Editor: 

I find it hard to sympathize with BUSD workers or neighborhood residents in their complaints about not having enough on-street parking. 

Here are some thoughts I had after reading Wendy Alfsen’s letter (3/5). 

Residents with cars should have a parking space on their property. It they don’t, then they shouldn’t expect the city to reserve them a free one on the street. 

People working at BUSD or nearby have no more right to the street parking than residents do. The street is public property, but I suppose people or carpools could be leased a parking slot for their exclusive use. This would put a price on scarce parking resources. 

People working at BUSD really shouldn’t be coming by car.  

The area is abundantly served by buses. People who come to work alone, carrying minimal baggage, and don’t use the car during the day, really should be using our fine public transit. 

How much stuff do teachers and administrators have to lug with them? Is it so much 

that it can’t be carried in a briefcase or a knapsack? Even people who have chosen to live far from transit, can find a parking lot for the car, and walk or ride the bus the rest of the way. 

I guess ‘m biased, because I use the bus and my knapsack to get about Berkeley.  

I know it can be done.  

Steve Geller 

Berkeley 

Need budget before tax cut 

Dear Editor,  

I think the Emperor has new clothes!  

How can President Bush justify giving back a huge amount of money to the rich when he doesn’t have an approved budget in place so he knows how much he’s going to spend?  

Are we all going to sit back and tell him what a marvelous new suit he’s wearing?  

Anne Smith 

Berkeley  

Bailey corrected 

Editor: 

I don’t know a pet who isn’t thrilled by Bailey the Labrador’s run for Berkeley City Council, but I do know a few Malamutes, Rottweillers, Dobermans, etc who would like to have a word with Bailey’s owner/guardian/belly scratcher/campaign manager, Doug Fielding, for his misstatement of the party platform (Berkeley Daily Planet, Forum, 3/9/01). 

There are two animal shelters in Berkeley. One is operated by the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society. The other - the Berkeley Animal Care Shelter - is operated by the city. Pets are unanimous in their desire to see both supported by the community, but it is the latter, the municipal shelter, that must be replaced. Notwithstanding the ongoing efforts of its compassionate staff and volunteers, the facility is at best a marginally humane physical space for impounded pets. So, clearly, Fielding misquoted our candidate when he called for a new Humane Society building. 

Cats are singing it from moonlit fences. Dogs are digging up favors and fetching votes. Bailey is their man. Or at least their pup.  

His willingness to do the dirty work is apparent, as Fielding pointed out, in his scurrying about with the household toilet brush. No one’s quite sure what it means when he does the same with the household’s shoes and socks, but all are confident it serves the public. 

Paul Klein 

Albany 

Don’t relax standards 

Editor: 

The UC president and the outreach director should be fired for easing standards; the latter should be made to repay the $207,000 he received in salary for the year in which he retroactively awarded credit to students for nonexistent coursework.  

Richard Thompson 

San Diego

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm.”An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels like an earthworm, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more. $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

UC Berkeley Art Museum “The Mule Train: A Journey of Hope Remembered” through March 26. An exhibit of black and white photographs that capture the fears and faith of those who traveled from Marks, Mississippi to Washington, D.C. ,with mule-drawn wagons to attend the Poor People's Campaign in December, 1967; “Joe Brainard: A Retrospective,” Through May 27. The selections include 150 collages, assemblages, paintings, drawings, and book covers. Brainard’s art is characterized by its humor and exuberant color, and by its combinations of media and subject matter; Muntadas - On Translation: The Audience, Through April 29. This conceptual artist and pioneer of video, installation, and Internet art presents three installations. Ernesto Neto/MATRIX 19 A Maximum Minimum Time Space Between Us and the Parsimonious Universe, Through April 15. Made from disposable materials such as styrofoam pellets, glass, paper, paraffin wax, and nylon stockings, Neto’s sensual sculptural works provoke viewers to interact with his art. $6 general; $4 seniors and students age 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 11 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. 642-0808. 

UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 by 40-foot replica of the fearsome dinosaur made from casts of bones of the most complete T. Rex skeleton yet excavated. When unearthed in Montana, the bones were all lying in place with only a small piece of the tailbone missing. “Pteranodon” A suspended skeleton of a flying reptile with a wingspan of 22-23 feet. The Pteranodon lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. Free. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821 

Lawrence Hall of Science “Math Rules!” Ongoing. A math exhibit of hands-on problem-solving stations, each with a different mathematical challenge.“Within the Human Brain” Ongoing. Visitors test their cranial nerves, play skeeball, master mazes, match musical tones and construct stories inside a simulated “rat cage” of learning experiments. “Vision,” Through April 15 Get a very close look at how the eyes and brain work together to focus light, perceive color and motion, and process information. “T. Rex on Trial,” Through May 28 Where was T. Rex at the time of the crime? Learn how paleontologists decipher clues to dinosaur behavior. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza. Computer Lab, Saturdays 12:30 - 3:30 p.m. $7 for adults; $5 for children 5-18; $3 for children 3-4. 642-5132 

924 Gilman St. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted $5; $2 for a year membership March 16: The P.A.W.N.S., Kill the Messenger, Phoenix Thunderstone, Lesser of Two, Dory Tourette & The Skirtheads; March 17: The Hoods, Benumb, Above The World, Chrome Disorder, Eulogy; March 23: 18 Visions, Walls of Jericho, Time In Malta, Undying, Betray the Species; March 24: Workin’ Stiffs, The Bodies, Strychnine, East Bay Chasers, For the Alliance; March 30: Deathreat, Ahimsa, F*** God In the Face, The Black, Creation Is Crucifixion 525-9926  

Albatross Pub All music at 9 p.m. unless noted March 15: Keni “El Lebrijano”; March 17: Maureen Brennan Group 1822 San Pablo 843-2473 

Ashkenaz March 14, 9 p.m.: West Coast Swing AllStars, dance lesson at 8 p.m.; March 15, 9 p.m.: Babatunde Olatunji; March 16, 9:30 p.m.: Samba Ngo; March 18, 5 - 10 p.m.: Aid for Ahmedabad Earthquake Relief Concert featuring Vinyl, New Monsoon, Raja & Srini, plus Henry Kaiser, $20; March 24, 2 p.m. - 2 a.m.: Ashkenaz fourth annual dance-a-thon featuring Lavay Smith, African, Caribbean, reggae, Balkan, North African and cajun bands for 12 hours of nonstop dance music; May 6, 7 p.m.: Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble 1370 San Pablo Ave. (at Gilman) 525-5054 or www.ashkenaz.com  

Eli’s Mile High Club Doors open at 8 p.m. March 16: Little Jonny & the Giants; March 17: Sugar G; March 23: Carlos Zialcita; March 24: Daniel Castro; March 30: Craig Horton Blues Band 3629 MLK Jr. Way Oakland  

Jazzschool/La Note All music at 4:30 p.m. March 18: Wayne Wallace Septet $6 - $12 2377 Shattuck Ave.  

Live Oak Concert Series All music at 7:30 p.m. March 18: Mark Sanders, flute, David Cheng, violin, Darcy Rindt, viola, Paul Rhodes, cello. Flute quartets of Haydn and Mozart; March 25: Horizon Wind Quartet play music of Mendelssohn, Rossini, Ravel, Ligetti and others All concerts $8 - $10 Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St.  

Cal Performances March 23, 7 p.m. & March 24, 1 & 8 p.m.: “The King Stag: A Tragicomic Tale for the Theatre” by Carlo Gozzi $24 - $46; Zellerbach Hall UC Berkeley. 642-9988 or www.calperfs.berkeley.edu March 25, 3 p.m.: Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio perform music of Beethoven, Ravel and Tchaikovsky $32; Hertz Hall UC Berkeley 

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra April 3, and June 21, 2001. All performances begin at 8 p.m. Single $19 - $35, Series $52 - $96. Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley 841-2800  

“Treacherous Crossings” March 14, 10 a.m., March 15 & 16, 10:30 a.m. & 7 p.m. An opera about people looking for a better life, leaving Mexico to come to California. Produced entirely by 8 - 11 year olds Malcolm X Arts & Academics Magnet School Malcolm X Auditorium 1731 Prince St. 644-6313 

Za’atar Performance/Community Jam March 15, 7:30 p.m. $14 - $16 Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237 

Berkeley High School Concert Orchestra March 15, 7 p.m. Performing works by Beethoven, Haydn, Shostakovich, as well as student compositions. Sponsored by North Branch, Berkeley Public Library’s Teen Services, and the Friends of the Library Free North Branch Library 1170 The Alameda 

BHS Jazz Ensemble March 23, 7:30 p.m. The spring concert performance from the award-winning jazz ensemble. Proceeds benefit the students who will travel to Europe this summer to perform in Italy and Switzerland. $5 - $8 Florence Schwimley Little Theatre 1920 Allston Way  

Hillbillies From Mars April 8, 2 p.m. Rocking the Bay for 20 years, the Hillbillies fuse rock n’ roll, swing, Latin and African beats. $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300 

UC Alumni Chorus presents “Bravo! Opera!” April 8, 7:30 p.m. A veritable Opera chorus smorgasbord with Bizet’s “Carmen,” Verdi’s “IL trovatore,” and Copland’s “The Tenderland.” $8 - $12 Hertz Hall UC Berkeley 643-9645 

Young Emerging Artists Concert April 10, 7 - 8 p.m. The Young Musicians Program Jazz Combo will perform jazz standards and original compositions. $5 - $10 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 925-798-1300 

“Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me” by Frank MacGuinness Through March 17, Thursday - Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, 8:30 p.m. The story of three men - an Irishman, an Englishman and an American held in a prison in Lebanon. $10 - $15 8th St. Studio Theatre 2525 Eighth St. (at Dwight) 655-0813 

“A New Brain” by William Finn Through March 18, Fridays & Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, 7 p.m. Watch as Gordon Schwinn, in the face of a life-threatening brain tumor, composes a farewell concert in which all the important figures in his life make show-stopping appearances. Presented by BareStage Productions $8 - $12 Choral Rehearsal Hall, Lower Level of Caesar Chavez Student Center UC Berkeley 642-3880  

“Little Shop of Horrors” Through Apri 1, Friday & Saturday, 8 p.m., Saturday & Sunday, 2 p.m., no show Friday, March 23; $12 Berkeley Community Little Theatre Allston Way at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way Call 943-SHOW  

“The Audience Is Onto Us: An Evening of F*cked-up Theatre (of Paranoid Proportions)” March 14, 8 & 10 p.m. A comedy cabaret-style show with a bizarre and wicked bent. $4 LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. e-mail: laughdamnyou@hotmail.com 

“The Oresteia” by Aeschylus Through May 6 Directed by Tony Taccone and Stephen Wadsworth, Aeschylus trilogy will be the first production staged on the Berkeley Rep’s new prosenium stage. Please call Berkeley Repertory Theatre for specific dates and times. $15.99 - $117 Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2015 Addison St. (at Shattuck) 647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Chappy Knuckles (Semi-Regional Motorcross And) Family Fun Hour” March 19 & 20, 7 & 9 p.m. Shotgun Players’ Black Box Productions presents Old Man McGinty, who has a rubbing stone that he would love for you to touch. $10 LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. 655-0813 or visit www.shotgunplayers.com  

“The Tempest” by William Shakespeare Through April 14, Thursday - Saturday, 8 p.m. Presented by Subterranean Shakespeare and directed by Stanley Spenger $8 - $10 LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. (at Hearst) 237-7415 

Boadecia’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 14, 7 p.m.: Women’s Book Group will discuss “Wicked: The Life & Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire; March 16: Rik Isensee will read from his novel “The God Squad: A Spoof on the Ex-Gay Movement”; 398 Colusa Ave. 559-9184. www.boadeciasbooks.com 

Cody’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 14: Poetry of Murray Silverstein & Helen Wickes; March 15: Randy Shaw talks about “The Activist’s Handbook: A Primer”; March 18: Poetry of Yvonne Cannon, Lara Gularte, Richard Rocco; March 19: Jean Rouverol talks about “Refugees From Hollywood: A Journal of the Blacklist” 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852  

Duomo Reading Series and Open Mic. Thursdays, 6:30 - 9 p.m. March 15: Elanor Watson-Gove; March 22: Anna Mae Stanley; March 29: Georgia Popoff; April 5: Barbara Minton. Cafe Firenze 2116 Shattuck Ave. 644-0155. 

Lunch Poems First Thursday of each month, 12:10 - 12:50 p.m. April 5: Galway Kinnell; May 3: Student Reading Morrison Room, Doe Library UC Berkeley 642-0137 

Women’s Word March 14, 7:30 p.m. An evening of women’s word honoring International Women’s month and featuring Avotcja, Straight Out Scribes, Tureeda & Kira Allen. Hosted by Joyce Young. Open mic will follow. $4 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

“Slam the Prisons” April 6, 6 p.m. - 1 a.m. A benefit for prison activism featuring Tang, Company of Prophets, Sheryl D. Mebane and many others. Proceeds benefit the defense of New Afrikan political prisoner Khalfani X. Khaldun and the Prison Activist Resource Center. $10 La Pena Cultural Center 3205 Shattuck Ave. 898-0431  

Tours 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387 

Berkeley City Club Tours 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. The fourth Sunday of every month, Noon - 4 p.m. $2 848-7800  

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

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden Centennial Drive, behind Memorial Stadium, a mile below the Lawrence Hall of Science The gardens have displays of exotic and native plants. Tours, Saturday and Sunday, 1:30 p.m. $3 general; $2 seniors; $1 children; free on Thursday. Daily, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. 643-2755 or www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden/  

Lectures 

Berkeley Historical Society Slide Lecture & Booksigning Series Sundays, 3 - 5 p.m. $10 donation requested March 18: “Topaz Moon,” Kimi Kodani Hill will discuss artist Chiura Obata’s family and the WWII Japanese relocation camps. Berkeley Historical Center Veterans Memorial Building 1931 Center St. 848-0181 

UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Research Seminars Noon seminars are brown bag  

March 14, 4 p.m.: Akhil Redd Amar will discuss his book “The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction”; March 19, Noon: Anne Balsamo of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, will explore IT issues within the humanities; April 23, 4 p.m.: Mary Dudziach of USC will discuss “Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy.” 119 Moses Hall UC Berkeley 642-4608  

“Great Decisions” Foreign Policy Association Lectures Series Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - Noon, Through April 3; An annual program featuring specialists in the field of national foreign policy, many from University of California. Goal is to inform the public on major policy issues and receive feedback from the public. $5 per session, $35 entire series for single person, $60 entire series for couple. Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant Ave. 526-2925 

City Commons Club Lecture Series Fridays, 12:30 p.m. $1 general Students Free March 16: Paul H. Young, Jr. retired foreign service officer, will present “A Pilgrim’s Visit to Athos”; March 23: Guy Colwell, master painter of Nasters, will speak on “Using Painting to Teach Art History”; March 30: Jana Grittersova, professor of International Relations, UC Berkeley will speak on “The European Union - Integration and Expansion” Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant Ave. 848-3533 

For public art downtown, beauty’s not enough. It has to stand up to acts of God and bow to community regulation.  

Two art projects were approved by the Civic Arts Commission last September for placement on Shattuck Avenue. Six months later finds them still being reviewed to make certain that the spot chosen is perfect.  

Far from frustrated, the artists see the wait and the regulations as part of an important process of artistic creation. 

John Toki, whose sculpture “s-Hertogenbosch” – named after the city in Holland where he began the work – is already completed. Toki has had public art commissions in the past. 

“I’ve learned that the reason these things take a long time is because the public wants to get it right,” he said. “I’d rather have a group be totally satisfied, and everybody’s informed about what they’re going to get. I think they get a better piece.” 

Any public work of art must satisfy a number of very specific rules. 

“People don’t realize how much work there is behind each one of these pieces before it goes up,” said Mary Anne Benton, secretary for the Civic Arts Commission. The process of selecting the pieces involves extensive public involvement and a long selection and interview process. Once a piece is selected, the artist must prove its long-term durability.  

That means, for example, that in an earthquake it won’t fall down. 

For Wang Po Shu one of the artists whose sculpture will be placed along Shattuck Avenue, that restriction is just fine.  

“As an artist you don’t want that to happen anyway,” he said, referring to the possibility that unstable art might injure somebody. “All your life you’d be thinking about that,” he said. “You wouldn’t want to work.” 

When selecting a piece, the commission considers whether the materials and design are strong, and the artist submits an engineering report that proves the project will be stable long term.  

The art must withstand more than natural disasters. In addition to structural viability, the piece must come with a maintenance plan and have some graffiti protection.  

John N. Roberts, a Berkeley landscape architect who’s been on several of the advisory panels said artists now know they have to work within certain guidelines. “What you’re looking for with public art is someone who understands (the guidelines) but is also going to bring something totally unusual,” he said.  

“The difficult thing is to do this within a budget,” he said. “Often the requirements are so stringent and the budget is so limited that you have difficulty doing the kind of piece that you want to do.” 

Berkeley is paying $50,000 each for the two sculptures with money from Measure S. That includes the costs of material and installation. 

The artists chosen for the Shattuck Avenue projects understand well the difficulties of making sustainable art and address the questions within the design of the projects.  

Toki has spent 20 years perfecting his design for earthquake-proof ceramic sculptures. He began constructing his 14- foot ceramic sculpture, while living in Holland, helping create earthquake safe ceramic projects. “So the piece for Berkeley is earthquake proof,” he said. “The (art) commission knew that, if I put it up it was going to stay.” 

Toki hopes the brightly colored sculpture will arrest passers-by and draw them to look closer at the piece and even to touch it. He doesn’t worry about damage from too much contact. “It’s four inches thick and it will weigh close to two tons when it’s finished,” he said. “It’s going to be physically strong, the interior is fiber-glass lined. It’s going to take something pretty durable to scratch it.” 

But for Toki, the best protection is the art itself. “There’s something about ceramic that doesn’t draw vandals to my piece,” he said. 

Wang’s sculpture, “An Earth Song for Berkeley,” is in the form of a giant tuning fork that will vibrate at an inaudible frequency. He said that part of artistic creation means taking the requirements of earthquake and public safety into account.  

“My work is always site specific,” he said, meaning not only specific to physical environment like surrounding buildings, or mountains, but also to the environmental factors that affect a piece of art. He included both the fact that California is “earthquake country” and the “social reality of graffiti” as environmental factors an artist must work with. “Even when I work indoors, it’s always site specific, there’s another set of criterion or factors that one has to deal with,” he said mentioning problems associated with particular solvents. “If we want to put something in public it’s natural that we consider that part of the reality.” 

The placement of these pieces is complicated by their location. The commissioners want them at the corner of Center Street and Shattuck, near the central BART entrance.  

“The sites are so complex, there’s so much happening there,” said Steven Huss, a consultant who’s helping Berkeley through the process of placing the art. But, he said that the movement and excitement around that area is “also what makes it desirable for public art.” 

Any projects on land that BART uses, or above the BART tunnels, must also be approved for use by BART. “They have to make sure that whatever is above their tunnel has to be constructed safely so if there was an earthquake a sculpture wouldn’t crash through onto the BART train,” said Benton of the Civic Arts Commission. 

In addition, any sculpture must fit in with the long range plans BART has for that site. 

Added conditions do not phase Wang. If an artist knows the situation he or she is working with ahead of time, he said, they can tailor the project accordingly, using the complications from boundaries to force new levels of creativity.  

“It’s within the conditions you find freedom, if you pose the conditions as limitations your are restricting yourself, you are imprisoning yourself,” he said. “We do live in a society we do not live on an island.”

At a time when the Berkeley School Board is struggling to come up with money to protect programs from cuts, music education advocates say the district’s music programs are in sore need of additional support. 

The Berkeley Unified School District’s music programs were once the envy of the Bay Area. The Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble is still considered one of the best high school bands in the country. It tours Europe or Japan every year and regularly plays at the prestigious Monterey Jazz Festival.  

But other BUSD music programs suffer from a lack of resources, leadership and overall organization, a number of music advocates said Tuesday. 

“Berkeley used to be renowned for its music program and it still is in some ways,” said Karen McKie, a member of a Instrumental Music Committee for the district and former Parent Coordinator for the BHS Jazz Ensemble. “But we cannot get the consistent support we need for this program (from the school board). 

“We need to know that they understand the history of it, that they understand the importance of it, and that they are committed to building this program,” McKie said. “They need to say to the community at large, ‘We are building this. This is a community value.’” 

At the heart of critics’ complaints is the idea that too few music teachers are spread across too many schools, and that no full-time coordinator oversees the program to set standards and make sure they are met. 

“That students can get out of the music program and not know the difference between an oboe and a saxophone – this is unusual in the civilized world,” said Kevin A. Madden, education director at the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra. 

“We really need to think about giving this program the things its needs to be successful,” Madden said. “There needs to be a vision shared by music teachers. Kids need to have something to shoot for.” 

The district is not to blame for the state of music programs, Madden and others said. Many music programs across California have been decimated since Proposition 13 drastically cut state funding for schools in 1978. 

BUSD public information officer Karen Sarlo said Berkeley music programs have faired better than most. The district offers instrumental and vocal music instruction to all fourth and fifth graders two days a week. In middle schools (grades six through eight) and high school students can participate in a choir, orchestra or jazz band by taking the appropriate music elective. 

Much of the program’s $650,000 budget comes from money earmarked for enrichment programs in the Berkeley Public Schools Educational Excellence Project tax measure, approved overwhelmingly by Berkeley voters in 1994, Sarlo said. 

But McKie said the music program has developed new needs since the measure passed that can only be met by pouring more money into the programs.  

Berkeley schools were reconfigured in 1995. Where there were once K-3 schools, 4-6 schools, and 7-8 grade junior highs there are now K-5 schools and 6-8 grade middle schools. In practice this means the district’s 17 music teachers for grades four through eight are spread across far more schools than they were in the past. To visit the district’s 11 elementary schools and three middle schools many teachers must hit three or more schools in a single day. 

The music program needs more money, more staff and more dedicated space to operate more effectively, said Theresa Saunders, part-time coordinator for the district’s music programs today – when she can find time away from her duties as principal of Jefferson Elementary School. 

“There needs to be a real strategic plan for how the program can move from what it is to what it needs to be,” Saunders said. “Music is not a frill. It is one of the essential things that kids need to know and experience to be whole, healthy people.  

“There’s nothing else in the world like it.”  

Saunders said the music program’s long history in the district, and the fact that it is offered to students at all grade levels in some form, makes it an ideal place for the district to invest more money in arts education. 

“We don’t have arts, dance or visual arts at all grade levels,” Saunders said. “This is what we have.” 

Faced with an estimated $5 million budget deficit for next year, it may come as no surprise that directing additional funding to music is not a top priority for the Berkeley School Board. But board Vice President Shirley Issel said the board recognizes the need. 

“I think it’s widely agreed...that this program needs a director and that its not what we want it to be,” Issel said. “I’m very hopeful that we’ll find the money. I haven’t heard anyone close the door on it.” 

In a dining room turned art gallery, an antique wooden bowl bears a mark distinguishing it from other antiques. It cracked and was then wired back into use by an owner who had come to depend on it. 

“I think most people who go out looking for antiques want something old and something perfect,” said Bonnie Grossman, who runs the Ames Gallery with her husband Sy. “I think there’s beauty in imperfection.” 

A show called “On The Mend” will be running until April 14 and is made up of pre-1920, common household items such as kitchenware, clothing, tools and toys. The pieces, repaired with staples, strips of tin and leather patches bespeak another time when people who lived in rural areas or had few resources would repair goods rather than buy new ones.  

“I like the history that’s unspoken,” Grossman said pointing to a well-worn, handmade rag doll that has a patch of new fabric under its left arm where the seam had torn. “You can just see the child pulling it by the arm until it ripped and someone put gusset under its arm.” 

The Ames Gallery first opened in the back of a friend’s crafts shop on Vine Street in 1970. Sixteen months later the shop sold and the Grossmans moved the gallery temporarily into their home on Cedar Street. “We thought we could keep it going while we looked for another space, but people seemed to like coming here so we stayed.” 

Grossman said in a busy month the gallery will have 10 visitors and in a slow month, none. She said, because of the publications she advertises in, the gallery has a stronger reputation nationally and internationally than it does locally. In fact, she said if there are any local visitors they are usually brought by someone who is visiting from out of state. 

Grossman said the 78 pieces of the On The Mend Show are for sale but it’s rare to find a buyer. She said interest in mended antiques is growing but her collection is still the only one of its kind.  

Grossman holds up a teetering glass that had a broken base that was replaced with a round piece of leather. She gently removes a Blue Willow Ware Platter from its mounting on the wall to show how it had been repaired with lead staples after it had broken in half.  

Grossman is also fascinated in the time and care of some of the repair work. She points to apron hanging on the wall with barely noticeable patchwork. The mender took a great deal of time to match the fabric and laboriously line up the dots in a way in which the pattern would not be broken. 

“To match that minuscule check so you might not notice it’s been patched must have been a painstaking task,” she said. 

Grossman is selective about the mended antiques she shows. “It can be subtle but it has to be thoughtfully repaired with creativity or humor,” she said. 

Grossman has taken repair humor to heart around the house. When a settling crack appeared in the kitchen wall she didn’t have it spackled and painted, instead she hired an artist to come in and paint metal staples over the crack. She is currently looking for a craftsman to replace a broken piece of her marble kitchen counter with brass staples.  

“There’s no way to hide the crack and why would I if I can have a beautiful repair?” she said. 

Grossman said even though the pieces don’t sell very often she will continue to present the On The Mend Show every so often. “Its a favorite of mine,” she said. “I would like people to learn to look at the art and creativity of repair and not always look for the perfect pieces. A wood bowl is a wood bowl, but a wood bowl with a mend is really something.” 

For gallery information and hours, call 845-4949.

SAN FRANCISCO — Two environmental groups sued state and local regulators Tuesday for increasing the amount of dioxin an oil refinery is allowed to release into San Francisco Bay. 

Communities for a Better Environment and San Francisco BayKeeper filed suit in San Francisco Superior Court charging that the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board and the State Water Resources Control Board violated state and federal guidelines on dioxin pollution. 

The regional control board changed the amount of dioxin that the Golden Eagle Refinery, owned by Ultramar Diamond Shamrock, could release into the Bay from 0.14 picograms per liter to 0.65 picograms per liter, and the state board approved the permit.  

The groups say that the Clean Water Act prohibits the weakening of dioxin regulations. 

“The permit has gone through two sets of public hearings – first here in the region, and in the state. The environmental groups made their arguments, and in both cases state attorneys looked at it and disagreed,” said Wil Bruhns, senior engineer at the regional water board.  

“We don’t agree that their interpretation of the law is apropos in this case.” 

The suit is seeking to have the level of acceptable dioxin discharge reduced to 0.14 picograms per liter again. 

“At the end of the day, this is a very disturbing precedent for any hope of restoring water quality in San Francisco Bay and around the state,” said Jonathan Kaplan of San Francisco BayKeeper. “The bay is already so impaired by dioxins that it’s unsafe to eat any quantity of fish caught out of the bay.” 

Dioxin is a highly toxic chemical that can damage the immune system and interfere with hormones.  

The two groups also are concerned that the higher levels of dioxin that can be released will poison fishermen who eat their catches from the bay. 

Shelia Vassey from the state regulatory board declined comment on the matter, saying she had not yet seen the complaint.

In a move that could force power generators to open their books and justify their profits, the state Senate is launching its own probe into whether California’s electricity market has been illegally manipulated to drive up prices. 

Senate leader John Burton, D-San Francisco, will announce the formation of a select special committee Wednesday morning in Sacramento, said an aide to Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Garden Grove, who will serve on the committee. 

It is not unusual for such committees to subpoena records and compel testimony – efforts that energy watchdogs hope will produce evidence proving that a “cartel” of power companies have conspired to gouge California. 

“If they are the crooks they appear to be we need to get them to discuss their behavior in the public’s eye,” said Doug Heller, consumer advocate for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. 

Burton declined comment other than to say that Wednesday’s announcement concerns “potential manipulation in the energy market,” said his aide, Dave Sebeck. Dunn also wouldn’t comment. 

The power generators have consistently denied any wrongdoing and blamed the high prices on the poor planning of California lawmakers who voted to deregulate the state’s electricity market in 1996. 

The power generators imposed “unjust and unreasonable” charges totaling $555 million during December and January, according to the California Independent System Operator, which runs the state’s electricity grid. 

Even the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a strong supporter of deregulation, found that wholesalers have been overcharging for California electricity, ordering 13 companies to refund $69 million. 

Attorneys general in California, Washington and Oregon are pursuing similar investigations into the generators’ pricing practices, and U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, a Democrat from Palo Alto, called Tuesday for the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to launch inquiries as well. 

“There appears to be evidence of price-gouging in the market. If in fact that’s the case, generators deserve to be brought to justice,” Eshoo said Tuesday. 

Much of the outrage over the high prices has been focused on a handful of out-of-state energy companies whose profits doubled and tripled last year as California’s wholesale electricity prices soared. 

They include: Houston-based Dynegy, Houston-based Reliant Energy, Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke Energy, Atlanta-based Mirant, and Tulsa, Okla.-based Williams Energy, which sells power produced by AES. 

The companies entered the California market after a 1996 deregulation law prompted the state’s major utilities to sell their power plants. 

Combined, the out-of-state generators control California power plants with a capacity to produce 17,000 megawatts – slightly more than one-third of the in-state supply. 

At least five lawsuits seeking class-action status on behalf of all Californians have been filed against the out-of-state generators, alleging they colluded to drive up prices by illegally sharing sensitive market information and withholding power to create artificial shortages. 

TAX DEFAULT 

Nine California counties will lose $11 million in property taxes in the next five months because the five energy producers who owe the money say they are due even more from Southern California Edison. 

Some school districts in those counties – Imperial, San Joaquin, Riverside, Alameda, Contra Costa, Inyo, Kern and San Bernardino – said Tuesday the defaults could hurt their ability to finance expansions or repairs. 

More immediate needs, such as teacher pay, are expected to be covered through state programs. But budgets for rural counties such as Inyo were expected to suffer. 

“This has huge potential impact,” said Pat Leary, legislative representative for the California State Association of Counties. “We can put tax liens on the properties, so we will get paid, but those things can take years.” 

The suppliers – FPL Energy LLC, CalEnergy Operating Corp., Caithness Energy LLC, Coram Energy Group and EnXco Inc. – provide environmentally friendly power through sources such as solar, wind or geothermal technology.  

The generators, also called qualifying facilities, or QFs, said Edison’s debt to them is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. 

The problem stems from California’s 1995 attempt at electricity deregulation. Southern California Edison was among big utilities required to buy power through the soaring open market but limited in what rates they could charge consumers. The utilities’ resulting financial straits have spread through the industry’s food chain. 

CalEnergy real estate manager Vincent Signorotti said his company won’t be making $3.8 million of the $4.7 million owed to Imperial County in April. The $3.8 million covers CalEnergy facilities serving Edison, which has not paid the geothermal plants since November, Signorotti said. 

“The whole situation gets more desperate every day,” said Signorotti, whose plant employs 200 and is one of the Imperial County’s top three employers. 

“There is a limit to how long we can go on operating those facilities,” he said. 

More than 1,000 megawatts worth of California QF plants have already been forced to shutter operations for lack of utility payments. Still more have said they will also shut down if they don’t get some payments within the next several weeks. 

School officials said the tax defaults could hurt. 

Calipatria school district business manager Lori Wigg said her Imperial County district recently issued two sets of bonds for projects. The bonds are insured and will be paid, but if the district decides it needs another round of financing, the blow from CalEnergy could hurt its ability to sell bonds at a decent interest rate, she said. 

Other counties said they would be less affected. Riverside County is set to lose more than $195,000 from wind generator EnXco Inc. 

“It’s bad news, but quite honestly it is a drop in the bucket,” said Riverside County treasurer-tax collector Paul McDonnell. “We collect $1 billion a year. It will have no significant effect on our operations.” 

FRESNO — Rural crime fighters in the state’s agricultural heartland are hunting for a gang of thieves who for the last year have absconded with thousands of immature orange, almond and cherry trees. 

Under cover of darkness, the thieves steal into the vast unpatrolled orchards of Tulare, Kern and Fresno counties to dig up hundreds of newly planted saplings and truck them off well before the pre-dawn arrival of farmworker crews. 

“The first time they did it, they took young orange trees from certain parts of the field so you couldn’t tell anything was wrong if your weren’t looking from the road at just the right angle,” said farmer John Yohannes, owner of the 1,000-acre J.A. Ranch just north of Visalia. 

“The second time, they took trees from the middle of the field. Last time, they hit the three last rows from the road,” Yohannes said. 

Altogether, Yohannes has lost about 1,000 trees worth about $10 each, and because he has to wait until next year to replant, he’s also lost at least one year of growing time. 

Since last April, more than 2,000 citrus trees, several dozen cherry trees and a handful of apple trees have been taken from the three counties and over the last six weeks or so about 1,200 almond trees were uprooted from a Kern ranch. 

Rural detectives believe they’re dealing with professional thieves who know their way around a farm. While it’s not clear yet if all the thefts are related, the Kern and Tulare sapling heists do share some common elements. 

All the 1- to 3-foot-tall trees were pulled out of the ground soon after being planted, when the soil around the root systems was soft and easily dug up.  

Also, while the first trees were taken from rows next to roads, the bandits soon learned to removed them from areas and in patterns that tended to conceal their absence from anyone looking into the groves. 

“It was not a crime of opportunity, it was a planned-out theft. They planned out how they wanted to cover their tracks. They probably have (the almond trees) sold already,” said Kern County Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Lakey. 

Anyone who would take more than a few trees likely has a market for them, maybe in another Central Valley county or in Mexico, because it’s just not that easy to unload 1,200 trees at a pawn shop, Lakey said. Officers have been scouring swap meets and flea markets in the area with no success. 

The theft of saplings isn’t new to the three counties, which account for roughly $9 billion of the state’s $26 billion a year agricultural sector.  

But in the past, trees were mainly stolen in twos and threes by people who’d replant them in their back yards. 

“People have a really distorted view of the farm. They see it along the side of the road and the larceny in their heart comes out. The impulse to load the car trunk up with tomatoes or whatever is more than they can stand,” Lakey said. 

The mass theft of recently planted saplings, however, is something new in all the counties. 

“We have collected evidence at the scenes and all the thefts are pretty similar. Most likely they’re going to be connected to the same individuals,” said Lt. Greg Wright, head of the agricultural crimes unit at the Tulare County sheriff’s office. 

A possible break in the case came when officers in Fresno County arrested Cutberto Jimenez, 52, in May for a heist last year. He was caught after officers discovered about 900 young trees in a small orchard in Fresno County with paint brands that identified them as belonging to a Tulare county farmer. The new owner bought them without realizing they were stolen, and helped detectives track Jimenez down. 

Jimenez pleaded guilty in June to theft charges and was sentenced to 200 days in jail.  

Detectives say they are still looking into the possibility that his crime is connected in some way to the others. 

To protect growers, the Legislature has freed up $3.54 million in grants for area counties, and a $2 million federal grant is financing a high-tech system of computers and surveillance equipment. But many farmers worry that stopping determined criminals may be something beyond the scope of these programs. 

“I don’t really know if there’s any preventative measures to take,” Yohannes said. “The number of trees in this county alone is phenomenal. You can’t get security for all of them.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

Tulare County sheriff agricultural crimes unit: http://userzweb.lightspeed.net/(tilde)agunit/ 

California Farm Bureau Rural Crime Watch: http://www.cfbf.com/crime.htm 

LOS ANGELES — A subsidiary of Texaco Inc. has pleaded guilty to two felony counts of dumping waste into Southern California waterways and has been ordered to pay $4 million in fines, federal prosecutors said Monday. 

Texaco Refining and Marketing Inc. representatives agreed to the plea agreement Monday before U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Morrow in Los Angeles, said Assistant U.S. Attorney William Carter. 

The company also was placed on one year’s probation. 

“It’s the first time TRMI has been prosecuted for water pollution,” Carter said.  

He said $3 million of the fine will be used in environmental protection projects, including repairing the waterways damaged by Texaco. 

Roger Hadley, a vice president of Houston-based Texaco Refining and Marketing, entered the plea and told the judge he had no further comment. 

In one count, Texaco workers at a petroleum refinery in Wilmington failed to properly treat wastewater on Jan. 23, 1995 before discharging it into the nearby Dominguez Channel, which runs from Carson into the Pacific, Carter said. 

The refinery had a permit to discharge wastewater containing oil and grease with up to 15 parts per million. However, inspectors found water with 940 ppm. 

“Inspectors saw sheen on the water and took a sample. They found they were way over that (limit),” Carter said. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Regional Water Quality Control Board have identified Dominguez Channel as one of the most severely polluted waterways in Los Angeles County. 

In the second count, an employee at a Texaco service station in San Luis Obispo told contractors to dump between 2,000 gallons and 8,000 gallons of petroleum-filled waste into a storm drain that runs into Prefumo Creek, which also flows into the ocean. 

The contractors there used pumps and hoses to remove the waste from an underground storage tank and discharged it into a nearby storm drain on March 11, 1997, Carter said. 

The Associated Press 

EL CAJON — The high school freshman accused of killing two classmates and wounding 13 other people in and around a campus bathroom told investigators he planned to use his last bullet on himself, according to court papers. 

Charles Andrew “Andy” Williams, 15, said he counted out 40 bullets before class, stowed his father’s gun in his backpack and hid in a bathroom stall to load the revolver, investigators said in an affidavit for a search warrant that a judge unsealed late Monday afternoon. 

“He understood that his behavior was wrong and that it would result in injuring or killing people,” Sharon Lunsford, a San Diego County Sheriff’s Department investigator, wrote in the affidavit used to support a search of the apartment in Santee where Williams lived with his father. 

Williams was charged with 28 felonies, including two counts of murder, for the March 5 shooting at Santana High School in Santee, about 15 miles from downtown San Diego. 

The court papers suggest Williams carefully planned the shooting even though he had no specific target.  

He told investigators he planned to run away and kill himself after the shooting but that police and deputies thwarted his plan by arriving sooner than he expected. 

“He said that, while he did not intend to kill any particular person, if someone died, they died,” Lunsford wrote. 

The documents provide few clues to the motive for the shooting.  

Williams told investigators he had made a few friends since moving from Twentynine Palms six months earlier, that the people in Santee were “different” from those he had known before and he was disappointed with school. 

He had begun to skip school and was barred from classes several times because he was late. His father, Charles, told investigators his son had recently started talking back to him. 

The father said he had taken the boy shooting several times and kept other guns in the house in a locked cabinet. 

Lawyers for Williams in the San Diego County public defender’s office declined to comment Tuesday through a spokeswoman, Linda Miller. 

The attorneys are busy researching the case and a possible challenge to Proposition 21, the voter-approved initiative that prosecutors used to charge the boy in adult court, Miller said. 

Under Proposition 21, the San Diego district attorney was obligated to file charges in adult court because Williams is alleged to have committed murder with the special circumstances of lying in wait and killing more than one person, spokeswoman Denise Vedder said. 

The spokeswoman declined to comment on the contents of the affidavit for a search warrant and the sheriff’s department investigator did not immediately return a message left on her voice mail. 

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Opposition leaders said they would urge the president to invoke a state of emergency to give South Africans with HIV access to cheaper generic drugs. 

That won’t happen, the country’s health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, said Tuesday. Invoking a state of emergency won’t solve the dilemma, she said. 

“The issue of affordable medicines cannot be reduced to a one-dimensional debate on declaring a national emergency to secure anti-retroviral drugs for AIDS management,” she said. 

The intensity of the debate over declaring a state of emergency has shown how divided South Africa – with 10 percent of its 45 million citizens infected with HIV – remains on the AIDS issue.  

By 2010, the average life expectancy rate in South Africa is expected to drop to 36 because of the epidemic. 

A South African law allows the import of cheap, generic medications in the case of a national emergency.  

But it has never been put into force because of a lawsuit filed by many of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. That court challenge has been postponed to April 18. 

Tony Leon, leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, said he planned to ask during a parliamentary session Wednesday that President Thabo Mbeki to declare a state of emergency. 

The act, which would give the president wide-ranging powers to create new regulations, is not perfect for the AIDS crisis, his spokesman, Anthony Hazell, acknowledged Tuesday. Instead of battling the pharmaceutical firms in court, South Africa should look into narrowing the law to suit the drug firms better, he said. 

“It’s not ideal, because it’s too broad, but it’s all we have at the moment,” he said. 

But at the very least, calling for action would widen debate over how South Africans can gain access to cheaper AIDS drugs, he said. 

Declaring the epidemic a national emergency could prove counterproductive because it would infringe on South Africans’ rights and surround AIDS policy with cumbersome legal requirements, said Zachie Achmat, chairman of the Treatment Action Campaign, which has joined the government in  

the lawsuit. 

Achmat dismissed the opposition group’s move as a political ploy. “The Democratic Alliance is playing games. It is not serious about HIV and AIDS.” 

Achmat’s group is calling for the government to draft a comprehensive treatment plan.  

“We want the government to handle this as an emergency without necessarily declaring it,” he said. 

South Africa’s biggest trade federation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, on Monday repeated its appeal for Mbeki to declare the epidemic a national disaster. The group, an ally of the ruling African National Congress, first called on the government to declare the epidemic an emergency in August 1999. 

The trade federation accused the Democratic Alliance of “political opportunism” but spokesman Sipiwe Mgcina said Tuesday: “We welcome all the people who are joining the bandwagon.” 

SAN FRANCISCO — Napster Inc., in its quest to appease the recording industry and block access to unauthorized songs, has signed an agreement with a company that maintains an online database with millions of song titles to help identify copyright material. 

Napster announced Tuesday it will lean on music catalog specialist Gracenote to help it weed out copyright music. Berkeley-based Gracenote catalogs music for online information access and software applications. 

Gracenote also catalogs the spelling variants that have proved troublesome for Napster as the song-swap service tries to comply with a federal court injunction to block the trading of unauthorized content. Gracenote’s database of song titles, including misspellings, is about 12 million and is based on user submissions. 

“We’ve been exploring a partnership with Gracenote for months and the ability to quickly enlist their support in our file-filtering efforts will greatly improve our effectiveness,” Napster CEO Hank Barry said in a statement. “We are leaving no stone unturned in our efforts to comply with the court’s injunction.” 

Gracenote normally provides its services as an added feature to desktop music playing software such as MusicMatch and Winamp, popping up artist and song titles on PCs when users insert an audio CD. 

“Our core business is really not helping peer-to-peer networks filter. But it was just a perfect fit,” Gracenote president David Hyman said. 

Although terms of the deal between the two online companies were not revealed, Hyman confirmed that Napster will have full access to Gracenote’s database of music information. 

“Personally, I feel like it’s a great moment in digital music,” Hyman said. “It’s part of the solution that keeps the Napster phenomenon alive.” 

Napster has struggled to comply with an injunction that requires it to block access to certain songs after receiving proper notice from the copyright holders.  

The Recording Industry Association of America, on behalf of its members, submitted 135,000 filenames to Napster last Friday to have them blocked from the file-sharing service. 

A Napster spokeswoman said the company actually received a total of 6 million filenames, including spelling variations, from the recording industry on Friday. That number represented 26,000 artist/song title pairs that Napster claims have been effectively blocked from its service. 

Napster is continually getting more submissions from the recording industry and the screening technology is an “ongoing process,” said Napster spokeswoman Tracy Malakar. 

The RIAA appeared unimpressed by Napster’s progress thus far. 

“We are not going to debate the fine points of the order’s implementation. We believe the court’s intent is clear. Napster is required to stop infringing. Stall tactics are unacceptable,” said RIAA spokeswoman Amy Weiss. 

Napster’s efforts have been slowed somewhat by the large number of misspellings and variants on song and artist names. Some Napster users even have resorted to Pig Latin to sneak their favorite tunes onto the service. 

Spelling variants of artists’ names — “MMetallica” or “etallicaMay,” for instance — have lessened the effectiveness of Napster’s week-old screening technology, the company said. 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.gracenote.com 

http://www.napster.com 

http://www.riaa.org 

CHICAGO — Motorola Inc. is eliminating 7,000 more jobs in its cellular phone division, bringing to 16,000 the number of cuts announced at the company over the past three months. 

The world’s No. 2 cell phone maker blamed the latest reductions Tuesday on the cooling economy, which has put a big chill on sales. 

Motorola’s work force has shrunk more than 10 percent since December as it heads toward the end of what it expects to be its first quarter since 1985 with an operating loss. 

The job cuts will take place by summer and will affect manufacturing, engineering and administrative jobs throughout its worldwide cell-phone operations, the Schaumburg, Ill.-based tech giant said. No breakdown was given. Motorola currently employs about 140,000 and has cellphone plants or offices in Illinois, Florida, Mexico, Europe, Asia and elsewhere. 

Todd Bernier, an analyst for Chicago-based Morningstar, said: “It’s a classic case of what’s bad for Main Street is good for Wall Street.” 

Motorola’s latest restructuring began at the end of last year, barely two years after it cut 20,000 jobs and took a $1 billion loss in 1998. 

Motorola was the world’s leading manufacturer of cellular phones until being overtaken by Nokia in late 1998. Its share of the booming global market sank to 13 percent by the end of 2000, according to the Gartner Dataquest research firm. Finland’s Nokia claimed a 34 percent share. 

Motorola had been slow to switch to digital phones and overestimated demand for fancy, expensive phones. 

The company eliminated 2,500 jobs at its cell-phone plant in Harvard, Ill., in January, a month after disclosing 2,870 layoffs in Iowa, Florida and Ireland. Last month, Motorola announced it was eliminating 4,000 jobs from its semiconductor business. 

Leif Soderberg, head of strategy for Motorola’s phone unit, said no further job cuts are planned. 

Industry forecasts for worldwide cellphone sales in 2001 have been scaled back from close to 600 million to the current 475 million or fewer. 

Motorola’s hopes for a recovery hinge on the success of a series of next-generation phones and other products it is introducing starting this month. 

On the Net: 

http://www.motorola.com 

If the City Council and its staff had its way, Berkeley would build all the affordable housing it needs, every house would be linked to the Internet, 126 new folks would join the city bureaucracy, funds would be available for more traffic police and there would be a place available for daily showers for the homeless. 

One of the principle jobs of the council each year is whittling down annual wish lists to fit funding realities. 

There’s little room in future budgets for the people and programs the City Council, department heads, and nonprofit service providers want to fund, cautioned Deputy City Manager Phil Kamlarz. More than 70 percent of Berkeley’s annual $300 million budget goes to fixed personnel costs; and most of the rest goes to fixed programmatic costs, such as sewers or street lighting.  

At last week’s budget workshop, the council approved 8-1 – Councilmember Betty Olds dissented – three expenditures, the last new spending allocations for this fiscal year’s budget.  

The Ecumenical Chaplaincy for the Homeless, which provides food, counseling and shelter to homeless youth among other services, will receive $25,000 to carry it to the end of this fiscal year. A $1,000 grant was awarded to Lamile Perry to send the high school wheelchair athlete to the junior wheelchair games in Australia. There was $5,000 that went to Easy Does It, the nonprofit that provides emergency services to the disabled. The funds will be spent on “assistive devices,” such as lifts to help move a disabled person in and out of bed. It is hoped that this equipment will help some disabled people retain regular attendants so that they use the emergency services less. 

On paper, there’s about $2 million available, Kamlarz said, but in reality that money will be needed over the next few years to prevent the city from going into the red. That’s because the city anticipates less revenue, especially from transfer taxes, as the economy slows down. 

Most of the focus of the budget workshop was on the next two years’ budget. The council engaged in a “brainstorming” session, whose aim is to eventually prioritize council goals. 

Among the funding priorities individual councilmembers tossed into the stew were: traffic enforcement, affordable housing, council chambers upgrades, strategies to get people out of their automobiles, including making bike routes safer; righting the housing-jobs imbalance, so that people who live in Berkeley work here as well; detoxification programs; creating a plan for citizens in case of disaster, including evacuation and shelter; developing solar power, a teen center, helping the high school’s Rebound! program, resolving the problem of the antenna at the new police station that the neighborhood wants removed; and Internet access to seniors. 

At one point, Councilmember Betty Olds was characteristically blunt in her questioning of the usefulness of the exercise. “I consider this silly,” she said. “I’m not going to add anything.” 

Kamlarz said city staff will refine the list and probably turn it back to the council for councilmembers to cast votes on their preferences in order to end up with a final list of council priorities. Councilmember Kriss Worthington objected to this method, saying it leaves the public out of the equation, but Councilmember Polly Armstrong said it was the most rational way to quantify what the council wants to do. 

The council did not delve into the two-year $32 million wish list created by department heads. Kamlarz said they probably won’t discuss these items until May, after the City Manager’s Office has discussed the items with department heads and refined it. It includes over 100 new positions the managers would like to create over the next two years. A few of those include: a building superintendent for city-owned buildings, a half-time public information officer to interface with the media, janitors to maintain civic center, three new traffic enforcement officers and two bicycle officers to patrol San Pablo Avenue. 

Programs managers have listed as funding priorities include: the project to blunt the city’s health disparities, job training programs, upgrading the city’s Internet connection, meal programs, professional training and increases in postage costs. 

The council will next discuss the budget at its March 20 meeting. 

Tuesday, March 13

Berkeley Rep.  

Proscenium Opening 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Repertory Theater 

2015 Addison St.  

Featuring the premiere performance of “The Oresteia” by Aeschylus. Opening gala dinner held prior to performance. Performance will be at 8 p.m. 

Call 647-2949 

“Great Decisions” -  

International Health Crisis 

10 a.m. - noon  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

The first in a series of eight weekly lectures with the goal of informing the public of current major policy issues. Many of the lectures are presented by specialists in their field and are often from the University of California. Feedback received at these lectures is held in high regard by those in the government responsible for national policy.  

$5 single session 

Call Berton Wilson, 526-2925 

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

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

Call Wade, 531-8664 

Free! Early Music Group  

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

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

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

Reclaim the Seeds! 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

Bring seeds, questions, stories, and ambitions to swap. The center will be coordinating the growout of local quality seed and announcing their season-long workshops, discussions, processing parties, and advisory-consultation team. Free 

Call 923-0733 

Time & Thing Management  

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

With Mary Ann.  

Call 644-6107 

Real Deal Seminar  

12:45 - 1:45 p.m.  

Pacific School of Religion  

1798 Scenic Ave., Mudd 103  

Philip Wickeri will speak on “The New Ecumenism and/or the Real Deal on Interfaith Issues. Bring your lunch.  

849-8229 

Wednesday, March 14

Stagebridge Free Acting  

& Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

St. Patrick’s Day  

Musical Celebration  

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Guitar duo with Devon and Mark.  

Call 644-6107 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Making Additions Match  

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Avoid the tacked-on look with architect/columnist/instructor Arrol Gellner.  

$35  

525-7610 

Ethics, Genetic Technologies & Social Responsibility 

3 - 6 p.m. 

Townsend Center for the Humanities 

220 Stephens Hall  

UC Berkeley  

What are the social responsibilities of scientists, policy analysts, and citizens in the proposed applications of genetic technologies? Join a panel of experts, including Charles Weiner of UC Berkeley, in attempting to answer this question.  

Scholastic Book Fair  

8 - 9 a.m. & 1:45 - 3:45 p.m. 

Jefferson School Cafetorium  

Acton & Rose  

Reasonably-priced Scholastic books will be sold to promote books and reading and to raise money for the school. Free  

525-7567  

Thursday, March 15

Simplicity Forum 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Library 

Claremont Branch  

2940 Benveue Ave.  

Facilitated by Cecile Andrews, author of “Circles of Simplicity,” learn about this movement whose philosophy is “the examined life richly lived.” Call 549-3509 or  

visit www.seedsofsimplicity.org  

LGBT Catholics Group  

7:30 p.m. 

Newman Hall  

2700 Dwight Way (at College)  

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender Catholics group are “a spiritual community committed to creating justice.” This meetings discussions will center on Lenten Service. 654-5486 

Harriet Tubman re-created 

3:30 p.m. 

South Branch Library  

1901 Russell St.  

Storyteller and musician Jamie Myrick will present an interactive musical performance which introduces a heroine and her deeds. Information about the secret codes and maps used as part of the Underground Railroad will be shared.  

Berkeley Metaphysical  

Toastmasters Club  

6:15 - 7:30 p.m.  

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysics come together. Ongoing first and third Thursdays each month. Call 869-2547 

Cancer Support Group 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

Summit Medical Center 

Markstein Cancer Education & Prevention Center 

450 30th St., Second Floor  

Oakland  

Free support group for families, friends, and patients diagnosed with cancer.  

869-8833 to register  

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

Myanmar: The Golden Kingdom  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Philip Hassrick of Lost Frontiers will introduce you to Myanmar’s unique history and culture.  

Call 527-4140 

“Respecting Creation”  

7:30 p.m. 

King Middle School  

1781 Rose St.  

Winona LaDuke, Native American Indian activist, environmentalist, author, and Green Party Vice Presidential candidate will speak about the environmental situation under the Bush administration, including California’s power dilemma. A benefit for KPFA and Speak Out.  

$10 - $12  

Call 848-6767 x609 or visit www.kpfa.org 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Dam Them Rivers  

7 - 9 p.m. 

Wheeler Hall, Room 30  

UC Berkeley  

Steve Rothert of American Rivers and Steve Linaweaver of International Rivers Network will discuss the damming of the Nile and the Bujagoli Dam. Free  

Celtic Theology  

6:30 p.m. 

Dinner Board Room  

Flora Lamson Hewlett Library  

2400 Ridge Rd.  

Thomas O’ Loughlin, lecturer a the University of Wales, will present a lecture entitled “A Celtic Theology: The Dream, the Myth, and Some Questions for Academics.”  

649-2490 

Jazz Singers’ Collective  

8 - 10 p.m. 

Anna’s Bistro  

1801 University Ave.  

Featuring Marya Ashworth, Rory Bakke, Vicki Burns and Kathy Freeburg with Mark Little on piano.  

Time Windows  

4 p.m. 

North Branch Library  

1170 The Alameda  

Kathryn Reiss, Oakland author of nine suspense novels for middle school and young adult readers will speak. Free 

649-3943  

Scholastic Book Fair  

8 - 9 a.m. & 1:45 - 3:45 p.m. 

Jefferson School Cafetorium  

Acton & Rose  

Reasonably-priced Scholastic books will be sold to promote books and reading and to raise money for the school. Free  

525-7567  

Evaluate to Motivate  

12:10 - 1:10 p.m.  

California Department of Health Services  

2151 Berkeley Way, Room 804 

The State Health Toastmasters present “Take the Terror Out of Talking!” Session five of six. Free  

649-7750 

Friday, March 16

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Living Philosophers  

10 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Hear and entertain the ideas of some modern day philosophers: Jacob Needleman, J. Revel, Hilary Putnam, John Searle, Saul Kripke, Richard Rorty and others. Every Friday, except holidays. Facilitated by H.D. Moe.  

Free Writing, Cashiering & Computer Literacy Class 

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

AJOB Adult School  

1911 Addison St.  

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700. 

www.ajob.org 

Strong Women - Writers & 

Heroes of Literature 

1 - 3 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

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

Call 549-2970  

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

Gay & Lesbian Panel Discussion 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Everyone is welcome.  

Call 644-6107 

Scholastic Book Fair  

8 - 9 a.m. & 1:45 - 3:45 p.m. & 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. 

Jefferson School Cafetorium  

Acton & Rose  

Reasonably-priced Scholastic books will be sold to promote books and reading and to raise money for the school. Children and adults are invited to wear pajamas for Pamjama-Rama reading night from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.  

525-7567  

Saturday, March 17

Rockridge Writers 

3:30 - 5:30 p.m. 

Spasso Coffeehouse  

6021 College Ave.  

Poets and writers meet to critique each other’s work. “Members’ work tends to be dark, humorous, surreal, or strange.”  

e-mail: berkeleysappho@yahoo.com 

Light Search & Rescue  

9 a.m. - Noon  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

A free class as part of Community Emergency Response Training (CERT). Sponsored by the Berkeley Fire Dept. and the Office of Emergency Services.  

Call 644-8736 

Burma Human Rights Day  

2 p.m.  

Berkeley Fellowship Hall  

1924 Cedar (at Bonita)  

KPFA Journalist Dennis Bernstein and members of the Burmese Resistance Movement will speak. Sponsored by the Burmese American Democratic Alliance and the Berkeley Fellowship Unitarian Universalists Social Action Committee.  

528-5403  

Berkeley Folk Dancers Fun Night 

7:45 - 10:45 p.m. 

Live Oak Park Hall  

Shattuck at Berryman  

“The Green Party” Dance  

$5 - $7  

655-3074 

Sunday, March 18

East Bay Men’s Chorus Rehearsal  

6:30 p.m. 

University Lutheran Chapel  

College & Haste  

UC Berkeley 

Calling for gay and bisexual men and their allies and friends to join this choral ensemble directed by J.R. Foust. There is no obligation to join the chorus after the first rehearsal. Rehearsal season runs March through July.  

Call to RSVP 664-0260 or e-mail eastbaymenschorus@yahoo.com 

“Parenting in the Second Half of Life” 

10:30 a.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

Author Roberta Maisel will discuss ways parents and their grown children can get on a positive and guilt-free path.  

848-0237  

“Hope Against Darkness”  

7:30 p.m. 

Newman Hall  

2700 Dwight Way (at College) 

Richard Rohr will respond to the questions: What is the darkness? What is hope?  

848-7812  

The Bungalow - Tradition & Transformation 

10 a.m. - 1 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Taught by architect/contractor and West Berkeley bungalow restorer Barry Wagner.  

$35  

525-7610 

Awareness In Action  

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place  

Barr Rosenberg will speak on the Skillful Means teachings and practices toward a joyous, energetic, and relaxed approach to work.  

843-6812 

Olds’ first duty is to stand up for her constituents 

Editor: 

In your article on 2/28/01 about UC Berkeley's latest expansion plans for the northeast side of campus, you reported Betty Olds (the council member for District 6, as saying “A lot of the proposals I don't like, but I bow to the inevitable.” As a resident of district 6, this comment is outrageous and unacceptable. This is possibly UC's biggest expansion plan in its history and not only will it have a severe negative impact on my neighborhood (north of campus including “holy hill”), but it will also be felt like an earthquake throughout the city. 

It is the duty of an elected official to defend her constituents against threats to their quality of life. Betty Olds' statement sounds like a betrayal of the trust our community has placed in her. Betty Olds should be taking action to bring the whole community, including representatives of UC, together to talk about our issues and find positive solutions to our problems. Such an action would place Olds in a position of respect and standing in the community. Olds could follow the lead of San Jose council member Cindy Chavez, as an example of this type of leadership. Chavez has organized an annual neighborhood summit on Sat., 3/24, for neighbors in her district and others, to take part in interactive workshops on issues such as traffic calming, neighborhood development, parks and recreation, code enforcement and community leadership. Its all free and even includes complimentary lunch. (Reservations can be made by calling 408-277-5231.) 

At this time of unprecedented threat to our neighborhoods by UC expansion, our councilmembers must draw on their skills, courage and knowledge to help us protect our neighborhoods. We must embrace change, but we should not passively accept changes that are negative and damaging to the character and livability of our city. 

Roger Van Ouytsel 

Berkeley 

Peace will come when people see the real enemy 

Editor:  

There will be peace in the middle-east, some day. And in East Timor and Kashmir and Sri Lanka and Kurdistan and Sudan and Congo and Kosovo and Ireland and Columbia, and all the other places in the world where nation fights nation, tribe fights tribe, neighbor fights neighbor.  

But it will not come from sitting around a conference table with the U.S. President.  

What the U.S. calls “peace” in the middle-east is for the workers and poor to accept the existing situation, that is poverty and exploitation, while the huge oil wealth of the region goes undisturbed into the pockets of the U.S. corporations.  

It is to this end that the United States long-ago armed the Israeli state to the teeth. And more recently recruited Arafat’s PLO as an additional police force.  

Peace will come when enough people understand how the world really works, and are ready to take their share of the responsibility for creating a more humane and democratic world.  

Some day the Israeli soldier, with his rifle, and the young Palestinian, with his rocks, will arrange their own cease-fire. And ask:  

“Why are we fighting each other? Our common enemies are the oil companies, the royal families, the imperialists, the priests, the politicians. They have brought us only misery and exploitation in a region of enormous wealth. Maybe it’s time to turn the guns the other way.”  

Of course, we are a long way from that point. How soon we will get there depends, in part, on us. Whether we will continue to support the great Democratic-Republican-Imperialist swindle, or take some small, serious steps towards building a movement that can eliminate the profit system. So that, some day, there will be peace in the middle-east.  

Marion Syrek 

Oakland 

UC Berkeley needs to practice IPM 

Editor:  

The Gill Tract isn’t the only place to which the University applies the toxic herbicide ‘Roundup’ (Parents Mad Over Herbicide Spraying, Feb. 16).  

Anyone seeking shade under a tree on the UC Berkeley campus ought to think twice. The university sprays the herbicide without even posting warnings. A groundskeeper recently told me “as soon as it’s dry, it’s safe.”  

Irene Hegarty, director of community relations, says it “dissipates into the soil,” and assures us that the College of Natural Resources (i.e. biotech giant Novartis) “believes...there is no danger.”  

Hogwash. The University owes it to the public to be more responsible by implementing an effective, non-toxic Integrated Pest Management system. At the very least, it should post warnings in sprayed areas.  

Philip Batchelder 

Berkeley 

644-1342 

To the Editor; 

The teapot tempest in Berkeley’s Community Enviromental 

Advisory Commission (CEAC) over conflicting interests continues. Berkeley’s attorney has twice declared that senior scientist and general  

radiation booster Gordon Wozniak’s longtime employment at Lawrence  

Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) prevents him from voting on lab pollution issues without the appearance of personal benefit. Refusing to resign, Mr Wozniak is waving a writ from his own lawyer defending the right of public employees to serve in public positions like commissions.  

Unfortunately, this has nothing to do with the problem outlined by the city attorney. Mr. Wozniak is welcome to serve on any public body that is not regularly addressing controversial issues between the city and his employer, where his vote in the lab’s favor will alway’s be suspect. Presently, there are serious enviromental contamination issues with LBNL like their Tritium Labeling Facility, which has been regularly unloading radioactive waste on us in the form of tritiated water for decades.  

After the trees, groundwater and the next- door Lawrence Hall of Science were found to be radioactive enough to qualify for Super-Fund Status, the Berkeley City Council hired an independant science consultant whose first draft report just arrived. The report did not address all the concerns raised by the local watchdog group, the Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste, but it does demonstrate in numerous ways why the Tritium Facility should close immediately . Berkeley is depending on their enviromental commission to translate the report and recommend an appropiate course of action, which probably means huge clean-up and relocation expenses for LBNL and the Dept. of Energy (DOE) who run this circus. Mr. Wozniak claims that he is not rewarded for his 100% pro-Lab votes but I have to wonder whether he would have succeeded aswell as he has if he had joined the growing chorus of scientific voices critical of DOE’s self-serving radiation standards.  

Another CEAC commissioner resigned after the city attorney claimed conflict with his newly elected school board position. I’ve been unable to imagine the school board pittedagainst CEAC over a pollution problem, but I do respect the ex-commissioner’s sacrifice for integrity and less controversy for our enviromental process. It’s time to quiet this teapot .  

Mark McDonald 

(510) 849-1255 

Subject:  

Why Park on the Street? 

Date:  

Tue, 06 Mar 2001 20:26:51 -0800 

From:  

Steve Geller  

To:  

opinion@berkeleydailyplanet.net 

I find it hard to sympathize with BUSD workers or neighborhood residents  

in their complaints about not having enough on-street parking. 

Here are some thoughts I had after reading Wendy Alfsen's letter (3/5). 

Residents with cars should have a parking space on their property. It they 

don't, 

then they shouldn't expect the city to reserve them a free one on the street. 

People working at BUSD or nearby have no more right to the street parking 

than residents do. 

The street is public property, but I suppose people or carpools could be 

leased a parking 

slot for their exclusive use. This would put a price on scarce parking 

resources. 

People working at BUSD really shouldn't be coming by car.  

The area is abundantly served by buses. People who come to work alone, 

carrying minimal baggage, and don't use the car during the day, really 

should be 

using our fine public transit. 

How much stuff do teachers and administrators have to lug with them? Is it 

so much 

that it can't be carried in a briefcase or a knapsack? Even people who 

have chosen to 

live far from transit, can find a parking lot for the car, and walk or ride 

the bus the 

rest of the way. 

I guess I'm biased, because I use the bus and my knapsack to get about 

Berkeley.  

I know it can be done.  

Steve Geller 

2540 College #311 

Berkeley 94704 

913-4682 

Editor:  

There is one thing missing in the ongoing debate over “integrity” and “function”; and that is if Gordon Wozniak is in conflict over his role with the Rad Lab and his civic functions, then why not is Becky O’Malley in conflict with the many things she belongs to vs. city commissions on which she sits like a mother hen.  

Let me give you an example of scientific “integrity”: “The mass poisoning of as many as five hundred thousand German human beings was given to Fermi, who swore (at Oppenheimer’s request) to secrecy within the larger secrecy of the Manhattan Project. This dust was mixed with other dust or liquid, then mixed with strontium 90 (Teller’s formula). “Oppenheimer created this dust with great enthusiasm.” - (pages 510-11 in Richard Rhodes’ book “The Making of the Atomic Bomb” 1988).  

But the Atomic Bomb “worked”, over 30,000 Japanese at Hiroshima (just for starters), so we didn’t have to use Oppenheimer’s dust. Who are we to speak of “integrity”? 

George Kauffman 

Berkeley 

843-7216 

Anne Read Smith  

61 San Mateo Road, Berkeley, CA 94707-2015  

(510) 525-4434 FAX (510) 525-4708  

March 9, 2001  

Dear Editor,  

I think the Emperor has new clothes!  

How can President Bush justify giving back a huge amount of money to the rich when he doesn't have an approved budget in place so he knows how 

much he's going to spend?  

Are we all going to sit back and tell him what a marvelous new suit he's wearing?  

Sincerely,  

Anne Smith  

Subject:  

Bailey misquoted 

Date:  

Fri, 9 Mar 2001 13:58:02 -0800 

From:  

Paul Klein  

To:  

opinion@berkeleydailyplanet.net 

CC:  

fieldings@mindspring.com 

I don't know a pet who isn't thrilled by Bailey the Labrador's run  

for Berkeley City Council, but I do know a few Malamutes,  

Rottweillers, Dobermans, etc who would like to have a word with  

Bailey's owner/guardian/belly scratcher/campaign manager, Doug  

Fielding, for his misstatement of the party platform (Berkeley Daily  

Planet, Forum, 3/9/01). 

There are two animal shelters in Berkeley. One is operated by the  

Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society. The other - the Berkeley Animal  

Care Shelter - is operated by the city. Pets are unanimous in their  

desire to see both supported by the community, but it is the latter,  

the municipal shelter, that must be replaced. Notwithstanding the  

ongoing efforts of its compassionate staff and volunteers, the  

facility is at best a marginally humane physical space for impounded  

pets. So, clearly, Fielding misquoted our candidate when he called  

for a new Humane Society building. 

Cats are singing it from moonlit fences. Dogs are digging up favors  

and fetching votes. Bailey is their man. Or at least their pup.  

His willingness to do the dirty work is apparent, as Fielding pointed  

out, in his scurrying about with the household toilet brush. No  

one's quite sure what it means when he does the same with the  

household's shoes and socks, but all are confident it serves the  

public. 

Again, persons wishing to join the campaign should contact Bailey for  

City Council, 2149 Stuart Street, Berkeley, CA 94705, or email  

fieldings@mindspring.com. 

Paul Klein 

Albany 

510.643.7330 or 510.525.1593 

Subject:  

Bike Path at Aquatic Park 

Date:  

Sun, 11 Mar 2001 13:59:57 -0800 

From:  

Alexandra Yurkovsky  

To:  

news@berkeleydailyplanet.net 

As an Aquatic Park fan, I've been please at some of the attention you've 

given the multi-use park. But I wonder if all of us realize what the new 

bike path on the west side is doing to the view of the horizon (yes, it 

can be seen beyond the cars on the highway), Mt. Tam, the sunset, the 

trees that are being cut down. A Friend of Aquatic Park has assured me 

that the loss of habitat is not affecting the birds, and that the Black 

Crowned Night Heron, for example, has always roosted mostly by the far 

pool near the road to Emeryville and the highway entrance-- but my 

amateur birding observations indicate they've been to an extent 

displaced. And as a biker, I could've found other ways of getting to 

nature trails.... 

Anyhow, I'll probably be sending you an editorial soon, and I plan to 

call the Parks Dept. myself for more info on exactly how much of the west 

side is to be denuded of trees, but I'm hoping you'd also like to do a 

story. A good picture of the fantastic tree silhouettes can be taken from 

Bancroft at Bolivar, or even at Addison or is it Alston at Bolivar, where 

you can contrast the trees w/the growing bridge. 

Thanks for considering this idea. 

Sincerely, 

Alexandra Yurkovsky 

Mr. Worthington: 

Do you have any clout with Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown ? 

Could you possibly use your influence with him to have a larger capacity  

water heater installed in the bowling alley (winter/overflow shelter) at the  

Oakland Army Base to serve the men's (and I presume, women's)  

restrooms/lavatories ? The present one is insufficient to meet the demands  

of the morning rush, and shaving daily with cold water is a most  

disagreeable experience. 

Thank you. 

John W. Bush 

Berkeley has a great reputation as a center of creative thinking, and in his  

letter published 3-9-01, Jan Visser has managed to push the bounds. 

For starters, while I respect Berkeley's decision to change the wording of  

certain laws from 'ownership' to 'guardian', I doubt this will have the  

desired effect of lowering neglect / abuse. Having worked for years at both  

animal shelters and veterinary hospitals, I have found that with those  

people who choose to treat their pet as an object instead of family are very  

loath to change their ways. 

He later statement, decrying "The idea that the president and Congress of  

the U.S. have the right to send young men to die in World War I and II,...  

to force these young men to destroy these countries and the people there,  

after labeling these people anti-American fascists". As I recall of  

history, 1) After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, more people VOLUNTEERED than  

our armed forces could handle, 2) Nazi Germany had done a good job  

supplanting the governments of Poland, Austria, France while massacring  

about 12 million of her own citizens and those of conquered countries, 3)  

many of the European countries attacked & threatened by Hitler requested far  

more help than we offered, and welcomed American troops, 4) Hitler was  

obsessed with the idea of the A-10 rocket, which would carry a large warhead  

from Germany to New York (america), implying that at least the leader of the  

Nazis was anti-American, 5) the Nazi government was, in fact, fascist. 

(I will concede that Korea & Vietnam were likely sizable blunders...  

though China, the USSR, N. Vietnam, & N. Korea were self-labeled communists  

at the time) 

(World War I was just a mess for all countries involved (as though the  

others weren't)) 

As for the state "ordering our children to go to these public schools",4  

words: 'Private School', 'Home Schooling'. 

Or shall our kids not have the abilities to make any sort of living for  

themselves as adults? After all, there are only so many McDonald jobs  

available. 

David Zucker 

Emeryville 

Dear Mr. Banks,  

On February 16, I sent you a letter of complaint that the mail box in front of Walgreens on Allston Way has not been emptied since at least June 5, 2000.  

This is only one of the many cases that first class mail has been destroyed in Berkeley since August 1999.  

Will you please answer the letter and send back my mail because many of the letters are out of date. Among other things, there is a money order for $40.  

There is definite chance that the mail has been destroyed to suppress evidence. If I do not hear from you by March 7, I will press charges with the Federal District Attorney.  

Alfred Hartz, M.D. 

Oakland 

Editor: 

Since the inception of the U.S. Postal Service, no mail is forwarded, not even in Washington D.C. All change of address cards are destroyed. I am then informed in an undated and unsigned letter from Tennessee that my address is still the same. The mail to be forwarded is then destroyed. However, mail addressed to me from overseas is returned to the senders. They got this from the Mexicans.  

In October, 1977 my mail was at least held for three weeks and then delivered after intervention from my German family. The change of address card had allegedly been mis-routed. After that, no more forwarding took place anywhere.  

Postmaster Banks ( “I am big, bad black Berkeley boy Banks” as he introduced himself in 1986) can no longer be reached. He does not have his name on his door, nor does his assistant, secretary, or customer services. Customer service in Oregon give a telephone number that has long been disconnected.  

His very hostile secretary does not give her name. She does not wear a name tag. Her door does not carry her name. She refuses to surrender U.S. Postal Service regulations in defiance of federal law. She asks me pointedly how I got into the office. When I pointed that I came in through the door, the door was locked the next time and the bell was not answered. When I asked for an appointment or a telephone connection, that was denied.  

Banks refuses to answer letters. The postal inspectors no longer send complaint forms. I have asked Representative Lee to have Banks answer my complaint. I have asked Representative Pelosi to see to it that the postal inspectors send the complaint form. I have asked the mayor to hold a public hearing. 

To speed things up, I will contact the FBI. I have already written to the Universal Postal Service in Geneva.  

Alfred Hartz, M.D. 

Oakland 

(no phone #) 

(The following is a letter to Postmaster Banks from Alfred Hartz, who wrote the above letter) 

Museums 

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm.”An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels like an earthworm, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more. $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

Judah L. Magnes Museum “Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season” Through May, 2002 An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. 2911 Russell St. 549-6950  

The Asian Galleries “Art of the Sung: Court and Monastery” 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 

Lawrence Hall of Science “Math Rules!” Ongoing. A math exhibit of hands-on problem-solving stations, each with a different mathematical challenge.“Within the Human Brain” Ongoing. Visitors test their cranial nerves, play skeeball, master mazes, match musical tones and construct stories inside a simulated “rat cage” of learning experiments. “Vision,” Through April 15 Get a very close look at how the eyes and brain work together to focus light, perceive color and motion, and process infomation. “T. Rex on Trial,” Through May 28 Where was T. Rex at the time of the crime? Learn how paleontologists decipher clues to dinosaur behavior. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza. Computer Lab, Saturdays 12:30 - 3:30 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. “Constellations Tonight” Ongoing. Using a simple star map, learn to identify the most prominent constellations for the season in the planetarium sky. Daily, 3:30 p.m. $7 general; $5 seniors, students, disabled, and youths age 7 to 18; $3 children age 3 to 5 ; free children age 2 and younger. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu  

Music 

924 Gilman St. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted $5; $2 for a year membership March 16: The P.A.W.N.S., Kill the Messenger, Phoenix Thunderstone, Lesser of Two, Dory Tourette & The Skirtheads; March 17: The Hoods, Benumb, Above The World, Chrome Disorder, Eulogy; March 23: 18 Visions, Walls of Jericho, Time In Malta, Undying, Betray the Species; March 24: Workin’ Stiffs, The Bodies, Strychnine, East Bay Chasers, For the Alliance; March 30: Deathreat, Ahimsa, F*** God In the Face, The Black, Creation  

Is Crucifixion 525-9926  

Albatross Pub All music at 9 p.m. unless noted March 13: Mad & Eddie Duran Jazz Duo; March 15: Keni “El Lebrijano”; March 17: Maureen Brennan Group 1822 San Pablo 843-2473 

Ashkenaz March 13, 9 p.m.: Creole Belles, dance lesson at 8 p.m.; March 14, 9 p.m.: West Coast Swing AllStars, dance lesson at 8 p.m.; March 15, 9 p.m.: Babatunde Olatunji; March 16, 9:30 p.m.: Samba Ngo; March 18, 5 - 10 p.m.: Aid for Ahmedabad Earthquake Relief Concert featuring Vinyl, New Monsoon, Raja & Srini, plus Henry Kaiser, $20; March 24, 2 p.m. - 2 a.m.: Ashkenaz fourth annual dance-a-thon featuring Lavay Smith, African, Caribbean, reggae, Balkan, North African and cajun bands for 12 hours of nonstop dance music; May 6, 7 p.m.: Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble 1370 San Pablo Ave. (at Gilman) 525-5054 or www.ashkenaz.com  

Eli’s Mile High Club Doors open at 8 p.m. March 16: Little Jonny & the Giants; March 17: Sugar G; March 23: Carlos Zialcita; March 24: Daniel Castro; March 30: Craig Horton Blues Band 3629 MLK Jr. Way Oakland  

Jazzschool/La Note All music at 4:30 p.m. March 18: Wayne Wallace Septet $6 - $12 2377 Shattuck Ave.  

Live Oak Concert Series All music at 7:30 p.m. March 18: Mark Sanders, flute, David Cheng, violin, Darcy Rindt, viola, Paul Rhodes, cello. Flute quartets of Haydn and Mozart; March 25: Horizon Wind Quartet play music of Mendelssohn, Rossini, Ravel, Ligetti and others All concerts $8 - $10 Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St.  

Cal Performances March 23, 7 p.m. & March 24, 1 & 8 p.m.: “The King Stag: A Tragicomic Tale for the Theatre” by Carlo Gozzi $24 - $46; Zellerbach Hall UC Berkeley. 642-9988 or www.calperfs.berkeley.edu March 11, 3 & 7 p.m.: Burhan Ocal & The Istanbul Oriental Ensemble perform traditional Turkish music $24; March 25, 3 p.m.: Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio perform music of Beethoven, Ravel and Tchaikovsky $32; Hertz Hall UC Berkeley 

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra April 3, and June 21, 2001. All performances begin at 8 p.m. Single $19 - $35, Series $52 - $96. Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley 841-2800  

Cantor Ramon Tasat: Music of Italian, Turkish & Spanish Jews March 13, 2 & 7:30 p.m. $10 - $20 Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237 

“Treacherous Crossings” March 14, 10 a.m., March 15 & 16, 10:30 a.m. & 7 p.m. An opera about people looking for a better life, leaving Mexico to come to California. Produced entirely by 8 - 11 year olds Malcolm X Arts & Academics Magnet School Malcolm X Auditorium 1731 Prince St. 644-6313 

Za’atar Performance/Community Jam March 15, 7:30 p.m. $14 - $16 Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237 

Berkeley High School Concert Orchestra March 15, 7 p.m. Performing works by Beethoven, Haydn, Shostakovich, as well as student compositions. Sponsored by North Branch, Berkeley Public Library’s Teen Services, and the Friends of the Library Free North Branch Library 1170 The Alameda 

BHS Jazz Ensemble March 23, 7:30 p.m. The spring concert performance from the award-winning jazz ensemble. Proceeds benefit the students who will travel to Europe this summer to perform in Italy and Switzerland. $5 - $8 Florence Schwimley Little Theatre 1920 Allston Way  

Theater 

“Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me” by Frank MacGuinness Through March 17, Thursday - Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, 8:30 p.m. The story of three men - an Irishman, an Englishman and an American held in a prison in Lebanon. $10 - $15 8th St. Studio Theatre 2525 Eighth St. (at Dwight) 655-0813 

“A New Brain” by William Finn Through March 18, Fridays & Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, 7 p.m. Watch as Gordon Schwinn, in the face of a life-threatening brain tumor, composes a farewell concert in which all the important figures in his life make show-stopping appearances. Presented by BareStage Productions $8 - $12 Choral Rehearsal Hall, Lower Level of Caesar Chavez Student Center UC Berkeley 642-3880  

“Little Shop of Horrors” Through Apri 1, Friday & Saturday, 8 p.m., Saturday & Sunday, 2 p.m., no show Friday, March 23; $12 Berkeley Community Little Theatre Allston Way at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way Call 943-SHOW  

“The Audience Is Onto Us: An Evening of F*cked-up Theatre (of Paranoid Proportions)” March 13 & 14, 8 & 10 p.m. A comedy cabaret-style show with a bizarre and wicked bent. $4 LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. e-mail: laughdamnyou@hotmail.com 

“The Oresteia” by Aeschylus March 14 - May 6 Directed by Tony Taccone and Stephen Wadsworth, Aeschylus trilogy will be the first production staged on the Berkeley Rep’s new prosenium stage. Please call Berkeley Repertory Theatre for specific dates and times. $15.99 - $117 Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2015 Addison St. (at Shattuck) 647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Chappy Knuckles (Semi-Regional Motorcross And) Family Fun Hour” March 19 & 20, 7 & 9 p.m. Shotgun Players’ Black Box Productions presents Old Man McGinty, who has a rubbing stone that he would love for you to touch. $10 LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. 655-0813 or visit www.shotgunplayers.com  

“The Tempest” by William Shakespeare Through April 14, Thursday - Saturday, 8 p.m. Presented by Subterranean Shakespeare and directed by Stanley Spenger $8 - $10 LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. (at Hearst) 237-7415 

Films 

“Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win” March 18, 6 p.m. A historic documentary of the May - June 1968 General Strike in France. Directed by Paris working class filmmaker Jean Pierre Thorn. Also to be shown is “France on Strike,” on the 1995 French public workers strike by rail workers, teachers, electrical and postal workers. $7 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. (at Prince) 849-2568  

The Bullfighter & the Lady and Seven Men From Now March 17, 6:30 p.m. Join Budd Boetticher, director of Westerns, who will discuss his career and screen two of his favorites. $7 Pacific Film Archive 2575 Bancroft Way 642-1412 

“Dreamers” March 17 - 24 The American feature film debut of Chinese-born writer/director Ann Lu. The executive producer of the film is UC Berkeley alumnus Peiti Feng Fine Arts Cinema 2451 Shattuck Ave. 848-1143 

Exhibits 

Berkeley Historical Society “Berkeley’s Ethnic Heritage.” An overview of the rich cultural diversity of the city and the contribution of individuals and minority groups to it’s history and development. Thursday through Saturday, 1 – 4 p.m. Free. 1931 Center St. 848-0181 

“Dorchester Days,” the photographs of Eugene Richards is a collection of pictures portraying the poverty, racial tension, crime and violence prevalent in Richards’ hometown of Dorchester, Massachusetts in the 1970s. Through April 6. UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism 121 North Gate Hall #5860 642-3383 

“Still Life & Landscapes” The work of Pamela Markmann Through March 24, Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Red Oak Gallery 1891 Solano Ave. 527-3387 

“Unequal Funding: Photographs of Children in Schools that Get Less” An exhibit of black & white photographs by documentary photographer Chris Pilaro. Through March 16, Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m., Saturday, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Photolab Gallery 2235 Fifth St. 644-1400 

“Contemporary Photogravure” Printing from hand-inked plates etched from a film positive, a unique exhibition of photographs with luxurious tones. Through March 30, Tuesday - Friday, Noon - 5 p.m. or by appointment Kala Art Institute 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977 

“Musee des Hommages,” Masterworks by Guy Colwell Faithful copies of several artists from the pasts, including Titian’s “The Venus of Urbino,” Cezanne’s “Still Life,” Picasso’s “Woman at a Mirror,” and Boticelli’s “Primavera” Call ahead for hours 2028 Ninth St. 841-4210  

“Sugar N’ Spice N’ Everything Nice: Live, Loves and Legacies of Women of Color” March 14 - April 21, Wednesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Opening reception: March 15, 6 - 8 p.m. Pro Arts Gallery 461 Ninth Street Oakland 763-9425 

Amanda Haas, New Paintings and Olivia Kuser, Recent Landscapes Through March 24, Tuesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Traywick Gallery 1316 Tenth St. 527-1214 

“Travels in Color” Wax crayon sketches by Pamela Markmann made over the past 35 years Through March 31, 5 - 8 p.m. daily Voulez Vouz Bistro 2930 College Ave. 548-4708 

“Chicano Art and Visions of David Tafolla” Vivid color acrylic and oil paintings with Latino imagery. Through April 12, Tuesday - Thursday, 1 - 7 p.m., Saturday Noon - 4 p.m. and by appointment. 548-9272 or www.wcrc.org 

Nylan Jeung and David Lippenberger Lippenberger renders figures in acrylic and Jeung work with ink and watercolor on rice paper, using traditional eastern techniques. Through April 7, Wednesday through Sunday, Noon - 5 p.m Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893 

Recent Works of Narangkar Khalsa & Pete Glover Through March 31; Opening reception March 10, 7 - 9 p.m. !hey! Gallery 4920-B Telegraph Ave. Oakland 428-2349  

Readings 

Boadecia’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 14, 7 p.m.: Women’s Book Group will discuss “Wicked: The Life & Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire; March 16: Rik Isensee will read from his novel “The God Squad: A Spoof on the Ex-Gay Movement”; March 21, 7 p.m.: Gay/Bi Men’s Book Group will discuss “Lost Language of Cranes” by David Leavitt; March 24, 7 p.m.: Aliza Sherman will read and sign “Cybergrrl@Work: Tips and Inspiration for the Professional You” 398 Colusa Ave. Kensington 559-9184. www.boadeciasbooks.com 

Cody’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 13: Patrick McCabe reads “Emerald Germs of Ireland”; March 14: Poetry of Murray Silverstein & Helen Wickes; March 15: Randy Shaw talks about “The Activist’s Handbook: A Primer”; March 18: Poetry of Yvonne Cannon, Lara Gularte, Richard Rocco; March 19: Jean Rouverol talks about “Refugees From Hollywood: A Journal of the Blacklist”; March 21: Poetry of James Schevill; March 25: Poetry of Beverly Matherne & A.J. Rathbun; March 28: Poetry of Craig Van Riper & Jaime Robles; April 4: Poetry of Carole Simmons Oles & Matthew McKay; April 11: Poetry of Kurt Brown & Al Young 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 13: 40th Anniversary of the Peace Corps, learn the challenges of alternative international travel, work, and life; March 15: Lecture and demonstration by Philip Smith, editor of the “Gerardus Mercator’s 1595 Historic Atlas” of cartography, “Octavo” Editor Philip Smith will discuss the history of the Mercator Atlas; March 27: Travel writer Edward Hasbrouck, author of “The Practical Nomad” will provide essential tips, advice, and consumer skills for the independent traveler; March 29: Katherine Widing, author of “Cycling France” will give a slide presentation/talk on just that 1385 Shattuck Ave. (at Rose) 843-3533 

“Strong Women - Writers & Heroes of Literature” Fridays Through June, 2001, 1 - 3 p.m. Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program. North Berkeley Senior Center 1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 549-2970  

Duomo Reading Series and Open Mic. Thursdays, 6:30 - 9 p.m. March 15: Elanor Watson-Gove; March 22: Anna Mae Stanley; March 29: Georgia Popoff; April 5: Barbara Minton; April 12: Alice Rogoff; April 19: Garrett Murphy; April 26: Ray Skjelbred. Cafe Firenze 2116 Shattuck Ave. 644-0155. 

Lunch Poems First Thursday of each month, 12:10 - 12:50 p.m. April 5: Galway Kinnell; May 3: Student Reading Morrison Room, Doe Library UC Berkeley 642-0137 

Women’s Word March 14, 7:30 p.m. An evening of women’s word honoring International Women’s month and featuring Avotcja, Straight Out Scribes, Tureeda & Kira Allen. Hosted by Joyce Young. Open mic will follow. $4 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

Holloway Poetry Series March 13, 8 p.m.: Brenda Hillman, author of many books of poetry including “Loose Sugar” will read. Sponsored by the Department of English of UC Berkeley. Free. Maude Fife Room (315) Wheeler Hall UC Berkeley 653-2439 

“Slam the Prisons” April 6, 6 p.m. - 1 a.m. A benefit for prison activism featuring Tang, Company of Prophets, Sheryl D. Mebane and many others. Proceeds benefit the defense of New Afrikan political prisoner Khalfani X. Khaldun and the Prison Activist Resource Center. $10 La Pena Cultural Center 3205 Shattuck Ave. 898-0431  

Tours 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387 

Berkeley City Club Tours 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. The fourth Sunday of every month, Noon - 4 p.m. $2 848-7800  

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

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden Centennial Drive, behind Memorial Stadium, a mile below the Lawrence Hall of Science The gardens have displays of exotic and native plants. Tours, Saturday and Sunday, 1:30 p.m. $3 general; $2 seniors; $1 children; free on Thursday. Daily, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. 643-2755 or www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden/  

Lectures 

Berkeley Historical Society Slide Lecture & Booksigning Series Sundays, 3 - 5 p.m. $10 donation requested March 18: “Topaz Moon,” Kimi Kodani Hill will discuss artist Chiura Obata’s family and the WWII Japanese relocation camps. Berkeley Historical Center Veterans Memorial Building 1931 Center St. 848-0181 

UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Research Seminars Noon seminars are brown bag  

March 14, 4 p.m.: Akhil Redd Amar will discuss his book “The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction”; March 19, Noon: Anne Balsamo of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, will explore IT issues within the humanities; April 23, 4 p.m.: Mary Dudziach of USC will discuss “Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy.” 119 Moses Hall UC Berkeley 642-4608  

“Great Decisions” Foreign Policy Association Lectures Series Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - Noon, Through April 3; An annual program featuring specialists in the field of national foreign policy, many from University of California. Goal is to inform the public on major policy issues and receive feedback from the public. $5 per session, $35 entire series for single person, $60 entire series for couple. Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant Ave. 526-2925 

City Commons Club Lecture Series Fridays, 12:30 p.m. $1 general Students Free March 16: Paul H. Young, Jr. retired foreign service officer, will present “A Pilgrim’s Visit to Athos”; March 23: Guy Colwell, master painter of Nasters, will speak on “Using Painting to Teach Art History”; March 30: Jana Grittersova, professor of International Relations, UC Berkeley will speak on “The European Union - Integration and Expansion” Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant Ave. 848-3533 

A handful of employees from the city’s Public Health Department and volunteers gather at YMCA on Allston Way Monday to put together safe sex packages that include condoms and information on HIV and AIDS. On Friday evening, they will be handing out the  

packages at the downtown Berkeley BART station as part of the city’s Condom Availability Program.  

With less than a month left before 73 Berkeley High students leave for Cuba, the race is on to prepare the students for what could be a once in a lifetime experience. 

“We’re in a full-blown education process,” said Rick Ayers, coordinator of the Communication Arts and Sciences Program (CAS) at Berkeley High. “We don’t want them to go just as tourists. We want them to have some grounding.” 

The Berkeley students have spent the last several months organizing bake sales, car washes and concerts to raise more than $30,000 of the trip’s $120,000 cost.  

“It was one of the hardest things we had to do, but also the biggest community building,” Berkeley High student Portia Boni told the Berkeley School Board last week. 

Now comes the really fun part: getting ready to go. 

In addition to watching videos and reading books the students meet every other week for lectures from Cuba experts.  

They’ve not only read a guide book to prepare for their trip, but heard from its author, Christopher Baker, who traveled thousands of miles across Cuba on motorcycle. 

Monday morning the students heard from Tiffany Mitchell, associate director of The Caribbean Project at Georgetown University and an expert on race relations inside Cuba. 

Compared to the United States, Cuba is a very racially integrated society, Mitchell told the students. But integration on the surface masks some disturbing racial inequalities, she said.  

Poverty weighs disproportionately on Cubans of African descent, Mitchell said. Afro-Cubans often tend to have lower salaries and live in subpar housing. They are less likely to participate in higher education and are underrepresented in government and other institutions, Mitchell said. 

Mitchell’s lecture provided a welcome opportunity to view race and racism outside of the U.S. context, students said afterward. 

“Our only case study in the United States,” said senior Gabe Zeldin. “It’s really interesting to see that we’re not the only ones who struggle with this problem.” 

Sophomore Deborah Ortiz, whose godmother is Cuban, asked Mitchell about pressures to “marry white” in Cuba as a way moving up in society. Mitchell confirmed her suspicion, using anecdotes from her own experiences to show how status and race go hand and hand in Cuban. 

“No race problem in any country is the same,” Ortiz said after the lecture. She said she looks forward to discussing race and racism with Afro-Cubans themselves.  

“I want to ask them, ‘How do you see it on a day to day basis?’” Ortiz said. 

During their two week stay in Havana and rural areas nearby the Berkeley students will visit schools, hospitals and museums. They’ll make videos and prepare reports on Cuba’s health and education systems to share with their fellow Berkeley High students when they return, Ayers said.  

They’ll also lay the foundations for future trips by establishing relationships with groups of Cuban students and professionals, said CAS history teacher Tom Kordick. 

“We’re trying to do more experiential learning because we find that kids respond a lot more when they’re out of the classroom,” Kordick said of the trip.  

“In some cases they’re life-changing experiences. These trips help kids decide what they want to do with their lives.” 

Dr. Gary Bacon, a teacher at Los Altos High School on the Peninsula led twenty students on a trip to Cuba last February to study U.S foreign policy as it relates to Cuba. He said students had a hard time overcoming common U.S. stereotypes of communist societies until they’d spent a few days on the ground in Cuba. 

“Even though they went there having done a lot of reading and research they were still surprised,” Bacon said. “In Cuba there are no homeless. Everybody had a job, everybody had health care, everybody had education.” 

“We could go anywhere and do anything...What students basically saw people going about their lives in a very happy way.” 

Ayers said he expects some Berkeley High students to be surprised that Cubans live happily without so many things Americans take for granted. 

“They just don’t realized how much wasteful consumption fills up our day,” Ayers said.  

“History is written by winners... and the bad witch is old.” 

— Child, interviewed on “The Goddess Remembered” Public Broadcasting Stations. 

March is National Women’s History Month, a time for re-examining and celebrating the wide range of females’ contributions and achievements. 

The month is of special significance to senior citizens and those who care about and for us. Records still omit the history of females, and when something is noted, it is often distorted. The majority of senior citizens and caregivers are women.  

Herstory was coined to emphasize that women’s lives, deeds and participation in human affairs have been neglected or undervalued in standard histories. I asked at random several well–known local women how they have grown through feminism – belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes – and how they have coped, or sometimes, not.  

For some, like 87–year old professional librarian and educator Betty Bacon, feminism is a lifestyle reflecting her attitudes and values. She declares that “feminism has greatly influenced me by the fact that it is something on which I rely. It has been a part of my person and of my life.” Betty has served extensively on her tenants’ association executive committee. Her book, “How Much Truth Do We Tell the Children?: The Politics of Children’s Literature” was published in 1988.  

When I asked 71–year old award–winning novelist and playwright Dorothy Bryant about herstory, she responded heartily, “Do women and men grow through feminism? Or does feminism grow through us? My grandmother and my mother knew very well that women didn’t get a fair shake, but they couldn’t act to change anything (wouldn’t have dreamt of it!). They did what they could, which was to pass their consciousness on to me, along with exhortations to make myself independent enough to act. I took a step beyond them, and I think my tiny step helped contribute to the big leaps by younger women in the 1970s. Now we need more women and men to stop the backlash, and go on growing toward deeper feminism.”  

Joyce Jacobson and Joanna Ok Yone Selby mentioned denial of equal rights in the area of credit. “My former husband claims we were divorced because I became a feminist. In 1971, I couldn’t get credit in my own name because of the now–illegal practice of requiring a male relative to co–sign. I can go on and on about feminism – a subject dear to my heart.”  

Aware of her feminist responsibilities, Joyce was a founder of the Oklahoma City National Women’s Political Caucus, and recently accepted appointment to the Alameda County Advisory Commission on Aging, serving on its Legislative Advocacy Committee. Joanna was born in Korea in 1931, “...somewhat different from the rest of the young women. As my mother always said, dowry can be exhausted but acquired knowledge will stay with you. So I always felt (being a) housewife was not my future. I went to the Ewha Women’s University in Seoul and took course of political science.”  

She said she lived during the Korean “antiquated” concept of male superiority over women, and the years of war and post–war survival that impinge on females inordinately. “So I became a feminist and independent without relying on anyone else.”  

Today Joanna volunteers in behalf of seniors, chairing the Alameda County Advisory Commission on Aging.  

Pat Cody concentrates her activism on health, in particular, DES (Diethylstilbestrol) mothers and daughters. DES was a drug given to women in risk of miscarriage. 

Co–founder of Cody’s Books, she now serves as DES Action Program Director. Pat said she considers the feminist movement “critical in the development of the women’s health network. That in turn provided the support and model to develop DES Action, a consumer group for those exposed in utero to DES and their mothers.”  

Another activist is 81–year old Charlotte Lichterman, who works as NOW Treasurer and League of Women Voters Consultant for Reproductive Choice. Having grown up in a “very traditional orthodox Jewish family where the father was the dominant figure, I went on to life in an all–male family – one husband and 2 sons – again, the father was the dominant figure.” Shy, quiet and retiring, it took many years of toil in behalf of human rights to imbue Charlotte with courage to speak up in public and eventually to run for a School Board seat. “That election changed my life. For the first time I recognized my own worth and the ways in which women were denigrated.” Status–of–women and reproductive choice in particular have been her feminist focus ever since.  

Fulbright Scholar and UCB Lecturer in Human Rights, 72–year old Rita Maran reports that “a great deal of my work inside the university and out among grassroots organizations marks the point of convergence of feminism and human rights, spoken of globally as ‘women’s human rights.’ Whether in Bosnia, Argentina, or Indonesia, women’s struggles for peace and human rights face sky–high obstacles.”  

In contrast, 75–year old UC Berkeley Professor of Anatomy Marian Cleeves Diamond says she “grew before feminism, because I had a mission that I wished to pursue. Having direction certainly helps through the rough spots.”  

Helen Rippier Wheeler is a feminist senior who teaches a women studies class in the Berkeley Adult School Older Adults Program; her book, A Guide to the Literature of Women and Aging, is available in the Berkeley Public Library. She can be reached at pen136@inreach.com 

SAN FRANCISCO — Napster Inc. said Monday it is doing its best to block all those copyright songs that once flowed freely on the company’s service, including tunes by the heavy metal band Metallica. 

But what about songs by “Metalllica,” or “MMetallica,” or “Etallicamay?” 

Spelling tweaks such as those have infiltrated Napster’s new screening technology. Nonetheless, Napster CEO Hank Barry says his company is simply following the law as it tries to fend off a copyright infringement suit filed by the recording industry. 

“I’m happy to say that I think Napster is complying with the injunction both in letter and in spirit,” Barry told reporters Monday in a conference call. But he downplayed the effectiveness of Napster’s new screening technology as a “work in progress.” 

Some songs are still slipping through the cracks, while other titles haven’t been submitted by the recording industry in a format that Napster can easily block, Barry said. 

The Recording Industry Association of America, on behalf of its members, submitted 135,000 filenames on Friday that Napster was to block from its file-sharing service. 

But as soon as the screening technology started making a dent in online song trading, crafty Napster users began misspelling band and song titles to circumvent the block. Other services popped up on the Internet with various solutions to the screening barrier, including several online Pig Latin translators that turn Britney Spears into “Itneybray Earsspay.” 

Barry said some 50 percent of the list presented to Napster by Sony was flawed and gave the Redwood City-based company no way to comply with the injunction. 

Of 96,000 artist/title pairs given to Napster by Sony 46,000 contained no specific filenames to block, Barry said. 

“In the database, they give us the artist and they give us the title and then the field where it’s supposed to say filename it says ‘null’ ” Barry said. “So we think that that’s a clear violation of the terms of the injunction.” 

A spokeswoman confirmed Monday the recording industry had sent song information and filenames to Napster. 

“We have not seen they’re compliance plan,” said RIAA spokeswoman Amy Weiss. “We have no reason to believe that they won’t comply with the court’s order.” 

Napster was due to file documents in court late Monday detailing the company’s efforts to follow the injunction. 

Barry also said Napster has held some discussions with Gracenote, a Berkeley-based company that provides an online database of millions of song titles and artists.  

Gracenote, formerly know as CDDB.com, could offer a comprehensive way for Napster to track those that major record labels seek to remove from the song-sharing service

Union workers of the University of California's research labs and other facilities are striking in San Francisco today to protest wages they say fall far below the “living wage.” 

Allison Brown, local chapter president of the University Professional and Technical Employees union, estimates that between 50 and 60 people are striking in front of the UC San Francisco campus on Parnassus Avenue.  

“What this is is an unfair labor practice one-day strike,” Brown said from the event. “We're telling the university that they need to get back to the bargaining table (and) start bargaining in good faith.” 

Brown said a typical animal technician at UCSF deserves to make the “living wage” of $14.50 an hour. Instead, she said, they average between $10.35 and $11.35 and hour, “and some of them not even that.” 

Brown said strikers will be at the campus throughout the day. She expected a total of about 125 members from her union alone, adding that other unions, including the Teamsters, were present to show solidarity. 

Wallace Ravven, spokesman for UC San Francisco, gave a much lower estimate of the number of picketers at Monday's event. 

“The number of picketers at the peak was about 30 or 35,” he said. Ravven added the strikers were mostly technical staff, and “did not interfere with patient care in any way” at the UCSF facility. Today's strike comes after 10 months of failed contract negotiations between the university system and the union. 

SACRAMENTO — A Republican lawmaker said Monday he’s prepared to sue Gov. Gray Davis if he doesn’t release records showing how much power the state has purchased and how much it paid. 

Assemblyman Tony Strickland requested the information from the state Department of Finance earlier this month, but was told it didn’t have the documents. 

Strickland said he has sent a second request to state Controller Kathleen Connell, the Department of General Services and the Department of Water Resources, which makes the power purchases. 

“This is particularly surprising since the governor’s requests for more spending authority are all signed by Department of Finance officials,” said Strickland, R-Thousand Oaks. 

The Davis administration has committed $3.7 billion in taxpayer money to buy power for customers of Pacific Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison since early January. The utilities, who say they are nearly $14 billion in debt due to high wholesale electricity costs, have been denied credit by wholesalers. 

Davis has refused to release details of the power buys, saying it would place state negotiators at a competitive disadvantage. 

“Mr. Strickland’s proposal is similar to showing your opponent your cards in the middle of a card game,” said Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio. “It will result in higher electric rates for California consumers, which is in direct conflict with everything the governor is doing.” 

Strickland said he doesn’t believe it would drive up the prices the state will pay for power. Californians should know what they’re getting for their money, he said. 

Maviglio said details on the contracts will be released six months after they’re signed. 

Several news organizations, including The Associated Press, have filed requests for the information under the state public records act. 

The state has pledged to buy one-third of the power Edison and PG&E customers use, and plans to spend upward of $10 billion on it over the next decade. 

The Davis administration plans to issue revenue bonds in May to cover the costs; the bonds will be repaid by Edison and PG&E customers over several years. 

The state Public Utilities Commission is now reviewing whether the utilities’ rates are sufficient for the state to recoup its costs, or whether a rate increase is needed. 

In addition to Edison’s and PG&E’s financial troubles, the state has been struggling with high natural gas costs and a tight power supply, due in part to power plant maintenance and scarce hydroelectric power. 

California started the week with enough power to avoid declaring an electricity alert Monday. 

Lawmakers and Davis are considering several plans to help the utilities regain their financial footing, including purchasing their transmission systems to give them much-needed cash. 

Davis announced a tentative deal with Edison late last month to purchase the utility’s transmission system for $2.7 billion to help the company pay its bills. 

Negotiations continue between the state and executives from PG&E and the state’s third investor-owned utility, San Diego Gas & Electric, over the purchase of their power lines, Maviglio said. 

The University of California and California State University systems are seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent Enron Energy Services, Inc., from changing its contract to deliver electrical power. 

The motion for the injunction, filed late Friday, accuses Enron of seeking to change its contract a year before it expires. The university systems signed a four-year deal with Houston-based Enron in 1998 for the electricity and other services. 

Enron spokeswoman Peggy Mahoney said Monday the company will “continue to honor all terms of its agreement, including all financial terms” with the university systems. 

The motion claims Enron hopes to return UC and CSU to the electrical power distribution, scheduling and billing systems of Pacific Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison, and that such a move would allow Enron to sell power previously intended for the universities on the spot market at a higher price. 

“A move by Enron to escape the requirements of the UC-CSU contract would mean higher profits for Enron, but it has the potential for costing California students, parents, and taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in additional expenses,” Joe Mullinix, UC senior vice president for business and finance, said Monday. 

But Mahoney stressed that Enron officials have no plans to resell any power intended for the two university systems. 

UC’s annual electric bill is about $87 million and its natural gas bill is about $26 million. CSU annually pays about $40 million for electricity and $20 million for natural gas. 

ENERGY CRISIS DEVELOPMENTS 

• President Bush is considering replacing Curtis Hebert, the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, just two months after he appointed him, according to government sources. Bush is said to be planning to nominate Pat Wood III, chairman of the Texas Public Utility Commission, to the commission with the intention of making him chairman. 

• Baltimore-based Constellation Power Source signs a 10-year, $3.6 billion deal to provide power to California. The company’s headquarters are more than 2,700 miles from California’s state capital of Sacramento. 

• Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, appoints a subcommittee to focus on natural gas supplies and prices. 

• An Assembly committee approves a bill that would require new power plants to offer their electricity to California first. The bill’s author Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg says the bill will increase the state’s electricity supply. Assemblyman John Campbell calls it a protectionist measure and would encourage other states to hoard power. The bill now goes to the full Assembly. 

• The Senate Appropriations Committee passes a bill to expedite power plant approval. The measure by Sen. Byron Sher would allot $50 million for rebates for small renewable energy systems. SB28x also allows local governments to keep 100 percent of the property tax revenue from new power plants and shortens the public comment period from 90 to 45 days during the California Energy Commission approval process. The bill now goes to the Assembly. 

What’s next: 

• The Davis administration continues negotiations with Edison, PG&E and San Diego Gas & Electric over the governor’s plan to buy their transmission lines to help Edison and PG&E pay their debts. 

• The Legislature considers dozens of bills to encourage energy conservation, increase alternative power and streamline power plant siting. 

• The California Public Utility Commission meets Thursday to consider whether to prohibit PG&E and Edison from laying off about 3,000 workers. The utilities say it could help them cut costs and ease their $14 billion debt. A PUC administrative law judge says the layoffs could cause response times to customer outages to suffer. The PUC will also discuss restructuring the interruptible customer program. The program gives big electricity users a discounted rate in return for shutting down their power when the state is short of electricity. After January’s rolling blackouts, the PUC froze the program and said PG&E and Edison could no longer fine interruptible customers for not complying. 

On the Net: 

The California Independent System Operator www.caiso.com 

LOS ANGELES — An Algerian national accused of conspiring to bomb Seattle and other cities during millennium celebrations went on trial in federal court Monday and most prospective jurors said they already knew about the case from media reports. 

Ahmed Ressam, 33, sat with a slight smile on his face as he listened to the jury prospects’ responses through earphones in which the proceedings were translated. 

Only one prospect in the first group brought in for questioning asked to be excused because of fears involving terrorism. The man said he was a federal worker handling parcels and became frightened at the time of the Oklahoma City federal building bombing. He said he would prefer not to serve on the case and was excused. 

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour said he would screen an initial 36 prospects before attorneys could begin using peremptory challenges to remove some of them. 

The prospects had already filled out lengthy questionnaires, seen only by the lawyers and the judge, which gave indications of how they felt about the case and provided details of their own backgrounds. 

Those questioned in the initial group included several with law enforcement backgrounds or with law officers in their families. A probation officer passed the first round of questioning, as did a woman who works as a medical transcriber at a prison hospital. 

Defense attorneys asked prospects if they spoke foreign languages or if they would be prejudiced because the defendant does not speak English and is a foreigner. All said they had no problem with Ressam’s origins. 

One woman was excused from the panel after she declared that she was a deeply religious daughter of a policeman and believed that “right is right and wrong is wrong” and there is no gray area. She said she also believed she was biased in favor of law enforcement witnesses. 

The trial began under heavy security, with metal detectors at both the entry to the building and again outside the courtroom. Federal officers patrolled outside and dogs sniffed packages and briefcases being brought into the building. 

Ressam, said to be a graduate of Osama bin Laden’s training camp for terrorists, is accused of entering the state of Washington aboard a ferry from Canada with a car loaded with bomb making materials. His intention, authorities say, was to set off explosions that would kill hundreds at U.S. millennium celebrations. 

The arrest was a factor that motivated Seattle officials to cancel celebrations at the Space Needle. 

Federal prosecutors say the arrest exposed an international terrorist plot that has resulted in three other arrests in Washington, Montreal and New York. 

Richard A. Clarke, the National Security Council adviser in charge of counterterrorism at the time, has said that bin Laden planned to hit U.S. targets worldwide in the first days of 2000 causing hundreds of casualties. 

“What if January last year had started with 1,000 Americans dead at six or seven locations around the world?” Clarke has said. “We came very close to having that happen.” 

He said that attacks were thwarted by arrests including the apprehension of Ressam by customs authorities at Port Angeles, Wash. on Dec. 14, 1999. Authorities believe that Ressam planned several West Coast attacks at the New Year. 

Bin Laden, who lives in Afghanistan, is a Saudi millionaire and the alleged mastermind of the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people. Authorities have linked bin Laden to the Oct. 12 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, when two suicide bombers detonated their explosives-packed boat next to the warship as it refueled in Aden, killing 17 U.S. sailors and wounding 39. 

Terrorism experts say Ressam and several others implicated with him in the millennium plot trained in Afghanistan camps where bin Laden’s Al Qaida group develops terrorists. 

Ressam’s federal trial was transferred to Los Angeles because of widespread publicity in Washington state. 

He is currently on trial in absentia in France where prosecutors allege he was part of a group that bombed a Paris subway in 1996 and more recently was the Montreal link in a network that supplied false passports and documents to Islamic militants worldwide.

SACRAMENTO — A quarter-century after his mother was shot to death in a Carmichael bank, Jon Opsahl wants a former fugitive and others charged with the killing. 

“The real people that committed the crime should be held accountable in a criminal court,” said Opsahl, 41, one of the four children of Myrna Opsahl. She was killed while depositing church donations at Crocker Bank in 1975 during a bank robbery allegedly committed by the Symbionese Liberation Army, the group that kidnapped newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst in the 1970s. 

Opsahl started talking to prosecutors and victims’ advocates after the 1999 arrest of Sara Jane Olson. Olson, formerly Kathleen Soliah, is alleged to have taken part in an SLA plot to kill Los Angeles police officers with pipe bombs in 1975. 

Opsahl said he didn’t know about the evidence until after Olson was arrested. And now he is believes Olson and others should be charged with her death. 

“My outrage started just last summer,” said Opsahl, a doctor at Loma Linda University Medical Center.  

“Twenty-five years after we were told that there was no physical evidence, we find out there is all kinds.” 

Investigators matched pellets taken from Myrna Opsahl’s body to ammunition found in a San Francisco area house used by the SLA, Opsahl told The Sacramento Bee for a story published Monday. Additionally, he said, authorities recovered money from the robbery and clothing used in the heist. 

The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office reopened its investigation several times over the years, but after each review determined there wasn’t enough evidence to file charges in Myrna Opsahl’s death. 

In February, the FBI and Sacramento County Sheriff said they would re-examine the evidence. 

Hearst has linked the Carmichael robbery to the SLA. She wrote in a 1982 book about her SLA kidnapping that Olson and five others were involved in the Carmichael robbery and Emily Harris shot Myrna Opsahl. 

Harris, who was convicted of kidnapping and paroled in 1982, lives under a new name in Southern California. 

Olson attorney Stuart Hanlon said there’s no evidence linking Olson to the killing. 

“Until that changes, there’s not much to say,” the San Francisco lawyer said. 

Olson, a federal fugitive for 24 years, faces trial in April on attempted murder charges of planting pipe bombs under two LAPD police cars. The bombs didn’t explode. 

In February, attorney J. Tony Serra said the defense does not concede that Olson was a member of the SLA. 

“We’re not here to defend the ideology or political strategy or activities of the SLA,” he said in arguing against the admission of some evidence at one pre-trial hearing. 

But it wasn’t until Olson’s arrest that Opsahl began his quest for answers. 

“Our way of dealing with it was to put on the stiff upper lip, stay with routine,” said Opsahl, who was 15 when his mother was killed. He has now posted a Web page on his mother’s case.

NEW YORK — Investors alarmed by a series of warnings from high-tech companies pummeled stocks Monday, sending the Nasdaq composite index skidding below 2000 for the first time in 27 months and slicing more than 400 points from the Dow Jones industrial average. 

The extent and speed of the selloff stunned even investors who have become accustomed to the bearish atmosphere that has pervaded Wall Street for months. Monday’s losses extended a selloff that began last week when tech bellwethers Yahoo!, Intel and Cisco Systems said the weak economy will hurt business in the coming months. 

“I’m not going to jump out any windows ... but this is significant,” said Jim Jordan, a Lexington, Ky., marketing executive who estimates he’s lost as much as $200,000 recently. “I’m going to ride out the storm, though.” 

The selling spilled over to blue chips that lately had escaped investors’ fury. The Dow fell 436.37 to 10,208.25, a 4.1 percent decline, leaving it nearly 13 percent off the closing high of 11,722.98 it reached Jan. 14, 2000. 

While the decline was the Dow’s fifth-biggest point loss, it was not even among the index’s top 25 percentage drops. The index managed to recover from a decline of 477 points shortly before the close. 

Wall Street’s broadest measure, the Standard & Poor’s 500, plunged 53.26 to 1,180.16 for a loss of 4.3 percent. The S&P has lost nearly a fourth of its value since its closing high of 1,527.46 reached March 24 last year. 

Losses were widespread, reflecting investors’ worries that technology stocks are still overpriced and might take a while to recover because of the weakened economy. 

Cisco dropped as Wall Street continued to react to the networking company’s announcement Friday it will trim several thousand jobs because of soft demand for its products. Cisco was off $1.81 at $18.81, a nearly 9 percent loss. 

Investors also sold off Intel, down $1.69 at $27.75, and Microsoft, down $4.75 at $51.94. 

“The Nasdaq is in a freefall and every time you try to time the bottom of this market, you get your head handed to you,” said Bill Barker, an investment consultant with Dain Rauscher. 

The Dow fell along with its technology components, which include Intel and Microsoft, but stocks considered less risky investments in times of economic weakness also declined. Merck fell $1.54 to $74.15, while Philip Morris dropped $2.15 to $49.60. 

Financials suffered, among them J.P. Morgan, down $3.46 at $45.49. 

Barker said the market’s decline is the result of several factors, including disappointment that the Federal Reserve isn’t lowering rates more aggressively. Margin calls might be another factor, as the sinking market forces investors to sell stocks to repay brokerage loans. 

The biggest reason, however, is frustration over the fact that there’s no apparent end to weak earnings.  

With the end of the first quarter approaching and earnings warnings season beginning, the bad news may just be starting. 

“We just don’t have anything to look forward to,” Barker said. “The interest rate cut we’ll get later this month has already been factored into stock prices. The tax bill will probably get hung up in the Senate. And this bad earnings news keeps coming.” 

Analysts have been saying for weeks that the market’s tumble appeared to be over, but the intensity of the market’s negative feeling Monday showed that it’s impossible to predict when the market will bottom. 

“People are pitching stocks over the side no matter what,” said Peter Anderson, chief investment officer at American Express Financial Advisors. 

There was scattered buying in after-hours trading. But most investors appeared to be staying on the sidelines. 

“I’ve lost about 20 to 25 percent of my investments,” said Tim Penning, a 37-year-old public relations director in Grand Rapids, Mich. “I do feel a little worried but I’m constantly being told by my broker and friends that I’ve got plenty of time before I’ll need this money, and not to get upset.” 

Declining issues outnumbered advancers 4 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 1.45 billion, compared with 1.28 billion Friday. 

The Russell 2000 index fell 15.25 to 458.40, a 3.2 percent loss. 

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average lost 3.6 percent. Wall Street’s decline was also felt in Europe: Germany’s DAX index closed down 2.5 percent, Britain’s FT-SE 100 fell 1.5 percent, and France’s CAC-40 slipped 2.4 percent.

MOUNTAIN VIEW — Hand-to-hand combat in the booming market of personal digital assistants escalated a notch Monday. 

Handspring Inc. introduced a sleek, metal-encased PDA to directly compete with Palm Inc.’s top-selling Palm V. 

The Visor Edge is Handspring’s first slim-design handheld device. It is .44 inches thick, 4.7 inches tall and 3.1 inches wide, and weighs 4.8 ounces. 

The Mountain View-based company, founded in 1998, makes electronic organizers that run on the same operating system as Palm Pilots.  

But, until Monday, its line of devices were thicker and vastly different from Palm devices because they came only in colorful plastic cases and featured expansion slots that allow users to turn the devices into digital cameras, mobile phones, MP3 music players and other things. 

The Visor Edge comes with a detachable slot that is compatible with existing expansion modules. 

“Up until now, everyone who wanted a Springboard slot went with a Visor, and everyone who wanted thin-and-light went with a Palm V, and now Handspring has come directly after the Palm V marketplace,” said Jerry Purdy, an analyst with Mobile Insights. 

Palm has been the undisputed leader in the market for handheld organizers, enjoying more than 70 percent of all sales in the category.  

The handheld computer industry is predicted to grow an average of 28 percent a year through 2004, according to Cahners In-Stat Group. 

But Palm has been making strides to remain competitive as Handspring and other PDAs using Microsoft’s CE operating system cut into its territory. 

In December, Palm officials said the company would be coming out with new models early this year, featuring expansion slot options similar to those offered now by Handspring. 

Handspring’s Visor Edge features a monochrome display and comes in silver, blue and red anodized aluminum cases. It has 8 megabytes of memory and runs on a 33-megahertz Motorola processor. It is priced at $399. 

The new products are available immediately on Handspring’s Web site and will be available in stores by the end of the month. 

On the Net: 

http://www.handspring.com 

http://www.palm.com

WASHINGTON — Hispanics now rival non-Hispanic blacks as the country’s leading minority group, a phenomenon suggested by population forecasts and confirmed Monday in the first nationwide race data release from Census 2000. 

The long-awaited figures also documented explosive growth in the Asian and American Indian populations and offered the first coast-to-coast look at how many people classified themselves as member of more than one race. 

The result goes beyond the snapshots of America contained in reports last week to several individual states, and provides a more complete picture of the U.S. populace. 

University of Michigan demographer William Frey called it a “celebration of our diversity that’s always been at the core of our society.” 

The increasing presence of Hispanics “means African-Americans have a better partner” in terms of shared political and socioeconomic issues, said Dr. William Spriggs, director of the Institute for Opportunity and Equality at the National Urban League. 

“Things like improving poverty, education and urban development – these are all things that African Americans and Hispanics will have to work together at,” Spriggs said. 

The Founding Fathers foresaw the need to periodically count its people, for a variety of reasons. Beyond the information released this month on the racial and ethnic makeup of the citizenry, the information from the national headcount also will be used to redraw political boundary lines. The disbursement of $185 billion in federal funds will depend to some degree on these figures. 

Also, figures compiled on race and ethnicity are critical for enforcement of a wide array of civil rights law, including voting rights, and workplace regulations. 

The data released Monday officially documented the results of a broader set of options the Census Bureau gave people last year in which to identify themselves. 

About 2.4 percent, or 6.8 million of the country’s 281 million people, checked off more than one race. Some chose combinations such as “white” and “black”, and “white” and “Asian.” 

Meanwhile the Hispanic population skyrocketed by about 58 percent over the past decade, up from 22.4 million in 1990 to 35.3 million in 2000. The number of non-Hispanic blacks, meanwhile may have increased to as much as 21 percent from a decade ago, to 35.4 million. 

Direct comparisons on race were impossible though, since Americans in 2000 had 63 racial categories to identify with, up from five categories in 1990. Also, “Hispanic” is considered an ethnicity, not a race; people of Hispanic ethnicity can be of any race. 

Still, the Hispanic population caught up with non-Hispanic blacks faster than Census Bureau experts had predicted. One projection showed that would not happen until at least July 2002. 

Analysts attributed that to higher-than-expected rates of immigration, and a massive outreach program by the Census Bureau designed to get more immigrants – regardless of their status — counted. 

Asked to what degree the headcount accounted for immigrants who are in the country illegally, senior Census Bureau official Jorge del Pinal said the agency “make no attempt to ascertain the legal status of anybody.” 

Other national findings included: 

• The non-Hispanic Asian population surged as much as 74 percent, to 11.6 million. 

• The population of American Indians and Alaska Natives who were not Hispanic nearly doubled, up as much as 92 percent, to 3.4 million. 

• The growth rate for non-Hispanic whites, meanwhile, lagged behind, up no more than 5.3 percent, to 198.2 million. 

“Certainly within the last 40 or 50 years, there is probably more diversity now than ever before,” said del Pinal, chief of special population statistics at the Census Bureau. 

The national-level figures come at the start of a hectic period in which the Census Bureau must transmit by April 1 detailed population data to all 50 states. 

On Monday, data for Iowa, Oklahoma, Texas and Vermont were released to the public, with numbers for another 11 states scheduled to be sent to governors and state legislative leaders this week. 

Of the the 6.8 million people who identified themselves as members of more than one race, the vast majority — nearly 6.4 million — checked off just two races. The three combinations people most identified with were: “White” and “Some other race”, 2.2 million; “White” and “American Indian and Alaska Native”, 1.1 million; and “White” and “Asian,” 868,395. 

However, despite all the choices available, the overwhelming majority of the U.S. population – roughly 98 percent – reported only one race. 

Census 2000 gave people the option of choosing from one of 63 race options, including “white,” “black or African American,” “American Indian and Alaska Native,” “Asian,” “Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander” and “some other race.” 

Democrats contend the data could have accounted for even more people if the actual headcount in raw numbers had been statistically adjusted to reflect traditional undercounts of minorities, the poor and children. 

The Census Bureau said there was a net national undercount of about 1.2 percent of the population, or 3.3 million people, down from 1.6 percent or 4 million people in 1990. 

Republicans opposed to census “sampling,” or adjusting the numbers, highlighted the count’s improve accuracy and insist the Constitution calls for raw numbers must be used for redistricting. 

On the Net: 

http://www.census.gov

SACRAMENTO — Hospital nurses would have to care for at most five patients under staffing ratios suggested Monday by the state’s largest registered nurses’ union. 

The California Nurses Association’s ratios for different types of registered nurses allows about half the number of patients requested by the California Healthcare Association, a group representing hospitals. 

The hospital association numbers – which range from a 1-3 ratio for postoperative care to a 1-16 ratio for patients in transitional care – allow for hospital flexibility while maintaining safe care standards, said CHA spokeswoman Jan Emerson. 

But many nurses say the higher ratios reflect current staffing levels that have forced nurses out of hospitals for fear they will be unable to adequately care for patients and lose their license. 

“I go home every day thanking God that we haven’t killed anybody,” said Karen Rothblatt, a nurse at Alameda Hospital. 

The final ratios will be set by the state Department of Health Services and go into effect Jan. 1, 2002. California is the first state to implement minimum staffing requirements for hospital nurses. 

Draft regulations are expected to be released early this summer. 

Minimum ratios of one nurse for every two patients are already in place for Intensive Care Units. Patients under anesthesia or in labor must be in the care of one nurse. 

Emergency, psychiatric, postpartum, surgical and pediatric nurses, among others, would be assigned between two to four patients and five healthy newborns could be assigned to nurses under CNA’s ratios. 

Industry officials say minimum ratios set at the lowest levels will do little to relieve nurses’ stress levels. California is expected to be short 25,000 registered nurses by 2006, said CHA’s Emerson. 

“A low ratio will not solve that,” she said. “Our concern is that hospitals can’t find nurses now but what if we can’t find enough for a lower ratio? Is the state going to shut down the hospital? Nobody wins then.” 

Union officials say improved ratios will help improve work conditions and eventually encourage more nurses to work in hospitals. Only about 60 percent of registered nurses work in hospitals, said Jill Furillo, a nurse and CNA’s government liaison. 

The ratio’s effect on the market will be analyzed by the state, although it will not play a role in the final ratios, said Gina Henning, who is overseeing the ratio project for the state. 

State policy makers are expected to make surprise visits to many state hospitals in the next few months to judge staffing needs. The state has also contracted with experts through the University of California to advise on the ratios, Henning said. 

Two other nurses’ organizations have submitted ratio proposals that closely mirrors CNA’s. 

On the Net: 

Department of Health Services: http://www.dhs.cahwnet.gov 

California Nurses Association: http://www.calnurse.org 

California Healthcare Association: http://www.cha-cahhs.org/

Solidarity with exiles in sixth annual event  

By 10 a.m. Saturday — National Uprising Day for Tibet — the bright sun glared off the white pyramid marking the center of a third flag next to the state and U.S. flags in Berkeley’s Civic Center Park.  

The pyramid represents Tibet, commonly known as the land surrounded by snowy mountains, according to the official exile Tibetan government web site. But the snowy mountains seemed far away, as the flag flew over the green grass.  

But Tibetans living in the Bay Area believe that Berkeley’s willingness to raise the flag plays an important part in fostering the Tibetan resistance to what they term Chinese domination. 

"It helps Tibetans in Tibet," said Ugyen Tsering, vice president of the Tibetan Association of Northern California. "It encourages them to know their brothers in other countries are also fighting."  

The Chinese entered Tibet, which the United States recognizes as an occupied country, in 1949. Ten years later, on March 10, the Tibetans staged a massive protest against the Chinese.  

That was 42 years ago. The Chinese still occupy Tibet and the fifty Tibetans who sang the national anthem to commemorate Saturday’s National Uprising Day in a semi-circle around the flag did so thousands of miles away from home.  

International solidarity and support can also produce tangible results, Tsering said, noting that some Tibetan political prisoners who had been sentenced to death by the Chinese government have had their sentences commuted because of such demonstrations. 

This is the sixth year that the City Council has elected to raise 

the Tibetan flag in solidarity with the Tibetan movement for self-determination.  

One of hundreds of cities worldwide to raise the Tibetan flag, Berkeley is purportedly the only U.S. city to take that step.  

"It’s a positive affirmation of the Tibetan Community in exile and the Tibetan government in exile," said Tsering.  

City Councilmember Kriss Worthington attributes the support in part to the "small but significant" Tibetan community in both Berkeley and Northern California. Tsering estimated that the Berkeley Tibetan community comprises about 200 people and about 500 to 600 Tibetans reside in Northern California. 

But the flag raising has much to do with the character of the city as well. 

"We believe that Berkeley has always stood behind the people who were oppressed," said Dhonyo Tenzin, former president of the regional Tibetan Association. "We went to City Hall and put our case before them and they were happy to do that for Tibet." 

University of California at Davis student Jamyang Wangden was born in India, where she grew up in a Tibetan exile community. Now her family is one of the many Tibetan families living in Berkeley. As a friend wrote "Free Tibet" in black marker on her white T-shirt, Wangden discussed the personal importance of raising the flag. 

“Being raised in a Tibetan village, I never heard somebody say ‘I don’t know about Tibet being independent,’” said Wangden. She first heard those words when she moved to the United States from India. The sentiment "hurts me," she said, "and when I first came it made me cry."  

But Wangden firmly believes in Tibetan Independence and said that she learned to deal with people’s questioning Tibetan’s right to statehood.  

The Berkeley flag raising does not go unnoticed by the Chinese government. Worthington said that the Chinese Consulate sends a letter to the Council each year urging them not to continue the practice of raising the flag. "They used to aggressively pursue us," said Worthington. "They would tell us that we didn’t know what’s going on in Tibet."  

No one from the Chinese Consulate was available to confirm China’s stance on the Berkeley flag raising. 

Amongst city councilmembers, Worthington says that the Tibetan flag raising is not a contentious issue. "We could just do it in perpetuity," he said, "But having this on the agenda once a year reminds people at City Council meetings that this is going on."  

After the Berkeley ceremony, the group moved to San Francisco to protest outside the Chinese Consulate. Wangden and two friends, all members of the student group Students for a Free Tibet, planned a dramatic re-enactment of China’s occupation of Tibet that ends with the international community freeing Tibet. The presentation involves tearing up a Chinese flag.  

Not all Tibetans feel as comfortable protesting publicly as Wangden. Many people who still have family in Tibet don’t want to publicly stand against the Chinese government for fear that the government will take reprisal against their families, according to the president of the Regional Youth Congress, who gave only Kunga as his name.  

Wangden herself said she used to worry that her activities would prevent her from visiting Tibet, a trip that she desperately wants to make.  

But now, she said, “I don’t care anymore.”

Monday, March 12

Weight Loss & Gain  

10:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

New theories about weight loss and gain with Dr. McGillis.  

Call 644-6107 

Free Writing, Cashiering & Computer Literacy Class 

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

AJOB Adult School  

1911 Addison St.  

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700. 

www.ajob.org 

Genetically Modified Humans? 

4 - 5 p.m. 

159 Mulford Hall 

UC Berkeley  

With the prospect of cloned and genetically designed children, the ethical questions arrising are numerous.  

Tuesday, March 13

Berkeley Rep. Proscenium Opening 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Repertory Theater 

2015 Addison St.  

Featuring the premiere performance of “The Oresteia” by Aeschylus. Opening gala dinner held prior to performance. Performance will be at 8 p.m. 

Call 647-2949 

“Great Decisions” -  

International Health Crisis 

10 a.m. - Noon  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

The first in a series of eight weekly lectures with the goal of informing the public of current major policy issues.  

Many of the lectures are presented by specialists in their field and are often from the University of California.  

Feedback received at these lectures is held in high regard by those in the government responsible for national policy.  

$5 single session 

Call Berton Wilson, 526-2925 

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

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

Call Wade, 531-8664 

Free! Early Music Group  

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

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

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

Reclaim the Seeds! 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

Bring seeds, questions, stories, and ambitions to swap. The center will be coordinating the growout of local quality seed and announcing their season-long workshops, discussions, processing parties. Free. 

Call 923-0733 

Time & Thing Management  

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

With Mary Ann.  

Call 644-6107 

Real Deal Seminar  

12:45 - 1:45 p.m.  

Pacific School of Religion  

1798 Scenic Ave., Mudd 103  

Philip Wickeri will speak on “The New Ecumenism and/or the Real Deal on Interfaith Issues. Bring your lunch.  

849-8229

Lab’s tritium report is lacking 

Editor: 

Gene Bernardi wishes to exclude Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from the city workshop on the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research report regarding tritium (Daily Planet Feb 2). Given Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste’s oft quoted stand on the tritium issue this would be the political equivalent of a kangaroo court. CMTW appears to want LBNL to have safety problems, and they don’t want LBNL to fix them, because they want LBNL to shut down. 

The IEER statement that has received the most press is that LBNL’s claim that a fire would not cause significant localized consequences due to tritium exposure “may be false.” The report does not provide a detailed analysis to support this charge, and in fact notes that the large volume of work and its finite resources did not “allow addressing every question in appropriate depth.” 

At issue is whether a complete abrupt release, conversion of the entire inventory of tritium into HTO (or T2O), and venting of the HTO could occur without a major fire. IEER posited this as a possibility, and then noted that in a worst case scenario this could cause a significant dose to member of the public. 

To be dangerous the tritium has to be released as HTO. One possibility is mechanical disruption of the tritium apparatus and a fire which heats the apparatus to 660° F or above to drive off the tritium and then oxidizes it. A second possibility is a fire that heats the apparatus above 1100° F, as this would make the apparatus leak. To get the tritium outside the building the LBNL safety analysis document assumed that the fire burns a hole in the roof (the facility has no windows, and the walls are masonry), but this large a fire dilutes the exposure to an insignificant level. The IEER report does not describe how a fire can be both big enough to release HTO, and small enough not to dilute it. 

For a further dose of unreality, all this supposedly happens despite the presence of an automatic sprinkler system with its own backup water supply, plus manual fire extinguishers. 

Robert Clear 

Berkeley 

Drug companies  

willing to kill? 

Editor: 

I am outraged that a pharmaceutical executive would tout the glories of intellectual property as millions in Africa die from AIDS (see BDP Forum Mar 2) . Didn't millions of Americans die in a civil war to prove that just because something is called a property doesn't mean that it is? Echoing the sentiments of plantation masters who claimed that they were kind to their negroes, and had no incentive to grow cotton or tobacco without slave properties; he went on to say how kind they were to Africans, while at the same time faithfully declaring that without intellectual property there is no incentive to innovate. Well I digress, hasn't America already had this discussion. If pharmaceutical executives truly believe in these kind of property rights, then we should be asking how many people are they willing to kill to “defend” these rights? 

David Christy 

San Diego 

San Francisco, Marin windmills may help power  

Editor:  

During dry years, hydro-electric power from Washington and Oregon is only sparingly available to California, and the transmission grid at Lob Banos up from the south is stated to be inadequate. Consequently, increased power generation in North and Central California is highly desirable.  

Would it not be possible for the federal government to enable windfarms to be speedily installed (by the state?) on the federally-owned headlands of San Francisco Bay in Marin County and the western Presidio and possibly Fort Funston? The Presidio National Park Trust appears to be ready to rent land for commercial building to the Lucasfilm outfit.  

The emplacement of slender propeller-like blades up on poles could surely make the prevailing winds from the Pacific as reliably remunerative as may be the nearly permanent blockbuster encampment of the digital progeny of Mickey Mouse — and at an earlier date, and to satisfy a much greater immediate need.  

Possibly, San Francisco’s Park and Recreation Department might allow installation of a small windfarm atop the escarpment of Sutro Heights. Its revenue could bridge the financial gap to complete restoration of the historic and beautiful glass conservatory of flowers in Golden Gate Park, etc.  

Judith Segard Hunt 

Berkeley 

Tritium doctor seems at odds  

Editor:  

I found the Daily Planet’s Feb. 27 front page news article on the controversy surrounding Community Environmental Advisory Commission member Dr. Gordon Wozniack (“Chairman Won’t Quit”) very interesting.  

As a District Eight constituent, I am puzzled as the why Dr. Wozniack apparently does not consider his employment status as a potential commission conflict of interest issue.  

According to the Feb. 27 article, Dr. Wozniack is employed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is also acting chair of the Environmental Commission and represents District Eight residents (part of the LBNL facility is located within District Eight’s boundaries).  

The Environmental Commission periodically discusses and takes action upon agenda items directly connected to LBNL. It seems to me, given this situation, that it is reasonable to expect Dr. Wozniack to rescue himself from voting on LBNL agenda items.  

Another LBNL employee, Berkeley City Councilmember Linda Maio, has recused herself on a half dozen occasions — to avoid potential conflict of interest — from voting on Council LBNL agenda items over the last several years. I don’t understand why Dr. Wozniack feels compelled to ignore this particular parliamentary rule policy and tradition.  

George Azar 

Berkeley 

Bush’s oil policy 

Editor: 

President Bush’s report to Congress was full of promises and covered many topics, except a few important ones: Women’s’ reproductive rights were not mentioned (does he think that they have none?) and nothing was said about the administration’s foreign policy (does he have one?).  

The president was mainly concerned with returning the current surplus of funds to the tax payers. He logically claims that the tax refund would help most lower and middle class tax payers to pay for the recent increase in oil and energy prices (his own words, as reported in a front page article of the S.F. Chronicle Feb. 6). Of course, the public could be helped if the administration imposed restraints on the price of gas but Bush would not want to cut the profits of their friends in the petroleum business.  

Despite our own shortage, the oil currently recovered in Alaska is mostly sent to Japan for sale. The president now proposes to extend oil recovery to still another part of Alaska which is suspected to contain a measly supply of six months on the domestic market. I actually heard a person phoning in to a talk radio program that the sight of oil rigs along a coast line were beautiful. I wonder if the polar bears and caribou feel the same way?  

Max Alfert 

Albany 

Museums 

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm.”An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels like an earthworm, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more. $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

Judah L. Magnes Museum “Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season” Through May, 2002 An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. 2911 Russell St. 549-6950  

UC Berkeley Art Museum  

“The Mule Train: A Journey of Hope Remembered” through March 26. An exhibit of black and white photographs that capture the fears and faith of those who traveled from Marks, Mississippi to Washington, D.C. ,with mule-drawn wagons to attend the Poor People's Campaign in December, 1967; “Joe Brainard: A Retrospective,” Through May 27. The selections include 150 collages, assemblages, paintings, drawings, and book covers. Brainard’s art is characterized by its humor and exhuberant color, and by its combinations of media and subject matter; Muntadas - On Translation: The Audience, Through April 29. This conceptual artist and pioneer of video, installation, and Internet art presents three installations. Ernesto Neto/MATRIX 19 A Maximum Minimum Time Space Between Us and the Parsimonious Universe, Through April 15. Made from disposable materials such as styrofoam pellets, glass, paper, paraffin wax, and nylon stockings, Neto’s sensual sculptural works provoke viewers to interact with his art. $6 general; $4 seniors and students age 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 11 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. 642-0808. 

The Asian Galleries “Art of the Sung: Court and Monastery” A display of early Chinese works from the permanent collection. “Chinese Ceramics and Bronzes: The First 3,000 Years,” open-ended. “Works on Extended Loan from Warren King,” open-ended. “Three Towers of Han,” open-ended. $6 general; $4 seniors and students age 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 11 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 642-0808 

UC Berkeley Museum of  

Paleontology  

Lobby, Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” ongoing. A 20 by 40-foot replica of the fearsome dinosaur made from casts of bones of the most complete T. Rex skeleton yet excavated. When unearthed in Montana, the bones were all lying in place with only a small piece of the tailbone missing. “Pteranodon” A suspended skeleton of a flying reptile with a wingspan of 22-23 feet. The Pteranodon lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. Free. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 642-1821 

UC Berkeley Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology “Approaching a Century of Anthropology: The Phoebe Hearst Museum,” open-ended. This new permanent installation will introduce visitors to major topics in the museum’s history.“Ishi and the Invention of Yahi Culture,” ongoing.This exhibit documents the culture of the Yahi Indians of California as described and demonstrated from 1911 to 1916 by Ishi, the last surviving member of the tribe. $2 general; $1 seniors; $.50 children age 17 and under; free on Thursdays. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Kroeber Hall, Bancroft Way and College Ave. 643-7648  

Lawrence Hall of Science “Math Rules!” Ongoing. A math exhibit of hands-on problem-solving stations, each with a different mathematical challenge.“Within the Human Brain” Ongoing. Visitors test their cranial nerves, play skeeball, master mazes, match musical tones and construct stories inside a simulated “rat cage” of learning experiments. “Vision,” Through April 15 Get a very close look at how the eyes and brain work together to focus light, perceive color and motion, and process infomation. “T. Rex on Trial,” Through May 28 Where was T. Rex at the time of the crime? Learn how paleontologists decipher clues to dinosaur behavior. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza. Computer Lab, Saturdays 12:30 - 3:30 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. “Constellations Tonight” Ongoing. Using a simple star map, learn to identify the most prominent constellations for the season in the planetarium sky. Daily, 3:30 p.m. $7 general; $5 seniors, students, disabled, and youths age 7 to 18; $3 children age 3 to 5 ; free children age 2 and younger. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu  

Music 

924 Gilman St.  

All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted $5; $2 for a year membership March 9: Dead and Gone, Sworn Vengence, Punishment, Misoura, The Computer Kills; March 10: The Varukers, 46 Short, Scarred for Life, Oppressed Logic, Facedown; March 16: The P.A.W.N.S., Kill the Messenger, Phoenix Thunderstone, Lesser of Two, Dory Tourette & The Skirtheads; March 17: The Hoods, Benumb, Above The World, Chrome Disorder, Eulogy; March 23: 18 Visions, Walls of Jericho, Time In Malta, Undying, Betray the Species; March 24: Workin’ Stiffs, The Bodies, Strychnine, East Bay Chasers, For the Alliance; March 30: Deathreat, Ahimsa, Fuck God In the Face, The Black, Creation Is Crucifixion 525-9926  

Albatross Pub  

All music at 9 p.m. unless noted March 10: PickPocket Ensemble; March 13: Mad & Eddie Duran Jazz Duo; March 15: Keni “El Lebrijano”; March 17: Maureen Brennan Group 1822 San Pablo 843-2473 

Ashkenaz  

March 9, 8 p.m.: Funky Nixons, Gary Gates Band, Brew Glass Jug Band; March 10, 9:30 p.m.: Tom Rigney & Flambeau, dance lesson at 8:30 p.m.; March 11, 7:30 p.m.: Flamenco Open Stage featuring Sarita Ayala and more; March 13, 9 p.m.: Creole Belles, dance lesson at 8 p.m.; March 14, 9 p.m.: West Coast Swing AllStars, dance lesson at 8 p.m.; March 15, 9 p.m.: Babatunde Olatunji; March 16, 9:30 p.m.: Samba Ngo; March 18, 5 - 10 p.m.: Aid for Ahmedabad Earthquake Relief Concert featuring Vinyl, New Monsoon, Raja & Srini, plus Henry Kaiser, $20; March 24, 2 p.m. - 2 a.m.: Ashkenaz fourth annual dance-a-thon featuring Lavay Smith, African, Caribbean, reggae, Balkan, North African and cajun bands for 12 hours of nonstop dance music; May 6, 7 p.m.: Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble 1370 San Pablo Ave. (at Gilman) 525-5054 or www.ashkenaz.com  

Eli’s Mile High Club Doors open at 8 p.m. March 9: Ron Hacker; March 10: Red Archibald; March 16: Little Jonny & the Giants; March 17: Sugar G; March 23: Carlos Zialcita; March 24: Daniel Castro; March 30: Craig Horton Blues Band 3629 MLK Jr. Way Oakland  

Jazzschool/La Note  

All music at 4:30 p.m. March 11: Stephanie Bruce Trio; March 18: Wayne Wallace Septet $6 - $12 2377 Shattuck Ave.  

Live Oak Concert Series  

All music at 7:30 p.m. March 11: Stephen Bell, guitar, plays music of Bach, Villa-Lobos, Ponse, and Albeniz; March 18: Mark Sanders, flute, David Cheng, violin, Darcy Rindt, viola, Paul Rhodes, cello. Flute quartets of Haydn and Mozart; March 25: Horizon Wind Quartet play music of Mendelssohn, Rossini, Ravel, Ligetti and others All concerts $8 - $10 Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St.  

Cal Performances  

Through March 11, call for times: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; March 22, 8 p.m., March 23, 7 p.m. & March 24, 1 & 8 p.m.: “The King Stag: A Tragicomic Tale for the Theatre” by Carlo Gozzi $24 - $46; Zellerbach Hall UC Berkeley. 642-9988 or www.calperfs.berkeley.edu March 11, 3 & 7 p.m.: Burhan Ocal & The Istanbul Oriental Ensemble perform traditional Turkish music $24; March 25, 3 p.m.: Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio perform music of Beethoven, Ravel and Tchaikovsky $32; Hertz Hall UC Berkeley 

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra April 3, and June 21, 2001. All performances begin at 8 p.m. Single $19 - $35, Series $52 - $96. Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley 841-2800  

Canto Para Una Semilla  

March 9, 8 p.m. La Pena Community Chorus present an homage to Violeta Parra. This is a benefit for Berkeley High School’s CAS program. $10 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

Gwen Avery  

March 9, 8 p.m. A benefit concert for KPFA also featuring Making Waves, Erica Ballinger, and Arin Simonian $7 - $20 Rose Street House of Music 1839 Rose St.  

Country Joe McDonald  

March 9 & 10, 8 - 10 p.m. McDonald will play a solo acoustic set of old & new songs and a tribute to Woody Guthrie. $20 Live Oak Theater 1301 Shattuck Ave. (at Berryman) www.countryjoe.com  

“Mystic Journey”  

March 10, 8 p.m. Suzanne Teng and Mystic Journey are a unique contemporary world music ensemble, based in Los Angeles, making their Bay Area debut. $15 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. Call 925-798-1300 

Maria Marquez in Concert  

March 10, 8:30 p.m. A special evening of Marquez’s songs from her latest CD, “Eleven Love Stories.” $15 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

Pharaoh’s Daughter  

March 10, 8 p.m. New York-based world music sextet melding Hasidic, Moroccan, Indian and Turkish melodies and rhythms $18 - $20 Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237

The Berkeley Lady ’Jackets have proved they don’t always have to play well to win. They won a record sixth CIF Northern Region Division I championship on Saturday, beating Oakland 55-40 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento despite suffering through one of their worst shooting efforts of the season.  

But according to their coach, the ’Jackets had better shape up before this weekend’s matchup with Southern Section champion Narbonne (Harbor City), a rematch of last year’s state championship game. 

“Tonight, I would have rated us as a C-minus, and against Narbonne, you have to play and A or an A-plus,” Berkeley head coach Gene Nakamura said. 

The Lady ’Jackets looked out of sorts on offense the entire game, shooting just 25 percent from the floor. Luckily for Berkeley, the Wildcats weren’t much better at 28 percent.  

Berkeley’s starting frontcourt, forwards Robin Roberson and Gelater Fullwood and center Sabrina Keys, were just 9-of-42 on the night. Each of the three missed several shots from close range in the first quarter, and the score was 2-1 Berkeley after three minutes of action. 

“I don’t know how many layups we missed tonight, but there must have been at least 10 in the first few minutes,” Nakamura said. “I think this venue, even though we’ve played here several times, it can be intimidating. The backboards are a lot different from the ones at our school. There’s an adjustment we have to make.” 

Berkeley’s saving grace came from an unexpected source. Reserve Natasha Bailey, who has struggled to produce points this season, came on late in the period and kick-started the offense. She drove the lane for a layup to make the score 8-7 in Berkeley’s favor. She then drew an offensive foul on Oakland forward Ebony Clark, then made two free throws at the other end. A Fullwood bank shot at the buzzer gave the ’Jackets a 12-7 lead at the first break. 

“Natasha stepped up, made key shots and played great defense,” Nakamura said. “Robin Roberson was having an off night, and Natasha stepped up into the gap. We were kind of riding her shoulders for a little while.” 

Bailey continued her hot streak in the second quarter, using a spin move inside for another layup, then hitting a jumper. Roberson finally got on the board with two free throws, then made her first bucket of the game to make the score 22-13. Oakland’s Nicol Berry answered with a jumper of her own, but the ’Jackets scored the next four points to cap a 10-2 run, and Berkeley held a 30-20 lead at halftime. 

The second half was more of the same, as both teams struggled to find their offenses. Clark got two Oakland baskets to start the second half, but the Wildcats could never get closer than six. 

“I didn’t think we played our style of game,” Oakland coach Jeff Duncan-Andrade said. “We need to be emotional to play our kind of defense. We tried every press we have in our system, but we just couldn’t find that spark.” 

Clark scored a game-high 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. She was the only Wildcat to score in double figures, although forward Angela Gibson helped her on the glass, pulling down 17 boards. Roberson led Berkeley with 14 points to go with 11 rebounds, followed by 12 points each from Bailey and Fullwood. But overall, the ’Jackets were clearly not quite right on offense. 

“Oakland’s game is based on hustle and defensive pressure, and that’s part of the reason we had such a tough game,” Nakamura said. “There is a bit of a Berkeley-Oakland rivalry, and every time we get together it’s a mess out there.” 

The Lady ’Jackets will face Narbonne, which beat Lynwood, 67-41, in the Southern Section championship, at 6 p.m. on Saturday at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento. 

District votes to reduce solid waste and promote recycling 

The Berkeley Unified School District Board approved a policy last week aimed at reducing solid waste at schools through recycling and other environment-friendly practices last week in a move that board President Terry Doran called “long over due.” 

The new policy could reduce garbage pick up at various schools from three days a week to one, saving the district $2,200 per school per year, according to Yolando Huang, one of the proponents of the new policy. 

Following the example of the city and the University of California at Berkeley, the school district resolution creates a comprehensive set of rules for reducing waste. From this day forward, the district must recycle cardboard, mixed papers, bottles and cans in every classroom, staff room and administration area. It must recycle construction and demolition materials and promote the use of recycled products wherever feasible. 

Under the new policy, every district department with be evaluated for its effectiveness in meeting these goals. 

“I have been hampered by the lack of a policy to back up my requests to principals and the maintenance department,” BUSD Recycling Coordinator Beebo Turman told the board Wednesday. 

Turman, who became Recycling Coordinator in 1997 after she obtained grants to start recycling programs at various schools, said the district has a spotty record for recycling. Many principals are simply too busy to oversee recycling efforts effectively, she said.  

At Berkeley High School, Turman said custodial workers have yet to receive training to empty recycling bins around campus even though they were supposed to be trained last summer.  

Unlike the city, Turman said BUSD doesn’t even purchase recycled paper. 

“We can reduce our waste by a huge amount,” Turman said. 

Turman is applying for a $50,000 State Integrated Waste Management Board grant to install dishwashers and garbage disposals in John Muir and Emerson elementary schools and Willard Middle School. 

A dishwasher already in place at Oxford Elementary school has eliminated the need for disposal paper plates and other paper products, Turman said.

The St. Mary’s boys’ basketball team won the school’s first CIF Northern Region championship Saturday night, beating Monte Vista Christian (Watsonville) 79-63 at Delta College in Stockton. 

The Panthers were led by guard John Sharper’s 26 points. Sharper has been dominant in the regional playoffs, averaging 25 points per game. 

Sharper got help from forward Chase Moore, who had 18 points and eight rebounds. 

St. Mary’s used their trademark pressure defense to put together two 10-3 runs early in the fourth quarter to ice their victory. 

St. Mary’s will face Crossroads (Santa Monica) next Saturday at 11:15 a.m. at Arco Arena in Sacramento. 

Sharper scored 11 points in the first quarter to help the Panthers to a 20-16 lead. St. Mary’s couldn’t quite break it open in the second quarter, and held a 37-30 lead at halftime. But Moore’s 12 second-half points helped the Panthers pull away.

High school students have received their fair share of bad press recently, but in Berkeley, it is teens like Lamille Perry who represent what young people can accomplish.  

As the vice president of the Berkeley High School class of '02, Perry is hoping to use his leadership skills while competing for team USA in Australia this summer. 

Perry is currently raising funds to travel to Australia to compete in an international disabled sports competition that takes place every two years. He was introduced to international competition through Berkeley Outreach Program (BORP), and will be competing in 10 track and field events; the 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1,500 meters, the team relay, the shot-put, javelin, discus throw and the pentathalon.  

When asked how he prepares for so many events, he said, "I work on the sprints every day but I don't really practice the other stuff." 

That’s not to say he is weak in the other events — Perry brought home first place in all ten of his events at the Australia competition two years ago . 

He is no stranger to out of state competition and has traveled to St. Louis and Oklahoma for events. He has also been to the national championships for wheelchair basketball with his local team, the Bay Cruisers, one of four junior league wheelchair basketball teams in California.  

Perry's love of sports has been an ongoing affair since he was young. He has been playing wheelchair basketball for thirteen years (he is now 17 years old), and it is one of his favorite pastimes.  

Sports is not his only interest however. Besides aspiring to compete in the Para-olympics one day, and possibly earn an athletic scholarship to play collegiate sports, he wants to be a doctor.  

His eyes light up at the thought of going to college and playing college sports. 

“I just want to work hard and do my best ... so I can attain my goals,” he said.  

He enjoys working on the computer, talking to girls, and science is his favorite subject. He loves to learn new things as well as teach them which he gets the opportunity to do as a tutor at Young Adults Program (YAP) where he works after school. 

Perry was born two months premature with Cerebral Palsy, a congenital disease that affects the muscular and nervous system, which required him to be hospitalized and hooked up to a life-saving respirator for the first few months of his life.  

His determination to meet goals he sets for himself is inspiring to say the least. 

Perry must reach the $3,000 mark before he sets out for Australia. If you or someone you know is interested in donating to Lamille's travel costs, please send donations in his name to Paige Jackson in the Administrative office at: 

Berkeley High School  

2223 Martin Luther King Way 

Berkeley, CA 94704  

Dan Seeman is a student at Berkeley High School

Cal to face Fresno St. 

The tension of anticipation could be felt through the Haas Pavilion Club room on Sunday afternoon. Players, press, and fans of Cal basketball had waited patiently as the brackets for the East, West, and Midwest regions were announced. Finally, the South region was announced and the Bears learned their fate: they were going to Memphis.  

“I’m very excited,” said senior forward Sean Lampley. For Morgan (Lingle) and I, being our last year here, we’ll leave with great memories.” 

Cal, the eighth seed in the 2001 NCAA Tournament, will face Fresno State in a South region first-round matchup on Friday. Jerry Tarkanian’s Bulldogs finished 25-6 on the season, and were the regular season champions of the Western Athletic Conference.  

“I’ve seen Fresno State on TV; they’re a very explosive, very talented, competitive group,” Cal head coach Ben Braun said. “It’s the best team Tarkanian’s had since he’s been there.”  

Other teams playing in Memphis include Virginia, Gonzaga, Oklahoma, and defending national champions Michigan State, whom the Bears would likely face if they get by the Bulldogs. 

More important to the Bears is their reappearance on the national scene. Cal’s last NCAA appearance came in 1997. Braun was a new coach, adapting to a program on probation. The program was trying to right itself, and Braun credits his team for their fortitude.  

“(These players) came here to Cal when lots of other players wouldn’t because of probation, because we weren’t going to postseason tournaments,” said Braun.  

Now, Braun looks to use their appearance in the tournament to help recruit new talent to the program.  

“This will be great for recruiting,” said sophomore guard Shantay Legans. “This will put the school back on the map.” 

Cal enters the tournament with a 20-10 overall record and 11-7 in the Pac-10, good enough for a fourth place tie with USC. As expected, the Pac-10 sent five teams to the tournament; Stanford was the top seed in the West, while UCLA and USC ended up the fourth and sixth seeds in the East, respectively. Arizona is the second seeded team in the Midwest.  

Though some thought the Bears deserved a higher seed, Braun refused to argue.  

“A lot is made of seeding; it’s about going and competing,” explained Braun. “If you go deep into the tournament, you have to beat some very good teams eventually. It’s about proving yourselves.”  

The start time of Cal’s game will not be announced until Monday.  

Using a form of genetic hitchhiking, researchers have developed a method of placing genes in barley and other cereals in a way that eases safety concerns and minimizes the problem of “gene-silencing.” 

Developed by scientists at the University of California at Berkeley, the new method uses so-called “jumping genes” to ferry new genes into cereals like barley. The technique will allow plant biologists to boost nutritional content, improve pest resistance, reduce allergens and even perhaps speed up beermaking. The process does not use viral particles for transporting genes, nor does it rely on antibiotic-resistence screening — two methods that have raised safety concerns for some people.  

“Our method is ready to use by plant biologists to create new varieties of cereal crops in a manner that is both quick and very safe,” said Peggy Lemaux, a plant biologist at UC Berkeley’s Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, in the college of Natural Resources.  

Lemaux and her colleagues devised a way to overcome the challenge of maintaining gene’s activities over time. By delivering just one copy of the gene and coax it into an area where genes can be expressed, away from dense regions of repeating DNA.  

But creating a plant that contains only one genetic copy is difficult using some conventional techniques. Instead, Lemaux and her colleagues engineered the genes to hitchhike on mobile pieces of DNA called jumping genes.  

When the jumping gene hops through the plant’s genome, it usually lands in low-density DNA territory where conditions are favorable for making the protein that is encoded by the inserted gene.  

To harness the system, Lemaux and colleagues hitch their gene of interest to the part of the gene that allows it to jump.  

With this technique, Lemaux’s group can quickly generate single-copy plants. The group is also working on a technique to insert genes to reduce allergens, boost digestible protein content of animal feed and produce a barley with a shorter malting time.  

From the UC Berkeley press office.

TUCSON, Ariz. – California fought a hard battle but closed out the regular season with a 75-62 loss to Arizona Saturday at the McKale Center. With the loss, the Golden Bears close out the year with a 12-16 record and an 8-9 Pac-10 mark. Arizona, which will likely earn a bid to the NIT tomorrow, ends the regular season with a 19-11 record and a 9-9 league mark.  

Cal coach Caren Horstmeyer shook up the starting lineup by adding senior Genevieve Swedor, sophomore Amber White and freshman Latasha O’Keith into the starting lineup along with regulars Courtney Johnson and Lauren Ashbaugh.  

“We played a defensive starting lineup with players that work the hardest,” said Horstmeyer. “I felt that was a group which had the winningest attitude. They pressure the ball. They’re aggressive. Their quick. They talk on defense. That group also has great chemistry.”  

Johnson led Cal with 25 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. She concludes her career ranked 12th in Cal history with 1072 points and second in Cal and Pac-10 history with 286 steals. The tri-captain also finished her career with eight-straight games of scoring at least 16 points. White also was in double figures for Cal with 10 points.  

California jumped out to a 7-0 lead behind five points from Johnson, but Arizona responded with a 13-3 run. With the score tied at 30-30 with just under three minutes to play, a three-pointer from Jen Chesney capped a 7-2 Arizona closing burst which sent it into the locker room up 37-32.  

Six straight-points from Ashbaugh evened the score at 40-40 with 16:24 remaining in the game. The Bears went the next four minutes without a point as the Wildcats jumped out to a 48-40 advantage. A three-point play from Candace Allen extended UA’s lead into double figures for the first time at 58-48 with 7:48 to go. The Bears closed to within seven at 69-62 with 1:47 to go following a basket by Johnson, but that was as close as they would get the rest of the game.  

Elizabeth Pickney paced a quartet of double figure Arizona scorers with 20 points. Reshea Bristol added 18, followed by reserves Aimee Grzyb with 13 and Candice Allen with 10.  

Arizona shot a commanding 50 percent from the floor, while Cal shot only 32 percent.

A California Highway Patrol spokesman says an officer and a man suspected of driving under the influence were injured when another DUI driver hit a patrol car on Interstate Highway 80 in Berkeley today. 

Sgt. Fred Bowe said the officer and his partner had 31-year-old Seng Sy of Long Beach in a patrol car parked on the shoulder just west of the Gilman Street exit after arresting him as he was westbound on the freeway at about 2:30 a.m. 

Bowe said one officer was talking with the driver of a tow truck called to move Sy's car while the other was waiting with Sy in the patrol car on the freeway shoulder when the car was hit by a pick-up truck driven by 45-year-old Federico Arvizu of Daly City. 

Bowe said the collision caused moderate damage to the patrol car and minor injuries to Arvizu and to the officer inside the car. He said the two were taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where they were treated for their injuries.

It was very nearly a storybook ending. 

Every one of the 12,172 fans at Haas Pavilion Saturday night knew that following a Cal time out with 8.3 seconds remaining and a chance for the Bears to either tie or win the game, Cal’s all-time leading scorer would get the ball.  

In the final seconds of his last game in Berkeley, Sean Lampley did indeed get the ball. The senior forward who has carried Cal (20-10, 11-7 Pac-10) on his shoulders the entire season forced a 12-foot turnaround jumper as time expired.  

With the towering 7-foot-1 Loren Woods in his face, Lampley’s shot came up short and the No. 8 Arizona Wildcats escaped with a 78-76 win. 

“We just didn’t have enough time to finish the (last) play,” said an obviously dejected Lampley, who finished the game with 27 points, five rebounds and four assists. “I knew I short-armed it.” 

Cal played catch-up throughout much of the first half, trailing by as many as nine points, and was down 38-33 at the break. The Wildcats were led in the first half by Gilbert Arenas’ 13 points.  

The Bears kept Arizona’s star guard contained in the second half, allowing Arenas only five more points, but other Wildcats quickly rose up to fill the scoring void. Michael Wright scored 12 of his 20 points in the second half while center Woods caught fire and scored 15 of his team-high 22 points after the break. 

“Probably the thing that makes me the happiest is the kind of performance we got out of Loren Woods today,” said Arizona (23-7, 15-3) head coach Lute Olson. “He was much more aggressive and I felt like that’s been the missing link for us.” 

Less than five minutes into the second half, Cal fell behind 51-41 following a pair of free throws by Wright and a bucket by Woods. But then the Bears went on a tear, outscoring Arizona 10-0 in the next five minutes to tie the game. Following another Arizona run, a lob pass from Cal’s Shantay Legans that ended in a Lampley dunk with 7:10 remaining brought the Bears to within four points and whipped the sold-out crowd into a frenzy. 

A 3-pointer by Legans tied the game at 67-67 with just over three minutes to play. After that neither team led by more than two until Jason Gardner’s 3-pointer with 58 seconds left gave Arizona a 77-74 advantage.  

A pair of Lampley free throws with 39 seconds remaining brought the Bears to within a point of the Wildcats. Cal’s Ryan Forehan-Kelly fouled Arizona’s Eugene Edgerson as the shot clock was winding down, and Edgerson hit 1-of-2 from the line to give the Wildcats a two-point edge with just over 11 seconds on the clock.  

“That was an outstanding college basketball game,” Olson said. “In the end we hit the bucket and they missed the bucket.” 

And that was the difference. 

“It’s frustrating,” Cal head coach Ben Braun said. “If we could have had just one extra stop, one extra loose ball, one extra rebound, take one extra charge, the results may have been different.” 

Following the game Braun reluctantly talked about the final play.  

“I know Sean was disappointed that he didn’t get to knock down the last shot,” he said, quickly changing the subject. “But we are playing a team that’s one of the top teams around that is playing extremely well and they’re playing like that. I don’t know of anybody that’s come in here all year long and swept the games in the Bay Area (like Arizona did).”years.”

SAN JOSE – With gifts of flashlights, batteries and glow-in-the-dark mousepads, economic development officials across the country are poking fun at California’s power crisis in hopes of luring high-tech businesses away. 

But cutesy radio ads and other come-ons to Silicon Valley companies are unlikely to cause a mass exodus from the self-proclaimed capital of technology, even though rising electricity prices and an unstable power supply are legitimate concerns. 

“It sounds like it’s a waste of their money,” Thayer Watkins, an economics professor at San Jose State University, said of the other states’ pitches. 

While the valley’s humming stacks of servers and data storage centers are notorious power-suckers, nearly all electricity-intensive manufacturing is done elsewhere. Many tech companies have been expanding into other states for years for a variety of business reasons. 

Despite all of Silicon Valley’s problems, such as high real-estate costs, mind-blowing traffic, the threat of earthquakes and a tight labor market, technology companies and venture capitalists like being located near each other, in an area famed for entrepreneurial innovation. 

“There’s a great deal of electric power capacity scheduled for development in the next few years,” Watkins said. “I’m pretty sure Silicon Valley companies would be conscious of that. The story’s overplayed.” 

Still, economic boosters elsewhere aren’t about to let even a perceived opportunity pass by. 

On Feb. 1, the 17th straight day California grappled with a Stage 3 power emergency, Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt dropped by Silicon Valley to remind techies about the room to grow in his state. 

The Michigan Economic Development Corp., has been sending 4,500 glow-in-the-dark mouse pads to high-tech companies and airing ads on San Jose and San Francisco radio stations. 

“Happy birthday, Mr. President,” a Marilyn Monroe-esque voice croons in one ad. 

“Some things are a turn on,” the announcer intones. 

“Power will be shut down for two hours today in the following counties,” a not-very-realistic-sounding newscaster sputters. 

“Some things are a turn off,” the announcer intones again. “The state of Michigan is big on turning things on.” 

It’s too soon to gauge whether the ads are having any effect, said Jennifer Kopp, a spokeswoman for the Michigan agency, though she said in general, the power crisis has made companies more receptive to the state’s courting. 

Michigan can offer tax credits to high-tech companies and is building “smart zones” — industrial parks with built-in fiber-optic lines, day care centers and video conferencing capabilities, she said. 

Like the radio ad, Kopp boasted that Michigan was recently named No. 1 in attracting new business by Site Selection magazine. 

“Blew your state out of the water, I guess,” she said. 

The Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce sent 9-volt batteries and letters to 89 Silicon Valley companies, reminding them of the bountiful power, lower cost of living and high-tech experience in North Carolina’s Research Triangle. 

“In the dark about where to grow your business?” the letter asks. 

Four companies have already responded, and one plans to go check out a North Carolina site, said Demming Bass, vice president of communications for the Raleigh group. Bass said the goal is not to take businesses away from California, just to encourage them to expand into the Raleigh area. 

“It’s not like a natural disaster. No one would ever take advantage of that,” he said. The power crunch is “man-made. It’s a business issue.” 

Michelle Montague-Bruno, a spokeswoman for the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, said her trade organization’s blue-chip member companies are used to being wooed. But she said she’s found some of the recent ads a little strange. 

“We’ve got concerns of transportation and housing, and energy is an issue that is quite important,” she said. “But companies want to be here, and they’ve weathered these things before.” 

However, she added: “We do not know specifically of companies moving elsewhere. But any smart company has a backup plan.”

After three and one-half hours of debate the Zoning Adjustments Board approved the use permit for a controversial, 33,000-square-foot synagogue and school at 1301 Oxford St. 

The ZAB approved the permit after midnight by a vote of 5-3-1. Boardmembers Gene Poshman, Carrie Sprague and David Blake opposed the permit and new member Corey Alvin recused himself from the vote because he did not know enough about the complicated project to make an informed vote. The project has been on the ZAB’s agenda for each of its meetings for nine months. 

The ZAB approved a 33,000-square-foot structure as well as 32 surface parking spaces. The original plan called for a 35,000-square-foot structure and 35 parking slots. 

ZAB Chair Carolyn Weinberger said the board had spent a lot of time on the project because of its controversial nature. 

“There was a lot of public concern and comment on the project,” Weinberger said. “We wanted to go over all the information we received to fairly weigh whether there were detriments and if so, what could be done to mitigate them.” 

Just prior to the vote, Commissioner Blake criticized the congregation for using political influence during the approval process. 

Beth El member Harry Pollock, who declined to comment on Blake’s  

statements, said the congregation is happy with the approval of the use permit and looked forward to getting the building permit approved. 

“This is a great moment for our congregation and the Jewish community,” he said. “It's also a win for our city, because the ZAB's decision will allow Beth El to go on serving people in need in this community for years to come.” 

Beth El has sponsored a variety of homeless and education programs in Berkeley. 

The project is opposed by the Live Oak Codornices Creek Neighborhood Association, which has argued that the structure is too large and that synagogue activities will cause parking and traffic problems in the neighborhood. They also say a proposed 32-car parking lot will make it difficult to daylight a culverted section of Codornices Creek that runs through the northern section of the property. 

In addition, the property is a Berkeley historical landmark and opponents have said the Environmental Impact Report for the project did not properly take into consideration its historic value. 

“This project simply does not take into consideration the historical significance of this site.” said LOCCNA spokesperson Juliet Lamont. “And I think its interesting that the ZAB never discussed the recommendations that the Landmarks Preservation Commission submitted to the board.” 

On Monday the LPC voted not to approve the Environmental Impact Report for the project and denied an alteration permit. They also sent ZAB a series of suggestions for consideration including concerns about the size of the structure and the possibility that a dwelling on the east side of the property may have been occupied by freed slaves while the Byrne mansion was being built.  

Napoleon Byrne was a former plantation owner who came to Berkeley from Missouri and built a mansion on the site in 1868. Then mansion was destroyed by fire in 1985. The EIR does not address the possibility that the remaining dwelling is historically significant. 

LOCCNA spokesperson Juliet Lamont said that it was “horrific” that during the hours of deliberation Thursday night the board never discussed the suggestions from the Landmarks Preservation Commission. 

“It suggests there is a problem in the governing of this city and it will likely come back to haunt some elected officials in the next election, which is a good thing,” she said. 

Beth El members argue the activities at the school and synagogue will have minimal impact on the neighborhood and they intend to restore an exposed section of the creek by stabilizing its banks and planting native vegetation. 

Members said they will maintain many elements of the property that are reminders of the Byrne era such as landscaping and portions of a wall and gate that still exist on the property. 

The most controversial moment of the night was a speech by Commissioner Blake just prior to the board’s vote. Blake suggested the congregation had exercised political power to get the project approved. “I believe this project was approved because of who it is rather than what it is,” he said. 

Blake also criticized the congregation’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Ferenc Raj, for reminding the board at a Nov. 9 meeting that it was the anniversary of “Kristallnacht” or The Night of Glass.  

On Nov. 9, 1938, shortly after the Nazis took power in Germany, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels made an anti-Semitic speech that resulted in 24 hours of looting and violence. Dozens of Jews were killed and as many as 30,000 were arrested. Thousands of Jewish businesses and synagogues were destroyed. It is widely believed that the violence signaled the beginning of the Holocaust. The violence was called The Night of Glass because of the piles of glass in the streets from the thousands of broken storefront windows. 

Blake, who is Jewish, said the comment was a gentle way of reminding the board that its members could be considered anti-Semitic if the permit wasn’t approved.  

“Beth El lost all credibility with me when he made that comment,” Blake said. 

Pollock said he had no comment on Blake’s remarks. 

Lamont said Blake’s comments were accurate. “It was a great speech,” she said. “It encapsulates exactly what’s going on with this project.” 

Saturday, March 10

The Secrets of Sacred Cinema 

10 a.m. - 6 p.m. 

Pacific School of Religion  

1798 Scenic Ave., Mudd 103 

Kevin Peer, a documentary film maker for the past 25 years, gives a two-day intensive for people interested in exploring documentary filmmaking.$200 per person and registration is required Call 486-1480 

Tibetan National Uprising Day  

9 a.m. - 5 p.m.  

Berkeley City Hall  

Mayor Shirley Dean and Councilman Kriss Worthington will speak at the Tibetan Flag raising ceremony which precedes march in San Francisco which will end at the Chinese Consulate. The event marks the 42nd anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against the illegal Chinese occupation of Tibet.  

Symposium on  

Information Technology  

9 a.m. - 9 p.m.  

Booth Auditorium  

Boalt Hall  

UC Berkeley  

Banquet location:  

International House’s Great Hall 

2299 Piedmont Ave. 

Banquet keynote address will be by Kenneth Starr, former independent counsel who investigated the Clinton White House. $5 students, $25 general  

Narratives of Public Sector Reform: A Colloquium  

10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

223 Moses Hall  

UC Berkeley  

Mark Bevir of the department of Political Science of UC Berkeley, will present his paper on “Decentered Theory of Governance” and Rod Rhodes of the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne will present his paper, “Entering British Governance.” There will also be a session to discuss the broader issues their works raise.  

Greece Adventure 

1 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Linda Pearson of REI Adventures will introduce you to Greece in slides and discussion. 527-4140 

Healing Garden  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

Kathi Kinney will teach how to integrate medicinal herbs into existing gardens and landscapes and how to design and maintain a practical, aromatic, easy-care herb garden. $10 - $15 548-2220 x233 

West Coast Live  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Freight & Salvage  

1111 Addison St.  

Sedge’s guests this week will be Patrick McCabe, author of The Butcher Boy and Emerald Germs of Ireland, a capella singers M-Pact, Naturalist Claire Peaslee and pianist Mike Greensill.  

664-9500 

Self-Care and  

Wellness Health Fair 

9 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Ashby Campus, Auditorium  

2450 Ashby Ave.  

A day of workshops offering ways to maintain and improve health of the body, mind and spirit. Learn the process one might go through when deciding to stay with self-help, when to seek out assistance, and how to integrate care.  

$10 admission, $5 per workshop  

Fire Suppression Class  

9 a.m. - Noon  

Emergency Operations Center 

997 Cedar St.  

A free class as part of Community Emergency Response Training (CERT). Sponsored by the Berkeley Fire Dept. and the Office of Emergency Services.  

Call 644-8736 

Water-Wise Trees 

10 a.m.  

UC Botanical Garden  

Stew Winchester, ecologist and horticulturist, and instructor at several Bay Area community colleges will talk about some of the more outstanding choices of small trees for water conserving gardens.  

$15  

643-2755 

Free Worm Compost Workshop  

10 a.m. - Noon  

Magic Gardens Nursery  

729 Heinz Ave.  

Learn to recycle fruit and vegetable scraps using redworms in an enclosed bin. Especially appropriate for people with little or no yard space. 444-SOIL 

Sunday, March 11

Reimagining Pacific Cities  

6 - 8:30 p.m. 

New Pacific Studio  

1523 Hearst Ave.  

“How are Pacific cities reshaping their cultural and environmental institutions to better serve the needs and enhance the present and future quality of life of all segments of their societies?” Aiona Teu, a member of the Tongan American community, will discuss Storytelling through Textiles: Reading Tongan History  

& Culture. 849-0217 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute Open House  

3 - 5 p.m.  

Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place  

A public open house featuring a prayer wheel and meditation garden tour, Tibetan yoga demonstration, information on Tibetan art projects and more. Followed by chanting and a lecture by dean Sylvia Gretchen. Free  

Myths & Realities  

of the International House  

3 - 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Historical Society  

1931 Center St.  

Director Joe Lurie will show a video and talk about the history and the struggle to open the International House.  

$10 donation 848-0181 

Walk on the Moon  

2 & 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish  

Community Center 

1414 Walnut St.  

A mother and daughter explore their identities as they summer in the Catskills in 1969 amidst the news of Woodstock and the first lunar landing. Peer led discussion to follow film.  

$2 suggested donation  

Energy Attack  

4 - 6 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave.  

PUC Commissioner Carl Wood, labor journalist David Bacon and Environmentalist architect Mark Gorrell will discuss the energy crisis and how to get involved in solutions. 549-0816 

Community Health  

& Wellness Fair 

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2345 Channing Way  

Review health from a holistic perspective, personally and communally. Free except for cholesterol screening. 649-1383 

— compiled by  

Chason Wainwright 

Art & Consciousness in Tibetan Buddhism  

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place  

Sylvia Gretchen, dean of Nyingma Studies, will discuss how art is used in meditation and what we can learn from Tibetan art today. Free 

843-6812 

Adopt a Plot Work Day  

10 a.m.  

Memorial Grove 

Berkeley High School  

The Grounds Committee and Adopt a Plot are requesting volunteers for a couple of hours on Sunday which will entail mulching in Memorial Grove and planting MLK. Come with wheelbarrows, shovels, rakes, brooms, trowels, and tell friends.  

Call Corinee Eno, 524-9754 

Monday, March 12

Weight Loss & Gain  

10:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

New theories about weight loss and gain with Dr. McGillis.  

Call 644-6107 

Free Writing, Cashiering & Computer Literacy Class 

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.  

AJOB Adult School  

1911 Addison St.  

Free classes offered Monday through Friday. Stop by and register or call 548-6700. 

www.ajob.org 

Genetically Modified Humans? 

4 - 5 p.m. 

159 Mulford Hall 

UC Berkeley  

With the prospect of cloned and genetically designed children, the ethical questions arrising are numerous. Speakers will include Tania Simocelli and Marcy Darnovsky of Exploratory Initiative on the New Human Genetic Technologies.  

Tuesday, March 13

Berkeley Rep. Proscenium Opening 

8 p.m. 

Berkeley Repertory Theater 

2015 Addison St.  

Featuring the premiere performance of “The Oresteia” by Aeschylus. Opening gala dinner held prior to performance. Performance will be at 8 p.m. 

Call 647-2949 

“Great Decisions” - International Health Crisis 

10 a.m. - Noon  

Berkeley City Club  

2315 Durant Ave.  

The first in a series of eight weekly lectures with the goal of informing the public of current major policy issues. Many of the lectures are presented by specialists in their field and are often from the University of California. Feedback received at these lectures is held in high regard by those in the government responsible for national policy.  

$5 single session 

Call Berton Wilson, 526-2925 

Berkeley Camera Club  

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church  

941 The Alameda  

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

Call Wade, 531-8664 

Free! Early Music Group  

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

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

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

Reclaim the Seeds! 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave.  

Bring seeds, questions, stories, and ambitions to swap. The center will be coordinating the growout of local quality seed and announcing their season-long workshops, discussions, processing parties, and advisory-consultation team. Free 

Call 923-0733 

Time & Thing Management  

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

With Mary Ann.  

Call 644-6107 

Real Deal Seminar  

12:45 - 1:45 p.m.  

Pacific School of Religion  

1798 Scenic Ave., Mudd 103  

Philip Wickeri will speak on “The New Ecumenism and/or the Real Deal on Interfaith Issues. Bring your lunch.  

849-8229 

Wednesday, March 14

Stagebridge Free Acting & Storytelling 

Classes for Seniors 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church  

2501 Harrison St.  

Oakland  

Call 444-4755 or visit www.stagebridge.org 

Computer Literacy Class 

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.  

MLK Youth Services Center  

1730 Oregon St.  

A free class sponsored by the City of Berkeley’s Young Adult Project. The class will cover basic hardware identification and specification, basic understanding of software, basic word-processing and basic spreadsheets.  

Call 644-6226 

St. Patrick’s Day Musical Celebration  

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Guitar duo with Devon and Mark.  

Call 644-6107 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Making Additions Match  

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Avoid the tacked-on look with architect/columnist/instructor Arrol Gellner.  

$35  

525-7610 

Ethics, Genetic Technologies & Social Responsibility 

3 - 6 p.m. 

Townsend Center for the Humanities 

220 Stephens Hall  

UC Berkeley  

What are the social responsibilities of scientists, policy analysts, and citizens in the proposed applications of genetic technologies? Join a panel of experts, including Charles Weiner of UC Berkeley, in attempting to answer this question.  

Scholastic Book Fair  

8 - 9 a.m. & 1:45 - 3:45 p.m. 

Jefferson School Cafetorium  

Acton & Rose  

Reasonably-priced Scholastic books will be sold to promote books and reading and to raise money for the school. Free  

525-7567  

Thursday, March 15

Simplicity Forum 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Library 

Claremont Branch  

2940 Benveue Ave.  

Facilitated by Cecile Andrews, author of “Circles of Simplicty,” learn about this movement whose philosophy is “the examined life richly lived.” Work less, consume less, rush less, and build community with friends and family.  

Call 549-3509 or visit www.seedsofsimplicity.org  

LGBT Catholics Group  

7:30 p.m. 

Newman Hall  

2700 Dwight Way (at College)  

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender Catholics group are “a spiritual community committed to creating justice.” This meetings discussions will center on Lenten Service.  

654-5486 

Duomo Readings Open Mic.  

6:30 - 9 p.m. 

Cafe Firenze  

2116 Shattuck Ave.  

With featured poet Elanor Watson-Gove and host Mark States.  

644-0155 

Harriet Tubman Re-created 

3:30 p.m. 

South Branch Library  

1901 Russell St.  

Storyteller and musician Jamie Myrick will present an interactive musical performance which introduces a heroine and her deeds. Information about the secret codes and maps used as part of the Underground Railroad will be shared. Free 

Berkeley Metaphysical Toastmasters Club  

6:15 - 7:30 p.m.  

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

Public speaking skills and metaphysics come together. Ongoing first and third Thursdays each month.  

Call 869-2547 

Cancer Support Group 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

Summit Medical Center 

Markstein Cancer Education & Prevention Center 

450 30th St., Second Floor  

Oakland  

Free support group for families, friends, and patients diagnosed with cancer.  

869-8833 to register  

Myanmar: The Golden Kingdom  

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Philip Hassrick of Lost Frontiers will introduce you to Myanmar’s unique history and culture.  

Call 527-4140 

“Respecting Creation”  

7:30 p.m. 

King Middle School  

1781 Rose St.  

Winona LaDuke, Native American Indian activist, environmentalist, author, and Green Party Vice Presidential candidate will speak about the environmental situation under the Bush administration, including California’s power dilemma. A benefit for KPFA and Speak Out.  

$10 - $12  

Call 848-6767 x609 or visit www.kpfa.org 

Income Tax Assistance  

9 a.m. - Noon  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way)  

Call Maggie for an appointment, 644-6107. 

Dam Them Rivers  

7 - 9 p.m. 

Wheeler Hall, Room 30  

UC Berkeley  

Steve Rothert of American Rivers and Steve Linaweaver of International Rivers Network will discuss the damming of the Nile and the Bujagoli Dam. Free  

Celtic Theology  

6:30 p.m. 

Dinner Board Room  

Flora Lamson Hewlett Library  

2400 Ridge Rd.  

Thomas O’ Loughlin, lecturer a the University of Wales, will present a lecture entitled “A Celtic Theology: The Dream, the Myth, and Some Questions for Academics.”  

649-2490 

Jazz Singers’ Collective  

8 - 10 p.m. 

Anna’s Bistro  

1801 University Ave.  

Featuring Marya Ashworth, Rory Bakke, Vicki Burns and Kathy Freeburg with Mark Little on piano.  

Time Windows  

4 p.m. 

North Branch Library  

1170 The Alameda  

Kathryn Reiss, Oakland author of nine suspense novels for middle school and young adult readers will speak. Free 

649-3943  

Scholastic Book Fair  

8 - 9 a.m. & 1:45 - 3:45 p.m. 

Jefferson School Cafetorium  

Acton & Rose  

Reasonably-priced Scholastic books will be sold to promote books and reading and to raise money for the school. Free  

525-7567  

Evaluate to Motivate  

12:10 - 1:10 p.m.  

California Department of Health Services  

2151 Berkeley Way, Room 804 

The State Health Toastmasters present “Take the Terror Out of Talking!” Session five of six. Free  

649-7750 

Don’t need fox’s advice to save Pacifica chicken coop 

Editor: 

Thank you, Mel Baker, for your helpful letter suggesting that Pacifica management should sell KPFA and WBAI.  

It is quite an impressive show of arrogance for someone like yourself, involved as you are with commercial and so-called public radio (PBS,) to give your opinion on the subject of progressive radio. People of your ilk are the very type that Lew Hill created KPFA to defend against, the ones who would relish nothing better than to eradicate the last free, independent radio network in this country for the sake of “expanding our audience,” as if that, in itself, were the ultimate objective. 

Perhaps PBS with its underwritings from Exxon and Mobil and what not is your idea of progressive media, Mr. Baker. Thanks for suggesting we destroy the village in order to save it. 

Thank you kindly, Mr. Baker, but I think we, the listeners of Pacifica will do just fine without this sort of advice. I think we can manage without the fox's advice on how to manage the chicken's coop. 

Khalil Bendib 

Berkeley 

Editor: 

In response to the opinion expressed by Mel Baker (Letters March 7, 2001), I would offer that we only need to look at this past election cycle to be very aware of what the “professional media” has to offer the American people. NBC, National Public Radio and the other mass communication outlets that Mr. Baker hasn't worked for, failed by a large margin to adequately inform their huge audiences, and are complicit in the coup d'etat that just occurred. It doesn't much matter how many people are listening if the content is no better than a snow job, even if an impeccably produced one. 

The mission of the Pacifica Foundation is to broadcast radical voices of resistance, not just “alternative” ones, voices that are saying unpopular things about war, class, race, culture, sex and all of the other things that Americans don't want to talk about. Early programmer's objected to a WWII mobilization that had the support of 98 percent of the American public. I'm sure they understood why their listenership wasn't off the charts. They made a decision to reserve this portion of the dial for the lonely voices of the opposition that had no where else to broadcast.  

That is what Save Pacifica is fighting for.  

Tracy Rosenberg 

Administrative Director 

Media Alliance, San Francisco 

City attorney’s opinion flies in face of civic discourse 

Editor: 

I am writing to object to recent attempts by the city attorney's office to widen the definition of “conflict of interest” to the point where few citizens will meet the test of near-complete noninvolvement in the community to qualify to serve on a Berkeley commission. 

The pattern of opinions should give cause for concern to all who care about full democratic participation in our civic discourse. According to the city attorney's recent interpretations, those who serve on the boards of nonprofits, even on a purely volunteer basis, should be disqualified from many votes (recent cases include a Parks and Recreation commissioner as well as the Landmarks commissioners who have been prominent in the news). Those who work for the “wrong” employer should be excluded altogether. 

While I disagree with Commissioner Gordon Wozniak on the issue of tritium, in good conscience I must fully support his right to serve on the Community Environmental Advisory Committee (CEAC). I have worked closely with Gordon on the Parks and Recreation Commission (where he served as an effective watchdog on budgetary matters) and on two campaigns securing funding for our parks, and I know him to be an independent-minded person with genuine concern for the well-being of the people of Berkeley. Nevertheless, his unquestionable integrity and his good works in the community are not the point here. Nor is my disagreement with him on the environmental impact of tritium. At issue is the right of citizens to serve on our commissions without exclusion based on their participation in the wider community (whether through employment, nonprofit volunteerism, or advocacy on neighborhood issues). 

It is unfortunate that a community group whose position I otherwise support has chosen to use the City Attorney's flawed opinion to serve a political goal of excluding Gordon from participation on the CEAC. There are eight other commissioners on the CEAC. Those who disagree with Gordon's opinions about tritium should stick with the merits of their case and stop the unworthy campaign to silence him through public pressure and heckling (evidenced to a discouraging degree at the aborted CEAC meeting of February 22). 

Surely a city as steeped in the tradition of free speech as Berkeley can tolerate a diversity of opinions on our commissions. Surely we can understand that broadening the definition of “conflict of interest” beyond obvious financial gain will come at the expense of fewer opinions being heard and less participation in the democratic process. When free speech and full citizen participation are hindered, ultimately we all pay the price. 

Nancy Carleton 

Former Chair, Zoning  

Adjustments Board 

Former Vice Chair, Parks and Recreation Commission 

City events should be accessible to all 

The Berkeley “Free” Folk Festival held most recently in November had workshops in a room completely inaccessible to people who use wheelchairs. One wheelchair user was told the area, an area obviously listed on fliers as the location for some of the workshops, was “off limits”. 

Don't tell me to call the Mayor, who forwarded last year's letter of concern about the previous festival's violations to the City Manager. Don't tell me to call the City Manager, who conferred with the City Attorney, who sent a response courteously outlining a circuitous chain of logic in which the City of Berkeley magically emerges without responsibility or, more to the point, liability, despite the fact that the festival's budget includes public money and is officially sponsored by the city. 

Don't tell me to call the Disability Compliance Officer, who once told me that it wasn't his job to help the City of Berkeley avoid lawsuits and signed off on the use of the most recent inaccessible venue. Don't tell me to talk to the Commission on Disabilities, who with a few honorable exceptions voted not only to allow the festival to be held in the  

problematic private venue but signed off on allowing public money to be used to “enhance” the accessibility slightly without requiring even matching funds. 

Don't tell me to talk to the festival directors, who insist that any effort to talk about or improve the festival's access is an effort to “destroy” it. Don't tell me to speak with the “festival advisors” who refuse to meet or return phone calls and disparage anyone who raises the issue. Don't tell me to talk to the other musicians, who are content to sing about justice but get uncomfortable when asked to actually do anything  

practical to help with the problem. 

Don't tell me to call the NEA site evaluator, who gave a glowing review to the first festival which featured an inaccessible entrance, an inaccessible exit, inaccessible bathrooms, inaccessible workshop rooms, blocked aisles, and an inaccessible stage. 

Don't tell me to call the festival sponsor, who never returns my calls although she is a city councilmember who uses a wheelchair. 

Don't fall for the fallacy that the accessibility problems would have been resolved years ago if those who raised the issue “hadn't pushed so hard” or had been “less aggressive.” I've learned that no matter how softly you speak, how politely you inquire, how thoroughly you document your concern, if you raise the subject of disabled access people will perceive you as shouting. I've learned that once you're perceived in this way, the anger directed toward you will be perceived by others as “a feud” justifying their apathy. I've learned that five long years of dogged effort to create a festival which all members of the public can attend together without jeopardizing their health and safety is clearly not long enough. 

Carol Denney 

Berkeley 

Science not always the answer 

Editor:  

Gordon Wozniak, argues that decisions regarding the environment and health should be exclusively “science-based”.  

Unfortunately science cannot explain what life is, only what it is made up of.  

The human organism is much more than a collection of cells and molecules; we have minds and imaginations.  

May I humbly remind Mr. Wozniak that what is considered scientific fact today often becomes tomorrow's science fiction.  

Michael Bauce 

Berkeley 

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm.”An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels like an earthworm, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more. $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

Judah L. Magnes Museum “Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season” Through May, 2002 An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. 2911 Russell St. 549-6950  

UC Berkeley Art Museum “The Mule Train: A Journey of Hope Remembered” through March 26. An exhibit of black and white photographs that capture the fears and faith of those who traveled from Marks, Mississippi to Washington, D.C. ,with mule-drawn wagons to attend the Poor People's Campaign in December, 1967; “Joe Brainard: A Retrospective,” Through May 27. Muntadas - On Translation: The Audience, Through April 29. Ernesto Neto/MATRIX 19 A Maximum Minimum Time Space Between Us and the Parsimonious Universe, Through April 15. $6 general; $4 seniors and students age 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 11 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. 642-0808. 

The Asian Galleries “Art of the Sung: Court and Monastery” 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 

Holt Planetarium Programs are recommended for age 8 and up; children under age 6 will not be admitted. $2 in addition to regular museum admission. “Constellations Tonight” Ongoing. Using a simple star map, learn to identify the most prominent constellations for the season in the planetarium sky. Daily, 3:30 p.m. $7 general; $5 seniors, students, disabled, and youths age 7 to 18; $3 children age 3 to 5 ; free children age 2 and younger. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Centennial Drive, UC Berkeley 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu  

924 Gilman St. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted $5; $2 for a year membership March 10: The Varukers, 46 Short, Scarred for Life, Oppressed Logic, Facedown; March 16: The P.A.W.N.S., Kill the Messenger, Phoenix Thunderstone, Lesser of Two, Dory Tourette & The Skirtheads; March 17: The Hoods, Benumb, Above The World, Chrome Disorder, Eulogy 525-9926  

Albatross Pub All music at 9 p.m. unless noted March 10: PickPocket Ensemble; March 13: Mad & Eddie Duran Jazz Duo; March 15: Keni “El Lebrijano”; March 17: Maureen Brennan Group 1822 San Pablo 843-2473 

Ashkenaz March 10, 9:30 p.m.: Tom Rigney & Flambeau, dance lesson at 8:30 p.m.; March 11, 7:30 p.m.: Flamenco Open Stage featuring Sarita Ayala and more; March 13, 9 p.m.: Creole Belles, dance lesson at 8 p.m.; March 14, 9 p.m.: West Coast Swing AllStars, dance lesson at 8 p.m.; March 15, 9 p.m.: Babatunde Olatunji; March 24, 2 p.m. - 2 a.m.: Ashkenaz fourth annual dance-a-thon featuring Lavay Smith, African, Caribbean, reggae, Balkan, North African and cajun bands for 12 hours of nonstop dance music; 1370 San Pablo Ave. 525-5054 or www.ashkenaz.com  

Eli’s Mile High Club Doors open at 8 p.m. March 9: Ron Hacker; March 10: Red Archibald; March 16: Little Jonny & the Giants; March 17: Sugar G; March 23: Carlos Zialcita; March 24: Daniel Castro; March 30: Craig Horton Blues Band 3629 MLK Jr. Way Oakland  

Jazzschool/La Note All music at 4:30 p.m. March 11: Stephanie Bruce Trio; March 18: Wayne Wallace Septet $6 - $12 2377 Shattuck Ave.  

Live Oak Concert Series All music at 7:30 p.m. March 11: Stephen Bell, guitar, plays music of Bach, Villa-Lobos, Ponse, and Albeniz; March 18: Mark Sanders, flute, David Cheng, violin, Darcy Rindt, viola, Paul Rhodes, cello. Flute quartets of Haydn and Mozart; March 25: Horizon Wind Quartet play music of Mendelssohn, Rossini, Ravel, Ligetti and others All concerts $8 - $10 Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St.  

Cal Performances Through March 11, call for times: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; March 22, 8 p.m., March 23, 7 p.m. & March 24, 1 & 8 p.m.: “The King Stag: A Tragicomic Tale for the Theatre” by Carlo Gozzi $24 - $46; Zellerbach Hall UC Berkeley. 642-9988 or www.calperfs.berkeley.edu March 11, 3 & 7 p.m.: Burhan Ocal & The Istanbul Oriental Ensemble perform traditional Turkish music $24; March 25, 3 p.m.: Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio perform music of Beethoven, Ravel and Tchaikovsky $32; Hertz Hall UC Berkeley 

Country Joe McDonald March 10, 8 - 10 p.m. McDonald will play a solo acoustic set of old & new songs and a tribute to Woody Guthrie. $20 Live Oak Theater 1301 Shattuck Ave. (at Berryman) www.countryjoe.com  

“Mystic Journey” March 10, 8 p.m. Suzanne Teng and Mystic Journey are a unique contemporary world music ensemble, based in Los Angeles, making their Bay Area debut. $15 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. Call 925-798-1300 

Maria Marquez in Concert March 10, 8:30 p.m. A special evening of Marquez’s songs from her latest CD, “Eleven Love Stories.” $15 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

Pharaoh’s Daughter March 10, 8 p.m. New York-based world music sextet melding Hasidic, Moroccan, Indian and Turkish melodies and rhythms $18 - $20 Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237 

Brundibar Children’s Opera March 11, 11:30 a.m. & 2 p.m. Featuring members of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, children from the Crowden School, and Ela Weissberger, a survivor and original cast member. $12 - $24 Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 College Ave. 848-0237  

“The Mirrored Ball Benefit Concert Featuring Rebbe Soul” March 11, 6 - 9 p.m. Also to play Times 3 Proceeds from the concert go to the Derek Israel Memorial Scholarship Fund of the greater East Bay Jewish Community Foundation. $18 - $45 Redwood Gardens 2951 Derby St. Call 223-8223 or purchase tickets online: www.dims41.com 

Cantor Ramon Tasat: Music of Italian, Turkish & Spanish Jews March 13, 2 & 7:30 p.m. $10 - $20 Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237 

“Treacherous Crossings” March 14, 10 a.m., March 15 & 16, 10:30 a.m. & 7 p.m. Produced entirely by 8 - 11 year olds Malcolm X Arts & Academics Magnet School Malcolm X Auditorium 1731 Prince St. 644-6313 

Za’atar Performance/Community Jam March 15, 7:30 p.m. $14 - $16 Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237 

Berkeley High School Concert Orchestra March 15, 7 p.m. Performing works by Beethoven, Haydn, Shostakovich, as well as student compositions. Sponsored by North Branch, Berkeley Public Library’s Teen Services, and the Friends of the Library Free North Branch Library 1170 The Alameda 

BHS Jazz Ensemble March 23, 7:30 p.m. The spring concert performance from the award-winning jazz ensemble. Proceeds benefit the students who will travel to Europe this summer to perform in Italy and Switzerland. $5 - $8 Florence Schwimley Little Theatre 1920 Allston Way  

Theater 

“Fall” by Bridget Carpenter Through March 11. $15.99 - $51. Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2025 Addison St. 647-2949, www. berkeleyrep.org 

“Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me” by Frank MacGuinness Through March 17, Thursday - Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, 8:30 p.m. The story of three men - an Irishman, an Englishman and an American held in a prison in Lebanon. $10 - $15 8th St. Studio Theatre 2525 Eighth St. (at Dwight) 655-0813 

“A New Brain” by William Finn Through March 18, Fridays & Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, 7 p.m. Watch as Gordon Schwinn, in the face of a life-threatening brain tumor, composes a farewell concert in which all the important figures in his life make show-stopping appearances. Presented by BareStage Productions $8 - $12 Choral Rehearsal Hall, Lower Level of Caesar Chavez Student Center UC Berkeley 642-3880  

“Glory Box” by Tim Miller March 9, 8 p.m. In this one-time performance, Miller explores the themes of same-sex marriage and binational gay/lesbian immigration rights. $15 Zellerbach Playhouse UC Berkeley 601-8932 or www.ticketweb.com  

“Little Shop of Horrors” Through Apri 1, Friday & Saturday, 8 p.m., Saturday & Sunday, 2 p.m., no show Friday, March 23; $12 Berkeley Community Little Theatre Allston Way at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way Call 943-SHOW  

“The Audience Is Onto Us: An Evening of F*cked-up Theatre (of Paranoid Proportions)” March 13 & 14, 8 & 10 p.m. A comedy cabaret-style show with a bizarre and wicked bent. $4 LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. e-mail: laughdamnyou@hotmail.com 

“The Oresteia” by Aeschylus March 14 - May 6 Directed by Tony Taccone and Stephen Wadsworth, Aeschylus trilogy will be the first production staged on the Berkeley Rep’s new prosenium stage. Please call Berkeley Repertory Theatre for specific dates and times. $15.99 - $117 Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2015 Addison St. (at Shattuck) 647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Chappy Knuckles (Semi-Regional Motorcross And) Family Fun Hour” March 19 & 20, 7 & 9 p.m. Shotgun Players’ Black Box Productions presents Old Man McGinty, who has a rubbing stone that he would love for you to touch. $10 LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. 655-0813 or visit www.shotgunplayers.com  

“The Tempest” by William Shakespeare Through April 14, Thursday - Saturday, 8 p.m. Presented by Subterranean Shakespeare and directed by Stanley Spenger $8 - $10 LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre 1834 Euclid Ave. (at Hearst) 237-7415 

Films 

“Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win” March 18, 6 p.m. A historic documentary of the May - June 1968 General Strike in France. Directed by Paris working class filmmaker Jean Pierre Thorn. Also to be shown is “France on Strike,” on the 1995 French public workers strike by rail workers, teachers, electrical and postal workers. $7 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. (at Prince) 849-2568  

The Bullfighter & the Lady and Seven Men From Now March 17, 6:30 p.m. Join Budd Boetticher, director of Westerns, who will discuss his career and screen two of his favorites. $7 Pacific Film Archive 2575 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch St.) 642-1412 

“Dreamers” March 17 - 24 The American feature film debut of Chinese-born writer/director Ann Lu. The executive producer of the film is UC Berkeley alumnus Peiti Feng Fine Arts Cinema 2451 Shattuck Ave. 848-1143 

Exhibits 

Berkeley Historical Society “Berkeley’s Ethnic Heritage.” An overview of the rich cultural diversity of the city and the contribution of individuals and minority groups to it’s history and development. Thursday through Saturday, 1 – 4 p.m. Free. 1931 Center St. 848-0181 

“Dorchester Days,” the photographs of Eugene Richards is a collection of pictures portraying the poverty, racial tension, crime and violence prevalent in Richards’ hometown of Dorchester, Massachusetts in the 1970s. Through April 6. UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism 121 North Gate Hall #5860 642-3383 

“Still Life & Landscapes” The work of Pamela Markmann Through March 24, Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Red Oak Gallery 1891 Solano Ave. 527-3387 

“Unequal Funding: Photographs of Children in Schools that Get Less” An exhibit of black & white photographs by documentary photographer Chris Pilaro. Through March 16, Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m., Saturday, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Photolab Gallery 2235 Fifth St. 644-1400 

“Contemporary Photogravure” Printing from hand-inked plates etched from a film positive, a unique exhibition of photographs with luxurious tones. Through March 30, Tuesday - Friday, Noon - 5 p.m. or by appointment Kala Art Institute 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977 

“Musee des Hommages,” Masterworks by Guy Colwell Faithful copies of several artists from the pasts, including Titian’s “The Venus of Urbino,” Cezanne’s “Still Life,” Picasso’s “Woman at a Mirror,” and Boticelli’s “Primavera” Ongoing. Call ahead for hours 2028 Ninth St. (at Addison) 841-4210 or visit www.atelier9.com 

“Sugar N’ Spice N’ Everything Nice: Live, Loves and Legacies of Women of Color” March 14 - April 21, Wednesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Opening reception: March 15, 6 - 8 p.m. Works by Aissatoui Vernita, Flo Oy Wong, Tomoko Negishi, Consuelo Jimenez and many others. Pro Arts Gallery 461 Ninth Street Oakland 763-9425 

Amanda Haas, New Paintings and Olivia Kuser, Recent Landscapes Through March 24, Tuesday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Traywick Gallery 1316 Tenth St. 527-1214 

“Travels in Color” Wax crayon sketches by Pamela Markmann made over the past 35 years Through March 31, 5 - 8 p.m. daily Voulez Vouz Bistro 2930 College Ave. 548-4708 

“Chicano Art and Visions of David Tafolla” Vivid color acrylic and oil paintings with Latino imagery. Through April 12, Tuesday - Thursday, 1 - 7 p.m., Saturday Noon - 4 p.m. and by appointment. Opening reception March 10, 1 - 3 p.m. Women’s Cancer Resource Center 3023 Shattuck Ave. 548-9272 or www.wcrc.org 

Nylan Jeung and David Lippenberger Lippenberger renders figures in acrylic and Jeung work with ink and watercolor on rice paper, using traditional eastern techniques. Through April 7, Wednesday through Sunday, Noon - 5 p.m Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893 

Recent Works of Narangkar Khalsa & Pete Glover Through March 31; Opening reception March 10, 7 - 9 p.m. !hey! Gallery 4920-B Telegraph Ave. Oakland 428-2349  

Readings 

Boadecia’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 9: Annette Madden will read from “In Her Footsteps: 101 Remarkable Black Women from the Queen of Sheba to Queen Latifah:; March 10: Dyke Open Myke! To particpate call Jessy 655-1015; March 12, 7 p.m.: FTM Book & Discussion Group will discuss “Making the Body Beautiful” by Sander Gilman; March 14, 7 p.m.: Women’s Book Group will discuss “Wicked: The Life & Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire; March 16: Rik Isensee will read from his novel “The God Squad: A Spoof on the Ex-Gay Movement”; March 21, 7 p.m.: Gay/Bi Men’s Book Group will discuss “Lost Language of Cranes” by David Leavitt; March 24, 7 p.m.: Aliza Sherman will read and sign “Cybergrrl@Work: Tips and Inspiration for the Professional You” 398 Colusa Ave. Kensington 559-9184. www.boadeciasbooks.com 

Cody’s Books All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 12: Ken Baker will discuss “Man Made: A Memoir of My Body”; March 13: Patrick McCabe reads “Emerald Germs of Ireland”; March 14: Poetry of Murray Silverstein & Helen Wickes; March 15: Randy Shaw talks about “The Activist’s Handbook: A Primer”; March 18: Poetry of Yvonne Cannon, Lara Gularte, Richard Rocco; March 19: Jean Rouverol talks about “Refugees From Hollywood: A Journal of the Blacklist”; March 21: Poetry of James Schevill; March 25: Poetry of Beverly Matherne & A.J. Rathbun; March 28: Poetry of Craig Van Riper & Jaime Robles; April 4: Poetry of Carole Simmons Oles & Matthew McKay; April 11: Poetry of Kurt Brown & Al Young 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852  

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore All events at 7:30 p.m., unless noted March 13: 40th Anniversary of the Peace Corps, learn the challenges of alternative international travel, work, and life; March 15: Lecture and demonstration by Philip Smith, editor of the “Gerardus Mercator’s 1595 Historic Atlas” of cartography, “Octavo” Editor Philip Smith will discuss the history of the Mercator Atlas; March 27: Travel writer Edward Hasbrouck, author of “The Practical Nomad” will provide essential tips, advice, and consumer skills for the independent traveler; March 29: Katherine Widing, author of “Cycling France” will give a slide presentation/talk on just that 1385 Shattuck Ave. (at Rose) 843-3533 

“Strong Women - Writers & Heroes of Literature” Fridays Through June, 2001, 1 - 3 p.m. Taught by Dr. Helen Rippier Wheeler, author of “Women and Aging: A Guide to Literature,” this is a free weekly literature course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program. North Berkeley Senior Center 1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 549-2970  

Duomo Reading Series and Open Mic. Thursdays, 6:30 - 9 p.m. March 15: Elanor Watson-Gove; March 22: Anna Mae Stanley; March 29: Georgia Popoff; April 5: Barbara Minton; April 12: Alice Rogoff; April 19: Garrett Murphy; April 26: Ray Skjelbred. Cafe Firenze 2116 Shattuck Ave. 644-0155. 

Lunch Poems First Thursday of each month, 12:10 - 12:50 p.m. April 5: Galway Kinnell; May 3: Student Reading Morrison Room, Doe Library UC Berkeley 642-0137 

Rhythm & Muse Open Mike March 11, 2 p.m. Featuring Sacramento poet Johnny Heart Berkeley Art Museum Conference Room 2621 Durant (at Bowditch) 527-9753 

Women’s Word March 14, 7:30 p.m. An evening of women’s word honoring International Women’s month and featuring Avotcja, Straight Out Scribes, Tureeda & Kira Allen. Hosted by Joyce Young. Open mic will follow. $4 La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 

Holloway Poetry Series March 13, 8 p.m.: Brenda Hillman, author of many books of poetry including “Loose Sugar” will read. Sponsored by the Department of English of UC Berkeley. Free. Maude Fife Room (315) Wheeler Hall UC Berkeley 653-2439 

“Slam the Prisons” April 6, 6 p.m. - 1 a.m. A benefit for prison activism featuring Tang, Company of Prophets, Sheryl D. Mebane and many others. Proceeds benefit the defense of New Afrikan political prisoner Khalfani X. Khaldun and the Prison Activist Resource Center. $10 La Pena Cultural Center 3205 Shattuck Ave. 898-0431  

Tours 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Free. University of California, Berkeley. 486-4387 

Berkeley City Club Tours 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. The fourth Sunday of every month, Noon - 4 p.m. $2 848-7800  

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

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden Centennial Drive, behind Memorial Stadium, a mile below the Lawrence Hall of Science The gardens have displays of exotic and native plants. Tours, Saturday and Sunday, 1:30 p.m. $3 general; $2 seniors; $1 children; free on Thursday. Daily, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. 643-2755 or www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden/  

Lectures 

Berkeley Historical Society Slide Lecture & Booksigning Series Sundays, 3 - 5 p.m. $10 donation requested March 11: Director of Berkeley’s International House, Joe Lurie, will show a video and dicuss the history and struggle to open the I-House 70 years ago; March 18: “Topaz Moon,” Kimi Kodani Hill will discuss artist Chiura Obata’s family and the WWII Japanese relocation camps. Berkeley Historical Center Veterans Memorial Building 1931 Center St. 848-0181 

UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Research Seminars Noon seminars are brown bag March 7, 4 p.m.: Akhil Reed Amar will discuss his book “The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction.”; March 8, 5 p.m.: E.J. Dionne, Jr., Jefferson lecturer and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, will speak on “Is There a Politics of the Common Good?” (IGS Library); March 9, 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.: “Interpreting Governance: Narratives of Public Sector Reform” A one-day colloquiem with Mark Bevir of UC Berkeley, Rod Rhodes of the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and many others; March 12, Noon: Catherine Hafer of Ohio State will discuss “The Political Economy of Emerging Property Rights”; March 14, 4 p.m.: Akhil Redd Amar will discuss his book “The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction”; March 19, Noon: Anne Balsamo of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, will explore IT issues within the humanities; April 23, 4 p.m.: Mary Dudziach of USC will discuss “Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy.” 119 Moses Hall UC Berkeley 642-4608  

“Great Decisions” Foreign Policy Association Lectures Series Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - Noon, Through April 3; An annual program featuring specialists in the field of national foreign policy, many from University of California. Goal is to inform the public on major policy issues and receive feedback from the public. $5 per session, $35 entire series for single person, $60 entire series for couple. Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant Ave. 526-2925 

City Commons Club Lecture Series Fridays, 12:30 p.m. $1 general Students Free March 9: Morgan McNamara, visiting professor, Lawrence Berkeley Lab, will speak on “Genetic Analysis of Population - Origin & Migration”; March 16: Paul H. Young, Jr. retired foreign service officer, will present “A Pilgrim’s Visit to Athos”; March 23: Guy Colwell, master painter of Nasters, will speak on “Using Painting to Teach Art History”; March 30: Jana Grittersova, professor of International Relations, UC Berkeley will speak on “The European Union - Integration and Expansion” Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant Ave. 848-3533 

“Jews of Africa: Lecture with Jay Sand” March 12, 7:30 p.m. $8 - $10 Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237 

“Isn’t that a Clinton thing?” “Didn’t the Republicans de-fund that?” 

AmeriCorps has gotten the short shrift in the public’s worldview. Filmmaker Rick Goldsmith says what he has heard from most people is only the most vague understanding of the government-sponsored volunteer program, which the Clinton administration spearheaded in 1993 to foment community improvement. 

From their office in the Fantasy Building on Tenth Street in Berkeley, Goldsmith (whose documentary (“Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press” was nominated for an Academy Award) and his filmmaking partner Abbey Ginzberg have created a documentary about the working side of the constantly budget-threatened AmeriCorps.  

“Everyday Heroes” will have a premiere screening this Sunday at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco at 5 p.m. Goldsmith and Ginzberg didn’t have to travel far to find subjects: In the East Bay there are dozens on AmeriCorps projects in action. 

The film follows eleven members during the 1998-1999 school year as they taught, tutored, and mentored school children in various disciplines from reading to gardening to HIV prevention. Participants in AmeriCorps were paid a small wage and earned an educational stipend at the end of their year-long term. 

Sonya Dublin is one such participant. As a recent college graduate with some grassroots community organizing experience – and a whole lot of waitressing jobs – she had been hoping to gain some professional training. 

“I went into AmeriCorps thinking I would do a year or two of community service,” said Dublin, who was placed in Berkeley High School’s HIV prevention program. “Now I want to do it for the rest of my life.” 

Another of the film’s subjects is Kelsey Siegel, was placed in the Edible Schoolyard program of Berkeley’s Willard Middle School.  

The Edible Schoolyard is a gardening project on the Willard campus which enables students to learn to grow, harvest, and prepare produce on the school campus. The project allowed Siegel to bring together his professional experiences in farming, cooking, and teaching. 

It also let him bring his passion for Latin American and African drumming to his job. “Drumming is important in the agricultural tradition,” said Siegel, who tried to instill in the middle school students drumming as a means of ceremony and celebration. 

Filmmaker Abbey Ginzberg has been on the lookout for community programs for at-risk youth for several years. Her previous films (“Movin’ On Up,” “Vanguard in the Vanguard”) have been about experimental social programs.  

Ginzberg said she was drawn to documenting AmeriCorps because it is designed to reward the participants as much as the kids they are teaching “Some members of the team could be considered at-risk themselves,” she said. 

Part of the program charter stipulates that members of regional projects work as a group, and meet weekly to discuss and plan the direction of their team. “Everyday Heroes” captures some of their meetings, which were prone to bickering and arguments. 

“It was the most diverse group I’ll probably will ever work with,” said Siegel, who admitted he was wary of the team element. “It could get intense.” 

The film witnesses heated debates about race, personal expression, and group leadership, snits not unlike what could be seen among the young people in MTV’s “The Real World.” But while most reality-television programs are propelled by cash or career advancement, AmeriCorps and “Everyday Heroes” places its altruistic motivation in the betterment of the community. 

Goldsmith first realized the documentary potential of AmeriCorps while working on another MTV production, “Summer of Service,” when he discovered there were many young people interested in this kind of work. 

Kelsey Siegel knew he wanted to be a part of the Edible Schoolyard before he learned AmeriCorps existed.  

When King Middle School told him he could not work there because they couldn’t pay him, they pointed him in the direction of AmeriCorps as a way to get involved.  

Although initially hesitant to the team dynamic in favor of working with kids in the garden, Siegel now says that he got more out of the AmeriCorps experience from the team, learning to find resolution and comradery among the group. 

He also got a job. King Middle School eventually hired Siegel as their Edible Schoolyard’s group supervisor, where he still works today. 

For information about this weekend’s screening of “Everyday Heroes,” call 415.355.9988 x10.

By Jared Green 

Daily Planet Staff 

This was a game Robin Roberson just wasn’t going to lose. 

Berkeley’s senior star ended her home-court career Friday night by leading the Lady ’Jackets past Kennedy (Sacramento), 68-47, in a CIF Northern Section Division I semifinal. Berkeley will play at ARCO Arena in Sacramento on Saturday at 6 p.m. in the final for the right to play the next weekend for the state championship. 

Roberson led all scorers with 32 points, including 17 in the final quarter to seal the deal. The ’Jackets went into the fourth with a nine-point lead, but Roberson put the nail in the Cougars’ coffin with four buckets to key a 13-1 Berkeley run. 

Berkeley head coach Gene Nakamura challenged his star after the third quarter, as she had just 14 points and the ’Jackets had let Kennedy back in the game after leading by as much as 21 points. 

“I was rushing my shot, and Coach took me aside and said, ‘Is this how you want to end your last game here, playing like this?’ I said no, and I went out and made my shots,” Roberson said. 

Roberson got help from her fellow frontcourters, as forward Gelater Fullwood and center Sabrina Keys combined for 16 points and 16 rebounds, dominating the inside against the smaller Cougars. Fullwood was particularly ferocious on the offensive glass, pulling down six rebounds and getting three inside baskets in a row in the third quarter. 

“Gelater has been a warrior the last two games,” Nakamura said. “She’s gone out there like it’s the last game for her.” 

Early on, it looked as if the ’Jackets would have no problems with Kennedy, as they jumped out to a 21-5 lead after the first quarter. The Cougars’ lack of big-game experience showed, as they shot just 1-for-14 from the floor in the opening period and 9-for-49 in the game.  

But Berkeley was called for several touch fouls, and the Cougars were in the bonus early in the second quarter. The cut the lead to single digits at 30-21, thanks to 13 trips to the free throw line, 10 of which they converted. But Fullwood hit a free throw, and Lauren Chambers made a sweet turnaround jumper at the buzzer, and the ’Jackets had a 33-21 halftime lead. 

Nakamura squad came out firing to start the second half, and a Roberson 3-pointer gave them a 42-21 advantage early. But both Roberson and Keys earned their third fouls with five minutes to go in the quarter and had to go to the bench. The Cougars responded with a 12-point run. Roberson came back in and hit a short jumper, but Kennedy’s Christina Johnson answered with a layup to draw back within nine to start the fourth quarter. 

“They’re a transition team like us, and they make runs,” Nakamura said. “I didn’t want them to keep running, so I told my team to be patient and get good shots. When we did that, we were okay.” 

Johnson and freshman sensation Alisha Hicks led the Cougars with 14 points each, and Diana Fong pitched in 11 points. But the ’Jackets shut down Kennedy’s leading scorer, junior Smartt Kidd, holding her to no field goals and just four points. 

One Berkeley player who will have to step up in Sacramento is junior guard Angelita Hutton. The ’Jackets’ third-leading scorer in the regular season, Hutton has now scored just 11 points in the two regional games combined, shooting just 5-for-20 from the floor. Hutton has had foul trouble in recent games, including a technical foul in the first quarter on Friday. 

“(Hutton) takes herself out of the game with foul trouble,” Nakamura said. “She tries to block everything, and ends up on the bench. We need her in the game.” 

Nevertheless, the Lady ’Jackets are heading back to ARCO, where they lost to Narbonne in the state championship last year. 

“Our main goal was to make it to ARCO,” Roberson said. “Our goal now is to win state. We always get there, but we never win.”

With bike horns honking, hundreds of pink balloons pushing skyward on their strings and one pink contraption on wheels filled with balloons described as a “velorutionary pink bloc,” some 200 riders took off through the streets of Berkeley Friday evening, celebrating the eighth anniversary of Critical Mass, an organization that aims to take streets back for cyclists. “I don’t believe in cars for use in an urban area,” said Brendan Casey, who rides with Critical Mass in New York City and was in town visiting a friend. Casey said another friend, a bike messenger in the Big Apple, was knocked to the ground by a fire truck and broke his leg. “(Critical Mass) makes the public aware of bicyclers,” he said.

SUNNYVALE – The No. 4 Cal Bears squeaked past the Southern Illinois Salukis, 2-0 in game one of pool play at the National Invitational Softball Tournament and followed that win with a 7-2 victory over the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos in game two.  

The opening game was a scoreless stalemate for five innings, until sophomore Mikella Pedretti took action into her own hands for the Bears (23-0), sending a 1-0 pitch over the left field fence to give Cal the 1-0 lead. Junior Jocelyn Forest followed with a single up the middle and then stole second to move into scoring position. Sophomore Kristen Morley then singled to bring in Forest from second and give the Bears a two-run advantage.  

DiSalvio earned the win for Cal, improving to 10-0 on the year. She struck out seven SIU batters, walked two and allowed four hits.  

The Bears spotted the Gauchos two runs in the first inning of game two, but Cal chipped away at the UCSB (7-12) lead, stringing together five straight hits, along with a sophomore Veronica Nelson walk, to cut the Gauchos lead in half, 2-1.  

In the fourth with one out, sophomore Courtney Scott drilled a double down the left field line. Forest followed with a walk to put Cal runners on first and second. After the runners moved up one base apiece on a wild pitch. Sophomore Eryn Manahan came up next and sent a double to the left field gap to drive in Andrew and Forest, and give Cal the lead for good, 3-2.

Faced with an estimated $5 million budget shortfall next year, Berkeley School Board representatives have intensified a 14-month campaign to escape a $1.16 million state penalty for missing a bureaucratic deadline. 

“The penalty far outweighs the crime,” said Board President Terry Doran Thursday after a meeting in Sacramento where he and Interim Superintendent Stephen Goldstone asked the State Board of Education to consider reducing or eliminating the penalty. 

The battle dates back to December 1999, when the Berkeley school district submitted paperwork to the State Board of Education 45 days later than state law allowed.  

State law in 1999 required districts to account for staff professional development days during the school year in order to receive state education funding for those days. Berkeley was the only district out of more than 600 that failed to account for these days in writing by the Oct. 31 deadline. 

“We made a mistake,” Doran said.  

Doran and others are mystified by the severe punishment for what they call a simple administrative error. 

“Does the state benefit in any way from dinging us for $1.1 million because we missed the deadline by a month and a half?” Doran said. 

Doran said he would understand if the Berkeley school district had substituted professional development time for student instructional time in a way that was not permissible under the law. But Berkeley did nothing different from hundreds of other school districts except fail to file papers on time, Doran said. 

California lawmakers demonstrated their sympathy to the Berkeley argument when they voted overwhelmingly to scrap the penalty last year, but Gov. Gray Davis vetoed the legislation in September, putting the Berkeley school district back at square one. 

The school board turned to the State Board of Education for help in November 2000, but the state board declared it had no legal authority to exempt Berkeley from the penalty. In February, the state board agreed to give Berkeley four years to pay the penalty in $290,000 installments, with the state in effect deducting that amount from its funding for Berkeley schools each year. 

The first deduction has already taken place but is not counted in the district’s $5 million budget deficit for next year because the district is still hoping to have the penalty erased by this summer. 

In a meeting with State Assemblymember Dion Aroner Friday, Doran and Goldstone discussed the possibility of new legislation that would free BUSD from paying the penalty. 

“We want to word the legislation in a different way to better explain our position,” Doran said. 

When Davis vetoed last year’s bill providing relief to Berkeley he argued that “releasing school districts from penalties for noncompliance with these laws...sets an undesirable precedent.” To preempt this argument in the future, any new bill would be worded in a way that deals more specifically with Berkeley, Doran said. 

Berkeley school representatives have also appealed to the State Board of Education one more time to reduce the penalty in some way. Greg Geeting, interim executive director for the state board of education, said Friday that a panel of legal experts for the state legislature is reviewing the matter of the board’s legal authority to intervene in the matter.  

“Our legal council might change their view if the Legislative Counsel’s opinion were different than their own,” Geeting said. 

If efforts to reduce the penalty fail, the Berkeley board may ask for more time to pay up. 

“Given the fact that the penalty is spread out over four years instead of eight or 12 it’s very onerous,” said Shirley Issel, vice president of the Berkeley Board of Education.  

California field hockey coach Shellie Onstead has been selected as head coach of the Under-16 U.S. Men’s National Team for this spring. This is the third stint for Onstead as head coach. In 1999 and 2000, she was also appointed the same position en route to becoming the first woman in U.S. field hockey to be named head coach of a men’s team at any age level.  

In her first year with the Under-16 squad, the U.S. Olympic Committee named Onstead the U.S. Field Hockey Association’s National Coach of the Year. This spring, she will take the team on tours to Holland and Canada for their respective annual tournaments.  

“I’m thrilled and honored to be named again (as the head coach),” Onstead said. “It’s a good age group to work with and I’m glad that I have another chance to see if we could win the tournament in Holland.”  

In addition to the head coaching position, Onstead was also selected by the USFHA to join the Senior Men’s National Team as an assistant coach. She will travel with the team in July to Scotland for the World Cup qualifier tournament.  

At Cal, Onstead has been a part of the field hockey program for more than 20 years - three years as a player, 11 years as an assistant and six seasons as head coach. In 2000, she guided the Bears to their second consecutive undefeated NorPac Conference season and a runner-up spot in the NorPac Postseason Tournament.  

In five years as head coach, Onstead has an overall record of 62-42, including a conference record of 23-9.

The state Court of Appeal denied a lawsuit on Wednesday filed by three Landmarks Preservation Commissioners over an opinion by the city attorney that said they had a conflict of interest with a proposed development project. 

A panel of three Court of Appeal judges, Douglas Swager, James Marchiano and Gary Strankman summarily denied the suit two days after the commissioners called a press conference to announce the filing by their attorney, Antonio Rossmann. The judges gave no written explanation for the denial.  

The suit sought the reinstatement of the commissioners’ full voting power on the LPC, not monetary damages. 

On Oct. 30, City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque issued an opinion that the three commissioners, Becky O’Malley, Carrie Olson and Lesley Emmington-Jones, had a conflict of interest in their duties as commissioners with respect to the proposed Beth El Synagogue development, because they were either directors or employees of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.  

The conflict arose from a letter BAHA president Sarah Wikander wrote that was critical of the Environmental Impact Report for the proposed synagogue and school at 1301 Oxford St. As a result, Albuquerque said the commissioners should recuse themselves from voting on any issues related to the Beth El project. 

The commissioners refused, causing the chair of the commission, Burton Edwards to direct staff not to acknowledge their votes or comments on Beth El issues.  

“I have no idea why they even bothered to file a suit,” Albuquerque said. “I think it’s pretty clear that they don’t have any standing.” 

O’Malley said it was no surprise the court denied the suit. “The denial was most likely due to workload,” she said. “All we really wanted to do by going to the Court of Appeal was save the city some time and money.” 

O’Malley said Rossmann is considering where he will file the suit next. It could be in Superior Court, she said. 

Albuquerque said she is perplexed by some of the actions of the commissioner’s lawyer. She said that she doesn’t understand why Rossmann failed to provide documents to the State Attorney General that would have facilitated an opinion regarding the issue. 

“I have no idea what they are trying to accomplish,” she said. “It’s like writ writing 101.” 

Berkeley Observed 

Looking back, seeing ahead 

Although the 1906 earthquake toppled chimneys and cracked walls in Berkeley, the city was considered safer than San Francisco, and many refugees became permanent residents.  

Between 1900 and 1910 Berkeley’s population grew from 13,000 to 40,000 and every part of the city experienced growth.  

In west Berkeley 30 factories were relocated or established within three months after the earthquake including Macaulay Foundry.  

The foundry is located at 811 Carleton St. and is the oldest west Berkeley industry still operating under its original name in its original location.  

Macaulay Foundry was founded in San Francisco in 1896 and primarily made castings for the Byron Jackson Iron works which developed water pumps used across the state for municipal water and irrigation systems. 

In 1906 both businesses burned to the ground, and both relocated to Berkeley. Located side-by-side, both in San Francisco and Berkeley.  

From 1896 until 1937 Macaulay Foundry’s largest customer was Byron Jackson Iron Works.  

It also made castings for several other Berkeley companies including Hawes Sanitary Drinking Faucet, Scott-Hall Motor Car Company, Jacuzzi Brothers., Johnson Gear, Pan-American Manufacturing and Peet Brothers (later Colgate-Palmolive) once located across the street. 

This is among Berkeley's few remaining early 20th century manufacturing plants, and one of the largest and oldest jobbing foundries in the West.  

On June 3, 1996 the California Historical Society designated Macaulay Foundry, Inc. a Historic Business: “In recognition of the historic contribution to California's growth for 100 Years.”  

Susan Cerny, author of Berkeley Landmarks, writes this column in conjunction with the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association

SAN JOSE — A program to use tobacco settlement money to provide every child in Santa Clara County with health care has garnered an overwhelming response – especially from other cities wishing to do the same, proponents say. 

The Santa Clara County Children’s Health Initiative is designed to let parents know what local, state and federal health insurance programs their children qualify for, and to make up for any coverage gaps left by those programs. 

“We have had interest from all over the country from people that would like to copy this program,” said Kevin Malone, a community organizer for People Acting in Community Together, a faith-based group that helped organize the program. “As far as we know, there’s nothing like this one.” 

The Rev. Rex Police, a member of the San Diego Organizing Project that is trying to get a similar initiative in that county, told a story of his own experience with health care at a news conference Friday marking the official start of the Santa Clara program. 

Three years ago, Police’s 1-month-old grandson was found to have a hole in his heart, and because the boy’s mother had taken a 3-month leave from work after giving birth, their insurance had lapsed. 

The hospital refused to operate on the boy without insurance, but Police said his wife camped out in the hospital for two weeks to get them to agree to perform the lifesaving surgery. The boy now is fine. 

“I hope our (county) supervisors in San Diego can see that the supervisors here have stepped up to the plate,” Police said. 

The initiative officially starts Sunday, but more than 5,000 children already have been signed up in the past two months. That exceeds the initiative’s projection of signing up 500 children a month. 

San Jose resident Irma Perez, a mother of two, learned of the initiative through a teacher at her children’s school and will sign up for the program Sunday. Her two daughters, 9 and 5, have been without health insurance for at least six months because her husband changed jobs, and his new job does not offer health insurance. 

“Thank God, up to now, they haven’t gotten sick,” she said in Spanish. “In this country, the cost of health care is very expensive.” 

An estimated 70,000 children in Santa Clara County are without health insurance, and more than half of them are in San Jose. The initiative also aims to sign up undocumented children. 

The initiative, which signs people up for Medi-Cal, the state and federal Healthy Families program and the county’s Healthy Kids program, also teaches participants how to use the insurance to make sure that they stay part of their program, Malone said. 

The initiative is expected to cost $14 million a year and can cover kids in families making up to three times the federal poverty level, meaning a family of four that makes almost $52,000 is eligible. Proponents have said that’s important in an area known for its high cost of living. 

The county will spend $3 million of the $18.5 million it is expecting each year for the next 25 years under the tobacco settlement. The city of San Jose will contribute nearly $3 million of tobacco settlement money over the next three years. Another $2 million will from tobacco taxes and $1 million from a county-run health maintenance organization.  

That leaves about $5 million left to raise. 

The 1998 tobacco settlement resulted from 46 states, including California, suing the tobacco industry to recoup the costs of treating sick smokers. The states will split $206 billion over 25 years. Four other states settled separately for another $40 billion. 

SAN JOSE — The recording industry said Friday it planned to send a list of 135,000 copyright songs to Napster Inc., giving the file-swapping company until Wednesday to block their free exchange on the online service. 

The Recording Industry Association of America planned to send the list to Napster electronically Friday night, said spokeswoman Amy Weiss. 

Napster then would have three business days to block the songs, according to an injunction issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel. The injunction followed a lawsuit by record companies, who are seeking to shut Napster down for facilitating copyright infringement. 

The list, compiled from music owned by the five largest record labels, arranges the songs by artist name, song title and album name. Also included are names under which the songs are stored. 

A Napster spokeswoman said late Friday afternoon the company had not yet received the list of songs. 

In a Web posting to its more than 60 million users, Napster said it earlier received names of some songs and expects the record companies to send more. 

“You will still be able to share music that we haven’t been asked to block,” the statement read. “The Napster file-sharing service is and will continue to be up and running.” 

Napster did not specify how many files have been blocked, but a wide range of files remained available Friday. 

A computer search for “Metallica” revealed more than 100 files on one server. A search for the band’s name and the song “The Unforgiven” was unsuccessful. Yet a search for “The Un4given” was successful. 

Howard King, an attorney who represented Metallica in a lawsuit against Napster, said he has been in contact with Napster officials since Patel’s order and has noticed efforts at blocking. 

“I learned patience waiting four months for the court of appeals to rule,” he said. “As long as I think they’re trying to (implement the screening system), I’m not going to jump up and down.” 

Napster appeared in 1999 when founder Shawn Fanning released software making it easy for people to locate and trade songs stored as computer files in the MP3 format, which compresses digital recordings without sacrificing quality. 

Five record labels – Sony, Warner, BMG, EMI and Universal – quickly sued, saying Napster could rob them of billions in profits. 

Napster argued no music was stored on its servers, which contained only the names of songs and where to find the music among its users’ hard drives. 

In July, Patel issued a preliminary injunction ordering Napster to shut down, but a federal appeals court set aside the injunction pending its own decision. On Feb. 12, the appeals court ordered Patel to rewrite her injunction.

SAN FRANCISCO — A law firm sued Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison on Friday, alleging the world’s second-richest man engaged in insider trading when he dumped a large amount of company stock prior to a dismal earnings report. 

Oracle spokeswoman Jennifer Glass said the federal suit brought by Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach on behalf of a small pension fund is “entirely without merit and will be defended vigorously.” 

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.  

It alleges that Ellison unlawfully dumped at $32 per share nearly $900 million worth of shares, a fraction of his holdings, during the fiscal third-quarter, which ended Feb. 28.  

Ellison is accused of taking advantage of insider information that included knowledge that the software giant would not meet third-quarter expectations. 

The Redwood Shores company warned March 1 that third-quarter earnings would fall below forecasts because of a sudden slowdown in sales caused by the country’s slumping economy.  

The suit, however, said Oracle knew but concealed that it would experience costly outlays to fix what the lawyers called “massive technical problems” with its 11iSuite software. 

Preliminary results for the third quarter estimated earnings will be 10 cents a share.  

Analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial were expecting 12 cents a share for Oracle stock. 

On Friday, Oracle shares dropped $1.13 to $16.38 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, nearly half their value when Ellison sold shares and well below a 52-week high of $46.47. 

All told, the executive sold 29.1 million shares in January, generating $894.8 million. 

Ellison reaped about $681 million in profits by exercising stock options that were expiring in August.  

Ellison told the Securities and Exchange Commission he exercised options to purchase 22.2 million shares for about 22.5 cents each.  

He then sold the shares in the open market for as much as $32 each. Those were his first share sales in five years. 

Ellison also sold about 7 million shares that he already owned, according to an SEC report. 

Ellison owns about 1.4 billion common Oracle shares plus other options. 

The suit is Local 144 Nursing Home Pension Fund vs. Oracle Corp., C010988.

LOS ANGELES — Excerpts of 911 calls from the Santana High School shooting were released Friday, the family of the teen-ager accused in the fatal attack said they were horror-stricken and the governor called on teachers to spend more time talking to students. 

Just hours before a public memorial for Randy Gordon and Bryan Zuckor, the students killed in Monday’s rampage at the suburban San Diego school, the family of Charles Andrew “Andy” Williams issued a statement. 

Williams has been charged with two counts of murder and 26 other counts for allegedly killing his classmates and wounding 13 other people during a six-minute shooting spree. 

“They would like all of you to know that they were horror-stricken by the events that took place at Santana High School and they remain shocked and confused,” read the statement, issued through the public defender’s office. 

Sheriff’s deputies released edited tapes of three calls received Monday as the shooting started. 

The most dramatic came from an injured student, breathing fast and heavy. 

“He was in the boy’s bathroom. ... I don’t know where he went. Everyone was running around,” she said in brief portions of the 17-minute call that were released. 

In Los Angeles, Gov. Gray Davis said metal detectors and better communication in public schools might help prevent tragedies like Santee. 

Metal detectors could be a way to keep weapons out of classrooms, Davis said in brief comments about the shooting at a California Federation of Teachers conference. 

Many of the 400 teachers in the audience moaned at the suggestion by Davis, who went on to say that airports have become safer places because of such precautions. 

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that there have been far fewer shootings on airplanes than in schools,” he said. 

It might be time to teach children to resolve their own conflicts, one teacher said. 

“We as adults and teachers have taken care of the problems for kids instead of teaching the kids how to take care of their own problems,” said Marilyn Chapman, a third-grade teacher from Litchfield, a tiny community north of Sacramento. 

Davis was on his way to visit one of the two victims still hospitalized. Both victims were reported in good condition and expected to be released in the next few days. 

Davis and his wife Sharon, a 1972 Santana graduate, then planned to attend the memorial service. 

Funerals for Gordon and Zuckor were scheduled this weekend. 

Four students who heard Williams threaten to shoot classmates and failed to report him will be barred from Santana High School for the rest of the year for their own safety, officials said Thursday. 

Several people said they heard Williams talk of planning to shoot up the school on Monday but passed it off as one of his frequent jokes. Students and community members have expressed anger over their failure to notify authorities. 

Most of the school’s 1,900 students returned to classes Wednesday. Grief counselors will continue to be available on campus for at least 45 days. 

Two teachers were out sick the first day, including one Ward said suffered a mild heart attack during the shooting. 

SACRAMENTO — Mexican President Vicente Fox is scheduled to tour California this month to discuss trade, technology and immigration issues with government and business leaders. 

“If we are going to be good neighbors and good partners, we need to be able to talk about all of the good things that we can partner in doing,” California’s Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante said Friday. 

“We also need to talk about the problems that take place in order to be able to air them openly, discuss them frankly and deal with them.” 

The March 21-23 visit will be Fox’s first trip to California since he took office Dec. 1 and falls on the heels of President Bush’s February visit to Mexico to boost cooperation between the two countries. 

Despite a thorny relationship between California and Mexico in the past, Gov. Gray Davis and Fox have pledged cooperation.  

Then President-elect Fox visited Los Angeles in November and Davis and Bustamante attended Fox’s inauguration. 

In addition to trade and immigration, Fox likely will address issues involving the environment, drug interdiction and technology on his trip, Bustamante said. 

During the three-day trip, he is slated to address a joint session of the California Legislature; visit with technology officials in Silicon Valley; meet with business leaders in Los Angeles; and open a Mexico Trade Center in Santa Ana, Bustamante said. 

Fox, the first opposition presidential candidate ever to defeat the Institutional Revolutionary Party that has ruled Mexico since 1929, has pledged sweeping reforms including tackling corruption and improving foreign relations. 

An official announcement of Fox’s visit has not been made, nor a detailed itinerary released.  

A Davis spokesman said the Mexican president still has to follow a protocol of formally notifying his Congress to approve the trip. 

But tickets for a luncheon with business leaders in Los Angeles already are sold out and preparations are under way statewide to welcome Fox. 

“The president probably is one of the most popular people in the world and there are great, high expectations everywhere for him and his new administration,” said James Clark, executive director of the California Pacific Office of the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce.

SACRAMENTO — Federal regulators ordered power wholesalers Friday to refund $69 million in excessive charges to California utilities, hundreds of millions less than state officials are seeking. 

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission found that January electricity prices wholesalers charged the California Independent System Operator, which oversees the state grid, and the Power Exchange, the state’s power trading center, exceeded “just and reasonable” amounts. 

The ISO earlier this month told FERC that suppliers should have to refund roughly $550 million they overcharged in December and January for the last-minute power it buys for utilities to fill gaps in the grid and avoid blackouts. 

FERC said it looked only at January and would address December in a later order. 

In addition, it said it could only address potentially excessive charges by private generators, not public utilities that sold to the grid and the exchange during that period.  

The public utilities accounted for $170 million of the overcharging alleged by the ISO. 

ISO spokeswoman Lorie O’Donley declined immediate comment on the federal order. 

FERC’s order requires refunds from more than a dozen major power suppliers, including Duke Energy, Dynegy, Reliant, Williams, Mirant, and Sempra, which is the parent of the San Diego Gas & Electric Co. 

Several suppliers contacted by The Associated Press, including Duke, Williams, Reliant and Dynegy, said they had not seen the order and couldn’t comment. 

“We’re reviewing it and not only want to review the conclusion, but the basis for those conclusions,” said Jeremy Dreier, a spokesman for North Carolina-based Duke Energy. 

California has been reeling under soaring wholesale power prices – driven in part by rising natural gas costs – and a tight power supply for months. 

The supply became particularly tight in December and January, as rain and snow fell short in the Pacific Northwest, straining hydroelectric production, and dozens of power plants shut down for scheduled and unplanned maintenance. 

Grid officials conducted an almost-daily scramble for power in January and February. Supplies fell short of demand on Jan. 17 and 18, causing rolling blackouts struck the northern two-thirds of the state. 

In addition, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and Southern California Edison – the state’s two biggest utilities and the largest recipients of the last-minute power the ISO buys – are on the brink of bankruptcy. 

They say soaring wholesale prices have left them more than $13 billion in debt since June, leading suppliers to deny them credit.  

State government has been spending roughly $45 million a day since early January to buy power for the utilities’ customers.  

The ISO report to FERC said electricity wholesalers overcharged during the period, even when high natural gas prices and other problems are taken into account. 

DEVELOPMENTS 

• Federal regulators order 13 generators to refund $69 million in power charges for January. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission required suppliers to justify prices exceeding $150 per megawatt hour. It determined that some sales were priced too high, even taking into account high natural gas prices, air quality control costs and plant maintenance. 

• The FERC staff recommends the commission repeal that $150 per megawatt hour “soft cap” it imposed in December on wholesale power prices. Instead, commissioners recommend that the Independent System Operator, keeper of the state’s power grid, overhaul the methods it uses to buy last-minute power. FERC staff recommends that during power emergencies, the cap be replaced with a set price and generators be required to sell any available power to the ISO. 

• The Power Exchange, the state’s power trading center, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The nonprofit exchange was created as part of deregulation. It ceased operations in January after PG&E and Edison were barred from trading because they had defaulted on payments. 

In a statement, the exchange said the filing will not effect the delivery of power by the utilities, “nor does it adversely impact the efforts of elected officials and stakeholders to find a solution to the electricity crisis in California.” 

• The Davis administration continues negotiations with Edison, PG&E and San Diego Gas & Electric over the governor’s plan to buy their transmission lines to help Edison and PG&E pay their debts. 

• The Legislature considers dozens of bills to encourage energy conservation, increase alternative power and streamline power plant siting. 

• The State and Consumer Services Agency and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown sponsor an Energy Efficiency Fair in San Francisco on Saturday to demonstrate power-saving techniques. 

• An order from Davis requiring businesses to substantially reduce outdoor lighting after business hours takes effect next week. Businesses that fail to comply face a potential fine of $1,000 a day. 

• Attorneys for three generators and the ISO return to federal court March 19, when a judge is expected to decide whether power suppliers can be forced to sell to the grid. 

LOS ANGELES — In a move union leaders say bodes well for farm laborers nationwide, the United Farm Workers signed a contract Thursday with the nation’s largest strawberry employer, ending a five-year struggle to unionize the company’s pickers. 

The agreement comes amid efforts by the UFW, best known for its charismatic founder Cesar Chavez, to unionize other agriculture industries and boost sagging membership. Leaders hope workers elsewhere will be inspired by the strawberry pickers’ success, allowing the union to make inroads in places like California’s mushroom fields and vineyards. 

“As the agriculture business grows, exploitation of workers gets worse. This is an important statement that says there’s an alternative,” said Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation. “There’s been a significant breakthrough here. So, they will build on this to bigger things.” 

Under the agreement with Watsonville-based Coastal Berry Co., the largest single employer of strawberry pickers in the country, more than 750 workers will receive free medical and dental care and a 7 percent pay raise over three years. The contract includes room to negotiate for productivity bonuses. 

The agreement, retroactive to Feb. 15, also provides for protection from firings and the establishment of a grievance and arbitration procedure. 

Workers will have a week to decide individually if they want to join the union. They will have to resign if they don’t, said UFW President Arturo S. Rodriguez. The union will take 2 percent of the workers’ wages for dues. 

Javier Vasquez, a strawberry picker who said he makes about $6.25 an hour at this point in the season, added he expects the contract to improve his working environment and looks forward to having “respect in the place of work.” 

There have been “too many firings and a lot of discrimination toward the workers (and) sexual harassment that I saw almost every day,” he said in Spanish through an interpreter. “That’s what motivated me to get involved and to organize my co-workers.” 

The union’s ability to organize the Coastal Berry employees should be an inspiration to other workers, Rodriguez said, because strawberry pickers are among the poorest-paid. 

California’s fast-growing strawberry industry brings in about $600 million a year. 

“As our companies do well and our industries do well, our workers should do well, too,” said Los Angeles mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa, a former union leader himself. 

David Gladstone, chairman of Coastal Berry, joined union leaders and pickers at a news conference to sign the agreement as members of other unions stood by waving UFW flags and chanting “si se puede,” Spanish for “yes you can.” 

The crowd broke open packages of fresh strawberries and emptied bottles of champagne in celebration. 

Gladstone encouraged labor leaders to try to organize pickers at other strawberry companies, noting the wage increases will make it difficult for his company to keep from raising prices. Fifty-three percent of the price of a package of strawberries goes to pay wages, he said. 

Coastal Berry’s willingness to negotiate with the union made it difficult at times for the company to lease land and get bank loans, Gladstone said. An industry group even sued the company, he said. 

Despite the union leaders’ optimism, one labor expert warned against using the UFW’s success at Coastal Berry as an indicator of its odds for success at other companies. 

Gary Chaison, a professor of labor management relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., said Coastal Berry was a “friendly employer” that was more willing to work with UFW than the union can expect from other companies. 

“I think the UFW contract is probably significant in what it represents not as a turning point for the union ... but an indication of where labor sees itself going,” he said. “They have been trying to show themselves as appealing to the emerging sectors of the work force ... and trying to go back to their old days when they represented disenfranchised workers.” 

The victory could be a sign the union known for its successes in the mid-1970s and 1980s is alive and well after years of dwindling membership and financial troubles, he said. 

The union has been trying to get a stake in the strawberry industry since 1995, but was slowed by battles with another upstart union along the way. The Coastal Berry of California Farm Workers Committee gained the right to represent Coastal Berry workers in Salinas, while the UFW represents Oxnard workers. 

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A boy who says he was imitating body-slamming pro wrestlers when he killed a little girl at age 12 was sentenced to life in prison without parole Friday after a judge refused to reduce his first-degree murder conviction. 

Tears rolled down Lionel Tate’s cheeks as the boy, now 14, was led away in handcuffs and leg shackles to begin serving the sentence, which was mandatory under a tough-on-crime Florida law enacted in the mid-1990s. 

Tate becomes one of the youngest defendants in the United States ever to be sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars. 

The prosecutor himself suggested the sentence was too harsh, but he also noted that the boy’s lawyer and his mother had repeatedly rejected a plea bargain that would have meant only three years in a juvenile prison. 

In imposing sentence, Judge Joel Lazarus called the slaying of 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick “cold, callous and indescribably cruel.” 

Tate was found guilty Jan. 25 of beating Tiffany to death at his home. Tiffany suffered a fractured skull, a lacerated liver and more than 30 other injuries on July 28, 1999, from being punched, kicked, stomped and thrown. 

During the trial, the defense argued that the 170-pound boy did not mean to kill the 48-pound girl and thought he could body-slam people and they would walk away unhurt, just like his wrestling idols on television. 

On Friday, the judge rejected a defense request to throw out Tate’s conviction or reduce it to second-degree murder or manslaughter, saying: “The evidence of Lionel Tate’s guilt is clear, obvious and indisputable.” 

The judge also questioned the defense argument that Tate was imitating pro wrestlers. “It is inconceivable that such injuries could be caused by roughhousing or horseplay or by replicating wrestling moves,” he said. 

Tate’s mother, Kathleen Grossett-Tate, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper who described Tiffany’s death to the judge as a “tragic accident,” showed no reaction to the sentence.  

Several family friends and relatives wailed. 

Defense attorney Jim Lewis had tried to put pro wresting and TV itself on trial. But the judge blocked him from calling as witnesses wrestling stars Hulk Hogan and The Rock, or from summoning psychologists to testify about the effect of pro wrestling on children. 

Lewis said he will appeal and also ask Gov. Jeb Bush to reduce the sentence. 

Prosecutor Ken Padowitz urged the judge to uphold the first-deg ree murder conviction but said he will support the request for clemency from the governor. However, he added: “That by no means is an indication that I don’t believe that the jury’s verdict was correct.” 

He said the Legislature should change the law so that judges have leeway in sentencing juveniles convicted as adults of first-degree murder. 

Padowitz would not say what sentence he believes Tate deserves, but pointed out that before the trial, Tate, his mother and his lawyer repeatedly rejected a plea bargain that offered three years in a juvenile prison, one year of house arrest and 10 years of probation. 

“That was a fair plea offer and if I could turn back time I would take it,” the boy’s lawyer said. 

The judge also rejected a defense request Friday for a mental competency hearing. The defense had argued that Tate did not understand before his trial that he faced life in prison if convicted. 

A few days after Tiffany’s death, Tate told police he picked her up and accidentally hit her head on a table. In a videotaped interview with a court-appointed psychologist, Tate claimed to have accidentally thrown Tiffany into a stairway railing and a wall while trying to toss her onto a sofa. 

The defense’s own experts conceded that Tate’s story would not have accounted for all of Tiffany’s injuries, which one prosecution expert said were comparable to falling from a three-story building. 

Housing sales are viewed by economists as an indicator of the economy’s good or poor health, so when a real estate group reported a big sales decline in January, it deepened an already gloomy outlook. 

And it should have. Homes are catalysts. When people change addresses they tend also to spend on furniture, appliances, landscaping and various supplementary items. They may renovate, and maybe even buy a second car. 

It explains the consternation that greeted the National Association of Realtors’ announcement of a sudden, 6.6 percent drop in January sales of existing homes. It tipped the indicator arrows toward recession. 

That was on February 26. On March 7, the arrows snapped back to a more  

neutral position. 

We erred, said a Realtor spokesman, blaming computer software. Instead of a 6.6 percent decline in sales of existing homes, that sector rose a healthy 3.8 per cent, adding 480,000 sales to the original estimate. 

Because this is a big economy producing big numbers, small glitches can become magnified into popular misinterpretations. But it isn’t glitches alone that cause problems. The best numbers can do it, too. 

It has become that way, ironically, as more people with more money react to government economic numbers that once concerned only a circle of professionals – academics, economists, executives, government officials. 

Now, more people than ever are directly invested in the economy via home ownership, stocks, mutual funds, 401(k)s and other individual retirement plans, corporate pension plans, credit cards and the like. They are better educated, too, and the media serves them more and more information. 

The reaction to computer numbers can be immediate rather than delayed, as it once was. And magnified, too. And, unlike the old days when the pros knew the limitations of numbers, worsened by imperfect understanding. 

It is not fully understood, for example, that numbers may be subject not only to errors, but to incomplete data. That they are often revised. That they may be seasonally adjusted, perhaps imperfectly. That some are meaningful, some not. 

But as reliance on computer-driven numbers grows, the pros are having their problems and those problems can cause economic landslides. 

The evidence is played out daily: semiconductor and other industries overestimating their markets’ growth rates; bad guidance from Wall Street; corporate chiefs lowering earnings estimates made just a month earlier. 

There may be no substitute for running an economy by the numbers, but a bit of old fashioned intuition can occasionally help lessen the impact. 

It is difficult, though, and can be embarrassing to attempt defending instinct and intuition, while the worst of decisions can find an alibi and security in blaming the computer numbers. Ask weather forecasters. 

Numbers in a modern economy, though off the mark and misinterpreted to boot, seem chiseled out of the hard rock of truth. They dictate. 

John Cunniff is a business analyst for The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — Caught in a technology downdraft, Loudcloud Inc. barely made a peep in its stock market debut Friday. 

Shares in the Sunnyvale-based Web services company closed at $6.16 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, up 16 cents from its sharply discounted initial public offering price. Loudcloud helps to build and maintain the Web sites of other companies, a niche that isn’t expected to produce a profit for the company until 2004. 

Loudcloud’s offering represented the most closely watched IPO in months, largely because of its chairman and co-founder, Marc Andreessen. 

The 1995 IPO of Andreessen’s last company, Web browser maker Netscape Communications, helped launch the Internet stock craze. Netscape’s rise provided the bulk of Andreessen’s estimated $500 million fortune. 

Market observers were curious to see if Andreessen, 29, could work his magic again at Loudcloud and shore up the badly slumping IPO market. 

But Andreessen received a dramatically different reception this time around. 

Loudcloud slashed its IPO price in half before eking out Friday’s 3 percent gain. In contrast, Netscape raised its IPO price before the stock doubled in value on its first day of trading in August 1995. 

The times are much different now. Netscape’s IPO came in the midst of a bull market more willing to gamble on unproven companies dabbling in the Internet. 

Loudcloud pushed through its IPO amid a squall of investor pessimism that swept through Wall Street again Friday as the market reacted to more bad news from technology bellwethers Intel Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. 

“It’s extraordinary that (Loudcloud) was even able to get this IPO priced in the face of these market conditions,” said Greg Gallo, a Palo Alto attorney who specializes in IPOs. 

Burned by huge losses over the past year, investors are especially leery of unprofitable Web-based businesses such as Loudcloud, which lost $107.6 million in the nine months ended Oct. 31. 

Venture capitalists now are advising their technology start-ups to string together three consecutive profitable quarters before pursuing an IPO. 

To make its IPO happen, Loudcloud had to make substantial concessions. The company originally hoped to sell 10 million shares for as much as $12 apiece. After investors balked, Loudcloud twice lowered the IPO price and increased the number of shares to 25 million to ensure it would raise enough money to stay afloat. 

After paying its expenses, Loudcloud will net $137.9 million from the IPO, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday. The company raised an additional $5 million by selling 877,192 shares at $5.70 apiece to one of its business partners, Compaq Computer, according to the filing. 

The company’s other notable partners and customers include business consultants Accenture, America Online, Nike, Ford Motor, News Corp. and Blockbuster. The company says it has signed customer contracts totaling $120 million.

NEW YORK — For a few hours this past week, Wall Street got a mild reminder of the euphoria that sent stocks roaring last year to some of their highest levels ever. 

Goldman Sachs chief investment strategist Abby Joseph Cohen issued a research note Wednesday advising clients to buy and predicting the Dow Jones industrials would hit 13,000 by year’s end. 

But the reaction was muted, an illustration of just how much has changed since this time a year ago, when the Nasdaq hit its all-time high of 5,048.62. Although stocks moved up somewhat, a string of earnings warnings and downgrades quickly took back control of the market. By Friday, blue chips and technology stocks had tumbled precipitously. 

“I’ve heard of Abby Cohen and I’ve seen her on TV, but I don’t really listen to her much,” said Kathleen Greer, a bank customer service representative in Chicago. She worries that some analysts may be promoting the same stocks their firms underwrite or want to do business with. “My investment club uses its own tools to analyze stocks.” 

The same Wall Street analysts who presided over the Nasdaq’s dramatic ascension are still around, but their influence has waned somewhat as the stocks they covered have fallen sharply. 

“The market gets into times of euphoria and depression. Right now, it’s hard for people to get excited,” said Kent Womack, a finance professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. “I’m sure people are somewhat comforted to hear that she’s positive on the market, but there’s also the reality that earnings don’t look good and probably won’t another quarter from now.” 

The superstar strategists, including people like Cohen, Merrill Lynch’s Henry Blodget and Morgan Stanley’s Mary Meeker, can still be found on TV and in newspapers. But their influence has lessened as individual and institutional investors, scarred by weak earnings and the shuttering of dot-coms, have moved away from sectors  

that ignited many of these analysts’ careers. 

“It’s definitely quieted down,” said Robert B. Walsh, a financial adviser in Jersey City, N.J., who used to regularly field calls from clients interested in stocks they had seen touted on TV. “People still listen to that stuff, but they’ve lost a lot of wealth and don’t have the money to go back in.” 

Two unexpected earnings warnings from Intel and Yahoo! this past week were a reminder of how fundamentally attitudes and expectations have shifted on Wall Street. Caution, not euphoria, is the rule now. 

“Making money is hard again,” Blodget was quoted in the New York Post as telling a Merrill Lynch Internet Conference audience this week. 

Blodget, a Merrill Lynch analyst, rose to fame three years ago on a prediction that Amazon.com’s stock would double. Since then Amazon’s stock has fallen sharply and Pets.com, one of Blodget’s high-profile stock picks, has shuttered its doors. 

Rival Internet stock-picker Mary Meeker at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter has been quiet in recent months, but has no apologies for her bullish forecasts. 

Cohen, the Goldman Sachs strategist and perhaps the most senior and respected member of the group, was never a Nasdaq stock picker. Her forecast Wednesday, in fact, omitted the Nasdaq entirely. 

“We believe that attractive equity valuation has been restored and forecast year 2001 price levels of 1,650 and 13,000 for the S&P 500 and DJIA,” her note said, adding, “Opportunities are often the best when uncertainty is rampant.” 

With the market so volatile, it’s hard to know whether Wall Street’s less enthusiastic response to analysts is temporary or the beginning of a trend. 

Womack, the Tuck professor, isn’t sure, either. He also doesn’t believe it’s fair to blame analysts for the inflation or deflation of the Nasdaq bubble, as some have done. 

But he said good lessons can be learned from this. Forecasting what the overall market’s trajectory is tricky and hazardous. Investors need to look to more than analysts before making their portfolio decisions. 

“Many analysts wear multiple hats. One is to recommend their favorite stocks and the other is to get investment banking business done,” he said. “These two jobs conflict with each other. So we need to treat the advice we get from them like we would treat advice of someone selling a car or TV.” 

For the week, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 178.31, a 1.7 percent gain, to 10,644.62, despite tumbling 213.63 Friday. 

The Nasdaq composite index fell 64.85, or nearly 3.1 percent, to end the week at 2,052.78, a level not seen since December 1998. It lost 115.95 Friday. 

The Standard & Poor’s 500 ended the week off 0.76, a decline of nearly 0.1 percent. It finished at 1,233.42 after losing 31.32 on Friday. 

The Russell 2000 index, which tracks the performance of smaller company stocks, fell 3.23, or 0.7 percent, for the week after slipping 7.84 on Friday. It closed at 473.65. 

The Wilshire Associates Equity Index — which represents the combined market value of all New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq issues — ended the week at $11.331 trillion, off nearly $43 billion from the previous week. A year ago the index was nearly $11.374 trillion. 

End adv for weekend editions 

SAN FRANCISCO — City officials may soon boot advertisements portraying healthy, attractive models popping AIDS drugs, saying the message is unrealistic and promotes unsafe sex contributing to increased infection rates. 

City buses and commuter train stations are plastered with antiviral drug ads showing young, buff men enjoying outdoor activities such as mountain climbing, hiking and sailing. One headline reads: “Going the distance.” 

Some say the ads are misleading or downright false images of what it’s like to live with the disease. 

“The diarrhea is continuous. You’re not going mountain climbing unless there is a toilet,” said Jeff Getty, an activist from Survive AIDS who’s been taking the drugs since 1995. “They are selling us the disease along with the drugs.” 

The campaign comes in the wake of a report that found the rate of HIV infection has more than doubled among San Francisco’s gay men the last four years. 

A public hearing will be held next month before the city’s Public Health and Environment Committee. If a compromise cannot be reached with drug companies, such as New Jersey-based Merck & Co., Inc., Board of Supervisors President Tom Ammiano said the ads will be banned from all city-owned property as was done with outdoor tobacco ads before the industry stopped producing them. 

“There are serious, serious side effects to the medicine and they’ve cosmeticized that,” Ammiano said Thursday. “These pharmaceutical companies make millions. They need to exercise responsibility.” 

These drug “cocktails,” introduced in the mid-90s to prolong the lives of HIV victims, also have produced liver and heart problems along with other damaging side effects, health officials said. 

In an effort to prove the effects of the ads, the city Department of Public Health has surveyed 262 straight and gay men visiting its clinics. Of those, 62 percent said the glossy ads covering billboards, magazine pages, bus shelters and other venues lead to unsafe sex. 

The agency plans to survey 1,000 people in an attempt to get the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to recommend the ads be toned down. It cannot regulate the ads unless information presented is found to be inaccurate. 

Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, city health department director of sexually transmitted diseases, is leading the fight to revise the ads. He wrote a letter expressing his concerns to Merck last November, but company officials responded by saying there was no proven link between the ads and increased risky behavior or HIV infection rates, he said. 

Merck officials did not return messages Thursday. 

Klausner said several other drug companies, including Dupont, Glaxo Wellcome and Bristol-Myers Squibb offer antiviral drugs through similar advertising. 

“They create a sense of treatment optimism,” Klausner said. “If people look extremely healthy and climb mountains, it reduces the general public’s concern for HIV prevention.” 

In addition, Klausner said the advertising is misleading because the drugs generally are not prescribed until the disease has progressed five to 10 years. 

Klausner said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have written articles about the potential effects of this type of advertising. 

Calls to the FDA and CDC were not immediately returned Thursday. 

———— 

On the Net: 

San Francisco Department of Public Health — http://www.dph.sf.ca.us/ 

WASHINGTON — Meeting with a group of pivotal Senate moderates Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill stressed the importance that President Bush is giving across-the-board income tax cuts as a tonic for the flagging economy. 

After meeting with seven Republican and six Democratic members of the Centrist Coalition, O’Neill told reporters the group talked about “everything you can imagine” involving how to get President Bush’s tax cut through the Senate, divided evenly between the GOP and Democrats. 

“It’s great to have this kind of opportunity to talk to people of good will who are working hard to figure out how we can do something that represents the best interests of the American people,” O’Neill said. 

Participants said O’Neill was particularly insistent that the Senate follow the House lead in passing as quickly as possible the 10-year, $958 billion cut in marginal income tax rates, indirectly suggesting that other parts of Bush’s $1.6 trillion plan were of lesser urgency as an economic stimulus. 

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, framed the administration message this way: “Given the fact that we are in a dropping economy ... this may give a measure of confidence that we are moving expeditiously with one significant aspect of the package.” 

Many of the moderates support a “trigger” concept that would permit tax cuts to go forward in a given year only if projected surplus revenues actually materialize.  

O’Neill signaled a willingness to consider the idea, which the Bush administration had rejected out of hand previously. 

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said the meeting produced no “magic bullet” to bring aboard a group that has many problems about the tax cuts, including its size and the relatively high level of relief that goes to upper-income people.  

Several participants said, however, that O’Neill recognized that moderates could hold the key to passing the plan. 

“If our centrist coalition could agree as a group, it would be weighed very seriously by the White House,” Specter said. 

Earlier Wednesday, conservative House Republicans rallied around a broad plan that would raise the ante on Bush’s tax cuts to $2.2 trillion over 10 years. 

The group, which includes Majority Leader Dick Armey and Majority Whip Tom DeLay, both from Texas, said passing the president’s plan remains their first priority.  

But they said ample room remains for greater tax relief within the projected $5.6 trillion surplus over the next 10 years. 

“Our first responsibility will be to move the president’s package,” Armey said. “Let’s start the debate about what we can do in addition to that.” 

The 65 conservative members of the Republican Study Committee have lined up behind a proposal by Rep. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., that would enact deeper across-the-board income tax cuts than under the Bush plan and phase them in more quickly. 

It also would eliminate the tax marriage penalty paid by millions of two-income couples, and give tax relief to other one-income couples who don’t pay a penalty, while Bush’s plan only partly eases the penalty by giving couples a limited deduction for one spouse’s income. 

The conservatives also want to cut capital-gains taxes on investments by 25 percent, phase out the estate tax more quickly than does Bush, increase contribution limits for Individual Retirement Accounts, repeal the century-old telephone excise tax and increase the business meal deduction.  

On the Net: Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov 

Republican Study Committee: http://www.house.gov/burton/RSC

SAN FRANCISCO — An Oakland man claims Pacific Bell unfairly has charged him and other customers $1.99 a month for WirePro, a “worthless, sham service,” according to a suit filed Tuesday in Alameda County Superior Court. 

Daniel J. Mulligan claims in his suit the telephone company has charged him $1.99 a month since March 1997 for a useless service he never requested or authorized. 

While Pacific Bell spokesman John Britton said he was unfamiliar with the details of Mulligan’s account, he insisted that customers never pay for unwanted services. 

“Nobody is asked to pay charges they don’t owe,” he said. “We stand ready to take care of something that’s not accurate. ... We always tell consumers, ’Read your bill and if there’s something you don’t understand, call us.”’ 

Britton said WirePro covers any problems with a customer’s inside wiring. Those kinds of problems are a “significant part” of Pac Bell’s daily maintenance calls, he said, refusing to be more specific. 

But Mulligan’s lawyer disagreed. 

James C. Sturdevant said the charges started appearing on his residential phone bills, without his consent, about seven months ago. For six months, he wrote on his bills that he did not want WirePro and would not pay for it. However, Pac Bell continued to charge him. 

“This is a classic case of billing customers for a worthless service which they never requested, authorized or knew about,” Sturdevant said. “It is patently illegal and has resulted in millions of Pacific Bell customers unknowingly paying substantial sums for a service they never authorized and will most likely never use.” 

WirePro, which now costs $2.99 a month, is touted as “protection against costly repairs on your wiring and jacks,” according to the company’s Web site. “If a technician finds the cause of the problem to be on the inside wiring or phone jack, the necessary repairs will be done at no charge to you.” 

———— 

On the Net: 

www.pacbell.com 

SAN FRANCISCO — An analysis of a Northern California watershed gives mostly positive findings on the state of water creatures and their habitats on the land owned by a logging company, but some environmental groups question the report’s credibility. 

The analysis of the Freshwater Creek watershed found fish and amphibian habitats are getting healthier, but that high levels of fine sediment still can be found there.  

The stream analysis was the first to be completed as part of the Headwaters agreement between Pacific Lumber Company and federal negotiators. 

The watershed analyses, of the company’s 211,000 acres of forest 250 miles north of San Francisco, must be done to create site-specific protective measures to fit each watershed in the forest, eventually replacing the blanket protective measures the company now uses. 

The new protective measures, called “prescriptions,” will govern logging in each area. 

The analysis said the major problem at the Freshwater Creek watershed, high levels of fine sediment in some areas of the creek, comes mainly from roads and logging practices of years past. 

But the credibility of the report, done by consultants hired by Pacific Lumber, is questionable, said Paul Mason, executive director of the Environmental Protection Information Center. 

“They were faced with a certain reality that they just couldn’t deny, like Freshwater Creek was full of sediment,” he said Monday.  

But the findings were better than even Pacific Lumber had expected, said Jeff Barrett, director of Fish and Wildlife Programs for Pacific Lumber. 

“I think that was a little bit of a surprise for everyone involved,” he said. “We found there were much better stream conditions than many people expected. We found there were widely distributed and abundant fish populations, although there are some management-related problems.” 

Other organizations, such as the National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, California Department of Fish and Game, California Division of Mines and Geology and the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, have given comment during the analysis period. 

The true test will be to see how the analysis is used, said Bruce Halstead, a project leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

“The big concern is going to be once we see the analysis and what it says and how it will be used to change the prescriptions to make them stronger or less restrictive,” he said. 

The analyses are part of the March 1999 Headwaters agreement that established a 7,470-acre forest reserve, following a 10-year struggle over logging in the area. 

While this first analysis took two years to complete, there are up to 15 watersheds left to examine, Barrett said. He said they will take only about six months each, because the method for examining them was established with the Freshwater Creek analysis. 

The analysis will be available for comment from the public, including review from scientists, Barrett said. 

THE REPORT 

The stream analysis was the first to be completed as part of the Headwaters agreement between Pacific Lumber Company and federal negotiators. The watershed analyses, of the company’s 211,000 acres of forest 250 miles north of San Francisco, must be done to create site-specific protective measures to fit each watershed in the forest, eventually replacing the blanket protective measures the company now uses.

SAN JOSE – Although millions of airport dollars have been tossed toward retrofitting buildings and disaster planning since the 1989 Bay area earthquake, airports here are in no better shape than Seattle was during the major shaker there last month. 

“If it were a major deal, we’d just wing it,” said Kyle Johnson, spokesman for air traffic controllers at Oakland International. “We’d go stand on top of a building somewhere with some radios and a cell phone and land some planes — assuming the runways are still there.” 

Following the 6.8-magnitude Seattle quake, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association is calling for inspections of control towers throughout the earthquake-prone West. The move came after the tower’s windows shattered and three of its support beams buckled at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport during the Feb. 28 quake. 

Controllers there were forced to evacuate the tower and set up temporary operations at a nearby jet hangar. They landed planes using hand-held radios, all part of their emergency plan. 

Air traffic controllers at San Jose International Airport would be “running around like ants, not knowing where to go,” if a big quake shook the airport said Rich Burton, spokesman for San Jose controllers. He says there are no updated preparedness plans to establish a temporary control center. 

In addition, airport personnel safety is of concern along with the ability to use runways to transport quake victims or vital supplies, equipment and recovery groups. 

A government report says Oakland’s runways stand a 61 percent chance of damage severe enough o close the facility for a month or longer if the Hayward fault begins rumbling.

After two years of planning and community discussion, the City of Berkeley and the University of California, Berkeley have released a co-sponsored Transportation Demand Management Study. The City and Campus will host a community meeting to present the Study on Monday, March 19 at 7 p.m. at the Trinity United Methodist Church at 2362 Bancroft Way, 

The study is the next step in a series of efforts by the City and the Campus to address traffic congestion and transit use in and around the campus area. It draws from a comprehensive Existing Conditions Report, published in Spring 2000, which details commute conditions in a study area extending roughly from Martin Luther King, Jr. to the west, Hearst Avenue on the north, Dwight Way to the south, and the eastern edge of the UC Campus/Prospect Street to the east. 

The study is intended to play an important role in informing planning programs and strategies of the university and the city such as in formulating the city’s General Plan, Southside Plan, and Campus Long Range Development Plan Update. Key findings outlined in the study suggest that employment growth in the area may be accommodated through expanding the use of alternatives to driving alone. And added parking in the area may be necessary to address impacts of commuter cars parked on neighborhood streets.  

Copies of the study are available for review at all branches of the Berkeley Public Library; on the City’s Web site (www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/planning/advance/TDM/tdmnoti.htm); and may be obtained at the City’s Planning and Development Department, 2118 Milvia Street, 3rd Floor (enter at 2120 Milvia Street). People are encouraged to take public transportation or ride bikes to the March 19 meeting.  

From the city’s press office. 

5. ated costs, implementation steps, and examples of success.  

These include items such as development of transit passes for area employees, expansion of existing shuttle systems, coordination of existing parking resources, and improved directional signage directing people to parking.  

Some of the current TDM projects involving the City and Campus include: An Events Coordinating Committee comprised of representatives from the City, Campus, local arts and entertainment venues, and athletic programs. They work together to anticipate and coordinate parking demand and traffic congestion associated with area events in the south campus and downtown area. Berkeley TriP, jointly funded by the City and UC for over a decade, which provides transit sales and services in the downtown. 

A pilot shuttle program linking the campus and the Rockridge BART Station, through collaboration between the City, UC Berkeley, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and AC Transit. A series of bicycle improvements, including the City’s new Bicycle Plan and additional bike parking and improved 

bike paths through the campus, with over $250,000 in campus investment in bicycle improvements since 1990. 

A transit “Class Pass” for UC Berkeley students, which provides students with unlimited use of the AC Transit 

system, funded through registration fees.  

The Study itself is a tool for policy makers to address issues and ensure a creative and balanced approach to reduce traffic 

congestion and encourage transit use with the goal of improving the overall quality of life in the area.  

Copies of the Study, including the Existing Conditions Report, are available for review at all branches of the Berkeley Public 

Library; at Doe, Moffitt, and the College of Environmental Design libraries on campus; on the City’s web site 

(www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/planning/advance/TDM/tdmnoti.htm); and may be obtained at the City’s Planning and Development 

Department, 2118 Milvia Street, 3rd Floor (enter at 2120 Milvia Street).  

We encourage you to take public transportation or ride your bike to the March 19th event. For more information on transit 

options, please contact Berkeley TriP at http://publicsafety.berkeley.edu/trip/ , call them at 510-644-7665, or visit them at 2033 Center Street.