Camps 

City of Berkeley Summer Fun Camps 

Through August 17 

Summer Fun Camps for children feature sports, games, arts and crafts and special events. Events and trips will be planned in and out of the Berkeley area. Supervised play and activities held Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for kids 5-12 years of age. Before and after care will be available at additional cost. Fees on a sliding scale. 

Sites: Frances Albrier, Southwest Berkeley – 644-8515; James Kenney, West Berkeley – 644-8511; Live Oak Park, North Berkeley – 644-8513; Willard Club House, Southeast Berkeley – 644-8517; MLK Youth Services Center, South Berkeley – 644-6226. 

P.A.L. Adventure Camp 3 

August 6-24 

Camp for ages 11-17. Three week camp will provide skills for overnight and wilderness camping. First two weeks include instruction on cooking, first aid, cleanup and low impact camping. Rafting, ropes course and daily hikes. Week three is five days in a California wilderness area using newly-learned skills. $180, limited scholarships available. Call 845-7193 for more information. 

Berkeley Tennis Club Kids  

Camp 

Sessions begin July 23 and August 6 

These camps are designed for the beginner to low advanced player aged 7-14. Each session is two weeks long. The first week emphasizes proper stroke and footwork techniques, conditioning and game play. The second week concentrates on competition on both an individual and team level. Students will be divided according to ability, so they progress at their own pace. Student-intructor ratio of 6/1. Clinics are 9 a.m. to noon. $250 for B.T.C. members, $300 for non-members. Call 841-9023 for information. 

Sports 

City youth baseball 

Summer baseball program for boys and girls ages 5-15. The focus is on developing skills, sportsmanship and enjoyment rather than competitiveness. Leagues are structured to address both skill level and age group. Players are assigned to teams on a city-wide basis. Beginner teams (5-6 years) meet weekdays from noon to 2 p.m. All other teams meet from 3:30 to 7 p.m. weekdays or 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. All players must participate. Playoffs and awards will follow the regular season in older leagues. Fees: $34 ages 5-8 ($70 non-resident), $40 ages 9-15($86 non-resident). For more information call 981-5153. 

City adult softball 

Leagues available for men, women and co-rec. Three levels of competition. Games played weekday evenings, Saturday afternoons and evenings. 10 games plus playoffs. $561 per team. Call 981-5150 for more information. 

City tennis lessons 

Three sessions throughout summer. 

Youth and adult lessons available for beginner, advanced beginner and intermediate. 10 one-hour lessons. $45 for youth ages 8-15, $65 for adults. Call 981-5150 for more information. 

Twilight basketball 

Through August 25 

The City of Berkeley Twilight Basketball Program is an educational sports program which offers youths ages 11-18 the opportunity to play in the competitive league and be exposed to educational workshops. Subjects include tobacco prevention, HIV/STD prevention, domestic violence prevention, academic improvement and youth violence prevention. All participants must attend a one-hour workshop before each game in order to play. Free, players recieve a jersey. Ten game season with playoffs at MLK Youth Services Center. For more information call Ginsi Bryant at 644-6226. 

City adult basketball 

Summer league 

Open, competitive league with games on Monday and Wednesday evenings at the MLK Youth Services Center. All games officicated by certified referees. Awards for top three teams. Teams already formed for summer, but some have openings. Interested players should show up and talk to coaches about playing. 

Programs 

City-Wide Playground  

Programs 

Through August 17 

Free supervised activities include arts and crafts, games, sports, special event days and local trips. Program hours are noon to 5 p.m. Proof of Berkeley residency required at registration. 

Sites: All Play Together – 981-5150; Rosa Parks – 981-5150; Malcolm X School – 644-6226. 

Summer Teen Program 

Through August 27 

Events include adventure trips, swimming, sports, games, cooking, educational workshops and special local events. Call your local center for details, registration and costs. Sliding scale. 

Sites: Frances Albrier, Southwest Berkeley – 644-8515; James Kenney, West Berkeley – 644-8511; Live Oak Park, North Berkeley – 644-8513; Willard Park Club House, Southeast Berkeley – 644-8517; MLK Youth Services Center, South Berkeley – 644-6226. 

P.A.L. Adventures in Sailing 

Overnight sails tour the San Francisco Bay. Visit the Bay Model, Angel Island, Treasure Island and Sausalito. Voyage dates: July 28-29, August 9-10, 16-17 and 23-24. $20 per voyage. Call 845-7193 for more information. 

Adult Tennis Workshops 

Session begins July 23 

These four-day sessions at the Berkeley Tennis Club are designed to five adults a chance to improve their game in just one concentrated week. Two levels offered – NTPR rating between 4.0-4.5 and 3.5-below. Both sessions will have a doubles strategy emphasis. $110 per session. Call 841-9023 for more details. 

P.A.L. Fishing Trips 

July 26, August 20, August 30 

Hands Extended will be having three fishing outings this summer for kids ages 7-15. The first one is at San Pablo Dam. Transportation, food and rods, reels and bait will be provided. Registration is required. Deadline to register is 07/12/01. Please call 845-3161. 

To submit information for the Berkeley Daily Planet Summer Sports Calendar, please e-mail information to sports@berkeleydailyplanet.net or send to Sports, 2076 University Ave., Berkeley, CA 94704.

924 Gilman St. Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. July 20: Raw Power, Decry, S.M.D., Scurvy Dogs, Blown To Bits; July 21: Babyland, 78 RPMs Derelectics, Man Alive, Philps & Reuter; July 27: Throw Down, Glood Clean Fun, Count Me Out, Time Flies, Faded Grey, Lab Rats; July 28: Over My Dead Body, Carry On, Merrick, Some Still Believe, Black Lung Patriots; Aug. 3: Sworn Vengeance, N.J. Bloodline, Settle the Score, Existence, Step; Aug. 4: Toxic Narcotic, Menstrual Tramps, Emo Summer, Four Letter Word, Shitty Wickets. $5. 924 Gilman St. 525-9926. 

Albatross Pub Music at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. July 21: Tipsy House Irish band; July 24: Madd and Eddie Duran jazz duo. 1822 San Pablo 843-2473 

Anna’s Bistro Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. July 20: Anna & Susie Laraine, Perri Poston; 10 p.m., Bluesman Hideo Date; July 21: Jazz singers Vicki Burns & Felice York and trio; 10:30 p.m., The Ducksan Distones jazz sextet; July 22: Acoustic Soul; July 23: Renegade Sidemen; July 24: Junebug; July 25: Bob Schoen Jazz Quartet; July 26: Rich Kalman Trio & “Con Alma”; July 27: Anna & Susie Laraine, Perri Poston; 10 p.m., Hideo Date Bluesman; July 28: Marie-Louise Fiatarone Trio; 10:30 p.m., The Ducksan Distones; July 29: Panacea; July 30: Renegade Sidemen; July 31: Jason Martineau; 1801 University Ave. 849-ANNA 

Ashkenaz July 20: 9:30 p.m., Steve Lucky and The Rhumba Bums play East Coast Swing and Lindy Hop. 8 p.m. dance lesson with Nick and Shanna. $11; July 21: 9:30 p.m., Balkan Night with Edessa and Anoush. Turkish dance lesson with Ahmet Luleci at 8 p.m. $12; July 22: 9 p.m., Wagogo, Heartpumping Miranda music from Zimbabwe. $10; 1317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5099 www.ashkenaz.com 

Eli’s Mile High Club Doors open at 8 p.m. July 21: Little Jonny; Every Friday, 10 p.m. - 2 a.m., Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Split Shankin and Funky Man. $10; 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland 655-6661 

Freight and Salvage Coffee House All music at 8 p.m. July 20: Junius Courtney and His Big Band; July 21: The Kathy Kallick Band; July 22: Blame Sally, Erin Corday; July 24: Carl Sonny Leyland, Steve Lucky; July 26: Radney Foster, Darden Smith; July 27: Otis Taylor; July 28: Street Sounds; July 29: Tish Hinojosa; Aug 1: Distant Oaks; Aug 2: George Kuo, Narin Pahinui & Aaron Mahi; Aug 3: Wylie & the Wild West, the Waller Brothers. $16.50 - $17.50. 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jupiter July 20: Koochen & Hoomen- local electronic; July 21: Orbit 4- hip-hop, drum ’n’ bass, breakbeat, jungle and jazz; July 24: Stringthoery- local jazz blues and rock; July 25: Suite 304- vocal harmany-based groove pop; July 27: Sexfresh- traditional American pop; July 28: Corner Pocket- Jazz; July 31: Basso Trio- Local sax, blues and jazz. 

All music starts at 8:00 p.m.www.jupiterbeer.com; or call the hotline: THE-ROCK (843-7625)  

La Peña Cultural Center July 20: 8 p.m., Collective Soul- hip-hop, spoken word, 9:30 p.m., Mermelada’s Latin American music jam with Quique Cruz; July 21: 8:00 p.m., Family and Friends- Talent Showcase with soul, hip-hop and spoken word; July 22: 7 p.m., It Takes a Community to Raise a CD- Mary Watkins & Lisa Cohen, Gwen Avery, Avotcja, June Millington & the Slamming Babes, Blackberri and more; July 24: 7:30 p.m., Temp Slave, the Musical- Musical Satire from Madison, Wisconsin; July 27: 8:00 p.m., Raphael Manriquez- singer composer and guitar player celebrates release of new album; July 28: 8:30 p.m., Rompe y Raja- Afro-Peruvian dance and song troupe celebrates Peruvian Independence Day; July 29: 7:30 p.m., Moh Alileche- Algerian mondol player, traditional kabylian music. 3105 Shattuck Avenue 849-2568 

La Note/Jazzschool July 22: 4:30 p.m. Vocalist Nanda Berman; 5:30 p.m., David McGee Group; July 29: 4:30 p.m., vocalist Lily Tung; 5:30 p.m., Jazzschool Advanced Jazz Workshop. $5. 2377 Shattuck Avenue 845-5373. 

Rose Street House of Music July 20: 8:30 p.m., “Divabands Unplugged” with Bern, Roberta Donnay, and Elin Jr. $8-20 donation. No one turned away for lack of funds. 594-4000 ext. 687 

Shattuck Down Low Lounge Every Tuesday: 9:30 p.m., Posh Tuesdays with DJ’s Yamu, Delon, Add1, and Tequila Willie. Shattuck at Allston. www.thebeatdownsound.com  

“Midsummer Mozart Festival” All shows at 7:30 p.m. July 20: Four pieces including the Overture to “The Abduction to the Seraglio”; July 28: Four pieces including “March in D Major”; Aug. 3: Four pieces including “Symphony in B Flat.” $32 - $40. First Congregational Church 2345 Channing Way (415) 292-9620 www.midsummermozart.org  

“Mostly Baroque” July 21: 8 p.m., Bach, Handel, Strozzi, and others performed by local musicians. By donation. church of Saint Mary Magdalen 2005 Berryman. 

“Emeryville Taiko” July 22: 2 p.m., Traditional Japanese drumming with American influence. $5 - $10. Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 Collage Ave. 925-798-1300 

“Comedy of Errors” July 21-22: 1 p.m.: Free park performance of this Shakespeare comedy by Women’s Will, the Bay Area’s all-female Shakespeare company. July 14 and 15 at John Hinkel Park, Southampton at Somerset Place, July 21 and 22 at  

Live Oak Park, 1301 Shattuck  

Avenue at Berryman. 415-567-1758  

“The Laramie Project” Extended through July 22: Weds. 7 p.m., Tues. and Thur. -Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (After July 8 no Wednesday performance, no Sunday matinee on July 22.) Written by Moises Kaufmen and members of Tectonic Theater Project, directed by Moises Kaufman. Moises Kaufman and Tectonic members traveled to Laramie, Wyo., after the murder of openly gay student Matthew Shepherd. The play is about the community and the impact Shepherd’s death had on its members. $10 - $50. The Roda Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2015 Addison St. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org 

“San Francisco Improv” July 28: 8 p.m., Free show at Cafe Electica 1309 Solano Ave., Albany. 527-2344 

“The Skin of Our Teeth” Through July 29: Tues. - Thurs. 7:30 p.m., Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., Sun. 4 p.m. Part of the California Shakespeare Festival, a Thorton Wilder play about a typical family enduring various catastrophes. $10 - $146. Bruns Memorial Amphitheater, off Highway 24 at the Shakespeare Festival Way/Gateway Exit. 548-9666 

“The Lady’s Not for Burning” July 20 - 21, 26 - 28, Aug. 2 - 4: 8 p.m. Set in the 15th century, a soldier wishes to be hanged and a witch does not want to be burned at the stake. Written by Christopher Fry, directed by Susannah Woods. $5 - $10. South Berkeley Community Church 1802 Fairview st. 464-1117 

“Orphans” Through Aug. 5 (no show on July 20): Fri. and Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 7 p.m. Lyle Kessler’s dark comedy about a mysterious stranger invading the home of two orphaned brothers. $15. The Speakeasy Theater, 2016 Seventh St. 326-8493 

“The Great Sebastians” Through Aug. 11: Friday and Saturday evenings 8 p.m. plus Thursday, Aug. 9, presented by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley. A tale about a mind-reading act touring behind the Iron Curtain. A communist general believes the act and “invites” the Sebastians to his villa where the humor and excitement follows. $10. Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck (at Berryman). For reservations call 528-5620 

“Iphegenia in Aulis” Through Aug. 12: Sat. and Sun. 5 p.m. No performances July 14 and 15, special dawn performance on August 12 at 7 a.m. A free park performance by the Shotgun Players of Euripides’ play about choices and priorities. With a masked chorus, singing, dancing, and live music. Feel free to bring food and something soft to sit on. John Hinkel Park, Southhampton Place at Arlington Avenue (different locations July 7 and 8). 655-0813 

“Carmen” Berkeley Opera takes a fresh look at George Bizet’s popular opera with a new English-language adaptation by David Scott Marley. Marley’s version restores many lines that had been cut from the familiar version, and includes additional material from the 1846 French novella the opera is based on. “It’s a little darker and sexier than the opera most people think they know,” says Marley. July 20 and 21 at 8 p.m. July 22 at 7 p.m. $30 general, $25 seniors, $15 youth & handicapped, $10 student rush. Julia Morgan Theater 2640 College Ave. 841-1903 

La Peña Cultural Center July 29: 2:00 p.m., Laborfest- International Working Class Film & Video Festival. “Not in my Garden” by Video 48. $7. 3105 Shattuck Avenue 849-2568 

Pacific Film Archive July 20: 7 p.m., “Fires on the Plain”, 9:05 p.m., “Harp of Burma”; July 21: 7 p.m., “The Woman in the Window”, 9 p.m., “Scarlet Street”; July 22: 5:30 p.m., “Odd Obsession”; 7:30 p.m., “Nihonbashi”; July 24: 7:30 p.m., “In the Valley of the Wupper” and “In the Name of the Duce”; July 25: 7:30 p.m., “Spider Baby 2000”; July 29: Family Classic “A Boy Named Charlie Brown”; $4. Sundays, 3 p.m. New PFA Theatre, 2575 Bancroft Way 642-1412 

“7th annual Brainwash Movie Festival” outdoors Aug 3,4,5 (bring a chair) at the Pyramid Ale brewery, 901 Gilman Street 527-9090 ext. 218. Festival Pass: $30, Individual tickets: online: $8, door: $10 

“Ames Gallery Artists” Through July 22: Thur. - Sun. Noon - 7 p.m., Temporary gallery as part of the Berkeley Arts Festival with works from Wilbert Griffith, Dorothy Binger, Julio Garcia, and Leon Kennedy. Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery 2200 Shattuck Ave. 486-0411 

“BACA National Juried Exhibition: Works on Paper” July 22 - August 31: Wed. - Sun. Noon - 5 p.m. Reception, Sun. July 22, 2 - 4 p.m., Featuring 33 artists from across the United States, including 17 Bay Area representatives. Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893 

“Bernard Maisner: Illuminated Manuscripts and Paintings” Through Aug. 8 Maisner works in miniature as well as in large scales, combining his mastery of medieval illumination, gold leafing, and modern painting techniques. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 2400 Ridge Road 849-2541 

“The Decade of Change: 1900 - 1910” chronicles the transformation of the city of Berkeley in this 10 year period. Thursday through Saturday, 1 - 4 p.m. Through September. Berkeley History Center, Veterans Memorial Building, 1931 Center St. Wheelchair accessible. 848-0181. Free.  

“A Fine Line” Exhibition works by Kala Fellowship winners for the years 2000 and 2001. Reception July 26, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. July 26 - August 24, Tuesday - Friday, noon - 5 p.m. or by appointment. Kala Art Institute 1060 Heinz Avenue 549-2977 

“Geographies of My Heart” Collage paintings by Jennifer Colby through August 24; Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 2400 Ridge Road 649-2541 

“MFA Survey Exhibition 2001” third annual exhibition of works of recent graduates from Bay Area master of Fine Art programs. This year featuring artists working in three-dimentional media. now - Aug 18 tuesday - saturday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., reception July 21 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. Traywick Gallery 1316 Tenth Street 527-1214 

“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 

“New Visions: Introductions 2001” Through August 18: Wed. - Sat.: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Juried by Artist- Curator Rene Yanez and Robbin Henderson, Executive Director of the Berkeley Art Center, the exhibition features works from some of California’s up-and-coming artists. Pro Arts 461 Ninth St., Oakland 763-9425 

“The Saints Are Coming... To Bring Hope” Through July 30: Tue., Wed., Sat. 12 - 5, p.m., Fri. 1 - 5 p.m., An art installation featuring Fred DeWitt, Leon Kennedy, Josie Madero, Esete Menkir, Belinda Osborn, Arline Lucia Rodini, April Watkins, and Carla Woshone. The Art of Living Center 2905 Shattuck Ave. 848-3736  

“The Trip to Here: Paintings and Ghosts by Marty Brooks” Through July 31: Tues. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 1 a.m. View Brooks’ first California show at Bison Brewing Company 2598 Telegraph Ave. 841-7734  

Readings 

Cody’s 2454 Telegraph Ave. Readings at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. July 19: Lonny Shavelson talks about “Hooked: Five Addicts Challenge Our Misguided Drug Rehab System”; July 23: Brian Skyes reads “The Seven Daughters of Eve”; July 24: Susann Cokal reads from “Mirabilis.”; July 26: Dave Egger’s presentation has been canceled. $2 donation. 845-0837 

Cody’s 1730 Fourth St. Readings at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. July 20: Lynne Hinton reads from her second novel, “The Things I know Best”; July 25: Alice Randall reads from “The Wind Done Gone.” $2 donation. 559-9500 

Poetry Nitro Weekly poetry open mike. 6:30 p.m. sign-up, 7 p.m. reading. July 16: Featuring the Silicon Valley Slam Team; July 23: Featuring Jonathan Yaffe. Cafe de la Paz 1600 Shattuck Ave. 843-0662  

Tours 

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

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  

Museums 

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm” An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more. “Recycling Center” Lets the kids crank the conveyor belt to sort cans, plastic bottles and newspaper bundles into dumpster bins. $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. 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. (closed Sundays, Memorial Day through Labor Day) Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

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 will close its exhibition galleries for renovation on October 1. It will reopen in early 2002. On View until October 1, 2001: “Ishi and the Invention of Yahi Culture.” “Sites Along the Nile: Rescuing Ancient Egypt.” “The Art of Research: Nelson Graburn and the Aesthetics of Inuit Sculpture.” “Tzintzuntzan, Mexico: Photographs by George Foster.”  

$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 or www.qal.berkeley.edu/~hearst/ 

Lawrence Hall of Science “Science in Toyland,” through Sept. 9. Exhibit uses toys to demonstrate scientific principles and to help develop children's thinking processes. Susan Cerny’s collection of over 200 tops from around the world. “Space Weather,” through Sept. 2. Learn about solar cycles, space weather, the cause of the Aurorae and recent discoveries made by leading astronomers. This interactive exhibit lets visitors access near real-time data from the Sun and space, view interactive videos and find out about a variety of solar activities. “Within the Human Brain,” ongoing. Visitors test their cranial nerves, play skeeball, master mazes, match musical tones and construct stories inside a simulated “rat cage” of learning experiments. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza. Space Weather Exhibit now - Sept. 2; now - Sept. 9 Science in Toyland; 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  

The UC Berkeley Art Museum is closed for renovations until the fall. 

City is avoiding  

medical  

marijuana issue 

Editor: 

The first tentacle of city of Berkeley regulatory efforts to implement the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 really went nowhere. City Council attempted to develop some regulatory policy but were sandbagged by then City Manager, Jim Keene and Police Chief Dash Butler. A Task Force met several times and then died when liaison to the Berkeley PD resigned and was not replaced. The city attorney has been a significant influence opposing implementation and compliance. With the decision of the Supreme Court greater impetus is given to non compliance and failure to implement Health and Safety Code section 11362.5. 

As a recovering Libertarian I never thought I would see the day when Berkeley city government would come up with such a brilliant solution. Do nothing and back away from any regulatory activity. Retreat to the days of alcohol prohibition as a model. Speakeasies and private clubs. Capitulate to the underground free market. Forget any taxation or control. Enforce a don’t ask don't tell policy. Best of all, blame the feds. 

Utilize the Supreme Court decision as an excuse for BPD to engage in continuing negligent supervisory policy with an absence of general orders and training and information bulletins. Continue to vest illegitimate discretionary powers in investigating police and ignore state law. 

Berkeley city government thinks it is prudent in avoiding dealing with a difficult issue. But wait until the risk manager starts dealing with civil suits that will cost the city for negligent supervision from avoidable incidents where medical marijuana patients are harmed. 

Tod H. Mikuriya, M.D. 

Berkeley 

One way  

to strengthen  

government 

Editor: 

Local governments need to be strengthened. We do not need Sacramento or Washington to tell us what to do in many instances. Residents of a given locality are often in a position to know their own needs best and to support policies of the local government if they are informed.  

One reason why local government has had its functions usurped has been the lack of effective communication with the people.  

Better communication with the people would result if city, county, and special district “reports” were on file in all libraries within that government’s jurisdiction, or accessible. 

By “reports” is meant all minutes of meetings, committee and staff reports, annual reports, special reports, consultants’ reports, and including any report supposedly issued for board or committee use which may be reviewed by citizens. (Personnel matters about individual employees would not be included.) 

Each week as the “reports” are worked up for official action, those reports should be sent to all the local libraries, including branch libraries. (If this is not done, the ‘spare’ copies are sometimes kept in a haphazard way and may not be preserved for citizen use.) 

The libraries, as official repositories, are a better location for “reports” than the individual government offices, which are open only during business hours and which cannot be expected to keep the reports from other departments in one location.  

Libraries, located in more convenient locations, are open evenings and weekends, are more accessible than government offices.  

Citizens often cannot attend the meetings of the various governmental bodies and may find out about some action at a later date. Even then citizens may not request a copy of some report to examine, sometimes getting the wrong report much later.  

Consequently governmental bodies may be faced with letters or statements from citizens who are uninformed or who may need to be brought up to date. Much wasted time ensues.  

Whether uninformed citizens are right or wrong on an issue is not relevant to this discussion. The point is that, if a citizen is interested, has come to a meeting to speak, or has written a letter, that citizen should be given the basic information needed to make a reasonable presentation of his or her point of view, based on what has gone before. 

Since the visit to a government office during working hours is a considerable effort, the information should be placed, as a matter of public policy, in the libraries for citizen use. This policy to send “reports” to all local libraries should be permanent and official, understood by all governmental employees and citizens alike.  

Libraries could perform a very important role in supplementing local government. As official repositories they would provide valid, current information about government. Both increased awareness and support of government should result. 

Conversely, many erroneous ideas, rumors and suspicions would be deflated early on.  

The contact of the citizen with government must be raised to a high level of trust and mutual respect. This suggestion might help.  

(In England there is a national law requiring local reports to be in local libraries. The failure of the League of Women Voters and of Common Cause to support this proposal statewide, or even nationwide, may be an indication of elitism or a lack of full commitment to access on information on public issues. It’s hard to say, but it’s still a sad commentary.) 

Charles L. Smith 

Berkeley  

Deregulation is the real racket 

Editor: 

The letter writer of July 17, “Socialism may help solve power crisis,” wrongly stated that the market economy is “a racket.” The real racket is state intervention that is falsely called “deregulation.” 

State intervention caused the electricity crisis. In 1996, there was a massive increase in governmental restrictions, forcing companies to sell power generating plants to outsiders, controlling prices, and even prohibiting contracts for power. The state also required a difficult permit process for new power plants and restricted small local electric plants. The result of this state takeover of electricity has been a costly disaster. The state is now losing money, buying electricity at a higher price than it sells for. 

The only way to plentiful and inexpensive electricity is a truly free market, where demand will create a supply, and where competition is legalized, in contrast to today's protected distribution monopoly.  

Also, pure socialism is not statist controls, but the ownership of capital goods by the workers using them. This is compatible with a free market and private enterprise. When the state owns the enterprises, this is state capitalism that deprives workers of control over the means of production. 

Moreover, the surplus product is not wages but land rent, taken by the landlord, not the capitalist. Socialism as well as private enterprise require that this rent finance government, not wages or genuine profits. 

Genuine profit should not be confused with legalized theft. 

Fred Foldvary  

Berkeley 

Friday, July 20

Therapy for Trans Partners  

6 - 7:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center for Human Growth  

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)  

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.  

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session  

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522 

Lives From Herstory 

1:15 - 3:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Part of “Strong Women: The Arts, Herstory and Literature,” a free weekly cultural studies course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program taught by Helen Rippier Wheeler. This week’s focus is on Margaret Higgins Sanger. 549-2970 

The Art of Recycling 

2 - 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery 

2200 Shattuck Avenue 

A daylong celebration of the importance of recycling, the event will explore different ways to reuse – artistic and practical. Bring your own old clothes, broken appliances, and other items or drop off in advance at the Gallery during regular hours Thursday through Sunday, noon - 8 p.m. 

486-0411 

Life in Cohousing 

7:30 p.m. 

International House Auditorium 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Avenue 

The opening address for the 2001 North American Cohousing Conference, Eric Utne will speak on “Changing the World and Yourself by Creating Community.” $10. 

834-7399  

Saturday, July 21

Ohtani Bazaar 

4 p.m. - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Higashi Honganji Temple 

1524 Oregon Street 

Games, prizes and activities for children. Japanese food will be available. Free admission. 

236-2550 

Berkeley Farmer’s Market 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

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

Regular market with a special “Sustainable Agriculture” event. Speakers will discuss “Environmental and Social Justice and the Food Supply,” with topics ranging from genetic engineering to local food security 

548-3333 

Snails, Lizard, and Turtle  

Races 

10 - 10:50 a.m. or 11 - 11:50 a.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley 

Find out how fast these different animals move and why. Workshop for children ages 3 - 8 and an accompanying adult. $8 - $25. 

642-5132 

Puppet Show 

1:30 and 2:30 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

Lower Level 

2230 Shattuck Avenue 

The show by Kids on the Block, an award-winning educational puppet troupe, promotes acceptance and understanding of physical and mental differences. Free. 

549-1564  

MFA Survey Exhibition  

Reception 

6 - 8 p.m. 

Traywick Gallery 

1316 Tenth Street 

Reception for artists featured at Traywick Gallery’s third annual MFA Survey Exhibition which runs through August 18. Prajakti Jayavant, Tia Factor, Geof Oppenheimer, and Bambi Waterman work in three-dimensional media. 

527-1214 

Reception for Mary Black 

3 - 5 p.m. 

YWCA 

2600 Bancroft Way 

A reception for Mary Black’s painting exhibition at the YWCA which runs through September 28. 

Sunday, July 22

Ohtani Bazaar 

Noon - 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Higashi Honganji Temple 

1524 Oregon Street 

Games, prizes and activities for children. Japanese food will be available. Free admission. 

236-2550 

Buddhist Practice 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Jack Petranker on “Going Beyond the Way We Live Now.” Free. 

843-6812 

West Berkeley Market 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

University Ave., between 3rd and 4th Streets Family-oriented weekly market. Crafts, music and specialty foods. 654-6346 

Berkeley Today 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut Street 

A bagel brunch, lecture, and discussion with Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean. $4 - $5. 848-0237 

Free Radio Berkeley  

House Party 

5 - 10 p.m. 

2547 8th Street, Unit 24 

Free Radio Berkeley International Radio Action Training Education is hosting an open house party to showcase independent media programs, projects and technologies. Screening of “Free Radio” documentary at 8:30 p.m. 

549-0732 

Monday, July 23

Curious About Plastic Surgery? 

6:30 - 8 p.m. 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Conference Room 3 

2450 Ashby Avenue 

Learn what to expect from plastic surgery procedures. 869-6737 

National Organization for Women 

6:30 p.m. 

Mama Bears Book Store 

6537 Telegraph 

Nominations for new officers. Meets on the 4th Monday of every month. For more information call 287-8948 

Tuesday, July 24 

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. 525-3565 

— compiled by Guy Poole and Sabrina Forkish 

Round-the-World Journey 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Avenue 

Brad Newsham, author of “Take Me With You: A Round-the-World Journey to Invite a Stranger Home,” will present a talk and slide show. Newsham took a 100-day trip through the Philippines, India, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and South Africa looking for a stranger to bring to America. Free. 

843-3533 

Writing and Resistance  

In A Culture of Amnesia 

6 - 7:45 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Classroom #2 

Part of a workshop series on concepts and strategies for resistance through the spoken and written word, taught by Joyce E. Young. $12. 

849-2568 www.lapena.org 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

Derby Street at MLK Jr. Way 

548-3333 

“Temp Slave, The Musical” 

7:30 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Part of LaborFest 2001, a musical about the lives of temps. $12. 

849-2568 

Free Early Music Group 

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK) 

Small group sings madrigals and other voice harmony every Tuesday morning. Call Ann, 655-8863 

Free Computer Class for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited, call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109 

Wednesday, July 25 

Toymaker Day 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley 

Part of the Lawrence Hall of Science Wednesday FUN-days. Make toys out of recycled materials with artists from the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse. Museum admission $3 - $7. 

642-5132 

Thursday, July 26 

Summer Noon Concerts 2001 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza 

Shattuck at Center St. 

Weekly concert series. This week The Brazilian Workshop under the direction of Marcos Silva, Jazzschool students perform traditional Brazilian music. 

(gp) 

Quit Smoking Class 

6 - 8 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis Street 

A six week quit smoking class. 

Free to Berkeley residents and employees. 

Call 644-6422 or e-mail: quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

(gp) 

Wilderness First Aid 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Jim Morrisey, senior instructor at Wilderness Medical Associates, will teach you the basics of field repair for the human body: Blisters, wounds, fractures, lightning strikes, snake bites and more. Free. 

527-4140 

(gp) 

Ancient Native Sites of the East Bay 

7:30 p.m. 

Room 160 Kroeber Hall, University of California Campus 

Andrew Galvan, an Ohlone Indian and co-owner of Archaeor, will discuss and share the benefits of osteological studies of prehistoric human skeletal remains. Prof. Ed Luby, research archaeologist for the Berkeley Natural History Museums, will discuss his work on mortuary feasting practices. $10 

841-2242 

Southeast Asia and Japan 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Avenue 

William Ford, author of “Southeast Asia and Japan: Unusual Travel,” will present a talk and slide show of his adventure travels. Free. 

843-3533 

Return of the Zapatour 

7 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Members of the Chiapas Support Committee report on their trip to Chiapas, including slides and videos. $8 - $15. 

849-2568 www.lapena.org 

Business Information and Networking Event 

6:30 - 9:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis (corner of Ashby) 

Sponsored by the City of Berkeley in partnership with the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce, and both the South and West Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporations. The event will include such topics as “Starting a Business,” “Legal Issues,” “Planning for Growth,” “Financing,” and “Permitting.” The event is free to all who register. Refreshments and door prizes. To register call 549-7003 (English or Spanish).  

Salsa Dance Classes 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Classes every Thursday with live percussionists, light refreshments, DJ playing Latin music. $10 or $15 for two. 

237-9874 

Women, Menopause, and Change 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

YWCA 

2600 Bancroft Way 

Learn how other women manage the changes menopause brings to their lives. Free yoga demonstration. 

233-6484 

Cuban Workers and Trade Unions Today 

6 - 8:30 p.m. 

Director’s Lounge 

Institute of Industrial Relations 

2521 Channing Way 

Speakers Kamran Nayeri and Bobbie Rabinowitz, sponsored by University and Technical Employees. Music, photo exhibit and literature. 

Free Computer Class for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited, call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109 

Friday, July 27  

Therapy for Trans Partners  

6 - 7:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center for Human Growth  

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)  

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.  

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session  

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522 

Strong Women; The Arts, Herstory and Literature 

1:15 - 3:15 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 cultural studies course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program. Free. 

Call 549-2970 

Saturday, July 28 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

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

548-3333 

Arrowcopter Play Day 

1 - 4 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley 

For ages 9 and up. Museum admission $3 - $7. 

642-5132 

Sunday, July 29 

Hands-On Bicycle Repair Clinics  

11 a.m. - Noon  

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Learn how to adjust your brakes from one of REI’s bike technicians. All you need to bring is your bike. Free  

527-4140 

Buddhist Teacher 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Eva Casey on “The Life of Padmasambhava.” Free. 

843-6812 

West Berkeley Market 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

University Ave., between 3rd and 4th Streets  

Family-oriented weekly market. Crafts, music, produce, and specialty foods. 

654-6346 

Making Music 

1 - 3 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley 

Part of the LHS Top of the Bay Family Sundays, Fran Holland will demonstrate how to make and play musical instruments. Museum admission $3 - $7. 

642-5132 

International Working Class 

Film and Video Festival 

2 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Part of LaborFest 2001, a screening of “Not In My Garden,” a documentary about a Palestinian village in Israel. $7. 

849-2568 

Maybeck Homes 

1 - 4:30 p.m. 

#1 Maybeck Twin Drive 

Open house of four nearby homes accompanied by short talks on the character of Maybeck’s homes. A reception, raffle, and silent auction will be part of the afternoon activities. Limited space, call 845-7714 for registration. 

Monday, July 30 

State Wide Alliance of Tenants 

5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. 

Harriet Tubman Terrace 

2870 Adeline Street 

A monthly open forum of the Affordable Housing Advocacy Project. This month meet members of the State Wide Alliance of Tenants as they discuss their successes in improving living conditions in their housing developments. 

(800 773-2110 

Tuesday, July 31 

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 Don, 525-3565 

Wild Women Travel Writers 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Avenue 

An evening with members of the Wild Women Travel Writers’ Group, authors of “Wild Writing Women: Stories of World Travel,” will read from their book and conduct a panel discussion on the “Art of Travel Writing.” Free. 

843-3533 

Writing and Resistance  

In A Culture of Amnesia 

6 - 7:45 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Classroom #2 

Part of a workshop series on concepts and strategies for resistance through the spoken and written word, taught by Joyce E. Young. $12. 

849-2568 www.lapena.org 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

Derby Street at MLK Jr. Way 

548-3333 

Free Early Music Group 

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK) 

Small group sings madrigals and other voice harmony every Tuesday morning. Call Ann, 655-8863 

Free Computer Class for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited, call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109

City Council officially resurrected the Harrison Field Skate Park project after construction was delayed for months because a cancer-causing toxin surfaced in groundwater during excavation of the park’s skate bowls. 

The discovery of hexivalient chromium, or chrome 6, in the groundwater on Nov. 17 brought construction to a halt. Chrome 6 is a Class A carcinogen that is harmful if swallowed and especially dangerous if inhaled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. 

Without discussing the issue, council unanimously approved the recommendation Tuesday along with other recommendations on the meeting’s consent calendar.  

In doing so, the council approved three things: a staff report declaring the site environmentally safe, a new park design and $410,000 for construction costs and inspection fees.  

That does not include the $365,000 spent on toxic cleanup, project re-design and legal and administrative fees, according to a Parks and Waterfront Department report. These extra fees more than double the original estimated construction cost of $370,000. 

After an eight-month delay, the Council’s approval puts the project officially back on track, according to parks and waterfront officials. 

“We have bids out right now for a new construction company and we expect to have them back by July 31,” said Project Manager Ed Murphy. “We expect to start construction again in the latter part of August.” 

Since the discovery of chrome 6, a private toxic management contractor hauled away 45,000 gallons of contaminated water and another 80,000 gallons were stored next to the site in 20,000 gallon tanks where it was treated and released into a nearby sanitary sewer drain, according to Hazardous Materials Supervisor Nabil Al-Hadithy. 

In addition, the base of the excavated bowls were compacted with gravel, covered with thick sheets of plastic and covered with a six-inch concrete cap to assure groundwater is completely sealed off from the skate park’s surface, according to Al-Hadithy. 

Kate Obenour, one of the founding members of Friends of a Berkeley Skate Park, said in a July 1 letter to the Parks and Waterfront Department that said she was satisfied with the efforts to clean the site up. She also reiterated her opinion of the social value of the skate park. 

“The construction of the skate park is very important to Berkeley teenagers. There needs to be a place where these young, rebellious high-energy, skateboarding athletes can test themselves against the power of gravity and cement,” she wrote. “Our young adult citizens deserve to be treated with respect and not treated as criminals for playing with a piece of board and four wheels.” 

The city has retained outside council to study the possibility of recovering the city’s costs through legal action. City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque did not return calls to specify who would be the subject a potential law suit. But it would most likely be the source of the chrome 6 plume, Western Roto Engravers, Color Tech, which is located two blocks east of the skate park. 

One of the owners of WRE Roto Engravers, Color Tech, Bill MacKay went to the city and the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board in 1990 when he learned a tank on his property was leaking the toxic substance. He has since spent over a $1 million removing the tank, cleaning up his property and monitoring the chrome 6 plume, which flows west to Interstate 80 in long, narrow tear-like shape. 

In November, MacKay said he happened to noticed water in the bottom of the nine-foot skate bowls and alerted the city that the water was probably contaminated with chrome 6. Subsequent testing resulted in a stop work order.

Proponents of a new transit system that uses the light-rail concept with buses instead of trains hope its possible implementation in the East Bay may become the Bay Area prototype in a system that is gaining ground across the country.  

In the Bus Rapid Transit system, passengers board from a platform, the doors close, and the bus – probably hybrid-electric driven – rides south in its own lane down the middle of the street.  

In the local model, that street would be Telegraph Avenue.  

As the bus approaches the Ashby Avenue intersection, the driver presses a button that extends the green light for the bus while all the cars slow as yellow turns to red. Cars are stopped at the lights the bus covers the 18-mile-corridor through Oakland to San Leandro in a fraction of the time it will take everyone else.  

Compared to a rail system, BRT would be implemented at a fraction of the cost – $340 million as compared to the $890 million needed for light rail. The system would leave open the option of later installing a light-rail train system along the established route. 

Last week, a committee of elected officials – including Mayor Shirley Dean, City Councilmember Kriss Worthington and representatives from Oakland, San Leandro and Alameda County – selected BRT as the East Bay’s preferred answer to traffic congestion, according to Seth Schneider, Project Express program director. Project Express is a nonprofit whose goal is to educate the nine Bay Area counties about the uses of rapid and express buses. 

The committee has not ruled out a light-rail system, but the cost-effectiveness and the quicker implementation time of BRT won out – at least for now. The full Alameda County transit board will vote on August 2 to decide whether it will move forward on the committee’s recommendation, Schneider said.  

“Given the cost-effectiveness of Bus Rapid Transit and its appeal,” he said, “Project Express wants to ensure that BRT is put into place and in operation before any money is spent on a more expensive light-rail option.” 

When BRT could be in place depends on how quickly AC Transit and elected officials can put together project funding, Schneider said. BRT is sure to have quicker start-up than the more-expensive rail option, though. 

But can the technology really be as simple as the push of a button? 

“If you can get a bus to transcend the speed of the traffic, you’ve got a big win on your hands. But it’s no easy feat,” said Randy Rentschler, spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.  

The MTC is the transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency for the nine-county Bay Area.  

Jim Jarzab is BRT program manager at Valley Transportation Authority — Santa Clara County’s MUNI equivalent – where they’ve been working toward implementation for about six years. He is familiar with the difficulties. 

“A lot of the traffic signals are extremely reliable, but not particularly advanced,” he said. “We’re working on moving all these technologies toward a current standard.” 

And aside from the technical obstacles, there are also bureaucratic ones. 

“You have to coordinate a lot of municipal and state transportation devices,” Jarzab said. “It takes a while for the coordination efforts to come to fruition.” 

Yet BRT has already been implemented in some cities, and with excellent results, Schneider said. In Los Angeles, for instance, a form of Bus Rapid Transit called Metro Rapid is already in use.  

“They had a 25 percent increase in ridership in the first 90 days,” he said, “And they did a survey that found a third of those people were new riders.” 

This is good news, Worthington said, because he welcomes the decreased traffic BRT will bring. 

“It won’t be an astronomical decrease, but every little bit helps,” he said. 

Worthington noted two features of BRT that would benefit riders – proof of payment and increased bus frequency. 

Proof of payment would allow riders to enter at any of the three doors on the bus, without showing tickets. Instead, they would buy monthly passes, which would be checked periodically by inspectors. This would increase the speed of BRT and make riding it less complicated. 

But increased bus frequency may prove an even more important feature. Especially for those Bay Area residents who, dependent on public transportation, have resigned themselves to a long walk home if their shift ends after midnight.  

“You won’t have to wait as long in between buses,” Worthington said, “and over time, they’ll extend the hours until it runs all night long.” 

Dean sees BRT as the best immediate response to Berkeley’s transportation needs. 

“My first love is light rail, but it’s a much more complicated project and much more expensive,” Dean said. “I’m excited about this possibility, and I think we need to go full-steam ahead.” 

The City Council extended a moratorium on the installation of wireless telecommunication antennas in Berkeley until the end of the year by unanimously approving a recommendation by the Planning and Development Department Tuesday. 

The moratorium was originally imposed in December 2000 and extended for six months last January to allow Planning Commission public hearings on the impact that the installation of such antennas would have on both the community and on revisions of current zoning regulations.  

A number of residents had expressed concern about the health risk the antenna’s radioactive emissions could present. They appealed the city’s antennae installation approval based on Berkeley’s “Wireless Telecommunications Antenna Guide.” This guide prevents antennae from being placed in residential areas. 

The new five-month moratorium extension will allow the Planning Commission to continue hearings and write an interim  

ordinance that would provide more time  

for study. 

“The Federal regulation prohibits to regulate on the basis of health consideration,” said Vivian Kahn, Planning and Development Department acting deputy director. “But we can look at other issues that we look into when doing a land use decision.”  

Among them is aesthetics, safety or impact on habitat. 

A draft of the ordinance is still being worked on, but it states that the moratorium is necessary because, “the city has not comprehensively evaluated [its zoning] regulations to determine whether they are adequate to prevent visual blight, protect environmental resources, and preserve the character of Berkeley’s neighborhoods.”  

It also states that the city’s regulations are too vague when it comes to protecting the community from antennae. 

Earl Nicholas Selby, an attorney representing Nextel Communications, a telecommunication company that wants to affix antennae to the Solano Avenue’s Oaks Theater, spoke at Tuesday’s hearing. He said his client would agree on any reasonable restrictions, such as limitations based on aesthetics or view blocking.  

“You don’t want to put an elephant in a parlor, but there is a proper place for elephants, “ he said. 

But residents fear that there is still a long way to go before reaching an agreement that pleases everyone. A five-month moratorium, they say, is too short. 

“I’m concerned because of the slowness with which the city carries out its work,” said Leonard Schwartzburd, a member of the Planning Commission’s sub-committee of interested residents and industry representatives. “We have five months but unless the city keeps moving on and providing information, there is nothing we can do.” Schwartzburd believes the current draft of the ordinance is inadequate, he said, “because it continues to lack clear standards and ... attempts to limit the citizen’s right to have input on the decision.” 

Residents are asking that the zoning maps for the installation of wireless antennae show 300-foot buffers around all the residential areas, but said they would be willing to compromise if this proves to be practically unfeasible.  

According to Schwartzburd, Kahn currently has maps showing 100- to 300-foot buffers that she should make public at a meeting within the end of the month.  

Despite residents’ skepticism, Kahn said she is confident the ordinance will be ready by the end of the moratorium.  

“We should be able to get it to the Council well before then,” she said.

If an 8-year-old were given the task of designing a school curriculum, it might end up looking something like the Summer Program for West Berkeley’s Black Pine Circle private school. 

A small K-8 school known for its passionate conviction that students well-versed in artistic expression are better prepared to excel in traditional academic subjects like math and history, Black Pine Circle school lives in a few cozy buildings clustered around the corner of Seventh and Addison streets. 

This year K-5 students signing up for the school’s two week summer courses, which meet in the mornings and afternoons for two and half hours and cost parents $200 a piece, chose from: The Canine Class, the “Imaginary Road Trip” class, Tea Pots and Tea Parties, Puppetry, Kids in Space, Decorating Chairs, and Dragons, Dragons, Dragons! 

The teapot class, not surprisingly, was a big hit with the girls. And no one enjoyed it more than the teacher herself, Black Pine Circle Art teacher Maria Palmer.  

“I’m just like so into this I can’t stop,” Palmer said Thursday, as she hurriedly went about the work of transforming an ordinary paper grocery bag into an outsized hat, covered with layers of mismatched fabric and a wild tangle of ribbons. 

All around her the tables were covered with tea pots and cups of every size, shape and color – the product of the students’ labors over the last two weeks. Some were made with papier maché, others with clay. A shelf full of decorative tea pots were fashioned from pieces of junk – a juice can, a wine cork, a compact disc – glued and sculpted together and then spray painted silver. Scattered here and there were ceramic tiles bearing images of the students’ tea pots.  

The grocery bag hats would be required attire for the last day of class, when all the students artistic output be joined together in one fantastic tea party worthy of Lewis Carroll’s “Wonderland.” 

“For this assignment, they can just be completely wild,” Palmer said. “In fact, they’re required to be wild.” 

Black Pine Circle administrator Laura Wolff, who heads the schools K-5 programs, said part of the rationale behind starting the summer school five years ago was to give teachers a chance to teach things of interest to them that might not fit neatly into the regular school year’s curriculum.  

Wolff teaches the “road trip” class, where students study U.S. geography by planning dream vacations. She has traveled much of the country herself. She shares her stories and photo albums with the kids. By the end of the class, students, she said, “can name everything to see or not to bother seeing” across the whole United States. 

Some Black Pine Circle School’s summer courses are designed to improve students’ proficiency in key subject areas, helping them prepare for the coming school year. Others gives students some tantalizing bits of information about subjects they are sure to like – and then sit back and watch as students’ imaginations run wild. 

Black Pine Circle fourth grader Max Plog-Horowitz had a rudimentary understanding of dragons before he ever signed up for the Dragons, Dragons, Dragons! class, for example. 

As he put it, “I knew that they were big and that they could take up this room and that if I sat on one it wouldn’t work.” 

But, after studying dragon myths in both western and eastern culture, Plog-Horowitz developed enough expertise to render a stirring three-dimensional scene of dragon life – complete with several of the monsters themselves, sculpted in clay. In Plog-Horowitz’s vision, the principal dragon is lying near the entrance to a medieval tower, trying to work up an appetite for the “captured damsel” imprisoned inside.  

Asked what the outcome will be, Plog-Horowitz said, “He hasn’t decided yet.” 

Over in the school’s recently refurbished theater – a building that dates back to 1879 and once served as Berkeley’s Town Hall – students are rehearsing for a play that the have put together in a two-week drama course. On the last day of class they will perform for all the other students in the summer session.  

Theatrical productions have been a focus of the Black Pine Circle Education since the schools founding in 1968. All K-8 students participate in three or four productions a year. 

“Within a week you can take people from nowhere to a production if you know what you’re doing,” said Black Pine Circle School Director Lawrence James, who is himself a member of a professional theater group in Berkeley. “You get the students so involved in it that they’re working flat out.” 

Black Pine Circle summer courses for 6th to 8th graders include a poetry writing class and a wilderness survival class that ends with camping trip in the high Sierras.  

“Parents like that they kids are learning something and that they’re having fun - that it is not strictly academic, but it is not strictly play time either,” Wolff said. 

SAN FRANCISCO — The University of California is expanding admissions, guaranteeing a spot to students who graduate in the top 12.5 percent of their high school class under a program that will send some to community college first. 

The move, expected to bring in more poor and rural students and help reverse a decline in enrollment of black, Hispanic and American Indian students at UC’s top campuses, was approved 14-3 by the UC Board of Regents on Thursday. 

It expands on a previous admissions change, implemented this year, guaranteeing eligibility to students who graduate in the top 4 percent of their class, based on grades in UC-required courses. Students who fall between 4 percent and 12.5 percent will have to go to community college for their first two years. 

The program, known as “dual admissions” and effective for fall 2003, “sends a signal to top-performing students, particularly those in disadvantaged high schools, that they have a clear path to a UC degree,” UC President Richard C. Atkinson said in a statement. 

At the American Association of Community Colleges in Washington, D.C., group president George Boggs enthusiastically endorsed the plan as a “great proposal.” 

“It gives students the assurance that they can get into UC by coming into the community college and doing well in the community college and that’s exactly what we need,” he said. 

Boggs said he was aware of at least one similar transfer guarantee agreement between an individual university and community college, but “I don’t know of another state that has made that kind of guarantee.” 

UC has not changed its overall admissions policy, which is to draw from the top 12.5 percent of all students statewide. Because of the varying quality of high schools, that means good schools send a lot of students to UC while poor schools send few or none. 

The new eligibility guarantees apply to individual schools in an effort to blunt the disadvantage of going to a school that may be ill-equipped, overcrowded and lack advanced college prep courses, which carry extra credit.  

Eligibility is tantamount to admission, since UC promises to admit all eligible students who want to attend one of its eight undergraduate campuses. 

Going to community college first is intended to make sure students are able to maintain UC’s academic standards. 

Regents made it a condition of approval that UC faculty review raising the minimum 2.4 GPA the new admits must maintain in community college, make sure there are resources to support the students and examine whether students in the top 4 percent should be allowed to take the community college route if they want. 

Boggs said it’s a mistake to think that community college students can’t make it in four-year schools. In fact, he said, students at a two-year school have some advantages because they generally are in smaller classes taught by professors, rather than the large sessions led by teaching assistants that are typical in big universities. 

“There’s a very focused effort on helping the students to be successful,” he said. 

The proposal could reap between 1,500 and 3,500 new community college transfers by 2006. 

UC officials estimate that up to 36 percent of the students eligible under dual admissions would be black, Hispanic or American Indian.  

Those groups made up 18.6 percent of the fall 2001 freshman class; recent U.S. Census figures show they comprised about 40 percent of the state population. 

After race-blind admissions were instituted in 1998, enrollment of blacks, Hispanics and American Indians dropped sharply. The numbers have increased since then, but are still below 1997 levels at the ultra-competitive campuses of Berkeley and UCLA.

The painstaking search for a missing California woman that has captured national media attention is hurting murder investigations in Washington, leaders of the police union said Thursday. 

“They are pulling homicide detectives away from their districts,” Gerald G. Neill, Fraternal Order of Police Labor Committee president, said. 

Gregory I. Green, the union’s secretary, said officers are hearing complaints from residents in the neighborhoods they patrol about the search for missing former federal intern Chandra Levy. “We need investigators on unsolved homicides,” Green said. “People are complaining in the community. They believe all of this is media driven.” 

Police have no idea what happened to Levy, who has not been seen in 80 days. Her case, which has drawn a torrent of national press because of her relationship with Rep. Gary Condit, a Democrat from Modesto, is the most extensive missing person search ever mounted by the Washington police, Chief Charles Ramsey said.  

A police source has said Condit has admitted to an affair with Levy. 

Ramsey denied that murder investigations are suffering as a result of the Levy case. “Crime goes on and we’ve got to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time,” he said. 

Ramsey has acknowledged problems with murder investigations on his force.  

A Washington Post investigation last year revealed that the arrest rate for homicides in the nation’s capital is far lower than in other large cities, files are sometimes lost and some detectives are not qualified to investigate murders. 

“It seems like long before Chandra Levy went missing there were some issues around unsolved homicides,” Ramsey said. 

The Levy search is frustrating because investigators have found nothing to point them in a particular direction, he said. 

The union’s criticism of police leadership came as the FBI moved the Levy case to its Major Crime Squad, which handles long-term investigations, an FBI spokesman said. “Obviously, it has crossed that threshold from short term, just in terms of the time that has gone by,” Ramsey said. 

Levy, 24, canceled her health club membership on the evening of April 30 and has not been seen since. However, she spent considerable time the following day using the computer in her apartment, police said. Police hope to make public Friday a list of the Web sites Levy visited on her computer. 

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., became the third Republican in Congress to call for Condit’s resignation, saying Condit “has not cooperated with authorities investigating this tragic case.” Condit’s attorney has said that the congressman has cooperated fully with police. 

Slightly more than half of Condit’s constituents approve of his job performance and want him to serve out his term, according to a CBS News poll.  

But more than half of his constituents do not want him to run again and nearly two-thirds believe he has hindered the Levy investigation, according to the poll.  

The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus four percentage points.  

Also Thursday, the sponsor of an annual conference on women’s health said she is moving it out of Washington next year, in part to protest police handling of the Chandra Levy search. She posted a $10,000 reward in the missing woman’s case.

LONG BEACH — A horned puffin chick has hatched at the Aquarium of the Pacific, making it only the second location in the United States to successfully breed the distinctive sea bird. 

The chick, 3 inches long and weighing less than an ounce, was probably born July 7 or 8, said Sean Devereaux, the Long Beach aquarium’s aviculturist. 

“It’s a very rare occurrence to have these animals breed in captivity,” Devereaux said Thursday. 

Horned puffins live on the open ocean, returning to the Pacific coast from Washington to northern Alaska only to breed. The birds are not protected or endangered, but are a rare sight since they spend so much time at sea. A large number of the birds were killed as a result of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound. Their name refers to the hornlike portion of hardened flesh that protrudes above each eye during mating season. The adult birds stand nearly a foot tall on their bright orange legs and feet. 

Along with the eight other horned puffins at the aquarium, the newly born chick is already eating a steady diet of whole fish, said Devereaux, who administers most of the feedings himself. 

Only two other U.S. institutions, the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden and the North Carolina Zoological Park, have horned puffins on exhibit. Only the Cincinnati birds have successfully bred, Devereaux said. 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/ 

SAN DIEGO — A U.S. Forest Service firefighter has been arrested and charged with setting five fires over the past two months in the Cleveland National Forest. 

James King was being held without bail Thursday on five counts of wilfully starting fires. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. 

He did not enter a plea at an arraignment Monday and his attorney, Ezekiel E. Cortez, did not return phone messages. 

King, a 26-year-old from Ramona who was in his third season as a temporary firefighter, was arrested Saturday at the Pine Hills Ranger Station where he worked. The station is located about 60 miles east of San Diego. 

No one was injured in any of the fires, which consumed a total of about 30 acres of forest in San Diego County, but investigators said that did not diminish the seriousness of the case. 

“This person was going to continue to light fires,” said Ronald Huxman, a special agent with the U.S. Forest Service who arrested King. “As fire season rolled on, one of these fires would have escaped control and become a large fire possibly injuring property and lives.” 

Investigators are trying to determine whether King is responsible for other fires. 

King had a “huge smile on his face,” as he and other firefighters responded to a July 14 fire near the Pine Hills station, according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego. The affidavit also describes King as eagerly dispatching firetrucks to small blazes that broke out near the station when he was the only firefighter on duty. 

“He liked to respond to fires,” Huxman said. 

He declined to discuss King’s motives or methods. 

King was under surveillance for about five weeks. He wrote a full confession when an investigator confronted him about the fires, although he did not appear remorseful, Huxman said. He said King wanted to get caught. 

Firefighters grew suspicious of King May 17 when King alerted them to a fire burning near the station, according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego. King insisted there was a fire when no one else at the station could see or smell smoke. Finally, after several minutes, firefighters saw a faint puff of white smoke. 

“King appeared to have been watching in the area for something to appear when no one else could see anything,” the affidavit stated. He also guided the crew to the site of the fire on the Inaja Indian Reservation. 

King confirmed their suspicions in June. While staring at a brush pile across the road from the ranger station, according to the affidavit, King asked another firefighter “What would I do if a fire started in front of the station? Would I be able to take the fire engine over and put out the fire?” 

On July 6, nine days later, the brush pile across from the station caught fire, in a blaze investigators determined had been intentionally set.

It will take more than energy conservation and an increased reliance on renewable resources to ensure the rest of the country doesn’t repeat California’s power crisis, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said Thursday. 

The nation needs to expand and improve its electricity transmission system to make sure power can get where it needs to go, unimpaired by political and geographical borders, Abraham said. 

“It’s not just enough to just have an adequate supply. It has to be reliable,” Abraham told a crowd of local business leaders at the Bay Area Council’s annual dinner. 

Although rolling blackouts had affected nearly all of the California businesses and cities represented in the packed ballroom, Abraham spent only a few minutes speaking directly to the state’s power woes. 

Abraham said that the state’s energy crisis could not be solved with increased conservation and energy efficiency alone, echoing statements from other Bush administration officials. 

“If you don’t have enough energy supply you face the threat of blackouts,” Abraham said. 

Abraham urged the technology industry to focus on creating ways to move power more efficiently.  

He also said U.S. businesses and residents would need to find new ways of creating methods to produce their own power and reduce their reliance on the grid. 

Abraham arrived in San Francisco after telling a crowd of Hispanic community advocates in Milwaukee that the Bush administration saw partnerships with neighboring countries, including Mexico, as essential to developing untapped energy sources. 

Abraham’s speeches around the country coincide with a House Republican effort to approve broad-ranging energy legislation before the end of the month when Congress leaves for its summer recess. 

The GOP’s energy package would offer billions of dollars in tax breaks and favors for the coal, oil and nuclear industries as well as conservation incentives.  

That plan is similar and in some cases exceeds the energy blueprint outlined by President Bush two months ago. 

The package of legislation includes drilling in an Arctic wildlife refuge; incentives for technology to allow continued use of coal for power production; and tax breaks for high-mileage hybrid gas-electric automobiles. 

It exceeds the Bush plan in a provision that gives some of the largest, most profitable oil companies a waiver on having to pay the government royalties on oil and gas taken from new lease areas in the Gulf of Mexico. Bush opposed the royalty waiver, which critics claim amounts to a $7.3 million windfall to the oil companies. 

Vice President Dick Cheney is also visiting cities around the country promoting the Bush energy plan, fearing it is losing steam as gas prices and other energy costs continue to slide. 

Both the Bush plan and the House’s energy package have been criticized by environmental groups as being too soft on expanding energy efficiency and conservation programs and too easy on extending tax breaks to energy companies. 

Some of the criticisms stem from Cheney’s refusal to identify all the industry leaders who met with the energy task forced chaired by the vice president which developed the Bush energy policy. 

SALT LAKE CITY — An assistant U.S. attorney has been charged with lewdness for allegedly mooning a group of neighbors and exposing her breasts after losing her temper on the street outside their home. 

Laurie Sartorio, 45, a criminal prosecutor for the U.S. attorney’s office, was walking two dogs last Thursday about 8:50 p.m. when they became disobedient and she began to yell at them, according to a report filed with the Salt Lake City Police Department. 

Sartorio then began shouting expletives at a group of nearby neighbors, said Fred Louis, spokesman for the department. She allegedly asked the group, which included a 2-year-old, what they were looking at and if they wanted to take a picture. 

She then made an obscene hand gesture, Louis said. 

The woman walked down the street about 50 feet, pulled down her pants and mooned the group, the report said, then she pulled up her shirt and exposed her breasts to them. The woman was not wearing underwear or a bra, according to the report. 

Louis said Sartorio walked another 20 feet and did both things again. 

Sartorio was followed by one of the neighbors to a home where she was identified by police later in the evening. 

“You would think someone in this capacity would not lose their control and do something like this,” Louis said. 

Sartorio denied all charges in a police report, but when reached by phone Thursday afternoon said she could not comment on the charges. 

The case has been referred to the Justice Department’s inspector general. T.J. Bondurant, assistant inspector general, declined comment. 

Sartorio has been charged with a class A misdemeanor for lewdness involving a child. Conviction carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

BALTIMORE — The government has suspended federally funded research on human subjects at Johns Hopkins University following the death of a healthy volunteer during an asthma experiment, the school said Thursday. 

The move comes just three days after the university suspended human research by the doctor whose experiment went awry in June, causing the death of 24-year-old Ellen Roche. 

Officials with the federal Office of Human Research Protection did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Hopkins called the agency’s decision “unwarranted, unnecessary, paralyzing and precipitous.” 

“We strongly believe that this action was taken in utter disregard of patients’ health and potentially of life,” Hopkins Medical School spokeswoman Joann Rodgers said. The school said the effect could be devastating for ongoing clinical trials. Hopkins receives more federal research dollars than any other medical school – $301 million last year, making it No. 1 for the ninth straight year. 

The university has acknowledged full responsibility for Roche’s death June 2 and suspended 10 projects led by Dr. Alkis Togias. Togias remains on staff and faces no other disciplinary action. 

Medical school officials said Roche likely died from inhaling the drug hexamethonium, which restricts airways. 

Hexamethonium was used widely as a tablet in the 1940s and 1950s to treat hypertension, but the Food and Drug Administration later withdrew its approval. It never was approved as an inhalant, which was the way it was used in the Hopkins study, the FDA said. 

Earlier this month, a preliminary federal report said researchers should have sought FDA approval for experimental use of hexamethonium. 

Togias’ study was funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health. It was intended to help doctors learn how the body fights asthma by inducing asthmatic symptoms in healthy lungs. 

Roche, a lab technician in the Johns Hopkins Asthma and Allergy Center, was one of three subjects who inhaled hexamethonium. The first developed a cough lasting a week. The third had no symptoms. 

Roche also began coughing and died a month later while hospitalized. 

An internal review was mixed on whether Togias should have stopped the experiment after the first subject developed symptoms. 

The panel noted that existing information about the danger of the drug wasn’t published in the research subject consent forms, but said disclosing the information may have had little effect on the outcome. 

The report stopped short of blaming Togias for Roche’s death and said the experiment was well-supervised. 

On Monday, the university said it is imposing additional supervision on the hundreds of studies it conducts each year. An external investigation of the fatal research is expected to begin later this month. 

Some members of Congress have suggested requiring new standards and reviews for researchers who want federal funding. Others have called for the establishment of an accreditation system for researchers. 

Pressure for added protections has been building since the 1999 death of Jesse Gelsinger, 18, at the University of Pennsylvania four days after he was injected with a genetic drug designed to correct a liver disorder. 

Researchers said he died because the protein used to carry new genes into his damaged liver triggered a major immune system response. 

A federal investigation found researchers enrolled ineligible patients such as Gelsinger and had failed to warn patients that two monkeys used in the same experiment had to be put to death because they developed serious side effects. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Johns Hopkins Medicine: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org 

Office of Human Research Protection: http://ohrp.osophs.dhhs.gov 

WASHINGTON — Documents that the Democratic Party and unions have sued to keep secret reveal a campaign strategy in which labor and party officials served side by side on committees that directed the Democrats’ election activities in each state. 

While labor’s support of Democrats is well known, the documents show labor leaders had veto power over Democratic Party plans in 1996 by virtue of their large donations and seats on the steering committees in each state. 

“When the DNC and its National partners including ... the AFL-CIO and the NEA (National Education Association) agree on the contents of a plan, each national partner will give their funding commitment to the state,” an internal DNC memo titled “Rules of Engagement” said. 

Lawrence Noble, the nation’s former top election regulator, told The Associated Press on Thursday he was surprised by the degree of control unions held over Democratic decisions. Noble headed the investigation into GOP charges of illegal coordination between the unions  

and Democrats. 

“The AFL had a certain amount of control over what political parties and candidates did. That is what is striking,” Noble said. 

In addition to its usual political action committee donations, the AFL-CIO spent $35 million from its general treasury funded by workers’ dues on advertising and others efforts in 1996 to help Democrats win. 

At the request of the Democratic Party and labor unions, a federal judge has forbidden the Federal Election Commission from releasing the documents it gathered during its four-year probe. 

AP obtained the documents from officials involved in various federal investigations of unions and from groups that got some documents when they were briefly released by the FEC this spring, then abruptly pulled from public display under threat of litigation. 

The documents detail extensive discussions between labor and party leaders on how to contact, register and influence voters to support Democrats and show where unions in some instances drew their money to accomplish the mission. 

In one case, a New York hospital workers union, Local 1199, spent $250,000 from its strike defense fund for a $2.7 million effort called the ’96 Project’ aimed at holding congressional Republicans accountable for their support of Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America,” the records show. 

Frequently, officials from the Democratic Party or its congressional fund-raising arms contacted union officials to seek approval for election activities. 

For instance, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee official Rob Engel wrote AFL-CIO political official Steve Rogers in September 1996 to discuss phone banks and direct mail efforts aimed at identifying voters and getting them to the polls in 16 target congressional districts. 

“We request the AFL-CIO review these budgets and programs. If you approve them, we ask that you encourage your affiliated unions to contribute to each congressional district coordinated campaign,” Engel wrote. 

DCCC operatives followed up a few days later with a second memo. “Attached is our updated and improved requests for your big bucks,” it said. 

Around the time, the AFL-CIO ran ads in several of the same congressional districts portraying Republican candidates as out of touch with worker issues and Democrats as union-friendly, the FEC concluded. 

John Hiatt, AFL-CIO general counsel, acknowledged the union had veto power over Democratic activities it helped finance. 

“For aspects of campaigns we subsidize, I think we would want veto power,” Hiatt said. “We may have veto power over issues or aspects we’re working on, as other groups the Democrats are working with would want to keep control over things they’re working on.” 

In North Carolina, the documents show, state AFL-CIO President Chris Scott and North Carolina NEA President John Wilson each served on the management committee that handled day-to-day operations. 

In Nebraska, the state party gave AFL-CIO and teachers union officials similar positions on its executive committee alongside officials from Ben Nelson’s Senate campaign and other candidates. A state party memo said “labor will play a key role” in a party-run effort to contact 150,000 households twice during the fall campaign. 

The national blueprint for the coordinated campaigns stated flatly that before state parties could implement their election plans they had to be “submitted with a signature page which demonstrates the formal sign off of the principal players for each representative of the Steering Committee.” 

The contacts were so extensive that Noble, the FEC’s chief lawyer, initially concluded the two sides had illegally coordinated. The commission eventually abandoned that finding and closed the case after a federal judge ruled in an unrelated case that such coordination may be protected by First Amendment free speech. 

But the FEC’s final report, stamped “sensitive,” still concluded that the AFL-CIO had “apparent veto power” over the Democrats’ election decisions in the states. The unions had the “authority to approve or disapprove plans, projects and needs of the DNC and its state parties with respect to the coordinated campaign,” the report said. 

Noble said he thinks the FEC should have appealed the court ruling and punished the Democrats and the unions for illegal coordination. 

Noble said business groups allied with Republicans also have growing clout in elections. “You have a political system in large part controlled by special interests, whether it be AFL on one side with Democrats, or business interests with the Republicans,” he said. 

In addition to each state party’s coordinated committee, the DNC created a national steering committee that included party officials, a representative of the Clinton-Gore campaign as well as two officials from the AFL-CIO, one from the NEA and one from the Emily’s List political action committee. 

DNC general counsel Joseph Sandler told the FEC that the national committee met six or eight times to develop and implement the coordinated campaigns, as well as discuss financing. 

SAN JOSE — Second-quarter profits more than tripled at eBay Inc., and the mammoth Internet marketplace said Thursday that business will be even better than expected the rest of the year. 

In the three-month period ending June 30, eBay earned $24.6 million, or 9 cents per share, on revenue of $180.9 million. In the year-ago quarter, the company earned $7.5 million, or 3 cents per share, on revenue of $98.2 million. 

Excluding one-time charges, eBay’s earnings would have been 12 cents a share, above analysts’ expectations of 9 cents, according to Thomson Financial/First Call. 

“We’re really proud of how the company is running right now,” said Meg Whitman, eBay’s president and chief executive. 

Shares of eBay fell $2.14, more than 3 percent, to close at $64.40 on the Nasdaq Stock Market before the earnings report. The stock jumped to $66.89 in the extended trading period. 

Not counting users brought on with the acquisition of a European auction site, iBazar, eBay registered more than 4.4 million new users in the second quarter and now boasts more than 34.1 million, more than double the total this time last year. 

That surge could help increase revenue in the second half of the year to between $385 million and $400 million, which is $15 million to $30 million higher than previous forecasts. EBay also said second-half earnings per share, excluding charges, are expected to be as much as 21 or 22 cents; Wall Street was expecting 20 cents. 

Many measurements of eBay’s business are giving executives reason for such optimism. About $2.25 billion worth of goods were sold on the site in the second quarter, up 74 percent from last year. International operations are contributing 14 percent of the company’s revenue, up from 12 percent in the first quarter. 

EBay also is attracting more big sellers through its new “storefronts” program, in which merchants can get entire pages to themselves. About 18,000 merchants have signed up, far more than eBay had expected at this point, said Brian Swette, chief operating officer. 

For the first six months of 2001, eBay earned $45.7 million, 16 cents per share, on revenue of $335 million. That compares to first-half profits last year of $9.2 million, 3 cents per share, on revenue of $184 million. 

Jeetil Patel, an analyst with Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, pointed out that eBay’s solid results came despite the sluggish economy and in a warm-weather quarter – when business traditionally slows because many computer users tend to spend more time enjoying the outdoors. 

“That’s pretty impressive,” Patel said. “They’re knocking the cover off the ball.”

Another round of free outdoor summer theater hits Berkeley over this weekend – this time a very funny, slapstick all-female production of Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors,” staged by Woman’s Will and performed in John Hinkel Park. 

Erin Merritt, a graduate of Berkeley High School, formed Woman’s Will three years ago, because of a shortage of parts for local Shakespearean woman actors. “Every year,” said Merritt, “we actors here in the Bay Area sit in big groups and have huge auditions for the various summer Shakespeare festivals.” 

“Locally there are Cal Shakes, San Francisco Shakespeare, and others,” she continued, “but there are also auditions in the Bay Area for Shakespeare festivals in Idaho, Utah and Colorado.” 

“We actors gets to know each other,” Merritt added, “and it’s always quite sad because there are fabulous women at these auditions, but each festival hires maybe three or four.” 

“In this year’s production – “Comedy of Errors,” one of Shakespeare’s funniest plays – two sets of identical twins separated at birth unexpectedly find themselves in the same city years later. Chaos ensues as the four twins unwittingly stumble through a mystifying day of humorous mistaken identity snafus – resulting in hot arguments over money, jewelry, lovers and lawsuits. 

Two of the twins are gentlemen (both named Antipholus). The other two twins are their servants (both named Dromio). A lot of the humor comes from the Antipholuses (Allyson Kulavis and Carla Pantoja) beating up on the Dromios (Tracy Hudak and Kristina Goodnight) in frustration and confusion as the identity snafus multiply. 

The servant twins get slapped around for doing the wrong things for the wrong masters. When everyone finally appears on stage together for the first time near the end of the play, the mysteries are solved and things end happily. 

This is a story from an earlier time. Shakespeare based “Comedy of Errors” on Roman playwright Plautus’ “Menaechmi,” written about 200 B.C. It is perhaps Shakespeare’s earliest play, and his only true farce. 

There are many good performances in this Woman’s Will production. Standouts include two wonderful slapstick turns by Tracy Hudak and Kristina Goodnight as the two indignant and abused servant Dromios. Hudak’s account of being mistakenly pursued by a kitchen wench affianced to the other Dromio is a riot. 

Courtney Shropshire is strong as angry wife Adriana, hurt and upset by the brush-off from a stranger who she believes is her husband. Lisa Wentz does a nice job as Adriana’s sister Luciana, shocked to find herself romantically pursued by a man she believes to be her sister’s husband. 

Diane Tasca is a wacky Dr. Pinch, brought in to exorcise demons when things get really out of control. Ej Ndeto [sic] creates two very distinctive characters in smaller roles, first as a hearty merchant helping to set up the play’s story early on, and later as the willowy abbess Emilia who spins “Comedy’s” plot to its unexpected conclusion. 

Each week the playing space changes, however, as “Comedy of Errors” moves from park to park around the Bay Area. This coming Saturday and Sunday it plays again in Berkeley, but this time at Live Oak Park. 

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

Members of the board that oversees Pacifica Radio Network have until 5 p.m. today to resign if they want to avoid being named in three lawsuits that target the company. 

So far, four members of the board of directors have resigned. They are: Michael Palmer, David Acosta, Karolyn Van Putten and Andrea Cisco, who resigned this week.  

When asked about the decision, Cisco simply said, “I resigned,” and declined to comment further. 

While it is rumored that Ken Ford and former Los Angeles Sentinel Political Editor Robert Farrell will resign, neither returned a call for comment.  

If the two do resign, the majority of the board will shift and people who oppose Pacifica’s recent policies will triumph. 

“Should they decide to hand over the reins, then the lawsuit would be settled prior to it going to trial,” said Sherry Gendelman, who is leading the lawsuit against the local advisory committee. 

This week, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Ronald Sabraw refused to allow Pacifica to hold an emergency phone meeting to replace replacement directors – another victory for the litigants. 

“It’s a great blow to them and a real victory for us to savor. It shows that we are on the right course. We outwitted them and outmatched them and will continue to do so until we take back our network,” Gendelman said.  

Pacifica oversees independent “free speech” radio stations across the country. Two and a half years ago, Berkeley’s KPFA was the scene of major protests because of the removal of station manager Nicole Sawaya. Listeners also complained that Pacifica was changing the structure of all the station’s content. 

Since then, listeners have urged Pacifica to change the way they manage the stations. 

Mary Frances Berry, chair of the Pacifica Foundation National Board, did not return a call for comment.  

If the board majority shifts, KPFA Station Manager Matt Martin said it will be the beginning of a lengthy healing process.  

“That would lead to some sort of winding down of the lawsuits and restructuring of the networks,” Martin said. “There will be a lot of rebuilding. If we aren’t under siege anymore then we can start to look at the future of this place.” 

From the unconventional opening to a new twist of the knife at the end, Berkeley Opera’s production of Georges Bizet’s “Carmen” is engaging.  

Draped in shreds of black and red – drying tobacco or gypsy skirts – the dark stage is punctured by a single soldier standing guard at top of a tower.  

He surveys the audience through field glasses until a searchlight discovers gypsy women weaving their spell around him. 

Carmen, that sultry fickle gypsy who embraces fate and the men she loves with equal passion, has a new interpretation with David Scott Marley’s English libretto. 

The company’s 22-year philosophy is to make opera accessible to a broad audience and to produce innovative shows that provide young singers a chance to work. And they have marked the end of their season with success. 

When the usual opening night kinks are worked out – tightening of cues, costume changes, handling of props – the singers will relax into Seville, Spain, in 1830.  

Marie Bafus, as Carmen, carries the music with graceful competence. She is most comfortable as the gypsy coquette when she dances privately for Don Jose – barefoot, arms raised, castanets marking the seduction, building the tension. For most of the show, Carmen has been given stylized stage directions that do not seem natural to Bafus, creating the impression more of a flirtatious teen than an experienced woman.  

Micaela, sung by Romina De Basbarro, is as realistic as Carmen is stylized.  

Finally, here is a Micaela who matches Jose’s passion for Carmen, with reason and love of an equal power.  

De Basbarro’s rich solid aria, sung as Micaela waits near the gypsy camp declaring ‘nothing can frighten me here,’ was the highlight of the evening.  

Marley’s new libretto gives the young innocent country girl a powerful and compassionate character. 

Passion, freedom and fate are themes that weave themselves throughout this production.  

No one escapes – whether the toreador, Escamillo, fed by his passion for the bullfight and his admirers, Frasquita and Mercedes accepting fate written in the cards, or Carmen and Don Jose losing freedom in their passion and sealing their fate. 

Michael Licciardello, as Don Jose, conveys the complexity of this character. He is indifferent to the flirtatious Carmen when he first sees her, torn when confronting the girl from home, confused when forced to decide between military life and joining Carmen and the gypsies.  

Licciardello’s voice warmed to challenge as the evening progressed. Don Jose reconciles himself to the inevitable and Licciardello delivers full measure in the urgent yet tender “ Flower Song.”  

The gypsies provided some of the stronger moments in the show. Adrien Johnson (Frasquita), treats the audience to a lusty gypsy dance, and Paula Arciniega (Mercedes), joined Stephen Rumph (El Dancairo) and Bill Welch (El Remendado) blending the evenness of their voices in Pastia’s tavern. The bantering between El Dancairo and El Remendado added to the warmth of the scene. 

Ralph Wells’ (Escamillo), clear powerful baritone vividly painted the “Toreador’s Song.”  

Zuniga, the captain of the guards, as sung by Wayne D. Wong, makes clear the ironic wit of the character.  

The children’s chorus, sung by the Kairos Youth Choir, charmed the audience, with special kudos going to Colin Cotter as the boy who leads Micaela to the gypsy camp. 

Under the musical direction of Jonathan Khuner, the orchestra brings “Carmen” the rhythmic liveliness and sensuality that has stirred audiences since it first premiered in Paris in 1875.

Thursday, July 19  

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 meeting will be a game night.  

654-5486 

Summer Noon Concerts 2001 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza 

Shattuck at Center St. 

Weekly concert series. This week The Waikiki Steel Works perform vintage acoustic Hawaiian steel guitar music. 

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 

Quit Smoking Class 

6 - 8 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis Street 

A six week quit smoking class. 

Free to Berkeley residents and employees. 

Call 644-6422 or e-mail at: quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Salsa Dance Classes 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Classes every Thursday with live percussionists, light refreshments, DJ playing Latin music. $10 or $15 for two. 

237-9874 

Backpacking Yosemite’s  

High Country 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Slide Presentation. 

Marvin Schinnerer will share highlights from two favorite trips out of Yosemite’s Tuolumne Meadows. Free. 

527-4140 

Berkeley School Volunteers 

3 - 4:30 p.m. 

1835 Allston Way 

Orientation for volunteers interested in helping in academic and recreation programs being held in Berkeley public schools this summer. 

644-8833 

Fair Campaign Practices  

Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Street 

Health Room 

Discussion and action regarding possible violations of the Berkeley Election Reform Act. 

981-6950 or 981-6903 (TDD) 

Free Computer Class for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited, call ahead for a reservation.644-6109 

Simplicity Forum 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Claremont Branch Library  

2940 Benvenue Ave. (1 block from College and Ashby) 

Monthly meeting every third Thursday. People share their stories about the ways they have changed their lives by finding ways to work less, consume less, rush less and have more time for community and friends. For more information call 549-3509 or www.seedsofsimplicity.org. Free. 

Friday, July 20  

Therapy for Trans Partners  

6 - 7:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center for Human Growth  

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)  

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.  

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session  

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522 

Lives From Herstory 

1:15 - 3:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Part of “Strong Women: The Arts, Herstory and Literature,” a free weekly cultural studies course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program taught by Helen Rippier Wheeler. This week’s focus is on Margaret Higgins Sanger. Call 549-2970 

The Art of Recycling 

2 - 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery 

2200 Shattuck Avenue 

A day-long celebration of the importance of recycling, the event will explore different ways to reuse – artistic and practical. Bring your own old clothes, broken appliances, and other items or drop off in advance at the Gallery during regular hours Thursday through Sunday, noon - 8 p.m. 

486-0411 

Life in Cohousing 

7:30 p.m. 

International House Auditorium 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Avenue 

The opening address for the 2001 North American Cohousing Conference, Eric Utne will speak on “Changing the World and Yourself by Creating Community.” $10. 

834-7399  

Saturday, July 21 

Ohtani Bazaar 

4 p.m. - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Higashi Honganji Temple 

1524 Oregon Street 

Games, prizes and activities for children. Japanese food will be available. Free admission. 

236-2550 

Berkeley Farmer’s Market 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

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

Regular market with a special “Sustainable Agriculture” event. Speakers will discuss “Environmental and Social Justice and the Food Supply,” with topics ranging from genetic engineering to local food security. 548-3333 

Snails, Lizard,  

and Turtle Races 

10 - 10:50 a.m. or 11 - 11:50 a.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Find out how fast these different animals move and why. Workshop for children ages 3 - 8 and an accompanying adult. $8 - $25. 

642-5132 

Puppet Show 

1:30 and 2:30 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

Lower Level 

2230 Shattuck Avenue 

The show by Kids on the Block, an award-winning educational puppet troupe, promotes acceptance and understanding of physical and mental differences. Free. 

549-1564  

MFA Survey Exhibition  

Reception 

6 - 8 p.m. 

Traywick Gallery 

1316 Tenth Street 

Reception for artists featured at Traywick Gallery’s third annual MFA Survey Exhibition which runs through August 18. Prajakti Jayavant, Tia Factor, Geof Oppenheimer, and Bambi Waterman work in three-dimensional media. 

527-1214 

Sunday, July 22 

Ohtani Bazaar 

Noon - 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Higashi Honganji Temple 

1524 Oregon Street 

Games, prizes and activities for children. Japanese food will be available. Free admission. 236-2550 

Buddhist Practice 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Jack Petranker on “Going Beyond the Way We Live Now.” Free. 

843-6812 

— compiled by Guy Poole and Sabrina Forkish 

West Berkeley Market 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

University Ave., between 3rd and 4th Streets  

Family-oriented weekly market. Crafts, music, produce, and specialty foods. 

654-6346 

Berkeley Today 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut Street 

A bagel brunch, lecture, and discussion with Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean. $4 - $5. 

848-0237 

Free Radio Berkeley House Pary 

5 - 10 p.m. 

2547 8th Street, Unit 24 

Free Radio Berkeley International Radio Action Training Education is hosting an open house party to showcase independent media programs, projects and technologies. Screening of “Free Radio” documentary at 8:30 p.m. 

549-0732 

Monday, July 23 

Curious About Plastic Surgery? 

6:30 - 8 p.m. 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Conference Room 3 

2450 Ashby Avenue 

Learn what to expect from different plastic surgery procedures. Refreshments provided. Free. 

869-6737 

National Organization for Women 

6:30 p.m. 

Mama Bears Book Store 

6537 Telegraph 

Nominations for new officers. Meets on the 4th Monday of every month. For more information call 287-8948 

Tuesday, July 24 

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 Don, 525-3565 

Round-the-World Journey 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Avenue 

Brad Newsham, author of “Take Me With You: A Round-the-World Journey to Invite a Stranger Home,” will present a talk and slide show. Newsham took a 100-day trip through the Philippines, India, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and South Africa looking for a stranger to bring to America. Free. 

843-3533 

Writing and Resistance  

In A Culture of Amnesia 

6 - 7:45 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Classroom #2 

Part of a workshop series on concepts and strategies for resistance through the spoken and written word, taught by Joyce E. Young. $12. 

849-2568 www.lapena.org 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

Derby Street at MLK Jr. Way 

548-3333 

“Temp Slave, The Musical” 

7:30 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Part of LaborFest 2001, a musical about the lives of temps. $12. 

849-2568 

Free Early Music Group 

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK) 

Small group sings madrigals and other voice harmony every Tuesday morning. Call Ann, 655-8863 

Free Computer Class for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited, call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109 

Wednesday, July 25 

Toymaker Day 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley 

Part of the Lawrence Hall of Science Wednesday FUN-days. Make toys out of recycled materials with artists from the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse. Museum admission $3 - $7. 

642-5132 

Thursday, July 26 

Summer Noon Concerts 2001 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza 

Shattuck at Center St. 

Weekly concert series. This week The Brazilian Workshop under the direction of Marcos Silva, Jazzschool students perform traditional Brazilian music. 

(gp) 

Quit Smoking Class 

6 - 8 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis Street 

A six week quit smoking class. 

Free to Berkeley residents and employees. 

Call 644-6422 or e-mail: quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

(gp) 

Wilderness First Aid 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Jim Morrisey, senior instructor at Wilderness Medical Associates, will teach you the basics of field repair for the human body: Blisters, wounds, fractures, lightning strikes, snake bites and more. Free. 

527-4140 

(gp) 

Ancient Native Sites of the East Bay 

7:30 p.m. 

Room 160 Kroeber Hall, University of California Campus 

Andrew Galvan, an Ohlone Indian and co-owner of Archaeor, will discuss and share the benefits of osteological studies of prehistoric human skeletal remains. Prof. Ed Luby, research archaeologist for the Berkeley Natural History Museums, will discuss his work on mortuary feasting practices. $10 

841-2242 

Southeast Asia and Japan 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Avenue 

William Ford, author of “Southeast Asia and Japan: Unusual Travel,” will present a talk and slide show of his adventure travels. Free. 

843-3533 

Return of the Zapatour 

7 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Members of the Chiapas Support Committee report on their trip to Chiapas, including slides and videos. $8 - $15. 

849-2568 www.lapena.org 

Business Information and Networking Event 

6:30 - 9:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis (corner of Ashby) 

Sponsored by the City of Berkeley in partnership with the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce, and both the South and West Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporations. The event will include such topics as “Starting a Business,” “Legal Issues,” “Planning for Growth,” “Financing,” and “Permitting.” The event is free to all who register. Refreshments and door prizes. To register call 549-7003 (English or Spanish).  

Salsa Dance Classes 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Classes every Thursday with live percussionists, light refreshments, DJ playing Latin music. $10 or $15 for two. 

237-9874 

Women, Menopause, and Change 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

YWCA 

2600 Bancroft Way 

Learn how other women manage the changes menopause brings to their lives. Free yoga demonstration. 

233-6484 

Cuban Workers and Trade Unions Today 

6 - 8:30 p.m. 

Director’s Lounge 

Institute of Industrial Relations 

2521 Channing Way 

Speakers Kamran Nayeri and Bobbie Rabinowitz, sponsored by University and Technical Employees. Music, photo exhibit and literature. 

Free Computer Class for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited, call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109 

Friday, July 27  

Therapy for Trans Partners  

6 - 7:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center for Human Growth  

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)  

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.  

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session  

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522 

Strong Women; The Arts, Herstory and Literature 

1:15 - 3:15 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 cultural studies course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program. Free. 

Call 549-2970 

Saturday, July 28 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

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

548-3333 

Arrowcopter Play Day 

1 - 4 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley 

For ages 9 and up. Museum admission $3 - $7. 

642-5132 

Sunday, July 29 

Hands-On Bicycle Repair Clinics  

11 a.m. - Noon  

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Learn how to adjust your brakes from one of REI’s bike technicians. All you need to bring is your bike. Free  

527-4140 

Buddhist Teacher 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Eva Casey on “The Life of Padmasambhava.” Free. 

843-6812 

West Berkeley Market 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

University Ave., between 3rd and 4th Streets  

Family-oriented weekly market. Crafts, music, produce, and specialty foods. 

654-6346 

Making Music 

1 - 3 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley 

Part of the LHS Top of the Bay Family Sundays, Fran Holland will demonstrate how to make and play musical instruments. Museum admission $3 - $7. 

642-5132 

International Working Class 

Film and Video Festival 

2 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Part of LaborFest 2001, a screening of “Not In My Garden,” a documentary about a Palestinian village in Israel. $7. 

849-2568 

Maybeck Homes 

1 - 4:30 p.m. 

#1 Maybeck Twin Drive 

Open house of four nearby homes accompanied by short talks on the character of Maybeck’s homes. A reception, raffle, and silent auction will be part of the afternoon activities. Limited space, call 845-7714 for registration. 

Monday, July 30 

State Wide Alliance of Tenants 

5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. 

Harriet Tubman Terrace 

2870 Adeline Street 

A monthly open forum of the Affordable Housing Advocacy Project. This month meet members of the State Wide Alliance of Tenants as they discuss their successes in improving living conditions in their housing developments. 

(800 773-2110 

Tuesday, July 31 

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 Don, 525-3565 

Wild Women Travel Writers 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Avenue 

An evening with members of the Wild Women Travel Writers’ Group, authors of “Wild Writing Women: Stories of World Travel,” will read from their book and conduct a panel discussion on the “Art of Travel Writing.” Free. 

843-3533 

Writing and Resistance  

In A Culture of Amnesia 

6 - 7:45 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Classroom #2 

Part of a workshop series on concepts and strategies for resistance through the spoken and written word, taught by Joyce E. Young. $12. 

849-2568 www.lapena.org 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

Derby Street at MLK Jr. Way 

548-3333 

Free Early Music Group 

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK) 

Small group sings madrigals and other voice harmony every Tuesday morning. Call Ann, 655-8863 

Free Computer Class for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited, call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109 Thursday, July 19  

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 meeting will be a game night.  

654-5486 

Summer Noon Concerts 2001 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza 

Shattuck at Center St. 

Weekly concert series. This week The Waikiki Steel Works perform vintage acoustic Hawaiian steel guitar music. 

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 

Quit Smoking Class 

6 - 8 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis Street 

A six week quit smoking class. 

Free to Berkeley residents and employees. 

Call 644-6422 or e-mail at: quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Salsa Dance Classes 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Classes every Thursday with live percussionists, light refreshments, DJ playing Latin music. $10 or $15 for two. 

237-9874 

Backpacking Yosemite’s  

High Country 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Slide Presentation. 

Marvin Schinnerer will share highlights from two favorite trips out of Yosemite’s Tuolumne Meadows. Free. 

527-4140 

Berkeley School Volunteers 

3 - 4:30 p.m. 

1835 Allston Way 

Orientation for volunteers interested in helping in academic and recreation programs being held in Berkeley public schools this summer. 

644-8833 

Fair Campaign Practices  

Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Street 

Health Room 

Discussion and action regarding possible violations of the Berkeley Election Reform Act. 

981-6950 or 981-6903 (TDD) 

Free Computer Class for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited, call ahead for a reservation.644-6109 

Simplicity Forum 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Claremont Branch Library  

2940 Benvenue Ave. (1 block from College and Ashby) 

Monthly meeting every third Thursday. People share their stories about the ways they have changed their lives by finding ways to work less, consume less, rush less and have more time for community and friends. For more information call 549-3509 or www.seedsofsimplicity.org. Free. 

Thursday, July 19  

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 meeting will be a game night.  

654-5486 

Summer Noon Concerts 2001 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza 

Shattuck at Center St. 

Weekly concert series. This week The Waikiki Steel Works perform vintage acoustic Hawaiian steel guitar music. 

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 

Quit Smoking Class 

6 - 8 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis Street 

A six week quit smoking class. 

Free to Berkeley residents and employees. 

Call 644-6422 or e-mail at: quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Salsa Dance Classes 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Classes every Thursday with live percussionists, light refreshments, DJ playing Latin music. $10 or $15 for two. 

237-9874 

Backpacking Yosemite’s  

High Country 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Slide Presentation. 

Marvin Schinnerer will share highlights from two favorite trips out of Yosemite’s Tuolumne Meadows. Free. 

527-4140 

Berkeley School Volunteers 

3 - 4:30 p.m. 

1835 Allston Way 

Orientation for volunteers interested in helping in academic and recreation programs being held in Berkeley public schools this summer. 

644-8833 

Fair Campaign Practices  

Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Street 

Health Room 

Discussion and action regarding possible violations of the Berkeley Election Reform Act. 

981-6950 or 981-6903 (TDD) 

Free Computer Class for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited, call ahead for a reservation.644-6109 

Simplicity Forum 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Claremont Branch Library  

2940 Benvenue Ave. (1 block from College and Ashby) 

Monthly meeting every third Thursday. People share their stories about the ways they have changed their lives by finding ways to work less, consume less, rush less and have more time for community and friends. For more information call 549-3509 or www.seedsofsimplicity.org. Free. 

Friday, July 20  

Therapy for Trans Partners  

6 - 7:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center for Human Growth  

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)  

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.  

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session  

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522 

Lives From Herstory 

1:15 - 3:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Part of “Strong Women: The Arts, Herstory and Literature,” a free weekly cultural studies course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program taught by Helen Rippier Wheeler. This week’s focus is on Margaret Higgins Sanger. Call 549-2970 

The Art of Recycling 

2 - 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery 

2200 Shattuck Avenue 

A day-long celebration of the importance of recycling, the event will explore different ways to reuse – artistic and practical. Bring your own old clothes, broken appliances, and other items or drop off in advance at the Gallery during regular hours Thursday through Sunday, noon - 8 p.m. 

486-0411 

Life in Cohousing 

7:30 p.m. 

International House Auditorium 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Avenue 

The opening address for the 2001 North American Cohousing Conference, Eric Utne will speak on “Changing the World and Yourself by Creating Community.” $10. 

834-7399  

Saturday, July 21 

Ohtani Bazaar 

4 p.m. - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Higashi Honganji Temple 

1524 Oregon Street 

Games, prizes and activities for children. Japanese food will be available. Free admission. 

236-2550 

Berkeley Farmer’s Market 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

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

Regular market with a special “Sustainable Agriculture” event. Speakers will discuss “Environmental and Social Justice and the Food Supply,” with topics ranging from genetic engineering to local food security. 548-3333 

Snails, Lizard,  

and Turtle Races 

10 - 10:50 a.m. or 11 - 11:50 a.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Find out how fast these different animals move and why. Workshop for children ages 3 - 8 and an accompanying adult. $8 - $25. 

642-5132 

Puppet Show 

1:30 and 2:30 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

Lower Level 

2230 Shattuck Avenue 

The show by Kids on the Block, an award-winning educational puppet troupe, promotes acceptance and understanding of physical and mental differences. Free. 

549-1564  

MFA Survey Exhibition  

Reception 

6 - 8 p.m. 

Traywick Gallery 

1316 Tenth Street 

Reception for artists featured at Traywick Gallery’s third annual MFA Survey Exhibition which runs through August 18. Prajakti Jayavant, Tia Factor, Geof Oppenheimer, and Bambi Waterman work in three-dimensional media. 

527-1214 

Sunday, July 22 

Ohtani Bazaar 

Noon - 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Higashi Honganji Temple 

1524 Oregon Street 

Games, prizes and activities for children. Japanese food will be available. Free admission. 236-2550 

Buddhist Practice 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Jack Petranker on “Going Beyond the Way We Live Now.” Free. 

843-6812 

— compiled by Guy Poole and Sabrina Forkish 

West Berkeley Market 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

University Ave., between 3rd and 4th Streets  

Family-oriented weekly market. Crafts, music, produce, and specialty foods. 

654-6346 

Berkeley Today 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut Street 

A bagel brunch, lecture, and discussion with Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean. $4 - $5. 

848-0237 

Free Radio Berkeley House Pary 

5 - 10 p.m. 

2547 8th Street, Unit 24 

Free Radio Berkeley International Radio Action Training Education is hosting an open house party to showcase independent media programs, projects and technologies. Screening of “Free Radio” documentary at 8:30 p.m. 

549-0732 

Monday, July 23 

Curious About Plastic Surgery? 

6:30 - 8 p.m. 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Conference Room 3 

2450 Ashby Avenue 

Learn what to expect from different plastic surgery procedures. Refreshments provided. Free. 

869-6737 

National Organization for Women 

6:30 p.m. 

Mama Bears Book Store 

6537 Telegraph 

Nominations for new officers. Meets on the 4th Monday of every month. For more information call 287-8948 

Tuesday, July 24 

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 Don, 525-3565 

Round-the-World Journey 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Avenue 

Brad Newsham, author of “Take Me With You: A Round-the-World Journey to Invite a Stranger Home,” will present a talk and slide show. Newsham took a 100-day trip through the Philippines, India, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and South Africa looking for a stranger to bring to America. Free. 

843-3533 

Writing and Resistance  

In A Culture of Amnesia 

6 - 7:45 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Classroom #2 

Part of a workshop series on concepts and strategies for resistance through the spoken and written word, taught by Joyce E. Young. $12. 

849-2568 www.lapena.org 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

Derby Street at MLK Jr. Way 

548-3333 

“Temp Slave, The Musical” 

7:30 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Part of LaborFest 2001, a musical about the lives of temps. $12. 

849-2568 

Free Early Music Group 

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK) 

Small group sings madrigals and other voice harmony every Tuesday morning. Call Ann, 655-8863 

Free Computer Class for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited, call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109 

Wednesday, July 25 

Toymaker Day 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley 

Part of the Lawrence Hall of Science Wednesday FUN-days. Make toys out of recycled materials with artists from the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse. Museum admission $3 - $7. 

642-5132 

Thursday, July 26 

Summer Noon Concerts 2001 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza 

Shattuck at Center St. 

Weekly concert series. This week The Brazilian Workshop under the direction of Marcos Silva, Jazzschool students perform traditional Brazilian music. 

(gp) 

Quit Smoking Class 

6 - 8 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis Street 

A six week quit smoking class. 

Free to Berkeley residents and employees. 

Call 644-6422 or e-mail: quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

(gp) 

Wilderness First Aid 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Jim Morrisey, senior instructor at Wilderness Medical Associates, will teach you the basics of field repair for the human body: Blisters, wounds, fractures, lightning strikes, snake bites and more. Free. 

527-4140 

(gp) 

Ancient Native Sites of the East Bay 

7:30 p.m. 

Room 160 Kroeber Hall, University of California Campus 

Andrew Galvan, an Ohlone Indian and co-owner of Archaeor, will discuss and share the benefits of osteological studies of prehistoric human skeletal remains. Prof. Ed Luby, research archaeologist for the Berkeley Natural History Museums, will discuss his work on mortuary feasting practices. $10 

841-2242 

Southeast Asia and Japan 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Avenue 

William Ford, author of “Southeast Asia and Japan: Unusual Travel,” will present a talk and slide show of his adventure travels. Free. 

843-3533 

Return of the Zapatour 

7 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Members of the Chiapas Support Committee report on their trip to Chiapas, including slides and videos. $8 - $15. 

849-2568 www.lapena.org 

Business Information and Networking Event 

6:30 - 9:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis (corner of Ashby) 

Sponsored by the City of Berkeley in partnership with the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce, and both the South and West Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporations. The event will include such topics as “Starting a Business,” “Legal Issues,” “Planning for Growth,” “Financing,” and “Permitting.” The event is free to all who register. Refreshments and door prizes. To register call 549-7003 (English or Spanish).  

Salsa Dance Classes 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Classes every Thursday with live percussionists, light refreshments, DJ playing Latin music. $10 or $15 for two. 

237-9874 

Women, Menopause, and Change 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

YWCA 

2600 Bancroft Way 

Learn how other women manage the changes menopause brings to their lives. Free yoga demonstration. 

233-6484 

Cuban Workers and Trade Unions Today 

6 - 8:30 p.m. 

Director’s Lounge 

Institute of Industrial Relations 

2521 Channing Way 

Speakers Kamran Nayeri and Bobbie Rabinowitz, sponsored by University and Technical Employees. Music, photo exhibit and literature. 

Free Computer Class for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited, call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109 

Friday, July 27  

Therapy for Trans Partners  

6 - 7:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center for Human Growth  

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)  

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.  

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session  

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522 

Strong Women; The Arts, Herstory and Literature 

1:15 - 3:15 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 cultural studies course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program. Free. 

Call 549-2970 

Saturday, July 28 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

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

548-3333 

Arrowcopter Play Day 

1 - 4 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley 

For ages 9 and up. Museum admission $3 - $7. 

642-5132 

Sunday, July 29 

Hands-On Bicycle Repair Clinics  

11 a.m. - Noon  

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Learn how to adjust your brakes from one of REI’s bike technicians. All you need to bring is your bike. Free  

527-4140 

Buddhist Teacher 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Eva Casey on “The Life of Padmasambhava.” Free. 

843-6812 

West Berkeley Market 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

University Ave., between 3rd and 4th Streets  

Family-oriented weekly market. Crafts, music, produce, and specialty foods. 

654-6346 

Making Music 

1 - 3 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley 

Part of the LHS Top of the Bay Family Sundays, Fran Holland will demonstrate how to make and play musical instruments. Museum admission $3 - $7. 

642-5132 

International Working Class 

Film and Video Festival 

2 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Part of LaborFest 2001, a screening of “Not In My Garden,” a documentary about a Palestinian village in Israel. $7. 

849-2568 

Maybeck Homes 

1 - 4:30 p.m. 

#1 Maybeck Twin Drive 

Open house of four nearby homes accompanied by short talks on the character of Maybeck’s homes. A reception, raffle, and silent auction will be part of the afternoon activities. Limited space, call 845-7714 for registration. 

Monday, July 30 

State Wide Alliance of Tenants 

5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. 

Harriet Tubman Terrace 

2870 Adeline Street 

A monthly open forum of the Affordable Housing Advocacy Project. This month meet members of the State Wide Alliance of Tenants as they discuss their successes in improving living conditions in their housing developments. 

(800 773-2110 

Tuesday, July 31 

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 Don, 525-3565 

Wild Women Travel Writers 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Avenue 

An evening with members of the Wild Women Travel Writers’ Group, authors of “Wild Writing Women: Stories of World Travel,” will read from their book and conduct a panel discussion on the “Art of Travel Writing.” Free. 

843-3533 

Writing and Resistance  

In A Culture of Amnesia 

6 - 7:45 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Classroom #2 

Part of a workshop series on concepts and strategies for resistance through the spoken and written word, taught by Joyce E. Young. $12. 

849-2568 www.lapena.org 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

Derby Street at MLK Jr. Way 

548-3333 

Free Early Music Group 

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK) 

Small group sings madrigals and other voice harmony every Tuesday morning. Call Ann, 655-8863 

Free Computer Class for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited, call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109  

Thursday, July 19  

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 meeting will be a game night.  

654-5486 

Summer Noon Concerts 2001 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza 

Shattuck at Center St. 

Weekly concert series. This week The Waikiki Steel Works perform vintage acoustic Hawaiian steel guitar music. 

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 

Quit Smoking Class 

6 - 8 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis Street 

A six week quit smoking class. 

Free to Berkeley residents and employees. 

Call 644-6422 or e-mail at: quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Salsa Dance Classes 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Classes every Thursday with live percussionists, light refreshments, DJ playing Latin music. $10 or $15 for two. 

237-9874 

Backpacking Yosemite’s  

High Country 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Slide Presentation. 

Marvin Schinnerer will share highlights from two favorite trips out of Yosemite’s Tuolumne Meadows. Free. 

527-4140 

Berkeley School Volunteers 

3 - 4:30 p.m. 

1835 Allston Way 

Orientation for volunteers interested in helping in academic and recreation programs being held in Berkeley public schools this summer. 

644-8833 

Fair Campaign Practices  

Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Street 

Health Room 

Discussion and action regarding possible violations of the Berkeley Election Reform Act. 

981-6950 or 981-6903 (TDD) 

Free Computer Class for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited, call ahead for a reservation.644-6109 

Simplicity Forum 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Claremont Branch Library  

2940 Benvenue Ave. (1 block from College and Ashby) 

Monthly meeting every third Thursday. People share their stories about the ways they have changed their lives by finding ways to work less, consume less, rush less and have more time for community and friends. For more information call 549-3509 or www.seedsofsimplicity.org. Free. 

Friday, July 20  

Therapy for Trans Partners  

6 - 7:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center for Human Growth  

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)  

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.  

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session  

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522 

Lives From Herstory 

1:15 - 3:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Part of “Strong Women: The Arts, Herstory and Literature,” a free weekly cultural studies course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program taught by Helen Rippier Wheeler. This week’s focus is on Margaret Higgins Sanger. Call 549-2970 

The Art of Recycling 

2 - 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery 

2200 Shattuck Avenue 

A day-long celebration of the importance of recycling, the event will explore different ways to reuse – artistic and practical. Bring your own old clothes, broken appliances, and other items or drop off in advance at the Gallery during regular hours Thursday through Sunday, noon - 8 p.m. 

486-0411 

Life in Cohousing 

7:30 p.m. 

International House Auditorium 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Avenue 

The opening address for the 2001 North American Cohousing Conference, Eric Utne will speak on “Changing the World and Yourself by Creating Community.” $10. 

834-7399  

Saturday, July 21 

Ohtani Bazaar 

4 p.m. - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Higashi Honganji Temple 

1524 Oregon Street 

Games, prizes and activities for children. Japanese food will be available. Free admission. 

236-2550 

Berkeley Farmer’s Market 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

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

Regular market with a special “Sustainable Agriculture” event. Speakers will discuss “Environmental and Social Justice and the Food Supply,” with topics ranging from genetic engineering to local food security. 548-3333 

Snails, Lizard,  

and Turtle Races 

10 - 10:50 a.m. or 11 - 11:50 a.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Find out how fast these different animals move and why. Workshop for children ages 3 - 8 and an accompanying adult. $8 - $25. 

642-5132 

Puppet Show 

1:30 and 2:30 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

Lower Level 

2230 Shattuck Avenue 

The show by Kids on the Block, an award-winning educational puppet troupe, promotes acceptance and understanding of physical and mental differences. Free. 

549-1564  

MFA Survey Exhibition  

Reception 

6 - 8 p.m. 

Traywick Gallery 

1316 Tenth Street 

Reception for artists featured at Traywick Gallery’s third annual MFA Survey Exhibition which runs through August 18. Prajakti Jayavant, Tia Factor, Geof Oppenheimer, and Bambi Waterman work in three-dimensional media. 

527-1214 

Sunday, July 22 

Ohtani Bazaar 

Noon - 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Higashi Honganji Temple 

1524 Oregon Street 

Games, prizes and activities for children. Japanese food will be available. Free admission. 236-2550 

Buddhist Practice 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Jack Petranker on “Going Beyond the Way We Live Now.” Free. 

843-6812 

— compiled by Guy Poole and Sabrina Forkish 

West Berkeley Market 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

University Ave., between 3rd and 4th Streets  

Family-oriented weekly market. Crafts, music, produce, and specialty foods. 

654-6346 

Berkeley Today 

10:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut Street 

A bagel brunch, lecture, and discussion with Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean. $4 - $5. 

848-0237 

Free Radio Berkeley House Pary 

5 - 10 p.m. 

2547 8th Street, Unit 24 

Free Radio Berkeley International Radio Action Training Education is hosting an open house party to showcase independent media programs, projects and technologies. Screening of “Free Radio” documentary at 8:30 p.m. 

549-0732 

Monday, July 23 

Curious About Plastic Surgery? 

6:30 - 8 p.m. 

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center 

Conference Room 3 

2450 Ashby Avenue 

Learn what to expect from different plastic surgery procedures. Refreshments provided. Free. 

869-6737 

National Organization for Women 

6:30 p.m. 

Mama Bears Book Store 

6537 Telegraph 

Nominations for new officers. Meets on the 4th Monday of every month. For more information call 287-8948 

Tuesday, July 24 

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 Don, 525-3565 

Round-the-World Journey 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Avenue 

Brad Newsham, author of “Take Me With You: A Round-the-World Journey to Invite a Stranger Home,” will present a talk and slide show. Newsham took a 100-day trip through the Philippines, India, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and South Africa looking for a stranger to bring to America. Free. 

843-3533 

Writing and Resistance  

In A Culture of Amnesia 

6 - 7:45 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Classroom #2 

Part of a workshop series on concepts and strategies for resistance through the spoken and written word, taught by Joyce E. Young. $12. 

849-2568 www.lapena.org 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

Derby Street at MLK Jr. Way 

548-3333 

“Temp Slave, The Musical” 

7:30 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Part of LaborFest 2001, a musical about the lives of temps. $12. 

849-2568 

Free Early Music Group 

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK) 

Small group sings madrigals and other voice harmony every Tuesday morning. Call Ann, 655-8863 

Free Computer Class for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited, call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109 

Wednesday, July 25 

Toymaker Day 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley 

Part of the Lawrence Hall of Science Wednesday FUN-days. Make toys out of recycled materials with artists from the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse. Museum admission $3 - $7. 

642-5132 

Thursday, July 26 

Summer Noon Concerts 2001 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza 

Shattuck at Center St. 

Weekly concert series. This week The Brazilian Workshop under the direction of Marcos Silva, Jazzschool students perform traditional Brazilian music. 

(gp) 

Quit Smoking Class 

6 - 8 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis Street 

A six week quit smoking class. 

Free to Berkeley residents and employees. 

Call 644-6422 or e-mail: quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

(gp) 

Wilderness First Aid 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Jim Morrisey, senior instructor at Wilderness Medical Associates, will teach you the basics of field repair for the human body: Blisters, wounds, fractures, lightning strikes, snake bites and more. Free. 

527-4140 

(gp) 

Ancient Native Sites of the East Bay 

7:30 p.m. 

Room 160 Kroeber Hall, University of California Campus 

Andrew Galvan, an Ohlone Indian and co-owner of Archaeor, will discuss and share the benefits of osteological studies of prehistoric human skeletal remains. Prof. Ed Luby, research archaeologist for the Berkeley Natural History Museums, will discuss his work on mortuary feasting practices. $10 

841-2242 

Southeast Asia and Japan 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Avenue 

William Ford, author of “Southeast Asia and Japan: Unusual Travel,” will present a talk and slide show of his adventure travels. Free. 

843-3533 

Return of the Zapatour 

7 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Members of the Chiapas Support Committee report on their trip to Chiapas, including slides and videos. $8 - $15. 

849-2568 www.lapena.org 

Business Information and Networking Event 

6:30 - 9:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis (corner of Ashby) 

Sponsored by the City of Berkeley in partnership with the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce, and both the South and West Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporations. The event will include such topics as “Starting a Business,” “Legal Issues,” “Planning for Growth,” “Financing,” and “Permitting.” The event is free to all who register. Refreshments and door prizes. To register call 549-7003 (English or Spanish).  

Salsa Dance Classes 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Classes every Thursday with live percussionists, light refreshments, DJ playing Latin music. $10 or $15 for two. 

237-9874 

Women, Menopause, and Change 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

YWCA 

2600 Bancroft Way 

Learn how other women manage the changes menopause brings to their lives. Free yoga demonstration. 

233-6484 

Cuban Workers and Trade Unions Today 

6 - 8:30 p.m. 

Director’s Lounge 

Institute of Industrial Relations 

2521 Channing Way 

Speakers Kamran Nayeri and Bobbie Rabinowitz, sponsored by University and Technical Employees. Music, photo exhibit and literature. 

Free Computer Class for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited, call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109 

Friday, July 27  

Therapy for Trans Partners  

6 - 7:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center for Human Growth  

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)  

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.  

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session  

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522 

Strong Women; The Arts, Herstory and Literature 

1:15 - 3:15 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 cultural studies course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program. Free. 

Call 549-2970 

Saturday, July 28 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

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

548-3333 

Arrowcopter Play Day 

1 - 4 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley 

For ages 9 and up. Museum admission $3 - $7. 

642-5132 

Sunday, July 29 

Hands-On Bicycle Repair Clinics  

11 a.m. - Noon  

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Learn how to adjust your brakes from one of REI’s bike technicians. All you need to bring is your bike. Free  

527-4140 

Buddhist Teacher 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Eva Casey on “The Life of Padmasambhava.” Free. 

843-6812 

West Berkeley Market 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

University Ave., between 3rd and 4th Streets  

Family-oriented weekly market. Crafts, music, produce, and specialty foods. 

654-6346 

Making Music 

1 - 3 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley 

Part of the LHS Top of the Bay Family Sundays, Fran Holland will demonstrate how to make and play musical instruments. Museum admission $3 - $7. 

642-5132 

International Working Class 

Film and Video Festival 

2 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Part of LaborFest 2001, a screening of “Not In My Garden,” a documentary about a Palestinian village in Israel. $7. 

849-2568 

Maybeck Homes 

1 - 4:30 p.m. 

#1 Maybeck Twin Drive 

Open house of four nearby homes accompanied by short talks on the character of Maybeck’s homes. A reception, raffle, and silent auction will be part of the afternoon activities. Limited space, call 845-7714 for registration. 

Monday, July 30 

State Wide Alliance of Tenants 

5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. 

Harriet Tubman Terrace 

2870 Adeline Street 

A monthly open forum of the Affordable Housing Advocacy Project. This month meet members of the State Wide Alliance of Tenants as they discuss their successes in improving living conditions in their housing developments. 

(800 773-2110 

Tuesday, July 31 

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 Don, 525-3565 

Wild Women Travel Writers 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Avenue 

An evening with members of the Wild Women Travel Writers’ Group, authors of “Wild Writing Women: Stories of World Travel,” will read from their book and conduct a panel discussion on the “Art of Travel Writing.” Free. 

843-3533 

Writing and Resistance  

In A Culture of Amnesia 

6 - 7:45 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Classroom #2 

Part of a workshop series on concepts and strategies for resistance through the spoken and written word, taught by Joyce E. Young. $12. 

849-2568 www.lapena.org 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

Derby Street at MLK Jr. Way 

548-3333 

Free Early Music Group 

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK) 

Small group sings madrigals and other voice harmony every Tuesday morning. Call Ann, 655-8863 

Free Computer Class for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited, call ahead for a reservation. 

644-6109  

Friday, July 20

Therapy for Trans Partners  

6 - 7:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center for Human Growth  

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)  

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.  

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session  

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522 

Lives From Herstory 

1:15 - 3:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Part of “Strong Women: The Arts, Herstory and Literature,” a free weekly cultural studies course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program taught by Helen Rippier Wheeler. This week’s focus is on Margaret Higgins Sanger. Call 549-2970 

The Art of Recycling 

2 - 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery 

2200 Shattuck Avenue 

A day-long celebration of the importance of recycling, the event will explore different ways to reuse – artistic and practical. Bring your own old clothes, broken appliances, and other items or drop off in advance at the Gallery during regular hours Thursday through Sunday, noon - 8 p.m. 

486-0411 

Life in Cohousing 

7:30 p.m. 

International House Auditorium 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Avenue 

The opening address for the 2001 North American Cohousing Conference, Eric Utne will speak on “Changing the World and Yourself by Creating Community.” $10. 

834-7399  

Saturday, July 21

Ohtani Bazaar 

4 p.m. - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Higashi Honganji Temple 

1524 Oregon Street 

Games, prizes and activities for children. Japanese food will be available. Free admission. 

236-2550 

Berkeley Farmer’s Market 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

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

Regular market with a special “Sustainable Agriculture” event. Speakers will discuss “Environmental and Social Justice and the Food Supply,” with topics ranging from genetic engineering to local food security. 548-3333 

Snails, Lizard,  

and Turtle Races 

10 - 10:50 a.m. or 11 - 11:50 a.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

Find out how fast these different animals move and why. Workshop for children ages 3 - 8 and an accompanying adult. $8 - $25. 

642-5132 

Puppet Show 

1:30 and 2:30 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

Lower Level 

2230 Shattuck Avenue 

The show by Kids on the Block, an award-winning educational puppet troupe, promotes acceptance and understanding of physical and mental differences. Free. 

549-1564  

MFA Survey Exhibition  

Reception 

6 - 8 p.m. 

Traywick Gallery 

1316 Tenth Street 

Reception for artists featured at Traywick Gallery’s third annual MFA Survey Exhibition which runs through August 18. Prajakti Jayavant, Tia Factor, Geof Oppenheimer, and Bambi Waterman work in three-dimensional media. 

527-1214 

Sunday, July 22

Ohtani Bazaar 

Noon - 7 p.m. 

Berkeley Higashi Honganji Temple 

1524 Oregon Street 

Games, prizes and activities for children. Japanese food will be available. Free admission. 236-2550 

Buddhist Practice 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Jack Petranker on “Going Beyond the Way We Live Now.” Free. 

843-6812 

New paint job for library  

is long overdue 

Editor: 

I can accept the four months’ tardiness of the completion of renovation to Berkeley’s Main Branch Library, allowing the thoroughness of the project and the importance of the result. However, I would prefer an additional few months’ work for an exterior re-painting. Some mis-begotten genius approved the hideous two-tone “institutional green” scheme a decade ago, which succeeded the lovely russet-and-tan combination.  

Keep the copper-green for the base-line frieze, Library stewards, but please repaint the rest. 

Phil Allen 

Berkeley 

Beth El project is worthy  

of emulation 

The Daily Planet received this letter addressed to Mayor Shirley Dean and city councilmembers: 

I am writing to urge you to uphold the decision of the Zoning Adjustment Board to grant Congregation Beth El a use permit to build its new synagogue and school at 1301 Oxford Street. My experience as a member of the congregation assures me that Beth El will be a highly responsible steward of this beautiful piece of property. 

As you might know, I am back at Boalt Hall, where I have renewed my academic interest in land use matters. This includes historic preservation. On the basis of that knowledge and my years of involvement in the world of historic preservation as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, I also urge you to grant Beth El’s appeal of the Landmarks Preservation Commission vote to deny an alteration permit for the project. 

The “historic resourcesæ section of the Environmental Impact Report and the synagogue’s plan show that Beth El is doing an excellent job preserving the history of the site. It has committed to save the few remaining historic features identified by the LPC’s subcommittee in 1998 – the entrance gate, the decorative work on the fence and the historic trees. And it is important to note that no historic building is involved. Similarly, it is important that Beth El’s plan would keep the property as a single unit as it has been throughout its rich history as a gathering place for Berkeley citizens. 

Beth El has also gone beyond what is required to sustain the natural history of the site by leaving more open space than other buildings in the neighborhood and by volunteering to restore the neglected open portion of the creek. In addition, the congregation has sacrificed a substantial portion of the parcel by planning no development over the creek corridor to preserve the possibility that the underground section of this waterway could be brought back to its earlier status as an open stream. 

To my knowledge few, if any, Berkeley property owners have done more to respect or recreate the history of their sites. This project could well be a model for others to emulate. 

Because Beth El has done such careful planning in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations, you should also be concerned that denial of the alteration permit or the use permit could be treated as a violation of the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. 

For all these reasons, I respectfully encourage you to validate the Zoning Board’s ruling and to grant Beth El’s appeal of the LPC decision. 

Ira Michael Heyman 

Chancellor Emeritus 

University of California, Berkeley 

Landlords face discrimination 

Editor: 

At a recent Berkeley City Council meeting, Berkeley Property Owner Association board member Jim Smith spoke on the subject of discrimination against landlords. He stated that a black person his age having grown up in Washington, D.C. and Virginia has obviously seen a lot of discrimination as he was growing up. He said, however, he has felt more pain from the class discrimination directed at landlords in the city of Berkeley, than he did from the racial discrimination of his youth. I am a black landlord in Berkeley and feel the same way.  

Many black landlords in this city, most of whom are Jim’s age or older, grew up in the segregated south. They were raised with a strong work ethic and overcame the odds through their working class struggles. They sacrificed, saved their money and invested in income property. After having succeeding against racial hatred, many now feel they are facing a class hatred coming from rent board members and some city council members. Racism tried to stop us from achieving success, and classism is trying to take it away.  

Bailey Jones 

Berkeley 

If traffic gets any worse – I’m out of here! 

Editor: 

Jae Scharlin in a July 17 letter to the Planet says that “if people want a lifestyle that includes streets that are easy to drive, parking available, traffic empty or housing on large lots ... they move to Contra Costa County or Marin County.” I have lived on Oxford Street for 35 years and have always enjoyed being in this beautiful city of Berkeley. However, if to continue to live here I must endure noise from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. every day of the year, scramble daily to find a parking place blocks from my home, and a quality of life that is severely diminished, I'm out of here!!! 

Carol Connolly 

Berkeley 

Global loan sharking is exploitation 

To the Editor: 

Jean Lesher (Forum, July 13) really doesn’t get it. She admits that “For every dollar sent to the poorest countries in aid, $1.30 flows back to rich lenders in debt service payments.” But this global loan-sharking is not an unfortunate or temporary exception of a basically-healthy economic system, but the normal functioning of the basically-rotten profit-oriented system. Despite its many progressive accomplishments during its early years, when it ripped political power and control from the kings, dukes, and emperors and liberated the productive forces for a spectacular spiral of growth and expansion, its motivating force is greed and its basic method is exploitation. It is more vicious in the poor countries which are less able to defend themselves, than here in the heartland, where it currently accomplishes the same result by its manipulation of the politicians and the power industry. 

This is not a setup that can be influenced by a handful of respectable, non-violent demonstrators (or even “menacing anarchists”), exercising this form of futile feelgoodism by expressing their disapproval of the way a market economy works in practice. Which is why you will find few revolutionaries in Genoa trying to influence the wealthy leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations. They’re more likely to be back at home, trying to patiently explain to their fellow-workers the need to build an organization that can make some fundamental changes in the way the world operates.  

Marion Syrek  

Oakland 

In response to a series of home-fire deaths last year, the City Council adopted a new housing ordinance Tuesday designed to increase housing safety. 

The Rental Housing Safety Program was written over a six month period with the cooperation of city staff, landlords, tenants, UC Berkeley representatives and the Housing Advisory Commission.  

The council unanimously approved the ordinance, after tweaking a few last-minute details. 

“We have such a history here to make up for,” Councilmember Polly Armstrong said prior to the vote. “I think the tenants of Berkeley are going to be a lot safer after the city passes this.” 

The program is estimated to cost $425,000 in the first year. Federal Community Development Block Grants will pitch in $300,000, the city’s general fund, $60,000 and the UC Chancellor’s Office is contributing $65,000. 

The council called for the ordinance after the deaths of five people in accidents resulting from poor housing conditions. Last November, UC Berkeley student Azalea Jusay, 21, and her parents, Francisco and Florita Jusay, both 46, died in a house fire at 2160 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The following January, another UC Berkeley student, Brad Evans, 23, died in an Oakland home fire. 

In November 1999, an Indian immigrant, Chanti Jyotsna Devi Prattipati, 17, died from carbon monoxide poisoning in an apartment at 2020 Bancroft Way. Her death led to the conviction of wealthy Berkeley landlord, Lakireddy Bali Reddy, 62, on a variety of charges — not related to Prattipati’s death — including two counts of transporting a minor for illegal sex.  

The ordinance will require landlords to annually fill out a safety checklist on each of their rental units. The checklist, which has not been finalized yet, will be filed with the city. The completed lists will certify the working order of a variety of safety features such as smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, electrical and gas heating units and emergency exits. 

Landlords will also be required to notify the city when rental units become vacant so the Housing Department can inspect the units before new tenants move in.  

Interim Housing Director Stephen Barton said the city should be able to inspect a large percentage of the vacant units during the winter months but maybe as few as 25 percent during the high, summer turnover months when UC Berkeley students often move. 

If inspectors find safety violations and they are not repaired upon re-inspection, landlords could be fined between $100 and $500.  

According to Barton, The city is taking a “fix-it ticket” approach before fines to make sure well-intentioned landlords, who may not be aware of code requirements or violations, have an opportunity to make the repairs and avoid penalty. 

Michael Wilson, a “small” real estate owner of four units, one in which he lives in, said he supports the concept of creating safer housing but is concerned Berkeley’s ordinance won’t be effective because of the vacancy notification. 

“The good landlords will have their units inspected because they’ll notify the city,” Wilson said. “But they are the one less likely to have safety issues with their properties.” 

Wilson said irresponsible landlords, who know they have safety violations, have no incentive to notify the city under the newly approved ordinance.  

Barton said there are always scofflaws but the city will eventually catch up with those landlords. 

“They have to register with the rent board each time a unit changes tenants,” he said. “We can check the level of compliance by comparing notes with the board’s records.” 

Housing Advisory Commissioner Andy Katz, who is also a UC student, said the vacancy feature will make city inspections smoother.  

“Inspectors won’t have to deal with tenant schedules and the units will be vacant, which will make inspecting easier and more efficient,” he said. “If this process presents problems, we can always adjust the ordinance.” 

Councilmember Dona Spring amended the recommendation to require a staff report on possible ways to make the Rental Safety Program pay for itself. 

“$300,000 in block grants could subsidize six units of affordable housing,” she said. 

Why would a recent high school graduate choose to spend part of his summer cooped up in a windowless laboratory using laser beams to test the elemental composition of a nickel? 

“I like the crazy, unexplainable stuff,” said Berkeley High School graduate Jonah Van Bourg. 

Van Bourg is one of 25 high school students and recent graduates, from Richmond, Oakland, Berkeley and beyond, working as paid interns at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory this summer, as part of the new High School Student Research Participation Program. 

After accompanying 125 students to the lab for a discussion on Hispanic heritage a few years ago, Richmond High School counselor Gwen Espino decided it would be good for her school’s Science Academy to build some connections to the world-renowned research center.  

“I’m a, how should I say, networking person,” Espino said with a satisfied smile Wednesday, reclining in her summer office at Lawrence Lab. 

Lawrence approached the lab to see if they wouldn’t consider giving high school students a shot at intern work usually reserved for undergraduates. And the rest is history.  

The program has grown from 11 Richmond High students last summer to 25 students from six different high schools this summer, including seven students from Berkeley High. Most participants are students who have demonstrated a strong interest in science and want to get a taste careers in the field.  

Through the internships, the students are, as Rollie Otto, head of the lab’s Center for Science and Engineering Education said, “realizing what [scientists] do in their jobs, and what they know and how the educational process prepares you for that.” 

“One of the most important things that can happen in your professional development as a young person who is going to go into science is establishing a mentoring relationship,” Otto said. 

Paired up with some of the lab’s 1,300 scientists and engineers, the students learn first hand the tiny steps one takes when attempting to, “unravel the secrets of the universe.” 

Since it’s founding in 1931, the Lawrence Berkeley lab has done pretty well in the “unraveling” business. Its scientists have garnered nine Nobel prizes. In the area of medical research alone the lab is a pioneer in the areas of nuclear medicine, medical imaging and cardiology. 

Today the researchers to do list includes: Finding better ways to treat breast cancer; creating machines that produce energy with less pollution; decoding the human genome; improving medical imaging equipment; using “extreme ultraviolet light” to create computer chips 100 times more powerful than a pentium IV; and, last but not least, figuring out “how our universe was created and whether it will one day end.” 

In short, the “crazy, unexplainable stuff,” Van Bourg spoke of. 

The students’ work runs the gamut from cleaning lasers to actually conducting hands on research. Depending on their job, they could be exposed to cutting edge work in the areas of physics, life sciences, earth sciences, engineering and environmental science. 

“It’s really amazing that so much work is being done up here,” said Farm Tsoon Saechao, a recent Richmond High graduate. “Everything is made from scratch more or less. It’s like making science fiction a reality.” 

Saechao, who actually wants to be an English major in college, has spent her summer internship interviewing 10 different Lawrence lab scientists and writing descriptions of what they do. 

For Kelsey Israel-Trummel, who will be a Berkeley High junior in the fall, working at the lab has helped her appreciate how much work, dedication and knowledge it takes to bring a scientific experiment to a successful conclusion. Whereas high school science classes tend to be pretty narrow and focused in scope, projects at the lab draw on a huge body of scientific knowledge, Israel-Trummel said.  

“In school you just learn about chemistry, biology and all the different subjects separately,” she said. “But here I’m noticing how all the different stuff fits together.” 

Israel-Trummel has been involved in Lawrence lab scientist Robert Cheng’s efforts to design a natural gas burner with lower levels of harmful emissions. Cheng’s discoveries could have a variety of pollution-cutting applications for home hot water heaters on up to electricity-generating plants. 

The summer internships aren’t all hard work, however. Each Wednesday students get to hear guest lectures address the latest advances in different areas of science. They get to take tours of the lab’s 130-acre campus and see ingenious scientific devices that may not exist anywhere else in the world. 

They even get to play with liquid nitrogen, spilling it on a table top and watching it evaporate before it has time to run off the edge, or mixing it with milk and cream to create a kind of instant ice cream – which they then devour with copious quantities of chocolate fudge. 

“It’s like really hands on,” Saechao said of the experience. “When you think of something you do it.” 

At the end of their internships , each student will be expected to give a Power Point presentation on what they’ve learned to parents, friends, school district superintendents, school boardmembers, high school faculty and Lawrence laboratory mentors. 

Julie Benke is a Berkeley High Biology teacher helping coordinate the internship program this summer. She said she has seen some students scientific curiosity jump through the roof in the last several weeks as they grapple with some of the most advanced scientific experiments underway anywhere in the world.  

Some students are kicking themselves for not taking better notes in their high school science classes, she said. Which is a phenomenon she has found both amusing and gratifying. 

“I have a much more captive audience,” Benke said. “Because now they really need to know.”  

Homeless advocates, city officials and community activists applauded a Berkeley judge’s decision to rule, in the case of Ken Moshesh, that a law that makes sleeping outside a misdemeanor is unconstitutional. 

Moshesh is a homeless activist who was arrested for sleeping outdoors January 18. He is also an award-winning filmmaker and a former associate professor at UC Berkeley who currently writes for Poor Magazine. 

“We have just had another victory in the struggle to decriminalize homelessness,” said Darren Noy, Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency community organizer, at a press conference Wednesday. “Ken’s case has really underscored that not only this is something we politically don’t want to be doing. We legally shouldn’t be doing that.” 

Alameda County Court Judge Carol Brosnahan’s ruling on July 12 was the last step of a legal action that started in January, when Moshesh was arrested for the second time and incarcerated for violating the California Penal Code 647j.  

The code, also called “lodging law,” gives police jurisdiction to cite and arrest homeless people sleeping in public property such as parks and on private property such as abandoned buildings. Moshesh challenged the constitutionality of the legislation.  

Community Defense Incorporated attorney Osha Neumann said, who assessed Moshesh through the legal process, Brosnahan decided to rule the code unconstitutional in this specific case, he said, “because it is a cruel and unusual punishment to make a crime out of a human act that human do out of necessity.” 

Public Defender Greg Serin, who represented Moshesh’ interests in the case was not available for comment Wednesday afternoon. 

The ruling, Moshesh said, is a step forward toward a more serious resolution of the problem of homelessness. 

“Hopefully this will start not only a legal precedent but a precedent of genuine conversation and discussion as to the real cause of homelessness and the real conditions of homelessness in Berkeley,” he said. He added that government officials should work on providing affordable housing and that police shouldn’t be involved in homelessness issues. 

The lodging law, Neumann said, has indeed done nothing but favor police harassment and discrimination against homeless people. 

“Our contention is that laws that are that vague don’t allow people to know if they’re violating [it] or not. And also they are an invitation to selective enforcement,” he said. Many people, he added, rest on campus during the day but don’t get arrested. 

In the past few years, the presence of about 1,000 homeless people on Berkeley streets has been a problem for some business owners. Berkeley Police Lt. Russell Lopes said he regularly receives complaints. 

Business owners haven’t officially reacted to the ruling yet, but some employees working in businesses on Telegraph Street said allowing homeless to sleep outdoors is not a solution.  

“Right now things are in a balance point but we think there could be improvement,” said John McBride, a clerk at Moe’s Books and member of Berkeley’s Human Welfare commission. “There need to be some proper shelters and facilities.” 

Brosnahan’s decision is not the first battle homeless advocates have won in their ongoing battle to protect homeless people’s rights. In April, their activism led the City Council to pass a Homeless Human and Civil Rights resolution that made the enforcement of the lodging law a low priority in Berkeley. 

But Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who sponsored the resolution, said that Brosnahan’s ruling is particularly valuable in setting an example for the rest of the state. 

“I think that when other judges look at this they will be compelled to make similar decisions to Judge Brosnahan and find it unconstitutional, and hopefully we can eliminate this entire statute,” he said. “It will probably take a few more cases ... but I think that eventually we will win at writing out law 647j.” 

An Oakland man drowned Tuesday after he and a friend jumped off the Berkeley Pier as part of a bet to see who was the better swimmer. 

According to Berkeley police, the victim, Ernest Allen, Jr., 38, was drinking with friends in Oakland when he bet Markus Mohamed, 52, that he could swim faster.  

Lt. Russell Lopes said that as part of the bet, Mohamed wagered his car. The model of the vehicle was not included in the police report. The two men then drove to the Berkeley Marina accompanied by Silvia Gregory, 41. The two men walked about 40 feet out on the pier, jumped in and began to swim toward the shore. 

Lopes said Allen immediately encountered trouble because of the 50-degree water. Mohamed tried to assist Allen but was also overcome by the cold water. In an attempt to save Allen, Gregory then jumped from the pier. She too was overcome by the cold and clung to a piling with Mohamed until both were rescued.  

A witness called police for help. When police and fire personal arrived at the pier, Allen was floating face down about 40 feet offshore. Officer Andy Mesones and Firefighter Lt. Shane Murbury swam to Allen and brought him back to shore but were unable to resuscitate him, Lopes said. Deputy Fire Chief David Orth said the two safety officers went beyond the call of duty when they dove into the freezing water. 

“We do not require our personal to go into the water,” Orth said. “They are not trained for water rescue and they don’t carry water rescue equipment.” 

But Orth said the decision to attempt a water rescue is up to each individual officer.  

“If the officers hadn’t gone in the water there would likely be a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking going and a lot of questions about why they didn’t,” Orth said. Lopes said Mohamed and Gregory were taken to the hospital and were treated and released.

The Berkeley Community Gardening Collaborative will be giving away compost on Saturday July 21 at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market as part of “Sustainable Agriculture” Day. Berkeley residents can bring a bag or bucket to Center Street and Milvia to be filled with compost from their own yard debris that is collected by the city every other week. 

The compost is made in Modesto by Grover Compost Company. Most is sold, but by request of the city, 15 percent is returned to Berkeley. In past years the compost has been delivered to school and community gardens but will be offered to individuals for the second time this year.

SAN FRANCISCO — University of California regents have endorsed a change in admissions policy they hope will increase enrollment, particularly of blacks and Hispanics, by blunting the disadvantage of being a high-achieving student in a low-performing school. 

“There are still students in this state who need someone to believe in them,” said Tracy Davis, the student representative to the UC Board of Regents.  

“What we are hopefully doing with this proposal is creating an opportunity, a glimmer of hope.” 

The change, approved in committee Wednesday and expected to be approved by the full board Thursday, guarantees eligibility to students who finish in the top 12.5 percent of their senior class, although some will have to go to community college for the first two years. 

The program, known as “dual admissions,” could increase enrollment of black, Hispanic and American Indian students, whose numbers declined sharply after regents dropped their old affirmative action programs in 1995.  

The numbers have increased since then, but are still low at the ultra-competitive campuses of Berkeley and UCLA. 

Dual admissions is the latest in a series of changes to UC admissions policy. 

In May, regents voted to rescind their 1995 vote dropping affirmative action. The May vote was largely symbolic since voters in 1996 passed a similar ban on considering race in admissions, but was intended as a conciliatory message to minorities. 

Meanwhile, UC President Richard Atkinson is proposing eliminating the SAT I as an admissions requirement, a test that Hispanic and black students tend to score lower on than whites and Asian Americans. 

UC has not changed its overall admissions policy, which is to take the top 12.5 percent of all students statewide.  

What’s different about the new eligibility guarantees is that they apply to individual schools, addressing the problem of students who go to poor schools that may be ill-equipped, overcrowded and lack advantages such as advanced college prep courses. 

The new policy builds on a change implemented this year extending eligibility to the top 4 percent of students in individual high schools.  

Students who fall between the top 4 percent and 12.5 percent of their class will have to go to community college for their first two years. Rankings are based on performance in UC-required courses. 

Being eligible for UC is tantamount to being admitted, because UC has a long-standing commitment to accept all eligible students at one of its eight undergraduate campuses, although students may not necessarily get into the campus of their choice. 

Regents made it a condition of approval that UC officials review several issues, including raising the minimum GPA the new admits will have to maintain. 

It also makes sure there are resources to support the program and examining whether students in the top 4 percent should be allowed to take the community college route if they want. 

The policy would be effective for students applying for fall 2003. 

The proposal passed only after a three-hour discussion during which some regents worried the change would lower the quality of students or overtax UC’s resources. 

“There’s just too many unknowns here,” said Regent Ward Connerly, who expressed reservations about the plan but ultimately voted for it. 

Several regents said they thought the 2.4 GPA requirement, which is the existing minimum for all community college transfers, was too low, leading to the request that UC review that requirement. 

The proposal, expected to primarily benefit rural and poor students, could reap between 1,500 and 3,500 new community college transfers by 2006. 

UC officials estimate that up to 36 percent of the students eligible under dual admissions would be black, Hispanic or American Indian.  

Those groups made up 18.6 percent of the fall 2001 freshman class; recent U.S. Census figures show they comprised about 40 percent of the state population.

NEW YORK — The change has been momentous, but it arrived so subtly that even those involved haven’t stopped to think about how it has changed their financial perspective. 

Just a couple of years ago America had its eyes focused on the future, which in most cases would be increasingly bright, with mutual funds rising and 401(k)s accumulating significant retirement funds. 

The present, it was thought, would take care of itself. Since jobs were plentiful and inflation low, you could spend your money on electronic gadgets and blow a day’s pay at the theme park instead of saving it. The wealth effect, the sense of well-being, was like magic. 

It’s all reversed now, and you can spot the change through all levels of the economy. People are worrying about jobs. Their shrunken 401(k)s have to be nursed. There’s anger out there at mutual fund managers. 

You can read about it in a host of economic statistics. Retail sales aren’t what they should be. After record years of car sales, automakers are reporting big income losses. Vacation spending is off. 

The entire notion that the present will take care of itself has been tipped on its head. 

Now, you have to protect the present, cutting out foolish spending and investments.  

It stares you in the face, while the future is so distant it’s out of focus – and may not be there if you don’t tend to the present. 

To avoid the pain of looking too deeply into the present state of our financial affairs we can look at the problems affecting a group to which few of us belong. That would be the wealthiest of all Americans. 

Their concerns are not irrelevant. Aside from their great wealth, they are not so different from you and I. It’s mainly that their wealthier. 

For the first time in nine years of surveying, U.S. Trust reports, “the nation’s most affluent individuals are as concerned about their stock market returns as they are about the next generation’s financial future.” 

In short, and as it probably is with you, too many present problems occupy the 1 percent wealthiest Americans, even with their adjusted gross incomes of at least $300,000 a year or net worth greater than $3 million. 

While they are not panicking, same as you, we are assured by U.S. Trust, which manages $91 billion of the wealthiests’ assets, a prolonged market slump would change their spending patterns. 

In fact, they even conceded that such events could even result in “generating a reverse wealth effect.” 

More than half said they would postpone improvements to their homes, and nearly half said they’d cut back on such big-ticket items as furniture, electronics and expensive clothing. 

Many others said they’d postpone the purchase of a new car or boat. One-third went further: They’d go out less for dining and entertainment and maybe postpone vacation plans. 

While such considerations might not be sufficient to adversely affect their health, as it might for financially lesser types, you can see that the rich worry too. In that sense, they are one with you. 

The similarity might go even further. Most affluent Americans told U.S. Trust that the government should take steps to stimulate the economy, led by lowering interest rates and cutting taxes, both popular with other Americans. 

Yes, the very rich are concerned with the future – they’re concerned that their kids will have a tougher time financially than they did – but not, for this year at least, at the expense of ignoring present problems. 

Very much like the rest of us. 

John Cunniff is a business analyst for The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — Napster Inc. can resume its song-swapping operations on the Internet, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. 

The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturns a federal judge’s order last week ordering the Redwood City company to remain offline until it can fully comply with an injunction to remove all copyright music. 

U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel issued the order July 11 in a court hearing in which Napster said it was about to restart its music-sharing service after a short hiatus to retool song-screening software. 

Napster, sued by the recording industry in 1999 for copyright infringement, said it could now block more than 99 percent of all infringing song files. But Patel told Napster it needed to block 100 percent of unauthorized, copyright songs or stay offline indefinitely. 

Napster immediately sought relief from the appeals court, which overturned Patel in a two-sentence order. 

Napster’s free song-sharing service has been down since July 2. A paid subscription service is to launch this summer. 

The Recording Industry Association of America noted that the court only temporarily lifted Patel’s order and will hear arguments on the case later this year. At that time, the industry said it expects to prevail. 

“We are confident that after a thorough review, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will uphold Judge Patel’s decision,” RIAA attorney Cary Sherman said. 

Sherman added that the three-judge panel’s decision still requires Napster to remove copyright works that both Patel and the appeals court have found were violating copyright laws. 

“It is important to note that today’s ruling does not change in any way the fact that Napster must prevent copyrighted works from appearing on its system as previously ordered by the court,” Sherman said. 

Napster did not immediately return calls seeking comment. 

The case is A&M Records Inc., v. Napster, 01-16308. 

Some say there’s a better solution to amnesty issue 

If he had documents to legally work in the United States, Jesus Manuel Cardona said he would still have the car that police took away. 

As an illegal Mexican, he had no California driver’s license.  

If he had documents, Rodrigo Lopez would spend more time with his family back in the Mexican countryside.  

If amnesty were granted for these Mexican day workers, they could receive health benefits, fair wages and have the freedom to travel home between jobs as they pleased.  

That’s why day workers in Berkeley were disappointed Tuesday at the White House’s bowing to political pressure and backtracking on possible amnesty for the 3 million Mexicans living illegally in the United States. 

“An amnesty would benefit us,” said Cardona, a 36-year-old Mexican who has worked illegally in the United States for 10 years. “Instead of setting so many requirements for legalization, the presidents should reach a new agreement. It would benefit both us and the government.” 

Ever since he was elected a year ago, Mexican President Vincente Fox has pressed the U.S. government to adopt a new and more open immigration policy towards Mexican workers. His plea seemed to have been heard earlier this month, when Bush’s immigration advisers announced a move toward offering an automatic amnesty to illegal workers from Mexico. But conservative protests led the administration to back away from that idea on Monday. Instead, the Bush administration could set up a multi-stage process that would allow illegal workers to apply for citizenship.  

Berkeley workers, however think that an amnesty would have been a better solution. They fear that a multi-stage process may require workers to show proofs of residency, such as bills, or credit card receipts, that they often don’t have because of their precarious conditions of life. 

By legalizing Mexican workers, Berkeley’s day labors said, the American government would be able to better control the activities of the Mexican workforce and save a large part of the money it currently spends on immigration law enforcement. If they could come and go as they please, workers say they wouldn’t have to pay $1,500 to the men who help them cross the border – called “coyotes.”  

“If I had documents, I would come to work only for a season and then go back to Mexico,” said Lopez, who has been working in the United States since 1988. “But now, since we pay the coyotes so much money, I have to work at least one year to be able to go back home.” 

To Lopez and others among about 100 day workers who hit the corner of Fourth and Hearst streets every day, the amnesty would indeed be the best way to address job insecurity and bad working conditions. 

“Now if you look for a job, you need to have documents, otherwise [employers] pay you whatever they want,” said Cardona, adding that an hour earlier a woman had offered to pay him only $5 an hour for some gardening work. “They look at us as if we didn’t have any needs, but we’re human.” 

One of the main source of frustration for illegal workers is taxes. Most workers use a fake social security number, and although they don’t receive any kind of social benefit, they say many employers withhold taxes from their wages. In the year and a half he worked for a local company, Lopez said he had $2,000 withheld.  

Despite the White House decision to retreat from the amnesty idea, immigrant labor issues advocates are confident that the two nations will work on a solution that satisfies everybody. 

“Bush taking the risk of putting an amnesty proposal on the floor shows that he understand that he has to be attentive to the demand of Latino voters,” said Chloe Osmer, program coordinator at the Center for Labor Research and Education. “I don’t think this is the end of the discussion.” 

But workers are skeptical. At the heart of the problem, they say, is the United States’ reluctance to acknowledge how critical the Mexican workforce is to the national economy.  

“If there had been a law forbidding [companies] to hire illegal workers, then almost all the companies would have gone into bankruptcy and the economy wouldn’t have taken off,” said Cardona. “It’s a difficult situation, we’ll just have to wait and see what [the presidents] tell us.” 

Wednesday, July 18

Blisters No More: Finding the  

Proper Boot Fit 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

REI footwear expert Brad Bostrom will show you how to make your feet more comfortable out on the trail. Bring your boots and socks to this interactive clinic. Free. 

527-4140 

Berkeley Communicator  

Toastmasters Club 

7:15 a.m. 

Vault Cafe 

3250 Adeline 

Learn to speak with confidence. Ongoing first and third Wednesdays each month. 

527-2337 

Ice Cream Day at LHS 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley 

Part of the Lawrence Hall of Science Wednesday FUN-days. Make your own ice cream and compare it to a commercial brand. Museum admission $3 - $7. 

642-5132 

Support Group for  

Family/Friends  

Caring for Older Adults 

4 - 5:30 p.m. - 3rd Wednesday of each month 

Alta Bates Medical Center  

Herrick Campus 

2001 Dwight Way 

3rd floor, Room 3369B 

The group will focus on the needs of the older adult with serious medical problems, psychiatric illnesses, substance abuse, and their caregivers. Facilitated by Monica Nowakowski, LCSW. 

Free. For more information call 802-1725 

International Working Class  

Film and Video Festival 

7 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Part of LaborFest 2001, films to be screened include “Resistance As Democracy,” “The Internationale,” “Songs of the Thai Labor Movement,” and “Zimbabwe’s New Chimurenga.” $7. 

849-2568 

Thursday, July 19

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 meeting will be a game night.  

654-5486 

Summer Noon Concerts 2001 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza 

Shattuck at Center St. 

Weekly concert series. This week The Waikiki Steel Works perform vintage acoustic Hawaiian steel guitar music. 

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 

Quit Smoking Class 

6 - 8 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis Street 

A six week quit smoking class. 

Free to Berkeley residents and employees. 

Call 644-6422 or e-mail at: quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Salsa Dance Classes 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Classes every Thursday with live percussionists, light refreshments, DJ playing Latin music. $10 or $15 for two. 

237-9874 

Backpacking Yosemite’s High  

Country 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Slide Presentation. 

Marvin Schinnerer will share highlights from two favorite trips out of Yosemite’s Tuolumne Meadows. Free. 527-4140 

Berkeley School Volunteers 

3 - 4:30 p.m. 

1835 Allston Way 

Orientation for volunteers interested in helping in academic and recreation programs being held in Berkeley public schools this summer. 644-8833 

Fair Campaign Practices  

Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Street 

Health Room 

Discussion and action regarding possible violations of the Berkeley Election Reform Act. 

981-6950 or 981-6903 (TDD) 

Free Computer Class for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited, call ahead for a reservation. 644-6109 

Friday, July 20

Therapy for Trans Partners  

6 - 7:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center for Human Growth  

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)  

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.  

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session  

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522 

Lives From Herstory 

1:15 - 3:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK Jr. Way) 

Part of “Strong Women: The Arts, Herstory and Literature,” a free weekly cultural studies course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program taught by Helen Rippier Wheeler. This week’s focus is on Margaret Higgins Sanger.  

Call 549-2970 

The Art of Recycling 

2 - 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery 

2200 Shattuck Avenue 

A day-long celebration of the importance of recycling, the event will explore different ways to reuse -- artistic and practical. Bring your own old clothes, broken appliances, and other items or drop off in advance at the Gallery during regular hours Thursday through Sunday, noon - 8 p.m. 

486-0411 

Life in Cohousing 

7:30 p.m. 

International House Auditorium 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Avenue 

The opening address for the 2001 North American Cohousing Conference, Eric Utne will speak on “Changing the World and Yourself by Creating Community.” $10. 

834-7399  

Saturday, July 21

Ohtani Bazaar 

4 p.m. - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Higashi Honganji Temple 

1524 Oregon Street 

Games, prizes and activities for children. Japanese food will be available. Free admission. 

236-2550 

Berkeley Farmer’s Market 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

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

Regular market with a special “Sustainable Agriculture” event. Speakers will discuss “Environmental and Social Justice and the Food Supply,” with topics ranging from genetic engineering to local food security. Also, the Resources for Community Development will be collecting donations of household goods for Alameda Point. 

548-3333 

Snails, Lizard  

and Turtle Races 

10 - 10:50 a.m. or 11 - 11:50 a.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley 

Find out how fast these different animals move and why. Workshop for children ages 3 - 8 and an accompanying adult. $8 - $25. 

642-5132 

Puppet Show 

1:30 and 2:30 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

Lower Level 

2230 Shattuck Avenue 

The show by Kids on the Block, an award-winning educational puppet troupe, promotes acceptance and understanding of physical and mental differences. Free. 

549-1564  

MFA Survey Exhibition  

Reception 

6 - 8 p.m. 

Traywick Gallery 

1316 Tenth Street 

Reception for artists featured at Traywick Gallery’s third annual MFA Survey Exhibition which runs through August 18. Prajakti Jayavant, Tia Factor, Geof Oppenheimer, and Bambi Waterman work in three-dimensional media. 

527-1214 

Reception for Mary Black 

3 - 5 p.m. 

YWCA 

2600 Bancroft Way 

A reception for Mary Black’s painting exhibition at the YWCA which runs through September 28. 

— compiled by Sabrina Forkish and Guy Poole 

Ticket all  

violators, even pedestrians 

Editor: 

I read with interest the letter (Letters to the Editor, July 14-15, 2001) from Martin Lane who complained about getting ticketed for walking against a wait signal in Berkeley. He recommended the Berkeley police leave him alone in his violations and go after those nasty people who drive cars recklessly and those who commit violent crimes. May I suggest a more constructive action. The streets and sidewalks in Berkeley are a limited resource shared by pedestrians, bicyclists, car drivers, bus drivers, delivery people and others. What each does affects the others. With courtesy and respect for each other the system works as well as can be expected. In each group there are too many who disregard the rights of others by ignoring traffic signals and committing other violations. It is both discourteous and dangerous. If Mr. Lane wants to do something constructive he will take care to respect those walk and wait signs as a pedestrian and to obey the traffic signals when riding a bicycle or driving a car. His individual action will not have much of an effect on the overall situation, but, at least, he will have the satisfaction of knowing he is part of the solution rather than the problem. In the mean time, I am all in favor of our Berkeley police ticketing violators of our traffic regulations whether they are drivers or pedestrians. 

Harlan Head 

Berkeley  

For Reddy, eight years is not nearly enough 

Editor: 

Steve Geller (Planet, 7/11/01) appears to share the view of many others that Lakireddy Bali Reddy is “going to jail for along time.” Eight years is a pittance of time for a pedophile who has trafficked young girls to the United States for 15 years, who repeatedly raped them at will, enslaved them, forced them to work for him, deprived them of education, and finally may have been responsible for the death of one of them! And $2 million amounts to 2 months of Reddy's income from his apartment rentals. He’s gotten away with murder, in my opinion.  

Just 10 days before Reddy received his outrageously minimal sentence on June 19, child molester Graham DeLuis Conti was sentenced to 131 years in prison for “sexual molestation charges involving five young girls, including a 10-year-old” (Napa Valley Register, 6/9/01). What could possibly justify this flagrant disparity in the punishments received by these two men! 

Geller criticizes the continuing boycott of the Pasand Restaurant on the grounds that the people who work there are innocent. Some of them certainly are, but many are not. Reddy’s sons Vijay and Presad have been charged with beating and raping some of the same young girls that Reddy enslaved, as well as other crimes. Several other relatives of Reddy work at the Pasand Restaurant. Having proclaimed his innocence right from the start, they continue to support him now. Some of them assisted Reddy in his criminal efforts to leave the scene of the crime in his truck with one dead girl, one unconscious girl, and one resisting 20-year-old young woman as the cargo. They may be accessories to a murder conspiracy which neither the police nor John Kennedy (the U.S. prosecuting attorney who acted as if he represented Reddy) chose to investigate.  

Geller’s observation that people haven’t been boycotting Reddy’s apartments proves nothing beyond the critical housing shortage in Berkeley. 

In contrast to Geller, I urge all members of the Berkeley community to continue boycotting Pasand Restaurant. 

Diana E. H. Russell 

Berkeley 

Physicians must be leaders in the community 

Editor: 

On July 14, 2001 I spoke with Philip Leveque, PhD at length comparing notes on his experiences regarding his compliance with Oregon state law andexperiences with the Oregon Medical Board. Dr. Leveque, in addition to being a physician is also a PhD in pharmacology and has taught for years. 

We share the same ethical and moral convictions about cannabis. We have independently studied the drug and its effects at length. We are both offended and disappointed in the high levels of ignorance and fear in our colleagues. We both appreciate the beneficial effects of removing criminal stigmata from our patients in the management of chronic conditions. 

The fact that we are singled out for negative recognition instead of civic and medical accolades is proof of the continuing strength and pervasiveness of opposition to compliance with state law. More attention needs to be paid to the initiators of this opposition and demonization. What is the vesting and motivation of the opponents? Protecting the public or their hegemony? 

When can we expect the media to do feature articles on this endemic condition of subversion and efforts to suborn the law? Don’t hold your breath. He who pays the piper calls the tune — and silences others. 

In the competition for market share advertisers of non drugs like alcohol and tobacco, pharmaceutical industry dictate editorial policy. The Oregon media cannot be accused of biting the hands that feed them. The Eugene Register Guard story makes him sound as if he is doing something wrong as if they have exposed a fringe doctor feel good rather than a hero and advocate for patient justice and appropriate treatment of chronic pain. 

However, we are right. They are wrong. Cannabis has not changed in composition in the 60 years when it was taken from physicians and the public. Neither have human pharmacology or physiologic responses changed but the medical intelligence has been driven out by mind poisoning dogma and ignorance. 

The struggle may be protracted and lengthy but our consciences are clear as we do the right thing. We show our colleagues the way and restore confidence in the physician as a social leader. 

Tod H. Mikuriya, M.D. 

Berkeley 

It is OK to a be disabled student 

Editor: 

Thank-you for your article on July 10, 2001 on the Special Education Department of Berkeley Unified School District. As a parent of a student who has been in Special Education for seven years, I know from experience how difficult the process can be. 

The process of getting a “free and appropriated education” for a disabled child has become difficult, contentious and sometimes outright hostile and adversarial. 

Being a parent and raising a disabled child can be hard, but it is magnified many times when facing a district and even sometimes teachers, who are pitted against your desire to get your child their lawful “free and appropriate education.” 

I believe a good education is an investment in a child, which each and everyone of them deserves. The other option is everyone sitting on their hands, obviously not a productive solution. 

Each of our children deserve what is their right under the law, “a free and appropriate education” and for these children to feel that it is OK to be a disabled student in the Berkeley schools. 

Betsey Strange 

Berkeley  

Berkeley’s Speakeasy Theater opened a pretty good grassroots stage production last weekend of Lyle Kessler’s 1983 gangster tale “Orphans.” This stage play was the source for Kessler’s somewhat reworked 1987 movie of the same title starring Albert Finney and Matthew Modine. 

As a stage play, “Orphans” is an existential, three-character, one-room thugs drama, obviously influenced in its creation by the threatening, elliptical writing styles and ideas of Harold Pinter and David Mamet. 

Set in an unprosperous part of present day Philadelphia, and told in eight or ten scenes over two acts, “Orphans” is the story of two marginal brothers surviving on the edge of society in their dead mother’s rundown family house. When the brothers reluctantly befriend a mysterious older stranger, all three lives change forever. 

To put food on the table and pay his bar bill, small time stick-up hoodlum Treat (Raul Rubio) supports himself and his developmentally retarded brother Phillip (Bruce Kaplan) by committing holdups on the street, taking wallets and fencing jewelry. 

This petty gangster character of Treat seems taken right out of Mamet’s first huge stage success “American Buffalo” where, in fact, the principal petty gangster goes by the similar name of Teach. 

When Treat brings home a prosperous businessman Harold (Fred Barton) drunk from a bar one night in order to roll him, Harold ends up moving in. The power forces in the house then shift constantly, and no one’s life is ever the same. 

“Orphans” contains the same kind of vague and mysterious story environment of Pinter’s gangster one-act “Dumbwaiter.” Undefined existential forces threaten the surroundings. Often it’s not exactly clear what these rogues are doing, or preparing to do. Illegal capers loom in the offing, but without specifics. 

So “Orphans” becomes a story of power plays among stronger and weaker individuals, with surprising shifts in the relationship dynamics. The whole story is told pointedly against background themes of parentless-ness and parenting, rootlessness and roots. 

Largely it works, though for me the vague and somewhat imitative plot of “Orphans” does get a bit thin in its final quarter. It feels like playwright Kessler was running out of story gas before his story actually ended. 

The acting in director Virginia Abascal’s production is pretty good grassroots theater. Barson does a nice job as the well-dressed older businessman, visiting from Chicago, drunk in a bar, and oddly stumbling into the brothers’ house with a briefcase full of negotiable securities paper.  

Barson’s low-key cajoling smoothness, even when his character is threatened, creates much of the sense of mystery in this story. 

Kaplan is the stay-at-home slower brother Phillip – affable, friendly and upbeat, but trapped by a controlling sibling in such ignorance about life that he fears walking across town. 

Rubio is the violent, bullying Treat, the play’s emotional flashpoint, and for me the weakness in this production. Although Rubio seems credible at first sight as a tough guy on the surface, as the production evolves, he doesn’t feel emotionally scarred underneath. 

So his performance doesn’t contain that history of inner torture that Treat should have. Interactions early on with his brother Phillip have a superficial chirpiness that doesn’t fit the character. 

Designer Keith Snider deserves mention for his stylized, hallucinatory, sliding-sideways house set, which frames the story in an appropriately distorted world. 

For many years playwright Kessler has worked with hospital patients facilitating “imagination workshops” with his wife actor Margaret Ladd (of “Falcon Crest” fame). From these workshops emerged some of his ideas about neglected children that underlie the story of “Orphans.” 

According to director Abascal, the play’s agents have embargoed “Orphans” from production in California for eight years, pending a deal for Al Pacino to perform it in Southern California. So Speakeasy’s staging, approved personally by playwright Kessler, provides a rare chance to see this worthy piece of stage writing. 

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

On the front steps of the old Berkeley city hall, employees of MSGi Direct protest their company’s plan of moving to Southern California. MSGi Direct conducts telemarketing on behalf of environmental and progressive causes. Workers fear the move is in response to their efforts to unionize. They hope the City Council will persuade MSGi Direct to “remain in Berkeley or in the East Bay,” said Kerry Drew, one worker. “The City  

Council persuaded Bayer to stay.”

The City Council closed back-to-back public hearings Monday after listening to nearly 170 comments on the controversial proposal to build a synagogue, school and social hall at 1301 Oxford St. 

The special council meeting, held at the Berkeley Senior Center, was the third public comment session for the first hearing, the appeal of the Zoning Adjustments Board’s approval of a use permit for the Beth El Congregation’s 33,000-square-foot project.  

After listening to more than 130 people during the three sessions, the Council closed the first public hearing and took a five minute break. They then opened the second one, an appeal of the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s denial of an Alteration Permit. The LPC denial made it legally impossible to develop the site, which was in contrast to the ZAB’s approval of the project’s Use Permit. 

The LPC considered the Beth El application because the site, formerly the Napoleon Bonaparte Byrne Estate, is a city historical landmark despite the demolition of the Byrne Mansion in 1987 after two fires severely damaged the structure.  

The property was also the home of the first African Americans, freed slaves Pete and Hanna Byrne, in what is now the city of Berkeley.  

The council is charged with determining if the proposed project will adversely affect the special character of the historical site. If no negative effects are determined by the project, the council will reverse the denial of the alteration permit. The council will also have to determine if the project’s Environmental Impact Report is complete and adequate.  

Beth El contends the historical aspects of the site will be preserved and opponents argue the massive size of the project will obscure what’s left of historic Byrne property. 

“The issues here are simple,” said Beth El member Harry Pollack at the opening of the public hearing. “The LPC unanimously agreed on a list of 11 remaining historical items on the site and all of those items were preserved in our original plan and we plan to do much more than that.” 

Some of the remaining historical items on the site include the main entry gates and posts on Oxford Street, the ornamental metal work on the property’s western fence and a Monkey Puzzle tree, which dates back to before the Byrnes purchased the property. 

The Live Oak Codornices Creek Neighborhood Association has strongly opposed the project because of its size, expected impact on traffic and parking in the neighborhood and potential damage to Codornices Creek, which runs across the northern portion of the 2.2-acre property. 

LOCCANA member Juliet Lamont said the creek was used by Native Americans for water and food and the Byrne family chose the site for its exceptional beauty. She said the current design for the proposed project is too large and will obscure what is left of the valuable historic resource. 

“We are asking the council to look for a good redesign and compromise of this site, which we believe exists,” she said. 

The Urban Creeks Council has recently received two grants for a total of $200,000 for Codornices Creek restoration projects, which might include daylighting a culverted section of the creek on the Oxford site. 

About 40 more people addressed the council during the second hearing before the council closed the public comments portion of the appeal. 

The council will hold an additional special hearing, the third this week, on Thursday in the Council Chambers at 7 p.m., to discuss the two appeals. The soonest the council might vote on both issues is Tuesday July 24 and the latest Sept. 25. 

Members of the public are invited to send written comments to the council.  

Councilmembers have said they will do what they can to resolve the appeals before taking its summer recess, which begins after their July 24 meeting.  

“We’ll be accepting written comments right up until the time we vote,” said Mayor Shirley Dean.

Lucia Rodriguez, a clerical assistant at the Berkeley Adult School for more than 20 years, sometimes has trouble explaining to friends why she loves her job so much. 

“People say, ‘Oh, it’s boring to be in one room all day.’ I say, ‘No, its not a room. It’s the world,” Rodriguez said Tuesday. 

You don’t have to spend too much time in the school’s breezy corridors to see what Rodriguez means. In the school year that just ended, the adult school’s 3,889 English as a Second Language students hailed from, well, everywhere. 

Berkeley Adult School Principal Margaret Kirkpatrick said in some ESL classes their could be native speakers of 10 different languages among just 30 students. 

In the adult school’s total enrollment of 9,480 students for 2000-2001, 27 percent were Hispanic, 22 percent white, 20 percent black and 20 percent Asian. Forty percent of students last year were between 25 and 44 years old, but nearly 20 percent were under 24 and more than 20 percent were over 60. 

While such statistics show how the adult school draws from Berkeley’s different communities in a remarkably balanced way, they don’t come close to telling the story of the school’s diversity. 

Choose the right breezy corridor at the adult school and you could find recent immigrants from Iran, Russia, China and Mexico studying English as a Second Language, high school dropouts of all ages working toward a diploma, homeless men and women learning to read and write and people with graduate degrees mastering the latest computer programs. (All of these classes except the last, which involves a nominal fee at the start, are offered for free.) 

“[The Adult School] is like the Berkeley dream come true,” said Shirley Issel, Berkeley Unified School District Board vice president. “You walk down the hallways and you see not only an international community, but you see people from all different strata of society.” 

Mohammad Reza, 22, moved to Berkeley from Iran a little over year ago. Octavio Flores, 27, came from Mexico about the same time. Both are taking ESL classes at the adult school for three hours and day and busing tables at a Berkeley restaurant from 4 p.m. to midnight. As their English improves, they hope to find higher paying jobs. 

“When you speak English better you can work less hours and make more money,” Reza said. 

Katrine Balan Court, a sociologist from Paris, is studying HTML and Linux at the school, in hopes of acquiring some good, marketable computer skills before moving back to Europe. 

Half a dozen non-profits work off the adult school campus to provide an array of free job training and career counseling services. And the adult school just opened its own job center, complete with a computer lab, to help students search for jobs and prepare résumés. 

The YMCA plans to open a daycare center on the adult school campus, where the children of adult school student are given priority. 

While ESL classes and vocational training together account for over half the adult school’s enrollment, the school also provides a huge array of classes to older adults and disabled adults all around the city. This summer it is offering art and music classes at the East Bay Center for the Blind and ceramic, dance and poetry classes at the North Berkeley Senior Center, to name just a few. 

The school’s fee-based classes include foreign languages, yoga, literature, film, stained glass, sewing and Internet skills. 

In the evenings, the school cafeteria fills up with Berkeley residents off all stripes who’ve decide its time to learn the rumba, the cha cha, and the samba; or the waltz, fox trot and tango. 

“We have such a flexible ability to serve,” Kirkpatrick said. “We’re an exceptional resource. And we’re nice people.” 

Being nice is important, Kirkpatrick said, since many adult school students are nervous about reentering school. 

“They need some assurance that learning is okay at an older age, or assurance that they can still learn,” Kirkpatrick said. 

Once they get past the psychological hurdle of singing up for class, though, Kirkpatrick said adult school students are a delight for educators to work with. 

“The students are so...” Kirkpatrick began, her voice trailing off as she searched the words. “They are dream students, because they are volunteer students. They come to school looking for help, so they are focused on getting what they need.” 

The California State Automobile Association reports today that the average price for gasoline in Northern California dropped 16 cents last month to $1.83, the lowest since March, after oil companies overestimated consumer fuel consumption. 

AAA spokeswoman Bronwyn Hogan said, “The decreases range from 6 cents to 27 cents a gallon in Northern California, with San Francisco remaining the only city paying above $2 (per gallon).’’ 

The average price of one gallon of self-serve, unleaded gasoline in Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose was down at least 12 cents in the last month, according to the association. Concord, Oakland and San Jose tied for the biggest monthly drop of 14 cents while residents in Salinas residents are paying the lowest prices in the Bay Area at $1.81 per gallon. 

The average price this month in Oakland is $1.94 per gallon, compared with $2.08 last month. San Jose residents are paying an average of $1.93 per gallon, down 14 cents from $2.07 one month ago. San Francisco residents continue to pay the highest price, $2.05 per gallon, but that is down 12 cents from $2.17 last month. 

Association spokesman Atle Erlingsson said, “The big oil companies goofed.’’ 

Oil companies normally increase production during the summer to compensate for added travel, Erlingsson said. But a slow-down in the nation’s economy has forced many people to cut back on road trips or not travel at all, he said, and that has led to a surplus of gas. To get rid of the surplus, Erlingsson said the oil companies are selling their gas at lower prices. 

Gas prices typically drop toward the end of the summer, he said, and early forecasts indicate that will happen this year as well. 

“We’re expecting them to continue to decline,’’ Erlingsson said. 

MODESTO — Protesters chanting “Where’s Chandra” and “Liar, liar, pants on fire” on Tuesday scolded Rep. Gary Condit for his relationship with an intern and demanded he resign. 

About 50 protesters organized by a politically conservative Web site held the lunchtime demonstration in front of the Democrat’s district office. 

“He’s a wishy washy dog, with a big tail, a tale of lies,” said Mary Lorenzo, 71, a longtime Democrat who was clutching the American flag that had been draped over her son’s coffin from Vietnam. She called Condit a coward. 

Demonstrators said they were disgusted and disappointed with Condit’s alleged romance with Chandra Levy, a 24-year-old federal Bureau of Prisons intern from Modesto who was last seen April 30 in Washington, D.C. 

Soon after her parents reported Levy missing, Condit chipped in $10,000 to start a reward fund to help find her. The married congressman called her a “good friend,” but denied being romantically involved with her. In a third interview with investigators he admitted they were having an affair, police sources said. 

“There’s just something plain yucky about a 53-year-old man chasing 23-year-old women around,” said Chuck Morrison, a 41-year-old Modesto resident shouting for Condit to step down. 

Condit, who has maintained public silence in the case, was on Capitol Hill during the demonstration. 

His chief of staff, Mike Lynch, met with two of the protesters and said he would forward a letter signed by 10 constituents to Washington. 

He said Condit plans to run for re-election and will address constituents at a later date. Lynch also questioned the motives of the conservative Web site www.FreeRepublic.com, which organized the rally. 

“They’re trying to take advantage of a situation, a sad tragic situation, for their own political agendas,” Lynch said. 

A few people showed up to defend Condit, including Shakira Graham, a 23-year-old woman who said she was trying to get an internship in his office. 

“He made a mistake, he should have come forward with all the information,” Graham said. “I think these people need to back off Gary and leave him alone for a while.” 

Many of the protesters were from outside the district, some as far as 100 miles away. 

Alan Hall, a self-employed mapmaker from San Jose, 80 miles to the west, hoisted a sign of a Monopoly card that declared “Go Directly to Jail!” 

Hall said he wasn’t even sure where Condit stood on political issues. 

BRIEFLY  

U.S. Rep. Gary Condit’s younger brother is wanted in Florida on charges that he violated his probation, and has his bond set at $50,000. 

Darrell Wayne Condit, 49, was last arrested in Florida in November 1996 and charged with driving with a suspended license, driving under the influence of alcohol and possession of marijuana, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Becky Herrin said Tuesday. 

Herrin said she did not know how he violated his probation, or what conviction brought his probation. 

“Between 1994 and 1996, we saw him as regular visitor to our detention facility,” Herrin said. “After 1996, we didn’t have any contact with him at all.” 

Records show that Darrell Condit did live in Key West during the mid-1990s but has since moved. 

When asked if Darrell Condit can be considered a fugitive,” Herrin said, “I supposed you can call him that. He does have an outstanding warrant.” 

Gary Condit, D-Calif., has been under intense media scrutiny since a former intern at the Bureau of Prisons, Chandra Levy, was reported missing over two months ago. 

The congressman has remained publicly silent about his relationship with Levy, but a police source has said he admitted having an affair with her when he was interviewed by investigators July 6. 

Police sources also say Gary Condit acknowledged speaking to Levy the day before she disappeared. Police have said repeatedly the congressman is not a suspect in the intern’s disappearance, which still is classified as a missing-person case. 

rather than a crime. 

“We’re not ruling anything out,” Sgt. Tony O’Leary of the District of Columbia Police Department said Tuesday night when asked if his agency would question Darrell Condit about the Levy case if he is caught. “The Levy case is still an active critical missing persons case.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

www.FreeRepublic.com 

www.findchandra.com 

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE— An Air Force F-16 chase plane crashed in a remote mountainous area of eastern California on Tuesday, killing both men on board. 

The crash was the fifth of an Air Force F-16 in as many months. 

The Lockheed Martin Corp.-built F-16B took off from Edwards Air Force Base at about 6 a.m. It was on a photo mission to record the test flight of another F-16 that was testing an air-launched missile radar decoy. 

It went down about an hour later in a valley some 30 miles east of the China Lake Naval Air Warfare Center. The F-16 it had been monitoring returned safely to Edwards. 

“The two air crew members have been confirmed dead at the scene,” Maj. Dennis Mehring said. 

Killed were Maj. Aaron George, a pilot with the 416th Flight Test Squadron, and Judson Brohmer, 38, of Tehachapi, Calif., a subcontractor aerial photographer. George’s age and hometown were not immediately available. 

It was not immediately clear whether the two had ejected from the two-seater jet before it crashed, Mehring said. 

A board of officers will investigate the crash of the roughly $30 million plane. It was the Air Force’s second F-16 crash this month and the fifth since March. 

On July 6, an Air Force pilot was killed off the coast of South Carolina while on a training mission out of Shaw Air Force Base. 

In June, an Air Force pilot was killed in a rural area of southern South Korea while on a training mission out of Kunsan. Witnesses said the plane hit an electricity pole before crashing into a rice paddy and exploding. 

In April, a pilot based at Misawa Air Base, Japan ejected safely before his plane crashed into the sea off the coast of northern Japan. 

In March, the pilot of an F-16 fighter out of Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico ejected safely before the jet crashed near a bombing range. The pilot, who was treated for minor injuries, told investigators the jet’s single engine failed during the routine training flight. 

LOS ANGELES — An Asian-American watchdog group demanded an apology Tuesday from NBC’s “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” because a comedian used a racial epithet on the show. 

“There is no excuse for something like this to have made the air,” said Guy Aoki, president of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans. 

The group also called for an apology from comedian Sarah Silverman for using the term “chinks.” 

While bantering with O’Brien on the show July 11, Silverman said she had been called for jury duty but didn’t want to serve. 

“My friend is like ’Why don’t you write something inappropriate on the form like ’I hate chinks,”’ Silverman said. But she didn’t want people to think she was racist, she said, so “I just filled out the form and I wrote ’I love chinks’ – and who doesn’t?” 

The term is the most offensive possible reference to a person of Chinese descent, Aoki said. 

“It’s not constructive to use such a hateful word and play it off for laughs. It just gives people permission to continue to use it,” he said. 

“She obviously chose to target a group of people that she felt she could get away with insulting. We’re not standing for it,” Aoki said. 

The network would have removed a similarly offensive reference to any other ethnic group, he added. 

A spokesman for O’Brien’s show had no immediate comment on the group’s complaint. A call to Silverman’s manager, Geoff Cheddy, was not immediately returned Tuesday. 

Aoki said his group contacted NBC’s vice president for diversity, Paula Madison, last Friday but did not receive a call back. A message for Madison was not immediately returned Tuesday. 

Broadcast networks have been under fire by the NAACP, the Media Action Network and other groups for failing to offer ethnic diversity in their series. 

WASHINGTON — More than 180 computers, at least one containing classified material, are missing from the FBI along with some 450 weapons, officials said Tuesday. 

A total of 184 laptops are missing, including 13 that are believed to have been stolen, officials said. They said that in addition to one known computer containing classified information, three others that are missing might also have classified material. 

As for the weapons, some 184 weapons were stolen and 265 were lost, said officials, discussing the problem on condition of anonymity. They said some of the weapons were used in crimes. 

The revelation came on the eve of an FBI oversight hearing on Capitol Hill — at which bureau whistleblowers were scheduled to testify. The FBI has been under fire for weeks for missteps, including the failure to provide defense lawyers for Timothy McVeigh with thousands of pages of evidence documents in the Oklahoma City bombing case. 

That problem forced a postponement of McVeigh’s scheduled May 16 execution for the crime, and he was put to death by lethal injection on June 11. 

In connection with the problem disclosed Tuesday, Attorney General John Ashcroft has asked the Justice Department’s inspector general to do a department-wide review of inventory controls over guns and other law enforcement equipment. 

The weapons that are missing are mostly sidearms, officials said, but also include submachine guns. 

Questions about the missing equipment are sure to surface at Wednesday’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt, the committee’s chairman, opened oversight hearings on the FBI earlier this year after a series of high-profile mistakes, including the missing evidence in the McVeigh case and the discovery that veteran agent FBI agent Robert Hanssen spied for Moscow for years. Hanssen pleaded guilty to several counts of espionage on July 6 and is to be sentenced in January. 

Wednesday’s hearing, with FBI agents including Assistant Director Robert Dies and Deputy Assistant Director Kenneth Senser scheduled to testify, was to focus on the FBI’s management but now will likely be dominated by questions about the missing guns and computers. 

About 13 of the missing weapons had been used in crimes, mostly robberies, FBI officials said. 

Bureau officials said that, altogether, the FBI has roughly 50,000 guns and 13,000 computers. The FBI has determined that 66 weapons were lost in connection with a retired agent and about four were carried by agents who were either fired or died, officials said. 

They also said that that some weapons apparently were lost during training operations with other law enforcement agencies – and said that laptops sometimes are lost as they are passed around from office to office. 

The missing computers and weapons were discovered during a comprehensive inventory of equipment undertaken at the behest of the Department of Justice following the recent series of problems at the FBI. 

FBI officials said Tuesday the bureau tracks lost weapons, but also said this was first time that a serious effort was mounted to try to get a total accounting of missing equipment from all FBI field offices. 

This is not the first time the federal government has misplaced computers with sensitve information on it. The State Department misplaced a laptop with highly classified information in early 2000. 

The guns and computers reported missing Tuesday represent equipment that has been lost, stolen or otherwise unaccounted for over the last 11 or 12 years, FBI officials said. 

The FBI has ordered all field offices to do a comprehensive inventory of all equipment worth over $500 by Sept. 30. Components that fail to make the deadline could see their appropriations withheld, officials said. 

They also said the bureau will open criminal investigations into what happened to weapons that were given to some agents who have retired or been fired. 

News of missing FBI equipment follows a Justice Department inspector general’s report last March showing that the Immigration and Naturalization Service couldn’t find some 540 weapons. 

Justice Department officials said that 44 of the INS guns were found, 130 are considered lost or stolen and 119 were incorrectly reported as missing. The INS is looking into what happened to the other 246 weapons. 

——— 

EDITORS: Associated Press reporter Jesse Holland contributed to this story. 

CHICAGO — A heart-monitoring procedure used more than a million times a year during major operations appears to serve no benefit and may actually raise the risk of heart attacks, a study found. 

Right heart catheterization – in which a thin, flexible tube is inserted into a neck vein and guided into the right side of the heart – is used during major, non-cardiac operations such as hip replacements and gall bladder removal on patients who have a history of heart trouble. 

It has been used on patients for 30 years to monitor the heart for everything from fluid pressure to oxygen content. 

However, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found no benefit to the procedure and said the risk of heart attacks and other cardiac problems was three times greater among patients who had it than among those who did not. 

The procedure should be re-evaluated, the researchers said. Their study, which appeared in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association, supports earlier findings. 

It is unclear whether the procedure itself causes problems or whether information provided by the monitoring leads to overly aggressive corrective treatments that may harm patients, said Dr. Thomas Lee, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School who led the study. 

“Some old-time clinicians feel that younger doctors get hypnotized by the numbers from high-tech monitoring devices, and overreact and treat minor fluctuations in numbers from the catheter,” Lee said. It is also possible that patients who underwent catheterization simply were sicker than the study’s data indicated, he said. 

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute is now conducting two studies on the use of right heart catheterization. 

“I don’t think it’s dangerous, but the study shows we have some real work to do to say which patients can really benefit from it,” Lee said. 

Lee said there are no other safer procedures that monitor heart function to the same extent. Without a catheter, doctors simply keep track of blood pressure and heart rate, as well as oxygen saturation. 

The study involved 4,059 patients — 221 had the monitoring procedure and 3,838 did not — 50 and older who underwent major elective non-cardiac operations at Brigham and Women’s Hospital between 1989 and 1994. 

Researchers came up with 215 matched pairs of patients who did and did not undergo the procedure but had similar medical risks. Those who underwent the procedure had a threefold greater risk of cardiac problems. 

The findings appear to support a 1996 study that found patients who underwent right heart catheterization had a 21 percent greater risk of death in the succeeding 30 days. That study prompted calls for more research and a government moratorium on the procedure. The Food and Drug Administration did not issue a moratorium but did recommend clinical trials. 

In an editorial accompanying Lee’s study, Dr. James Dalen of the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, editor of the Archives of Internal Medicine, said that given the risks and expense of right heart catheterization, it should not routinely be used. 

Dr. Ann Thompson, president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine, said the study could have missed crucial differences between patients in the matched pairs. 

“I just don’t believe that the problem, with rare exceptions, is with the catheter,” said Thompson, a professor of anesthesiology, critical care medicine and pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh. She said it is possible that the fault lies with the surgeons using the catheter. 

On the Net: JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org 

HARTFORD, Conn. — When Sheila Matthews’ son was in first grade, a school psychologist diagnosed him with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and gave his parents information on Ritalin. 

Matthews refused to put him on the drug. She believed the boy was energetic and outgoing but not disruptive, and she suspected the school system was trying to medicate him just to make it easier for the teachers. Now the state of Connecticut has weighed in on the side of parents like Matthews with a first-in-the-nation law that reflects a growing backlash against what some see as overuse of Ritalin and other behavioral drugs. 

The law – approved unanimously by the Legislature and signed by Gov. John G. Rowland – prohibits teachers, counselors and other school officials from recommending psychiatric drugs for any child. 

The measure does not prevent school officials from recommending that a child be evaluated by a medical doctor. But the law is intended to make sure the first mention of drugs for a behavior or learning problem comes from a doctor. 

The chief sponsor, state Rep. Lenny Winkler, is an emergency room nurse. “I cannot believe how many young kids are on Prozac, Thorazine, Haldol – you name it,” Winkler said. “It blows my mind.” 

While she has no problem with the use of Ritalin under a doctor’s care, Winkler said a teacher’s recommendation is often enough to persuade parents to seek drug treatment for their child’s behavior problems. 

“It’s easier to give somebody a pill than to get to the bottom of the problem,” she said. 

Nationally, nearly 20 million prescriptions for Ritalin, Adderall and other stimulants used to treat ADHD were written last year — a 35 percent increase over 1996, according to IMS Health, a health care information company. Most of those prescriptions were for boys under 12, IMS Health said. 

In some elementary and middle schools, as many as 6 percent of all students take Ritalin or other psychiatric drugs, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. 

Dr. Andres Martin, a child psychiatrist at the Yale University Child Study Center, said schools have no business practicing psychiatry. 

“We’ve all heard these horror stories of parents who are told, ‘If you don’t medicate your child, he can’t be in the classroom,”’ he said. “You never hear the school say, ‘If you don’t take the damn appendix out, this kid has a bad outcome.’ You say, ‘Your kid has a stomach ache. Take him to the doctor.”’ 

The Connecticut Association of Boards of Education has taken no position on the bill. Nor has the Connecticut Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union. But union President Rosemary Coyle said the she believes the problem is overstated. 

“I really believe teachers do not practice medicine,” Coyle said. “We don’t recommend kids get on drugs.” 

Concern about Ritalin and other drugs is widespread. The Texas Board of Education adopted a resolution last year recommending that schools consider non-medical solutions to behavior problems. The Colorado school board approved a similar resolution in 1999, and legislation regarding psychiatric drugs in school has been proposed in nearly a dozen states. 

In the New Canaan school district, Matthews and her husband took their son, now 8, to a private psychologist, who said the boy has trouble with reasoning. He now receives special education from the school system. 

“I was able to get, for $2,000, a different label that has an educational connotation, rather than medical,” said Matthews, who did not want her son’s name used. 

New Canaan district officials did not return repeated calls for comment. But Matthews said she has resolved many of her differences with the school system, which did not threaten to remove her son from class. 

“I’m really thrilled” about the new law, she said, “because it gives parents an awareness that there should be a clear difference between education and medication. Our schools are now getting into the field of mental health. That’s not what we send our children to school for.” 

WASHINGTON — Manufacturing activity plunged in June for the ninth month in a row as the beleaguered industrial sector continued to suffer heavy damage from the yearlong economic slowdown. 

Production at the nation’s factories, mines and utilities posted the worst showing since January, falling by 0.7 percent last month on top of a 0.5 percent drop in May, the Federal Reserve reported Tuesday. 

The latest snapshot of industrial activity was weaker than many analysts were expecting. They were predicting manufacturing activity would decline by 0.5 percent in June. 

“These numbers don’t provide any evidence that the bottom has indeed been hit in the factory sector,” said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Banc of America Capital Management. 

Operating capacity sank to its lowest point in nearly 18 years as companies throttled back production in the face of sagging demand. The industrial sector operated at 77 percent of capacity in June, compared with 77.6 percent in May. 

Many economists believe the industrial sector, hardest hit by the slumping economy, has been pulled into a recession of its own. To cope, manufacturers have sharply cut production and shed thousands of workers. 

“It’s clear that the downturn in manufacturing that began last September has been nearly as severe as the 1990-91 recession,” said Jerry Jasinowski, president of the National Association of Manufacturers. 

At factories, output fell by 0.8 percent in June, after a 0.5 percent decline. The weakness was widespread, with production declining for, among other things, cars and trucks, home electronics and appliances, industrial machinery, semiconductors and metal products. Output of computers and office equipment was flat. 

“The manufacturing sector is languishing in pain,” said Stan Shipley, economist at Merrill Lynch. 

The Fed report also said that mining production fell by 0.4 percent in June, after a 0.1 percent decline. But output at gas and electric utilities rose by 0.9 percent, following a 1.7 percent drop in May. 

To stave off recession, the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates six times this year, totaling 2.75 percentage points. The rate reductions lower borrowing costs and are aimed at generating consumer spending and business investment, which would rejuvenate economic growth. 

Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan on Wednesday will provide Congress with his twice-a-year report on the economy. Many analysts believe he will deliver a cautiously optimistic assessment and that he may signal that the Fed’s latest credit-easing campaign may be coming to a close. 

Still, analysts don’t expect Greenspan to close the door on another interest rate cut in the future. They predict he will cite continued risks to the economy, including the ailing manufacturing sector. 

For the April-June quarter, total industrial output fell at an annual rate of 5.6 percent, following a 6.8 percent rate of decline registered in the first quarter. 

Recent economic data have offered mixed signals on the outlook for the industrial sector. 

Earlier this month, the National Association of Purchasing Management reported that a key gauge of industrial activity in June turned in its best performance in seven months. Even with the improvement, the measure was at a level indicating that the manufacturing sector of the economy remained in recession. 

The group’s purchasing index rose to 44.7 percent from 42.1 percent in May. An index above 50 signifies growth in manufacturing, while a figure below 50 shows contraction. June’s 44.7 percent reading was the highest since 47.9 percent in November. 

At the time, analysts were heartened that the index regained some lost ground and were hopeful that the worst of the manufacturing recession may have been over. But Tuesday’s report clouded the picture. 

“The question now is when manufacturers will hit bottom and start to work their way out of this economic mess,” Jasinowski said. 

On the Net: 

Industrial production: http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/G17/ 

WASHINGTON— Amtrak is reviewing its expenses and may cut personnel and service to meet a congressional deadline for self-sufficiency. 

Amtrak President George Warrington told employees in a memo he has ordered “an in-depth review of every aspect of the way in which we do business.” 

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Warrington has ordered a 15 percent cut in the railroad’s management ranks and may curtail service. Cuts of 10 percent to 15 percent in union employment also are being considered, the newspaper said. 

Amtrak has hired a consulting firm, McKinsey & Co., to advise top management on how to restructure or redesign the passenger-train corporation. 

Amtrak spokesman Bill Schulz said Tuesday that no decisions have been made about cuts in service or management. He said Amtrak “has been working aggressively over the last six months on scores of cost management initiatives ... designed to reduce costs by an average of $270 million annually.” 

Amtrak’s operating loss of $944 million last year was the largest in its history. 

Warrington alerted Amtrak’s 23,000 employees to the cost-cutting effort in an e-mail on Friday. 

“I expect that many, many ideas for cost-cutting will be reviewed, with some implemented, some discarded, and others held onto as options,” he wrote. 

He said a slowing economy is hurting Amtrak along with other segments of the travel industry. 

“We are not meeting the forecasts we set before the economy took a downturn,” Warrington wrote. “So in this fiscal year, we’ve had to reduce expenses even more diligently in order to meet our financial targets.” 

The 1997 Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act passed by Congress gave the national railway until 2003 to end its 30-year reliance on federal operating subsidies. Under the law, Amtrak would have to submit a plan for its own liquidation if it fails to meet the deadline. 

More likely, a failure would reopen the debate about whether taxpayers should support a railroad that loses money but provides alternatives to crowded highways and airports. 

Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, recently appointed by President Bush to Amtrak’s governing board, has suggested keeping only those routes that make money and abandoning the notion of a passenger rail system with nationwide reach. 

Transportation Department Inspector General Kenneth Mead reported last month that Amtrak has taken on significant new debt in recent years to raise money for new business ventures while putting off needed investments to its core operations. 

Last month, the railway revealed that it plans to mortgage parts of New York’s Pennsylvania Station to get $300 million to help maintain operations through September. 

The Amtrak Reform Council, created by Congress to monitor Amtrak’s financial performance, recommended last year that the railway consider reductions in corporate overhead and staff. 

The council’s executive director, Thomas Till, said Amtrak has hired 900 management-level employees in the last three to four years. 

Warrington’s e-mail “confirms the council’s conclusion that fundamental reforms are needed,” said its chairman, Gil Carmichael. 

The council has proposed dividing Amtrak’s responsibilities into a profit-focused company responsible for train operations, a separate government-owned corporation to oversee assets like tracks and stations, and a new government oversight agency. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Amtrak: http://www.amtrak.com 

Amtrak Reform Council: http://www.amtrakreformcouncil.gov 

LONDON — Obese people who exercise have half the death rate of those who are trim but don’t exercise, a leading expert said Tuesday. 

Previous studies linking obesity and death from heart disease and other major killers have missed the important influence of exercise, said Steven Blair, director of research at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas. 

“There is a misdirected obsession with weight and weight loss,” he told a meeting of the Association for the Study of Obesity in London. “The focus is all wrong. It’s fitness that is the key.” 

However, some experts cautioned that reaching an appropriate weight is still advisable for preventing other complications of obesity that are not thought to be related to fitness, such as cancer, arthritis and infertility. The ideal is still trim and fit, they said. 

“When you look at the data and the number of subjects he’s studied and you recognize that Steve is an excellent scientist, I think nobody would say the data are flawed,” said Dr. Susan Jebb, director of the Human Nutrition Unit at Cambridge University in England. 

“I think that’s good news for people who are overweight because it kind of gives them two options. You don’t have to lose weight. You can instead improve your fitness,” she said. “However, the reality is that both of those are quite tough challenges. The question is just how many people do manage the level of fitness that he is showing is beneficial?” 

Blair said that about 50 percent of the obese people in his studies were fit. It is unclear how that compares with the rate of fitness among obese people in the general population. 

The studies involved 25,000 middle-aged men and about 8,000 women who were followed for 10 years. Fitness was measured by a standard stress test – how long people could walk on a treadmill at increasing intensity before becoming exhausted. 

The bottom 20 percent of the group were considered unfit. 

The findings were the same whether obesity was measured by a body mass index (derived by multiplying a person’s weight in pounds by 703 and dividing that result by height in inches squared), or by the percentage of body fat relative to muscle and bone, which meant the results were not due to heavy people simply being well muscled, Blair said. 

People with a body mass index of 30 or more are considered obese. 

The United States leads the world in population of overweight men and women. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 61 percent of Americans are overweight and 26 percent are obese, or grossly overweight. 

Blair said 30 minutes of moderate walking every day, at three or four mph, would make most obese people fit. 

“To put yourself in our top fitness category, you might walk more vigorously and add a couple of games of tennis at the weekends,” he said. 

Some other fitness experts recommend 60 minutes a day of exercise for health. 

“I don’t mean it eliminates the risk of everything, but you can stay overweight and obese if you are fit and be just as healthy, in terms of mortality risk, as a lean fit person,” Blair said. “When they talk about the health risks of obesity, they usually talk about heart disease, diabetes – the big killers.” 

“We have also looked at disease rates, particularly diabetes. The phenomenon holds there too that the obese individuals who are fit develop diabetes at about the same rate as the lean individuals who are unfit,” he said. 

“I’m inclined to agree with that. I don’t think that carrying around a lot of fat, in itself, is necessarily detrimental because a number of large people are very vigorous,” said John E. Blundell, chair of psychobiology at the University of Leeds in England. 

On the Net: 

The Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research, http://www.cooperinst.org 

International Obesity Task Force, http://www.iotf.org

LONDON — The Concorde took a big step closer to resuming service Tuesday after British Airways completed its first supersonic test flight of the aircraft since last year’s Air France crash near Paris grounded the fleet. 

A Concorde, with modifications made since the crash, flew a loop over the North Atlantic that duplicated operating conditions of the jet’s London-New York route, reaching a top speed of 1,350 mph – around twice the speed of sound – and climbing to 60,000 feet. 

“After many hours of work by our engineering team, it’s good to have the aircraft flying again,” BA chief executive Rod Eddington said after the plane landed safely at a Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire, England. 

“This is an important day for everyone at British Airways and we look forward to carrying customers again soon.” 

The British carrier says it hopes to fly its Concordes commercially again by late summer. 

The supersonic fleets of British Airways and Air France were grounded after an Air France Concorde crashed outside Paris on July 25, killing 113 people. 

Spewing flames and smoke, the plane smashed into a hotel near the town of Gonesse just minutes after takeoff from Charles de Gaulle airport. All 100 passengers, mostly German tourists, were killed along with nine crew members and four people on the ground. 

Authorities believe a stray metal strip on the runway ripped one of the jet’s tires, and rubber debris smashed into the fuel tanks, causing a leak and fire that brought the plane down. 

British Airways has since strengthened the wiring in the undercarriages of its seven Concordes, lined the fuel tanks with Kevlar and made other changes meant to prevent fuel leaks. The French tire maker, Michelin, has also developed a new extra-resistant tire to prevent punctures. 

A four-man crew checked the runway for any debris before Tuesday’s test flight. 

With chief Concorde pilot Capt. Mike Bannister at the controls, the three hour, 20 minute flight took the plane out over the Atlantic after it left from London’s Heathrow airport at 2:18 p.m. It turned around southwest of Iceland and then headed back to Britain. 

Members of the public gathered at the rain-lashed airfield at Oxfordshire to welcome the supersonic plane. 

“It was absolutely fantastic. The aircraft performed brilliantly and it was a tribute to all who have worked on it at British Airways,” Bannister said as he climbed down the plane’s steps into driving rain. 

“We are trying to look forward and take Concorde back where she belongs — at 60,000 feet up,” he said, adding that BA would stage another test flight as modification work continues. 

Air France, which operates five of the planes, said on Monday that it is too early to predict when its commercial service might resume, but it has suggested it hopes to fly again by autumn. 

The City Council will likely not take any action to establish zoning policies that would limit marijuana cooperatives because of a recent Supreme Court ruling against “medical necessity” legal defenses. 

The council requested the report from City Manager Weldon Rucker on May 8, after some residents and medical marijuana patients raised concerns that there were no zoning policies governing the number or placement of cooperatives. The council asked for a report on the possibility of enacting a moratorium on new cooperatives until a zoning policy was in place. 

The council also requested Rucker study the possibility of Health and Human Services overseeing the cooperatives. Currently there is no city agency that oversees cooperative procedures and standards. 

The request for a zoning policy and oversight agency was the result of Berkeley’s medical marijuana ordinance approved in March. The ordinance allows doctor-approved patients to be in possession of 2.5 pounds of dried marijuana and as many as 10 marijuana plants. Cooperatives are allowed up to 50 plants and 12 pounds of dried marijuana. 

Once the ordinance was adopted, it became clear there were no guidelines for the planning and development department to determine where to locate cooperatives. Currently, there are four cooperatives operating in the city.  

Since the council requested the report, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of the United States v. the Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative, that “medical necessity” is not an exception to federal drug laws. 

The 8-0 decision brought aspects of the state’s medical marijuana law, Proposition 215, and the city’s ordinance into question, according to the city manager’s information report. 

“This decision is likely to limit somewhat the city’s flexibility in devising a framework for ‘permitting’ medical marijuana collectives, even if they are in compliance with the recently-adopted ordinance establishing protocols for medical cannabis,” according to the report. 

Based on the ruling, Rucker is recommending the council not develop zoning laws and suggested the moratorium on new cooperatives until an official policy is adopted isn’t necessary because there are no pending applications. In addition, Rucker suggested Health and Human Services not be assigned oversight of the cooperatives because of the murkiness surrounding medical marijuana laws. 

“It is inadvisable for the city to assume responsibility over an activity that remains illegal,” the report reads.  

Fred Medrano, director of health and human services, said managing the marijuana cooperatives would result in a significant increase in workload to a already taxed department.  

In addition, he said his staff would likely be reluctant to take the job on.  

“Especially with the Supreme Court ruling, which makes [it] technically illegal,” he said. “It wouldn’t make sense for a city department to take a regulatory position.” 

If the council agrees with Rucker’s informational report there will likely be no change in the city’s current policy. No more applications for cooperatives would be approved but the existing four cooperatives would not be effected. 

Director of the Cannabis Buyers Club, Don Duncan, said he approved of Rucker’s report.  

“We had a couple of meetings and I felt the city manager was thoughtful and careful,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any need for more cooperatives. The current proposal is the right thing to do.”

Tuesday, July 17

Intelligent Conversation  

7 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

A discussion group open to all, regardless of age, religion, viewpoint, etc. This time the discussion will center on best vacations, trips, and travel experiences. Informally led by Robert Berend, who founded similar groups in L.A., Menlo Park, and Prague. Bring light snacks/drinks to share. Free  

527-5332 

Free Early Music Group 

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK) 

Small group sings madrigals and other voice harmony every Tuesday morning. Call Ann, 655-8863 

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 Don, 525-3565 

Berkeley School Volunteers 

10:30 a.m. - noon 

1835 Allston Way 

Orientation for volunteers interested in helping in academic and recreation programs being held in Berkeley public schools this summer. 

644-8833 

Writing and Resistance  

In A Culture of Amnesia 

6 - 7:45 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Classroom #2 

Part of a workshop series on concepts and strategies for resistance through the spoken and written word, taught by Joyce E. Young. $12. 

849-2568 www.lapena.org 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

Derby Street at MLK Jr. Way 

548-3333 

Berkeley City Council Public  

Hearing 

7 p.m. 

Council Chambers 

2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

The City Council will consider extending the moratorium on the installation of wireless telecommunications antennas for cellular and other personal communications systems. For information on the moratorium call 705-8108. To submit comments or for other information call 981-6900. 

Berkeley Fibromyalgia  

Support Group 

12 - 2 p.m. every 3rd Tuesday 

Alta Bates Medical Center  

Maffly Auditorium - Herrick Campus 

2001 Dwight Way 

“Myofascial Release” with Rachael Peizer, PT 

For more info call D.L. Malinousky: 601-0550 

Free Computer Class for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited, call ahead for a reservation. 644-6109 

Wednesday, July 18

Blisters No More: Finding the  

Proper Boot Fit 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

REI footwear expert Brad Bostrom will show you how to make your feet more comfortable out on the trail. Bring your boots and socks to this interactive clinic. Free. 527-4140 

Berkeley Communicator  

Toastmasters Club 

7:15 a.m. 

Vault Cafe 

3250 Adeline 

Learn to speak with confidence. Ongoing first and third Wednesdays each month. 527-2337 

Ice Cream Day at LHS 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley 

Part of the Lawrence Hall of Science Wednesday FUN-days. Make your own ice cream and compare it to a commercial brand. Museum admission $3 - $7. 642-5132 

Support Group for  

Family/Friends  

Caring for Older Adults 

4 - 5:30 p.m. - 3rd Wednesday of each month 

Alta Bates Medical Center  

Herrick Campus 

2001 Dwight Way 

3rd floor, Room 3369B  

The group will focus on the needs of the older adult with serious medical problems, psychiatric illnesses, substance abuse, and their caregivers. Facilitated by Monica Nowakowski, LCSW. 

Free. 802-1725 

International Working Class  

Film and Video Festival 

7 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Part of LaborFest 2001, films to be screened include “Resistance As Democracy,” “The Internationale,” “Songs of the Thai Labor Movement,” and “Zimbabwe’s New Chimurenga.” $7. 

849-256 

Thursday, July 19

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 meeting will be a game night.  

654-5486 

Summer Noon Concerts 2001 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza 

Shattuck at Center St. 

Weekly concert series. This week The Waikiki Steel Works perform vintage acoustic Hawaiian steel guitar music. 

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 

Quit Smoking Class 

6 - 8 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis Street 

A six week quit smoking class. 

Free to Berkeley residents and employees. 644-6422 or e-mail at: quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Salsa Dance Classes 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Classes every Thursday with live percussionists, light refreshments, DJ playing Latin music. $10 or $15 for two. 237-9874 

Backpacking Yosemite’s High  

Country 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Slide Presentation. 

Marvin Schinnerer will share highlights from two favorite trips out of Yosemite’s Tuolumne Meadows. Free. 527-4140 

Berkeley School Volunteers 

3 - 4:30 p.m. 

1835 Allston Way 

Orientation for volunteers interested in helping in academic and recreation programs being held in Berkeley public schools this summer. 644-8833 

Fair Campaign Practices  

Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Street 

Health Room 

Discussion and action regarding possible violations of the Berkeley Election Reform Act. 

981-6950 or 981-6903 (TDD) 

Free Computer Class for Seniors 

9:30 - 11:30 a.m. and 1 - 3 p.m.  

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited, call ahead for a reservation. 644-6109 

Friday, July 20

Therapy for Trans Partners  

6 - 7:30 p.m.  

Pacific Center for Human Growth  

2712 Telegraph Ave. (at Derby)  

A group open to partners of those in transition or considering transition. The group is structured to be a safe place to receive support from peers and explore a variety of issues, including sexual orientation, coming out, feelings of isolation, among other topics. Intake process required. Meeting Fridays through August 17.  

$8 - $35 sliding scale per session  

Call 548-8283 x534 or x522 

Lives From Herstory 

1:15 - 3:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst Ave.  

Part of “Strong Women: The Arts, Herstory and Literature,” a free weekly cultural studies course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program taught by Helen Rippier Wheeler. This week’s focus is on Margaret Higgins Sanger.  

Call 549-2970 

The Art of Recycling 

2 - 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery 

2200 Shattuck Avenue 

A day-long celebration of the importance of recycling, the event will explore different ways to reuse -- artistic and practical. Bring your own old clothes, broken appliances, and other items or drop off in advance at the Gallery during regular hours Thursday through Sunday, noon - 8 p.m. 

486-0411 

Life in Cohousing 

7:30 p.m. 

International House Auditorium 

UC Berkeley 

2299 Piedmont Avenue 

The opening address for the 2001 North American Cohousing Conference, Eric Utne will speak on “Changing the World and Yourself by Creating Community.” $10. 

834-7399  

Saturday, July 21

Ohtani Bazaar 

4 p.m. - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Higashi Honganji Temple 

1524 Oregon Street 

Games, prizes and activities for children. Japanese food will be available. Free admission. 

236-2550 

Berkeley Farmer’s Market 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

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

Regular market with a special “Sustainable Agriculture” event. Speakers will discuss “Environmental and Social Justice and the Food Supply.” Also, the Resources for Community Development will be collecting donations of household goods for Alameda Point. 

548-3333 

Socialism may help solve power crisis 

Editor: 

A lot of people are very unclear on two important concepts: private enterprise and socialism. 

Private enterprise, or a market economy, or the profit system, is a racket, a scam, a con game. In recent months, the politicians and the power industry have combined to give us all a graphic example of how the system is used to loot and swindle all the hard-working citizens for the benefit of a greedy few. 

Authentic socialism requires three elements: a high level of industrial technology, public ownership of basic industries, and political control by the working class. Socialism has never yet existed anywhere on this planet. It is premature and immature to label a concept as dead before it has been given a fair trial. 

The socialist road may be the only rational solution to the current power crisis.  

California could take over its own power generators and transmission lines by its power of eminent domain. But in order to avoid a fiasco such as the politicians have made in San Francisco with the city-owned Hetch Hetchy power generating system, it would be necessary to put the working class firmly in control. A step in this direction would be to switch our voter registrations to help the Peace and Freedom Party to regain its ballot status. 

Marion Syrek 

Oakland 

Change orders add time  

to city projects 

The Berkeley Daily Planet received this letter addressed to City Councilmembers: 

Clever but anxious contractor tricks utilized for winning contracts, as old as the pyramids: 1. Make sure your bid is the lowest; 2. Later, demand “extras” to do job properly. 

This results in good work, but many create headaches and take longer; it shouldn’t be required for any public body to accept low bid[s], though good work can result even if this trick was “resorted to.” But there’s the risk of dealing with a fibbing contractor who may develop other “bad habits.” 

I’m happy with the temporary library in spite of massive construction south and east; I look to the re-opening of the main library; I cringe at possible massive construction west of old main library for apartments, etc. 

Terry Cochrell 

Berkeley 

Temple Beth El deserves city’s entire support 

The Berkeley Daily Planet received this letter addressed to Berkeley City Councilmembers: 

After reading the letter from Keith Carson, I decided to voice my strong opinion in support of Temple Beth El being able to build the new temple, parking lot, etc. in accordance with the current plans and with the approval of our boards, review of all the adjustments, corrections, provisions, etc. I thought Keith Carson addressed the same points I support. 

It is clear that the community has reconciled to the fact that the Temple will exist. Plans have been redone in accordance with legitimate concerns. There is another agenda it appears, and I don’t know what it is. I am not a member of the congregation, and I have never contributed to the building fund. You can rest assured that if any of the money that has been used for any of this came out of city of Berkeley funds this “process” would have been resolved months ago. We should not be using valuable meeting time, and our Council would be able to get back to the urgent issues facing our community and city. 

I have traveled up and down Spruce street for the last six years on a regular basis as I pick up grandchildren who go to nursery school at the top of Spruce. I am aware of other religious churches on Spruce as well as Cedar and Spruce. There are no parking lots provided that I have seen and no esthetic designs, landscaping, etc.  

Neighbors move around as needed. No one lives in Berkeley that I know of because the streets are easy to drive, parking available, traffic empty or housing on large lots. If people want that lifestyle they move to Contra Costa County or Marin County. People live in Berkeley because of the very wonderful community and university, diversity, interest in people and the many problems we face in this world today. Yes, we are concerned with environmental issues. Beth El has met that standard (in accordance with my awareness as a professional in the legal community). The burden, as it is called, has been met. It is time to start cooperating with all people in our community. The national Conference of Reform Rabbis which just took place which Beth El is a part made some significant additions that relate to Berkeley people. 

I am personally familiar with the creek that existed at Ashby and Domingo and Peet’s and Rick and Ann’s restaurant are now on that property. I must say that there is never a spot available in that lot and I doubt that people are concerned with the direction the fish go! The fish they are concerned with are the ones on the menu!! Fish don’t vote, pay taxes, drive, contribute to our housing problems, energy issues, HMOs, etc. Get real. Can you imagine all the good things that could have been done by Beth El with the thousands of dollars used on this excessive pressure by the community? 

I urge all the councilmembers — to support Beth El at this time. 

I do not believe that a continued dialogue is warranted, and I understand that more public hearings are scheduled. I hope they are canceled and other matters can be discussed that are pressing. 

Jae Scharlin 

Berkeley 

Trees should be at crosswalk 

Editor: 

To complete the landscape design on University Avenue, six (more trees (Acer rubrum “Red Sunset”) need to be planted in the brick median between Milvia and Shattuck Avenue. I recommend that they be placed on each side of the crosswalk at 20 feet on center both ways. It will be so nice to have trees where the people will be crossing. 

Richard Splenda 

Berkeley 

Destroy schools to save them 

Editor  

It was a pleasure to read such an informative and balanced article. You went beyond the tired cliches about stingy Prop13-oids and listened for the real reasons it's hard to get alums to contribute. I especially admire your courage to print the word “rathole.” Rathole is good. How else do you describe a system that spends $7,000 per student (plus about $1,000 more from the Feds), packs 30 kids into a classroom and still can't give them a decent education and clean toilets for $210,000 (7,000 times 30)? 

I'm afraid the only way to save public schools like these is to destroy them. Give the money back to the people — a $7,000 voucher per child. 

Then get out of the way and watch what an independent school can do with that kind of money. 

Theodore Sternberg 

Fremont

MUSEUMS 

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm” An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more. “Recycling Center” Lets the kids crank the conveyor belt to sort cans, plastic bottles and newspaper bundles into dumpster bins. $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. 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. (closed Sundays, Memorial Day through Labor Day) Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

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 will close its exhibition galleries for renovation on October 1. It will reopen in early 2002. On View until October 1, 2001: “Ishi and the Invention of Yahi Culture.” “Sites Along the Nile: Rescuing Ancient Egypt.” “The Art of Research: Nelson Graburn and the Aesthetics of Inuit Sculpture.” “Tzintzuntzan, Mexico: Photographs by George Foster.”  

$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 or www.qal.berkeley.edu/~hearst/ 

Lawrence Hall of Science “Science in Toyland,” through Sept. 9. Exhibit uses toys to demonstrate scientific principles and to help develop children's thinking processes. Susan Cerny’s collection of over 200 tops from around the world. “Space Weather,” through Sept. 2. Learn about solar cycles, space weather, the cause of the Aurorae and recent discoveries made by leading astronomers. This interactive exhibit lets visitors access near real-time data from the Sun and space, view interactive videos and find out about a variety of solar activities. “Within the Human Brain,” ongoing. Visitors test their cranial nerves, play skeeball, master mazes, match musical tones and construct stories inside a simulated “rat cage” of learning experiments. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza. Space Weather Exhibit now - Sept. 2; now - Sept. 9 Science in Toyland; 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  

The UC Berkeley Art Museum is closed for renovations until the fall. 

MUSIC 

924 Gilman St. Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. July 20: Raw Power, Decry, S.M.D., Scurvy Dogs, Blown To Bits; July 21: Babyland, 78 RPMs Derelectics, Man Alive, Philps & Reuter; July 27: Throw Down, Glood Clean Fun, Count Me Out, Time Flies, Faded Grey, Lab Rats; July 28: Over My Dead Body, Carry On, Merrick, Some Still Believe, Black Lung Patriots; Aug. 3: Sworn Vengeance, N.J. Bloodline, Settle the Score, Existence, Step; Aug. 4: Toxic Narcotic, Menstrual Tramps, Emo Summer, Four Letter Word, Shitty Wickets. $5. 924 Gilman St. 525-9926. 

Albatross Pub Music at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. July 18: Whiskey Brothers; July 19: Keni “El Lebrijano”; July 21: Tipsy House Irish band; July 24: Madd and Eddie Duran jazz duo. 1822 San Pablo 843-2473 

Anna’s Bistro Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. July 17: Joe Livotti Jazz Duo; July 18: Bob Schoen Jazz Quartet; July 19: Jazz Singer’s Collective; July 20: Anna & Susie Laraine, Perri Poston; 10 p.m., Bluesman Hideo Date; July 21: Jazz singers Vicki Burns & Felice York and trio; 10:30 p.m., The Ducksan Distones jazz sextet; July 22: Acoustic Soul; July 23: Renegade Sidemen; July 24: Junebug; July 25: Bob Schoen Jazz Quartet; July 26: Rich Kalman Trio & “Con Alma”; July 27: Anna & Susie Laraine, Perri Poston; 10 p.m., Hideo Date Bluesman; July 28: Marie-Louise Fiatarone Trio; 10:30 p.m., The Ducksan Distones; July 29: Panacea; July 30: Renegade Sidemen; July 31: Jason Martineau; 1801 University Ave. 849-ANNA 

Ashkenaz July 17: 9 p.m., Rock n’ Blues with The Jennifer Will Band. $7; July 18: 9 p.m., Swamp boogie with Tee Fee, 8 p.m. dance lesson with Diana Costillo; July 19: 10 p.m., Dead DJ Nite with Digital Dave. $5; July 20: 9:30 p.m., Steve Lucky and The Rhumba Bums play East Coast Swing and Lindy Hop. 8 p.m. dance lesson with Nick and Shanna. $11; July 21: 9:30 p.m., Balkan Night with Edessa and Anoush. Turkish dance lesson with Ahmet Luleci at 8 p.m. $12; July 22: 9 p.m., Wagogo, Heartpumping Miranda music from Zimbabwe. $10; 1317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5099 www.ashkenaz.com 

Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery July 22: 4 p.m., Pianist Jerry Kuderna performs the complete piano music of Arnold Schönberg. Suggested donation $10; 2200 Shattuck Ave. 665-9496 

Eli’s Mile High Club Doors open at 8 p.m. July 21: Little Jonny. 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland 655-6661 

Freight and Salvage Coffee House All music at 8 p.m. July 17: Lee Waterman and Jazz Caliente; July 19: Waikiki Steel Works with Ben Bonham and Frank Novicki; July 20: Junius Courtney and His Big Band; July 21: The Kathy Kallick Band; July 22: Blame Sally, Erin Corday; July 24: Carl Sonny Leyland, Steve Lucky; July 26: Radney Foster, Darden Smith; July 27: Otis Taylor; July 28: Street Sounds; July 29: Tish Hinojosa. $16.50 - $17.50. 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jupiter July 17: Amaldecor- Combination of traditional Eastern European and French Swing. July 18: Cannonball w/ DJ Aspect- “hiphop-groove-latin-jazz-funk”. July 20: Koochen & Hoomen- local electronic. July 21: Orbit 4- hip-hop, drum ’n’ bass, breakbeat, jungle and jazz. July 24: Stringthoery- local jazz blues and rock. July 25: Suite 304- vocal harmany-based groove pop. July 27: Sexfresh- traditional American pop. July 28: Corner Pocket- Jazz. July 31: Basso Trio- Local sax, blues and jazz. 

All music starts at 8:00 p.m.www.jupiterbeer.com; or call the hotline: THE-ROCK (843-7625)  

La Peña Cultural Center July 19: 8:00 p.m., Rebecca Riots with Kim & Krista- Singer/songwriters from Berkeley; July 20: 8 p.m., Collective Soul- hip-hop, spoken word, 9:30 p.m., Mermelada’s Latin American music jam with Quique Cruz; July 21: 8:00 p.m., Family and Friends- Talent Showcase with soul, hip-hop and spoken word; July 22: 7 p.m., It Takes a Community to Raise a CD- Mary Watkins & Lisa Cohen, Gwen Avery, Avotcja, June Millington & the Slamming Babes, Blackberri and more; July 24: 7:30 p.m., Temp Slave, the Musical- Musical Satire from Madison, Wisconsin; July 27: 8:00 p.m., Raphael Manriquez- singer composer and guitar player celebrates release of new album; July 28: 8:30 p.m., Rompe y Raja- Afro-Peruvian dance and song troupe celebrates Peruvian Independence Day; July 29: 7:30 p.m., Moh Alileche- Algerian mondol player, traditional kabylian music. 3105 Shattuck Avenue 849-2568 

La Note/Jazzschool July 22: 4:30 p.m. Vocalist Nanda Berman; 5:30 p.m., David McGee Group; July 29: 4:30 p.m., vocalist Lily Tung; 5:30 p.m., Jazzschool Advanced Jazz Workshop. $5. 2377 Shattuck Avenue 845-5373. 

Rose Street House of Music July 20: 8:30 p.m., “Divabands Unplugged” with Bern, Roberta Donnay, and Elin Jr. $8-20 donation. No one turned away for lack of funds. 594-4000 ext. 687 

Shattuck Down Low Lounge Every Tuesday: 9:30 p.m., Posh Tuesdays with DJ’s Yamu, Delon, Add1, and Tequila Willie. Shattuck at Allston. www.thebeatdownsound.com  

“Midsummer Mozart Festival” All shows at 7:30 p.m. July 20: Four pieces including the Overture to “The Abduction to the Seraglio”; July 28: Four pieces including “March in D Major”; Aug. 3: Four pieces including “Symphony in B Flat.” $32 - $40. First Congregational Church 2345 Channing Way (415) 292-9620 www.midsummermozart.org  

“Mostly Baroque” July 21: 8 p.m., Bach, Handel, Strozzi, and others performed by local musicians. By donation. church of Saint Mary Magdalen 2005 Berryman. 

“Emeryville Taiko” July 22: 2 p.m., Traditional Japanese drumming with American influence. $5 - $10. Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 Collage Ave. 925-798-1300 

THEATER 

“Comedy of Errors” July 21-22: 1 p.m.: Free park performance of this Shakespeare comedy by Women’s Will, the Bay Area’s all-female Shakespeare company. July 14 and 15 at John Hinkel Park, Southampton at Somerset Place, July 21 and 22 at Live Oak Park, 1301 Shattuck Avenue at Berryman. 415-567-1758  

“The Laramie Project” Extended through July 22: Weds. 7 p.m., Tues. and Thur. -Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (After July 8 no Wednesday performance, no Sunday matinee on July 22.) Written by Moises Kaufmen and members of Tectonic Theater Project, directed by Moises Kaufman. Moises Kaufman and Tectonic members traveled to Laramie, Wyo., after the murder of openly gay student Matthew Shepherd. The play is about the community and the impact Shepherd’s death had on its members. $10 - $50. The Roda Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2015 Addison St. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org 

“San Francisco Improv” July 28: 8 p.m., Free show at Cafe Electica 1309 Solano Ave., Albany. 527-2344 

“The Skin of Our Teeth” Through July 29: Tues. - Thurs. 7:30 p.m., Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., Sun. 4 p.m. Part of the California Shakespeare Festival, a Thorton Wilder play about a typical family enduring various catastrophes. $10 - $146. Bruns Memorial Amphitheater, off Highway 24 at the Shakespeare Festival Way/Gateway Exit. 548-9666 

“The Lady’s Not for Burning” July 20 - 21, 26 - 28, Aug. 2 - 4: 8 p.m. Set in the 15th century, a soldier wishes to be hanged and a witch does not want to be burned at the stake. Written by Christopher Fry, directed by Susannah Woods. $5 - $10. South Berkeley Community Church 1802 Fairview st. 464-1117 

“Orphan” Through Aug. 5 Fri. and Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 7 p.m. Lyle Kessler’s dark comedy about a mysterious stranger invading the home of two orphaned brothers. $15. The Speakeasy Theater, 2016 Seventh St. 326-8493 

“The Great Sebastians” Through Aug. 11: Friday and Saturday evenings 8 p.m. plus Thursday, Aug. 9, presented by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley. A tale about a mind-reading act touring behind the Iron Curtain. A communist general believes the act and “invites” the Sebastians to his villa where the humor and excitement follows. $10. Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck (at Berryman). For reservations call 528-5620 

“Iphegenia in Aulis” Through Aug. 12: Sat. and Sun. 5 p.m. No performances July 14 and 15, special dawn performance on August 12 at 7 a.m. A free park performance by the Shotgun Players of Euripides’ play about choices and priorities. With a masked chorus, singing, dancing, and live music. Feel free to bring food and something soft to sit on. John Hinkel Park, Southhampton Place at Arlington Avenue (different locations July 7 and 8). 655-0813 

Opera 

“Carmen” Berkeley Opera takes a fresh look at George Bizet’s popular opera with a new English-language adaptation by David Scott Marley. Marley’s version restores many lines that had been cut from the familiar version, and includes additional material from the 1846 French novella the opera is based on. “It’s a little darker and sexier than the opera most people think they know,” says Marley. July 20 and 21 at 8 p.m. July 22 at 7 p.m. $30 general, $25 seniors, $15 youth & handicapped, $10 student rush. Julia Morgan Theater 2640 College Ave. 841-1903 

Films 

La Pena Cultural Center July 18: 7 p.m., Laborfest- International Working Class Film & Video Festival. “Resistance as Democracy” by Larry Mosque, “The International” by Peter Miller, “Songs of the Thai Labor Movement” by Wayne. $7 donation. July 29: 2:00 p.m., Laborfest- International Working Class Film & Video Festival. “Not in my Garden” by Video 48. $7. 3105 Shattuck Avenue 849-2568 

Pacific Film Archive July 17: 7:30 p.m., “Bangkok Bahrain”; July 18: 7:30 p.m., “Kiss Me Quick” , 9 p.m., “The Flesh Eaters”; July 19: 7:30 p.m., “Golem -- The Spirit of Exile”; July 20: 7 p.m., “Fires on the Plain”, 9:05 p.m., “Harp of Burma”; July 21: 7 p.m., “The Woman in the Window”, 9 p.m., “Scarlet Street”; July 22: 5:30 p.m., “Odd Obsession”; 7:30 p.m., “Nihonbashi”; July 24: 7:30 p.m., “In the Valley of the Wupper” and “In the Name of the Duce”; July 25: 7:30 p.m., “Spider Baby 2000”; July 29: Family Classic “A Boy Named Charlie Brown”; $4. Sundays, 3 p.m. New PFA Theatre, 2575 Bancroft Way 642-1412 

Exhibits 

“Ames Gallery Artists” Through July 22: Thur. - Sun. Noon - 7 p.m., Temporary gallery as part of the Berkeley Arts Festival with works from Wilbert Griffith, Dorothy Binger, Julio Garcia, and Leon Kennedy. Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery 2200 Shattuck Ave. 486-0411 

“The Trip to Here: Paintings and Ghosts by Marty Brooks” Through July 31: Tues. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 1 a.m. View Brooks’ first California show at Bison Brewing Company 2598 Telegraph Ave. 841-7734  

“Bernard Maisner: Illuminated Manuscripts and Paintings” Through Aug. 8 Maisner works in miniature as well as in large scales, combining his mastery of medieval illumination, gold leafing, and modern painting techniques. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 2400 Ridge Rd. 849-2541 

“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 

“New Visions: Introductions 2001” Through August 18: Wed. - Sat.: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Juried by Artist- Curator Rene Yanez and Robbin Henderson, Executive Director of the Berkeley Art Center, the exhibition features works from some of California’s up-and-coming artists. Pro Arts 461 Ninth St., Oakland 763-9425 

“Geographies of My Heart” Collage paintings by Jennifer Colby through August 24; Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541 

Images of Portugal Paintings by Sofia Berto Villas-Boas of her native land. Open after 5 p.m. Voulez-Vous 2930 College Ave. (at Elmwood) 

“Queens of Ethiopia: Intuitive Inspirations,” the exceptional art of Esete-Miriam A. Menkir. Through July 11. Women’s Cancer Resource Center Gallery 3023 Shattuck Ave. 548-9286 ext. 307 

“The Decade of Change: 1900 - 1910” chronicles the transformation of the city of Berkeley in this 10 year period. Thursday through Saturday, 1 - 4 p.m. Through September. Berkeley History Center, Veterans Memorial Building, 1931 Center St. Wheelchair accessible. 848-0181. Free.  

Readings 

Cody’s 2454 Telegraph Ave. Readings at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. July 19: Lonny Shavelson talks about “Hooked: Five Addicts Challenge Our Misguided Drug Rehab System”; July 23: Brian Skyes reads “The Seven Daughters of Eve”; July 24: Susann Cokal reads from “Mirabilis.” $2 donation. 845-0837 

Cody’s 1730 Fourth St. Readings at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. July 20: Lynne Hinton reads from her second novel, “The Things I know Best”; July 25: Alice Randall reads from “The Wind Done Gone.” $2 donation. 559-9500 

Poetry Nitro Weekly poetry open mike. 6:30 p.m. sign-up, 7 p.m. reading. July 16: Featuring the Silicon Valley Slam Team; July 23: Featuring Jonathan Yaffe. Cafe de la Paz 1600 Shattuck Ave. 843-0662  

Tours 

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

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  

Wood chips from a cut-down grove of Eucalyptus trees contaminated with radioactive Tritium is alarming a group of concerned residents near the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.  

They say the lab should and UC Berkeley should undergo a full environmental impact review before the three yearlong project is continued in the Berkeley hills.  

“If we don’t know the levels of tritium then it is inappropriate for the lab to cut down the trees in such a cavalier way,” said L.A. Wood, who lives less than a mile away from the lab and the Lawrence Hall of Science. 

Lab and UC Berkeley officials, however, emphasize that cutting the trees is perfectly safe.  

“The trees in question are very very far away from the tritium. To have any damage you’d have to eat 3,000 pounds of chips. You’d have to eat an awful lot of chips,” said Paul Lavely, director of the UC Berkeley office of radiation safety. 

Last week, workers began cutting down trees and feeding them into a chipper next to the Hall of Science. Lavely added that there was little dust since the trees were wet. Concerns over fire safety prompted the clearing, according to lab spokesperson Ron Kolb. 

But Wood believes that the lab is fast-tracking the project to get rid of evidence that they were feeding contaminants into the air. 

In a letter to Gene Bernardi, co-chair of the Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste, from Richard Nolan, director of the Berkeley site office for the U.S. Department of Energy, Nolan wrote that he did not expect any tree removal until at least December 2001. 

“I was quite shocked that they were being cut,” Bernardi said.  

But Kolb moving the project faster was to the lab’s benefit because the fire season is currently in full swing. He also said the lab tested 171 trees in the area in 1998 and 1999 and said that the amount of tritium discovered was negligible.  

The tritium got into the trees from a labeling facility established in 1982. In the facility, staff “label” drugs and other material by replacing hydrogen atoms with tritium atoms. Because tritium is radioactive, it helps researchers detect a drug’s presence in the body.  

In 1998, the lab said annual dose from the facility to a person living next to the Lab was .27 millirem – far below what the average person encounters in daily living.  

However, a 1996 study conducted by Dr. Leticia Menchaca, indicated that some trees as far away as 150 meters from the labeling facility had extremely high levels of tritium.  

Kolb said that none of the trees being cut down are close to those levels. Instead, he reemphasized that the cut trees have very levels and pose no health hazard.  

“We are confident that those levels should have no concern,” he said.  

But Woods isn’t buying it. 

“Last Thursday, there were kids playing 20-30 feet away from the downed trees. There is a tremendous amount of controversy as to how hot the trees are,” he said. “The whole process has been controversial but there has been no review. They simply do not want to open the door because the door is Pandora’s box.” 

The Parks and Waterfront Department is asking the City Council to approve a environmental report that deems the Harrison Street Skate Park project is ready to continue after months of setbacks related to the discovery of a carcinogen in the groundwater below the site. 

According to Parks Department report, the city has spent about $265,000 to clean up the contaminated groundwater. The groundwater was treated and discharged into the sanitary sewer in accordance with regulatory procedures. 

In addition to the report, Parks and Waterfront is requesting the council accept a new design for the skate park and approve $410,000 for the construction of the project, which includes above-ground skate bowls. 

Antenna moratorium 

The council will hold a public hearing to extend an emergency moratorium on the erection of wireless communications antennas, which facilitate mobile and cellular phones. 

Residents concerned about negative health effects asked the council to enact the moratorium after two antennas were proposed near residential neighborhoods, one was near a school. 

The council first enacted a 45-day moratorium in December and renewed the January for an additional six months. The purpose of the moratorium was to allow the Planning Commission to hold hearings on revisions to the zoning ordinance that would cover the public’s health concerns about the antennas. 

The Planning Commission held a public hearing on a draft ordinance, drafted by planning department staff but has requested additional time because a sub-committee is considering issues related to the zoning amendment and will make a full report to the commission at summer’s end. 

Rental Housing Safety Program 

The Housing Advisory Commission recommended the council adopt an amendment to the Berkeley Municipal Code that would require landlords to self inspect their properties yearly and submit a completed checklist to the city. 

The amendment would also require city inspections of rental units each time a unit is vacated. 

The city began to consider the amendment after several deaths related to home fires and carbon monoxide poisoning. Two UC Berkeley students were among those who died. One of the key features of the landlord checklist is making sure carbon monoxide and smoke detectors are in good working order. 

The Housing Advisory Commission has held numerous public hearings and has worked with landlords, tenants and UC Berkeley representatives to develop the amendment to the Municipal Code. The inspection program is estimated to cost upwards of $400,000. UC Berkeley is contributing $65,000.

If pro-choice supporters aren’t vigilant in the months and years ahead, then they could see increasing limitations on women’s access to reproductive services like artificial contraceptives, in-vitro fertilization, sterilization and abortion. 

That’s because these are the kinds of services the Catholic church’s Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services prohibits, and a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the hospital industry has seen more and more institutions fall under these directives. 

This was the message Rosemary Stasek, co-founder of California Catholics for Free Choice and a Mountain View City Councilmember, delivered at Berkeley’s Florence McDonald Community Room Monday, in a speech sponsored by the Alameda North Chapter of the National Women’s Political Caucus. 

There have been more than 150 mergers involving Catholic hospitals in the last decade. Nationally, according to Stasek, one in five people who are treated in hospitals are treated in Catholic hospitals. 

The Bay Area has 11 Catholic-affiliated hospital that fall under the directives, including San Francisco’s St. Mary’s Medical Center and St. Francis Memorial Hospital.  

Under the directives, these hospitals not only do not provide services like contraceptive and abortions, Stasek said, they also will not provide any information about those services to patients.  

In some rural areas, where the Catholic hospital is the only hospital, women’s access to these services has thus be severely impaired, she said. In Gilroy, for example, low-income women must take public transport to San Jose to learn about and receive reproductive services not offered by Gilroy’s St. Louise Regional Medical Center. 

Officials at Catholic Health Care West, California’s largest hospital operator, did not return calls for comment. 

Stasek said Monday that the Berkeley Community in particular needs to “keep an eye” on Alta Bates Medical Center, its largest health care provider, to make sure it does not come under the directives. Because of a 1999 merger with Summit Medical Center in Oakland, which does fall under the directives, Alta Bates could come under pressure to adhere or break its union with Summit, Stasek said. 

But Carolyn Kemp, spokesperson for Alta Bates Medical Center, said the Berkeley Hospital offers the full-range of reproductive services and will continue to do so. In fact, she said, the Alta Bates board of directors was very insistent that Alta Bates be allowed to provide such services under the merger agreement with Summit. 

“When [Alta Bates and Summit] merged, that was one of the things that board members were very concerned that we pay attention to,” Kemp said. 

Kemp also stressed that most reproductive services are provided at the level of a physician’s office, rather than in the hospital setting. 

“It’s between the physician and the individual,” Kemp said. “We’re here to provide the proper environment for whatever decision they make.” 

Catherine Trimbur, a Berkeley attorney and NWPC member who came to hear Stasek speak Monday, said it is sometimes difficult to get good information about the level of threat the growth of Catholic hospital systems could pose to a women’s right to choose.  

But, at least for the time being, Trimbur isn’t too worried about Berkeley. 

“At the moment, things are fine,” Trimbur said. “And it’s my personal belief that things will stay that way, because if anyone tried to impose restrictions [on reproductive care] in Berkeley the community would be in an uproar.”

SAN FRANCISCO — One of the nation’s top embryonic stem cell scientists is leaving the country to work overseas, and the university that employed him has temporarily halted new research in the area. 

Citing an increasingly hostile political climate in the United States surrounding such research, University of California, San Francisco biology professor Roger Pedersen said Monday he’s moving later this summer to Cambridge University in England. 

England publicly supports Pedersen’s research, which requires the destruction of days-old embryos, while the United States government currently does not.  

The U.S. government will not fund any research that destroys or harms an embryo, and the Bush administration is considering whether to make that ban permanent.  

Private funding of embryonic stem cell research is legal. 

“I was faced with an irresistible career opportunity, and the possibility of carrying out my research on human embryonic stem cell research with public support,” Pedersen said in a press release issued by the university. He declined further comment. Pedersen was working with excess frozen embryos destined for disposal that were obtained from fertility clinics. 

Fearing the university was running up against the federal funding ban, Pedersen and his nine stem cell research colleagues at UCSF stopped destroying embryos in April and confined their research to existing stem cells in their lab, UCSF spokeswoman Jennifer O’Brien said. On Monday, the university said it would not start any new stem cell research until the program moves off campus by Aug. 1. 

UCSF always has relied on biotechnology company Geron Inc. to pay for the equipment, materials and salaries needed for the stem cell research. But by April, Pedersen became convinced the federal ban also extended to “indirect costs” such as electricity, janitorial services and bookkeeping. 

UCSF said Geron always paid for these indirect costs, but that a National Institutes of Health policy maintains that federal and private contributions are inseparable. Haile Debas, dean of the UCSF School of Medicine, declined to comment directly, but said in a press release: 

“We strongly support work on embryonic stem cells, but are awaiting word and instruction from the National Institutes of Health and the federal government on their decision on whether they will support this work.” O’Brien said the stem cell researchers have found a new home and a new director of the program, whom she declined to identify. 

The University of Wisconsin made a similar off-campus move with its embryonic stem cell research in October 1999.  

James Thomson first extracted stem cells from fertility-clinic supplied embryos at Wisconsin in 1998, and that university continues to be the chief manufacturer and supplier of stem cells, which proponents say hold the potential to cure a wide range of diseases and ailments. 

Stem cells are formed in the first few days after an egg is fertilized with sperm.  

Stem cells are indistinguishable from one another, yet they grow into 200 different adult cells that build the human body. Researchers believe they can manipulate stem cells to grow into adult cells of their choosing, which then could be used to treat disorders in everything from the brain to the heart. 

Some U.S. supporters of the research fear a “brain drain” will occur in this country if President Bush decides to prohibit the use of public funds for embryonic stem cell research. Menlo Parkbased Geron, which funded Thomson’s research, said it is making contingency plans to move some of its stem cell research to Scotland, where it owns the company that cloned Dolly the sheep. 

“There’s a real impact here for us and for society if Bush decides not to apply NIH funding for this,” Geron CEO Michael Okarma said in an interview last week. “But the work will go on one way or another. We have an operation in the UK and that can be dramatically scaled up if we have to take this research to a more enlightened environment.” 

On the Net: 

http://www.ucsf.edu

MARIPOSA — Prosecutors said Monday they will seek the death penalty against a man if he is convicted of killing three Yosemite National Park tourists. 

Cary Stayner, already serving a life sentence for killing a park naturalist, pleaded innocent Monday in Mariposa Superior Court to three counts of murder and several additional charges. 

At that arraignment, prosecutor George Williamson said he will seek the death penalty for Stayner, who allegedly killed Carole Sund, her daughter Juli, and family friend Silvina Pelosso of Argentina in February 1999. Carole Sund’s father said the death penalty would be appropriate because Stayner’s alleged crimes were so heinous. Stayner admitted he tried to rape Pelosso and repeatedly raped Juli Sund before killing her. 

“The death penalty, which I understand is administered with muscle relaxants and things that show no pain, probably is a just thing to go after,” said Francis Carrington, Carole Sund’s father. “I would have prayed and hoped our children could have gone as easy, that he could have showed some compassion himself.” 

Stayner, 39, was sentenced to life in prison last year after confessing to murdering Joie Armstrong, 26, a woman who led children on nature tours in the park. Federal prosecutors dropped their bid for execution as part of a plea bargain. 

The death penalty announcement in the tourists’ slaying was anticipated after Mariposa District Attorney Christine Johnson brought in Williamson, a Solano County prosecutor who specializes in capital punishment cases. 

Stayner admitted the killings in a six-hour taped interview with FBI agents in July 1999, shortly after Armstrong’s headless body was found in a creek near her cabin in the park.  

An excerpt of the tape was played at a preliminary hearing last month in which Stayner described how he preyed on the tourists and methodically killed them one by one. 

He said he had fantasized of killing for months, and said he turned the dream to reality when he saw “easy prey” through a window at the Cedar Lodge, where he worked as a handyman just outside the park. 

Trial was set for Feb. 25, 2002. 

MODESTO — On many of the sleepless nights since Chandra Levy vanished, her mother slips into her daughter’s small bedroom, full of memories, and curls up in the little bed. 

She tells herself it’s so she can escape a snoring husband and a snoring dog. But she also admits its her way to feel closer to her daughter. 

In the 78 days since Chandra Levy was last seen in Washington, D.C., the room has become a sanctuary of sorts for her family, taking on a state of disorder the 24-year-old neatnik never would tolerate. 

Her younger brother, Adam, is constructing a toothpick model of the Eiffel Tower there. Her mother leaves the bed disheveled. And her father, Robert, grieves amid the diplomas, books and pictures, sometimes chanting her name and crying. 

“It’s just the most painful thing,” Susan Levy told The Associated Press in an interview. “It’s been 11 weeks of torturous craziness.” 

Since they reported their daughter missing, each day offers a range of challenges: from getting out of bed to turning over Chandra’s dental records to viewing TV footage of police dogs searching landfills and abandoned buildings. 

Anger, sadness and anxiety fill the days. Unfulfilled hope and an empty bedroom are all they have to show for it. 

“Some days I just want to collapse, just do nothing,” Susan Levy said. “I shouldn’t say some days. It’s almost every day of the week.” 

Levy, who once founded a children’s museum and involved her children in her charitable works, projects another image in public, of the vigilant mother, a crusader for justice who wants her daughter back. 

She’s stood before banks of cameras to repeat her message. She traveled to Washington and confronted her daughter’s reported paramour, Rep. Gary Condit, the 53-year-old married man who represents their district, an agricultural region in the San Joaquin Valley. 

Her husband, Robert, a well-known oncologist who has delivered more than his share of bad news to cancer patients, is often by her side, his eyes rimmed in tears or his head bowed in grief. She does most of the talking. 

Susan Levy endures occasional criticism, such as the callers to a talk radio show who questioned what they see as a lack of emotion, or complained that other cases don’t get as much attention, or questioned her daughter’s morals. 

“I’ve had to be real brave,” she said. “I’ve found I have done things that I never thought I would do.” 

But behind the doors of her house, she struggles to get dressed and comb her hair each day. 

One day last week, she spread photos of happier times on the dining room table in the large, open room that is the heart of their spacious contemporary home. 

In one, a scowling little girl sits in a mess of shredded paper from one of her classic childhood tantrums. In another, a young woman stands with a squad of fighter pilots she befriended at an air show. And there’s one of the whole family, all smiles, shot in April, the last time they were together, just weeks before Chandra disappeared. 

Her father can only take so much of this talk. 

“Don’t go too much in the past,” he implores and then walks away from the table. 

But with an uncertain future and a present that is nearly unbearable, the past at least provides a comforting distraction. 

A ringing phone keeps them coming back. Their two phone lines ring as many as 50 times a day. 

“But not the one call we want, saying that ’I’m OK, I’m alive,”’ Robert Levy said. “That’s the only one we want. You don’t get that one.” 

Neighbors deliver food. Strangers from across the country send letters of support. Believers of many faiths – Jews, Buddhists and Catholics, to name a few – are saying prayers. 

Francis and Carole Carrington, whose daughter and granddaughter went missing for weeks before their bodies were found near Yosemite National Park, have helped the Levys manage a reward fund. On Monday, they also stopped by the Levys’ house on their way home from a court hearing for the women’s accused killer. 

The Carringtons didn’t have that much advice to give. Every grieving couple discovers their own ways to cope in such situations, Francis Carrington said. 

“I still want to have that flame of hope,” Susan Levy said last week. 

“Yeah, you should,” her husband said in a weak voice. 

“That flame of hope she’s alive and miracles can happen,” Susan Levy added. “I’ve been saying that the whole time.” 

Twenty Indian tribes have no right to any of the $200 billion the tobacco industry agreed to pay under the landmark 1998 accord between cigarette makers and 46 states, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. 

A suit filed by the tribes in San Francisco in 1999 claimed that American Indians were counted for census data used to determine how the settlement money would be distributed in the states, but that the Indian nations were not given any payments. 

That amounted to racial discrimination and a breach of Indian sovereignty, according to the suit, which sought $1 billion in compensation and punitive damages from several tobacco companies. 

The case stemmed from a 1998 deal between the tobacco industry and 46 states in which the industry agreed to pay the states more than $200 billion. The payments, to recoup the states’ costs to treat ill smokers, were in exchange for the states dropping any legal claims against cigarette makers. 

The suit said Indians were left out of negotiations for the settlement, although U.S. territories were included. 

“It was an exclusion by the states and the tobacco industry,” said the tribes’ attorney, Joseph Russell.  

He said the decision was disappointing and would not say whether the Indians would seek a rehearing or ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision. 

The 46 attorneys general and the tobacco companies did not include the Indians because they were not a party to the original suits against the industry that were settled under the agreement. 

“I’m sympathetic to them wanting to get a share of the revenue,” said Kristen Grainger of the Oregon attorney general’s office.  

“They couldn’t be included in a settlement. It only involved everybody who was a party to the lawsuits.” 

The suit also noted that tobacco companies raised their prices to fund the settlement, a hike Indian smokers have had to pay. 

But a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Indians had no legal standing to sue the tobacco companies, because they have not “suffered injury” by being excluded. 

The panel said that the Indian tribes had not proven that they have paid to treat ill smokers. The court noted that the states, unlike the Indians, submitted legal claims to the tobacco companies that were rejected. 

The case is Table Bluff Reservation v. Philip Morris Inc., 00-15080. 

——— 

On the Net: 

9th Circuit: http://www.ce9.uscourts.gov/ 

WICHITA, Kan. — Tense moments unfolded when anti-abortion protesters descended on a church attended by an abortion provider – only to be met by churchgoers less than pleased by the disruption. 

As part of the first full day of the weeklong Summer of Mercy Renewal demonstrations, nearly 30 protesters went to Reformation Lutheran Church, where Dr. George Tiller, one of the few physicians in the country who still performs late-term abortions, is a parishioner. Tiller wasn’t there. 

The demonstration upset many church members, particularly children who saw the protesters’ bloody photographs of fetuses. 

Keith Martin said children in his Sunday School class were “crying like crazy” after passing the demonstrators to get to church. “I don’t think any First Amendment idea is being conveyed to them,” he said. 

“I think what they would like us to do is ask the Tiller family to leave our church – that is hardly Christian,” said church member David Johnson. “To put those signs out there is to frighten God’s children.” 

Troy Newman, director of Los Angeles-based Operation Rescue West, said it was not the demonstrators’ intention to upset children. “Every one of these children understand abortion is murder – that is why they are upset,” he said. 

Tiller’s clinic was bombed in 1985 and he was shot and wounded two years after the first Summer of Mercy was staged in Wichita 10 years ago. Demonstrations also are planned near his clinic this week. 

The protesters had wanted to parade past Tiller’s clinic twice daily from Tuesday through Saturday. But city officials denied the request and closed the streets around the clinic. 

On Monday, anti-abortion activists planned to march several blocks through downtown Wichita to City Hall. 

“I don’t think we need to have a civil war over this,” said Wes Wolken, associate pastor of Word of Life Church where some 1,000 abortion opponents gathered Sunday. 

But he added, “I think there will be a lot of patience tried before this is over with – city police, us, them.” 

Protesters gathered Sunday on the sidewalk in front Tiller’s clinic to pray and preach. Nearby were abortion rights supporters. A snow fence was erected along the property and the curb to keep demonstrators off the streets and off the clinic property. 

There were no arrests. 

By sundown, the sidewalk was deserted. A city order last month imposes higher minimum bails for people who live outside Sedgwick County than for county residents. 

In 1991, the Summer of Mercy ended with 2,700 arrested after more than 45 days of protests and city officials want to avoid a repeat of that. 

At the Sunday night worship service, the mood was more about conciliation than confrontation. 

Talking to reporters, the Rev. Flip Benham, director of Operation Save America, said, “Our mission hasn’t changed. Our strategy has.” 

Asked if protesters planned to block the clinic, Benham said, “That’s not a planned strategy. Ours is wider in scope and we are winning the battle.” 

Demonstrators also targeted Metropolitan Church because of its support of homosexuals, and marched at two churches that have supported abortion rights. 

On the Net: 

National Abortion Federation at http://www.prochoice.org 

National Right to Life: http://www.nrlc.org 

WASHINGTON — Law enforcement agencies should review the way they recruit, train and supervise their officers to combat practices that unfairly target minorities, a group of police officials said Monday. 

While some police departments have enacted policies against racial profiling, and most forbid stopping people solely because of their race, most overlook more subtle problems of racial bias, a report by the Police Executive Research Forum, an organization of police chiefs studying new law enforcement techniques, said. 

“It’s not just simply stopping people in cars, it’s how you interact with people, it’s how you take calls over the phone. This is a broader issue,” said Chuck Wexler, director of the research group. The report, funded by the Justice Department, contains nearly 50 recommendations for police agencies ranging from recruiting more minority officers to working with community groups and teaching police about human rights. 

“Protecting individual rights is not an inconvenience for modern police, it is the foundation of policing in a democratic society,” Wexler said, adding that notices will be sent to police departments encouraging them to adopt the recommendations. 

The report urges police to only consider race and ethnicity when dealing with reliable descriptions of specific suspects and never as the sole reason for suspicion. Police should also be more courteous when stopping people and apologize if they make a mistake, it said. 

Police Chief Jerry Oliver of Richmond, Va., said that a bigger problem than stopping people because of their race – an action he has endured as a black officer when off-duty – is making people feel powerless. 

“A police officer has the power to interrupt your life, to pull you to the curb, to search you,” he said. “We have not taught them how to send you on your way feeling that you’ve got your dignity back.” 

The report’s recommendations for police agencies also include: 

• Recruiting more police from traditionally black colleges and universities and from the military. 

• Monitoring patrol car videotapes and radio communications to ensure that conversations are professional and free from racist comments. 

— Conducting regular reviews of the complaint process to make sure people aren’t being discouraged from reporting problems. 

A separate study published last month found that about half of all black men report that they have been victims of racial profiling. One in five Latino and Asian men also reported they had been victims of racially motivated police stops, according to the poll by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Racial Profiling report: http://www.policeforum.org/racial.html 

WASHINGTON — When it comes to minorities and women, the face of the federal government looks more and more like America. When it comes to promotions, it’s a different story. 

While their numbers are rising at entry-level positions, the percentage of blacks, Hispanics and women in federal service drops dramatically – at times almost by half – at crucial mid-management levels where many decisions are made. 

Presidents Bush and Clinton have set good examples at the top, civil rights advocates say – Bush leads all presidents except Clinton in naming women and minorities to political appointments. But that progress has not trickled down evenly. 

“When the decision-makers are white males, they pick those close to them,” says Avis Buchanan, an attorney with the Washington Lawyers’ Committee, which has handled many class-action personnel suits against the government. “Call it the ‘similar to me’ phenomenon.” 

After a wave of lawsuits, settled in the past few years but dating back through the administrations of Clinton, George Bush and Ronald Reagan, some agencies have taken action. 

The Secret Service, for example, appointed its first black woman supervisor this month. Last year, the Agriculture Department – already accused of favoring white farmers in its subsidy policies – introduced staff minority advisory councils. 

Colin Powell, the first black secretary of state, recently called attention to the place of minorities in the government when he pledged to raise the numbers of Hispanics working at the State Department. 

“There will come a day when a future secretary of state will be able to stand up here proudly and look at a more diverse work force than we have now,” he told Hispanic interns last month. 

The government acknowledges that the numbers of Hispanics in its ranks are low. But overall, an Office of Personnel Management report describes the government as the pacesetter in employing minorities. 

Indeed, the government is ahead of the private sector in employing minorities, and is about level in employing women. 

Blacks, 12.9 percent of the U.S. population, make up 17.6 percent of the federal work force, ahead of the 11.2 percent in the private sector. Women, just over half the population, comprise 43.8 percent of federal workers, not far behind the 46.6 percent in the private sector. 

But blacks are just 9.7 percent of mid-managers and 7.1 percent of senior managers. Women hold 30.7 percent of mid-management jobs and 24.2 percent of senior management positions. 

Why the gap? Minority advocates say promotion incentives meant to reward ambitious workers are sometimes abused by managers to favor white men. 

Some recent examples: 

• In December, a judge approved a $4 million settlement that said Education Department managers had abused a system designed to give promotions to those who assumed extra responsibilities. Those responsibilities were assigned almost exclusively to whites, the settlement said. 

• At the FBI, service in tough, SWAT-like teams was often a prerequisite for moving up the ladder — but women were discouraged and even blocked from joining such units, according to class action lawsuits brought by women agents in the early 1990s. The agency headed off the lawsuits by changing its promotion practices, said Robert Shaffer, a lawyer for the women. FBI spokeswoman Charlene Sloan said SWAT team experience was never a prerequisite for promotion. 

• In a 1997 settlement, the Library of Congress acknowledged that a broad exemption to standard promotions procedures introduced by Congress to attract talented outsiders had been grossly abused to favor whites. 

Mid-managers are important because they decide how to fill the gaps in broadly written legislation and where to spend money. 

“Political people come and go, but those people make real decisions,” said William Kennard, Federal Communications Commission director under Clinton. 

During his term, Kennard told his executives that their own careers would be assessed by how equitably they promoted women and minorities. He said his was a lone voice, even in the relatively liberal Clinton administration. 

“The civil service is hierarchical, it perpetuates systematic racism,” said Kennard, who is black. “You’re not promoted on merit. You have an old boys’ network.” 

Valerie Grant spent the last 16 years of her 30 years at the Education Department just below the managerial level. She was rejected for promotion more than 30 times, despite her consistent “most qualified” rating in internal department reviews. 

“I wanted to do something different, exercise my abilities, develop things,” said Grant, who is black. “I wanted to be creative.” 

Larry Bussey, a colleague at the department who joined Grant in the class action suit settled in December, said managers never trusted blacks. 

“It became clear there were no opportunities beyond the journeyman level,” he said. “We were the worker bees, we carried the water.” 

On the Net: 

Washington Lawyers’ Committee: http://www.washlaw.org 

Education Department’s settlement agreement: http://www.ed.gov/class—action 

OPM report to Congress: http://www.opm.gov/feorp 

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration wants to put on hold and re-examine a Clinton-era program spelling out federally required state cleanup plans for thousands of lakes and rivers around the nation, two administration officials said Monday. 

The broad cleanup plans issued last year were intended to reduce storm water and agriculture runoff polluting about 21,000 lakes, ponds, streams and rivers across the country. 

A National Academy of Sciences panel said last month the Clinton administration had put the program into place without enough evidence to assure the right bodies of water were being targeted. 

The Environmental Protection Agency planned to ask the U.S. Court of Appeals in a filing late Monday to delay deciding on a legal challenge to the program and to put off its implementation for 18 months, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

Environmentalists said Monday they were alarmed by the action. Under the program, states would have eight to 13 years to develop plans and start cleanup and water quality restoration programs. 

“They’re going to try to roll back this entire program,” said Joan Mulhern, a Washington attorney for the San Francisco-based Earthjustice law firm. 

The appeals court has before it a suit by the American Farm Bureau challenging the cleanup program, alleging that the EPA overreached its authority under the Clean Water Act in halting a California family from harvesting timber from their land. 

Farm Bureau spokesman Dave Salmonsen had no comment on the filing Monday but said the group was encouraged by the National Academy panel’s report last month. 

“Those are some the changes we’re looking for, a lot better emphasis on monitoring and better data collection to see exactly what’s going on in these water bodies before they’re put on lists,” he said. 

The National Academy panel said water pollution from agriculture and storm water runoff remains a serious problem in the United States. But it said EPA’s selection of contaminated rivers, streams and lakes lacked sufficient scientific basis. 

The scientists also criticized using the suitability of a lake or river for swimming or fishing as the criteria for deciding if it should be put on the cleanup list.

NEW YORK — Along with the tailings and other debris of the recent stock market debacle, some bright specks of pay dirt are filtering into the news of late. Not many, but enough to excite prospectors. 

Prospectors, to be sure, are optimists who see gold in lead, so those who listen to them may do so with condescension. It was, after all, the prospector mentality that led investors astray over the past two years. 

But this is what they see: A rosier consumer outlook, a pickup in manufacturing, a decline in business inventories, a few reports of higher corporate earnings, and even some positive stock recommendations. 

The prospectors have been bored by inaction. And so, as the analysts at Standard & Poor’s weekly, “The Outlook,” put it: “The market doesn’t need a lot of good news at this stage, just relief from the pervasive gloom and doom of recent months.” 

But the danger, then, might be in reading too much into the evidence. 

While The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index rose for a second straight month in June, the director of its Consumer Research Center cautioned about expecting consumers to go on a shopping binge. 

While manufacturing activity has almost leveled off after a steep slide to its lowest point in nearly three decades, the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI warned that a rebound, at least for now, isn’t a certainty. 

While there have been some healthy earnings increases, they stand out in rarity, not strength. Some companies have beaten their lowered forecasts. And some have surprised by losing less than anticipated. But there are few indications of a quick end to the tech-company slump. 

As they say, much depends on how you look at the evidence. These are special times. What once would have caused barely a lifted eyebrow is now treasured for its sparkle and is seen as auguring better times. 

The latest small-business economic report from the National Federation of Independent Business is an example. 

It shows hiring plans at the lowest reading since 1994, and capital spending expectations declining. Sales were the poorest in survey history. The frequency of profit declines was the most pervasive since 1990. 

But Prof. William Dunkelberg, an experienced economist who has seen worse, points out that “compared to last year, it’s not a party, but historically, it’s not so bad.” 

The key to understanding the prospector mind is the word “comparison.” Americans had become accustomed to strong economies and rising stocks year after year. Today, anything less is jolting. It can’t be true. 

Dunkelberg admits “The road ahead looks pretty flat – no serious dips, but no elevation either.” But looking at the brighter side of things, he points out that “a recession is not in our forecast.” 

John Cunniff is a business analyst for The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — Attacking an increasingly popular Internet business practice, a consumer watchdog group Monday filed a Federal Trade Commission complaint alleging that many online search engines are concealing the impact that special fees have on their results. 

Commercial Alert, a 3-year-old group founded by consumer activist Ralph Nader, asked the FTC to investigate whether eight of the Web’s largest search engines are violating federal laws against deceptive advertising. 

The group alleges that the search engines are abandoning objective formulas to determine the order of their listed results, and selling the top spots to the highest bidders without making adequate disclosures to Web surfers. 

The complaint touches a hot-button issue affecting tens of millions of people who submit search queries each day. With more than 2 billion pages and more than 14 billion hyperlinks on the Web, search requests rank as the second most popular online activity after e-mail. 

The eight search engines named in Commercial Alert’s complaint are: MSN, owned by Microsoft Corp.; Netscape, owned by AOL Time Warner Inc.; Directhit, owned by Ask Jeeves Inc.; HotBot, owned by Terra Lycos; Lycos, also owned by Terra Lycos; Altavista, owned by CMGI Inc.; LookSmart, owned by LookSmart Ltd.; and iWon, owned by a privately held company operating under the same name. 

Portland, Ore.-based Commercial Alert could have named even more search engines in its complaint, but focused on the biggest sites that are auctioning off spots in their results, said Gary Ruskin, the group’s executive director. 

“Search engines have become central in the quest for learning and knowledge in our society. The ability to skew the results in favor of hucksters without telling consumers is a serious problem,” Ruskin said. 

By late Monday afternoon, three of the search engines had responded to The Associated Press’ inquiries about the complaint. Two, LookSmart and AltaVista, denied the charges. Microsoft spokesman Matt Pilla said MSN is delivering “compelling search results that people want.” The FTC had no comment about the complaint Monday. 

The complaint takes aim at the new business plans embraced by more search engines as they try to cash in on their pivotal role as Web guides and reverse a steady stream of losses. 

To boost revenue, search engines over the past year have been accepting payments from businesses interested in receiving a higher ranking in certain categories or ensuring that their sites are reviewed more frequently. 

Basing a search engine’s rankings on the amount of money paid by a business is known as “pay for placement.” Accepting a fee from a business that wants a search engine’s automated “crawlers” to review sites more frequently is known as “pay for inclusion.” 

Commercial Alert alleges the search engines are breaking the law by not making it clear that their results “are paid ads in disguise.” The managers of the search engines contend that results swayed by fees are clearly labeled. The search engines typically show the fee-paying sites under headings such as “Featured” or “Partner” sites. The results retrieved using objective formulas generally are listed under a separate heading. 

“Based on the feedback we have received, our users are very clear about the distinctions. We feel very good about our service,” said AltaVista spokeswoman Kristi Kaspar. AltaVista launched its pay-for-placement service earlier this year. 

Monday’s complaint marks the first time federal regulators have been asked to look into the pay-for-placement and pay-for-inclusion movement, said Danny Sullivan, who has closely watched the growth of the practices as an analyst for Searchenginewatch.com. 

“It’s becoming so widespread that it was probably only a matter of time before something like this happened,” Sullivan said. 

In its complaint, Commercial Alert alleges that the search engines’ misleading paid listings are equivalent to television informercials masquerading as independent programming. In the past, the FTC has cracked down on informercials that weren’t adequately labeled as advertising. 

Because the search engines used to base their results exclusively on objective criteria, most Web surfers depend on the “editorial integrity” of search engines, Commercial Alert said in its complaint. The group called the change to pay-for-placement “a high-tech case of bait-and-switch.” 

But Sullivan said the growing emphasis on pay-for-placement hasn’t been much of a shock to many Web surfers. 

“There are a lot of people who have always assumed that businesses are paying money to be included in a search engine’s results,” Sullivan said.

SAN FRANCISCO — The tap water of at least 7 million Californians is contaminated with a chemical from rocket fuel, a problem that affects people in at least 17 other states, according to an environmental group’s study. 

After collecting data from the federal and local governments, the Environmental Working Group has found that perchlorate, a chemical that affects the thyroid, has tainted wells and river water that feeds California, and contends that suggested acceptable levels are far above where they should be. 

The group suggests an enforceable limit on the amount of perchlorate allowed in water. Currently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has an advisory level of 4 parts to 18 parts per billion, and the group suggests a 4.3 parts per billion limit. California has a level that recommends that a water source be closely monitored if the perchlorate level reaches 18 parts per billion. 

The EPA completed a review in February 1999, and is now refining it for greater accuracy. 

Too much perchlorate can damage the thyroid gland, which controls growth, development and metabolism. Fetuses and children with damage to their thyroids could suffer retardation, hearing or speech loss and motor skill problems. The chemical also can cause cancer at high levels. 

Perchlorate is a salt made of ammonia and chlorine that is one of the explosive components of rocket fuel. It affects areas where rocket construction or testing have taken place. 

Places in California being cleaned up include the Baldwin Park Superfund site in the San Gabriel Valley and an Aerojet Corp. Superfund site in Rancho Cordova, near Sacramento. At both places, the cleanup goal is to get down to 4 parts per billion. 

Because there is no set regulatory level, the EPA decides on a case-by-case basis what the acceptable level of cleanup should be, according to Kevin Mayer, Region 9 perchlorate coordinator. 

The EPA is currently doing studies and testing water sources around the country to establish a basis for regulatory decisions for drinking water and Superfund sites, Mayer said. 

While at least 7 million Californians could be affected by perchlorate, the number of people around the country who could be affected is unknown because little testing has been done, the EWG reported. 

The chemical has been measured in the Colorado River and Lake Mead; in Phoenix, Tucson and other areas in Arizona; as well as cities in Indiana, Iowa and Kansas. 

Perchlorate can be cleaned up using bacteria that use the chemical to breathe when there’s no oxygen in the water, by using a resin designed to absorb the salts, or by using ions to take out charged particles. A type of filter also can be used to filter out the molecules. 

But the treatments are expensive, and EWG estimates that just for a part of cleanup at the Rancho Cordova site the cost could be $50 million and last more than 200 years. 

Perchlorate is still made and used, but disposal has improved since workers used to hose the stale perchlorate out of rockets and replace it with the fresh chemical. The result of that was to have the chemical leeching into the ground, said Bill Walker, California director of the Environmental Working Group. 

“Even in the name of national defense or the space race, we just can’t afford to be this cavalier about what we do with waste,” he said. 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.ewg.org 

http://www.epa.gov 

The Berkeley City Council unanimously approved a resolution calling on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to set aside $11.9 million for a three-year program to provide free bus passes for low-income middle and high school students last week. 

Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson and Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia are trying to drum up support for the plan, which will come before the MTC July 25. 

The MTC is the transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. 

The three-year pilot program would provide free bus passes to more than 33,000 middle and high school students who participate in free or reduced lunch programs in Alameda and West Contra Costa Counties. It would also reduce the $95 rate all students must pay for a one-year AC Transit bus pass by 65 percent.  

According to a study of student transit needs by AC Transit last year, many low-income families find it difficult to afford $27 monthly bus passes for their children and instead opt to pay as they go.  

As a result, the study found, the school attendance rate of low-income children tends to drop towards the end of the month as the money runs out, particularly in areas where walking to school simply isn’t an option. 

In Sacramento, where teen activists recently convinced the transit operator to reduce high school and middle school students’ fare by more than half for a three-month test period, a recent student found that 52 percent of students missed school because of the cost of the bus. 

With a free bus pass program in place, said Lara Bice, a legislative aide to Supervisor Carson, “there will be reduced absenteeism at schools because families won’t have to choose between paying bus fare and paying for rent.”  

Since school districts receive state education dollars based on their “average daily attendance” rates, they could stand to gain millions in additional education funding under the plan as well, Carson and Gioia argued in a recent letter to MTC commissioners. 

In approving the resolution in support of the program last week, Berkeley city councilmembers said providing free bus passes for low-income families is a matter of social justice. 

“In Berkeley we don’t have that kind of documentation (of students missing school because they can’t afford bus fare), but we can only assume that there are low-income people who have a hard time buying bus passes,” said Berkeley City Councilmember Miriam Hawley. 

“If a low-income family has two to three kids, it could be a huge drain on the family budget,” Hawley added. 

Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean said of the absenteeism traced to students’ inability to pay bus fare, “If it happens in Richmond, I’m sure it happens in Berkeley.” 

Hawley said Friday that access to free bus passes would also make it easier for more Berkeley students to take advantage of after-school programs which are offered all over the city but are sometimes difficult for students to reach. 

In their letter to the MTC, Carson and Gioia cite studies that suggest the after-school hours of 3 to 6 p.m. are “peak hours” for teens to commit crimes, smoke, drink, use drugs or have sex. 

Carson and Gioia hope to have as many cities as possible pass resolutions in support of the free bus pass program before the MTC’s July 25 meeting, Bice said. The idea is to have the pilot program included in the MTC’s $80 billion Regional Transportation Plan, which outlines regional transportation improvement plans for the next 25 years. 

In 30 public outreach workshops conducted by the MTC to help formulate the RTP, citizens consistently asked that the plan include measures for making transit more affordable to low-income families, Carson and Gioia observed in their letter to the MTC. And yet, to date, the MTC has committed to no such measures, they said. 

“In response to public comment, community needs, and environmental justice issues, we believe that it is imperative that MTC consider – and fund – this pilot project,” Carson and Gioia wrote. 

The MTC is expected to finalize the RTP sometime this fall. If the free bus pass pilot program is approved, Carson and Bice hope that it’s impact over three years could persuade the state to pick up the tab for continuing the program in the future.

Monday, July 16

National Women’s Political Caucus 

5:30 - 7 p.m. 

Florence McDonald Community Room 

Savo Island Cooperative Housing 

2017 Stuart Street 

Special guest Rosemary Stasek of Catholics for Free Choice addresses: Catholic Hospitals and Restrictions on Women’s Health Care. Ms. Stasek is a highly regarded expert on the subject of women’s reproductive rights. Everyone is welcome. Free. For more info and RSVP call Cynthia Wooten at 559-8707. 

Tuesday, July 17

Intelligent Conversation  

7 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

A discussion group open to all, regardless of age, religion, viewpoint, etc. This time the discussion will center on best vacations, trips, and travel experiences. Informally led by Robert Berend, who founded similar groups in L.A., Menlo Park, and Prague. Bring light snacks/drinks to share. Free  

527-5332 

Free Early Music Group 

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK) 

Small group sings madrigals and other voice harmony every Tuesday morning. Call Ann, 655-8863 

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 Don, 525-3565 

Berkeley School Volunteers 

10:30 a.m. - noon 

1835 Allston Way 

Orientation for volunteers interested in helping in academic and recreation programs being held in Berkeley public schools this summer. 

644-8833 

Writing and Resistance  

In A Culture of Amnesia 

6 - 7:45 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Classroom #2 

Part of a workshop series on concepts and strategies for resistance through the spoken and written word, taught by Joyce E. Young. $12. 

849-2568 www.lapena.org 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

Derby Street at MLK Jr. Way 

548-3333 

Berkeley City Council Public  

Hearing 

7 p.m. 

Council Chambers 

2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

The City Council will consider extending the moratorium on the installation of wireless telecommunications antennas for cellular and other personal communications systems. For information on the moratorium call 705-8108. To submit comments or for other information call 981-6900. 

Berkeley Fibromyalgia  

Support Group 

12 - 2 p.m. every 3rd Tuesday 

Alta Bates Medical Center  

Maffly Auditorium - Herrick Campus 

2001 Dwight Way 

“Myofascial Release” with Rachael Peizer, PT 

For more info call D.L. Malinousky: 601-0550 

Wednesday, July 18

Blisters No More: Finding the  

Proper Boot Fit 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

REI footwear expert Brad Bostrom will show you how to make your feet more comfortable out on the trail. Bring your boots and socks to this interactive clinic. Free. 

527-4140 

Berkeley Communicator  

Toastmasters Club 

7:15 a.m. 

Vault Cafe 

3250 Adeline 

Learn to speak with confidence. Ongoing first and third Wednesdays each month. 

527-2337 

Ice Cream Day at LHS 

Noon - 2 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley 

Part of the Lawrence Hall of Science Wednesday FUN-days. Make your own ice cream and compare it to a commercial brand. Museum admission $3 - $7. 

642-5132 

Support Group for  

Family/Friends  

Caring for Older Adults 

4 - 5:30 p.m. - 3rd Wednesday of each month 

Alta Bates Medical Center  

Herrick Campus 

2001 Dwight Way 

3rd floor, Room 3369B (elevator B) 

The group will focus on the needs of the older adult with serious medical problems, psychiatric illnesses, substance abuse, and their caregivers. Facilitated by Monica Nowakowski, LCSW. 

Free. For more information call 802-1725 

International Working Class  

Film and Video Festival 

7 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Part of LaborFest 2001, films to be screened include “Resistance As Democracy,” “The Internationale,” “Songs of the Thai Labor Movement,” and “Zimbabwe’s New Chimurenga.” $7. 

849-2568 

Thursday, July 19

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 meeting will be a game night.  

654-5486 

Summer Noon Concerts 2001 

Noon - 1 p.m. 

Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza 

Shattuck at Center St. 

Weekly concert series. This week The Waikiki Steel Works perform vintage acoustic Hawaiian steel guitar music. 

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 

Quit Smoking Class 

6 - 8 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis Street 

A six week quit smoking class. 

Free to Berkeley residents and employees. 

Call 644-6422 or e-mail at: quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Salsa Dance Classes 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Classes every Thursday with live percussionists, light refreshments, DJ playing Latin music. $10 or $15 for two. 

237-9874 

Backpacking Yosemite’s High  

Country 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment, Inc. 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Slide Presentation. 

Marvin Schinnerer will share highlights from two favorite trips out of Yosemite’s Tuolumne Meadows. Free. 

527-4140

United States makes Japan vulnerable 

Editor: 

Although the movie Pearl Harbor’s domestic box office was $186,600,000 as of July 8, 2001, the Bush administration continues to reinforce the shibboleths of U.S. policy vis a vis Japan of the past 55 years. Fear of resurgent Japanese militarism lead to the drafting of a Constitution which now makes it impossible to ward off or even acknowledge the missiles fired into Okinawa Prefecture waters by the People’s Liberation Army. In their concentration on Japanese militarism, the leaders of the Occupation overlooked the communist trade unions and teachers’ organizations. The left has seized upon an ingenious theory that the Pacific War was an imperialist war insofar as it was directed at other Asians, but an anti-imperialist war insofar as it was directed against the U.S. The Crown Prince presided over Bomb Day, August 6, 1960 in Hiroshima. 

Since then, opposition to imperialism has coincided with “peace and Socialism.” The April election of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi does not portend that the Japanese people are “weary of their country’s colorless political class and its reluctance to buck the influence of the United States (Reese Erlich).” Just as the People’s Liberation Army has won increased support from the Chinese people by delaying the release of the crew of the U.S. surveillance aircraft, the “political class” in Japan can always drip into the friction caused by its status of forces agreement with the U.S. as the readiest way of increasing support for unpopular policies, e.g. raising taxes during a recession.  

Richard Thompson 

Berkeley 

City could be more helpful with recycling 

The Berkeley Daily Planet received this letter addressed to City Councilmember Maio: 

Reports of rat infestation at public housing should make us all shudder and express interest to councilmembers to remedy the situation, immediately. 

At my apartment, recycling bins recently disappeared; the city does a good recycling job with private residences but not with “commercial” users, according to the manager. 

I store wet garbage in my freezer rather than leave it outside in the monster, often overflowing trash bin overnight where flies and vermin have free access; but flies seem more frequent than ever this year. I doubt if everyone is able to avoid attracting pests with my technique. Our landlord may be “penny-wise and pound foolish,” regarding cutting back on recycling, but maybe the city could be more helpful with fee structures, number of pickups, tidiness, etc. 

Terry Cochrell 

Berkeley 

City officials need a lesson in urban planning 

The Berkeley Daily Planet received this letter addressed to the Berkeley City Council and Planning Commission: 

This whole review, comments, responses and comments process is basically flawed. The flaws should have been recognized and corrected right at the beginning by staff, the planning commission, and the politicians — if they wanted the citizens to fully participate and to make appropriate suggestions which could be used to improve the resulting documents. 

The proposed General Plan and the draft EIR should have had summaries at particular points where the intent of the document and the form of the comments was adequately and fully presented. And then the descriptions of the kinds of appropriate responses and comments of citizens should have been outlined so that those comments would be fully and directly to the point. 

Thus the continually repeated responses by the LSA consultant “that the comments do not relate to the adequacy of the Draft EIR” are cop-outs that are deliberately avoiding an answer to the points being made, which are in fact appropriate and deserve a detailed response. 

Note that many of those comments are made by professional planners and experts who know full well what they are discussing which should have had full responses by the LSA consultant. 

All of this goes back to the basic intent of the General Plan which is thoroughly discussed in the book: 

The Urban General Plan, by T. J. Kent, American Planning Association, Chicago, 1990. 

The late Professor Kent was planning director of both Berkeley and San Francisco, member of the Berkeley City Council, and eminent professor of city and regional planning at the University of California. His detailed concept of the basic role of the General Plan should be understood by Berkeley city staff and citizens, of all places. 

Charles L. Smith 

Berkeley 

Information is hard to come by from the city 

Editor: 

I am writing as a member of the working group attempting to forge an ordinance for the siting of RF radiation emitting antennas. 

On June 17 the City Council will be considering an extension on the antenna siting moratorium which it passed six months ago. I have been informed by a city official that the original moratorium and two extensions are permitted by state law for a total of 24 months. The city staff is recommending an extension of five months, which according to Vivian Kahn is based on a recommendation by the City Attorney’s office.  

In my opinion, based on past performance by city staff, the complexity of the issues and the nature of the work remaining to create a reasonable ordinance, which considers both the needs of the community and the cellular industry, a five month extension will create inordinate pressure on an orderly process, and will then require a thirteen month extension to permit the full use of available time, if needed. 

It would seem reasonable to extend the moratorium for half the remaining permitted time, which is nine months, to allow for less pressure. If we are able to get the work done in less time, all to the good. 

I have asked Ms. Kahn what the rational is behind the recommendation of five months, and I wonder what the rush is. As is usually the case, such inquiries seem to fall into a black hole and remain unanswered. This typical disrespect of city staff toward a reasonable request from an involved citizen strikes me as a problem for the council and city manager to look into. I have experienced similar difficulty from the Manager’s office as well, in requesting a copy of his report on the original moratorium. That report was not available until the actual council meeting on the moratorium. At that time the change to the definition of the word “incidental” was slipped in. This change substantially weakened the ability of neighborhoods to exercise the right of a public hearing in applications for antenna siting. I never did get a response to my request for a copy of his report from his office, and several weeks after the fact obtained one from the city clerks office. The city clerks office is thankfully, one department of city government that is responsive to citizens. 

The people of Berkeley need a sunshine ordinance. 

Leonard Schwartzburd, Ph.D. 

Charles and Anne Smith 

Berkeley 

924 Gilman St. Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. July 20: Raw Power, Decry, S.M.D., Scurvy Dogs, Blown To Bits; July 21: Babyland, 78 RPMs Derelectics, Man Alive, Philps & Reuter; July 27: Throw Down, Glood Clean Fun, Count Me Out, Time Flies, Faded Grey, Lab Rats; July 28: Over My Dead Body, Carry On, Merrick, Some Still Believe, Black Lung Patriots; 924 Gilman St. 525-9926. 

Albatross Pub Music at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. July 18: Whiskey Brothers; July 19: Keni “El Lebrijano”; July 21: Tipsy House Irish band; July 24: Madd and Eddie Duran jazz duo. 1822 San Pablo 843-2473 

Anna’s Bistro Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. July 16: Renegade Sidemen; July 17: Joe Livotti Jazz Duo; July 18: Bob Schoen Jazz Quartet; July 19: Jazz Singer’s Collective; July 20: Anna & Susie Laraine, Perri Poston; 10 p.m., Bluesman Hideo Date; July 21: Jazz singers Vicki Burns & Felice York and trio; 10:30 p.m., The Ducksan Distones jazz sextet; July 22: Acoustic Soul; July 23: Renegade Sidemen; July 24: Junebug; July 25: Bob Schoen Jazz Quartet; July 26: Rich Kalman Trio & “Con Alma”; July 27: Anna & Susie Laraine, Perri Poston; 10 p.m., Hideo Date Bluesman; July 28: Marie-Louise Fiatarone Trio; 10:30 p.m., The Ducksan Distones; 1801 University Ave. 849-ANNA 

Ashkenaz July 17: 9 p.m., Rock n’ Blues with The Jennifer Will Band. $7; July 18: 9 p.m., Swamp boogie with Tee Fee, 8 p.m. dance lesson with Diana Costillo; July 19: 10 p.m., Dead DJ Nite with Digital Dave. $5; July 20: 9:30 p.m., Steve Lucky and The Rhumba Bums play East Coast Swing and Lindy Hop. 8 p.m. dance lesson with Nick and Shanna. $11; July 21: 9:30 p.m., Balkan Night with Edessa and Anoush. Turkish dance lesson with Ahmet Luleci at 8 p.m. $12; July 22: 9 p.m., Wagogo, Heartpumping Miranda music from Zimbabwe. $10; 1317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5099 www.ashkenaz.com 

Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery July 22: 4 p.m., Pianist Jerry Kuderna performs the complete piano music of Arnold Schönberg. Suggested donation $10; 2200 Shattuck Ave. 665-9496 

Eli’s Mile High Club Doors open at 8 p.m. July 21: Little Jonny. 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland 655-6661 

Jupiter July 17: Amaldecor- Combination of traditional Eastern European and French Swing. July 18: Cannonball w/ DJ Aspect- “hiphop-groove-latin-jazz-funk”. July 20: Koochen & Hoomen- local electronic. July 21: Orbit 4- hip-hop, drum ’n’ bass, breakbeat, jungle and jazz. July 24: Stringthoery- local jazz blues and rock. July 25: Suite 304- vocal harmany-based groove pop. July 27: Sexfresh- traditional American pop. All music starts at 8:00 p.m.www.jupiterbeer.com; or call the hotline: THE-ROCK (843-7625)  

La Pena Cultural Center July 19: 8:00 p.m., Rebecca Riots with Kim & Krista- Singer/songwriters from Berkeley; July 20: 8 p.m., Collective Soul- hip-hop, spoken word, 9:30 p.m., Mermelada’s Latin American music jam with Quique Cruz; July 21: 8:00 p.m., Family and Friends- Talent Showcase with soul, hip-hop and spoken word; July 22: 7 p.m., It Takes a Community to Raise a CD- Mary Watkins & Lisa Cohen, Gwen Avery, Avotcja, June Millington & the Slamming Babes, Blackberri and more; July 24: 7:30 p.m., Temp Slave, the Musical- Musical Satire from Madison, Wisconsin; July 27: 8:00 p.m., Raphael Manriquez- singer composer and guitar player celebrates release of new album; July 28: 8:30 p.m., Rompe y Raja- Afro-Peruvian dance and song troupe celebrates Peruvian Independence Day; July 29: 7:30 p.m., Moh Alileche- Algerian mondol player, traditional kabylian music. 3105 Shattuck Avenue 849-2568 

La Note/Jazzschool July 22: 4:30 p.m. Vocalist Nanda Berman; 5:30 p.m., David McGee Group; July 29: 4:30 p.m., vocalist Lily Tung; 5:30 p.m., Jazzschool Advanced Jazz Workshop. $5. 2377 Shattuck Avenue 845-5373. 

Rose Street House of Music July 20: 8:30 p.m., “Divabands Unplugged” with Bern, Roberta Donnay, and Elin Jr. $8-20 donation. No one turned away for lack of funds. 594-4000 ext. 687 

Shattuck Down Low Lounge Every Tuesday: 9:30 p.m., Posh Tuesdays with DJ’s Yamu, Delon, Add1, and Tequila Willie. Shattuck at Allston. www.thebeatdownsound.com  

Starry Plough Pub Sunday and Wednesday, 8 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9:45 p.m. unless otherwise noted. July 13: Drums and Tuba, Mega Mousse, $7; July 14: Jerry Joseph and The Jackmormons, The John Shipe Band $7 3101 Shattuck Ave. 841-2082. 

“Midsummer Mozart Festival” All shows at 7:30 p.m. July 20: Four pieces including the Overture to “The Abduction to the Seraglio”; July 28: Four pieces including “March in D Major”; Aug. 3: Four pieces including “Symphony in B Flat.” $32 - $40. First Congregational Church 2345 Channing Way (415) 292-9620 www.midsummermozart.org  

“Emeryville Taiko” June 22: 2 p.m., Traditional Japanese drumming with American influence. $5 - $10. Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 Collage Ave. 925-798-1300 

“Comedy of Errors” July 21-22: 1 p.m.: Free park performance of this Shakespeare comedy by Women’s Will, the Bay Area’s all-female Shakespeare company. July 14 and 15 at John Hinkel Park, Southampton at Somerset Place, July 21 and 22 at Live Oak Park, 1301 Shattuck Avenue at Berryman. 415-567-1758  

“The Laramie Project” Extended through July 22: Weds. 7 p.m., Tues. and Thur. -Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (After July 8 no Wednesday performance, no Sunday matinee on July 22.) Written by Moises Kaufmen and members of Tectonic Theater Project, directed by Moises Kaufman. Moises Kaufman and Tectonic members traveled to Laramie, Wyo., after the murder of openly gay student Matthew Shepherd. The play is about the community and the impact Shepherd’s death had on its members. $10 - $50. The Roda Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2015 Addison St. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org 

“The Skin of Our Teeth” Through July 29: Tues. - Thurs. 7:30 p.m., Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., Sun. 4 p.m. Part of the California Shakespeare Festival, a Thorton Wilder play about a typical family enduring various catastrophes. $10 - $146. Bruns Memorial Amphitheater, off Highway 24 at the Shakespeare Festival Way/Gateway Exit. 548-9666 

“Orphan” July 13 through August 5 (no show on July 20): Fri. and Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 7 p.m. Lyle Kessler’s dark comedy about a mysterious stranger invading the home of two orphaned brothers. $15. The Speakeasy Theater, 2016 Seventh St. 326-8493 

“The Great Sebastians” Opens July 13, 8 p.m., presented by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley. Friday and Saturday evenings 8 p.m. through August 11, plus Thursday, Aug. 9. A tale about a mind-reading act touring behind the Iron Curtain. A communist general believes the act and “invites” the Sebastians to his villa where the humor and excitement follows. $10. Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck (at Berryman). For reservations call 528-5620 

“Iphegenia in Aulis” Through August 12: Sat. and Sun. 5 p.m. No performances July 14 and 15, special dawn performance on August 12 at 7 a.m. A free park performance by the Shotgun Players of Euripides’ play about choices and priorities. With a masked chorus, singing, dancing, and live music. Feel free to bring food and something soft to sit on. John Hinkel Park, Southhampton Place at Arlington Avenue (different locations July 7 and 8). 655-0813 

“Carmen” Berkeley Opera takes a fresh look at George Bizet’s popular opera with a new English-language adaptation by David Scott Marley. Marley’s version restores many lines that had been cut from the familiar version, and includes additional material from the 1846 French novella the opera is based on. “It’s a little darker and sexier than the opera most people think they know,” says Marley. July 20 and 21 at 8 p.m. July 22 at 7 p.m. $30 general, $25 seniors, $15 youth & handicapped, $10 student rush. Julia Morgan Theater 2640 College Ave. 841-1903 

La Pena Cultural Center July 18: 7 p.m., Laborfest- International Working Class Film & Video Festival. “Resistance as Democracy” by Larry Mosque, “The International” by Peter Miller, “Songs of the Thai Labor Movement” by Wayne. $7 donation. July 29: 2:00 p.m., Laborfest- International Working Class Film & Video Festival. “Not in my Garden” by Video 48. $7. 3105 Shattuck Avenue 849-2568 

Pacific Film Archive July 17: 7:30 p.m., “Bangkok Bahrain”; July 18: 7:30 p.m., “Kiss Me Quick” , 9 p.m., “The Flesh Eaters”; July 19: 7:30 p.m., “Golem -- The Spirit of Exile”; July 20: 7 p.m., “Fires on the Plain”, 9:05 p.m., “Harp of Burma”; July 21: 7 p.m., “The Woman in the Window”, 9 p.m., “Scarlet Street”; July 22: 5:30 p.m., “Odd Obsession”; 7:30 p.m., “Nihonbashi”; July 24: 7:30 p.m., “In the Valley of the Wupper” and “In the Name of the Duce”; July 25: 7:30 p.m., “Spider Baby 2000”; July 29: Family Classic “A Boy Named Charlie Brown”; $4. Sundays, 3 p.m. New PFA Theatre, 2575 Bancroft Way 642-1412 

“Ames Gallery Artists” Through July 22: Thur. - Sun. Noon - 7 p.m., Temporary gallery as part of the Berkeley Arts Festival with works from Wilbert Griffith, Dorothy Binger, Julio Garcia, and Leon Kennedy. Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery 2200 Shattuck Ave. 486-0411 

“The Trip to Here: Paintings and Ghosts by Marty Brooks” Through July 31: Tues. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 1 a.m. View Brooks’ first California show at Bison Brewing Company 2598 Telegraph Ave. 841-7734.

Missed opportunities, wild pitches spell disaster for Legion squad 

In a game filled with seeing-eye groundballs and Texas-League bloopers, it only took one big blow for the Danville Black Sox to pull a game out against Berkeley Legion on Sunday at San Pablo Park. 

For six innings, neither team had a single extra-base hit. Berkeley had touched Danville starter Adam Brisentine for eight singles, resulting in five runs, and Berkeley High rising sophomore Walker Toma had limited the visitors to just five singles and four runs, not to mention driving in two runs to help his own cause. But while seemingly every break had been going Berkeley’s way early, the late innings belonged to the Black Sox. 

It looked as if Toma would put Danville away, as he struck out the first two batters of the seventh. But a sudden spurt of wildness resulted in a walk for Jack Harris, only the second issued by Toma. That brought to the plate left fielder Shane Buschini, who was hitless on the day. But Buschini came through with a ringing triple to right-center, scoring Harris to knot the score at 5-5. Toma narrowly avoided further harm when the next Danville hitter, cleanup man Moose Worswick, hit a shot right at Berkeley second baseman Chris Wilson, who took the ball off of his chest but recovered in time to get Worswick at first to preserve the tie. 

The momentum swung back to Berkeley in the bottom half of the inning, as Bennie Goldenberg drew a leadoff walk. Toma, little brother to Berkeley High cleanup hitter Matt Toma, followed with a perfect hit-and-run single through the vacant second base hole, his third hit of the day. Jack MckSweeney dropped a nice sacrifice bunt down the third base line, and Worswick tried unsuccessfully to nail Goldenberg at third and everyone was safe. With the bases loaded and no outs, all Berkeley needed to do was hit a flyball or get a grounder through the drawn-in Danville infield. But they could only manage two strikeouts sandwiched around a pop foul, and the game headed to extra innings. 

Having thrown seven innings, Toma moved to third base as Jason Nealy came in to pitch the eighth. But Nealy was very wild, hitting Mike Bloom with his first pitch and walking the next batter on four pitches. A wild pitch moved the runners up before Nealy struck out shortstop Scott Nielson, and two more wild pitches cleared the bases. One out later, Nealy walked nine-hitter Ben Heyna and wild-pitched him to second. George Tucker hit a grounder into the hole, and Berkeley shortstop Jason Moore threw late the third trying to get Heyna. Nealy threw yet another wild pitch, scoring Heyna, and Harris knocked a double to left, Danville’s first hit of the inning, to plate Tucker. After another walk, Worswick popped out to Toma, ending the painful inning. Berkeley couldn’t muster the energy to answer the bizarre rally in the bottom of the inning, ending the game at 9-5 in Danville’s favor.

Dressed in shorts, sneakers and a large blue apron, David Dobkin is getting ready for a big meal. He is marinating a salmon, cooking greens and cutting bread. It’s Friday night, and as they do three times a week, Dobkin and his neighbors are about to have dinner together in the common area of their cohousing development on Sacramento Street. 

Deborah Goldberg Gray, a single mother of two, is cooking with him while her 4-year-old son plays outside with a neighbor. As dinnertime approaches people stop by, asking if they can bring a guest, checking what’s on the menu, or simply greeting Dobkin, who is in charge of a common meal for the first time since his wife died of cancer a few months ago.  

They are households who jointly own a property and are willing to live in a friendly and safe environment – that’s what cohousing is about.  

“Cohousing is a social structure,” said Goldberg, a member of Berkeley’s cohousing since 1995. “It’s a support system that is a step away and anybody here can yell out their window and get somebody to help them… That’s maybe more the way neighborhoods used to be.” 

Sometimes called “intentional neighborhood,” cohousing is a relatively new form of cooperative living. Born in Denmark in the 1960s, the concept was imported to the United States by architects Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett, who published a book on the topic in 1988. Quite soon, the idea caught the public’s interest and led them to create the Berkeley-based Cohousing Company, a redevelopment company. All over the country the movement progressively grew into a wide network that now has about 60 completed cohousing communities and more than 100 projects in development. Members of the network meet for conferences every two years. This year, the conference will take place in Berkeley from July 20-23 and will celebrate the 10 years of cohousing communities in the United States. 

Cohousing communities are entirely designed to encourage neighborliness. The houses are situated in clusters and face a common garden instead of the street. The cars are parked as far as possible from the residential area, and the development of the land is usually sustainable. Individuals own their homes, but share the common grounds and facilities, where they can gather socially. To participate in a cohousing project, members must pay an equity investment later credited toward the price of their house and be part of a development process that often requires numerous meetings. 

Created in 1994, Berkeley’s cohousing perfectly illustrates the concept. In addition to a kitchen and dining room, the common house, a turn of the century farmhouse, hosts a guest room, a playroom for the children, a small office and a laundry room. This common house, residents say, is what makes the coexistence of the 30 individuals of all ages and backgrounds who live there, harmonious. 

“There is a nice balance between being very sociable and having your own privacy. There are understandings about what’s common space and what’s private space,” said Juliet Lee, an anthropologist who recently moved in. 

All the common activities, except for the meetings related to the management of the property, she added, are voluntary. 

Still, for those who chose to live in cohousing, the social activities are precious moments.  

“We celebrate all kinds of events in people’s life. It’s nice to share it all together,” said Nina Falk, the eldest resident. “We really pay attention to each other.” 

Dobkin knows it better than anyone. The presence of his neighbors during his wife’s last months of life was critical to him.  

“It helped us both. She didn’t have only me. There were a lot of people who came to take care of her,” he said.  

The support of the cohousing residents, Dobkin said, allowed him to not quit his job and keep living a relatively regular life. People helped in many ways, some doing his laundry, other staying with his wife while he was out.  

“Although it was very hard and stressful we did it all together,” he said. “I don’t know how people do it otherwise. I just can’t imagine.” 

To register for the four-day cohousing conference, which will take place from Friday July 20, to Monday July 23, call (510) 486-2656. The conference features a tour of California’s cohousing communities, a workshop by architects McCamant and Durrett and a series of sessions looking at the first ten years of cohousing in the United States. The registration fee for all the conference events is $295, but there is a $150 special one day rate for people wanting to attend only Saturday’s event and a free open house on Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. For more information on the conference visit the web site: http://www.cohousing.org/conf/ca2001/ 

The University of California women’s head crew coach Dave O’Neill announced Friday the hiring of Sara Nevin as the school’s women’s novice crew coach. She will begin her duties on August 15.  

Nevin comes to Cal after serving as the executive director and head coach at the Lake Lanier Rowing Club in Gainesville, Georgia. During her six years in Georgia, Nevin coached all levels of rowers from beginners to athletes training for the U.S. National team. In addition to her coaching, Nevin acted as the full-time boathouse and rowing club director as well as Regatta Director for the NCAA Women’s Rowing Championships in 1998 and 2001.  

Before arriving at Lake Lanier, Nevin spent seven years coaching in the Seattle, Wash.. Between 1989-92 Nevin headed the Seattle Training Center, coaching a group of elite and pre-elite rowers. Her stint culminated with all eight women earning spots on the ‘92 Olympic team. From 1990-96 Nevin also coached the varsity boys rowing team at the Mount Baker Rowing Club. There, Nevin grew a program of 16 athletes to over 50 and won four U.S. Rowing Junior National Championships including the school-boys eight in 1993.  

Nevin earned a B.A. in political science with a minor in pre-medicine from the University of Washington in 1985. During her rowing career at UW, Nevin won three varsity eight national championships between 1983-85.  

“Sara is a women of tremendous integrity and is a very talented coach,” said O’Neill. “She will do a terrific job with the incoming class of recruits and the entire program will benefit from her ability. I am thrilled she is coming to Cal and excited to be working with her.”

The Berkeley City Council voted on Tuesday to support a museum exhibition that primarily features 15th- and 16th-Century European instruments of torture and death. 

But while the ghoulish exhibits in the Historical Torture Museum might appeal to our darker curiosities, exhibitors say their message is anti-torture and anti-capital punishment.  

The exhibit, which is sponsored by an array of humans rights organizations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Center for Justice and Accountability, is currently showing at the Herbst International Exhibit Hall in San Francisco’s Presidio. 

The council endorsed the exhibit, which includes Inquisitorial chairs, garrotes and an iron maiden, by a vote of 7-2, with Mayor Shirley Dean and Councilmember Polly Armstrong voting no. 

“I understand the reason for the exhibit but I just can’t bring myself to support it,” Dean said. “I can face a lot of stuff but not that. The whole thing gives me the willies.” 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who sponsored the recommendation, said he was surprised the endorsement did not get a unanimous vote.  

“I guess some people reacted to the recommendation like these instruments of torture are throwbacks to another century, like they’re ancient history,” he said. “But torture still goes on today and education leads to prevention.” 

Worthington said capital punishment is a good example of torture that causes human suffering to the condemned and their families. 

In a letter of support posted on the Historical Torture Museum’s Website, the president of Amnesty International’s Spanish Section, Manuel Corroza Muro, agrees. 

“If we do not provoke decided and tenacious indignation against this barbarism, the coming century will bring, without a doubt, a rich harvest of devices, monstrosities of torture and death.” his letter reads. 

The exhibit, which opened on July 7, coincides with a series of lectures and roundtables that will also take place at the Herbst International Exhibit Hall on Wednesday and Thursday evenings through October 10. Lectures and roundtables are free and will cover national and international events such as, “The Death Penalty and the Case of Mumia Abu Jamal,” “Death www.torturamuseum.com.Row in Texas” and “Torture in Chile During the Pinochet years.”  

According to the exhibit’s Website, the torture instruments are owned by Italian scholars who have made the diabolical equipment available for exhibitions throughout Europe and South America. 

The show includes the Maiden of Nuremberg, a standing sarcophagus that was fitted with spikes to pierce its victims when the lid was closed. The spikes were arranged as not to pierce any vital organs so the victim could be kept alive but in excruciating pain. The thick container was designed so screams could not be heard outside. The image of a young maiden was carved on the door of the container, which scholars guess was added to improve the device’s image. 

There is also a series of inquisition chairs, which have spikes designed to pierce the skin when sat upon. One chair has the capacity to be heated with coals to cause additional discomfort.  

Other instruments include a garrote used to slowly choke its victims. According to the museum Website, the garrote was used as the official means of capitol punishment in Spain until 1975. There is also a heretics fork, an especially nasty little tool for forcing victims to keep their heads erect.  

Marianne Graham, a Berkeley resident who attended the exhibit’s opening, said she was disturbed by the show but also inspired to become active with Amnesty International.  

Graham said she finally had her home computer hooked up to the Internet so she could receive notices from Amnesty International about human rights violations all over the world.  

“This is a powerful mechanism,” she said. “It just grabs you and makes you think seriously.” 

Despite the stated good intentions of the exhibit, some are skeptical of its impact. 

“I think it panders to a base curiosity,” Councilmember Armstrong said. “There’s so much meanness and cruelty around today we don’t need to be sponsoring it.” 

For more information about the exhibit call (415) 646-0606 or see the Website www.torturamuseum.com

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — Sixteen Greenpeace activists were being held Sunday on suspicion of domestic terrorism following an unsuccessful attempt to halt a test of a ballistic missile defense system, officials said. 

Four activists were arrested Saturday after swimming ashore from inflatable rafts moored off the California coast, said Air Force Master Sgt. Lloyd Conley. 

Fourteen other people were arrested by the FBI in cooperation with the U.S. Coast Guard, which chased the rafts — known as Zodiacs — up the coast toward San Luis Obispo, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Foree Cooley. The Coast Guard captured three rafts Saturday night and a fourth Sunday morning around 8 a.m., Cooley said. 

The arrests caused about a two-minute delay to the launch of the unarmed Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile, said Air Force Sgt. Rebecca Bonilla. The missile, equipped with a mock nuclear warhead, was shot down at 8:09 p.m. by an interceptor rocket launched from a tiny Pacific island. 

The purpose of the protest was to stop the test by entering the “exclusion zone” and show opposition to President Bush’s proposed missile defense network, said Greenpeace spokeswoman Carol Gregory. 

“Greenpeace feels there will be no success until Star Wars is stopped,” Gregory said. 

The activists were arrested on suspicion of domestic terrorism but it was not immediately clear what they would be charged with, said Cheryl Mimura, a spokeswoman with the FBI. 

Gregory identified those arrested after swimming ashore as Jon Aguilar, 31, of Carpinteria; Brent Hanssen, 22, of Columbia, Mo.; Kelly Osborne, 32, of Littleton, Colo.; and John Wills, 27, of Great Britain. 

She identified the other activists arrested as Nic Clyde, 31, of Sydney, Australia; Patrick Eriksson, 32, of Oja, Sweden; Katie Flynn-Jambeck, 29, of Minneapolis; Bill Hebert, 31, of Oceanside; Tom Knappe, 33, of Germany; Guy Levecher, 33, of Greenfield Park, Quebec; Steve Morgan, 45, of Cottingham, United Kingdom; Bill Nandris, 31, of London; Samir Nazareth, 29, of Nagpur, India; Mathias Pendzialek, 34, of Hamburg, Germany; Dan Rudie, 36, of Minnesota; and Jorge C. Torres, 33, of Mexico City. 

A British news agency reported that an independent photographer from the U.K. and a videographer were also arrested. 

Oakland police say the body of a man was found swinging from a freeway overpass near the Grand Lake Theater early this morning. 

According to a police spokeswoman, at approximately 7 a.m. a man tied a rope around his neck and jumped from the overpass on the 300 block of MacArthur Blvd.  

An Alameda County Coroner official said the body has not been identified. 

SAN FRANCISCO – At least eight energy companies have plans to build natural gas pipelines, which could lead to cheaper prices for consumers. 

“The California economy is very strong, and it’s going to continue to grow and expand,” said Jim Macias of Calpine Corp., which is developing plans for a pipeline that would run from the Southwest to Antioch. “We have adequate pipeline capacity for today, but we have to build capacity for the future.” 

The prospect of vastly increased pipeline space for natural gas, coupled with a building boom in California of gas-powered electricity plants, could head off crises such as the one that beset the state last winter. 

Gov. Gray Davis also has touted new plants as California’s insurance against blackout threats and price increases. Just in the past month, Davis has thrown the ceremonial switches on three new power plants in California, all of which run on natural gas. 

“California is building its way to total energy self-sufficiency,” Davis said Monday at opening ceremonies for Calpine’s Los Medanos Energy Center in Pittsburg. 

But there’s a risk to putting so many eggs in one basket, say some industry experts. California’s rush to construct the new gas turbines — at least 16 will come online by 2004 — is being repeated across the nation by states equally attracted by the environmental benefits and potential cost savings of gas. 

Those states will want to tap into pipelines being built across their territory for their own needs, said Joe Benneche, a forecasting expert with the U.S. Energy Department. Coastal states such as California and Florida might not get their fill from the leftovers.

SACRAMENTO – A $101 billion state budget failed to pass the state Assembly for the fourth time as Republicans on Saturday continued their opposition to a sales tax hike. 

Following hours of fiery debate on the Assembly floor, Democrats fell two votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass the budget. But a Republican opposition, unanimous until now, revealed its first cracks with two members voting with Democrats. 

Republicans Dave Kelley of Palm Desert and Anthony Pescetti of Sacramento abandoned their party and voted for the budget. 

Democrats on Saturday sweetened the budget package to lure defectors with nearly $80 million in special incentives for rural counties. 

Those extras included 36 individual $500,000 grants for police and sheriff departments and $8 million for Klamath River Basin farmers facing drought along the California-Oregon border. They also would waive sales taxes on farm tractors and diesel fuel used in agriculture. 

Modoc County Sheriff Bruce Mix, one of eight sheriffs who came to the Capitol to plead for a budget, said his $1.5 million a year operation has no 24-hour patrols or detectives. 

“Five hundred thousand to me is extremely meaningful,” he said during a news conference held by Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys. 

Republican leaders called the rural incentives “bribes” and continued to paint the budget as out-of-control government spending. 

“We have a budget that’s growing at twice the rate of inflation and it’s growing on the backs of taxpayers,” said Assemblyman George Runner, R-Lancaster. Added Assemblyman Tony Strickland, R-Thousand Oaks, “What is it about no new taxes that you don’t understand?” 

Hertzberg responded that this year’s budget is $1.2 billion less than last year. 

“We have shrunk government,” he said. 

The major sticking point to the state budget, now more than two weeks overdue, is an automatic quarter-cent sales tax increase starting in January. The tax, which kicks in when revenues slow and budget reserves fall below 4 percent, will add nearly $2 billion to the state treasury during the next two years. 

Republicans want to scrap the tax, which passed in 1991 during the administration of Gov. Pete Wilson with Republican support. Democrats say it’s necessary to avoid budget cuts in health, law enforcement and schools. 

“This state is reeling from energy costs,” said Assemblyman Kevin Shelley, D-San Francisco. “This state and many other states are moving into downturns and perhaps recession.” 

The state Friday stopped paying 2,000 legislative employees for lack of a state budget. Businesses that deal with the state will start going unpaid this Monday. 

The Senate, one vote shy of a two-thirds majority for the budget, is on a weekend recess and returns to the Capitol on Monday.

SAN FRANCISCO – The Internet economy is nursing a hangover, but the industry intends to party on this week at the Webby Awards — the dot-com version of the Oscars. 

A sense of melancholy hangs over the 5th annual bash — an off-the-wall ceremony that started at a small nightclub in 1996 and evolved into a glitzy extravaganza that showcases the Internet community’s innovation, irreverence, hucksterism and hubris. 

The organizers of the awards show Wednesday are trying hard to keep the spotlight on the achievements of the 150 nominees in 30 categories, but all the dead and decaying Web sites that have stacked up in the past year make it tough to ignore the odor of failure permeating the industry. 

“It’s certainly a bittersweet thing,” said entrepreneur Marc Hedlund, whose nominated Web site, Popularpower.com, failed four months ago. “Winning the award would be an honor, but I’m sure I will be thinking about what might have been.” 

Since the Webbys handed out their last awards 14 months ago near the height of the dot-com boom, 534 Web sites have shut down, according to Webmergers.com, which tracks the industry’s ups and downs. To make things even more macabre, 52 of the failed sites were based in the Webbys’ hometown of San Francisco. 

The list of casualties includes at least 25 of the 135 nominees from last year’s Webbys. Another jarring reminder of how much has changed since the last Webbys came earlier this month with the failure of Webvan.com, a nominee for the “services” award in 2000, and the shutdown of Napster.com, the winner of last year’s music award. 

“It sort of makes you wonder if the qualifying criteria for getting nominated this year was just being alive,” said San Francisco resident Brian McConnell, a telecommunications engineer who has never been a Webby fan, even when times were good. 

Popularpower.com’s demise notwithstanding, most of this year’s nominees are alive. Not all are doing well. Salon.com, Marketwatch.com, The Motley Fool, Sonicnet.com and Chickclick.com are just a few of the more well-known nominees that have had to fire workers this year to ward off extinction. 

Webbys founder Tiffany Shlain says the finances of the nominees are immaterial, just like other awards shows celebrating the arts. 

“There have been TV shows that have been canceled that have won Emmys and movies that haven’t done well at the box office that have won Oscars,” Shlain said. “Things got a little out of control during the last two years, but what we have always been trying to do is say ’Good job!’ in a fun, creative way.” 

Despite the dot-com downturn, many nominees still feel like celebrating this week. Google.com co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who rollerskated to the stage last year to pick up an award for technical innovation, “are as excited about this year’s awards as they were last year,” said Google spokeswoman Cindy McCaffrey. “It’s quite an honor.” 

Google, one of the Web’s most popular search engines, is nominated for a new all-around award, called “best practices,” this year. 

Like many hard-core engineers around the Silicon Valley, McConnell doubts the Webby’s judges, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, are particularly interested in technical innovation. 

“It always seemed like the Webbys was more about awarding what looked pretty and seemed cool instead of trying to find things truly on the cutting edge,” he said. 

The Webbys judges include rock star David Bowie, movie director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Gillian Anderson who all seem better suited to vote on the Grammys, Oscars and Emmys than the Webbys. 

The Webbys never looked more like a marketing vehicle than last year, when the event became a stage for zany stunts. Wiredplanet.com’s representatives wore space suits to last year’s ceremonies while the CEO of Intellihealth.com staged a traffic accident to draw attention to the site. 

Shlain believes this year’s awards will be more in step with the austere times, noting that the dress code for the ceremony is “gutsy.” 

The dot-com comedown still hasn’t touched the Webbys, which is bigger than ever. There are so many nominees this year that the awards will be distributed over two nights. 

After 10 categories will be recognized at a San Francisco restaurant Tuesday, the main event will be held Wednesday at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, where a sold-out crowd of 3,000 is anticipated. About 400 tickets, ranging in price from $90 to $150, are being sold to the general public, marking the first time that industry outsiders have been allowed to attend the show. 

New York Web site developer Philip Kaplan is traveling from New York to find out whether he will win an award in the humor category. His site, which has a profane domain name, has become hugely popular for its acerbic commentary about failing dot-coms. 

Like many others in the industry, Kaplan has mixed emotions about this year’s Webbys, but for different reasons than most entrepreneurs. 

“My business is going great, but I seriously think I got nominated in the wrong category,” Kaplan said. “With everything that has happened in the past year, I’m pretty sure I could have won the news category.”

Medical experts, patients and legislators are supporting a bill by state Assemblywoman Dion Aroner, D-Berkeley, that addresses under-prescribed pain medication. 

Assembly bill 487, introduced by Aroner in February, would require the Medical Board of California to develop a protocol that investigates complaints of undertreatment of pain and tracks the disciplinary actions taken. It would also make it mandatory for new physicians to take courses on pain management. It passed the state senate appropriations committee July 9. 

At a public forum at the North Berkeley Senior Center Wednesday, participants said the under-presciption of pain medication has been an ongoing issue for decades and affects a large number of people in California. 

“The numbers are striking,” said Dr. Robert V. Brody, chief of San Francisco’s General’s Pain Consultation Clinic, referring to a 1997 study of the undertreatment of terminal patients. “Way more than half of the patients who were dying did not have their pain managed in the last period of their lives.” 

One of the main reasons for the persistence of this issue is cultural, Brody and other panelists said. Many in the medical community and the public, they said, tend to confuse pain management with drug abuse.  

“The reality is that the patient who needs the medication will not become addictive,” said Dr. Diana Sullivan Everstine, a clinical psychologist who calls for better education on the psychological consequences of pain. “People who are prescription-drug-seeking are trying to feel a little better. They’re not trying to get high.” 

Sue Hodges, chair of the Oakland Commission on Persons with Disabilities, emphasized how critical the treatment of pain is for the psychological well-being of those, like her, who experience it on a daily basis. 

Hodges used an analogy to explain how depressed and socially isolated individuals with severe pain can feel when they’re undertreated. 

“Visualize the lens of a camera, the lens that you use to focus to take a picture of life, and look at that lens closing and the light getting darker and darker,” she told the audience. “For those of us who live in chronic acute pain for which there is no relief, there is no resting, there is no day off ... pain management can relax the lens of that camera, and allow it to open up again.” 

Sleep depravation, lack of joy, inability to focus and decreased sexuality are only some of the symptoms of untreated pain that affects its chronic victims, Hodges said. 

Dr. Sharon Drager, a local surgeon and president of the Alameda Contra Costa Medical Association, said that one of the difficulties in treating severe pain is the fact that there is no concrete way to measure it. Physicians can only rely on what patients tell them.  

“Pain is not a real vital sign,” she said. “It’s not the same as temperature or blood pressure because you can’t get an independent verification.” 

The best way to address that problem, she added, is to take into consideration all the aspects of pain, including anxiety, and to give patients autonomy.  

“Pain is such a complicated issue,” she said. “It has to be addressed in a global fashion and not only with opiates.” 

Contra Costa County Supervisor Donna Gerber, also a member of the medical board, said that the bill will be reviewed by the board sometime this month. She anticipates that the board will approve it and that the legislation will soon reach the Senate for a vote.  

For additional information on California’s Medical Board visit the web site http://www.medbd.ca.gov/ 

Saturday, July 14

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

Center Street at Martin Luther King Jr. Way  

Regular market plus annual peach tastings and compost give away. Free. 

548-3333 

Sunday, July 15

Hands-On Bicycle Repair  

Clinics  

11 a.m. - Noon  

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Learn drive train maintenance and chain repair from one of REI’s bike technicians. All you need to bring is your bike. Free  

527-4140 

Buddhist Practice 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Mark Henderson on “Fearlessness on the Bodhisattva Path.” Free. 

843-6812 

Second Annual Wobbly High  

Mass 

7:30 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck (@ Prince St.) 

Presented by Folk This! and friends, an evening of musical satire, subversion and sacrilege. This year’s theme is “Reclaiming Tomorrow,” a historical journey toward a future society without classes or bosses. 

$8 

849-2568 

West Berkeley Market 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

University Ave., between 3rd and 4th Streets  

Family-oriented weekly market. Crafts, music, produce, and specialty foods. 

654-6346 

Skronkathon BBQ 

1 - 11 p.m. 

Tuva Space 

3192 Adeline 

The First Annual Transbay Skronkathon Barbecue. Dozens of Bay Area musicians will play “multi-conceptual-deconstructed-creative-music.” Charcoal provided, bring your own items to barbecue. Free. 

649-8744 

The Wizard School of Magic 

1:30 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

UC Berkeley 

Part of the LHS Top of the Bay Family Sundays, “Benny and Bebe and The Wizard School of Magic” is inspired by the Harry Potter stories. Learn what it takes to become a real wizard. Museum admission $3 - $7. 

642-5132 

PedalPower 

8:30 a.m. 

Lake Merritt Garden Center 

666 Bellevue Avenue, Oakland 

Bike ride and pancake brunch fundraiser for the Asian Domestic Violence Clinic which provides free or low-cost legal services for abused women and children in the East Bay. Fourteen mile ride from Lake Merritt to Portview Park and back. $5 - $25. 

415-567-6255 

Berkeley Town Hall Meeting 

7 p.m. 

Unitarian Hall 

Cedar at Bonita Street 

Meeting to update listeners about the lawsuits against the Pacifica Board of Directors. 

658-1512 

Monday, July 16

National Women’s Political Caucus 

5:30 - 7 p.m. 

Florence McDonald Community Room 

Savo Island Cooperative Housing 

2017 Stuart Street 

Special guest Rosemary Stasek of Catholics for Free Choice addresses: Catholic Hospitals and Restrictions on Women’s Health Care. Ms. Stasek is a highly regarded expert on the subject of women’s reproductive rights. Everyone is welcome. Free. For more info and RSVP call Cynthia Wooten at 559-8707. 

Tuesday, July 17

Intelligent Conversation  

7 - 9 p.m.  

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

A discussion group open to all, regardless of age, religion, viewpoint, etc. This time the discussion will center on best vacations, trips, and travel experiences. Informally led by Robert Berend, who founded similar groups in L.A., Menlo Park, and Prague. Bring light snacks/drinks to share. Free  

527-5332 

Free Early Music Group 

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. (at MLK) 

Small group sings madrigals and other voice harmony every Tuesday morning. Call Ann, 655-8863 

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 Don, 525-3565 

Berkeley School Volunteers 

10:30 a.m. - noon 

1835 Allston Way 

Orientation for volunteers interested in helping in academic and recreation programs being held in Berkeley public schools this summer. 

644-8833 

Writing and Resistance  

In A Culture of Amnesia 

6 - 7:45 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Avenue 

Classroom #2 

Part of a workshop series on concepts and strategies for resistance through the spoken and written word, taught by Joyce E. Young. $12. 

849-2568 www.lapena.org 

Berkeley City Council Public  

Hearing 

7 p.m. 

Council Chambers 

2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

The City Council will consider extending the moratorium on the installation of wireless telecommunications antennas for cellular and other personal communications systems. For information on the moratorium call 705-8108. To submit comments or for other information call 981-6900.

NIMBYs are  

taking over the city we all love 

Editor: 

In over 12 hours of testimony on the Beth El project, of those in opposition, only five did not live within two blocks.  

We are now a town where NIMBYs are taking over.  

•We cannot implement a four-story housing project with 20 percent of the units at below market prices, on a transportation corridor zoned for four stories. 

•We cannot upgrade a long abandoned shop to support people with AIDS. 

•We cannot implement a softball field on existing open ground. 

What has happened to Berkeley? How can a city that professes to admire progress become so reactionary? 

We lampoon ourselves in the “How Berkeley Can We Be parade.” Lets examine this self-mocking as we look at the Beth El project: 

•It has been four years now.  

•It has been insufferable post midnight meetings. 

•It has been commissioners suing the city. 

•One commissioner actually bragged about “breaking into the site,” asking, “Why can’t we move them out of town?” 

How Berkeley Can We Be? 

They want to save the fish that can never reach the Beth El site. 

They say we should not pave over the creek. 

But every street in Berkeley paves over every creek it meets. 

They want a park to themselves. 

They want no change, no how, never, never, never. Not In My Back Yard!!! 

How Berkeley Can We Be? 

Beth El holds multiple workshops 

Initial concepts are changed & change again. 

Beth El, at its own expense, hires traffic, parking, creek, fish, tree experts, soil, structural and landscape experts. 

How Reasonable Can We Be? 

Beth El comes to the city with a project that is  

below the height, below the building footprint, beyond the setback, in excess of the parking requirements and in tune with the neighborhood. 

How Reasonable Can We Be? 

We lampoon our city because we all see how ridiculous it all is.  

Now is the time for the city council to declare, loud and clear: NIMBYs shall not rule.  

Now is the time to bring reasonableness back to the city, the city that we all love. 

Lloyd Morgan 

Berkeley 

School officials compromise  

student rights 

Editor: 

Thank you for your article covering the issues around Special Education. It will not be “okay to be a student with a disability” in Berkeley as long as it is okay for BUSD's special education administrators to compromise civil rights. 

Joann Biondi is quoted in your article as saying that disputes are resolved in mediation rather that formal hearing. Mediation is the first step in due process. That most issues are resolved there is because students can't wait to have the educational services and hearings take more time. Although services are compromised, at least they can begin to be provided if resolved in mediation. Also, despite what Biondi says, special education administrators DO take the adversarial approach to IEPs. If they didn't, parents and administrators would be working together rather than against each other. 

There are good things happening in Special Education. In particular, some full inclusion programs at the elementary level are very effective and professional despite lack of resources. Many of Berkeley's regular education teachers, principals and parents are smart and supportive. Special Education leadership should mirror their dedication, uncompromising respect for civil rights, and the appreciation for diversity. 

name withheld  

Cops who stop pedestrians for violations unfair 

Editor: 

On March 20 this year, I was stopped by a Berkeley police officer for walking across the street. It was at 3:15 p.m. Not a car was in sight in either direction. I was within the crosswalk. The problem,according to Hester, was that I was in violation of Berkeley municipal code 14.32.050. I had failed to pay attention to the signal. Indeed, the little red hand had begun to blink. 

I was stunned when the officer ordered me to stop and produce identification It doesn't help matters that when cars are around, I am often nearly run over by motorists when I am paying attention to the signals, whenever I wrongfully assume that they are too. Shortly after my incident, I even witnessed a car running onto a sidewalk and crashing into the restaurant where I was dining at, on University Avenue! 

Around about that time, I also spent a week vacationing in Tokyo. I was simply amazed at how polite the majority of the people were there. I was in the heart of Tokyo, all day every day, and I never saw a single auto accident. Just while walking to and from work along University Avenue in our little Berkeley, I see a vehicular mishap or near-miss (usually involving speeding) almost every day. 

It seems to me that the priorities of the police in this town are misguided. 

According to the Berkeley Police website, out of 29 beats, the area where I was cited accounts for about 10 percent of violent crime in Berkeley. It seems that the judgement of at least one officer is seriously in question. In this case, I was the victim. This citation may have been nothing more than a $103 nuisance, but it feels like the time that I was mugged in Chicago. 

In both cases, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was preyed upon by someone who did not have my best interests at heart. Are pedestrians and bicyclists being targeted as they are easier to stop than a speeding car? Perhaps. 

Martin Lane 

Berkeley 

Progressives can put their muscle behind Kriss 

Editor: 

At a time when so many politicians let their egos dictate their actions it is heartening to see Kriss Worthington put his constituencies interests first. Rather than engage in a divisive Assembly primary, Worthington willingly and openly deferred to such potential progressive candidates as June Jordan, Nancy Skinner, and Mark Friedman. Now that these leaders have bypassed the race, the progressive community can unite behind Worthington and avoid the divisive battles of the past. Voters will no doubt recall Worthington’s display of conscience and integrity in the selection process when considering their choice in the March 2002 election. 

Randy Shaw 

Berkeley 

Editor’s note: Nancy Skinner may, in fact, run for the office. 

Imagine a mystery novel sans middle aged lonely guy, hyper-femme perp or insanely effacing schoolmarm. In “The Big Nap”, the second novel in the “Mommy-Track Series” by Ayelet Waldman, we don’t even get a self-respecting set of four inch pumps. Don’t even think of asking for generic blood n’ guts n’ guns n’ cigarette smoke swirling into the blue. 

Here’s what you do get in “The Big Nap”: crackling sarcastic monologue, a breast-feeding instruction, an impressive South Park-like number of belches, a peek at the rarefied world of an ultra-orthodox Jewish community, and a sustained moment-by-moment travelogue of the privileged though stressful experience of a former Harvard Law School graduate named Juliet Applebaum, turned part-time sleuth and full-time mommy... Volvo station wagon and all.  

Berkeley resident Ayelet Waldman, whose first book, “Nursery Crimes”, launched the Mommy-Track Mystery Series, is herself a former Harvard Law School Graduate turned full-time mommy. She is married to Michael Chabon, winner of this year’s Pulitzer Prize in fiction.  

The postman does not ring twice in The Big Nap. The novel opens with the Fed Ex man at the door, delivering “yet another sterling silver rattle from Tiffany (that made seven),” and a bare-breasted Juliet Applebaum explaining the finer points of nipple care. Immediately we’re drawn into drama: Four month old “mutant vampire” Isaac won’t sleep and his mother is half out of her mind from fatigue.  

A solution presents itself in the form of gorgeous though virginal Fraydle Finklestein, a young ultra-Orthodox woman with baby-sitting prowess and the ability to drive handsome flat-stomached non-Orthodox 20-something former Israeli paratroopers wild. Fraydle baby-sits for Juliet one time... during which Juliet enjoys an entire two hours of sleep.  

Almost immediately the luminous Fraydle vanishes, her parents are unwilling to file a missing persons report with the police and exhausted heroine Juliet Applebaum is out of a baby-sitter and may never have the opportunity to nap again.  

Where is Fraydle? Was she kidnapped? Did she run off with the cute paratrooper? Could her disappearance have something to do with the fact that she’s just gotten engaged? (You know how dangerous marriage can be.) Juliet Applebaum’s curiosity is piqued. Or maybe it’s just that you don’t find baby-sitters like Fraydle growing on trees.  

Juliet Applebaum may go quite mad if she doesn’t get another shot at a nap … and so the race to find Fraydle is on. With her two kids in tow, Juliet Applebaum takes on the investigation, while in the background her workaholic husband, Peter Wyeth, seems to be spending entirely too much time with his lovely assistant, nicknamed “Maximum Mindy,” and the protagonist’s parents step in, here and there, to add touches of color.  

Like its namesake, The Big Sleep, a novel by Raymond Chandler which was turned into the classic film starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, directed by Howard Hawkes, The Big Nap contains some stunning way-bigger- than-life Hollywood action, plenty of sizzling double entendre, and a vision of parenthood that is on the radical end of extreme. 

Ayelet Waldman will read from The Big Nap on Sunday, July 15, 2001 at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books in Berkeley.

Ashkenaz July 14: 9:30 p.m., Paul Pena, Zulu Exiles, Tuvan throat singing and township jive. $12; July 15: 6 p.m., Food and Funk, Salsa dance and beginning Salsa lesson, Israeli food; July 17: 9 p.m., Rock n’ Blues with The Jennifer Will Band. $7; July 18: 9 p.m., Swamp boogie with Tee Fee, 8 p.m. dance lesson with Diana Costillo; July 19: 10 p.m., Dead DJ Nite with Digital Dave. $5; July 20: 9:30 p.m., Steve Lucky and The Rhumba Bums play East Coast Swing and Lindy Hop. 8 p.m. dance lesson with Nick and Shanna. $11; July 21: 9:30 p.m., Balkan Night with Edessa and Anoush. Turkish dance lesson with Ahmet Luleci at 8 p.m. $12; July 22: 9 p.m., Wagogo, Heartpumping Miranda music from Zimbabwe. $10; 1317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5099 www.ashkenaz.com 

Berkeley Art Center July 14: 7 p.m., Rhythm and Muse featuring Adelle and Jack Foley, open mike sign up at 6:30; July 15: Live Oak Concert with David Cheng, Marvin Sanders, Ari Hsu. 1275 Walnut Street 352-6643 

Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery July 22: 4 p.m., Pianist Jerry Kuderna performs the complete piano music of Arnold Schönberg. Suggested donation $10; 2200 Shattuck Ave. 665-9496 

Eli’s Mile High Club Doors open at 8 p.m. July 14: Mark Hummel; July 21: Little Jonny. 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage July 13: Jeremy Cohen's Violinjazz Vintage string swing $16.50; July 14: 10 a.m. - noon, Sedge Thomson’s West Coast Live featuring author Walter Mosely, Ray’s Vast Basement, The Waikiki Steel Works, hyperventilation by monologist and movie star Josh Kornbluth, pianist Gini Wilson, plus other surprise guests and audience true stories. $12; July 15: Carol McComb, Sterling originals $17.50 Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 or 762-BASS or www.thefreight.org 

Jupiter July 13: UHF- Mod Rock from Portland. July 14: Fred Zimmerman Quartet- Local Piano and Jazz. July 17: Amaldecor- Combination of traditional Eastern European and French Swing. July 18: Cannonball w/ DJ Aspect- “hiphop-groove-latin-jazz-funk”. July 20: Koochen & Hoomen- local electronic. July 21: Orbit 4- hip-hop, drum ’n’ bass, breakbeat, jungle and jazz. July 24: Stringthoery- local jazz blues and rock. July 25: Suite 304- vocal harmany-based groove pop. July 27: Sexfresh- traditional American pop. All music starts at 8:00 p.m.www.jupiterbeer.com; or call the hotline: THE-ROCK (843-7625)  

La Pena Cultural Center July 13: 8 p.m., Word Descara Series with Devorah Major, Babatunde Lea, Kash Killian, Richard Howell, Elmaz Abindader, and others; July 14: 8:30 p.m., Word Descara Series with Mingus Amungus, Seeking, Melissa Lozano, Grito Serpertino, and others; July 15: 3:30 p.m., Domingo do Rumba- Local aces of Rumba, Cuban rhythm and dance; 7:30 p.m., Laborfest- this year’s theme is “Reclaiming Tomorrow” a historical journey towards a future society without classes or bosses; July 19: 8:00 p.m., Rebecca Riots with Kim & Krista- Singer/songwriters from Berkeley; July 20: 8 p.m., Collective Soul- hip-hop, spoken word, 9:30 p.m., Mermelada’s Latin American music jam with Quique Cruz; July 21: 8:00 p.m., Family and Friends- Talent Showcase with soul, hip-hop and spoken word; July 22: 7 p.m., It Takes a Community to Raise a CD- Mary Watkins & Lisa Cohen, Gwen Avery, Avotcja, June Millington & the Slamming Babes, Blackberri and more; July 24: 7:30 p.m., Temp Slave, the Musical- Musical Satire from Madison, Wisconsin; July 27: 8:00 p.m., Raphael Manriquez- singer composer and guitar player celebrates release of new album; ; 3105 Shattuck Avenue 849-2568 

La Note/Jazzschool July 15: 4:30 p.m., vocalist W. Allen Taylor; 5:30 p.m., jazz trio Michael Hauser Group; July 22: 4:30 p.m. Vocalist Nanda Berman; 5:30 p.m., David McGee Group; July 29: 4:30 p.m., vocalist Lily Tung; 5:30 p.m., Jazzschool Advanced Jazz Workshop. $5. 2377 Shattuck Avenue 845-5373. 

Rose Street House of Music July 13: 8 p.m. “Doria Roberts & Making Waves” Featuring special guest slam poet Aya de Leon; July 20: 8:30 p.m., “Divabands Unplugged” with Bern, Roberta Donnay, and Elin Jr. $8-20 donation. No one turned away for lack of funds. 594-4000 ext. 687 

Shattuck Down Low Lounge Every Tuesday: 9:30 p.m., Posh Tuesdays with DJ’s Yamu, Delon, Add1, and Tequila Willie. Shattuck at Allston. www.thebeatdownsound.com  

Starry Plough Pub Sunday and Wednesday, 8 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9:45 p.m. unless otherwise noted. July 13: Drums and Tuba, Mega Mousse, $7; July 14: Jerry Joseph and The Jackmormons, The John Shipe Band $7 3101 Shattuck Ave. 841-2082. 

“Joanne D. Carey and Brendan Carey” July 15: 4 p.m., A benefit for the Berkeley Arts Festival, the Carey’s perform original work. 2200 Shattuck Avenue 486-0411 

“Midsummer Mozart Festival” All shows at 7:30 p.m. July 20: Four pieces including the Overture to “The Abduction to the Seraglio”; July 28: Four pieces including “March in D Major”; . First Congregational Church 2345 Channing Way (415) 292-9620 www.midsummermozart.org  

“Emeryville Taiko” June 22: 2 p.m., Traditional Japanese drumming with American influence. $5 - $10. Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 Collage Ave. 925-798-1300 

“The Great Sebastians” Opens July 13, 8 p.m., presented by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley. Friday and Saturday evenings 8 p.m. through August 11, plus Thursday, Aug. 9. A tale about a mind-reading act touring behind the Iron Curtain. A communist general believes the act and “invites” the Sebastians to his villa where the humor and excitement follows. $10. Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck (at Berryman). For reservations call 528-5620 

“Romeo and Juliet” Through July 14, Thurs. - Sat. 8 p.m. Set in early 1930s just before the rise of Hitler in the Kit Kat Klub, Juliet is torn between ties to the Nazi party and Romeo’s Jewish heritage. $8 - $10. La Val’s Subterranean Theater 1834 Euclid 234-6046 

“A Life In the Theatre” Runs through July 15. Wed. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. David Mamet play about the lives of two actors, considered a metaphor for life itself. Directed by Nancy Carlin. $30-$35. $26 preview nights. Berkeley City Club 2315 Durant 843-4822 

“Comedy of Errors” July 14 - 15, 21- 22: 1 p.m.: Free park performance of this Shakespeare comedy by Women’s Will, the Bay Area’s all-female Shakespeare company. July 14 and 15 at John Hinkel Park, Southampton at Somerset Place, July 21 and 22 at Live Oak Park, 1301 Shattuck Avenue at Berryman. 415-567-1758  

“The Laramie Project” Extended through July 22: Weds. 7 p.m., Tues. and Thur. -Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (After July 8 no Wednesday performance, no Sunday matinee on July 22.) Written by Moises Kaufmen and members of Tectonic Theater Project, directed by Moises Kaufman. Moises Kaufman and Tectonic members traveled to Laramie, Wyo., after the murder of openly gay student Matthew Shepherd. The play is about the community and the impact Shepherd’s death had on its members. $10 - $50. The Roda Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2015 Addison St. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org 

“The Skin of Our Teeth” Through July 29: Tues. - Thurs. 7:30 p.m., Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., Sun. 4 p.m. Part of the California Shakespeare Festival, a Thorton Wilder play about a typical family enduring various catastrophes. $10 - $146. Bruns Memorial Amphitheater, off Highway 24 at the Shakespeare Festival Way/Gateway Exit. 548-9666 

“Orphan” July 13 through August 5 (no show on July 20): Fri. and Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 7 p.m. Lyle Kessler’s dark comedy about a mysterious stranger invading the home of two orphaned brothers. $15. The Speakeasy Theater, 2016 Seventh St. 326-8493 

“Iphegenia in Aulis” Through August 12: Sat. and Sun. 5 p.m. No performances July 14 and 15, special dawn performance on August 12 at 7 a.m. A free park performance by the Shotgun Players of Euripides’ play about choices and priorities. With a masked chorus, singing, dancing, and live music. Feel free to bring food and something soft to sit on. John Hinkel Park, Southhampton Place at Arlington Avenue (different locations July 7 and 8). 655-0813 

Opera 

“Carmen” Berkeley Opera takes a fresh look at George Bizet’s popular opera with a new English-language adaptation by David Scott Marley. Marley’s version restores many lines that had been cut from the familiar version, and includes additional material from the 1846 French novella the opera is based on. “It’s a little darker and sexier than the opera most people think they know,” says Marley. July 13, 20 and 21 at 8 p.m. July 15 and 22 at 7 p.m. July 14 at 2 p.m.  

$30 general, $25 seniors, $15 youth & handicapped, $10 student rush. Julia Morgan Theater 2640 College Ave. 841-1903 

Films 

La Pena Cultural Center July 18: 7 p.m., Laborfest- International Working Class Film & Video Festival. “Resistance as Democracy” by Larry Mosque, “The International” by Peter Miller, “Songs of the Thai Labor Movement” by Wayne. $7 donation. July 29: 2:00 p.m., Laborfest- International Working Class Film & Video Festival. “Not in my Garden” by Video 48. $7. 3105 Shattuck Avenue 849-2568 

Pacific Film Archive July 14: 7 p.m., “You and Me,” 8:50 p.m., “Man Hunt”; July 15: 3 p.m., Family Classic “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”; 5:30 p.m., “The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story”; July 17: 7:30 p.m., “Bangkok Bahrain”; July 18: 7:30 p.m., “Kiss Me Quick” , 9 p.m., “The Flesh Eaters”; July 19: 7:30 p.m., “Golem -- The Spirit of Exile”; July 20: 7 p.m., “Fires on the Plain”, 9:05 p.m., “Harp of Burma”; July 21: 7 p.m., “The Woman in the Window”, 9 p.m., “Scarlet Street”; July 22: 5:30 p.m., “Odd Obsession”; 7:30 p.m., “Nihonbashi”; July 24: 7:30 p.m., “In the Valley of the Wupper” and “In the Name of the Duce”; July 25: 7:30 p.m., “Spider Baby 2000”; July 29: Family Classic “A Boy Named Charlie Brown”; $4. Sundays, 3 p.m. New PFA Theatre, 2575 Bancroft Way 642-1412 

“Street Scene” July 15: 2 p.m., This 1931 film explores themes of antisemitism and identity in New York tenements. $2 donation. Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 1414 Walnut Street 848-0237 

Exhibits 

“Watershed 2001” Through July 14: Wednesday - Sunday Noon - 5 p.m. Exhibition of painting, drawing, sculpture and installation that explore images and issues about our watershed. Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893 

“Rachel Davis and Benicia Gantner Works on Paper” Through July 14: Tues. - Sat., 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Watercolors by Davis, mixed-media by Gantner. Opening reception June 13, 6 - 8 p.m. Traywick Gallery 1316 Tenth St. 527-1214 www.traywick.com 

“Ames Gallery Artists” Through July 22: Thur. - Sun. Noon - 7 p.m., Temporary gallery as part of the Berkeley Arts Festival with works from Wilbert Griffith, Dorothy Binger, Julio Garcia, and Leon Kennedy. Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery 2200 Shattuck Ave. 486-0411 

“The Trip to Here: Paintings and Ghosts by Marty Brooks” Through July 31: Tues. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 1 a.m. View Brooks’ first California show at Bison Brewing Company 2598 Telegraph Ave. 841-7734  

“Bernard Maisner: Illuminated Manuscripts and Paintings” Through Aug. 8 Maisner works in miniature as well as in large scales, combining his mastery of medieval illumination, gold leafing, and modern painting techniques. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 2400 Ridge Rd. 849-2541 

“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 

“New Visions: Introductions 2001” Through August 18: Wed. - Sat.: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Juried by Artist- Curator Rene Yanez and Robbin Henderson, Executive Director of the Berkeley Art Center, the exhibition features works from some of California’s up-and-coming artists. Pro Arts 461 Ninth St., Oakland 763-9425 

“Geographies of My Heart” Collage paintings by Jennifer Colby through August 24; Flora Lamson Hewlett Library 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541 

Images of Portugal Paintings by Sofia Berto Villas-Boas of her native land. Open after 5 p.m. Voulez-Vous 2930 College Ave. (at Elmwood) 

“Queens of Ethiopia: Intuitive Inspirations,” the exceptional art of Esete-Miriam A. Menkir. Through July 11. Women’s Cancer Resource Center Gallery 3023 Shattuck Ave. 548-9286 ext. 307 

“The Decade of Change: 1900 - 1910” chronicles the transformation of the city of Berkeley in this 10 year period. Thursday through Saturday, 1 - 4 p.m. Through September. Berkeley History Center, Veterans Memorial Building, 1931 Center St. Wheelchair accessible. 848-0181. Free.  

Readings 

Cody’s 2454 Telegraph Ave. Readings at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. July 14: Alexander Cockburn and John Strausbaugh discuss Cockburn’s book “Five Days That Shook the World” and Strausbaugh’s “Rock ‘Til You Drop” ; July 15: Jimmy Santiago Baca discusses “A Place to Stand”; July 16: “Critical Resistance to the Prison-Industrial Complex,” a panel discussion; July 17: Ralph Berberich, MD, discusses his memoir “Hit Below the Belt: Facing up to Prostate Cancer”; July 19: Lonny Shavelson talks about “Hooked: Five Addicts Challenge Our Misguided Drug Rehab System”; July 23: Brian Skyes reads “The Seven Daughters of Eve”; July 24: Susann Cokal reads from “Mirabilis.” $2 donation. 845-0837 

Cody’s 1730 Fourth St. Readings at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. July 13: Joe Di Prisco reading “Confessions of Brother Eli”; July 20: Lynne Hinton reads from her second novel, “The Things I know Best”; July 25: Alice Randall reads from “The Wind Done Gone.” $2 donation. 559-9500 

La Pena Cultural Center July 13: 8:00 p.m., Word Descarga Series- Poets and musicians collaborate across cultures. Devorah Major, Babatunde Lea, Kash Killian, Richard Howell and more. $10. July 14: 8:30 p.m., Word Descarga Series- Mingus Amungus, Melissa Lozano, Grito Serpertino and more. $12. 2105 Shattuck Avenue 849-2568 

Poetry Nitro Weekly poetry open mike. 6:30 p.m. sign-up, 7 p.m. reading. July 16: Featuring the Silicon Valley Slam Team; July 23: Featuring Jonathan Yaffe. Cafe de la Paz 1600 Shattuck Ave. 843-0662  

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  

Dance 

“Ganga-Ashtakam” July 15: 2 p.m., Indian Bharata Natyam classical dance celebrating the Indian river and goddess Ganga. Dancers Anuradha Murali, Shilpa Sejpal, and Gopitha Tharmalingam. $5 - $10. Julia Morgan Center for the Arts 2640 Collage Ave. 925-798-1300 

Museums 

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm” An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more. “Recycling Center” Lets the kids crank the conveyor belt to sort cans, plastic bottles and newspaper bundles into dumpster bins. $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. 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. (closed Sundays, Memorial Day through Labor Day) Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

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 will close its exhibition galleries for renovation on October 1. It will reopen in early 2002. On View until October 1, 2001: “Ishi and the Invention of Yahi Culture.” “Sites Along the Nile: Rescuing Ancient Egypt.” “The Art of Research: Nelson Graburn and the Aesthetics of Inuit Sculpture.” “Tzintzuntzan, Mexico: Photographs by George Foster.”  

$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 or www.qal.berkeley.edu/~hearst/ 

Lawrence Hall of Science “Science in Toyland,” through Sept. 9. Exhibit uses toys to demonstrate scientific principles and to help develop children's thinking processes. Susan Cerny’s collection of over 200 tops from around the world. “Space Weather,” through Sept. 2. Learn about solar cycles, space weather, the cause of the Aurorae and recent discoveries made by leading astronomers. This interactive exhibit lets visitors access near real-time data from the Sun and space, view interactive videos and find out about a variety of solar activities. “Within the Human Brain,” ongoing. Visitors test their cranial nerves, play skeeball, master mazes, match musical tones and construct stories inside a simulated “rat cage” of learning experiments. “Saturday Night Stargazing,” First and third Saturdays each month. 8 - 10 p.m., LHS plaza. Space Weather Exhibit now - Sept. 2; now - Sept. 9 Science in Toyland; 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  

The UC Berkeley Art Museum is closed for renovations until the fall.

Players attend workshops before every league game 

Before players start their first session of Twilight Basketball, they might think the summer league is a time to relax and goof around with their friends. But one meeting with Ginsi Bryant fixes that right away. 

Bryant, the program’s director, gives each team an orientation before its first game at James Kenney Park. With 14 rules written down and her forceful personality on display, she lets each and every kid know that she means business. 

“You should treat this league like a job,” Bryant says to a room full of 14- and 15-year-olds. “You get here on time, or you don’t play. That’s it. Don’t come crying to me with excuses if you’re not here.” 

Players don’t just have to be on time for their games. They must attend a “rap session” during the hour before their weekly game, with guest speakers expounding on topics such as drug use, street violence and study habits. Only then will they be allowed to play in a game with their team. 

Other rules include no loitering outside the gym, no food in the gym and absolutely no fighting. Bryant said that any fight would result in all three levels of the league being suspended for one week. The age groups are 11-13, 14-15 and 16-18. 

“People around here have been trying to shut this program down. We can’t give them any reason to complain,” she said. “So don’t be yelling down the street to Joe Blow just because you see him.” 

Bryant’s rules came into focus right away on Thursday, the league’s opening night. Only four members of Student Athletes showed up for the orientation meeting, so they were forced to play their game short-handed. One team member showed up at game time, but spent the game on the bench in street clothes, proving that Bryant means business. 

“Ginsi is a great coordinator, and we all respect her rules in this league,” said Sam Robinson, the coach of Student Athletes. “She teaches the kids to keep a schedule, that they are students first and athletes second.” 

Robinson, who is retired, said he put his team in the league for both the educational and athletic opportunities it provides. 

“It gives the guys a chance to continue to work out during the summer, which is good for their games,” he said. “But the workshops can be helpful if the kids will pay attention.” 

One of Robinson’s players, Marcel Edwards-Gray, played in the league last summer. He said the rap sessions were hit and miss. 

“We really only had one guest speaker last year, just some guy talking about his choices in life,” Edwards-Gray, 15, said. “Hopefully it’ll be more fun and more helpful this year.” 

Robinson’s team didn’t suffer too much being down to four players. They still managed to beat their opening night opponents, EODYC Hoyas, by six points. The basketball was hard and clean, with two officials keeping things fair. 

“It’s a good league, a competitive league,” Edwards-Gray said. “It’s a lot of fun to play here.”

Councilmember Kriss Worthington mailed his Candidate Intention Statement to the Secretary of State and officially threw his hat — or bicycle helmet — into the ring for the 14th state assembly seat. Worthington, a progressive member of the City Council, said he will launch his bid for the Assembly by conducting a bicycle campaign through the district which includes North Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley, Albany, Richmond and El Cerrito.  

By John Geluardi 

Daily Planet staff 

The City Council has requested a report suggesting possible solutions to business owners’ complaints about the growing number of day laborers who gather looking for work in west Berkeley.  

The council voted unanimously Tuesday to have the city manager prepare the report, which will analyze the situation and propose possible solutions based on successful programs in other Californian cities. The council specified that the proposed solutions should address both the needs of business owners and day laborers.  

One business, Truitt and White Lumber Company, has complained to the mayor’s office that the labors are too aggressive in soliciting work from the contractors and homeowners who shop at the building supply store. 

Mayor Shirley Dean and other councilmembers have expressed concern that there are no accommodations such as a shelter or bathrooms for the workers who sometimes wait for hours in the area. 

According to the recommendation submitted by Mayor Shirley Dean, the numbers of day laborers has grown in recent months. Dean’s report estimates there are as many as 150 laborers at any given time in the vicinity of Hearst Avenue near Fourth Street. There are a number of upscale businesses near the area. 

The recommendation was first put on the council’s agenda on June 19 but was pulled by Councilmember Kriss Worthington who said he was concerned possible actions might be unfair to the laborers because the mayor’s recommendation was initiated by complaining businesses. 

Dean withdrew her original recommendation and resubmitted another clarifying her expectations that the laborers’ needs be taken into consideration. 

“In undertaking this request, the manager is specifically asked to meet with the day laborers, affected businesses, social agencies and to gather information from other cities with the same problem regarding what has worked and what has not worked,” the recommendation read. 

Despite Dean’s clarifications, Worthington asked the recommendation be further amended during Tuesday’s council meeting prior to approving the item. 

“I would like to add a section that makes it clear the City Council is in no way sending a message that we want a crackdown of any kind on day laborers. And also that the study be culturally sensitive and works with day laborers to empower them and improve their position in the community,” he said. 

Dean agreed to add the language to the amendment but quipped, “That’s exactly what’s in there anyway.” 

Dean said many cities have had to deal with the issue of day laborers and some have been more successful than others. She said San Rafael had as many as 300 laborers gathering at an intersection in the city’s Canal District.  

“San Rafael opened up a hiring hall that didn’t work so well because the laborers had little or no hand in organizing themselves,” she said.  

She added that the city of Concord instituted a successful program. Concord, she said, provided shelter for the laborers and they were able to organize their own hiring system, which outlined hiring order according to the types of jobs came available. She said if the laborers are able to organize themselves, they are more confident in the fairness of the system and thereby be more likely to participate in the program.

In what appears to be the most successful fundraising effort ever among a single graduating class of Berkeley High School alumni, the class of 1951 has raised $70,000 to endow a scholarship fund for graduates. 

The group hopes to raise $100,000 by the time its 50th reunion rolls around this September – enough to provide college scholarship money for one or two students a year.  

Tom Taylor, a co-chair of the class of 1951’s reunion committee, said the class has held together over the years. They used an annual letter circulated among the more than 400 members of the class to ask people to contribute to the scholarship fund. 

Taylor said many of the 1951 graduates have reached that stage in their life where they want to give away money. It’s just a matter of finding a good local cause to which to direct their money. 

“You either do it this way or you give it to Uncle Sam,” Taylor said. “Why send it back to Washington when you can do probably better in your own home environment?” 

Getting alumni of public high schools to contribute money to their alma maters is often difficult work, even for the most prestigious of institutions.  

San Francisco’s Lowell High School circulates a newsletter among 29,000 alumni.  

“We mail the news letter for every living alumni for whom we have a valid address,” said Lowell Alumni Association Secretary Terry Abad. 

But the Lowell Alumni Association only raises about $30,000 a year in donations for the school. Around 9 percent of alumni respond to the association’s annual giving request, Abad said, mailing in an average of $50 each.  

Lowell has other fundraising groups. The schools Parent Teacher Student Association pulls in about $100,000 a year. The Lowell Sports Foundation brought in $40,000-$50,000 with it’s first annual celebrity athlete banquet (a similar banquet run by Berkeley High supporters raised around $12,000 this spring). 

“As much as this sounds like a lot of money, its really just a drop in the bucket. The needs are just enormous,” said Abad. 

One obstacle to getting alumni to give more, Abad said, is the level of pessimism about public school funding in general. People might gladly give money to add an thrilling new program or a facility to the school, Abad said, but it is harder for them to get excited when they realize the money they give is more likely to be spent on, say, text books. 

“Too much of [the money people give] has to go to what most people see as basic,” Abad said. “People ask things like, ‘Gee, why is it that we’re being asked by the math department to pay for a dry erase board. Isn’t that what the school district is supposed to do?’ And we say, yeah, you’re right. The school district should pay for a lot of things. But the money isn’t there to do it.” 

In Berkeley, fundraising among the high school’s alumni is even harder. The Berkeley schools alumni association only have around 600 members. And other than reunions, the groups activities have been limited in recent years.  

Fundraising among Berkeley High has been limited to the occasional small gift given by one graduating class or another on their occasional reunion. But nothing is on the level of the class of 1951’s proposed gift. 

Of course, Berkeley High has long enjoyed broad community support: From the voters who approve bond measures by overwhelming margins; from the parents who give up hours of free time to clean the grounds, tutor students in need, and raise money for extra activities; and from numerous individual donors who’ve given donations of $10 to $1000 to the Berkeley High School Development Group. That group gave $221,754 to the school in 1999-2000 which was directed to the health center, the school library, academic department and arts programs, among other things. 

Some observers said they hoped the class of 1951s generosity could act as a model to get other alumni groups to join in giving to the school. Toni Sweet, Berkeley High class of 1954, is already working to get her class to commit to giving the school a gift on the occasion of their 50th reunion. 

“The most important things I learned in my life I learned at Berkeley High School,” Sweet said. 

Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean, who also graduated from Berkeley High in the ’50s, said she though alumni could be persuaded to give more if they were presented with concrete and appealing proposals for how the money would be spent at the school. 

“People like to donate to a specific thing,” Dean said. “Citizens, when informed about a school need, will generally step up to it. But we don’t know exactly what we need to rally around.” 

Berkeley High principal Frank Lynch said scholarship money is a great place to start.  

“That has the greatest impact, scholarship money, because it goes directly into the hands of students,” Lynch said.  

Lynch also said he’s like to see “as much money as possible” directed towards the school’s new library, which will be completed in the next couple years as part of a $30 million construction project at the school. 

“When you go to a school, the first thing you want to do is go to the library and see what it’s like,” Lynch said. “because it’s usually a pretty good indication of what’s going on the rest of the campus.” 

In the early years of the 20th Century, Telegraph Avenue was a grand residential street lined with elegant homes. The two residences at 2740 and 2744 Telegraph Avenue were built by John Albert Marshall. They are the houses on the right side of the picture.  

Marshall was a building contractor who got his start as a cement contractor in the 1890s, and many of Berkeley’s sidewalks bear his imprint. Between 1895 and 1915 Marshall built at least six homes as his personal residences, each one more imposing and substantial than the last. 

2744 Telegraph Avenue 1900 was designed and built by John Marshall and the Cunningham Bros. construction company in 1900. It is a two-story shingle Colonial Revival house, which has rustic stonework on the first floor and two rustic stone chimneys. The hipped roof contains several hip-roofed dormers. There is a rounded bay at the southeast corner and several impressive stained glass windows. The covered front porch has square Ionic columns, turned balusters, and a mahogany door.  

2740 Telegraph Avenue was designed by architect C.M. Cook in 1903 and is a large Tudor Revival style house with two prominent gables on the street facade that are decorated with barge-boards, finials, and pendants. Rustic stonework is used for the siding on the first floor and entry, while on the second floor the house is half-timbered. The second story overhangs the first with projecting beam ends and the arched entrance is recessed. 

Surrounding both Marshall houses is a low concrete wall with posts and decorative concrete garden walkways. Both these houses are now used as an inn.  

On the far left of the picture is a large home designed by Julia Morgan for Joseph Mason, of the Mason-McDuffie Company. Like most of the homes on Telegraph Avenue it is no longer standing.  

Susan Cerny writes Berkeley Observed in conjunction with Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.  

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., today began pushing for a limit on the amount of alcohol airline passengers can consume in an effort to halt the rise of so-called air rage incidents. 

“In view of the 5,000 air rage incidents each year, I believe it is time for the airline industry to set standards voluntarily, or else congress may well step in. To that end, I am in the process of writing legislation that would limit each passenger to two drinks on domestic flights, regardless of the type of alcoholic beverage served,” Feinstein wrote in a letter to CEOs of the seven major domestic air carriers. 

Feinstein said she hoped the airlines would set in-air limits voluntarily, but added if they were unwilling, she would introduce legislation to limit alcohol consumption. 

“According to the Federal Aviation Administration, there is at least one occurrence of air rage each day and evidence suggests a majority of these incidents involve alcohol,'' said Feinstein. She said the Federal Aviation Administration prohibits the serving of alcohol to passengers who appear intoxicated, but have never set a drink limit.

After spending six months in precarious Middle Eastern waters, the Coast Guard Cutter Sherman – the first U.S. Coast Guard vessel to circumnavigate the world – will dock in tranquil Alameda today. 

The cutter and its crew were deployed to the Arabian Gulf to participate in a Middle East Forces Deployment that included the destroyers USS Paul F. Foster and USS Stetham. 

While it was there, the ship helped to enforce United Nations sanctions against Iraq, and tallied 219 queries, 115 boardings and five diverts in the dangerous waters. 

The Sherman was also involved in other missions, including a ship rescue that occurred off the eastern coast of South Africa.

Oakland racks up year’s 42nd homicide 

Oakland police have no suspects or witnesses in the city’s 41st and 42nd homicides, which took place Thursday evening, a result of two unrelated shootings. 

Police are revealing few details on the killings, which left two people – described only as black men – dead. Both were shot numerous times, police spokeswoman Cynthia Perkins said. 

Thursday’s first killing took place at about 6:30 p.m. at the intersection of Harmon and 62nd Avenue in East Oakland. 

Perkins said the victim, who died at Highland Hospital in Oakland, is approximately 22 years old. She added that his identity has not been released pending notification of the next of kin. 

Available information is also scant about the second homicide, which was reported at about 9:30 p.m. at the West Oakland intersection of 10th and Center streets, Perkins said. Police are investigating. 

Expert says 

BART riders can use buses 

OAKLAND – There’s a lot of interest in late-night service on BART. 

Rebecca Kaplan of the Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition said BART must have time to maintain trains. But that doesn’t mean buses couldn’t fill the role of trains during the wee hours. 

Kaplan said riders could take the train into San Francisco. When they are ready to go home, they could return to that same station to find buses outside to take them across the bay to the station they used earlier in the day. 

The idea is to cut down on the number of cars being used. 

Oakland to pay $50K to slain man’s family 

OAKLAND – The city of Oakland has agreed to pay $50,000 to the family of a man who was shot to death by police after allegedly trying to run an officer down with his car. 

The payment brings the total the city has paid this year to settle suits against the police to $1.6 million. 

Nathan Hornes was shot once in the chest on Dec. 5, 1999, by Officer Steven Nowak after Hornes allegedly swung the wheel of his car to the left and stepped on the gas. 

The Hornes family sued in federal court in Oakland, accusing Nowak of using excessive force and making up the story he was in danger to justify the shooting. 

The City Council is expected to approve the settlement this month without admitting any wrongdoing by the officer. 

Listeners donate $303,000 to mauled boy 

SAN FRANCISCO – The family of the 10-year-old Richmond boy who was mauled by three pit bulls will receive a check for $303,000, donated by listeners to KGO radio. 

Shawn Jones, who earlier this week spoke his first words since the June 18 attack, has had his condition upgraded from critical to serious. 

The boy lost his ears and the muscles and skin on his face were shredded during the attack. He also suffered deep bite wounds on his arms. He was attacked as he was riding the bicycle his mother gave him for getting good grades. 

Shortly after the mauling, Shawn’s family was forced to move from their home because the owner wished to move in. 

Shawn still faces months of medical treatment, and plastic surgery that could go on for years. 

Two of the pit bulls have been found and are in custody in Martinez. 

The owner of the dogs, Benjamin Moore, faces trial on two misdemeanor counts of withholding evidence in the case. His trial has been postponed until July 30. 

If found guilty, Moore could face up to two years in jail. He is free on $30,000 bail. 

San Mateo Co. Supervisor gives karate lesson 

SAN MATEO – A teen-ager got a lesson in the martial arts when he allegedly broke into San Mateo County Supervisor Jerry Hill’s garage. 

It was like a scene from a Chuck Norris movie – and 18-year-old Mark Harvin was on the losing end. 

Hill said he was walking out to his detached garage when he noticed a broken window and then spotted somebody inside rifling through a duffle bag. 

Hill, who has earned a black belt in karate, grabbed Harvin, spun him around and held him in an armlock until police arrived. 

Harvin was booked for investigation of burglary and vandalism after the Wednesday incident. 

East Palo Alto school finances under scrutiny 

PALO ALTO – The state superintendent of schools has ordered an investigation of an East Palo Alto school district’s finances. 

The superintendent of the Ravenswood City School District, Charlie Mae Knight, is already facing 19 felony conflict-of-interest charges. 

Prosecutors say that Knight stood to benefit when the school district gave loans to employees who rented from her or who owed her money. 

The San Jose Mercury News reported that the district spent extravagantly for travel, submitted fraudulent claims after a school fire, and inadequately documented the spending of millions in federal and state aid. 

Investigators are expected to begin in about a month. 

Smog levels down a bit 

SAN FRANCISCO – Smog levels in the San Francisco Bay area improved slightly over the first half of the year, despite being worse in California and the nation overall. 

The number of smog violations in Bay Area fell from two to one, but went up 36 percent in California as a whole. Los Angeles had a 31 percent increase, and the San Joaquin Valley had a 60 percent increase. 

A run of cooler weather helped the Bay Area keep its smog down. 

Experts say the dirtier air nationwide is a combination of higher temperatures, increased coal use for electric power and numerous sport-utility vehicles on the roads. 

The state Air Resources Control Board said smog in California exceeded federal limits for a one-hour period on 60 occasions, up from 16 for the same period last year. 

Smog, formed when nitrogen oxides, mostly from car and power plant emissions, mix with organic compounds, such as gasoline fumes and are heated by the sun.

MENLO PARK – Since there is no federal oversight of human embryonic stem cell research, the three U.S. companies working in the field are left to police themselves. 

Geron Inc., Advanced Cell Technologies and the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine have formed so-called ethics advisory boards comprised of religion professors and bioethicists. 

The boards are designed to help the companies establish policies such as how to recruit egg and sperm donors and how to dispose of embryos destroyed during research. 

The companies point to these advisers as proof they are operating above board in this highly polarized field. Critics of the research, who argue that destroying an embryo is akin to murder, say the boards are nothing but public relations fig leaves. 

Even some proponents of the research question the quality of the ethics advice. 

“There are lots of reasons to be concerned,” said Ronald Cole-Turner, a religion professor at the Pittsburgh Theological Center who supports stem-cell research, but believes it should be government regulated. 

“There’s at least the appearance that the companies are buying their ethics,” Cole-Turner said. 

Geron and Advanced Cell pay their board members a small per diem and expenses for each meeting. 

The companies aren’t bound by any of the recommendations, and only Advanced Cell’s board has written ethical guidelines. Chief executive Michael West said his shareholders would consider him irresponsible if he gave Advanced Cell’s 11-member board veto power over research. 

“It’s a matter of trust,” said Ronald Green, chairman of Dartmouth University’s religion department and the chairman of Advanced Cell’s ethics advisory board. He said his power is his ability to publicly protest if Advanced Cell breeches any of the board’s guidelines. 

Green wouldn’t provide The Associated Press with a copy of the guidelines. However, according to a brief synopsis he shared, the guidelines don’t provide answers to fundamental moral and metaphysical questions about the research. Instead, they appear quite specific, and mostly involve the handling of embryos. 

For example, they forbid using eggs bought from women for reproductive purposes, and say that embryos should be destroyed before they reach 15 days old. (Geron has a similar time limit). The timing is a matter of practicality as well as ethics: embryonic stem cells begin to grow into one of 200 specific human cells after two weeks, and are no longer as valuable to scientists. 

The chairman of Advanced Cell Technology’s ethics advisory board, Dartmouth University religion professor Ronald Green, summarized the board’s ethical guidelines for embryonic stem cell research: 

• Collection: Eggs are recovered at clinic by the medical and scientific team. Eggs are counted and numbered according to ovary of recovery. Eggs are transferred immediately to scientists from Advanced Cell Technology with documentation listing egg number and an initial estimate of maturity. 

• Security: Once the eggs arrive in the ACT laboratory, they are taken to a secure location and kept in this location at all times.• Tracking: Eggs are repeatedly counted, photographed and videotaped as they proceed through the research procedure. An exclusive laboratory notebook is used to record all steps. 

• Disposal: Starting six days after activation, the oocyte – an egg that has not yet undergone maturation – is monitored every 12 hours for signs of growth. By day 13, following any research activities, activated oocyte is properly disposed of and the experiment ended. Two researchers other than the one performing the protocol must witness disposal of the eggs and sign the laboratory notebook accordingly.

SACRAMENTO – About 30 percent of customers of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and Southern California Edison qualified for rebates on their power bills in June – surprising state officials who thought only a fraction of the utilities’ customers would cut their energy use to get a rebate. 

In San Diego, 38 percent of San Diego Gas and Electric Co. customers qualified for Gov. Gray Davis’ 20/20 rebate program, which gives a 20 percent rebate to customers of the three utilities who cut their power use by 20 percent over last year. 

“We were hopeful that we would get between 10 percent and 20 percent participation. From the looks of it, Californians are exceeding those expectations,” said Roger Salazar, spokesman for the governor. 

Of the 1.5 million electric bills processed by PG&E so far this month, nearly 30 percent qualify for the rebate, said Staci Homrig, a PG&E spokeswoman. Early forecasts set that number at 10 or 20 percent. 

Conserving electricity saved residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural customers of PG&E $7.6 million in credits. Residential users earned $3.7 million; the others $3.9. 

Edison customers saw rebates totaling $5.4 million. Residential users earned $2.5 million, commercial customers saw rebates totaling $2.8 million and agricultural customers earned $101,798. 

SDG&E customers saw $1.5 million in rebates on their statements – $1.1 million to residents and $400,000 to others. 

Salazar said the conservation efforts were higher, even though June temperatures were hotter this year. 

“There were 10 days last year where electricity load was over 40,000 megawatts. This year, we had zero days, even though it was hotter,” Salazar said. 

SDG&E customers had to trim their use by only 15 percent to qualify, because of high electric bills and conservation efforts from the previous summer. 

The rebates compare electric use from this summer to last summer, and are available to about 10 million homes and businesses who receive their electricity from PG&E, SDG&E or Edison. The rebate was intended to arrive at summer’s end but now appears on each monthly bill. 

“We continue to be impressed by the herculean efforts of Californians when it comes to conservation,” said Salazar. “But we need them to continue to save energy if we’re going to get through the summer.”

SACRAMENTO – State Controller Kathleen Connell canceled a $2 million payroll Friday for 2,000 legislative employees as the state budget stalemate reached its 13th day. 

Checks also stop next week for vendors who do business with the state, Connell said. Legislators, unable to pass a budget by a July 1 deadline, will have their pay stopped on July 31. The governor and other elected state officers, including Connell, will also find themselves docked at the end of the month. 

Connell said state law prevents her from writing payroll checks to these groups without a state budget. Legislative staffers are paid twice a month while the governor and legislators are paid monthly. 

“Each day the budget stalemate continues, more people, businesses and local programs are affected,” Connell said. 

Friday marked the fourth time since 1995 that Connell has withheld employee checks over a budget showdown. The legislature has passed only three budgets by July 1 since 1990. 

At least 262,0000 state employees will continue to be paid. 

Gov. Gray Davis, who signed the first two budgets of his administration on time, attacked Connell’s announcement as a “publicity stunt.” 

Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio said, “It’s unfortunate that the state controller wants to create a sideshow when she should be helping the governor and the Legislature come to agreement on a budget.” 

A Republican legislative minority, opposing a planned quarter-cent sales tax hike this January, is blocking the budget in the state Assembly and Senate. The tax adopted in 1991 goes into effect automatically when state revenues fall. Republicans want to ax the tax hike permanently. 

Democrats say it will raise $1.8 billion desperately needed during the next two years if the economy continues to slow. 

Despite the standoff, Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, scheduled a session on the budget for 4 p.m. Saturday. 

Jamie Fisfis, spokesman for Assembly Republicans, scoffed at Hertzberg’s plan, saying, “The speaker’s going to put us through a bunch of budget drills. We’d be better off negotiating.” 

The Senate is off until 3 p.m. Monday. 

Efforts all week to find a solution to the political entanglement proved unsuccessful. Davis met Wednesday with four legislative leaders to break the impasse. His office also held numerous conference calls where school, health, law enforcement officials argued to pass the budget. 

Despite Connell’s announcement Friday, most legislative staffers will not suffer any sudden lack of cash.

SACRAMENTO – The Legislature’s top Republicans on Friday sharply criticized a state commission ruling creating an exception to campaign contribution limits approved by voters last November. 

Minority leaders Jim Brulte, R-Rancho Cucamonga, and Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks, said the decision “creates the absurd result that current officeholders ... can raise unlimited amounts for any purpose other than their own future election campaign.” 

“This will allow officeholders to raise money in excess of the Proposition 34 limits and transfer it to members of their own caucuses for candidate support, political parties for party building activities, ... other campaigns and ballot measures, or use it for general officeholder expenses,” they said. 

“We find this to be utterly inconsistent with the will of the Legislature that placed Proposition 34 on the ballot and the will of the voters who overwhelmingly approved it.” 

Proposition 34 put a $3,000-per-election limit on donations to legislators from most sources. There are higher limits for candidates for governor and other statewide offices. 

The state Fair Political Practices Commission said Monday that the limits don’t apply to donations raised by candidates’ campaign committees formed before the proposition took effect on Jan. 1. 

FPPC chairwoman Karen Getman said the commission decided the proposition’s fund-raising restrictions didn’t cover campaign committees set up for previous elections, “because those elections did not have any contribution limits.” 

But she said candidates who raised unlimited donations through pre-2001 committees could only spend as much of that money on their future campaigns as they could raise under Proposition 34. 

Getman also said the commission will be considering a regulation that would require candidates to phase out their pre-2001 committees after a reasonable period of time. 

Brulte, who heads Senate Republicans, and Cox, who leads Assembly Republicans, sent a letter to Democratic Gov. Gray Davis asking him to join them in urging the FPPC to reverse its decision. 

Davis’ spokesman, Steve Maviglio, did not have an immediate response.

Dear Tom and Ray: 

Is my mechanic a crook? I had the timing belt replaced on my 1990 Mitsubishi Eclipse. The morning after I drove it home from the mechanic, I noticed oil pouring out of the car. It turns out that the rear main seal was blown. Is it possible that my mechanic did this while replacing the timing belt, or is it just a coincidence? He says he was working on the opposite side of the engine, and there was no way he could have done this. But I've heard that if you tap too hard on the front, you can blow the rear seal. What's your opinion? — Jennifer 

TOM: It sounds like just an unhappy coincidence, Jennifer. There's really no way he could have blown your rear main seal by changing the timing belt. 

RAY: He's right that they're on opposite sides of the engine. The only thing that links the two is the crankshaft, and it's not supposed to move longitudinally more than a fraction of a millimeter. If it does, and tapping it in front pushes out the rear main seal, then your engine was in terrible shape to begin with (not an impossibility on an 11-year-old car). 

TOM: So you really can't blame this guy, Jennifer. It's like going to the doctor for a hemorrhoid treatment and complaining later that the doctor gave you a headache. Wait – that's a bad analogy. That actually happened to my brother once.  

••• 

Dear Tom and Ray: 

Can one have too hot an ignition spark? There are several aftermarket ignition systems available for older car engines, most claiming to produce more voltage than stock systems. But can you overdo it? Will too hot a spark wear out the spark plugs faster or cause any other problems? — Clyde 

RAY: It will wear out your spark plugs faster, Clyde. It'll also wear out the other parts of the secondary ignition system faster – the plug wires, rotor, distributor, etc. So you'll be buying new ignition parts more often, but it won't do any permanent damage to your engine. 

TOM: The idea is that a higher-voltage (or “hotter”) spark will do a better job of burning all of the fuel in the cylinders. And technically, that's true. But in reality, it only really helps if you suffer from excessive turbulence in your combustion chambers. 

RAY: My brother suffers from that, and we've been trying antacids ... with no luck so far. 

TOM: Turbulence inside the cylinders increases as the engine speed increases. And if your spark is not hot enough, the swirling gasoline-and-air mixture can blow out a weak spark, causing an occasional "miss" or "stutter" at high speeds. 

RAY: But if you're not experiencing that problem, you probably won't notice the difference a hotter spark makes. 

TOM: Of course, you're welcome to install a hotter ignition system anyway, Clyde. You won't do any harm. But let us know in advance so we can invest in some auto-parts stocks.  

••• 

Got a question about cars? E-mail Click and Clack by visiting the Car Talk section of cars.com on the World Wide Web.

LOS ANGELES – BMW officials traveled to one of the nation’s smoggiest cities this week to show off a fleet of luxury cars that run on rocket fuel but belch virtually nothing but water and steam from their tailpipes. 

Company officials said the hydrogen-powered cars are an important step in weaning the automotive industry from the oil that has nurtured it since the internal combustion engine first powered automobiles in the late 1800s. 

The silver 740hL sedans sport a new type of internal combustion engine that runs on clean-burning hydrogen — the most abundant element — instead of gasoline. 

“It’s the cleanest fuel there is,” said Burkhard Goschel, a member of the BMW Group board, during a news conference at Paramount studios. 

BMW has hauled the 10 cars from United Arab Emirates to Europe to Japan and now California to tout the benefits of hydrogen as a fuel source. 

The company will now continue to test the cars at its new research and engineering center, which opens Friday in Oxnard, Calif. Already, the fleet has covered more than 80,000 miles during tests. 

When burned, hydrogen packs a powerful punch — it helps propel the space shuttle to orbit. In the BMW models, it cuts tailpipe emissions by 99.5 percent. 

The 750hL features a 12-cylinder engine and can hit 141 mph. 

Running on hydrogen, stored in a liquid form in a pressurized tank, the car can travel about 200 miles — more if an auxiliary gasoline tank is tapped to fuel the car. 

But concerns about storing liquid hydrogen under high pressure have stymied its use in automobiles because of the risk of explosions and fire, experts said. A lack of a cheap and reliable means of producing hydrogen — and distributing it to consumers — has also hurt the marketing of such cars. 

Widescale commercial production may still be a decade or more away, although BMW hopes to introduce hydrogen-powered 7-Series models before then. The Ford Motor Co. is not far behind: it plans to unveil its own prototype hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine vehicle next month, spokeswoman Sara Tatchio said. 

“The challenge will be to create infrastructure and devise a way to store hydrogen on board,” said John Boesel, president of Calstart, a nonprofit group that develops clean transportation technologies. 

Hydrogen can be produced from water through electrolysis or, more commonly, from natural gas generated during the oil refining process. 

The methods are either energy-intensive or costly — or both — at present. 

“Hydrogen cannot compete with gasoline on a cost basis ... (but) we believe as usage increases, it can become competitive,” said Bob Malone, a regional president of oil company BP Corp. 

Goschel said the company has not calculated how much a hydrogen-fueled BMW 750 would cost compared to a conventional version, which sells for about $93,000. And hydrogen service stations may be still a decade away. 

“We’re a long way from putting hydrogen out there,” said Alan Lloyd, chairman of the California Air Resources Board. 

The automotive industry has yet to latch on to hydrogen or any other alternative to gasoline or diesel fuel. 

Many manufacturers, including General Motors, are looking at hydrogen, but only to power fuel cells to produce electricity. Honda and Toyota have both introduced hybrid models that pair gasoline engines with electric motors to boost fuel efficiency and cut emissions. Ford, GM and DaimlerChrysler AG plan to introduce their own versions in 2003. 

California — where 40 percent of all air pollution is produced by tailpipe emissions — has mandated strict standards that should make the exotic vehicles more common. By 2003, for instance, 2 percent of all vehicles sold in the state by major manufacturers must be zero emissions. 

“We have a variety of fuels that can steer us on the road ahead,” Lloyd said.

WASHINGTON – Rep. Gary Condit took a lie-detector test arranged by his lawyer, and it showed he “was not deceptive in any way” in denying knowledge of what happened to missing intern Chandra Levy, the lawyer said Friday. 

But Assistant Police Chief Terrance Gainer called the test “self-serving.” He said the lawyer, Abbe Lowell, had not worked with police to come up with questions and agree on an expert to administer the test. 

Lowell said the test was administered by Barry D. Colvert, a polygraph expert who Lowell said teaches FBI officials how to administer the tests. 

Lowell declined to identify all the questions that were asked, but said Condit was deemed to have answered truthfully when he said “no” to the three most important questions: 

—Did the congressman have anything at all to do with Miss Levy’s disappearance? 

—Did he harm her or cause anyone else to harm her in any way? 

—Does he know where she can be located? 

“Congressman Condit has exhausted all the information he can provide, and the spotlight on his should be turned elsewhere,” said Lowell, who noted the congressman has given three interviews to police, allowed a search of his apartment and submitted a DNA sample. 

Washington police had wanted Condit to submit to a test given by someone from the FBI and with questions they supplied. 

Lowell declined to provide any more details about Condit’s relationship with Levy, a 24-year-old federal intern from Modesto, Calif., last seen April 30, including when he last saw and spoke to her. 

Levy’s mother first suggested Condit take a lie-detector test, saying she did not believe he had shared with police all he knows about her daughter. 

A police source has said the congressman acknowledged a romantic relationship with the former Bureau of Prisons intern, despite denials from his office. 

Meantime, police said they had searched more than 70 vacant buildings in the nation’s capital looking for Levy. 

Capt. Willie Smith said officers under his command were trying to get through 100 buildings in the neighborhoods near Levy’s apartment. “We just want to make sure all the bases are covered,” he said. 

Police conceded it was a lack of good leads, rather than specific information, that led them to look at abandoned properties as places where someone could have left a body. 

Police say they are pursuing four theories about Levy, either that was murdered, that she killed herself, that she went into hiding or that she has amnesia. However, police say they have all but ruled out suicide since so much time has passed and no body has been found. 

Authorities planned Friday to release simulated images of Levy with different hair styles.

SACRAMENTO – The California Coastal Commission, a state agency that regulates coastal development, is appealing a Sacramento Superior Court judge’s ruling that it violated the state constitution. 

The appeal was filed in the Third District Court of Appeal this week. 

The original ruling was handed down in April in a suit filed by the Marine Forests Society, which has experimented with artificial reefs off Newport Beach in an effort to attract sea life. The Coastal Commission ordered the group to halt the project in 1999 because it had not been issued a permit. 

In his ruling, Judge Charles Kobayashi said the commission is in violation of the principle of checks and balances because it performs legislative, executive and judicial duties. Because the state Legislature appoints two-thirds of the commission, it should only have legislative powers, Kobayashi ruled. 

Commission opponents say it must be reorganized to answer to voters, while supporters say its political freedom has helped it protect the coast. 

If the decision is upheld, the commission would be forced to alter its powers to meet constitutional requirements.

SAN JOSE – Andrew Burnett apologized for the death of a small dog he threw into traffic in a fit of road rage. But a judge called him a liar, and sentenced Burnett to the maximum three-year prison term. 

The courtroom erupted in applause Friday as Judge Kevin J. Murphy, who accused Burnett of a lack of remorse, imposed the sentence after saying the 28-year-old man was a danger to the community. 

Burnett, convicted June 20 of tossing a fluffy white bichon frise named Leo to his death following a fender bender with Leo’s owner, asked the judge for leniency. 

“What the defendant said is he was sorry. It was an accident,” Murphy said. “It wasn’t an accident.” 

The judge said Burnett lied about the events that occurred the rainy night of Feb. 11, 2000, when Sara McBurnett’s car lightly tapped the bumper of Burnett’s car at the San Jose airport. 

Witnesses testified during the felony animal cruelty trial that Burnett snatched the dog from McBurnett’s lap and tossed him to his death in busy lanes of traffic. Burnett’s attorney maintained his client merely acted reflexively after Leo bit him. 

“To describe his story as unbelievable is being polite,” Murphy said. 

Burnett’s attorney, Marc Garcia, said he expects his client to appeal the sentence within the next 60 days. 

“I can’t imagine that somebody who for 28 years had led a crime-free life, has been productive, has been responsible, could receive three years in prison on a first-time offense,” Garcia said. “It’s just something that is unprecedented.” 

Murphy seemed particularly troubled by Burnett’s lack of outward remorse, though he apologized to the court and the McBurnett family at sentencing. 

“I’m really sorry for what happened,” Burnett testified. “I’d like to say I’m sorry to the McBurnett family. If there’s anything I could ever say or do to bring back Leo, I would.” 

Burnett also expressed remorse for the incident when he was interviewed recently by Jennifer Daughenbaugh, the probation department worker who drafted a report recommending a one-year county jail sentence followed by probation. 

McBurnett and her husband both asked the judge to impose the maximum penalty allowable for Burnett. Patrick McBurnett said the defendant’s actions had taken the gravest emotional toll on his wife. 

“Words can never convey the depth of love I had for my dog Leo,” Sara McBurnett testified at the sentencing hearing. “His clear intent was to terrorize me in the fastest and clearest way he could under the circumstances.” 

The couple from Incline Village, Nev., clutched each other in the front row as Murphy imposed the sentence. Burnett’s mother and fiance looked on from across the aisle. 

Outside the courtroom, Sara McBurnett applauded the judge’s sentence and questioned the sincerity of Burnett’s apologies. 

“Statements made by a pathological liar mean nothing. Absolutely nothing,” she said. 

If Burnett is forced to serve his sentence on the felony animal cruelty conviction, he would be eligible for parole in July 2002. 

Burnett has been in jail since Jan. 4 and faces criminal theft charges for allegedly stealing equipment from his van when he worked as a telephone repairman. He faces trial on those charges next week. 

Judy Nemzoff, a spokeswoman for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in San Francisco, said the case sends a strong message that society will not tolerate the wanton mistreatment of animals. 

“We anticipate that society will demand that more and more offenders will be prosecuted to the extent of the law,” Nemzhoff said.

SANDPOINT – Six children who staged a days-long standoff with authorities following their mother’s arrest on child-neglect charges will remain in a foster home indefinitely, a judge ruled Friday. 

In an hour-long closed hearing, Bonner County Magistrate Judge Debra Heise decided not to allow JoAnn McGuckin to regain custody of her six minor children. 

A gag order prevented lawyers from either side to comment on specifics from the hearing. In the past, attorneys have said JoAnn McGuckin has medical problems, and also has no income and no home to take care of the children. 

Prosecutor Phil Robinson said the outcome of the hearing was exactly what he wanted. There is no timeline for reuniting the McGuckins, Robinson said. An automatic review will be held in 60 days. 

The six McGuckin children — ages 8 to 16 — have been temporary wards of the state since they surrendered June 2 after a standoff with police at their Garfield Bay home. 

When deputies went to collect the children after arresting their mother, the kids turned their pack of dogs on officers and holed up with five weapons inside the rural house. The standoff ended peacefully five days later and they have been in foster care since then. 

“We’re not trying to tell her how to raise her children or what her beliefs should be,” Robinson said. “But there should be some basic education. They shouldn’t be living in filth.” 

After the hearing, McGuckin said she was “hanging in there.” Earlier Friday, she had said her medical condition might prevent her from regaining custody of her children. 

“I’m too sick to physically take care of them anyway,” she said. 

JoAnn McGuckin has pleaded innocent to the misdemeanor neglect charge, which carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $300 fine. 

Family attorney Bryce Powell, who wouldn’t comment on McGuckin’s medical condition, was disappointed with the judge’s decision. 

“The state has a legal obligation to reunite this family as quickly as possible,” he said. 

The family has been apart — able to see each other only in court or foster homes — since McGuckin’s May 29 arrest on a charge of felony injury to children. The charge was reduced to a misdemeanor last month and she was released from jail without conditions. 

The six children are Kathryn, 16; Ben, 15; Mary, 13; James, 11; Fred,9; and Jane, 8. 

Kathryn and Ben McGuckin testified Monday at a closed custody hearing. Afterward, Heise ruled the children were covered by the state’s child protection act, giving her the power to decide their custody. 

Prosecutors said McGuckin, 46, is an unfit mother because she was raising her children in a filthy home that lacked basic utilities such as running water. Dog feces littered the house. 

They have also suggested that McGuckin has a drinking problem that contributed to the family’s troubles. 

Negotiations toward a custody agreement failed, Robinson said, because prosecutors insisted on some form of state oversight, while McGuckin wanted a guardian of her own choosing, with no oversight other than by the court system. 

The oldest daughter, 19-year-old Erina, left home last year to join the Navy. She returned in April and her complaints to Robinson initiated the arrest and subsequent standoff. 

Erina testified that family members ate rodent-infested food in a feces-covered house that had no running water and little heat. She said her mother spent much of the family’s scarce money on alcohol and instilled bizarre, paranoid notions in the children. 

Her testimony countered earlier testimony by Kathryn McGuckin, who acknowledged many of the problems, but attributed them to the poverty brought on by the illness of both parents. 

The children’s father, Michael McGuckin, died in May after a lengthy bout with multiple sclerosis.

KLAMATH FALLS – About 10 men used a crowbar to partially open a canal head gate at the Klamath irrigation project on Friday, the fourth time someone has tried to release water that is being held back by federal officials to protect endangered and threatened fish. 

A police car drove up to the head gate, but the officers took no immediate action against the men who had pried open a door of the head gate — even though those men were breaking federal law. 

“The only thing that we are going to investigate is any kind of violence. Outside of that, we won’t do anything. I’m just here to take a look,” said Sgt. James Hunter. 

A spokesman for the Bureau of Reclamation indicated that federal officials worry that moving against anyone who tries to force open the head gate could lead to violence. 

“Once we feel we can send our bureau employees there without any potential concerns for their safety, we will move ahead” and close the partially opened head gate, said Jeff McCracken, public affairs spokesman for the BLM, which has authority over the head gate. 

He said the BLM had been in close contact with local, state and federal law enforcement about how to respond to Friday’s protest — which had been announced earlier in the week. 

In a sign of a split between the farmers, some had said they would protect the gate to conserve water for next year rather than waste it now on a symbolic act. 

Klamath Sheriff Tim Evinger said he had recommended federal authorities help these farmers protect the head gate. When no officials arrived, the farmers protecting the gate left, he said. 

“I am frustrated with federal officials who didn’t act as I had recommended,” Evinger said. 

Other farmers said they had planned to open the gate all along. Bennie Diaz, an 81-year-old alfalfa farmer, explained: “I was protecting it so I could open it later.” 

On Friday afternoon, people in the group near the head gate said a brief prayer, and then announced they were going to open the gates. 

One man walked behind a shack and picked up a crowbar. Then he and some others took turns using it to turn gears on one of six doors on the head gate. 

They were able to open the head gate door, and some water flowed through, but not enough to be of any relief to farmers’ fields.

If the potential for heart attacks and lung cancer doesn’t scare you off your cigarette habit (you may think those things just happen to other people), consider these other risks: 

• Young women who smoke are at risk for brain aneurysms, according to Dr. Thomas Kopitnik, professor of neurological surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “Nicotine attacks the cerebral blood vessels,” he said. “This is really a silent killer.” 

• “There’s definitely an increasing body of evidence that smoking is bad for you from a bone point of view,” said Dr. Michael McKee, assistant professor of surgery-orthopedics at St. Michael’s Hospital and the University of Toronto, in presenting research that found patients who smoked had less favorable outcomes after reconstructive surgery on their shinbones. “We found that the people who are smokers had a much worse outcome in a variety of different parameters, including the overall outcome, the quality of bone formed and the complication rate, compared to nonsmokers.” 

• The habit makes recovery and successful results from cosmetic surgery more problematical, says Dr. Rod Rohrich, chairman of plastic surgery at UT-Southwestern. “I won’t operate on patients who smoke because the procedure and the result will be compromised,” he says. 

Kopitnik says that the aneurysm risk is too little known, and he urges any young woman who smokes to check with her doctor about being screened for the condition. “The screening involves doing an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) of the brain, and it could save your life if an aneurysm is detected.” 

The challenge for a doctor is to surgically clip the aneurysm before it bursts, and the MRI can detect it before it reaches the average size of a burst aneurysm – about 7 millimeters. An aneurysm that ruptures requires longer and more dangerous surgery and longer recovery time and higher medical costs. 

Kopitnik and Dr. Duke Samson, neurological surgery chairman, have operated on about 1,800 patients with aneurysms over the past decade. About 70 percent of them were women. 

The patients studied for McKee’s orthopedic research had undergone Ilizarov reconstruction, a procedure in which a circular frame is put around the leg allowing the bone to be held rigidly without having to implant hardware. “The new formation of bone depends on an adequate supply of blood and oxygen reaching that area,” he said in reporting his research at a recent meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. 

The negative effects of smoking following Ilizarov reconstruction are so significant, he said, that he now insists candidates for the surgery must stop smoking first. “When someone comes to my office a needs a complex reconstruction of the tibia and they smoke, I tell them flat out, ’You need to stop smoking, and when you do, we will do your operation.” 

And in a recent edition of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, Dr. Scott E. Porter and Edward N. Hanley provided an overview of articles published about the relationship between smoking and musculoskeletal diseases. 

Smoking has been shown to affect bone mineral density, lumbar disc health, the risk of hip or wrist fractures, and the dynamics of bone and wound healing, according to Porter, a research fellow in orthopedic surgery at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C., and Hanley, chairman of the orthopedic surgery department at the center. 

Perhaps not as frightening but still frightful is a less than wonderful result from a facelift or other cosmetic surgery. 

If you can’t part with your cigarettes, you might as well skip it, says Rohrich. 

“By now everyone understands how the use of tobacco can adversely affect all aspects of an individual’s health. But smoking can be problematic in plastic surgery as well,” he says. 

Nicotine gets in the way of healing because it constricts blood vessels that supply oxygen to the skin – and this can result in loss of skin as well. Patients should consider if they’d be willing to give up smoking for at least four weeks, he says. 

“I encourage them to seek a healthier lifestyle prior to proceeding or in conjunction with an elective surgical procedure, especially cosmetic plastic surgery.” 

Ideas for spicing up your home 

Details count when making your house your home. They could be bibelots to excite the eye and imagination, or they could be the pretty things you use every day: 

• An important, big bowl is often the centerpiece for a table or mantel. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Lismore, its most popular stemware pattern on both sides of the Atlantic, Waterford has introduced a series of Lismore centerpiece bowls of Irish cut crystal. The stemmed 13-inch Scalloped Boat Bowl ($1,500) is an light-catching gem; a slightly simpler design is the 13-inch Statement Centerpiece ($595), which is footed but without the stem. 

• Another spectacular centerpiece bowl, called Amazonia ($3,400), comes from Scottish glassmaker Caithness. This limited edition is handmade, standing 12 1/4 inches high on a graduated stem with a multicolor tropical orchid design within; the bowl is fluted with cut facets and a subtle cobalt blue edging. 

• The London Desk Clock ($750), designed by Pam Waters for Staffordshire Enamels, is both decorative and functional. London landmark scenes are enameled on each panel of this hexagonal piece, with a round clockface on top. There’s also a Golfing Desk Clock ($750) version, showing scenes from famous golf courses around the world. 

• At the table, the choice of fine china can be a treat for visitors or an everyday pleasure for yourself. Pagoda, a new pattern from Tiffany & Co. (September introduction), is hand-painted blue on creamy white French faience, reminiscent of a classic chinoiserie willow design. The line is variable, with simple blue rims or decorated styles, ranging in price from $15 for a bread and butter plate to $175 for a set of four decorated dinner plates. 

• Tiffany Moderne is another new introduction, scheduled for October. This Limoges porcelain is cleanly shaped and bordered with geometrically shaded rectangles in platinum or gold. Estimated price will be about $200 for a five-piece place setting. 

• It’s functional, an eye-catching museum copy — and a tad expensive ($7,200) — but the Gigogne Coffee Service from Christofle makes the after-dinner cup pretty memorable. An art deco design created by Christian Fjerdingstad in 1926 for the French silversmith, the stackable service of coffee pot, creamer and sugar bowl is in sleek polished sterling with round wood handles and lid knob. The original is in the company’s Paris museum; the copies are a limited edition available only in Pavillon Christofle stores. 

• A very different approach to the coffee and tea service is offered by Bulgari for Rosenthal, with its new Concerto and Le Rose patterns in pastel colors. A six-cup Concerto espresso set ($125) depicts various musical instruments on the cups, and the saucers are decorated with musical notations. Single-file blossoms peek over basketwork in the Le Rose pattern (also $125 for six espresso cups). 

• Something new for traditionalists is Wedgwood’s new Rococo pattern ($185 per five-piece place setting), a white bone china embellished with blue bands and gold scrollwork. Another introduction is Traditions ($105 per five piece place setting), a homey bone china entirely in white with embossed swirling scrolls; it’s a new take on Wedgwood’s classic Queens Ware. Both patterns are due this fall. 

• The new Cocoa casual dinnerware ($35.75 for a four-piece place setting) from Pfaltzgraff is like its name — dark and complex. The shapes are simple, but the light plays against alternating matte and gloss finishes. 

• The handpainted casual pottery pattern, Four Sisters (each piece priced separately, but expect to pay around $115 for five pieces) is a breezy design filled with blue-on-white sketches of hens punctuated by polka dots, daisies and the like. Created by Elizabeth Roache for Present Tense, it goes from oven to table. 

• Designer Anne McCracken pays homage to the tradition of saying grace at the table with Gracewords stainless flatware ($320 for eight place settings and four serving pieces). Inscribed on the handle of each piece is a different word meant to inspire prayer or conversation.

Wisteria, one of the most beautiful plants on earth, can last for 50 years and more. It can also, and has a reputation for doing so, drive you and your heirs nuts. 

To begin with, after you plant wisteria, years and years may go by before you see a first bloom. 

Also, unless you’re prepared to watch closely and prune ruthlessly, wisteria vines will take over whatever they cling to. If it’s the side of your house or a porch railing, beware. In some settings, wisteria gets treated as an environmental pest requiring rigorous measures of eradication. 

If you’re lucky to own a fieldstone fence, that’s a good place to grow wisteria because you don’t have to worry about it getting into woodwork. 

All this aside, a gardener with patience, determination and the skills to erect trellises, arbors or pergolas, can get to enjoy one of springtime’s loveliest sights — vines bearing large, hanging flower clusters that come in white and shades of pink, lilac blue and purple, and smell sweet. Lengths of rust-free copper or aluminum wire attached four inches from the wall make good supports. 

I bought a 5-foot-tall wisteria this spring planning to raise it as a small tree near a shed. I chose the site because I wanted to try a free-standing wisteria variety, needing no supports, that would still serve as an ornamental plant to hide the shed. The plant was healthy, not to say bursting with potential energy, and its sunny and sheltered location looked good. 

After planting, I noticed that some of the tendrils were really too close to the side of the shed. That prompted a vision of tentacles reaching out and strangling the shed. So I dug it up and planted it farther away. 

Growing it as a tree doesn’t mean I won’t have work to train it. The plant came already staked upright and with its top cut off. I must now allow side shoots to develop on the upper part but remove any lower down. Then I have to follow strict regimes of winter and summer pruning. 

At the end of all this I hope the tree will live up to the nursery tag on my plant which promises 8- to 12-inch grapelike bunches of white flowers in mid-May. 

I won’t be holding my breath for it to bloom next spring. That would be phenomenally fast for it to happen, and I’m resigned to waiting longer. Many reasons are given for delay or failure to bloom. To begin with, wisterias have a longer than average period of acclimatization. Plants that have been grown from seed may take as long as 15 years. Grafts or plants grown from cuttings will usually bloom earlier. 

Also, the site may not be sunny enough. Or, the nursery where you bought it may have given it too much nitrogen fertilizer, stimulating leafy growth but not blooms. Poor pruning is another factor. A harsh winter may have injured or killed flower buds. 

My daughter, who gardens in Maryland, says the only way she can get her wisteria to flower is to dig a trench near the roots each spring and fertilize with phosphate. 

Clearly, there are a lot of “ifs” to wisteria, but the plant is so good-looking that many gardeners are tempted at one time or another to try their luck with it. 

Two renowned kinds for the garden are Japanese (Wisteria floribunda) and Chinese (Wisteria sinensis). There is also a native American (Wisteria frutescens) once known as Kentucky kidney bean. 

For what it may be worth, vines of the Japanese variety twine clockwise around their host while the Chinese twine counterclockwise. Both varieties can reach heights of 25 feet and more. The Chinese flowers bloom before the foliage expands while the Japanese bloom and leaf out simultaneously. 

A Chinese cultivar named Alba produces fragrant white bloom. Two other featured Chinese cultivars are Black Dragon, with dark purple flowers, and Plena with rosette-shaped lilac flowers. A lovely Japanese cultivar is Longissima Alba with clusters of white flowers 15 inches long. Pale rose Rosea has purple tips and grows 18 inches long. 

Wisteria was named in honor of Caspar Wistar, a distinguished 18th century botanist who was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, president of the Philosophical Society and a friend of Thomas Jefferson. The plant had flourished earlier in England.

As Bush ponders issue, three companies begin farming cells 

MENLO PARK – At least three for-profit companies are racing to develop large amounts of embryonic stem cells even as President Bush struggles to decide whether the government should foster or hinder such research. 

The stem cells hold the potential to cure diseases and ailments from cancer to spinal cord injuries. If this dream can be realized, these companies stand to reap millions – if not billions – in profits. 

Each company employs different but still controversial techniques to harvest embryonic stem cells. One buys leftover embryos from fertility clinics. Another is working to create embryos by way of a cloning method similar to the one used to make Dolly the sheep. The third pays men and women for their sperm and eggs, then creates embryos in the laboratory. 

Each company’s research involves plucking the coveted stem cells from 4- or 5-day-old human embryos, which must be destroyed in the process. 

Anti-abortion activists and others consider all three techniques unethical, saying they result in the destruction of human life. 

Proponents of such research argue that these days-old, undifferentiated cells cannot be viewed as human, and they stress that they have no intention of implanting them in a womb and producing babies. 

Since 1996, federal law has banned the use of tax dollars for research that destroys embryos. The Clinton administration decided federal money could pay for research as long as the stem cells were extracted with private money. 

Bush, who has come under pressure to reverse the Clinton policy and disallow any federal money for human embryonic stem cell research, appears to be searching for a compromise – possibly adopting a middle ground that imposes new restrictions but allows the research to move forward. 

“The work will go on, one way or another,” said Thomas Okarma, chief executive of Menlo Park-based Geron Inc., which funded the two scientists who first isolated human stem cells in 1998 and still dominates the field. 

Geron buys leftover frozen embryos from fertility clinics and cracks them open to obtain the stem cells. Geron owns the worldwide rights to this process and has filed about 30 new patent applications for the various techniques and technology it uses. 

Chief executive Thomas Okarma said he considers Geron’s technique ethically sound. 

“These things aren’t people,” he said. “These are all frozen excess and no longer needed by the couple. And they are either going to be thrown away or stored forever.” 

Eventually, Geron hopes to get stem cells without having to use embryos at all. It hopes to do this by finding and cloning the proteins in eggs that lead to the creation of stem cells. Then, Okarma said, “living cells will be tomorrow’s pharmaceuticals.” 

Across the country in Worcester, Mass., Advanced Cell Technology is working on another technique that it hopes will enable it to generate stem cells by growing human embryos without the use of sperm. 

Advanced Cell’s plan is to pay women to take fertility drugs to produce excess eggs. Researchers would then take an egg, remove its nucleus and genetic material and fuse it with a skin cell containing adult genetic material. With a jolt of electricity, the researchers then would coax the egg to replicate as if it had been fertilized with sperm. After a few days, stem cells would be ready for harvesting. 

So far, Advanced Cell has yet to obtain a stem cell with this technique. Chief executive Michael West, a Geron co-founder who left for Advanced Cell last year, said the company has not yet created embryos. 

Many scientists consider the results of Advanced Cell’s technique to be human embryos, since theoretically, they could be implanted into a womb and grown into a fetus. West himself has used the term “embryo.” However, his ethical advisers prefer terms such as “ovumsum.” 

“These are not embryos,” said the chairman of Advanced Cell’s ethics advisory board, Dartmouth University religion professor Ronald Green. “They are not the result of fertilization and there is no intent to implant these in women and grow them.” 

A third effort was announced this week by the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine, a private fertility clinic in Norfolk, Va., that was responsible for the birth in 1981 of the nation’s first test-tube baby. 

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine said it believes the researchers there are the first in the United States to have created embryos expressly for stem cell research, using eggs and sperm from paid, consenting adults. 

“At one level, it’s cleaner” ethically than using leftover embryos, society spokesman Sean Tipton said. “There’s no question what you’re going to do with these embryos. You’re going to the individuals up front.” 

Only the Geron-generated cells would be eligible for federally funded research dollars under the Clinton administration guidelines, which called for using only surplus embryos from fertility clinics. The Advanced Cell and Jones Institute embryos would not pass this federal test.

PASADENA — A Russian nuclear submarine launched a rocket Thursday to test a prototype of an American-sponsored spacecraft that sails on the feeble pressure of the sun’s rays. 

However, it was unclear Thursday evening whether the results of the test will ever be known. The instruments that recorded the flight may have been lost. 

The rocket blasted from the submarine at 5:33 p.m. PDT (4:33 a.m. Friday Moscow time) as it cruised beneath the Barents Sea north of Russia. 

“Beautiful. Beautiful. It looks beautiful,” Louis Friedman, executive director of The Planetary Society, said via satellite phone as he watched the launch from a nearby ship. 

Following the launch, the rocket was expected to deploy two Russian-built solar sails, each four stories tall, in a test of how well the lightweight blades unfurl in space from tightly packed canisters the size of a loaf of bread. 

The Cosmos 1 project is coordinated by the society, a space exploration advocacy group founded by Friedman, former Jet Propulsion Laboratory director Bruce Murray and the late astronomer Carl Sagan. The $4 million project is underwritten by Cosmos Studios, led by Sagan’s widow, Ann Druyan, and the cable A&E Network. 

“We couldn’t be happier and more exhilirated. It’s just a thrill. My only regret is that Carl isn’t here,” said Druyan, speaking by telephone from her Ithaca, N.Y., home to Planetary Society members who monitored the launch from Pasadena. 

Project leaders said it would take several days before they could confirm the sail panels deployed as planned. While the sails themselves would burn up in the atmosphere, a capsule that recorded video and still images of the deployment was expected to bounce down on the Kamchatka Peninsula. 

But project members could not immediately detect the signals they needed to track down the capsule, leading Murray to speculate that there was only a 50-50 chance that any data would be recovered. 

“There is either a reasonably intact re-entry capsule which is hiding its presence for one reason or another, or there’s a crater,” Murray said. 

The 31-minute suborbital test had been delayed earlier this year when the spacecraft was damaged during testing. 

The test flight was made in preparation for the Cosmos 1 project’s expected launch of a complete spacecraft this winter. Project leaders have not decided whether that launch would proceed even without data from Thursday’s test, said John Garvey, a project engineer. 

Cosmos 1 would send into Earth orbit a pinwheel of eight similarly sized blades that will harness, for the first time ever, the gentle push of sunlight to propel it farther and farther into space. 

The spacecraft should be easily visible from Earth during the course of the mission, expected to last weeks or months. 

Proponents envision the day when spacecraft will be able to cruise from planet to planet – and beyond. 

“At least today, this is the only way we know of getting to the stars,” Garvey said. 

The solar sail uses the steady pressure of photons hitting it to move it forward, just as a conventional sail uses the wind. 

Light-driven spacecraft will be slow to accelerate, but with time should reach velocities that will make travel across great distances possible. The sails could theoretically attain speeds 10 times greater than NASA’s Voyager I and II, which travel at 38,000 mph. 

The sun’s weak but steady pressure is sufficient to propel solar sail craft within the bounds of the orbit of Jupiter; beyond that, scientists envision using lasers to push sails. 

The solar sail is made of lightweight Mylar about a quarter the thickness of a garbage bag. Because it is powered by sunlight, a solar sail spacecraft would require little or no propellant. 

The Cosmos 1 spacecraft expected to launch this fall is designed to gradually spiral away from Earth as sunlight pushes its 720 square yards of sail. The 88-pound craft, built by the Babakin Space Center in Russia, will carry two cameras and instruments to monitor its progress. 

If Cosmos 1 is a success, Murray said, the next project may be a solar-sail mission to the moon. 

NASA has said it wants to launch an interstellar probe powered by space sails by 2010. A Texas company, Encounter 2001, wants to launch a solar sail by 2003 to carry messages and bits of human DNA beyond the solar system. 

——— 

On the Net: http://www.planetary.org/solarsail/index2.html 

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Mayor Shirley Dean awarded $5,650 to the winners of the Cash for Trash contest.  

The largest winner was Romy and Julian Falck of Dohr Street for a May 17 trash pick-up with no recyclables. With big smiles they received a check for $2,700. 

The second largest check went to the Donikian family of n 

orth Berkeley. On June 15 they found a note on their front door placed by Dave Williamson, the Ecology Center recycling operations manager, asking permission to check their trash for recyclables.  

Williamson found zero recyclables in the Donikians’ trash.  

Zovig Donikian said they recycle because recyclables are not trash and should be put to good use.  

Once a week, from February 14 to July 14, trash from a randomly selected Berkeley households is checked for recyclables.  

If none are found the household wins $250 or more.  

If only a few are found they win $50 and the remainder is rolled over to the next week. If numerous recyclables are found the entire prize rolls over to the next week.  

In the last contest the prize grew to $4,000 before a winner was found. 

The Cash for Trash Contest is a recycling outreach project of the Ecology Center and the City of Berkeley, funded by the Alameda County Source Reduction and Recycling Board.  

For a list of rules, recyclables accepted, and on-going contest status visit: www.ecologycenter.org or call the Ecology Center Recycling Hotline at 527-5555.

FRESNO — The San Joaquin Valley’s notoriously dirty air is the target of a planned suit by environmental groups who claim the federal government and the valley’s air district aren’t doing enough to clean it up. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the San Joaquin Valley United Air Pollution Control District consistently have failed to meet cleanup deadlines mandated by the federal Clean Air Act and have given the agricultural and petroleum industries undue exemptions to air quality standards, the environmentalists claim. 

“It’s time to do something about the valley’s air pollution ... We have unnecessary suffering. We have unnecessary loss of life,” said Sierra Club member Kevin Hall. 

Hall and members of the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, the Latino Issues Forum, the Medical Alliance for Healthy Air and the Center for Race, Poverty and the Environment announced Tuesday they will sue the EPA and the San Joaquin Valley air district in two months. Federal rules mandate 60 days notice before a suit can be filed. 

The groups claim the air district has missed every deadline to implement tougher soot and smog standards since the Clean Air Act was passed in 1970. The EPA also failed 19 times over the past six years to step in and enforce federal clean air rules when the air district fell short of its responsibilities, said Earthjustice lawyer Deborah Reams. 

One of the environmentalists’ main complaints is that the EPA failed to designate the eight-county air basin as a “severe non-attainment area for ozone,” one of the main components of smog. 

Had the EPA done that, the region would have been forced to comply with strict pollution-control measures and come up with a plan to reduce pollution by 3 percent a year. 

EPA officials say they are reviewing the group’s complaints and were close to bumping up the valley into a severe non-attainment classification before anyone mentioned a suit. 

“There’s a very good chance that we’ll be finalizing that bump-up in the early fall. This lawsuit could force us to doing something a little earlier than anticipated,” said John Ungvarsky, an environmental scientist with the EPA. 

Ungvarsky said the EPA will be talking with the environmentalists in an effort to reach a compromise and avoid a protracted legal battle. Many of the potential litigants, however, said endless red tape and years of foot dragging by federal and San Joaquin Valley officials left them impatient and ready for a legal fight. 

“Fresno and the surrounding areas are one of the three worst spots in the nation for asthma. One in 12 to one in 10 people ... either has asthma or has a family member with asthma,” said David Pepper, a UCSF Medical Center, Fresno physician and member of the Medical Alliance. 

“Living in the valley is like smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. That’s the kind of air we’re breathing,” Pepper said.

SAN DIEGO — Like many of his countrymen, Adrian Duran came to the United States from Mexico and lived a typically furtive existence: He worked off-the-books in low-paying jobs and always kept a nervous watch for immigration inspectors. 

“Life here is really hard for people who don’t have papers ... You’re always hiding,” Duran, 53, said Monday as he waited for work at a day laborer’s center in San Diego. 

He no longer has to hide. Duran received legal residency through a 1986 amnesty program that allowed some 3 million foreign citizens in the United States to fully join American society. 

Now, many more illegal immigrants may be able to follow that path under a new amnesty proposal being considered by the Bush administration. 

Although the details haven’t been worked out, the administration is weighing a plan that would grant legal status to the estimated 3 million undocumented Mexicans living in the United States. 

As members of Congress expressed opposition, news of the proposal spread through immigrant communities in California, where more than a third of the Mexicans in this country live.  

Among many, the news sparked hope for an end to an underground existence that leaves people with few opportunities and the constant fear of deportation. 

“We were talking about it here this morning,” said Alfonso Hurtado, a construction worker who was also at the San Diego day laborer center. “It’s a good idea. Immigrants should be able to participate in society like everyone else.” 

Amnesty opponents say such programs reward illegal immigration, inspire more people to come, and drive down wages in the United States. Even supporters say rumors of such a program are likely to spark a wave of fraud against migrants seeking to legalize their status. 

Central Americans also complain about the fact that the Bush administration is considering the amnesty only for Mexicans as part of a broader immigration agreement with Mexico’s President Vicente Fox. 

“It’s not right,” said Job Siciliano, a resident of Los Angeles who came to this country from El Salvador in 1991. “It should be for all Hispanics. I don’t understand why it’s only for them.” 

But for Mexican illegal immigrants, the news couldn’t be more welcome. 

“I think it is terrific to have that opportunity,” said a 34-year-old immigrant from Mexico who gave only his first name, Daniel, as he waited for work with other laborers along San Francisco’s Cesar Chavez Street in San Francisco.  

“I think it will be something very good for my friends.” 

“It would be marvelous,” a 32-year-old single mother of two in San Diego who entered the United States illegally from Mexico six years ago, said of the amnesty proposal. 

The woman, who asked that her name not be used, works nights as a janitor and described a life tightly constrained by the need to keep a low profile.  

She cannot get a driver’s license or a bank account and is afraid to visit relatives in Los Angeles for fear of Border Patrol checkpoints. 

“There’s a constant fear,” said another illegal immigrant, a 35-year-old woman who lives in El Cajon and who also spoke on condition of anonymity. “At any minute you can be picked up and deported.” 

The threat of deportation also prevents illegal immigrants from reporting crimes, workplace abuses or consumer rip-offs and substandard housing, said Leticia Jimenez, a spokeswoman for the American Friends Service Committee, an advocacy group in San Diego. 

If the amnesty is approved, Jimenez said, “they won’t have to suffer in silence.” 

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration is considering granting legal residency to millions of undocumented Mexican immigrants living in the United States. 

Such amnesty would give a permanent reprieve to certain Mexicans living undercover in this country, largely in the border states. It also could be a political boon to the Republican president as he seeks Hispanic support. 

There are 3 million Mexican-born people living illegally in the United States, according to a report last week by Mexico’s National Population Council. 

An immigration task force of top Justice and State Department officials planned to send President Bush a report Monday on the broad outlines of U.S.-Mexico border issues. It will recommend that the United States take action to address illegal immigration, but will stop short of offering concrete proposals, a Justice Department official said Sunday. 

The task force is considering several options, including a proposal to give the illegal Mexican immigrants permanent residency, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. That is what Mexican President Vicente Fox has been pressing Bush for. 

Major questions remain unanswered about how the administration would administer such a program. The official said issues under consideration include how quickly the immigrants could earn legal status, and whether they would gain such status based on date of entry into the United States, or by occupation, such as farm worker. 

The working group was formed after Bush and Fox met in February. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Secretary of State Colin Powell head the task force, which hopes to have recommendations for the two presidents by September, when Fox visits Bush in Washington. 

Ashcroft is meeting with Mexican officials in California and Arizona later this month to discuss border issues. He and Powell also will meet with their Mexican counterparts in early August. 

The preliminary report will be presented to Bush as Fox completes a five-day visit to the United States this week. On Monday, Fox planned to meet in Detroit with auto executives and union officials. 

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said he would back the kind of amnesty move now under consideration. 

“I believe that these people are living here, and it’s a recognition of reality. They are working here,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” 

But Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., sounded a more cautious note. 

“Just to summarily grant legal status to 3 million people, many of them that got here illegally and have violated the law while they’re here — I’d want to make sure we do this carefully,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” 

Any guest-worker or amnesty program proposed by Bush would require approval by Congress. Some Democrats also object, mindful of union fears that guest-worker and amnesty programs could drive down wages and decrease job opportunities for Americans. 

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, introduced legislation last week to create a program that lets farm workers now working in the United States become permanent residents after working 150 days a year for four years. 

Bush drew 35 percent of the Hispanic vote in November, and has continued to woo them since then. Recent Census figures indicate the number of Americans of Mexican ancestry has grown 53 percent over the last decade.

Plan would trim hundreds of millions from price 

SACRAMENTO – A new plan to rescue Southern California Edison unveiled by several lawmakers Friday would trim several hundred millions dollars from the price Gov. Gray Davis has proposed paying for the utility’s transmission lines. 

The bill significantly alters the rescue deal Davis crafted to keep the embattled utility out of bankruptcy. 

Davis offered $2.76 billion, or 2.3 times book value for the 6,000 miles of transmission lines. The bill, by Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, and three other lawmakers, would offer Edison twice book value for the lines. 

“That’s less than market value for the transmission lines,” said Paul Hefner, spokesman for Hertzberg. 

Brian Bennett, Edison vice president of external affairs, estimated that would be $2.4 billion, of which $1.2 billion would go to retire the utility’s debts against the transmission system. 

Despite the changes, Davis said he was glad to see the “flurry of activity” in the Legislature concerning a proposal many consider politically dangerous. 

“I am optimistic that some modifications to the Edison Memorandum of Understanding will be approved, perhaps as early as next week,” he said. 

The bill’s other authors are Democratic Assembly members Fred Keeley of Boulder Creek, John Dutra of Fremont and Jackie Goldberg of Los Angeles. 

The plan costs much less than the governor’s plan, Keeley said. 

“It proposes to buy the transmission system for less money and it creates a mechanism for reducing the amount that’s paid to generators,” Keeley said. 

The bill uses Davis’ deal with Edison as a framework, but alters it in several ways, including creating a trust that would pay Edison’s power debts at 70 cents on the dollar. 

Money in the trust would come from a loan Edison would take out against the transmission lines, while the sale to the state was pending. The trust to repay the generators would be operated by the state and the Public Utilities Commission, which will review all claims by generators and then offer them 70 percent, Keeley said. 

The bill would also: 

— Establish an account to allow consumers to benefit as power costs fall. The governor’s plan has a similar account, but Keeley says this bill would require that any surplus be returned to utility customers. 

— Require power suppliers selling into California’s market to increase their “green” energy profile. Keeley says this will lessen the state’s dependence on natural gas. 

— Let the state retain long-term oversight of electricity rates for residential and small-business customers. 

— Allow commercial users to buy power in a competitive market, and bypass utilities if they can get lower rates. In return, those customers repay “the preponderance” of Edison’s debts if they leave the system. 

“Our proposal protects those who deregulation has hurt most — consumers — and ensures that California never sees a crisis like this again,” Hertzberg said. “It holds accountable those who have taken advantage of us.” 

Assembly Republican Caucus spokesman Jamie Fisfis said the Democrat’s plan wouldn’t gain needed bipartisan support because of the direct access clause. 

“How can you shift the entire load to big business?” he said, adding that business will “flee the state” if that is approved. 

Bennett said there are still additional details the utility would want to see before endorsing the plan, including how much the company could issue in bonds to repay the rest of their debts. Those bonds, which are also included in Davis’ plan, would be repaid by consumers over a decade. 

Consumer advocate Harvey Rosenfield said “not one more penny” should be charged to residential consumers. 

“Residential users have been the piggy bank for the utilities for five years,” Rosenfield said. 

If lawmakers approve a plan that further hikes rates, “there’ll be hell to pay on election day,” he said. “Voters will hold accountable individual lawmakers who vote to make ratepayers pay more so Edison executives and shareholders can enjoy their summer vacations.”