The City Council was poised early Wednesday morning to render a decision on a land use issue that had bitterly divided two communities in north Berkeley when the opposing sides announced a last-minute compromise.  

At issue was a proposal by the Beth El congregation to build a 32,000-square-foot synagogue, school and social hall on a two-acre site at 1301 Oxford St. The size of the project was bitterly opposed by neighbors and environmentalists who argued it would damage Codornices Creek, neighborhood tranquility and historical elements of the property. 

After the compromise was announced, Beth El member Harry Pollack drew laughter from councilmembers and from the approximately 100 people packed into the council chambers by quipping “Nothing to it.” Pollack was understating the laborious planning process that included hundreds of hours of commission meetings, public hearings and a marathon mediation process that was ongoing right up to midnight Tuesday when the council was prepared to settle the controversial issue by vote. 

Mediator Peter Bluhon said the negotiations took place in several rooms in the Old City Hall while the council was considering other items on its agenda. He said he received approval from the two opposing parties just minutes before he was to address the council. 

“After eight weeks of diligent, hard work on the part of all the parties, the mediation has successfully yielded an agreement,” Bluhon read from a one-page, handwritten agreement upon which the ink was still drying. “The parties concur that this design, if implemented and managed properly, can create an attractive, functional facility for Beth El, ensure managed parking and leave open the possibility for future creek daylighting.” 

When Bluhon announced the compromise, the council, which had heard an estimated 18 hours of comments during two public hearings, seemed relived they would not have to decide the controversial issue. 

The council contracted the services of Bluhon in early April in the hopes of finding resolution prior to having to vote on the issue. Bluhon said this was one of the tougher mediations he has worked on. 

“For me, at the outset, I found there was a significant level of distrust, greater than most projects I’ve ever worked on,” he said. 

But he said over 300 hours of meetings in the last few weeks and the good will of both parties resulted in a compromise. 

The relieved Council thanked the mediator and praised the efforts of the opposing sides for working to reach an agreement. Councilmember Miriam Hawley, who represents the proposed project’s district, said the compromise was “a testament of the good will of everybody involved.” 

Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek thanked both sides for working so hard and said she thought of the two groups when she read an article about military spending, which was justified by bitter, unresolved conflicts around the world. 

“They are going to spend $345 billion on the military and such a small amount on education and real social needs,” she said. “It made me think of you working so hard to make a community and this is what you call community.” 

The changes to the project include a reduction in the social hall and other sections of the building of approximately 1,500-square feet, a rearranging of parking places to ensure the possibility of daylighting the culverted section of Codornices Creek and a shift of structures away from Oxford Street. The congregation also agreed to limit the attendance of social hall functions to 180 people instead of 200. 

Neighbor Philip Price cautioned the council that the agreement was conditional and there were still issues to be worked out. But he said he was heartened by the results of the mediation.  

“I’m somewhat astonished we have an agreement we can all endorse,” he said. “We had to find an area of agreement the size of a dime and we found that dime.” 

Pollack said the new design would not put a crimp in temple, social and school functions. “But on the other hand, it does allow for a reorganization of the traffic flow and more open area on the north side.” 

The council approved the newly forged agreement contingent on review by planning staff and the continued agreement of the two parties. 

Bluhon said the neighbors and environmentalists want further assurances the creek will be restored for possible re-establishment of steelhead migration and Beth El wants protection from future lawsuits. 

Councilmember Polly Armstrong said she hadn’t sleep well the night before in anticipation of voting on an issue with such strong feelings on both sides. But she said she appreciated the unique regional nature of the disagreement. 

“No one moves to Berkeley by accident. We didn’t come here for the domestic tranquility,” she said. “I won’t soon forget the rational, sensible people who came to Council meetings dressed as fish.”

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. 

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 

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 

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

11th Anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 

11 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Campus, Upper Sproul Plaza 

Celebration and Call to Action Disability Rights. Sutton nomination, Olmstead implementation, Medicaid buy-in legislation for California, 

grass roots activism, voting .  

For more information: Jessa Steinbeck, AAPD, 800/840-8844, Andy Imparato, AAPD, 443/386-2935 or, Daniel Davis: Disabled Students Union of UC Berkeley, 510/898-3531 

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. This is a free weekly cultural studies course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program. Free. 

Call 549-2970 

Saturday, July 28

Residential Solar Electricity 

1 p.m. - 3 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave. 

The workshop will introduce participants to residential solar electricity: how solar cells work, how to size a system, participants will also get to produce electricity using photovoltaic panels and power a range of appliances (weather permitting). $15. Call 548-2220 x233 to reserve a space.  

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 

16th Annual Berkeley Kite  

Festival and West Coast Kite Championship 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Through Sunday. 

Cesar E. Chavez Park at the Berkeley Marina 

Giant creature kites from New Zealand, Team Kite Ballet, Japanese-Style Rokaku Kite Battle for the skies, plus great food and live music.  

11 a.m. - 1 p.m. kite making lessons; 2:30 p.m. Candy Drops for the kids; 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. kite flying lessons. Free Event. For more information: 235-5483 or www.highlinekites.com. 

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 

— compiled by Guy Poole 

16th Annual Berkeley Kite Festival  

and West Coast Kite Championship 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Cesar E. Chavez Park at the Berkeley Marina 

Giant creature kites from New Zealand, Team Kite Ballet, Japanese-Style Rokaku Kite Battle for the skies, plus great food and live music.  

11 a.m. - 1 p.m. kite making lessons; 2:30 p.m. Candy Drops for the kids; 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. kite flying lessons. Free Event. For more information: 235-5483 or www.highlinekites.com. 

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.

Black teachers can wipe out racial prejudice 

Editor: 

The best way to recompense the descendants of American slaves for the sufferings of their forebears and the present educational and occupational disabilities many endure because of their ancestry would be to eliminate racial (which is to say chiefly color) discrimination from our social outlook.  

This could be accomplished in one generation by insuring that the public school teachers K-12 be overwhelmingly excellent well-qualified instructors — and black. Children of all colors look up to good teachers. If white kids have mainly black teachers as their everyday role models they are not going to be prejudiced against blacks.  

Our bigots to the contrary, blacks on average can be as capable as whites at any task, intellectual or physical. So, rather than an ill-considered Bush handout like the tax cut, let there be established an impeccable government foundation, to finance from its outset the best education available for all blacks who want to be public school teachers and to make and keep a promise to pay, throughout their teaching years, to only black teachers so fostered, a considerable bonus — such a bonus as will financially maintain them in the upper middle class, well above today’s average teacher’s pay. Young blacks would come flocking. 

Such a plan should gain wide acceptance among the more thoughtful proponents of recompense for slavery. If honestly and earnestly carried out, black dominance of K-12 faculties could in one generation wipe out the shame of American life — color prejudice.  

Judith Segard Hunt 

Berkeley  

A very odd Olympic dream 

Editor: 

I had a very odd dream the other night: I saw tens of thousands of people singing a strange song and wearing a red shirt with some strange symbol on it. Were they from another planet, or were they getting ready for the Olympics? 

George Kauffman 

Berkeley 

Bush tax relief is just not enough 

Editor: 

Various letters to the editor have suggested what to do with the Bush tax refund. 

July 19, I received IRS Notice 1275. In big red letters is titled “Notice of Status and Amount of Immediate Tax Relief.” Then it says, “Dear Taxpayer:, blah, blah, blah. ... As part of immediate tax relief, you will be receiving a check in the amount of $13.50 during the week of 07/30/2001.” Then there is more information. 

I do not know if I received the “incorrect” IRS notice or the “correct” IRS notice. In either case, I will have to think long and hard what to do with my $13.50. Lets see, it will not pay my PG&E bill; or Pacific Telephone; or EBMUD. I suppose I could go to Starbucks and buy a pound of coffee. But since I am disabled, I guess I better apply the money toward a prescription. It might be nice to not have to make the decision of whether or not I eat or get my medication. 

If I really do get check for $13.50, the federal government has probably spent more than that in getting it out to me. 

What kind of logic is that? That is a waste of taxpayer’s money. 

John G. Cakars 

Berkeley  

Taking SATs in native language is a huge boost 

Editor: 

Susan Bonoff, a college counselor at North Hollywood High School, says that native Spanish speakers bolster their overall SAT II test scores by taking the Spanish language SAT II tests. In a recent year, two of the top three North Hollywood High students were admitted to UC Berkeley while the other was admitted to Stanford. What distinguished their applications were their Advanced Placement test scores.  

Each had taken 22 or more of the tests, and had qualified for college credit on each. Any Spanish speaker in previous years could have taken the SAT II Spanish language test since it’s up to the applicant to choose the third test under current procedures, so in no way does a future language testing requirement account for the upsurge in Latinos having already been accepted at the university. In recommending that UC require only those tests that assess mastery of specific subject areas rather than undefined notions of “aptitude” or “intelligence.”  

Atkinson seeks to reverse a trend started by Harvard President James Conant in the 1930s. 

Conant had college boards that were so nearly a test of mastery of New England boarding school curricula that they couldn't be used to size up the applicants to Harvard from public schools in the Mid-West. 

“All too often,” said Atkinson, “universities use SAT scores to rank order applicants in determining who should be admitted. This use of the SAT is not compatible with the American view on how merit should be defined and opportunities distributed. The strength of American society has been its belief that actual achievement should be what matters most. Students should be judged on the basis of what they have made of the opportunities available to them.” 

Atkinson is right to reverse a trend which resulted in drafting low I.Q. fathers to fight for their country in Korea and Vietnam while exempting single college men. 

But, if too much emphasis is placed on the SAT I in UC freshman admissions, why retain the SAT IIs, while eliminating the only rival test currently available (the ACT)? Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo recently announced that it would prefer the ACT from now on. 

Atkinson, 71, a cognitive psychologist, has been a visiting Distinguished Scholar at the company which administers the SATs (both I and II). He witnessed his grandchildren, at the ages of 10 and 12, enrolled in an upscale private school studying verbal analogies. 

“I learned that they spend hours each month — directly and indirectly — preparing for the SAT,” Atkinson said, “studying long lists of verbal analogies such as ‘truthful is to mendaciousness’ as ‘circumspect is to caution.’” 

Mathematics is one of the three SAT IIs already required of prospective UC freshman (91,904 applied for the Class of 2004 on the campuses throughout the state). Kate Millet, the author of the classic Sexual Politics, says that “the independence and ego-strength necessary for first-rate achievement necessary in certain analytic fields [has been] completely absent from the cultural experience of nearly every girl child.”  

The effect of Atkinson’s SAT II reform will be to reduce the number of women at the campuses, the most competitive in particular (UCLA, UC San Diego and UC Berkeley). 

Zero point four percent of 91,904 UC applicants statewide took the Japanese language test. It’s a gross overstatement to say that SAT II language tests have given anyone an advantage in UC admissions up to now. Their high scores on Advanced Placement tests, on the other hand, have given North Hollywood High students an enormous advantage. 

Richard Thompson 

Berkeley  

924 Gilman St. Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 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 26: Keni “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Aug 1: Whiskey Brothers. 1822 San Pablo 843-2473 

Anna’s Bistro Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 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 25: 8:00 p.m. perfect Strangers $10; July 26: 9:00 p.m. Super Rail band $16; July 27: 8:00 p.m. Ali Khan Band $15; July 28: 9:30 p.m. Motordude Zydeco and Brass Monkey $11; July 29: 9:00 p.m. El Hadj N’ Diaye $10; July 31: 8:00 p.m. dance lesson with Dana DeSimone, 9:00 p.m. Steve Riley and Mamou Playboys $12; Aug. 5: 9 p.m. Roots Reggae featuring Groundation and Tchiya Amet. $10. 11317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5099 www.ashkenaz.com 

Eli’s Mile High Club Doors open at 8 p.m. 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 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, Aug 4: Adam Levy, Will Bernard; Aug 5: MonTango; Aug 6: Frank Yamma; Aug 8: San Francisco Klezmer Experience; Aug 9: John Renbourn . $16.50 - $19.50. 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jupiter 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 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; Aug 3: 8 p.m. Los Delicados, Aya de Leon $10; Aug 4: 8 p.m. Grito Serpentino, Small Axe Project, Jime Salcedo-Malo & Leticia Hernandez $10; Aug 5: 7 p.m. Insight in concert $10. 3105 Shattuck Avenue 849-2568 

La Note/Jazzschool July 29: 4:30 p.m., vocalist Lily Tung, 5:30 p.m. Jazzschool Advanced Jazz Workshop. $5; Aug 5: 4:30 p.m. Vocaists’ Series (Denine Monet), 5:30 p.m. Instrumentalists’ Series (Pelo Mar). 2377 Shattuck Avenue 845-5373. 

Rose Street House of Music July 26: 7:30 p.m. Christie McCarthy, Liz Pisco, Antara and Delilah, Amber Jade. $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 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  

“Downtown” restaurant and bar August 6: 7 p.m. Jesse Colin Young of the sixties hit group, The Youngbloods, will be performing at a No Nukes evening, sponsored by Greenpeace. The evening commemorates the 56th anniversary of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The proceeds go to Tri-Valley CAREs and Citizen Alert. Tickets are $100. 2102 Shattuck Ave. 800-728-6223 

The Greek Theatre Aug. 3 and Aug. 4, 7 p.m. The String Cheese Incident, $29.75. Hearst Avenue and Gayley Road 444-TIXS, or (415) 421-TIXS www.sfx.com 

Julia Morgan Center for the Arts July 29: 2:00 p.m. “Into the Eye of Magic! An Asian Folk Tale” interactive musical and theatrical production for families. Adults $10 Children $5; Aug 4: 8 p.m. “Cuatro maestros Touring Festival” two-hour theatrical event of music and dance performed by four elder folk artists and their talented young counterparts. Adults $18 Children $12; Aug. 10: 7:30 p.m. & Aug. 11, 12, 5 p.m. Campers from Stage Door Conservatory’s “On Broadway” program for grades 5-9 will perform Fiddler on the Roof, Jr. $12 adults, $8 kids. (For info call 527-5939); 2640 College Avenue 845-8542 ext. 302 

“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 

“Human Nature” the X-Plicit Players explore intimate but un-named ways of being together, awaken senses old and new and participate in Group Body. July 28: 8:30 p.m. $15 Metaversal Lightcraft 1708 University 848-1985 

“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 655-0813 

“The Lady’s Not for Burning” July 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. $5 - $10. South Berkeley Community Church 1802 Fairview st. 464-1117 

“Loot” Through Aug 25, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7:00 p.m. Special Performance Aug 20, 8:00 p.m. General Admission: $15, Students / Seniors: $10 La Val’s 1834 Euclid Avenue 655-0813 

“Orphans” 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 

“Reefer Madness” a new one-act theatre piece adapted from a 1936 government-funded film opens a critical eye to the control of our society. Performed by The Elemental Theatre Group Wed Aug 8,22, Thu Aug 9,23: 9 p.m. La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Avenue. Wednesdays “pay what you can”, thursdays $5 - $10. Fri Aug 10,17: 7 p.m. People’s Park Free. Contact Zachary Rouse or Tisha Sloan for more info at 655-4150 

“San Francisco Improv” July 28: 8 p.m., Free show at Cafe Electica 1309 Solano Avenue. 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 

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 26: 7:00 Devarim, 9:10 Yom Yom; July 27: 7:00 Punishment Room, 8:55 Ten Dark Women; July 28: 7:00 The Big Heat, 8:30 Kippur, 8:50 Clash by Night; July 29: 3:00 A Boy named Charlie Brown, 5:30 Mr. Pu, 7:30 A Billionaire; New PFA Theatre 2575 Bancroft Way 642-1412 

San Francisco Jewish Film Festival Wheeler Auditorium, UC Berkeley July 28: 1 p.m. “The Optimists” 3:30 p.m. “Louba’s Ghosts”, 6:15 p.m. “One of the Hollywood Ten”, 8:30 p.m. “Kippur”; July 29: 11 a.m. “Keys from Spain”, “The Cross Inscribed in the Star of David”, 1 p.m. “Intimate Stranger”, “Nobody’s Business”, 4 p.m. “The Sweetest Sound”, 6 p.m. “Once We Grow Up”, 8:30 p.m. “Total Love”, “Moses vs. Godzilla” General admission: $8.50, Matinees (until4p.m.): $7, Students/Seniors/Groups: $6.50. (925)866-9559 http://www.sfjff.org 

“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 

Exhibits 

“BACA National Juried Exhibition: Works on Paper” Through 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 

“Debbie Moore’s Autobiographical Paintings” Through Sep 30 at Good Vibrations. Portraits of the artist’s sensual explorations spanning 25 years and reflecting changing ways of intimacy and body play. 2504 San Pablo Avenue 848-1985 

“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” is an 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  

“Sistahs: Ethnofraphic Ceramics” through August 22, Reception July 29 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. Womens Cancer Resource Center Gallery 3023 Shattuck Avenue 548-9286 ext. 307 

“Ten Years Here” Exhibit celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Turn of the Century Fine Arts. Aug 4 - Sept 14, Sat & Sun 1-5 p.m. Reception Aug 4 2:00 - 7:00 p.m. 2510 San Pablo Avenue 849-0950 

“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 

Boadecia’s Books Aug 3: Mabel Maney (author of the Nancy Clue/ Cherry Aimless and Hardly Boys mysteries) reads from her new book “Kiss the Girls and Make them Spy” featuring Jane Bond, James’ lesbian twin sister; Aug 4: Dyke Open Myke! Coffeehouse-style open mike night featuring both established and emerging talent. All events start at 7:30 p.m. and are free. 398 Colusa Avenue 559-9184 

Cody’s Books July 26: Dave Egger’s presentation has been canceled; Aug 5: Justin Chin, Gerry Gomez Pearlberg; Aug 8: Jane Mead, Mark Turpin. $2 donation. Readings at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-0837 

Cafe de la Paz “Poetry Nitro” Weekly poetry open mike. July 30: Featuring Lisa Sikie; Aug 6: featuring Andrena zawinski. 6:30 p.m. sign-up, 7 p.m. reading. 1600 Shattuck Ave. 843-0662  

Coffee Mill Poetry Series August 7: Featured readers JC and Bert Glick. 7-9 p.m.; August 21: Featured Readers: Victoria Joyce and Therese Bamberger; Both 7-9 p.m. Free. 3363 Grand Ave., Oakland for info. (510)465-3935 or (510)526-5985, or Email: ksdgk@earthlink.net 

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.  

“How Big Is the Universe?” Aug. 1 through Aug. 24. Learn how to determine the distance of celestial objects, one of the purposes of the Hubble Space Telescope. Daily, 2:15 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, 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu 

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. 

Barons get some clutch hits, take advantage of Clayton Valley miscues 

For the third time in 11 days, the Berkeley Legion baseball team was involved in an extra-inning game in which one team blew a lead late in the game. But for the first time, the Berkeley team was the one that came back to tie the game in the seventh inning and win it in the eighth at Clayton Valley High on Wednesday. 

Trailing 5-1 heading into their last at-bats, the Barons used patience and some timely hitting. With one out, Clayton Valley reliever Barry Zenuk hit Matt Sylvester with a pitch, then walked Jack MckSweeney and Foster Goree to load the bases. Walker Toma then hit a line drive to center field that skipped under the Clayton Valley defender’s glove, scoring two runs and putting runners on second and third. Bennie Goldenberg bounced a single over third base, which plated Goree and Toma to knot the score at 5-5. 

Toma then came in to relieve in the bottom of the inning after Jason Nealy beaned Clayton Valley’s Rick Byrnes with one out, which appeared to shake up the Berkeley hurler. Although Byrnes stole second and took third on a passed ball, Toma induced a short flyball to right by the next batter, then struck out Chris Hurd to strand him 90 feet short of the winning run. 

Clayton Valley proceeded to pretty much hand the Barons the game in the eighth. Third baseman Matt Mazzei muffed a grounder by Berkeley’s Jason Haller, then Zenuk kicked away a sacrifice bunt by Jabri Gilreath. Sylvester popped up his own bunt, which Mazzei caught for the out, but Mazzei then threw the ball away trying to double up Gilbreath at first, sending the runners to second and third.  

MckSweeney struck out for the second out, but Chris Wilson hit a pop-up into no-man’s land in center, scoring the runners. Toma and Goldenberg both hit RBI singles to give the Barons some insurance, and Toma shut down the home side in the bottom of the inning to earn the 9-5 win. 

Strangely enough, the Berkeley outburst of eight runs in the final two innings came after head coach Josh Flushman was tossed from the game for arguing balls and strikes with the home plate umpire. 

“I’d say that was definitely the key to our victory today,” Flushman joked after the game, noting that he had clashed with the same umpire in a previous game this summer. 

Clayton Valley looked to have the Barons’ number early in the game, scoring five runs in two innings off of Berkeley starter Gilbreath. But Nealy shut them down for almost the rest of regulation.

YMCA isn’t just for excercise anymore 

When Shirley Richardson-Brower took over as executive director of the Berkeley YMCA South Branch four years ago, the building had more basketballs than books. 

“Its reputation was as a nice little Y for recreation,” Richardson-Brower said. 

Sweeping her arm over a room with bookshelves running the length of one wall, office-like cubicles aglow with Apple computers, and a group of kindergarteners huddled in front of a dry-erase board, sounding out the letters of the alphabet with aid of a college-aged volunteer, she said: 

“This was a weight room.” 

The transformation began back in 1997, when the South Branch YMCA convened a focus group to assess how well the facility was meeting the needs of the surrounding community. What they discovered was a large group of  

parents wondering if it would be possible to mix some academics into the traditional YMCA menu of recreational services.  

In response to the community’s “shift in focus,” the YMCA set out to institute afterschool and summer programs that would offer fun and games with strong emphasis on learning, Richardson-Brower said. 

Today, where once there were a couple dozen youth – mostly boys – pumping iron and shooting hoops, there are now more than 100 children from kindergarten all the way up to seventh grade, learning their ABCs, practicing reading and writing, conducting scientific experiments, playing instructional computer games among other activities. 

So many signed up for the center’s nine-week Summer Learning, Summer Fun program this summer that Richardson-Brower had to create a “wait list.”  

The program runs from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. five days a week and costs parents – most of whom are low-income – an average of only $25 a week. The fee is negotiable, and no one is turned away for inability to pay. 

During the program’s infancy, youth would sometimes come for a few weeks and disappear, Richardson-Brower said. But parents have developed an increasing loyalty to the program over the years, and most now stick it out for the full nine weeks. 

Parent Kathy Russell gave the program a try for the first time this summer, signing up her kindergarten-aged son, Alexander. Russell said she planned to let Alexander stay home and play during the summer but changed her mind when she heard about the program. At the South Branch YMCA, Russell said, her son manages the rare feat of having fun and learning at the same time. 

“I thought it was going to be a kind of fun day camp for him, but it’s really been an educational experience,” Russell said. “They’re not just hanging out.” 

Richardson-Brower attributes the program’s success, in part, to the practice of dividing the students into small groups, with a volunteer tutor serving as the leader of the group all summer long. Because the students are asked to take on academic challenges as a group, there are less likely to feel overwhelmed and discouraged, she said. 

“Isolated, they feel inferior; they feel like something is wrong with them,” Richardson-Brower said. 

Sandra Gutierrez, who will be a seventh grader at Willard Middle School next year, seemed to agree with this analysis. Asked why she enjoyed the program, she said: “If you don’t know something, you can ask somebody and they’ll tell you the answer. And we have more attention from the leaders because we’re in smaller groups.” 

There is also a big emphasis on presenting academic challenges in a fun format. For a first science experiment, students shoveled spoonfuls of ice cream into root beer to observe how the steady streams of bubbles would keep it afloat.  

On Tuesday, as part of a summerlong course in basic geology, the students scraped away at mineral samples with fingernails, pennies and steel nails to test their hardness. They practiced some basic arithmetic as they worked to rate the minerals on a hardness scale of one to 10.  

Writing is emphasized in all activities to help improve the student’s literacy (many are first generation Mexican- and Asian-Americans who are not yet fluent in English). Students are asked to write as complete a description of possible of their mineral samples, using color, hardness, surface texture and more. Spelling doesn’t count so much as the number of words students manage to get down on the page. 

“It gets them comfortable,” said YMCA volunteer tutor Jennifer Larsh. “It reminds them that learning can be fun.”  

“For some students, by the third grade, they’ve completely lost the will to learn; the joy of it,” Larsh said.  

The South Branch YMCA is located at 2901 California St. in South Berkeley. For more information about the branch’s programs, contact Shirley Richardson-Brower at (510)-843-4280. 

FUKUOKA, Japan – One of the big downsides of going to the World Swimming Championships for Haley Cope was that she had to miss her mother’s 40th birthday. 

On Tuesday, the University of California communications major gave her mother a fitting present, surprising herself by winning the 50-meter backstroke gold medal. 

“I cannot believe that I am the world champion,” Cope said after finishing in 28.51 seconds, .02 seconds ahead of Germany’s Antje Buschschulte. 

“I thought I was dying. I was just trying to keep up with the girl next to me.” 

Cope didn’t realize it at the time, but she had to worry about more than Buschschulte. Third place was only a tick away as well, with Cope’s American teammate and former U.S. record-holder Natalie Coughlin taking the bronze at 28.54. 

When Cope packed her bags for Fukuoka, she knew she’d miss a big family gathering in Chico for her mother Regina’s birthday July 21. 

“My mom was a bit upset that I had to leave them,” Cope said. “But now she knows it was definitely worth it. This is my present to her.” 

Cope, who set an American record in qualifying Monday, will swim the 100-meter backstroke Friday and the 50-meter freestyle qualifying Saturday. She might also be used on a relay team. 

Coughlin again will be among her competitors — and the favorite — in the 100-meter backstroke. Coughlin has the best time this year over that distance (1:01.27), just ahead of the 1:01.28 by Japan’s Mai Nakamura, an Olympic silver medalist who also is competing in the championships. 

Cope is used to a heavy workload, having finished second in the 50-yard freestyle, third in the 100-yard backstroke and seventh in the 100-yard freestyle at the NCAA Championships this year. 

Earlier in the week, California’s male swimming standout, Anthony Ervin, continued to excel as he captured the first gold medal for the United States on Monday.  

Ervin, the 2000 Olympic gold medallist in the 50-meter freestyle, won the 50 free at the 2001 World Championships in a time of 22.09 over Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands (22.16).  

“My time was good, but I’ve been faster,” said Ervin. “I’m happy with the win. I have more pressure on me here (Fukuoka) than I did in Sydney. Here, people have been expecting me to win, but I never thought like that coming in to the meet.”  

In other action at the 2001 World Championships, former Cal swimmer Gordan Kozulj (1996-99) placed seventh for his native Croatia in the 100-meter back final with a time of 55.60.

As part of a statewide campaign to get pharmacies to stop selling tobacco products, members of the Berkeley Tobacco Prevention Coalition are pressuring local “chain” pharmacies to remove cigarettes from their shelves. 

While some area residents support the move, others doubt it will have much of an impact. 

“We never have (sold cigarettes) and we never would,” said Barryl Glover, a pharmacist at the Milvia Prescription Pharmacy in Berkeley. “It sends a negative health message (that’s) counter to what we’re trying to do, which is promote health.” 

Ron Freund, a member of the Berkeley Tobacco Prevention Coalition, said pharmacies have a “social responsibility” to send a message that tobacco products are harmful by refusing to sell them in the same setting as products that are supposed to promote good health. 

Pharmacies selling cigarettes “leaves an impression that legitimizes tobacco and the selling of tobacco,” especially with youth, Freund said. 

“The more institutions and organizations begin to say tobacco is unhealthy and basically a bad product, the less opportunity there will be to buy it,” he added. 

The California group Prescription for Change, a coalition of pharmacists, physicians, health care professionals and consumers, has worked with local anti-tobacco groups since 1995 to convince pharmacies that there is a profound contradiction in selling cigarettes and health care products in the same store. 

But, while most independent pharmacies in the state either never carried tobacco products or have stopped carrying them in recent years, almost all chain pharmacies continue to sell cigarettes and cigars. 

None of Berkeley’s 11 independent pharmacies sell tobacco, but all of its five chain stores (four Walgreens and one Longs Drug) do, according to Prescription for Change spokesperson Sue Noseworthy. 

Prescriptions for Change launched a “media blitz” this spring – including a prominent advertisement in this newspaper and half-a-dozen other Bay Area publications – to bring attention to the discrepancy between independent and chain store policies regarding tobacco. 

“Our campaign is raising awareness with consumers to really even think about the issue,” Noseworthy said. “With the independents maintaining their clients and customer satisfaction, it seems like there really isn’t any reason that the chains wouldn’t be able to do the same.” 

In 1998, cigarettes, cigars and matches accounted for only 2.6 percent of all products sold in on an average day in a chain pharmacy, according to Prescription for Change. 

Ed Fernandes is manager of a Walgreens store on South San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley which does sell cigarettes. He said the store sells maybe 20 cartons of cigarettes a month, at the same time that it’s selling Nicorette – a product that helps smokers break the habit – like hot cakes. 

“There’s a ton of people trying to quit,” Fernandes said. 

Fernandes said the decision to sell or not to sell cigarettes is made at the corporate rather than the local level. Officials at Walgreen’s West Coast corporate offices did not return calls asking for comment Wednesday.  

In a February e-mail addressed to Freund, one Walgreens official pointed out that 25 percent of the U.S. population smokes, adding: “Walgreens sells tobacco products as a convenience to our customers.” 

Customers leaving the San Pablo Avenue Walgreens Wednesday had mixed views on whether the store ought to sell tobacco. Emeryville resident Paul Castleman said it’s a no-brainer that a place known for health care products should stop selling cigarettes. 

“Police don’t sell guns,” Castleman said.  

If a pharmacy chose to stop selling cigarettes, he said, “It would increase the professional stature of the pharmacy, I think, as well as send a subtle message.” 

But Berkeley resident Gretta Fletcher disagreed. 

“If you’re talking about Walgreens, Walgreens is more of a variety store, like Target,” Fletcher said. “If it were strictly a pharmacy selling medicine, then I would have a problem with it.”  

Fletcher, a 30-year smoker who resorted to hypnotism to quit, was also skeptical that persuading pharmacy chains to stop selling cigarettes would help cut back on the smoking rate. 

“It’s a terrible addiction,” she said. “You have to be able to face it wherever it’s at to quit.” 

Oakland resident Abe Kirschenbaum, 28, agreed that pharmacy stores should stop selling cigarettes, but he wouldn’t stop there. 

“A cigarette is probably one of the worst things you can do for you’re health,” Kirschenbaum said. “If it were up to me they would get cigarettes off the street completely. But in a free country, that’s a pretty strong opinion.”

By approving a design scheme for a proposed mixed-use retail, housing, and art space to take the place of a parking lot on Oxford Street, the City Council provided a wish list for the community.  

Now, it seems the challenge is to make it happen. 

“That’s the big question. What can be done?” said Mayor Shirley Dean. “[City Manager Weldon Rucker] really has his work cut out for him as far as the feasibility.” 

The City Council approved the concept of a five-story building on top of two levels of underground parking – with 150-200 spaces. The building’s top three floors would include at least 90 units of affordable and market rate housing. The first and second floor would house a community theater and gallery space as well as the David Brower Center, which is named for the environmentalist who died last November.  

At Tuesday’s meeting, arts groups pushed for more space while councilmembers provided their own wish list for the project. 

They included solar panels, a public plaza with a fountain, a café that sells natural food, housing for people who work for nonprofit organizations and an expanded arts center. 

Rucker will now have to sort out the ideas and shop around a project to various developers to see if there is an interest. So far, two affordable housing developers – Affordable Housing Associates and Resources for Community Development – have expressed interest, said Councilmember Linda Maio. 

The Council will look at the proposal again by the end of this year, according to Maio. 

Maio said she has been instrumental in getting the project to this point and emphasized that it is not a pie in the sky idea. She explained that the Brower component will have its own financing, the affordable housing will be financed through grants and loans made available by nonprofit developers and the city will provide the parking. The only component currently without funding, she said, is the community arts component.  

Still, she said the project is a good example of complementary uses working together. 

“It’s just been excellent. It’s a wonderful marriage between the arts, the environment and affordable housing,” she said, adding that Brower used photographs to illustrate the beauty of the environment. “He really understood how art is instrumental in raising environmental awareness.” 

Gary Graves, co-director of Central Works, a small theater group, said there is a definite need for 10,000-square-feet of theater space rather than the proposed 5,000-square-feet currently proposed.  

Graves is part of a consortium of six small theater groups that could use the space to put on their productions. The city of Berkeley, he said, has been supportive of upper end theater groups Aurora (to be opened this Fall) and the Berkeley Repertory Theater. By providing theater space for grass-roots groups, Graves said the city could have a more diverse representation of the arts downtown. 

“We’re trying to complete the entire spectrum in what’s called the downtown arts district,” he said.  

Providing that space may bump the project to seven floors – two above the current proposal. That, Arts Commission Chair Sherry Smith said, may be too much.  

Although Smith likes the idea of having a large collection of public arts facilities under one roof, she said she isn’t sure if it can actually happen. 

“If we pencil it out, it will be expensive and some of these Christmas tree ornaments will have to fall away,” she said.  

A local environmental group recently filed a notice of violation against a playground manufacturer who sold an arsenic-treated playstructure to a Berkeley school.  

The group says the company did not appropriately warn the school about the health risks its products present. 

Exposure to arsenic can cause cancer, heart problems, diabetes, and endocrine system problems. 

The Center for Environmental Health, a nonprofit environmental protection organization, took similar legal action against 11 companies in June after a national report told of the serious health risks that wooden structures treated with a preservative made of chromium, copper and arsenic present.  

Further investigation led the CEH to send notices of violation to five other manufacturers earlier this month. 

One of them, Kompan Inc., was brought to the organization’s attention by a group of parents and administrators of New School, a nonprofit institution located on Bonita Avenue in Berkeley.  

After discovering that its new play structure was treated with CCA, the school unsuccessfully tried to return the product to its manufacturer. 

But Kompan refused any refund for the $2,700 structure. 

“I declined to do that because the product that we sold fully complies with all the safety regulations,” said Tim Madeley, Kompan’s general manager.  

Kompan’s products, Madeley said, are approved by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Department of Health. 

Outraged, New School turned to the CEH for advice. 

The CEH notices were both filed on the basis of Proposition 65, a law designed to limit public exposure to possibly hazardous chemicals by mandating consumer-product warning labels.  

The organization’s notice of violation states that “no clear and reasonable warning is provided with these products regarding the carcinogenic or reproductive hazards of [arsenic and chromium].” 

CEH said Kompan reacted positively to the notice.  

“They contacted our lawyers immediately and they have decided to completely stop using CCA in their structures,” said CEH toxics researcher, Alise Cappel. Kompan, Cappel said, offered to start using a type of wood manufactured by Arch Chemicals and sold under the trade name “Wolman E.” That product is free of CCA. 

Madeley, however, said Kompan’s decision to use an alternative material was not the result of the CEH violation, but to reassure concerned customers. 

“It’s not because we think that CCA is unsafe in any way,” said Madeley. “But since people have concerns about it, we would like to use something different.” 

Eric Somers, legal counsel for CEH, said New School did not come up in the conversation he had with Kompan. But the CEH, he said, hopes to negotiate with Kompan to find a solution for the school. 

“One of the goals of CEH would be to replace the play structure and take the CCA-treated one to a landfill,” said Somers. 

New School administrators, however, said the CEH has not contacted them about that possibility.  

They are sticking with their initial plans to drop the structure, with a letter of complaint, at Kompan’s distribution center in Forestville as soon as next week, said New School administrative assistant Merlyn Katechis. 

The controversy surrounding the safety of wooden play structures has been an ongoing issue nationally and locally.  

In Berkeley, the playgrounds of Cedar and Rose , King Middle School and Codornices parks were recently coated with a sealant to avoid risks of arsenic contamination.  

The Parks and Waterfront Department plans to replace them within five years.

Among investments, there is probably no greater performance contrast over the past year than that between housing and stocks. 

It isn’t solely that the first is up and the second is down. 

The housing market has been a model of stability, with existing home prices rising relentlessly through the year for a net gain through June of 8.8 percent — impressive to be sure, though it’s only part of the story. 

The rest of the story multiplies that 8.8 percent. Assuming the house was purchased for $120,000, with $20,000 down, and rose 8.8 percent, its market value would now be more than $130,500. 

The gain from your original investment would be nearly 53 percent, less the cost of mortgage, tax and insurance payments. You could also buy stocks with only a down payment, i.e. on margin, but your down payment would probably be at least 50 percent rather than 16 percent or 17 percent. And your interest rate would be a lot higher. 

That’s for starters. The stock market, measured by the Dow Jones industrial average, fell 4.3 percent between July 24, 2000 and July 24, 2001. 

Though hard to measure in dollars and cents, the stock market also took a toll on nerves. Rather than a clean line slanting in one direction, as in housing, it traced a nerve-racking, saw-toothed pattern. 

In housing, you don’t have to put up more money if the market price falls, like you might if you face a margin call.  

And you get tax benefits along the way – income tax deductions for the interest and taxes you pay. 

You might get tax deductions in stocks too, but they’re not nearly as generous.  

If you sell at a loss, you might be able to deduct the loss from gains. But note, you have to have gains to benefit that way. And you might be able to deduct margin interest costs, but again, if you have gains. Meanwhile, as a homeowner you stay in the home and enjoy tax benefits whether the price rises or falls. Generally speaking, if you chose your neighborhood well and otherwise bought wisely, you investment will grow. 

The ultimate advantage, as every homeowner is well aware, is that the investment in housing puts a roof over one’s head, a benefit that is not in the slightest enjoyed when owning stocks. At least in the past year. 

True, a wise investment in the stock market rises over time – if you’re especially lucky or prescient it might rise at a far greater rate than in housing – and perhaps afford you a bigger roof on a better house. 

But again, the taxman expects to be paid. If stock investors sell at a profit they enjoy a relatively low capital gains tax rate. A homeowner couple pays such taxes too, but often only if profits exceed $500,000. 

That said, it’s an unfair comparison to pick a very good year in home appreciation with a very poor year in stocks. Over the past six decades, annual stock market returns have averaged in the low double digits. 

While that record demonstrates that it’s wise to own securities if you can afford them, are knowledgeable, and have the guts to survive terribly tense times, they are a test millions of people don’t want to take.  

For them, just owning a house is a very wise investment and, to boot, offers a wonderful sense of security, the like of which cannot be matched by the stock market. 

John Cunniff is a business analyst for The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Even though Americans bought fewer previously occupied homes in June, sales were at near record levels, suggesting that this main pillar of the economy remains sturdy. 

The National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday that existing home-sales dipped by 0.6 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.33 million, matching the fifth-highest level on record registered in December 1998. 

“This is the housing boom that just won’t go away,” said economist Ken Mayland of ClearView Economics. “Housing is providing a firm foundation for sustaining the surprisingly robust trend of consumer buying, and the tax rebate checks, some of which are now in taxpayers’ hands, are the icing on the cake.” 

Economists said that consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of all economic activity, and the housing market, have held up well during the yearlong economic slowdown and have been forces preventing the economy from tipping into recession. 

“No matter what is happening around them, households remain so confident that they are still buying homes at a near-record pace,” said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors. 

June’s existing-home sales performance was better than many economists were predicting. They had forecast a 1.5 percent drop in sales because of the weak labor market, volatile stock market and the fact that mortgage rates rose slightly from May to June. 

The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in June was 7.16 percent, up from 7.15 percent in May, but well below the 8.29 percent posted in June 2000. 

“With mortgage interest rates projected to rise slightly to around 7.3 percent during the second half of the year, and some expected sluggishness in the general economy, month-to-month homes sales should trend down from these high marks,” said David Lereah, the association’s chief economist. 

“However, we expect a total of 5.15 million existing-home sales in 2001, making this year the second highest on record,” he added. In May, sales jumped by 2.7 percent to a rate of 5.36 million, the third highest level on record. Even with the decline, June’s rate of 5.33 million was close to that mark. 

Used-home sales reached an all-time high of 5.45 million in June 1999, when the economy was booming. 

In an effort to avert the first recession in the United States in 11 years, the Federal Reserve has slashed interest rates six times this year, totaling 2.75 percentage points. 

Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan told Congress Tuesday that the economy remains weak and another interest rate cut may be needed if the situation doesn’t improve. 

Economists are predicting the Fed will cut rates by a quarter-point at its next meeting on Aug. 21. 

In Wednesday’s report, sales of previously owned homes were down in all regions of the country except in the West. 

In the Midwest, sales last month fell by 4.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.14 million; in the South, they were down by 2.3 percent to a rate of 2.11 million; and in the Northeast, sales declined by 1.6 percent to a rate of 630,000. But in the West, sales rose 6.6 percent to a rate of 1.46 million. 

The drop in overall sales in June didn’t hurt home prices. 

The median existing-home sales price, meaning half sold for more and half for less, rose to a record $152,600 in June, up 8.8 percent from the median price for the same month a year ago. Home prices have remained strong throughout the economic slowdown. 

“The higher home price in June partially reflects the trade-up buyers’ preference for larger homes,” Lereah said. 

———— 

On the Net: 

The report: http://nar.realtor.com/ 

Hours of input heard before votes 

Because of an unusually hefty agenda, the City Council put off a vote on the controversial Beth El project – called Berkeley’s biggest planning decision in 10 years – into the wee hours this morning. 

Because it is the last meeting before the Council’s six-week summer break, councilmembers decided to keep the meeting going until all 66 items on its agenda were heard.  

Although the City Council was expected to approve the Beth El project – a 32,000-square-foot synagogue, school and social hall at 1301 Oxford St – as of press time, it was placed after two other agenda items, and no vote had been taken.  

A back room mediation session between Beth El members and representatives from the Live Oak Codornices Creek Neighborhood Association – who oppose the project – was on-going close to midnight. If the mediation is successful, it may mean the project will be reduced in size.  

The council vote would end two years of a contentious planning process, which included three commissions, numerous public hearings, hundreds of hours of staff time, a professional mediator and hearings on two appeals before the City Council.  

The process created a city document, containing staff reports, consultant studies and hundreds of letters expressing opinions about the project. The report, nearly 18 inches high, cost the city $3,500 to make 35 copies. One City Clerk employee dubbed the unwieldy, 20 -pound document, “the ugly thing.”  

The vote however may not be the end of the conflict because both sides have threatened to take the council’s decision to court.  

The City Council did approve a three-unit townhome development at 2025 Rose St. despite nearby resident’s concerns that it would cause traffic and parking problems in their neighborhood.  

The City Council normally holds a vote two weeks after a public hearing to give opposing sides an opportunity to dispel misinformation.  

Mayor Shirley Dean said she wanted to vote on the project because of the summer break.  

The vote was 6-1-2 in favor of the 5,509-square-foot  

development with a 810-square-foot garage. Councilmember Dona Spring voted against the project, while councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Linda Maio abstained. 

The Council denied a plan to redevelop a parking lot on Oxford Street at Allston Way into a five-story mixed-use art, retail, housing development that would also be home to the David Brower Center.  

Because some arts groups said they wanted more space in the facility, councilmembers said they wanted to discuss it again before making a decision. 

The City Council also appointed Stephen Barton as director of housing and Carol Barrett as director of planning and development. 

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. 

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 

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 

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

Residential Solar Electricity 

1 p.m. - 3 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave. 

The workshop will introduce participants to residential solar electricity: how solar cells work, how to size a system, participants will also get to produce electricity using photovoltaic panels and power a range of appliances (weather permitting). $15. Call 548-2220 x233 to reserve a space.  

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 

16th annual Berkeley  

Kite Festival and West Coast Kite Championship 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Through Sunday. 

Cesar E. Chavez Park at the Berkeley Marina 

Giant creature kites from New Zealand, Team Kite Ballet, Japanese-Style Rokaku Kite Battle for the skies, plus great food and live music.  

11 a.m. - 1 p.m. kite making lessons; 2:30 p.m. Candy Drops for the kids; 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. kite flying lessons. Free Event. For more information: 235-5483 or www.highlinekites.com. 

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. Bring your bike. 527-4140 

Buddhist Teacher 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

Eva Casey on “The Life of Padmasambhava.” Free. 843-6812 

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 

— compiled by Guy Poole  

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. 

Bush tax relief is just not enough 

Dear Editor: 

Various letters to the editor have suggested what to do with the Bush tax refund. 

July 19, I received IRS Notice 1275. In big red letters is titled “Notice of Status and Amount of Immediate Tax Relief.” Then it says, “Dear Taxpayer:, blah, blah, blah. ... As part of immediate tax relief, you will be receiving a check in the amount of $13.50 during the week of 07/30/2001.” Then there is more information. 

I do not know if I received the “incorrect” IRS notice or the “correct” IRS notice. In either case, I will have to think long and hard what to do with my $13.50. Lets see, it will not pay my PG&E bill; or Pacific Telephone; or EBMUD. I suppose I could go to Starbucks and buy a pound of coffee. But since I am disabled, I guess I better apply the money toward a prescription. It might be nice to not have to make the decision of whether or not I eat or get my medication. 

If I really do get check for $13.50, the federal government has probably spent more than that in getting it out to me. 

What kind of logic is that? That is a waste of taxpayer’s money. 

John G. Cakars 

Berkeley  

Worthington could do two jobs if elected to state Assembly 

The Daily Planet received this lettter addressed to Councilmember Kriss Worthington: 

It’s great that you’re looking at a run at a state legislative seat, and you can definitely count on my enthusiastic if mostly symbolic support, (Can I send a few local faxes to help your prospective campaign?). 

The council would suffer from your absence, and the warm pool remodel may fall into a slough of despond. The only practical solution may be to pass an emergency measure so you can hold both posts simultaneously. I know it means extra work for you, but I’ve full confidence you can swing it! 

Meantime, keep up the good work.  

Terry Cochrell 

Berkeley 

City Manager did a good job 

Editor: 

I recently wrote a letter to the Daily Planet which I regret in part because I was critical of the City Manager based on my expectation that past behavior predicted future behavior. I am both happy and embarrassed to say that in this case I was wrong.  

I have been quite critical of city staff, and I feel it has been constructive. But, when someone does something good I think it’s important to recognize it.  

Mr. Rucker, our city manager, got his report on the cellular moratorium out about four days before the hearing on the 17th. It helped to have the information as it corrected a misconception I had and which found its way into my last letter to the Planet. So, though I am only in partial agreement with the recommendations, I want to thank Rucker for the good work on this report. We need the information to be good citizens, and we need it in time to digest it and to respond before things are acted on.  

Leonard Schwartzburd 

Berkeley 

Let’s create our own personal pedestrian pledge 

Editor: 

I believe Harlan Head (in his July 18 Planet letter) hit the nail on the head as far as community use of Berkeley’s limited resource of streets and sidewalks. We all share those resources whether we are traveling by foot or by various configurations of wheels and/or power.  

My wife and I have many years experience as car-less pedestrians, bicyclists and public transit users. Till now I have all too often decided the “to cross or not to cross” question by my interpretation of traffic patterns rather than by signs and lights.  

No more, Harlan. I pledge to join my wife in her habit of observing and respecting all traffic signs and lights whether I think I have a “good reason” for ignoring them or not. I shall have to struggle with two places on my morning newspaper route where I think middle-of-the-block crossing is almost required.  

Here is my Personal Berkeley Pedestrian Pledge: I pledge to be courteous and respectful to my sister and brother pedestrians and wheeled friends and to obey all traffic laws and regulations. If I find myself forgetting this pledge, I shall begin again.  

Please, Berkeleyans, and other folks passing through, feel free to create your own Personal Berkeley Pedestrian Pledge. The lives we save and the damages we avoid may be our own.  

Bill Trampleasure 

Berkeley 

Do not give any support to Reddy’s Pasand  

Editor: 

We support the letter written to Daily Planet by Dr. Diana Russell about the outrageously minimal sentence received by Lakireddy Reddy as a result of his guilty plea bargain. He should have received the maximum of 38 years as punishment for his crimes of sex trafficking of young girls for 15 years, enslaving and raping them.  

What is not known by the general public, but discussed by the Judge at the court sentencing, is that Reddy engaged also in attempts to obstruct justice. He attempted to bribe the young women he had raped (who had returned to India) not to return to testify against him. The young women told U.S. Department of Justice that they feared that their relatives would be killed if they testified. Department of Justice arranged for the women and their close relatives to return to U.S. into protective custody. They will be available to testify at the court trials of Reddy’s sons and for the civil trial that many of the women will bring against Reddy and the sons. During the sentencing hearing, the Judge also spoke of the tremendous harm which the raped women had endured and the psychological help they will need.  

As for the so-called “innocent” workers at Pasand Restaurant, if the police had done an adequate investigation at the scene on night of Nov. 24, 1999 when Reddy and others from Pasand Restaurant were interrupted in their get-away by Marcia Poole, the “innocent” workers from the restaurant could have been indicted for their part in attempting to cover up negligent homicide or as accessories to a murder conspiracy. The workers a Pasand’s, on call to Reddy, who ran to help Reddy cover up his plot to carry away the women, should have been indicted.  

In May, 2001, the Berkeley City Council voted to support, and to ask all citizens of Berkeley, to support the boycott of Pasand Restaurant.  

We ask you not to give your money to support the Reddys.  

BJ Miller 

Marcia Poole 

Grace Christie 

Jill Hutchby 

Charlotte Collins 

Carol De Witt 

Berkeley 

924 Gilman St. Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 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 26: Keni “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Aug 1: Whiskey Brothers. 1822 San Pablo 843-2473 

Anna’s Bistro Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 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 25: 8:00 p.m. perfect Strangers $10; July 26: 9:00 p.m. Super Rail band $16; July 27: 8:00 p.m. Ali Khan Band $15; July 28: 9:30 p.m. Motordude Zydeco and Brass Monkey $11; July 29: 9:00 p.m. El Hadj N’ Diaye $10; July 31: 8:00 p.m. dance lesson with Dana DeSimone, 9:00 p.m. Steve Riley and Mamou Playboys $12; Aug. 5: 9 p.m. Roots Reggae featuring Groundation and Tchiya Amet. $10. 11317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5099 www.ashkenaz.com 

Eli’s Mile High Club Doors open at 8 p.m. 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 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, Aug 4: Adam Levy, Will Bernard. $16.50 - $17.50. 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jupiter July 25: Suite 304- vocal harmony-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 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; Aug 3: 8 p.m. Los Delicados, Aya de Leon $10; Aug 4: 8 p.m. Grito Serpentino, Small Axe Project, Jime Salcedo-Malo & Leticia Hernandez $10; Aug 5: 7 p.m. Insight in concert $10. 3105 Shattuck Avenue 849-2568 

La Note/Jazzschool 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 26: 7:30 p.m. Christie McCarthy, Liz Pisco, Antara and Delilah, Amber Jade. $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 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  

“Downtown” restaurant and bar August 6: 7 p.m. Jesse Colin Young of the sixties hit group, The Youngbloods, will be performing at a No Nukes evening, sponsored by Greenpeace. The evening commemorates the 56th anniversary of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The proceeds go to Tri-Valley CAREs and Citizen Alert. Tickets are $100. 2102 Shattuck Ave. 800-728-6223 

The Greek Theatre Aug. 3 and Aug. 4, 7 p.m. The String Cheese Incident, $29.75. Hearst Avenue and Gayley Road 444-TIXS, or (415) 421-TIXS www.sfx.com 

Julia Morgan Center for the Arts July 29: 2:00 p.m. “Into the Eye of Magic! An Asian Folk Tale” interactive musical and theatrical production for families. Adults $10 Children $5; Aug 4: 8 p.m. “Cuatro maestros Touring Festival” two-hour theatrical event of music and dance performed by four elder folk artists and their talented young counterparts. Adults $18 Children $12; Aug. 10: 7:30 p.m. & Aug. 11, 12, 5 p.m. Campers from Stage Door Conservatory’s “On Broadway” program for grades 5-9 will perform Fiddler on the Roof, Jr. $12 adults, $8 kids. (For info call 527-5939); 2640 College Avenue 845-8542 ext. 302 

“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 

“Human Nature” the X-Plicit Players explore intimate but un-named ways of being together, awaken senses old and new and participate in Group Body. July 28: 8:30 p.m. $15 Metaversal Lightcraft 1708 University 848-1985 

“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 

“The Lady’s Not for Burning” July 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 

“Loot” Through Aug 25, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7:00 p.m. Special Performance Aug 20, 8:00 p.m. General Admission: $15, Students / Seniors: $10 La Val’s 1834 Euclid Avenue 655-0813 

“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 

“Reefer Madness” a new one-act theatre piece adapted from a 1936 government-funded film opens a critical eye to the control of our society. Performed by The Elemental Theatre Group Wed Aug 8,22, Thu Aug 9,23: 9 p.m. La Peña Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Avenue. Wednesdays “pay what you can”, thursdays $5 - $10. Fri Aug 10,17: 7 p.m. People’s Park Free. Contact Zachary Rouse or Tisha Sloan for more info at 655-4150 

“San Francisco Improv” July 28: 8 p.m., Free show at Cafe Electica 1309 Solano Avenue. 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 

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 25: 7:30 p.m., “Spider Baby 2000”; July 29: Family Classic “A Boy Named Charlie Brown”; $4. Sundays, 3 p.m.; July 26: 7:00 Devarim, 9:10 Yom Yom; July 27: 7:00 Punishment Room, 8:55 Ten Dark Women; July 28: 7:00 The Big Heat, 8:30 Kippur, 8:50 Clash by Night; July 29: 3:00 A Boy named Charlie Brown, 5:30 Mr. Pu, 7:30 A Billionaire; July 31: 7:30 The Arena of Murder; Aug 1: 7:30 Two Thousand Maniacs!, 9:15 Manos, the Hands of Fate 8:50 Hangmen Also Die New PFA Theatre 2575 Bancroft Way 642-1412 

San Francisco Jewish Film Festival at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Berkeley July 28: 1 p.m. The Optimists: the story of the rescue of the Jews of Bulgaria, 3:30 p.m. “Louba’s Ghosts”, 6:15 p.m. “One of the Hollywood Ten”, 8:30 p.m. “Kippur”; July 29: 11 a.m. “Keys from Spain”, “The Cross Inscribed in the Star of David”, 1 p.m. “Intimate Stranger”, “Nobody’s Business”, 4 p.m. “The Sweetest Sound”, 6 p.m. “Once We Grow Up”, 8:30 p.m. “Total Love”, “Moses vs. Godzilla”;General admission: $8.50, Matinees (up to and including 4 p.m.): $7, Students/Seniors/Groups: $6.50. (925)866-9559 http://www.sfjff.org 

“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 

Cody’s Books July 26: Dave Egger’s presentation has been canceled. $2 donation. Readings at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-0837 

Cody’s Books July 25: Alice Randall reads from “The Wind Done Gone.” $2 donation. Readings at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 1730 Fourth St. 559-9500 

Cafe de la Paz “Poetry Nitro” Weekly poetry open mike. July 30: Featuring Lisa Sikie. 6:30 p.m. sign-up, 7 p.m. reading. 1600 Shattuck Ave. 843-0662  

Coffee Mill Poetry Series August 7: Featured readers JC and Bert Glick. 7-9 p.m.; August 21: Featured Readers: Victoria Joyce and Therese Bamberger; Both 7-9 p.m. Free. 3363 Grand Ave., Oakland for info. (510)465-3935 or (510)526-5985, or Email: ksdgk@earthlink.net 

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.  

“How Big Is the Universe?” Aug. 1 through Aug. 24. Learn how to determine the distance of celestial objects, one of the purposes of the Hubble Space Telescope. Daily, 2:15 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, 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu 

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. 

Nine protesters chanting “Books not bars, schools not jails” were arrested Tuesday for disrupting a public hearing in front of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors on whether a 450-bed Juvenile Hall should be built in Dublin.  

After a vote that essentially gave the new Juvenile Hall the green light, the nine broke through a hip-level wooden gate that separates the county staff from the audience and laid down on the floor with their arms entwined. About 30 supporters chanted in front of them – separated by the gate and 11 Sheriff deputies.  

After 20 minutes, a few of the 11 Sheriff’s deputies present pulled up the protesters – who did not resist – one by one and arrested them behind the chamber’s closed doors.  

The group was arrested for unlawful assembly, County Undersheriff Curtis Watson said. 

The arrests came at the end of an emotional four and half hour debate between those who said that the new facility is long overdue and much needed and those who say bigger jails would mean more youth incarceration.  

Supervisors voted 3-2 against a proposal by Supervisor Keith Carson to study the issue for an additional 90 days. During the study, Carson suggested that the county look at the need for additional juvenile facilities as opposed to intervention and prevention services.  

They also voted 4-1 to reduce the capacity of the new hall from 540 to 450 beds and conduct a review of the county’s juvenile justice system to identify alternatives to incarceration. 

Although the county has wanted to replace the aging 299-bed Juvenile Hall in San Leandro for ten years, Carson’s proposal suggested they try to squeeze in the additional study without losing $33 million in state grant money. The grant requires that the new facility be constructed by 2005.  

A needs assessment study using data from 1992 to 1997 was conducted by a firm that county officials admitted will also take part of the facility’s construction. County officials also included four additional years of data on the average daily population. That data indicated that a 450-bed facility would meet the county’s needs, according to a county report.  

Moving and expanding the facility would impact Berkeley residents in several ways. Without question, parents of incarcerated youth would have to travel farther for visits. Opponents of the facility also say that instead of using scarce resources for jail construction, the money would be better spent on schools or intervention programs throughout the county.  

“Youth need programs. We need recreation centers. We need affordable places to live and good schools. I don’t think the board is setting a very good example. If people need help, you don’t build a bigger box to put them in,” said Claire Tran, of Asian Pacific Islander Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership. 

At Berkeley High School, for instance, officials say there’s room for the county to play a bigger role in providing mental health services on campus.  

Others said that there has been sufficient study and that it would be paid for with state money specifically for this type of construction. Not building the facility, they said, would be equal to throwing the money away. 

“This is single-source money. If it’s not being used to build a juvenile facility, it’s simply going to go back,” said James Sweeney, of the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council. “They use statistics the way a drunk man uses a lamp post – for support. We’ve been studying the problem to death. S—, make a decision. We’ve been hemming and hawing.” 

Opponents of the project said the larger facility would mean more aggressive police activity towards young people. 

“450 beds is still too big for this community. Other communities this size have much smaller facilities. It’s extreme, it’s unnecessary and it’s ridiculous,” said Michael Molina, who was later one of the group arrested. “If they build it, they will fill it. No way should we give them more reason to be more aggressive than they already are.” 

However, Brenda Harbin-Forte, presiding judge of the Alameda County Juvenile Court, said the notion the rhetoric about the hall being the largest per capita facility of its kind is false.  

“Let’s stop, build a 440-bed facility and let’s spend the rest of the time looking at our services,” she said. “Let’s take a courageous step and plan for the future.” 

Van Jones, national executive director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, organized the public opposition to the larger facility and said the decision to move forward with the, as he put it, “the Super Jail” will not be ignored. 

“We’re disappointed. Every one of those supervisors said they would have a study,” Jones said. “This is the first sit-in of many over the over-incarceration of young people in general.” 

Air travel for the average person has become increasingly inconvenient with the rising number of reported complaints against airlines for overbooked flights, delayed departures and lost luggage. 

But for Berkeley resident Michai Freeman, who has muscular dystrophy and relies on a wheelchair and ventilator, poor service can quickly turn from inconvenience to a major disruption in her life. 

When Freeman and her  

husband Nicolas Wagele arrived at San Francisco International Airport for their 3 p.m., TWA flight to Milwaukee, she was told she couldn’t board the plane because no qualified personnel was available to inspect her ventilator equipment before take-off. 

Freeman was forced to cancel her journey to a three-day conference at which she was to be certified as a doula, an emotional support counselor for pregnant families. 

“I have been training to become a doula, and this trip was to be the last leg of the certification process,” Freeman said. “Which is of course out of the question now.” 

Freeman said her next opportunity for certification will be in October. 

TWA spokesperson Chris Kelly said airline employees tried to accommodate Freeman by arranging a later flight but she refused. Kelly said if she had boarded the plane without the ventilator being inspected, the airline would of been in violation of Federal Aviation Administration regulations, which requires that ventilators and respirators be inspected because of safety concerns during flight. 

Kelly said there was no record of Freeman giving the airline advance notice about her ventilator use. That notice would of given the airline time to arrange for an engineer to be present and approve the breathing device for air travel, according to Kelly. 

Freeman insists that when she made the reservations three weeks before, she informed TWA, which was recently purchased by American Airlines, that she need assistance boarding and that she would be traveling with her PVO 100 ventilator. She said she was assured there should be no problem. 

“I don’t see how they could say I did not tell them,” Freeman said. “I booked the flight with the longest layover available so I would have time between flights to get organized and was very specific about bringing the ventilator.” 

Sherri Rita, an attorney with the Disability Rights, Education and Defense Fund said she hears a great many complaints about airlines not complying with the Air Carrier Access Act of 1986, which is the FAA version of the American With Disabilities Act. 

“There’s a whole spectrum of problems. For instance, passengers tell airlines they require assistance planing and deplaning and when they arrive at the airport they discover there’s no one available to help them.” Rita said. “There are also many complaints specifically with about wheelchair damage.”  

According to the Department of Transportation’s most recent Air Travel Consumer Report, there were a total of 215 disability complaints against American air carriers from January through March. 

United Airlines has the greatest number of complaints at 24, US Airways has 20. TWA is low on the list with six disability-related complaints. American Airlines, the company that just purchased TWA, is third on the list with 18 complaints. 

Rita said those numbers represent a small percentage of violations of the Air Carrier Access Act.  

“Many people aren’t sure where to complain or don’t think it’s worth the effort,” she said. 

The airlines, she said, have demonstrated an unwillingness to provide quality service to the disabled. 

“There seems the airlines don’t take their obligation seriously,” she said. “The fact that people consistently complain that they call and ask for boarding assistance and then when they arrive there’s no one to help them and no record of the request, is a sign that there’s a total lack of communication.” 

Kelly said TWA personal did what they could to get Freeman to her destination, and her passenger record shows the airlines even bent the rules a bit to get an engineer to the terminal to inspect her ventilator so she could get on the red-eye flight to Milwaukee. 

Kelly said the ADA prevents airlines from asking passengers the nature of their disability when making reservations and that all Freeman’s passenger record shows is that she requested assistance boarding and deplaning, which left the airline unprepared for Freeman’s arrival. 

“She didn’t tell us anything about a wheelchair or about her ventilator,” she said. 

Freeman said she is considering a law suit against TWA. 

“I’m definitely going to pursue this incident in the courts,” she said. “People have been compromising for too long.” 

For more information about the Air Carriers Access Act of 1986 and your rights while traveling go to www.dot.gov or call the Department of Transportation at 202-366-4000, hearing Impaired TTD: 202-755-7687.

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center announced last week it will cut about 300 jobs throughout California by the end of the summer to stop their on-going financial hemorrhage. 

“The medical center continues to experience major financial losses every month,” said Irwin Hansen, president and CEO of the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center. “The magnitude of our shortfall is far beyond what we expected. We must immediately address this critical situation.” 

Health care workers worry that this decision may put the hospital’s services under strain. 

“There is not a decline in their census,” said John Borsos, hospital division director of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). “The hospital is already short of staff. We have strong concerns about who is going to do the work.” 

In the past year, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, which was formed when Alta Bates and Summit merged in December 1999, has lost $19 million. Hansen said it could lose as much as $40 million in 2001 if it does not take quick measures. Sutter Health, a company that runs 33 hospitals in Northern California, took over the hospital after the merger. 

The labor reduction, Hansen said, is expected to allow the company to save $15 million. To cut expenses, Alta Bates Summit will also re-evaluate open positions, and adopt a series of management changes. 

“We are also doing some changes looking at supply, standardization and bad debt,” said Jill Gruen, a spokesperson for the hospital.  

The financial loss is the result of a combination of factors, according to Gruen. A few months ago, Alta Bates experienced unexpected expenses when employees went on a series of one-day strikes. As a result, the company agreed to raise the wage of 60 percent of its employees within four years. Additionally, a nursing shortage forced the hospital to bring in expensive temporary nurses. Finally, Gruen said, the company lost a large amount of money due to the unpaid patient bills. 

It is not clear how many jobs will be lost at Berkeley’s Alta Bates Medical Center. But Gruen said the action plan to be implemented by mid-August will try to avoid the lay-off of full-time employees.  

“We’re trying to look into registry nurses and replacement,” she said. “Eligible employees will be offered early retirement.” 

SEIU Local 250 immediately reacted to Hansen’s announcement, denying the hospital’s claims that the lay-off was the result of unpredicted financial losses. 

“Executives’ claims that these cuts were caused by recent financial shortfalls are merely a smokescreen – part of an effort to try to win the public acceptance of [the] cutbacks,” said Sal Rosselli, president of SEIU Local 250 last Friday in a prepared statement. 

According to Rosselli, this is just another example of Sutter Health’s policy of slashing services. 

“When they take over one hospital and merge it, they eliminate services and reduce access to care just to take dollars out of the health care system to fill their corporate expenses,” Rosselli said in a telephone interview.  

Sutter Health, union leaders say, had planned job cuts for more than two years. They base their accusation on a Sutter Health planning document from June 1999. The document includes an action plan proposal that would cut 5.67 of the Medical Records Department positions. 

To Gruen, however, that document does not prove anything.  

“The document was never a management plan. It was never used to make a decision,” said Gruen. 

SEIU Local 250 hasn’t been notified of any lay-offs yet, but some are meeting to discuss strategies in fighting the cutbacks. 

“Workers of Alta Bates and Summit Medical Center are in a strategy planning session to make sure that the interest of patients and workers come before profits,” said union spokesperson Dave Bates yesterday afternoon. 

The union, Bates said, may avoid lay-offs by documenting the hospital’s shortstaffing. It is also looking at ways to make Sutter avoid lay-offs by retraining workers for other jobs, he added.

OAKLAND — The City Council voted Tuesday night cut in half the number of plants a medical marijuana grower can cultivate – but left the limit at a still sizable garden of up to 72 plants. 

The vote cuts the legal limit from its current 144 plants. 

Council President Ignacio De La Fuente wanted to chop the crop to 10 plants, but hashed out a compromise with local medical marijuana advocates. The new rules passed on a 6-0 vote, with two members abstaining. 

Medical marijuana advocates said the stricter limits mean about 20 percent of local medical marijuana users will not be able to grow enough pot to meet their needs. 

“The reason we agreed is because we were forced to,” Jeff Jones, executive director of the Oakland of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, told the Oakland Tribune. 

Oakland approved the 144 plant limit in 1998. With the changes, people who get a doctor’s recommendation to use marijuana for their illnesses can grow 20 plants outdoors. Alternatively, they could grow on up to 32 square feet of inside space — enough for about 72 small plants or around 60 mature plants. 

Outdoor marijuana plants produce an average yield around 5 ounces in California annually, according to a city staff report. The report said indoor plants can produce up to 3 ounces and be harvested three times a year.

OAKLAND — The Alameda County grand jury has recommended that the county board of education be eliminated or run by a financial expert after officials in one school district mishandled money. 

In its annual report released Monday, the 20-member panel said the Emeryville Unified School District’s former superintendent, J.L. Handy, should have been stopped sooner by the board after they discovered he charged nearly $65,000 in personal airline tickets, hotel rooms and other gifts on the district’s credit card. 

Handy resigned last fall and pleaded guilty last month to charges of felony public theft and conflict of interest. 

The panel criticized the school board for continuing to loan money to the district after discovering the credit card expenses. 

County’s schools superintendent, Sheila Jordan, said she thought the panel’s assessment was unfair. 

“I really think the grand jury didn’t do their homework,” Jordan said. “As soon as it became evident there was potential fraud in Emeryville, we brought in the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team. But until that point, I can’t go in and fire someone based on allegations.” 

The grand jury has recommended that the state legislature eliminate the Alameda County Board of Education or require that the board elect a county superintendent who’s a fiscal and management expert. 

NEW YORK — Stock prices dropped sharply Tuesday with the Dow industrials tumbling by triple digits for a second day on a spate of bad news – a wider-than-expected loss from Lucent Technologies, lower profits from Exxon Mobil and revenue warnings from Amazon.com and AT&T. 

“Pretty much all of Corporate America has said the same thing: Second quarter was bad and we don’t know what to say about the future,” said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. 

Investors have been unable to justify buying stocks while most companies say business isn’t improving. A long list of firms have warned of shrinking profits and slumping sales, and others have said they cannot make accurate projections amid uncertainty about the economy. 

“No one feels they are going to miss a raging bull market if they wait another few weeks for signs of a recovery,” Hogan said. 

Even the prospect of another interest rate cut failed to boost stocks because investors now believe further cuts mean the economy is worse off than they thought. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who testified before the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday, said another rate reduction might be made if the economy doesn’t improve. 

“It is going to take a while to bottom,” said Barry Berman, head trader for Robert W. Baird & Co. in Milwaukee.  

“The market was also hoping that as the second-quarter earnings were reported that there would be more guidance (for the future) and that things are starting to pick up.” 

Investors have been hoping in vain for an economic turnaround since late last year. They believed a recovery would happen in the first three months of 2001, and when that didn’t happen, they focused on the second quarter. Now, hopes for improvement by yearend have waned as companies have slashed revenue and earnings outlooks. 

“The timing is anybody’s guess,” said A.C. Moore, chief investment strategist at Dunvegan Associates in Santa Barbara,.  

Among Tuesday’s losers were companies whose earnings disappointed Wall Street. Lucent slid nearly 19 percent, down $1.47 at $6.43, after announcing it lost 35 cents a share in its fiscal third quarter, wider than the 21 cents analysts expected. The struggling telecom firm also announced plans to cut another 15,000 to 20,000 jobs and eliminate its dividend in an effort to return to profitability. 

Dow industrial Exxon Mobil fell $1.53 at $40.97 on earnings that missed Wall Street’s expectations by 2 cents a share. 

While past earnings are important, analysts say investors are more concerned with what companies have to say about the future – the market’s real weak spot. 

A bleak outlook from Amazon caused the Internet retailer to plunge nearly 25 percent, down $3.97 at $12.06. Amazon, which announced earnings late Monday ahead of expectations, projected 2001 revenue growth of 11 percent to 16 percent, down from previous estimates of 20 percent to 30 percent. AT&T, a Dow component, fell 59 cents to $19.46, after also issuing a revenue warning. 

Losses were sizable and spread across an array of sectors Tuesday. About half of the Dow’s 30 stocks lost more than $1. There were few gainers, another sign that investors believe the economy has hurt most businesses. 

Among the advancers was McDonald’s, which issued bullish statements about growth for the remainder of the year and rose 62 cents to $28.39. Honeywell, which surpassed earnings estimates by 2 cents a share, inched up 4 cents to $36.21. Only two other Dow stocks moved higher — Procter & Gamble advanced 29 cents to $68.09, while Wal-Mart eked out 7 cents to close at $53.10. 

Declining issues outnumbered advancers more than 7 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 1.41 billion shares, ahead of the 1.17 billion shares traded Monday. 

The Russell 2000 index, the gauge of smaller company stocks, fell 8.44, or 1.8 percent, to 474.26. 

Overseas markets were mixed Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei stock average finished the day up 2.4 percent. In Europe, however, Germany’s DAX index fell 2.0 percent, France’s CAC-40 declined 1.2 percent and Britain’s FT-SE 100 lost 1.6 percent. 

——— 

On the Net: 

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

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

WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee will examine whether Microsoft is improperly shutting out rivals and hurting consumers, wading into an antitrust dispute as the company prepares to the new version of its Windows operating system. 

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the committee chairman, announced Tuesday that he will hold investigatory hearings in the fall, spurning a request from the software giant to keep Congress out of the dispute. 

Meanwhile, another Democrat stepped up pressure to stop Microsoft’s release of Windows XP, slated for October. 

“I hope (Windows XP) will be delayed by Microsoft’s own doing, and if not, by law,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a member of the Judiciary Committee. 

Schumer wrote to Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, asking him to delay the release until the company changes Windows XP to make it easier for rivals to compete against it. 

If Microsoft won’t cooperate, Schumer said, he wants some of the 18 states that have sued the software giant to go to court to force a delay. 

At issue is Microsoft’s decision to bundle several new features with Windows XP that can replace software made by rivals, including programs for digital photography, instant messaging and streaming media. 

Critics, including some state attorneys general, suggest the strategy might lessen consumers’ choices and thwart free competition. 

Schumer said he’ll use the hearing this fall to ask Ballmer why the company won’t “let consumers choose the best application, rather than letting Microsoft choose Microsoft applications for them.” 

Microsoft has said it is simply trying to add features that consumers want. 

But Anthony Sanzio, spokesman for Rochester, N.Y.-based Eastman Kodak, said an early version of Windows XP forced Kodak camera owners to run Microsoft’s photo software. Sanzio also protested that Windows XP doesn’t point consumers to Kodak’s photo printing services. Schumer said his concern was sparked by Kodak’s troubles. 

Microsoft spokesman Vivek Varma said it has addressed Kodak’s concerns. Kodak’s software now appears on Windows XP, he said, and the companies are close to finalizing a photo printing deal. 

Microsoft associate general counsel Jack Krumholtz dismissed Schumer’s criticism, saying the long-awaited release of Windows XP is important to spurring a sluggish economy. 

“The timely launch of Windows XP is critical to re-ignite the PC industry in the United States,” Krumholtz wrote in a letter to the New York senator. 

Microsoft also complained that Schumer’s office canceled a Tuesday demonstration in which Microsoft was going to show him how Windows XP works. Krumholtz said Schumer canceled the meeting Monday evening and held a press conference instead. Schumer blamed the cancellation on a schedule conflict. 

Windows XP is slated to reach stores in October, but will be sent to computer manufacturers as early as August so it can be installed on new computers. 

Last week, Microsoft tried to dissuade Leahy from holding hearings. In a letter to Leahy obtained by The Associated Press, Microsoft lobbyist Jack Quinn blamed the states, saying, “The committee should not sit in judgment of particular matters or entertain hearings that promote the biases of particular litigants.” 

In June, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Microsoft had operated as an illegal monopoly that harmed consumers, but reversed U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson’s order that the company be broken into two parts. 

Since then, Microsoft and the Justice Department have met to discuss possible guidelines for settlement talks. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com 

Sen. Charles Schumer: http://schumer.senate.gov 

Eastman Kodak: http://www.kodak.com 

The City Council is expected to approve a new police retirement package tonight that might entice veteran officers to leave the department – forcing the city into a competitive job market for new recruits. 

The retirement program, approved by the state assembly in 1999, will allow police officers to retire on their 50th birthday with 3 percent of their salary for every year they have worked. Though the program is state approved, each municipality must negotiate the program individually. According to the office of Peace Officer Standards and Training, only 40 out of 500 police departments have so far negotiated the retirement package. 

Berkeley police officials said 40 percent of the force could possibly retire over the next three years. 

“ There could be as many as 10 to 12 the first year with an accelerated retirement rate in the following two years,” said Capt. Doug Hambleton, who has been spent much of his career recruiting police officers.  

Currently the Berkeley Police Department has 194 sworn officers and is considered a full capacity at 204.  

If the council approves the retirement plan as expected, it won’t go into effect until the city reaches agreement with the Berkeley Police Association on an entire union package, which has been presented to the BPA and will be voted on Thursday. 

BPA President Randolph Files said there is a good chance the police union won’t approve the union agreement as a whole.  

“ I think it’s safe to say the current package is not looked upon favorably by the union membership,” Files said. 

If they chose not to accept the current offer, the earliest the 3 Percent at Fifty program could go into effect is late September when the City Council, which has to approve the plan, reconvenes after its summer recess. 

But there is no doubt that once the package is approved the retirement plan will be a part of it. 

If there is a large exodus of veteran officers from the force, Berkeley will be in position of having to recruit new officers from a “shallowing pool” of potential officers statewide. 

In fact, departments throughout the state have been having so much trouble recruiting officers that the state office of Peace Officer Standards and Training has studied the issue and is holding a symposium in Bakersfield today and Wednesday. The symposium will offer advice on how to identify, attract and retain law enforcement officers. 

POST Commissioner Lori Lee, who will be presenting information at the symposium, said law enforcement recruiters will get advice on everything from creating web sites to learning how to promote the individual culture of their agencies. 

Lee said people are choosing law enforcement jobs for a variety of reasons that are not always related to salary.  

“ Some people want to work for a busy department where they go from call to call to call,” she said. “ others will chose based on commute time or the area’s cost of living.” 

Hambleton said keeping the Berkeley Police Department fully staffed even in a noncompetitive job market is a tough job. He said retirement, resignation or officers taking other jobs with other departments is a common occurrence. 

“ Keeping the department fully staffed is like trying to hit a moving target,” he said. “ As long as I’ve been recruiting I’ve only seen the department fully staffed once.” 

Hambleton said Berkeley has joined other police departments in the Bay Area such as Oakland and San Francisco in taking a more aggressive approach to recruiting such as marching in the Pride parade and advertising in a wider variety of newspapers.  

“ Before we only used to advertise in the Chronicle, now we advertise in Sacramento, San Jose and Fresno,” he said.  

He said they have also started advertising in Spanish speaking and Asian community papers. 

Hambleton said they had experimented by handing out recruitment flyers at sporting events such as Cal basketball games.  

Hambleton said Berkeley police officers are required to have special skills that aren’t necessarily taught in a police academy. He said Berkeley is a very diverse community that is known for political unrest and police officers have to be able to deal with a great variety of situations. 

One technique the department has used, according to Hambleton, is to advertise in the teacher and nurse sections of the want ads.  

“ Teachers and nurses are more likely to be professional, care about people and be interested in public service,” Hambleton said. 

In addition, Berkeley police officers start at $57,000 a year compared to the average teachers’ salary, which starts at an average of $37,000. 

Hambleton said the Berkeley Police Department people from as many different backgrounds as possible with two years of college study and some work experience. 

“We want to hire caring people with good person to person skills and good solid working experience but not from any particular field,” he said.  

For more information about how to become a Berkeley police officer call 981-5977 and to apply, call the city Personnel Department at 981-6888. 

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. 

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 

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 

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. This is a free weekly cultural studies course in the Berkeley Adult School’s Older Adults Program. Free. 

Call 549-2970 

Saturday, July 28

Residential Solar Electricity 

1 p.m. - 3 p.m. 

Ecology Center 

2530 San Pablo Ave. 

This workshop will introduce participants to residential solar electricity. How solar cells work, how to size a system, participants will also get to produce electricity using photovoltaic panels and power a range of appliances (weather permitting). $15. Call 548-2220 x233 to reserve a space.  

The Berkeley City Council can rightly be applauded for the effort it has made to help fund the expansion of some local arts groups seeking to locate new facilities downtown to develop their audiences.  

But when the bulk of city arts funding is limited to only a few single occupant buildings that cannot be shared with other arts groups, an alternative downtown site is sorely needed to ensure that equal opportunities for audience development are available for all of Berkeley’s deserving arts organizations. 

Berkeley, so often called the Athens of the West, has an opportunity to prove itself worthy of such hyperbole when the City Council meets to consider a proposal advanced by the Planning Commission that will do little for arts groups currently shut out of downtown for lack of space. An alternative plan, rejected by the commission, would include; a civic art gallery, a 420-seat theater, a 100-seat theater, a smaller rehearsal/performance space and a cabaret café on the ground floor of the new David Brower building currently under review for construction on the Oxford street parking lot at Allston Way. 

Hopefully, the City Council will not accept the Planning Commission’s shortsighted recommendation without further study. 

As currently recommended by the Planning Commission, the Brower building would not include the proposed 420-seat theater required to help finance the arts center’s operations through membership fees and ticket sales. Instead the commission recommends only a token gesture toward solving the city’s arts space crisis by proposing a woefully inadequate 100-seat stage space and an exhibition gallery only.  

Other recommendations for the building’s other floors include; office space for environmental groups, market-rate and low-income housing, two levels of underground parking and commercial retail space. These can all co-exist easily with an arts center anchored by a 420-seat theater by raising the planning commission’s building height recommendation by only two floors. 

At issue is an opportunity to address the serious lack of downtown arts facilities desperately needed by a growing number of local arts organizations by developing an exciting center for the arts that will present and produce arts events from across the disciplines. The Planning Commission’s disappointing low ball proposal for a 100-seat theater effectively restricts audience development opportunities downtown to only those few private non-profits on Addison Street’s so called ‘Arts District.’ This is unfair to organizations that cannot accommodate their growing audiences in a 100-seat venue and places undue hardships on arts organizations forced to pay production fees and advertising costs for four times as many performances to accommodate the same number of patrons that could otherwise be served in a larger facility. 

The Planning Commission’s proposal for a five story building limit doesn’t make sense for other reasons as well. Green buildings need sun. A five-story Brower building will be forever in the shadow of the two adjacent buildings; the California movie theater and the Gaia building. The City Council can seize an exciting opportunity to make a significant cultural contribution to the city by moving to amend the Planning Commission recommendation allowing for a slightly taller building to make the art center possible. At seven floors the building will still be lower than the two nearest neighboring structures. 

To finance a wide range of arts events, a downtown art center must be large enough to enable non-profit arts groups to match grants with earned income through box office admissions. A small exhibition and theater space limited to 100 seats will be hard pressed to cover operational costs without a larger anchor facility from which to draw audiences and raise funds. By thinning the mix with its recommendation for a 100-seat theater, the Planning Commission dooms the theater to an impossibly small earned income capacity making it dependent on corporate support and/or city funds to survive. And without a larger facility in which to grow the viability of a stand alone 100-seat theater is bleak indeed. To make such a recommendation without a management study showing how such a facility would cover its operating costs could actually jeopardize more credible strategies for developing a 100-seat theater option as part of a larger arts center complex. 

By anchoring the art center with a 420-seat theater, however, many things become fiscally feasible. The Berkeley Art Center, now housed in Live Oak Park and eager to expand downtown, and a proposed cabaret café intended to serve serious Jazz aficionados and other musical enthusiasts, will develop audiences by leveraging other events taking place in the larger venues through joint marketing efforts. Those efforts will increase each group’s income and reduce costs through cooperative programming synergy.  

One central event calendar can replace six organizational newsletters and special discounts for different performances or exhibitions taking place throughout the arts center encourages audiences to attend art events they might not otherwise consider; like attending a series of solo performances in the smaller 100-seat theater.  

Listing just a few of the many local arts organizations, performing ensembles, and virtuoso soloists in need of a downtown facility to further develop their audiences would include: the Berkeley Art Center, the Berkeley Arts Festival, Central Works, George Coates Performance Works, Mal Sharpes’ Jazz Band, The Berkeley Opera, Nightletter Theater, Beanbenders, The Paul Dresher Ensemble, movement master Leonard Pitt, Berkeley Filmmakers, Brookside Actors Repertory Theater, The Jewish Music Festival, Berkeley City Ballet, Berkeley Chamber Arts and numerous others that would benefit. Visiting touring groups from other cities would round out an exciting mix of offerings helping to make downtown Berkeley a destination for local residents and visitors throughout the year. 

By raising the Brower building height limit recommendation by only two floors the City Council has an opportunity to show that it values its citizens ahead of its bureaucracy while at the same time helping to insure that city supported cultural equity is not something reserved for an exclusive trust of downtown establishments.  

George Coates is the artistic director of George Coates Performance Works 

MUSIC 

924 Gilman St. Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 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 24: Madd and Eddie Duran jazz duo; July 26: Keni “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Aug 1: Whiskey Brothers. 1822 San Pablo 843-2473 

Anna’s Bistro Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 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 24: 9:00 p.m. Sawt El Atlas $10; July 25: 8:00 p.m. perfect Strangers $10; July 26: 9:00 p.m. Super Rail band $16; July 27: 8:00 p.m. Ali Khan Band $15; July 28: 9:30 p.m. Motordude Zydeco and Brass Monkey $11; July 29: 9:00 p.m. El Hadj N’ Diaye $10; July 31: 8:00 p.m. dance lesson with Dana DeSimone, 9:00 p.m. Steve Riley and Mamou Playboys $12. 11317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5099 www.ashkenaz.com 

Eli’s Mile High Club Doors open at 8 p.m. 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 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, Aug 4: Adam Levy, Will Bernard. $16.50 - $17.50. 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jupiter 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 Pena Cultural Center 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; Aug 3: 8 p.m. Los Delicados, Aya de Leon $10; Aug 4: 8 p.m. Grito Serpentino, Small Axe Project, Jime Salcedo-Malo & Leticia Hernandez $10; Aug 5: 7 p.m. Insight in concert $10. 3105 Shattuck Avenue 849-2568 

La Note/Jazzschool 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 26: 7:30 p.m. Christie McCarthy, Liz Pisco, Antara and Delilah, Amber Jade. $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 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  

THEATER 

Julia Morgan Center for the Arts July 29: 2 p.m. “Into the Eye of Magic! An Asian Folk Tale” interactive musical and thearical production for families. Adults $10 Children $5; Aug 4: 8 p.m. “Cuatro maestros Touring Festival” two-hour theatrical event of music and dance performed by four elder folk artists and their talented young counterparts. Adults $18 Children $12. 2640 College Avenue 845-8542 ext. 302 

“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 

“Human Nature” the X-Plicit Players explore intimate but un-named ways of being together, awaken senses old and new and participate in Group Body. July 28: 8:30 p.m. $15 Metaversal Lightcraft 1708 University 848-1985 

“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 655-0813 

“The Lady’s Not for Burning” July 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 

“Loot” Through Aug 25, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7:00 p.m. Special Performance Aug 20, 8:00 p.m. General Admission: $15, Students / Seniors: $10 La Val’s 1834 Euclid Avenue 655-0813 

“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 

“Reefer Madness” a new one-act theatre piece adapted from a 1936 government-funded film opens a critical eye to the control of our society. Performed by The Elemental Theatre Group Wed Aug 8,22, Thu Aug 9,23: 9 p.m. La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Avenue. Wednesdays “pay what you can”, thursdays $5 - $10. Fri Aug 10,17: 7 p.m. People’s Park Free. Contact Zachary Rouse or Tisha Sloan for more info at 655-4150 

“San Francisco Improv” July 28: 8 p.m., Free show at Cafe Electica 1309 Solano Avenue. 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 

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 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 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.; July 26: 7:00 Devarim, 9:10 Yom Yom; July 27: 7:00 Punishment Room, 8:55 Ten Dark Women; July 28: 7:00 The Big Heat, 8:30 Kippur, 8:50 Clash by Night; July 29: 3:00 A Boy named Charlie Brown, 5:30 Mr. Pu, 7:30 A Billionaire; July 31: 7:30 The Arena of Murder; Aug 1: 7:30 Two Thousand Maniacs!, 9:15 Manos, the Hands of Fate; Aug 2: 7:30 Kadosh; Aug 3: 7:00 A Full-Up Train, 9:00 The Men of Tohoku; Aug 4: 7:00 Human Desire, 8:50 Hangmen Also Die New PFA Theatre 2575 Bancroft Way 642-1412 

San Francisco Jewish Film Festival at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Berkeley July 28: 1 p.m. The Optimists: the story of the rescue of the Jews of Bulgaria, 3:30 p.m. “Louba’s Ghosts”, 6:15 p.m. “One of the Hollywood Ten”, 8:30 p.m. “Kippur”; July 29: 11 a.m. “Keys from Spain”, “The Cross Inscribed in the Star of David”, 1 p.m. “Intimate Stranger”, “Nobody’s Business”, 4 p.m. “The Sweetest Sound”, 6 p.m. “Once We Grow Up”, 8:30 p.m. “Total Love”, “Moses vs. Godzilla”; July 30: 2 p.m. “Circumcision”, “Abe’s Manhood”, 4 p.m. “Terrorists in Retirement”, 6 p.m. “Disparus”, 8:30 p.m. “Street Under Fire”, “The Jahalin”; Juy 31: 3 pm. “Family Secret”, “Still (Stille)”, 5:30 p.m. “Love Inventory”, “The Bicycle”, 8:30 p.m. “Time of Favor (Hahesder)”; Aug 1: 2 p.m. “Blue and White in Red Square”, “Tsipa and Volf”, 4 p.m. “Shorts on Love and War”, 6 p.m. “Jewish Girls in Shorts”, 8:15 p.m. “waiting for the Messiah”, “The Seventh Day”; Aug 2: 1 p.m. “Fighter”, 3:15 “Brownsville Black and White”, 5:15 “Inside Out”, “Grrly Show”, 8:45 p.m. “Jewish Luck”, “SF Klezmer Experience”. General admission: $8.50, Matinees (up to and including 4 p.m.): $7, Students/Seniors/Groups: $6.50. (925)866-9559 http://www.sfjff.org 

“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 

Exhibits 

“BACA National Juried Exhibition: Works on Paper” Through 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 

“Debbie Moore’s Autobiographical Paintings” Through Sep 30 at Good Vibrations. Portraits of the artist’s sensual explorations spanning 25 years and reflecting changing ways of intimacy and body play. 2504 San Pablo Avenue 848-1985 

“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” is an 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  

“Sistahs: Ethnofraphic Ceramics” through August 22, Reception July 29 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. Womens Cancer Resource Center Gallery 3023 Shattuck Avenue 548-9286 ext. 307 

“Ten Years Here” Exhibit celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Turn of the Century Fine Arts. Aug 4 - Sept 14, Sat & Sun 1-5 p.m. Reception Aug 4 2:00 - 7:00 p.m. 2510 San Pablo Avenue 849-0950 

“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 

Boadecia’s Books Aug 3: Mabel Maney (author of the Nancy Clue/ Cherry Aimless and Hardly Boys mysteries) reads from her new book “Kiss the Girls and Make them Spy” featuring Jane Bond, James’ lesbian twin sister; Aug 4: Dyke Open Myke! Coffeehouse-style open mike night featuring both established and emerging talent. All events start at 7:30 p.m. and are free. 398 Colusa Avenue 559-9184 

Cody’s Books July 24: Susann Cokal reads from “Mirabilis.”; July 26: Dave Egger’s presentation has been canceled. $2 donation. Readings at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-0837 

Cody’s Books July 25: Alice Randall reads from “The Wind Done Gone.” $2 donation. Readings at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 1730 Fourth St. 559-9500 

Cafe de la Paz “Poetry Nitro” Weekly poetry open mike. July 30: Featuring Lisa Sikie. 6:30 p.m. sign-up, 7 p.m. reading. 1600 Shattuck Ave. 843-0662  

Coffee Mill Poetry Series August 7: Featured readers JC and Bert Glick. 7-9 p.m.; August 21: Featured Readers: Victoria Joyce and 

Therese Bamberger; Both 7-9 p.m. Free. 3363 Grand Ave., Oakland for info. (510)465-3935 or (510)526-5985, or Email: ksdgk@earthlink.net 

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. 

Supporters of sweeping reforms for Berkeley High School say they are building a broad base of support over the summer and will make a strong case to the Berkeley School Board in September, calling on board members to give their unequivocal support to the effort. 

“We feel that we have strong community support – stronger than there has ever been for this kind of major reform at Berkeley High school,” said Berkeley High English teacher Rick Ayers, who was tapped to lead the reform planning process earlier this year. 

The Berkeley school district was one of 19 California High Schools to receive a $50,000 planning grant from the U.S. Department of Education. A growing core of teachers and concerned parents have met to explore how to divide over 3000 students at the school into several “small learning communities” could help engage students, particularly African American and Latino students, who historically have a high rate of truancy and failure at Berkeley High. 

A large body of research suggests that students develop stronger relationships with teachers and with each other in a “small school” – say 600 students instead of 3,000 – and are thus less likely to become alienated either socially or academically. 

If Berkeley school reform supporters come up with a comprehensive plan to divide Berkeley High into a number of small schools by Oct. 1, the district could apply for an implementation grant from the U.S. Department of Education that would amount to $500,000 a year over three years. 

But three out of five of Berkeley school board members have been lukewarm about small learning community reform to date, and Berkeley High principal Frank Lynch has committed only to oversee a prolonged discussion about the pros and cons of the plan in the fall.  

School board members say there are simply too many unanswered questions about what the small learning communities would look like at Berkeley High. Would they all coexist on one campus? Would they have complete budgeting and governing autonomy? Would students attend the small learning community of their choice for part of the day and the “comprehensive” high school for the rest of the day? Would some of the strong programs that exist at Berkeley High today be threatened by such an arrangement? 

These are just a few of the questions raised by board members and some skeptical Berkeley High teachers. Such reluctance on the part of school administrators has lead to some concern about whether the Oct. 1 deadline can be met. 

That’s why small learning community supporters like Ayers have been working hard over the summer to assemble what they hope will be irrefutable proof that the Berkeley community is fed up with the status quo and ready to support radical reforms at the school.  

They’re holding weekly planning meetings, going door-to-door asking people to sign a petition, and recruiting well-known leaders in the parent, teacher, student and other communities to join in the crusade. 

“If the school board sees that the community is really committed, it will push them to do something,” said Marissa Saunders, who chairs the League of Women Voters education committee, Berkeley/Albany/Emeryville chapter.  

Saunders, who is also co-chair of the City of Franklin Elementary School PTA, joined the campaign for small learning community reforms in June. 

“Out of everything that’s happening in the district, Berkeley High School is the most dysfunctional, and it’s the most dysfunctional for children of color,” said Saunders, an African American. 

Saunders said she would not send her daughter – who’s entering the fifth grade at Franklin this fall – to Berkeley High unless the school has been radically reformed.  

“I’d be concerned for her safety, for her academic achievement, for her self-esteem,” Saunders said. “I’d be one of those parents up there every single day. And who has the time to be doing that?” 

Ayers emphasized Monday that small learning community supporters will not give up if the school board proves unwilling to sign on to the project by September – in time for a concrete plan for small learning communities to be submitted to the U.S. Department of Education by the Oct. 1 deadline.  

If the Berkeley district fails to get the department of education grant, they could still apply for an even bigger grant ($650,000 a year over three years) at a later date from the Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (BayCES) – an organization whose small school experts are already deeply involved in the small learning community planning effort in Berkeley. 

Ayers and others said they will put up a fight to meet the Oct. 1 deadline. The are working to win the support of Parents of Children of African Descent (PCAD), a outspoken group of African American parents at Berkeley High who managed to launch their own kind of small learning community at the school last winter, winning city and school board approval for a program that placed failing students in smaller classes. 

Katrina Scott-George, a member of the PCAD Steering Committee, said the group still has reservations about joining the school-wide reform effort. She said PCAD members are narrowly focused on the issue of institutional racism at Berkeley High and their belief that the prevailing mentality of teachers and administrators causes the school to take special care of white students while allowing blacks and Latinos to fall through the cracks. 

It is not clear to PCAD members, Scott-George said, that the move to small learning communities would address this issue. 

“We’ve been reforming constantly at Berkeley High, but we haven’t made a whole lot of progress, certainly not when we’re talking about African American students,” she said.

The City Council is expected to vote tonight on the controversial proposal by the Beth El congregation to build a synagogue, school and social hall at 1301 Oxford St.  

In addition to the City Council, the proposal has been considered by three commissions and been the subject of multiple public hearings including two at the council level during which 170 people spoke. The Live  

Oak Codornices Creek  

Neighborhood Association, who oppose the size, say the 32,000 square-foot project will adversely affect parking, traffic and a section of Codornices Creek, which runs along the northern section of the  

site. 

They also say the project will obscure historical resources on the property, which is a Berkeley historical landmark. LOCCNA has asked Beth El to compromise by scaling back the size of the project. 

Beth El argues the congregation has grown out of its current facility two blocks away and needs the space. Members also point out the design of the project will allow for future restoration of the creek and that the remaining 11 historical elements on the property which include a entrance gate, a Monkey Puzzle tree and a section of wrought work will be maintained.  

Both sides of the issue have threatened court actions if they do not prevail in tonight’s council vote. 

Director appointments 

The council is expected to announce the appointments of two department heads. One is Stephen Barton as Director of Housing. Barton has been acting director of that department for three years. The council will also announce the new director of Planning and Development, Carol Barrett, who is currently the Planning Manager in Austin, Texas. Barrett will take the place of Interim Director Wendy Cosin. 

Water transit appointee 

Mayor Shirley Dean and Councilmember Kriss Worthington will try and work out their differences over who should be appointed to the Water Transit Community Advisory Board. On July 10, the council was able to appoint councilmembers to seven committees and task forces. But they were unable to agree on who should take the seat on the WTCAB. Both Dean and Worthington have been active on transportation issues and both wanted to sit on that commission which is studying a possible bay ferry station in Berkeley. 

Dean’s recommendation requests that she be appointed to the board, because of her efforts during the last 10 years to bring a ferry service to Berkeley and Worthington be named as alternate because of his recent appointment to the Congestion Management Agency, which deals with transportation funding issues.  

Pedestrian flags 

The council will hear an information report on a program to provide pedestrians with flags to reduce the number of injuries while crossing certain Berkeley streets. The program is modeled after a similar programs in Cambridge, Mass., Kirkland, Wash. and Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Salt Lake has used the pedestrian flags since August, 2000 and it is estimated that 11 - 14 percent of the city’s residents use the flags to cross the street. 

The flags are being proposed for Shattuck and Cedar streets, Shattuck Street at University Avenue and Ashby and Piedmont avenues, among other locations. 

This is the last City Council meeting before its summer recess. The next meeting will be held Sept. 11. 

The African American firefighter suing the city and California OSHA because he believes a state regulation regarding fire masks is discriminatory, is now asking the City Council for support. 

At tonight’s City Council meeting, Harry Vernon, a Berkeley firefighter for 24 years is planning on asking the city to join him in his lawsuit against the California Occupational Health and Safety Administration.  

Vernon, 47, has a skin condition common in many African American males that prohibits him from shaving. An OSHA ruling forbids firefighters from having facial hair because they say it interferes with respirators. 

In October 1999, Vernon was given a desk job after he protested the city’s compliance with the new regulation. 

Although the city attorney’s office is sympathetic to Vernon’s situation, they have said they must comply with state law.  

But Lawrence Murray, Vernon’s attorney, said it’s time to put up or shut up. 

“The [City Attorney] admitted it was  

discriminatory but they said their hands are tied,” he said. “But it’s time to get up there, put on the gloves and say, ‘Let’s go find these bullies and stop this crap.’” 

OSHA officials have said that they are simply complying with federal safety and health laws and that their rule is not discriminatory.  

Although Councilmember Kriss Worthington requested the city look at the OSHA regulation at tonight’s meeting, he emphasized that there will not be a specific discussion of Vernon’s case. Any discussion of a lawsuit must take place in closed session. 

“It’s to take action to strengthen the city’s appeal to Cal OSHA so together as a council we can more aggressively lobby the state to make reasonable accommodations for people of different races, religions and disabilities,” Worthington said. 

Mayor Shirley Dean did not return a call for comment. 

To do some things, Emily Hancock thinks, a woman’s got to have moxie. 

Hancock does, in part, mean “Moxie,” the Berkeley-based magazine of which she is editor and publisher. But aside from reading the magazine, she means a woman has got to have grit. 

The word “moxie” once referred to a kind of medicine. 

“It tasted terrible,” Hancock said.  

“Now that the word moxie has come to stand for courage, guts and daring, people speculate that you had to have moxie to drink it.” 

One might say, then, that “Moxie” is nectar for women wanting, with Thoreau, “to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.”  

Produced out of the upstairs loft of Hancock’s north Berkeley home, its first print issue came out in April 1998.  

It has since become primarily an online magazine (www.moxiemag.com), registering almost 16,000 hits per week, Hancock said. 

“We’ve been featured now in Writer’s Market as one of the best magazines in print,” Hancock said. “And in Writer’s Digest, as one of the 50 best Web sites for authors.”  

Hancock began to sense the need for a magazine like “Moxie” while doing research for her book, “The Girl Within.” Interviewing young women on college campuses across the country, she said she became alarmed at the number of women who confessed they weren’t discussing any of their most pressing questions with their peers: career, marriage and having children.  

“I said, ‘How are you figuring these things out?’ They would reply, ‘Oh you know, we pick up Cosmo.’ And all we get there, is how to play into the hands of a man,” she said. 

“So it just seemed like there needed to be an alternative magazine that would help people figure out how to make a life that works,” she said. 

People need moxie to probe themselves for answers to the most overwhelming life questions.  

In short, it hasn’t been easy. Hancock and her brainchild have had a bit more than their share of setbacks. 

First, groomed with glossy pages, “Moxie” sought a large-scale publisher to share some of its financial burden, and no suitor materialized. Then, when the magazine held its grand, promotional event in April 2000 to bring together all its present and potential advertisers, the guest speaker insulted them all. Advertisers casually stepped out and did not return.  

Most recently, “Moxie” lost all the information it had stored about its readers and writers – its devoted progeny – when its hard-drive collapsed. 

Hancock admits she would love to focus solely on the magazine’s content and not worry about the publishing logistics. 

“I never have wanted to be a publisher, and I still don’t,” she said.  

“I thought that ‘Moxie’ needed a lot of muscle from a big company that could give it proper artwork, proper distribution, publicity. That kind of thing.” 

Of course, Hancock also understands that “Moxie” might not be what it is if a corporate publisher had bought in. 

“Moxie really is an alternative magazine,” Hancock said.  

“It’s not a mainstream magazine. It doesn’t have advertising anymore, it’s not glossy, and it’s full of first person accounts, which I always intended.”  

Hancock forwards the cause of first-person narration with reason.  

“It’s the subtlest level of a self-help vehicle, because people read other people’s accounts and they think about themselves,” she said.  

“They think about themselves instead of being given ten tips on how to do all those things that Cosmo tells us how to do.” 

James Schinnerer, handler of the magazine’s web work along with other editorial duties, sees the varied viewpoints as part of what makes “Moxie” deserving of its name.  

“You get a lot of diversity of opinion,” he said.  

“ ‘Moxie’ is more the forum for all the views than for one view. Some pieces you won’t agree with, and then you find another piece that’s just like your opinion.” 

And the “Moxie” identity has been affected not only by the directness and diversity of its voice, but also by where it can be heard – its medium. People will find that “Moxie” online is not the same as “Moxie” in print. 

“There are just certain things that work better in print, and certain things that work better online,” Hancock said.  

“If it’s online it better be shorter.  

“Also, there are certain things I would put online that I wouldn’t put in print because they were too brash to be in print. If it’s online you can say, ‘Ew, I don’t want to read this,’ and go somewhere else with the click of a mouse.” 

This flexibility gives “Moxie” online a different look and feel than the print version.  

It’s presently open to online advertisers and sponsors, while the printed version is less like a magazine and more like a literary journal, Hancock said.  

Despite its setbacks, “Moxie” endures.  

It endures, perhaps even as a result of them. And its persistence seems, in a way, part of the point:  

In a world in which we constantly come up with newer and better ways to divert ourselves from life’s more daunting problems, only someone with intense commitment will get around to grappling with the questions Cosmo doesn’t answer. 

It’s these people to whom Moxie speaks. 

“Originally ‘Moxie’ was aimed at people who were just getting out of college and trying to put together lives that work. But women are always processing their lives,” Hancock said.  

“No matter how old they are, they’re still figuring out the same things. Or their circumstances change and they have to figure it all out again.”

A 15-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by a pair of young men while exercising at the Downtown Berkeley YMCA at 7:30 p.m. Friday, said Berkeley Police Lt. Russell Lopes.  

While working out with a friend, the victim was allegedly approached by two men who had also been exercising in the gym. 

Lopes said the suspects engaged the girls in conversation and asked if they had boyfriends. Lopes said the men then crowded the victim into a corner and one fondled her breasts while the other fondled her buttocks. Lopes said the woman screamed for help and the assailants ran off. The suspects are described as black males, 18 to 20 years old and thin. 

••• 

Two male students in their early 20s walking near College Avenue and Channing Way were nearly robbed early Saturday morning, said Lt. Russell Lopes. 

One suspect was allegedly drunk and yelling obscenities at the two victims.  

When one of the victims asked the him whom he was talking to, the other man allegedly punched him. The punch caused one of the victims to fall to the ground, Lopes said. When the victim tried to get up, he was punched again and fell back to the ground. 

While on the ground, the suspects searched the pockets of both students, Lopes said.  

The suspects ran off without taking any of the victims possessions. The suspects are described as one white male in a cowboy hat and blue Hawaiian shirt and a black male in a red T-shirt.

LOS ANGELES — U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham unveiled a $300 million plan Monday to break a transmission-line bottleneck that has kept power from flowing freely through the state during times of peak usage. 

His proposal calls for expanding the state’s power grid capacity along Path 15, an 84-mile stretch of power lines running across the state’s Central Valley, by attracting private investment. 

The improvements could increase the transmission capacity there by 1,500 megawatts –enough electricity to power more than one million homes. 

“Our plan is a critical component in solving the long-term power crisis in this state,” Abraham told reporters during a news conference. 

The lines are currently the only ones connecting the northern and southern portions of the state. Abraham said 13 companies have already submitted plans for the work. He didn’t release their names. 

Federal officials plan to award a contract to one of the companies in the next 30 days, with the project likely taking at least two years to complete, he said. 

The plan contrasts with Gov. Gray Davis’ efforts to acquire the transmission lines of the state’s power companies and thus allow the state to make improvements on them.  

A spokesman for Davis expressed skepticism Monday that it could be implemented as successfully as Abraham envisions. 

“Given the private sector’s failure over the past 15 years to make improvements, we’ll view that with suspicion,” said Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio. 

Abraham has been making speeches around the country in recent days, coinciding with a House Republican effort to approve broad-ranging energy legislation before the end of the month when Congress leaves for its summer recess. 

Officials have said the Path 15 bottleneck was one factor behind rolling blackouts that hit Northern California earlier this year. Though excess power was available in Southern California, it could not be moved fast enough to avoid problems in the northern portion of the state. 

“The capacity in this area is simply insufficient,” Abraham said. 

He said the proposed expansion is part of a nationwide project called for by President Bush to look into problems existing throughout the country’s power grids, including both bottlenecks and gaps. 

Abraham noted that Mexico expressed interest in selling some of its excess power to California earlier this year, but the transmission lines connecting Mexico’s Baja California to California could not carry enough power to make a successful deal possible. 

“This is a challenge many places in the country face,” he said. 

LOS ANGELES — An AIDS-stricken Thai boy used as a prop by immigrant smugglers will stay in the country and become the first applicant for a new kind of visa for victims of trafficking and violence, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said Monday. 

The decision blocks – at least for now – any efforts by relatives or the Immigration and Naturalization Service to return 4-year-old Phanupong “Got” Khaisri to Thailand. 

“This case presents an extremely unusual, unique and tragic circumstance,” Ashcroft said in announcing he has granted the boy humanitarian parole to keep him in the country as he awaits a visa. “Got is a confused and isolated figure adrift in a complex legal system.” 

Ashcroft said that because of the singularity of Got’s case he decided to make the boy the first candidate for the so-called T-visa created by the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000. 

Got was 2 years old, malnourished, HIV-positive and suffering from a severe ear infection when he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport in April 2000. He was accompanied by a man and woman who claimed to be his parents, but officials determined he was being used in a scheme to smuggle the woman into the country – a purpose his own mother, a heroin-addicted prostitute, had rented him out for. 

Fearing Got’s AIDS would go untreated in Thailand and he would be pulled back into immigrant trafficking if he returned, local Thai activists have been fighting to keep him in the United States. The INS denied him asylum, but his advocates won a victory last month when a federal judge refused to order his return. 

However, the judge’s order was subject to appeal and litigation was continuing, so that Got remained in limbo before Ashcroft’s announcement. 

“We’re extremely ecstatic, elated and overjoyed, because this is the day we’ve been waiting for. I think we can actually claim victory today,” said Chanchanit Martorell, one of Got’s guardians and executive director of the Thai Community Development Center. “Now Got will be able to finally be a normal 4-year-old kid.” 

But Got’s guardians and attorney had some reservations, mostly because the government has not yet finalized the regulations needed to implement the T-visas, a process that will have to be completed before Got can get one. 

Peter Schey, the attorney who is representing Got as president of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, accused the INS and Department of Justice of foot-dragging, and called on Ashcroft to move forward immediately in issuing the regulations. 

At a press conference outside the federal courthouse where Ashcroft made his announcement, Schey said he plans to amend Got’s lawsuit against the federal government to seek class-action status on behalf of all unaccompanied minors apprehended by the INS, and to request an injunction ordering immediate implementation of the T-visas. 

Sharon A. Gavin, an INS spokeswoman, said the regulations are in development. 

“They’re being worked on even as we speak,” Gavin said. “I don’t have any time frame right now.” 

Presuming Got is granted a T-visa, it will be good for three years, after which Got will become eligible to adjust to resident status, Martorell said. 

Got’s mother has given up custody and his HIV-infected father committed suicide. His paternal grandparents say they adopted him under Thai law, and were seeking to take him back to Thailand. 

Got is healthy now, but only because he takes a three-drug “cocktail” every 12 hours. The boy splits his time between his guardians and a Silver Lake couple that is seeking to adopt him. 

SACRAMENTO — The state budget cleared its final legislative hurdle Monday night, more than three weeks after it was supposed to take effect. 

The Assembly approved a batch of bills required to enact the estimated $101 billion spending plan. It now goes to Gov. Gray Davis, who has said he will to make an expected $600 million more in cuts and sign the budget into law. 

The vote capped intense partisan standoffs and negotiations among Democrat Davis, the Legislature’s majority Democrats and minority Republicans. The budget was supposed to go into effect July 1. 

Republicans held back their votes for weeks, saying they objected to a quarter-cent sales tax increase that is automatically triggered if the state’s reserves dipped too low. 

In the Assembly, four Republicans finally broke ranks early last week, won over by projects for their districts and nearly $80 million in tax breaks for farmers and grants for rural police. 

But Assembly members, who approved the main budget bill a week ago, failed to collect the necessary votes for the accompanying legislation until Monday. 

The Monday vote followed a marathon weekend session during which state Senators approved the budget and the bills to implement it and adjourned for their summer recess. The Senate version of the budget and the legislation approved by the Assembly approved Monday included several compromises. 

They include: 

— Relaxing the required reserve level for the quarter-cent sales tax cut to take effect. Under current state law, the cut kicks in if in back-to-back years the state’s reserve fund bulges above 4 percent of the budget. Under the new measure, the cut kicks in if the reserves rise above 3 percent for one year. 

— Asking voters to approve a constitutional amendment dedicating gasoline sales tax revenues to transit and transportation projects beginning in the 2003-04 budget year. 

— Tax credits for farmers and senior citizens. 

— $40 million in school funds to balance what many call unfair school funding formulas. 

SACRAMENTO — Voters could decide to ban the cutting of any tree that grew before California became a state in 1850, if a coalition succeeds in putting the initiative on next year’s ballot. 

A group of social, religious, civic, business and conservation organizations on Tuesday will launch an effort to put the question on the 2002 ballot. 

The measure would apply to all state-owned forests and private land, but could not restrict logging on federal land. It is opposed by the state’s logging industry.  

The coalition estimated less than 3 percent of native forests in California are still standing, and said most of those are protected in state parks. The initiative would safeguard the remaining ancient and old growth trees. 

“Our government should be the ones protecting this international heritage, but because they’ve failed, we, the people, have decided to protect the last of this living legacy,” activist Julia “Butterfly” Hill said in a statement.  

Hill spent more than two years living in a California redwood to save it from being cut down. Logging groups said the initiative was superfluous. 

On the Net: Read the initiative at http://www.ancienttrees.org

A consulting firm recently reported that a large percentage of companies it surveyed continued to give managers performance bonuses despite the company’s poor performance. 

“The boards (of the companies),” the consulting firm tried to explain, “believe that rewarding bonuses to virtually all managers, despite non-stellar company performance, is necessary to foster retention.” 

Larry Reissman of the Hay Group, which conducted the survey among 40 Massachusetts companies this past May examining bonuses given in 2000, disagreed with that explanation, one reason being that, in effect, it cheated those who really deserved a bonus. 

Viewing that situation, especially in light of the collapsed stock market, shareholders must wonder where they, the folks who risk their money in the company, stand in the order of things. 

Very low, it seems. No bonuses, of course. Perhaps a reduced dividend because of low corporate earnings. Declining value of their investments. 

It isn’t the only economic area in which consumers-investors rank low, and now that money is tight for millions of them, you can understand they might look askance at organizations that overlook their contributions. 

The securities industry had a good thing going. Ordinary Americans had bought into the idea of buying shares and, as they say, owning a piece of America. Their 401(k)s bought more shares. Mutual funds prospered. 

But now, in a time of reflection and learning, small investors are wondering what in the world they became mixed up in. For example: Brokers whose advice was suspect. Advisers who shrank customer assets. Analysts with mammoth salaries for touting companies that tanked. Mutual fund managers who failed even to keep pace with the overall market. 

They have good reason to wonder too about the integrity of some corporate managements that have deceived through creative bookkeeping, and wonder too about the accountants who certified the numbers. 

The point of these and comparable situations is that the consumer is now viewed by government and industry as the great hope of the economy, the sector that will lead the country up out of the great near-recession. 

And that leads to the big question: Will consumers, already battered by financial losses and big debts, take on the task? The answer was expected by now, but it hasn’t come. 

The Federal Reserve has lowered interest rates six times since January and may have to cut even more next month. Businesses are still burdened with unsold goods. Profit increases haven’t yet been sighted. 

The market, says Jim Griffin of Alteus Investment Management, seems to be dominated by deeply religious investors. “You know, ‘please God, if I ever get even ... .” You can finish the plea. 

John Cunniff is a business analyst for The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — In a deal that will give The Walt Disney Co. valuable distribution and News Corp. cash to finance an acquisition of its own, Disney is buying Fox Family Worldwide Inc. for $3 billion in cash and assuming debt of $2.3 billion. 

The deal announced Monday adds the children’s cable network to Disney’s portfolio, which already includes ESPN, the Disney Channel and stakes in A&E and Lifetime. The Fox Family Channel, which Disney plans to rename ABC Family, reaches about 81 million cable subscribers in the United States. 

Disney bought Fox Family from News Corp. and Saban Entertainment Inc., which each owned 49.5 percent of the company. The sale came about after Saban, a major children’s programmer which created the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” exercised its right to have News Corp. buy out its share. 

Disney chief executive officer Michael Eisner said the deal was clinched last week in talks with News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch and Saban chief Haim Saban at a media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, and is something “we had been fantasizing about for maybe three years. 

“This is a perfect fit for our company,” Eisner said. “We paid appropriately for a great asset, which drives us to the No. 1 position in basic cable subscribers and gives us a greater presence and growth opportunity internationally.” 

Disney chief financial officer Thomas Staggs said Disney was in competition with other companies for the channel. It is believed Viacom Inc. and AOL Time Warner Inc. were bidders. 

“There were other folks bidding, so we sat down and said, ’What price will it take for this to be done?”’ Staggs said. 

For News Corp., the deal provides a welcome dose of cash just as the company is hoping to reach an agreement with General Motors Corp. over purchase of the DirecTV satellite broadcaster, a division of GM’s Hughes Electronics unit. 

The deal expands Disney’s programming reach worldwide with a 76 percent ownership in Fox Kids Europe, a children’s programming channel that reaches 24 million homes, and a 10-million subscriber channel in Latin America called Fox Kids. 

Disney is also getting Saban’s programming library, which contains more than 6,500 episodes of shows. 

“This really is beachfront property,” Eisner said at a news conference. “There only are about five or six strong, ubiquitous cable channels in the United States and this is one of them.” 

The deal won approval from Wall Street analysts, who have been critical of Disney for not being more aggressive while other companies, such as Viacom and AOL Time Warner consolidated and tied up vital distribution outlets for Disney’s content. 

“Investors have been concerned that they have not leveraged their franchises as well as they could,” said Jeffrey Logsdon, an analyst at Gerard Klauer Mattison. “This is a great cable network acquisition and fit relative to leveraging the programs they’re creating throughout the whole Disney empire.” 

It is the first major acquisition by Disney since it bought Capital Cities/ABC in 1996. The company’s stock price has lagged since then. 

Shares of Disney were down 12 cents to $26.88 after the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange Monday. 

Executives at Fox Family Worldwide also praised the deal, saying it has been difficult to operate as an independent company without the reach and support of a major corporate parent. News Corp. and Saban have been uneasy partners since they bought the operation five years ago. 

“I can’t think of a better home for this channel because of the core business of Walt Disney being families and kids,” said Maureen Smith, president of the Fox Family Channel. “The support they talked about over and over will just be tenfold compared to what we’ve been able to get simply because of compatibility with the other Fox brands that really weren’t family based. The access to this kind of programming is a dream come true.” 

Disney officials said the deal should increase advertising revenue for its media networks division by 50 percent within two years from the 2001 level of approximately $200 million. ABC, ESPN and other networks have suffered from an advertising slump in recent months because of the slowing economy. 

The increase in revenue should come without a significant jump in programming costs, Disney said. A new lineup for the ABC Family channel will include news programs from ABC, such as “The View,” sports programming from ESPN and comedies and dramas from ABC. 

The deal will also give Disney a wider platform to promote its other broadcast networks, major studio films and theme parks. 

Disney expects it can cut $50 million from the operating costs of the new channel immediately by consolidating back office operations and advertising sales staffs. 

The deal gives Disney the rights to air Major League Baseball games two nights a week during the regular season, plus between eight and 11 first-round playoff games. 

Disney president Robert Iger said baseball came as a condition of sale from News Corp. and Saban. The games will be produced by ESPN, Iger said. 

The channel will continue to show the 700 Club and other shows made by Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcast Network, which originally started the network. 

“I’ve talked to Pat Robertson and we happen to think he is an asset to the channel,” Eisner said. “He’s got a great following. He produces a quality program and we will build a schedule with a commitment to him.” 

For the second Sunday in a row, Walker Toma took a slim lead into the top of the seventh inning. And for the second Sunday in a row, Toma’s Berkeley Legion team ended up losing in extra innings, a 6-5, eight-inning heartbreaker to De La Salle at San Pablo Park. 

Toma was overpowering for most of the game, but his defense let him down. Every run the visiting Deacons scored was unearned, thanks to errors and passed balls. Toma struck out 13 hitters in his seven innings of work, including a rare four-strikeout inning in the fourth, and gave up just three hard-hit balls. But his fielders made five errors behind him, with two contributing to De La Salle’s three-run fifth inning.  

With Berkeley holding a 4-1 lead, Toma took care of the first two batters easily on soft grounders. But a pop-up ticked off of second baseman Chris Wilson’s glove, and shortstop Jason Moore muffed a groundball. Given new life and handed the start of a rally, the Deacons took advantage. Nick Moresi hit a single to load the bases, and Toma brought home one run with a wild pitch. Cleanup hitter Chris Hom followed with a two-run single, but was cut down trying to take second on the throw home to end the inning. 

Berkeley answered right back in the bottom half of the inning with a run, but it could have been more. Foster Goree, Jr., led off with a double into the left-center gap, and Moore hit a line shot that found the glove of De La Salle’s second baseman, who caught Goree too far off of second for the double play. Center fielder Bennie Goldenberg then hit a single and stole second, and Toma helped his own cause by scoring Goldenberg with a single to left to scratch out a 5-4 lead. Toma hit drove De La Salle starter Tim Schlatter from the game. 

Toma struck out the side in the sixth, but the Deacons’ reliever did the same to Berkeley, and Toma had the slimmest of margins to work with heading into the seventh. The first De La Salle batter hit a chopper up the middle that turned into an infield single. Matt Carter laid down a sacrifice bunt, but was called safe at first to the loud protests of the Berkeley coaches. A passed ball by Berkeley catcher Jason Haller sent the runners to second and third, and Eric Basilo tied the game with a single, although Carter was gunned down at the plate by Goree with Basilo taking second on the throw. The Berkeley coaches chose to intentionally walk Moresi to set up a force play, but that backfired when Haller let another pitch slip by him, again moving the runners up a base. Hom was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Toma dug deep on the next two batters. He fanned designated hitter Justin Bunkis for the fourth time, then got another strikeout to end the inning. 

Despite losing the lead late in the game, Berkeley still had some life left in them. Wilson led off with a single, and Goree beat out a sacrifice bunt. Moore bunted the runners over, and Goldenberg took an intentional pass to load the bases with one out. But Toma grounded to short, forcing Wilson at the plate, and Erik Johnson flew out to left to end the threat. 

Brian Kenny doubled to start the eighth off of Moore, who came in to relieve Toma. The next two batters grounded out, and it looked as if Moore would work his way out of the jam. But he walked Carter, then hit the next two batters on consecutive pitches, forcing in the go-ahead run. Although Berkeley got the leadoff batter on in the bottom of the inning, they couldn’t get him home, and the game ended 6-5 in favor of the visitors.

924 Gilman St. Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 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 24: Madd and Eddie Duran jazz duo; July 26: Keni “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Aug 1: Whiskey Brothers. 1822 San Pablo 843-2473 

Anna’s Bistro Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 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 24: 9:00 p.m. Sawt El Atlas $10; July 25: 8:00 p.m. perfect Strangers $10; July 26: 9:00 p.m. Super Rail band $16; July 27: 8:00 p.m. Ali Khan Band $15; July 28: 9:30 p.m. Motordude Zydeco and Brass Monkey $11; July 29: 9:00 p.m. El Hadj N’ Diaye $10; July 31: 8:00 p.m. dance lesson with Dana DeSimone, 9:00 p.m. Steve Riley and Mamou Playboys $12. 11317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5099 www.ashkenaz.com 

Eli’s Mile High Club Doors open at 8 p.m. 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 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, Aug 4: Adam Levy, Will Bernard. $16.50 - $17.50. 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jupiter 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 Pena Cultural Center 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 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 26: 7:30 p.m. Christie McCarthy, Liz Pisco, Antara and Delilah, Amber Jade. $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 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  

Julia Morgan Center for the Arts July 29: 2:00 p.m. “Into the Eye of Magic! An Asian Folk Tale” interactive musical and thearical production for families. Adults $10 Children $5; Aug 4: 8 p.m. “Cuatro maestros Touring Festival” two-hour theatrical event of music and dance performed by four elder folk artists and their talented young counterparts. Adults $18 Children $12. 2640 College Avenue 845-8542 ext. 302 

“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 

“Human Nature” The X-Plicit Players explore intimate but un-named ways of being together, awaken senses old and new and participate in Group Body. July 28: 8:30 p.m. $15 Metaversal Lightcraft 1708 University 848-1985 

“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 

“The Lady’s Not for Burning” July 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 

“Loot” Through Aug 25, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7:00 p.m. Special Performance Aug 20, 8:00 p.m. General Admission: $15, Students / Seniors: $10 La Val’s 1834 Euclid Avenue 655-0813 

“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 

“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 

“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 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 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.; July 26: 7:00 Devarim, 9:10 Yom Yom; New PFA Theatre 2575 Bancroft Way 642-1412 

Editor’s note: 

Four young Berkeley residents traveled to Genoa to participate peacefully in the demonstrations. Below is a report from one of them, Nathalie Miller ,19, a sophomore at Harvard and graduate of College Preparatory School. With her are her sister, Gabby,16, a junior at Berkeley High School; her brother, Teddy, 22, a junior at UC Berkeley and their friend, Julian Fulton, also a junior at UC Berkeley. This was submitted by Tom Miller, Nathalie’s father.  

By Nathalie Miller 

Special to the Daily Planet 

...We are a colorful party in the street, a carnaval with theater, pink fairies and radical cheerleaders, clowns and music, a creative, magical and confrontational dance that takes decisions in a horizontal manner through affinity groups. We want to reduce aggressiveness to the minimum with imagination, samba, art, playing with space, to create a relaxed atmosphere with good vibes.” 

The pink and silver march: face paint, fairy wings, red foam noses, a man in a tight pink dress. A sect of the demonstration far from the usual chants and claps. We are enveloped this morning by the brilliantly costumed wacky.  

Spirits are high, songs are belted out. The good cheer reflects the vibe of the carnaval-like manifestation on opening night. 

We finally find a kiosk that isn’t boarded up and I duck in to buy a newspaper. We cross the street and Teddy immediately boosts Gabby up onto a shed next to an Italian bank. She relays down to us from her vantage point.  

“The police blockaded that entire street with their vans,” she says, pointing north. Teddy and Julian clamber up beside her, but there’s barely any space for Gabby anymore so I stay down on the sidewalk. I walk over to the corner, lean on the street light, facing in the opposite direction of the police barricades. I freeze. 

There’s a sea of protesters, sidewalk to sidewalk, flowing towards us. But not the colorful fairies and clowns we began the morning with. Black. From head to toe, every last one of them is draped in black hoods, scarves, clothing. They carry a single sign with them, held by those at the front: SMASH. The letter A is encircled, the symbol for anarchy. 

Then they see the Italian bank. A wave of black crashes against the building, which for some reason seems to be the only one that isn’t boarded up.  

Shovels, lead pipes, and sticks pound against the glass until the glass splinters and begins to shatter. “Teddy!” I yell. “We have to go!” 

But the three of them are on the other side of the bank’s corner. They are still watching the police blockade. Balanced on the shed, they can’t turn and see the anarchy that’s exploding on the opposite side of the building. It’s not until a boy, masked and armed with a metal rod, attacks the window directly beneath them that they realize we are in a dangerous spot. They quickly climb down, we scuttle about fifteen feet away. More hands have joined the effort against the bank. 

“You should be ashamed of yourselves!” I yell. “What good does that do?”  

Nobody even turns in my direction. The focus is on the window, which has completely given way now. Some dip into the bank. Moments later, a phone is ripped out of the jack and thrown onto the sidewalk. Others busy themselves by violently pushing photographers, who have swarmed the corner like paparazzi around a star, away from the shattering, the spray-painting, and the burning. I notice one man strutting around, dressed not in black but in jeans with a matching denim vest. With a flick of a hand, he moves the anarchists away from the window front. With another, he calls them back to continue their smashing. He’s clearly in charge of the army, but should the police intervene he would blend into the crowd of the regularly dressed protesters. He shouts something in Italian at the destructive bunch and marches swiftly off, in the opposite direction than the sea of black has flowed. 

By this point, I am hysterically talking to myself. “Stop it! Please stop! This is just making bad publicity for the protests! Why are they doing this? Shame!” There are sirens blaring, and helicopters jetting around above us. Phone booths are broken, recycling bins overturned. The police have started to make their way, arms linked, towards the intersection. Two fires burn in the street. And there’s black all around. 

“Let’s go,” someone tells me. “Let’s find the pink silver march. If they want to do this it’s on their backs, not ours.” 

But I’ve been babbling incoherently for the past five minutes asking questions that I don’t know the answers to. So before we leave I walk up to a masked man who is raising his fist and cheering for the guy who just tossed a pile of papers out of the bank window. I place my hand on his shoulder. “Excuse me, do you speak English?” 

“Yes.” He has a thick accent. Scottish? 

“Can you explain something to me, please?” I wish my stupid voice would go back to normal because, although I sound it, I’m not scared. My voice just has the irritating habit of trembling when I get emotional. “Why are these men breaking windows? I just don’t understand. What do they think are helping?” 

He is clearly cross with me. “Well, I don’t know. You can ask them. They speak English too.”  

“You don’t know? But you just raised your hand for them. You are cheering for what they’re doing.” 

He turns, for the first time, to look at me. All I can see of him is the pale skin surrounding his eyes. The rest is curtained in black. “Look. I don’t really want to talk to you or talk to anybody about this, okay?” 

“All right,” I say, pulling my hand back from his arm. 

We have to run now because tear gas is being thrown. Metal balls the size of apricots sail by, trailing whispy smoke in their wake. I’ve lost Teddy, Julian, and Gabby. Whistles, sirens, glass shattering, helicopters, smoke, and thousands of running footsteps. I glance behind me and realize that, although I thought I was chasing them, I’m actually ahead of my crowd. 

Still running, Teddy takes the handkerchief from around his face and tosses it to me. I fumble to tie it on as we race to a side street. My left eye has begun to sting. A camera man taps Julian and leans over, eyes swollen and rimmed with red. Julian pours some of our water into the man’s palm. “Grazi.” 

Around us people pant for breath, peering around the corner to see if it’s safe to emerge. Beneath the smoke, black from the fires, white from the tear gas, I spy something glittering: a decorated cardboard fairy wing, torn and trampled. 

Nathalie Miller - Genoa

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. 

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 

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. Free. 

527-4140 

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 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 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 

Local officials involved in implementing Proposition 36 — the initiative that mandates that non-violent adults convicted of possessing illegal drugs be sentenced to drug treatment rather than jail time — say the law may need fine tuning if it is to have the impact supporters had hoped for. 

Known as the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000, Proposition 36 was approved by 61 percent of voters last November and went into affect July 1. It directs $60 million to help counties pay for more drug treatment services this year, and then $120 million annually for the next five years. 

But, so far at least, Proposition 36 seems to have made little difference in the way non-violent drug users are treated in Alameda County. Long before Proposition 36, Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Jeff Rubin said people convicted of drug possession locally were extremely unlikely to end up in prison unless they had a significant criminal history apart from their drug use.  

Those convicted of simple possession in Alameda County were already sentenced to drug treatment, Rubin said, just as Proposition 36 mandates. 

Davida Coady, M.D., coordinator of the Berkeley Drug Court and director of Options for Recovery Services, one of the drug rehabilitation service providers contracted by the county under Proposition 36, said only a handful of people went to jail for drug possession in Alameda County last year. And some of these were people who chose jail over treatment, Coady said, because they had tried treatment before and decided it wasn’t for them. 

Furthermore, Coady said, there is no difference in the drug treatment available to drug possession offenders under Proposition 36 and the treatment they commonly received before Proposition 36 became law — at least in Berkeley. 

“We have been able to get everybody from our drug court into service regardless of their ability to pay,” Coady said. 

Even today, those picked up for possession in Berkeley are likely to end up as clients of Options for Recovery Services, whether they are referred through the Proposition 36 process or the old-fashioned way — a judge offering them probation if they agree to treatment.  

The only difference, said Coady, is that a Proposition 36 referral requires that an offender enter a guilty plea before they are eligible for services.  

Needless to say, this isn’t much of an incentive for drug users to “take advantage” of a law that was ostensibly passed to help them receive the treatment they need. And this, said Coady and others, may explain why no one processed by the Berkeley court has opted for Proposition 36 treatment since it became an option July 1. 

Taking a pre-plea diversion into drug treatment — the old-fashioned route — is “a much better deal because they don’t get a felony on their record,” Coady said. 

Part of the appeal of Proposition 36 was supposed to be that it gave people the opportunity to have a felony conviction expunged from their record if they successfully completed a three to 12 month drug rehabilitation treatment program. But, apparently, this isn’t much of an incentive in cases judges are signing off on plea bargains that avoid felony conviction altogether. 

Don Thoni, a program specialist for Alameda County’s Behavioral Health Care department, the entity charged with overseeing Proposition 36 locally, said local agencies have moved heaven and earth to prepare for Proposition 36 in recent months. And he said they is a strong will to work together to make the law as effective as possible. 

But even Thoni pointed to a major drawback of the law as currently written. When a person receives a felony conviction, as they must in order to receive treatment under Proposition 36, they lose their eligibility for CALworks benefits like healthcare and food stamps. Thus, addicts who likely lead a precarious existence already would face a period of even greater hardship until they successfully complete drug treatment and have the conviction removed from their record. 

Al Lozano, of the Berkeley Health Department’s mental health division, said people are generally aware that “there are a whole lot of little complexities that need to get worked out” with Proposition 36. He said there seems to be a great deal of “political will” to iron out problems, either through new legislation or at the level of local implementation. 

Thoni agreed.  

“It took a lot of cutting through red tape to get this in place,” he said. “[The Alameda County Department of Behavioral Health Care Services] really wants to make this as flexible as possible.” 

And despite the shaky start, Coady also held out hope that the program could have a positive impact in the region.  

“I’m hoping that it will get some people into treatment that would not otherwise get into treatment, and I’m still optimistic that that could happen,” Coady said.

Due to scheduled surgery, Councilmember Dona Spring will not be able to physically attend Tuesday’s City Council meeting during which the council will finally vote on the long, contentious and controversial proposal to build a synagogue, school and social hall at 1301 Oxford St. 

Spring, who relies on a wheelchair, was involved in an accident two years ago in which she injured her right shoulder. She has been scheduled for some time to undergo surgery Monday at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. Spring said she tried to get the surgery date changed but her doctor refused. 

However, Spring will be able to attend the meeting via teleconferencing, which the City Clerk’s office and the Department of Public Works have worked through the weekend to arrange. 

The council’s decision will be the culmination of two years of the Beth El project working its way through city departments, commissions and the City Council. The issue has pitted religious organizations against neighbors and environmentalists who say the project is too big and will harm the Codornices Creek corridor. The site is also a city historic landmark. 

“Beth El is one of the most important land use issues the city has dealt with in 10 years and my participation is critical,” she said. “Besides voting on the issue, I might be needed to make or second motions.” 

Spring said during a special City Council meeting on Thursday that she had concerns about noise, parking and possible impacts on the historical and environmental elements of the property. She said she hoped the two sides would be able to find a “better compromise.” 

Spring said she is a veteran of surgery and does not expect to be cognitively impaired from pain medication. However she expects to be in a great deal of pain. 

“We will have to live with the results of the council’s action for  

all of posterity and there are too many people depending on me,” she said.  

California’s open meeting law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, allows legislative bodies to use teleconferencing for all potential purposes of an official meeting. 

City Clerk Sherry Kelly said the hospital had been helpful with arranging the installation of teleconferencing equipment. 

Besides being able to listen to all the microphones in the City Council chambers, Spring will have to have access to a fax machine in case last minute documents are provided to council.  

“We have the cooperation of Pacific Medical Center,” Kelly said. “They have been very gracious in responding to our needs. All they ask is that other patients are not disrupted.”

Cohousing fills society’s natural need to live in a community, said Eric Utne, founder of the alternative magazine Utne Reader, at the opening of the 2001 North American Cohousing Conference Friday night. 

Utne’s magazine is famous for its progressive slant and for creating the so-called Utne Reader’s salons. In 1991, the magazine editors invited their readers to participate in salons and get together with other Utne readers in their neighborhood. This initiative soon led to the creation of the Utne Reader’s Neighborhood Association, which put in contact thousands of readers across the country.  

Such salons and cohousing, which is a form of cooperative living designed to encourage neighborliness, are the natural result of human being’s natural inclination to live in communities, Utne said. 

“We realized from this salon phenomenon that we were just touching the tip of the iceberg, that there is this enormous need for community that is unrecognized by … most of Americans” he told the audience of about 300 people at UC Berkeley’s International House. “When we talk about cohousing we are talking about living the way people were meant to live.” 

Utne, who left the leadership of his magazine to his wife four years ago and is now an elementary school teacher in Minneapolis referred to a number of experts to prove his point. 

One of them is the anthropologist Margaret Mead, who told him that humans lived on the planet in tribes 99 percent of the time. Life in nuclear families only happened in times of war for survival reasons, he recalled her saying during an interview years ago.  

The flowering of human species, she said, happens in groups. 

Utne also referred to a book called “Love and Survival” by Dean Hornish. Hornish, he said, led studies showing that isolation significantly increases individuals’ risk of getting ill. According to Hornish, he said, love, intimacy and human connection are more important than factors such as diet, exercise, or genetics in human health. 

“A sense of loneliness, alienation, and lack of connection makes it 200 to 500 percent more likely that you will have a fatal disease,” he said. 

This information, he said, is why promoting face-to-face relationships and expanding the cohousing movement is critical. Utne, however, left one question unanswered: How to achieve that? 

“There 1.5 million housing starts every year and … there are 60 cohousing projects in North America. What would it take to have 10 percent of housing starts each year be cohousing?” he asked the audience. 

To Charles Durrett, one of the two architects who imported the concept of cohousing from Denmark to the United States in 1988, the expansion ofthe cohousing network will be part of an evolving cultural process. 

“I don’t think it can happen overnight,” he said after Utne’s speech. “This is an expression of democracy, a cooperation that we have to grow as a culture and it’s not going happen on the Internet. It’s going to happen face-to face.” 

Utne’s presentation was only the first of a series of events related to the Cohousing Conference that took place on UC Berkeley campus during theweekend. On Saturday, the members of the Cohousing Network, the non-profit organization sponsoring the Conference, met at the Pacific Film Archive to discuss “Ten years of Life in Cohousing.”  

On Sunday, the program featured, among other things, workshops on the development process of a cohousing project. There are currently 60 built cohousing communities and more than 100 in development in the United States and Canada.

Tillie Olsen cannot forget that newspaper story. 

“I was nursing a baby,” the author recalls, “and I was reading this little feature about how in Nagasaki everything that could give light, the public things, had been destroyed (by the atom bomb). And the light at night came from radiating bodies burning.” 

It was the end of World War II and Olsen was living in San Francisco. She had done some writing years earlier, but had since given birth to four children. 

Olsen, now 89, has tears in her eyes. 

“And, uh, something about that contrast between this baby at my breast and that feeling of everything that has to be for a human being to grow up. ... And I just couldn’t bear it. I had to get back to writing.” 

If most authors are called to the page by their own lives, it is typical of Olsen that she would answer to the lives of others. 

Politically active, class conscious, joined to the world as if every soul were a soul mate, Olsen counters the very core of American writing. She does not immortalize the cowboy or the outlaw, but the woman who stays home and irons. For Olsen, the open road does not equal freedom, but a bumpy ride to the next job. 

She has published just two works of fiction — “Tell Me a Riddle” and “Yonnondio” — but she is well known among writers, teachers and feminists, her fans including Alice Walker, Margaret Atwood and Grace Paley. Because of the opening line, “I stand here ironing,” from the story of the same name, she remains the amused, grateful recipient of the occasional iron sent by an admirer. 

Tributes come in other forms, too: She is taught in courses throughout the country, and is looked upon as an artist who lives her art. 

“She’s been on the picket lines. She’s been arrested. She’s struggled on behalf of the vulnerable,’’ says Robert Coles, author of several books on children and a professor of social ethics at Harvard University. Coles has often assigned Olsen’s work to his classes. 

Short and sturdy with curly white hair, Olsen welcomed a reporter to her home on a recent sunny morning with a fond kiss on both cheeks and an apology. “I usually dress like her,’’ she says, pointing to a friend standing nearby in jeans and sweats. 

Olsen is wearing a silk gray blouse and dark pants, fancy clothes for a working man’s daughter from Nebraska. Her outfit, you might say, is a costume, put on for the reporter’s benefit, like a rebel dressed for church. Only her face remains in true character: open and unmade, light eyes unclouded, smile warm and inquiring. 

She is a longtime resident of San Francisco who now lives in a small converted stable in the back of her daughter Laurie’s house. 

Stucco covers the outside, but at times you wish it were gingerbread. There’s something magical about the whole setting — the narrow lines of shells and stone that run parallel in the driveway, the vines that embrace the home’s exterior, the orange trees that peek in the windows. 

Inside, her great loves — family, activism, literature — all announce themselves. The desk and mantels hold postcards and family pictures. To one side of the door is a yellowing card containing the lyrics to “We Shall Overcome.” To the other side is a fresh-looking bumper sticker that reads “The Labor Movement: The Folks Who Brought You the Weekend.” 

It is a pleasant place to stop and rest, even for books. They don’t simply occupy the shelves. They stand, lean, recline and lay about. 

They look like a gang of party crashers who had such a good time they decided to move in. 

“Tillie’s not a scholar, she’s a reader,’’ explains Florence Howe, a close friend and founder of the Feminist Press, a nonprofit publisher that has issued books recommended by Olsen. “She’s read everything.’’ 

Born in Omaha, Neb., in 1912, Olsen is the second of seven children of Russian Jewish immigrants. Her father, Samuel Lerner, was a farmer, factory worker and paper hanger and an official in the Nebraska socialist party. 

When Tillie wasn’t reading, she was learning about politics. She has childhood memories of singing protest songs at socialist Sunday school and presenting red roses to the radical leader and presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs. 

Educated in the “school of literature,’’ Olsen never went to college. By age 18, she had joined the Young Communist League and by her mid-20s, she had moved to San Francisco and married fellow activist Jack Olsen, who died in 1989. 

For much of her early life she was worker, wife, mother and journalist. She was arrested three times for union activism, even spending several weeks in jail after passing out leaflets to meatpackers. 

“The charge was making loud and unusual noises,’’ Olsen recalls with a laugh. 

But Olsen’s theme, her cry, her fear, is silence, the potential unfulfilled, the dream only dreamed. She feels this firsthand. After beginning a novel in the 1930s about a migrant family, her writing career was delayed 20 years for sheer lack of time. She saddens at the thought of all the stories never told. 

“Well, I’m going to be one of those unhappy people who dies with the sense of what never got written, or never got finished,’’ she says. 

Reading about Nagasaki made her want to write, but for a long time all she could do was work at night after the kids were asleep or hurry to fit in some passages as she stood on the streetcar to go to work. Only in the mid-1950s did she really get the chance. She received a fellowship from Stanford University, at first not believing the news because author and fellowship director Wallace Stegner called to congratulate her on April Fool’s Day. 

“Tell Me a Riddle’’ was published in 1961. Collecting three short pieces and the title novella, her book begins with a mother ironing. It mourns and celebrates an interracial friendship, and celebrates — and mourns — an old, unhappily married couple. 

The book did not sell a lot of copies, but the title piece won an O. Henry Prize for short fiction and those who read “Tell Me a Riddle’’ seemed to urge others to do the same. It is now a standard text for feminist studies and other college courses and an inspiration for believers that literature can co-exist with social commentary. 

“She has the capacity to create a kind of interior life, where the harshness of life is represented but the person is never reduced to a victim,’’ says Olsen’s friend, Janet Zandy, a professor of English at the Rochester Institute of Technology. 

“When I first read it,’’ adds Howe, “it was the first time I had read anything that approached my own life. I was a working class kid and my mother taught me to iron when I was 5 because she hated ironing.’’ 

Meanwhile, Olsen finished other books. “Yonnondio,’’ the novel she started working on as a young woman, was finally published in 1973. “Silences,’’ a nonfiction work about the struggle of Olsen and other writers to create, came out in 1978. 

Olsen proved especially active in promoting works by others. As a girl, she was greatly moved by “Life in the Iron Mills,’’ a Dickensian novella about a factory town published anonymously in the 19th century. She couldn’t stop thinking about that book, whose author turned out to be Rebecca Harding Davis. When Howe started the Feminist Press 30 years ago, her friend was ready with suggestions. 

“She came to see me in New York and handed me a very tattered copy of ‘Life in the Iron Mills’ and said, ‘Don’t read it at night.’ 

So, of course, I read it at night and I stayed up all night and wept,’’ Howe says. 

Davis’ book was published by the Feminist Press, as were other titles Olsen recommended: Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-Paper’’ and Agnes Smedley’s “Daughter of Earth,’’ a novel about class, gender and politics Olsen was especially determined to have Howe read. 

“Once, I got very sick with some kind of flu and I was in Tillie’s house and I asked her to call a doctor,’’ Howe recalls. “And she said, ‘First you have to have read this book. I’ve given you this and told you must read this and you haven’t done so.’ I said, ‘Tillie, you call the doctor and I’ll read it.’’’ 

Olsen spends more time these days organizing her papers than actually writing, but she remains an activist. She participated in a protest against a local retailer, demanding better wages for employees. She joined the fight a few years ago to stop the San Francisco Public Library from cutting support of books in favor of computers. 

In January, she attended a protest in San Francisco against the inauguration of President George W. Bush. 

“You had people of every skin color there. You had well-dressed people and people dressed in casual clothes. It was wonderful,’’ she says. 

“I’ve had that happen many times — that heady feeling when you’re with so many others who share what you’re feeling.’’

Bay Bridge toll may rise to $3 

OAKLAND – Commuters crossing the Bay Bridge may have to fish a third dollar out of their wallets to raise money to replace the bridge’s eastern span. 

State and local transportation officials can’t agree how much it will cost to build the span. The Legislature will have to arbitrarily pick a price tag to keep from delaying the project yet another year. 

The project’s price tag has grown from $650 million to an estimate of $3 billion. And finding the funding depends on convincing lawmakers that improving the nation’s most-traveled toll bridge should come before their local projects. 

The Federal Highway Administration has signed off on blueprints for the new bridge, but won’t allow the state to start construction until it knows the cost of the project and how it will be funded. 

New foundation has $5 billion 

SAN FRANCISCO – Pacific salmon, Bay area environmental educators and scientists everywhere could soon be on the receiving end of what is expected to become of the country’s 10 largest charitable foundations. 

Intel Corporation Co-Founder Gordon Moore has set aside half his stake in Intel to create the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. 

The foundation soon will be armed with an endowment worth more than $5 billion. Under federal law, that translates into more than a quarter billion dollars of grants the foundation will have to give away each year. 

The foundation plans to fund efforts in four broad areas, including the environment, scientific research, higher education and the Bay area. 

The foundation isn’t yet accepting grant applications. But it’s already given $50,000 to Oakland’s National Brain Tumor Foundation in trade for moore.org, the Internet domain name it wanted that was owned by woman who lost her husband to brain tumors. 

Charities feeling high-tech crash 

SAN JOSE – Bay Area charities were riding high with the stock market last year as unprecedented donations came rolling in. Now, many of the high-tech stocks that fueled those donations now have fallen to record lows. 

But charities are managing to keep programs running thanks to a new crop of donors and the foresight to diversify their investments. 

Community Foundation Silicon Valley actually has seen its assets rise to $589 million, up from $460 million dollars last year. 

Peter Hero, president of the foundation, says millions of dollars from EBay co-founder Jeff Skoll and Infoseek founder Steven Kirsch are examples of continuing generosity despite the slowing market. 

Hero says some of the foundation’s funds have lost as much as 40 percent of their value in the past year. But a diversified portfolio has kept the foundation in the black. 

Roommate fight leads to shooting and stabbing 

VALLEJO – One man was shot and another man stabbed himself after an argument among roommates over a debt. 

Vallejo Police responded to a reported shooting in the 100 block of Maher Court at about 10:18 Friday night. Outside, they found Raj Kumar, 46, of Vallejo, who had been shot in the upper torso and arm. 

A second victim, Kumar’s brother Tarrakky Lal, 43, had also been injured. Lal had jumped off a patio balcony in an attempt to flee after he had been shot at by suspect Satvinder Singh, 38, also of Vallejo. 

After attempts to make contact with Singh, who was still inside the apartment, failed, officials said the SWAT team deployed tear gas into the apartment.

SACRAMENTO – Although 77 percent of voters in Gary Condit’s San Joaquin Valley district say he is doing a good job, nearly 60 percent say they won’t be voting for the congressman from Modesto in 2002, according to a San Jose Mercury News poll released Sunday. 

Police sources in Washington, D.C., have said Condit, 53, has admitted to an affair with missing U.S Bureau of Prisons intern Chandra Levy of Modesto. Levy, 24, has been missing for more than two months. 

But what apparently bothers voters most is not that Condit, a married man, may have had an affair with Levy, but rather the potentially illegal cover-up on his part, the Mercury News reported. 

While more than a third of the 18th District voters polled said Condit should resign, that figure jumps to 55 percent if it’s found Condit asked flight attendant Ann Marie Smith to lie about an alleged affair between the two. 

Of the 62 percent of voters who said they voted for Condit in 2000, only 36 percent confirmed they would vote for him again next year. Many polled said the reason behind the change of heart was that Condit allegedly tried to get Smith to conceal their relationship. 

“The fact that he would try to coerce someone into not telling the truth to the police ... seems to be a lack of respect for the law,” Democrat Carol A. Vinding, 57, a Modesto teacher who had voted for Condit told the Mercury News. 

While only 39 percent said they are bothered by Condit’s relationship with Levy, 49 percent said they are very troubled by the congressman’s delay in admitting his affair with the intern — nine weeks after she vanished. 

“Having an affair is not the issue here,” Kathleen Kubo, 47, said. “His actions have prolonged this investigation and we really have to wonder about his involvement in it, in her disappearance, and that’s why I think he shouldn’t be representing us.” Kubo, a Democrat who wants Condit to quit, is an administrative assistant with a school district in Winton. 

Many Republicans surveyed said they have voted for Condit, but are unhappy with recent events. 

Republican voter Robert Bisnett said Condit has not “lived up to his family man persona.” 

“Gary appears to be somewhat of a hypocrite because he castigated Clinton for his actions and he’s turned around and doing the same thing, not being up front,” Bisnett said, citing the impeachment proceedings against former President Bill Clinton. 

Bisnett, 51, is a sales representative who lives outside Merced. He went to college with Condit and the congressman later helped his son get an appointment at the Air Force Academy. 

In fact, about 30 percent of those surveyed said Condit had helped them or someone they knew. Those not helped by Condit were twice as likely to say he should resign, the poll showed. 

Should Condit decide to seek re-election, the next primary is not until March 5, 2002.

SACRAMENTO – The state Senate passed a $101 billion California budget and the bills to implement it early Sunday, ending partisan bickering that had left the state without a spending plan for nearly a month. 

The Senate passed the budget by a 28-11 vote, with one member absent. It now goes to Gov. Gray Davis, who earlier had indicated he would approve it by Wednesday. 

The budget was approved at 1:18 a.m. after 15 hours of deliberations. A Saturday morning vote came up a single vote short of the necessary two-thirds majority needed for passage. 

Senators talked through the afternoon trying to resolve the standoff and returned to the floor in the evening for further discussions. 

Republican Sen. Pete Knight of Palmdale was absent. 

In the end, Republican senators Maurice Johannessen of Redding and Richard Monteith of Modesto in the San Joaquin Valley broke party ranks to vote with Democrats and provide the margin of victory. 

The Senate package kept nearly $80 million in tax breaks for farmers and grants for rural police agencies that were added to the spending plan last week by the state Assembly. 

“I feel that we were at a point of impasse, and I did not want to jeopardize the gains for the Central Valley and agriculture,” Monteith said after the vote. 

“This is a tremendous bill for rural California,” Johannessen said. 

Democrats also tried to woo Republican votes by adding $40 million in extra funding for schools, $75 million in tax breaks for senior citizens and $5 million for high-tech crime-fighting tools for police forces around the state. 

Even with those additions, the budget is only slightly larger than last year’s $99.4 billion plan, in part because the state had less money to add after spending nearly $8 billion to buy electricity for troubled utilities because of the power crunch. 

The vote provided a significant breakthrough to the three-week budget stalemate that had denied paychecks to legislative employees and vendors who do business with the state. 

It was the seventh time in 10 years that the budget was passed after the July 1 beginning of the new fiscal year. 

Applause greeted the announcement of the vote in the Senate chambers. 

Republicans had held up the plan because it contained an automatic quarter-cent sales tax hike that is scheduled to take effect next January. Democrats argued that the hike would raise $1.2 billion over the next two years to cushion California against hard times if the economic downturn continues. 

In fact, the state’s Department of Finance has predicted that the state will run a deficit next year. 

After finishing the budget the Senate adjourned for its monthlong vacation. 

The state Assembly must now finish a budget process that many say is one of the most contentious in recent history. 

On Saturday, Senate Republican Leader Jim Brulte, R-Rancho Cucamonga, called the process “clearly dysfunctional.” It was made tougher by the seven-month energy crisis, the economic downturn, lawmakers’ preparations for upcoming elections and prospects of more belt-tightening in the year ahead. 

The Assembly approved the budget measure on Monday but was unable to pass the bills necessary to implement it and threw the package into the Senate’s hands. The Assembly must now try again to pass implementing legislation. There was no indication of when that might occur, although the Assembly, though not in session, had remained on call through the weekend.

SACRAMENTO – Eleven years after Californians adopted term limits, a new ballot battle is shaping up over whether voters should be able to give their state legislators extra time in office. 

About a dozen interest groups, urged on by some key lawmakers, are trying to put an initiative on next March’s ballot to allow legislators to run for up to four more years if enough voters sign petitions supporting the move. 

Term-limit advocates call the initiative a deceptive attempt by lawmakers to weaken the tough term limits voters approved in 1990. Initiative supporters say it’s a “modest adjustment” that would improve operations at the Capitol. 

“I don’t think the term-limit people have to look at this as some radical attack; it isn’t,” said one initiative supporter, Walter Zelman, president of the California Association of Health Plans. 

Currently, lawmakers can serve up to three two-year terms in the Assembly and up to two four-year terms in the state Senate, although those limits can be stretched if someone is elected initially to fill a midterm vacancy. 

The initiative would allow a senator to seek one more term and an Assembly member to run for two more if enough voters in their districts signed petitions backing the extension. 

The number of signatures would have to equal at least 20 percent of the votes cast for that office in the previous general election, a total initiative supporters say will be difficult to reach. 

Term limits, according to the initiative’s preamble, have “reinvigorated the political process,” but the proposed measure would let “a few specially skilled and popular lawmakers” finish important work. 

But Paul Jacob, national director of U.S. Term Limits, contends that “virtually every legislator will be able to get those signatures” because of their ability to raise money to pay signature collectors. 

“They are slicker and smarter to try to do it through the initiative process, but the folks behind this are all the same legislators who have been against term limits from day one,” he said. 

Karen Caves, a spokeswoman for the initiative’s sponsors, says the measure is “really about restoring local control to voters.” 

“If the people want it, they can have it,” she said. “If they don’t want it they don’t have to have it.” 

Caves says Howard Owen, president of the Consumer Federation of California and a member of the board of the Congress of California Seniors, is “really the source” of the initiative 

But Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, said he asked Owens and others involved in the campaign to spearhead it. He also said he provided the campaign with opinion polls and other research. 

“The only people opposing this publicly don’t live in the state, don’t work in the state and earn their living keeping term limits campaigns in place,” Perata said. 

Assemblyman Herb Wesson, the Culver City Democrat who is apparently in line to become Assembly speaker, told the Los Angeles Times that he had recommended that his supporters give money to the campaign. 

“Legislative leaders want to see this happen but they don’t want their fingerprints on it,” said one potential supporter of the initiative who asked not to be identified. 

So far those backing the measure include some of the Capitol’s most power lobbying groups — the California Medical Association, Consumer Attorneys, the California Retailers Association and the California Correctional Peace Officers, according to Caves. 

“There is a broadbased coalition of folks involved — consumers, seniors, law enforcement and business,” Caves said. 

Term limit critics say the limits, particularly those for the Assembly, don’t give lawmakers time to build up the experience they need to master complicated issues or leadership skills. 

“They have to be there longer if they are going to make a more significant contribution,” said Bill Powers, legislative director for the Congress of California Seniors. 

“It’s just a pity that in too many cases where experience has been built up to have that thrown away.” 

Jacob pooh-poohs the experience argument, saying, “The president of the United States can serve two terms. Is being a state senator that much tougher than being president of the United States? 

“The longer people are in office, for the most part, the more they tend to favor what special interests in Sacramento want instead of what the folks back in their districts want.”

LOS ANGELES – Police Detective Brian Solinsky doesn’t carry a wrist radio like Dick Tracy, but he does use a new tool that makes the comic book cop’s vision of high-tech policing a reality. 

During a recent undercover investigation, Solinsky found a parking ticket in the pocket of a dismembered car door at an auto body shop. With a specially designed wireless device, he discreetly tapped into a police database and confirmed the door had come from a stolen car. 

Using his standard-issue police radio might have tipped off the owner, who police later arrested for running a “chop shop” where stolen cars are stripped of valuable parts. 

The case is just one example of how handheld computers, two-way pagers and other wireless communication tools are being developed to aid undercover investigations and give police faster and more convenient access to critical information. 

“This allows a detective in a business suit or jeans to throw it in their pocket and off they go,” said Solinsky, a member of the suburban South Pasadena Police Department. 

Police agencies across the country are testing a variety of wireless devices, including units that can send encrypted messages and check fingerprints and photographs from remote locations. 

“Those devices eventually will be commonplace in law enforcement,” said Harlin McEwen, chairman of the communications and technology committee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. “They’re going to be very good for retrieving information you need quickly without having to go someplace to get it.” 

Clint Morrison, an analyst with MillerJohnson Steichen Kinnard, believes there’s a big market for the technology. 

“There are a whole lot of squad cars in the country,” he said. “You could argue this is a reasonably valuable tool to have in each one of them. A modest-sized city if fully deployed, represents a $5 million opportunity.” 

Among the firms trying to cash in on that market is Aether Systems of Owings Mills, Md. Its PocketBlue system is now available in selected states and will soon be rolled out nationally. 

Through a wireless service that costs $90 a month per unit, officers using a Palm or a Blackberry wireless pager can check vehicle registration, gun licenses and other basic information over a network maintained by AT&T. 

Messages are encrypted and bypass the police dispatcher, tapping directly into a state or federal database. 

The system also allows officers to record data about the ethnicity of people they stop, as required by a growing number of federal consent decrees stemming from racial profiling cases. 

“Those agencies are looking for technology immediately to deal with that,” said John Dorr, a director of product marketing for Aether. 

A system made by Visionics of Jersey City, N.J., is more complex and potentially more controversial. 

Instead of hauling someone to a police station for detention, an officer can check a fingerprint made on a glass pane built into the five-pound, handheld unit. Within a few minutes, the officer is relayed information about the person’s identity and outstanding warrants along with a photo. 

Visionics has come under fire recently for a related device used in Tampa to monitor passers-by in a high-crime neighborhood. Using the company’s “Face It” technology, snapshots are compared against a database of 30,000 people that includes runaway teen-agers and people wanted on criminal charges. 

Civil libertarians protested what they said was a virtual lineup that smacked of Big Brother by randomly monitoring people without their consent. 

“All this technology does is give law enforcement Superman’s powers — powers that go well beyond what would be provided by human senses,” said Barry Steinhardt, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “It allows police officers to engage in intrusive searches.” 

Despite such objections, police in Ontario, 30 miles east of Los Angeles, and other communities have been testing the Visionics system and intend to deploy it. 

“We have it installed in four units — three black-and-whites and one gang unit,” said Ann Punter, a spokeswoman for the Ontario Police Department. “We do intend to use it.”

The City Council closed the last Beth El public hearing Thursday and is set to render a decision Tuesday night on what has been called the “most important land use issue in more than 10 years.” 

By Thursday, when the council closed the final hearing, they had heard from 170 people during two public hearings at five different sessions including two special meetings.  

The council’s decision will end the city’s oversight of the two-year application process that has resulted in the involvement of the council, three city commissions, a host of private consultants and hours of city staff time.  

The process has also resulted in the sharp division of two Berkeley communities. 

While the council’s decision Tuesday will end the city’s involvement with the issue, it may not be the last word. According to a City Council agenda report for a closed session meeting on Thursday, both sides of the contentious issue have threatened legal action. 

The controversy has been over the Beth El congregation’s proposal to build a 32,000-square-foot synagogue, school and social hall at 1301 Oxford St. The congregation has been using a facility two blocks away on Vine Street for over 50 years. 

Members say the current facility was built for 250 families and the congregation, which now has a membership of 600 families, needs to expand. Beth El has the support of several west Berkeley churches and Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson.  

The project has been opposed by a group of neighbors organized as the Live Oak Codornices Creek Neighborhood Association. LOCCNA members say they do not oppose Beth El developing the site but think the current design is too large and will negatively affect traffic and parking in the neighborhood.  

Neighbors have also stressed the project, as planned, will preclude opening up a culverted section of the Codornices Creek, which runs across the northern third of the property. 

The Friends of Five Creeks has recently received $400,000 in two separate grants to begin Codornices Creek restoration projects. 

LOCCNA has also raised concerns because of the 2.2-acre is a city historical landmark. It was once a part of the 800-acre Napoleon Byrne Estate and Byrne’s mansion was located on the property until 1987 when it was demolished after two fires severely damaged the structure. Despite the loss of Byrne’s former home the site was reaffirmed as a landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1992. 

Berkeley’s first recorded African Americans residents, freed slaves Pete and Hannah Byrne, lived on the estate in the 1860s. 

LOCCNA has the support of nine environmental organizations including the Golden Gate Audubon Society, the International Rivers Network and San Francisco Bay Chapter of the Sierra Club. 

On Thursday councilmembers asked for clarification of several issues that were raised during the public hearings. Planning department staff will provide the council with any lingering questions at Tuesday’s meeting before the vote.  

The city attorney asked the council during the meeting to only discuss issues related to the historic resources of the site and the Environmental Impact Report. Council was cautioned about discussing issues related to the design of the project because private mediator Peter Bluhan is currently working with both parities in an attempt to find a compromise before Tuesday’s vote. 

“We plan to be working every hour until next Tuesday in the hope of finding a compromise,” Bluhan said. 

The status of the mediation is uncertain because Bluhan and the two parties have refused to divulge any issues related to their discussions. 

Mayor Shirley Dean asked for clarification on some last minute testimony about the structural security of the creek bank. 

Councilmember Linda Maio was concerned about whether the amount of parking on site would be sufficient to accommodate Beth El members and guests. She also asked for clarification on the number of events Beth El holds each year and how they would impact the neighborhood. 

Councilmember Dona Spring, who is undergoing surgery the day before Tuesday’s meeting, took the opportunity to make some comments about the proposal in case she is unable to speak via telecommunication on Tuesday. 

Spring said she has concerns about the level of noise created by activities at the synagogue, parking issues and how the historical aspects of the property were treated in the Environmental Impact Report. She said she hoped a better compromised could be reached through mediation. 

“This is the most important land use issue Berkeley has faced in more than 10 years,” she said after the meeting. “I hope through friction and tempering we’ll get a jewel of a temple.” 

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. 

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, 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 

Seven-story ‘monster building’ is unacceptable 

Editor: 

On Tuesday, July 24, the Berkeley City Council will consider development proposals for the publicly owned Oxford Parking Lot (on Oxford Street at Kittredge). Although a moderate recommendation from the Planning Commission will be on the table, the Council may receive last-minute proposals for a structure as high as seven stories. Our Councilmembers need to hear that any such monster building is unacceptable on this sensitive site, which provides crucial breathing room for the UC campus’ edge. 

City officials and private parties have suggested many components for a future Oxford Lot structure: affordable housing, performance space, and offices for a proposed “David Brower Center.” All are legitimate goals that deserve to be accommodated somewhere in Berkeley. But whether they belong on this particular block depends on the price that the public must pay in lost open space, trees, and views to the hills. 

A seven-story building here would flatly violate Oxford Street’s zoning, which sets a maximum height of three stories with bonuses up to five stories. It would also violate the City’s carefully written 1990 Downtown Plan, which establishes Oxford Street as a firebreak between an expanding downtown and the campus’ traditional role as a green sanctuary. Indeed, the Downtown Plan includes statement after statement calling on the city to maintain “visual openness” and “visual access to the hills” along Oxford. 

Building a seven-story tower here would also require killing several graceful, mature trees that currently grow on the site. Worst of all, killing trees and blocking hill views in the late David Brower's name would desecrate the memory of this longtime Sierra Club leader —whose passionate defense of nature led his biographer to call him the “Archdruid” of modern environmentalism. After years as a Sierra Club member, I was privileged to finally attend a speech by Brower not long before his death last year. The Archdruid rarely minced words, and his speech that day included this (now ironic) reflection: “My life has been one long fight against developers.” 

The City’s Planning Commission has offered the Council a sensible proposal to move the Oxford Lot’s existing parking underground, while accommodating housing and the Brower Center in a new five-story structure that would comply with the zoning. And the Brower Center’s backers are sensitive to David Brower’s legacy: their proposal calls for “a welcoming, humane workspace that makes as light a ‘footprint’ on the landscape as possible.” 

Councilmembers need to hear that nothing higher than five stories should be built over the Oxford Lot; that a lower building would be welcome; and that any structure should include a generous front setback to preserve public space, views, and campus breathing room. Indeed, what better place for a David Brower Memorial Park — at least a small one? 

Finally, if a responsibly scaled project won’t “pencil out” on this sensitive site, the Council need make no apology for building absolutely nothing there — and for redirecting plans for high-density housing (and nonprofit office space) to the city’s major transit corridors. 

Michael Katz 

Berkeley 

Thanks Dona Spring for watching city planning process 

Editor: 

Regarding 2700 San Pablo Avenue.  

I have just reviewed a videotape of the May 8, ’01 Berkeley City Council meeting in which Council voted on the appeal of the proposed 2700 San Pablo Avenue development by Patrick Kennedy and Rev. Gordon Choyce. The Council voted 5 - 2 in favor of accepting a project which had not even gone through the preliminary planning process! The project accepted on appeal was not nearly the same as the one denied by the Zoning Adjustments Board. Councilmembers Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington voted against the appeal of the bastardized project.  

I feel high praise is due Councilmember Dona Spring not only for her vote but for her singular vocal opposition to what she considered was the acceptance by the Council of an end-around-run by the developers to avoid thorough review of this project. Ms. Spring also objected to the fact that, although the public hearing had been closed to input from both the developers and the public, developer Patrick Kennedy was invited by some councilmembers to then further sell his project to the Council.  

Believing that the hearing was closed, neighbors opposed to the development left the Council chamber and thus were frozen out of any of that discussion. Councilmember Spring also vigorously challenged City Planner Marc Rhoades, advocate for the project, on what appeared to be his misrepresentation of fact regarding planning staff’s position on a previous development that had been before the Council.  

Thank you Councilmember Spring for your strident vocal opposition to the perversion of the city of Berkeley planning process and for sincerely supporting the community’s right to be active participants in an uncorrupted planning process.  

Peter Teichner 

Berkeley 

Organizing and  

awareness builds 

our community 

Editor: 

Marion Syrek’s advice in her July 19 letter, to struggle at home is obviously correct. But it’s not a choice between going to the site and standing on line or staying on the job and talking with fellow workers — and there’s an issue in itself, but later. 

To do both is good, and necessary. To do either is also good and necessary. 

One of our serious problems is our concern with “The Answer.” We give lip service to the understanding that there is no one answer, and yet we, who struggle for a society in which we can all give all of us marvelously satisfying lives, we nevertheless find actions by our fellows to be the wrong ones. 

One very positive aspect of being on line — in Gothenburg, in Geneva, in Quebec and on the picket line, at schools and government and job sites — everywhere self-appointed owners meet to decide how to run our world, is the community we build among us when we do it. We who go to these anti-treaty rallies spend a lot of time working out governing processes that show us the world we want to build — that show us how to begin to facilitate organizing for us in ways that speak for all of us — to bring unity with our diversity. 

I hope everyone who is at all able gets a chance to participate with action organizing to feel and see what I’m describing. This is the church that brings us all mutual empowerment and joy, here today, now, and every day that we do it. It’s not the drugged out movement of the 60s and 70s. It’s extremely bright, alert, and searching and researching — very well informed and very much turned toward each other to check out in what directions we want to go, together. 

Norma Harrison 

Berkeley

We are fortunate that internationally famous music ensembles often visit Berkeley, especially in the years of the biennial Early Music Festival. But during the festival’s off years we can be glad that there is a rich vein of local talent that mounts concerts of pre-Classical music performed in authentic period style.  

The ensemble “Mostly Baroque” will perform a program of mostly little-known pieces, with a bit of the familiar as balance. In keeping with historical accuracy the string players use gut strings, the flutes are keyless and made of wood, the singers and instrumentalists banish vibrato except for intentional ornamentation, and the volume level is appropriate for a Baroque salon. Discerning ears can hear and appreciate the difference. 

Both halves of the concert begin with well-known composers: G.F. Handel and J.S. Bach.  

The Handel sonata for recorder and violin cements the fact that these players have mastered the mainstream composers and earned the right to mine hidden treasures. Although Handel is mostly known for his oratorios, his chamber music is also highly melodic, avoiding the endless arpeggio that is the stuff of second-rate Baroque works.  

A brief harpsichord canzona by Giovanni Trabaci reveals the ensemble’s intention to bring to light brilliant but unknown masterpieces. A chromatic run forms the basis of the first melodic theme in a bold experiment stretching the confines of modal structure. Harpsichordist Dawn Kooyumjian shows that she can plumb the depths of solo works in addition to weaving skillful continuo parts from figured bass lines. 

This is followed by two vocal works by Barbara Strozzi, a talented composer who deserves more attention, as these works demonstrate. The duet “Begli Occhi” is a miniature cantata which varies quickly in mood, by turns bouncy and melancholy as its text displays love and despair. Given the same text, a lesser composer might have built an unrelenting panorama of sadness. Yet Strozzi emphasizes that even dashed hopes are still hopes. Alto Joyce Todd and soprano Jennifer Torresen blend well and yet maintain individual character so the solo passages retain dramatic contrast. 

“Salve Regina” features another stunning chromatic passage and some harmonically daring chord progressions. Todd seems transported by the mystic piety of the text, which she delivers with clarity and grace. Surely this piece must become a part of the standard repertory, or at least a signature piece for Todd. 

Bass Richard Strumpf closes the first half with Clerambault’s solo cantata “Polipheme” in which the Cyclops professes love for a sea-nymph, succumbs to jealousy and kills his rival with a boulder. Fortunately the music is neither monstrous nor wicked. Strumpf handles the refined recitatives well and shapes a sympathetic character during the dramatic arias which deliver deep passion and moral instruction with sweet melodies. 

The second half of the program begins with Bach’s Trio Sonata BWV 526 for organ as arranged by the ensemble’s flute and recorder player Glenn Shannon for recorder, violin, cello and harpsichord. This arrangement highlights melodies in ways the organ version cannot. This piece rocks!  

Boismortier’s sonata for three flutes presents thick harmonies and lively counterpoint. A nice showcase piece. 

The concluding work on the program, Clerambault’s “Amour and Bacchus” provides the most fun. It presents a lively debate between the deities of Love and Wine, in which both assert their superiority over the other. In the end, they swear allegiance and peace, because “when we are together, pleasures are more sweet.” 

Those who already have plans for Saturday night can take heart in the fact that the program will be repeated on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. in San Francisco at St. Thomas Episcopal church at 2725 Sacramento St.

924 Gilman St. Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 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; July 26: Keni “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Aug 1: Whiskey Brothers. 1822 San Pablo 843-2473 

Anna’s Bistro Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 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 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 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, Aug 4: Adam Levy, Will Bernard. $16.50 - $17.50. 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jupiter 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 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  

“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  

“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. 

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 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 

“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 

“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 

“Loot” July 21 - Aug 25, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7:00 p.m. Special Performance Aug 20, 8:00 p.m. General Admission: $15, Students / Seniors: $10 La Val’s 1834 Euclid Avenue 655-0813 

“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 

“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 

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 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.; July 26: 7:00 Devarim, 9:10 Yom Yom; July 27: 7:00 Punishment Room, 8:55 Ten Dark Women; July 28: 7:00 The Big Heat, 8:30 Kippur, 8:50 Clash by Night; July 29: 3:00 A Boy named Charlie Brown, 5:30 Mr. Pu, 7:30 A Billionaire; July 31: 7:30 The Arena of Murder; Aug 1: 7:30 Two Thousand Maniacs!, 9:15 Manos, the Hands of Fate; Aug 2: 7:30 Kadosh; Aug 3: 7:00 A Full-Up Train, 9:00 The Men of Tohoku; Aug 4: 7:00 Human Desire, 8:50 Hangmen Also Die 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 

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 

“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” is an 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  

“Sistahs: Ethnofraphic Ceramics” through August 22, Reception July 29 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. Womens Cancer Resource Center Gallery 3023 Shattuck Avenue 548-9286 ext. 307 

“Ten Years Here” Exhibit celebrating the ten year anniversary of Turn of the Century Fine Arts. Aug 4 - Sept 14, Sat & Sun 1-5 p.m. Reception Aug 4 2:00 - 7:00 p.m. 2510 San Pablo Avenue 849-0950 

“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 Books 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. Readings at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-0837 

Cody’s Books 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. Readings at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 1730 Fourth St. 559-9500 

Cafe de la Paz “Poetry Nitro” Weekly poetry open mike. July 16: Featuring the Silicon Valley Slam Team; July 23: Featuring Jonathan Yaffe; July 30: Featuring Lisa Sikie. 6:30 p.m. sign-up, 7 p.m. reading. 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. 

Former St. Mary’s AD, football coach will assist son at Tamalpais High 

Former St. Mary’s athletic director and football coach Dan Shaughnessy announced his retirement from the school early last year. But a special coaching opportunity has pulled him out of the rocking chair and back onto the field. 

Shaughessy will coach offensive linemen and linebackers next year at Tamalpais High in Mill Valley. What made the job so tempting to the 65-year-old was the fact that his son, Jake, will be the head coach. It will be the younger Shaughnessy’s first head coaching job. 

“It has always been a lifetime dream,” said the elder Shaughnessy about coaching on the same staff as his son. “It’s going to be fun. It’s really exciting.”  

The move is actually a departure from the original plan, as Dan Shaughnessy was supposed to join his son at Marin Catholic, where Jake was an assistant coach last year. But Jake was hired by Tamalpais in June, and dad decided to tag along. 

Shaughnessy may be the most decorated assistant coach in the state next year. As a head coach at three different schools (St. Mary’s, Salesian and Christian Brothers in Sacramento), he owns 16 league championships and 14 North Coast Section playoff appearances, including one last year, with an overall record of 252-114-6. His last run at St. Mary’s, which began in 1985, was his third stint with the school from which he graduated in 1953. Shaughnessy said his proudest achievement was taking the Panthers to the playoffs for the first time in 1987. The 1991 team finished third in California, losing to No. 1 Alhambra, 33-31, in the playoffs. 

Shaughnessy was also an assistant coach at the University of San Francisco and Santa Ana Junior College in the 1960s. 

His comments early in the year indicated that he was indeed considering a part-time coaching job, although his enthusiasm for the athletic director’s role had waned. 

“I’m just retiring from the everyday grind, the administrative end of it,” he said in January. “I think it is time to go... So I’m going to coach, but I just won’t coach here.” 

With Shaughnessy going to work under his son, it will be a reversal from Jake’s stint coaching the freshman team and assisting his dad with the varsity squad while he was a student at Cal. 

Shaughnessy has been replaced both in the athletic chair and on the football field at St. Mary’s by Jay Lawson.

G-8 Summit events spur local action 

More than a hundred people gathered on Shattuck Avenue Friday night to protest the death of a man in Genoa, Italy, who was reportedly shot by police while protesting a meeting in which the leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations vowed to fight AIDS and global economic woes.  

The Berkeley protest was called early Friday after news of the shooting began to circulate. Another protest is scheduled in San Francisco on Monday. Protesters began their march at the Berkeley BART station and travelled to what they called symbols of corporate oppression – including Citibank on Shattuck Avenue and the Gap on Telegraph Avenue.  

One of the organizers, Berkeley resident Joseph Hill, said the protest was not simply focused on the one violent incident. 

“Hopefully, the message we send to day will be about bigger issues, about the world’s biggest corporations trying to concentrate their power to the point where they can kill the planet without anyone stopping them,” he said. 

The Berkeley protest was mild and until 9 p.m. last night was without incident or arrest – a sharp contrast to the day’s earlier bloodshed overseas.  

In Genoa, European heads plotted against President Bush’s environmental policies safe inside their summit site as club-wielding riot police and violent protesters clashed. 

Dozens of protesters were injured in bloody demonstrations against the policies being pursued by presidents and prime ministers inside the walls of a nearby palace. 

With miles of fence-and-concrete barricades isolating them from tens of thousands of protesters, President Bush and the six other leaders at the summit issued a joint statement saying the right policies were in place to avert a global recession — though the economy “has slowed more than expected.” 

Their summit overshadowed, the frustrated leaders pressed forward with an agenda designed to show sympathy for causes espoused by some demonstrators: An AIDS plan for Third World countries that includes $1.2 billion in initial pledges, as well as economic relief for poor nations. 

They also pledged to rally their sluggish economies and open a new round of global trade talks, even as anti-globalization forces stirred outside the security zone. 

Bush told aides the death was tragic. Earlier, he questioned the protesters’ motives. 

“Instead of addressing policies that represent the poor, you embrace policies that lock poor people into poverty,” Bush said on the opening day of a three-day summit. 

In a joint statement, the leaders expressed regret for the death and condemned the violence, urging peaceful protesters to isolate lawbreakers by example. 

The protests revived memories of demonstrations that have marred international summits in Quebec and Seattle, but the death apparently was the first connected to such clashes. 

There was speculation that smaller cities might be better venues for future summits because they can be sealed off to protesters. Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who hosts the next economic meeting, has not announced its location but he said fellow leaders “expressed frustration with the lack of attention to the substance of the summit.” 

Anti-globalization protesters flooded this hilly, Mediterranean port city — with many of them turning violent. An unknown number hurled cobblestones and Molotov cocktails, smashed windows, set fires to cars and trash bins and looted storefronts. 

Computers and other office equipment were flung from one office building. 

Police responded with water cannons, tear gas and nightsticks, clubbing some protesters into submission and arresting dozens. 

The dead young man was not immediately identified by authorities, but Italy’s top police official said he was shot, apparently by officers acting in self-defense. Several police were injured. 

French President Jacques Chirac, who faces a socialist challenger in next year’s election, was the only leader to express sympathy for protesters. “There is no demonstration drawing 100,000, 150,000 people without having a valid reason,” he said. 

Inside the 13th century palace-turned-conference center, Chirac led a lobbying effort against Bush’s climate change policies. 

“It is our duty to act vigorously and collectively to combat the principal threat to the future of the planet,” he told Chretien, according to officials in the French delegation. 

Later, Chirac and Bush were seen engaged in animated conversation during a summit dinner that also included leaders from five poor countries. 

Bush has defied most of the industrialized world by denouncing a 1997 Kyoto global warming treaty aimed at reducing heat-trapping gases. His administration has quietly urged Canada, Australia and Japan to scuttle an effort by pro-treaty nations to implement the pact without the United States. 

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi supports the treaty that bears the name of his country’s ancient capital, but nonetheless assured Bush recently that he doesn’t want to proceed without the United States. 

In a private chat, Koizumi told German Prime Minister Gerhard Schroeder, a treaty backer, that Japan “will do our best” to see the pact take effect in 2002, according to the Japanese delegation. 

The president himself has told his colleagues he won’t bow to their pressure on Kyoto. He has promised to provide an alternative to the treaty. 

Bush is also at odds with U.S. allies over his plans to develop a missile defense system. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has warned that the system could trigger a new arms race, attended the summit with leaders of the traditional Group of Seven — the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada. 

Bush meets privately with Putin on Sunday. 

Putin joined his seven colleagues and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to announce a new global health fund, with an initial contribution of $1.2 billion, to combat AIDS and other infectious diseases. 

Annan praised the effort, but said the leaders fell short of the $7 billion to $10 billion needed to fight diseases. 

On the economy, the leaders’ statement also: 

—Predicted that Bush’s tax-cut package will bolster economic growth in the United States. They also praised Koizumi’s tough-minded reform package dealing with that country’s decade-long economic slump. 

—Pledged to get personally involved in the effort to launch a new global trade round, hoping to rebound from the failed effort to launch the talks in Seattle in December 1999. They said that the new talks should be aimed at providing poor nations with better access to world markets. 

—Praised Turkey and Argentina for wrestling with financial crises. 

The piano music of Arnold Schoenberg is not played as often as it deserves. Each piece is a gem, yet these gems defy most attempts to display them in the normal context of a variety of compositions from the Classical and Romantic traditions.  

Berkeley pianist Jerry Kuderna says, “There is a problem when orchestras or major name pianists try to sneak an atonal piece into a program. Without context, it doesn’t work. But a whole concert of modern music allows the listeners to immerse themselves in it.”  

Kuderna will perform all of Schoenberg’s piano music in a single concert, which will show the development of the composer in capsulated form. This program is the ultimate extension of this concept of immersion, as it invites the listeners to experience the development of one of the lions of 20th century  

art music.  

Schoenberg further challenged the limits of the already stretched late Romantic technique he inherited from Mahler, Berg and others. This can be heard in the Opus 11 pieces, yet even within these three pieces Schoenberg is already moving swiftly towards atonality.  

There is a curious regrouping in the suite of six micro-compositions of Opus 19. 

Kuderna says, “They are like little haiku poems which point to an inability to develop thoughts in a new vocabulary. Schoenberg’s musical language developed so quickly that he often had to cast aside a work because he had evolved beyond it.” Yet these little thoughts are complete and display amazing imagination. They are like poignant snapshots, rather than moving pictures. 

In Opus 23 the composer discovered a method of treating melodic cells in ways which allow new types of development. Chords explode and implode, becoming clusters. The rules of melody and harmony merge to make way for formal serialism. Opus 25 is the apex of Schoenberg’s piano works. He has invented a new form of atonality and created a dance suite using this potentially dry technique. 

The two pieces that comprise Opus 33 show the master working in familiar territory. Although the sense of over-arching discovery is no longer prominent, Schoenberg is still creating fresh means of expression in a young vocabulary. These are profound, difficult pieces which make great sense in the historical sweep of a lifetime of invention. Since this lucky audience will enjoy the preparation of hearing the new ordering system congeal, these pieces will be much more meaningful than ever before.  

Anyone who has any interest in 20th century music should avail themselves of this unique presentation.  

This is a chance to make sense of a composer whose works have seemed baffling or obscure. Jerry Kuderna is the perfect guide for this journey. This concert can also serve well as an introduction to Schoenberg’s style for anyone planning to hear his piano concerto, which the Berkeley Symphony will present in December. As a special bonus attraction, Kuderna has invited the soprano Kathryn Hunter to open up the concert with Alban Berg’s “Seven Early Songs.” This serves the didactic function of providing a context for Schoenberg’s piano works, but it will also be like having dessert before eating a well-balanced meal.  

But don’t worry: these sweet treats will not spoil your appetite – it will be whetted and then fulfilled.

The 2001 California women’s lacrosse team finished its third season as a varsity sport this past spring with a 12-6 mark and advanced to the title game of the Western Women’s Lacrosse championship under head coach Jill Malko.  

Besides the Bears achievement on the field, with five players earning all-conference recognition, Cal also had two players, senior midfielder Sarah Wheatley and junior attacker Laura Kado, named to the IWLCA Division I Academic Squad. Senior midfielder Alana Dunnigan was a recipient of the Geballe Student Athlete Award as well, receiving the prestigious post-graduate scholarship May 11 at the ceremony and luncheon at Memorial Stadium.  

Dunnigan has been an outstanding player for the Bears the last four years and has been selected to play in the National Lacrosse Tournament and the National North/South Senior All-Star Lacrosse Game. She carried a 3.79 GPA in history, and has been selected to join Phi Beta Kappa. Dunningan was also named one of this year’s Neufeld Scholar-Athletes as Cal’s graduating female athlete with the highest GPA. She plans to study law at the University of San Francisco this fall.

Berkeley may soon have better transportation for disabled and elderly people.  

The Commission on Aging, the Commission on Disability and the city manager will recommend Tuesday that the City Council use county funds to enhance its paratransit services. 

The recommendations support a recent project by the Bay Area Community Services use money from Measure B to create an on-demand transportation service for people who use wheelchairs. Renewed in November 2000, Measure B allocates money from sales tax to the improvement of transportation in the county, including paratransit services. 

Housing Department Interim Director Stephen Barton, who signed the city manager’s recommendation, said that Berkeley usually receives about $250, 000 a year from the county for its ramp-van and subsidized taxi programs. But Measure B, he said, will now bring the county an additional $1 million to $1.4 million in so-called “gap funds” designed to fill unmet transportation needs. Barton recommends to designate delegates representing Berkeley’s interests on a BACS steering committee and to participate in Measure B funding process. 

“The city would have to make a choice,” he said. “Do we want that money simply to be allocated to each city or would we prefer to have a competitive process where major investment were made in improving services in several parts of the county?” 

Through their recommendations, the Commissions on Aging and Disability want to make sure that the issue will be publicly discussed, that there will be a feasibility study, and that the new services will not compromise the existence of the two current paratransit services. 

“We have a taxi scripp [coupon] program and a van program for the disabled,” said Charles Betcher, chair of the Commission on Aging. “If the city of Berkeley approves [the recommendation], it must not compromise the taxi or van program in any way.” 

The lack of paratransit services has been an ongoing problem in Berkeley, where 17 percent of the population is disabled. To many, recently approved Measure B “gap funds” are the opportunity to address the issue. 

“The Commission on Disability has gone to the City Council previous times with complaints about the lack of services through local paratransit providers,” said Eric Dibner, the Commission on Disability Acting Secretary. One of the main issues he said, is the lack of accessible taxis, but people have also complained about scheduling problems and the vehicles being uncomfortable. 

Councilmember Linda Maio believes current services are insufficient too. She hopes that the City Council will not only agree to add an on-demand service but also improve the existing by-appointment services. 

“I do think [paratransit service providers] are not as responsive as customers would like,” she said. “I think going out after these gap funds for enhanced services is a good idea. But I also think we need to look into the by-appointment service ... and see how well we’re performing.”

Neighborhood controversy over a proposed three-unit townhome development in north Berkeley is reaching a critical point as city officials prepare for an appeal hearing of the project. 

Residents near the proposed development at 2025 Rose St. say that it will create a parking nightmare in their neighborhood and that it is simply too big. 

“These townhouses will sell for a fortune, [the developer] is going to make a ton of money and no one cares about the neighborhood,” said Fari Sabetimani, who owns the property next door.  

However, project developer Bob Richerson said the three units of three-bedroom townhomes on the corner of Rose and Henry streets fulfill a community need for slightly larger units conducive to families and not students. He is also miffed by the parking concerns. 

“The parking and traffic concerns have always been a mystery to me,” he said. “It’s unchanged from what the property was before. It remains unchanged.” 

Richerson said the 5,509 square foot development with an 810 foot garage complies with all city codes.  

“There is no legal detriment ... to the neighborhood,” he said. “It complies to all the outlines of zones and we are not asking for any exceptions to the rules.” 

Sabetimani is leading a group of 147 residents who are appealing the City Council to overturn a default approval by Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board in March.  

The property is currently home to a parking lot for a nine-unit office building next door. By eclipsing the lot, neighbors say the new residents will have no choice but to park on the streets.  

“The parking is going to be too small,” Sabetimani said. “They will be pushing all the parking to face our windows next to our property.” 

The Berkeley planning staff is recommending that the City Council approve the project, according to Vivian Kahn, interim deputy director for the Department of Planning and Development.  

The project has a complicated history. In 1997, ZAB approved an addition to the adjacent office building and the construction of a new four unit multi-family development on the parking lot to the north of the office building.  

At the time, Sabetimani said the neighbors accepted a compromise that would decrease the size of the residential development in exchange for dropping opposition to the commercial expansion.  

Since then, Richerson purchased the property and revised the plans to increase the residential development’s floor area from 3,339-square feet to its current proposed size. The new plans include 13 parking spaces — including three garaged spaces — instead of 14 as originally proposed. There will be 1,200-square-feet of decks, patios and an open yard area. And even though Richerson said he has met with the neighbors to allay their concerns about the change, Sabetimani said she still doesn’t like the project. 

“In 1997, they agreed to make one of the building’s smaller. The new building is something larger than what the original owner had,” she said. “How can people trust him anymore?” 

ZAB discussed the project at five meetings but did not have enough votes to either approve or deny the project. A motion to deny the project received a 3-3-1 vote and a motion to approve the project received a 3-3-1 vote.  

Because there was no official action, Kahn said the project was approved by an operation of law under the state permit streamlining act. The city attorney determined that the residents still have the right to appeal the action to the city council. 

The City Council will hear the appeal at its 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 23 meeting at the old city hall building. 

The area south of the UC campus is a good example of a Berkeley neighborhood that has retained the character of its initial development despite 134 years of change. 

The College Homestead Association Tract is the area between College and Shattuck avenues, Bancroft and Dwight ways. Busy Telegraph Avenue bisects the tract. The College Homestead Tract was recorded in 1866. The streets were laid out in a grid pattern. It was intended to create a campus community of mixed uses and to generate income from the sale of lots for the College of California (the precursor to the University of California.)  

When the university moved from Oakland to its new Berkeley campus in 1873, the area south of the campus was sparsely populated. The most prominent buildings were at the State Schools for the Deaf and Blind and on the University campus. At Bancroft and Telegraph, there were a few homes and a hotel, which had a small store and restaurant. But settlement was slow during the 1870s and 1880s and the area had a rural character because of the large size of the lots and the remoteness of Berkeley. 

A typical building lot was 150-feet wide by 300-feet deep because it had to accommodate stables, water wells and windmills, and other outbuildings. The blocks themselves were larger, as neither Haste Street nor Durant Avenue was cut through until around 1900.  

By 1910 the College Homestead Tract was a fully built, predominantly family-oriented neighborhood with churches, schools, an occasional duplex or student boarding house, and some shops on Telegraph Avenue. Around 1910 and ending with the stock market crash in 1929, a building boom intensified the density and filled in the empty lots. 

Following World War II, dramatic increases in the student population put demands on the neighborhood. The rooming houses, often converted from large homes, were considered unsanitary firetraps and entire blocks were demolished. With accelerated university expansion and urban renewal during the 1950s and 1960s, approximately ten city blocks were cleared for high-rise dormitories, sports fields and parking lots.  

While most of the homes are gone, there are a few scattered clusters of houses and churches that evoke the memory of the old college town. Many of Berkeley’s important landmarks are located here, and the close proximity to the university gives them high visibility. These buildings and sites reveal the layers of history and explain the diversity of building type, age and use in the College Homestead Tract.  

Susan Cerny writes Berkeley Observed in conjunction with the Berkeley Historical Association.

SANTA MONICA — Frustrated by a federal decision they expect will extend California’s use of the pollutant MTBE, Southern California water agencies Friday drafted a plan to defend the region’s wells against the water-fouling gasoline additive. 

The agencies recommended that the state keep polluting boat and watercraft engines out of drinking water reservoirs, allow the sale of only MTBE-free gasoline at reservoir marinas, speed disbursement of $20 million in clean-up funds to water utilities and force polluters to clean up MTBE quickly. 

The Metropolitan Water District and other agencies also said Congress should be pressured to amend the Clean Air Act to allow the state’s most polluted areas to avoid using oxygenates such as MTBE. 

Although MTBE makes gasoline burn cleaner, it pollutes ground water far more readily than gasoline alone. Gov. Gray Davis has ordered that MTBE be phased out by the beginning of 2003. 

The state had sought a waiver of the federal oxygenate requirement, saying that relying on MTBE’s only available alternative – ethanol – wouldn’t make the air cleaner but could add up to 50 cents to the cost of a gallon of gasoline. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rejected the request last month. 

The water agencies made their recommendations assuming that the state will delay its self-imposed MTBE phase-out rather than risk significantly higher gas prices. 

“We’re having to choose between the health and the pocketbooks of constituents,” said Adan Ortega, Jr., a spokesman for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.  

“What we decided we had to do was implement an action plan that made the best use of the existing resources at our disposal.” 

MTBE leaking from pipelines and underground tanks has forced the closures of many water wells, including half of those in Santa Monica. 

California officials have argued that the state can meet tough gasoline emissions standards without oxygenate requirement, which they claim could expose California’s gasoline market to price manipulation and shortages if ethanol supplies fall short. 

Davis gave the California Environmental Protection Agency until mid-September to recommend how to respond to the federal EPA’s ruling, said William L. Rukeyser, assistant secretary of Cal/EPA. 

California has argued that cars built today are much cleaner than those that were on the road in 1990, when the Clean Air Act was last revised, and that refining technology has led to the creation of a reformulated gasoline known as RFG-3 that burns as cleanly as oxygenated gas, Rukeyser said. 

The federal EPA contends that it lacks the authority to give Ca waiver. For such a request to be granted, agency officials say, Congress would have to change the requirement that gasoline sold in the nation’s most polluted areas must contain 2 percent oxygenates.

LOS ANGELES — A Texas man who pulled a small knife on board an eight-hour American Airlines flight was found innocent of a federal charge by reason of insanity Friday. 

Paul Gordon Cochran, 47, had been charged with interference with the flight crew in the Dec. 12 incident. U.S. District Court Judge Lourdes Baird found that Cochran’s mental condition prevented him from “appreciating” that his actions interfered with the crew. 

According to a medical evaluation done in jail, Cochran has symptoms of mania or psychosis that are “waxing and waning in nature.” 

Cochran will remain in jail for the next several weeks as psychologists determine whether he is a threat to society. If he is found to be not dangerous, he likely will be released. 

If he is found to be a threat, he will be incarcerated in a mental health facility, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. 

None of the 202 people on board the Honolulu-to-Dallas flight was injured in the incident. 

Cochran became agitated and aggressive about halfway through the flight, according to an FBI affidavit. He rubbed two clothes hangers against his head and shouted, “There are too many people around!” 

After the plane made an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport, Cochran pulled a 2-inch knife, walked to the cockpit and slammed his body against the closed door, the affidavit said. 

He opened the exit door before the aircraft reached the gate, and yelled to the awaiting police officers, “I am not a beast, just a man. Drop and give me ten.” 

Assembly measure stalled 

SACRAMENTO – The state Senate approved a bill Friday that significantly alters the plan negotiated by Gov. Gray Davis to help struggling Southern California Edison. 

The bill, by Democratic Sens. Richard Polanco and Byron Sher, lets Edison issue $2.5 billion in revenue bonds to pay debts amassed when prices for wholesale electricity reached record-high levels in the last year. 

“I believe it’s a measure that gets us to the goal of getting the state out of the business of buying electricity ... and to bring this entity to creditworthiness,” said Polanco, D-Los Angeles. 

Approved 22-17, the bill now goes to the Assembly, which is considering a similar measure. 

The Polanco-Sher plan shifts the burden of repaying the bonds to commercial and industrial power users and has been opposed by business interests and by Edison, which says it won’t help the company escape bankruptcy. 

Davis’ plan, announced in April, offers Edison $2.76 billion for its transmission system and lets it sell revenue bonds to repay the rest of its estimated $3.5 billion worth of debt generated when it had to pay skyrocketing wholesale power prices. 

Under the plan by Polanco, and Sher, of Stanford, the state has a five-year option to buy Edison’s grid. 

That, said Republican Sen. Ross Johnson of Irvine, gives Edison a bailout it “neither needs nor deserves. 

“I am tired of this projection of Edison as a victim. They have their legion of lobbyists here telling us ad nauseam that they didn’t support deregulation,” Johnson said during floor debate. “The idea of Edison as the victim goes down in the annals of real whoppers. Edison paid their lobbyists bonuses for the successful passage of deregulation.” 

During the 1995-1996 deliberations that led to deregulation, Edison officials helped create the current system in meetings with business interests and then-Gov. Pete Wilson, a Republican. 

Lawmakers are set to go on summer break Friday night until Aug. 20, a schedule that conflicts with the deadline in the Memorandum of Understanding between Davis and Edison. That says the Legislature must approve the deal by Aug. 15. 

“It’s a firm deadline, which means this issue has to be fully resolved prior to the end of the legislative recess,” Davis said Friday. 

For that to happen, either the Senate bill or a proposal by Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, and Assemblyman Fred Keeley, D-Boulder Creek, has to reach Davis. 

“I have problems with both bills,” Davis said. “I am heartened by the fact that there’s a bill moving in each house.” 

The Keeley-Hertzberg plan trims at least $300 million from the governor’s offer. It also allows Edison to issue the bonds, which would be repaid by Edison ratepayers over 10 years. 

It also attempts to increase the state’s use of “green” energy resources and allow Edison customers to opt for cheaper direct-access energy service. 

Critics call the plan too complex and dealing with issues unrelated to saving Edison from bankruptcy. The bill was stalled Friday in the Assembly. 

If the Assembly also approves an Edison-related bill, legislators from both chambers will go to a conference committee to work out the differences. 

The conference committee would comprise two Democrats and one Republican from each house. They could meet over the summer break to devise a compromise by the Aug. 15 deadline, Davis said. 

“I don’t want people to go out fishing for 30 days and come back and worry about it on Aug. 20 because I know we’re going to have reapportionment and other major issues to deal with in that last month,” the governor said. 

Developments in California’s energy crisis: 

FRIDAY: 

• The state Senate approves a bill 22-17 to let Southern California Edison issue $2.5 billion in ratepayer-financed bonds to avoid bankruptcy. The bill by Sens. Richard Polanco and Byron Sher gives the state a five-year option to buy the utility’s transmission lines, but doesn’t require it. A similar measure that would assist the troubled utility is stalled in the Assembly. 

• Edison International Inc. acknowledges its troubled utility collected more revenue in June than it spent on power. Officials insist, however, that the utility still needs state help to avoid bankruptcy. Edison International reported a loss of $102 million in the second quarter, primarily due to unrecovered costs of buying power. 

• The latest snapshot of the state’s electricity revenues and expenses was scheduled to be released by the Department of Water Resources Friday, but the agency has delayed the disclosure until Sunday. 

• Congress has agreed to provide more than $1.3 million in federal funds to upgrade a bottlenecked transmission line in Central California. The section known as Path 15 is owned by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. It’s a crucial stretch of line that transports power between Northern and Southern California, but often gets clogged when power demand is high. The funds are part of a conference report that must by signed by President Bush. 

• Shares of Edison International closed at $14.24, down 46 cents. PG&E Corp. stock closed at $15, down 40 cents. Shares of Sempra Energy, the parent company of San Diego Gas & Electric Co., closed at $26.29, down 83 cents. 

• No power alerts Friday as electricity reserves stay above 7 percent. 

WHAT’S NEXT: 

• The deadline for the Legislature to approve Davis’ rescue deal for Southern California Edison is Aug. 15. 

THE PROBLEM: 

High demand, high wholesale energy costs, transmission glitches and a tight supply worsened by scarce hydroelectric power in the Northwest and maintenance at aging California power plants are all factors in California’s electricity crisis. 

Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric say they’ve lost nearly $14 billion since June 2000 to high wholesale prices the state’s electricity deregulation law bars them from passing on to consumers. PG&E, saying it hasn’t received the help it needs from regulators or state lawmakers, filed for federal bankruptcy protection April 6. Electricity and natural gas suppliers, scared off by the companies’ poor credit ratings, are refusing to sell to them, leading the state in January to start buying power for the utilities’ nearly 9 million residential and business customers. The state is also buying power for a third investor-owned utility, San Diego Gas & Electric, which is in better financial shape than much larger Edison and PG&E but is also struggling with high wholesale power costs. 

The Public Utilities Commission has approved average rate increases of 37 percent for the heaviest residential customers and 38 percent for commercial customers, and hikes of up to 49 percent for industrial customers and 15 percent or 20 percent for agricultural customers to help finance the state’s multibillion-dollar power buys.

LOS ANGELES — A judge dismissed misdemeanor charges against the lead lawyer for former SLA fugitive Sara Jane Olson Friday after both sides agreed that the case against attorney J. Tony Serra would be burdensome to the court, Serra’s lawyers said. 

The dismissal cleared a hurdle in getting the long-delayed Olson case to trial. Serra said if he had been convicted he would have withdrawn from representing Olson. 

Attorney Bruce Margolin, who represented Serra, said the case was dismissed in the interest of justice, and Serra made a donation of $5,000 to a statewide fund for the widows and children of police officers. It was the second time that Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan was called upon to dismiss a charge brought against a lawyer in the Olson case. In early June, he dismissed charges against Olson lawyer Shawn Snider Chapman. 

Both attorneys were accused of wrongly releasing the addresses and phone numbers of two police witnesses that were briefly posted on a Web site. The two former policemen contended they were placed in danger by the public release of information. 

Chapman maintained from the beginning that she was not involved. The city attorney ultimately concluded she was blameless. Serra said the information came from his San Francisco office but was inadvertently released. 

Attorney Eric Shevin, who appeared in court for Serra, said the lawyer “is not insensitive to the concerns of police officers who put their lives at risk every day.” He said it was Serra’s idea to make the donation. 

Maureen Siegel. chief of the city attorney’s criminal division, classified the dismissal of the charges as “more (in) the nature of a civil compromise.” 

“There was essentially an acknowledgment of responsibility through a fairly generous contribution to (the) police memorial foundation,” Siegel said. “All things considered, it’s probably a very appropriate disposition of the case.” 

Olson, 54, is accused of attempting to murder Los Angeles police officers by planting bombs under police cars in 1975 in retaliation for the deaths of six SLA members in a fiery shootout the year before. The bombs did not explode. 

Indicted under her former name, Kathleen Soliah, she remained a fugitive until her 1999 capture in Minnesota where she was living quietly as a housewife and mother. 

Margolin, who had filed a thick stack of pretrial motions on Serra’s behalf, said he had expected Serra to be acquitted. 

“But to have such notoriety was not worth it,” he said. “This is in the best interest of Ms. Olson to get the matter dismissed.” 

Shevin said all parties realized “there was a larger issue here, the Sara Jane Olson trial, and we didn’t want to cloud it with this.” 

The California State Bar, which was investigating both lawyers, also dismissed Chapman’s case. Margolin said he expected the organization to take the same action regarding Serra. 

Olson’s trial is scheduled for Sept. 24. Earlier this week, Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler agreed to convene court in Sacramento for advance testimony from three elderly, ailing witnesses. 

SACRAMENTO — The state Assembly continued negotiations Friday to try to break its budget logjam while the Senate adjourned until 9:30 a.m. Saturday. 

Assembly Democrats are still trying to pass several budget-related bills that implement the $101 billion budget it passed last Monday. But Assembly Republicans continued their opposition as the budget standoff entered its 20th day. 

“Everything is completely up in the air,” said Dana O’Donnell, spokeswoman for Assembly Republicans. 

Four Republicans who bolted their party Monday, joining Democrats to pass the budget, have since balked at passing bills needed to finish the job. Republicans Dave Kelley of Idyllwild, Richard Dickerson of Redding, Anthony Pescetti of Rancho Cordova and Mike Briggs of Fresno have frustrated surprised Democrats who thought the impasse ended Monday. 

“It’s pretty clear that the far right part of the caucus that held us up for a few weeks here is back in control,” said Paul Hefner, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys. “Witness the debate yesterday on abortion. That’s something that’s been settled for 20 years in this state.” 

Republicans voted against a bill implementing a health care budget for low-income Californians because part of it contains state money to pay for abortions. 

The Assembly recessed most of the day while Democratic leaders tried varying combinations to come up with a two-thirds majority needed to send the budget to the Senate for a vote. 

The Senate, too, in votes early this month, was one vote shy of the necessary two-thirds majority to pass a budget. 

The Legislature was scheduled to begin a monthlong recess Friday. 

Gov. Gray Davis, meanwhile, expressed optimism Friday that a budget is near. 

“I am optimistic that a budget can be passed by Sunday or Monday at the latest,” he said. 

If so, Davis said he could sign it as early as Wednesday or Thursday. 

The governor said his office has done “a lot of preliminary work on the budget” and that “we’ll probably need one full day to review it.” 

Davis, who has veto power over the budget line by line, will reveal his deletions when he signs the budget. Gubernatorial budget vetoes require a two-thirds vote in the Assembly and Senate to override. Historically, it seldom happens. 

Near the end of June, Davis said he’d veto approximately $400 million from the budget to carry a $2.6 billion reserve fund into the new fiscal year. The current budget proposal contains a $2.1 billion reserve. This year’s budget, the third of Davis’ administration, is the first to remain unfinished as the state began a new fiscal year on July 1. 

Before that legislators missed the July 1 deadline eight times in nine years. In 1992 the deadlock continued until Sept. 2. 

WASHINGTON — Ever since Woodrow Wilson, presidents have cozied up to popes. Lyndon Johnson lobbied a pope to back him on Vietnam. Ronald Reagan, once caught dozing during a papal address, talked Cold War tactics with a pope. 

Now it’s President Bush’s turn to court the Vatican. He sees Pope John Paul II on Monday as he contemplates one of the most vexing questions of his presidency: Should the government sponsor promising medical research on stem cells extracted from human embryos? 

The president is still weighing the moral and ethical – and political – ramifications of funding embryonic stem cell research. 

Proponents believe embryonic stem cell research might yield treatments for people suffering with illnesses such as diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. 

Yet Bush knows that deciding to pay for the research would put him at odds with the right wing of his party and the Vatican. The Roman Catholic Church is opposed to this research because human embryos are destroyed in the process. 

“This is an issue that speaks to morality and science,” he said. 

Bush says politics won’t sway his decision, yet the potential for political fallout is great. 

He and Al Gore split the Catholic vote in 2000; Gore got 49 percent to Bush’s 47 percent. Among churchgoing Catholics, Bush got 57 percent to Gore’s 43 percent. 

The president, who has been wooing the Catholic vote since taking office, hasn’t said whether he’ll broach the touchy stem cell issue with the pope. 

If Bush doesn’t bring it up, the pope will, said John White, professor of politics at Catholic University of America. “I have no doubt that this particular pope is going to bring this issue up head on,” White said. 

American presidents didn’t always seek an audience with the pope. 

Woodrow Wilson and Dwight Eisenhower both visited the pope, but generally anti-Catholic sentiment was just strong enough in America that presidents were wary about aligning themselves with the pontiff. John Kennedy, the first Catholic president, ignored that taboo, as has every president since then. 

Johnson decided to visit Pope Paul VI in December 1967, at the end of a three-day whirlwind tour of five nations, because he was worried the pope’s New Year’s Day address would attack the United States and its policy in Vietnam, said Gerald Fogarty at the University of Virginia. Before the meeting, Johnson sent the pope a 10-page memo of his views about the war and his search for peace. 

Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford visited Paul VI too. 

John Paul II, who became pope in October 1978, a year later became the first pontiff to set foot in the White House. Jimmy Carter welcomed him, holding the pope’s cape in place as it fluttered in the fall breeze. 

“This was an important moment as a pious Georgia Baptist welcomed the pope to the White House,” said George Weigel, a papal historian in Washington, who watched the event from the White House lawn. “How far America had come since the 1928 election when there were all these crazy rumors about how the pope was going to run (presidential candidate) Al Smith.” 

That led to the Catholic joke: What was the one-word telegram that Al Smith sent to the pope the day after he lost the election? “Unpack,” Weigel said. 

It was uncomfortably warm in the papal library when an exhausted Reagan visited John Paul II in June 1982. Reagan fully extended diplomatic relations to the Vatican and worked closely with the church to relax the communist grip on eastern Europe and calm U.S.-Soviet tension, though he will be remembered as the president who fell asleep while the pope spoke. 

“As the pope droned on, Reagan’s eyes began to close slightly and then open,” Reagan’s press secretary Larry Speakes recalled later. “Then he nodded a bit and his eyes began to close again.” 

Behind the president, Nancy Reagan shuffled her feet and cleared her throat. To no avail; he needed that nap. 

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration will maintain a diverse AIDS panel from the Clinton era, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said Friday. 

Thompson said he recommended that the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS continue, though federal rules governing its existence were set to expire this year. The group will work with a cabinet-level AIDS task force that met for the first time Friday, said Thompson. 

“I was very pleased with the passion and dedication of everyone involved,” said Thompson in an interview. “We are really stepping forward with our continued commitment in this national and international fight against the AIDS pandemic. 

“This decision will allow us to be able to best continue that,” he said, adding that the Clinton-era panel will provide many citizens a voice in national AIDS policy. 

Thompson said several members whose terms have not expired will stay on, including Ronald V. Dellums, a former California congressman who has chaired the panel. The Bush administration will also be making some new appointments to the council, which has more than 30 members. Some AIDS activists and lawmakers in recent months had questioned whether Bush intended to disband the Clinton-era group.  

A key Bush aide had said as much in a newspaper interview, but the White House later said the official was mistaken. 

In April, Bush announced a reorganized White House AIDS office with a new chief. The White House also announced that Thompson and Secretary of State Colin Powell would lead a team of government advisers to examine domestic and international AIDS issues.  

Bush has said he wanted to bring more attention to the global epidemic. But AIDS activists here have criticized the White House on domestic policies, such as reduced funding for American treatment programs. 

At the Group of Eight meeting in Italy, world leaders and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan announced a new global health fund, with an initial contribution of $1.2 billion, to combat AIDS and other infectious diseases.  

Bush has pledged $200 million, saying more money will come only if the fund proves a success. 

Annan praised the effort, but said the leaders fell short of the $7 billion to $10 billion needed to fight diseases. 

—— 

On the Net: 

Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS: http://www.pacha.gov/ 

White House AIDS office: http://www.whitehouse.gov/onap/ 

Dear Tom and Ray: 

Let’s say a moron decided to take a shortcut through a parking lot at night. This moron might drive a well-seasoned ’91 Dodge Dakota two-wheel-drive V-8 with an automatic transmission.  

To the moron’s surprise, there was a curb in the middle of the parking lot, and he hit it going 25-30 mph. No obvious damage.  

He didn’t hear metal strike the concrete. But there were a few changes he noticed: 

1. The gear indicator is one gear off (it shows R when it’s in Park, etc.). The linkage seems to move freely, and it shifts easily. 

2. In the words of Road and Track, the engine seems to sound a little “throatier.” 

3. When braking and turning, the power steering seems to be a little sluggish. 

4. The steering wheel seems about an inch off center, but the truck doesn’t seem to pull a whole lot. 

What could the moron have done to his truck? Hypothetically, of course. — Steve 

TOM: I love hypothetical questions. Hypothetically, the moron could have done any number of things. 

RAY: First of all, I’m sure the moron knocked the front wheels way out of alignment. That would explain the slight difficulty in steering. 

If both wheels aren’t pointed absolutely straight ahead, you end up “dragging” one wheel, and that's probably what the moron is feeling. 

TOM: The gearshift indicator and the throatiness can probably be explained if the moron hit the “Y-pipe.” The Y-pipe is a Y-shaped piece of the exhaust system that comes down from the engine and runs along the bottom of the truck. It comes fairly close to the ground on this truck, if memory serves. And my guess is that the curb hit the Y-pipe, crunching or perforating it, which explains the throatier exhaust noise. 

RAY: And the sudden impact on the Y-pipe probably also sheared off a motor mount. The motor mounts hold the engine in place. And if you lose one, it would shift the entire engine a little bit and change the whole geometry of things under the hood. That’s probably why the gearshift indicator still works but is off by one gear. 

TOM: Finally, the moron really needs to get the whole front end checked out, because it’s possible he bent his tie rods, and maybe a control arm or two. And that stuff can be dangerous. 

RAY: So Steve, if you happen to see this moron – like in the bathroom mirror while you're shaving tomorrow morning – tell him to get the truck checked out, will ya?  

Got a question about cars? Write to Click and Clack by e-mail at the Car Talk section of cars.com on the World Wide Web.

AUSTIN, Texas – When times were good, Agillion Inc. looked like a million bucks. 

Employee trips to Mexican resorts. A luxurious office building with tinted windows, curved walls and a game and workout room that represented the best of what the high-tech boom could offer: staggering venture capital, high salaries and a good-time atmosphere that seemed almost too good to be true. 

But that recent high-flying past might as well have been a gillion years ago. 

On Thursday, thousands of prospective buyers converged on the vacant 80,000-square-foot building to pick over the remains of what was left of another high-tech flameout. 

They were in search of a good bargain on computers, phones, furniture — anything they could find — as auctioneers sold off the remnants of Austin-based Agillion and a handful of other high-tech companies that went out of business. 

Auction officials expected up to 500 people. They were surprised to find their parking lot full, police directing traffic and a steady stream of buyers still arriving an hour after the auction started. 

By noon, about 1,500 people had jammed their way into the building. 

“This was far larger than anything we expected,” said Charlotte Hair, the facility manager of the Agillion building and a former Agillion employee. 

Hair successfully bid on ergonomic office chairs, one of the cushy perks that every employee got during Agillion’s spending sprees. She bought 30 at $5.25 each. 

“They wanted you to feel good at work so you’d stay at work,” she said. “I don’t think Agillion was doing anything different from anywhere else. That’s how you attracted talented high-tech workers.” 

The excess was evident everywhere. Agillion was a software company that had scored a partnership with IBM and bought TV time during the advertising orgy of the Super Bowl. 

The massive headquarters housed about 150 employees, Hair said. A coffee station had 13 portals for different kinds of brew ranging from Arabica to Sidano Gold. 

A punching bag hung from the ceiling in the workout room next to a treadmill. In the hallways, overstuffed bean bag chairs waited for new owners next to wall art, office furniture and hundreds of phones and laptop and desktop computers. 

Back in a second floor kitchen stood two open wine bottles, one white, one red, and unfinished wine coolers, weary signs of a party that ended too soon. 

“It was a great ride. I enjoyed it like everybody else,” Hair said. “Champagne flowed, but the bubbly eventually stopped.” 

The auction drew those wanting to upgrade their home computers and laid-off high-tech workers striking out on their own and looking for useful technology. 

Jeff Twining, a technical writer who was laid off from Vignette Corp. a couple months ago, wanted to buy another computer to help his fledgling start-up, Wordsmith & Co. 

But the large crowds drove up prices quickly and Twining left empty-handed. Computer monitors sold for $500. Desktop computers hit the $900 range. 

“It was certainly no garage sale,” Twining said. “I bailed out. It became a question of working for my clients or possibly picking up some equipment nobody else wants.” 

A few found bargains. 

Michael Hudkins, who manages a used office furniture and supply company, picked up 10 mobile phones for $17.50 each. They would normally retail upward of $100, he said. 

Hudkins’ business has boomed in Austin’s high-tech bust. The hard lessons learned by spending lavishly only to go bankrupt has businesses turning more toward spending less on quality used supplies, he said. 

“We’re up 20 percent from last year,” he said. “And we were up 30 percent last year.” 

Others just browsed, thankful they still have a job yet wondering if someday it won’t be their phone headset going to the highest bidder for only pennies on the dollar. 

Times have changed, said Graham Perks, a software programmer. It used to be everyone looked for new higher-paying jobs all the time but now everyone is more cautious. 

“Two years ago you could walk into any job,” he said. “Now you don’t want to leave any job.”

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

Dead woman found found floating near Marina 

The East Bay Regional Park Police found a dead woman floating in the bay near the Berkeley Marina just after midnight Wednesday.  

The body was taken to the Alameda County Coroners Office. 

Sheriff officials said the woman has not been identified and that the body is in such an advanced stage of decomposition that it will be impossible to determine the cause of death or the age of the woman until results of the autopsy are finalized, which was anticipated to be sometime Thursday morning. 

Wilderness speaker  

at Commons Club 

The Berkeley City Commons Club recently had Ed Fox, regional development director for the Wilderness Society, as the speaker at their weekly luncheon.  

Fox mentioned four areas being given priority right now: The California Desert Protection Act (involving one million acres); 700,000 acres of the Inyo forests of the Eastern Sierra; the Yosemite Area Rapid Transit System, designed to reduce pollution of the valley floor; and the “Range of Light” project, which provides a foundation for future planning of management for the governments of the Sierra Nevada regions.  

The Berkeley City Commons Club meets every Friday for a luncheon buffet at 2315 Durant Ave. For more information and reservations call 848-3533.

SACRAMENTO — If you are a California farmer, you could save thousands of dollars on a new tractor and the diesel fuel to run it. 

If you are a parent, your child’s school may see an average of $8,000 more per classroom and more parents will qualify for health care assistance. And shoppers: Prepare to pay more sales taxes at the cash register starting in January. 

All of these changes are part of a $101 billion state budget that Gov. Gray Davis is scheduled to sign this week, three weeks after it was supposed to go into effect. 

Despite the handful of targeted tax breaks – many of which were part of a last-minute deal to persuade Republicans to vote for the overdue budget – the 2001-02 spending plan is being called a lean plan without any new across-the-board relief for taxpayers. 

“This year revenues are down so it really is a ’status-quo’ budget with some modest enhancements,” said Jean Ross, executive director of the California Budget Project. Both chambers of the Legislature approved the budget last week after a three-week, partisan standoff over an automatically triggered sales tax increase. 

Education 

The budget includes about an 8 percent increase in K-12 education spending that translates to more than $7,000 per pupil. 

When averaged, the increase means $8,000 more for a 22-student classroom. The budget includes spending boosts for teacher and administrator training and after-school and remedial programs. 

“These are the kinds of things that people will realize locally as the result of this year’s budget,” said education secretary Kerry Mazzoni. 

About $200 million will be funneled into low-performing schools, which primarily contain the state’s poorest children. Plus, $40 million is earmarked to help balance urban and rural school funding. Students at the state’s universities and state and community colleges will not face an increase in tuition and fees this budget year. 

Agriculture 

Farmers and ranchers, part of the state’s largest industry, will see long-sought tax relief on farm machinery, parts and diesel fuel. The change means a farmer could save roughly $2,000 on the purchase of a new mid-powered, $40,000 tractor. 

The legislation also includes a sales tax exemption for diesel fuel used for agriculture, which experts say will save farmers and ranchers thousands of dollars. 

Tax Relief 

A sagging economy and surplus sapped by the costs of the statewide energy crisis mean this budget includes no new across-the-board tax cuts. 

The budget, however, includes millions in tax breaks enacted last year, when unexpected revenues from income  

and capital gains taxes streamed into the state treasury. They include a 67.5 percent cut in the vehicle registration fee, a day-care credit for some parents, and an income tax credit for credentialed teachers. 

Sales Taxes  

The budget includes about $2 billion in rainy day funds – likely too small a cushion to prevent a quarter-cent sales tax increase starting in January.  

The hike would translate to about $50 more in sales tax on a $20,000 car and about 5 cents on a compact disc. Government officials estimate it will cost a family of four an average of $120 per year. 

Transportation 

Some projects planned to ease commuter woes could be delayed. The budget includes a Davis proposal to postpone a plan to direct gasoline sales tax revenues exclusively to transportation – instead using them to help pad the general fund in the face of dwindling revenues. 

However, voters will decide this budget year whether to require that gasoline tax revenues be used for roads, highways and transit projects beginning in the 2003-04 budget year. 

HEALTH CARE: 

The budget injects more money into the state’s cash-strapped trauma centers and expands Healthy Families, one of the state’s health care programs for the poor. The new budget allows parents who make 250 percent of the federal poverty level to qualify for the program. 

SENIORS: 

The budget includes $75 million in tax credits to help low-income senior citizens pay rent and property taxes. 

—— 

On the Net: Find the California Budget Project at http://www.cbp.org/ and more budget analysis at www.lao.ca.gov. The California Farm Bureau Federation’s Web site is http://www.cfbf.com/. 

The Alameda County Board of Supervisors will hold its last redistricting public hearing next Tuesday, before adopting the final plan setting the county’s new boundaries. 

The hearing will take place at at 11 a.m. at the Board Chambers, on 1221 Oak St., Fifth Floor, Oakland. It will be the last opportunity for community members and organizations to give their input on the 20 redistricting alternatives submitted for review. 

Every 10 years, when the U.S. Census information is released, supervisors must draw new borders to equalize the population of each district in the county. The new demographic data shows that district Five, which includes Berkeley, must grow by about 30, 000 people. The district is likely to expand to the south, moving farther into Oakland. 

This year, supervisors intensified their effort to make the process as open and inclusive as possible. Since April, 14 public hearings were held and the county set up a web site designed to receive and diffuse public comments on the proposed redistricting plans. 

At Tuesday’s hearing, supervisors will select one of the existing alternatives or create a new one. The final redistricting plan must be adopted by August 15. 

For Additional information on the redistricting process visit the Alameda County web site at: http://www.co.alameda.ca.us and click on “Redistricting.”

SACRAMENTO – A state Senate committee wants to know why Morgan Stanley, a multibillion dollar financial firm and adviser to several power generators, destroyed documents that potentially could show efforts to gouge California consumers. 

The company recently also has come under the scrutiny of an Oregon lawmaker who is concerned the company’s purchase of the rights to move power between California and Oregon could result in artificially high prices. 

For several weeks, Morgan Stanley had told the committee it would provide the documents, but said last week they had been destroyed as a matter of routine “years ago,” said Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana, the committee’s chairman. 

Members of the committee are trying to determine whether power companies worked together to raise prices by purposefully holding back electricity to drive up demand. 

Morgan Stanley’s involvement would have been several years ago, when it advised out-of-state energy companies to buy California power plants up for sale. 

A Morgan Stanley attorney told the Orange County Register that the company did not destroy any documents after Dunn’s committee requested the documents May 16. 

“At the end of the project, they decided what they were going to keep and what they weren’t going to keep, and those decisions were made years before the energy crisis and years before the committee existed,” said Paul Patono, a company attorney. 

Dunn noted it is not illegal to raise prices as long as a company doesn’t collude to force prices upward. 

Private utilities became able to sell their plants as part of the 1996 plan to deregulate the electricity market. Although the plants were expected to sell below their book value, they instead sold for up to three times that price, although the state then had an oversupply of electricity and old plants. 

While the public was told deregulation would lead to lower electricity prices, energy officials and experts testifying before the committee have said it’s unlikely investors would buy aging power plants if they believed that to be true. 

Dunn is curious if there was any kind of plan or advertising that said the plants, if bought a certain way, would give of the buyers market power in the wholesale electricity market. 

The committee is still moving forward with contempt proceedings against Houston-based power marketers Enron Corp. and Reliant Energy for refusing to hand over documents to committee investigators. 

New York-based Morgan Stanley, now Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., got into the energy trading in 1984 and now is one of the top 20 U.S. power marketers. 

The company also has come under the scope of Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. Morgan Stanley bought the rights to transmit just under a third of the power flowing between California and Oregon from the Bonneville Power Administration through February 2002. 

DeFazio has written a letter to the BPA, asking that the agency make sure the Northwest keeps its “reliable, affordable” energy source. 

“The ability of a financial services company, which has no obligation to serve electricity consumers, to lock up all available capacity for a year raises serious concerns,” DeFazio wrote. 

A company spokeswoman said Morgan Stanley acquired the transmission capacity from BPA to meet its power delivery obligations in the Northwest, and had no intention of manipulating the market.

Starting August 6, 19 Berkeley High School students will mount bicycles donated by the Berkeley Police Department and begin the 14-day, 600-mile ride from the entrance of Berkeley High to the entrance of Santana High School in San Diego County – the site of a deadly shooting rampage this year that left two students dead and 13 wounded. 

The Berkeley students want to send a message of sympathy to the Santee community. And they want to send a message of peace to their youth peers everywhere. 

They want to show people that, “There’s another way to deal with the frustration that all high school students are faced with,” said Berkeley Booster Association Director Catherine Jamison, one of the trip’s leaders.  

“It doesn’t have to be about violence. It can be about working as a team.” 

But perhaps even more than that, the kids want to show the Berkeley community what kind of people they really are. 

All 19 students are students of color from low-income families. In the media, Berkeley High student Aramon Bartholomew said,  

“You see mostly students of color fighting each other. And we’re not all about that.”  

Bartholomew said he hopes that being involved in the Pedaling for Peace summer program he can counteract negative stereotypes that he feels affect the way Berkeley residents view Berkeley High’s students of color.  

“We’re not lazy. We’re not gangbangers,” he said. 

Evelyn Delcid, who’ll be a Berkeley High senior next year, said, “The message it’s going to give everyone is that youth aren’t involved in a lot of negative things like people expect. The message is going to get out that we’re very caring.” 

Caring – and determined. 

The students, most of whom rarely rode bikes at all before this summer, have endured a grueling training regimen for the last two months.  

Three days a week they spend two hours on the downtown YMCA’s stationary bikes, sweating out the imaginary miles to disco tunes like, appropriately enough, “Y-M-C-A.”  

On weekends, they hit the streets, biking progressively longer and more challenging routes around Berkeley.  

Last weekend they traveled 25 miles. This weekend, they are biking 35 miles up and over Wildcat Ridge and all through Tilden Park.  

They’ll get a taste of how to negotiate steep descents as they come back into the city by way of Spruce Street.  

“Saturday will be the real test,” said Jamison, a long-time cyclist who recently spent a year “biking around the world” and has traveled Highway 1 down to San Diego – the route the students will take. 

Some of the students feel they’ve already been tested. 

“I haven’t ridden a bike since I was 7,” said Maria Herrera, who graduated from Berkeley High this spring and will attend UC Berkeley in the fall.  

“It’s challenging. I’ve had to find a lot of inner strength to get through it. At one point I was like so tired that I started crying.” 

Even the students who feel they were in great physical shape before they started the training have had to make adjustments. 

“I’m a football player, so I don’t really touch bikes,” Bartholomew said. “The hardest part is the seats.” 

The students will travel about 50 miles a day, passing some of the most spectacular scenery of California’s central coast.  

At night they’ll camp out in California state parks. 

By the end of it, said Jamison, the students will have accomplished a formidable and exhilarating feat. 

“Just imagine,” she said. “You’ve got the sun on your back and the wind in your face. You look to the right and you’ve got the waves crashing in. You look to the left and there’s nothing but a thin white line.” 

The Pedaling for Peace students have spent the year getting to know each other through a city-funded after-school program known as RISE. The program provides a wide array of support for students from low-income households, including tutoring, counseling and referrals to other social services.  

“Anything that would get in the way of the children succeeding academically, we would try to assist,” said Adriana Betti, managing director for RISE and another leader of the bike trip. 

Jamison said completing a 600-mile bike trip could do wonders for students confidence and discipline, helping them get prepared for the important upperclassman years at Berkeley High. 

“Cycling is an excellent way for kids to challenge themselves because it forces them to stay focused,” Jamison said.  

“If they don’t stay focused they’ll fall behind, they’ll crash, they’ll end up working harder than they have to because they’re not paying attention to shifting gears.” 

To date, the Pedaling for Peace program has raised a little over $7,000 of the $17,450 it needs to pay for the students food and equipment — and a return flight from San Diego. Donations in cash or in-kind can be made to: Berkeley Boosters/PAL, “Peddling for Peace,” P.O. Box 17, Berkeley, Calif. 94701.

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