The Berkeley community came together at churches, Civic Center Park and Sproul Plaza to express grief and gain strength in the face of Tuesday’s brutal attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. 

About 300 people gathered at the Peace Wall steps in Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park for a multi-faith prayer vigil, which organizers said would begin the healing process in the aftermath of a series of devastating terrorist attacks. 

Those who attended the early evening vigil, many clutching candles, joined hands in prayer and sang spiritual songs. Several city officials, including Mayor Shirley Dean, City Manager Weldon Rucker and councilmembers Linda Maio, Polly Armstrong and Kriss Worthington were present at the event.  

The vigil was led by 20 religious leaders from the Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Buddhist faiths. Prior to the vigil, Pastor Kim Smith of the Trinity United Methodist Church, said the show of solidarity among the faiths was important to bring the community together in a time of spiritual and emotional suffering. 

“The full faith community has much in common and what we have in common is that we pray for peace,” said Smith, who was an organizer of the event. “We believe prayer is action and we’re going to take action here tonight.” 

Many of those in attendance said they were left feeling confused by the attacks and came looking for understanding and support. 

“I felt so helpless at home and wanted to be with other people, to have a community to share this tragedy with,” said Nadja Lazansky, who attended the vigil with her 9-year-old daughter Rachel. “It was very uplifting and personally I feel better.” 

Prior to the vigil, religious leaders offered a special welcome to Iftekhara A. Hai, director of the United Muslims of America. They said his presence was especially significant because of media speculation that the perpetrators of the attack were members of a radical Muslim group.  

Hai, who denounced the attacks as a crime against humanity, said one reason he came to the vigil was to reach out to the larger community because he is concerned that Muslim Americans, who he said are horrified by the attacks, may feel isolated. 

“I as a Muslim American am with you,” Hai said. “Even if it is my Muslim brothers who are responsible.”  

Pastor Marvis Peoples of the Liberty Hill Baptist Church said it is critical for all religious faiths to join in praying for the nation. Peoples said he is concerned about how the United States will respond to the attacks.  

“There will be turbulent days ahead and whatever action is taken it has to be with humanity,” he said. “You can’t fight evil with evil.” 

The Rabbi Ferenc Raj, of Congregation Beth El, said a multi-faith demonstration of peace is critical after a tragedy of such a large scope. “Our prayers are stronger than the bombs and stronger than any terrorist attack,” he said. “We are indeed united and this is the most important thing.”  

*** 

As the Civic Center vigil came to a close, over at Sproul Hall more than 2,000 UC Berkeley students and members of the community gathered for an 8 p.m. candlelight vigil in Sproul Plaza. A series of speakers at the open-mic event mourned the victims, cautioned against the urge to retaliate and asked Americans to consider their own government’s responsibility for the tragedy. 

Mostly, though, they simply and movingly expressed their grief.  

“It says something about us that we can come together and mourn, despite our differences, together as the campus community,” said Wally Adameyo, president of the Associated Students of the University of California. 

Counselors were placed throughout the crowd to speak with people who felt overwhelmed by events. The crowd was told that volunteers with green armbands were there to keep the peace, and to try and mediate any disputes between people that might erupt from the vigil. In the end, there was no need.  

“We’re just trying to provide a forum for people to speak, peacefully,” said Hanna Song, a representative of student government, which had sponsored the vigil. Speakers were told that “profanity, personal attacks and racist remarks would not be allowed.” 

Adayemo was one of the first to speak.  

“This is probably the worst event of our generation, and how we respond to it will define how we are looked at in the future,” said Adameyo. 

“It says something about our generation that we would rather mourn than be violent; we would rather have peace than war.”  

Robert M. Berdahl, chancellor of the UC, read the first stanza of the “Second Coming,” a poem by William Butler Yeats: 

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere  

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;  

The best lack all conviction, while the worst  

Are full of passionate intensity.  

He then read from messages left by mourners on Sproul Plaza Tuesday, and concluded that “Yeats was wrong. The best do not lack conviction, and they are full of passionate intensity.” 

“Let us light these candles tonight with resolve that we will illuminate the ignorance with intelligence, hatred with love. Fiat lux.” 

Other speakers received loud cheers when they denounced the U.S. government for creating an atmosphere of violence in the world. 

“The little terrorists are sick people, and they take their cues from the big terrorists – like the ones that live in the White House,” said a student. 

A man on vacation from New York City said that he had spent the day in shock, but despite his horror he felt he had to put the attack into perspective. 

“Sometimes you forget that this happens every day in other parts of the world,” he said. “It’s what the U.S. government calls ‘state-sponsored terrorism. Well, the chickens have come home to roost.” 

“We need to look around here, where the problem originated.”  

“There was nothing accomplished by the violence today, and there will be nothing accomplished by the state-sponsored violence that is being urged on us.” 

A member of the Students for Justice in Palestine read a statement prepared by the organization today. The SJP, it said, condemned the attacks and stood in solidarity with the victims of violence in New York, Washington, Pennsylvania and Kabul. It also said that “no student of Arab or Middle Eastern dissent should be subjected to harassment because of this.” The SJP member said that she knew that two students wearing head scarves were verbally assaulted on Sproul Plaza Tuesday, and that other students had received “racist and threatening phonecalls.” 

A man who identified himself by saying that he worked in Sproul Hall and was “almost as old as your parents” delivered an apology to the students on behalf of people his age. 

“I’m sorry that my generation gave yours such a violent world,” he said. “You deserve better. Hopefully you’ll be able to do better.” 

Wednesday, Sept. 12 

Police Review Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St. 

Among other items, the commission will evaluate charges of discrimination and talk about recruitment efforts. 644-6716 

Women’s Group 

7 p.m. 

Boadecia’s Books 

398 Colusa Ave. 

“In the Name of Salome” by Julia Alvarez. New members welcome. 559-9184 www.bookpride.com 

Commission on Disability Meeting 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

6:30 p.m. 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Promoting the total integration and participation of persons with disabilities into all areas of economic, political, and community life. 

Homeless Commission Meeting 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

7 p.m. 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Discussion regarding enforcement of the Lodging Law, status of UA Homes and the Commission’s work plan for the remainder of the year. 

Waterfront Commission Meeting 

Marina Office Conference Room 

7 p.m. 

201 University Ave. 

Discussing Boating and Waterways Loan as well as Water Transit Authority and Prospects for a Berkeley Ferry. 

Baby Bounce and Toddler Tales 

7 p.m. 

Berkeley Central Library 

2090 Kittredge St. 

This participatory program for families with children up to age 3 presents multicultural stories, songs and fingerplays as entertainment. 644-6095 

Fishbowl: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Opposite Sex, but Were Afraid to Ask 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Dating, relationships, religions, sexuality and values. An opportunity to ask anonymous questions in a confidential and supportive environment. Social and Single. $8. 848-0237 

Housing Summit 

1 - 4:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St. 

A panel discusses creative housing solutions for seniors and persons with disabilities. 841-4776 

Summit On Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 

7 - 9:30 p.m.  

St. Paul’s AME Church 

2024 Ashby Ave. 

Community Action Team invites members of the Berkeley community to participate with elected officials in this working meeting on racial and ethnic health disparities in Berkeley. 665-6809 

Socratic Circle Discussions 

5 - 6 p.m. 

Cafe Eclectica 

1309 Solano Ave. 

Does your brain need a workout? All ages welcome. 527-2344 

Topher Delaney: Ten Landscapes 

7:30 p.m. 

Builder’s Booksource 

1817 Fourth St. 

An exploration of her art of gardening and landscape architecture. 

845-6874 www.buildersbooksite.com 

Making Additions Match - Avoiding the Tacked-On Look 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Seminar taught by architect/ columnist Arrol Gellner. $35. 

525-7610 

A Taste of the World: Cultural Understanding Through Food 

6 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Enhance your cooking skills and experience the cuisines of Spain, Portugal, Italy, Morocco and Israel with Chef Daniel Herskovic. All classes are “hands on.” Class includes meal and cooking lesson. $25. Every Wednesday through Nov. 1. 

655-8487 

Planning Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Zoning ordinance amendments re: Prohibitions and restrictions related to carry-out or quick service restaurants on San Pablo Ave. Public Hearing. 

981-6900 

Thursday, Sept. 13 

Help Save the West Berkeley Shellmound 

2 p.m. 

U.S. Post Office Building 

201 - 13th St., Oakland 

Bring as many people as possible to make a statement before the Court in Oakland in defense of protective landmark status to the oldest dated mound site in the Bay Area. Landmark status is currently being contested by the industrial property owners who originated this lawsuit against the city of Berkeley. Time and place may change, call ahead to confirm. 841-8562  

Joint Design Review Board and Zoning Adjustment Board Meeting 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

6:30 p.m. 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Public Comment on Green Building Initiatives, Workshop on Green Building and follow-up discussion and introduction of draft revision to incorporate green design guidelines. 

Special City Council Meeting 

City Council Chambers 

7 p.m. 

2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

The first of two public hearings to consider proposals to amend Council District boundaries based on the 2000 census figures. This meeting will replace the regular Tuesday night City Council meeting. 

Orangutans in the Wild: Travel in Borneo 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Professional photographer and writer Christine Krieg will give a slide show of her travels to the Tanjung Puting National Park on the south coast of Central Kalimantan. Free. 527-4140 

Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn 

7 p.m. 

Berkeley Community Theater 

1930 Allston Way 

Renowned Vietnamese poet, peace activist and Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn will give a public lecture. 433-9928 

People's Park Community  

Advisory Board 

7:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley 

Unit 1 Residence Hall Rec. Room  

2650 Durant Ave. 

Monthly meeting, community invited. The PP CAB reviews and makes recommendations on park policies, programs, and improvements. 642-7860  

Friday, Sept. 14 

Even Stronger Women 

1:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Free weekly cultural discussion class. This week: women’s humor. 549-1879 

Yiddish Conversation Group 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 644-6107 

–Compiled by Guy Poole 

City officials held what City Manager Weldon Rucker characterized as a mini-Emergency Services meeting Tuesday morning to plan the city response to the attacks in New York and Washington.  

“Operations are open,” Rucker said. “There’s a heightened sense of security.” 

More police officers than usual would be in uniform, Rucker said. Police were preparing for possible local reactions, such as a vigil, which did take place, or a demonstration, which did not. Morning shift police officers came in earlier than usual. 

Additional police patrolled Berkeley High and the middle schools.  

Public works and parks officials were assigned to work around city buildings to be “our eyes and ears,” Rucker said. 

The scheduled City Council meeting was postponed until Thursday. “That would (have been) another area that we would have to secure,” Rucker said. 

The city manager described the situation as an “almost psychological event,” with people possibly reacting in fear. The city’s mental health workers were put on alert. 

City staff reported to work as usual, but Rucker said if any felt they “couldn’t handle it, they can go home.” 

Firefighters were also put on alert, but not on the highest stages of alert. The extra engines were on the ready with nine additional firefighters and additional managers, according to Assistant Fire Chief David Orth. 

A bomb scare at Fourth Street and Virginia Avenue was a false alarm, according to police. 

Schools stay open 

City schools remained open. Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Michele Lawrence, said they were operating as usual, although all out-of-town field trips were canceled.  

Psychologists were on call in case students needed to talk about the day’s events.  

By 11 a.m., fewer than 10 students had been taken out of school by their parents, Lawrence said.  

Calls to a number of elementary schools revealed that at Berkeley Arts Magnet Elementary School the attendance was below normal levels and that some parents had taken their children out of classes. A school secretary said that upper-grade students – those in fifth and sixth grades – were given time in the morning to ask their teachers questions about the attack. 

John Muir, Jefferson and Emerson Primary Schools reported that attendance was at usual levels and classes were being conducted as normal. 

Lawrence said school staff has been thoroughly trained in emergency procedures and that an evacuation plan for each of the schools is in place should it be necessary.  

Matthew Mock, director of children’s mental health services for the city, was out taking the pulse of the schools. And distributing a piece his staff had written on how parents can talk to their children about the events of the day – that includes limiting television-watching, he said. 

“My own (9-year-old) daughter asked if they were going to come and hurt our school,” he said. 

Mock said his child understood that the buildings bombed were very important ones and “for her, (her school is) a very important building.” 

He said he explained to her that it was far away. 

Mock’s hand-out explains that normal reactions to the event in children might be problems going to sleep, reluctance to separate from parents and stomachaches or headaches. 

Children need to be assured about their own safety and that of their parents, the paper advises. Explain the events in a simple way and allow children to talk about what they are feeling about the event. 

University closes Sather Tower 

The UC Berkeley campus stayed open on Tuesday, but according to campus spokeswoman Maria Felde professors were given the option of cancelling their classes. 

Captain Bill Cooper of the UC Police Department, said that the campus police had called in eight off-duty officers to work Tuesday, and had increased foot patrols of the campus. 

Only one building on the campus was closed: Sather Tower, popularly known as the Campanile. According to Felde, the tower was closed as a preventative safety measure. 

“Of all the places on campus, the Campanile was the one place that could be a target for someone who wanted to make a statement,” she said. 

Cooper agreed, and said that closing the tower cost the campus little. “It’s a high-profile landmark that’s not used for any academic or administrative functions,” he said. 

State shuts down services 

State services were shut down. Workers at the California Department of Health Services on Berkeley Way began leaving the building around 10:30 a.m., as word began to spread that Governor Davis had ordered all “non-essential” state facilities closed. 

Security in the building had been tightened as early as 9 a.m. Two entries in the building were closed, and extra security personnel were posted in the lobby. They were “checking and re-checking everyone coming through,” according to one DHS employee. 

The DHS Berkeley office is home to the agency’s “bioterrorism specialists,” among other functions. Lea Brooks, spokesperson for the department, said that the bioterrorism unit would remain on duty throughout the day, either in the field or at the agency’s new Richmond building, which Brooks described as “super-secure.” 

Outside the Berkeley Way office, Fern Orenstein, a DHS trainer and consultant, met with people from around Northern California who were scheduled to participate in a workshop on AIDS and domestic violence. Orenstein and her partner had decided to cancel the workshop even before she had heard the Berkeley Way building would be closed. 

“We had scheduled a workshop on domestic violence today – I’ll remember that for a long time,” said Orenstein. 

A delivery truck parked outside the south entrance to the building elicited a series of nervous jokes from conference attendees, who stood around outside talking about the crisis before going home. 

Hospital is prepared 

Alta Bates/Summit Medical Center was operating Tuesday on “heightened awareness,” with security personnel particularly vigilant – watching “suspicious” people and looking at unusual packages, according to hospital spokesperson Carolyn Kemp.  

Kemp said the day shift was present at the hospital as usual, but staff was anticipating that there may be evening personnel who would not be able to get to the hospital or those who wanted to stay at home with their families.  

Hanging out with friends 

Berkeley residents Jason and T.J. Angell, brothers originally from New York, went to the Triple Rock Brewery on Shattuck Avenue to sit with about 20 others who sipped beer and watched news reports on the attacks.  

“We came down here so we could talk to people,” said Jason. “It was very helpful to be with people who were equally anxious and frustrated about this whole thing.” 

The brothers said they were able to verify the whereabouts of almost all of their friends and family except one friend who worked in the World Trade Center. 

By Tom Raum 

Associated Press Writer 

WASHINGTON — President Bush and congressional leaders sought to calm a shaken nation and show the government was functioning and determined after Tuesday’s deadly terrorist attacks. From the Oval Office, Bush pledged to “find those responsible and bring them to justice.” 

As fires still smoldered at the Pentagon less than a mile away, Bush told the nation, “Our way of life, our very freedom, came under attack” when highjacked planes destroyed the World Trade Center in New York and severely damaged the Pentagon. 

Administration officials and members of Congress said early evidence pointed to suspected fugitive terrorist Osama bin Laden, who has been sheltered in Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s hardline Taliban rulers denied such suggestions. 

A senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, cited “strong information” implicating bin Laden. The official said Bush is considering a wide range of military options targeting bin Laden and, perhaps, Afghanistan. 

Retaliation is not imminent, but Bush is determined to act as swiftly as possible, the official said. 

Law enforcement officials trying to piece together a case linking bin Laden to the attacks were focusing some of their efforts on possible bin Laden supporters in Florida. They were aided by an intercept of communications between his supporters and harrowing cell phone calls from victims aboard the jetliners before they crashed. 

“The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness and a quiet, unyielding anger,” Bush said in his Oval Office address. 

Thousands died in the attacks, he said. 

“We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them,” Bush said without elaboration. 

As the president spoke, military police in combat fatigues guarded streets in the center of Washington and patrolled in armored vehicles. Major thoroughfares that normally have a steady flow of cars were almost empty. 

Bush began the day in Florida. For security reasons, he was taken to air bases in Louisiana and Nebraska before returning to Washington at dusk. 

Bush and other top administration officials and congressional leaders of both parties presented a united front in the face of what Attorney General John Ashcroft called “one of the greatest tragedies ever witnessed on our soil.” 

Across the Potomac at the Pentagon, which was still partly ablaze, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said, “The Pentagon is functioning. It will be in business tomorrow.” Officials put the number of dead and wounded at the Pentagon at about 100 or more, with some news reports suggesting it could rise to as many as 800. 

“Make no mistake about it, your armed forces are ready,” said Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., standing at twilight with dozens of other lawmakers on the steps of the Capitol, said it was still not clear who was responsible “but we have our suspicions.” 

“And when that is justified ... we will act. We will stand with this president ... and we will stand as Americans together throughout this time.” 

The lawmakers then sang, “God Bless America.” 

The plane that hit the Pentagon tore through at least three of the rings of the five-ring Pentagon, hitting Navy and Army portions of the building, according to Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. 

“Pieces of the airplane were all over. I can’t see how there would be anything left of the people on the plan, given the crash site, with the fireball and all,” Skelton said after a briefing at the Pentagon. 

Other lawmakers were briefed by law enforcement officials late Tuesday said that knives seemed to be the weapons by the hijackers in three of the four planes, based on cell phone calls. 

Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Fla., said law enforcement officials estimated three to five terrorists were on each plane. 

The fourth hijacked plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, after making a U-turn toward Washington. 

A senior administration official said the plane that crashed near Pittsburgh was viewed at the time as a potential threat to the White House and was a major reason for the evacuation of the presidential mansion shortly before the plane crashed. It was not known whether the White House, or perhaps Camp David in the Maryland mountains near the Pennsylvania border, was indeed the target. 

Hastert and other top congressional leaders were taken to the safety of a government bunker in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, about 75 miles west of Washington. Once the military and the Secret Service issued a green light, the congressional leaders and the president headed back to town. 

“None of us will ever forget this day,” a solemn Bush said in his Oval Office address, which lasted about five minutes. 

Among foreign leaders expressing support and sympathy was Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. officials said. Putin sent Bush “a powerfully friendly communication,” said one official. 

Israel offered a special emergency force designed to deal with the aftermath of a terrorist attack. The unit includes doctors, special technicians and trained dogs. But the administration did not take Israel up on the offer immediately, said Israeli Embassy spokesman Mark Regev. 

Earlier, Bush told his national security advisers in a telephone conference, according to spokesman Ari Fleischer, “We will find these people and they will suffer the consequences of taking on this nation. We will do what it takes. No one is going to diminish the spirit of this country.” 

Explosions were heard Tuesday night near Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, but U.S. officials denied any responsibility. “In no way is the U.S. government connected,” Rumsfeld said. 

Meanwhile, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah., senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested U.S. officials had knowledge of an interception of a telephone conversation with two affiliates of bin Laden “who acknowledged a couple of targets were hit.” 

In an interview with The Associated Press, he declined to be more specific about the nature of the interception. 

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said the federal government was making emergency medical supplies available in both New York and Washington, and sending “disaster mortuary response teams” to both scenes. 

The government ordered all civilian air traffic halted until noon Wednesday, at the earliest, after directing all planes in the air to land after the attacks. 

Roads leading out of Washington became clogged with commuters as the government sent home all nonessential workers. Inbound lanes on bridges leading into Washington were closed. Workers traveling out of the city over the Potomac River could see dark plumes of smoke still rising from the Pentagon. 

States of emergency were declared in the District of Columbia and in neighboring Maryland and Virginia. 

The White House was evacuated, as had other top federal buildings, including the Capitol, the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency. 

Bush was in Sarasota promoting his education program at the time of the attacks. He took part in telephone conferences with his national security team during the day, and called New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani from his plane. 

Cheney remained in a nearly deserted White House, in a secure basement bunker, with a few other top aides, including National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. 

Black-uniformed Secret Service agents with machine guns patrolled the White House grounds. Fighter jets circled over the city. 

Bush ordered the nation’s military to “high-alert status.” 

Rumsfeld, in his Pentagon office when a jetliner blasted a gaping hole in the west side of the building, rushed to the scene and helped injured co-workers before seeking the security of a basement command center. 

The plane took out a huge section of one of the Pentagon’s five sides, sending up plumes of black acrid smoke and hampering rescue efforts. 

At the first reports of attacks on New York’s World Trade Center, Bush told his school audience that “we’ve had a national tragedy” and said he had to hurry back to Washington. 

However, he first went to the air base in Louisiana, then to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, headquarters of the U.S. Strategic Command. Military fighter jets escorted the presidential aircraft. 

Several lawmakers compared the attacks to the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into World War II. 

The tragedy reached inside the Justice Department, where Solicitor General Theodore Olson learned his wife was aboard the American Airlines jetliner that crashed into the Pentagon. 

Barbara Olson, a former congressional staffer and Republican activist, was headed to Los Angeles and called her husband as her plane was being hijacked, officials said. 

Responding to criticism of the intelligence community for failing to predict the attacks, CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield said, “The CIA has worked diligently and relentlessly to try to counter terrorism.” 

“Our resources are being devoted to determining who was responsible for these horrendous attacks,” Mansfield said. 

As government officials and media pundits scrambled to determine who was behind Tuesday’s attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, many Berkeley-based professors said they were reluctant to draw conclusions, and expressed anger that Arab groups were immediately considered suspect. 

Afghanistan expert Shahwali Ahmadi, Professor in UC Berkeley’s Department of Near Eastern Studies, declined to comment on the allegations, angrily slamming the phone down after saying, “You’re automatically assuming that there is a Middle Eastern connection. Call me back when you verify it.” 

“Everybody is in shock,” said Rutie Adler, professor of Hebrew in the Department of Near Eastern Studies. “Because the first thing the American media says is that it’s Palestinians.” 

“It’s like what happened with Oklahoma,” said Adler. Following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, rumors were quick to fly that Arab terrorists were behind the attacks. These early allegations later proved unfounded with the arrest of Timothy McVeigh. 

Early Tuesday, Reuters reported that two Arab satellites had received anonymous claims of responsibility from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a radical PLO faction. The group’s leader quickly denied any involvement. 

“It’s unlikely” they were involved, said Robert Blecher, a Berkeley resident who is a lecturer in the History Department at Stanford and an expert on the Middle East. The Democratic Front split from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and then distanced itself from the Popular Front after a series of hijackings in the 1970s, he said.  

“I suppose it would be fairly easy to concoct the idea that the Palestinians would want to retaliate for the murder of Abu Ali Mustafa,” said Blecher, referring to a leader of the Popular Front killed last month. However, given their size and profile, its unlikely that either Palestinian group would have been able to execute such a complicated attack, Blecher said. 

By Tuesday afternoon, NBC and CNN reported that government officials had focused speculation on Osama bin Laden because of his role in the 1993 bombing on the World Trade Center. Bin Laden’s group denied the accusations. 

“As an Arab living in this country, I resent that one is always asked to condemn Arab nations,” said Asad Abu Khalil, a fellow at the UC Berkeley Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and Associate Professor at Cal State Stanislaus. “There are always assumptions that Arabs did the deed. They don’t ask Presbyterians to take responsibilities for the actions of all Christians.” 

Abu Khalil said he was reluctant to speculate who might be behind the attacks, but he mentioned that when Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was arrested, he said he had a plan that entailed hijacking five planes. 

“It’s a horrible tragedy,” said Adler. “But as Americans, maybe it will make us look at ourselves. We should realize that this is happening to people other places in the world all the time.” 

“Are we so arrogant as a country that we can’t think what we have done for years and years to make other individuals hate us so much?” added Adler. 

UC Berkeley’s Near Eastern Studies Department was practically deserted, although radios and TVs tuned into the news blared from a few faculty offices. “We aren’t ready to speculate,” said Professor John Hayes. “We’ve all been hassled by the media today.” Department manager Yvonne Rosby said many faculty members had not shown up Tuesday. 

Faculty at UC Berkeley’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies refused interviews, and said that it was too early to issue a statement of response. 

SAN FRANCISCO — The mother of a San Francisco man believes her son died a hero aboard one of the airplanes hijacked and destroyed by terrorists. 

Mark Bingham, 31, was sitting in seat 4D in the rear of First Class on United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco. The plane crashed into a grassy field outside Pittsburgh, and Bingham’s mother believes he helped prevent the hijackers from reaching their intended target. 

“The fact that he was so close to the action, it is likely that he was able to get at these guys,” Alice Hoglan said. “He was probably close to where the hijackers did their thing. 

“It gives me a great deal of comfort to know my son may have been able to avert the killing of many, many innocent people.” 

Hoglan, a flight attendant for United, described her son as cerebral and sensitive, but also athletic. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, and was on the rugby team the year it won a national title, she said. 

He was once attacked on the street in San Francisco and wrestled his attackers to the ground, Hoglan said. 

Federal officials have said the intended target of the plane may have been Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland. Flight 93 was the only one of the four planes that missed its target Tuesday. 

Bingham called his mother early Tuesday morning from an airphone on the plane. He began their conversation with the words, “Hi Mom. This is Mark Bingham,” providing a clue to his state of mind as he spoke. 

Hoglan said her son told her the aircraft had been taken over by three men, who said they had a bomb. He mentioned no other weapons. 

She believes the call was made 10 to 15 minutes before the plane crashed. 

Bingham owned a public relations firm, The Bingham Group, with offices in New York and San Francisco. He was splitting his time between the two cities. 

“He was coming home,” Hoglan said. 

Hoglan was surrounded by her son’s friends Tuesday at a relative’s home in Saratoga. 

“He’s a very delightful man,” she said. “I’m pleased that he was my son, and the last thoughts were of his family.” 

By Carlos Cruz and Hadas Ragolsky 

Special to the Daily Planet 

When her mom woke her up yesterday morning Trish Plunkett feared for the worst. 

“You never want to wake up to your mom crying on the phone,” said the UC Berkeley lecturer. “When I heard her voice I knew something bad had happened. So I prepared myself for bad news.” 

Plunkett’s brother, Rob, works at the World Financial Center connected via a walkway to the World Trade Center’s two towers, which were destroyed Tuesday morning at about 6 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. Rob was at work when two hijacked airplanes crashed and demolished the towers in what seems to be a terrorist attack. 

“My brother called my mom and she called me to relay the message,” said Plunkett. “It was early in the morning and I didn’t know what had happened so the whole thing was news to me. He called to tell us not to worry about him.” 

Their relief was short lived. The twin towers collapsed. Plunkett and her mom did not hear from her brother for another 30 minutes. Again, he was okay.  

Thousands of others, however, were not so lucky. It became clear that although the terrorist hits were against buildings in New York and Washington, D.C., the tragedy would spread to Berkeley and the Bay Area as residents here tried to find out what had happened to family and friends who lived or worked in or near the site of the terrorist attacks.  

Employees at the Berkeley office of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter located on Shattuck Avenue were in a state of shock.  

“We don’t have a branch of Morgan Stanley in New York any more, it was blown up,” said one cashier at the Berkeley office. Morgan Stanley’s home base is located at the World Trade Center and Berkeley’s management tried all morning to get in touch with employees, colleagues and customers there.  

“Our headquarters was destroyed,” said Krittibs Ray who works at the Berkeley Morgan Stanley. “It’s extremely evil. All morning long I was on the phone with people from New York. I believe a client of mine died but I don’t know for sure. I tried to call his wife, his son, his daughter but I couldn’t reach anyone.”  

Ray said that he knew of no one from the Berkeley branch that was visiting the New York office.  

“I’ve been in this building so many times,” he said referring to the World Trade Center. “I could have been there myself. It’s extremely depressing.” 

Frankie Ross, financial advisor from the Berkeley branch of Merrill Lynch, said their main office in New York was also destroyed in the attacks.  

“I have friends who work in that building,” he said. “Our chairman, our president, all those people … I’m not sure what the situation is.”  

Kristen Ziazie, a UC Berkeley junior, found out about the attack when her mother called her after her first morning class. 

“When I got home this morning I didn’t know what had happened so when my roommate told me my mom had tried calling all morning I became very scared,” she said. But she too got good news by the end of the morning. Her sister, Sarah, who works five blocks from the World Trade Center, had been spared.  

Two members of the Berkeley Fire Department are about to fly east to assist in search and rescue operations in either New York or Washington, D.C. 

The two are Darren Bobrosky, an apparatus operator at Fire Station 5 on Shattuck Avenue, and Bobrosky’s partner, a 6-year old, highly-trained German Shephard named Dylan. 

Bobrosky and Dylan are both members of an Urban Search and Rescue team based in Oakland. The team, which works with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has been placed on alert and is expected to fly out of Travis Air Force Base today. 

Reached at his home Tuesday evening, Bobrosky said that he has been on the phone all day, talking with other members of his team and trying to get solid information about when and where they would be traveling. 

Bobrosky said that while there was no time certain for his departure, all indications were that they would be leaving within 24 hours. 

“I’m nervous, but this is what we’ve been trained to do,” he said. “I just wish we were going right now.” 

Throughout Bobrosky’s conversation with the Daily Planet, Dylan could be heard woofing in the background. 

“He’s ready to roll,” Bobrosky said. 

USAR teams are special task forces organized by FEMA to assist in rescue operations when a major emergency – an earthquake or other natural catastrophe, or a terrorist attack – strikes an American city. Each team has 56 members, which include structural engineers, paramedics and radio operators as well as dog handlers. Every member of a USAR team has been certified by FEMA as an emergency response specialist.  

Bobrosky said that there are only 100 dogs in the country to have undergone the rigorous training – which can take several years – that urban search dogs receive. He said that Dylan has been trained specifically to “recognize the scent of live human beings” through as much as 100 feet of rubble, and to give a distinctive bark when he does.  

“The dogs do this job better than any kind of machinery, or technology,” Bobrosky said. “They’re as close to 100 percent accurate as you can get.” 

Though they have been certified USAR specialists for three and one-half years, this will be the first emergency that Bobrosky and Dylan will have worked on. Bobrosky said that Dylan didn’t require much equipment – a harness to lower him into broken concrete, a blanket to keep him warm – but that what he needed was packed and ready to go. 

“We’re as prepared as we can get, and we are ready to help,” he said. 

Bobrosky credited the Berkeley Fire Department for its support of his emergency rescue work. He approached the BFD about developing a canine search capability several years ago and he said that the department has supported him throughout his training.  

“I appreciate all the support that he BFD has given to me and to the USAR,” he said.

Early reports of casualties resulting from Tuesday’s attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon brought quick comparisons to the attack on Pearl Harbor that thrust the United States into World War II.  

Historians and public policy experts, however, say the attacks differ in many ways. Most notably, they say, there is no immediate and apparent enemy to retaliate against.  

Early reports suggesting more than 10,000 dead as a result of the attacks also exceed the 2,390 people who died at Pearl Harbor. 

One thing that is apparent, however, is the momentum building for reprisals against those who perpetrated the acts. 

“If there have been 10,000 people killed, the response is going to be ‘let’s find the guys and clobber them,’” said Michael Nacht, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Public Policy and a former member of the National Security Council under the Clinton Administration. 

President Bush’s statement proved Nacht correct. “(We’ll) hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts,” Bush said. 

Diane Clemens, UC Berkeley professor of history, compared Pearl Harbor to Tuesday’s attack. Pearl Harbor “was the attack of an organized government under the regular rules of war,” she said. 

However, the attacks Tuesday morning were by an “unseen, unknown, undeclared enemy on American soil against American citizens,” Clemens said. It was “much more heinous than traditional warfare.”  

This, she said, makes swift action similar to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s request for a declaration of war against the Japanese the day after Pearl Harbor almost impossible. 

“Immediately after Pearl Harbor, a state of war was in existence, much like now. Then, the day after, Congress simply declared war. A de facto state of war was brought into existence, but it’s not locatable.” 

On the other hand, speaking to CNN, Senator Chuck Hagel, of Nebraska, underscored what he saw as the similarities between Tuesday’s events and the attack on the U.S. Naval base the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, calling them a “second Pearl Harbor.” 

Nacht thought that such comparisons with Pearl Harbor are mistaken. 

“It’s not a very good analogy,” he said. “This is different. We are not at war with any sovereign government. It may take forever,” to find the party responsible for the actions. 

“This is a highly diversified and fractional threat, and it’s here.” 

Because the group or groups which perpetrated the hijackings of the four planes are probably loosely organized, Nacht said any future attempts to prosecute them in an international tribunal will be very difficult. 

“You’d be very hard pressed to find the evidence you need to say ‘We’ve got it, let’s go get them.’” 

Barbara Metcalf, professor of history at UC Davis, said that the instinct to blame and vilify must be avoided. “We should be cautious about pointing fingers, not the least because we don’t know who the enemy was.” 

Metcalf, who teaches Muslim studies said that she most feared reprisals against certain communities similar to Japanese Americans interred during World War II. 

“The worst thing that could happen is that everybody assumes this is an Islamic group.” 

The terrorist attacks that closed airports here and across the nation came at a time when the Service Employees International Union has a major drive underway to organize luggage screeners at Oakland, Seattle-Tacoma and Los Angeles International Airports. 

“It’s hard to comment right now, this is such a tragedy,” said SEIU organizer Andrea Dehlendorf as she watched the news of the explosions from her home in the East Bay. 

Screeners are the first line of resistance against terrorist attacks that originate at airports. From 1990 to 1999, screeners located nearly 23,000 firearms and explosive devices, resulting in more than 9,400 arrests, according to a June 2000 U.S. General Accounting Office report to Congress on airport security. 

An estimated 18,000 screeners work at the nation’s airports, employed by almost 100 different security companies, according to the GAO. 

SEIU is targeting approximately 400 workers on the West Coast employed by Huntleigh USA, a subcontractor of Southwest Airlines. About 100 of those workers are at Oakland Airport, Dehlendorf said. 

Many of Huntleigh’s security employees, who make as little as $7 an hour and do not receive benefits, are responsible for everything from detecting explosives in luggage to screening boarding passengers for hand weapons, according to the union. 

The Federal Aviation Administration and airlines share the responsibility of screening passengers and carry-on baggage and the agency has long expressed concerns about the screeners’ ability to detect dangerous objects. In a June 2000 report to Congress on airport security, the GAO noted serious concerns by airline regulators about the impact of low pay, poor training and high turnover on this workforce.  

“Not only has turnover been an historical problem, but it is worse today than it was in the past,” the GAO said, noting that in 1994 the turnover at some U.S. airports was 100 percent in a 10-month period. The federal watchdog agency said high turnover rates mean that “checkpoints are rarely staffed by screeners with much experience,” reflecting both the low pay and monotony of the job. Screeners “who do not have the necessary knowledge, skills, or abilities to perform the work effectively” are often expected to work for wages lower than those paid in some airport fast food restaurants, the GAO said. 

Over the past three years, the SEIU has successfully organized Globe and Argenbright employees at Los Angeles International Airport, Dehlendorf said, adding that those workers now earn $9 an hour and receive benefits. She said Huntleigh is resisting the union and has refused to speak to SEIU officials. 

Officials at Huntleigh USA could not be reached immediately for comment, and Brandi King a spokeswoman for Southwest Airlines headquarters in Dallas said the carrier could not comment about the wages Huntleigh pays security workers. 

But SEIU officials have maintained that the carriers themselves do have responsibility for how their subcontracted employees are paid. “Those workers are providing a service to Southwest,” Dehlendorf said following a Labor Day weekend rally at Oakland Airport that drew more than 100 picketers. “Working conditions directly affect Southwest, so they should care.” 

“Our position all along has been that wage and benefit standards for the workers who are responsible for security at airports are substandard,” Dehlendorf said. “We just hope that there are people who will listen to the screeners, who have a lot of suggestions about how they can do their job better.”

STANFORD (AP) — Former Secretary of State George Shultz said the United States should respond aggressively to Tuesday’s terrorist attacks and must not let them change the nation’s way of life. 

“This is an act of war by somebody,” said Shultz, who was President Reagan’s secretary of state from 1982 to 1989 and now is a fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University. 

Shultz said he expected the nation will find out soon who was responsible for organizing the attack. 

“I think we should retailiate vigorously ... making it as clear as possible to the people who do this the cost is going to be very high,” he said. 

Shultz also said the United States needs to strengthen its intelligence-gathering abilities overseas. 

“We have to look to the quality of our human intelligence. An awful lot of terrorist incidents don’t take place because of intelligence that allows you to do something about it,” he said. 

“Human intelligence is hard, it’s something that doesn’t come easily for us. You find yourself associating with some unseemly characters. It’s a tough kind of business.” 

Shultz said that while he was in office, national security experts were more concerned about terrorist acts against Americans overseas than on U.S. soil. But while Tuesday’s attackers “did something that was unexpected, turning commercial airplanes into bombs, I and many others have been saying it’s a tough world out there.” 

Even so, he added: “It’s important that we not allow this to disrupt our lives unnecessarily. And I don’t think it will. We’re resourceful, dynamic people.” 

By Erica Werner  

Associated Press Writer 

LOS ANGELES – Arab- and Muslim-American groups in California reported threats and outbursts of hatred on Tuesday in response to the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. 

“We have been receiving very intense threats on our answering machines at our offices,” said Michel Shehadeh, West Coast regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. “It’s from people we don’t know. They don’t know who we are. They just targeted us because we are an American-Arab organization, and that is the scary part. 

“We feel very vulnerable right now.” 

California is home to an estimated 750,000 to 1 million Arab-Americans, more than any other state, though Michigan has a higher concentration, Arab-American groups say. There are 5 million to 6 million Arab-Americans in the country. 

No one claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Bush administration officials said Saudi exile Osama bin Laden was their top suspect. Arab- and Muslim-American groups in California unanimously condemned the attacks, but feared they would be targeted in reprisal. 

The Council on American-Islamic Relations says more than 200 Arab- and Muslim-Americans were victimized after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing by Army veteran Timothy McVeigh. 

Shehadeh said his group had received dozens of messages containing death threats, obscenities and racial slurs. The Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles, the Islamic Networks Group in San Jose and other groups reported similar calls. 

Gov. Gray Davis cautioned against such a response, saying, “We do not want Americans turning on Americans. We do not want reprisals within our borders.” 

FBI spokesman Matthew McLaughlin said the agency was not investigating any specific incidents but that threats against the Arab-American community had been foreseen. 

Southern California’s oldest mosque, the Islamic Center of Southern California in Los Angeles, shut its doors Tuesday morning for everything but prayers and requested police protection. 

The center also closed its four elementary and middle schools in Southern California, sending 500 students home until Thursday at the earliest, said Omar Ricci, spokesman for the Muslim Public Affairs Council. 

“We don’t know what’s going to happen. It may be under the cover of darkness that someone’s going to try and come and do something,” Ricci said. 

In Northern California, Santa Clara County officials were investigating a series of threats against a Pakistani market, said Jim McEntee, director of human relations. 

The Arab-American Congress of Silicon Valley condemned the attacks in a statement and called for a swift government response. 

“Finally, the Arab-American Congress of Silicon Valley is calling upon all media to please refrain from speculation about who may be responsible, and to remind their audiences that the victims of today’s action, in all likelihood, include Americans of Arab descent,” the statement said. 

Californians abandoned offices, raced home to families and prayed for victims in a wave of fear, anxiety and grief after four airliners bound for the state were hijacked Tuesday and turned into devastating terrorist weapons in attacks in the East. 

Landmarks from San Francisco’s Transamerica Pyramid to Disneyland were shuttered, and security was heightened from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Mexican border. Airports were closed and evacuated, stranding travelers. 

The San Ysidro port of entry east of San Diego, the world’s busiest land border crossing, was closed for nearly two hours Tuesday night following a bomb threat, said Lauren Mack a spokeswoman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service office in San Diego. It was reopened after a sweep by bomb-sniffing dogs turned up nothing. 

Traffic at the crossing backed up into Tijuana, Mexico, earlier Tuesday as federal agents carefully searched each northbound vehicle before letting it through. 

The state remained free of attacks, but an emotional wound was opened as the enormity of the destruction at New York City’s World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the vulnerability of the nation became apparent. 

“They brought America to our knees and it scares the hell out of me,” traveler Beth Tabler of San Diego said at Lindbergh Field, where her flight to Cleveland was canceled. 

“It’s beyond comprehension,” said George Straight, a loan officer in Tustin. “The actual effect of the attack, the loss of life is beyond comprehension.” 

Three of the hijacked flights were bound for Los Angeles and one was headed to San Francisco. Officials expected the passenger lists would show many Californians. 

“This is a time for prayer and for coming together as a country,” Gov. Gray Davis told a press conference in West Sacramento. 

Richard Garcia, special agent in charge of the Los Angeles FBI office, said the agency did not know who was involved in the attacks but had collected a “massive” amount of information. 

“We did not have any specific information on any threats dealing with the West Coast, but we also didn’t have any information about the East Coast,” Garcia said. 

The daily hum of California life came to an abrupt halt: Theme parks closed down and planned public gatherings such as the Latin Grammys, scheduled Tuesday night in Inglewood, next Sunday’s Emmy Awards and sporting events were postponed. 

Local military bases were under heightened alert. Special measures were taken to protect California’s electrical grid, water distribution system and key bridges, Davis said. 

California Highway Patrol Commissioner D.O. “Spike” Helmick said authorities had received threats in the state “but none of them have been verified so we are not aware of any real threat to our people.” 

Los Angeles International Airport and San Francisco’s Transamerica Pyramid were among facilities and buildings closed as the attacks sent shock waves the length of the state. Both were among sites mentioned as possible targets in a recent terrorism trial in Los Angeles. The roads and terminals of Los Angeles International, which handles more than 67 million passengers a year, were eerily silent after the morning evacuation. 

Only two or three families of crash victims came to Red Cross grievance counselors, spokeswoman Lourdes del Rio Valdes said. Red Cross officials also said they were setting up a shelter for stranded travelers who didn’t have hotel rooms. 

Los Angeles City Council President Alex Padilla, speaking for the city leadership because Mayor James Hahn was stranded in Washington, said authorities had received “no credible threats” against the city. Police Chief Bernard Parks sought to reassure citizens but he had to concede uncertainty. 

“We certainly have no guarantees, but we’re certainly looking at all of the precautionary measures to ensure that the community is as safe as possible,” Parks said. 

Security cordons were established around federal, state and local government buildings. Coast Guard vessels escorted ships entering California ports. Landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge remained open but security was heightened. 

“It’s unbelievable, it’s like a movie,” sheriff’s Deputy Mazen Barbari said while standing guard in front of San Francisco City Hall. 

California Highway Patrol officers, sheriff’s deputies and heavily armed FBI agents wearing bullet proof vests dotted the perimeter of the Federal Building in the Westwood section of Los Angeles. A police helicopter circled overhead. 

Norma Gonzales, a UCLA Medical Center worker, waited anxiously for her car pool back to her home in San Bernardino. 

“I want to go home and be with my baby. It’s like Pearl Harbor,” she said. 

The pandemonium at ground zero of the attacks was more than 40-year-old Virginia Roberts could take as she stared, transfixed, at a TV at an Irvine gas station. 

“I just want to go home,” she said. “I’m scared. I’m scared for everybody,” Roberts said. 

“I just want to go home because I don’t feel safe here,” Elaine Galicia, office assistant for state Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Commerce, said as officer workers filed out of the Capitol in Sacramento. 

Downtown Los Angeles’ business core emptied rapidly, leaving few people other than security guards by late morning. A recorded phone message at the Building Owners and Managers Association said that by 10:30 a.m. more than 60 Los Angeles-area buildings had closed. 

“It’s a ghost town, man,” cab driver Adrian Escalante said as he waited in vain with other cabbies for fares on Grand Avenue. 

“There’s so many ways we’re vulnerable; that’s what’s frightening,” guitarist Eric Henderson said as he waited at Los Angeles’ Union Station for a train home to Laguna Beach. 

Californians also responded to a call for blood donations, with hundreds lining up at a San Francisco center. 

As phalanxes of television sets broadcast terrible scenes into an Orange County electronics store, Dennis Loi, 35, could only shake his head. 

“I’m nervous. What’s next? What is going to happen next?” he said. “That’s all I can think about.” 

WASHINGTON — The terror attacks in the nation’s business and government capitals may well push the teetering economy into recession, analysts suggested. The Federal Reserve said it stood ready to pump extra money into the economy if needed to try to avert such a development. 

The Fed’s promise to supply additional money to the banking system was similar to a pledge it issued on the morning after the October 1987 stock market crash. That action, only two months into Alan Greenspan’s tenure as chairman, was credited with keeping the economy out of recession. 

However, private analysts said the Fed’s magic of lower interest rates and ample supplies of cash to the banking system may not be enough to overcome Tuesday’s series of attacks, which occurred at a time when the economy was already struggling and consumer confidence was faltering. 

“The economy has been on a high-wire act straddling between a recession and anemic growth. Now the terrorists have cut the wire underneath our feet,” said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo in Minneapolis. “The United States and the rest of the world are likely to experience a full-blown recession now.” 

The concern is that consumers will cut back further on their spending. 

Consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of the nation’s economic activity. Even before Tuesday’s attacks, signs of trouble were evident as Americans grew more worried about their jobs with each new rash of layoff announcements. 

The government had reported last Friday that the unemployment rate shot up to 4.9 percent in August as job losses in manufacturing climbed above 1 million. 

The overall economy grew by just 0.2 percent in the April-June quarter, the poorest showing in eight years. Before the terrorist attacks, many analysts had been forecasting a rebound to around 1.5 percent growth in the gross domestic product for the current quarter, helped by seven interest rate cuts from the Fed and nearly $40 billion in tax rebate money being mailed to Americans. 

But economists said the terror attacks, in addition to hurting consumer confidence, could disrupt the economy in a variety of ways, including severely curtailing air travel, which especially would harm areas that depend on tourism. 

“There is no economic good that comes out of this. It is just a question of how bad will it be,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com. “It is now likely we will get a negative GDP number for the third quarter, given all of the economic disruptions that this is creating with a shutdown of the transportation system and the financial markets.” 

The Fed’s promise to supply extra money to the banking system is an attempt to assure depositors that no bank will get caught without adequate resources to meet its normal operating needs. 

Zandi predicted the Fed would follow that with further cuts in interest rates. 

The Fed already had reduced its key benchmark rate, the federal funds rate, seven times so far this year, the last cut occurring at its Aug. 21 meeting. 

The Fed next meets on Oct. 2 although some analysts said the central bank may feel a need to deliver a positive jolt to markets with an intermeeting rate cut, something it has already done twice this year. 

Greenspan, who had been attending a banking conference in Basel, Switzerland, was on a plane returning to the United States when the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center occurred. His commercial flight, along with other international flights to the United States, was diverted. A Basel police official said Greenspan’s flight had returned to Switzerland. 

Fed spokesman Dave Skidmore said Greenspan was on the ground at a location he refused to disclose for security reasons. Skidmore said Greenspan was being kept fully apprised of developments through a monitoring team assembled at Fed headquarters in Washington operating under the direction of Fed Vice Chairman Roger Ferguson. 

William McDonough, president of the Fed’s New York regional bank, who was with Greenspan at the Switzerland conference of the Bank for International Settlements, said Fed officials were striving to make sure essential banking operations were not disrupted. 

“The New York Fed will make every effort to conduct business as normal,” McDonough said in a telephone interview with Dow Jones Newswires. “I am sure that central bankers everywhere will do everything possible to maintain calm and seek to ensure the world economy functions smoothly in the face of this horrendous deed.” 

As the Fed sought to reassure the country that the nation’s banking system was safe, Harvey Pitt, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, issued a statement saying that the closing of financial markets on Tuesday was a “temporary phenomenon. Trading will resume as soon as it is practicable to do so.” 

Officials said late Tuesday that the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq Stock Market and the American Stock Exchange would remain closed at least through Wednesday. 

While most people are thinking about the tragic loss of life during the events Tuesday, some are looking at what the loss will mean to the U.S. economy. 

It will take generations to replace skills lost of workers killed Tuesday, one expert said. “Those are very specialized people,” said Richard K. Lyons, professor of finance and economics at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. 

The Berkeley offices of Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley had major offices at the World Trade Center. Other financial corporations among the 63 registered security brokers at the World Trade Center include Charles Schwab, Raymond James and Dean Witter Reynolds. 

“Even if we get the stock exchange up and running,” said Lyons, “building up that stock of people and skills is a generational thing. That’s the longer term impact.” 

The American Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market all closed Tuesday after the tragedy. Markets were to remain closed for a second day today, an occurrence not seen since President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, said Andrew Leckey, director of the business reporting program at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. Officials “didn’t want to start up the other markets with just chaos reigning,” Leckey said. 

According to CNN’s Financial Network, futures of Standard & Poor’s 500 index, Nasdaq and the Dow Jones Industrial Average all fell just before the markets were closed. Abroad, markets plunged in Frankfurt, Milan, Paris and London; stocks in Brazil, Argentina, Canada and Mexico also fell, the network reported. 

What the effect of the attacks will be on the markets, said Alan Auerbach, chair of UC Berkeley’s economics department, is “hard to know.” 

“If we got into a phase of having substantially reduced international trade because there’s a lot of pressure to protect international shipping and international flights,” then the markets could be harmed for some time Auerbach said. 

But some experts think the markets will be able to rebound. “The market always surprises you,” Leckey said. “It’s something that people will work very hard to get up and running again.” 

Two years after a Critical Mass ride ended in eight arrests and 36 citations on the University Avenue overpass, the City Council will review an opinion by the city attorney tonight, which upholds the prohibition of bicycle traffic on the span. 

On Feb. 13, the council requested the city attorney’s opinion on the recommendation of the Police Review Commission, which investigated bicyclists’ complaints of police misconduct during the arrests.  

The PRC did not find any evidence of police misconduct, but, based on the opinion of local attorney David Beuvais, did recommend the council verify the legality of prohibiting bicyclists on the University Avenue overpass, the Solano Tunnel and the Ashby Underpass.  

The PRC also requested the Berkeley Police Department be required to write police reports on all accidents involving automobiles and bicycles whether there’s an injury or not.  

City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque discounted Beuvais’ interpretation of the law. In her June 1 opinion, she cited the 1952 Grade-Separation Law, part of the Berkeley Municipal Code, and argued that bicycle traffic is legally prohibited on the roadways in question.  

City Manager Weldon Rucker agreed with the city attorney in a September staff report. 

“The concern of the city is the safety of bicyclists,” he wrote, “(and) all of the specified roadways are dangerous for bicyclists.”  

The report also points out that the Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge, which is near completion, will provide a safe route across the freeway back and forth from the Berkeley Marina. 

Director of the Bicycle Civil Liberties Union Jason Meggs said the city attorney’s ruling presents a problem because the almost-50-year-old Grade-Separation Law, which prohibits bicycles on the overpass, is written to cover any street that passes over another. 

“According to the letter of the law, the new bicycle and pedestrian bridge would be illegal for bicyclists and pedestrians because it passes over the freeway,” said Meggs who wrote a proposal to rescind the law. Meggs said the law also applies to several other roadways in Berkeley.  

But Deputy City Attorney Matt Orebic said the Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridge will not be affected by the law because the grade separation law specifically refers to “streets” and the bridge is not considered a street. 

“The only way to interpret this law is by common sense,” Orebic said, “and it’s clear the bridge won’t require an amendment to the Grade Separation Law.” 

In addition the PRC asked that the BPD be required to Grade Separation Law.” 

In addition the PRC asked that the BPD be required to write police reports on all accidents involving cars and bicycles including non-injury accidents.  

The city manager said in the September staff report that Berkeley police are currently required to write reports on all injury accidents including those involving bicyclists. But the report said the police do not have the resources to write reports on non-injury accidents. 

“Expanding report requirements to non-injury accidents would place an undue burden on the patrol fleet and remove officers from patrol duties in order to accomplish this task,” the report said. 

Meggs, who said he was recently involved in an accident with a tow truck while riding his bicycle, said he was skeptical of the city manager’s reasoning. 

“That’s a convenient excuse,” he said. “When someone is assaulting you with a deadly weapon, you better believe there needs to be a report written.” 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said he had not yet taken a stance on the city attorney’s opinion. However, he did say the city needs to work harder to be friendly to bicyclists and transit users.  

“The city gives lip service to having a transit first policy but there are hundreds of little impediments that discourage people from using bicycles and public transportation.”

Tuesday, Sept. 11

City Council meeting 

7 p.m. 

Old City Hall 

2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

Ecology of Mediterranean  

Climate Streams 

5:15 - 6:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley  

212 O’Brien Hall 

Part of the California Colloquium on Water lecture series. Vincent H. Rash, professor of entomology and parasitology will give a lecture including questions and answers. 642-2666 lvida@library.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley Housing Authority Homeownership Program 

4 - 6 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St. 

Town Hall Meeting, find out what the Section 8 Homeownership Program means to you. 548-8776 

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 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2-7 p.m. 

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street.. 548-3333 

Free Early Music Group 

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Small group sings madrigals and other voice harmony every  

Tuesday. 655-8863 

Dateline: Israel 2001: A Middle East Update 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Informative and timely presentation on the current situation in the Middle East with Professor Ze’ev Brinner. 848-0237 

Nutrition talk 

11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

City Nutritionist Natalie Krelle-Zepponi will speak about farm-fresh foods. 644-6107 

Freedom From Tobacco: A Quit Smoking Class 

6 - 8 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St. 

Free to Berkeley residents and employees. 644-6422 quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Free Legal Workshop 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Women’s Cancer Resource Center 

3023 Shattuck Ave.  

“Too Sick to Work: Cash Assistance and Health Insurance if Cancer Prevents You from Working.” This workshop will provide information about state and federal disability programs that provide cash benefits and health insurance to people unable to work due to a serious health condition.  

601-4040 x303 

Wednesday, Sept. 12

Police Review Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St. 

Among other items, the commission will evaluate charges of discrimination and talk about recruitment efforts. 644-6716 

Women’s Group 

7 p.m. 

Boadecia’s Books 

398 Colusa Ave. 

“In the Name of Salome” by Julia Alvarez. New members welcome. 559-9184 www.bookpride.com 

Commission on Disability  

Meeting 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

6:30 p.m. 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Promoting the total integration and participation of persons with disabilities into all areas of economic, political, and community life. 

Homeless Commission Meeting 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

7 p.m. 

1901 Heast Ave. 

Discussion regarding enforcement of the Lodging Law, status of UA Homes and the Commission’s work plan for the remainder of the year. 

Waterfront Commssion  

Meeting 

Marina Office Conference Room 

7 p.m. 

201 University Ave. 

Discussing Boating and Waterways Loan as well as Water Transit Authority and Prospects for a Berkeley Ferry. 

Fishbowl: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Opposite Sex, but Were Afraid to Ask 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Dating, relationships, religions, sexuality and values. An opportunity to ask anonymous questions in a confidential and supportive environment. Social and Single. $8. 848-0237 

Socratic Circle Discussions 

5 - 6 p.m. 

Cafe Eclectica 

1309 Solano Ave. 

Does your brain need a workout? All ages welcome. 527-2344 

Topher Delaney: Ten  

Landscapes 

7:30 p.m. 

Builder’s Booksource 

1817 Fourth St. 

An exploration of her art of gardening and landscape architecture. 

845-6874 www.buildersbooksite.com 

Making Additions Match - Avoiding the Tacked-On Look 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Seminar taught by  

architect/ columnist Arrol Gellner. $35. 525-7610 

A Taste of the World: Cultural Understanding Through Food 

6 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Enhance your cooking skills and experience the cuisines of Spain, Portugal, Italy, Morocco and Israel with Chef Daniel Herskovic. All classes are “hands on.” Class includes meal and cooking lesson. $25. Every Wednesday through Nov. 1. 655-8487 

Planning Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Zoning ordinance amendments re: Prohibitions and restrictions related to carry-out or quick service restaurants on San Pablo Ave. Public Hearing. 

981-6900 

Thursday, Sept. 13

Help Save the West Berkeley Shellmound 

2 p.m. 

U.S. Post Office Building 

201 - 13th St., Oakland 

Bring as many people as possible to make a statement before the Court in Oakland in defense of protective landmark status to the oldest dated mound site in the Bay Area. Landmark status is currently being contested by the industrial property owners who originated this lawsuit against the city of Berkeley. Time and place may change, call ahead to confirm: 841-8562  

Joint Design Review Board and Zoning Adjustment Board Meeting 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

6:30 p.m. 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Public Comment on Green Building Initiatives, Workshop on Green Building and follow-up discussion and introduction of draft revision to incorporate green design guidelines. 

Special City Council Meeting 

City Council Chambers 

7 p.m. 

2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

The first of two public hearings to consider proposals to amend Council District boundaries based on the 2000 census figures. 

Orangutans in the Wild: Travel in Borneo 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Professional photographer and writer Christine Krieg will give a slide show of her travels to the Tanjung Puting National Park on the south coast of Central Kalimantan. Free. 527-4140 

Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn 

7 p.m. 

Berkeley Community Theater 

1930 Allston Way 

Renowned Vietnamese poet, peace activist and Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn will give a public lecture. 433-9928 

Friday, Sept. 14

Even Stronger Women 

1:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Free weekly cultural discussion class. This week: women’s humor. 549-1879 

Yiddish Conversation Group 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

644-6107 

Saturday, Sept. 15

The 2001 International Coastal Cleanup 

9 a.m. - noon 

Sea Breeze Market and Deli 

Corner of W. Frontage Rd. and University Ave. 

Last year, more than 1,030 volunteers picked up 30 tons of garbage in the Berkeley area. .Please arrive promptly at 9 a.m. to sign appropriate waivers, free cup of coffee and safety talk. 644-8623 www.oceanconservancy.org 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class 

9 a.m. - 11 a.m. 

997 Cedar St. 

Basic personal preparedness class. Free to residents 18 or older who Berkeley. 644-8736 

Editor: 

I was so happy to read Richard Register’s letter in the Daily Planet. His appreciation of the sunrise and simultaneous “... Bay waters in view shimmering in bright turquoise and teal,” from the roof deck of his new home, the Gaia Building, really gave me new hope. 

For it is certain that anyone as sensitive as Mr. Register to the aesthetic value and health benefits of sunlight will fight tooth-and-claw, with every weapon at their disposal, and to the very death, to defeat the proposed 5-story building at the corner of Acton and University. As the proposal will of course take one-half of every day’s sunlight from the homes of the poor who live at Erna P. Harris Court, directly west of the proposal. 

Welcome to the fight, Mr. Register. And I am as pleased as you that nobody can, any longer, call you “hypocrite”! 

Richard Berkeley 

Berkeley 

Albatross Pub Sept. 11: Mad & Eddie Duran Jazz Duo; Sept. 13: Kenji “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Sept. 19: Whiskey Brothers; Sept. 20: Kenji “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Sept. 22: Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet; Sept. 27: Kenji “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Free. All shows begin at 9 p.m. 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473 albatrosspub@mindspring.com  

Café de la Paz Poetry Nitro, performance showcase with open mike. Sept. 17: Marc Hofstadter (book party); Sept. 24: Jim Watson-Gove; All shows free, 7 - 10 p.m. 

Cal Performances Sept. 16: 7 p.m. Tania Libertad, $18 - $30; Sept. 30: 7 p.m. Kronos Quartet, David Barron, $30; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 642-0212 tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. - 2 a.m., Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; Sept. 3: 2 - 8 p.m. Big West Coast Harmonica Bash, afternoon benefit for Red Archibald. $10 donation; Doors open at 8 p.m. unless noted. 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage Sept. 11: Don Walser, Slaid Cleaves, $16.50; Sept. 12: Andy Irvine, $17.50; Sept. 13: Piper Heisig birthday revue and fund raiser w/ Kate Brislin, Sylvia Herold, Tony Marcus, Carlos Reyes, and Radim Zenkl, $16.50; Sept. 14: Ray Wylie Hubbard, $16.50; Sept. 15: Vocolot, $17.50; All shows start at 8 p.m. 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

Jupiter Sept. 11: Len Patterson Trio; Sept. 12: Bitches Brew; Sept. 13: Beatdown w/ DJs Delon, Yamu, and Add1; Sept. 14: Carlos Washington & Giant People Ensemble; Sept. 15: Kooken & Hoomen; Sept. 18: The Goodbye Flowers; Sept. 19: New Monsoon; Sept. 20: Beatdown w/ DJs Delon, Yamu, and Add1; Sept. 21: Netwerk: Electric; Sept. 22: New Garde Philosophers; All music starts at 8 p.m. 2181  

Shattuck Ave. 843-7625 www.jupiterbeer.com  

La Peña Cultural Center Sept. 11 & 12: 8 p.m. Irakere, $22; In the Cafe, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 www.lapena.org 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church Sept. 15: George Brooks and Shweta Jhaveri with Uttam Chakraborty on drums. $18 - $25; 2727 College Ave. 843-9600 www.harmoniventures.com 

Sedge Thomson’s West Coast Live Radio Show Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Ave.; Sept. 29: Nancy Miford, author of “Savage Beauty.” West African folk music with The Nigerian Brothers. Blues roots piano by Caroline Dahl. The Freight and Salvage, 1111 Addison St. All shows 10 a.m. - noon. 252-9214 www.wcl.org 

Squelched.com Presents “Jim Short” Sept. 11: 8 p.m. Jim Short is an Australian expatriate who grew up in Texas. Also appearing: Rob Cantrell, Luke Filose and Sean Keane. Blake’s on Telegraph, 2367 Telegraph Ave. 848-0886 show@squelched.com 

“Hecho En Califas Chicano-Latino Teatro Festival”  

Sept. 14 - 15; 8 p.m. Original members of El Teatro de La Esperanza. Chicano Theater began out of the need to express the realities of the fields and barrios of Aztlán in the Chicano-Latino community. $10 - $20 La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck, 849-2568, www.lapena.org  

“Winesburg, Ohio: Tales of the Grotesque” through Sept. 16, Wed. - Sat. 8:30 p.m., Sun. 5 p.m. The Shotgun Players and Word For Word team up for a production of Sherwood Anderson’s deceptively simple tale of neglected souls who fade into the shadows around us. $22, Wednesdays are “Pay What You Can.” Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Ave. 655-0813 www.shotgunplayers.org 

“The Secret Garden” Sept. 14, 15, 21, 22, at 8 p.m. Sept. 16 & 23 matinees. The Alameda Civic Light Opera’s fifth summer season ends with the musical of Frances Hodson Burnett’s classic story of life, death, purpose and hope. Adults $22, Students 18 and under $14. Kofman Auditorium, 2200 Central Ave., Alameda. www.aclo.com 

“36 Views” Sept. 12 through Oct. 28: Tues. 8 p.m., Wed. 7 p.m., Thu. 8 p.m. w/ 2 p.m. matinee every other Thu., Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 8 p.m. w/ 2 p.m. matinee every other Sat., Sun. 2 p.m., 8 p.m. Written by Naomi Lizuka, Directed by Mark Wing-Davey. $10 - $54. Berkeley Repertory’s Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Murder Dressed in Satin” by Victor Lawhorn, ongoing. A mystery-comedy dinner show at The Madison about a murder at the home of Satin Moray, a club owner and self-proclaimed socialite with a scarlet past. Dinner is included in the price of the theater ticket. $47.50 Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison St., Oakland. 239-2252 www.acteva.com/go/havefun 

Cal Performances Sept. 19 - 20: 8 p.m. American Ballet, “Bruch Violin Concerto,” “Jabula,” “Gong,” and “Black Tuesday.”; Sept. 21: 8 p.m., Sept. 22: 2 p.m. & 8 p.m., Sept. 23: 3 p.m. American Ballet, the full-length 19th Century “Giselle” $36 - $64; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 642-0212, tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Films 

Pacific Film Archive Sept. 10: 7 p.m. “Orfeu”, Sept. 11: 7:30 p.m. “The Film of Maya Deren”; Sept. 12 7:30 p.m. “Autrian AudioVisions”; Sept. 14: 7:30 “Eyes of the Spider”, 9:20 “Serpent’s Path”; Sept. 15: 4:30 p.m. “The New God”, 7:00 p.m. “Seance”, 9:05 p.m. “Looking for Angel”; Sept. 16: 3:30 p.m. “Alphaville”, 5:30 p.m. “Solaris”; Sept. 17: 7 p.m. “Charcoal People”; Sept. 18: 7:30 p.m. “Mike Kuchar’s Feverish Spell”; Sept. 19: 7:30 p.m. “Wht About Me: The Rise of the Nihilist Spasm Band”; general admission $7, The New PFA Theatre 2575 Bancroft Way 642-1412 

The Pyramid Alehouse Outdoor Cinema Sept. 15: “Harold and Maude”; Sept. 22: “Airplane”; The Outdoor Cinema features cult classics projected on a large screen in the open-air brewery parking lot. $5 donation. Movies start at 7 p.m. 901 Gilman St. 206-682-8322 x237 www.pyramidbrew.com 

Exhibits 

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

“The Political Art of: Diego Marcial Rios” Through Sept. 20, Addison Street Window Gallery, 2018 Addison St. hdrios@msn.com 

Women’s Cancer Resource Gallery “Catastrophe, Crisis, and Other Family Traditions” The photography of Jessamyn Lovell. Through Sept. 26; “The Arthur Wright and Gerald Parker” Reception Sept. 8. Through Sept. 26; Tues. - Thurs. 1 - 7 p.m., Sat. 12 - 4 p.m. 3023 Shattuck Ave. 548-9286 x307 www.wcrc.org 

“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.  

“Squared Triangle” Through Oct. 5: noon - 6 p.m. A minimalist art exhibit featuring three Bay Area artists working in different mediums while achieving the same elegant simplicity. The Crucible, 1036 Ashby Ave. 843-5511 www.thecrucible.com 

“Inside Editions” through Oct. 12: Nine printmakers exhibit their work. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Tue. - Fri. Free. Kala Art Insitute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977 kala@kala.org 

“Census 2000: Asian Pacific Islander Americans” through Oct. 13; Wed. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Asian Pacific Islander American artists in roughly the demographic proportions indicated by the recent census. Free. Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St., Oakland 763-9470  

“MWP Perspectives” Jon Orvik: One artist’s journey. Sept. 8 through Oct. 27 Tues. - Fri. 12 - 5 p.m., Sat. & Sun. 12 - 4 p.m. Solo artist exhibiting his journey through metal, wood and paint. Adapt Gallery and Design, 2834 College Ave. 649-8501 www.adaptgallery.com  

“50 Years of Photography in Japan 1951 - 2001” through Nov. 5: An exhibition from The Yomiuri Shimbun, the world’s largest daily newspaper with a national morning circulation of 10,300,000. Photographs of work, love, community, culture and disasters of Japan as seen by Japanese news photographers. Opening Reception Sept. 5: 6 - 8 p.m. open to the public; Mon. - Fri. 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. U.C. Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism, North Gate Hall, Hearst and Euclid. Free. 642-3383 

“Changing the World, Building New Lives: 1970s photographs of Lesbians, Feminists, Union Women, Disability Activists and their Supporters” Sept. 15 through Nov. 17: An exhibit of black and white photographs by Oakland photographer Cathy Cade, who captured the interrelationships of the different struggles for justice and social change. Opening reception Sept. 15, 5 - 8 p.m. Gallery Hours, Mon. - Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St. Free. 644-1400 cathycade@mindspring.com 

“The Whole World’s Watching: Peace and Social Justice Movements of the 1960s and 1970s” Sept. 16 through Dec. 16: A documentary photo exhibition which examines the rich history of the social movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Wed. - Sun., noon - 5 p.m. Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., Live Oak Park. Free. 644-6893 

“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 Botticelli’s “Primavera” Ongoing. Call ahead for hours. Atelier 9 2028 Ninth St. (at Addison) 841-4210 or visit www.atelier9.com 

Readings 

Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival Sept. 8: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. An environmental poetry festival with a day of poetry, music and environmental activism featuring Gary Snyder, Maxine Hong Kingston, Robert Haas, Francisco X. Alarcon, and Earll Kingston as John Wesley Powell. Strawberry Creek Walk at 10 a.m. Oxford and Center. Festival at Civic Center Park, Martin Luther King Jr. Way at Center Street. Free. 526-9105 www.poetryflash.org 

Boadecia’s Books Sept. 8: 7:30 p.m. Simone Martel reads from “The Expectant Gardner,” Joan Drummond Miller, Julie Houy, and Carolyn Livingston, “Beyond Bingo;” Sept. 14: 7:30 p.m. Marny Hall, “Queer Blues: The Lesbian and Gay Guide to Overcoming Depression;” Sept. 15: 2 p.m. Kimeron Hardin, “Queer Blues: The Lesbian and Gay Guide to Overcoming Depression;” Sept. 15: 7:30 p.m. Kathleen Jacoby, “Vision of the Grail;” Sept. 21: 7:30 p.m. Deborah Kesten, “The Healing Secrets of Food;” Sept. 22: 7:30 p.m. A special All Poetry Dyke Open Myke, to participate call 655-1015 or feroniawolf@yahoo.com; All events are free. 398 Colusa Ave. 559-9184 www.bookpride.com 

Cody’s on 4th Street Sept. 13: Kenneth C. Davis, “Don’t Know Much About...”; Sept. 20: 7 p.m. Jamie Oliver, The Naked Chef, “The Naked Chef Takes Off”; Sept. 22: 10:30 a.m. Cody’s for Kids, Walter the Giant Storyteller; Sept. 25: 7 p.m. Nancy London looks at “Hot Flashes, Warm Bottles: First-Time Mothers Over Forty”; 1730 Fourth St. 559-9500 

Cody’s on Telegraph Ave. Sept. 8: 7:30 p.m. Dave Eggers talks about “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius”; Sept. 10: 7:30 p.m. Peggy Orenstein talks about “FLUX: Women on Sex, Work, Love, Kids, and Life in a Half-Changed World”; Sept. 11: 7:30 p.m. Simon Winchester discusses “The Map That Changed The World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology”; Sept. 13: 7:30 p.m. Geraldine Brooks reads from “A Year of Wonder: A Novel of the Plague”; Sept. 16: 7:30 p.m. David Bank looks at “Breaking Windows: How Bill Gates Fumble the Future of Microsoft”; Sept. 17: 7:30 p.m. Aldo Alvarez describes “Interesting Monsters”; Sept. 18: 7:30 p.m. Clarence Walker discusses “We Can’t Go Home Again: An Argument About Afrocentrism; Sept. 19: 7:30 p.m. Douglas Coupland reads “All Families Are Psychotic”; Sept. 24: Theodore Roszak discusses “Longevity Revolution: As Boomers Become Elders”; Sept. 25: Ken Croswell discusses “The Universe At Midnight: New Discoveries Illuminate the Hidden Cosmos” with a slide show presentation; Sept. 27: Bill Ayers talks about “Fugitive Days”; 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852 

Cody’s Other Venues - Sept. 20: 7:30 p.m. Cody’s presents an evening with Margaret Atwood in conversation with professor Robert Alter. $12. First Congregational Church 2345 Channing Way. Sept. 28: 7:30 p.m. Cody’s presents a Community Forum on Race and the Achievement Gap at Berkeley High School. Little Theater, Berkeley High School.  

Lunch Poems Series Kick-Off Sept. 6: 12:10 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. UC Berkeley campus figures from a wide variety of fields read and discuss their favorite poems. Free. In the Morrison Library in the Doe Library at UC Berkeley. 642-0137 www.berkeley.edu/calendar/events/poems/ 

Spasso Sept. 10: Sharron Jones-Reid, Fruit of the Spirit poets, acoustic musicians, comedians, rappers, performance artists, writers. All welcome. 6021 College Ave. Free admission. 

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 foot 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. It will reopen in early 2002. On View until Oct. 1 : “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 Avenue. 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  

Oakland Museum of California “After the Storm: Bob Walker and the Art of Environmental Photography,” through Sept. 16; “Half Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks,” through Sept. 23; Wednesday - Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sunday, noon - 5 p.m., Closed Monday and Tuesday. $6 general; $4 youths (6-17), seniors and students with ID. Free for museum members and children 5 and under. Free admission the second Sunday of the month. 10th & Oak streets, Oakland. 238-2200 www.museum.org 

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

Send arts events two weeks in advance to Calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.net, 2076 University, Berkeley 94704 or fax to 841-5694.

In her first interview with the press since removing a popular member of the Commission on Disability, Councilmember Linda Maio defended her actions and denied that she acted at the behest of another councilmember. 

Maio dismissed Karen Craig, her representative to the city’s commission for the last four years, in a letter sent just before she left for vacation last month.  

“I think Karen has been a real fighter for the disabled,” said Maio. “I think she can continue to be that. But as far as the commission goes, I think we need a different approach.”  

Maio stated that Craig’s relationship with Easy Does It, a non-profit organization that provides emergency services for the city’s disabled population, led to her decision to have Craig replaced. Specifically, Maio said that Craig, an outspoken member of the commission, hindered EDI’s ability to aid the disabled by relating to the organization in a confrontational way. 

“The way the commission chose to deal with EDI is to continuously call them before the commission to grill them,” Maio said. “It was getting exhausting.” 

Maio said that EDI, which over the years has had trouble filling its board of directors and keeping executive personnel, is an organization that needs nurturing. 

“That’s what I hoped the commission would do – help them, bring them along,” she said. “I explained this to Karen. She seemed not to be able to understand this.” 

“I’m not saying that EDI is a perfect organization – it’s not. They’re a young board and they need to grow up and mature. They need an attorney on the board. They need someone with business skills.” 

EDI and the commission have differed over a number of issues, including the definition of “emergency services” and EDI’s “overuse policy,” which limits the number of hours that EDI spends with each client. 

Craig and her supporters deny that the EDI issue was the true reason she was replaced. Over the last month, they have blamed Councilmember Dona Spring, who they say personally dislikes Craig and resents her influence, with pressuring Maio to remove her. Maio denies these charges. 

“I can’t say that Dona didn’t influence me, because she did,” Maio said. “But Karen was my appointee, and I didn’t take action because another councilmember asked me to.”  

“It was my own decision, and I take full responsibility for it.” 

In an interview Monday, Craig repeated her accusations against Spring. She said the fact that she, among all the commissioners, was singled out, was evidence that Spring was involved in her removal. 

“I was one of the nine people who voted on all of the issues. I was not the ringleader,” she said. “There were people on that commission just as outspoken as I was.” 

Craig said that she feared for Berkeley’s political climate in the wake of her removal.  

“I have grave concerns about the future of the Commission on Disability – or any commission – when anyone who speaks out or asks very hard questions can be gotten rid of,” she said 

“I don’t want the COD to wind up being a commission of ‘good little crips.’ We have to speak out.” 

Meanwhile, volunteers led by Miya Rodolfo-Sioson, the chair of the Commission on Disability, are circulating a petition asking the city council to restate Craig. 

“Our aim is to get Karen back on the commission, and to show that she has lots of support in the community,” said Rodolfo-Sioson. 

“I just don’t see how taking Karen off the commission helps anyone in the community. I don’t think it’s going to reduce tension between EDI and the commission. Karen has been so effective on the commission – losing her, (over) this whole Easy Does It controversy, is a real blow.” 

Rodolfo-Sioson said that she also wants to call attention to the “way commissioners can be removed when they are outspoken and have unpopular opinions.” 

“I was expecting this kind of response,” Maio said of the petition drive, “but I’m just going to have to weather it.” 

Maio said that she has received many letters from disabled people in support of her action, but are asking Maio to keep their names confidential because they fear being “shunned” by the disabled community.  

“Her detractors will not identify themselves, because they’re afraid of reprisal,” she said. “To a person, people are asking that they not be identified.” 

“In the end, I really feel it was the right thing to do,” said Maio. “It’s absolutely not personal. It’s about a difference of opinion, a difference of approach between Karen and me.” 

Editor: 

The fact that you have a disclaimer, “opinions expressed in letters... do not necessarily represent the views...” does not excuse you from printing complete fantasy. The are no rebates to the highest 1 percent; everyone who payed taxes gets the same amount of rebate. The 1 percent mantra was from the failed Gore Campaign it does not apply here., furthermore, I did not think there were those left who believed that there’s such a thing as a Social Security trust fund. It is a shoe box full of I.O.U’s from the general fund! If I wrote that the Earth was flat, would you print it? 

Thank God that the surplus is gone. A little fiscal restraint is now in order. If you put the $9 billion in the context of the $2 trillion budget it is like being $9 off in a $2 thousand budget. 

Michael Larridi 

Berkeley 

The City Council gets back to business tonight after being on break since July 24. Some of the issues the council will be considering are finalizing the use permit for the Beth El synagogue and school, increasing funding for the overdue library renovation and a city policy requiring all public and private construction projects to study “green” building options. 

Beth El 

The council will conduct a public hearing on parking issues related to the Beth El proposal to build a synagogue, school and social hall at 1301 Oxford St. Then it will consider overturning the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s denial of a permit to alter a historic landmark, paving the way for it to approve the project’s use permit. 

On July 24, just as the council was preparing to vote on the controversial use permit, a private mediator announced that the Live Oak Codornices Creek Neighborhood Association, which opposed the project, and the Beth El Congregation had reached a tentative compromise.  

Beth El and the LOCCNA have held additional meetings since July 24 and the result has been the submission of revised building plans that reflect the compromise. If both parties are still in agreement the council is expected to approve the revised use permit. 

Some of the compromise plans Beth El agreed to include reducing the gross floor area, scaling down the social hall and moving the Spruce Street exit approximately 50 feet to the south.  

Overdue library renovation 

According to a city manager staff report, the council is being asked to authorize an increase in the loan limit for the renovation of the Central Library.  

The limit would be increased by $1 million raising the estimated cost of the project to $23.5 million.  

The developer of the project, Arnst Builders, is now six months behind schedule and it is unclear when the project will be completed.  

The increase in funding raises the city’s liability to $2.1 million. 

Most of the funding for the project came from the 1996 voter-approved Measure S, which provided $49 million for the Central Library, the renovation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center and other improvements in the downtown area. 

Green buildings 

The council will likely ask the city manager and Energy Commission to study a city policy that would require all major public and private construction and reconstruction in Berkeley be evaluated for green building options.  

If the new policy is instituted, anyone building in Berkeley would be required to have the project analyzed for use of renewable energy sources such as solar electricity, and “green” building options, such as types of building materials. 

The recommendation, submitted by Mayor Shirley Dean, calls for a staff report on the plan in February. The recommendation also asks the city manager to consider technical assistance and a fee credit to “small private owners.” 

“This policy would, over time, substantially contribute to the energy independence of Berkeley and its residents,” Dean wrote in her recommendation. “While such a policy may at first seem onerous or expensive, depending on how the policy is implemented, most improvements in building and health are initially seen in this way, yet are prized at a later date.” 

The City Council will hold an executive session, closed to the public, at 5:30 p.m. at 2180 Milvia in the sixth floor Conference Room, where the city attorney will discuss the status of two lawsuits. Council will also hold a conference with a labor negotiator to discuss the city’s contract with the Berkeley Police Department union. 

There will be 10 minutes allotted for public comment prior to the closed session meeting.  

Editor, 

Thank you for your recent coverage highlighting $98 million in cuts to the community colleges. We are experiencing these cuts especially hard at Laney College. 

Since Paralta Community College District lost $687,843 from instructional equipment, our students will be suffering with outmoded computers. This will make a genuine difference in their educational experience. 

Our students will also suffer the loss of funds in scheduled maintenance. Roofs need repair, fire alarms need replacing, library materials will not be updated, and deteriorating buildings need attention. 

I respectfully request that the Legislature and Governor Davis restore this vital funding by supporting SB735. California’s community colleges provide open access to all. Our colleges train new workers and retrain those workers that have been laid off. In a time of economic uncertainty, community colleges are the key to kick-starting California’s economy. 

Lily Leung 

Alameda 

OAKLAND, (AP) — Preliminary results show Dohani, the Oakland Zoo’s prized African elephant calf, died Sunday of a series of injuries inflicted by his mother, Lisa. 

Dohani was born Aug. 30, weighing 320 pounds and standing 3-foot-6, and was just the seventh African elephant born in captivity in North America since 1984. Only three have survived. 

The young calf had two broken ribs, a damaged lung and a wound on its chest, which may indicate that his mother gored him with her tusk, said the zoo’s executive director, Joel Parrott. 

Parrott said the injuries appeared to be an accident and not a sign of aggression. Parrott said the calf was very healthy and 24-year-old Lisa was bonding with him very well. 

Zoo officials found Dohani dead in his pen early Sunday morning. Lisa was standing guard over him. 

Parrott said Lisa is going through a grieving process and is still very attentive to the calf — who has been returned to her pen after the necropsy. 

The zoo plans to bury the calf next to Smokey, his father, who died in March and was one of the last three breeding bull elephants left in the United States. 

Lisa rejected her first baby, in 1995, forcing keepers to raise the animal until he died 11 months later. Lisa lost a second calf in 1998 due to a salmonella virus.

Editor: 

“Need to save Social Security, economy, America” was the headline of an article in the Planet (8/23/01) which must have raised hackles on many of us who remember when Social Security was born in 1936. How the rich fought it! That they still hate it is clear.  

The Bush committee to “strengthen” it is not telling us how remarkably effective and vitally essential it is to millions of families. Rather, in its August report this committee worries about how little Americans are saving and how “educational” it would be for the poor to have the opportunity to invest part of their Social Security benefits in the market. 

Let us risk our savings, our IRAs, in the market whenever we please, but leave Social Security alone! It will be fine for dozens of years. Thoughtful people will make adjustments when needed without destroying the whole safety net as is now being so eagerly (and so deviously) proposed. 

Dorothy Headley 

Berkeley

WASHINGTON — Sexual exploitation of children has grown to record levels and the growth has gone mostly undetected, according to a study released Monday. 

The report estimates that approximately 326,000 children in the United States are victims of commercial sexual exploitation. 

Richard J. Estes, the report’s main author, said much of the exploitation is done by family members, friends and acquaintances of the children. 

“We always told kids not to talk to or take candy from strangers. That’s still good advice but we need to make them aware about everything,” he said. 

The report was issued by the National Association of Social Workers and the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work. 

Estes, a professor of social work at the University of Pennsylvania, said that many youth involved in commercial sexual activities had been victims of sexual abuse at home. He said 40 percent of girls and approximately 30 percent of the boys on the street who are doing prostitution had been victims of sexual abuse at home. 

Most of the children in the study were white youths who had run away from middle-class homes. Less than a quarter of the children in the report were from impoverished homes, Estes said. 

The study — titled “The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico” — found gaps in policies and services intended to combat sexual exploitation of children and help the victims. 

For the project, researchers selected 28 cities in the three countries, based on their size and for being known as having problems with the commercial sexual exploitation of children. Seventeen cities were chosen in the United States. 

The researchers examined public records and interviewed about 1,000 children, law enforcement officials, and human services groups. They used previous data and field research from 288 federal and local agencies to extrapolate their findings to the U.S. population. 

“This looks like it’s the most comprehensive study yet,” Eva Klain, of the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, told USA Today in Monday’s editions. 

The study found that 95 percent of the commercial sex that boys engaged in was with men, and it found that at least 25 percent of girls in gangs had sex with other members as part of the gang rites. 

Married men who have children of their own are one of the most common customers who pay the children for sex, Estes said. 

——— 

On the Net: 

National Center For Missing and Exploited Children: http://www.missingkids.com 

UPenn: http://www.ssw.upenn.edu 

Editor: 

The Sierra Club and the Citizens for the Eastshore State Park make a strong and valid case for habitat preservation along the shoreline of the new park. But should we really be painting all of the various bodies of water within the Eastshore State Park boundaries with the same broad brush? 

The problem, as accurately noted in the Sierra Club's newsletter, is that the area offers outstanding recreational opportunities. Many of these recreational opportunities are water-based. Arguably the most valuable open space in this park is the water, not the land, and there is considerable demand for greater access to various forms of recreation involving non-motorized motion over water. 

There is a sublime satisfaction in simply floating on water and directing one's own course. At the most basic level, this can be achieved by providing good launch facilities for kayaks, and entry-level rental rowboats for casual visitors. This is the kind of activity that cements one's relationship to the natural value of the shoreline, and ultimately broadens the constituency of the various environmental activist communities. 

So when we propose to limit human access to virtually all of the water area in the Eastshore State Park, and severely limit recreational support facilities on the shoreline, we have to take a close look at what we might be trading away.  

There is broad consensus that motorized uses are out of the question. At issue is the accessibility of the North Sailing Basin, and possibly other areas of the waterfront, to small watercraft propelled by muscle or sail. 

Also at issue is whether we view water-borne recreation as something we can do right at our doorstep, or something that involves driving a considerable distance in a vehicle large enough to carry our equipment.  

The North Sailing Basin is the protected body of water between Cesar Chavez Park and the North Basin Strip (where pumpkins and Christmas trees have been sold). It is perfect for entry-level rowing, beginning small boat sailing, and as a launch site for other watercraft that venture further out into the open Bay. It has been identified by the Eastshore State Park planning consultants as the body of water with the least importance as wildlife habitat and the most suitable for recreational uses. 

There is also a population of diving ducks in the North Sailing Basin during winter months. Similar wind-protected sub-tidal habitat can be found in parts of the Emeryville Crescent, to the east of the Emeryville Marina, behind the Brickyard Peninsula, in the South Sailing Basin, on the north side of the Albany Bulb, behind the breakwater off Battery Point, and in the very large protected area in the lee of Brooks Island.  

It is also important to note that in the South Sailing Basin, which already hosts a number of very active sailing, kayaking and windsurfing programs, there appears to be no significant interference between ducks and watercraft.  

All the evidence points to compatibility between non-motorized watercraft and diving ducks.  

What are we really trading away if we limit human access to the water? 

In this case, I believe we are trading away something more important than the few percent of parkland needed to support recreational activities, and more important than the relatively insignificant interference with an even smaller percentage of the winter duck population's habitat. We are trading away our fundamental relationship to the Bay, and the unique opportunities that floating on water provides for spiritual sustenance and environmental connection.  

The plan for the Eastshore State Park should allow, encourage and support a wide range of non-motorized active water-related uses in the North Sailing Basin.  

Paul Kamen 

Chair, Berkeley Waterfront Commission 

SACRAMENTO (AP) — A dispute among Democrats threatened Monday to torpedo legislative and congressional redistricting plans and toss the politically potent job of drawing new lines to the state Supreme Court. 

Democratic leaders in the state Senate and Assembly said they were at odds over how to draw a few key congressional and state Senate districts — in the San Diego and central coast areas — with time running out on their 2001 session. 

“Either the Legislature’s going to do the job or the courts are going to do it for us,” said the chairman of the Senate elections committee, Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland. 

He said turning the job over to the state Supreme Court “could be very negative for all of us.” 

Legislators are supposed to redraw legislative and congressional districts every 10 years to bring them into line with population changes revealed by the new federal census. 

But twice in the last three decades — in the 1970s and 1990s — the Supreme Court oversaw the process because the Legislature’s Democratic majorities and Republican governors could not agree on redistricting plans. Six of the seven seats on the court are filled by Republican appointees; one seat is vacant. 

Where district lines are placed can determine if one party or the other dominates the Legislature and the state’s delegation to the House of Representatives for the next 10 years. 

Democrats can control redistricting this year because they again have big majorities in both the Senate and Assembly and Democrat Gray Davis in the governor’s office. 

But pressures created by legislative term limits have helped create splits between Democrats in the houses, with Assembly members pressing their leadership to provide seats they can run for in the Senate and Congress. 

Perata warned the dispute could undo bipartisan agreements that could avoid an attempt by the Republican Party to persuade voters to overturn any plans passed by lawmakers. 

Lawmakers are running out of time to resolve the dispute because they are scheduled to adjourn for the year on Friday. They can extend their session, but they’re also facing deadlines for candidates to file for the March primary. 

Perata said the dispute boils down to differences over how to draw a congressional seat along the Mexican border. 

Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, says Assemblyman Juan Vargas, D-san Diego, wants to create a heavily Latino congressional district for himself by linking Imperial County with parts of San Diego County now represented by Filner. 

That could jeopardize the chances of Filner, who has beaten Vargas in two previous Democratic primaries, of winning re-election. 

The redistricting plan backed by the congressional delegation and state Senate leaders would link Imperial County with coastal parts of San Diego County represented by another Democrat, Susan Davis. 

Vargas wouldn’t discuss the dispute, but he is in a key position to determine the outcome. He’s one of six legislators — three from each house — on a joint committee charged with putting the final touches on the new districts. 

The other Assembly Democrat on the committee, Speaker Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, said Vargas isn’t the stumbling block, that he had problems with the proposed congressional lines before he appointed Vargas to the committee. 

“The district Filner holds should include Imperial and the district Susan holds should have the western piece,” Hertzberg said. 

The speaker also said he has concerns about the Senate plan, in particular its impact on one of his top lieutenants, Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Fred Keeley, D-Boulder Creek, who is termed out of the Assembly next year and is interested in running for the Senate. 

Under the current Senate plan, Keeley would live in a district that won’t have an election until 2004 and would be composed mostly of voters he doesn’t represent now. 

Senators serve staggered, four-year terms, so only half of the house’s 40 seats are up for election every two years. 

Perata said Keeley would have a good chance of winning that Senate seat, but Hertzberg said the way that district was drawn would not be “satisfactory.” 

Meanwhile, groups representing Latinos and Asians criticized revised redistricting plans that lawmakers unveiled over the weekend, saying they would dilute the power of minority voters. 

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund said it would challenge the plans in court unless there were “significant modifications.” 

———— 

On the Net: Read the plans at www.senate.ca.gov and www.assembly.ca.gov/erca 

RENO, Nev. (AP) — As Nevada’s top agricultural official, Paul Iverson is in charge of everything from pesticides and predator control to weeds and wild horses. 

But Iverson admits he’s a bit apprehensive about moving from his already varied domain of livestock brands and African honey bees to another, more daunting role — the state’s chief enforcer of a new medical marijuana law. 

Iverson raised his concerns while listing his many jurisdictions in an address to the Nevada Indian Agriculture and Environmental Summit, which convened last week in Reno. 

In the six years he’s had the job since transferring from the Department of Minerals, Iverson said he’s been especially perplexed by his oversight of petroleum weights and measurements at gasoline stations. 

“You ask me why it’s in the Agriculture Department? I don’t know,” said Iverson, administrator of the Nevada Department of Agriculture. 

“I wonder why I just inherited the medical marijuana law. I get to decide who can dole out medical marijuana,” he said. 

Nevada will become the ninth state to offer a state-run medical marijuana program effective Oct. 1. The Board of Agriculture approved the new regulations last week allowing physician-approved patients to grow and use the drug. 

The state Department of Agriculture will oversee the program, which allows people who suffer from AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, muscular dystrophy, seizures or severe nausea to obtain a doctor’s signature to register. 

They will be allowed to have up to three mature marijuana plants and four immature plants at one time to be used for medicinal purposes. Also, they can only possess up to an ounce at a time. 

Members of the Board of Agriculture, among others, expressed misgivings about the program. They worried about possible abuses of marijuana and trying to administer the program since the Legislature provided no additional money for it. 

“I’m glad I’ve got 31 years in with the state because I’m not so sure how long my future will last,” Iverson said with a laugh. 

HAVANA — A U.S. congressman who sponsored an amendment to end the ban on travel to Cuba said Monday he believes President Bush won’t fight the measure. 

At the end of a three-day visit to the island, Rep. Jeff Flake said he believes his amendment prohibiting the U.S. Treasury Department from spending money on enforcing the travel ban has growing support, especially after the international custody battle over Elian Gonzalez. 

“I think a lot of people saw that the Cuban-American community was just over the top,” the Arizona Republican said. 

Flake has predicted that Americans will be able to freely travel to Cuba by year’s end. His amendment to a Treasury spending bill has passed the House of Representatives, and a similar measure is planned in the Senate. 

Bush might fight the measure if it were an independent bill, Flake said, but it will be difficult to veto an entire spending bill. Bush has said he wants to maintain current U.S. policy toward Cuba. 

“I have a hard time believing the president really feels this in his heart,” Flake said. “Some people speculate the administration would be relieved to have this behind them.” 

Some Republican lawmakers have joined Democrats in supporting an end to the travel ban. Flake argues the four-decade embargo has done little to bring democracy to communist Cuba, and that increased contact with Americans would do more. 

Flake said the Cuban government seems ready for American tourists. 

“The Cubans certainly are building a lot of hotel rooms that won’t be filled by Canadians,” he said. 

Most U.S. citizens are prohibited from traveling to Cuba under laws that bar them from spending money here. Those who violate the ban are subject to fines of up to $55,000. 

Journalists, humanitarian workers and academic researchers can receive special licenses, however. 

The Cuban government has long criticized the U.S. embargo and generally doesn’t oppose American tourists who visit secretly. Cuban officials often don’t stamp passports of Americans. 

During his three-day visit, Flake said he ran into several U.S. business officials who were researching possible partnerships with the Cuban government in case the embargo is lifted. 

Flake said he believes business people will become a stronger lobbying group. “There is no reason to allow the Canadians and the French and the Italians to get into partnerships and get a start before the Americans,” he said. 

LIMA, Peru — Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday he has “the expectation and hope” that the United States will resume drug surveillance cooperation with Peru and Colombia. 

The cooperation has been suspended since April 20, when a plane carrying American missionaries was misidentified as a possible drug flight and shot down by the Peruvian air force. A woman and her infant daughter died. 

Powell said no decision has been made on resuming the cooperation. U.S. officials will soon begin reviewing two investigations into the downing to see if cooperation can resume without putting innocent lives at risk. 

“We will make a judgment as to whether or not we now have in place satisfactory procedures that will allow us to move forward in a safe way, in a way that accomplishes the mission of interdicting this kind of traffic and a way that does not ever again allow the set of circumstances to arise which cost the lives of two innocent people,” he said. 

Powell spoke to reporters on his plane shortly before arriving in Peru to attend an Organization of American States foreign ministers meeting. The ministers are to approve a charter setting democratic standards for the OAS’ 34 member nations. 

Powell will also visit Colombia on Tuesday and Wednesday, in a show of support to Colombian President Andres Pastrana in his fight against leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, drug traffickers and a struggling economy. 

On Monday, the Bush administration designated a Colombian paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense Forces, as a foreign terrorist group. Financial support for the group is illegal under the designation and American financial institutions are required to block its assets. 

Both Colombian and Peruvian officials are expected to urge Powell to resume drug surveillance cooperation. The cooperation, along with Peru’s policy of shooting down suspected drug flights, is credited with that country’s sharp reduction in production of coca, the raw material for cocaine. 

Peru has said that drug flights have increased since the shootdowns were halted, but U.S. officials say they have no evidence of that. 

A joint U.S.-Peruvian report found that miscommunications and a failure to follow proper procedures led to the accident. 

Another report, by a former U.S. ambassador to Colombia, Morris Busby, explored whether the cooperation should be resumed and under what circumstances. It has not been released. 

Powell said officials will review those reports before deciding whether to resume cooperation. 

“I can just express the expectation and the hope that we will be able to restart,” he said. 

At the OAS meeting, Powell and the other foreign ministers are expected to approve a charter requiring that OAS members maintain democratic policies or face possible suspension from the organization. 

“We’re essentially putting down membership rules,” Powell said. “If you want to be a democratic nation in this hemisphere, how the other democratic nations expect you to behave and what the standards are with respect to elections and representative government.” 

Powell will also meet with President Alejandro Toledo to show U.S. support for Peru’s democratic transition. Toledo’s election followed the 10-year presidency of Alberto Fujimori, forced from office by a corruption scandal after winning a third term in widely criticized elections. 

In traveling to Colombia, Powell said he wants to show the Colombian people “that the United States is standing with them in this troubled time that they have where their democracy is at risk, their economic viability is at risk because of narcotrafficking.” 

He will review U.S.-Colombian counternarcotics efforts under a $1.3 billion aid plan approved last year and discuss the Bush administration’s proposal for $882 million in follow-up aid. On Thursday, he meets with U.S. lawmakers to discuss the proposal. 

Colombia is the world’s largest producer of cocaine. Leftist guerrillas partly finance their 37-year insurgency by protecting drug traffickers. Colombia’s poverty is seen as contributing to both the insurgency and the trafficking. 

Much of the U.S. aid has been for Colombian military anti-drug battalions. Some Democrats oppose it because of the military’s link to human rights violations, questions of the safety of aerial drug eradication and fears the United States will be drawn deeper into the Colombian conflict. 

Paramilitaries are blamed for most of the rights abuses. In putting them on the terrorist list, “I hope this will leave no doubt that the United States considers terrorism to be unacceptable, regardless of the political or ideological purpose,” Powell said in a statement. 

Some Republicans say the United States should directly help Colombia fight the guerrillas instead of limiting military support to anti-drug units. Powell said the administration has no plans to change its policy. 

Emeryville Police Department homicide investigators today are trying to piece together the events that led to the shooting death of a 33-year-old Emeryville man outside his home early this morning. 

A police department spokesman says Hamilton Billy Greene was found laying in a pool of blood in front of 4369 Adeline St. at approximately 12:37 a.m. Monday. Police say Greene died of an apparent gunshot wound to the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene. 

Through interviews with other residents of Greene's Emeryville neighborhood, officers learned that the victim went with neighbors to see a movie in Berkeley that ended at 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The neighbor said the victim drove his own car, returned home and was shot as he was entering his apartment. Some neighbors reported hearing a couple gunshots at around 12:30 a.m. 

Anyone with any information surrounding the circumstances of the death is urged to contact the Emeryville police detectives at 596-3774. 

SACRAMENTO (AP) — The Assembly overwhelmingly approved a bill Monday night to restore $98 million for community colleges that was vetoed in the state budget by Gov. Gray Davis. 

The Democratic governor has agreed to put back some of the money, but has not yet determined an amount he can support. 

The cuts for the state’s 1.5-million student junior college system were among budget vetoes Davis said were necessary to balance the state’s $103 billion state budget for the 2001-2002 fiscal year, given the state’s slowing economy. 

The cuts, which hit community colleges more than the state’s other two higher-education systems, caused an outcry around the state. Lawmakers of both parties support the restoration. 

“The community colleges and the people that attend the community colleges are the sleeping giants of education,” said Assemblyman Robert Pacheco, R-Walnut. “They have awakened to what is rightfully theirs.” 

The bill was approved by a 77-0 vote and sent to the Senate. 

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Starbucks Corp. has released a statement denying that the company added the stimulant ephedrine to its tea products without warning consumers. 

The Seattle-based coffee company was sued last week in Los Angeles Superior Court by a group that claimed the chemical was placed in Starbucks’ Tazo Chai Tea product without approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

Starbucks officials said that as a matter of policy it normally does not comment on pending litigation, but felt that it was important for customers to know that ephedrine has never been used as an ingredient in Tazo’s Chai Tea or any other Tazo product. 

“We have tested Chai Tea for the presence of ephedrine and the results have been conclusively negative,” the statement obtained Monday said. “There is no basis for the claims raised by the plaintiff and we intend to vigorously defend the lawsuit.” 

The 20-page suit sought an injunction barring use of the additive and did not seek cash damages. 

Ephedrine has been used by dieters to increase metabolism and is popular with athletes because it can increase performance. It also is used to treat asthmatics. The stimulant, however, has been linked to strokes and heart attack, and is blamed for the deaths this year of several college football players. 

The lawsuit was filed by the newly formed Berkeley-based Council for Education and Research on Toxics. 

SACRAMENTO (AP) — Districts seeking emergency permits for teachers who don’t meet state qualifications would have to show a state agency they had made a “diligent search” for qualified teachers under a bill approved Monday by the state Assembly. 

“We want to make sure districts take every step to hire credentialed teachers before they hire teachers on emergency permits,” said a backer, Assemblywoman Carol Liu, D-La Canada-Flintridge. 

Districts that cannot find teachers who have full state credentials must apply to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing for an emergency permits for people who have not met requirements. 

Nearly 40,000 of the almost 300,000 state teachers are on emergency permits. Schools with large numbers of poor or non-English-speaking students and low test scores are more likely to have large numbers of such teachers. 

Liu said the bill would discourage districts from hiring emergency-permit teachers “to save money” by paying lower salaries. 

The bill was opposed by Assemblyman Phil Wyman, R-Tehachapi, who said remote rural districts have trouble finding credentialed teachers. Under the bill, “state government is coming in and saying ’You’re not diligent enough,”’ he said. 

The bill was approved 58-13 and returned to the Senate for a vote on amendments. 

DENVER (AP) Qwest Communications International announced Monday it would cut 4,000 jobs, or 6 percent of its work force, and said the nation’s economic slowdown would mean lower-than-expected sales and earnings through at least the first half of 2002. 

Chairman and chief executive Joe Nacchio said he expected high single-digit percentage sales growth next year, compared with a previous forecast of about 15 percent growth, and projected earnings growth would slightly outpace revenue growth. 

“This is a reflection of the times and it’s not easy to do,” Nacchio said. “I’m disappointed we couldn’t outrun the economy forever.” 

Analysts said the Denver-based telecommunications company continues to perform well, but its financial forecasts were based on assumptions made when the economy was stronger. 

“We think they’re the right numbers now,” said Andrew Hamerling of Banc of America Securities. “We think they might even be conservative.” 

In afternoon trading, Qwest shares rose $1.56, or 8.6 percent, to $19.70 on the New York Stock Exchange. Qwest shares have fallen about 63 percent from a 52-week high of $52.88 in October. 

Qwest said it expected 2001 revenue of about $20.5 billion, about $1 billion less than it previously estimated, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of about $8 billion, down from $7.36 billion last year. Qwest had a net profit for 2000 of $995 million on revenues of $18.95 billion. 

To help offset the expected declines in revenue and income growth, Qwest said it would reduce its work force from 66,000 to 62,000 by the end of March 2002. It also will eliminate 1,000 staff positions while adding 1,000 sales executives in its global business unit. 

To make the job cuts, Qwest will not fill open positions and will continue streamlining operations, a process that began with the June 2000 acquisition of US West, said Qwest spokesman Tyler Gronbach. About one-third of the job cuts will be in Colorado and surrounding states, Nacchio said. 

The company also plans to cut capital spending in 2001 from about $8.8 billion to $8.5 billion and reduce its capital budget from about $7.5 billion to about $5.5 billion. That should result in positive cash flow by the second quarter of 2002, six months sooner than previously announced, and allow the company to borrow less than it had expected, Nacchio said. 

Analysts had mixed views on the announcement. 

“By Qwest coming out this morning and giving, I think, a good description of what’s going on today and what’s going on next year, it provided some level of comfort and assurance that even at that price, the stock was quite attractive,” said analyst Frank Governali of Goldman, Sachs & Co. 

Analyst David Bench of Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder in New York attributed the rise to bargain hunting. 

“It’s just a bounce,” he said. “The bad news is out and people are looking at this as a time to get in. We think that’s premature. We see a continued downturn in the market and don’t see a reason to pick it up.” 

During a conference call, Nacchio cited declining economic conditions, including high unemployment, slow growth in the gross domestic product, low consumer confidence and other indicators. 

He said sales of new phone lines have been anemic, and he wants to put Qwest in a conservative position to ensure continued growth until the economy begins to turn around. 

“The economic recovery, when it comes, will be later than most people believed 30 days ago and I believe more moderate,” Nacchio said. “Therefore I want to position us to be able to go through that period of time with a strong balance sheet, strong cash position and in some ways, certain good fortune that we spent as much capital as we did earlier on certain strategic platforms.” 

Qwest is expected to earn 40 cents per share for the year ending Dec. 31 and 57 cents per share in 2001, according to a survey of analysts by Thomson Financial/First Call. 

WASHINGTON — Every year, more children die from choking on toys and their parts than from any other injury involving toys. Yet nearly every week the government recalls another plaything or clothing item because they have parts small enough to kill. 

Sixteen children under age 12 died from toy-related injuries in 1999, the most recent federal statistics show. Nine choked. 

Among the casualties: a 17-month-old boy from Chillicothe, Ill., who choked on a miniature pool ball; and an 11-year-old Lubbock, Texas, girl who sucked in a latex balloon. 

The hazard has become more noticeable at fast-food restaurants that give away toys with their kids’ meals. Millions have been recalled in the past few years. 

Consumer advocates say manufacturers should do more to guarantee toy safety, such as improve testing. Toy makers say they already follow strict standards and don’t know what more to do. 

In the middle is the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission, which has no authority to test products it regulates before they land on store shelves. 

“All of these manufacturers should be testing the product and subjecting it to the type of use and abuse that it’s going to receive by children,” said Mary Ellen Fise of the Consumer Federation of America. She blames many of the recalls on companies’ failure to test their products fully. 

Alan Schoem, director of the safety commission’s compliance office, said toy makers always could do more and better testing. But he said the system, as it is, works. 

Schoem said a new program is getting information to parents quicker. It has cut the time before a recall is announced to weeks instead of months. More than half of all recalls are now done using the newer procedure, he said. 

But consumer advocate Fise said the maximum fine for companies that break the law by not reporting problems with their products should be increased from $1.65 million, pocket change for many businesses. 

“That might help send a message to companies to be more diligent,” she said. 

Toy makers and importers are being vigilant about product safety, said Aaron Locker, a lawyer for the Toy Industry Association. The trade group’s 250 member companies account for 85 percent of U.S. toy sales, worth about $23 billion in 1999. 

“Who in their right mind ... would want to bring in a toy that’s going to be banned and have to be recalled?” Locker asked. “Doesn’t make sense.” 

He noted, however, that products not up to U.S. standards sometimes get through customs. 

And despite the testing these products go through to meet federal and industry standards, items that clear the lab can be found later to have dangerous hidden hazards. 

Unlike the Food and Drug Administration, which tests medical devices before doctors can use them, the safety commission has no similar authority over any of the 15,000 types of products it regulates. That places the burden for product safety on the industry. 

Locker said the toy industry has a set of voluntary safety standards that are followed by most U.S. toy makers and importers. It also conducts annual toy-safety seminars in the United States and China, where about 70 percent of the toys sold in America are made. 

The government also sends staff to China regularly to explain U.S. toy regulations. 

Choking was responsible for more than half, or 117, of the 190 toy-related children’s deaths reported to the government between 1990 and 1999. 

At fast-food restaurants, more than 37 million giveaways have been recalled since 1999, including more than 25 million plastic balls holding a popular Pokemon toy distributed by Burger King; it was linked to the suffocation deaths of two infants. This year, more than 7 million giveaways have been recalled. 

Federal law bans small parts in newly bought toys meant for children younger than 3. 

A law signed by President Clinton requires choke-hazard warnings on all toys with small parts intended for children ages 3 through 6, and on small balls, marbles and balloons. 

And toys or toy parts that come loose during testing should be checked using a test cylinder 1 1/4-inches in diameter, half an inch smaller than the cardboard tube from a roll of toilet paper. Anything that passes through the cylinder cannot be sold for children under 3. 

The Consumer Product Safety Commission spends about half its roughly $52 million budget on children, and recalls of children’s products represent about half of the 300 or so recalls announced annually. Of those, about one-third are for possible choking hazards, officials say. 

But recalling a product should be a last resort, said Rachel Weintraub, of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, which releases an annual Christmastime report on unsafe toys. 

Her advice: Don’t assume toys are safe because they’re in stores. 

Choking hazards are most serious in children under 3 because they’re most likely to put things in their mouths. 

To that end, one company is developing an alternative to latex balloons, blamed for the most choking deaths in children because they break into small pieces when popped. 

Marketing Innovation Enterprises, of New York, is working on “Myloons,” made of a high-density polyethylene that is designed not to break into little pieces. 

WASHINGTON — A National Academy of Sciences report shows that the Environmental Protection Agency has greatly underestimated the cancer risks of arsenic in drinking water, according to EPA officials and other environmental experts familiar with the report. 

The report being issued to EPA Administrator Christie Whitman this week, which has been kept under wraps, says the cancer risks are much higher than the agency had previously acknowledged under the Clinton and Bush administrations, the officials said Monday. 

For the first time, the Bush EPA is conceding it will be hard-pressed not to accept arsenic standards for drinking water at least as stringent as those adopted by the Clinton administration but put on hold by the Bush administration. 

“This makes it more difficult,” Whitman spokeswoman Tina Kreisher said Monday. “Their study reinforces the cancer risks. ... If anything, they believe that there is more risk than the EPA thought previously.” 

In particular, the 189-page report reinforces that the cancer risks are high even for low levels of arsenic in tap water. The current standard of 50 parts per billion of arsenic in drinking water has been in place since 1942. 

Arsenic is both a naturally occurring substance and industrial byproduct, entering the water supply from natural deposits and pollution. It is found at high concentrations in Western mining states and other areas heavy with coal-burning and copper smelting. 

One of former President Clinton’s last actions, three days before leaving office in January, was to adopt a tougher standard of 10 ppb, but the Bush administration suspended that, citing the high costs to local communities of implementing that standard and calling for additional study while questioning the scientific basis for the Clinton rule. 

The standard was suspended until next February, leaving in place at least for the time being the 50 ppb arsenic standard. The Bush administration had said the EPA lacked evidence to justify the $200 million annual cost to municipalities, states and industry of meeting the Clinton standard by 2006. Whitman also had convened an EPA working group to study costs to local communities. 

Now, however, the academy report says that even at 3 ppb, the risk of bladder and lung cancer is between four and 10 cancer deaths per 10,000 people, according to one person who’s seen the report. The EPA’s maximum acceptable level of risk for the past two decades for all drinking water contaminants has been one in 10,000. 

“It really is a bombshell because it says EPA severely underestimated the cancer threat by several fold,” said Erik D. Olson, a senior lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group whose lawsuits forced the Clinton administration to propose a new standard. “The bottom line is that they clearly should be going below 10 parts per billion in the new standard.” 

While the report makes no recommendations more specific than that the standard should be set lower than 50 ppb, its authors studied the health effects of establishing a standard of 3, 5, 10 or 20 ppb — as was requested by Whitman. At each level, the study found, the cancer risks were much higher than the EPA had estimated. 

The report points to health effects other than cancer that should be considered, including heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. It also rejects arguments by industry and some local water utilities that there is a clear, safe threshold below which arsenic does not cause cancer. 

Lawsuits by NRDC since last year initially prompted the Clinton administration to propose a standard of 5 ppb, but after industry protests it was set at 10 ppb. NRDC is now suing the Bush EPA over its decision to suspend the Clinton arsenic rule and for ignoring a June 22 congressional deadline for having a new plan to reduce arsenic levels. 

Congress amended the 1974 Safe Water Drinking Act last fall and ordered the EPA to adopt a new arsenic standard by this summer. 

Six Democratic senators have publicly announced they would file papers in support of NRDC’s lawsuit, but the court has not yet set a timetable for those papers to be filed. 

The lawsuit alleges the administration violated provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Administrative Procedures Act by suspending the Clinton standard. It is being taken up in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. 

——— 

On the Net: EPA Office of Water: http://www.epa.gov/ow 

Natural Resources Defense Council: http://www.nrdc.org 

The sky hasn’t fallen at Vista College in Berkeley. But the staff, contemplating rising enrollments and energy costs, are beginning to wonder what will happen to the quality of education if the state government does not restore the equipment and repair money it axed from this year’s community college budget. 

“We need new computers, which we won’t get,” said Marline Jenning, staff assistant to the vice president, taking a break at the college’s Milvia Way headquarters on Friday. “I think it’s going to affect the students because they won’t get the access they need.” 

“It’ll affect personnel, and eventually, enrollment,” said Gladys Henderson, who works in student services. 

In July, Gov. Gray Davis cited the need to keep the state budget lean this year in case reduced economic productivity yielded less tax revenue and cut $126 million statewide from community colleges’ capital and special projects funds. 

The cut did not affect operating budgets, which are linked to enrollment. The colleges receive a set subsidy of $3,800 per student taking 12 units a semester, according to Vista spokesperson Shirley Fogarino. The district saw an overall enrollment increase of 5 percent at its four campuses and the system’s general funds are up 3.2 percent for the 2001-2002 fiscal year, according to the California Legislative Analyst’s office. 

The budget cuts represent only a small a percentage of that overall operating budget. Jeffrey Haiman, spokesman for the Peralta Community College District — comprised of the College of Alameda and Vista, Laney and Merritt colleges — said $3 million to $4 million would go missing this year, compared to an annual operating budget of approximately $100 million.

Monday, Sept. 10

Jazzschool in Berkeley fall  

quarter 

Jazzschool 

2375 Shattuck Ave. 

Applications are currently being accepted for the fall 2001 quarter. Auditions and consultations scheduled through Sept. 14. 845-5373 www.jazzschool.com 

FTM Book and Discussion  

Group 

7 p.m. 

Boadecia’s Books 

398 Colusa Ave. 

“The Lieutenant Nun: Transgenderism, Lesbian Desire and Catalina DeErauso,” by Sherry M. Velasco. 559-9184 www.bookpride.com 

Cub Scout Information Night 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Epworth Methodist Church 

1953 Hopkins St. 

A program that offers outdoor and leadership skills. First through fifth grade boys and parents. Free. 525-6058 

Jewish Genealogy: Finding  

Your Jewish Family History 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Learn basic techniques and resources to trace your family history. 848-0237 

Section 8 Resident Council  

First Annual Speak Up: Part 2  

5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. 

East Bay Community Law Center 

3122 Shattuck Ave. 

You can effect change, but you must speak up! Refreshments provided. 

Berkeley Folk Dancers 

7:45 p.m. - 9:45 p.m. 

Live Oak Park 

1301 Shattuck 

New fall classes starts. Mondays through Oct. 29; $20 

http://geocities.com/bdancers 

Tuesday, Sept. 11

City Council meeting 

7 p.m. 

Old City Hall 

2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

Berkeley Housing Authority  

Homeownership Program 

4 - 6 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St. 

Town Hall Meeting, find out what the Section 8 Homeownership Program means to you. 548-8776 

Ecology of Mediterranean  

Climate Streams 

5:15 - 6:30 p.m. 

U.C. Berkeley  

212 O’Brien Hall 

Part of the California Colloquium on Water lecture series. Vincent H. Rash, professor of entomology and parasitology will give a lecture including questions and answers. 642-2666 lvida@library.berkeley.edu 

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 

Free Early Music Group 

10 - 11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Small group sings madrigals and other voice harmony every Tuesday.  

655-8863 

Dateline: Israel 2001: A Middle East Update 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Informative and timely presentation on the current situation in the Middle East with Professor Ze’ev Brinner. 848-0237 

Nutrition talk 

11:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

City Nutritionist Natalie Krelle-Zepponi willspeak about farm-fresh foods. 644-6107 

Freedom From Tobacco: A  

Quit Smoking Class 

6 - 8 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St. 

Free to Berkeley residents and employees. 644-6422 quitnow@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Free Legal Workshop 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Women’s Cancer Resource Center 

3023 Shattuck Ave.  

“Too Sick to Work: Cash Assistance and Health Insurance if Cancer Prevents You from Working.” This workshop will provide information about state and federal disability programs that provide cash benefits and health insurance to people unable to work due to a serious health condition. 601-4040 x303 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2-7 p.m. 

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

548-3333 

Wednesday, Sept. 12

Police Review Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St. 

Among other items, the commission will evaluate charges of discrimination and talk about recruitment efforts. 

Women’s Group 

7 p.m. 

Boadecia’s Books 

398 Colusa Ave. 

“In the Name of Salome” by Julia Alvarez. New members welcome. 559-9184 www.bookpride.com 

Socratic Circle Discussions 

5 - 6 p.m. 

Cafe Eclectica 

1309 Solano Ave. 

Does your brain need a workout? All ages welcome. 527-2344 

Topher Delaney: Ten Landscapes 

7:30 p.m. 

Builder’s Booksource 

1817 Fourth St. 

An exploration of her art of gardening and landscape architecture. 

845-6874 www.buildersbooksite.com 

Making Additions Match - Avoiding the Tacked-On Look 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St.  

Seminar taught by architect/ columnist Arrol Gellner. $35. 525-7610 

A Taste of the World: Cultural Understanding Through Food 

6 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Enhance your cooking skills and experience the cuisines of Spain, Portugal, Italy, Morocco and Israel with Chef Daniel Herskovic. All classes are “hands on.” Class includes meal and cooking lesson. $25. Every Wednesday through Nov. 1. 655-8487 

Fishbowl: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Opposite Sex, but Were Afraid to Ask 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Dating, relationships, religions, sexuality and values. An opportunity to ask anonymous questions in a confidential and supportive environment. Social and Single. $8. 848-0237 

Thursday, Sept. 13

Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn 

7 p.m. 

Berkeley Community Theater 

1930 Allston Way 

Renowned Vietnamese poet, peace activist and Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn will give a public lecture. 433-9928 

Compiled by Guy Poole

Editor: 

The article (9/1) about the Water Transit Authority meeting said that I’m worried about ferries taking riders away from existing public transit. Actually, I expressed concern about money, not riders. I thought ferry projects might take away money which could be used to support bus service. 

Everyone at that WTA meeting did seem to agree that there’s no point in pursuing yet another type of transit, ferries, unless ferry service is going to cut back on congestion. It’s funny that every big transportation project starts off by claiming to be a way to cut back on traffic congestion. This even happened with Measure B. So-far, the congestion is still with us. 

There is no end to ideas for spending our tax and toll money on transportation. We hear about rebuilding the Bay Bridge, the “southern crossing “ new bridge, rail on the Dumbarton, BART to Warm Springs and San Jose, BART to Livermore, a fourth bore on the Caldecott, regional express buses, Bus Rapid Transit, feeder buses to the suburban BART stations, the Oakland Airport connector. 

There’s even a plan for a cable gondola between West Oakland and Alameda. 

BART is already deep into our tax pockets for BART-SFO, a project which may or may not curb congestion. 

So, on top of all this, we have the Water Transit Authority with yet another way to spend our money (and of course, cut back on congestion). 

Well, I like to ride the boats around the Bay, and I’ll agree that maybe ferries are good for some transit connections, but I tend to begrudge the money being spent on the WTA, when I know that most places, the cheapest and quickest way to deploy transit is by simply putting on more buses. 

Ferry service should be used only where it provides a more direct link between points than does other transit. 

The recent demise of the Richmond ferry might give us pause when planning for ferry service in the East Bay. It might be that people wanted to drive to the dock and park there. The trip may have been too short, and not much less expensive or more convenient than driving or BART. 

On the other hand, the Baylink ferry to Vallejo has been a great success. It is large, comfortable and fast. It also covers a sizeable distance, cutting out a lot of driving. When I’ve ridden it on a weekday evening, I noticed that nearly all passengers use a pass; this means that they ride it regularly. 

Of course, on arrival at Vallejo, these Baylink riders proceed to the large parking lot, just like people coming home to Concord via BART. It’s still not a total transit trip. 

Whatever the WTA does, I hope they don’t spend money to start a new bus service to serve the ferry terminals. 

Steve Geller 

Berkeley  

Albatross Pub Sept. 11: Mad & Eddie Duran Jazz Duo; Sept. 13: Kenji “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Sept. 19: Whiskey Brothers; Sept. 20: Kenji “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Sept. 22: Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet; Sept. 27: Kenji “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Free. All shows begin at 9 p.m. 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473 albatrosspub@mindspring.com  

Café de la Paz Poetry Nitro, performance showcase with open mike. Sept. 10: Lucy Lang Day; Sept. 17: Marc Hofstadter (book party); Sept. 24: Jim Watson-Gove; All shows free, 7 - 10 p.m. 

Cal Performances Sept. 16: 7 p.m. Tania Libertad, $18 - $30; Sept. 30: 7 p.m. Kronos Quartet, David Barron, $30; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 642-0212, tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. - 2 a.m., Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; Sept. 3: 2 - 8 p.m. Big West Coast Harmonica Bash, afternoon benefit for Red Archibald. $10 donation; Doors open at 8 p.m. unless noted. 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage Sept. 11: Don Walser, Slaid Cleaves, $16.50; Sept. 12: Andy Irvine, $17.50; Sept. 13: Piper Heisig birthday revue and fund raiser w/ Kate Brislin, Sylvia Herold, Tony Marcus, Carlos Reyes, and Radim Zenkl, $16.50; Sept. 14: Ray Wylie Hubbard, $16.50; Sept. 15: Vocolot, $17.50; All shows start at 8 p.m. 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

Jupiter Sept. 10: Ben Graves Trio; Sept. 11: Len Patterson Trio; Sept. 12: Bitches Brew; Sept. 13: Beatdown w/ DJs Delon, Yamu, and Add1; Sept. 14: Carlos Washington & Giant People Ensemble; Sept. 15: Kooken & Hoomen; Sept. 18: The Goodbye Flowers; Sept. 19: New Monsoon; Sept. 20: Beatdown w/ DJs Delon, Yamu, and Add1; Sept. 21: Netwerk: Electric; Sept. 22: New Garde Philosophers; All music starts at 8:00 p.m. 2181 Shattuck Ave. 843-7625 www.jupiterbeer.com  

La Peña Cultural Center Sept. 11 & 12: 8 p.m. Irakere, $22; In the Cafe, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 www.lapena.org 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church Sept. 15: George Brooks and Shweta Jhaveri with Uttam Chakraborty on drums. $18 - $25; 2727 College Ave. 843-9600 www.harmoniventures.com 

Sedge Thomson’s West Coast Live Radio Show Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Ave.; Sept. 29: Nancy Miford, author of “Savage Beauty.” West African folk music with The Nigerian Brothers. Blues roots piano by Caroline Dahl. The Freight and Salvage, 1111 Addison St. All shows 10 a.m. - noon. 252-9214 www.wcl.org 

Squelched.com Presents “Jim Short” Sept. 11: 8 p.m. Jim Short is an Australian expatriate who grew up in Texas. Also appearing: Rob Cantrell, Luke Filose and Sean Keane. Blake’s on Telegraph, 2367 Telegraph Ave. 848-0886 show@squelched.com 

“Hecho En Califas Chicano-Latino Teatro Festival” Sept. 14 - 15; 8 p.m. Original members of El Teatro de La Esperanza. Chicano Theater began out of the need to express the realities of the fields and barrios of Aztlán in the Chicano-Latino community. $10 - $20 La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck, 849-2568, www.lapena.org  

“Winesburg, Ohio: Tales of the Grotesque” through Sept. 16, Wed. - Sat. 8:30 p.m., Sun. 5 p.m. The Shotgun Players and Word For Word team up for a production of Sherwood Anderson’s deceptively simple tale of neglected souls who fade into the shadows around us. $22, Wednesdays are “Pay What You Can.” Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Ave. 655-0813 www.shotgunplayers.org 

“The Secret Garden” Sept. 14, 15, 21, 22, at 8 p.m. Sept. 16 & 23 matinees. The Alameda Civic Light Opera’s fifth summer season ends with the musical of Frances Hodson Burnett’s classic story of life, death, purpose and hope. Adults $22, Students 18 and under $14. Kofman Auditorium, 2200 Central Ave., Alameda. www.aclo.com 

“36 Views” Sept. 12 through Oct. 28: Tues. 8 p.m., Wed. 7 p.m., Thu. 8 p.m. w/ 2 p.m. matinee every other Thu., Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 8 p.m. w/ 2 p.m. matinee every other Sat., Sun. 2 p.m., 8 p.m. Written by Naomi Lizuka, Directed by Mark Wing-Davey. $10 - $54. Berkeley Repertory’s Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Murder Dressed in Satin” by Victor Lawhorn, ongoing. A mystery-comedy dinner show at The Madison about a murder at the home of Satin Moray, a club owner and self-proclaimed socialite with a scarlet past. Dinner is included in the price of the theater ticket. $47.50 Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison St., Oakland. 239-2252 www.acteva.com/go/havefun 

Cal Performances Sept. 19 - 20: 8 p.m. American Ballet, “Bruch Violin Concerto,” “Jabula,” “Gong,” and “Black Tuesday.”; Sept. 21: 8 p.m., Sept. 22: 2 p.m. & 8 p.m., Sept. 23: 3 p.m. American Ballet, the full-length 19th Century “Giselle” $36 - $64; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 642-0212, tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Pacific Film Archive Sept. 10: 7 p.m. “Orfeu”, Sept. 11: 7:30 p.m. “The Film of Maya Deren”; Sept. 12 7:30 p.m. “Autrian AudioVisions”; Sept. 14: 7:30 “Eyes of the Spider”, 9:20 “Serpent’s Path”; Sept. 15: 4:30 p.m. “The New God”, 7:00 p.m. “Seance”, 9:05 p.m. “Looking for Angel”; Sept. 16: 3:30 p.m. “Alphaville”, 5:30 p.m. “Solaris”; Sept. 17: 7 p.m. “Charcoal People”; Sept. 18: 7:30 p.m. “Mike Kuchar’s Feverish Spell”; Sept. 19: 7:30 p.m. “Wht About Me: The Rise of the Nihilist Spasm Band”; general admission $7, The New PFA Theatre 2575 Bancroft Way 642-1412 

The Pyramid Alehouse Outdoor Cinema Sept. 15: “Harold and Maude”; Sept. 22: “Airplane”; The Outdoor Cinema features cult classics projected on a large screen in the open-air brewery parking lot. $5 donation. Movies start at 7 p.m. 901 Gilman St. 206-682-8322 x237 www.pyramidbrew.com 

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

“The Political Art of: Diego Marcial Rios” Through Sept. 20, Addison Street Window Gallery, 2018 Addison St. hdrios@msn.com 

Women’s Cancer Resource Gallery “Catastrophe, Crisis, and Other Family Traditions” The photography of Jessamyn Lovell. Through Sept. 26; “The Arthur Wright and Gerald Parker” Reception Sept. 8. Through Sept. 26; Tues. - Thurs. 1 - 7 p.m., Sat. 12 - 4 p.m. 3023 Shattuck Ave. 548-9286 x307 www.wcrc.org 

“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.

It’s been years since Brigham Young scored so much, won so easily and looked so good. 

Brandon Doman rushed for three touchdowns and passed for three more as BYU and its high-powered offense rolled past another overmatched opponent, beating California 44-16 Saturday. 

Their competition hasn’t exactly been stiff, but the Cougars (3-0) have scored 166 points this season in performances worthy of the school’s famous high-flying teams in LaVell Edwards’ heyday. 

“Once we get going, we’re tough to slow down,” Doman said. 

New coach Gary Crowton’s inventive attack started slowly against Cal, but BYU scored six straight TDs after a scoreless first quarter. 

While the Cougars roared into next week’s difficult trip to Mississippi State, California took its second straight embarrassing home loss under embattled coach Tom Holmoe, a BYU alumnus, to go 0-2 for the first time since 1995. 

“I can’t be angry with these guys,” Holmoe said. “It’s a team thing, and as a coach and players, we have to figure it out together. The players are angry at themselves.” 

The Golden Bears, who were beaten 44-17 by Illinois last week, also lost star tailback Joe Igber to a sprained left ankle at the end of the third quarter. 

Cal scored first on Marcus Fields’ 25-yard TD catch less than seven minutes in. The Bears’ fired-up defense stopped BYU’s first three drives, but the Cougars tied it up on a drive that was kept alive on a successful fake punt. 

On fourth-and-1 from BYU’s 29, the Cougars short-snapped the ball to Ned Stearns, who rushed for 23 yards. Four plays later, Doman hit Luke Staley with a 27-yard TD pass. 

“It was a close game, and they didn’t expect it,” Crowton said. “We’d done it in practice, and it worked. I just had to have the guts to call it. It wasn’t easy, I’ll tell you that.” 

The game changed abruptly in the closing minutes of the first half. 

The score was still tied when Igber fumbled at the BYU 19 with 2:04 left before halftime. BYU needed just six plays — including a beautiful 41-yard reception by Mike Rigell — to move into position for Doman’s 4-yard TD sneak with 52 seconds left. 

Cal quarterback Kyle Boller then fumbled near midfield with 14 seconds left. Doman threw a short slant to Brian McDonald, who sprinted through the Cal secondary, dodged several tacklers and tumbled into the end zone for a 53-yard TD as time expired, putting BYU up 21-7. 

“They got deflated a little bit,” McDonald said of the Bears. “They thought back to that Illinois game where they had a couple of turnovers, and that took them out of it.” 

Doman, the Cougars’ senior quarterback, was responsible for all six TDs, falling two short of the school record set by Marc Wilson in 1977 and matched by Jim McMahon in 1980. But in leading the Cougars to victory both with passes and runs, Doman looked more like Steve Young. 

“I’m very impressed with (Doman) so far,” Crowton said. “What Brandon is doing with the team right now is very positive.” 

Doman is the first BYU quarterback to win his first five starts since Robbie Bosco in 1984. That season ended with the Cougars’ only national title. 

To join the best QBs in BYU’s history, Doman must beat teams a bit tougher than those on the Cougars’ early-season schedule, but he feels he’s off to a good start. 

“It’s pretty easy when your offensive line comes out and plays as well as they did,” Doman said. “I think we have a good team, and we were prepared well.” 

Doman was 16-of-24 for 272 yards as the Cougars rolled up 488 yards of total offense — 365 in the middle two quarters. 

Reno Mahe caught a 16-yard TD pass late in the third quarter to put BYU ahead 41-10. Mahe had six catches for 64 yards. 

The Cougars also got two penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct. Left tackle Dustin Rykert, a native of nearby Roseville, was ejected in the third quarter after a series of taunts. 

Boller was 19-of-33 for 242 yards for the Bears, who missed tackles all day and clearly became disheartened in the second half. Fields had five catches for 79 yards. 

After opening the season against the weak defenses of Tulane, Nevada and Cal, BYU gets a much tougher test next week against in Starkville against the 18th-ranked Bulldogs, who beat Memphis 30-10 on Saturday. Mississippi State won 44-28 in Provo last season.

The Berkeley and Oakland police departments are negotiating with therespective cities for a new pension benefit called 3 percent at 50, which has already been enacted in 147 other agencies statewide.  

If adopted, the new formula will allow officers to retire at 3 percent of their salaries times their number of years in the force and will, essentially, expedite the retirement of senior officers.  

“When three percent at fifty kicks in, we stand to lose twelve officers right off the bat,” said Sgt. Patricia Delaluna, head of Berkeley’s personnel and training unit. Berkeley’s force is about 190 officers strong, Delaluna estimated. Beyond the initial loss of 12 officers, she said the department could lose another 30 to 40 people during the first year the enhanced benefit goes into effect. 

In the Bay Area, Alameda, Concord, El Cerrito, Fremont, Hayward, Pittsburgh, Walnut Creek, and the University of California Police already have the program in place. Retired Capt. David Swim, a Ph.D. in Public Administration who has been tracking the new plan, estimates that about 15 to 20 agencies per quarter have signed on since it was first made available in January of 2000. 

Sgt. Jon Madarang, who supervises the Oakland Police Department’s background investigation and recruitment unit, said he began hearing about 3 percent at 50 almost five years ago, but didn’t see it start to surface until about two years ago. 

Editor: 

The article about the Municipal Rose Garden reminded me that the landscape architect, Vernon Dean also designed the Berkeley Aquatic Park. This was formed when Interstate-80, then called highway 40, was created, damming a part of the Bay water.The Dean family lived in North Berkeley on Alamo Ave., a one-block street, my parents Sam and Kitty Levy lived at 55 Alamo. My father was also known as “Lee.” 

Please thank Susan Cerney for her fine series of articles about Berkeley. 

Michael Levy 

Oakland 

O’Down runs for 250 yards, wins season opener 27-6 

The St. Mary’s football team got off to a slow start on Saturday, barely gaining 100 total yards and committing four turnovers in a 27-6 loss to rival Bishop O’Dowd. 

The Panthers got just 59 rushing yards from star tailback Trestin George, and the team’s only score came on a 79-yard kickoff return by Courtney Brown. The Dragons, on the other hand, gained 297 yards, including 250 yards on the ground. Senior tailback Matt Fountaine, O’Dowd’s leading rusher last year, gained 112 yards on 12 carries with two touchdowns, but was overshadowed by teammate Tyson Butler. Butler, a junior, displayed a punishing running style, carrying Panther defenders for 138 yards on 16 carries and one score. 

“Fountaine’s the guy everyone talks about, but (Butler) was the guy we were worried about all week,” St. Mary’s head coach Jay Lawson said after the game. “We saw him scrimmage last week, and we saw that he runs hard and low. He was dragging our guys around all day.” 

Butler scored the Dragon’s first touchdown just before the end of the first quarter on a three-yard carry with three Panthers on his back. The drive was set up by an O’Dowd fumble recovery on their own 45-yard line when St. Mary’s quarterback Steve Murphy threw an option pitch to no one in particular. The fumble was one of seven by St. Mary’s in the game, as George coughed up the ball twice and Murphy, starting his first game at quarterback, had trouble with the exchange from center Rodny Acda and fumbled four snaps. 

“I think we were a little nervous on our snaps, and Steve was pulling out too soon,” Lawson said. “Those turnovers were costly, especially early in the game.” 

Murphy also threw two interceptions in the game, both long passes intended for Alexander. O’Dowd cornerback Jared Harris had Alexander blanketed on both plays and came up with both picks.  

Murphy ended up with just 57 passing yards, but more deflating was the Dragon’s strong defense on George, who is considered one of the top running backs in California. Although the senior had four runs for over 10 yards, the Dragons did a good job of containing him on the perimeter. 

“We stepped up to the challenge of Trestin George today,” O’Dowd head coach Paul Perenon said. “Everyone was calling this week saying he was unstoppable, but we kept him out of the end zone.” 

The Dragons’ running game was much better, as Fountaine and Butler followed the blocks of 6-foot-7, 315-pound right tackle Michael Gray for much of their yardage. 

“We knew they’d run behind their big guy, and they just out-hit us,” Lawson said. “They used a ball-control offense, and they were able to pop the big play when they needed it.” 

Butler had two of those big plays in the third quarter, both extending touchdown drives. First, following Harris’ first interception of the game, Butler bulled his way for 27 yards down to the St. Mary’s 15-yard line, and Fountaine scored three plays later from three yards out to make the score 13-0. Then, when the next O’Dowd drive was in danger due to a holding call, Butler broke off a 32-yard run to inside the St. Mary’s 10. A holding call on the next play brought the ball back a bit, but Dragon quarterback Danny Brethauer lofted a pass just over leaping St. Mary’s cornerback Rob Leray into Dan Balich in the corner of the end zone for another score. 

The Panthers had a ray of hope on the ensuing kickoff, as Kenny Griffin took in the kick and lateraled it to Brown, who ran 79 yards untouched for the Panthers’ only score of the game. But the offense continued to sputter, and another Foutaine touchdown run with four minutes left in the game put the final nail in the coffin. 

Lawson, who is in his first season as a head coach, said his players need to be ready to play when they face El Cerrito this Saturday. 

“We need to get back to the basics,” he said. “We need to more physical and aggressive. We can’t turn the ball over like that and expect to win.”

The St. Mary’s football team got off to a slow start on Saturday, barely gaining 100 total yards and committing four turnovers in a 27-6 loss to rival Bishop O’Dowd. 

The Panthers got just 59 rushing yards from star tailback Trestin George, and the team’s only score came on a 79-yard kickoff return by Courtney Brown. The Dragons, on the other hand, gained 297 yards, including 250 yards on the ground. Senior tailback Matt Fountaine, O’Dowd’s leading rusher last year, gained 112 yards on 12 carries with two touchdowns, but was overshadowed by teammate Tyson Butler. Butler, a junior, displayed a punishing running style, carrying Panther defenders for 138 yards on 16 carries and one score. 

“Fountaine’s the guy everyone talks about, but (Butler) was the guy we were worried about all week,” St. Mary’s head coach Jay Lawson said after the game. “We saw him scrimmage last week, and we saw that he runs hard and low. He was dragging our guys around all day.” 

Butler scored the Dragon’s first touchdown just before the end of the first quarter on a three-yard carry with three Panthers on his back. The drive was set up by an O’Dowd fumble recovery on their own 45-yard line when St. Mary’s quarterback Steve Murphy threw an option pitch to no one in particular. The fumble was one of seven by St. Mary’s in the game, as George coughed up the ball twice and Murphy, starting his first game at quarterback, had trouble with the exchange from center Rodny Acda and fumbled four snaps. 

“I think we were a little nervous on our snaps, and Steve was pulling out too soon,” Lawson said. “Those turnovers were costly, especially early in the game.” 

Murphy also threw two interceptions in the game, both long passes intended for Alexander. O’Dowd cornerback Jared Harris had Alexander blanketed on both plays and came up with both picks.  

Murphy ended up with just 57 passing yards, but more deflating was the Dragon’s strong defense on George, who is considered one of the top running backs in California. Although the senior had four runs for over 10 yards, the Dragons did a good job of containing him on the perimeter. 

“We stepped up to the challenge of Trestin George today,” O’Dowd head coach Paul Perenon said. “Everyone was calling this week saying he was unstoppable, but we kept him out of the end zone.” 

The Dragons’ running game was much better, as Fountaine and Butler followed the blocks of 6-foot-7, 315-pound right tackle Michael Gray for much of their yardage. 

“We knew they’d run behind their big guy, and they just out-hit us,” Lawson said. “They used a ball-control offense, and they were able to pop the big play when they needed it.” 

Butler had two of those big plays in the third quarter, both extending touchdown drives. First, following Harris’ first interception of the game, Butler bulled his way for 27 yards down to the St. Mary’s 15-yard line, and Fountaine scored three plays later from three yards out to make the score 13-0. Then, when the next O’Dowd drive was in danger due to a holding call, Butler broke off a 32-yard run to inside the St. Mary’s 10. A holding call on the next play brought the ball back a bit, but Dragon quarterback Danny Brethauer lofted a pass just over leaping St. Mary’s cornerback Rob Leray into Dan Balich in the corner of the end zone for another score. 

The Panthers had a ray of hope on the ensuing kickoff, as Kenny Griffin took in the kick and lateraled it to Brown, who ran 79 yards untouched for the Panthers’ only score of the game. But the offense continued to sputter, and another Foutaine touchdown run with four minutes left in the game put the final nail in the coffin. 

Lawson, who is in his first season as a head coach, said his players need to be ready to play when they face El Cerrito this Saturday. 

“We need to get back to the basics,” he said. “We need to more physical and aggressive. We can’t turn the ball over like that and expect to win.”

Children played and adults relaxed under the warm fall sun Saturday at the sixth annual Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival Saturday afternoon in Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Park. 

“A poem makes us see everything for the first time,” read Chicano poet Francisco Alarcón in a short poem expressing the hope that an afternoon of poetry would raise environmental consciousness.” 

“We are nature,” said Poetry Flash editor Joyce Jenkins. “Whatever happens to us is part of nature. The festival brings people together and then you start saving the earth by informing people and getting them to think about it.” 

Poets from grade school students to Beat celebrity Gary Snyder read their poetry to an attentive audience. Under multicolored banners that flapped in the breeze, a few hackey sack players kicked a ball back and forth as people drifted in from the sidewalks. 

“Without a thought you have covered my naked, sacred body with a garment of cement. I feel restricted; I cannot dance and undulate my rippling torso where I have been paved over, deforested, wrapped in plastic,” read renowned bare-breasted activist “La Tigresa” (Dona Nieto), in “I am the Goddess,” an erotic plea of the river to be released of her artificial bondage.  

“Ode to tomatoes, they make friends anywhere,” read Alarcón on a more humorous note from his collection of children’s books. Other poets at the festival included Maxine Hong Kingston, Chris Olander, Patti Trimble, and Robert Hass, as well as student poets from the

Editor: 

After a quake, ferries, bicycles and walking may be the main forms of travel. If bridges are down, an operating ferry system can rescue survivors. A long delay to bring ferries from other areas may be deadly. 

A new ferry system should avoid the mistakes made with other recent projects. Start small, with a well-planned and thought-out system. 

With BART, there first should have been an area-wide freeway bus rapid transit network. Then BART could have been built on or near the most heavily traveled bus routes. Instead, BART was built as if AC Transit did not exist, with BART stations on lightly traveled bus routes, stations with long walks for patrons and circuitous maneuvers by buses. BART’s major mistake was providing free parking for automobiles which buses do not need. 

In coordinating ferries with pre-existing transit systems, there should be easy transfers between them. The obvious places where ferries can pick up riders are at the toll plazas of the various bridges. There, passengers to and from buses, ferries, and even people movers can go straight on to reach nearby locations the best way. 

The important point is to get an integrated ferry system into operation in time to function before a devastating earthquake happens. 

Charles L. Smith 

Berkeley 

California (1-3-0) lost another heartbreaker at the tail end of a game Sunday afternoon against Loyola Marymount (1-3-0),1-0, in the finale of the fifth annual adidas-Legacy Classic tournament.  

Junior midfielder Andres Murriagui kicked in a dribbler just inside the left goal post at the 86th minute mark to seal LMU’s first victory of the season.  

This was the second consecutive game in which the Bears dropped a contest in the waning minutes after a strong effort for much of the entire game.  

“We played a steady match,” said Cal head coach Kevin Grimes. “But I think in the second half, (LMU) came out with much more intensity. I think we may have sat back a little bit in the second half.”  

The two teams played 10-on-10 for much of the game after a player from each team received a red card, resulting in an ejection. The cards were given on separate incidents 16 minutes apart. The Bears’ Robbie Aylesworth received his ejection in the 23rd minute while Michael Erush was ejected in the 39th.  

The Lions out shot Cal, 9-8, for the game.

The Edward Roberts Campus received a $400,000 grant Wednesday from the NEC Foundation of America that will allow the latest environmental, assistive and information technologies to be included in the construction of the nonprofit corporation’s home in the eastern parking lot of Ashby BART Station. 

The planning for the facility, which will cost approximately $30 million to construct, began five years ago, after Edward Roberts died at the age of 56. Roberts, a quadriplegic, was the first student with serious disabilities to attend UC Berkeley and was also a leader in the movement for independent living and disabled rights. 

The ERC partners, nine organizations catering to the needs of disabled people, are expecting approximately $20 million of the funding to come from grants. So far they have raised $1.4 million. They are expecting the additional $10 million to come from loans. 

“We’re very excited about this grant because it is going to give us an opportunity to look at equipment that is now being used,” said ERC Director of Fund Raising Joan Leon. “It gives us a chance to see what exactly we want to do in the future and the money that will allow us to go in the direction we decide.” 

The ERC partners are planning for construction of the state of the art facility to be completed by the year 2004. 

On top of hosting the business offices for the nine organizations, the ERC is expected to have a telecommunications center, a library documenting the disabled rights movement, a children’s play center, space to lease, a café and a computer lab that will not only be shared by all of the companies, but will also be open to the community. 

The goal of the ERC is to make sure that all people, no matter their disability will be able to use all of the services of their facility. 

“We’re very excited about this money because it insures that the project will be as innovative as we’ve always dreamed it could be,” said Project Manager Caleb Dardick. “We want the people visiting our site to enjoy a state of the art universal design that accommodates all people. From textured floors to assist the blind to voice operated elevators for those who can’t use buttons, our goal is to have our facility available to everyone.” 

Although most of the fund raising done up to this point has been designated for the planning process, the check from NEC will be the first step towards actually getting the facility constructed. 

“The ERC has been looked at on an international scale as the best designed complex for the disabled community,” said Dmitri Belser of the ERC board of directors, “and now we are moving from the steps of designing the complex down the path of constructing it.” 

The nine organizations of the ERC are Bay Area Outreach & Recreation Program, Center for Accessible Technology, Center for Independent Living, Computer Technologies Program, Disability Rights Advocates, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Through the Looking Glass, Whirlwind Wheelchair International, and World Institute on Disability. 

Workshops can help create understanding 

Editor: 

While Mr. Piryaei (Workshop Titles are reflective of shocking racism towards Zionism, Sept. 3) feels that the workshop titled, “Dealing with Muslim and Palestinian Groups on Campus, “ is prejudice, the actual content of the workshop was anything but. The workshop equipped Jewish students with skills needed to create a forum for dialouge and discussion, rather than the meaningless yelling that currently occurs on most college campuses. The workshop consisted of a discussion of how as Jewish leaders, we could work with, rather than against leaders of groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine. Next time, before he so quickly jumps to a conclusion, Mr. Piryaei should gather all the details, rather than oversimplifying things, as he accuses others of doing. 

He asks, what my reaction would be had the Students for Justice in Palestine, held a workshop titled, “Dealing with Jewish Groups on Campus?” Knowing the content of my own workshop, I would be elated for the SJP to hold such a workshop. Maybe then true progress could be made. 

Scott Newman 

Berkeley

The California women’s volleyball team (3-2) lost to Tennessee (4-1), 30-24, 30-28, 30-23, Saturday night in the championship match of the second annual Golden Bear Volleyball Classic in Haas Pavilion. In the earlier consolation match, Rice (4-3) defeated Florida Atlantic (0-6), 30-23, 30-25, 30-21.  

Tennessee’s Janelle Hester was the tournament MVP after recording 18 kills and a .361 hitting percentage (18 kills, five errors, 36 attempts) against the Bears. The Lady Volunteers were also led by Ariana Wilson’s 13 kills and .722 hitting percentage (13 kills, no errors, 18 attempts). Wilson joined Hester on the all-tournament team, along with senior setter Erica Lear.  

Cal was led by sophomore Gabrielle Abernathy’s 13 kills and junior Leah Young added 10 kills for the Bears. Abernathy, Young and senior setter Candace McNamee were all selected to the all-tournament team. It was the second year in a row McNamee has earned all-tournament honors at the Golden Bear Classic.  

The Bears will next begin Pac-10 play, facing Arizona State Friday, Sept.14 at 7 p.m. and No. 5 ranked Arizona Saturday, Sept. 15 at 7 p.m. at Haas Pavilion. Next weekend also marks the debut of Cal’s outstanding freshman Mia Jerkov, who is currently playing for her native Croatia at the World Junior Championships in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.  

RANCHO CORDOVA – The California men’s cross country team won the Sacramento Invitational four-mile race Saturday at Lake Natoma. The Golden Bears posted 31 points to outdistance Santa Clara (43).  

The Santa Clara women (42 points) held off host Sacramento State (56) in the five-kilometer race. The Cal women finished third with 61 points.  

Martin Conrad paced the Cal men by finishing third in a time of 21:24. Santa Clara posted a one-two finish with Mike Helms placing first (20:59) and Thomas Chapman taking second (21:21).  

Also finishing in the top 10 for Cal were Adam Shaffer (6th, 21:29), John Burke (7th, 21:41) and Tyler Noesen (8th, 21:41). The Bears other scorer was David Spence, who finished 16th in 22:34.  

Cal’s Erin Belger took top honors in the women’s competition with a time of 18:44. St. Mary’s Allegra Porter clocked in just behind Belger in 18:50. Erin Donley and Sarah Buick were the Bears next best finishers, taking 11th (20:00) and 12th (20:26).  

Up next for Cal is the Fresno State Invitational, Sat., Sept. 15.  

STOCKTON – No. 4 Cal water polo jumped out to a 1-0 start Saturday, toping No. 10 Pacific 13-6 in Chris Kjeldsen Pool on the Pacific campus.  

After jumping out to an early lead, it looked as if Pacific might pose a threat to the Bears, the Tigers rallying from 2-0 and 4-1.  

In the third period, the Bears put the game away for good. Already holding a 6-2 lead, the Bears ran off 5 goals to Pacific’s 2 to push their lead up to 11-4.  

Joe Kaiser led the way for the Bears, notching 4 scores, and Mike West put away two.

The city of Berkeley is asking residents to step out of their cars and get on the bus during “Try Transit Week” beginning today.  

The week is part of the national “Try Transit Day” celebrated on Tuesday, Sept. 11.  

The American Public Transportation Association is leading the effort to increase awareness of the benefits of public transportation.  

For more information you can visit various transportation Web sites: public-safety.berkeley.edu/trip, www.transitinfo.org or www.apta.com.

SACRAMENTO – Assembly Democrats unveiled a revised plan for new districts Saturday, tweaking several key districts in response to last week’s hearings. 

Lawmakers were further from agreement on how to shape new districts for the state Senate and California’s congressional delegation. 

Kam Kuwata, a spokesman for Assembly Democrats, said the new Assembly maps contained minor changes. 

Lawmakers must redraw the districts every 10 years to keep up with population changes revealed by the federal census. They unveiled redistricting plans for all three bodies last week and then held hearings on the proposals Tuesday and Wednesday. 

During the hearings, which included televised testimony from around the state, groups representing Hispanics, Asians, women, environmentalists and regions said the plans slighted their interests. 

Republican Assembly spokesman Jamie Fisfis said the new plans were “closer to what they’ll be when they’re finalized.” 

The 77th district, currently represented by Assemblyman Jay La Suer, R-La Mesa, gained a few more Republican voters in the latest proposal, growing from 44 percent Republican to more than 46 percent. Democrats would make up about 32 percent of that district, down from 34 percent in the first plan. 

A nearly even split among Democrats and Republicans in the first proposal for the 78th District in San Diego was also redrawn. The move shifts more support to Democrats in the district currently represented by Howard Wayne, a Democrat. 

Amadis Velez, redistricting coordinator for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said his group was pleased with changes made to the 49th district, currently represented by Judy Chu, a Democrat from Monterey Park. 

“It’s now very similar to the one that MALDEF originally proposed in July,” he said. The new proposal encompasses about 42 percent Latino voters, up from 37 percent in the first plan. 

However, Velez’s group still plans to contest the proposed lines drawn for Senate and congressional districts, saying Latino communities were “fractured” by the initial plans. 

Kuwata said Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, has been talking to Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, about making changes in the Senate lines that would help his members. 

If embattled Rep. Gary Condit, D-Ceres, decides soon to retire instead of run for re-election, it could help resolve some of the criticism of the Senate plan. 

Condit’s departure would clear the way for Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza, D-Atwater, to run for Congress, not the state Senate, and allow legislative leaders to redraw the Senate maps to help another aspiring member of the Assembly. 

Lawmakers are scheduled to adjourn for the year next Friday, but the final session could be extended by majority votes in both houses.

SACRAMENTO – Police say a disgruntled former security guard accused of killing four people Saturday said in cell phone calls during his alleged rampage that he wanted to commit a crime even bloodier than the slayings of seven people here last month. 

Joseph Ferguson said “he was going to outdo (Nikolay) Soltys, something along those lines,” said Sacramento Police spokesman Sgt. Daniel Hahn. 

Police believe disgruntled Ferguson, 20, a former security guard from Sacramento, shot and killed three unarmed ex-coworkers and a fourth man late Saturday night and early Sunday, then handcuffed another guard and fled in her car. They also said he made a number of cell phone calls during his alleged rampage, and were checking out a claim Sunday that he shot a person in a gold van. 

Ferguson remained at large Sunday and was believed to be heavily armed and possibly wearing a bulletproof vest, Hahn said. During an afternoon press conference Sunday afternoon, Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo said there was a $120,000 reward for information leading to Ferguson’s capture. 

The hunt for Ferguson comes three weeks after Soltys allegedly slashed his pregnant wife’s throat, then killed his aunt and uncle and their two 9-year-old grandchildren in Sacramento area. Authorities say he fled with his son, who was found dead in a cardboard box a day later. 

In Soltys’ case, police had warned the Ukrainian community and Soltys’ family that he could be targeting them. He did not harm any more members of his family before he was caught and charged with murder. 

That case, authorities said, has given them an unfortunate benefit in tracking Ferguson. 

“We are fortunate, in a way, from the Soltys case,” said Sacramento Police Chief Arturo Venegas Jr., because it stimulated a relationship with state and federal law enforcement that has carried over into the search for Ferguson. 

Members of the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the California Highway Patrol are cooperating to track Ferguson, Venegas said. 

Ferguson lived with his father, Tom, who police do not believe is in any danger. But they were concerned for the safety of those Ferguson had contact with, namely, other employees of Burns Security, where he worked. 

Police are investigating a report that one of the slain women at the equipment yard was Ferguson’s ex-girlfriend; that woman’s parents are under guard, Hahn said. 

Ferguson, Venegas said, was “despondent about breaking up with his girlfriend.” 

Police also are looking into reports the woman may have warned the company that Ferguson was planning a rampage, Hahn said. 

Ferguson was believed to be driving a dark green Toyota Tercel stolen from a former co-worker he left handcuffed to a tree but unharmed at the Sacramento Zoo about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, Hahn said. 

About 11:18 p.m., police responding to a shots-fired call at a city equipment yard found two dead female Burns security guards in uniform. Police suspect Ferguson took a Burns Security vehicle from the yard and used it to crash through the gates of the zoo. 

Police also found the bodies of two men at the Miller Park Marina about 10 miles north, immediately southwest of downtown. One of the men was a uniformed Burns guard, and the other was apparently a marina worker, Hahn said. 

All four victims were unarmed and riddled with gunshot wounds, Hahn said. Police found AK-47 rounds, shotgun rounds and 9 mm handgun shells at the crime scenes. 

“Obviously this person is probably not in a right frame of mind,” Hahn said. 

Venegas said police found a handgun at the first shooting scene and recovered an assault weapon at the marina. He did not specify the type of handgun or assault rifle. 

Ferguson was suspended for unknown reasons last week from his job with Burns Security, Hahn said. Police said he made a series of calls to former co-workers Saturday night threatening to kill them and club- and movie-goers in the city’s busy Old Sacramento district. 

While police were trying to account for Burns employees Sunday, the company pulled its approximately 150 employees from their jobs in the Sacramento area, company chief executive officer Don Walker said. 

“If this individual was indeed a suspended Burns security officer, we’ll do whatever we need to cooperate with police,” Walker said. 

Ferguson had handguns and long rifles with him, Venegas said, and Ferguson’s father told police “numerous weapons” were missing from the home. 

Police identified Ferguson as a 6-foot 1-inch tall white male, about 150 pounds, with shaved brown hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a black T-shirt and black fatigues during the alleged shootings and is believed armed with two 9 mm handguns, two rifles and a shotgun. 

Ferguson’s neighbors said they rarely saw the family, who lived in a one-story brick and stucco house with a painted owl on the peak of the roof and a high wooden fence topped by barbed wire. One sign on the fence read “Danger. This property protected by California Canine Security,” and another sign had a picture of a Doberman pinscher on it and read “I can make it to the fence in 2.8 seconds. Can you?” 

Next-door neighbor Will Cameron said he chatted occasionally with Tom Ferguson, but said most residents of the quiet, working-class street didn’t talk much. A longtime resident of south Sacramento, Cameron said, he was “used to people getting shot.” 

“It does kind of spook me out,” Cameron said. “I’ve never been this close before.” 

Lonnie Basped, the Fergusons other next-door neighbor, said the news surprised him. He only saw the family when he was going to work each morning and said they usually cut their lawn around 6 a.m. 

“It seems strange for things like that going on,” he said. “It makes me think about keeping my family secluded.”

Nanotechnology could change the world as we know it  

PALO ALTO – Like a spacecraft’s snapshots of another world, the images on R. Stanley Williams’ computer show stark landscapes where parallel ridges poke out of what appear to be roiling blue rivers. 

The distances on this barren terrain are measured in the width of atoms, not miles. The ridges – just six atoms wide – will be the wires of an infinitesimally small circuit of the future. 

In Williams’ basement office at Hewlett-Packard Co., and in other laboratories around the globe, nanotechnology researchers are pioneering ways of building a new world, atom by atom and molecule by molecule. 

Nanotech promises to open up a universe of possibilities, from computers that rival the brain in processing, communications and storage, to molecular motors, cellular machines and drugs that target specific cells. 

Scientists expect it will eventually lead to new materials that are stronger, lighter and cheaper to make. It’s expected to touch nearly every industry: power, biotech, computing, manufacturing. 

“If nanotechnology has the impact we think it might have, it may well cause social and industrial rearrangements not unlike the original Industrial Revolution,” said Richard W. Siegel, director of the Rensselaer Nanotechnology Center in Troy, N.Y. 

Nanoscience is the study of materials smaller than 100 nanometers – or 1/100th the width of a human hair strand. 

The precise manipulation of nature’s basic building blocks gives scientists ultimate control over matter. It can lead to unexpected properties, such as lightweight, breathable fabrics that stop bullets. 

Nanotechnology literally opens up a new world of discoveries. 

Though nanotechnology seems to be as hyped as the money-losing dot-coms, corporations, researchers and governments around the world say the long-term promise is too great to ignore. 

Last year, then-President Clinton kicked off the National Nanotechnology Initiative with a $422 million budget boost, a 56 percent increase in nanotechnology spending over 1999. That would increase to $519 million annually under President Bush’s proposed budget. 

Major companies such as Hewlett-Packard and IBM Corp. are committing resources. Scores of startup companies have emerged. 

Nanoengineered products can now be found on store shelves as industrial drill bits, sunscreens and paints. Drug companies are interested because nanoparticles are water soluble – and injectable into patients – even when their full-size equivalents are not. 

Nanoscience also is quickly becoming a common language among previously divergent disciplines, such as materials science, engineering and biology. Engineers studying molecular motors and fuel are closely studying similar mechanisms found in bacterial flagella. 

The high-tech industry may have the most to gain. 

“Nanotechnology is the very next logical step from what we’re doing right now in terms of microtechnology,” said Tom Weber, division director for materials research at the National Science Foundation. “It’s where we’ve got to go if we’re going to get to new products and devices.” 

In data storage, some work is already paying off. 

IBM is developing a disk drive that punches atomic-size indentations into plastic, giving the drive more than 40 times the density of current models. That could ultimately lead to cell phones with a gigabyte of storage space. 

Millipede, as the project is known, could be commercially available in as little as two years. 

But in the core of the high-tech industry – memory and logic circuits – nanotech is not expected to bear commercial fruit for another five to 10 years or more. 

The timing is critical. For more than 30 years, the performance of most high-tech devices has depended on the continued miniaturization of silicon transistors, tiny switches that turn on and off as well as amplify signals. 

But silicon has its limits, and they are expected to be reached within the next 10 to 15 years. 

Williams, a research fellow at HP Labs in Palo Alto, believes his team is on a path to breaking through those barriers. 

Using a stainless steel machine that resembles a diving bell, Williams and his colleagues at HP Lab’s Quantum Science Research division have built switches out of parts of molecules that can be made to swing open or shut. 

Instead of using the top-down approach of basically scratching features into silicon, they employ a bottom-up approach of building structures atom by atom. 

And the process occurs through carefully controlled chemical reactions, which would be much cheaper than the multibillion chip factories that now churn out the world’s memory and microprocessor chips. 

Researchers at IBM are working on another approach that would not require abandoning transistors altogether. 

Two carbon nanotubes – each only 10 atoms wide – have already been used to create a specific type of simple circuit. Researchers are working on running more complicated operations. 

“They’re the only thing in the world that right now has some potential of making a switch to process information that’s faster than the fastest silicon transistor,” said Tom Theis, IBM’s worldwide director of physical science research. 

There are many problems to overcome, including creating viable circuits, figuring out how to connect them to real-world electronics and developing software that works with the imperfections of organically grown wires. 

So far, the research teams at HP and IBM say they have encountered no show-stopping barriers that would prevent the eventual creation of nanoscale memory and logic chips. 

Still, few expect advances in nanoscale electronics to change the world overnight. 

Williams believes molecular computing will enter the marketplace much like the first transistors did in cheap radios. Molecular electronics, he said, could first appear in a toy or singing birthday card. 

Ultimately, computing power and memory will grow, even faster than the rate that silicon did. A small computer might have the same capacity as a human brain. It might, perhaps, even think or feel. 

“I’m not sure I’d want a wristwatch that’s smarter than I am,” says Williams. “But that’s what the physics tells us we should be able to do.” 

Some predict that the technology could lead to ways of restoring frozen people. More pessimistic writers warn that self-replicating, self-aware nanobots could one day squeeze out life on Earth. 

Most dismiss such fears as hype or physically impossible science fiction, but the entire field should not be dismissed, said Ralph Merkle, principal fellow at Zyvex Corp., a nanotech company. 

“Back in the 1940s, people called flight to the moon science fiction,” he said. “Well, we did it. When people say this looks like science fiction, you have to be careful to distinguish between things that will take a decade or two or three and things that are unfeasible and unlikely to occur.”

The Berkeley Public Library system and its friends and supporters marked the beginning of a new era Friday afternoon in an official reception to welcome its new Director of Library Services, Jackie Y. Griffin. 

“We’ve been sort of marking time until we could get the new library renovation done and until we could get a new director,” said Gabrielle Morris, a Friends of the Berkeley Public Library board member. “We’re glad to have a new head in office so all these ideas that have been around for the last six months can get going.” 

Griffin replaces Adelia Lines, who died Dec. 7 after a long career distinguished by the founding of the Berkeley Public Library Foundation and a successful campaign to win public support for the Central Library restoration. 

“Jackie Griffin seems like the same kind of person, someone with experience in outreach in a library in a college town,” Morris said. 

Griffin, who started work Aug. 6, had spent two years as director of the Eugene Public Library in Eugene, Ore. 

“Eugene’s kind of like a training ground for Berkeley,” she said in an interview. 

Griffin started her career as a head librarian in Illinois, then spent six years with the King County, Washington library system, in the Seattle area before moving to Eugene. She came to Berkeley with her partner and two sons, aged 4 and 13. A daughter, aged 19, is a student at the University of Oregon. 

Griffin will oversee one of the most vibrant and beloved library systems in the country, with more than 420,000 books and 152,000 library card holders (in a city with just over 100,000 residents). 

“We get people from all over the East Bay, we get people from San Francisco, from Sacramento, from San Jose,” said reference specialist Anne-Marie Miller. “People call from all over the world. Some say they lived here and they know it’s a good library. Some people call from the East Coast because of the time difference. They pick Berkeley because it has a good reputation.” 

“One of the things that was attractive to me about coming here was just the support of the community, the willingness to pass bond measures to support the library, the involvement,” Griffin said. 

“Right now my number one mission is to continue that, to strengthen our ties to the community, and make sure we continue to be a good resource. I’m not going to start messing with things when they’re going so well.” 

Saturday, Sept. 8 

Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Civic Center Park 

Martin Luther King Jr. Way at Center Street 

A free environmental poetry festival with a day of poetry, music and environmental activism featuring Gary Snyder, Maxine Hong Kingston, Robert Haas, Francisco X. Alarcon, and Earll Kingston as John Wesley Powell. Strawberry Creek Walk at 10 a.m. Oxford and Center. 526-9105 www.poetryflash.org 

 

Youth Arts Studio 

2 - 5 p.m. 

All Souls Episcopal Parish 

2220 Cedar St. 

Demonstration classes for after school program in visual arts, creative writing and dramatic arts for students ages 10 - 15. Free. 848-1755 

 

Luna Kids Dance Open House 

10 - 11 a.m. 

Grace North Church 

2138 Cedar 

Free open house and parent/ child classes. Designed to give families a shared dance experience that connects body, mind, and soul. Children will have a chance to play fun dance games, refreshments and register for fall session. 525-4339 www.lunakidsdnace.com 

 

Pack Right, Travel Smart 

1 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Eagle Creek Rep will give you tips on how to best organize your gear and clothing for your next adventure. Free. 527-4140 

 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

812 Page St. 

Earthquake retrofitting class. Free to anyone 18 or older who lives or works in Berkeley. 644-8736 www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire.oes.html 

 

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Sunday, Sept. 9

Solano Stroll 2001 

8 a.m. - 7 p.m. 

Solano Avenue 

27th Annual Berkeley / Albany Festival. 11 a.m. Parade; 8 a.m. pancake breakfast; merchants, entertainers, food, craft alley, game booths, silent auction, climbing wall, bicycle stunt show, ponyrides, giant slide, dunk tank, hot air balloon rides. Free. 527-5358 www.solanostroll.org 

Salsa Lesson and Dance Party 

6 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Salsa lesson and dance party with professional instructors. Israeli food. Novices welcome and no partner required. $12. RSVP 237-9874 

West Berkeley Market 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

University Avenue between 3rd and 4th streets  

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

654-6346  

Hands-On Bicycle Repair Clinics  

11 a.m. - noon  

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Learn drive train maintenance and chain repair from one of REI’s bike technicians. All you need to bring is your bike. Tools are provided. Free  

527-4140 

International House featured in documentary 

1:30 p.m. 

KQED-TV Ch. 9 

Hosted by Sam Waterson, The International House feature is part of the Visionaries Documentary series about the positive impact of inspiring nonprofit organizations.  

Buddhism 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

“The Heart Sutra” Bob Byrne will discuss the deep impact this important teaching of the Buddha has had on his life. 843-6812 

Monday, Sept. 10

Jazzschool in Berkeley fall quarter 

Jazzschool 

2375 Shattuck Ave. 

Applications are currently being accepted for the fall 2001 quarter. Auditions and consultations scheduled through Sept. 14. 845-5373 www.jazzschool.com 

FTM Book and Discussion Group 

7 p.m. 

Boadecia’s Books 

398 Colusa Ave. 

“The Lieutenant Nun: Transgenderism, Lesbian Desire and Catalina DeErauso,” by Sherry M. Velasco. 559-9184 www.bookpride.com 

Cub Scout Information Night 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Epworth Methodist Church 

1953 Hopkins St. 

A program that offers outdoor and leadership skills. First through fifth grade boys and parents. Free. 525-6058 

Jewish Genealogy: Finding Your Jewish Family History 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Learn basic techniques and resources to trace your family history. 848-0237 

Section 8 Resident Council First Annual Speak Up: Part 2  

5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. 

East Bay Community Law Center 

3122 Shattuck Ave. 

You can effect change, but you must speak up! Refreshments provided. 

Berkeley Folk Dancers 

7:45 p.m. - 9:45 p.m. 

Live Oak Park 

1301 Shattuck 

New fall classes starts. Mondays through Oct. 29; $20 

http://geocities.com/bdancers 

Compiled by Guy Poole

In this era of conglomerate mergers and bottom-line obsessions, it’s easy to believe that the media industry requires yielding to expediency. Like most people, media employees want job security. Few are inclined to risk their livelihoods and careers for matters of principle. 

For more than two years now, a real-life media drama involving the noncommercial Pacifica radio network has put a national spotlight on tensions between divergent options – taking the path of least resistance and taking an idealistic stand. 

Under escalating pressure in early 1999, news reporters and public affairs producers at Northern California’s 50-year-old KPFA Radio – the first listener-supported station in the country – refused to be censored or intimidated by firings, threats and armed guards posted in the studios by Pacifica management. 

Pacifica executives figured that if they tightened the screws, KPFA’s staff would opt for personal self-interest rather than solidarity based on idealism. And in the early summer of 1999 – minutes after KPFA aired excerpts from a press conference that indicated Pacifica was considering sale of the nonprofit station – management cut off a live news broadcast, then locked out the staff and volunteers. Longtime KPFA journalists were arrested in the station’s newsroom. 

It didn’t work. Massive community support for KPFA, with several weeks of protests including a march of more than 10,000 people past the station’s studios in Berkeley, forced Pacifica to allow the station to resume its treasured broadcasting role. 

Today, out of the five Pacifica-owned stations, KPFA is the only one where a climate of fear doesn’t reign. And not coincidentally, when this month began, KPFA was the only one of those stations airing “Democracy Now!” – the award-winning and pathbreaking daily public-affairs program that Pacifica stopped broadcasting in mid-August, after many months of mounting harassment aimed at host Amy Goodman. 

As part of the continuing legacy of gutsy actions by KPFA supporters, the station’s listeners were able to hear “Democracy Now!” coverage from South Africa of the recent World Conference Against Racism. 

Those broadcasts were blocked at the other Pacifica stations – in Los Angeles, Houston, New York City and Washington, D.C. – where reliance on threats now flourishes as a standard instrument of management. 

Founded as an alternative to mainstream media conformity a half-century ago, Pacifica has descended into a censorious maelstrom during the past few years. Ever since late December 2000, New York’s WBAI Radio (where “Democracy Now!” was long based) has been in the hands of an autocratic regime, fixated on banishing reporters, producers and others with progressive politics and the gumption to stand up for their beliefs. 

After eight months of repressive actions at WBAI, an important national magazine on the political left, The Nation, published a Sept. 3 editorial that didn’t come close to the denunciation of Pacifica management that would seem to be in line with the magazine’s pronouncements on journalistic integrity elsewhere. 

Along the way, in the editorial, The Nation made no mention of the fact that its weekly national program “RadioNation” is co-produced by Pacifica’s Los Angeles outlet KPFK, where the station’s management has been rigorous about preventing criticism of Pacifica from getting onto its airwaves. A forthright disclaimer, accompanying the editorial, would have let readers know that The Nation might have something appreciable to gain by remaining on the good side of often-retaliatory Pacifica management. 

By not acknowledging that reality, the magazine withheld relevant information in an unsigned editorial – rendered as the voice of The Nation. I asked editors about the magazine’s working relationship with Pacifica and why the editorial made no mention of that relationship. The top editor responded by describing the magazine’s ties with Pacifica’s KPFK but offered no explanation about the absence of a disclaimer in the editorial. 

For years now, from coast to coast, some of the best journalists in Pacifica’s history have been subjected to a de facto blacklist. Pacifica management and the administrators now running four of its stations have been vengeful to an extreme in retaliating against those who voice strong criticisms. 

Ironically, The Nation has published many eloquent pieces over the years decrying the pernicious blacklisting of the McCarthy Era. The magazine’s current editorial director may be the country’s leading authority on the subject. But The Nation’s editorial did not challenge the ongoing pattern of harassment, intimidation and firings by Pacifica managers. 

In a corporate media tradition, while calculating how to deal with personnel, the executives in charge of media outlets do not consider hunger for social justice. Hopes and dreams do not show up on a spreadsheet. But they can have tangible and profound effects on history in the making. 

The past few years have seen a growing national movement to “save Pacifica” (www.savepacifica.net). This movement represents grassroots media activism – researching, organizing and agitating to reclaim the largest progressive radio network in the United States while prying it loose from the hands of a mostly self-selected corporate-oriented national board. 

Meanwhile, for now anyway, KPFA is notable as the only Pacifica station free of the network’s censorship mentality. Why do KPFA’s broadcasters and listeners get to enjoy such freedom every day? They struggled for it. 

And the struggle continues. 

Norman Solomon is a syndicated columnist on media and politics. His latest book is “The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media.” 

With tongues clicking and rumors circulating, words were picked up, repeated and echoed in whispers amongst the townspeople of Winesburg, Ohio, defining the conformity of small town life in rural America.  

The collaboration of Word for Word theater company and Shotgun Players has created one of those rare occasions when the sum of the parts is greater than the whole with their production of “Winesburg, Ohio: Tales of the Grotesques” at the Julia Morgan Theatre in Berkeley. 

When Sherwood Anderson published his novel of 24 short stories in 1919, small town life was no longer romanticized in the literature of the time. The hopes, dreams, desires and disillusionments of the individual were being expressed with a frank reality that disturbed readers.  

The ensemble selected four stories from Anderson’s novel weaving the life of a town into a patchwork quilt telling each person’s truth. Delia MacDougall, director of Word for Word, has delivered this production with compassion and humor. 

In “A Man of Ideas,” Joe Welling, played with uncompromising clarity by Clive Worsley, harangues the town with his eccentric ideas, keeping them on edge as to what he will come up with next. He is indulged, then applauded, when his unorthodox coaching methods lead the local baseball team to victory. But when he starts to court a shy woman from a questionable family new to town, raised eyebrows anticipate confrontation and disaster.  

A local newspaperman, George Willard (Patrick Dooley), appears in more than one of the stories recording the events of the town. He sometimes has an ear at a parlor door or sometimes becomes the object of a lonely soul he has befriended, drawing the audience into the various tales. 

In another story “Paper Pills,” there were moments of pure artistry when choreographed words and movement combined to create a chorus of twisted, bent apple trees that are a visual metaphor for the relationship between Dr. Reefy (David Cramer) and the ‘tall dark girl’ (Amaya Alonso Hallifax).  

Throughout the production the lighting by Jim Cave molded and supported the various moods as did the music and sound design by David Reyes. The details of Valera Coble’s period costumes and the flexible set by Alex Nichols added to the tightness of the show.  

Each of the four vignettes ended with a tableau that served to expose another level of the character’s motivation or revealed another corner of a tormented soul.  

Louise Bentley (Beth Donohue) is an emotionally confused young woman in “Surrender.” She is trapped and isolated longing for love and someone to listen to her dreams. The solution becomes worse than the fear of her unfulfilled dreams. 

The final story of the quartet is about a former teacher, powerfully played by Adrian Elfenbaum, who lives on the outskirts of town. “Hands” painfully demonstrates the effect of rumor and small town intolerance of anyone who is different.  

The 10-member ensemble has crafted an elegant slice of Anderson’s America. 

By Maryann Maslan 

Daily Planet Correspondent 

With tongues clicking and rumors circulating, words were picked up, repeated and echoed in whispers amongst the townspeople of Winesburg, Ohio, defining the conformity of small town life in rural America.  

The collaboration of Word for Word theater company and Shotgun Players has created one of those rare occasions when the sum of the parts is greater than the whole with their production of “Winesburg, Ohio: Tales of the Grotesques” at the Julia Morgan Theatre in Berkeley. 

When Sherwood Anderson published his novel of 24 short stories in 1919, small town life was no longer romanticized in the literature of the time. The hopes, dreams, desires and disillusionments of the individual were being expressed with a frank reality that disturbed readers.  

The ensemble selected four stories from Anderson’s novel weaving the life of a town into a patchwork quilt telling each person’s truth. Delia MacDougall, director of Word for Word, has delivered this production with compassion and humor. 

In “A Man of Ideas,” Joe Welling, played with uncompromising clarity by Clive Worsley, harangues the town with his eccentric ideas, keeping them on edge as to what he will come up with next. He is indulged, then applauded, when his unorthodox coaching methods lead the local baseball team to victory. But when he starts to court a shy woman from a questionable family new to town, raised eyebrows anticipate confrontation and disaster.  

A local newspaperman, George Willard (Patrick Dooley), appears in more than one of the stories recording the events of the town. He sometimes has an ear at a parlor door or sometimes becomes the object of a lonely soul he has befriended, drawing the audience into the various tales. 

In another story “Paper Pills,” there were moments of pure artistry when choreographed words and movement combined to create a chorus of twisted, bent apple trees that are a visual metaphor for the relationship between Dr. Reefy (David Cramer) and the ‘tall dark girl’ (Amaya Alonso Hallifax).  

Throughout the production the lighting by Jim Cave molded and supported the various moods as did the music and sound design by David Reyes. The details of Valera Coble’s period costumes and the flexible set by Alex Nichols added to the tightness of the show.  

Each of the four vignettes ended with a tableau that served to expose another level of the character’s motivation or revealed another corner of a tormented soul.  

Louise Bentley (Beth Donohue) is an emotionally confused young woman in “Surrender.” She is trapped and isolated longing for love and someone to listen to her dreams. The solution becomes worse than the fear of her unfulfilled dreams. 

The final story of the quartet is about a former teacher, powerfully played by Adrian Elfenbaum, who lives on the outskirts of town. “Hands” painfully demonstrates the effect of rumor and small town intolerance of anyone who is different.  

The 10-member ensemble has crafted an elegant slice of Anderson’s America. 

For 109 minutes, the Cal men’s soccer team seemed in control of their match against CSU Fullerton on Friday. But one controversial mistake gave the game to the Titans, as a foul in the Cal box led to a Hector Orellana penalty kick in the second overtime period. 

As Fullerton’s Cameron McKinnon sped into the penalty area, Cal midfielder Chris Roner made contact with him, sending the Titan player to the ground. The referee awarded the penalty kick, and Orellana slammed it home past Cal goalkeeper Josh Saunders to win the game. 

Cal head coach Kevin Grimes was incensed by the call, as an earlier incident involving Cal forward Austin Ripmaster and Fullerton goalkeeper Jaff McKeever went uncalled. 

“For the referee not to call it when Rip was taken down in the box with 10 minutes left, then call a shoulder-to-shoulder tackle on us, it just doesn’t make sense,” Grimes said. 

But he didn’t blame the loss on the officiating. 

“In a game that goes for 110 minutes, you can’t blame one play,” he said. “We have to finish our chances.” 

While the number of shots for each team was tied at 10 apiece, most of the Fullerton shots were from outside and posed little threat. The Bears, on the other hand, had several good chances to score, including three resulting from defender Mike Hickman’s monstrous throw-ins. 

The game was a contrast in attack styles. The Bears were effective swinging the ball around the back and playing up the flanks, while Fullerton was more direct, putting the ball up the middle of the field, often through diminutive midfielder Jason Clifford. 

The loss drops Cal to 1-2 on the season, while the Titans improved to 2-0-1. 

The Bears play Loyola Marymount on Sunday at 2 p.m., while CSU Fullerton takes on Stanford at 1130 a.m.

An El Cerrito attorney has filed suit against a non-profit organization that provides legal assistance to low-income Berkeley residents, and promises a large campaign against what he claims is a conspiracy to defraud poor citizens by offering shoddy legal services. 

The attorney, Andrew Shalaby, charges Oakland’s Eviction Defense Center with “ghostwriting,” or anonymously preparing documents for parties who act as their own lawyers in court. He believes that the process was made illegal last year, when the California legislature instituted a system to regulate the independent paralegal industry. 

His opponents, though, argue that lawyers are perfectly within their rights to write cases for “pro per” parties – people who represent themselves in legal cases. They believe that Shalaby’s true motive is to harass the EDC, and ultimately to limit the kinds of services that places like it provide. 

“What Mr. Shalaby is trying to do is prevent poor tenants from getting any help at all,” said Robert Salinas, the attorney representing Ira Jacobowitz, a member of the EDC’s board of directors. “It is disgusting.” 

So far, the courts have agreed with the EDC, but Shalaby has persisted in his claim and threatens to take the case to the California Supreme Court and to the federal court system. 

The city’s Rent Stabilization Board grants the EDC $52,000 per year in exchange for counseling provided to low-income Berkeley citizens who find themselves in legal disputes with their landlords. The rent board also funds two other organizations – the East Bay Community Law Center and Housing Rights, Inc. – for similar services. 

According to Shalaby, the Eviction Defense Center illegally acts as a “legal document assistant (LDA),” or an independent paralegal. 

The California Business and Professions Code requires LDA’s to register and, in the county in which they operate, post a bond and put their names and addresses on all documents they prepare. They are not allowed to dispense legal advice. The majority of LDA’s work in fields like divorce, bankruptcy and estate planning. 

The whole matter began last year, when Shalaby was retained by a Berkeley landlord when he began eviction proceedings against a tenant. The tenant decided to fight the eviction, and to act as her own attorney.  

The Superior Court heard the case on Oct. 27, 2000. The tenant showed up in court with a demurrer – a request for the

Editor, 

I was really surprised to read in the Berkeley Daily Planet about the call for gun manufacturers’ to be held responsible for irresponsible design and marketing of their product, which is a nuisance the community. 

I feel that persons who use a gun to kill should be held 100 percent responsible for their acts of shooting and killing others. Any rational person would think twice about the use of a gun in harming others. I sometimes wonder, if we transfer the civic duties and responsibilities to others and blame and punish them, we will never be able to stop such unkind and cruel acts as shooting and killing others. By blaming the manufacturer, we are transferring the blame of a criminal act of one person (who is a killer) to the whole company. It will not stop this kind of cruelty in the future. 

We must revise our method of imparting civic education to all public agencies, colleges, schools, to let everyone remember, we don’t have any right to take away someone’s life or hurt someone. Guns are for protection. They are to be used for protection only. They should not be used to kill or hurt others. There should be very strict laws. Local, state or federal laws can only be respected by people of any land if children, youth and adults understand that each one of us is a member of society, and we must follow the existing laws for peace and safety. Value-oriented education is the answer to improve irresponsible behavior. 

I feel that no company or gun manufacturer is responsible for any shooting. If anyone in a fit of anger or under the influence of a mind altering drug, shoots or kills others and commits a crime, that person should be held responsible because that person made a personal decision to shoot or kill. 

In order to change the prevailing attitudes of those who use guns to kill others, law enforcement agencies should be more strict. They should get involved in public education systems and impart civic education to children and to young adults in the schools. 

Preventive programs such as anger management skills to teach them how to reduce tension and settle disputes, without using guns can help. Guns are a means for protection and should be only used sparingly by law enforcement agencies. 

Romila Khanna 

Albany

924 Gilman Sept. 8: Lab Rats, Relative; Most shows $5 and start at 8 p.m. unless noted. 924 Gilman St. 525-9926 

Albatross Pub Sept. 11: Mad & Eddie Duran Jazz Duo; Sept. 13: Kenji “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Sept. 19: Whiskey Brothers; Sept. 20: Kenji “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Sept. 22: Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet; Sept. 27: Kenji “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Free. All shows begin at 9 p.m. 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473 albatrosspub@mindspring.com  

Ashkenaz Sept. 9: 9 p.m. El Leo, The Jarican Express, $10; 1317 San Pablo 525-5054 www.ashkenaz.com 

Café Eclectica Sept. 8: 8 p.m. SF Improv, Free. 1309 Solano Ave. 326-6124 www.sfimprov.com 

Café de la Paz Poetry Nitro, performance showcase with open mike. Sept. 10: Lucy Lang Day; Sept. 17: Marc Hofstadter (book party); Sept. 24: Jim Watson-Gove; All shows free, 7 - 10 p.m. 

Cal Performances Sept. 16: 7 p.m. Tania Libertad, $18 - $30; Sept. 30: 7 p.m. Kronos Quartet, David Barron, $30; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 642-0212, tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. - 2 a.m., Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; Sept. 3: 2 - 8 p.m. Big West Coast Harmonica Bash, afternoon benefit for Red Archibald. $10 donation; Doors open at 8 p.m. unless noted. 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage Sept. 8: The House Jacks, $17.50; Sept. 9: Erika Luckett, $16.50; Sept. 11: Don Walser, Slaid Cleaves, $16.50; Sept. 12: Andy Irvine, $17.50; Sept. 13: Piper Heisig birthday revue and fund raiser w/ Kate Brislin, Sylvia Herold, Tony Marcus, Carlos Reyes, and Radim Zenkl, $16.50; Sept. 14: Ray Wylie Hubbard, $16.50; Sept. 15: Vocolot, $17.50; All shows start at 8 p.m. 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

Jupiter Sept. 10: Ben Graves Trio; Sept. 11: Len Patterson Trio; Sept. 12: Bitches Brew; Sept. 13: Beatdown w/ DJs Delon, Yamu, and Add1; Sept. 14: Carlos Washington & Giant People Ensemble; Sept. 15: Kooken & Hoomen; Sept. 18: The Goodbye Flowers; Sept. 19: New Monsoon; Sept. 20: Beatdown w/ DJs Delon, Yamu, and Add1; Sept. 21: Netwerk: Electric; Sept. 22: New Garde Philosophers; All music starts at 8:00 p.m. 2181 Shattuck Ave. 843-7625 www.jupiterbeer.com  

La Peña Cultural Center Sept. 11 & 12: 8 p.m. Irakere, $22; In the Cafe, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 www.lapena.org 

Alice Arts Sept. 8: 7:30 p.m. Benefit concert for freedom of U.S. political prisoners featuring Fred Ho (solo) and The Eddie Gale Unit. $12; 1428 Alice, Oakland, 539-0050 www.thejerichomovement.com/teardownthewalls 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church Sept. 15: George Brooks and Shweta Jhaveri with Uttam Chakraborty on drums. $18 - $25; 2727 College Ave. 843-9600 www.harmoniventures.com 

Sedge Thomson’s West Coast Live Radio Show Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Ave.; Sept. 29: Nancy Miford, author of “Savage Beauty.” West African folk music with The Nigerian Brothers. Blues roots piano by Caroline Dahl. The Freight and Salvage, 1111 Addison St. All shows 10 a.m. - noon. 252-9214 www.wcl.org 

Lerner and Loewe’s “My Fair Lady” Sept. 7, 8, 9. All shows 8 p.m. Adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s and Gabrial Pascal’s “Pygmalion.” Directed by James Schlader, choreographed by Harriet Schlader, under the musical 

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 foot 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. It will reopen in early 2002. On View until Oct. 1 : “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 Avenue. 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  

Oakland Museum of California “After the Storm: Bob Walker and the Art of Environmental Photography,” through Sept. 16; “Half Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks,” through Sept. 23; Wednesday - Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sunday, noon - 5 p.m., Closed Monday and Tuesday. $6 general; $4 youths (6-17), seniors and students with ID. Free for museum members and children 5 and under. Free admission the second Sunday of the month. 10th & Oak streets, Oakland. 238-2200 www.museum.org 

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

Send arts events two weeks in advance to Calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.net, 2076 University, Berkeley 94704 or fax to 841-5694.

The Berkeley High football team was hoping to avoid a slow start this season, as last year’s 0-4 pre-league results cost them a berth in the North Coast Section playoffs. But the Yellowjackets ran right into a disaster in their first game on Friday night, failing in nearly every phase of the game and losing, 37-0, to Foothill High. 

The ’Jackets had few bright spots on Friday. They gave up long plays in both the passing game and running game, and were unable to sustain a drive long enough to score. The closest they came was in the second half with the game already decided, but quarterback Raymond Pinkston threw an interception to kill the team’s final drive. 

“A few bad things happen, and they just steamroll on you,” Berkeley head coach Matt Bissell said after the game. “We’d do three good things, then one bad thing would stop a drive.” 

Running back Germaine Baird looked like a good replacement for departed star Ramone Reed, if he could just hold onto the football. Baird ran for several big gains, showing speed and power, picking up 76 yards on just eight carries. But he showed a lack of concern for the football the very first time he touched it. After the Berkeley defense stopped the opening Foothill drive in just three plays, Baird coughed up the ball after a long gain, and Foothill’s Ryan Howe recovered it to give the ball back to his offense. 

The Falcons took to the air after the turnover, as quarterback Brett Andrade found wideout Scott Cooper for gains of 13 and 15 yards to drive down the field. Inside the Berkeley 20, the defense stiffened, but a 4th-and-5 for the Falcons turned into a first down when Andrade threw a quick pass to Joey Munn for eight yards. Matt Hoefs ran for a nine-yard touchdown on the next play, and the rout was on. 

Berkeley went three-and-out the next series, and Jason Goodwin’s punt was blocked, giving Foothill the ball at the seven-yard line. It took the Falcons just two plays to score, with Andrade hitting a diving Chris Reeves in the end zone for a 13-0 lead. 

Andrade carved up the Berkeley secondary, partly due to the fact that the ’Jacket defensive line couldn’t get any pressure on the senior signal-caller. Andrade was 9-of-15 on pass attempts in the first half, throwing for 132 yards and two touchdowns. The Foothill coaches called off the dogs in the second half, allowing Andrade to throw just one pass before pulling him in the fourth quarter. 

“We gave up some big plays tonight,” Bissell said. “One guy would have a breakdown in the secondary, and everyone gets confused.” 

Foothill scored twice more in the first half, both on short drives. A Berkeley personal foul on a Foothill punt return put the ball at the 29-yard line, and Munn blasted a 27-yard field goal for a 16-0 lead. A botched handoff from Pinkston to Baird killed the next Berkeley drive, and Andrade found Howe wide open in the end zone for a 23-0 halftime lead. 

The second half consisted mostly of Foothill killing the clock while the ’Jackets tried to work on their offense, but the Falcons still managed to put the ball in the end zone twice. Another blocked Berkeley punt gave them the ball 30 yards out, and Hoefs took it to the house on the first play, bursting through the line and dodging a dive by Berkeley safety Craig Hollis on his way to a score. 

The next Falcon drive was even more painful for Berkeley, as several Foothill overcame several penalties and long yardage situations, including a 52-yard run by Brandon Croker on a 2nd-and-25, to score on an 11-yard run by Matt Farrington to cap the scoring at 37-0.

West Berkeley parks and large businesses may soon be required to use recycled water in an attempt to conserve northern California’s water supply, which is becoming increasingly strained by rapid population growth. 

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Mayor Shirley Dean will ask her colleagues to support a recommendation asking staff to look at establishing an ordinance requiring the use of recycled water where possible in new construction and open space, including parks.  

Dean said the state’s population is expected to significantly increase by 2020 and that will put a huge strain on the existing water supply, unless something is done.  

“This is really serious stuff,” she said. “The state’s population is growing and the water supply is not. At some point we’re going to get hit and hit hard with a water shortage.” 

Grey water comes from used home, garden and industry water. The recycled water is taken from sewage treatment plants and put through three phases of treatment and then sanitized before being made available for reuse, according to Laura Johnson, the supervisor of the East Bay Municipal Utilities District’s Office of Water Recycling.  

Recycled water is for nonpotable uses only, such as landscaping and industrial water cooling systems. It is not considered safe to drink. 

The ordinance will be designed to take advantage of EBMUD’s $20 million program to create a recycled water infrastructure. The project will supply large water users with recycled water in Berkeley, Oakland, Alameda and Albany. 

The goal is to increase EBMUD’s recycled water use from 14.5 million gallons per day to 24 million gallons per day by 2020, thereby creating an annual savings of 9 billion gallons of high quality water - or drinking water - per year. That’s enough to supply 83,000 households, according to Johnson. 

A recycled water mainline, known as a “purple pipe,” has already been put in place along Interstate 80 from EBMUD’s water recycling plant in Oakland to the Albany border. According to Johnson, the system will be ready to start supplying recycled water within the next two years. 

Until the purple pipe infrastructure expands, only businesses and parks within a few blocks of the pipe will be able to access the recycled water supply. 

If Berkeley approves the ordinance, at least three city parks, Aquatic Park, Harrison Field and the Berkeley Marina, including Cesar Chavez Park, will begin using recycled water for landscaping purposes.  

“We’re really excited about the possibility of using recycled water,” said Parks and Waterfront Director Lisa Caronna. “We hope to get more parks, and other areas like the median on University Avenue, hooked up as well.” 

Caronna said there are some concerns about using the recycled water in the three west Berkeley parks because they are all close to natural water sources. 

“We asked EBMUD a lot of questions because all those parks are adjacent to a creek, an estuary and the Bay,” Caronna said. 

She added that if there are environmental concerns, the Parks and Waterfront Department will take whatever measures are necessary to protect the waterways. 

Dean said no businesses have been identified in west Berkeley that may be affected by the ordinance.  

Oakland is a step ahead of Berkeley – under construction is the first high-rise in the country to be outfitted with a dual water supply. All of the toilets in the 20-story City Center Building will be flushed by recycled water. 

Schott, Doubrava score for Bears 

AUSTIN, Texas - Fifth-ranked California improved to 3-0 on the season with a 2-1 road victory over 17th-ranked Texas (0-2) Friday night in front of 2137 fans at Myers Stadium and Soccer Field.  

The Golden Bears led 2-0 at the half on goals by junior All-American forward Laura Schott and sophomore forward Kassie Doubrava.  

Schott netted Cal’s first goal in the 17th minute on a penalty kick, which was awarded after she was pulled down in the box. She now has seven points on the season with an assist and a goal in each one of Cal’s victories.  

Doubrava posted what would eventually be her second game-winning goal this season in the 38th minute. Freshman midfielder Kacy Hornor dribbled a couple of players and set up Doubrava with a perfect pass.  

After not tallying a point as a freshman, Doubrava is tied with Schott and the Bears other frontrunner, Kyla Sabo, for the team lead in points. Doubrava also has scored in each of the Bears three matches.  

Cal outshot Texas in the first half 7-4, but the Longhorns were the offensive aggressor after halftime, outshooting the Bears 16-3. Luckily for Cal, only four of Texas’ second-half shots were on goal.  

“We were up 2-0 at the half and outplayed them,” Cal coach Kevin Boyd said. “In the second half, we just let them come at us, which is not a good way to defend a lead. We actually had a few chances we didn’t put away, but for the most part we just sat in. I wasn’t thrilled with that, but I was happy with the road win over a nationally-ranked opponent.”  

With six seconds remaining in the game, freshman forward Kelly Wilson kept her team from being shut out by collecting a loose ball in the box and putting it away.  

The Bears continue their five-game road trip at 10th-ranked Texas A&M on Sunday. The game has been moved to Southwest Texas State due to the Aggies’ field being unplayable from too much rain.

The Kress building represents the almost vanished variety store which once dominated American main streets. Until the 1960s Shattuck Avenue had three five-and-dime stores: Kress, Woolworth’s, and National Dollar Stores, all within four blocks of one another.  

The S.H. Kress & Co. chain of five-and-dimes was one of the most successful retail businesses of the 20th century. The company opened its first store in 1896 and the Berkeley store was built in 1932. It was designed by Kress’ architectural staff headed by Edward F. Sibbert. The exterior walls are light brown brick decorated with polychrome terra-cotta ornament in what is commonly referred to as “zig-zag modern.”  

Unlike other variety stores, Kress built, rather than leased his stores. Kress even established an architectural division in 1900, and created a basic style that set his stores apart from his competitors. There were once 264 stores across the country.  

In 1997-1998 The Building Museum in Washington D.C. had an exhibit entitled “Main Street Five-and Dimes: The Architectural Heritage of S.H. Kress & Co. On the cover of the museum brochure was the photograph reproduced here of the Berkeley store. The January/February 1993 issue of Historic Preservation, the magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, devoted eight pages to the story of Samuel H. Kress and the design of his five-and-dime stores. The article notes that “Kress dime stores constitute a remarkable architectural heritage…they are reminders of the role that retailing played in shaping the American experience.” 

Samuel Kress also became a major Renaissance art collector, established the Kress Foundation in 1929, and donated approximately 400 works to the National Gallery in 1939. After World War II the Kress Foundation gave paintings and sculptures to many museums around the country. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco are among the museums that benefited from the Kress Foundation generosity. 

Susan Cerney writes “Berkeley Observed” in conjunction with the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.

A police chase that began in San Francisco ended in gunfire Friday afternoon when a man suspected of car theft allegedly threatened CHP officers with gun after abandoning a truck in Berkeley. 

According to CHP Public Affairs Officer Sean Chase, at least one CHP officer fired an unknown number of rounds at 30-year-old Lamont Austin when he abandoned the truck on Ashby Avenue at Sacramento Street. 

Police said no one was injured in the shooting. 

According to Chase, Austin threatened two officers with a handgun as he fled on foot between two homes after abandoning the light-blue Dodge truck he was suspected of stealing. But as of 6 p.m. Friday, both the CHP and the Berkeley Police Department, which is investigating the case, could not say they found the suspect’s weapon. 

Chase said Austin initially alluded police on foot by jumping over a series of backyard fences in the residential district. Because the suspect was reported to be armed, Oakland, Berkeley and CHP officers closed off several blocks of traffic while a block by block search was conducted.  

Austin was found hiding in a dumpster behind a home on Ashby Avenue shortly after he abandoned the truck. He was taken into custody by Berkeley police and is expected to be charged with auto theft, hit and run and felony reckless driving, according to Berkeley police Lt. Cynthia Harris. 

“The case is still under investigation and we can’t say for sure if the suspect has any other arrest warrants out,” she said.  

CHP officer Annie Greenfield said the pursuit began in San Francisco when a man reported that his truck had been stolen and that the suspect was heading toward the Bay Bridge. Officers chased Austin at speeds above 80 mph across the Bay Bridge and then north on Interstate 80 to the Powell Street exit. 

The pursuit continued on surface streets until Austin abandoned the truck. 

Kandy Mann, owner of Kandy Mann’s Detail Center at the corner of Ashby Avenue and Sacramento Street, said he saw the CHP chasing the truck but didn’t pay much attention until he heard a shot. 

“That’s when things got interesting and I thought I’d better take a second look,” he said. “I only heard one shot but it was a loud one.” 

PALO ALTO, (AP) — Robert McAfee Brown, a Presbyterian theologian who bridged tensions between Protestants and Catholics and became one of the best-known advocates of the liberation theology movement, has died. He was 81. 

Brown, who lived in Palo Alto, died at a nursing home Tuesday in Greenfield, Mass., where he kept a summer home. His wife, Sydney Thomson Brown, said he never fully recovered from a broken hip three weeks earlier. 

Born May 28, 1920, in Carthage, Ill., Brown was the son of a clergyman. He graduated from Amherst College in 1943, was ordained a Presbyterian minister the next year and in 1945 earned a bachelor of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary. 

He married in 1944 and had four children. Brown served as a chaplain in the U.S. Navy during WWII, studied at Columbia University and won a Fulbright grant to study at Oxford for two years. 

Brown wrote 28 books, spent decades teaching religion at such schools as St. Paul’s Macalester College, New York’s Union Theological Seminary, Stanford University and the Pacific School of Religion at Berkeley. He also was known for his sly wit, once writing an essay called “Six Elegant Proofs for the Existence of Santa Claus.” 

He moved his family to California in 1962, where he protested the Vietnam War and co-founded the group Clergy and Laity Concerned About Vietnam. 

Brown was jailed as a Freedom Rider during the civil rights movement, and later emerged as an advocate of Latin America’s liberation theology movement, advancing the idea that Christians should help emancipate oppressed people from unjust political, economic or social subjection. 

“He was a giant. Always on the cutting edge,” said Paul Masquelier, executive presbyter for the Presbytery of San Jose. 

In 1962, Time magazine called Brown “Catholics’ favorite Protestant,” after he rebutted Protestants concerned about John F. Kennedy’s religion and served as an official Protestant observer to the Vatican Council II at the invitation of Pope John XXIII. 

In the mid 1990s, Brown joined three other religious leaders for a week-long hunger strike outside the United Nations. Brown wanted to protest the American position on nuclear arms control, against his doctor’s advice. 

“He was a rare person,” said the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, who co-founded the anti-war group. “All the trumpets have sounded on the other side.” 

A fire that broke out in an apartment building at 10 p.m. Thursday, may have been the result of six youths playing with firecrackers, according to the Berkeley Fire Department. 

Firefighters thought they had the fire at 2534 Piedmont Ave. contained to the garage of the three-story building and several companies were released after 15 minutes. However, firefighters later discovered that the blaze had made its way to the center of the building within the structure’s walls and the released companies were recalled. Firefighters were forced to knock out portions of the walls, floors and ceiling on all three levels to gain access to the fire which was kept ablaze by stucco in portions of walls that were added after the original construction had been competed. Firefighters wrestled the flames well into Friday morning and maintained a fire-watch until 7 a.m. 

The youths that may be responsible for starting the fire were seen inside and around the garage, which had a non-operational door, moments before the blaze started. According to a Fire Department report, an empty “handheld fireworks candle” was found across the street from the fire and is a “strong indication” that the youths’ fireworks were the cause of the fire. 

The burnt material includes carpeting, a sofa, a chair and a car that was parked in the garage. 

The city housing and fire prevention personnel are investigating the possibility that the third floor of the building was illegally constructed.  

SAN FRANCISCO — Fifty years after Japan and the United States formally ended World War II, the peace that built Japan into an industrial powerhouse has eluded thousands of American POWs forced to labor for Japanese companies. 

No less bitter are the estimated 200,000 women, many from Korea, who Japanese soldiers held as sex slaves. China still seethes over the massacre of up to 300,000 people in the Rape of Nanking. 

The lingering unease that Japan will not face atrocities it committed during its march across Asia has clouded celebrations that commemorate the 50th anniversary of the San Francisco Peace Treaty. Those celebrations culminate Saturday, when Secretary of State Colin Powell and Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka will honor cooperation between the two allies. 

The Japanese newspaper Asahi reported Friday that during the ceremony, Tanaka will apologize for the suffering of American prisoners of war. There was no immediate confirmation from the Japanese government. 

“The only way this treaty’s  

Salvador waited Wednesday morning among a knot of mustachioed men, in a black Giants’ baseball hat and paint-spattered work boots. He waited for work, but his mind was on the summit between President Bush and the man he still considers his leader – Mexican President Vincente Fox. “We want to be paid better in the United States,” said Salvador, 30, who declined to give his last name.  

It’s an opinion that was repeated often today by the 20 or so men who hustle work from the barren parking lot at the corner of Fourth Street. “The most important thing at the summit is that we have the same rights when we work in the United States,” said Gonsalo, who also declined to give his last name. “We don’t have the same rights now, and it shows in our wages.”  

They agreed that the issue most directly affecting them is Fox’s proposal to give legal status to Mexican laborers working in the United States. “(Without papers) we’re always on the bottom here,” Salvador said in Spanish. “The companies pay us the minimum and rents are always increasing.” The laborers, many of whom said they send 20 percent of each paycheck to families they’ve left in Mexico, said they are paid $9-$10 an hour on average. But because the work is unsteady, they said, their real hourly wage is closer to around $7. “I would like to know that I can always work,” said Jose Giron, 21, before excusing himself to run with four others to a car that had just pulled to the curb.  

While most of the men agreed that the summit could better their situations, many said they doubted the two presidents’ motives. “Bush has always been anti-Latino,” said Lucian, a 21-year-old who only recently arrived in the United States. “But I think now he could help us – because it will benefit him with the Latino vote.” Fox fared little better in their estimation. “It’s certain that Fox hasn’t done what he promised he’d do in Mexico,” Jose Robles, 65, said. “I don’t think he does anything in Mexico. But I think he’s going to do something here.” 

Fox, the first Mexican President to be elected from an opposition party in over 70 years, arrived in Washington Wednesday night. The two presidents are expected to discuss Fox’s proposal which would grant legal status to Mexican nationals currently working in the United States. Fox has also proposed relaxed border relations and easing of restrictions for Mexicans wishing to receive guest worker status in the United States. Fox has stated his desire to implement these changes as early as next year.  

Despite the summit’s ambitious agenda, however, some of the workers on Fourth Street remain unconvinced. “Mexicans need to educate their own people,” said a Venezuelan who identified himself only as Roberto. “They can’t look to the U.S. to fix their country. They must clean their own home first.” Silvio, a 22-year-old from Veracruz, was more severe in his distrust of the summit. “I think that what Fox and Bush say are pure lies, pure politics. In truth they won’t fix anything,” he said.  

But these voices formed the minority, and most said they were optimistic about the future of Mexico and its relation to the United States. “Fox has done a lot for his country,” said Fernando Perez, 19, who works at a gas station nearby. “He is the first president to overcome a regime of 75 years, and he has done a lot for democracy. You can’t change 75 years of PRI (the traditional ruling party of Mexico) in one year. It’s a process that takes many years.” 

WASHINGTON — The only remaining barriers to Chevron Corp.’s $39 billion acquisition of fellow oil titan Texaco Inc. is a nod from shareholders — and a hefty sale of assets that federal regulators made a condition of their approval Friday. 

The Federal Trade Commission voted 4-0 to approve the merger, which would create the second-largest oil company in the nation and the world’s fourth-largest. Chairman Timothy J. Muris recused himself from the vote. 

San Francisco-based Chevron agreed to buy Texaco in October 2000 in a stock deal now valued at $39.3 billion, plus the assumption of about $6 billion in debt. Chevron will be renamed ChevronTexaco Corp. and will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the new ticker symbol CVX. 

Holders of Texaco stock will receive 0.77 shares of ChevronTexaco for each share of Texaco they own. 

Chevron shares closed Friday up 65 cents to $92.40 on the NYSE, where shares of Texaco rose 58 cents to $70.68. 

Now-No. 3 Chevron had $48 billion in revenue last year. The No. 2 White Plains, N.Y.-based Texaco posted revenue of $51 billion last year. 

Still, the combined company will lag far behind the so-called “super” majors — Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch/Shell Group and BP PLC, which have muscled up through huge mergers in recent years. 

Chevron plans to take control of Texaco Oct. 9, the same day the two companies’ shareholders are to vote on the deal. The FTC also will decide on that day, after receiving public comment, whether to make its merger approval final. 

European regulators have already granted approval, and the companies announced in a statement they also have negotiated a consent decree with the attorneys general of 12 states. 

“Today marks a critically important milestone as we move to establish a premier energy company with the world-class assets, talent, financial strength and technology to achieve superior results,” said Chevron Chairman and Chief Executive David J. O’Reilly, who will lead the new company in the same capacity. 

To satisfy the FTC’s concerns that the merger, as originally proposed, would violate antitrust law, Texaco agreed to divest its U.S. refining and marketing affiliates. Texaco refines crude oil in the United States under two separate affiliates, Equilon Enterprises and Motiva Enterprises. The company owns a 44 percent interest in Equilon, with the rest belonging to Shell Oil Co. Texaco and Saudi Refining Co. each own 35 percent of Motiva; the rest is owned by Shell. 

Texaco also will sell its one-third interest in the Discovery natural gas pipeline system in the Gulf of Mexico, a Texas plant, and its general aviation businesses in 14 states, the FTC said. 

“In markets where competitive concerns were identified, those problems have been addressed, with the result being a continuation of the competitive balance that existed in the pre-merger environment,” said Sean Royall, the FTC Bureau of Competition Deputy Director. 

Texaco Chairman and Chief Executive Glenn F. Tilton said the companies will comply with all the conditions of the consent order with the FTC. Tilton, along with Richard H. Matzke, vice chairman of Chevron, will serve as vice chairman of ChevronTexaco. 

Though the divestiture requirements were expected from Day One, they threaten to drag the company down by forcing it to focus on completing the deal while it needs to put all its energy toward succeeding in a cutthroat competitive environment, analyst Fadel Gheit, with Fahnestock and Co. in New York, said. 

“They are getting married. The wedding date has not changed. But now unfortunately it is cloudy, it is not as sunny as everyone would have liked,” Gheit said. 

However, consumers will benefit from the new company’s economies of scale and strengthened ability to compete, he said. 

Analysts regard Chevron and Texaco as a good fit because they have many complementary operations internationally, including in West Africa and Brazil, home to some of the world’s largest new oil fields. 

Although rivals, the two companies have a long business relationship. For the past 65 years, they have co-owned a joint venture called Caltex Corp., which sells 1.8 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products per day and operates in 55 countries. 

Chevron tried to buy Texaco in 1999, but those talks unraveled over disagreements about price and issues of control. 

When Chevron’s then-CEO, the often acerbic Kenneth Derr, retired at the end of 1999, O’Reilly took over, paving the way to reopen talks with Texaco. Texaco’s stock also had been lackluster since breaking off its talks with Chevron. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Federal Trade Commission: http://www.ftc.gov 

Chevron: http://www.chevron.com 

Texaco: http://www.texaco.com 

SACRAMENTO (AP) — A scientific panel convened by the University of California has found no link between swallowing chromium 6 and cancer, state officials said Friday. 

But the Chromate Toxicity Review Committee said that a major study planned by the National Toxicology Project is needed to provide definitive information on the cancer risks of chromium 6 in drinking water. 

Chromium is a natural element that has two basic forms: chromium 3, an essential nutrient, and chromium 6, a carcinogen when inhaled. 

Public health agencies have not yet determined if chromium 6 is a carcinogen when ingested, but the Department of Health Services and Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment announced in March that they would evaluate whether chromium 6 should be regulated as a drinking water contaminant. 

The review committee was formed at the request of Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to provide guidance in setting a public health standard for chromium 6 in drinking water. 

The committee said in its report that it found “no basis in either the epidemiological or animal data published in the literature for concluding that orally ingested chromium 6 is a carcinogen.” 

The report said that until the national study is finished the state should continue to maintain its current standard for the total amount of chromium 3 and chromium 6 in drinking water: 50 parts per billion. 

A bill awaiting action by Gov. Gray Davis would require the Department of Health Services to adopt a separate drinking water standard for chromium 6 by 2004. 

The health threat posed by chromium 6 was the subject of the movie “Erin Brockovich,” which was based on a 1996 case in which residents of the California desert town of Hinkley won a $333 million settlement from Pacific Gas & Electric when the utility company’s tanks leaked high concentrations of chromium 6 into ground water. 

Actress Julia Roberts won an Oscar for her portrayal of a law firm assistant whose curiosity about illnesses in Hinkley led to the settlement. 

The Berkeley Public Library system and its friends and supporters marked the beginning of a new era Friday afternoon in an official reception to welcome its new Director of Library Services, Jackie Y. Griffin. 

“We’ve been sort of marking time until we could get the new library renovation done and until we could get a new director,” said Gabrielle Morris, a Friends of the Berkeley Public Library board member. “We’re glad to have a new head in office so all these ideas that have been around for the last six months can get going.” 

Griffin replaces Adelia Lines, who died Dec. 7 after a long career distinguished by the founding of the Berkeley Public Library Foundation and a successful campaign to win public support for the Central Library restoration. 

“Jackie Griffin seems like the same kind of person, someone with experience in outreach in a library in a college town,” Morris said. 

Griffin, who started work Aug. 6, had spent two years as director of the Eugene Public Library in Eugene, Ore. 

“Eugene’s kind of like a training ground for Berkeley,” she said in an interview. 

Griffin started her career as a head librarian in Illinois, then spent six years with the King County, Washington library system, in the Seattle area before moving to Eugene. She came to Berkeley with her partner and two sons, aged 4 and 13. A daughter, aged 19, is a student at the University of Oregon. 

Griffin will oversee one of the most vibrant and beloved library systems in the country, with more than 420,000 books and 152,000 library card holders (in a city with just over 100,000 residents). 

“We get people from all over the East Bay, we get people from San Francisco, from Sacramento, from San Jose,” said reference specialist Anne-Marie Miller. “People call from all over the world. Some say they lived here and they know it’s a good library. Some people call from the East Coast because of the time difference. They pick Berkeley because it has a good reputation.” 

“One of the things that was attractive to me about coming here was just the support of the community, the willingness to pass bond measures to support the library, the involvement,” Griffin said. 

“Right now my number one mission is to continue that, to strengthen our ties to the community, and make sure we continue to be a good resource. I’m not going to start messing with things when they’re going so well.” 

Saturday, Sept. 8

Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Civic Center Park 

Martin Luther King Jr. Way at Center Street 

A free environmental poetry festival with a day of poetry, music and environmental activism featuring Gary Snyder, Maxine Hong Kingston, Robert Haas, Francisco X. Alarcon, and Earll Kingston as John Wesley Powell. Strawberry Creek Walk at 10 a.m. Oxford and Center. 526-9105 www.poetryflash.org 

Youth Arts Studio 

2 - 5 p.m. 

All Souls Episcopal Parish 

2220 Cedar St. 

Demonstration classes for after school program in visual arts, creative writing and dramatic arts for students ages 10 - 15. Free. 848-1755 

Luna Kids Dance Open House 

10 - 11 a.m. 

Grace North Church 

2138 Cedar 

Free open house and parent/ child classes. Designed to give families a shared dance experience that connects body, mind, and soul. Children will have a chance to play fun dance games, refreshments and register for fall session. 525-4339 www.lunakidsdnace.com 

Pack Right, Travel Smart 

1 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Eagle Creek Rep will give you tips on how to best organize your gear and clothing for your next adventure. Free. 527-4140 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

812 Page St. 

Earthquake retrofitting class. Free to anyone 18 or older who lives or works in Berkeley. 644-8736 www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire.oes.html 

Sunday, Sept. 9

Solano Stroll 2001 

8 a.m. - 7 p.m. 

Solano Avenue 

27th Annual Berkeley / Albany Festival. 11 a.m. Parade; 8 a.m. pancake breakfast; merchants, entertainers, food, craft alley, game booths, silent auction, climbing wall, bicycle stunt show, ponyrides, giant slide, dunk tank, hot air balloon rides. Free. 527-5358 www.solanostroll.org 

Salsa Lesson and Dance Party 

6 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Salsa lesson and dance party with professional instructors. Israeli food. Novices welcome and no partner required. $12. RSVP 237-9874 

West Berkeley Market 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

University Avenue between 3rd and 4th streets  

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

654-6346  

Hands-On Bicycle Repair Clinics  

11 a.m. - noon  

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Learn drive train maintenance and chain repair from one of REI’s bike technicians. All you need to bring is your bike. Tools are provided. Free  

527-4140 

International House featured in documentary 

1:30 p.m. 

KQED-TV Ch. 9 

Hosted by Sam Waterson, The International House feature is part of the Visionaries Documentary series about the positive impact of inspiring nonprofit organizations.  

Buddhism 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

“The Heart Sutra” Bob Byrne will discuss the deep impact this important teaching of the Buddha has had on his life. 843-6812 

Monday, Sept. 10

Jazzschool in Berkeley fall quarter 

Jazzschool 

2375 Shattuck Ave. 

Applications are currently being accepted for the fall 2001 quarter. Auditions and consultations scheduled through Sept. 14. 845-5373 www.jazzschool.com 

FTM Book and Discussion Group 

7 p.m. 

Boadecia’s Books 

398 Colusa Ave. 

“The Lieutenant Nun: Transgenderism, Lesbian Desire and Catalina DeErauso,” by Sherry M. Velasco. 559-9184 www.bookpride.com 

Cub Scout Information Night 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Epworth Methodist Church 

1953 Hopkins St. 

A program that offers outdoor and leadership skills. First through fifth grade boys and parents. Free. 525-6058 

Jewish Genealogy: Finding Your Jewish Family History 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Learn basic techniques and resources to trace your family history. 848-0237 

Section 8 Resident Council First Annual Speak Up: Part 2  

5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. 

East Bay Community Law Center 

3122 Shattuck Ave. 

You can effect change, but you must speak up! Refreshments provided. 

Berkeley Folk Dancers 

7:45 p.m. - 9:45 p.m. 

Live Oak Park 

1301 Shattuck 

New fall classes starts. Mondays through Oct. 29; $20 

http://geocities.com/bdancers 

Compiled by Guy Poole

The Kress building represents the almost vanished variety store which once dominated American main streets. Until the 1960s Shattuck Avenue had three five-and-dime stores: Kress, Woolworth’s, and National Dollar Stores, all within four blocks of one another.  

The S.H. Kress & Co. chain of five-and-dimes was one of the most successful retail businesses of the 20th century. The company opened its first store in 1896 and the Berkeley store was built in 1932. It was designed by Kress’ architectural staff headed by Edward F. Sibbert. The exterior walls are light brown brick decorated with polychrome terra-cotta ornament in what is commonly referred to as “zig-zag modern.”  

Unlike other variety stores, Kress built, rather than leased his stores. Kress even established an architectural division in 1900, and created a basic style that set his stores apart from his competitors. There were once 264 stores across the country.  

In 1997-1998 The Building Museum in Washington D.C. had an exhibit entitled “Main Street Five-and Dimes: The Architectural Heritage of S.H. Kress & Co. On the cover of the museum brochure was the photograph reproduced here of the Berkeley store. The January/February 1993 issue of Historic Preservation, the magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, devoted eight pages to the story of Samuel H. Kress and the design of his five-and-dime stores. The article notes that “Kress dime stores constitute a remarkable architectural heritage…they are reminders of the role that retailing played in shaping the American experience.” 

Samuel Kress also became a major Renaissance art collector, established the Kress Foundation in 1929, and donated approximately 400 works to the National Gallery in 1939. After World War II the Kress Foundation gave paintings and sculptures to many museums around the country. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco are among the museums that benefited from the Kress Foundation generosity. 

Susan Cerney writes “Berkeley Observed” in conjunction with the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.

In this era of conglomerate mergers and bottom-line obsessions, it’s easy to believe that the media industry requires yielding to expediency. Like most people, media employees want job security. Few are inclined to risk their livelihoods and careers for matters of principle. 

For more than two years now, a real-life media drama involving the noncommercial Pacifica radio network has put a national spotlight on tensions between divergent options – taking the path of least resistance and taking an idealistic stand. 

Under escalating pressure in early 1999, news reporters and public affairs producers at Northern California’s 50-year-old KPFA Radio – the first listener-supported station in the country – refused to be censored or intimidated by firings, threats and armed guards posted in the studios by Pacifica management. 

Pacifica executives figured that if they tightened the screws, KPFA’s staff would opt for personal self-interest rather than solidarity based on idealism. And in the early summer of 1999 – minutes after KPFA aired excerpts from a press conference that indicated Pacifica was considering sale of the nonprofit station – management cut off a live news broadcast, then locked out the staff and volunteers. Longtime KPFA journalists were arrested in the station’s newsroom. 

It didn’t work. Massive community support for KPFA, with several weeks of protests including a march of more than 10,000 people past the station’s studios in Berkeley, forced Pacifica to allow the station to resume its treasured broadcasting role. 

Today, out of the five Pacifica-owned stations, KPFA is the only one where a climate of fear doesn’t reign. And not coincidentally, when this month began, KPFA was the only one of those stations airing “Democracy Now!” – the award-winning and pathbreaking daily public-affairs program that Pacifica stopped broadcasting in mid-August, after many months of mounting harassment aimed at host Amy Goodman. 

As part of the continuing legacy of gutsy actions by KPFA supporters, the station’s listeners were able to hear “Democracy Now!” coverage from South Africa of the recent World Conference Against Racism. 

Those broadcasts were blocked at the other Pacifica stations – in Los Angeles, Houston, New York City and Washington, D.C. – where reliance on threats now flourishes as a standard instrument of management. 

Founded as an alternative to mainstream media conformity a half-century ago, Pacifica has descended into a censorious maelstrom during the past few years. Ever since late December 2000, New York’s WBAI Radio (where “Democracy Now!” was long based) has been in the hands of an autocratic regime, fixated on banishing reporters, producers and others with progressive politics and the gumption to stand up for their beliefs. 

After eight months of repressive actions at WBAI, an important national magazine on the political left, The Nation, published a Sept. 3 editorial that didn’t come close to the denunciation of Pacifica management that would seem to be in line with the magazine’s pronouncements on journalistic integrity elsewhere. 

Along the way, in the editorial, The Nation made no mention of the fact that its weekly national program “RadioNation” is co-produced by Pacifica’s Los Angeles outlet KPFK, where the station’s management has been rigorous about preventing criticism of Pacifica from getting onto its airwaves. A forthright disclaimer, accompanying the editorial, would have let readers know that The Nation might have something appreciable to gain by remaining on the good side of often-retaliatory Pacifica management. 

By not acknowledging that reality, the magazine withheld relevant information in an unsigned editorial – rendered as the voice of The Nation. I asked editors about the magazine’s working relationship with Pacifica and why the editorial made no mention of that relationship. The top editor responded by describing the magazine’s ties with Pacifica’s KPFK but offered no explanation about the absence of a disclaimer in the editorial. 

For years now, from coast to coast, some of the best journalists in Pacifica’s history have been subjected to a de facto blacklist. Pacifica management and the administrators now running four of its stations have been vengeful to an extreme in retaliating against those who voice strong criticisms. 

Ironically, The Nation has published many eloquent pieces over the years decrying the pernicious blacklisting of the McCarthy Era. The magazine’s current editorial director may be the country’s leading authority on the subject. But The Nation’s editorial did not challenge the ongoing pattern of harassment, intimidation and firings by Pacifica managers. 

In a corporate media tradition, while calculating how to deal with personnel, the executives in charge of media outlets do not consider hunger for social justice. Hopes and dreams do not show up on a spreadsheet. But they can have tangible and profound effects on history in the making. 

The past few years have seen a growing national movement to “save Pacifica” (www.savepacifica.net). This movement represents grassroots media activism – researching, organizing and agitating to reclaim the largest progressive radio network in the United States while prying it loose from the hands of a mostly self-selected corporate-oriented national board. 

Meanwhile, for now anyway, KPFA is notable as the only Pacifica station free of the network’s censorship mentality. Why do KPFA’s broadcasters and listeners get to enjoy such freedom every day? They struggled for it. 

And the struggle continues. 

Norman Solomon is a syndicated columnist on media and politics. His latest book is “The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media.” 

With tongues clicking and rumors circulating, words were picked up, repeated and echoed in whispers amongst the townspeople of Winesburg, Ohio, defining the conformity of small town life in rural America.  

The collaboration of Word for Word theater company and Shotgun Players has created one of those rare occasions when the sum of the parts is greater than the whole with their production of “Winesburg, Ohio: Tales of the Grotesques” at the Julia Morgan Theatre in Berkeley. 

When Sherwood Anderson published his novel of 24 short stories in 1919, small town life was no longer romanticized in the literature of the time. The hopes, dreams, desires and disillusionments of the individual were being expressed with a frank reality that disturbed readers.  

The ensemble selected four stories from Anderson’s novel weaving the life of a town into a patchwork quilt telling each person’s truth. Delia MacDougall, director of Word for Word, has delivered this production with compassion and humor. 

In “A Man of Ideas,” Joe Welling, played with uncompromising clarity by Clive Worsley, harangues the town with his eccentric ideas, keeping them on edge as to what he will come up with next. He is indulged, then applauded, when his unorthodox coaching methods lead the local baseball team to victory. But when he starts to court a shy woman from a questionable family new to town, raised eyebrows anticipate confrontation and disaster.  

A local newspaperman, George Willard (Patrick Dooley), appears in more than one of the stories recording the events of the town. He sometimes has an ear at a parlor door or sometimes becomes the object of a lonely soul he has befriended, drawing the audience into the various tales. 

In another story “Paper Pills,” there were moments of pure artistry when choreographed words and movement combined to create a chorus of twisted, bent apple trees that are a visual metaphor for the relationship between Dr. Reefy (David Cramer) and the ‘tall dark girl’ (Amaya Alonso Hallifax).  

Throughout the production the lighting by Jim Cave molded and supported the various moods as did the music and sound design by David Reyes. The details of Valera Coble’s period costumes and the flexible set by Alex Nichols added to the tightness of the show.  

Each of the four vignettes ended with a tableau that served to expose another level of the character’s motivation or revealed another corner of a tormented soul.  

Louise Bentley (Beth Donohue) is an emotionally confused young woman in “Surrender.” She is trapped and isolated longing for love and someone to listen to her dreams. The solution becomes worse than the fear of her unfulfilled dreams. 

The final story of the quartet is about a former teacher, powerfully played by Adrian Elfenbaum, who lives on the outskirts of town. “Hands” painfully demonstrates the effect of rumor and small town intolerance of anyone who is different.  

The 10-member ensemble has crafted an elegant slice of Anderson’s America. 

924 Gilman Sept. 8: Lab Rats, Relative; Most shows $5 and start at 8 p.m. unless noted. 924 Gilman St. 525-9926 

Albatross Pub Sept. 11: Mad & Eddie Duran Jazz Duo; Sept. 13: Kenji “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Sept. 19: Whiskey Brothers; Sept. 20: Kenji “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Sept. 22: Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet; Sept. 27: Kenji “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Free. All shows begin at 9 p.m. 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473 albatrosspub@mindspring.com  

Ashkenaz Sept. 9: 9 p.m. El Leo, The Jarican Express, $10; 1317 San Pablo 525-5054 www.ashkenaz.com 

Café Eclectica Sept. 8: 8 p.m. SF Improv, Free. 1309 Solano Ave. 326-6124 www.sfimprov.com 

Café de la Paz Poetry Nitro, performance showcase with open mike. Sept. 10: Lucy Lang Day; Sept. 17: Marc Hofstadter (book party); Sept. 24: Jim Watson-Gove; All shows free, 7 - 10 p.m. 

Cal Performances Sept. 16: 7 p.m. Tania Libertad, $18 - $30; Sept. 30: 7 p.m. Kronos Quartet, David Barron, $30; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 642-0212, tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. - 2 a.m., Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; Sept. 3: 2 - 8 p.m. Big West Coast Harmonica Bash, afternoon benefit for Red Archibald. $10 donation; Doors open at 8 p.m. unless noted. 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage Sept. 8: The House Jacks, $17.50; Sept. 9: Erika Luckett, $16.50; Sept. 11: Don Walser, Slaid Cleaves, $16.50; Sept. 12: Andy Irvine, $17.50; Sept. 13: Piper Heisig birthday revue and fund raiser w/ Kate Brislin, Sylvia Herold, Tony Marcus, Carlos Reyes, and Radim Zenkl, $16.50; Sept. 14: Ray Wylie Hubbard, $16.50; Sept. 15: Vocolot, $17.50; All shows start at 8 p.m. 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

Jupiter Sept. 10: Ben Graves Trio; Sept. 11: Len Patterson Trio; Sept. 12: Bitches Brew; Sept. 13: Beatdown w/ DJs Delon, Yamu, and Add1; Sept. 14: Carlos Washington & Giant People Ensemble; Sept. 15: Kooken & Hoomen; Sept. 18: The Goodbye Flowers; Sept. 19: New Monsoon; Sept. 20: Beatdown w/ DJs Delon, Yamu, and Add1; Sept. 21: Netwerk: Electric; Sept. 22: New Garde Philosophers; All music starts at 8:00 p.m. 2181 Shattuck Ave. 843-7625 www.jupiterbeer.com  

La Peña Cultural Center Sept. 11 & 12: 8 p.m. Irakere, $22; In the Cafe, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 www.lapena.org 

Alice Arts Sept. 8: 7:30 p.m. Benefit concert for freedom of U.S. political prisoners featuring Fred Ho (solo) and The Eddie Gale Unit. $12; 1428 Alice, Oakland, 539-0050 www.thejerichomovement.com/teardownthewalls 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church Sept. 15: George Brooks and Shweta Jhaveri with Uttam Chakraborty on drums. $18 - $25; 2727 College Ave. 843-9600 www.harmoniventures.com 

Sedge Thomson’s West Coast Live Radio Show Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Ave.; Sept. 29: Nancy Miford, author of “Savage Beauty.” West African folk music with The Nigerian Brothers. Blues roots piano by Caroline Dahl. The Freight and Salvage, 1111 Addison St. All shows 10 a.m. - noon. 252-9214 www.wcl.org 

Lerner and Loewe’s “My Fair Lady” Sept. 7, 8, 9. All shows 8 p.m. Adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s and Gabrial Pascal’s “Pygmalion.” Directed by James Schlader, choreographed by Harriet Schlader, under the musical 

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 foot 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. It will reopen in early 2002. On View until Oct. 1 : “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 Avenue. 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  

Oakland Museum of California “After the Storm: Bob Walker and the Art of Environmental Photography,” through Sept. 16; “Half Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks,” through Sept. 23; Wednesday - Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sunday, noon - 5 p.m., Closed Monday and Tuesday. $6 general; $4 youths (6-17), seniors and students with ID. Free for museum members and children 5 and under. Free admission the second Sunday of the month. 10th & Oak streets, Oakland. 238-2200 www.museum.org 

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

Send arts events two weeks in advance to Calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.net, 2076 University, Berkeley 94704 or fax to 841-5694.

Fullerton wins on penalty kick in 110th minute  

For 109 minutes, the Cal men’s soccer team seemed in control of their match against CSU Fullerton on Friday. But one controversial mistake gave the game to the Titans, as a foul in the Cal box led to a Hector Orellana penalty kick in the second overtime period. 

As Fullerton’s Cameron McKinnon sped into the penalty area, Cal midfielder Chris Roner made contact with him, sending the Titan player to the ground. The referee awarded the penalty kick, and Orellana slammed it home past Cal goalkeeper Josh Saunders to win the game. 

Cal head coach Kevin Grimes was incensed by the call, as an earlier incident involving Cal forward Austin Ripmaster and Fullerton goalkeeper Jaff McKeever went uncalled. 

“For the referee not to call it when Rip was taken down in the box with 10 minutes left, then call a shoulder-to-shoulder tackle on us, it just doesn’t make sense,” Grimes said. 

But he didn’t blame the loss on the officiating. 

“In a game that goes for 110 minutes, you can’t blame one play,” he said. “We have to finish our chances.” 

While the number of shots for each team was tied at 10 apiece, most of the Fullerton shots were from outside and posed little threat. The Bears, on the other hand, had several good chances to score, including three resulting from defender Mike Hickman’s monstrous throw-ins. 

The game was a contrast in attack styles. The Bears were effective swinging the ball around the back and playing up the flanks, while Fullerton was more direct, putting the ball up the middle of the field, often through diminutive midfielder Jason Clifford. 

The loss drops Cal to 1-2 on the season, while the Titans improved to 2-0-1. 

The Bears play Loyola Marymount on Sunday at 2 p.m., while CSU Fullerton takes on Stanford at 1130 a.m.

An El Cerrito attorney has filed suit against a non-profit organization that provides legal assistance to low-income Berkeley residents, and promises a large campaign against what he claims is a conspiracy to defraud poor citizens by offering shoddy legal services. 

The attorney, Andrew Shalaby, charges Oakland’s Eviction Defense Center with “ghostwriting,” or anonymously preparing documents for parties who act as their own lawyers in court. He believes that the process was made illegal last year, when the California legislature instituted a system to regulate the independent paralegal industry. 

His opponents, though, argue that lawyers are perfectly within their rights to write cases for “pro per” parties – people who represent themselves in legal cases. They believe that Shalaby’s true motive is to harass the EDC, and ultimately to limit the kinds of services that places like it provide. 

“What Mr. Shalaby is trying to do is prevent poor tenants from getting any help at all,” said Robert Salinas, the attorney representing Ira Jacobowitz, a member of the EDC’s board of directors. “It is disgusting.” 

So far, the courts have agreed with the EDC, but Shalaby has persisted in his claim and threatens to take the case to the California Supreme Court and to the federal court system. 

The city’s Rent Stabilization Board grants the EDC $52,000 per year in exchange for counseling provided to low-income Berkeley citizens who find themselves in legal disputes with their landlords. The rent board also funds two other organizations – the East Bay Community Law Center and Housing Rights, Inc. – for similar services. 

According to Shalaby, the Eviction Defense Center illegally acts as a “legal document assistant (LDA),” or an independent paralegal. 

The California Business and Professions Code requires LDA’s to register and, in the county in which they operate, post a bond and put their names and addresses on all documents they prepare. They are not allowed to dispense legal advice. The majority of LDA’s work in fields like divorce, bankruptcy and estate planning. 

The whole matter began last year, when Shalaby was retained by a Berkeley landlord when he began eviction proceedings against a tenant. The tenant decided to fight the eviction, and to act as her own attorney.  

The Superior Court heard the case on Oct. 27, 2000. The tenant showed up in court with a demurrer – a request for the court to dismiss a suit – which argued that the eviction order did not comply with Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization and Eviction for Good Cause Ordinance. The document was written by the EDC. Shalaby held that it was “frivolous,” and that that the tenant and the EDC should be held responsible for his attorney fees. 

The court ruled for Shalaby in the case, but did not award him his fees. However, it denied the motion to recover fees “without prejudice,” a standard legal ruling meaning that Shalaby could take up the matter later if he so chose. 

He then sued the EDC and Anne Omura, an attorney and EDC employee, to recover the $5,000 his client spent on the case. Shalaby held that the EDC was operating as LDA’s, despite being attorneys, and should be held accountable for work they did.  

“They misrepresented the law, they misrepresented the facts, and they deserve sanctions,” he said in an interview. 

Instead, a judge ruled that his case constituted a SLAPP suit – one that sought to deny the defendants their constitutional rights – and awarded $31,000 to the EDC. Shalaby has since re-filed the case with Jacobowitz as an additional defendant, and asked the court to stay payment of the $31,000. He has been unsuccessful on all counts.  

Shalaby alleged that the various judges who have heard motions and previous incarnations of his claim have been biased by their connections to the defendants. One judge, he claimed, has been Jacobowitz’ friend for many years, and another communicated privately with Jacobowitz about the case before ruling in Jacobowitz’ favor. 

Shalaby has asked the California Supreme Court to hear the case because it is a “case of first impression” – one dealing with a matter that has not been decided before in the courts. What is the difference between an LDA and an attorney who writes documents? 

“The trouble with Mr. Shalaby’s suggestion that it is a matter of first impression is that there are a number of things that have not been ruled on in the courts,” said Jacobowitz. “For instance, the sun comes up, the sun goes back down. The reason that these things are not ruled on is that they are a matter of common sense.” 

“Mr. Shalaby has every right to ask the Supreme Court to review what has happened. To me, it does not seem likely that he will get a review, except the review by the (state’s) First District Court of Appeals that he is legally entitled to.” 

Asked to comment, Tiela Chalmers, managing attorney the San Francisco Bar Association’s Volunteer Legal Services Program, said that her impression was that Shalaby’s intention was to hinder the ability of low-income residents to defend themselves. 

“Generally, lawyers who represent landlords hate places like the EDC,” she said. “They’d prefer tenants to have no legal representation whatsoever.” 

Editor, 

I was really surprised to read in the Berkeley Daily Planet about the call for gun manufacturers’ to be held responsible for irresponsible design and marketing of their product, which is a nuisance the community. 

I feel that persons who use a gun to kill should be held 100 percent responsible for their acts of shooting and killing others. Any rational person would think twice about the use of a gun in harming others. I sometimes wonder, if we transfer the civic duties and responsibilities to others and blame and punish them, we will never be able to stop such unkind and cruel acts as shooting and killing others. By blaming the manufacturer, we are transferring the blame of a criminal act of one person (who is a killer) to the whole company. It will not stop this kind of cruelty in the future. 

We must revise our method of imparting civic education to all public agencies, colleges, schools, to let everyone remember, we don’t have any right to take away someone’s life or hurt someone. Guns are for protection. They are to be used for protection only. They should not be used to kill or hurt others. There should be very strict laws. Local, state or federal laws can only be respected by people of any land if children, youth and adults understand that each one of us is a member of society, and we must follow the existing laws for peace and safety. Value-oriented education is the answer to improve irresponsible behavior. 

I feel that no company or gun manufacturer is responsible for any shooting. If anyone in a fit of anger or under the influence of a mind altering drug, shoots or kills others and commits a crime, that person should be held responsible because that person made a personal decision to shoot or kill. 

In order to change the prevailing attitudes of those who use guns to kill others, law enforcement agencies should be more strict. They should get involved in public education systems and impart civic education to children and to young adults in the schools. 

Preventive programs such as anger management skills to teach them how to reduce tension and settle disputes, without using guns can help. Guns are a means for protection and should be only used sparingly by law enforcement agencies. 

Romila Khanna 

Albany

The Berkeley High football team was hoping to avoid a slow start this season, as last year’s 0-4 pre-league results cost them a berth in the North Coast Section playoffs. But the Yellowjackets ran right into a disaster in their first game on Friday night, failing in nearly every phase of the game and losing, 37-0, to Foothill High. 

The ’Jackets had few bright spots on Friday. They gave up long plays in both the passing game and running game, and were unable to sustain a drive long enough to score. The closest they came was in the second half with the game already decided, but quarterback Raymond Pinkston threw an interception to kill the team’s final drive. 

“A few bad things happen, and they just steamroll on you,” Berkeley head coach Matt Bissell said after the game. “We’d do three good things, then one bad thing would stop a drive.” 

Running back Germaine Baird looked like a good replacement for departed star Ramone Reed, if he could just hold onto the football. Baird ran for several big gains, showing speed and power, picking up 76 yards on just eight carries. But he showed a lack of concern for the football the very first time he touched it. After the Berkeley defense stopped the opening Foothill drive in just three plays, Baird coughed up the ball after a long gain, and Foothill’s Ryan Howe recovered it to give the ball back to his offense. 

The Falcons took to the air after the turnover, as quarterback Brett Andrade found wideout Scott Cooper for gains of 13 and 15 yards to drive down the field. Inside the Berkeley 20, the defense stiffened, but a 4th-and-5 for the Falcons turned into a first down when Andrade threw a quick pass to Joey Munn for eight yards. Matt Hoefs ran for a nine-yard touchdown on the next play, and the rout was on. 

Berkeley went three-and-out the next series, and Jason Goodwin’s punt was blocked, giving Foothill the ball at the seven-yard line. It took the Falcons just two plays to score, with Andrade hitting a diving Chris Reeves in the end zone for a 13-0 lead. 

Andrade carved up the Berkeley secondary, partly due to the fact that the ’Jacket defensive line couldn’t get any pressure on the senior signal-caller. Andrade was 9-of-15 on pass attempts in the first half, throwing for 132 yards and two touchdowns. The Foothill coaches called off the dogs in the second half, allowing Andrade to throw just one pass before pulling him in the fourth quarter. 

“We gave up some big plays tonight,” Bissell said. “One guy would have a breakdown in the secondary, and everyone gets confused.” 

Foothill scored twice more in the first half, both on short drives. A Berkeley personal foul on a Foothill punt return put the ball at the 29-yard line, and Munn blasted a 27-yard field goal for a 16-0 lead. A botched handoff from Pinkston to Baird killed the next Berkeley drive, and Andrade found Howe wide open in the end zone for a 23-0 halftime lead. 

The second half consisted mostly of Foothill killing the clock while the ’Jackets tried to work on their offense, but the Falcons still managed to put the ball in the end zone twice. Another blocked Berkeley punt gave them the ball 30 yards out, and Hoefs took it to the house on the first play, bursting through the line and dodging a dive by Berkeley safety Craig Hollis on his way to a score. 

The next Falcon drive was even more painful for Berkeley, as several Foothill overcame several penalties and long yardage situations, including a 52-yard run by Brandon Croker on a 2nd-and-25, to score on an 11-yard run by Matt Farrington to cap the scoring at 37-0.

West Berkeley parks and large businesses may soon be required to use recycled water in an attempt to conserve northern California’s water supply, which is becoming increasingly strained by rapid population growth. 

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Mayor Shirley Dean will ask her colleagues to support a recommendation asking staff to look at establishing an ordinance requiring the use of recycled water where possible in new construction and open space, including parks.  

Dean said the state’s population is expected to significantly increase by 2020 and that will put a huge strain on the existing water supply, unless something is done.  

“This is really serious stuff,” she said. “The state’s population is growing and the water supply is not. At some point we’re going to get hit and hit hard with a water shortage.” 

Grey water comes from used home, garden and industry water. The recycled water is taken from sewage treatment plants and put through three phases of treatment and then sanitized before being made available for reuse, according to Laura Johnson, the supervisor of the East Bay Municipal Utilities District’s Office of Water Recycling.  

Recycled water is for nonpotable uses only, such as landscaping and industrial water cooling systems. It is not considered safe to drink. 

The ordinance will be designed to take advantage of EBMUD’s $20 million program to create a recycled water infrastructure. The project will supply large water users with recycled water in Berkeley, Oakland, Alameda and Albany. 

The goal is to increase EBMUD’s recycled water use from 14.5 million gallons per day to 24 million gallons per day by 2020, thereby creating an annual savings of 9 billion gallons of high quality water - or drinking water - per year. That’s enough to supply 83,000 households, according to Johnson. 

A recycled water mainline, known as a “purple pipe,” has already been put in place along Interstate 80 from EBMUD’s water recycling plant in Oakland to the Albany border. According to Johnson, the system will be ready to start supplying recycled water within the next two years. 

Until the purple pipe infrastructure expands, only businesses and parks within a few blocks of the pipe will be able to access the recycled water supply. 

If Berkeley approves the ordinance, at least three city parks, Aquatic Park, Harrison Field and the Berkeley Marina, including Cesar Chavez Park, will begin using recycled water for landscaping purposes.  

“We’re really excited about the possibility of using recycled water,” said Parks and Waterfront Director Lisa Caronna. “We hope to get more parks, and other areas like the median on University Avenue, hooked up as well.” 

Caronna said there are some concerns about using the recycled water in the three west Berkeley parks because they are all close to natural water sources. 

“We asked EBMUD a lot of questions because all those parks are adjacent to a creek, an estuary and the Bay,” Caronna said. 

She added that if there are environmental concerns, the Parks and Waterfront Department will take whatever measures are necessary to protect the waterways. 

Dean said no businesses have been identified in west Berkeley that may be affected by the ordinance.  

Oakland is a step ahead of Berkeley – under construction is the first high-rise in the country to be outfitted with a dual water supply. All of the toilets in the 20-story City Center Building will be flushed by recycled water. 

Schott, Doubrava score for Bears 

AUSTIN, Texas - Fifth-ranked California improved to 3-0 on the season with a 2-1 road victory over 17th-ranked Texas (0-2) Friday night in front of 2137 fans at Myers Stadium and Soccer Field.  

The Golden Bears led 2-0 at the half on goals by junior All-American forward Laura Schott and sophomore forward Kassie Doubrava.  

Schott netted Cal’s first goal in the 17th minute on a penalty kick, which was awarded after she was pulled down in the box. She now has seven points on the season with an assist and a goal in each one of Cal’s victories.  

Doubrava posted what would eventually be her second game-winning goal this season in the 38th minute. Freshman midfielder Kacy Hornor dribbled a couple of players and set up Doubrava with a perfect pass.  

After not tallying a point as a freshman, Doubrava is tied with Schott and the Bears other frontrunner, Kyla Sabo, for the team lead in points. Doubrava also has scored in each of the Bears three matches.  

Cal outshot Texas in the first half 7-4, but the Longhorns were the offensive aggressor after halftime, outshooting the Bears 16-3. Luckily for Cal, only four of Texas’ second-half shots were on goal.  

“We were up 2-0 at the half and outplayed them,” Cal coach Kevin Boyd said. “In the second half, we just let them come at us, which is not a good way to defend a lead. We actually had a few chances we didn’t put away, but for the most part we just sat in. I wasn’t thrilled with that, but I was happy with the road win over a nationally-ranked opponent.”  

With six seconds remaining in the game, freshman forward Kelly Wilson kept her team from being shut out by collecting a loose ball in the box and putting it away.  

The Bears continue their five-game road trip at 10th-ranked Texas A&M on Sunday. The game has been moved to Southwest Texas State due to the Aggies’ field being unplayable from too much rain.

A police chase that began in San Francisco ended in gunfire Friday afternoon when a man suspected of car theft allegedly threatened CHP officers with gun after abandoning a truck in Berkeley. 

According to CHP Public Affairs Officer Sean Chase, at least one CHP officer fired an unknown number of rounds at 30-year-old Lamont Austin when he abandoned the truck on Ashby Avenue at Sacramento Street. 

Police said no one was injured in the shooting. 

According to Chase, Austin threatened two officers with a handgun as he fled on foot between two homes after abandoning the light-blue Dodge truck he was suspected of stealing. But as of 6 p.m. Friday, both the CHP and the Berkeley Police Department, which is investigating the case, could not say they found the suspect’s weapon. 

Chase said Austin initially alluded police on foot by jumping over a series of backyard fences in the residential district. Because the suspect was reported to be armed, Oakland, Berkeley and CHP officers closed off several blocks of traffic while a block by block search was conducted.  

Austin was found hiding in a dumpster behind a home on Ashby Avenue shortly after he abandoned the truck. He was taken into custody by Berkeley police and is expected to be charged with auto theft, hit and run and felony reckless driving, according to Berkeley police Lt. Cynthia Harris. 

“The case is still under investigation and we can’t say for sure if the suspect has any other arrest warrants out,” she said.  

CHP officer Annie Greenfield said the pursuit began in San Francisco when a man reported that his truck had been stolen and that the suspect was heading toward the Bay Bridge. Officers chased Austin at speeds above 80 mph across the Bay Bridge and then north on Interstate 80 to the Powell Street exit. 

The pursuit continued on surface streets until Austin abandoned the truck. 

Kandy Mann, owner of Kandy Mann’s Detail Center at the corner of Ashby Avenue and Sacramento Street, said he saw the CHP chasing the truck but didn’t pay much attention until he heard a shot. 

“That’s when things got interesting and I thought I’d better take a second look,” he said. “I only heard one shot but it was a loud one.” 

PALO ALTO, (AP) — Robert McAfee Brown, a Presbyterian theologian who bridged tensions between Protestants and Catholics and became one of the best-known advocates of the liberation theology movement, has died. He was 81. 

Brown, who lived in Palo Alto, died at a nursing home Tuesday in Greenfield, Mass., where he kept a summer home. His wife, Sydney Thomson Brown, said he never fully recovered from a broken hip three weeks earlier. 

Born May 28, 1920, in Carthage, Ill., Brown was the son of a clergyman. He graduated from Amherst College in 1943, was ordained a Presbyterian minister the next year and in 1945 earned a bachelor of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary. 

He married in 1944 and had four children. Brown served as a chaplain in the U.S. Navy during WWII, studied at Columbia University and won a Fulbright grant to study at Oxford for two years. 

Brown wrote 28 books, spent decades teaching religion at such schools as St. Paul’s Macalester College, New York’s Union Theological Seminary, Stanford University and the Pacific School of Religion at Berkeley. He also was known for his sly wit, once writing an essay called “Six Elegant Proofs for the Existence of Santa Claus.” 

He moved his family to California in 1962, where he protested the Vietnam War and co-founded the group Clergy and Laity Concerned About Vietnam. 

Brown was jailed as a Freedom Rider during the civil rights movement, and later emerged as an advocate of Latin America’s liberation theology movement, advancing the idea that Christians should help emancipate oppressed people from unjust political, economic or social subjection. 

“He was a giant. Always on the cutting edge,” said Paul Masquelier, executive presbyter for the Presbytery of San Jose. 

In 1962, Time magazine called Brown “Catholics’ favorite Protestant,” after he rebutted Protestants concerned about John F. Kennedy’s religion and served as an official Protestant observer to the Vatican Council II at the invitation of Pope John XXIII. 

In the mid 1990s, Brown joined three other religious leaders for a week-long hunger strike outside the United Nations. Brown wanted to protest the American position on nuclear arms control, against his doctor’s advice. 

“He was a rare person,” said the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, who co-founded the anti-war group. “All the trumpets have sounded on the other side.” 

SAN FRANCISCO — Fifty years after Japan and the United States formally ended World War II, the peace that built Japan into an industrial powerhouse has eluded thousands of American POWs forced to labor for Japanese companies. 

No less bitter are the estimated 200,000 women, many from Korea, who Japanese soldiers held as sex slaves. China still seethes over the massacre of up to 300,000 people in the Rape of Nanking. 

The lingering unease that Japan will not face atrocities it committed during its march across Asia has clouded celebrations that commemorate the 50th anniversary of the San Francisco Peace Treaty. Those celebrations culminate Saturday, when Secretary of State Colin Powell and Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka will honor cooperation between the two allies. 

The Japanese newspaper Asahi reported Friday that during the ceremony, Tanaka will apologize for the suffering of American prisoners of war. There was no immediate confirmation from the Japanese government. 

“The only way this treaty’s  

Salvador waited Wednesday morning among a knot of mustachioed men, in a black Giants’ baseball hat and paint-spattered work boots. He waited for work, but his mind was on the summit between President Bush and the man he still considers his leader – Mexican President Vincente Fox. “We want to be paid better in the United States,” said Salvador, 30, who declined to give his last name.  

It’s an opinion that was repeated often today by the 20 or so men who hustle work from the barren parking lot at the corner of Fourth Street. “The most important thing at the summit is that we have the same rights when we work in the United States,” said Gonsalo, who also declined to give his last name. “We don’t have the same rights now, and it shows in our wages.”  

They agreed that the issue most directly affecting them is Fox’s proposal to give legal status to Mexican laborers working in the United States. “(Without papers) we’re always on the bottom here,” Salvador said in Spanish. “The companies pay us the minimum and rents are always increasing.” The laborers, many of whom said they send 20 percent of each paycheck to families they’ve left in Mexico, said they are paid $9-$10 an hour on average. But because the work is unsteady, they said, their real hourly wage is closer to around $7. “I would like to know that I can always work,” said Jose Giron, 21, before excusing himself to run with four others to a car that had just pulled to the curb.  

While most of the men agreed that the summit could better their situations, many said they doubted the two presidents’ motives. “Bush has always been anti-Latino,” said Lucian, a 21-year-old who only recently arrived in the United States. “But I think now he could help us – because it will benefit him with the Latino vote.” Fox fared little better in their estimation. “It’s certain that Fox hasn’t done what he promised he’d do in Mexico,” Jose Robles, 65, said. “I don’t think he does anything in Mexico. But I think he’s going to do something here.” 

Fox, the first Mexican President to be elected from an opposition party in over 70 years, arrived in Washington Wednesday night. The two presidents are expected to discuss Fox’s proposal which would grant legal status to Mexican nationals currently working in the United States. Fox has also proposed relaxed border relations and easing of restrictions for Mexicans wishing to receive guest worker status in the United States. Fox has stated his desire to implement these changes as early as next year.  

Despite the summit’s ambitious agenda, however, some of the workers on Fourth Street remain unconvinced. “Mexicans need to educate their own people,” said a Venezuelan who identified himself only as Roberto. “They can’t look to the U.S. to fix their country. They must clean their own home first.” Silvio, a 22-year-old from Veracruz, was more severe in his distrust of the summit. “I think that what Fox and Bush say are pure lies, pure politics. In truth they won’t fix anything,” he said.  

But these voices formed the minority, and most said they were optimistic about the future of Mexico and its relation to the United States. “Fox has done a lot for his country,” said Fernando Perez, 19, who works at a gas station nearby. “He is the first president to overcome a regime of 75 years, and he has done a lot for democracy. You can’t change 75 years of PRI (the traditional ruling party of Mexico) in one year. It’s a process that takes many years.” 

WASHINGTON — The only remaining barriers to Chevron Corp.’s $39 billion acquisition of fellow oil titan Texaco Inc. is a nod from shareholders — and a hefty sale of assets that federal regulators made a condition of their approval Friday. 

The Federal Trade Commission voted 4-0 to approve the merger, which would create the second-largest oil company in the nation and the world’s fourth-largest. Chairman Timothy J. Muris recused himself from the vote. 

San Francisco-based Chevron agreed to buy Texaco in October 2000 in a stock deal now valued at $39.3 billion, plus the assumption of about $6 billion in debt. Chevron will be renamed ChevronTexaco Corp. and will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the new ticker symbol CVX. 

Holders of Texaco stock will receive 0.77 shares of ChevronTexaco for each share of Texaco they own. 

Chevron shares closed Friday up 65 cents to $92.40 on the NYSE, where shares of Texaco rose 58 cents to $70.68. 

Now-No. 3 Chevron had $48 billion in revenue last year. The No. 2 White Plains, N.Y.-based Texaco posted revenue of $51 billion last year. 

Still, the combined company will lag far behind the so-called “super” majors — Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch/Shell Group and BP PLC, which have muscled up through huge mergers in recent years. 

Chevron plans to take control of Texaco Oct. 9, the same day the two companies’ shareholders are to vote on the deal. The FTC also will decide on that day, after receiving public comment, whether to make its merger approval final. 

European regulators have already granted approval, and the companies announced in a statement they also have negotiated a consent decree with the attorneys general of 12 states. 

“Today marks a critically important milestone as we move to establish a premier energy company with the world-class assets, talent, financial strength and technology to achieve superior results,” said Chevron Chairman and Chief Executive David J. O’Reilly, who will lead the new company in the same capacity. 

To satisfy the FTC’s concerns that the merger, as originally proposed, would violate antitrust law, Texaco agreed to divest its U.S. refining and marketing affiliates. Texaco refines crude oil in the United States under two separate affiliates, Equilon Enterprises and Motiva Enterprises. The company owns a 44 percent interest in Equilon, with the rest belonging to Shell Oil Co. Texaco and Saudi Refining Co. each own 35 percent of Motiva; the rest is owned by Shell. 

Texaco also will sell its one-third interest in the Discovery natural gas pipeline system in the Gulf of Mexico, a Texas plant, and its general aviation businesses in 14 states, the FTC said. 

“In markets where competitive concerns were identified, those problems have been addressed, with the result being a continuation of the competitive balance that existed in the pre-merger environment,” said Sean Royall, the FTC Bureau of Competition Deputy Director. 

Texaco Chairman and Chief Executive Glenn F. Tilton said the companies will comply with all the conditions of the consent order with the FTC. Tilton, along with Richard H. Matzke, vice chairman of Chevron, will serve as vice chairman of ChevronTexaco. 

Though the divestiture requirements were expected from Day One, they threaten to drag the company down by forcing it to focus on completing the deal while it needs to put all its energy toward succeeding in a cutthroat competitive environment, analyst Fadel Gheit, with Fahnestock and Co. in New York, said. 

“They are getting married. The wedding date has not changed. But now unfortunately it is cloudy, it is not as sunny as everyone would have liked,” Gheit said. 

However, consumers will benefit from the new company’s economies of scale and strengthened ability to compete, he said. 

Analysts regard Chevron and Texaco as a good fit because they have many complementary operations internationally, including in West Africa and Brazil, home to some of the world’s largest new oil fields. 

Although rivals, the two companies have a long business relationship. For the past 65 years, they have co-owned a joint venture called Caltex Corp., which sells 1.8 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products per day and operates in 55 countries. 

Chevron tried to buy Texaco in 1999, but those talks unraveled over disagreements about price and issues of control. 

When Chevron’s then-CEO, the often acerbic Kenneth Derr, retired at the end of 1999, O’Reilly took over, paving the way to reopen talks with Texaco. Texaco’s stock also had been lackluster since breaking off its talks with Chevron. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Federal Trade Commission: http://www.ftc.gov 

Chevron: http://www.chevron.com 

Texaco: http://www.texaco.com 

SACRAMENTO (AP) — A scientific panel convened by the University of California has found no link between swallowing chromium 6 and cancer, state officials said Friday. 

But the Chromate Toxicity Review Committee said that a major study planned by the National Toxicology Project is needed to provide definitive information on the cancer risks of chromium 6 in drinking water. 

Chromium is a natural element that has two basic forms: chromium 3, an essential nutrient, and chromium 6, a carcinogen when inhaled. 

Public health agencies have not yet determined if chromium 6 is a carcinogen when ingested, but the Department of Health Services and Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment announced in March that they would evaluate whether chromium 6 should be regulated as a drinking water contaminant. 

The review committee was formed at the request of Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to provide guidance in setting a public health standard for chromium 6 in drinking water. 

The committee said in its report that it found “no basis in either the epidemiological or animal data published in the literature for concluding that orally ingested chromium 6 is a carcinogen.” 

The report said that until the national study is finished the state should continue to maintain its current standard for the total amount of chromium 3 and chromium 6 in drinking water: 50 parts per billion. 

A bill awaiting action by Gov. Gray Davis would require the Department of Health Services to adopt a separate drinking water standard for chromium 6 by 2004. 

The health threat posed by chromium 6 was the subject of the movie “Erin Brockovich,” which was based on a 1996 case in which residents of the California desert town of Hinkley won a $333 million settlement from Pacific Gas & Electric when the utility company’s tanks leaked high concentrations of chromium 6 into ground water. 

Actress Julia Roberts won an Oscar for her portrayal of a law firm assistant whose curiosity about illnesses in Hinkley led to the settlement. 

Last Saturday, the doors closed behind 88-year old Bea Geller, but the little elevator didn’t budge. And the doors wouldn’t open again. None of the buttons responded.  

“Nothing was working,” she said. “It was an awful feeling.” 

Thankfully, when she picked up the emergency phone she heard a voice on the other end of the line. Since the elevator wasn’t between floors, the man at the front desk could open the doors by activating an emergency system.  

“If Bob weren’t there, I could have been trapped for hours,” Geller said. “I felt scared... and angry.” 

Many of the other 160 tenants at Strawberry Creek Lodge, a residential facility for elderly people on Addison Street near Bonar Street, were angry too. The primary elevator in the four-story building had been out of service for almost nine weeks. When that elevator went out, a resident was trapped inside for almost two hours. So when the small elevator that nearly stranded Geller went out again on Sunday evening – leaving mobility-impaired residents stranded until Monday morning – the tenants’ association decided it was time to take action. 

Several suggestions were made at the tenants’ association meeting Tuesday. Some people thought the association should hire an attorney. Others thought that residents most endangered by faulty elevator services – people in wheelchairs, or those too frail to negotiate the stairs – should be moved into hotels. Still others thought that tenants should go to Oakland and picket the Otis Elevator Company. 

According to tenants, it is Otis that should carry most of the blame for a summer’s worth of broken elevators. In 1994, the company replaced the jacks – the large hydraulic devices that move the elevators up and down – on Strawberry Creek Lodge’s main elevator. They did not, however, install a double-bottomed hydraulic cylinder, which would have prevented the leaks in the system that caused the main elevator’s failure. The smaller elevator’s service interruptions were due to an electronic failure. 

Otis Elevator has now begun the work to replace the jacks on both elevators, and is scheduled to complete the job by Sept. 11. The company has offered its services free of charge. But there is some question as to whether the company was, in 1994, contracted to install the double-bottomed jacks. Lois O’Connell, Strawberry Creek Lodge manager, said that Otis’ policy at the time was to phase out single-bottomed jacks – the implication being that they probably should have installed the double-bottomed ones. O’Connell said that Otis has lost the paperwork on the 1994 job, a fact which in part led the company to do the repair work without charge.  

Otis Elevator could not be reached for comment. 

Though the work is underway, resentment lingers at Strawberry Creek Lodge – and some of it is directed at the people who run the building. 

“Had I been in management’s seat, I might have hollered a little more than they did,” said Sidney Efross, the president of the tenants’ association. Efross is upset that the problem has taken so long to resolve. 

“On the whole, they are not treating this as an emergency,” said Saeeda Khan, a 22-year resident. “For us it is an emergency.” 

“One day I was climbing up the stairs. In front of me was a woman who was really gasping, holding her hand to her chest. I was afraid that she would have a heart attack.” 

O’Connell said that she is aware of the tenants’ concerns, and that her staff is doing everything it can to get the job completed and to help tenants during the crisis. When both elevators were out of service Sunday night, staff called all the mobility-impaired residents in the building to let them know that they would be on hand to assist them. 

“I think the tenants think that we and Otis are not taking this very seriously,” she said. “I don’t know how we could take it any more seriously.” 

“My impression is that Otis is really dealing with us in good faith. I think they definitely take this as an emergency.” 

Still, tenants charge that if Otis and Strawberry Creek management truly considered the situation an emergency, it would not have taken so long to resolve. 

“You kind of get the feeling that since Otis is doing it all for nothing – and not out of the goodness of their hearts, but under duress – that it’s not at the top of their list,” said Efross. 

O’Connell said that several factors, including initial uncertainty about what was causing the problem, where to lay blame for the jack failure and the difficulty of quickly obtaining the 40-foot jacks, have all contributed to the delay. She said that she and her staff, and Otis, have been working on this problem continuously. 

“But for the tenants, there is only one variable,” said O’Connell. “They’re stuck. I don’t blame them for being angry.”

Friday, Sept. 7

Even Stronger Women 

1:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Free weekly cultural discussion class. This week: Haiku poetry. 549-1879 

East Bay Recorder Society 

7:15 p.m. 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Choral Room 

2727 College Ave. 

Monthly meetings, professional conductors, all playing levels welcome. Music provided, bring music stand and pencil. 525-1249 

Law and Technology Forum 

2 - 5 p.m. 

U. C. Berkeley 

Boalt Hall, Goldberg Room 

Representatives will discuss pending legal cases and technological innovations that may threaten civil liberties and new challenges for consumer protection. Free and open to the public. 642-0499 

Berkeley/ Albany Chapter of Church Women United 

9:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Chinese Community Church 

2117 Acton St. 

A report on the Milwaukee conference. 526-4303  

Rally and Ride to the State Capitol 

8 a.m. - sharp 

City Hall steps 

2180 Milvia 

Take BART with bikes to Pittsburgh/Bay Point BART 

Ride bikes to Sacramento with Councilmember Kriss Worthington to support alternative transportation. 720-2818 jmeggs@bclu.org 

Saturday, Sept. 8

Watershed Environmental 

Poetry Festival 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Civic Center Park 

Martin Luther King Jr. Way at Center Street 

A free environmental poetry festival with a day of poetry, music and environmental activism featuring Gary Snyder, Maxine Hong Kingston, Robert Haas, Francisco X. Alarcon, and Earll Kingston as John Wesley Powell. Strawberry Creek Walk at 10 a.m. Oxford and Center. 526-9105 www.poetryflash.org 

Youth Arts Studio 

2 - 5 p.m. 

All Souls Episcopal Parish 

2220 Cedar St. 

Demonstration classes for after school program in visual arts, creative writing and dramatic arts for students ages 10 - 15. Free. 848-1755 

Luna Kids Dance Open House 

10 - 11 a.m. 

Grace North Church 

2138 Cedar 

Free open house and parent/ child classes. Designed to give families a shared dance experience that connects body, mind, and soul. Children will have a chance to play fun dance games, refreshments and register for fall session. 525-4339 www.lunakidsdnace.com 

Pack Right, Travel Smart 

1 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Eagle Creek Rep will give you tips on how to best organize your gear and clothing for your next adventure. Free. 527-4140 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

812 Page St. 

Earthquake retrofitting class. Free to anyone 18 or older who lives or works in Berkeley. 644-8736 www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire.oes.html 

Sunday, Sept. 9

Solano Stroll 2001 

8 a.m. - 7 p.m. 

Solano Avenue 

27th Annual Berkeley / Albany Festival. 11 a.m. Parade; 8 a.m. pancake breakfast; merchants, entertainers, food, craft alley, game booths, silent auction, climbing wall, bicycle stunt show, ponyrides, giant slide, dunk tank, hot air balloon rides. Free. 527-5358 www.solanostroll.org 

Salsa Lesson and Dance Party 

6 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Salsa lesson and dance party with professional instructors. Israeli food. Novices welcome and no partner required. $12. RSVP 237-9874 

West Berkeley Market 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

University Avenue between 3rd and 4th streets  

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

654-6346  

Hands-On Bicycle Repair Clinics  

11 a.m. - noon  

Recreational Equipment, Inc.  

1338 San Pablo Ave.  

Learn drive train maintenance and chain repair from one of REI’s bike technicians. All you need to bring is your bike. Tools are provided. Free 527-4140 

– compiled by Guy Poole 

International House featured in documentary 

1:30 p.m. 

KQED-TV Ch. 9 

Hosted by Sam Waterson, The International House feature is part of the Visionaries Documentary series about the positive impact of inspiring nonprofit organizations.  

Buddhism 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute 

1815 Highland Place 

“The Heart Sutra” Bob Byrne will discuss the deep impact this important teaching of the Buddha has had on his life. 843-6812 

DURBAN, South Africa – I’m halfway around the globe, in the midst of an exhausting, inspiring culture shock. 

I’m working in the NGO Forum, a collection of non-governmental organizations, and trying to influence the U.N. World Conference on Racism. Gathered here is an awesome mix of races and nationalities, groups we scarcely hear about in the United States, like the Travelers, Tamil, Roma and Dalit. 

The Travelers, for instance, are a nomadic group in Ireland of approximately 25,000. The Dalits are an Indian minority group, blocked by the caste system from economic mobility and political, educational and religious freedoms. A woman named Mangala is a one-person delegation for refugees from Bhutan, a tiny country in the Himalayas. 

All seek to be included in both NGO Forum and U.N. documents against racism that will stand for another decade. 

Like thousands of others, I naively expected an orderly forum for the exchange of ideas, only to find disorganization, finger-pointing, and disappointment among participants by the second day of our six-day NGO meeting. Workshops are a 10 to 20 minute taxi ride away, difficult to find, and nearly impossible to understand when translation is not provided. Documents are hard to come by. Our accommodations are 30 kilometers outside of town, requiring a 30-minute bus ride there and back. Compared to the U.N. conference, the NGO Forum is underfunded and understaffed. 

But amazing things are happening here. The grassroots work is inspiring, and well worth the scrimping and saving, begging and borrowing it took to get here. In spite of all the logistical challenges, a document is being hammered out through hours of discussion, daily demonstrations, nightly vigils and passionate, nose-to-nose debate. 

Issues that receive only marginal exposure in the United States are center stage at the NGO Forum: racism against Palestinians, the lingering impact of the “historical past” (a U.N. euphemism for imperialism, colonialism and slavery), equal rights for the 150 million people in migration, and reparations for the victims of slavery and colonialism. At home, globalization is cast as exciting new trade opportunities for U.S. businesses. Here, it’s called Westernization, an undermining of non-Western social structures and cultures. 

The NGO document we seek is now three days overdue. We all await the outcome, hoping for a text containing language that we can leverage in the many battles against racism waiting for us at home. 

Influencing the U.N. conference’s work on racism is another matter entirely. We NGOs are mutually marginalized by limited passes and little access to voting delegates. First we stood in the NGO line for over six hours to get our photo IDs. When some people cut in line, a mini-riot was averted by a courageous individual who stepped in to personally issue hundreds of hand-written numbers so the queue could proceed with dignity. 

Then we waited another hour or two for another pass to the actual proceedings. 

Inside the U.N. conference, the color and exuberance of the NGO Forum is replaced by slow, somber proceedings conducted mostly by men in dark suits. Corporate sponsorship is evident, and the work of the World Bank is promoted from the plenary podium. The real work goes on in the committee meetings, where our participation is restricted. Veterans of these conferences tell us to corner delegates in the halls, cafes, and even the bathrooms. 

When we do get into committee meetings, a year’s worth of preparation is vulnerable to the complexities of regional politics, national interests, and the influence of a few powerful nations like the United States. We are winning minor concessions on key migrant and refugee issues, but most of it remains unresolved. 

The U.S. delegation left yesterday. Reaction is a mix of anger, shame and indifference. It was obvious the United States was never serious about this conference; its delegates came late, never took their seats and left early. U.S. taxpayers should be refunded the cost of their fancy hotels and business class tickets. 

We may not be able to change world politics this year, but we ourselves have been changed. We have been inspired and strengthened by our international counterparts. Our databases and e-mail lists have been enriched. We know better who our allies are in the fight against racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance. 

Our delegation will return to press the United States to finally ratify the U.N. Convention for the Rights of Migrant Workers and their families. 

Our struggle continues. 

Berkeley resident and Filipino activist Lillian Galedo is a non governmental delegate to the conference as chair of the Filipino Civil Rights Advocates. She is also a member of the Immigrant Rights Working Group. 

When speaking about the Holocaust there are many levels that might be difficult to fathom: the cunning political maneuverings, the cultural devastation, the cold ingenuity of the concentration camp’s engineering and the deep, almost inhuman hatred humans are capable of.  

In a documentary by Berkeley filmmaker Jonathan Gruber, “Pola’s March,” the Nazi horror is seen through the eyes of his grandmother. The film follows the aging Holocaust survivor’s journey back to her ordeal in the concentration camps to trace the process of remembering, and recalling it for the benefit of future generations. 

In 1995 Pola Susswein traveled back to Poland, the childhood home she had not seen in over 50 years, with a busload of young students as part of an international group called March of the Living. Her grandson Gruber went along with video equipment and a small crew.  

Beginning in Tel Aviv, where she cares for the elderly in a community home, the warm and upbeat Susswein admits to the camera she has reservations about returning to a place of both happy childhood memories and great suffering. The twofold reason for her return is to submerge herself in a chapter of her life she had heretofore never spoken of, and to share it with a younger generation. 

Because Susswein had not spoken openly with her family about her experiences in the concentration camp, Gruber did not know what to expect during the trip and was caught between being a filmmaker and being a grandson. All the on-camera interviews seen in the film were not conducted by Gruber, but by the film’s producer, Amy Cairns. 

“She had an easier time discussing things with people she doesn’t know very well,” said Gruber, wanting to avoid the familial shorthand and evasions which would have undoubtedly tainted the interviews had he done them himself.  

Susswein acted as a living resource for the teen-agers traveling as March of the Living, who, wearing matching blue windbreakers underneath Star of David flags, retraced the death march from Auschwitz to Birkenau. The goal of the journey was to sharply instill the history of the Holocaust in youth such that it might not happen again.  

While Pola’s recovering memories told over the tour bus public address system provided the young people with a tangible lifeline to the atrocities soaked in the stones and monuments of Poland, a historian also came along to give the march its factual historical context.  

For a dramatic metaphor – and a bizarre teaching – Rabbi Micah Halpern describes the concentration camps as if it were a different planet. “The laws, the physics, the chemistry of the normal world doesn’t work there,” he says in the film. 

The lasting message of the Holocaust is that the laws, physics and chemistry of the normal world did, in fact, create genocide. That real people were able to slaughter real people by the hundreds of thousands is the implied lesson of Pola Susswein’s presence. The Holocaust did not happen in history books, instigated by an alien race, but was committed in the hometown of that warm, upbeat woman speaking on the bus public address system. 

The focus of Pola’s March, ultimately, is not rediscovering the Holocaust, but the way by which Pola reclaimed her own past. After Gruber had collected an enormous amount of video footage of the trip, the story of his grandmother started to emerge. 

“Part of the enjoyment comes out in the editing room,” Gruber said about the filmmaking process, and some of what came out was his grandmother’s realization of her own memories. In an extended sequence visiting her former home – now converted into modern apartments – Gruber’s camera stays with Susswein as she slowly pieces together the details of her childhood. 

Those details, however, have either disappeared, been reconstructed, or – as she looks at sepia-toned photos of unrelated faces – the recovered details sometimes aren’t hers at all. The film gets sidetracked with Pola’s eddying memories while she seeks the familiar in a city that has been almost completely overhauled. 

As the young people in the March of the Living try to know the Nazi terror vicariously through Pola, the stronger lesson she embodies is the bravery of remembering the past, and the blessing to be able to share it. 

The film was screened Thursday at Congregation Beth Israel in Berkeley and is available for future screenings. Call 848-1124 or view the Web site at www.polasmarch.org

924 Gilman Sept. 7: Carry On, Champion, Breaker Breaker, Saturday Supercade, Fields of Fire; Sept. 8: Lab Rats, Relative; Most shows $5 and start at 8 p.m. unless noted. 924 Gilman St. 525-9926 

Albatross Pub Sept. 11: Mad & Eddie Duran Jazz Duo; Sept. 13: Kenji “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Sept. 19: Whiskey Brothers; Sept. 20: Kenji “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Sept. 22: Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet; Sept. 27: Kenji “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Free. All shows begin at 9 p.m. 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473 albatrosspub@mindspring.com  

Ashkenaz Sept. 7: 9:30 p.m. Amandla Poets and Umlilo, $10; Sept. 8: 9:30 p.m. Charivari, $12; Sept. 9: 9 p.m. El Leo, The Jarican Express, $10; 1317 San Pablo 525-5054 www.ashkenaz.com 

Café Eclectica Sept. 8: 8 p.m. SF Improv, Free. 1309 Solano Ave. 326-6124 www.sfimprov.com 

Café de la Paz Poetry Nitro, performance showcase with open mike. Sept. 10: Lucy Lang Day; Sept. 17: Marc Hofstadter (book party); Sept. 24: Jim Watson-Gove; All shows free, 7 - 10 p.m. 

Cal Performances Sept. 16: 7 p.m. Tania Libertad, $18 - $30; Sept. 30: 7 p.m. Kronos Quartet, David Barron, $30; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 642-0212, tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. - 2 a.m., Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; Sept. 3: 2 - 8 p.m. Big West Coast Harmonica Bash, afternoon benefit for Red Archibald. $10 donation; Doors open at 8 p.m. unless noted. 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage Sept. 7: Tom Russell w/ Andrew Hardin, $16.50; Sept. 8: The House Jacks, $17.50; Sept. 9: Erika Luckett, $16.50; Sept. 11: Don Walser, Slaid Cleaves, $16.50; Sept. 12: Andy Irvine, $17.50; Sept. 13: Piper Heisig birthday revue and fund raiser w/ Kate Brislin, Sylvia Herold, Tony Marcus, Carlos Reyes, and Radim Zenkl, $16.50; Sept. 14: Ray Wylie Hubbard, $16.50; Sept. 15: Vocolot, $17.50; All shows start at 8 p.m. 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

Jupiter Sept. 7: Crater; Sept. 10: Ben Graves Trio; Sept. 11: Len Patterson Trio; Sept. 12: Bitches Brew; Sept. 13: Beatdown w/ DJs Delon, Yamu, and Add1; Sept. 14: Carlos Washington & Giant People Ensemble; Sept. 15: Kooken & Hoomen; Sept. 18: The Goodbye Flowers; Sept. 19: New Monsoon; Sept. 20: Beatdown w/ DJs Delon, Yamu, and Add1; Sept. 21: Netwerk: Electric; Sept. 22: New Garde Philosophers; All music starts at 8:00 p.m. 2181 Shattuck Ave. 843-7625 www.jupiterbeer.com  

La Peña Cultural Center Sept. 11 & 12: 8 p.m. Irakere, $22; In the Cafe, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 www.lapena.org 

Alice Arts Sept. 8: 7:30 p.m. Benefit concert for freedom of U.S. political prisoners featuring Fred Ho (solo) and The Eddie Gale Unit. $12; 1428 Alice, Oakland, 539-0050 www.thejerichomovement.com/teardownthewalls 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church Sept. 15: George Brooks and Shweta Jhaveri with Uttam Chakraborty on drums. $18 - $25; 2727 College Ave. 843-9600 www.harmoniventures.com 

Sedge Thomson’s West Coast Live Radio Show Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Ave.; Sept. 29: Nancy Miford, author of “Savage Beauty.” West African folk music with The Nigerian Brothers. Blues roots piano by Caroline Dahl. The Freight and Salvage, 1111 Addison St. All shows 10 a.m. - noon. 252-9214 www.wcl.org 

Lerner and Loewe’s “My Fair Lady” Sept. 7, 8, 9. All shows 8 p.m. Adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s and Gabrial Pascal’s “Pygmalion.” Directed by James Schlader, choreographed by Harriet Schlader, under the musical direction of Mark Hanson. $15 - $27. 3300 Joaquin Miller Road, Oakland. 531-9597 www.woodminster.com 

Squelched.com Presents “Jim Short” Sept. 11: 8 p.m. Jim Short is an Australian expatriate who grew up in Texas. Also appearing: Rob Cantrell, Luke Filose and Sean Keane. Blake’s on Telegraph, 2367 Telegraph Ave. 848-0886 show@squelched.com 

“Hecho En Califas Chicano-Latino Teatro Festival” Sept. 6 - 9, 14 - 15; 8 p.m. Original members of El Teatro de La Esperanza. Chicano Theater began out of the need to express the realities of the fields and barrios of Aztlán in the Chicano-Latino community. $10 - $20 La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck, 849-2568, www.lapena.org  

“Winesburg, Ohio: Tales of the Grotesque” through Sept. 16, Wed. - Sat. 8:30 p.m., Sun. 5 p.m. The Shotgun Players and Word For Word team up for a production of Sherwood Anderson’s deceptively simple tale of neglected souls who fade into the shadows around us. $22, Wednesdays are “Pay What You Can.” Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Ave. 655-0813 www.shotgunplayers.org 

“The Secret Garden” Sept. 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22, at 8 p.m. Sept. 16 & 23 matinees. The Alameda Civic Light Opera’s fifth summer season ends with the musical of Frances Hodson Burnett’s classic story of life, death, purpose and hope. Adults $22, Students 18 and under $14. Kofman Auditorium, 2200 Central Ave., Alameda. www.aclo.com 

“36 Views” Sept. 12 through Oct. 28: Tues. 8 p.m., Wed. 7 p.m., Thu. 8 p.m. w/ 2 p.m. matinee every other Thu., Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 8 p.m. w/ 2 p.m. matinee every other Sat., Sun. 2 p.m., 8 p.m. Written by Naomi Lizuka, Directed by Mark Wing-Davey. $10 - $54. Berkeley Repertory’s Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Murder Dressed in Satin” by Victor Lawhorn, ongoing. A mystery-comedy dinner show at The Madison about a murder at the home of Satin Moray, a club owner and self-proclaimed socialite with a scarlet past. Dinner is included in the price of the theater ticket. $47.50 Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison St., Oakland. 239-2252 www.acteva.com/go/havefun 

Dance 

Cal Performances Sept. 8: 8 p.m. & Sept. 9: 3 p.m. - Dance, the Spirit of Cambodia, $20 - $32; Sept. 19 - 20: 8 p.m. American Ballet, “Bruch Violin Concerto,” “Jabula,” “Gong,” and “Black Tuesday.”; Sept. 21: 8 p.m., Sept. 22: 2 p.m. & 8 p.m., Sept. 23: 3 p.m. American Ballet, the full-length 19th Century “Giselle” $36 - $64; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 642-0212, tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Films 

Pacific Film Archive Sept. 7: 7 p.m. “Rebels with a Cause,” 9 p.m. “Is This Desire?”; Sept. 8: 7 p.m. “Rendan: Quartet for Two,” Sept. 9:10 p.m. “Unloved”; Sept. 9: 7 p.m. “In Search of Home”; Sept. 10: 7 p.m. “Orfeu”, Sept. 11: 7:30 p.m. “The Film of Maya Deren”; Sept. 12 7:30 p.m. “Autrian AudioVisions”; Sept. 14: 7:30 “Eyes of the Spider”, 9:20 “Serpent’s Path”; Sept. 15: 4:30 p.m. “The New God”, 7:00 p.m. “Seance”, 9:05 p.m. “Looking for Angel”; Sept. 16: 3:30 p.m. “Alphaville”, 5:30 p.m. “Solaris”; Sept. 17: 7 p.m. “Charcoal People”; Sept. 18: 7:30 p.m. “Mike Kuchar’s Feverish Spell”; Sept. 19: 7:30 p.m. “Wht About Me: The Rise of the Nihilist Spasm Band”; general admission $7, The New PFA Theatre 2575 Bancroft Way 642-1412 

The Pyramid Alehouse Outdoor Cinema Sept. 8: “Dr. No” (come as your favorite Bond character); Sept. 15: “Harold and Maude”; Sept. 22: “Airplane”; The Outdoor Cinema features cult classics projected on a large screen in the open-air brewery parking lot. $5 donation. Movies start at 7 p.m. 901 Gilman St. 206-682-8322 x237 www.pyramidbrew.com 

Exhibits 

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

“The Political Art of: Diego Marcial Rios” Through Sept. 20, Addison Street Window Gallery, 2018 Addison St. hdrios@msn.com 

Women’s Cancer Resource Gallery “Catastrophe, Crisis, and Other Family Traditions” The photography of Jessamyn Lovell. Through Sept. 26; “The Arthur Wright and Gerald Parker” Reception Sept. 8. Through Sept. 26; Tues. - Thurs. 1 - 7 p.m., Sat. 12 - 4 p.m. 3023 Shattuck Ave. 548-9286 x307 www.wcrc.org 

“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.  

“Squared Triangle” Through Oct. 5: noon - 6 p.m. A minimalist art exhibit featuring three Bay Area artists working in different mediums while achieving the same elegant simplicity. The Crucible, 1036 Ashby Ave. 843-5511 www.thecrucible.com 

“Inside Editions” through Oct. 12: Nine printmakers exhibit their work. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Tue. - Fri. Free. Kala Art Insitute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977 kala@kala.org 

“Census 2000: Asian Pacific Islander Americans” through Oct. 13; Wed. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Asian Pacific Islander American artists in roughly the demographic proportions indicated by the recent census. Free. Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St., Oakland 763-9470  

“MWP Perspectives” Jon Orvik: One artist’s journey. Sept. 8 through Oct. 27 Tues. - Fri. 12 - 5 p.m., Sat. & Sun. 12 - 4 p.m. Solo artist exhibiting his journey through metal, wood and paint. Adapt Gallery and Design, 2834 College Ave. 649-8501 www.adaptgallery.com  

“50 Years of Photography in Japan 1951 - 2001” through Nov. 5: An exhibition from The Yomiuri Shimbun, the world’s largest daily newspaper with a national morning circulation of 10,300,000. Photographs of work, love, community, culture and disasters of Japan as seen by Japanese news photographers. Opening Reception Sept. 5: 6 - 8 p.m. open to the public; Mon. - Fri. 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. U.C. Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism, North Gate Hall, Hearst and Euclid. Free. 642-3383 

“Changing the World, Building New Lives: 1970s photographs of Lesbians, Feminists, Union Women, Disability Activists and their Supporters” Sept. 15 through Nov. 17: An exhibit of black and white photographs by Oakland photographer Cathy Cade, who captured the interrelationships of the different struggles for justice and social change. Opening reception Sept. 15, 5 - 8 p.m. Gallery Hours, Mon. - Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St. Free. 644-1400 cathycade@mindspring.com 

“The Whole World’s Watching: Peace and Social Justice Movements of the 1960s and 1970s” Sept. 16 through Dec. 16: A documentary photo exhibition which examines the rich history of the social movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Wed. - Sun., noon - 5 p.m. Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., Live Oak Park. Free. 644-6893 

“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 Botticelli’s “Primavera” Ongoing. Call ahead for hours. Atelier 9 2028 Ninth St. (at Addison) 841-4210 or visit www.atelier9.com 

Readings 

Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival Sept. 8: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. An environmental poetry festival with a day of poetry, music and environmental activism featuring Gary Snyder, Maxine Hong Kingston, Robert Haas, Francisco X. Alarcon, and Earll Kingston as John Wesley Powell. Strawberry Creek Walk at 10 a.m. Oxford and Center. Festival at Civic Center Park, Martin Luther King Jr. Way at Center Street. Free. 526-9105 www.poetryflash.org 

Boadecia’s Books Sept. 8: 7:30 p.m. Simone Martel reads from “The Expectant Gardner,” Joan Drummond Miller, Julie Houy, and Carolyn Livingston, “Beyond Bingo;” Sept. 14: 7:30 p.m. Marny Hall, “Queer Blues: The Lesbian and Gay Guide to Overcoming Depression;” Sept. 15: 2 p.m. Kimeron Hardin, “Queer Blues: The Lesbian and Gay Guide to Overcoming Depression;” Sept. 15: 7:30 p.m. Kathleen Jacoby, “Vision of the Grail;” Sept. 21: 7:30 p.m. Deborah Kesten, “The Healing Secrets of Food;” Sept. 22: 7:30 p.m. A special All Poetry Dyke Open Myke, to participate call 655-1015 or feroniawolf@yahoo.com; All events are free. 398 Colusa Ave. 559-9184 www.bookpride.com 

Cody’s on 4th Street Sept. 13: Kenneth C. Davis, “Don’t Know Much About...”; Sept. 20: 7 p.m. Jamie Oliver, The Naked Chef, “The Naked Chef Takes Off”; Sept. 22: 10:30 a.m. Cody’s for Kids, Walter the Giant Storyteller; Sept. 25: 7 p.m. Nancy London looks at “Hot Flashes, Warm Bottles: First-Time Mothers Over Forty”; 1730 Fourth St. 559-9500 

Cody’s on Telegraph Ave. Sept. 8: 7:30 p.m. Dave Eggers talks about “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius”; Sept. 10: 7:30 p.m. Peggy Orenstein talks about “FLUX: Women on Sex, Work, Love, Kids, and Life in a Half-Changed World”; Sept. 11: 7:30 p.m. Simon Winchester discusses “The Map That Changed The World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology”; Sept. 13: 7:30 p.m. Geraldine Brooks reads from “A Year of Wonder: A Novel of the Plague”; Sept. 16: 7:30 p.m. David Bank looks at “Breaking Windows: How Bill Gates Fumble the Future of Microsoft”; Sept. 17: 7:30 p.m. Aldo Alvarez describes “Interesting Monsters”; Sept. 18: 7:30 p.m. Clarence Walker discusses “We Can’t Go Home Again: An Argument About Afrocentrism; Sept. 19: 7:30 p.m. Douglas Coupland reads “All Families Are Psychotic”; Sept. 24: Theodore Roszak discusses “Longevity Revolution: As Boomers Become Elders”; Sept. 25: Ken Croswell discusses “The Universe At Midnight: New Discoveries Illuminate the Hidden Cosmos” with a slide show presentation; Sept. 27: Bill Ayers talks about “Fugitive Days”; 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852 

Cody’s Other Venues - Sept. 20: 7:30 p.m. Cody’s presents an evening with Margaret Atwood in conversation with professor Robert Alter. $12. First Congregational Church 2345 Channing Way. Sept. 28: 7:30 p.m. Cody’s presents a Community Forum on Race and the Achievement Gap at Berkeley High School. Little Theater, Berkeley High School.  

Lunch Poems Series Kick-Off Sept. 6: 12:10 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. UC Berkeley campus figures from a wide variety of fields read and discuss their favorite poems. Free. In the Morrison Library in the Doe Library at UC Berkeley. 642-0137 www.berkeley.edu/calendar/events/poems/ 

Spasso Sept. 10: Sharron Jones-Reid, Fruit of the Spirit poets, acoustic musicians, comedians, rappers, performance artists, writers. All welcome. 6021 College Ave. Free admission. 

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 foot 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. It will reopen in early 2002. On View until Oct. 1 : “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 Avenue. 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  

Oakland Museum of California “After the Storm: Bob Walker and the Art of Environmental Photography,” through Sept. 16; “Half Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks,” through Sept. 23; Wednesday - Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sunday, noon - 5 p.m., Closed Monday and Tuesday. $6 general; $4 youths (6-17), seniors and students with ID. Free for museum members and children 5 and under. Free admission the second Sunday of the month. 10th & Oak streets, Oakland. 238-2200 www.museum.org 

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

Send arts events two weeks in advance to Calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.net, 2076 University, Berkeley 94704 or fax to 841-5694.

The Cal men’s soccer team will host the fifth-annual adidas-Legacy Classic this weekend, as Stanford, Loyola Marymount and CSU Fullerton visit Edwards Stadium. 

The Bears earned a split last weekend at the FILA Classic at CSU Fullerton, beating Loyola (Maryland), 4-0, before falling 2-1 to No. 8 Clemson. 

Cal starts the 2001 season without their two top scorers from last season, forward Kendall Simmonds and midfielder Ramiro Arredondo. The duo scored nine of Cal’s 20 goals last season, leaving the Bears with limited firepower this year. 

Forward Chris Roner is the top returning scorer, having racked up four goals and three assists last year while starting all 20 games. Roner is a solid forward with limited speed. Forward Austin Ripmaster played well at the end of last season, but scored just one goal and must be more productive this season. Ripmaster, a senior, is a tall target on crosses and corner kicks and scored the Bears’ only goal against Clemson last weekend. 

Defender Robbie Aylsworth showed a nice scoring touch last year with three goals, and scored in the Bears’ opener this year. Aylsworth has a cannon leg and is a threat coming out of the defense to hit long shots. 

Head coach Kevin Grimes has upped the recruiting efforts, and was rewarded last year with 10 freshman. This year, he pulled in 12 new players, so the infusion of talent should help the team’s competitiveness by quantity, if not quality. Freshman Calen Carr has made an immediate impact with a goal and an assist last weekend, and new goalkeeper Josh Saunders has apparently won the starting job over Marco Palmieri, last year’s backup. 

The Bears switched conferences last season, joining Oregon State, UCLA, Washington and Stanford in forming the ill-named Pac-10 Soccer. Being a small league, the Pac-10 doesn’t get an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, but three teams were chosen for at-large bids last year (Stanford, UCLA and Washington). That means the Bears have to make the most of their non-league games, so a strong showing this weekend is important to any post-season hopes they may have.

The Berkeley School Board on Wednesday adopted a new set of educational goals for Berkeley High, intended to buttress the school’s beleaguered accreditation standing – even as some board members and parents expressed disappointment and warned the new Expected Schoolwide Learning Results (ESLRs) may still be insufficient. 

“I feel these goals are very weak and don’t represent what any parent wants their children to achieve,” said Shirley Issel, the board’s vice president. “I would like these ESLRs to state very clearly that upon graduation from high school, our students will be able to undertake post-secondary education without remediation.” 

“There’s not one thing in these ESLRs about sending students to college,” said Terry Doran, the board president. 

“They’re probably, in my view, a little too general,” said Berkeley Schools Superintendent Michele Lawrence on Thursday. “In some instances they’re a little difficult to measure. But I think they’re a healthy and productive start.” 

Under the direction of Vice Principal Mary Ann Valles, the school developed the new ESLRs with input from an October, 2000 school-community forum and a workshop last April that she said included “parents, staff, and a few students.” 

“We looked at some examples, we looked at a few articles, we looked at some essential school information and we looked at some basic educational research,” said Valles. “(The ESLRs) are fine statements that give a good description of what a well-rounded person should look like when they exit high school.” 

“I am satisfied ,” said Lawrence, “that people had an opportunity at the local site, with input from parents and staff, to make a determination on what the ESLRs should look like.” 

Valles said that at a staff development day before the first day of school, individual school departments had already started work on ways to measure student progress in the new ESLRs. 

“The ESLRs themselves are general statements, but the application comes in the curriculum area,” said Berkeley High Principal Frank Lynch. Each department, he said, would now “take maybe one, two, or three of those ESLRs and say, ‘What does being a good communicator mean in terms of math or science?’” 

The Western Association of Schools and Colleges granted Berkeley High a relatively short one-and-a-half-year accreditation this spring after a highly critical review that cited “strong evidence... of no overall plan or will to develop overall school standards.” 

In its previous review, two years before, WASC had reported that the school’s ESLRs needed “to include meaningful and authentic examples or benchmarks for assuring successful completion by students” and that their attainment required more collaboration between the various subject departments trying to implement them. 

A lengthy pause ensued at Wednesday’s board meeting after Terry Doran, the board president, introduced the ESLR adoption measure. Nobody seconded it, Doran suggested it might die, and then Issel said, “Oh, okay, I’ll second it.” 

In a brief ensuing discussion, director John T. Selawsky took issue with the statement that Berkeley High graduates should be effective communicators who “write coherent essays and reports relatively free of grammatical errors.” 

“The word “relatively” jumped out at me,” Selawsky said. “It’s a very relative term.” 

“It reminds me of what we expect in a president,” said Doran. “All of our students can get C’s at Yale.” 

Doran suggested removing the entire clause, leaving “write coherent essays and reports.” Issel objected to the word “basic” in the statement calling for “masters of fundamental skills who integrate the basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic into meaningful activities and projects.” 

“Is that what we’re aspiring to?” Issel said. “Don’t we want proficiency?” 

The measure passed unanimously, with only the word “relatively” deleted. 

In public comment at the end of the meeting, Berkeley High parent Iris Starr chastised the board. 

“I think you will be embarrassed to have adopted these,” she said. “WASC will not accept these.” 

In a later interview, Starr questioned whether math teachers had been present at the April 2000 drafting meeting. “If you look at ‘arithmetic,’ you know,” she said. “Arithmetic is what you do in second grade.” 

Board directors Issel and Selawsky both asserted Thursday that the ESLRs could be revised before the next WASC committee visit, in October, 2002. “If it needs revision, we can revise it,” Selawsky said. “It was my understanding that there were staff and administrators involved. Now if that’s inaccurate, then we have to take a look again at the document and perhaps recreate it in some way.” 

Lawrence, however, said the new ESLRs could be revised, but “probably not until after the visiting committee makes their assessment.”

Editor: 

On Aug. 24, you printed two different views on developing the Oxford parking lot located near the Gaia building. There is another very important view. I call it “a view with some room;” the no-development scenario. 

Big development is occurring all over town, and we need to save a few of our almost extinct, easy-in and out, open parking lots. Without them folks circle around in traffic, polluting the air, distracted, frustrated, and endangering pedestrians and bicyclers. That plus the fact that many people will not use underground or elevated parking because of the dangers and pollution within, hurts our city. The Oxford lot is easy to get to and should be kept as is, providing access to our downtown, and view corridors near intensive development. 

The city owns the Oxford parking lot, so we don’t have to give it away. Those that would, are the same folks planning to develop the city’s other open, easy-access parking lot on Berkeley Way, northwest of Shattuck and University. This lot would become high-density very-low-income housing with little or no parking. And so would the Kragen/(Grand Auto) site, and the Kelly-Moore Paint site, and so on. 

Guess what? I hate cars, but I have trouble walking or waiting for a bus downtown or on the major corridors of this city because the pollution, especially diesel, I find is intolerable. 

Traffic is getting worse, and high density “carfree” housing will make it still worse because there is yet no way to prevent car ownership. In Germany, where “carfree” housing has been built, people have devised ways to keep cars outside the project, even at great trouble and cost. 

Additionally, low-income people usually need cars more than middle income people who can rent or lease. 

My insatiable curiosity makes me wonder what Ecocity guru Richard Register does with his truck since he’s moved into the Gaia building. 

And how does Becky O’Malley gets around when she is not taking the bus to the opera? Does Planning Commission Chair Rob Wren have a family car to pick up groceries or take the kids to Tilden? 

Could we consider alternatives to what Planning Commissioners are recommending for the new General Plan, to guide development in Berkeley for the next 20 years? Sure we can! Why not? Send in your ideas. 

Here’s mine for downtown: 

Imagine breathing clean air, having only electric, solar and non-polluting vehicles permitted in the heart of the city. By some miracle we have saved our downtown city parking lots like Oxford and Berkeley Way, and use them for satellite parking, “car sharing,” and openspace for emergencies like earthquakes. Species of trees and plants which help clean the air and reduce global warming are planted in and around parking areas and in small spaces between and behind buildings, wherever possible. Developers must provide the required landscaping, quality openspace for tenants, and well designed areas for children living in family apartments. Just enough of Shirley Dean’s “Free Transit for Berkeley” proposal has survived obstruction by Kriss Worthington, for a nonpolluting “little green engine that could” shuttle, to run a loop downtown and to all three BART stations.  

Views have improved because the earthquake unsafe tallest building in the city, the Great Western Building, which hovers next to the Berkeley BART station, has been removed! In its place, sunshine streams down upon a lovely plaza with bicycle-friendly amenities.  

A monorail runs from this central spot straight up across Shattuck to UC Berkeley where it continues up the center of campus to the top. The air is clean, there is room to “breathe,” and you can even see the stars at night. 

Merrilie Mitchell 

Berkeley

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Comedian Bob Hope was released Thursday from a hospital where he had been treated for pneumonia since late last month. 

“He’s home,” publicist Ward Grant said. 

The 98-year-old entertainer was discharged from Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank by Dr. Lee Kagan, at 9:45 a.m. and departed with his wife, Dolores, to their home in the Toluca Lake district of Los Angeles. 

Kagan said in a statement that Hope was “doing fine and eating well.” 

“However, it will be several more weeks before he is fully recovered from his illness,” he said. 

Grant said that when the comedian was asked what he wanted for dessert for his first lunch back home, Hope answered, “I don’t care ... as long as it’s coffee ice cream.” 

“He loves ice cream,” Grant said. 

Hope was originally expected to be released by Labor Day but a slight rise in his temperature scuttled that plan. 

Hope entered the hospital Aug. 26 because of trouble breathing. He was later diagnosed with mild pneumonia. He received antibiotics, intravenous fluids and respiratory therapy. 

New coach, QB hoping to get Berkeley off to a quick start 

Last year, the Berkeley Yellowjackets rode on the back of superstar Ramone Reed. This year, it’s going to have to be a group effort. 

With Reed having moved on to become an Oregon Duck, the ’Jackets will count on a combination of their usual running attack with a rejuvenated passing game. Senior Germaine Baird will fill Reed’s spot at tailback, while senior quarterback Raymond Pinkston will lead the air attack. 

“There’s no replacing Ramone Reed. He was probably the best player I’ve seen come out of Berkeley High,” first-year head coach Matt Bissell says. “But Germaine has done nothing to make us lose confidence in him. He’s the type of player this team can ride.” 

Bissell doesn’t expect Baird to duplicate Reed’s 1,189 yard, 15 touchdown season. But that’s mostly because the Berkeley passing game is much improved, at least in practice. Pinkston, who played at Berkeley as a freshman before moving to Detroit, is a better passer than either of last year’s signal-callers, Leon Ireland and Mohammed Nitoto. The key will be how fast Pinkston and his receivers can master the ’Jackets’ new offense, the brainchild of new offensive coordinator Clarence Johnson. Expect a lot of misdirection and play-action passes to keep opposing defenses on their toes. 

Pinkston will likely count heavily on deep threat wideout Lee Franklin. Franklin has the speed to stretch defenses and good hands, evidenced by his place as kick and punt returner, as well as a starting safety.  

“Lee plays a position in our offense where it will be easy to get him the ball,” Bissell says. “We want to get the ball in his hands in different ways.” 

The other receiver position is a battle between three candidates. 

“All three guys who are competing for that spot do different things well,” Bissell says. “It’ll depend on the situation to see which guy plays.” 

Pinkston will also use fullback Nick Schooler as a receiver out of the backfield. Schooler is the backup quarterback, and as Bissell says, “knows the offense better than the coaches.” 

The offensive line should be solid if not spectacular. Returning starters Matt Toma and Zack Cohen are technically sound, if a bit undersized. Brian Hickman has looked very good in practice at right guard, but the center and right tackle spots are questionmarks heading into Berkeley’s first game against Foothill tonight. 

The defense will revolve around a mammoth line. Nose guard Jamal Johnson is nearly a defensive line all by himself at more than 300 pounds. Johnson should be a force if he can get over some nagging injuries. Surrounding him at the tackles will be Robert Hunter-Ford and Juleen Jacobs, both of whom weigh in at more than 250 pounds. 

“If we have everyone healthy, there’s no reason any team should be able to run up the middle on us,” Bissell says. 

The ends will be Greg Mitchell and Akeem Brown, who has the potential to be an impact pass rusher off the edge. 

With five linemen, the ’Jackets will use just two linebackers, Owen Goldstrom and Demetrius Summers. Both are a bit undersized, so it will be up to the line to keep blockers from getting down the field if the linebackers are to make plays. 

The Berkeley secondary is a highly fluid situation, as the coaching staff tries to keep Baird and Franklin fresh for offense. Baird is a lockdown cornerback, but he will come off the bench to start the season. The starters will be Justin Cain and sophomore Shawn Brown, but Bissell says he will use Baird if he needs him. 

Franklin, on the other hand, will be needed right away, as one projected starter at safety is injured. Franklin will start the Foothill game alongside Craig Hollis, but Bissell would like to minimize his playing time. 

“We’re trying to alleviate the pressure on Germaine and Lee,” Bissell says. “We don’t want them too tired to make plays on offense.” 

Bissell inherited a killer schedule from last year’s head coach, Gary Weaver. All three teams the ’Jackets will face before starting league play, Foothill, James Logan and Dos Palos, beat them last year, and there is little reason to believe that will change this season. 

Last year’s team lost four straight before going 5-1 in the ACCAL, which probably lost the school a North Coast Section playoff spot when they ended up in a three-way tie for the league title. Bissell hopes to avoid such a disastrous start this year, but it will be a tough road. 

“It’s very possible that we will have a repeat of last year,” he says. “I’m not sure we know what it takes to win just yet. But hopefully we’ll figure it out pretty fast.”

EMERYVILLE – Prithviraj Singh said his 3-year-old son cannot understand what happened to the boy’s only sister, Eveneet Deol. The 5-year-old Deol, who was struck by her mother’s car last Friday morning after being dropped off for school at Anna Yates Elementary, died at Childrens’ Hospital Oakland Wednesday afternoon 

“When we tell him what happened, he says that she’s still in the hospital,” Singh said. “I tell him that she’s gone to God now. But he says no, no, she’s at the hospital.” 

The Singh family decided to remove Deol from life support on Wednesday, after test results showed she had suffered severe brain damage from the accident. She died at 3 p.m., on what should have been her third day of school.  

The accident occurred in front of the school’s 41st Street entrance at 8:30 a.m. just after Deol left her mother’s car and started to run around in front of it. Her mom got out of the car to give her a hug, not realizing she hadn’t shifted the vehicle into park. When the car rolled forward and hit the girl, her mother panicked and rushed back into the car to put it in park. Instead, she accidentally shifted it into reverse and it rolled into Deol a second time, trapping her head and shoulder between a front tire and the road. Parents dropping off their children and other witnesses tried to help by lifting the car, pulling Deol out from under the tire, and performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation. 

“It was pretty traumatic for everybody that was involved to see somebody so small in that kind of condition,” Officer Michael Allen, who arrived at the scene shortly after hearing the 911 call, said. “And then to find out that her mother was the one that accidentally ran her over.” 

Yesterday Allen was guiding traffic on 43rd Street in front of the 450-student elementary school. He sat in the center of the road on his motorcycle, making sure motorists stopped before driving through the large crosswalk. 

At the orientation held before the first day of school, Anna Yates staff members told families to drop their children off only at the 43rd Street entrance because it has a large crosswalk and is safer for children. Principal Anakarita Allen said that she sent out reminder letters after Friday’s accident and again this week. She said that because Deol was hit on 41st Street, most of the students did not see the accident. 

“As a staff, we didn’t want to upset the students. But we had a crisis intervention unit that went around to the classrooms,” Allen said. “We talked mostly about traffic safety.”  

Allen said many of the parents are more traumatized than the kids, and that counseling is still available for them and for students. 

“Because of the way it happened, this is very sensitive to parents,” she said. “We’re going to let them decide what they want for their kids.” 

Prithviraj Singh said that other families have been extremely supportive. He said that when his daughter was in the hospital the family was surrounded by friends, well-wishers, and those who had helped in rescue attempts. Singh, a UNIX systems administrator, said that he is taking a break from work to help plan his daughter’s prayer service and cremation. 

“That’s the only daughter I had,” he said. 

Downtown developer Patrick Kennedy submitted plans last month to develop a five-story, mixed-use building on Shattuck Avenue at the location of the Fine Arts Cinema. 

Kennedy, president of the development company, Panoramic Interests, has proposed a project called the Fine Arts Building at 2471 Shattuck Ave. at Haste Street, which includes a café, movie theater, retail store and 100 residential apartments, 20 of which will be set aside for low-income and very low-income tenants. The 85,000-square-foot project also includes 64 parking spaces. 

“We’d like to make that end of downtown a destination corner,” said Chris Hudson, who will be managing the project for Panoramic Interests. “We expect it will create a synergy between the restaurant and the cinema that will draw more people to the southern end of downtown.” 

The development would require razing of the Fine Arts Cinema, a 275-seat alternative theater, which has operated at the site since 1997. Two adjacent buildings, one occupied by an annex office of Youth Radio and the other vacant, will also be demolished. 

The Fine Art Cinema, operated by partners Keith Arnold, Josephine Scherer and Emily Charles, is a small theater that presents a variety of art house and “community-based” films.  

Kennedy has offered to lease the new theater space back to Fine Arts Cinema once the project is completed, although there is no official agreement yet. 

“We have to sit down and deal with all the minutia, but the economics of the deal are fairly well defined,” Kennedy said. “The important thing is the chemistry and we really like what Keith, Josephine and Emily are doing there.” 

Arnold said the Fine Arts Theater has developed a good following since it opened, but nonetheless the owners are looking forward to reopening in the new theater. 

“We like the idea of the café and that the theater will be outfitted with state-of-the-art technology,” he said. “We’re excited about development in this area.” 

Arnold said the Fine Arts Cinema will continue to present films at a variety of Bay Area locations while the project is under construction. 

According to city Planning Manager Mark Rhodes, the project will be considered by the Design Review Committee within the next two months and, because the project includes the total demolition of three buildings over 40 years old, the plans will have to get a stamp of approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission before going to the Zoning Adjustments Board for a use permit. 

Rhodes added that the art deco-styled project was designed by prominent architect Dan Solomon of Solomon Architecture and Urban Design, who is known for his work on the Strategic Downtown Plan in Los Angeles, the Downtown Revitalization Program and Civic Center in Hayward and the Bauer Schweitzer Historical site in San Francisco.  

If the building is approved, it will be Kennedy’s sixth multistoried building that has been completed or is currently under construction in the downtown area. Some other Kennedy downtown projects include the Gaia Cultural Center on Allston Way, the ARTech Building on Milvia Street and the Shattuck Avenue Lofts on Shattuck Avenue. 

The design of the Fine Arts Building is similar in use to other Kennedy developments in the downtown area. Typically, Panoramic specializes in multistoried, mixed-use and mixed-income developments. 

Kennedy said he has faced stiff opposition to some of his projects in the past, but did not expect much difficulty with this project. 

“We’re hopeful it will go smoothly, we aren’t asking for a density bonus or any variances,” he said. “Besides it will make possible the continuation of the last remaining repertory theater in Berkeley and everybody wants that.”

SAN FRANCISCO — Bobbie Webb considers himself a survivor of a seismic shift in San Francisco’s population. 

Blacks abandoned San Francisco faster than any other major U.S. city in the last decade, according to 2000 census data. More than 18,500 have left since 1990, a 23 percent decline that extends a trend that began a generation ago when urban renewal forced many to relocate. 

The main reason for the decline, according to population experts: Blacks are moving out to the suburbs in search of more affordable housing and the opportunity to be with their own. 

Webb, a blues musician who still lives in the Fillmore District, remembers the late-night talent shows at the Ellis Theater and the shops and jazz clubs along Fillmore Street that gave blacks a sense of community. 

“We have lost it as far as black people are concerned,” he said. “The Fillmore is gone.” 

In the 1970s, there were 96,000 blacks in San Francisco, accounting for about 13 percent of the population. There are now 60,500, just 8 percent of a city that has grown steadily since the 1970s and prides itself on its diversity. 

“There are better options for people in the suburbs,” said William Banks, a black studies professor at the University of California at Berkeley. “Black middle-class parents would prefer to get a larger house they could never afford in San Francisco.” 

Many move to be closer to family or because they want their children to experience a predominantly black community, Banks said. 

“People will move where they can feel at home,” said Banks, who himself lives in Hayward, a San Francisco suburb whose black population has soared 40 percent since 1990. “There you have the institutions intact.” 

Similarly, Miami lost 21.5 percent of its blacks during the 1990s, and Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles also had striking declines. 

San Francisco’s blacks were hit particularly hard during the 1990s, when hundreds of poor families were displaced as federally subsidized housing was torn down. The dot-com boom then attracted thousands of new residents, mainly young professionals able to pay rents that became the highest in the nation. 

Webb, 62, pays $576 a month for a rent-controlled, two-bedroom apartment where he raised his four children. He knows plenty of people are willing to pay the $2,400 his landlords want. 

“The people who own the building are just waiting to kick us out,” said Webb, who is fighting a 15 percent rent increase in court. “I can’t afford to move any place right now.” 

The city’s first large, visible black community emerged between 1940 and 1950, with a boom in shipbuilding and other war-related jobs. Many blacks arrived in the Fillmore; others settled in the Bayview-Hunters Point area, closer to the Navy yards. 

Then came the urban renewal projects to make room for six-lane Geary Boulevard and a shopping mall now at the center of Japantown. By the time the projects were finished in the 1970s, 20,000 blacks had been displaced. And as they left, so did the businesses. 

Reggie Pettus’ family has owned Chicago Barbershop on Fillmore Street since 1952. It remains a landmark of sorts for the black community, drawing the city’s best-known black resident, Mayor Willie Brown. 

But the shop is one of only about five black-owned businesses left on Fillmore. Said Pettus: “I call it the No More.” 

Aside from churches, blacks have few major cultural institutions to call their own in San Francisco. A black cultural center, promised a decade ago as part of a redevelopment project, will not open until 2003. Organizers are still working on the concept. 

Bayview-Hunters Point, which is isolated by freeways and long bus rides from other neighborhoods, remains the only solidly black area of town. Even there, Asians and Hispanics have been moving in. 

Some have tried to revive the Fillmore District’s jazz clubs, and a proposed commuter rail extension will eventually connect Hunters Point directly to downtown. But many feel the black exodus is irreversible. 

“The city of San Francisco is becoming an upper-class neighborhood of the Bay Area,” said Gary Orfield, co-director of Harvard’s Civil Rights Project. 

Two bank robberies over the past week have brought the Berkeley total since Aug. 27 to four, according to police Lt. Cynthia Harris. 

On Aug. 30 at around 2 p.m., a 29-year-old suspect, apparently unarmed, walked into the Washington Mutual Bank at 2150 Shattuck Ave. and allegedly produced a note demanding that the teller give him money. The teller gave up an undisclosed amount of money and the suspect walked out, according to Harris. The suspect was apprehended 15 minutes later. 

Limited information is available about a Wednesday robbery of Bank of the West. That robbery however, was the second time the bank at 1480 Shattuck Ave. has been robbed in eight days. That suspect is still at large. 

The Wells Fargo Bank at 2959 College Ave. was the victim of an attempted robbery on Aug. 27 at the hands of a suspect with a note demanding money. That suspect has been apprehended. 

* * * 

Two of three males caught in the process of robbing a man at 2:30 a.m. Saturday were apprehended after the three suspects fled on bikes. 

According to Lt. Harris, the suspects approached the 25-year-old victim from behind, near the corner of Regent and Parker streets, and demanded his wallet. When the victim obliged, the suspects allegedly demanded his backpack as well, but the victim refused to give it to them. At that point, patrolling Berkeley police officers approached and the suspects fled, according to Harris. The apprehended suspects were 19 and 20 years old; no information is available on the third suspect. The victim was not injured. 

The Fine Arts Cinema may soon find itself without a home when the building it occupies is razed to make way for a five-story, mixed-use building. 

But this doesn’t mean the big “fin” for the 275-seat art house theater, which has presented a mixed bag of foreign films, American classics and Independent films since it began threading film into its rare carbon arc Peerless Magnarc projectors in 1997. 

The developer of the proposed 85,000-square-foot Fine Arts Building, Patrick Kennedy of Panoramic Interests is currently in negotiations with the owners of FAC, Keith Arnold, Josephine Scherer and Emily Charles, for a new lease for theater space in the new building. The deal has not been finalized yet, but both sides said there is a meeting of the minds. 

Since the UC Theater closed its doors six months ago, the FAC has been one of the few places in Berkeley where moviegoers can find non-mainstream films. 

“We like to present films that represent the community,” said Arnold. “And we feel very lucky that Berkeley has a community that is very diverse in culture and interests and so many people come to the theater to engage their curiosities with films that don’t necessarily have glowing reviews.” 

Arnold said a good example of the theater’s commitment to the community is its presentation of “Mavericks,” a documentary about surfing on the northern California coast. A subject of the film, well-known surfer Jay Moriarity, recently died in a diving accident. 

Arnold said he called the filmmakers and offered to present the film as a tribute to Moriarity and as a benefit for his family.  

“Who would have known that there’s a rather large surfing community in Berkeley,” Arnold said pointing out that there are two surf shops in town. 

Arnold said the theater has an interesting and somewhat “colorful” history. The first theater was opened in the building by world-renowned film critic Pauline Kael, who was credited with changing the way movies were reviewed in the 1960s and 1970s. Kael opened the theater with her then-husband, Ed Landberg in the late 1950s. She died on Sept. 3 at the age of 82. 

Shortly after the couple opened the theater, they divorced and Landberg got control of theater. He later married and divorced another women, who won the theater in a divorce settlement. 

This woman then leased the theater to the Mitchell Brothers in 1977 and the theater ran pornographic films until 1983. Until the Fine Arts Cinema opened in 1997, the theater showed Indian productions. 

Arnold said while the new Fine Arts Building is under construction, the theater’s owners will continue to show films “on the road at a variety of theaters around the East Bay.”

OAKLAND – Caltrans plans to equip all lanes of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge with Fastrak lanes this fall, a spokesman announced Thursday.  

Fastrak, an electronic payment system that allows subscribed motorists to prepay bridge tolls, eliminating the need to stop at the toll plaza, is currently installed in six of the 20 toll lanes at the bridge. Soon, all Bay Bridge lanes will be Fastrak friendly, just like all toll lanes at the other six state-owned bridges in the Bay area, according to Caltrans spokesman Colin Jones. Each lane also accepts cash payments, and every bridge also has one "Fastrak-only'' lane. 

Since last fall, Jones says, Caltrans has issued more than 160,000 transponders with new Fastrak applications averaging 2,000 per week. 

To sign up for Fastrak, call (888) 725-8725 or visit the Caltrans  

Web site at www.dot.ca.gov.

CHICAGO — How does your garden grow? 

If you’re like many Americans, it’s dotted by decorative items ranging from wind chimes to sundials to fancy birdhouses. Garden decor sales are flourishing, helping to keep the $85 billion lawn and garden industry from withering in a weakened economy. 

Instant gratification helps explain the rapid growth of garden gift and decor, says one expert at the National Hardware Show, home to thousands of the latest garden embellishments. 

“It takes a little ability to buy a plant and keep it alive,” said Jeff Morey, publisher of the trade publication Nursery Retailer. “But if you buy a sundial and stick it out in the middle of your garden, it looks great and it doesn’t die.” 

U.S. sales of lawn and garden accessories are projected to reach $6.3 billion this year, up nearly 9 percent in two years despite the economic downturn. 

The increase seems to confirm the old adage that come good times or bad, Americans will spend to maintain their yards and gardens. 

“People will forgo their vacation or postpone buying the new car, but they’re still willing to make a $200 to $500 investment in their garden,” said Robert Borta, vice president of Henri Studio Inc., a leading maker of fountains and lawn statues. 

Garden sculptures, torches and oil lamps, arbor arches, hummingbird feeders and birdbaths all are part of the craze. 

“It’s a feel-good thing, it’s a fashion thing,” said Rick Cohen, president of Ann Arbor, Mich.-based RSR Industries, maker of Echo Valley home and garden accessories. “They create a look.” 

What’s so gratifying about a gazing globe — the shiny reflective sphere that is bouncing back, so to speak, after first mirroring popular tastes a few years back? 

It’s all in the eyes of the beholder; one man’s gazing globe may be another’s pink flamingo. But testifying to its hypnotic appeal, a half-dozen companies displayed competing models of the glass or mirrored ball at the hardware show, North America’s largest lawn, garden and home improvement event. 

The spend-happy gardener can also buy wind chimes that range up to the size of an NBA point guard. One popular item: 74-inch-tall chimes that retail for $150 to $175. 

“Wind chimes fit in well with this relaxation mode everybody’s in,” said Arnold Rossi, a sales representative for QMT Associates, a Manassas Park, Va.-based firm that makes and distributes wind chimes. 

The garden accessories boom hasn’t escaped the attention of the Walt Disney Co., which contracted with Wauconda, Ill.-based Henri Studio to come out with garden statues and fountains featuring the Disney characters. 

Two-tiered fountains with classical or nature themes remain the 40-year-old company’s biggest sellers. But they’re fast being gained on by the Mickey and Minnie water fountain ($149) and statues of a daydreaming Winnie the Pooh or a gardening Mickey ($40 to $50). 

Sales since last year have exceeded expectations, according to Borta. 

“A lot of people have a soft spot for these characters from their childhood,” he said. “A lot of women will come up and say, ’Oh — Pooh! That’s so cute!”’ he said. 

The same lighthearted tone applies throughout much of the garden accessory business. 

Garden stakes with humorous sayings punctuate that point in another aisle of the vast hardware show. Instead of a serious or scientific label for a plant or flower, one says simply: “Grow, dammit!”

An Israeli historian known for being critical of Israeli policy surprised his audience Wednesday night by focusing on the “repeated blunders” that, he says, Palestinians have made in handling negotiations over land.  

Professor Benny Morris has been criticized for his suggestion that Israeli leaders bear substantial responsibility for conflict with their Arab neighbors. In 1999, the Jerusalem Post expressed concern that Morris and other “new historians” would “undermine the moral case for Israeli Zionism.” Yet, at the lecture at the Graduate Theological Union Wednesday, Morris said that Arabs’ historical reluctance to negotiate with Israel had cost the region its ability to win peace.  

Many in the audience of some 100 scholars and community members had read Morris’ work, and expressed disbelief, even anger, at the tone of his lecture. “His talk seemed to be a complete contradiction with his earlier work,” said Robert Blecher, who teaches Modern Middle Eastern History at Stanford. “Morris has made a case against Central Israeli myths. But this talk was just a long repetition of those myths.” 

“The deal didn’t fall because Barak didn’t shake Arafat’s hand nicely, it fell because the deal was rejected by the Palestinian side,” said Morris, pointing to the failure of 2000 negotiations at Camp David between then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yassar Arafat. This critique from Morris comes at a time when many who originally blamed Arafat for the failure of Camp David are taking a second look at the talks. In July, for example, a New York Times special report asserted that Barak shared the blame by not making it clear how far he was willing to negotiate. 

Morris also said that Palestinians’ refusal to accept a divided state had historically led to other missed opportunities, including an offer of 80 percent of the land in Palestine under a 1937 British peace settlement.  

Morris’ books, with titles such as “The Palestinian Refugee Problem,” and “Israel’s Border Wars,” have been considered key texts among a new generation of Israeli historians. In “Righteous Victims,” Morris argues that Zionism was, from its beginnings, “a colonizing and expansionist ideology and movement” influenced by “the European colonists’ mental obliteration of the natives.” 

The question and answer period following the talk erupted into controversy when audience members repeatedly confronted Morris about the contradiction they perceived.  

“I definitely think that you are singing a different song,” said Rutie Adler, an Israeli who coordinates the Hebrew Language Program at UC Berkeley’s Near Eastern Studies Department.  

“As a Palestinian, I saw a light at the end of the tunnel with your work - I thought here was an Israeli who can finally understand our plight,” Hatem Bazian, a Palestinian doctoral candidate in Near Eastern Studies, told Morris in the discussion period. “I wish I had not come to this lecture to hear you in person. It’s a clean-up job for the history of Israel.” 

Morris defended himself in what became a heated dialogue with audience members who repeatedly interrupted him. “There is no contradiction,” he said. “My work deals with what happened in the past. I’ve never said that Israel was the only aggressor. Both sides are victims and occasionally both sides are aggressors.”  

Some Jewish members of the audience had come to request signatures for a New York Times ad sponsored by a group known as Jewish Voices Against the Occupation. Bluma Goldstein, professor emerita of German at UC Berkeley, had hoped that Morris would appreciate their efforts.  

“I was surprised at almost everything he said,” Goldstein remarked in an interview. “I thought his talk was disastrous. He said Palestinians should accept a deal offering 95 percent of East Jerusalem. Well, (Israeli) Professor Jeffrey Halper has a good metaphor for that: it’s like a prison, where 95 percent are inmates, but the guards are 5 percent and they have all the power.”  

“I’m a Christian, and it raised my blood pressure,” said Palestinian-born Samir Nassar, owner of Brewed Awakenings Coffee Shop in Berkeley. “I was insulted when he called the followers of Mohammed ‘cronies’.” 

Professor Naomi Seidman of the GTU Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies introduced Morris’ talk by saying that his scholarship is “cosmic” and that “reading his work – as a Jew – is like having your molecules rearranged.”  

But after the talk, Seidman was disappointed. “He is a well known, important figure, who really (challenged) the Zionist narrative,” she said. “But you wouldn’t know that from having heard him today.” 

Morris said he had not expected such a response. “It’s left-wing, politically correct, Berkeley intolerance,” he said in an interview following the talk. “I’ve lectured at Dartmouth and Middlebury and I didn’t encounter such a uniformity of intolerance.” 

SACRAMENTO — Setting up a possible showdown between a Democratic Legislature and governor who’s twice vetoed similar bills, the state Senate voted Thursday to boost benefits for injured workers in California. 

Senate Democrats, saying that California pays some of the lowest injury benefits in the country, prevailed in a 25-13 party line vote to increase payments to workers by up to $2.4 billion across five years. 

They also maintained that their reforms, proposed by Senate Democratic Leader John Burton of San Francisco, will save employers up to $1 billion a year and cost only 2.3 percent of their annual payroll. 

But opponents to the bill, including major insurance companies and the California Chamber of Commerce, believe the cost increases could range from $3.6 billion to $4.2 billion a year. They’re hoping for a compromise in days ahead between Burton’s bill, also approved Wednesday by the Assembly, and a rival plan floated by Gov. Gray Davis. 

Davis proposes to hike payments by about $1.2 billion and cut costs by about $800 million over the same time, said Steve Smith, director of the state’s Department of Industrial Relations. 

After Thursday’s vote, insurance industry spokeswoman Nicole Mahrt, said, “We’d like the Senate to slow down a little bit and take some time and look at the package the governor has put together. 

“We’d like to see a benefits increase for injured workers,” said Mahrt, a Sacramento-based representative for the American Insurance Association. “But we’d like to see it offset by reforms.” 

California’s 88-year-old system for paying injured workers has reached center stage in recent days as powerful campaign contributors including lawyers, unions, insurance companies and businesses compete for the hearts of legislators and the governor. Attempts during the last two years to change workers’ compensation have failed for lack of agreement over higher payments to workers versus cutting costs in the system. 

Senate Republicans, voicing support for thousands of California’s small businesses, said the proposed higher costs would hurt firms already threatened by recession and higher power bills. 

Leading the arguments against the bill, Riverside Republican Ray Haynes said it’s not the reform the system needs. Instead, it will raise costs and send businesses to Arizona and Nevada, which have lower costs. 

“We are repeating all the mistakes we have made in the past,” Haynes said. “Yet having made those mistakes and sending the state into recession in the early 1990s, we want to repeat those mistakes again and send our state into recession in the first decade of the 21st Century.” 

After the vote, Burton, who carried the legislation on behalf of the California Labor Federation and the California Applicants Attorneys Association, said he doesn’t believe Davis will veto it this year. 

“When it’s all over, he will see the merit of the bill. The governor never told me he’s going to veto the bill,” said Burton, a longtime ally of organized labor. 

Davis doesn’t have a formal position on the bill now, Smith said, but the fact he’s floating an alternative “is a strong indication he is not completely comfortable with what’s in the bill.” 

The administration, Smith said, is promoting several inducements, including more money for workplace modifications to encourage employers to get workers back to work. The best solution, he said, “is to get healthy people back to work as soon as possible.” 

Davis vetoed the Legislature’s payment-boosting bills in 1999 and 2000, saying higher payments weren’t adequately offset by cost reductions in the workers’ compensation system. 

Burton’s 2001 bill is virtually the same as the two Davis has vetoed, said Michael McClain of the Oakland-based California Workers Compensation Institute, a research arm of insurance companies and self-insured employees, including Safeway, Walt Disney Co. and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. 

If Davis vetoes the bill for the third straight year, Burton said, he’ll take the issue to the voters. He promised a ballot measure that’s “more costly to employers,” one that will raise their costs to the national average or higher. 

The Senate bill, Burton said before Thursday’s vote, “does little to bring people up to the national average. But at least it’s a measure of help for people working on their job to make California great.” 

Democrats cited major disparities between other states and California for the same injuries. Michigan pays $86,000 for the loss of a toe, they said, while California pays $4,000. Pennsylvanians who lose an eye at work are paid $149,000.  

Californians who lose an eye receive $21,000. 

SACRAMENTO — A bill that would require California’s power-buying agency to hold public hearings on billions of dollars worth of long-term energy contracts passed a key Assembly committee Thursday. 

The bill, by Sen. John Burton, D-San Francisco, would set aside part of existing consumer electricity rates to guarantee the state has enough money to pay off bonds issued by the Department of Water Resources. 

It also limits the use of the bond money to cover electricity purchases and legislatively approved administrative costs. Power-buying expenses and administrative costs would be reviewed by the Public Utilities Commission and the public to determine if it is appropriate to raise electric rates to pay for them. 

The changes will save ratepayers about $1 billion, Burton said, because it separates the bond repayment from other DWR activities “which under existing language could include everything and anything DWR does.” 

The Assembly Appropriations Committee approved the bill and sent it to the full Assembly. 

The PUC plans to vote Sept. 20 on whether to cede its ratemaking authority to the DWR. The proposed agreement would let DWR pass on all power costs to customers without oversight by state regulators to ensure those costs are fair and reasonable. 

DWR officials said they need that guarantee to attract investors when they sell $12.5 billion in revenue bonds this fall. Ratepayers will pay off those bonds over 15 years, and state officials say a solid revenue stream could help keep interest low. 

State Treasurer Phil Angelides said Wednesday that state regulators have to approve several measures, including the rate agreement for DWR, before it can issue the bonds. Angelides had planned to issue the bonds by October, but that date could be pushed back. 

PUC President Loretta Lynch supported Burton’s bill, testifying in an Assembly committee on Tuesday that it was a “clean and efficient way to make sure we get the bonds issued.” 

But Steve Maviglio, Gov. Gray Davis’ press secretary, said Davis had “a number of concerns” about the bill and wanted it amended. The bill’s ceding of some revenue authority to the PUC could make investors nervous about buying the bonds. 

Since January, DWR has spent more than $9 billion buying electricity for the customers of three financially ailing utilities. It will likely spend $43 billion to supply Californians with electricity over the next 20 years. 

The state is buying electricity for the customers of Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Southern California Edison Co. and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. The utilities amassed billions of debt by January due to high wholesale prices last year, preventing them from buying electricity for their customers. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Read the bill, SB18xx, at http://www.senate.ca.gov 

Read the DWR draft rate agreement at the California Public Utilities Commission Web site http://www.cpuc.ca.gov 

A San Francisco Superior Court judge extended a strike injunction on one of BART’s three unions Wednesday morning, easing the specter of a Bay Area transit crisis for at least another six weeks. 

The transit agency and its two other employee unions had already reached a tentative four-year contract on Tuesday, after days of tense negotiation, threatened strike deadlines and intervention by elected officials.  

“It gives us a little breathing room,” said BART spokesman Mike Healy. 

However, if negotiations fail and one BART union eventually strikes, the remaining two are likely to follow suit. 

Judge James Robertson extended a restraining order against the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3993 until Oct. 15. AFSCME, which represents BART’s middle-management and supervisory positions, is negotiating over issues such as pay parity and the protection of union members. 

The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 and the Service Employees International Union Local 790 sought pay increases for BART employees totaling 20.5 percent over three years, while BART had offered 18.5 percent over four years. The settlement, which will be put to a union membership vote Tuesday, calls for a total of 22 percent in wage and pension raises over four years, with 6 percent the first, 5 percent in the second and third, and 6 percent in the fourth year. 

At a press conference in downtown Oakland Wednesday, Larry Hendel, East Bay staff director for SEIU Local 790, said the tentative contract will grant employees a holiday on Martin Luther King Jr. Day starting in the second year. 

Hendel expressed confidence that the membership would approve the contract. “The feedback I’m getting is really positive,” he said. 

However, Hendel and Bob Smith, the SEIU local president, also at the conference, affirmed solidarity with AFSCME in its own negotiating efforts. 

“If any AFl-CIO union is going on strike, we’ll honor their picket lines,” Hendel said. 

“We’ll be back at the table with AFSCME and working hard to get an agreement between now and the new deadline,” said Healy, the BART spokesperson. Asked if BART riders were out of the woods, he said: “Not until we get an agreement.”

The 2001 St. Mary’s varsity football team will have to cope with the loss of one of the best players in school history, along with the retirement of its coach of 16 years. The Panthers also lost a star they never really had this summer. But with some big weapons on offense and an infusion of new talent on defense, the Panthers should be back in the hunt for the Bay Shore Athletic League title this season. 

“A lot has changed since last year,” Jay Lawson admits. Lawson is the new head coach at St. Mary’s after 15 years with the school. Lawson, who is also the new athletic director, knows there will be a period of adjustment for his players. 

“The hardest thing so far has been putting my own mark and personality on the program,” he says. “We’re changing things that the coaches and players are used to around here.” 

Lorenzo Alexander, the mammoth lineman who was a four-year starter and Parade All-America for the Panthers, is now tearing things up at Cal. Dan Shaughnessy, who had guided the program since 1985, is helping his son coach the football team at Mt. Tamalpais High. And sophomore DeMarcus Nelson, who committed to transfer to St. Mary’s this summer and was projected as the starting quarterback, is back at Vallejo High after deciding to stay close to home. 

But despite those losses, St. Mary’s has its biggest threat back on the field this year: tailback Trestin George. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound senior carried the offense on his back last year, running for 1,164 yards and 20 touchdowns. George, who is being courted by most of the Pac-10 Conference schools, is bigger and faster than last season, so expect even more impressive numbers this year. 

“Trestin worked very hard this summer, and he’s put on some good weight,” Lawson says. “He’s probably one of the most dedicated athletes on our team, and he’s really stepped up into a leadership role.” 

George will be joined in the backfield by fullback Phil Weatheroy, a huge back who can open up holes for George or carry the ball himself on occasion. 

The best news for George is that Lawson plans to open up the St. Mary’s offense. The passing game was nearly non-existent last year, but Lawson feels he has some playmakers to split wide and attack defensive secondaries.  

Senior Courtney Brown returns to his wideout spot, giving the Panthers a deep threat. Brown was the team’s leading receiver last season, but was mostly a decoy in the run-happy offense.  

Junior Ryan Coogler will be the other wide receiver, but a bigger factor will be tight end Chase Moore, back from taking a year off of football. Moore, a starter for the school’s basketball and baseball teams, should give the offense a huge boost with his combination of size, hands and running ability. In last week’s scrimmage at Acalanes, the 6-foot-3, 220-pound senior was a terror, scoring on several long receptions, including a short pass over the middle that he turned into a 50-yard rumble over four defenders before outrunning a safety to the end zone. 

“Chase is the most exciting player we’ve added this year,” Lawson says. “We’re going to make sure he’s involved in the offense. We’re going to get him the ball and let him use his athletic ability.” 

Getting the receivers the ball will be up to Steve Murphy, who was a starting safety last season. When Nelson decided not to attend St. Mary’s, coaches were left scrambling to find a starter to take snaps at summer practice. Murphy showed a nice arm and surprising poise, and has looked solid in fall scrimmages.  

Murphy is only 5-foot-10; expect to see a lot of rollout passes from the Panthers. That’s because the linemen that will protect the passer include 6-foot-4, 290-pound Leon Drummer and 6-foot-3, 270-pound Jerrell Booker. Both juniors, Drummer and Booker will look to replace Alexander’s dominance on offense. They lead a line that has 11 experienced players, unusual depth for a team with 25 players on the roster. 

One up-and-comer is center Rodney Acda. A junior, Acda was the school’s best center last year, but was ineligible to play on varsity because he wasn’t 15 years old yet. 

“We don’t have anyone who is as good as Lorenzo, but we feel like the line will be better this year,” Lawson says. “We think the line will be the key to success, and the biggest strength on the team.” 

Drummer will also lead the defensive line, with Nick Osborne and Julian Taylor the other starters. Drummer’s size makes him an obvious candidate to take the mantle from Alexander, but Lawson says he will have to match Alexander’s work ethic to reach the same level. 

“Leon has the potential because of his agility and quickness, but it will depend on whether he is willing to put in the work,” he says. “’Zo was a special kid. We just want Leon to work hard to be the best player he can be.” 

The only other returning starter on defense is inside linebacker Omarr Flood. With Murphy and George running the offense, both will play only spot duty in the secondary. Brown will start at free safety, with Jason Bolden-Anderson filling Murphy’s shoes at strong safety. The starting cornerbacks will be senior Rob Leray and junior Kenny Griffin. Both have good speed, but could struggle in one-on-one coverage. 

“The defense is a question-mark going into the season,” says Lawson, who ran the unit last year with Steve Moore. “But we have the players, and we’re capable of having a solid defense.” 

As always, depth is an issue for a school with a small enrollment. With just 25 varsity players, the Panthers can’t afford injuries to starters. 

“If someone gets hurt and guys like Steve or Trestin have to play both ways full-time, it could be a problem,” Lawson says. “But we deal with that every year.”

Thursday, Sept. 6

Berkeley Metaphysical Toastmasters Club  

6:15 - 7:30 p.m.  

2515 Hillegass Ave.  

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

Call 869-2547 

Butch Time 

7 p.m. 

Boadecia’s Books 

398 Colusa Ave. 

A discussion/ social/ support/ activity group for self-defined butches. Tonight: Butches grow older. 559-9184 www.bookpride.com 

Sahara Sojourn: Following the Ancient Routes of the Salt Caravans of Niger 

7 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Slide presentation from the heart of the Sahara along the ancient routes of the salt caravans of the Tuareg. Free. 527-4140 

Women’s Health Issues 

10:30 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Two nurses from the city will launch a series of talks on women’s health issues, beginning with the bladder. 644-6107 

Rent Stabilization Board 

7 p.m. 

Council Chambers, Second Floor 

2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

Appeals, action items from committees, board members, and executive director. 644-6128 

Community Environmental Advisory Commission 

6 p.m. 

Planning and Development 

First Floor Conference Room 

2118 Milvia St. 

Presentation from Lawrence Berkeley Lab on site restoration.  

7 p.m. regular agenda meeting: Toxics management division report; residential woodburning; Heavy metals and creosote in city playgrounds; Battery recycling; and more. 705-8150 

Housing Advisory Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center 

2939 Ellis St. 

Predatory lending practices for home loans; Housing Authority’s Section 8 program. 981-5410 

Friday, Sept. 7

Even Stronger Women 

1:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Free weekly cultural discussion class. This week: Haiku poetry. Discussion and examples. 549-1879 

East Bay Recorder Society 

7:15 p.m. 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Choral Room 

2727 College Ave. 

Monthly meetings, professional conductors, all playing levels welcome. Music provided, bring music stand and pencil. 525-1249 

Reception for Jackie Y. Griffin, director of library services 

4:30 p.m. - 6 p.m. 

City Council Chambers 

2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, second floor 

Community Leader reception. Reservations requested, 644-6095 x 10; yvg2@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

Law and Technology Forum 

2 - 5 p.m. 

U. C. Berkeley 

Boalt Hall, Goldberg Room 

Representatives will discuss pending legal cases and technological innovations that may threaten civil liberties and new challenges for consumer protection. Free and open to the public. 642-0499 

Berkeley/ Albany Chapter of Church Women United 

9:30 a.m. 

Berkeley Chinese Community Church 

2117 Acton St. 

A report of the Milwaukee conference. 526-4303  

Rally and Ride to the State Capitol 

8 a.m. - sharp 

City Hall steps 

2180 Milvia 

Regroup Pittsburgh/Bay Point BART 9:15 a.m. 

Ride to Sacramento with Councilmember Kriss Worthington to support alternative transportation. 720-2818  

Saturday, Sept. 8

Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Civic Center Park 

Martin Luther King Jr. Way at Center Street 

A free environmental poetry festival with a day of poetry, music and environmental activism featuring Gary Snyder, Maxine Hong Kingston, Robert Haas, Francisco X. Alarcon, and Earll Kingston as John Wesley Powell. Strawberry Creek Walk at 10 a.m. Oxford and Center. 526-9105 www.poetryflash.org 

Youth Arts Studio 

2 - 5 p.m. 

All Souls Episcopal Parish 

2220 Cedar St. 

Demonstration classes for after school program in visual arts, creative writing and dramatic arts for students ages 10 - 15. Free. 848-1755 

Luna Kids Dance Open House 

10 - 11 a.m. 

Grace North Church 

2138 Cedar 

Free open house and parent/ child classes. Designed to give families a shared dance experience that connects body, mind, and soul. Children will have a chance to play fun dance games, refreshments and register for Fall Session. 525-4339 www.lunakidsdnace.com 

Pack Right, Travel Smart 

1 p.m. 

Recreational Equipment 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Eagle Creek Rep will give you tips on how to best organize your gear and clothing for your next adventure. Free. 527-4140 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class 

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

812 Page St. 

Earthquake retrofitting class. Free to anyone 18 or older who lives or works in Berkeley. 644-8736 www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire. 

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Sunday, Sept. 9

Solano Stroll 2001 

8 a.m. - 7 p.m. 

Solano Avenue 

27th Annual Berkeley / Albany Festival. 11 a.m. Parade; 8 a.m. pancake breakfast; merchants, entertainers, food, craft alley, game booths, silent auction, climbing wall, bicycle stunt show, ponyrides, giant slide, dunk tank, hot air balloon rides. Free. 527-5358 www.solanostroll.org 

Salsa Lesson and Dance Party 

6 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Salsa lesson and dance party with professional instructors. Israeli food. Novices welcome and no partner required. $12. RSVP 237-9874 

West Berkeley Market 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

University Avenue between 3rd and 4th streets  

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

654-6346  

Is it possible that the Democrats are overlooking President Bush’s real game plan for Social Security? Not that they’re wrong in charging him with fiscal recklessness.  

As the economy weakens, the president’s $1.3 billion tax cut is bound to erode the budget surplus that is intended to cover the retirement of the baby boom generation. But that may be exactly what the president is out to do. Why should he seek to bust Social Security? Because he and his new Social Security commission have their sights set on privatizing the system.  

If they succeed, they will divert billions of dollars into the flagging stock market. The first step toward doing that is to drain the surplus so they can claim the system is insolvent. 

Everything we’ve heard about the impending bankruptcy of Social Security has been skewed to serve the interests of the brokerage industry and such right-wing sources as the Cato Institute and the Concord Coalition. How do anti-entitlements conservatives make their case against Social Security?  

By selecting growth and discount rates that are meant to panic the public into entrusting retirement money to the same Wall Street culprits who gave us the dot-com debacle.  

Most frighteningly, they warn that the United States government will be unable to redeem the treasury bonds in the Social Security trust fund – “mere pieces of paper,” as some critics call them. One is left to wonder how the treasury would find a way to default on just those bonds and not all of its bonds in private portfolios, a catastrophe that would create global chaos.  

Far right forces have been flooding the press with ideologically-biased projections about Social Security since the days of the Reagan administration. Helped by media always in search of “sky-is-falling” sensationalism, they have done a superb job of obfuscating the issue. It takes a bit of a history lesson to undo the confusion. 

Social Security underwent its last major adjustment in 1982 when Alan Greenspan designed a formula to earmark funds for the retirement of the baby boomers through about 2030.  

The budget surplus that is now such a political football was largely generated by that fix. Of course, no fix lasts forever. As boomers retire, a new demographic contingency emerges: increasing life expectancy. Current levels of taxation won’t cover the entire life expectancy of baby boomers, which may reach age 90. But there are several conventional ways to adjust for that.  

As financial columnist Jane Bryant Quinn observes, “Contrary to popular belief, Social Security isn’t going bankrupt. ... The problems are fixable, with incremental changes in benefits, taxes and, eventually, borrowing.”  

Scores of experts have reached the same conclusion. (See, for example, “Social Security: The Phony Crisis,” a superbly competent study by Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot.)  

We might raise the 12.4 percent Social Security payroll tax (paid half-and-half by employers and employees) to about 14 percent. We could do that gradually by raising the tax by one-tenth of one percent over a period of several years.  

Or we could combine that with lifting the $80,400 cap on earnings taxable for Social Security and perhaps with making capital gains taxable for Social Security.  

Whenever you hear how “painful” it will be to save Social Security, note the extent of that pain: an imperceptible rise in the payroll tax to pay for the many extra years of life modern medicine has given us. That’s all it takes.  

Only those who oppose any increase in taxes can see that as intolerable. 

But by opting for tax cuts and star-wars spending that will devour the surplus, the Bush administration could be angling to make all these fixes impossible.  

The phony Social Security crisis would then become a real one – especially if the economy continues to falter and unemployment mounts.  

The president likes to say the surplus belongs to the people. That’s true.  

And so do obligations like the national debt and the cost of entitlements. The surplus is the nest egg Americans have quite responsibly set aside over the past 20 years to provide for the Social Security costs of the boomer generation. Squander that money, and dire predictions about the future of the system could come true. 

Theodore Roszak is a professor in the History Department at Cal State Hayward. His latest book is “Longevity Revolution: As Boomers Become Elders” (Berkeley Hills Books.)  

A former Bay Area filmmaker has made a new documentary about a group of Vietnam War protesters who embodied a maxim deeply rooted in American free speech: “If we’re about bringing change through nonviolence,” says a lifelong activist in the film, “then we should think seriously about being free enough to go to jail.” 

Lynne Sachs’ 45-minute film about Vietnam protesters in Catonsville, Md., is coming to Berkeley’s Pacific Film Archive on Sept. 7 as part of the MadCat Film Festival, a series of mostly experimental films made by women. Three programs are planned: on Sept. 7, “Rebels With a Cause,” at 7 p.m. and “Is This Desire?” at 9 p.m.; and on Sept. 9, “In Search Of Home.” 

The festival also plays for several dates at San Francisco’s Artists’ Television Access and a bar in the Mission called El Rio.  

Nominally a presentation of women filmmakers and their compelling subjects, the festival, now in its fifth year, has proven itself to be less gender-centric than it is a playground of film aesthetics.  

The underlying point of “Investigation of a Flame” is the limits of civil disobedience, however spiritually fueled. In the face of sober political activism and religious motivation, it asks, how effective is man’s law in serving the citizens under its protection. 

When a group of nine activists – including a nurse, an artist, and three priests – publicly burned draft files with homemade napalm in May 1968, such acts of protest had not yet taken hold of the imagination of young America as they would a year later. The nine grappled with fervid political convictions and a solid religious backbone in their decision to make a symbolic anti-war statement as a kind of ideological publicity stunt. Their original plan to stain draft files with blood was deemed too lightweight in favor of a demonstration by fire that would make a stronger impact on the American conversation about its presence in Vietnam. 

Sachs had a whimsical hand on the camera while shooting the story of the Catonsville 9. Interviews might trail off out the window or move to a speaker’s fingers turning a small stone. Often the tight depth-of-field shifts the object – be it a bouquet of flowers sent by the Catonsville 9 from prison, or an anti-war newspaper ad – out of focus. Her stammering editing pace and hand-held camerawork is more avant-garde than MTV as the film moves apace with its idea that the history of Vietnam protests is more than simply a battle of hawks and doves. 

“Investigation of a Flame” is part of the “Rebels With a Cause” program, which also includes “The Magic of Radio,” a 23-minute documentary by longtime Bay Area filmmaker Greta Snider. In keeping with her punk-rock and counterculture roots (“Hardcore Home Movie,” “Portland”), Snider’s three-part film is a meditation on the phenomenon of remote signs of life moving invisibly through the air on carrier waves. 

A benign radio “pirate” bicycles a micro-transmitter through the streets of Portland, Ore., transmitting a cassette Walkman to anybody who happens to be tuned into her 30-yard reach while she pedals past. The process of putting out signal with a hands-on approach is its own quiet reward, because odds are very few people, if any, hear it. Not even we, the viewers, are allowed to hear whatever it is she’s broadcasting. 

A group of underground radio broadcasters called “Free Radio Austin” talk and play music out of a shack in Austin, Texas. Snider joins DJs Grinder Bitch and Feral as they rant and reminisce over the air about their crazy times spent in the shack and the other DJs they meet while doing their show. We never know who’s listening. The third subject is an amateur ham radio operator who seems most enthusiastic about building his own equipment to bounce signals off the moon than he is the content of the signal being bounced. 

The “Magic of Radio” visits three places in which an alternative space is being carved out of the airwaves, whether or not they have anything to say. Sinder’s grass-roots filmmaking, with montage sequences of sound and image pulled out of a night sky alive with signal, is less a call for communication than a need to stake a claim in the crowded ether. 

The films of MadCat have a drive to communicate, but often what is strongest is the filmmakers’ enthusiasm for their craft. Marketing and finding a niche audience is clearly not as important as getting their hands dirty with cutting and pasting celluloid, shooting and lighting sets, and with pushing ideas around a frame.

924 Gilman Sept. 7: Carry On, Champion, Breaker Breaker, Saturday Supercade, Fields of Fire; Sept. 8: Lab Rats, Relative; Most shows $5 and start at 8 p.m. unless noted. 924 Gilman St. 525-9926 

Albatross Pub Sept. 6: Kenji “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Sept. 11: Mad & Eddie Duran Jazz Duo; Sept. 13: Kenji “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Sept. 19: Whiskey Brothers; Sept. 20: Kenji “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Sept. 22: Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet; Sept. 27: Kenji “El Lebrijano” Flamenco Guitar; Free. All shows begin at 9 p.m. 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473 albatrosspub@mindspring.com  

Ashkenaz Sept. 6: 10 p.m. Grateful Dead DJ Nite, $5; Sept. 7: 9:30 p.m. Amandla Poets and Umlilo, $10; Sept. 8: 9:30 p.m. Charivari, $12; Sept. 9: 9 p.m. El Leo, The Jarican Express, $10; 1317 San Pablo 525-5054 www.ashkenaz.com 

Café Eclectica Sept. 8: 8 p.m. SF Improv, Free. 1309 Solano Ave. 326-6124 www.sfimprov.com 

Café de la Paz Poetry Nitro, performance showcase with open mike. Sept. 10: Lucy Lang Day; Sept. 17: Marc Hofstadter (book party); Sept. 24: Jim Watson-Gove; All shows free, 7 - 10 p.m. 

Cal Performances Sept. 6: 8 p.m. King Sunny Ade & His African Beats, $20 - $32; Sept. 16: 7 p.m. Tania Libertad, $18 - $30; Sept. 30: 7 p.m. Kronos Quartet, David Barron, $30; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 642-0212, tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. - 2 a.m., Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; Sept. 3: 2 - 8 p.m. Big West Coast Harmonica Bash, afternoon benefit for Red Archibald. $10 donation; Doors open at 8 p.m. unless noted. 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage Sept. 7: Tom Russell w/ Andrew Hardin, $16.50; Sept. 8: The House Jacks, $17.50; Sept. 9: Erika Luckett, $16.50; Sept. 11: Don Walser, Slaid Cleaves, $16.50; Sept. 12: Andy Irvine, $17.50; Sept. 13: Piper Heisig birthday revue and fund raiser w/ Kate Brislin, Sylvia Herold, Tony Marcus, Carlos Reyes, and Radim Zenkl, $16.50; Sept. 14: Ray Wylie Hubbard, $16.50; Sept. 15: Vocolot, $17.50; All shows start at 8 p.m. 1111 Addison St. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

Jupiter Sept. 6 Beatdown w/ DJs Delon, Yamu, and Add1; Sept. 7: Crater; Sept. 10: Ben Graves Trio; Sept. 11: Len Patterson Trio; Sept. 12: Bitches Brew; Sept. 13: Beatdown w/ DJs Delon, Yamu, and Add1; Sept. 14: Carlos Washington & Giant People Ensemble; Sept. 15: Kooken & Hoomen; Sept. 18: The Goodbye Flowers; Sept. 19: New Monsoon; Sept. 20: Beatdown w/ DJs Delon, Yamu, and Add1; Sept. 21: Netwerk: Electric; Sept. 22: New Garde Philosophers; All music starts at 8:00 p.m. 2181 Shattuck Ave. 843-7625 www.jupiterbeer.com  

La Peña Cultural Center Sept. 11 & 12: 8 p.m. Irakere, $22; In the Cafe, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 www.lapena.org 

Alice Arts Sept. 8: 7:30 p.m. Benefit concert for freedom of U.S. political prisoners featuring Fred Ho (solo) and The Eddie Gale Unit. $12; 1428 Alice, Oakland, 539-0050 www.thejerichomovement.com/teardownthewalls 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church Sept. 15: George Brooks and Shweta Jhaveri with Uttam Chakraborty on drums. $18 - $25; 2727 College Ave. 843-9600 www.harmoniventures.com 

Sedge Thomson’s West Coast Live Radio Show Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Ave.; Sept. 29: Nancy Miford, author of “Savage Beauty.” West African folk music with The Nigerian Brothers. Blues roots piano by Caroline Dahl. The Freight and Salvage, 1111 Addison St. All shows 10 a.m. - noon. 252-9214 www.wcl.org 

Theater 

Lerner and Loewe’s “My Fair Lady” Sept. 6, 7, 8, 9. All shows 8 p.m. Adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s and Gabrial Pascal’s “Pygmalion.” Directed by James Schlader, choreographed by Harriet Schlader, under the musical direction of Mark Hanson. $15 - $27. 3300 Joaquin Miller Road, Oakland. 531-9597 www.woodminster.com 

Squelched.com Presents “Jim Short” Sept. 11: 8 p.m. Jim Short is an Australian expatriate who grew up in Texas. Also appearing: Rob Cantrell, Luke Filose and Sean Keane. Blake’s on Telegraph, 2367 Telegraph Ave. 848-0886 show@squelched.com 

“Hecho En Califas Chicano-Latino Teatro Festival” Sept. 6 - 9, 14 - 15; 8 p.m. Original members of El Teatro de La Esperanza. Chicano Theater began out of the need to express the realities of the fields and barrios of Aztlán in the Chicano-Latino community. $10 - $20 La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck, 849-2568, www.lapena.org  

“Winesburg, Ohio: Tales of the Grotesque” Sept. 6 through Sept. 16, Wed. - Sat. 8:30 p.m., Sun. 5 p.m. The Shotgun Players and Word For Word team up for a production of Sherwood Anderson’s deceptively simple tale of neglected souls who fade into the shadows around us. $22, Wednesdays are “Pay What You Can.” Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Ave. 655-0813 www.shotgunplayers.org 

“The Secret Garden” Sept. 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22, at 8 p.m. Sept. 16 & 23 matinees. The Alameda Civic Light Opera’s fifth summer season ends with the musical of Frances Hodson Burnett’s classic story of life, death, purpose and hope. Adults $22, Students 18 and under $14. Kofman Auditorium, 2200 Central Ave., Alameda. www.aclo.com 

“36 Views” Sept. 12 through Oct. 28: Tues. 8 p.m., Wed. 7 p.m., Thu. 8 p.m. w/ 2 p.m. matinee every other Thu., Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 8 p.m. w/ 2 p.m. matinee every other Sat., Sun. 2 p.m., 8 p.m. Written by Naomi Lizuka, Directed by Mark Wing-Davey. $10 - $54. Berkeley Repertory’s Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St. 647-2949 www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Murder Dressed in Satin” by Victor Lawhorn, ongoing. A mystery-comedy dinner show at The Madison about a murder at the home of Satin Moray, a club owner and self-proclaimed socialite with a scarlet past. Dinner is included in the price of the theater ticket. $47.50 Lake Merritt Hotel, 1800 Madison St., Oakland. 239-2252 www.acteva.com/go/havefun 

Dance 

Cal Performances Sept. 8: 8 p.m. & Sept. 9: 3 p.m. - Dance, the Spirit of Cambodia, $20 - $32; Sept. 19 - 20: 8 p.m. American Ballet, “Bruch Violin Concerto,” “Jabula,” “Gong,” and “Black Tuesday.”; Sept. 21: 8 p.m., Sept. 22: 2 p.m. & 8 p.m., Sept. 23: 3 p.m. American Ballet, the full-length 19th Century “Giselle” $36 - $64; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 642-0212, tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Films 

Pacific Film Archive Sept. 8: 7 p.m. “Rendan: Quartet for Two,” Sept. 9:10 p.m. “Unloved”; Sept. 9: 7 p.m. “In Search of Home”; Sept. 10: 7 p.m. “Orfeu,” Sept. 11: 7:30 p.m. “The Film of Maya Deren”; Sept. 12 7:30 p.m. “Autrian AudioVisions”; Sept. 14: 7:30 “Eyes of the Spider”, 9:20 “Serpent’s Path”; Sept. 15: 4:30 p.m. “The New God”, 7:00 p.m. “Seance”, 9:05 p.m. “Looking for Angel”; Sept. 16: 3:30 p.m. “Alphaville”, 5:30 p.m. “Solaris”; Sept. 17: 7 p.m. “Charcoal People”; Sept. 18: 7:30 p.m. “Mike Kuchar’s Feverish Spell”; Sept. 19: 7:30 p.m. “Wht About Me: The Rise of the Nihilist Spasm Band”; general admission $7, The New PFA Theatre 2575 Bancroft Way 642-1412 

The Pyramid Alehouse Outdoor Cinema Sept. 8: “Dr. No” (come as your favorite Bond character); Sept. 15: “Harold and Maude”; Sept. 22: “Airplane”; The Outdoor Cinema features cult classics projected on a large screen in the open-air brewery parking lot. $5 donation. Movies start at 7 p.m. 901 Gilman St. 206-682-8322 x237 www.pyramidbrew.com 

Exhibits 

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

“The Political Art of: Diego Marcial Rios” Through Sept. 20, Addison Street Window Gallery, 2018 Addison St. hdrios@msn.com 

Women’s Cancer Resource Gallery “Catastrophe, Crisis, and Other Family Traditions” The photography of Jessamyn Lovell. Aug. 25 through Sept. 26; “The Arthur Wright and Gerald Parker” Reception Sept. 8, Aug. 25 through Sept. 26; Tues. - Thurs. 1 - 7 p.m., Sat. 12 - 4 p.m. 3023 Shattuck Ave. 548-9286 x307 www.wcrc.org 

“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.  

“Squared Triangle” Through Oct. 5: noon - 6 p.m. A minimalist art exhibit featuring three Bay Area artists working in different mediums while achieving the same elegant simplicity. The Crucible, 1036 Ashby Ave. 843-5511 www.thecrucible.com 

“Inside Editions” Sept. 6 - Oct. 12: Nine printmakers exhibit their work. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Tue. - Fri. Free. Kala Art Insitute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977 kala@kala.org 

“Census 2000: Asian Pacific Islander Americans” through Oct. 13, reception Sept. 6, 6 - 8 p.m.; Wed. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Asian Pacific Islander American artists in roughly the demographic proportions indicated by the recent census. Free. Pro Arts, 461 Ninth St., Oakland 763-9470  

“MWP Perspectives” Jon Orvik: One artist’s journey. Sept. 8 through Oct. 27 Tues. - Fri. 12 - 5 p.m., Sat. & Sun. 12 - 4 p.m. Solo artist exhibiting his journey through metal, wood and paint. Adapt Gallery and Design, 2834 College Ave. 649-8501 www.adaptgallery.com  

“50 Years of Photography in Japan 1951 - 2001” through Nov. 5: An exhibition from The Yomiuri Shimbun, the world’s largest daily newspaper with a national morning circulation of 10,300,000. Photographs of work, love, community, culture and disasters of Japan as seen by Japanese news photographers. Opening Reception Sept. 5: 6 - 8 p.m. open to the public; Mon. - Fri. 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. U.C. Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism, North Gate Hall, Hearst and Euclid. Free. 642-3383 

“Changing the World, Building New Lives: 1970s Photographs of Lesbians, Feminists, Union Women, Disability Activists and their Supporters” Sept. 15 through Nov. 17: An exhibit of black and white photographs by Oakland photographer Cathy Cade, who captured the interrelationships of the different struggles for justice and social change. Opening reception Sept. 15, 5 - 8 p.m. Gallery Hours, Mon. - Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St. Free. 644-1400 cathycade@mindspring.com 

“The Whole World’s Watching: Peace and Social Justice Movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s” Sept. 16 through Dec. 16: A documentary photo exhibition which examines the rich history of the social movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Wed. - Sun., noon - 5 p.m. Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., Live Oak Park. Free. 644-6893 

“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 Botticelli’s “Primavera” Ongoing. Call ahead for hours. Atelier 9 2028 Ninth St. (at Addison) 841-4210 or visit www.atelier9.com 

Readings 

Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival Sept. 8: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. An environmental poetry festival with a day of poetry, music and environmental activism featuring Gary Snyder, Maxine Hong Kingston, Robert Haas, Francisco X. Alarcon, and Earll Kingston as John Wesley Powell. Strawberry Creek Walk at 10 a.m. Oxford and Center. Festival at Civic Center Park, Martin Luther King Jr. Way at Center Street. Free. 526-9105 www.poetryflash.org 

Boadecia’s Books Sept. 8: 7:30 p.m. Simone Martel reads from “The Expectant Gardner,” Joan Drummond Miller, Julie Houy, and Carolyn Livingston, “Beyond Bingo;” Sept. 14: 7:30 p.m. Marny Hall, “Queer Blues: The Lesbian and Gay Guide to Overcoming Depression;” Sept. 15: 2 p.m. Kimeron Hardin, “Queer Blues: The Lesbian and Gay Guide to Overcoming Depression;” Sept. 15: 7:30 p.m. Kathleen Jacoby, “Vision of the Grail;” Sept. 21: 7:30 p.m. Deborah Kesten, “The Healing Secrets of Food;” Sept. 22: 7:30 p.m. A special All Poetry Dyke Open Myke, to participate call 655-1015 or feroniawolf@yahoo.com; All events are free. 398 Colusa Ave. 559-9184 www.bookpride.com 

Cody’s on 4th Street Sept. 7: 7 p.m. Amy Bloom reads from “A Bind Man Can See How Much I Love You”; Sept. 13: Kenneth C. Davis, “Don’t Know Much About...”; Sept. 20: 7 p.m. Jamie Oliver, The Naked Chef, “The Naked Chef Takes Off”; Sept. 22: 10:30 a.m. Cody’s for Kids, Walter the Giant Storyteller; Sept. 25: 7 p.m. Nancy London looks at “Hot Flashes, Warm Bottles: First-Time Mothers Over Forty”; 1730 Fourth St. 559-9500 

Cody’s on Telegraph Ave. Sept. 7: 7:30 p.m. “A Cold Case” by Philip Gourevitch; Sept. 8: 7:30 p.m. Dave Eggers talks about “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius”; Sept. 10: 7:30 p.m. Peggy Orenstein talks about “FLUX: Women on Sex, Work, Love, Kids, and Life in a Half-Changed World”; Sept. 11: 7:30 p.m. Simon Winchester discusses “The Map That Changed The World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology”; Sept. 13: 7:30 p.m. Geraldine Brooks reads from “A Year of Wonder: A Novel of the Plague”; Sept. 16: 7:30 p.m. David Bank looks at “Breaking Windows: How Bill Gates Fumble the Future of Microsoft”; Sept. 17: 7:30 p.m. Aldo Alvarez describes “Interesting Monsters”; Sept. 18: 7:30 p.m. Clarence Walker discusses “We Can’t Go Home Again: An Argument About Afrocentrism; Sept. 19: 7:30 p.m. Douglas Coupland reads “All Families Are Psychotic”; Sept. 24: Theodore Roszak discusses “Longevity Revolution: As Boomers Become Elders”; Sept. 25: Ken Croswell discusses “The Universe At Midnight: New Discoveries Illuminate the Hidden Cosmos” with a slide show presentation; Sept. 27: Bill Ayers talks about “Fugitive Days”; 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852 

Cody’s Other Venues - Sept. 20: 7:30 p.m. Cody’s presents an evening with Margaret Atwood in conversation with professor Robert Alter. $12. First Congregational Church 2345 Channing Way. Sept. 28: 7:30 p.m. Cody’s presents a Community Forum on Race and the Achievement Gap at Berkeley High School. Little Theater, Berkeley High School.  

Lunch Poems Series Kick-Off Sept. 6: 12:10 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. UC Berkeley campus figures from a wide variety of fields read and discuss their favorite poems. Free. In the Morrison Library in the Doe Library at UC Berkeley. 642-0137 www.berkeley.edu/calendar/events/poems/ 

Spasso Sept. 10: Sharron Jones-Reid, Fruit of the Spirit poets, acoustic musicians, comedians, rappers, performance artists, writers. All welcome. 6021 College Ave. Free admission. 

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-foot 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. It will reopen in early 2002. On View until Oct. 1 : “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 Avenue. 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  

Oakland Museum of California “After the Storm: Bob Walker and the Art of Environmental Photography,” through Sept. 16; “Half Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks,” through Sept. 23; Wednesday - Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sunday, noon - 5 p.m., Closed Monday and Tuesday. $6 general; $4 youths (6-17), seniors and students with ID. Free for museum members and children 5 and under. Free admission the second Sunday of the month. 10th & Oak streets, Oakland. 238-2200 www.museum.org 

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

Send arts events two weeks in advance to Calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.net, 2076 University, Berkeley 94704 or fax to 841-5694.

The final risk-assessment report for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s tritium facility was released last month and indicates the largest danger of exposure to radioactive material would be during a fire or other disaster.  

The report, prepared by Dr. Bernd Franke of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, in Heidelberg, Germany, was requested by the City Council after aggressive lobbying by the Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste, which largely consists of neighbors of the LBNL facility.  

The report will be discussed at the Community Environmental Advisory Commission meeting tonight. 

The $33,000, 53-page report, assessed possible public exposure to tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen used primarily as a marker in medical research. The National Tritium Labeling Facility, which is managed by LBNL, has special clearance from the Department of Energy to warehouse large quantities of the radioactive material. 

In the report, Franke challenged LBNL’s 1996 hazard assessment, known as the Safety Analysis Document, that claimed a “full release” of the facility’s tritium inventory during a fire would not have “significant localized consequences.” The SAD approximated a total inventory of 15,000 curries of tritium, according to the report. 

The SAD estimated that exposure to members of the public within 125 feet of the facility’s tritium stack would be 4.8 millirems, which is far below the Environmental Protection Agency’s limit of 10 millirems per year. 

“The preliminary review indicates that this claim may be incorrect,” Franke wrote in the report.  

Franke suggested that under a variety of scenarios the exposure could be as high as 2,900 to 18,000 millirems or 600 to 3,700 times higher than LBNL’s estimate. Franke reached similar conclusions in his initial draft report, which was released in March.  

Franke said in the report that his estimate of potential exposure should be further studied by an independent consulting firm. 

The LBNL Community Relations Office defended the 1996 findings in a press release Wednesday. “The high dose postulated by (Franke) is based upon flawed assumptions,” the statement said. 

Nevertheless, LBNL’s group leader for environmental services, Ron Pauer, said the lab plans to comply with Franke’s recommendation and contract with an outside company to conduct another hazard study some time in approximately one year. He said the report would be made available to the public once completed.  

The Franke report also stated that annual tritium releases, based on 1998 data, were well below the EPA standard of 10 millirems. According to the report, the facility released 115 curries of tritium in 1998 which would have resulted in .28 millirems of exposure to a person standing at the Lawrence Hall of Science, located about 500 feet from the tritium emissions stack. The hall sponsors a variety of youth workshops and exhibits, visited by nearly 150,000 children each year. 

Despite Franke’s low-risk assessment, LBNL has announced plans to move the stack farther away from LHS about a year. 

Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste member Gene Bernardi was quick to point out the 1998 data was collected with only six ambient air monitoring sites and that Franke recommended at least 16 in his draft report.  

LBNL has deployed another eight air monitoring sites for a total of 14. Most of the recent sites were put into place in response to Franke’s recommendation. 

But Bernardi questioned the locations of the monitors. “While LBNL has increased its sampling locations from six to 14, the present locations seem to bear little relation to the expected tritium concentrations in the air,” she said. 

Another CMTW member Pam Sihvola said she reviewed the proposed locations of the air monitors and said there are no monitors in areas where there have been traditionally high measurements of tritium. She said LBNL did not place a monitor in the Corporation Yard, which has a history of high levels of tritium. 

“This is a place where lab employees park their cars and wait for buses,” Sihvola said.  

The Community Advisory Environmental Commission will discuss the results of the final report at its meeting tonight at 6 p.m. in the First Floor Conference Room in the Planning and Development Department at 2118 Milvia St.

Cal forward Kyla Sabo was named to Soccer Buzz’s first-ever National Elite Team of the Week on Tuesday. 

Sabo, a senior, scored three goals and had an assist in Cal’s first two games last weekend at the California Invitational. 

Sabo was one of four Bears to score a goal in Friday’s 4-0 win over Pacific, then scored two goals and had an assist in her team’s 4-2 comeback win over No. 24 Michigan. Sabo scored the game-winner in the second half with a header off of a corner kick, and assisted on the final goal of the game. 

Sabo leads the team with seven points after the first weekend of play. The Fremont product scored six goals last season and led the team with eight assists. 

Soccer Buzz is a website covering women’s college soccer. Each week during the season, Buzz selects a team of elite players based on performances during games that week.

Editor: 

George Bush’s administration would have money available to spend on education, or to waste on Star Wars, without taking from Social Security, if the Senate had rejected his tax cut for the rich. But 12 Democratic senators voted for Bush’s tax cut, including our own Sen. Diane Feinstein. Now we see that the vote of those dozen Democrats takes $9 billion from Social Security in order to pay tax rebates to the richest 1percent. 

Bush has called the vanished budget surplus “incredibly positive news,” making it clear that he thinks Congress should not fund social programs, like health care, rebuilding schools, and of course, Social Security. But what about those dastardly dozen Senators? With Democrats like them, we don’t need Republicans. 

The only way Sen. Feinstein can regain legitimacy as a Democrat is to rescind Bush’s tax give-away and restore fiscal security to the Social Security trust fund. Year by year, we are all getting closer to the time when we expect to withdraw the hard-earned money we put into that trust fund. And year by year, Bush’s Republican tax scheme brings us closer to the time where there won’t be any money there when we need it. 

I never thought a Democrat would have ever forgotten the importance of Social Security. 

Bruce Joffe 

Piedmont

Unless the Legislature and governor restore health care funds Gov. Gray Davis slashed from the state budget in July, Berkeley will have to cut about $100,000 from its maternal and child health programs. 

“This will have a tremendous impact on our ability to provide services,” said Dr. Poki Namkung, who heads the city’s Health Department. 

The $2.6 million in cuts statewide for maternal and child health programs actually translates into a loss of about $7 million, since the state money leverages federal health dollars. 

Locally, there could be less funding for prenatal visits at Berkeley’s Sixth Street Clinic and “cutting the outreach that brings the community in,” said Assemblymember Dion Aroner, D-Berkeley, who is among those working to restore the funding.  

In addition, the budget cuts could affect funding for immunizations, family planning and the Berkeley High Health Clinic, said Fred Madrano, director of the city’s Health and Human Services Department.  

The cuts could also affect the new Black Infant Health program, established specifically to combat the “huge disparity” between the birth weight of African-American and white babies in Berkeley. The program includes a peer prenatal component in which women support each other through their pregnancies and beyond, as well as access to good prenatal care and substance abuse prevention.  

“We take these funds and make the most of them,” Dr. Namkung said. 

Funds spent in prenatal care is good fiscal policy, Aroner noted. “It can save money down the road.”  

The governor, however, had to look at the state budget overall, explained Sandy Harrison of the state Department of Finance. The cuts were necessary to maintain a “prudent General Fund reserve,” Harrison said, pointing out that there remains $66.1 million in the budget dedicated to maternal and child health. 

Aroner said restoration of the $2.6 million tops the agenda of the Women’s Caucus. The Caucus is supporting the bill which would restore the funding, AB1147, authored by Helen Thomson, D-Davis. 

But it’s not clear at this point whether the governor will veto the bill, if approved by the Legislature. Davis’ spokesperson, Roger Salazar, said he did not know where the governor stands on AB1147, but noted that the budget conditions have not changed since the governor vetoed the item earlier. “Where is the money going to come from?” he asked. 

Locally, Health Department officials are watching the matter carefully. “We’re not going to let the state get away with this one,” Madrano said.

SAN FRANCISCO – An activist, a weather anchor, a teen-ager, a car fleet manager and an electric vehicle enthusiast were all honored Wednesday as Bay Area Air Quality Management District's 2001 Clean Air “champions.” 

The five Bay Area residents were honored with plaques and $300 gift certificates at the district's board meeting. 

This year's winners include Jami Caseber of Berkeley, who worked with the community advisory commission on the environment to develop a city ordinance designed to prevent air pollution from wood burning fireplaces. Also on the list is KPIX weather anchor Roberta Gonzales, who promotes clean air on air and is one of the few weather anchors who uses a regional Air Quality Index map on television, and Aaron Mihaly, 18, who works with environmental organizations in Marin County and organized Bike to School Day at his high school. In addition, San Francisco resident Elizabeth Sullivan was honored for starting the City CarShare program, and Mike Thompson was honored for promoting electric cars in San Jose. 

Members of the district board, the American Lung Association, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency selected the “Clean Air Champions.” 

Air District Executive Officer Ellen Garvey said, “Clean Air Champions are all exceptional individuals who are recognized because of their efforts to keep Bay area air

On Sunday morning, a preacher of a different sort took the podium at St. Joseph the Worker Church in central Berkeley. 

“Every day, I ask God to help me to know my rights at work,” Marta Jimenez told the Roman Catholic congregation in Spanish. 

Jimenez, a Mexican immigrant, has labored for 14 years as a home health care aide. To her elderly clients, she is something of a godsend: she cooks, cleans, bathes and feeds them, and drives them to doctor’s appointments. Thanks to her union card, she said, she earns $8.50 an hour with medical benefits. 

In honor of Labor Day, workers like Jimenez took the pulpit at some 50 churches in the Bay Area to talk about how union membership has improved their lives. 

The sermons, a joint effort between labor and religious leaders nationally, are part of an effort to improve union membership, which has declined sharply in recent decades. 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that today only one in seven workers is a union member, compared to nearly one in three 50 years ago. In response, unions are reaching out to sectors that they have traditionally alienated, including community groups, women and immigrants. Churches, synagogues, and mosques often serve as a gathering place for these groups. 

“Many times, the people that could be on the picket line are the same people going to church on Sunday,” said Amaha Kassa of the East Bay chapter of the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice. “But we haven’t yet come together on issues of common concern. When we do, like in the Civil Rights movement, it gets results.” 

“When I pray, I give thanks to the union,” said a teary-eyed Jimenez in an interview. “When I lived in Los Angeles, I used to work from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and I earned $125 a week. I ironed, I washed, I did everything. 

“With the union, I have health benefits,” Jimenez said. “As a diabetic, that’s critical.” 

Immigrant workers like Jimenez face obstacles to union membership. They are often isolated from each other, and fear retribution from an employer if they demand a wage increase. 

Five years ago, Jimenez might not have even been able to sign a union card. Historically, home health care workers have not had the legal right to organize. 

Classified as domestic workers working in individual homes, they were exempt from the National Labor Relations Act. In response, the Service Employees International Union waged an arduous campaign to create a public authority within Alameda County, an entity that would give home health care workers status as county employees. 

Once the county agreed, labor organizers made individual house visits to thousands of workers, encouraging them to join the union. As of 2001, 7,000 home health care workers in Alameda County were unionized. In July, they won a wage increase from $7.82 to $8.50 an hour. An increase to $9 takes effect in January. 

An Associated Press poll released last week found that the U.S. public sides with unions in contract disputes by a 2-1 margin over companies. At St. Joseph the Worker, about a fifth of the congregation heeded Jimenez’s call to sign postcards in support of a living wage for Port of Oakland workers. 

Francisco Ramos, 36, a construction worker from Guatemala, said he had never really heard any talk about a union on his job, but that Jimenez had inspired him. He earns $12 an hour, and pays $1,300 for an apartment in South Berkeley to house his family of four. “Of course it would be better to earn more money,” he said. “Maybe a union could help.” 

Father William O’Donnell, pastor at St. Joseph the Worker, has always been active in the labor movement. “It’s part of my faith to support organized workers,” said Father Bill, who was a farmworker as a child. Cesar Chavez often stayed at the church while visiting Berkeley. Today, O’Donnell regularly incorporates workers’ issues into the service. 

“There is a strong body of documents in the church’s history that show support for workers and those who are exploited,” added Father George Crespin. 

How do the priests think Jimenez’s talk influenced the congregation? “She got applause,” said O’Donnell. “That’s very unusual in a Catholic church.”

OAKLAND (AP) — A team of East Bay developers has been selected for a $500 million, 60-acre deal to transform an industrial neighborhood into a thriving waterfront district and a possible future home for the Oakland Athletics. 

The Port of Oakland announced Tuesday that it had picked the Oakland Harbor Partners, led by Concord-based Reynolds & Brown and Pleasanton-based Signature Properties, as the master developer for its Oak to Ninth Street project. 

In its proposal, Oakland Harbor Partners drew emphasis on a residential village with both rental and for-sale housing. 

Past projects for Signature Properties include Ruby Hill, a gated, exclusive Pleasanton neighborhood.  

Reynolds and Brown developed Pleasanton Park and Marina Square in San Leandro and the Concord Airport Plaza, among others. 

With the exception of Commissioner Frank Kiang, who abstained, the port’s board of commissioners unanimously approved the selection Tuesday. 

The port will now enter a 60-day period of negotiations over details and terms of the project with Oakland Harbor Partners. Construction is not expected to begin until 2004 or 2005.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Lawyers for an Oregon man who claims the Mormon church is responsible for sexual abuse he suffered as a child said Wednesday a $3 million settlement will open the way for other child-abuse lawsuits against the church. 

David Slader, who represents 22-year-old Jeremiah Scott, said the Salt Lake City-based church settled to avoid publicity. 

“The settlement provides some measure of compensation but not the complete accountability that we have discovered is so necessary,” he said in Portland on Wednesday. 

The group also held an afternoon news conference in Salt Lake City on the plaza in front of the Salt Lake City Mormon Temple. 

“This is not a safe church for your children. This is a safe haven for pedophiles,” attorney Jeffrey Anderson of St. Paul, Minn., told reporters. 

The church’s attorney, Von Keetch, quickly responded to the allegations, calling them baseless. 

“Plaintiff’s counsel are clearly out of control here,” he said. “They’ve made some outrageous, defamatory and possibly even legally actionable statements which do not contain one ounce of truth.” 

Under the agreement reached Friday, the religion’s officials do not accept any blame for abuse that occurred when Scott was 11. 

Scott sued The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in an Oregon court after a fellow ward member was convicted of repeatedly sexually abusing him in Portland. The suit claims church officials knew Franklin Richard Curtis was a pedophile but did not warn Scott’s mother before she took Curtis into their home. 

Curtis, who died in 1995, was 87 at the time of the abuse. He was arrested and convicted of sex abuse and given probation in 1994. 

The case against the church was scheduled to go to trial this fall. 

Jeremiah’s mother Sandra Scott said she accepted the settlement to protect the privacy of her son. 

“I will spend my dying days, my last breath, warning Mormon parents” about child abuse in the church, she said in an emotional statement at a Portland news conference Wednesday. 

Slader and attorneys Anderson and Timothy Kosnoff, of Bellevue, Wash., say they have identified 21 other victims abused by Curtis throughout the country, including 11 in Oregon. Others were in Grand Rapids, Mich., Harrisburg, Pa., and Sheridan, Wyo. 

Kosnoff said other lawsuits involving these cases and others will likely be forthcoming, and that the Mormon church has the potential to be “far worse than the Catholic church” for abuse. 

“I think this is going to be on the radar screen for a lot of attorneys,” Kosnoff said. 

Church attorney Keetch said Tuesday said the settlement was simply less expensive than taking the case through the courts and an appeals process. 

In addition to the financial considerations of continuing the legal battle, the church decided to settle because of what they described as several bad rulings by Multnomah County Circuit Judge Ellen F. Rosenblum. 

Keetch had said Rosenblum had allowed the Mormon church to be held liable for the conduct of one member against another when the abuse did not occur as part of a church activity or on church property. Keetch said Rosenblum was the first judge in the country to make such a ruling. 

The ruling is important because the Mormon church has a collective clergy, in which many older men in the congregation are designated as high priests. Keetch said the church confers the title on most men in their 40s and carries no particular leadership responsibility. 

The attorneys’ Salt Lake City news conference also drew the attention of police, who were called after the attorneys said they would not move from the church plaza. 

The group was told they would receive trespassing citations by mail. 

The plaza, formerly a part of Main Street, was declared private church property after the American Civil Liberties Union sued to stop the sale of the block to the church. 

Stephen Clark, an attorney for ACLU’s Utah chapter, said it would be the first time that he’s heard of that someone was cited for trespassing on the plaza. 

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An immigrant rights group urged Gov. Gray Davis on Wednesday to support a change in state law that restricts illegal immigrants from obtaining driver’s licenses. 

Members of Hermandad Mexicana Nacional marched outside the governor’s local office and national co-director Nativo Lopez delivered boxes of supporting letters. 

The organization wants the governor to sign into law Assembly Bill 60, which the group says would enable qualified drivers to obtain California driver’s licenses regardless of immigration status. 

The bill, authored by Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, would lift requirements for Social Security numbers and proof of legal status from the application process. 

“That was basically an anti-immigrant measure that was passed under the (Gov. Pete) Wilson administration,” Lopez said. 

The bill is under review by the Senate Appropriations Committee. If signed by Davis, the proposal would return the process to pre-1994 law, when the only identification needed to obtain a license was a birth certificate or a passport, he said. 

The group has delivered thousands of letters to governor during its campaign. 

“They’ve been making their voices heard,” governor’s spokesman Roger Salazar said. 

Davis vetoed a similar bill last year, citing concerns over fraud if identification requirements were loosened, Salazar said. 

Lopez suggested that the Internal Revenue Service’s identification number be used instead. 

“If you’re good enough to pay taxes, you’re good enough to drive,” he said. 

An estimated 2 million people have been denied driver’s licenses under current regulations, but most still end up on the road regardless, Lopez said. 

“You have individuals that are driving without a driver’s license,” he said. “They haven’t passed the DMV exam, they haven’t studied the driving. They’re ineligible for insurance. You and I are sacrificed by a policy that puts untrained, uninsured drivers on the road.” 

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gray Davis signed legislation Wednesday that prohibits insurers from canceling policies because of claims from hate-crime damages. 

Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, introduced the bill when one of the three Sacramento synagogues hit by arson fires two years ago had its insurance canceled because of its claims. 

“We are insuring that victims are not victimized twice, first by a perpetrator of hate and, second, by their own insurance company,” Davis said, signing the measure at Temple B’Nai Israel in Sacramento, whose insurance policy was canceled after an arson attack. 

The new law bars insurers from canceling or refusing to renew a policy of a religious or other nonprofit organization solely because it has filed claims stemming from a hate crime. 

The legislation is part of a batch of bills being sent to the governor as the Legislature wraps up its session this week and next. 

Two Shasta County brothers face federal charges in the arson attacks. James Tyler Williams, 31, and Benjamin Matthew Williams, 33, are also charged with the shooting deaths of two gay men in Happy Valley. 

Also signed by Davis Wednesday: 

• SB34, a bill that would force candidates and ballot measure committees to immediately disclose large campaign contributions. The measure, by Sen. John Burton, D-San Francisco, requires campaign contributions of $5,000 or more to be reported within 10 working days outside the 90-day election cycle. 

Current law requires candidates to file contribution reports every six months in non-election years and only slightly more frequently in election years. 

• AB78, A bill making it easier to prosecute old child sexual abuse cases. The bill relaxes the standard of proof in such cases to a preponderance of the evidence. 

The measure, by Assemblywoman Elaine Alquist, D-Santa Clara, stems from the case of a girl who said she was repeatedly raped by her mother’s boyfriend when she was 7 years old. 

The girl didn’t make the accusation until she was 15, saying the man threatened to kill her mother if she told anyone what had happened. 

Last summer a judge dismissed charges against the boyfriend, saying medical evidence supporting the girl’s story did not meet the clear-and-convincing standard required to extend the statute of limitations. 

•ß AB 488, by Assemblywoman Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, that permits consumers to find out who has been inquiring about their credit history. The bill was sponsored by the California Public Interest Research Group.

DURBAN, South Africa — Under threat of a devastating European walkout, the World Conference Against Racism held closed-door meetings Wednesday to try to find compromise language on the Israel-Palestinian conflict and reparations for slavery. 

France warned that it and the European Union could follow the United States and Israel by walking out on the U.N. meeting, which was meant to highlight discrimination around the world, but has been marred by discord over efforts to condemn Israel for “racist policies.” 

“If comparisons between Zionism and racism remain, the question of France’s and the European Union delegations’ departure would be posed immediately,” French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin told a Cabinet meeting, according to spokesman Jean-Jack Queyranne. “France and the European Union would seek a departure from this conference, which would mark a failure.” 

An EU deadline on the issue set for Wednesday night was reached without a compromise, said Koen Vervaeke, spokesman for Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel. He said a special drafting committee had finished its work Wednesday night without an accord. 

Vervaeke said the EU had given South African mediators its position and would now wait to see what kind of text they come up with. It wasn’t immediately clear if that would occur during Thursday’s session. 

Earlier Wednesday, in an effort to save the conference, Norwegian Foreign Minister Thorbjoern Jagland sent his deputy, Raymond Johansen, to Durban to take over leadership of the Norwegian delegation. 

“The racism conference is in danger of completely breaking down. I am going to Durban to try to contribute to it reaching a result that does not damage the international battle against racism,” Johansen said. 

Norway had tried unsuccessfully earlier in the week to broker a deal between the United States, Israel and the Arab states. 

Delegates from the 15 EU countries said they would act as a bloc along with 13 nations that are candidates for EU membership. 

In the original draft text, Israel is the only nation singled out for condemnation. Among the sticking points were references to the “racist practice of Zionism,” and description of the movement to establish and maintain a Jewish state as an ideology “based on racial superiority.” 

Amr Moussa, Arab League secretary-general, has said if there were no specific references to Israeli policies toward the Palestinians a final declaration would be “meaningless.” 

The United States and Israel left the conference Monday when talks with the Arab League over removing the anti-Israel language broke down. 

The dispute over the wording of the Mideast section has diverted attention from other issues, but the issue of how to deal with the legacy of slavery also have been contentious. 

Many African delegations want the U.N. meeting’s final declaration to include a mechanism for reparations for the trans-Atlantic slave trade. 

Throughout the conference’s planning stages, the United States opposed putting reparations on the agenda, and the U.S. departure appeared to harden some positions. 

African nations that had reportedly promised to drop demands for reparations suddenly put them back on the table this week. African-American groups have lobbied hard for reparations to be included in conference documents. 

The EU on Wednesday was in talks with African delegations over the issue. It has offered a limited apology for colonialism and slavery, but does not want reparations mentioned. 

Africans led by Zimbabwe and Namibia are demanding specific apologies from the countries involved in the slave trade and colonialism, reparations, cancellation of African debt and more investment in the continent, said Marcus Gama, assistant to the head of the Brazilian delegation. 

“For the moment ... it’s hard to be optimistic,” Gama said. “I think (all sides) will have to make concessions before the end of the conference or there will be no conference.” 

The conference’s draft document calls for “an explicit apology by the former colonial powers,” and requires “substantial national and international efforts be made for reparations” to Africans, African descendants and indigenous peoples. 

Ivory Coast’s justice minister, Siene Oulai, said his delegation was not interested in being paid reparations, but believed Western nations should forgive the huge debt owed by African nations to international financial institutions. 

“What is necessary is that the slave trade be recognized as a crime against humanity and recognition that Africa suffered a lot from the trans-Atlantic slave trade,” Oulai said. “What is important is to create a partnership between those who have suffered and those who profited from the slave trade to cooperate better.” 

The conference’s final declaration and program of action is not legally binding, but represents a pledge by governments to carry it out. If a country is opposed to specific language, they can still sign the documents while rejecting specific paragraphs. 

European newspapers said the efforts to condemn Israel threatened to scuttle the conference. 

“In Durban it’s clear that several governments are using the U.N. for their own purposes. They are holding the U.N. as hostage,” the Swedish paper Dagens Nyheter said in an editorial Wednesday. 

The conference, which began Aug. 31, is scheduled to end Friday. 

NEW YORK — The reality is that nobody really knows when the economic slump will end and the upturn begin. Not Alan Greenspan, nor corporate chiefs, nor those oft-quoted “experts.” 

It may disappoint to hear such a judgment, but it will do little to diminish the game or silence its participants because claiming to know when the upturn begins is now the biggest media game in town. 

And losing credibility day by day. 

While the Federal Reserve, of which Greenspan is chairman, declines to be specific, it is safe to assume its member-bank governors and executives are disappointed with their efforts, having hoped for a revival by now. 

For their part, the corporate CEOs have conceded their bafflement, having issued misleading forecasts too many times. An ever-growing number now admit they haven’t a clear view even for their own companies. 

You can sense frustration and modesty at the Fed and among CEOs, but the experts — well, they just go on forecasting, never apologizing. It’s what they get paid for doing, so they do it. But does anyone listen? 

The dwindling audience for the traditional good-times-ahead news provides an opportunity to view other aspects of the economy, such as the growing corporate trend of hiring coaches for their chief executives. 

John Budd, a former high-level officer at a multibillion-dollar public company, asks “By what tortured rationalizing do boards of directors choose someone who immediately needs coaching?” 

Calling the practice a “strange phenomenon,” Budd asks in his “plain talk” newsletter: “Is this faddism run amuck or are all the stories hokum that say the board’s most important decision is to pick the right CEO?” 

Budd, who can be acerbic in the cause of clear communications, also snaps at the “turkey neck” corporate chiefs who, seeking to be hip and “with it,” disdain ties and jackets, thus displaying their sagging flesh. 

“Dressing down is out; dressing up is in,” he says, adding that if you want to be serious about business, credibility is a suit and tie. 

David Hirshleifer offers a different sort of advice, but just as practical. Hirshleifer, who teaches finance at Ohio State University, has determined that a sunshiny morning brightens the returns on stocks. 

Sunshine tends to make people optimistic, he says, something most of the alleged Wall Street experts overlook in their pursuit of more complex, numerical answers, some of which are far less credible. 

Stock traders, he explains, may attribute their optimism to factors other than the weather, such as economic conditions or news about a company. As is well known, stock analysts can rationalize almost anything. 

But what if the weather is cloudy on Wall Street or Chicago or wherever trading takes place, but bright and clear at the investor’s house? The overhead conditions apply mainly to the stock exchange site. 

Hirshleifer offers at least a partial explanation for this behavior: Many of the large institutional investors that drive the markets are headquartered in the same cities as the stock exchanges. 

The effect is nothing to discount. Hirshleifer’s study, which encompassed 26 stock exchanges around the world, including the New York Stock Exchange, found the difference between a completely overcast day and a sunny day produced an excess return of 24.8 percent! 

John Samples, Christopher Yablonski and Ivan Osorio had another matter in mind when they studied the sources of funding for the ad hoc Fair Taxes for All Coalition, an advocacy group of non-profit organizations. 

In a paper for the Cato Institution, a Libertarian think tank, they describe the membership of the coalition as united in opposition to the original $1.6 trillion tax cut proposed by President George W. Bush. 

Their reason, according to the paper: It would jeopardize the nation’s ability to meet domestic and foreign responsibilities, threaten fiscal stability and security, and inequitably distribute benefits. 

But the Cato researchers say they found coalition members have a considerable interest in keeping money in the government’s hands — those non-profit groups received $618 million of taxpayer money in recent years. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Oil giant Chevron Corp. announced Wednesday that it will end its 122-year history as a San Francisco company by moving its headquarters to a suburban campus in San Ramon, 40 miles east of its current home. 

The move, expected to be completed by the end of next year, represents a bigger blow to San Francisco’s pride than its economic vitality. 

Formerly one of the city’s largest employers, Chevron has just 200 workers left at its San Francisco headquarters. To save money, Chevron opened a 92-acre campus in San Ramon in 1985 and began transferring thousands of administrative workers to the 13-building complex. 

The most recent wave of transfers occurred after Chevron sold its San Francisco headquarters in 1999 and moved 900 workers from San Francisco to San Ramon. After selling its offices, Chevron leased 10 floors of its old headquarters to preserve its San Francisco heritage. 

SAN JOSE (AP) — Investors pounded the stocks of Hewlett-Packard Co. and Compaq Computer Corp. to 52-week lows Wednesday, showing that Wall Street has yet to be convinced HP’s acquisition of Compaq is a good idea. 

HP shares lost 4 percent, or 79 cents, to $18.21 on the New York Stock Exchange. The price has fallen 22 percent since its stock swap with Compaq was announced, dropping the value of the deal from $25 billion on Monday night to $19.5 billion now. 

Compaq’s stock, down 16 percent since the deal was announced, fell 67 cents Wednesday to $10.41. 

The acquisition still must be approved by regulators, and shareholders of both companies. But Bear Stearns analyst Andrew Neff said Wall Street’s initial reaction to the deal in no way means shareholders are likely to shoot it down. 

“I would say the chance of Compaq shareholders vetoing this is low,” he said. “They needed to do something.” But he added that HP and Compaq still need to “go out and try and sell this.” 

SAN FRANCISCO — More Californians think Japan should atone for atrocities its troops committed during World War II than believe the United States should apologize for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, according to a new survey. 

State residents hailed the important connections — political and economic — between the two countries, though by a small margin said America’s relationship with China is “more important” than ties to Japan. 

The survey’s release comes as the city prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the treaty that officially ended hostilities between two countries that are now close allies. Those festivities culminate Saturday with meetings between Secretary of State Colin Powell and Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka. 

In anticipation of the anniversary, on Wednesday the San Francisco-based Public Policy Institute of California released its survey, which was based on telephone interviews of 2,007 state residents. 

On Sept. 8, 1951, Japan signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty. It ended the American occupation of Japan, which enjoyed a hasty postwar recovery. 

Since then, Japan and the United States have grown steadily closer. 

The poll reflected that cultural bond in California, the state with the largest Japanese American population. Nearly three quarters of respondents reported a favorable opinion of Japan and 65 percent said Japan has a “major influence” on the United States. 

But the poll also reflected what critics decry as the treaty’s weakness — it never forced Japan to apologize for wartime atrocities, much less help repair countries it attacked. Still simmering are questions over how Japan should answer for the forced labor of American POWs, the sexual enslavement of Korean women, and massacres and alleged germ warfare in China. 

Just over 50 percent of respondents said they thought Japan should apologize for war crimes, while 41 percent said Japan should not apologize. 

So fresh is the issue that Japan critics have organized a conference to parallel this week’s treaty signing celebrations. 

“The Japanese government has been invoking the U.S.-Japan San Francisco treaty signed 50 years ago as the proof of having settled its obligations to the invaded countries,” said conference organizer L. Ling-chi Wang, a professor of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. “Fifty years of denial must end.” 

Despite believing Japan should repent, 59 percent of respondents said the United States should not apologize for dropping atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That is down from the 73 percent of people who rejected such an apology in a 1995 national poll. 

“It is a contradiction that Californians would be asking Japan to think about its role in World War II and apologize while at the same time not having the same point of view on the U.S. activities,” said survey director Mark Baldassare. 

Among Baldassare’s other findings: 

• 43 percent of respondents said the United States’ relationship with China was more important than its relationship with Japan; 40 percent thought Japan was more important. 

• 47 percent of respondents said the United States should withdraw troops stationed in Japan since the war’s end; 45 percent said the troops should stay. 

• Only 13 percent of respondents said they thought the two countries had “not much” in common. 

California adults were interviewed from July 1 to July 10, 2001 and the survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

SACRAMENTO – California needs to try new ways to find and keep great teachers in public schools, such as creating a world-class teacher academy or a special credential for teachers who succeed in poor schools, says a new state commission report. 

The state’s recent expensive efforts to find and keep qualified teachers in public schools are starting to work but more efforts are needed, Michael Alpert, chairman of the Little Hoover Commission, said Wednesday in releasing the report. 

“We are far short of the mark and not enough teachers have the skills and abilities needed for success,” said Alpert, a retired Coronado attorney who is married to state Sen. Dede Alpert. 

California public schools are facing a shortage of qualified teachers due to population increases, retirement of veteran teachers and class-size reduction. Several previous reports have documented that nearly 40,000 of the state’s nearly 300,000 teachers do not have full state credentials. That usually means they have not taken all the required teacher-preparation courses. 

Even worse, the distribution of those less-than-fully qualified teachers is very uneven, with students in schools with high poverty levels and low test scores more likely to have them. 

The 1,337 public schools with the lowest 20 percent of 2000 test scores had an average of 21 percent of teachers on emergency permits; 113 of those schools had 40 percent or more unqualified teachers, according to Department of Education records. 

Lawmakers and Gov. Gray Davis have in recent years approved billions of dollars to raise teacher salaries, increase teacher training and allow school districts to offer incentives such as signing bonuses and home-buying assistance to attract teachers. 

Lawmakers are currently working on how to spend $200 million in this year’s state budget aimed at low-performing schools and say that attracting qualified teachers will be part of that new program. 

The commission’s suggestions, sent to the Legislature and governor, include: 

• Creating “a premier teacher academy” to recruit and train the best teachers to be assigned to low-performing schools. The academy could try out new techniques in teaching. 

• Streamlining the state’s process of getting a teaching credential, “a complex labyrinth that tests persistence and endurance as much as the ability to teach.” 

• Creating a special credential that recognizes teachers who raise student achievement in low-performing schools. 

• Fast-tracking credentials for teachers with experience in other states and in private schools. 

• Conducting a state labor market study to determine how much teachers would have to be paid to work in low-performing schools. 

• Spending money to make hard-to-staff schools more attractive workplaces. 

• Evaluating the administrative practices of low-performing schools and identifying weaknesses in management practices. 

• Coordinating the current efforts of dozens of state agencies working on the problem. 

The Little Hoover Commission, created in 1962, is an independent state agency that reviews state programs and policies and recommends ways to make them more efficient.

SACRAMENTO (AP) — People who leave small children alone in cars could face $100 fines under a bill approved Wednesday by the state Assembly. 

The bill, sent to the Senate by a 48-12 vote, would make it an infraction to leave a child under the age of 6 in a motor vehicle without being supervised by someone at least 12 years old. 

“Many people are unaware of the danger associated with leaving a young child alone in an automobile,” said Assemblyman John Dutra, D-Fremont, a backer of the bill. 

In 10 minutes, the temperature in a car left in the sun on a 72-degree day can reach 108 degrees, he said. A child can die or suffer brain damage if his or her brain reaches 106 degrees, he said. 

Lawmakers opposing the bill said such a fine would do no good. 

“I don’t know how this cures the behavior of irresponsibility,” said Assemblyman David Cox, R-Fair Oaks. 

Supporters noted that misdemeanor or felony charges, with larger fines and jail or prison time, can be filed if a child is injured. The infraction was meant “to provide awareness” of the problem, Dutra said.

OAKLAND – The American Red Cross Blood Bank on Claremont Avenue was mobbed Tuesday afternoon, as concerned and grief-stricken East Bay residents showed up to offer their help in the only way they knew how. 

At 2 p.m., around 250 people were waiting their turn for an appointment with one of the 12 Red Cross workers on hand to take blood donations. Some stood in a line that ran out the door and around the corner onto College Avenue, while others sat in the lobby watching the news.  

Michelle Joyce, a Berkeley social worker, waited in the donors’ line for over two hours before dashing across the street for a moment to pick up a newspaper.  

“I saw on the TV that there was a blood shortage, so I thought I’d come down,” said Joyce. “It seemed more useful than sitting at home.” 

Cynthia Carlson, the Claremont office’s supervisor of donor recruitment, welcomed the attention that the crisis brought to blood donation, but doubted that her office would be able to process everyone who came Tuesday. 

“Lots of people came in today, but we need people all the time,” she said. “We’d like people to hold off and come in a week or so from now.”  

Carlson said that it is usually difficult to arrange blood drives at places of business, but that a number of companies have faxed and e-mailed her today offering to host a mobile Red Cross unit.  

“Unfortunately, it takes a crisis like this for the message to hit home with people,” she said. 

The Red Cross will hold blood drives at various locations on the UC Berkeley campus next week. People who can donate are urged to register for an appointment on the Red Cross’ Web site, www.beadonor.com.  

Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean said Tuesday that she is trying to organize a drive at Alta Bates Hospital next week. A scheduled drive will be held at Berkeley Firehouse No. 2, 2029 Berkeley Way, Sept. 28.

Sarena Chandler, 17, had imagined she knew everything about the realities of life in her west Berkeley neighborhood. 

But her ideas came into focus this summer when she and other residents of the low-income area walked their neighborhood to take a closer look at what was happening on the streets. 

A senior at Berkeley High School and student member of the school board, Chandler began to see a different reality. 

She said the walk that took her through her neighborhood, “caused me to realize that the problems are deep-rooted.” 

Chandler said she was taken aback watching small children head to the local liquor shop for soda or junk food.  

“You are what you eat, and if all we eat is Cheetos, then we're going nowhere,” she said. 

The walkers would also observe the smallest details of communal life. They noted cracks in the sidewalks, uneven pavements, or street signs that dangled dangerously overhead - all hazards that needed fixing, she said. 

The “community walk-through” program in which she took part, was launched in south and west Berkeley by the Community Action Team, a citizen-based group formed in 1999 in response to a city Health Department study that singled out Berkeley as having the worst low birth-weight gap between African-American and white babies in the country. The organization wanted to take stock of the neighborhoods for clues on how the city might improve the health of those who live there. 

Community Action Team representatives will present the neighborhood walk-through findings Wednesday evening.  

“We need to get the community more involved,” said Candace Miles-Threatt, who leads the CAT’s south Berkeley component with technical help from city health officials. “A lot of my neighbors have no idea about the racial and health disparities. It's important that we fight this battle because we know our neighborhood better than anyone else.” 

For Chandler, this irony hit home while she walked through her community armed with pen and clipboard. She is convinced that the health of south Berkeley children partly explains why black and Latino students in her school district generally lag behind white and Asian-American students. 

“We believe that racism, poverty, poor education, and (the  

Mayor Shirley Dean will announce today that the city is dedicating the day, Sept. 10, to Ted Rosenkranz, an 80-year-old terminally ill resident who has long supported the Berkeley public schools. 

The honor, which the mayor rushed through at the end of last week, will be celebrated quietly with Dean personally delivering a certificate to Rosenkranz who has been at the Elmwood Longterm Care Facility for the last three weeks. 

“I always admired his dedication and support of the Berkeley schools,” Dean said on Friday. 

Rosenkranz, a Berkeley native who worked as a merchant marine, was too ill for an interview. But documents from his foundation and interviews with friends, show that he first turned his attention to the Berkeley schools in 1978 when he survived malignant melanoma. 

“As I grow older and am forced to accept the infirmities which come with age, I also experience a sense of gratitude and appreciation that there are still values that enrich my life and help to sustain me when things are not going too well.” wrote Rosenkranz in a biography attached to the papers that established his foundation, In Dulci Jubilo, which means is Latin for “sweet joy.” 

Since then, Rosenkranz has donated more than $300,000 to Berkeley’s schools. During the last school year, In Dulci Jublio awarded more than $16,000 in 43 mini-grants aimed at encouraging Berkeley’s children to read and spell, to sow vegetables, to plant trees, to create dolls and music or to study science and art. 

“Setting up an organization that might help stimulate a child’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning and also encourage a sense that each of us has obligations that extend beyond ourselves, was an attempt on my part to repay what I consider a debt I owe to some of those who helped nurture me,” Rosenkranz wrote in the biography. 

Rosenkranz, an alumni of Washington, LeConte, Willard, St. Mary’s High and Berkeley High, may have ventured far with the Merchant Marine, but always considered Berkeley his home. During the depression, Rosenkranz sold newspapers with his younger brother Hiram.  

“We sold the San Francisco Chronicle in the morning and the Tribune and Gazette at the evenings,” his brother recalled. “In the old days they used to say; don’t work, don’t eat.” 

He continued to live on Fulton Street one door away from his parent’s house, and over the years purchased four houses the same block. “He worked hard all his life but he took care of what he accomplished,” said Hiram Rosenkranz, his younger brother. 

Pat Cody, a neighbor, said that the Rosenkranz family was the second on the street. 

“He is one of the silent benefactors that the average man probably doesn’t know but he contributes a lot to the Berkeley community,” she said. 

When he wasn’t working, Rosenkranz gardened. He grew lemons, apples, cactus flowers, squash, artichokes and many other vegetables.  

“He used to do garden-parties for the neighbors and tenants,” recalled Lydia Lass, one of Rosenkranz’s tenants. 

Every year Rosenkranz used to give the neighbors jars of blueberries for Christmas, pumpkins for Halloween, flowers and vegetables. His neighbors now visit Rosenkranz in his hospital bed where he has been since last month when he was diagnosed with two brain tumors and one in his right arm. 

Rosenkranz, who was a member of Berkeley High’s class of 1939, wrote a few years ago in his biography, “I have always had admiration for the teaching profession. Some of the persons who have helped me most to lead a meaningful and productive life have been teachers.” 

And teachers have responded enthusiastically to his support. 

“It’s incredible that you have a foundation that lets teachers dream what they want their classes to look like,” said Leah Rossman, a kindergarten teacher at LeConte school. Last year Rossman used a $400 mini-grant she received from In Dulci Jubilo to buy several books with large print so she could read together with all of her students. 

Timiza Wagner and Shahara Goffrey from Berkeley Alternative High School used $500 grant for personal development project for 9th grade girls, which focus on problem solving through creating soft sculptures.  

“Putting the layers of cloth on the doll was like pulling away the layers to me,” wrote Katie Myers, Wagner’s student, in a thank-you letter send to the foundation. 

The board members of In Dulci Jubilo become Rosenkranz friends. Henry Nelson, a retired physics teacher from Berkeley High school, explained: “ I was intrigued to see that their was a man trying to do good to the community. He asked me whether I would like to join the board and I agreed.” 

Nelson and Rosenkranz eventually became close friends. 

“Ted is a man of contradictions,” said Herb Singer, retired psychologist from the Berkeley schools systems and former boardmember. “He was very generous with big amount of money and yet he tends to get really tight with small amount of money.” 

Singer recalled shopping for an art, poetry and essay contest that In Dulci Jubilo sponsors every year. Rosenkranz, he said, insisted on driving to Lafayette where they could find cheaper soft drinks and cookies. Although, Rosenkranz attended these contests he refused to share the spotlight with the winners and instead served refreshments. 

Rosenkranz held board meetings in one of his houses. After making decisions, he used to serve the board members dinner that he cooked.  

“It was special to finish meeting and than sit with a glass of wine and eat together,” said Mark Coplan, the president of In Dulci Jubilo. “We lost this piece of history when Ted wasn’t able to continue doing it.” 

Three years ago, Rosenkranz ensured In Dulci Jubilo would survive his own life by selling one of his houses and putting the money in a trust to pay for the organization’s administrative costs. 

The last major contest he launched while still well was a spelling bee contest for Berkeley children. Rosenkranz insisted that both public and private school kids compete. The winners of this year’s contest will be sent to the Chronicle contest in San Francisco. 

Donations and cards can be sent to ‘In Dulci Diablo, Inc, 1225 Allston Way, Berkeley CA 94702.

By Kenyatte Davis 

Daily Planet staff 

A fire that broke out in an apartment building at 10 p.m. Thursday, may have been the result of six youths playing with firecrackers, according to the Berkeley Fire Department. 

Firefighters thought they had the fire at 2534 Piedmont Ave. contained to the garage of the three-story building and several companies were released after 15 minutes. However, firefighters later discovered that the blaze had made its way to the center of the building within the structure’s walls and the released companies were recalled. Firefighters were forced to knock out portions of the walls, floors and ceiling on all three levels to gain access to the fire which was kept ablaze by stucco in portions of walls that were added after the original construction had been competed. Firefighters wrestled the flames well into Friday morning and maintained a fire-watch until 7 a.m. 

The youths that may be responsible for starting the fire were seen inside and around the garage, which had a non-operational door, moments before the blaze started. According to a Fire Department report, an empty “handheld fireworks candle” was found across the street from the fire and is a “strong indication” that the youths’ fireworks were the cause of the fire. 

The burnt material includes carpeting, a sofa, a chair and a car that was parked in the garage. 

The city housing and fire prevention personnel are investigating the possibility that the third floor of the building was illegally constructed.  

WALNUT CREEK — Rangers at Mount Diablo State Park decided Thursday to close the entire area because of high fire danger. 

Supervising Ranger Dave Matthews said that high winds and low humidity have created extremely dangerous conditions in the East Bay park, causing officials to take the precautionary measure of closing it to all visitors. 

“The closure affects all vehicles, pedestrians, bicycles, horses — everybody,” Matthews said. 

Rangers will reevaluate the situation Friday morning to determine whether the park can be reopened. 

Matthews said the 20,000-acre park usually closes several times each year in September and October as northeast winds start to blow. This is the first closure this year. 

Doris Calloway, 78 

former UC Berkeley provost 

BERKELEY (AP) — Doris Calloway, an internationally recognized nutritional scientist and one of the first women provosts at the University of California, Berkeley, has died of Parkinson’s disease. 

Calloway, who was 78, died last Friday at a nursing home in Seattle. 

Calloway was appointed professor of nutrition at Berkeley in 1963 and shortly after started the Penthouse studies, which later became a model for dietary research. The studies recorded in detail the food and energy needs of six volunteers who lived for several weeks on campus in an isolated environment. 

Calloway became provost for UC Berkeley’s professional schools and colleges in 1981. 

In the late 1980s Calloway led a nine-university, $14 million research project in Kenya, Egypt and Mexico aimed at understanding the causes and consequences of moderate malnutrition. In 1995, she chaired a U.S. government committee that determines dietary guidelines for Americans every five years. 

Calloway is survived by her husband of 20 years, Robert Nesheim of Seattle; a son, David Calloway of Woodland Hills, Calif.; a daughter, Candace Calloway Whiting of Seattle; two stepchildren, Sandra Rankin of Danbury, Conn.; and Barbara Mowry of Denver; and nine grandchildren.