Northern California U.S. Attorney spokesman Matt Jacobs would not comment on how many people are on the interview list the Justice Department gave his office, or when those interviews might be conducted. He stressed that none of the people on the interview list are suspects. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Police have arrested two San Francisco men in the slaying of state Sen. Bruce McPherson’s son. 

San Francisco police say the men were on a crime spree when they ran into Hunter McPherson early on the morning of Nov. 17 as he walked home with his girlfriend in the city’s Potrero Hill district. 

Dwayne Reed, 22, and Clifton Terrell, 18, were arrested late Wednesday. Both were booked for investigation of murder and three counts of armed robbery, according to Lt. Judie Pursell. 

She said a confidential informant tipped police to the two men but would not release any more details. They might be charged with other crimes, Pursell said, and police do not want to prejudice potential witnesses if there is a lineup. 

McPherson was shot in the chest. His girlfriend, Alexa Savelle, was not injured. 

McPherson was the son of Republican state Sen. Bruce McPherson of Santa Cruz. 

Mayor Willie Brown offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any suspects.

PASADENA — Recent photographs from NASA’s Galileo spacecraft provide supporting evidence to the theory that Callisto, Jupiter’s outermost moon, may hold an underground ocean, scientists said Thursday. 

Callisto, one of four large moons surrounding Jupiter, can be seen to have a surface that sits directly opposite from its Valhalla basin, which was rocked by a collision with a major object. 

The images were taken during a May 25 flyby. 

“The opposition point shows no effect from the impact,” the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement. 

Areas that sit opposite similar points of impact on Mercury and the Earth’s moon show lumpy terrain directly attributed to seismic activity from powerful impacts. 

The new discovery parallels a 1990’s model, which proposed that a liquid layer inside Callisto could cushion shock on the outside, said planetary geologist David A. Williams of Arizona State University. 

“Although there is a lot of uncertainty in the computer modeling of Callisto, it’s good that this image supports the hypothesis presented a decade ago,” Williams said Thursday. 

He cautioned, however, that the photos are not proof of an ocean. 

“A lot more evidence needs to be uncovered before we will know for sure whether Callisto has a subsurface ocean,” he said.

SAN RAFAEL — A serial rapist who was the first man to successfully complete the state’s sexually violent predator treatment program will be released Saturday unless state officials can come up with new evidence to keep him locked up. 

“Barring some substantial additional development, I have no power to do anything,” Marin County Superior Court Judge John S. Graham said Thursday. 

Three independent mental health professionals evaluated Patrick Ghilotti, 45, and determined he was no longer dangerous. While Graham questioned the method of evaluation, he said under the law he has no choice but to allow Ghilotti to go free on Saturday, when his current two-year commitment ends at Atascadero State Hospital. 

The judge gave prosecutors until Friday to present new evidence to change his opinion. 

Prosecutor Alan Charmatz said he had no such additional evidence. Carl Elder, an attorney for the state Department of Mental Health, said he would talk to hospital officials to try to find such evidence in the next 24 hours. 

The district attorney’s office, under pressure from Gov. Gray Davis, had petitioned the court Wednesday in an effort to keep Ghilotti in treatment for another two years. 

Ghilotti, who has spent nearly half his life behind bars, has been convicted of raping four Marin County women and has admitted to raping at least six others. 

A 62-year-old Corte Madera woman Ghilotti raped in 1985 attended Thursday’s hearing and said she was terrified at the prospect of Ghilotti being back on the streets. 

“I’m totally disappointed with the system,” she said. “I’ll be scared to death. I’ll be looking over my shoulder. That guy’s not cured.” 

But Public Defender Frank Cox disagreed, saying that after four years of treatment Ghilotti no longer poses a threat. 

“He has learned a great deal. He has done everything required of him. He is the valedictorian of the sexually violent predator program at Atascadero,” Cox said, adding that three evaluators agreed he’s not likely to reoffend. 

Since 1997, when a controversial law went into effect, prosecutors have been able to seek to commit the state’s most dangerous rapists and child molesters after they serve their prison sentences. They are sent to Atascadero for treatment and can be recommitted every two years until clinicians agree they are no longer a threat to society. 

The judge seemed reluctant to let Ghilotti go free without any mandatory treatment. 

“It’s conceivable the release of Mr. Ghilotti right now ... might have very dire consequences for a lot of people,” Graham said. 

The judge was not swayed by letters from the director of the Department of Mental Health, from the Atascadero medical director and from one of Ghilotti’s clinicians that said he was still dangerous. 

Ghilotti could have been released with court-mandated restrictions last month, but he refused an outpatient treatment program — saying it was too restrictive. 

Ghilotti initially agreed to a host of stringent requirements, including taking Lupron, a testosterone-reducing drug, wearing a Global Positioning System device so authorities could track his movements and attending individual and group therapy sessions. 

But he turned down the program when authorities put restrictions on seeing his wife and using the Internet. 

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gray Davis said Thursday that he supports placing a $10 billion to $12 billion school bond measure before voters next year. 

“California schools are in need of serious improvement and repair,” Davis said during an appearance at an Anaheim elementary school. 

Placing the issue on a November ballot would require legislative approval when lawmakers return in January. 

Davis has previously supported a school bond package worth up to $12 billion in 2002, however the Legislature adjourned its session this summer without approving a measure for the March ballot. 

Davis said Thursday he “just wanted to go on record” in support of placing the issue on a March or November ballot. Officials from the secretary of state’s office said that the deadline has passed to place an item on the ballot in March. 

Davis said the bond money should be used to build new schools and improve and expand existing facilities, which he said would improve education and create new jobs. The state is facing a $12.4 billion budget deficit in the face of falling revenues and a slumping economy. 

Davis has proposed $2.24 billion in cuts to current state spending — including $844 million for school programs — to absorb the shortfall. 

School officials welcomed Davis’ renewed support of a bond measure. 

“His announcement is going to give us the momentum that we need to put this package together in January when the Legislature returns,” said Kevin Gordon, executive director of the California Association of School Business Officials.

ONTARIO — A man who says he uses marijuana for medicinal purposes received $5,525 from his insurance company after arguing that the backyard crop police ripped up was covered by his homeowner’s policy. 

Ontario police seized the plants from David Fawcett’s back yard last May. 

Fawcett, who said he uses marijuana everyday to treat his chronic depression, argued that the theft of trees, shrubs and other plants are covered by his policy. 

Fawcett, 46, recently received his check from National General. 

Pete Moraga, a spokesman for the Insurance Information Network of California, said such claims are becoming more common since California voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996, allowing the medicinal use of marijuana with a doctor’s authorization. 

“This is an issue that keeps coming up,” Moraga said. “It has been covered by major carriers in the past but some also have chosen not to cover it.” 

Fawcett said he used most of the money to pay off old debts – including $1,000 he borrowed to post bail after his marijuana arrest. 

The San Bernardino County district attorney’s office did not press charges but referred the case to the Drug Enforcement Administration to determine if Fawcett violated federal law. So far he has not been charged. 

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that federal law does not recognize the medicinal use of marijuana. 

Putting up holiday decorations is fun. Taking them down is not. 

Maybe that’s why there are so many wreaths still hanging on the door when the Easter bunny comes knocking. 

Using “winter” decorations, festive for December and New Year’s yet perfectly appropriate for the months that follow, might buy the procrastinator a little more time. 

“We use a lot of greenery,” says Hannah Milman, holiday and crafts editor at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. “The smells remind us of the holidays but bringing nature indoors is nice in February and March.” 

Evergreens might be more traditional but eucalyptus, olive or bay leaves are equally beautiful draped around windows or atop a mantel and they dry nicely so there’s no rush to clean them up, Milman explains. 

A ficus tree adorned with snowflake ornaments brings “winter” to a warmer climate — and winter is three months long, says Celia Tejada, vice president of product design at Pottery Barn. 

Working cranberries or winterberries into a garland breaks up the green with bursts of color but they are in no means specifically for the holidays. (Cranberries are particularly holiday friendly, though, because of their red color.) 

“A ‘nature’ holiday look is easier to transition into the rest of winter than plastic Santas,” Milman says. 

The berries also can be used for wreaths, as can pine cones and nuts. A dark wreath, possibly made from pines cones covered in shellac, could hang on the door or wall in a country house for all 12 months without looking out of place. 

Floral arrangements and plants also are cheery and festive but are not tied to a specific holiday. 

Despite its name, a Christmas cactus is a year-round plant — although its pink flowers bloom only in the winter — and the amaryllis flowers arrive almost on cue for the holiday season but they are easy-to-care-for houseplants the rest of the year. But, just like with cranberries, the colors of these plants, mostly reds, white and pinks, fit nicely into the holiday theme. 

Orchids, which have become more affordable and readily available, make a nice gift “because it keeps on giving,” Milman says with a laugh. 

She adds: “There’s a beauty in seeing the living in the dead of winter.” 

Even “faux” natural touches, such as glass-bead berries or fake fur-covered pillows, enhance a room during the colder months, says Tejada. 

“Fake fur, especially in white, just makes you feel so good and luxurious,” she adds. 

She also says holiday items can usually make an easy transition into the romantic category. For instance, a clear glass-bead garland around a candlestick fuels a sexy glow to a room. 

Holiday colors, including red and amber, are very romantic, which extends their appropriateness until at least Valentine’s Day and they can easily be used throughout the year. 

Gold and silver are colors that clearly say “celebration” but they also have a longer shelf life than any red-and-green combination. 

Milman suggests painting pine cones or pieces of fake fruit in the metallic tones, then leaving them in a bowl and forgetting about them for a while. Gold and silver also are among the most common candleholders and filling a room with flickering lights creates a cozy, happy and festive atmosphere, she says. 

“Candles are a beautiful way to give more light on a dark day.” 

Using the occasional scented candle, but not all scented candles, can add to the mood: cinnamon in December or a floral in February. 

For the holiday decorator who really hates the cleanup, Milman encourages all-natural garlands with popcorn and cranberries strung on organic garden twine. The birds will be happy to do the dirty work once the holidays are over. 

It’s special to bring out treasured holiday decorations each year, but it’s also fun to have family members cooperate on some new ones to add to the mix. Besides lending a holiday look to a home, it adds to the festive spirit of those living there. Pine cone parade 

Take a walk to gather pine cones, and visit a craft supply or hobby store to find short colored bottles without stoppers. Get some colored raffia for a finishing touch. 

Spread newspapers on your work surface. If desired, paint edges of the pine cones with white acrylic paint for a touch of “snow.” For a bit of glitz, sprinkle the wet paint with glitter and let dry. 

Wash and dry the bottles, and place a pine cone on top of each. Add a drop of hot-melt adhesive with a glue gun to secure it. 

Tie several strands of raffia around the neck of the bottle and form a bow. Group the bottles for effect, or use singly around the house. Fruit pyramid 

For a showy centerpiece of the colonial style, use galvanized buckets in graduated sizes at a craft or floral supply store. Three buckets is a workable number, depending upon the spot where the centerpiece will be placed. 

Pack each bucket full of floral foam. Stack the buckets, aligning the handles. 

For lower levels, choose three kinds of fruit in graduated sizes, such as pears, lemons and apples.  

Secure fruit to the foam with florist’s picks. Arrange so that all fruit points in the same direction. Top with a pineapple, and use two picks to secure it. 

Tuck greenery — boxwood clippings, myrtle sprigs or other fresh greenery — between pieces of fruit to hide the foam, and drape over the edges of the buckets.

What do an oak door, walnut mantle and a cherry rocker have in common? 

Besides being constructed of natural wood, all look especially good with a clear finish. In fact, most natural woodwork jobs call for one or more topcoats of a clear finish. That’s not to suggest that they can’t be stained – they can. 

An antique cherry rocker will look stunning, and last for a very long time, with a hand-rubbed oil stain. The oil stain will feed the wood fibers – keeping them moist and supple. On the other hand, an old oak table that is used primarily for daily dining will last longer, look better and be easier to keep clean with a hard, clear finish. Wood and water do not mix. If the object will be exposed to water from time to time, go for a clear finish. 

Nordic seamen used boiled linseed oil as a coating to protect their ships. More recently, shellac – made from the shells of small insects dissolved in alcohol — was popular as an interior wood finish. Shellac is fast drying, but it is fragile and has a tendency to yellow in sunlight. It is also highly flammable. It never should be applied in the presence of an open flame, including a pilot light. 

Our favorite clear finish is oil-base polyurethane. Essentially an oil-base paint without pigment, polyurethane is an extremely durable clear plastic finish that is ideal for bar tops, tabletops, doors, hardwood flooring, etc. Although there are water-base urethanes, we prefer oil-base polyurethane because of the way it flows and the super-hard finish that it achieves. 

We often are asked if polyurethane can be used on exterior surfaces such as siding, decking, and patio furniture. Our answer is no. When exposed to much sunlight, a clear finish will crack, bubble up and rapidly deteriorate. A penetrating oil finish (clear or a pigmented stain) is a better choice for exterior use. 

Polyurethane can be used successfully to finish an exterior door provided that it has reasonable protection from the elements. A better bet for an exterior door (or other exterior objects that might be appropriate for a hard finish) is a marine spar varnish. Spar varnish is a tougher, more durable finish that will hold up better to prolonged exposure to sunlight and water. However, it, too, will require regular upkeep. 

You don’t have to be a pro to have a finish that looks like glass. With a little patience and the right tools and materials, you can have professional-looking results. Begin by making sure the surface is clean, dry and smooth. Sand the surface with progressively finer paper beginning with medium (100-grit) sandpaper, then 150-grit and finish with 220-grit. Use a vacuum cleaner with an upholstery brush, along with a tack cloth to remove all the sanding dust. Then wipe the surface with a clean cloth dampened with denatured alcohol. 

If you will be staining the object, now is the time to apply the stain. Wipe on the stain using a soft, clean cloth. Apply evenly, being careful to remove excess. Allow the stain to soak in overnight before applying the first coat of polyurethane. Since heavily grained wood – such as oak – absorbs stain unevenly, first apply a clear sealer. Some stains are self-sealing and, thus, don’t require sanding sealer. The label directions should specify what you are using. 

If you will be skipping the stain, the first coat of clear finish should be thinned as follows – three parts polyurethane and two parts mineral spirits. This will help the polyurethane penetrate the wood more easily and reduce the number of brush marks. The thinned polyurethane should be brushed over the entire surface to be finished. For best results, use a Chinese (natural) bristle brush designed for use with oil-base stains and paints. Synthetic brushes will leave brush marks. 

After the initial coat has dried (usually overnight), lightly sand it smooth using 220-grit sandpaper. Use the vacuum and upholstery brush along with a tack cloth to remove all the dust, and prepare for the next coat. Unlike the first coat, the second coat of polyurethane doesn’t need to be thinned. In fact, if the material is too thin, or if too much is applied, it will usually run – which can be quite a chore to repair. If a run does occur, allow it to dry and cut it away using a razor blade. Be careful not to cut into the surrounding finish. Small drips will disappear when the finish is wet-sanded. 

Repeat the process for the third coat and any subsequent coats – making sure to sand between coats using a wet 400-grit wet/dry sandpaper to remove imperfections in the surface. Two to three coats should be sufficient for a previously finished surface.  

New wood usually will require three to five coats. 

After the final coat has dried completely, use an automotive rubbing compound first, and then a polishing compound to remove minor scratches and to achieve a glasslike finish. Finish the job by buffing the surface with a clean cotton cloth. 

Here are a few tricks that will make for professional results: 

—Don’t shake or vigorously stir a can of polyurethane. Doing so causes the material to bubble in the can and on your work. The material should be stirred, but not vigorously. 

—Always maintain a “wet edge.” Don’t allow the material to dry or it will become difficult to spread, and brush marks will become quite visible. Work quickly and without stopping, for best results. 

—Don’t apply finish when the temperature is either too cold or too hot. Check the label for best application temperatures. 

—Work in a dry, dust-free and well-ventilated space. Plastic drop cloths hung from the ceiling create an ideal work environment. 

—Don’t use old material. Over time the solvents evaporate and alter the composition of the material. Use fresh material. 

—Don’t apply polyurethane with a roller. It can be applied with a sprayer — but only if you have the proper equipment and the experience. 

For more home-improvement tips and information, visit our Web site at www.onthehouse.com. 

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Readers can mail questions to: On the House, APNewsFeatures, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020, or e-mail Careybro(at)onthehouse.com. To receive a copy of On the House booklets on plumbing, painting, heating/cooling or decks/patios, send a check or money order payable to The Associated Press for $6.95 per booklet and mail to: On the House, PO Box 1562, New York, NY 10016-1562, or through these online sites: www.onthehouse.com or apbookstore.com. 

Muck has some bad connotations, but it’s really wonderful stuff. Plant roots revel in this fluffy material, and the result is dazzling flowers, luscious fruits and cushiony, green lawns. Other words for muck are “humus” and “organic matter.” Compost is a kind of muck. 

With leaves falling from trees, and gardens shutting down for the winter, now is the best time of year for mucking around. Materials that can become muck include old tomato and marigold plants, weeds, autumn leaves, kitchen waste and, if available, horse manure. Many organic materials are available, especially now, and they all can be transformed into muck or humus or compost, or whatever you want to call it. Anything that is or was living is suitable. 

No matter what your soil, the more muck the merrier. Muck loosens up clays so they get more air, and helps sands hold water. It has microorganisms that kill plant pathogens, and is a storehouse of nutrients. 

Gathering raw materials for making muck is good for the environment. In so doing, you ease the burden at the landfill, and you nourish your plants with food that, unlike synthetic fertilizers, does not consume petrochemicals in their manufacture. Muck releases nutrients slowly into the soil and clings to nutrients that would otherwise leach, thus lessening the chance for groundwater pollution. 

So what can you do with all those piles of leaves and old plants once you have them? 

You could just spread everything out on top of the ground in your vegetable and flower beds, and around the bases of trees and shrubs. This fluffy layer enriches the soil as it decomposes as well as insulates it. 

If you don’t like the look of all that stuff lying on top of the ground, dig it into the soil. By spring, most of it will have decayed into dark, brown muck. No need to till the soil up finely; just leave it rough, letting freezing and thawing in the coming months break apart the large clods. Come spring, just tickle the surface with a rake to prepare your seedbed (a benign form of muckraking). 

A third alternative is to compost all this material. A bin, correct moisture, and a good balance of ingredients are ideal, but even if you do nothing more than pile these materials together, they will eventually turn to compost. 

Over time, cultivated soils naturally lose organic matter, so mucking around should be part of your fall garden ritual every year.

SAN FRANCISCO — Just months ago, Enron Corp.’s dominance of the nation’s energy markets prompted California Gov. Gray Davis to accuse the company of profiteering and holding his state hostage with high prices. 

The state’s attorney general, Bill Lockyer, went so far as to say he wanted to escort Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay “to an 8-by-10 cell that he could share with a tattooed dude who says, ‘Hi, my name is Spike, honey.”’ 

The Houston-based marketer’s vocal support of electricity deregulation sparked resentment in California as rolling blackouts and high prices swept the state, which was in the downward spiral of its deregulation experiment. 

Enron also was the top contributor to the campaign of President Bush, whom California leaders say responded too slowly to runaway power prices. 

As Enron shares dipped to 36 cents Thursday after soaring to about $85 a year ago, many Californians couldn’t help smirking a bit. 

“You live by the sword, you die by the sword,” said Loretta Lynch, president of the state Public Utilities Commission. “Enron’s entire business plan was predicated on market volatility. I’m glad that California’s market has stabilized so much that that type of business has trouble doing business in California.” 

A proposed buyout by Dynegy Inc. was called off Wednesday after two major credit agencies lowered Enron’s credit rating to junk status. That left bankruptcy as a seemingly inevitable fate for a company that just months ago was the country’s seventh biggest in revenue. 

Enron, which had revenue of $100.8 billion in 2000, crumbled after revealing questionable partnerships and admitting it overstated profits for four years. 

Californians aren’t gloating about all aspects of Enron’s downfall, however. CalPERS, the state’s retirement pension fund, owns nearly 3 million shares of Enron stock — about 1 percent of the pension fund’s total investments. 

”I take no joy in Enron’s troubles,” Davis said Thursday. “It’s no secret that earlier this year California was faced with a major energy crisis. Some of the companies providing power were driving a very hard bargain, I believe taking advantage of California.” 

And the University of California, the nation’s largest university system, counts on Enron to provide electricity for seven of its nine campuses. 

UC spokesman Charles McFadden said Thursday that buying power from Enron rather than local utilities has saved the system “tens of millions of dollars.” 

“We are monitoring the situation hourly and are reviewing our options in case Enron is unable to continue to function,” McFadden said. 

California consumers also are at risk, including hundreds of Californians who signed up with NewPower, an Enron affiliate, for their natural gas. 

And attempts to order Enron to refund some of the money critics charged it gouged from California customers could become fruitless if the company’s cash is controlled by a bankruptcy judge. 

“This is horrible news for California consumers. It means that Enron won’t have the money to pay back all its ill-gotten gains from California over the past year,” said Michael Aguirre, a San Diego securities lawyer. 

Aguirre is suing Enron and several other major power wholesalers for alleged energy market abuses. 

On the plus side, Aguirre thinks Enron’s widely anticipated bankruptcy filing will help him make his case against the other power wholesalers, such as Dynegy, Reliant, Williams and Duke Energy. 

“Once Enron goes bankrupt, you will see that these unregulated markets were an absolute cesspool,” Aguirre said. “You will see that Enron’s market manipulation was more the rule than the exception.” 

Earlier this year, Lockyer subpoenaed Enron’s electricity trading records as he sought to prove the state was the victim of price gouging. California spent more than $9 billion buying electricity for the customers of two financially troubled utilities. 

Enron repeatedly has denied all accusations of market manipulation. 

LOS ANGELES — Last year, hundreds of immigrant janitors marched through the streets with raised fists chanting “si se puede!” – yes, it can be done – after winning raises from employers. 

Today, those workers and members of other unions are fighting to hang on to their recent gains, particularly in the low-paying tourism and hospitality sectors hit so hard by the terrorist attacks. 

Meanwhile, the unions themselves are struggling to sustain a nationwide organizing effort as they lose dues and potential members to the tough economic times. 

“There’s no doubt this has had a serious impact on our resources,” said Maria Elena Durazo, president of Local 11 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International union. 

Durazo said her union has reacted by cutting support staff, trimming travel budgets and eliminating raises in order to keep organizing. 

Despite strong regional gains made by unions in 2000, especially among immigrant workers, organized labor across the country had a net loss of about 200,000 members during the year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

That loss is likely to be repeated in 2001 after mass layoffs in the airline and tourism industries sparked by the Sept. 11 attacks. 

“When workers need unions the most, they have the most concerns about moving toward them,” said Gary Chaison, a professor of Industrial Relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. 

Nationally, the membership of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International has been among the hardest hit. Since Sept. 11, the union has lost more than one-third of its 300,000 members in the United States and Canada to layoffs. 

Things were much different just 18 months ago. Los Angeles unions were celebrating newfound national clout in the wake of the “Justice for Janitors” campaign that served as a model for similar campaigns throughout the country. The high-profile strike by the Service Employees International Union lasted three weeks. 

Today, the picket lines have been replaced by lines of laid-off workers waiting for free groceries from unions and help applying for unemployment benefits and food stamps. 

“The hotel workers’ union has been aggressively organizing in Los Angeles,” said Miguel Contreras, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. “Now they’re having to turn inward and see how to help these members survive day to day.” 

Of the 12,000 members of two hotel and restaurant union locals in the Los Angeles area, about 3,000 are now out of work or logging reduced hours, union officials said. Many workers at hotels, theme parks and airports were let go, only to be hired back at lower wages. 

Rhina Gonzalez and her husband, Cesar Perez, both lost their jobs as housekeepers in area hotels after Sept. 11. The two have four young children. 

“This is very scary for me,” she said. “I have to bring Christmas to my kids.” 

While struggling to recruit new members, unions have also turned their attention to lobbying the government to extend unemployment benefits and offer other help to displaced members. 

The California Labor Federation, which represents more than 2 million unionized workers in the state, recently endorsed Gov. Gray Davis for re-election . 

Before giving its endorsement, the group received several commitments from Davis, including a promise to speed up unemployment benefits for those who lost their jobs as a result of the terrorist attacks. 

In Santa Monica, a hotbed of union activity because its many tourist hotels, the City Council recently passed a union-backed ordinance requiring luxury hotels and other tourism-related businesses to give workers who have been let go first crack at positions that are refilled. 

Meanwhile, Durazo and the presidents of other union locals continue to push their national agenda. They will soon travel to Boston in support of a contract dispute involving 3,000 workers at nine hotels in the city. 

“Hotels are under an enormous amount of pressure, but that’s no reason to take advantage of workers,” Durazo said. 

Durazo said it is important that unions stay aggressive and not worry about their public image if workers strike. 

“We’re taking the offensive as far as trying to secure greater rights for our members even at the time this is going on,” she said. 

It’s possible that unions may garner even greater public support because of the crisis. 

Workers standing in unemployment lines — the economic victims of terrorism — could be seen in a more sympathetic light than defiant workers on a picket line. 

“The silver lining is this is a test for organized labor to become united, responding to a crisis in solidarity with each other,” Contreras said. “Labor gave a voice to janitors last year. Labor is giving a voice this year to these workers who are affected by layoffs.” 

NEW YORK — A new survey suggests that the Internet is not cutting into the time people spend with their friends and families. Rather, it’s cutting into their time for television. 

Internet users watched 4.5 less hours of television a week than Americans who stay offline, according to the study released Thursday by the University of California at Los Angeles. Longtime Net users are more likely than newcomers to reduce their viewing habits. 

“Without question, Internet users are ’buying’ some of their time to go online from the time they used to spend watching television,” said Jeff Cole, director of the UCLA Center for Communication Policy. 

Internet users socialized with friends slightly longer than nonusers did, and they spent nearly as much time socializing with family, the study found. Users and nonusers spent about the same amount of time on most household activities, like having meals and playing sports. 

The exception was television. Nonusers spent 10 hours a week watching television with members of their household, compared with 9.4 hours for Internet newcomers and 6.7 hours for veterans. 

For general TV-watching, nonusers spent 16.8 hours, while users spent 12.3 hours. Internet users also spent less time listening to the radio, talking on the telephone and reading books, newspapers and magazines. 

Nearly 30 percent of the newcomers — those online for less than a year — said they have watched less TV. For veterans on the Net for at least five years, the figure increases to nearly 35 percent. 

Nearly a quarter of children watched less television since using the Net. 

The findings are consistent with research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which found a quarter of Internet users decreasing their TV watching. Only 3 percent of Internet users said they watched more television. 

None of the surveys, however, suggest the demise of television anytime soon. Pew, for instance, had found that Americans turned to television as their primary source of news immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks, while Internet usage dropped on Sept. 11 and 12. 

Dennis Wharton, a spokesman with the National Association of Broadcasters, said that while the Internet potentially gives broadcasters competition, “over time there’s going to be a sort of marriage of the two.” 

“Media usage is not some sort of zero-sum game,” he said. “The study seems to suggest you can’t do both at the same time.” 

Wharton added that overall television viewership — broadcast, cable and satellite combined — has grown over the past decade. 

UCLA’s Cole said that when someone was using the Net and watching television at the same time, only the primary activity was counted. 

The telephone survey of 2,006 U.S. households was conducted from May to July. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The study was funded partly by the National Science Foundation. 

Among other findings: 

—Internet users were most satisfied with the ability to communicate with other people online. They were least satisfied with the speed of connection. 

—More than 72 percent of Americans have Internet access, up from 67 percent in 2000. Users spent 9.8 hours a week online, up from 9.4 hours. High-speed users spent three hours a week online more than dial-up users. 

—Privacy and credit card security remain chief concerns when shopping online, although the concerns about credit cards decreased among veterans. 

—Americans were more likely to be concerned about sexual content in movies and on television than over the Internet, although all three media provoked significant worries. 

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On the Net: http://www.ccp.ucla.edu 

PORTLAND, Ore. — After swelling the ranks of Oregon high-tech manufacturing and helping shift the state economy from its dependence on timber to a new base in computer chips, Fujitsu announced Thursday it will close its only U.S. semiconductor plant and lay off 670 workers. 

“It’s going to have a big impact, I would think,” said Art Ayre, a state labor economist. 

Ayre said Oregon has roughly 200,000 manufacturing jobs but other recent layoffs, including about 700 workers at Freightliner, the DaimlerChrysler heavy truck subsidiary based in Portland, have helped push the state jobless rate to 6.5 percent — the second-highest in the nation behind Washington. 

Fujitsu built the suburban Gresham semiconductor plant in 1988, when the Japanese electronics company was welcomed as part of the effort to diversify a wood products economy that had been battered by one of the longest recessions in state history. 

Fujitsu quickly took root in the “Silicon Forest” — the nickname given the metro area high-tech industry that has grown up halfway between the computer hardware center in California’s Silicon Valley and the Microsoft software empire in Seattle. 

“This plant was a big part of the community,” said Ron Craig, Fujitsu’s human resources director in Oregon. 

Last summer, Fujitsu peaked to about 900 workers, but the sagging economy forced a round of layoffs that trimmed about 250 jobs at the end of August. 

The closure announced Thursday was blamed mostly on the sharp decline in demand for cell phones and other handheld electronic devices, which use the so-called “flash memory” chip produced at the Gresham plant. 

“The market has been very unkind to Fujitsu in Gresham,” Craig said. 

Until last year, the Oregon plant had specialized in dynamic random access memory chips — known as DRAM — for personal computers. But as the DRAM market weakened and the flash market took off, Fujitsu spent $350 million to convert the Gresham plant and pumped up production. 

Now the plant is entirely surplus capacity that Fujitsu can no longer afford, Craig said. The equipment will be sold, he said, but decision on whether to sell the building is pending. 

“Everybody was fooled,” he said, noting that market growth in flash memory was estimated at well over 100 percent at the time of the plant conversion at the end of 1999. 

Fujitsu already has trimmed more than 21,000 workers from its worldwide work force of 180,000, due to slumping demand for electronics, computers and telecommunications equipment. 

The company considered converting the Gresham plant to a joint venture with Advanced Micro Devices Inc., its longtime partner in the flash memory business, but Craig said the market had quickly deteriorated beyond expectations. 

“No rebound is projected for at least 12 months in the flash memory market,” Craig said, pushing any hope of a recovery well into 2003. 

Rich Doherty, who tracks the electronics industry for trade show manager Envisioneering Inc., called the layoffs “terrible news for the holidays” but said Fujitsu did not have an extensive U.S. manufacturing investment compared to other Japanese companies. 

“The only thing that might bring this back faster is defense spending on homeland security, which needs flash memory for many projects,” Doherty said. “But that’s a long shot.” 

Workers will receive paychecks and benefits through the end of January, when they will receive severance pay based on length of service and assistance in trying to find a new job, Craig said. 

But Ayre said finding another job during a recession will be difficult, especially during the seasonal tightening in hiring following the holiday season. 

“There aren’t as many alternatives,” Ayre said, noting that the service and retail industries are suffering too, unlike previous recessions, when they provided jobs for many laid-off manufacturing workers. 

Storm plods across Mississippi Valley after leaving snow on Plains 

JACKSON, Miss. — Torrential rain swamped parts of the South on Thursday, flooding roads and forcing hundreds of people out of their homes. One woman died when her car was swept into a drainage ditch. 

Schools in Tennessee and Mississippi sent children home early as streams and rivers continued to rise. In some areas, heavy rain and damaging winds blew through areas still cleaning up after tornadoes earlier this week. 

At one point, every county in Mississippi was under some sort of flood or tornado watch and forecasters warned that rivers will rise across the region through the weekend. 

Sherrie Jones, 28, died after her car was swept into a drainage ditch near Horn Lake. Several mobile homes near Lena were destroyed or damaged by high wind, said Tommy Malone of the Leake County Emergency Management Agency. 

Sunflower County sheriff’s Deputy Robert Thompson said several roads were impassable near Parchman. 

“It’s pretty bad and it’s still raining,” Thompson said. 

In Tennessee, eight to 14 inches of rain had fallen in some areas since Wednesday night. 

“Every time we get our stuff in one room and we think it’s safe, it starts leaking and we have to move it again,” said Terri Peale, whose home near the community of Paris was damaged by a tornado three days ago. 

In Shelby County, Tenn., about 50 homes were evacuated because of floodwaters. About 40 other people were evacuated across the region, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. 

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee approved disaster declarations for eight counties after as much of 9 inches of rain fell between Tuesday and Thursday. Residents were using sandbags and pumps to stave off floodwaters. 

In the southeastern Arkansas town of Dumas, Mayor Clay Oldner estimated that 22 homes, eight businesses and a manufacturing plant were flooded. Schools were closed and streets were under as much as 2 feet of water. 

“We can take 1, 2 or 3 inches of rain, we just cannot take 12 inches of continuous rain,” Oldner said. 

In West Memphis, Ark., firefighter Doug Baker said 25 to 30 homes and an apartment complex were flooded. He said more than 1,000 homes had limited access because they were surrounded by water. 

“We are doing well, considering,” he said. “It could be much worse.” 

Fearing high water, Ruth Idrogo turned off the natural gas in her rental house along the banks of the Little River in Christian County, Ky. 

“Where are we going to go? We don’t have anyplace else to go,” she said. 

Farther west, the southern Plains began to recover from the frozen rain and more than a foot of snow left behind by the same storm system. 

The region’s first snowstorm of the season was blamed for hundreds of traffic accidents and at least 18 deaths in Texas and Oklahoma. Icy bridges and overpasses, and the accidents, brought the morning commute to a halt around Dallas. 

The Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport resumed normal operations about noon Thursday. Dozens of flights were canceled Wednesday and Thursday. 

At least 9 inches of snow fell in Aspermont, Texas, about 100 miles northwest of Abilene, and Lubbock and Wichita Falls both reported several inches. Bridges were coated with ice across western Texas and some 4,000 people were without electricity after wind and ice downed power lines.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The FBI severely underestimates the number of crimes of bigotry and racism, from petty vandalism to murder, a report released Thursday says. 

The Southern Poverty Law Center said the FBI counts about 8,000 bias-motivated crimes in America annually, but the actual number may total 50,000. 

“Obviously, there’s something wrong with that system,” said Mark Potok, an editor of an article in the center’s Intelligence Report. 

The national statistics are skewed because many police officers don’t label offenses as hate crimes, and some states report having none. The Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990 calls for compiling data on those incidents, but compliance by police and states is voluntary, the report said. 

Even blatant discriminatory crimes often go ignored, the article said. It cited the cases of 19-year-old Sasezley Richardson, a black man slain in Elkhart, Ind., and Billy Jack Gaither, a gay man beaten to death in Sylacauga, Ala. 

“These statistics are the basics of public policy, and we cannot effectively address hate crime without these numbers,” Potok said. 

The FBI acknowledges flaws in the data but says the system will improve as public and police awareness of bias crimes increases, said Maryvictoria Pyne, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services. 

“We don’t look at the numbers as being worthless,” she said. 

NEW YORK (AP) — More than 50 AT&T Corp. employees or former employees in nine states have filed complaints against the company alleging discrimination based on race, gender, disability or national origin. 

Some workers also were sexually harassed, said attorney Lenard Leeds, whose firm represents the workers. About one in four of the workers was fired. 

Since late October, 52 complaints have been filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, including 12 on Wednesday. As many as 150 are likely by year’s end, Leeds said. 

A spokeswoman for the New York-based telecommunications giant said the company could not comment on specific charges because it has not yet seen the allegations. 

“AT&T has a very strong and long-standing commitment to diversity in the workplace and it’s our company policy that we treat all individuals with dignity and respect,” spokeswoman Cindy Neale said. 

The EEOC does not comment on complaints filed with its office. Workers alleging discrimination cannot sue an employer until the EEOC investigates and approves that step. 

The workers making the allegations live in Arizona, Georgia, Colorado, California, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, the law firm said. 

“The complaints are similar around the country and it appears the company is not responding to the needs of its employees and the complaints of its employees,” Leeds said.

The rhythms of Afro-Cuban dance, the history of the Brazilian slave trade and the finer points of big sisterhood – these are just some of the lessons Elisabeth Newton, 13, a freshman at Berkeley High School, is learning through her World Arts and Movement Class at Common Ground, a school-within-a-school at BHS, which focuses on social justice and multi-culturalism. 

Common Ground is offering the course for the first time this fall, under the tutelage of dance instructor Wendy Ellen Cochran. Cochran, who prefers to go by wendyEllen, has traveled throughout California for the past 20 years, bouncing from school to school and teaching this class in one form or another. 

Everywhere she goes, wendyEllen, working with dancers and musicians from all over the world, teaches high school students Brazilian, Caribbean and African songs and dances, and takes them on tour to local elementary schools.  

After performances, she forms partnerships with the elementary schools, pairs up older kids, like Newton, with third-grade “buddies,” and begins conducting classes with the high school and elementary school students together. There, she uses song and dance to teach students about history, world cultures and the power of mentoring. 

“I can see a kid transform when he or she is given the task of teaching a little kid,” wendyEllen said. “I’ve seen the worst kids turn into angels when they have little ones at their feet.” 

Newton can’t say enough about her work with Hali Laws, a third grader from Washington School.  

“I made a little third-grade friend,” she crows. “I get to be an older sister for someone who’s not my sister.” 

WendyEllen, working with artists-in-residence Rogerio Teber of Brazil, Jose Francisco Barroso of Cuba and Hugh Humphrey of Trinidad, teaches her students backgrounds of every song and dance they learn. 

“Every dance has a history, a language, a geography and a culture,” wendyEllen said. “There’s a tremendous amount of anthropological study involved.” 

Her students say the anthropological aspect of the class is one of its most interesting facets.  

“We’re learning a lot of history about the places the dances come from,” said Newton, discussing the Afro-Brazilian roots of capoeira, a martial arts dance form. 

“I think I’m learning a lot of new things,” added Morion Shelby, 14, a freshman at BHS. 

But wendyEllen and Humphrey say that, while they emphasize the unique qualities of every culture studied in class, they also take time to discuss the commonalties uniting young people around the world. 

“(The students) get to realize that maybe we talk a different language, but we all go through the same things as teenagers,” Humphrey said, “the same peer pressure, the same trouble with parents.” 

WendyEllen says that this focus on common ground brings together students in her classroom who might not normally interact. “Berkeley High can be very segregated,” she said. “You don’t see that (intermingling) much here.” 

WendyEllen will bring a group of high school students to Malcolm X Arts & Academic Magnet School on Dec. 14, at 9 a.m. to perform, perhaps enticing another elementary school into participation in her program.  

Later in the month, she plans to bring her high school students and their Washington School buddies back to Washington for a group performance. 

But wendyEllen, and her artists-in-residence - who receive small salaries through grants from the California Arts Council and several local foundations - are looking beyond Berkeley. Together, they are putting together grant proposals for student trips to Cuba, Costa Rica and Trinidad and Tobago in the latter part of the school year. 

In the meantime, they are happy to watch their students learn about world cultures and pick up valuable life lessons. 

“I get to learn how to teach little kids,” said Michael Cochran, a junior at BHS. “I think it will help when I get older and have my own little kids.”  

Cal has depended on freshman Jamal Sampson to score points so far this young season, but on Wednesday night the Bears got the points they needed from some old heads. 

Seniors Solomon Hughes and Dennis Gates each scored career highs against New Mexico to lead the Bears (4-0) to a 71-62 win in Berkeley. Hughes led the Bears with 17 points, while defensive specialist Gates had 16.  

Cal went ahead for the first time in the game on the strength of a 20-2 second-half run during which Hughes and Gates combined to score 11 points. Gates capped the run with a 3-pointer to put the Bears up 49-37 with 12 minutes left in the game, and the Lobos (2-3) wouldn’t get closer than five for the rest of the game. 

The two seniors were characteristically understated after the game. 

“I just came out trying to make a couple of baskets,” Gates said of his offensive outburst. 

“It was a combination of some great passes from Jamal and just personally coming out more relaxed,” Hughes said. “The offense just came to me.” 

The pair also keyed the Bears on the defensive end, as Gates came up with four steals and Hughes teamed up with Sampson to patrol the middle, with each big man coming up with three blocked shots. 

New Mexico jumped out to an early 7-0 lead and never trailed in the first half. Point guard Marlon Parmer was effective penetrating the Bear defense early, dishing out 5 assists in the first 10 minutes of the game, but was shut down for most of the second half, finishing with just 7 dimes and 5 points. The Bears chipped away at the lead, and Hughes hit two free throws just before halftime to cut the deficit to 30-29. 

“We wanted to get out on their 3-point shooters, and we did that,” Cal head coach Ben Braun said. “But our defensive rotation was lacking early and we didn’t recover in time to stop the penetration.” 

The second half was a different story, as the Lobos came out cold. They shot just 26.8 percent from the field in the half, including a frigid 1-of-16 on 3-pointers. Leading scorer Ruben Douglas was held to 18 points on 5-for-16 shooting, including just 1-of-8 from behind the arc. 

“Cal played great defense tonight, and we just didn’t weather the storm,” said Fran Fraschilla, New Mexico’s head coach. “But it was as much our poor shooting as it was their defense.” 

The Lobos built the lead back up to 35-29 before the Bears’ big run. Cal’s Ryan Forehan Kelly gave his team its first lead of the game when he made a 3-pointer, then dropped in two free throws to make the score 36-35. Gates followed with a runner, then Hughes tipped in a Shantay Legans miss and hit a baby-hook shot.  

Gates showed some unusual aggressiveness, taking the ball strong to the hole and converting two free throws to make the score 44-37, then finished the run with a 3 to make the score 49-37. 

“(Gates) seemed to make every key play for us tonight,” Braun said. “He was aggressive, and that’s contagious. When he’s on the floor, everything picks up a level.”

Thursday, Nov. 29

Small Schools Community Action Committee 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Longfellow Middle School Auditorium 

1500 Derby St. 

The Small Schools Community Action Committee is sponsoring an informational meeting geared to middle school parents. All interested community members are invited. 486-1014, http://berkeleysmallschools.org. 

Day of Action for Justice in Palestine 

noon 

UC Berkeley 

Sproul Plaza  

Students will stage a rally and demonstration on International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Followed by a teach-in with Prof. Asad Abukhalil of CSU Stanislaus, 7 p.m., 60 Evans Hall. 496-1269, justiceinpalestine@ yahoo.com. 

The Nuclear Waste Problem  

and the Yucca Mountain Project 

6 - 7:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley 

180 Tan Hall 

This talk will discuss the nuclear waste problem, its causes, and possible long-term solutions. The potential solution offered by deep geologic disposal is discussed, and current research efforts at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are described. 704-8106, lancekim@nuc.berkeley.edu. 

AIDS Poetry Slam 

7 - 9:30 p.m. 

Berkeley High School 

Room G210 

Berkeley High’s Peer Health Education Program will sponsor a poetry reading focused on HIV/AIDS. 644-6838, extension 4. 

Campaign to End the Death Penalty - Fundraiser  

8 p.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity Hall 

390 27th St., Oakland  

Three bands and a very good cause. $5-$10. 985-2805, emterzakis@ aol.com. 

Ferry Expansion Hearings 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Open House Senior Center 

6500 Stockton St., El Cerrito 

The San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority (WTA) is holding public scoping sessions to identify environmental issues that should be studied before expanding ferry service on the Bay. www.bluewaternetwork.org. 

What’s Going On? Debt and Aids in Africa 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Friends Church 

1600 Sacramento St. 

Town Hall meeting and panel discussion with John Iverson, East Bay ACT UP; Nunu Kidane on Debt and AIDS, and an update on how to become involved locally. 415-565-0201 x12, www.aaaw.org. 

A Mayoral Vision 

11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Radisson Hotel 

Berkeley Marina 

Don't miss this opportunity to share your visionary thoughts with Mayor Dean. Q & A will follow the presentation. $30, includes lunch. 549-7000, www.berkeleychamber.com.  

Professor Linda McNeil Challenges President Bush’s Model for Educational Reform 

7 p.m. 

UC Berkeley 

4635 Tolman Hall 

In a talk entitled “The Texas Assessment System: Miracle or Mirage,” Dr. McNeil will examine the widely emulated accountability system used in Texas and present evidence which concludes that it has adverse effects on both teaching and learning. 496-6028, www.calcare.org. 

Latin Dance Class 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley/Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Salsa, Cha-cha, Merengue... $10, No partner necessary. All ages and levels welcome. 508-4616 

Winter Backcountry Travel:  

Safety and Survival Tips 

7 p.m. 

REI 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Leader of the National Ski Patrol’s Northern California search and rescue team, Mike Kelly, shares his expertise on how to plan a safe adventure in the snow. Free. 527-4140 

Discussion for Women 

1:00 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Katheryn Gardella, RN., discuss mobility Issues and Feling Good in this part of a series of discussions for women. 644-6107 

Montessori Campus Design  

Competition Exhibit  

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Montessori School 

1581 LeRoy Ave. 

BMS is designing a new Elementary and Middle School campus, see the designs and give your feedback for jury consideration in selecting the winner. 843-9374, sharline@well.com. 

Attic Conversions 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Seminar taught by architect Andus Brandt, $35. 525-7610 

Friday, Nov. 30

World Aids Day March 

noon 

Roche Diagnostics 

2929 7th St. 

Protest for affordable medications for all nations. March five blocks to Bayer. 841-4339 

Black Filmmakers Hall of  

Fame 12th Annual Black  

Filmworks 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California  

1000 Oak St., Oakland 

“Maangamizi: The Ancient One.” The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has accepted Maangamizi as the official entry from Tanzania for nomination consideration for the upcoming 74h Annual Academy Awards Foreign Language Film Award category. This is the first time ever that an entry from Tanzania has been considered and presented to the screening committee. 465-0804, www.blackfilmmakershall.org. 

Benefit for a Peace House in  

Chiapas, Mexico 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists 

Cedar and Bonita streets. 

The peace house will serve as an educational center on indigenous rights, neoliberal economics, and human rights observation for the international community. Live music, documentary film ‘Zapatista,’ and a traditional Mexican dinner. $25. 652-3512, cbossen@mindspring.com 

Editor:  

Still searching for Osama bin Laden? Give me a break! I wonder which of those women in a burka is him.......... 

Gerta Farber 

Oakland

21 Grand Nov. 29: 9 p.m., Lemon Lime Lights, Hillside, Moe! Staiano, $6; Nov. 30: 9 p.m., Fred Frith, Damon Smith, Marco Eneidi, Sabu Toyozumi Ensemble, Phillip Greenlief, $10; Dec. 1: 9 p.m., Toychestra, Rosin Coven, Darling Freakhead, $6; All ages. 21 Grand Ave., Oakland. 444-7263 

924 Gilman St. Nov. 30: Shitlist, Atrocious Madness, Fuerza X, Catheter, S Bitch, Delta Force; Dec. 1: Yaphet Kotto, Cattle Decapitation, Creation Is Crucifixion, Kalibas, A Death Between Seasons, Lo-Fi Neissans; Dec. 2: 5 p.m., Dead and Gone, Venus Bleeding, Suptonix, Geoff (spoken word), East Bay Chasers, Lesser Of Two; Dec. 7: Har Mar Superstar, The Pattern, The Blast Rocks, Your Enemies’ Friends, Hate Mail Express; Dec. 8: Scurvy Dogs, Nigel Peppercock, Shut The Fuck Up, Offering To The Sun, Voetsek; Dec. 9: Poison The Well, Unearth, Sworn Enemy, Spark Lights The Friction; Dec. 14: Hot Water Music, American Steel, F-Minus, Trial By Fire; Dec. 15: Strung Out, Limp, The Frisk, The Deadlines, The Creeps; Dec. 16: 5 p.m., Good Riddance, Missing 23rd, Downway, Audio Crush; Dec. 21: Kepi, Bonfire Madigan, Kevin Seconds; Dec. 22: The Lab Rats, Onetime Angels, A great Divide, Last Great Liar, Gabriel’s Ratchet; Dec. 23: 5 p.m., Over My Dead Body, Panic, Breaker Breaker, Some Still Believe; All shows start a 8 p.m. unless noted; Most are $5; 924 Gilman St. 525-9926 

The Albatross Pub Dec. 4: Panacea; Dec. 5: Whiskey Brothers; Dec. 6: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 11: Mad & Eddic Duran Jazz Duo; Dec. 13: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 15: Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet; Dec. 18: Panacea; Dec. 19: Whiskey Brothers; Dec. 20: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 27: Keni “El Lebrijano”; All shows start at 9 p.m., 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473  

Anna’s Nov. 29: Ed Reed and Alex Markels Jazz Group; Nov. 30: Ann sings jazz standards; 10 p.m., Bluesman Hideo Date; All shows 8 p.m. unless noted. Free. 1901 University Ave., 849-2662 

Ashkenaz Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Grateful Dead DJ Nite, $5; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums w/ Ms. Carmen Getit; Dec. 1: 8 p.m., 2nd Annual Musical Night in Africa w/ Kotoja, West African Highlife Band, Kasumai Bare, Nigerian Brothers, $13; Dec. 2: 6 p.m., Danny Torres and Nova Trova, $8; 1317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5054 www.ashkenaz.com 

Blake’s Nov. 28: Erotic City, DJ Maestro, $2; Nov. 29: Ascension, $5; Nov. 30: Felonious, TBA, $6; All shows 9:30 p.m. 2367 Telegraph Ave., 848-0886 

Cafe Eclectica Nov. 30: 6 - 11 p.m., She Mob, Wire Graffiti, Breast, Honeyshot, Run for Cover Lovers, $6; All ages 1309 Solano Ave., 527-2344. 

Cal Performances Nov. 29: Les Arts Florissants, $24 - $46; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 642-0212 tickets@calperfs.berkeley .edu 

Club Muse Nov. 29: 9:30 p.m., SoulTree, Tang!, $7; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., Calamity and Main, Darling Clementines, The Bootcuts, $8; Dec. 1: 9:30 p.m., Naked Barbies, Penelope Houston, $8; All ages. 856 San Pablo Ave., Albany, 528-2878. 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; Nov. 23: Junior Morrow; Nov. 24: Jimmy Dewrance; Nov. 30: Scott Duncan; Dec. 1: J.J. Malone; Doors open at 8 p.m. unless noted. 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage Coffee House Nov. 28: Wake the Dead; Nov. 29: Judith Kate Friedman and Deborah Pardes; Nov. 30: Odile Lavault and Baguette Quartette; Dec. 1: Geoff Muldaur w/ Fritz Richmond; Dec. 2: Kaila Flexer’s Fieldharmonik; Dec. 5: Avalon Blues: Peter Case, Dave Alvin and Bill Morrissey; Dec. 6: Ray Bonneville; Dec. 7 & 8: Rebecca Riots; All shows begin 8 p.m., 1111 Addison St. Call 548-1761 for prices or see www.freightandsalvage.org.  

The Minnow Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Jolly!, Good For You, Grain USA, Plan to Pink; Nov. 30: Sedadora, Six Eye Columbia, Betty Expedition, The Clarendon Hills; Dec. 1: Replicator, Fluke Starbucker, Baby Carrot, The Len Brown Society; All shows $6. 1700 Clement Ave., Alameda. 

iMusicast Nov. 30: 6 - 11 p.m., Applesaucer, The Plus Ones, Cutlass Supreme, Salem Lights, Short Wave Rocket, One Step Shift; Dec. 1: 6 - 11 p.m., One Time Angels, The Influents, The Frisk, Fetish, The Locals, $8; All ages. 5429 Telegraph Ave. 601-1024, www.imusicast.com. 

Chilean dance ensemble Araucaria, Andean music troupe Viento, Venezuelan Music Project; . La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568, http:/www.lapena.org. 

Jupiter Dec. 1: Will Bernard Trio; Dec. 5: J Dogs; Dec. 6: Joshi Marshal Project; Dec. 7: AVI Bortnick Group; Dec. 8: Harvey Wainapel Quartet; Dec. 12: Mushroom; Dec. 13: Joshi Marshal Project; Dec. 14: Broun Fellini’s; Dec. 15: Norah Jones and Jim Campilongo; Dec. 19: Spectraphonic; Dec. 20: Joshi Marshal Project; Dec. 21: Crater; Dec. 22: Post Junk Trio; Dec. 27: Joshi Marshal Project; Dec. 29: Berkeley Jazz School Presents: Kirk Tamura Trio; All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless noted. 2181 Shattuck Ave., 843-7625, www.jupiterbeer.com. 

La Peña Nov. 30 & Dec. 1: 8 p.m., ¡Viva el Carnival! $12-$14; Dec. 7: 8:30 p.m., John Calloway & Diaspora, $12; Dec. 8: 9:30 p.m., Dr. Loco’s Rocking Jalapeño Band, $10; Dec. 9: 3:30 p.m, Café Domingo de Rumba, Free; Dec. 9: 7:30 p.m., Trio Altamira Reunion Concert, $12-$14; Dec. 14: 8 p.m., Holly Near, $15-$17; Dec. 16: 5 p.m, Flamenca Community Juerga, Free; Dec. 16: 7 p.m, Modupue & UpSurge, $8; Dec. 23: 3:30 p.m, Café Domingo de Rumba, Free; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568, www.lapena.org 

“Music on Telegraph” Dec. 1: Scrambled Samba Trio, Ann’s Kitchen, 2498 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 2: Paul and Jill Janoff, Musical Offering, 2430 Bancroft; Dec. 8: Jonah Minton Quartet, Julie’s Healthy Cafe, 2562 Bancroft; Dec. 9: Hebro, Blakes, 2367 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 15: Thelonious On The Move, Bison Brewing, 2598 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 16: Howard Kadis, Musical Offering Cafe, 2430 Bancroft; Dec. 22: Kaz Sasaki Duo, Blackberry Ginger, 2520 Durant; Dec. 23: Almadecor, Ann’s Kitchen, 2498 Telegraph Ave.; All shows 2 - 4 p.m., Free. 

Rose Street House Dec. 1: 8 p.m., Acapella Night - Making Waves, Solstice, Out on a Clef, $5 - $20; Dec. 14 & 15: 7:30 p.m., Benefit Concert and Birthday Party, Shelly Doty and grassroots community of women singers and song writers; Dec. 25: 3 p.m., Annual “Dykelah Escape-from-you-know-what-day Musical Extravaganza!”; 1839 Rose St. 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@yahoo.com. 

Starry Plough Nov. 29: 9:30 p.m., The Moore Brothers, Yuji Oniki, BArt Davenport, $8; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., The Kirby Grips, Dealership, Bitesize, The Blast Rocks, (all ages show) $8; Dec. 1: 9:30 p.m., Mark Growden’s Electric Pinata, Ramona the Pest, Film School; 3101 Shattuck Ave.  

Stork Club Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Mega-Mousse, Base LIne Dada, Meeshee, Mike Boner, $7; Nov. 30: 9 p.m., Love Kills Love, Three Years Down, Jack Killed Jill, October Allied, Eddie Haskells, $6; Dec. 1: 10 p.m., Anticon, Kevin Blechdom, Bevin Blectum, The Silents, $10; Dec. 2: 8 p.m., Corsciana, The Mass, Modular Set, Spore Attic, $5; 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 

ACME Observatory Contemporary Performance Series Dec. 2: 8 p.m., Lesli Dalaba , Aaron Bennett, $0 - $20; Tuva Space, 3192 Adeline St., http://sfsound.org/ acme.html. 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra presents “Bach’s Mass in B Minor” Dec. 1, 8 p.m., Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m., First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant. Guest conductor Andrew Parrott. $34 - $50. 415-392-4400, www.philharmonia.org. 

Mike Vax Jazz Orchestra with Lennie Niehaus Dec. 2: 2 p.m., $18. Longfellow School of the Arts, 1500 Derby St. 420-4560, www.bigbandjazz.net 

Theater 

“Uncle Vanya” Nov. 23 through Nov. 29: Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun. Nov. 25, 7 p.m. Subterranean Shakespeare’s production of Jean-Claude van Italie’s humorous translation of Anton Chekhov’s romantic masterpiece. Directed by Diane Jackson. Benefits the Forests Forever Foundation. $8-$14. La Val’s Subterranean Theatre, 1834 Euclid. 234-6046, www.subshakes.com 

“Goddesses” Nov. 30 through Dec. 1: Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 7 p.m. A sensuous and humorous drama concerning one mortal woman’s struggle to control the six extraordinary goddesses in her psyche. Written by Dorotea Reyna. $10. Mils College, Lisser Hall, 5900 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland 883-0536, rlcouture@earthlink.net 

“Saint Joan” Through Dec. 2: Wed. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., 7 p.m. George Bernard Shaw’s epic of a young girl determined to drive the English out of France with only her faith to support her. Directed by Barbara Oliver. $26-35. Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison St. 843-4822 www.auroratheatre.org 

“Seventy Scenes of Halloween” Nov. 30 & Dec. 7: 8 p.m.; Dec. 1 & 8: 8 p.m., 10:30 p.m.; Dec. 2 & 9: 7 p.m.; BareStage Productions, UC Berkeley’s original student theater company, presents a macbre farce written by Jeffrey M. Jones and directed by Desdemona Chiang. $8. UC Berkeley, Choral Rehearsal Hall. 682-3880, barestage@ucchoral.berkeley.edu. 

“Brave Brood” Through Dec. 16 Robert O’Hara directs Robert O’Hara’s searing tale of money, desperation, and the fight for survival. $20. Transparent Theater, 1901 Ashby Ave. 883-0305 www.transparenttheater.org 

“Much Ado About Nothing” Through Jan. 8: Check theater for specific dates and times. Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy chronicles a handful of soldiers returning from a winning battle to be greeted by a gaggle of giddy maidens. Directed by Brian Kulick. $10 - $54. Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 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 

Films 

Pacific Film Archive Theater Nov. 30: 7:30 p.m., Werckmeister Harmonies; Dec. 6: 7 p.m., Bizarre, Bizarre; 8:50 p.m., The Green Man; Dec. 7: 7 p.m., Smiles of a Summer Night; 9:05 p.m., Cluny Brown; Bancroft Way, 642-1124 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Exhibits  

“2001 James D. Phelan Art Awards in Printmaking” Honorees: Bridget Henry, David Kelso, and Margaret Van Patten. Through Nov. 30 Tues. - Fri. noon - 5 p.m., other times by appointment. Kala Art Institue, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977 www.kala.org 

“Furniture Art” Through Dec. 7: An exhibit of metal and wood furniture that revisits furniture not only as art but as craft. 12 p.m. - 6 p.m. The Current Gallery at the Crucible, 1036 Ashby Ave. 843-5511 www.thecrucible.org 

“The Paintings of Bethany Anne Ayers and Sculpture of Alexander Cheves” Nov. 15 through Dec. 15: Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Ardency Gallery, 709 roadway, Oakland. 836-0831 gallery709@aol.com 

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

“Matrix 195” Through Jan. 13: German artist, Thomas Scheibitz’s, first solo museum exhibition in the United States showcases semi-abstract representations of everyday objects and landscapes. Wed., Fri. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. $3-$6. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

GTU Exhibit: “Holocaust Series” by Cleve Gray Through Jan. 25: Comprised of 21 works on paper that constitute “a catharsis... for all of humanity.” Mon. - Thurs. 8:30 a.m. - 9:45 p.m., Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sun. noon - 7 p.m.; Free. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541 www.gtu.edu 

“Enduring Wisdom: Artwork and Stories by Homeless and Formerly Homeless Seniors” Through Feb. 15: 18 homeless and formerly homeless elders reveal how they learned and applied wisdom that is timeless. Mon. - Fri. and Sundays 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Reception and presentation by the elders Thurs. Nov. 15, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. Free. St. Mary’s Center, 635 22nd St., Oakland, 893-4723 x222 

“The Art History Museum of Berkeley” 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. 841-4210 or visit www.atelier9.com 

Readings 

Cody’s on Telegraph Ave. Nov. 28: 7:30 p.m. David Meltzer and contributors read from his newly revised and re-released collection of interviews with Bay Area Beat Poets; 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852 

Coffee With A Beat - Word Beat reading series: Dec. 1: Adam David Miller, Dennis Richards; Dec. 8: Jeanne Powell, Kelly Kraatz; Dec. 15: Norm Milstein, Barbara Minton; Dec. 22: Debra Grace Khattab, Jesy Goldhammer; Dec. 29: Steve Arntson, Michelle Erickson, Clare Lewis; All readings are free and begin at 7 p.m., 458 Perkins, Oakland, 526-5985, www.angelfire.com/poetry/wordbeat. 

The Humanist Fellowship Hall Dec. 5: 7 p.m., “Our Wings Are Pregnant Seesaws” a play by H. D. Moe. A reading performance by the theatre workshop. 390 27th St., Oakland, 528-8713 

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 Sun., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sun., 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; Nov. 3: Tales from the Enchanted Forest, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.; Nov. 9: Living with the Earth; Nov. 17: Recycle that Stuff; $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Mon. and Wed., 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tues. and Fri., 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thur., 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

Oakland Museum of California Through Nov. 25: Pasajes y Encuentros: Ofrendas for the Days of the Dead, highlights three thematic “passageways” that connect the dead with the living: tradition, humor and spirit; Dec. 8 & 9: 32nd Annual Bay Area Fungus Fair, the world of the mushroom will be explored in exhibits, lectures, slide shows, cooking demos, etc.. Through Jan. 13: Grand Lyricist: The Art of Elmer Bischoff, featuring paintings and works on paper that trace the evolution of Bischoff’s career. $6 adults, $4 seniors and students, free for children under 5. Wed. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sun. noon - 5 p.m., 10th St., Oakland, 888-625-6873/ www.museumca.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. Mon. through Fri., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 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.  

University of California Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive has reopened after its summerlong seismic retrofit. “Martin Puryear: Sculpture of the 1990s” through Jan. 13; “The Dream of the Audience: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951 - 1982)” through Dec. 16; “Face of Buddha: Sculpture from India, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia” ongoing rotation through 2003; “Matrix 194: Jessica Bronson, Heaps, layers, and curls” Sept. 16 through Nov. 11; “Matrix 192: Ceal Floyer 37’4”” Sept. 16 through Nov. 11; Wed., Fri., Sat., Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., PFA Theater, 2575 Bancroft Way; Museum Galleries 2626 Bancroft Way; 642-0808 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Lawrence Hall of Science Through Jan. 26: Scream Machines: The Science of Roller Coasters; “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. 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  

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

Three people were among those attending the orientation workshop at the Berkeley WorkSource One Stop Career Center Wednesday morning: one holds a doctorate in history, another is homeless and a third has worked as a computer assistant. This is the face of unemployment in Berkeley and it’s not going to change soon. 

“I don’t see our job orders going down but more people are unemployed,” said Delfina M. Geiken, the center manager. “We (now) get not just entry level jobseekers, but more highly trained, higher skilled and higher academic background jobseekers.”  

Geiken said in the last few weeks the center has seen a 25 percent increase in the numbers of unemployed. 

“There is more traffic of people, more new clients, more participants in employer recruitment on site, and of course more demand for unemployment forms,” she said.  

Unemployment shoots up in Berkeley 

Berkeley unemployment rose to 5.1 percent in October, almost double the annual rate of 2.7 percent in 2000. During October, 3,480 people filed unemployment insurance forms, the state Employment Development Department reported a week ago.  

The One Stop Career Center is one avenue the city and federal government use to help people find work.  

Founded in November 1998, the center provides employment programs and services to jobseekers, including nonresidents. Some of the employment programs are designed to help seniors, veterans, disabled and parolees.  

“The idea was to streamline services and to make the job opportunities open to a universal job seeker,” said Geiken.  

Center officials said they have no way to track clients to see if they end up finding jobs. At present, they said, some 500 clients including 150 new ones, use the center every month. 

“It is a self-service center,” Kathleen Watson, the Economic Development Department representative told participants in the orientation workshop. “Do what you can do to find a job.”  

She urged them to use the center resources, the Web links, the job offers on the board, the center library and their workshops. “You pay taxes, the fax, phone and Web access are for free,” she said. 

Center staff helps clients use resources 

Employees will assist if clients run into difficulties using the center’s resource room, Watson said. In some cases and only after 60 days of searching for work, the center sends jobseekers for training or to upgrade their skills.  

Watson, who used to work at Berkeley High School, knows what it is like to look for a job.  

“I know what it’s like to feel when a shoe is about to fall every minute,” she told them. “I was laid off many times. I got permanent only last year after working 16 years for the state.” 

“At least she was willing to listen,” said Marsha, a 38-year-old Berkeley resident who asked that her full name not be used. Marsha recently received a doctorate in history. “I don’t know how good they are in placing someone in my position but they are really willing to help.” 

Marsha has applied for nine or ten different jobs over the last two years, but was rejected each time for being overqualified. 

Job search difficult for the overqualified  

“I don’t know how long it will take me to find a full time position in my field,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a Ph.D.; you still need to pay the bills.”  

Debbi Cooper, a San Francisco art program developer who studied psychology and recently used the resource room also said she can’t find work in her field, “but I use (the resource room) on a regular basis and I even found a job here a year ago.” Back then Cooper took an entry level job in Hawaii but decided to return to look for something more challenging. On Friday she applied for a position as a therapist. 

In Alameda and Contra Costa counties there are 16 One Stop Career Centers under one umbrella called EastBay Works Inc. Berkeley’s First Source is part of that. 

Employees at the Berkeley center come from the city, the state, and the Veterans Department. The $800,000 annual budget is funded by all of these agencies.  

Some employers agree to hire Berkeley First 

The First Source Program is designed to link qualified Berkeley residents to local employers. The City Council passed an ordinance in 1987 that requires every new or expanding employer to consider Berkeley residents first in their hiring.  

The center succeeded in signing more than 80 agreements with local businesses to give Berkeley residents a first option on jobs. 

People who wish to use the services are required to take a math and reading test and to submit an application that will be screened by the center workers before being offered to employers. Last month seven people found jobs through the program.  

But this program will not help people like Marsha or Cooper. 

“I’m going to be honest,” said René Perez, an employment specialist for the city. “For professionals we don’t have very much to offer. Most of our jobs are entry level or middle level.” He said the center rarely see jobs that paid $5,000 a month.  

Perez said the main target is the entry level jobs for high school graduates and “there is still a great demand for those.” 

A student who came to the center, left after realizing it primarily offers Web site access.  

“I have a computer at home,” he said. “I can do it on my own.” 

“It is a self-directed center,” said Geiken. “I encourage everyone to come in but those who can network on their own don’t need us. Those who need the resources, the contacts and even those who need to be in touch with other people for peer support are coming.”  

For Elaine Rich, a medical assistant, the center was exactly what she needed.  

“I just want to be able to use the phone, fax and the job listing on the web,” she said. “My stuff is in storage, in the library I have to wait in line and I don’t have a phone.”  

Rich comes to the center almost twice a day to look for “work that will make me able to live in the Bay Area.”  

He works part time as temporary medical assistant and has been looking for full-time work since February. 

Some of the center’s programs are for the homeless including a “clean the city” initiative that provides 23 homeless people a small salary for cleaning the city. At present, the program is at capacity. 

“I wish I could enroll in it,” said Candy Mooney, a newcomer from Missouri, seeking both housing and a job. “I used to work as a cashier but I’m looking for anything right now. Fast food, housekeeper, marketing, carpeting.” 

Mooney, who used to work for the state of California’s tax department, returned from Missouri after several years to find that things had changed. “When I lived in California before, getting a job was easy,” she said. She now lives with friends in a one bedroom apartment and is on a waiting list for a shelter.  

Tim Stroshane of the city’s housing department wasn’t surprised to hear that the program was full. Stroshane is responsible for the homeless prevention program, which provides emergency cash and non-cash assistance to low income people at risk.  

In the last four months 39 people asked to join the program compared to 70 in the year running from July 2000 to June 2001.  

“We knew even before September that the economy started to slow down,” he said, “and the figures from the program hinted that.”  

Bill Lambert, head of the city’s economic development division thinks things will get worse. 

“What we’ve seen so far is that the office vacancy rate and the industry vacancy rate went up,” he said. “I expect now to see an impact on retail vacancies. If the retail vacancy rate goes up, it will affect retail employment. It will have a ripple effect.” 

The WorkSource One Stop Career Center is at 1950 Addison Street, Suite 105  

and can be reached at 644-6085 

The Cal women’s basketball team squandered a big lead but recovered to defeat Fresno State, 62-55, Wednesday night at Haas Pavilion.  

Cal’s record improves to 3-0 on the season for the first time since 1994-95, while the Bulldogs fall to 3-1.  

“Fresno State actually took the lead, and we were a little flustered, but I think we regained our composure,” said Cal head coach Caren Horstmeyer. “Once they took a one-point lead, we then were able to come back, score and then we built our lead again. I think that shows a lot of character, again, on the part of our team.”  

Strong second-half play by Cal forward Leigh Gregory, who tied teammate Ami Forney with a game-high 14 points, helped to secure the win. Aritta Lane and Laura Garcia each scored 13 to lead the Bulldogs.  

Cal built its first-half lead thanks in large part to tough defense on Fresno State star Lindsay Logan, with Cal’s Amber White blanketing her for most of the night. Logan entered the match scoring 21.7 points per game, but Cal held Logan scoreless with six turnovers through the first 20 minutes. The Golden Bears led 22-5 with 7:48 left in the half behind Forney’s 10 first-half points and held their biggest lead at 20 at 32-12 with 2:06 to play. They led 32-15 at the half.  

The Bears shot 51.9 percent in the first half with Forney leading the way with a 5-for-7 performance. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs shot just 21.7 percent.  

The second half was a completely different story. Fresno State picked up its defense and Cal shot just 26.9 percent. The Bulldogs shots began falling for a 44.8 percent second-half shooting percentage.  

Fresno State went on a 26-8 run to open the period and took a 41-40 lead with a three-point play by Lane with 9:53 remaining. Overall, the Bulldogs led three times at 2-0, 41-40 and 43-42. Forney sat out most of the run after she picked up her fourth foul just 3:08 into the half.  

Three-point shots from Garcia, who hit two from downtown, and Logan, who hit one, helped the Bulldogs claw their way back in the second half. Logan finished with eight points.  

Clutch baskets and free throws by Gregory sealed the victory. Cal scored its final six points from the line, including the last three from Gregory.

Editor: 

I am a voter who has lived in Berkeley for the past 10 years and care deeply about this great city. A am particularly excited about two recent developments that have emerged in discussions of rejuvenating downtown.  

First is the David Brower Center. To be build on the site of the Oxford parking lot (and putting the parking underground), the Brower Center would serve as a monument to David both by its ecological design and also by its function – as a center for environmental education,advocacy and policy-making – would be the most exciting thing that has happened to this city in a long time. Creating a home for 10-15 Bay Area environmental organizations in downtown Berkeley, along with environmentally-themed retail and conference facilities, would be a tremendous asset to the city in general and downtown in particular. The Brower Center has raised significant funds to develop the site and is simply waiting for a response from the city.  

The second issue is the proposed Eco-City Amendment to the city’s General Plan. I first heard about this idea several months ago when I attended a workshop put on by the Ecocity Builders organization. I think that adopting the policies in the Amendment would make our great city infinitely more livable. I especially like the idea of allowing for a diversity of densities in urban core areas and opening up Strawberry Creek along Center Street. If you have ever been to Boulder, Colo., you know what having a living water body running through town can do to transform the urban landscape. 

With regard to taller buildings, I don’t think they are a bad idea as long as we don’t create a mono-wall of 12 story monsters in downtown. But, a few tall buildings, especially if they are built using ecological design principles would make the city both more interesting and would help me feel like we were doing our part to reduce urban sprawl further east. When I went to UC Berkeley in the early 90’s, I remember having friends who commuted from Walnut Creek because they couldn’t find decent housing in Berkeley. 

Let’s build it in downtown. Vertical real-estate here is probably the most valuable in the Bay Area. Panoramic Interests charges $2,700 for a 750 square foot two-bedroom apartment in the GAIA building. Not taking advantage of higher density and taller buildings in downtown seems like both a environmental shame and an economic one. 

Adam Berman 

Berkeley 

Before a vocal audience Tuesday, the City Council scrapped a controversial, seven-week-old redistricting ordinance and decided to start the contentious process from scratch. 

Citizens for Fair Representation, a newly formed residents’ group, had rendered the ordinance invalid with a petition signed by about 7,000 registered Berkeley voters.  

The council could have put the ordinance before voters on March 5, but instead unanimously voted to repeal the new districts. The council then approved a new redistricting schedule, which will begin no later than Jan. 1 and end, with council approval, by March 12. Alameda County requires the council to submit newly approved districts no later than April 1 if they are going to be valid by the November 2002 elections. 

“It took a little prodding but the council did the right thing,” said CFR Chair David Tabb. “We don’t know what the new council districts will look like but people will definitely feel that the process is fair this time around.” 

About 100 CFR members, who celebrated when the council repealed the redistricting ordinance, were admonished at least three times by Mayor Shirley Dean after their boos and cat calls drowned out the comments of progressive councilmembers Dona Spring, Linda Maio and Kriss Worthington. 

Dean and moderate councilmembers Polly Armstrong, Betty Olds and Miriam Hawley are CFR members and helped collect petition signatures. 

The City Charter requires new council districts be drawn every 10 years after the release of the U.S. Census. Using census numbers, the council is required by charter to balance population shifts by equally distributing residents in each of the city’s eight districts. 

The redistricting process, which can be driven by political considerations, was made more difficult this year because of a census bureau undercount in districts 7 and 8. While none of the proposed redistricting plans was able to evenly distribute the city’s population, the plan that was approved put 17,000 residents in Councilmember Polly Armstrong’s District 8 and 13,000 in each of the other seven districts. 

After the ordinance was repealed Tuesday, Armstrong asked progressive councilmembers to include more public input in the process.  

“Please don’t rush this thing through,” she said. “Please let the people of Berkeley be part of the process.” 

Councilmember Dona Spring, a member of the council’s progressive majority, vigorously defended the earlier redistricting process saying there was ample opportunity for public participation. “There was nothing sneaky about this plan,” she said. “The plan is being challenged because certain members of the council weren’t happy with the results.” 

Spring also challenged the CFR’s petition. “I don’t believe an accurate story was put out to the people who signed that petition,” she said. 

Councilmember Linda Maio, who voted for the plan in October, said she was glad the process was starting over again. Maio said she was conflicted about the approved plan because of the number of residents in District 8. 

“It’s been very difficult because none of the proposals dealt with the undercount fairly,” she said. “I’m really glad we are revisiting this now.” 

The failed redistricting ordinance, backed by the progressive council majority, has been a source of controversy since it was narrowly approved by a 5-4 vote on Oct. 2. Prior to its approval, the council had considered the redistricting plan along with five others during a four-month process that included two public hearings. 

But last-minute changes to the controversial plan prior to the council’s Oct. 2 vote caused council moderates to accuse progressives of altering the plan in what they called a “backroom” meeting. 

The councilmembers that attended the meeting, Dona Spring, Maudelle Shirek and Margaret Breland, have said only minor changes were made to the plan. Spring said that moderate councilmembers were using the allegations as “smokescreen” to foil the new districts. 

After the council repealed the redistricting ordinance, Dean thanked CFR members for getting involved in an important issue “that’s not exciting, sexy or even very interesting.”

St. Mary’s senior Danielle Stokes committed to run track for Cal State Northridge this week, according to her high school coach. 

Stokes, a hurdler, finished third at the North Coast Section Finals of both the 100- and 300-meter hurdles last season. She made her decision to attend Northridge late last week, said St. Mary’s track coach and athletic director Jay Lawson. 

In addition, St. Mary’s long-jumper Solomon Welch is expected to sign a letter of intent for Stanford during the current signing period. Welch earned his acceptance by the admissions department earlier this week, according to Lawson. 

Editor: 

I’d like to reply to those who’ve written justifying the bombing of Afghanistan by equalizing it with the bombing of the World Trade Center. Two wrongs do not make a right. They also do not provide safety. Historically, wrongs have generated third and fourth and on and on wrongs. The United States of America is inspiring new generations of terrorists by bombing Afghanistan and Iraq and supporting Israel’s genocide for “lebensraum” and proclaiming that “we’re number one” (badly). 

Justice, not vengeance. Praises to Dona Spring and the others. I think it’s about OIL. 

Ruth Bird 

Berkeley 

Officials at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory announced Wednesday that lab researchers are working on three projects that could strengthen homeland security and help combat terrorist activities. 

Lab researchers recently went to Washington, D.C. to brief Secretary of Energy Spencer Braham and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge on the projects’ progress, which are only a few of the more than 24 technologies being developed by the Department of Energy. 

Researchers are developing a screening device to help authorities look into cargo containers and luggage to detect explosives, a training kit that helps first responders evaluate the threat of chemical or biological exposure to buildings, and a catalogue of the DNA of potentially dangerous biological agents. 

The Compact Neutron Source is a portable device that uses neutrons to rapidly screen the contents of baggage, air cargo and mail for explosives or fissionable materials. 

Although similar devices already are available in large sizes, portable machines would be ideal for spot and continuous checks of large containers. 

These portable devices, which run on electricity and not radioactive sources, like the current models, work on power that is a thousand times greater than the power source on existing machines, allowing for the detection of smaller objects, faster screening and a clearer discrimination amongst materials inside a container. 

The initial prototype of this tool is expected to be complete in three months. At least five, and up to 10 machines, will be deployed within the next nine months. 

The laboratory’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division is responsible for the second project being developed – a building occupant protection guide, which is designed to help first responders and occupants respond to a building site that may have been attacked with chemical or biological agents. 

The guide is presented as an informational booklet, which explains how contamination spreads through office buildings so rescue workers can move to minimize the impact of the contamination and cut down on exposure. 

The guide helps emergency responders, building owners and occupants determine where exposure will be the greatest and where contamination is likely to spread. 

A draft guide is complete and ready for review by a focus group. Its production and distribution will follow soon after. 

The third project is a rapid DNA sequencer of microbial pathogens. 

The goal of this project is to develop a complete DNA sequence catalogue of potential microbes that could be used during terrorist attacks.  

Such a catalogue would help scientists identify bacteria strains and determine if a suspected strain is or is not infectious, and help researchers create antidotes to bioterrorist agents. 

The sequencing of so-called biothreat agents is ready to begin in the next three weeks. Research will be conducted at the Department Of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, which is led by scientists from national laboratories in Berkeley, Livermore and Los Alamos. 

The Joint Genome Institute has developed a rapid, cost-effective sequencing process that can sequence microbes in one to three days.

EAST MEADOW, NY - Cal’s Natalie Coughlin, the 2001 Pac-10 and NCAA Swimmer of the Year, added another accolade to her outstanding career Tuesday at the FINA World Cup in East Meadow, NY.  

Coughlin, a sophomore on the Golden Bears swim team, set the world short-course record in the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 2:03.52 seconds, topping the former record of 2:04.44 set by Britain’s Sarah Price back on Aug. 6.  

Coughlin also placed first in the 50-meter back with a time of 27.29. Former Cal teammate, Haley Cope, the 2000 Pac-10 Swimmer of the Year, placed third in the 50 back with a time of 27.94.  

Earlier this summer, Coughlin won the world title in the 100-meter back at the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. She also established a new American record in the 100-meter back with a time of 1:00.16, leading off a relay. 

Editor: 

The famous Berkeley resolution to end the bombing as soon as possible has brought derision as well as admiration from around the globe. Too bad the mayor had to put it in its worse light in order to make political capital at home. If she thought so ill of it why didn’t she just vote no instead of merely abstaining? 

Her famous hand-wringing act is getting stale. The comic opera is wearing thin. What the City Council needs is leadership and substance, not play-acting. You don’t have to have a majority on the city council to show true leadership – just honesty and guts. 

When will the fat lady stop singing? 

Sue Freeman 

Berkeley 

SAN FRANCISCO — They were walking corpses, the once-beautiful men who dragged themselves to pray at the Metropolitan Community Church each Sunday. Too sick to sit, many would drape their gaunt, lesion-covered bodies across the pews. 

Others wheeled themselves in with oxygen tanks and IV drips to ease their pain. And during each sermon, the Rev. Jim Mitulski would survey his Castro District congregation, wondering whom he’d bury next. In all, he presided over about 500 funerals of AIDS victims. 

Now battling his own HIV infection, Mitulski understands better than most how the virus could again be on the rise. He hopes his life can serve as scripture to others trying to prevent new infections. 

But, he said, preaching alone won’t work. 

“I can summarize it in three words: People make mistakes. You can use that as an insight to beat people up with it or to work with them on it,” he said. “Education alone does not adequately prevent people from engaging in behaviors that are self-destructive.” 

Mitulski, who now works for the James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center at the San Francisco Public Library, said Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, is a good time to reflect on a past filled with death, and to hope that another generation won’t see such suffering. 

But signs aren’t encouraging. In San Francisco, the rate of HIV infection has more than doubled among the city’s gay men in the past four years. 

Since the discovery of AIDS in 1981, the virus has killed 22 million people worldwide and left another 36 million facing a death sentence. About 18,000 deaths have occurred in San Francisco. 

Many were Mitulski’s church members, colleagues and friends. 

“Saturday, all day, was funerals. That’s what we did, and Sunday was church all day. It was the same people,” he said. 

Mitulski, 43, said he got his first call from God in 1981 as minister of the gay Metropolitan Community Church in New York’s Greenwich Village. He held the hands of some of the nation’s first dying AIDS patients there. 

Fresh out of Columbia University with only an undergraduate degree in religion, the 23-year-old from Royal Oak, Mich., prayed for mercy even before there was a name attached to the mysterious illness striking down members of his nondenominational congregation. 

He remembers being required to wear gloves and a gown before entering hospital rooms where food trays were left on the floor outside rooms. Signs with bold letters warned nurses of the deadly virus lurking inside. 

In the earliest years of the epidemic, people were dying before they knew they had AIDS, Mitulski said. “There wasn’t a lot of time for reflection, and there wasn’t a way to identify who had HIV and who didn’t. They weren’t even sure how it was transmitted.” 

After five years of watching victims waste away, covered by the cancerous purple blotches commonly associated with the disease at the time, Mitulski said God called him again — to preach in San Francisco’s predominantly gay Castro District. 

“He took that position in San Francisco during the absolute worst period of the epidemic,” said activist Cleve Jones, who created the AIDS quilt. “I stopped going to funerals a long time ago, and I don’t know how he found the strength to (continue). Many of us fled. I fled when I got sick, but he stayed.” 

Mitulski kept his sanity by also presiding over hundreds of gay weddings — ceremonies only his church would perform. He smiles remembering how the words “in sickness and in health” and “till death do us part” took on different meanings. 

“The weddings made up for the funerals, but sometimes they were very closely related and that was hard,” he said. “Sometimes we would be planning weddings and the person would end up getting sick and dying. I’ve done weddings in hospital rooms. These are not just words. You don’t take it for granted.” 

Mitulski’s spirit and compassion sustained many gay men during that challenging time, said Mark Leno, a San Francisco supervisor who worked with Mitulski to put a gay homeless youth shelter in the Castro District. 

“Jim was on the front lines of the earlier years of the AIDS epidemic and, in many ways, was the heart and soul of an entire community in mourning,” Leno said. 

But by the early 1990s, the death and dying began to kill a part of Mitulski. He starting running to the dance clubs on weekends and using drugs with other gay men who were unsure if the plague would ever end. 

“I think I lost my sense of humor completely,” he said. “You forgot to think about the future. Everything became just right then. That moment. That day. And you got used to that. Individually, I suffered from real severe depression, and I think on some interior level, while I believed in the afterlife, I also gave up. I stopped caring.” 

Mitulski found out he was HIV-positive in 1995 when he was hospitalized with complications. He suspects he contracted the disease from unprotected sex sometime in the early ’90s when he began engaging in reckless behavior as a way to “self-medicate” his depression. 

He felt scared and embarrassed that he had allowed himself — the leader of his 500-member church and a model others looked to for comfort and hope — to fall victim to a disease he knew could be so merciless. 

But Mitulski realized God still needed him and his personal struggle helped renew his compassion for others who became newly infected. It also gave him a new perspective about education and prevention. 

“Though I wish it hadn’t happened this way, I will say that I made something of it, which is the best you can say when you make a mistake,” he said. 

“The truth is, we can’t proceed meaningfully around HIV prevention if we try to scare people. Do we want people to think it’s a picnic? No, it’s not a picnic, but it also isn’t truthful to tell young people, that if you get this, you will die in eight months. So, you have to tell the truth. I’m not sure we’re at that point yet.” 

It’s also about time public health officials and religious leaders put aside their differences and work together to save lives, he said — especially in the black community, where HIV rates are increasing and churches represent trusted places where people have always turned. 

Black and Hispanic gay and bisexual men are now the group most at risk, making up 52 percent of infections among men who have sex with men, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Of the nation’s estimated 40,000 new infections each year, gay and bisexual men make up the largest rate of any group, accounting for about 40 percent of those infections. 

Mitulski, now relatively healthy thanks to a variety of retroviral drugs, left the church last fall to work at the library promoting HIV awareness and working with gay authors and activists. 

He attends the All Saints Episcopal Church, where he sings in the choir and gives an occasional guest sermon. His faith has been renewed and he feels his work is done at his old church — it’s up to God to decide his next mission. 

“I showed up. I kept the light on, it’s safe to say for many years,” Mitulski said. “It was a very rewarding time, even though it was a very painful time.”

Spencer Dornin was among five Golden Bears receiving All-MPSF honors this week. The senior two-meter man from Laguna Beach was named to the All-Conference First Team.  

Also receiving recognition for their work during the 2001 season were sophomore driver Attila Banhidy (2nd team), junior goalie Russell Bernstein (3rd team) and seniors Joe Kaiser (driver, 3rd team) and Mike West (two-meters, 3rd team).

Editor: 

I see by your account of Ann Fagan Ginger’s recent speech that when she asked if any member of the audience knew how to solve the homeless problem, no hands went up. Every social problem has a rational solution. Ending homelessness is mainly a matter of closing the gap between incomes that are too low and rents that are too high. For starters, we could roll back rents by 10 percent and raise wages by 10 percent. 

Of course, some people will complain that every landlord has a God-given right to raise rents, and every employer has a God-given right to reduce costs, including wages. Well, there was a time when kings and emperors claimed a divine right to rule their subjects any way they saw fit. But monarchs are now almost obsolete, except for Britain and a few other backward countries. 

And there was a time when some people felt they had the God-given right to own slaves. But chattel-slavery is now virtually extinct, although wage-slavery is still widespread. But some of us are working to eliminate it. 

You would think that people who claim God-given rights would feel some obligation to present some evidence that their god actually exists. But they never do. 

But the “right of the people to alter or abolish” undesirable conditions does exist. If we are organized to make use of it. 

Marion Syrek 

Oakland 

SAN FRANCISCO — Police arrested two AIDS activists Wednesday for allegedly stalking and threatening newspaper reporters and Public Health Department workers. 

David Pasquarelli, 34, and Michael Petrelis, 42, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy, stalking, terrorist threats and annoying electronic communications, according to San Francisco police. 

Newspaper employees said the men made dozens of obscene and threatening phone calls earlier this month to their homes and at work. A bomb threat also was made to the San Francisco Chronicle’s offices. 

Judge James Robertson II issued a temporary restraining order against Pasquarelli and Petrelis two weeks ago after they allegedly made threatening telephone calls to editors and reporters at the Chronicle. 

The two were taken into custody Wednesday after appearing in court to respond to that temporary restraining order. 

In addition to the other charges, police Lt. Henry Hunter said Pasquarelli was charged with violating the restraining order. 

Lawyers for the Chronicle said the activists apparently were angry about two stories published last month in the newspaper. 

One was based on a study by the University of California at San Francisco documenting the increase in unsafe sex practices among gay men in San Francisco. The other focused on statistics from the city’s Department of Public Health showing increases in the rates of syphilis among the city’s gay and bisexual men. 

Police say the men also threatened reporters at the Bay Area Reporter and workers at the health department. 

Pasquarelli is a member of the AIDS dissident group ACT UP-San Francisco, which repeatedly has clashed with mainstream AIDS organizations over its belief that HIV does not cause AIDS. 

SACRAMENTO — A coalition attacking suburban sprawl and urban disinvestment rallied Wednesday around a bill aiming to curb both by making cities share sales taxes. 

Borrowing an idea from Minneapolis-St. Paul, Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, proposes a pilot program for cities in his metropolitan area of 1.5 million. Cities and suburbs in Minneapolis-St. Paul share property taxes to create financial balance throughout the region. 

“We have a unique opportunity here in the Sacramento region to show the state the way,” Steinberg said. 

Sharing sales taxes, Steinberg and his supporters said, will bring more money to older neighborhoods and strengthen entire metro areas. 

“Right now it’s every jurisdiction for itself,” Steinberg told representatives of 75 interest groups rallying at the Capitol. 

But newer suburban cities remain wary of a cash grab. 

“This bill literally creates winners and losers in the region,” said Al Johnson, city manager in Roseville, a city of 85,000 east of Sacramento. 

Steinberg’s bill received accolades among numerous interest groups last year for promoting cooperative regional visions for growth. But the bill languished in the Capitol as Sacramento and its suburbs bickered over how to share the region’s sales tax income. 

Wednesday, the lawmaker promised a fresh offensive when legislators return in January. About 80 supporters vowed to get it passed. 

The bill would distribute more of the sales tax based on population in the region and less on where the sale actually happened. 

“We’re anxious to see this as a tool for slowing down urban sprawl, which has been fueled by sales tax generation,” said Vicki Lee, chair of the Sierra Club’s Mother Lode chapter. 

Steinberg said the bill, AB680, aims to stop cities from battling one another for new car lots, shopping malls and other sources of sales taxes. Many cities depend heavily on sales taxes to pay for fire trucks, police officers and parks. 

Critics say the system favors growing new cities at the expense of older ones. 

“We’re tired of watching the wealth move to suburban exclusive neighborhoods ... while residents in our urban neighborhoods and their neighborhood institutions become increasingly poor and desperate,” said Rachel Iskow, director of the Sacramento Mutual Housing Association. 

ROSEVILLE — The nation’s preoccupation with security after this fall’s terrorist attacks could help revive the hard-hit high technology industry, experts from top tech firms said Wednesday. 

From communications to data sharing to airport security, they expect to see a surge in sales as governments, businesses and individuals try to screen out or respond to terrorists without invading the rights of law-abiding citizens. 

The defense, aerospace and high-tech industries all are likely to see a rebound, predicted Robert Smiley, an economic development expert and graduate school dean at the University of California, Davis. 

This war hits closer to home than any fought on American soil in generations, and is forcing a massive response to a threat that until Sept. 11 was generally perceived as safely isolated overseas, said Peter Hambuch, an expert in public safety security technology for Motorola Corp. 

“Nine-eleven has been a driving force to people to sit down and review these things,” Hambuch said. 

Once, police were satisfied if they could communicate within their own department, he said. 

Now they may have to coordinate with other local and federal agencies, even the military, if they want to avoid the communication chaos that haunted the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, or efforts to quell the devastating fires that swept the hills above Oakland a decade ago. 

Tragic as the World Trade Center collapse was, most businesses housed there survived even if many of their employees died, said Grant Easton, a data security and disaster recovery expert for Hewlett-Packard. 

That’s largely because they’d had a “rehearsal” during the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993 and learned to plan for catastrophe, Easton said. Now, businesses, governments and emergency workers nationwide are realizing they, too, need backup computer and communication centers. 

Employees are scared to travel, or find long lines at airports make it too inconvenient, said Melissa Carlson, an expert in personnel and technology at Cirrus Logic Inc. She expects a surge in telecommuting and teleconferencing as a result, with a corresponding push for high speed computers and Internet connections. 

Former FBI terrorism expert George Vinson said government and businesses must take steps against cyber-terrorists he predicted will try to disrupt the nation’s communications and computer networks, taking their cue from the United State’s high-tech campaign to render Iraq “deaf and blind” during the Persian Gulf War a decade ago. 

Vinson, who now is California’s director of homeland security, also said the California Highway Patrol is investigating massive scanners it hopes could be used to screen entire semitrailers for hidden nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. 

And he said the nation needs a new and more tamperproof way of authenticating individuals’ identities, as evidenced by the recent ease with which terrorists and criminals have engaged in identity theft. 

Such technology can make commercial air travel safer while trimming the long lines caused by individual hand searches, Vinson said. 

Biometrics likely is one answer, he said: machines that scan the individual characteristics of a face, fingerprint or iris to make a positive identification. Some airlines already are looking at using biometrics to create identification cards that travelers could voluntarily use to speed the screening process. 

But data-sharing and biometrics technology such as the face recognition scanners newly installed at Fresno Yosemite Airport create their own concerns for individual’s rights and privacy, he and the other experts acknowledged. 

They spoke at an American Electronics Association meeting at Roseville’s Hewlett-Packard campus, one of 18 such meetings nationwide intended to generate high-tech solutions or policy changes that can be forwarded to the federal government. 

SAN FRANCISCO — A bitter battle between the creditors and business partners of bankrupt ExciteAtHome threatens to unplug the cable network’s high-speed Internet service for 4.2 million subscribers as early as Friday, depending on the outcome of a pivotal court hearing. 

ExciteAtHome bondholders owed more than $1 billion hope to convince U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Carlson that shutting down the company’s high-speed cable network is the best way to start a bidding war for the system. A hearing on the request is set Friday in San Francisco, but Carlson might not rule until next week. 

It’s unlikely Carlson will shut down the service, said Frank Thomas, one of the leaders of an ExciteAtHome shareholder committee that submitted a reorganization plan outlining a way for the company to emerge from bankruptcy as an independent company. 

“This is just a bunch of huffing and puffing by some very big elephants,” said Thomas, a Heathrow, Fla., money manager. “It’s in the best interest of the nation if ExciteAtHome becomes an independent company.” 

But one of the three biggest cable companies that sell high-speed Internet access through the AtHome network began preparing its customers for the worst Wednesday. 

Comcast advised its customers to back up their e-mail files and personal Web pages in case the AtHome service shuts down Friday. Comcast also set up a Web link to provide its AtHome customers with a dial-up Internet connection through NetZero in case the cable network is cut off. NetZero provides 10 hours of free Internet access per month. 

“I’m apoplectic,” said ComcastAtHome subscriber Duane Roelands of Silver Spring, Md., after reviewing Comcast’s contingency plans. “I have been singing Comcast’s praises since I got my cable modem, but now I’m just incredibly frustrated. They are just leaving their customers hanging.” 

Comcast on Wednesday was still negotiating with all the principals involved in ExciteAtHome’s bankruptcy case to reach a compromise that will keep the cable network running, said spokeswoman Susan Leepson. 

Cox Communications, another key ExciteAtHome partner, eventually plans to switch its AtHome customers over to an independent cable network under construction, but that service won’t be available until some time next year. 

Carlson resolved the fate of another ExciteAtHome asset Wednesday by approving InfoSpace Inc.’s $10 million purchase of the Web portal Excite.com. 

ExciteAtHome paid $7.8 billion for the Web portal two years ago. 

Bellevue, Wash.-based InfoSpace plans to run the search and directory services offered on the portal. The company may sell or license other parts of Excite.com to iWon, another popular Web destination. 

The tug-of-war for control of ExciteAtHome’s cable network — and its 4.16 million subscribers as of Sept. 30 — pits the company’s creditors against the company’s business partners. 

The bondholders contend that AT&T Corp. used its controlling position on ExciteAtHome’s board to steer the company into bankruptcy in late September so it could buy the cable network at a steep discount — $307 million. 

“Only the prospect of turning off the switch will unlock the true value” of ExciteAtHome’s cable network, bondholder attorneys reasoned in a brief. 

The outcry among all the customers who lose high-speed access to their e-mail and the Internet will persuade either AT&T or another bidder to pay substantially more than $307 million for the cable network, the bondholders argue. 

AT&T opposes the attempt to shut down AtHome. The company also denies it abused its insider position to buy the AtHome network at an unfair price. To avoid a conflict, AT&T gave up four of its six ExciteAtHome board seats last month, several weeks after the bankruptcy filing. 

Bondholder attorneys say they have gathered evidence of AT&T’s unfair advantage in depositions taken from top executives at AT&T and ExciteAtHome. 

A group of 350 ExciteAtHome shareholders protesting AT&T’s proposed purchase also maintains that the $307 million is far too low. 

Under the shareholders’ reorganization plan, the cable companies would agree to pick up all marketing costs to attract new customers to the cable network while paying ExciteAtHome $15 per month for each subscriber. Over the 10 years outlined in the shareholder plan, ExciteAtHome would lower its monthly fee to $12.25 per subscriber, Thomas said. Creditors would have to extend some debt payments, but eventually would be repaid in full. 

If their plan is adopted, the shareholders predict the AtHome network will have just under 25 million subscribers by 2010. Over the same period, the company’s revenue would increase by six-fold to about $3.6 billion in 2010, the shareholders said. 

——— 

On The Net: 

http:/./www.excite.com 

Comcast’s information page for AtHome customers: http://www.comcastonline.com.info.htm 

In early October, Keith “Kiki” Bell, a junior at Berkeley High School, found out that two of his friends are HIV positive. The news was devastating. 

But now, through the Berkeley High School Peer Health Education Program, Bell is working to prevent the further spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, among young people. 

“I wanted to get out there and inform other teens so they wouldn’t get HIV,” Bell said. 

Bell is one of a diverse group of 15 students who participate in the peer education program, also known as Teens Advocating Safer Sex. 

The students, or peer educators, split their time among three primary activities – making presentations at BHS and local middle and alternative schools, passing out condoms and safer sex information on the street to young people and organizing special events. 

Today, the group will sponsor an HIV assembly at BHS, and Thursday, the students will run an AIDS poetry slam at the high school, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in room G210. The reading is open to the public, and a $2 donation is recommended. 

This week’s events are in anticipation of World AIDS Day on Saturday, Dec. 1 – a global, annual event, dating back to 1988, which memorializes AIDS victims and stirs up activism surrounding HIV issues. 

Sonya Dublin, who works out of the BHS Health Center as the coordinator of HIV Prevention Services, says the peer-to-peer program is effective because kids are the primary messengers. 

“Where do teens get 90 percent of their values and information? From each other,” she said. “The more we can plant the seeds of accurate information and teach them good clear values and skills, the better.” 

Mayor Shirley Dean said it is this emphasis on peer outreach that has built support for the program in the local halls of government. “Young people really do listen to young people, and that’s why it’s effective,” she said. 

The program functions, primarily, on a $25,000 annual grant by the city, supplemented by grant money that raises the yearly budget to somewhere between $30,000 and $50,000. This money funds Dublin’s salary, the stipends of four part-time staffers and the 15 peer educators.  

Both Dean and City Councilmember Kriss Worthington said they hope the program will survive the looming recession. 

“There’s going to be a lot of pressure on the state, federal and city budget,” Worthington said. “I think it’s going to take a lot of work to keep these kinds of inventive, frontline services. But, they are what makes Berkeley special.” 

On Tuesday, the frontline was in a ninth grade identity and ethnic studies class, where Dublin teamed up with peer trainer Talia Reich, 15, to educate a small class on safer sex. 

Dublin and Reich began with a game, which called on students to examine their stereotypes of HIV. The educators asked the ninth graders whether they would choose to have unprotected sex with a homeless teenager, a homecoming king or queen, a drug dealer, an athlete, a “player,” an honor student, or a friend. 

At the end of the exercise, they told the story of each of the seven figures, emphasizing that anyone can have a sexually transmitted disease, and that most teens do not bother getting tested. 

Donald Ross, 14, a student in the class, was affected. “You can really get it,” he said of HIV. “If you’re going to be with a partner, you should know their background and they should know yours.” 

The class concluded with a step-by-step demonstration for making proper use of a condom, performed on a plastic penis. 

After the bell sounded, Reich, who has friends with HIV, told a reporter that she felt a responsibility to educate the public about AIDS. But she also expressed enthusiasm about what she has taken from the program. 

“I get experience, I’m meeting people, and I’m doing something productive with my time,” she said. “I don’t play on a sports team, I don’t belong to a club, but I feel like I’m devoted to this...I’ve made some really good friends here.” 

Later in the day, Keith Bell and Lauren Ross, 15, a sophomore at BHS, headed for Shattuck Avenue at lunchtime where they passed out packets with condoms, lubricant and safer sex information. 

“There’s an epidemic going on and it’s awful,” said Ross. “I just want to make things better. People don’t need to die because of one mistake.” 

For more information call the BHS Health Center at 644-6838 ex. 4. 

In a rematch of last year’s hard-fought Northern California Regional championship game, the Berkeley Yellowjackets used their inside power to beat Oakland, 64-50. 

Berkeley (2-0) was led by senior power forward Sabrina Keys, who scored 19 points in the second half on 9-for-9 shooting from the field to take her team from a six-point lead at halftime to a dominating victory. 

“I just needed to get warm,” said Keys of her hot half. “We don’t have a heater in our gym anymore, so I need time to get warm.” 

Keys, who scored 27 points to go with 10 rebounds in the game, has a new partner in crime down low this season, 6-foot-3 freshman center Devanei Hampton. Hampton’s presence allows Keys to finally play her normal forward spot instead of manning the center, and the Purdue signee is clearly enjoying the freedom to move outside on occasion. 

“I love to have the help down low, because I’ll be playing (power forward) in college,” Keys said. “We just have to go high-low to get points in our offense.” 

The pair did just that against the undersized Wildcats, as Keys found Hampton in the low post three times for easy buckets, and showed her own range with several short jumpers. Hampton finished with 13 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals in just her second high school game. 

Berkeley co-head coach Gene Nakamura knows he needs a big year from Keys to help replace the scoring of the departed Robin Roberson, who dominated the team last year with her outstanding shooting. Roberson averaged 21.5 points per game last season, and Keys is the most likely candidate to fill the leading scorer’s role. 

“Sabrina’s done a great job as a role player the last few years, but now it’s time for her to step up,” Nakamura said. “She’s doing what I expect her to do. There’s a reason Purdue and those other schools wanted her.” 

The ’Jackets started slowly against Oakland, committing eight turnovers in the first quarter and falling behind 9-2. But Keys got two buckets inside, then Hampton got her own rebound and made an old-fashioned three-point play. Berkeley senior Natasha Bailey made a free throw with 4.6 seconds left in the quarter to tie the game at 11-11. 

Berkeley’s trademark defense rallied the team to a lead at the start of the second quarter as the Wildcats were held scoreless for more than four minutes. The ’Jackets built up a 20-11 lead before Oakland star Ebony Young hit a 3-pointer to break the drought.  

It looked as if Berkeley would take a big lead into halftime, but some sloppy ball-handling nearly gave it all away. Oakland’s Kathy Hill hit a three with less than 30 seconds left, and Berkeley turned the ball over right into the hands of Young, who hit another three to cut the Berkeley lead to 29-23. It could have been even worse, as Young caused yet another turnover, but she missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer. 

But Keys wasn’t about to let the score get any closer. She made all seven of her shots in the third quarter as the ’Jackets raced out to a 52-38 lead, then kept a close eye on Young when the Wildcats pulled to within 10 with three minutes left in the game. 

In fact, Young scored just 13 points in the game, a low total for the Santa Barbara signee. She had 17 points and 11 rebounds in the NorCal final last season, but managed just two rebounds against the new and improved Berkeley frontcourt. 

“We were just ready for Ebony tonight,” Keys said. “I expected them to hit more threes, but we played really good defense.” 

Nakamura was happy with his team’s performance, considering the fact he just got his full squad back this week. Several Berkeley players have been nursing injuries for much of the pre-season, a tough break for a team with four freshmen trying to learn a new system. 

“We played much smarter than in the first game (a win over El Molino), which is good to see,” Nakamura said. “We do need to feed the post more, because that’s where our strength is.”

Wednesday, Nov. 28

An Exclusive Report: Pacifica Radio & The Corporation for Public Broadcasting 

7:30 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave. 

Take Back KPFA co-founders Jeffrey Blankfort and KPFA Local Advisory Board member and former KPFA programmer and development director Maria Gilardin present “never before heard evidence” of the collaboration between the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and Pacifica Foundation management to destroy the nation's only listener-sponsored radio network. Discussion will follow. $5 - $20. 415-255-9182 

Prose Writers’ Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley/Richmond Jewish Community Center Library 

1414 Walnut St.  

From Op-ed to fiction, memoir to the feature article – a community 

writers’ group to support and encourage a community of interests. Workshop format. Free. 524-3034 

American Disability Act 

1:00 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Ken Steiner and Jessica Soske from Legal Assistance for Seniors will lead a discussion. 644-6107 

Toddler Storytime 

7 p.m. 

West Berkeley Library 

1125 University Ave. 

For families with children 3 years or younger, a program to expose the youngest readers to multicultural stories, songs and finger plays. The last Storytime in the series.  

Stories of Your Amazing Body 

2 p.m. - 3 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

2230 Shattuck Ave.  

For children aged three to ten years old, escape to the magical realm of health, fun, and excitement of this ongoing storytelling series. 549-1564  

Berkeley Gray Panthers 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

What really happened at the UN Conference on Racism or what the press left out. 548-9696, graypanthers@hotmail.com 

Emeryville Lights of Life Day  

5 - 7 p.m. 

Emeryville Child Development Center 

1220 53rd St., Emeryville 

Community event to honor loved ones and in tribute to the helping 

and caring professions, featuring children's chorus, candle-lighting, guest speaker Emeryville Fire Chief Stephen Cutright with a tribute to New York firefighters, and a visit from the fire truck. 450-8795 

Police Review Commission  

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Regular meeting. 644-6716, www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/prg/ 

Planning Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Regular meeting. 705-8101, planning@ci.berkeley.ca.us. 

Thursday, Nov. 29

Small Schools Community Action Committee 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Longfellow Middle School Auditorium 

1500 Derby St. 

The Small Schools Community Action Committee is sponsoring an informational meeting geared to middle school parents. All interested community members are invited. 486-1014, http://berkeleysmallschools.org. 

Day of Action for Justice in Palestine 

noon 

UC Berkeley 

Sproul Plaza  

Students will stage a rally and demonstration on International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Followed by a teach-in with Prof. Asad Abukhalil of CSU Stanislaus, 7 p.m., 60 Evans Hall. 496-1269, justiceinpalestine@ yahoo.com. 

The Nuclear Waste Problem  

and the Yucca Mountain Project 

6 - 7:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley 

180 Tan Hall 

This talk will discuss the nuclear waste problem, its causes, and possible long-term solutions. The potential solution offered by deep geologic disposal is discussed, and current research efforts at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are described. 704-8106, lancekim@nuc.berkeley.edu. 

AIDS Poetry Slam 

7 - 9:30 p.m. 

Berkeley High School 

Room G210 

Berkeley High’s Peer Health Education Program will sponsor a poetry reading focused on HIV/AIDS. 644-6838, extension 4. 

Campaign to End the Death Penalty – Fundraiser  

8 p.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity Hall 

390 27th St., Oakland  

Three bands and a very good cause. $5-$10. 985-2805, emterzakis@aol.com. 

Ferry Expansion Hearings 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Open House Senior Center 

6500 Stockton St., El Cerrito 

The San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority (WTA) is holding public scoping sessions to identify environmental issues that should be studied before expanding ferry service on the Bay. www.bluewaternetwork.org. 

What’s Going On? Debt and Aids in Africa 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Friends Church 

1600 Sacramento St. 

Town Hall meeting and panel discussion with John Iverson, East Bay ACT UP; Nunu Kidane on Debt and AIDS, and an update on how to become involved locally. 415-565-0201 x12, www.aaaw.org. 

A Mayoral Vision 

11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. 

Radisson Hotel 

Berkeley Marina 

Don't miss this opportunity to share your visionary thoughts 

with Mayor Dean. Q & A will follow the presentation. $30, includes lunch. 549-7000, www.berkeleychamber.com.  

Latin Dance Class 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley/Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Salsa, Cha-cha, Merengue... $10, No partner necessary. All ages and levels welcome. 508-4616 

Winter Backcountry Travel:  

Safety and Survival Tips 

7 p.m. 

REI 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Leader of the National Ski Patrol’s Northern California search and rescue team, Mike Kelly, shares his expertise on how to plan a safe adventure in the snow. Free. 527-4140 

Discussion for Women 

1:00 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Katheryn Gardella, RN., discuss mobility Issues and Feling Good in this part of a series of discussions for women. 644-6107 

Montessori Campus Design  

Competition Exhibit  

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Montessori School 

1581 LeRoy Ave. 

BMS is designing a new Elementary and Middle School campus, see the designs and give your feedback for jury consideration in selecting the winner. 843-9374, sharline@well.com. 

Attic Conversions 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Seminar taught by architect Andus Brandt, $35. 525-7610 

Friday, Nov. 30

World Aids Day March 

noon 

Roche Diagnostics 

2929 7th St. 

Protest for affordable medications for all nations. March five blocks to Bayer. 841-4339 

Black Filmmakers Hall of  

Fame 12th Annual Black  

Filmworks 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California  

1000 Oak St., Oakland 

“Maangamizi: The Ancient One.” The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has accepted Maangamizi as the official entry from Tanzania for nomination consideration for the upcoming 74h Annual Academy Awards Foreign Language Film Award category. This is the first time ever that an entry from Tanzania has been considered and presented to the screening committee. 465-0804, www.blackfilmmakershall.org. 

Benefit for a Peace House in  

Chiapas, Mexico 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists 

Cedar and Bonita streets 

The peace house will serve as an educational center on indigenous rights, neoliberal economics, and human rights observation for the international community. Live music, documentary film ‘Zapatista,’ and a traditional Mexican dinner. $25. 652-3512, cbossen@mindspring.com 

Still Stronger Women: Arts, Literature, Movies weekly 

1:15 - 3:15 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst, at MLK Jr. 

The life and legacy of Amelia Earhart, plus film. Free. 232-1351 

Dunsmuir Historic Estate  

Holiday Season 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

2960 Peralta Oaks Court, Oakland 

Volunteers have transformed the 50-acre estate and the 1899 mansion into a holiday event. 925-275-9595, www.dunsmuir.org. 

City Commons Club  

Luncheon 

12:30 p.m. 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave. 

Nat Goldhaber, entrepreneur, presents “Running for Vice-President in a Spiritual Age.” $1 admission; 11:45 a.m. lunch, $12.25. 848-3533 

Editor: 

Barbara Lee and our City Council majority are accused of being unpatriotic. Isn’t desire to protect one’s nation patriotic? Isn’t it protective of the United States system of political democracy to urge our government to exercise restraint in the face of attack by violent fanatics?  

When under attack a democracy that does not pause to reflect can self-destruct. In a rage its leaders could echo the barbarism they oppose, as Rumsfeld did in his comment on Kunduz that all but endorsed execution of prisoners.  

In desperation, governmental form could mirror the tyranny opposed, as in the Bush decree invoking that key prop of dictatorships, military courts that are outside the standard criminal justice system.  

Let us be thankful that Congresswoman Lee and our City Council majority raised questions about the direction taken in our war on terrorism.  

Lee did not oppose the war, she merely questioned the wisdom of granting the president a blank check to conduct the war. The Council did not oppose the war, it merely suggested that the quicker the bombing ended the quicker all involved can get down to answering difficult political questions.  

Lee and the Council majority are threatened and called names, primarily because they interrupt the Afgan blood sport with a reminder to the public that it is at just such times that principles of justice must be scrupulously upheld.  

Ted Vincent  

Berkeley  

MUSIC 

924 Gilman St. Nov. 30: Shitlist, Atrocious Madness, Fuerza X, Catheter, S Bitch, Delta Force; Dec. 1: Yaphet Kotto, Cattle Decapitation, Creation Is Crucifixion, Kalibas, A Death Between Seasons, Lo-Fi Neissans; Dec. 2: 5 p.m., Dead and Gone, Venus Bleeding, Suptonix, Geoff (spoken word), East Bay Chasers, Lesser Of Two; Dec. 7: Har Mar Superstar, The Pattern, The Blast Rocks, Your Enemies’ Friends, Hate Mail Express; Dec. 8: Scurvy Dogs, Nigel Peppercock, Shut The Fuck Up, Offering To The Sun, Voetsek; Dec. 9: Poison The Well, Unearth, Sworn Enemy, Spark Lights The Friction; Dec. 14: Hot Water Music, American Steel, F-Minus, Trial By Fire; Dec. 15: Strung Out, Limp, The Frisk, The Deadlines, The Creeps; Dec. 16: 5 p.m., Good Riddance, Missing 23rd, Downway, Audio Crush; Dec. 21: Kepi, Bonfire Madigan, Kevin Seconds; Dec. 22: The Lab Rats, Onetime Angels, A great Divide, Last Great Liar, Gabriel’s Ratchet; Dec. 23: 5 p.m., Over My Dead Body, Panic, Breaker Breaker, Some Still Believe; All shows start a 8 p.m. unless noted; Most are $5; 924 Gilman St. 525-9926 

The Albatross Pub Dec. 4: Panacea; Dec. 5: Whiskey Brothers; Dec. 6: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 11: Mad & Eddic Duran Jazz Duo; Dec. 13: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 15: Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet; Dec. 18: Panacea; Dec. 19: Whiskey Brothers; Dec. 20: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 27: Keni “El Lebrijano”; All shows start at 9 p.m., 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473  

Anna’s Nov. 28: Bob Shoen Jazz Quintet; Nov. 29: Ed Reed and Alex Markels Jazz Group; Nov. 30: Ann sings jazz standards; 10 p.m., Bluesman Hideo Date; All shows 8 p.m. unless noted. Free. 1901 University Ave., 849-2662 

Ashkenaz Nov. 28: 8 p.m., Bluegrass Intentions, Stairwell Sisters, Clogging with Evie Ladin, $10; Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Grateful Dead DJ Nite, $5; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums w/ Ms. Carmen Getit; 1317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5054 www.ashkenaz. com 

Blake’s Nov. 28: Erotic City, DJ Maestro, $2; Nov. 29: Ascension, $5; Nov. 30: Felonious, TBA, $6; All shows 9:30 p.m. 2367 Telegraph Ave., 848-0886 

Cafe Eclectica Nov. 30: 6 - 11 p.m., She Mob, Wire Graffiti, Breast, Honeyshot, Run for Cover Lovers, $6; All ages 1309 Solano Ave., 527-2344. 

Cal Performances Nov. 29: Les Arts Florissants, $24 - $46; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 642-0212 tickets@calperfs.berkeley. edu 

Club Muse Nov. 29: 9:30 p.m., SoulTree, Tang!, $7; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., Calamity and Main, Darling Clementines, The Bootcuts, $8; Dec. 1: 9:30 p.m., Naked Barbies, Penelope Houston, $8; All ages. 856 San Pablo Ave., Albany, 528-2878. 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; Nov. 23: Junior Morrow; Nov. 24: Jimmy Dewrance; Nov. 30: Scott Duncan; Dec. 1: J.J. Malone; Doors open at 8 p.m. unless noted. 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage Coffee House Nov. 28: Wake the Dead; Nov. 29: Judith Kate Friedman and Deborah Pardes; Nov. 30: Odile Lavault and Baguette Quartette; Dec. 1: Geoff Muldaur w/ Fritz Richmond; Dec. 2: Kaila Flexer’s Fieldharmonik; Dec. 5: Avalon Blues: Peter Case, Dave Alvin and Bill Morrissey; Dec. 6: Ray Bonneville; Dec. 7 & 8: Rebecca Riots; All shows begin 8 p.m., 1111 Addison St. Call 548-1761 for prices or see www.freightandsalvage.org.  

The Minnow Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Jolly!, Good For You, Grain USA, Plan to Pink; Nov. 30: Sedadora, Six Eye Columbia, Betty Expedition, The Clarendon Hills; Dec. 1: Replicator, Fluke Starbucker, Baby Carrot, The Len Brown Society; All shows $6. 1700 Clement Ave., Alameda. 

iMusicast Nov. 30: 6 - 11 p.m., Applesaucer, The Plus Ones, Cutlass Supreme, Salem Lights, Short Wave Rocket, One Step Shift; Dec. 1: 6 - 11 p.m., One Time Angels, The Influents, The Frisk, Fetish, The Locals, $8; All ages. 5429 Telegraph Ave. 601-1024, www.imusicast.com. 

¡Viva el Carnival! ; Nov. 30: 8 p.m., $12-$14. Chilean dance ensemble Araucaria, Andean music troupe Viento, Venezuelan Music Project; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena. org 

¡Viva el Carnival! ; Dec. 1: 8 p.m., $12-$14. Peruvian coastal dance and music with De Rompe y Raja, Francophone dance and music with Ras Mo, Brazilian dance and music with Fogo Na Roupa; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena. org  

Jupiter Dec. 1: Will Bernard Trio; Dec. 5: J Dogs; Dec. 6: Joshi Marshal Project; Dec. 7: AVI Bortnick Group; Dec. 8: Harvey Wainapel Quartet; Dec. 12: Mushroom; Dec. 13: Joshi Marshal Project; Dec. 14: Broun Fellini’s; Dec. 15: Norah Jones and Jim Campilongo; Dec. 19: Spectraphonic; Dec. 20: Joshi Marshal Project; Dec. 21: Crater; Dec. 22: Post Junk Trio; Dec. 27: Joshi Marshal Project; Dec. 29: Berkeley Jazz School Presents: Kirk Tamura Trio; All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless noted. 2181 Shattuck Ave., 843-7625, www.jupiterbeer.com. 

“Music on Telegraph” Dec. 1: Scrambled Samba Trio, Ann’s Kitchen, 2498 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 2: Paul and Jill Janoff, Musical Offering, 2430 Bancroft; Dec. 8: Jonah Minton Quartet, Julie’s Healthy Cafe, 2562 Bancroft; Dec. 9: Hebro, Blakes, 2367 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 15: Thelonious On The Move, Bison Brewing, 2598 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 16: Howard Kadis, Musical Offering Cafe, 2430 Bancroft; Dec. 22: Kaz Sasaki Duo, Blackberry Ginger, 2520 Durant; Dec. 23: Almadecor, Ann’s Kitchen, 2498 Telegraph Ave.; All shows 2 - 4 p.m., Free. 

Starry Plough Nov. 28: 8:30 p.m., bEASTfest Invitational Poetry Slam, $5; Nov. 29: 9:30 p.m., The Moore Brothers, Yuji Oniki, BArt Davenport, $8; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., The Kirby Grips, Dealership, Bitesize, The Blast Rocks, (all ages show) $8; Dec. 1: 9:30 p.m., Mark Growden’s Electric Pinata, Ramona the Pest, Film School; 3101 Shattuck Ave.  

Stork Club Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Mega-Mousse, Base LIne Dada, Meeshee, Mike Boner, $7; Nov. 30: 9 p.m., Love Kills Love, Three Years Down, Jack Killed Jill, October Allied, Eddie Haskells, $6; Dec. 1: 10 p.m., Anticon, Kevin Blechdom, Bevin Blectum, The Silents, $10; Dec. 2: 8 p.m., Corsciana, The Mass, Modular Set, Spore Attic, $5; 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra presents “Bach’s Mass in B Minor” Dec. 1, 8 p.m., Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m., First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant. Guest conductor Andrew Parrott. $34 - $50. 415-392-4400, www.philharmonia.org. 

Rose Street House of Music Dec. 1: 8 p.m., Acapella Night - Making Waves, Solstice, Out on a Clef, $5 - $20. 1839 Rose St. 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@ yahoo.com. 

Mike Vax Jazz Orchestra with Lennie Niehaus Dec. 2: 2 p.m., $18. Longfellow School of the Arts, 1500 Derby St. 420-4560, www.bigbandjazz.net 

Mat Callahan, Robert Temple and Yvonne Moore Dec.: 5 - 8:30 p.m., $10 cover. Powerful guitars and soul vocals with a Swiss flavor; Hotel Utah, 500 4th St., San Francisco 510-654-2329 templetime@jps.net 

John Calloway & Diaspora; Dec. 7: 8:30 p.m., $12. Afro-Cuban dance band and Jazz; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena.org 

Dr. Loco’s Rocking Jalapeño Band; Dec. 8: 9:30 p.m., $10. Saucy musica latina, cumbias enchilada, caliente cha-chas, Chicano rumbas and roots rock; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena.org 

Rumba music jam session; Dec. 9: 3:30 p.m, Free. Café Domingo de Rumba; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena.org 

Trio Altamira Reunion Concert; Dec. 9: 7:30 p.m., $12--$14. Latin-American music; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena.org 

Holly Near; Dec. 14: 8 p.m., $15--$17. On tour with her new release, Edge, Holly Near will perform old favorites and new songs. One of the founding mothers of women’s music, Holly Near ’s been a voice for world peace for 29 years; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena.org 

Benefit Concert and Birthday Party Dec. 14 & 15: 7:30 p.m., Shelly Doty and grassroots community of women singers and song writers; Rose Street House, 1839 Rose St. 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@yahoo.com. 

Flamenca Community Juerga; Dec. 16: 5 p.m, Free. In the Café; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena.org 

Modupue & UpSurge; Dec. 16: 7 p.m, $8. Pan-African music infused with jazz influences and jazz poetry performed by Ned Turner; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena.org 

Rumba music jam session; Dec. 23: 3:30 p.m, Free. Café Domingo de Rumba; La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568 http:/www.lapena.org 

Annual “Dykelah Escape-from-you-know-what-day Musical Extravaganza!” Dec. 25: 3 p.m., Lisa Cohen and grassroots community of women singers and song writers; Rose Street House, 1839 Rose St. 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@yahoo.com. 

21 Grand Nov. 29: 9 p.m., Lemon Lime Lights, Hillside, Moe! Staiano, $6; Nov. 30: 9 p.m., Fred Frith, Damon Smith, Marco Eneidi, Sabu Toyozumi Ensemble, Phillip Greenlief, $10; Dec. 1: 9 p.m., Toychestra, Rosin Coven, Darling Freakhead, $6; All ages. 21 Grand Ave., Oakland. 444-7263 

Theater 

“Uncle Vanya” Nov. 23 through Nov. 29: Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun. Nov. 25, 7 p.m. Subterranean Shakespeare’s production of Jean-Claude van Italie’s humorous translation of Anton Chekhov’s romantic masterpiece. Directed by Diane Jackson. Benefits the Forests Forever Foundation. $8-$14. La Val’s Subterranean Theatre, 1834 Euclid. 234-6046, www.subshakes.com 

“Goddesses” Nov. 30 through Dec. 1: Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 7 p.m. A sensuous and humorous drama concerning one mortal woman’s struggle to control the six extraordinary goddesses in her psyche. Written by Dorotea Reyna. $10. Mils College, Lisser Hall, 5900 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland 883-0536, rlcouture@earthlink.net 

“Saint Joan” Through Dec. 2: Wed. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., 7 p.m. George Bernard Shaw’s epic of a young girl determined to drive the English out of France with only her faith to support her. Directed by Barbara Oliver. $26-35. Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison St. 843-4822 www.auroratheatre.org 

“Brave Brood” Through Dec. 16 Robert O’Hara directs Robert O’Hara’s searing tale of money, desperation, and the fight for survival. $20. Transparent Theater, 1901 Ashby Ave. 883-0305 www.transparenttheater.org 

“Much Ado About Nothing” Through Jan. 8: Check theater for specific dates and times. Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy chronicles a handful of soldiers returning from a winning battle to be greeted by a gaggle of giddy maidens. Directed by Brian Kulick. $10 - $54. Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 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 

Films 

Pacific Film Archive Theater Nov. 30: 7:30 p.m., Werckmeister Harmonies; Dec. 6: 7 p.m., Bizarre, Bizarre; 8:50 p.m., The Green Man; Dec. 7: 7 p.m., Smiles of a Summer Night; 9:05 p.m., Cluny Brown; Bancroft Way, 642-1124 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Exhibits  

“2001 James D. Phelan Art Awards in Printmaking” Honorees: Bridget Henry, David Kelso, and Margaret Van Patten. Through Nov. 30 Tues. - Fri. noon - 5 p.m., other times by appointment. Kala Art Institue, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977 www.kala.org 

“Furniture Art” Through Dec. 7: An exhibit of metal and wood furniture that revisits furniture not only as art but as craft. 12 p.m. - 6 p.m. The Current Gallery at the Crucible, 1036 Ashby Ave. 843-5511 www.thecrucible.org 

“The Paintings of Bethany Anne Ayers and Sculpture of Alexander Cheves” Nov. 15 through Dec. 15: Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Ardency Gallery, 709 roadway, Oakland. 836-0831 gallery709@aol.com 

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

“Matrix 195” Through Jan. 13: German artist, Thomas Scheibitz’s, first solo museum exhibition in the United States showcases semi-abstract representations of everyday objects and landscapes. Wed., Fri. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. $3-$6. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

GTU Exhibit: “Holocaust Series” by Cleve Gray Through Jan. 25: Comprised of 21 works on paper that constitute “a catharsis... for all of humanity.” Mon. - Thurs. 8:30 a.m. - 9:45 p.m., Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sun. noon - 7 p.m.; Free. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541 www.gtu.edu 

“Enduring Wisdom: Artwork and Stories by Homeless and Formerly Homeless Seniors” Through Feb. 15: 18 homeless and formerly homeless elders reveal how they learned and applied wisdom that is timeless. Mon. - Fri. and Sundays 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Reception and presentation by the elders Thurs. Nov. 15, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. Free. St. Mary’s Center, 635 22nd St., Oakland, 893-4723 x222 

“The Art History Museum of Berkeley” 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. 841-4210 or visit www.atelier9.com 

Readings 

Cody’s on Telegraph Ave. Nov. 28: 7:30 p.m. David Meltzer and contributors read from his newly revised and re-released collection of interviews with Bay Area Beat Poets; 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852 

Coffee With A Beat - Word Beat reading series: Dec. 1: Adam David Miller, Dennis Richards; Dec. 8: Jeanne Powell, Kelly Kraatz; Dec. 15: Norm Milstein, Barbara Minton; Dec. 22: Debra Grace Khattab, Jesy Goldhammer; Dec. 29: Steve Arntson, Michelle Erickson, Clare Lewis; All readings are free and begin at 7 p.m., 458 Perkins, Oakland, 526-5985, www.angelfire.com/poetry/wordbeat. 

The Humanist Fellowship Hall Dec. 5: 7 p.m., “Our Wings Are Pregnant Seesaws” a play by H. D. Moe. A reading performance by the theatre workshop. 390 27th St., Oakland, 528-8713 

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 Sun., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sun., 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; Nov. 3: Tales from the Enchanted Forest, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.; Nov. 9: Living with the Earth; Nov. 17: Recycle that Stuff; $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Mon. and Wed., 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tues. and Fri., 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thur., 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

Oakland Museum of California Through Nov. 25: Pasajes y Encuentros: Ofrendas for the Days of the Dead, highlights three thematic “passageways” that connect the dead with the living: tradition, humor and spirit; Dec. 8 & 9: 32nd Annual Bay Area Fungus Fair, the world of the mushroom will be explored in exhibits, lectures, slide shows, cooking demos, etc.. Through Jan. 13: Grand Lyricist: The Art of Elmer Bischoff, featuring paintings and works on paper that trace the evolution of Bischoff’s career. $6 adults, $4 seniors and students, free for children under 5. Wed. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sun. noon - 5 p.m., 10th St., Oakland, 888-625-6873/ www.museumca.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. Mon. through Fri., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 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.  

University of California Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive has reopened after its summerlong seismic retrofit. “Martin Puryear: Sculpture of the 1990s” through Jan. 13; “The Dream of the Audience: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951 - 1982)” through Dec. 16; “Face of Buddha: Sculpture from India, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia” ongoing rotation through 2003; “Matrix 194: Jessica Bronson, Heaps, layers, and curls” Sept. 16 through Nov. 11; “Matrix 192: Ceal Floyer 37’4”” Sept. 16 through Nov. 11; Wed., Fri., Sat., Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., PFA Theater, 2575 Bancroft Way; Museum Galleries 2626 Bancroft Way; 642-0808 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Lawrence Hall of Science Through Jan. 26: Scream Machines: The Science of Roller Coasters; “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. 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  

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

UC Berkeley student Andy Katz, perhaps the first student ever appointed to the Zoning Adjustments Board, took a seat on one of the city’s most influential governing bodies Monday. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who has assigned more than 30 students to commissions and boards during his five years on the council, gave Katz the nod after 14-year member Gene Poschman retired from the ZAB earlier this month. 

“I’ve been trying for my entire time in office to bring diversity to city government,” Worthington said. “And that includes racial diversity, gender diversity and age diversity.” 

Katz, 21, is a senior in the university’s political science department. As far as City Clerk Sherry Kelly is aware of, Katz is the first student assigned to ZAB. He has served as a substitute on the ZAB and Housing Advisory Commission.  

On campus, Katz is a director on the City Affairs Lobby and Housing Commission of the Associated Students of the University of California. 

“I would like to bring to the board a different perspective,” Katz said. “I have concerns about the environmental review process, concerns about neighborhoods and I would like to help bring more affordable housing to Berkeley.” 

ZAB Chair Carolyn Weinberger said she is looking forward to Katz’ participation on the board. “Andrew brings diversity to the board and a fresh perspective,” she said. “It will be interesting and helpful.” 

ASUC Vice President Josh Fryday said Katz’ appointment is a step in the right direction. 

“We’re very excited to have Andy serving on the Zoning Adjustments Board,” said Josh Fryday, vice president of external affairs for the Associated Students of the University of California. “Andy has the passion and the ability to not only serve adequately but with the utmost competence.” 

The ASUC submitted a redistricting plan to the city in August whose goal, supporters said, was to increase student participation in government. The City Council declined to consider the option, after the city attorney said the City Charter disallowed the proposed configuration. 

The ZAB is considered one of the most important of the city’s boards and commissions because of the broad influence it exerts over issues related to property rights. Some of the ZAB’s responsibilities include overseeing the creation of new housing stock, finding a balance between development and environmental resources and resolving conflicts between residents and business interests. 

“ZAB issues can be very complex because that is where the nuts and bolts of development projects are reconciled with the intricacies of the zoning ordinance,” said 10-year ZAB member David Blake. “The best board members will have some experience with architecture, good math skills and the ability to assimilate lots of details into a big picture.” 

The ZAB also is known to have the toughest schedule of the city’s 49 commissions and boards. Because of the volume and complexity of proposals the ZAB considers, it regularly meets twice each month, while other boards and commissions meet once a month.  

According to a ZAB schedule, the board is currently considering 26 projects and has another 47 in the wings. The projects range from a residential basement conversion to the development of a five-story mixed-use building with 88 residential units and 42 parking spaces. 

According to ZAB Chair Carolyn Weinberger, in addition to the two meetings a week there is usually anywhere from five to eight hours of preparation that goes into each meeting. “Between site inspections, analyzing staff reports and checking the Zoning Ordinance, the hours add up,” she said. 

After his first meeting as an official ZAB member, Katz said it was clear being a board member would be a great deal of work. “I really enjoy the work and believe my commitment to the ZAB is doable,” he said. 

Worthington said currently he has appointed 14 students to boards and commissions. The majority of his student appointments have excelled at their posts, he said, pointing to Devra Bachrach, who was elected by her fellow commissioners to serve as chair of the Energy Commission, Jackie Torres who has earned the respect of the Labor Commission and Marco Barrantes on the Parks and Recreation Commission. 

“When I first started appointing students, people gave me a hard time saying that the city would be better served by grown-ups,” said Worthington who is known for requiring hard work from his appointees. “Most of the students I’ve appointed have shown me they can do a very good-to-outstanding job.” 

Editor: 

Berkeley residents are becoming aware of increases in burglaries and violent crimes in our neighborhoods. I have even received a “safety alert” advertising a community meeting with my local City Council representative. 

Will she please take the following actions?  

• Act to keep population density along major corridors like University Avenue low. Do not allow scarce parking lots to be developed into population dense crime attracting housing projects. Vote to stop such projects.  

Every community should do its share to help the poor, but subsidized housing should not be disproportionately concentrated in anyone’s back yard.  

• No Berkeley neighborhood should house a disproportionate number of homeless, mentally disturbed, or drug addicted people.  

In my neighborhood, subsidies are currently concentrating homeless people in the Flamingo Hotel on University Avenue.  

Money to help these people would be better used buying them one way transportation to another state where housing is less expensive, employment opportunities are greater, and more people are needed.  

For more severely afflicted individuals who cannot support themselves anywhere, money would be better used for institutionalizing them at a remote location that will not be detrimental to neighborhoods. Mentally ill homeless drug abusers should not be in anyone’s back yard.  

• Vigorously oppose and in particular do not vote for subsidies to the Affordable Housing Associates projects. 

In spite of protests by neighbors, the one adjacent to the Flamingo Hotel on University Avenue has already destroyed the much needed parking lot adjacent to what used to be the Kelly Moore Paint store. It has also destroyed the Kelly Moore Paint store itself.  

It now threatens to bring in “special needs” people with a history of mental illness, drug abuse, and dependency on government subsidy.  

If it is too late to stop this project, at least minimize its size and make sure that its occupants have minimal detrimental influence on our community.  

Instead of people with a history of mental illness and drug abuse, perhaps this project could house seniors who would have access to the nearby senior citizen center two blocks away at the corner of Hearst and Grove (Martin Luther King).  

Seniors would be a lesser crime magnet and would be less detrimental than dually diagnosed schizophrenic and drug addicted homeless people.  

• Neighborhood watch with “eyes and ears on the street,” crime bulletin boards, neighbor alert e-mail and phone networks, and more beat cops on bicycles might help slightly, but the single most important step my City Council person should take is to prevent rather than encourage high population density in Berkeley.  

In particular, Berkeley simply does not need more subsidy dependent people with problems.  

Berkeley should be a medium density moderately affluent university town where residents can drive their cars, park without too much difficulty, and enjoy shopping and a movie. Berkeley cannot do this if the city government continues to subsidize population density increases of people with the greatest risk of problems.  

Berkeley need not become a high subsidized housing, low income, crime and drug infested, urban ghetto.  

Will my city council representative vote for some gentrification please?  

Walter Wood  

Berkeley 

OAKLAND – Tuesday’s pre-trial hearing in federal court for brothers Vijay and Prasad Lakireddy centered on one disputed point: does the defense have the right to subpoena documents that would show how much time a certain translator/ interviewer spent with the witnesses to the Lakireddys’ alleged misdeeds? 

After much debate, Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong delayed ruling on the question of whether to quash the subpoenas, asking both sides to submit further written arguments. 

The pair, adult sons of Lakireddy Bali Reddy – a wealthy Berkeley landlord now serving an eight-year jail sentence for immigration fraud, transporting minors for sex and submitting a false tax return – face charges of helping their father perpetrate his crimes. 

In the courtroom Tuesday, arguments flew back and forth between attorneys for the plaintiffs and defense, the latter of whom wanted the plaintiffs – the U.S. government – and other entities, to turn over documents related to the work of translator/ interviewer Uma Rao, hired by the government and also by other organizations involved in the case. 

Rao’s job was to interview non-English-speaking witnesses in Telugu and to translate for the government, police and victim advocates. But she did more. All parties agreed the translator became personally involved and persuaded witnesses to embellish their stories. 

What the defense lawyers want, is for the government and several organizations to give them documentation on how many times and for how long groups used the translator’s services. The groups include Narika, a Berkeley agency that supports South Asian women, which advocated for the victim/ witnesses, and the Berkeley Police Department, which interviewed the witnesses. 

Attorneys for the Lakireddy brothers are hoping to eventually show a jury that part of the weakness in the government’s case is related to the extent to which translator Rao spent time with the witnesses.  

Further, they say that the government’s work on the case can be shown to be inadequate because the government allowed an interviewer access to “impressionable, vulnerable witnesses” when it should have been able to find more responsible people to fulfill this function. The government gave “massive access to witnesses,” Cotsirilos said. “(Rao was) somebody who counseled these witnesses to lie.” 

“This is the stuff of a slipshod investigation,” Cotsirilos said. “You cannot trust this investigation.” 

Part of the plaintiffs’ argument rests on the assumption that the witnesses were under tight government control. “These witnesses are in INS control and custody. I would not expect time and time again for somebody to tell them to lie.” 

Hammering his point home, Cotsirilos repeated his point. “It is incumbent on the government to (use) a person who is professional and trained. You can’t let them be interviewed by any old person.” 

Judge Armstrong appeared to grow weary of the argument. “You keep saying that over and over,” she said. “I wonder if you don’t think it’s (convincing.)” She added that she didn’t think the court had a list of Telugu interpreters. 

The notion that the witnesses were under government control – even when they were interviewed by Rao acting under the auspices of a different agency – is particularly important to the plaintiffs. “That makes third party subpoenas relevant,” Cotsirilos said. 

Arguing for the groups who received subpoenas, ACLU attorney L. Jay Kuo was equally combative, characterizing Cotsirilos’ request for information “a fishing expedition.” He reminded the court that the government had already obtained permission to reinterview the witnesses. 

He further challenged the plaintiff’s contention that the witnesses were under continuous government scrutiny, arguing rather, that they had been placed in “safe houses” where every person who goes in and out was not examined. 

“The question is whether the subpoena is necessary,” Armstrong Brown said. Attorneys will file additional briefs with the court by Dec. 4 and the judge will rule on whether to quash the subpoenas some time after that. 

The Daily Planet received the following letter to the president. (Spelling has not been edited.) 

Dear Bush the President, 

What you are doing is very disrespectful to most of the people in Afghanistan who are very poor and minding just there own business and trying there best to stay alive while your just going ahead and boming them for nothing. 

Look I now how you feel. Upset right.  

If people from a differnt contry that I didn’t know or even if I new them were crashing or landing planes on really importen bildings of my contry, state, or city I’d be not only be upset but really mad.  

But I wouldn’t just start boming a hole contry or I wouldent even start trying to kill the people who did it. I would call the people who I think did it to the world court. 

Molly Levy 

Berkeley  

8 years old 

SAN FRANCISCO — An investment real estate agent accused of bilking more than $20 million from four Bay Area banks has been sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison by a judge in Israel. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco announced the sentencing on Monday. 

Zev Ben-Simon, 57, former owner of Taldan Investment Company, was convicted in September by a Tel Aviv court after being indicted in August 1993 by a federal grand jury in San Francisco. 

Ben-Simon fled to Israel prior to the indictment, and U.S. officials were unable to extradite him because it was not authorized by Israeli law at that time. 

Authorities in Israel conducted their own investigation and found him guilty of defrauding First Deposit National Bank, Bay View Federal Bank, World Saving & Loan and United Savings Bank. He has been ordered to pay about $1 million and to repay $250,000 to the government in Israel. 

The judge in Israel found Ben-Simon guilty of committing fraud connected with large commercial loans the banks made to purchase or refinance commercial properties in San Francisco. 

The district court in Tel Aviv began hearing the case in July 1997. 

SAN FRANCISCO — A 20-year-old San Bernardino man has been arrested and charged with threatening three people by sending them letters he claimed were laced with anthrax. 

Antonio M. Flores was arrested Tuesday and faces federal charges of mailing threatening communications and threatening to transfer a biological agent for use as a weapon, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 

Flores allegedly mailed three letters on Oct. 25 to people in Eureka, Arcata and Kneeland. All three envelopes had “anthrax” written on them and two contained a powdery substance, which Flores says was talcum powder or powder from tetracycline antibiotic capsules, according to court documents. 

Flores served about a month in the Humboldt County jail for being in possession of stolen property. He said he sent two of the letters to people he stole from and the third was sent as a favor to a fellow inmate who wanted to threaten the man who had turned him in to authorities, according to court documents. 

If convicted, Flores could face a life sentence. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Now may be the time to buy for those who have always wanted to own a house in the San Francisco Bay area. The cost of mid-priced homes fell in October to less than a year earlier, marking the first time since 1995, but that trend didn’t hold true in Southern California, a real estate firm reported. 

A mid-range home in the Bay Area sold for $366,000 in October, down 0.8 percent from $369,000 at the same time last year, DataQuick Information Systems reported Monday. The figures are based on sales of new and existing homes, as well as condominiums. 

Last month’s price dip came during the throes of a prolonged sales slump. Bay Area home sales through the first 10 months of this year are running 17.3 percent below last year’s volume, DataQuick said. 

Another report based on the sales of existing houses is scheduled to be released Tuesday by the California Association of Realtors, an industry trade group. 

Although the year-to-year decline registered in DataQuick’s statistics is small, it nevertheless signals a significant swing in the Bay Area’s housing market, where homeowners reveled in steadily rising property values throughout the last half of the 1990s. 

It marked the first year-to-year decline in the Bay Area’s residential property since September 1995, when a mid-priced home in the region sold for $221,000, down 0.9 percent from $223,000 in the prior year. After falling into that trough, Bay Area home values began an ascent that peaked at a median price of $386,000 in March of this year, DataQuick said. 

Even as Bay Area home prices fell from the March high, the values still remained above the levels of last year’s comparable periods until October’s shift. 

Last month’s downturn doesn’t necessarily herald the beginning of a long slide in Bay Area home prices, said DataQuick President Mike Ela. 

“We expect the Bay Area market to stay on an even keel through the rest of the year and on into 2002,” Ela said. 

Meanwhile, the Southern California home market remained robust during October as buyers enticed by the lowest mortgage rates in a generation swarmed into the market to drive up prices. 

Boosted by the region’s highest October sales volume in 12 years, mid-range homes in Southern California sold for $233,000, an 8.9 percent increase from $214,000 at the same time last year, DataQuick said. 

Riverside County and San Diego County were particularly hot markets, with home values rising by 16.6 percent and 12.9 percent, respectively, from the previous year, according to DataQuick. 

The contrasting numbers in the Bay Area and Southern California illuminates the divergent fortunes of the two biggest regions in the nation’s most populous state. Average housing rents in the Bay Area and Southern California also moved in opposite directions during the summer, according to a study by RealFacts. 

With nearly one-third of its non-farm payroll tied to the high-tech industry, the Bay Area is still suffering from the crash of the dot-com economy that enriched the region during the late 1990s. 

High-tech accounts for less than 10 percent of Southern California’s non-farm payroll, helping the region’s economy hold up much better than the Bay Area during the current recession. 

The Bay Area’s tech-driven hangover is causing even greater pain in the luxury market consisting of homes worth at least $1 million. 

Bay Area luxury homes sold for an average of $2.21 million during the three months ended in September, a 7.5 percent decline from the second quarter, according to a report to be released Tuesday by First Republic Bank, a San Francisco lender that caters to wealthy households throughout the state. 

It marked the first quarter-to-quarter drop in the Bay Area’s luxury home market since the first three months of 1999. Luxury home prices could plunge by another 20 percent to 30 percent before the Bay Area market bottoms out in the spring of next year, predicted Scott Dancer, a Coldwell Banker real estate broker in Woodside, one of the Bay Area’s most affluent neighborhoods. 

Meanwhile, luxury homes in Los Angeles gained 2.4 percent in the third quarter to $1.31 million — the highest average since 1992, according to First Republic. Luxury homes in San Diego climbed 6.2 percent in the third quarter to an average of $1.39 million. 

——— 

On The Net: 

http://www.dataquick.com 

MARTINEZ — A trio accused of killing five people, including the daughter of blues guitarist Elvin Bishop, wanted to bring truth to the world through a self-awareness program, prosecutors say. 

The days surrounding the brutal slayings and dismemberments in August 2000 were outlined in Contra Costa County court Monday by Deputy District Attorney Harold Jewett. 

The remains of an elderly Concord couple and Selina Bishop were found in nine duffel bags in the Mokelumne River. 

Two brothers and a friend also face murder charges in the shooting deaths of Selina Bishop’s mother and the mother’s boyfriend in Marin County. 

Glenn Helzer, 31, his brother, Justin, 29, and housemate Dawn Godman, 27, also are charged with extorting $100,000 from Ivan and Annette Stineman, the elderly Concord couple. Selina Bishop was Glenn Helzer’s girlfriend. 

In addition to five counts of murder, the trio faces charges of conspiracy, extortion, false imprisonment and drug possession. They have pleaded innocent to all charges. 

A preliminary hearing, where a judge decides whether there’s enough evidence to support the charges, is scheduled to begin next Monday. 

Glenn Helzer was an instructor in a self-awareness program called Harmony, and wanted to bring truth to the world by directing his own group, according to court documents. He planned to use drug dealing, an escort service and extortion to finance it. 

The $100,000 extorted from the Stinemans was to be the seed money for the escort service, which would provide enough cash to start Helzer’s program, according to court documents. 

At Monday’s hearing, defense attorneys asked the judge to close the preliminary hearing to prevent publicity from biasing potential jurors. Judge Douglas Cunningham will rule Wednesday on that motion. 

Prosecutors say Glenn Helzer’s plan started to come together in May 2000 when the brothers and Godman moved into a rental home in east Concord. They began buying equipment: ski masks, handcuffs and leg irons, a saw, a plastic tarp and duffel bags. Justin Helzer, a former military police officer, bought a 9mm Beretta semi-automatic. 

To launder the Stinemans’ money, Glenn Helzer turned to Bishop, a 22-year-old woman who knew him as “Jordan.” He asked her to deposit a large inheritance to keep it away from his estranged wife. 

On Aug. 1, 2000, Godman deposited two checks written on the Stinemans’ account into Bishop’s bank account. That same day, Bishop spent the evening with her mother, Jennifer Villarin. Bishop was last seen Aug. 2 at a Berkeley bar with “Jordan.” 

Villarin and her boyfriend, James Gamble, spent the night at Bishop’s apartment. Early Aug. 3, both were shot to death, authorities said. 

That same day, the Stinemans’ daughter reported her parents missing and a surveillance camera recorded a vehicle similar to Justin Helzer’s crossing the Antioch bridge towing a personal watercraft. That was when the three dumped the duffel bags in the river, the prosecutor said. 

By Aug. 7, investigators traced the mysterious “Jordan” to the Helzers’ Concord address. They arrested the trio on suspicion of drug possession and began to piece together evidence they say linked them to the five killings. 

The defendants have been jailed in Martinez without bail. 

LOS ANGELES — An attorney for former Symbionese Liberation Army fugitive Sara Jane Olson says he was partly to blame for his client pleading guilty to attempting to blow up police cars when she is really innocent. 

In documents filed in Superior Court on Monday, attorney J. Tony Serra characterized Olson as being in “a psychological condition of coercion” when she pleaded guilty to two counts of attempting to explode destructive devices with intent to murder. 

Olson is accused of placing bombs under two police cars in 1975 in what prosecutors say was revenge for a deadly shootout with Los Angeles police the previous year in which six members of the radical SLA were killed. The bombs failed to explode. 

“At no time has Ms. Olson ever conceded to me her factual guilt with respect to any of the charges; in fact, she has always asserted the contrary — that she is innocent of the charges,” Serra wrote. 

Olson has asked Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler to allow her to withdraw her guilty plea and go to trial. Fidler has scheduled a hearing for Dec. 3. 

Serra’s filing on Monday characterized Olson as being in “a psychological condition of coercion” when she pleaded guilty. 

He added that his client pleaded guilty at his urging because he believed Olson couldn’t get a fair trial in the patriotic climate created by the Sept. 11 attacks and because of the prosecution’s intent to depict the SLA and Olson as domestic terrorists. 

“I, in part, take responsibility for creating conditions in her mind that amounted to psychological duress, in regard to pleading guilty,” Serra wrote. 

Olson had signed an agreement on the pleas before entering them in court on Oct. 31. After she told reporters outside court she was really innocent, Fidler ordered her to explain herself. On Nov. 6 she reaffirmed the pleas, but a week later she changed her mind and asked to withdraw them. 

Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson said Serra’s declaration appeared to be an attempt to give the court some basis for dismissing the pleas. 

“He’s falling a little bit on his sword to try to give her better grounds for her motion,” Levenson said. 

“It may be too little, too late,” she added. 

Olson’s signed agreement with prosecutors calls for two consecutive terms of 10 years to life, effectively making it a sentence of 20 years to life with possibility of parole in 5 1/4 years. 

Olson, whose given name was Kathleen Soliah, was a fugitive in the case for more than two decades until her capture in Minnesota in 1999. 

LOS ANGELES — A breakaway San Fernando Valley city would own nothing except streets and would have to buy parks, libraries and other assets from Los Angeles, according to a legal opinion for the agency overseeing possible secession. 

County Counsel Lloyd W. Pellman’s opinion means that if City Hall refuses to give away assets in negotiations, a San Fernando Valley city would have to buy them at fair market value or pay Los Angeles to provide police and fire protection and other services. 

If the Local Agency Formation Commission abides by the legal opinion, it would weaken the position of secessionists because taxes may have to be raised to pay for the assets unless a deal is worked out. 

“We shouldn’t have to pay for assets that we already co-own,” said Richard Close, chairman of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment. “It’s like in a marriage, if a judge divides up the assets but then tells one spouse they have to pay for their share of the assets. It’s inconsistent and we don’t believe it’s state law.” 

The commission is trying to meet a series of deadlines to put the secession proposal on the November 2002 ballot. The legal opinion, issued Monday, may add to the commission’s burden if it is determined that city property in the valley must be appraised before it can create a compensation package for Los Angeles. 

LOS ANGELES — A memorial to California journalists who died while pursuing news stories was given a new home and an 18th name on Tuesday at California State University, Northridge. 

The Fallen Journalists Memorial plaque bearing names of reporters and photojournalists killed in World War II, the Jonestown massacre, helicopter crashes and coverage of other conflicts at home and abroad, carries the additional name of James Bertken. 

Bertken was a reporter for the Daily News of Los Angeles when he was swept off a boat while covering a sport-fishing story off the California coast in 1995. He was an alumnus of the journalism program at CSUN. 

The wood and bronze plaque was created by the Los Angeles Press Club in 1979, one year after three California journalists were killed in an ambush in Jonestown, Guyana. It was displayed at City Hall, and had been in storage during a lengthy earthquake retrofit project at City Hall since 1994. 

Its new location is in Manzanita Hall, home of the Department of Journalism at the Northridge campus. 

Those honored on the plaque include reporters and photographers killed in France and the Philippines in 1944, in Iran in 1979 and Honduras in 1983 — and Francis Gary Powers. The U-2 spy plane pilot who was captured in Russia in 1960 later became a Los Angeles helicopter reporter, and died in a crash in 1977. 

Bertken’s widow, Louise Yarnall, and their two sons, attended the ceremony Tuesday along with several other relatives and former colleagues of those honored. 

“It reminds us of how in the course of doing our jobs, we are often in situations of risk,” said Daily News Sports Editor Michael Anastasi, who was Bertken’s supervisor when the reporter died. “It wasn’t someone killed in wartime. But a huge number of people who enjoyed his outdoor columns told us how much they shared our loss.” 

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gray Davis plans to meet with Mexican President Vicente Fox in Mexico City next week in an effort to boost the slumping economies of California and its southern neighbor. 

Davis is to meet Monday with Fox and leaders of the Mexican Senate at Los Pinos — Mexico’s presidential residence — to discuss tourism and trade initiatives and economic security, aides announced Tuesday. 

The leaders also likely will address border security and other issues related to the fallout of the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes, aides said. 

“They are going to talk about issues of mutual concern,” said Davis spokesman Roger Salazar. 

Already-weak economies in California and Mexico have suffered more because security concerns and long waits to cross the border have deterred travelers since Sept. 11. 

Davis’ two-day trip will be the second official meeting between the leaders since Fox took office a year ago. Fox visited California in March, discussing the statewide power crisis with Davis and legislative leaders and opening a Mexican trade center in Santa Ana. 

Davis and Fox pledged to meet twice a year to improve relations, which were strained when California voted in 1994 to bar most state services to illegal immigrants. Then-Gov. Pete Wilson made that issue a centerpiece of his successful re-election campaign the same year, angering Mexican leaders. 

Since he was elected in 1998, Davis has worked to build a relationship with Fox and his predecessor, Ernesto Zedillo. 

Mexico is California’s largest trading partner and export market, and the state’s Hispanic population has climbed to more than 10 million. “We need to do everything we can to foster that relationship,” Salazar said. 

The trip also is politically strategic for Davis, who is wooing the state’s fast growing group of Hispanic voters as he prepares to seek re-election next year, one political scientist said. 

“That’s part of what this is, to be the antithesis of Pete Wilson,” said Steven Erie, a University of California, San Diego, political science professor who studies California-Mexico relations. 

During the visit, Davis also is to sign a memorandum of understanding with Baja California Gov. Eugenio Elorduy Walther to establish cooperation between the two neighboring states. 

Then on Tuesday, Davis is scheduled to address the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico City.  

California legislative leaders and Cabinet members also are scheduled to go on the trip and meet with their counterparts. 

——— 

On the Net: For information on President Fox, click on English at http://www.presidencia.gob.mx 

SAN SIMEON— In a dressing room in the remote recesses of Hearst Castle, Diane Marchetti glanced at a mirror, and had to like what she saw. Her evening gown shimmered like silver and sheathed her slender figure like a second skin. She tucked her hair beneath a curly blond wig and checked the mirror again. 

This was a special occasion. On this night, she would be part of a small assembly of dinner guests at the home of William Randolph Hearst himself. 

This moment did not occur 70 years ago, when Hearst and his castle were at their zenith. It occurred this very year, on a night when Marchetti, who by day teaches eighth-grade math in nearby Atascadero, was joining several other docents to lend an undercurrent of realism to an evening tour of the opulent hilltop mansion. 

The evening tours, instituted a dozen years ago but offered only during slack tourist periods, have been extremely popular, according to a spokesman for the state park system, which administers the property. And it’s not difficult to see why. They provide a glimpse of the castle as it would have been in its 1930s glory, when Hearst routinely entertained select groups of guests for the weekend. 

For those who have taken the main daytime tour with dozens of other visitors, the evening tour, limited to three groups of 18 visitors each, offers a much different sense of the place. 

“I hope you brought your imagination,” guide Bill Coleman said as he greeted his group of visitors one brisk evening. “You’re going to see it as it was when Hearst was entertaining guests in the evening.” 

And indeed, after we climbed a staircase to the Neptune Pool, elegantly dressed guests were milling about, conversing quietly in small groups and sipping cocktails. A maid happened by, bearing an armful of towels. 

They are all volunteers who participate in Hearst Castle’s Living History Program, and they take it seriously. They don’t want a visitor’s experience to be marred by the brief flash of a Calvin Klein logo. 

Coleman addressed us as if we had been included on the guest list — though all of it, of course, was make-believe. 

“You may have noticed a tray of drinks,” he said. Remember that Mr. Hearst has no tolerance for drunkenness. If you got drunk, you’d probably be sent home — and probably not invited back.” (Actually, tour visitors have no chance to get drunk: No food or drink is served.) 

We were ushered into the kitchen, where a docent in chef’s attire was busily working. When asked about the evening’s menu, he said, “It’s all set. Roast beef, rare, just like the Chief likes it; he won’t have it any other way. I’ve got some chickens on the spit from that ranch you passed on the way up the hill. Four different kinds of bread. Vegetables. And five desserts, including homemade vanilla ice cream — the Chief’s favorite. That’s probably why he’s 280 pounds. And I think it’s the only thing he doesn’t put ketchup on.” 

The illusion was maintained throughout the tour — almost two hours — with only a couple of minor lapses. 

Hearst Castle has differing effects on its visitors. Some consider it a lavish treasure, others a ghastly testament to a man who fancied art, had more money than he knew what to do with and created an absurd hodgepodge in his attempt to marry the two. Was this art collection or simple accumulation? 

It probably doesn’t matter now. In visiting this castle on a hill — especially when it is dressed for the evening — visitors can gain a strong sense of the manifestations and indulgences of sudden wealth in the early 20th century. 

After we left the seductively lit Roman pool, scuffing our heels over the inlaid 22-karat gold in the deck tiles, the passengers on the bus were silent on the way down the hill. Maybe this group of tourists was toying with the same fantasy. 

Far down the road, a glimpse of the receding castle was visible through a gap in the trees, the twin bell towers gleaming against the night sky. 

Maybe it is a garish monstrosity, a monument to avarice, but on this night Hearst Castle seemed magical.

FRESNO — State Sen. Jim Costa, a longtime politician who has served 23 years in the Legislature and cannot seek re-election because of term limits, said Tuesday he is leaving public office and will not run for Congress. 

Costa, 49, D-Fresno, had said he would run for the 18th Congressional District if Rep. Gary Condit decided to step down. But his decision was not necessarily a sign that Condit will run for re-election. 

Costa’s chief of staff, Larry Sheingold, said it was too late for Costa to form a campaign committee and begin raising money even if Condit calls it quits. 

“He ran out of time,” Sheingold said. “Even at this time if Gary decided not to run, he doesn’t have his committee up, he doesn’t have a nickel. It would be too hard to start from a standing start.” 

Condit filed papers Monday to waive a fee to put his name on the ballot, but his chief of staff said the Ceres Democrat has not announced whether he will seek an eighth term. 

Sheingold said the race for Condit’s seat would have been a bruising battle for Costa. 

Costa, who served 16 years in the state Assembly and seven years in the Senate, also abandoned plans for a possible run for the newly formed 21st Congressional District in Tulare and Fresno counties. 

That seat was carved for a Republican candidate, with 48 percent GOP voters and 38 percent Democrats. 

Costa has not decided what he will do when his term ends next year, but Sheingold said it will be in the private sector. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Sen. Jim Costa: http://www.sen.ca.gov/costa/ 

MEMPHIS, Tenn.— Harvard molecular biologist Don Wiley was last seen leaving a banquet in Memphis just before midnight on Nov. 15. His rental car was found a few hours later, abandoned on a Mississippi River bridge with the keys in the ignition and the tank full of gas. 

His family does not believe he committed suicide and police say there is no evidence that the 57-year-old married father of four with no known financial or domestic problems was kidnapped or killed. 

But the disappearance in this time of war and anthrax attacks has attracted the attention of the FBI. Wiley is an expert on how the human immune system fights off infections and had recently investigated such dangerous viruses as AIDS, Ebola, herpes and influenza. 

Investigators are reviewing all possibilities to what might have happened, from Wiley jumping from the bridge to him being a target of some kind of terrorist-backed kidnapping because of his research. 

“Right now nothing is pointing at anything, except he is missing,” police Lt. Walter Norris said Tuesday. 

Wiley’s wife, Katrin Valgeirsdottir, said “suicide is everybody’s first reaction” but she doesn’t believe her husband would have killed himself. 

She said “there is no connection to terrorist activity. None.” 

“We don’t know what happened. We can speculate until the cows come home but we don’t know,” she said in a telephone interview from Cambridge, Mass. 

Wiley is a professor of biochemistry and biophysics in Harvard University’s molecular and cellular biology department. He and another Harvard professor, Dr. Jack Strominger, have won honors for their work on how the human immune system works, including the Japan Prize two years ago. 

Wiley was in Memphis to attend a two-day annual meeting of the scientific advisory board of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a board Wiley has served on for about 10 years. 

Dr. William Evans, the hospital’s deputy director, said Wiley seemed “in a great frame of mind” and was looking forward to time with his family when he left a Nov. 15 dinner at the Peabody Hotel about midnight. 

Four hours later, police found Wiley’s abandoned Mitsubishi Galant a few miles from the hotel, in a lane of the Hernando DeSoto Bridge that rises 100 feet above the Mississippi River between Memphis and Arkansas. 

Norris said police have no clues as to Wiley’s whereabouts during those four hours. He said patrol boats and helicopters have been checking the river, but divers wouldn’t be helpful because the current is too swift. 

Valgeirsdottir reported her husband missing Nov. 16, the day she and their two children had planned to meet him in Memphis. She said Wiley had been staying with his father in a Memphis suburb. 

She said she could think of no reason he would have driven toward Arkansas after the hotel dinner. 

Wiley’s 85-year-old father, retired chemist Bill Wiley, said his son knew his way around the city from years of visits and attending the hospital meetings. 

“We can’t accept the suicide theory,” Bill Wiley said. 

Police Inspector Jerry King said there was nothing to support theories that Wiley was a victim of a crime or he disappeared because of a domestic or financial situation. Investigators have been dusting the rental car for fingerprints and performing other tests, but nothing has turned up so far. 

William Woerner of the FBI’s office in Memphis said the agency was not conducting an investigation into Wiley’s disappearance. 

He said the agency was interested in the case because Wiley is a prominent scientist but there was no evidence the disappearance is related to his profession. 

FBI spokesman George Bolds said the FBI would assist Memphis police if needed, but the disappearance is a missing persons case for now. 

“There are many possibilities and theories as to what could have happened,” Bolds said. “There is not a whole lot the FBI can add right now.” 

——— 

On the Net: 

FBI: http://www.fbi.gov 

Harvard: http://golgi.harvard.edu/Faculty/Wiley.html 

Memphis: http://www.ci.memphis.tn.us 

NEW YORK — Most major airlines plan to maintain a fuel surcharge of $20 on each one-way ticket even though the price of jet fuel has dropped by half during the past year. 

The industry’s reluctance to drop the charge contrasts with the nation’s major hotel chains, which have eliminated the additional fees they put in place to help cover skyrocketing energy prices. 

“Regardless of what fuel prices do, our costs continue to rise and, especially in today’s market, we need every nickel we can get because we are still losing about $10 million a day,” said John Hotard, a spokesman for American Airlines, the nation’s largest carrier, said Tuesday. 

Industrywide losses are projected at $10 billion for the year because of drastically lower demand attributable to the recession and the Sept. 11 attacks. 

While airlines have cut fares to try to spur demand, they have stubbornly held on to the fuel surcharges, which now make up roughly 15 percent of the average domestic ticket price. 

Most of the nation’s largest airlines introduced a surcharge of $10 each way in February 2000 and then doubled the amount nine months later. 

, when crude oil was more than $30 a barrel. Oil prices are now below $19. 

A gallon of jet fuel costs roughly 52 cents today, compared with $1.06 a year ago. 

The only major airline without a fuel surcharge is Dallas-based Southwest. For its part, Delta Air Lines said it has maintained a fuel surcharge of just $10 on each one-way ticket. 

The surcharge is not necessarily apparent to travelers because it does not appear on airfare receipts. 

Major hotel chains such as Marriott and Hilton have gradually dropped energy surcharges of $1.50 to $5 per night that were imposed earlier this year. 

The words came to Ann Travers as she watched her husband sleep that night: “He’s going to make an excellent father.” 

And there it was, the answer she’d been searching for — her personal response to tragedy after walking out of Manhattan and turning to watch the World Trade Center collapse. 

Little more than 10 days later, she was pregnant. Not long after, so was Stacey Stapleton, who made the decision with husband Paul to have a child as fighter jets flew over their Manhattan apartment. Anthony Andreano and wife Tamara, who live on Staten Island, also have started trying to conceive a Christmas “surprise” for their families. 

While the trend may be strongest in New York, doctors say people nationwide seem to be shunning talk of a world gone wrong and pursuing pregnancy not just in spite of, but because of, the Sept. 11 attacks. 

“It’s the ’carpe diem’ mode,” says Dr. Michael Silverstein, an obstetrician and gynecologist at NYU Medical Center in Manhattan. “They’re saying, ’Life’s too short — who knows what’s down the road.”’ 

Dr. Steven Brody says Alvarado Hospital Medical Center in San Diego has received roughly 25 percent more calls from new patients wanting to learn about overcoming infertility since the attacks. 

“The concept is not (just) having a baby, it’s building a family,” says Brody, medical director of the hospital’s reproductive endocrinology unit. “I think that’s the priority that this disaster has made apparent to people.” 

Right after the attacks, Dr. Matan Yemini, co-director of the Diamond Institute for Infertility and Menopause in Millburn, N.J., says some patients put plans on hold. But recent weeks have seen a surge in interest — and an unprecedented willingness in patients to talk frankly about their fertility problems. 

“In a way, it’s opened people,” Yemini says. 

Dr. Kenneth Johnson in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., says many potential mothers he’s seen recently are asking more about the role of exercise and nutrition in pregnancy. 

“Lately, I sense a lot of interest in getting it right,” says Johnson, director of the Women’s Health Center at the Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine. 

But business has not been booming for everyone. Maureen Rayburn, a certified nurse and midwife in Manhattan, says several of her pregnant clients left New York after Sept. 11. And another, who before the attacks planned to have her baby without the father’s help or blessing, decided to get an abortion. 

“With all the chaos, it’s hard for people who aren’t getting adequate support to take on that challenge,” Rayburn says, though she adds that the patient who sought an abortion was the “exception,” not the rule. 

One population expert says major crises often cause people to procreate in attempt to “return to normalcy.” But he’s not convinced there will be a baby boom this time, since the sagging economy may cause some people to postpone pregnancy. 

“It could go either way,” says Douglas Bachtel, a demographer with the University of Georgia College of Family and Consumer Sciences. 

For Travers, it wasn’t economics that was holding her back before Sept. 11. Mostly, it was fear. 

“Fear that we would lose our youth, the quality time we’re used to spending together, our freedom to come and go as we please,” she says of herself and husband John Medford, who had been talking for years about wanting to be a father. 

Then, after the planes hit, Travers says she realized the time for a child had arrived, as she believes it did for many women. 

Stapleton, also a 31-year-old mother-to-be, agrees. 

“Before, my whole life was about what I could and couldn’t afford,” says Stapleton, whose husband works three blocks from Ground Zero. “Now, really, the only thing that’s important is that I have my husband and that I’m able to have a family.” 

Travers decided to tell her husband she was ready as they walked on a Long Island beach on Sept. 15, the day before their first anniversary. 

“He didn’t say a word,” she says. “His eyes welled up, and he gave me a hug and a kiss.” 

She knows there are some who question bringing a child into a war-torn world. 

“But bad things will always happen,” she says. “And good things will always come out of them.” 

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Chronicle announced plans Tuesday to cut 220 jobs, adding Northern California’s largest newspaper to the list of media companies jettisoning workers to offset steep advertising losses. 

The cuts, representing 8.5 percent of the Chronicle’s 2,600 employees, will involve a combination of layoffs and voluntary buyouts. 

Management told labor leaders the newspaper will fire 114 workers and entice slightly more than 100 other employees to voluntarily leave by offering up to two years pay and up to one year of medical benefits, said Carl Hall, a longtime Chronicle staff writer and president of the Northern California Media Workers Guild. 

“The need to reduce our work force was one we hoped to avoid,” Chronicle Publisher John Oppedahl said in an internal memo to employees. “However the long-term health of our company requires us to go beyond the cost-saving efforts we have taken so far this year.” 

Besides the staff cuts, the Chronicle is suspending management bonuses next year, Oppedahl said. 

The layoffs will be limited to Chronicle employees hired after July 27, 2000 — the date the Hearst Corp. bought the paper for $660 million. In November of last year, Hearst relinquished control of the Chronicle’s rival, the San Francisco Examiner, to a local publisher and merged the staffs, promising not to lay off any worker hired before the purchase. 

“They are going right up to the edge, but I can’t accuse management of abrogating on that guarantee,” Hall said. 

The buyout packages won’t be offered to all workers. The ineligible departments include the writers and editors in the Chronicle’s business section, which covered the Silicon Valley boom and bust that resulted in Tuesday’s decision to cut jobs. 

In his memo, Oppedahl cited the steep slump in the high-tech industry as a primary reason for the cutbacks. With funding for free-spending dot-com companies gone, the Chronicle’s ad revenue has plunged by 20 percent this year, Oppedahl said. The ads in the help-wanted section are down by more than 50 percent, reflecting the mass layoffs that have hit the Silicon Valley and tourism-driven industries. 

Less-severe advertising downturns prompted a large number of newspapers, magazines and broadcasters across the country to trim their staffs months ago. The Chronicle had been a notable holdout, even though the San Francisco Bay Area market has suffered some of the most dramatic losses. 

“Things are bad pretty much everywhere, but it’s worse in San Francisco,” said John Morton, a newspaper analyst. 

Two of the Chronicle’s biggest rivals, the San Jose Mercury News and the Contra Costa Times in Walnut Creek, offered voluntary buyouts to pare their staffs by nearly 10 percent earlier this year. Those cuts were mandated by Knight Ridder, a publicly held newspaper group that faced pressure from Wall Street to boost profits. 

As a privately held company, Hearst had more leeway to accept lower earnings this year to avoid staff cuts, Morton said. 

But the Chronicle purchase saddled Hearst with additional costs in the Bay Area. To complete the takeover, Hearst agreed to pay the Examiner’s new owners, the Fang family, $66 million during a three-year period ending in November 2003. 

Based on trends since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Chronicle management concluded “current economic conditions will continue to deteriorate,” Oppedahl said in his memo. 

The Chronicle began handing out pink slips Tuesday. The layoffs will affect 85 workers represented by unions and 29 management employees, according to Hall, who was among the labor leaders briefed by Chronicle management. 

The newspaper’s executives did not provide details about who specifically will be laid off, but Hall said at least one reporter, one photographer and several copy editors are on the list. 

Even as it struggled financially this year, the Chronicle boosted its readership, largely by introducing an afternoon edition after Hearst abandoned the Examiner. The Chronicle reported average weekday circulation of 512,042 for the six months ending Sept. 30, a 12 percent increase from the previous year. 

Although the “increase in circulation is an important component to the long-term success” of the paper, it wasn’t enough to offset the advertising losses, Oppedahl said. 

——— 

On The Net: 

http://www.sfgate.com 

Media news site: http://www.poynter.org/medianews/ 

MONTEBELLO — Once a week, Tim Moynahan makes a half-hour drive from the San Fernando Valley to a small dairy east of Los Angeles. 

It seems a long way to go for a milk run, but to Moynahan the trip is worth the trouble. 

“It just smells like fresh milk,” Moynahan, 32, said as he carried off a crate of four half-gallon glass bottles of milk. 

In the age of paper or plastic, milk in clear glass bottles has become a novelty like the uniformed milkman. 

But the few California dairies that remain committed to glass have transformed the once-common container into a high-end product, creating a tiny but lucrative niche that is only a fraction of 1 percent of the state’s $3.7 billion dairy industry. 

“Just try it out of a glass bottle. It tastes better,” said Ray Broguiere Jr., who operates Broguiere’s Farm Fresh Dairy in Montebello. “Glass is pure and simple. It doesn’t pick up any of the odor of plastic or the paper.” 

The family business, one of about three dairies in California that still pumps milk into glass containers, began as a farm in 1920 under Broguiere’s French immigrant grandfather, Ernest, and once had a herd of 150 cows. 

When Ernest’s son, Ray Broguiere Sr., took over in 1965, the dairy switched from producing to processing as profits fell and the cost of caring for a herd increased. 

“We process about 4,500 gallons of milk a week,” Ray Broguiere Jr. said. “We pasteurize, homogenize and bottle it.” 

There are good reasons why so few dairies still put milk in traditional glass bottles, according to Rachel Kaldor, executive director of the Dairy Institute of California. 

”(Glass-bottled milk processing) is expensive and fraught with liability, and a vast majority of consumers are not interested,” she said. “Those that do have preserved something in a fast-changing industry.” 

Returnable glass bottles, introduced in the 1880s, began to lose ground to disposable paper and plastic cartons in the 1960s and ’70s as consumers’ habits switched from home delivery to convenient bulk buying at supermarkets, Kaldor said. 

“It was a lifestyle change. There were fewer people waiting at home for the milkman to deliver and collect the bottles because they’re at work,” she said. 

Glass containers are also more difficult to handle than paper and plastic. They are heavy, easily shattered and must be collected and sanitized before they are reused, while paper or plastic cartons are light and easily recycled. 

These factors have reduced glass-bottled milk to a specialty item, usually found only at organic food stores and high-end supermarkets, where customers are willing to pay the hefty $1 deposit per bottle, Kaldor said. 

At Broguiere’s drive-through counter, milk in plastic jugs outsells glass 2-to-1. A half-gallon in plastic sells for $1.80 while a half-gallon in glass sells for $1.59, with a $1.50 deposit on the bottle. 

“(Glass) is pretty much a niche thing geared towards the upper-end market,” Broguiere said. “Most people like a one-way container like plastic or paper. There’s less to deal with.” 

Kaldor attributes the choice of glass to “personal preference” and characterizes the chance of packaging changing the flavor of milk as very small, usually less than 1 percent with plastic. 

But those who prefer milk from a glass bottle believer there is more to it. 

“Just go to a supermarket and open up a carton of milk. It just smells sour,” Moynahan said. “This stuff tastes a lot better.” 

Then there are the bottle collectors: Behind the dairy’s red cow logo, Broguiere occasionally prints special designs, from a bald eagle commemorating Operation Desert Storm to encouragements to buy U.S. savings bonds. 

“On eBay, I saw them ranging from $4.49 to $9.99,” he said. “I’ve heard the (Desert Storm) bottle going for 20 bucks back East.” 

SAN JOSE — A leading maker of diabetes monitors has agreed to pay $45 million to diabetics across the country to settle a class-action suit that alleged its products were dangerously defective. 

Lifescan Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement, which was reached Monday just before jury selection was about to begin. A federal judge indicated he likely will approve the settlement. 

The company, based in Milpitas, also had to pay $60 million last year after pleading guilty to charges it knew about two defects in its SureStep glucose meter but failed to disclose the problems before putting the device on the market in 1996. 

Federal investigators said one defect caused SureStep to sometimes display an error message instead of a warning that blood glucose levels were dangerously high.  

The other defect caused the meter to display readings that were well below the actual level. 

Court documents in last year’s case indicated that at least 61 customers became ill or had to be hospitalized. 

The suit settled this week applies to as many as 400,000 diabetics who bought SureStep meters before August 1997, when the company fixed the problem. 

The City Council will consider a recommendation at its meeting tonight to monitor Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s cutting, chipping and shipping of eucalyptus trees that a local group says are contaminated with the radioactive material, tritium. 

“We don’t want to be alarmists but we do want to be cautious,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who sponsored the recommendation at the request of the Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste, a group of laboratory neighbors. 

Worthington said that if the recommendation is adopted by the council, he is uncertain what types of measures would be put into place to monitor the lab’s tree-cutting practices.  

Ron Kolb, LBNL spokesperson, said there is a substantial amount of reliable data that shows the trees contain insignificant amounts of tritium and that cutting them down poses no health risks to anyone. 

The recommendation also calls for the laboratory to stop shipping the tree cuttings to Japanese and Korean paper mills. 

Kolb said the lab is not involved in shipping tree cuttings anywhere. “We don’t ship the trees to Korea or Japan,” he said. “We contract that work out to landscaping companies and we have no idea what they do with the cuttings.” 

Kolb quickly added that no trees with measurable contamination have been taken off the site since 1997. He said that about 20 trees that were cut down last July as part of a fire management program were cut up in a wood chipper and left on site.  

The source of the alleged tree contamination is the National Tritium Labeling Facility, a four-room facility at LBNL whose work for the last 18 years has been to attach the radioactive isotope tritium to pharmaceuticals and other medical compounds.  

As part of the labeling process, low levels of tritium are released into the air through 119 stacks that are deployed at various locations on the LBNL property. Opponents of the facility claim the released tritium has been absorbed by nearby trees. 

Last July LBNL officials announced the facility would close in December due to a lack of contracts for tritium-related medical studies. 

The U.S. Environmental Protections Agency has set the maximum allowable tritium in drinking water to be 20,000 picocuries per liter.  

For a number of years, there has been a disagreement over the levels of tritium in vegetation near the facility. Opponents to the facility are fond of using data from a 1996 report by a former LBNL employee, L.B. Menchaca, who reported a grove of trees near the Lawrence Hall of Science, which hosts over a 100,000 children every year, as being contaminated with high levels of tritium. 

According to Menchaca’s report, the tritiated water levels in vegetation, mostly the eucalyptus trees, near the facility was as high as 128,000 picocuries per liter, more than six times higher than EPA drinking water standards allow. 

Kolb disputed those numbers and referred to a study done by Bernd Franke, with the Energy and Environmental Research Institute in Heidelberg, Germany. Franke’s Aug. 23 report, commissioned by the city, reported that the trees near the laboratory contained levels of contamination much lower than the EPA standards. 

“The preponderance of evidence shows that the amount of tritium in those trees is insignificant and the city’s consultant agreed,” Kolb said.  

LBNL cleared some 20 eucalyptus trees last July amid protests by the Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste, a group of residents who live near the laboratory.  

The Lab has said that the clearing is part of a fire management program that requires cutting and pruning of trees near the laboratory. 

But Community Environmental Advisory Commissioner LA Wood, said the removed trees were the same ones that Menchaca used for her study. 

“Those were the same trees that she sampled in 1996,” Wood said. “That’s what makes the whole thing smell.” 

Wood added that if those trees were contaminated, cutting them up in a wood chipper, upwind from the Lawrence Hall of Science, was “outrageous.” 

Kolb denied that anyone was put at risk by chopping up the trees. “We’re comfortable that we have plenty of data on those trees,” Kolb said. “We’re comfortable that no one was put risk.” 

Kolb added that no trees are scheduled to cut or trimmed under the fire management program and didn’t expect any more until next summer.

Tuesday, Nov. 27 

The U.S. and Mexico: Redefining the Relationship 

4 p.m. 

UC Berkeley 

220 Stephens Hall, Geballe Room 

Andres Rozental is Ambassador at Large and Special Presidential Envoy for  

President Vicente Fox: “US-Mexico Relations: A Post-September 11 Scenario” 642-2088, www.clas. berkeley.edu/clas. 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

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

548-3333 

Experimental Mid-life  

Workshop 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Miriam Chaya presents the third of three workshops rooted in modern psychology and Jewish traditional sources designed to provide participants with the skills and tools necessary to meet the challenges they will face in the second half of their lives. $35, $25 members. 848-0237 ext. 127 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

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

531-8664 

Holistic Health 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Elizabeth Forrest discusses Creative Aging in the second of two Holiday Holistic Health talks. 644-6107 

Wednesday, Nov. 28 

Pacifica Radio & the Corporation for Public Broadcasting 

7:30 p.m. 

La Peña Cultural Center 

3105 Shattuck Ave. 

Take Back KPFA co-founders Jeffrey Blankfort and KPFA Local Advisory Board member and former KPFA programmer and development director Maria Gilardin present “never before heard evidence” of the collaboration between the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Pacifica Foundation management. Discussion will follow. $5 - $20.  

415-255-9182 

Prose Writers’ Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley/Richmond Jewish Community Center Library 

1414 Walnut St.  

From Op-ed to fiction, memoir to the feature article - a community 

writers’ group to support and encourage a community of interests. Workshop format. Free. 524-3034 

American Disability Act 

1:00 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Ken Steiner and Jessica Soske from Legal Assistance for Seniors will lead a discussion. 644-6107 

Toddler Storytime 

7 p.m. 

West Berkeley Library 

1125 University Ave 

For families with children 3 years or younger, a program to expose the youngest readers to multicultural stories, songs and finger plays. The last Storytime in the series.  

Stories of Your Amazing Body 

2 p.m. - 3 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

2230 Shattuck Ave.  

For children aged 3 to 10 years old, escape to the magical realm of health, fun, and excitement of this ongoing storytelling series. 549-1564  

Berkeley Gray Panthers 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

What really happened at the UN Conference on Racism or what the press left out. 548-9696, graypanthers@hotmail.com 

Emeryville Lights of Life Day  

5 - 7 p.m. 

Emeryville Child Development Center 

1220 53rd St., Emeryville 

Community event to honor loved ones and in tribute to the helping and caring professions, featuring children’s chorus, candle-lighting, guest speaker Emeryville Fire Chief Stephen Cutright with a tribute to New York firefighters, and a visit from the fire truck. 450-8795 

Police Review Commission  

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Regular meeting. 644-6716, www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/prg/ 

Planning Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Regular meeting. 705-8101, planning@ci.berkeley.ca.us. 

Thursday, Nov. 29 

Small Schools Community Action Committee 

7 - 8:30 p.m. 

Longfellow Middle School Auditorium 

1500 Derby St. 

The Small Schools Community Action Committee is sponsoring an informational meeting geared to middle school parents. All interested community members are invited. 486-1014, http://berkeleysmallschools.org. 

Day of Action for Justice in Palestine 

noon 

UC Berkeley 

Sproul Plaza  

Students will stage a rally and demonstration on International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Followed by a teach-in with Prof. Asad Abukhalil of CSU Stanislaus, 7 p.m., 60 Evans Hall. 496-1269, justiceinpalestine@ yahoo.com. 

The Nuclear Waste Problem  

and the Yucca Mountain Project 

6 - 7:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley 

180 Tan Hall 

This talk will discuss the nuclear waste problem, its causes, and possible long-term solutions. The potential solution offered by deep geologic disposal is discussed, and current research efforts at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are described. 704-8106, lancekim@nuc.berkeley.edu. 

Campaign to End the Death Penalty – Fund raiser  

8 p.m. 

Fellowship of Humanity Hall 

390 27th St., Oakland  

Three bands and a very good cause. $5-$10. 985-2805, emterzakis@aol.com. 

Ferry Expansion Hearings 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Open House Senior Center 

6500 Stockton St., El Cerrito 

The San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority (WTA) is holding public scoping sessions to identify environmental issues that should be studied before expanding ferry service on the Bay. www.bluewaternetwork.org. 

What’s Going On? Debt and AIDS in Africa 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Friends Church 

1600 Sacramento St. 

Town Hall meeting and panel discussion with John Iverson, East Bay ACT UP; Nunu Kidane on Debt and AIDS, and an update on how to become involved locally. 415-565-0201 x12, www.aaaw. org. 

Latin Dance Class 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley/Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Salsa, Cha-cha, Merengue... $10, No partner necessary. All ages and levels welcome. 508-4616 

Winter Backcountry Travel:  

Safety and Survival Tips 

7 p.m. 

REI 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Leader of the National Ski Patrol’s Northern California search and rescue team, Mike Kelly, shares his expertise on how to plan a safe adventure in the snow. Free. 527-4140 

Discussion for Women 

1:00 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Katheryn Gardella, RN., discuss mobility Issues and Feling Good in this part of a series of discussions for women. 644-6107 

Montessori Campus Design  

Competition Exhibit  

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Montessori School 

1581 LeRoy Ave. 

BMS is designing a new Elementary and Middle School campus, see the designs and give your feedback for jury consideration in selecting the winner. 843-9374, sharline@well.com. 

Attic Conversions 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Seminar taught by architect Andus Brandt, $35.  

525-7610 

– Compiled by Guy Poole 

Friday, Nov. 30 

World Aids Day March 

noon 

Roche Diagnostics 

2929 7th St. 

Protest for affordable medications for all nations. March five blocks to Bayer. 841-4339 

Black Filmmakers Hall of  

Fame 12th Annual Black  

Filmworks 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Oakland Museum of California  

1000 Oak Street, Oakland 

“Maangamizi: The Ancient One.” The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has accepted Maangamizi as the official entry from Tanzania for nomination consideration for the upcoming 74h Annual Academy Awards Foreign Language Film Award category. This is the first time ever that an entry from Tanzania has been considered and presented to the screening committee. 465-0804, www.blackfilmmakershall.org. 

Benefit for a Peace House in  

Chiapas, Mexico 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists 

Cedar and Bonita St. 

The peace house will serve as an educational center on indigenous rights, neoliberal economics, and human rights observation for the international community. Live music, documentary film ‘Zapatista,’ and a traditional Mexican dinner. $25. 652-3512, cbossen@mindspring.com 

Still Stronger Women: Arts, Literature, Movies weekly 

1:15 - 3:15 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst, at MLK Jr. 

The life and legacy of Amelia Earhart, plus film. Free. 232-1351 

Dunsmuir Historic Estate  

Holiday Season 

11 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

2960 Peralta Oaks Court, Oakland 

Volunteers have transformed the 50-acre estate and the 1899 mansion into a holiday event. 925-275-9595, www.dunsmuir.org. 

City Commons Club  

Luncheon 

12:30 p.m. 

Berkeley City Club 

2315 Durant Ave. 

Nat Goldhaber, entrepreneur, presents “Running for Vice-President in a Spiritual Age.” $1 admission; 11:45 a.m. lunch, $12.25. 848-3533 

Governor Davis’ cuts from the state budget for 2002 include $150 million gained by postponing the expansion of the Healthy Families health insurance program to cover low income parents as well as their children. 

If you are among those blessed with good health insurance, you may feel this cut has nothing to do with you. Wrong. Uninsured families are those who rely on the Emergency Room for care when they need it – which is often after they have delayed as long as possible. Their costs then wind up being clandestinely shifted to those who are insured. 

The ER is a unique institution in our society. It is the great leveller. When you enter those doors, it doesn’t matter if you are rich and famous, you will be subject to triage. Meaning doctors and nurses will put you on the list in order of urgency. You may be Julia Roberts or Michael Jackson. You may be head of a Fortune 500 company. Doesn’t matter. Those who need to have their hearts restarted, no matter how poor, take precedence. 

In this life-and-death respect, the ER is as far from market values as we get in the United States. Makes you wonder why the Bush administration tolerates it at all. Why hasn’t Tommy Thompson our secretary of Health and Human Services proposed a new VIP ER plan that jumps CEOs, Republican campaign contributors, members of Congress, and of course cabinet secretaries to the head of the triage list? 

As it is, the only thing remotely like entering the ER is being aboard a hi-jacked airplanes where first class suffers the same fate as the economy. Which raises a timely point. If we are destined to experience more terrorism, biological, nuclear, or plain old explosive, the ER is our first line of defense. Regardless of your social status, the only thing that insures prompt care is if your local ER is well-staffed and well-equipped. Otherwise you will wait ... and wait. 

Last month I escorted a neighbor to the ER at Alta Bates, which is one of the best. She had a broken arm and was hurting bad. She had health insurance; she was from the Berkeley Hills; she was solid upper-middle class. Made no difference. She waited a good long time until those laid out on gurneys could be cared for. At Highland Hospital, she might have waited longer. Highland ER, so a doctor tells me, is so overcrowded it now tracks admissions by the day not the hour! 

Money for Healthy Families, like all health care money, doesn’t go to those eligible. It is an infusion of funds into the overburdened health care system we all share. It pays doctors who might be able to head off a trip to the ER by people who would otherwise be ahead of you on the list. Or if those patients do need ER care, it pays for that care so the ER can afford to treat you more efficiently. 

Cutting Healthy Families while bioterrorism is in our midst is penny wise and pound foolish, though you may not think about that until you wake up in the ER. People can afford to wait for almost anything. They can even afford to wait for better schools, though they shouldn’t have to. But nobody can afford to wait to stop the bleeding. 

Theodore Roszak’s most recent book is “Longevity Revolution: As Boomers Become Elders,” Berkeley Hills Books. 

MUSIC 

21 Grand Nov. 29: 9 p.m., Lemon Lime Lights, Hillside, Moe! Staiano, $6; Nov. 30: 9 p.m., Fred Frith, Damon Smith, Marco Eneidi, Sabu Toyozumi Ensemble, Phillip Greenlief, $10; Dec. 1: 9 p.m., Toychestra, Rosin Coven, Darling Freakhead, $6; All ages. 21 Grand Ave., Oakland. 444-7263 

924 Gilman St. Nov. 30: Shitlist, Atrocious Madness, Fuerza X, Catheter, S Bitch, Delta Force; Dec. 1: Yaphet Kotto, Cattle Decapitation, Creation Is Crucifixion, Kalibas, A Death Between Seasons, Lo-Fi Neissans; Dec. 2: 5 p.m., Dead and Gone, Venus Bleeding, Suptonix, Geoff (spoken word), East Bay Chasers, Lesser Of Two; Dec. 7: Har Mar Superstar, The Pattern, The Blast Rocks, Your Enemies’ Friends, Hate Mail Express; Dec. 8: Scurvy Dogs, Nigel Peppercock, Shut The Fuck Up, Offering To The Sun, Voetsek; Dec. 9: Poison The Well, Unearth, Sworn Enemy, Spark Lights The Friction; Dec. 14: Hot Water Music, American Steel, F-Minus, Trial By Fire; Dec. 15: Strung Out, Limp, The Frisk, The Deadlines, The Creeps; Dec. 16: 5 p.m., Good Riddance, Missing 23rd, Downway, Audio Crush; All shows start a 8 p.m. unless noted; Most are $5; 924 Gilman St. 525-9926 

The Albatross Pub Dec. 4: Panacea; Dec. 5: Whiskey Brothers; Dec. 6: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 11: Mad & Eddic Duran Jazz Duo; Dec. 13: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 15: Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet; Dec. 18: Panacea; Dec. 19: Whiskey Brothers; Dec. 20: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 27: Keni “El Lebrijano”; All shows start at 9 p.m., 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473  

Anna’s Nov. 26: Renegade Sidemen w/ Calvin Keyes; Nov. 27: Jason Martineau and David Sayen; Nov. 28: Bob Shoen Jazz Quintet; Nov. 29: Ed Reed and Alex Markels Jazz Group; Nov. 30: Ann sings jazz standards; 10 p.m., Bluesman Hideo Date; All shows 8 p.m. unless noted. Free. 1901 University Ave., 849-2662 

Ashkenaz Nov. 26: 6:30 p.m., Vista College; Nov. 27: 8 p.m., Creole Belles, $8; Nov. 28: 8 p.m., Bluegrass Intentions, Stairwell Sisters, Clogging with Evie Ladin, $10; Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Grateful Dead DJ Nite, $5; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums w/ Ms. Carmen Getit; 1317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5054 www.ashkenaz.com 

Blake’s Nov. 26: All Star Jam Featuring The Steve Gannon Band and Mz. Dee, $4; Nov. 27: PC Munoz and the Amen Corner, Froggy, $3; Nov. 28: Erotic City, DJ Maestro, $2; Nov. 29: Ascension, $5; Nov. 30: Felonious, TBA, $6; All shows 9:30 p.m. 2367 Telegraph Ave., 848-0886 

Cafe Eclectica Nov. 30: 6 - 11 p.m., She Mob, Wire Graffiti, Breast, Honeyshot, Run for Cover Lovers, $6; All ages 1309 Solano Ave., 527-2344. 

Cal Performances Nov. 29: Les Arts Florissants, $24 - $46; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 642-0212 tickets@calperfs.berkeley. edu 

Club Muse Nov. 29: 9:30 p.m., SoulTree, Tang!, $7; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., Calamity and Main, Darling Clementines, The Bootcuts, $8; Dec. 1: 9:30 p.m., Naked Barbies, Penelope Houston, $8; All ages. 856 San Pablo Ave., Albany, 528-2878. 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; Nov. 23: Junior Morrow; Nov. 24: Jimmy Dewrance; Nov. 30: Scott Duncan; Dec. 1: J.J. Malone; Doors open at 8 p.m. unless noted. 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage Coffee House Nov. 26: Ellen Robinson; Nov. 28: Wake the Dead; Nov. 29: Judith Kate Friedman and Deborah Pardes; Nov. 30: Odile Lavault and Baguette Quartette; Dec. 1: Geoff Muldaur w/ Fritz Richmond; Dec. 2: Kaila Flexer’s Fieldharmonik; Dec. 5: Avalon Blues: Peter Case, Dave Alvin and Bill Morrissey; Dec. 6: Ray Bonneville; Dec. 7 & 8: Rebecca Riots; All shows begin 8 p.m., 1111 Addison St. Call 548-1761 for prices or see www.freightandsalvage.org.  

iMusicast Nov. 30: 6 - 11 p.m., Applesaucer, The Plus Ones, Cutlass Supreme, Salem Lights, Short Wave Rocket, One Step Shift; Dec. 1: 6 - 11 p.m., One Time Angels, The Influents, The Frisk, Fetish, The Locals, $8; All ages. 5429 Telegraph Ave. 601-1024, www.imusicast.com. 

The Minnow Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Jolly!, Good For You, Grain USA, Plan to Pink; Nov. 30: Sedadora, Six Eye Columbia, Betty Expedition, The Clarendon Hills; Dec. 1: Replicator, Fluke Starbucker, Baby Carrot, The Len Brown Society; All shows $6. 1700 Clement Ave., Alameda. 

“Music on Telegraph” Dec. 1: Scrambled Samba Trio, Ann’s Kitchen, 2498 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 2: Paul and Jill Janoff, Musical Offering, 2430 Bancroft; Dec. 8: Jonah Minton Quartet, Julie’s Healthy Cafe, 2562 Bancroft; Dec. 9: Hebro, Blakes, 2367 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 15: Thelonious On The Move, Bison Brewing, 2598 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 16: Howard Kadis, Musical Offering Cafe, 2430 Bancroft; Dec. 22: Kaz Sasaki Duo, Blackberry Ginger, 2520 Durant; Dec. 23: Almadecor, Ann’s Kitchen, 2498 Telegraph Ave.; All shows 2 - 4 p.m., Free. 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra presents “Bach’s Mass in B Minor” Dec. 1, 8 p.m., Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m., First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant. Guest conductor Andrew Parrott. $34 - $50. 415-392-4400, www.philharmonia.org. 

Rose Street House of Music Dec. 1: 8 p.m., Acapella Night - Making Waves, Solstice, Out on a Clef, $5 - $20. 1839 Rose St. 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@yahoo.com. 

Starry Plough Nov. 28: 8:30 p.m., bEASTfest Invitational Poetry Slam, $5; Nov. 29: 9:30 p.m., The Moore Brothers, Yuji Oniki, BArt Davenport, $8; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., The Kirby Grips, Dealership, Bitesize, The Blast Rocks, (all ages show) $8; Dec. 1: 9:30 p.m., Mark Growden’s Electric Pinata, Ramona the Pest, Film School; 3101 Shattuck Ave.  

Stork Club Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Mega-Mousse, Base LIne Dada, Meeshee, Mike Boner, $7; Nov. 30: 9 p.m., Love Kills Love, Three Years Down, Jack Killed Jill, October Allied, Eddie Haskells, $6; Dec. 1: 10 p.m., Anticon, Kevin Blechdom, Bevin Blectum, The Silents, $10; Dec. 2: 8 p.m., Corsciana, The Mass, Modular Set, Spore Attic, $5; 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 

Mike Vax Jazz Orchestra with Lennie Niehaus Dec. 2: 2 p.m., $18. Longfellow School of the Arts, 1500 Derby St. 420-4560, www.bigbandjazz.net 

THEATER 

“Uncle Vanya” Nov. 23 through Nov. 29: Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun. Nov. 25, 7 p.m. Subterranean Shakespeare’s production of Jean-Claude van Italie’s humorous translation of Anton Chekhov’s romantic masterpiece. Directed by Diane Jackson. Benefits the Forests Forever Foundation. $8-$14. La Val’s Subterranean Theatre, 1834 Euclid. 234-6046, www.subshakes.com 

“Goddesses” Nov. 30 through Dec. 1: Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 7 p.m. A sensuous and humorous drama concerning one mortal woman’s struggle to control the six extraordinary goddesses in her psyche. Written by Dorotea Reyna. $10. Mils College, Lisser Hall, 5900 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland 883-0536, rlcouture@earthlink.net 

“Saint Joan” Through Dec. 2: Wed. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., 7 p.m. George Bernard Shaw’s epic of a young girl determined to drive the English out of France with only her faith to support her. Directed by Barbara Oliver. $26-35. Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison St. 843-4822 www.auroratheatre. org 

“Brave Brood” Through Dec. 16 Robert O’Hara directs Robert O’Hara’s searing tale of money, desperation, and the fight for survival. $20. Transparent Theater, 1901 Ashby Ave. 883-0305 www.transparenttheater.org 

“Much Ado About Nothing” Through Jan. 8: Check theater for specific dates and times. Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy chronicles a handful of soldiers returning from a winning battle to be greeted by a gaggle of giddy maidens. Directed by Brian Kulick. $10 - $54. Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 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 

FILMS 

Pacific Film Archive Theater Nov. 30: 7:30 p.m., Werckmeister Harmonies; Dec. 6: 7 p.m., Bizarre, Bizarre; 8:50 p.m., The Green Man; Dec. 7: 7 p.m., Smiles of a Summer Night; 9:05 p.m., Cluny Brown; Bancroft Way, 642-1124 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

EXHIBITS 

“2001 James D. Phelan Art Awards in Printmaking” Honorees: Bridget Henry, David Kelso, and Margaret Van Patten. Through Nov. 30 Tues. - Fri. noon - 5 p.m., other times by appointment. Kala Art Institue, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977 www.kala.org 

“Furniture Art” Through Dec. 7: An exhibit of metal and wood furniture that revisits furniture not only as art but as craft. 12 p.m. - 6 p.m. The Current Gallery at the Crucible, 1036 Ashby Ave. 843-5511 www.thecrucible.org 

“The Paintings of Bethany Anne Ayers and Sculpture of Alexander Cheves” Nov. 15 through Dec. 15: Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Ardency Gallery, 709 roadway, Oakland. 836-0831 gallery709@aol.com 

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

“Matrix 195” Through Jan. 13: German artist, Thomas Scheibitz’s, first solo museum exhibition in the United States showcases semi-abstract representations of everyday objects and landscapes. Wed., Fri. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. $3-$6. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

GTU Exhibit: “Holocaust Series” by Cleve Gray Through Jan. 25: Comprised of 21 works on paper that constitute “a catharsis... for all of humanity.” Mon. - Thurs. 8:30 a.m. - 9:45 p.m., Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sun. noon - 7 p.m.; Free. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541 www.gtu.edu 

“Enduring Wisdom: Artwork and Stories by Homeless and Formerly Homeless Seniors” Through Feb. 15: 18 homeless and formerly homeless elders reveal how they learned and applied wisdom that is timeless. Mon. - Fri. and Sundays 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Reception and presentation by the elders Thurs. Nov. 15, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. Free. St. Mary’s Center, 635 22nd St., Oakland, 893-4723 x222 

“The Art History Museum of Berkeley” 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. 841-4210 or visit www.atelier9.com 

READINGS 

Cody’s on Telegraph Ave. Nov. 28: 7:30 p.m. David Meltzer and contributors read from his newly revised and re-released collection of interviews with Bay Area Beat Poets; 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852 

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 Sun., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sun., 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; Nov. 3: Tales from the Enchanted Forest, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.; Nov. 9: Living with the Earth; Nov. 17: Recycle that Stuff; $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Mon. and Wed., 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tues. and Fri., 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thur., 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

Oakland Museum of California Through Nov. 25: Pasajes y Encuentros: Ofrendas for the Days of the Dead, highlights three thematic “passageways” that connect the dead with the living: tradition, humor and spirit; Dec. 8 & 9: 32nd Annual Bay Area Fungus Fair, the world of the mushroom will be explored in exhibits, lectures, slide shows, cooking demos, etc.. Through Jan. 13: Grand Lyricist: The Art of Elmer Bischoff, featuring paintings and works on paper that trace the evolution of Bischoff’s career. $6 adults, $4 seniors and students, free for children under 5. Wed. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sun. noon - 5 p.m., 10th St., Oakland, 888-625-6873/ www.museumca.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. Mon. through Fri., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 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.  

University of California Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive has reopened after its summerlong seismic retrofit. “Martin Puryear: Sculpture of the 1990s” through Jan. 13; “The Dream of the Audience: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951 - 1982)” through Dec. 16; “Face of Buddha: Sculpture from India, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia” ongoing rotation through 2003; “Matrix 194: Jessica Bronson, Heaps, layers, and curls” Sept. 16 through Nov. 11; “Matrix 192: Ceal Floyer 37’4”” Sept. 16 through Nov. 11; Wed., Fri., Sat., Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., PFA Theater, 2575 Bancroft Way; Museum Galleries 2626 Bancroft Way; 642-0808 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Lawrence Hall of Science Through Jan. 26: Scream Machines: The Science of Roller Coasters; “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. 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  

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

Tigers, by a long shot, are the most popular animals in the zoo. 

That’s according to Watson Berreman, a first grader at LeConte Elementary School, who recently polled his classmates on the matter and poured the results into a classroom computer. The result: a colorful graph hanging neatly on the wall clearly demonstrating the popularity of tigers over lions, monkeys and elephants. 

Berreman’s computerized poll is just one indication of the growing use of technology in the Berkeley schools and at LeConte in particular – one of four district schools benefiting from a new, three-year, nearly $3 million magnet grant from the U.S. Department of Education. 

The grant allows LeConte, Thousand Oaks, Washington and City of Franklin Micro-Society schools to choose a particular area of focus, such as science or the arts, and build around it. The goal is to play upon students’ natural interests, generating greater interest in education as a whole. 

LeConte has chosen science as its focus, and with the help of the grant money, it is attempting to make technology a powerful tool in the children’s scientific inquiries. 

Students in teacher Bessie Citrin’s fourth grade class, for instance, are entering data from an experiment on living and non-living matter into a program called “the Cruncher,” and producing graphs to support their conclusions. 

In the coming months, fifth graders will use computers and digital cameras to develop a field guide for the school’s on-site gardens. 

Jennifer Smallwood, a fourth and fifth grade science teacher at LeConte, says computers can help some students understand material they might not otherwise comprehend. 

“We all have different modes of learning,” she said. “You can look at something and learn it. You can experience something and learn it. (Technology) is one more medium.” 

But the school is not yet making maximum use of its technological tools, say parents and staff.  

“There are some computers that exist in some classrooms that are not used as much as we would wish,” said Pierre Thiery, a computer instructor at City College of San Francisco, and parent of a LeConte fourth grader, who volunteers frequently at the school. “I think the challenge is to integrate (the computers) into the curriculum and make them useful, and I think there is a lot of work to be done there.” 

Andrea Dunn, LeConte’s science and technology resource teacher for the magnet program, and Marilyn Littles, the school’s magnet coordinator, envision similar challenges. Working together, the two administrators are trying to enhance the use of computers, digital cameras and other tools by developing guidelines for the integration of technology into all components of the school’s curriculum. 

Dunn and Littles are also providing computer-shy teachers with in-house training, and Dunn says the school may use part of its grant money to fund instruction by outside professionals. 

“We feel we have to set the standard,” said Dunn, discussing the importance of teachers boning up on the latest technology. “If we’re asking the children to do a certain thing, we’re going to set the standard ourselves.” 

Dunn said one of her top goals is to create a computer-savvy faculty so that, if the grant money dries up in three years, the technology program will still be strong.  

Proper equipment is also vital if the technology initiative is to succeed, said Dunn. LeConte has already sunk a significant chunk of its grant money, which will total $530,000 over three years, into upgrading the school’s machinery.  

The administration has placed an order for a new set of thirty “Alpha Smarts,” small, relatively inexpensive word processors that some students are already using at their desks. In addition, LeConte has ordered enough computers to fill a media center in the school library. The center should be up and running by the first of the year. 

School officials hope that the technology program, when fully implemented, will not only provide students with a greater understanding for the subject matter in the curriculum, but endow them with the technological skills they will need to operate in today’s world. 

Students must be able to create spreadsheets, comb the Internet and use design programs if they hope to land quality jobs when they grow older, school officials say. 

“I think (the technology program) will provide students with an additional life skill to go out in the world and be competitive,” said Patricia Saddler, principal at the LeConte School. 

In other words, it’s a zoo out there. And it’s better to be a tiger than a monkey.  

Editor: 

I agree with Steve Geller in his Nov. 24 letter that most people want to reduce congestion. The problem is that government subsidizes congestion with “freeways.” They really are not “free,” because it costs much to build highways, and the congestion imposes a social cost on commuters. The effective remedy is toll charges high enough to eliminate the crowding. Also, finance mass transit with assessments based on land values, making BART and buses free to users. You will then see a massive shift from cars to public transit, a demand which will then warrant better service. 

Fred Foldvary 

Berkeley 

At tonight’s meeting, the council will examine its options in light of a successful petition drive to repeal the recently-approved council districts.  

Citizens for Fair Representation collected 7,985 signatures, far more than the 4,000 valid signatures required to challenge the city. 

The council can choose to have the newly-approved redistricting ordinance put on the March 5 ballot, which would cost the city about $100,000 or simply repeal the ordinance and start the redistricting process anew.  

If the council chooses to start over, the Dec. 31 state-imposed deadline for approving new districts would be pushed back to April 1. 

Royal line of succession 

After the events of Sept. 11, the city is getting all of its emergency procedural ducks in a row. As part of the process, the council is being asked to assign an official line of succession in case the director of emergency services is unavailable.  

“Director of emergency services” is one of the many hats worn by City Manager Weldon Rucker. The state requires all cities to name a line of succession so the city is not without leadership during an emergency.  

If the council approves the recommendation, and if Rucker is unable to take the reins during a crisis, the line of succession follows as: Deputy City Manager Phil Kamlarz, City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque and finally Chief of Police Dash Butler. 

Free bus rides 

The council will consider a recommendation for free Saturday bus rides for shoppers during the holiday season. The recommendation asks the city manager to work with AC Transit and the Downtown Merchants Association to provide free transit fares.  

The recommendation also asks that the city provide free transit passes any time there is a city program that provides free parking at meters. 

The cost of the average AC Transit fare is 65 cents. The cost to the city will depend on an agreement among AC Transit, the city and the merchants. 

Parking rate hike 

The city manager is recommending the council raise the evening flat rate parking charges at the Center Street Garage from $4 to $5. Prior to approving the rate hike, the council will hold a public hearing.  

The council raised the flat rate for evening parking at the garage from $2 to $4 on Oct. 30. The council also moved the beginning of the evening parking rates back from 6 p.m. to 5 p.m. 

The staff report recommends against the rate hike, arguing that the new $5 rate is above the current evening average cost of parking and will likely decrease use of the parking garage. 

The council will also consider: 

• An informational report from Planning and Development Director Carol Barrett on downtown transit options. 

• Giving police cadets a cost of living wage increase. The total cost to the city will be $255,000 over a six year period. 

• Councilmember Polly Armstrong will ask the city manager to submit a report on the status of the city’s parking meters. Armstrong said that over a third of the meters on College Avenue are not working. 

The Housing Authority 

The Berkeley Housing Authority, which consists of the City Council and two resident appointees, will hold a meeting just prior to the regular City Council meeting. 

The authority will likely approve an $80-per-meeting stipend for the Public Housing and the Section 8 commissions and consider holding a public hearing on the authority’s annual plan for fiscal year 2002-2003.  

Some of the new proposals in the updated annual plan are shared housing for Section 8 tenants and a Section 8 homeownership program. 

The authority will meet in the Council Chambers at 6:30 p.m. 

Special council meeting on energy policy 

The City Council will hold a a study session at 5 p.m. to review the city’s energy program. The session is designed to educate the council prior to its Dec. 7 approval of $400,000 for energy conservation projects. 

In addition the council will hear presentations from the Commission of Energy and Berkeley Energy Technical Advisory Group which will detail the status of the energy crisis 

The City Council meeting will be held tonight at 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. The meeting will also be broadcast live on the KPFA Radio, 89.3 and Cable B-TV, Channel 25 

Editor: 

In you weekend edition, you had a letter and two stories related to Berkeley’s transportation problems. The letter of Steve Geller suggest that the issue is black or white, with no grays whatsoever, ie, it’s either buses or parking. One should definitely promote public transportation, but they are not the whole solution. Berkeley has rightly encouraged public transportation, but we still have large buses, that are inefficient, run mostly empty, spew large amounts of diesel fumes into the air, run infrequently, are expensive, and slow traffic. Moreover, as pointed out on page 5 of the same paper as Geller’s letter appears, the headline “Berkeley’s bus riders, city getting left out in the rain,” regarding the lack of bus shelters. Maybe people don’t want to stand in the rain or cold waiting 30 minutes or more for a bus. 

Geller sarcastically suggests that people who come to the YMCA for exercise are “too delicate to get on a bus.” Maybe it could be that some may be women concerned for their safety, who do not want to walk to, eait for, or take public transportation at night. Or maybe its a hardy, non delicate parent with several children,who just wants to take his kids for a family swim. 

Geller also suggests that the only people who want adequate parking are “people who run downtown enterprises (who) see a dwindling number of customers,” i.e., greedy businessmen. What about the school teachers at Berkeley High, Vista, etc., or those that work for the city, including the police, and city council (all of whom have reserved parking spaces available to them), and what about the employees that work in the library, restaurants, stores. We now have a situation were many people can not afford to live in Berkeley due to the high rents and cost of real estate. Some are forced to live in areas were taking buses to work would be a major inconvenience in both time and money. 

Finally, the third story was “Holiday shoppers flock to Fourth St.” The story states shoppers from around the Bay Area “chose Berkeley’s Fourth Street shopping district as their primary destination.” If that’s so, the question is why would shoppers go to Fourth Street and not to downtown Berkeley which has a BART station, and many more buses? Perhaps the answer appears in the same story.  

“The area’s free parking lot was filled to capacity around noon, with several cars queued up and ready to pounce on any space that became available. The nearby Spenger’s lot, which charges by the hour, was doing brisk business.” Perhaps the idea of carrying multiple heavy bags filled with Xmas presents to a bus stop, waiting, perhaps in the rain, until a bus arrives, holding them on your lap for one or more bus rides, and then carrying them to their home, did not appeal to everyone. Maybe some of the people need to drive because they are elderly, sick, or disabled. 

The city can’t stick its head in the sand and pretend that the automobile will disappear. We all want better mass transportation, fewer and cleaner cars and diesel buses, and cleaner air. But forcing people to drive around looking for parking isn’t going to force them to use the mass transportation that we have now and will have for the forseeable future. 

David M. Weitzman 

Berkeley 

OAKLAND — The body of a missing photographer for the San Jose Mercury News was found Sunday outside a cemetery, police said. 

Luci S. Houston, 43, had been missing for nearly a week. Police said they believe she was murdered, but wouldn’t disclose the cause of death. Houston’s body was found in her car, covered by a tarp, about a mile from her home, police said. 

The Alameda County coroner had not positively identified the body and on Monday referred all calls to police, who did not immediately return calls. 

Police questioned Houston’s estranged husband, but have no suspects, Sgt. Tim Nolan said Sunday. 

“There are obviously a lot of strange things about this case,” he said. “It appears the body was there for a few days.” 

Family members and friends said they had not seen or heard from Houston since Tuesday. She had planned to pick up a friend from Oakland International Airport on Wednesday and to attend a Thanksgiving get-together Thursday, they said. 

Houston was known to be punctual, and friends said she would call people she was assigned to photograph if she was running even five minutes late. 

The Washington, D.C., native worked as a staff photographer at the Mercury News since 1993, and had previously been a staff photographer for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland. 

Houston’s co-workers spent the first part of Sunday handing out fliers with her picture and a description of the car she had been driving. 

When Jim Gensheimer, a fellow Mercury News photographer, handed a flier to an Oakland police officer, the officer told him that a body had been found near Evergreen Cemetery. Co-workers gathered at the cemetery. 

“It’s just very weird,” Gensheimer said. “I’ve covered a lot of things like this. You never expect it to be a co-worker.” 

Gensheimer had a camera slung around his neck and said he was both mourning and working. 

“I ended up taking some pictures, because I didn’t know what else to do,” he said. 

Gensheimer remembered Houston as someone who frequently sang in the workplace and made sure everyone said “hello” to her. 

SANTA BARBARA — Picture it: a flood roaring down from foothills above this scenic coastal town, carrying room-sized boulders hurtling at 50 mph. 

One of the largest such debris flows in Southern California history may have done just that only a few thousand years ago, according to researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara. 

Geology professor Ed Keller and graduate student Amy Selting say they have found evidence of the flow in Rattlesnake Canyon above the site of the Santa Barbara Mission. 

The flood dumped about 10 million cubic yards of boulders and mud, or about 300,000 truckloads along a two-mile route, they estimate. It left deposits 30 feet deep in places. 

The debris flow was about a thousand times bigger than those that have followed wildfires in the area during the last century, Keller said. 

“It would have been terrible — a snapping of trees and breaking of rocks bouncing off each other. It would have sounded like a thousand thunders,” Keller said. “If such an event were to occur again today, many homes and buildings ... would be destroyed, and the loss of life would be catastrophic.” 

And one really wet year, a big earthquake or a soil-baring wildfire might be all it takes to send another one roaring down from a canyon onto the town 80 miles north of Los Angeles. 

“It’s scary because this flow covered a third of a square mile of Santa Barbara. That’s a large space that got inundated with water, boulders and sediment,” Selting said. 

“You need to be aware that these things happen and have some plans about what you would do,” Keller said. 

Their findings were presented earlier this month at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Boston. 

The researchers used computerized topographic maps of downtown and mapped the deposits to estimate the volume of mud, water and rock that hurtled downstream. 

Radiocarbon dating will be used to pin down the age of the flood next month, but the boulders are relatively unweathered, pointing to a young geographical age, the researchers said.

SAN DIEGO — Despite a brief decline after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Customs Service seized a record 244 tons of narcotics along the U.S.-Mexico border in California over the past year. 

The total for the state’s two border counties was 19 percent higher by weight compared to the previous year, said Customs spokesman Vince Bond. 

Agents confiscated 488,606 pounds of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine in the border region during fiscal year 2001, which ended Sept. 30. The drugs were seized both at border crossings and in special air and sea operations. 

Marijuana accounted for the bulk of the confiscated drugs at 419,292 pounds, followed by cocaine at 67,799 pounds. Authorities don’t know the reason for the year-to-year increase. It could be caused by increased flows of illegal drugs, better enforcement or a combination, Bond said. 

During the two weeks after the attacks, drug seizures plummeted more than 80 percent at California border crossings as agents searched every car entering the United States. Authorities speculated that smugglers were temporarily delaying shipments to avoid heightened security. 

“Without the events of Sept. 11, it may have been over 500,000 pounds,” Bond said of the year’s total. 

The 244 tons does not include drugs seized by the Border Patrol between the ports of entry along the border or seizures by the Drug Enforcement Administration, local police or other agencies. 

Along the entire U.S-Mexico border, seizures of illegal drugs increased by 19 percent to more than 1.3 million pounds. Nationwide, the agency confiscated 1.7 million pounds during the fiscal year. 

LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Coast Guard unveiled a new port security program Monday that trains reservists to board cruise ships and commercial vessels on the high seas in search of terrorists. 

The program is part of an extensive effort by the Coast Guard to stretch its resources and protect the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which combined are the nation’s largest, handling $170 billion of commerce each year. 

The so-called “sea marshal” security teams are also in action in San Diego and San Francisco as pilot programs for possible use in other parts of the nation. 

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Coast Guard has taken the lead among a number of agencies and started boarding all cruise ships several miles off the coast of California. 

Armed officers make sure the crew is in control of the ship and check passenger lists for suspected terrorists. 

“Cruise ships are a target,” said Lt. Carlos Mercado of the Coast Guard’s marine safety office in Los Angeles. “We try to think like terrorists. If you hit, you want the most bang for your buck, and inside the harbor is where you’d get it.” 

The marshals also conduct random checks on what the Coast Guard considers “high interest vessels,” those flying flags from nations such as Libya, Iran and China. 

More than 5,500 commercial vessels and several hundred cruise ships a year dock at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, making the new security measures labor intensive. 

The Coast Guard has engaged the help of more than half a dozen other agencies ranging from the Immigration and Naturalization Service to the Department of Fish and Game. 

On Monday, some of the 80 Coast Guard reservists called up since Sept. 11 completed their final training to become sea marshals, practicing their boarding techniques on an old Navy vessel. 

In addition to trying to head off disaster before it reaches port, the Coast Guard is working with divers from the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Port Police to inspect the hulls of random ships inside the harbor for bombs. 

During Monday’s exercise, divers checked the hulls of two cruise ships — the Serenade and the Ecstasy — in the port of Los Angeles while vessels from the Coast Guard cordoned off the area. 

With visibility in the polluted and silt-filled harbor restricted to less than 10 feet, it can take nearly two hours to sweep a hull, said Capt. Ralph Tracy of the Port of Los Angeles Police Department. 

“It’s like diving in an ink well,” he said. 

One scenario officials are concerned about is a cell of terrorists storing explosives under a peer and then transferring them to a cruise ship once it has docked nearby. 

“If this cruise ship blew up right now, we’d have to close down this port for days,” Mercado said. “You’re talking millions, billions of dollars of loses.” 

The sea marshals and other new security measures are likely to continue indefinitely. 

“We’re looking at the new normal,” said Capt. John Holmes, commanding officer of the Coast Guard marine safety office in Los Angeles. 

But the added responsibilities are starting to take their toll. Coast Guard staff members routinely work 14 hours a day, and regular duties are being off-loaded onto other agencies. 

Los Angeles Bay Watch lifeguards, for instance, are picking up much of the Coast Guard’s search and rescue efforts. 

“Our crews are fatigued,” Mercado said. “We’re trying to do more with less and it’s hard.” 

SAN FRANCISCO — Beleaguered credit card issuer Providian Financial Corp. hired industry veteran Joseph Saunders as its new CEO Monday, ending a six-week search for a new leader to repair the company’s ailing loan portfolio and battered reputation. 

Saunders, 56, replaces Providian’s longtime CEO, Shailesh Mehta, who decided to step down last month after revealing his formula for giving credit cards to high-risk borrowers had hurled the company into a rising tide of problem loans. 

Saunders joins San Francisco-based Providian after running the credit card business of FleetBoston Financial Corp. since 1997. With $15 billion in loans, Fleet’s credit card business is less than half the size of Providian’s $32 billion portfolio. 

Before working at Fleet, Saunders worked for 12 years as a high-ranking executive at Household International Inc., another major credit card lender. His resume also includes a stint as chairman of Mastercard International. 

“This is a good catch for Providian,” said industry analyst Matthew Park of Thomas Weisel Partners. 

Investors seemed to agree. After weeks of mostly steady decline, Providian’s shares gained 51 cents, or 15.5 percent, Monday to close at $3.80 on the New York Stock Exchange. The company’s stock remains down by 93 percent for the year. 

Despite Saunders’ credentials, industry analysts remain skeptical about Providian’s prospects. Unless the company can get a better handle on its loan losses, Providian might have to sell its business at a sharp discount or, in a worst case scenario, be taken over by federal regulators, analysts warn. 

With $15.9 billion in federally insured deposits, Providian remained in good standing with regulators as of Sept. 30. 

Saunders “is very well qualified, but that’s not the issue here. The horse may already be out of the barn for this company,” said industry analyst Charlotte Chamberlain of Jefferies & Co. 

Despite its troubles, “Providian has a great core franchise to turn around,” Saunders said during an interview Monday. “I am really energized by the opportunity to create a whole new Providian.” 

Saunders said he plans to build upon a turnaround plan that Providian management outlined last month. The company plans to curtail its business high-risk borrowers and focus more on middle-income households — a market that Saunders targeted during his time at Fleet and Household. 

Providian also may fire more workers beyond the 700 employees who will lose their jobs next month when the company will close a Henderson, Nev. office. “I think there are opportunities for Providian to become more efficient,” Saunders said. 

The company employed just over 13,000 employees as of Sept. 30. 

Although Providian didn’t disclose details of its new CEO’s compensation package, Saunders said it’s heavily weighted with stock options that will pay off only if he can engineer a turnaround that wins Wall Street’s approval. Saunders predicted it would take “a good part” of next year before Providian’s progress becomes evident. 

——— 

On The Net: 

http://www.providian.com 

NEW YORK — Economists officially declare a recession exists, you might say, months after ordinary folks have sensed it coming, experienced it, and if able to, taken action to deal with it. 

As a consequence, economists become the butt of jokes by stand-up comics who couldn’t define industrial production or other seismological terms used by economists in measuring the tremors of the economy. 

It’s unfair, of course. Consumers standing on the surface feel changes quickly — in their job security, paychecks, stock portfolios. They mix in the latest news, rumors, hopes and fears, and act accordingly. 

It’s all subjective, perhaps misinformed too, but it becomes the basis for what consumers do or don’t do in the marketplace. 

And what they do or don’t do is a major factor in determining where the economy is headed. 

In short, the consumer “knows” a recession is in the offing by the way her or she feels, and the way they feel becomes a factor in what happens, whereas the economists have to wait until the facts are in. 

Sometimes the consumers are right, sometimes not. Sometimes they befuddle the best minds of academe and government, as in their recent insistence on not spending tax rebates that were meant to be spent in order to avert or moderate a recession. 

University of Michigan researchers found only 22 percent of rebate recipients spent or planned to spend the money, contradicting not just past behavior but the expectations of government economists. 

In 1995, by comparison, a large percentage of consumers spent the extra cash resulting from a 1992 executive order revising income tax withholding rates that increased monthly incomes by about $29. 

As a result of this quirk in 2001 spending behavior, the Michigan researchers suggest that the tax rebate will end up having provided a very limited stimulus to aggregate demand — in effect, that fiscal policy failed. 

Such failures to anticipate economic performance don’t prove economists are ill-informed and don’t provide support for the typical consumer boast that anyone could see that a recession had set in. 

Consumers feel the surface vibrations; the professionals dig into a substrata that includes industrial production, employment and wholesale and retail trade — deep down, where the vibrations originate. 

In so doing, they gain an understanding of various factors often hidden from the consumer, such as the eventual intensity of the recession and its duration. 

In that regard they are one up on the consumer: They are sometimes in a position to forecast the onset of the new economic expansion, months ahead of the consumer who can only wait to feel it when it comes.

SAN JOSE — Two former Cisco Systems Inc. accountants were sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison Monday for illegally transferring $7.9 million in Cisco stock to themselves. 

Geoffrey Osowski and Wilson Tang also were ordered to pay a total of $7.9 million in restitution to Cisco. Both men, who pleaded guilty to computer fraud in August, declined to make statements at their sentencing hearings in U.S. District Court in San Jose. 

Osowski and Tang forged documents and gained an unauthorized amount of access to Cisco’s internal computer system to order that 230,550 shares of stock be transferred to brokerage accounts in their names. 

The government has seized a Mercedes-Benz, diamond rings, Rolex watches and other luxuries the men bought with money they made on the scheme, prosecutor Joseph Sullivan said. It unraveled after a clearinghouse that handles stock-option transactions for Cisco got suspicious and alerted the Internet equipment company, Sullivan said. 

SAN JOSE — A resolution appears unlikely any time soon in the closely watched case of a Russian computer programmer charged with violating copyrights on Adobe Systems Inc. software. 

At a hearing in federal court Monday, prosecutors and attorneys for Dmitry Sklyarov, 27, agreed to file motions in coming months, with pretrial hearings scheduled to begin March 4. 

In the first criminal prosecution under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Sklyarov and his employer, ElcomSoft Co. Ltd. of Moscow, are charged with releasing a program that let readers disable restrictions on Adobe’s electronic-book software. The program is legal in Russia. 

Sklyarov was arrested after speaking at a hacking convention in Las Vegas on July 16. He could face up to five years in prison for each of the five counts against him; he and the company could be fined $500,000. 

Sklyarov’s attorney, John Keker, said he plans to challenge aspects of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and whether prosecutors here have jurisdiction over Sklyarov and the Russian company. 

Sklyarov is free on $50,000 bail but must remain in Northern California until the case is resolved. He is living with his wife and two young children in an apartment in San Mateo and continuing work on his doctorate in computer science, Keker said. 

SALEM, Mass. — Once upon a time, there was money, and there were S&H Green Stamps. 

Green Stamps were the alternative currency of the booming postwar consumer society of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. Millions of American families received them with every grocery store or gas station purchase. They faithfully pasted the stamps into booklets and, when they had enough of them, redeemed them for appliances, furniture and other merchandise. 

At their peak, Green Stamps were in 60 percent of American households and were the nation’s largest supplier of durable consumer goods. Communities pooled them to buy school buses, firetrucks, even a gorilla and an elephant for a zoo. They even inspired an Andy Warhol painting. 

Now, the stamps have given way to swipe-through digital cards, offered by the latest incarnation of the company, S&H Greenpoints. But S&H Greenpoints is struggling to gain its footing at a time when credit card companies, airlines and other businesses are all offering the digital equivalent of trading stamps. 

Green Stamps began fading in the 1970s, just as the Arab oil embargo wiped out the lucrative gas station business for S&H and dozens of lesser-known stamp competitors. The company had more than $1 billion in revenue but was past its prime when it was sold in 1981. 

The old stamp business never quite died, and in 1999, Walter Beinecke, the great-grandson of founder Thomas Sperry (the “S” in “S&H”) bought back the company, hoping to rebuild it with a digital kick. 

The company set up a Web site where people could buy from merchants, track their accounts and page through the Greenpoints rewards catalog. But the Web site never drew a big crowd. S&H Greenpoints has since reworked its Internet operation to make it more convenient to participate. 

Customers earn points instead of stamps for purchases made on- or offline. They can redeem the points at a store or over the Internet. 

The core business involves three grocery chains — in North Carolina, Michigan and the mid-Atlantic — encompassing 180 stores. 

That is a far cry from the 20 percent of U.S. grocery stores that once handed out Green Stamps. But the company says it has passed 1 million accounts and will be profitable by the end of next year or early 2003. 

The company still does about $1 million of business a year with a few scattered stores that still use the old stamps. But most people just won’t lick and stick anymore. 

The catalogs are still packed with consumer goods. Toasters were the most popular Green Stamp redemption item. Today it is George Foreman grills, which cost 40,800 points, or $4,080 worth of groceries at the going rate of 10 points to the dollar. 

The biggest change is the competition: Credit card companies and other businesses are running their own loyalty programs, and the new alternative currency is frequent-flier miles, which can be bought, sold and traded. 

But S&H Greenpoints chief executive Rod Parker, a former executive at Time Warner, said the premise still holds: “Getting rewarded for everyday stuff is meaningful, and it really adds up.”

SEATTLE — Boeing Co. laid off 2,900 workers Monday as part of the company’s already announced plan to trim as many as 30,000 workers by the end of 2002. 

About 1,900 workers in the Puget Sound area and 1,000 workers elsewhere in the country received the 60-day notices, spokesman Tom Ryan said. All those affected will lose their jobs by Jan. 25. 

The majority of the layoffs are in the company’s commercial airplane division, which has been hard hit by Sept. 11. 

Boeing will release its next round of layoff notices Dec. 21, Ryan said. 

In October, Boeing announced a first round of about 12,000 job cuts to be completed by Dec. 14. 

“We knew it’d be a significant number so I guess I could say there’s no surprise, but it’s still very disturbing that that many people will all be without a job in 60 days,” said Mark Blondin, president of Boeing’s Machinsts Union. “It’s not an easy time for them.” 

JALALABAD, Afghanistan — The bodies of four journalists were brought out of Afghanistan on Nov. 21, two days after the group was ambushed by gunmen on the road to Kabul. 

Anti-Taliban militiamen recovered the bodies Nov. 20. They were held overnight in a hospital in Jalalabad, and transported the next day on a Red Cross convoy into Pakistan. 

The journalists were attacked Nov. 19 as they traveled in a group of about eight cars from Jalalabad to Kabul. An anti-Taliban leader in the area said the attackers were bandits, but witnesses said they shouted pro-Taliban slogans. 

Militiamen loyal to the new administration in Jalalabad retrieved the bodies without encountering resistance. They brought the bodies to a Jalalabad hospital, where colleagues identified them. 

The journalists were Australian television cameraman Harry Burton and Azizullah Haidari, an Afghan photographer born in Kabul, both of the Reuters news agency; Maria Grazia Cutuli of Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera; and Julio Fuentes of the Spanish daily El Mundo. 

Cutuli and Fuentes filed reports Nov. 19 about finding what they believed were capsules of deadly sarin nerve gas at an abandoned al-Qaida camp near Jalalabad. 

Fuentes’ story said he discovered a cardboard box with Russian labeling that said SARIN/V-Gas. His report said the box contained 300 vials of a yellowish liquid. 

A Japanese terrorist organization used sarin in March 1995 in the Tokyo subway killing 12 people. 

The Pentagon said the U.S. military had no information on the reports. 

The area of the ambush had recently came under control of anti-Taliban forces. However, some Taliban stragglers and Arab fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden were believed to be in the area. 

Haji Shershah, an anti-Taliban commander in Jalalabad, said villagers reported numerous other attacks involving gunfire on vehicles on the same road during the day. 

A French journalist was robbed in the area the day before, and hours after the assault on the journalists, an Afghan car arrived in Jalalabad with two bullet holes after being attacked. 

Shershah said the attackers were bandits, not Taliban or his own fighters. 

On Nov. 24 in Catania, thousands of mourners packed the cathedral for the funeral of the 39-year-old Cutuli, who came from the Sicilian city. 

“She went as far as Afghanistan because she had the courage of a lion,” said Erminda Franci, an elderly woman in the crowd of 5,000. “We can’t help but admire her strength and her spirit of sacrifice.” 

“You fell in a sacrificial trench,” Archbishop Luigi Bommarito said in his homily. “You wanted to see close up in order to write truthful things.” 

Cutuli’s brother, Mario, said the next day an autopsy had shown she had four gunshots in the back and an earlobe had been slashed off with a blade. 

“Those wild beasts didn’t have the courage to look you in the face, to look at your charming eyes,” Bommarito said at the funeral. 

+++++ In Islamabad, coalition partners get out message on war 

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — The U.S.-led coalition launched an effort Nov. 20 to get its message on the war in Afghanistan out to a foreign audience. It conceded that the move came a bit late, 1 1/2 months after the bombing began. 

The new Coalition Information Service opened phone lines to answer questions from the news media and held a news conference in Islamabad — the first of what it said would be daily briefings. 

Spokesman Kenton Keith, a former U.S. ambassador to Qatar, conceded that the inauguration of the operation — after coalition bombing had already helped drive the Taliban from most of Afghanistan — should have happened long ago. 

“To a certain extent, we dropped the ball,” he said. 

Images of civilians killed in coalition bombing caused many to turn against the war. And the Taliban’s ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, had given regular briefings in Islamabad until Pakistan’s government ordered a halt. 

Meanwhile, aside from a few interviews U.S. officials gave to the Arabic-language news network Al-Jazeera, the U.S.-led coalition had little media presence outside the United States and Britain. 

President Bush recognized that, announcing on Oct. 31 that he would send media officials to Britain and Pakistan to explain the anti-terrorism fight to foreign audiences. 

“It’s important that the coalition be able to speak to the media,” said British Lt. Col. Robin Hodges, a spokesman for the Coalition Information Service. 

He said the Islamabad news conferences, along with others already in place in Washington and London, would allow the coalition to get out its point of view throughout the 24-hour cycle of international news. 

In a packed room of journalists with a long row of television cameras, Keith appeared in a black pinstriped suit, calmly fielding questions from foreign and Pakistani journalists. 

One reporter asked him to respond to Taliban claims of widespread civilian casualties from the bombing. 

“We deeply regret any civilian casualties,” Keith said. “We have no numbers on civilian casualties but we assume they are smaller in number than reports by the Taliban.” 

The Taliban had begun to issue those reports on Oct. 7. 

+++++ 

MORE 

National Guard major general calls Berkeley his home 

Major General Paul D. Monroe, head of the California National Guard, has no time for Berkeley-bashers. 

“I get all these e-mails from people I’ve served with in the past, trashing Berkeley,” he said over breakfast Saturday. “These people say, ‘Why don’t you move out of there?’” 

“I tell them, “Because it’s my home!’” 

With his 44 years of service in the armed forces, Monroe has so many former colleagues that defending the city from their barbs could nearly be a full-time job.  

But when Gov. Gray Davis appointed him Adjutant General in April 1999, he said, he stopped replying. He’s busy enough as it is, especially in the last few months. 

He was able to spend the Thanksgiving holiday at home, however, and on Saturday he met with the Daily Planet to praise the city where he was born and has lived most of his life, to talk about the Guard’s current activities. He remembered what he called “the Guard’s darkest day” – May 20, 1969, when he was present as a Guard helicopter rained tear gas onto demonstrators in Sproul Plaza. 

It was a generous gesture, as Monroe has very little free time to spare these days. 

As Adjutant General, he commands more than 23,000 Californian citizen-soldiers – around 19,000 U.S. Army reservists and around 4,000 that are affiliated with the Air Force. Monroe is the first African American commander of the California National Guard. He reports to Davis, the Guard’s commander-in-chief, and works with the regular military when they call up – or “federalize” – his troops. 

Since Sept. 11, of course, Monroe has been scrambling around the state, deploying troops to guard airports and bridges. He has sent 1,400 of his air reservists to the Air Force, which commands the air defense patrols around the state. 

All this is in addition to the Guard’s normal workload. On Friday, the air division conducted a search-and-rescue operation for a small airplane that crashed in a remote corner of northeastern California. The plane was found, but all five people on board had died in the crash. 

“I don’t know whether I’m coming or going these days,” Monroe said. 

People’s Park 

Monroe joined the California National Guard after a stint in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. After leaving the Corps, he had sent his resume out to several private firms. But few firms were interested in hiring an African American engineer in 1961, Monroe said, and eventually he followed a friend’s suggestion and joined the Guard. 

His first post was at the Presidio, where he worked as a clerk. He later took a job with the Guard’s General Services Administration in Sacramento, where he could pursue additional studies. 

By 1969, he was a captain and assistant operations officer in the 159th Infantry Division, which Gov. Ronald Reagan called into Berkeley during the confrontation over People’s Park. 

On May 20, Monroe said he was stationed on the university campus, where demonstrators were rallying at Sproul Plaza. He said he heard over the tactical radio system that the helicopter would drop tear gas onto the crowd to disperse it. Guardsmen and police were ordered to block exits from the plaza, a decision that baffled and angered Monroe. 

When the gas was dropped, no one could escape.  

“We violated all the tenets of crowd control when we did that,” he said. 

Monroe said that normally, during crowd-control operations, the first thing that is done is to issue a warning to the crowd. The next step is a show of force – police or military line up and get out their batons. Force should only be used if those methods are unsuccessful. 

And there should always be definite escape routes, Monroe said. 

“What we should have done is warn the crowd,” he said. “We should have told them that that helicopter up there is going to drop tear gas on them if they don’t disperse. 

“Some of us knew it was a mistake to begin with, but right after it happened everyone knew it was a mistake.” 

Monroe said that the tear gas spread all over campus, up into restaurants in the Student Union building. His wife, who at the time was a teacher at nearby Emerson Elementary, told him later that the gas had drifted over to their school. 

The aftermath of that day is still felt in the Guard and in Berkeley, according to Monroe. 

“To this day, the Berkeley Police Department can’t get a helicopter, because citizens remember how we used ours that day,” he said. 

Berkeley people are ‘delightful’ 

There is a clause in the deed on Monroe’s house in northeast Berkeley, he said, that stipulates that the house shall never be sold to “Negros, Orientals or Mexicans.” When he bought the place in the ’60s, he knew that he could be taken to court and forced to surrender his home at any time. 

But that never happened. Instead, he said, the neighbors showed up to welcome him into the community and invite him and his family to the weekly neighborhood volleyball game and barbecue. 

“You take the good with the bad, and in Berkeley it’s always been mostly good,” he said. “The people here are delightful.” 

His faith isn’t shaken by things like the City Council’s recent stance on the war in Afghanistan. 

“When I first heard about that, I reacted the same way everyone else did,” he said. “But then I found out that [the resolution] just said that the city was asking for the war to be ended as soon as possible. 

“I don’t disagree with that. I don’t like war either. 

“One thing that people don’t realize is that Berkeley city employees who are mobilized as members of the Guard get their full salary for a year. The city doesn’t have to do that. Bigger cities aren’t doing it.” 

Monroe’s son, Paul D. Monroe III, is one of the beneficiaries of this policy. The younger Monroe, the information technology manager for the Berkeley Unified School District, is also a Guardsman. He was “federalized” several weeks ago, and is currently serving at an army base in Southern California. 

“I saw [Mayor] Shirley Dean at a conference with Gov. Davis,” Monroe said. “She told me that she was just sorry that [the salary] couldn’t be more.” 

It was just one simple gesture, Monroe said, but for him it was a reminder of the warmth he felt for his home town. 

“I love it here,” he said. “I don’t say that to people very often, because I want to keep it a secret. I don’t want everyone else in the state moving here.” 

Monday, Nov. 26

Race, Immigration and  

American Politics Speakers  

Series 

noon 

UC Berkeley 

119 Moses Hall 

Chris Rudolph Center for International Studies, USC, “Security, Sovereignty, and International Migration.” 642-4608 www.igs.berkeley.edu 

Quilt Show 

7:30 p.m. 

First Unitarian Church 

1 Lawson Rd., Kensington 

East Bay Heritage Quilters present their work, including art quilts, traditional bed quilts, wall hangings, group quilts, and clothing. $3 non-members. 834-3706 

Monthly meeting of the  

Oakland East Bay Chapter of  

NOW - the National 

Organization for Women  

6:30 - 8 p.m. 

Mama Bears Bookstore & Coffee House  

6536 Telegraph 

Everyone welcome. 287-8948 

Constructing Autonomy in  

Chiapas 

6 p.m. 

Unitarian Fellowship 

Cedar @ Bonita 

Sendoff event for Pastors for Peace caravan that will deliver emergency aid and build housing in Chiapas. $5 - $10, including dinner. 869-2577 

Montessori Campus Design  

Competition Exhibit  

3 - 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Montessori School 

1581 LeRoy Ave. 

BMS is designing a new Elementary and Middle School campus, see the designs and give your feedback for jury consideration in selecting the winner. 843-9374, sharline@well.com. 

Tuesday, Nov. 27

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2 - 7 p.m. 

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

548-3333 

Experimental Mid-life  

Workshop 

7:30 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut Street 

Miriam Chaya presents the third of three workshops rooted in modern psychology and Jewish traditional sources designed to provide participants with the skills and tools necessary to meet the challenges they will face in the second half of their lives. $35, $25 members. 848-0237 ext. 127 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

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

531-8664 

Holistic Health 

1:15 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Elizabeth Forrest discusses Creative Aging in the second of two Holiday Holistic Health talks. 644-6107 

Wednesday, Nov. 28

Prose Writers’ Workshop 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley/Richmond Jewish Community Center Library 

1414 Walnut St.  

From Op-ed to fiction, memoir to the feature article - a community 

writers' group to support and encourage a community of interests. Workshop format. Free. 524-3034 

American Disability Act 

1:00 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Ken Steiner and Jessica Soske from Legal Assistance for Seniors will lead a discussion. 644-6107 

Toddler Storytime 

7 p.m. 

West Berkeley Library 

1125 University Ave 

For families with children three years or younger, a program to expose the youngest readers to multicultural stories, songs and finger plays. The last Storytime in the series.  

Stories of Your Amazing Body 

2 p.m. - 3 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

2230 Shattuck Ave.  

For children aged three to ten years old, escape to the magical realm of health, fun, and excitement of this ongoing storytelling series. 549-1564  

Berkeley Gray Panthers 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

What really happened at the UN Conference on Racism or what the press left out. 548-9696, graypanthers@hotmail.com 

Emeryville Lights of Life Day  

5 - 7 p.m. 

Emeryville Child Development Center 

1220 53rd St., Emeryville 

Community event to honor loved ones and in tribute to the helping 

and caring professions, featuring children's chorus, candle-lighting, guest 

speaker Emeryville Fire Chief Stephen Cutright with a tribute to New York 

firefighters, and a visit from the fire truck. 450-8795 

"The Nuclear Waste Problem  

and the Yucca Mountain  

Project" 

6 - 7:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley 

180 Tan Hall 

This talk will discuss the nuclear waste problem, its causes, and possible long-term solutions. The potential solution offered by deep geologic disposal is discussed, and current research efforts at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are described. Dr. Gudmundur (Bo) S. Bodvarsson is the Earth Sciences Division Director and the Acting Nuclear Waste Program Manager at the LBNL. Sponsored by the Berkeley Student Section of the American Nuclear Society. 704-8106, lancekim@nuc.berkeley.edu. 

Thursday, Nov. 29

Latin Dance Class 

7:30 p.m. 

Berkeley/Richmond Jewish Community Center 

1414 Walnut St. 

Salsa, Cha-cha, Merengue... $10, No partner necessary. All ages and levels welcome. 508-4616 

Winter Backcountry Travel:  

Safety and Survival Tips 

7 p.m. 

REI 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Leader of the National Ski Patrol’s Northern California search and rescue team, Mike Kelly, shares his expertise on how to plan a safe adventure in the snow. Free. 527-4140 

Discussion for Women 

1:00 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst St. 

Katheryn Gardella, RN., discuss mobility Issues and Feling Good in this part of a series of discussions for women. 644-6107 

Montessori Campus Design  

Competition Exhibit  

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Montessori School 

1581 LeRoy Ave. 

BMS is designing a new Elementary and Middle School campus, see the designs and give your feedback for jury consideration in selecting the winner. 843-9374, sharline@well.com. 

Attic Conversions 

7 - 10 p.m. 

Building Education Center 

812 Page St. 

Seminar taught by architect Andus Brandt, $35. 525-7610 

Compiled by Guy Poole

Editor: 

Sometimes we in Berkeley can get caught up in local issues and squabbles while forgetting the catastrophe taking place in Africa as 10,000 die daily worldwide of AIDS. We are in a very privileged position in the Bay Area – very few lack access to medications or other necessities. Imagine the worst days of the epidemic here in the late 1980s being multiplied by 1,000 and you have the reality of Africa today. We must start using our positions, combined with our consciousness and love to change the course of the World AIDS cataclysm. This year more than ever we must put the WORLD in World AIDS Day. 

This is a call and invitation to all Daily Planet readers concerned about AIDS to march with us on World AIDS Day Eve, Noon, November 30, beginning at Roche, 2929 Seventh St. (at Ashby), Berkeley. Roche is one of three major pharmaceutical companies aggessively seeking patents in Africa to stop importation of cheap generic treatments from India. At Roche we will hear speakers from Zimbabwe, South Africa and Sri Lanka to give us an international perspective on AIDS. 

Then we will march five blocks to Bayer to link the unmitigated greed of the pharmaceutical companies (most profitable Fortune 500 industry for the last 20 years) to lack of affordable medications. Even with the Federal government’s forced price reduction on the anthrax treatment CIPRO, Bayer’s profit on CIPRO is 65 percent according to the New York Times. Doxycyciline, another anthrax treatment, is available at 3 percent the price of CIPRO. Yet the government and leaders of the pharmaceutical industry struck a deal to protect Bayer’s 16 year monopoly on anthrax treatments. 

Presently there are 71 million Americans without prescription coverage. 

This could be you in the future as a good portion are senior citizens on Medicare. Drug prices in Canada and Europe average 60 percent of US prices. 

Prices here could be lowered and the difference made up in increased sales volume. We demand an end to patent abuse which will soon include 20 year patent monopolies worldwide, and demand cheap generic alternatives in public health emergencies such as AIDS, cancer or anthrax. 

There’s a difference between a decent rate of return and obscene profit margins — it’s increased human suffering and death. Big Pharma spends three times as much on marketing and administration than research (37-12 percent) and profits last year were 18 percent overall, with prescription drugs like CIPRO and all AIDS drugs bringing in much more. 

Think globally, act locally. Join ACT UP/East Bay, Global Exchange, California Nurses Association, Berkeley Gray Panthers, Elders for Survival, East Bay Community Law Center, Ecology Center, Vote Health, Middle East Childrens Alliance, HealthGAP, GRI Charitable Foundation, Lesbian and Gay Insurrection and Berkeley Councilmembers Maudelle Shirek and Kriss Worthington in demanding “Affordable Medications for All Nations.” Info: 510-841-4339. 

John Iversen 

Berkeley 

21 Grand Nov. 29: 9 p.m., Lemon Lime Lights, Hillside, Moe! Staiano, $6; Nov. 30: 9 p.m., Fred Frith, Damon Smith, Marco Eneidi, Sabu Toyozumi Ensemble, Phillip Greenlief, $10; Dec. 1: 9 p.m., Toychestra, Rosin Coven, Darling Freakhead, $6; All ages. 21 Grand Ave., Oakland. 444-7263 

924 Gilman St. Nov. 30: Shitlist, Atrocious Madness, Fuerza X, Catheter, S Bitch, Delta Force; Dec. 1: Yaphet Kotto, Cattle Decapitation, Creation Is Crucifixion, Kalibas, A Death Between Seasons, Lo-Fi Neissans; Dec. 2: 5 p.m., Dead and Gone, Venus Bleeding, Suptonix, Geoff (spoken word), East Bay Chasers, Lesser Of Two; Dec. 7: Har Mar Superstar, The Pattern, The Blast Rocks, Your Enemies’ Friends, Hate Mail Express; Dec. 8: Scurvy Dogs, Nigel Peppercock, Shut The Fuck Up, Offering To The Sun, Voetsek; Dec. 9: Poison The Well, Unearth, Sworn Enemy, Spark Lights The Friction; Dec. 14: Hot Water Music, American Steel, F-Minus, Trial By Fire; Dec. 15: Strung Out, Limp, The Frisk, The Deadlines, The Creeps; Dec. 16: 5 p.m., Good Riddance, Missing 23rd, Downway, Audio Crush; All shows start a 8 p.m. unless noted; Most are $5; 924 Gilman St. 525-9926 

The Albatross Pub Dec. 4: Panacea; Dec. 5: Whiskey Brothers; Dec. 6: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 11: Mad & Eddic Duran Jazz Duo; Dec. 13: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 15: Larry Stefl Jazz Quartet; Dec. 18: Panacea; Dec. 19: Whiskey Brothers; Dec. 20: Keni “El Lebrijano”; Dec. 27: Keni “El Lebrijano”; All shows start at 9 p.m., 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473  

Anna’s Nov. 26: Renegade Sidemen w/ Calvin Keyes; Nov. 27: Jason Martineau and David Sayen; Nov. 28: Bob Shoen Jazz Quintet; Nov. 29: Ed Reed and Alex Markels Jazz Group; Nov. 30: Ann sings jazz standards; 10 p.m., Bluesman Hideo Date; All shows 8 p.m. unless noted. Free. 1901 University Ave., 849-2662 

Ashkenaz Nov. 26: 6:30 p.m., Vista College; Nov. 27: 8 p.m., Creole Belles, $8; Nov. 28: 8 p.m., Bluegrass Intentions, Stairwell Sisters, Clogging with Evie Ladin, $10; Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Grateful Dead DJ Nite, $5; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums w/ Ms. Carmen Getit; 1317 San Pablo Ave. 525-5054 www.ashkenaz.com 

Blake’s Nov. 26: All Star Jam Featuring The Steve Gannon Band and Mz. Dee, $4; Nov. 27: PC Munoz and the Amen Corner, Froggy, $3; Nov. 28: Erotic City, DJ Maestro, $2; Nov. 29: Ascension, $5; Nov. 30: Felonious, TBA, $6; All shows 9:30 p.m. 2367 Telegraph Ave., 848-0886 

Cafe Eclectica Nov. 30: 6 - 11 p.m., She Mob, Wire Graffiti, Breast, Honeyshot, Run for Cover Lovers, $6; All ages 1309 Solano Ave., 527-2344. 

Cal Performances Nov. 29: Les Arts Florissants, $24 - $46; Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Bancroft Way at Telegraph, 642-0212 tickets@calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Club Muse Nov. 29: 9:30 p.m., SoulTree, Tang!, $7; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., Calamity and Main, Darling Clementines, The Bootcuts, $8; Dec. 1: 9:30 p.m., Naked Barbies, Penelope Houston, $8; All ages. 856 San Pablo Ave., Albany, 528-2878. 

Eli’s Mile High Club Every Friday, 10 p.m. Funky Fridays Conscious Dance Party with KPFA DJs Splif Skankin and Funky Man. $10; Nov. 23: Junior Morrow; Nov. 24: Jimmy Dewrance; Nov. 30: Scott Duncan; Dec. 1: J.J. Malone; Doors open at 8 p.m. unless noted. 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 655-6661 

Freight & Salvage Coffee House Nov. 26: Ellen Robinson; Nov. 28: Wake the Dead; Nov. 29: Judith Kate Friedman and Deborah Pardes; Nov. 30: Odile Lavault and Baguette Quartette; Dec. 1: Geoff Muldaur w/ Fritz Richmond; Dec. 2: Kaila Flexer’s Fieldharmonik; Dec. 5: Avalon Blues: Peter Case, Dave Alvin and Bill Morrissey; Dec. 6: Ray Bonneville; Dec. 7 & 8: Rebecca Riots; All shows begin 8 p.m., 1111 Addison St. Call 548-1761 for prices or see www.freightandsalvage.org.  

iMusicast Nov. 30: 6 - 11 p.m., Applesaucer, The Plus Ones, Cutlass Supreme, Salem Lights, Short Wave Rocket, One Step Shift; Dec. 1: 6 - 11 p.m., One Time Angels, The Influents, The Frisk, Fetish, The Locals, $8; All ages. 5429 Telegraph Ave. 601-1024, www.imusicast.com. 

The Minnow Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Jolly!, Good For You, Grain USA, Plan to Pink; Nov. 30: Sedadora, Six Eye Columbia, Betty Expedition, The Clarendon Hills; Dec. 1: Replicator, Fluke Starbucker, Baby Carrot, The Len Brown Society; All shows $6. 1700 Clement Ave., Alameda. 

“Music on Telegraph” Dec. 1: Scrambled Samba Trio, Ann’s Kitchen, 2498 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 2: Paul and Jill Janoff, Musical Offering, 2430 Bancroft; Dec. 8: Jonah Minton Quartet, Julie’s Healthy Cafe, 2562 Bancroft; Dec. 9: Hebro, Blakes, 2367 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 15: Thelonious On The Move, Bison Brewing, 2598 Telegraph Ave.; Dec. 16: Howard Kadis, Musical Offering Cafe, 2430 Bancroft; Dec. 22: Kaz Sasaki Duo, Blackberry Ginger, 2520 Durant; Dec. 23: Almadecor, Ann’s Kitchen, 2498 Telegraph Ave.; All shows 2 - 4 p.m., Free. 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra presents “Bach’s Mass in B Minor” Dec. 1, 8 p.m., Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m., First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant. Guest conductor Andrew Parrott. $34 - $50. 415-392-4400, www.philharmonia.org. 

Rose Street House of Music Dec. 1: 8 p.m., Acapella Night - Making Waves, Solstice, Out on a Clef, $5 - $20. 1839 Rose St. 594-4000 x687, rosestreetmusic@yahoo.com. 

Starry Plough Nov. 28: 8:30 p.m., bEASTfest Invitational Poetry Slam, $5; Nov. 29: 9:30 p.m., The Moore Brothers, Yuji Oniki, BArt Davenport, $8; Nov. 30: 9:30 p.m., The Kirby Grips, Dealership, Bitesize, The Blast Rocks, (all ages show) $8; Dec. 1: 9:30 p.m., Mark Growden’s Electric Pinata, Ramona the Pest, Film School; 3101 Shattuck Ave.  

Stork Club Nov. 29: 10 p.m., Mega-Mousse, Base LIne Dada, Meeshee, Mike Boner, $7; Nov. 30: 9 p.m., Love Kills Love, Three Years Down, Jack Killed Jill, October Allied, Eddie Haskells, $6; Dec. 1: 10 p.m., Anticon, Kevin Blechdom, Bevin Blectum, The Silents, $10; Dec. 2: 8 p.m., Corsciana, The Mass, Modular Set, Spore Attic, $5; 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 

Mike Vax Jazz Orchestra with Lennie Niehaus Dec. 2: 2 p.m., $18. Longfellow School of the Arts, 1500 Derby St. 420-4560, www.bigbandjazz.net 

“Uncle Vanya” Nov. 23 through Nov. 29: Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun. Nov. 25, 7 p.m. Subterranean Shakespeare’s production of Jean-Claude van Italie’s humorous translation of Anton Chekhov’s romantic masterpiece. Directed by Diane Jackson. Benefits the Forests Forever Foundation. $8-$14. La Val’s Subterranean Theatre, 1834 Euclid. 234-6046, www.subshakes.com 

“Goddesses” Nov. 30 through Dec. 1: Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 7 p.m. A sensuous and humorous drama concerning one mortal woman’s struggle to control the six extraordinary goddesses in her psyche. Written by Dorotea Reyna. $10. Mils College, Lisser Hall, 5900 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland 883-0536, rlcouture@earthlink.net 

“Saint Joan” Through Dec. 2: Wed. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., 7 p.m. George Bernard Shaw’s epic of a young girl determined to drive the English out of France with only her faith to support her. Directed by Barbara Oliver. $26-35. Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison St. 843-4822  

“Brave Brood” Through Dec. 16 Robert O’Hara directs Robert O’Hara’s searing tale of money, desperation, and the fight for survival. $20. Transparent Theater, 1901 Ashby Ave. 883-0305  

“Much Ado About Nothing” Through Jan. 8: Check theater for specific dates and times. Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy chronicles a handful of soldiers returning from a winning battle to be greeted by a gaggle of giddy maidens. Directed by Brian Kulick. $10 - $54. Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 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 

Films 

Pacific Film Archive Theater Nov. 30: 7:30 p.m., Werckmeister Harmonies; Dec. 6: 7 p.m., Bizarre, Bizarre; 8:50 p.m., The Green Man; Dec. 7: 7 p.m., Smiles of a Summer Night; 9:05 p.m., Cluny Brown; Bancroft Way, 642-1124 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Exhibits  

“2001 James D. Phelan Art Awards in Printmaking” Honorees: Bridget Henry, David Kelso, and Margaret Van Patten. Through Nov. 30 Tues. - Fri. noon - 5 p.m., other times by appointment. Kala Art Institue, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977 www.kala.org 

“Furniture Art” Through Dec. 7: An exhibit of metal and wood furniture that revisits furniture not only as art but as craft. 12 p.m. - 6 p.m. The Current Gallery at the Crucible, 1036 Ashby Ave. 843-5511 www.thecrucible.org 

“The Paintings of Bethany Anne Ayers and Sculpture of Alexander Cheves” Nov. 15 through Dec. 15: Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Ardency Gallery, 709 roadway, Oakland. 836-0831 gallery709@aol.com 

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

“Matrix 195” Through Jan. 13: German artist, Thomas Scheibitz’s, first solo museum exhibition in the United States showcases semi-abstract representations of everyday objects and landscapes. Wed., Fri. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. $3-$6. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way, 642-0808 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

GTU Exhibit: “Holocaust Series” by Cleve Gray Through Jan. 25: Comprised of 21 works on paper that constitute “a catharsis... for all of humanity.” Mon. - Thurs. 8:30 a.m. - 9:45 p.m., Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sun. noon - 7 p.m.; Free. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2541 www.gtu.edu 

“Enduring Wisdom: Artwork and Stories by Homeless and Formerly Homeless Seniors” Through Feb. 15: 18 homeless and formerly homeless elders reveal how they learned and applied wisdom that is timeless. Mon. - Fri. and Sundays 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Reception and presentation by the elders Thurs. Nov. 15, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. Free. St. Mary’s Center, 635 22nd St., Oakland, 893-4723 x222 

“The Art History Museum of Berkeley” 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. 841-4210 or visit www.atelier9.com 

Readings 

Cody’s on Telegraph Ave. Nov. 28: 7:30 p.m. David Meltzer and contributors read from his newly revised and re-released collection of interviews with Bay Area Beat Poets; 2454 Telegraph Ave. 845-7852 

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 Sun., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rides: Sun., 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; Nov. 3: Tales from the Enchanted Forest, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.; Nov. 9: Living with the Earth; Nov. 17: Recycle that Stuff; $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Mon. and Wed., 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tues. and Fri., 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thur., 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111 or www.habitot.org  

Oakland Museum of California Through Nov. 25: Pasajes y Encuentros: Ofrendas for the Days of the Dead, highlights three thematic “passageways” that connect the dead with the living: tradition, humor and spirit; Dec. 8 & 9: 32nd Annual Bay Area Fungus Fair, the world of the mushroom will be explored in exhibits, lectures, slide shows, cooking demos, etc.. Through Jan. 13: Grand Lyricist: The Art of Elmer Bischoff, featuring paintings and works on paper that trace the evolution of Bischoff’s career. $6 adults, $4 seniors and students, free for children under 5. Wed. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sun. noon - 5 p.m., 10th St., Oakland, 888-625-6873/ www.museumca.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. Mon. through Fri., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 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.  

University of California Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive has reopened after its summerlong seismic retrofit. “Martin Puryear: Sculpture of the 1990s” through Jan. 13; “The Dream of the Audience: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951 - 1982)” through Dec. 16; “Face of Buddha: Sculpture from India, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia” ongoing rotation through 2003; “Matrix 194: Jessica Bronson, Heaps, layers, and curls” Sept. 16 through Nov. 11; “Matrix 192: Ceal Floyer 37’4”” Sept. 16 through Nov. 11; Wed., Fri., Sat., Sun. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thur. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., PFA Theater, 2575 Bancroft Way; Museum Galleries 2626 Bancroft Way; 642-0808 www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Lawrence Hall of Science Through Jan. 26: Scream Machines: The Science of Roller Coasters; “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. 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  

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

St. Mary’s High senior Bridget Duffy captured her second straight CIF Division IV cross country state championship on Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno, running through a heavy rain to take the lead during the race’s second mile and winning with a time of 18:33. 

Duffy is only the 13th female runner to win multiple state titles. She finished nearly 70 yards ahead of the second place finisher, Bishop O’Dowd’s Danila Musante. Musante also finished second behind Duffy at the North Coast Section finals. 

“I just tried to take control with one mile to go. I tried to surge every corner and hold them off,” Duffy said. 

The St. Mary’s girls finished 10th in the Division IV race. Freshman Gabi Rios-Sotelo finished 16th in a time of 19:28. 

Duffy said she actually liked running in the harsh conditions, which was a new experience for her. 

“Actually, I was hoping it would rain when (the race) started, so I was happy when it did,” Duffy said. “I’ve never run a cross country race in the rain. I think the worse the conditions, the better I can run.” 

Duffy’s time was 18 seconds slower than her winning pace last season, when the conditions were considerably better at the same course. 

St. Mary’s Rudy Vasquez finished fourth in the boys Division IV race in a time of 16:07, with Taft High’s Billy Nelson winning the race. Vasquez finished 10th at the event last season.

Prior to approving the Draft General Plan, the City Council will begin a fine tuning process Tuesday on some of the document’s housing, transportation and environmental management policies. 

The Planning Commission has spent the last two-and-a-half years shepherding the document through 12 commissions, seven outside agencies and countless hours of workshops that included input from hundreds of businesses, organizations and individuals.  

Once adopted the document will guide city policies and ordinances on a host of issues including environmental policy, development and transportation for the next 20 years. 

On Nov. 6, the council closed the final public hearing on the draft plan and has since submitted specific questions on some of the document’s 600 policies. Those questions will be the basis of a discussion list of unresolved issues that the council will consider over its next three regularly scheduled meetings and possibly a fourth special meeting.  

The council has set a goal of resolving those issues and adopting the plan by Dec. 18 even though state law only requires the council adopt the housing element before the end of the year. 

Among the issues the council will be discussing is the development of affordable housing. 

The plan has set an ambitious goal of developing 6,400 units of affordable housing during the next 20 years.  

Councilmember Maudelle Shirek and Linda Maio have asked that at least one policy be modified to help attain that goal. An Open Space policy calls for a 14 block stretch of city-owned land in west Berkeley known as the Santa Fe Right of Way be considered primarily for open space and urban gardens.  

Both Shirek and Maio asked that affordable housing be given equal priority for the property.  

Editor: 

While going through the writings of the recently deceased peace activist, Alice Hamburg, I found an article she wrote in 1952, which made me realize how long Berkeley has had a tradition of visionary political leadership. In 1952 Paul Robeson was invited to sing in Berkeley and the city was faced with the question whether the newly-built Berkeley Community Theater could be used for the concert. I was amazed at the parallels between the controversy over that question and the current one over the City’s resolution on the events of Sept. 11.  

In 1952, then Mayor Laurence Cross led the 3-2 majority that approved the controversial use of the Community Theater. The decision created a city-wide furor with hundreds of letters to the press supporting the majority decision, but also with attacks on the decision from “patriotic” organizations. Mayor Cross was not intimidated by critics who warned that the “yes” vote could be interpreted as giving support to communism. When former District Attorney Frank Coakley urged that the decision be rescinded and cautioned that a riot might take place if Robeson were allowed to sing, Mayor Cross responded that Coakley’s letter was “an inciting to riot” and that constitutional rights should not be abridged for political purposes.  

Today we have a controversial issue, the city’s resolution on Sept. 11, and a city-wide furor with an overwhelming number of supportive letters in the press. All we lack is a mayor with vision, courage, and principle.  

Unlike Mayor Cross, Mayor Dean believes that dissent is not permitted in time of national crises and, instead of standing up for the city and responding to its critics with powerful truths, she has been busy fueling the critics with false fears she has created about an alleged boycott that is no more real than was the “riot” in 1952.  

We are entitled to better leadership from our mayor — leadership that reflects the political courage of Berkeley residents. Maybe we need a new Laurence Cross for mayor! 

Jerrie Meadows 

Berkeley

Cardinal earn spot in NCAA  

championship 

tanford (20-1) defeated Cinderella California (15-7), 7-5, to claim the MPSF Tournament Championship. The Cardinal receive an automatic berth to the NCAA Men’s Water Polo Championship.  

Even though Stanford never trailed, Cal took the Cardinal down to the final minute, with senior Spencer Dornin scoring with 21 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to a single goal. Attempting to retrieve the ball, Golden Bear head coach Peter Asch sent an extra man into the pool with eight seconds remaining, drawing a four-meter penalty shot. Stanford freshman Tony Azevedo tossed the ball into the net, effectively deciding the game.  

Dornin once again led the Bears, scoring two of his three goals in the fourth quarter. Russell Bernstein faced a slew of shots, and saved 10 out of 17.  

For the Cardinal, freshman Tony Azevedo met his three goals per game pace, one of which came just 22 seconds after the Bears had scored two straight. The Cardinal netminder, Nick Ellis, was solid, stopping five shots.  

The scoring was light early, with the game reaching halftime showing a Stanford 2-1 lead. In the third period, the Cardinal heated up, notching three goals to Cal’s one. Jeff Nesmith got things going for Stanford, flipping one past Bernstein with 1:40 gone in the frame.  

With less than three minutes to go in the match and the scoreboard showing Stanford up 5-2, Chris Lathrop kick started the Bears with a score, and Dornin followed that up with another just 50 seconds later, leaving Cal down by one. However, Azevedo got open at the Bears’ end, and put one into the corner of the net.  

Cal upset No. 2 UCLA and third-seeded USC to reach the final.

John Boss said he heard the crack around 8:00 a.m.  

Rushing outside, he saw his beautiful Ford Ranger – “not a blemish on it,” he later said – crushed by the massive, 100-year old cypress that had stood in his front yard. 

Many residents were inconvenienced by the 50 mile-per-hour wind gusts that swept through Berkeley Saturday morning. Some lost electrical service for a time, other people’s trees fell and some suffered damage to their property.  

Thankfully, though, not too many had to deal with a catastrophe on the scale that befell Boss. Not only was his truck totaled, but he lost a beautiful old tree he remembered walking past when he was a child. 

One person standing around on the street, looking at the ruins of Boss’ truck, asked him if insurance would cover it. 

“Well, we’re going to find out,” he said. 

Lt. Eric Gustafson of the Berkeley Police Department said that the police responded to numerous calls from all around the city early Saturday morning. 

“This usually happens with the first good storm of the season,” he said. “Trees come down, streets flood, the power goes out. Then, when the power comes back on, home alarms start to go off. 

“It’s always a very busy day.” 

Editor: 

I would like to respond to Yolanda Huang’s letter (“Learn S.F. lessons”) published on Nov. 20. Clearly Huang misunderstood my comments, so, for her benefit and the benefit of the community that read the misrepresentation of the facts in her letter, I would like to set the record straight. 

At the last Berkeley Unified School District board meeting I commented on the poor quality of the reports we have received from the maintenance department during the past few years. Very often we have received documents, hundreds of pages long, listing deficiencies and projects that needed to be done. Never did these reports contain appropriate levels of staff analysis, prioritization, recommended course of action, budget or proposed timelines for completing the tasks. Despite my requests in the past for this information, it was never provided to the board. At the meeting Huang refers to, I complimented staff on its summary of Measure BB expenditures, but what Huang fails to mention is that I also called to light the absence of necessary information included in the reports we regularly receive and demanded that in the future we are provided this information — information that is necessary to ensure the proper spending of BB funds. 

The school board and Superintendent Michelle Lawrence are deeply committed to spending tax dollars wisely. Any suggestion otherwise is an unfortunate misrepresentation of the facts. 

Joaquín J. Rivera 

Director, Berkeley Unified School District

The University of California women’s volleyball team defeated Auburn, 3-0 (30-19, 30-21, 30-15), Saturday afternoon at Haas Pavilion.  

Cal (10-17) had an impressive .396 team hitting percentage and were led by 12 kills by junior Reena Pardiwala and 10 kills by junior Leah Young. The Bears also had 12 service aces, led by a career-high six service aces by senior setter/outside hitter Candace McNamee.  

Cal was down in the first game, 15-7, but behind McNamee’s four service aces, got within 15-14. The Bears got hot after that point, going on a 16-2 run to win 30-19. From there, Cal pretty much control the match, winning game two, 30-21 and game three, 30-15. McNamee, a four-year starter for the Bears, will conclude her collegiate career Sunday against Arizona State. She finished the Auburn (1-26) match with five kills and no errors in 10 attempts, had 39 assists, six service aces, seven digs and three block assists.  

Cal will finish the 2001 season hosting Arizona State, Sunday, Nov. 25 at 3 p.m. at Haas Pavilion.

OAKLAND – An Oakland airport terminal was evacuated Saturday after it was determined that passengers aboard a Southwest Airlines flight arriving from Seattle had passed through a broken metal detector. 

The problem was identified after the plane had already taken off, said Oakland International Airport spokesman George Turner. 

An unknown number of people crossed through the north security checkpoint at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, operated by Alaska Airlines, before the malfunction was detected by a National Guardsman, said airport spokesman Bob Parker. 

The Oakland-bound plane landed without incident, but as part of the airport’s post Sept. 11 security plan, all travelers in that terminal were evacuated until passengers aboard the plane could be rescreened and allowed to reboard connecting flights, Turner said. 

He was unsure how many people were on the plane from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Hundreds of people were forced to stand outside in high winds and drizzling rains before being sent back inside to go through the check-in process again. The incident created delays and long lines that wrapped around part of the airport. Some passengers were yanked off airplanes they had already boarded and forced to stand in line again. 

“To my knowledge, that’s the first time the new procedure has been used,” Turner said. “Fortunately, it’s today and not tomorrow. It’s a fairly light travel day today.” 

Meanwhile, at Seattle-Tacoma, travelers were forced to evacuate all concourses and passenger flights were delayed at least three hours because of the broken metal detector.

A psychologist from the University of California at Berkeley suggests that the best methods for waging the war against drugs are often overlooked, caught somewhere in the middle of the rhetoric of legalization and “zero-tolerance’’ plans. 

In “Drug War Heresies,’’ a book released earlier this month, Robert MacCoun, a UC Berkeley professor of public policy and law, and Peter Reuter, who teaches criminology and public affairs at the University of Maryland at College Park, say neither zero-tolerance policies nor blanket legalization are answers to reducing drug use and drug-related problems. 

The book, which details a comprehensive study of legalization, offers an objective analysis of the alternative of complete prohibition of marijuana, cocaine and heroin. 

“I don’t think we’ll ever have a drug-free society,’’ MacCoun says. “It’s not a war that you win. It’s a problem that you manage.’’ 

The book is the culmination of 10 years of research, which investigated drug policies both in this country and abroad.  

MacCoun says that at the beginning of their research, he and his partner were “agnostic’’ on the issue and tried to look at both sides, and claim that their goal was to “elevate and inform’’ a debate that is traditionally mired by posturing. 

“In this country, we don’t really have a serious debate,’’ MacCoun says.  

“Politicians act tough out of timidity -- they are afraid to be seen as soft on drugs,’’ he added. “And intellectuals are quick to find fault with the war on drugs, but they haven’t been very serious about thinking through on the alternatives.’’ 

The book agrees that legalization proponents are, for the most part, correct in their claim that making drugs illegal is a major source of the drug-related harms, including crime, violence, and frequent overdoses. 

Angry airport security screeners at Oakland International Airport today rallied in protest of a clause in the new federal aviation security law that requires that the workers be U.S. citizens. 

The Oakland Airport employees — as well security screeners at San Francisco International Airport — fear that their jobs are in jeopardy as approximately 50 of the East Bay workers are legal permanent residents, but not U.S. citizens. 

Approximately 20 of the workers picketed outside an Oakland Airport terminal this afternoon, some of whom left their shift to join the protest. 

“These workers are very, very angry,’’ Andrea Dehlendorf, spokeswoman for Service Employees International Union Local 1817, said. “They’re being denied the opportunity to continue a job they having been doing for years.’’ 

“While the Aviation Security Act makes many positive improvements to strengthen airport security, the citizenship requirement will result in the displacement of thousands of existing airport security screeners around the country and approximately half of the workforce at Oakland International Airport,’’ Dehlendorf said.  

Union members say requiring that all security workers are U.S. citizens is an unfair and discriminatory requirement that will create “a terrible precedent against hardworking, tax-paying legal immigrant workers.’’ 

They say, “Citizenship is not required for members of the U.S. armed forces, the National Guard, pilots, flight attendants or other airport workers’’ who are working together to tighten security at airports across that nation in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. 

Security screeners at San Francisco International Airport cancelled a “sick-out’’ scheduled for today, which was planned to protest the same issues surrounding the U.S. citizenship requirement. 

No one from the chapter of the union that represents that SFO employees, SEIU Local 790, was available to comment today, however airport spokesman Ron Wilson said last week that “about 25 to 60 of (the SFO) screeners are non-citizens.’’ 

“But they’re doing good job. They’re friendly. We don’t get a lot of complaints about them,’’ Wilson said last Monday, the day President Bush signed the federal aviation security act into law. 

Airport security screeners at Los Angeles International Airport are staging a similar protect at LAX this afternoon. 

Public transit extensions, solar power among issues 

SAN FRANCISCO – Organizers of the San Francisco Bay area’s campaign to host the 2012 Olympics say they’ll make the event green and clean if selected. 

Promises of extended public transportation and solar power would establish the Bay Area as the most environmentally conscious Olympics in history should San Francisco get the nod, organizers claim. 

“It’s the right thing to do. It’s the practical thing to do,” said Mark Jordan of the bay Area Sports Organizing Committee. “Having the Olympics here will make the Bay Area a better place afterward.” 

Jordan’s group of political, sports and business leaders is spearheading the move to get the games held in San Francisco and 11 other surrounding cities. 

The eco-friendly commitments would include wide spread public transportation instead of parking access to all venues as far north as Sacramento and extending south to Monterey. 

Swimming pool chlorine for the events would be replaced with a high-tech ozone treatment solution. Housing for athletes and coaches would be powered by solar energy. 

Sewage and wastewater from the Olympic Village would be treated and recycled for irrigation use. 

The Sierra Club, Audubon Society and Greenbelt Alliance have all been consulted for their input on hosting an environmentally friendly Olympics. 

The U.S. Olympic Committee will name the winner of the 2012 bid next November. 

San Francisco is one of four finalists, along with New York, Houston and Washington, D.C.

SAN FRANCISCO – A runaway Muni bus took out six cars, an electric pole and a fire hydrant early Saturday morning. 

No one was seriously injured in the incident, but the San Francisco bus was out of control for two blocks on Clay Street before coming to a halt. 

The driver apparently lost control of the bus due to wet roads from Saturday’s stormy weather. 

CARMEL – Local authorities were unable to revive a man they pulled from the ocean Saturday afternoon after a witness called 911 to report the man had disappeared beneath the waves. 

Sgt. John DiCarlo of the Monterey County Sheriff’s Department said various local dive and rescue groups headed to Carmel’s Ocean Beach after the call came just before 1 p.m. 

“Someone called 911 and said a man wearing a wetsuit was in the ocean and was seen going under water and did not come back to the surface for over 5 minutes,” DiCarlo said. The man had not yet been identified by the Monterey County Coroner’s office Saturday night. 

Authorities spotted the man near some kelp about 100 yards from shore. California State Parks lifeguards swam out and brought the man back to shore by 1:15 p.m., found no vital signs and tried to resuscitate the man, DiCarlo said. 

The man was pronounced dead at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula shortly thereafter.  

DiCarlo said surf conditions were rough Saturday and recommended that beachgoers keep to the shore for the duration of the stormy weather. 

RICHMOND – Police officers fatally shot a man after he holed up inside a studio and threatened to kill his twin daughters. 

Police say Michael Anthony Valdez barricaded himself inside a studio he shared with his girlfriend. He then started threatening the couple’s 18-month daughters. 

Police say two officers were able to push through a door blocked by furniture and found Valdez holding one of the babies. 

Richmond police Sergeant Enos Johnson says Valdez was unarmed and he was shot Friday because the officers believed he was going to hurt or kill the child. 

Neighbors say Valdez had been threatening to suffocate the babies. Both were unharmed but taken to a nearby hospital for a checkup. 

Two motorcycle officers collided while en route to Valdez’ house. Neither were seriously injured. 

OAKLAND – A staff photographer with the San Jose Mercury News has been missing for nearly a week, police said Saturday. 

Family members and friends said they have not seen or heard from Luci S. Houston, 43, since Tuesday. Houston had planned to pick up a friend at from Oakland International Airport on Wednesday and to attend a Thanksgiving get-together Thursday, they said. 

Friends said Houston would call people she was assigned to photograph if she was running even five minutes late. 

The Washington, D.C., native has worked as a staff photographer at the Mercury News since 1993, and previously was a staff photographer for the Plain Dealer in Cleveland. 

“We hope that anyone with information about her disappearance will immediately contact the authorities,” said Joe Natoli, president and publisher of the Mercury News. 

The Oakland resident last was seen driving a 1999 black Chevrolet Malibu, with a California license 4ETX017. 

Houston is black, about 5 feet 2 inches tall and 140 pounds with a medium build. She has dark, short, braided hair, a slight gap between her two front teeth and dark brown eyes. 

Oakland police have asked for anyone who has seen Houston to call the Missing Person hotline at (510) 238-3352 or Sgt. Tim Nolan at (510) 238-3821 to help.

SACRAMENTO – In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, Don Detrich is on a mission to keep airline travel a little safer. 

Detrich has focused his frustration over air travel safety into the formation of the Flight Watch Hijacking Resistance League. It’s a fledgling organization with the goal of getting potential airplane hostages to fight back. 

Detrich wants to train special corps of passengers to serve as a skyborne militia that would attack their attackers and perhaps prevent planes from becoming lethal tools of destruction like those flown into the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11. 

“People are not going to ride in their seats to their deaths again,” Detrich said. “Passengers are going to do something. The objective is to make sure it’s appropriate and effective.” 

Detrich’s idea has received mixed reviews, though a pilots’ organization has offered its support. 

Ron Lovas, a spokesman for the 67,000-member Air Line Pilots Association, says his members support Detrich’s efforts. 

“They firmly believe that security is everybody’s business,” Lovas said. “They say, ’Hey, there are a lot of passengers behind me, and if they can be used as a resource, I’m all for it.’ ” 

However, Dawn Deeks, an official with the 50,000-member Association of Flight Attendants, called Detrich’s would-be league of in-flight fighters a dangerous idea. 

“It’s a very risky proposition,” Deeks said. “I realize passengers are going to act out, especially knowing what they know now. But we should concentrate on training the flight crews first.” 

At first blush, one wouldn’t pick the skinny, 6-foot-2 Detrich to head any charge against menacing terrorists. He has no expertise in security or self-defense. A stint as a volunteer firefighter in Mendocino County is the closest he’s come to emergency training. 

“I initially did it as sort of a lark,” Detrich told the San Francisco Chronicle. “But the response galvanized me to take it more seriously.” 

Detrich recommends using ballpoint pens, large pieces of luggage and food carts to rush people trying to commandeer an airliner. 

“Move quickly and aggressively to disarm and confine the hijackers. You MUST subdue the hijackers BEFORE they gain control of the cockpit,” Detrich suggests on his Web site. 

Ron Lovas, a spokesman for the 67,000-member Air Line Pilots Association, says his members support Detrich’s efforts. 

“They firmly believe that security is everybody’s business,” Lovas said. “They say, ’Hey, there are a lot of passengers behind me, and if they can be used as a resource, I’m all for it.’ ” 

Detrich said he wants to create a training course, employ professional security staffers and market his idea to companies with employees who fly frequently. 

The Federal Aviation Administration officially has taken no position on passenger resistance, according to spokesman Jerry Snyder.

Accidents abound on highways as harsh weather makes travel difficult 

SACRAMENTO – Thousands of California homes remained without power Sunday morning after a Saturday storm that blew down power lines, trees and light poles all over the state. 

The storm delivered rain, snow and wind that triggered hundreds of highway collisions around the state, but the weather was expected to be milder Sunday. 

About half a million Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers lost power at some point Saturday, and about 63,000 of them remained dark early Sunday morning, utility spokesman Jonathan Franks said. 

The outages, concentrated in the San Francisco area and Santa Cruz County, were expected to be mostly corrected by later Sunday morning, but some remote areas might have to wait until Monday to get power restored, Franks said. 

Southern California Edison and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power also reported storm-related outages, but lacked information on how many customers were affected. 

Heavy winds in the Antelope Valley knocked down a light pole that fractured the skull of a 10-year-old girl in a Palmdale supermarket parking lot. The girl was reported in critical condition early Sunday morning after undergoing surgery at Antelope Valley Hospital. 

The storm temporarily closed northbound lanes of Interstate 5 near Redding and sent hundreds of cars skidding into fender benders. 

“We’ve got a lot of tree limbs down and flooding. It’s a mess out there,” said Al Franklin, a communications operator with the California Highway Patrol in Sacramento. 

The CHP’s Southern California division logged 430 accidents between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., said Officer Spencer Ammons. Last week during the same period, but under dry conditions, there were 146 accidents, he said. 

In Beverly Hills, an Old Navy department store had to close due to flooding. A roof collapsed at a Kmart discount store in El Monte, but no one was hurt. 

Weather officials Saturday expected better weather for people returning home Sunday from the Thanksgiving holiday, 

“In general, if you’re not going into the mountains it should be relatively nice,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Baruffaldi in Sacramento. “If you are traveling in the higher elevations of the mountains, you’ll probably have to contend with some snow conditions and possible lingering chain requirements, depending on where you’re traveling.” 

Saturday’s storm hurled 60 mph winds and more than 1 inch of rain in parts of California; More than 2 inches fell in some parts of the Sierra Nevada and some Los Angeles County mountain areas. 

Redding saw 1.74 inches of rain, which broke the old record for the date by more than seven-tenths of an inch. Daily precipitation records also were set Saturday in Stockton, Torrance and Cuyama. 

Temperatures in the Bay Area were expected to drop and showers were expected throughout the weekend, with thunderstorms likely. 

Wind gusts recorded at San Francisco International Airport Saturday were more than 50 mph, while 61 mph gusts in Sacramento fell short of 1953’s record-setting 70 mph. 

The weather service issued high wind warnings for parts of Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties until early Sunday, especially in the mountains and deserts. 

Gusts over 60 mph were predicted for the mountains and valleys, and a wind gust of 92 mph was clocked in Burns Canyon in San Bernardino County. 

Drivers on Interstate 80 and Highway 50 experienced slowdowns in snow and heavy rain, said CHP officials in Truckee. Westbound traffic backed up for miles on both routes Saturday afternoon as holiday travelers headed for home. Southern California travelers using I-5 over Tejon Pass were buffeted by wind gusts. 

Baruffaldi said snow levels could briefly drop to 4,000 feet Sunday morning at Tejon Pass. Otherwise, he said Sunday’s traveling forecast calls for decreasing clouds and intermittent snow and rain. 

Sierra ski resorts reported several inches of fresh snow near Lake Tahoe. 

The coldest brunt of the storm landed on California’s northern counties, where jackknifed trucks closed the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 for six hours Saturday between Fawndale Road north of Redding and Mt. Shasta. 

Caltrans reopened its northern stretch of I-5 shortly after 12:30 p.m. Saturday. The CHP then began escorting traffic north, said Sgt. Doug Pappas. 

Pappas couldn’t estimate how many vehicles were held up by the temporary closure, but said, “There’s a long line behind me.”

SACRAMENTO — The group that promoted California’s medical marijuana initiative in 1996 wants to set up a showdown with the federal government with a ballot measure that would set up a state-controlled network to distribute the drug to patients. 

Santa Monica-based Americans for Medical Rights wants the initiative on the November 2002 ballot in Arizona, Oregon or Washington, three states that also have medical marijuana laws. 

California has been ruled out because it would be too expensive to conduct a campaign there, said Bill Zimmerman, leader of the group. 

The measure, which would formalize a state government-controlled network to distribute medical marijuana, would set up an almost certain U.S. Supreme Court battle over states’ rights. 

Eight states including California have legalized marijuana for medical use, but the narcotic remains illegal for cultivation, sales and use of any sort under federal law. 

In California, home of the nation’s first medical marijuana law, an uneasy detente had reigned between federal officials and cannabis clubs until a Supreme Court ruling in May rolled back provisions of Proposition 215 that addressed the distribution of the marijuana that patients use. 

Recently federal agents have shut down a West Hollywood cannabis club endorsed by city officials, raided a Ventura County garden operated by patients and seized medical records from a prominent medical marijuana doctor in Northern California. 

Sue North, chief of staff for state Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, said the actions of federal officials are hurting patients who use marijuana to ease pain or to help with nausea caused by chemotherapy or AIDS. 

“The target here isn’t dope dealers on the school grounds,” North said. “This is about stopping people with serious medical conditions from getting access to something that helps them.” 

U.S. Justice Department officials did not respond to requests for comment, but DEA spokesman Richard Meyer said agents are required to enforce drug laws. 

Americans for Medical Rights has pushed medical marijuana initiatives in several states over the last decade. It is financed largely by George Soros, a billionaire New York financier, and several other wealthy benefactors.

Company says new equipment will use less power 

SAN JOSE – In another step toward faster computers, Intel Corp. has developed two new technologies that will help the tiny transistors inside microprocessors run cooler, use less power and operate more efficiently. 

The new designs should complement several recent breakthroughs in building minuscule transistors that form the basis of all modern-day computing as they switch on and off billions of times a second. 

But as switches become tinier they use more power and release more heat. Unchecked, that would lead to short battery lives and computers too hot to be useable. 

“If we continue along that trend, we’re looking at ridiculous power levels – like a nuclear reactor or a rocket nozzle,” said Gerald Marcyk, director of Intel’s Components Research Lab. “We want to avoid that.” 

Intel researchers will present the two technologies Monday during the International Electron Device Meeting in Washington. 

It turns out that as transistors are made smaller, electrical current leaks from their microscopic components. That means more heat-generating power is needed for them to function. 

In one solution, transistors are built in a thin layer of silicon on top of an embedded layer of insulator. The “depleted substrate” transistor has 100 times lower leakage than current solutions, Marcyk said. 

The other solution involves the use of a new material – high k gate dieletric – that replaces silicon dioxide between the gate and active area of a transistor. The new material reduces leakage by more than 10,000 times. 

“What I’m looking for is 25 times more transistors, 10 times the speed and no power increase,” Marcyk said. 

Earlier this year, Intel unveiled transistors just 20 nanometers wide. (A nanometer is about 10,000 times narrower than a human hair.) Today’s Pentium 4 has 42 million transistors, each about 180 nanometers. 

The number of transistors in a microprocessor is expected to be in the billions within a few years. But few consumers would be interested if their computers raised electric bills or required a refrigeration system. 

The new technology is expected to be incorporated into Intel’s product lines as early as 2005, when microprocessors will be as adept at handling sounds and images as today’s chips are at crunching numbers.

American flags, firefighters used to attract customers, encourage spending 

LOS ANGELES – California retailers pitched patriotism along with product as they kicked off what was predicted to be a sluggish holiday shopping season. 

There were star-spangled gift bags at one mall and New York firefighters flipped the switch on decorations along Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive. At Sacramento’s Downtown Plaza, shops were awash with patriotic displays: flags, posters and signs saying “God Bless America” and “United We Stand.” 

“I’m definitely shopping this year to help the country,” Michelle Smith of San Francisco said Friday as she awaited her daughter’s return from a search for a fleece jacket at San Francisco Centre shopping mall. 

American themes were largely evident on the day after Thanksgiving on ornaments, 2002 calendars and other items as malls enticed customers to dig deeper despite recent layoffs and gloomy economic forecasts. 

San Jose resident Rhonda Wall said she’s between jobs and it’s affecting her shopping habits. 

“I am more conservative in shopping this year, but I will shop,” Wall said. “This year’s really special. I’m spending more time with family and I’m doing more things at home. It’s important because of what happened.” 

At tourist-oriented Destination Sacramento, flag-bedecked T-shirts and sweat shirts sold briskly. Store manager Marnie Stiles said a mix of patriotism and Christmas looks good for business. 

Among the specials Friday: a free “America the Beautiful” T-shirt with a $50 purchase from the store. 

The Washington-based National Retail Federation predicts total holiday retail sales, excluding restaurant and auto sales, will rise in the range of 2.5 percent to 3 percent, to roughly $206 billion. That would make it the country’s worst retail performance since 1990, when sales were basically unchanged. 

Many shoppers said they would do what they could for the economy, but were working within much tighter budgets this year. 

At San Diego’s Fashion Valley Mall, Ann Brannon, 54, of Carlsbad, N.M., had a shopping bag filled with tennis shoes, books and a Harry Potter calendar, but said she planned to be more conservative with her spending. 

“I just don’t feel the need to spend more. I’ve gotta keep more in the pillowcase back home,” she joked. 

Her brother, Robert Michelson, 51, who works maintenance at a potash mine in Carlsbad, N.M., said layoffs at his company have him watching his wallet very closely. “I’m worried about my job, worried about the economy. ... I’m spending less this year.” 

The pair have considered making some patriotic buys, however. They’re looking for a car flag for their drive back home on Saturday. 

Even in posh Beverly Hills, shoppers were passing by the 50 percent off signs and weighing purchases more carefully. 

“There are more parking spaces around here than I’ve ever seen before,” said David Diltz, who, with his wife, Eileen, was window shopping on Rodeo Drive. 

Colleen Kareti said she spent the tax check she received as part of President Bush’s economic stimulus package on a new television. She and her son Kris walked by a Versace store on Rodeo Drive on Friday but didn’t plan to buy anything. 

“It’s just a browsing day,” Kris Kareti said.

Toll roads are holding back freeway work 

SANTA ANA – It seemed like a good idea at the time, but critics say state guarantees designed to help toll roads survive are now hampering anti-gridlock efforts. 

Toll road owners can veto public highway improvements such as new lanes if they would take away customers. They successfully blocked expansion of the Riverside Freeway, one of the most congested in the state. Potentially, they could prevent the widening of a third of the 222 miles of freeway in Orange County. 

The county has 61 miles of toll road, more than anywhere else in California, operated by the $3.7-billion Transportation Corridor Agencies. 

“Toll roads are an evil necessity,” said Tim Keenan, a board member of the Orange County Transportation Authority. “They were an innovative solution to build freeways, but the burden of their success should not fall on all the drivers in Orange County.” 

The clauses were deemed a good idea back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when California lacked money to build or expand freeways and the population of some regions was soaring. 

Pay-as-you-go roads could handle some of the traffic. The agreements were designed to give investors and bond-buyers confidence that the roads would be a success. 

“These highways would have never been built or never built in the time frame we built them in,” said Walter D. Kreutzen, chief executive of the Transportation Corridor Agencies. “There is still a shortage of state funds for highways.” 

But state Attorney General Bill Lockyer argues restricting freeway construction to help the tollways was a mistake. 

“What we now have is a two-tiered system: a road system for the wealthy and a deteriorating one for the rest of us,” he said. “The toll road is just a polite form of highway robbery.” 

One success story is the privately owned 91 Express Lanes, which run on the Riverside County Freeway median for 10 miles from Anaheim to the Riverside County line. The four lanes opened in 1995 and are packed during rush hours. Commuters pay more than $8 a day for a round trip. 

Under an agreement with the California Department of Transportation, the toll road owners can currently veto highway improvements along 30 miles of the freeway if they would take away customers. The protection ends in 2030 when the lanes will become public. 

In the meantime, tollway owners went to court in the late 1990s to prevent Caltrans from widening the freeway. Under a settlement, Caltrans can add new lanes only when volume increases 37 percent from the current figure, which could take as long as 15 years at current projections. 

The settlement prompted burgeoning Riverside County to sue the tollway owners and Caltrans last year. The city of Corona sued the agency several months ago. 

“The agreement has allowed a private company to put a stranglehold on the Riverside Freeway,” said Jeffrey V. Dunn, an attorney for Riverside County. “You can’t put a company’s profit above public welfare.” 

In Irvine, transportation officials are trying to determine whether plans to widen offramps and bridges and otherwise ease congestion at five “chokepoints” on the San Diego and Santa Ana freeways would violate a toll road agreement. 

The San Joaquin Hills Tollway could lose motorists, said James D. Brown, director of engineering and environmental planning for the toll road operator. 

“We are not here to stop projects,” Brown said, “but we need a safety net.”

SANTA ANA – A Nebraska man who travels around to gun shows trying to sell his how-to book on germ warfare was banned from an exhibit this weekend at the Orange County Fairgrounds. 

Bob Templeton, owner of the Crossroads of the West Gun Show, said he was surprised Timothy W. Tobiason was trying to sell his self-published book “Advanced Biological Weapons Design and Manufacture” at the shows. 

The 250-page book, which includes a recipe for anthrax, was being sold under the table at a Crossroads show in Salt Lake City last weekend, Templeton said, adding that he won’t be allowed any of his future exhibits. 

“He is clearly a very troubled person,” Templeton said. “We don’t tolerate any literature that’s racist or advocates the violent overthrow of the government.” 

Tobiason, a 45-year-old agricultural-chemicals entrepreneur, said he sells about 2,000 copies of his book a year and moves from gun show to gun show across America. 

Crossroads shows are held almost every weekend and move among California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Colorado.

Protests come fast and furious from religious and political groups 

BOSTON – A research company reported Sunday it had cloned the first human embryo, a development it said was aimed at producing genetically matched replacement cells for patients with a wide range of diseases. 

But the news from Advanced Cell Technology of Worcester, Mass., drew swift protests from religious and political leaders who saw it as a step toward cloning human beings. 

Several states, including California, have banned human cloning, and Congress is considering such a ban. But company officials insisted their work is the first step in providing hope for people with spinal injuries, heart disease and other ailments. 

“These are exciting preliminary results,” said Dr. Robert P. Lanza, one of the researchers at Advanced Cell Technology. “This work sets the stage for human therapeutic cloning as a potentially limitless source of immune-compatible cells for tissue engineering and transplantation medicine.” 

Lanza and the company’s top executive Michael West said they had no interest in transplanting such early embryos into a woman’s womb to give birth to a cloned human being, nor was it clear that their embryo would be capable of that. 

But the Washington D.C.-based National Right to Life Committee wasted little time Sunday denouncing the announcement. 

“This corporation is creating human embryos for the sole purpose of killing them and harvesting their cells,” said the group’s legislative director Douglas Johnson. “Unless Congress acts quickly, this corporation and others will be opening human embryo farms.” 

And a critic of the company who used to sit on ACT’s ethics board said Advanced Cell’s announcement was premature and would serve only to encourage such harsh reaction against cloning. 

Glenn McGee, a University of Pennsylvania bioethicist who resigned from Advanced Cell Technology’s ethics advisory board, called the announcement “nothing but hype.” He said the company’s report lacks any significant details, including what cells company scientists actually grew from the cloned embryo. The paper doesn’t say if Advanced Cell was able to derive any human embryonic stem cells from its cloning effort. 

“They are doing science by press release,” he said. 

In findings published Sunday by The Journal of Regenerative Medicine and described online in Scientific American, the scientists said they had grown a six-cell human embryo. 

They said they created the early embryo by injecting a very small cell with its genetic material into a woman’s donated egg. In such cloning, the injected DNA often comes from a skin cell, but the researchers this time used a cumulus cell, which nurtures a developing egg. 

This technique could produce replacement cells only for a woman of childbearing age, since the injected DNA comes from a woman’s reproductive system. However, the scientists have been experimenting with injecting adult skin cells into the eggs as well. 

In a separate experiment, the scientists showed they could push the development of human egg cells even further with a technique known as parthenogenesis. In that process, they said, six eggs reprogrammed themselves to develop into early embryos. 

Such eggs would be largely compatible with the genetics of the egg donor. 

The scientists described all the work as preliminary. Neither experiment has yet produced the coveted stems cells, master cells which grow into all kinds of body tissues. 

Other research groups in this country and abroad have plunged into efforts to clone human beings for either reproductive or therapeutic purposes — that is, using genetically matched cells for treating disease. 

And last September, a report from the National Academy of Sciences — an independent, congressionally chartered organization — said therapeutic cloning should be pursued. 

Dr. Norman Fost, director of the bioethics program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he believes a “slippery slope” argument for banning therapeutic cloning is a poor approach. 

One could have made such a case against test-tube fertilization, which has turned out to be beneficial, and which also can be seen as a step toward cloning humans, he said Sunday. 

The announcement by the Massachusetts researchers, he said, is “a basic part of making stem cell research useful for human beings.” That, he said is “a path which the huge majority of the American people favor.” 

The researchers described their work as an important step toward producing stem cells to generate replacement cells as treatments for diabetes, heart disease, spinal injuries, and many other ailments. 

“We think we’ve shown that it’s going to be possible, in the lifetime of many of us, to take a cell from our body and, by using cloning technology ... to take a patient’s cell back in time using the egg cells, sort of a little time machine, and then making these cells that we’ve heard so much over the last few months, the embryonic stem cell, to make your own embryonic stem cells, young cells,” said Michael West, president of Advanced Cell Technology. 

But using human embryos for such work faces huge hurdles in Congress, which has talked about an outright ban on cloning. 

Asked about the research on “Fox News Sunday,” Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said while he only had sketchy details, he was worried about reproductive cloning. He called the reports “disconcerting.” 

“I think it’s going in the wrong direction,” he said. 

On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Richard Shelby, D-Ala., said “I believe it will be perhaps a big debate, but at the end of the day I don’t believe that we’re going to let the cloning of human embryos go on.” 

Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., told CNN’s “Late Edition” that “the Senate should be deliberative.” 

“We really ought to take it on the basis of much more thorough understanding than this first report,” he said. 

Carl Feldbaum, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, predicted that Congress will ultimately allow human cloning for therapeutic purposes. “Therapeutic cloning as been gaining allies as its applications are understood,” he said.

OXFORD, Conn. – Less than a day after investigators swabbed Immanuel Lutheran Church for any signs of anthrax, about 250 people gathered there Saturday to remember the 94-year-old woman who is the nation’s fifth anthrax victim. 

Ottilie Wilke Lundgren was described by friends and family as a loving woman who took joy in collecting owl knickknacks – her initials were O.W.L. – and had an occasional Manhattan with dinner. 

Her pastor, the Rev. Richard Miesel, recalled a phrase Lundgren used to say when she left church: “I’m an old lady, but it has its advantages. I can say anything I want.” 

Miesel told mourners that while Lundgren’s death has caused fear, people should take comfort in the belief that God is a protector of his people. 

“The world is often a dangerous place, and yet we have a champion who fights on our side with a weapon of the spirit,” Miesel said after the service. 

Lundgren died Nov. 21 of inhalation anthrax, five days after being admitted to Griffin Hospital in Derby with pneumonia-like symptoms. 

Hope for a relatively simple explanation to her infection dimmed Friday when preliminary testing of Lundgren’s home found no signs of the deadly bacteria. 

“Testing was focused on the so-called mail trail,” Gov. John G. Rowland said. “Samples were taken from the house, the garbage, the mail box; all samples have tested negative for anthrax.” 

Federal and state investigators also tested samples from the two post offices that deliver mail to Oxford. 

All tests except one at the Seymour post office came back negative. The outstanding test needed to be reviewed, but Rowland said Friday investigators did not believe the test would come back positive. 

Testing continued Saturday, with investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fanning out into this rural town of about 9,800 people. 

Agents in plain clothes collected samples at the church and conducted interviews at a nearby bank. 

No further results were expected before Monday, said William Gerrish, a spokesman for the state Health Department. 

“As to now, nothing has been reported positive, which is good news, but from the investigation’s point of view, I guess it’s not good news because it doesn’t help point the investigation,” Gerrish said. 

Lundgren seldom left her home except to visit the library, the beauty parlor, doctors’ offices and her church. 

Oxford First Selectwoman Kathy Johnson said some who attended Saturday’s private service didn’t know Lundgren, but came anyway to pay their respects. 

“This is probably the most peaceful hours I’ve spent in the last four days — in this church. There was a lot of love for this woman in there,” Johnson said. 

A public memorial was planned for Sunday night at the same church. 

Testing has shown that the strain of anthrax that killed her was similar to strains found in other recent cases. It was a “naturally occurring” strain and susceptible to antibiotics, said CDC spokeswoman Nicole Coffin. 

The strain’s natural origin does not reduce the likelihood that it had been manufactured. Only 18 cases of natural inhalation anthrax have been recorded in the last 100 years, said Lisa Swenarski, a CDC spokeswoman in Atlanta, so the Oxford case is “most likely the result of a criminal act.”

Shopping for children’s furniture can be an atypical adventure 

By The Associated Press 

So you’ve decided to shop a local flea market for things to furnish your child’s room. 

Decorators Jane Bell Cammarata and Linda Clay, who’ve volunteered to set up a charity tag sale at Lyndhurst in Tarrytown, N.Y., have some advice for you: 

• Think beyond typical children’s furniture. Look for small-scale storage pieces and seating and anything with shelves. Chests, trunks, desks and baskets that are not specifically for children often work well in children’s rooms. 

• Steer clear of used cribs and outdoor climbing furniture. Safety standards have changed, and chances are older examples of these items will not meet current guidelines. With old cribs, for example, slats are often too widely separated, and a small child could get his or her head stuck. 

• Stay away from wooden pieces with splinters or peeling paint. But if you can’t resist, sand and repaint or refinish the item before it is brought into the house. 

• Used upholstery is much less expensive than a new piece. If it looks all right and passes a smell test, it should be fine. 

• Speed is essential when competing with others for the best items. Snap decisions probably will be required. Bring along a list of room measurements and a tape measure. Or better yet, memorize the relevant stats. If fabric swatches or paint samples will help in a buying decision, bring those along, too.

Michael Rogin, a political science teacher at the University of California, Berkeley for more than three decades, has died after contracting hepatitis in Paris. He was 64. 

Rogin began his career at UC Berkeley in 1963 teaching American Politics. He later taught courses on film, Marxism, fascism and feminism. 

Revered as a master teacher by his colleagues, Rogin authored eight books and several essays on politics during his tenure. 

In 1998, Rogin co-authored “Race and Representations” with UC Berkeley law professor Robert Post. 

“He invented ways of thinking about things,” Post said. “He was just so perceptive and so much his own vision. No one can duplicate that.” 

Rogin is survived by two children, Isabelle Rogin, 29, of Honolulu and Madeleine Rogin, 27, of Berkeley; a brother, Edward Rogin of Honolulu and sister, Andrea Stanger of Monroeville, Pa.

UC Berkeley mechanical engineer Werner Goldsmith is on a mission to reform the way doctors and prosecutors view the thousands of suspected cases of shaken baby syndrome each year, according to a university press statement. 

An often fatal set of symptoms caused by violent shaking of an infant or young child, shaken baby syndrome can be difficult to diagnose because, frequently, there are no external signs of abuse. Most of the damage occurs in the brain. 

Backed by decades of research on the effects of head impacts, and as author of the only book on the subject of impacts, Goldsmith nevertheless sees a rush by pediatricians, social workers and prosecutors to brand many parents and caregivers as child abusers when the injuries were more likely caused by a fall. 

“Anyone who abuses a child deserves the full fury of the law,” said Goldsmith, a professor in the graduate school at UC Berkeley. “But people should know the truth. The brain injuries that lead many prosecutors to file charges of child abuse can also be caused by falls or even result from chronic bleeding in the brain.” 

To get his message out, Goldsmith is traveling around the country educating the medical community, as well as lawyers and child welfare caseworkers, about the complexities of establishing a cause of child brain damage. He also counsels numerous lawyers and testifies as an expert on head impacts at trials, where he sees first-hand the rush to judgment. 

“A child in someone's care dies by natural causes or accident and the district attorney files charges claiming shaken baby syndrome,” he said. “Suddenly, the caregiver is faced with life in prison.” 

His message to doctors and lawyers is not to assume that a child with bleeding in the brain and the eye is automatically the victim of child abuse. Doctors typically look for these symptoms, called subdural hematoma and retinal hemorrhage, respectively, plus brain swelling or edema. 

Such symptoms could result from an accident or, under certain circumstances, from a chronic condition. Doctors and medical examines need to look for other signs of abuse, in particular, neck damage, he argues. 

“I am absolutely convinced that in order to do serious or fatal damage to an infant by shaking you have to have soft tissue neck damage,” 

Goldsmith said. “Yet, in 95 percent of cases, medical examiners do not look at the neck in autopsy. They look at the stomach, the abdomen, the head, but the neck is neglected.” 

The main problem is that very little research has been done on the effects of head impacts in infants and small children. Goldsmith, whose 1960 book, “Impact: The theory and physical behavior of colliding solids,” will be reissued next month by Dover Publishers, has written more than 50 papers on the biomechanics of head and neck injury. Yet, though he pioneered the application of biomechanics to head injury, he has conducted no studies of infants. Only one such study has been done, in 1987, and that employed a doll whose head was stuffed with wet rags. 

To remedy this lack of basic data, within a few months he plans to embark on a preliminary study with UCSF neurosurgeon Geoffrey Manley, MD, PhD, using professional crash test dummies instrumented with devices to measure the types of forces an infant would sustain during shaking and other types of abuse. 

“I have a very strong feeling that, given how little we really know about the mechanical issues involved in head injury, there may be people who are convicted of crimes they are not guilty of,” said Manley, chief of neurotrauma at UCSF. 

For now, Goldsmith hopes to make an impact on the overly aggressive approach of many pediatricians to suspected shaken baby syndrome. 

Though most doctors look for brain edema, subdural hematoma and retinal hemorrhaging, many other types of trauma produce similar symptoms, he said. In fact, bleeding in the brain normally increases pressure, leading to swelling and retinal bleeding. So anything that causes intracranial bleeding, in particular falls, can display this trio of symptoms. 

A fall backwards from three feet onto a hard surface, like concrete, can produce nearly 180 Gs of acceleration - 180 times the force of Earth'sgravity - enough to cause a subdural hematoma, Goldsmith calculated. Shaking a child once a second through a range of one foot produces only 11 Gs, at the most. 

“There is an order of magnitude difference between shaking and falling,” Goldsmith said. “From the point of view of the brain, shaking is a much, much milder form of braking than a fall.” 

One dogma often espoused by doctors is that short distance falls do not cause serious harm. However, videotapes demonstrate that falls from as little as 32 inches can cause fatal brain damage in infants and toddlers. 

To complicate matters, between 5 and 10 percent of children are born with undiagnosed subdural hematomas, and 30 percent are born with retinal bleeding, Goldsmith said. 

“If you get a rebleed, you may get something that looks like shaken baby syndrome,” he said. 

Because of such uncertainties, Goldsmith urges physicians and prosecutors to look for more certain evidence of shaking, specifically damage to the neck. 

“You should be able to show neck damage to prove shaken baby syndrome,” he said. 

Goldsmith also urges doctors to talk to biomechanical engineers to get an understanding of the forces involved in accidental falls versus child abuse. 

The ultimate goal of Goldsmith and Manley is to build a sufficiently lifelike baby dummy containing a skull, dura (a tough membrane that lines the skull and envelops the brain) and brain whose properties are very similar to the real thing. The dummy studies planned for January will provide some of the data they need, and help them apply for a grant from the National Institutes of Health for further studies. 

“The infant neck, particularly before the age of one, is dramatically different from the neck of, say, you or me,” Manley said. “The same is true of the head, which in infants is soft and compliant - they haven't formed sutures yet. 

“We don't believe that these crash test dummies are sufficient to 

represent the actual biology of the infant head and neck, so we are going 

to use the preliminary data to write a grant to develop a much more 

realistic model.” 

In addition, Goldsmith and graduate student Ken Monson are working with Manley to obtain fresh cerebral arteries and veins from surgery patients for measurement of their mechanical properties. Despite the fact that arteries and veins are embedded in the brain like a net, no one has considered them in models of how the brain responds to impact. 

In the late 1960s, Goldsmith was chair of a committee at NIH, the Head Injury Model Construction Committee, that for four years oversaw research to construct a model of the adult head and brain. Unfortunately, funding dried up in the 1970s, and the research project was dropped. 

“Well over 50,000 people die from head injuries each year. Finding out the causes and procedures is very difficult, but essential,” he said.  

UC Berkeley Media Relations Department

Editor: 

What am I thankful for in this season of thanks, in this year of 9/11 tears and fear? 

1. My life, my wife, my three offspring (all teaching and/or making music), delightful in-laws and a granddaughter going on three with a great passion to see and be. 

2. Barbara Lee and Dona Spring. 

3. My home town, Berkeley, which is not afraid to embrace conflict and to seek solutions. 

4. My Berkeley Millennium Peace Bell. 

5. My alma mater, U.C., which may yet find a way to help us to let there be more light in our unclear nuclear night. 

6. My membership in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley (Kensington) which adds much to my seeking sojourn on our wonderful planet Earth. 

7. The United Nations Association Information and UNICEF Center. 

8. The splendid timing of the Nobel Peace Prize to Secretary General Kofi Annan and the United Nations which is re-energizing many of us to keep-on-keeping-on with our peace efforts, personal and planetary. 

9. The Berkeley Daily Planet, which, according to the many messages which I receive on my daily delivery rounds, is doing a splendid job of “covering the world of Berkeley.” 

Bill Trampleasure 

Berkeley 

(editor’s note: Bill’s a Planet “ambassador” delivering the paper to a number of downtown businesses.)

Anne Hus Brower (1913-2001) 

By Mikhail Davis 

Director 

The Brower Fund  

On Nov. 14, we lost another giant in the Earth Island Family, Anne Brower. She died at the age of 88 at the Brower home in the Berkeley hills after a long illness. Our prayers are with her and the Brower family who have lost both David and Anne in the space of just more than one year. Anne is remembered as a devoted mother of four and grandmother of three, an expert and sharp-witted editor and interviewer, a beloved member of the University of California, Berkeley staff for many decades across many departments (including the UC Press, where she met David, and the Anthropology Department, where she got David interested in Native Americans), an impossibly patient wife for more than 57 years, and the secret voice behind many of David Brower’s best one-liners. Any time we applaud David Brower and his amazing legacy, we should also remember and thank Anne Brower, his partner in all of his work. Rest in Peace 

Anne, you will be missed.  

There are no plans at this time for a public memorial service.  

Special thanks are due to Maina, Anne’s primary caretaker at the Brower House these past four years and to the many others whose devotion made Anne’s last years more peaceful.  

On-line tributes to Anne can be seen on Brower Web: http://www.earthisland.org/ brower/sub_gallery_archives.cfm.

SAN DIEGO — A Southern California Marine Corps unit trained in special operations led the first wave of a ground campaign designed to root out Osama bin Laden and his terror network in Afghanistan. 

Members of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton were the first of about 500 Marines to land in southern Afghanistan Sunday night near the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. They seized an airstrip and encountered no resistance. 

Lt. Col. Christopher Bourne led the Camp Pendleton Marines in the deployment, dubbed Operation Swift Freedom. 

“They started this fight and you are going to finish it,” Bourne, 41, told his troops before boarding a helicopter aboard the San Diego-based USS Peleliu, the lead ship of the attack force. 

The arrival of the Marines marked a new level of engagement in the campaign, which had been dominated by bombing runs against Taliban and Al Qaida targets and special operations troops on the ground. 

President Bush said the Marines would assist in hunting down terrorists linked to the Sept. 11 attacks against the United States. But Bush cautioned Monday that as the war enters a new phase, “America must be prepared for loss of life.” 

The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton, about 40 miles north of San Diego, is trained to handle a variety of missions, including mountain warfare, special operations, peacekeeping and counterterrorism. 

The unit’s motto is “anytime, anyplace.” 

“As far as our thoughts here at Camp Pendleton, Marines always train at a high state of readiness. It’s our job to always be ready,” said Lt. Mamie Ward, 26, of Crystal City, Mo., a spokeswoman for the base. 

Members of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, a similar unit based in Camp Lejeune, N.C., were also sent in to Afghanistan. 

About 1,000 Marines were expected to take part in establishing the initial ground base at the Kandahar airfield. 

The 15th MEU is comprised of 2,200 Marines and sailors, anchored by a battalion of 1,150 Marine infantry troops. The infantry is supported by groups of attack and transport helicopters with an aviation squadron from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, nicknamed “Evil Eyes.” 

Last month, the unit took part in the recovery of a downed Army Black Hawk helicopter along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, according to an account provided by the Marines. 

The Marines came under fire during a refueling stop at an air base in Pakistan. They were in the back of a helicopter eating when they heard “a whistling and cracking sound,” Sgt. Anthony D. Ritacco, crew chief of a transport helicopter, said in the account. 

The Marines returned fire out the windows of the helicopter with M-16s and a .50-caliber machine gun. No Marines were injured in the fighting. 

“All the training the Marine Corps has provided us paid off at that moment,” Ritacco recalled. “There was no time to get scared. Things just kicked in automatically. We did what we’ve been taught.” 

They were forced to leave without the Black Hawk, but the unit returned later with a security force and completed the recovery mission. 

This month, Marines with the 15th MEU flew Harrier attack jets from the 820-foot flight deck of the USS Peleliu and dropped 500-pound bombs on Taliban and Al Qaida targets over Afghanistan, according to the Marines. 

The expeditionary unit left Camp Pendleton in August for a routine six-month deployment to the Western Pacific, Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. Since Sept. 28, the Marines have been waiting in the Arabian Sea south of Pakistan on the USS Peleliu and its support ships. 

They are scheduled to return to San Diego in February.

Oakland is expected to become the latest Bay Area city to require that companies it does business with provide benefits for the domestic partners of their employees. 

The Oakland City Council on Tuesday is scheduled to vote on an Equal Benefits Ordinance, which would require that city contractors give same-sex couples the same benefits that they give to married ones. 

The ordinance applies to businesses that have contracts with the city worth $25,000 or more. Businesses with property contracts and contracts that are worth less than $25,000 are excluded from the ordinance. 

The city of Oakland already provides benefits for the domestic partners of its employees. 

Domestic partners are defined under state law as two unmarried adults of the same sex who share a common residence and are jointly responsible for each other's living expenses. 

A council committee unanimously approved the ordinance earlier this month. If approved Tuesday, the ordinance would require a second reading to be officially written into the city's charter. 

The city of San Francisco passed a similar ordinance four years ago, although it applies to businesses with contracts of $5,000 or more. 

The ordinance was promptly challenged by United Airlines, which claimed the city was trying to preempt federal regulation, and by an Ohio electric company. 

In September, a federal appeals court rejected the court challenges, marking the second time that the law withstood attack.  

In a recent fourth anniversary report, the San Francisco Human Rights Commission said the airline's challenge could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court if a petition by the Air Transport Association to have the decision reheard is denied.

HOUSTON — Sitting at his desk at Enron Corp.’s 50-story world headquarters, Nathan Will knows his days are numbered, but he isn’t worried about losing his job. He is worried about finding another. 

“Am I tainted when I come out of here?” he asked Thursday. “Is an employer going to look at me and say, ‘Oh, he worked at Enron’?” 

The spectacular meltdown of what was once the world’s biggest buyer and seller of energy has left employees bitter and bewildered. 

The free-fall continued Thursday, with Enron stock sliding another 25 cents to a humiliating 36 cents a share after reaching more than $80 earlier this year. Analysts warned that bankruptcy was the only way out. 

Many of Enron’s 20,000 employees have already seen their retirement savings devastated because their 401(k) plans were invested heavily in Enron stock. 

Enron — an aggressive, even swaggering, player in the deregulated energy market — suffered one of the swiftest, steepest falls ever seen on Wall Street, imploding in just a matter of weeks. 

It collapsed after disclosing that executives had engaged in off-the-books business deals and that it had overstated profits by more than a half-billion dollars over the past four years. 

Investors lost confidence and dumped their stock, causing Enron to lose tens of billions in value. 

Houston-based energy marketer Dynegy had struck a deal to come to Enron’s rescue, but the $8.4 billion takeover agreement came apart on Wednesday after Wall Street lowered Enron’s credit rating to junk status. 

The crash has left many investors and employees resentful of Enron’s upper management. 

“Most people feel as though they know they didn’t have anything to do with it, so why are they essentially going to be punished?” said Will, who manages a trading desk for the company’s broadband division and up until recently had boasted about working for Enron. 

Bob Knudson of Omaha, Neb., a former employee who lost a significant amount of his family’s retirement savings, said he wants answers from Enron’s top management on why it let it all go down the tubes. 

“The swiftness with which all this has happened, I don’t think anybody, whether it is on Wall Street or Omaha, Neb., or Houston could have imagined,” he said. “Even the analyst never saw it coming.” 

Enron has not announced any job cuts, saying in a statement that it would “work to retain the employees necessary to the continuing operations of our trading and other core energy businesses.” 

A group of Enron employees sued the company last week, alleging mismanagement by executives running the 401(k) plan resulted in huge losses in their retirement funds. The lawsuit says employees were encouraged to invest more heavily in Enron stock just before it tanked. 

“Probably the worst thing is that people who have been with the company the longest amount of time had the most losses,” Robin Harrison, an attorney for some of those employees. 

SACRAMENTO — For years, FBI agents probing possible terrorist activity have worked under restrictions meant to protect the free-expression rights of political and religious groups that might come under investigation. 

The result, some law enforcement experts say, has been a slow, overly cautious approach to investigating and arresting potential terrorists. 

In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks those limits have come under new criticism and scrutiny, despite the arguments of civil liberties groups who say the limits are still needed to prevent abuses. 

Rules meant to protect freedom of expression “require the FBI to have their eyes closed and their ears plugged up and look the other way” unless they can demonstrate a crime has been or is about to be committed, said Oliver “Buck” Revell, former associate deputy FBI director for investigations. 

“When you’re dealing with terrorism, that’s too late,” said Revell, who headed the FBI’s counterterrorism division for 11 years. 

Two sets of Justice Department guidelines are in place, one for foreign counterintelligence and the other for domestic terrorism. They govern when cases may be opened or must be closed, who must approve opening a case, what surveillance and other techniques may be used, and what reports must be filed. 

The FBI director himself must approve any infiltration of an academic institution, according to the foreign intelligence guidelines, most of which remain secret. Similarly, agents must have approval from FBI headquarters and Department of Justice before they can investigate domestic religious, political or news media organizations. 

The guidelines are now under review as part of Attorney General John Ashcroft’s planned reorganization of the Justice Department, said spokeswoman Susan Dryden. 

“We are conducting a review of all guidelines, not just those in particular, to determine if they are in line with our new priorities,” she said. 

The guidelines were created to rein in the FBI after the abuses during the era of J. Edgar Hoover, who presided over domestic spying during the Cold War, civil rights movement and Vietnam. In the 1980s, the FBI faced accusations that it improperly investigated a U.S. group, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), that it suspected was funneling money to rebels. 

The CISPES investigation “spun out of control,” said Harvey Grossman, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, who has often sued the FBI to force it to comply with the guidelines. Grossman argues that there are no real restrictions on investigations. 

Critics of the guidelines say the FBI should be able to monitor groups that preach violence, even if there’s no direct evidence of an actual plot. Revell cites a radical Palestinian group involved in the assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane, head of the extremist Jewish Defense League. The Palestinian group eventually was linked to the first World Trade Center bombing. 

Had that group been pursued in 1993, Revell said, “It’s very possible and I think highly probable that the first World Trade Center bombing could have been avoided.” 

Without the restrictions, the FBI might have stopped two 1999 fatal shootings by racist extremists, said Steven Freeman, legal affairs director for the Anti-Defamation League, because “they were members of groups we had information about.” 

Confusing guidelines “made field agents very reluctant to open cases,” said L. Paul Bremer III, former President Reagan’s ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism and chairman of the National Commission on Terrorism that finished its work last year. 

Bremer’s commission concluded that the regulations are so confusing they contribute to “a risk-adverse culture that causes some agents to refrain from taking prompt action against suspected terrorists.” 

When Revell and others criticized the regulations after the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, then-Director Louis J. Freeh told Congress the regulations weren’t a handicap. But the Clinton administration considered altering the guidelines, and the Justice Department eventually distributed a 16-page memo intended to broaden agents’ interpretation of the guidelines without changing the language. 

Former agents say the FBI remained reluctant to investigate religious or academic institutions with possible terror links. 

“We wanted to be more aggressive at times, but the whole push back from civil libertarians and the universities — it was very punishing,” said George Vinson, a 23-year FBI veteran who headed two West Coast anti-terrorism programs. Vinson is now California Gov. Gray Davis’ security adviser. 

The House International Relations Committee debated the guidelines last month, and congressional aides said they anticipate further hearings. California terrorism adviser Vinson thinks the guidelines are likely to be reinterpreted by the FBI and Justice Department, even if they are not formally altered. 

“The FBI’s going full-bore now,” Vinson said. “I think they have a little more license now and they feel a little more comfortable.” 

——— 

On the Net: www.usdoj.gov 

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA called off Thursday’s launch of space shuttle Endeavour to the international space station because of danger from a Russian supply ship hanging from the orbiting outpost. 

The unmanned Russian ship had arrived at the space station on Wednesday but failed to attach itself securely. NASA feared the forces exerted by the arriving shuttle would cause the supply ship to wobble, damaging the space station. 

Endeavour was supposed to drop off two Americans and one Russian for a six-month stay aboard the space station, and bring back the three men who have been living up there since August. 

The launch was scrubbed with just hours left in the countdown, and was put off until at least Friday evening while space agency managers tried to diagnose the problem and decide what to do. Fixing the problem will almost certainly require a spacewalk. 

The countdown continued under unprecedented security, with fighter jets, attack helicopters and military personnel in camouflage on guard against terrorist attacks. A 35-mile no-fly zone on small planes was established around the launch pad. 

The supply ship arrived at the space station with more than a ton of food, fuel, clothes and other supplies. But the eight docking latches that are supposed to hold it securely did not click into place. 

Based on a fuzzy video of the docking, flight controllers suspect a one-foot cable — or something else entirely — is preventing the ship from latching on. But no one seemed to know where the cable came from. 

“As different people look at the video, some say, ‘Oh, there it is,’ and they clearly point to a piece of debris. And other people say, ‘I’ve no idea what you’re pointing to,”’ said NASA’s Jim Van Laak, a space station manager. 

Russia has proposed that the two cosmonauts aboard the space station go out on a spacewalk as early as Monday to remove the cable. 

The question for NASA is whether it would be better for Endeavour to wait on the launch pad until the repair is completed, or proceed with liftoff and fix the problem after the shuttle arrives. 

Russian space officials have signed a letter assuring NASA that the shuttle linkup will cause no structural damage. “That’s an excellent confidence-builder, but our NASA process requires that we verify that,” Van Laak said. 

The supply ship cannot be opened until it is securely attached to the space station. 

——— 

On the Net: 

NASA: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov 

MORRISVILLE, N.C. — The Babymoon Cafe has witnessed an unhappy miracle of sorts: The recession has turned wine into water. 

Customers are not only drinking fewer $28 bottles of Chianti, says owner and head chef Joseph Leli. They are also ordering more of the $5.75 grilled vegetable sandwiches on focaccia and less of the $17.95 filet mignon whiskey tarragon. 

“Like some of these people that worked for the dot-coms or what-have-you last year, they would come in here for lunch, and four guys would spend $80,” he says. “Where now, first of all, you don’t see those four guys.” 

When federal economists declared last week that the nation was officially in recession, and had been since March, the announcement was no surprise to Leli. Nor was it news to other business owners and workers in Morrisville, a community of 10,000 that provides an apt prism for viewing the effect of the recession on many U.S. towns and cities that benefited from the long boom preceding it. 

Leli could see it in the empty dot-com headquarters in nearby office parks. Companies that used to cater big bashes for out-of-town execs were either gone or cutting back. 

“There are some companies that are doing no catering at all,” the 35-year-old Long Island transplant, who opened his business 18 months ago, says during a break from the burners. 

Morrisville sits off Interstate 40, on one of the vertices of North Carolina’s vaunted Research Triangle. Until the 1980s, it had been a farm community with a population of just a couple of hundred, but the dot-com and biotech booms sent it soaring to just shy of 10,000. 

Its corporate address book grew to contain names like Nortel, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Midway Airlines. 

“Most of the stuff has been high-tech,” says Mayor Gordon Cromwell, a retired engineer with a farmer’s bone-crushing handshake. “And it’s been sort of immune to the problems that manufacturing has had.” 

But the immunity didn’t last. 

Leli says business was off $20,000 in October — or 15 percent compared with last year. He is cutting back on some purchases, including Italian bread from Manhattan Bakery next door. 

Mahmoud “Mac” Abdallah, a Palestinian emigre from Jerusalem, says his bakery business usually slows down during the summer. But he had every reason to believe it would pick up again in September. 

Then came the terrorist attacks. 

“And we had all this mess, and it slows down with the hotels,” he says. 

Bagel and Danish orders from the hotels that line both sides of Airport Boulevard dropped 30 percent to 40 percent. That is because there were fewer people standing in line for the complimentary continental breakfast. 

Jared Reed, general manager of the Fairfield Inn in Morrisville, says occupancy is down 10 percent over last year. Reed has laid off five of his 30 employees since taking over in July. 

“We’ve been hit quite hard, actually” Reed says. “A lot of our biggest accounts are freezing travel, big companies like IBM.” 

Tom Calise, owner of The Coachman Valet dry cleaners, says fewer hotel guests mean less business for him. He has dropped his membership in the Morrisville Chamber of Commerce to save on the dues. 

Calise has also reduced two of his seven employees to part-timers. Still, he thinks it is almost unseemly to complain after what happened on Sept. 11. 

“I keep thinking about 5,000 people, how each one must equate to 15 people in mourning at least — and with Christmas coming up,” he says. “I mean, we just lost some business. It’s like, who the hell are we to complain?” 

Back at Babymoon, Leli is whipping up a pan of Fussili alla Nona (pasta like grandma’s) and thinking about how rosy things looked just a couple of months ago. Midway had just opened an account, and he was doing sit-downs for 50 people at the airline’s training center in Morrisville. 

Then it all fell apart. 

Midway sought bankruptcy protection in August, citing a huge decline in business travel. After the terrorist attacks, Midway shut down altogether, immediately dropping local air traffic by 30 percent and leaving Leli as just another name on a long list of unsecured creditors. 

“The first payment we received was a bounced check,” Leli says. “We got left with about $3,000 of outstanding debt from them.” 

There are signs that things will get worse before they get better. 

Bristol-Myers is closing its Morrisville plant early next year and laying off 110 workers. The Nortel building across from Leli’s restaurant is still vacant, as are several other commercial spaces around town. 

Town Manager David Hodgkins expects revenue to flatten out after a straight decade of exponential growth. 

In the meantime, Leli is watching mozzarella prices on the Internet, rearranging schedules to avoid layoffs and waiting for another miracle to turn that water back into wine. 

NEW YORK — The holiday shopping rush has just begun and there is already a shortage of hot toys, particularly those inspired by “Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone.” 

Even worse, major retailers — including Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, Kmart and KB Toys — warn that within the next week or so, consumers won’t be able to find many popular playthings in time for Christmas. 

“I went to Target the day after Thanksgiving to get one of those Babbling Boo dolls, and they were all gone,” said Debbie Wade of Burbank, Calif. “I had to get a rain check.” 

Greg Szczepanek scoured stores near his Wyncote, Pa., home for several weeks, looking for one of those Harry Potter toys. 

“I’m kind of kicking myself. I saw the Hogwart’s Castle more than a month ago in the stores,” he said. “Now, there seems to be nothing left.” 

The shortages are coming about 10 days earlier than in years past and in a wider variety of categories, said Jim Silver, publisher of The Toy Book, an industry monthly. 

The drop in consumer spending this year prompted merchants to be extremely cautious in placing orders. 

“A lot of retailers were skeptical, and now they are caught short,” Silver said, noting that many stores also cut back on reorders following the Sept. 11 attacks. 

Other hard-to-find Harry Potter products include Lego’s Hogwart’s Express train and Mattel’s Snape Potion Lab and Levitating Challenge Game. From “Monsters Inc.,” toys going fast include the Babbling Boo dolls and the Glowing Bedtime Sully from Hasbro. 

Still other toys in short supply are LeapFrog’s LeapPad, an interactive educational game; Spin Master’s Shrinky Dink oven; Lego’s Bionicles, and Hasbro’s e-Kara, a karaoke set. 

There’s also low supply of two hot new video game consoles — Microsoft’s Xbox, and Nintendo’s GameCube — whose holiday shipments were expected to fall below demand because of production shortfalls. 

Consultant Chris Byrne doesn’t expect there to be one really hot toy this season. 

“Our culture has awakened to the fact that many of these so-called fads are driven by the media,” he said. “There isn’t the same level of desperation because there are a lot of good products out there.” 

Byrne and others remain cautious about holiday toy sales in spite of the demand for Harry Potter and other products. He expects overall business to be little changed from last year. 

He also predicted parents will buy fewer toys, simply because they believe their kids just have too much. 

Szczepanek tried to put the whole thing in perspective. 

“There is more than enough other Harry Potter merchandise,” he said. “I can get a broom, a game ... If I can’t get the Lego set, my daughters will be OK.”