Prospective students and their parents flooded UC Berkeley's Sproul Plaza Saturday taking in the sights and sounds of Berkeley and gathering information, advice and tips on college life at the annual Cal Day.  

Trolley cars carried fresh-faced Cal admits and their eager parents down Bancroft Avenue along the southern portion of the UC Berkeley campus while the Cal band played fight songs by Wheeler Hall and a group of dancers from Cal's Dance Works jived to Michael Jackson's “Beat It.” 

Saturday's day-long event included information sessions on housing, student life, academic outreach, financial aid and a speech by Chancellor Robert Berdahl extolling the virtues of a Cal education and the quality of the faculty and resources at UC Berkeley. 

“The day has been very well organized. There's something for everyone here,” says Evelyn Elliot, the parent of a prospective Cal student. 

Parents received special attention at the Cal Parent information booth. Jim Mullen helped answer questions commonly asked by many parents at Cal Day, including concerns about housing, transportation and safety.  

“I think there's a lot of enthusiasm today and a lot of them (parents) are excited,” says Mullen.  

Mullen says that some students are still trying to decide between other schools like UCLA and UCSD and Cal. He says that Cal Day gives those students a great chance to see what Berkeley has to offer.  

“There's nothing like this anywhere else. UCLA doesn't have anything like this. This is a unique event,” expressed Mullen. 

A wide-array of Cal clubs set up tables at Cal Day, speaking with new admits and handing out fliers. Olivia Campbell from UC Berkeley's chapter of the National Organization for Women cited the importance of spreading the word about her club's presence on campus. 

“We want to let people know we are here. This is the first year of the club and previously there hasn't really been a feminist group on campus,” said Campbell. 

Danielle Smith of the Cal Gun Club says she's seen a great response from Cal students in the first semester of her club.  

“We've had quite a few people coming up to the table today. We've had 60-members join so far this semester,” says Smith. 

Smith says the Cal Gun Club plans to rent out a shooting range soon and continue to defend their second amendment rights. 

Other groups at Cal Day included the Iranian Students Cultural Organization.  

ISCO president Melody Mohebi says her group hopes to provide awareness of all aspects of Iranian culture including movies, poetry and dance.  

“This is one of our biggest membership events of the year. We've had a lot of people, a lot of alumni, come up and tell us they appreciate the fact that there's a more conservative presence on campus,” says Robb McFadden, former President of the Berkeley College Republicans. 

McFadden says that conservatives are not always allowed to assert their opinions on campus but that Cal Day has provided an opportunity to pass out more than 1000 copies of their publication, the California Patriot.  

Resting on a bench outside of Dwinelle Hall, Henry Chang said that he planned to tour Bechtel Hall and the rest of the engineering school with his son Steven. 

“Today has been very informative. There are some things I wish I had known before today but my overall impression is today has been very good,” says Chang. 

“We want to bring the history of the university to a broader understanding, to bring the past to individuals,” says Ann Lage, a member of the editorial board of the Chronicle of the University of California, a journal of University history.  

The journal, associated with UC Berkeley's Center for Studies in Higher Education, produces three journals per year each covering aspects of University history including the environment, social protests and the influence of women on the University of California. 

“Things have run really smoothly today,” says Justin Hsiao, a member of Cal's visitor organization services, a branch of the public affairs department on  

campus. Hsiao says visitors have asked questions regarding housing and parking, many wondering about parking cars while at the dorms.  

Hsiao noted that some visitors have also asked questions about academics, though most people simply needed directions to the next event at Cal Day. 

Other activities planned for the day included an ROTC flight simulator demonstration, a panel presentation on “The War on Terrorism: Military Tribunals and the Case of John Walker Lindh,” sponsored by the Rhetoric Department, a football scrimmage with the Golden Bears at Memorial Stadium and “Adventures in Gender,” a discussion on gender themes by members of the Sociology Department. 

The juggernaut that is Cal rugby continued its quest for a 12th consecutive national championship with a 63-6 demolition of Ohio State in the Elite Eight on Sunday at Witter Field. The Bears allowed just two penalty kicks in the game and shut out the Buckeyes in the second half. 

Cal’s record improved to 17-0 on the season, while Ohio State fell to 18-3. If the Bears win their last two games at the Final Four in Virginia Beach, Va. in two weeks, they will complete head coach Jack Clark’s first undefeated season at Cal. 

The Buckeyes managed to stay close for the first 30 minutes of the game, trailing just 15-3. But when Cal All-American Kort Schubert broke through the middle of the Ohio State defense to set up a Jacob Waasdorp try on the half-hour, it was the beginning of the end for the visitors. The Bears scored again immediately off of the ensuing kickoff, with Alex Houser touching the ball down for the try, and just like that it was 29-3.  

Houser scored again four minutes later, chasing down a Matt Sherman kick in the corner of the end zone to make the score 36-3. Ohio State managed to get on the board once more before halftime, but the penalty kick would be their last score of the day. 

None of the Ohio State players had faced Cal before Sunday, and they came away impressed by the country’s best college team. 

“They were just ready to go from the first whistle,” said captain Martin Snider. “They have a plan for everything. They don’t get rattled at all no matter what you do.” 

It was more of the same in the second half, as the Bears scored five more tries and showed tremendous ability to take advantage of Buckeye mistakes. A quick restart by scrumhalf Joel DiGregorio from an Ohio State penalty gave prop Mike McDonald a chance to show off his agility, tip-toeing down the sideline before diving into the end zone.  

Minutes later, an Ohio State scrum just deep in their own end turned into a disaster as a pass went out the back of the end zone, and Cal converted the ensuing five-meter scrum into another score. 

Cal’s starters were raring to go after watching their backups beat Middle Tennessee State, 43-10, in the first round on Saturday. With such a powerful program, Clark knew he could afford to rest his starters for Sunday’s game without risking a loss in the playoffs. 

“Everyone wants to be in there when it’s single-elimination,” McDonald said. “But it’s a huge advantage for us to have 13 pairs of fresh legs in there when the other team all played hard yesterday.” 

Schubert, one of the best players in school history, got a special thrill when Clark pulled him from the game just before the final whistle. The Cal crowd gave the senior a standing ovation as he came off the Witter pitch for the final time in what has been a stellar career. 

“It just feels great to get a big win and play well in my last home game,” Schubert said. “We really fired on all cylinders today.” 

The Bears will face Army in the Final Four on May 4, with San Diego State and Wyoming matching up on the other side of the bracket. Cal must be considered an overwhelming favorite to win yet another national championship. Saturday’s 33-point difference was the closest an American team has gotten to the Bears this season, and Clark has said he thinks this year’s team could bethe best he has ever coached, not bad considering he has overseen 18 national champions. 

“We just need to focus on the little things for the next two weeks,” Schubert said. “We’re hot right now. It would take a really good performance from a really good team just to get close to us.”

To the Editor: 

President George W. Bush has decided to brand anyone who uses violence against the US or our allies as evil "terrorists," as if terrorism was somehow alien and un-American. The truth is the United States was founded on terrorism and genocide directed at the indigenous peoples who lived here before the European invasion. Our distant relatives even used germ warfare against native Americans by selling them smallpox infected blankets. 

In 1864 President Abraham Lincoln used terrorism to win the Civil War by unleashing General William Tecumseh Sherman to march across Georgia, burning everything in his path in his famous march to the sea to break the will of the Confederacy. During World War 11 Franklin Delano Roosevelt used terrorism by targeting civilian populations in the mass firebombing of Dresden and Tokyo. Later President Harry S. Truman ordered the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In these premeditated attacks against civilian populations literally hundreds of thousand of "innocent civilians" were burned alive. In Vietnam American forces used napalm to destroy whole villages that were suspected of containing just a few Vietcong. Remember the American slogan that "sometimes you have to destroy a village in order to save it." American soldiers were given permission to shoot anyone who was running away from them, be they Vietcong or just innocent and justifiably scared farmers. 

Palestinians are using "terrorism" to fight the Israeli Jews who stole their land and homes because that is all they can afford. They do not have an army, tanks, or aircraft and they have tried everything else. Palestinians first tried letting their children throw stones at Israeli troops, who simply shot them by the hundreds, and the US still supported Israel. Israel started the 1967 war, not the Palestinians, as Israel launched the surprise attack against Egypt by destroying Egypt’s air force on the ground. Even Menachem Begin later admitted that Israel started the war with the aim of gaining new land for Jews to settle. The US has financially bankrolled the destruction of Palestine and the enslavement of the Palestinian people by our continued massive financial aid to Israel, which has over the years far exceeded 100 billion dollars. Japan only waged a hit and run attack against the United States at Pearl Harbor, yet we responded by purposefully burning alive massive numbers of Japanese civilians. What would Americans do if we were attacked, invaded, enslaved, and humiliated for over 35 years, with no end in sight to our suffering? 

The only way to end this conflict so for the United Stated to join with its European allies and Russia to force a peace agreement. Israel must be made to retreat to its original 1967 borders and not be allowed to destroy any improvements to the land (homes, buildings, etc.) as it has in the past when it gave back territory to Egypt. Acting legally through the United Nations we can threaten Israel with a full embargo of arms, oil, and consumer goods. 

Israel would not last a week under an embargo and they would be forced to agree to the UN sponsored peace settlement. The Palestinians would have to give up their hopes for the right of return to Israel itself, but Palestinian refugees would be allowed to return to the new Palestinian State made up of the West Bank and Gaza. The US and all its allies should then donate billions to rebuild the new Palestine and to construct a wall between Palestine and Israel to keep the parties out of contact and conflict. Syrian would get back the Golan Heights and the Arab States would sign peace and trade agreements with Israel.  

This peace plan would be fully legal, moral, fair, and quick. The current Bush policy of keeping hands off while continuing to finance Israel’s theft of Palestinian territory is two faced and immoral. America has created the atmosphere for terrorism to flourish and only America can end this cycle of violence by doing the right thing. 

The Bush Administration is currently interested in more violence, more hypocrisy, and more actions that are guaranteed to make the rest of the world hate us.  

America deserves the world’s wrath because we are liars and hypocrites and we are proud of our own crimes. We have mixed up the cult of Zionism with the Christian Right Wing and the result is an unholy axis of arrogance that is destined to bring the world more acts of terror committed by both sides. We are fighting a racial and religious war against Moslems but we are too dishonest to admit the truth of our actions. Americans need to end all their self-serving talk about freedom and admit terrorism has been as much an American tradition as apple pie and baseball. 

Christopher Calder 

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in San Francisco spent little time Friday on a bid by the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative to raise new arguments about why it should be allowed to dispense medical marijuana. 

Instead U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer devoted most of a hearing to discussing how to respond to the Justice Department's request to close out the case in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the club last year. 

Breyer opened the session by saying he wanted to figure out whether a permanent injunction against the club would be needed in addition to a summary judgment requested by the government. 

“Assuming I enter judgment in favor of the government, is it necessary to enter an injunction?” Breyer asked Justice Department attorney Mark Quinlivan. 

Quinlivan said the department did want a permanent injunction to prevent the four-year-old case from dragging out several more years.  

While seeming to give scant encouragement to the club, Breyer took the case under submission at the end of the hearing and said he will rule at a later date on requests from both sides. 

The Oakland cooperative is one of a number of medical marijuana clubs that sprang up after voters passed an initiative, Proposition 215, that allows patients to use marijuana upon a doctor's recommendation. 

The federal case before Breyer began as six civil lawsuits filed by the Justice Department in 1998 to halt the marijuana operations of six Northern California clubs. The suits claimed that federal anti-drug laws override the state law. 

Last year, the Oakland club lost its initial attempt at a defense  

when the U.S. Supreme Court, overruling a federal appeals court in San Francisco, declared that federal law does not allow a”medical necessity” exception for providing marijuana to seriously ill patients. 

The club has now asked Breyer to consider exceptions based on other grounds, such as a patient's right to seek medical treatment and the state's right to regulate commerce within its own borders. 

The cannabis club wants Breyer to dissolve or modify a preliminary injunction now in effect, while the government has asked for a summary judgment and a permanent injunction. 

The state Attorney General's Office also weighed in on the case Friday, with Special Deputy Attorney General Taylor Carey urging Breyer to try to reconcile the federal and state laws in a way that would enable patients to possess marijuana.  

Outside of court, the Oakland club's executive director Jeff Jones said the cooperative is continuing to identify patients and conduct educational activities. He said the club has 10,000 member patients who have updated their files within the past year. 

Two of the other clubs sued by the Justice Department — the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana and the Ukiah Cannabis Buyer's Club — still exist, but have never been found to have violated the injunction. 

Two others, the Cannabis Cultivators Cooperative of San Francisco and the Santa Cruz Cannabis Buyers Club, no longer exist, but remain defendants in the government's summary judgment motion, attorneys said. The sixth club, the former Flower Therapy Medical Marijuana Club in San Francisco, is defunct and has been dismissed from the case. 

On the strength of senior Jocelyn Forest’s one-hit, 15-strikeout performance, the No. 8 Golden Bears upset No. 1 Arizona, 2-1, Sunday afternoon at Levine-Fricke Field, marking the first time California has swept the desert schools in a weekend series dating back to the inception of Pac-10 softball in 1987.  

The Bears (42-14, 8-4 Pac-10 also handed Arizona its first back-to-back losses of the season, while Cal remains undefeated (7-0) at home.  

For the third consecutive day Cal struck first, as junior Courtney Scott came through in the clutch once again. Freshman Kaleo Eldredge drew a lead off walk to start the first inning and advanced to second on junior Kristen Morley’s conference-leading 22nd sacrifice bunt of the year. Junior Veronica Nelson was intentionally walked for the sixth time this weekend, and Scott came through with a RBI single that dropped into left center.  

Forest shut the Wildcats down for the first three innings. After Lovie Jung led off the game with a ground out to second, Forest proceeded to strikeout eight consecutive UA batters, spanning three frames. Jennie Finch evened things up for the Wildcats however, driving a liner over the centerfield fence for the equalizer.  

Not to be out done, the Bears answered back in the bottom of the fifth as senior Candace Harper blasted a solo homer, her sixth of the year, over the left field wall for the game-winning run.  

Forest pitched seven innings, walking just one and allowing just the solo shot to Finch in addition to her 15 k’s, which marked her 15th double-digit strikeout performance of the season. Jenny Gladding fell to 16-5 on the season as she gave up nine walks and five hits, while striking out nine batters.  

The resurgent Bears are now just a half game behind Arizona (41-7, 8-3 Pac-10) and UCLA for first place in the conference. Cal has an opportunity to stay in the hunt for the Pac-10 crown as No. 2 UCLA and No. 9 Washington come into town next week with one game against the Bruins on Friday and a two-game series with the Huskies on Saturday and Sunday.

To the Editor: 

As a nursing student specializing in gerontology, I see firsthand the expenses of cutting funding to organizations supporting the elderly. Such budget cuts not only result in expense emergency room visits for preventable injuries, but also place tremendous strain on families caring for elderly members. The 2000 United States census reported 35 million Americans over the age of 65 with those over 85 increasing by 38%. Society needs to adjust and accomodate the needs of this growing population, not cut funding as Alameda County has quietly done. While such cuts may not make national news, individuals need to pay attention and rally in support of the local services 

that enable communities to keep vulnerable populations out of harm's way and off the streets. More complete coverage of April 20-21, 

2002's article on funding cuts for elderly programs would be appreciated. (It seems that Bruce Gerstman's article was cut off midsentence.)  

Petrice P. Kam 

UCSF Nursing Student

Past and present generations of Harmon House residents gathered Saturday to touch base with old friends, to share stories and memories and of course eat food and at what may be the final reunion at the historic Berkeley communal house.  

Former residents from as far away as Iowa and Minnesota mingled with current residents at the house, a Queen Anne Victorian established as a cooperative in 1978, comparing their experiences and time at the South Berkeley residence.  

The current women's only cooperative has served throughout its 24 year history as a residence for a diverse mix of graduate students and working adults.  

Steve Doig, a resident of Harmon House from 1985-91, first came to Berkeley as a graduate student in the school of chemistry in 1984. After a year in Berkeley, Doig investigated a number of local cooperative houses but found the people and sense of community at Harmon House to be the right fit.  

“The thing about Harmon House was the interaction of the residents. We had a house dinner every Thursday night. Food was a central thing,” says Doig. 

Doig and other Harmon House residents described house trips to the Sierras and to the beach along with hikes up to the Berkeley hills to watch the sunset after dinners. 

Many current and former residents cite the continuity at Harmon House as a reason for the strong emotions and sense of attachment to the rustic six and a half bedroom living space. Residents commonly spend 6 or 7 years at the house growing together and sharing many of life's ups and downs. 

“When they sent me the notice in Minnesota I said to myself I would love to see those folks again,” says Doig. 

Much of the planning for Saturday's reunion was the work of current resident  

Diane Osborne. Osborne and other current residents taped butcher paper near the entrance of the house for past and present residents to fill in a timeline of events throughout the cooperative's 24 years. 

Members recorded move in and move out dates on the timeline along with the date of the founding of Harmon House's Morals Committee in 1986 and the first of Harmon House's annual Masquerade Ball in 1997.  

With the possibility of the house being up for sale in the near future, organizers hoped to gather former residents to share bits and pieces history before it was too late. 

“The thought of leaving is a scary one. We felt like all the energy we put  

into the house would be lost and that everyone else's energy would be lost as well,” says Osborne. 

Organizers asked former members to bring pieces of memorabilia from their time at the house for a time capsule to be buried in the back yard. 

At least four marriages resulted from meetings at Harmon House, residents say. Former residents Laura Menard and Jay Tharp met and were married after meeting at the house. Menard, a resident of the cooperative from 1981-83, says she was immediately attracted to the community at Harmon House. 

“I wasn't one of the university intellectuals at the house, I was a working person, but I still fit in and had many great experiences at the house,” says Menard.  

For Menard, the Harmon House holds a special meaning not only to her but to a good portion of her family.  

“Not only did I meet my spouse here but I introduced my brother to his wife as well and my son even had his first birthday right here at the house,” says Menard. 

Much of the afternoon reunion was devoted to the sharing of history. A table in the front room of the house displayed pictures, scrapbooks and a packet of papers detailing the architectural heritage and historical facts about South Berkeley and more specifically the original Lorin neighborhood. 

A copy of papers from an 1888 edition of the Oakland Esquirer displayed pictures of the original 250 Queen Anne Victorian houses in the Lorin neighborhood of which approximately half remain today. 

While Berkeley has been a place of social activism for some time, former residents of the house describe Berkeley as a quieter place twenty years ago.  

“It wasn't a very turbulent time. There were some political issues but I don't think there was a great deal of activism,” says Mitty Cass, resident of Harmon House from 1986-87.  

According to Menard the South Berkeley neighborhood has had a history of crime and was not always the safest location. The neighborhood experienced a rash of drive-by shootings in recent years prompting the erection of a number of street barricades throughout the area. 

Included among the articles of Harmon House and South Berkeley history at the reunion was Altars in the Street, Melody Ermachild Chavis' documentary of South Berkeley's experience with violence and racism and efforts at healing community suffering. 

After a group photo shoot of all reunion attendees, current and former residents gathered in the coop's back yard to answer a Harmon House quiz and relate stories and memories from years gone by. 

Members of the reunion discussed and debated answers to such questions regarding Harmon House initiation rites, famous revolutionary posters and favorite dinner time topics of discussion. 

Stories detailed the great rat invasions of '92 and '99 and a mold abatement process involving a very “E.T. like” evacuation of the downstairs garden room due to a poisonous mold growing on the ceiling.  

At the end of the day as the food had been eaten and the time capsule full of house history was buried, old friends related their final stories and said good-bye to each other and to a house full of shared memories. 

The No. 1 ranked Cal men’s varsity eight defeated No. 6 Wisconsin by five seconds in dual racing on the Redwood Shores Lagoon, April 21. The undefeated, defending IRA National champion Bears covered the course in a time of 5:40.43.  

“Absolutely solid performances by both our crews today,” said coach Steve Gladstone. “I’m happy with the look of the boats and the speed of the boats.”  

In the varsity event, Cal and Wisconsin both got off to strong starts and the Bears edged out to the slimmest of margins through the 500-meter mark. Cal continued to press the pace, but the Badgers hung tight and were still withing striking distance-only a half length down-as the crews crossed the 1000. Cal’s varsity eight, however, erased all hope for the Badgers with a fast second 1000 going on to win by 5.3 seconds.  

“Wisconsin really went out strong and were right with us at the first 500,” said Cal coxswain Mike Vallarelli. “We stayed in our own boat and executed our race plan. We started to move away in the second 1000 and just kept pushing through the finish.”

YORBA LINDA — A 125-acre fire apparently sparked by illegal fireworks came dangerously close to homes on the eastern edge of Yorba Linda on Sunday evening, but winds pushed it northeast into a state park and no evacuations were required, authorities said. 

The flames came within about 200 feet of the homes in a residential neighborhood on the edge of Chino Hills State Park before moving safely into the park, authorities said. The fire was 20 percent contained Sunday night. 

“We had a lot of residents calling that could see smoke and flames pretty clearly from their homes,” said Orange County Fire Authority spokeswoman Kymbra Fleming. 

Two 15-year-old boys were arrested for investigation of using illegal fireworks and were released to the custody of their parents, Fleming said. 

The fire broke out just after 5 p.m. on a brush-covered hill. Northeasterly gusts of 5- to 10-miles-per hour pushed the flames away from the homes as night fell, but firefighters stationed engines nearby as a precaution. 

About 130 firefighters were battling the blaze. 

Meanwhile, in Riverside County, two adults and one juvenile were in custody for allegedly starting a fire that scorched 150 acres in heavy brush in San Timoteo Canyon, north of Moreno Valley. 

There were some scattered homes in the area, but they did not appear to be in danger, said Riverside County Fire spokeswoman Joanne Evans. 

The fire was reported at 4:23 p.m. and six hours later was still burning out of control. Officials had no estimate of when it would be contained. 

About 260 firefighters and 22 engines were on the scene. Firefighters were hampered by blustery conditions, but winds died down as the evening progressed.

Tuesday 

Swimming – Berkeley vs. Hercules, 3:30 p.m. at Hercules High 

Boys Volleyball – Berkeley vs. Richmond, 5 p.m. at Richmond High 

Boys Lacrosse – Berkeley vs. Piedmont, 6:30 p.m. at Piedmont High 

Wednesday 

Baseball – Berkeley vs. De Anza, 3:30 p.m. at San Pablo Park 

Baseball – St. Mary’s vs. Albany, 3:30 p.m. at St. Mary’s College High 

Softball - Berkeley vs. De Anza, 3:30 p.m. at Old Grove Park 

Boys Tennis – ACCAL Tournament, TBA 

Thursday 

Track & Field – Berkeley vs. ACCAL, 3:30 p.m. at Berkeley High 

Track & Field – St. Mary’s vs. BSAL, 3:30 p.m. at St. Mary’s College High 

Boys Volleyball – Berkeley vs. El Cerrito, 5 p.m. at Berkeley High 

Girls Lacrosse – Berkeley vs. Foothill, 5:30 p.m. at Berkeley High 

Friday 

Baseball – Berkeley vs. Richmond, 3:30 p.m. at Richmond High 

Baseball – St. Mary’s vs. St. Joseph, 3:30 p.m. at St. Joseph High 

Softball - Berkeley vs. Richmond, 3:30 p.m. at Richmond High 

Swimming – Berkeley vs. Alameda, 3:30 p.m. at Willard Pool 

Boys Lacrosse – Berkeley vs. College Prep, 5:30 p.m. at Berkeley High

ALBANY, Ga. — Charles Batten turned a few goats loose on his cow pastures 10 years ago to keep weeds down. They do a great job, but these days they’re more valuable for their meat. 

Demand for goat meat has grown steadily in the past 10 years and Batten, whose herd has grown to about 200, is banking that it will continue as more immigrants move here from goat-eating regions such as Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East. 

“Consumers of goat meat are practically everywhere except North America and we’re working on them,” said Batten, president of the new Sunbelt Goat Producers Cooperative. 

Farmers throughout the South are turning to goats for diversification and relief from the low prices they have been getting for traditional crops such as cotton. 

Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma and North and South Carolina already supply the bulk of the nation’s meat goats, said Will Getz, a goat specialist at Georgia’s Fort Valley State University. 

Texas is the nation’s largest producer, with Tennessee and Georgia taking turns for second place. To promote production in Kentucky, the state’s agricultural development board provides cash assistance to farmers who want to diversify. In North Carolina, goat sales have soared to at least $6.6 million annually. 

Goat meat is lean and higher in protein than chicken. And it costs about the same as beef — around $2.89 a pound for cubes, $7.89 for chops. 

“It’s mild meat,” Batten said. “Most animals are harvested at less than a year old while the meat is light in color and very tender.” 

Demand for the meat is estimated to be growing at a rate of 10 to 15 percent per year. Experts say domestic consumption far exceeds production. Many new immigrants are shocked when they can’t find goat in the grocery store. 

It is prepared in many different ways, including goat kabobs, curried goat, jerked leg of goat, grilled goat chops and barbecued goat steaks. 

University of Georgia specialists estimate that between 2,500 and 3,000 goats are needed each week just to supply the Atlanta market. 

When a prestigious scientific journal backed away from a study that found genetic contamination in Mexican corn, it was a big public relations victory for the biotechnology industry. 

But the public debunking of the work of an outspoken opponent of genetic engineering also renewed questions about the increasing role that industry plays in funding academic research. 

Much is at stake for biotech companies, which are planting more genetically modified plants each year around the world even as they battle consumer skepticism. 

Their victory in the Mexican corn debate helped compensate for several embarrassing revelations that genetic experiments had escaped to the wild — despite repeated promises that such tinkering was tightly controlled. 

Researchers now splice foreign genes into a wide variety of plants to enhance desirable traits such as herbicide tolerance and pest resistance. Supporters envision growing more food for a hungry world. But the science involved troubles many who say the consequences of such tinkering are unknown. 

The journal Nature’s publication of the corn study in November created a furor. Ignacio Chapela and David Quist of the University of California, Berkeley, found that maize in the Mexican state of Oaxaca contained traces of genetically modified DNA widely used by U.S. biotech companies. 

In 1998, Mexico had banned the planting of genetically modified corn to protect its indigenous maize. 

Nature’s publication of the study almost immediately galvanized the Biotechnology Industry Organization into action. Led by the lobbying group, sympathetic scientists inundated the journal with complaints that the study’s science was sloppy. They also denounced Chapela and Quist as politically biased. 

Nature eventually published the criticism this month after receiving what it considered to be compelling evidence that the researchers had not conclusively proven that contamination had occurred. 

Despite this episode, many biotech proponents concede that co-mingling of natural and genetically modified plants is almost inevitable, and even critics of Chapela and Quist say it’s possible that genetically engineered corn has in fact mixed with native maize in southern Mexico. 

But they argue that any contamination is safe and may even benefit the local varieties by boosting their resistance to herbicides and insects. 

“The fact is that the biotech traits really don’t pose any unique risk to the local maize,” said Eric Sachs, director of scientific affairs for Monsanto Co., a St. Louis-based biotechnology company. 

Monsanto made a similar argument last week to the Food and Drug Administration after it learned that its Canadian canola seed has trace amounts of genetically modified material unapproved in the United States. 

Monsanto wants the U.S. government to declare any food contaminated by the unapproved canola seed fit for consumption, arguing that its gene tinkering is safe. 

Chapela, an assistant professor up for tenure this year, argues that his academic reputation is under attack because he continues to speak out against a growing private-sector involvement in academic research. 

In 1998, Chapela led an unsuccessful campaign against a five-year, $25 million deal Berkeley signed with Novartis Corp., a Swiss-based agriculture giant. A Novartis spinoff, Syngenta, now oversees research in Berkeley’s department of plant and microbial biology. 

In exchange, Syngenta gets first commercial rights to much of the research in the department. Researchers who accept Syngenta’s money are barred from showing some of their work outside the university without permission, which Chapela and others say limits academic freedoms. 

The deal polarized the campus. Some welcomed the money as a godsend that has brought their research to a higher level; others saw it as a dance with the devil. 

The university recently commissioned Michigan State University to study the deal’s effect and issue a report, which is awaited by several other institutions said to be considering similar deals. Corporate support of an entire college science department remains unique: most universities do receive corporate funding but the money is dedicated for individual projects only. 

The Berkeley department chair, Andrew Jackson, receives $100,000 a year from the deal for his research. He says it has benefited faculty and students with extra equipment and research they couldn’t afford to do otherwise. Jackson said his research decisions have never been influenced by the deal. 

But Chapela still considers it unethical, and says the money forces Berkeley to focus most of its energies on biotechnology at the expense of more traditional crop sciences. 

His supporters allege Chapela is the subject of “academic intimidation” and a “McCarthyist campaign” instigated by a biotechnology industry that is increasing the amount of genetically modified crops grown around the world each year. 

Chapela’s critics deny that charge and say Chapela wouldn’t be in the position he is now if he conducted his study more carefully. 

Jackson called Chapela’s continued campaign against the Novartis deal upsetting, but said the Mexican corn debate is based on scientific disagreements.

SAN FRANCISCO – An 11-year-old boy was severely mauled by a neighbor’s pit bull, an attack that came just a day after a 5-year-old Monterey girl died after being attacked by her family dog. 

The boy was taken to Marshall Hospital in Placerville for surgery and was listed serious condition Sunday. The boy’s family requested that the his identity not be published. 

In all, three children in Northern California were viciously attacked by dogs since Thursday. 

While the spotlight case of the fatal dog attack on San Francisco’s Diane Whipple recently drew to a close with a jury’s guilty verdict, the vicious dog attacks continue. 

The Placerville attack occurred late Saturday as the boy went to a neighbor’s home to seek advice on caring for his own dog, according to Lt. Kevin House of the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department. 

After no one answered the door, the dog came around from the side of the house and attacked him. 

“The dog chased him down and pulled him down by the leg and started chewing on him,” House said. 

“When the dog attacked him he screamed for his mother. She was able to get the dog off of him by kicking it,” House said. “As the mother was carrying him into the house the dog jumped on him again.” 

The mother began kicking the dog again until it finally released. The boy suffered serious bite wounds to the head, face, back and torso. 

Animal control officers later found the dog, which became aggressive toward them. Authorities then shot and killed the dog at the scene. 

The keeper of the pit bull works at a veterinarian hospital, House said. Authorities were not able to locate her Saturday night or Sunday morning to interview her about the attack. 

House said he expects to forward a recommendation for criminal prosecution to the county district attorney’s office on Monday or Tuesday. He said neighbors have reported the same dog chasing them into their homes in that unincorporated area of Placerville, called Pollock Pines. 

Saturday’s attack was the third vicious dog attack on a child in Northern California in as many days. 

The 5-year-old Monterey girl had been walking with her grandmother and brother in a field when a lizard startled them Friday afternoon. In the commotion, at least one of the family’s two large Rottweilers pounced, biting her head and body, police spokesman Randy Taylor said. 

She was immediately taken to the hospital, but died later Friday night. 

That mauling came less than 24 hours after a 5-year-old Salinas girl was attacked by her family’s Doberman pinscher. That girl was mauled so severely Thursday that part of her scalp was pulled from her skull, which the dog also fractured. 

She was admitted to the intensive care unit at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital Thursday in critical condition, but by Sunday was stable and in good condition, according to a hospital nursing supervisor. 

The Monterey County dogs involved in attacks were all impounded. 

SANTA CLARA – Paramount’s Great America theme park was evacuated and closed an hour early Saturday night after several fistfights broke out, leaving several parkgoers injured, officials said. 

Gerry Soud, a spokesman for Paramount Theme Parks, said the altercations occurred as crowds swelled during a step dance competition sponsored by KMEL 106.1, a Bay Area radio station that plays hip-hop music and rhythm and blues. 

Soud said park officials decided to shut the gates early and clear out the crowds as a safety precaution. As they streamed into the parking lot, however, hundreds of parkgoers began jumping on cars, prompting the arrival of Santa Clara police dressed in riot gear. 

The owner of a service station near the park said several teens looted his store, spilling candy in the aisles and smashing bottles of champagne outside. 

Soud was unsure how many people visited the park on the warm, sunny day. Great America has not previously been evacuated to his knowledge, he said. 

Calls to the Santa Clara Police Department were not immediately returned Saturday night.

SACRAMENTO – The chairman of the Senate Public Safety Committee and other lawmakers plan to call this week for the state to halt its plans to build a new maximum security prison at Delano. 

“California doesn’t need another prison, California can’t afford another prison, and Californians don’t want another prison,” Sen. Richard Polanco, D-Los Angeles, said in a statement. 

He and other lawmakers as well as prison opponents plan to call for a series of Department of Corrections budget cuts during a news conference Tuesday. That’s a day before Polanco chairs a budget subcommittee to consider about $1 million in new prison pre-construction money sought in Democratic Gov. Gray Davis’ proposed budget. 

Youth and Adult Correctional Agency spokesman Steve Green invited the lawmakers to tour crowded maximum-security prisons, and to interview a correctional officer at Susanville’s High Desert State Prison who in June “was nearly stamped to death by a maximum-security inmate who was not in a maximum-security facility. She’s going to be in therapy for two years.” 

About 9,400 maximum-security inmates are not in maximum-security facilities, including 480 who are housed dormitory-style in prison gymnasiums for lack of space, Green said. Even if the 5,000-bed Delano II prison opens as scheduled in 2004, he said the state will be short an estimated 6,000 maximum-security beds. The department predicts the maximum-security population will grow from 25,000 to 29,000 in five years. 

Lawmakers doubt those numbers, said Assemblywoman Dion Aroner, D-Berkeley. She and other lawmakers plan to call Tuesday for Davis to review the state’s security level classification system. 

“There are real questions being raised ... whether we’re identifying prisoners appropriately,” she said. 

Dan Macallair of the Justice Policy Institute contended that 18 percent of high-security beds, more than 10,000 of them, are filled with low security inmates. He argued the department will have a surplus of high security beds through 2005. 

Green welcomed a legislative review of the department’s figures. 

Even based on the department’s numbers, the department is predicting 23,000 fewer inmates than when lawmakers approved the new prison in 1999, Polanco said. A Kern County superior court judge earlier this month gave the department permission to solicit Delano II construction bids, after ruling in June that more environmental studies were needed. 

The state’s overall prison population dropped by 4,355 inmates to 157,142 during the second half of last year, according to new figures released by the department. 

That’s the biggest six-month drop at least since 1980, and is based on a voter-approved initiative that sends first- and second-time nonviolent drug offenders to treatment instead of prison or jail. However, the department lowered its long-term projections for the number of inmates who will be diverted by the Proposition 36 initiative. 

The move to build Delano II comes as the administration attempts to shut down five private prisons that supporters contend are the cheapest prisons to operate. Davis can fulfill a promise to shut down the private prisons in large part because of the drug treatment initiative that took effect July 1. 

Aroner and Polanco are trying to build a coalition of Hispanic and women lawmakers to oppose the Delano II prison, which would be the first new prison since 1995. Opponents estimate it will cost $595 million to build and operate the new Delano facility. 

While stopping Delano “is at the top of the list,” Aroner said, the lawmakers will suggest other money-saving changes, some of which will eventually be considered by the budget subcommittee she chairs. 

She said California should follow the lead of other states that are looking for alternatives to building new prisons. 

For instance, she said nonviolent inmates and prisoners over age 65 could be moved to community facilities, and one of California’s women’s prisons could be closed because drug offenders are being diverted by Proposition 36. 

In addition, she said many immigrants convicted of California crimes could be returned to their homelands to serve their sentences. While Davis is suggesting a similar program for immigrants, he’s not being aggressive enough, Aroner contended: “You go home where you belong,” she said. “It’s enough to fill five prisons.”

CAMARILLO – Gasoline prices edged down a fraction of a cent over the past two weeks, despite tensions in oil-producing regions like the Middle East and South America, an analyst said Sunday. 

Friday’s weighted price per gallon for all grades and taxes was about $1.46, down just over half a cent from two weeks earlier, according to the Lundberg survey of 8,000 gas stations nationwide. 

The decrease — the first since Feb. 8 — could be a sign that gasoline prices, which generally spike during the summer months, may have peaked, said analyst Trilby Lundberg. 

“At the very least the gasoline price hikes have been stalled,” Lundberg said. “And this is despite dramatic headlines out of two key oil producing countries — Iraq and Venezuela.” 

Iraq has threatened to cut off oil shipments for a month to protest the Israeli military action in the West Bank. Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chavez, survived a military coup attempt that lasted just one weekend.

SAN FRANCISCO – As Congress and President Bush have debated whether to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, three indigenous spokespeople have devoted their days to ensuring the potential effects on the land, its wildlife and their people are not overlooked. 

Jonathon Solomon, Sarah James and Norma Kassi are members of the Gwich’in nation and live north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska and Canada’s Yukon Territory. They have testified before Congress, negotiated agreements to protect wildlife, and traveled the world to raise awareness and support of their fight against plans to open the 1.5 million acre coastal plain of the Alaskan refuge. 

Their work was rewarded Monday with the Goldman Environmental Prize, given annually to people around the world who strive to protect the environment by the San Francisco-based Goldman Environmental Foundation. The three winners will receive $125,000. 

The refuge’s future concerns the Gwich’in because the coastal plain is the annual calving ground for the Porcupine caribou herd, which numbers more than 120,000. 

While the tundra may seem a desolate place, it is home to the caribou and a variety of other wildlife, including peregrine falcons, musk-oxen, polar bears and millions of mosquitoes. 

The Gwich’in, whose name means “caribou people,” hold the caribou sacred and rely on them for food and clothing. Their spiritual beliefs center on the deer • they call the plain where the caribou give birth “The Sacred Place Where Life Begins.” 

The recognition was especially sweet for the three environmentalists after the Senate rejected an amendment Thursday in the president’s energy bill that would allow the drilling. 

“Basically, this is another hurdle we’ve gone over,” Kassi said. “We foresee a lot more pressures for oil and gas from our lands.” 

Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, has said domestic oil production would cut the need to import oil from the Middle East, an argument backed by the energy industry and many politicians. Surveys in recent years show about 70 percent of Alaskans support drilling in the reserve. But the three critics say the nation’s leaders also must consider the welfare of local residents. 

“They’re using development there as national security,” Kassi said. “Our national security is the caribou.” 

Their work has drawn attention from all over the world to the 19.6-million-acre refuge. Some say, their activism has helped snag the proposal’s progress. 

“I certainly think that it’s slowed it down,” said Lon Sonsalla, city administrator for Kaktovik, the only town within the coastal plain. “And it’s not that we exactly disagree with everything that they say.” 

Sonsalla said the residents of Kaktovik do not want to see anything disturb the caribou either, but believe the drilling can proceed without any disturbance and provide jobs. 

“We want to have a better future for our children and our grandchildren, and we don’t want to see the land or the caribou come to harm,” Sonsalla said. “We’ve seen what’s happening in Prudhoe Bay, and it hasn’t bothered them. We’ve kind of changed our opinions that these things can coincide.” 

But the Gwich’in aren’t convinced, and believe most Americans feel the same. 

“The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is very sacred to our people,” Kassi said. “The American public has spoken through their senators to say that.” 

Despite the various interests involved in the decision, James says people have been willing to listen to the message they bring from the indigenous people. 

“We have to tell the truth, and it’s one people can relate with,” she said. “It goes beyond protecting the caribou and the Gwich’in way of life. It’s for their children.” 

Solomon helped negotiate an agreement between the United States and Canada to protect the Porcupine caribou herd; James has traveled the world to draw attention to the cause; and Kassi has met with government officials, environmentalists and has organized conferences to urge people to oppose drilling. 

The fight isn’t over. Before the Senate’s vote Thursday, the House approved ANWR development. Bush hasn’t indicated whether he will approve any energy plan that doesn’t include drilling approval. 

Other winners include: 

• from Africa: Fatima Jibrell, Somalia. Jibrell is working to prevent the massive logging of Somalia’s old-growth acacia trees to make charcoal and is speaking out against the overfishing by foreign fishermen of the Somali coast. 

• from Asia: Pisit Charnsnoh, Thailand. Charnsnoh is an ecologist who has worked to restore and protect Thailand’s coast from the effects of heavy fishing and increased logging. 

• from Europe: Jadwiga Lopata, Poland. Lopata is promoting Poland’s family farms with ecotourism in hopes of protecting open space and wildlife habitat. 

• from Islands and Island Nations: Alexis Massol-Gonzalez, Puerto Rico. Massol-Gonzalez helped block mining in the mountains of central Puerto Rico and was able to have the area declared a mining forest preserve. It became Bosque del Pueblo and is a community-managed, government-owned preserve. 

• from South and Central America: Jean La Rose, Guyana. La Rose has worked to stop mining upriver from the Mazaruni River, which has degraded the quality of the river, and to win the rights of indigenous people over the land that includes the river. 

A speech by a “pro-life feminist” on the UC Berkeley campus Friday afternoon sparked a stand-off between activists from both sides of the abortion debate. 

Serrin Foster, president of Feminists for Life, a Washington D.C. advocacy group, spoke on the steps of Sproul Plaza while students and local activists waved signs and exchanged shouts. 

Foster focused much of her speech on the pro-life politics of early feminists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, and painted her group as the inheritor to their legacy. 

“The early American feminists worked to outlaw abortion in this country,” she said. “I stand here proudly to continue the tradition.” 

Foster argued that the United States should outlaw abortion and focus on providing women with the legal and social services they need to raise children. 

Kody Hilton, volunteer coordinator for the California Abortion & Reproductive Rights Action League in San Francisco, said the pro-choice movement supports the provision of all the services advocated by Foster, but that legalized abortion should remain in place as well. 

Christina Hioureas, co-president of the UC Berkeley chapter of the National Organization for Women, said feminism is about choices and Foster is seeking to eliminate a choice. 

“She’s not a feminist,” Hioureas said. 

But Nora Ludden, an Oakland resident and member of Feminists for Life, said the group is taking the strongest approach to women’s rights. 

“Pro-choice is begging for scraps instead of calling for real change,” she said, arguing, like Foster, that the focus should be on developing a wide spectrum of support services for women that would make abortion unnecessary. 

Foster will speak at a pro-life conference on the UC Berkeley campus today that will train high school and college activists to form advocacy groups, raise money and argue pro-life positions 

The Berkeley High baseball juggernaut continued to roll over opponents Friday afternoon, riding a two-hit gem from starting pitcher Cole Stipovich to a convincing 5-1 victory against El Cerrito High. 

The crafty senior southpaw escaped some uncharacteristically shoddy fielding in the first inning and a slight bout with wildness in the sixth as the Yellowjackets (14-4 overall, 6-0 ACCAL) ran their unbeaten string to 12 with the win. El Cerrito, which had hoped to join the ‘Jackets atop the league standings with a win, fell to 4-2 in ACCAL play and 11-5 overall. 

Two weeks after Berkeley trounced a less than full-strength El Cerrito squad 12-2 in the San Marin Tournament, an anticipated showdown between two of the league’s better teams never materialized, as the hot Berkeley bats once again cuffed around an opposing moundsman. 

Rightfielder Jeremy LeBeau, who reached on an error and scored in the second inning, delivered the knockout blow in the fifth, a booming triple to deep centerfield that plated two runs. Centerfielder Bennie Goldenberg added two hits, a run and an RBI. 

Gaucho ace Kenny Salyer, a burly senior who will attend San Jose State University on a baseball scholarship next fall, surrendered five runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings. 

Though some Berkeley players speculated that El Cerrito had deliberately rested key players during the tournament in an effort to surprise the ‘Jackets during the regular season, head coach Tim Moellering said his team hadn’t paid attention to the rumors. 

“We didn’t focus on that too much,” Moellering said. “We consider El Cerrito to be one of the better teams in the league, and we knew they were going to come at us with a better team than at the tournament.” 

El Cerrito coach Brian Nichols said the difference came down to fundamentals. 

“They just executed a little bit better offensively and defensively than we did,” he said. “You can’t give a good team opportunities like that and expect to win. Kenny (Salyer) threw good, but we just didn’t execute, plain and simple.” 

Whatever the cause, the final result obscured a worrisome start for the Yellowjackets, who allowed two of the first four Gaucho batters to reach base on misplayed ground balls. Stipovich never abandoned his game plan, however, inducing centerfielder Jamont’e Cox to ground to first to end the threat. 

The ’Jackets then promptly jumped on top in the second inning. With one out, LeBeau struck a high chopper to third. El Cerrito third baseman Randy Minix rushed his throw, skipping it past first baseman Jake Lucas and allowing LeBeau to scamper to second. 

After a ground out, Goldenberg hit a line drive double over the head of stumbling leftfielder Josh Harvey, scoring LeBeau. Sam Geaney then lashed a fly ball just inches past the outstretched glove of rightfielder James Cannon, driving in Goldenberg with the second Berkeley run. 

From there, it was all Stipovich. Changing speeds with a funky three-quarter delivery, the ‘Jackets number two hurler kept the El Cerrito hitters off balance, inducing numerous ground balls and relying on a rejuvenated Berkeley defense. 

The sneaky lefty finally appeared spent in the sixth. After he walked two of the first three batters, Moellering made the kind of slow walk out to the pitcher’s mound which usually signals the end of a hurler’s day. 

“I thought he was losing it because Cole has outstanding control,” Moellering said later. “I was stalling for time, and told him to assume this was his last hitter.” 

The unflappable Stipovich apparently received a different message. 

“I’m pretty sure I wasn’t tired,” he said of his sixth-frame wildness. “I might have been overthrowing. Coach came out and slowed me down a little bit.” 

Stipovich needed only five pitches to dispose of the next two hitters, both on ground balls, squeezing out of the two-on, one-out jam allowing only one run. The lefty then finished up strong in the seventh, retiring three El Cerrito batters in order to put the game in the books.

To the Editor: 

I hope you are aware of the need to improve the quality of the copy editing in The Berkeley Daily Planet. I have almost come to look forward to finding amusing, perplexing or embarrassing bloopers in your headlines and articles, but sometimes the errors are disturbing. 

Most important, please ensure that staff members at least read the articles before they write the headlines! 

I was disturbed to see the April 17 headline "Claremont anti-Semite suspect sketched" above an article in which a police sergeant stated clearly that the crime (an assault) was probably a simple robbery, and there was no evidence that it was a hate crime or had anything to do with anti-Semitism. The article did not quote any opposing opinion. Maybe the copy editor thought the article should have contained an opposing opinion, but the purpose of a headline is not to argue with the article. I realize that the April 5 account of this assault quoted witnesses who believed it was anti-Semitic, but that is really not relevant to the headline of the later article. (That earlier crime report, in another blooper, was misleadingly headlined "The Jews are attacked near campus" instead of "Two Jews attacked near campus.") 

I think it is especially important for your articles and headlines to be consistent and accurate when you are writing about sensitive issues such as racism, anti-Semitism or ethnic bigotry, to avoid fanning flames of fear, suspicion or anger. 

On a lighter note, an amusing April 12 headline stated that "Berkeley may ban cutting old growth forest: Passage could have $10 million annual impact on the timber industry." (There sure must be a lot of old growth timber in Berkeley, eh? No, the article was actually about a statewide ballot measure that the Berkeley City Council might support.) 

I am sure your staff all winced reading the front page headline on April 15: "List of opponents for Mayor Dean dwindle" (instead of "dwindles"). 

On the positive front, I think you have stopped writing "jews" instead of "Jews." Thanks. I remember noticing on March 18, for example, that Jews were called "jews" throughout a letter you published (which was supportive of Israel) and in the headline of an adjacent opinion piece (which was about Jewish criticisms of Israeli policy), but remained "Jews" throughout the opinion piece. I know, that is a very confusing sentence! Well, it was a very perplexing moment for me; I thought maybe you had just printed the letter as written and it contained the error (but I am sure you agree with the standard newsroom practice of quietly correcting errors in spelling or capitalizing in letters you print). Then I started to get paranoid, wondering whether somebody in the newsroom was trying to insult Jews by "lowering their case" (so to speak). But eventually I concluded it was just lack of attention at the copy desk. 

I know there are more important things to worry about, but we readers do notice these errors. And as you can see, sometimes they disturb us in unforeseen ways! And even when the errors are not serious, they do affect our judgment about whether your paper should be taken seriously. 

(P.S. I am assuming that the task of copy editing includes headline writing as well as checking articles for style, grammar and consistency; please forgive me if other staff are responsible for these matters.) 

- David Couch 

Berkeley 

By David Scharfenberg 

Daily Planet staff 

State Assemblywoman Dion Aroner, D-Berkeley, is working on legislation that would forgive a $1.16 million fine the Berkeley Unified School District owes the state for filing a staff development form late, and pour the funds into auditing services and reform efforts. 

Under the Aroner plan, $700,000 would go to a state agency called the Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team, or FCMAT, to support reform in five areas – pupil achievement, fiscal management, facilities management, personnel management, and governance. 

The balance – roughly $460,000 – would be used by the district to implement reforms proposed by the state agency. 

FCMAT is already providing financial advice for the district, which faces a $5.4 million deficit next year. Under the Aroner plan, the agency would remain in place next year, develop an improvement plan by July 1, 2003, and file periodic status reports on district implementation through June 2005. 

The district began making fine payments last year, and Aroner has attempted twice to win forgiveness, only to run into opposition from the Davis administration.  

Aroner says the new bill, drafted largely by FCMAT and negotiated with Davis’ Department of Finance, has a much better chance of passage. 

The legislation, which will be heard by the Assembly’s Education Committee Wednesday, also includes forgiveness of a $790,000 fine the Emery Unified School District owes the state for failing to properly document the certification of two teachers. 

“It’s good news,” said Jerry Kurr, Berkeley Unified School District’s associate superintendent of business, describing the bill and its apparently strong prospects for passage. 

Kurr said the district, which has already shelled out $580,000 in fine payments, was originally hoping to win forgiveness of the remaining $580,000, not the full amount. Now, he said, the district will realize a benefit on the full $1.16 million. 

Members of the Board of Education and community activists were generally pleased with the proposed legislation. 

“It’s an exciting development,” said school board President Shirley Issel. “I’m really pleased.” 

“We would rather have had the money with no strings attached, but this will make us spend some money where we need to spend it,” added Nancy Riddle, a parent who serves on the district’s budget advisory committee. 

Carol Wilkins, who also serves on the budget advisory committee, said the bill appeared to be “a constructive attempt to respond to the district’s current circumstances.” 

However, Wilkins said she has some concerns that a full $700,000 would go to FCMAT, and only $460,000 to the district for reform. 

“Why so much for them and not as much for us?” she asked. 

Wilkins added that, while she has been pleased with FCMAT’s work in district thus far, she has concerns about a lengthy stay. She said it is important that Berkeley decision-makers, guided by Berkeley values, direct district policy in the long term. 

“Is this someone else making decisions for us?,” she wondered. 

Wilkins said ultimately, despite her concerns, she believes local control will remain in place. 

The legislation calls for the following specific improvements, among others:  

•better accounting and internal control procedures 

•improved building maintenance 

•training for school board members  

•skills development for staff  

•a community relations plan

By Jared Green 

Daily Planet Staff 

CROCKETT – The St. Mary’s High baseball team has been playing tough all season, winning their first five BSAL games with clutch hitting, adequate pitching and just a smidgen of luck. But when they finally lost to John Swett on Friday, it was a doozy. 

Swett scored seven runs in the fourth inning, including two three-run homers, on the way to pounding the Panthers 13-3. St. Mary’s dropped to 9-10 overall, 5-1 in the BSAL with the loss, while the Indians improved their record to 11-8 and 3-5 in league play. 

St. Mary’s got a rare ineffective outing from ace Joe Storno, who left the mound after giving up 10 runs, including the first blast in the fourth by Mike Santos. Storno had been carrying the Panthers, winning all three of his league starts before Friday. 

“We know it’s going to be difficult with only one pitcher we can rely on,” St. Mary’s head coach Andy Shimabukuro said. “I thought Joe would pitch a little better, but (Swett) swing the bats very well.” 

Storno wasn’t the only one to blame for the loss. The Panthers committed several pratfalls in the field, making their pitcher’s job that much harder. Although they were only charged with three errors, the Panthers gave away outs on several occasions.  

The four-run Indian second inning came courtesy of just two hits, both singles. After Steven Della Cruz led off with a single, Chris Gomez bunted the ball right back at Storno. Storno bobbled the ball but still tried to get Della Cruz at second base, throwing late and not getting an out. After a sacrifice sent the runners to second and third, Tony Thomas hit a grounder up the middle. St. Mary’s second baseman Chris Alfert got to the ball but bumped into shortstop Manny Mejia and threw the ball away, allowing both runners to score and sending Thomas to second.  

Cole Adams followed with one of his four singles, and Santos hit a sacrifice fly to center. Storno neglected to back up the throw to home, which got by catcher Sean Ayres. Storno chased the ball to the backstop and tried to get Adams at third, but his errant throw allowed Adams to score the fourth unearned run of the inning. 

“It’s a struggle for us just to get outs, and we can’t afford to give up extra outs on errors,” Shimabukuro said. 

The Indians put the game away in the fourth. Jiminez led off with a double, and Thomas laid down a perfect bunt to reach base. Adams singled again, scoring Jiminez, then Santos knocked Storno out of the game with a high drive to center that just cleared the fence and centerfielder Chase Moore’s leap.  

It looked as if reliever Ryan Bahado-Singh would shut off the rally, inducing two flyball outs, but he walked the next two batters. Gomez hit the first pitch he saw from Bahado-Singh on a line over the leftfield fence. 

“We’ve hit everybody. It doesn’t matter who we face,” Swett head coach Ron Spini said. “We don’t care if it’s your ace or your bullpen.” 

The Panthers didn’t allow another run, but it made little difference as they just couldn’t get their bats going against Della Cruz or reliever Ed Davila. While St. Mary’s did get nine hits, they left 12 runners on base. Spini said his pitchers are finally giving the hitters some support. 

“We’ve given away far too many runs,” he said. “Walks have just killed us. A team that’s hitting .360 and made six errors in seven games should be better than 3-5, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.” 

The Indians are focused on reaching the BSAL playoffs, which would require finishing in sixth place or better. Spini feels that if it does make the playoffs, his team could sneak up on some of the higher seeds. 

“I’ve been telling the players that all the things that have gone against us don’t matter any more,” he said. “I don’t like the playoff system, but if we’re in the postseason we’ve got as good a shot as anybody.” 

St. Mary’s, on the other hand, still controls its own destiny. The Panthers play the only other team with one loss, Albany, on Wednesday. 

“It all starts over on Wednesday,” Shimabukuro said. “If we come back and win that one we’ll be back in the driver’s seat.”

To the Editor: 

Given the deluge of bad news reported in the Daily Planet and television about the financial problems of the Berkeley Unified School District, which appear to only get worse, the Board of Education owes Berkeley's citizens a comprehensive explanation of the current state of local public education and what, if anything they are actually doing to correct their real problems. Consider the following flood of bad news.  

First it was announced that the BUSD faces a 6 to 7 million dollar deficit. Given that the BSEP tax now exceeds $10 million per year and a $4 million per tax of maintenance was recently passed. BUSD has $14 million per year more than a comparably sized California school district, adding contributions from the excellent Berkeley Educational Foundation, it is difficult to understand how the BUSD has created such a large deficit! TV news coverage informed us that teachers were being overpaid; in fact former and deceased teachers were still being paid! I guess Berkeley's salary schedule has a unique "Dead and Gone" column. It was also reported that bond revenue was being used to pay salaries, some much for the "oversight" promised when ever BUSD money measures appear on the Ballot to reassure voters. Then we have the results of an audit. The news report about the audit doesn't address any of the reported problems; rather it expands the problems by noting "inadequate monitoring of the district's self-insurance, adult education and cafeteria funds" while not specifically stating that this finding usually equates to raiding the identified funds. 

One Board member did notice that the problem areas noted in the audit were repeats from the prior year's audit! By the way, doesn't the Alameda County Board of Education get copies of the BUSD's audit? It was reported that the latest of the almost endless parade of school finance experts is working hard but warns that many of the problems will likely be repeated on the next audit. Then the BUSD commissioned a study by school services of California which further expanded the problems when it reported that state funding of special education fell $4.5 million short of needs of the children. 

Board Member Ted Schultz admitted that this has been going on for years. The report also stated that most California school districts raid their general funds due to inadequate state funding for special education. Given a TV report last week that state funding to support existing class size reduction will be reduced sufficiently so that some districts are considering increasing class size, the BUSD's problems may only get worse. One wonders what was the basis of Governor Davis's primary campaign ads claiming to have dramatically increased Educational Funding. 

The suggestion that the BUSD's problems are due even in part to an antiquated computer system has angered many people. In the last decade computer processing and storage have increased so drastically that new terms were necessary to identify the huge increases. 

These huge increases, with little or minimal cost increases, coupled with the dot-com collapse, have made computer equipment and trained people available to install it available at very modest prices. What appears to be missing is the desire to fix the problem. 

It is further discouraging to read that the Board's focus, perhaps rightly is so negative. The cost reduction of closing the Franklin Elementary School provides Berkeley was a positive opportunity. Why not use this facility we have paid for to provide temporary rooms for teachers, firefighters, and police? Given that the cost of living in Berkeley is frequently cited as a recruitment problem, by providing a bed for a teacher or police officer that does not live in Berkeley to spend a night reduces their commuting requirements and costs and reduces local congestion. I am suggesting beds in areas separated by privacy screens, not permanent partitions, these are adults, and while there are details to be worked out, it appears that Franklin could be used to make Berkeley more attractive to teachers, police, and firefighters.  

John Cecil 

Berkeley

By Chris Nichols 

Special to the Daily Planet 

With smiles on their faces and culture all around, members of Berkeley’s Black Repertory Group use theater as a tool in constructing a better community. "The theater is used as a means to uplift the individual and in turn uplift the community," said Mona Vaughn Scott, Executive Director of BRG. 

Started as a drama program at Downs Memorial United Methodist Church in 1964, BRG is the oldest African-American theater group west of the Mississippi. 

Though founder Nora Vaughn never envisioned BRG as a professional theater, the repertory group has produced over 100 plays by such African-American writers as Langston Hughes, Charlie Fuller and Ishmael Reed since being launched as a community theater in 1967. 

BRG lists as its purpose to facilitate personal development and self-esteem using theater as a tool and to encourage an awareness of and encourage Black Culture by providing an outline through Black Theatre. 

Vaughn Scott emphasizes that BRG is also committed to encouraging youth involvement in theater productions. The group speaks to local high schools and provides on the job training and internships to local youth interested in theater. 

According to BRG, young people and the youth workshops have always been at the heart of the theater’s mission. The theater has been the starting ground for the careers of many black actors in the Bay Area. 

Throughout its history, BRG has also been committed to cutting-edge social, cultural and health issues through its Health Education Through Theatre program. BRG was one of the first theater groups to sponsor a group of HIV-positive actors as well as taking on such issues as teen pregnancy, violence and delinquency prevention, and adolescent hypertension. 

Despite the cultural significance of the repertory group, in the past some community members and city officials have been critical of BRG’s management and operations. A 1998 city audit concluded that the group was missing minutes for meetings, lacked time cards and had board policies that were inconsistent with other publicly-funded organizations. 

BRG had also been criticized by other theater groups for not fully utilizing its current facilities – leased to the group by the city at $1 per year – and for attracting only sparse crowds to its 250 seat theater. 

According to Mayor Shirley Dean, the repertory group has moved past these problems. "I think they’ve made considerable progress," said Dean. "The audit didn’t find any serious financial problems, mostly things like missing minutes and time cards." 

Critics claimed BRG’s Board was made up predominantly of family members of Vaughn and did not include enough members of the community. "It’s my belief that all of these issues have been cleared up, the board has now been expanded." 

According to Dean, the City of Berkeley has worked to strengthen and preserve the theater’s place among community members. "It has roots in this community that are irreplaceable," said Dean. 

Many were afraid that after the death of founder and director Vaughn the theater’s success and strength might diminish due to internal problems. "Nora wasn’t able to be as strong a voice as she got older, they got into some tangles and people feared that Nora’s vision had disappeared," said Dean. 

Dean said that the theater group has made great strides in eliminating this fear and continues to enrich the lives of individuals and the community itself. 

Currently, BRG is presenting "In Search of a Legend," a tribute to Josephine Baker, written and conceived by Johnny Land. Producer Al Yates said he looked to BRG to take on this presentation because he "knew they would be open and welcome to a show of this type." 

Yates said the show was not picked up by other theaters but that BRG has given it a chance. "It’s a universal story and it’s being told that way," said Yates. 

Yates said that BRG Director Mona Vaughn Scott, daughter of founder Nora Vaughn, has been very receptive to the show. 

Land, a foremost historian on the life of Baker, said each show has sold out and received standing ovations. "The word of mouth has been great, the word is getting out mostly through fliers and the invitation of personal friends," said Land. 

"In Search of a Legend," the musical story of a little black girl from St. Louis who took Paris by storm, will run at BRG through Sunday, April 28. Land and Yates hope to extend the run of the musical at BRG or take it to a new location after April 28. 

Land and Yates also hope to continue with their "Sassy Diva" cabaret show and are pushing for a university circuit tour. 

The Berkeley Repertory Group theater is located at 3201 Adeline St. The phone number for tickets is 510-652-2120. 

Cal softball upsets No. 6 ASU 

No. 8 Cal matched its conference win total from 2001 after just 10 league games with a 3-2 win over No. 6 Arizona State Friday afternoon at Levine-Fricke Field. 

Cal (40-14, 6-4 Pac-10) started off things early, in the bottom half of the first inning. Freshman Kaleo Eldredge reached on an error by Missy Hixon and was moved to second on junior Kristen Morley’s team and conference-leading 20th sacrifice bunt of the season. Senior Candace Harper then doubled to left center to give the Bears a 1-0 lead.  

In the second inning, the Sun Devils (35-11, 5-4 Pac-10) surrendered two runs on three fielding errors. Freshman Jessica Vernaglia led off with a bouncer to the pitcher, but Erica Beach threw the ball wide to first allowing Vernaglia to reach safely. After a Kristen Bayless sacrifice bunt that moved Vernaglia to second, Eldredge singled to right and advanced to second on a wild throw to first by right fielder Kirsten Voak, bringing home Vernaglia from second.  

The third and final run came on an awkward play, as Morley laid down a bunt single. She got caught in a pickle trying to attempt second base, but advanced as Hixon dropped the ball on an exchange for her second miscue of the contest. Morley reached second, while Eldredge rounded third to score.  

ASU charged back in the top of the fourth as Kara Brun smashed a solo homer, her team-leading seventh of the year, over the centerfield fence. With two outs, Beach drew a walk and Nichole Thompson hit a RBI double to left center to bring in pinch runner Amber Turner.  

Junior Jen Deering collected her 12 win of the season and has won the last 10 of her 11 decisions. She went four innings, striking out four, walking three, while scattering two hits. Freshman Kelly Anderson came on in the fifth and pitched three shutout innings. She fell into a bases loaded jam with two outs in the sixth inning, but struck out Adriana Garcia to come out unscathed. 

The win was Cal’s sixth win over a ranked opponent. The Bears now brace for top-ranked Arizona as the Wildcats come in for a two-game set, Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.  

Men’s tennis avenges USC loss 

The No. 19 Cal men’s tennis team avenged a 4-3 loss to USC three weeks ago, upsetting the 13th-ranked Trojans (18-6, 4-2 Pac-10) 5-1 Friday afternoon at the Hellman Tennis Center.  

By winning two of the three doubles matches, the Golden Bears (17-6, 4-2 Pac-10) took an early 1-0 lead. In only their second match together, Ben Miles and Conor Niland were the first team off the court, winning their match 8-6 on the second court. Clinching the doubles point on the first court, the No. 26-ranked team of John Paul Fruttero and Robert Kowalczyk upset the No. 7 team of Ryan Moore and Nick Rainey, 8-6.  

Using the momentum from the doubles matches, Cal took the first set in five of the six singles matches. Closing out his match first, Wayne Wong routed USC’s Daniel Langre on court five, 6-2, 6-1. Next was Fruttero, playing on court one. Coming off an upset of the No. 1 ranked player in the country on Monday, Fruttero continued his dominating play by beating the Trojan’s Andrew Park, 6-3, 6-3.  

With a 3-0 lead, the Bears needed only one of the remaining four matches for a victory. Coming through to secure the upset was freshman Conor Niland. After losing the first set, Niland stormed back to win the next two in a convincing fashion, defeating Prakash Armitraj, 4-6, 6-0, 6-2. With the match already decided, Robert Kowalczyk’s match with Nick Rainey on court four was suspended, while Mik Ledvonova gutted out a long match on court six, prevailing 6-0, 4-6, 6-4. The only loss of the day for Cal came on court two where Balazs Veress lost to Ryan Moore, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

By Bruce Gerstman 

Special to the Daily Planet 

Helping the elderly in the East Bay just got more expensive. 

The Alameda County Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to authorize the Alameda County Agency on Aging to decrease by about $70,000 grants to local groups that serve the elderly. 

"We were instructed by the state to reduce the allocation," said Joe Rodriguez, director of the agency. 

When a reporter told the Berkeley-based Alzheimer Services of the East Bay, which runs a day care service for Alzheimer’s patients, that the new budget meant an $8,500 cut for the agency, the executive director said she was not surprised.  

"Last year we had a decrease, too," said Karen Grimsich. After 14 years of a steady $166,000-a-year budget from the state, the group’s funds were slashed by $6,500 last year. 

Grimsich said families cannot afford the $75 daily charge to use their day care, so they use state funds to subsidize the rest. She said families pay as little as $17 each day, and more often about $40-50. "Now we're going to have to fund-raise," to subsidize the service, she said. 

"We do make up the difference, but these nonprofits like us end up holding the bag," Grimsich said about services for the elderly. "What are you going to do, not take care of them?" 

The funding comes from the state's Community Based Service Program, which will now give away about $1 million less than last year, said Rodriguez. That means Alameda County will lose 3.18 percent, or about $19,000, of the $600,000 it generally gets. 

California is now struggling to soften a deficit estimated at more than $17 billion. And the state is trying to find ways of trimming costs, said John Carr, the assistant director of external affairs for California's department of aging. 

"We didn't reduce funding for programs. Only for operating costs," Carr said. 

The budget analyst team that focuses on aging was in Stockton at a conference and could not be reached for comment. 

Today is Saturday, April 20, the 110th day of 2002. There are 255 days left in the year. 

Highlight in History: 

On April 20, 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of busing to achieve racial desegregation in schools. 

On this date: 

In 1812, the fourth vice president of the United States, George Clinton, died in Washington at age 73, becoming the first vice president to die while in office. 

In 1836, the Territory of Wisconsin was established by Congress. 

In 1889, Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau, Austria. 

In 1940, RCA publicly demonstrated its new and powerful electron microscope. 

In 1945, during World War II, allied forces took control of the German cities of Nuremberg and Stuttgart. 

In 1968, Pierre Elliott Trudeau was sworn in as prime minister of Canada. 

In 1972, the manned lunar module from Apollo 16 landed on the moon. 

In 1978, a Korean Air Lines Boeing 707 crash-landed in northwestern Russia after being fired on by a Soviet interceptor after entering Soviet airspace. Two passengers were killed. 

In 1980, the first Cubans sailing to the United States as part of the massive Mariel boatlift reached Florida. 

In 1999, the Columbine High School massacre took place in Littleton, Colo., as students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot and killed 12 classmates and one teacher and wounded 26 others before taking their own lives. 

Ten years ago: 

The Russian congress adopted a resolution affirming Russia’s membership in the Commonwealth of Independent States in a victory for President Boris Yeltsin. Defending champion Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya became the sixth three-time winner of the Boston Marathon, while Russia’s Olga Markova won the women’s division. 

Five years ago: 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu escaped indictment in an influence-peddling scandal, with prosecutors saying they lacked evidence. Hwang Jang Yop, a high-ranking North Korean defector, arrived in South Korea, ending a 67-day odyssey that began in China. 

One year ago: 

A Peruvian air force jet shot down a small plane carrying American missionaries in Peru’s Amazon jungle region, killing Veronica Bowers and her infant daughter, Charity. President Bush attended his first international summit as leaders of the Western Hemisphere’s 34 democracies met in Quebec to advance plans to create the world’s largest free-trade zone; police in riot gear clashed with protesters. Two therapists were convicted in Golden, Colo., of reckless child abuse in a young girl’s suffocation death during a “rebirthing” therapy session. (Connell Watkins and Julie Ponder were later sentenced to 16 years in prison.) 

Today’s Birthdays: 

Bandleader Lionel Hampton is 94. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is 82. Actress Nina Foch is 78. Singer Johnny Tillotson is 63. Actor George Takei is 62. Actor Ryan O’Neal is 61. Rock musician Craig Frost (Grand Funk; Bob Seger’s Silver Bullet Band) is 54. Actress Jessica Lange is 53. Singer Luther Vandross is 51. Actor Clint Howard is 43. Actor Crispin Glover is 38. Country singer Wade Hayes is 33. Actor Shemar Moore is 32. Rock musician Mikey Welsh is 31. Actress Carmen Electra is 30. Actor Joey Lawrence is 26. 

LOS ANGELES — The World Trade Center lives on in a handful of new films whose makers left intact their pre-Sept. 11 footage of the twin towers out of respect for the dead and defiance of the terrorists who destroyed the buildings. 

In the weeks after Sept. 11, there was a rush to excise shots of the trade towers from such comedies as “Zoolander” and “Serendipity.” Studios and film-makers felt the images would be too wrenching so soon after the terrorist attacks. 

But other movies that came out late last year such as “Vanilla Sky” and “Sidewalks of New York” included shots of the trade center. As time passes, film-makers say they sense audiences are better prepared to handle the sudden appearance of the vanished towers on screen. 

“I think it’s like our memories of a loved one,” said director Sam Raimi, who left images of the trade center in his upcoming adaptation of “Spider-Man.” “Probably right after the death of someone we love, it’s sometimes hard to look at their pictures. Then later, there’s a need to look at them.” 

A “Spider-Man” trailer that included images of the World Trade Center was quickly pulled last fall, and the action sequence depicted in that ad has been cut from the movie. But Raimi said it was important for him to leave the skyscrapers in other shots. 

“I didn’t want to erase the image of the twin towers,” Raimi said. “They’re seen throughout the course of the movie, because we didn’t want the terrorists to win.” 

Last weekend’s top box-office draw, “Changing Lanes,” included brief flashes of the trade center. “World Traveler,” a road-trip drama starring Billy Crudup and Julianne Moore that opens Friday, features a prominent skyline view of the trade center early on and a gorgeous nighttime view of the towers near the end. 

A&E home video releases another reminder of the towers April 30 with “The World Trade Center: A Modern Marvel,” a History Channel documentary completed a few months before Sept. 11 on the construction of the skyscrapers. 

“It references the events of Sept. 11, but it’s not about those events,” said Jason Campbell, marketing director at New Video, A&E’s distribution partner. “The program really is a love letter to the trade center.” 

The original script for “Men in Black II,” due out in July, included an action scene toward the end that would have showed the trade center in the background. Director Barry Sonnenfeld said that after Sept. 11, it was shifted to a rooftop with the Statue of Liberty on the horizon. 

“Men in Black II” co-star Will Smith said he thinks people are increasingly able to view trade-center pictures with wistful affection instead of pained memories. 

“Just the other day, I looked at a picture from two years ago with my kids,” Smith said. “We were at the Statue of Liberty with the twin towers in the background, and it really did feel good seeing the towers standing.” 

As the towers collapsed Sept. 11, audiences were watching “World Traveler” in a morning screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. 

Freundlich subsequently decided the trade-center images were appropriate for the film, which recounts a man’s journey to reclaim his soul. The final shots of the towers come in a dream sequence in which the man fantasizes happy endings for the troubled people he’s encountered on a cross-country ramble. 

“Him imagining everyone he met along his journey as healed, as whole again, and here’s this shot of the World Trade Center. Somehow, I felt it was paying respect to those events,” said Freundlich, who added that he’s heard only positive reaction about the images from audiences at advance screenings. “It reminds them of an innocence before Sept. 11. It is a little bit painful, but it doesn’t leave a sour taste. It’s a little bittersweet.” 

“It just worked, and I wanted it there as a symbol of my belief in the city,” Freundlich said. 

Jennifer Westfeldt and Heather Juergensen, writers and stars of the current romantic comedy “Kissing Jessica Stein,” went the opposite route, shooting new Manhattan overviews to replace trade-center footage. 

Their film screened Sept. 10 at the Toronto festival and again Sept. 12, the second screening drawing pained gasps from the audience when the trade center appeared, they said. 

“When those images came up, it really was like a kick in the solar plexus,” Juergensen said. 

“It seemed more generous and progressive to go back and shoot other buildings that still stand and speak to the beauty of New York, present and future,” Westfeldt said. “Our decision had to do with moving forward and sort of honoring how strong and noble and resilient New Yorkers have been.” 

SACRAMENTO — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to consider for the first time in a decade how 18 commonly used pesticides may affect endangered salmon and woodland plants. 

Agency officials said they will conduct the review under a lawsuit settlement they will sign a Friday with three California environmental groups that sued over the EPA’s approval of the pesticides, which are used in fields, forests, orchards and to control weeds along highways and irrigation canals. 

Several million pounds of the pesticides are used each year on California almonds, walnuts, grapes, apples, lemons, plums, strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli and rice, the environmental groups said, citing California Department of Pesticide Regulation statistics. Use is concentrated throughout the Central Valley and along much of the Pacific Coast. 

The EPA agreed to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service, and to analyze the pesticides’ effect on seven salmon species and 33 endangered forest plants. The agency also agreed to find ways to minimize the pesticides’ effects on the endangered species. 

“These species are close to extinction and pesticides continue to pollute their habitat, but the EPA hasn’t even begun to take action,” said Patty Clary of Californians for Alternatives to Toxics. CATS joined the Environmental Protection Information Center and Humboldt Watershed Council in the lawsuit. 

Three of the pesticides have been detected in waterways at levels that may be toxic to fish, the suit contends. They are carbaryl, used on apples, strawberries, tomatoes and lawns; chlorpyrifos, used on apples, broccoli, walnuts, almonds and lawns; and diazinon, used on lettuce, almonds and plums and lawns. 

The environmental groups argued EPA’s failure to consult with its fellow federal agencies on the pesticides’ effects violated the federal Endangered Species Act. 

KATMANDU, Nepal — Having just finished breakfast, a team of mountaineers in Nepal were robbed by Maoist rebels who allowed their victims to bargain over the amount to be stolen and then wrote out receipts. 

This account of the April 5 incident was given by climber Raymond Coughron, an energy management consultant from Berkeley, California, on the Web site Everest News on Friday. 

It was the first reported case in which mountaineers have been robbed by the rebels — who draw their inspiration from Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Tse-tung — since they began their violent campaign in 1996. 

Coughron was quoted as saying that, initially, the guerrillas demanded $64 plus cameras, binoculars and altimeters. 

However, after some discussion they settled for $128 per member, but none of their gear. 

The report said climbers from two other mountaineering teams were also robbed and forced to hand over the same amount of cash by the rebels. 

"After our expedition paid and were given a receipt for money received, the Maoists went to the Swiss expedition and repeated the exercise. The Spanish expedition were approached the night before," Coughron said. 

He said the guerrillas were armed with grenades and an automatic rifle. 

“It was clear that these five Maoists were not alone. In the surrounding forests many hundreds of their comrades could be seen," Coughron added. 

The incident happened while the team was on its way to a base camp on Mount Makalu, the world's fifth-tallest peak at 27,760 feet.

SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Bell customers are less than thrilled with the service they’ve been getting since SBC Communications agreed to buy the company in 1996, according to a recently released survey. 

Pac Bell customers in 19 regions of the local phone service provider’s territory said service had declined since 1995, while customers in four areas said service had improved. 

The Office of Ratepayer Advocates, the consumer advocacy arm of the California Public Utilities Commission, conducted the survey and released the results this week. 

Nearly a third of Pac Bell customers said that repair times and installations involved long waits. Seven years ago, only 19 percent of customers surveyed reported such problems. The consumer advocate office also found customer dissatisfaction when dealing with Pac Bell office personnel. 

Pac Bell denies its performance has suffered in recent years. 

“We are doing better in achieving service quality results than at any time in the past several years,” Chuck Smith, president of network operations for Pac Bell, said earlier this week. “We’re focused on delivering the difference to our customers and we’re proud of our performance.” 

The Office of Ratepayer Advocates sent out 7,200 surveys to a random selection of customers and received roughly 900 responses. 

The exhibition, on display at Traywick Gallery through May 4, marks new ground for a process artist who has documented the marginal events of everyday life, not through the lens of the camera, but via the unlocked complexity of photographic paper.  

Working primarily with black and white paper, the processes Breuer has engineered for composing his “photographic sketches” are remarkable both for their simplicity and their harshness.In the darkroom, he often exposes his paper to an array of items.Milk, Windex, bread, mold, and other objects adopted from familiar routines are recorded on to the paper.  

But Breuer has learned that he can make paper react to stimuli other than light.In different works he subjects the paper to heat guns, drills, irons, knives, and sanders.These devices enable Breuer to manipulate the paper’s emulsion, drawing color from black and white paper and generating a final image whose design is as interesting as its process.  

For his current exhibition at the Traywick, Breuer employs similar processes, but expands his repertoire to include color photographic paper and untreated drawing paper.The new mediums allow Breuer to revisit past methods to create new designs in different settings.  

“It is a challenge to maintain the necessary amount of surprise,” said Breuer who has worked in this realm of photography for over ten years.“As you get to know your material intimately the responses become more predictable.Working with different recording devices and different formats is a way to keep the unknown in the process.”  

Breuer executed two works at the gallery.In both, his processes not only generated an intriguing image on the paper, but also scarred adjacent gallery walls.  

In “Untitled, Zapped” Breuer connected two live wires plugged into an outlet on the gallery’s wall, and then touched them to the drawing paper on the wall, creating a sketch that looks like a meteor zigzagging its way through space.“I have worked with electricity for quite a while, but photographic paper has always been too fast to record the results properly,” said Breuer.  

The sketches exude a mysterious quality.Breuer chooses to name all of his work “Untitled”, but offers the observer a written clue as to how the sketch was created. 

“I don’t want to direct the viewer too much,” said Breuer.“There is no right way or wrong way to see a piece.”  

“Untitled,(C-38) chromogenic paper, sanded” at first glance looks like a photograph of a star-filled sky.But on closer inspection, the pellets of light layered on the negative’s surface are so fuzzy that the image best resembles what might be seen when one stares directly into cupped hands placed directly over one’s eyes.  

To achieve this affect, Breuer used sand paper to abrade the surface of the chromogenic paper and then developed the picture as a negative.  

Breuer’s art displays a softness and elaborate richness that belie its origins.Not surprisingly, he acknowledges that he makes aesthetic choices in his work.“I consider much of my work a walk a long this line: (between) the desire to control the outcome and the realization that these impulses need to be held in check.”  

NEW YORK — A Wall Street TV showdown began Friday night as financial journalist Louis Rukeyser returned to the air. 

Less than a month after his unexpected exit as host of public television’s “Wall $treet Week,” he was back with a brand-new show, “Louis Rukeyser’s Wall Street,” on financial cable network CNBC. 

“Well, as I was saying when I was so rudely interrupted,” he began, wearing his avuncular smirk, “welcome back.” 

“How has Wall Street behaved in my brief, unintended three-week absence?” he continued. “The financial markets went on a three-week crying jag, ending only this week .... Purely a coincidence, I’m sure.” 

The 69-year-old Rukeyser is poised directly opposite “Wall $treet Week,” the program he created 32 years ago then quit last month rather than go along with producer Maryland Public Television’s plan to demote him and bring in younger hosts. 

The format for Rukeyser’s new show seemed almost identical to his old show — a leisurely and gentlemanly chatfest with market experts discussing financial affairs, conducted in what looked like a woody, leathery salon. 

Over on PBS at the same time, “Wall $treet Week” was hewing to somewhat the same format, but instead of Rukeyser, it was Ray Brady, formerly of CBS News, who filled in. 

Taped a couple of hours before airtime, Rukeyser’s new show originates from CNBC studios in Fort Lee, N.J., while “Wall $treet Week” continues from MPT headquarters in Owings Mills, Md. 

It was in March that MPT created a firestorm by announcing plans to modernize the show and naming Fortune magazine editor Geoffrey Colvin as host. That revamped version, to be unveiled in June, will be called “Wall $treet Week with Fortune.” 

Longtime fans of Rukeyser were aghast at the news, but immediately Rukeyser put himself on the market and, April 9, announced he would set up shop at CNBC, which is offering the program to PBS stations as well. 

Despite being a commercial network, CNBC is airing his show with underwriter support and no advertising interruptions — the same sort of arrangement public television enjoys. Shrewdly hedging its bets Friday, Oppenheimer Funds partially underwrote each rival show. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Ward Connerly proposes a California so colorblind that government officials would not be allowed to classify people by race. 

Voters will get to decide as early as November whether they share that vision. A signature drive ending Friday appears to have gained enough support to put his Racial Privacy Initiative on the state’s ballot. 

Six years ago, Connerly’s Proposition 209 abolished affirmative action in California. His latest ballot measure would ban state and local governments from recording race. Critics say the change would wreck anti-discrimination efforts in law enforcement, public health, education and other areas. 

Connerly believes gathering race data does not help people, and certainly cannot prove discrimination. The NBA, he said, is disproportionately black, but “does that mean the NBA is discriminating against whites or Asians or Latinos?” 

The proposition does sound good to Ricardo Guajardo, a 20-year-old Mexican-American student at the San Francisco Academy of Art. 

“It’s none of their business,” Guajardo said. “We’re all people whether we are black, white or Asian. We should all be treated equally.” 

Of course that’s true, say Connerly’s critics, but the data helps the state spot areas where whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians are treated differently by everyone from loan officers and landlords to teachers and doctors. 

“It’s a little bit like burning books to me,” said Carmen Nevarez, a doctor and medical director at the Berkeley-based Public Health Institute. “Why would you take a piece of information that’s useful and say it’s against the law?” 

Ailments such as breast cancer, diabetes and asthma afflict each race differently, Nevarez said. Eliminating race from the patient’s chart could obscure a disease cluster among one racial group and delay its treatment. 

On Friday, Connerly’s American Civil Rights Coalition will submit nearly 1 million signatures in support of his Racial Privacy Initiative. If state and county agencies certify by June 24 that 670,000 of the names are legitimate, voters will decide in November. 

Otherwise, it’s spring 2004, which Connerly would prefer. He doesn’t want the initiative to become a wedge issue in the governor’s campaign leading up to this November. 

The delay would also allow for a more aggressive publicity campaign. Connerly said he’s already raised and spent $2 million, but much of that went to professional signature-gathering firms. 

Those firms failed to get the million-plus signatures that could have enabled them to use a faster, statistical method of qualifying the proposition, so each of the state’s 58 counties must review the signatures. 

Connerly said he thinks the counties will meet the June deadline for the November ballot, but he’ll be happier if they miss it. 

“I don’t know if now’s the right time or not,” Connerly said. “All I can say, is if not now, when?” 

For critics, the answer is never. 

Veronica Keiffer, a 26-year-old diversity consultant in Fremont, said Connerly’s idea is good — in principle — but ultimately naive. 

“We are a race-based society,” said Keiffer, the daughter of a white mother and a black father. “To say, ‘Let’s just not use race, we’re not going to use those terms anymore,’ is pretty much saying, ‘I’ll pretend you’re like me and race doesn’t matter,’ when we know it does.” 

SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Bell customers are less than thrilled with the service they’ve been getting since SBC Communications agreed to buy the company in 1996, according to a recently released survey. 

Pac Bell customers in 19 regions of the local phone service provider’s territory said service had declined since 1995, while customers in four areas said service had improved. 

The Office of Ratepayer Advocates, the consumer advocacy arm of the California Public Utilities Commission, conducted the survey and released the results this week. 

Nearly a third of Pac Bell customers said that repair times and installations involved long waits. Seven years ago, only 19 percent of customers surveyed reported such problems. The consumer advocate office also found customer dissatisfaction when dealing with Pac Bell office personnel. 

Pac Bell denies its performance has suffered in recent years. 

“We are doing better in achieving service quality results than at any time in the past several years,” Chuck Smith, president of network operations for Pac Bell, said earlier this week. “We’re focused on delivering the difference to our customers and we’re proud of our performance.” 

The Office of Ratepayer Advocates sent out 7,200 surveys to a random selection of customers and received roughly 900 responses.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Sun Microsystems Inc. posted a slim third-quarter loss that beat Wall Street expectations by a penny, though the company — still faced with slumping demand for high-powered network servers and workstations — had sequentially flat revenues. 

The company also said Thursday afternoon it planned to cut 1,000 jobs from its staff of roughly 39,000 over the next six to nine months. The layoffs will come through attrition, performance reviews and paring redundancies, the company said. 

For the three months ended March 31, the Palo Alto-based network equipment maker reported a net loss of $37 million, or a penny per share, on revenues of $3.1 billion. In the comparable period last year, Sun earned $136 million, or 4 cents a share, on revenue of $4.1 billion. 

Excluding one-time items, the company said it lost $26 million, or a penny a share, compared to a profit of $145 million, or 4 cents a share, in the year-ago period. 

Analysts were projecting a loss of 2 cents a share on revenue of $3.2 billion for the third quarter, according to a survey by Thomson Financial/First Call. 

Sun officials said the economic environment is still challenging, but the company still expects to return to profitability in the current quarter as previously forecast. 

“My take is that activity level is increasing, but you still have to fight for every deal,” Ed Zanders, company president and chief operating officer, told analysts during a conference call. “Every CIO is forced to do more with less.” 

After strong growth during the high-tech boom, Sun was hit hard as large companies reduced spending and dot-coms shut down. 

But Sun has been executing well in controlling costs and introducing new products, said Eric Rothdeutsch, analyst with Robertson Stephens. Yet with demand still weak, the company’s revenue is inevitably affected, he said. 

“They’re doing the right things,” and that should help the company sustain profitability from the current quarter onward, said Brent Bracelin, a Pacific Crest Securities analyst. 

In addition, if IT spending starts to pick up again in the second half of the year as some industry observers expect and companies continue to migrate toward even higher-end servers, Sun is in a good position to benefit, analysts say. 

“Folks are coming up on three-year maintenance contracts that are starting to expire, and they’re looking to move from, say, 10 servers down to five, and that plays well into Sun’s core market,” Bracelin said. 

Shares of Sun rose 29 cents to close at $8.52 in regular trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, and fell 27 cents to $8.25 in after-hours trading. 

For the nine months ending in March, the company said it lost $648 million on revenues of $9.1 billion. In the same period a year ago, the company earned $1 billion on sales of $14.2 billion.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — A former senior vice president for Advanced Micro Devices Inc. claims in a lawsuit that the computer chip maker’s top two officials humiliated him and forced him out because he is an Arab-American. 

Walid Maghribi’s lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in San Jose claims the discrimination started after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. 

Maghribi said AMD’s president, Hector Ruiz, and its founder and chief executive, Jerry Sanders, made ethnic slurs and gave him demeaning tasks that led him to quit his job on March 1 after 16 years with the company. Ruiz is set to succeed Sanders as CEO this year. 

AMD spokesman John Greenagel called the lawsuit “utterly without merit” and said the Sunnyvale-based company would fight it. 

Maghribi made more than $1.5 million in salary and bonuses with AMD last year, according to records filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

He contends Sanders began to treat him poorly after learning that Maghribi, who was born in Lebanon, is an Arab and a Muslim, and said the CEO withdrew his support for a business deal Maghribi was overseeing. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Williams-Sonoma Inc. said Wednesday it has raised its guidance for 2002 and the first two fiscal quarters of the year, citing stronger sales, better-than-expected gross margins and the success of its cost-management initiatives. 

The San Francisco home-product retailer also declared a 2-for-1 stock split, payable May 9 to shareholders of record April 29. The company hopes to improve market liquidity and demonstrate its confidence in the long-term growth of its brands through this move. 

Williams-Sonoma has about 57 million shares outstanding. Shares of Williams-Sonoma were up $5.49, or more than 11.5 percent, to close at $52.85 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday. 

For the 2002 fiscal first quarter ending May 5, Williams-Sonoma expects to earn 17 cents to 19 cents a share, up from a previous view of 3 cents to 4 cents a share and analysts’ consensus estimate of 4 cents a share, according to Thomson Financial/First Call. 

It expects first-quarter revenue of $465 million to $475 million, up from an earlier estimated range of $461 million to $471 million. 

In the first quarter 2001, the company earned $492,000, or 1 cent a share. 

“This is the strongest first-quarter performance in the history of the company,” Chairman Howard Lester said in a release. 

While boosting its guidance, Williams-Sonoma also revised its previous fourth quarter and 2001 financial results, citing changes to its accounting of revenue recognition. 

The firm’s decision follows much-publicized Securities and Exchange Commission inquiries on revenue-recognition practices in various industries. 

Williams-Sonoma worked with the SEC and decided to recognize revenue when it delivered for all merchandise shipped to customers from its distribution warehouses. 

As a result, earnings for the fourth quarter and 2001 declined $1.01 million, or 2 cents a share, putting revised fourth-quarter earnings at $69.4 million, or $1.18 a share, on revenue of $778 million. 

On March 11, the company posted initial fourth-quarter earnings of $70.4 million, or $1.20 a diluted share, on revenue of $787.4 million. 

Berkeley Earth Day 2002 – the 32nd anniversary of the national environmental awareness day – is Saturday. 

This year a free event in Civic Center Park will commemorate and celebrate Earth Day with an Eco-Motion Parade beginning at 11 a.m. Children and adults will walk, bike, use electric go carts, cars and other non-polluting transportation, according to Karen Hester, the coordinator for Berkeley Earth Day. 

“We celebrate different types of alternative transportation,” Hester said. “We have a three-person solar powered skateboard.” 

This parade, although small, is very spirited, Hester said, with a normal attendance of several hundred people. 

Hester, an outspoken environmentalist, has been organizing the event for eight years. Since its inception, the city of Berkeley has invested money for environmental education as well as a way for families to celebrate by spending quality time together. 

“It is a way for people to get information about how to walk more lightly on the planet,” Hester said. 

Berkeley Earth Day 2002 will also feature a number of booths, including the Ecology Center, the Sierra Club, the Berkeley Farmer’s Market and the California Donor Transplant Network, which will give people the opportunity to recycle themselves, she said. 

Other participants with booths include such topics as residential solar power, bee keeping, candle making and Save the Bay. 

Kirk Lumpkin, the special events coordinator for the Berkeley Farmer’s Market, said the group is expecting a large turnout at the Market setup. 

“Our organization will have a bunch of environmental topics,” Lumpkin said. “We’ll have some petitions there. It is an opportunity to ask questions.” 

Children will get to plant seeds as part of the Bay Area Seed Interchange Library. The Farmer’s Market will also have information about the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters and the Berkeley Community Gardening Collaborative. 

Further information will be available for teachers about Terrain for Schools, a program that can be instituted into the teacher’s curriculum, Lumpkin said. Farmers will talk about issues in agriculture. 

Other activities for Earth Day 2002 include Venezuelan, Hawaiian, funk, rock and West African dance music. Interested residents also may climb a wall, do children’s Eco-Art, eat vegetarian food and beer, and go on bicycle hayrides. 

Meanwhile, at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Regional Park, the annual California native plant sale involves plants not available in commercial nurseries, according to Ned MacKay with the East Bay Regional Park District. Sale plants include bulbs, manzanitas, sages, firs, Ceanothus, native grasses and Douglas Iris, among others. 

“All sales benefit the Botanic Garden and its programs,” according to MacKay. 

The garden is located on Wildcat Canyon Road at the foot of South Park Drive near the Brazil Building in Tilden Regional Park. Admission is free. For more information, call (510) 841-8732. 

In 1970, Earth Day was established when 20 million Americans took to the streets to demonstrate for a healthy environment. Here in the Bay area, events run from Saturday through April 28. 

For more information about Berkeley Earth Day 2002, go to www.bayareaearthday.net or visit Hester’s Web site at www.hesternet.net. 

To The Editor: 

On Saturday, April 20, there will be simultaneous rallies in several American cities to protest aspects of the current administration's “War on Terrorism.” In the current political climate, I fear there are many citizens and members of the media who will condemn such protests as unpatriotic, offensive, or otherwise threatening. 

I am writing to remind all of us that we live in a democracy whose very heart and soul is the freedom of individual expression and the peaceful, public exchange of differing ideas. 

These, along with our voting rights, are the core of what we call “the democratic process” which shapes our public policy. 

Many of us who sincerely love our country believe that the best interests of the United States are not currently being served and the issues are not being adequately debated. We reject the bleak vision of an “endless war” as the only solution. We are defiantly concerned that our civil rights are being eroded further with each new potential “threat.” 

We are suspicious that our government is exploiting the very real national and human tragedy of last September to promote its much narrower military, social and economic agenda. And we are truly saddened and appalled that our nation is threatening to use its military power all over the globe and in violation of the borders of every sovereign nation which does not cooperate with us. 

You may not agree with these views, but I trust and hopethat you will welcome our constructive protests as the encouraging signs of a healthy and vibrant democracy, not as something disrespectful or unpatriotic. 

- Arianne Stocking 

San Rafael 

The Flying Karamazov Brothers started out as street jugglers from U.C. Santa Cruz who performed around San Francisco in the mid-1970s. I remember watching them work a crowd of tourists one afternoon at the end of the Hyde Street cable car line near Fisherman’s Wharf. 

In 1983, Robert Woodruff (co-founder of San Francisco’s Eureka Theatre, and incoming artistic director of Harvard University’s renowned American Repertory Theatre) cast them in a vaudeville-style production of Shakespeare’s "Comedy of Errors." 

That show played the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and New York’s Lincoln Center. It was later taped and shown on PBS. 

"Comedy of Errors" put the Flying Karamazov Brothers on the map. Since then the brothers have played prestigious venues worldwide. 

On Tuesday, the Flying Karamazov Brothers opened their new show "L’Universe" at the Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theater. This is not a production by the Berkeley Rep, but a rental of the theatre to an outside group. The Brothers will be there for a month. 

In some scenes of "L’Universe," the brothers play scientists Aristotle, Galileo, Newton and Einstein. They do a patter about science while they juggle. Fancy electronic equipment allows them to perform selected segments using computerized visual and musical effects. 

But the show, written by brothers Paul Magid and Howard Jay Patterson, is an episodic hodge-podge with no real story or center or evolution or build. It’s a string of segments, some of which work better than others. And running more than two hours, it’s a long string of segments. 

In one of the better bits, a wired virtual suit turns an audience volunteer into a human musical instrument, as the brothers guide him through a very complex and amusing set of instructions. In another funny moment, three brothers use their six hands in changing combinations to share tasks of juggling while playing a guitar and flute. 

But many of the segments lack flair. Early on, for example, one brother juggles in sync and then out of sync with his shadow, which is played by a different brother behind a back-lit scrim. Since the brothers are not precision movement performers, the effect looks sloppy. 

Elsewhere they play volleyball, of sorts, with the moon projected on a large computer screen upstage, bringing in an audience member to join the game. The edges of the ball on the screen, however, interact imprecisely with the human hands hitting it, taking much of the gas out of the illusion. 

Later Galileo (Mark Ettinger) sings his story while playing the accordion. The song is supposed to be funny, but isn’t. 

See KARAMAZOV/Page 22 

Elsewhere the brothers bang gongs on large pendulums to play out a simple tune after Newton (Patterson) makes points about the laws of motion. The choreography in this segment is weak. 

In general, the brothers are not particularly strong actors. They are street satirists, and when they have to act, they’re in trouble. 

Further, the show’s vaunted M.I.T. computer gadgetry proves anticlimactic. Its effects are not put to skillful story or performance use compared with, say, one of George Coates’ high-tech extravaganzas. The musical segments seem amateurish. 

Nor is the science part of the script particularly entertaining or insightful. Aristotle (Roderick Kimball), for example, says he made up his scientific theories and didn’t mean them. Is that funny? 

There is a simplistic redneck anti-science feel to it all. When Einstein cites two people hugging as an example of gravitational force, you realize that the brothers are unclear on the concept. 

Their idea in this show that juggling is behind the mystery of the universe may be true, but when it comes to employing the details of the history of physics and cosmology in their script, the brothers are in over their heads. 

"L’Universe," presented by the Flying Karamazov Brothers at Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theater, 2025 Addison Street, through May 19. Call (510) 647-2949, or visit www.fkb.com.

Ongoing

Community Produce Stands 

Affordable, high-quality nutritious fresh fruit, vegetables, eggs and apple juice. Organic and low residue produce. Support small independent African -American, Latino and Asian Farmers continue to farm in environmentally sound ways. 

4 to 6 p.m., every Tuesday 

Three Locations:  

The Young Adult Project at Oregon and Grant, Bahia on Eighth Street at James Kenny Park and The Berkeley Youth Alternative at Bonar and Allston Way. 

Michelangelo Did This? 

8 p.m. 

Thurs, Fri., Sat. through May 11th 

Exit Theatre 

156 Eddy St. 

San Francisco 

$16-$20 

415-981-6444 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church 

941 The Alameda 

Share your slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. 525-3565. 

Low-Cost Hatha Yoga Class 

6:30 p.m. 

James Kenney Recreation Center 

1720 8Eighth St. 

$6 per class. 981-6651. 

Mandela Arts DJ Workshop 

For ages 16-22 

Tuesdays 6:30-8 p.m. 

1357 5Fifth St. (across from West Oakland BART) 

Oakland 

Free 

National Credit Union Youth Week 

Cooperative Center Federal Credit Union offers any Berkeley youth between ages 1 to 17 a $5 credit when they open a “Youth Savers” account along with a “Financial Smartz” Educational packet with $15 of gift certificates. 

2001 Ashby 

Berkeley 

Friday, April 19

City Commons Club 

12:30 p.m. 

2315 Durant Ave.  

“Whither U.S. - Japan Relations?” Steven Vogel, Professor of Political Science, UC Berkeley. $1. 848-3533. 

Hip-Hop for Vieques 

A night of Culture and Food: Prophets of Rage, DJ’s, Grupo Folklorico Raule Afro-Puerto Rican Drumming and Dancing 

8 p.m.- doors open and dinner begins 

1928 Telegraph (Between 19th and 20th- 19th St. BART) 

$6 before 10 p.m. 

510-389-5660 

Mandela Arts Freestyle Fridays 

Dancing, Hip-Hop, Breakdancing, Live DJ 

5-8:30 p.m. 

1357 Fifth St. (near West Oakland BART), Oakland 

Free 

Homebody/Kabul 

(Previews begin) 

Through June 23rd 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre 

2025 Addisons St., Berkeley 

Previews, $38, Tue/Th (8 p.m.) $42, Wed (7 p.m.), Thu/Sat/Sun matinee (2 p.m.), Sun (7 p.m.) $44, Wed opening/Fri eve (8 p.m.) $47, Sat (8 p.m.) $54 

Discounts: 20 half price HotTix go on sale at noon Tues. - Fri., Student/Senior half-price Rush one half hour before curtain, $16 for under 30, with valid ID, some restrictions apply. 

510-647-2949 or 888 4BRTTix, www.berkeleyrep.org 

Marimba Pacifica 

The Bay Area’s Premiere Marimba ensemble, a unique mixture of joyous World Beat dance music along with first Bay Area appearance of Dijaly Kunda Kouyate, traditional Griot Music from West Africa.  

Doors 8:30 p.m., music 9 p.m. 

Ashkenaz 

San Pablo at Gilman 

$10 

510-525-5054 or band and CD info 510-532-3579 

Standup Comedy 

8 p.m. 

Julia Morgan Theater 

2640 College Ave. 

A special one night only East bay appearance by standup comedian Scott Capurro. $16.50. 925-798-1300, www.scottcapurro.com 

A Benefit for The Cartoon Museum 

The Rent Party 

Live music by Nik Phelps & the Sprocket Ensemble, animation by Jason Shiga and other artists. Partygoers mix & mingle with talented cartoonists and comic-book creators.  

8 p.m. 

The Cartoon Art museum 

655 Mission St. 

San Francisco 

$15-$35 

415-CAR-TOON, www.cartoonart.org 

Saturday, April 20

Berkeley Alliance of  

Neighborhood Associations  

meeting 

9:30-11a.m. 

Live Oak Park 

1301 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley 

Hear the latest news for the city wide network and confab for neighbors and their groups.  

849-4619 

California State Parks  

Foundation’s Earth Day  

Clean-up.  

Forty Eight State and Community Parks throughout California host a variety of projects including recycling bin installation, planting of native trees and flowers, restoration of trails and wildlife habitats and an underwater cleanup along the coast. Volunteers of all ages needed  

9 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

For more information about volunteering for the 2002 Earth Day Restoration and Cleanup call 1-888-98-PARKS or visit the web site at www.calparks.org 

Eastshore State Park - Earth Day Project 

Clean-up Two beaches, removing debris and other materials that have washed up. 100 Volunteers needed, Bring gloves, sturdy shoes, water and sun-block. Supported by Starbucks of Alameda. 

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Meet at Brickyard Beach, behind the Seabreeze Deli, go west off University Avenue from either direction on I-80. 

Further information: 510-544-2515 

Word Beat Reading Series 

7-9 p.m. 

458 Perkins at Grand, Oakland 

Entertainment of kinds come together for this free show, featuring readers “Vampyre” Mike Kassel and Eve Sutton. 

For more information: 526-5985, www.angelfire.com/poetry/wordbeat 

Mumia’s Freedom in a 9-11 World 

7:30 p.m. 

St. Joseph the Worker Church 

1640 Addison 

Historian Howard Zinn and Pulitzer novelist Alice Walker will speak at a legal benefit for death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal. $20. 415-695-7745. 

Annual California Native Plant Sale 

10 - 3 p.m. 

Tilden Park 

Regional Parks Botanical Garden 

South Park Dr. and Wildcat Canyon Rd. 

For more information call 841-8732. 

2nd Annual Self-Care and Wellness Practices Fair 

9 - 3 p.m. 

Alta Bates Hospital 

2450 Ashby 

Self Care and Wellness Practices fair offers participatory workshops and a health fair featuring booths, free consultations, demonstrations, mini-classes and health information. 530-5611 

Community Music Day 

noon - 5 p.m. 

Crowden Music Center 

1475 Rose St. 

Free concerts, an instrument petting zoo, Tatsumaki Taido, and other family activities. 559-6910, www.thecrowdenschool.org.  

Friends of Albany Seniors White Elephant Sale 

10 am - 2 pm 

846 Masonic Ave. 

All proceeds to benefit the Albany Senior Center.  

Home-made crafts, jewelry and baked goods will also be for sale!  

Donations to sell are being eagerly accepted through Friday, April 19th 

Free Puppet Shows 

1:30 and 2:30 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

2230 Shattuck Ave. 

Educational puppet troupe, Kids on the Block, will include puppets from diverse cultures with such conditions as cerebal palsy, blindness, arthritis, Down syndrome, leukemia and spina bifida. Free. 549-1564, www.hallofhealth.org.  

Three Films to Honor Judi Bari/Benefit the Earth First! 

Lawsuit and Heritage Tree  

Initiative 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Fellowship Unitarian Universalists 

1924 Cedar 

“Viva Judi Bari!”; “Timber Gap”; “Conquest of the Giants - Mankind’s Historic View of the World Challenged”; 655-4601.  

Building Education Center 

“Earthquake Retrofiting” seminar taught by Tony DeMascole and seismic contractor Jim Gillett. $75 

10 a.m- 5 p.m. 

812 Page  

525-7610 

Regional Conference and Convergence, World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL)  

10 a.m. until 6 p.m.  

Berkeley Unitarian Fellowship, 1606 Bonita Ave. (at Cedar)  

Public Contact: ARDAC voicemail: 415.364.3053  

The conference will include experts and activists speaking on a variety of issues, including: debunking the myths of animal experimentation, the ABCs of anti-vivisection activism, and the campaign against HLS.  

FREE - Events for WWAIL , will run from Friday April 19th through Monday April 22nd.  

Animal Rights Direct Action Coalition 

740A 14th St. #177, San Francisco, CA 94114 

(415) 364 3053; www.ardac.org 

Low-Cost Hatha Yoga Class 

10 a.m. 

James Kenney Recreation Center 

1720 Eighth St. 

$6 per class. 981-6651. 

The Blessing of the Stained Glass Triptych designed by David Goines 

3 p.m. 

Saint Mary Magdalen Church, Reception Following 

2005 Berryman St. 

Live Afro-Latino Hip-Hop 

\Doors at 9 p.m. 

VooDoo Lounge 

2937 Mission St. 

San Francisco 

415-285-3369 

$8 

UC Davis Picnic Day 

Open House for the University of California, Davis. This hallmark event has been designed to showcase and celebrate the richness of campus life, the diverse achievements of UCD students, staff and faculty and to provide a day of education, information and entertainment for all who attend. There will be more than 150 events throughout campus, including the riotous band “The Blow Kings” who appear in Freeborn Hall from 3-4 p.m.  

http://picnicday.ucdavis.edu/ 

420 Hemp Festival 

Saturday, April 20 and Sunday, April 21 

Zigaboo Modeliste and the New Aahkesstra, Extra Action Marching Band, 20 bands and DJ’s, Hemp Bazaar, Special Guests and more! 

Doors: 4 p.m., show 4:20 p.m.- 4:20 a.m. 

Studio Z (formerly the Transmission Theater) secure parking at 11th and Harrison streets, Saturday $22, Sunday $20 

415-486-8083, Tickets: Cannabisaction.net 

Sunday, April 21

Local RAWA Solidarity Group featuring Jello Biafra presents Heads Up and anti-war collective 

5:00 PM 

924 Gilman St., Berkeley, CA 

All Ages / $5-7 

Featuring: 

Harum Scarum (Portland, OR) 

What Happens Next (SF/BAY, CA) 

Iowaska (U.K.- Alternative Tentacles) 

Fleshies (Oakland, CA – Alternative Tentacles) 

Desobedencia Civil (Mexico D.F.) 

For more details contact: Michelle at (415)282-9784 or e-mail michelle@alternativetentacles.com 

4-20 Free The Herb Celebration 

With Master of Ceremonies, Woody Harrelson and music of Fantuzzi and the Flexibles- a high energy blend or world beat, rainbow music and “Hamsa Lila” a unique blend of North African Music. 

Precita Park 

At Folsom Street and Precita Ave. (One block West of Cesar Chavez) 

Free 

“In Search of a practical Philosophy of Nature” 

Presented by Sterling Bunnell 

We nowadays tend to view nature in strangely contradictory ways -- either as a sacred relic to be kept pristine and under glass or as a resource to be exploited and plundered. Yet in actuality the living world is our community and extended family and we are completely dependent on it for our well-being and survival. Respectful interaction is therefore required. Many 

historical and present examples can show us ways to work with nature for our mutual benefits. 

Fellowship of Humanity 

12 p.m. 

411 28 th Street & 390 27 th Street, ( between Telegraph & Brd.way) 

Oakland, CA 94609 

Tel: 510-451-5818, HumanistHall@yahoo.com 

Music, Animation, Film 

Nik Phelps & Nina Paley will discuss how they work individually and together on projects.  

Reception at 7, talks at 7:30 

The Oakland Art Gallery 

150 Frank Ogawa Plaza 2 

14th & Brd.way, Oakland 

510-268-4978, www.artship.org 

Free 

The Berkeley High boys’ tennis team won their second straight ACCAL title Thursday with a 5-2 win over second-place Alameda, an identical result to the teams’ first meeting a month ago. 

Berkeley (10-1, 8-0 ACCAL) won all three doubles matches in straight sets, and No. 3 single Nate Simmons clinched the ’Jackets’ victory and championship with a grueling three-setter over Patrick Wong, 4-6, 6-0, 6-2. Simmons used a variety of slice and topspin groundstrokes to run his oppenent all over the court, saving a reserve for the end and winning the final five games of the match.  

“I just outlasted (Wong),” Simmons said. “It looked like he gave up at the end. I just wanted to keep the ball alive and on the court and let him make mistakes.” 

Simmons shook off losing the first set with little difficulty. 

“I know that a lot of players will let up a little after winning the first set,” he said. “I focused on winning the first couple games of the second set, and when I won those I knew I was in good shape.” 

No. 4 single Peter Logan put the icing on the cake with Berkeley’s final win of the day over Chris Chung. 

The Hornets (6-2 ACCAL) got their wins in the top singles matches, although not as convincingly as in the first match. On March 26, Berkeley’s Nicky Baum and Jonah Schrogin combined to win just three games; on Thursday, they took nine.  

Baum was again matched up against Alameda ace Daniel Elefant, one of Northern California’s top players. Elefant is a classic baseliner with a booming serve, and Baum wasn’t able to break him and get a streak going, with their match the first to end. 

Schrogin, on the other hand, hung around for quite a while, although he couldn’t get enough momentum to win a set from No. 2 Tommy Tu. Despite Schrogin’s winning just five games, long rallies stretched the match out to nearly two hours. Tu has handed Schrogin his only two losses of the season, but the Berkeley senior knew his teammates would pick him up, just as they did a month ago. 

“Our team is solid all the way through, from No. 1 singles to No. 3 doubles,” Schrogin said. “I don’t feel like I have to win for our team to get a win.” 

The most crowd-pleasing match of the day was at No. 1 doubles. Alameda’s Alex Griffin injected some life into the day with his unusually vocal play, exhorting his teammates while playing his own match. Although partner Gary Chow didn’t join in, the Berkeley team of Quincy Moore and Ben Chambers had a little extra incentive to beat Griffin with the biggest crowd of the year watching. 

“I’d say (Griffin’s) talking raised the intensity level of the match,” Chambers said. 

Moore and Chambers won the first set easily at 6-3, but the Hornet team came back to force a tie-break in the second set. Things stayed knotted until 8-8, when Moore smacked a cross-court winner and Griffin put the next point into the net, giving the ’Jackets their third win of the day. 

Berkeley’s other doubles teams, Takafumi Katsuura and Nick Larsson and Shahaub Roudbari and Harris Epstein, made short work of their opponents. Katsuura and Larsson won 6-3, 6-1, while Roudbari and Epstein won 6-3, 6-4. 

As ACCAL champion, the ’Jackets won an automatic berth in the North Coast Section team playoffs. The NCS seeding committee hasn’t been kind to Berkeley in the past, handing them first-round matches against powerful Campolindo the past two seasons. Berkeley head coach Dan Seguin hopes wins over Head Royce and Piedmont will convince the committee that Berkeley isn’t a weak champion from a weak league. 

“We’re playing well right now, and everyone’s doing their job,” Seguin said. “If we keep it up, we could go a couple rounds into the NCS.” 

Seguin has scheduled a last-minute match against De La Salle for next Friday, and a quality win against the Spartans could help the ’Jackets’ playoff seed.

Community members formally requested an opportunity to evaluate the performance of City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque on Wednesday prior to the annual evaluation of the city manager’s office. 

Members of the Landmark Preservation Commission, currently entangled in a pending lawsuit against the city over a ruling that Albuquerque made regarding the Temple Beth El project and members of Nuclear-Free Berkeley, have openly criticized several of Alburquerque’s rulings. 

Elliott Cohen of Nuclear Free Berkeley recounted several of Alburquerque’s rulings that he found contradictory to the objectives of the citizens of Berkeley.  

“In one ruling the judge actually said to her that she should be arguing the other guy’s case,” Cohen said. 

But the city attorney’s primary responsibility is not to keep commissioners or citizens happy with her decisions by to keep the city out of legal binds and to recoup what is owed to the city, according to Assistant City Attorney Zach Cowan. 

See ATTORNEY/Page 3 

“We defend the city, advise the city and deal with legal issues as they come up,” Cowan said, adding that the city attorney is in large part advising the city on how stay out of legal entanglements. 

He also said that legal interpretations of the law are quite common, and that different interpretations of what is fair is basically at the crux of the pending lawsuit between the city and three members of the Landmark Preservation Commission. 

The lawsuit involves the fact that Albuquerque told four members of the commission who were also in the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association and who had previously weighed in on expansion plans of Temple Beth El to recuse themselves from voting on the issue again because it was in clear violation of the synagogue’s right to due process. 

The commissioners requested outside counsel to weigh in on the ruling. According to Cowan the outside counsel agreed that the commissioners should recuse themselves. 

“And from what I know they took a leave of absence, appointed some other interim commissioners , and then three of the four of them filed a lawsuit against the city about the order,” Cowan said. 

“We stand behind our ruling and it speaks for itself,” he added. 

At present no date has been set for the civil suit between the commissioners and the city. 

Cowan said that in evaluating the city attorney several factors must be taken into consideration and the dissatisfaction of commissioners should not always determine the job the city attorney is doing — even though she essentially works for them. 

“The commissioners being unhappy with the city attorney could reflect on any number of things — including the competence of the commission. The only way to tell is allowing it to play out. If the city attorney continues to make bad rulings, then it reflects badly on her. If the commission continues to ignore her rulings and get into a legal bind, it will reflect badly on them,” Cowan said. “There’s nothing certain in the field of law, that’s the first thing I learned in Law School.” 

Both the Landmark Preservation Commission and the city attorney’s office have been questioned since then. During the redistricting process some community members stated that the city had not properly informed the community of upcoming meetings and hearings. 

More recently the commission was threatened with a lawsuit by the lawyer for UC Berkeley over a recent decision that will slow down the university’s plans to build housing and administrative offices on campus. 

To the Editor: 

The League of Women Voters notes with interest the flurry of letters responding to our letter on the need for low income housing in Berkeley. All the writers agree with us that we should uphold the general plan and its housing element and provide affordable housing while preserving Berkeley's special character. The question then is how do we get there. 

In our letter (published March 30-31), we criticized the down zoning of 10 parcels in the 1100 block of Hearst Ave. as an example of reducing opportunities for creating more low and moderate income housing. The letters published by the Planet supported that downzoning, as did the Planning Commission and, ultimately, seven of nine City Council members. 

The staff report to the City Council, dated Feb. 19, 2002, recommended that the City Council reverse the Planning Commission's decision to downzone on the 1100 block of Hearst Street. We agree with the staff analysis and think the following points are particularly strong: 

- "If the City supports downzoning requests on the basis that the zoning should reflect the existing development density, then the City will effectively eliminate any future housing development opportunities." 

The downzoned area is "within a three-minute walk of two of the City's largest public transportation corridors: San Pablo Avenue and University Avenue....the City should be encouraging the higher densities that are necessary to support efficient public transportation systems." 

- "The character of the Hearst Street neighborhood can be developed and maintained without reducing housing development opportunities...Efforts by the City to ensure quality, well-designed buildings through design guidelines and careful development review will do more to maintain community character than efforts to limit future housing development by downzoning." 

(The full staff report is available at the reference desk of the Central Library.) 

Although the letter writers disagreed with us about the application of General Plan principles in this particular case, we look forward to future discussions in which we may agree on other applications. 

Some of the writers questioned the propriety of the League taking a stand on public policy issues. The writers are mistaken in thinking the League confines itself to pro-con presentations. We often advocate on public policy issues, but we do so only after serious study and discussion of the relevant public policy issues. We invite you to read our recent report "Housing Policy and Progress in Albany, Berkeley and Emeryville." (On our website: http://home.pacbell.net/lwvbae, click on "The League at work" and then on "Housing Action Study." The Main Library has printed copies.) 

We stand by the main point of our earlier letter: we want Berkeley and its neighborhoods to continue to be welcoming to people of all ages, abilities, economic status and ethnic and racial backgrounds. 

Berkeley's diversity is its special character. 

Nancy Bickel, President 

Lois Brubeck, Action Vice President 

Jean Safir, Housing Action Chair

Berkeley High’s boys’ volleyball junior varsity team lived to play another day, and they rewarded Justin Caraway’s decision with a win over De Anza. Unfortunately, their existence doomed the varsity team to a loss. 

The Yellowjacket varsity squad, down to a bare-bones roster of six players, fell 15-12, 15-5, 16-14 to De Anza on Thursday.  

Berkeley (1-6, 1-5 ACCAL) beat the Dons (3-3 ACCAL) to open the season on March 26, their only win of the last two years, but couldn’t muster much of an attack without any substitutes on Thursday. With three players under 5-foot-8 and no way to rotate them out, the ’Jackets were almost constantly stuck with a severe height disadvantage at the net. 

“We did what we could with what we’ve got,” Berkeley head coach Caraway said. “(The smaller players) held their own up there.” 

When varsity starter Ethan Ashley went down with an ankle sprain on Tuesday, Caraway considered abandoning the first-year junior varsity program in order to have a bench for the rest of the varsity season. He decided against it on Wednesday, but admitted he might not have done so if he had known just how short-handed he would be against the Dons. Ed Peszewski, who has suited up in just one game for the ’Jackets due to eligibility issues, was benched once again on Thursday, much to Caraway’s dismay. 

“I thought we’d have Ed when I made the decision about the JV,” Caraway said. “Then I found out just this morning that he still can’t play.” 

Caraway left the door open to pull up the JV players, but Peszewski’s status and Ashley’s response to aggressive treatment will be the deciding factors. 

“We’ll see what happens next week,” Caraway said. 

Thursday’s loss was pretty much inevitable, considering Berkeley’s lack of height and firepower. Junior Robin Roach, already the focal point of the offense, has been a one-man show all season. Although Sam Fuller and Dan Sanders each had four kills, Roach was clearly the target man, receiving sets whenever possible. He finished the game with 11 kills and seven blocks, but whenever the rotation put him in the back row the Berkeley offense went dead. 

“If we can score when Robin’s in front, and hold on when he’s in the back row, we could be okay,” Caraway said. 

That formula didn’t quite work. De Anza had runs of seven and 10 points in the second and third games, respectively, with Roach in the back row. Although the second game quickly got out of hand, the ’Jackets weathered the storm and got Roach back to the net in the final game. He led them on a comeback from down 12-3 to up 13-12, although the streak was interrupted when Berkeley got out of rotation, costing them a point. Roach had five kills and two blocks during the hot stretch. 

That lost point would come back to haunt them, as they went up 14-13 and one more point would have won the game. But a service error gave serve back to the Dons, and after several side-outs, De Anza’s Kelly Sinclair hit two kills to put the game away.

If you like volleyball, you may be in luck. 

The latest proposal from the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee, which is attempting to bring the 2012 Summer Olympics to the region, places indoor volleyball preliminaries and finals, beach volleyball finals and preliminary soccer matches on the UC Berkeley campus. 

But don’t get too excited. Berkeley city officials say they are concerned about the potential traffic impacts of the Games. And BASOC has a long way to go before it brings the Olympics home.  

The Bay Area is vying with three U.S. cities – New York, Washington D.C. and Houston, Texas – to serve as the U.S. representative in the global competition for the Games. 

If the United States Olympic Committee selects the Bay Area in November, after a final site visit in July, BASOC will face off against international rivals like Toronto, Rome and Paris. The International Olympic Committee will make the final choice in 2005. 

See GAMES/Page 22 

The latest Berkeley proposals emerged this month when BASOC, after consulting with the U.S. Olympic Committee, submitted a 300-page addendum to its initial bid. 

The original plan placed preliminary soccer matches, early-round basketball games and the handball finals at UC Berkeley. 

According to BASOC Communications Director Tony Winnicker, the organization changed its plans after the U.S. Olympic Committee, during an August 2001 visit, requested greater use of the campus. 

“They loved Berkeley,” said Winnicker. “They frankly thought we underused the facilities.” 

Winnicker argued that the indoor and outdoor volleyball finals will attract greater attention than the basketball preliminaries, shifted to Santa Clara University, and the handball finals, moved to Oakland Coliseum. 

In addition to Berkeley, Oakland and Santa Clara, Olympic events would take place in San Francisco, San Jose and Palo Alto, among other sites. 

BASOC pulled several events from Sacramento earlier this month and shifted them to the immediate Bay Area to accomodate a U.S. Olympic Committee request that the events be tightly grouped together.  

According to the addendum, 92 percent of the sites will now be within 32 miles of the proposed Olympic village near Mountain View. 

Berkeley elected officials are excited about the prospect of hosting the Olympics, citing the prestige and economic boost the Games would bring to the city. But they are worried about traffic and congestion. 

“Obviously the big question is traffic and can that be handled,” said Mayor Shirley Dean.  

BASOC officials say the Bay Area, notorious for traffic jams, will be able to handle the Olympics. 

“We have the transit, we have a great system, and it will work,” said Robert Stiles, BASOC bid director, at a Wednesday press conference. 

In a recent simulation, Stiles said, the organization matched the busiest day of the Olympics against the Bay Area’s public transit system and found the only required addition would be a new bus service from San Francisco to Stanford. 

BASOC officials say they would also make heavy use of park and ride arrangements, ban private parking at venues – ask for community cooperation in altering work schedules and developing temporary telecommute options – and pay for extra public transit.  

According to Winnicker, the BASOC plan depends upon certain transportation projects already slated for completion by 2012, including BART extensions to San Jose and to the Oakland and San Francisco airports. 

But he added that the Olympics have traditionally served as powerful leverage with state and federal governments to speed up other projects. Winnicker cited the reactivation of the Dumbarton rail bridge and the extension of BART to Fremont as East Bay projects that could benefit. 

BASOC officials expect to generate a $409 million surplus from the Olympics, in large part because 80 percent of the facilities required for the Games are already in place, reducing upfront costs.  

After the U.S. Olympic Committee and International Olympic Committee take their cuts, BASOC will spend $170 million to fund training for aspiring Olympians and Paralympians, Winnicker said. The Paralympics is for the disabled. 

The organization also plans to spend $100 million on local youth sports, arts and environmental projects. 

“A lot of the profits from the Olympics will be left as a legacy for the kids,” said Katrina Radke, a UC Berkeley graduate and swimmer in the 1988 Olympic Games who works with BASOC. 

Winnicker added that BASOC would likely pay to upgrade the UC Berkeley athletic facilities involved in the Games. Current plans call for use of Edwards Stadium, Haas Pavilion, Memorial Stadium and the Recreation Sports Facility.

New details on the Wednesday afternoon assault at Berkeley High School emerged Thursday, as the district began weighing a shift in the BHS safety plan. 

According to Sgt. Kay Lantow, spokesperson for the Berkeley Police Department, the four young men who attacked a BHS student behind the “C” Building Wednesday were apparently Oakland Technical High School students, who first became entangled with the victim at an Oakland Tech prom over the weekend. 

Lantow said the victim and a group of his friends went to Oakland Tech Wednesday morning, before the attack at BHS, to confront the Oakland students over the prom dispute. 

Later in the afternoon, at around 2:30 p.m., the Oakland students traveled to BHS to “finish that argument,” Lantow said. 

The police department would not release the name of the victim because he is a minor. 

Walter Mitchell, an instructional aide and former safety officer at BHS, said he knew something was wrong when he saw the assailants “pick up a jog” after crossing onto campus grounds from Martin Luther King, Jr. Way Wednesday afternoon. 

Mitchell said one of the attackers carried a tire iron wrapped in a towel, and all were keenly focused on the victim. 

“Evidently they knew who they wanted to deal with,” said Mitchell. 

See BHS/Page 6 

Mitchell said the assailants punched the victim, knocked him down and began kicking him. 

“They caught the kid with a couple of good ones,” said safety officer Shannon Brown, who arrived on the scene quickly and covered the victim with his body. 

According to Brown, the assailants fled toward Martin Luther King, Jr. Way and sped off in a late-model white car when other safety officers arrived. 

Shortly thereafter, Lantow said, two groups of Berkeley High School students got into a fight. She said the brawl apparently involved one group of the victim’s friends who blamed another group of the victim’s friends for abandoning him during the attack. 

Brown said the safety officers were short-staffed Wednesday, allowing the assailants to get on campus. But he said the officers handled the incident well once it happened. 

Oakland Tech Vice Principal Julius Green said the administration is investigating the school’s ties to the BHS incident. A spokesperson for the Oakland Police Department said the case is in the Berkeley Police Department’s jurisdiction. 

New safety plan 

District spokesperson Marian Magid said the central administration, working with a group of staff, parents and community members, has been developing a new BHS safety plan to be put in place in May. 

Magid declined to offer specifics while the plan is still in the works, but the Board of Education has voted on one element already. In February, the board elected to lay off BHS security manager Barry Wiggan next year and hand over control of the security operation to a pair of discipline deans who have been in place since January. 

Superintendent Michele Lawrence and high school officials have discussed other potential pieces of the plan in recent months: 

• Lawrence has indicated that she will hire more safety officers.  

• The superintendent has argued that the move from a seven- to a six-period day next year will tighten students’ schedules and prevent extensive wandering around campus. 

• BHS officials have suggested that the school may put more video cameras in place to cover the “dead spots” on campus. 

Today is Friday, April 19, the 109th day of 2002. There are 256 days left in the year. 

Highlight in History: 

On April 19, 1775, the American Revolutionary War began with the battles of Lexington and Concord. 

On this date: 

In 1782, the Netherlands recognized American independence. 

In 1933, the United States went off the gold standard. 

In 1943, during World War II, tens of thousands of Jews living in the Warsaw Ghetto began a valiant but futile battle against Nazi forces. 

In 1945, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Carousel” opened on Broadway. 

In 1951, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, relieved of his Far East command by President Truman, bid farewell to Congress, quoting a line from a ballad: “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.” 

In 1982, astronauts Sally K. Ride and Guion S. Bluford Jr. became the first woman and first African-American to be tapped for U.S. space missions. 

In 1989, 47 sailors were killed when a gun turret exploded aboard the USS Iowa. 

In 1993, the 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, ended as fire destroyed the structure after federal agents began smashing their way in; dozens of people, including David Koresh, were killed. 

In 1995, a truck bomb destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring hundreds. Timothy McVeigh was later convicted of federal murder charges and executed. 

In 1999, the German parliament inaugurated its new home in the restored Reichstag in Berlin, its prewar capital. 

Ten years ago: 

After six days, engineers plugged the tunnel leak under the Chicago River that caused an underground flood that had virtually shut down business in the heart of the city. 

Five years ago:  

More than 50,000 residents abandoned Grand Forks, N.D., as the rising Red River overran sandbags. 

One year ago:  

Pharmaceutical giants dropped a lawsuit against a South African law that could provide cheaper, generic AIDS drugs to millions of Africans, ending an international battle over patent rights and profit. The musical “The Producers” opened on Broadway. Former New Hampshire Gov. Meldrim Thomson died at his home in Orford at age 89. 

Today’s Birthdays:  

Actor Hugh O’Brian is 77. Actress Elinor Donahue is 65. Actor Tim Curry is 56. Pop singer Mark “Flo” Volman (The Turtles; Flo and Eddie) is 55. Tennis player Sue Barker is 46. Recording executive Suge Knight is 37. Actress Ashley Judd is 34. Pop singer Bekka Bramlett is 34. Actor James Franco is 24. Actress Kate Hudson is 23. Actor Hayden Christensen is 21. Actor Courtland Mead is 15. 

Old growth advocates got a political boost from Berkeley City Council by way of a unanimously-supported resolution, which they’ll use as they move forward into a signature drive to get an initiative on the upcoming statewide ballot. 

“We’re excited to get this support,” said Redwood Mary, a leader of the Old Growth Inititiative group. “Our next step will be a huge presence at Earth Day where we hope to get more signatures on the petition. 

According to Mary the group needs approximately 500,000 signatures to get an initiative on the statewide ballot. 

The City Council resolution specified concerns about logging practices in the state of California. Those concerns were origininally brought to the city’s Peace and Justice Commission from a number of citizens gorups — such as the Citizens Campaign for Old Growth Preservation/East Bay, San Francisco Bay Chapter of the Sierra Club, The Ecology Center, Bay Area Coaliton for Headwaters, Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Univesalitsts Social Justice Committee and the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters. 

The signature deadline for the petition is May 31. Earth Day is one of the last remaining large vehicles for the group to get more signautres on the initiative. 

According to Mary, the group has tried unsuccessfully in the past to get the initiative on the ballot and were unable to do so for Novembmer, 2002. The present push for signatures would get the initiative onto the ballot in March, 2004. 

A recent survey conducted by Northwest environmental groups and completed by the research firm Davis & Hibbitts, Inc. of Portland found that 75 percent of people in the Northwest want an end to old-growth logging 

in national forests; that is three out of every four people in the state of Oregon and Washington. 

In the Northwest the issue of old growth has crossed party lines as many timber towns have also begun to soften to the idea of preserving ancient trees.

SAN FRANCISCO — Government investigators violated the privacy rights of a San Francisco city official when they searched her office in 1999 as part of a fraud probe in the city’s minority contracting program, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. 

The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means the government cannot use in court the hundreds of pages of records it seized from Zula Jone’s office. She was the chief compliance officer of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and is accused of using her post to aid the alleged scheme. 

The appeals court, in upholding a federal judge’s ruling, said federal officials needed a search warrant. 

The government declined comment. Lawyers for Jones were not immediately available. 

Jones, 53, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on allegations in which she aided a scheme by which non-minority firms were given city contracts meant for disadvantaged minority-owned firms. She has pleaded innocent. 

It is unknown whether the ruling would affect the government’s case. Public court records are unclear on what was seized. 

As part of the government’s probe, Scott Company of California Inc., of San Leandro, agreed to pay $1.5 million in fines and restitution for scheming to obtain public works jobs meant for the disadvantaged. Robert Nurisso, the firm’s executive vice president, has also pleaded guilty and is expected to receive up to a year in a federally supervised home detention program when sentenced in June.

Alleged cross-bow killer is arraigned in death of housemate 

SAN JOSE — A 47-year-old man accused of fatally shooting his housemate with a crossbow was arraigned in court Thursday. 

Richard McPherson was charged with murder and assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly beating two female housemates with a frying pan before killing a fourth housemate. 

McPherson faces life in prison if convicted, according to prosecutor Deputy District Attorney Ben Field. McPherson, who has previous felony convictions, also faces being prosecuted under California’s three-strikes law. 

Police were called to McPherson’s home Tuesday and found the body of Duane Simmons, 43, with an arrow in his abdomen. They also found McPherson, who had tried to hang himself from a tree in the back yard. He had slashed both his forearms and was covered in blood. 

“It just looked like this guy went ... almost berserk,” said Sgt. Steve Dixon said Wednesday. 

McPherson’s housemates believe drugs may have played a role in his rampage. McPherson, who had recently lost his job at a glass company, had been under financial pressure and was having trouble making the rent, his housemates said. 

McPherson is set to enter a plea on Monday. His bail was set at $2.5 million. 

200 transit workers to be laid off 

SAN JOSE — About 200 transit workers will be laid off in Santa Clara County, marking the first time in a decade the transit district has had to cut its work force. 

The layoffs follow the largest drop in sales tax receipts in the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s history, accounting for a $34 million deficit. An additional 100 positions that are now vacant will be eliminated. 

Pete Cipolla, the authority’s general manager, said the layoffs would occur by the end of June. Drivers and mechanics are the most at risk. 

A number of steps have already been taken in response the mounting problems, including halted projects, freezing jobs and nearly depleting the agency’s $72.5 million cash reserves. 

But Cipolla says it may not be enough if the economy doesn’t bounce back soon. 

“We could be going through this again in a few more months,” Cipolla said. 

Officials say the cutbacks are directly linked to Silicon Valley’s economy. Nearly 90 percent of the operating funds come from a local sales tax and passenger fares, both of which have gone south since the dot-com crash. 

Oakland and Caltrans settle $12 million dispute over land 

OAKLAND — A $12 million, seven-year deal between Oakland and Caltrans marks the end of a heated battle over a 26-acre parcel of land. 

Wednesday’s deal paves the way to start building the new Bay Bridge, but puts an end to Mayor Jerry Brown’s dream of developing a casino while in office. 

“As promised, we are moving full steam ahead,” Caltrans spokesman Dennis Trujillo said. 

The dredging of the Bay will soon begin where the new bridge will replace and run next to the old span between Oakland and Yerba Buena Island. The 26-acre site was needed to start loading equipment. 

Last month, Caltrans seized 52 acres at the eastern end of the bridge, invoking an obscure federal regulation that forced the U.S. Army to hand the land over. Oakland sued to block the action. 

The fight was mainly over the 26-acre site. Brown had hoped to develop it as a casino, but Caltrans wanted to use it to avoid incurring an extra $30 million in construction costs by staging work further away. 

Caltrans agreed to pay the city $12 million up front, plus an extra $2.4 million a year if the work goes past 2009 to compensate for lost development rights and lost port business. 

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - Urban growth experts speaking Tuesday in San Francisco said cities and counties need economic incentives from the state before they will adopt smarter building plans for urban areas. 

Heller-Manus Architects Principal Jeffrey Heller and Gary Binger, director of the Urban Land Institute's California Smart Growth Initiative, said at a San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association meeting that smart development will be a key factor in managing the Bay Area's future growth but a nonexistent top down strategy makes it difficult to implement. 

“There is no reward for cities and counties that practice smart growth,'' Binger said. “Certainly not from the state.'' 

Associates with Heller-Manus Architects performed case studies on five San Francisco districts and developed placards, complete with black-and-white aerial photos, that explain why some places are better to live and work in than others. 

North Beach is cited as an excellent example of how urban growth can be successfully managed because the buildings, beautiful as some of them are, are not the focal point of the neighborhood. The buildings might be built right out to the sidewalk but the numerous alleys promote foot traffic and open up the interior of blocks. Landmarks like Coit Tower make orientation easy and Washington Square provides much needed green space. 

A poor example of urban planning is the Western Addition, according to the case studies. Geary Boulevard, a major transportation corridor for the western part of the city, split the neighborhood and the planning that occurred south of the boulevard is proving to be unsuccessful. 

“Urban renewal in the 1960s, modeled on the ill-advised dictates of the European International style, destroyed the fine-grained pattern by eliminating streets to create superblocks and introducing out-of-scale streets and buildings,'' the study said. 

A couple of suggestions made by the study to fix up the Western Addition would be to tear down traces of the Central Freeway ramps and to build housing that better matches San Francisco's style. However, this presents a problem that is central to what Binger and Heller said is wrong with the ways cities are being built. 

Cities and developers need economic incentives and direction from the state to shape growth that is not only profitable but also intelligent from an urban planning perspective. 

A good way to do this, according to Binger, would be for the state to redistribute its transportation monies so cities and developers have a reason to incorporate intelligent public transit systems in future developments. The case studies cited North Beach's solid public transportation system as a reason for its success and plans to expand underground subways into Chinatown and North Beach as proof that the area will be strong in the future.

WASHINGTON - Two "superplumes" of molten rock appear to be powering through the boundary between the Earth's upper and lower mantle, perhaps feeding volcanoes and affecting movement of the planet's crust. 

New evidence of the superplumes — located beneath the south central Pacific Ocean and southern Africa — comes from studies of seismic waves conducted by scientists at the University of California at Berkeley and reported in Friday's issue of the journal Science. 

Smaller regions of magma rising to the Earth's crust power volcanoes and other hot spots. But the superplumes come from far deeper, crossing the boundary between the upper and lower mantle about 400 miles deep, an area that had been thought by some scientists to impede the flow of material. 

"Emphasis so far has been on the cold down-moving subducted plates and their critical role in mantle dynamics. We think the superplumes play an important role as well," researcher Barbara Romanowicz said. 

When two of the planet's large surface plates collide, one slips beneath the other in a process called subduction. This can generate earthquakes and volcanoes along the boundary. 

The study seeks to focus attention on the hot material rising upward from the base of the mantle — the partially molten region that extends about 1,740 miles from the Earth's core to its crust, or lithosphere. 

"The hot material brought under the lithosphere by the superplumes then spreads out horizontally toward mid-ocean ridges," Romanowicz explained. The ridges are often active volcanic areas. 

The material heats up the region under the plates that cover the Earth's surface and thus may be an active contributor to their movement. 

David Bercovici, a professor of geology and geophysics at Yale University, said there had been other indications of the superplumes, such as variations in the Earth's gravity field in those areas. He was pleased to see the plumes identified using seismic measurements 

"It's not hugely surprising to see upwellings at these regions, but it's nice to see they are distinct," he said. 

Romanowicz and Yuancheng Gung were able to develop images that indicate the presence of the superplumes by measuring the movement of seismic waves through the Earth. 

Romanowicz said they used elastic tomography, a process that measures the movement of seismic waves to chart the interior of the planet, somewhat like a CAT scan machine uses X-rays to look inside a person. 

She said that the exact temperature of the plumes has not been determined but they may be as much as several hundred degrees hotter than the surrounding material. 

"We do not know precisely because the images we have are still not very well resolved, and the actual temperature may depend on whether the superplumes are — like we see them now — wide, thick conduits several thousand kilometers across, or whether they are composed of several narrower plumes grouped together," she said. 

"Generally, it is assumed that only about 10 percent of the heat that comes out at the surface of the Earth comes from the earth's core. This number may thus be underestimated, perhaps as much as by a factor of two," she added. 

Regions above the superplumes tend to bulge upward. 

The plateaus of southern and eastern Africa are about 1,600 feet higher than most old continental areas in the world, she pointed out. This is referred to as the "African superswell." 

Also, she said, heat flow from the Earth's interior measured in a wide area of southern Africa is higher than expected, indicating that an unusually large supply of heat must be coming from underneath. 

There are volcanoes in Africa and in the southern Atlantic Ocean that could be related to the superplume in the same way as Hawaii and other hotspot volcanoes in the southern Pacific may be related to the Pacific superswell, she said.

SAN FRANCISCO — Chanting, “Racist fashion’s got to go,” more than 100 Asian-Americans protested Thursday outside an Abercrombie & Fitch store. 

They were upset about a line of controversial T-shirts, including one depicting two slant-eyed men in conical hats and the slogan “Wong Brothers Laundry Service — Two Wongs Can Make it White.” 

After receiving dozens of complaints, the company was removing the T-shirts from all of the company’s 311 stores in 50 states, company spokesman Hampton Carney said Thursday. 

“We’re very, very, very sorry,” Carney said. “It’s never been our intention to offend anyone.” 

But the protesters said that wasn’t enough. They read a list of demands they intend to deliver to the company. 

“It’s unacceptable for them to smear and continue to perpetuate racist stereotypes of Asian-Americans,” said Ivy Lee, 30, an attorney at Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach. “They wouldn’t do the same for any other ethnic groups. We need a public apology for Asian-Americans who buy a lot of their goods.” 

The protesters also demanded the company publish a public apology in four major newspapers, increase philanthropy and investment in the Asian community and hire consultants to ensure sensitivity on Asian issues. 

They also asked the company to develop an ad campaign with positive images of minorities and encourage customers to return the T-shirts for a refund. 

“The fact they put it on the shelves is an insult to the Asian-American community,” said Alameda resident Peter Ho, as he marched outside the store carrying a sign that read, ’Don’t support racism. Don’t shop at Abercrombie & Fitch.’ “To have them think this is just a fashion statement is just a slap in the face.” 

Activists in other parts of the country were also urging people to call or write the company to complain. Some asked people to boycott stores. 

Carney could not say how many of the T-shirts would be pulled from stores, or how much the recall would cost the New Albany, Ohio-based casual sportswear company. The T-shirts, which went on sale in some stores Friday for $24.50, also were removed from the company’s Web site, Carney said. 

“These graphic T-shirts were designed with the sole purpose of adding humor and levity to our fashion line,” Carney said. 

One of the company’s T-shirts features a smiling Buddha figure with the slogan “Abercrombie and Fitch Buddha Bash — Get Your Buddha on the Floor.” Another reads “Wok-N-Bowl — Let the Good Times Roll — Chinese Food & Bowling.” 

The protesters, who included former city Supervisor Mabel Teng and Stanford University students, said the T-shirts are particularly hurtful because they poke fun at a period in history when laundry and restaurant work were among the few employment opportunities available to Asians because of discrimination. 

Carney said the company received about 60 complaints Wednesday about the shirts. Abercrombie makes fun of everyone, Carney said, noting the company’s previous clothing designs have included football coaches, snow skiers and Irish-Americans. 

Carney said he didn’t know yet how the company would respond to the activists’s demands. Abercrombie is now concentrating on getting shirts off the shelves, he said. 

But Christine Chen, executive director of the Organization of Chinese Americans, said she plans to e-mail several thousand Asian-Americans asking them to check that shirts are removed from stores, and to voice their opinions to Abercrombie. 

“I don’t want them to think it was only 60 people that were complaining,” Chen said of the company. “It was really a larger, broader community that’s concerned with this issue.” 

Michelle Myers, who lives outside of Philadelphia, Pa., said she will ask students in her Asian-American literature and history class, and audiences who attend her spoken word performances, to boycott Abercrombie stores. 

“As an Asian-American person, I’m just tired of being constantly disrespected by mainstream corporations and businesses,” said Myers, 30. 

In Minneapolis, Minn., Bao Phi, 27, is telling people to boycott Abercrombie until it pledges that such designs won’t be repeated. 

“The fact is, they’ve already made money out of our exploitation,” Phi said. “We have to hold the company accountable.” 

It’s not the first time the company, which targets college students, has come under fire. Last year, women’s organizations and conservative politicians rallied against it for its ads featuring young, barely clad models in sexually suggestive poses. 

Still, Mabel Kuupua Kim said she wasn’t bothered by the new T-shirts. 

“I think they’re funny,” said Kim, 52, who was buying shirts with a picture of a slant-eyed man carrying a rickshaw and the slogan ’Good meat, quick feet’ at a San Francisco store. “I’m sorry if some people are offended by it. I don’t see it that way.” 

NEW YORK — A television industry trade group is speaking out against the disappearance of credits at the end of TV shows. 

The listings that traditionally conclude shows have been sped up and shrunken over the past decade to where they are frequently illegible, and now the 11 Discovery-owned cable channels plan to eliminate them entirely. 

But the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences board voted unanimously Wednesday night to urge networks not to get rid of them. 

“I think people want to stand up for the right to be credited for the work that they do,” academy Chairman Bryce Zabel said. “That’s been a historic right in Hollywood and the entertainment industry.” 

Discovery Communications, whose cable channels include Discovery, the Travel Channel, TLC, Animal Planet and BBC America, said it’s likely to eliminate end credits within the next month. Discovery says it will direct viewers who want to see them to a Web site. 

Discovery, and other networks that have de-emphasized credits, said viewers aren’t interested and see them as an excuse to change the channel. 

Discovery representatives had no immediate comment Thursday on the ATAS action. 

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Keeping up its blistering growth, Internet trading leader eBay Inc. reported earnings that beat Wall Street forecasts and expressed confidence about its outlook Thursday. 

With eBay’s base of registered users expanding to 46.1 million, 55 percent higher than last year, the company’s net profit more than doubled in the three-month period ending March 31. EBay earned $47.6 million, or 17 cents per share, on revenue of $245.1 million. 

In the comparable period last year, the San Jose-based company pulled in $21.1 million, or 8 cents per share, on revenue of $154.1 million. 

Excluding one-time charges, eBay earned $50.6 million, or 18 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call had predicted earnings of 16 cents per share on revenue of $245.3 million. 

“We feel really good,” said Rajiv Dutta, eBay’s chief financial officer. “There’s only a handful of companies that can grow at 65 percent and increase profits against a backdrop of a tough economic environment and a down market for Internet advertising.” 

With nearly all measurements of its success on the rise, eBay now expects to earn 17 cents per share in the current quarter and 73 to 75 cents per share for the entire year. Both estimates are higher than previous guidance but in line with current Wall Street projections. 

Revenue forecasts are now $260 million to $265 million for this quarter and $1.05 billion to $1.10 billion for the year, also similar to analysts’ existing projections. 

EBay shares fell $1.89, more than 3 percent, to close at $53.04 on the Nasdaq Stock Market before the earnings report. The stock fell to $52.02 early in the extended trading session. 

EBay’s success has come from its domination of the domestic Internet auction market and the steadily improving performance of its sites tailored for users in 26 other countries. Even though eBay pulled up stakes in Japan, the company’s international revenue amounted to $53 million in the first quarter, nearly three times last year’s total. 

Dutta refused to comment on rumors that eBay is interested in acquiring PayPal Inc., the online payment service that heavily caters to eBay buyers and sellers. PayPal’s CEO said this week his company was focusing on operating as a stand-alone company.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Thanks to brisk demand for its new iMac, Apple Computer Inc. posted a second-quarter profit that beat Wall Street estimates. 

For the three months ended March 30, the Cupertino-based PC maker earned $40 million, or 11 cents a share, on revenue of $1.5 billion, the company said Wednesday. In the year-ago period, Apple earned $43 million, or 12 cents a share, on revenue of $1.43 billion. 

Wall Street analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call had projected earnings of 10 cents a share on revenue of $1.46 billion. 

The company said it shipped 220,000 units of the new flat-screen iMac during the second quarter. And though the company raised the price of the computer by $100 in late March to offset the increased cost of memory and other components, demand has not waned, chief financial officer Fred Anderson said in an interview. 

“We’re pleased to have delivered solid results while executing a challenging product transition,” Anderson said. 

Continued robust sales will help Apple show a strong performance for the current quarter, he said. The company is targeting revenues to rise sequentially to $1.6 billion in the June quarter with earnings per share to be flat or up slightly. 

The higher costs of components and airfreighting to speed up the new iMac shipments will continue to cut into gross profit margins in the June quarter, as the company continues to fulfill a backlog while honoring the original prices of those orders. 

But production is expected to catch up to demand in the current quarter and gross margins should return to normal levels in the September quarter, Anderson told analysts during a conference call. 

The company also said it plans to open 20 additional stores by the end of the calendar year. The 27 stores that Apple opened in 2001 generated $70 million in sales in the second quarter, up from $48 million in the December quarter, Anderson said. At the same time, operating losses from the stores were cut in half from $8 million to $4 million, he said. 

The company hopes the stores will become profitable by the end of the year, Anderson said. 

The retail stores are key to Apple’s effort to pull ahead of its long-standing 5-percent market share to the Microsoft-Windows platform juggernaut in the personal computer market. 

“They had to try other methods to capture new users. Putting stores in upscale malls and high-traffic areas with fancy window displays ... is a new strategy that appears to be working quite well,” said Andrew Scott, analyst with Needham & Company Inc. 

Analysts say Apple is doing a good job in the tough economy. 

“There’s almost no other computer company that was up sequentially in the March quarter, and Apple was up 9 percent,” said Dan Niles, a Lehman Bros. analyst. “And they’re one of the few companies where demand isn’t the problem.” 

For the six months ending in March, Apple said it earned $78 million on sales of $2.87 billion. That’s up dramatically from the $152 million loss on sales of $2.44 billion of the year-ago period, when the company was struggling to recover from sluggish sales, increased competition and a glut of inventory. 

Shares of Apple finished the regular session up 37 cents to $26.11 on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Wednesday, but fell 23 cents in after-hours trading. 

——— 

On the Net: 

http://www.apple.com 

SACRAMENTO — The chair of a legislative audit committee called on Attorney General Bill Lockyer Thursday to look into the validity of a state contract that could cost taxpayers millions more than if the state hadn’t signed the deal. 

A report this week by the Bureau of State Audits found that three state departments improperly relied on a vendor’s presentation that the $95 million software contract with Oracle Corp. would save the state $111 million. 

The contract may cost the state $6 million to $41 million more than if there had been no contract at all, State Auditor Elaine Howle told members of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee Thursday. 

Assemblyman Dean Florez, D-Shafter, the committee’s chairman, called the report “troubling” as he asked for Lockyer’s review. 

The contract was approved by the departments of Information Technology, General Services and Finance that Howle said relied on a vendor’s savings projections instead of doing their own calculations. Each department blamed the others Thursday for the faulty review. 

Logicon Inc., which made the cost-savings estimates, stood to make $28.5 million from the abnormally lengthy six-year deal, she said. 

DGC director Barry Keene said he wasn’t aware of that arrangement, and thought DOIT had vetted the savings projections. 

DOIT Director Elias Cortez said he thought Keene’s office or the finance department would do an independent analysis of the figures. 

Under the contract, Oracle would license database software for up to 270,000 state workers, despite a survey by DOIT that found very few state workers would need or want Oracle products. 

Keene said he hadn’t heard of the survey until after the contract was signed. 

Cortez said he was “shocked that they hadn’t seen it.” 

Even if it wasn’t included with the Oracle contract, DGS was one of the 122 state departments that received the survey, he said. 

Assemblyman Bill Leonard, R-Rancho Cucamonga, said the interagency finger-pointing had to stop. 

“Someone has to step up and take responsibility,” he said. “But other than a few cover-your-rear e-mails, I haven’t seen any state employee step up.” 

Finance Director Tim Gage, whose staff raised concerns with the savings projections and the contract’s lack of an escape clause, said he recommended delaying the contract by a year. 

Despite that suggestion, the three departments — DOIT, DGS and finance — approved the contract with the Redwood Shores-based Oracle in May. 

But 10 months later, no state departments had the software, in part because DGS had not issued instructions on how to get it, Howle’s audit found. Still, the state will have paid $17 million in contract costs and interest fees by June, and another $14 million payment is due in September, she said. 

All three departments now agree with the audit’s conclusions, though they say they’ve taken steps to improve both the contract and the contracting process. 

But critics, including Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Marina del Rey, say the audit is a good argument for DOIT to be dismantled. 

“DOIT’s answer is that ensuring the deal was accurate was somebody else’s job because it didn’t have the expertise to make sure the state wasn’t getting taken for a ride,” she said. “Doing that job is the whole reason DIOT was created.” 

DOIT was created in 1995 to coordinate the state’s technology purchases. It will close July 1 unless lawmakers act. Gov. Gray Davis is backing legislation by Assemblyman Manny Diaz, D-San Jose, that extends its life through next year but lets lawmakers terminate projects with substantial cost overruns. 

Oracle officials did not return a telephone message from The Associated Press. A message left for officials at Herndon, Va.-based Logicon, a subsidiary of Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp., was also not immediately returned.

SAN FRANCISCO — The stock price of Trimeris Inc., a small biotechnology company, soared on stellar results from pivotal human tests on its experimental AIDS drug, which could help patients resistant to currently available treatments. 

Trimeris of Durham, N.C. is codeveloping the drug, dubbed T-20, along with the U.S. subsidiary of the Swiss health care giant Roche Holding AG. Trimeris stock price rose $11.25 a share, or nearly 29 percent, to $50.50 at the close of trading Thursday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. 

Existing AIDS drugs generally work inside cells, targeting viral enzymes involved in the replication of the virus. T-20 is the first of a new class of HIV drugs called fusion inhibitors, which stop the AIDS-causing virus before it gets into healthy cells. 

In the phase III test, patients who got a combination of T-20 and other drugs already approved by the Food and Drug Administration experienced a greater reduction of HIV in their blood than patients who were just taking the approved drugs. 

“These results are even better than the positive results of earlier studies had led us to expect,” said William M. Burns, head of pharmaceuticals at Roche. 

Using the results of that test and another currently underway, Trimeris and Roche plan to apply for FDA approval later this year and hope to have T-20 on the market next year. 

Dennis Harp, an analyst with Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., expects $600 million in annual sales in the United States alone. 

SAN FRANCISCO — More than 100,000 illegal immigrants could be affected by a federal appeals court ruling this week that rejected immigration authorities’ interpretation of a decision by Congress in the 1980s to grant some illegal immigrants amnesty, plaintiffs said. 

The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the argument by the Immigration and Naturalization Service that certain illegal immigrants were not eligible for legal residency under a 1986 law that granted amnesty. 

The INS first interpreted the law to bar amnesty for anyone who left the United States for even a brief period since 1982 and returned illegally using a nonimmigrant visa. Many amnesty applicants were turned away and many others said they were discouraged from applying before the policy was ruled illegal in 1988. 

The INS objected to the court-ordered remedy, which extended the amnesty filing deadline for those who had been turned down. The class-action case bounced through the courts for years, reaching the 9th Circuit three times and at one point reaching the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Calling the government’s appeal “insubstantial,” Monday’s decision, made public by plaintiffs’ lawyers Thursday, would allow those who were denied or turned away during the original amnesty period from 1987 to 1988 to apply for amnesty under the 1986 law. 

“As many as possibly 100,000 people will finally, hopefully, achieve a remedy that Congress intended them to achieve 14 years ago,” said Peter Schey, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, and lead plaintiffs attorney in the case. “They have, in essence, been forced to live an underground existence for 14 years, when if the INS had only followed the law, the vast majority would now be U.S. citizens.” 

The ruling applied to those who applied to the INS for amnesty, as well as those who tried to apply, but were turned away before submitting their applications, Schey said. 

A spokeswoman for the INS said the government was reviewing the ruling and had not yet decided what further action, if any, to take. 

The case is Newman vs. INS, 99-56544. 

LOS ANGELES – O.J. Simpson said Thursday that the law firm suing him for $204,000 in unpaid bills from the custody battle for his children “will have to wait” because he doesn’t have the money to pay them. 

“One thing was clear at the beginning of the custody case – I was broke,” Simpson said in a phone interview from his Florida home. 

“I could not be more grateful to a group of people than I am to them,” Simpson said of the lawyers at Meserve, Mumper and Hughes who represented him. He singled out attorney Bernard Leckie as someone he admires greatly. 

But he said he regrets that the case dragged on for so long before an agreement was reached for him to have custody and take the children with him to Florida. 

He said his financial situation remains precarious with all of his funds devoted to the welfare of his children who attend a costly private school. 

“I don’t go out and buy new clothes. I don’t take trips unless it’s for business,” he said. “My priority is my kids. I have to make sure they’re taken care of.” 

He said that Sydney, 16, is driving and looking at brochures for colleges. She is involved in athletics, as is her brother, Justin, 13, who plays basketball, football and lacrosse, he said. 

“I try to give my kids the best, and to some extent, I guess I spoil them,” he said. “They’re terrific kids and they bring me terrific grades from school.” 

Simpson, who lives on funds from a private pension set up during his days as a Hertz advertising pitchman, said he frequently receives business propositions – “I get all of these crazy offers” – but turns them down. 

In recent months he has appeared at a number of hip-hop events which he said he enjoys because it brings him in contact with the public. And he has appeared as an invited guest at boxing matches in Las Vegas. 

“I’m trying to be the same guy I was before all this happened,” he said. 

The law firm that sued Simpson in Orange County, Calif., says he failed to pay $204,275 in bills. It seeks that amount plus 10 percent interest. 

Simpson retained the firm to seek custody of his two minor children after he was acquitted of murder charges and released from jail in 1995. He had been held without bail from the time of his arrest until his acquittal. 

“Simpson breached the contract and agreement by making payments for a period of time and then ceased to make payments,” the lawsuit said. 

A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury acquitted Simpson of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. A civil jury later held the former football star liable for the killings and ordered him to pay the victims’ survivors $33.5 million. He has not worked since then because any money he makes could be seized to satisfy that judgment which remains largely unpaid. 

He continues to maintain his innocence in the killings. 

His ex-wife’s parents, Louis and Juditha Brown, were guardians of his children while Simpson was on trial. 

In 1996, a judge granted Simpson’s petition to terminate the Browns’ guardianship and gave him custody. The Browns appealed and a settlement was later reached giving the Browns visitation.

Chanting “Yes to education, No to super-jails,” and carrying signs reading “No expansion of the Alameda County Jail,” demonstrators gathered at the County of Alameda Administration Building to protest plans for a new and expanded juvenile corrections facility in Dublin. 

Organizers and students associated with Youth Force Coalition, a group of youth organizations fighting against oppressive attacks on communities, marched, chanted and held signs during the protest. 

According to Nicole Lee, a member of Let’s Get Free, a community organization committed to juvenile justice, cultural activism, police accountability and in association with YFC, said the issue of youth incarceration is a critical issue. “I feel it’s one of the most paramount issues for youth in Alameda County,” said Lee. 

Opponents of the planned Dublin facility say it will be too big and too far away for many Alameda County families. Many are concerned that the size of the new building will produce an institutional or prison-like feeling . 

Lee said that currently many local parents must miss half a day of work to attend hearings at the present juvenile facility but would “miss up to a full day’s work traveling to Dublin which isn’t an option for a lot of working class families.” Without the support of parents, according to Lee, many juveniles fall through the cracks in many juvenile systems. 

See YOUTH/Page 14 

Alameda’s Board of Supervisors is split on its support for the facility. Supervisor Nate Miley from District 4 and Keith Carson from District 5 oppose plans for the new expanded facility, while supervisors Scott Haggerty, Gail Steele and Alice Lai-Bitker currently support the proposed project. 

Andrew Ele, a member of San Francisco’s Youth Making A Difference, attended the Oakland protest to support juvenile justice. Supports of the facility, according to Ele, “think that youth are always doing crimes and bad things. They don’t see no other resources other than locking people up.” 

See YOUTH/Page 14 

The new facility would increase the number of juvenile beds from 200 to between 520 and 530.  

Ele expressed YMAC’s proposal for increased counseling services, health and mental health resources as alternatives to the expansion the Alameda County juvenile facility.  

“I’m here because they’re expanding a hall that’s not close and that you don’t have access to,” said YMAC member Obby Toly. According to Toly, San Francisco’s Community Assistance Referral Center provides a great example for an alternative to the increasingly institutional feel of the juvenile system. “CARC uses a points system and if you pass your parents can pick you up and you don’t go into the system,” said Toly. 

Both Toly and Lee referred to the significant racial dimension of the current juvenile facility. Lee notes that “while 15 percent of the general population in Alameda County is of color, 60 percent of juvenile facility’s population is of color.” 

Members of Books Not Bars, a project launched in 2001 by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, also voiced their opinions at the Oakland demonstration. BNB members work to expose and end the over-incarceration of youth. They are one of the many groups working to build a “bottom-up” movement with the aim of changing the entire criminal justice system. 

According to BNB, there are a number of groups responsible for the increase in incarceration facilities. Among those groups BNB cites TV networks and newspapers for hyping sensational crimes, prison guard’s unions for pushing increasingly punitive laws and profiteering corporations for pushing tougher laws and longer sentences in order to gain from prison construction and prison labor. 

Youth Force Coalition members also expressed their concerns about a failing and poorly funded education system. Demonstrators said that every dollar spent on prisons is a dollar that could have been spent on books and education. 

According to BNB, California now ranks number one in the nation on prison spending - number 43 in spending on public education.

In a matchup of the ACCAL’s only undefeated teams, Berkeley High rode an 11-run third inning to a 12-4 victory over the Encinal Jets on Wednesday, taking over sole possession of first place with its 11th straight win. 

The first 12 Yellowjacket batters reached base in the remarkable half-inning, with 11 of them scoring. Berkeley (13-4 overall, 5-0 ACCAL) had 10 hits – all singles – during the rally, and the Jets helped out by making three errors.  

Encinal (6-9, 4-1 ACCAL) starter Tony Ellis faced the first four batters before giving way to Cory Dunlap. But Dunlap, Encinal’s ace, was unable to stop the bleeding, walking the first batter he faced before surrendering five straight singles. Berkeley had three hitters, DeAndre Miller, Kory Hong and Matt Toma, get two hits each in the inning, with Toma driving in two runs in his return to the lineup from a pulled hamstring two weeks ago. 

“We expected to see Dunlap sooner or later,” Berkeley head coach Tim Moellering said. “I think we were fortunate that he came in cold from first base, and we had a chance to get to him before he warmed up.” 

But the ’Jackets continued to hit Dunlop as he threw 46 pitches before getting out of the inning. Constantly pitching with men on base, Dunlap was ineffective from the stretch and didn’t have his usual command. 

“The main thing was creating situations to hit in,” Berkeley second baseman Lee Franklin said. “When we have men on and they pull their infield in, that’s a high-percentage situation.” 

The big inning more than erased an early 2-0 deficit for the ’Jackets, as Berkeley starter Sean Souders had a rough first inning. Encinal’s Nick Loy led off the game with a double to left, and Souders hit DeAndre Green with a pitch to put two runners on. Dunlap then ripped a double down the rightfield line to score both runners, but Souders settled down, striking out the next five Jets, including all three in the second inning on just 10 pitches. 

“For the first few batters I was leaving my pitches up and over the plate,” Souders said. “Once I made an adjustment and got the ball down I was more effective.” 

Souders would give up just two more runs on a homer by Dunlap in the fifth inning. Sophomore Matt Sylvester, called up from the junior varsity last week, pitched the seventh inning for Berkeley to finish the game. 

With Wednesday’s win, Berkeley is alone at the top of the ACCAL standings with games remaining against El Cerrito and De Anza in the first round of league play. The ’Jackets have pounded their way through the league, scoring in double figures in four of their five games, including a 16-2 whipping of preseason favorite Pinole Valley. They are also one of the few teams with two reliable starters, as senior lefty Cole Stipovich is the best No. 2 in the league. With hot bats and solid pitching, the ’Jackets should be able to count on a better finish than last season’s 0-3 collapse, which knocked them down to the eighth and final seed in the North Coast Section playoffs. 

“We’ve got a tough game Friday (against El Cerrito), but if we take care of business we’ll be in good shape,” Franklin said. “Hopefully we can just sit back and let the other teams beat each other up for a while.”

To the Editor: 

After the events of September 11, 2001, our nation’s priorities have shifted from issues of personal liberties (privacy) to national security concerns. For many of us -- minimal government intrusion advocates included —recent events provided a wake-up call for calls to safeguard our homeland from terrorism, while seeking proper governmental restraints to our liberties.  

Article IV of The Amendment to the Constitution states that, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated …" How does this play out in today’s world where rouge organizations are bent on inflicting great harm to our way of life. In the modern world we now face threats from biological, chemical, nuclear attack and as well as conventional weapons, things that our founding fathers could hardly imagine. In the context of our Constitution, what contingencies should be made available to our government if massive destruction can be inflicted on our democracy?  

These issues are now affecting us personally as never before. For many of us attitudes toward privacy have changed since the World Trade Center incident. I remember in years past that giving a thumb print at the Department of Motor Vehicles felt like an intrusion to personal privacy, being figure printed was for criminals! Today I am a little more understanding to these intrusions. 

Presently there are several security measures being put in place at our nation’s airports: explosive detection equipment, beefed up patrols, and limited carry on provisions. Last Christmas while traveling through Burbank Airport I was given a through body and bag search. It was not pleasant, who likes to have their body fondled like a tomato by a stranger, but at least I did not have to drop my pants like Michigan Congress John Dingell. If inconveniences help deter tragic events from happening then most of us are willing to agree they are necessary. The question remains, do these measures deter would be terrorists? 

Resent studies show that many security provisions are still judged as ineffective, as Sky Marshals from the ‘Red Team’ recently demonstrated for CBS News. In their tests, hazardous materials and weapons were successfully smuggled through security check points ten out of thirteen times at seven major airports. If enacted safety measures do not detect potential threats, then what other options do we have? An effective foreign policy with actions that stride to reduce terrorist threats is the most likely answer.  

One way to help to promote peace is for nations to work together for the common good. The United States should take the lead in this aspect, building coalitions where ever possible and learning to be humble in the process. Team building should not only be a concept used by corporations. 

Our nation should show the world that we disserve our leadership position not through militarily might --though it should be used as a deterrent to terrorists— or economic strength but through our principles to liberty, understanding in world affairs, and compassion to nations in need.  

One of the first steps that the United States Government can take in establishing the integrity needed to be an effective global leader is to be more culturally sensitive. In the first few weeks after the World Trade Center event, the Administration made quite a few errors that showed how out of touch our government can be. Our Administration pontificated this in calling our Afghanistan mission ‘Infinite Justice’ a ‘crusade’ – showing both our arrogance in reference to when European Christians set out to defeat the Muslims and that we believe ourselves to be the final judge in what is right. In another more benign fashion, the well intentioned government supplied the Afghan people with meals containing peanut butter, a foreign food they did not eat. At least the humanitarian aid was a step in the right direction. 

If we have learned anything from the last century it should be that in order to bring lasting stability to a region, each player must value the gain of cooperation over the potential loss of conflict. This was shown so poignantly after World Wars II with the United States’ roll in the Marshal Plan. If the ‘war’ on terrorism is going to be won, it will have to be done so in the marketplace, the schools, and polling places; and not on the battle field or through rhetoric.  

People of the world have basic needs; they want a safe place to: live, raise families, get a chance for an education, have an opportunity for a fulfilling job, and have freedom to worship. If national governments can fulfill these basic needs -- free from want, hunger and fear -- most citizens will resist forces that propose a counter way of life. It is the duty of our government and our citizens to work with other nations to foster actions that promote these ideals. 

For upon the principles of ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ our founding fathers brought forth a Constitution that continues to guided the world for more than two and a quarter centuries, and why today it is still providing to be a foundation for democracy. 

- Bernt Wahl 

Berkeley 

Thursday, April 18

Berkeley Metaphysical  

Toastmasters Club 

6:15-8:00 p.m. 

2515 Hillegass Ave. 

Berkeley Free, on-going meetings 1st & 3rd Thursdays, emphasizing metaphysical topics.  

848-6510. 

Building Bridges to Afghanistan 

A Fundraising Party for Global Exchange & San Francisco Friends of Afghanistan - building the Afghanistan to San Francisco/Bay Area Sister Cities Movement 

5:30 to 8:30 PM 

Cocktails, Hors D'Oeuvres, Music, Afghan Fashion Show 

IMG Home, 1830 Harrison St., San Francisco (parking available) 

$15 Donation at the door 

All of the proceeds of this event will immediately fund a Global Exchange coordinator of Sister Cities 

Walking in the Footsteps of John Muir 

7 p.m. 

REI 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Cherry Good gives a slide lecture sharing highlights from her journey to find out what she could about John Muir. 527-7470 

Home Remodeling Workshop 

7 - 8 p.m. 

Building Education Center  

812 Page St. 

Free home remodeling workshop focusing on lowering utility bills and using building materials that are healthier for your family and the environment. 614-1699, www.stopwaste.org. 

Affordable Housing Advocacy Project 

5:30-7:30 p.m.  

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth Street. 

Berkeley 

Affordable Housing Advocacy Project is sponsoring a series of Town Hall Meetings to present its annual update of their five year plan. 

For more information, call 548-8776 

Friday, April 19

City Commons Club 

12:30 p.m. 

2315 Durant Ave.  

“Whither U.S. - Japan Relations?” Steven Vogel, Professor of Political Science, UC Berkeley. $1. 848-3533. 

Hip-Hop for Vieques 

A night of Culture and Food: Prophets of Rage, DJ’s, Grupo Folklorico Raule Afro-Puerto Rican Drumming and Dancing 

8 p.m.- doors open and dinner begins 

1928 Telegraph (Between 19th and 20th- 19th Street BART) 

$6 before 10 p.m. 

510-389-5660 

Mandela Arts Freestyle Fridays 

Dancing, Hip-Hop, Breakdancing, Live DJ 

5-8:30 p.m. 

1357 5th Street (near West Oakland BART), Oakland 

Free 

Homebody/Kabul 

(Previews begin) 

Through June 23rd. 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre 

2025 Addisons Street, Berkeley 

Previews, $38, Tue/Th (8 p.m.) $42, Wed (7 p.m.), Thu/Sat/Sun matinee (2 p.m.), Sun (7 p.m.) $44, Wed opening/Fri eve (8 p.m.) $47, Sat (8 p.m.) $54 

Discounts: 20 half price HotTix go on sale at noon Tues. - Fri., Student/Senior half-price Rush one half hour before curtain, $16 for under 30, with valid ID, some restrictions apply. 

510-647-2949 or 888 4BRTTix, www.berkeleyrep.org 

Marimba Pacifica 

The Bay Area’s Premiere Marimba ensemble, a unique mixture of joyous World Beat dance music along with first Bay Area appearance of Dijaly Kunda Kouyate, traditional Griot Music from West Africa.  

Doors 8:30 p.m., music 9 p.m. 

Ashkenaz 

San Pablo at Gilman 

$10 

510-525-5054 or band and CD info 510-532-3579 

Standup Comedy 

8 p.m. 

Julia Morgan Theater 

2640 College Ave. 

A special one night only East bay appearance by standup comedian Scott Capurro. $16.50. 925-798-1300, www.scottcapurro.com 

Saturday, April 20

Berkeley Alliance of  

Neighborhood Associations  

meeting 

9:30-11a.m. 

Live Oak Park 

1301 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley 

Hear the latest news for the city wide network and confab for neighbors and their groups.  

849-4619 

California State Parks  

Foundation’s Earth Day  

Clean-up.  

Forty Eight State and Community Parks throughout California host a variety of projects including recycling bin installation, planting of native trees and flowers, restoration of trails and wildlife habitats and an underwater cleanup along the coast. Volunteers of all ages needed  

9 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

For more information about volunteering for the 2002 Earth Day Restoration and Cleanup call 1-888-98-PARKS or visit the web site at www.calparks.org 

Eastshore State Park - Earth Day Project 

Clean-up Two beaches, removing debris and other materials that have washed up. 100 Volunteers needed, Bring gloves, sturdy shoes, water and sun-block. Supported by Starbucks of Alameda. 

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Meet at Brickyard Beach, behind the Seabreeze Deli, go west off University Avenue from either direction on I-80. 

Further information: 510-544-2515 

Word Beat Reading Series 

7-9 p.m. 

458 Perkins at Grand, Oakland 

Entertainment of kinds come together for this free show, featuring readers “Vampyre” Mike Kassel and Eve Sutton. 

For more information: 526-5985, www.angelfire.com/poetry/wordbeat 

Mumia’s Freedom in a 9-11 World 

7:30 p.m. 

St. Joseph the Worker Church 

1640 Addison 

Historian Howard Zinn and Pulitzer novelist Alice Walker will speak at a legal benefit for death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal. $20. 415-695-7745. 

Annual California Native Plant Sale 

10 - 3 p.m. 

Tilden Park 

Regional Parks Botanical Garden 

South Park Drive and Wildcat Canyon Road 

For more information call 841-8732. 

2nd Annual Self-Care and Wellness Practices Fair 

9 - 3 p.m. 

Alta Bates Hospital 

2450 Ashby 

Self Care and Wellness Practices fair offers participatory workshops and a health fair featuring booths, free consultations, demonstrations, mini-classes and health information. 530-5611 

Community Music Day 

noon - 5 p.m. 

Crowden Music Center 

1475 Rose St. 

Free concerts, an instrument petting zoo, Tatsumaki Taido, and other family activities. 559-6910, www.thecrowdenschool.org.  

Friends of Albany Seniors White Elephant Sale 

10 am - 2 pm 

846 Masonic Ave. 

All proceeds to benefit the Albany Senior Center.  

Home-made crafts, jewelry and baked goods will also be for sale!  

Donations to sell are being eagerly accepted through Friday, April 19th 

Free Puppet Shows 

1:30 and 2:30 p.m. 

Hall of Health 

2230 Shattuck Ave. 

Educational puppet troupe, Kids on the Block, will include puppets from diverse cultures with such conditions as cerebal palsy, blindness, arthritis, Down syndrome, leukemia and spina bifida. Free. 549-1564, www.hallofhealth.org.  

Three Films to Honor Judi Bari/Benefit the Earth First! 

Lawsuit and Heritage Tree  

Initiative 

7 - 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Fellowship Unitarian Universalists 

1924 Cedar 

“Viva Judi Bari!”; “Timber Gap”; “Conquest of the Giants - Mankind’s Historic View of the World Challenged”; 655-4601.  

Building Education Center 

“Earthquake Retrofiting” seminar taught by Tony DeMascole and seismic contractor Jim Gillett. $75 

10 a.m- 5 p.m. 

812 Page  

525-7610 

Regional Conference and Convergence, World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL)  

10 a.m. until 6 p.m.  

Berkeley Unitarian Fellowship, 1606 Bonita Ave. (at Cedar)  

Public Contact: ARDAC voicemail: 415.364.3053  

The conference will include experts and activists speaking on a variety of issues, including: debunking the myths of animal experimentation, the ABCs of anti-vivisection activism, and the campaign against HLS.  

FREE - Events for WWAIL , will run from Friday April 19th through Monday April 22nd.  

Animal Rights Direct Action Coalition 

740A 14th St. #177, San Francisco, CA 94114 

(415) 364 3053; www.ardac.org 

Low-Cost Hatha Yoga Class 

10 a.m. 

James Kenney Recreation Center 

1720 8th St. 

$6 per class. 981-6651. 

The Blessing of the Stained Glass Triptych designed by David Goines 

3 p.m. 

Saint Mary Magdalen Church, Reception Following 

2005 Berryman Street 

Live Afro-Latino Hip-Hop\Doors at 9 p.m. 

VooDoo Lounge 

2937 Mission St. 

San Francisco 

415-285-3369 

$8 

UC Davis Picnic Day 

Open House for the University of California, Davis. This hallmark event has been designed to showcase and celebrate the richness of campus life, the diverse achievements of UCD students, staff and faculty and to provide a day of education, information and entertainment for all who attend. There will be more than 150 events throughout campus, including the riotous band “The Blow Kings” who appear in Freeborn Hall from 3-4 p.m.  

http://picnicday.ucdavis.edu/ 

Saturday, April 20 and Sunday, April 21 

420 Hemp Festival 

Zigaboo Modeliste and the New Aahkesstra, Extra Action Marching Band, 20 bands and DJ’s, Hemp Bazaar, Special Guests and more! 

Doors: 4 p.m., show 4:20 p.m.- 4:20 a.m. 

Studio Z (formerly the Transmission Theater) secure parking at 11th and Harrison, Saturday $22, Sunday $20 

415-486-8083, Tickets: Cannabisaction.net 

Four males entered the Berkeley High School campus Wednesday afternoon and one assaulted a BHS student in the outdoor lunch area behind the “C” Building, according to school officials and students. 

Details of the attack were sketchy, district spokesperson Marian Magid said the attackers were not BHS students. 

Magid said one of the attackers struck the victim twice before the group of four fled the scene, and the victim suffered a cut next to his mouth. 

Magid said the assailants and victim “did appear to know each other.” She said there were not any indications that the attack is gang-related. 

The incident is the latest in a string of high-profile attacks at BHS this school year. In the fall, a group of students in ski masks carried out a number of assaults and in December, an attack on a sophomore, who has since transferred out of the district, left the victim with heavy dental bills, according to his father. 

The Wednesday attack took place around 2:40 p.m. just after sixth period ended, Magid said, and police arrived on the scene shortly thereafter.  

High school administrators told all the students who finished their school day after sixth period to leave campus, according to Magid, while those who had a seventh-period course remained at BHS. 

Laura Menard, a parent who is active on safety issues, arrived on campus shortly after the incident. She said the high school will have a difficult time dealing with these types of attacks next year because the Board of Education has voted to cut the high school security manager. 

“Next year, if someone isn’t here managing the connections, it’s not going to happen,” said Menard. 

See BHS/Page 9 

School board President Shirley Issel said she is confident that there will be “enhanced security” at BHS next year. Under the board’s plan, two discipline deans, put in place earlier this year, will take over supervision of the high school’s safety officers. 

Superintendent Michele Lawrence has suggested that she will add more safety officers to the force next year as well. 

Issel said the district will respond swiftly to the Wednesday incident. 

“I know this is going to be looked at very closely to see what steps need to be taken to ensure that our students are safe,” she said. 

Students interviewed by the Daily Planet said they are not fearful for their safety at the school. 

High school administrators and security staff and the Berkeley Police Department did not return calls by the Daily Planet’s deadline.

To the Editor: 

Article II of the United Nations Convention on Genocide defines "genocide" to include any of the following acts "committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group": killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.  

As a former resident of Israel, it grieves me to state the obvious: at this very moment Israel is committing genocide on the Palestinian people.  

The United States has a clear moral and, as a signatory of the U.N. Convention, legal obligation to "prevent and punish" genocide. Our Government shirked these responsibilities in Europe in the 1940s, in Cambodia in the 1970s, in South Africa in the 1980s and in Rwanda in the 1990s.  

No more.  

American must take immediate action to stop the genocide in the Occupied Territories by, as a first step, halting all military and economic aid until Israel withdraws from the Territories. We owe this to the World Community, to ourselves and, most importantly, to the innocent children, men and women who are being victimized. 

- Joseph Stein 

Berkeley

The standoff between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian students on the UC Berkeley campus continued Wednesday with a pair of dueling events on Israel Independence Day. 

Pro-Israeli students waved flags, danced and ate traditional foods on Sproul Plaza, celebrating the nation’s 54th anniversary. Activists from Students for Justice in Palestine, some twenty yards away, rolled out a fifty-foot scroll listing the 418 Palestinian villages they say were destroyed by Israeli forces in 1948. 

“We want to express that what happened in 1948 is not something to be celebrated, it is something to be mourned,” said Snehal Shingavi, a UC Berkeley graduate student and SJP leader. 

“It’s a celebration of freedom and peace,” replied Randy Barnes, a UC Berkeley senior and co-chair of the Israel Action Committee, a campus group. 

Barnes said the Independence Day event marked a stark contrast with the SJP takeover of Wheeler Hall last week that resulted in 79 arrests. 

“That’s not the path of peace,” said Barnes, arguing that SJP action and rhetoric promote “anger and hate.” 

“The bottom line is that Palestinians are being slaughtered right now and Randy Barnes and his friends are dancing on Sproul and celebrating the government that’s doing this,” responded SJP leader Will Youmans. 

Activists on both sides said the atmosphere on campus has been tense since last week’s protest, which drew hundreds of activists and swarms of reporters to campus. But neither side reported any violence or serious incidents. 

One student, Micki Weinberg, a UC Berkeley freshman who calls himself “an ardent Zionist,” is attempting to bridge the gap between activists on both sides. 

Weinberg approached Eyad Latif, a Palestinian-American student, and suggested that activists on both sides start a group that will focus, not on politics, but on students’ “common humanity.” 

“I want people who are diehard Zionists sitting in the same room with people who are diehard Palestinians,” he said. Weinberg said the students could focus art, music and cultural heritage. 

Latif, who said that he has lost an infant sister and a grandmother in the Palestinian territories because the Israeli Army has cut off access to medical care, was hopeful about Weinberg’s overture. He said SJP members are discussing the offer. 

But some are skeptical. 

“Micki Weinberg wants to forget about the oppression of the Palestinian people and mingle instead,” said Youmans. “What’s needed is an honest political dialogue.” 

Barnes, of the Israel Action Committee, said he had not heard of Weinberg’s overture. He added that recent efforts by the Office of Student Life to intervene fizzled with last week’s protest. 

Weinberg is a former member of the Action Committee who left because his views are “not in line with IAC.”

Urban density and the future development of Berkeley are not only key issues in the upcoming mayoral and City Council elections, but are being taken straight to the people with a new initiative to reduce the height limits of buildings and amend existing zoning ordinances. 

The measure specifically targets “out-of-scale” developments - buildings with greater height, size, and number of units than the density limits imposed by Berkeley’s 1977 Master Plan, and reinforced by the more recent, non-binding General Plan. 

The measure claims that oversized buildings are environmentally detrimental and threaten the health and safety of residents. The increase in population density due to these large units adds pressure to an 

already overburdened infrastructure, increasing electric power, water, and emergency services needs, as well as exceeding the capacity of the current sewage system and adding to burgeoning traffic congestion. Aesthetic and health concerns include the blocking off of existing views and the reduction of natural light necessary for radiant heating and solar power collection. 

“The height limits are just to control the out-of-scale developments,” said initiative sponsor Martha Nicoloff. “As you can see through current project developments, the city politicos have already exceeded the General Plan limits without public hearing.” 

A study by the Council of Neighborhood Associations (CNA) shows that developments approved over the last few years have consistently exceeded the guidelines suggested by the General Plan. At least 78 percent of the projects cited exceeded the limits through special permits, some by as much as four times the recommended units. 

“The rub is, the politicians have changed the plan to satisfy the public, but they don’t change the actual zoning ordinances to match the plan, still permitting height exceptions,” said Nicoloff. 

The measure would alter the zoning ordinance by lowering existing height limits, prohibiting the approval of variances to the limit, and outlawing the current practice of transferring development rights, which allows a developer to reduce the height of one project in exchange for increasing the height of another. 

A provision bound to satisfy hillside residents in danger of having their views blocked out, is one that requires any increase in building height over 28 feet to be subject to a public hearing before being approved by the Zoning Adjustments Board, rather than the current law which merely requires approval of the zoning officer. 

Even if the measure passes, it does not exclusively control height limits. A state law, which supercedes local zoning ordinances, grants developers a 25 percent size bonus to residential projects that have 20 percent of units designated as low income housing. 

If passed, the measure would remain in effect for 10 years, unless amended by a two-thirds vote of the city council.  

Berkeley is currently the third most congested city in Northern California, behind San Francisco and Daily City, with a density of 9,823 people per square mile. 

The measure, which has finally been approved by the city attorney after a series of drafts dating back to October, 2001, needs 3,000 signatures by June to make it on the November ballot. Volunteers will be gathering signatures at the BANA meeting on Sat., April 20 at Live Oak Park, 1301 Shattuck Ave., and through that afternoon at Berkeley’s Earth Day gathering.

Today is Thursday, April 18, the 108th day of 2002. There are 257 days left in the year. 

Highlight in History: 

On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere began his famous ride from Charlestown to Lexington, Mass., warning American colonists that the British were coming. 

On this date: 

In 1906, a devastating earthquake struck San Francisco, followed by raging fires. About 700 people died. 

In 1921, Junior Achievement, created to encourage business skills in young people, was incorporated. 

In 1942, an air squadron from the USS Hornet led by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle raided Tokyo and other Japanese cities. 

In 1942, the first World War II edition of Stars and Stripes was published as a weekly newspaper for U.S. troops in Northern Ireland. 

In 1945, famed American war correspondent Ernie Pyle, 44, was killed by Japanese gunfire on the Pacific island of Ie Shima, off Okinawa. 

In 1946, the League of Nations went out of business. 

In 1949, the Irish republic was proclaimed. 

In 1955, physicist Albert Einstein died in Princeton, N.J. 

In 1978, the U.S. Senate voted 68-to-32 to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on Dec. 31, 1999. 

In 1994, former President Nixon suffered a stroke at his home in Park Ridge, N.J.; he died four days later at a New York hospital. 

Ten years ago: 

Serbia issued a protest to the United States, accusing Washington of siding with Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia in the Yugoslav crisis. Democrat Jerry Brown met with black leaders in Philadelphia while front-runner Bill Clinton visited a Phillies-Pirates ballgame as the two courted Pennsylvania primary voters. 

Five years ago: 

President Clinton held a news conference in which he warned Republicans that a balanced-budget deal might not come quickly, while reassuring nervous Democrats that he would not abandon the party’s prized social programs. 

One year ago: 

U.S. and Chinese diplomats began two days of talks over the April 1 collision involving a U.S. spy plane after Beijing and Washington staked out opposing positions on who was to blame for the incident. 

Today’s Birthdays: 

Actress Barbara Hale is 81. Blues singer Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown is 78. Actor Clive Revill is 72. Actor James Drury is 68. Actor Robert Hooks is 65. Actress Hayley Mills is 56. Actor James Woods is 55. Actress-director Dorothy Lyman is 55. Actress Cindy Pickett is 55. Country musician Walt Richmond (The Tractors) is 55. Actor Rick Moranis is 48. Actress Melody Thomas Scott is 46. Actor Eric Roberts is 46. Actor John James is 46. Rock musician Les Pattinson (Echo and the Bunnymen) is 44. Talk show host Conan O’Brien is 39. Actress Jane Leeves is 39. Actor Eric McCormack is 39. Actress Maria Bello is 35. Rock musician Greg Eklund (Everclear) is 32. Rhythm-and-blues singer Trina (Trina and Tamara) is 28. Actress Melissa Joan Hart is 26. Actor Sean Maguire is 26. Actress Alia Shawkat is 13. 

Jurors in the Earth First! v. FBI case examined up-close the bomb-blasted car environmental activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney were traveling in almost 12 years ago. 

The 1981 Subaru is a key piece of evidence for the plaintiffs in their attempt to prove that the FBI and Oakland Police Department mishandled the bombing investigation involving the two activists. 

Attorneys for the FBI and Oakland Police claim that Bari and Cherney knew the bomb was in the back seat of the car and that it was visible. 

Lead Counsel for Bari and Cherney, Dennis Cunningham, claims the bomb was planted under the front seat of the car, invisible to Bari and Cherney. 

In a press conference at the site of the damaged car, Cunningham pointed to the hole in the front driver side floorboards and the damage to the front driver side door. "The front door is smashed, destroyed. The back door is fine, it functioned perfectly well because the bomb wasn’t placed by that door. It was placed under the front seat, that’s our contention," says Cunningham. 

Jurors were able to examine all sides of the car and paid close attention to the details of the damage, crucial to the case of both Earth First! and the FBI. "They paid close attention as if they were in the court room even though they were outside here at the site of the car," says Cunningham. 

Bomb expert David Williams will testify Thursday regarding the damage caused by the explosion in the attempt to pinpoint the bomb’s exact location at the time it went off. 

Wednesday’s viewing of the car followed further testimony from Oakland Police officers. 

Attorney for the plaintiffs Robert Bloom questioned defendant Oakland Police Sgt. Robert Chenault about his involvement in the investigation of the bombing and his knowledge of the Earth First! environmental movement. 

Chenault testified that he considered Earth First! a violent terrorist organization. "Earth First! has a past of violence and sabotage. Judi and Darryl were leaders of Earth First!," explained Chenault. 

As the second assigned investigator at the bomb scene, Chenault was convinced shortly after the bombing that Bari and Cherney knew the bomb was in the back of their car and were planning to use it in their campaign against the timber industry. "It was my belief that they were transporting the bomb to Santa Cruz and that something was going to happen in Santa Cruz," says Chenault. 

Bloom also questioned Chenault about his involvement in drafting the initial warrant for the arrest of Bari and Cherney and his search of both Bari and Cherney’s homes in Northern California. 

Attorney for the current and former members of the Oakland Police, Maria Bee, asked Chenault if fellow activist Shannon Marr’s claims that Bari and Cherney had adopted a non-violent approach were significant. According to Chenault, "I listened to what Marr said about Bari and Cherney but also considered that she might be influenced by her friendship with the two activists." 

Sgt. Myron B. Hanson a former member of the Oakland Police arson bomb detail and not a defendant in the case also testified Wednesday. 

Attorney for Bari and Cherney Tony Serra questioned Hanson concerning his bomb training and experience reporting to bomb scenes. 

Hanson testified that at the time of the bombing he had had three weeks of bomb school but admitted he was "not an expert." 

Hanson also told the court that he had never seen a case like the bombing involving Bari and Cherney and that "the Oakland Police had no bomb specialist." 

Attorneys for the plaintiffs asked Hanson about a meeting between the FBI and Oakland Police to discuss the history of Earth First! shortly after the bombing. 

Attorney Serra asked why Hanson’s notes from his meeting with the FBI had not specified Bari or Cherney but rather Earth First! activities in Arizona and Santa Cruz. Hanson testified that the meeting was about Earth First! in general, not about the two activists involved in the bombing saying "My note-taking in kind of poor. I remember the FBI was doing most of the talking." 

See CAR/Page 12 

On Monday attorneys painted two very different pictures of defendant Sergeant Michael Sitterud and his handling of the 1990 car bombing that left environmental activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney injured. 

Bee asked Sitterud about his knowledge of the Earth First! movement and the philosophy of the activist group. "One of the things I had learned about Earth First! was that they believed it was their right to do things, to shut down the lumber companies, whether it was legal or illegal," says Sitterud. 

Sitterud testified that he was not convinced, after watching a video of Judi Bari, that the activist was committed to non-violent environmental action, saying the video showed Bari’s denial of violence to be "tongue-in-cheek." 

Bee questioned Sitterud revealing that the chief investigator belonged to at least six environmental groups including the Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited and Ducks Unlimited. 

In response to how Sitterud and other Oakland Police officers decided Bari and Cherney were the main suspects, Sitterud responded that he had previously seen a similar bomb found in a conflict with a lumber company in Northern California. 

Bee also asked Sitterud about his work after the bombing to locate an alternate suspect other than Bari or Cherney. Sitterud testified that he had conducted several interviews up north hoping to develop more leads on the case and collecting evidence. 

Supporters of the Earth First! movement claim federal and police investigators have done little to find the actual bombing suspects after dropping charges against Bari and Cherney due to a lack of evidence. In response, the FBI and Oakland Police claim that Earth First! supporters have refused to speak with investigators, slowing their efforts to gather information on the case. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Groups representing disabled passengers sued San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday, accusing it of failing to provide adequate access to deaf and hard-of-hearing travelers. 

The suit, which seeks class-action status, accuses the airport of failing to inform deaf passengers when they are to board, wrongly bumping them from flights and failing to notify them of gate changes. 

The suit also notes the airport recently spent $840 million on an international terminal, but did not provide adequate services for the deaf. 

A spokeswoman for the airport, owned and operated by the city and county of San Francisco, was not immediately available for comment. The suit was brought by Disability Rights Advocates and the California Center for the Deaf. 

WASHINGTON — More Americans are commuting on buses, subways and trains, new statistics show. 

The American Public Transportation Association, the trade group for municipal transit agencies, reported Wednesday that mass transit systems carried 9.5 billion passengers last year, up 2 percent over the 9.3 billion trips reported a year ago. 

At the same time, motorists drove 2.78 trillion miles in 2001, up 1 percent over the 2.75 trillion miles driven in 2000, Federal Highway Administration statistics show. 

In California, the increase in transit use was nearly 6 percent. 

“Americans want choice and freedom, and in places where transit service is improving, they are often choosing the bus or the train over their own car,” said David Burwell, president of the Surface Transportation Policy Project, a coalition of public interest and professional organizations that supports alternatives to building new roads. 

An official with The Road Information Program, a research group financed by the construction industry, noted that most travel is still by car. 

“The majority of surface transportation is taking place on our nation’s highways,” TRIP Executive Director William Wilkins said. “Both modes would be hurt if federal funding were cut.” 

President Bush’s proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 would cut federal highway funds by $8.6 billion. 

More people are riding the rails or traveling by bus now than at any time since 1959, when 9.6 billion trips were recorded. 

Transit officials said they are reaping the benefits of government investment in new routes and equipment. Los Angeles reported a 15 percent increase in ridership, while Denver had a 6.7 percent increase and the Washington area had an increase of 5.9 percent. 

Between 1995 and 2001, mass transit ridership grew 22 percent, from 7.8 billion trips, while highway travel grew by 16 percent, from 2.4 trillion miles. 

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has finished design of special screens to keep endangered fish out of the Klamath Reclamation Project’s primary canal intake and hopes to have the devices installed by next spring. 

The $15 million project is designed to prevent the deaths of endangered shortnosed suckers and Lost River suckers, and reduce the need to ever again shut off irrigation water to 1,400 farmers served by the irrigation system straddling the Oregon-California border. 

Studies have shown millions of juvenile and larval suckers each year can be drawn out of Upper Klamath Lake into the irrigation system’s A Canal, where they die when the canals go dry in the winter. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has identified the problem as a major factor in the decline of sucker populations, and has been calling on the bureau since 1992 to install screens on various water intakes. Last month a special task force appointed by President Bush to resolve the Klamath Basin’s water woes included the screens in a list of projects. 

To install the screens, the bureau will replace the 95-year-old headgates controlling flows into the A Canal, which were the scene of tense confrontations last summer between protesters and federal police over irrigation deliveries being shut off to protect fish. 

Work will be done between October and April to prevent interruptions in irrigation, said Dan Fritz of the bureau. 

LOS ANGELES — More than 30 sick and dying sea lions have swamped a San Pedro marine mammal recovery center, where workers are struggling to care for the apparent victims of a naturally occurring neurotoxin. 

Recovery workers at the Marine Mammal Care Center at Fort MacArthur have treated at least 33 sea lions, many pregnant, since March 17. The majority have responded to treatment, including medicine for seizures believed brought on by the toxin, called domoic acid. 

“I have been here nine years and I have never seen anything like this,” said Jackie Jaakola, the center’s director. 

Scientists suspect the sea lions became ill after eating anchovies and sardines that have dined on blooms of algae that contain the toxin. 

Domoic acid is believed to have killed dozens of common dolphins in recent weeks and has led the state to warn against eating sport-caught fish and shellfish from the Monterey Bay and Morro Bay areas. 

“I don’t know how long it’s going to last, but the animals keep coming in dead,” said Joe Cordaro, a wildlife biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Long Beach. 

In the last month, as many as 50 sea lions suffering from seizures have been found on beaches between Santa Barbara and San Diego counties, Cordaro estimated. 

Rescue workers are now performing triage on the sea lions, leaving all but the most ill where they are found for at least 48 hours before bringing them in for treatment.

RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. — Officials from California’s expanded Cal Grant scholarship program say they’ve worked out the bugs that led to a shortfall in the number of grants given out last year. 

Preliminary numbers show about 53,000 graduating high school students have already received money for college in the most recent application cycle, according to Carole Solov, spokeswoman for the California Student Aid Commission, which handles the Cal Grant program. 

That’s 4,500 more than the previous year, but it’s still about 30,000 short of projections made before the new program started. 

The Cal Grant program has been around since 1956. It aims to help every qualified high school student get a degree. Under the old program, any California student could apply, but only about 30,000 students received a grant. 

In 2000, the state bumped up funding for the program but implemented restrictions on who could apply. There are now an unlimited number of guaranteed grants available, but only recent high school graduates who meet certain financial requirements are eligible. For older students, a more competitive grant was established, but the number of grants was capped at 22,500 per year. 

The new program was criticized last year when the number of grants fell short of the target in its first year. Program officials estimated they would give out 95,000 guaranteed grants, but only gave out 48,500, meaning more than $90 million went unused and was returned to the state. 

The problem, according to Solov, was that more than 100,000 students applied for the competitive grants and not enough students qualified for the guaranteed grants. 

Legislatures tried to shift $35 million from the guaranteed to the competitive program, but the bill failed. 

Another problem was that many of the 188,000 applications that came in last year had incomplete information and were eliminated. This year, commission employees will call more than 24,000 students who incorrectly filled out the forms and let them reapply. More money is also being spent on public awareness to encourage more students to apply. 

NEW YORK — How would aggressive nudist Richard Hatch do against sweet-talking schemer Tina Wesson? Can you imagine Susan Hawk from the first “Survivor” dressing down would-be godfather Rob Mariano from the current show? 

Such what-ifs could happen. “Survivor” executive producer Mark Burnett said Tuesday that he’s planning an all-star edition matching memorable players from past editions of the game. He’d like to make the alumni game sometime next year. 

Burnett wouldn’t be limited just to the players who won. He would have free reign to match his favorite personalities, and said most would love to do it again. 

The current, fourth edition of “Survivor,” on the South Pacific island of Marquesas, has represented something of a critical comeback for the show. Burnett conceded that the third “Survivor,” in Africa, didn’t resonate quite as well with viewers. 

“I loved it, but clearly from a viewer’s point of view, it was a bit harsh, there wasn’t enough chemistry, and we could have used the water challenges,” he said. 

The current show, set on a lush island in the South Pacific, has proven a bigger hit with fans. Groups of contestants have morphed and merged rapidly, garnering peals of approval from family rooms across the country. 

Marquesas contestants have piqued viewers’ interest in unique ways. A middle-aged real estate agent, for example, has defied expectations and stayed in the game — to the delight of many. 

CBS plans to shoot the concluding episode of the current “Survivor” in New York City’s Central Park, if permission is granted. Contestants will not be asked to forage for nuts and berries there. 

Burnett recently received government approval from Thailand to shoot another “Survivor” edition on a tropical island there. He wouldn’t confirm that’s where “Survivor 5” will be, saying he’s also scouted locations in the Amazon. 

And he said he’s continuing to pursue a deal with Russian authorities to shoot a reality show in space. A previous agreement fell through, literally, when the Mir space station fell to Earth. 

Burnett’s other adventure game, “Eco-Challenge,” begins later this month on the USA cable network. 

WASHINGTON — Personal watercraft such as Jet Skis will be permanently banned at three national seashores and two national recreation areas beginning next week, the National Park Service said Tuesday. 

The decision to close the five sites to the motorized watercraft followed a lengthy review and extensive public comments, said Deputy Director Randy Jones. 

Eight other areas in the national park system will be temporarily closed to the watercraft Monday but could be reopened if the individual parks should adopt rules for their use. 

That leaves eight park system areas open to the high-speed motorized craft this summer, except for temporary closures beginning Sept. 15. 

Additionally, Jones said, sites where personal watercraft are allowed can restrict them to certain areas. 

The eight areas open to watercraft were granted extensions this summer under a court-approved settlement a year ago with Bluewater Network. The San Francisco-based environmental group sued to ban the watercraft throughout the federal parks system. Sixty-six water bodies overseen by the National Park Service earlier were declared off-limits to the watercraft. 

Personal watercraft are high-speed, gas-powered vessels, usually less than 16 feet in length, operated from a sitting, standing or kneeling position. They are commonly known as wet bikes or by their trademarks such as Jet Ski, Wave Runner or SeaDoo. 

Still open to personal watercraft this summer are Amistad National Recreation Area, Texas; Curecanti National Recreation Area, Colorado; Chickasaw National Recreation Area, Oklahoma; Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, Montana and Wyoming; Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada and Arizona; Lake Meredith National Recreation Area, Texas; Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah and Arizona; and Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, Washington. 

The five sites where personal watercraft are scheduled to banned permanently on Monday are Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts; Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Pennsylvania and New Jersey; Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana; Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia; and Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, California. 

The eight being made off-limits temporarily are Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland and Virginia; Big Thicket National Park, Texas; Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan; Fire Island National Seashore, New York; Gateway National Recreation Area, New York and New Jersey; Gulf Islands National Seashore, Mississippi and Florida; Padre Island National Seashore, Texas; and Cape Lookout National Seashore, North Carolina. 

But environmentalists said Tuesday they worried the Park Service might ease up at three national seashores — Gulf Islands, Padre Island and Cape Lookout — because it is now requiring superintendents in those three areas to reconsider their recommendations last year that watercraft should be banned. The areas had been on the list for permanent closures Monday. 

A hearing on a watercraft industry suit challenging the ban is scheduled for Wednesday before U.S. District Judge John D. Rainey in Victoria, Texas. The suit alleges the Park Service arbitrarily discriminated against a class of park users, personal watercraft users. 

Environmentalists have argued that personal watercraft damage the landscape and wildlife and create risks to public safety risk. 

The House Resources Committee approved a bill to postpone the prohibition until December 2004, but the Senate has not taken up the legislation. 

——— 

On the Net: National Park Service: http://www.nps.gov 

Personal Watercraft Industry Association: http://www.pwia.org 

Bluewater Network: http://www.bluewaternetwork.org 

SACRAMENTO — A bill that asks the University of California to stop using standardized tests as the sole criterion for graduate school admissions passed an Assembly committee Tuesday. 

Assembly Concurrent Resolution 178 was approved 6-1 by the Assembly Higher Education Committee, sending the bill to the Appropriations Committee. Assemblyman Phil Wyman, R-Tehachapi, voted no. 

During a press conference earlier Tuesday at the University of California, Davis, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante cited a dramatic decrease in the number of minorities enrolling in the University of California graduate and professional programs as reasons the bill was needed. 

The University of California needs to implement the same admission standards for students applying to graduate programs and professional schools that are now in place for undergraduate freshman students, said Bustamante, a Democrat. 

Lavonne Luquis, a UC spokeswoman, said each university uses different factors in determining admissions. Test scores are considered, but the universities also look at student accomplishments and leadership skills. 

Despite California’s increasing diversity, the number of minority students being admitted to UC graduate programs and professional schools is down. For example, from the fall of 1994 to the fall of 2001, the number of Hispanics admitted to law schools at UC Davis, UC Berkeley and UCLA declined by 33 percent, according to the University of California. 

During the same period, the number of black students admitted to the same three law schools declined by 55 percent, while American Indians declined 65 percent. 

“The numbers are staggering,” said Assemblyman Manny Diaz, D-San Jose, the bill’s author. “We need to do more here in Sacramento to make sure all students can participate in our graduate programs.” 

His resolution asks the University of California to review its admissions process used in its graduate and professional schools by the end of the 2002-03 term. That would include considering a broader variety of academic and personal qualifications.

SACRAMENTO — The California Public Employees’ Retirement System dropped two of the four major health maintenance organizations offered to its 1.2 million members Wednesday while raising rates for next year by 25 percent. 

The decision by California’s largest purchaser of public employee health benefits will cost employees across the state hundreds of dollars more per year, CalPERS officials said. 

The announcement comes as part of a chain reaction in health care, as hospitals charge HMOs and insurers more, who then pass those costs to the people they cover. 

CalPERS dropped Pacificare and Health Net while keeping Blue Shield and Kaiser Permanente along with three small, regional HMOs. 

Premiums will rise by 25.1 percent for HMOs, which serve three-quarters of CalPERS members, and up to about 22 percent for preferred provider insurance plans. The cost for the HMO rate increases alone, to be shared by the state and its employees and retirees, is $2.4 billion. 

How much CalPERS members will pay depends on their employers and insurance plan, but many retirees will not pay higher rates because the state pays their entire premium. 

Costs for employees will depend on which HMO they stay with, and if they are a single person compared to a family. A single person with Blue Shield in 2003 could pay from $34 to $58 more per month, while a family of four could pay $90 to $107 more per month. Benefits, however, will remain the same. 

“It’s going to be substantial for lower-income people,” said CalPERS president William Crist. 

CalPERS covers all state and local government employees, including retirees and public school employees who are not teachers. 

For years, CalPERS has relied on competition among HMOs to keep costs down, but this year all HMOs are raising prices. Nationwide, major insurers are raising premiums 10 to 30 percent, the largest increases in decades. 

In their negotiations with CalPERS, some HMOs proposed raises of up to 41 percent while reducing benefits and pulling out of some counties, which would have left many employees and retirees without an HMO option in their area. 

CalPERS officials wouldn’t specify the high bidders, but they did say that Pacificare and Health Net were among the highest. 

Crist said CalPERS is “trying to raise the visibility of this crisis.” 

Part of the current problems have been caused because hospitals must pay billions of dollars in uncompensated health care caused by so many uninsured Californians, said Jan Emerson, vice president of the California Healthcare Association. 

“Seven million people are uninsured but that doesn’t stop them from showing up at hospitals and requiring care,” she said, adding that two out of three California hospitals are losing money, with about 30 closing in the last six years. 

Emerson also points to recent state and federal laws that have required hospitals to retrofit for earthquake safety, which has cost $24 billion since 1994.

LOS ANGELES — Former mayor Richard Riordan said Wednesday he plans to start a new newspaper to offer an alternative voice to the Los Angeles Times. 

Riordan, 71, a multimillionaire who last month lost a bid to become the Republican candidate for governor, said he hopes to publish a broadsheet newspaper beginning this summer focusing on local news and features and columns about the media and the Internet. 

He said he hasn’t yet decided whether it would be a weekly, biweekly, or five-times-a-week daily, or what it would be called. He said he hasn’t decided whether to charge for it. 

The target audience would be 25- to 50-year-old homeowners. 

“I think a paper can make money and also can challenge the L.A. Times to be a better paper,” Riordan said. “I think this town needs a paper that’s going to put our city more into perspective and show more respect for the city.”

NEW YORK — Welcome to the new world of real estate ads: four-story brownstone, six fireplaces — and high-tech, armor-reinforced safe room. 

That describes the house in Jodie Foster’s hit movie “Panic Room.” In real life, safe rooms are still exceedingly rare, but offer cautious (and very wealthy) homeowners a safe haven from home invaders. 

“People who think these are like bomb shelters — that’s not what they’re for,” says Lou Palumbo, director of the Elite Group, a security firm that has designed safe rooms in New York and Los Angeles. “The concept is to insulate you and your family from intruders who are trying to rob or kidnap you.” 

The safe room can be as simple as a closet with a reinforced door and a phone inside. Typically, it’s a room separated from the rest of the house by reinforced walls and a hidden, magnetically locking door. Features include independent ventilation systems and phone lines — and, for longer stays, perhaps a toilet. 

For the ultra-security-conscious, options can include lining the room with armor or bullet-resistant Kevlar, setting up a closed-circuit TV network to watch the rest of the home, and installing a backup generator. 

Foster’s battle against intruders from within her secure walls earned more than $73 million at the box office in three weeks, creating a buzz about the little-known security technique. (Screenwriter David Koepp changed the name to “panic room” for a more compelling title.) 

The idea is simple, Palumbo explains. If an intruder enters your home, you flee to the safe room. Inside, using a phone line protected from the attackers, you summon the authorities. 

Industry experts won’t speculate about how many safe rooms there are, although a number are in Manhattan townhouses and Hollywood mansions. None come cheaply: A fully equipped room can cost up to $500,000. 

Jeff Schlanger, chief of security services for security firm Kroll Inc., says a safe room’s design is determined by a threat analysis: the buyer’s “station in life,” the home’s location and the potential threats the homeowner faces. 

William Bratton, ex-commissioner of the New York Police Department, says he sees little need for such a room in American homes. 

“It’s something that might be more applicable or more widely used in foreign countries,” Bratton said. “If you’ve got the money, that’s great. But what are the chances you’re ever going to use the darn thing?” 

And if you do, there’s no guarantee of success. In 1999, billionaire banker Edmund Safra was killed in his Monte Carlo penthouse after retreating to a reinforced bathroom because he feared intruders had entered the house and set it on fire. 

There were no intruders; the fire was set by Safra’s nurse, Ted Maher, who told authorities that he concocted the plan so he could save Safra’s life and earn a promotion. 

The concept of a room protected from the outside world is hardly new. In medieval times there was the castle keep; in the 1950s, bomb shelters. 

Reinforced rooms have been built for years in homes that could lie in the path of natural disasters such as hurricanes or tornados. 

In Snellville, Ga., an Atlanta suburb, a planned subdivision gives potential buyers the option of having a reinforced room built into the 7,500-square-foot, $1.2 million homes. 

“We live in a tornado-prone area, and FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) has been recommending safe rooms in houses for several years now,” said John Miles, an architect involved in the construction. 

Safety from natural disasters comes more cheaply than protection from predators. Miles says the cost of a reinforced tornado room runs only around $2,000. 

——— 

On the Net: 

Kroll Inc.: http://www.krollworldwide.com 

FEMA: http://www.fema.gov/mit/saferoom/index.htm 

LOS ANGELES — The five brightest planets visible from Earth have lined up in plain sight to form a spectacular celestial array that won’t be seen again until 2040. 

Through the next four weeks, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Saturn and Venus will appear tightly clustered in the western sky, forming a knot of planets that can be viewed in the evening despite the glow of light-soaked cities. 

“The five naked-eye planets are converging in one part of the sky and from now until mid-May you can see all five at one glance, which is pretty unusual,” said John Mosley, an astronomer at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. 

Each evening, the alignment will assume different shapes, as the five planets continue on the orbital paths that take them around the sun. The planets orbit in the same plane, like grooves in a phonograph record, only at different distances. 

Each planet also varies in the amount of time it takes to orbit the sun: Mercury zips around once every 88 days; Saturn takes more than 29 years; the others fall in between. At times the planets appear to cluster together. 

Similar bunchings occur every 20 years or so, although they are not always visible. The last they were this visible was in 1940. 

In May 2000, the five planets formed a tighter bunch, but were so close to the sun that they were washed out by its glare. 

In 2004, they will appear together again in the night sky, but will be spread over a much wider area, said J. Kelly Beatty, executive editor of Sky & Telescope magazine. They won’t be as easy to spy at a single glance again until 2040. 

“This is the nature of the clockwork of the solar system,” Beatty said. “We like to think of it as a way to remind people there is a simple beauty in the heavens that doesn’t require any special training to appreciate.” 

Astronomers stress there is no astronomical significance to the pileup. It is, Beatty said, just a “pretty coincidence.” 

That hasn’t stopped doomsayers in the past. In the months before the May 2000 lineup, some thought it foretold widespread catastrophe. 

To view the planetary alignment, find a dark area and look west as twilight ends. Binoculars or a telescope are not needed. 

The planets already are appearing together nightly, although they will be at their closest on May 14, when Jupiter will be high and bright in the sky. Below it, Venus will be paired with the crescent moon. Mars will lie below it, and Saturn below it. Farther down and to the right, Mercury will hug the horizon. 

On the Net: 

Sky & Telescope www.skypub.com 

Griffith Observatory http://www.griffithobs.org 

SACRAMENTO (AP) — State revenues have dipped more than $1 billion below expectations this year and officials are anxiously awaiting the results of April’s tax returns to gauge California’s fiscal health. 

The April figures will pave the way for the annual May budget revise that likely will include deep cuts if revenues continue to sag. 

Gov. Gray Davis warned earlier this week that for the first time he may not be able to meet the school funding level required by Proposition 98, the voter-approved measure that requires about 35 percent of the state’s general fund to go to public schools. 

Several lawmakers have proposed a variety of tax hikes to help boost the state’s treasury. 

But Davis, who faces re-election in November, said he has no plans to resort to tax increases to patch an ever-growing budget hole. 

“That is my expectation: that we can tighten our belt and get through a difficult year,” Davis said Wednesday after speaking to a group of business leaders in Sacramento. 

“That’s what individuals have to do, that’s what they expect their government to do and that’s what we’ll do,” he said. 

California already faces a budget shortfall of more than $14.5 billion, according to estimates by the Legislative Analyst’s Office. 

A monthly finance bulletin issued by the state Finance Department said there are signals that the economy is picking up, including the creation of 21,000 nonfarm jobs in California since November. 

But at the end of March, state revenues for the year were $1.14 billion lower than the $46 billion that was expected and sales, income and corporation tax receipts continued to sag, according to the report. The revenue shortfall could translate to an even larger-than-expected deficit. 

On May 14, Davis will submit his plan to revise the 2002-03 budget plan, based on revenue figures through April. The state receives its clearest fiscal picture of the year at the end of April, when the bulk of income tax receipts pour in. 

Davis Wednesday said his finance advisers have not yet determined how much, if any, he will need to trim from the $100 billion budget proposal he released in January. 

“We are just positioning ourselves for a whole variety of different scenarios,” Davis said.

SAN FRANCISCO — Authorities said Wednesday they are searching for a former executive at Cisco Systems Inc. accused of diverting about $10 million in Cisco-owned stock into personal accounts in the Bahamas. 

Robert Gordon, 42, of Palo Alto was indicted last year on two counts of wire fraud for the alleged multimillion-dollar scheme. He has pleaded innocent. 

Gordon was free on $5 million cash bond, with his $1.6 million home as collateral. Authorities said he failed to appear in federal court Tuesday for a routine status conference to discuss a possible guilty plea. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel declared Gordon a fugitive and issued an arrest warrant. 

Authorities said Gordon transferred 30,206 shares of stock in Internet Security Services Group, which since has been acquired by Cisco, into a Bahamian shell company he created called “Cisco Systems Inc. Bahamas.” 

Prosecutors said Gordon, a five-year employee who became a vice president of business development, transferred the stock without Cisco’s permission. 

Cisco Systems is the world’s leading maker of Internet equipment. The San Jose company has fired Gordon. 

About 150 teachers and supporters rallied on the steps of the Berkeley Unified School District’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Way headquarters Tuesday afternoon, protesting teacher layoffs scheduled to take effect next year. 

“It shouldn’t be the teachers,” said Jean Whittlesey, a science and health teacher at Berkeley Alternative High School who has received a layoff notice. “We are the foundation of education.” 

The district has issued layoff notices to 173 teachers as part of an effort to cut $5.4 million and balance next year’s budget. According to district figures, 82 of those teachers are “probationary,” meaning they are generally first- or second-year teachers with a preliminary or full credential. Ninety-one of the teachers are “temporary” teachers – generally new instructors who are often on an emergency credential.  

The administration has always planned to rescind many of the layoff notices as the budget picture clears up, and has taken back 38 in the past week, all for probationary teachers, according to Superintendent Michele Lawrence. 

Lawrence said she is “feeling more and more confident” that a “large group of probationary teachers” will retain their jobs. She said it is too early to determine whether any temporary instructors will return. 

Barry Fike, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers announced at the Tuesday rally that the district has agreed to offer retirement incentives to instructors. More retirements, he said, could mean less layoffs. 

Lawrence confirmed the offer. She said the district would likely offer a one-time lump sum, rather than an on-going payment. Lawrence added that the district could only offer the payment if enough teachers agree to take it, making it financially worthwhile for the district.  

Lawrence said she did not know, at this point, how much money the district would provide as an incentive. 

Teachers at the rally lamented the potential loss of young teachers and criticized previous administrators, including former Superintendent Jack McLaughlin, for wreaking havoc on district finances. 

“The people who got us into this mess are gone,” said Cheryl Marsh, a special education teacher at Cragmont. “It’s interesting that the teachers and children are left with the mess.” 

Several teachers suggested the Board of Education, which has approved $3.8 million in cuts thus far, should have trimmed elsewhere. But district officials and school board members have long contended that, with district money heavily invested in staff, significant layoffs are unavoidable. 

Many of the teachers who received notice will take part in layoff hearings with the district Thursday and Friday. The instructors will have the opportunity to challenge any inaccuracies in district records on their seniority and credentials. 

In the end, layoffs will be determined by seniority, with exceptions for less experienced teachers who hold specific types of credentials that no older teachers have.  

The Berkeley High swimming team continued their undefeated ACCAL run with a win over Encinal on Tuesday, making the ’Jackets 3-0 in league meets. 

Berkeley claimed victories in 20 of the 24 varsity races against the Jets, and four Berkeley swimmers won two events apiece. Nick Easterday won the 50- and 100-meter freestyles, while Ariel Nikzad took first place in the 500 freestyle and 100-meter breaststroke, and the two were also part of Berkeley’s winning 200-yard medley relay and 400-meter freestyle relay teams.  

The 400 free relay was the day’s most exciting race, with the ’Jackets falling behind on the first leg before Nikzad came back to take the lead in the third leg, handing anchor Dominic Cathey a 10-meter margin of error to bring it home. 

On the girls’ side, Amy Jagust won the 200 freestyle and 100-meter butterfly and Gretchen Arnason won the 50 and 500 freestyles. 

Tuesday’s meet was held under a foggy sky, with intermittent rain keeping the swimmers in the practice pool and spectators in the clubhouse. Berkeley head coach Keith Brooks said the weather put a damper on the ’Jackets’ performances. 

“It’s not so much the rain as the cold and wind,” Brooks said. “It’s a biting wind, and it makes it hard to loosen up.” 

Brooks’ team is in the middle of a grueling stretch of five meets in a little more than two weeks. But rather than worry about his swimmers getting tired, Brooks sees the constant competition as a motivator. 

“We haven’t had to worry about the fatigue factor in the past. I think the kids are pretty stoked up to swim so much,” he said. “The only issue is the scheduling problem. Other things in their lives tend to conflict with swimming.” 

With three league meets left, including a final date with a strong Alameda squad, and the ACCAL championship meet starting May 3, the ’Jackets are quickly rounding into their top form. But Brooks thinks his team’s best swimming is still ahead. 

“We’re still working towards our peak,” he said. “Hopefully that peak will come at the league championships.”

To the Editor: 

The man most missing today in Israel, Palestine, India and Pakistan is Mr. Gandhi. It is a great tragedy that his methods of overturning injustice are not taught and understood by oppressed and endangered people everywhere. 

There is no doubt but that the warring parties would long ago have secured safe and prosperous living arrangements had they embraced Mr. Gandhi’s methods. Those methods are successful in any dispute which is sensitive to world opinion and human sensibilities. 

Mr. Gandhi1s awesome technology for peace and justice involves five easy-to-learn but difficult to perform steps. The first is to clearly document the injustice, using outside observers and judges where possible. 

Establishing the truth of a situation is not easy, especially when one side views history by decades and the other by centuries. The truths of these present conflicts are not that difficult to establish, however. The first truth is that both sides of both disputes have legitimate claims to residency, security, religious freedom and economic prosperity. 

Perhaps a second truth is that these claims cannot be resolved at the group level, but only at the individual level. The greatest crime of the Twentieth Century came about in Europe when immoral leadership prompted one people to see millions of others as undifferentiated members of a racial-cultural group, rather than as individual human beings. Group-oriented approaches in the current conflicts have invited genocidal responses from both sides. When group affiliations get in the way of peace and justice, they must be dropped in favor of individual rights, enforced by a constitutional system of fairness. 

That is what keeps the political peace, imperfectly but surely, in America and other lands of diverse populations. Such systems must be agreed to by the parties, or imposed for a time by a more civilized--or at least calmer--world. 

The truths of the situation in the Middle East today must be understood by each side as best they can, using their long traditions of fair inquiry and scholarship to rise above the pain of their fresh losses. That is the first step toward peace. 

The second step is to take the truth to the door of the oppressor and ask for change. It may seem too late for such a step by either side, but it must yet be done, or done again, and respectfully so. The requests must be reasonable and the other side must be given an opportunity to consider the request and to respond. That is difficult when children are dying. In thepresent circumstance, it is nearly impossible to imagine this happening, but when a peace is finally achieved and historians retrace its path, they will see that this happened somehow. Clearly, it is an area where credible,non-partisan, outside peacemakers have an opportunity and a summons. 

The third step is to engage the thinking of the larger world in the issue. For Gandhi, that meant inviting reporters along on his reform protests, so that many people all over the world might understand and care about the issues, and then work for peace and justice. There is no shortage of international attention to the Middle East1s or the Asian Subcontinent's problems. That step toward peace is taken daily, as the world1s newspapers fill with photos of every side1s suffering. 

The forth step, necessary if the opposition does not agree to correct the proven injustice, is to put one1s self physically in the way of the injustice and suffer the personal consequences. This is done to demonstrate the depth of concern, and to crystallize the injustice in a way that it might be more quickly understood and resolved. Dr. King, on the Selma march, understood that he was marching into the raw violence of segregation, and he knew that, by suffering its batons that day instead of responding in kind, he would lose the battle but win the war. That is always the case when all Gandhi1s elements are in place and when the conscience of the world is engaged.  

The fifth step, always necessary when the other steps are properly taken, is to accept victory graciously. Victory always comes after a sufficient self sacrifice. Gandhi had an opportunity to obtain India1s independence during the Second World War, when Britain could not fight on yet another front. 

Gandhi, remarkably, ever confident of the ultimate success of his method, told his followers to cease all resistance until after the war. He said that India and Britain had gone down a long road together, and should part as friends. They did so immediately after the war. This attitude was difficult to maintain in a time when Indians were being killed and Gandhi himself was imprisoned. But his patience and his respect for the lives of all people, including his oppressors, created a victory for both sides--the natural result of his method. 

History cannot stand forever against a people who generously sacrifice their own safety in the cause of truth and justice. They must be brave and principled enough to do so with no harm to others, or else their moral position and their sure path to victory quickly erodes. It is a path that can yet be taken by those in the Middle East, and in India and Pakistan, and indeed anywhere where injustice turns us for a time against each other. 

- Doris Haddock

Wednesday, April 17th

A Judicial Attack on Environmentalism? 

7-8:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley School of Journalism Library, located at Hearst and Euclid Intersection. 

Discussions on recent court rulings that attack environmental policies. Open to the public. Free. 

For more information contact David Slarskey at 415-989-1111 or e-mail at dslarskey@bridgehosing.com 

A Conversation with Michael Frayn 

4 - 5:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Repertory Theatre 

2015 Addison St. 

Frayn will discuss the scientific and historical issues raised in his play “Copenhagen,” about a mysterious and fateful meeting in 1941 between German Physicist Werner Heisenberger and Niels Bohr. 

7-9:30 p.m. 

A Community Dialogue and  

Lecture on Buddhism 

7:30 p.m. 

Luthern Church of the Cross 

1744 University Ave. 

Jeff Greenwald (Journalist and author of “Shopping for Buddhas,” “The Size of the World” and “Scratching the Surface” - a new anthology.) 

Topic: Adventure Travel Writing: Myth & Reality 

A presentation followed by a question and answer period.  

For more information, call 848-1424.  

Affordable Housing Advocacy Project 

5:30-7:30 p.m.  

North Berkeley Senior Center 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

Affordable Housing Advocacy Project is sponsoring a series of Town Hall Meetings to present its annual update of their five year plan. 548-8776. 

The Low Vision Speaker, Jeff Carlson to speak about services of Lighthouse for the Blind 

1 p.m. 

1901 Hearst Ave. 

For more information, call 981-5190. 

Graduate Theological Union presents a public voice lecture on perspectives on terror and the War 

7 p.m. 

Bade Museum, Pacific School of Religion 

1798 Scenic Ave, Berkeley 

For more information, call 849-8244. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil 

6:30 p.m. vigil 

7 p.m. walk 

Downtown Berkeley BART  

For more information, call 528.921 or e-mail, vigil4peace@yahoo.com. 

Fling Ding! 

8 p.m. 

Ashkenaz  

1317 San Pablo Ave. 

Blue grass virtuosos Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum, The Bluegrass Intentions and clogger Evie Ladin do individual sets, then join forces for a group jam session. 

$10, kids under 12 free 

For more information, call 525-5054. 

Thursday, April 18

Berkeley Metaphysical Toastmasters Club 

6:15-8:00 p.m. 

2515 Hillegass Ave. 

Berkeley Free, on-going meetings emphasizing metaphysical topics.  

848-6510. 

Walking in the Footsteps of John Muir 

REI 

1338 San Pablo Ave. 

Cherry Good gives a slide lecture sharing highlights from her journey to find out what she could about John Muir. 527-7470 

Home Remodeling Workshop 

7 - 8 p.m. 

Building Education Center  

812 Page St. 

Free home remodeling workshop focusing on lowering utility bills and using building materials that are healthier for your family and the environment. 614-1699, www.stopwaste.org. 

Affordable Housing Advocacy Project 

5:30-7:30 p.m.  

West Berkeley Senior Center 

1900 Sixth Street. 

Berkeley 

Affordable Housing Advocacy Project is sponsoring a series of Town Hall Meetings to present its annual update of their five year plan. 

For more information, call 548-8776 

The Berkeley-based Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund filed suit against the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District in U.S. District Court in San Jose Tuesday, alleging that the bus service violates the civil rights of the visually-impaired by failing to call out stops and announce routes. 

But Santa Cruz Metro officials say the agency is commited to accessibility and taking steps to address activists concerns. By August 2003, said Santa Cruz Metro General Manager Leslie White, the entire bus fleet will have electronic announcement systems, ensuring compliance with the law. 

The Defense Fund, which works on disability issues nationally, joined with the Denver, Colo. law firm of Fox & Robertson to file suit on behalf of two Santa Cruz residents – Joshua Loya, who is blind, and Deborah Lane, who is visually-impaired as a result of multiple sclerosis.  

Loya and Lane, both students, said they have missed bus stops repeatedly because drivers fail to announce them. Lengthy walks and tardiness for work, classes and appointments have resulted, they said. 

“If you can’t get where you need to go, you can’t live your life,” said Loya. “What if somebody told you that you can drive your car, but you can’t see any of the off-ramps or street signs anymore?”  

Tim Fox, a partner at Fox & Robertson, said Santa Cruz Metro is in violation of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, among other federal and state laws. The act requires compliance with Federal Transit Administration regulations that call on bus drivers to announce major intersections, points of transfer to other lines and any stops requested by passengers, Fox said. 

Fox said Metro Accessible Services Transit Forum, an advisory group to Santa Cruz Metro, warned the bus service that drivers were not in compliance in 1989 and 1995, and a separate consultant raised the issue again in 1999. 

“They don’t take it seriously,” said Fox, arguing that the suit may prompt action. 

But White said Santa Cruz Metro is very serious about the issue. 

“There’s a commitment from the management team, the board and the staff to maximize accessibility,” said White, noting that the district just completed a three-month training with all bus drivers. 

Fox said in a Tuesday interview that the training was news to him and marked an improvement. He also said he was unaware that the Santa Cruz Metro Board of Directors had officially voted to equip the entire bus fleet with electronic announcement devices.  

But he said he still had concerns about which stops would be announced under the new system and whether drivers might disable the electronic announcers.  

Linda Kilb, an attorney with the Defense Fund, who argued that the problem is a national one, said Santa Cruz Metro must do a better job of pushing its drivers to announce stops. 

“If they’re not being provided a management culture that informs them of their obligations and facilitates their obligations, it’s not going to work,” she said. 

White said the agency has an ongoing monitoring system in place, with penalties ranging from sensitivity training to termination if a bus driver does not comply with the law. 

He also noted that a recent Santa Cruz Metro survey showed that over 70 percent of drivers are in compliance, though he acknowledged that full compliance would be 100 percent. 

“I would not call that a very impressive record,” said Fox, arguing that the public would not stand for an agency that discriminated against African-Americans 30 percent of the time. 

Just when things were starting to look up for the Berkeley High boys’ volleyball team, a freak injury may have thrown their season into chaos. 

Early in the opening game of Tuesday’s match against Alameda, Berkeley’s Ethan Ashley landed on a teammate’s foot and rolled his ankle. With just seven active players on the team, the ’Jackets were left with no substitutes and couldn’t give much resistance to the Hornets, falling 15-7, 15-12, 15-3. 

How serious Ashley’s injury turns out to be will likely decide the fate of the school’s first-year junior varsity program. If Ashley is out for any considerable amount of time, Berkeley head coach Justin Caraway is likely to forfeit the remaining JV games and pull all six players up to varsity. 

“There’s no way we can compete with only the six guys I’ve got left,” Caraway said. “We’re in serious trouble if Ethan’s gone for the rest of the year.” 

The ’Jackets admittedly won’t be going very far this year no matter what condition Ashley’s ankle is in. They have lost four straight matches and are just 1-4 in ACCAL play, with a group of unexperienced underclassmen unlikely to turn the season around. The abandonment of the JV schedule would be doubly painful for Caraway, who has worked hard for the past two seasons to establish the training ground for his younger players. 

Caraway admitted that pulling up the junior varsity would be a move born of desperation. 

“I don’t think our JV players are ready to compete at this level,” he said. “But I may not have a choice.” 

Although the ’Jackets didn’t win Tuesday, at least they weren’t fighting amongst themselves in the loss. The team ended last week with internal strife marring the picture, as star Robin Roach lost his temper after watching his teammates struggle to make plays for the past two seasons. Roach was smiling again Tuesday, patting his teammates on the back even when a mistake was made. 

“We were looking pretty good. We had a good practice yesterday, and we had high energy and were communicating on the court, Caraway said. “But this injury puts us in a tough position. I’m going to have to make a decision by tomorrow’s practice whether we’re going to have a JV for the rest of the year.”

The public hearing concerning TuneUp Masters and the possible revocation of the garage’s business license due to an ongoing nine-year dispute with neighbors who say the business is just not in tune with Berkeley had two distinctly different sides last night. 

At the beginning of the public hearing the lawyer for TuneUp Masters started off with a “spirited” argument against the city for not respecting the laws of due process. He also alleged that demands placed on TuneUp Masters by the city have put it at a competitive disadvantage and threatened livelihoods. 

“Berkeley is a wonderful place,” said Robert Zweben, legal counsel for TuneUp Masters. “But this process has been the most bizarre I’ve ever been through.” 

Zweben alleged that the city’s process has unfairly targeted the business due to a grudge held by Councilmember Dona Spring and the constant “nagging” of a few citizens, mentioning Michael Popso a neighbor of TuneUp Masters by name. 

At one point Zweben even stated that the city’s intention for the last several months has been to frame his client. 

“Due to the nagging of Mr. Popso you decided we’re not going to warn anyone. We’re not going to issue any citations, we’re going to build a case,” Zweben said. “You want them to respond to these that happened over a year ago, that’s just insane. It’s not fair. It’s not right. It’s not constitutional and it’s un-American.” 

At one point Zweben even told the city that they did not have the jurisdiction to revoke the business license. 

At the March 21 city council meeting prior to the holding of a public hearing regarding the possible revocation of the business license Councilmember Dona Spring lashed out at the business stating that they city should just close them down.  

All councilmembers are legally required to enter into public hearings without bias, consequently Spring’s comments may have placed the city into a legally vulnerable situation. The out for the city, however, was for Spring to recuse herself from all arguments surrounding TuneUp Masters. 

See TUNEUP/Page 9 

Walline of TuneUp Masters said yesterday that the company would consider suing the city if need be, but that decision would be based upon what was being said at the public hearing.  

Prior to last night’s public hearing City Council met behind closed doors to discuss the issue. When asked whether or not the meeting was held to discuss any legal vulnerability for the city, Councilmember Kriss Worthington said he was not allowed to comment. 

“But I will say that even if all eight of us were to vote that you should recuse yourself, the responsibility to do so still lies on the individual,” Worthington said. “We, the rest of council, have no authority.” 

Asst. City Attorney Zach Cowan would also not comment on the closed session discussions. 

Spring, however, through her silence seemed to say the most. 

She declined to comment on discussions regarding the business revocation. Consequently untying the city’s hands and freeing them from the perception of their being a violation of due process. 

Her silence set a different tone for the second half of the meeting. 

Councilmember Linda Maio began with resurfacing several past offenses of TuneUp Masters and stating that she believed the business basically disregarded the rules until they realized the city was serious about closing them down. 

“And now you say we’ve made staffing changes and we’ve let that person go. But things only happen in the 11th hour,” Maio said. She also stated that the company should have disciplined employees who were failing to comply with restrictions placed on he business by the city independently of the city having to send out someone to monitor and report their violations.  

“You should have someone on-site making sure your employees are doing what they are supposed to do,” she added in reference to allegations from neighbors that the business is still operating after hours, that tainted water has been dumped down storm drains and that the business is generally a public nusance. 

Berkeley-resident L.A. Wood earlier in the evening seemed to address the similar issue. 

“The problem is that this is an out of town business with absentee management and they are not the kind of business that cares about Berkeley,” Wood said. 

But not everyone had bad things to say about the business. Despite this nine-year battle, several community members supported the business and stated they were indeed good neighbors. 

One citizen even alluded to the fat that he thought the city just wanted the business out so that affordable housing could be built on the site. 

No action was taken and the public hearing will be continued until next week.

Today is Wednesday, April 17, the 107th day of 2002. There are 258 days left in the year. 

Highlight in History: 

On April 17, 1961, about 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in a failed attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. 

On this date: 

In 1492, a contract was signed by Christopher Columbus and a representative of Spain’s King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, giving Columbus a commission to seek a westward ocean passage to Asia. 

In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazano reached present-day New York harbor. 

In 1790, American statesman Benjamin Franklin died in Philadelphia at age 84. 

In 1964, Ford Motor Co. unveiled its new Mustang. 

In 1964, Jerrie Mock of Columbus, Ohio, became the first woman to complete a solo airplane flight around the world. 

In 1969, a jury in Los Angeles convicted Sirhan Sirhan of assassinating Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. 

In 1969, Czechoslovak Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubcek was deposed. 

In 1970, the astronauts of Apollo 13 splashed down safely in the Pacific, four days after a ruptured oxygen tank crippled their spacecraft. 

Ten years ago: 

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told the Senate Banking Committee the modest pace of economic expansion wasn’t adequate, a remark interpreted as a signal he might cut interest rates further. 

Five years ago: 

House Speaker Newt Gingrich announced he would borrow $300,000 from retired Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole to pay a sanction imposed for violation of House rules. Former Israeli president Chaim Herzog died in Tel Aviv at age 78. 

One year ago: 

By a nearly two-to-one margin, Mississippi residents voted to keep the Confederate emblem on their state flag. San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds became the 17th major leaguer ever to reach 500 career home runs. 

Today’s Birthdays: 

Composer-musician Jan Hammer is 54. Actress Olivia Hussey is 51. Rock singer-musician Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks) is 47. Singer Liz Phair is 35. Actress Jennifer Garner is 30. Singer Victoria Adams Beckham (Spice Girls) is 28. 

Just $100 to kick mayor’s butt 

GOSHEN, Ind. — The mayor of this northern Indiana city may let a critic who offered money to kick his posterior take her best shot. 

Mayor Allan Kauffman plans to turn his critic’s offhand comment into a benefit for the Goshen Boys & Girls Club later this month. 

The critic told a political volunteer for Kauffman that she would happily pay $100 to kick the mayor’s hind quarters, The Goshen News reported Saturday. 

Kauffman announced at a Kiwanis meeting on Friday that he would offer himself for the challenge. And the Boys & Girls Club will accept the mayor’s generosity, Kevin Deary, club president, said. 

Kauffman wrote a letter to his critic inviting her and three mayoral critics to the kicking event. The suggested bidding for one swift kick starts at $100. 

But the mayor said he was interested in establishing safety rules, such as limiting the kicker to the use of the side of the foot. 

Teens tape illegal exploits 

SHELTON, Conn. — A videotape made by a group of teen-agers in Shelton and Ansonia is getting rave reviews — from police. 

The teens taped themselves committing a series of burglaries, and commenting on the crimes, police said. 

“On the tape they identify each other by name and talk about what building they are going to rob next,” Detective Sgt. Michael Madden said Saturday. “They would be filming themselves driving to each location and saying, ’We are going to do our robbin’ here.”’ 

Police obtained the tape from an informant. It solves eight burglaries in Shelton and others in Ansonia, Madden said. 

William Stakum, 19, of Shelton, was arrested Friday night and charged with burglary, larceny, and criminal mischief in the first degree. 

He confessed, Madden said. 

“He really didn’t have much choice after seeing the film,” he said. 

More arrests are expected. 

Slumber party in jail 

PLATTSMOUTH, Neb. — Wanted: A few law-abiding citizens for an overnight stay in jail. 

Responsible adults can help test the nearly finished jail by taking part in a “sleepover,” Sheriff Bill Brueggemann said. 

Members of Cass County civic groups, city councils and village boards have been invited to spend Friday night. They will wear orange jail jumpsuits and will be fed supper and breakfast. 

High school student councils and church youth groups are invited to send 15- to 18-year-olds and adult chaperones Saturday. 

The sleepover will help volunteers understand jail life and give staff a chance to practice procedures at the 96-bed jail, Brueggemann said. 

A more traditional open house also will be held during the weekend. 

Judge goes to jail 

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Judge Michael Conahan decided to cut time and transportation costs by sending himself to jail. 

Conahan on Friday held court in the county jail with about 47 inmates on the day’s schedule — and less-than-ideal conditions. 

Conahan worked at a small table inside the prison’s library, surrounded by clerks, a stenographer, court administrators and a sheriff’s deputy. Inmates were brought in groups of five. 

Still, Conahan plans to try the court-in-jail system again in two weeks. 

Sexually explicit material and its appropriateness at certain hours of the night are hot topics in Berkeley, especially for viewers of B-TV Channel 25. 

For this reason, Berkeley Community Media has set up two live televised discussions about public access programming, censorship and free speech. This “Viewer Discretion Advised” program will take place on April 22 and April 29 from 7 to 7:30 p.m., and seeks to address viewers’ questions and concerns about questionable content and restrictions on adult programming on Channel 25. 

According to Brian Scott, the executive director of BCM, a number of complaints about controversial or sexually-explicit material have come into the station. BCM directed these directed the complaints to the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates these things, or to the district attorney’s office. 

“There was a specific show, the Dr. Susan Block Show,” Scott said. “Two members of the community came into a Board meeting in February and complained about it.” 

Svetlana and Ray Couture were chiefly concerned because it was on very early and that its content was “unpredictable.” 

This type of programming went on the air beginning at 10 p.m. initially. After the complaints, the Board decided to move any material that involves two naked people having sex to the hours of 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. 

After 25 people showed up at the next Board meeting in protest, the it went back to 10 p.m. The arguments for freedom of speech and against censorship convinced the Board of a revote — with the stipulation of having a public forum to address these issues. 

A large part of the controversy surrounds the FCC’s rules governing indecency verses obscenity. The FCC does not protect obscenity, such as pornography. 

“It is very difficult pinning down what exactly the FCC means when it says obscene material,” Scott said.  

Material is deemed obscene if three conditions are met. The program taken as a whole has to appeal to the prurient interest of the average person applying contemporary community standards. It also has to display or describe in patently offensive ways sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable law, and the material as a whole has to lack serious artistic, literary, political or scientific value, according to the FCC. Information about obscenity can be found at www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/obscene.html. 

Indecent programming, however, may be broadcast during certain hours of the night. Indecency is defined as language or material that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory organs or activities, according to the FCC. Indecent programming does not rise to the level of obscenity. 

This controversial and often confusing law will be addressed by opposing parties during the two forums. Joan Levinson, a producer at BCM, will moderate both discussions. Levinson said that she was asked to do this and did not choose the subject. 

“I usually ask the questions and then let people on all sides of the issue talk,” Levinson said. “If it gets too raucous, I step in. This is an attempt to educate the public with as much information on all sides as possible. It is a hot topic in the culture.” 

On April 22, BCM Board members Jill Martinucci and Allan Charles (Chuck) Miller will be on hand to answer questions, while Svetlana Couture and several sponsors of the B-TV program Unlimited Possibilities will debate on April 29. Berkeley residents may call in at (510) 848-5483 or 8939 to ask questions. For more information, call (510) 848-2288.

SACRAMENTO — A nearly 10-year-old California experiment with a once-radical substance treatment program has proven effective in cutting both crime and drug abuse, two groups with interests in the program said Tuesday. 

Chief Justice Ronald M. George, a Republican, said in releasing the report that the study shows “drug courts are helping the justice system and the public by decreasing drug use, improving lives, and protecting communities.” 

Arrests of drug court graduates dropped 85 percent for two years after they successfully completed treatment, compared to two years before they entered the program, according to a study of about 3,000 offenders who completed the program in 34 California counties. 

The California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs and the Judicial Council said their study’s participants often began with significant problems. 

About 70 percent reported using drugs for more than five years, and 40 percent for more than a decade. Little more than half had graduated from high school, and just 13 percent had attended college. A typical offender had been arrested twice and jailed once in the two years before joining the program. 

The study also found that: 

— While 64 percent of offenders were unemployed when they entered the program, 70 percent had jobs by the time they left. 

— 95 percent of babies born to mothers in the program were born drug-free, and 96 percent of drug tests were negative for participants during the program. 

— 28 percent of graduates retained or regained child custody, 7 percent gained visitation rights, and 8 percent caught up on child support payments. 

— The program saved state and local governments $42 million by diverting offenders who otherwise would have gone to prison or jail, though that was offset by the $14 million spent on the drug courts. 

The study ordered by state legislators collected data on offenders sent to drug courts in the 34 counties between January 2000 and September 2001. 

Drug courts began in Dade County, Fla., in 1989, during the height of the South Florida cocaine wars. They were first tried in Oakland in 1993 and have since spread across the nation and to 50 of California’s 58 counties. 

They were among the most tolerant of court-based drug treatment programs until November 2000, when California voters followed the lead of Arizona and required that first- and second-time nonviolent drug offenders be sent to treatment rather than jail. 

Still, Proposition 36 treatment programs that have worked best since the initiative took effect last July have been those that followed a drug court pattern, Butte County Judge Darrell W. Stevens, chair of Judicial Council Proposition 36 Implementation Committee, said last week. 

He and other advocates laud the courts’ reliance on cooperation between law enforcement and treatment providers, overseen by a judge who alternately threatens and cajoles offenders into getting help and staying drug-free. 

Proposition 36 courts work much the same way, but judges are generally barred from using the “flash incarcerations” many drug court judges used to instantly punish recalcitrant offenders with several days in jail.

SAN FRANCISCO - A veteran public policy researcher from Berkeley's renowned Public Health Institute has been named the new director of San Francisco State University's Public Research Institute (PRI). 

Richmond Annex resident James Wiley, vice president for research and evaluation at the Public Health Institute for the past three years, joins the faculty at S.F. State as both director of PRI and a professor in the department of sociology. 

S.F. State's Public Research Institute, which was established in 1984, provides policy research, data collection and analysis for businesses, government agencies and non-profit organizations throughout the Bay Area. 

"San Francisco State University is truly fortunate to have a leader such as James Wiley join its community. He is a leader who will make a huge difference in the research, teaching, learning and funding here in many different fields," said Joel J. Kassiola, dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at S.F. State. "I have been struck by Dr. Wiley's professionalism, energy, creativity and desire to come to our exciting multicultural campus. I consider it a real coup that we were able to recruit him and I look forward to Dr. Wiley's superlative accomplishments as director of PRI." 

Before becoming vice president at the Public Health Institute at Berkeley, Wiley was assistant director of the Survey Research Center at Berkeley for  

nearly 20 years. During that time, Wiley was co-principal investigator on the San Francisco Men's Health Study, a landmark study of the natural history of HIV infection in men who self-identified themselves as either gay or bisexual. 

Wiley, an expert in demography and social science research methods, has published widely on issues of method and statistics in social science research. He is also an expert on issues of substance abuse, aging, and social epidemiology of infectious and chronic diseases. He succeeds Michael Potepan, chair of economics, who had been acting director of PRI.

SACRAMENTO — Lawmakers may eliminate a state department this spring based on an audit Tuesday that found a faulty state computer contract could cost taxpayers millions of dollars. 

Three state departments improperly relied on a vendor’s presentation that the nearly $95 million software contact with Oracle Corp. would save the state $111 million in the long run, auditors said. 

Instead, the contract may cost the state $6 million to $41 million more than if there had been no contract at all, concluded State Auditor Elaine Howle. 

“If there was any doubt in anyone’s mind that DOIT (the Department of Information Technology) has outlived whatever usefulness it may have had, this audit ought to put an end to it,” said Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Redondo Beach, who asked for the audit in September. 

“As the auditor found, DOIT didn’t lift a finger to do the very thing it was created to do,” Bowen said. “It didn’t set standards, it didn’t verify savings projections, and it ignored its own study showing the project wasn’t needed.” 

The audit immediately prompted the Joint Legislative Audit Committee to set a hearing for Thursday, while a lawmaker called for more legislative oversight if the DOIT is to survive. 

Created in 1995 to coordinate the state’s technology purchases, the department will close July 1 unless lawmakers act. Gov. Gray Davis is backing legislation by Assemblyman Manny Diaz, D-San Jose, that extends its life through next year but lets lawmakers terminate projects with substantial cost overruns. 

“DOIT welcomes reforms,” said department spokesman Kevin Terpstra. 

That’s too late, Bowen said, because “the problems with this agency are so deep, so fundamental” that blowing it up is the only way to reform it. 

The department has 76 employees and an $11 million budget. 

However, auditors said the contract passed muster with three state departments that relied on a vendor’s savings projections instead of doing their own calculations. The departments may not have been aware that the vendor, Logicon Inc., stood to make $28.5 million from the abnormally lengthy six-year Oracle deal, auditors found. 

DOIT sought the contract despite determining in advance there was a limited need for the software, the audit found. 

Indeed, no state departments had the software as of last month, more than 10 months after the contract was approved, in part because the Department of General Services had not issued instructions on how to get it. 

Nonetheless, the state will have paid $17 million in contract costs and interest fees by June “with little benefit to show for it,” Howle wrote in her report. 

The three departments — DOIT, General Services and Finance — approved the contract with Redwood Shores-based Oracle despite a recommendation from the Finance Department’s review team that it be postponed a year. 

All three departments now agree with the audit’s conclusions, though they say they’ve taken steps to improve both the contract and the contracting process. 

Herndon, Va.-based Logicon, a subsidiary of Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp., declined comment. Oracle officials did not return a telephone message from the Associated Press. 

Last Friday night after a champagne gala the Berkeley Black Repertory Group premiered its "In Search of a Legend: A Tribute to Josephine Baker." Written and conceived by Johnny Land, directed and choreographed by Stephen Semien this musical revue exuberantly hits the highlights of Josephine’s life. Unfortunately, with an uneven cast and a thin script, this show never attains the heights of tribute it wishes to convey. 

The show begins with four Doo Wop singers – Sprandore Geford, Baraka Bey, F. Curtis Reed, Kenneth Brian Sullivan – recounting various exploits of Baker’s life: walking down the Champs Elysees with jaguars, singing into a rhinestone mic,, dancing above the Parisian crowd in a mirrored cage. They are full of awe and invite us to join them in a retrospective of Baker’s life.  

After the introduction we move to Baker’s childhood. "Li’l Josephine" is played with exuberance by Jade Johnston, who dances and sings well and fairly beams on stage. She is exhorted by the Doo-Wop men and the older "Chanteuse Josephine," played by Zorina London, to pursue her dreams and become a "queen."  

We then switch to Paris for the first act finale. Treated to a bevy of classic songs and a high-octane Charleston performance this number delivers all the spirit and energy you could hope for. Vickia Brinkley as Ethel Waters delivers a growling and fun "Go Back Where You Stayed Last Night" and Dawn Troupe as Josephine "Ingénue" leads the company in the spirited Charleston. 

The second act opens with a segment called "Legendary Josephine," and takes us from Josephine’s transformation from a scandalous ingénue to legendary chanteuse. Dawn Troupe shows off her dancing skills in an homage to the famous "Banana Dance" and Zorina London lets her diva loose in a number called "La Bakair," singing "Ma Vie en Rose."  

From there the show takes a documentary turn detailing the writer Johnny Land’s search to meet Josephine followed by a segment detailing Josephine’s persecuted yet ultimately triumphant return to America and her speech at Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington. The show closes with a re-creation of "La Bakair’s" last concerts at the Bobino.  

Because this is a revue, the script is hardly the most important element in the show. When using actual text from Josephine’s speeches the actors come to life and the words sing. But when the script switches to strained rhyming couplets for transitions and exposition, it suffers. Most of the performers’ voices are also assisted with wireless mics. However, one of the mic.’s on the Doo-Wop gentlemen refused to work throughout the show. Repeated attempts to bring up its level resulted in distortion and feedback several times. The performers’ voices ably filled the theatre’s hall which made me wonder why the mics were used at all. Ample credit should go to the costumer Jealousy, whose outfits for Josephine grow more spectacular as the night goes on, and Johnny Land for not only writing the show but with Aaron Bailey on drums, accompanying the performers throughout the night. 

Both Stephen Semien and Johnny Land write notes in the program detailing how much Josephine Baker has meant to them. I spoke with Mr. Land at intermission and he told me he hopes to continue working on this piece, to honor Josephine. With his dedication and this worthy beginning ultimately this show should do her justice.  

"In Search of a Legend" plays at the Berkeley Black Repertory Group’s home at 3201 Adeline St. in Berkeley, one block away from the Ashby BART station. Tickets can be purchased by calling 510-652-2120.

There is, as they say, no I in team. Neither is there an I in workhorse – and you can dig all you want but you’ll be hard pressed to find an I in Joe Storno. 

Storno, a senior southpaw for the St. Mary’s Panthers, is the last man standing on a Panther pitching staff that has seen two of its top three starters suffer season-ending shoulder injuries. The remainder of the staff can generously be described as “young” and/or “inexperienced” (freshman Scott Tully was called up Friday from the junior varsity to start against St. Patrick) and head coach Andy Shimabukuro, laughing, finds a more frank description for his makeshift staff: “shaky.” 

But where there should be a huge gap in the middle of the St. Mary’s rotation, you will now find the 6-foot-2, 225-pound Storno – who is suddenly the staff ace, bordering on one-man show - although you won’t hear Storno say that. 

“He’s kind of a quiet, laid-back kid,” Shimabukuro says, “and he’s not worried about his stats. He’s worried about winning.” 

Pitching every other game this season for St. Mary’s, usually going the full seven innings and throwing well over 100 pitches, Storno has become a rock amidst Shimabukuro’s unsteady sea of young arms. On Wednesday against then first-place Salesian, Storno threw a complete game three-hitter, walking none and striking out eight. Shimabukuro described Storno as being in “complete control” as he wrapped up his gem in only 88 pitches for a 4-2 victory that put the Panthers in control of the BSAL race. 

Asked about his performance so far this season, Storno is given a chance to toot his own horn - and here is how the young athlete chooses to answer: 

“Well, I’m not sure,” says Storno. “But the team is 3 and 0 in league.” 

Right. But we already knew that much. St. Mary’s is a perennial contender in the North Coast Section, cruising into the playoffs each of Storno’s first three years there, and this year has jumped out to an early lead in the BSAL. The question here is not about the team - it is about Joe Storno. How are you playing this year, personally? What is your record, for example? Your earned run average? 

“I don’t know,” says Storno, flatly. “I usually go the distance in our games though.” 

These are refreshing answers in a time when many young athletes can recite every personal stat in the book except for their team’s win-loss record. For an account of Storno’s personal achievements one must look elsewhere; Shimabukuro, for one, is effusive in his praise. 

“He’s the ace of our staff, and the only reliable pitcher we have right now,” Shimabukuro says. “He’s primarily responsible for our undefeated start in league.” 

In his last three outings Storno has pitched 21 innings, striking out 16, with a 2.57 earned run average. He has given up only 18 hits and six walks over that stretch.. 

“I know that every seventh day he’s going to take the ball and go with it,” says Shimabukuro, “and that’s a great feeling.” 

On days that he’s not pitching, Storno, the workhorse, doesn’t rest – he starts at first base for the Panthers. Storno is batting .280, with 10 RBIs and 13 runs scored. 

Shimabukuro attributes Storno’s durability to his off-season dedication to conditioning, describing Storno as a “team leader.” 

“A lot of the guys, the next day after they pitch they’re a little sore. He just goes through practice like he didn’t even pitch,” Shimabukuro says. “I think he really worked hard in the off-season - he was one of the guys that was there every day - and I think that will carry him through the end of the season.” 

Next year Storno will be a freshman at Florida State, home of one of the best baseball programs in the country. Some would say that Storno is stretching his skills a bit too far when he says that he intends to try to walk on there as a pitcher, but Storno’s decision to attend Florida State is based on their excellent Criminal Justice program, not on their baseball program. His favorite current class at St. Mary’s is Constitutional Law, and he talks of someday becoming an investigator with the FBI or DEA. 

As for Storno’s future on the mound, time will tell. Baseball is a game that rewards the consistent. Storno has stayed the distance several times this year – and there is no reason to believe that he’ll stop now.

To the editor, 

As a presidential candidate, George W. Bush promised that he would fight to see that "all Americans with disabilities have every chance to pursue the American dream." But President Bush's appointment of Gerald Reynolds last week as Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education betrays his prior commitment. 

With Congress in recess, the president exercised a relatively obscure power the chief executive has to make a "recess appointment." Not only does this appointment sidestep the Senate's constitutional role, but it also leaves many Americans wondering whether "compassionate conservatism" - a term Bush has used to describe his philosophy - is heavy on conservatism, but light on compassion. 

The person who oversees OCR will bear a heavy responsibility. This office is responsible for ensuring that nearly 15,000 school districts and more than 3,600 colleges and universities across the nation comply with federal civil rights laws-including access for students with disabilities. 

OCR provides technical assistance to educational institutions to help them comply with federal laws, and it also investigates charges of discrimination. Roughly 60 percent of all discrimination complaints that OCR investigates involve students with disabilities. For this reason, the person who heads OCR must be ready to enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and other federal laws that protect more than 6 million American students who have some kind of disability. 

But Reynolds is unlikely to be this kind of advocate. In the 1990s, he criticized the ADA, claiming it would "retard economic development in urban centers across the country." Reynolds also served as legal analyst for the Center for Equal Opportunity, a group that has repeatedly attacked the ADA and supported efforts to weaken this crucial law. 

Recently, a top official with the Center blasted the ADA as "one of the worst-drafted statutes" and urged Congress to "make the act narrower."  

Last year, the Center's president, Linda Chavez, complained that the ADA was "a haven for everyone from scam artists to disgruntled workers." 

These accusations are both hysterical and false. Research shows that employers face only minor costs in making a "reasonable accommodation” for a person with a disability. Research also reveals that Bush's appointee is way out of step with the public. In a 1999 Harris Poll, Americans were informed of the five major provisions of the ADA and then asked for their reactions. Each one of these five provisions was supported by at least 85 percent of Americans.  

Of course, every task requires the right tools, and this is no less true when it comes to ensuring fairness for our students. One key tool is the “disparate impact” standard -- an important measure that focuses on the discriminatory effect of laws and practices, rather than the motives behind them. The “disparate impact” standard has enabled federal officials through the years to identify and eliminate discriminatory education practices. 

Unfortunately, Reynolds firmly opposes this standard. His position would effectively deny justice to a large majority of discrimination victims, whether that discrimination is based on race, sex, national origin, or disability status. 

This is yet another reason why so many leaders and organizations representing the disability community have publicly urged the Senate to reject Reynolds' nomination. This includes Justin Dart, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and father of the ADA, the National Organization on Disability, National Disabled Student Union, Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, and the National Spinal Cord Injury Network. 

While testifying against one of President Clinton's nominees for the Department of Justice, Reynolds revealed his standards for judging executive branch appointments. He urged a Senate committee to “disqualify any candidate whose background indicates that his ideological beliefs will probably lead him to ignore the spirit, if not the letter, of the law.” 

Indeed, Reynolds not only failed President Bush's test - he also failed his own. 

- Jim Ward 

Local educators are sparring over controversial new state legislation that would expand the scope of negotiations between school districts and teachers’ unions. 

Under current law, unions have a right to negotiate wages, hours and conditions of employment. The new bill, authored by Assemblymember Jacki Goldberg, D-Los Angeles, would allow unions to bargain over the processes for selecting textbooks, developing curriculum and increasing parent participation, among other things. 

In many districts across the state, including the Berkeley Unified School District, teachers already play a role in these processes, serving on advisory committees and making recommendations to the school board about books and course development. 

The problem, say supporters of the Goldberg legislation, is that some districts do a good job of incorporating teacher input and others do not. 

“Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t,” said David A. Sanchez, secretary-treasurer for the California Teachers Association.  

Sanchez argued that, if the processes are enshrined in teacher contracts, recalcitrant school boards will have a hard time dismissing the recommendations that emerge from those processes. 

Barry Fike, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, who supports the legislation, said the district often listens to teachers’ recommendations but in many instances does not. 

“The record is a bit mixed,” he said. Fike said the bill would give the federation “teeth” in negotiating teacher input, and prevent districts across the state from simply appointing young, inexperienced teachers to advisory committees. 

Ted Schultz, a member of the Board of Education, said Berkeley teachers are already heavily involved in picking books and developing curriculum, recalling a teacher-led effort two years ago to overhaul the middle school approach to math. 

Board President Shirley Issel argued that shifting curriculum and textbook issues to the often tense arena of collective bargaining would be a mistake. 

“Negotiations are adversarial,” Issel said. “Why introduce these issues to that environment?” 

But board member John Selawsky, who supports the legislation, said it would simply provide another venue for teachers to get involved on important issues. 

“My feeling is that giving teachers more influence and power in deciding these issues is positive,” added board member Terry Doran, a former teacher. 

Doran and Selawsky are at odds with the California School Boards Association, a state-wide body that staunchly opposes the bill. 

James Morante, association spokesman, argued that the bill is an attempt by unions to seize power from school boards. He said any shift in power should be accompanied by a shift in accountability. But school boards, he argued, elected by the public, will continue to be held accountable while teachers will not. 

Sanchez said teachers are held accountable every time test scores are released, and that they should have a say in what texts and curricula are used in the classroom.  

But Morante said the collective bargaining process could lead to unsavory trade-offs on items like books and curriculum that do not belong in negotiations. 

“I sincerely believe that our teachers are far more professional than what our school board members give them credit for,” responded Sanchez, skeptical that unions would use these processes as bargaining chips. 

Fike differed slightly, noting that the legislation could make a tense relationship between a district and a union worse by adding new items to the negotiations. 

But Fike said Berkeley Unified and the Berkeley Federation of Teachers have a healthy relationship, and he did not envision future negotiations stalling if the Goldberg legislation becomes law.  

Morante also raised concerns about debating the issues out of public view. 

“You’re putting all these discussions about curriculum and textbooks behind closed doors in secretive negotiations,” he said, arguing that parents and students would not have adequate opportunity for input. 

But, as supporters take pains to point out, the legislation guarantees parents representation in any process that emerges from collective bargaining. 

Legislative hearings on the bill, AB 2160, start this morning in the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee and will move to the education committee next week. 

Governor Gray Davis came out against the bill last week, arguing that collective bargaining is not the proper venue to discuss educational policy, and casting doubt on the prospects of the legislation. 

Sanchez said the California Teachers Association will continue to push the bill, calling on its 300,000 members statewide to write letters to Davis and their representatives. 

He said the association will view legislators’ votes on the bill an important litmus test as the November elections approach.

To the Editor,  

The letter by Justin Rosenthal (April 11) implying the rally for Palestinian freedom at U.C. Berkeley was anti-American and anti-Israel missed the point: U.S. foreign policy and Israeli occupation policies caused Palestinian resistance to the occupation. 

As a 55-year-old person and a 29-year resident of Berkely as well as a community member of Students for Justice in Palestine, I am disturbed by the shortsightedness of Rosenthal's viewpoint. One cannot make peace with Israel without seeing the inherent racism of Israel's terrorist actions in Palestine. 

SJP's rally showed there is room for Palestine on the high moral ground most often claimed by supporters of Israel. Fighterbombers kill indiscriminately, creating a chasm of distance needing to be filled before peace can be acheived. 

The Israeli Action Commitee is blind to the facts of the situation and sees anti-zionism as anti-semetic. This narrowmindedness only serves to stifle conflict resolution and disallow thoughtful dialogue between the groups. 

Palestine will be free one day, but only by a change in U.S. foreign policy 

- Russell Bates 

Berkeley

The Berkeley Federation of Teachers and the Berkeley Unified School District are locked in a battle over the move from a seven- to a six-period day at Berkeley High School, a shift approved by the Board of Education in February and scheduled to take place next year. 

The shift to a six-period day is one of several cuts approved by the board that, according to BFT, will affect the teacher contract. 

Changes in class size, the teacher review process and stipends for high school department chairs will also affect the contract. The district has agreed to negotiate on these other items, but refuses to negotiate on the six-period day. 

Fike said that refusal is unfair, and added that he plans to file a grievance with the district in the coming days. The district is expected to reject the grievance, sending the matter to a third-party mediator. 

“We’re arguing that the existing contract allows us to implement a six-period day,” Lawrence said. “There’s nothing to negotiate, because we’ll be fulfilling the contract. There’s no violation here.” 

Fike disagreed. Currently, he noted, high school teachers instruct for five periods, plan for one period and supervise the hall for one period. 

Under the district’s proposal, teachers would still supervise, but for 15 minutes, not a full, 47-minute class period. Fike said this reduction violates the contract, and that the district is obligated to negotiate a contract change as a result. 

He also argued that the reduction in the supervision period will have a real impact on work conditions, given that many teachers “multi-task” during hall supervision, going through the “gobs and gobs” of paperwork every instructor confronts.  

But Lawrence said contractual language referring to a “supervision period” does not necessarily imply a period of time equal to a full 47-minute class session. She said teachers could supervise for fifteen minutes and still be in accordance with the current contract. She pointed to the middle schools, where teachers supervise for a shorter period of time, as a precedent. 

But Fike said middle schools teachers have a different schedule overall, with different required teaching minutes, making the comparison invalid.  

“It’s apples and oranges,” he said. 

Fike said the union also has concerns that the reduction in teacher supervision will affect student safety. 

“I too recognize the issue of safety,” Lawrence said. “But it makes far more sense to me to put someone that doesn’t have a master’s or doctorate in the hall.” 

Lawrence said she plans to hire additional security officers, while tightening up procedures at the high school next year. 

WASHINGTON - Male frogs exposed to even very low doses of a common weed killer can develop multiple sex organs — sometimes both male and female — researchers at the University of California Berkeley have discovered. 

"I was very much surprised" at the impact of atrazine on developing frogs, said university scientist Tyrone B. Hayes. 

Atrazine is the most commonly used weed killer in North America, he said, and can be found in rainwater, snow runoff and ground water. 

"There is virtually no atrazine-free environment," Hayes said. 

The Environmental Protection Agency permits up to three parts per billion of atrazine in drinking water. 

But Hayes' team found it affected frogs at doses as small as 0.1 part per billion. As the amount of atrazine increased, as many as 20 percent of frogs exposed during their early development produced multiple sex organs or had both male and female organs. Many had small, feminized larnynxes. 

Hayes' research team concluded that the effect on the frogs results from atrazine causing cells to produce the enzyme aromatase, which is present in vertebrates and converts the male hormone testosterone to the female hormone estrogen. 

The effects on frogs in Hayes' study occurred at exposure levels more than 600 times lower than the dose that has been seen to induce aromatase production in human cells. 

Their research is reported in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. 

Asked if atrazine might also be a threat to people at low levels, Hayes said he did not know, adding that, unlike frogs, "we're not in the water all the time." 

"I'm not saying it's safe for humans. I'm not saying its unsafe for humans. All I'm saying is it that it makes hermaphrodites of frogs," he said. 

Stanley I. Dodson of the University of Wisconsin at Madison called the work "the most important paper in environmental toxicology in decades. 

"It shows the effect of the most commonly used herbicide on amphibians in environmentally relevant concentrations," he said. 

Asked if people should be worried, he also said: "We don't know." 

"It's like a canary in the mine shaft sort of thing," Dodson said, referring to the former practice of miners of bringing canaries with them as warnings of dangerous gases. The birds are very sensitive to gases and would die before the concentration of the gas was enough to harm the miners. 

Dodson said that in his research he had found that low exposures atrazine changes the ratio of males to females among water fleas. 

In addition to its effects on developing frogs, the Berkeley researchers found that male frogs exposed to atrazine after reaching maturity had a decrease in testosterone to levels equivalent to that found in females.  

Madeleine Lacavoli was ready to hit the floor. All she needed was the siren’s signal. 

But at 10:30 a.m. she and the rest of her co-workers in the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Clerk’s office did not leap to participate in the citywide duck, cover and hold earthquake drill. 

“We were waiting and nothing happened," Lacavoli said. 

The clerk’s office of the Board of Supervisors remained calm and empty. Several workers sat at desks, divided into cubicles, typing. Some insisted they were too old to duck under a desk, but agreed to participate. 

The clock on the wall read 10:35 a.m. Still no siren. 

An employee walked out the door with a coffee cup in her hand. A co-worker warned, "You’re going to miss it." 

"I can’t sit here and wait," she replied, then smiled at the rest of the office as she left. The others held their seats. 

At 10:40 a.m., Lacavoli got the news. They had failed to hear the sirens that kicked off California’s Earthquake Preparedness month at precisely 10:30 a.m. 

No matter said, Juliette Hayes, special assistant in the Mayor’s office of Emergency Services. The sirens are not meant to alert people to an earthquake--the earth moving does that-- but to alert people to turn on their radio for an emergency broadcast. 

"The siren won’t go off during an earthquake because there’s not enough time," Hayes said. "But people should know to turn their radios to an AM station to be linked to emergency information." 

Hayes said the main reason for the siren today was for people to practice the duck to the floor, take cover under a sturdy desk or table and hold onto that piece of furniture until it is safe to move earthquake drill, regardless of whether people heard the siren. 

"If there was a hazardous spill big enough, then (the board of supervisors office) probably would have heard about it through the mayor’s office," Hayes said. Maybe the clerk’s office failed to hear the outside siren because they were waiting for an internal siren. 

But Lacavoli wonders who else failed to hear the siren. 

"If you’re not hearing it in city hall, are you hearing it in other buildings?" she asked. 

Two security guards at the San Francisco Library, across the street from city hall also missed hearing the sirens. The two men, who declined to give their names, were standing near the door at 10:30 a.m. 

"What earthquake drill?" one asked. "If they’re going to have a drill then everyone should be able to hear it. What’s the point otherwise?" 

Lacavoli expressed the same sentiment. "If your windows are open you’d hear it," she said. "But we can’t keep them open because of the heating and air ventilation. Let’s face it, on a normal workday, most people are inside a building." 

East Los Angeles, the famed rough-and-tumble Mexican neighborhood, has been a continuing source of inspiration to one of its native sons, Luis Rodriguez, bringing out poetry, political commentary, a memoir and now short fiction. 

Best known for his unsparing memoir about life as an East L.A. gang member in "Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.", Rodriguez read last night at Cody’s Books on Telegraph Avenue from his new collection of short stories, "The Republic of East L.A." A frequent speaker at youth conferences and schools, Rodriguez also spoke at San Lorenzo High School during the day.  

With three works of poetry, two children’s books, and two non-fiction titles to his name, "The Republic of East L.A." represents Rodriguez’s first foray into adult fiction. The twelve stories in the collection chronicle different characters as they make their way around the boulevards and sidestreets of the author’s hometown.  

"They’re (the stories) based on real people, people I’ve known, experiences I’ve had, or stories I’ve heard," Rodriguez says about the tales, most of which were written over the last three years. Rodriguez wrote the final story, "Sometimes You Dance With the Watermelon," twenty years ago. It was from revisiting this story and others that "The Republic of East L.A." came to be.  

"I’ve put the gang situation in the background," Rodriguez says, hitting on the new stories’ relation to "Always Running." "Most of the stories are not about gangs. Even though that’s what East L.A. is known for, there’s really a lot more to it than that so I decided to focus on other aspects of East L.A. life and culture." 

Citing literary influences from fellow L.A. author T.C. Boyle ("I love T.C. Boyle" Rodriguez says), to Tobias Wolff, Robert Olen Butler, and Native American writer Sherman Alexie, Rodriguez aimed to be as original as he could in his adult fiction debut. 

"I am purposefully trying to have my own style," he says, "which I’m not sure how well I succeeded at. I really tried to not write like anybody - it at all possible - but the influences are there." 

As a seasoned political organizer and speaker to at-risk youth, Rodriguez is used to communicating his experiences directly and up front. Did he find the less linear and more subtle form of fiction hard to adjust to?  

"Some of the issues, social and political, these people are involved in are a part of the background of the story," he says. "But of course with fiction, you try and not make it an essay. You gotta try and make sure the characters and the situations they’re confronting makes it a story, and not impose the situation."  

Involved in gangs during his youth, Rodriguez has been speaking at schools and juvenile detention facilities for over twenty years. Discussing his talk in San Lorenzo, Rodriguez said he planned to speak about "the importance of everybody finding their particular art, their particular purpose, their passion. That’s the way I look at my writing, it’s a very innate passion that I have that keeps me going, that’s gotten me through a lot of hard times… I think it’s important to show why art and purpose is important to find in your life." 

SAN FRANCISCO — State regulators proposed a plan Monday they said would allow Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to emerge from bankruptcy by January, without raising customers’ electric rates. 

The plan filed by the California Public Utility Commission would have PG&E ratepayers contribute $4.7 billion while the company’s parent company PG&E Corp. forgoes $1.6 billion in profits. The utility would also sell common stock to raise an extra $1.75 billion. 

The utility’s only stockholder now is its parent company, but the PUC plan would make about 20 percent of the stock available on the open market. 

The PUC’s plan would also return the utility to a cost-of-service ratemaking process, giving PG&E a guaranteed rate of return on the electricity it sold. That and paying the utility’s debts in full and in cash, will restore the utility to an investment grade, said PUC general counsel Gary Cohen. 

“We expect PG&E to come out of bankruptcy in January with $3.6 billion in cash,” Cohen said. 

PG&E is also building a cash surplus, Cohen said, that should top $2.7 billion by January, because the utility has collected more in rates since March 2001 than it has spent buying power. 

Ratepayers will also pay $2 billion to refinance $3.86 billion in debts over ten years, Cohen said. 

Consumer advocate Doug Heller called the PUC’s plan a ”$4.7 billion ratepayer-funded bailout of PG&E.” 

“The only reason they can come up with the $4.7 billion is by illegally maintaining the artificially high electricity rates until January 2003,” said Heller, who works with the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. 

PG&E filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2001, claiming more than $8 billion in debts. 

The utility’s own reorganization plan would have the company spin its power plants, electricity and natural gas distribution systems into separate companies that would be under the corporate umbrella of the federally regulated parent company. 

PG&E says federal regulators would let it charge market rates for the electricity it generates, boosting their value and allowing it borrow more than $4 billion against them to pay creditors. State regulators currently control how much PG&E can charge for its power. 

Critics, including the PUC, called the plan PG&E’s way to escape state oversight. 

Under the PUC’s plan, “PG&E will not be broken up. It will remain an integrated utility when it emerges,” Cohen said. 

Both plans provide for the utility’s creditors to be paid in full. The utility and the regulators each also say their plans would not increase consumers’ electric rates. The PUC plan could also allow for a rate decrease in January 2003, when the utility emerges from bankruptcy, but officials couldn’t say Monday how much a decrease would result. 

CLEVELAND (AP) — Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. increased its bid to acquire TRW Inc. to $6.7 billion, a month after the defense manufacturer’s board rejected an unsolicited offer of $5.9 billion. 

Kent Kresa, chairman and CEO of Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman, said TRW is more valuable because of improving economic conditions. 

The new offer is valued at $53 a share, compared with an original offer of $47 a share. 

TRW late Sunday advised its shareholders to take no action and said its board would review the revised offer. 

Last month, TRW chairman Phillip Odeen told investors that $47 a share wasn’t indicative of TRW’s value. The TRW board also urged shareholders to reject the Northrop Grumman’s hostile tender offer. 

Shares of TRW were up 49 cents to close at $51.97 in trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. Northrop shares lost 57 cents to close at $118.31. 

“We strongly encourage TRW shareholders to send a strong message to their board of directors in favor of inviting us to conduct due diligence,” Kresa said in a news release Sunday. “If the TRW board continues to deny us access, this offer will not proceed.” 

In response to the takeover attempt, TRW said last month it plans to spin off its automotive parts business within nine months. 

TRW said it was in preliminary talks with others who have expressed interest in buying all or part of the automotive business and its aeronautical systems business.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Well after midnight, police who hadn’t been paid in four months pulled over a vehicle at a checkpoint on a barely lit street. But it wasn’t money they were after. They asked the car’s Western passengers for help getting artificial limbs. 

One of the policemen, Mohammed Tahir, a 42-year-old whose right leg was severed by a Russian mine in the 1980s, wanted a more comfortable prosthesis. He hobbled around with a crutch in one hand and a Kalashnikov rifle in the other. 

His colleague, 20-year-old, Mohammed Khan, lost his left hand to a boobytrap when he was a child. He also lost two fingers on his right hand, and his gun dangled from a strap around his neck, the muzzle resting in the crook of his maimed arm. 

“I can still shoot an RPG,” or rocket-propelled grenade, Khan said proudly. 

“Help us. He needs a hand, I need a leg,” Tahir, a veteran of several Afghan conflicts, said in a diffident, subdued tone. 

The patrol waved on the car after the travelers assured them they would relate their plight to a foreign medical group that helps Afghanistan’s war victims. 

Cruising the streets of Afghanistan’s second-largest city at night offers a window on a culture of tension and suffering, guns and commanders who control their own turf. 

Early Saturday morning, there were 11 checkpoints manned by Afghan security forces on the nine-mile stretch of road between the U.S. military base at the Kandahar airport and downtown. 

Typically, soldiers — some in uniform, many in civilian dress — signal the few cars on the road to stop, flicking a flashlight on and off. Some hang a rope across the road as a crude barrier. They peer in the windows of vehicles, sometimes search passengers and occasionally invite them to share tea on the side of the road. 

The city has been relatively quiet since the overthrow of the Taliban late last year in a U.S.-led war. But local officials believe Kandahar’s role as a former stronghold of the Islamic militia makes it vulnerable to unrest by Taliban or al-Qaida remnants. 

Security has been especially tight in the city since Wednesday, when an assailant shot an American soldier in the face on a crowded street. The soldier was expected to recover. 

The week before, unidentified assailants fired a rocket at the office of Kandahar’s governor, Gul Agha, where U.S. Special Forces troops are garrisoned. The rocket missed and there were no injuries. 

Elite U.S. soldiers still patrol Kandahar, but witnesses say they are traveling more often in convoys of three or four vehicles. Previously, single cars carrying Special Forces members were often seen. 

Afghan soldiers, more familiar with the area, are now accompanying the Special Forces on all their patrols, said Khalid Pashtun, a spokesman for the local government. 

Early Saturday, a police car with a flashing red light on the roof was parked in the middle of the road near the governor’s office. The driver was changing a flat tire. 

The police and soldiers who patrol the main roads at night work for commanders loyal to the governor, many of whom staked their claims during the early, chaotic days after the Taliban departed. 

The chief of the area patrolled by disabled Tahir and Khan got his post by seizing the district’s police station when anti-Taliban Afghan fighters first entered the city. 

The governor rewarded the commander, Lalai, by allowing him to retain control of the station, a two-story building with strings of flickering, colored lights on the roof. 

Six Afghan police riding two to a motorcycle stopped a vehicle early Saturday along the airport road. Their only question: “Whose group are you with?” — referring to the units controlled by Kandahar’s many commanders. They waved the vehicle ahead after the driver told the officer, “We’re not with any group.” 

Most police and soldiers have not been paid, receiving only food for their work. Mohammed Aga, commander of a checkpoint at a bridge near the airport, said his 30 men have no car and cannot chase vehicles that bypass their post and veer into the surrounding desert. 

But what they lack in transportation, they make up in weapons. Soldiers manning checkpoints all around Kandahar say that if cars don’t stop, they have orders to open fire. 

Julia Morgan was a remarkable woman and an exceptional architect. Not only was she the first woman to be admitted to the prestigious Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, she was also the architect of San Simeon, the fabulous "castle" built by William Randolph Hearst, near San Louis Obispo, which is now a state park.  

Born in Oakland in 1872, Morgan graduated with a degree in engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1894. Before moving to Paris in 1896, she worked for Bernard Maybeck. After two years of study she was accepted and entered the Ecole des Beaux Arts in 1898. In 1902, after gaining an Ecole certificate, she returned to California and worked in the office of John Galen Howard, the University of California, Berkeley architect.  

Shortly after receiving her state architects' certification in 1904, she opened an office in San Francisco with Ira Hoover and immediately began a forty-year career as an architect and would design more that 600 buildings and several building complexes such as San Simeon, Asilimar and Mills College. She died in 1957. 

Julia Morgan's early career coincided with the years of Berkeley's most rapid growth. With her early university connections she immediately had many clients who engaged her to design homes in Berkeley. In one small neighborhood alone, she designed approximately 20 houses and one church (Old St. John's,1908, now the Julia Morgan Cultural Center) between the years of 1905 and 1914 and most of them are still standing.  

On Sunday, May 5 the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association will hold its annual house tour in a neighborhood just west of the former Schools of the Deaf and Blind, now Clark Kerr Campus, where several of these early Julia Morgan homes were built.  

The area, known as the Kearney Tract, was almost entirely built between 1904 and 1915 just after the electric streetcar line was opened along College Avenue. Among the 14 homes that will be open on May 5 two were designed by Julia Morgan, while others were designed by Clinton Day, Edward Seely, Stone & Smith, Joseph A. Leonard, William Wharff and F. E. Armstrong. Most are excellent examples of Berkeley's version of the American Arts and Crafts Movement. Usually sheathed in unpainted brown shingles, their Arts and Crafts interiors are noteworthy for their use of wood and attention to detail. 

For further information please call 841-2242.  

Susan Cerny is author of Berkeley Landmarks and writes this in conjunction with the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.  

Turkey attacks 

hunting videos 

BATAVIA, N.Y. — A turkey recently decided to take a turn as a critic, attacking movies in a video store — and taking particular aim at hunting videos. 

Nancy Arena arrived at her video store 30 miles east of Buffalo last week to find the front window smashed and feathers and movie cases scattered everywhere. 

She called police, and when the officer arrived at the store, he flushed a young tom turkey out of the science fiction section. 

An animal control officer eventually took the 12-pound bird away. 

Arena says the episode “was kind of weird” because the turkey bashed into the hunting videos first — and left some droppings on them. 

Spring is mating season for turkeys, and wildlife experts say the video-store crasher may have been looking for a feathered companion among the video displays. 

Firefighters marry one  

another in fire hall 

MCKEES ROCKS, Pa. — This wedding ceremony was hotter than most wedding nights. 

McKees Rocks firefighter Amy Connolly and Pittsburgh firefighter Victor Cushanick were married Tuesday night at Connolly’s fire hall in their “turn-out” gear — the protective clothing worn while fighting fires. 

Connolly’s only concession was to wear a veil instead of her helmet, and to carry a bouquet of flowers. The couple’s Dalmatian, Murphy, wore a black bow tie. 

“I just have to be different,” said Connolly, 32, who met Cushanick on the Internet several months ago while chatting about — what else — firefighting. “It’s something that we’re both into, and we wanted to do something that is memorable.” 

“Traditions are what you make of them,” said Cushanick, 34. 

About 100 people attended the wedding, about five miles south of Pittsburgh, including 24 McKees Rocks firefighters in dress uniforms. 

The groom’s mother, Julia Cushanick, was caught off guard by the wedding’s nontraditional theme. 

“All mothers would like their children to have a traditional wedding — but I understand,” she said. “As long as my son is happy, I am happy.” 

H, Miss. (AP) — Cigarette smokers who toss their butts out the car window might learn from the example of Mari Ann Sistrunk, who faces a $203 fine for littering. 

“I did it. I admit that. I just wasn’t thinking, and I threw the butt out the window,” she said. 

Sistrunk, 31, was driving home from work at a Wal-Mart on Monday morning when she discarded her cigarette. Olive Branch patrolman Adam McHann pulled her over. 

When she asked what the ticket would cost, McHann referred her to the number for the municipal court clerk. 

“I couldn’t believe it,” Sistrunk said. “The ticket was $203. Two hundred and three dollars for one cigarette butt. I could have been speeding. I could have hit someone. Anything like that, and the cost would have been lower.” 

McHann said his original intent was to warn Sistrunk not to throw butts out the window. 

“I tried to explain to her that the intersection of Bethel and U.S. 78 was the worst intersection in the city for litter, but she said throwing a cigarette butt out the window was not littering,” he said. 

In addition to the litter, McHann said grass fires are a threat at the intersection, where a construction project is under way. 

——— 

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — An annual Wisconsin tradition has been put out to pasture. 

Cows on the Concourse, which promotes the state’s dairy industry with livestock displays and dairy products during June Dairy Month, has been canceled, said Kelli Lamberty, Madison’s community events coordinator. 

She said the Dane County Dairy Promotion Committee didn’t have enough people to coordinate the event. 

“It would have been the 25th year so it’s very disappointing that they couldn’t do it,” Lamberty said. 

The event is traditionally held on the Capitol Square on the first Saturday in June in conjunction with the Farmers’ Market. Last year, live cows were replaced with life-size models because of concerns about foot-and-mouth disease. 

Lamberty said she didn’t know if the event would return. 

LOS ANGELES — A 17-year-old Air Force ROTC student with an Arabic name has received an apology from the military after allegedly being handcuffed and interrogated by recruiters on campus. 

KCAL-TV reported Wednesday night that Hassan Ali Bahar, a student at George Washington Preparatory High School in Los Angeles, was detained by recruiters visiting the campus. 

He told the television station that flight simulators were brought to the school Friday and he wrote the words “Hassan Ali Bahar can’t be stopped” while he and another cadet were playing with the equipment. 

Two recruiters ordered him to put his hands behind his back, handcuffed him and took him outside for questioning, Hassan said, adding the recruiters told him what he wrote was like saying, “Osama bin Laden can’t be stopped.” 

Hassan said another cadet wrote the same words and he believes the recruiters singled him out because of his Arabic name. 

The Air Force in a statement said that it was aware of the incident and it was under investigation. 

KCAL-TV reported that the Air Force sent a representative to apologize to Hassan. The station also reported that the school has banned the Air Force from campus. 

“I was scared, I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know what anybody could do about it, what anybody could say,” said Hassan, a cadet captain who has been involved with ROTC since ninth grade. 

His mother, Tasha Holt, of Inglewood, was angered by her son’s treatment. 

“I feel like he was discriminated against and his civil rights were violated because of his name,” Holt said. “You can look at him and can tell he is African-American. He’s not of Arab descent or anything like that, I chose to give him an Arabic name because all of my children have Arabic names.” 

The Berkeley Police Department has released a sketch of a man who assaulted two Jewish men who were walking on Claremont Avenue earlier this month. 

Although the victims were dressed in orthodox Jewish clothing and the assault was mentioned in media reports that also referred to anti-Semitic scrawls found at a nearby temple, police say there's nothing to indicate that  

race played a factor in the assault. 

“We do not in any way classify this as a hate crime, based on the description that the victims provided to us,” said Sgt. Kay Lantow. “There was never any reference to race.” 

The incident happened early April 4. The victims were walking along the 2700 block of Claremont Avenue when the suspect approached and asked for a cigarette, Lantow said. 

As one of the men complied with the request, the suspect began punching him in the face. The other man tried to intervene, only to become the target of the attacker's punches. 

While the suspect continued to pummel his second victim, the first managed to get away and run for help. Meanwhile, the suspect continued to beat the second victim, demanding his belongings. 

After the attack, the suspect fled on foot with a man who had been waiting in the shadows. 

According to Lantow, the details of the beating and the circumstances in the case are similar to another post-midnight robbery that happened on the 3000 block of Shattuck Avenue on March 29, and police are looking into whether the assaults are related. 

The suspect is described a black man in his 20s, about 5 feet 8 inches and 160 pounds with a muscular build. At the time of the April 4 assault he was wearing a light-colored hooded jacket -- possibly tan or gray -- and his hair was cut short and styled in twists. 

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Berkeley Police Department's robbery unit at (510) 981-5742

Today is Tuesday, April 16, the 106th day of 2002. There are 259 days left in the year. 

Highlight in History  

On April 16, 1947, the French ship Grandcamp blew up at the harbor in Texas City, Texas; another ship, the Highflyer, exploded the following day. The blasts and resulting fires killed 576 people. 

On this date: 

In 1789, President-elect Washington left Mount Vernon, Va., for his inauguration in New York. 

In 1862, a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia became law. 

In 1912, Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel. 

In 1917, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin returned to Russia after exile. 

In 1935, the radio comedy “Fibber McGee and Molly” premiered on the NBC Blue Network. 

In 1945, in his first speech to Congress, President Truman pledged to carry out the war and peace policies of his late predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

In 1945, U.S. troops reached Nuremberg, Germany, during the World War II. 

In 1947, financier and presidential confidant Bernard M. Baruch said in a speech at the South Carolina statehouse: “Let us not be deceived — we are today in the midst of a cold war.” 

In 1962, Walter Cronkite succeeded Douglas Edwards as anchorman of “The CBS Evening News.” 

In 1972, Apollo 16 blasted off on a voyage to the moon. 

Ten years ago: 

The House ethics committee listed 303 current and former lawmakers who had overdrawn their House bank accounts. 

Five years ago: Police in Israel recommended indicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for breach of trust in an influence-trading scandal. (Prosecutors later decided not to pursue charges against Netanyahu, citing a lack of proof.) 

One year ago: 

Israel launched an air strike against a strategic Syrian radar station in Lebanon, killing three Syrian soldiers. The Oregonian of Portland won two Pulitzer Prizes, including public service for its examination of widespread abuses by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. In breaking news reporting, The Miami Herald won for its coverage of the pre-dawn raid by federal agents who took custody of Elian Gonzalez; the story also produced the breaking news photography award for Alan Diaz of The Associated Press. Michael Chabon won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay”; David Auburn won for his play “Proof.” Lee Bong-ju of South Korea won the 105th Boston Marathon. Catherine Ndereba of Kenya won the women’s race for the second consecutive year. 

Today’s Birthdays:  

Actor Les Tremayne is 89. Actor Barry Nelson is 82. Actor-director-author Peter Ustinov is 81. Actor Peter Mark Richman is 75. Actress-singer Edie Adams is 73. Jazz musician Herbie Mann is 72. Singer Bobby Vinton is 67. Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II is 62. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is 55. Singer Gerry Rafferty is 55. Actress Ellen Barkin is 48. Singer Jimmy Osmond is 39. Rock singer David Pirner (Soul Asylum) is 38. Actor-comedian Martin Lawrence is 37. Actor Jon Cryer is 37. Rock musician Dan Rieser is 36. Actor Peter Billingsley is 30. Actor Lukas Haas is 26.