Editorials

Bruce Lee’s martial arts teacher retires 

ALAMEDA — Wally Jay, who was Bruce Lee’s martial arts teacher and a pioneer in the martial art of jujitsu, is retiring. 

Jay taught the late Lee at his Alameda school from 1962 to 1964 when the martial arts star was on the brink of fame. 

“He was good and fast,” said Jay. “He was made for the sport.” 

Lee’s displays of physical might and featherweight acrobatics earned him a cult following when he began starring in thrillers such as 1972’s “Fists of Fury” and 1973’s “Enter the Dragon.” 

But less than a year after his starring debut, he died at 32 from a brain edema. 

Jay, a Honolulu native, who first learn martial arts to fight off bullies became an innovator in jujitsu, a Japanese form of self-defense that employs locks and holds of the hands, fingers and wrists, as well as throws and sweeps. 

Jay, 85, created small-circle jujitsu, an energy-efficient form of jujitsu that combines smaller, more calculated movements that give opponents less room to escape. 

Jay, who is retiring after 45 years of teaching, produced national champions and team winners in three countries earning him the highest respect in the martial arts community. 

For him, the sport is not about is not about using brute force. 

“It’s not about how much you can hurt a person,” said Jay. “It’s how little you can hurt a person and still control them.” 

North Bay man held  

for murder 

PETALUMA — A Petaluma man was being held on suspicion of murder after allegedly fatally shooting a childhood friend with a gun he said he thought was unloaded. 

Witnesses said Andrew Karl Johansen produced a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun during a party at his house. He allegedly dry-fired the gun several times while aiming it toward people’s heads. When he allegedly pointed the gun at Justin Pope, 18, and pulled the trigger, it fired a bullet into Pope’s head, said Detective Sgt. Dave Kahl. 

Johansen and most of the other guests fled the house after the shooting. Johansen arrived at the police department several hours later with a friend and turned himself in. 

A search of the friend’s car produced a gun believed to be the one used in the shooting. A later search of Johansen’s home and vehicle found two assault rifles, a semiautomatic assault pistol, approximately $3,000 in cash and around three pounds of marijuana. 

Johansen told police he thought he had unloaded the gun before he began pointing it at people. He could not explain why he was pointing it at others or why it fired when pointed at the victim, Kahl said. 

Big gender gap in Marin  

NOVATO — Marin County women earn nearly $16,000 a year less than their male counterparts, according to 2000 census data. 

Men earn a median income of $61,282 and more than $100,000 in Belvedere, Kentfield, and Tiburon. Women earn $45,448 countywide. 

In fact, the wealthy county north of San Francisco has the widest pay gap of all the counties in the San Francisco Bay area. 

Statewide, the census reported median earnings of $40,627 for men and $31,722 for women, a difference of $8,905. 

“The commonplace thinking is that the playing field has been leveled,” said Rachel Allen, spokeswoman for the Marin County and California chapters of the National Organization for Women. “The thinking is that the second wave of the women’s movement fixed everything. We’ve seen a lot of improvement, but there remain many steps to take.” 

Analysts say a number of factors are responsible for the gap, including the median age of workers: The older a woman is, the greater the likelihood her paycheck will be lower than that of her male colleagues. And, with a median age of 41, Marin is graying ahead of the statewide median of 33. 

Nationally, women between ages 16 and 24 earn 91 percent of what their male co-workers take home, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. By contrast, women between ages 55 and 64 bring in only 68.5 percent of what their male counterparts earn. 

Career choice also remains a factor.