The plain, boxy appearance of Fantasy Building on 10th Street conceals the glamorous work that goes on inside. Most recently, the building’s studios have contributed to this month’s release of three films on DVD.  

The Saul Zaentz Film Center, in the Fantasy Building, did post-production work on DVD versions of “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” “Amadeus” and “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.” The films, all originally produced by Saul Zaentz, will hit stores this week with newly restored picture and soundtracks. 

Sound is the Saul Zaentz Film Center’s ace in the hole. Hollywood recognizes the center’s facilities and skilled staff as a coveted place to mix movie sound, which the new DVDs highlight. 

Film center staffer and sound mixer Mark Berger won an Academy Award in 1985 for his work on “Amadeus” (along with cohorts Thomas Scott, Todd Boekelheide, and Christopher Newman), one of the six Oscars the film collected. 

The film of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart begged for a good sound mix. And to give a realistic sense of a live Mozart performance in 18th century Vienna, Berger and his team recorded audiences of all sizes – including silent-movie viewers at the Pacific Film Archive – to get sounds of people shuffling in their seats. 

Berger dusted off the original sound to prepare the rerelease with more sophisticated sound technology than he had in 1984. To his surprise, he didn’t need to touch the music mix at all. “In spite of the technology, we got it right the first time.” 

“One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” needed a bit more work. The negative was brought out for cleaning and restoration, but Berger said even the original production was raw at the time. 

The film based on Ken Kesey’s novel about a convict who cons his way into cushy time at the psyche ward and tries in vain to beat the system won five Oscars in 1975, but was plagued with unavoidable sound distortion on the dialogue track – faint traces of tape hiss with camera noise and mono mixed in. 

With 27 years of technological improvements and skills, Berger went back to the tapes to clean them up and create a stereo mix. No sound was added to the rerelease version, said Berger. “The philosophy was, the film was particular and it should stay that way. It should reflect the time it was made in,” he explained. 

All sound manipulation took place in the mixing, not the editing. Nothing was added or subtracted, keeping true to the film’s original intentions. 

Director Milos Foreman’s original idea was to make a strong distinction between the environment inside the hospital and the outside world, said Berger. When Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) coaxes his disoriented inmates out of the insular, claustrophobic hospital halls to play some basketball in the sun, Berger placed the outside sounds in an expansive stereo field. 

Although the subtleties of the sound mix might be impressive heard through a movie theater’s speaker system, they could get lost on many people’s televisions at home. Even with the surround sound of new home entertainment setups, dynamics are the first to go. The loud isn’t too loud, and the quiet bits get lost. Berger’s digital re-mixes reflect the sound quality of high-end DVD players, while narrowing the dynamic range to fit their limitations. 

Sound is usually the least popular aspect of movies, the one most easily forgotten outside the theater. These DVD releases are a testament that the renowned mixing stages and their captains in the Fantasy Building are the invisible hands guiding a filmmaker’s fictional tapestry.

To the Editor: 

Is it politics or just common sense to “consider” relocating the stadium? Might the university's biggest revenue-generator benefit from a more user-friendly location that is less constrained by proximate residences? Would natural resources in Strawberry Canyon and historic resources in surrounding neighborhoods be better protected by a different campus use at the mouth of the canyon? Might an infusion of faculty housing improve traffic for everyone while reducing parking demand and enhancing quality of life for faculty? Might the old stadium be fit enough to meet another demand, i.e. for intramural and recreational purposes?  

Instead of a communitywide discussion to this effect, university administrators have stated their intentions to retrofit the 72-year-old stadium with the assumption the concrete structure will carry the Cal Bears into the 22nd century. Meanwhile, housing density in adjacent areas increases, and will continue to increase, during the stadium's lifetime.  

Also, there are numerous hazards with the current location, all of which interact dynamically to potentiate existing dangers. Among these are the following: 

n The Hayward Fault bisecting the stadium lengthwise.  

n The location of the stadium at a virtual dead-end with no eastern egress except for Centennial Drive. 

n The possible evacuation of 75,000 spectators which would interfere with emergency response to the area. 

n The proximity of a state-designated critical fire zone.  

Although the Panoramic Hill Association has not taken a position as to relocating the stadium, there are many good reasons to have a communitywide discussion about just that. It is neither “preposterous” nor “pie in the sky” to do so. One could easily lob back that it would be preposterous to not do so.  

Janice Thomas 

PHA president 

Berkeley

Saturday, Sept. 28 

Free Legal Workshop:  

“Crossroads: Health and the Law.” 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

514 58th St. at Telegraph Avenue 

Navigate your way through legal issues when living with cancer or any serious illness. Panel presentation on employment, insurance and public benefits and one-on-one sessions with attorneys. Please, pre-register. 

601-4040, Ext. 102 for information  

or Ext. 103 to register 

Free  

Garage Sale/ Car Wash  

Belize/ Berkeley Scouts 

10 to 2 p.m. 

Epworth UMC, 1953 Hopkins St. 

International exchange fundraising effort for scouts. 

525-6058 

From Monument to Masses, Victory at Sea & Yesterday’s Kids 

8 p.m. 

924 Gilman St. 

525-9926 

$5 

A Forum on the Arts with the Berkeley Mayoral Candidates 

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Aurora Theater, 2081 Addison St. 

558-1381 

Free 

Sunday, Sept. 29 

How Berkeley Can You Be?  

11 a.m. parade and 12:30 p.m. festival 

Parade starts at University Avenue  

and California Street. Ends at  

Civic Center Park, where the  

festival takes place. 

849-4688. 

www.howberkeleycanyoube.com 

Tibetan Buddhism  

“Healing Mind” 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place 

Sylvia Gretchen discusses how the teachings cultivate the mind and redefine what healing means. 

843-6812 

Free 

“Iron Chef” Style Cook-Off  

3 to 4 p.m. 

(followed by reception, 4 to 6 p.m.) 

Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto 

1919 Fourth St.  

In this “Crabby Chef” Competition 2002, top East Bay chefs vie for this year’s title by creating the tastiest crab dish. Master of Ceremonies will be KGO-AM’s Gene Burns. 

845-7777 or 845-7771 

Free 

City of Berkeley  

2002 Public Art Competition 

1 to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Central Public Library  

2090 Kittredge St.  

A public art informational workshop will be open to all artists regarding public art site proposals. 

981-6100 

Free 

Saturday, Sept. 28 

Barry & Alic Oliver 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$16.50 in advance. $17.50 at door. 

San Francisco Improv. 

8 p.m. 

Cafe Eclectica, 1309 Solano Ave., Albany 

527-2344 

Donations welcome 

From Monument to Masses,  

Victory at Sea and Yesterday’s Kids 

8 p.m. 

924 Gilman St. 

525-9926 

$5. 

Sunday, Sept. 29 

Si Kahn  

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance. $16.50 at door. 

Cellist Gianna Abondolo 

4 p.m. 

Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. 

Classical favorites and original  

compositions for cello. 

559-6910 

$10 general. 18 and under free. 

Weber Iago and Harvey Wainaple 

4:30 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

845-5373 

$10-$15. 

David Friesen and Uwe Kropinski 

8 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

845-5373 

$10-$15. 

Blowing Zen: A Performance of Shakuhachi 

7:30 p.m. 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church  

2626 College Ave. 

528-2027 

$12 at door. Children $5. Seniors $10. 

Chamber Music 

4 to 5:15 p.m. 

Crowden Music Center 1475 Rose St. 

Gianna Abondolo & Friends  

celebrate the release of their  

classical and jazz CD. 

559-6910 

$10. 18 and under free. 

Tuesday, Oct. 1 

Toshi Reagon 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance. $16.50 at door. 

Wednesday, Oct. 2 

Hookslide 8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance. $16.50 at door. 

Thursday, Oct. 3 

Pete & Joan Wernick featuring Dr. Banjo  

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance. $16.50 at door. 

Saturday, Oct. 5 

Leon Bates 

7:30 p.m. 

Calvin Simmons Theatre, 10 Tenth St. 

Pianist Leon Bates offers works by Mozart, Brahms and Chopin. 

451-0775 or www.fourseasonsconcerts.com 

$25-$35. 

All Bets Off, Benumb and Uphill Battle 

8 p.m. 

924 Gilman St. 

525-9926 

$5. 

House Jacks  

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$16.50 in advance. $17.50 at door. 

"Balancing Acts" 

Through Oct. 10 

Gallery 555, 555 12th St., 

Oakland City Center 

Oakland's 'Third Thursday' art night features Ann Weber's works made of cardboard. 

http://www.oaklandcitycenter.com.  

Free. 

“Hunger: What will you do about it?”  

Through Oct. 30, Mon.-Fri.,  

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

The Civic Center Building 

2180 Milvia St., 5th floor 

Featuring 40 photographs  

by Berkeley artist David Bacon. 

834-3663, Ext. 338, uchanse@secondharvest.org 

Richard Misrach, Berkeley Work 

Though Oct. 13 

UC Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way 

On view in Gallery 2, presents two photographic series by this internationally recognized Berkeley-based artist.  

642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

$7. $5 BAM/PFA members.  

$4 UC Berkeley students. 

Misch Kohn - Celebrating Sixty Years of Printmaking 

Through Oct. 16. Tues.-Fri., Noon to 5:30 p.m.; Sat., noon to 4:30 p.m. 

Kala Arts Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 

549-2977, kala@kala.org 

Nancy Salz 

Through Oct. 23, Tues.-Fri. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Sat 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 

Barbara Anderson Gallery, 2243 5th St. 

848-3822 

Timoteo Ikoshy Montoya 

Through Nov. 1  

Reception Sept. 20, 6 to 8 p.m. 

Gathering Tribes Gallery  

1573 Solano Ave.  

Acrylic/air brush paintings  

by this Native American artist.  

528-9038 

A Thousand and One Arabian Nights 

Through Sept. 28, Fri.-Sun. 8 p.m.; Sun. 4 p.m. 

Forest Meadows Outdoor Amphitheater, Grand Avenue at the Dominican University, San Raphael 

Marin Shakespeare Company’s  

presents this classic story with  

original Arabic music. 

415-499-4488 for tickets 

$12 for youth. $20 for seniors.  

$22 general. 

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar 

Through Oct. 12 

Thurs. through Sat. 8 p.m. 

LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre  

1834 Euclid Ave. 

234-6046 

$10. 

The House of Blue Leaves 

Through Oct. 27 

Berkeley Rep's Roda Theater  

2015 Addison St.  

647-2917 or 888-4BRTTIX 

$10-$54. 

The Shape of Things 

Through Oct. 20 

Aurora Theatre Company  

2081 Addison St. 

Play by writer/director Neil LaBute's spins a morality tale of a young art student, his art major girlfriend, and the Pygmalion-like changes that bring into question how far one should go for love. 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org for reservations 

$26-$35. 

Ceramics - Opening Reception 

Through Nov. 17 

3 to 5 p.m. 

A New Leaf Gallery, 1286 Gilman St. 

525-7621 

Free. 

Sunday, Sept. 29 

Margaret Kaufman & Robert Funge 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

845-7852, www.poetryflash.org 

$2 donation.

A stir of excitement sparked Oakland Ballet’s season opener this month. While the East Bay’s other major dance company, Diablo Ballet, struggles on life support because of recent economic times, the Oakland troupe is thriving. Its success is due largely to artistic director Karen Brown’s energetic leadership and a dedicated board of directors. 

Whatever the reason, dance lovers benefit. And from the look and sound of opening night, Oakland Ballet has come into its own as one of the East Bay’s most vibrant cultural purveyors. 

The first pleasure of the evening was the Paramount Theater. If you’ve never set foot in its stunning art deco expanse, you owe yourself a visit. An audacious gem, it’s one of the few theaters that truly takes your breath away. It was so packed Friday night, you might have thought you were at San Francisco Ballet. 

Good news for Oakland. 

Karen Brown introduced the program, nodding to supporter Mayor Jerry Brown, who took a bow. A welcome aspect of the company’s overall upgrade is its commitment to live music, demonstrated by the Turtle Island String Quartet. The band jump-started the evening with a jazz version of “On Green Dolphin Street” that sounded deliciously like Stephane Grappelli crossed with Ali Akbar Khan. 

Then came the first piece, “A Night in Tunisia,” choreographed by Charles Anderson to Turtle Island’s version of a Dizzy Gillespie score. A native San Franciscan, Anderson is on the faculty of several local companies. In “A Night in Tunisia,” he’s created a work that’s sunny with barely a whiff of North Africa, but no matter.  

What counts is what he’s set to Turtle Island’s syncopated line, and though the result is lightweight, it’s cheerful and crowd-pleasing, full of jazzy lopes, finger snaps and gleefully snaking arms. Featuring an insouciant trio – Ilana Goldman, Chih-Ting Shih, and Katherine Wells – and Peter Strand and Chih-Ting Shih in an agile duet, "Tunisia" concludes with a big finish for 16 dancers, who lack SF Ballet’s precision but move with winning verve. 

Who knows what will come when their talents get fine-tuned? 

Next on the bill was a revival of Lew Christensen’s 1942 “Jinx” with Christensen’s son leading the East Bay Symphony. A story ballet, it’s one of those circus-metaphor works of 20th century art, from “Petrushka” to “Freaks.” Here a brooding jester pines for a pert high-wire walker while spurning the bearded lady who loves him. Blamed by the troupe for a series of accidents, the jester comes back to haunt them after death. The work has a dated, ’40s air, but it’s fascinating nonetheless, and with an eerie poignancy. A taut Mario Alonzo danced the doomed jester. The colorful circus costumes were by Russell Hartley. 

The evening concluded with “Bamboo,” a reprise of Michael Lowe’s hit from last year. Set to music of Melody of China, it unfolds in five scenes to create a world of precise and pleasing harmony, beginning with a dozen entwined dancers who unfold like the petals of a lotus. “Bamboo” features elegant posturings, tai-chi moments, percussive athletic bursts, girls wafting expressive red streamers. 

The enthusiastic audience clearly liked these opening steps of Oakland Ballet’s third season under Karen Brown. Upcoming programs feature works by Agnes de Mille, Lew Christensen and the troupe’s own Mario Alonzo, followed by the annual staging of Ron Guidi’s “Nutcracker” in December.

A 43-7 win is usually a cause for celebration. But the Berkeley High coaches tore into their players after winning by that score over Kennedy High on Friday, citing a lackluster performance and poor discipline. 

Berkeley scored 21 points in the game’s first eight minutes, and it looked as if the Yellowjackets would have an insurmountable lead by halftime. But Berkeley took its foot off the gas, allowing the overmatched Eagles to hang around until the fourth quarter. 

The game was also marred by numerous personal fouls, one of which wiped out a 35-yard touchdown run by Berkeley fullback Aaron Boatwright, who scored three touchdowns despite the setback. 

“You have to hold your composure against a team like that,” Berkeley head coach Matt Bissell said. “Just beat them between the whistles. You can’t let the other team dictate your attitude and get caught up in all that extracurricular stuff.” 

Senior linebacker Owen Goldstrom had an outstanding game, racking up three sacks and 12 tackles. But as the leader of the defense, Goldstrom was upset that Kennedy scored a touchdown late in the game. 

“We should have had a shutout,” Goldstrom said. “[Kennedy] should have had negative yardage. Pittsburg held them to negative yards, and we have a better defense than Pittsburg.” 

Indeed, the 0-3 Eagles have failed to gain 100 yards in any of their first three games this season. Against such a lightweight opponent, Berkeley lacked a killer instinct. 

Boatwright scored two touchdowns in the opening quarter, a 7-yarder and a 10-yarder that were sandwiched around a Craig Hollis 21-yard score for a 21-0 Berkeley lead. But the Jackets wouldn’t score again for nearly 24 minutes of action, shooting themselves in the foot with a Jeff Spellman interception and a load of penalties. In all, Berkeley was flagged for 95 yards in penalties, more than twice as many yards as the Eagles managed to put up on offense. 

Boatwright scored again near the end of the third quarter on a sweep from the one-yard line. Backup quarterback Dessalines Gant threw a 20-yard touchdown to wideout Sean Young on Gant’s first play of the game, which won’t quiet the quarterback controversy after Spellman’s 5-for-10 passing day for just 54 yards. Sophomore Antoine Cokes finished the Berkeley scoring with a 14-yard touchdown run following a 76-yard kickoff return by Chris Watson. 

But the Eagles managed to get on the scoreboard as well in the fourth quarter, thanks mostly to their special teams. Eugene Clapps came unblocked on a punt and smothered it, then recovered the ball and rumbled down to the Berkeley two-yard line. Two plays later Jamahl Mackey blasted through the line for a touchdown.

Student conduct hearings for 32 pro-Palestinian protesters who participated in the April takeover of UC Berkeley’s Wheeler Hall start Monday amid controversy over the public’s right to observe them. 

UC Berkeley officials are defending a decision to close the first hearing and move it away from the center of campus, arguing that the privacy measures are necessary to ensure order. 

Students activists, meanwhile, say the university is simply attempting to block the public from viewing the process. 

“They’re trying to move it away from the eyes of the campus community,” said Hoang Phan of Students for Justice in Palestine, which led the Wheeler Hall takeover last Spring. 

A total of 79 protesters, including 41 students, were involved in the April 9 protest, calling on the nine-campus University of California system to divest from Israel.  

The Alameda County District Attorney dropped criminal charges against the “Wheeler 79” in June, but the university has pursued student conduct charges. 

Nine of the 41 students have agreed to an “informal resolution” of the charges, accepting a semester-long probation, while 32 have chosen to move forward with full hearings, opening themselves up to penalties as stiff as expulsion. 

All students face charges of unauthorized entry to or use of university property, obstruction or disruption of teaching or other university activity, disturbing the peace and failure to comply with the directions of a university official. 

Graduate student Roberto Hernandez, the subject of the first hearing Monday, faces an additional charge of physical or verbal abuse for allegedly biting a UC Berkeley police officer April 9. 

Hernandez, who said he is innocent of all charges, condemned UC Berkeley professor David Zusman, chair of the student conduct hearing committee, for his decision to close the proceedings. Hernandez said his supporters would not have disrupted the hearing. 

But university spokesperson Janet Gilmore said activists have made statements at student meetings about “rushing” the hearings. 

Closing the proceedings, she said, is “an effort to ensure that the hearing will be fair and orderly.”  

“That’s outrageous,” said Phan, of Students for Justice in Palestine, arguing that no statements about “rushing” the hearings were made. “I don’t know what they’re referring to.” 

Students have also raised concerns about the composition of the committee that will run the student conduct hearing Monday.  

Campus regulations call for a five-member committee composed of two faculty, two students and one staff member. If availability is a problem, the rules allow for alternates to fill in for regular committee members and for the panel to shrink to three members. 

The university informed the students’ lawyers Thursday afternoon that the Hernandez committee would be composed of three faculty members, one of them a replacement for a student who could not serve. 

Hernandez said the proposed panel was unacceptable, arguing that at least one student was necessary. 

“The committee needs to be representative of this campus,” he said. 

Gilmore said Friday that the university expected to have a three-member committee, with two faculty and one student, in place by Monday. 

“This is part of a pattern of a lot of late changes,” said Phan, noting that the university did not inform students until Thursday that it was moving the hearing from Sproul Hall at the center of campus to the Clark Kerr facility, seven blocks south of the main campus on Warring Street. 

“They’re trying to complicate things for us,” he said. “We have to scramble and call all of our witnesses and get them to another location.” 

“It was just another effort to ensure that the hearing is fair and orderly,” Gilmore replied, discussing the shift to Clark Kerr.  

Gilmore said students had circulated a flyer calling for a rally in Sproul Plaza outside the original hearing location.

To the Editor: 

The energetic and articulate African-American students of Berkeley High are to be congratulated for their presentations at the school board meeting on Sept. 25. I wish I could say the same for the superintendent and board President Issel. As an Afro-American parent, I am very disturbed that the superintendent and school board President Issel were unable to answer the basic questions of “who and why” did this attempted elimination of the Afro-American studies department occur? How is it possible that the two top officials for educational policy in Berkeley United School District did not know of a decision this important? If they didn't know, they should have. 

Something is seriously wrong with our school district. When I read Mayor Dean's article in the Daily Planet about performance audits, I had to agree that performance audits is the way to go. The buck passing and finger pointing that took place at the board meeting on Sept. 25 is a good example of why someone needs to start asking the hard question and getting some straight answers. Collectively, the five members of the school board have been on the board for 24 years, and the system still doesn't work. And yet these five board members, with 24 years of experience, want us to re-elect them to continue mismanaging BUSD. So I say get a performance audit and get it quickly. 

Lee Berry 

Berkeley

It took a couple of crooked numbers on the scoreboard for St. Mary’s High to get rid of a round number on its record. 

Steve Murphy led the Panthers (1-2) to their highest scoring output of the season, throwing for a touchdown, catching a touchdown pass and returning a kick for a touchdown in St. Mary’s first win of the season, 29-18 over De Anza (1-2). 

Up 21-18 with 11:32 left in the game, Murphy took the kickoff, which the Panthers chose to rekick after the initial kick went out of bounds, and took it back 80 yards for a touchdown. 

“I fielded the ball in the middle, then I cut back and waited for the crease to open. I saw the hole and I hit it hard. Everybody stayed on their blocks,” said Murphy, who started the game at quarterback and also played running back, wide receiver and defensive back. 

Murphy’s run squashed the momentum of the Dons, who on the previous play had narrowed the St. Mary’s lead to three on quarterback Gregg Parker’s touchdown run on fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line. 

In the second quarter St. Mary’s head coach Jay Lawson put in sophomore quarterback Scott Tully and rotated the speedier Murphy to running back and wide receiver. 

“We are doing anything we can to get Steve the ball... and Scott throws a great ball and he’s tall,” said Lawson, who added that having the 6-foot-3 Tully on the field at quarterback allowed him to rest Murphy at times. 

Tully hooked up with Murphy on the Panthers’ first drive of the second quarter when he lobbed up a 54-yard post pass that Murphy caught well behind the defender. 

“I just ate up his cushion,” said Murphy, who agreed with Tully that the two have good chemistry on the field from both having played quarterback and playing together for a some time. 

“It kind of gives a variety to our offense. [Murphy] is really athletic and that brings out the full potential of our offense.” said Tully, who on the touchdown pass said he noticed the Dons had “eight men in the box and I saw Steve had man to man coverage, so I just threw it up.” 

Linebacker Nick Osborn was another versatile player for St. Mary’s, anchoring a defense that had constant pressure on the Dons’ quarterbacks and was able to stuff their misdirection running game. 

“Our outside backers made plays. We just had to stay in our lanes and wait for them to come to us,” said Osborn who caught a 15-yard touchdown pass as a tight end from Murphy in the first quarter to give the Panthers a 7-0 lead. 

“We had a bunch of warriors out there tonight,” Lawson said.

For more than a quarter century native American Rosemary Cambra has provided a voice for her people. This week, Cambra, chairwoman for the Bay Area's Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, brought her message to Berkeley, where she urged the city to preserve and protect local burial grounds under University Avenue at the train tracks near Fourth Street. 

“I am here to present the legal, cultural and spiritual concerns over this sacred site,” said Cambra at a West Berkeley Project Area Commission (WBPAC) meeting Thursday. “If we are not mindful of our culture and our language and our history, [the United States] government can eliminate [our culture].” 

WBPAC members hope the meeting will establish a partnership between Berkeley and the Ohlone Tribe in which Cambra will serve as a consultant and protect the tribe’s interests – mainly respecting the dead – during a city development project near the 500-year-old Ohlone burial site. 

The city is looking to build a transit hub at the west Berkeley rail stop, linking bus, ferry, train and taxi services. The purchase and restoration of the defunct Southern Pacific Rail Station would be part of the project. 

While improvements are being made to the area, however, including leveling and paving surrounding roads, burial tombs would need to be protected, according to planners and archeologists. 

A “treatment plan,” designed to preserve the burial grounds during construction, is being put together by city engineers and an archeologist selected by the Ohlone tribe, said Iris Starr, senior city planner.To protect the sacred remains, much of the initial paving and leveling “will be done by hand, not by machines,” said Starr. 

With the guidance of Cambra and Alan Leventhal, an ethnohistorian the Ohlone Tribe picked to consult with the city, planners hope paving and preservation will begin by December.  

“This is where the rubber meets the road,” Starr said. 

The burial remains will remain undisturbed beneath the new transit hub after it is built. 

In addition to protecting the Ohlone burial site, planners hope to celebrate the tribe’s history and culture by including Ohlone art displays at the new transit hub.  

One such display could consist of a large mural reflecting tribal life or a series of displays located inside a restored train station.  

While she is pleased with the plans for commemorating the tribe, Cambra warns that preservation efforts should not to be taken lightly. Instead, she says, city and tribal leaders must work closely to establish a true partnership. 

“I have a lot of concerns. I don't want to be a part of a lack of understanding when it comes to preservation,” Cambra stated, citing failed efforts in Emeryville to preserve and protect a submerged burial site. “If you don't have integrity, understanding and honesty, we don't want to be a part of it.” 

As the representative of the Muwekma Ohlone, Cambra is all too familiar with disappointment. Having gone 100 years without recognition from the United States government as being an official native tribe, the Muwekma have taken matters into their own hands. 

They have established both a strong legal team and a group of knowledgeable cultural historians to preserve the rights and heritage of the tribe.  

Since 1989, the Muwekma have incurred more than $10 million in legal debt in their fight to gain status as a federally-recognized group. Though a ruling on Sept. 6 by the Bureau of Indian Affairs denied their latest request, the tribe continues to seek acknowledgment. 

“One needs to defend our bloodline and take on any government when they try to terminate our culture, our history and our existence. We are the symbol and the example of what the U.S. government can do to a group if you let them,” Cambra said.

To the Editor: 

We have such a stunning opportunity now in Berkeley to revive our activity in support of free expression and against Bush’s wars.  

Let’s speak up for peace and keep earning our reputation. 

Pat Mullan 

Berkeley

PHILADELPHIA - No. 4 Cal twice came back from one-goal deficits to defeat Pennsylvania, 4-2, Friday afternoon at Rhodes Field. The Bears improved to 6-1-1, while the Quakers dropped to 5-3-0.  

Penn jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 41st minute with an unassisted goal from Robin Watson.  

Six minutes after the halftime break, Cal senior Brittany Kirk tied the game at 1-1 with her third goal of the season. Freshman Dania Cabello was credited with the assist.  

Penn grabbed the lead for the last time in the 58th minute on Katy Cross’ 10th goal of the year.  

Cal junior midfielder Kassie Doubrava converted her first goal of the season in the 65th minute with Cabello earned her second assist of the contest.  

Senior defender Lucy Brining tallied the eventual game-winner in the 70th minute on a feed from senior Carly Fuller. Six minutes later, Fuller added some insurance for the Bears with her third penalty kick goal of the season.  

Friday’s game marked the return of Cal senior All-American Laura Schott, who had missed the previous six games with an MCL sprain and a one-game red card suspension. She came off the bench in her first minutes since the Bears’ Aug. 31 season opener.

Berkeley mayor Shirley Dean and challenger Tom Bates, a former state Assemblyman, are within a few percentage points in the race for voter support, according to a poll commissioned by the mayor’s office. 

Oakland-based pollster Lake Snell Perry and Associates found that Dean leads Bates 41 percent to 38 percent in the mayoral contest with 19 percent of the 400-person sample undecided. The survey’s margin of error was 4.9 percent. 

“I feel pretty good about the results,” said Dean. “We knew it was going to be a close race from the very beginning.” 

In addition to identifying a virtually dead-even contest, Perry and Associates found 58 percent of those polled think the city is “heading in the right direction.” Twenty-six percent believe the city is “on the wrong track,” pollsters found. 

“That’s the most important number in the whole poll,” said Dean. “People are happy with the way the city is being run and that’s what will make up their minds in the election.” 

Tom Bates’ campaign manager Larry Tramutola dismissed this week’s poll as campaign rhetoric. 

“It’s rare for a campaign to release a poll unless they’ve got problems,” Tramutola said, noting that polls are normally used internally to make strategic decisions. He suggested that the mayor is having difficulty raising money and the poll is being used to re-establish credibility for her campaign. 

The Bates’ camp has raised roughly $100,000, according to Tramutola. Dean officials say they have at least that much money. 

“We’re real excited about the pace of contributions,” said Dean’s campaign manager Brian Schwartz. 

Tramutola, who was not convinced of the accuracy of this week’s poll, said the poll was likely successful in revealing the high number of undecided voters, which he said works in favor of Bates. 

“Dean’s been in office for eight years. ... Those that are still undecided are going to vote for Bates,” he said. 

Tramutola added that he has commissioned polls as well. He would not provide specific results, but suggested that the race was close and Bates is likely slightly ahead.

To the Editor: 

I am very distressed at the decision to place a new traffic signal at the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Russell Street. A signal at this location will do nothing more than create a thruway parallel to Ashby Avenue between Telegraph and Shattuck Avenue, without in any way mitigating the traffic along Ashby itself. It’s been demonstrated time and again that more automobile lanes simply means increased use and does little to diminish the flow of cars along a given corridor. 

Russell is a residential street, a family street, a street where children live, a street with an elementary school. Why would the office of transportation believe it would be a good idea to increase automobile traffic on a street of this nature? Since Berkeley Bowl moved to 2020 Oregon, I have observed an increase in the number of young families on Russell. I have seen an improvement in the tone of the street, the overall appearance and the quality of the landscaping. Why do you want to change all that? 

I sincerely hope the office of transportation reconsiders its decision. 

Jean Bass 

Berkeley

Cal men upset Santa Clara in Stanford Invitational 

The Cal men’s soccer team won its fifth game of the season against Bay Area rival No. 22 Santa Clara Thursday night, 2-1, in Buck Shaw Stadium. Sophomore Carl Acosta led the Golden Bears to their fourth straight victory, recording both of Cal’s goals.  

Acosta’s first score came at the 27:20 mark when he took a pass flicked on from a long goalkeeper punt, beat the Santa Clara defender and slammed home his second goal of the season. He would capitalize again just five minutes later after a cross deflected off both a Cal player and a Bronco player to his waiting feet where he slid a low ball past Santa Clara netminder Steve Cronin.  

Cal field hockey gets overtime win over Georgetown 

In a steady rain on Kehoe Field the California field hockey team (6-1) took its fifth straight win in a 3-2 overtime victory against Georgetown (3-4). Regional All-American Nora Feddersen scored her second goal of the season to give the Golden Bears the edge over the Hoyas two and a half minutes into overtime.  

With only six minutes remaining in regulation time, Jessica Quinn fired another past Bear goalkeeper, Kelly Knapp, who before this game had allowed only three goals past her between the pipes, to tie the game, 2-2. Feddersen zipped the game-winning shot off of a corner.

DAKAR, Senegal — More than 760 people were believed dead Friday after an ocean ferry capsized off West Africa in a fierce gale, with 88 victims recovered and bodies of others spotted trapped inside. 

“It was horrible, because we were hearing people screaming from underneath,” said hospitalized survivor Moussa Ndong, who escaped when the ferry capsized Thursday night. He survived by clinging to the side of the vessel for two hours. 

“The boat went down so fast. It was so unbelievable — in just three minutes, the boat went down,” he said. 

Fishing boats and other vessels rescued the 32 survivors, according to Senegal Prime Minister Mame Madior Boye. 

The state-owned Joola ferry capsized off Gambia in the Atlantic Ocean about 11 p.m. en route to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, from the south of the country. Gambia is a strip-shaped country only a few miles wide and divides north and south Senegal. 

The vessel remained in one piece Friday, and still on its side, said Mamadou Diop Thioune, a coordinator of a French-funded marine center whose divers were helping in the search for victims. 

Dive teams recovered 88 bodies, Diop said. They spotted a number of corpses through the ferry windows, and believed the still unrecovered passengers and crew to be dead, with their corpses caught inside, he said. 

“Now, I’m afraid, it’s a matter of recovering bodies,” he said. 

The first corpses retrieved from the accident were being taken back to the port Friday. 

Searchers waited as night fell Friday for the arrival of military divers with equipment to cut into the ferry, he said. 

Ndong told The Associated Press by telephone from a hospital in neighboring Gambia that the storm brewed as the ferry made its way north from Senegal’s southern district of Casamance. 

As the wind built, the boat started tipping to one side, he said. Water rushed into the cabin. When the lights went out, he said, passengers started screaming. 

Senegal declared three days of national mourning at midday Friday as the search for victims continued. Boye and other state officials went to the port to be with families. 

President Abdoulaye Wade cut short a trip to France. Speaking briefly to reporters upon his return home, he pledged an investigation. 

Families and friends rushed to the port in Dakar, sobbing and pounding their heads on walls. 

“God have mercy! Pray! Pray everyone!” one woman, waiting with the rest for news of loved ones, pleaded. “Stop crying!” 

Later, hundreds of people surrounded the locked gates of navy offices, demanding information about the search and rescue and its results. Among the throng, a woman screamed and tore her hair, sobbing for word of her daughter. 

“Tell us whether she’s alive,” the woman shouted. “Can we please know whether she’s alive?” 

Ferries are the main way of transportation between north and south Senegal, in part because travel by road is slowed by border checks passing through Gambia. Merchants carrying dried fish, mangos and other goods from verdant Casamance make up many of the usual travelers aboard. 

Angry men thronging the port denounced authorities, claiming the ferry had been riding low on one side, and never should have been allowed out of port. 

Media reports said the ferry had undergone repairs, and had only recently returned to service after months in dock.

To the Editor: 

Peter Teichner's passionate attack on housing and smart growth, Sept. 17 Daily Planet Forum, is just not convincing. Teichner and other pro-height initiative folks fail to understand how critical new housing is to making Berkeley a truly livable city. One of the most common arguments used by the anti-housing, NIMBY crowd is that the initiative will preserve the wonderful character of our neighborhoods from the awful mixed-use housing developments going in downtown and along transit corridors. Teichner cites 2700 San Pablo Ave. as an example of these terrible developments he wants to stop. Indeed, Mr. Teichner doesn't want to “forfeit Berkeley's low-key urban character and our current quality of life.” 

As a resident of west Berkeley (not too far from San Pablo Avenue), I am curious what “quality of life” he is talking about exactly. Is referring to the rampant crime and prostitution that occur on a street that is all but deserted after dark? Is he referring to the quality of life on San Pablo where not a single restaurant is open in the evening for nearby residents?  

San Pablo Avenue, with its wonderful street trees and prime location, has great potential to be one of the most beautiful boulevards in the Bay Area. What San Pablo needs so badly is more mixed-use housing that brings working families and small businesses into the neighborhood. These residents then naturally provide “eyes on the street” at all times, producing a safer and more livable city that no amount of police presence could ever ensure. Proposition P supporters don't seem to understand that Berkeley residents are fed-up with crime, traffic, pollution, and over-priced housing.  

Allen Freeman 

Berkeley

A local cat owner says her kitty with 29 toes surely beats a many-toed Maine cat for a spot in the Guinness Book of Records. 

Berkeley’s very own Shanghai, a stubby-tailed Manx-Siamese mix, appears to outshine the 28-toed Mooch who recently made national headlines for possibly having the most toes. 

Owner Marca Lamore says the first thing guests say when they take a look at Shanghai is, “What’s wrong with his feet?” 

Cats like Shanghai and Mooch are born with a hereditary condition called polydacty, Latin for “many toes.” Most polydactyl cats are born with extra toes on their front paws only. But Shanghai has extra toes on all four paws. Exactly many toes the cat has on each paw is a little tough to judge. Toes on polydactyl cats like Shanghai are often fused together, or only partially developed, and thus tough to count. 

Shanghai was found as a kitten at a harbor in Crescent City, near the Oregon border. Suffering from an eye infection and respiratory illness, he soon recovered under Lamore’s care.  

“When he first came here, he fit in my hand,” she said. Now three years old, Shanghai seems well adjusted and plays amiably with Lamore’s three other cats. 

The owners of 28-toe Mooch have sent documentation about the cat’s toes to the Guinness Book and are waiting to hear back. 

“Mooch is nervous [about the decision],” said owner Becky Duval. 

DuVal said he heard on the radio about the world record for most toes on a cat, currently held by Paddles, a black cat in Ennismore, Ontario, who has 27. 

Asked whether Lamore will write Guinness, she replied “I will definitely consider it. Why not?”

n Drug bust 

A Police special enforcement unit recovered 8 grams of crack cocaine Wednesday morning from a resident on the 900 block of Delaware Street, police said. In addition to drugs, police found numerous packaging items used for the sale of crack cocaine. Police arrested Jamel Morris, 18, for possession with the intent to and for violating his parole. 

n Sexual battery 

A teenage boy was arrested for grabbing a teenage girl’s breasts and pushing her to the ground at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday on the corner of Parker Street and Shattuck Avenue. According to police, a passing motorist saw the assault and began honking her horn. The boy fled the scene on foot, but was caught by police. The victim did not know to her assailant. Their names are not being released because they are teenagers. 

n Auto burglary 

A thief smashed a car window and stole a stereo, cell phone and CDs on the 800 block of Oxford Street Wednesday, police said.

OAKLAND – A rookie Oakland police officer was in stable condition at Highland Hospital Friday after being shot in the head by a unknown man in area of city known for having problems with drugs and prostitution, police say. 

Oakland police Sgt. George Phillips said police having been looking for the shooter, but have not found him as of yet. 

Phillips said the wounded officer stopped in front of the Mosswood Hotel in 683 West Blvd. at around 2:45 a.m. upon seeing a group of people gathered in the hotel's driveway. 

When the officer approached the group, one man immediately separated himself from the rest. While attempting to contact the unknown man, the officer was fired upon without provocation, Phillips said.

In 1906 The West Berkeley Development Company, whose partners were involved with the Claremont and Northbrae subdivisions and were later part of the Mason McDuffie Company, subdivided the San Pablo Park tract in south west Berkeley. The residential subdivision begins one block east of San Pablo Avenue and is located between Russell and Ward streets.  

The tract consists of an area of about 14 blocks surrounding a 15-acre park. A map of the subdivision shows that the corners of the blocks have been rounded rather than squared. 

Oregon, Baker (now Mabel) and Mathews streets have been given a gentle curve to break the harsh grid of the ordinary street pattern.  

A brochure for the subdivision proclaimed: “LOTS-$100 DOWN-$10 PER MONTH-NO INTEREST. All street work from sewers to sidewalks done free ... water mains laid ... trees planted ... the price you pay is the WHOLE price ... every bit of street work-concrete sidewalks and gutters, curbs, macadam pavement, sewers, water pipes ... even street trees.”  

As in other residential subdivisions deed restrictions prohibited “saloons, corner grocery or neighboring shack ... just read the restrictions contained in the contract. They’re made for YOUR benefit and they WILL benefit you.” 

The brochure also had photographs of shingled bungalows that the developers would build for “$500 down and this house is yours ... a pleasant shingled, Swiss chalet-with dining room paneled in redwood ... a clinker brick fire-place, window seats ... an artistic bungalow of five rooms.” Clapboard and Craftsman bungalows were constructed and today San Pablo Park is one of Berkeley’s quiet hidden neighborhoods.  

In 1910 the park was donated to the city. This is inconsistent with the brochure which states that the “Town of Berkeley has taken an option on four blocks in the very heart of San Pablo Park. It purposes to give those four blocks to YOU and YOUR CHILDREN.”  

It may be that the developers were not as generous as the story has been told, and they had initially intended to sell the land to the city rather than to donate it. It could be speculated that the city did not exercise their option to buy the land since bond measures for parks failed many times. The developers may have donated the park to the city to keep their promise to purchasers of their lots. At any rate, by 1914 a swing, see-saw, bars, and a football and a baseball field were installed. The Frances Albrier Community Center was built in 1970. 

Susan Cerny is author of Berkeley Landmarks and writes this in conjunction with the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.

Man receives 15 stitches in ear after BART knifing 

SAN FRANCISCO – BART Police say they are looking for a man who pulled a knife during an argument Thursday evening and slashed a man's ear inside the 24th Street BART station in San Francisco. 

The victim received 15 stitches and has been released from the hospital, police say. 

The men, both of whom were in their early 30s, entered the station at around 6:30 p.m. Thursday and were apparently arguing over money or a ticket, police say. 

After injuring the man with a knife, the man fled the scene on foot and police are still looking for him. 

Fremont attempted homicide suspect at large 

FREMONT – Fremont police today are looking for an attempted homicide suspect who stabbed a man early Thursday morning. 

Police say officers called to 34500 Freemont Blvd. at 1:30 a.m. Thursday found the victim suffering from multiple stab wounds. He is currently in stable condition at an area hospital and is expected to survive the attack. 

Police say the victim was only able to provide limited information about his attacker, though investigators believe the stabbing was the result of a verbal altercation. 

The suspect has not yet been identified and is still outstanding. 

Richmond police  

investigating two homicides  

RICHMOND – Police in Richmond are investigating two unrelated homicides in which city residents were found dead in their doorways. 

The first victim was discovered at around 6:09 p.m. Thursday after officers patrolling southwest Richmond heard gunshots fired near South 15th Street and Florida Avenue. 

They soon found 23-year-old Terry Wayne Forks lying across the doorway of a residence in the 200 block of South 15th Street. Emergency personnel pronounced him dead at the scene. 

Police Sgt. Enos Johnson says it appears Forks was standing on a small, raised porch in front of the doorway when he was shot multiple times by a handgun-wielding suspect who fled on foot afterward. The motive for the killing is unknown. 

Police say Forks' murder appears to be unrelated to a second killing that occurred early Friday in the 500 block of 16th Street. 

Johnson says that at about 12:22 a.m., officers responding to reports of shots fired in the area arrived at the scene to find 31-year-old Shonte Leon Thompson dead and lying across an apartment doorway. 

A preliminary investigation indicates that Thompson was standing in front of the apartment when he was approached from a common driveway area by a suspect who fired multiple rounds before fleeing on foot. 

Again, police say they have no motive for the murder.

MORGAN HILL — Foggy, cooler weather helped hundreds of firefighters grapple with a 3,142-acre blaze roaring through rural neighborhoods along the Santa Cruz Mountains and threatening at least 300 homes. 

However, by midday Friday increasing winds with gusts of up to 10 mph were causing some concern on the fire lines. The most active section of the fire Friday was in the southeast section along Redwood Retreat Road. 

Fire officials call the Croy Fire, which has raced through tinder-dry brush and trees since it began Monday, one of the area’s largest wildfires in decades. 

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials believe the fire originated inside a trailer home along the eastern side of the mountains. The rural area is known to law enforcement officials as a frequent dumping ground for the remains of methamphetamine labs, but Mike VanWinkle of the Bureau of Narcotics said it’s unclear if a meth lab had anything to do with the blaze. 

Agents from the Bureau of Narcotics were investigating. 

“They are very good at analyzing chemical compounds and determining whom may have been in those buildings. (At this time) it is inconclusive as to the presence of chemicals indicative of a meth lab,” he said. 

More than 2,100 personnel from around the state battled towering flames that climbed oak and redwood trees. 

It was 60 percent contained Friday and had cost $3.2 million to fight, said Ruth Ferziger, a California Department of Forestry spokeswoman. Full containment was expected by Sunday evening.

SAN FRANCISCO — The association representing shipping lines on Friday locked out longshoremen at all West Coast ports until Sunday morning as contract negotiations with the dock worker’s union deteriorated into a labor disruption that will immediately curtail the flow of Asian goods across the United States. 

The announcement of the 36-hour “cooling-off period” came after the Pacific Maritime Association accused the longshoremen’s union of slowing down the pace of work to gain leverage in increasingly acrimonious talks. 

The association’s board met Friday morning and unanimously agreed to shutter the ports from 6 p.m. PDT until 8 a.m. Sunday PDT. 

The disruption could deal an immediate blow to the U.S. economy and stanch the flow of products from the Pacific Rim just as importers are rushing to distribute goods for the holiday season. The association has said that a coastwide labor disruption could cost the economy around $1 billion per day. West Coast ports handle more than $300 billion in imports and exports each year. 

The Bush administration urged both sides to resolve the dispute, but said it would not intervene to keep the docks open. 

“At this point, we are hopeful the two parties will come back to the bargaining table in good faith,” Department of Labor spokeswoman Sue Hensley said. “We are monitoring this very closely.” 

Word of the lockout prompted the head of the Federal Mediation Conciliation Service to fly to San Francisco, where both sides have been engaged in steadily deteriorating talks. 

Association president Joseph Miniace called the lockout “a very, very tough decision,” but one that shipping lines and terminal operators had to make because of provocations from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. 

“It’s the very last thing we wanted to do,” Miniace said. “But the union forced us into this.” 

A union spokesman said the association was acting alone and that union negotiators wanted to keep talking. The union learned of the lockout when the two sides met for talks and association negotiators launched into a tirade, union President James Spinosa said. 

“Miniace showed the same disrespect for the union he has since the beginning of these talks,” Spinosa said. “He is unilaterally taking the action of closing all ports and bears full responsibility for its effects on the American economy.” 

Every day the ports are shut takes about a week for kinks and backlogs in the supply to get worked out, according to Robin Lanier, whose West Coast Waterfront Coalition represents importers and exporters.

Treasurer announces schedule  

for $11.9 billion bond sale 

SACRAMENTO — Nearly a year after the idea surfaced, then fell victim to repeated political, financial and legal delays, California is about to issue nearly $12 billion in municipal revenue bonds to pay off massive state bills from buying electricity last year. 

California Treasurer Phil Angelides announced Friday an “anticipated schedule” for the state’s Department of Water Resources to issue the bonds to investors in October and November. 

Earlier Friday, Angelides held a 30-minute conference call with major investors across the United States regarding what his office calls the largest municipal bond offering in U.S. history. At least 10 million California utility customers with the state’s three largest electric utilities will pay off the bonds with a portion of their bills. 

State officials cautioned the payment system does not necessarily mean higher power bills in California, where costs for residential, industrial and commercial users are above the U.S. average. 

At the state Department of Finance, which is still struggling with possible worsening financial forecasts even after closing a $98.9 billion budget for the 2002-2003 fiscal year ending next June 30, spokeswoman Anita Gore said a bond issue backed by utility customer rates means one thing: cash. 

“Certainly it helps the cash flow,” Gore said. “It brings cash to the general fund so we can pay our bills and provide services.” 

State finance officials balanced the budget with assumptions they would get the bond money. They still hope to receive $9 billion more in refunds from energy sellers for alleged overcharges. 

State attorney general files spam suit against Southern California company 

SANTA CLARA — California Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed suit against Internet marketer PW Marketing LLC, accusing the company of illegally spamming millions of Californians. 

The suit, filed Thursday in Santa Clara County Superior Court, alleges the company’s owners, Paul Willis of Northridge and Claudia Griffin of Canyon Country, violated various California consumer protection statutes that prohibit unsolicited commercial e-mails, known as spam. 

The suit also alleges the company violated statutes against using false addresses in advertising, failing to disclose required information, engaging in untrue or deceptive advertising and engaging in unfair business competition. 

Trustee to manage Napster  

SAN JOSE — Napster Inc. showed signs of life Friday as the defunct song-swapping service, creditors and the U.S. Trustee’s Office agreed to appoint a trustee to oversee the company during bankruptcy reorganization. 

The agreement, reached after creditors failed to find an executive willing to take over the company, will halt efforts by the U.S. trustee to convert the bankruptcy case to Chapter 7 liquidation. 

The company has been leaderless since chief executive Konrad Hilbers — the sole director — quit earlier this month following an unsuccessful takeover by the record label Bertelsmann AG. 

Napster also has received a letter of intent from an anonymous bidder for most of the company’s assets, said Rick B. Antonoff, an attorney representing Napster’s unsecured creditors committee.

SAN FRANCISCO — Michael Newdow, the California father who convinced a federal appeals court to declare the Pledge of Allegiance an unconstitutional endorsement of religion when recited in public classrooms, urged that court Friday to let its June 26 ruling stand. 

Newdow, an atheist from Sacramento challenged the pledge on grounds that his daughter should not be subjected to the term “under God” being recited in public classrooms. Newdow’s briefs are in response to a June 27 ruling by the court in which it put its decision on hold to allow for fresh appeals. 

Had the court not placed the ruling in a legal limbo, the decision would have stopped public schoolchildren from reciting the pledge in the nine western states that the nation’s largest appeals court covers. Those states are Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. 

The child’s mother, the Elk Grove Unified School District, the federal government and California have also filed briefs with the court, urging the judges to follow an often-used court procedure and reverse the decision with either three or 11 judges. 

There are no timelines for the court to act on the ruling that was condemned by President Bush and Congress. Legal scholars suggest a case could be made both ways on whether the ruling should stand. 

The case began as a challenge to a 1954 decision by Congress to add the words “under God” to the pledge. But the lawsuit has sidestepped into a parental rights case over a custody dispute between Newdow and his 8-year-old child’s mother, Sandra Banning of Elk Grove. 

In response to the ruling, Banning has asserted to the court that her daughter is not harmed by reciting the pledge and is not opposed to God. Banning, who now has full custody of the child, is urging the court to consider whether Newdow even had legal standing to bring the case on behalf of his daughter. 

Newdow, however, wrote to the court that his daughter told him that she hoped he won his case. 

Newdow told the court Friday he does have the right to sue on grounds he doesn’t think his daughter should be subjected to the pledge, even if he doesn’t have custody. He says he doesn’t lose his legal status as a father just because he doesn’t have custody. 

While he is also urging the court to intervene in his custody dispute, he told the appeals court Friday that if Banning likes the pledge so much she can file her own lawsuit. 

“Banning, if she feels it necessary, can certainly file her own lawsuit to have the words ’under God’ kept in the Pledge of Allegiance,” Newdow wrote. “In this action, however, she has no role to play.” 

California, the federal government and the school district where the third-grader attends glommed onto Banning’s argument after she first publicized it July 11. 

The 9th Circuit has never ruled whether Newdow had standing.

SAN FRANCISCO — The case of a Missouri man who stormed an airplane cockpit two years ago ended in a San Francisco federal courtroom. 

U.S. District Judge William Alsup signed an order Thursday dismissing all charges against construction contractor Peter Bradley of Blue Springs, Mo., after confirmation he completed a diversion program. 

Bradley was accused of breaking into the cockpit of an Alaska Airlines jet on March 16, 2000 and trying to grab the controls. But prosecutors agreed to drop the charges if Bradley completed a program of medical treatment and 200 hours of community service. They said he was suffering from a rare outbreak of encephalitis and did not know what he was doing. 

Bradley, 41, faced federal charges of endangering and intimidating flight crew members. If convicted, he could have been sentenced to 10 years.

GARDEN GROVE — Republicans gathered for the first day of their semiannual state convention Friday hoping to give their beleaguered gubernatorial nominee, Bill Simon, a push to Election Day Nov. 5. 

Some of the faithful arriving at the Hyatt Regency Orange County for the weekend event acknowledged that Simon faces a tough fight against his better-funded opponent, Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans and infighting has divided the GOP. 

But one thing seemed to give the delegates hope: Davis’ low approval ratings. 

“I mean really, you don’t talk to people coming up and defending his character or defending his ideas,” said Roberta Wright, 61, of Redding, an alternate delegate to the convention. “I don’t know anything that people would defend on his part.” 

It was a sentiment echoed by other delegates and one that’s borne out in polls in which the governor’s approval rating has hovered at or below 50 percent for more than a year. 

That has also united the fractured GOP, which at its last convention six months ago was busy fighting over who would become the nominee: Simon, Secretary of State Bill Jones or former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, the moderate choice who at that point had a comfortable lead in polls. 

Delegates want to put that discord behind them this weekend. Riordan was nowhere to be seen and Jones, the Republicans’ only statewide officeholder, was being feted at a banquet Friday night. 

Simon was scheduled to address the hundreds of delegates at a luncheon Saturday. 

“This convention is important for our campaign because we need an excited Republican Party for us to be successful on Nov. 5,” the candidate’s chief consultant, Sal Russo, told a media briefing. 

Simon’s campaign has stumbled since the primary, but earlier this month a state judge provided a victory by throwing out a $78 million civil fraud verdict against the candidate’s investment firm. 

Now, Simon’s aides want to reintroduce the nominee to voters. 

They unveiled a new ad to begin airing Tuesday that shows Simon strolling toward the camera and asking, “Do you know me? I survived millions of dollars of Gray Davis lies and distortions. I was a federal prosecutor under Rudy Giuliani ... I’m not a politician, but I will clean up Sacramento. I’m Bill Simon.” 

The party is also trying to use the verdict reversal to collect more funds. A solicitation arrived in mailboxes in recent days labeled “Bill Simon Vindication Emergency Reply.” 

Simon has struggled for donations and has been airing ads only sporadically, while Davis’ ads have been blanketing the airwaves since early June. While refusing to give details, Russo insisted that Simon, who was eight points behind Davis in the most recent independent poll, would have enough money to run a credible media campaign through the election.

DENVER — In a scene reminiscent of anti-war protests of the 1960s, at least 2,000 people gathered Friday outside a fund-raiser featuring President Bush to rally against a possible war in Iraq. 

Chanting “No blood for oil,” “No war for votes” and “Hey hey, ho ho, this war machine has got to go,” the protesters marched from the Denver City and County Building four blocks to the hotel where Bush was speaking. 

“I’m here to protest Bush’s coming war. It’s not inevitable, but the Bush administration is determined to start one,” said Maggie Boys, 48, a Boulder woman who attended anti-Vietnam war rallies in New Jersey when she was a teenager. 

Except for a few skirmishes with police, the protests were peaceful. Denver Police spokeswoman Virginia Lopez said there were no arrests. 

Inside the hotel, Bush spoke to a packed crowd at the $1,000-a-plate fund-raiser for Bob Beauprez, who is running in the 7th Congressional District. After the event, Bush went to Arizona.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Mexican Consulate hopes to serve its visitors better from their new quarters in the South of Market starting October. 

The new building, located at 532 Folsom Street, just four blocks away from the Montgomery St. Bay Area Rapid Transit station is four times as big as the space the consulate occupies in the Flood Building on Market St., said spokesman Bernardo Mendez. The consulate will lease the new building and may eventually buy it. 

“Many former consuls wished for this move but due to budget restrictions in Mexico it was not possible,” Mendez said. “It is a historical moment since we have occupied the Flood Building for 50 years.” 

Eighty percent of the consulate’s 300 daily visitors go in search of a Mexican government-issued ID card or a passport, said Mendez. The consulate hopes that with more space, the lines formed by visitors will be minimal. Several business near the Flood Building complained that the lengthy lines were negatively affecting their sales. 

The Flood Building, located near busy Union Square, holds a total of nine foreign consulates.

LOS ANGELES — Taiwan’s first lady Wu Shu-jen has canceled three events on the last leg of her trip to the United States because of exhaustion, a spokesman said Friday. 

“Because of the long trip from Taiwan to Washington, to New York, to Los Angeles, she is a little bit exhausted,” said James Huang, her spokesman. 

The frail but outspoken Wu canceled trips to the Getty Museum and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library but still planned to attend a banquet on Friday night, where more than 1,000 Taiwanese-Americans hoped to meet her. 

The banquet was intended to show gratitude to the region’s Taiwanese-American community, the largest in the country, which has raised $1 million to help endow a new foundation promoting Taiwan’s image in this country. 

The first lady arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon and had intended to attend a Dodgers baseball game to honor the team’s Chin-Feng Chen, the first Taiwanese player in the major leagues. 

Instead, she was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for a checkup and then to her hotel, where she was in good condition under the care of her private doctors, Huang said. 

Wu’s 10-day visit marks the first time Taiwan’s first lady has visited the United States in nearly half a century. 

The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979 when this country established relations with the People’s Republic of China. The Chinese government considers Taiwan a renegade province. 

President Chen Shui-bian, Wu’s husband, is Taiwan’s second democratically elected leader and the first to break the Nationalist Party’s grip on the island’s presidency. 

Wu uses a wheelchair and was paralyzed from the waist down when a truck ran over her three times in 1985 during Taiwan’s repressive martial era. She has said she believes she was the victim of a botched assassination attempt by the political rivals of her husband.

The plain, boxy appearance of Fantasy Building on 10th Street conceals the glamorous work that goes on inside. Most recently, the building’s studios have contributed to this month’s release of three films on DVD.  

The Saul Zaentz Film Center, in the Fantasy Building, did post-production work on DVD versions of “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” “Amadeus” and “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.” The films, all originally produced by Saul Zaentz, will hit stores this week with newly restored picture and soundtracks. 

Sound is the Saul Zaentz Film Center’s ace in the hole. Hollywood recognizes the center’s facilities and skilled staff as a coveted place to mix movie sound, which the new DVDs highlight. 

Film center staffer and sound mixer Mark Berger won an Academy Award in 1985 for his work on “Amadeus” (along with cohorts Thomas Scott, Todd Boekelheide, and Christopher Newman), one of the six Oscars the film collected. 

The film of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart begged for a good sound mix. And to give a realistic sense of a live Mozart performance in 18th century Vienna, Berger and his team recorded audiences of all sizes – including silent-movie viewers at the Pacific Film Archive – to get sounds of people shuffling in their seats. 

Berger dusted off the original sound to prepare the rerelease with more sophisticated sound technology than he had in 1984. To his surprise, he didn’t need to touch the music mix at all. “In spite of the technology, we got it right the first time.” 

“One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” needed a bit more work. The negative was brought out for cleaning and restoration, but Berger said even the original production was raw at the time. 

The film based on Ken Kesey’s novel about a convict who cons his way into cushy time at the psyche ward and tries in vain to beat the system won five Oscars in 1975, but was plagued with unavoidable sound distortion on the dialogue track – faint traces of tape hiss with camera noise and mono mixed in. 

With 27 years of technological improvements and skills, Berger went back to the tapes to clean them up and create a stereo mix. No sound was added to the rerelease version, said Berger. “The philosophy was, the film was particular and it should stay that way. It should reflect the time it was made in,” he explained. 

All sound manipulation took place in the mixing, not the editing. Nothing was added or subtracted, keeping true to the film’s original intentions. 

Director Milos Foreman’s original idea was to make a strong distinction between the environment inside the hospital and the outside world, said Berger. When Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) coaxes his disoriented inmates out of the insular, claustrophobic hospital halls to play some basketball in the sun, Berger placed the outside sounds in an expansive stereo field. 

Although the subtleties of the sound mix might be impressive heard through a movie theater’s speaker system, they could get lost on many people’s televisions at home. Even with the surround sound of new home entertainment setups, dynamics are the first to go. The loud isn’t too loud, and the quiet bits get lost. Berger’s digital re-mixes reflect the sound quality of high-end DVD players, while narrowing the dynamic range to fit their limitations. 

Sound is usually the least popular aspect of movies, the one most easily forgotten outside the theater. These DVD releases are a testament that the renowned mixing stages and their captains in the Fantasy Building are the invisible hands guiding a filmmaker’s fictional tapestry. 

Student conduct hearings for 32 pro-Palestinian protesters who participated in the April takeover of UC Berkeley’s Wheeler Hall start Monday amid controversy over the public’s right to observe them. 

UC Berkeley officials are defending a decision to close the first hearing and move it away from the center of campus, arguing that the privacy measures are necessary to ensure order. 

Students activists, meanwhile, say the university is simply attempting to block the public from viewing the process. 

“They’re trying to move it away from the eyes of the campus community,” said Hoang Phan of Students for Justice in Palestine, which led the Wheeler Hall takeover last Spring. 

A total of 79 protesters, including 41 students, were involved in the April 9 protest, calling on the nine-campus University of California system to divest from Israel.  

The Alameda County District Attorney dropped criminal charges against the “Wheeler 79” in June, but the university has pursued student conduct charges. 

Nine of the 41 students have agreed to an “informal resolution” of the charges, accepting a semester-long probation, while 32 have chosen to move forward with full hearings, opening themselves up to penalties as stiff as expulsion. 

All students face charges of unauthorized entry to or use of university property, obstruction or disruption of teaching or other university activity, disturbing the peace and failure to comply with the directions of a university official. 

Graduate student Roberto Hernandez, the subject of the first hearing Monday, faces an additional charge of physical or verbal abuse for allegedly biting a UC Berkeley police officer April 9. 

Hernandez, who said he is innocent of all charges, condemned UC Berkeley professor David Zusman, chair of the student conduct hearing committee, for his decision to close the proceedings. Hernandez said his supporters would not have disrupted the hearing. 

But university spokesperson Janet Gilmore said activists have made statements at student meetings about “rushing” the hearings. 

Closing the proceedings, she said, is “an effort to ensure that the hearing will be fair and orderly.”  

“That’s outrageous,” said Phan, of Students for Justice in Palestine, arguing that no statements about “rushing” the hearings were made. “I don’t know what they’re referring to.” 

Students have also raised concerns about the composition of the committee that will run the student conduct hearing Monday.  

Campus regulations call for a five-member committee composed of two faculty, two students and one staff member. If availability is a problem, the rules allow for alternates to fill in for regular committee members and for the panel to shrink to three members. 

The university informed the students’ lawyers Thursday afternoon that the Hernandez committee would be composed of three faculty members, one of them a replacement for a student who could not serve. 

Hernandez said the proposed panel was unacceptable, arguing that at least one student was necessary. 

“The committee needs to be representative of this campus,” he said. 

Gilmore said Friday that the university expected to have a three-member committee, with two faculty and one student, in place by Monday. 

“This is part of a pattern of a lot of late changes,” said Phan, noting that the university did not inform students until Thursday that it was moving the hearing from Sproul Hall at the center of campus to the Clark Kerr facility, seven blocks south of the main campus on Warring Street. 

“They’re trying to complicate things for us,” he said. “We have to scramble and call all of our witnesses and get them to another location.” 

“It was just another effort to ensure that the hearing is fair and orderly,” Gilmore replied, discussing the shift to Clark Kerr.  

Gilmore said students had circulated a flyer calling for a rally in Sproul Plaza outside the original hearing location. 

For more than a quarter century native American Rosemary Cambra has provided a voice for her people. This week, Cambra, chairwoman for the Bay Area's Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, brought her message to Berkeley, where she urged the city to preserve and protect local burial grounds under University Avenue at the train tracks near Fourth Street. 

“I am here to present the legal, cultural and spiritual concerns over this sacred site,” said Cambra at a West Berkeley Project Area Commission (WBPAC) meeting Thursday. “If we are not mindful of our culture and our language and our history, [the United States] government can eliminate [our culture].” 

WBPAC members hope the meeting will establish a partnership between Berkeley and the Ohlone Tribe in which Cambra will serve as a consultant and protect the tribe’s interests – mainly respecting the dead – during a city development project near the 500-year-old Ohlone burial site. 

The city is looking to build a transit hub at the west Berkeley rail stop, linking bus, ferry, train and taxi services. The purchase and restoration of the defunct Southern Pacific Rail Station would be part of the project. 

While improvements are being made to the area, however, including leveling and paving surrounding roads, burial tombs would need to be protected, according to planners and archeologists. 

A “treatment plan,” designed to preserve the burial grounds during construction, is being put together by city engineers and an archeologist selected by the Ohlone tribe, said Iris Starr, senior city planner. 

To protect the sacred remains, much of the initial paving and leveling “will be done by hand, not by machines,” said Starr. 

With the guidance of Cambra and Alan Leventhal, an ethnohistorian the Ohlone Tribe picked to consult with the city, planners hope paving and preservation will begin by December.  

“This is where the rubber meets the road,” Starr said. 

The burial remains will remain undisturbed beneath the new transit hub after it is built. 

In addition to protecting the Ohlone burial site, planners hope to celebrate the tribe’s history and culture by including Ohlone art displays at the new transit hub.  

One such display could consist of a large mural reflecting tribal life or a series of displays located inside a restored train station.  

While she is pleased with the plans for commemorating the tribe, Cambra warns that preservation efforts should not to be taken lightly. Instead, she says, city and tribal leaders must work closely to establish a true partnership. 

“I have a lot of concerns. I don't want to be a part of a lack of understanding when it comes to preservation,” Cambra stated, citing failed efforts in Emeryville to preserve and protect a submerged burial site. “If you don't have integrity, understanding and honesty, we don't want to be a part of it.” 

As the representative of the Muwekma Ohlone, Cambra is all too familiar with disappointment. Having gone 100 years without recognition from the United States government as being an official native tribe, the Muwekma have taken matters into their own hands. 

They have established both a strong legal team and a group of knowledgeable cultural historians to preserve the rights and heritage of the tribe.  

Since 1989, the Muwekma have incurred more than $10 million in legal debt in their fight to gain status as a federally-recognized group. Though a ruling on Sept. 6 by the Bureau of Indian Affairs denied their latest request, the tribe continues to seek acknowledgment. 

“One needs to defend our bloodline and take on any government when they try to terminate our culture, our history and our existence. We are the symbol and the example of what the U.S. government can do to a group if you let them,” Cambra said. 

Berkeley mayor Shirley Dean and challenger Tom Bates, a former state Assemblyman, are within a few percentage points in the race for voter support, according to a poll commissioned by the mayor’s office. 

Oakland-based pollster Lake Snell Perry and Associates found that Dean leads Bates 41 percent to 38 percent in the mayoral contest with 19 percent of the 400-person sample undecided. The survey’s margin of error was 4.9 percent. 

I feel pretty good about the results,” said Dean. “We knew it was going to be a close race from the very beginning.” 

In addition to identifying a virtually dead-even contest, Perry and Associates found 58 percent of those polled think the city is “heading in the right direction.” Twenty-six percent believe the city is “on the wrong track,” pollsters found. 

“That’s the most important number in the whole poll,” said Dean. “People are happy with the way the city is being run and that’s what will make up their minds in the election.” 

Tom Bates’ campaign manager Larry Tramutola dismissed this week’s poll as campaign rhetoric. 

“It’s rare for a campaign to release a poll unless they’ve got problems,” Tramutola said, noting that polls are normally used internally to make strategic decisions. He suggested that the mayor is having difficulty raising money and the poll is being used to re-establish credibility for her campaign. 

The Bates’ camp has raised roughly $100,000, according to Tramutola. Dean officials say they have at least that much money. 

“We’re real excited about the pace of contributions,” said Dean’s campaign manager Brian Schwartz. 

Tramutola, who was not convinced of the accuracy of this week’s poll, said the poll was likely successful in revealing the high number of undecided voters, which he said works in favor of Bates. 

“Dean’s been in office for eight years. ... Those that are still undecided are going to vote for Bates,” he said. 

Tramutola added that he has commissioned polls as well. He would not provide specific results, but suggested that the race was close and Bates is likely slightly ahead. 

DAKAR, Senegal — More than 760 people were believed dead Friday after an ocean ferry capsized off West Africa in a fierce gale, with 88 victims recovered and bodies of others spotted trapped inside. 

“It was horrible, because we were hearing people screaming from underneath,” said hospitalized survivor Moussa Ndong, who escaped when the ferry capsized Thursday night. He survived by clinging to the side of the vessel for two hours. 

“The boat went down so fast. It was so unbelievable — in just three minutes, the boat went down,” he said. 

Fishing boats and other vessels rescued the 32 survivors, according to Senegal Prime Minister Mame Madior Boye. 

The state-owned Joola ferry capsized off Gambia in the Atlantic Ocean about 11 p.m. en route to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, from the south of the country. Gambia is a strip-shaped country only a few miles wide and divides north and south Senegal. 

The vessel remained in one piece Friday, and still on its side, said Mamadou Diop Thioune, a coordinator of a French-funded marine center whose divers were helping in the search for victims. 

Dive teams recovered 88 bodies, Diop said. They spotted a number of corpses through the ferry windows, and believed the still unrecovered passengers and crew to be dead, with their corpses caught inside, he said. 

“Now, I’m afraid, it’s a matter of recovering bodies,” he said. 

The first corpses retrieved from the accident were being taken back to the port Friday. 

Searchers waited as night fell Friday for the arrival of military divers with equipment to cut into the ferry, he said. 

Ndong told The Associated Press by telephone from a hospital in neighboring Gambia that the storm brewed as the ferry made its way north from Senegal’s southern district of Casamance. 

As the wind built, the boat started tipping to one side, he said. Water rushed into the cabin. When the lights went out, he said, passengers started screaming. 

Senegal declared three days of national mourning at midday Friday as the search for victims continued. Boye and other state officials went to the port to be with families. 

President Abdoulaye Wade cut short a trip to France. Speaking briefly to reporters upon his return home, he pledged an investigation. 

Families and friends rushed to the port in Dakar, sobbing and pounding their heads on walls. 

“God have mercy! Pray! Pray everyone!” one woman, waiting with the rest for news of loved ones, pleaded. “Stop crying!” 

Later, hundreds of people surrounded the locked gates of navy offices, demanding information about the search and rescue and its results. Among the throng, a woman screamed and tore her hair, sobbing for word of her daughter. 

“Tell us whether she’s alive,” the woman shouted. “Can we please know whether she’s alive?” 

Ferries are the main way of transportation between north and south Senegal, in part because travel by road is slowed by border checks passing through Gambia. Merchants carrying dried fish, mangos and other goods from verdant Casamance make up many of the usual travelers aboard. 

Angry men thronging the port denounced authorities, claiming the ferry had been riding low on one side, and never should have been allowed out of port. 

Media reports said the ferry had undergone repairs, and had only recently returned to service after months in dock. 

DAKAR, Senegal — More than 760 people were believed dead Friday after an ocean ferry capsized off West Africa in a fierce gale, with 88 victims recovered and bodies of others spotted trapped inside. 

“It was horrible, because we were hearing people screaming from underneath,” said hospitalized survivor Moussa Ndong, who escaped when the ferry capsized Thursday night. He survived by clinging to the side of the vessel for two hours. 

“The boat went down so fast. It was so unbelievable — in just three minutes, the boat went down,” he said. 

Fishing boats and other vessels rescued the 32 survivors, according to Senegal Prime Minister Mame Madior Boye. 

The state-owned Joola ferry capsized off Gambia in the Atlantic Ocean about 11 p.m. en route to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, from the south of the country. Gambia is a strip-shaped country only a few miles wide and divides north and south Senegal. 

The vessel remained in one piece Friday, and still on its side, said Mamadou Diop Thioune, a coordinator of a French-funded marine center whose divers were helping in the search for victims. 

Dive teams recovered 88 bodies, Diop said. They spotted a number of corpses through the ferry windows, and believed the still unrecovered passengers and crew to be dead, with their corpses caught inside, he said. 

“Now, I’m afraid, it’s a matter of recovering bodies,” he said. 

The first corpses retrieved from the accident were being taken back to the port Friday. 

Searchers waited as night fell Friday for the arrival of military divers with equipment to cut into the ferry, he said. 

Ndong told The Associated Press by telephone from a hospital in neighboring Gambia that the storm brewed as the ferry made its way north from Senegal’s southern district of Casamance. 

As the wind built, the boat started tipping to one side, he said. Water rushed into the cabin. When the lights went out, he said, passengers started screaming. 

Senegal declared three days of national mourning at midday Friday as the search for victims continued. Boye and other state officials went to the port to be with families. 

President Abdoulaye Wade cut short a trip to France. Speaking briefly to reporters upon his return home, he pledged an investigation. 

Families and friends rushed to the port in Dakar, sobbing and pounding their heads on walls. 

“God have mercy! Pray! Pray everyone!” one woman, waiting with the rest for news of loved ones, pleaded. “Stop crying!” 

Later, hundreds of people surrounded the locked gates of navy offices, demanding information about the search and rescue and its results. Among the throng, a woman screamed and tore her hair, sobbing for word of her daughter. 

“Tell us whether she’s alive,” the woman shouted. “Can we please know whether she’s alive?” 

Ferries are the main way of transportation between north and south Senegal, in part because travel by road is slowed by border checks passing through Gambia. Merchants carrying dried fish, mangos and other goods from verdant Casamance make up many of the usual travelers aboard. 

Angry men thronging the port denounced authorities, claiming the ferry had been riding low on one side, and never should have been allowed out of port. 

Media reports said the ferry had undergone repairs, and had only recently returned to service after months in dock. 

DAKAR, Senegal — More than 760 people were believed dead Friday after an ocean ferry capsized off West Africa in a fierce gale, with 88 victims recovered and bodies of others spotted trapped inside. 

“It was horrible, because we were hearing people screaming from underneath,” said hospitalized survivor Moussa Ndong, who escaped when the ferry capsized Thursday night. He survived by clinging to the side of the vessel for two hours. 

“The boat went down so fast. It was so unbelievable — in just three minutes, the boat went down,” he said. 

Fishing boats and other vessels rescued the 32 survivors, according to Senegal Prime Minister Mame Madior Boye. 

The state-owned Joola ferry capsized off Gambia in the Atlantic Ocean about 11 p.m. en route to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, from the south of the country. Gambia is a strip-shaped country only a few miles wide and divides north and south Senegal. 

The vessel remained in one piece Friday, and still on its side, said Mamadou Diop Thioune, a coordinator of a French-funded marine center whose divers were helping in the search for victims. 

Dive teams recovered 88 bodies, Diop said. They spotted a number of corpses through the ferry windows, and believed the still unrecovered passengers and crew to be dead, with their corpses caught inside, he said. 

“Now, I’m afraid, it’s a matter of recovering bodies,” he said. 

The first corpses retrieved from the accident were being taken back to the port Friday. 

Searchers waited as night fell Friday for the arrival of military divers with equipment to cut into the ferry, he said. 

Ndong told The Associated Press by telephone from a hospital in neighboring Gambia that the storm brewed as the ferry made its way north from Senegal’s southern district of Casamance. 

As the wind built, the boat started tipping to one side, he said. Water rushed into the cabin. When the lights went out, he said, passengers started screaming. 

Senegal declared three days of national mourning at midday Friday as the search for victims continued. Boye and other state officials went to the port to be with families. 

President Abdoulaye Wade cut short a trip to France. Speaking briefly to reporters upon his return home, he pledged an investigation. 

Families and friends rushed to the port in Dakar, sobbing and pounding their heads on walls. 

“God have mercy! Pray! Pray everyone!” one woman, waiting with the rest for news of loved ones, pleaded. “Stop crying!” 

Later, hundreds of people surrounded the locked gates of navy offices, demanding information about the search and rescue and its results. Among the throng, a woman screamed and tore her hair, sobbing for word of her daughter. 

“Tell us whether she’s alive,” the woman shouted. “Can we please know whether she’s alive?” 

Ferries are the main way of transportation between north and south Senegal, in part because travel by road is slowed by border checks passing through Gambia. Merchants carrying dried fish, mangos and other goods from verdant Casamance make up many of the usual travelers aboard. 

Angry men thronging the port denounced authorities, claiming the ferry had been riding low on one side, and never should have been allowed out of port. 

Media reports said the ferry had undergone repairs, and had only recently returned to service after months in dock. 

DAKAR, Senegal — More than 760 people were believed dead Friday after an ocean ferry capsized off West Africa in a fierce gale, with 88 victims recovered and bodies of others spotted trapped inside. 

“It was horrible, because we were hearing people screaming from underneath,” said hospitalized survivor Moussa Ndong, who escaped when the ferry capsized Thursday night. He survived by clinging to the side of the vessel for two hours. 

“The boat went down so fast. It was so unbelievable — in just three minutes, the boat went down,” he said. 

Fishing boats and other vessels rescued the 32 survivors, according to Senegal Prime Minister Mame Madior Boye. 

The state-owned Joola ferry capsized off Gambia in the Atlantic Ocean about 11 p.m. en route to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, from the south of the country. Gambia is a strip-shaped country only a few miles wide and divides north and south Senegal. 

The vessel remained in one piece Friday, and still on its side, said Mamadou Diop Thioune, a coordinator of a French-funded marine center whose divers were helping in the search for victims. 

Dive teams recovered 88 bodies, Diop said. They spotted a number of corpses through the ferry windows, and believed the still unrecovered passengers and crew to be dead, with their corpses caught inside, he said. 

“Now, I’m afraid, it’s a matter of recovering bodies,” he said. 

The first corpses retrieved from the accident were being taken back to the port Friday. 

Searchers waited as night fell Friday for the arrival of military divers with equipment to cut into the ferry, he said. 

Ndong told The Associated Press by telephone from a hospital in neighboring Gambia that the storm brewed as the ferry made its way north from Senegal’s southern district of Casamance. 

As the wind built, the boat started tipping to one side, he said. Water rushed into the cabin. When the lights went out, he said, passengers started screaming. 

Senegal declared three days of national mourning at midday Friday as the search for victims continued. Boye and other state officials went to the port to be with families. 

President Abdoulaye Wade cut short a trip to France. Speaking briefly to reporters upon his return home, he pledged an investigation. 

Families and friends rushed to the port in Dakar, sobbing and pounding their heads on walls. 

“God have mercy! Pray! Pray everyone!” one woman, waiting with the rest for news of loved ones, pleaded. “Stop crying!” 

Later, hundreds of people surrounded the locked gates of navy offices, demanding information about the search and rescue and its results. Among the throng, a woman screamed and tore her hair, sobbing for word of her daughter. 

“Tell us whether she’s alive,” the woman shouted. “Can we please know whether she’s alive?” 

Ferries are the main way of transportation between north and south Senegal, in part because travel by road is slowed by border checks passing through Gambia. Merchants carrying dried fish, mangos and other goods from verdant Casamance make up many of the usual travelers aboard. 

Angry men thronging the port denounced authorities, claiming the ferry had been riding low on one side, and never should have been allowed out of port. 

Media reports said the ferry had undergone repairs, and had only recently returned to service after months in dock.

DAKAR, Senegal — More than 760 people were believed dead Friday after an ocean ferry capsized off West Africa in a fierce gale, with 88 victims recovered and bodies of others spotted trapped inside. 

“It was horrible, because we were hearing people screaming from underneath,” said hospitalized survivor Moussa Ndong, who escaped when the ferry capsized Thursday night. He survived by clinging to the side of the vessel for two hours. 

“The boat went down so fast. It was so unbelievable — in just three minutes, the boat went down,” he said. 

Fishing boats and other vessels rescued the 32 survivors, according to Senegal Prime Minister Mame Madior Boye. 

The state-owned Joola ferry capsized off Gambia in the Atlantic Ocean about 11 p.m. en route to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, from the south of the country. Gambia is a strip-shaped country only a few miles wide and divides north and south Senegal. 

The vessel remained in one piece Friday, and still on its side, said Mamadou Diop Thioune, a coordinator of a French-funded marine center whose divers were helping in the search for victims. 

Dive teams recovered 88 bodies, Diop said. They spotted a number of corpses through the ferry windows, and believed the still unrecovered passengers and crew to be dead, with their corpses caught inside, he said. 

“Now, I’m afraid, it’s a matter of recovering bodies,” he said. 

The first corpses retrieved from the accident were being taken back to the port Friday. 

Searchers waited as night fell Friday for the arrival of military divers with equipment to cut into the ferry, he said. 

Ndong told The Associated Press by telephone from a hospital in neighboring Gambia that the storm brewed as the ferry made its way north from Senegal’s southern district of Casamance. 

As the wind built, the boat started tipping to one side, he said. Water rushed into the cabin. When the lights went out, he said, passengers started screaming. 

Senegal declared three days of national mourning at midday Friday as the search for victims continued. Boye and other state officials went to the port to be with families. 

President Abdoulaye Wade cut short a trip to France. Speaking briefly to reporters upon his return home, he pledged an investigation. 

Families and friends rushed to the port in Dakar, sobbing and pounding their heads on walls. 

“God have mercy! Pray! Pray everyone!” one woman, waiting with the rest for news of loved ones, pleaded. “Stop crying!” 

Later, hundreds of people surrounded the locked gates of navy offices, demanding information about the search and rescue and its results. Among the throng, a woman screamed and tore her hair, sobbing for word of her daughter. 

“Tell us whether she’s alive,” the woman shouted. “Can we please know whether she’s alive?” 

Ferries are the main way of transportation between north and south Senegal, in part because travel by road is slowed by border checks passing through Gambia. Merchants carrying dried fish, mangos and other goods from verdant Casamance make up many of the usual travelers aboard. 

Angry men thronging the port denounced authorities, claiming the ferry had been riding low on one side, and never should have been allowed out of port. 

Media reports said the ferry had undergone repairs, and had only recently returned to service after months in dock. 

DAKAR, Senegal — More than 760 people were believed dead Friday after an ocean ferry capsized off West Africa in a fierce gale, with 88 victims recovered and bodies of others spotted trapped inside. 

“It was horrible, because we were hearing people screaming from underneath,” said hospitalized survivor Moussa Ndong, who escaped when the ferry capsized Thursday night. He survived by clinging to the side of the vessel for two hours. 

“The boat went down so fast. It was so unbelievable — in just three minutes, the boat went down,” he said. 

Fishing boats and other vessels rescued the 32 survivors, according to Senegal Prime Minister Mame Madior Boye. 

The state-owned Joola ferry capsized off Gambia in the Atlantic Ocean about 11 p.m. en route to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, from the south of the country. Gambia is a strip-shaped country only a few miles wide and divides north and south Senegal. 

The vessel remained in one piece Friday, and still on its side, said Mamadou Diop Thioune, a coordinator of a French-funded marine center whose divers were helping in the search for victims. 

Dive teams recovered 88 bodies, Diop said. They spotted a number of corpses through the ferry windows, and believed the still unrecovered passengers and crew to be dead, with their corpses caught inside, he said. 

“Now, I’m afraid, it’s a matter of recovering bodies,” he said. 

The first corpses retrieved from the accident were being taken back to the port Friday. 

Searchers waited as night fell Friday for the arrival of military divers with equipment to cut into the ferry, he said. 

Ndong told The Associated Press by telephone from a hospital in neighboring Gambia that the storm brewed as the ferry made its way north from Senegal’s southern district of Casamance. 

As the wind built, the boat started tipping to one side, he said. Water rushed into the cabin. When the lights went out, he said, passengers started screaming. 

Senegal declared three days of national mourning at midday Friday as the search for victims continued. Boye and other state officials went to the port to be with families. 

President Abdoulaye Wade cut short a trip to France. Speaking briefly to reporters upon his return home, he pledged an investigation. 

Families and friends rushed to the port in Dakar, sobbing and pounding their heads on walls. 

“God have mercy! Pray! Pray everyone!” one woman, waiting with the rest for news of loved ones, pleaded. “Stop crying!” 

Later, hundreds of people surrounded the locked gates of navy offices, demanding information about the search and rescue and its results. Among the throng, a woman screamed and tore her hair, sobbing for word of her daughter. 

“Tell us whether she’s alive,” the woman shouted. “Can we please know whether she’s alive?” 

Ferries are the main way of transportation between north and south Senegal, in part because travel by road is slowed by border checks passing through Gambia. Merchants carrying dried fish, mangos and other goods from verdant Casamance make up many of the usual travelers aboard. 

Angry men thronging the port denounced authorities, claiming the ferry had been riding low on one side, and never should have been allowed out of port. 

Media reports said the ferry had undergone repairs, and had only recently returned to service after months in dock. 

A squad of parking meter technicians is the city’s latest response to the continuing problem of meter failure. The move comes as vandalism and coin-recognition problems continue to drain city coffers and aggravate downtown drivers. 

In addition to the repair team, police crackdowns on vandalism are up. A surveillance team arrested two more UC Berkeley students Tuesday morning for jamming meters on Bancroft Way. 

Police charged Zhang Ying Yun, 20, and Shalomda Reynolds, 19, with two misdemeanors – vandalism and tampering with a coin-operated machine. The students face a six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. 

The Berkeley Police Department has now arrested four people for jamming meters near UC Berkeley in a series of three undercover stings dating back to April. 

City officials say vandalism, which has struck an estimated 30 to 40 percent of the city’s 3,200 meters, has cost the city roughly $1 million in repairs and lost revenue per year. 

Patrick Keilch, deputy director of public works, said repeated vandalism may have contributed to another nagging meter problem – failure to read coins properly. 

Lt. Bruce Agnew of the police department’s traffic bureau said residents using faulty meters get less time than they paid for, or no time at all.“That’s obviously frustrating for people,” he said. 

Berkeley resident Marianne Robinson said she has dropped coins into meters only to see a “fail” message flash. 

“It’s one of those things that gets to be a little maddening,” she said. 

The city spent more than $1.5 million to replace all of its meters in 1998 and 1999, according to Keilch. Duncan Industries Parking Control Systems, of Harrison, Ark., supplied the vast majority of those meters. 

Keilch said the city has reached an “amicable agreement” with Duncan Industries over the coin recognition problem. The company has provided free training to city staff in fixing meters and a limited number of free new parts. 

“They want these meters to work as much as we do,” said Keilch. 

Armed with the new parts and training, a full-time staff of four repair technicians are fixing city meters on a constant basis. Four of the city’s parking enforcement officers, or “meter maids,” also received the Duncan training and are conducting repairs on a part-time basis. 

Grace Maguire, assistant to the city manager, said the undercover stings are part of a multi-pronged effort to thwart vandalism. 

In July, as part of a six-month pilot program, the city placed green canvas bags over the 240 often-vandalized meters on Durant and Bancroft streets, between Dana Street and Piedmont Avenue, south of the UC Berkeley campus. 

Officials said most of the vandalism has occurred in this area, where parking is scarce and garages are expensive.  

The police department has dedicated one parking enforcement officer to patrol the relatively small area each day and issue $23 fines for people who exceed the parking time limit – usually one hour.  

Officials hope the new system might yield more revenue than a series of meters that were rendered useless by repeated vandalism. 

“We’re going to see how it works and gauge the effectiveness,” said Maguire. 

The city has not seen a significant jump in tickets since the program went into effect in mid-July, Maguire said, but that was before the students returned to school. Maguire hopes to see improvement in the coming months. 

A recently-passed City Council ordinance allowing traffic enforcement officers to issue multiple tickets for a car that remains in the same space too long should aid the effort. 

Kathy Berger, executive director of the Telegraph Area Association, a local community development organization, said the pilot program has paid another kind of dividend.  

Tight enforcement means that cars are moving in and out of the area quickly, Berger said. As a result, shoppers have an easier time finding parking spots and patronizing local businesses. 

“It appears to be working extremely well,” she said. “It has actually helped some people’s businesses.” 

For now, police department spokesperson Officer Mary Kusmiss said it is too early to measure the success of the city’s anti-vandalism efforts. 

“But getting the information out there that there is regular enforcement and conducting these stings, hopefully will mitigate the problem,” she said. 

To the Editor: 

Sacramento's “News 10” reports that 69 percent of voters would like to see Green Party gubernatorial candidate Peter Camejo in the Oct. 7 televised debate. Camejo has deep roots in Berkeley, having been active as an anti-war activist in Berkeley in the 60s – active enough that the powers-that-be expelled him after he won the presidency for the Associated Students of the University of California. 

Camejo espouses the positive platform of the Green Party and advocates for reforming our massive prison and criminal justice system, helping to fix our economy by making corporations responsible (not just accountable), and protecting our environment by having California take a leadership role in renewable energy. 

Davis, always the politician, is aiming to smear Simon and to ignore Camejo. Davis has refused to debate Camejo. Politicians, however, should not control the media. Berkeley has always stood for free speech. To open up the debates to other views (and there is a mountain of other views between Davis and Simon), Camejo, who is the leading third party candidate, needs to be included. This is a very Berkeley issue. 

If you agree, write the Los Angeles Times at letters@latimes.com  

demanding that Peter Camejo be included in the Oct. 7 gubernatorial debate. Point out that it is not their decision, that the people of California want Peter in the debate and that they, as a media outlet serving the public, must respect the will of the electorate. 

Howard G Chong 

Berkeley Rent Board candidate

Transparent Theater strides into its second season sure-footedly with Alex Johnston’s two-person drama “Deep Space.”  

Johnston is one of the new breed of Irish playwrights. Raised in Dublin, he sets “Deep Space” in shabby digs there. Those digs, sketched in scenic artist Ann Goldschmidt’s skewed platform topped by a couple of mismatched stuffed chairs and a block-and-board bookcase, are occupied by two aimless blokes named Keith and Jaco. The Bay Area has seen quite a few of their type on the stage lately, from Charlie and Jake in “Stones in His Pockets,” to Howie and Rookie in Magic Theater’s sizzling “Howie the Rookie.” By the evidence of these works, and Johnston’s, young Irish men of the middle and lower classes are as full of blarney as they’ve always been, but their blowhard cynicism masks a lingering pathos. 

Rootless, they long for home; bewildered, they long for life to make sense; sarcastic, they long for love. 

“Deep Space” consists of a series of encounters in that Dublin flat over a period of weeks. Seemingly the more relaxed and philosophical of the roomies, lean, pale, curly-haired Keith is college educated but jobless, killing time smoking, reading the paper, watching telly and talking about seeking work. Smaller, wiry, crop-haired Jaco is a working class guy, an electrician who wriggles in his chair like a tadpole in a womb, his physical restlessness reflecting itchy longings. Crudely but touchingly articulate, he’s crazy about women, and he wants to find Miss Right. “I’m too old to do this anymore!” he cries. 

Women are a main theme of Keith and Jaco’s conversation, particularly one named Fionnula. She’s no dummy. “There’s lots of boys out there,” we’re told she observes, “but there’s not many men.” Keith knew her first, and though he claims not to be interested in her, he lies to Keith about her being a lesbian. 

Keith meets her by chance and falls into bed with her. 

He falls in love with her, too. 

Both men know she was once raped. She tells Jaco a story about a friend who was raped. That, and the play’s opening talk about “paradigm shifts” in sexual roles, lays the groundwork for dark developments. “Deep Space” is good at letting those developments sneak up. At first the play seems as cheery and aimless as its two characters, but Fionnula gradually comes between them, leading to a powerful climax of twin betrayals that’s unexpected yet convincing. 

Love doesn’t always lead to tenderness, and (though it’s politically incorrect to say so) rape may not be solely an act of violence. 

Transparent Theater gives Johnston’s spare, moving play a restrained and beautiful production. David Robertson provides mood-enhancing lighting, and Patrick Kaliski adds effective sound. Ryan Montgomery directs with a fine feeling for the nuances of the story, and the two actors are appealingly right. Drew Khalouf gives Keith’s existential torpor a tragic edge, and as Jaco Jason Frazier is both hilariously fidgety and touching. 

We never learn quite what brought this mismatched pair together, but the play, and the actors, make it clear what sunders them. Transparent Theater has converted a former church at Ashby Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way into a fine and welcome addition to the East Bay’s playhouses, and “Deep Space” is a good reason to visit it. 

Saturday, Sept. 28 

Free Legal Workshop:  

“Crossroads: Health and the Law.” 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

514 58th St. at Telegraph Avenue 

Navigate your way through legal issues when living with cancer or any serious illness. Panel presentation on employment, insurance and public benefits and one-on-one sessions with attorneys. Please, pre-register. 

601-4040, Ext. 102 for information  

or Ext. 103 to register 

Free  

Garage Sale/ Car Wash  

Belize/ Berkeley Scouts 

10 to 2 p.m. 

Epworth UMC, 1953 Hopkins St. 

International exchange fundraising effort for scouts. 

525-6058 

A Forum on the Arts with the Berkeley Mayoral Candidates 

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Aurora Theater, 2081 Addison St. 

558-1381 

Free 

Sunday, Sept. 29 

Tibetan Buddhism  

“Healing Mind” 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place 

Sylvia Gretchen discusses how the teachings cultivate the mind and redefine what healing means. 

843-6812 

Free 

“Iron Chef” Style Cook-Off  

3 to 4 p.m. 

(followed by reception, 4 to 6 p.m.) 

Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto 

1919 Fourth St.  

In this “Crabby Chef” Competition 2002, top East Bay chefs vie for this year’s title by creating the tastiest crab dish. Master of Ceremonies will be KGO-AM’s Gene Burns. 

City of Berkeley  

2002 Public Art Competition 

1 to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Central Public Library  

2090 Kittredge St.  

A public art informational workshop will be open to all artists regarding public art site proposals. 

981-6100 

Free 

Friday, Sept. 27 

The Cracked Normans,  

Paradigm & Soul Americana 

9:30 p.m. (21 and over) 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$5. 

Eric Bogle 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$16.50 in advance. $17.50 at door. 

Fair Weather, Liars  

Academy and Open Hand 

8 p.m. 

924 Gilman St. 

525-9926 

$5. 

Reggae Angels with Earl Zero  

and Jah Light Music 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

$15 door. 12 and under free. 

Saturday, Sept. 28 

Barry & Alic Oliver 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$16.50 in advance. $17.50 at door. 

From Monument to Masses,  

Victory at Sea and Yesterday’s Kids 

8 p.m. 

924 Gilman St. 

525-9926 

$5. 

Sunday, Sept. 29 

Si Kahn  

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance. $16.50 at door. 

Cellist Gianna Abondolo 

4 p.m. 

Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. 

Classical favorites and original  

compositions for cello. 

559-6910 

$10 general. 18 and under free. 

Weber Iago and Harvey Wainaple 

4:30 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

845-5373 

$10-$15. 

\ 

David Friesen and Uwe Kropinski 

8 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

845-5373 

$10-$15. 

Blowing Zen: A Performance of Shakuhachi 

7:30 p.m. 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church  

2626 College Ave. 

528-2027 

$12 at door. Children $5. Seniors $10. 

Chamber Music 

4 to 5:15 p.m. 

Crowden Music Center 1475 Rose St. 

Gianna Abondolo & Friends  

celebrate the release of their  

classical and jazz CD. 

559-6910 

$10. 18 and under free. 

Tuesday, Oct. 1 

Toshi Reagon 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance. $16.50 at door. 

Wednesday, Oct. 2 

Hookslide 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance. $16.50 at door. 

Thursday, Oct. 3 

Pete & Joan Wernick featuring Dr. Banjo  

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance. $16.50 at door. 

"Balancing Acts" 

Through Oct. 10 

Gallery 555, 555 12th St., 

Oakland City Center 

Oakland's 'Third Thursday' art night features Ann Weber's works made of cardboard. 

http://www.oaklandcitycenter.com.  

Free. 

“Hunger: What will you do about it?”  

Through Oct. 30, Mon.-Fri.,  

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

The Civic Center Building 

2180 Milvia St., 5th floor 

Featuring 40 photographs  

by Berkeley artist David Bacon. 

834-3663, Ext. 338, uchanse@secondharvest.org 

Richard Misrach, Berkeley Work 

Though Oct. 13 

UC Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way 

On view in Gallery 2, presents two photographic series by this internationally recognized Berkeley-based artist.  

642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

$7. $5 BAM/PFA members.  

$4 UC Berkeley students. 

“Recent Acquisitions” 

Oct. 13 through Dec. 14 

Thurs., Fri., and Sat., 1 to 4 p.m. 

Berkeley Historical Society, Veterans Memorial Building, 1931 Center St. 

848-0181 

Free. 

Misch Kohn - Celebrating Sixty Years of Printmaking 

Through Oct. 16. Tues.-Fri., Noon to 5:30 p.m.; Sat., noon to 4:30 p.m. 

Kala Arts Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 

549-2977, kala@kala.org 

Nancy Salz 

Through Oct. 23, Tues.-Fri. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Sat 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 

Barbara Anderson Gallery, 2243 5th St. 

848-3822 

Timoteo Ikoshy Montoya 

Through Nov. 1  

Reception Sept. 20, 6 to 8 p.m. 

Gathering Tribes Gallery  

1573 Solano Ave.  

Acrylic/air brush paintings  

by this Native American artist.  

528-9038 

Threads: Five artists who  

use stitching to convey ideas 

Oct. 6 through Dec. 15, Wed.-Sun., noon to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center 

Live Oak Park, 1275 Walnut St. 

Information: www.berkeleyartcenter.org, 644-6893 

Free. 

A Thousand and One Arabian Nights 

Through Sept. 28, Fri.-Sun. 8 p.m.; Sun. 4 p.m. 

Forest Meadows Outdoor Amphitheater, Grand Avenue at the Dominican University, San Raphael 

Marin Shakespeare Company’s  

presents this classic story with  

original Arabic music. 

415-499-4488 for tickets 

$12 for youth. $20 for seniors. $22 general. 

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar 

Through Oct. 12 

Thurs. through Sat. 8 p.m. 

LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre  

1834 Euclid Ave. 

234-6046 

$10. 

The House of Blue Leaves 

Through Oct. 27 

Berkeley Rep's Roda Theater  

2015 Addison St.  

647-2917 or 888-4BRTTIX 

$10-$54. 

The Shape of Things 

Through Oct. 20 

Aurora Theatre Company  

2081 Addison St. 

Play by writer/director Neil LaBute's spins a morality tale of a young art student, his art major girlfriend, and the Pygmalion-like changes that bring into question how far one should go for love. 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org for reservations 

$26-$35. 

Ceramics - Opening Reception 

Through Nov. 17 

3 to 5 p.m. 

A New Leaf Gallery, 1286 Gilman St. 

525-7621 

Free. 

Sunday, Sept. 29 

Margaret Kaufman & Robert Funge 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

845-7852, www.poetryflash.org 

$2 donation. 

Thursday, Oct. 3 

Brenda Hillman 

12:10 p.m. 

Morrison Library in Doe Library, UCB 

UC Berkeley’s Lunch Poems Reading Series. Author’s six books include “Loose Sugar” and “Cascadia”. 

http://www.berkeley.edu/calendar/events 

Free. 

Nathaniel Mackay and Trane Devore 

6 p.m. 

Maud Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall, UC Berkeley 

Part of Holloway Poetry Series for Fall 2002. 

jscape@socrates.berkeley.edu 

Free. 

Friday, Oct. 4 

Katherine Forrest 

7:30 p.m. 

Boadecia’s Books, 398 Colusa Ave. at Colusa Circle 

Reading from “Daughters of the Amber Moon” 

559-9184 

Free. 

Saturday, Oct. 5 

“Black Like Us: A Century of Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual African American Fiction” 

7:30 p.m. 

Boadecia’s Books, 398 Colusa Ave. at Colusa Circle 

Led by co-editors Devon W. Carbado and Donald Wiese, and several of the book’s writers. 

559-9184 

Free. 

Sunday, October 6 

Ledisi and The Braxton Brothers 

4:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Jazz School, 2087 Addison St.  

845-5373 

$15, $12 - students & seniors, $10 Jazzschool students 

Tuesday, Oct. 8 

Daniel Wilkinson 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Author Wilkinon and panelists from Global Exchange and Equal Exchange will discuss Guatemala, globalization, and book “Silence on the Mountain” 

(617) 351-3243 

Thursday, Oct. 10 

Daniel Wilkinson 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Wilkinson will read from his book “Silence on the Mountain” 

(617) 351-3243 

The St. Mary’s High girls’ volleyball team rode a quick start and some great serving to their first Bay Shore Athletic League victory on Thursday, beating Holy Names High, 15-9, 15-5, 15-13. 

The Panthers (3-1 overall, 1-1 BSAL) served up 19 aces in Thursday’s match, accounting for 42 percent of their points. The rest of the offense came from the trio of Natalie Bogan, Jazmin Pratt and Martha Ryan, who combined for 32 kills as St. Mary’s simply overpowered the Monarchs. 

“Today was awesome, just unbelievable,” St. Mary’s head coach Cherise Revell said. “We’ve been working a lot on our serves in practice, and it showed today.” 

Pratt blamed an earlier loss to St. Joseph High on poor serving and said the team had some extra motivation because Thursday was the Panthers’ home opener. 

“We really wanted to start off strong in our first home game,” said Pratt, who had 14 kills and seven aces. “All our work paid off today.” 

St. Mary’s got off to a scorching start, running up a 10-0 lead in the first game. Holy Names had serious trouble passing the Panthers’ serves to their setter, either missing altogether or putting the ball right at the net where Bogan was waiting for a block. Although the Monarchs managed a seven-point run of their own to pull within 11-8, they didn’t have the firepower to overcome such a big deficit. 

The Panthers started slowly in the next two games, getting behind 2-5 and 1-4, respectively. They had no problem coming back in the second game, scoring 13 straight points to take a 2-0 lead in games, but the final game was a different story. They handed Holy Names 12 points on errors and looked as if they would need a fourth game to put the Monarchs away. 

In stepped Pratt. After two kills for points to keep her team close, she fired her jump-serve for three straight aces to put the visitors back on their heels. When another point kill by Pratt made the score 13-12 in Holy Names’ favor, the Monarchs fell apart, making two hitting errors and a bad pass to finish the match. 

“[Holy Names] just got their momentum going in the last game,” Ryan said. “But we were juiced all day, and we weren’t going to lose.”

While Berkeley’s two primary mayoral candidates say they expect a tight election this November, the race for political endorsements has been a landslide. 

Progressive candidate Tom Bates, with ties and personal bonds he forged during 20 years as a state Assemblyman, has won the support of nearly every major local interest group and politician. 

Heavy hitters such as U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, state Assemblywoman Dion Aroner, D- Berkeley, are supporting bates. The Sierra Club, the National Organization for Women, Green Party of Alameda, Democratic Party of Alameda, and Alameda Council of Labor have endorsed him. All told more than 300 people and organizations back Bates. 

“I’ve got their support because of what I’ve done in the past and my history of providing good leadership,” Bates said. He says that Mayor Shirley Dean failed while in office eight years to develop the same relationships with local leaders. 

Dean, however, said Bates’ endorsements were about political ties than political record. 

“I do believe that I am up against a political machine that wants to control everything in the city,” she said. Dean represents a moderate faction in the City Council, which is the minority group by one-vote.  

Dean has won the support of state Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, the Berkeley Democratic Club, and more than 30 neighborhood activists. The police and fireman’s unions, as well as an offshoot of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce, all of which supported Dean in her past two successful campaigns, have not yet made an endorsement. 

Bruce Cain, a UC Berkeley professor with the political science department said Bates’ endorsements should give him an advantage but will not guarantee him victory in November. 

“At a local level, it can matter if groups are willing to do work and throw resources into the race,” he said. “Often in a low turnout election, if interest groups get the vote out, it will make the difference.” 

Bates agreed and said his supporters are more than just names to put on campaign fliers. “Groups are making phone calls to members and walking precincts,” he said, adding that Sierra Club will make a pro-Bates mailing to its estimated 5,000 Berkeley members. 

Dean, meanwhile, said she doesn’t need the support of leading politicians and interest groups to win the election. “The neighborhood knows my record and neighborhood support is the most important type of endorsements there are,” she said.

To the Editor: 

Neighbors of UC Berkeley's Memorial Stadium should quit their whining. Just because seven days a year they have to carefully time their shopping trips, they want the university to throw away 70 years of tradition and build a whole new stadium, inconveniencing tens of thousands of students, Cal fans, and alumni. Unless these residents moved in prior to 1928, they knew exactly what they were getting into by living near a stadium. Seven days of inconvenience is not that many, especially if you're told in advance exactly when they're going to happen. 

I'm glad the university has control of the situation. The Hayward fault is a definite concern that should be taken under consideration, but my vote is to keep the stadium right where it is, if for no other reason to keep these crybabies in a tizzy. 

Kenny Byerly 

Berkeley 

Call it a home-field disadvantage. 

The Berkeley High boys’ water polo team was shut out in both the second and fourth quarters against Bishop O’Dowd on Thursday, as the Dragons were twice able to wipe out Berkeley leads for a 9-7 win at Willard Middle School in Berkeley. The pool at Willard is only 3 feet deep on one end, which happened to be the end the Yellowjackets were shooting at in both quarters they were blanked. 

“[O’Dowd’s] goalkeeper was tall, and in the shallow cage he could just jump and cover the entire goal,” Berkeley’s Andy Turner said. “Our shot selection started to be off, and we just let the pressure get to us.” 

The Jackets (3-6 overall, 1-1 ACCAL) had one-goal leads at the end of both the first and third quarters, thanks in large part to Turner and Dominic Cathey. Turner had three goals and an assist, while Cathey contributed two assists and a goal. 

But O’Dowd (4-5, 1-0) got the last laugh. Down 7-5 with just seconds left in the third quarter, it looked as if Berkeley would have the momentum heading into the final seven minutes of play. But an apparent O’Dowd shot clock violation turned into a Dragon goal as no one secured the ball as both teams headed back down to the other end. When neither referee blew the whistle to stop play, however, an O’Dowd player alertly beat Berkeley goalkeeper Sammy Hammer to the ball and scored an easy goal, cutting the deficit to one. 

The fourth quarter was all Dragons, as captain Cason Schmit returned from a third-quarter ejection to create havoc in front of the Berkeley net. Schmit’s presence opened up shots for his teammates, and Hammer couldn’t stop every shot thrown at him. 

The tying goal came from a bit of luck for the Dragons. Patrick Bobb had the ball near the side of the Berkeley goal, but it slipped out of his hand and behind him. The defender dove for the ball, but Bobb reached back blindly and came up with it instead, leaving him alone with Hammer for an easy score. 

Berkeley had a golden opportunity seconds later as O’Dowd goalkeeper Elliot Carney was ejected for an intentional foul. But the Jackets took a needlessly quick shot during the resulting three-on-one that went over the bar, releasing Carney from the sideline. 

With a minute remaining, O’Dowd’s Jim Bowerman had the ball near midfield with the shot clock winding down and lasered in a desperation shot. It skipped off the water and deflected off of Hammer’s outstretched arm for an 8-7 O’Dowd lead. The Jackets couldn’t get a shot off on the next possession, and Bobb scored a fastbreak goal to put the game away.

One day after reinstating Berkeley High School’s African-American studies department, Superintendent Michele Lawrence said Thursday that she will consider bringing back the English language learners, visual arts and performing arts departments. 

Before this week, the district was poised to fold the African-American studies and English language learners programs into other, unspecified departments and to combine the visual and performing arts programs into one department under the terms of an Aug. 20 agreement with the teacher’s union. 

The move would not have affected the African-American studies, ELL or arts classes offered at the high school, but would have eliminated department chairs and, many feared, meeting time for teachers. 

When details of the agreement surfaced Tuesday, there was a public outcry over the planned consolidation of the 34-year-old African-American studies department, leading to a reinstatement of the department at the Board of Education meeting Wednesday night. 

Lawrence said the district will have to work with the Berkeley Federation of Teachers union to hammer out the details of reinstating African-American studies and any other department. 

“I’m certain we’ll have to go back to the table,” she said. 

BFT President Barry Fike, who has signaled a willingness to renegotiate, said the union is ready to return to the bargaining table and reinstate the departments. 

“We’re very pleased that there seem to be indications from the district that they are willing to renegotiate,” he said. 

One sticking point may be job descriptions and pay for the returning department chairs. 

The Aug. 20 agreement laid out 17 different duties for department chairs, ranging from ordering books to supporting teachers, and provided stipends of $5,000, $3,750 and $2,250, depending on the size of a chair’s department. 

Smaller departments, African-American studies and ELL, were to lose their chairs. District officials pushed for this reduction in the total number of chairs, during the August negotiations, because they hoped to save several thousand dollars for a district $3.9 million in debt. 

Lawrence suggested Thursday that the district was not interested in offering costly stipends to any returning department chairs – in African-American Studies, ELL or the arts – in light of the budget problems. 

Robert McKnight, chair of the African-American studies department, said he could care less about the stipend, as long as the program remains in place. 

“I don’t have a job,” explained McKnight, who led the reinstatement charge. “I’m on a mission.”  

But Fike said he was concerned that any agreement calling on chairs of small departments to perform extra duties without adequate pay could set a dangerous precedent. 

Still, Fike said the overriding concern for the union is bringing back the consolidated departments. He does not expect the salary issue to get in the way. 

“I’m confident that it’s not a stumbling block that can’t be overcome,” he said. 

Contact reporter at scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net 

To the Editor: 

I want to express my strong support for the remarks of Sen. Tom Daschle condemning President George W. Bush's politicization of the proposed Department of Homeland Defense during his recent campaign fund-raising speech in Trenton, N.J. Mr. Bush and his allies in the House and Senate are gambling unconscionably with the world's future, while attempting to use the debate over a resolution to authorize the use of military force against Iraq for mere political gain before the November mid-term elections. Given Mr. Bush's past record of desertion from a Texas Air National Guard post, which he obtained by political influence (see awolbush.com), his willingness to put American military service members' lives in jeopardy is hypocritical and immoral. 

It is particularly appalling to note that the Bush administration has been planning for a war against Iraq since well before the events of Sept. 11, 2001 (see Sept. 22, 2002 New York Times article, “Bush's Push on Iraq at U.N.: Headway, Then New Barriers”). This makes it clear that the supposed urgency to take military action against Iraq is not rooted in any new intelligence information or threat posed by Iraq toward the United States. The administration has embarked on an extremely risky “wag the dog” foreign policy that is dominated by purely political considerations, rather than national security. 

I urge Congress to resist the Bush administration's attempt to railroad the U.S. into an unnecessary war with Iraq that would undoubtedly kill thousands of innocent civilians, as well as unforeseeable numbers of American and allied men and women of the armed services. The consequences of such a war are far from predictable and would likely be disastrous. Sen. Daschle is right to demand an apology from President Bush for his egregiously insulting and partisan comments during his recent speech in Trenton, N.J. 

Taylor Bennett 

Berkeley 

When Washington State takes the field against Cal on Saturday, there’s a chance the Cougars might be missing their Heisman-hopeful quarterback, Jason Gesser. But the Bears say they don’t really care. 

Gesser suffered separated cartilage in his ribs last week in a win over Montana State and is listed as questionable for Saturday’s game at Memorial Stadium. A second-team All-Pac-10 selection last season, Gesser is one of the nation’s top quarterbacks. 

But Gesser’s backup, junior Matt Kegel, is no slouch himself. Although he has limited game experience, there was talk before last season that Kegel might win the starting job away from Gesser. That obviously didn’t happen and Gesser established himself with an outstanding season, but Kegel likely wouldn’t be a huge step down if he were to play. 

“They run the same offense with both guys,” Cal head coach Jeff Tedford said. “Gesser’s a slippery guy, but Kegel’s athletic also. It’s not like a big switch with him in the game.” 

But Kegel is limping this week as well, as he hurt his knee against Montana State. The third-string quarterback is redshirt freshman Chris Hurd, a Deer Valley High (Antioch) graduate. Hurd finished the Cougars’ game last week and is taking the majority of the snaps in practice this week in case he has to play against the Bears. 

Washington State head coach Mike Price said Gesser will most likely start the game, although how long he can go will be up to Price himself. 

“[Gesser] is an inspiring guy, and he wants to play no matter what. Even if he’s in pain, he’s playing,” Price said. “The only way he’s not playing is if he’s going to get hurt more by playing. Then it will be my call, not his.” 

No matter which of the three quarterbacks ends up playing most of the game, the Bears know they’ll have to get pressure on him to be successful against Washington State’s explosive spread attack. 

Cal defensive tackle Daniel Nwangwu said the defensive linemen won’t be paying much attention to the number on the quarterback’s chest; they just want to make sure that jersey just gets dirty. 

“I just want to get to the quarterback no matter who he is,” defensive tackle Daniel Nwangwu said. “To concentrate on doing something different with a different quarterback in there is a waste of time.” 

Cornerback Jemeel Powell agreed with Nwangwu. 

“Who’s at quarterback doesn’t matter to me,” Powell said. “If we don’t cover correctly, any quarterback will hit the open man.” 

Those men Powell referred to will be Washington State’s impressive stable of receivers. With Mike Bush, a 6-foot-5 former basketball player, and Florida State transfer Devard Darling leading the charge, the Cougars have one of the most athletic and versatile sets of receivers in the country. They all can go over the middle for short passes or deep for big gains, and Bush excels at winning jump balls away from smaller cornerbacks. 

Tedford said he doesn’t expect to completely stop the Washington State passing game, which has been highly effective during Price’s 14 years as the school’s head coach. 

“I’m not going to sit here and say we’re going to shut down their receivers,” Tedford said. “We might be step for step with them, but they’re still going to make plays on the football.”

Red light runners and speeders beware: What the police don’t see, the camera surely will. 

Berkeley may be the next city in line to install cameras on streets or traffic signals to protect pedestrians. 

At a transportation forum at the Willard Middle School Wednesday, Berkeley transportation head Peter Hillier, said he is hoping to start discussion by next summer about bringing traffic cameras to Berkeley. 

“I think they’ve been extremely successful in reducing red light running or speeding,” he said. Similar cameras have been installed in other United States cities, including San Francisco, and are prevalent in Europe and Canada. 

Several people, however, cringed at the idea of cameras monitoring public streets. 

“Surveillance cameras ... you know that sounds too much like ‘1984,’ It’s crazy,” said Ted Chabasinski of the 2900 block of Florence Street. 

Hillier, though, maintained that the cameras would be used to punish dangerous drivers, not to spy on residents. 

If Berkeley decides to install traffic cameras it will have several options. 

The most common type of camera is attached to a traffic signal and only takes photos of cars running a red light, Hillier said. Other cameras gauge speed and are installed in the sidewalk or kept inside a police car. A new traffic signal camera that tickets for both speeding and red light running is on the market, he said. 

Hillier said that public acceptance is stronger for cameras that monitor for red light violations than it is for cameras that watch for speeders, which is a more common offense. 

If community opposition doesn’t derail cameras, cost might. 

The city would have to spend about $100,000 to install any type of camera at just a few intersections, he said. 

Despite initial suspicion by some forum attendees, Hillier asked residents to withhold judgment until the idea is hashed out. 

“What is critical is to thoroughly research the practice,” he said. “If there is strong documented evidence of a benefit then the idea may seem better to people.”  

Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who has advocated traffic safety measures for his district, said he was open to the limited use of cameras. 

“If they were surveillance cameras to turn us into a police state, that would be a problem,” he said. “But when it’s a picture of a license plate, that might be OK.” 

Contact reporter at matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

I wonder why Snehal Shingavi and others are so paranoid (Daily Planet, Sept. 20) about their rhetoric being monitored. I would hope instructors at UC Berkeley base their class material on truth, avoiding personal slants. If so, why are they up in arms when someone wants to quote them? Should they not be willing to stand behind and support the messages they promote in the classroom? Apparently Snehal is afraid to be challenged, according to his English class’ guideline advising “conservative thinkers” to enroll in a different section. Snehal seems to be the only one silencing speech, not those who wish to reveal biases in university classrooms. 

Devora Liss 

Berkeley

Girls tennis - Salesian 4, St. Mary’s 3 

The Panthers fall in BSAL play as Salesian wins three singles matches and a doubles match. Maren Sagat wins for St. Mary’s in the top singles match. Both teams are now 1-1 in league play. 

Girls golf - St. Mary’s 329, Berkeley 330 

The Panthers take down Berkeley in a cross-town rivalry matchup at Mira Vista Country Club. Berkeley’s Cameron Wilson leads the pack with a 59, but the Panthers win by one stroke. St. Mary’s improves its record to 3-1, while Berkeley drops to 2-2. 

Girls tennis - Berkeley 4, El Cerrito 3 

The Yellowjackets improve to 4-1 in ACCAL play with a win over El Cerrito (3-2 ACCAL). Berkeley sweeps the top three singles matches and the team of Ari Anisimov and Rachel Leibman wins the third doubles match to clinch the victory. 

Girls volleyball - Berkeley def. De Anza 15-6, 15-2, 15-0 

Berkeley (3-5 overall, 2-0 ACCAL) still hasn’t lost an ACCAL match in three seasons as the Yellowjackets notch another easy victory in league play. Vanessa Williams has six kills and eight digs for Berkeley, while Nadia Qabazard pitches in with seven digs and four aces. Setter Danielle Larue nearly serves out the final game, racking up 14 straight points before a Berkeley error ends her streak.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel tried to kill the mastermind of the Hamas bombing campaign Thursday, firing two missiles into a car in crowded Gaza City. Two bodyguards died and 35 bystanders were wounded in the helicopter attack, but the fate of the Palestinian militant remained uncertain. Hamas promised revenge. 

A senior Palestinian security official said the 37-year-old Mohammed Deif escaped with moderate injuries. Israeli police sources said the Israeli military told them Deif — atop Israel’s wanted list for years — was killed. The military had no public comment. 

Hamas official Abdel Aziz Rantisi said Deif was not even in the car. But he said the group would avenge the attack nevertheless. “We will hit Tel Aviv. We will hit everywhere.” 

In other violence, four Palestinians — including two gunmen, a civilian and a baby — and one Israeli were reported killed. Israel maintained its stranglehold on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah in defiance of Tuesday’s U.N. Security Council resolution to end the siege. 

Two helicopters appeared in the sky over Gaza just after 1:30 p.m., firing missiles that blew apart a green Mercedes sedan and sent a plume of white smoke over the Sheik Radwan neighborhood. 

“Suddenly we heard the sound of a big explosion,” said Mohammed Hajar, a hairdresser working in the area. “When I ran out, a second explosion took place.” 

Blood, body parts and shrapnel were strewn across a wide area and nearby windows were shattered. A large crowd, confused and angry, gathered as rescue workers led the wounded to ambulances. 

One man leapt on a car and shouted, “God is great.” 

Hamas sources identified the two dead men as members of Hamas, Abdel Rahim Hamdan, 27, and Issa Abu Ajra, 29. Rantisi said they were Deif’s bodyguards. 

More than a dozen children were wounded in the attack, the latest in a series of assaults the Israeli military calls “targeted killings” of Palestinians. 

The most controversial, a strike in Gaza that killed Hamas militant Salah Shehadeh, also killed nine children and five adult civilians. 

In the past two years, at least 78 wanted Palestinians and 52 bystanders have been killed in such attacks, which the Palestinians deride as a policy of assassination. Human rights groups have condemned the policy. 

“Today’s attack is another example that shows clearly that the Israeli army doesn’t care about the life of the innocent Palestinian victims,” said Samieh Mouhsen of the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights. “It constitutes a policy of lawless disregard for the most fundamental human rights, the right to life.” 

Israel says the targeted killings are its best means of preventing terror attacks, and accuses Arafat’s Palestinian Authority of doing nothing against the radical groups and even encouraging them. Palestinians argue Israel’s travel restrictions and military strikes have left their security services powerless. 

Israelis accuse Deif of having a role in dozens of suicide attacks over the past six years. He survived an Israeli airstrike earlier this year. 

Earlier strikes on top Hamas figures have led to increased violence. When Israel killed Deif’s mentor Yehiyeh Ayyash in 1996, Hamas responded with four suicide bombings that killed dozens of Israelis. 

An Israeli security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Deif had served as head of Hamas military wing after the killing of Ayyash. He surrendered the position after the more charismatic and ideological Shehadeh was released from a Palestinian jail in mid-2000. Deif took over again three days after Shehadeh’s killing, he said. 

Israel has long pressed Palestinians to seize Deif, and accused Arafat of sheltering him. Hamas, however, often as been at odds with Arafat. 

Palestinian officials arrested and held Deif for several months until December 2000. The Palestinians said he escaped. Israeli officials said his jailers set him free. 

Late Thursday, about 3,000 Hamas supporters demonstrated near the site of the attack. Organizers said the purpose was to give thanks for Deif’s safety.

BERKELEY – The University of California at Berkeley is working to be at the forefront of the battle against bioterrorism with the help of a new $2.8 million federal grant.  

The three-year grant will fund a new Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. The campus will be host to one of four new academic centers for public health preparedness. 

The others – at the University of Michigan, University of Oklahoma, and the University of South Carolina – are all a part of the $2.9 billion bioterrorism initiative launched by President George W. Bush earlier this year. 

“The weaknesses of the nation's public health infrastructure were made clear in last year's anthrax attacks,” said Arthur Reingold, head of epidemiology at UC Berkeley School of Public Health. 

“We learned that we need to improve coordination and communication throughout the public health system, from the local to the national level. These centers for public health preparedness are a major step forward in reaching that goal,” he said. 

As part of this new initiative, these centers will provide public health and law enforcement workers with training in response to bioterrorism incidents and naturally occurring infectious disease outbreaks. 

Additionally, the UC Berkeley campus will strive to improve communications with the media, by collaborating with the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. A training program targeting journalists in local and regional news organizations will be part of this new program. 

"This is a primary example of the school's commitment to moving the knowledge base from publication of research to public action,'' said Stephen Shortell, professor and dean of the School of Public Health.

Drug Arrest 

A resident of the 1800 block of Arlington Court called police shortly after midnight Wednesday morning after noticing that several lamps were missing from his carport and that a suspicious gold Cadillac was parked outside his house. The car left before police arrived, but at 5:25 a.m., a beat officer noticed a gold Cadillac on the 1900 block of El Dorado Avenue. The driver had the missing lamps as well as methamphetamine. Kevin Tugwell, 39, was arrested for drug possession and burglary. 

Suspected Arson 

An employee at American Medical Forensic Specialists on the 2600 block of Telegraph Avenue reported a fire Wednesday morning in a nearby recycling bin, police said, who arrived to find the bin filled with charred paper and water. 

Burglary 

A woman’s purse was stolen from the 2200 block of Shattuck Avenue, police said. The purse contained cash, a cell phone, keys and a checkbook. Police have no suspects. 

-Matthew Arts

OAKLAND – A leader in Oakland's Nation of Islam community appeared briefly in Alameda County Superior Court this morning but did not enter plea to a charge that he allegedly molested a 13-year-old girl 20 years ago.  

Yusef Bey, 66, entered the courtroom with his attorney, Andrew Dosa of Alameda, and an entourage of about 20 young, African-American men dressed in suits and bow ties. 

Bey, wearing a black pinstriped suit, black bowtie and fez, did not enter a plea during his three-minute appearance before Judge Allan D. Hymer in Oakland. He also waived a reading in open court of the charge against him. 

The arraignment was put off for a week, until Oct. 3. 

A complaint filed Sept. 18 charges Bey with one felony count of committing lewd act on a child under 14 in September 1981. He surrendered to police on Sept. 19 and immediately posted $50,000 bail, police said. 

According to police, a woman approached the authorities in early June to report that Bey had allegedly molested her about 20 years ago. She told police that she was 13 when she gave birth to a child allegedly fathered by Bey in June 1982. 

DNA samples confirm that Bey is the child's father, police said. 

Following the brief appearance Thursday, the same cadre of young men whisked Bey out of the courtroom and down the hallway to an elevator. The men shielded Bey from about a half-dozen television cameras attempting to film him. 

In response to a reporter's request for comment, Bey raised an index finger and said, “No comment yet.” His attorney also declined to speak to reporters. 

Deputy District Attorney Teresa Ortega has been assigned to the case.

LIVERMORE – Federal officials announced today that four Bay Area scientists have been recognized with awards for their work in atomic energy. 

U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham named seven winners of the prestigious E.O. Lawrence Award, including the four local scientists.  

They are Bruce T. Goodwin and Benjamin D. Santer of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Keith O. Hodgson of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center at Stanford University, and Saul Pearlmutter of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley. 

Goodwin, a physicist, will receive the award in the national security category for his work on the complex dynamics of triggers of thermonuclear weapons. 

Santer, also a physicist, was recognized in the environmental science and technology category for his research into the effects of human activity on the Earth's climate. 

Hodgson, a chemist and structural biologist, won in the chemistry category for his contributions to the investigation of biological structure and function. 

Pearlmutter, an astrophysicist, will receive the award in physics for his discovery through study of supernovae that the expansion of the universe is speeding up rather than slowing down. 

The E.O. Lawrence award was established in 1959 to honor the memory of Dr. Ernest Orlando Lawrence, who invented the cyclotron particle accelerator. 

Winners each receive a gold medal, a citation, and $25,000. The prizes will be awarded during a ceremony to take place in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 28.

East Bay parks slated for  

financial infusion 

A grant infusion of more than $770,000 was set aside today for Contra Costa County parks and public access areas thanks to measures taken by the state Coastal Conservancy. 

With funds made available through Proposition 12, California's largest park bond to date, county park officials will invest in both renovation and improvement projects at the Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve in Antioch and the Martinez waterfront, according to a Coastal Conservancy spokesman. 

The spokesman said that the conservancy will provide the East Bay Regional Park District with $429,000 to improve the museum and visitor center at the Hazel-Atlas Mine, a historic landmark within the Black Diamond Mines Park. 

Additionally, the conservancy has slated $29,500 for necessary renovations to Black Diamond's historic Rose Hill Cemetery, which over the years has become an unfortunate gathering spot for vandals. 

The city of Martinez will also receive $250,000 to construct a 433-foot shoreline retaining wall necessary to protect the waterfront's planned plaza and restored marina. The marina project is expected to revitalize the recreational and commercial usage of the city's waterfront. 

Man who led police on  

U.S. 101 chase killed self 

NOVATO – Authorities say a man who led police on a chase on northbound U.S. Highway 101 in Marin County early Thursday apparently shot himself to death after driving a stolen pickup truck off the road near the state Highway 37 interchange. 

Novato Police Capt. Reginald Lyles said a shotgun or rifle was found in the white Chevrolet pickup and the man had suffered massive head wounds.  

The California Highway Patrol this afternoon identified the victim as Raymond Kobzeff, 44, of Petaluma. 

Authorities say Kobzeff apparently wanted police to shoot him because he told a U.S. Park Police officer who initially confronted him at 3:04 a.m. in the Marin Headlands, “You will have to shoot me.” 

U.S. Park Service Police Officer Michael Griffin approached Kobzeff at Conzelmann and McCullough roads when he determined that the 1990 Chevrolet pickup had been stolen in Petaluma and allegedly saw drug paraphernalia inside the truck. 

Griffin was dragged several feet when Kobzeff started driving away as the officer reached into the truck to try to shut off the engine, authorities said. 

The California Highway Patrol joined Griffin in the eight-minute, 12-mile pursuit through San Rafael. Authorities said Kobzeff drove as fast as 100 mph before slowing down to 40 mph and pulling off the highway near the state Highway 37 interchange in Novato. 

A special response team from the Novato Police Department searched the marshy, brushy area for Kobzeff, who at first was believed to have fled the truck. 

He was found dead inside the vehicle around 6:30 a.m.

Report: Changing conditions could hurt U.S. housing market 

LOS ANGELES — Millions of Americans could see the possibility of home ownership slip away if a delicate balance of interest rates, personal income and real estate prices shifts, an economic report released Thursday said. 

Home prices compared to personal incomes are near record highs, but Americans have been able to keep buying thanks to the lowest mortgage interest rates in 40 years. 

If mortgage rates rise, or housing prices grow faster than incomes, the ability to own a home will disappear for many, according to the Milken Institute, an independent Santa Monica-based think tank. 

An immediate shift is unlikely, said the authors of the study, economists Susanne Trimbath and research analyst Juan Montoya. 

“Since interest rates are not expected to rise in the near future, and income is experiencing strong growth, the demand that supports the current crisis can be expected to remain stable for the near term,” the study said. 

But interest rates will eventually rise and U.S. policy-makers will face a growing challenge as more Americans get shut out of the real estate market, the report said. 

Immigrants urge Davis to sign bill for undocumented drivers 

SAN DIEGO — Immigrants-rights advocates want Gov. Gray Davis to approve a bill that would enable some illegal immigrants to obtain California driver’s licenses though it would not affect most of them. 

Supporters say all California drivers would benefit by allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain the licenses they need to get auto insurance. Others complain it encourages illegal immigration and grants a state privilege to lawbreakers. 

But both sides agree the bill, which faces a deadline of midnight Monday to win Davis’ approval, sets criteria unattainable to most illegal immigrants. It requires them to have a federal taxpayer identification number and have started the process to obtain legal immigration status. 

“This is definitely a high hurdle to meet,” Christian Ramirez, director of American Friends Service Committee, a San Diego group which assists immigrants, said Thursday. “We’re obviously not very happy. ... But we feel this is a step forward.” 

The bill’s author, Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, estimates as many as 1 million of the roughly 3 million undocumented immigrants in the state would be eligible to apply for licenses. But David Galaviz, Cedillo’s legislative director, acknowledged Thursday the actual number could be far lower. 

Davis signs bill to reduce  

childhood lead poisoning 

SACRAMENTO— Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill on Thursday that makes the presence of lead hazards in homes a violation of the state’s housing law. 

Lead poisoning, which is often caused by exposure to lead-based paint, can lead to serious health problems and lifelong learning disabilities. Lead hazards include deteriorating lead-based paint, lead-tainted soil or dust. 

“Today, California is taking the lead on lead,” Davis said. “Lead is a threat to the health of our children, our most vulnerable citizens.” 

The bill by Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, also gives the California Department of Health Services and local health agencies the authority to gather statewide information about lead poisoning and develop strategies for prevention. 

Gov. signs bill helping  

doctors against HMOs 

SACRAMENTO — A new doctors “bill of rights” signed into law Thursday by Gov. Gray Davis will level the playing field between doctors, medical groups and HMOs in contract negotiations, supporters said. 

Assemblywoman Rebecca Cohn, D-Saratoga, said she brought the bill because “of the imbalance in the relationship between the plans and the providers.” 

Because California was the laboratory for managed care, it’s where the laws regulating the relationship between doctors and HMOs need the most fine-tuning, said Steve Thompson, vice president of the California Medical Association, which represents doctors in California. 

“No other state has the degree of HMO penetration as exists in California,” he said. 

HMOs have ordered doctors to take on additional patients, been lax in payments to physicians and changed contracts without warning, Davis said in a statement. 

“Ultimately, none of this improves patient care,” he said. “In order to provide patients with world-class care, we must ensure our doctors have world-class rights.” 

Supporters, such as the CMA, said the bill will help stem the tide of physicians leaving the state or retiring early because they’re not happy with the working conditions in California. 

Of the 82,000 licensed physicians in California, about 50,000 are practicing, and a “discouraging” number desire early retirement, Thompson said. 

The California Association of Health Plans, which represents HMOs, questioned the CMA’s survey, saying it was based on anecdotes. Walter Zelman, the association’s president, said state medical board figures don’t show a decline in the number of people taking California’s licensing exam. 

“I continue to be concerned by primarily anecdotal information that physicians put out about HMOs overpowering physicians in the marketplace,” Zelman said. He also cites a study by the Medical Group Management Association, an Englewood, Colo.-based trade organization for medical group administrators, that “shows that for the third year in a row, physician income is going up in California.” 

Zelman’s group opposed the original version of Cohn’s bill, but dropped its objections after “onerous and inappropriate” conditions were removed. 

Now, doctors will determine how many patients they can handle and won’t be required by an HMO to add new patients, Cohn said. “When they get patients dumped on them, the waiting times for patients get enormous.” 

The new law also says that any changes in the contract between an HMO and medical group or doctor must be fully disclosed to the doctor before the changes take effect. 

Previously, doctors haven’t always been told of changes in patients’ benefits, said Dr. Ron Bangasser, of Redlands, Calif. 

That’s important “so we know when we talk to a patient what’s covered, what’s not covered, and what we can do with and without prior approval,” he said. 

—— 

On the Net: 

Read the bill, AB2907, at www.assembly.ca.gov 

SAN DIEGO — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has rejected a request to put the U.S. Secret Service in charge of security at the upcoming Super Bowl in San Diego, saying it has full confidence in local authorities, city officials said Thursday. 

Tom Ridge, the White House homeland security chief, told city officials this week that he was not granting their request to make Super Bowl XXXVII a National Special Security Event — a designation usually reserved for national political conventions and presidential inaugurations. 

Last year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans as well as the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City were both designated National Special Security Events in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. 

Instead, Ridge decided to put local police in charge of the Jan. 26 NFL championship game at San Diego’s 71,000-seat Qualcomm Stadium and related events throughout the city. The FBI, Secret Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state authorities will provide support. 

Under a new rating system created earlier this year, Super Bowl XXXVII will be a Special Event Readiness Level Two, Ridge told Mayor Dick Murphy late Wednesday. 

“He thought that Level Two was really appropriate for San Diego because, after having evaluated the situation, he thought the San Diego Police Department was so on top of this it was better to have them in charge,” Murphy said. 

Unaware of the brand new rating system, Murphy had requested the Secret Service handle Super Bowl security as a precaution. He said he was not disappointed by the decision. 

“We are going to be well prepared,” the mayor said. 

San Diego police were in charge of security at two previous Super Bowls at Qualcomm Stadium in 1988 and 1998. 

“It tells you the confidence the Department of Homeland Security has in this region and the work we’ve done in the past,” said Assistant Police Chief Bill Mayhew, who has been involved in security preparations for the past six months. “We as a community are very prepared for major events.” 

The city has budgeted more than $1 million for Super Bowl security. 

The Associated Press 

SAN JOSE — High-tech workers who are U.S. citizens are complaining that companies are replacing them with guest foreign workers who are paid less, the San Jose Mercury News reported Thursday. 

The engineers and programmers say employers are hiring the foreign workers under the H-1B visa program, which was expanded during the height of the tech boom to address a shortfall of domestic programmers and engineers. 

“Betrayal is the word that comes to mind,” said Allan Masri, a San Jose engineer who was laid off last year from an engineering job at Netscape. 

Masri told the Mercury News he was replaced by a colleague who holds an H-1B visa. Netscape denied the claim. 

It’s not clear how many U.S. workers are reporting the problem. Complaints filed with the federal government are not made public until they are resolved. 

The Mercury News, however, reported scores of complaints at attorneys’ offices and government agencies ranging from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to the Labor Department. 

“One recruiter flatly told me they have 50 H-1Bs willing to work cheap ahead of me in line,” said James Stakelum, a database administrator who lives in Dallas. 

While Stakelum has not filed a complaint, others have. 

U.S. citizen Jenlih Hsieh claims SwitchOn Networks of Milpitas fired him after six months and replaced him with a foreign worker.  

According to his complaint with the EEOC, the H-1B worker earned $30,000 less a year. 

An attorney for the company said Hsieh’s dismissal had nothing to do with his citizenship. 

H-1B visas are used to bring skilled foreign workers into sectors that have shortages of qualified U.S. workers. They last six years. 

Program supporters say the visas help companies find qualified workers. They say U.S. schools aren’t producing enough computer engineers. 

Critics say companies are simply trying to cut costs. 

The Justice Department is investigating complaints that allege discrimination on the basis of their citizenship. 

The department is currently investigating Sun Microsystems Inc. based on a laid-off engineer’s complaint in April. 

“They’re very tough cases to prove,” an unidentified Justice Department official told the Mercury News. 

Jury orders Philip Morris to pay smoker $850,000 

LOS ANGELES — A jury found Philip Morris Inc., the world’s largest tobacco company, liable in a fraud, negligence and product liability lawsuit Thursday and awarded a woman dying of cancer $850,000 in compensatory damages. 

Jurors awarded Betty Bullock, 64, of Newport Beach, $750,000 in economic damages and $100,000 for pain and suffering. 

A second phase of the trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 1 to determine any punitive damages. 

William S. Ohlemeyer, Philip Morris’ vice president and associate general counsel, said the company had no comment on the verdict pending the completion of the trial’s second phase. 

In a shift from its strategy in earlier civil cases, Philip Morris did not try to defend its past actions. Instead, the company turned the spotlight on Bullock and her decision to smoke. 

“If she had stopped smoking .... even in the 1980s, she would not have lung cancer today,” Peter Bleakley, the attorney representing Philip Morris, told jurors at the start of the trial in August. 

Safeway’s third-quarter profit falls 9 percent  

PLEASANTON — Safeway Inc. reported a 9 percent drop in its fiscal third-quarter profit, reflecting lackluster sales growth and its continuing struggle with soft economic conditions. 

The Pleasanton-based grocery store chain said Thursday that net income came to $281.3 million, or 60 cents a share, for the quarter ended Sept. 7, compared with $309.2 million, or 60 cents a share, a year earlier. 

During a conference call in June, Safeway Chairman and Chief Executive Steven A. Burd told analysts the company expected third-quarter earnings of 60 cents to 62 cents a share. At that time, analysts had expected earnings of 75 cents a share. 

Redback shares tumble  

on third-quarter loss 

SAN JOSE — Shares of Redback Networks Inc. dropped nearly 43 percent Thursday after the maker of broadband and optical-networking equipment warned its third-quarter loss will be much wider than expected because of weak sales. 

Redback said it now expects a third-quarter loss, excluding items, of 23 cents to 25 cents a share on revenue of $15 million to $20 million. 

The estimate excludes inventory charges, restructuring expenses and other items considered part of ongoing operations under generally accepted accounting principles.

SAN FRANCISCO — Slumping retailer Gap Inc. is turning to an executive who ran Disneyland to make its turnaround dreams come true. 

Paul Pressler, who had been the head of Walt Disney Co.’s theme park and resort business since 1994, took over as Gap’s chief executive officer Thursday in a move that analysts viewed as a coup for the San Francisco-based company. 

As he leaves behind the land of Mickey Mouse, Pressler will join a business that has been dominated for the past two decades by another Mickey — the Gap’s renowned CEO Millard “Mickey” Drexler. 

Following through on plans that he disclosed in May, Drexler retired Thursday, ending a storied career in which he transformed Gap into one of the world’s best-known retailers. 

The last two years of Drexler’s reign were marred by poor fashion decisions that triggered 28 consecutive months of declining sales — something the Gap is counting on Pressler to change. 

“We are incredibly pleased with the outcome of our search and are greatly looking forward to having Paul lead the company,” said Gap Chairman Donald Fisher.

WALL, S.D.— For nearly three decades, an 80-foot hole dubbed Delta Nine played a vital role in the nation’s defense. 

The underground concrete silo on the edge of Badlands National Park held a Minuteman II missile that could deliver a nuclear weapon to a Soviet target in 30 minutes or less. 

After the Soviet Union’s demise and the signing of a 1991 arms reduction treaty with Russia, the missile program was scrapped. Now the silo, never used for war, is being used to educate. 

The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site eventually will tell the story of the Cold War and the nuclear weapons that were never used. 

“This site will be the first national park in the world whose primary purpose is to commemorate the events of the Cold War,” said Marriane Mills of Badlands National Park, which is handling the project. 

At a ceremony Friday, the U.S. Air Force will formally transfer the silo and a nearby launch control facility to the National Park Service. 

Park Service officials hope the site will be opened to the public sometime next summer, Mills said. The crew housing facility and underground control center, about 11 miles away, won’t open for two or three years because a visitors’ center and other facilities must be built. 

One of the officials expected at Friday’s ceremony will be Craig Manson, the assistant interior secretary. When Manson was in the Air Force in the late 1970s, he was a launch control officer for the missile silo. 

“In many respects, the transfer underscores that we accomplished our mission in the Cold War, protecting America from the threat of nuclear war,” Manson said. “This event will mark the transition of the Cold War from an everyday part of our lives to a chapter in our country’s history.” 

The 44th Missile Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City stood watch over Delta Nine and 149 missiles in western South Dakota for nearly three decades. The wing was inactivated July 4, 1994, in compliance with a U.S.-Russian treaty. 

Minuteman I missiles became active in 1962, about the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Kennedy told Soviet leader Nikita Kruschchev the Minuteman was his “ace in the hole.” 

The original missiles were replaced by Minuteman II models, which flew at 15,000 mph, had a range of 6,300 miles and weighed about 73,000 pounds. The missiles were designed to survive a first attack and then strike back.

Hail to the haggis king 

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Hardy stomached men from around the country will scarf sheep’s entrails for a chance to be named “haggis king.” 

The haggis eating contest Friday is part of Bethlehem’s Celtic Classic Festival. The winner will be the first to finish a pound and a half of the Scottish dish, a mix of sheep’s organs, oats and spices. 

Tensions are high this year as two former champions prepare to go head to head. Steve Cunningham, of Bethlehem, and Peter Stefchak, of Anchorage, Alaska, have both won twice. 

Stefchak said his training regimen includes starving himself for 24 hours before the contest. 

Of the haggis, he said, “It sounds awful, but it actually has a light liver taste.” 

Cunningham said he is confident. His son will enter with him. 

Patrick, 14, finished the haggis first last year. But he didn’t win overall because the rules require children to eat less. Cunningham said he has a special technique for getting it down, but hasn’t told anyone except his son. 

“Blood is thicker than haggis,” he said. 

Naked gets their attention 

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — Four years after Mayor Jim Whitaker walked his dog Naked through town to raise money for the city’s Paws-itive Partners animal shelter, the publicity stunt is still reaping rewards. 

The North Platte mayor raised a lot of eyebrows and some criticism in 1998 when he pledged to walk Naked if $5,000 was raised for the new animal shelter. 

He soon after made it known that Naked was a dog. 

Remembering the publicity stunt, a retired Bethlehem, Pa., couple has willed their personal property and any insurance to the animal shelter upon their deaths, which could add up to more than $400,000. 

“We hope to still be around awhile, but when we both go they will get everything,” said Marie Spivack. 

She and her husband, Marvin, made a donation to the animal shelter and have made several more since. The mayor ended up getting the attention of animal lovers nationwide and raised $9,000. 

What are the odds of this one 

LASALLE, Ill.— Police say a suspected bank robber wanted to get away in style. 

John Pope, 39, ordered a limousine to pick him up from his hotel in Moline after he robbed a bank Tuesday in the western Illinois community, police said. 

Unfortunately for Pope, his driver was a retired police officer. 

The driver, Don Madsen, of Moline, tipped off police that he had a suspicious passenger when he picked Pope up from the hotel. Madsen later got a call on his cell phone from one of his old colleagues, who warned that his passenger was suspected in a bank robbery. 

Madsen used cryptic language to indicate his location and state troopers found him at a LaSalle truck stop where they arrested Pope. 

SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco city officials gathered outside City Hall Thursday to unveil a brand new electronic parking meter system that is expected to add millions to city coffers. 

The device looks more like an early model video game than the parking meter of the future, but officials say the new meters will more efficiently track time and collect money. 

Supervisor Tom Ammiano was joined by Fred Hamdun, director of the city's parking and traffic department, and Paul Carpmael, a project director from Serco Management Services, the company responsible for installing the new system, to witness the unveiling of the new system Thursday. It is expected to increase revenues to the city by an additional $5.9 million. 

"Currently an estimated $3 million is lost each year due to theft,'' Ammiano said. "The current system is outdated and unreliable. It wasn't feasible to invest money in old technology.'' 

According to Hamdun, San Francisco will replace its entire stock of 23,000 meters, many of which have been vandalized. The new machines will take multiple coin denominations and accurately track time using electronic quartz timers. 

Under the current system, 1,700 mechanical meters are either broken or missing, frustrating motorists and law enforcement officers alike.  

The housing of the new meters is shaped to resist blows from heavy objects and is enclosed by a heavily protected coating. 

The city is not only installing a new metering system, Ammiano noted, but rather an entirely new management system. The elements of this system include meter installation, coin counting and collection services, maintenance and an advanced software system that audits itself. 

"The City of San Francisco is thrilled, not only because Serco is providing a new and improved system, but also because the company is committed to helping (the department) transition to the new system and will train ... staff on how to properly use equipment,'' Ammiano said. 

For the first time in 55 years, meter replacement began in the Tenderloin, Financial District and Excelsior districts in August and is scheduled for completion in March 2003.

Berkeley resident Harrod Blank, 39, was embarrassed to be seen driving a plain white 1965 Volkswagen bug. So he painted a rooster on it. It reminded him of the chickens he grew up with near the Santa Cruz Mountains. But he didn’t stop there.  

For 12 years Blank added stuff to his bug. The original white paint is now barely visible under the hood’s beach ball motif and the roof’s television and spinning sunflowers. The bumpers are made of plastic fruit and spoons. In place of a hood ornament sits a miniature Santa Clause with a plastic globe on its head.  

Blank described his car as a “mosaic” of what he feels and believes. “The pinnacle of my career is this car,” he said. 

Blank’s car he named Oh My God! is one of 80 vehicles participating in the ArtCar Fest this weekend in Berkeley, San Francisco and San Jose. When Blank and fellow artist Philo Northrop dreamed up the festival in 1997, they saw it as an opportunity for local artists to share their ideas and car creations. But now the festival has expanded to include cars from across the country and Canada 

Blank’s Volkswagon is familiar to many Berkeley residents. He drives it daily to get coffee. Inside the car, every inch is covered with objects of different colors and textures. On the front dashboard are words spelled out in scrabble letters. The ceiling is a collage of items like church fans, shamrocks and coins. 

On his second “artcar,” Blank used only cameras to decorate it. He secured 1,705 cameras to his 1972 Dodge van from fender to hood. Camera Van, which debuted in 1995, also has 10 working cameras that take pictures of people’s reactions. On a trip across the country, he took more than 5,000 pictures.  

According to fellow artist Kathleen Pearson, 23, of Bisbee Ariz., artcars are the ultimate way to showcase creativity. “We can take art to the masses,” Pearson said. “Being a painter and sculptor, your art only gets seen in galleries and museums. But cars are free for the public. It reaches people who would not normally walk into an art gallery.” 

Her first car, Gradually Love, is filled with childhood memorabilia like Minnie Mouse, Snoopy and Ninja turtles. Pearson hopes the 4,800 objects in the automobile will trigger childhood memories that make people smile.  

Pearson’s second car, Hex Mex, blends her Pennsylvania Dutch background with the Mexican influences of her Arizona hometown. Brightly painted with tulips, windmills and flamingos, the car is modestly accented with a pink ice cream cone and psychedelic Amish women on the roof and on the hood, large black and white dice. 

While some artists design their cars to express themselves, others used their cars to send a message. Emily Duffy’s car, Vain Van, addresses women’s issues.  

The front of Vain Van is covered with hundreds of bras organized in the shape of a giant bra that surrounds the headlights. The mirrors are bordered with gloves. The roof is filled with curlers and the back with fattening foods like donuts and potato chips. 

On the sides of the van is where Duffy makes her statement. She has written, “Who profits from your self-loathing?” Drawn beneath the back windows are a measuring tape and scale with the words, “I look fat? By whose measure?” 

“Women literally run up to me,” Duffy said, “and they just say ‘thank, thank you, thank you.’” 

Artcar designers say their trade takes not only artistic enthusiasm but time and commitment. 

“Some people say I have Peter Pan syndrome or I am Tom Hanks in ‘Big,’” said Berkeley’s Blank. “I have fun all the time. I don’t have a real job and I live in a shack in the back of my Dad’s house.” 

“It is not real lucrative,” he admits. “I can’t sell it like I would a painting. Cars are like stock. They generate some revenue but they take a lot to maintain.” 

The ArtCar Fest begins today with a reception and book signing for Harrod Blank’s new book ‘Art Car,’ an in-depth look at more than 20 artists and their artcars. The Fest will continue in San Jose Thursday and Friday, San Francisco on Saturday and finally conclude in Berkeley all day Sunday.

To the Editor: 

On the front page of the Daily Planet Sept. 24, I was horrified to find the heading “High School axes African-American Studies Program.” As a 1996 graduate of Berkeley High School, I am increasingly embarrassed and outraged by decisions made by the Berkeley Unified School District. 

It is interesting that these sorts of decisions to do away with few working aspects left at Berkeley High; continue to pass without public input, and at the very least communication with the department affected. Here we are in radical Berkeley, where we have more public forums than most city governments throughout the country, but just not on this particular issue. I will not for a moment believe that those involved ever intended on garnering the attention of the target population they are directly affecting. I am however convinced that this type of disregard will no longer be tolerated. 

Subsequent to all of this BUSD’s board and staff has no clear direction or plan to solve the high rate of drop out and failure of its students of color. Rebuilding a continuation school and passing it off as an alternative school that simply houses minority students is not the answer to the truancy and high failure rates. For far to long, minority students have been edged out of this so called “unified” district through tracking, and preferences. How long will we continue to be satisfied with extensions for accreditations? 

The African American studies department provides an avenue for education specific to African American culture that cannot be achieved anywhere else. It is a benefit to the entire BHS population. Thought its curriculum, and individual attention the department has instilled in these youth a sense of self worth, and pride for cross cultural diversity. Where else are these students going to be presented the works of WEB DuBois, Frederick Douglas, Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, Amiri Baraka, Maya Angelou, Julian Bond, and others?  

Are we expected to believe American history will include more than Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue?  

Denisha M. DeLane 

board member, NAACP 

Berkeley

They come from Canada, they do fantastic things with trapezes and the human body, they use no animals in their act—and no, they are not Cirque du Soleil. The performance troupe that has descended on Zellerbach Hall is Cirque Eloize, and it is a phenomenon all its own. 

Despite similarities to Cirque du Soleil (both are based in Montreal and came out of the athletically-centered cirque nouveau movement), Cirque Eloize is quite distinct from the older and more famous Soleil. In fact, one critic suggested that Eloize is kind of “anti-Cirque du Soleil.” Soleil is known for huge spectacle, pageantry, and tableaux, but Eloize offers a more intimate show, with a dramatic storyline or multiple story lines that often tug at the heart. 

Named for the heat lightning flashes seen near the Magdalen Islands off the coast of Quebec, Eloize (pronounced el-was) does have a fiery, creative spirit that comes through in all its performances. An Edinburgh newspaper described it as “circus with atmosphere, poetry, humor and, above all, heart.” Previous shows have included “Cirque Orchestra” a poetic, acrobatic spectacle about a musician who yearns to fly, and “Eccentricus” an exuberant celebration of the performing arts from music to juggling to trapeze artistry. 

The troupe’s new show is “Nomade,” a title that seems especially appropriate to an international troupe that spends nearly all of its time on the road. Inspired by Roma music and culture, “Nomade” is loosely constructed around the story of two wandering gypsy troupes that encounter each other on the way to a wedding. From dusk to dawn the two clans play and compete, sometimes erupting in challenges and quarrels, but overall the spirit is of romance and celebration. Lucie Cauchon’s musical score is rich in folkloric tunes, featuring accordion, trombone, drums, and vocals in a make-believe language composed for this dreamy, surreal spectacle. 

In keeping with the theme of wandering romance, “Nomade” takes place at night, under the open sky. The rustic set features an enormous full moon, a haunting and romantic backdrop for everything from a sensual tango between two lovers to the acrobatic antics of clowns. There is a chatty narrator on a trapeze and a contortionist who bends her body into extraordinary shapes.  

The creators of “Nomade” acknowledge a debt to filmmaker Federico Fellini, well known for his love of the circus. “The scenes emerge like an image from an old postcard… We try to show these links between people, the tragic comedy of life and the spirit of the nomads,” according to artistic director Jeannot Painchaud. While many of the props used by the performers are straight out of centuries-old circus tradition, they are used in new and ingenious ways. A man balances on a large black ball as if floating on a cloud. The Russian bar, traditionally used in balancing acts, doubles as a prop for a children’s street game.  

Cirque Eloize’s directors showed pragmatism and humor in adapting the show to their performers, too. While the troupe members are accomplished acrobats, many had little or no musical background. One woman simply could not sing on pitch, although she gamely belted out her lines at the top of her voice. They made her a soloist, and she now is one of the funniest acts in “Nomade.” 

Critical buzz has it that this is the best offering yet by the nine-year-old Cirque Eloize. If true, it’s proof that the company has succeeded in staying true to its vision of a good performance with heart. According to Painchaud, technical virtuosity is only one criterion. “What we also look for are the eyes of the artist, to see them deeply inside,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “We prefer a very [performer] but with a very big personality and a big interest in being part of a community so that what the public receives is some kind of realistic feelings that these characters on stage, they could be your cousin or grandma or your son.”

Thursday, Sept. 26 

Medical Marijuana 

6 p.m. to 8 p.m. 

Berkeley Central Library  

2090 Kittredge St.  

From Prop. 215 to Health and Safety Code 11362.5, a review of its history to present day current events. 

981-6100 

Saturday, Sept. 28 

Free Legal Workshop:  

“Crossroads: Health and the Law.” 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

514 58th St. at Telegraph Avenue 

Navigate your way through legal issues when living with cancer or any serious illness. Panel presentation on employment, insurance and public benefits and one-on-one sessions with attorneys. Please, pre-register. 

601-4040, Ext. 102 for information  

or Ext. 103 to register 

Free  

Garage Sale/ Car Wash  

Belize/ Berkeley Scouts 

10 to 2 p.m. 

Epworth UMC, 1953 Hopkins St. 

International exchange fundraising effort for scouts. 

525-6058 

A Forum on the Arts with the Berkeley Mayoral Candidates 

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Aurora Theater, 2081 Addison St. 

558-1381 

Free 

Sunday, Sept. 29 

Tibetan Buddhism  

“Healing Mind” 

6 p.m. 

Tibetan Nyingma Institute  

1815 Highland Place 

Sylvia Gretchen discusses how the teachings cultivate the mind and redefine what healing means. 

843-6812 

Free 

“Iron Chef” Style Cook-Off  

3 to 4 p.m. 

(followed by reception, 4 to 6 p.m.) 

Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto 

1919 Fourth St.  

In this “Crabby Chef” Competition 2002, top East Bay chefs vie for this year’s title by creating the tastiest crab dish. Master of Ceremonies will be KGO-AM’s Gene Burns. 

845-7777 or 845-7771 

Free 

City of Berkeley - 2002 Public Art Competition 

1 to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Central Public Library  

2090 Kittredge St.  

A public art informational workshop will be open to all artists regarding public art site proposals. 

981-6100 

Free 

Thursday, Sept. 26 

Kriby Grips, Michael Zapruder, Joe Bernson 

9:30 p.m. (21 and over) 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$5. 

Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$19.50 in advance. $20.50 at door. 

Friday, Sept. 27 

The Cracked Normans,  

Paradigm & Soul Americana 

9:30 p.m. (21 and over) 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$5. 

Eric Bogle 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$16.50 in advance. $17.50 at door. 

Fair Weather, Liars  

Academy and Open Hand 

8 p.m. 

924 Gilman St. 

525-9926 

$5. 

Reggae Angels with Earl Zero  

and Jah Light Music 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

$15 door. 12 and under free. 

Saturday, Sept. 28 

Barry & Alic Oliver 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$16.50 in advance. $17.50 at door. 

From Monument to Masses,  

Victory at Sea and Yesterday’s Kids 

8 p.m. 

924 Gilman St. 

525-9926 

$5. 

Sunday, Sept. 29 

Si Kahn  

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance. $16.50 at door. 

Cellist Gianna Abondolo 

4 p.m. 

Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. 

Classical favorites and original  

compositions for cello. 

559-6910 

$10 general. 18 and under free. 

Weber Iago and Harvey Wainaple 

4:30 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

845-5373 

$10-$15. 

David Friesen and Uwe Kropinski 

8 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

845-5373 

$10-$15. 

Blowing Zen: A Performance of Shakuhachi 

7:30 p.m. 

St. John’s Presbyterian Church  

2626 College Ave. 

528-2027 

$12 at door. Children $5. Seniors $10. 

Chamber Music 

4 to 5:15 p.m. 

Crowden Music Center 1475 Rose St. 

Gianna Abondolo & Friends  

celebrate the release of their  

classical and jazz CD. 

559-6910 

$10. 18 and under free. 

"Balancing Acts" 

Through Oct. 10 

Gallery 555, 555 12th St., 

Oakland City Center 

Oakland's 'Third Thursday' art night features Ann Weber's works made of cardboard. 

http://www.oaklandcitycenter.com.  

Free. 

“Hunger: What will you do about it?”  

Through Oct. 30, Mon.-Fri.,  

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

The Civic Center Building 

2180 Milvia St., 5th floor 

Featuring 40 photographs  

by Berkeley artist David Bacon. 

834-3663, Ext. 338, uchanse@secondharvest.org 

Richard Misrach, Berkeley Work 

Though Oct. 13 

UC Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way 

On view in Gallery 2, presents two photographic series by this internationally recognized Berkeley-based artist.  

642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

$7. $5 BAM/PFA members.  

$4 UC Berkeley students. 

“Recent Acquisitions” 

Oct. 13 through Dec. 14 

Thurs., Fri., and Sat., 1 to 4 p.m. 

Berkeley Historical Society, Veterans Memorial Building, 1931 Center St. 

848-0181 

Free. 

Misch Kohn - Celebrating Sixty Years of Printmaking 

Through Oct. 16. Tues.-Fri., Noon to 5:30 p.m.; Sat., noon to 4:30 p.m. 

Kala Arts Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 

549-2977, kala@kala.org 

Nancy Salz 

Through Oct. 23, Tues.-Fri. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Sat 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 

Barbara Anderson Gallery, 2243 5th St. 

848-3822 

A Thousand and One Arabian Nights 

Through Sept. 28, Fri.-Sun. 8 p.m.; Sun. 4 p.m. 

Forest Meadows Outdoor Amphitheater, Grand Avenue at the Dominican University, San Raphael 

Marin Shakespeare Company’s  

presents this classic story with  

original Arabic music. 

415-499-4488 for tickets 

$12 for youth. $20 for seniors. $22 general. 

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar 

Through Oct. 12 

Thurs. through Sat. 8 p.m. 

LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre  

1834 Euclid Ave. 

234-6046 

$10. 

The House of Blue Leaves 

Through Oct. 27 

Berkeley Rep's Roda Theater  

2015 Addison St.  

647-2917 or 888-4BRTTIX 

$10-$54. 

The Shape of Things 

Through Oct. 20 

Aurora Theatre Company  

2081 Addison St. 

Play by writer/director Neil LaBute's spins a morality tale of a young art student, his art major girlfriend, and the Pygmalion-like changes that bring into question how far one should go for love. 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org for reservations 

$26-$35. 

Thursday, Sept 26 

As ad AbuKahil 

7 p.m. 

Revolution Books, 2425 Channing Way 

Author reads and signs his new book “Bin Laden, Islam and America’s New War on Terrorism” 

848-1196 

Steinbeck, “The Grapes of Wrath,” and Labor Issues of Depression-Era California 

7:30 p.m.  

Easing Going Travel Shop and Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 

843-3533 

Free. 

Sunday, Sept. 29 

Margaret Kaufman & Robert Funge 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

845-7852, www.poetryflash.org 

$2 donation. 

Thursday, Oct. 3 

Brenda Hillman 

12:10 p.m. 

Morrison Library in Doe Library, UCB 

UC Berkeley’s Lunch Poems Reading Series. Author’s six books include “Loose Sugar” and “Cascadia”. 

http://www.berkeley.edu/calendar/events 

Free. 

Nathaniel Mackay and Trane Devore 

6 p.m. 

Maud Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall, UC Berkeley 

Part of Holloway Poetry Series for Fall 2002. 

jscape@socrates.berkeley.edu 

Free. 

Friday, Oct. 4 

Katherine Forrest 

7:30 p.m. 

Boadecia’s Books, 398 Colusa Ave. at Colusa Circle 

Reading from “Daughters of the Amber Moon” 

559-9184 

Free.

A decade of dominance ended Wednesday as the Berkeley High cross country boys defeated Alameda High, the first time the Hornets have failed to win a league meet in more than 10 years. 

Junior Alex Enscoe, the reigning ACCAL cross country champion, led the Yellowjackets with a first-place finish of 15:56 on the three-mile course at Point Pinole in Richmond. Enscoe finished 14 seconds ahead of the second-place runner, Yoji Reichert of Alameda. 

Berkeley’s Nic Riley, however, was the key to the win, finishing third in 16:32. By beating Alameda’s Marty Skeels (who tied with Pinole Valley’s Nick Falzone for fourth place), Riley virtually assured the Jackets of victory. 

“Nic coming in third needed to happen for us to win,” Berkeley head coach Dave Goodrich said. “We actually did more than we needed to to win, but Nic was very important.” 

Clinching the race were Berkeley’s next four finishers, who finished 6-9 and keep the Hornets from grabbing any extra points. Bradley Johnson, Jon Finney, Sarmed Anwar and Alex Weisman came across the finish line before another Alameda runner to sew up the win. 

Goodrich said he compared his team’s results with Alameda’s at separate invitational meets last weekend and told each runner whom he needed to beat in order for Berkeley to win. The Jackets reached every one of their goals on Wednesday, the first of three ACCAL meets this season. 

“We just had a great race,” Goodrich said. “I asked a lot of guys to do certain things, and every one of them did what I asked.” 

Enscoe beat Reichert by a wide margin despite staying on his rival’s heels for almost the entire race. The Berkeley runner took off with 800 meters left in the race, using his saved energy to blow by Reichert. 

Enscoe and Reichert have run against each other numerous times, but Enscoe said he never knows exactly how things will shake out between the two of them. 

“I just went out with Yoji in front of me,” Enscoe said. “I just waited until the end to see how hard he would go. I just had more left at the end.” 

Enscoe and his teammates have been building toward beating Alameda for the last two seasons, nearly knocking off the Hornets in the final league meet last season. With Enscoe emerging as the league’s top runner and Riley making a big leap forward over the summer, the Jackets knew they were ready to finally take down the league’s power. 

“Last year we came pretty close to beating them,” Enscoe said. “I think we knew this was our best chance, and we went out and did it.”

Berkeley High School’s African-American studies department has been reinstatement, said department Chairman Robert McKnight to wild cheers at a dramatic Board of Education meeting Wednesday night. 

An Aug. 20 agreement between the school district and the Berkeley Federation of Teachers called for the high school, in a cost-cutting measure, to fold the 34 year-old program into one or more unspecified departments this fall. 

The move would have brought an end to the first and only African-American studies department at a public high school in the nation. Classes would have remained in place, but the department would have lost its chairperson and meeting time for its teachers. 

The agreement went largely unnoticed until an article on the deal appeared in the Daily Planet Tuesday. Amid community outrage, McKnight met twice with Superintendent Michele Lawrence Wednesday before the school board meeting. 

Lawrence issued a one-paragraph statement announcing the reinstatement of the program Wednesday night. McKnight read the statement aloud at the meeting to the applause of dozens of parents and students. 

“I want to thank you, Dr. Lawrence, for your consideration and for this resolution,” said McKnight, after reading the release. 

“I do want to extend my apologies for any misunderstanding,” said Lawrence, as a few boos rose from the crowd. “There was no disrespect meant at all.” 

Lawrence told the crowd that neither she nor the school board knew about the details of the Aug. 20 agreement, and the consolidation of the department, until a story appeared in the Daily Planet Tuesday. Lower level staff, she said, had crafted the deal.  

School board President Shirley Issel said the consolidation of the department was “completely discrepant with the values of the board, with the values of the community. 

“I want to apologize on behalf of the board,” she continued, “and assure you that we are pleased with the [reinstatement] agreement you have heard tonight.” 

Members of the audience demanded to know why the district had pushed for the consolidation plan in the first place. Issel said she did not entirely know and could only offer a “lame” explanation.  

Issel told the audience that district negotiators pushed for the consolidation of African-American studies and several other small departments as part of an effort to close a $3.9 million budget deficit. 

“Decisions were made without an awareness of the consequences to the department. This is unimaginable to us that this lack of awareness would happen,” she said. “Once it came to our attention what the consequences were, we were all appalled and we took corrective action.” 

A parade of students, in the public comment section that followed, praised the African-American studies department and chastised the board and administration for letting the Aug. 20 agreement happen in the first place. 

“The next time you even think about looking at the African-American studies department ... you think about how many people are here today,” said Joseph Abhulimen, a Berkeley High junior, referring to the packed hearing room. “Because next time, there are going to be twice as many people.” 

At the start of the public comment period, Issel announced that the board would let students speak first, then parents. But after students spoke for nearly an hour, and a scheduled presentation on after school programs approached, Issel cut off the comment period. 

Several parents expressed frustration that adults were not allowed to speak and press the board on the issue. 

McKnight, in the end, said he was pleased with the reinstatement of the department. 

“I’m just extremely hopeful that they will stand by this decision,” he said. 

It was unclear at press time how other departments scheduled for consolidation as a result of the Aug. 20 agreement, including the English Language Learners and visual and performing arts departments, will fare. 

The Aug. 20 agreement focused on stipends for department chairs. Berkeley Federation of Teachers President Barry Fike said the union, during negotiations, wanted to keep all the existing departments in place. But, he said, BFT agreed to some consolidations, and the loss of a few department chairs, in exchange for “above average” stipends for the remaining department chairs.

To the Editor, 

According to the news, Oakland’s unemployment rate is 10 percent, a local group is pressuring to host the Olympic games, and my local Berkeley district council representative wants to neuter raccoons. 

Suddenly it all makes sense. 

Carol Denney 

Berkeley

The Cal football team is facing adversity for the first time this season following a 23-21 loss to Air Force last weekend. But the Bears haven’t lost any confidence following their first setback of the season. 

“I don’t think we need to panic,” quarterback Kyle Boller said. “We lost one game by two points. It’s not the end of our season.” 

“We lost one game by two points. Big deal,” said wide receiver LaShaun Ward. 

Cal’s players were quick to point out that Air Force is a unique team, running schemes on both offense and defense that are unlike any other Division I program. The Falcons attempted just eight passes against Cal, sticking with the option for most of the game. 

With more conventional Washington State coming to town on Saturday for the Pac-10 opener, the Bears seem confident they can get right back on track. 

“I just can’t wait to be a defensive back again,” cornerback James Bethea said. “I felt like a linebacker [against Air Force]. I’m here to cover, so I’m not much on the hitting.” 

It helps that the Washington State schemes haven’t changed much during head coach Mike Price’s 14 years in Pullman. With a veteran defense, the Bears are pretty familiar with what they’re going to see from the Cougar offense. 

In fact, Cal can take comfort in the fact that they’ll be facing pass-heavy attacks for the rest of the schedule, as the Pac-10 is full aerial specialists. 

“Most of the Pac-10 teams are really similar, and we’ve played against Washington State before,” defensive tackle Daniel Nwangwu said. “We can prepare for most of these teams the same way.” 

Cal head coach Jeff Tedford said he’s pleased with how his team is responding following its first loss. His philosophy of positive reinforcement and not dwelling on mistakes has been a major factor in the team’s surprising start to the season, and he plans to continue with it even when the results aren’t great. 

Several Bears said Tedford was calm and in control after the loss, which in turn helped them to turn around and look toward the next game. 

“Monday’s practice was upbeat. The players are definitely disappointed about losing, but it helps them realize what it takes to win,” Tedford said. “I think we’re right where we need to be right now.”

Green Party candidate for governor Peter Miguel Camejo racked up 9 percent of the statewide vote in the latest polls. Despite growing support, though, Gov. Gray Davis is unwilling to recognize his opponent in a formal debate. 

Bob Mulholland, campaign manager for the Democratic Party, argued that just like the San Francisco 49ers wouldn’t hand the ball to the opposing team, it doesn’t make sense for the Democratic Party to give space to someone who might take votes from them. Moreover, Camejo’s not qualified, Mulholland said, explaining that the governor has serious work to do, such as appointing judges. 

“How absurd that people who can’t get elected to the Berkeley City Council, run for governor,” he said.  

Camejo has lost races for a number of public offices. In 1967 the University of California student and anti-war activist ran for mayor of Berkeley. Three years later he made a run for the U.S. Senate against Ted Kennedy. In 1976 he made a bid for president of the United States. 

It’s not about winning at this point, said Camejo, jubilant over the latest poll figures. It’s about changing the rules of the game so that minor parties can have a seat at the table. Allowing third-party candidates into statewide debates and having run-off elections would go a long way toward democratizing the electoral system, Camejo said. 

At 62, the candidate’s hair is grayer and thinner than during his earlier runs for office. He’s traded his campaign-trail blue jeans for suits. But the man Ronald Reagan once called one of the 10 most dangerous men in California for his anti-war rallies in Berkeley, says that his message aimed at “social and environmental justice” has been consistent over the years. 

As a teenager in 1958 he picketed Boston’s segregated lunch counters. He marched with Martin Luther King in Selma, Ala. He organized opposition to the Vietnam war and he supported farm workers’ efforts to unionize.  

The Green Party candidate is calling for the following: abolition of the death penalty, an amendment to California’s three strikes law so that it does not apply to nonviolent offenses, legalization of marijuana so it can be regulated and taxed, elimination of no bid contracts and execution of campaign finance reform, including public financing of elections. 

Like the Senate Democrats, Camejo would reinstate the highest income bracket to close the state budget gap. He would also eliminate tax breaks for oil companies, eliminate the Proposition 13 mandate that allows corporate-owned property to be taxed at lower rates than homes and reinstate the vehicle license fee.  

In the past, Camejo has used a variety of tactics to make his point, including civil disobedience. He has spent time in the Berkeley jail for his political actions and got booted out of UC Berkeley after speaking at an unauthorized rally. 

“I believe in the rule of law and in democracy,” Camejo said. 

And seizing the opportunity to slide into a critique of President George W. Bush’s intent to go to war with Iraq, Camejo continued: “Bush opposes law. He opposes the world court.” A U.S. war in Iraq would be a violation of international law, he said. 

Camejo’s rapid-fire speech then veered quickly back to his run for governor and the governor’s alleged disregard for the law. 

He blasted Gov. Gray Davis for his fund-raising tactics, in particular, the May 2001 no-bid Oracle software contract with the state that Camejo called a “$95 million contract the state did not need.” The proof the contract was not needed, Camejo said, is that when the contract became an embarrassment for the governor’s campaign, it was canceled in July and never replaced. 

The Davis campaign has consistently argued that the governor is not influenced by campaign contributions. 

An unabashed leftist whose runs for president and senate were backed by the Socialist Workers Party, Camejo was born in New York when his Venezuelan mother was visiting her father there. He spent his first seven years in Venezuela, then moved to New York with his parents. 

In 1960, Camejo and his father, a wealthy developer, sailed in the Olympics for Venezuela. Currently Camejo is CEO of Progressive Asset Management, Inc., a socially responsible investment firm he founded in 1987 in Oakland. The firm moved to Concord a few years ago. 

Camejo freely admits his chances for becoming governor are nil. He says, however, that he has managed, in previous runs for office, to influence the political landscape. 

In his 1970 bid for the U.S. Senate seat against Ted Kennedy, Camejo said the pair debated three times. One of the questions posed to Kennedy at a debate at Boston University was about the senator’s position on an initiative on the Massachusetts ballot calling for an end to the war in Vietnam. Kennedy had yet to take a position on it. When Camejo came out strongly in its support, the crowd backed him up with cheers and applause. Camejo said he believes the debate was a critical factor when Kennedy came out a few days later in support of the initiative. 

There’s also the question of whether the Camejo bid could tip the balance in favor of Republican challenger Bill Simon. Locally, the Berkeley Democratic Club has not discussed the possible impact of the Camejo race taking votes from Davis. The Cal Berkeley Democrats have a policy of not talking to the media. 

Still, there are those who argue that the vote for Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader in Florida may have pushed Bush into the White House and that Camejo could similarly become a “spoiler.” 

That possibility looms even larger with the release Tuesday of the latest polling information from the ABC affiliate News10/Survey USA. When 849 registered voters were asked Sept. 21 and 22 for whom they would vote, results were as follows: Davis, 45 percent; Simon, 35 percent; Camejo, 9 percent; Gary David Copeland (Libertarian who will appear on the ballot, although he after spitting on a radio show host is no longer supported by his party), 4 percent. The margin of error is 3.5 percent. 

But Camejo throws the “spoiler” argument back to the Democratic party. The very reason there are run-offs on the local level and in other countries is so that a “spoiler” will not distort the outcome of the elections, Camejo said. In fact, the Democratic Party is the spoiler because it opposes run-offs, he says. He points out that if four candidates run for an office, and there are no run-offs, then someone who got 26 percent could win, even though 74 percent of the voters oppose the candidate.  

The Democrats not only oppose run-offs, but they refuse to debate Camejo and the three other minor candidates. But Camejo points to another poll that says the public wants to hear from him. 

An ABC/News 10 poll earlier this month showed that among 500 randomly-chosen adults, 69 percent called for Camejo to be included in the Oct. 7 Los Angeles debate sponsored by the L.A. Times; 25 percent opposed his inclusion and 6 percent were not sure. 

But, ever flexible in his tactics, Camejo says he’ll be at the debate anyway, picketing on the outside. “The rights of the people are being violated,” the candidate said.

To the Editor: 

There has been a lot of unfair criticism of the coffee law that will be on the Berkeley ballot in November. One of the often-heard arguments against this law is that it will raise the price of coffee to the point that it will be a luxury for rich people only. 

“PC Coffee,” as it is being called in the press, is expensive. It costs around $10 a pound at local stores compared to $2.50 a pound for mass-market coffee, like Maxwell House and Folger's. There is no denying that this is a big price difference, and on the surface, appears to be a powerful argument against this law. 

However, people don't drink coffee by the pound, but by the cup, and this law does not apply to coffee you make at home, only to coffee that you buy already brewed. 

What does a cup of coffee cost to make? 

A pound of coffee beans makes a lot of brewed coffee. The average American gets about 100 cups from a pound of coffee. Starbucks, which makes stronger coffee, gets 60 - 8 ounce cups of brewed coffee from one pound of beans. 

Of course, chain coffee shops, like Starbucks and Peet's, don't buy their coffee beans at retail stores. They buy “green coffee” directly from growers and importers. The international average price for “green” (unroasted raw coffee) has been on the decline in recent years. The average was 86 cents a pound in 1999, and currently is down to 76 cents per pound. 

That means that the cost of the beans required to make a 12 ounce cup of coffee at Starbucks is around 2 cents. Even if that cost were to double to 4 cents because of this new law, it should have very little, if any, effect on the price of a cup of coffee. 

Mark Tarses 

Berkeley

YAMOUSSOUKRO, Ivory Coast — Waving U.S. flags and shouting ’Vive la France!,” American schoolchildren escaped a rebel-held Ivory Coast city under siege Wednesday, as U.S. special forces and French troops moved in to rescue Westerners caught in the West African nation’s bloodiest uprising. 

The evacuation came amid concerns that a full-scale battle could envelop Bouake, a central city of half-million residents. “We’re running out of everything,” said one frightened Ivorian woman, reached by telephone. “We are scared.” 

U.S. and French troops moved out in force Wednesday to safeguard Westerners caught in a six-day uprising after a failed coup Sept. 19 in which at least 270 people died. With insurgents holed up in two cities, Bouake and the northern city of Korhogo, President Laurent Gbagbo has pledged an all-out battle to root out rebels in what was once West Africa’s most stable and prosperous country. 

The 191 Americans evacuated from the school were escorted by the French military to an airfield in Yamoussoukro, where U.S. C-130 airplanes will fly them to Ghana Thursday morning, Pentagon officials said. 

The children waved American flags out of car windows as the convoy headed to safety down the region’s main road. “We’re very happy to get off campus,” one girl said as the convoy swept past. 

U.S. special forces spilled out of two C-130 cargo planes that touched down in Ivory Coast at midafternoon from a staging point in neighboring Ghana. Plane ramps came down and U.S. forces secured the tarmac of the forest-lined airstrip in Yamoussoukro, clearing the way for Humvees that came rolling out. 

American soldiers humping duffel bags and metal boxes rapidly set up a post at the strip, a base for French troops who arrived earlier to move in on behalf of Yamoussoukro’s foreigners. American officials would not say what the soldiers were going to do next. 

About 300 Americans live in Bouake, Ivory Coast’s second-largest city, which has been cut off from water, electricity and food since last week’s rebel takeover. 

“Our idea is to get as many out as possible,” Richard Buangan, a U.S. diplomat helping to coordinate at the staging area, said of Americans in Bouake after another night of firing outside the International Christian Academy on the city’s outskirts. 

About 100 well-armed French troops reached the whitewashed compound of the mission school at midday. “Everyone there is ecstatic,” said Neil Gilliland, speaking by telephone from the affiliated Free Will Baptist Missions in Nashville, Tenn., minutes after the troops’ arrival. 

The school houses 200 teachers, and children ages 5 to 18 of missionaries based across Africa. 

Firing broke out again on both sides of the mission at daybreak Wednesday, after panic two nights earlier when rebels breached the walls of the campus and fired from its grounds. 

“Nobody was firing at them, but there was gunfire all around,” Gilliland said of Monday’s shooting outside the school. 

Armed French troops escorted the teachers, staff and children back to Yamoussoukro, where U.S. forces were waiting. Waving U.S. flags and with many wearing U.S. flag T-shirts, the relieved children cheered out the windows at a French convoy headed the other way. 

“Vive la France!” — “Long live France!” they hollered. 

In Bouake, tense residents reached by telephone Wednesday said rebels still controlled the city and could be seen cruising the streets in commandeered vehicles. 

In Korhogo, rebels armed with guns and rocket launchers went house to house, rounding up any paramilitary police and soldiers not yet captured, and confiscating their weapons. 

Trapped in their houses, with no sign of a promised government offensive to rout the rebels, residents were becoming increasingly frustrated. 

“All my activities are paralyzed. I’m having trouble feeding my family,” said mechanic Souleymane Coulibaly. “If this continues, it is us who will go dislodge the mutineers.” 

As foreign troops scrambled to ensure the safety of Westerners, the hundreds of thousands of workers from neighboring Muslim countries were far more vulnerable in the uprising, which has sparked off deadly rivalries between the mainly Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south. 

A core group of 750-800 ex-soldiers — angry at their dismissal from the army for their suspected allegiance to the country’s former junta leader — were believed behind the insurgency. Paramilitary police killed the ex-junta leader, Gen. Robert Guei, in the first days of the coup attempt. 

On Wednesday, some 200 protesters threw stones at the French Embassy, demanding it turn over an opposition leader with a northern, Muslim base of support who is being sheltered by the mission. 

They then marched on the embassy of predominantly Muslim Burkina Faso, scaling the walls to pull down and tear up the country’s flag. 

Paramilitary police over the weekend burned a mostly Muslim shantytown in Abidjan, and Muslim northerners and guest workers reported arrests and beatings.

To the Editor, 

I have attended most of the meetings about the Eastshore State Park plan and have heard no one speak in favor of the overdevelopment and over-concretization envisioned by the state. Most people enjoy the area, especially the Albany Bulb, as it is, with possible slight improvements such as toilets. Some speakers see the plan as a grab for control, control, control by the state and money, money, money by the concrete contractors. There were lyrical praises for friendly people, happy dogs, birds in the trees and little animals in the grass. Playing fields are needed, but not in waterfront areas. There are safer and more accessible locations. 

Save the Seabreeze. Small local enterprises like this are much more appropriate than generic cafes and shops. 

Bird breeding areas could be delineated as they are at Pt. Isabel, with slight limitation to, but not elimination of, off-leash dogs. 

Ruth Bird 

Berkeley

A dozen protesters picketed outside the Oxford Street Starbucks Wednesday as part of an international campaign urging the chain to buy more “Fair Trade” coffee from farmers. 

Under the Fair Trade system, designed to avoid exploitation of farmers, small coffee growers across the globe, organized into collectives, receive a minimum of $1.26 per pound regardless of the international price of coffee, which currently stands at 43 cents per pound. 

A Starbucks representative at the protest said the company has made significant progress on the issue, selling bags of Fair Trade coffee to customers since October 2000 and brewing it once a month in stores since May 2002. 

“To suggest we’re not doing something is not to acknowledge the facts,” said Gerry Argue, Starbucks’s regional director for the East Bay. 

Simon Harris of the Minnesota-based Organic Consumers Association, a lead organizer of the international campaign, said he was “encouraged” by the move to brew Fair Trade coffee once a month, but said the chain has not fully implemented the policy. 

Harris also argued that Starbucks should increase its purchases of Fair Trade coffee and brew it more frequently – once a week. 

“Thousands of coffee farmers can’t support their families and companies like Starbucks are making billions of dollars,” he said. 

Argue acknowledged that only 1 percent of the coffee purchased by Starbucks is officially certified as Fair Trade, but said Starbuck’s pays an average of $1.20 per pund for its coffee, just below the Fair Trade rate. 

The Oxford Street picket, on the west end of the UC Berkeley campus, was one of 300 Starbucks protests planned this week by the Organic Consumers Association and other fair trade activist groups, including the San Francisco-based Global Exchange. 

Other protests were scheduled for San Francisco, New York, Washington D.C. and international cities like London, England and Vancouver, Canada. 

Activists also called for the removal of bovine growth hormone from Starbucks products Wednesday. 

“Better safe than sorry,” said Michael Paurel, a student at Solano Community College in Vallejo, arguing that bovine growth hormone could have unforeseen impacts on consumers. 

Starbucks literature notes that the company offers organic and soy milk as an alternative to milk with bovine growth hormone, even though there is low customer demand for the alternatives.  

But Harris complained that Starbucks charges up to 40 cents extra for these products, discouraging consumers from choosing them. 

Valerie Orth, Fair Trade organizer for Global Exchange, said Berkeley residents can take local action by voting for Measure O in November. The measure would require Berkeley coffee sellers to brew only Fair Trade, organic or shade-grown coffee. The measure does not affect sales of ground coffee or beans.  

“It’s the most responsible way to brew coffee because we’re supporting farmers all over,” said Orth. “Berkeley can set the standard.” 

But Starbucks’s Argue said the initiative would put small coffee shops out of business by forcing them to pay too much for beans. 

“We could comply with the measure, if you got right down to it, but so many operators in Berkeley could not,” he said. 

Amy Von Nordheim, a Berkeley resident who picked up literature from the protesters, said she would consider the concerns of small coffee shops in voting on Measure O. 

But she said she was happy to be educated about the Fair Trade issues and added that the protesters’ arguments had reinforced her habit of staying away from the sprawling Starbucks chain. 

“I just think of them as an evil empire,” Von Nordheim said.

SANTA CRUZ — Upholding its famously liberal leanings, the Santa Cruz City Council has passed a resolution denouncing any pending military strike on Iraq led by U.S. forces. 

Tuesday’s 6-0 council vote even outpaced its liberal neighbor, Berkeley. Last year, Berkeley passed a resolution condemning the bombing of Afghanistan, but the city has yet to address the intensifying situation in Iraq. 

With passage of the resolution, the City Council authorized Mayor Christopher Krohn to send letters to President Bush and other national leaders relaying the council’s sentiments. 

“Locals brought this issue forward,” Krohn said. “Locals (would) fight this war. Some will not come back.” 

Though local supporters presented a petition with hundreds of signatures backing the resolution, there was some dissent. One resident, Bill Codiga, said the resolution was inappropriate and a waste of city time and money. His comments drew hisses from the crowd. 

Mayor Krohn and the City Council have made other headlines as of late, most recently for attending a marijuana giveaway in the courtyard of city hall in response to a federal agency raid on local medical marijuana farmers.

MORGAN HILL — Flames burned toward dozens of homes nestled in remote neighborhoods of the lushly forested Santa Cruz Mountains on Wednesday, with firefighters struggling in 90-degree heat to control one of the area’s largest wildfires in decades. 

The 2,529-acre blaze sent towering walls of flame through tinder-dry brush and trees. At least 11 homes were confirmed destroyed and four were damaged according to Steve Gasaway, a California Department of Forestry spokesman. 

CDF surveyed 30 percent of the area damaged by the 3-day-old fire. About 35 homes were checked by Wednesday evening, he said. There was no estimate on how many outbuildings had been affected. Six minor injuries were reported. 

Dozens of firefighters and helicopters worked to halt the advance of flames late Wednesday afternoon along the Santa Clara-Santa Cruz County line, midway between Corralitos and Morgan Hill. The intense flames shot 30 feet into the air and ashes snowed down on Summit Road, along the county border. 

Crews worked to build a fire line to keep the flames from jumping to the Santa Cruz County side of the road. 

Santa Clara County officials on Wednesday declared a state of emergency, which allowed them to bring in additional resources from outside and get disaster relief for residents, according to Pete Kutras, assistant county executive. 

“We know some homes have been lost and as the fire is moving, a great number of additional homes are being threatened,” Kutras said. 

The fire line was within a half mile of Kim Son Meditation Center, a Buddhist temple on Mt. Madonna, close to Loma Prieta peak. 

On Monday, more than 150 people were at the center for a retreat, but by Wednesday, just a handful remained. They hoped to stay, but were staying in touch with authorities. 

“If it becomes dangerous, then we’ll have to leave,” a nervous Thich Quang Chieu said. 

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials believe the fire was sparked Monday by a fire within a mobile home along the eastern side of the mountains.

5,000 acre additon to Golden Gate recreation area approved 

The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation today that will add 5,000 acres to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. 

In a written statement released today, bill sponsor Rep. Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, said, "All Californians have cause to celebrate today's vote.'' 

House bill 1953 expands the Golden Gate National Recreation Area to include Rancho Corral de Tierra, Devil's Slide and Martini Creek. 

"The new additions to the GGNRA covered by my legislation will be accessible to more than 6 million people who live within a one hour's drive of the park and will provide national park programs and experiences to millions of national and international visitors,'' said Lantos. 

Congress also approved a proposal to add another 10 years to the life of the Point Reyes National Seashore Citizens Seashore Advisory Commission. 

A Senate version of the bill passed earlier this year. Both pieces of legislation must by reconciled before a final vote, which is expected soon. 

Deadline passes for  

tree squatters to leave 

BRISBANE — The 30-day deadline for Besh Serdahely and Thelma Caballero to move out of their oak tree home of 12 years expired Wednesday, but the squatters say they’re not leaving without a fight. 

“She’s going to be hauled out in handcuffs. It’s going to take a big ol’ sheriff,” Serdahely said. “Nobody will convict her, it’s real. She really needs that place.” 

San Mateo County officials stapled a notice to the tree in a county park telling the couple that if they remained beyond the deadline, they could be cited for trespassing. 

Deputy County Manager Mary McMillan says she doesn’t want it to come to that, which is why county officials, mental health workers and housing coordinators will continue visiting the couple in hopes of persuading them to come down from San Bruno mountain. 

“We’re going to keep going up there with housing options and potentials for them should they find them appropriate,” she said. “It’s too bad, frankly. But what’s most important is doing what’s best for them. First and foremost, that’s what everyone is concerned with.” 

McMillan said the couple will not be evicted from the tree, but they also will not be permitted to stay. She said there’s no clean drinking water, human waste is being handled improperly and the environment is unsafe. 

“There was a 14-acre fire near there just last week,” she said. “The county is concerned for their health and safety and is not going to let them continue to inhabit the park.” 

Authorities moved to evict the couple after a recent review of property lines revealed that the hideaway is on land owned by the county rather than the state.

SACRAMENTO — California has enacted first-in-the-nation laws this year on family leave, auto emissions and stem-cell research, lending credence to the saying that wherever America is going, California will get there first. 

California rivals Washington, D.C., as an epicenter of change because of its size (34.5 million people, more than any other state) and economic clout (sixth-largest economy in the world, with a gross state product of $1.3 trillion). 

Lawmakers elsewhere look at California laws for direction. 

“If it works in California, it is likely to work in states throughout the country,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics in Charlottesville, Va. “The states are the laboratories for democracy, and California is the chief laboratory.” 

When the state passed the nation’s first “lemon law” in 1982 to protect consumers who buy cars with serious defects, the measure became the model for similar laws in all 50 states. California enacted the nation’s first ban on assault weapons in 1989; it was quickly adopted in six other states and led to a federal ban in 1994. California’s 1970 Clean Air Act is still the toughest in the nation. 

National firsts in California this year include a law explicitly allowing embryonic stem cell research, the country’s toughest auto emissions laws and a requirement that 20 percent of the state’s power come from renewable energy sources by 2017. 

Earlier this week, Gov. Gray Davis signed the nation’s first comprehensive paid family leave law, which allows workers to leave their job for up to six weeks at 55 percent pay to care for a newborn, newly adopted child or sick family member. 

Also, the gun control movement successfully pushed a measure this year making California the first state to repeal gun manufacturers’ special immunity against lawsuits. Davis is expected to sign the bill this week. 

“What we do here has tremendous impacts both in the message we send and its immediate impact on the health and safety of a large group of Americans,” said Luis Tolley of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. 

Because of California’s reputation as a liberal state, it often attracts interest groups that can’t get what they want from Congress. 

“Pro

BERKELEY — University of California, Berkeley, was awarded a $2.1 million federal grant Wednesday to study the economic impact of smoking prevention efforts in China, the largest consumer of tobacco products in the world. 

The five-year grant was presented by the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health. 

Cigarette production in China has nearly doubled since 1982. The country now includes more than 320 million smokers, which represents one quarter of the world’s smokers. 

The study will compare disease rates among nonsmokers who live with a smoker compared to those who do not. In the vast majority of cases, the nonsmoker is a woman or child. Only 4 percent of women over 15 smoke in China, compared to 63 percent of men over 15.

SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. Gray Davis cleared the way Wednesday for Californians to sue gun manufacturers if they believe the companies have been negligent in the advertising or production of firearms. 

The package of bills Davis signed removes a shield granted to gun makers regarding negligence lawsuits. Previously, gun manufacturers could not be sued if their products were used in the commission of a crime. 

A number of states have similar legal shields for gun makers. California is the first state to repeal such an immunity. 

“No industry should be allowed to hide from its own harmful conduct,” Davis said in a telephone press conference. “And except for gun manufacturers, no industry is. Current laws shield a gun manufacturer from its own negligence. These new laws strip away that shield.” 

California’s new laws have already gained the praise of gun control advocates. 

“These bills were our top priority this year, we’re thrilled that the governor has stuck by his position on this,” said Eric Gorovitz, Western policy director for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, a national grassroots organization. 

Gorovitz said he hopes the measure will make the gun industry more responsible because of the threat of lawsuits. 

Critics of the bills, however, argue that they could open the door to frivolous lawsuits. And, Chuck Michel, a spokesman for the California Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc., says the legislation is an attempt by gun-ban advocates to swamp gun manufacturers with lawsuits to bankrupt them. 

“They will use this to file multiple lawsuits based on their mistaken belief that firearms have no social utility,” Michel said. “They want a legitimate industry to pay for the inability of law enforcement and local authorities to control violent crimes.” 

The new law removes a lawsuit shield enacted in 1983 to protect manufacturers of cheaply made handguns known as Saturday Night Specials. 

The shield was cited by the state Supreme Court last year when it ruled that a gun company couldn’t be sued by survivors of a 1993 rampage for damages done when criminals use their products illegally. 

Also Wednesday, Davis signed 14 identity theft bills, including one that keeps mother’s maiden names and Social Security numbers out of public birth and death indexes. 

Supporters said the laws are needed to keep sensitive information out of criminals’ hands, but others said the restrictions will needlessly hurt law-abiding people, including genealogists and adoptees seeking birth records. 

“It is a terrible precedent,” said Terry Francke, general counsel for the California First Amendment Coalition. “There was no demonstrated harm. And I mean none.”

Accounting stripped of license it voluntarily gave up 

SACRAMENTO — A California board has stripped accounting giant Arthur Andersen of its license to operate in the state, officials said Wednesday. 

The state Board of Accountancy took the action after Andersen waived its right to a hearing before an administrative law judge. 

A federal court jury in Texas found the company guilty of obstruction of justice in June for its role in the Enron scandal. Government attorneys contended Andersen shredded documents relating to Enron Corp. to hide financial irregularities by the now-bankrupt energy trader. 

The action by the California board follows a decision by officials in Texas to pull Andersen’s license there. 

Silicon Valley HMO closing 

SAN JOSE — Health care may be on the shopping lists of thousands of Silicon Valley employees during this year’s holiday season. 

Lifeguard, Inc., a Milpitas-based HMO, will cease operations Dec. 31, forcing nearly 165,000 patients to scurry for new medical coverage and leaving scores of doctors wondering whether they’ll be paid for services already provided. 

The California Department of Managed Health Care seized the company Sept. 13 and has since said it would become the fourth HMO state officials have closed since the department was established in 2000. 

For nearly 25 years, Lifeguard has covered employees both public and private — from the City of San Jose and the Livermore School District to high tech giant Hewlett-Packard and defense contractor General Dynamics. 

HP to cut 1,800 more jobs 

SAN JOSE — Citing continued weak demand, Hewlett-Packard Co. said Wednesday it will cut 1,800 jobs beyond the 15,000 reductions planned as part of its Compaq Computer Corp. acquisition. 

The cuts are expected to be completed by the end of fiscal 2003. As of the third quarter, which ended July 31, the company had reduced its net headcount by 4,740. 

In a note sent to employees Tuesday, the company blamed the latest reductions on a “continued market slowdown and HP’s clear intent to have a competitive, world-class cost structure.” 

HP expects to have reduced its work force by 10,000 by Oct. 31, the end of its current fiscal year. 

Davis signs bill for  

Armenian trade office  

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gray Davis signed legislation Wednesday creating California’s 13th overseas trade office — if the cash-strapped state can raise private donations to pay for it. 

The bill by Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena, directs the Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency to set up the office in the Republic of Armenia if it can raise money from an outside source to cover the cost. 

The head of the agency, Lon Hatamiya, and Scott said state officials hope to raise the money with help from California’s Armenian community.

SAN FRANCISCO — Businesses and institutions who bypassed their local utilities to buy cheaper electricity from power sellers would have to pay a surcharge to help the state repay its energy debts, under a plan put forward by the state’s energy regulators Wednesday. 

The Public Utilities Commission released several draft proposals Wednesday that detail how consumers’ electric rates will pay for the state’s energy debts. 

The commission will vote on the plans at their Oct. 24 meeting. The proposals are necessary to get the state’s three investor-owned utilities back into the power-buying business, said PUC spokeswoman Terrie Prosper. 

One of the proposals would charge direct access customers an additional 2.7 cents per kilowatt hour so they pay a share of the state’s power debts. Consumer groups said that surcharge is too low. 

Utility customers pay about 14 cents per kilowatt hour, but the rates vary by utility, customer class and the amount of energy used. 

Direct access, one of the cornerstones of the state’s failed deregulation plan, allowed customers to buy electricity from sources other than their utilities. During the energy crisis of 2001, wholesale rates soared above the capped retail rates, causing the utilities to amass billions of dollars in debts and forcing the state to step in to buy energy for utility customers.

NEW YORK — Sales for Sept. 11 books have dropped substantially since the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks, although a handful of titles remain best sellers. 

According to Neilsen BookScan, which tracks about two-thirds of retail sales, Lisa Beamer’s “Let’s Roll” was the most popular nonfiction hardcover book for the week ending Sept. 22. Beamer’s husband, Todd, is credited with helping lead the charge against the terrorists on United Flight 93. 

The third best-selling book was “Longitudes and “Attitudes,” essays and journals about Sept. 11 by Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Thomas Friedman of The New York Times. “What We Saw,” a retrospective with an introduction by CBS Anchor Dan Rather, ranked No. 12. 

Seven Sept. 11 books appeared in the top 15 on the BookScan list for the week ending Sept. 15, when the actual anniversary took place. Sales for all have since dropped, some by more than half. “What We Saw,” for example, sold 7,000 copies last week, compared to 15,000 the week before. 

“Interest has fallen off,” said Barbara Meade, co-owner of Politics & Prose, a Washington, D.C.-based store located about 10 miles from the Pentagon. 

“The Thomas Friedman book is selling better than anything we’ve had this year. But we have a table of Sept. 11 books that are not getting the sales they did before,” Meade said Wednesday. 

More than 100 books related to the attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon came out this fall, covering everything from religion to intelligence gathering. Publishers and booksellers have questioned how many would catch on with readers. 

“We don’t need every publishing company doing 10 or 12 books every Sept. 11,” said Mary Gay Shipley, owner of That Bookstore in Blytheville, Ark. “I don’t think we should ever forget, but I do get the feeling we’re moving on.”

OAKLAND — A couple accused of abducting, raping and murdering a 22-year-old Pleasanton woman in a minivan rigged for torture was sentenced to death Wednesday. 

James Daveggio, 41, and his then-girlfriend Michelle Michaud, 43, kidnapped Vanessa Lei Samson in December 1997. The Sacramento couple kept Samson inside their minivan, rigged with hooks and ropes, where they repeatedly tortured her with curling irons while driving east toward the Sierra Nevada. 

A motorist found Samson's body two days later, face down in the snow, about 30 feet down a embankment alongside a road in Alpine County. She had been strangled. 

Judge Larry Goodman ordered Wednesday morning that Daveggio be delivered to San Quentin State Prison within 10 days. 

Michaud was sentenced to death Wednesday afternoon. 

Daveggio, a bearded, burly man with numerous tattoos inked on his arms, showed no reaction to the sentence. 

Earlier in the morning, citing "overwhelming and undisputed'' evidence of Daveggio's guilt, Goodman denied an automatic motion to have the death sentence reduced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

In a monotone voice, Goodman said the court's independent review of the evidence found Samson's murder to be “vile, cruel, senseless, depraved, brutal, evil and vicious.” 

Deputy District Attorney Angela Backers said that never in the history of Alameda County has the criminal justice system seen such a case of “pure evil and utter depravity.” 

“These two defendants are simply the worst of the worst,'' Backers said. She called it “a good day for justice.'' 

Before killing Samson, Daveggio and Michaud raped six young girls and women, Backers said. The two called these attacks “huntings.” 

Prior to sentencing, several members of Samson's family, including her brother and mother, addressed Daveggio in court. 

Vincent Samson, the victim's older brother, placed a framed picture of his sister on the defense table in front of Daveggio before addressing him. 

“What do you say to someone who raped, molested and killed my sister?” Vincent Samson said. “What do you say to a demon that committed vile, inhuman acts on innocent children?” 

He remembered the “kid sister'' he used to pay to wrap his Christmas presents and the caring, giving and responsible young woman who was robbed of her future. 

Vincent Samson also asked Daveggio whether he had in fact killed Vanessa Lei Samson and whether he was sorry for the crimes he had committed. 

Just prior to his sentencing, Daveggio was allowed to respond to Vincent Samson's questions. Daveggio, dressed in bright red jail garb, turned around and looked directly at the Samson family. 

“I, in fact, did not kill Ms. Samson. By law I am as guilty of her death as Michelle is,” Daveggio said. 

“Do I care or feel for Ms. Samson? Yes, watching your family, unfortunately I have never seen love as you all have for her. Yes, I think about it every day.” 

Christina Samson said she is still haunted by the brutal slaying of her daughter. 

“She was in terror. Frightened beyond words,'' Christina Samson said, referring to her daughter's final moments. “She was brutally tortured and she was defenseless and alone.” 

The mother said that she still cries over the loss of her daughter, most often in the early morning hours so that her family members cannot hear her. 

“With the murder of my Vanessa Lei, a part of me died”' she said.

SAN FRANCISCO — A television news report that a major component of the city’s emergency water system had been neglected for more than a decade is prompting changes and a fire department investigation into how the system came to be neglected. 

A report by KGO TV on Tuesday found that several engines that drive pumps at San Francisco’s Pumping Station Number Two are could fail in a major disaster. Such engines are used to keep water flowing from San Francisco Bay to fire hydrants if the main system shuts down or leaks, as it did following the Loma Prieta earthquake. 

But an official department report shows the engines are in critical condition. The engines’ manufacturer recommends the oil be changed every 150 hours, or once a year. But the chief engineer charged with maintaining the station, Seung Hong, told the television station he hasn’t changed the oil in more than 10 years because the pumps only run four hours a month. 

The television station found Hong had been playing golf and working on his car inside the station, as well as lifting weights and tending to lettuce, tomatoes and spices in a contraband garden. 

San Francisco Fire Chief Mario Trevino said the city has two fire boats to use in an emergency, but has instituted a new maintenance program to ensure the emergency water supply will be reliable. He also is launching an internal review and has asked police for a criminal investigation.

Young people are more conservative than their parents on school prayer, abortion and federal aid to faith-based charities, according to a new nationwide poll by UC Berkeley researchers. 

The survey found that 69 percent of teenagers support school prayer, compared to 59 percent of adults ages 27 to 59. Likewise, 67 percent of high school-age teens favor federal aid for faith-based charities, versus 40 percent of adults 27 to 59. 

An informal street poll of Berkeley residents found little support among young people for conservative religious issues like school prayer. But there was a broad consensus that even in Berkeley, renowned for its liberalism, a growing conservatism among young people exists. 

“Berkeley is so liberal,” said Josh Grassel, a Berkeley High School senior. “One way kids are rebelling from their parents is to be more conservative.” 

Grassel was quick to note that “conservative” in Berkeley would likely be considered liberal elsewhere. 

Phoebe Calef, a BHS junior, said her mother is more liberal than she is because she grew up during the protest era of the 1960s. 

“My mom was born and raised in Berkeley and graduated from Berkeley High in 1969,” Calef explained. 

Berkeley resident Toby St. John, 49, said her 16-and 19-year-old daughters are just as liberal as she is. But St. John agreed that young people are on the whole more conservative. 

“I think it’s a sad thing,” she said. “I think the values of this country and the values of youth are, ‘I’m here to get as much as I can.’ ” 

UC Berkeley Annie Bowman, a member of Berkeley Students for Life, took a more positive view of the survey results. But, as a student at UC Berkeley, she said there is little evidence of a growing conservatism. 

“It’s surprising,” she said, of the poll results. “My classmates, my friends here, try to make a point of showing their individualism. They try to fit in with radical views.” 

Bowman’s sister Molly, a junior at UC Berkeley, said her generation’s conservatism may be a response to the breakdown of the family, which she linked to “radical feminism” and other movements of the 1960s. 

But Chris Cantor, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine, disputed the notion that his generation is more conservative than the Baby Boomers. 

“The younger generation, I don’t think it’s more conservative, it’s more comfortable,” he said. 

Cantor argued that a record period of prosperity left his generation unconcerned with politics. Now that the economy is in decline he predicts things will change. 

“I’d expect that the younger generation is going to become more radical as the economic conditions become less accommodating,” he said. 

The UC poll found that while young people are more conservative about religious issues, they are more liberal than their parents on assistance for the poor and protection of the environment.  

The study found few generational differences on other issues like military defense, gun control, tax policy and criminal punishment. 

Researchers did not come to any conclusions about why there is a split on religious matters, but parity on other traditionally conservative issues. 

“We need to explore why youths seem to be more conservative than their elders when it comes to religious politics and abortion politics, but not other issues,” said Douglas Strand, project director at the university’s Survey Research Center. 

Strand speculated that the mobilization of religious conservatives in the late 1970s and an increase in pro-school prayer, anti-abortion messages may have affected young people’s political views. Baby Boomers, he noted, were not exposed to as many of these messages in their formative years.  

The UC poll, in addition to locating a “generation gap” on religious issues, found that individuals who do not participate heavily in politics are more conservative on “family values” issues, and are more liberal on racial issues, federal domestic spending and campaign finance reform. 

Mobilizing these people, the study suggests, could push the political debate over campaign finance reform or domestic spending to the left and pull the discussion on “family values” issues like homosexuality and abortion to the right.  

To the Editor: 

Democracy in Berkeley is to be much applauded. This week’s Parks and Recreation Committee patiently listened for two hours as 38 members of the community were each given the opportunity to speak. One speaker said that democracy in Berkeley is slow and challenging, but in the end, we in Berkeley end up with fabulous and unique accomplishments, like Dreamland for Kids, like the Harrison Street Skatepark, like the Pedestrian Overpass. 

It is precisely this engaged citizenry, this active creative and vital community which makes Berkeley a wonderful place.  

I can only hope that the school board will take its head out of the shell and start promoting democracy. Listen to citizen and community concerns, enter into dialog with us, involve us in problem solving. 

Don't keep emphasizing the “unified” in an attempt to homogenize and Mcdonaldize our community. Before you make any further cuts in the budget, or any additional changes to basic curriculum and schedules, hold democratic, public meetings, listen to your advisory committees and utilize what is rich and right with Berkeley.  

Ron Rice 

Berkeley

Although the Berkeley High girls volleyball team had a rough preseason, there’s one thing the Yellowjackets know they can count on: dominating the Alameda Contra-Costa Athletic League. 

Berkeley, just 1-4 before Tuesday’s league opener, needed just 30 minutes to overwhelm the Richmond Oilers, 15-1, 15-1, 15-5. The Oilers had just one kill in the match and didn’t score a point from play until halfway through the second game. 

Senior Amalia Jarvis led the Berkeley attack with seven kills and no hitting errors, while senior Rachel Phillips served her way to six aces. Junior Nadia Qabazard pitched in with five aces and five digs, and junior Chelsea Bowden had 10 assists. 

The Jackets towered over the Richmond (0-1 ACCAL) players, and it was quickly apparent that Berkeley is still the best team in the ACCAL. The Jackets haven’t lost a match in the two years of the league’s current configuration and don’t figure to break the streak this season. The Oilers struggled just to get Berkeley’s serves back over the net, with no player capable of hitting a spike with any authority. 

“There are a few teams in the league who at least have a player who can hit,” Berkeley head coach Justin Caraway said. “Our defense just doesn’t get a lot of work in these games.” 

Berkeley’s offense worked smoothly on Tuesday with just four hitting errors in the match. The Oilers didn’t exactly make it tough on the Jackets, dinking easy free balls over the net for easy passes and sets by Berkeley. Richmond’s only point of the first game came on a rotation penalty on the Jackets. Caraway doesn’t expect much better competition from the other teams in the league and said he will use ACCAL games to work on things like jump serving and offensive experimentation. 

But after winning the North Coast Section title last season, Caraway isn’t too happy with his team’s performance so far this year. Not-even-close losses to Bishop O’Dowd and Castro Valley, two of the teams Berkeley went through for the NCS title last season, have revealed a Berkeley team that is still reeling from the loss of 6-foot-5 middle blocker Desiree Guilliard-Young. Guilliard-Young left the Berkeley as the school’s all-time leader in kills and blocks. 

With senior Vanessa Williams moving to the middle and six-footers Claire Vacarro and Brittany Mabry providing quality depth, the Jackets will still have little trouble with the height-challenged teams of the ACCAL. But with Mabry ineligible at the moment and no Guillard-Young to scare the opposition, they will have to spread the offense around to be effective against top-level teams. 

“Once we get Brittany back, we’ll be in good shape,” Caraway said. “I’d like to see more motion in our offense, so we can mix up where we’re hitting the ball.” 

The Jackets will get another test when they play in the Top of the Bay Tournament this weekend in Santa Rosa. Most of Northern California’s best teams will take part in the tournament.

A proposal by Mayor Shirley Dean to consider moving the UC Berkeley football stadium from under an earthquake fault on the eastern side of campus has caused some pre-election rumblings. 

“It’s a preposterous plan,” said Tom Bates, her chief opponent in the November Election. “Where else in Berkeley can they build another football stadium,” he asked. 

Dean disagreed. 

“If there was an earthquake or a wildfire during a football game it would be very difficult to evacuate the area,” Dean said.  

In addition to safety concerns she cited traffic and distance from public transportation as reasons to consider a new stadium. 

The university is looking into a costly retrofit project for its 80,000-seat Memorial Stadium. 

Dean first floated the stadium move Sunday at a candidate forum held by neighborhood groups southeast of the campus, where neighbors have long complained about football game traffic. 

She called for the city and the university to study a plan to build a new stadium on the western edge of campus, near the intersection of Oxford Street and Shattuck Avenue and near BART. 

Dean also mentioned the possibility of unearthing a waterfall and creek she said are buried under Memorial Stadium. 

Bates, however, called Dean’s proposal an outright attempt to pander to stadium neighbors. But Dean said the timing was right to consider a new football field because of the current retrofitting needs. 

Built directly above the Hayward fault in 1928, Memorial Stadium is in need of a seismic retrofit, said Bob Rose of the university’s athletic office. Rose said the university is studying different proposals, but he would not discuss the final price for stadium upgrades. 

UC Berkeley, not the city, has final say over the location of its football stadium. 

Neighbors of the stadium say that traffic and parking are so bad on the seven home game days that they feel trapped in their homes. 

“You couldn’t believe how bad [traffic] is,” said Martha Jones, who lives on Derby Street. “If you have any errands to do you have to wait until after the football game begins and get back before the game is over.” 

Dean wants the city and the university to discuss a plan submitted last year by resident Rex Dietderich to build a new 50,000-seat stadium. 

Dietderich, a former Berkeley fire captain and financial supporter of UC Berkeley athletics, said that a retrofit would cost $100 million and would not fix all of the stadium’s structural problems. 

He suggested building a metal stadium at the grass field just south of Oxford and Center streets, with a five-level parking garage under it. This would cost $150 million, he said. 

“The university could have a top-notch stadium and solve its parking problems forever,” said Dietderich. 

University officials, though, said the plan is not feasible. 

“There isn’t enough land there,” said Jackie Bernier, principal planner for the university. The water level below the site is too high to accommodate underground parking, Bernier said. 

“If you built a stadium there you would have to build a huge structure because you couldn’t dig into the ground,” said Bernier.  

Dean said the plan might not be viable, but that the city and the university owe it to stadium neighbors to consider the plan. 

Bates said he supported retrofitting the current stadium and that the city and university should offer more public transportation to the stadium on game days.

To the Editor: 

So, the Berkeley height initiative has enviros straddling the fence. (Daily Planet, Sept. 20, “Ballot divides environmental community”) 

As long as the Sierra Club and the Greens run from dealing with the underlying cause of sprawl – immigration-induced population growth – they will have to suffer the Hobbesian choice posed by Measure P. 

If that fence post is sharp they deserve the discomfort. Ignorance shouldn't be blissful. 

Tim Aaronson 

El Cerrito 

Teachers and activists expressed concern Tuesday about cost-cutting moves that combine Berkeley High School’s visual and performing arts departments and fold the English Language Learners department into other, undetermined programs. 

The comments came one day after African-American studies advocates said they were outraged over a plan to fold the 34-year-old African-American studies department, the only one of its kind in the nation, into one or several other high school programs. 

The consolidations, which will go into effect in a matter of weeks, are the result of an agreement signed by the school district and the Berkeley Federation of Teachers Aug. 20. 

The district, in negotiations, pushed for consolidation of any department that offers fewer than 15 classes a year. The move eliminated the need for several department heads and saved several thousand dollars, helping close the district’s $3.9 million budget deficit. 

The union agreed to the consolidation, said BFT President Barry Fike, in part to win “above average” pay for the remaining department heads. 

Department chairs, under the agreement, will receive stipends of $5,000, $3,750 or $2,250 depending on the size of their programs. 

Teachers received copies of the agreement at the beginning of the school year, but the story did not receive broader public attention until Monday, with an article in the Daily Planet. 

The changes will not lead to a reduction or change in classes, but will eliminate department heads for the effected programs and, in some cases, prevent teachers from meeting on their own for planning purposes. 

Instead, teachers will have to report to staff meetings in their new, larger departments. Critics say instructors, as a result, will not have time to discuss issues relevant only to visual arts or English language learners. 

“There have been a lot of changes at the state level,” said Mike Walbridge, former chair of the ELL department, referring to new state standards and new state test. “We’re concerned we need to be spending time as a department on these new standards.” 

Walbridge gave the district credit for providing his department with a temporary reprieve – allocating funding from a federal Title VII grant to ELL teachers so they can continue to meet this year. 

“My biggest concern is when that grant runs out,” he said. 

A lack of meeting time, Walbridge said, could lead to “haphazard” planning, which would eventually effect students. 

“The concern, obviously, is that it’s a very special group of students,” said Father George Crespin of St. Joseph the Worker Church, which serves a large Latino population. “I understand the financial problems, but I would hope that the quality of the attention the students get would not be lessened.” 

About 300 students at Berkeley High, more than 10 percent of the total, are ELL students, according to Walbridge. Half of the students take ELL courses and the rest have moved into mainstream classes. 

The students speak roughly 30 languages, Walbridge said, including Spanish, Urdu, Arabic and Brazilian Portuguese. 

Miriam Stahl, a visual arts teacher, said instructors want to keep the visual and performing arts departments separate so they can have separate meeting time. 

“It’s not productive to meet together all the time when our curriculums are so different,” she said. 

Stahl added that the visual and performing arts programs would like to have separate department heads who could discuss their own, unique interests in discussions with school administrators. 

Performing arts teachers, for instance, have a particular concern with the management of performance space at Berkeley High, while the issue is less important for visual arts instructors, Stahl said. 

BFT President Barry Fike said Tuesday that he would be happy to take the issue of department consolidation back to the bargaining table, but that district officials seem unwilling to work out a new deal. 

District officials in the central office and at Berkeley High did not return calls for comment Tuesday, but Associate Superintendent for Educational Services Christine Lim told the Daily Planet Monday that the district was unlikely to renegotiate the consolidations. 

To the Editor: 

David Scharfenberg's story “Students Push Israeli Divestment” (Daily Planet, Sept. 19) was a good, balanced one. We of Students for Justice in Palestine, Berkeley hope that the regents read it. In particular, Regent David Lee should read the story. As a student of UC Berkeley, I was surprised to hear such an ignorant statements as Regent Lee made regarding the history of the conflict. His suggestion that the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians goes back over 1,000 years (almost 2,000, according to him) reveals his ignorance of the fact that the state of Israel was created in 1948. This is little over 50 years ago. Even right-wing Zionists will admit this historical fact. How do our Regents become administrators of the UC? As students and educators at this top institution, we would expect our regents to be more informed about the basics of history. Or at least wise enough not to speak on issues of which they are so little informed. To learn more, Regent Lee should also read SJP's divestment information (www.ucdivest.org), which we gave to the regents, the statements from dozens of faculty members we gave the Regents, or at the very least, read something on the history of the conflict. It is because so many are ignorant of even the basic history of the conflict that SJP focuses so much of our organizing energies on education. We therefore invite Regent Lee, and all other regents, to our upcoming teach-ins. 

Hoang Phan 

SJP, Berkeley 

Processed foods are becoming less appealing to American eaters, say journalists debating the social and environmental impacts of factory foods at a UC Berkeley conference this week. 

On one side, food industry giants like McDonalds, Monsanto, Conagra are pushing for technological advances such as genetically modified crops and irradiated beef. They say the changes will lead to greater consumers convenience and productivity. 

On the other hand, critics fear that industry advances will hurt the environment, public health and American culture. 

Eric Schlosser, author of the New York Times bestseller “Fast Food Nation,” addressed a packed audience at Wheeler Hall Monday night, pushing to lessen the industrialization of food. 

Schlosser noted that 10 agribusinesses control 90 percent of the global food market. 

“There is a lot of talk about the current system being inevitable,” Schlosser said. “There is nothing inevitable about it at all.” 

In a conference titled “Food and the Environment: The Costs, Benefits and Consequences of Modern Food Production,” sponsored by the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and hosted by UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, Schlosser and a panel of authors kicked off the week-long gathering with some of the country’s most prominent food, science and agriculture journalists. The conference will also feature representatives from the food industry, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, nutritionists and other organizations. 

Panelist Michael Pollan, contributing writer for “The New York Times Magazine” and author of “The Botany of Desire” said that the food industry treats agriculture like a factory rather than as part of a larger and fragile ecological system.  

American agriculture’s centralized structure and vast acres of undiversified crops leave it vulnerable not only to environmental threats like pests and drought, but also to terrorism, Pollan said. “The system is very precarious.”  

There are, however, promising alternatives to factory foods. While food consumption is growing annually at a rate of 3 percent, the organic food sector is growing at a rate of 20 percent, Pollan said.  

Panelist Corby Kummer, senior editor of “The Atlantic Monthly,” talked about combining personal pleasure and the love of food with environmental responsibility. The argument is that when people build relationships with local food growers, they start seeing themselves as active participants in a dynamic environment rather than passive consumers. 

“You are the converted,” Kummer said. “Make relationships with that sassy person behind the counter at the Cheeseboard.” 

Chez Panisse owner Alice Waters, who catered dinner for conference participants Monday night, has long been an advocate of “slow food,” a protest to fast food. 

At her world-renowned restaurant, Waters focuses on using local, seasonal foods on her menus. “This is a delicious revolution,” she said. 

Mark Hertsgaard, a panelist who researched his book “Earth Odyssey” overseas pointed out that concerns such as obesity, organic farming and genetically modified foods are luxuries that most of the world cannot afford.  

“Worldwide, one in three people goes to bed hungry several times a week, and one in six is chronically hungry,” said Hertsgaard, who complained that news organizations seldom cover chronic hunger before it is a disaster. 

While proponents of industrial agriculture and genetically modified foods use world hunger to justify new, high-yield technologies, Hertsgaard said that hunger usually has more to do with poverty than with production. 

“The Green Revolution is biased in favor of people with capital,” he said. “As [agricultural] outputs become larger, [food] distribution becomes more uneven.” 

Orville Schell, dean of the university’s journalism school and author of the 1983 book “Modern Meat: Antibiotics, Hormones and the Pharmaceutical Farm” shared a similar view. 

“There is a paradox at work in the food industry,” Schell said. “We’ve made incredible progress, yet we take a step forward and surprise ourselves by raising a host of new problems.”  

A final question from the audience on Monday threw the panel: “When was the last time you ate at a fast food restaurant?” 

Berkeley’s Waters hemmed and hawed at the microphone, but finally relented. “It was a bit of a research project,” she said, explaining how she was late for a conference in Salina, Kan., and only had 10 minutes to eat. “I just went through the drive-through, took my order to the other side and ate it next to a trash can. I was finished in less than five minutes.” 

“Where? Where?” the audience asked. 

“It was McDonalds,” Waters confessed. “But it was over eight years ago.” 

Schlosser, on the other hand, is not tempted by McDonalds.  

“I go to In-&-Out Burger,” he said. “The fries are good. The shakes are good. And the religious messages on the cups are very entertaining.” 

NEW ORLEANS — Cajun fishing towns cleared out, Navy ships steamed out for the open sea and inland hotels began filling up as Tropical Storm Isidore strengthened Tuesday and headed toward the Gulf Coast. 

The storm, which left two people dead and 300,000 homeless in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, moved back over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and was expected to hit Louisiana or Mississippi with hurricane force as early as Wednesday night. 

Emergency officials in Florida were watching another tropical storm, Lili, which has killed three people in the Caribbean and could strike the southern part of the state over the weekend. 

At 5 p.m. EDT, Isidore was about 550 miles south of New Orleans and heading north at around 7 mph. Its sustained winds, which had fallen to well below hurricane strength of 74 mph as the storm moved over land, rose to 60 mph and were expected to strengthen. 

Ahead of the storm, bands of rain lashed parts of the Gulf Coast. 

The forecast track put the eye of the storm over rural Terrebonne Parish, southeast of New Orleans, early Thursday. Storm advisories stretched from Jefferson and Orange counties in Texas to Destin, Fla. 

Grand Isle, an island resort south of New Orleans that has just one two-lane escape route, was placed under a mandatory evacuation order at midday Tuesday. Many of the town’s 1,500 residents were already on their way out. 

“We’re leaving. I’m getting my boat ready now,” said Leland McMaster, general manager at Poche’s Cabins and Apartments. 

In Terrebonne Parish, vulnerable coastal towns including Chauvin, Grand Caillou and Theriot were ordered evacuated. Officials expected an exodus of about 2,000 people. 

While early projections indicated Isidore could come ashore as a Category 4 storm with 155 mph winds, Tuesday’s forecasts were for a less powerful Category 1 hurricane — with wind in excess of 80 mph. 

Still, ships pulled out of the Naval Station at Pascagoula, Miss., for safer waters, and hotels north of coastal areas were swamped with reservations. 

“We’ve been having to turn people away,” said Denise Sullivan at the front desk of the Ramada Inn in Jackson, Miss. 

Officials along the Texas coast were battling Isidore-caused swells of 12 feet, and expected them to grow as the storm approaches. On South Padre Island, overnight tides swamped an emergency sand wall and water rushed onto streets. 

New Orleans, the nation’s biggest city with a low point below sea level, prepared for heavy rain by closing flood walls, putting all pumping stations in full operation, sandbagging roads near the water and even asking hospitals to delay elective surgeries. 

Mayor Ray Nagin said he was not ready to order or recommend evacuations.

City Council passed a measure Tuesday guaranteeing continued shelter for the 69 residents of the UA Homes left homeless by an Aug. 26 fire. 

Council authorized up to $150,000 to the subsidized housing complex Resources for Community Development (RCD). The loan will allow RCD to continue housing residents in nearby hotels even if repairs to the building on 1040 University Ave. are delayed. 

Since Red Cross disaster relief aid expired on Sept. 11, RCD has spent $42,000 taking care of residents at local hotels and other RCD complexes. RCD has a cash reserve to cover hotel bills until the second week of October, the date repairs at UA Homes are expected to be completed, Williams said. However, if the construction, which started last week, becomes delayed, RCD will not have enough money to support residents. 

The four-story building, founded to provide shelter and care to homeless people, burned after a pile of clothes accidentally caught fire, city officials said.  

Drew King of the city’s housing department said it is in Berkeley’s interest to keep RCD funded. 

“They have offered programs that are very valuable for us and provide housing that is very hard for a city to operate,” King said.  

Williams said that to maintain some cash reserves, he expected that RCD would apply for a $40,000 loan, approximately half the repair costs, assuming that construction is completed on time. 

Building repairs are scheduled to proceed in two phases. Phase one, scheduled to be finished by the second week of October, will repair all but the six most damaged rooms. Because there were six vacancies before the fire, all of the residents will be able to return when that work is completed.  

Phase two will repair the parts of the building most damaged by the fire and is expected to be finished within four months. 

In addition to free accommodations, RCD has worked with city agencies to make sure that the residents are given food and transportation passes to those who work. Because the hotel rooms do not have kitchens, many of the residents who don’t qualify for food stamps were concerned that they would not be able to eat. 

Terms of the loan have not been discussed, but King said the money would come from the city’s housing trust fund. 

NEW YORK - The faces said it all. No beaming smiles, only frozen stares. The 252 performers standing on stage at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City had just completed the world premiere of John Adams' “On the Transmigration of Souls,” a meditative tribute to the victims, survivors and heroes of Sept. 11. 

The 25-minute composition, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for its season-opening week, took the performers and audience on a solemn journey of pain, uncertainty, hope, loss, yearning, remembrance and resolution. 

“There are two eruptions of emotion, although not necessarily representing the collapse of the twin towers. I didn't want to turn it into some kind of musical documentary,” Adams said from his home in Berkeley. 

Besides the philharmonic, the huge ensemble, led by Lorin Maazel, included children's and adult choruses, two pianos, celesta, two harps and an array of speakers that engulfed the audience in a dizzying cityscape. Last week’s concert began with the recorded sounds of the whoosh of traffic, footsteps and a siren.  

Then a young boy slowly repeated “miss-ing, miss-ing,” before the hushed mantra of names started a sanctified roll call of unwitting martyrs. Moments later, the adult chorus entered, “re-mem ... re-mem-ber,” and repeated it two dozen times. 

The text, compiled by Adams, also quotes from missing persons' posters: “She looks so full of life in the picture.” Family comments published in The New York Times' “Portraits of Grief are also included: “The mother says: ‘He used to call me everyday. I'm just waiting.’ ” And a cellphone call from a flight attendant on the plane that crashed into the first tower is addressed: “I see water and buildings.” 

“It really has almost nothing to do with the violence or the cause of the event. My piece really is a piece of remembrance and reflection - it's really about loss and grief,” Adams said. 

Adams said he was trying to create an aural space for reflection rather than a requiem. “You know when you go into those great cathedrals in Europe?” he said. “Most people are quiet. But still, there's always sound. You hear people walking, and you hear city noises and I sort of wanted to bring that kind of feeling into the hall and into the piece.” 

The philharmonic, which began its season this month under new music director Maazel, commissioned the piece with financial support from an anonymous “longtime New York family. 

“It's our way of saying it's an event we would like to commemorate and we would like to continue to commemorate,” Maazel said in an interview shortly after enlisting Adams last January. 

Adams, one of America's most successful classical composers, has written operas about President Richard Nixon's trip to China and the hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro. He had only six months to finish this one. 

“I had very conflicting impressions when I was asked to do the piece,” he recalled. “I was very wary of having another piece on the pile of what's going to be going on in New York during that (first anniversary) month. I just wondered whether maybe the best thing to do was just be silent because I really feel that the country has just been overly saturated with imagery and continuous imploring to remember. On the other hand, I felt that it was something that I had a duty to do as an American artist, that it was something incumbent on me to accept.” 

After the final fadeout at Avery Fisher Hall, Maazel and the Philharmonic's musicians, the New York Choral Artists and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus stood stoically and the audience quietly applauded. As Adams entered the stage during subsequent curtain calls, the response warmed, crescendoing into an enthusiastic ovation. 

RICHMOND – Police say an argument between teenagers on Monday night resulted in two children and an animal control officer being bitten by a pair of pit bulls. 

At 5:30 p.m., police say they received calls that a number of girls were arguing in front of a house in the 300 block of South 23rd Avenue. 

Witnesses told police that one of the sisters went inside a house and retrieved a 4-year-old male pit bull during the disagreement. When she returned, the dog bit her and then lunged at a 12-year-old boy who was not involved in the argument. 

When an animal control officer was called to take the dog into custody, a female pit bull terrier and her litter were discovered. Police say the animal control officer suffered a minor bite wound from the female dog while confiscating the two adult dogs and 11 puppies. 

The boy's injuries were not life threatening but he was taken to Doctor's Medical Center in San Pablo. The girl may have been transported to Kaiser Hospital. 

Police are investigating the incident as an assault with a deadly weapon.

OAKLAND – An attorney for one of three former Oakland police officers on trial for criminal misconduct began his attempt Tuesday to chip away at the credibility of a key prosecution witness in Alameda County Superior Court. 

The witness, former rookie Oakland Police Officer Keith Batt, spent his third day on the stand. Deputy District Attorney David Hollister used two full days last week in his direct examination of Batt and wrapped up his questioning this morning. 

In what is referred to as the “Riders” case, Clarence “Chuck” Mabanag, 37, Matthew Hornung, 30, and Jude Siapno, 34, are charged with filing false police reports and conspiring to hide their misdeeds, including alleged beatings.

OAKLAND – Preliminary statistics culled from U.S. Department of Justice records show that Oakland ranked fourth last year in the number of homicides among cities approximately the same size and could place higher next year given the rash of recent killings. 

Out of 11 American cities with populations between 350,000 and 450,000, Oakland – which has a population of 406,000 – ranked below St. Louis, Mo., with 148 homicides, Atlanta, Ga., with 144, and Kansas City, Mo., with 103. Oakland reported 84 homicides in 2001. 

The numbers come from a preliminary report released in June of this year that compiled data from cities with populations larger than 100,000. 

Franklin Zimring, head of criminal justice research at the UC Berkeley, said in an interview tuesday that Oakland could fare worse in 2002 given the increased number of slayings so far this year. 

“If you use 2001 as a benchmark, if no one else changes, Oakland is on track to move from No. 4 to No. 3 because Oakland already has 85 (homicides) so far this year,” Zimring said. 

The researcher said Oakland's demography is to blame. 

“Big cities with a concentration of African American ghetto areas and substantial Latino poverty areas create a recipe for being at the high end of homicide distribution,” Zimring said. 

The professor said that during the late 1990s, California experienced a 55 percent drop in homicide rates, a phenomenon that policy experts and researchers have yet to understand. 

“It's going to take serious scholars at least half a decade to figure out why the 90s experienced the longest and deepest decline in violent crime the United States had seen since World War II,” he said. 

Zimring said there are other cities with the approximate size and diversity as Oakland that have higher homicide rates. But because Oakland mirrored the sustained statewide downturn in killings during the 1990s, this latest upward trend in violent deaths – hitting 85 as of Monday night – is a great disappointment. 

“We now expect better,” Zimring explained. 

The report from the Department of Justice shows murder rates rose 3.9 percent around the nation overall. 

Among California cities, Los Angeles and Richmond ranked first and second, respectively, with Oakland third for homicides per capita.

SAN LEANDRO – A rookie Oakland police officer is set to be arraigned Friday on charges that he allegedly had sexual relations with two high school students, police said. 

Efrain Cintron, 22, of San Francisco, is charged with four counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, three counts of oral copulation with a minor, and three counts of penetration with a foreign object of a minor, all felonies, police said. He is also charged with three misdemeanor counts of inappropriate touching of a minor. 

San Leandro police Lt. Steve Pricco said the alleged victims are two girls, one 16 and the other 17, both students at San Leandro High School. 

The investigation began Sept. 2 when the 16-year-old girl approached police. 

“She was very uncomfortable with the relationship,” Pricco said. The 17-year-old has not cooperated with investigators. 

The alleged crimes occurred between July 20 and Aug. 24 at different locations in San Leandro, San Lorenzo, Hayward and San Francisco.  

According to Pricco, Cintron and the two victims were “mutual friends” who had known one another for a few years. 

Pricco said Cintron graduated from the Oakland Police Academy within the last several months and has been placed on administrative leave. 

School promotes peace with Guinness record handshake 

SANTA CLARA – A Santa Clara elementary school hopes to change the world tuesday with one big handshake, or at least break a world record. 

Montague Elementary School will host family, friends, public officials and local professional athletes in an attempt to make the Guinness Book of Records for the largest group handshake and, in the process, promote world peace. 

After lunch this afternoon, the crowd will gather in a circle on the school's outdoor playing field, join hands as they say a peace pledge, and then shake on it. 

When Montague officially sets the record, they will challenge schools in the local area and abroad to take their pledge and shake on it, hopefully breaking the record again and perpetuating the pledge of peace. 

“The goal of all of this is more meaningful than just a record pledge and handshake,” said Mark Austin, a parent involved in the event. 

Initially, the school wanted to host a group hug, but later found that a theme park on the East Coast had recently set that record. 

The event will take place at 1 p.m. at the elementary school, located at 750 Laurie Ave. in Santa Clara. 

SF most expensive  

rental market in country 

SANTA CRUZ — Four of the nation’s six least affordable rental markets are in Northern California, and the smallest on the list is Santa Cruz. 

A study from the National Low Income Housing Coalition in Washington, D.C., said you would have to earn at least $24.96 an hour to afford the median two-bedroom apartment. 

The study, titled “Out of Reach: Rental Housing for America’s Poor Families,” also found a minimum wage earner would have to work 145 hours a week to afford the same apartment. That leaves a generous 23 hours a week to eat, sleep and commute. 

The No. 1 least affordable community was San Francisco, where the study said it would take an hourly wage of $37.31 to afford the median two-bedroom apartment. 

San Jose is second on the list, with Oakland at No. 4. 

The Stamford-Norwalk, Conn., area was third and Boston was fifth. 

Woman charged in car death  

of 8-week-old grandson  

SAN LEANDRO – A 48-year-old woman whose infant grandson died last month after spending eight hours inside her parked car in San Leandro has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, police said. 

Bretta Kendall of Oakland was charged Monday and is scheduled to be arraigned at the Hayward Hall of Justice on Wednesday. 

“It appears to have been an unfortunate accident but still it resulted in the death of an 8-week-old,”San Leandro police Lt. Steve Pricco said tuesday. “She had responsibility for the care and welfare of that child.'' 

Pricco said that on Aug. 22, Kendall apparently forgot to drop the boy off at a baby sitter before going to work at the Albertsons distribution headquarters on Marina Boulevard. Kendall had only had custody of 8-week-old Marcello Alfonso Kendall for about two weeks at the time. 

Kendall arrived at work at 8:30 a.m., and because she brought her lunch, did not leave until 4:30 p.m., police said. 

When she emerged at the end of the day and approached her car, which was locked and had the windows rolled up, she noticed the car seat sitting directly behind the driver's seat and then saw Marcello, who had lost consciousness, police said. She brought the baby inside, but resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful. 

The Alameda County Coroner's Bureau has not yet determined the cause of death, though Pricco said Marcello probably died of heat or dehydration. 

Pricco said Kendall has been cooperating with investigators and is “very remorseful” over her grandson's death. 

Over the last year, two other cases of children dying after being forgotten in locked cars have been reported in the Bay Area. 

In July, San Martin father Brian Gilbert was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the July 24, 2001, death of his 5-month-old son, Kyle, who was forgotten inside a locked car. Gilbert, 25, faces a possible sentence of four years.

SAN JOSE — Democratic Gov. Gray Davis postponed a second fund-raiser amid sharpened attacks from Republican opponent Bill Simon slamming him for raising money from special interests while considering legislation important to those groups. 

Davis was set to attend a town hall forum in Palo Alto and a $10,000-a-person tech fund-raiser on Tuesday, but postponed both events on Monday, the San Jose Mercury News reported. 

The TechNet fund-raising event in Palo Alto, co-sponsored by venture capitalist John Doerr and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, was organized at the same time that the tech industry has been lobbying Davis to veto legislation that would impose new fees on companies to pay for recycling environmentally hazardous computer parts, the Mercury said. 

Davis campaign spokesman Roger Salazar said the governor postponed the events only because he is pressed for time to sign or veto hundreds of bills. 

He called the report “speculation.” 

“I’m not sure how many people are really interested in that legislation,” Salazar said. “TechNet is not a company, it is a group of activists in the Silicon Valley some of whom are involved in the tech industry. TechNet has been very supportive of the governor in the past, they’ve held events for us in the past.” 

Last week, Davis canceled a fund-raiser organized by Rod Diridon, the governor’s appointee to chair the state’s High-Speed Rail Authority. 

The $1,000-a-person event at Diridon’s home was scheduled to take place the day after the governor signed a bill that will put a $10 billion bond measure on the 2004 ballot. If approved, the measure would pave the way for the state’s high-speed rail line. 

The event was canceled after it became public that Diridon had sent e-mails seeking contributions from executives who “will build, operate and maintain the system.” 

Simon went on the offensive Tuesday morning over the new fund-raising report. 

“Gov. Davis is in bed with moneyed special interests on a daily basis with his fund-raising activity,” Simon said after a campaign stop in Sunnyvale. 

Salazar dismissed Simon’s criticism as “wild imaginings.” 

SAN FRANCISCO — Next month, some of the best minds in stem cell science will gather at a conference in San Diego to exchange notes, opinions and suggestions on how to invigorate a promising but struggling research field. 

Executives at the few companies hoping someday to turn the embryonic technology into profitable therapies will be out in full force. Venture capitalists, patent attorneys and even a representative from the President’s Council on Bioethics also plan to attend the two-day conference, organized by the Strategic Research Institute. 

Journalists, however, are banned. 

“I instituted this years ago as some members of your profession have caused irreparable ... damage with speaker relationships and in some cases their companies over coverage,” Strategic Research executive Mark Alexay wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “Hence no coverage. Over and out.” 

Conference organizers said some speakers also may be presenting sensitive research data to their peers that they don’t yet want publicized. 

“Furthermore, many speakers will not give their presentation if they are aware of press in the room,” Strategic Research head Stuart Williams wrote in an e-mail. 

Strategic Research executives declined to discuss the matter over the telephone. 

As a private company, New York-based Strategic Research has no obligation to open its doors to the media. At least one scheduled speaker, David Ayares of PPL Therapeutics of Dolly the cloned sheep fame, said he plans to present data he does not want publicized. 

Still, many of those attending the conference were surprised with the conference organizer’s policy, which some viewed as a public relations mistake. Even conference chairman Dr. Doros Platika, president and chief executive of Cambridge, Mass.-based Centagenetix, Inc. said he was unaware of the press ban until notified by a reporter. 

Religious conservatives and biotechnology foes oppose human embryonic stem cell research as immoral because days-old embryos must be destroyed in the process. Banning media coverage of the conference will only fuel opposition to the research, some conference attendees said. 

“It’s likely they are trying to keep a low profile until they can announce something positive,” said Daniel McConchie of the Christian-based Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, which opposes human embryonic stem cell research. 

“I can understand a ban could encourage people to speak their minds, but this is an area of extreme interest in the media, the public and at the presidential level,” said Joel Martin, a partner with the San Diego venture capital firm Forward Ventures. “Restricting the press raises the impression that something improper is being discussed, and that’s not going to be case.” 

Martin is scheduled to join a conference panel of fellow venture capitalists discussing the commercial possibilities of the technology. 

Martin and others believe opening the event to the press would do more good than harm for a field facing significant scientific, financial and legal obstacles. 

Last year, the Bush administration limited federal funding of human embryonic stem cells to 78 stem cell lines controlled by 14 different government-approved labs. But only a handful of the approved stem cell lines are fit for research, with demand far outstripping supply. 

The business of stem cells also is suffering. 

Menlo Park-based Geron Inc., the one publicly traded company developing human embryonic stem cells, laid off a third of its staff in June. Geron’s stock price hovers around $4 a share, near its 52-week low and far off its 52-week high of $14.48. 

Privately held San Diego-based Cythera recently settled a year-long dispute over ownership of the nine government-approved stem cell lines in its freezer, a fight that stopped scientific development. 

Cloning company PPL early this month announced it was closing its Scotland stem cell research division after failing to find a buyer for it.

DAVIS – Just in time for the fall harvest, the University of California has published a guide that could help farmers and ranchers solve each others' problems. 

For years, rice growers have struggled to find a way to get rid of rice straw, an environmentally challenging waste product. 

At the same time, beef cattle producers have been looking for a low-cost supplemental feed. 

“Feeding Rice Straw to Cattle,” written by Northern California advisors to the University of California Cooperative Extension, examines how rice straw can be used as cattle feed. 

Topics covered include the nutritional value or rice straw, how to take lab samples, how much to feed to cattle and how to keep the overall costs down. 

“Feed is the largest single cost of producing beef,” explained Nader, a Sutter/Yuba and Butte counties advisor to the University of California program who helped author the report. 

“Producers with access to alternative feeds have an economic advantage, but these types of feeds present unique challenges. Rice straw should be used only as part of the forage, not as a complete ration.” 

In the past, rice straw has been fed to cattle with mixed success, the team of advisors said. Their publication explains the road to successful use of rice straw as feed built on three principles, Nader added. 

First, know the nutritional quality of the rice straw, as it varies greatly. Second, determine the nutritional requirements of the cattle to be fed. And third, balance a ration to determine whether rice straw will meet your situation economically.  

The guide is currently available online at  

http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8079.pdf

After months of negotiations, Berkeley has reached a tentative six-year contract with its four municipal labor unions representing 60 percent of the city’s work force, city and union leaders said Monday. 

When final, the 1,119 union members who range from secretaries to engineers will get 28.5 percent raises over six years – nearly as high as the 31.5 percent increase awarded to police officers last year. 

Getting parity with public safety employees was a main point of contention in contract negotiations that began in January. Their last contract expired July 6. Since then union workers have been under terms of their old contract. The new contract will be retroactive to the July expiration date. 

The deal ushers in an era of relative labor peace in Berkeley. With the police union signing a six-year deal, and the municipal unions now in fold, the city’s labor costs are nearly fixed through 2007. Only the firefighters’ contract, which expires in 2004, looms.  

Locking up long-term union contracts benefits the city, said Dave Hodgkins, a city employee relations officer. He said that with the labor costs fixed, city officials can more accurately forecast future budgets. 

The deal is expected to win official approval from union members and City Council next month. 

Two unions, Local 1245 of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents city electricians, and the Local 790 of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represents clerical workers, have already ratified the agreement. 

The two other unions, Local 535 of SEIU, which represents social workers and planners, and Local One of the Public Employees Union, which represents professionals, will vote on the contract this week. 

Following union approval, City Council is expected to approve the contract. 

The contract provides for a cumulative 28.5 percent raise over six years. The workers will receive 6 percent in year one, 3.5 percent in year two, 5 percent in year three, 4 percent in year four and 5 percent in each of years five and six. 

Additionally, the city will maintain its policy of boosting salaries when workers with similar job descriptions in nearby communities earn more money. 

The new contract also enhances employee benefit packages. A new formula to calculate pension benefits will will result in a roughly 24 percent annual increase for workers 55 and older.  

To fund the pension increase, the city must increase the employee contribution to the program paid by all city workers from 7 percent to 8 percent. Because the pension provision will affect all city workers, not just employees in the four unions, it thus requires a separate vote by city employees. The vote is scheduled for next week. 

Union members say they are excited to put the negotiations behind them. 

“We’re very happy with the deal,” said Rick Chan, a shop Steward with the electrician’s union. “We feel we’re just as important as policemen and firefighters.” 

Recently the City Council heard a request from members of the community to place a charter amendment on the November ballot requiring the school district to conduct performance audits. The city attorney responded by asking an attorney with experience in this area for an opinion as to whether the city has the power to do this. The reply was that the district is already required to provide a “yearly audit of its books and performance,” and that there was no evidence that the current audit structure needed to be fixed or that the request to require a performance audit was workable. As a consequence, the proposal was derailed and sent to the Joint City-School District “2x2” Committee and the superintendent of schools. The council also directed staff to seek a further opinion from the Attorney General.  

Throughout the discussion, opinions were expressed, pro and con. Frankly little light was shed and the main point, establishing accountability, seems to have been lost. Our schools are probably our community's most important asset. We all pretty much agree that if we don't have good schools, we lose as a community. We also seem to agree that our schools urgently need as much community support as possible. Performance audits will help us pinpoint the problems. It isn't a question of costs, legalities, or individual personalities. It is a question of how best to proceed to fix the problems. A financial audit will tell us what the dollars were spent on, but a performance audit will dig deeper into the details of how and why the dollars were spent and the results those dollars achieved. 

We know the district is in financial trouble and we have read in the papers some of the reasons for that. It is the responsibility of everyone in the community to rally around our schools and to offer them support. It is also our duty to ensure that productive change occurs. Such change is occurring under the new superintendent and the school board, but to restore public confidence, we must ensure that the process is clear, understandable, verifiable and independent.  

If the governor signs AB 2859 (Aroner), the Fiscal Crisis Management Team that comes may be able to do this through their comprehensive assessment process in which they closely examine such areas as governance, community relations, personnel, facilities, and academics. This comprehensive assessment process may produce the same information as a performance audit. However, the public must still be assured that this will adequately meet their concerns, and that recommendations from this process will result in permanent and constructive change. This process must be a true partnership of board, superintendent, staff, parents and students and community, all pulling together with the common goal of supporting and improving our schools. Secondly, safeguards need to be in place so that the recommendations of the assessment team will be implemented and continue after the team leaves. This process must be open and above reproach if we are to achieve excellence in our schools. 

I am pleased that our city auditor has instituted a number of performance audits of city programs, and I encourage her to significantly expand this effort. In a time of a declining economy city and schools must spend our resources wisely to achieve the best possible result. The reason why I am disturbed enough to write this article urging the school district take similar action, is my distress over learning what had happened with the district's much-vaunted food policy and program. I am astonished to learn that in just one year the district ran approximately $1 million into debt for this one program and ended up serving more unhealthy meals today to fewer students than it did when the program started. 

It is just such issues that performance audits will examine so that real solutions can be found. That is what I am hoping to achieve. 

Recommending a performance audit should not be seen as a criticism of the school board or the superintendent, who are working hard on our behalf. In fact, I invite them all to join me in making sure performance audits are done, and then in making sure that solutions are developed and implemented. The time has come for performance audits to be done. It's a beginning step that I believe should be taken.  

Tuesday, Sept. 24 

Sustainable Business  

Alliance of the East Bay 

5:30 to 7:30 p.m. 

Panoramic Room of the Gaia Building  

Reception and talk by Mal Warwick of Mal Warwick Associates, entitled: “You Don’t Have to Choose: How One Company Does Good While Doing Well” 

282-5151 

members $8, nonmembers $12 

Vitamins, Minerals, and Nutritional  

Supplements: Possible Interactions with Medications 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst St. 

Discussed by Alic Meyers, RN 

981-5190 

Wednesday, Sept. 25 

Planning Commission workshop 

7 to 9:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, corner of Hearst and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

Interactive roundtable discussion about issues, problems, and opportunities relating to density and land use in Berkeley. 

981-7481 

Berkeley Gray Panthers 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center  

1901 Hearst St. 

Berkeley Gray Panthers general meeting.  

548-9696 

Saturday, Sept. 28 

Free Legal Workshop:  

“Crossroads: Health and the Law.” 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

514 58th St. at Telegraph Avenue 

Navigate your way through legal issues when living with cancer or any serious illness. Panel presentation on employment, insurance and public benefits and one-on-one sessions with attorneys. Please, pre-register. 

601-4040, Ext. 102 for information  

or Ext. 103 to register 

Free  

Garage Sale/ Car Wash  

Belize/ Berkeley Scouts 

10 to 2 p.m. 

Epworth UMC, 1953 Hopkins St. 

International exchange fundraising effort for scouts. 

525-6058 

A Forum on the Arts with the Berkeley Mayoral Candidates 

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Aurora Theater, 2081 Addison St. 

558-1381 

Free 

Tuesday, Sept. 24 

Zydego Flames 

7:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

$8 door. 12 and under free. 

Wednesday, Sept. 25 

DP & Rhythm Riders 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

$15 door. 12 and under free. 

Karen Casey & the Niall Valley Trio 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$15.50 in advance. $16.50 at door 

Thursday, Sept. 26 

Kriby Grips, Michael Zapruder, Joe Bernson 

9:30 p.m. (21 and over) 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$5 

Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$19.50 in advance. $20.50 at door 

Friday, Sept. 27 

The Cracked Normans,  

Paradigm & Soul Americana 

9:30 p.m. (21 and over) 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-1424 

$5 

Eric Bogle 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 or www.freightandsalvage.com 

$16.50 in advance. $17.50 at door. 

Fair Weather, Liars  

Academy and Open Hand 

8 p.m. 

924 Gilman St. 

525-9926 

$5 

Reggae Angels with Earl Zero  

and Jah Light Music 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

$15 door. 12 and under free. 

Saturday, Sept. 28 

Barry & Alic Oliver 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.com 

$16.50 in advance. $17.50 at door. 

From Monument to Masses,  

Victory at Sea and Yesterday’s Kids 

8 p.m. 

924 Gilman St. 

525-9926 

$5 

"Balancing Acts" 

Through Oct. 10 

Gallery 555, 555 12th St., 

Oakland City Center 

Oakland's 'Third Thursday' art night features Ann Weber's works made of cardboard. 

http://www.oaklandcitycenter.com.  

Free. 

“Hunger: What will you do about it?”  

Through Oct. 30, Mon.-Fri.,  

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

The Civic Center Building 

2180 Milvia St., 5th floor 

Featuring 40 photographs  

by Berkeley artist David Bacon. 

834-3663, Ext. 338, uchanse@secondharvest.org 

Richard Misrach, Berkeley Work 

Though Oct. 13 

UC Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, 2626 Bancroft Way 

On view in Gallery 2, presents two photographic series by this internationally recognized Berkeley-based artist.  

642-0808, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

$7. $5 BAM/PFA members.  

$4 UC Berkeley students. 

“Recent Acquisitions” 

Oct. 13 through Dec. 14 

Thurs., Fri., and Sat., 1 to 4 p.m. 

Berkeley Historical Society, Veterans Memorial Building, 1931 Center St. 

848-0181 

Free. 

Misch Kohn - Celebrating Sixty Years of Printmaking 

Through Oct. 16. Tues.-Fri., Noon to 5:30 p.m.; Sat., noon to 4:30 p.m. 

Kala Arts Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 

549-2977, kala@kala.org 

Nancy Salz 

Through Oct. 23, Tues.-Fri. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Sat 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 

Barbara Anderson Gallery, 2243 5th St. 

848-3822 

Timoteo Ikoshy Montoya 

Through Nov. 1  

Reception Sept. 20, 6 to 8 p.m. 

Gathering Tribes Gallery  

1573 Solano Ave.  

Acrylic/air brush paintings  

by this Native American artist.  

528-9038 

Threads: Five artists who  

use stitching to convey ideas 

Oct. 6 through Dec. 15, Wed.-Sun., noon to 5 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center 

Live Oak Park, 1275 Walnut St. 

Information: www.berkeleyartcenter.org, 644-6893 

Free. 

A Thousand and One Arabian Nights 

Through Sept. 28, Fri.-Sun. 8 p.m.; Sun. 4 p.m. 

Forest Meadows Outdoor Amphitheater, Grand Avenue at the Dominican University, San Raphael 

Marin Shakespeare Company’s  

presents this classic story with  

original Arabic music. 

415-499-4488 for tickets 

$12 for youth. $20 for seniors. $22 general. 

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar 

Through Oct. 12 

Thurs. through Sat. 8 p.m. 

LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre  

1834 Euclid Ave. 

234-6046 

$10. 

The House of Blue Leaves 

Through Oct. 27 

Berkeley Rep's Roda Theater  

2015 Addison St.  

647-2917 or 888-4BRTTIX 

$10-$54. 

The Shape of Things 

Through Oct. 20 

Aurora Theatre Company  

2081 Addison St. 

Play by writer/director Neil LaBute's spins a morality tale of a young art student, his art major girlfriend, and the Pygmalion-like changes that bring into question how far one should go for love. 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org for reservations 

$26-$35. 

Ceramics - Opening Reception 

Through Nov. 17 

3 to 5 p.m. 

A New Leaf Gallery, 1286 Gilman St. 

525-7621 

Free. 

Tuesday, Sept 24 

“Wild Splendors of California” 

7:30 p.m. 

Easy Going Travel Shop & Bookstore 

1385 Shattuck Ave. at Rose 

Lalo Fiorelli, photographer and author, will give a multimedia presentation and talk. 

843-3533 

Free. 

Wednesday, Sept 25 

Poetry Slam with Host Charles Ellik 

9:30 p.m. (21 and older) 

Featured poet: Daphne Gottlieb 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-2082 

$7. 

“Healing Our Hearts  

for the Sake of the World” 

7:30 p.m 

First Congregational Church  

2345 Channing Way 

A reading by Sylvia Boorstein. Proceeds support  

The East Bay Dharma Center. 

595-0408 

$5 to $10 

Thursday, Sept 26 

As ad AbuKahil 

7 p.m. 

Revolution Books, 2425 Channing Way 

Author reads and signs his new book “Bin Laden, Islam and America’s New War on Terrorism” 

848-1196 

Steinbeck, “The Grapes of Wrath,” and Labor Issues of Depression-Era California 

7:30 p.m.  

Easing Going Travel Shop and Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. 

843-3533 

Free.

Mia Jerkov could earn a salary playing volleyball right now but instead is leading Cal to its best start in 13 years. 

The 19-year-old sophomore from Split, Croatia, is a big reason why the Golden Bears, who had a 10-18 record last year, won their first nine matches this season. Jerkov, pronounced YAIR-cove, led the Bears with 152 kills and earned MVP honors in three tournaments as Cal won 27 straight games. 

Cal's 9-0 start matched what the Bears did in 1989, which was also the last time they had a winning season. However, just like the '89 team, Cal lost its 10th match, falling in three sets to Stanford last Friday night in Maples Pavilion. The Bears played the Cardinal close in the first two games, falling 30-28 and 30-25. Stanford, the defending national champion, closed out the final set 30-18. 

Jerkov led the Bears with 13 kills and had seven digs but wasn’t happy with her performance. 

“I was kind of looking for my own rhythm the whole match and couldn't find it,” she said. “We were struggling with them, battling. The first two games were really tight. If you ask, me we should've won those. But since Stanford is a much more experienced team, they battled and they won.” 

No matter what her rhythm, Cal coach Rich Feller is just glad to have her around. Jerkov played in only 10 games for Cal last year due to tendonitis in her left shin and commitments to the Croatian national team. 

That was a big hole to fill. 

“She's one of the top players out there,” Feller said. 

A 6-3, 157-pound outside hitter, Jerkov boasts an impressive resume: She is a member of the Croatian national team and has played in various youth and European championships. Jerkov comes from an athletic bloodline, as her 6-11 father, Zeljko, was a starting center on the Croatian national basketball team. 

Jerkov was playing for Croatia in the 1999 Youth World Championships in Portugal when she learned the Bears were trying to recruit her. Cal, along with USC, previously tried to contact Jerkov through Croatian officials, who did not pass on the news. Instead, Jerkov made her first Cal connection through a chance meeting with Cal assistant coach Lee Maes, then an assistant with the U.S. national team. The two ran into each other at an ice cream parlor in Madeira, Portugal, where Maes piqued her interest in playing in Berkeley. 

In 2000, Jerkov made a detour while visiting family friends in San Francisco. She watched as Cal lost to Florida, three games to one, in the Golden Bear Classic. 

Despite the loss, the Bears intrigued Jerkov. 

“I liked what I saw,” she said. “It was a good team and still is a good team.” 

Going to Cal was just one of her choices. Jerkov says that several Italian professional clubs – six teams in the first division and the entire second division – wanted to sign her up, based on her play with her national team. 

But she didn't want to sit on the bench in Italy, which boasts the best league in the world in which rookies tend to wait their turn behind veteran players. And she didn't want to play professionally anywhere else when she could hone her skills and get an education in the United States. 

“Going to Cal was the optimal solution,” she said. “It's a risk, because I want to play professionally afterwards, and you can never tell if you're going to develop into something great or something real bad. These are the crucial years as a player. That's one of the main reasons why I didn't choose Italy or a professional league. I didn't want to be that pressured and I wanted to feel normal about playing and developing myself as a player.” 

“We got lucky that this was the right school for her,” Feller said. “I don't think that happens unless we have something good to offer her here. She had to trust us that we were going to be good.”

Teachers and community leaders are fuming about a cost-cutting move to fold Berkeley High School’s historic African-American studies department into one or several other departments. 

“I think it’s the manifestation of white supremacy at its zenith,” said Robert McKnight, a teacher and former chair of the department. “We are not going to just completely acquiesce.” 

But Associate Superintendent of Educational Services Christine Lim said the district is not picking on African-American studies. She said the program is just one of several small departments the cash-strapped district, $3.9 million in debt, is consolidating to save money. 

The change, scheduled in the coming weeks, will not limit the number of black studies courses offered, but will deprive the department of a chairperson and meeting time. 

The move will bring an end to the first – and Berkeley educators say only – African-American studies department at a public high school in the nation. The department has been in place since 1968. 

The school district won approval for the change in August, during contract negotiations with the Berkeley Federation of Teachers over pay for department heads.  

During talks, the district called for the consolidation of any departments with fewer than 15 classes per year, erasing the need for several chairpersons and saving thousands of dollars. 

The union agreed to the move, in part as a trade-off to win “above average” compensation for the remaining department heads, according to BFT President Barry Fike.  

Department chairs, under the agreement, will receive stipends of $5,000, $3,750 or $2,250 depending on the size of their programs. 

The two sides signed the pact on Aug. 20, folding the African-American studies and English language learners programs into other, unspecified departments, and combining the visual and performing arts departments. 

Associate Superintendent of Educational Services Christine Lim said the district has not yet decided how to redistribute the effected teachers. The African-American studies program could be transferred wholesale into the social studies department or an African-American dance class could go to the physical education department while a literature class goes to English, she said. 

McKnight said he was deeply disappointed that neither the district nor the union consulted him on consolidation before signing the agreement. 

“That’s a tremendous slight and insult to the department,” he said. 

Lim said it is the union’s job, during negotiations, to keep its membership informed. 

“It’s a negotiated item, so [they] have representatives at the table,” she said. “Where the communications broke down would have been [with the union].” 

Fike acknowledged that he did not consult with the department heads during negotiations over the issue of consolidation. But he said consultation was unnecessary – BFT knew that members wanted to retain all the existing departments and the union, in turn, pushed to keep them in place. The district, he said, simply would not budge on the issue. 

“When you go into negotiations, you don’t always get what you want,” Fike said. 

Fike, who has also received complaints from members of the English language learners and arts departments, said he is willing to take the issue of consolidation back to the bargaining table. 

But Lim said the district is unlikely to sign a new agreement. 

“I seriously doubt we would look again at something that has been negotiated,” she said. 

Several members of the community expressed outrage over the consolidation and the district’s failure to consult with the African-American studies department. 

“It seems that, for the past year or so, the trend has been to make decisions and let people know after the fact,” said Michael Miller, a member of Parents of Children of African Descent (PCAD), a group active on school issues. 

“Once the students find out, there’s going to be a large uproar,” said Sean Dugar, a recent graduate of Berkeley High who is running for the Board of Education. “I’ll make sure of that.” 

School board members Shirley Issel and Terry Doran, when contacted by the Daily Planet, said they had not heard about the shift and did not have enough information to comment at length. But Doran voiced general support for the African-American studies department. 

“I have always supported the African-American studies department as a distinct department and I still believe that that’s important for the school,” he said. 

Superintendent Michele Lawrence was out sick Monday and was unavailable for comment. 

LOS ANGELES — Citing jury misconduct, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Monday ordered a new trial in the Oakland Raiders’ $1.2 billion conspiracy lawsuit against the National Football League. 

In a 9-3 vote last year, a Superior Court jury rejected the Raiders’ claims that the NFL sabotaged the team’s plans to build a new stadium in the Los Angeles area and that the team still owned the NFL rights to the Los Angeles market. 

The Raiders moved back to Oakland from Los Angeles in 1995 — 13 years after they moved south. 

The misconduct allegation was raised after five jurors in last year’s six-week trial said they overheard one member of the panel say he hated the Raiders and team owner Al Davis and would never vote in their favor, Raiders attorney Larry Feldman said. 

The ruling calling for a new trial was made by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard C. Hubbell, who heard the first trial. 

“The Raiders are elated with the court’s decision and look forward to having an opportunity to try their case to a fair and impartial jury,” Feldman said. “The Raiders have always believed that they would be playing football games at a state-of-the-art stadium at Hollywood Park today if it were not for the NFL’s interference with their negotiations.” 

Feldman said a new trial date would be set Dec. 3. 

Feldman said the complaint was significant because the jury favored the NFL by a 9-3 vote. One additional vote for the Raiders would have resulted in a hung jury. 

“We’re disappointed. We will review the decision with our attorneys,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said from his New York City home. 

“We believe this is the right decision, a just decision,” Raiders chief executive Amy Trask said from her office in Oakland. “The NFL celebrated too soon.”

City Councilmember Linda Maio continues to explore the possibility of spaying and neutering Berkeley raccoons, considered a nuisance by many, despite a public outcry over the proposal. 

“I’m still quite concerned and I’m going to pursue this,” she said. 

Maio’s plan calls for trapping raccoons, neutering them and releasing them in the city. State regulations prohibit the city from releasing them outside of Berkeley. 

Critics say the council member should abandon the plan, deeming it unnecessary, unworkable and cruel. 

“I think it’s a loony idea,” said Nancy Ober, a member of the Berkeley Citizens Humane Commission. 

Maio, who has had her own problems with raccoons in a rental property she owns, said residents have reported an increase in raccoons knocking over trash cans and invading homes. 

But Kate O’Connor, manager of the city-run Animal Care Shelter, said there is no hard evidence of an increasing raccoon problem. 

Maio, who first floated the idea in August, said she needs to gather more information about the effectiveness of spaying and neutering before making a final decision on whether to bring a program before the City Council. 

Dr. Rene Gandolfi, a veterinarian with the Castro Valley Companion Animal Hospital, suggested that a program would probably not succeed. 

“In the immediate run, it will do no good, because you still have the same number of raccoons,” he said. 

Gandolfi said it would take eight to 10 years before the raccoons’ inability to reproduce would limit the size of the next generation and have any effect on the overall population. 

Gandolfi added that, even if the population eventually declined, raccoons from surrounding areas would simply fill the capacity, as long as there are enough food sources in the area. 

Eliminating those food sources, he said, is the best way to keep raccoons away. 

O’Connor urged residents to secure their garbage can lids and pick up dead fruit to cut off the food supply. 

Maio said educating the public on preventative measures is an important part of any strategy. At a minimum, the councilmember said, she will recommend a new public education effort at a City Council meeting in the next few weeks. 

But, she still holds out the possibility of adding a spaying and neutering program. Maio said a letter that appeared in the Daily Planet this weekend from a Berkeley resident who claimed to have received multiple rabies shots after a raccoon attack had added new urgency to the issue. 

The woman who wrote the letter could not be reached for comment. 

Gandolfi said the resident’s doctor may have administered rabies shots as a precaution, but that no raccoons on the West Coast have ever tested positive for rabies. 

O’Connor said any spaying and neutering program would tax city resources, requiring a significant increase in shelter staff. She added that the city does not have adequate facilities to house raccoons during the spaying and neutering process, which can take 24 to 48 hours. 

City Councilmember Dona Spring, known for advocating animal rights, said she would support a public education campaign but would not back a spaying and neutering effort. 

“We’ve been able to co-habitant with raccoons and skunks and possums for as long as I’ve been in Berkeley,” she said. 

OAKLAND — Terrence Long refused to pack enough for more than a week, figuring it could be bad karma. 

Besides, the outfielder is sure his Oakland Athletics will be at home in a week to start the playoffs, AL West title in hand. 

Not everyone was quite so confident as Oakland prepared for its final road trip of the regular season, starting Tuesday in Seattle. A sign in the clubhouse said: “Pack Warm. At NY?” 

The A’s hold a three-game lead over the Anaheim Angels in the division race and plan to maintain the same focus as they make their final push toward the postseason. 

Oakland can do no worse than the AL wild-card berth. But it would rather win the AL West, of course, and the team’s magic number for clinching the division is three. The A’s close with three games at Seattle and three at Texas. 

Lose the division title, and Oakland would head straight from Arlington, Texas, this weekend to New York to play the five-time defending AL East champion Yankees in the first round of the playoffs. 

“Too many things can still happen,” A’s manager Art Howe said. “We have the edge, but it’s up to us to take advantage.” 

His players celebrated quietly when they secured a playoff spot last week — and only once they’ve wrapped up the AL West will it be time to really have some fun.

Frank and Veronica Thomas stood in disbelief on the blood-stained Berkeley street where their 7-year-old granddaughter was struck on her bike by a police car while visiting a relative Saturday. 

They know that a police review says the lieutenant who hit her was driving within the speed limit. But the Thomas’ doubt it and plan to hire an investigator. 

The girl, who lives with her grandparents in Concord, remains in Children’s Hospital in Oakland recovering from a concussion and a broken left leg, they said. Her name is not being released because of her age. 

At Children’s Hospital the girl’s spirit is strong, said Veronica Thomas, but she has been sedated to deal with the pain. 

“She sees our faces and knows that someone is there,” Veronica Thomas said. “Sometimes she asks for her brother and her mother.” 

The accident occurred shortly before 2 p.m. on the 2100 block of Roosevelt Street. The girl was visiting her aunt who lives on the block.  

According to police, the girl was riding without a helmet on the sidewalk. She entered the street between two parked cars, so would have been hidden from view.  

Lt. Eric Gustafson was driving a cruiser northbound and did not stop in time. The girl collided with the right front bumper. The impact launched her over the roof of the car, police said. 

Judging from orange measurements drawn on the street by police and the location of dried blood, the Thomas’ estimated that their granddaughter rolled 35 feet from the impact point. 

Gustafson was driving within the 25 mph speed limit, Police Information Officer Mary Kusmiss said. 

California Highway Patrol officer L.D. White concurred. A preliminary review did not show any wrongdoing by the officer, White said. CHP is required to investigate traffic accidents involving city police officers. 

The Thomas’, though, are not convinced by police findings. Equipped with a tape measurer and a camera, they studied the accident scene to piece together what happened. 

“It’s hard to figure out,” said Veronica Thomas, who has questioned several eye witnesses. “Some said [Gustafson] was driving too fast and some said he was driving 20 mph.” 

A full CHP report is expected to be completed within two weeks, but the Thomas’ aren’t taking much stock in the findings. 

“Were going to get an investigator,” said Frank Thomas, who doubted that Gustafson was driving within the speed limit.  

The injured girl has a long recovery ahead of her. The collision broke her tibia and femur and bent her fibula, the three largest leg bones. Her grandparents expect her to be released from the hospital in two weeks. They said she’ll wear a cast for three months and eventually have metal rods inserted into her leg. They hope she can return to school in a wheelchair within four weeks. 

Hospital spokesperson Susan Martinez was more optimistic. She said the girl was expected to be released within a few days and ultimately make a full recovery. 

The Thomas’ commended the Berkeley Police Department’s handling of the accident. Veronica Thomas said that acting Chief Roy Meisner visited the girl in the hospital and Gustafson had sent his condolences. 

They added that despite their granddaughter’s injuries, she was fortunate not to have been hurt more severely. 

“Her bike ended up under the car’s front wheels,” said Veronica Thomas. “I just thank god that she didn’t.” 

SAN FRANCISCO — Al Gore harshly criticized President Bush’s push for war against Iraq, saying it has hurt the United States’ standing and could dangerously undermine the rule of law around the world. 

“After Sept. 11, we had enormous sympathy, goodwill and support around the world,” Gore said Monday. “We’ve squandered that, and in one year we’ve replaced that with fear, anxiety and uncertainty, not at what the terrorists are going to do but at what we are going to do.” 

In his first major speech on the Iraq situation, the once and possibly future Democratic presidential candidate accused Bush of abandoning the goal of a world where nations follow laws. 

“That concept would be displaced by the notion that there is no law but the discretion of the president of the United States,” he said. 

“If other nations assert the same right, then the rule of law will quickly be replaced by the reign of fear,” and any nation that perceives itself threatened would feel justified in starting wars, he said. 

Gore also told the enthusiastic crowd at the Commonwealth Club of California that he would decide in December whether to challenge Bush again for the presidency in 2004. 

Republicans quickly pounced on the speech as evidence of Gore’s weakness. 

“It seemed to be a speech more appropriate for a political hack than a presidential candidate by someone who clearly fails to recognize leadership,” said Jim Dyke, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee. 

Gore described his speech as an effort to lay out an alternative to the course of action pursued by the Bush administration. 

Even before securing United Nations support for a multinational war against Iraq, Bush has asked Congress to approve the use of “all means that he determines to be appropriate, including force,” in a unilateral effort to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. 

Gore urged Congress not to give the president such a broad mandate. 

“It needs to be narrowed,” said Gore, adding that Congress should urge Bush to go back to the U.N. Security Council and secure the “broadest possible international support” for a regime change in Iraq. 

Meanwhile, Gore said, “Bush should not allow anything to distract us from the mission of avenging the murder of 3,000 Americans.” 

Gore always has supported overthrowing Saddam, and was one of the few Senate Democrats who voted in favor of the Gulf War resolution after Iraq attacked Kuwait. He said he felt betrayed by the first President Bush’s “hasty withdrawal from the battlefield.” 

But like other leading Democrats, Gore has expressed reservations in recent months about military action against Iraq, suggesting the diplomatic costs would be extremely high. 

His speech Monday was much more critical, warning of ominous and untold consequences, ranging from a short-term power vacuum that could increase the danger of chemical and biological attacks, to the creation of legions of enemies angry and fearful about U.S. domination. 

“If we end the war in Iraq the way we ended the war in Afghanistan, we could easily be worse off than we are today,” Gore said. 

Volunteers with Berkeley’s Ohlone Greenway Group are introducing one of three new public art installations as “four steel cows with distinctive personalities.” 

One may wonder how a steel cow can have a distinctive personality, but after seeing Elsie, Ferdinand, Laxmi and Kali, the description begins to make sense.  

“Look at the way Ferdinand looks longingly at Elsie,” sighed Karl Linn, project coordinator for the exhibit. 

The new exhibit is located on the stretch of Ohlone Greenway between Peralta Avenue and Gilman Street. 

Linn, a garden lover known throughout the community, has lived near the Ohlone Greenway for more than 10 years. He stressed that many neighbors and volunteers that have made the project possible. 

The cows are the most striking of the three new works of art, but of equal interest are the adobe column “Peralta Gateway” and the mural “From Elk Tracks to BART Tracks.” 

The gateway commemorates the pre-Gold Rush period when California was part of Mexico with images, text and cheerfully colored tiles painted by local children. The 72-foot mural, a collaboration of six artists, depicts the history of transportation and migration in the East Bay.  

The aim of the exhibit is to teach people about the history of the area but also, according to Linn, to help build community. 

“The whole point is it bring people together. People take down their defenses and connect to their deeper core of being. They see the art and stop to talk to each other, animating the greenway,” he said. 

As if to prove Linn’s point, neighbor Rayce H. Mason paused in his stroll to examine the steel cows. 

“I like the cows,” said Rayce. “My grandmother had so many cows... I started milking when I was seven.” 

“Me too,” Linn replied. “Thirteen cows, three times a day.” 

The cows, created by artist Amy Blackstone, were landscape architect Ted Vorster’s idea, and were inspired by Vorster’s conversations with elderly Berkeley residents about life in the East Bay in the 1920s. 

“There were lots of cows, open fields and pastures,” said Vorster. “During the 1920s, cows would get loose, walk into gardens and soil sidewalks with cow patties. These days it’s only dogs we have to worry about.”  

Funding for the exhibit was provided by BART, the Berkeley Civic Arts Commission, and the city’s department of parks, recreation and waterfront, with fiscal sponsorship by Berkeley’s Partners for Parks.  

The dedication for the Ohlone Greenway Natural and Cultural History Interpretive Exhibit is 10 a.m. today. A public celebration is scheduled 2 to 4 p.m. Sept. 29. Ceremonies begin at the Peralta Community Garden on Peralta Avenue near Hopkins Street in north Berkeley. For more information call 464-6119.

OAKLAND — A $2.4 million federal public works grant to start infrastructure design at the closed Oakland Army Base was announced Monday. 

The grant award from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration is the federal share of a $3.2 million public works project. The federal grant will allow the Oakland Base Reuse Authority to design and engineer the core infrastructure for the city’s planned Gateway Development Area at the former base. 

The authority will take over the 425-acre base this fall on behalf of the Oakland Redevelopment Agency. 

The base is situated on the Oakland waterfront, between the Port of Oakland and the eastern part of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

n Assault and Robbery 

Two female teenagers were attacked and robbed by three females on the 2200 block of Durant Street at 5:26 p.m. Saturday, police said. One suspect grabbed a victim from behind by the hair and knocked her to the ground, while another suspect then started grabbing at her purse. Meanwhile, a third suspect grabbed a different victim’s purse. When the second victim resisted, the suspect punched her in the face, bloodying her nose. The three suspects then fled with purses in a car that pulled up at the crime scene. The car, driven by a male, is described as a tan 1984 Chevrolet station wagon, license 1KKM571. 

n Shoplifting 

Police arrested Kevin Grimes, 31, for shoplifting clothes from a retailer on the 2300 block of Telegraph Avenue Friday. 

n Robbery 

A robber pried open a window on the 2100 block of Haste Street Sunday afternoon, police said. The suspect stole books, a laptop and several CDs. 

n Car Theft 

A 1993 Mercedes Benz, license 4WBC433, was reported stolen from the 1600 block of Seventh street at 2:06 p.m. Saturday, police said. 

Purchasing a home can be a complex process, especially for first-time homebuyers. There are many forms to read and fill out, including termite inspections, appraisals, and of course, financing details. One form that is often passed on to the buyer is an acceptance of the responsibility for compliance with the Residential Energy Conservation Ordinance (RECO).  

RECO was adopted to improve energy and water efficiency in Berkeley’s existing housing, and was designed to protect homeowners from having high energy bills. RECO mandates that the seller installs basic energy conservation measures prior to closing. However, buyers may sign papers to assume this responsibility. If they do so without first getting an idea of the work that will need to be completed, it can be an unanticipated expense. 

Most first-time buyers aren’t aware of RECO. Wise buyers will familiarize themselves with the ordinance, and have an idea what it will cost them to come into compliance before signing the transfer.  

So, what needs to be done to make a residence comply with RECO? The following areas of energy consumption need to be addressed: the building “envelope,” meaning its walls, ceiling/attic, and floor; water fixtures, such as toilets, showerheads and faucets; and the heating and hot water systems. In homes with fireplaces, the chimney and flue need to be inspected for dampers. 

In the building envelope, the ceiling/attic must be insulated to a minimum of R-30, which is bout 9 inches of blown-in cellulose, or 7 inches of fiberglass. (“R-Value” is a material’s resistance to, or reciprocal of its thermal conductance. The higher this number, the greater a material’s insulating value.) 

If the home has knob-and-tube wiring, a licensed electrician must do a safety inspection first before insulation is installed. If the existing insulation is not R-30 more insulation must be installed to bring the R-value up to at least R-30. 

Exterior doors must have permanent, screwed-in place weatherstripping attached to the doorframe, and a door sweep installed along the bottom of the door. If weather-stripping is already there, it must be in good condition, without gaps or tears. This will prevent drafts, making the space more comfortable in cold weather. 

Low-flow devices must be installed onto showerheads and faucet aerators. Showerheads must have a maximum flow of 3 gallons a minute, and kitchen and bath faucets must have a flow rate of 2.75 gallons or less. These devices are available free from the East Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD; www.ebmud.com/conserving_&_recycling/conservation_devices/default.htm ), or for a nominal fee from Berkeley Conservation & Energy (BC&E; www.Ecologycenter.org ) available at all Berkeley Farmers’ Markets. 

Toilets must be low-flow, at a maximum of 1.6 gallons per flush; alternatively, complying flow-reduction devices can be installed. Any toilet replaced during a renovation must be replaced with a 1.6 gallons per flush model. 

Heating systems need R-3 insulation on exposed ductwork, or for hot water systems, R-3 insulation on hot water pipes. Hot water heaters must be wrapped with R-12 insulation, and the hot and cold water pipes at the tank must be insulated to a minimum of R-3 for the first two feet from the tank. For maximum heat retention, all exposed hot water pipes could be insulated at very little cost. 

How much should you spend on bringing the property into compliance? For single-family homes, a single-structure with two condos or live/work units or less, the maximum required expense is 0.75 percent of the sale price ($750 per $100,000). For one dwelling structure with three or more units, the rate is $0.50 per square foot. 

Note that any residential property that undergoes renovation with a total construction cost of $50,000 or more, must also comply with the requirements of the RECO ordinance. RECO inspection and documentation for renovation work is done through the normal building inspection process. 

To discover what your home may need to comply with RECO before buying or selling, check the full Compliance Guide available at Berkeley’s Energy Office at 2180 Milvia St., or call 981-5435. You may also visit the website at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ENERGY/RECO.html 

Perform the recommended measures for your home. Once the measures are installed, you should call for an audit, at 649-4854 weekdays, or 569-3080 weekday evenings. An authorized inspector will come to your home and conduct the audit. The current cost for the initial audit is $45 for a single-family unit, plus $5 for each additional unit.  

Once the building has passed the RECO inspection, you will receive a “FORM A, Certificate of Compliance,” which must be filed at the city’s Building and Safety Division at the Permit Service Center. Filing costs $15; once you have passed the audit and filed Form A, your home will be in compliance. Your energy bills will reflect this, saving you money and energy from now on. 

For more helpful tips on saving energy, visit the city’s Energy Office website at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ENERGY, or call 981-5435. 

Alice La Pierre is an energy analyst for the City of Berkeley. She promotes green building and energy conservation in Berkeley.

Read Bay Area’s Olympic bid on the Internet 

The Bay Area team seeking to bring the Olympics to the region in 2012 said Monday it has placed its proposal on the Internet, pointing out that most of the needed facilities are ready and waiting. 

If the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee succeeds in beating New York City to become the U.S. candidate, and then in three years becomes the international choice for the 30th Olympiad, the activities would stretch from Napa County through both San Francisco and the East Bay to Santa Clara County and even Monterey's old Fort Ord campus. 

Added to the appeal of the Bay Area's bid is the region's moderate summer climate, renowned geography, cultural diversity and wealth of existing athletic venues. The boosters are calling their loop of sporting structures around the Bay the “Ring of Gold.”  

Partly because 80 percent of the needed infrastructure is already in place, proponents say the games would produce a $7 billion economic boost for the region and turn a $400 million profit for the U.S. Olympic Movement. 

The roughly 1,000-page bid, including finances and transportation plans, is available on the Internet at www.basoc2012.org. 

The next word for Bay Area Olympic boosters is expected on Nov. 3, when the U.S. Olympic Committee will select the U.S. candidate city. The United States has hosted the Games eight times. 

Richmond landfill fire out but area hot 

RICHMOND – A Richmond Fire Department spokesman says a two-acre landfill fire appears to be extinguished but firefighters will stay at the scene overnight in case it starts back up. 

Battalion Chief Jim Fajardo said the damaged portion of the landfill, which is located at the end of Parr Boulevard west of Richmond Parkway near Richmond, appeared black at 10:30 p.m. However, firefighters continued to spray water because of an unusual amount of steam, which he said means the area is still hot. 

“It looks impressive but not as impressive as the fire and smoke,” he said. 

The fire started at about 7 p.m. Crews assisted from Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, Pinole, Rodeo/Hercules, Richmond, Martinez, Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda.

LOS ANGELES — California became the first state in the country to enact a comprehensive paid family leave program for workers under a bill signed Monday by Gov. Gray Davis. 

Supporters hoped the bill would serve as a nationwide model, while business groups denounced it as too costly for employers. 

“I don’t want Californians to choose between being good parents and good employees,” Davis said during a signing ceremony at the University of California, Los Angeles’ Mattel Children’s Hospital. 

The new law allows workers to take six weeks off to care for a newborn, a newly adopted child or ill family member. Under the plan, employees will be eligible to receive 55 percent of their wages during their absence, up to a maximum payment of $728 a week. 

The paid-leave law is the latest of several groundbreaking social and environmental laws passed in California this year. 

Earlier, California became the first state to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. On Sunday, Davis signed a bill to allow stem cell research in the state, hoping it will attract scientists who someday might be able to use the research to cure chronic diseases. Last year, President Bush restricted federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research to a select number of existing cell lines, but critics say many of those stem cells are in poor condition and are useless for research. 

Under the state’s new paid-leave program, workers would be allowed to start taking leaves as of July 1, 2004. 

The program would be funded entirely by employee payroll deductions, averaging about $27 a year and ranging up to $70 a year for those earning more than $72,000 annually. About 13 million of California’s 16 million workers would be eligible, exempting state and local government employees who contribute to a different plan. 

The bill does not provide protection for all workers. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees are not required to hold a job for a worker who takes paid family leave, according to the AFL-CIO, which helped write the bill.

BERKELEY — A Philadelphia-based think tank has launched a Web site called Campus Watch on which plans to list and discuss instances of anti-Israeli sentiment around the country with a focus on activity at several universities, including three from the San Francisco Bay area. 

The site is managed by Middle East Forum, according to an introduction on the homepage, and will monitor reaction to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and profile individuals who teach the subject throughout the United States. 

It focuses, however, on 14 schools which have had experienced intense campus unrest related to the conflict, including the University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco State University and Stanford University. 

Harvard University, Colorado College and the University of North Carolina also are included on the list. 

The new site comes to the Internet just days after Harvard University president Lawrence Summers denounced as anti-Semitic a campaign, which began at Berkeley, that condemns Israel for human rights abuses and urges universities to divest in companies there.

SAN FRANCISCO — The state Department of Transportation has reversed course on how it will comply with a judge’s order to treat U.S. flags and banners the same, saying Monday it now will remove them all from highway overpasses because of concerns about safety. 

Last week, Caltrans said it would comply with a January court order by leaving up all flags and banners that did not pose a safety hazard. 

Judge Ronald Whyte of U.S. District Court in San Jose issued the order in response to a lawsuit brought by Amy Courtney and Cassandra Brown last year. They argued their anti-war banners were taken down because of their content, while U.S. flags were left up. 

Whyte ordered the agency to enforce its rules on a content- and viewpoint-neutral basis, saying the agency could not grant exemptions for U.S. flags. Caltrans’ policy has been to take down all banners and signs except for American flags. 

The decision means the agency is reverting to its decision made shortly after the judge’s order.

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court has referred a lawsuit over a $3.3 billion settlement between California and one of the state’s largest utilities to the state Supreme Court. 

Both sides called the decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals a victory in the battle over whether the California Public Utilities Commission could use a court settlement to maintain record-high electricity rates for customers of Southern California Edison. 

The Utility Reform Network, a consumer advocacy group, sued to stop the agreement between the utility and its regulator, saying it was reached behind closed doors and violated the state’s deregulation laws that set a rate freeze for retail customers. 

Edison amassed about $6 billion in debts when wholesale electricity rates soared above the capped retail rates the utility charged its customers in 2000 and 2001. State lawmakers and Gov. Gray Davis debated for months on what role the state should play in Edison’s future, but legislation to bail out the utility failed. 

The PUC settled a federal suit with the utility in October to help Edison pay debts by maintaining for two more years a temporary rate increase approved a year earlier. 

The federal judges Monday upheld the PUC’s authority on several federal issues, which PUC and Edison officials said validated their arguments. 

“We are pleased that the court affirmed the settlement against all federal law challenges, and that the California Supreme Court will be deciding the important state law issues that it raises,” said Gary Cohen, general counsel for the PUC. “We are confident that the settlement ultimately will be upheld by the California Supreme Court.” 

But, the federal court said, there was “a serious question of whether the agreement between the commission and SoCal Edison violated state law, both in substance and in the procedure by which the commission agreed to it.” 

That means the state Supreme Court will have to choose whether to decide if the PUC violated the 1996 deregulation law and the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, said Nettie Hoge, executive director of TURN. 

Edison officials said the state’s open meeting law allowed an exception to allow state agencies to meet privately with attorneys and that’s what the PUC was doing while crafting a settlement of a lawsuit. 

LOS ANGELES — The shortage of affordable housing is affecting Latinos more than any other group of Californians and could force many immigrants and their families out of the state, according to a Pepperdine University study. 

Foreign-born Latino homeowners on average spend 43 percent of their income on mortgage payments, compared with an average of 32 percent among U.S.-born Californians, according to the study scheduled for release Tuesday. 

The affordability gap risks leaving the segment of the population “discouraged, alienated and politically detached,” the study said. It could also create conflicts between a permanent class of renters and homeowners, according to the report, whose sponsors included the Olson Co., a builder of affordable housing for minorities. 

Hispanics account for about 12 million of California’s 35 million residents and buy more than one in five homes sold in the state. 

By the middle of the century they are expected to form the majority ethnic group in the state. But many Latino families may instead choose to leave for more affordable regions of the country if the shortage of affordable housing is not properly addressed, the report said. 

The study calls on companies to extend credit to working and middle class families and on the government to adjust the tax system so it depends less on retail sales — a policy that can favor the development of shopping malls over residences. 

Google launches news page 

MOUNTAIN VIEW — Internet search engine Google has launched the beta version of Google News, a new Web page containing links to breaking news headline stories from 4,000 media outlets worldwide. 

The top stories are highlighted under common categories such as world, U.S., science and technology news, and each contains a reference to when the story was most recently updated. 

The placement of the stories on the page is determined by Google’s search term algorithm and doesn’t use the news editors that many other Web portals employ, according to Google product manager Marissa Mayer. 

Clicking on a link takes the reader to news sites that display stories by The Associated Press and other wire services, as well as their own content. Google News only links to stories generated within the past 30 days. 

Mayer said Monday the company has been working on the Google News project since January and will keep the Web page in a trial phase before looking at ways to possibly cash in on the feature in the future. 

Microsoft, HP to invest  

$50 million in promoting .NET 

REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft Corp. and Hewlett Packard Co. will spend $50 million over the next two and a half years to add sales and technical personnel to help drive adoption by businesses of Microsoft’s .NET-based software. 

HP, based in Palo Alto, Calif., and Redmond-based Microsoft plan to spend about $25 million each, said Rick Fricchione, vice president of Enterprise Ready Microsoft Services at HP. 

A formal announcement of the new effort was scheduled for Tuesday. 

JDS Uniphase cuts first-quarter sales outlook 

SAN JOSE — JDS Uniphase Corp., citing continued weakness in the telecommunications market, lowered its first-quarter sales outlook to between $190 million and $200 million. 

The San Jose-based optical technology company said Monday it expects to report an operating loss of 6 cents to 8 cents a share in the first quarter, excluding restructuring costs. 

The pro forma loss is unchanged from the company’s July outlook, and compares with analysts’ estimates of a loss of 6 cents a share for the period, according to Thomson First Call. 

JDS previously announced a first-quarter sales outlook in the range of $200 million to $210 million. 

The company said its lower sales estimate for the first quarter, which ends Sept. 30, reflects contract cancellations of $10 million to $20 million.

Berkeley police say they are looking for people who may have witnessed an armed robbery at the Cambridge Sound Works store at 2350 Shattuck Ave., Sept. 15, even though witnesses may not have known what was going on. 

Police say three men took over the store at about noon and stole more than $75,000 worth of electronics. One suspect has been arrested. Two remain at large. 

The robbers posed as store employees and ushered customers out of the business while employees were bound and locked in a bathroom. They locked the store doors and pretended to be closed after turning a number of customers away. 

Anyone who was at Cambridge Sound Works between noon and 2 p.m., Sept. 15 is urged to contact Berkeley police at 981-5742.

SAN FRANCISCO — The federal government resumed its bid to ban Oregon doctors from helping terminally ill patients commit suicide, filing papers Monday with an appeals court in an effort to strike down the only such law in the nation. 

Attorney General John Ashcroft is seeking to sanction and perhaps hold Oregon doctors criminally liable if they prescribe lethal doses of medication, as the voter-approved Death With Dignity Act allows. 

“The attorney general has permissibly concluded that suicide is not a legitimate medical purpose,” Justice Department attorney Jonathan H. Levy wrote in the appeal filed at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 

A federal judge in Portland, Ore., blocked the Justice Department from punishing Oregon doctors — such as stripping them of their ability to dispense medication if they prescribe lethal doses of medication to the terminally ill. 

The case is a classic states’ rights battle, with Oregon defending its assisted-suicide law against attacks from the Justice Department. 

In a sharp rebuke to Ashcroft, U.S. District Judge Robert Jones ruled in April that the Controlled Substances Act — the federal law declaring what drugs doctors may prescribe — does not give the federal government the power to say what is a legitimate medical practice. 

Ashcroft first declared the federal government had such power on Nov. 6, 2001, and the government reiterated that point Monday, arguing the act “prohibits physicians from prescribing controlled substances except for legitimate medical purposes.” 

The Pacifica Foundation radio network will return to Berkeley by March, three years after it fled the city amid protests and lawsuits. 

The radio network’s interim Board of Directors voted 12-1 Sunday to move its headquarters from Washington D.C. back to Berkeley, where it was founded more than 50 years ago. 

The surprisingly lopsided vote came after an interim board decision last month to put off the network’s move. 

Sunday’s vote means the network’s executive director and top decision making staff will again be stationed in Berkeley. To win the support of Washington interim board members who were opposed to the Berkeley move, the body decided to establish a national news bureau in Washington. 

Board members said the return to Berkeley was poetic justice after the destructive policies of the previous board. 

The 1999 board tried to fire staff members and moderate the political view of its Berkeley station KPFA. Station supporters took to the streets in protest and filed lawsuits against the board. In response, the board in January 2000, moved its headquarters under the cover of darkness to Washington.  

In addition to KPFA, Pacifica also holds licenses of community stations in New York, Los Angeles, Houston and Washington. 

“It’s important to right the wrongs of the past,” said interim board member Leslie Cagan. “One of those wrongs was the theft of the office from Berkeley.” 

Pacifica’s interim board was formed as part of a legal settlement between the former board and protesters.  

The board’s decision was not as simple as the 12-1 vote may appear. After it voted in March to return to Berkeley by the end of the year, a faction of board members tried to stall the move. 

Dominated by board members from Washington, they passed a resolution last month by a 7-4 vote that effectively halted the foundation’s return to Berkeley because of a lack of funds.  

After two years of internal legal wrangling, Pacifica has been left $1.5 million in debt, and interim treasurer Jabri Zakiya said a move would cost several hundred thousand dollars.  

However, at Sunday’s board meeting in Houston, new Executive Director Dan Coughlin presented a budget for 2003 that estimated the move at $120,000.  

Because Pacifica owns its Berkeley headquarters and rents its current site in Washington, Coughlin estimated that the move would actually save the network $73,900 a year and would pay for itself within two years. 

Additionally, rank-and-file members of the five stations pressured board members to support the move. According to interim board member Debbie Spooner, every station manager told board members that Pacifica could not heal from its recent turmoil until it had returned to its rightful home in Berkeley. 

Even Washington station members voted by a slim margin in favor of returning the headquarters to Berkeley. 

In the final vote, only Jabari Zakiya, the Washington-based treasurer voted against the move.Zakiya could not be reached for comment.

To the Editor: 

The Berkeley coffee initiative featured in the Sept. 20 issue, requiring retailers to sell only organic, shade grown, or Fair Trade coffee, may end up hurting the coffee farmers it is intended to protect. A better alternative would be to inform buyers of unfriendly coffee and that it may be harmful to the environment and unkind to small-scale coffee growers. Educated consumers would then have a choice and many would choose the friendly coffees. The initiative would mostly result in higher prices for brewed coffee, often with the buyer not knowing why. 

The informational approach could spread to other cities and make many people aware of the problem. The coercive approach, though, could be rejected by other cities as just another example of Berkeley's proclivity for intervention. By rejecting the educational approach, the coffee initiative treats Berkeley residents as heartless louts who would spurn friendly coffee if informed and given a free choice. When we force people to do good, it destroys the development of a good conscience. By voting in this initiative, we will never know how well voluntary methods would have worked. 

Fred Foldvary 

Berkeley

For three weeks the Cal football team took advantage of just about every opportunity it had. On Saturday against Air Force Academy, missing out on those opportunities cost the Golden Bears their undefeated season. 

Cal (3-1) nearly took the game into overtime, failing on a last-gasp two-point conversion that would have tied the game, but lost 23-21 to the Falcons (3-0) at Memorial Stadium in front of a crowd of 31,816. 

The Bears wide receivers dropped 10 passes on Saturday, hurting both the team’s chances at winning and quarterback Kyle Boller’s passing numbers. After completing 63 percent of his passes in the first three games, Boller was just 13-for-37 for 216 yards against Air Force. Boller’s only interception of the day was caused by wideout LaShaun Ward’s bobble, with Air Force’s Wes Crawley taking the ball out of Ward’s hands in the first quarter. That turnover led to the Falcons’ first score, a 34-yard field goal that tied the game 3-3. 

Ward’s catching problems didn’t end there. With the Bears down 23-15 and two minutes remaining, Boller led the offense down the field for Cal’s only touchdown of the game on a 17-yard pass to Jonathon Makonnen. But the Bears could have scored several plays earlier when Ward dropped a wide-open post pattern, one of three drops by the senior on that drive alone. 

“We can’t drop the ball like that and expect to beat a good team like Air Force,” Cal head coach Jeff Tedford said. “But Kyle kept throwing darts and eventually someone made a play.” 

The ensuing two-point conversion attempt nearly tied the game, as Boller rolled out to the right and had tailback Joe Igber open for a split-second in the endzone. But Air Force safety Jeff Overstreet got a hand on the pass to clinch the Falcons’ upset victory. 

“I’ll probably have a nightmare over and over about that hand getting in there,” Boller said. “[Overstreet] couldn’t have timed it any better. That ball was going to hit Joe right in the chest.” 

But if Boller and the offense had been able to put just one more ball into the endzone earlier in the game the last-minute drive wouldn’t have been necessary. From the first play of the game, when Air Force quarterback Chance Harridge fumbled the ball away on his own 28-yard line, the Bears had plenty of chances to take the ball down the field. But six of their drives all stalled inside the Air Force 25-yard line, as penalties and dropped passes doomed them to six field-goal attempts. 

“It just came down to us kicking too many field goals and not scoring enough touchdowns,” Tedford said. “[Kicker] Mark Jensen did a great job, but we have to get touchdowns.” 

Jensen set a school record for field goals with five, with his only miss blocked by Air Force’s Wes Crawley. 

“I appreciated the fact that I’m getting the opportunity to help the team, but it’s a little bittersweet because it means the offense isn’t finishing drives,” Jensen said. 

The Cal defense did an admirable job against the Air Force option attack for most of the game, but gave up a few big plays at key moments. Fullback Steve Massie plowed through the middle of the line for a 45-yard gain in the third quarter that led to a six-yard touchdown run by Harridge that cut the Cal lead to 12-10.  

Then after the Falcons had taken a 16-15 lead on a two-yard touchdown by Harridge and forced the Bears into a three-and-out, the quarterback picked up 45 yards on four carries on his team’s final drive, including a 13-yard touchdown run. 

“We quit trying to run outside, we quit trying to run sweeps and we just started running the triple option right at them,” Harridge said of the second half. “They just couldn’t stop it. We ran right at them for the entire second half of the game.” 

Harridge seemed to get tougher to tackle as the game wore on, ending up with 124 yards on 25 carries after running for just 37 yards in the first half. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound junior repeatedly chose to keep the ball on the option rather than pitch out to a running back and took some big hits, but he just kept bouncing back up for more punishment. 

“We over-pursued at times when [Harridge] cut back against us,” Cal defensive coordinator Bob Gregory said. “The option is about assignments on defense. You have to take away the dive, the keeper and the pitch. If you have one part that’s not covered they’ll hurt you.” 

Notes: Cal linebacker Matt Nixon suffered a knee sprain in the fourth quarter. Tedford said he would be re-evaluated today... Igber moved into fifth on the Cal career rushing list with 2823 yards... The win over Cal gave Air Force victories over a Big Ten team and a Pac-10 team in the same season for the first time. The Falcons beat Northwestern earlier in the season.

The likelihood that the Berkeley Unified School District will not balance it’s projected $3.9 million budget this year, will apparently have little effect on the district’s relationship with the Alameda County Office of Education, despite earlier concerns that it might. 

County Superintendent Sheila Jordan said Friday that, while she would prefer that the district close the gap this year, she will provide Berkeley Unified with some flexibility to pursue a multi-year deficit reduction strategy. 

“Obviously we would like them to eliminate [the deficit this year], but we are working together on it,” said Jordan. 

The county office rejected Berkeley Unified’s 2002-2003 budget early last week, in part because of the deficit problem. 

The office has ultimate sanction over the district’s budgeting. 

On Friday, despite county budget concerns, Superintendent Michele Lawrence said the Berkeley Unified School District will probably not make cuts necessary to erase the deficit this fiscal year. 

County rejection of the budget, coming in in a letter Tuesday, found fault not only with the $3.9 million deficit, but with a vague financial recovery plan. The district has until Dec. 15 to develop a more detailed blueprint for recovery. 

If the district fails to meet county standards, it will go back to the drawing board but will face no additional penalties, Jordan said. The county will take over the district if the budget is ultimately deemed unworkable, Jordan said. 

Lawrence said the district will comply with the Dec. 15 deadline for a revised budget and new, likely multi-year, recovery plan. But Berkeley’s complex budget problems may prevent the district from providing the sort of specificity in its recovery plan that the county is seeking. 

“It may not be as detailed as, perhaps, they would like,” she said. 

Jordan said there will likely be some “give and take” over the level of detail, but said the scheme will have to be a “viable” one. 

“We need to be assured that there really is a plan in place,” she said. 

The recovery plan will serve as the basis for future cuts. Lawrence said it is too early to speculate about what types of reductions will be on the list. But the board, which slashed millions in February through layoffs and class size increases among other measures, will face a particularly painful round of cuts this time, she said. 

“We’ve pealed away the onion layers and we’re at the heart of things,” Lawrence said. “The next cuts are going to be hard.” 

School board member John Selawsky said more layoffs are a possibility. 

“I would really hate to say it’s a probability, but I think, realistically, we’re going to have to look at it,” he said. “Personnel cuts are going to be on the table.” 

Mid-year layoffs are unlikely, and illegal in the case of certified teachers and administrators, but staff reductions could go into effect for the 2003-2004 school year. 

Community members have argued that the district did not include the public enough when it made the cuts last year.  

Lawrence has long contended that the district had to move quickly then because it did not learn the enormity of the budget crisis until January. This year, she said, Berkeley Unified will seek more public input. Lawrence said she has not yet determined how she will seek input. 

In her letter to the district Tuesday, Jordan laid out not only short-term, but long-term budget concerns for Berkeley Unified. A roughly 300-student drop in district enrollment, she noted, will lead to a dip in state funding next year. 

Lawrence said she is not overly concerned about the enrollment decline because, while fewer students means less revenue, it also means fewer costs. Berkeley Unified, for instance, may be able to cut down on the rent it pays for portable classrooms at overcrowded schools if it has fewer students to serve, she noted. 

The county office also raised concerns about the district’s ability to grant its employees salary increases in the face of a fiscal crisis. Board member Ted Schultz said those concerns are legitimate ones. 

“I’m hopeful that we can give reasonable salary increases, but I think Sheila Jordan is perfectly right – if we are in a real bind financially, that’s going to be difficult to do,” said Schultz. 

Stephanie Allan, business agent for Local 39, which represents classified employees in Berkeley Unified, said the district’s four unions are looking warily to the spring, when their contracts expire and the issue of wages resurfaces. 

“I can assure you the district has the money,” said Allan. “The question is, where do they spend it?”

To the Editor: 

Peter Teichner’s dismissal of smart growth (Forum, Sept. 17, 2002) typifies an attitude that unfortunately is gaining currency in the Bay Area as we contemplate our future and don’t like what we see. 

What we see is tremendous growth – approximately 1 million more people in the next 20 years and a 120 percent increase in automobile congestion, according to the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). It might be nice to slam the door on all these people and say “No more, you can’t come in,” but more than half of these are our children and the natural increase that they bring as we all live longer. The current economic slump is only temporary, and the Bay Area is still one of the most desirable places in the country in which to live and work despite its problems. 

If we do not provide denser and more affordable housing on transportation corridors that will enable people to live close to their work and have real transit options, they’ll live in sprawling suburbs and they’ll drive. A lot more of those cars will be traveling in and out of Berkeley. 

In Berkeley, some very well-designed 3-5 story buildings along our major transit corridors are creating a more vibrant, exciting, diverse city with thriving neighborhood stores and allowing our teachers and public workers to live here instead of in far-off suburbs. In my own neighborhood, a vacant lot was turned into a five-story building that houses a cafe and a Mexican ceramics store. It is a great addition to our community and because of the location along transit, the residents own many fewer cars than their counterparts in sprawling suburbs. 

Teichner rails against Berkeley’s big developers, but he has the wrong enemy in his sights. Our coalition teams up with Greenbelt Alliance and the Sierra Club to defeat large sprawling projects in the Bay Area Greenbelt. We fight the likes of Shea Homes and Sunset Developers, the mega-sprawl developers. We are successfully convincing voters in areas like Livermore to defeat new sprawl developments because we still have space in our underutilized transit corridors. The sprawl developers are just waiting for smart growth to fail so they can show the voters there is no antidote to sprawl and get their bulldozers to work in undeveloped outlying areas. 

Berkeley once had 8,000 more residents than it does today and we have to continue to provide housing. The alternative is to remain silent as farms and open space are plowed to make way for new homes. I urge all to oppose Measure P, which would bring new housing to a screeching halt in Berkeley. After all, among others, these are our children we are trying to house. I'd like them to have the choice of vibrant neighborhoods instead of more sprawl. 

Stuart Cohen 

Executive Director, 

Transportation And Land Use Coalition (TALC) 

Sophomore Mike Muñoz had a goal and an assist to lead the Cal men’s soccer team past San Francisco, 2-0, on Sunday at Edwards Stadium. 

The win was the third straight for the Bears (4-2-1), who haven’t given up goal during that stretch. 

The Bears out-shot USF 14-7 and controlled the ball for most of the second half, just missing on several opportunities to score additional goals. 

“Today was probably our best game from minute one to minute 90,” Cal head coach Kevin Grimes said. “We came out completely focused, motivated and anxious to play.” 

Cal scored just their second first-half goal of the season on Sunday. Muñoz drove a corner kick high into the area and freshman Tyson Wahl rose and headed the ball into the upper-right corner of the goal, just over a defender’s head. The 32nd-minute goal was Wahl’s first college score and Muñoz’s first assist of the season. 

“We’ve been working hard on set pieces in training, and it finally paid off today,” Grimes said. All of Cal’s previous goals came from the run of play. 

Muñoz gave the Bears a two-goal cushion in the 51st minute, with freshman Garrett Terracciano flicking a cross back onto Muñoz’s foot from near the goal line. Muñoz took a touch before slamming the ball past USF goalkeeper Mark Muleady for his team-high third goal of the season. 

The Bears travel to Santa Clara on Thursday to take on the Broncos, then host Tulsa on Sunday at noon at Edwards Stadium. 

• FRESNO – Cal freshman Tracy Hamm tallied her first career hat trick, scoring three goals against Fresno State on Sunday in a 4-1 win. Hamm leads the Bears with six goals on the season. 

Freshman Dania Cabello scored the other goal for Cal (5-1-1) off of a Carly Fuller corner kick, while Kotri Koivisto-Nokso scored for Fresno State (1-7). Kim Yokers and Kassie Doubrava also had assists for the Bears. 

Cal heads east next weekend for games against Penn and Hartford.

For a city that has changed immeasurably since its hippie heyday, Telegraph Avenue can sometimes seem a land suspended in time. But some peace activists say that after this weekend, it will never be the same. 

John Vance, an icon among Telegraph avenue tablers has decided to pack up his “F--k Bush” bumper stickers and “Don’t Believe Everything You Think” pins and ride off into the sunset of San Diego. 

“Telegraph is like an outpatient clinic,” said Vance who has worked as a street merchant in Berkeley since 1991. “I’ve reached the point where I want to go somewhere for some quiet time.” 

But in fitting form, the Berkeley rabble rouser did not leave quietly. 

Friends and fellow activists threw Vance a rollicking going away party Sunday at another testament to Berkeley’s counter-culture past – People’s Park. 

In what seemed like a time warp, members of the original People’s Park movement, homeless activists and even a colony of nudists frolicked on the lawn in celebration of Vance’s contributions to Berkeley. 

The freewheeling scene reminded Vance why he decided to leave Oregon for Berkeley in 1991. 

“I thought Berkeley was a place where I could do what’s not so acceptable in other places,” he said. 

Since his arrival, Vance became the glue to Berkeley’s disparate activist community. From his table at the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Channing Way, Vance served as a liaison between activists of different causes and made a monthly calendar highlighting their events and rallies. 

Vance, though, has his own political agenda. Many of the stickers, pins and other paraphernalia he designs and sells express his distaste for President George W. Bush and his concerns about police brutality. 

Vance does not come off as the prototypical Berkeley leftist. A former landscaper and Vietnam veteran, with thick muscular hands, Vance seems more carpenter than activist.  

He said he never considered politics until he was in his 20s, when he watched a documentary about a Massachusetts’s company that poisoned the environment of a New England town. Since viewing the film, he began organizing for progressive causes and became a bit of a vagabond. He has crisscrossed the country several times, making several stops in Berkeley during the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. 

Although his imminent move to San Diego may signal a desire to slow down, Vance doesn’t plan on keeping his stickers and buttons in the moving box for too long. 

“I’ll be looking for a spot there too,” Vance said. “It will be interesting dealing with San Diego. They have a progressive community, but they also have a lot of Republicans who need to get woken up.” 

To the Editor: 

When my family moved to south Berkeley almost six years ago, this neighborhood was a frightening place. Drug dealers pedalled openly on the streets, soliciting all, and enlisting the active participation of young children. My neighbors were so overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the crime level that we had a hard enough time even reaching out to each other, much less anyone else and when we did, we had a hard time getting the city to take the situation as seriously as it warranted. That is, until we connected with Shirley Dean. Dean was, and is, the one reliable person who always listened and responded with appropriate action. She doesn't just talk a good line; every single time we talked to her about the desperate problems in our neighborhoods, she acted and did whatever was possible for each given situation. She made sure all the other city agencies, in a position to respond to our needs, were contacted and engaged. She followed through and we developed an active, constructive, three-way chain of communication with the police department, ourselves and the mayor. 

Not all the problems have been solved. Some of the problems have been plaguing south Berkeley for the past 30 years and even consistent, dedicated effort doesn't provide solutions to every woe. Nevertheless, south Berkeley is a far better, far safer place to live and raise your children than it was a few years ago and before I met Dean. Quite frankly, I can't imagine where we would be now had it not been for the mayor's tenacious support. I hope my neighbors will retain a clear memory about where we were, how far we've come and just how very much we owe to Dean when it's time to vote in the next mayoral election. 

Sam Herbert 

Berkeley

No. 25 Kansas State 27,  

No. 11 USC 20 

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Ell Roberson came off the bench to throw one touchdown pass and run for another score. 

No. 9 Oregon 41, Portland St. 0 

EUGENE, Ore. – Onterrio Smith ran for 115 yards and two touchdowns and Jason Fife threw for two more as No. 9 Oregon defeated Portland State 41-0. 

No. 17 Wisconsin 31, Arizona 10 

MADISON, Wis. – Anthony Davis ran for 110 yards and two touchdowns as 17th-ranked Wisconsin built a 24-point halftime lead and coasted to a 31-10 victory over Arizona. 

Colorado 31, No. 20 UCLA 17 

PASADENA – Chris Brown ran for 188 yards and three touchdowns Saturday as the Buffaloes upset No. 20 UCLA 31-17.  

No. 18 Washington State 45, Montana State 28 

PULLMAN, Wash. – Jermaine Green ran for two touchdowns and caught a pass for another as 18th-ranked Washington State beat Montana State 45-28 win.

GIZEL, Russia – A 500-foot-high chunk of glacier crashed down a Caucasus mountainside, burying a village in ice, rocks and mud and leaving as many as 100 people missing and feared dead Saturday — among them, a popular Russian action star who was filming a movie. 

Part of the village of Nizhny Karmadon was destroyed, a government spokeswoman in Moscow said. The village, home to about 50 people, was almost entirely covered in ice, leaving little chance of finding anyone alive there, an emergency official at the scene said. 

At least 86 people were missing, said Lt. Gen. Ivan Teterin, the Emergency Situation Ministry official heading the search, including 17 people whose houses were destroyed in the village of Nizhny Karmadon, six of them children. The missing also included hikers and 40 people with the crew led by actor-director Sergei Bodrov Jr., said Marina Ryklina, a ministry spokeswoman in Moscow. 

She said officials suspected the total number of missing was about 100. 

The avalanche raged down the Karmadon Gorge in the Russian republic of North Ossetia late Friday after a glacier 495 feet tall broke off from below a peak in the rugged Caucasus Mountains, gathering a mix of mud, rocks and uprooted tree trunks its path. 

Moving at more than 62 mph, the avalanche slid 20 miles before it stopped on the Gizel-Karmadon highway about 6 miles from the regional capital of Vladikavkaz. 

Seen from the road, the path of destruction was about 300-400 yards wide. 

Teterin said that one man from the area near Nizhny Karmadon was found dead, his body seriously damaged. A spokesman for North Ossetian President Alexander Dzasokhov said four bodies were found, the Interfax news agency reported. 

Eight houses and a three-story sanatorium in the village were destroyed, but it was unclear whether anyone was in the sanatorium at the time, Teterin said. He said three people were plucked from the area near the avalanche by helicopters and 31 others found and taken to safety by rescuers. 

Mikhail Shatalov, the prime minister of North Ossetia, a tiny region about 940 miles southeast of Moscow, told the ITAR-Tass news agency that up to 100 people were feared dead. 

Bodrov had been filming a movie with a crew of 27 people in the area — where he has made movies in the past. Along with the crew were 13 drivers and other people who were also among the missing, Ryklina said. 

Mikhail Maltsev, a spokesman for STV film company, told Echo of Moscow radio that Bodrov’s crew had been filming a movie for the company in the mountains near the site of the avalanche. 

In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the avalanche was “truly a great tragedy.” 

“The main task is to find the missing people, restore the region’s infrastructure, I mean electric lines and vital necessities,” he told reporters after meeting Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov. 

Gulya Revazova, a spokeswoman for North Ossetia’s traffic police, said that two traffic police officers had accompanied the Bodrov’s group and were among the missing. 

Two border guards patrolling nearby also were missing as of Friday night, the emergency official said. The area is near the border with the former Soviet republic of Georgia. 

Several tourist campsites are located in the gorge where the glacier fell, but it was unclear whether they had been in the avalanche’s path. 

Ambulances and officials from North Ossetia and the nearby republic of Ingushetia converged Saturday on the blocked highway. Rescuers went over the ice and mud on foot to look for survivors. 

Murat Batayev, head of the rescue service of the nearby republic of Ingushetia, said in the late morning that 25 people had been rescued. He did not elaborate. 

Bodrov is best known for his roles in the Russian action movies “Brother” and “Brother 2.” His father is an acclaimed director and Bodrov Jr., 30, has starred in some of his films, including the acclaimed “Prisoner of the Caucasus,” set in the same mountains where he went missing Friday. 

OAKLAND – An Alameda County jury decided in favor of NBA players Gary Payton and Brian Shaw Wednesday after a five-week civil trial in connection with a defunct Emeryville billiards club.  

The four plaintiffs, who demanded $300,000 compensation and punitive damages, accused Payton and Shaw as well as mutual friend William Brew and Payton’s agent Aaron Goodwin of reneging on a verbal agreement to invest in the club First Place Sports Bar and Billiards.  

Though the jury said in its questionnaire that it believed Payton and Shaw made false representations, it also said neither man crossed the line of fraud and owes nothing to the plaintiffs. 

Payton currently plays for the Seattle Supersonics and Brian Shaw plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. Both are originally from Oakland. 

Though Payton and Shaw were acquitted, the jury ordered Brew, a part owner of the club, to pay $150,000 to plaintiffs Michael Ohayon and brothers Robert and Victor Aissa and Goodwin to pay $38,160 to Glenn Matsuhara. 

In October 1995, under the name First Place Development Partnership, Ohayon, and the brothers became minority shareholders of First Place Sports Bar and Billiards. In a partnership with Brew and Matsuhara, Robert Aissa said he and his brother refinanced their home and invested $300,000 in hopes of expanding the business, which collapsed in 1998.  

Robert Aissa said Payton and Shaw gave numerous “legally binding” verbal assurances they would also invest in the billiard club. 

“They were hanging out at the club all the time, drawing people there, and telling us that they were in for sure,” he said. “Brian Shaw said he just needed to wait until after he renegotiated his contract with the [Orlando] Magic, [Shaw’s team at the time].” 

The defense attorneys for both players said the case had no merit. 

“The plaintiffs don’t have a right to money because Gary Payton has money,” said John Burris, Payton’s attorney, in his closing statement. “You don’t have to let someone ride your coattails unless you give them permission.” 

Robert Aissa said the partners planned to open up more billiards clubs in the East Bay and attract customers based on the popularity of other NBA players who expressed interest in the business.  

However, the business venture began to unravel in June 1997 when Matsuhara accused partner Brew of using $196,000 of the business’ funds for personal expenses. At the time, the club was late on rent payments and had taken on a $380,000 loan.  

In August 1998, Matsuhara said he sold his shares of the company as part of a deal in which Payton agreed to spend $150,000 on business expenses and Brew offered Matsuhara a $95,000 buy-out. Ohayon and the Aissa brothers said the deal meant that Payton should be liable for some of the their loses when the business went under, but Payton’s attorney said they were mistaken. 

“Payton would have been responsible for the corporation if he was a director or operator, but he wasn’t,” Burris said.  

David Bass, the attorney for Brian Shaw, argued that his client’s interest in the business did not qualify as commitment to invest. He added that Shaw and the plaintiffs had informal discussions, but no binding contract was signed. 

Plaintiff Robert Aissa said he was baffled by the jury’s decision. 

“They’re saying that [Payton and Shaw] lied, but didn’t commit fraud,” said Aissa. “I don’t understand the logic of the jury’s decision.” 

William Brew said the verdict against him could have been worse.  

“I’m very, very happy [with the jury’s decision],” Brew said.

Man shot, killed on 580 

RICHMOND – The Richmond Police Department says a 20-year-old Vallejo man was gunned down on the Regatta Boulevard on-ramp to Interstate Highway 580 early Sunday morning. 

Officers summoned to the intersection of Regatta Boulevard and Erlandson Street at 2:30 a.m. today found the bullet-ridden body of Kamal Rasheed Moore lying beside Golden Gate Gas Station, Lt. Johan Simon said. 

The Contra Costa Coroner determined that Moore died at around 1:30 a.m. Evidence suggests that Moore was shot on the freeway on-ramp as he was driving a rented 2002 Dodge Neon. He then got out of the car and started to run away from the gunman, who continued to shoot at Moore until he collapsed, Simon said. 

Police found his car abandoned on the on-ramp with the engine running and the windows shattered, Simon said. 

Richmond Police say they have no suspects and no motive for the murder. 

Tiger attack victim released 

PALO ALTO — An investigation into whether a tiger that attacked a 6-year-old boy was under proper control by its handlers is expected to be forwarded to a state agency Monday. 

The attack occurred Friday during a Baymonte Christian School assembly in Scotts Valley. The 150-pound female tiger, Sima, lunged over a row of seats and clamped its jaws around the kindergartner’s head. 

“It’s really not a question of whether the tiger bit the child or not; it’s going to be a question of whether the tiger was under proper control by the handler,” said Scotts Valley police Sgt. John Wilson. 

The report will be forwarded to the Department of Fish and Game, which will decide whether to recommend the county prosecutor press charges. 

The boy sustained two 5-inch cuts on his head, which required 55 stitches. It is unclear whether the gashes were caused by the tiger’s teeth or by the silver medallions on the handler’s belt. 

The boy, whose name has not been released, was discharged from Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto on Saturday. 

Police have asked David Jackson, director of Zoo to You Wildlife Education Inc., which owns Sima, to keep the tiger confined.

SACRAMENTO – California opened its doors Sunday to stem cell researchers whose research has been restricted by a federal limits on the cells that come from fetal and embryonic tissue. 

Gov. Gray Davis was joined by actor Christopher Reeve, a stem cell research activist since an accident left him paralyzed from the neck down, in announcing a new law that expressly permits the research. 

Davis, Reeve and other supporters said the legislation is necessary to keep California at the forefront of medical research. 

The bill was opposed by the Catholic Church and anti-abortion groups and contradicts President Bush’s efforts to limit stem cell research. 

Stem cells, which are found in human embryos, umbilical cords and placentas, can divide and become any kind of cell in the body. Opponents contend that the research is tantamount to murder because it starts with the destruction of a human embryo. 

Last year, Bush restricted federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research to a select number of existing cell lines. Critics say many of those stem cells are in poor condition and are useless for research. 

Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, authored the bill that states California will explicitly allow embryonic stem cell research, and allows for both the destruction and donation of embryos. 

The bill requires fertility clinics that do in-vitro fertilization procedures to inform women that they have the option to donate discarded embryos to research. It requires written consent for donating embryos and bans the sale of embryos. 

Ortiz and supporters of her bill said the research could be valuable in curing or alleviating chronic and degenerative conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and spinal cord injuries. 

Reeve, an ardent supporter of stem cell research, has been paralyzed since a horseback riding accident seven years ago. He has said that he has regained some feeling in his fingers and toes, but is urging further stem cell research as a way to treat paralysis. 

“Since stem cells were first isolated in 1998, the political debate has had a chilling effect on our scientists,” Reeve said Sunday. “It is painful to contemplate what advances could have been made” if that research wasn’t stifled. 

The move will attract “the best and the brightest” researchers to California, said Larry Goldstein, a professor at University of California San Diego, and halt the migration of stem cell researchers to other countries where it is permitted. 

Movie producer Jerry Zucker also joined Davis in the announcement, saying he learned about stem cell research after discovering that his young daughter had diabetes. 

“After learning the daily routine, we began to ask what was being done to cure diabetes,” he said. “Everyone told us that embryonic stem cell research is her best hope for a cure.” 

Zucker said he immediately discovered “that the biggest obstacle in finding a cure for our daughter is our own government.” 

Congress hasn’t acted on any stem cell research bills, or a bill to ban human cloning, and Ortiz said there was still a question over whether California’s law would be pre-empted by a federal statute. 

Measures pending in Congress range from allowing research to criminalizing it and prosecuting those who traveled abroad for treatment derived from stem cell research. 

Reeve said it will take a grass-roots movement to get federal policy that “truly expresses the will of the people” and he said he hoped California’s law would encourage other states to follow suit. 

“The debate will continue in the country, but these debilitating diseases affect nearly everyone in one way or another,” Davis said. “As the country ages, however, more and more Americans will see the value stem cell research has in enhancing the quality of life for the people they love.”

SACRAMENTO – A top state economist is challenging recent findings that California’s economy has slipped to sixth place overall in the world. 

A report released earlier this week by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. indicates that France has moved ahead of California and become the world’s fifth largest economy. 

The report puts California’s gross state product in 2001 at $1.309 trillion, or $1 billion below France’s estimated gross domestic product of $1.310 trillion. 

But Howard Roth, chief economist of the California Department of Finance, said the California number seems too low. 

Official numbers won’t be released by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis until June 2003. 

In the meantime, Roth said state economists assume the gross California product has grown by the same amount as total state personal income. 

“Three independent sources estimate that California personal income increased in 2001,” Roth said. “Accordingly, we are very confident that California still ranks fifth largest in 2001.” 

California’s economy has been a bragging point for Gov. Gray Davis in his bid for re-election in November.

Berkeley will celebrate its seventh annual “How Berkeley Can You Be?” parade and festival Sunday. 

The streets will begin bursting with Berkeley spirit at 11 a.m. when the parade begins at the corner of California Street and University Avenue. The parade route runs up University, onto Shattuck Avenue, then down Center Street, culminating at Civic Center Park, where festivities will continue until 5 p.m. 

“It’s about Berkeley being represented in all of its diversity,” said John Solomon, founder and organizer of the event. 

Outsiders often misconstrue the celebration as just an off-the-wall parade. But the event includes all of the city’s cultural, political and ethic groups. “It’s not just about wackos running around the streets naked,” Solomon said. 

One of the highlights of the parade will be more than 80 cars from ArtCar Fest. Also watch for People Eatin’ Them Animals, Welcome to the AARP with The Hot Flashes and the Synchronized Nap Team, and The Chicken Ranch on Wheels. Grand Marshall this year will be artist Michael Masley, a long-time Berkeley street performer whose motto is “conformity can be addictive, so beware.” 

The festival at Civic Center Park will include live performances of world music, food, dance, and a kids’ area. 

“How Berkeley Can You Be” will take place 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information call 849-4688 or go to www.howberkeleycanyoube.com.

Following last week’s 10-acre wildfire near the Berkeley-Oakland border, crews are working to douse residents’ anxieties about the fire-prone hills by chopping down trees. 

Four acres of eucalyptus, an invasive and fast-burning tree, are being cleared from UC Berkeley-owned land at the top of Claremont Canyon, about a quarter-mile from the Sept. 20 blaze along the ridgeline.  

If a tree were to start burning, the grove stands amid a funnel of hot easterly winds that could accelerate a fire into a larger blaze, said Tom Klatt, director of emergency planning for the UC Berkeley Police Department. 

“The [current] work is a strategic change in how the forest is going to look,” said Klatt, adding that the new landscape will be less prone to fire. “The benefits will accrue next year and for decades to come.” 

Last week’s fire at Claremont Canyon started when a car caught fire in the area of Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Fish Ranch Roak in Oakland. More than 100 firefighters from seven agencies fought for three hours to contain the blaze.  

No structures were damaged. However, two firefighters suffered minor leg injuries. 

Fire officials say that fire danger remains high.  

“October starts next week. ... That’s the worst of our season,” said David Orth, assistant Berkeley fire chief. 

The Claremont Canyon eucalyptus removal coincides with stepped-up fire monitoring on campus hill property, further vegetation reduction in the Panoramic Hill area and more frequent communication between East Bay fire agencies. 

High fire season will end with the first major rainfall, typically in mid-November, fire officials said. 

n Egging 

More than 40 cars were splattered with eggs in the Berkeley hills late Monday night, according to residents. 

“All up and down our street - there was one egg per car,” said Nancy Mint, who lives on the 400 block of Vincente Avenue. 

About a mile southeast on the 700 block of Keeler Avenue, a resident who wished not to be named painted a similar picture. 

“There were at least six cars hit by eggs,” she said. “When I called the police Monday morning, they said they had gotten more than 40 complaints.” She said neighbors reported empty egg cartons strewn along local streets. 

Police responded to four reported cases of car eggings Monday morning, but do not have any suspects. 

None of the victims saw the vandals, police information officer Mary Kusmiss said. 

The crime is not as petty as some might think. 

“If eggs are affixed to a car for a long period of time they can damage paint jobs,” Kusmiss said. 

Mintz was able to hose her car clean, but did notice a strange phenomenon. 

“None off the eggs had yolks,” she said, guessing that local animals sucked out the nutrient-laden core before residents awoke Monday. 

n Stolen laser 

Three men stole a $15,000 laser used for underground construction from a truck that was stopped at a traffic light at the intersection of Cedar Street and Cornell Avenue, police said. At approximately 2:10 p.m. Tuesday, three men pulled up next to the victim who was driving a delivery truck. While the victim was stopped at the red light, the men opened the unlocked truck, took the laser and sped away.  

n Brawl 

A large fight erupted at a nightclub on the 2200 block of Shattuck Avenue at 1:36 a.m. Sunday Morning, police said. Police broke up the fight and ordered the club closed for the evening. They did not make any arrests. 

n Unknown Gunfire 

Four teens were seen shooting an unknown type of gun at beer bottles on the 100 block of Seawall drive at 11:05 p.m. Tuesday night. According to police, a witness saw the shooting and assumed the suspects were firing a pellet gun. Police arrived after the four suspects had driven away and did not see evidence of and pellet fire or any other type of ammunition. The suspects escaped in a 1990s white Pontiac Sunbird with a black bra over the front of the car.  

LA VERNE — A wildfire in the foothills above Los Angeles jumped from 8,000 acres to 12,000 acres in just a few hours Tuesday, sending smoke pouring over the sprawling metropolitan area and triggering public health warnings. 

The fire, spread across 11 miles of the San Gabriel Mountains, has destroyed 44 cabins and homes and threatens hundreds of others. Flames raged unchecked as firefighters worked in rugged canyon terrain against erratic winds and triple-digit temperatures. 

Some two dozen aircraft dropped water and fire retardant on the fire, which authorities said had the potential to grow to 20,000 acres. 

Fear of new fires led officials to close the 650,000-acre Angeles National Forest, which includes the mountains, to recreation. 

“We certainly can’t afford another fire,” said Darren Drake, a fire spokesman. “This has got our hands full.” 

Conditions were so hot and dry around the fire 40 miles northeast of Los Angeles that brittle chaparral and other brush virtually exploded in flames when hit by sparks. 

“It’s whompin’,” Drake said. 

The fire threatened upscale homes in La Verne, San Dimas and other suburbs. 

“It’s very stressful. You work all your life and to see it threatened to this degree,” said George Villegas, 37, an insurance salesman who took a day off work to keep watch on his $600,000 home. His belongings were packed into his three cars and his wife and two sons were staying with relatives. 

Other residents described flames that towered 50 feet in the air and jumped between ridges. 

Voluntary evacuations were called for at least 500 homes and 1,000 people. A mandatory evacuation was ordered for 77 recreational cabins in San Dimas Canyon, and more than 200 youngsters were taken out of two juvenile detention camps. 

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is seriously considering lowering the nationwide terror alert back to code yellow because of disruptions in the al-Qaida terrorist network, including the arrest of a suspected Sept. 11 plotter, government officials said Monday. 

President Bush raised the alert to orange — the second-highest level — after U.S. intelligence warned of a “high risk” of a terrorist attack in connection with the Sept. 11 anniversary two weeks ago. 

Officials stressed that Americans should remain alert; even at code yellow, the nation faces a significant risk of attack. 

The change could be made as early as Tuesday as senior administration officials review new intelligence, weigh the potential for attack on U.S. targets and prepare a recommendation for Bush, said two officials familiar with the deliberations. They spoke on condition of anonymity. 

n Carjacking 

A man was forced from his car at gun point at approximately 1:50 a.m. Wednesday morning. According to police, the victim had stopped on Harmon Street to talk to a friend when a male acquaintance interrupted them and asked for a ride to San Pablo Avenue. The victim obliged, but during the ride, the suspect pulled out a gun and said, “This is a robbery.” The suspect stole the victim’s jewelry and ordered him to drive to 57th Street and San Pablo Avenue in Oakland. There, the suspect ordered the victim out of the car and proceeded to drive away. 

n Car burglary 

A thief busted through a car window to steal a stereo and two bags of clothes on the 2900 block of Benvenue Avenue Wednesday, police said