The vote on a seemingly straightforward ballot initiative to re-zone a piece of Berkeley waterfront property could ultimately decide where local kids play organized sports. 

Pushed by environmental groups with unanimous support from City Council, Measure N would allow the city to limit development on a 45-acre, bayshore parcel owned by Canadian firm Magna Entertainment Corporation. 

Magna has planned two hotels and retail space at the site, immediately east of the proposed Eastshore State Park near Gilman Street, according to Norman La Force of the Sierra Club. 

If the measure is passed and extensive commercial development is restricted, environmentalists and city officials hope the company can be persuaded to sell the property to the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) to be developed as sports fields. 

“It’s an ideal place to put soccer fields,” said Berkeley Mayoral candidate Tom Bates. 

Bates said he has facilitated negotiations between Magna and EBRPD on the possible exchange. Both parties refused to comment on talks, but Bates said Magna and EBRPD have hired companies to appraise the land, and that a settlement could be reached before Election Day. 

The parks district has a $10 million dollar surplus, that according to Bates, could be used to buy the land. 

A deal, Bates said, could win additional support for the planned state park, which stretches 8.1 miles from Emeryville to Richmond and has been a source of contention among competing interest groups. 

Throughout the planning stages, environmentalists have fought playing field advocates over the current plan to put three to five fields at the waterfront Albany Plateau. Environmentalists have argued the Albany parcel should remain wild habitat, while the Magna property, most of which is already paved, is better suited for playing fields. 

Both sides now have a tentative agreement to put the fields on Magna’s parcel if the company is willing to sell. 

But Doug Fielding, president of the Association of Sports Field Users, said there are still big hurdles to moving the fields. “We still don’t know if Magna will sell the property at a price EBRPD can afford, and we don’t know if EBRPD will allow for at least six fields at the site.” 

Fielding has previously said that EBRPD is hesitant to include sports fields on their property, because of their mission to protect natural habitat, but Bates said they are amenable to allowing fields in this case. 

For Berkeley voters, the November initiative is a case of deja vu. In 1986, faced with a plan by Santa Fe Railroad to turn most of the waterfront into a commercial development, city voters passed Measure Q which prohibited development on Berkeley’s southern waterfront, and limited development at other sites to no more than 565,000 square feet. 

Faced with the restrictions, Santa Fe sold 80 percent of the property to EBRPD, for $28 million, which designated the parcel as part of Eastshore State Park. However, the rest of the property which includes Golden Gate Fields Racetrack was ultimately sold to Magna. 

Contact reporter at matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

I am writing to urge those who identify themselves as socialist or working class to vote for nobody for governor this year. In 1998, after 30 years on the ballot as a socialist alternative, the Peace and Freedom Party was dropped because none of its candidates obtained 2 percent at the polls that year, though several got 1.9 percent. At the time, Peace and Freedom registration was under 50,000 statewide. Now it’s more than 80,000, within striking distance of the 86,000 it needs to regain ballot status. 

The 86,000 figure is based on 1 percent of the people who voted for any gubernatorial candidate in the 1998 election. That figure will be recalibrated this year, and if there’s a low total vote for governor, Peace and Freedom could easily regain ballot status in 2004. 

The party is the only real leftist ballot alternative in California. We need to restore alternatives for the long haul by rejecting those available in the short term. Vote nobody for governor. 

Dave Linn 

Berkeley

SAN FRANCISCO — Pac Bell Park was pumped. 

Tony Bennett serenaded the crowd with his signature song, Willie Mays threw out the first ball and Barry Bonds even hit another huge home run. 

If only the Angels had left their bats and hearts in Anaheim. 

Relentless again at the plate and on the bases, Scott Spiezio and the Angels trampled the San Francisco Giants 10-4 Tuesday night to take a 2-1 lead in the World Series. 

“We’re doing the little things it takes to win games. That’s why we’re here,” Spiezio said. 

Spiezio drove in three runs, Darin Erstad had three hits and Anaheim battered Livan Hernandez, the postseason ace who recently boasted, “I never lose in October.” 

The Angels became the first team in Series history to bat around in consecutive innings, with a flood of hits, walks and steals making it 8-1 in the fourth. 

And suddenly, the lines at the wine stands and garlic fries counter got a little longer. This party, San Francisco-style, was all but over for the 42,707 fans. Even the guy who climbed the mast of a sailboat bobbing in McCovey Cove beyond the right-field wall soon was gone. 

The Angels finished with 16 hits in keeping up a familiar pattern. They’ve lost the opener in all three of their postseason series this year, then didn’t lose again. 

“We’ve been through tough times before,” Erstad said. “We have it rolling right now.” 

A disappointing night for the Giants, who joined in listening to Bennett sing “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” from the mound before the first pitch. 

Bonds did his best, becoming the first player to homer in his first three Series games. His 437-foot, two-run shot to center field came in the fifth, the same inning Rich Aurilia connected for the Giants, but only made it 8-4. 

Bonds set a postseason record with his seventh home run and also drew two more walks. 

With 13 homers already, Anaheim and San Francisco are only four short of the record for any Series. The long balls are sure to further increase speculation that juiced balls are being used — commissioner Bud Selig insists it’s not so — but the Angels proved little ball works just fine, too. 

“We scored a lot of runs today and we didn’t hit any home runs. We have a lot of guys that are gap hitters,” Spiezio said. 

Every Angels starter except winning pitcher Ramon Ortiz got a hit. No DH, no worry. And they coasted despite setting a nine-inning Series record by leaving 15 runners on base. 

Hernandez was chased after 3 2-3 innings, the worst start of a glittery postseason career that had seen him go 6-0. Instead, he looked like the pitcher who tied for the NL lead in losses, which he did with 16. 

Now, John Lackey will start for the Angels in Game 4 Wednesday night. He’ll be pitching on his 24th birthday against Kirk Rueter. 

The fans were ready for fun from the start as Pacific Bell hosted its first Series game. After Bennett sang the city’s favorite song, Mays threw out the ball to Bonds, his godson. 

The Angels scored four times in third and four more in the fourth for an 8-1 lead. Spiezio, who dyed Angel red streaks into his hair and goatee before Game 1, was in the middle of both big innings. 

After an error by sure-handed third baseman David Bell paved the way in the third, Spiezio lined a two-run triple to the deepest part of the field. The ball rolled to the 421-foot mark at the oddly angled corner in right-center field, and a really fast runner might’ve had a chance at the first Series inside-the-park homer since Mule Haas of the Philadelphia Athletics did it in 1929. 

Hernandez was pulled after Garret Anderson’s RBI grounder in the fourth, set up when the Angels alertly pulled a double steal as the Giants’ infield overshifted to the right side. 

The Angels poured it on with hits against — and off — reliever Jay Witasick. Spiezio pulled a ball to right, Adam Kennedy hit a liner off Witasick’s right elbow and Bengie Molina delivered Anaheim’s third straight RBI single. 

David Eckstein hit an RBI single in the sixth and the Angels added a run in the eighth when the Giants botched a comebacker.

Good news for tenants. There will be no rent hikes next year. 

The Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board – for only the second time in its 22-year history – voted to deny landlords the ability to raise annual rents Monday. 

The ruling of the nine-member elected rent board means that in 2003 landlords may not increase rents for current tenants at apartments built before 1980. Tenants who moved into private houses after 1996 or live in new developments are not protected under Berkeley rent control law and will not benefit from this week’s ruling. 

The rent board is mandated to set the annual rate increase, also known as an Annual Generalized Adjustment, for rental properties to ensure that landlords get a fair return on their investment. 

According to rent board calculations, the cost of being a landlord actually dropped slightly in 2002, due to lower energy costs and deflation. 

“The board acted very responsibly in not voting for a rent decrease,” said board Executive Director Jay Kelekian. 

Landlords, not surprisingly, disagreed. “It’s a joke,” said Robert Englund of the Berkeley Property Owners Association (BPOA). The landlord group recently filed suit against the board, which it views as unabashedly pro-tenant, arguing that annual rent increases from 1996 to 2002 have been unfairly low. 

The case is scheduled to go to trial this February in Alameda County Superior Court. If landlords win, a judge could order the rent board to approve greater hikes in future years to offset previous losses. 

Landlords and the rent board have fought bitterly in recent years over the yearly rent hike. Since taking control of the board in 1995, the pro-tenant majority has kept annual increases low, averaging about 1 percent. 

According to Kelekian, the rent board uses a long-standing and legally valid formula to determine rent increases. Board members consider year-to-year cost variations for 29 different owner expenses, including water service, insurance, property taxes and utility bills. That total is then added to fluctuations in the cost of living index from the previous year to arrive at a final total. Rent board commissioners maintain some discretion to opt for a higher or lower increase, which they insist they do fairly. 

Had the rent board chosen to average 2002 owner expenses and cost of living decreases, Kelekian said the result would have been a one percent across-the-board rent decrease. In 2002, the board granted landlords a 3.5 percent or $30 per month increase to offset higher electricity costs. 

But landlords say the rent board has failed to take into account new landlord expenses, including a recent city requirement that landlords have gas heaters inspected. 

According to a letter from Theadore Edlin, many owners were not able to get PG&E to do the inspection for free, and instead had to pay private consultants at $50 to $100 per unit. 

Kelekian said Edlin’s figures were inflated, and that the rent board viewed such fees as maintenance costs which responsible owners should have been doing before it became a city requirement. 

Landlords insist that the rent board’s formula is biased. Their lawsuit contends that since 1995, the board has intentionally limited their rightful cost of living increases due to inflation. 

The rent board argues that it has limited the increases to compensate for unfairly high inflation increases passed to tenants when landlords controlled the rent board from 1990 through 1994. 

Although current tenants are now exempt from a rent increase, Robert Cabrera, president of the BOPA said low annual rent increases ultimately hurt all Berkeley residents. 

“Property owners won’t [ever] lower rents [on vacant units] if they think they are going to be stuck with it forever,” he said in an earlier interview. 

Contact reporter@matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

Thank you for including an article about hate violence against transgender people in the Oct. 21 Daily Planet, “Violence targets transgender community.” As an ally and a human being, I'm concerned and outraged that people (mostly males) continue to assault and murder transgender people. Journalists and editors are often ignorant and insensitive to the concerns and issues of the people and communities upon which they report. I believe this is a product both of the oppressive society in which we live and the prejudices which we all have learned. 

I would like to point out that the Oct. 21 article violated both Associated Press standards for reporting on transgender people and the dignity of the transgender youths who were murdered. The AP Style Guide prescribes that when journalists write about individuals who have had “sex changes” or who are transgender, they should refer to them as the gender which they lived their lives (in Gwen Araujo's case, as “she” and “her”), rather than as the gender which they were assigned by society or at birth. But this is about more than violating a stylistic code. The decision to continually refer to Gwen Araujo as a male denies Gwen's identity as a transgender person and only further confuses readers about transgender issues. 

Eric Hamako 

Berkeley 

MARTINEZ — An autopsy has not been able to determine what caused a 19-year-old Diablo Valley College football player to collapse and die during practice in August. 

The Contra Costa County coroner’s office ruled the cause of James Williams’ Aug. 19 death “undetermined.” 

“It’s very hard for us,” his mother, Jerlean Williams, said Monday. “We did want to at least know what it was.” 

Toxicology tests done for drugs or alcohol came back negative, and a heart examination found no outstanding causes for Williams’ death, said coroner’s deputy Al Burt. 

Williams collapsed and could not be revived after colliding with a teammate. 

He had a physical exam earlier this year, before playing. 

The 5-foot-8, 180-pound Williams was a linebacker at McClymonds High School in Oakland, from which he graduated in 2000. He was on the Oakland All-City team in 1999 after leading the team in sacks.

The chief pollster for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon said the campaign should focus more on Simon’s agenda and less on attacking Gov. Gray Davis, during an appearance at UC Berkeley Tuesday. 

“I think they’ve got to have Bill on TV more saying what he will do,” said Steven Kinney, a partner at the Alexandria, Va.-based firm of Public Opinion Strategies. “You can bash Gray, but you have to provide an alternative.” 

Simon spokesman Mark Miner said this is just what they’re doing. The campaign will “be out there highlighting the differences between the two candidates” through more public appearances and advertisements in coming weeks, and will present Simon as a clear alternative to Davis, he said. 

“It’s going to come down to the wire,” Miner predicted. 

A recent Public Policy Institute of California poll put Davis in the lead 41 to 31 percent. 

The Simon campaign declined to release its own internal polls, conducted by Kinney, but Kinney predicted a closer race than the PPIC poll indicated, arguing that whoever wins will take the election by less than a 10-point margin. 

“Simon is still in the ball game,” said Kinney, arguing that incumbents like Davis who are unable to hit 50 percent in the polls late in the campaign are often vulnerable. 

“He’s been able to keep Simon down, but he hasn’t been able to move himself up,” Kinney said of Davis. 

UC Berkeley political science professor Bruce Cain said Simon, who has stumbled repeatedly in the campaign, may climb within ten points on Election Day. But victory, he said, is unlikely. 

“I think Davis is still the odds-on favorite,” Cain said. “I think it would take a miracle for Simon to win.” 

Still, Kinney argued that high approval ratings for President Bush and low ratings for Davis have given Simon and other Republican candidates a chance this year in the traditionally Democratic-leaning California. 

“Bill Simon is just a factor, but not the major factor,” said Kinney. 

In August, the pollster asked likely voters if they thought Davis deserves re-election. Only registered Democrats and Latinos said the governor deserves another term. 

Of the major urban areas in California, only Los Angeles County, by a 49 to 47 margin, said Davis deserves re-election, and Bay Area voters disagreed, by a 47 to 45 margin, according to Kinney. 

Still, as Kinney acknowledged, the question did not ask voters if they would cast a ballot for Simon over Davis. 

Contact reporter at 

scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

When the original grant was submitted for new traffic lights on Telegraph Avenue, there was nothing in it about forced “right turns only” at Stuart or Russell streets. It will not be safer for school children to cross in crosswalks if cars are forced to turn right into those crosswalks.  

In addition, the plan to force right turns at Stuart would have diverted traffic onto other streets like Ward. The 230 LeConte and Willard residents who signed the petition against “forced right turns” at Stuart and Russell are hopeful that their wishes continue to be complied with. Instead of creating further divisiveness – it would be great to see if the neighborhood associations could work on getting consensus on traffic circles and pinch points – rather than reversing something that so many were against. 

Pam Speich 

Berkeley 

SAN JOSE — Goalie Evgeni Nabokov agreed to a two-year, $7.15 million contract with the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, ending his holdout after five games. 

Nabokov, the franchise’s career victories leader with 71 over his first two NHL seasons, sat out all of training camp and the first two weeks of the regular season while seeking a dramatic increase from the $575,000 he earned last season. 

Without Nabokov and holdout defenseman Brad Stuart, the Sharks have struggled to a 1-4 start. After a dispiriting 5-2 loss to Vancouver on Monday night, the team decided it was time to meet most of Nabokov’s demands. 

“Who we kidding here? To say that the performance of the team does not factor into the urgency of your analysis is just not being truthful,” general manager Dean Lombardi said. “It forced us to do something in our evaluation planning that maybe we would have put off.” 

Nabokov’s backups, Miikka Kiprusoff and Vesa Toskala, allowed 22 goals in the first five games — most in the Western Conference. They have a combined 4.77 goals-against average, which ranks next-to-last in the league — though a series of mediocre performances by the Sharks’ defensemen have hurt the team as well. 

“It heightened the urgency because of how we’re struggling right now, but to pin this start on the goaltending is not fair and accurate,” Lombardi said. “There’s a lot of factors that go into a 1-4 start. To blame it on the goaltending, that’s not realistic.” 

Though the sides weren’t far apart in negotiations, Lombardi admitted he gave in to Nabokov’s desire for a big raise and a relatively short-term contract — violating many of the principles he established while building the Sharks into a small-budget Stanley Cup contender. 

Lombardi said the negotiations with Nabokov and his agent, Don Meehan, had forced him to re-evaluate the carefully scripted plan for the franchise, which has a payroll near $45 million. 

Lombardi has signed many of his young players to long-term deals. There’s a similar sticking point in negotiations with Stuart, who wants more than the $1.1 million qualifying offer the Sharks have extended to him, but also doesn’t want to sign a long-term deal. 

Lombardi said there was no progress to report on negotiations with Stuart, who was seen in the stands at one of the San Francisco Giants’ recent playoff games. 

“There’s a difference between a 27-year-old with four years of experience and a 22-year-old,” Lombardi said. “All I can tell you is we don’t have a deal.” 

Nabokov has been one of the NHL’s elite goalies since being the league’s rookie of the year in 2001. 

He was third in the league last season with 37 victories and finished fourth in voting for the Vezina Trophy. He had seven shutouts — tied for second-most in the league — while helping the Sharks win their first Pacific Division title and reach the Western Conference semifinals. 

The 27-year-old Nabokov had a 2.20 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage last season. 

Nabokov skated on the Sharks’ practice rink and worked with goaltending coach Warren Strelow during training camp, but the holdout grew increasingly combative in recent weeks. 

There were rumors that the goalie might play in Russia this winter if a deal weren’t reached soon. 

The Sharks begin a six-game road trip in Nashville on Thursday, and Nabokov will make the trip. 

Toskala was reassigned to Cleveland of the AHL after Nabokov signed.

ROCKVILLE, Md. — A bus driver was shot to death Tuesday as he was about to set out on his morning route in what authorities fear was the 13th attack by the Washington-area sniper. Police also revealed a chilling warning found at a weekend shooting scene: “Your children are not safe anywhere at any time.” 

Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose issued a new plea, urging the gunman to continue a dialogue with investigators. 

“It is important that we do this without anyone else getting hurt,” he said. 

In an extraordinary statement that appeared to confirm authorities are in a desperate parley to stop the killing, the police chief said the sniper had tried to communicate with police over the past several days — and he suggested the gunman had made demands. 

“We have researched the options you stated and found that it is not possible electronically to comply in the manner that you requested,” Moose said. “However, we remain open and ready to talk to you about the options you have mentioned.” 

He said the sniper was seeking an 800 telephone number to talk with authorities, and he offered to set up a private post office box “or another secure method.” 

“You indicated that this is about more than violence,” said Moose, who had asked the sniper to contact authorities for two days before Tuesday’s slaying. “We are waiting to hear from you.” 

He refused to take questions from reporters. 

The sniper has killed nine people and critically wounded three others in Maryland, Virginia and Washington since Oct. 2. Authorities were awaiting ballistics tests to confirm that bus driver Conrad Johnson is the killer’s latest victim. 

Johnson, 35, was gunned down in Aspen Hill, the same community in suburban Washington where the attacks began. 

He was shot once in the abdomen just before 6 a.m. as he stood on the top step of his bus, setting off a police dragnet and snarling traffic in the suburbs north of the nation’s capital. Johnson, a married father of two children, died later at a hospital. 

The warning about children’s safety was discovered by police outside a steakhouse near Richmond, Va., where the sniper critically wounded a man Saturday night. Moose said the warning came in the form of a “postscript,” but refused to describe the rest of the note. 

However, a senior law enforcement official speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity said the note demanded $10 million. It was unclear whether the demand was linked to the options outlined by Moose. 

Kathy Franco, who was shopping Tuesday at a Silver Spring mall with her year-old son, Liam, and six-week-old daughter, Katherine, was angered by the warning about children. 

“As a parent, it just completely brings out every animal instinct,” she said. “These two are the most important things in the world for me.” 

Schools in the Richmond area remained closed for a second day Tuesday, idling more than 140,000 students. School officials had cited information from police in shutting down, prompting questions for Moose, whose office is leading the sprawling investigation. 

Moose said investigators recognized “the concerns of the community” and decided to provide the “exact language that pertains to the threat.” 

The Virginia schools will reopen Wednesday under heightened security. As of Monday evening, no Maryland schools had decided to close. 

Immediately after Tuesday’s shooting, police put a widespread dragnet into place, clogging traffic on Connecticut Avenue, one of the main arteries into Washington, just as the morning commute began. 

But police came up empty, and Moose said there was no suspect or vehicle description to report. 

“We have not been able to assure that anyone, any age, any gender, any race — we’ve not been able to assure anyone their safety,” Moose said. 

The shooting happened near a wooded area along Connecticut Avenue. The bus was parked at a staging area where drivers get ready for their morning runs, state police spokesman Cpl. Rob Moroney said. 

Police refused to say whether anyone else was on the bus. 

All the confirmed sniper victims were felled by a single shot. Several residents of a neighboring apartment complex reported hearing one loud bang Tuesday morning. 

“It wasn’t a pop like a handgun. If it was a gun, it was a high-powered weapon,” said Tim Roberts, a carpenter who lives nearby. He said he knew about the sound of weapons from his military service.

To the Editor: 

When the Safe Routes for Schools grant application was submitted in the fall of 2000, the participants in the process agreed “that signals should be done in a way that will not add traffic to Stuart and Russell streets. Signals used would allow for pedestrians and bicyclists to cross the intersections safely, while not facilitating automobile through-traffic.” Unfortunately, the original plans – which allowed bicycles to cross but forced automobiles to make right turns – were changed before construction began. Consequently, it may be safer for school children to cross Telegraph Avenue, but traffic on streets near schools is very likely to increase. We are hopeful that in addition to traffic mitigation in our neighborhoods, the new signals and signage on Telegraph will also be subject to modification if required for “Safe Routes to School.” 

Karl Reeh 

President, 

LeConte Neighborhood Association 

An award-winning mentoring service at Emerson Elementary School faces an uncertain future after the state cut funding for the program in September. 

Emerson’s Academic Volunteer and Mentor Program, which provides math, reading and homework help to more than 100 students, has survived for two months on $13,000 in grants from three area foundations and $5,000 in support from a separate Emerson after-school program. 

But program coordinator Monica Santos, who is working furiously to win more grants, said the mentoring service needs $50,000 to $60,000 more to continue at full strength beyond December. 

If the funding does not materialize, she said, the school will have to let her go, losing the program’s one full-time staffer. Emerson would attempt to continue the program, Santos said, with teachers and two part-time Americorps volunteers helping with administration. But Santos warned that the number of students served, and the level of support for mentors, could decline. 

“I think it would be a different program,” she said. 

The service, which pairs struggling students with mentors from UC Berkeley, the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay, Caltrans and other organizations, started in October 1999 and was funded by a three-year state grant that provided $75,000 annually. 

This year, Emerson planned to apply to the state’s Academic Volunteer and Mentor Service office, which provided the initial grant, for a three-year renewal.  

But in September Gov. Gray Davis, faced with a $24 billion shortfall, signed a final budget that spared education on the whole, but cut $4.3 million from the state’s $10 million volunteer and mentor service office. 

As a result, the state is funding mentoring programs at 106 sites around California this year, compared to more than 200 last year, according to the Department of Education. 

The state’s volunteer and mentor service program, which still has $5.7 million to spend, has continued funding for programs in the midst of their three-year funding cycle. But California has turned down schools like Emerson that have finished a three-year cycle and are seeking a renewal.  

The state has also cut most one-year “phase out” grants for schools, like Berkeley’s Willard Middle School, that have already gone through a pair of three-year state funding cycles and are entering a seventh year. 

Berkeley Unified School District and Willard Middle School officials could not be reached for comment. But Rachael Flores, who runs the volunteer and mentor service office for the state, said Willard kept its program up and running this year through a partnership with Bay Area Community Resources, a non-profit group in Richmond. 

Emerson’s financial struggles come amid state recognition for the mentoring program. On Oct. 11, the California’s Secretary for Education Kerry Mazzoni acknowledged an Emerson mentor, 22 year-old Millie Lin, as one of three winners of the 2002 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Academic Volunteer & Mentor Service. 

The state selected the winners after receiving dozens of nominations from students served by the mentors. Alexandra Ho, then an eight year-old second grader at Emerson, nominated Lin last year. 

“I think my mentor deserves a reward because of all the hard work she has done so I could get smarter,” Ho wrote in a nominating essay. “She also deserves it because she teaches me cursive to get me ready for third grade.” 

Santos hopes that state recognition for the program will help win more foundation support. 

“With our program getting recognized, (it says) this is something valid,” she said. 

Lauren Edwards, a UC Berkeley sophomore who has served as a mentor for two years, said it would be “terrible” if funding cuts harmed the program. 

“This is putting money to good use,” she said. 

Interested parties can contact the mentoring program at 883-5247. 

Contact reporter at 

scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net

OAKLAND — Oakland police said Tuesday that they have identified Monday's homicide victim as 33-year-old Mckinley Williams. 

Police say they were notified of the 90th killing this year by a witness walking in the area who saw William's body in a Honda Civic in the 500 block of Sycamore Street at around 1:40 p.m. 

Initial reports indicate that he had not been dead more than two hours when police were notified.  

Police say he died of a gunshot wound. 

Williams, an African-American construction worker for the J.T. Thorpe Corporation in Richmond, is survived by a wife and children, according to Sgt. Gus Galindo. 

Anyone with information regarding the shooting is encouraged to call Sgt. Galindo at 238-3821.

SACRAMENTO — Leonard Gianessi, who has been barnstorming across the country promoting the benefits of genetically modified crops, was met Tuesday by protesters who complained the technology is not completely understood and, at a minimum, will ruin organic farmers. 

“California’s got a tremendous growth opportunity with the expansion of organic food,” said Leland Swenson, executive director of the Davis-based Community Alliance with Family Farmers. “That’s what’s at risk when you take a look at the high value of commodities and growth opportunities here within California.” 

But Gianessi says a study he co-wrote shows U.S. farmers could save $1 billion a year, decrease their pesticide use and improve the environment by embracing biotechnology more fully. 

“The technology has already helped farmers reduce their costs,” said Gianessi, a researcher for the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit funded in part by agribusiness and agricultural chemical companies. 

The study showed that American farmers growing genetically engineered crops saved $1.5 billion last year they otherwise would have spent raising conventional plants, Gianessi said. 

“In a very competitive worldwide environment, growers have to find ways to cut costs and this is one way,” Gianessi said. 

He said plants spliced with genes that make them resistant to certain herbicides allows farmers to be less particular about how they apply weed killers, reducing the amount needed. Other plants are modified with natural pest killers, reducing the need for pesticides, as well. 

But anti-biotech activists outside Gianessi’s latest venue, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, pointed Tuesday to other studies that suggest genetically engineered food brings few benefits and carries big risks for farmers, who may lose control over their crops and face potential rejection from consumers. 

Some fear the biotechnology crops will pollinate with their organic crops, ruining a burgeoning industry whose sales have grown from $3.5 billion in 1996 to $7.8 billion in 2000, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Organic consumers demand that their products are free of genetically modified ingredients. 

“There is no such thing as containment. There is no such thing as coexistent,” said Percy Schmeiser a Canadian canola farmer who was successfully sued by Monsanto Co. for illegally using its biotech products. “It will destroy organic farmers.”

NEWARK — Newark police said today they are looking for a fourth person in connection with the slaying of a 17-year-old boy who sometimes passed as a girl. 

Lt. Tom Milner said police investigators are trying to locate a person named "Jason'' who apparently attended an Oct. 3 party where Edward "Eddie'' Araujo of Newark was allegedly killed. Milner did not release Jason's last name or provide any other descriptive information. 

“If there is a Jason, we will, in fact, find him,” Milner said. “Jason needs to come forward and cooperate fully.” 

On Friday, Michael William Magidson, 22, of Fremont and Jose Antonio Merel, 22, and Jaron Chase Nabors, 19, both of Newark were charged with one count each of murder, along with a special hate-crime enhancement. If the men are convicted, the hate-crime clause could add up to four years to each sentence. 

The men are scheduled to return to Alameda County Superior Court in Fremont Thursday for possible arraignment. They are being held without bail. 

Law enforcement agents unearthed Araujo's body from a shallow grave in the El Dorado County wilderness east of Placerville Wednesday. 

According to police, Araujo was reported missing by his mother, Sylvia Guerrero, on Oct. 5 when he failed to return from a late-night party held two days prior at the home of brothers Jose and Paul Richard Merel Jr. at 37147 St. Matthew Drive. 

Guerrero told police that her son was a “cross-dresser” and sometimes went by the names Gwen, Wendy and Lida. 

According to court records, Araujo wore a skirt to the Oct. 3 party but brought a pair of jeans with him “for the purpose of concealing his gender if he became too drunk.”

OAKLAND — A Hayward chemical supply company and seven individuals have pleaded innocent in federal court in Oakland to charges of conspiring to sell $11 million worth of freon to make methamphetamine. 

The All Discount Laboratory Supply Company, two owners, two employees and three other people entered their not-guilty pleas in the court of U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken on Monday.  

They were accused in a 51-count indictment issued by a federal grand jury in Oakland on Oct. 16. The new indictment expands on charges in an earlier indictment filed in December 2000. 

The indictment alleges that the company owners Vladimir Kotlyarenko and Mark Kesel, and employees Diane Engle and William Gifford sold “hundreds of thousands of pounds” of freon worth $11.6 million between 1998 and 2000.

Wrong ballots sent to voters 

MARTINEZ — Several hundred voters were sent the wrong sample ballots by the Contra Costa County Elections Department. 

The sample ballots omitted the Martinez City Council and mayoral races, and excluded candidate statements in those races, said Clerk-Recorder Steve Weir. 

Weir was alerted of the mistake late Thursday and corrected sample ballots with a letter explaining the error were sent Friday to all 770 registered voters. About 500 voters received the wrong sample ballot, Weir said. 

Most cities and school districts have switched to even-year elections, and this November has a particularly packed ballot. 

The Elections Department is responsible for mailing 500,000 sample ballots, 66,000 permanent absentee ballots and 10,000 mail-only ballots. There are 30 different inserts, totaling 224 combinations of sample ballots. 

The Elections Department has corrected two recent other mistakes. It failed to send Acalanes Union High School District voters the ballot arguments for Measure B. And it inadvertently sent some Moraga voters ballot information on Measure N, a fire district tax that they cannot vote on. 

Bail increased for Internet courtship suspect 

SANTA ROSA — Bail was increased to $750,000 in Sonoma County court Tuesday morning for a Monterey County man accused of committing lewd acts with a 15-year-old girl he met on the Internet over a 20-month period. 

Superior Court Judge James Bertoli increased the bail for Alfonso Enrique Ozaeta Jr. from $500,000 after the prosecutor said he was a flight risk and a threat to the alleged victim and the community. 

Santa Rosa police arrested Ozaeta, 28, of Seaside in a parked car at a Rincon Valley park in Santa Rosa last week. Police said Ozaeta and the girl were naked. 

The prosecution has filed 20 counts of committing lewd acts with a minor and one count of possession of child pornography on a computer seized at Ozaeta's apartment. 

Ozaeta's attorney John LemMon denied claims that his client is a flight risk or a threat. He said the girl told Ozaeta she was 19 when they communicated in a chat room on the Internet and again later when they met in person. 

The prosecution said there may be other victims. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 31. 

Man sentenced for shooting Sonoma State student 

SANTA ROSA — A San Francisco man was sentenced to three years in prison for shooting a Sonoma State University student after he was turned away from an off-campus party. 

Michael Cheng said Monday in court that he was sorry for the May 4 shooting and asked Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Elaine Watters to place him on probation. 

However, Deputy District Attorney James Patrick Casey argued Cheng deserved a prison sentence because he showed up at the party “armed to the teeth” and attacked a complete stranger. 

E.L. Lucas, 21, was first hit with an electric stun gun and then shot in the leg. 

“He could have killed me,” Lucas told Judge Watters, adding that the attack was completely unprovoked. 

“I never touched him,” he said.

FRESNO — Environmentalists sued the federal government Tuesday to force it to clean up air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley after a decade of neglect. 

Earthjustice filed suit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to do its job to reduce dust, smoke and soot that darkens skies in one of the nation’s most polluted regions. 

The suit, filed on behalf of air quality activists, asks the EPA to draft a plan to reduce particle pollution because valley air district officials have never had a workable plan in the decade since one was due. 

“I compare it to the Civil Rights movement. When your local government cannot do the job, you need help from the outside,” Kevin Hall, of the local Sierra Club chapter, said at a news conference in Fresno. “This is a human health crisis. That is our sole purpose here, to protect human health.” 

The Clean Air Act required that the air district submit a plan in November 1991 that would reduce deadly air particle pollution. 

The district missed that deadline and later submitted a plan that didn’t meet federal requirements. 

The EPA was required to impose penalties, but that never happened despite repeated failures to meet subsequent deadlines. The EPA has also failed to take action on some plans that were submitted. 

The microscopic bits of dust, soot, and smoke are kicked up on dirt roads, farm fields and spewed by fires. They cause health problems by slipping past the body’s defenses and lodging in lungs. The plaintiffs blame them for 72,000 asthma attacks and hundreds of deaths a year. 

Earthjustice is asking a court to order the EPA to freeze federal highway funds and impose stricter regulations on new and expanding businesses that should have taken effect in 1993, two years after the deadline was missed. 

The EPA said it is working with the district to develop a more stringent plan than the one required 10 years ago. 

Dave Jones, a manager at the air district, said the lawsuit is targeting outdated regulations the valley no longer has to meet. In January 1993, the district was reclassified as a “serious” violator of air particle pollution standards, the worst category. 

Instead of developing a plan to impose “reasonable” pollution controls, the district now must meet stricter requirements showing they’re using the “best” methods of reducing pollution. However, that plan is about five years overdue and subject to another round of sanctions that could kick in next summer. 

Members of the California Clean Air Campaign, a plaintiff in the suit, said they want federal intervention because they can no longer count on the local air district to do the job. 

“If it’s true, terrific,” said Susan Britton, a lawyer for Earthjustice. “As history shows, we are very skeptical of that claim.”

SAN FRANCISCO — Sen. Joe Lieberman called again Tuesday for the federal government to adopt an economic stimulus package, while he criticized President Bush’s handling of the economy. 

The Connecticut Democrat, speaking at a conference of the Direct Marketers Association, echoed proposals he made last week during a speech at the NASDAQ market site in his own economic recovery plan, which included tax incentives to spark investment and growth in high-tech industries. 

“I think we cannot wait any longer for the natural forces to pull this economy out of the ditch of stagnation it is in now,” he said. 

Lieberman also criticized how Bush has dealt with the economy, saying he hasn’t seen a strategy for growth from the current administration. 

“There has been no economic growth or recovery plan, and no leadership on the economy,” he said. 

The Republican National Committee rejected that argument. 

Economic leadership takes more than words,” said Tracey Schmitt, a spokeswoman for the committee.

SAN DIEGO — A Navy sailor says he feels lucky to have survived an aircraft carrier accident that left him floating in the frigid Pacific Ocean for more than seven hours. 

Michael Harris, 21, fell from the USS Constellation early Saturday when the engine exhaust from a nearby EA-6B Prowler blew him overboard off the coast of Southern California. 

In the darkness of the early morning, it took rescuers more than seven hours to find the airman apprentice, who is based at Lemoore Naval Air Station, and pull him from the 62-degree waters. 

“They teach you not to panic,” he said Monday at a naval hospital. “My first reaction was ’They’ll find me.’ “ 

But as time passed Harris began to worry about dying of hypothermia and whether sharks might home in on the blood oozing from facial injuries he sustained in the accident. 

Harris, of Dillsburg, Penn., also thought about his mother and his younger brother.

SACRAMENTO — They met in beauty salons and suburban homes with the guests — all invitation only — coming for the promise of helping their community while making a huge profit for themselves. 

The “Women Helping Women” parties featured a lucky “birthday girl,” who would receive up to $40,000 in cash from the new participants, who each donated up to $5,000 to get in and eventually celebrate her own “birthday.” 

But for many women, the birthday never came, say authorities, who call “Women Helping Women” a $12 million pyramid scheme for which they have arrested four Sacramento-area women. Their investigation also revealed a candidate for district attorney in a neighboring county told partygoers the events were legal and then asked them for campaign contributions. 

The parties, authorities and experts said, were part of a pattern of pyramid schemes found in nearly every state. Beyond women, these schemes focus on other groups, such as Hispanics, blacks or members of the same church, said Robert L. FitzPatrick, author of “False Profits,” a book on pyramid schemes. 

A scheme “travels very much like a virus. It could move in any direction. There’s no mastermind behind it,” FitzPatrick said. 

Recently, officials in New Mexico indicted 20 people for allegedly running similar schemes, said Sam Thompson, spokeswoman for the New Mexico attorney general’s office. 

“It’s a cottage industry here,” Thompson said. “People get a hold of the paperwork, sometimes it’s ’The Spirit of Giving’ or ’Women Helping Women’ or ’The Dinner Party,’ and they just copy part of it and start their own pyramid.” 

The scheme has also surfaced in Texas, where two women were arrested in 2000, and in Philadelphia, where authorities said in March 2001 that a dozen women had complained of being solicited by a similar network, or of losing money in it. 

In Maine, the state attorney general’s office last year warned of a similar scheme that targeted men, sometimes using the names “NASCAR” or “Men’s Club.” 

The Federal Trade Commission warns consumers about getting involved in the schemes, which officials there classify as a Ponzi scheme, but most prosecutions are handled at local or state levels, said James Kohm, assistant director of the commission’s division of consumer protection. The FTC doesn’t track prosecutions or complaints, he said. 

In Sacramento, the four women face charges that could result in five years in prison, fines and restitution. They are Cheryl Bean, 54, former human resources officer at Pacific Bell; Anne Marie King, 47, co-owner of a Roseville Montessori school; Pamela Garibaldi, 57, a part-time English professor at a community college; and Cathy Lovely, 49, a homemaker. 

Sheriff’s detectives Mike Wright and Eric White said the enterprise bragged of distributing $12 million and having 10,000 women participate in the last two years. 

Wright and White said they’ve documented more than $7 million that has been collected, distributed or pledged in the Sacramento region. 

Despite the charges against them, Bean, King, Garibaldi and Lovely have plenty of supporters. A cheering crowd of women greeted them in the courtroom for a recent hearing. 

“They’re genuinely good people,” said Wayne Ordos, Lovely and King’s attorney. “They’re taxpayers, they’re den mothers. This is very difficult for them.” 

None has entered a plea yet, but the four will return to court Wednesday. 

Sacramento authorities placed undercover officers in five meetings, starting in July, after similar parties had already been detected in neighboring El Dorado County. There, District Attorney Gary Lacy warned his employees against participating in them as early as April 2001. 

But one El Dorado County party had another attendee — Deputy District Attorney Eric Schlueter, Lacy’s opponent in next month’s election. Schlueter reportedly told party participants there were legal loopholes that allowed such schemes, and then he solicited campaign contributions. 

Schlueter told The Sacramento Bee newspaper that he didn’t advocate “gifting,” but didn’t believe it was prosecutable under California law. 

“It may be a pyramid scheme,” he told The Bee. “But whether it’s illegal is another matter.” 

FitzPatrick said he’s never found a legal opinion calling the parties anything other than an “endless chain” operation. 

“The first lie is that it’s legal,” FitzPatrick said. “They’ll tell you it’s not a pyramid, it can work and everyone can win.” 

But no pyramid can survive its unsustainable mathematics, FitzPatrick said. Each woman must recruit eight others to get her $40,000. Then each of those eight women must get another eight. Eventually, that pace can’t be sustained, and the pyramid collapses, leaving about 90 percent of the participants out their investment. 

“Women Helping Women” and other groups appeal to patriotism, religious faith or the desire to help others, FitzPatrick said, and use “the idea that women are helping women, supporting each other.” 

The group’s very name angers Harriet Barron, executive director of the National Council of Jewish Women in Los Angeles, who runs a program called “Women Helping Women Services.” 

Barron’s program offers support groups and counseling for domestic violence, single parenting and other issues, she said. The similarity between her group’s name and the Sacramento organization has her concerned contributors might confuse the two, she said. 

Women Helping Women organizers told their recruits they gave 1 percent of their birthday awards to charities, but investigators said they haven’t seen evidence of such charitable activity in the Sacramento area. 

Although pyramid deals gone bad often get attention, the early victims rarely come forward, FitzPatrick said, making it difficult to steer potential victims away. 

But Katherine Guardipee, a 54-year-old health care worker in Browning, Mont., is speaking out. She said she invested $1,500 in February with the promise of receiving $12,000 in a deal to which her cousin steered her.

NEW YORK — Still skeptical about the stock market’s long-term potential, investors cashed in some gains from two weeks of rallies Tuesday, sending prices lower. Disappointing earnings from Kimberly-Clark, Wyeth and Texas Instruments also prompted some selling. 

Analysts had expected the market to give back some of its stunning advance, which over the previous eight sessions had boosted the Dow Jones industrials more than 1,200 points. 

After falling as much as 162 points Tuesday, the Dow closed down 88.08, or 1 percent, at 8,450.16. 

The broader market also retreated. The Nasdaq composite index fell 16.87, or 1.3 percent, to 1,292.80. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index declined 9.56, or 1.1 percent, to 890.16. 

Tuesday’s selling was largely due to investors taking profits from more than two weeks of gains achieved in an earnings season that analysts say has for the most part surpassed their expectations. Since Oct. 9, the Dow and Nasdaq have each jumped 16 percent. The S&P 500 has climbed 14.6 percent. 

“Given the strength of the rally, it was appropriate to expect a pause. The fact that you are getting less compelling earnings news today from market leaders like Texas Instruments and Kimberly-Clark also gives rise to a pause,” said Jack Caffrey, equities strategist J.P. Morgan Private Bank. 

Some analysts and investors are wary of the latest advance, worried they will be faked out by what might be another bear market rally, such as the one-week surge in late July when the Dow jumped more than 1,000 points. 

“It’s a bit hard to get excited in the short term,” Caffrey said. 

But others are optimistic and say this time could mark a real upward trend, largely because earnings news has been stronger than expected. 

“This has the opportunity and a higher probability to have lasting power unlike the whiplash we suffered in late July, early August,” said David Sowerby, chief market analyst, Loomis, Sayles & Co. “In terms of longevity, it is closer to three weeks (old), not one week, and it is supported by better earnings. ... And, there is an absence of another accounting fiasco and that is superseding the uncertainty of war and terrorism.” 

Kimberly-Clark sank $6.18 to $50.50 after the consumer products maker missed third-quarter earnings expectations by 4 cents a share and said its 2002 results will come in below analysts’ estimates. 

Drug maker Wyeth stumbled $1.30 to $34.35 on earnings that missed analysts’ expectations by 5 cents a share. 

Chip maker Texas Instruments dropped $3.12 to $14, after reporting earnings late Monday that were a penny shy of expectations and warning about fourth-quarter results. 

United Parcel Service fell $1.92 to $62.26 on profits that were 3 cents short of analysts’ expectations. 

But RadioShack rose 80 cents to $21.93 after surpassing earnings forecasts by a penny a share. 

And, Northwest Airlines advanced 41 cents to $7.46 after Deutsche Securities upgraded its shares to “buy” from “hold.” 

Declining issues outnumbered advancers nearly 5 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume was light at 1.87 billion shares, but ahead of Monday’s 1.78 billion. 

The Russell 2000 index, the barometer of smaller company stocks, fell 5.97, or 1.6 percent, to 362.66. 

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average finished Tuesday down 3.2 percent. In Europe, France’s CAC-40 fell 1.1 percent, Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.4 percent, and Germany’s DAX index dropped 3.9 percent.

TRUCKEE — Russ and Joan Jones had a not-uncommon dream: to spend their days with family, enjoying life, making wine. But where others might imagine a lush, sprawling Napa Valley estate, their vision was a little different. 

They figured they’d make wine in Truckee, Calif. — a town that at an altitude of 5,900 feet is frequently the coldest spot in the continental United States during winter. 

Russ Jones credits his wife for the inspiration. Both grew up in Truckee and have been sweethearts since meeting at Tahoe-Truckee High School in the late 1970s. 

“She talked me into doing it,” he said. “I was going to be an electrical engineer.” 

“I thought it would be so romantic to own a winery,” Joan Jones said. 

The location makes for a catchy ad line: the couple bill Truckee River Winery as “the highest and coldest winery in the United States.” 

Nonetheless, the venture didn’t emerge from thin air. Russ Jones, after abandoning the engineering idea, ended up earning a degree in oenology from the University of California, Davis. He then worked at wineries in California and Oregon, where he discovered his love for that state’s fabled grape pinot noir. 

When it came time to settle down, the Joneses weighed their mutual love of wine against a desire to return to the lifestyle of their hometown and decided the two weren’t incompatible. Now, they bottle about 500 cases of wine per year, including pinot noir, zinfandel, merlot and sauvignon blanc, under the label of Truckee River Winery. 

Their first efforts were modest ones. As early “garagistes,” they literally made the wine in their garage. 

“We were just going to make a little batch,” Joan Jones remembered. “We crushed the grapes with our feet. But it was so good our friends kind of prodded us.” 

Their friends weren’t their only fans. That first wine, a 1989 pinot noir, went on to win a bronze medal at the California State Fair. 

High-altitude oenology is a bit more complicated than the alternative — grapevines don’t tolerate the high Sierra cold, so the Joneses contract a year in advance to buy grapes from vineyards in lower, more moderate California climes. 

In September, when the grapes are picked, they truck them up to the winery, which since 1996 has been housed in a picturesque red-and-white barn behind their home. 

“The (work) usually starts after Labor Day and lasts through October,” Russ Jones said. The process starts with the “blessing of the grapes,” in which Russ Jones sprinkles snow saved from the previous spring’s last snowfall over the harvest. Friends and neighbors help with the crush. Then the Joneses ferment the grapes, barrel the juice for aging over the winter, and bottle the results in the spring. 

Russ Jones is particularly proud of 300 cases of about-to-be-released 2000 pinot noir, made with grapes from Gary’s Vineyard in California’s Monterey County. 

“These grapes just had incredible intensity,” Jones said. “The 2000 pinot noir is the best I’ve ever made. Prior to that (my best wine) would be the 97.” 

Meanwhile, out in the sagebrush of western Nevada, the high, dry and occasionally very cold Carson Valley isn’t exactly Eden from a grape growers standpoint. 

Nonetheless, Rick and Kathy Halbardier set out in 1991 to realize their dream of growing wine-worthy grapes in the picturesque valley along the eastern front of the Sierra Nevada range. 

They formed loose partnerships with the University of Nevada, Reno and the Desert Research Institute and embarked on a decade of climatic research, consulting, experimentation and, sometimes, disappointment. 

“It’s a completely different world up here,” Rick Halbardier said of Carson Valley growing conditions. “We learned a lot. We made many mistakes.” 

Not one to be easily dissuaded, Halbardier, who like Jones had studied oenology at U.C. Davis, kept cultivating vines. Ten years, six test vineyards, 30 grape varieties and 3,500 vines later the Halbardiers are about to release Tahoe Ridge Winerys 2001 chardonnay, which Rick Halbardier proudly points to as the first commercial wine made from Nevada-grown vitis vinifera grapes. 

Commercial vineyards were not totally unheard of in the state before the Halbardiers’ attempts. None, however, had grown vinifera, the “old world” European vines favored by winemakers such as those in Napa Valley. 

“The difference is the flavor,” Rick Halbardier said. 

The biggest challenge for vinifera growers, he said, is managing the vines through the winter to prevent dieback. 

“A lot of times our falls will start freezing and we’ll start shutting our irrigation systems down,” he said. “Sometimes we don’t get any rainfall or snowfall until December and the plant will start to dehydrate. It puts a huge amount of stress on the plant. They go dormant in the winter months but they still need moisture to sustain them.”

LOS ANGELES — Southern California got mixed grades in a new study on protecting the environment, ranking high in recycling but nearly failing in use of treated wastewater. 

Few homeowners would use reclaimed water for bathing, cooking or drinking, even if treatment made it as pure as tap water, according to a report card to be issued Wednesday by the UCLA Institute of the Environment. 

That attitude prevailed even though wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets could potentially provide supplies equal to about 50 percent of current water consumption, the report said. 

Consumers were less reluctant to use reclaimed water for outdoor purposes. 

New water supplies are needed because Southern California relies heavily on imported water, notably from the Colorado River, that are shrinking due to demand from other states and environmental protection measures. 

Further, global warming means “the next drought could be more severe and longer than any we can remember, and the problems it creates could make our electricity shortage seem trivial by comparison,” the study concluded. 

The public got a D for its lack of interest in reclaimed water, but the study gave public agencies an A for leadership efforts on the issue, noting that in 2000 the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts produced more than 520 million gallons of treated wastewater each day. 

The report gave a C+ to state and federal agencies for efforts to protect biodiversity in the face of California’s population growth, noting the state is one of 25 recognized “hotspots” in the world where irreplaceable plant and animal species are severely threatened. 

The Southern California coast was cited as the most critically endangered area of the state. 

At least 21 animal and 34 plant species in California have become extinct in recent decades, including the gray wolf and California grizzly bear, the state’s official animal. Nearly two-thirds of the state’s native fish species are extinct, endangered or in significant decline, the report said. 

The report praised a state program that works with land owners, developers and environmentalists to craft plans to preserve ecosystems. Researchers also said California as a whole has strong popular interest in protecting the environment. 

The state’s relatively strong economy “should allow the region to be at the forefront of worldwide conservation efforts,” it said. 

Southern California got a B+ for increased recycling efforts. But the report warned that “imaginative, potentially expensive and politically controversial programs” will be needed to reverse an increase in the amount of solid waste going to landfills as the population soars. 

The report also graded a series of building projects in the city of Los Angeles. A program to build new urban parks got an A, as did several developments deemed environmentally friendly and energy efficient. 

But the Belmont Learning Complex, the troubled high school construction project near downtown Los Angeles, got a D for planning failures after pockets of methane gas were discovered beneath the site.

SANTA ANA — A Superior Court judge gave a Yorba Linda family until Nov. 5 to get their $650,000 home out of foreclosure, a house they nearly lost when they came up $51.56 short on a monthly mortgage payment. 

Clara and Francisco Alonso have reached an agreement with Washington Mutual that will allow their family to stay in the home, their attorney said. 

Judge James P. Gray granted a tentative preliminary injunction Tuesday setting aside the sale of their foreclosed home. 

Under terms of the agreement, Washington Mutual bought the home back for an undisclosed sum from the real estate speculator who bought it for $200,000 under market value. 

“It’s bittersweet,” said a weeping Clara Alonso outside court. “We’re happy a judge has (administered) justice, but we’re unhappy this happened to us.” 

In a statement issued after the ruling, the bank said it was happy the situation was resolved. 

“(We) would not foreclose on a home simply over a $50 discrepancy. And we haven’t done so with the Alonsos. A foreclosure is a last resort and only happens after every other means of obtaining repayment has been tried,” Washington Mutual said. 

“Having said that, we realize how frustrating this has been and we are pleased that we have reached an agreement.” 

The bank foreclosed and sold the home after Clara Alonso wrote a check for $51.56 less than her $3,994.89 monthly mortgage payment. She said a bank teller gave her the wrong figure. 

Alonso and her husband bought the five-bedroom home with its back yard and swimming pool for $377,000 in 1993 and lived there with their 8- and 20-year-old daughters and their dog, Rocky. 

Earlier this year they ran into financial problems and fell behind in their monthly mortgage payments on the home, which is now worth $650,000.

SACRAMENTO — Armed with an opinion from the Legislature’s attorney, Senate leader John Burton said Tuesday that Proposition 51 is unconstitutional and that lawmakers will ask a court to overturn it if it’s approved by voters. 

But the San Francisco Democrat said he doesn’t want things to get that far. “We are hopeful that the people in their wisdom will figure out that this is a terrible raid on the state treasury,” he said. 

The Nov. 5 ballot measure would earmark 30 percent of the taxes on vehicle sales and leases to pay for a variety of projects that supporters say would relieve traffic congestion or replace unsafe school buses. 

But the legislative counsel’s office, in an opinion requested by Burton, says the measure would violate the state constitution’s requirement that ballot initiatives deal with a single subject. 

“We conclude that the wide variety of environmental projects and programs, development projects and programs and certain other projects and programs included in the initiative ... are not reasonably germane nor functionally related to each other,” the opinion says. 

Opponents say the non-transportation proposals in the initiative include funding for roadside produce stands, wetlands, libraries, child care centers, parks and weed abatement. 

Eddy Moore, transportation director for the Planning and Conservation League, the environmental group sponsoring the initiative, said all of the measure’s projects have some connection to transportation. 

“I have no idea where the produce stand thing came from,” he said. “The other things (listed by opponents) are twisted versions of what’s in there. 

“Every project in this measure is a public benefit project. All of the money flows through existing state and local agencies. Most of the projects in this measure are already written into state law as a priority or have been chosen by state or local agencies as a priority.” 

Burton said he also plans to ask the state Fair Political Practices Commission if the proposition’s backers broke any laws in raising money for the measure, although he concedes they probably didn’t. 

He also wants the FPPC to suggest ways to draft legislation to bar the PCL and other initiative writers from including projects in a ballot measure based on whether their supporters give donations to the campaign. 

A court struck down an earlier attempt to impose such restrictions. 

PCL officials acknowledge they have included projects sought by big contributors in their initiatives. 

“If we were as rich as (Arnold) Schwarzenegger we would not have to do any fund-raising,” said Moore, referring to Proposition 49, a Nov. 5 ballot measure backed by the actor to boost funding for after-school programs.

LOS ANGELES — Former baseball star Steve Garvey did not know that he was making false claims when he said people could use a weight-loss product and eat “forbidden foods” such as buttered biscuits and ribs, his lawyer said Tuesday. 

Garvey believed the product worked after trying it himself and the claims he made in infomercials endorsing the Enforma weight-loss system were scripted, attorney Edward Glynn Jr. said during closing arguments in the non-jury trial before U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess. 

“He tried it, and he believed in it,” Glynn said of his client, who no longer promotes Enforma products. 

The Federal Trade Commission is suing the former Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres first baseman for the $1.1 million he received for endorsing Enforma products in infomercials in 1999 and 2000. 

In advertisements, Enforma Natural Products Inc. claimed the system could block fat from being absorbed and increase the body’s capacity to burn it off. 

The claims were false, the FTC said. 

FTC lawyer David P. Frankel had said Garvey made “outrageous” claims during the commercials that were broadcast almost 48,000 times in the United States. 

Frankel quoted Garvey as telling viewers: 

“Look at all these delicious supposedly forbidden foods — barbecued chicken and ribs, buttered biscuits. Foods you can eat when you crave them, without guilt, without worry, and it’s all because of a few little capsules.”

Struggling readers appear to be making significant progress under a four year-old “early literacy” program in the Berkeley’s elementary schools, according to a report released last week. 

The report, authored by the Berkeley Unified School District, shows that 75 percent of kindergarten through fifth-grade students tested at or above grade level in reading last year, compared to 66 percent in 2000. 

The numbers, though, may be skewed by a dramatic leap in test scores at the fourth- and fifth-grade levels. Officials attribute the jump, in part, to greater consistency in the way teachers administer district exams. 

Still, district teachers and leaders say the $1 million-a-year program has yielded admirable results. 

“I’ve been on the board eight years,” said retiring Board of Education member Ted Schultz, during a review of the report last week. “I think this is the best thing we’ve done in eight years.” 

The school board approved the early literacy program in September 1998. Today, each of Berkeley’s 12 elementary schools has two to three literacy specialists in place, providing one-on-one tutoring for about 55 struggling students at a time districtwide. They also provide small group tutoring for more than 100 students districtwide and teacher training for staff at each school. 

Literacy teachers like Mary Barrett, who works at both Rosa Parks and Thousand Oaks elementary schools, make use of a program called “reading recovery” which focuses on word meaning, syntax and phonics. For kids, that means pointing to words as they read, looking at pictures that accompany text, and identifying common “word chunks” like “ing.” 

The district, which focuses intervention efforts on first-, second- and third-graders, attempts to move students through the program in 20 weeks or less. Pupils “graduate” when they have reached the mid-point of reading proficiency in their classrooms. 

Barrett attributes the program’s success to strong training, continued district funding – even in the midst of a budget crisis – and individualized attention for students. 

“One-to-one makes it possible to focus and have a complete lesson,” she said. 

The only drop in scores came in kindergarten, where the percentage of students at or above grade level for literacy skills dipped from 80 percent in 2000 to 66 percent in 2002. 

Donna Van Noord, who administers the district’s early literacy program, said the dip may be the result of variations in the way Berkeley kindergarten instructors are teaching – with some focusing more than others on academic skills, such as recognizing letters. 

“We’re seeing some variations in our kindergarten classes that we really need to look at,” said Van Noord, adding that the district is moving toward a more universal focus on academic skills in kindergarten. 

The study also revealed that “reading recovery” graduates, as they get older, are less and less likely to continue reading at grade level. Last year, 74 percent of first-grade students who participated in reading recovery and graduated read at grade level. Meanwhile 65 percent of fourth-graders, who took part in the program in the 1998-1999 school year, were at grade level. 

Barrett attributed the drop-off to a number of factors, including larger class sizes in the fourth and fifth grades and more complex vocabulary and texts at those grade levels. 

In an ideal world, Van Noord said, the district would have enough money to hire more literacy teachers and boost interventions at the fourth- and fifth-grade levels. 

But for now, Van Noord said, Berkeley’s literacy program is making strides. 

“It’s a great collaborative effort,” she said, giving credit to classroom teachers, literacy instructors, principals, district administrators and the school board. 

Contact reporter at scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

The only error I saw in the Daily Planet’s accurate article (Oct. 7), was that I advocated dropping some special education programs in the Berkeley school district and not, as reported, students. I suggested we join other schools to form “consortia,” avoiding the $73,716 we pay yearly for behavior counseling for one student, $75,400 yearly for another’s nursing, and speech therapy for hundreds of students at $80 per hour.  

Next, I deeply understand Ms. McDonald-Cacho (Forum, Oct. 14) and her desire to provide for her injured child. I have had a similar experience with the birth disability of my wife’s brother. When I found his testicular cancer (doctors never examined him thoroughly) we, too, struggled to get him good medical care. However, it was not I who “cavalierly” judged the “human worthiness” of the only deformed baby I ever delivered, during my medical studies in Brussels; the otherwise healthy infant was smothered that night... by his parents.  

Since Ms. McDonald-Cacho ridicules my human rights record, I will add that, witnessing euthanasia in Belgian hospitals, I took risks by objecting, and kept a secret log, revealed in “The Lancet” in March, 2001. The journal’s articles on this issue led to groundbreaking legislation in Europe. 

But my human rights work really dates back to my “stint” at Amnesty International. In London recently, I dined with my ex-Amnesty boss, now a knight and long U.N. advisor on torture. He informed me of the increasing acceptance of my proposals on medical ethics, submitted by Amnesty to the U.N. in 1975.  

Finally, Ms. McDonald-Cacho’s remarks about how a women’s world is not a prison hardly merit comment. For example, while Ms. McDonald-Cacho may live free as the wind, my daughter’s award-winning article in Berkeley High’s “Jacket” exposed the exploitation of females in Berkeley by Lakireddy Bali Reddy. This lead to his conviction for importation of female minors for sexual predation. Even in our town women may suffer at the hands of men, a fact I remember even if Ms. McDonald-Cacho doesn't.  

Lance Montauk 

School board candidate

Tuesday, Oct. 22 

Brown Bag Career Talk 

12 to 1 p.m. 

YWCA Turning Point Career Center, 2600 Bancroft Way 

Professional organizer Kathy Waddill hosts “Getting Paid to Help Other People Get Organized”. 

848-6370 

$3 

“Perverts and Sodomites: Homophobia as Hate Speech in South Africa” 

4 to 6 p.m. 

652 Barrows Hall, UC Berkeley 

Vasu Reddy, visiting scholar in rhetoric and comparative literature, speaks. 

642-8338 

Berkeley Special Education Parents’ Network (BSPED) 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Ala Costa Center, 1300 Rose St. 

Presentation: “Parenting Children with Learning and Attentional Differences to Build Success: Learning from Resilience and Success Research” 

525-9262 

Free 

“What is it Like to Be a Robot?” 

8 p.m. 

145 Dwinelle, UC Berkeley 

Tom Sgouros and his robot, Judy, star in a sharp-witted “solo” theater piece in which they discuss stage magic, free will, imagination and other themes in this unique performance. 

www.sgouros.com 

Berkeley Camera Club Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share your prints and slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

525-3565 / www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

Wednesday, Oct. 23 

The Independent Institute 

7 p.m. 

Daniel Ellsberg unveils new book, “Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers.” 

Zellerbach Auditorium, Bancroft Way and Telegraph 

642-9988 

Berkeley Gray Panthers General Meeting 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

What’s what on the November ballot: A rundown of state and local ballot measures. Shirley Dean and Tom Bates will debate. 548-9696 

Thursday, Oct. 24 

Communication Components Workshop 

State Health Toastmasters Club 

Noon to 1 p.m. 

2151 Berkeley Way 

595-1594 

Free 

Mayoral Debate 

11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. 

Perseverance Hall, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

The debate between Shirley Dean and Tom Bates will be moderated by Jane Coulter of the League of Women Voters.  

486-4019 

“How to Access Health and Medical Information Through the Internet” 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Claremont branch of the Berkeley Public Library, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 

Learn how to effectively use free scientific databases and do health-related research using the Internet. 

Register in advance: 981-6280 

Free 

Friday, Oct. 25 

“The Library: A Community Legacy” 

11:45 a.m. luncheon, 12:30 p.m. speaker 

City Commons Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 

Anna Rabkin will speak. 

526-2925 or 665-9020 

$11.50 or $12.50 luncheon 

$1 speaker only / students free 

Benefit Fundraiser for Berkeley Liberation Radio 

7 to 10 p.m.. 

379 40th St., Oakland (between Telegraph and Broadway) 

An evening of political activism, music, dancing, poetry and food. 

$10-$15 / No one turned away 

Saturday, Oct. 26 

Math Made Fun - math games. 

1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

1 Centennial Dr. - Lawrence Hall of Science  

Free with museum admission 

Pumpkin Carving  

and Costume Making 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at  

Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

Free 

Emeryville Taiko’s Halloween Extravaganza 

7 to 8:30 p.m. 

1601A 63rd St. (near Hollis St.), in Emeryville 

Fun and games for kids with a Taiko drumming performance at 8:30. 

655-6392 

Kids $5 / adults $10 

Alzheimer’s Disease and the African American Community 

9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 

St. Paul AME Church, 2024 Ashby Ave. 

Join the Alzheimer’s Association for this informative morning. Continental breakfast included. 

Preregister: (650) 962-9644 

Free 

MSRI’s 20th Anniversary Celebration 

3 to 5:30 p.m. 

Valley Life Science Building, Chan Shun Auditorium, second floor, Rm 205O, UC Berkeley 

The Mathematical Sciences Research Institute celebrates its birthday with keynote speaker Sir Michael Atiyah. 

601-8700 

Halloween Spook Hunt 

1 to 5 p.m. 

Thousand Oaks School, 840 Colusa Ave. 

Costumes are encouraged at this treasure hunt. Best costume participates free. Meet at 1 p.m. at the park next to Thousand Oaks. 

524-2166 

$7.50-$15 / Families $35 

Lawrence Hall of Science Family Halloween Party 

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

A Halloween bash with magicians, mad scientists, wizards, and a demonstration of how to make an elephant mask. 

Reserve tickets in advance: 642-5134 

$8-$12 

The New School Halloween Bazaar 

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

1606 Bonita St. at Cedar 

Face painting, mask-making, children’s games, apple bobbing, and more. 

548-9165 

Free 

Strides to Provide 

8 a..m. to noon 

Oakland’s Lake Merritt 

Alta Bates Summit kicks off its first annual community walk, incorporating fundraising, health ecducation, health screenings, and entertainment. 

Radio station KMEL will provide music. 

204-1167 

Gardening With East Bay Native Plants  

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. near Dwight Way 

Hands-on workshop touching on many aspects of “restoration gardening”. 

Reservations required: 548-2220 x233 

$15 Ecology Center members,  

$25 others, 

no one turned away for lack of funds. 

Tuesday, Oct 22 

Gator Beat 

Cajun dance lesson 8 p.m. 

Show 8:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. at Gilman 

Louisiana-born accordionist and singer Richard Domingue leads this sextet. 

525-5054 

$8 

Wednesday, Oct. 23 

Steve Lucky Quartet with Miss Carmen Getit 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. at Gilman 

Swing dance lesson 8 p.m. 

Show 9 p.m. 

525-5054 

$8 

Thursday, Oct. 24 

UC Berkeley Jazz Ensembles 

Noon 

Lower Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley 

Every Thursday. Featured groups range from Thursday Big Band to the Marty Wehner Sextet. 

486-1199 

Free 

Grateful Dead DJ Nite 

10 p.m. to 2 a.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. at Gilman 

Spin with Digital Dave’s Grateful Dead tunes. 

525-5054 

$5 

Friday, Oct. 25 

UC Choral Ensembles Halloween Show 

6 and 8 p.m. (Two shows) 

155 Dwinelle, UC Berkeley 

Featuring nine UC choral ensembles, including the Women’s Chorale, the Men’s Chorale, and the Men’s Octet. 

642-3880 

$7 general / $5 students 

Afro-Muzika 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. at Gilman 

The nine members of this group sing, play and dance the infectious soukous party music of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

525-5054 

$12 

Saturday, Oct. 26 

Lisa B. 

7 p.m. / Open mic sign-up 6:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 

Presented by Rhythm & Muse. 

Free / donations accepted 

Kotoja 

Dance lesson 9 p.m. 

Show 9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. at Gilman 

Known in the Bay Area’s World Beat and Afro-beat scene, Kotoja features bandmembers from West Africa and America. 

525-5054 

$12 

Sunday, Oct. 27 

Larry Schneider 

4:30 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

Internationally performing saxophonist. 

845-5373 

$10-$15 

Turning Point: Sacred Music Before and After the Second Vatican Council 

4 p.m. 

United Christian Church, 2401 Le Conte Ave. 

Sacred choral music, sponsored by the Graduate Theological Union. 

(415) 431-4234 

Free 

Kazuhisa Uchihashi 

8:15 p.m. 

TUVA Space, 3192 Adeline at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

ACME Observatory Contemporary Performance Series presents this Japanese experimental electric guitarist. 

649-8744 

$0-$20 Sliding scale 

“Please Pay Attention” 

Through Oct. 25 

4 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

Worth Ryder Gallery, 116 Kroeber Hall 

UC Art graduates feature drawings, video, etc. 

DepartmentofArtPractice 

Ceramics - Opening Reception 

Through Nov. 17 

3 to 5 p.m. 

A New Leaf Gallery, 1286 Gilman St. 

525-7621 

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 

“Recent Acquisitions” 

Through Dec. 14 

Thurs., Fri., and Sat., 1 to 4 p.m. 

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

848-0181 

Free 

Alarms and Excursions 

Nov. 15 through Dec. 22 

Aurora Theatre Company,  

2081 Addison St. 

Michael Frayn's comedy about  

the irony of modern technology. 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org for reservations 

$26 to $35. 

Tuesday, Oct. 22 

“Sara’s Children; The Destruction of Chmielnik” 

7:30 p.m. 

Barnes & Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 

Journalist Suzan Hagstrom will speak on her nonfiction book, which delves into the Holocaust. 

644-3635 

“A Language Older Than Words” 

7 p.m. 

2350 San Pablo Ave. near Dwight Way 

An evening with author Derrick Jensen, with music by Andrea Pritchett. 

548-2220 

$6-$10/ Sliding scale. 

Wednesday, Oct. 23 

An evening with Simon Winchester 

7 p.m. 

Sibley Auditorium, Bechtel Engineering Center, UC Berkeley 

Join the author of bestsellers “The Map That Changed the World” and “The Professor and the Madman”, along with Don George, global travel editor for Lonely Planet Publications, for an evening of lively conversations. 

893-8555 

Free 

Stephanie Strickland and Valerie Coulton 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Poetry reading. 

525-5476, $2 donation 

Thursday, Oct. 24 

Joanne Kyger and Garret Caples 

4:30 p.m. 

Maud Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall, UC Berkeley 

Part of Holloway Poetry Series 2002. 

Free 

For most of his young life, Sean Young didn’t want to go to Cal. Enter new Golden Bears coach Jeff Tedford – now it looks like Berkeley fans will be able to see Young at Memorial Stadium on a regular basis. 

The Berkeley High senior is one of the fastest wide receivers on the West Coast, running a blazing 4.48 seconds over 40 yards. He verbally committed to Cal during the summer, though he hasn’t signed anything yet. The official signing date for football recruits is in February.  

Young is one of many reasons the Yellowjackets are unbeaten at 6-0 this season. On an offense that likes to run the ball, he is the main receiver and has nine receptions for 230 yards and three touchdowns. The Berkeley coaches have also been using his speed in the running game, with Young running for 280 yards and four touchdowns. 

Young didn’t make any catches in Berkeley High’s 34-28 overtime win Friday night over Hercules, but he ran a double reverse for 37 yards and a touchdown that put Berkeley up 28-12 in the fourth quarter. 

“He’s made some big plays for us this year,” Berkeley head coach Matt Bissell said. “He’s a great player, and we hope to ride him a few more games.” 

A few Pac-10 schools noticed what Young has done through the years. UCLA, Washington, Arizona and Cal all vied for his services. 

Young grew up near Cal, but the Golden Bears didn’t exactly wow him. He went to home games at Memorial Stadium, but Cal’s losing records in recent years, including a 1-10 season last year, kept him focused on his childhood goal – going south to UCLA. 

His decision came down to the Bears and Bruins. 

“Pretty much all my life I’d always wanted to go to UCLA,” he said. “I just grew up liking the Bruins and I always wanted to go to school there. That was a big factor, too. I really didn’t think about football much until I started getting better.” 

The arrival of Tedford and a potent offensive attack has given Cal a 5-3 record and changed Young’s mind. 

“I like how [Tedford] passes the ball,” he said. “I think I’ll have a chance to do well there.” 

“I was never interested in going to Cal when [former coach Tom Holmoe] was there. But knowing that Tedford was coming in there and bringing in a good offense, which I see already, they really interested me a lot. I knew a lot about him and knew at Oregon he helped to build it into a powerhouse. I knew with him coming to Cal he’d be doing the same thing. 

“I was deciding between UCLA and Cal. I weighed which school would benefit me more, and I thought it’d be really great if I could go to Cal. My family can come up to watch me, and I can stay close to home, close to my family.” 

Young is aware that Tedford’s instant success at Cal could lead other colleges or professional teams to woo Tedford away from Berkeley, a la the San Francisco 49ers and former Cal coach Steve Mariucci. 

Such a scenario, he says, would be one of the only ways he might not end up a Golden Bear. 

“I was actually thinking about that,” Young said. “It really started to scare me. If Tedford left, I’d really have to rethink things. It would be really big. I don’t think I’d go there.” 

Whichever school lands the talented Young will find a receiver with a strong work ethic who improved his game between his junior and senior years. As a junior, Young joined the Berkeley High track team, running the 100, 200 and 4x100 relay, because he wanted to get faster for football. 

“I heard that a lot of football players run track because it’ll help you get faster, and a lot of colleges wanted to see that,” he said. “It’s a fun experience also just to run track.” 

Young’s previous best time in the 40 was 4.59 seconds. At a football camp last summer, he clocked in at 4.48. 

Bissell appreciates Young’s offseason work, which has made a noticeable impact on his game. Last year, he scored seven touchdowns all season but has already matched that through six games this year.

A north Berkeley housing complex planned for where an old gas station once stood at 1797 Shattuck Ave. could pose health risks to neighbors, according to nearby residents. 

Art Goldberg, who lives a few blocks from the site, insists that a Chevron gas station contaminated the property with cancer-causing gasoline additives MTBE and benzene until its closure in 1999. The site’s current development plan, he says, fails to protect neighbors from residual gasoline vapors that may be released during construction of the proposed five-story complex. 

“There is highly toxic stuff floating around in the ground there, and the city is just ignoring it,” said Goldberg. 

But city staff refuted environmental concerns. They say their plan to safeguard neighbors and workers is sufficient and has worked at other sites with similar contamination. 

Tonight, City Council will consider an appeal of the project filed by Goldberg and neighbor Barry Wofsy, who say they will sue the city if council approves the development. The project was proposed by Berkeley-developer Avi Nevo and is slated to contain four stories of housing above a floor of shops. 

In July, the Zoning Adjustment Board voted unanimously to approve the project, signaling that it was comfortable with city plans to deal with hazardous chemicals. 

Goldberg’s appeal to the ZAB decision argues that the city didn’t conduct an adequate environmental review before signing off on the development. 

Currently under the plan, Chevron will hire Cambria Environmental Technology, an environmental cleanup contractor to monitor the site and remove contaminated soil. According to Bob Foss, Senior Project Geologist at Cambria, the company will have state-of-the-art detectors measuring vapors released from the construction site to assure safe conditions. 

“If vapor concentrations reach dangerous levels, we can request that the contractors shut down the operation,” said Foss, who said vapors can be limited by wetting the soil and then taking the soil to a waste site. 

Goldberg, though, worries that Cambria’s first loyalty will be to Chevron’s bottom line and not city residents.  

“I don’t see how the city can let a developer do this,” said Goldberg, who wants a preliminary cleanup done by a city-appointed firm. “If a developer pays the consultant, they’re going to give him the result he wants.” 

But Nevo explained that Chevron is required to hire an independent environmental firm because they are responsible for the contamination. 

City hazardous materials specialist Geoffrey Fiedler said that on-site monitors have already shown that benzene levels are decreasing. He noted that an extensive cleanup, suggested by Goldberg, could pose more risks than just letting the hazardous materials naturally dissipate. 

Fiedler said that parties involved in the Shattuck development did a nearly identical project at 1820 Solano Ave., where the city also worked to prevent release of harmful vapors from a Chevron gas station. 

Nevo said the Shatuck development was designed with the gas station in mind and seeks to minimize possible exposure to harmful gas chemicals. An underground garage will be dug in an area that has not tested positive for chemicals, while the most contaminated space will be covered with concrete. 

“This is not the first building built on a gas station,” he said.  

Contact reporter at 

matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

We write to correct recent statements about the League of Women Voters’ views on building heights in Berkeley. In a recent debate on the local cable channel, Norine Smith incorrectly stated that the league had supported skyscrapers and excessively tall buildings proposed in a draft 1999 General Plan. We must correct the record before the program airs again. 

The league strongly objected in 1999 to very high densities and heights in downtown. The 1999 General Plan update, was a draft presented for discussion only. We therefore commented to the planning department in a July 1999 letter, as follows: “The downtown FAR development intensities, which are the same as Oakland’s, are inconsistent with the downtown plan. If the staff believes this density is appropriate for Berkeley, the case needs to be made and discussed publicly rather than hidden in obscure measurements. …The update simply allows the greater intensity as if by right. Formerly, urban design visions for Berkeley saw building heights stepping up to the hills, not challenging them or the Campanile for prominence.” 

Measure P, the height initiative, supporters also claim Berkeley, as a whole, is too dense. Yet our population has dropped from 114,091 in 1970 to 102,743 in 2000. Adjusting for errors by the census, we’ve lost between 8,000 and 11,000 residents. How can we be too dense when we’ve lost population in the last 30 years? Berkeley is largely residential, with relatively little land devoted to other uses. So if you divide the population by the area [10.5 sq. miles], you’ll come up with a relatively high density compared with cities with more land devoted to industrial or other uses. 

Measure P claims to be a solution to traffic and density. It will actually increase traffic, by forcing more and more people to commute – as the university and local jobs grow, and as the people who fill those jobs become commuters. Measure P is a no-growth measure that would stop construction of affordable housing. 

Nancy Bickel 

President, 

League of Women Voters of 

Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville 

SAN FRANCISCO — Just mention Pacific Bell Park and what’s the first image that comes to mind? Barry Bonds plopping balls into the water, of course. 

Funny thing about that picture: It’s out of focus. 

Believe it or not, there were fewer home runs hit at Pac Bell this year than any ballpark in the majors. And that’s fine with the Giants as the World Series shifts to San Francisco for Game 3 Tuesday night. 

The Anaheim Angels and Giants already have combined to hit 11 homers, by far a record for the first two games of any World Series. After Tim Salmon connected twice Sunday night and sent the Giants to an 11-10 loss that left them with a split at Edison Field, they were eager to return home. 

“For all the fans who like to see teams scoring runs and stuff, yeah, it was a great ballgame to watch,” shortstop Rich Aurilia said. “It’s not the typical type of game you want to be involved in. We’d rather see a lower-scoring game.” 

“People who have never been to our park probably will be in for a surprise at the kind of hitter’s park it is. It’s not much of one. So I don’t think we’ll see 21 runs scored,” he said. 

J.T. Snow, who has one of the Giants’ seven homers, agreed. 

“We’d like to get back to our park, play our style of game, keep some of those balls in the ballpark and see what happens,” he said. 

Right after Hall of Famer Willie Mays throws out the first pitch, the rules change as Pac Bell hosts its first Series game. No more designated hitter in the NL park, and the Giants like that a lot as the emphasis goes from longballs to small ball. 

Minus DH Brad Fullmer, the Angels could be at a big disadvantage — the same scenario AL teams face each other when they go on the road in the World Series. 

San Francisco figures to enjoy an edge on the mound and at the plate when Livan Hernandez pitches against Ramon Ortiz in Game 3. 

Along with being 6-0 lifetime in the postseason, Hernandez swings a pretty good bat. 

Hernandez is at .242 with 99 career hits, including four home runs and 39 RBIs. Plus he’s put down 34 sacrifice bunts, 10 of them this season. 

Ortiz is another story. He’s 0-for-14 lifetime, with five strikeouts and no successful bunts. 

“We do have a bit of an advantage with the pitchers. Our pitchers are used to hitting and bunting,” Giants manager Dusty Baker said. “Now we’re going back to play National League ball.” 

“I don’t really anticipate 11-10 in our ballpark,” he said. 

Oh, there was that game at Pac Bell last Aug. 6: Giants 11, Cubs 10. 

But Baker’s point was made. Other than that Cubs-Giants affair, there weren’t any games in San Francisco this year when the teams totaled more than 17 runs. 

That’s OK with Anaheim manager Mike Scioscia, who learned his strategy in the NL while catching 13 seasons for Los Angeles. 

The Angels reflected that style in the first two games. They aggressively ran the bases, including Fullmer stealing home, tried to hit-and-run and bunted. 

“We’re not always going to pound the ball,” Scioscia said. “We have to have those little balls. Those guys at the top of the lineup, they worked counts, got on base and definitely set a tone.” 

Many of the Angels have played at Pac Bell in interleague games, though they did not visit this year. So they won’t be deceived by the seemingly short distances — 309 feet to right field and 399 feet center. 

Odd angles and high walls make it a tough place to hit home runs. There were only 114 at Pac Bell this year, down about 33 percent from other major league ballparks. 

Bonds hit 19 of his 46 regular-season homers at Pac Bell, and added a splash shot into McCovey Cove against St. Louis in the NLCS.

Democracy, public safety and about $47 million in taxpayer dollars will be at stake Nov. 5 when Berkeley voters cast ballots on Measure J. 

The most expensive proposition on the local ballot, Measure J would authorize the city to issue $21.5 million in bonds to renovate and seismically-retrofit old City Hall at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Approval requires a two-thirds vote. 

Berkeley property owners would pick up the tab, expected to mount to $47 million with interest. The average homeowner would pay about $20 per year in additional property taxes for 30 years to fund the project. 

Old City Hall currently serves as district headquarters for the Berkeley Unified School District, with about 50 employees on the premises, and plays host to City Council, Board of Education and other public meetings on a weekly basis. 

Supporters say a retrofit is vital to protect the safety of school employees and the hundreds of officials and members of the public who use the building’s City Council chambers for meetings. 

“It’s an unsafe building,” said Mayor Shirley Dean, a chief supporter of the measure. “We know the big earthquake is coming.” 

But opponents say the retrofit is an expensive proposition in the midst of an economic downturn. They also point out that the renovation plan, in an attempt to improve handicapped accessibility and comfort, would decrease the number of public seats in the City Council chambers from 110 to approximately 65 to 75. 

“We’re spending $21.5 million, $47 million over the life of the project, and we’re not even going to end up with a decent meeting space,” said City Councilmember Dona Spring, a chief opponent of Measure J. 

In May, as an alternative, Spring proposed adding a new $4.5 million wing to the building, including a 250-seat City Council chamber. But the council rejected the idea as too expensive. 

Spring said the city has been forced, during a few public meetings in recent years, to lock out members of the public for fire safety reasons. Decreasing the size of the City Council chambers, as currently planned, would not improve the situation, she said. 

“There’s only a few meetings a year that exceed the capacity of the City Council chambers,” Dean replied, adding that the city is considering an adjacent overflow room, with a television feed, for meetings that attract large crowds. 

Spring said the overflow room would only frustrate members of the public, upset that they could not get into the main chamber. 

Spring, who uses a wheelchair, also argued that the planned chamber does not provide enough handicapped accessibility. She said there should be enough space in the aisles to accommodate not just one, but two wheelchairs at once. Dean points out that the design meets all accessibility codes. 

Carrie Olson, chairperson of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, said it would be “unconscionable” to go much longer without retrofitting the building because of public safety concerns. 

But she also said the city should protect old City Hall, the first Berkeley building to win landmark status, for historical and architectural reasons. 

“It’s a jewel,” Olson said. 

Designed by architects John Bakewell and Arthur Brown, Jr., who also crafted San Francisco City Hall and the San Francisco Opera House, Berkeley’s old City Hall opened in 1909 and served as the home of Berkeley city government until 1977. 

“It has a civic stature that other buildings (in Berkeley) don’t have,” said Burton Edwards, also of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, drawing particular attention to the cupola, a special spire, on the building’s roof. 

If Measure J passes, it would take roughly two years to complete planning and another year-and-a-half to two years to finish construction, according to Berkeley’s Director of Public Works Rene Cardinaux. 

Whether the measure passes or not, one prickly question would be what to do, in the long run, with the Berkeley Unified School District’s district headquarters.  

The district currently has a $1 a year lease on old City Hall through the end of the decade and some observers say the city has an eye on taking back the building when the lease runs out. 

Dean and Berkeley Unified’s Associate Superintendent of Business and Operations Jerry Kurr said the city and district have not discussed the matter. 

Contact reporter at 

scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net  

To the Editor: 

The League of Women Voters urges a no vote on Measure P with their signs posted on utility polls and median strips throughout the city of Berkeley. How many of the league’s members actually live within the shadows that will be cast by the high-rise buildings they advocate constructing along Shattuck, San Pablo and University avenues? Is this just another case of “do as we say, don’t do as we do”? Will neighbors now living in these areas, and who will be losing sunlight and views, have any say in this matter? 

Sheila Andres 

Berkeley 

Berkeley police arrested 12 men for soliciting prostitutes along San Pablo and Heinz avenues during a four-hour sting Friday evening, police said. 

Two female officers in the department’s Special Enforcement Unit (SEU) posed as prostitutes, while other SEU officers arrested men who propositioned the decoys, according to Public information Officer Mary Kusmiss. 

The sting was the fourth in a series of operations aimed at combating prostitution in southwest Berkeley. To date, a combined total of 56 prostitutes and “johns” have been arrested in the stings, Kusmiss said. 

San Pablo Avenue has long been plagued by prostitution because it offers sex workers heavy car traffic and provides easy access to isolated areas in west Berkeley that are conducive to illicit sex, according to police. 

The 12 men were arrested on misdemeanor charges of soliciting the officers to engage in sex acts. They resided from several Bay Area cities, and one came from as far away as San Jose. 

Contact reporter at 

matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

Prove this country is still a democracy and exercise your right to vote. When officials (questionably “elected” or not) cry for a “war for democracy,” while slowly eroding personal freedoms and increasing surveillance of its citizens – all the while condemning dissent and differences of opinion in how to handle the world affairs - one begins to wonder what country we are in.  

Presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer warned the press, “Watch what you do, watch what you say.” Citizens of our beautiful country can be stripped of their rights if the government deems them “enemy combatants.” How can we call this a democracy when the mere mention of an alternative opinion strikes accusation that one is not a true American? It is only truly American to question our leaders and demand their attention. We elect officials to work for us. We the people. Let them know what you think and please go and vote. 

Ask yourself if you feel more secure than you did a year ago. The United States may have defeated the Taliban in Afghanistan but Afghanistan is now diving into chaos. Has terrorism been deterred? The al-Qaeda seems to have resurfaced – bombing in Bali and the Philippines. Here at home, in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., we are terrified by a sniper and the Bay Area has been plagued with violent robbery. What about your job security or your savings? Layoffs loom while the numbers of capable and intelligent people joining the ranks of the unemployed are steadily on the rise. Jobs are still scarce and rents are still high.  

Defend our democracy. Go out and vote! 

Mary McGloin 

Alameda

ROCKVILLE — In a tantalizing turn in the hunt for the Washington-area sniper, investigators said Monday the killer apparently tried to contact them in a phone call that was too “unclear” to be understood. They pleaded with the person to call back. 

The announcement came hours after Virginia authorities surrounded a white van parked at a pay phone in Richmond, Va., and seized two men. Police later said the men had nothing to do with the case and would be deported for immigration violations. 

The most intriguing development came from Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, who is in charge of the investigation. 

Moose disclosed for the first time that a call had been received from someone of high interest to investigators — but the call was somehow muddled. 

“The person you called could not hear everything you said. The audio was unclear and we want to get it right. Call us back so that we can clearly understand,” Moose said. 

He did not disclose who received the call, when or where it was made or other details. 

But investigators believe the call may have come from the sniper and that the caller was the same person who left a note and phone number Saturday night at the scene of the latest shooting, a law enforcement source told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. 

For the second consecutive day, Moose seemed intent on establishing a dialogue with the killer. On Sunday, he publicly pleaded with the note writer to call authorities. 

Early Monday, he said: “The message that needs to be delivered is that we are going to respond to a message that we have received. We are preparing our response at this time.” 

Moose said he could not discuss the message further. 

The flurry of activity raised hope there had been a break in the search for the sniper who has killed nine people and critically wounded three others in Virginia, Maryland and Washington since Oct. 2. 

The latest attack came Saturday night in a steakhouse parking lot in Ashland, just north of Richmond. The victim, a 37-year-old man, was felled by a single shot to the stomach. 

He remained in critical but stable condition at a Richmond hospital Monday after having his spleen and parts of his pancreas and stomach removed. Surgeons removed the bullet from the victim, and authorities said Monday that ballistics tests had linked the slug to the sniper. 

Surgeon Rao Ivatury said the man is conscious and responding to wife’s voice, but will need additional surgery in the next few days. 

“He still has a long way to go,” Ivatury said. 

Through the hospital, the wife issued a statement saying the care and prayers she and her husband have received “have been a bright ray of hope and comfort.” 

“Please pray also for the attacker and that no one else is hurt,” she said.

Berkeley is set to usher in an unprecedented period of peace with labor. 

Tonight, the City Council is expected to approve a two-year contact extension with city firefighters that would go through 2006. With municipal workers and police officers signing through 2007, the city is likely to have four years before it returns to the bargaining table. 

Recent contract renewals, which included a three-month stalemate between municipal workers and the city, have been a trying time for city officials who are happy to put the negotiations behind them. 

“If you know how many hours of staff time we have to spend in negotiations that is hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington. 

Firefighter salaries came to the table when they requested that the city renegotiate their four-year contract. Though firefighters signed a contract in 2000, they wanted more after city police officers negotiated a more lucrative deal in 2001. The city agreed. 

“Everyone is pretty ecstatic that this was accomplished,” said Lt. Rick Guzman, president of Local 1227 of the International Association of Fire Fighters. “What the city did [to renegotiate] was pretty much unheard of.” 

During the 2000 negotiations, firefighters surrendered 7.75 percent of their wages in order to get an improved pension plan. The following year, however, police officers won the same pension benefits without giving up any salary. 

The new contract restores 7.6 percent in wages. In return the firefighters agreed to extend the contract for two years with yearly raises of 5 percent in 2005 and 6 percent in 2006. Firefighters will now reach the top salary range after six years of service instead of 12. Berkeley firefighters on average make approximately $50,000, but can earn more than $100,000 with overtime, according to a city official. 

The contract modifications will cost the city $2.6 million, according to a city report. The pay hike will add to the city’s current 2.1 million city deficit, but city officials have said in interviews earlier this month that locking in labor costs will better enable them to plan upcoming budgets. 

Contact reporter at matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net

OAKLAND — The Oakland Police Department reports that investigators are looking into the city's 90th killing as of Monday. 

Homicide Lt. Brian Thiem said the slaying in the 500 block of Sycamore Street was reported at 1:47 p.m. Monday. 

According to Thiem, a witness who was walking in the area noticed a man who had been shot to death sitting in a Honda Civic. 

“We don't know why or who (the victim) is at this point,” Thiem said. 

The city recorded 87 homicides in all of last year.

A lot of attention has been given to green building lately. With that attention has come some confusion about what precisely green building is. Other terms, like “healthy” building, “natural” building, and “sustainable” building, or development, also add to the confusion. This is a complex topic that we will try to clarify in today’s “Power Play” and in the Nov. 11 “Power Play.” 

In a nutshell, green building strives to provide healthy, comfortable interiors for building occupants; to maximize operational savings through efficient use of water and energy; and to maximize the positive impacts of development on the natural environment, including reducing suburban sprawl, making more efficient use of existing developed areas, and cleaning up previously polluted sites. 

Most buildings have the potential to become greener when remodeling – from commercial or multi-story apartments to single-family homes. Major green building categories are water and energy efficiency, indoor air quality, site design and solar orientation, building material choice, and operational and maintenance considerations. 

For larger developments, the most energy-efficient measures include locating a building on a relatively small “footprint” on the site, which means going up, not spreading out. This does a number of beneficial things, including covering less ground and allowing rainfall to soak into unpaved areas, and reducing the amount of energy needed for heating by having common floors and ceilings between units that help insulate each other. It also reduces cooling loads on the building, since there is more exterior wall space to incorporate operable windows. 

With operable windows and interior ventilator stacks for natural ventilation, occupants are able to adjust the air freshness and temperature to suit their own needs without using air conditioning. This measure reduces up-front costs for the builder and eliminates the air conditioning expenses for building occupants. Berkeley is fortunate to have an excellent climate for natural ventilation. 

Larger buildings located near public transportation, shopping and schools will reduce transportation costs for building occupants, eliminating a major source of pollution – driving. For every gallon of gasoline burned, 20 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e – a mixture of greenhouse gases) is produced. For example, say that 30 Berkeley residents commute 27 miles round trip to work. Driving in vehicles that got a generous 27 miles per gallon, they would release 78 tons of CO2e annually in a 27-mile daily commute. If these residents used public transportation, they would generate less of CO2e and reduce traffic congestion as well.  

If those 30 residents had to commute 80 miles round trip each day from the suburbs, they would generate 234 tons of CO2e annually. The news is worse if their vehicles only get 18 or 20 MPG, as many SUVs do. Eliminating the need to commute great distances is the fastest and easiest way to reduce pollution, reduce our reliance on imported oil, and improve air and water quality for all Bay Area residents.  

Using non-toxic building materials is another aspect of green building. Sometimes called “healthy” building, their construction materials and interior finishes are free of the toxic ingredients that traditional building materials have. Buildings constructed with non-toxic building products have far better indoor air quality and are healthier for the building’s occupants, as well as the workers who manufacture the building products.  

Formaldehyde is used in plywood and wood composite boards, urea-foam insulation, and permanent-press fabrics such as drapes and upholstery. These materials continue to emit formaldehyde gas for as many as ten years, especially when exposed to heat or direct sunlight. Switching to solid wood trim and cabinets instead of MDF (medium density fiberboard) will also help improve indoor air quality. It is also safer for workers to use. 

Vinyl emits polychlorinated biphenals (PCBs) and dioxin, which according to the EPA is “one of the most toxic and environmentally stable tricyclic aromatic compounds of its structural class,” meaning that it does not break down easily in the environment. Vinyl building products include windows, siding and flooring, PVC pipes, adhesives, and vinyl shower curtains. Vinyl windows and siding are exposed to direct sunlight, which increases their rate of dioxin gas emission. 

Citations issued in  

crosswalk sting operation 

PETALUMA — Petaluma police said today they issued 67 citations during a five-hour period Thursday to motorists who failed to stop for an officer dressed in civilian clothing posing as a pedestrian. 

Rohnert Park officers assisted Petaluma police by stopping motorists during the "crosswalk sting operation'' at seven separate  

intersections, Petaluma Sgt. Tim Lyons said. 

Lyons said the sting was in response to recent citizen complaints and collisions involving pedestrians. A majority of the citations were issued  

at East Washington and Baylis streets, Lyons said. 

Petaluma police consider the number of violations excessive and plan to repeat the crosswalk sting operation again, Lyons said. 

Caltrain rolls out Baby Bullet 

SAN FRANCISCO — Caltrain is expected to inaugurate Japanese-style Baby Bullet trains this week. 

Five of the 17 Baby Bullet cars will go into service Oct. 22, making one midday round trip. Caltrain will run the cars with its current fleet of locomotives until six new Baby Bullet engines arrive early next year. 

Express train schedules will not be implemented until bypass tracks, signal work and other improvements be completed in mid-2004. 

The express trains will be able to skip some stations and pass slower trains on the new tracks. Though they can reach 95 mph, the speed limit along the corridor is 79 mph, and the new trains typically will go about 70 mph. Current trains must stop too frequently to go 70 mph for an extended stretch. 

Built by Bombardier Corp., the Baby Bullet trains have a new color scheme and new design. The express trains will cost $55 million; it will cost an additional $110 million for the upgraded track, new signals, and other improvements, Caltrain said. 

As many as 10 million passengers ride Caltrains annually. The 77-mile system runs through Santa Clara, San Francisco and San Mateo counties. 

Transit district wants property taxes raised for seismic work 

SAN FRANCISCO — The transit district is asking voters in San Francisco, Alameda and Contra Costa counties to pass a $1.05 billion bond measure that would raise property taxes to pay for seismic work for the Bay Area Rapid Transit system. 

BART officials and seismic safety experts warn that a major temblor could damage the transit system so severely it could take nearly two years to completely recover. 

Measure BB is one of three transportation tax issues facing voters in the Bay Area on Nov. 5. 

Bolstering BART by passing Measure BB would cost property owners an average of $7.80 per $100,000 of assessed property values each year for the next 40 years. 

Measure BB opponents object to forcing property owners to pay the price. They say BART riders should foot the bill with higher fares.

SACRAMENTO — California’s teen birth rate has dipped below the national average for the first time since 1980, the state Department of Health Services reported Monday. 

About 45 out of every 1,000 teen females, aged 15 to 19, gave birth in 2001, the lowest number since 1991, when 73 births per thousand were reported. 

“More teens are entering their reproductive age in years to come than we’ve seen in previous times,” said Diana Bonta, director of the state Department of Health Services. “We must continue the downward teen birth rate trend ... and certainly encourage responsible behavior.” 

California currently ranks 32nd in the nation, where it has remained for the last few years as national averages have also declined at a similar rate. Last year’s number put California just below the national average of 46 per thousand. 

“We’ve kind of lagged behind the rest of the country and the national average,” said Anna Ramirez, chief of the Office of Family Planning. “This year is the first year we’ve had the great news.” 

Officials attribute the decline to the state’s media campaign, which encourages sexual responsibility among teenagers and educates them about their options. The campaign — featuring the slogan, “It’s up to me” — offers messages to teenagers, such as, “We want to do really cool things with our time, not become parents before our time.” 

Kathy Kneer, president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, said this approach is more effective than the Bush administration’s focus on the practice of abstinence. “That probably hasn’t happened since Adam and Eve.” 

California’s programs encourage male involvement in preventing unplanned pregnancy and absentee fatherhood, access to family health services and parent-teen communication, Kneer said. 

For every dollar spent on these prevention services, she said, the state saves $4.48 on unplanned pregnancies. 

State officials also reported a drop in the teen birth rate in 32 of California’s 58 counties. The Central Valley retains the highest rates, with Fresno, Kings and Yuba counties leading the state with almost 70 births per thousand. Marin County came in with the lowest at only 12.9. 

When broken down by ethnicity, the birth rate remains the highest among Hispanic teens, with 86.2 births per thousand. African American teens have the next highest birth rate, with 53.3, and Asian and Pacific Islander Americans have the lowest, with 15.6. All ethnic groups, however, have experienced a drop from the previous year. 

While California’s teen birth rate has hovered around the median, statistics compiled by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy show the state typically has had one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country. 

Kneer insisted the statistic does not reflect an increase in abortions, citing a 60 percent decrease in state-funded abortions for all females since 1990.

NEW YORK — Investors rewarded Wall Street for an upbeat earnings season again Monday, pushing stocks sharply higher and extending two weeks of stunning gains. The market overcame an earlier round of profit taking and saw the Dow Jones industrials shoot up more than 200 points. 

Analysts attributed Monday’s advance to the market’s own upward momentum and to budding optimism by investors who have seen big companies such as General Motors, Citigroup and IBM beat earnings expectations. However, Monday’s batch of earnings reports was rather lackluster. 

“There is a euphoria,” in the market, said Brian Bruce, director of global investments, PanAgora Asset Management Inc. in Boston. “People have been waiting for something to be enthusiastic about. Today is an example of people wanting to see the glass half full.” 

After falling 91 points early in the session, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 215.84, or 2.6 percent, at 8,538.24. In the past eight sessions, the Dow has jumped 1,251 points — 502 in the past three sessions. 

The market’s broader indicators were also higher, having shaken off earlier losses of their own. The Nasdaq composite index rose 21.81, or 1.7 percent, to 1,309.67. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index advanced 15.33, or 1.7 percent, to 899.72. 

Monday represented the third up day in a row for Wall Street. The gauges were also building on two straight winning weeks, their first such streak in two months. Since hitting an upward trend on Oct. 9, the Dow has risen 17.2 percent. The Nasdaq has jumped 17.6 percent and the S&P 500 has soared 15.8 percent. 

Analysts attribute the bulk of the gains to third-quarter earnings that have been surprisingly strong. Of the 215 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results so far, 61 percent have surpassed expectations, according to Thomson First Call. And 28 percent have matched estimates, while 11 percent have missed forecasts. 

“We have seen some big-name companies come through and say, ‘Things are slow, but earnings are coming through,”’ said Kevin Caron, market strategist, Ryan, Beck & Co., LLC. 

Positive earnings news and lower stock prices following weeks of selling meant the market was positioned to rally, Caron said. 

But given the market’s recent strides, other market watchers said stocks are due for a profit taking sell-off. 

“We had a significant run-up in a short period of time,” said Alan Ackerman, executive vice president of Fahnestock & Co. “It is important for investors to know that not all rallies are created equal. Bear markets tend to see sharp rallies ... but more times than not, those rallies are not enough to turn sentiment around.” 

Investors again rewarded companies that exceeded earnings forecasts. Printer maker Lexmark rose $1.19 to $56.94 on third-quarter profits that beat analysts’ expectations by a penny a share. 

Diversified manufacturer 3M advanced $3.69 to $129 after meeting earnings expectations. 

Last week’s earnings winners also traded higher Monday. GM rose $2.69 to $37, Citigroup climbed 54 cents to $35.52 and IBM advanced $1.30 to $75.55.

SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Gas and Electric Corp. continued negotiating with lenders Monday, hoping to extend the deadline on a $431 million loan to its unregulated energy trading arm that it says it can’t afford to pay. 

Monday’s deadline marked the end of an earlier extension granted Aug. 21 to PG&E’s National Energy Group, and is the latest obstacle the struggling affiliate must overcome. 

Rating agency Moody’s Investors Service downgraded National Energy Group’s credit rating further into junk status Friday, the latest in a series of downgrades. Brian Hertzog, corporate spokesman for San Francisco-based PG&E, said Friday it would not affect the company substantially. 

But in a recent 8K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, PG&E said the $431 million revolving credit agreement due Monday could force the affiliate into insolvency if it’s unable to win yet another extension from lenders. 

Under such a scenario, National Energy Group would become the second PG&E affiliate in bankruptcy court. California’s largest utility filed for federal Chapter 11 protection in April 2001. 

Hertzog said Monday that PG&E has talked with the group of about 16 lenders about an extension since August, but would not elaborate on the length of the requested extension or when PG&E might settle the debt. 

Plummeting electricity prices and close scrutiny of trading practices following the collapse of energy giant Enron Corp. have caused power traders to flounder in recent months. National Energy Group reported a $21 million loss in the third quarter because of slumping energy sales. 

Based in Bethesda, Md., the subsidiary owns USGen New England power system and sells and trades electricity with other utilities. It also builds power plants and has facilities under construction in Arizona, Michigan and New York. 

PG&E Corp. has said it expects new loan agreements will provide the corporation with enough liquidity to fund operations through at least 2006, despite the woes of its affiliates. 

Shares of PG&E climbed 90 cents to close at $10.40 in trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.

SAN FRANCISCO — United Airlines announced Monday the closure of a reservation center, leaving more than 500 employees on furlough, according to a United Airlines spokesman. 

The Northpointe office, located at Bay and Powell streets in San Francisco, which employs 516 employees, will close on Jan. 4, as part of a company-wide cost-cutting measure.  

“United is facing its toughest challenge ever,” said Glenn Tilton, chairman, president and chief executive officer of United Airlines.  

Depending in their contract, employees will reportedly be offered various options for the future, including severance pay, relocation assistance, career assistance or financial advice, company spokesman Chris Brathwaite said. 

“From a customer standpoint, the transition will be seamless,” said Brathwaite. “This will not be affecting flights.'” 

United attributes the closure to a 25 percent drop in call volume to the reservation line, dating back to 2001. Offices in Long Beach and Indianapolis will also be closed on Jan. 4, 2003 as part of the measure. 

By closing a maintenance line and converting five stations to United Express service, the company hopes to save $100 million annually.

CHICO — Gov. Gray Davis rallied rural residents and workers while Republican challenger Bill Simon courted farmers Monday as each scrambled to secure support from crucial blocs of voters with 15 days until Election Day. 

Davis spent the second of two days trying to attract votes in rural areas, flying from a searing afternoon rally with college students and workers at California State University, Chico, to a union gathering in chilly fog in the north coast’s Eureka. 

He told students he had worked to hold down tuition in the face of a budget crisis and had helped make more scholarships available to students. 

“We’re trying to make the doors of college open to every deserving student and we are making good progress,” Davis said to the crowd at the construction site of a new administrative building at the university. 

He urged supporters to encourage others to vote, and he said he is confident he can hold onto his lead with voters. “On the bread and butter issues, they know that we’ve made progress and they are giving us credit for that,” Davis said. 

Traveling by private jet with his wife Sharon and party and labor leaders, Davis then headed to the northern reaches of the state for another labor union rally in Eureka. 

While Davis was promoting his labor-friendly policies to union audiences, Simon was accepting the endorsement of the influential California Farm Bureau Federation during a campaign bus tour in the farm-rich Central Valley. 

The Republican candidate got federation support after Davis alienated farmers and growers by signing a bill that called for mediation in labor talks between farmworkers and farmers. Surrounded by hay bales and baskets for produce in Tulare, Simon repeated his promise to support farmers when he’s elected governor on Nov. 5. 

“Please spread the word that help is on the way, help in the form of support for our agriculture industries,” Simon said to enthusiastic applause. 

From there, Simon headed for Fresno and Stockton. He will also attend a San Francisco fund-raiser featuring Christine Todd Whitman, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. 

Davis defended his work for the state’s largest industry — agriculture. He touted tax breaks that he signed to aid farmers last year, and a new campaign to encourage residents to buy produce grown in California. He also brushed off Simon’s criticism of the farm worker mediation bill he signed last month. 

“Farm workers are the hardest working people on the planet, and if they don’t do their job well, you can’t put nutritious food on your table,” Davis said. “He’s thrown a lot of bombs that have exploded in his face, so I don’t attach much credibility to his commentary.” 

The 95,000-member California Farm Bureau Federation is the state’s largest agricultural group. In making its endorsement, the Farm Bureau Federation said it was donating $25,000 to the Simon campaign and sending mailers on his behalf. 

The Central Valley is heavily Republican. Kern County, for instance, favored GOP candidate Dan Lungren over Gray Davis 55 percent to 42 percent in the 1988 gubernatorial race. Davis won the statewide contest in a landslide. 

At the Bakersfield kickoff, Simon said: “I believe that agriculture is perhaps our most important industry in California and I pledge that when I become governor the agricultural industry is going to be pre-eminent in my thinking.” 

Simon and his wife Cindy boarded the custom-painted campaign bus, with “Bill Simon for Governor” on the sides and “Fire Davis” on the rear, at 6:45 a.m. The natural gas-powered bus was jammed with reporters accompanying the Republican on the campaign excursion. 

At each stop on his daylong tour, Simon spoke with local growers who said their livelihood was being threatened by over regulation under the Davis administration. 

“They’re fighting for their rights and their livelihood,” state Sen. Chuck Poochigian, R-Fresno, said while introducing Simon at the Fresno stop.

SACRAMENTO — California’s job and population growth continues to outpace its supply of homes and apartments, steadily worsening one of the nation’s most severe housing shortages, says a new report by a nonprofit group that studies economic and budget trends. 

The California Budget Project, reflecting similar and repeated concerns by business, housing, homebuilder and local government groups, says the state faces a crisis of “dramatic proportions” and is making little progress addressing it. 

Bearing the brunt are millions of low-income Californians forced to spend up to half their paychecks for a roof over their heads or double up in overcrowded rooms. 

The report, “Locked Out 2002,” estimates California is short 651,000 houses and apartments for families earning less than $18,000 a year. 

The number reflects a steep downturn the last decade in construction of apartments, condominiums and townhouses. 

Figures show apartments, condos and townhouses represented less than one-third of new construction in 2001 compared to two-thirds in 1970. 

“This is a large problem for a larger share of the population than in other states,” explains Jean Ross, director of the Sacramento-based CBP. 

The report states the housing problem is falling especially hard on Hispanic families, with nearly three in 10 renting what are considered overcrowded conditions: more than one person per room. 

Luis Arteaga, head of San Francisco-based Latino Issues Forum, contrasts the state’s lack of urgency about housing with the hearings, task forces, investigations and calls for federal assistance during the energy crisis. 

“We’ve seen little response, no major outcry. We don’t see our legislators rallying around major systemic change to address it,” he says. 

As shortages also push up home prices, the state’s 58 percent homeownership rate is the nation’s fourth worst, the CBP study shows, behind Hawaii, New York and the District of Columbia. 

The report calls special attention to dwindling state and federal spending to help people make down payments, cover gaps between their incomes and rent, and help cities build lower-rent housing. 

“State spending on housing dropped substantially in the 1990s,” it states, from 0.5 percent of the state’s general spending to 0.2 percent. 

Simultaneously, since 1995, the report notes, owners of 24,000 “affordable” housing units have also opted out of government subsidy programs and converted to higher market-rate rents.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court refused Monday to review a challenge of police powers in car searches, the latest post-Sept. 11 example of the justices’ siding with law enforcement in a privacy case. 

The case, while not related directly to the government’s war against terror, raised questions about police authority, which has come under increased scrutiny. Federal judges are also being asked in other cases to decide whether national security justifies curbing previously recognized civil freedoms. 

The case that justices turned down Monday involved police searching a vehicle without a warrant after the driver failed to produce proper identification or proof of ownership. 

Justices had been asked to overturn a California ruling that expanded police powers and allowed the searches. They declined, without comment. 

The case involved people whose cars were searched after they failed to give officers their driver’s licenses and car registrations. Officers decided to search for registration and found drugs. 

The state court said warrantless searches were allowed wherever documents “reasonably may be expected to be found.” Previously, authorities were allowed to search a car’s sun visor and glove compartment for identification papers without a warrant. 

Government search powers and related authority issues before the Supreme Court have received increased attention since the terrorist attacks. 

Louisiana State University law professor John Baker said some judges may be influenced by current events. 

“The careful judges and lawyers are aware of the climate we’re in, but they’re not going to give in to panic on either side,” he said. 

Since Sept. 11, 2001, the Supreme Court has ruled that police can question passengers on buses and trains and search for evidence without letting them know they can refuse. 

Justices also ruled that officers can go into the homes of people on probation to search for evidence of new crimes without always getting warrants. 

They also agreed to review a ruling that questions the way the government catches and charges suspected drug dealers and terrorists. 

National security fears also motivated legal challenges waiting on federal court dockets elsewhere. 

“It’s a part of a general trend in the Supreme Court and lower federal courts to chip away, sometimes with a big ax and a big whack, at what were 10 to 15 years ago clearly established privacy rights that had support across the political spectrum,” said David Kairys, who teaches constitutional law at Temple University. 

Ron Right, a criminal law professor at Wake Forest University, warned against reading too much into Monday’s Supreme Court action in the police search case. The Supreme Court gets thousands of petitions each year and reviews about 80, he pointed out. 

“They have all sorts of reasons to say no,” he said. 

He acknowledged, however, that “in these times, civil liberties groups and others are especially alert to find signs that the government is overreaching when it investigates, so I think their antennae are up, and I think they are looking at courts for signs.” 

The cases are Arturo D. v. California, 01-9812, and Hinger v. California, 01-10107. 

On the Net: Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/

NEW YORK — Nearly every TV season brings a newly designated “It Girl.” 

Last fall, Jennifer Garner of “Alias” was clearly “It.” 

In years before that she was Keri Russell of “Felicity.” Jenna Elfman of “Dharma & Greg.” Sarah Michelle Gellar of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” 

A title first bestowed on silent-screen siren Clara Bow, “It Girl” had racier overtones 75 years ago. 

Now, in the television age, “It” anoints an emerging starlet who — by some alchemy of hype, buzz and happenstance — seems to lead the pack in fresh-faced appeal ... a gal the whole nation can have a crush on. 

This fall, Ashley Williams is a shoo-in with her new romantic comedy, “Good Morning Miami,” which airs on NBC Thursday at 9:30 p.m. EDT. 

She plays Dylan Messinger, the pixieish hairstylist for a local morning TV show whose snarky host (played by Matt Letscher) she is dating — much to the consternation of the show’s just-hired producer (Mark Feuerstein), who is not only Dylan’s new boss but also her tormented secret admirer. 

And can any viewer blame him? With her larky presence and dazzling smile, Dylan (that is, Williams) is the essence of It-itude. 

“They needed a new Fall face,” says Williams, flashing that smile gratefully, “and I was right there, with bells on.” 

In town during a production break from the Los Angeles-based series, she has joined a reporter for lunch at a mid-Manhattan restaurant, making her entrance clad in jeans, peasant blouse and suede jacket, grinning hello, plopping in her seat and demurely parking her gum in a tissue. All much like Dylan might. 

Williams, who turns 24 next month, has come a long way since March, when she won the role. 

On the other hand, she is no beginner. As a youngster growing up just outside of New York, she staged living-room productions with her brother and older sister, Kimberly (who now co-stars on the ABC sitcom “According to Jim”). “Our parents’ poor dinner guests would be forced to sit through our performances,” she recalls. 

By her early teens, she was appearing in commercials. 

Then she managed to juggle her high school studies with a regular role on the CBS soap “As the World Turns.” 

She played Dani Andropoulos, whom she describes as initially “this really smart girl next door. 

“But after six months of doing that, I marched into the executive producer’s office and said, ’I think that my character should go through a giant rebellion.’ He said, ’Really?’ And I said, ‘I will do anything! Let’s spice ’er up.’

A pediatrician by trade, Dr. Helen Caldicott’s call to save the children is a fight against militarism. 

Children are maimed and dead in Afghanistan due to the detonation of unexploded bombs, and 500,000 Iraqi children have died over the last decade because they lack clean water and medications due to U.S. sanctions on their country, the Nobel Peace Prize winner said in a keynote address Saturday at a conference marking the 20-year anniversary of Berkeley-based East Bay Sanctuary Covenant. 

“A child is a child is a child; all life is sacred,” Caldicott said. 

The daylong event, whose theme was “To Speak the Truth in a Time of Terror,” opened with music by the La Pena Community Chorus and included a dozen workshops. It drew about 300 people to the First Congregational Church in Oakland.  

At times during her address, Caldicott sounded more preacher than physician.  

“We have to learn to stop killing; the Bible says, ‘Thou shalt not kill,’” she said, gesturing to the cross behind her. “What did (Jesus) preach? Love thine enemies. Do good to those who hate you.” 

Caldicott jumped from description of one evil to the next – SUVs and the waste of natural resources, global warming, militarization of space, the innocent killed in Afghanistan and New York City, the impending war in Iraq. 

“It’s God’s earth and God’s creation. We are united by humanity,” she said.  

Of the 18-year-old Americans who fought the war in Afghanistan she said: “There were young men almost eight miles up dropping boxes of bombs. They couldn’t see what was under the bombs... They didn’t smell the scent of blood.” 

The evil she described has not cowed Caldicott; it fuels her determination to make change. Having founded Physicians for Social Responsibility in 1977, Caldicott has now put together the Nuclear Policy Research Institute, whose goal is to use the mass media to place the dangers of militarism squarely before the American people. She urged people in the audience to find their own ways to combat the arms race and environmental degradation. 

Workshops following the keynote speech also presented daunting problems and explored answers: resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; organizing in immigrant communities; promoting human rights in Guatemala; pressuring the United States to end sanctions against Haiti to allow its self determination. 

Stephanie Salter, a former San Francisco Chronicle columnist who was removed from the paper’s editorial pages because she “didn’t fit in,” led a workshop with Paul Burks, a United Methodist minister. 

Salter said she was told her column “did not resonate with upper management.” In response to her removal – she has a union job and won’t be fired, but was moved to the Sunday Insight section – she received more than some 1,600 e-mails, two rallies were held and supporters took out an ad in the Bay Guardian. “All that fell on deaf ears,” Salter said.  

While she was unable to get back her column on the editorial pages, Salter said the pressure had some effect. Ruth Rosen, like Salter a woman over 50 with left-leaning ideas, will take Salter’s place on The Chronicle’s editorial pages next month.  

“I’ll be replaced by someone who looks like me,” Salter said. 

The workshop did not focus so much on the journalist’s personal plight as on the more general problems of the media, where fewer and fewer corporations own more and more diverse media outlets.  

One result is a “dumbing down” of newspapers, Salter said, noting, for example, that after 9/11 The Chronicle put its resources into stories such as people’s “nesting” reaction to the event and the increased time they spent at the gym. 

Why? It’s not some conspiracy to keep Americans in the dark, she said. The answer is less complex: “They’re committed to making money. That’s where the vision stops. The product is almost of no importance to the profit seekers.” 

Still, she argued that there is hope. Some stories do get out in mainstream media, such as in the New Yorker. And there’s KPFA radio and the Internet, especially www.commondreams.org, Salter said, further suggesting that those who organize rallies need to learn to get their messages out more clearly. “Speakers need to be few and terrific,” she said. 

The event closed with a call for people to take action, including attending the following events: 

• A weekly vigil sponsored by the Ecumenical Peace Institute at the Oakland Federal Building at 13th Street and Clay to end the sanctions on Iraq: Tuesdaysll 12-1 p.m. 

• A march and rally against racism and war in Iraq: Justin Herman Plaza, 11 a.m. Oct. 26; 415-821-6545 

• A presentation on Iraq by Barbara Lubin, Middle East Children’s Alliance: 6 p.m., Nov. 3, Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St., Berkeley. Dinner and program $15: 548-4141

To the Editor: 

How can you grow your expenses and expenditures and decrease your income? Well, the city of Berkeley and in particular the City Council thinks there are unending depths to the city’s financial coffers even with continued projected budget deficits. The council had no problem with a recent 28 percent increase in city employee salaries and continued expenditures on dozens of special studies such as the unearthing of Strawberry Creek.  

Then there is the mismanagement of resources. Statistically speaking, Berkeley has almost 50 percent more employees of any city its size in California (about 1,600 vs. 1,000) and the same number of commissions as New York City. As far as I know there is no auditing function for departments, no progressive disciplinary treatment for employees, no centralized purchasing for all departments to get the best prices. There is a no layoff policy – how can you justify payrolls with no revenue? 

The council refuses to outsource many services. Outsourcing has been shown by other cities to be more efficient use of resources, but you can’t do that because it’s politically incorrect. And then there are all the boycotts on goods and services the city can’t purchase. It’s almost to the point the city can’t buy gas for its own vehicles. All these areas must cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in waste. 

But must I go on? Let’s look at the council. Almost all of the council folks do not have jobs, don’t have kids and live out of a political ideology rather than identification with the regular folks like me who live here, work here, pay taxes, have kids in public school and actually want city services to improve. Let’s just ask this one question – does the city actually exist as a adjunct to the council’s special political and doctrinaire interests or is it actually here to provide services for the citizens of Berkeley? 

Remember this when you go to the polls in November and look carefully at who you elect because things are going to get a lot worse in Berkeley in the next two years as the city must deal with the realities of less money and astronomical deficits. 

Steven Donaldson 

Berkeley 

onday, Oct. 21 

War in Iraq- Why? 

7 p.m. 

2951 Derby St. 

Women for Peace invites you to discuss war in Iraq, with an emphasis on women’s viewpoints. 

526-5094 

Berkeley Ecological and Safe Transportation Coalition (BEST) 

6 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, Main Branch, Kitteredge and Shattuck, Meeting Rm B., 3rd Floor 

Dave Williamson will speak about conversion of recycling and other city trucks to Bio-Diesel fuel. 

Tuesday, Oct. 22 

Brown Bag Career Talk 

12 to 1 p.m. 

YWCA Turning Point Career Center, 2600 Bancroft Way 

Professional organizer Kathy Waddill hosts “Getting Paid to Help Other People Get Organized”. 

848-6370 

$3 

“Perverts and Sodomites: Homophobia as Hate Speech in South Africa” 

4 to 6 p.m. 

652 Barrows Hall, UC Berkeley 

Vasu Reddy, visiting scholar in rhetoric and comparative literature, speaks. 

642-8338 

Berkeley Special Education Parents’ Network (BSPED) 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Ala Costa Center, 1300 Rose St. 

Presentation: “Parenting Children with Learning and Attentional Differences to Build Success: Learning from Resilience and Success Research” 

525-9262 

Free 

“What is it Like to Be a Robot?” 

8 p.m. 

145 Dwinelle, UC Berkeley 

Tom Sgouros and his robot, Judy, star in a sharp-witted “solo” theater piece in which they discuss stage magic, free will, imagination and other themes in this unique performance. 

www.sgouros.com 

Berkeley Camera Club Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share your prints and slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

525-3565 / www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

Wednesday, Oct. 23 

The Independent Institute 

7 p.m. 

Daniel Ellsberg unveils new book, “Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers.” 

Zellerbach Auditorium, Bancroft Way and Telegraph 

642-9988 

Berkeley Gray Panthers General Meeting 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

What’s what on the November ballot: A rundown of state and local ballot measures. Shirley Dean and Tom Bates will debate. 

548-9696 

Thursday, Oct. 24 

Communication Components Workshop 

State Health Toastmasters Club 

Noon to 1 p.m. 

2151 Berkeley Way 

595-1594 

Free 

Mayoral Debate 

11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. 

Perseverance Hall, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

The debate between Shirley Dean and Tom Bates will be moderated by Jane Coulter of the League of Women Voters.  

486-4019 

“How to Access Health and Medical Information Through the Internet” 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Claremont branch of the Berkeley Public Library, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 

Learn how to effectively use free scientific databases and do health-related research using the Internet. 

Register in advance: 981-6280 

Free 

Friday, Oct. 25 

“The Library: A Community Legacy” 

11:45 a.m. luncheon, 12:30 p.m. speaker 

City Commons Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 

Anna Rabkin will speak. 

526-2925 or 665-9020 

$11.50 or $12.50 luncheon 

$1 speaker only / students free 

Benefit Fundraiser for Berkeley Liberation Radio 

7 to 10 p.m.. 

379 40th St., Oakland (between Telegraph and Broadway) 

An evening of political activism, music, dancing, poetry and food. 

$10-$15 / No one turned away 

Saturday, Oct. 26 

Math Made Fun - math games. 

1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

1 Centennial Dr. - Lawrence Hall of Science  

Free with museum admission 

Pumpkin Carving  

and Costume Making 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at  

Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

Free 

Emeryville Taiko’s Halloween Extravaganza 

7 to 8:30 p.m. 

1601A 63rd St. (near Hollis St.), in Emeryville 

Fun and games for kids with a Taiko drumming performance at 8:30. 

655-6392 

Kids $5 / adults $10 

Alzheimer’s Disease and the African American Community 

9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 

St. Paul AME Church, 2024 Ashby Ave. 

Join the Alzheimer’s Association for this informative morning. Continental breakfast included. 

Preregister: (650) 962-9644 

Free 

MSRI’s 20th Anniversary Celebration 

3 to 5:30 p.m. 

Valley Life Science Building, Chan Shun Auditorium, second floor, Rm 205O, UC Berkeley 

The Mathematical Sciences Research Institute celebrates its birthday with keynote speaker Sir Michael Atiyah. 

601-8700 

Halloween Spook Hunt 

1 to 5 p.m. 

Thousand Oaks School, 840 Colusa Ave. 

Costumes are encouraged at this treasure hunt. Best costume participates free. Meet at 1 p.m. at the park next to Thousand Oaks. 

524-2166 

$7.50-$15 / Families $35 

Lawrence Hall of Science Family Halloween Party 

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

A Halloween bash with magicians, mad scientists, wizards, and a demonstration of how to make an elephant mask. 

Reserve tickets in advance: 642-5134 

$8-$12 

The New School Halloween Bazaar 

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

1606 Bonita St. at Cedar 

Face painting, mask-making, children’s games, apple bobbing, and more. 

548-9165 

Free 

Strides to Provide 

8 a..m. to noon 

Oakland’s Lake Merritt 

Alta Bates Summit kicks off its first annual community walk, incorporating fundraising, health ecducation, health screenings, and entertainment. 

Radio station KMEL will provide music. 

204-1167 

Gardening With East Bay Native Plants  

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. near Dwight Way 

Hands-on workshop touching on many aspects of “restoration gardening”. 

Reservations required: 548-2220 x233 

$15 Ecology Center members, $25 others, no one turned away for lack of funds. 

Sunday, Oct. 27 

Spirit Day 

11 a.m. and 5 p.m. 

Fourth Street and University Avenue 

Construct altars in a day of reflection. 

Free. 

West Berkeley Arts Festival 

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

University Ave. between 3rd and 4th Streets 

Fun for the whole family, with local and international arts and crafts, the Berkeley Youth Chess league, Technomania Circus, live music and more. 

845-4106 

Monday, Oct. 28 

“Damming Hope: Plan Puebla Panama Comes to Guatemala” 

7 p.m. 

Trinity United Methodist Church 

2362 Bancroft Way 

Mayan leader Santos Choc discusses his community’s struggle in opposing the Usumacinta Dam. 

526-7177 

$8-$20 sliding scale / No one turned away 

Reviving the Lost Art of Conversation 

7:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 

Learn how to break the ice, establish rapport, build trust, and develop intimacy through conversation. 

848-0237 x127 

$8 -$10 

Wednesday, Oct. 30 

Premiere of “Code 33: Emergency- Clear the Air” 

5 p.m. 

Oakland City Council Chambers, 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland 

A one hour made-for-TV documentary on youth and public relations. Followed by a reception and refreshments. 

887-0152 

Berkeley City Council Forum 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Berkeley Hillel Foundation 

2736 Bancroft Way between Piedmont and College Avenues 

Candidates Gordon Wozniak, Andy Katz, Micki Weinberg, Kriss Worthington and others speak in this forum. 

839-2900 

Monster Bash 

6 to 9 p.m. 

Berkeley-Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 

A singles celebration of an ancient Celtic end-of-summer observance, with a lavish feast of foods from the fall harvest. 

Register: 601-7247  

$25 / includes meal and cooking lesson 

Tuesday, Oct 22 

Gator Beat 

Cajun dance lesson 8 p.m. 

Show 8:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. at Gilman 

Louisiana-born accordionist and singer Richard Domingue leads this sextet. 

525-5054 

$8 

Wednesday, Oct. 23 

Steve Lucky Quartet with Miss Carmen Getit 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. at Gilman 

Swing dance lesson 8 p.m. 

Show 9 p.m. 

525-5054 

$8 

Thursday, Oct. 24 

UC Berkeley Jazz Ensembles 

Noon 

Lower Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley 

Every Thursday. Featured groups range from Thursday Big Band to the Marty Wehner Sextet. 

486-1199 

Free 

Grateful Dead DJ Nite 

10 p.m. to 2 a.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. at Gilman 

Spin with Digital Dave’s Grateful Dead tunes. 

525-5054 

$5 

Friday, Oct. 25 

UC Choral Ensembles Halloween Show 

6 and 8 p.m. (Two shows) 

155 Dwinelle, UC Berkeley 

Featuring nine UC choral ensembles, including the Women’s Chorale, the Men’s Chorale, and the Men’s Octet. 

642-3880 

$7 general / $5 students 

Afro-Muzika 

9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. at Gilman 

The nine members of this group sing, play and dance the infectious soukous party music of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

525-5054 

$12 

Saturday, Oct. 26 

Lisa B. 

7 p.m. / Open mic sign-up 6:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 

Presented by Rhythm & Muse. 

Free / donations accepted 

Kotoja 

Dance lesson 9 p.m. 

Show 9:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. at Gilman 

Known in the Bay Area’s World Beat and Afro-beat scene, Kotoja features bandmembers from West Africa and America. 

525-5054 

$12 

Sunday, Oct. 27 

Larry Schneider 

4:30 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

Internationally performing saxophonist. 

845-5373 

$10-$15 

Turning Point: Sacred Music Before and After the Second Vatican Council 

4 p.m. 

United Christian Church, 2401 Le Conte Ave. 

Sacred choral music, sponsored by the Graduate Theological Union. 

(415) 431-4234 

Free 

Kazuhisa Uchihashi 

8:15 p.m. 

TUVA Space, 3192 Adeline at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way 

ACME Observatory Contemporary Performance Series presents this Japanese experimental electric guitarist. 

649-8744 

$0-$20 Sliding scale 

Monday, Oct. 28 

“Jazz, Blues, and Popular Music in American Culture” 

6:30 p.m. 

A Vista College class, with instructor/R&B legend Johnny Otis. 

Registration info: 981-2800 

Tuesday, Oct. 29 

Activate: DJ night 

10 p.m. to 2 a.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. at Gilman 

An evening of DJs featuring drum n’ bass music. 

525-5054 

$5 

Wednesday, Oct. 30 

Courtableau 

Cajun dance lesson 8 p.m. 

Show 8:30 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. at Gilman 

Veterans of the Bay Area Cajun/zydeco scene perform classic Cajun dance hall music. 

525-5054 

$8 

Thursday, Oct. 31 

Halloween Party with the Venusians 

8 p.m. 

The Venusians are a shamanic trance-dance septet known for their costume-laden, colorful performances. 

525-5054 

$10 

“Please Pay Attention” 

Through Oct. 25 

4 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

Worth Ryder Gallery, 116 Kroeber Hall 

UC Art graduates feature drawings, video, etc. 

DepartmentofArtPractice 

Ceramics - Opening Reception 

Through Nov. 17 

3 to 5 p.m. 

A New Leaf Gallery, 1286 Gilman St. 

525-7621 

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 

“Recent Acquisitions” 

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  

60 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 Fifth 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 

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 

Tuesday, Oct. 22 

“Sara’s Children; The Destruction of Chmielnik” 

7:30 p.m. 

Barnes & Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 

Journalist Suzan Hagstrom will speak on her nonfiction book, which delves into the Holocaust. 

644-3635 

“A Language Older Than Words” 

7 p.m. 

2350 San Pablo Ave. near Dwight Way 

An evening with author Derrick Jensen, with music by Andrea Pritchett. 

548-2220 

$6-$10/ Sliding scale. 

Wednesday, Oct. 23 

An evening with Simon Winchester 

7 p.m. 

Sibley Auditorium, Bechtel Engineering Center, UC Berkeley 

Join the author of bestsellers “The Map That Changed the World” and “The Professor and the Madman”, along with Don George, global travel editor for Lonely Planet Publications, for an evening of lively conversations. 

893-8555 

Free 

Stephanie Strickland and Valerie Coulton 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Poetry reading. 

525-5476 

$2 donation 

Thursday, Oct. 24 

Joanne Kyger and Garret Caples 

4:30 p.m. 

Maud Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall, UC Berkeley 

Part of Holloway Poetry Series 2002. 

Free 

Eloise Klein Healy and Peggy Shumaker 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Poetry reading. 

525-5476 

$2 donation

Cal wide receiver Jonathon Makonnen was a picture of triumph as the clock wound down at the end of Cal’s 17-12 win over UCLA on Saturday night: standing in the end zone, ball in hand, arms raised in victory.  

So what if he was in his own end zone? 

Makonnen’s catch of quarterback Kyle Boller’s 35-yard backwards heave ran off the final five seconds of the game, a game that will be remembered for Cal’s defensive prowess and UCLA’s frustration. It was fitting that the Cal offense would take a safety to protect a lead the defense had handed them on a silver platter. 

The Bears (5-3 overall, 2-2 Pac-10) won their homecoming game at Memorial Stadium in front of a crowd of 46,697 despite netting just 18 offensive yards in the second half. They won despite having two punt attempts blocked in the fourth quarter, both giving the Bruins the ball inside the Cal 20-yard line. And they won despite Boller having his worst statistical game of the season. 

“Our whole defense should be nominated for Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Week,” Cal head coach Jeff Tedford said after the game. “They played phenomenally. We talk all the time about giving a team effort, but the defense won that game for us.” 

The Bears made two huge stands in the fourth quarter, both after the Bruins blocked Tyler Fredrickson punts. The first was blocked by UCLA linebacker Marcus Reese and recovered on the 3-yard line, and a pass interference call moved it to the 2. But UCLA head coach Bob Toledo showed why many UCLA supporters have been calling for his head, calling two trick plays when most teams would have gone straight ahead.  

On first down, tailback Tyler Ebell took a pitch and reversed his field, with Cal linebacker Calvin Hosey staying home to drop him for a five-yard loss. Then on second down, quarterback John Sciarra, the Bruins’ third signal-caller of the game, pitched to defensive back Matt Ware, who then pitched to Ebell for three yards. A dropped pass by wideout Craig Bragg on third down forced a chip-shot field-goal attempt, and Cal defensive end Jamal Cherry got a huge paw up far enough to block the Chris Griffith kick, sending UCLA (4-3, 1-2) away with no points at all. 

“I was standing there in awe,” Fredrickson said of his defense’s effort. “I couldn’t take my hand away from my mouth. It was just amazing.” 

Cal’s punt blocking broke down again with less than three minutes remaining, as Ware got through to smother Fredrickson’s kick. UCLA took over at the 20, but defensive end Tom Canada jarred the ball loose from Sciarra on fourth down to kill the threat. All the Bears had to do was run the ball three times, then pull off the play they call “Right Safety Gap Safety,” which they practice every Friday, although from just 20 yards out instead of 36. Boller, who broke the school touchdown pass record with a 24-yarder to tight end Tom Swoboda in the first half, made his best throw of the day right into Makonnen’s waiting hands. 

Boller and the Bears offense had the defense to thank for the winning touchdown as well. Defensive end Tully Banta-Cain forced a Sciarra fumble that tackle Lorenzo Alexander dove on at the UCLA 25, and tailback Joe Igber converted the opportunity with a four-yard touchdown run, juking UCLA linebacker Spencer Havner out of his shoes on the way to the end zone. 

The Cal offense was just horrible in the second half, failing to get a first down on six of eight drives. But unlike most of Cal’s games this season, it was the defense carrying the load instead of the offense trying to outgun the opposition. 

“We always talk about giving a team effort, but our offense just wasn’t quite there today,” said Boller, who was just 13-for-30 for 133 yards. “But our defense carried us through it.” 

The Bears racked up seven sacks and 13 tackles for loss in the game, knocking out two Bruin quarterbacks in the process. Senior Cory Paus’ college career likely came to an end when defensive end Josh Gustaveson landed on his ankle, breaking it and sending the starter out on a stretcher in the third quarter. Backup Drew Olson, a true freshman from Piedmont High, sprained his throwing shoulder soon after, and Sciarra was the last man standing for UCLA. He completed just one of seven passes and threw the game’s only interception, a tipped pass that floated right into Cal cornerback James Bethea’s hands between UCLA’s punt blocks. 

“When you travel with a 60-man roster, you can’t have four quarterbacks,” Toledo moaned. “How do you prepare for that? You go through spring practice and get some drills, but you can’t really prepare three quarterbacks. Nobody in America does that.” 

The Bruins still had tailback Tyler Ebell, however. Ebell, a redshirt freshman, ran for 102 yards and his team’s only touchdown, an 11-yard scamper that tied the score at 10-10 just after halftime. Ebell had success running up the gut for most of the game, making Toledo’s play-calling on the goal line even more bizarre. But all credit goes to the Cal defense, which simply wouldn’t give up a game that looked lost at least twice. 

“We love those situations as a defense,” Banta-Cain said. “That’s when you know you have to step up and make a play to win the game.” 

Notes: Saturday’s crowd was the biggest at Memorial Stadium since 53,000 fans showed up for the Cal-UCLA game in 2000... The Bears forced three turnovers and committed none, improving their turnover margin to plus-16 on the season, best in the Pac-10...Cherry’s field-goal block was the Bears’ first of the season... Both teams set season lows for offensive yards.

A California Department of Education official said Friday that Berkeley’s Rosa Parks Elementary School has a good shot at avoiding large-scale reform next year, despite triggering a federal law on Thursday that requires an overhaul of schools that repeatedly fall short on standardized tests. 

“They have a very good basis for an appeal,” said Maria Reyes of the Department of Education’s Title I Policy and Partnerships Office, which administers the federal law in California. 

The state released 2001-2002 scores for its Academic Performance Index (API) standardized testing system Thursday, and Rosa Parks performed well on the whole. The school improved its overall score more than any other school in Berkeley and far exceeded a school-specific improvement goal set by the state. 

But California requires schools like Rosa Parks to meet targets not only for the student body as a whole, but for numerically-significant racial groups and for socio-economically disadvantaged students. 

The school met growth targets for African-American and Latino students, but fell one point short in the socio-economically disadvantaged category. 

Technically, the one-point shortfall should move Rosa Parks one step ahead in the “program improvement” process laid out in President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” legislation signed in January. 

Under the law, which requires an overhaul if schools don’t make “adequate yearly progress” on standardized testing, the Berkeley Unified School District would have to implement one of six reforms at Rosa Parks next year. The options include replacing relevant staff, putting a new curriculum in place, decreasing the principal’s authority, appointing an outside expert to advise the school on its progress, extending the school year or school day or restructuring the school’s internal organization. 

But Reyes, of the Department of Education, said the law allows districts to appeal to the state and, if successful, get out of the program improvement process. She said Rosa Parks’s strong overall API performance in the 1999-2000 and 2001-2002 school years should allow the school to make a strong case. 

“My recommendation is that they take a look at this and seriously consider an appeal to exit (the program),” she said. 

Berkeley’s Associate Superintendent of Educational Services Chris Lim said Thursday that the district will pursue an appeal. 

Rosa Parks principal Shirley Herrera, who just took the helm this year, said the testing system and the negative publicity it generates are unfair. 

“I believe the state needs to re-evaluate schools like ours,” she said. “The school is on its way to doing really well.” 

Herrera said a continuous turnover in leadership has harmed the school, but touted a new system of twice-a-month meetings between teachers. 

“Teachers, as a profession, rarely have time to talk to each other,” she said. “It really makes a big difference.” 

Robin Cherin, parent of a fourth-grader at Rosa Parks, said she has been pleased with the school and argued that a shake-up under “No Child Left Behind” would be harmful. 

“I think we have a really great staff,” she said. “It would be a real disservice to shake it up to fit someone’s cookie-cutter (approach to reform).” 

The API combines test results from a nationwide test, the SAT-9, and the California Standards Test in English Language Arts, tailored to California-specific curriculum tests. Next year, the state will add other exams in math, history and science to the API. The state’s high school exit exam will also be part of the index. 

In order to meet its growth target, a school must improve its API score by 5 percent of the difference between its previous score and the state benchmark of 800. The API test is scored on a scale of 200 to1000. 

In 1999-2000 Rosa Parks improved its API score by 92 points, jumping from 522 to 614, and far exceeding the state growth target of a 14-point hike. 

In 2000-2001, Rosa Parks made no improvement, falling short of a growth target of nine additional points. In 2001-2002, as revealed Thursday, Rosa Parks upped its score by 49 points for a total of 672, far exceeding a second nine-point target. 

Another Berkeley school, Washington Elementary, met school-wide API improvement goals in 2001-2002 but, like Rosa Parks, fell short in the socio-economically disadvantaged category. 

The score should move Washington along in the program improvement process, but the school is one year behind Rosa Parks in that process and faces less dramatic reform. 

The school, unless it wins an appeal to the state, will have to provide extra tutoring services next year. Rosa Parks is required to provide those services this year. 

Contact reporter at scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

One of the enduring attractions of our city is our passionate devotion to an endlessly evolving set of issues. It’s fertile ground for the many Berkeley myths that spring up to explain why and how things happen in town, and often to reinforce a particular political view. These stories can be helpful, they can be amusing, and at times they are harmful. One that’s particularly damaging is the myth that Berkeley is run by and for developers who are somehow able to manipulate the zoning rules, the professional planning staff, the hard-working citizens on boards and commissions, and council members. This anti-government myth is in part responsible for Measure P, the height initiative, on the November ballot. 

The rhetoric of this myth has damaged staff morale and cast a shadow on the work of volunteers on boards and commissions. It calls into question the integrity of council members, who are accused of being “in the pockets” of developers when they support controversial projects. It’s insidious, difficult to counter, and creates unwarranted cynicism. It is not the truth.  

Consider the way things really work: Developers who want to build even a moderate-size project in Berkeley go through a long process that includes multiple assessments by city staff and two or more boards and commissions, public hearings, and not infrequently, a hearing and decision by the council. The process can take several years. One can be sure that if developers really ran the city, the process would be much simpler, with less public input and far speedier.  

Berkeley will be best served by encouraging moderate to high-density developments on streets that are or can be well served by transit. We need to ensure that there are places in Berkeley where the creative energy of the 21st century can be expressed in our architecture. Our downtown needs graceful, moderately tall buildings to give it a sense of place and importance and to ensure a lively atmosphere. Measure P would lower height limits on our major corridors and prevent the development of a lively downtown that meets the needs of today. For all of these reasons, it’s important to recognize the false myths about development in our town and to vote no on Measure P. 

Miriam Hawley 

City Council member, 5th District 

The St. Mary’s High football team kicked off their Bay Shore Athletic League season with a 37-14 stomping of Kennedy (Richmond) High on Saturday, getting three rushing touchdowns from Fred Hives in their easiest win of the year. 

Hives ran for a game-high 87 yards and Steve Murphy scored touchdowns on a 55-yard screen pass and a 23-yard run. Murphy started the game at tailback, giving way to sophomore Scott Tully at quarterback for the first time this season. Murphy was nursing a thigh bruise suffered against Oakland Tech High last weekend. 

St. Mary’s (2-3-1 overall, 1-0 BSAL) dominated the game until the final minutes, taking a 37-0 lead into the fourth quarter before fatigue and turnovers led to two Kennedy (0-6, 0-1) touchdowns. Tully threw for 135 yards, all in the first half, on 5-of-11 passing, making a case for head coach Jay Lawson to leave the versatile Murphy at tailback for the rest of the season.  

Hives, switching between fullback and tailback, scored on runs of four and five yards in the first quarter to give St. Mary’s a 14-0 lead. On St. Mary’s first drive of the second quarter Murphy took a screen pass from Tully and got some nice downfield blocks, going 55 yards untouched down the left sideline. The Panthers finished the first half with a safety, thanks to a punt snap over Miles head that ended up in the end zone, where St. Mary’s defensive end Nick Osborn dragged Miles to the ground. Osborn had 2.5 sacks in the game and harrassed Miles on nearly every passing play. 

Both St. Mary’s touchdowns in the second half came after Kennedy turnovers. Middle linebacker Matt Hurley picked off a pass and returned it to the 20-yard line. Four plays later Hives scored on a two-yard plunge to open the second-half scoring. Kennedy’s Joe Jones fumbled on the next play from scrimmage, and the Panthers needed just two plays to score their final touchdown, with Murphy juking his way to a 23-yard score. 

Tully’s only interception of the game came with five minutes left in the fourth quarter, with Kennedy’s Mike Dunbar snagging the ball near midfield and fumbling it right into teammate Joe Jones’ hands. Jones returned the ball to the St. Mary’s 10-yard line, and quarterback Aaron Miles scored on a naked bootleg for Kennedy’s first score of the game. 

Hives fumbled on the next St. Mary’s drive and Miles threw to Antonio Norman for gains of 18 and 22 yards, the latter for a touchdown. Kennedy’s Jamahl Mackey was ejected for spearing a player on the ground on the ensuing kickoff.

Berkeley has a dirty and smelly secret. The roughly 60-year-old city animal shelter, tucked from public view at Second and Addison streets, is so dilapidated that shelter volunteers say conditions drive away folks looking for new pets. 

“I’ve seen kids crying when they left,” said Linda McCormick, founder of Fix Our Ferals, a rescue program for wild cats. 

On Nov. 5, Berkeley voters will decide whether to approve a bond measure, authorizing $7.2 million to build a new animal shelter. Property owners will be asked to pay, on average, about $12 per year for 30 years to finance the new facility. 

Leading a tour through corridors of howling dogs, shelter volunteer Jill Posener pointed out the facility’s shortcomings. 

“The sewage system is broken,” she said pointing at fecal remains in drainage gutters next to the cages. “Who is going to adopt a dog that has sh__ all over its own feet.” 

Other problems are just as obvious. Cages have broken locks that make it difficult for interested adopters to see the animals, barriers between dogs are so low that the animals can easily spread diseases, and space is so limited that wild animals such as chickens or lizards are often kept in cages in the shelter’s office. 

A simple renovation of the facility won’t work, Posener said. At 12,000 square feet the entire property is nearly half the size of new shelters in San Francisco and Oakland and is incapable of providing facilities that would welcome adopters and make life more bearable for the animals. 

Posener said five essential upgrades are needed that are not possible at the current shelter: An isolation area for sick animals so that they do not infect other animals, a holding pen for wildlife, an off-leash dog area so dogs can frequently leave their cages to work off energy, a “get-acquainted” space for potential adopters to have room to interact with the animals, and an in-house clinic to provide immediate medical care to sick animals. 

According to McCormick, the city pays for a veterinarian to visit the shelter every week. If an animal gets sick when medical care is not available, the disease is easily spread to other animals. 

The measure has broad support and was put on the ballot by a unanimous vote of the City Council. 

Although there is no organized opposition to the measure, voter approval is not guaranteed. A two-thirds majority is required for passage, and Posener acknowledged that some residents were likely to oppose it as an unnecessary tax hike. 

Also, a new shelter site has not yet been found. Posener insisted there were several suitable sites in the industrial area of west Berkeley near Gilman Street, and that shelter supporters can’t pursue a new location until the measure is passed. 

Despite building limitations, volunteers say Berkeley’s shelter has come a long way in recent years. Since Berkeley’s police department relinquished control of the shelter and turned it over to the city in 2000, programs have been initiated to reduce the number of shelter deaths. 

According to shelter records, in 1998, 783 animals were put to death. Last year 123 were killed. The sharp decline was not achieved by more adoptions, but through partnerships with rescue operations that take animals to different, more desirable shelters or return them to the wild.  

Adoptions won’t increase until the city builds a facility that people will be comfortable visiting, Posener said. 

“We’ve begun to make a real difference with philosophy and policies, but now we need a building that reflects that commitment,” said Posener. 

Contact reporter at matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

Opposition to Proposition P, the height initiative, is being organized by businessmen like developer Patrick Kennedy with a vested interest in unlimited building heights. Support for Proposition P is grassroots citizen-based and includes the Council of Neighborhood Associations and Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. 

With lots of money behind the opposition, many politicians have jumped on the defeat of Proposition P bandwagon, claiming that it would limit the construction of housing. However, this is not true. Nowhere in the initiative does it restrict the production of housing. On the contrary, it seeks to preserve neighborhoods by preserving the quality of life there. Huge out-of-scale buildings have been proposed in west Berkeley and throughout Berkeley, such that five-story towers would be built next to modest single-story houses. Some years ago, permits for such constructions would have been modified or denied by the regulating agencies. But now with the developer based smart growth movement, such considerations have been cast aside in favor of upward expansion. But the goal of upward expansion in downtown areas was supposed to be the maintenance of smaller scale surrounding areas on the outer edges of cities and in rural areas. Not any more. Capitalism mandates continual expansion, such that even in the outlying areas larger, more intrusive structures are being built. 

The result of all this building is increased traffic congestion, since the developers fail to increase parking and cities cannot afford to increase public transit. The quality of life in the city continues take a backseat to economic expansion. Proposition P is a citizen attempt to come up against big money and say no to steamrolling our neighborhoods and endless urbanization in every single corner of Berkeley. 

Stephanie Manning 

Berkeley

Three different Golden Bear forwards scored as the No. 7 Cal women’s soccer team defeated Oregon State, 3-1, Sunday afternoon at Edwards Stadium. Cal improved to 9-4-1 overall (2-2 Pac-10), while the Beavers fell to 7-6-2 (0-4 Pac-10).  

“We’ve been talking about adding some excitement and creating chances,” said Cal head coach Kevin Boyd. “The goals will come. The other thing that’s a factor is that we’re the healthiest we’ve been so far this year, particularly in our frontline.”  

All-American senior forward Laura Schott ignited Cal’s offense with her second goal in the last two games in the 23rd minute. Junior midfielder Kim Yokers served a long pass into the box and Schott got her head on the ball and looped it over Oregon State goalkeeper Jo Fletcher.  

In the 64th minute, freshman forward Tracy Hamm gave the Bears a 2-0 margin when she ran onto a through ball from junior defender Amy Willison and scored from 15 yards for her eighth goal of the year. The score later proved to be her team-leading third game-winning goal.  

Oregon State’s leading scorer, Courtney Carter, cut Cal’s lead to 2-1 with a score in the 74th minute from 12 yards out to the far post. Stacey Mescher got the assist on Carter’s sixth goal of the season.  

On the ensuing kickoff, Schott found freshman forward Dania Cabello, who drilled an insurance goal from 18 yards.  

After starting the weekend with no points, Schott now has six points from two goals and two assists.  

Fletcher grabbed seven saves for the Beavers, while Post had four for the Bears.  

• LOS ANGELES – The Cal men’s soccer team, ranked No. 13 by Soccer America, took its first Pac-10 loss of the season with a 2-1 loss to No. 6 UCLA (Soccer America) Sunday afternoon at Frank. W. Marshall Field. The defeat ended the Bears’ nine-game winning streak, the most consecutive wins in the all-time Cal record book.  

The Golden Bears fell to 10-3-1 (3-1 Pac-10) as the Bruins improved to 8-1-2 (3-0 Pac-10). 

First-half goals by Aaron Lopez and Matt Taylor gave the Bruins the edge over the Golden Bears. UCLA’s Aaron Lopez ended a scoreless tie in the 21st minute. Bruin defender Scot Thompson got the play started with a close-range shot that was saved by Cal goalkeeper Josh Saunders, but the rebound went to Lopez, who finished for his first goal of the season.  

The Golden Bears broke through in the 40th minute when an Angel Quintero pass found Carl Acosta in front of the goal. Acosta slammed a shot past into the right corner of the net for his fifth goal of the year.  

The Bruins came back minutes later on a breakaway in the 44th minute. A Tim Pierce pass to Matt Taylor on the left side resulted in the game-winner for Taylor, his fifth goal and second game-winner of the year. The Bears were unable to come up with an equalizer in the second half.

In her eight years on the Berkeley City Council, Polly Armstrong has long argued that council’s time and energy was better spent dealing with “police and potholes,” not the international issues raised by colleagues. 

The current political climate, though, has caused Armstrong to rethink her stance. Twice in the past month, she not only voted for, but played an active role in, the passage of city resolutions targeting national issues. 

“This time in American history feels to me like a time when I can feel very strong that, by taking the stand I’m taking, I am representing my constituents,” said Armstrong. “This is my country moving in a direction that my world doesn’t approve of.” 

Armstrong, among City Council’s moderate faction, bridged the contentious divide with the progressive group over a city resolution condemning the federal Patriot Act. Circumventing potential debate, Armstrong helped broker a compromise that criticized the legislation as a violation of civil rights, to the satisfaction of every council member. The resolution passed unanimously Sept. 10. 

More recently, Armstrong and fellow moderate Councilmember Miriam Hawley introduced an agenda item to support a failed Congressional resolution calling for the United States to work through the United Nations before using military action in Iraq. Councilmembers Linda Maio and Maudelle Shirek proposed a similar resolution. Council passed its anti-war resolution Oct. 8. 

“Our country is struggling with how to deal with a rogue country that may be a threat to us and to the world,” Armstrong explained in a recent letter to the Daily Planet. 

Though Armstrong said no one had encouraged her to write a resolution on Iraq, she said a number of people have called and e-mailed her in support of the move. 

“It was really very touching,” she said. 

With a well-earned reputation for doggedly trying to keep the council out of national and international politics, Armstrong assures residents that her recent action is “not a trend.” 

“So often the City Council has taken positions on foreign policy issues that don’t directly affect our residents,” she said. “My problem is that the rhetoric is so outrageous.” 

Progressives on the council welcomed Armstrong’s change of heart on recent matters. 

“Whether it is for political reasons or personal reasons, I am just happy the council can agree on this,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington. 

Mike Berkowitz, aide to Councilmember Maudelle Shirek, also a progressive, agreed. “Better to find religion late in life than never at all,” he said. 

-Stream Weir contributed to this story.

Arizona St. 45, No. 7 Oregon 42 

EUGENE, Ore. – Andrew Walter threw for a school-record 536 yards and four touchdowns, and Arizona State rallied from a 21-0 second-quarter deficit to stun Oregon at Autzen Stadium. 

The Sun Devils are one of only two unbeaten teams left in the conference. 

No. 20 USC 41,  

No. 17 Washington 21 

LOS ANGELES – In a matchup of prolific quarterbacks, Carson Palmer’s passing was too much for Cody Pickett and the Washington Huskies to handle. 

Palmer threw for 348 yards and four touchdowns – three to freshman Mike Williams – as Southern California earned a 41-21 victory over Washington on Saturday.  

Stanford 16, Arizona 6 

PALO ALTO – In a game that amounted to a kickers duel, Michael Sgroi led Stanford to a 16-6 victory Saturday over Arizona.  

With a little help from Chris Lewis, who threw 12 yards to Alex Smith for the game’s only touchdown, Sgroi kicked three field goals and an extra point before a homecoming crowd at Stanford Stadium. 

Pac-10 Standings 

Pac-10 Overall 

TEAM W–L W–L 

Washington State 3–0 6–1 

Oregon 2–1 6–1 

Arizona State 3–0 6–2 

UCLA 1–2 4–3 

USC 3–1 5–2 

Washington 1–2 4–3 

California 2–2 5–3 

Arizona 0–3 3–4 

Stanford 1–2 2–4 

Oregon State 0–3 4–3

ASHLAND, Va. – A man was shot and wounded in a steakhouse parking lot Saturday night while walking to his car with his wife. Authorities were investigating whether the Washington-area sniper who has killed nine people had struck again, for the first time on a weekend. 

The couple was leaving a Ponderosa restaurant around 8 p.m. when the 37-year-old man was shot once in the abdomen, authorities said. He was conscious and able to talk to doctors when he arrived at MCV Hospital in Richmond. 

The man came out of surgery shortly after midnight after about three hours and was in critical condition, said hospital spokeswoman Pam Lepley. She said his injuries were still life threatening and wouldn’t speculate on whether he would recover. Ashland Police Chief Frederic Pleasants said doctors have not removed a bullet from the victim’s body. 

Some witnesses said they heard the shot coming from a wooded area at the edge of the parking lot, said Pleasants. He said no witnesses reported seeing the shooter. 

Ashland is about 90 miles south of Washington and about 35 miles south of Fredericksburg, where two previous shootings this month were linked to the sniper. 

State police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said portions of Interstate 95 were immediately shut down as police set up road blocks. Roads were later reopened, and state police were monitoring traffic at exits. 

Hanover County Sheriff Col. Stuart Cook said police can’t confirm the sniper was responsible, but were proceeding as if that were the case. 

“The shot came out of the darkness,” Cook said. “We cannot afford to take a chance.” 

Maryland State Police Sgt. William Vogt said troopers were on the lookout for a white van with a ladder rack. A sniper task force was on its way to the scene, said Montgomery County police Capt. Nancy Demme. 

Lt. Doug Goodman of the Hanover County Sheriff’s Department said police were still interviewing witnesses. He said several vehicles were stopped minutes after the shooting, but no one was in custody. 

If the shooting turns out to be related, it would be the first time the sniper attacked on a weekend; it also would break the longest lull in between shootings as the break in the spree had stretched into a fifth day. 

It would be the 12th sniper shooting since they began Oct. 2; nine of the victims were killed. Before Monday’s killing of FBI analyst Linda Franklin at a Fairfax County Home Depot store, the longest gap between shootings was three days. 

Pleasants said after dining at the restaurant for about an hour, the man’s wife heard a sound, but didn’t recognize it as a gunshot, then saw her husband take about three steps before collapsing. 

Pleasants said the couple was traveling and had stopped to gas up and get something to eat, but did not say where they are from. 

Ashland, with about 6,000 residents, is a favorite stop for travelers along Interstate 95. It is just off the highway and offers a variety of restaurants and gas stations. It is just north of Interstate 295, a bypass of Richmond and Petersburg. 

Earlier Saturday, authorities tested a shell casing found in a white rental truck for links to the sniper attacks. Police said it would be at least Monday before they could announce whether the shell casing found in the truck — a vehicle similar to one police have profiled in the ambush killings — is connected to the shootings. 

The Washington Post, quoting law enforcement sources, reported, however, that the cartridge was for a 7.62mm bullet, about equivalent to .30 caliber and larger than the .223 caliber bullets implicated in the earlier shootings. The bullets cannot be fired from the same weapon because they require different sized chambers and barrels. 

The shell casing was found in a car seized at a rental agency near Dulles International Airport in Virginia, authorities said. 

Pleasants said that because the bullet is lodged in the victim, police have not turned over any ballistic evidence to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. 

Pleasants said the victim’s vital signs are stable, but he sustained grave injuries. He may require more surgery, but it was not immediately clear when doctors would operate. 

Meanwhile, high schools staged football games at secret locations so players could compete without fearing for their lives. 

Jon DeNunzio, high school sports editor for The Washington Post, said some northern Virginia schools would tell his staff where games were being played only if the paper promised not to publish the sites. Washington schools refused to give notice, telling reporters when to show up at the schools so they could follow buses. 

Fort Belvoir, an Army post south of Washington, offered the security of a military base for a football marathon for youth players from northern Virginia — 111 games Saturday and Sunday, moved from other locations for safety. 

Games were played on nine fields hastily assembled from the base parade field and athletic fields by instructors from the base mapping school who surveyed the fields to set up the corners, and volunteers who laid out sidelines, end zones and yard lines. 

Two of the sniper’s victims were buried Saturday. 

More than 400 people turned out at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Washington to remember Pascal Charlot, 72, a carpenter who moved from Haiti to Washington in 1964. He was gunned down Oct. 3 while standing on a street corner. 

“He always found humor in every situation. No matter how bad things were, he would try to cheer you up,” said Danielle Charlot, his niece. “How could someone take that away from this family?” 

Near Pottstown, Pa., more than 100 people filled Christ Evangelical Congregational Church to remember Dean Meyers, 53, a Vietnam veteran, civil engineer, motorcycle enthusiast and huge Beatles fan.  

He was shot Oct. 9 on his way to his Gaithersburg, Md., home after stopping for gas in Manassas, Va.

Tuesday 

Girls Tennis - Berkeley vs. Pinole Valley, 3:30 p.m. at King Middle 

Water Polo - Berkeley vs. California, 3:30 p.m. at California High, San Ramon 

Girls Volleyball - Berkeley vs. Richmond, 5 p.m. at Richmond High 

Girls Volleyball - St. Mary’s vs. John Swett, 5:15 p.m. at St. Mary’s High 

Wednesday 

Cross Country - ACCAL Meet, 3:30 p.m. at Crab Cove, Alameda 

Thursday 

Girls Tennis - Berkeley vs. De Anza, 3:30 p.m. at De Anza High 

Girls Volleyball - Berkeley vs. De Anza, 5:30 p.m. at Berkeley High 

Friday 

Football - Berkeley vs. Richmond, 7 p.m. at Berkeley High

Ed Rossbach, a pioneer in the fiber-arts movement, has died at age 88. 

Rossbach died on Oct. 7 at a Berkeley hospital after a long illness. 

He was an experimental pioneer in the use of non-traditional textile materials in works of art and often employed metal foil, plastic bags, Mylar, twigs, staples and twine in his pieces. 

“His baskets were incredible,” said Inez Brooks-Myers, curator of costume and textiles at the Oakland Museum of California. “He was innovative, using throwaway materials for his baskets, but he also was innovative in his other weaving, where he would apply really old textile techniques in a very modern pop-culture, provocative way.” 

Rossbach was born in Edison Park, Illinois, earned a bachelor’s degree in painting and design from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1940 and later received a master’s degree in art education from Columbia University’s Teacher’s College in 1941. 

He was a professor emeritus of design at University of California, Berkeley, where he taught for 29 years. 

Rossbach’s unique works are now part of collections in numerous museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. 

He was also the author of several books including “The Nature of Basketry” and “Baskets as Textile Art.” 

Rossbach is survived by his wife.

A Berkeley police officer shot and killed a pit bull Sunday while responding to a domestic disturbance in northeast Berkeley, authorities said. 

According to police, when two officers arrived at the scene sometime between 6:30 and 7 a.m., a pit bull emerged from between two houses and attacked one of the officers. The officer then shot the dog, which died at the scene, police said. 

One person was arrested in connection for the domestic dispute. Police would not disclose if the dog belonged to the couple that called in the complaint. 

The dog’s body was taken to the Berkeley Animal Shelter on Second Street, a police spokeswoman said. 

–Compiled from staff and wire reports

A spokesman for Highland Hospital confirms that a man died after being shot in the back in West Oakland around 4:30 a.m. this morning. 

Oakland police released no details about the shooting but the Oakland Fire Department says it happened outside the Wallace W. Knox chapter of the Boys and Girls Club of Oakland at 4801 Shattuck Ave. in west Oakland. 

The man was given CPR by paramedics en route to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

n Assault with deadly weapon 

Two homeless men were talking at the corner of Shattuck Avenue and Haste Street at about 5:20 p.m. Wednesday, when a third homeless man arrived on the scene. According to police the third man attacked one of the men and continually kicked him in the head. The victim sustained numerous cuts and bruises and was taken to Highland Hospital for medical care. The suspect was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, his feet.  

n Squatters 

A resident manager of an apartment complex on the 2400 block of Piedmont Avenue alerted police Wednesday night that a group of drug addicts had seized control of a vacated apartment. When officers arrived, they found four trespassers inside with methamphetamine and a large quantity of used and unused syringes. All four were arrested. 

SAN FRANCISCO – Eddie “Gwen” Araujo was a good-looking girl – so good, it cost him his life. 

The 17-year-old with high cheekbones and soft, pretty eyes never came home from a house party earlier this month. Instead, Araujo was allegedly beaten and strangled by three enraged men who discovered she was a he. 

While saddened by the killing, members of the transgender community aren’t surprised. They say stories of assaults, mutilations and murders have become so common, new crimes are almost expected. 

“I hear so much of it, it makes me sick,” said Theresa Sparks, a transgender commissioner on the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. “All of these are young people.” 

Araujo left for the Oct. 3 party in his hometown of Newark dressed in flip flops and a denim skirt, but took a change of pants so it would be easier to conceal his true sex when he got drunk, according to court documents. That plan failed after a girl at the party returned from the bathroom and said “It’s a man,” the documents show. 

The three men then allegedly attacked Araujo and dragged him – half conscious – into the garage where police believe they strangled him with a rope until he was presumed dead. His body was found buried in a shallow grave in the Sierra wilderness two weeks later, his wrists and ankles bound. 

Sylvia Guerrero said her son will be buried in makeup and women’s clothes and “Gwen” will be engraved in his headstone – Araujo chose the name because he liked singer Gwen Stefani of the band No Doubt. 

“He was born this way. He always felt like a girl,” she told a crowd of about 100 at a vigil Friday night. “Eddie was different, and people were mean to him. 

“But he was my baby. He was my son. I loved him unconditionally,” she said. “When you see someone like Eddie, smile at him.” 

Michael William Magidson, 27, Jaron Chase Nabors, 19, and Jose Antonio Merel, 24, all of Newark, face murder charges with a hate-crime enhancement that carries up to an additional four years in prison. They did not enter pleas in court Friday and were ordered held without bail. 

A fourth suspect was arrested Wednesday but was released when the district attorney’s office determined there was not enough evidence to prosecute him. 

In a study conducted by the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition about five years ago, two-thirds of transgender respondents said they had been physically or sexually assaulted, said executive director Riki Wilchins. 

Gwen Smith started tracking transgender deaths in 1998 as part of the Remembering Our Dead Project and said many of the slayings share the same details. On average, about one anti-transgender murder is reported in the United States each month, she said. 

“I think the No. 1 thing that people need to get is that we’re human and we have a right to live,” she said. “So often, we’re reduced to a thing. One of the more famous cases is that of Brandon Teena when one of the police officers questioned said, ‘You can call Brandon it for all I’m concerned.”’ 

Smith said Araujo’s slaying is eerily similar to that 1993 Nebraska slaying which was portrayed in the movie “Boys Don’t Cry.” Teena, a 21-year-old girl, was raped and shot to death by two men who discovered she was not a man. 

The killing is also reminiscent of the bludgeoning death of 16-year-old Fred C. Martinez Jr. in Colorado. The Navajo boy was “two-spirited,” meaning he felt he was a girl in a boy’s body. 

Unfortunately, Sparks said it takes high-profile killings to educate people about what it means to be transgender. She said it’s confusing for gay and straight people alike because it’s about gender identification, not sexual orientation. The term transgender describes a wide range of identities including cross-dressers, transvestites, transsexuals and those born with the physical characteristics of both sexes. 

“One of our focuses will have to be more visibility,” Sparks said. “That seems to be a way to get rid of the perceptions that we’re sexual deviants or perverts.”

Health products company fined in employee deaths 

PETALUMA – A health products company has been ordered to pay a $137,895 fine for the deaths of two workers who died while cleaning a steel tank. 

Spectrum Organic Products Inc. was cited for multiple safety violation by the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration, including failing to provide proper training and safety equipment to employees who clean the tanks. 

The tanks are used to process flaxseed oil for use in a variety of organic food and health products, which are sold nationwide. 

Spectrum has 15 days to appeal $137,895 in fines. Company officials said they would appeal the fines. 

After Javier Del Rio, 42, and Francisco Estrella, 24, died inside the 12-foot high tank, company executives said both men performed the cleaning regularly and that they had been properly and recently trained. 

Police investigators concluded that Estrella died trying to rescue Del Rio from the tank, which was full of argon gas, used to displace oxygen as part of a cleaning process. 

Cal-OSHA spokesman Dean Fryer said the following of proper procedure would have prevented the deaths, and that the company bears sole responsibility. 

OSHA cited the company for not posting danger signs, having no training program, and for not informing employees about the dangers of working in the oil processing tank. 

The agency also found that Spectrum didn’t provide respirators, communications gear or emergency rescue equipment for workers performing the kind of work Estrella and Del Rio were doing when they died. 

All of the violations have since been corrected, according to Fryer. 

Con man gets three years 

REDDING – A San Francisco man who posed as a silver dealer was sentenced to three years in prison for stealing $4,099 from two Shasta County women. 

Serge Alexandre, 76, claimed to be a dealer for Westmoreland Sterling Silver and offered the women a discount if they paid in advance for their silver order. 

He kept the cash without delivering the merchandise to the women, authorities said. 

Alexandre pleaded guilty to two counts of theft from an older person.

Report: Border security hurting San Diego economy 

SAN DIEGO – San Diego County’s economy is still suffering from tight border security put in place after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to a recent study. 

A survey of more than 100 businesses in the San Diego area show that shoppers from Mexico account for a significant number of sales, said Kenn Morris, director of Crossborder Business Associates. 

Long waits at the border caused a drop in crossings, hurting businesses, he said. 

During the first six months of this year, 23.8 million crossings were recorded at the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa ports of entry, compared with 28.8 million during the same period last year, according to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. 

Morris’ group recommended making border crossings more efficient. 

The INS plans to add three scanning machines to speed up background checks, said INS spokeswoman Adele Fasano. 

It is also considering special lanes for frequent pedestrian visitors just as it has done for those crossing the border by car, she said. 

Woman puts husband up for auction on eBay 

LOS ANGELES – A woman looking for a creative way to help her unemployed husband find a job posted his resume on eBay and put him up for auction. 

But Sherri Edwards said the first and only bid was $1. 

“And that was out of sympathy,” she said. 

The posting has grabbed a lot of attention for Dean Edwards, but so far he hasn’t gotten any job offers. The marketing specialist said he was laid off three months ago from a tech firm. 

“We’ve had about 1,000 hits, but everyone just wants to vent about their own job search and how difficult it is right now,” Sherri Edwards said. 

Woman indicted for helping Aryan prison gang 

RODEO – A 51-year-old Rodeo woman indicted on racketeering charges was expected to surrender to federal authorities today, an agent for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said. 

Marty Laine Foakes, also known as Marty Donohue, was one of 39 people indicted in August by a federal grand jury in a massive criminal probe of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang. 

Prosecutors believe Foakes was one of several gang associates who relayed messages between high-ranking members in different federal penitentiaries during the 1990s. 

The indictment was unsealed Thursday, when police in 12 states served 80 search warrants and arrested 38 of the suspects. Thirty of those arrested were already incarcerated for unrelated offenses. 

Foakes was not at her home when ATF agents served a search warrant Thursday morning, said Andy Traver, assistant special agent in charge of the ATF’s San Francisco office. 

Foakes’ attorney told ATF agents his client would surrender Monday in Los Angeles federal court, he said. Police will continue to search for Foakes over the weekend, he added. 

Authorities are also searching for 29-year-old Jason Lee Schwyhart of Green River, Ark., a suspected gang member who allegedly took part in the murder of two black inmates at a penitentiary in Illinois. 

The 110-page indictment charges the defendants under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act with being part of an organization that uses murder, intimidation and perjury to help the Aryan Brotherhood maintain its hold on drug-dealing, gambling and extortion in state and federal prisons. 

Foakes is accused of passing messages among members that often contained hidden messages “through coded language,” said assistant U.S. attorney Gregory Jessner. 

Man arrested in murder 

WOODLAND – A Sacramento man was arrested on suspicion of killing a Southern California man and dumping his body in Yolo County, officials said. 

Hoang Nguyen, 19, was booked on a no-bail murder warrant Thursday, said Yolo County sheriff’s spokesman Rich Williams. 

Nguyen is accused of shooting Christopher Daniel Pearson, 22, of Santa Clarita Valley in a dispute over drugs, Williams said. 

Pearson’s body was discovered Aug. 24 in a slough outside Clarksburg, he said. The victim was identified when his mother reported him missing, Williams said.

DENVER – Property-rights groups plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether President Clinton acted illegally when he protected Colorado’s Canyons of the Ancients, California’s groves of giant sequoias and six other federal tracts as national monuments in 2000. 

On Friday, a federal appeals court in Washington rejected arguments by the Mountain States Legal Foundation, timber interests and recreation groups that Clinton overstepped his authority when he established seven national monuments in five states during the last months of his administration. 

William Perry Pendley, president of Mountain States Legal Foundation, said Clinton violated the Antiquities Act of 1906 when he set aside the 2 million acres. 

“I think the big difficulty with the court’s decision is that it indicates the president has the power to achieve whatever environmental objective he wants through the antiquities act,” Pendley said. “We think that’s too broad a reading.” 

The other monuments challenged were Grand Canyon-Parashant, Ironwood Forest and Sonoran Desert national monuments in Arizona; Giant Sequoia National Monument in California; the Cascades-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon and the Hanford Reach in Washington. 

The three-judge appellate panel called the Mountain States’ claim a “bald assertion” with no evidence. 

Earthjustice lawyer Jim Angell said the justices’ strong language proves the challenge was baseless. 

The group intervened because lawyers were afraid Bush wouldn’t defend the monuments. The Interior Department claimed presidents can scale back or eliminate monuments under the act, which the court rejected.

LOS ANGELES – A 41-year-old man has asked for a protection order against his girlfriend’s father, a Superior Court judge who testified during a child custody hearing that he would kill him. 

Judge James A. Kaddo told a court in April that he would kill Fadi Nora because he didn’t want the man near his three grandchildren — a remark he now says he regrets. 

“It was a stupid thing to say, but I was a grandfather in tears,” Kaddo told the Los Angeles Times in an article published Sunday. 

In court documents filed last month in Orange County Superior Court, Nora said the remark is the latest in a series of threats Kaddo has made against him since he began dating Kaddo’s daughter two years ago. 

Nora has asked the court to bar Kaddo from coming within 150 yards of him, his home, his car or his workplace. A hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 25. 

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to file criminal charges against Kaddo, 68, saying investigators concluded the remarks were not an actual threat, but “an inappropriate emotional response to a very charged issue,” the Times reported. 

During the hearing, Kaddo urged Commissioner Ann Dobbs to deny his daughter’s bid for custody of her three children, ranging in ages from 8 to 13. He wanted her to return to her husband and leave Nora. 

“I can’t stand to have that psycho around my grandkids. I’m going to do what I have to do to save my grandchildren,” said Kaddo, according to a transcript of the hearing. 

When asked what he meant, Kaddo said, “If it means killing him, I will do it.” 

Kaddo’s attorney said the judge’s testimony was misinterpreted. 

In addition to seeking a restraining order against the judge, Nora filed a complaint with the state Commission on Judicial Performance, which investigates allegations of misconduct and disciplines judges.

SAN FRANCISCO – After promising this week to produce proof of a dockworker slowdown at West Coast ports, shipping companies embroiled in a labor dispute with longshoremen on Friday again delayed filing the documents with Department of Justice lawyers. 

The records are key because federal prosecutors will review them and decide whether to go after the longshoremen’s union based on a federal court order that reopened the ports last week after a 10-day lockout. 

Officials with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union pounced on the apparent delay as evidence the association was scrounging for a case — and unable to grasp one because workers are doing their best to move cargo under difficult and dangerous conditions. 

But a spokesman with the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping companies and port terminal operators, dismissed that suggestion. Association lawyers were reviewing the document, a narrative sprinkled with data that asserts work productivity is off up to 30 percent in some ports, and would either e-mail it today. 

“We had hoped to complete the document and make the submission to the Department of Justice earlier this week, but we want to ensure that the case we make is air-tight,” association spokesman John Pachtner said Friday. “Everyone would like to move from analysis to action as quickly as possible.” 

Association officials had said the submission would be made Thursday, and on Friday morning said it was about to go — but by close of business Friday, the document had not been sent. 

“They don’t have a case and they’ve got to keep searching and searching for something that’ll hold up to cross-examination,” said union spokesman Steve Stallone. “And they don’t have it.” 

A federal judge may determine that. 

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup formally approved the 80-day “cooling-off” period that President Bush requested last week. Under the order, longshoremen must work “at a normal pace” — if Alsup determines they are deliberately slowing down, he has broad discretion to impose penalties. 

In an interview Friday, association President Joseph Miniace said he didn’t want Justice Department lawyers to drag the union to court. Rather, Miniace said he wanted prosecutors to tell union officials to “stop screwing around” and hunker down at the bargaining table. 

It was a meltdown over a new contract that led to the lockout late last month. A federal mediator met with union officials Wednesday and may meet with association representatives next week. 

Chief atop his list of issues will be how to modernize 29 major Pacific ports covered by the contract to the satisfaction of the 10,500-member union — that is, how to introduce labor-saving technology without slashing too many union jobs. 

It won’t be an easy task, not least with both sides busy trading blame for the slow pace of cargo movement. 

The union says the association has sabotaged the reopening by undersupplying equipment such as truck chassis to move containers so that the congested docks will remain a mess, even going on two weeks after the lockout ended. 

“They are purposely not moving the containers off the docks so that the whole place is a disaster,” Stallone said. 

Nonsense, said Miniace. 

“We know the union is going to say it’s a backlog from the shutdown,” he said. “Yes, it is a little congested, but have we handled these volumes in the past? Absolutely.” 

Miniace said the association is documenting slowdowns in each port — from a 28 percent drop in productivity at Oakland to around 20 percent in Tacoma, Seattle and Portland to around 10 percent in Los Angeles/Long Beach, the nation’s largest port complex. 

Meanwhile, the lingering effects of the shutdown continue to shiver through the economy. 

Honda of America Manufacturing Inc. temporarily halted production Friday at four Ohio plants to allow parts to build up in the automaker’s supply line, disrupted because of the labor dispute at West Coast ports. The move affected nearly 12,000 workers. The work should resume early next week. 

Also, a ship with thousands of cameras the San Francisco Giants were going to give away during Game 4 of the World Series next week is stalled outside the Port of Los Angeles. They won’t arrive in time.

SAN FRANCISCO – Adobe Systems Inc. today launched its popular Acrobat software in a new direction aimed at increasing the use of the Internet to fill out contracts, tax forms and other key documents. 

With the move, San Jose-based Adobe will put its fully loaded Acrobat package on Web servers that will be licensed to businesses and government agencies. 

The buyers then can use the Acrobat Web servers to unlock all of the software package’s applications, including the ability to sign a document with a digital signature, for their customers. 

The Acrobat Reader, which Adobe gives away, is already widely available and is commonly used to transfer documents electronically. An estimated 400 million computers worldwide have the program. 

But the Acrobat Reader doesn’t include the power to produce digital signatures or add annotations, limitations that have retarded its use for online business. 

Individuals who wanted all of Acrobat’s features currently must pay a suggested retail price of $249 for the desktop version. 

That high price tag meant businesses and government agencies couldn’t expect visitors to their Web site to have the tools necessary to fill out electronic forms such as mortgage applications and insurance policies. 

“This is going to enable all kinds of transactions online that weren’t possible before,” Bruce Chizen, Adobe’s chief executive, predicted in an interview. “It will encourage more electronic transactions.” 

The new server product is expected to be particularly popular among banks, insurance companies and government agencies that traditionally require heavy paperwork.

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco city attorney filed a civil lawsuit that claims one of the Bay Area’s largest mechanical contractors faked a partnership with a Filipino firm to defraud the city’s minority contracting program of $8 million. 

The lawsuit alleges that William D. Spencer, the white owner of F.W. Spencer & Son Inc. and Brisbane Mechanical Co., created a fake joint venture to help the companies’ bids for contracts on the nearly $3 billion expansion of San Francisco International Airport. 

Three of Spencer’s employees were also named in the lawsuit for allegedly helping Spencer form the bogus joint venture with Virgilio and Gerardina Talao, the minority owners of San Luis Gonzaga Construction. 

Spencer told the San Francisco Chronicle that he knew nothing about the complaint. 

The lawsuit says Spencer reported that San Luis Gonzaga Construction controlled 51 percent of a partnership with Brisbane Mechanical and that San Luis Gonzaga would perform more than half of the work. 

City Attorney Dennis Herrera said Spencer’s companies, and not San Luis Gonzaga, did all of the work on more than $8 million in contracts that the joint venture won between 1996 and 1999. The city is demanding that the money paid on those contracts be repaid. 

The three-year investigation of abuses of the minority program has focused on subcontractors, many of which worked for entities controlled by the Tutor-Saliba Corp. 

Tutor-Saliba won $841 million of work at the airport, and the city attorney is investigating the company for possible overbilling at the airport. 

In September, federal prosecutors dropped all criminal charges against a San Francisco city official and a Hunters Point plumber who were accused of defrauding a city-sponsored minority contractors program. 

Zula Jones, a contract compliance officer for the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, and plumber Alvin P. Norman Jr. were indicted in April 2000 along with three company officers from San Leandro-based, Scott Co., a white-owned mechanical contracting firm. 

Scott Co. won at least $55.1 million on the airport expansion project as a minority subcontractor to construction giant Tutor-Saliba Corp. 

In February, the firm and its vice president Robert Nurisso, 59, of Redwood City, pleaded guilty in the case. Scott Co. was ordered to pay $1.5 million in fines and restitution and Nurisso to serve six months home detention and pay an additional $500,000 restitution.

SAN FRANCISCO – Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco have developed a new mad cow disease detector they claim is faster and more accurate than existing models and could “significantly reduce human exposure” to the fatal brain-destroying malady. 

UCSF researchers said their test can detect 10,000 more abnormal prions – the disease-causing proteins – per gram of tested tissue than more conventional tests. 

Such sensitive readings could spare cattle wrongly diagnosed as having the disease, known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The readings could also detect infected cows now misdiagnosed with false negative results, said Dr. Jiri Safar, who was lead author on a scientific paper discussing the research published online Sunday in the scientific journal Nature Biotechnology. 

Other prion disease experts agree the UCSF test is the most sensitive reported, but question how it will improve upon the current methods of diagnosing mad cow disease. Tests already available are sensitive enough to detect most occurrences of mad cow disease, they said. 

“This is a Cadillac when a Pinto is all you really need,” said Dr. Pierluigi Gambetti at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. 

Still, Gambetti said the UCSF test is impressive and could open the door to blood testing, which would allow diagnosis of mad cow disease while the cow is still alive. Currently, mad cow disease is only diagnosed by examining the brains of dead cows. 

More than 100 Europeans have died of the brain-destroying Creutzfeld-Jakob disease linked to eating infected cattle. Some 179,000 cattle have been found to have mad cow disease since 1986. 

One of the biggest challenges in testing for prion-related disease is distinguishing the abnormal prions from naturally occurring healthy prions. 

The UCSF test employs antibodies genetically engineered to seek out and bind with abnormal prions in tissue samples. Safar said the test performed flawlessly on 1,729 samples. 

Safar works in the lab of Dr. Stanley Prusiner, who co-wrote the paper and who won the 1997 Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovery that abnormal prions cause mad cow disease. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health. 

Safar and Prusiner also hope to profit from the new test, which is being considered for commercial use by the European Commission. Both are investors in InPro Biotechnology Inc., a tiny South San Francisco startup launched by Prusiner in 2001 and which owns the commercial rights to the UCSF test. 

The company hopes to have the test on the European market by sometime next year, said InPro president Scott McKinlay. McKinlay estimated the commercial market for such a test in Europe to be about $200 million.

Less than three weeks until the mayoral election, candidate Tom Bates and incumbent Mayor Shirley Dean are defending themselves against charges of campaign finance impropriety. 

For Bates, Thursday night’s Fair Campaign Practices Commission meeting brought good news. He was cleared of a charge that he accepted campaign contributions above the legal limit. 

Dean, though, was forced to acknowledge that she mishandled campaign contributions, though she was absolved of any intentional wrongdoing. Dean conceded she breached a minor technicality of the city’s finance law because she was given bad counsel from the city attorney’s office. 

“I just followed the advice of city staff,” Dean said in an earlier interview. She said the charges against her, filed by Bates’ campaign treasurer, were politically motivated. 

The charges against Bates came from Berkeley resident Marie Bowman. She accused the mayoral candidate of illegally accepting four campaign contributions of $500. Berkeley law forbids donors from giving more than $250 per election cycle. 

Bowman filed the charge after seeing Bates’ Oct. 7 campaign finance disclosure forms, which showed the $500 contributions in a column marked “Per Election To Date.” But Bates’ campaign treasurer Mal Burnstein said the figures were the result of a computer glitch and should have read $250.  

An inquiry by the city attorney’s office supported Burnstein’s contention, and the commission dropped the charges. 

Last month Burnstein claimed that Dean wrongly classified nearly $3000 in 2002 campaign funds as office expenses. In a separate, but related charge, Berkeley resident Carrie Olson charged Dean of accepting donations greater than the $250 limit during her 1998 campaign for mayor. 

An inquiry by the city attorney’s office found that both claims were attributable to accounting errors made by a Dean campaign official in 1999. 

That year, Dean initiated a fund raising effort to pay back about $24,000 in debt from her 1998 campaign. In the process, her then-treasurer Tom Luten allowed donors who had already given the allowable $250 to also give toward her debt drive. While Luten counted the money toward the 1998 campaign, it should have been counted toward the 2000 campaign since the donors had already made their maximum 1998 contributions. 

Also, because Dean believed she had a $7,700 surplus from the 1998 campaign after her debt drive, she received permission from the city attorney to allocate nearly $3000 of that as office holder expenses. The rest of it was transferred to the 2002 campaign. 

As part of the agreement brokered by the city’s campaign commission, Dean must now re-file her campaign records, identifying the entire $7,700 surplus raised in 1999 as 2002 campaign funds. 

The commission will meet again on Oct. 30 to hear a complaint filed by Berkeley resident Sam Herbert against Bates. Herbert alleges that the Bates campaign accepted illegal donations from political action commissions because the commissions accepted corporate donations, a violation of Berkeley finance law. 

Burnstein insists that Herbert has misinterpreted Berkeley law, and that the contributions are legal. 

Contact reporter at matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

I was dismayed to see Gordon Wozniak recycle a horrible idea (Daily Planet, Oct. 14): changing rent control from a universal program protecting all tenants to a means-tested program covering only the needy. 

Most beneficiaries of rent control are not yuppies; an overwhelming majority of tenant households have low incomes. However, if the only units subject to rent control were those occupied by people in poverty, then hardly any landlords would rent to poor tenants. Rent control allows landlords to make reasonable profits, as it must do in order to pass constitutional muster. It does not force landlords to subsidize tenants, only to keep rent increases within fair bounds. 

Protection against unwarranted rent hikes should be provided to the greatest possible number of tenants. Although low-income renters need rent control the most, no tenant deserves to be gouged. 

If Mr. Wozniak were truly concerned about the welfare of tenants in the district he seeks to represent, rather than attack rent control, he would urge that it be strengthened. 

In particular, he would commit himself to encouraging the state Legislature to repeal Costa-Hawkins, the law that took away our local rent control program's power to stop rents from soaring when old tenants move out and new tenants move in. 

Randy Silverman 

Berkeley

Local historical archives are enlivened with thousands of still pictures showing Berkeley's places, people, and events of past decades. But for a more animated glimpse into early local life, nothing beats old home movies, newsreels and other film footage. 

You have an opportunity to see moving images of Berkeley dating back nearly a century at a special screening, “Berkeley History on Film”, this weekend, Sunday, Oct. 20th, at 3:00 PM at the Pacific Film Archive theater on the UC Berkeley campus. The program is free. 

The Berkeley Historical Society (BHS) pioneered local film screenings under the guidance of Ellen Drori and others. In recent years, in cooperation with BHS, UC's Pacific Film Archive has taken up the torch and assembled a 90 minute program to delight local audiences. The mostly silent films are accompanied by a pianist and by live narration. 

The oldest short film in the program is “A Trip to Berkeley,” from 1906. Ride along on a streetcar as it travels past the UC campus and catch a glimpse of now vanished houses and even an early 20th century traffic hazard – a horse in the middle of Hearst Avenue. 

See “Interurban Railway” footage from 1941, and marvel at the transit options available to Berkeley commuters back in the “old days”. 

An episode of the “Officer 444” crime serial set in Berkeley in the mid-1920s includes a cameo appearance by Berkeley's famed police chief August Vollmer, pioneer of “scientific policing.” 

Student spirit is also on display in nostalgic footage showing senior class activities at Cal in 1912, including the traditional “Senior Pilgrimage” through campus. 

An unforgettable part of the program is the newsreel footage of the 1923 Berkeley fire, which destroyed some 600 buildings north of campus in a period of hours. See dramatic images of wind-whipped flames spreading through entire blocks of houses and hundreds of students and others trying to fight the fire and salvage belongings. 

The “Hink's Shoplifting Training Film” is the highlight of the program. Produced for Hink's Department Store (once a fixture in Downtown Berkeley), the film showed employees how to spot and deter shoplifters. Although the producers didn't intend the film as a comedy, you'll be highly amused. Watch out for that grandmotherly lady browsing at the cosmetics counter! 

Steven Finacom is a local 

historian, active with BAHA and the Berkeley Historical Society.

SAN FRANCISCO — It’s nearing 11 p.m. as six guys hop on a city bus, each of them toting a wheeled contraption that looks like the monster truck of skateboards. 

The men, mostly young professionals in their 20s, have already spent years looking to ride the perfect ocean wave or carve into an untouched mountainside of powder snow. But those aren’t options right now. 

Tonight, the moon is out, the fog uncharacteristically absent and traffic scant — ideal conditions for a sport that combines techniques used in skateboarding, snowboarding and even surfing. Some call it carveboarding or flowboarding, names derived from the brand of boards they ride. 

In rougher terrain, with no asphalt and wheeled boards that have bindings, it’s commonly known as mountainboarding. 

“Final destination,” driver Roy Flugence says over the bus loudspeaker, drawing a chorus of laughter and cheers as the group exits at the top of a steep hill. 

The next few hours are a flurry of wild rides and commentary — “Nice one!” and “Watch the wall!” — through San Francisco’s Sunset district, a residential neighborhood with Pacific Ocean views. 

Fueled by a steady intake of doughnuts, candy and the occasional beer, the riders race down the hills, one after the other, making quick, zigzagging turns. Along the way, they scope out driveways that make good ramps for fancy turns and a little added excitement. 

Beginners are advised to start with deeply carved, slower turns. And even the most experienced riders adjust their wheel pressure to the incline (softer tires have more grip on steep hills). 

“Ohhhhh, man,” Josiah Bunting said as he got up after a too-close encounter with a telephone pole. 

Even he admits that falling is “unnerving” — and he won on the reality TV show “Fear Factor,” a gig that included jumping from a moving vehicle. 

“All you can do is dig in your wheels, lower your center of gravity and hope for the best,” said Bunting, who sells ads for a high-tech magazine by day. 

He and the others choose not to wear helmets or other protective gear. But most board makers recommend otherwise. 

On their Web site, for example, the makers of Mongoose All-Terrain Boards advise wearing “a helmet, protective eye wear, wrist guards, leather gloves, elbow pads, knee pads, sturdy athletic shoes, long pants and long sleeves.” 

The boards themselves are often well over 3 feet long and generally cost $200 to $300.

Apparently no one told the Yellowjackets that there are no points for degree of difficulty in football. 

Despite committing eight turnovers and racking up 115 yard in penalties, the Berkeley High football team beat Alameda-Contra Costa Athletic League newcomer Hercules in overtime, 34-28. 

Berkeley (6-0 overall, 3-0 ACCAL) quarterback Dessalines Gant drove over the line from four yards out in overtime to give the Jackets the win after Hercules (3-2, 2-1) failed to score from the 25-yard line in their portion of the college-style overtime format. 

The win came courtesy of the Berkeley defense, which allowed just four scores despite their offense giving the Titans great field position. Hercules started drives inside Berkeley territory seven times, including three inside the 10-yard line, and came away with scores just three of those times. The Titans gained just 212 yards in the game and turned the ball over four times. 

“I couldn’t be more proud of my guys,” Berkeley defensive coordinator Ron Moore said. “We stopped [Hercules] a lot. I pulled out every stop to motivate those guys today.” 

Safety Chris Watson had two interceptions for the Jackets, and defensive end Robert Hunter-Ford picked off a screen pass and returned it 30 yards for Berkeley’s second touchdown of the game. The Jackets also sacked Hercules quarterback Byron Edwards seven times, including one for a safety by tackle Jamal Johnson-Lucas in the second quarter. 

“Our defense was amazing tonight,” Berkeley head coach Matt Bissell said. “The score won’t show it, but that was a dominating performance.” 

With a halftime lead of 22-6, it looked as if Berkeley was in for yet another easy win. But Gant threw five interceptions on just seven second-half pass attempts, underthrowing several open receivers, to help keep the Titans in the game.  

All three Hercules touchdowns in the second half came off of Berkeley turnovers, the last coming with 1:48 left in regulation when quarterback Byron Edwards scrambled into the end zone from five yards out to cut the Berkeley lead to 28-26. A taunting penalty moved the two-point conversion try back to the 18, but a pass interference call brought it back to the 9. Edwards found Warner West open in the end zone to tie the score and send the officials into a huddle to consult the ACCAL rule book about overtime. 

Berkeley won the coin toss and elected to play defense first, with both teams getting a shot at scoring from the 25-yard line. Berkeley stopped the Titans on four plays, including defensive end Rodney Jones’ third sack of the game on fourth down, then ran the ball five times before Gant’s scoring plunge. 

Berkeley head coach Matt Bissell was happy just to escape with a win after his team blew a 16-point fourth quarter lead. 

“You’re always excited to go into someone else’s house and come out with a win,” Bissell said. “But there are no excuses. We just didn’t play well at all today.” 

Bissell took some of the blame on himself, especially for choosing to pass with less than three minutes left in the game and an eight-point lead. Although wide receiver Sean Young was open, Gant underthrew him and Hercules safety Tito Mays came up with his second interception of the game, returning it to the Berkeley 5-yard line to set up Edwards’ touchdown run. 

“That was probably a bad decision on my part,” Bissell said of the play-call. “We saw something and thought we could get a first down or touchdown. But the fact of the matter is the smart thing would have been to run the ball.” 

The easiest score for Hercules was actually their longest, a 70-yard touchdown pass from Edwards to West on their first offensive play of the game. But the Titans missed the extra point, putting them behind 7-6 after a 7-yard touchdown run by Berkeley’s Craig Hollis, who scored twice in the first half.  

Berkeley got its own big play from Young, who ran a double reverse 37 yards for a touchdown to put his team up 28-12 early in the fourth quarter.

Saturday, Oct. 19 

Ethics Forum 

6 to 9 p.m. 

Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 

Crew 24 invites all teen youth groups for a pizza potluck and conversation about the ethical decisions we face today. 

525-6058 

Bring a pizza to share. 

Sunday, Oct. 20 

Dog Wash Sunday 

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Kutz for Mutz, 911 University Ave.  

Get your dog shampooed while helping out rescued dogs. Proceeds benefit Smiley Dog Rescue, a nonprofit dedicated to rescuing abused or abandoned pups. 

(760) 924-3961 

$15-$30 depending on the dog. 

The Buddy Club Season Opener 

1 to 2 p.m 

The Berkeley JCC Theater, 1414 Walnut St. at Rose St. 

Audience participation shows for kids age two through twelve and their parents. 

236-SHOW 

$7 / under 2 yrs. free 

Monday, Oct. 21 

War in Iraq- Why? 

7 p.m. 

2951 Derby St. 

Women for Peace invites you to discuss war in Iraq, with an emphasis on women’s viewpoints. 

526-5094 

Tuesday, Oct. 22 

Brown Bag Career Talk 

12 to 1 p.m. 

YWCA Turning Point Career Center, 2600 Bancroft Way 

Professional organizer Kathy Waddill hosts “Getting Paid to Help Other People Get Organized”. 

848-6370 

$3 

“What is it Like to Be a Robot?” 

8 p.m. 

145 Dwinelle, UC Berkeley 

Tom Sgouros and his robot, Judy, star in a sharp-witted “solo” theater piece in which they discuss stage magic, free will, imagination and other themes in this unique performance. 

www.sgouros.com 

Berkeley Camera Club Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share your prints and slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

525-3565 / www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

Wednesday, Oct. 23 

The Independent Institute 

7 p.m. 

Daniel Ellsberg unveils new book, “Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers.” 

Zellerbach Auditorium, Bancroft Way and Telegraph 

642-9988 

Berkeley Gray Panthers General Meeting 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

What’s what on the November ballot: A rundown of state and local ballot measures. Shirley Dean and Tom Bates will debate. 

548-9696 

Saturday, Oct. 19 

Charonson 

9:30 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center, 

3105 Shattuck Ave. 

Come get your groove on to this live salsa band. Dance class at 8:15 p.m. 

849-2568 

$12 / $15 with class 

Peter Case 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

Singer-songwriter auteur. 

548-1761 

$15.50 / $16.50 

Casino Royale and DJ California Kid 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-2082 

$8 / 21 and over 

Sunday, Oct. 20 

Madeline Eastman with  

the Matt Clark Trio 

4:30 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

845-5373 

$10-$15 

Judy Fjell and Betsy Rose 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

An evening of original song. 

548-1761 

$15.50 / $16.50 

The Starry Irish Music Session 

8 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

Led by Shay Black 

841-2082 

Sliding scale / 21 and over 

Sunday, Oct. 27 

Larry Schneider 

4:30 p.m. 

Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. 

Internationally performing saxophonist. 

845-5373 

$10-$1“Please Pay Attention” 

Through Oct. 25 

4 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

Worth Ryder Gallery, 116 Kroeber Hall 

UC Art graduates feature drawings, video, etc. 

DepartmentofArtPractice 

Ceramics - Opening Reception 

Through Nov. 17 

3 to 5 p.m. 

A New Leaf Gallery, 1286 Gilman St. 

525-7621 

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 

“Recent Acquisitions” 

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  

60 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 Fifth St. 

848-3822 

Alarms and Excursions 

Nov. 15 through Dec. 22 

Aurora Theatre Company,  

2081 Addison St. 

Michael Frayn's comedy about  

the irony of modern technology. 

843-4822, www.auroratheater.org for reservations 

$26 to $35. 

The House of Blue Leaves 

Through Oct. 20 

Berkeley Rep's Roda Theater  

2015 Addison St.  

647-2949 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. 

Escape From Happiness 

Through October 20 

Zellerbach Playhouse,  

UC Berkeley Campus 

UC Berkeley’s department of theater, dance, and performance studies presents this dark comedy exploring the interactions of a highly dysfunctional urban working-class family. 

www.ticketweb.com 

or (866) 468-3399 

http://theater.berkeley.edu 

$8-$14 

Sunday, Oct. 20 

Gary Mex Glazner and Thea Hillman 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Poetry reading. 

525-5476 

$2 donation 

Tuesday, Oct. 22 

“Sara’s Children; The Destruction of Chmielnik” 

7:30 p.m. 

Barnes & Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 

Journalist Suzan Hagstrom will speak on her nonfiction book, which delves into the Holocaust. 

644-3635 

“A Language Older Than Words” 

7 p.m. 

2350 San Pablo Ave. near Dwight Way 

An evening with author Derrick Jensen, with music by Andrea Pritchett. 

548-2220 

$6-$10/ Sliding scale. 

Wednesday, Oct. 23 

An evening with Simon Winchester 

7 p.m. 

Sibley Auditorium, Bechtel Engineering Center, UC Berkeley 

Join the author of bestsellers “The Map That Changed the World” and “The Professor and the Madman”, along with Don George, global travel editor for Lonely Planet Publications, for an evening of lively conversations. 

893-8555 

Free 

Stephanie Strickland and Valerie Coulton 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Poetry reading. 

525-5476 

$2 donation 

Saturday, Oct. 19 

Magic School Bus Video Festival 

10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. 

1 Centennial Dr. - Lawrence Hall of Science Auditorium 

Seven differen video adventures. 

643-5961 

$8 adults, $6 youth 5-18 & seniors, $4 children 3-4, free for children under 3. 

“The Undead and the Living Dead” and Bela Lugosi’s “White Zombie” 

Oct. 24 through Oct. 30 

7:30 / 8:55 p.m. 

Fine Arts Cinema, 2451 Shattuck Ave. 

Double feature: Vampire film with musical score performed live on accordion by Rich Kuhns, followed by Bela Lugosi’s classic. 848-1143 ,$4-$9 

“Halloween” and “The Thing” 

Oct. 31 through Nov. 6 

7:30 / 9:20 p.m. 

Fine Arts Cinema, 2451 Shattuck Ave. 

Nightly double feature. 848-1143 $4-$8 

Sunday, Oct. 27 

Benefit screening for “Bums’ Paradise”  

8 p.m. screening followed by party with live music from Marc Black / Funky Sex Gods 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

Film explores the story of the homeless men and women who turned the former Albany Landfill into a community. 

525-5054 

Sliding scale / All welcome

City Council candidate Carlos Estrada doesn’t expect to win. But he does have a larger goal in mind – a new, radical political movement. 

“If there was a strong movement for radical reform, I’d have a good chance (to get elected), but that’s not the case,” said Estrada, a Green Party member, pledging to construct a movement and continue running for office in the future.  

“I’m building a movement for change in Berkeley,” said Estrada, who has called for heavy taxation on local corporations and a new student- and worker-run governing body for the University of California to replace the Board of Regents. 

Estrada, 42, is one of four candidates vying for retiring City Councilmember Polly Armstrong’s 8th District council seat.  

Armstrong is one of four “moderates” on the nine-member panel and her protege, Gordon Wozniak, is considered the favorite by some. UC Berkeley graduate student Andy Katz and human rights consultant Anne Wagley are also serious contenders. 

Estrada, an air conditioning mechanic and journeyman who hails from Mexico, has focused much of his campaign on boosting local democracy. He wants to extend the vote to non-resident aliens and reduce the voting age from 18 to 16.  

The City Council itself could not put in place the change he envisions. Giving non-resident aliens the right to vote would require U.S. and California constitutional amendments and reducing the voting age would require a state constitutional amendment, according to a spokesperson from the California Secretary of State’s office. 

But Estrada said he would seek to provide political leadership on issues that would require state and federal action. 

Estrada also proposes dismantling Berkeley’s dozens of citizen commissions, currently appointed by City Council and Board of Education members, and replacing them with elected councils in each district that would weigh the issues considered by the current commissions. 

“It sounds messy,” said Katz. “But it’s a good point that we need better systems of input from neighbors.” 

Katz said he would work to strengthen neighborhood associations in the 8th District and would have open office hours for constituents to facilitate input. 

Wagley, one of Estrada’s competitors, said he is bringing an important perspective to the campaign. “He’s raising some good issues of citizen participation,” she said. 

But Wagley argued that Estrada, who is focusing his campaign on the UC Berkeley campus, does not have wide support in the district. 

Estrada acknowledges that his current level of support is limited, but said he is committed to running a campaign true to his ideals. 

After attending the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, Estrada emigrated to the United States in 1986 and landed in southern California, organizing against President Reagan’s Immigration Reform and Control Act, which boosted funding for immigration control and imposed sanctions on businesses hiring illegal aliens. 

In 1992, Estrada moved to the Bay Area and took a job with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation as a hotline supervisor, where he took part in the movement to unionize workers. 

After four years, Estrada left the AIDS Foundation and began work as an air conditioning mechanic for a private firm in San Leandro. Today, Estrada lives in UC Berkeley student housing with his wife Vera Candiani, a doctoral candidate, and his four year-old son Fabrizio. 

Contact reporter at 

scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

Gordon Wozniak, Berkeley City Council candidate in the 8th District, certainly has got it right when he says that small landlords can end up subsidizing wealthy renters. Here’s an example. I own a triplex that I live in. I have a couple in each of the other units. In one unit they earn five times what I do and in the other they earn four times as much. Last year we were allowed to raise the rent $8 per unit per month; a total of $16 for the two. At the same time the city raised my monthly costs through annual property taxes and garbage pickup increases that amount to more than $35 a month. Not only do rent increases not even keep pace with the increased costs handed out by the city, but there are increases in everything else: house insurance, water, sewerage, gas, appliances, carpeting, painters, plumbers, electricians, etc. The handyman I use has gone from $15 an hour to $35 during the time that I’ve owned the triplex, for example. While all these costs go up every year, there have been years when the rent board allowed zero rent increase. 

While I started out as a landlord in favor of rent control, not only am I now absolutely opposed, but when I do have a vacant unit I try to get the highest rent possible to make up for both past losses and to protect myself against the miserly allowed annual increases. High rents mean a lot of turnover which I’d prefer to avoid, but the city of Berkeley gives me no choice with its thoughtless Robin Hood-in-reverse policies. 

Alexis Jones-Ramirez 

Berkeley 

NEW YORK — New Jersey poet laureate Amiri Baraka criticized Israeli and Jewish groups’ involvement in U.S. politics and reiterated that he would not give up his post as official state poet amid accusations of anti-Semitism. 

In a nearly hour-long monologue and question-and-answer session Thursday at the Bowery Poetry Club, Baraka struck back at critics, saying he wanted to know “why the Anti-Defamation League is not registered as an agent of a foreign power.” 

The Jewish civil rights organization and New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey have called for Baraka’s resignation over his poem, “Somebody Blew Up America,” which implies that Israel had prior knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks.

When Cal has the ball 

The ground game 

The Bruins haven’t been very good at stopping the run, giving up more than 155 yards per game. Cal desperately needs to establish its running game to take pressure off of quarterback Kyle Boller, who has seen increasing heat as the season has worn on. UCLA is much slower than last week’s opponent, USC, so tailback Joe Igber’s jitterbug style should be more effective. Backup Terrell Williams is finally 100 percent and provides a nice contrast with his slashing style. 

In the trenches 

Defensive end Dave Ball is the only Bruin with more than two sacks, but UCLA gets good pressure up front from a range of players. Tackle Steve Morgan is a load at 313 pounds, but the defensive line is thin, so the Bears may be able to wear them down and get some big plays late in the game. Cal is healthy up front for the first time in a month, so some improvement should be expected. 

Taking to the air 

UCLA has two outstanding cornerbacks in Ricky Manning and Matt Ware. Both have the size and speed to cover any receiver, so it will be key for Boller to get through his reads and find second and third options. UCLA’s linebackers are undersized but speedy and should be able to cover the short zones effectively. If Geoff McArthur is still hobbled by a hamstring injury, the Bears may have trouble getting LaShaun Ward and Jonathon Makonnen open. 

When UCLA has the ball 

The ground game 

Freshman Tyler Ebell has been a terror as the starter for the last two weeks, rushing for 322 yards. Akil Harris and Manuel White have also started this season, so it’s clear the Bruins have some depth there. The Cal linebackers must step up and make sure tackles in front of the secondary, while the defensive line will have to stop the run before rushing the passer. If the Ebell can duplicate USC back Sultan McCullough’s effort last week, the Bears will be in trouble. 

In the trenches 

UCLA’s offensive line is big and effective, but they have allowed 15 sacks this season. The Bears will finally have a stationary target at quarterback, as UCLA’s Cory Paus is the least-mobile quarterback in the Pac-10. Cal’s Tully Banta-Cain could have a field day if he is allowed to tee off on Paus, so look for the Bruins to try and establish the running game early to keep the Bears on their heels. 

Taking to the air 

The Bears face yet another set of big, fast wide receivers in Craig Bragg and Tab Perry. Both 6-foot-2, they are virtually interchangeable, although Bragg has better numbers so far this season. Bragg broke out with 230 yards and three touchdowns last week against Oregon, so Paus will probably be looking his way a lot this week. Cal may put Nnamdi Asomugha at cornerback to match up with the UCLA receivers, which will weaken the Bears’ run support. 

Three months after the retirement of long-standing Police Chief Dash Butler, Berkeley has formally begun its search for a replacement. 

The city announced this week that it hired Roseville-based Bob Murray and Associates, an executive search firm, to conduct a nationwide hunt for the new chief. 

“We’re looking for a person who has good experience with community policing and a long history of working in a diverse community,” said Arrietta Chakos, deputy city manager. 

The search will take an estimated six months and require candidates to interview with city officials and residents. 

The rigorous application process has become standard for top Berkeley jobs, said Chakos. “We take a very sophisticated approach, and the community expects no less,” she said. 

The next chief will earn a salary between $119,784 and $164,609, according to an advertisement posted on the California Police Chief Association Web site. 

Butler, who was promoted to chief from lieutenant in 1990, had the longest tenure of any police chief in Berkeley history. 

Current Berkeley police officers can apply for the position. It is not known if interim Police Chief Roy Meisner plans to make himself a candidate. Meisner, a 30-year veteran of the Berkeley force, was deputy police chief under Butler.

To the Editor: 

In a town that's often bitterly divided by politics, everyone agrees that Berkeley is in dire need of safe, affordable housing. The challenge: how to pay for such housing when federal funds have gotten scarce. One way is to vote for Measure M. 

By slightly increasing the tax on the sale of property from its current rate of 1.5 percent to 2 percent of the sales price, Measure M will raise $2 million dollars a year. Half of that money will go to housing that is permanently affordable and provided to people who live or work in Berkeley. The rest will fund seismic upgrading of multi-unit residences and temporary emergency assistance to people who are at risk of becoming homeless. You will not pay this tax unless you buy or sell property. Measure M also exempts people who sell their home for less than $350,000 or at a loss. 

Zelda Bronstein, 

Planning Commission chair

NEW YORK — He hardly mentions his fatal illness, and makes a brief, sarcastic reference to allegations of plagiarism that surfaced in the last year of his life. 

Historian Stephen Ambrose’s “To America,” a book of “personal reflections” completed shortly before his death, is, essentially, a work of history. 

“In this short volume, I tell stories about Americans from the past, what they did, how they did it, with what results,” writes Ambrose, who died Oct. 13 at age 66, less than six months after announcing he had lung cancer. 

“To America” will be released on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, with a first printing of 275,000. 

Ambrose, whose many best sellers included such World War II books as “Band of Brothers” and “D-Day,” saw his reputation repeatedly challenged earlier this year when reports emerged of passages that closely resembled the works of others. 

“The Wild Blue,” “Nothing Like It in the World” and “Citizen Soldiers” were among several works found to contain questionable material. A revised edition of “The Wild Blue” came out last spring. 

In “To America,” Ambrose refers to the controversy in a passage about his writing process. He confides that some of his best lines have come from his wife, Moira, and then comments, “I could give hundreds of examples, but if I did so my critics would accuse me of stealing her words (which I do).” 

He goes on to list seven of his best sellers from over the past decade and states, “These are all substantial books with great chunks of footnotes, whether from memoirs, diaries, official histories, newspapers, archives.” 

Footnotes, ironically, were at the heart of criticisms against him. Ambrose often defended himself by pointing out that he included footnotes, widely considered by historians as inadequate credit for material highly similar to its source. 

Ambrose knew he might not live to see his book published, but waits until the end, in the “Acknowledgments” section, to discuss his illness.

The Cal women’s soccer team broke two ugly streaks on Friday during their 2-0 win over Oregon. The Bears scored their first goals of the Pac-10 season, and Laura Schott got her first goal in almost a year. 

Kassie Doubrava scored Cal’s first goal of conference play in the 80th minute, then Schott scored her first goal of the season in injury time to seal the win. 

The Ducks proved a surprisingly tough opponent despite their 1-8-2 record coming into the game. Although the Bears had several good scoring chances before Doubrava’s goal and outshot Oregon 19-6, the game wasn’t decided until Schott’s goal. 

“Every Pac-10 game is tough,” Cal head coach Kevin Boyd said. “[The Ducks] don’t have the best record, but we had to battle all the way.” 

Cal (8-4-1, 1-2) was shut out in losses to UCLA and USC last weekend to open their conference schedule, and had gone 260 minutes without scoring before Doubrava gathered a long pass from Schott, beat one defender and slid the ball past Oregon goalkeeper Sarah Peters. 

But they needed just 10 minutes to score again, this time with forward Dania Cabello taking a through pass from defender Lucy Brining and slipping the ball through a defender’s legs before finding Schott open on the other side of the goalmouth. 

“Sometimes you just get in a struggle to get the ball in the net,” Boyd said of his team’s goal drought. “It becomes a burden that gets harder and harder to get rid of. But I’d say the dam broke today.” 

Schott was quick to deflect praise toward Cabello, but she couldn’t hide the grin on her face after the game. 

“Dania gave me a gift,” she said. “It wasn’t exactly a tough goal for me to score.” 

Still, it had to feel pretty good for a player who entered the season as one of the nation’s most feared scorers but has been nearly invisible thus far. Schott drew a red card in the season opener that forced her out of the next game, then sprained her knee in practice and missed the next six games.  

With the school goal-scoring record just six goals away and her final season waning quickly, Schott was understandably keen to get back on the field and was clearly unhappy when Boyd pulled her out for rests in both halves on Friday. She looked a bit hesitant at times against Oregon but nearly scored on two other occasions, including a shot that was cleared off the goal line.

POINT SUR — Two unarmed Super Hornet fighter jets crashed over the Pacific Ocean about 80 miles southwest of Monterey during routine training Friday morning. The Coast Guard searched for four missing members of the Black Aces squadron from Lemoore Naval Air Station. 

The Navy said the two F/A-18-F jets crashed at about 9:40 a.m. while engaged in an aerial combat exercise with six other fighter jets. The two F-18s were not carrying any weapons, the Navy said. 

Navy spokesman Cmdr. William Fenick said he did not know if the planes collided. It was slightly overcast at the time of the crash, according to a Coast Guard spokesman. 

A Coast Guard plane and a commercial fishing vessel were at the accident scene searching for the four missing aviators, but the Coast Guard said at 2 p.m. there had been no sign of survivors or any sightings of bodies. 

Officials refused to release the identities of the missing pilots, all of whom were experienced aviators who had flown F-14 Tomcats over Afghanistan, said Lemoore spokesman Dennis McGrath. Their families had been notified they’re missing. 

“You always have hope you’re going to find them,” McGrath said. “We’re waiting on pins and needles.” 

Coast Guard spokeswoman Veronica Bandrowsky said the fishing vessel White Dove, registered in San Francisco, found a debris field one mile in diameter. The 8-ton wooden hulled boat remained at the site Friday afternoon, aiding in the search, she said. 

The Air National Guard dispatched a helicopter from Moffett Field with two rescue swimmers aboard and the Navy had two ships — the USS Valley Forge, a cruiser, and the USS Howard, a guided missile destroyer — participating in the search. 

F/A-18F jets, which seat two aviators, are designed for traditional strike operations and close air support. F/A class fighter jets commonly are equipped with Vulcan 20mm cannon and can carry external payloads of general purpose bombs, mines and rockets. 

It was the first crash involving a Super Hornet since the Navy launched the fighter jets. 

About 75 Super Hornets are based at Lemoore, the only base where they’re being flown, McGrath said. Each Super Hornet costs $57 million, weighs 33 tons and has a combat flight range of 1,275 nautical miles, according to a Navy Web site. 

Lemoore Naval Air Station is located near Fresno.

To The Editor: 

Given its critical impact on renters, the Daily Planet's Oakland readers may be interested to learn more about Oakland ballot initiative Measure EE, the “Just Cause” eviction ordinance. Frank Davis, Jr.’s letter (Forum, Oct. 14) assailing Measure EE contained egregious misinformation. Mr. Davis serves as president of a local property owner association. 

Measure EE, if passed, will extend to Oakland renters the same stability and security that Berkeley, San Francisco, Hayward, San Rafael and Los Angeles renters (among other California cities) have been afforded for at least a decade. Currently in Oakland, a landlord can post a 30-day eviction notice upon a tenant's door without citing a reason or cause for eviction. Measure EE simply stipulates that a reason be given for eviction, including non-payment of rent, material violation of a lease, unlawful activity, damage, public nuisance/danger and owner move-in among other reasons. This is a reasonable and fair expectation for Oakland renters, who comprise 65 percent of Oakland households. Measure EE exempts small landlords, including buildings that are owner -occupied or contain three units or less. Measure EE is endorsed by Congresswoman Barbara Lee, state Senator Don Perata, the Green Party of Alameda County and the AFL-CIO Alameda Central Labor Council. 

At one point in his letter, Mr. Davis claims that Berkeley's voter-approved 1980 “Just Cause” ordinance has been a “disaster,” causing citizens to move from Berkeley. In reality, a real estate industry-backed majority on Berkeley's Rent Stabilization Board – which controlled the rent board between 1990 and 1994 – caused unprecedented renter hardship and dislocation across Berkeley. During these years, the rent board passed rent increases totaling 45 percent across-the-board, the greatest rent hikes in city history. 

Until a majority of affordable housing proponents was elected to the rent board in a 1994, this was the real social and economic “disaster” at the time – a disaster many Berkeley renters are still recovering from. 

George Azar 

Oakland

LOS ANGELES — Scientists in California and Virginia will try to decode the genetic makeup of two plant-destroying microbes, including one blamed for killing tens of thousands of oak trees along the West Coast. 

Backed by $4 million in federal grants, the scientists hope to sequence the genomes of the two species of Phytophthora. The most notorious of the pair is P. ramorum, which causes Sudden Oak Death syndrome. 

With the genomes in hand, scientists expect they will be able to develop the means to track, detect and, eventually, treat both diseases. 

P. ramorum has killed tens of thousands of black oak, coast live oak and tan oak trees in northern California and southern Oregon since it first appeared in 1995.

SAN FRANCISCO – The attorney for the son of Bay Area food critic and chef Narsai David said Friday that he may stop defending Daniel David, 36, against federal charges of fraud and money laundering because of a potential conflict of interest. 

Daniel David and 38-year-old Scott Nisbet, both of Berkeley, were indicted last March on charges of creating an elaborate pay phone scam that allegedly netted them $444,000 in fees from phony 800 number calls in 1999. 

Attorney Richard Hove, who has represented Daniel David since March, told U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston that “a potential conflict of interest has developed between Mr. David and myself.” 

Hove, who didn't explain what the potential conflict is, told the judge that he and David will try to resolve the matter by the next court hearing. If they cannot resolve their issues, Hove said Daniel David will have a new lawyer by that time. 

Daniel David will return to court Oct. 25 on the legal representation issue and again on Nov. 22 for pretrial motions. 

Daniel David and Nisbet face charges of conspiracy, mail fraud, money laundering and filing a false income tax return. 

Daniel David is free on a $750,000 bond that was posted by his popular father. 

Nisbet is also free on a $750,000 bond that was posted by his father, retired AC Transit District general manager and attorney Robert Nisbet.

Attack via grapes 

An AC Transit bus driver flagged down a Berkeley police officer at about 12 p.m. Wednesday on the 2000 block of Allston Way reporting that a male in a group of youth through a grape threw the driver’s window grazing the driver on the shoulder. According to police, the officer stopped the group, and the male admitted to throwing the grape.  

Karate chop to cab 

A taxi was damaged at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday when two cab drivers fought over a customer at the 2600 block of Durant Avenue. According to police one cab driver accused the other of stealing his ride.

Bicyclists cheer commission decision 

on bridge bike lanes 

Bicycle advocates are cheering a recent resolution that makes it all but certain that bike lanes will one day be built on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. 

The members of the influential San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission threw their support behind the bike lane project on Thursday and passed a resolution asking Caltrans to build the lanes after the bridge's seismic retrofit is finished. 

The next step, according to bike advocates, is for Caltrans to set aside money for the project with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the agency responsible for funding projects on the bridge. 

“This is a huge leap forward for the project,” said Deb Hubsmith, executive director of the Marin County Bicycle Coalition. “(Bike lanes) will provide a needed alternative to the automobile while also providing for a healthy commute with stunning views of the Bay.” 

The commission resolution came after several California state legislators lobbied for the lanes along with the Marin County Board of Supervisors.

Students say burgers and doughnuts instead of vegetables 

SANTA CRUZ — Students at the University of California, Santa Cruz, are thinking meat and doughnuts as they mull over what restaurant should replace a vegetarian restaurant that closed this summer. 

In-N-Out Burger and Krispy Kreme appear to be at the top of the list for students asked Thursday what they’d like to see replace the Whole Earth restaurant. 

“In-N-Out would be packed 24/7,” said junior Danny Ambrose. 

“Everybody likes them,” senior Vicky Tarumoto concurred. 

There are other suggestions being floated around campus, including Italian and Mexican food restaurants. 

The campus is famous for its vegetarian tastes among students. The Blue Sun Cafe, purveyors of tempeh reubens and tofu scrambles, has been invited to bid for the new open restaurant space. 

Steven Shabry runs the cafe, but hasn’t decided whether he’ll bid. 

“I’ve got friends who say we should entertain the notion,” he said. “We’re a vegetarian place in a town that is not really vegetarian, but everybody seems to like our food.” 

Camping ban on the beach 

EUREKA — Humboldt County officials are considering a camping ban for Clam Beach as they’ve grown tired of visitors who litter the beach and don’t pay their camping fees. 

Some homeless people have taken to extended camping in Clam Beach County Park as a form of refuge, but the debris they leave behind has county officials concerned. 

“It’s become a place where you can camp free if you’re streetwise,” said Don Tuttle, Humboldt County deputy public works director. “And I’m not comfortable with having some of my staff members out there in the dark trying to collect fees.” 

It’s the second crackdown to be considered on area beaches. Earlier this year, the county passed an ordinance that limited traditional beach uses in order to protect the Western snowy plover. The plover nests on Clam Beach during the summer. 

Some residents, however, said the ordinance was too restrictive since it banned some horseback riding in the area. 

Northern schools falling short 

of state standards 

SANTA ROSA — North Coast schools are falling short of academic growth targets according to preliminary results. 

Thirty-eight percent of Sonoma County schools made their growth targets. In Mendocino County 19 percent achieved their targets and Lake County schools reached 26 percent of their academic growth goals. 

The North Coast schools perform lower than the entire state, where 53 percent of all schools met their targets last year. 

Above-average schools may not be compelled to raise test scores, even if they fail to reach a state-imposed academic target, said George Romero, assistant superintendent for Sonoma County schools. 

“If they’re doing well, there isn’t as much pressure to improve,” Romero said.

NEWARK — The three men charged with murder in connection with the killing of a 17-year-old boy who sometimes passed as a girl made their first appearance in Alameda Country Superior Court in Fremont Friday, but did not enter pleas. 

On Wednesday, law enforcement agents unearthed the body of Edward Araujo of Newark, who had been missing for two weeks, from a gravesite in the El Dorado County wilderness east of Placerville. 

In court Friday, murder charges with a special hate-crime enhancement were read aloud to the suspects, Michael William Magidson, 22, of Fremont, and Jose Antonio Merel, 22, of Newark, who stood handcuffed, shackled and outfitted in red jail suits, and Jaron Chase Nabors, 19, of Newark, who was dressed in street clothes and unrestrained. 

As Judge Dennis J. McLaughlin pronounced the charges, Jose Merel shook his head, closed his eyes, and then lowered his face, the only visible reaction among the defendants. 

A fourth man, Paul Richard Merel, 25, the brother of Jose Merel, was taken into custody Wednesday in connection with Araujo's killing, but has since been released without being charged. 

According to police, Araujo was reported missing by his mother, Sylvia Guerrero, Oct. 5 when he failed to return from a late-night party held two days prior at 37147 Saint Matthew Drive, the home of Jose and Paul Merel. 

During the party it was discovered that Araujo was actually a boy, prompting a group at the house to fall upon him, beating him and choking him with a rope him until he died, according to an affidavit police used to obtain a search warrant. The affidavit also said that Sylvia Guerrero told police her son was a “cross-dresser” and sometimes went by the names Gwen, Wendy and Lida. 

Nabors told police in an interview that Araujo's body was wrapped in a blanket and driven in the back of a pickup truck to the Silver Forks campground in the Sierra foothills where it was buried. 

Over the past two weeks investigators had followed leads in the case and interviewed potential witnesses but a break did not come until Wednesday, when Nabors lead detectives to the corpse in El Dorado County. 

Araujo was found wearing women's clothing when his body was removed from the grave, the Alameda County coroner said. A preliminary autopsy indicated that he suffered from blunt trauma to his head. Court records stated that Araujo's hands and feet were bound. 

In the back row of the courtroom in Fremont Friday, Araujo's aunt, Imelda Guerrero, sat through the short proceeding. Outside of court she described her nephew as a “typical teenager” who loved music and was a big fan of Gwen Stefani, lead singer of the rock group No Doubt. 

Guerrero said Araujo's family is focusing now on putting him to rest and burying him with dignity, and she refused to comment her nephew's lifestyle. 

She said she is expecting the killers to be held accountable. 

“They're going to pay for what they did,” she said. 

Nabors' attorney, Robert Beles of Oakland, told reporters that his client is a college student with no violence in his background. He said Nabors is not homophobic.

NEW YORK — Momentum from Wall Street’s October rally lifted stocks Friday and gave the major market indexes their second straight winning week — the first such streak in two months. Despite an early decline, many investors resisted the urge to take profits. 

The gain was surprising given stocks’ recent big ride, which sent the Dow Jones industrials soaring more than 1,000 points in a week. Analysts expected the market to give up more ground. 

“We have gone from being extremely oversold to very overbought. It is due for a rest,” said Brian Bush, director of equity research at Stephens Inc. 

The Dow closed up 47.36, or 0.6 percent, at 8,322.40 after having fallen as much as 127 points in the early going. In the past seven sessions, the Dow has climbed 1,036. 

The market’s broader indicators were also higher. The Nasdaq composite index rose 15.57, or 1.2 percent, to 1,287.86. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index advanced 5.19, or 0.6 percent, to 884.39. 

All three gauges had their second consecutive winning week, something they last accomplished in the two weeks that ended Aug. 24. The Dow finished the week up 6 percent, while the Nasdaq rose 6.4 percent and the S&P climbed 5.9 percent. 

Analysts and investors say they are hopeful stocks are finally moving up from some dismal lows. The market has been making surprisingly strong upward progress since Oct. 9 when the Dow fell to a five-year low, joining the S&P. The Nasdaq was at a six-year low. 

But analysts and investors also remain cautious due to lingering doubt about the pace of recovery of earnings and the economy. 

On Friday, investors rewarded companies that reported encouraging results. 

Microsoft rose $2.38 to $53.15, having announced earnings late Thursday that were 7 cents a share higher than analysts’ estimates. 

Avon jumped $3.60 to $49.79 on third-quarter earnings that beat expectations by a penny a share. 

Merck advanced 28 cents to $51.03 after meeting expectations and reaffirming its 2002 forecast calling for flat results. 

But the advance was curbed by some profit taking. Shares of companies that posted better-than-expected earnings results this week, such as General Motors and Johnson & Johnson, fell as investors cashed in some gains. GM fell $1.09 to $34.31, while J&J declined 85 cents to $59.35. 

The market fought hard to advance Friday after rallies Tuesday and Thursday, when the Dow soared 378 points and 239 points. Analysts said there is still skepticism in the market as past rallies have been cut short by disappointing economic and earnings news. 

“We just have to wait a few more trading sessions to see if we have a more positive tone,” said Stephen Carl, principal and head of equity trading at The Williams Capital Group. 

The Russell 2000 index, the barometer of smaller company stocks, rose 0.80, or 0.2 percent, to 363.37. 

Advancing issues were even with decliners on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume was light at 1.74 billion shares, down from Thursday’s 2.21 billion. 

The Labor Department reported that consumer prices increased a moderate 0.2 percent in September. The rise in the Consumer Price Index, which is the government’s most closely followed gauge of inflation, was in line with economists’ forecasts.

SAN FRANCISCO — PG&E Corp. suffered another financial blow Friday when Moody’s Investors Service said it was downgrading the credit rating of one of the energy giant’s subsidiaries. 

Meanwhile, PG&E was negotiating with its lenders on $851 million in debt payments due Friday and Monday. Hertzog said PG&E expected to have a resolution by the end of the day Friday.

STANFORD — A delicate balance must be struck to protect the United States from another terrorist attack without violating the civil rights of Muslims here, FBI Director Robert Mueller said Friday. 

Speaking at Stanford University, Mueller said that as head of the nation’s lead agency handling counterterrorism he is wrestling with dilemmas finding that balance. 

“The overwhelming majority of Muslims in this country and around the world are peaceful, law-abiding citizens. A small number of Muslims, however, are members of radical fundamentalist sects sworn to the destruction of the United States,” he said. “This presents a dilemma for those charged with protecting against the next attack, raising difficult investigative issues for which there often is no clear answer.” 

Jean Hardisty, president of Somerville, Mass.-based Political Research Associates who has been studying post-9-11 policies, said Friday the Bush administration is failing to find balance between security and freedom for all Americans. 

“In my position as a middle-class, white, professional woman I don’t think my rights have been substantially impacted,” she said, “but for people who are more marginalized in society, for example immigrants of any status, are in a much more precarious position about having their freedom protected and their civil liberties protected,” she said. 

Since the terror attacks, there have been a series of federal actions, laws and new regulations that have drawn criticism from some civil rights activists. 

Federal authorities have detained more than 1,000 unidentified terrorism suspects, many of them for months. Agents have also listened in on conversations between detainees and their lawyers, questioned thousands of young Middle Eastern men who recently entered the country and tried noncitizens accused of terrorism in secret military tribunals. 

The U.S.A. Patriot Act approved a year ago included a wider use of roving wiretaps and the ability to subpoena email records provisions. 

And in May 2002, the Justice Department announced guidelines letting FBI agents investigating terrorism to monitor public gatherings, more closely scrutinize Internet usage, and send undercover agents into houses of worship without having clear prior evidence of possible criminal activity. 

The new guidelines set aside restrictions adopted in 1976 intended to curb practices associated with the FBI under former Director J. Edgar Hoover, including infiltrating left-wing groups and harassing such civil rights leaders as Martin Luther King, Jr. 

This week in Washington D.C. the American Civil Liberties Union launched a public advertising and lobbying campaign to press policy makers to revise some of the laws and policies passed after the terror attacks that they say do damage to civil rights. 

“We will work tirelessly so that our safety can be guaranteed simultaneously with our right to say what we want, befriend whoever we want, worship however we want and be who we are without fear that our lawful actions will land us on the governments radar screen,” said Laura Murphy, director of the ACLU’s Washington legislative office. 

Murphy said the Justice Department needs to reverse some of its new, more lenient guidelines. 

The ACLU also is pushing for judicial review before wiretapping, and says there should be no indefinite detention for non-citizens who are not dangerous. In addition, the ACLU said that dissident groups engaging in lawful activities — such as Operation Rescue, Greenpeace and PETA — should not be swept up in an overbroad definition of domestic terrorism. 

“Now more than ever, it is necessary to stand up for the Bill of Rights. We strongly believe that it is patriotic to question the actions of an overreaching government — one that seems determined to eliminate crucial checks and balances on its authority,” said Murphy. 

Mueller said he believes the United States needs to be careful not to be “too aggressive” and he agrees this is not the first time in U.S. history that conflicts have led to restricts on civil rights. 

“As you know, our nation does not have an unblemished record protecting Constitutional freedoms during times of crisis,” he said. 

Woodrow Wilson’s Espionage Act during World War I, upheld by the Supreme Court, banned statements that might interfere with military operations. And in World War II, more than 100,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans were sent to internment camps. 

Mueller said he knows he will be judged by history, “not just on how we disrupt and deter terrorism, but also on how we protect the civil liberties and Constitutional rights of all Americans, including those Americans who wish us ill,” he said.

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Friday upheld former President Clinton’s orders protecting 2 million acres of federal land in five western states through the creation of national monuments. 

The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed lower court rulings that dismissed challenges to Clinton’s designation of the monuments under the 1906 Antiquities Act, which allows presidents to act without congressional approval to safeguard objects of historic and scientific interest. 

The monuments affected are: the Grand Canyon-Parashant, Ironwood Forest and Sonoran Desert national monuments in Arizona; Giant Sequoia National Monument in California; the Canyons of the Ancients in Colorado; the Cascades-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon; and the Hanford Reach in Washington. 

Timber interests, recreation groups and Tulare County, Calif., challenged the Giant Sequoia monument in California. 

The Mountain States Legal Defense Fund of Denver, a conservative public interest law firm, led the legal fight against the monuments in the other states. 

Both lawsuits argued that Clinton exceeded his authority in creating the monuments.

LOS PADRES NATIONAL FOREST — A second California condor hatched in the wild has been found dead here, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said. 

The death of the 5-month-old bird leaves just one chick of the original three left in the wild. Two weeks ago, the first condor to hatch in the wild in nearly two decades was found dead. 

The latest death was discovered Tuesday by a biologist watching the chick in a cave in the Sespe Condor Refuge, located deep in the Los Padres National Forest. Biologist Allan Mee said he hadn’t seen any signs of the bird and thought it might have flown away. 

“But when the father pulled the chick out of the shadows of the cave, I realized it was dead,” he said. 

A cause of the bird’s death has not been determined. 

Biologists were trying to reach the dead animal Thursday after a U.S. Forest Service helicopter was turned away by fog. The bird will be taken to the San Diego Zoo to undergo a necropsy. 

Biologists said the bird’s mother had elevated levels of lead in her blood. Both parents were susceptible to lead poisoning because they foraged for food, and could have passed the lead on to the chick, they said. 

The father of the chick that died earlier this month is missing and presumed dead. That bird was found dead on a ledge on Oct. 4. 

That chick’s hatching was considered a milestone in the condor breeding program.

SAN FRANCISCO — If you’ve got some unwanted World Series tickets, why unload them for just a few thousand bucks? 

Some ticketholders are offering trades for a Mercedes, a job offer, or even a supply of healthy sperm. 

Or maybe you need tickets? 

Demand is intense, so you’d better offer something good to compete with these deals: a week at a Caribbean beach house, 50 hours of professional massage, or the services of “a very experienced, skilled defense attorney.” 

Every World Series generates a frenzy for seats. What makes the Giants-Angels affair unusual is that, thanks to the Internet, scalping has gone from straightforward price-gouging to a bizarre public swap meet. 

Street hustlers will still be at the games, offering outrageous prices. But for real jawdroppers, check out Craigslist, an online bulletin board based in San Francisco. 

It’s the Internet, so not everything is what it seems. Still, postings reflect a sellers-market delirium. 

At face value, the best tickets at both Pacific Bell Park and Edison Field are worth $175. But most offers in the Los Angeles Times classifieds asked at least $500. 

But the ticketless have offered everything from professional services (wedding videography and new hardwood floors are among the legal ones) to earthly possessions (plane tickets, wine, gourmet meals) to dates (“WILL DO ANYTHING ... I MEAN ANYTHING TO GO.”) 

One even offered a healthy kidney, as long as the ticket holder paid surgical costs. 

Jennifer Murnin, 37, a massage therapist from Sonoma County, was hoping some stressed fan would trade two tickets for 50 hours of rubdowns — a $2,500 value. 

“There’s more people that need massages today than need a healthy kidney, so I’m optimistic,” she said. By Friday morning, she said she had a few feelers from ticket holders. 

“This is definitely the hottest ticket that we’ve ever experienced,” said Jim Buckmaster, chief executive of Craigslist. 

On the flip side, ticketholders were no less creative. 

“I am currently trying to get pregnant and for reasons that are none of your business,” wrote one woman, is willing to give up upper-deck seats for healthy sperm — a donation that would “positively NOT be made the ’old-fashioned way.”

Twelve of Berkeley’s 16 public schools scored higher on the state’s Academic Performance Index (API) standardized testing system last year than they did the previous year, according to California Department of Education data released Thursday. But only four schools, or 25 percent, met growth targets laid out by the state. 

By contrast, nearly 70 percent of schools across the state improved their API results and 53 percent met growth targets. 

The four Berkeley schools that met growth targets were Emerson Elementary, LeConte Elementary, Oxford Elementary and Berkeley Arts Magnet Elementary. 

Three of the four would be eligible for state financial rewards in a normal year but this year the state legislature, faced with a $24 billion budget shortfall, cut funding for the awards program. 

The schools that did not meet targets face no immediate state sanctions, but some schools may face federal sanctions. (See adjacent story.) 

The number of Berkeley schools reaching growth targets – for the overall school as well as for racial subgroups and the economically-disadvantaged – has steadily declined since 2000, when the API growth measures first went into effect. 

In 2000, 12 of 15 Berkeley schools met targets. In 2001, 5 of 16 hit the mark. The decline matches a statewide drop-off and Berkeley Board of Education member Ted Schultz said he was not surprised by the latest results. 

“Early on, a lot of schools were making their targets more easily because the obvious stuff was put in place,” he said. “It’s not surprising that there’s not as much improvement as in previous years.” 

The API combines results from a nationwide test, the SAT-9, and the California Standards Test in English Language Arts, tailored to California-specific curriculum standards. New tests, like the California High School Exit Exam, will be added to the API next year. 

Each school receives a score ranging from 200 to 1,000, with a statewide goal of 800. Each year, to reach its growth target, a school must increase its API score for the whole school, the economically-disadvantaged and any numerically-significant racial subgroups. 

Specifically, a school as a whole must improve its score by 5 percent of the difference between its previous API and the state target of 800. The racial and economically-disadvantaged subgroups must improve scores by at least 80 percent of the overall goal for a school. 

Eight Berkeley schools, including Berkeley High School and the now-defunct City of Franklin Elementary, improved their API scores but did not make all their targets. 

Four schools – Cragmont Elementary, Malcolm X Elementary, Longfellow Middle School and Willard Middle School – saw their API scores dip. 

Emerson Elementary is the only Berkeley school that has reached the statewide goal of an 800 score. Statewide, 20 percent of schools scored at 800 or higher last year. 

To the Editor: 

College Avenue is a great place to take an autumn walk. The restaurants are bustling, yellow leaves collect on the ground, and pumpkins peek out from storefronts. Midst all of this, drivers idle their cars in traffic while people old and young sit helplessly on benches, waiting for mythical AC Transit buses to appear. 

I believe there are several factors contributing to the traffic mess on College Avenue. First, AC Transit bus service is abysmal. The socially-conscious bus rider is rewarded by buses that arrive 15 or 20 minutes late. The line 51 buses are usually crowded and are very often so full that they cannot accept any more riders. Plus, buses get stuck in the same traffic as cars. Is it any wonder that so many people are saying no to public transit and choosing to drive in cars that are always ready to go and never crowded? 

Another factor contributing to congestion is driver-be-damned traffic engineering. Many good alternate routes around the College Avenue mess have been blocked by the city of Berkeley, so these streets sit empty while College chokes with pollution from idling engines. The city should recognize that cars are, unfortunately, a necessity for most Berkeley residents. Blocking off side streets creates some quiet for a few lucky and politically-active residents at the expense of everyone's ability to breathe cleaner air, travel more quickly, and use public streets paid for with public taxes. 

The city should also install turn lanes on College Avenue at Ashby Avenue. Traffic backs up there for blocks while frustrated motorists dodge and weave around cars trying to turn left. The installation of turn lanes would greatly reduce this problem. 

Some people argue that the solution to traffic problems in Berkeley is to curtail development. This is a hollow “not in my backyard” position that ignores the reality of outrageous rents caused by a severe market shortage of apartments and homes. The only winners in the no-development game are landlords and those lucky enough to already own a home. Everyone else loses. 

We do not have to take traffic congestion, pollution and astronomical rents for granted. The solution to these problems, on College Avenue and elsewhere, is to improve public transit and traffic management while aggressively promoting development of transit-oriented housing. 

Frank Gebauer 

Student, Boalt Hall School of Law 

UC Berkeley

Surfers all have a common bond: the love of waves. But for pro-surfer-turned-musician Jack Johnson and many of the people that have stepped into his life, the bonds go beyond that. 

“I could trace everything back to surfing, all the nice things that have happened,” Johnson said. 

His chance meetings with fellow surfers have blossomed into great success beyond the beach in an arena that was once foreign to Johnson – music. For the singer and guitarist, who is the highly anticipated act at the Greek Theatre tonight and Sunday, misfortune became fortune. When a surfing accident landed him into the hospital, a friend bought him a guitar and he discovered that he was a lot better at playing the instrument than he had ever imagined. With the support of colleagues, his musical career took form. 

Johnson started out in entertainment as a filmmaker. While he was making his feature “Thicker Than Water,” he would play the guitar for his friends during his downtime. He blew them away with his catchy songs and skilled guitar playing. One of those friends, Emmett Malloy, later became his manager. 

“I wanted to make sure this got dealt with properly so I took it upon myself. He’s a real fragile guy – if it’s not fun for him, he doesn’t want to be apart of it,” explained Malloy.  

Garrett Dutton of G. Love and Special Sauce, a blues and folk group that will take the stage with Johnson at the Greek, remembers the days when Johnson would jam with him in San Diego, after they surfed together. 

“[Johnson] did a duet with me on my record ‘Rodeo Clowns”, and producers just picked it up. “We were down in San Diego, and then he just blew up,” said Dutton. 

Dutton and Johnson have frequently performed together, well before they made careers of music. 

“I met Jack while we were surfing. We were trying new things,” reminisced Dutton. 

Both frontmen of this weekend’s acts exude guy-next-door facades. But on stage, they radiate charisma, drawing musically from blues and folk greats, but making lyrics and instrumentation their own.  

“As a kid, my mom had me practice my guitar. At 13, I was still good, so I just stuck with it,” Dutton joked. 

Johnson’s jam sessions with surfer friends paid off. Having known Ben Harper’s manager, J. P. Plunier from the beach, their relationship grew inside the studio when Johnson handed him a four-track tape of his music. One thing led to another, and he found himself touring with superstar Harper himself.  

Originally from the tropical islands of Hawaii, Johnson now spends his days in the studio or on the road, conjuring up deliciously unpretentious lyrics against a smooth, acoustic guitar sound. When his latest album “Brushfire Fairytales” hit the stores, it didn’t blow up immediately. But after national airplay, the success of the album soared to the top, selling more than 70,000 copies by the end of 2001. His style has been compared to that of Ben Harper and Willy Porter. In fact Harper is featured playing guitar on Johnson’s hit track “Flake”.  

Everything was new for the musician and manager as they started talking with major labels. They didn’t have experience in the music industry, so they just played it by ear, which ended up being a lot more fun, and lucrative. 

“We’d go into these meetings and neither one of us knew anything about the music industry. We’d just go in and sit there and talk to people. It was all just kind of fun,” said Johnson. 

Die-hard Jack Johnson fans are rather disappointed at the musician’s move towards a more “mainstream sound” in order to appeal to a wider audience, a change noticeable in his progression to Brushfire from earlier albums.  

“I liked his music better when it consisted of simple lyrics that spoke more of the mundane, unnoticed details of life,” said surfer Cindy Yang. “He’s moving away from his style from the days when he had a large independent following in San Diego into a sound that more can relate too. Although I’m disappointed, I still want to see him in concert.” 

Johnson will be performing at sold-out shows this Friday and Sunday. 

“We will play hits people know and try to mix things up. We just played a set with Jack today. Everyone’s playing well,” said Dutton.

Friday, Oct. 18 

“Ballot Issues for the Nov. 15 Election” 

11:45 a.m. luncheon, 12:30 p.m. speaker 

City Commons Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 

A representative from the League of Women Voters will speak. 

526-2925 or 665-9020 

$11.50 or $12.50 luncheon 

$1 speaker only / students free 

Homecoming Rally 

9 p.m. 

Haas Pavilion, UC Berkeley 

Come rally with the Cal band, the dance team, the UC Men’s Octet, and more. 

388-4789 

Saturday, Oct. 19 

Ethics Forum 

6 to 9 p.m. 

Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 

Crew 24 invites all teen youth groups for a pizza potluck and conversation about the ethical decisions we face today. 

525-6058 

Bring a pizza to share. 

Sunday, Oct. 20 

Dog Wash Sunday 

10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Kutz for Mutz  

911 University Ave.  

Get your dog shampooed while helping out rescued dogs. Proceeds benefit Smiley Dog Rescue, a nonprofit dedicated to rescuing abused or abandoned pups. 

(760) 924-3961 

$15-$30 depending on the dog. 

The Buddy Club Season Opener 

1 to 2 p.m 

The Berkeley JCC Theater, 1414 Walnut St. at Rose St. 

Audience participation shows for kids age two through twelve and their parents. 

236-SHOW 

$7 / under 2 yrs. free 

Monday, Oct. 21 

War in Iraq- Why? 

7 p.m. 

2951 Derby St. 

Women for Peace invites you to discuss war in Iraq, with an emphasis on women’s viewpoints. 

526-5094 

Tuesday, Oct. 22 

Brown Bag Career Talk 

12 to 1 p.m. 

YWCA Turning Point Career Center, 2600 Bancroft Way 

Professional organizer Kathy Waddill hosts “Getting Paid to Help Other People Get Organized”. 

848-6370 

$3 

“What is it Like to Be a Robot?” 

8 p.m. 

145 Dwinelle, UC Berkeley 

Tom Sgouros and his robot, Judy, star in a sharp-witted “solo” theater piece in which they discuss stage magic, free will, imagination and other themes in this unique performance. 

www.sgouros.com 

Berkeley Camera Club Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share your prints and slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

525-3565 / www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

Wednesday, Oct. 23 

The Independent Institute 

7 p.m. 

Daniel Ellsberg unveils new book, “Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers.” 

Zellerbach Auditorium, Bancroft Way and Telegraph 

642-9988 

Berkeley Gray Panthers General Meeting 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

What’s what on the November ballot: A rundown of state and local ballot measures. Shirley Dean and Tom Bates will debate. 

548-9696 

Thursday, Oct. 24 

Communication Components Workshop 

State Health Toastmasters Club 

Noon to 1 p.m. 

2151 Berkeley Way 

595-1594 

Free 

“How to Access Health and Medical Information Through the Internet” 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Claremont branch of the Berkeley Public Library, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 

Learn how to effectively use free scientific databases and do health-related research using the Internet. 

Register in advance: 981-6280 

Free 

Friday, Oct. 25 

“The Library: A Community Legacy” 

11:45 a.m. luncheon, 12:30 p.m. speaker 

City Commons Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 

Anna Rabkin will speak. 

526-2925 or 665-9020 

$11.50 or $12.50 luncheon 

$1 speaker only / students free 

Saturday, Oct. 26 

Math Made Fun - math games. 

1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

1 Centennial Dr. - Lawrence Hall of Science  

Free with museum admission. 

Pumpkin Carving  

and Costume Making 

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Berkeley Farmers' Market 

Center Street at  

Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

Free 

Lawrence Hall of Science Family Halloween Party 

6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 

Lawrence Hall of Science 

A Halloween bash with magicians, mad scientists, wizards, and a demonstration of how to make an elephant mask. 

Reserve tickets in advance: 642-5134 

$8-$12 

Gardening With East Bay Native Plants  

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. near Dwight Way 

Hands-on workshop touching on many aspects of “restoration gardening”. 

Reservations required: 548-2220 x233 

$15 Ecology Center members, $25 others, no one turned away for lack of funds. 

Sunday, Oct. 27 

Spirit Day 

11 a.m. and 5 p.m. 

Fourth Street and University Avenue 

Construct altars in a day of reflection. 

Free. 

West Berkeley Arts Festival 

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

University Ave. between 3rd and 4th Streets 

Fun for the whole family, with local and international arts and crafts, the Berkeley Youth Chess league, Technomania Circus, live music and more. 

845-4106 

Wednesday, Oct. 30 

Premiere of “Code 33: Emergency- Clear the Air” 

5 p.m. 

Oakland City Council Chambers, 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland 

A one hour made-for-TV documentary on youth and public relations. Followed by a reception and refreshments. 

887-0152 

Friday, Oct. 18 

Santo Soul, La Familia, and Marimba Pacifica 

8 p.m. 

La Pena, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 

Music, dancing, folkloric presentations, and a raffle. 

548-6914 

$15 

Garnet Rogers 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

Visionary guitarist and songwriter. 

548-1761 

$15.50 / $16.50 

Ian Moore, Sonya Hunter ad Blu Sanders 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-2082 

$6 / 21 and over 

Saturday, Oct. 19 

Charonson 

9:30 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center, 

3105 Shattuck Ave. 

Come get your groove on to this live salsa band. Dance class at 8:15 p.m. 

849-2568 

$12 / $15 with class 

Peter Case 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

Singer-songwriter auteur. 

548-1761 

$15.50 / $16.50 

Casino Royale and DJ California Kid 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-2082 

$8 / 21 and over 

“Please Pay Attention” 

Through Oct. 25 

4 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

Worth Ryder Gallery 

116 Kroeber Hall 

UC Art graduates feature drawings, video, etc. 

DepartmentofArtPractice 

Ceramics - Opening Reception 

Through Nov. 17 

3 to 5 p.m. 

A New Leaf Gallery, 1286 Gilman St. 

525-7621 

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 

“Recent Acquisitions” 

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  

60 Years of Printmaking 

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 Fifth 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 

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. 

The House of Blue Leaves 

Through Oct. 20 

Berkeley Rep's Roda Theater  

2015 Addison St.  

647-2949 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. 

Escape From Happiness 

Through October 20 

Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Berkeley Campus 

UC Berkeley’s department of theater, dance, and performance studies presents this dark comedy. 

www.ticketweb.com or (866) 468-3399 

http://theater.berkeley.edu 

$8-$14 

Friday, Oct. 18 

Storyteller Nancy Schimmel 

Poets, singers, musicians and storytellers are invited. 

7:30 to 10 p.m. 

Fellowship Cafe, 1924 Cedar St. 

540-0898 

$5 to 10 donation 

Sunday, Oct. 20 

Gary Mex Glazner and Thea Hillman 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Poetry reading. 

525-5476 

$2 donation 

Friday, Oct. 18 

Working for the Mouse 

Fantasy about playing at Disneyland. 

8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., 7 p.m. Sun. 

La Val’s Subterranean Theater  

1834 Euclid 

464-4468 

$12 general, $7 students. 

Saturday, Oct. 19 

Magic School Bus Video Festival 

10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. 

1 Centennial Dr. - Lawrence Hall of Science Auditorium 

643-5961 

$8 adults, $6 youth 5-18 & seniors, $4 children 3-4, free for children under 3 

“The Undead and the Living Dead” and Bela Lugosi’s “White Zombie” 

Oct. 24 through Oct. 30 

7:30 / 8:55 p.m. 

Fine Arts Cinema, 2451 Shattuck Ave. 

Double feature. 

848-1143 

$4-$9

Need a motivational speech? Bill Gaebler might be your man. 

With his Berkeley High girls water polo team down 3-0 late in the first quarter against De Anza High on Thursday, Gaebler called a timeout and gathered his team in a corner of the Willard pool. Although what he said wasn’t audible outside the meeting, whatever Gaebler said had an undeniable effect; the Yellowjackets (5-4 overall, 4-3 ACCAL) outscored De Anza 9-4 the rest of the way to claim a 9-7 win in Berkeley’s ACCAL regular season finale. 

“I just reminded the team about what we worked on in practice,” Gaebler said. “When we started to play like we practiced, we got a lot better.” 

Most of the adjustment came on defense, where Gaebler’s girls worked hard to limit the shots of De Anza stars Jenna Casady and Julie Galvan. Although the duo combined to score six of their team’s seven goals, the Jackets pushed Galvan further and further away from the Berkeley goal as the game went on and kept a tight watch on Casady, who is the league’s best scorer from the outside. No De Anza player other than Galvan or Casady scored until there were just 10 seconds left in the game. 

“Casady is probably the best player in the league, so I just told the girls to clamp down on her no matter where she was,” Gaebler said. 

While the De Anza (8-6, 2-4) attack stalled with their two best players blanketed, the Yellowjackets took advantage of their opportunities, converting all three man-up situations into goals and counterattacking well. Junior Carina Degenkolb led the way with five goals, including two power play scores, while Sade Bonilla and Lana Tilley each scored twice. Bonilla also played great defense on Galvan in the hole, and Berkeley goalkeeper Perry Kramer stepped up her game after giving up two soft goals in the first period. 

The turnaround came in the second quarter, as Berkeley scored five straight goals to take a two-goal lead. The Jackets also got a bit of luck, as three De Anza shots hit iron during that stretch. Although Galvan scored with less than a minute left in the half to pull her team within a goal, momentum was clearly on Berkeley’s side. 

The third quarter was quiet, with the teams trading goals before Galvan was ejected for an intentional foul. Bonilla scored on the ensuing power play, and the Dons never got within a goal again. 

Berkeley will likely head into the ACCAL tournament in two weeks as the No. 4 seed, with De Anza or Alameda its likely first-round opponent. Gaebler considers the tournament to be wide open, with six of the eight teams having a legitimate shot at the title.

Berkeley school officials are concerned that Rosa Parks Elementary School, despite substantial improvements in its Academic Performance Index (API) scores, could face a major shake-up next year under President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” legislation signed in January. 

The law requires schools that repeatedly fail to make adequate progress on standardized tests to undergo significant reforms, such as a replacement of large sections of the school’s staff or appointment of an outside expert to advise the school on its progress. 

Rosa Parks far exceeded a state target for API improvement last year, and met goals for all numerically-significant racial subgroups at the school. But in order to officially meet state API growth goals, a school must improve as a whole, among racial subgroups and among economically-disadvantaged students. Rosa Parks fell one point short of meeting its target in the economically-disadvantaged category. 

Rosa Parks administrators could not be reached for comment. But board of education member Terry Doran said it would be unfair to require a major overhaul at Rosa Parks because of one point. 

“It feeds my criticism of the whole testing mania in the state,” he said. “I don’t think it adequately interprets the successes we do have in our schools.” 

But state officials suggested there could be some wiggle room for Rosa Parks and the school may be able to avoid significant change. 

The “No Child Left Behind” law requires weighty reform for any schools that fail to make “adequate yearly progress” on standardized tests several years in a row. The severity of the reform mounts with each passing year. 

The California Department of Education has used API growth target figures, like those released Thursday, to determine “adequate yearly progress” up until now. Under that system, Rosa Parks would apparently face a significant overhaul. 

But California Department of Education officials said they might adjust the way they look at API and measure “adequate” progress in the coming months. A decision is expected in January. 

Furthermore, individual schools have a right to appeal individual test scores. Berkeley’s Associate Superintendent of Educational Services Chris Lim said the school district might pursue the appeal route. 

But if the current system holds, the Berkeley Unified School District would have to impose one of six reforms on Rosa Parks next year. The options include replacing large sections of school staff, putting a new curriculum in place, decreasing the principal’s authority, appointing an outside expert to advise the school on its progress, extending the school year or school day or restructuring the school’s internal organization. 

If Rosa Parks fails to meet growth targets again on the next round of tests, reform options include reopening as a charter school and state takeover. 

Contact reporter at scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

The Attorney General set aside guidelines that restrict the FBI's surveillance of religious and political organizations in the United States. Critics from all points on the political spectrum are concerned that this action, taken without consultation with Congress or civil liberties organizations, is severely flawed.  

This is a critical concern. Please understand, this is a threat to our civil liberties. This is specifically targeted against Arab Americans and Muslims, regardless of citizenship status. Our meetings, electronic communications, personal data, religious services, social gatherings and databases are now fair targets for investigation. 

My question is: Where are our civil Liberties going to be five years from now? 

Sam Matar 

Fremont

NEW YORK — If “The West Wing” were the real White House, glum-faced presidential operatives would be obsessing over worrisome poll numbers. 

The Emmy-winning political drama’s decline in popularity is the most puzzling and dramatic example among a handful of established NBC programs that have suffered sluggish starts this television season. 

“The West Wing” ratings are down 23 percent compared to the first three episodes last year, according to Nielsen Media Research. “ER” is down 15 percent. After a fast start with Niles and Daphne’s wedding, “Frasier” has sunk. “Providence” is off 19 percent. 

“A network always needs to be concerned about the health of their returning series, simply because they are the pillars of their schedule,” said Stacey Lynn Koerner, a television analyst for Initiative Media. “It’s a lot easier to replace a new show that is not living up to expectations.” 

ABC is still trying to recover from a ratings free fall after established hits like “The Drew Carey Show” and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” swiftly lost favor last fall. 

No one suggests such a dire forecast for NBC, since it’s a solid No. 2 to CBS so far this season and No. 1 in the 18-to-49-year-old age demographic it is most concerned about. 

But the numbers have been noticed. 

“Everyone is trying to write the ‘NBC cracks’ story, but we’re in a different universe. We’re happy,” said NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker on Wednesday. “There’s no question that ‘The West Wing’ is off to a slow start and ‘Frasier’ is down. Beyond that, we’re thrilled.” 

NBC is particularly pleased with its performance on Sunday nights with the new “American Dreams” and on Monday nights with “Fear Factor,” he said. And Zucker noted that “ER,” which was seen by 24.7 million viewers last week, has been able to stay among TV’s top shows despite cast defections, including Anthony Edwards at the end of last season. 

“‘ER’ is probably our biggest success story of the season,” he said. 

Theories about “The West Wing” abound: viewer exhaustion with politics, critics who say its quality has slipped. NBC is facing tougher competition in the time slot, particularly for young viewers, with ABC’s “The Bachelor” and the WB’s “Birds of Prey.” 

Even though “The West Wing” hit Nielsen’s top 10 last week, “The Bachelor” won among viewers age 18 to 49. 

“Given the tremendous competition for young adults in that hour, this is probably a realistic place for the show to be,” Zucker said. 

Ironically, the show’s slow start may end up helping NBC financially: NBC and the show’s producer, Warner Bros. Television, need to reach a new agreement to extend the show beyond this season. 

Some of the other NBC shows are showing their age. “Frasier” is in its 10th season and “ER” is in its ninth. “Providence,” which was on the fence for renewal before this season, began in January 1999. 

The age-defying “Law & Order” franchise is becoming a bigger part of NBC’s success, said analyst Marc Berman of Media Week Online.

One of Cal head coach Jeff Tedford’s main contributions to the Golden Bear defense was to insist on more help from his safeties in the passing game. But that ideal may be thrown out the window Saturday against UCLA. 

After surrendering 176 yards to USC tailback Sultan McCullough and with the sometimes-smashmouth UCLA Bruins up this weekend, Tedford will likely ask defensive coordinator Bob Gregory to sneak at least one safety near the line of scrimmage, or “in the box,” for the majority of the game. UCLA is averaging 161 yards per game on the ground, second in the Pac-10, and has a trio of talented tailbacks that can carry the ball. The breakout star thus far has been freshman Tyler Ebell, who has rushed for 322 yards in UCLA’s last two games, but backups Akil Harris and Manuel White are also capable of breaking big plays. 

Even in the pass-happy Pac-10, the running game is still a top priority for most teams. 

“Every game our emphasis is on stopping the run,” Cal linebacker Paul Ugenti said. “We want to force teams to pass on us to make yardage.” 

Of course, UCLA also has some talented receivers who are capable of making big plays as well. Moving a safety out of the coverage scheme will leave Cal’s cornerback’s in one-on-one situations against wideouts Craig Bragg and Tab Perry, as well as create a seam for tight end Mike Seidman. That trio has combined to catch 11 touchdowns this season. 

If Gregory does indeed put an extra defender in the box against UCLA, Cal’s cornerbacks are confident they handle whatever UCLA throws at them. After all, they were left in similar situations for the past two seasons in former defensive coordinator Lyle Setencich’s aggressive defense. 

“It won’t be much different from what I’m used to,” cornerback James Bethea said. “That’s all I’ve done since I got here.” 

Throwing a monkey wrench into the mix is the absence of backup cornerback Harrison Smith, who is out for the season with a broken shoulder. That leaves only special-teams maven Mike McGrath as a backup, although rover Nnamdi Asomugha has been seeing time on the corner in an attempt to match up with bigger wide receivers. 

But when Asomugha is at cornerback, true freshman Donnie McCleskey steps into the all-important rover spot, and his inexperience and lack of speed could hurt the Bears. It’s a tough call: leave Asomugha at his normal position and hope Bethea and Jemeel Powell can play big, or put in McCleskey and live with freshman mistakes. If Asomugha lines up at rover, it’s more likely Gregory will keep him back in coverage to protect his cornerbacks and hope the Bears front seven can improve on last week’s effort. 

“It’d be nice to know we have more support from the back row, but our main objective is to stop them in the front,” defensive end Tully Banta-Cain said. “Hopefully we can play well enough that we don’t need extra guys to help us.” 

Notes: Tedford said junior wide receiver Chase Lyman may finally be ready to play following a hamstring injury, but Lyman may choose to utilize his redshirt year. With starter Geoff McArthur still affected by a nagging leg injury, Lyman is needed for depth. “I think he’s ready to play, but I can’t force him to get in there,” Tedford said. “I want him to contribute to the team this season, but he doesn’t want to use a year [of eligibility] for just five games.”... Tailback Joe Echema, who was the top runner in spring camp, is on the comeback from a severe knee injury suffered in the fall. Echema had set Saturday’s game as a target return date, but likely won’t play at all this season... Tedford had an hour-long conversation with a Pac-10 official concerning the officiating at last weekend’s loss to USC. USC wide receiver Kareem Kelly was credited with a touchdown catch that was clearly a blown call, and there were several other plays Tedford felt were blown... Cal quarterback Kyle Boller will set a school record with his next touchdown pass. Boller is tied with Pat Barnes with 54.

With November election battles heating up, the five candidates for Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization Board may be the most confident politicians in town. 

For the second consecutive election, Berkeley landlords have opted not to oppose the pro-tenant slate for five open rent board seats. Landlords have conceded the races since, to their liking, state legislation tempered city rent control laws. 

The rent board, which consists of nine elected commissioners and a handful of full-time staff, was constituted in 1980 to govern Berkeley’s rent control laws. The commissioners decide the annual rent increases for controlled units, determine if landlords are entitled to rent increases if they make property improvements and act as an appeals court in landlord-tenant disputes. 

Although pro-tenant candidates – selected at a progressive nominating convention in April – are assured victory, they say they have campaigned hard. 

“It’s important that people know there is still rent control in Berkeley and that tenants still have protections,” said Selma Spector, who is the only incumbent running for re-election. 

Joining Spector on the pro-tenant ticket are: Howard Chong, a recent UC Berkeley graduate who was appointed to the rent board last May to replace an outgoing member; Chris Kavenaugh, a former Green Party candidate for the 8th District City Council seat; Bob Evans, a tenant’s rights attorney; and Pinkie Payne, a Housing Authority Commissioner representing residents of federally-subsidized housing. 

Front and center on all the candidates agendas is how to weaken the Costa-Hawkins Act, passed by the state legislature in 1995, ending rent control on vacant units, single family dwellings and all units built after 1995. Rent control continues on occupied dwellings, for which the rent board sets annual rent increases. 

Since Costa-Hawkins was fully implemented in late 1998, more than 50 percent of Berkeley rental units have been raised to market rents, according to Spector. The average price of a one-bedroom apartment has jumped from $763 in 1998 to $1,202 this July, according Cal Rentals which tracks rental prices paid by UC Berkeley students. 

Although the law is now seven years old, Costa-Hawkins continues to dominate Berkeley housing politics and figures prominently in November’s election. 

Robert Cabrera of the Berkeley Property Owners Association insists Costa-Hawkins has been a boon for Berkeley. He noted that since developers and landlords can now get market rents for new and vacant apartments, they have incentive to put new units on the market and make repairs to older units, which he says has reduced the city’s housing shortage. 

But rent board candidates say Costa-Hawkins has given some landlords the incentive to unfairly evict current tenants so they can turn around and charge higher, market rates to new tenants. 

Spector said she has seen a sharp increase in cases in which landlords have pretended they needed to move in to an occupied apartment or prevented tenants from replacing a roommate to force tenants to vacate the unit so the landlord can rent it at market rates. 

To combat these perceived abuses, the rent board has expanded its traditional functions and started programs aimed at making evictions more difficult and informing tenants of their rights. For instance, the rent board recently passed a rule that any roommate added within 30 days after the signing of a lease must be placed on the lease. The board also instituted a program, which was later dropped, to provide free legal representation to tenants. 

Landlords, though, say these programs and rent board judicial decisions have been blatantly pro-tenant and have undermined the credibility of the board.  

But Commissioner Howard Chong said the rent board has merely been fulfilling it’s duty to tenants. 

“The rent ordinance is pro-tenant, so our job is to provide tenant protections,” he said. 

He and his fellow candidates all want to expand pro-tenant programs. 

Pinkie Payne said she wants the rent board to broaden its outreach to non-English speaking tenants who, she said, are more vulnerable to evictions. “If they know their rights then they can fight,” she said last spring. 

Spector wants the rent board to beef up its monitoring of evictions in which the landlord says he’s moving in but doesn’t. She says often the landlord or a family member will pretend to move in to the unit, only to quickly rent it again at market rate.  

Chong said he wanted to improve the hearing process so tenants know what to expect when they argue their cases before a hearing examiner.  

Evans and Kavenaugh offered more ambitious plans. 

Evans said he wanted the rent board to prohibit rent increases when landlords have already used Costa–Hawkins to increase rents above the city average. 

Kavenaugh said he wanted to ally the Berkeley rent board with other municipal rent boards to lobby for the repeal of Costa–Hawkins. Spector said she agreed with the plan, but noted it would take years before a successful campaign could be mounted. 

Cabrera said he feared the next rent board would continue to unfairly discriminate against property owners. “The fox is still in charge of the chicken coup,” he said. “I don’t see any fairness on the horizon.”

To the Editor: 

As you know, the city of Berkeley allows for proponents and opponents of ballot measures to write arguments for and against ballot measures. The city then sends these arguments to all registered voters. 

As the authors of the rebuttal to my argument in favor of Measure O, which requires Berkeley retailers to sell only organic, shade-grown and Fair Trade coffee, you wrote “By stating that all non-certified coffee is produced under exploitative conditions, the proponent [of Measure O] is attempting to mislead voters.” 

One small problem: I have never stated that all non-certified coffee is produced under exploitative conditions. What I have said is that without certification, consumers have no idea how their coffee was produced, and it may very well have been produced under exploitative conditions.  

I deeply resent your comment that I am trying to mislead voters, and I am outraged that such a comment will be sent to every registered voter in Berkeley. As an attorney, I particularly value my reputation for honesty. I demand a public apology for your outrageous comments. 

Rick Young 

Berkeley 

Friday 

Women’s Soccer - Cal vs. Oregon, 3:30 p.m. at Edwards Stadium 

Football - Berkeley vs. Hercules, 7 p.m. at Hercules High 

Saturday 

Football - St. Mary’s vs. Kennedy, 1:30 p.m. at St. Mary’s High 

Football - Cal vs. UCLA, 4 p.m. at Memorial Stadium 

Sunday 

Women’s Soccer - Cal vs. Oregon State, 1 p.m. at Edwards Stadium

Mayor Shirley Dean and challenger Tom Bates traded jabs over Dean’s student appointments to city commissions and Bates’ 1988 role in temporarily blocking construction of UC Berkeley’s Foothill Residence Hall during a sharply-worded campus debate Wednesday night. 

Dean criticized Bates, then a state Assemblyman, for using his state vehicle in March 1988 to block construction of the Foothill facility on Hearst Avenue, which currently houses 800 students. 

Dean said Bates caved to neighborhood opposition to the project instead of recognizing the urgent need for student housing. 

“Sometimes you have to stand up and say, ‘we’re going to build this housing,’” Dean said. 

But Bates said he temporarily blocked construction because the university had failed to consult the city on its plans, not because he opposed the project.  

“I support and always have supported Foothill housing,” he said. 

Bates argued that his actions forced the university to come to the table and work more cooperatively with the city. But Dean countered that the city and university were already working together on the Foothill project when Bates blocked construction. 

Both candidates told the student audience that they would push the university to build more housing close to campus if elected. 

Bates claimed that Dean has appointed only 25 students to city commissions over the course of some 20 years in city government and pledged that, as mayor, he would appoint enough students to match the student population in the city.  

Dean, who has served as a City Council member and mayor, countered that the 25 appointments came while she was mayor.  

After the debate, Dean claimed that she appointed more students while serving as a City Council member in the 70s’, 80s’ and early-90s’, but said she has not totaled up the figures. The Daily Planet could not confirm the appointees by press time. 

The two candidates also clashed on rent control, with Dean calling for an income test that would disqualify new, wealthy tenants. 

“We’re not going to subsidize people who are wealthy,” she said. 

Bates said rent control is vital in the face of “skyrocketing” rents and called for more legal defense funding for tenants facing eviction. 

Both candidates supported student calls for allowing businesses south of campus to stay open later. 

Contact reporter at scharfenberg@berkeleydailyplanet.net

To the Editor: 

A generation of time has elapsed since the California state constitution was amended by the notorious Proposition 13, which cut and capped property taxes with attendant damage to vital social services. The children of those who voted for Proposition 13 are now grown and paying the price. 

The public schools they attended were, and are, starved for funds. Exorbitant property taxes on current home buyers compensate for the largesse extended to large corporations and old-time homeowners. Consequently, they are taxed essentially the same amount as they were 25 years ago. 

Why don’t some of the young liberal activists join together to place a repeal of Proposition 13 on the ballot?  

There surely should be enough votes for its defeat from those born too late to benefit. Law students give time to the legal problems of the poor and elderly. Is there a law against those students helping themselves and their peers? 

Judith Segard Hunt 

Berkeley

The city continued its legal fight for its living wage law last week when it filed a defense to an appeal by Marina restaurant Skates by the Bay. 

Skates, which leases city-owned property and is thus compelled by city ordinance to pay employees at least $11.37 an hour, is fighting the living wage law, claiming it violates a 34-year-old lease agreement. 

The city won the first round of legal fighting in March 2001, when a U.S. District Court upheld the ordinance. But Skates, owned by parent company Restaurants Unlimited, filed an appeal in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, prolonging the court battle. 

The appeals court decision is not expected for another year, but the city reserves the right to take independent action, including revoking the restaurant’s lease. 

City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque refused to comment on what action the city might take. However she said the city has so far refused a request by Skates to keep its lease until the appeals court weighs in. 

Skates said in its request that it would honor the living wage law if it loses in court and would pay backpay to workers. Skates has maintained a bank account, which holds the difference between its employees’ actual wages and the living wage. 

Although City Council discussed the matter in closed chambers last week and would not disclose its course of action, Councilmember Kriss Worthington said the council remains unanimously in favor of moving forward to ensure compliance. 

The city’s living wage ordinance was passed in June 2000 in an effort to help low-wage employees afford the area’s high cost of living. The law originally only pertained to businesses with city contracts, but in September 2000 the city amended the law to include private businesses on city-owned property in the Marina that employ more than six people and generate more than $350,000 a year. 

Zack Wasserman, of Wendell, Rosen & Black LLP which represents the restaurant, says that the ordinance has created an unfair burden on businesses in the Marina, and should not apply to Skates because its 50-year lease still has 16 years remaining. 

But Andy Kahn, of Davis Cowells & Bowe, the law firm representing Local 2850 Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union, doubted Skates’ appeal had merit. 

“They treat the lease as some sort of halo to protect them from city regulation,” he said, explaining that, by Skates’ reasoning, the restaurant would be immune to new environmental and safety laws as well. 

Other Marina businesses such as Hs Lordship’s and the Radisson Hotel are not affected by the ordinance, because they have unionized labor. 

Worthington was optimistic. He said that facing pressure, Skates would ultimately comply with Berkeley rules. 

Contact reporter at 

matt@berkeleydailyplanet.net 

By Judith Scherr 

Special to the Daily Planet 

It was a time to sing, to weep, to laugh and to remember. 

Most of all, the “homegoing” service for Bishop Roy Nichols was a time to celebrate the life of a man known for at least two monumental firsts: Nichols was the first African American bishop in the United Methodist Church and he was Berkeley’s first African American school board member. 

Nichols died Oct. 9 from a stroke at 84. Services were held Thursday at Downs Memorial United Methodist Church in Oakland. 

Born in 1918 in Hurlock, Md., Nichols graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and came to Berkeley in 1941, where he attended the Pacific School of Religion and earned a Divinity Degree. He became the founding pastor of the South Berkeley Community Church in 1943, a racially integrated church with white and black co-pastors. He married podiatrist Dr. Ruth Richardson in 1944. A few years later, he became founding minister at Downs Memorial United Methodist Church, a racially integrated church. 

Nichols became a force in Berkeley politics in the late 1950s. While segregation was not the law, as in the South, it dominated the then-conservative, mostly Republican city.  

As president of the NAACP, Nichols persuaded the Berkeley Board of Education to study segregation in the schools. A report, issued in 1959, pointed to the need for counseling for black students, hiring black teachers, teaching black history and other measures seeking to end discriminatory policies. 

That year Nichols lost a bid for City Council, but in 1961, won a seat as the first African American on the school board.  

“He ran for the Berkeley board of education to make a difference in the lives of children,” said Dr. Ruth Love, former schools superintendent in Chicago and former educator in the Oakland public schools. Hundreds listened at the Downs Memorial sanctuary and in adjacent rooms watching the services on closed-circuit television. 

On the school board, Nichols worked for a school desegregation plan, eventually implemented, where Burbank Junior High, now Berkeley’s adult school, became an integrated ninth grade school and the three junior high schools were racially balanced. 

Nichols, however, moved on before the realization of that plan. He became pastor at Salem United Methodist Church in Harlem, N.Y. The new post did not take him away from the burden of fighting segregation.  

“The Methodist Church had a segregated system,” Rev William James said. 

Nichols “started fighting the segregated church.” 

A key part of that fight, in 1968 Nichols got the church to approve the creation of a Commission on Religion and Race. Even some blacks feared that a desegregated church was not the answer and that African Americans would not be given leadership roles in a united church, James said.  

They were wrong. In 1968, Nichols was appointed bishop in the newly formed United Methodist Church. He served as Bishop of the Pittsburgh area for 12 years and served as bishop in New York until his retirement in 1984, after which he continued to preach and lecture in the San Francisco Bay Area. After a stroke in 1999, Nichols and his wife moved to San Jose. 

Warren and Mary Lee Widener were among the friends attending the service Thursday. Warren Widener, a former county supervisor and former mayor of Berkeley said he and his wife met Nichols in 1959, when they came to the Downs Memorial Church and took on the task of youth advisors. Their friendship continued over almost half a century. 

“He was a pastor in the old fashioned sense,” said Mary Lee Widener. “He understood human needs. He was clearly a leader and a developer of leaders. He counseled you, supported you, loved you through it all.” 

Nichols is survived by his wife, Dr. Ruth Nichols, children, Melisande Schwartzfarb of New York, Allegra Lewis of San Jose and Nathan Nichols of Washington, D.C. and five grandchildren.

n Carjacked car stopped 

Drug task force officers searched a car Tuesday evening, whose driver had illegally stopped in the intersection of 67th and Sacramento streets to talk to a passing cyclist. According to police, the search revealed that the car, a teal 1990 Honda Accord, had been reported carjacked in Sacramento. Police arrested Latisha Logwood, 19, and Nakisha Harevy, 19, for possession of a stolen car. It is not known if the women are responsible for the carjacking. 

n Egging continues 

A family on the 500 block of Woodmont Avenue reported that their house and car were egged just prior to 11:35 p.m. Sunday. According to police, this is the latest in a rash of eggings in the Berkeley hills. A teenage girl who lives in the home and attends Albany High School said that egging is a tradition during homecoming week. 

SAN FRANCISCO — The feud over Barry Bonds’ historic 73rd home run ball has gone to court, starting a flurry of arguments from both sides about what it means to be a spectator to the great American pastime and whether scuffling over baseballs hit into the stands is just the name of the game. 

The debacle started last year when Alex Popov, 38, sued Patrick Hayashi, 37, after Bonds homered on Oct. 7, 2001 to finish the season with 73 home runs. Popov claims he caught the ball but then lost it after he was swarmed by fans at Pacific Bell Park. Hayashi came up with it and was whisked away by security. 

“This is about America’s pastime and the dream of catching a ball, his dream turned into a nightmare,” Martin Triano, Popov’s lawyer, said Thursday in opening statements in San Francisco Superior Court. 

Triano said Popov’s dream was ruined when, after he caught Bond’s ball, he was knocked over and attacked by San Francisco Giants’ fans, including Hayashi, trying to get the ball. 

Hayashi’s lawyer, Michael Lee, said his client never attacked anyone and that scrambling over home run balls is just part of professional baseball’s “fan culture,” which states that a home run ball is fair game until someone has complete control of it. 

“When Hayashi reached out and grasped the loose home run ball ... it was entirely fair game,” Lee said. “Now Alex Popov wants to change the rules. He now criticizes the fan culture that he was once a part of.”

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco Giants made baseball history Wednesday as fans flooded phone lines and the Internet frantically purchasing available tickets in under an hour. 

Now on record books as the busiest hour in the history of Major League Baseball's Web site, MLB.com, the 14,000 individual tickets for World Series games 3, 4, and 5 at Pacific Bell Park were met by a monstrous demand. 

According to Shana Daum, San Francisco Giants public affairs director, the web page Wednesday experienced one million hits per minute when tickets were posted – a significant traffic increase when compared to its normal 100,000 hits a minute.  

“The interest more than outweighed the supply,'” Daum said. “Fans were understandably frustrated but the demand was just too great.” 

While Daum sympathizes with disappointed fans, she noted that you don't need to be a ticket holder to celebrate postseason longevity. 

“We want everyone to be a part of the experience. Through pre-game rallies in the city and at the park, we have established a number of avenues for the community to appreciate Giants baseball,” Daum said. 

The World Series gets under way in Anaheim Saturday at 4:30 p.m. with game 2 the following day. The Giants will host games 3 and 4 on Oct. 22 and 23. If necessary, a fifth game in San Francisco is scheduled for October 24.

OAKLAND – A leader in Oakland's Nation of Islam community pleaded innocent Thursday in Alameda County Superior Court to a charge that he molested a 13-year-old girl 20 years ago. 

Yusef Bey, 66, entered the plea before Judge Allan D. Hymer in Oakland, according to Bey's attorney, Andrew Dosa of Alameda. Bey is now scheduled to return to court Nov. 14 for the setting of a pre-trial conference date. 

A complaint filed Sept. 18 charges Bey with one felony count of committing a lewd act on a child under 14 in September 1981.

NEWARK — Police have arrested four men after finding a body they believe is that of a missing 17-year-old Newark boy who lived as a girl. 

Police found the body Wednesday in a shallow grave in El Dorado County after being directed to the spot by a suspect a day earlier. They were withholding the boy’s name pending identification of the body. 

The boy had been missing for two weeks. He attended a party in Newark on Oct. 3 where a witness saw him get into a heated argument and physical fight, police said. 

The teenager, who attended Newark Continuation School, had chosen to dress like a girl “for some time,” according to Newark police Lt. Tom Milner. 

“We don’t know if that’s the prime factor in the altercation or if there were other factors involved such as revenge,” he said. “These things are all definitely in play.” 

Michael William Magidson, 27, Jaron Chase Nabors, 19, Paul Richard Merel Jr., 25, and Jose Antonio Merel, 24, were arrested Wednesday and were each being held on suspicion of homicide.

Community to receive funds for public transportation study 

OAKLAND — Community groups will receive $100,000 to help increase the chances for people to tell planning agencies what they would like to see in public transportation. 

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission wrote the check to The San Francisco Foundation this week. It plans to award the money in grant form to various groups throughout the San Francisco Bay area to increase community involvement. 

The check comes as part of the civil penalty phase of a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco against the commission in February 2001. The suit claimed the commission was not complying with the Bay Area Air Quality Plan, adopted in 1982. 

The plan was designed to bring the Bay Area into compliance with federal clean air standards by increasing ridership on public transportation. It called for a 15 percent increase over 1983 transit ridership. The suit claimed that although there has been a 30 percent population increase, ridership has stayed the same. 

U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson required the commission to comply with the act by 2006. 

Pacifica woman jailed for 

phony bomb threats 

REDWOOD CITY – A Pacifica woman accused of calling in phony bomb threats to the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco federal building last week is being held in a San Mateo County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail. 

Authorities say Anita Hanson, 44, was allegedly “very drunk” when she called 911 claiming that bombs had been placed at the two locations late Thursday night and early Friday morning. 

Several law enforcement agencies responded to both locations to investigate and discovered the threats were unfounded. The California Highway Patrol traced the calls to Hanson's cell phone and sent Pacifica police to arrest her. 

Hanson pleaded innocent Tuesday to three counts of making terrorist threats and two counts of falsely reporting the planting of a bomb.  

She returns to court for a preliminary hearing on the charges on Oct. 29. 

Back to school for 

drunk driving suspect 

SAN JOSE — For the second time in less than a year, a Campbell woman faced a judge on drunken driving charges — but this time she agreed to have her trial set in a high school cafeteria. 

On Wednesday, hundreds of students at Branham High School listened with a jury to the state’s case against Lorain Stanchina, 42. On Aug. 13, she backed into a pickup truck in a Jack in the Box drive-through and drove off when confronted by the driver. 

Car accidents are the leading cause of death among 15-to 19-year-olds, with alcohol being the primary factor, according to Paul Gratz, director of the Traffic Safe Communities Network, which coordinates the trial-at-school program. 

Santa Clara County is the only county in the state to host DUI trials at high schools. Branham is the fifth county high school to participate in the program the county hopes to expand.

San Francisco rents 

continue to fall 

SAN FRANCISCO — Summertime apartment rents remained stable in most major Western markets except California, where prices at the two ends of the state continued to shift in distinctly different directions, according to a report to be released Thursday. 

The Los Angeles and San Diego markets emerged as the hottest rental market in a quarterly survey covering nine Western states while rents in parts of the San Francisco Bay area market slumped to their lowest levels in three years. 

Outside California, rents in most Western markets changed by 1 percent or less from the same time last year, according to RealFacts, the Novato-based research firm that surveyed apartment complexes. 

As of Sept. 30, the average rent in Los Angeles stood at $1,295 and the average rent in the San Diego metropolitan area was $1,137, according to RealFacts. Both those figures represented an annual rent increase of nearly 6 percent. 

In the San Francisco metropolitan market, the average third-quarter rent was $1,632, a 12.8 percent decrease that rolled back prices to mid-1999 levels, RealFacts said. 

The San Francisco market’s seventh consecutive quarter of rent declines reflects a steep slide in the high-tech market that has dried up incomes and demand. 

Defense worker hoarding 

explosives at his home 

AROMAS — A U.S. Department of Defense worker who handles explosives at Fort Ord was accused of hoarding them at his Aromas home, a law enforcement official said. 

Authorities said Wednesday they found a cache of explosive materials Oct. 6 in sheds outside the home of Jeffrey Dean Trebler, 38, said San Benito County sheriff’s Sgt. Wes Walker. 

Deputies found the material after responding to the home on a domestic violence call.At the time, Trebler’s wife alerted them to the explosives, Walker said. 

Some of the items included rocket-launcher tubes, flash and smoke grenades and detonating cord, he said. 

“It was not a danger to the public unless improperly handled,” Walker said. “It was safely stored in the out buildings.” 

Walker said there’s no sign Trebler had plans to use what he’d collected. 

Trebler was placed on administrative leave at Fort Ord. 

He told investigators his job was to accept explosives from members of the public and then destroy them, Walker said. 

“The things he found interesting, he just took home rather than destroy,” Walker said. 

Trebler was booked for investigation of spousal abuse and was released on bail. He was not charged with explosives violations, but deputies passed what they found on to the San Benito County District Attorney’s Office. 

Reporter threatened in Los Angeles 

LOS ANGELES — A man was arrested and charged with threatening a Los Angeles Times reporter working on a story about an alleged Mafia extortion plot against actor Steven Seagal. 

Alexander Proctor, 58, of Los Angeles was arrested Wednesday outside his home. He was charged with interference with commerce by threats of violence, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. Proctor was being held without bail in a downtown federal detention center. 

Authorities said Proctor allegedly broke the car window of Times reporter Anita Busch in June and left a package containing a dead fish with a long-stemmed rose in its mouth. 

A piece of cardboard with the word “STOP” was placed on her car, which was parked near her home, according to a federal grand jury indictment. 

The threats were meant to intimidate Busch in an effort to stop her from reporting the story, prosecutors said. 

“The only word he used was stop,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Saunders, the lead prosecutor. “I think it’s pretty clear.” 

The newspaper published several stories earlier this summer about the arrest of Seagal’s former partner for his alleged role in a multimillion-dollar extortion scheme against the actor by the Gambino crime family. 

The newspaper is “very pleased with the announcement of today’s arrest,” Times spokesman David Garcia said. “The safety of our reporter has always been our greatest concern.”

ONTARIO — The lure of open space and more privacy prompted Muksit Saboor, 57, to relocate five years ago from his modest home not far from the beach to inland San Bernardino County. 

“You have so much space out here, sometimes I go for days without seeing my neighbors, and I love that,” Saboor said. 

Saboor has been part of a migration trend over the past two decades that has seen residents move from Pacific coastal communities to more affordable homes in the Riverside-San Bernardino area. 

The population growth and its concomitant expansion of business has made the area the most sprawling metro region in the country, according to a study released Thursday by Smart Growth America. The group promotes the protection of open space, neighborhood revitalization, affordable housing and more transportation options. 

The next two areas on the list are both in North Carolina: Greensboro-Winston Salem-High Point and Raleigh-Durham. Another southern metropolis — Atlanta — is the hub of the fourth most sprawling area. 

The rankings were based on analysis of federal data for 83 metropolitan areas around the country. 

More sprawling metro areas tend to have higher traffic fatality rates and worse pollution, in large part because of an increased reliance on cars to get to work and do errands, the report said. People drive more miles and mass transit options are often limited. 

“People define sprawl and smart growth in a lot of different ways and we want to bring rigor to the debate,” said Don Chen, Smart Growth’s executive director. “What we hope people will gain is a better understanding of how sprawl affects people’s quality of life.” 

The report ranked areas by population and housing density; the mix of homes, jobs and services; the availability and use of town centers or downtowns; and the street network. 

Saboor, who lives in Upland near the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, said he’s made some sacrifices since he and his wife moved from Culver City. 

“It’s nice living out here, but obviously there are trade-offs,” he said. “I miss the diversity of Los Angeles. It’s hard to find a jazz club or soul food restaurant out here.” 

Stewart Pritikin, 65, of Ontario, has lived in the inland area for 21 years and said not enough has been done to upgrade schools, transportation, utilities and fire and police services to accommodate the growth. 

“This is one of the last few places where you can buy an affordable and attractive new home. People who move here know they will have to make certain sacrifices,” said Pritikin.

LOS ANGELES — Forty alleged members of the Aryan Brotherhood, a white supremacist prison-based gang, have been indicted on racketeering charges stemming from a series of violent crimes that included 16 murders and 16 attempted murders, federal officials announced Thursday. 

Thirty of the defendants are currently serving time in prisons around the country for other offenses. Eight other defendants were arrested Thursday, three in Southern California, while two remain at large, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office. 

The 10-count indictment was handed down Aug. 28 but kept under seal until Thursday. The indictment follows a six-year investigation and alleges that members of the Aryan Brotherhood murdered and committed attempted murder to control drug trafficking, gambling and extortion in the federal and California state prison systems, Mrozek said. 

The gang, which was founded by white inmates in 1964, has a reputation for assaulting or murdering anyone considered a threat to the organization, including those who acted as informants for law enforcement, Mrozek said. 

In addition to the arrests, officials executed 80 search warrants at residences, offices and prison cells in California, Louisiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Colorado, Massachusetts, Florida, Washington, Nebraska, Connecticut and New York.

By David Kravets 

The Associated Press 

SAN FRANCISCO — A former Enron trader accused of masterminding a scheme to drive up energy prices during California’s power crisis pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. 

Timothy Belden, the former head of trading in Enron’s Portland, Ore., office, admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He faces up to five years in prison and must forfeit $2.1 million. 

“I did it because I was trying to maximize profit for Enron,” Belden told U.S. District Judge Martin Jenkins. 

Belden’s plea is the first prosecution of anyone related to the West’s energy crisis. It’s also the first public acknowledgment by the federal government that criminal activity helped drive up power prices, a point California Gov. Gray Davis and other lawmakers have been making since the crisis began two years ago. 

The case represents a remarkable evolution in the Bush administration’s attitude about the energy crisis. In May 2001, Vice President Dick Cheney said California was to blame for power shortages and soaring prices. “They caused it themselves,” Cheney said in an interview with The Associated Press. 

On Thursday, Republican appointees in the Justice Department said unequivocally that criminal conduct by an Enron trader helped drive up prices. 

“These charges answer the question that has long troubled California consumers: whether the energy crisis was spurred in part by criminal activity. The answer is a resounding yes,” U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said. 

Belden promised to cooperate with state and federal prosecutors as well as any non-criminal effort to investigate the energy industry. He remains free on $500,000 bail pending his sentencing next April 17. 

His knowledge should help the government unravel what happened inside other energy trading companies, including Houston-based Enron, the energy giant whose collapse last year has roiled the energy industry, said Matthew Jacobs, the federal prosecutor handling the case. 

Belden’s attorney, Cristina Arguedas, said he was following Enron’s instructions as he handled his trades and will “make amends for that by cooperating with the government and telling the complete truth about Enron’s actions in the California energy trading market.” 

“Tim Belden is not a high-level executive who was lining his pockets out of greed,” Arguedas said. “He did his job. Tim was always honest with others at Enron about his actions, and was never disciplined by Enron. 

Investigators for a state Senate committee looking into the energy market have long considered Belden a key player in Enron’s activities in California. 

Belden was “the mastermind behind the strategies described” in memos that spelled out how Enron manipulated the California market, said Chris Schreiber, an attorney working with California’s Senate Select Committee to Investigate Price Manipulation of the Wholesale Energy Market. 

“He’s been on our radar for a long time,” Schreiber added. 

Belden is the third Enron figure to be prosecuted. 

Andrew Fastow, Enron’s former chief financial officer, is accused of devising the company’s complex web of off-the-books partnerships used to hide some $1 billion in debt from shareholders and federal regulators and is charged with money laundering, fraud and conspiracy. 

A once-trusted Fastow aide, Michael Kopper, pleaded guilty in August to money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. 

For months, federal investigators have worked with a California Senate panel investigating the state’s energy crisis about evidence uncovered in its long-running investigation of market manipulation. A federal grand jury in San Francisco has been weighing criminal charges related to the energy crisis. 

Internal company memos, first released in May, describe how Belden’s trading unit took power out of California at a time of rolling blackouts and shortages and sold it out of state to elude price caps, according to documents obtained by investigators. 

Enron bought California power at cheap, capped prices, routed it outside the state, and then sold it back into California at vastly inflated prices, authorities said. The sham trades were designed to circumvent the California-only price caps on wholesale energy. 

The Enron memos detailing the colorfully named trading schemes “ricochet, “death star,” “Get Shorty” and others, provided prosecutors a road map that led to Belden’s prosecution. 

The complaint against Belden, while omitting those names, describes some of the same practices. In one strategy, Enron created false congestion on California transmission lines and then was paid to relieve it. 

In another, the company misrepresented that power sold in California came from out of state to avoid intrastate price caps. That strategy ended when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission implemented regional price caps last year. 

“The conspiracy charged in this information allowed Enron to exploit and intensify the California energy crisis and prey on energy consumers at their most vulnerable moment,” said Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, head of the Justice Department’s Corporate Fraud Task Force. 

Thompson said revenues from Belden’s trading unit rose from $50 million in 1999 to $500 million in 2000 to $800 million in 2001. 

California Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana, who chairs the select committee on price manipulation, called Belden’s plea “the first of many dominoes that will fall, not only at Enron, but within other energy companies within the wholesale energy market. Tim Belden not only knows how Enron played, but how others played as well.” 

Belden worked for UBS Warburg, which bought Enron’s power trading operations early this year, but left the company in September, company spokesman David Walker said.

SACRAMENTO — The maker of Skoal, Copenhagen and Rooster brand smokeless tobacco has agreed not to hand out free samples on public grounds in California, and to reimburse the state $171,000. 

U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. was giving away the samples in public areas where minors are allowed, a violation of state law, Attorney General Bill Lockyer alleged in a civil lawsuit. 

The company denies the allegations in its settlement, saying it gave away about 1,400 samples at two adults-only events it believed were in compliance with state law. Both sides said they settled to avoid the cost and delay of litigation. 

It’s the third such suit, and the third such resolution. 

In June, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. was fined $14.8 million in Los Angeles County for giving away more than 100,000 free packs of cigarettes at fairs and other public events. In July 2001, Swedish Match North America Inc. settled a suit by paying the state $375,000. 

In the pending settlement, the company agreed to a permanent injunction, and to pay $150,000 toward prevention programs. The balance of $21,000 will go to reimburse the state for its investigation.

POWAY — Computer maker Gateway Inc. posted a $46.8 million quarterly loss on Thursday and said tough market conditions would widen losses for the entire year. 

After factoring out one-time items, Gateway said it lost 15 cents a share in the third quarter, matching Wall Street’s expectations, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call. 

Still, Gateway’s showing beat last year’s results. In the same period a year ago, the suburban San Diego-based company reported a far wider loss — $519 million or $1.61 per share. 

Gateway officials widened the computer maker’s pretax loss forecast to between $310 million and $330 million for the year, excluding special charges. Earlier, the company estimated a pretax loss of between $200 million and $250 million. 

“We are cautious on our outlook for the fourth quarter given uncertainty surrounding the economy and the holiday selling season,” said Rod Sherwood, chief financial officer at Gateway, the world’s No. 4 computer maker.

SACRAMENTO — California’s year-old Office of Privacy Protection and spate of laws give consumers more protection against identity theft and similar privacy invasions than any other state, according to a new ranking by a national newsletter. 

California had shared the top position with Minnesota in the most recent previous ranking in 1999 by the 28-year-old Providence, R.I.-based Privacy Journal. 

Hawaii and Minnesota also have state privacy offices, but only California’s deals solely with individual privacy, said Joanne McNabb, who directs the California office. 

A complete ranking of states is scheduled for release Monday. The journal is preparing to publish a new reference book on state and federal privacy laws that will be made available to everyone and will provide more detailed information on privacy. 

Gov. Gray Davis’ administration held a news conference and conference call with reporters to tout the ranking less than three weeks before the Nov. 5 election. 

Administration officials and privacy advocates echoed the journal’s praise for the 13 new privacy laws Davis signed last month, and additional laws since 1999 that have further strengthend consumer privacy. 

But Davis officials could not say where he stands on a bill that would have limited how companies share consumers’ financial information. 

The financial services industry spent more than $20 million in campaign contributions and lobbying expenses during its successful two-year fight against the bill, giving least $1 million in campaign contributions went to Davis.

LOS ANGELES — The all-California World Series is expected to give a big boost to tourism even beyond the borders of San Francisco and Anaheim. 

Visitor bureaus in the two host cities are already experiencing an increase in inquiries and expect thousands of visitors to occupy hotels and visit restaurants and shops, especially if the series goes for the full seven games. 

The benefits will likely extend beyond the next two weeks as the rest of the nation sees what amount to free ads for the two cities and the state. 

California tourism officials plan to run a popular television ad campaign during the games featuring celebrities like Jack Nicholson and Clint Eastwood urging folks to “find yourself here.” Look for a split-second cameo by Michael Eisner, chief executive of The Walt Disney Co., which owns the Anaheim Angels. 

The Angels face the San Francisco Giants in the first game of the series Saturday. 

The Anaheim Hilton is hoping to attract guests by taking ads in the San Francisco Chronicle touting special room rates. Edd Karlan, director of sales and marketing for the hotel, says he expects the games to increase his business by 10 percent. 

“We’re going to do well in Anaheim because our games are all weekend games,” he said. “And yes, we’re hoping to go the full six and seven games. A long, drawn-out series will be much better for us.” 

San Francisco, suffering a tourism slump and a sluggish economy, is hoping the exposure from the World Series will boost its chances to host the 2012 Olympics. 

“We got the World Series, which will in turn help us get the Olympics,” said Lee Blitch, president of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. “Everything in between is simply butter.” 

One factor favoring tourism is that World Series broadcasts tend to focus more on tourist information and city vistas than other sporting events.

WASHINGTON — Six Hispanic candidates are running for Congress in California as Republicans, a symbol of hope for a party that has struggled with an anti-immigrant image. 

Few expect these Republicans to win in congressional districts in which Hispanics may be a majority but registered Democrats easily outnumber Republicans. 

Some Democratic Hispanics dismiss the candidates as window-dressing for a party still trying to recover from Proposition 187, a 1994 initiative that sought to bar most state services to illegal immigrants. The measure was pushed by then-Republican Gov. Pete Wilson and passed. 

“Why don’t we see Republicans supporting Hispanics in races where they really have a shot to win?” said Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez, who faces Republican Jeff Chavez in the race for her Orange County congressional seat. “The answer is they don’t really want Hispanics to win. They’re not giving them the support, the dollars, the machinery.” 

Still, as Republicans try to shake off the lingering effects of Proposition 187, they are looking to candidates whose mere presence on the ballot is a part of the GOP’s attempt to be more inclusive. 

The issue is critically important in California, where Hispanics are expected to be the largest population group within 20 years. Hispanics have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats since the mid-1990s. 

In California, where four Hispanic Republicans serve in the state Legislature, 14 Hispanic candidates are running as Republicans for Congress, the state Legislature and insurance commissioner. 

Nationwide, the Republican National Committee has identified 93 Hispanic Republicans who are not incumbents seeking local, state and congressional seats. RNC spokeswoman Sharon Castillo said the list may be not be complete, and she could not provide numbers for past elections. 

There also are 125 elected Hispanic Republicans at all levels nationwide, Castillo said. 

Maria Garcia, a 39-year-old nutritionist and mother of six children, is typical of the Republicans who are trying to make inroads among Hispanic voters. She is running in the 51st Congressional District, which includes a slice of San Diego and hugs the border east through Imperial County. 

Garcia is trying to attract Democratic voters — mainly Hispanics more conservative than Democratic incumbent Bob Filner of San Diego. 

Politically inexperienced and without financial support from the GOP, Garcia contrasts her heritage with Filner’s New York roots. 

“I fit the demographics of the district. It is majority Hispanic,” she said. “I have family on both sides of the border. I have been a frequent border crosser.” 

Luis Vega, the Republican challenger to Democratic Rep. Xavier Becerra of Los Angeles, said the success of opposition parties in Latin America in breaking the dominant party’s hold on power also is awakening voters here. 

The most visible example is Vicente Fox’s election as president of Mexico in 2000, a victory that ended the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s 71-year hold on the presidency. 

“More people are realizing that one party is not the answer to all the problems,” said Vega, who calls himself a “neo-Republicano.” 

Democrats acknowledge they cannot lose Hispanic support and maintain their lock on elected offices in California. Only one Republican, Secretary of State Bill Jones, holds statewide office. 

But they say voters will not be taken in by symbolism and rhetorical flourishes that do not match Republican policy on such key issues as immigration and health care. 

“I think in California especially, voters are wise to that game. They know with 187 and other issues that Republicans do not produce for minorities,” said Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Norwalk, who faces Alex Burrola in the 38th Congressional District. 

Two years ago, Republican congressional candidates in California included longtime TV anchorman Rich Rodriguez and schoolteacher Gloria Matta Tuchman, a leader of the campaign to end bilingual education. 

Rodriguez ran a strong race in losing to Democratic incumbent Cal Dooley of Hanford. Tuchman won 35 percent of the vote against Sanchez in the same election in which President Bush won 29 percent of California’s Hispanic vote.

LOYALTON — The largest ranch in the largest alpine valley in the Sierra Nevada will be permanently protected from development under a conservation easement purchased by three nonprofit organizations. 

The $2.5 million easement on the 13,100-acre Sierra Valley Ranch-Bar One Cattle Co. is the first step to protecting the 130,000-acre Sierra Valley from development, the organizations said. The valley is 25 miles north of Truckee and a half-hour drive from Reno, Nev., and is ripe for development, the groups fear. 

A 1,080-acre ranch sold for $3 million in 1999, and other ranches are on the market with multimillion dollar asking prices, the groups said. 

The valley ringed by 7,000-foot peaks is the largest such valley in the Sierra, and one of the largest in the nation, the groups said. 

Most of the valley is divided into small ranches owned by descendants of the original Swiss and Italian immigrants who settled it in the 1860s. 

The easement will keep the land as a working cattle ranch while preserving “one of the most beautiful valleys in the world,” said Bar One co-owner Jack Sparrowk. 

The ranch will take steps to protect the headwaters of the Middle Fork of the American River as part of the agreement. 

The pact between the ranch and the California Rangeland Trust, the Sierra Business Council and The Nature Conservancy was funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Wildlife Conservation Board. 

The rangeland trust of the California Cattlemen’s Association has similar easements on 40,000 acres and expects to announce a doubling of that acreage over the next year through pending agreements. 

The groups plan a celebratory barbecue at the ranch Friday, with a goal of persuading other Sierra Valley ranchers to sign similar easements.

SHELTER COVE — When the early sunlight washed over our beach campsite on our first night on California’s Lost Coast, we could see why it’s called one of the nation’s premier hiking routes. 

We could see, moreover, why this junction of ocean, dark sand and mountains is called “Lost.” 

It’s not really lost. It’s as isolated as a long stretch of California coast can get. 

The steep mountains plunging into a deep sea along a trail made impassable by tides has repulsed plans for highways, development and businesses. 

As the September morning sunlight burned off the mist, our group of four could see long wide beaches and mountains stretching for miles with no sign of human intervention. 

What we couldn’t see was how grueling the flat terrain can be for hikers. 

Our plan to cover the 25 miles of trail in three or four days didn’t sound difficult when we started out. 

We were soon to discover the rugged terrain that defeated road builders can leave you exhausted from boot-grabbing wet sand, scaling wet rocks and boulders and rogue waves that can send you dashing for refuge with a 40-pound pack on your back. 

An unusually warm front welcomed us with 70-degree beach weather in the morning. 

Our hired van driver was waiting near the town of Shelter Cove to ferry us on a two-hour drive to the trail’s northern end. 

This would allow us to walk the trail with the wind at our backs, and our car would be waiting for us when we reached the end of our trip. 

We rolled into the tiny community of Whitethorn to get a stove-fire permit and bearproof food canisters at the office of the federal Bureau of Land Management. 

The BLM, the agency of “leftover” lands in America’s early history, inherited the Lost Coast because the terrain was considered hostile to development. 

Congress saw scenic value to the land, and in 1970 made the Kings Range, including most of the Lost Coast, the first National Conservation Area in America as it was studied for a future wilderness. 

The woman at the BLM counter cautioned us sternly: Watch for bears and rogue waves, and study the tide book to know when to pass the three sections of trails that disappear and reappear daily with tides. 

A little more than three years ago, a rogue wave swept three members of a school group to their deaths. 

After our van drive to the northern trail terminus at Mattole south of Ferndale, we paid the driver, strapped on our packs and started out on a trail that was more sand than dirt. 

Sea lions popped from the surf to check us out. 

Lines of pelicans glided over the water. 

Waves flung big rocks around with a gurgling noise that sounded like giant ice cubes clinking. 

Driftwood and rocks covered large areas, the jetsam of fierce storms over decades. 

The abandoned Punta Gorda lighthouse gave another reminder of the Lost Coast’s isolation. 

Considered the Alcatraz of California’s early lighthouse system, it had no electric service even though it operated until 1950. 

We reached the first tide zone at the right time of afternoon to pass, but then the hiking route turned into an obstacle course. 

Our feet sunk into wet, mudlike sand that resisted each effort to pull out. 

Rock and boulder fields were taxing as well. Hikers must lunge, leap, twist and stretch on the only path between the ocean and mountains. 

We were fit but middle-aged guys reminiscing about the firm feel of a dirt trail. 

We cleared the tidal area with barely enough energy to heave our packs into one of the Tinkertoy huts, erected of driftwood as refuge from the rain and winds that blast the coast. 

I slept in one, soothed by the sound of the waves and the sight of a full moon arcing its way over the steep mountain to set into the ocean before sunrise. 

Only one other group was camping within sight. 

We marveled at how so much coast has so few signs of people. 

Our second day out had more long stretches of foot-grabbing sand, creeks to ford, and large stones. 

On the third day, we encountered the trickiest tidal zone of all. 

One member of our group had a tidal book and global positioning system device and guided us to arrive as the tide started to recede from a narrow rocky point that waves crash against. 

We waited. 

I now clearly understand why Highway 1 turns several miles inland here. When Caltrans builders reached the Lost Coast, they abandoned hope of conquering the area. 

We studied the pattern of waves and tried to time our scampers over the rocky point, one by one. 

The waves soaked my foot as I rushed over the rocks. 

We all made it past. 

A few minutes later, we met a group of young men whose timing was not as good: They were soaked to the waist. 

We were still enjoying our good luck with sunny warm weather that day when a fog bank moved in and cut our visibility from miles to yards. 

We had planned to stay one more night. 

But seeing the trail dissolve into pea soup, we decided to complete our hike early and leave the Lost Coast to the mists. 

If You Go ... 

GETTING THERE: The King Range National Conservation Area is 230 road miles north of San Francisco, and 70 miles south of Eureka. The Redwood Highway, U.S. 101, provides access to within 20 miles of the King Range. 

GENERAL INFORMATION: Bureau of Land Management advises hikers to be prepared for vigorous exercise and fierce, unpredictable weather. Travel is especially risky in winter and spring because storms can create dangerous waves and make streams impassable.  

The area is the second-wettest place in the lower 48 states.

On Monday, the lights will go on. 

For months, two sets of brand new, never-used traffic lights on Telegraph Avenue sat dark, mired in a debate over cars, pedestrian safety and neighborhood politics. But City Council voted Tuesday night to turn on the lights at the corners of Stuart and Russell streets in southeast Berkeley. 

The decision came two years after Berkeley won a $450,000 state grant to put the lights and other “traffic calming” measures in place, and two months after a set of lengthy meetings with neighbors over the impact of the lights on local traffic patterns. 

Neighbors were generally pleased with the vote to turn on the lights. But now, they’ve raised questions about the plan City Council approved Tuesday to install the other traffic calming measures, like traffic circles, covered by the grant. 

City Council decided that if transportation staff wants to put traffic calming measures in place, they must poll neighbors on the affected street and an unspecified number on surrounding streets, and win 65 percent approval before moving forward. 

Neighbors are worried that the process could lead to a hodgepodge approach. They predict that only a few streets will approve traffic calming measures, pushing vehicles to other streets where residents have not signed off on a traffic circle or alternative measure. 

“We’re stuck with a very piecemeal plan,” said Rolf Bell, a Ward Street resident. “It’s not a good comprehensive approach for the neighborhood.” 

Concerns about a hodgepodge approach motivated an alternative plan, though unsuccessful, pushed by Mayor Shirley Dean and City Councilmember Kriss Worthington, requiring transportation staff to canvass all the relevant streets in the neighborhood and then come back to City Council to present a comprehensive plan for approval. 

Councilmember Betty Olds, who voted against the alternative, said it would have unnecessarily delayed the process and argued that neighbors who have concerns will come to the council anyhow. 

“The neighbors will all know before something goes up and if they have complaints, they can come before council,” she said. 

But Worthington argued that the “piecemeal” plan is “pretty certain to engender future conflict” among neighbors. 

“The failure to do it as a (comprehensive) plan, I think, will come back to haunt us,” he said. 

Funding for the traffic calming measures and the street lights comes from a “Safe Routes to School” grant from the state. Berkeley won the funding two years ago in a push to improve safety for students walking to Willard Middle School on Stuart Street and LeConte Elementary School on Russell Street. 

But neighbors got wind of city plans for the traffic lights early this year, raised a series of objections and attacked the city for failing to include residents in the planning process. 

In April, City Council directed the transportation department to finish construction on the lights, but prohibited staff from turning them on until completion of a thorough public process. 

Three public meetings, mediated by the non-profit Berkeley Dispute Resolution Service, followed in August and September. 

In the midst of the process, a group of neighbors came up with an alternative signaling pattern for the Telegraph Avenue lights. But Assistant City Manager for Transportation Peter Hillier rejected the plan, saying it was too unconventional and could lead to accidents. 

Derby Street resident Wim-Kees van Hout, who took a lead role in developing the alternative signaling pattern, said he could accept a professional’s judgment about the safety of the neighborhood plan. 

But van Hout said he hopes the city, in the wake of the Telegraph Avenue process, learns to include the neighborhood from the start in future traffic projects. 

“I really hope that, in the future, the process will be more inclusive,” he said. 

George Rose, a sixth-grade teacher at Willard who has long pushed for the traffic lights on Telegraph, welcomed City Council’s decision to turn them on. 

“I think that’s a good thing,” he said.

To the Editor: 

I must applaud the recent brilliant and humane suggestion of an Iraqi official (Daily Planet, Oct. 4) for a duel between Bush and Saddam to settle their ongoing personal feud mano-a-mano. 

Of course, Bush has a well-documented history of avoiding armed combat, so maybe instead of a duel, there could be a series of competitive athletic events – a sort of personal two-man Olympics. Both men are physically fit and pride themselves in their fitness. 

This would be a great chance for the two leaders to “put-up or shut-up.” The events could include arm-wrestling, Indian-style wrestling, javelin throwing, swimming, weight lifting, horseback riding and other events. It would be a great matchup: the 65-year-old Saddam vs. the 55-year-old Bush. The winner would stay in power, while the loser would resign his position and take his gang/administration with him into exile.  

For most people of the world, this contest and its result would be a proverbial “win-win” situation, with either the bully Saddam removed from power or the bully Bush removed from power. One down and one to go… 

This traditional method of settling a personal feud would have the important virtue of saving thousands of Iraqi and American lives. 

This would be the sporting event of the decade and could be shown to millions of viewers around the world. Former U. N. inspectors could be the referees and judges, while our Las Vegas bookies would be only too happy to post betting odds on each event in the match. 

James K. Sayre 

Oakland

With his eye on the prison system Oakland singer/activist Steve Harris brings his politically-charged music and poetry to Berkeley’s La Pena Cultural Center tonight. 

His new CD and book “Black Will Not Hurt You,” which will be the focus of tonight’s show, expounds upon the social criticism delivered in his radio segment Critical Resistance on KPFA’s Hardknock Radio program. 

“I’m showing that African American males have various experiences and we are different individuals,” said Harris, explaining that his goal is to counter the negative stereotypes of being black. 

It took two and a half years for Harris to package his mission into his latest book and CD. Harris has independently published two other poetry books and three albums. 

Harris, 30, said he draws his musical inspiration from many sources including Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Buckley and Robert Johnson. 

“My music is rock, soul and blues,” said Harris, who also plays guitar on his CD. “It’s social-conscious music.” 

Harris says he’s particular fond of the 1964 Nina Simone classic “Mississippi Goddamn” which takes a hard look at civil rights for blacks in America. “It just grooves,” Harris said. 

The politics of prisons has been a lifelong issue for Harris. 

“My father spent 12 years in prison. Most of the males in my family have been in prison for most of my life. I believe the best way for me not to go to prison is for me to work at keeping these issues out there,” he explained. 

“The word black is used in a very negative way,” Harris added. “Everything from expressions like ‘black sheep’ to how blacks are portrayed in literature. “I wanted to get away from that and say black is not harmful or bad.” 

A two-year activist with Critical Resistance, the national organization that opposes the expansion of prisons, Harris said America needs to pay attention to how the prison system is run. 

“It’s horrifying,” he said. “There are six million people in jail right now. We need to abolish prisons. It’s modern day slavery.” 

Harris, who teaches after-school kindergarten in Berkeley, said he’s excited about what he believes his work can offer the community. 

“I want to show that you’ve got to just be yourself,” he said. 

The La Pena show will also feature the acoustic alternative hip-hop duo Bridge and Tunnel.

Thursday, Oct. 17 

Speak Out: A Forum on Women’s Health Issues 

7 to 9 p.m. 

City Council Chambers 

Discuss issues such as domestic violence, disparities in health care, youth health issues, and alternative health care. 

981-5106 

Simplicity Forum 

7 to 8:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Public Library, Claremont Branch, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 

With Stanford University’s visiting scholar Cecile Andrews, auhor of “Circle of Simplicity”. 

549-3509 / www.simpleliving.net 

Friday, Oct. 18 

“Ballot Issues for the Nov. 15 Election” 

11:45 a.m. luncheon, 12:30 p.m. speaker 

City Commons Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 

A representative from the League of Women Voters will speak. 

526-2925 or 665-9020 

$11.50 or $12.50 luncheon 

$1 speaker only / students free 

Homecoming Rally 

9 p.m. 

Haas Pavilion, UC Berkeley 

Come rally with the Cal band, the dance team, the UC Men’s Octet, and more. 

388-4789 

Saturday, Oct. 19 

Ethics Forum 

6 to 9 p.m. 

Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 

Crew 24 invites all teen youth groups for a pizza potluck and conversation about the ethical decisions we face today. 

525-6058 

Bring a pizza to share. 

Sunday, Oct. 20 

Dog Wash Sunday 

10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Kutz for Mutz  

911 University Ave.  

Get your dog shampooed while helping out rescued dogs. Proceeds benefit Smiley Dog Rescue, a nonprofit dedicated to rescuing abused or abandoned pups. 

(760) 924-3961 

$15-$30 depending on the dog. 

The Buddy Club Season Opener 

1 to 2 p.m 

The Berkeley JCC Theater, 1414 Walnut St. at Rose St. 

Audience participation shows for kids age two through twelve and their parents. 

236-SHOW 

$7 / under 2 yrs. free 

Monday, Oct. 21 

War in Iraq- Why? 

7 p.m. 

2951 Derby St. 

Women for Peace invites you to discuss war in Iraq, with an emphasis on women’s viewpoints. 

526-5094 

Tuesday, Oct. 22 

Brown Bag Career Talk 

12 to 1 p.m. 

YWCA Turning Point Career Center, 2600 Bancroft Way 

Professional organizer Kathy Waddill hosts “Getting Paid to Help Other People Get Organized”. 

848-6370 

$3 

“What is it Like to Be a Robot?” 

8 p.m. 

145 Dwinelle, UC Berkeley 

Tom Sgouros and his robot, Judy, star in a sharp-witted “solo” theater piece in which they discuss stage magic, free will, imagination and other themes in this unique performance. 

www.sgouros.com 

Berkeley Camera Club Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share your prints and slides and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 

525-3565 / www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

Wednesday, Oct. 23 

The Independent Institute 

7 p.m. 

Daniel Ellsberg unveils new book, “Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers.” 

Zellerbach Auditorium, Bancroft Way and Telegraph 

642-9988 

Berkeley Gray Panthers General Meeting 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 

What’s what on the November ballot: A rundown of state and local ballot measures. Shirley Dean and Tom Bates will debate. 

548-9696 

Thursday, Oct. 24 

Communication Components Workshop 

State Health Toastmasters Club 

Noon to 1 p.m. 

2151 Berkeley Way 

595-1594 

Free 

“How to Access Health and Medical Information Through the Internet” 

7 to 9 p.m. 

Claremont branch of the Berkeley Public Library, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 

Learn how to effectively use free scientific databases and do health-related research using the Internet. 

Register in advance: 981-6280 

Free 

Thursday, Oct. 17 

Four minute mile and the avenue of the stars. 

8:30 p.m. 

Bear’s Lair Brewpub 

704-4492 

$5, 18 and over 

Strauss-Warschauer Duo 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

Klezmer music and yiddish songs. 

548-1761 

$15.50 / $16.50 

Amy Rigby and Dwayne Jarvis 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-2082 

$7 / 21 and over 

Steve Harris 

8 p.m. 

La Pena, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 

An evening of acoustic soul and explosive poetry celebrating Harris’ CD and poetry release. 

849-2568 

$10 

Friday, Oct. 18 

Santo Soul, La Familia, and Marimba Pacifica 

8 p.m. 

La Pena, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 

Music, dancing, folkloric presentations, and a raffle. 

548-6914 

$15 

Garnet Rogers 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

Visionary guitarist and songwriter. 

548-1761 

$15.50 / $16.50 

Ian Moore, Sonya Hunter ad Blu Sanders 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-2082 

$6 / 21 and over 

Saturday, Oct. 19 

Charonson 

9:30 p.m. 

La Pena Cultural Center, 

3105 Shattuck Ave. 

Come get your groove on to this live salsa band. Dance class at 8:15 p.m. 

849-2568 

$12 / $15 with class 

Peter Case 

8 p.m. 

Freight & Salvage, 1111 Addison St. 

Singer-songwriter auteur. 

548-1761 

$15.50 / $16.50 

Casino Royale and DJ California Kid 

9:30 p.m. 

The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 

841-2082 

$8 / 21 and over 

“Please Pay Attention” 

Through Oct. 25 

4 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

Worth Ryder Gallery 

116 Kroeber Hall 

UC Art graduates feature drawings, video, etc. 

DepartmentofArtPractice 

Ceramics - Opening Reception 

Through Nov. 17 

3 to 5 p.m. 

A New Leaf Gallery, 1286 Gilman St. 

525-7621 

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 

“Recent Acquisitions” 

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  

60 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 Fifth 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 

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. 

The House of Blue Leaves 

Through Oct. 20 

Berkeley Rep's Roda Theater  

2015 Addison St.  

647-2949 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. 

Escape From Happiness 

Through October 20 

Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Berkeley Campus 

UC Berkeley’s department of theater, dance, and performance studies presents this dark comedy about a dysfunctional urban working-class family. 

www.ticketweb.com or (866) 468-3399 

http://theater.berkeley.edu 

$8-$14 

Thursday, Oct. 17 

“Rethinking the American Dream: Songs of the Simple Life” 

7 p.m. 

Central Community Room, Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kitteredge St. 

Writer and bicyclist Tim Holt will give an informal talk based on his new book. 

981-6100 

Friday, Oct. 18 

Storyteller Nancy Schimmel 

Poets, singers, musicians and storytellers are invited. 

7:30 to 10 p.m. 

Fellowship Cafe, 1924 Cedar St. 

540-0898 

$5 to 10 donation 

Sunday, Oct. 20 

Gary Mex Glazner and Thea Hillman 

7:30 p.m. 

Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

Poetry reading. 

525-5476 

$2 donation 

Friday, Oct. 18 

Working for the Mouse 

Fantasy about playing at Disneyland. 

8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., 7 p.m. Sun. 

La Val’s Subterranean Theater  

1834 Euclid 

464-4468 

$12 general, $7 students. 

Saturday, Oct. 19 

Magic School Bus Video Festival 

10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. 

1 Centennial Dr. - Lawrence Hall of Science Auditorium 

643-5961 

$8 adults, $6 youth 5-18 & seniors, $4 children 3-4, free for children under 3 

“The Undead and the Living Dead” and Bela Lugosi’s “White Zombie” 

Oct. 24 through Oct. 30 

7:30 / 8:55 p.m. 

Fine Arts Cinema, 2451 Shattuck Ave. 

Double feature: Vampire film with musical score performed live on accordion by Rich Kuhns, followed by Bela Lugosi’s classic. 

848-1143 

$4-$9

Someone check the fire extinguishers in the Cal locker room. They could be all used up from cooling off the Bears at halftime. 

There’s no denying that the Bears have pulled a shocking turnaround this season, going from a 1-10 embarrassment to a 4-3 record and the spectre of a bowl bid a few weeks away. 

But whatever the Bears have been doing in the locker room at halftime, it hasn’t been working. Cal has outscored its opponents 163-55 in the first half this season and haven’t trailed at halftime yet. Their three losses have all been the result of second-half collapses, both on offense and defense. 

“We’ve talked about this as a team, and we know we need to come out stronger in the second half,” head coach Jeff Tedford said this week. “But you have to give the opposition some credit too. They see things and they make adjustments.” 

According to Cal players, their coaches haven’t been making many changes to the game plan in the locker room. Then again, a halftime lead is usually a sign things are going right, so why change? 

“Normally you don’t want to make too many adjustments when you’re winning the game,” cornerback James Bethea said. “We’re doing the same things we’re having success with in the first half. We just have to keep doing it right.” 

But there’s little question that something must be done to shake the team’s second-half doldrums. They’ve surrendered more than twice as many points after the break as before it, including a complete defensive meltdown against Washington State in which the Cougars scored 29 points in the third quarter alone. 

Interestingly, teams have attacked the Cal defense in different ways in the second half. Washington State lived in the air, throwing deep to their big receivers for big plays that went incomplete in the first half. USC, on the other hand, pounded away with tailback Sultan McCullough, who picked up 120 of his 176 rushing yards in the second half of the Trojans’ comeback win. 

In all three losses, the Cal offense has sputtered just as the opposition has caught fire. 

“I think teams do make good adjustments on us,” wide receiver LaShaun Ward said. “I feel like they catch on to us a little bit. But if we keep our fundamentals and do the small things, no team can stop us, even if they change their defense.” 

This week will be a test of the Bears’ third-quarter composure, as UCLA has outscored its opponents 46-18 in that period. The Bruins, like most Pac-10 teams, are talented enough that one scheme isn’t enough to stop them for an entire game. They can pound the ball on the ground with three different tailbacks or go up top to receivers like Craig Bragg, Tab Perry and tight end Mike Seidman. Tedford and his coaching staff may want to spend a little more time making tweaks to their game plans to keep the Bruins from continuing an ugly trend.

About 60 pro-Palestinian UC Berkeley students and supporters gathered on the steps of Sproul Hall Wednesday calling on the university to drop conduct charges against 32 student activists who participated in the April 9 occupation of Wheeler Hall. 

Just across Sproul Plaza, pro-Israeli students said the relatively small gathering was evidence that the pro-Palestinian movement is losing steam. 

“They’ve lost their support,” said David Singer, co-chair of the Israel Action Committee, a student group. 

“Not at all,” responded Roberto Hernandez of Students for Justice in Palestine, arguing that poor publicity for the event had limited the turnout. 

Students and activists focused their speeches on the plight of Hernandez, one of 79 protesters who took over Wheeler Hall in April, calling on the nine-campus University of California to divest from Israel. 

The Alameda County District Attorney dropped criminal charges against the activists in June, but the university pursued separate conduct charges against the 41 students who took part. Nine have accepted a one-semester “stayed suspension,” essentially probation, leaving 32 to face student conduct hearings. 

Penalties range up to expulsion, though the administration is recommending nothing more than suspension. 

Hernandez’s student conduct hearing has begun, but is on hold until at least Oct. 28, when the courts will consider a lawsuit filed by the students’ lawyers that seeks to block the use of police reports and videos in conduct hearings. 

No other student hearings have started. 

Hernandez is one of a handful of students who were seniors when they took part in the April occupation of Wheeler Hall. The university has blocked diplomas for the former seniors until they go through the hearing process. 

Last year, Hernandez won acceptance to a UC Berkeley graduate program in comparative ethnic studies and has been attending classes this fall with the department’s permission. But he is not officially enrolled as a graduate student and has not received a fellowship that, he says, is his only substantial source of income. 

Hernandez said he faces eviction from student housing because he is unable to pay rent and is not officially a student. 

“I don’t even know where I’ll be this week,” said Hernandez, urging the university to provide his diploma and release the fellowship money. 

UC Berkeley spokesperson Janet Gilmore said Hernandez’s economic situation is “unfortunate” but said the university has offered the student ample opportunity to resolve his case. 

Gilmore said Hernandez had the option to accept an informal resolution this summer. She added that university officials, in the second day of Hernandez’s conduct hearing Oct. 4, offered to work late into the night, but the student declined. 

Hernandez said he had a religious service to attend in San Jose that night and was not able to stay. He added that one of his attorneys was unable to remain on hand either. 

Singer, of the Israel Action Committee, said his group is spearheading a 20-campus effort called “Invest in Israel, Invest in Peace.” Donations will go toward building the Israeli infrastructure and funding education efforts. 

Singer declined to say how much money the campaign has raised but predicted thousands in eventual donations.

To the Editor: 

My opponent, Tom Bates, seems to think that every problem should be met with yet another committee meeting – an approach often used in Sacramento. It is a way of “acting” without really correcting a problem. Mr. Bates is ready to invite big names from Sacramento and Washington D.C. to come and discuss Berkeley schools - though his list of invitees omits mention of Berkeley's Superintendent, School Board or the students themselves. (Forum, October 12-13)  

I do not believe that we need a “summit” with a cast of outsiders to come to Berkeley and tell us how to make changes. What we need to do is roll up our sleeves as a community and start fixing the problems. Some examples come to mind. Parents at Berkeley High approached me and complained that the school's health care clinic had been omitted from the city’s annual budget. The clinic provides important preventive health care and literally saves lives. I went to work, and we restored the clinic's funding. Again, when parents complained to me about violence at Berkeley High School, I went out and helped secure a grant to increase safety on the campus.  

Understanding the need for community members to step up and help our schools, I volunteer every week as a writing coach at Berkeley High. As your mayor, in the next four years, I will work hard to restore excellence in Berkeley's public schools. By law, Berkeley’s schools are independent of the city. Nonetheless, I will continue to work with the School District's Superintendent, Dr. Michelle Lawrence, school board members, parents, teachers, staff and students to provide incentives that attract the best teachers to Berkeley. Working together, we can provide safe and clean school sites and close the achievement gap once and for all. 

Shirley Dean, 

Berkeley mayor

The Oakland Ballet’s program 2, featuring two world premieres and two company premieres, made for an entertaining evening of dance last weekend at Oakland's opulent Paramount Theatre. Of the four pieces, the most successful were Agnes de Mille's “Three Virgins and a Devil” and Mexican choreographer Gloria Contreras’ “Opus 45.” 

Continuing its tradition of historically reviving works of merit, the Oakland Ballet introduced the comic “Three Virgins'” to its repertoire, complete with original costumes and sets, and with restoration works by costumer Ginger Shane and set designer David Guthrie. Gabriel Williams was an excellent devil, both dancing and acting, and the virgins – Yoira Equivel-Brito, Erin Yarbrough and guest artist Tiekka Schofield – assimilated the de Mille style beautifully. 

Contreras’ “Opus 45” is a pas de deux danced by Williams and Schofield. This proved a great pairing of dancers and their performance was mesmerizing. 

The world premieres were not as engaging. The evening opened with “Dei Sogni Piacevoli (Of Pleasant Dreams).” The large work for 10 dancers is by Luc de Lairesse, Oakland's ballet master in chief. Dimly lit, it was difficult to tell exactly what the dancers were doing. 

The final dance, Dwight Rhoden's “Glory Fugue,” is an athletic and abstract ballet set to a pastiche of soul and classical music played at ear-splitting volume which detracted from the performance.

Chris Huffins, former NCAA decathlon champion at Cal and current assistant track & field coach at Georgia Tech, will return to Berkeley as the school’s new director of track and field and cross country, Cal Athletic Director Steve Gladstone announced Wednesday. 

Huffins, a two-time U.S. Olympic decathlete who won the bronze medal at the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia, replaces Erv Hunt, who recently assumed a new executive administrative role in the Golden Bears’ athletic department after directing Cal’s track and field program for 30 years. 

The 32-year-old Huffins will direct both the men’s and women’s track & field and cross country programs. 

“As we proceeded through a nationwide interview process for Erv’s successor, it became more and more evident that Chris Huffins was the ideal choice to lead Cal track and field into a new era,” Gladstone said. 

Huffins has served as a major college assistant coach for the past five years. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native spent three seasons at Wake Forest as the Demon Deacons’ sprint coach from 1997-99, before joining the Georgia Tech staff in 2000, working primarily with the Yellow Jackets’ multi-event, short sprinters, throws and pole vault performers the past two years. 

“This is a dream come true for me,” said Huffins. “My heart has never left Berkeley, and I look forward to building upon what Coach Hunt has achieved here at Cal and help return the track and field program to national prominence. I am also thrilled to come back and have the opportunity to complete my Cal degree, which is important to me and the university, and also sets a good example for my student-athletes.” 

Huffins majored in political economy of industrial societies at Cal from 1990-93 before leaving to train for the 1996 Olympics. He is less than one year of class credits shy of earning his degree.  

Huffins began his collegiate career at Purdue in 1988, but transferred to California two years later, soon blossoming into a national figure in the decathlon. As a Golden Bear, he first won the triple jump competition at the 1991 Pac-10 Championships, then captured both the Pac-10 and NCAA decathlon titles in 1993. 

Huffins won the U.S. National Championship in both 1998 and 1999, and finished second at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials. In the ‘98 U.S. Championships, Huffins posted the then-highest decathlon score in the world. 

Huffins, a member of the 1996 and 2000 U.S. Olympic teams, is a former world record holder in the decathlon 100 meters. He also earned a gold medal in setting the meet record at the 1999 Pan American Games. 

As one of the current leaders of the sport, Huffins serves as assistant coach for the World Junior Championship team, as chairman of the men’s combined events for USA Track & Field, and as a member of the USATF board of directors.

Berkeley police officers and firefighters endorsed Mayor Shirley Dean Wednesday in her bid for re-election. 

“She’s always been very supportive of us. She’s really concerned about our safety and is very receptive to talking with us,” said Lt. Bud Stone, vice president of the Police Officers Association. 

Lt. Rick Guzman, president of the Fire Fighters Association, credited Dean with advocating ballot measures to fund paramedic programs and remodel fire stations, as well as praised her support of the new station planned for the Berkeley hills. 

The endorsements were not a surprise. Police and fire departments have traditionally supported Berkeley’s moderate faction and have endorsed Dean in all four of her mayoral bids. 

Dean’s main rival in the November election, progressive candidate Tom Bates, said he was not deterred by the public safety endorsements. 

“I think my endorsements are more reflective of what people want to see a candidate endorsed by,” he said.  

Bates, who represented Berkeley in the state Assembly from 1976 to 1996, has garnered endorsements from the Sierra Club, the National Organization for Women, the county Green Party, the county Democratic Party, UC Berkeley Democrats and the Alameda Council of Labor, as well as numerous state and federal officials including Congresswoman Barbara Lee, D-Oakland. 

Dean, though, said the fire and police endorsements could sway undecided voters. 

“I think the people who provide these services are the finest in any city and they are very well respected,” she said. 

Dean will have to rely on the prestige of the endorsements, because most police officers and firemen live outside city limits and are not eligible to vote in Berkeley. Of approximately 200 uniformed police officers, only 13 are Berkeley residents, according to Police Information Officer Mary Kusmiss. 

Dean has failed thus far to match Bates in endorsements. Including police and fire officers, Dean has also won the support of the Berkeley Property Owners Association, the Berkeley Democratic Club, state Sen. Don Peralta, D-Oakland, and more than 30 neighborhood activists. 

Dean downplayed Bates’ endorsement advantage, insisting that many of his supporters were old political allies from his time in the state Assembly, who do not reflect the views of Berkeley voters.  

Bates, however, noted that as an eight-year incumbent, Dean had failed to develop strong relationships with state leaders, who he could lobby to defend Berkeley’s interests. 

“Normally people default to the incumbent, but in this case it is a runaway for me,” Bates said. “I think that is a statement about my style of leadership.”

To the Editor: 

In her campaign for re-election, Mayor Shirley Dean wants credit for triggering downtown revitalization. In reality, Ms. Dean was a roadblock, not a beacon, for the progress of downtown and its arts district.  

Downtown renewal got rolling with a big push from the city’s office of economic development in the latter 1980s, with leadership from then-Mayor Loni Hancock. A city proposal led to the first urban Main Street program in California, and Berkeley has gone on to win a shelf-full of awards for its Main Street implementation. Retail space vacancies plunged from 19 percent to less than 5 percent before Dean became mayor. Shirley Dean’s contribution: She annually proposed to strike the office of economic development from the city budget and attacked the Main Street application.  

Dean supporters have also misrepresented the land deal that led to the expansion of the Berkeley Repertory. In reality, with critical guidance and support from then-Mayor Hancock, the office of economic development’s Dave Fogarty and I negotiated the deal to make the rep’s neighboring property available for a new theater, in exchange for reduced Rent Board penalties for the seller. The key meetings were held in my office and the details are recorded in my journal. The Rent Board merely signed off on the penalty waiver. 

Neil S. Mayer 

Founding Director, Office of 

Economic Development, 

City of Berkeley

SAN RAFAEL — A former Lucasfilm employee faces 13 felony counts of theft for allegedly stealing sound effects recordings, images, video files and the musical score to the movie “Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones.” 

Shea O’Brien Foley, 30, was arrested Oct. 8 in Burbank, where he worked at the facilities department of NBC studios, according to a report in the Marin Independent Journal.

If all goes well, the 69 residents of UA Homes who were displaced by fire in August will be able to return home next week. 

Officials from Resources for Community Development (RCD), which owns the burned three-story apartment building at 1040 University Ave., and property managers from the John Stewart Company announced Wednesday a tentative Oct. 22. move-in date. 

The date, though, is optimistic, said Linda Webster, director of operations at RCD, and depends on the outcome of pending safety inspections. 

“These next few days are kind of crucial,” Webster said. “Some of the last minute work is [still] being done [to make the building livable again.]” 

RCD has spent more than $100,000 to house the displaced tenants, most of whom rely on federal housing subsidies to pay rent at UA Homes, said Kerry Williams, asset manager for RCD. 

Berkeley law requires landlords to pay tenants the difference in rent when tenants are abruptly displaced and forced to pay more. 

The fire, which swept through a light well Aug. 26, still has no known source of ignition, fire officials say. Officials, though, suspect that debris found in the light well such as newspapers and an old suitcase fueled the blaze.  

The fire spread from the light well to each floor severely damaging at least eight units near the center of building. However, sprinklers kept the fire from sweeping through the rest of the structure, officials said.  

“Light wells are a problem from the past. We were lucky to hold off the fire to a localized area,” said David Orth, assistant fire chief of the Berkeley Fire Department. “The building has stood up really well.” he added, explaining that a fire of this magnitude could have brought UA Homes to the ground. 

The city has concerns about keeping the light wells at UA Homes safe in the future. 

“It certainly raises issues for future management for keeping the light well safe,” said Steve Barton of the Berkeley Housing Authority, adding that the light wells would have to be carefully monitored. “There may well need to be some further work with the tenants.”

LOS ANGELES — With a deadly sniper terrorizing the suburbs of the nation’s capital, 20th Century Fox has decided to delay the release of a thriller about people being pinned down in a phone booth by a gunman they can’t see. 

“Phone Booth,” starring Kiefer Sutherland as the shooter, was to open Nov. 15. 

But the studio decided to delay its release after a sniper killed nine people in suburban Washington, D.C., according to Flo Grace, a 20th Century Fox spokeswoman. 

A new opening date has not been set. 

Screenwriter Larry Cohen, who wrote “Phone Booth” three years ago, has said he would not mind if the studio delayed release of the film in which the shooter lures victims inside a phone booth then threatens to kill them if they hang up. 

Another movie with a similar theme, “Interview with the Assassin,” will open as scheduled Nov. 15 in New York and Los Angeles, said Eamonn Bowles, president of Magnolia Pictures, which is distributing the film. 

The movie, about an ex-Marine who claims he shot President Kennedy, opens in more cities Nov. 22 — the 39th anniversary of the assassination. 

“We’re monitoring the situation, but right now we plan to go ahead with the release,” Bowles said Wednesday. “Basically we’re playing it by ear, seeing what the mood of the country is like.” 

“Phone Booth” was a relatively low-cost film for Fox, with a budget of about $12 million. Colin Farrel, who co-starred as an investigator in this summer’s “Minority Report,” starred in “Phone Booth” as a man singled out for attack by a shooter who wants to punish strangers for their misdeeds. 

It was director Joel Schumacher’s second consecutive film to be delayed due to troubling similarity to news events. 

His Anthony Hopkins-Chris Rock comedy “Bad Company,” about U.S. agents trying to disarm terrorists in Manhattan, was supposed to debut last December. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, “Bad Company” was postponed for release until June, where the $70 million adventure collected only about $30 million at the domestic box office. 

Schumacher’s agent directed calls for comment back to Fox. 

Other movies delayed for months after the Sept. 11 included “Collateral Damage,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a firefighter seeking revenge for a terrorist bombing, and the ensemble comedy “Big Trouble,” which involved smugglers with a nuclear warhead on a jetliner. Both films also performed poorly once they finally debuted.

UNITED NATIONS — The United States came under a barrage of criticism Wednesday as the Security Council held an open debate at the behest of dozens of countries angry with the Bush administration’s threat to attack Iraq. 

Key U.S. allies in the Middle East, including Kuwait — which was invaded by Saddam Hussein’s forces in 1990 — came out against the use of military force in Iraq and called on Washington to give U.N. weapons inspectors a chance to disarm the oil-rich nation. 

Iraq’s other neighbors, from Iran to Jordan and the Persian Gulf states, warned that a military strike would further destabilize the volatile Middle East for years to come. 

Even close friends such as Japan and Australia refrained from supporting America’s efforts to win authorization in a new U.N. resolution for a military strike if inspections fail. 

But U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan supported the U.S. search for a new resolution that would toughen weapons inspections and he urged Baghdad to use this “last chance.” 

The U.S. ambassador is scheduled to address the council on Thursday but in Washington, President Bush said world leaders needed to “face up to our global responsibilities.” 

“Those who choose to live in denial may eventually be forced to live in fear,” Bush said, as he signed a Congressional resolution authorizing him to use force against Iraq. 

The Security Council’s five permanent, veto-holding members are divided over how to proceed on Iraq now that it has agreed to the return of inspectors after nearly four years. 

The United States, supported by Britain, has spent the past month pushing for a new Security Council resolution which would authorize the use of force if Iraq fails to comply with a tough, new inspections regime. 

But France, China and Russia are opposed to any “green light,” that would allow the administration to attack Baghdad before its sincerity can be tested on the ground. 

France has garnered serious support from China, Russia and influential Arab countries for a proposal only authorizing the possible use of force if inspectors complain about Iraq’s compliance. 

Hoping to reach a compromise, the United States has been holding secret consultations with the four other major powers, to the exclusion and often frustration of other U.N. members, who feel in the dark on what could be the eve of a major conflict. 

In an effort to force a public accounting on the Iraq debate, the Non-Aligned Movement of some 115 mainly developing countries called for Wednesday’s open meeting to criticize Washington’s position and its handling of the issue here. Nearly 70 countries are expected to speak over two days. 

South African Ambassador Dumisani Shadrack Kumalo, whose country heads the movement, opened Wednesday’s debate by criticizing the closed-door process.

A 32-year-old East Bay woman was killed in a possible suicide attempt when an Amtrak passenger train struck her Toyota pick-up truck at Camelia Street in Berkeley at 9:45 p.m. Tuesday. 

Donna Johnetta Bragg, 32, was thrown from the truck and pronounced dead at the scene, according to Berkeley police. 

“Pieces of the truck were scattered everywhere,” said Lt. Bud Stone who responded to the accident scene. 

Police were not classifying the death as a suicide, but there is evidence that the collision may have been premeditated. 

According to Police Information Officer Mary Kusmiss, information retrieved from the scene suggests that Bragg had just had an argument with her boyfriend, and that she had left his home in an angry state. 

Police believe that Bragg drove around the crossing gates and parked her car across the railroad tracks. 

Amtrak trains can travel as fast as 79 mph, said Union Pacific spokesperson Mike Furtney, who added that there was no way the train conductor could have stopped before hitting Bragg. 

Such collisions are not uncommon in California. Last year 73 state residents were killed when their cars were struck by oncoming trains, the highest total in the country.

OAKLAND – A 17-year-old boy suspected of shooting an Oakland police officer in the head last month made his first appearance in Alameda County Superior Court Wednesday. 

Terrence Hunter of Oakland has been charged in adult court with attempted murder of a police officer, assault with a firearm upon an officer, and unlawful possession of a firearm. 

Hunter appeared in court wearing a dark blue sweatshirt and tan pants. His hands were handcuffed to a chain encircling his waist during the short proceeding in which Judge Allan D. Hymer read the charges aloud. 

When the judge asked Hunter whether he could afford an attorney, the boy shrugged and said he could not. Hymer said he would assign an attorney from the public defender's office to the case and ordered Hunter to return to court today at 2 p.m. 

The allegations stem from the morning of Sept. 27, when Officer Ilario Juarez, 30, stopped in front of the Mosswood Motel at 683 W. MacArthur Blvd. at about 2:45 a.m. 

As Juarez, who was patrolling alone, approached a group of individuals lingering in the motel's driveway, one person immediately separated himself from the others and fired on the officer, police said. A bullet grazed Juarez's head. 

Hunter was stopped by police on the day of the shooting and later arrested when a check revealed that he was wanted on a probation violation, police said. He had been convicted of robbery in Contra Costa County last year and sentenced to stay at a group home, from which he allegedly fled.

n Carjacking 

Police are searching for two adult males who robbed a couple at gunpoint and stole their car late Wednesday at 600 Bancroft Way inside Aquatic Park. According to police, two suspects armed with black semi-automatic pistols approached the couple while they were in their 2000 Isuzo Rodeo. One suspect opened the unlocked door and threw the male victim on the ground. The other suspect escorted the female victim outside the car. The suspects then demanded the victims’ wallet, backpack and car keys. 

n Police officer hits cyclist 

A patrol officer responding to a suicide call with full siren struck a cyclist near the corner of San Pablo Avenue and Carleton Street at 3:40 p.m. Friday. According to police, the police car had just turned right onto Carlton, when the cyclist, who was riding on the sidewalk, entered the road. The cyclist collided into the right front wheel of the police car, but did not sustain serious injuries and refused medical attention.

OAKLAND – BART police say a woman was struck and killed by a train as she walked on the tracks at the West Oakland Station Wednesday afternoon. 

Witnesses told investigators that they saw the victim walking on the Concord/Fremont tracks before she crossed over to the adjacent San Francisco/Colma tracks. 

The train operator of an approaching Colma-bound train spotted the woman on the track and hit the emergency stop button before entering the station at 2:01 p.m., police said. The train was unable to stop in time and struck and killed the woman at the north end of the platform. 

The victim's identity has not been released.

ANAHEIM — With civic pride and a lot of publicity about their World Series bet at stake, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown refused to wear mouse ears. 

So if the Anaheim Angels win, Brown will don a cowboy hat. If the Giants triumph, Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly will wear a specially designed black and orange fedora. 

“I think Mayor Brown will look cute,” Daly said Wednesday. 

The cowboy hat is in homage to late Angels owner Gene Autry, who was America’s original singing cowboy. The fedora is a nod to the stylish Brown, who favors expensive suits and sophisticated hats. 

Daly also agreed to host a family from San Francisco for a weekend at the amusement parks in Anaheim if the Angels lose. Brown will do the same in San Francisco if the Giants lose. 

In addition to their hats, both mayors promised to wear the jersey of the winning team to work one day. 

“To have the World Series be an all-coast series between Anaheim and San Francisco is an absolute delight,” Brown said in a conference call with Daly. 

Surrounded by television cameras in their respective offices, Daly exchanged pleasantries with Brown. He mentioned Anaheim’s “perfect baseball weather” and ace left-hander Jarrod Washburn, who will start Game 1 for the Angels on Saturday. 

“ESPN and other sports broadcasters are predicting a six- or seven-game series,” Daly said.

BRISBANE — A woman who had lived with her husband for more than a decade in a 300-year-old oak tree on San Bruno Mountain will move into temporary housing. 

Thelma Caballero, who thinks she’s in her 40s, had lived with her husband, Besh Serdahely, in their coastal oak home for 12 years in San Bruno Mountain County Park. Late last week, Caballero chose to leave the tree house and move into a motel room with a kitchenette on the Peninsula. 

Shelter Network, a San Mateo County-based nonprofit that provides housing and services for homeless people, helped Caballero make the move.

Ferry proposal to increase service 

VALLEJO — A $665 million proposal to increase ferries traversing San Francisco Bay and to make them a better option for commuters has Solano County’s ferry service going only to Vallejo. 

Benicia had been a contender, but the state-authorized Bay Area Water Transit Authority, which is presenting its ferry plan around the region, opted not to have a terminal there. 

Seven new routes would originate at Berkeley, Richmond, Treasure Island, Antioch/Martinez, Hercules/Rodeo, South San Francisco and Redwood City and would all go to San Francisco. 

The five existing services would get more boats. The plan sees the Vallejo ferry going from serving about 1,900 commuters daily to 4,220 by 2025. That could mean adding two ferries, said Heidi Machen, a WTA spokeswoman. 

People have until Oct. 31 to comment on the ferry proposal and environmental study, Machen said. The proposal goes to the state in December. 

Principal resigns after high school melee 

SAN FRANCISCO – A San Francisco public school spokeswoman said Wednesday that principal Juliet Montevirgen has stepped down in the wake of criticism over a melee that closed down Thurgood Marshall High School on Friday. 

At a community meeting Monday, some parents and community members clamored for Montevirgen to leave the position she assumed this fall, replacing a popular principal at the academically oriented school in the Silver Terrace neighborhood. 

Police responded to a series of fights there on Friday and within an hour or so had evacuated the school and arrested several students and one teacher on an array of charges including inciting a riot. At least four students from Marshall and 10 people from off-campus participated in the fights, according to San Francisco Unified School District spokeswoman Jackie Wright. 

The teacher arrested, 29-year-old Anthony Peebles, has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation by the district. Police said he was cited and released. 

Wright said the announcement of Montevirgen's departure came this morning at a meeting with parents of freshman and sophomores, who returned to school for a half-day counseling session. Wright said the outgoing principal, who has been with the district for some-19 years, would fill another spot within the district. 

On Tuesday, seniors and juniors and their parents also had a discussion and counseling session, which emphasized the importance of nonviolent conflict resolution along with coping skills. One more meeting is scheduled this evening for any parents who were previously unable to attend. 

Today will be the first day since the upheaval in which all students will be back in their classrooms with their teachers to tackle subjects like trigonometry and U.S. history.  

“It's back to the races,'” Wright said. 

She said a man named Frank Tom, who has served as an assistant superintendent for instructional operations at the district, is expected to take over as principal on an interim basis.

SACRAMENTO — A majority of California nursing homes fail to meet federal standards and nearly half have not met minimum nurse-staffing levels set by the state, a review by a health care group found. 

The California HealthCare Foundation also found that nursing homes have a very high turnover among workers, with 78 percent of nursing staff leaving their jobs from 2000 to 2001. The foundation released the 32-month study Tuesday. 

The foundation also launched a Web site that gives details on all 1,406 nursing homes in California. The site compares homes based on complaints, citations, nursing staff turnover and other characteristics. 

“I was surprised that things weren’t better than they were,” said lead researcher Charlene Harrington of University of California, San Francisco’s School of Nursing. “We just found a lot of quality problems in the nursing homes. It’s really pretty depressing.” 

The foundation used statistics from nine public databases, including inspections and financial reports. Among the report’s findings: 

— Nonprofit homes devote more staff attention to each patient and had far fewer deficiencies than for-profit competitors. 

— Hospital-based nursing facilities performed better than freestanding ones. 

— Better staffing generally meant better care. Nursing homes reporting 4.1 hours of care per resident per day provided significantly better services, including feeding assistance and helping residents out of bed.

SAN FRANCISCO — The West Coast port shutdown was not a calamity for all involved: food banks from San Francisco to New York City are finding pantries fat with tons of perishables that never made it to market. 

Sometimes it’s pallets of bananas from Ecuador that sat a little too long off the Southern California coast; sometimes it’s greens with slightly browned leaves; sometimes it’s milk with a use-by date fast approaching. 

In every case, the 10-day shutdown of 29 major Pacific ports that ended last week has proven a surprise boon to food pantries. With some produce wilting in the backlog on the docks, some companies are opting to donate rather than ship behind schedule. 

“To get this kind of poundage of fresh fruit is a real blessing,” said Darren Hoffman at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. “At least it didn’t go to waste.” 

That warehouse has already received a 16,000-pound shipment that included lettuce, cabbage and green onions — their leaves too tattered for grocery store display, but still perfectly edible. 

“Nutritionally, it’s fine,” Hoffman said. “You peel off the first leaf and bam, it looks like a million bucks.” 

On Wednesday, the food bank received 25,000 pounds — about 450 cases — of bananas from Del Monte. 

Los Angeles wasn’t alone. 

Truckloads of the bananas with a shelf life of about two weeks are chugging from Port Hueneme northwest of Los Angeles to San Francisco, New York City, Dallas, Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis and smaller cities in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Missouri, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Oklahoma. 

In all, Del Monte gave 50 truckloads — about 1,000 tons — of bananas, according to Susan Hofer, a spokeswoman with Chicago-based America’s Second Harvest, which coordinated the distribution. That single donation equaled nearly a quarter of all produce the nonprofit transported last month. 

With 30 truckloads already en route, America’s Second Harvest is finding the unexpected windfall has added unexpected costs that are straining its transportation budget. Sometimes truckers donate their services, Hofer said, but bananas are perishable and, “if it’s product that has to move, we have to pay.” 

In Seattle, a major grocery chain already donated around 250,000 pounds of dairy products including milk, yogurt and cottage cheese rather than risk it spoiling before it reached Alaska. 

The donation was particularly appreciated because, “protein is a very hard commodity to come by,” said Linda Nageotte, director of Food Lifeline, which supplies food banks in Seattle. 

The Oregon Food Bank also got a truckload of dairy products from Seattle’s docks. 

And what do the two sides locked in the labor dispute think of one fruit of their battle? 

Officials representing both dockworkers and shipping companies said they were happy someone was getting goods that might otherwise rot, and then blamed each other for the problem. 

The longshoremen’s union said that dockworkers had asked to move perishables during the 10-day lockout. 

“It’s an unintended consequence that charity is coming out of what is pure greed” from shipping companies, said Steve Stallone, spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. 

Joseph Miniace, president for the Pacific Maritime Association, said the donated produce seemed awfully expensive given that the shutdown had cost the U.S. economy billions. 

Miniace had one other thought. 

“Spread the cabbage out,” he said. “Keep everybody regular.” 

Associated Press Writer Peggy Andersen in Seattle contributed to this report.

SAN FRANCISCO — It’s a familiar story: generic upstarts shaking a long-established industry left vulnerable by expired patents on blockbuster products. 

This particular battle, though, is not being fought in the nation’s pharmacies, where giant drug companies’ profits are being co-opted by nimbler competitors offering generic — and much cheaper — versions of popular drugs. 

Instead, the fight has shifted to Sarabian Farms’ 200 acres of peaches, plums and nuts in California’s Central Valley — and the thousands of farms nationwide that use $6 billion worth of herbicides a year. 

With 70 percent of U.S. weed killer patents expected to expire by 2010, an increasing number of smaller competitors are racing to compete with behemoths such as Monsanto Co. and Dow Agrosciences for a share of that market. 

“Generic makers will never gain complete control of the market,” said agricultural chemical consultant Robert Ehn, who’s client roster includes generic companies. “But they will be big players.” 

Already, a patent on the world’s most popular herbicide — Monsanto Co.’s Roundup — has expired, forcing the St. Louis biotechnology company to slash prices dramatically to hang on to its dominant market share. 

Monsanto’s total sales last year fell one percent to $5.5 billion, due in part to the price drop. The company expects sales to be even more sluggish this year, though it also blames a Midwestern drought and Latin American fiscal crisis as aggravating factors. 

“The price erosion is expected to continue,” said Morgan Stanley analyst Leslie Ravitz. 

Monsanto has sued at least one generic competitor, accusing Chemical Product Technologies, which makes Clearout, of violating other Monsanto patents. The Georgia company countersued, accusing Monsanto of antitrust behavior. 

But nowhere is the fight nastier than in California, over oryzalin, an herbicide produced by Indiana-based Dow Agrosciences that is used by nut growers, fruit tree farmers and others to kill weeds such as crabgrass before they sprout. 

California, the nation’s most productive agricultural state, consumes half the oryzalin sold nationwide.

SACRAMENTO — The California Energy Commission and the California Power Authority have set up a program to distribute $1.25 million in grants for schools to install rooftop solar energy systems, officials said Wednesday. 

The money is from settlements reached between Attorney General Bill Lockyer and two energy companies with long-term contracts with the state. Calpine Energy Services agreed to pay $6 million and Constellation Power Source Inc. agreed to pay $2.5 million. 

Of that total, $2.75 million will be used for retrofitting schools, hospitals and other public buildings, Lockyer’s office said. The $1.25 million “Solar Schools” program will be funded by that money. 

More money could become available if Lockyer renegotiates additional long-term contracts with other energy companies. 

State energy officials also announced that nearly $2.4 million was awarded for five research projects on the production of electricity from California landfills, livestock farms and food processing and wastewater treatment plants. 

The “biogas” projects could take advantage of ample sources of the gas at landfills, dairies and swine farms. The power produced at these sites could be used to offset electricity at those sites, or could be sold to the grid. 

The Energy Commission estimates that biogas sites could have the potential to produce up to 240 megawatts. A megawatt is enough electricity for about 750 California homes.

SACRAMENTO — California is getting a $2.3 million federal grant to expand benefits and continue group crisis counseling for family members and survivors of last year’s terrorist attacks, officials said Wednesday. 

So far, the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board has received 490 Sept. 11-related claims and paid $1.6 million in medical bills, mental health counseling expenses, funeral and burial costs, and lost income compensation. The board also received 127 claims from members of the search-and-rescue teams sent to the attack sites. 

The board is allowing claims until the end of next year, extending the usual one-year deadline because of the nature of the attacks and because many potential claimants don’t know they are eligible. 

The new federal Anti-terrorism and Emergency Assistance Program money will let the board continue monthly regional support group meetings conducted by psychologists from the University of San Francisco Trauma Recovery Program. 

An initial federal grant that had been supporting the counseling will run out in December. 

“Each of the family members and survivors expressed how beneficial the counseling has been,” Gov. Gray Davis said in announcing the grant. “They have formed new, common bonds with each other, giving them strength.” 

Davis met with the families and survivors after the Sept. 11 anniversary ceremony in Sacramento last month. 

Legislation signed immediately after the attacks provides up to $10,000 in mental health treatment for search and rescue workers; adds grandparents, grandchildren, mothers-in-law and fathers-in-law to the list of family members eligible for assistance; lets relatives seek help even if the victim isn’t a California resident; and gave counties $2.575 million for trauma and tolerance counseling after the attacks. 

The board and the California State Bar Association also offered victims free legal assistance, and the board created a group Web site and newsletter for the families and survivors to share their experiences and get benefits updates. 

The board also appointed five “case managers” to coordinate benefits and services for families and survivors, search and rescue workers, and hate crime victims.

LOS ANGELES — An Orange County tourist who narrowly avoided being caught in the deadly Bali nightclub bombing that killed his friend returned to California on Wednesday, breaking into sobs as people told him, “It’s good to have you back.” 

John Frederick Parodi Jr. was in Indonesia with surfing buddies Steven Cabler and Steve Webster to celebrate Webster’s 41st birthday when Webster was killed along with nearly 200 other people in Saturday’s explosion. Cabler, 42, was injured. Parodi, who decided to return to his hotel early and was not in the club when it blew up, was not hurt. 

His eyes brimming with tears, Parodi told reporters at Los Angeles International Airport that the three had befriended two Indonesian men who rallied to help when the blast occurred.

OAKLAND — Critics of a ballot initiative authorizing 100 new police officers to fight Oakland’s rising murder rate are slamming the plan as a misguided and costly approach. 

“This is not going to really solve any problems,” said former Black Panther Bobby Seale, who recently moved back to Oakland and appeared at a news conference Tuesday denouncing the initiative. 

Earlier, another group called Oakland Community Organizations also expressed concern about ballot Measure FF. Members stopped short of taking a position for or against it, saying they want assurances the money will go for such things as neighborhood patrols and a program to close drug houses. 

“We want to be sure that the community has some accountability. That the things that are promised will get done and that we will see some results on the streets and in our neighborhoods,” said the Rev. Valerie Miles-Tribble of the community group. 

Mayor Jerry Brown, who came up with the plan, said the need for more police is a “simple question of arithmetic.” The force, which now has around 780 positions, is getting 800,000 calls for service each year. 

“The fact is there are not enough police in Oakland to give the service that the people of Oakland are demanding,” he said. 

Oakland’s murder total reached 90 on Monday with the discovery of a man shot to death in his car. Last year, that tally was 84 for a city of 406,000 people — a 5 percent increase from the year before. Still, the 2001 total was Oakland’s fourth-lowest in 30 years. 

Voters are being asked to approve four ballot measures, three raising utility, hotel and parking taxes by about $70 million over five years and the fourth, Measure FF, endorsing the hiring of more officers and spending more on crime prevention programs. Critics question the wisdom of spending more money on a department that has been rocked by the corruption trial of three fired police officers, known as “The Riders.” They are accused of beating suspects and falsifying reports. 

But Brown defended Oakland’s police department as one of the best in California, saying officials are working to root out those problem officers. 

Seale, who appeared at the recently opened School for Social Justice & Community Development alongside principal Wilson Riles Jr., said money for Measure FF would be better spent on creating job opportunities and improving education and recreation programs. 

“We need a police department that will work with our community, but more than that we need the kinds of programs that will provide job opportunities and build our economic base,” said Riles, a former mayoral candidate. 

But Brown said the city, county and state already is spending tens of millions of dollars on social programs. 

“It’s not that we don’t have enough programs. We have too many people who won’t take advantage of the existing programs,” Brown said. “You have to separate out fact from ideology and the facts are that the people of Oakland are demanding, through their service calls, more and more police service.” 

City Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente said city officials are sympathetic to concerns that the new tax money be spent wisely, but it’s important that Measure FF pass. 

“In no way shape or form anybody believes it is the total answer. But we need those 100 police officers,” he said. 

Standing near De La Fuente was Raul Jimenez, a retired warehouse foreman whose son, 30-year-old Raul Jr., was shot to death in a road rage incident. Jimenez, who is not sure whether he’s ready to vote for the police ballot initiative, has worked on neighborhood crime-fighting issues for 15 years. 

“The bullet went through his head from side to side,” said Jimenez, shaking his head slightly. 

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Six men were indicted Monday on charges of supporting terrorism by training at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden declared that there “is going to be a fight against Americans,” authorities said. 

A federal grand jury handed up a two-count indictment of six Americans of Yemeni descent from the Buffalo suburb of Lackawanna with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. An arraignment was scheduled Tuesday. 

Arrested and charged just days after the Sept. 11 anniversary, the men could get up to 15 years in prison if convicted under a 1996 law that prohibits giving money, weapons or other tangible support to foreign groups deemed terrorist organizations by the government. 

Only Sahim Alwan, 29, was granted bond of $600,000 at a hearing two weeks ago. Arrangements for his release were still being worked out. 

Lawyers for the other five — Yahya Goba, 25; Yasein Taher, 25; Faysal Galab, 26; Shafal Mosed, 24; Mukhtar al-Bakri, 22 — filed notice last week that they intend to appeal the denial of bail. 

All of the men have professed their innocence; four of the six deny ever going to Afghanistan or to the training camp. 

Prosecutors maintain the men were awaiting orders from bin Laden’s group to carry out an attack in the United States. But in a statement Monday, U.S. Attorney Michael Battle emphasized that “the investigation has failed to establish any immediate threat to the western New York area.” 

“I was happy that Mr. Battle chose to include that statement,” said William Clauss, a federal public defender representing Goba. “It corroborates what we believe we know, which is that our clients are not dangerous to the community.”

BERKELEY – Officials with the University of California, Berkeley are reported Saturday that the school’s ROTC, or Reserved Office Training Corps, programs have seen a surge in enrollment this year. 

About 35 freshmen are currently enrolled in the Navy program – a 75 percent increase from last year, the university reported. Last year’s Army ROTC program had eight freshman. Twelve are enrolled this fall, bringing the Army’s total up to 48. The Air Force program has seen its total enrollment jump from 45 students last year to 62 this year. 

The Marine Corps Program, which operates with the Navy’s under NROTC, has five freshmen this year and that's “an extraordinary leap, considering that last year we had three people in the whole program,” says Marine Corps Lt. Col. Michael Broihier. 

What’s more, UC Berkeley officials say, is that many of the new recruits don’t exactly fit the stereotype of an ROTC student. Sophomore Anna Elzeftawy, for example, sports a stud in her nose. The mechanical engineering major has a goal to reach by joining the military program. 

“I want to fly and eventually be an astronaut,” she said. 

Both university and ROTC officials chalk up the spike in enrollment to the dwindling economy, since the military often helps pay for enlistees’ educations. 

“With the bad economy, families are finding themselves with less money for college,” said Capt. Lee Rosenberg, commanding officer of the NROTC and UC Berkeley’s military affairs program director. 

Another reason is the increase in patriotism since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. 

“September 11 was very frightening for people and many of them wanted to do something,” Rosenberg said. 

Some might find it surprising that the military program is so popular at a campus best known for its activism and anti-war protests, but that doesn't bother the ROTC members. 

“It’s not about who's patriotic and who’s not,” said Mike Seltzer, a former AFROTC student who graduated from Cal in May. “I think Berkeley's very patriotic in the original sense of the word... true patriotism is to voice your opinion and question things, not blindly follow your leaders.”

This holiday season, nearly a thousand of Berkeley’s neediest families will find a check in the mail. 

The gift is courtesy of the Berkeley Holiday Fund, which after 90 years of giving has mastered the art of streamlined charity. 

Instead of hiring solicitors, or conducting fundraising drives, next month a handful of volunteers will mail donation requests to Berkeley residents. The money received will then be allocated to deserving recipients selected by 24 Berkeley nonprofit charities. 

In all about $40,000 will be donated in checks totaling between $25 and $125 per family, based on need. 

The city picks up postage charges for the checks, and Union Bank of California cashes them for recipients without a bank account. Thus, except for the cost of making and mailing the request letter, the fund has no expenses. 

“We try to keep it as simple as possible so people know the money they give us will go directly to people they want it to go to,” said co-chairman Andrew Williams 

While a check has never been considered the warmest of holiday gifts, fund organizers say it is the most dignified form of charity. 

“A check is a symbol of respect,” said co-chairman Linda Williams. “Just because someone doesn’t have money doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the right to make a choice about what to buy.” 

Kevin Williams, policy director at Berkeley Youth Alternatives, which helps at-risk youth agrees. 

“People light up when they get the check,” he said. “It gives them a freedom of choice.” 

Williams will get to select between 10 and 15 participants from his charity to receive the gifts. He said he could easily pick 100, but that it isn’t difficult to decide which people are the most in need. 

“It’s usually pretty clear who needs the gift the most,” he said. 

Throughout the process, fund volunteers remain anonymous. Because all gifts are mailed, the volunteers never get a chance to meet the people they are helping. 

All they know about the recipients is a brief description on a request card filled out by the sponsoring nonprofit. 

From the descriptions, volunteers note that many donations go to grandparents who are raising grandchildren and single mothers who are attending school. Last year’s recipients included an Afghan refugee family with four children. 

The pool of donors are just as diverse, said Linda Williams. “Our donors come from all over Berkeley,” she said. “A lot of people who don’t have a lot themselves choose to help.” 

Anyone interested in giving to the Berkeley Holiday Fund can mail a check to PO Box 9779 Berkeley, CA 94709.

By John J. Lumpkin  

The Associated Press 

WASHINGTON – New al-Qaida strikes may be imminent on U.S. soil or overseas, CIA Director George J. Tenet warned Thursday as he defended his agency’s counterterrorism efforts to lawmakers. 

“You must make the assumption that al-Qaida is in an execution phase and intends to strike us both here and overseas,” Tenet said, noting recent attacks in Kuwait, Indonesia and off Yemen. “That’s unambiguous as far as I’m concerned.” 

Tenet’s comments came during an extraordinary session as he joined FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III and National Security Agency chief Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden to answer sharp questions from the House and Senate intelligence committees, in the culmination of five weeks of public hearings on missed warnings of the Sept. 11 attacks. 

The hearing also led to new revelations regarding al-Qaida’s planning for the Sept. 11 attacks. In a written report declassified Thursday, Tenet suggests that Osama bin Laden himself may have suggested the hijackers use large planes to strike the World Trade Center. 

He also said al-Qaida will try to attack again. 

“Based on what we have learned about the 11 September, an attempt to conduct another attack on U.S. soil is certain,” he said. 

Tenet said he was meeting later Thursday with Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge. He said Ridge has already taken defensive measures “in specific areas where the intelligence was most credible and in sectors where we’re most worried about.” He didn’t identify them. 

But he said the current situation is comparable with what existed in the United States in the summer before the Sept. 11 attacks. 

“You must make the analytical judgment that the possibility exists that people are planning to attack you inside the United States multiple simultaneous attacks. We are the enemy, we’re the people they want to hurt inside this country,” he said. 

The nationwide alert level remains code yellow “significant risk of terrorist attacks” because officials do not have specific details on where and when an attack may occur, Homeland Security spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. Yellow is the third-highest of five threat levels. 

Animated and sometimes annoyed, Tenet offered his most detailed public accounting to date of what the CIA did to stop bin Laden’s terrorist network before the Sept. 11 attacks. He said his agency has saved thousands of lives by successfully stopping terrorist attacks. But he also admitted some mistakes were made before Sept. 11. 

Tenet said the CIA was convinced months before the Sept. 11 hijackings that Osama bin Laden was plotting to kill large numbers of Americans, but the intelligence available was “maddeningly short” of details that could have prevented the attack. 

“The most ominous reporting hinting at something large was also the most vague,” he said. 

In weeks of hearings, the CIA and FBI have been criticized for not making fighting terrorism a high enough priority before the attacks and for failing to share information that might have led to the terrorist plot. 

Tenet struck a defiant tone from the outset. Asked to limit his remarks to 10 minutes, he spoke for 50. When Sen. Bob Graham, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, urged him to abbreviate his remarks, Tenet refused. 

“I just have to say I’ve been waiting a year,” he said. 

Tenet highlighted agency successes, many of them long secret, including the thwarting of planned attacks in Yemen, Jordan and elsewhere in the Middle East. 

Regarding criticism that the CIA should have given more warning that terrorists intended to use planes as weapons, Tenet said in seven years the agency received, and passed on, all 12 reports of such terrorist planning, even those from dubious sources. In comparison, counterterrorism officials received 20 times as many reports of potential car bombings, he said. 

Tenet also said the CIA lost 18 percent of its budget and 16 percent of its personnel in the post-Cold War cutbacks. Training new intelligence officers to replace them will take time, he said. 

But even before he spoke, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Whip, said “it’s not enough to say we didn’t have enough money or enough people. No one does. That’s always the case. It’s about establishing priorities.” 

Tenet clashed with the committees in an area where he admitted mistakes: the CIA’s failure to put two future Sept. 11 hijackers on watch lists preventing their entry into the United States after they were first associated with al-Qaida, in early 2000. They weren’t placed on the lists until a few weeks before the attacks. 

Tenet said the CIA had alerted the FBI in January 2000 that one of the hijackers, Khalid al-Mihdhar, had a U.S. visa; the inquiry staff director said no evidence has been found showing the FBI was told about the visa.

BAGRAM, Afghanistan — U.S. troops are giving confiscated weapons and ammunition to warlords in Afghanistan, a practice that critics say strengthens private militias and undermines attempts to establish a national army. 

The national army was envisioned as a key to the stability of the fledgling government of President Hamid Karzai, which is under threat from powerful local warlords and wields little influence outside the capital, Kabul. But many of those same warlords are crucial to helping America fight the war on terror. 

“If you have forces that are in contact with the enemy, or subject to being in contact with the enemy, they need to have adequate weapons,” Col. Roger King, the spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said this week. He added that many of the warlords are nominally aligned with the central government anyway, though not formally part of the fledgling army. 

Every week, U.S. troops combing eastern Afghanistan find huge weapons caches. On Friday, the military uncovered an arsenal in a warehouse in Khost and filled 35 trucks with everything from 120mm rockets to anti-tank guns. 

Militia fighters traveling with U.S. troops got first crack at seized weapons and ammunition, followed by other nearby forces, King said. 

“If there’s something left after that that’s in good condition, then that comes back to the Afghan national army,” he said. Much of the ammunition is in bad condition, he said, and is destroyed by U.S. troops. 

King said he did not know how many weapons had been given to the militias and how many to the national army.