Last week of our correspondents in the field, Elizabeth Pfeffer, had an item on East Bay Outtakes about tensions escalating at UC Berkeley between members of certain Jewish and Palestinian student groups. She learned of four incidents of hate graffiti and vandalism on the Cal campus or nearby in the past few weeks.

Since reporting the so-called tension between pro-Palestine and pro-Israel students at Cal, leaders of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) have denounced allegations by Zionist student group Tikvah that its members were responsible for recent incidents of anti-Semitic hate graffiti on campus.

The Oakland Tribune made several attempts to contact members of SJP before it first reported the situation.

Organizer Yaman Salahi SJP sent letters of solidarity to some Jewish leaders on campus, and said that SJP’s Jewish members were also offended by the vandalism, some depicting swastikas and stars of David with equal signs.

“Had anybody from Tikvah attempted to approach members of our organization, they would have been met with an immediate condemnation of the act, its message, as well as an opportunity to clarify where we stand and why,” Salahi said.

Kifah Shah, an SJP member and student senator says the organization’s criticism of Israeli policy is not related to religion, but student senator and Tikvah member Jon Moghtader says the way SJP expresses their views is sometimes perceived as anti-Semitic.

To no avail, Tikvah has urged Cal’s chancellor and dean of students to create guidelines that would lessen confusion between free speech and hate speech.

“The chancellor should condemn any and all hate speech which creates an unsafe climate for students on campus,” Shah says. “But the chancellor should not stifle debate on campus by marginalizing students or organizations who have a certain set of political beliefs.”

One of our correspondents in the field, Elizabeth Pfeffer, comes to East Bay Outtakes with this report about tensions escalating at UC Berkeley between members of certain Jewish and Palestinian student groups.

In the last few weeks, there have been at least four incidents of hate graffiti and vandalism on the Cal campus or nearby, Gabe Weiner, a former Cal student and campus coordinator for Israel Peace Initiative, told our reporter.

Weiner said swastikas and Jewish symbols were written on a poster promoting Israel-Palestine peace that was on a bus shelter next to the Eshleman Hall, the student government building. The vandalism occurred last month during a student senate meeting at which Israel was discussed, students have said.

Police have taken a report, but so far no arrests have been made in connection with defacing the poster, which was part of a campaign to humanize Israeli issues by Bluestar PR.

Just last week, an inflammatory anti-Israel statement was discovered on The Star of David Bridge on West Campus, in addition to other cases of hate graffiti and anti-Semitic drawings on bus shelter posters.

Campus police are investigating the incidents and Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau sent out a campus wide e-mail condemning the vandalism and calling it an “anti-Semitic obscenity.”

According to John Moghtader, 20, the student senator who spoke about Israel during the meeting the night the bus shelter sign was vandalized, the Israel-Palestine conflict has been dividing students at Cal since he was a freshman.

Moghtader says there is a certain pro-Palestine group on campus that he suspects is responsible for the vandalism, due to their alleged history of publicly comparing Nazis and Jews. He said that group is Students for Justice in Palestine.

“They have a pattern of tying in anti-Semitism with supposed criticism of Israeli policy,” he says.

No representatives from this group were available for comment.

According to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, comparing Nazis and Jews is hate speech.

Moghtader says he has grown ttired of Cal administrators treating anti-Semitic hate speech as an opportunity for dialogue rather than discipline.

But isn’t that always the way at Cal?

The David Brower Center, a green building named in honor of Brower, the first president of the Sierra Club, has been awarded a $1 million challenge grant from The Kresge Foundation.

The grant will be given to the Brower Center when it raises its final $2.4 million to support its $30 million capital campaign, center officials said.

The center is slated to open in May 2009.

This grant is among the largest gifts center has received to build its four-story, 50,000 square foot building, which will be used for environmental education and social change organizations and programs.

“The awarding of this grant salutes your efforts to improve conditions and advance opportunities in your community,” said Rip Rapson, president of The Kresge Foundation in a statement. Kresge is a private, $3.9 billion foundation. “We must partner with nonprofit organizations such as yours if we are to pursue our grant-making vision. You enable our work as much as we try to enable yours.”

In addition to housing offices of environmental and progressive organizations, the center will have a 180-seat theatre, an art gallery, meeting rooms and an organic restaurant. The public will be able to utilize many of the spaces and attend exhibitions, events and programs year-round, said executive director Amy Tobin.

To date, more than 80 donors have pledged gifts to center. Major contributors include Peter K. Buckley, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, and the Lewis Foundation, which all donated $1 million or more to the project.

Using recycled building materials and energy-saving technologies, the center will be a model of sustainability with a photovoltaic roof, green architecture, earth-friendly retailers and organizations.

Berkeley Police and the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce are reminding merchants to beware of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) impersonators.

Last month, there was a group of three people who posed as OSHA inspectors and went into five businesses on San Pablo Ave, demanding to see and inspect labor posters to verify that they were up to date.  These impersonators did not have any paperwork or identification that affiliated them with OSHA.

Once they examined the posters, they told the employees that they were out of date and between $50 and $125 in cash as a fine, which they claimed was considerable less than the usual OSHA penalty.

None of the businesses cooperated with the impostors and when they demanded to see ID, the suspects said they had just given all their cards away, and then, walked out of the businesses.

Please remind merchants that any OSHA inspector coming into their business will have OSHA Identification, and paperwork that the inspector has prepared prior to the inspection. 

What’s more, OSHA inspectors will not ask for payment; they will issue citations. 

A business can refuse an initial inspection and the OSHA inspector would have to return with a warrant.

If a merchant comes across someone who they believe is impersonating an inspector, they should call Berkeley Police at 981-5900 right away.

The U.S. Paralympic women’s goalball team, made up of six women from around the country, including Jessica “Jessie” Lorenz from Kensington, has taken the gold medal in Beijing. The team beat Denmark last week in sudden overtime to play China for the gold.  Then on Satruday they beat China, 6-5, in a
sold-out Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium to win the gold medal.

 The USA led most of the first half but went into halftime tied at 3. The second half saw China put constant pressure on the USA and the relentless attacks created Chinese leads of 4-3 and 5-4. The USA kept answering and Asya Miller, who scored all 6 of the USA goal found the net for the final time with 40 seconds left. 

Lorenz, who I profiled in the Oakland Tribune and the Contra Costa Times last month, (http://www.contracostatimes.com/alamedacounty/ci_10240424 is still in Beijing, but she posted a note on Facebook to her suppoerts.

“Nothing is like standing on that medal podium and hearing our national anthem play,” she wrote. ”One oddity with having all visually impaired people on the podium was our challenge in finding the appropriate direction to gaze in to show the flag our respect. One of our players spotted it though- so there we were, left hands on heart, singing along, most  of us with tears in our eyes- for all the world to see that the USA has the best woman’s goalball team in the world.”

“I believe that athletes with visual impairments challenge society because we become what many people feel is impossible. To be the best in the world at my sport was what drove me to continue to play- and now here we are- at the top of that podium.” She said she remains in a Golden Haze.

While 4,000 disabled athletes from 145 countries have been competing in 20 sports during the games this month, the games are not broadcast on TV so you may not have been following them. They were broadcast on http://beijing.sports.pressakey.net/schedulePST.php. In addition to goalball, the games, which end with closing ceremonies on Wednesday, have included swimming, rowing, wheelchair basketball, powerlifting and wheelchair tennis.

First introduced as a demonstration event at the 1972 Paralympic Games during in Toronto, goalball’s first championship was held in 1978. Goalball became a permanent sport in the Paralympics at the 1980 games in Anaheim. But goalball’s roots go back much further.

Goalball was invented in 1946 by Austrian Hanz Lorenzen and German Sepp Reindle as a way to rehabilitate blind post-World War II veterans, according to Internet information on the sport. It is now played in 112 countries.

Players attempt to throw the ball over the goal line at the opposite end of the court, thus scoring a goal. Defenders try to gain possession of the ball by putting themselves between the thrower and the goal. When a defender gains possession, it is then his or her team’s turn to throw at the opposing team’s goal. The only time play stops is after a goal has been scored, or if the ball crosses a sideline.

The women’s team (above) is made up  of Lorenz:  Jen Armbruster, who splits her time between Colorado Springs, Colo., and Birmingham, Ala.; Lisa Banta of Boonton, N.J., and Tucson, Ariz.; Jaclyn Barnes of Wadsworth, Ill.; Asya Miller of Lapeer, Mich., and Colorado Springs; and Robyn Theryoung of Clarkston, Mich., and Colorado Springs. Except for one woman, it is the same team that competed in Athens and brought home the silver medal. What’s next for the team?  We’ll check in with Lorenz again.

The disabled community in Berkeley is giant, supportive of each other, active and… creative.

In case you missed it: last week, after 13 years of work, construction on the Ed Roberts Campus _ a one-stop service and transportation center for disabled people _ started. It should be open in 18 months. Jessie Lorenz, who plays goalball in Berkeley, and lives close by in Kensington, is currently competing in the Paralympic Games in Beijing. The team has already two games and hopes to bring home the gold medal.

This Saturday, Sept. 13, the Adult Day Services Network of Alameda County is hosting its third annual benefit to support frail elderly people and adults with disabilities. The benefit, which is called Positively Ageless _ A Celerbation of Art & Aging, will be held from  5:30 to 9:00 p.m., at 1717 Fourth Street in Berkeley. The benefit will raise funds to help elderly adults and those with disabilities. Wine and cheese tasting starts at 5:30 p.m.

The event will feature a juried art show, art created by participants in adult day programs across Alameda County, and hand-crafted quilts.  There will be a silent auction, a raffle, appetizers, wine and desserts. 

The cost for the wine tasting and event is $60. The cost for the event only is $40. Proceeds will go directly to the nonprofit organization which provides health services, social interaction and creative activities for older and disabled adults.

The daytime programs stimulate minds and bodies while giving caregivers a much needed break, agency officials said. Founded in 1993, Adult Day Services Network of Alameda County is an association of 12 agencies that collectively serve more than 1,700 people, a majority low-income, yearly. The idea is to give people programs that help them remain living at home and not in a nursing facility.

For more information on the Positively Ageless event and an art preview visit www.adult-day-services.org or contact us at (510) 883-0874.

East Bay Outtakes is back from a short break and since I  last wrote about two brothers biking 200 miles to raise money for Doctor’s Without Borders before heading out on a 300-mile bike ride of my own across New Mexico, I thought it fitting to return with an item about… biking.

On Wednesday, 18 current and retired members of the Berkeley Police Department and UC Berkeley Police and a few guests will ride 216 miles from the Berkeley police station to Lake Tahoe for the sake of charity.  The riders are off duty and they use their own vacation time to participate.

The Turkey Ride was hatched 25 years ago when three Berkeley officers rode their bikes from Berkeley to South Lake Tahoe. During the venture _ and with lots of time on their hands _ they talked about developing a community service  project that could involve other officers.

They ultimately decided that they would raise money to buy food and give it to needy Berkeley families during the November and December holiday season.

In 1985, the inaugural Turkey Ride took place with seven officers riding more than 200 miles in two and a half days. The group raised enough money to buy 250 turkeys and other food items for needy families. 

Since then, support for the Turkey Ride has grown with riders raising enough money to buy more than 500 turkeys and food baskets each year. Officers submit names of families in need and then assemble the baskets on the lawn outside the police station. Police deliver them to families throughout the city _ in the patrol cars, not on their bikes. Outtakes wishes them luck on the road.

Last year, the U.S. component of the group raised about $152 million, representing about 20 percent of the network’s private funding, according to information from the group’s Web site. So even charity bike rides like the one Nick and Kyle are doing help raise funds for the nonprofit.

The Hodder brothers were on the road on Friday, on the third day of their four-day bike trip and could not be reached for comment. But Outtakes will check back with them to find out how much money they raised and how they are feeling after 200 miles on the road.

Doctors Without Borders is an international medical humanitarian organization created by doctors and journalists in France in 1971. The organization provides aid in nearly 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect or catastrophe, primarily due to wars, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care or natural disasters.

Meanwhile, I’m off on a bike trip of my own _ to New Mexico. I’ll be back after Labor Day. Keep sending in those news tips and blog ideas. KB

In the spring of 1994, Itamar Moses was a teen-age journalist working on the school newspaper at Berkeley High School. Now, at the ripe old age of 31, he’s a nationally recognized playwright who has produced five plays, including “Yellowjackets” which opens at Berkeley Repertory Theatre on Sept. 3.

The play, set around the halls of Berkeley High School, focuses on what happens when the school newspaper publishes a story about an on-campus fight, including the fact that the boys allegedly involved in the brawl are African American.

The fact that race is included at all angers students and teachers and there’s a  proposed boycott of the school newspaper, some reasoning with the teachers by the editor in chief (a character based loosely on Moses himself) and an examination of what happens when race and class collide.

The events in the play are based on some actual events that took place when Moses was in school,  he said.

On Monday, Moses, who lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, a place he calls “the new Paris,’’ was back in his native Berkeley to talk about his two loves _ play-writing and journalism _ with a group of 25 aspiring writers and journalists from 14 schools across the Bay Area. Moses wants to encourage more young people to take an interest in theater and writing.

`It’s important to make (young people) aware that theater is and can be by, for and about young people,’’ he said Tuesday.

The half-day workshop also included a panel of journalists, including freelance theater critic Chad Jones, (http://www.theaterdogs.net/ )San Francisco education Chronicle reporter Nanette Asimov and yours truly speaking to teens about why journalism is important in the community, how it’s changing, what constituents editorializing, where journalists find their stories and other trade secrets we rarely divulge.

In a time when nearly 6,000 newspaper journalists nationwide have lost their jobs in recent months, it was inspiring for me _ a 15-year veteran of newspapering _ to see 16 and 17 year olds pondering a career in the print and Web media.

The workshop was the brainchild of Genevieve Michel, a 19-year-old Albany High School graduate who is headed into her second year at New York  University. She’s studying arts management and politics, a major she created herself.

Before she left for college she did an internship at Berkeley Rep and when she returned for a summer job, she was charged with finding some programs to link to the play “Yellowjackets.”

“ We wanted to get a chance to bring kids to the school of theater who wouldn’t normally come,’’ she said. “Because the play is about high school journalism, it seemed like a good chance to bring (professional) journalists and students together to talk about ways journalism can be used as a tool to change the community,’’ she said.

Michel said the teen journalists said they learned a thing or two, and at the end of the day they decided to form a network to stay in touch and share ideas during the upcoming school year. Who knows, maybe one of them will break a story that will someday become a play.