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Thursday • June 25, 2015 • Vol XV, Edition 268

TRADE LEGISLATIONNATION PAGE 9

ADD A SUMMERY SPLASH TO DECOR

SUBURBAN LIVING PAGE 19

GOP-LED CONGRESS HANDS THE PRESIDENT MAJOR WIN ON TRADE

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Citizens seek zoning repeal

Budget signed by Gov. Brown offersbillions more for California students

By Samantha WeigelDAILY JOURNAL STAFF

A group of Belmont residentsgathered at City Hall Wednesdayto deliver signatures they say willforce the council’s hand to eitherrescind controversial amendments

to th e city’s zoning ordinances orgive residents a chance to vote on

it in November.For nearly a year, the City

Council has worked to update itsZoning and Tree ordinances itsmembers say will ease the abilityfor residents to remodel theirhomes and account for growingfamilies.

But members of the AskBelmont Citizens group say few

were aware of the changes an d theprocess was rushed, so they wereprompted to gather nearly 2,200signatures that will require moretime be spent considering theamendments.

If the council op ts to rescind theordinances, it would be prohibited

from bringin g them up again for atleast a year. If it opts to place a

potential referendum on theNovember ballot and it’sapproved, it must wait a year untilproposing the changes again.

Approved May 26, t he nearly 40amendments include creating atiered review system with modestadditions approved by staff and

new homes considered by thePlanning Commission, easing

parking requirements, increasingthe maximum home size for largelots and changing the definitionof protected trees.

“There are actually parts that Iagree with, but I think overall, theimpact is detrimental to Belmontand what I have h eard other peop le

Belmont residents fight against City Council’s amendments, want place on ballot

Educators laudspending planBy Austin Walsh

DAILY JOURNAL STAFF

A spending p lan rife with moneyfor public schools signed by Gov.Jerry Brown drew the praise of edu-cation officials, who commendedthe direction to allocate billionsmore dollars to benefit publicschool students.

Brown signed the $115.4 bil-lion budget Wednesday, June 24,officially enacting the agreementreached between lawmakers latelast week.

The budget for the 2015-16 fis-cal year sets aside $68.4 billionfor kindergarten through 12th-grade and community colleges stu-dents, which education officials

recognize as a boon for an educa-

tion system

that had suf-fered leanyears throughthe GreatRecession.

S t a t eSuperintendentT o mTorlakson, ina prepareds t a t e m e n t ,

lauded the spending strategy, as itraises education funding closer tolevels state schools enjoyed priorto 2008.

“This state budget represents asign ificant step forward for educa-tion in California with a much-

San Mateo County HarborDistrict fights to stay intactBoard of Commissioners prep responseto recommendation it be dissolvedBy Samantha Weigel

DAILY JOURNAL STAFF

Fighting for its existence, theSan Mateo County Harbor Districtand its Board of Commissionersare preparing a respon se to a coun-ty oversight agency’s report rec-ommending the tumultuous groupbe dissolved.

The commissio n met Tuesday todiscuss its response to the LocalAgency Formation Commission,or LAFCo, draft municipal servic-es review that suggests the countyabsorb the majority of the special

district’s duties.LAFCo is considering the dis-trict with a range of responsibili -

By Joseph JaafariDAILY JOURNAL CORRESPONDENT

There is something calmingabout watching Gordon Deegprune his azaleas. The tree, whichactually is a bush, is one of Deeg’smore prized bonsai art pieces andwas shown earlier this month atthe annual bonsai show at the SanMateo Garden Center.

“It’s a bit fried,” he said, as hecontin ued to pull off wrinkled bitsof flower from the side of th e tree.

With every pinch and pull, the

leftover stamen would hang off thebranches and droop, giving thelook of tinsel on a very tinyChristmas tree — which is fittingbecause Deeg, himself, looks a bitlike Santa Claus.

He’s a graying man with a thickwhite beard. By hands that havethe strength to tightly twist cop-per wire around tree branches, heuses a soft touch to handledwarfish trees that look like theycould be blown away with a smallgust of wind.

Deeg’s Atherton backyard haswell over a dozen rows lined with

tiny elms, junipers and redwoodsalong with a bleacher of smallertrees under 8 inch es, called shohi ntrees. And even though maintain-ing the trees has compromised histime, which Deeg said is a full-time position, there is a pull tobonsai trees that Deeg can’tshake.

“The problem with bonsai isthat you get one, then you get twoand then you go to bed at night andwake up and there are three — youdon’t know where it comes from,”

The art of bonsaiIntricacies of creating the perfect tree is complex

JOSEPH JAAFARI/DAILY JOURNAL

Bonsai master Gordon Deeg tends to a bonsai tree. He said tending to the miniature trees is a calling.

See ZONING, Page 8

See BUDGET, Page 20

See HARBOR, Page 8See BONSAI, Page 20

See page

Inside

Governor signsbudget withanti-poverty efforts

BORTOLIN’S NINERBIS PACE POST 82

SPORTS PAGE 11

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California monk suspected of knifing fellow monk charged

OAKLAND — Authorities say aBuddhist monk has been arrested andcharged with attempted murder follow-ing a recent stabbing of another monkin a San Francisco Bay Areamonastery.

Authorities say 30-year-oldSokphanna Phen admitted stabbing 6 6-year-old Mahamonirath Pinn multipletimes in the face and head with twokitchen knives at an East Oaklandmonastery last Tuesday.

Pinn was being treated at an Oaklandhospital.

Officer Bradley Miller says Phen toldpolice he was angry with the headmonk for his disciplinary tactics.

Police say Phen, who was arrestedlast Thursday at the East Bay home of relatives, has also been identified bythe v ictim. He was charged Monday.

If convicted, he faces life in prisonwith the possibility of parole, authori-ties said. He is being held without bail.He was not available for commentTuesday.

California officer shoots policedog after it bites his hand

RICHMOND — A San Francisco BayArea police officer shot and seriouslyinjured a pol ice K-9 after the dog bit h ishand.

The sho oti ng happ ened Tuesday

morning in a parking at the RichmondPolice Department, about 15 milesnorth of San Francisco.

Richmond police Sgt. NicoleAbetkov says th e dog had been ins ide apatrol vehicle but somehow got out andattacked the officer, who was in streetclothes on his way to work. The officershot th e dog once.

The dog’s handler was inside thepolice station at th e time.

The officer was taken to a hospitalfor treatment. The dog, a BelgianMalinois, is reported in stable condi-

tion after being taken t o a veterinarian.

Seven tons of drugsseized in Southern California

SAN DIEGO — Border Patrol agentshave seized more than seven tons of marijuana and other drugs hidden intrucks and cars stopped at SouthernCalifornia stations.

Authorities say the largest haul —13, 656 pounds of marijuana — was dis-covered last Friday in a truck crossinginto the U.S. from Mexico at the OtayMesa cargo port in San Diego.

Authorities say an imaging systemfound anomalies in the trailer, whichturned out to contain hundreds of wrapped packages of marijuana. The

driver was arrested and the truck seized.From Friday through Sunday, author-ities also seized more than 1,000pounds of marijuana, methampheta-mine, cocaine and heroin hidden inother vehicles stopped at various

Southern California locations. Some of the drugs were stashed in fuel tanks,mufflers and dashboards.

Two killed when truck plowsinto California home, sets fire

CARUTHERS — A truck crashed intoa California home and set it ablaze,killi ng two people, including th e driv-er, authorities said.

Michelle Willis, 55, and the as-yetunidentified male truck driver diedMonday, Fresno County Deputy

Coroner Kelly Matlock told The FresnoBee.

Property records show Willis ownsthe house in Caruthers, about 15 milessouth of Fresno.

Friends and neighb ors to ld the news-paper Willis had been a secretary atCaruthers High School and had recentlybeen promoted. The Caruthers HighSchool website lists her as the princi-pal’s secretary. The school was closedTuesday.

Investigators believe the truckcaught fire when fuel leaked after thecrash and spread the flames to the two-story home.

Neighbo rs say they heard explosio nsafter the crash and tried to rescue Willi sbut it was too h ot.

“She says ‘Help me! Help me!’ Andthere was another explosion, and shesays ‘I’m on fire!”’ said Loni Kozera,who lives across t he street. “Then therewas another explosion and thensilence.”

FOR THE RECORD2 Thursday • June 25, 2015 THE DAILY JOURNAL

The San Mateo Daily Journal800 S. Claremont St., Suite 210, San Mateo, CA 94402

Publisher: Jerry Lee Editor in Chief: Jon Mays [email protected] [email protected]

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As a public service,the Daily Journal prints obituaries of approximately 200 words or less with a photo one time on the date of the family’s choosing.To submit obituaries,emailinformation along with a jpeg photo to [email protected] obituaries are edited for style,clarity,length and grammar.If you would like to have an obituary printedmore than once,longer than 200 words or without editing,please submit an inquiry to our advertising department at [email protected].

Celebrity chefAnthony Bourdainis 59.

This Day in History

Thought for the Day

1950

War broke out in Korea as forces fromthe communist North invaded theSouth.

“A straight line is theshortest in morals as in mathematics.”

— Maria Edgeworth, Anglo-Irish novelist

Supreme CourtJustice SoniaSotomayor is 61.

Actor-writer RickyGervais is 54.

Birthdays

REUTERS

A Bianchi S. Spirito player, right, competes against Verdi San Giovanni during the Calcio Fiorentino (historic football) final

match in Santa Croce square, Florence, central Italy. Giovanni de’ Bardi, a Florentine count, published for the first time in 1580the rules of the game, which is played on a field of sand by 27 players allowed to use feet and hands to play the ball.

Thursday : Mostly cloudy in the morn-ing th en becoming sunny. Patchy fog inthe morning. Highs in the mid 60s tolower 70s. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph.Thursday night: Partly cloudy in theevening then becoming mostly cloudy.Patchy fog after midnight. Lows in themid 50s. West winds 5 to 10 mph.Friday : Mostly cloudy. Patchy fog in th e morning. Highsin the 60s to lower 70s. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph.

Friday nig ht: Mostly cloudy. Patchy fog after midnight.Lows in the lower 50s. Southwest winds 5 to 15 mph.Saturday : Mostly cloudy in the morning then becomingpartly cloudy. Patchy fog. Highs in th e 60s.Saturday night through Monday: Mostly cloudy.Patchy fog. Lows in t he mid 50s. Highs in the 60s.

Local Weather Forecast

In 1788 , Virginia ratified the U.S. Constitution.

In 1876 , Lt. Col. Colonel George A. Custer and his 7thCavalry were wiped out by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians inthe Battle of the Little Bighorn in Montana.

In 1910 , President William Howard Taft signed the White-Slave Traffic Act, more popularly known as the Mann Act,which made it illegal to transport women across state linesfor “immoral” purposes.

In 1938 , the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was enacted.

In 1943 , Congress passed, over President Franklin D.Roosevelt’s veto, the Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act,which allowed the federal government to seize and operateprivately owned war plants facing labor strikes.

In 1959, spree kill er Charles Starkweather, 20, was put todeath in Nebraska’s elect ric chai r. Eamon de Valera was inau-gurated as president of Ireland.

In 1962 , t he U.S. Supreme Court ruled that recitatio n of a

state-spo nsored prayer in New York State p ublic schoo lswas unconstitutional.

In 1975 , the government of Indian Prime Minister IndiraGandhi declared a state of emergency aimed at crackin g downon political opponents. (The state of emergency was liftedin March 1977 .)

In 1981 , the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that male-only draftregistration was constitutional.

In 1990 , th e U.S. Supreme Court, in its first “rig ht-to-die”decision, ruled that family members could be barred fromending the lives of persistently comatose relatives who hadnot made their wishes known conclusively. AfricanNational Congress leader Nelson Mandela met withPresident George H.W. Bush at the White House.

In 1995, Warren Burger, the 15th chief justice of theUnited States, died in Washing ton at age 87.

In other news ...

(Answers tomorrow)

CHEEK AMAZE DREAMY OPPOSEYesterday’s

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THAT SCRAMBLED WORD GAMEby David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek

Unscramble these four Jumbles,one letter to each square,to form four ordinary words.

KINYD

USISE

RIVNET

TOFERF

©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLCAll Rights Reserved.

C h e c k o u t t h e n e

w , f r e e J U S T

J U M B L E

a p p

Ans.here:

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Actress June Lockhart is 90. Civil rights activist James

Meredith is 82. Rhythm-and-blues singer Eddie Floyd is 78.

Actress Barbara Montgomery is 76. Actress Mary Beth Peil

(peel) is 75. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Willis Reed is 73.

Singer Carly Simon is 70. Rock musician Ian McDonald

(Foreigner; King Crimson) is 69. Actor-comedian JimmieWalker is 68. Actor-director Michael Lembeck is 67. TV per-

sonality Phyllis George is 66. Rock singer Tim Finn is 63.

Rock musician David Paich (Toto) is 61. Actor Michael

Sabatino is 60. Actor John Benjamin Hickey is 52.

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3Thursday • June 25, 2015 THE DAILY JOURNAL LOCAL

BURLINGAMECity violation. Police were contacted whena person was seen feeding birds on PrimroseRoad before 6:59 p.m. Monday, June 22.Burglary . A GPS was taken from a vehicleparked in a parking garage on Old BayshoreBoulevard before 6:22 p.m. Monday, June22.Petty theft. Sunglasses and coins weretaken from an unlocked vehicle on ValdiviaWay before 2:52 p.m. Monday, June 22.Malici ous mischief . A vehicle had its ti resslashed on Murchison Drive before 10:46a.m. Monday, June 22.Burglary . A vehicle window was smashedand a purse was stolen on Bay View Placebefore 4:51 p. m. Sunday, June 21.

MILLBRAEVandalism. A vehicle was keyed and theheadlamp was removed by an unknown personon the 1000 block of Ridgewood Drive before2 p. m. Monday, June 22.Burglary . An unknown suspect smashed thepassenger side window of a vehicle and leftthe glove box open on the 100 block of California Drive before 11:45 a.m. Monday,June 22.Stolen vehicle. A van was stolen on the300 block of Palm Avenue before 8:49 p.m.Friday, June 19 .

Police reports

MayhemA resident complain ed that a o f a groupof kids were blocking the driveway of her complex, jumping on the roof of homes and being generally unruly onGranada Street in Belmont before 5:06p.m. Monday, June 22.

By Austin WalshDAILY JOURNAL STAFF

A keystone of downtown San Bruno isslated for a major transformation, as theformer home of th e El Camino Theater willsoon be demolished to make way for the

construction of a luxury apartment build-ing.

The San Bruno City Council received apresentation from officials with the SaresRegis Group, the firm that will redevelopthe property at 406 San Mateo Ave., dur-ing i ts meeting Tuesday, June 23.

Drew Hudacek, chief investment officerwith Sares Regis, said there will be a rib-bon cuttin g ceremony Wednesday, July 1 5,to recognize kicking off demolition of the1-acre site, and construction of the 83-unitapartment project will begi n soo n after.

The development company purchasedthe long-stagnant property for more than$10 million last month, with plans toconstruct a three-story building that willhouse high-end apartments, above a park-ing garage and 7,000 square feet of retail

space at the street level.The council had unanimously approved

constructing the complex l ast October, butbuilding plans stalled under the previousproperty o wner.

But Hudacek said his company is readyto move full-speed ahead on demolitionand construction, with int ent to finish thedevelopment in 2017.

“We are look ing forward to brin ging thisproject to fruition,” he said.

Demolition could begin as soon asThursday, July 16, when a large clawattached to a backhoe will begin tearingdown the buildings still standing on theformer cinema property.

City officials lauded the beginning of work on the project, as many haveexpressed anticipati on for seeing the largesite redeveloped into a crown jewel for thegateway of t he city’s downtown.

“This is a big anchor to th e south end of San Mateo Avenue,” said Mayor JimRuane. “We are really looking forward toit.”

The project is set to fulfill the city’svisio n of developin g more transit-orientedhousing, as the site is nearly a mile away

from the Caltrain station, and less thantwo miles away from the BART station.

Officials with Sares Regis had said theproximity to a variety of public trans-portation options is one o f the main rea-sons the property interested the develop-ment company.

The groundwork for the cinema projectwas laid by residents passin g Measure N inNovember, which allowed for increasingthe city’s building height limit from 50feet to 90 feet near the Caltrain station,and lesser heights in surrounding areas.

Officials have said they are hopeful theproject would be the first of many upscaledevelopments to spring up in San Bruno,which could offer housing to employ ees of notable technology companies headquar-tered local ly, such as YouTube and WalmarteCommerce.

The cinema development is one of avariety which officials are eyeing in aneffort t o rejuvenate downtown.

The council passed a plan in 2013 toinject life into the city’s transit corridorsurrounding El Camino Real, which aims

at bringing more housing, new businessesand taller buildings to San Bruno.As part of that same effort, the city has

also targeted building a 131-room hotelwith 3, 000 square feet of meeting space ona city-owned lot at 1050 Admiral Court,near El Camino Real, south of Jack’sRestaurant and north of Interstate 380 .

Officials tho ugh said they hope the proj -

ect at the former movie house site will bethe first in a variety of larger scale devel-opments that will eventually make overthe lo ok and feel of downtown San Bruno.

“We are looking forward to this one,”said Councilwoman Irene O’Connell.

Hudacek acknowledged both the cit y an d

developer are anticipating breakingground on th e new project.“We know the city is v ery excited to see

the building come down,” he said.The ribbon cutting ceremony to begin

demolition will take place Wednesday,July 15, at the former site of the ElCamino Theater, 408 San Mateo Ave. Theevent will begin at 11:30 a.m.

[email protected]

(650) 344-5200 ext. 105

Showtime for San Bruno theater demolitionDeveloper: Work on luxury apartment project should begin next month

COUNTY GOVERNMENT• The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors on

Wednesday unanimously approved a recommended two-year budg-et for Fiscal Years 2015-2017 that addresses aging infrastructureand affirms the county’s responsibility to provide vital services.

The recommended budget for FY 2015 -2016 is $2 .4 bill ion with5,383 positions . The FY 2016-2017 budget is $2 .3 bil lion with5,385 position s. Reserves are $367. 4 million — or 17.8 percent

— in th e first year and $309.6 million — or 1 5.5 percent — in the second.The board will take its final vote on the budget in September. All FY2015-2017 rec-

ommended budget documents are available at http://cmo.smcgov.org/budget-and-per-formance.

CITY GOVERNMENT• San Bruno residents are invited to apply to fill a vacant position on the city

Planning Commissio n. Int erested candidates can pick up an appl ication at the CityClerk’s Office , 5 67 El Camino Real.

Edward M. PowellEdward M. Powell, born July 22,1932,

died June 14, 2015, peacefully at his homeafter a prolonged illness.

He was 82.Powell was born in Hoxie, Arkansas, and

moved to Half Moon Bay in 194 1. As a boy,Powell enjoyed hunting, fishing and camp-ing. He was a member of the Half Moon BayDons, a precisio n drill team that traveled thecountry performing in parades and competi-tions.

He served in t he U.S. Navy in t he KoreanWar, during which he traveled the world onthe USS Boxer, an aircraft carrier. An avidmusician, his singing and guitar playingwas the high point of many family get-togethers.

Powell married Mary Ellen in 1955 andmoved to their residence on State Route 92.Powell was a master carpenter who ran hisown general contracting business, Edward

Powell, Inc., for over 30years on the Peninsula.

He was preceded indeath by Mary Ellen, hiswife of 52 years, and theirfirst son Danny. He is sur-

vived by his sister, SarahIbarra; children MaryElizabeth, John andGeorge (Lesley); and

grandchildren Christopher (Heather),James, Robert, Thomas, Laird, Brandon andCourtney.

Services will be 10 a.m., June 30 at OurLady of the Pillar Catholic Church, 400Church St., Half Moon Bay. Interment andreception will follow at Skylawn MemorialPark on State Route 92. Memorial contribu-tions may be made to the Wounded WarriorProject.

Obituary

Rendering of the project to be constructed at 406-418 San Mateo Ave. in San Bruno.

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Trio arrested for Foster City burglaryThree alleged burglars were arrested

Wednesday morn ing when a young resi denthome alone with a sibling caught thembreaking into their home on the 700 blockof Matsonia Drive.

Maunel Vargas and Alipeti, 20-year-oldEast Bay residents, as well as a 16-year-oldmale were charged with burglary, conspira-cy and possession of burglary tools,according to Foster City pol ice.

The young resident was home during the

morning when they heard at least one of the suspects attempting to gain entry intothe ho me through a side garage door. Oneof the burglars entered the home andencountered the resident before fleeingwithout physically harming the victim,according to pol ice.

Officers were called to the scene around9:38 a.m. and quickly l ocated the trio i n acar on East Hillsdale Boulevard where allthree were arrested, according to police.

Residents are reminded not to confrontpotential burglars and protect themselvesby locking doors as well windows andreport suspicious activity to po lice.

Pacifica woman robbedby man who followed her home

A man allegedly followed a woman allthe way home to Pacifica from SanFrancisco on Tuesday and stole a cameraout of h er car, pol ice said Wednesday.

The victim contacted Pacifica policearound 1:45 p.m. Tuesday to report the rob-bery at her home in the 200 block of Crestmoor Circle.

The woman said she had been takingphotographs at a landmark in SanFrancisco earlier in the day, poli ce said.

As she was driving home, she noticed anewer model black sedan with tinted win-dows and an LED outline on the headlightsfoll owing h er. When sh e reached her home,the black car parked nearby and a manstepped out and smashed the front passen-ger window of the victim’s car with anobject, police said.

The suspect grabbedthe victim’s camera fromthe front seat and strug-gled with the victimbefore fleeing with thecamera in his vehiclenorth on CrestmoorCircle.

The victim was notinjured, and was able to

work with a sketch artist to create a draw-ing of th e suspect.He is described as black, around 27 or 28

years old, 5 feet 11 inches tall and 240pounds. He was wearing a dark jacket.

Anyone with information abo ut the caseor the identity of the suspect is asked tocalled Pacifica police at (650 ) 738-73 14.

NDNU closer to fundraisingmilestone with $1M donation

The effort to raise $6 million in match-ing donations is closer to its goal with a$1 million gift for the naming of the icon-ic Grand Staircase in Ralston Hall at NotreDame de Namur Univers ity.

The recent donation by Bob and MarieDamreall, class of 1957 , help s the univer-sity just past the $3 million mark in itsgoal to raise $6 million to match a same-size donation by philanth ropist Tad Taubein November 2014 with the condition thatit be raised by the end of this y ear.

Built i n 186 8, Ralston Hall was the s um-mer home of financier William Ralston,who used the mansion to entertain in fluen-tial in dividuals who could contribute to th egrowth of California and the western partof the country. It b ecame the home for t henCollege of Notre Dame in 1923 . Before itsclosure in April 2012, Ralston Hall man-sion had been the home of more than 60faculty and staff offices and was the univ er-sity’s major venue for musical performanc-es, l arge meetings and conferences, as wellas some community events. The cost of restoring the Belmont mansion has been

estimated at $20 million, including $12million for the seismic retrofit alone.

Belmont bicyclist injured in collisionA Belmont man was injured Wednesday

morning when h e was st ruck by a car, whileriding his bicycle across Alameda de lasPulgas at Carlmont Drive.

At approximately 8:40 a.m., Belmontpolice and fire units responded to a reportof a bicycle struck by a car and found that a64-year-old Belmont resident had been

struck b y a 2012 Volkswagen Jetta, drivenby a 19-year-old San Mateo man, accord-ing to po lice.

The bicyclist, who was not wearing ahelmet, was treated at the scene byBelmont Fire Department paramedics andwas transported to the hospital withinjuries that were not li fe-threatening. Thedriver of the Jetta was not injured, accord-ing to po lice.

While the investigation is still ongo-ing, it appears that the driver of the Jettahad stopped for the stop sign on south-bound Alameda at Carlmont Drive. Thebicyclist began to cross Alameda, west-bound in the crosswalk, and was not seenby the driver. When the driver began toproceed, he struck the b icyclist, accordingto police.

Ferry faresincreasing on several routes

A number of daily adult fares on the SanFrancisco Bay Ferry are going up anywherefrom 5 cents to 40 cents starting July 1,according to the Water EmergencyTransportation Authority, which operatesthe ferry.

Fares are going up to offset projectedincreases to operating costs and are part of an approved five-year fare program,according to WETA.

Among the key changes, the adult cashfare and adult Clipper fare for service fromOakland or Alameda to San Francisco’sFerry Building or Pier 41 will increase 15cents and 5 cents , WETA officials said.

The adult cash fare for service betweenAlameda’s Harbor Bay an d San Francis co’sFerry Building will in crease 20 cents. Theadult Clipper fare will remain the same,according to WETA officials.

The adult cash fare and the adult Clipperfare for service between South SanFrancisco and the East Bay will increase 40cents and 20 cents, according to WETA.

The adult cash an d adult Clip per fares forservice between Vallejo and SanFrancisco’s Ferry Building or Pier 41 willincrease 40 cents to $1 3.40 and 35 cents to$10.10. The fare for service betweenVallejo an d San Francisco for yo uth, sen -iors and the disabled will increase 20 centsto $6.70, according to WETA.

WETA officials said the mon thl y pas s forservice between Vallejo and San Franciscowill increase $17 from $290 to $30 7.

South City womanarrested for knife attack

A South San Francisco woman allegedlyattacked a man with a large knife as hefought with another man in a Pacificabeach parking lot on Tuesday, police saidWednesday.

Police responding to the parking lot atLinda Mar Beach around 6 p.m. found a

male victim who said the knife attackoccurred after he become involved in anargument with a man parked next to him.

When th e argument turned into a phys i-cal fight, a woman who was with the malesuspect allegedly began swinging a largehunting knife in a threatening manner,police s aid.

The male victim suffered minor cuts inthe fight before the male and female sus-pects fled on to the beach.

Officers located the woman, later identi-fied as Cynthia Diaz of South SanFrancisco, as well as the knife.

Diaz, 33, was booked into San MateoCounty Jail on suspicion of assault with adeadly weapon and brandishing a weapon.

Police are still working to identify andlocate the male s uspect.

Local briefs

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5Thursday • June 25, 2015 THE DAILY JOURNAL STATE/NATION

Feds give California fundsfor drought aid, restoration

SACRAMENTO — Federal officials saidWednesday another $150 million would beprovided to aid California drought aid pro-grams.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsacksaid the funding continues efforts to relievethe nation’s top agriculture producing stateduring its fourth dry year.

The funding includes:

• $130 million to support conservationand restoration along the Sierra Nevada andits surrounding forests. The snow on themountains usually provides a third of California’s water, though it ’s virtually gonethis y ear.

The headwaters help provide drinking waterto 25 million Californians and irrigate farmsin the agriculture-rich Sacramento and SanJoaquin valleys.

Vilsack told reporters on a conferencecall that protecting nation al forests are keyto preserving water resources. Expandingmeadows and cuttin g down trees help s clearthe path for snow to melt into s treams andrivers, eventually making its way intofarmland and reservoirs. Restoration canalso ensure enough space for snow to stayon trees and meadows to also melt slowly

into groundwater basins.• $14 milli on to help ranchers get water for

cattle. Vilsack said the funding could provideaccess to more water-efficient wells andpipelines.

• $6 million for programs helping ruralcommunities gain access to drinking water.Many are dealing with dried up wells or con-taminated supplies during the drought.

Plaintiffs ask court to affirmteacher-tenure, layoff rulingLOS ANGELES — Plaintiffs are asking a

California appeals court to affirm a landmark judgment finding the state’s teacher tenureand layoff laws unconstitutional.

The nine public school students backed bynon-profit Students Matter filed their appealbrief Wednesday, nearly two months afterattorneys for the state and California’s teach-ers unions asked the 2nd District Court of Appeal to overturn the case.

A Superior Court judge found five CaliforniaEducation Code provisions unconstitutionalbecause they deprive some of the state’s 6.2million students a quality education in 2014.The judge ruled the statutes particularly burdenpoor and minority students.

By Denise LavoieTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOSTON — Moments before a judge sen-tenced him to death, Boston Marathonbomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev broke mo re thantwo years of silence Wednesday and apolo-gized to the victims and their loved ones forthe first time. “I pray for your relief, foryour healing,” he said.

“I am sorry for the lives that I’ve taken,for the s uffering th at I’ve caused you, for th edamage that I’ve done — irreparable dam-age,” the 21-year-old former college stu-dent, speaking haltingly in his Russianaccent, said after rising to his feet in thehushed federal courtroom.

After Tsarnaev said his piece, U.S. DistrictJudge George O’Toole Jr. quotedShakespeare’s line “The evil that men dolives after them. The good is often interredwith their bones.”

“So it will be for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev,” the

judge said, t elli ng Tsarnaev th at no one willremember that his teachers were fond of him, that his friends found him fun to bewith or that he showed compassion to dis-abled people.

“What will be remembered is that you mur-dered and maimed innocent people and thatyou did it willfully and intentionally,”O’Toole said.

Tsarnaev looked down and rubbed hishands together as the judge pronounced hisfate: execution, the punishment decided onby the jury last month for the attack thatkilled three people and wounded more than260.

The apolog y came after Tsarnaev lis tenedimpassively for about three hours as a pro-cession of 24 victims and survivors lashedout at him for his “cowardly” and “disgust-ing” acts and urged him to show someremorse at long last.

Tsarnaev assured the victims he was pay-ing attention.

Boston Marathon bomber

says he’s sorry for first time

Around the state

A courtroom sketch shows Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, center, seated astransit police Sgt. Richard ‘Dic’ Donohue, right, gives testimony during his sentencing hearingin Boston, Mass.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — CongressionalRepublicans are pushing back against pro-posed dietary guidelines that urge Americans

to consider the environment when decidingwhat foods to eat.

House and Senate spending bills say theguidelines must focus only on nutrition anddiet. That’s a clear effort to thwart a recom-mendation by the Dietary GuidelinesAdvisory Committee that eating a diet high-er in vegetables and other p lant-based foodsis better for the environment than eating adiet based more on foods from animals.

The advice from a government advisorypanel of independent doctors and nutrition

experts h as raised the ire of the meat industry.The dietary guidelines come out every five

years, and the government advice informseverything from school lunches and foodpackage labels to advice from your doctor.The departments of Agriculture and Healthand Human Services are expected to issue afinal version by y ear’s end based on the advi-sory committee’s February recommenda-tions.

While the guidelines always have beensubject to intense lobbying by food indus-tries, th is year’s version has set off unprece-dented political debate, fueled byRepublicans’ claims the Obama administra-tion has gone too far in telling people whatto eat.

Republicans push back againstproposed dietary guidelines

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6 Thursday • June 25, 2015 THE DAILY JOURNALLOCAL/NATION

By Hannah AlbaraziBAY CITY NEWS SERVICE

Environmentalists and transit enthusi-asts are urging San Francisco Mayo r Ed Leeto prioritize a ballot measure that passed in1999 that required an extension of theCaltrain line to the Transbay Terminal in

downtown San Francisco.The passage of the 1999 ballot measure,known then as Proposition H, required thatCaltrain be extended to the TransbayTerminal and prohibited the city from tak-ing any actions that would conflict withextension.

Alex Doniach, a spokeswoman for theMission Bay Alliance, a nonprofit groupthat wants to see the Caltrain downtownextension brought to fruition, and alsostands unwaveringly against th e proposedGolden Gate Warriors stadium, said SanFrancisco Mayor Ed Lee should honor theoriginal Downtown Rail Extension (DTX)agreement.

Transit enthusiasts from groups such asthe Train Riders Association of California,Bay Rail Alliance, Friends of Caltrain,

Transportation Solutions Defense andEducation Fund, and the Coalition of SanFrancisco neighbors, among others, gath-ered outside City Hall today to urge themayor not to postpo ne the DTX project anylonger.

The 1999 measure, however, did not set astrict timeline for construction of th e proj-ect, resulting in years of postpon ement byelected officials.

Doniach said the proposed 18,500-seatWarriors arena, which could be built at 16 thand Third streets, next to University of California at San Francisco’s newly con-structed medical center on the Mission Baycampus, could be “disastrous” and causetraffic congestion that could negativelyimpact the medical center and the neighb or-hood.

She said San Francisco voters approved

the DTX project but thatLee hasn’t supported theproject to route Caltrainfrom Fourth and Kingstreets to the newTransbay Transit Centerat First and Missionstreets, as the ballotmeasure instructs the cit yto do.

Instead, transit sup-porters say the mayor has plans to possi-bly reroute Caltrain through Mission Bayto th e site of the propo sed arena.

Transit enthusiasts, however, say theextension should no longer be postponedsince the amount of residents and com-muters is growing rapidly and that conges-tion and air pollution is also growing.

They say it would take cars off the roadand alleviate congestion at BART’sEmbarcadero and Montgomery stations.

According to the Transbay Joint PowersAuthority, the lead agency on the DTX, theplan calls for a 1.3-mile undergroundextension from Fourth and King s treets tothe new downtown Transit Center, butgives virtually no timeframe for its cre-ation.

Mark Simon, Caltrain’s executive officerof public affairs, said, “We think the down-town extension i s a go od idea and one thathas been sought b y the city and Caltrain formany decades.”

Extending Caltrain into downtown willsave commuters almost an hour a day intravel time, and will result in less drivingand more people taking the train into thecity from the Peninsula, according toCaltrain.

Caltrain spokesman Will Reisman saidCaltrain’s Environmental Impact Reportprojects that the Caltrain system will becarrying 111,000 passengers a day by2040, and that those projections assumethat the downtown extension project willbe built by then.

Howard Strassner, the San Franciscotransportation chair at th e Sierra Club, saidhe agrees that the extension would helpbattle climate change by gettin g more com-muters to their final destinations faster,encouraging more people to leave th eir carsat home.

“It’s too much to ask people to make twotransfers,” Strassner said, explaining thatcommuters from the Peninsula goi ng to SanFrancisco don’t have easy access to down-town San Francisco.

Transit enthusiasts maintain that 16years after San Francisco voters approvedthe extension, it has been held up by v ari-ous development p rojects.

They called on the mayor to expedite theproject’s funding and construction.

Doniach said that the Draft SubsequentEnvironmental Impact Report (SEIR) forthe new stadium has just been released andthat the stadium has not yet been approved,despite the mayor’s enthusiasm for it.

According to the Office of CommunityInvest ment and Infrastructure Commissio n,the Draft SEIR finds that impl ementation of the proposed project would lead to signifi-cant, unavoidable impacts related to trans-portation and circulation, wind, noise andair quality in t he area.

Doniach said that Lee’s proposal to teardown Interstate 280 in the city and rerouteCaltrain to Mission Bay would cost taxpay-ers billions of dollars and would bedesigned only to accommodate the newGolden State Warriors’ arena.

She said it would further postpone theDTX project and cost the taxpayers signifi-cantly.

“It is unacceptable,” she said.A public hearing by the city’s Office of

Community Investment and InfrastructureCommission is scheduled for 1 p.m. June30 in Roo m 416 in City Hall at which timecomments from members of the publicregarding the Draft SEIR on the construc-tion of the arena will be heard.

Proponents push for Caltrain extension

Ed Lee

Now Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is in the Republican race

KENNER, La. — Pitching himself as a“doer” in a field of talkers, Louisiana Gov.

Bobby Jindal declaredhis candidacy for the2016 Republican presi-dential nominationWednesday and set about

trying to distinguishhimself from betterknown rivals.

It’s a long-shot effortfor an accomplished butovershadowed governor,and his prospects will

depend in large measure on his continuedcourtship of evangelical voters. But severalother con tenders also are determined to winover that group.

“We have a bunch o f great talkers runnin gfor president,” Jindal said at his openingrally. “We’ve had enough of talkers. It’stime for a doer. I’m not running for presi-dent to be somebody. I’m runnin g for presi-dent to do something. ”

Clinton to miss convention

of liberal activists, bloggersST. LOUIS — Hillary Rodham Clinton

isn’t expected to show at an annual conven-tion of liberal activistsand bloggers often court-ed by Democratic presi-dential candidates.

Netroots Nation organ-izers said Wednesday thatDemocratic presidentialcandidates Bernie Sandersand Martin O’Malleyhave confirmed theirattendance at the J uly 16-19 conference in

Phoenix.Clinton’s campaign cited a scheduling

conflict, with commitments in Iowa on July17 and Arkansas on July 18 .

Around the nation

Bobby Jindal

Hillary Clinton

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STATE/NATION 7Thursday • June 25, 2015 THE DAILY JOURNAL

Exhibitor space and sponsorships available!

Call 650-344-5200

For information call the Daily Journ al (650) 344-5200

Family. Fitness. Fun! is in collaboration with BCE, supporting Burlingame schools.

Gov. Jerry Brown said the state budget will save ‘billions of dollars and [pay] down debt, while directing moreresources to schools and low-income Californians.’

By Judy LinTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SACRAMENTO — Gov. JerryBrown signed a spending planWednesday that uses California’sgrowing surplus to fund new initia-tives aimed at providing relief tothe poor.

The new budget beginning nextmonth will establish an earnedincome tax credit for working-poorfamilies, boost the number of state-subsidized child care slots andexpand state-funded health care cov-erage to children from low-incomefamilies who are in the country ille-gally.

The state also will adopt an

amnesty program for residents who

can’t afford to pay off spiralingcourt fines and traffic penalties thathave resulted in 4. 8 milli on driver’slicense suspensions since 2006.

Brown announced the signingwith a brief message on Twitter. Thegovernor included a photo of him-self with his fellow Democraticleaders, Assembly Speaker ToniAtkins of San Diego and SenatePresident Pro Tem Kevin de Leon of Los Angeles.

A subsequent news release fromhis office called it “a balanced, on-time budget that saves billions of dollars and pays down debt, whiledirecting more resources to schoolsand low-income Californians.”

Lawmakers passed a compromise$115.4 billion budget last week to

meet Brown’s demands for fiscalrestraint by agreeing to use a lowerprojection for state revenues.Legislative leaders also got to fundtheir priority social programs tohelp thos e who have missed out onthe state’s economic recovery.

Atkins, in a statement, called theresult “a prudent and progressivebudget that will make California abetter place to live, work and play.”

The new budget, which totals$167. 6 billio n when adding in spe-cial and bond funds, allocates bil-lions more for schools — fromkindergarten through communitycollege — and channels additionalmoney to schools with high levelsof poor children and English-lan-guage learners.

Governor Brown signs Californiabudget with anti-poverty efforts

By Seanna Adcox, Jeffery Collins and Jonathan Drew THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBIA, S.C. — State sena-tor and pastor Clementa Pinckneywas carried Wednesday into theStatehouse where he served thepeople for nearly 20 years, becom-ing the first African-Americansince Reconstruction to rest inhonor in the South CarolinaRotunda. Hours later, his congre-gation returned to the scene of amassacre, keeping up his work of saving souls.

Meeting for Wednesday nightBible st udy exactly one week afterPinckney and eight others werefatally shot, a crowd of people

packed the basement of Charleston’s Emanuel AfricanMethodist Church where the sho ot-ings took place to show their faithand restore their sanctuary.

“Because of our faith we haveshown up once more again todeclare that Jesus lives and becausehe lives, we can face tomorrow,”interim pasto r Norvel Goff inton edbefore a gathering that includedseveral family members of shoot-ing victim Myra Thompson.

“It is a powerful testimony thatthey are able to come,” Goff said of Thompson’s relatives, who wereapplauded by others in the audi-ence.

The killings appear to be creat-

ing waves of soul-searching that

are reverberating far beyond thehistoric black church and the state

Capitol where Pinckney’s widowand two young daughters met hishorse-drawn carriage, evokingmemories of black and whiteimages of other slain civil rightsfigures fiv e decades earli er.

In state after state, theConfederate symbols embraced bythe shooting suspect have sudden-ly come under official disrepute.Gov. Nikki Haley started thegroundswell Monday by calling o nSouth Carolina lawmakers todebate taking down theConfederate battle flag flying infront of the Statehouse. ButAlabama’s governor was able toact much more swiftly, issuing anexecutive order that brought downfour secessionist flags onWednesday.

In Montgomery, where theConfederacy was formed 154 yearsago and where Jefferson Davis waselected president, Gov. RobertBentley, a conservativeRepublican, compared the bannerto the universally shunned sym-bols of Nazi Germany, a stunningreversal in a region where the flaghas played a huge cultural role.

The iconic Confederate battleflag in particular “is offensive tosome people because unfortunate-ly, it’s like the swastika; somepeople have adopted that as part of their hate-filled groups,” Bentley

explained.

South Carolina honorsvictims, Alabama lowersfour Confederate flags

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LOCAL8 Thursday • June 25, 2015 THE DAILY JOURNAL

ties, which primarily include owning PillarPoint Harbor and managing Oyster PointMarina/Park, after a scathing civil grand

jury report enti tled “What’s the Price of Dysfunction?” recommending dissolutionlast year.

But some argue a lot h as changed since the

grand jury report and officials need time tostraighten their sails as they navigate aslew of challenges.

The district, along with the public, hasuntil Friday to submit responses beforeLAFCo staff finali zes the repo rt and makes arecommendation July 15.

“The timing of the draft report and thegrand jury report triggering its develop-ment, have spurred the district to enter intoa transition period. Such transitions maysometimes come with painful lessonslearned and progress is not always assmooth or as quick as one would like,”according t o th e draft response.

Recent changes include a struggle to finda new general manager, relocati ng i ts h ead-quarters from South San Francisco back tothe coast and the board’s former president,

Commissioner Sabrina Brennan, steppingdown after allegedly butting heads with theinterim g eneral manager.

Tom Mattusch, president of the Board of Commissioners, said while the district hasstruggled in the past, it ’s turning o ver a newleaf and provides tremendous assets to thecommunity at large.

“The thing we want to get across to thepublic is that we’re doing things that werelong overdue and once we get the enti re dis-

trict operating slightly more efficiently,people are going to see change. They’regoing to see results,” Mattusch said. “Ithink this p articular response gi ves a legalgrounded response on how valuable theHarbor District is and why it’s important tokeep it like it is. But also p resents, from anoperational standpoint, how things aregoing to be improved compared to whatthey were before.”

Regardless of LAFCo’s municipal servicereview, the report may offer little weight if a successor agency doesn’t agree to take

over with the county Board of Supervisors,a city or large number of voters initiatingdissolution proceedings.

Despite its wide range of responsibilitiesthat include operating an RV park, main-taining two recreational trails, running thecounty’s on ly emergency water rescue teamand more, the district has been criticized fortaking more than $5 million in propertytaxes to help supplement non-enterpriseactivities like supporting a commercial har-bor.

Among their protests, commissionerssay the district’s expertise cannot be repli-cated by the county’s Parks Department,that all special districts rely on tax revenueand that other entities may not be able toperform the same duties at a lesser cost .

“The LAFCo municip al services review is

definitely a wake-up call and it’s lessonslearned for us as a Harbor District. However,I still believe that the Harbor Districtsho uld not be dissolv ed because of the serv-ices it provides for the county and visit ors,”said Commissio ner Robert Bernardo. “Withall do respect to the county and the greatwork they do, I just don’t feel this is withintheir purview of expertise. Operating parksand recreation is different than h arbor oper-ations.”

The district argues that while the county

maintains a harbor at Coyote Point in SanMateo, it doesn’t allow liveaboards andreceives less from slip fees than the districtdoes at its two facilities in Half Moon Bayand South San Francisco.

Brennan and Mattusch argue the districtprovides numerous benefits to the publicincluding maintaining Pillar Point Harbor,which has grown as a recreational touristdestination and boosts th e local economy.

“What’s very important for everyone tounderstand is the enterprise and non-enter-prise functions performed by the district,

it’s important for th e public to see the valuethis district brings not just to the county,but the whole Bay Area,” Mattusch said.“The tourism aspect has never been quanti-fied and we are working actively on thatnow. It’s something that’s never beendone.”

Furthermore, in a county where rental andhome costs are skyrocketing, the districtessentially offers affordable housingoptions by maintaining harbors that allowpeople to live on their boats, Brennan said.

The report also fails to fully investigatethe magnitude of deferred maintenance aswell as debt a successor agency must bewilling to accede and offers few opti ons forsolutions other than dissolution, Brennansaid.

“In general, we’re at a point where all of our infrastructure has reached the end of itslife span, so there’s a significant invest-ment that needs to be put in upgrading andmodernizing and addressing deferred main-tenance. And these are thing s that cannot b eignored, especially at Pillar Point Harbor.

So whomever, if there was an interestedagency let’s say the county, there would besignificant cost investment with taking iton. So th ere would I’m sure need to be a lo tmore investigation in what exactly wouldbe involved,” Brennan said.

With the district still searching for newpermanent general manager after its long-time leader retired, commissioners arehopeful finding a replacement and finish ingits Strategic Business Plan will help imple-ment so me of LAFCo’s recommendations.

Until then, officials hope they can staveoff disso lution and prove to th e public it canmove past its dysfunction.

“I think there’s a lot of really worthwhileinformation included in t he [LAFCo report],so I don’t want to downplay the in formation

provided in that, I think it’s valuable,”Brennan said. “But I think th ere’s so me keypoin ts regarding changes that h ave occurredin the last five months since the last elec-tion that have not been included or consid-ered and I think th at does a disservi ce to thetransition process. I think it’s unrealistic toexpect that the district is going to trans-form overnight. Reform takes time.”

Visit www.sanmateolafco.org to reviewthe report or submit comments.

Continued from page 1

HARBOR

say they like about Belmont,” said Birgit

Merian, a member of the g roup and 20-yearBelmont resident. “We believe that theprocess was rushed, that we didn’t get achance to examine the overall impactbecause there’s so many of them. … Sowhether you’re for or against, this is about

having a voice in this process.”

But some councilmembers argue the near-ly year-long process, which included 10public meetings and about 70 public speak-ers, was robust.

Some also fear the group misrepresentedthe ordinances and impact the referendum

would have when presenting it to residents.“I’ve been extremely disturbed by s ome of

the tactics I’ve heard about the petitiongatherers using . It’s important that th e factsare portrayed honestly and openly and fromwhat I’ve heard, there’s been quite a lot of information spread. I truly hope that’s notthe case,” said Councilman Charles Stone.

Michael O’Neill, a member of the groupwho gathered nearly 300 signatures, saidthe underlying theme he found was thatmost residents were unaware of the ordi-nances and wanted a chance to weigh in.

“When peo ple learned about it, they werevery willing to sign and I think we repre-sented it clearly to people so whether theyagree with the changes or not, they wantedto get up to sp eed, th ey wanted to have theirown voi ce heard and be part of t he determi-

nation. So this is a citizens’ movement fordemocracy to work and the citizens to takecontrol o f their own destiny rather than fivepeople taking control,” O’Neill said,adding only about one in 20 with whom hespo ke were even aware of the changes.

Vice Mayor Eric Reed, who helped devel-op th e changes along with Stone on a coun-cil subcommittee, said while he respectsresidents’ rights, he’s concerned opponentsare simply fearful of chang e. With two long -time former councilmembers step ping downin 2014, Reed and Stone won their seatswhile running on a more progressive plat-form.

“I very much support the fact that peoplehave a right to petition their government.But when the voters of Belmont see whatthe benefit these changes have, I think

they’ll fully support them,” Reed said.“This council is breaking with past coun-cils’ policies and I think that is not alwaysgoing to be the easiest process, to moveBelmont fo rward. … This council is a coun-cil that was selected, I think, with thevision of change and the people who arebehind the petition, don’t want to see thatchange.”

Stone agreed adding the ordinances wereheavily reviewed by staff, the Planning andParks and Recreation commissions andthere was ample time for the public to par-ticipate.

“These are ordinances designed to help

families stay in their homes in Belmont andaccommodate growing families. They arenot goin g to have any substantial environ-mental impact on the community, as shownby a lengthy staff report and analysis,”Stone said. “The modernization of theseordinance was long overdue and will helpmake the process of improving homes inBelmont more efficient, predictable andfair.”

The City Council must convene an d decidewhich route to ultimately go and city offi-cials were countin g the petit ions an d unableto confirm as of Wednesday evening theexact amount of signatures turned in. TheSan Mateo County Elections Office mustalso examine the petitions to confirm therequisite number of voters signed them.Depending on the method the Elections

Office uses, it may have as little as 30 busi-ness days to reply, according to CityAttorney Scott Rennie.

However, O’Neill said they needed justone-tenth of eligible voters to sign , whichwould amount to about 1,4 00, and the groupcollected more than 2,200 signatures.

O’Neill said he hopes the council willplace the referendums on th e November bal-lot.

“They want to have their voices heard.This is something that affects homeownersand they should have their voices heard,”O’Neill said. “So I think go ing to the polls,I thin k is a good idea because it’s democracyand I think that’s been usurped in thisinstance.”

Visit http://belmont.gov/city-hall/com-

munity-development/planning-and-zon-ing/zoning-text-amendments for moreinformation about the Belmont Zoning and Tree ordinances.

[email protected]

(650) 344-5200 ext. 106

Continued from page 1

ZONING

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NATION 9Thursday • June 25, 2015 THE DAILY JOURNAL

By Paul Larson

MILLBRAE –Some say that

science and religiondon’t mix. Some

say that science isthe ultimate searchfor God. Some say

religion supersedesscience, some say both have equal statureand others say both are hogwash. Everyone

has their own personal assessment of thecorrelation between science and religion.

The aspiration of religion along with theaspiration of science is to explain theuniverse and answer questions about life, in

addition to satisfying human psychologicalneeds when dealing with the realities ofdeath. Religion is based on faith, science is

based on observation, and both are based onhuman curiosity and the need to find

answers. Whether a person is repetitivelyreading religious scripture, or fascinated byrepeatable scientific experimentations, both

are searching for methods that answerquestions about the universe around us.

It can be debated that early humans

turned to religion as a way to alleviate theirfears and gain reassurance with the concept

of life after death. This helped to give thema sense of order in a confusing world that

often seemed mysterious. Eventuallyscientific realization evolved along sidereligion and the process of “trial and error”

established itself as a way to solve some ofthese mysteries. Fire the wheel farming.

The more humans observed the world theylived in, the more they leaned how thenatural world worked and how they could

manipulate it to their advantage. Over thecenturies religious power came at odds with

scientific discovery, which led to a period of

scientific stagnation: “The Dark Ages”.Later at the dawn of “The Renaissance”science was again embraced leading to great

advances in art, architecture, medicine,astronomy and other natural sciences. Over

the ages science and religion have beenevolving together on a roller coaster ride ofacceptance, denial and equilibrium.

We now appear to be at a crossroadswhere religion is not only viewing science

with an evaluative broadmindedness, but isexploring hand in hand with scientificprocesses. One prime example is the

Vatican’s “Pontifical Academy ofSciences”. Quoting John Paul II: “...today

eminent scientists are members a visiblesign of the profound harmony that canexist between the truths of science and the

truths of faith...”. Gregor Mendel, the fatherof Genetics, was an Augustinian Friar.

Georges Lemaitre, who developed much ofthe Big Bang Theory, was a Belgian priest.Recently, Pope Francis, who has a Master’s

Degree in Chemistry, insisted that there isno reason to believe that science and God

are incompatible.With all this in mind, every human being

is unique as a fingerprint, and every humanbrain has its own unique consciousness.

Whether you analyze with your religious capor your science cap, matrimony between the

two could be found by looking inward. So,close your eyes, examine your deepthoughts, and you may detect a rational

enlightenment finely attuned to both.If you ever wish to discuss cremation,

funeral matters or want to make pre-planning arrangements please feel free tocall me and my staff at the CHAPEL OF

THE HIGHLANDS in Millbrae at (650)588-5116 and we will be happy to guide you

in a fair and helpful manner. For more infoyou may also visit us on the internet at:

www.chapelofthehighlands.com.

Can Marriage Exist Between

Science And Religion?

Advertisement

By Julie Pace


WASHINGTON — President BarackObama conceded Wednesday that the U.S.government had let down the families of Americans held hostage by terrorists andpromised they would not face criminal pros-ecution for paying ransoms to their lovedones’ captors.

“These families have already sufferedenough and they should never feel ignoredor victimized by their own government,”Obama said as he detailed the results of asix-month review of U.S. hostage policy.

The president said for the first time thatU.S. gov ernment officials can communicatedirectly with terrorists and help familiesnegotiate for the release of hostages. Morethan 30 Americans are being held hostageabroad, White House officials said.

The review was sp arked by sharp criti cismof the Obama administration from familiesof Americans kidnapped by the IslamicState, al-Qaida and other groups. Familieshave complained about receiving confusingand contradictory information from thegovernment and bristled at threats of prose-

cution for considering paying terrorists tosecure the release of host ages.

By clearing the way for payment of ran-som without fear of criminal charges,Obama is essentially allowing families totake actions the U.S. government has longsaid put Americans at risk. While the gov-ernment will continue to abide by prohibi-tions on paying ransoms or making otherconcessions to terrorists, the JusticeDepartment indicated it would ignore thelaw in situations involvin g families.

European governments routinely pay ran-som to win the release of hostages.However, Obama and his predecessors h ave

argued that policy provides terrorists withfunds to fuel dangerous activities and putsAmericans at greater risk of kidnapping.

Critics of the White House review arguethat allowing families to do what the gov-ernment will not could lead to those sametroubling consequences.

“We have had a pol icy i n th e United Statesfor over 200 years of not paying ransom andnot negotiating with terrorists,” said HouseSpeaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. “The con-cern that I have is that by lifting that lon g-held principle you could be endangeringmore Americans here and overseas.”

Finger-pointing starting inblame for government hack

WASHINGTON — Finger-pointing burst

into the open on Capitol Hill Wednesdayover blame for hacking into the U.S. gov-ernment’s personnel records, which thechairman of a House oversight committeesaid might affect as many as 3 2 milli on cur-rent and former employees and others.

The head of the U.S. Office of PersonnelManagement, Katherine Archuleta,acknowledged to lawmakers that she wasresponsible for keeping the files safe butblamed the hackers, and an executive disput-ed an official account that hackers had used

one of his employee’s credentials in one of the break-ins. It was the third congression-

al hearing on the subject in recent days.For Archuleta, it was the l atest app earance

before angry lawmakers demanding answersabout the personal information, includinginformation used for background investiga-tions for those seeking a security clearance.Some lawmakers have urged the WhiteHouse to fire her.

House Oversigh t and Government ReformCommittee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, aUtah Republican, said Wednesday he had noconfidence in Archuleta.

Obama: U.S. government has

let down hostages’ families

By Charles Babington and David EspoTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — In a triumph of dividedgovernment, the Republican-controlledCongress passed major trade legislationWednesday that was long-sought byPresident Barack Obama but vehementlyopposed by most lawmakers in his party.

The measure to strengthen Obama’s handin global trade talks cleared the Senate on avote of 60-38, and will go to the WhiteHouse for his signature — less than twoweeks after it was tempo rarily derailed in t heHouse in an uprising of Democratic lawmak-ers who argued it would cost American jobs.

A companion bill, to renew an expiringprogram of federal aid for workers disadvan-taged by imports, passed by voice vote less

than an hour later. Final approval in theHouse is expected on Thursday.The rapid sequence of events capped the

end of a back-and-forth struggle th at playedout slowly over months, with Obama,Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and SenateMajority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.,on one side, and the union-backedDemocratic leadership of the House andSenate on the other.

The pace accelerated dramatically lessthan two weeks ago, when House Democratsprevailed in an early showdown that s ent theWhite House and congressional GOP leadersinto a rescue operation.

On Wednesday, McConnell, a frequentObama antagon ist, praised the president andDemocrats who jo ined the GOP on th e bipar-tisan measure vigorously sought by the

nation ’s chief executive.

“We were really pleasedto see President Obamapursue an idea we’ve longbelieved in,” McConnellsaid. “We thank him forhis efforts to help us passa bill to advance it.”

The measure wouldallow Obama to negoti ateglobal trade deals thatCongress could approveor reject, but not change.The administration wasseeking the “fast track”as it works to complete around of trade negotia-tions involving 12nations along both sidesof the Pacific Ocean,

including Japan.Obama’s victo ry comesat a pivotal juncture inhis second term. He is

bracing for a Supreme Court ruling on hislandmark health care law, and next week’sdeadline is approaching for reaching a dealon Iran’s n uclear prog ram.

The trade bill drew the support of 47Republicans and 13 Democrats, while 31Democrats, five Republicans and two inde-pendents were opposed. Republican Sen.Mike Lee of Utah missed the vote, as didGOP presidential hopeful Marco Rubio of Florida.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, hailed themeasure as “the most important bill thatwill pass the Senate this year,” and one that

will prove to be an aid to the economy.

GOP-led Congresshands the presidentmajor win on trade

John Boehner

Mitch

McConnell

REUTERS

Barack Obama announces a change in U.S. policy in the Roosevelt Room at the White House.

Around the nation

8/21/2019 06-25-15 edition

10/28

BUSINESS10 Thursday • June 25, 2015 THE DAILY JOURNAL

Get to Know Your

Dow 17,966.07 -178.00 10-Yr Bond 2.37 -0.04

Nasdaq 5,122.41 -37.68 Oil (per barrel) 60.27

S&P 500 2,108.58 -15.62 Gold 1,174.50

Stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Wednesday on theNew York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market:NYSELennar Corp., up $2.06 cents to $51.06 The homebuilder reported better-than-expected fiscal second-quarterprofit and revenue on a boost in home sales and prices.Monsanto Co., down $6.46 to $106.32 The agriculture products company reported better-than-expected fiscalthird-quarter profit, but revenue fell short of forecasts.Freeport-McMoRan Inc., up 45 cents to $20.56 The copper, gold and natural resources mining company’s Freeport -McMoRan Oil & Gas unit filed for an initial public offering.Ford Motor Co., up 21 cents to $15.50 The automobile maker is launching a car-sharing program in six U.S.cities and London, allowing people to defray vehicle costs.Box Inc., up 98 cents to $18.53 The cloud computing content and storage company will team with IBMin a deal for product development and consulting services.

NasdaqNetflix Inc., down $2.58 to $678.61 The Internet video service will execute a seven-for-one stock split nextmonth, following a vote to boost the share count.Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Inc., up 14 cents to $4.13 The biotechnology company said a potential Tourette’s Disordertreatment showed promising results in a proof-of-concept study.Parexel International Corp., down $5.61 to $66.96 The clinical research outsourcing company cut its guidance andannounced a restructuring plan, partly citing currency swings.

Big movers

By Ken SweetTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Stocks retreatedWednesday, erasing all of the week’searlier gains, as negotiations betweenGreece and its creditors seemed no clos-er to reaching a resolution.

The Dow Jones industrial averagelost 178 points, or 1 percent, to17,9 66. 07. The Standard & Poor’s 500index lost 15. 62 points, or 0.7 percent,to 2,108.58 and the Nasdaq compositelost 37.68 points, or 0.7 percent, to5,122.41.

Investors had been hopeful earlier inthe week that the Greece problem wasreaching the finish line, but thosehopes diminished as Wednesday woreon. European finance ministers cutshort a meeting on Greece’s proposals,citing major policy differences. Theyplan to meet again Thursday. Greekstocks fell 2 percent.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras criti-cized the International Monetary Fundas being needlessly picky about the

reforms Greece had proposed. Creditorsare demanding, among other things, afreeze on pensions, scrapping someproposed taxes and surcharges on busi-ness, and higher sales tax on somegoods.

Greece needs an agreement by June30, when a key debt payment is due to

the IMF. In a worst-case scenario, aGreek default could potentially lead toGreece abandoning the euro.

“Greece has to be the sl owest mov ingtrain wreck in financial his tory; but in away, it’s a good thing because if Greecehad failed in 2012 we’d be in a muchmore dire situation,” said Jack Ablin,

chief investment officer at BMO PrivateBank, which oversees $66 billion inChicago.

Investors also remain focused onwhen the U.S. Federal Reserve mightincrease its key interest rate for the firsttime in nearly a decade. Fed GovernorJerome Powell said at an event onTuesday that he expects the U.S. centralbank to begin raising its benchmarkinterest rate in September, with a sec-ond rate rise coming in December.

The expectations of an interest rateincrease rose after a report releasedWednesday sh owed that t he U.S. econ o-my contracted less than previouslythought in th e first three months o f theyear. The Commerce Department saidfirst quarter GDP fell 0.2 percent, com-

pared with its previous estimate of 0.7percent.

U.S. government bond prices rose.The yield on the 10-year Treasury notefell to 2.37 percent from 2.40 percentthe day before.

Among individual stocks, Sysco rose$1.16, or 3 percent, to $38.75 after a

federal judge ruled that t he foo d dist ribu-tion company could not merge withrival US Foods. The Federal TradeCommission had sued to block the dealin February.

Homebuilder Lennar rose $2.06, or 4percent, to $51.06 after the companyreported results that beat analysts’

expectations. Other home builders suchas Pulte, D.R. Horton and Toll Brothersalso rose.

In energy trading, the price of oil fellafter the Energy Department reportedan increase in stockpiles of gasolineand diesel in its weekly inventoryreport. Benchmark U.S. crude fell 74cents to close at $60.27 a barrel on theNew York Mercantile Exchange. Brentcrude, a benchmark for internationaloils used by many U.S. refineries, fell96 cents to close at $63.49 a barrel inLondon.

In other trading on the NYMEX,wholesale gasoline fell 2.1 cents toclose at $2.056 a gallon. Heating oilfell 3.5 cents to close at $1.876 a gal-lon. Natural gas rose 3.3 cents to close

at $2.759 per 1,000 cubic feet.In metals trading, gold closed down

$3.70 to $1,172.90 an ounce. Silverrose 12 cents to $15.85 an ounce andcopper rose a penny to $2. 62 a pound.

The euro rose to $ 1.119 9. The dollarwas litt le changed against t he Japanesecurrency at 123. 88 yen.

Stocks fall as optimism for Greek debt deal fades

By Christopher S. Rugaber


WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy con-tracted in th e first three month s of th e year,

just not as much as previously estimated.More recent data show that the weaknesswas largely t emporary, with a rebound in t heworks for the April-June quarter.

The economy, as measured by the grossdomestic product, shrank at a seasonallyadjusted annual rate of 0.2 percent fromJanuary through March, the CommerceDepartment said Wednesday. That’s better

than last month’s estimate of a 0.7 percentdecrease.

Harsh winter weather slowed spending bykeeping consumers away from shoppingmalls and auto dealerships. The trade deficitballooned, sl icing growth by the most since

1985 as exports fell and imports rose.Yet consumers stepped up their spending

in May, and home sales are climbing —signs that the economy is back on track. Inaddition, many of th e headwinds th e econo-my faced in the first quarter — from anincrease in the dollar’s value to spendingcutbacks b y o il drillers — are fading.

“Growth should remain near 3 percent inthe second half of the year as the dampeningeffects of a strong dollar and oil industryslump fade,” Sal Guatieri, an economist atBMO Capital Markets, said in a note toclients.

Forecasting firm MacroeconomicAdvisors predicts g rowth will reach 2.7 per-cent in the second quarter. And many econo-mists agree with Guatieri that g rowth shouldreach 3 percent in the second half of theyear.

Still, that would leave growth in the firsthalf at a weak 1.2 percent annual rate. The

economy appears to be on track for anotheryear of modest 2 percent to 2.5 percentgrowth.

That’s far below the optimism at thebeginni ng of th e year, when lower oil pricesand healthy hiring led many economists to

forecast growth abov e 3 percent. The econo-my hasn’t reached that level in a decade.

Exports were hammered in the first quarterby a sharp rise in the dollar’s value, whichmakes U.S. goods more expensive ov erseas.The dollar has strengthened 15 percent inthe past year compared with a basket of other currencies.

Economy not as bad in first quarter, paving way for rebound

By Mike Corderand Joseph PisaniTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — The o wner of St op &Shop and Giant will ti e up with t he par-ent company of Food Lion, creating a$29 billion grocer that will be in astronger position to compete withWal-Mart and o ther discount retailers.

The deal, which would create thefourth largest grocer in the U.S., is thelatest in a series of buyouts and merg-ers that has major players bulking upto carve out market share in an in dustrythat has grown intensely competitive.

Shoppers may be the biggest win-ners as the bargaining power of gro-cers grows along with their size, said

Euromonitor retail analyst TimBarrett.

The latest ti e up is b etween th e Dutchretailer Royal Ahold NV and its rival,Belgium’s Delhaize Group. Yet thecombined company, to be called AholdDelhaize, will generate about 61 per-

cent of its revenue in the U.S.In addition to Stop & Shop and

Giant, Roy al Ahold owns th e Martin’ssupermarket chain and online grocerPeapod in the U.S. In Europe, it ownsAlbert Heijn stores. Food Lion andHannaford are Delhaize’s best-knownbrands in the U.S. It operates theDelhaize and Tempo chain s o verseas.

Together, Ahold Delhaize, will havemore than 6,500 stores around theworld and it would cater to 50 million

customers a week in the U.S. andEurope.

Though grocers have grown larger,the grocery sector has become frag-mented, with stores like Whole Foodshitt ing t he high end, and Wal-Mart andDollar General coming i n lo w.

That has left more traditional gro-cers fighting for the massive customerbase that lies in between. As thosegrocers grow and their leverageincreases, they can demand more fromfood and beverage supplies, saidEuromonit or’s Barrett.

They are likely to pass on the sav-ings to customers in a bid to take backmarket share from Wal-Mart, dollarstores and other discount retailers, s aidBarrett.

European deal creates U.S. grocery giantDisney will pay twodividends a year; boosts payment rate

NEW YORK — Disney says it will pay dividends twice ayear inst ead of once, and in creased its dividend rate.

The company said Wednesday it will pay a dividend of 66cents on July 29. The payment will go to shareholders of

record as of July 6. At that rate, it would pay $1. 32 i n annu-al dividends, up almost 15 percent over a year ago.

The Burbank-based company paid an annual dividend of $1.15 in J anuary.

The Walt Disney Co. had a strong year in 2014 thanks topopular movies lik e “Frozen,” which came out in late 2013 ,along with sales of toys and other merchandise and solidresults from its theme parks and media networks. Thisspring “Avengers: Age of Ultron” did more than $1 bill ionat the box office, and in December Disney is set to release“Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens,” the first “StarWars” film in a decade, following its acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012.

Shares of Disney have risen 38 percent over the last year.Its shares finished at $113.77 on Wednesday, down 64cents. The dividend hike was announced after the clos e. Itsshares rose 62 cents to $114.39 in after-hours trading.

Airbnb looks to expand

Cuba listings to non-AmericansHAVANA — Onlin e home-rental service Airbnb says it i s

exploring a significant expansion of its operations i n Cubatwo months after it became the first major U.S. business toenter the island in decades.

Chief technology officer Nathan Blecharczyk, one of thefirm’s three co-founders, told the Associated Press onWednesday during his first trip to Havana that Airbnb hadrequested a special li cense allowing peopl e from outside theU.S. to use the San Francisco-based business to reservestays at private homes inside Cuba.

Airbnb currently books lodging only for U.S. residentsgoing to Cuba for 12 special purposes, including educa-tional travel, religious outreach and appearing in athleticand artistic events.

Business briefs

8/21/2019 06-25-15 edition

11/28

By Don Babwin


CHICAGO — A former Chicago LittleLeague team announced a l awsuit Wednesdayagainst the sport’s governing body, accus-ing it of improperly stripping the youngathletes of the national title that made themhometown heroes and nationally knownand refusing to p rovide the information usedto make the stunning decision.

The attorney for Jackie Robinson Westsaid during a news conference that he

believed some of what Little LeagueInternational has claimed — that some of the players did not live within local leagueboundaries. But he added that he thought th eteam was unfairly singled out for scrutiny,in part, because all of its players are black.

“Do I thi nk race is at pl ay? Yes, I do thi nkthat it’s at play at some level,” said VictorHenderson, as members of the team andtheir parents and coaches sat and stoodbehind him. “Do I think that’s the only rea-son? No, I do not. ”

The lawsuit is the latest chapter of whatstarted as an uplifting and inspirational

story about the South Side Chicago teamand how it defeated opponent after oppo-nent, including Las Vegas to capture thenational crown at the Little League WorldSeries. It fell to South Korea in the worldchampionship game.

Fans in Chicago turned out by the thou-sands to watch the games on large screens.And when i t was over, the players were treat-ed to a massive parade downtown, a trip tothe White House to meet President BarackObama and another trip to San Francisco towatch the World Series.b

Then in February came the announcement

that Little League International was strip-ping the team of its title, suspending itsmanager and suspending the team fromLittle League tournament play until thelocal league replaced its president and treas-urer after determining the b oundaries of theleague had been falsified so that ineligibleplayers could be added to the roster.

Henderson, who was hired by JackieRobinson West to conduct an investiga-tion, said his efforts have been stonewalledby Littl e League International.

Chicago Little League team suing over stripped title

By Terry BernalDAILY JOURNAL STAFF

Have a day Angelo Bortolin. And whileyou’re at it, have a day San Mateo Post 82.

The San Mateo American Legion squad put a22-2 thumping on Redwood City Post 105Wednesday at Woodside High, and Bortolinwas the catalyst. The Shockers’ No. 3 hitterbatted with the bases loaded three times, andeach time he delivered. All told, Bortolin fella triple short of the cycle, going 4 for 4 withnine RBIs, including a third-inning grandslam. He fell just sho rt of his season to tal of 10 RBIs at Serra in the spring.

The Shockers scored in every inning of themercy-rule shorted five-inning affair, withevery batter in t heir lineup tabbing a hit . As ateam, San Mateo totaled 17 hits on the game.

“We always hit pretty good, but that was alot o f runs,” Bortolin said.

Bortolin’s performance at the plate hasbeen on an interesting trajectory in 2015.Following his sophomore season at Serra in2014 as an All-West Catholic Athleti c Leaguefirst-team selection, the third basemanendured a stone-cold rut early in his junioryear.

After starting the year hitting safely in hisfirst six games, Bortolin went hitlessthrough his next nine. He got cooking overthe last six weeks of the season, hitting ,415(17 for 41) over his last 13 games, raising h isseason average to . 310. But his no home runsand 10 RBIs paled in comparison to his win-ning two legs of the team triple crown as asophomore, when he hit six home runs andbatted in 29.

“I feel like I hit a lot of ball hard and theygot caught,” Bortolin said of his nine-gamehitless streak. “I went 0 for 25, or somethinglike that, but I was able to turn it around in[WCAL play].”

Wednesday, Bortolin got San Mateo on theboard in the top of the first. With the firstthree pitches of the game, the Shockers hadthree batters reach base. Leadoff hitter NickThompson was hit by the first pitch of thegame and Matt Seubert followed with a cleansingle to left on the following pitch.Bortolin then hit what looked like a tailor-made double-play ball to shortstop, but the

Bortolin’s 9 RBIs pace Post 82

TERRY BERNAL/DAILY JOURNAL

San Mateo Post 82 third baseman Angelo Bortolin was a force in Wednesday’s 22-2 win overRedwood City Post 105, going 4 for 4 with nine RBIs, including this third-inning grand slam.

My wife is no t a huge sports fan.She’ll indulge my pass ion— obsession? — with sports

simply because she knows I enjoy them.She’ll even score some baseball ticketsevery now and again and she already hasducats for the Giants game for my birth-day present in September. She’ll bearwith me as I watch whatever it is I’mwatching, but she is far from willing tosit down and watch an entire game with

me.Which is fine.

Recently, however,she has found her

sporting passion inrugby, of all sports.Apparently one of the channels we getvia satellit e broad-casts Super Leaguerugby matches fromthe other side of theglobe, mostly from

Australia.She is hooked on the sport now. She’ll

record several matches during the week —which air at, l ike, 4 a.m. — and then do amarathon watching sess ion on the week-ends.

This is no passing fancy, apparently.She has gott en to know a lot of the clubteams participating and many of the play-ers by name, mostly from her now

favorit e team — New Zealand’s AllBlacks. She is so into the sport, sheasked for an All Blacks jersey for herbirthday, which I ob liged. She alsobought tickets, months ago, for thePacific Nations Cup double header at theSan Jose Earthquakes’ Avaya Stadium in acouple weeks, which features Canada ver-sus Japan in one fixture, followed by theUSA Eagles against Samoa.

As can be expected, I also watch a lot of rugby now and I have to say, it’s prettyexciting. We don’t know all the rules, orwhen fouls or in fractions are committed,

See LEGION, Page 14

Rugby has

a new fan

See LOUNGE, Page 14

By Anne M. PetersonTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

EDMONTON, Alberta — The United Statesis still looking for its offense at theWomen’s World Cup even th ough i ts stellardefense has it three wins from a title.

Despit e glimpses of the formidable attack

06-25-15 edition

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