THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

OAKLAND — Hundredsof protesters took to thestreets Friday, some break-ing windows and knockingdown fences, after a whiteformer transit officer wasgiven the minimum possibleprison sentence of two yearsfor fatally shooting an un-armed black man on a Cali-fornia train platform.

The case against defen-dant Johannes Mehserle has

provoked racial unrest atevery turn, and police inOakland, the scene of thekilling, were on alert formore problems following asentence many thought wastoo light.

Police in riot gear arrest-ed more than 152 peopleFriday night after a rallybilled as a tribute to the vic-tim, Oscar Grant, turnedinto a march through thedowntown area, wheredemonstrators broke car

and bus windows. Some car-ried a banner reading “Jus-tice for Oscar Grant.” Policehelicopters hovered above,shining spotlights on thecrowd.

Oakland Police Chief An-thony Batts said the protestwas declared an illegal as-sembly after one officer hadhis gun taken from him in afight and another officer washit by a car and sufferednon-life-threatening in-juries.

Police spokesman JeffThomason said there werescattered arrests elsewhere.

Mehserle’s sentence,handed down in Los Ange-les, also angered the vic-tim’s family and friends,who demanded a muchharsher punishment.

Wanda Johnson, Grant’smother, shouted, “Oh my!”when Superior Court JudgeRobert Perry issued the

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Thejobs crisis eased just a bitlast month as the Americaneconomy added 151,000jobs, its best showing sinceApril -- yet still not enoughto make a significant dentin unemployment.

In fact, the pace of jobcreation is still only abouthalf of what it would taketo have a noticeable effect

on the job-less rate. Sothe big ques-tion re-mains: Whatwill it takefor business-es to hire

that vigorously again, andwhen will that be?

The unemployment rateheld steady for the third

BY JESS SULLIVANDAILY REPUBLIC

SACRAMENTO — Itwas a rare, behind-the-scenes look Friday at howCalifornia’s judges taketime to reflect on their pro-fessional ethics and talkabout their role in govern-ment.

The unusual day-longtraining included SolanoCounty Superior CourtJudge Ramona Garrettplaying a notable role in theseminar titled “How theCourts Failed Germany:Law, Justice and the Holo-caust.”

The U.S. HolocaustMemorial Museum, in co-operation with the Califor-nia Administrative Office ofthe Courts, debuted theseminar in Sacramento. Bythe time two more sessionsare completed next week inSan Francisco and Irvine,more than 300 judges fromthroughout the state willhave participated in theseminar.

“The Holocaust has pro-found implications for lawenforcement officers, pros-ecutors and judges,” saidMarcus Appelbaum,

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SACRAMENTO — Fourdays after he prematurelyclaimed victory on ElectionDay, Los Angeles CountyDistrict Attorney SteveCooley was trailing Fridayby 12,000 votes in the racefor state attorney general.

However, the contestbetween Republican Coo-

ley and his Democratic ri-val, San Francisco DistrictAttorney Kamala Harris,could remain too close tocall for several weeks.More than 2.3 million late

or provisional ballots re-main to be counted beforethe end of the month, ac-cording to the secretary ofstate’s office.

Harris led Cooley bytwo-tenths of a percentagepoint among the more than7 million ballots tallied sofar. A victory by Harriswould give Democrats asweep of statewide offices.

California’s size makesthe position influential on anational scale, sparkingadded interest in the cam-paign and its outcome.President Barack Obamaattended a fundraisingevent for Harris, while theRepublican State Leader-ship Committee, chaired by

BY AMY MAGINNIS-HONEYDAILY REPUBLIC

FAIRFIELD — Juanita Martinnow has the official title of Fairfield’sfirst poet laureate.

However, the 23-year Fairfieldresident has been involved in localpoetry events for years, such as host-ing Poetry in the Park and serving asits featured poet one year.

“I didn’t think it would ever hap-pen,” Martin said of the city having apoet laureate. “I’m glad it did.”

Fairfield is the second city inSolano County to have its own poetlaureate. Benicia is the other.

Poet laureates are volunteers whoadvocate for the arts and contributeto the arts community by readingoriginal works at official city events.

Martin said she also hopes to bringpoetry into the schools.

“Kids need to be exposed to it,” shesaid. “There’s potential out there.”

While a handful of people inquiredabout the poet laureate post, onlyMartin, 49, and Joseph Boertje, 24,

read for the job Monday night at theMissouri Street Theatre.

Each read three poems they hadwritten. Each poem was scored indi-vidually in 10 categories rangingfrom rhyme and/or meter to its over-all impact.

Martin had the highest score fromthe judges. Only 10 points separatedher from Boertje.

Carmen Slack, president of theSolano County Arts Council, spear-headed the effort to get the city a poetlaureate.

“I thought the city deserved it,”

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A WAY WITH WORDS

Mike Greener/Daily Republic

Juanita Martin reads one of her poems at an audition for becoming Fairfield’s first poet laureate at the

Missouri Street Theatre last Wednesday evening. Martin was awarded the title.

Mustangs SCAC champsFinish league play with perfect 5-0 record I B1

Fairfield 49, Armijo 2 Vacaville 76, Wood 28Benicia 45, Bethel 42 Napa 28, Vintage 3

S P O R T S : R O D R I G U E Z 1 4 , V A N D E N 7

S O M E O T H E R H I G H S C H O O L F O O T B A L L S C O R E STurn your clocks back

one hour to standard timeat 2 a.m. Sunday.

Ex-officer’s sentence sparks protestOakland cops in riot gear arrest 152 people

The Associated Press

A protester wears an Oscar Grant mask during ademonstration after the sentencing of former Bay Area RapidTransit police officer Johannes Mehserle in Oakland Friday.See Sentencing, Page A12

City names 1st poet laureate

The Associated Press

A sign turning away potential job-seekers is seen outside aconstruction site in New Orleans Thursday.

Judges learnlessons from the Holocaust

See Holocaust, Page A12

See Crisis, Page A12

Jobs crisis eases, but still ways to go

Attorney general race could take weeks to callINSIDERep. McNerney slightlyahead of Harmer in race for 11th District. Page A5.

See Race, Page A12

See Poet, Page A12

Fairfield resident will advocate for arts

INSIDEGOP seekscuts to payfor joblessbenefits.Page B10.

A12 Saturday, November 6, 2010 — DAILY REPUBLIC

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two-year sentence. Sheburst out of the courtroomsaying, “He got nothing! Hegot nothing!”

Grant’s uncle, Bobby Ce-phus Johnson, said outsidecourt: “I do believe it’s aracist criminal justice sys-tem.”

Still, he said the familywas reacting calmly butadded he could not com-ment for others.

“I have no power overwhat people feel their mat-ter of expression should be,”he said.

Some of the dozens ofpeople who gathered outsideOakland City Hall for a trib-ute to victim Oscar Grantbroke into tears when theylearned of the judge’s deci-sion. Outside the Los Ange-les courthouse, a smallcrowd that had earliershouted “No justice, nopeace” reacted relativelycalmly to the sentence.

Mehserle, 28, had faced apossible 14-year maximumterm after being convictedof involuntary manslaugh-ter. At the time of the shoot-ing, Mehserle was a BayArea Rapid Transit officerresponding to a report of afight.

In making his decisionduring the highly charged,31⁄2-hour hearing, Perrythrew out a gun enhance-ment that could have addedas much as 10 years inprison and said there wasoverwhelming evidence thatit was an accidental shoot-ing.

Perry said race would notfactor into his decision andalthough Mehserle hadshown “tons of remorse” forkilling Grant, he would haveto account that a “youngman needlessly died.”

“I did the best I couldwith this case,” Perry toldthe courtroom. “My deci-sions today will not be well-received by many people.I’m sorry for that.”

Police said they were pre-pared in case there was a re-play of the rioting in Oak-land that followed the shoot-ing on New Year’s Day 2009.

Mayor Ron Dellums saidhe understood the pain anddisappointment sparked bythe sentence.

“It is still my hope thatpeople will express theiranger, will express their dis-appointment, their outrage,their pain in a manner that isnonviolent, in a manner thatis not destructive to our com-munity,” he said at a newsconference.

Johnson family attorneyJohn Burris acknowledged asmall step was taken by thejustice system in sentencingMehserle to two years, but

he said that was insufficient.Both Burris and BobbyJohnson noted that NFL starMichael Vick got a harshersentence for running a dog-fighting ring.

“What you take from thatis that Oscar Grant’s life wasnot worth very much,” Bur-ris said.

He also targeted Perry’scomments before sentencingthat he was saddened by thepolarization of the communi-ty over the shooting.

“This case does nothing atall to heal, if that was everany intent,” Burris said.

Reaction to the case hasdrawn comparisons to theinfamous 1991 Rodney Kingbeating by Los Angeles po-lice officers, which inflameda racial divide and led to thedisastrous 1992 riot whenthe officers were acquittedof brutality charges.

Mehserle was convictedin July in the videotaped

killing of Grant, 22, in Oak-land. The case was moved toLos Angeles for trial.

Perry had wide discretionwhen sentencing Mehserle.Prosecutors sought prisontime while defense lawyersargued for probation. Thejudge gave Mehserle theminimum possible prisonsentence.

Defense attorney MichaelRains immediately filed anappeal with the court afterthe sentencing. After timealready served and good be-havior credits, Mehserle willlikely serve an additional sixto seven months based onCalifornia’s sentencingguidelines, the lawyer said.

Mehserle testified duringthe trial that he thoughtGrant had a weapon and de-cided to shock him with hisstun gun but instead pulledhis .40-caliber handgun.Grant was unarmed and facedown when he was shot.

Sentencing:Oakland mayor pleads for peaceFrom Page One

straight month at 9.6 per-cent in October, the govern-ment said Friday.

With Congress facinggridlock, some economistssay it will be at least a yearbefore companies gainenough confidence to startadding 300,000 new jobs amonth, a sort of economicsweet spot. That’s what itwould take to reduce the un-employment rate by a fullpercentage point over a year.

“It could be another yearor two,” says Paul Ashworth,senior U.S. economist at Cap-ital Economics. “Hopefully,I’m wrong and the economycatches fire, but you’d have tobe a pretty brave man to pre-dict that’s going to happen.

For October, the privatesector added 159,000 jobs,also its best performancesince April. Retailers added28,000 and health care firms24,000. Financially ailing lo-cal governments shed 15,000jobs.

Mark Zandi, chief econo-mist at Moody’s Analytics,holds out hope that “the pre-conditions are coming intoplace for much better jobgrowth. Big companies, mid-size companies are very prof-itable.”

Zandi says those compa-nies need to get over theshock of the recession and re-gain the confidence to starthiring again. That will proba-bly take another year or so,he says. He thinks net jobcreation won’t consistently

hit the magic 300,000-a-month mark until 2012.

Job creation used tobounce back faster after re-cessions. When manufactur-ing occupied a bigger part ofthe economy, factories wouldquickly revive the labor mar-ket by recalling laid-off work-ers once conditions im-proved. After the severe1981-82 recession, for in-stance, the economy generat-ed 287,000 jobs a month in1983 and 323,000 in 1984.Monthly growth exceeded300,000 jobs 24 times in the1980s.

Some months were espe-cially explosive: in Septem-ber 1983, the economy creat-ed 1.1 million jobs. In Febru-ary 1984, it was 479,000.

But advances in automa-

tion and the development of amainly service economymean employers are slowerto recall laid-off workers orhire new ones. Since 1983,the economy has tended toneed a lot of time after a re-cession to create many newjobs. Not until 22 months af-ter the 1990-1991 recessionofficially ended, for example,did job growth hit the300,000-a-month mark. Ittook 28 months after the 2001recession.

This year, with the GreatRecession officially oversince June 2009, the averagegain is 87,400 jobs a month.At that pace, it would take un-til the end of 2017 to replacethe 7.5 million jobs wiped outby the downturn that beganin December 2007.

Crisis:Companies added 159K jobs last monthFrom Page One

she said. “It’s a nice city. Wehave a lot of talented peoplehere.”

Martin, who penned apoem for an art exhibit atthe Vallejo Historical Muse-um, has also earned ribbonsat the Solano County Fairthe past three years for herwork.

“I love words,” she said.“I love English. I get excitedabout literature. I just loveto write.”

She also taught poetry atthe Arts & Ethics Academy

in Santa Rosa and wastrained as part of CaliforniaPoets in the Schools in 2007.

Ariel Flores, 14, a VandenHigh School freshman, saidshe enjoyed listening to thepoetry. In two years, whenMartin’s term expires, shesaid she hopes to read forthe job.

Flores began writing po-etry about three years agowhen her parents divorced,she said.

“It’s very therapeutic.One word can say an entireparagraph. Five words cantell the world what you

mean,” she said.Flores said she enjoys the

works of poets Edgar AllanPoe and Robert Frost.

Boertje grew up in Fair-field and attended UCBerkeley. He then went onto Loyola Law School LosAngeles for one year and de-cided to take a break fromeducation.

Both Martin and Boertjeparticipate in local open micnights.

“Joe, you are as worthyan opponent as anyone canbe,” Martin said to Boertjewhen Slack announced the

winner.He returned the compli-

ment with a hug and later acup of soda and a toast toMartin.

“Poetry keeps meyoung,” Martin said. “Themore I write, the more I getinvolved.”

Plans are being made toinaugurate Martin as thecity’s poet laureate. Her firstofficial duty will be namedsoon.

Reach Amy Maginnis-Honeyat 427-6957 or amaginnis@dailyrepublic.net.

Poet:Fairfield’s 1st laureate a seasoned writerFrom Page One

director of the museum’sLaw, Justice and SocietyInitiative. “Judges in Ger-many went from protectingthe rights of individuals un-der a democratic govern-ment to becoming complicitin carrying out the Holo-caust under Nazism. By ex-ploring how this occurredwe work to make membersof the judiciary cognizant oftheir role in safeguardingour personal freedoms andour democracy today.”

The seminar included aclosed-door session in whichGarrett sat on a discussionpanel that also answered

questions about issuestouched on during the day.

The fragility of moderndemocracy was a recurringtheme woven into a look atthe incremental ways usedby Adolf Hitler and the Nazileadership to attain the Naz-ification of the judiciary.

“(The courts) relying onthe letter of the law did notpreclude injustice,” saidWilliam Meinecke Jr., ascholar on Germany’scourts in the Nazi era, allud-ing to the contemporary de-bate about strict constitu-tional interpretation of thelaw.

Small things went un-challenged in the 1930s,

such as swastika bannersbeing placed on all court-houses.

“The symbols of the partybecame the symbols of thestate,” Meinecke said.

At one point the judiciarydeferred to the Nazi partyand it formed its own courtsfor punishing political oppo-nents branded as traitors tothe state. The deference re-duced the court workloadand removed them from thepolitical battles for power in1930s Germany.

Garrett questioned Mei-necke repeatedly about howcertain laws passed by theNazi party brought theracism and religious dis-

crimination into the Germancourt system, even into fam-ily law child custody cases.

The session included dia-logue about what judgesknew or should have knownabout the secret Jewish ex-termination program inwhich 6 million Jews werekilled.

Meinecke reminded par-ticipants that the judiciary’sdeferring the power to im-prison political opponentsled to the Nazi party broad-ening the meaning to in-clude the crime of beingJewish.

Reach Jess Sullivan at 427-6919 or jsullivan@dailyrepublic.net.

Holocaust:Solano judge attends discussionFrom Page One

former Bush White Housecounselor Ed Gillespie,poured in money on Coo-ley’s behalf.

The margin appears to bethe tightest for a statewide of-fice since 2002, when Democ-rat Steve Westly edged Re-publican Tom McClintock forstate controller, said ShannanVelayas, spokeswoman forthe secretary of state.

Westly won by less than17,000 votes, or three-tenthsof a percentage point.

Cooley had been ahead inearly returns on ElectionDay.

He told supporters Tues-day night that he was disre-garding his political consult-ants’ advice and declaringvictory. He later told KNBCin Los Angeles that if he waswrong, “then it’s one of thoseDewey moments.” The ref-erence was to famous news-paper headlines in 1948 thatwrongly said Thomas Deweyhad beaten Harry Trumanfor president.

Cooley spokesman KevinSpillane said it is too soon to

say who won.“You’ll see a lot of fluctua-

tion back and forth” in com-ing days, Spillane said.“Usually it doesn’t matter.Here, people are paying at-tention.”

The count has been upand down by thousands ofvotes since election night,though Harris has consis-tently been ahead.

Harris spokesman BrianBrokaw predicted that Har-ris’ late surge in the pollsand on Election Day is likelyto continue as the remainingballots are counted, giventhe location of the outstand-ing ballots and her momen-tum.

Santa Cruz County Regis-trar Gail Pellerin, presidentof the California Associationof Clerks and Election Offi-cials, said that tracks withher experience that late vot-ers tend to be more liberal.

But both agreed withSpillane that it could be twoweeks before it is clear whowon.

“It’s kind of going to be await and see game,” Brokawsaid.

Race:Too close to callFrom Page One

The Associated Press

A demonstrator lies on the ground in protest after the sentencing of former BART police officerJohannes Mehserle, in Oakland Friday.

Police spotlightFAIRFIELD —

The Fairfield Po-lice Department

this week honorsElaine Gatka as avalued Neighbor-hood Watch blockcaptain.

Gatka started herNeighborhood Watchgroup on Candlewood Drivein the Rolling Hills area fiveyears ago and supportsabout 60 households. Shealso regularly attends theRolling Hills NeighborhoodNetwork Board meetingsand represents FairfieldNeighborhood Watch issuesand concerns.

During her associ-ation with FairfieldNeighborhoodWatch, she hashelped to recruit sixadditional groups inthe Rolling Hillsarea, provides themwith tips about or-ganizing their

groups, and is instrumentalin networking those groupsthrough an e-mail system ofcommunication.

With her assistance, Fair-field police are now part-nered with more than 1,000homes in the Rolling Hillsneighborhood.

— Fairfield Police Department

GATKA