Berkeley facilitates protests outside recruiting center

[thedrifter]

02/07/2008
Women Marines celebrate 65 years
By Rhonda Moore , Staff Writer

The Castle Rock chapter of the Women Marines Association will celebrate the 65th anniversary of women in the Marine Corps with a classic Colorado celebration.

The Colorado Columbines Chapter of the Women Marines last year filled the Castle Rock Café with its annual gathering and this year hopes to repeat the accomplishment.

With a nationwide membership of 4,000 past and present women marines, the women Marines like to call themselves the "fewer and the prouder" among those who serve in the elite military branch, said Amy Contreras, public relations officer. Only 6 percent of the 176,000-strong Marine Corps are women Marines, she said.

Contreras lauds the work of the Colorado Columbines, which is charged with the care of the Women Marines' historical items. The Colorado Columbines is the history chapter for the national association and oversees four storage facilities stocked with historical archives from women marines who have been serving in the military since 1943.

The collection of items donated from female Marines nationwide was on display for two years at the Castle Rock Museum and is now showcased in a traveling exhibit financed entirely from private donations, Contreras said.

"The items are beautiful," Contreras said. "We have hymns, first orders, uniforms. These are all different items and they are amazing."

Thousands of items poured in to the Colorado Columbines when female Marines across the nation heard the items would be on display, Contreras said. The Colorado Columbines is headed by the president of the national Women Marines Association, Paula Sarlls, whose job includes managing the traveling exhibit.

The Colorado Columbines is a nonprofit organization that raises money to clean, preserve and care for the collection in traditionally female fundraisers. The local chapter has hosted ice cream socials and no-bake sales to maintain the inventory of valuables on behalf of women marines across the country.

The exhibit was most recently on display at the Grand Hyatt Hotel and it on its way to Quantico, Va., Camp Pendleton, Calif., and the 10th anniversary celebration of the Women in Military Service for America in Washington, D.C., Contreras said.

"The long-term goal is to find a building where we can have a museum for women marines because there's so much history," Contreras said. "We want to make sure it's preserved so people can see the amazing things women marines have been able to do throughout history."

The Colorado Columbines boasts about 44 members of Colorado's 100-member Women Marines Association. The local chapter was formed in 1974 and is one of 80 chapters nationwide, including one in Iraq.

With a collection considered the most definitive representation of history on women Marines, the Colorado Columbines will have several historical items on display at the upcoming anniversary celebration.

The Colorado Columbines will celebrate the women Marines' anniversary at 11 a.m. Feb. 16 at the Castle Rock Café on the corner of Fourth and Wilcox streets.

The guest speaker at the event includes Sara Sheldon, 70, author of "The Few, The Proud, Women Marines in Harm's Way." Sheldon will share her account of traveling to Iraq to shadow women Marines serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Colorado Columbines will also welcome Colorado secretary of state Mike Coffman among its special guests at the anniversary celebration, Contreras said.

Every woman who has or is serving in the Women Marines is invited to attend. Friends, family and community members will be welcomed to help recognize the occasion.

Residents interested in attending the celebration luncheon are encouraged to RSVP to Paula Sarlls at paulasarlls@comcast.net.

For more information about the Women Marines Association visit the Web site at www.womenmarines.org. For information about the local chapter visit www.wmaco1.org.

303-663-7162 | rmoore@ccnewspapers.com

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Road funds at risk over Marines
GOP LAWMAKER ANGRY AT COUNCIL STANCE
By Steve Geissinger
MediaNews Sacramento Bureau
Article Launched: 02/08/2008 01:59:08 AM PST

SACRAMENTO - Republican Assemblyman Guy Houston of San Ramon announced plans today to punish Berkeley's stand against Marine recruiting by withholding $3.3 million in state road funds, atop another $2.3 million in federal money that's also being challenged.

Meanwhile, Move America Forward - which calls itself the nation's largest grass-roots pro-troop organization - scheduled a demonstration against the Berkeley City Council on Tuesday.

The council voted last week to tell the Marines that a recruiting office is not welcome in their town.

Move America Forward asked Berkeley to rescind its action and issue a formal apology to all military personnel. Some council members said Wednesday that they are considering actions to defuse the controversy.

Houston, the Bay Area's lone GOP state lawmaker, said he will introduce legislation to strip Berkeley of $3.3 million in voter-approved transportation funds until Berkeley leaders rescind their "war on the U.S. Marine Corps."

The Republican move at the state level mirrors action Wednesday by several GOP congressional members who want to punish Berkeley by withholding $2.3 million in federal funds for a wide array of uses.

Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, was not immediately available for comment.

Both the state and federal moves to withhold money were largely symbolic, with little chance of passing at either level of government. Houston said in a statement that he
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"cannot stand by and do nothing while the City of Berkeley declares war on the United States Marine Corps."

"The Marines, and all of our branches of the military, deserve the honor of our elected officials, not their scorn," he said.

The city "took the extraordinary action" of approving a resolution that will result in a letter being sent to the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps that their Marine recruiting office is not welcome in the City of Berkeley. If recruiters choose to stay, they do "so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders," Houston said.

The legislator said the city's resolution also applauds residents and organizations "that may volunteer to impede, passively or actively, by non-violent means, the work or any military recruiting office located in the City of Berkeley," but added this "non-violent means" has resulted in people chaining themselves to one another in order to physically obstruct people from entering the Marine recruiting office.

Houston provided a Web site to view video of protesters physically blocking access to the Berkeley Marine Corps office: www.breitbart.tv/?p=41464&comments=1.

Move America Forward said it held an October rally in solidarity with the Marines outside the Marine Recruiting Center in Berkeley, after the site was "vandalized and defaced" by "anti-military" protesters.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Berkeley to Marines: You're 'not welcome in our city'

By Wayne Drash
CNN

(CNN) -- Berkeley, the famously liberal college town in California, has taken aim at Marine recruiters, saying they are "not welcome in our city."

Republican lawmakers in Washington fired back this week, threatening to take back more than $2 million of federal funding to the city as well as money designated for the University of California-Berkeley, the campus that became a haven of protests during the Vietnam War.

The battle erupted after the Berkeley City Council approved a measure last week urging the Marine recruiters to leave their downtown office.

"If recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders," the item says.

It goes on to say the council applauds residents and organizations that "volunteer to impede, passively or actively, by nonviolent means, the work of any military recruiting office located in the City of Berkeley." See photos of protesters camped outside Marine office »http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/07/ber...ml#cnnSTCPhoto

Outside the Shattuck Avenue recruiting station earlier this week, a handful of protesters with the anti-war group Code Pink camped out, strumming a guitar as they sang anti-war songs and held signs against the Iraq war.

"Time to end the war, time to end the war, time to end the war right now," they sang to the beat of "I've Been Working on the Railroad." Watch protesters sing "I Ain't Afraid" »http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/07/ber...ml#cnnSTCVideo

One giant sign said, "No Military Predators in Our Town." Another message on a pink placard read, "Join the Marines. Travel to Exotic Lands. Meet Exciting and Unusual People -- And Kill Them."

Zanne Joi peered out from under her straw hat. "This Marine recruiting station is trying to recruit our youth to go to Iraq to kill and be killed. And we are against that," said Joi, a member of Code Pink Women for Peace.

"This is part of a multi-pronged effort to end this war."

Protester Sharon Adams added: "This recruiting station recruits people to go fight and then once they fight and they serve their country, our country doesn't take care of them. That's a shame."

But not everyone here supports the protesters.Watch young men confront protesters »http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/07/ber...ml#cnnSTCVideo

Forrest Smith, who described himself as a veteran of U.S. Special Forces, said his son recently returned from a tour in Iraq and his daughter served in Afghanistan.

"My position on this is the Marines are the best thing we have," said Smith, decked out in Army fatigues.

He blasted the City Council for its action. "It's clearly an abuse of power."

A group of young students who strolled down the sidewalk shared that sentiment. They derided one of the protesters who argued the United States was involved in an illegal war in Iraq.

"Where's the logic in that whatsoever?" one of the young men said. "That's our national security, and you're here protesting the Marines."

Another said, "It makes me sick. It makes me sick."

Gunnery Sgt. Pauline Franklin, a spokeswoman for the Marine Corps Recruiting Command, told CNN there is "no plan for that office to move."

She said recruiters are there to "provide information to qualified men and women who are looking for opportunities that they may benefit from by serving in the military."

"The Marine Corps is here to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, which does guarantee the freedom of speech," Franklin said. "In terms of the situation in Berkeley, the City Council and the protesters are exercising their right to do so."

In Washington, a group of Republican lawmakers have introduced the Semper Fi Act of 2008 -- named after the Marine motto -- to rescind more than $2 million of funds for Berkeley and transfer it to the Marine Corps.

"Like most Americans, I really get disturbed when taxpayer money goes to institutions which proceed to take votes, make policy or make statements that really denigrate the military," said Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana, a co-sponsor of the bill.

He told CNN he believes the bill will pass. "I think it's going to have significant support."

The bill's co-sponsor, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina, said in a written statement, "Berkeley needs to learn that their actions have consequences."

Berkeley's declaration, which was introduced by the city's Peace and Justice Commission, accuses the United States of having a history of "launching illegal, immoral and unprovoked wars of aggression and the Bush administration launched the most recent of those wars in Iraq and is threatening the possibility of war in Iran."

It adds, "Military recruiters are salespeople known to lie to and seduce minors and young adults into contracting themselves into military service with false promises regarding jobs, job training, education and other benefits."

Out on Shattuck Avenue, it appears the protesters have no plans to leave anytime soon. "We are the civilian population; we control the military," Adams said. "We the people have to take back our control of the military."

CNN's Jim Castel and Peter Ornstein contributed to this story from Berkeley, and CNN's Dick Uliano contributed from Washington.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Penalty eyed for Berkeley stance on Marines
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Feb 8, 2008 12:47:47 EST

BERKELEY, Calif. — A Republican state lawmaker wants to cut off more than $3 million in state funding from Berkeley to punish the city for its stance against Marines recruiting.

Republican Assemblyman Guy Houston of San Ramon says he plans to introduce legislation to withhold state transportation money until Berkeley rescinds its “war on the U.S. Marine Corps.”

The move mirrors an effort by several Republican Congressmen to cut off $2.3 million in federal funding after the Berkeley City Council passed a resolution opposing the Marines’ downtown recruiting center.

Legislation to withhold government funds are largely symbolic and have little chance of passing.

Still, next week Berkeley council members will consider rescinding the Marines’ declaration to defuse the controversy.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Penalty eyed for Berkeley stance on Marines
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Feb 8, 2008 12:47:47 EST

BERKELEY, Calif. — A Republican state lawmaker wants to cut off more than $3 million in state funding from Berkeley to punish the city for its stance against Marines recruiting.

Republican Assemblyman Guy Houston of San Ramon says he plans to introduce legislation to withhold state transportation money until Berkeley rescinds its “war on the U.S. Marine Corps.”

The move mirrors an effort by several Republican Congressmen to cut off $2.3 million in federal funding after the Berkeley City Council passed a resolution opposing the Marines’ downtown recruiting center.

Legislation to withhold government funds are largely symbolic and have little chance of passing.

Still, next week Berkeley council members will consider rescinding the Marines’ declaration to defuse the controversy.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Berkeley City Council to address Marines recruiting center controversy Tuesday night
Bay City News Service
Article Launched: 02/11/2008 05:41:14 AM PST

Large crowds on both sides of the issue are expected at the Berkeley City Council's meeting Tuesday night, when the council addresses a flap over a Marines recruiting center for the second time.

The City Council ignited a nationwide controversy two weeks ago when it voted 6-3 to send a letter to the U.S. Marines Corps telling it that it's recruiting office at 64 Shattuck Avenue, which opened about 13 months ago, 'is not welcome in our city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders.'

The Council also voted 7-2 to research whether Berkeley's anti-discrimination laws apply to the recruiting center because of the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy concerning gay soldiers.

In addition, it voted 8-1 to give the anti-war group Code Pink a designated parking space in front of the recruiting office from 12 noon to 4 p.m. every Wednesday for six months and a free sound permit during those same hours so that it's easier for the group to disrupt the recruiting center's activities. Code Pink has been conducting regular protests at the center since last fall.

In response to the council's votes, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint, R-S.C., has proposed that the federal government cut off funds for Berkeley, including lunch programs, ferry service and the University of California, Berkeley.

State Assemblyman Guy Houston, R-San Ramon, announced that he plans to introduce legislation that will suspend $3.3 million in state
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transportation funding from Berkeley until the City Council rescinds what he described as its "anti-military resolution."

In a statement, Houston said, "I cannot stand by and do nothing while the city of Berkeley declares war on the U.S. Marines Corps."

He said, "The Marines, and all of our branches of the military, deserve the honor of our elected officials, not their scorn."

Marines officials have said they don't plan to leave Berkeley, despite the council's vote.

In a bid to calm down the controversy, City Council members Bette Olds and Laurie Capitelli have put an item on Tuesday night's agenda that would rescind the letter calling the Marines "uninvited and unwelcome" and clarify that although the council still opposes the Iraq War it supports America's troops.

However, the item from Olds and Capitelli would leave intact related items that passed two weeks ago: calling on residents to impede the work of any recruiting station in the city, asking the city attorney to find out if the Marines are violating city anti-discrimination laws and giving a parking space and a sound permit to Code Pink.

Council member Gordon Wozniak was the only person to vote against all of the Marines-related items.

Olds voted against most of the measures but supported giving the parking space and sound permit to Code Pink. Kriss Worthington joined them in voting against sending a letter to the Marines.

Julie Sinai, an aide to Mayor Tom Bates, said Bates plans to vote to rescind the letter to the Marines, saying that "the language went too far."

But Sinai said the attempts by DeMint and Houston to strip federal and state funds, respectively, from Berkeley are only "a media play" and won't go anywhere.

She accused DeMint and Houston of "trying to get on the bandwagon."

Melanie Morgan, a KSFO radio talk show host and a leader of the pro-troop group Move America Forward, said on Friday that she expects a large group of pro-military protesters, including some from as far away as Washington, D.C., to attend Tuesday night's meeting.

Morgan said pickets outside the council's chambers at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way will begin at 5 a.m. Tuesday and there will be a presence all day, including at noon and at 5 p.m.

"We want the Berkeley City Council to immediately apologize to the Marines and military members who were insulted by their outrageous words," Morgan said.

She said more than 10,000 people have signed a petition expressing outrage at the council's vote.

Code Pink members who don't want the council to back down will begin a 24-hour 'peace-in' beginning at 7 p.m. Monday outside the council's chambers.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Berkeley Set For Showdown Over Anti-Marines Resolution

POSTED: 8:53 pm PST February 11, 2008
UPDATED: 11:52 pm PST February 11, 2008
BERKELEY, Calif. -- The city of Berkeley is no stranger to vocal political protests, but a real firestorm of controversy surrounding the stand some city council members took against a U.S. Marines recruiting center will come to a head Tuesday night when officials meet to reconsider the resolution.

An anti-war encampment is set up on the front lawn of the old Berkeley City Hall where the city council will hold its meeting Tuesday night. Code Pink organizers call this an emergency action to prepare for what is certain to be a very contentious meeting over the Marines recruiting station on Shattuck Avenue.

The city council action calling for the Marines to leave the city has ignited a storm of controversy across the nation. On Monday night, Code Pink leaders said that's exactly what they wanted.

"We're delighted. We're excited about the whole thing. It just shines a much needed light on the issue of the war," said peace activist and Code Pink cofounder Medea Benjamin.

One Berkeley city leader says 24,000 e-mails have poured in to Berkeley City Hall from across the Bay area and the nation addressing the city's resolution targeting the U.S. Marines' recruiting office.

One of those angry about the city's action is San Pablo City Councilman Paul Morris. He stopped by to hand deliver a blistering letter to Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. The letter called the city "a national joke" and read in part: "I am ashamed to call you a neighbor. What you are doing is tantamount to pure and utter anarchy. You are weak to pander to these crazy pink people. When will you all grow up?"

"The buzz is they're just as angry. this is a terrible example to our youth and a lot of our people that are involved with the city," said Morris.

Just one Berkeley council member was available to speak to Monday night. Gordon Wozniak voted against the resolution allowing Code Pink to set up a permanent protest in front of the Marines’ recruiting station. He expressed concern about the issue being closed quickly.

"I'm worried that the council's not going to resolve this. We're going to do something that's half heartedly that's going to basically make both sides unhappy and this is going to continue." said Wozniak.

Berkeley police set up barricades in front of the old council chambers Monday evening. After the recent city hall shootings in a suburb outside St. Louis that killed several city employees, police say they're not taking any chances with public safety.

"It would be very very challenging for us to try to separate the groups. Certainly, if there's any volatility, if there's anything physical that happens, we are going to manage that," said Berkeley police officer Mary Kusmiss.

The Marine Corps says it has no plans on abandoning its recruiting station. Berkeley is still facing the threat of having federal and state funds cut off if it tries to get the Marines out. Medea Benjamin says that threat shouldn't be taken seriously.

"Then give Berkeley back the $56 million that it will spend this year alone on the war so we can invest it in what we want here, which would be schools and health care and green jobs and solar panels for our homes. That would make us a lot more secure than a war in Iraq," argued Benjamin.

Counter protestors from a group called Move America Forward are expected to gather as early as 5 a.m. Tuesday morning. Police haven't said how they plan on dealing with the two groups.

There's also concern about public access to the council chambers, which only has about a hundred seats. There's concern one side or the other will try to get in early to hold seats and deny the other side an opportunity to speak.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Posted on Wed, Feb. 13, 2008
Berkeley eases anti-Marines stance
By MICHELLE LOCKE
City council members who were criticized for telling Marine recruiters they don't belong here have moderated their position, saying they oppose the Iraq war but support the troops.

The Berkeley City Council voted two weeks ago to send a letter to a downtown recruitment station advising the Marines they were not welcome.

After a marathon session that stretched into early Wednesday, the council decided against sending the letter, saying it recognizes recruiters' right to be in Berkeley. The council members say they still strongly oppose the war and the recruitment of young people, but "deeply respect and support" the men and women of the armed forces.

Some on the council had pushed for issuing an apology. Others rejected that, saying they just wanted to clarify their position.

Councilwoman Linda Maio said the council opposes recruitment, not the military. "It's behavior that we oppose, not the people," she said.

The meeting drew hundreds of people on both sides of the issue who rallied outside City Hall from dawn until well into the night.

Inside the chamber, scores of speakers addressed the council, some decrying its earlier action.

"You owe our military an apology," said Kevin Graves, a San Francisco Bay area resident who said his son died serving in Iraq.

Others applauded the council's stand.

Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the anti-war group Code Pink, said her group supports the troops - "we support them so much that we're desperate to get them back home."

In rallies outside, pro-troop group Move America Forward sponsored one protest, holding signs that said "Stop Bashing Our Boys." On the other side, anti-war group Code Pink held bouquets of flowers and waved signs saying "Peace Now" and "Bring Our Troops Home."

Police estimated the crowd at about 2,000 at its height. A handful of people were arrested for scuffles between protesters, police spokeswoman Sgt. Mary Kusmiss said.

The recruiting office opened in Berkeley in late 2006. It operated quietly until four months ago, when Code Pink began holding regular protests.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Three arrested in Berkeley protests over Marines

Steve Rubenstein, Marisa Lagos,Christopher Heredia, Chronicle Staff Writers

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

(02-12) 18:30 PST Berkeley - --

Downtown Berkeley became a battleground of its own kind today as about 500 anti-war and pro-military protesters faced off in a public plaza over the Marine Corps' recruiting center in the city. Three protesters - a man and two teenagers - were arrested in separate scuffles, police said.

The City Council is scheduled to decide tonight whether to revoke a letter it approved two weeks ago telling the Marines they are "unwelcome intruders" and should leave. The council's action provoked widespread debate.

In anticipation of the meeting tonight at City Hall, anti-war protesters lined up on one side of Martin Luther King Jr. Way while pro-military groups took control of the other side. Things were peaceful for most of the morning.

But by early afternoon things heated up as more than three dozen police with batons and riot gear formed a line to separate the two sides. About 1 p.m., a man supporting the Marines' presence in Berkeley ventured into the encampment of anti-war group Code Pink and drew a knife.

Police arrested 49-year-old Keith Donald Salvatore of Rocklin (Placer County) for allegedly brandishing the weapon. Salvatore told police he had drawn the knife in self-defense after anti-war protesters wrapped him in a pink banner, said Sgt. Mary Kusmiss, a police spokeswoman.

A Code Pink activist from San Ramon said the man threatened to kill her, Kumiss said.

About 250 people showed up on each side. They included dozens of students from local schools, including Berkeley High, who chanted "One, two, three, four. Berkeley High against the war."

Police warned the students not to antagonize the other side, but two boys on skateboards got into a yelling and swearing match with the Marine supporters. Fists flew, and some witnesses claimed the pro-Marine side struck the two students with a flagpole. The boys, 13 and 15 years old, were arrested.

A large group of students and adults gathered outside the police station, demanding that the teens be released, prompting police to order them to clear the area. When they didn't respond immediately, officers in riot gear held their batons horizontally in front of them and pushed the crowd back.

Maya Nadjieli, a 19-year-old Berkeley City College student, said she was hit in the stomach with a baton and punched twice in the face.

"No matter how far we were moving back, they kept hitting us," Nadjieli said.

Other protesters came from outside the city. One of them, Mary Mankowski of Portland, Ore., said she paid $350 to fly in Monday.

"It kills me to pay full fare but this is important," said Mankowski, who claimed that every generation of her family has served in the military since the American Revolution. "(This is an) outrageous erosion of our constitutional privileges."

Diane Britto of Lafayette and her friend Elynne Allen of Pleasant Hill vowed they would never spend another dollar in the city of Berkeley. Britto, whose son is in the Navy, said she would keep her season tickets to Cal football games but will have dinner in Oakland on game days from now on.

Berkeley's treatment of the Marines, she said, was "despicable to the rest of the nation."

Allen, whose husband served in the Marine Corps in Vietnam, said she would push her car outside the city limits if it runs out of gas while she's in Berkeley.

Anti-war protesters gathered on the other side of the street, as Code Pink sold T-shirts, waved flags and sang "We Shall Not be Moved" through a loudspeaker.

"I'm here to thank the city council for dis-inviting the Marines," said Berkeley resident Tim Modok, who was attending with his schnauzer, Susie. "I'd rather have a porn (outlet) two blocks from an elementary school and a high school than I would a Marines recruiter; they're telling kids lies to get them into this war. These are very dangerous people. They're lying to their children, talking them into becoming killers."

Linci Comy of Oakland said she was there for future generations.

"I don't want my kids and grandkids to go to another war of occupation," she said. "We have to set a standard, we have to tell the world that military recruitment is no longer acceptable."

As the protests raged, the Marines recruiting station was closed and a lone police officer on a bicycle patrolled outside.

The City Council meets at 7 p.m. tonight at Maudelle Shirek City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley. An overflow crowd is expected for discussion of the Marines recruiting center, which is expected to begin about 9 p.m. For those who don't get inside, the city will broadcast audio from the meeting from loudspeakers outside City Hall.

E-mail the writers at srubenstein@sfchronicle.com and mlagos@sfchornicle.com.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Booting Marines Lands Mayor in Crossfire


AP - Thursday, February 14
By JOHN SEEWER,Associated Press Writer AP - Thursday, February 14

TOLEDO, Ohio - Turning away a squad of Marine Corps reservists planning a weekend of training downtown has put the city's mayor in the crossfire of veterans.

Even some supporters wonder what he was thinking.

Mayor Carty Finkbeiner told the Marines, based in Grand Rapids, Mich., to turn around when they hit town Friday, saying he didn't want them scaring unsuspecting visitors and office workers.

City Council members have sent an apology to the Marines, and the local visitors bureau offered the unit's 200 members a free hotel stay, restaurant gift certificates and a visit to the zoo.

"I'm shaking I'm so upset," said Ron Hernandez, a former Marine who served in Vietnam. "It's a slap in the face."

The mayor said he didn't mean to inconvenience the unit, which had to cancel the exercise and return home.

Yet Finkbeiner _ a three-term mayor whose history of gaffes includes considering moving deaf people near the airport to solve noise complaints _ said if the Marines try to come downtown, he'll close the door in their faces again.

The mayor said he didn't know the city's police department had approved the latest urban warfare training until a few hours before the Marines arrived. Police sent out a news release to the media three days before the Marines arrived, but no one had alerted business owners or residents downtown.

A similar training exercise two years ago caught people off guard when they saw soldiers in camouflage running down sidewalks, crouching behind buildings and aiming their weapons, Finkbeiner said.

Not everyone thinks his stand against the Marines' plan to simulate firefights and ambushes and fire blank ammunition downtown was a mistake.

"This isn't about being for or against our military," said Jan Moore, a lifelong resident. "This is about avoiding potential danger."

She and her husband were downtown three years ago during another training exercise when a soldier in fatigues sprinted past their car with his gun drawn. Other soldiers then surrounded a building, she said.

"We didn't know what the heck was going on," she said. "My mind was going crazy."

Five minutes of panic passed before they figured out the city wasn't under siege. "Our first thought wasn't that this was just training," she said.

Maj. Dan Whisnant, commander of 1st Battalion, 24th Marines, said the training is vital to his troops, who were deployed to Iraq twice in the past two years. They've trained in the city four times since 2004.

Finkbeiner's string of memorable missteps goes back to 1994 when he was first elected mayor of the state's fourth-largest city, whose most famous soldier _ Cpl. Max Klinger _ was portrayed by Toledo native Jamie Farr on television's "M-A-S-H."

Finkbeiner once settled a lawsuit against the city with a former employee who accused him of hitting her with a mug. He wound up offering a tearful apology on the misguided proposal to put deaf residents near the airport. And when he asked for a boycott of a pizza chain because he said it didn't support the city, stores responded by offering "Crazy Carty Bread."

The dustup with the Marines has had bloggers and talk show hosts nationwide ripping Finkbeiner, who insisted he's not unpatriotic and called anyone questioning his loyalty a "baboon." He also offered to allow the Marines to return for training, but not downtown.

None of that appeased veterans who flooded city offices with complaints, some saying they'd never set foot in the city again.

"The timing of this was horrible, to do it when they got here," said Jerry Knapp, a former Marine whose son is serving in Iraq.

Another former Marine, City Councilman D. Michael Collins, said the mayor's banishment of the troops has given the city "an image that is not accurate or fair."

Collins doesn't think Finkbeiner meant any disrespect toward the Marines. He said the city should have told downtown business owners and residents about the training and let it continue.

"The mayor was in a bad situation," Collins said. "He was surprised there was going to be a military operation."

Ellie

[thedrifter]

New front in Berkeley-Marines war: U.S. Senate

Zachary Coile, Chronicle Washington Bureau

Friday, February 15, 2008


(02-15) 04:00 PST Washington - --

The fighting over Berkeley's snub of the U.S. Marine Corps hasn't died down - it's moved to the U.S. Senate.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint made good on his threat to punish the Berkeley City Council by introducing a proposal Thursday to strip the city of more than $2.1 million in federal earmarks and give the money instead to the Marine Corps.

"This particular case became the business of the American people when the city of Berkeley insulted our troops and their constitutional mission to defend our country, while still coming to the federal government asking for special taxpayer-funded handouts," DeMint said.

The measure appears to be going nowhere. Lawmakers are loath to rescind another member's earmarks - for fear of losing their own. DeMint attached it as an amendment to an Indian health bill, and Democrats warned it could be ruled non-germane.

But the bill's slim odds didn't stop California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer from rushing to the Senate floor to denounce it.

"State and local governments all across the nation pass resolutions and measures that many of us don't agree with on a host of issues. Disagreements are part of the political process," she said.

"Why on Earth would we punish good, decent citizens because some members of their local government or their sewer district or the mosquito abatement district or water district, any of their districts, say something that's highly offensive?"

Boxer said she disagreed with the letter the City Council originally approved, which called the Marines "unwelcome intruders" for operating a downtown recruiting center. But she noted that DeMint is ignoring the latest developments: The council voted 7-2 Wednesday not to send the letter, while restating its opposition to the war and refusing to apologize.

"You would think Sen. DeMint would be very glad of that," she said. "He's not. He's still angry and he is still wanting to fight the battle of a couple weeks ago."

In fact, the Berkeley City Council may be the only group trying to make this fight go away. Anti-war groups like Code Pink are loving the attention paid to their cause. And for talk radio hosts and politicians on the right, it's an easy way to marginalize the war's critics as unpatriotic.

For DeMint, it's a double-bonus: He gets to appear both pro-military and anti-pork-barrel spending.

But the threat to Berkeley's funding is unusual. And it's not simply DeMint. His 10 Senate co-sponsors include Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. In the House, the same "Semper Fi Act" has 71 co-sponsors.

The five earmarks were all approved last year: $750,000 for ferry service to Berkeley and Albany; $87,000 for the Berkeley Unified School District's Edible Schoolyard program; $94,000 for the city's police and fire emergency communications system; $975,000 for the Robert T. Matsui Foundation for Public Service at UC Berkeley; and $239,000 for the Ed Roberts Campus, which serves disabled adults and children.

Since this whole debate is a food fight, it was no surprise which earmark DeMint attacked first.

"One earmark provides gourmet organic lunches to schools in the Berkeley school district while our Marines make do with military rations of sloppy joes and chili beans," he said. "This is unacceptable."

Boxer was apoplectic. She showed photos of students in Berkeley working in the garden, learning how to plant and grow vegetables.

"They work the garden, they learn about nutrition, they learn how to cook the food," Boxer said. "Here's a program that teaches them to love the whole notion of eating in a healthy way, and that's the program he went after?"

No action had been taken on DeMint's amendment as of late Thursday.


E-mail Zachary Coile at zcoile@sfchronicle.com.

Ellie