Bay Area News Briefs

By Ananda Shorey

May 15, 2008

More than 100,000 expected to bike to work today

Riding a bicycle to work is cheaper, healthier and more fun than taking public transportation or driving a car.

That’s what San Francisco resident Martin Barrs, 42, said this morning as he stood by the front steps of City Hall to celebrate the 14th Annual Bike to Work Day along with more than 100 other cyclists.

“It’s scary at first, then you look forward to the challenge,” Barrs said of having braved the hilly and congested streets of San Francisco to ride 2.5 miles to work daily for the past two years. “Drivers are oblivious.”

Barrs is one of many residents who have switched from taking San Francisco Municipal Railway to riding a bicycle. According to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, the number of bicycle riders in the city is rising.

“The number of bicyclists in San Francisco – and other big cities – is booming,” San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Leah Shahum said. “And the rate and number of bicycle collisions is decreasing,” she added.

The bike boom is happening because people are eager to solve problems such as global warming, escalating gas prices and obesity, according to Shahum.

A person who rides his or her bicycle to work every day for a year will burn 30 pounds of fat, Shahum said. In addition, 3,500 pounds less of greenhouse gas emissions will pollute the air for each person who rides a bike to work every day.

More than 100,000 bicyclists are expected to ride in San Francisco today and residents throughout the Bay Area are anticipated to participate in Bike to Work Day as well.

Energizer stations are scattered along bike routes in all nine Bay Area counties today to provide food and drinks to the bicyclists.

Man accused of fatally stabbing wife found guilty of first-degree murder

A jury in San Mateo County Superior Court today found a Daly City man accused of fatally stabbing his wife in 2006 guilty of first-degree murder.

After six days of deliberation the jury found Quincy Dean Norton Sr., 33, guilty of first-degree murder. Quincy Norton was charged with stabbing his wife Tamika Norton, 31, in their Mira Vista Court home on July 22, 2006.

Quincy Norton testified that he came home that morning to find his wife dead in the bedroom. He said he had been at Anitra Johnson’s home that night, a woman with whom he has a daughter, and insinuated that Johnson took his keys that night when she left the home for a few hours after the two had a fight.

However, during the trial the couple’s sons testified that they heard their parents arguing the morning their mother died. The older son, Quincy Jr., said his mother screamed out he and his brother’s names. The boys then said that Quincy Norton took them and their 1-year-old sister to a cousin’s house.

Quincy Norton hid from authorities for more than a month before being arrested in San Jose on Aug. 27, 2006.

Record-setting temperatures forecasted to continue to hit Bay Area

The Bay Area’s hottest day of the year so far has arrived today and the National Weather Service is forecasting record-high temperatures to continue to hit cities throughout the region.

“Based on these records as you see, it’s not unusual, it’s just infrequent,” weather service meteorologist Dan Gudgel said. “When we get this type of synoptic weather pattern, or big-scale weather pattern, this is the result.”

On Wednesday, Salinas reached 85 degrees, eclipsing its 2006 record for the day of 84, and the Moffett Field area hit a record-high 90 degrees, according to Gudgel. Meanwhile, the Oakland International Airport and the city of Monterey tied previous record highs.

Gudgel said cities including Napa, Santa Rosa and Oakland are expected to have record-high temperatures today, and San Francisco is expected to reach near-record temperatures.

The hot weather has prompted the weather service to issue heat advisories and heat warnings throughout the Bay Area today and an excessive heat watch is expected to be in effect Friday.

The weather service issues excessive heat watches, excessive heat warnings and heat advisories when a prolonged period of dangerously hot temperatures is expected. Weather service officials are warning residents to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned rooms, stay out of the sun and check up on relatives and neighbors.

As of this morning, the weather service hadn’t issued a red flag warning, however Gudgel said it “wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility due to consistent low humidity.”

Trial begins for man accused of shooting ex-girlfriend

A prosecutor asked jurors today to convict a San Leandro man of attempted premeditated murder for allegedly shooting his ex-girlfriend shortly after she broke up with him and moved out of their house.

In his opening statement in the trial of 45-year-old William “Mookie” Johnson, Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Casey Bates said Johnson shot his 38-year-old ex-girlfriend twice outside an Oakland day care center where she worked as a teacher.

Bates said the woman feared Johnson because she knew he had shot another ex-girlfriend and carried guns, but she felt comfortable meeting him that day to give him some papers he had requested because Johnson told her he would be accompanied by his sister.

The prosecutor explained that Johnson’s sister is a probation officer and his ex-girlfriend didn’t think “he would be stupid enough to do something with his sister around.”

However, Johnson drove up to the school about 5:15 p.m. on Jan. 2, 2007, by himself and parked at an angle so that his ex-girlfriend couldn’t flee, Bates said.

Bates said the ex-girlfriend gave Johnson the documents and other items he requested, but when her back was turned he shot her twice, once in the back and once in her upper left arm.

Johnson then drove away without helping her, Bates said.

In addition to attempted premeditated murder, Johnson is charged with inflicting corporal punishment on a former spouse, criminal threats and being a convicted felon in possession of a gun.

Johnson has six prior convictions, including two for shooting previous girlfriends.

He’s being prosecuted under “three strikes” statutes and if he’s convicted he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Investigators hand out fliers to try to find killer of SF man

Alameda County sheriff’s investigators are passing out fliers today in an unincorporated area between Oakland and Castro Valley where a San Francisco man was found fatally shot May 5.

Sgt. J.D. Nelson said investigators are hoping the fliers will refresh the memories of people who travel on Redwood Road frequently and may have seen 28-year-old Lonnie Morris, who died from a gunshot wound, or a white van that authorities believe the suspect in the case was driving.

Nelson said Morris’s body was found on Redwood Road at mile marker 4.6 about 1:30 p.m. on May 5 and investigators believe it hadn’t been there very long.

Morris was pronounced dead at the scene.

Fire at school administrative building caused $400,000 in damage

A two-alarm fire at a San Francisco Unified School District administrative building this morning caused an estimated $400,000 in damage, according to the fire department.

The blaze was reported at the three-story building at 135 Van Ness Ave. between Hayes and Fell streets at 1:48 a.m., San Francisco fire Lt. Mindy Talmadge said.

A second alarm was sounded at 1:56 a.m. Sixty-two firefighters battled the blaze and had the flames controlled by 2:25 a.m., according to Talmadge.

No injuries were reported.

The building is closed today and fire crews remained at the scene this morning to watch for hot spots, Talmadge said. It is unknown when the building will reopen.

The fire caused approximately $300,000 in damage to the property, and $100,000 in damage to the contents, according to Talmadge.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Janitors step up demonstrations in Bay Area as strike deadline looms

Janitors picketed outside Cisco Systems today as one of more than two dozen planned demonstrations set up in the Bay Area this week to lobby for better wages and health care.

Cleaning workers and their supporters began their march at Building 10 of Cisco Systems main headquarters on W. Tasman Drive at 9 a.m. and headed east to the intersection of E. Tasman Drive and Zanker Road.

Cisco Systems contracts with ACME/GCA cleaning services to clean their buildings.

The Service Employees International Union Local 1877, which represents the janitors, is in the middle of negotiation talks on a contract that expired April 30.

Janitors are preparing to conduct a strike authorization vote Saturday. Once a strike is authorized, it can begin at any time.

Janitors in Los Angeles reached a tentative four-year agreement, representatives announced Monday. The accord will increase workers’ average annual pay by more than $1,000 every year to reach almost $30,000 by 2012.

Janitors in Silicon Valley earn an average annual salary of about $23,000, according to Sylvia Ruiz, spokeswoman for the union.

The agreement was reached after janitors staged a walk out of more than 450 janitors in 40 buildings across Los Angeles. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called for a cooling-off period one day after the strike began and facilitated negotiations.

San Bruno police search for shooting suspects

San Bruno police today are searching for two men suspected in the attempted murder of a 26-year-old victim, according to the Police Department.

Officers responded at about 6:20 a.m. Wednesday to reports of a shooting in the 900 block of San Mateo Avenue and discovered a 26-year-old San Bruno man suffering from a gunshot wound, police said.

The victim was injured and transported to a nearby hospital.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing, and police have not determined a motive in the shooting.

The suspects have been described as two black men in their 20s last seen driving a dark colored, compact car with tinted windows traveling northbound on San Mateo Avenue, police said. One of the suspects was seen wearing a black beanie, according to police.

National Aids Memorial Grove to host Mad Hatter’s benefit event

San Francisco’s National AIDS Memorial Grove is hosting a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party benefit event Saturday afternoon that will feature live music and food.

The event, which will be held between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. at the grove, will be located at the intersection of Bowling Green Drive and Middle
Drive East in Golden Gate Park.

Highlighting the event will be a fashion parade with original hats created by millenary students from the San Francisco Academy of Art, according to event organizers. The hats will be auctioned off by a celebrity auctioneer.

In addition, guests are encouraged to wear a hat of their choice and a prize will be given to the winner for Best Creative Hat.

“The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party is a wonderful way to show off the beauty and majesty of the grove while honoring those who have tirelessly worked and financially supported to create and maintain this one-of-a-kind space to heal, hope and remember,” said Margarita Gandia, chairwoman of the board of the National AIDS Memorial Grove, in a prepared statement.

To purchase tickets, which start at $150, call Wendi Deetz at (415) 765-0498.

FCJ Editor

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