Bay Area News Briefs

Bay City News

May 20, 2008

City’s Plastic Bag Ban Extends Tuesday To Chain Pharmacies

San Francisco’s first-in-the-nation ban on plastic bags broadens today from large supermarkets to chain pharmacies, in an environmental initiative that has prompted interest from other municipalities far and wide, a Department of the Environment spokesperson said Monday.

“It’s certainly captured a lot of attention,” said department spokesman Mark Westlund.

Westlund said that since the ban was approved by the city in 2007, he has received phone calls inquiring about the details of San Francisco’s program from city and county governments throughout the West Coast, as well as East Coast and Midwestern municipalities.

Just Monday, Westlund said he fielded calls from officials in Louisiana, Connecticut and Maui.

The ordinance went into effect in November, banning supermarket and pharmacy chains from giving customers non-biodegradable plastic bags.

The stores can now only offer recyclable paper bags, reusable bags, or compostable “bio-plastic” bags made of corn or potato starch.

Enforcement for approximately 50 supermarkets in San Francisco began in December, while bans on pharmacies operating five or more locations in the city, including Walgreens, Longs and Rite Aid, will begin being enforced today.

However, according to Westlund, don’t expect any offending drug stores to be immediately slapped with $100 fines. Rather, he said, his agency first will attempt to convince stores to phase out the bags.

“At this point, we’re going to try to work with people to make sure they’re doing the right thing,” Westlund said. “We’re not going to be writing tickets tomorrow.”

Officials Release ID Of Shooting Victims, Suspect

The identities of two victims and a suspect in connection with a double homicide outside a Sunnyvale strip club Sunday night were released Monday by the city’s Department of Public Safety.

Menlo Park resident, Benjamin Osegura, 31, and San Mateo resident Jason William Gamino, 29, were found fatally shot Sunday around 9:30 p.m. inside a vehicle parked outside the Brass Rail strip club, 160 East Persian Drive.

According to Public Safety officials, the two were acquaintances and were found in a 2006 Range Rover.

Detectives identified 29-year-old San Mateo resident Matthew Andrew O’Reilly as a suspect. He was last seen driving a silver 2006 Nissan Altima with California license plate 5UFY655. He is considered armed and dangerous.

Anyone who observes O’Reilly or his vehicle is advised to call 911. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call (408) 730-7110.

Two Dead Falcon Chicks Found In Bay Bridge Nest

Two peregrine falcon chicks were found dead Monday morning in a nest in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, a University of California, Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group spokesman said.

Two biologists and a California Department of Transportation employee scaled underneath the bridge at about 10:30 a.m. Monday in an effort to rescue the endangered birds from falling into the water, Glenn Stewart of the research group said.

He said the group has been watching falcons nest in the Bay Bridge since 1988 and the babies don’t usually make it over the water when they learn to fly.

Researchers had witnessed adult birds bringing food back to the nest for the past few weeks, indicating that there may be chicks, according to Stewart.

Climbers Monday morning found two chicks, however both had died at a few days of age, Stewart said.

Fremont police Monday identified 33-year-old Linh Lam as the victim of a fatal stabbing on the shoulder of Interstate Highway 680 in Fremont Friday.

Lam, a San Jose resident, was traveling with Daniel Mai, a 20-year-old Sunnyvale man, in a van northbound on the highway when an altercation between the two broke out near the Mission Boulevard exit, according to police.

The two men struggled inside the van before hitting a trailer attached to a separate vehicle that was also traveling northbound on the highway, according to police. The van then pulled over near the Vargas Road exit.

Police said it appears as though Lam and Mai exited the vehicle, were involved in a fight on the shoulder of the road and that Mai fatally stabbed Lam.

Mai allegedly entered the van and drove away but was pulled over by a California Highway Patrol officer who witnessed him driving erratically and was taken into custody near the Sunol exit.

Fremont police Sgt. Chris Mazzone said Mai was booked into jail on suspicion of murder.

Police are continuing to investigate the relationship between the two men and the cause of the altercation.

Authorities Identify Man Found Dead After Fire

The San Jose Fire Department released the identity Monday of 69-year-old Harold Menagh whose body was found after a four-alarm fire ravaged several condos Sunday at The Villages Golf and Country Club.

Fire officials found Menagh late Sunday night while overhauling the damaged structures, San Jose fire Capt. Craig Schwinge said. Menagh lived in the downstairs unit where the fire appears to have started, according Schwinge.

The blaze was reported at 11:17 a.m. at a four-unit residential structure on Cribari Vale at The Villages, a senior community in the southeast part of the city, Schwinge said.

There was initially incomplete information as to whether all residents were accounted for as firefighters battled the blaze, he said. One car was missing from the complex’s carport and it was assumed that the victim was away from the building during the fire, according to Scwhinge.

Sixty-nine firefighters battled the four-alarm fire and had the flames controlled by 2:50 p.m.

Five firefighters suffered minor to moderate injuries. Schwinge said four firefighters were taken to a hospital and released that day, but two firefighters will not be able to return to work for an undetermined time due to their injuries.

The blaze destroyed all units of a fourplex at the community and damaged a second fourplex that shared a wall with the main fire building, Schwinge said.

Between 15 and 20 residents were displaced by the fire, which caused an estimated $1 million of damage, according to Schwinge.

He said Menagh showed signs of smoke inhalation but the official cause of death is pending a toxicology report.

Study Ranks Bay Area Cities Third Best For Women’s Heart Health

A report released Monday by the American Heart Association indicates that women may be wise to follow in the footsteps of Tony Bennett and leave their hearts in San Francisco.

The study ranked the San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland metropolitan area third best among the largest 38 metropolitan areas for women’s heart health. Rankings were determined by heart-friendly benefits in the city and personal choices of the city’s residents.

According to the study, the Bay Area had the lowest body mass index and the best score for healthy eating among large metropolitan areas.

The Bay Area also received some of the best scores for regular exercise, commuting by bicycle or walking, cigarette smoking and diabetes, according to the study.

In addition, the report found that California has some of the nation’s strongest legislation for smoke-free workplaces and restaurants.

While the Bay Area ranked highest in some heart-health categories, it received its lowest rankings in alcohol consumption, cardiologists per capita and number of teaching hospitals per capita. The study also found that the percentage of women who have routine checkups is below average.

The San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland area was ranked third in the largest metropolitan areas behind Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., while Nashville, Tenn., was found to be the least heart-healthy big city for women.

The country’s 200 most populous metro areas were examined and broken down into three categories: mega metros, 1.45 million or larger; mid-size metros, 560,000 to 1.45 million; and all other metros, 560,000 or fewer.

Customs Officials Seize $22M In Merchandise From China At Port

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials announced Monday that they recently seized more than $22 million in merchandise from China at the Port of Oakland.

Customs officials said that on May 9 officers inspected shipping containers that had recently been unloaded from the M/V Kota Salam, which had arrived from China.

According to Customs officials, the goods had been manifested as luggage but an inspection of the cargo by Customs officers revealed counterfeit Gucci, Prada, Jimmy Choo, Bulgari, Cartier, Chanel, Versace, Juicy Couture and other fraudulent brand name merchandise.

Customs officials said labels for various designers were also found hidden three suitcases deep, with one inside the other. The labels are normally tagged onto a cheaply made product to make it seem like it’s an authentic item, according to Customs officials.

Richard Vigna, the Customs’ director of field operations for the San Francisco area, said, “The manufacturing of fake products for sale takes millions of dollars away from the trademark holder. Diligent work by Customs officers across the nation helps to end this type of fraudulent activity.”

Customs officials said they’ve launched an initiative to combat terrorism and trade fraud, which is called the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism.

They said it is a joint government and business initiative that builds cooperative relationships to strengthen the overall trade supply chain along with border security enforcement.

Dora Murphy, Customs’ acting port director, said, Customs and Border Protection “works closely with importers, brokers, carriers, warehouse operators and manufacturers to enforce national regulations for imported goods.”

Defense Attorney Says Track Coach Is Being Made A Scapegoat

A defense lawyer told a federal jury in San Francisco Monday that track coach Trevor Graham “was the original whistleblower in the BALCO case and is now a convenient scapegoat” for athletes who took drugs.

Graham, 44, of Raleigh, N.C., is on trial in the court of U.S. District Judge Susan Illston on charges of lying to investigators in 2004 in a sports steroid probe.

Graham faces three counts of making three false statements about his relationship with an admitted sports drug dealer, Angel Heredia, in an interview with two federal agents in his lawyer’s office in Raleigh on June 8, 2004.

Prosecutors contend Graham lied in saying he never set up his athletes with drugs from Heredia, never met him in person and didn’t talk to him by phone after 1997.

Defense attorney William Keane said Graham told the truth in the first statement. He said athletes who will testify for the prosecution “did not use Mr. Graham to get performance-enhancing drugs from Mr. Heredia.”

Keane said Graham misspoke in the other two statements, but said they weren’t material, or relevant, to the investigation because the probe concerned the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO. The jury must find the statements were material in order to convict Graham.

Keane said Graham and his then-lawyer had been told the interview would concern BALCO. He said the statements occurred in the last two minutes of a three-hour interview, which was not recorded, and that investigators referred to Heredia only by his nickname, “Memo.”

Keane said Graham was a whistleblower because he sent the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency a syringe of a then-undetectable drug from BALCO in 2003. The drug was later identified as THG, also known as “The Clear.”

Proposed Settlement Of Prison Overcrowding Case Announced

A court-appointed referee Monday announced a proposal for a settlement that could avert the need for a court decision on whether to order the early release of inmates from California’s overcrowded prisons.

The proposal was announced by retired state appeals court justice Elwood Lui, who was named last year as a settlement referee by three federal judges considering the overcrowding problem.

Lawyers for inmates had asked the U.S. judges to consider a cap on the prison population and possible release of prisoners as a potential last resort to correct severely substandard medical care.

The state’s prisons currently house about 170,000 inmates in facilities originally designed for 100,000.

Lui said the proposal is still being refined and has not yet been approved by state officials or lawyers for prisoners, but said he hopes the two sides will reach agreement in time for a court hearing May 30.

Lui said, “We anticipate a thumbs up or a thumbs down by the time we report to the court on May 30.”

The May 30 hearing will be held in San Francisco before 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt and U.S. District Judges Thelton Henderson of San Francisco and Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento.

Lui said in a telephone news conference that the proposal would alleviate overcrowding through a combination of diversion and treatment programs for some offenders and parole violators; the construction of new prison beds; and improvement of existing early release programs.

A copy of the draft is not publicly available because the proposal is still being refined.

Police Seeking 17-Year-Old Suspect In December Homicide

The Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office Monday filed charges against a 17-year-old boy in connection with an Antioch homicide that occurred more than five months ago.

Police are looking for Juan Manuel Martinez, who is suspected of fatally shooting 20-year-old Jose Rivas on Dec. 12. There is a no-bail warrant out for Martinez’ arrest.

On the day of the shooting, officers were dispatched around 10:45 p.m. to an Antioch Arco gas station located at 2610 Contra Loma Blvd. When they arrived, the officers found Rivas suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and first aid was administered before he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators believed the victim and the gunman knew each other but did not know the motive for the killing. Police Monday said the shooting may have been gang-related.

Martinez is 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighs 170 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes. He is considered armed and dangerous and has been known to frequent Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood and San Francisco, according to police.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Martinez can call Antioch police at (925) 778-2441.

Drivers File Class Action Suit Against Supershuttle

Plaintiffs’ lawyers Monday served airport passenger transportation giant SuperShuttle with a wage and hour class action lawsuit on behalf of drivers who claim the company misclassified them as franchisees or independent contractors rather than as employees.

The case, which was filed in Alameda County Superior Court on behalf of lead plaintiff Roosevelt Kairy of Oakland and other drivers, seeks to cover current and former drivers who worked for the company in California at any time during the past four years.

According to the lawyers for the drivers, SuperShuttle claims to be the nation’s largest shared-ride airport shuttle service, providing door-to-door ground transportation to more than 8 million passengers a year. The company operates in 23 cities across the country, including seven in California.

The suit was filed against SuperShuttle, which is based in Phoenix, as well as its parent company, Veolia Transportation, which is based in Paris.

Philip Monrad, an attorney at Leonard Carder LLP in Oakland, one of four law firms representing the drivers in the suit, said in a statement, “Companies like SuperShuttle cheat their workers and the government.”

Monrad said, “Such corporations exercise total control over how their drivers’ perform their work. But they label them ‘franchisees’ or ‘independent contractors’ to sidestep workplace protection laws, including those requiring coverage for workplace injuries, and to avoid paying payroll taxes.”

He alleged, “This practice allows SuperShuttle to compete unfairly against its competitors who comply with the law.”

Lawyers for the SuperShuttle drivers say the drivers personally pay all expenses associated with operating the vans they drive for the company, including lease payments, gas, maintenance, and liability insurance.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers say a preliminary investigation indicates that the lawsuit is likely to cover more than 500 current and former drivers in California.

They say SuperShuttle could owe these drivers more than $100 million in un-reimbursed expenses, back wages, penalties and interest, according to the drivers’ attorneys.