INSIDE THE LENS’s blog

Aids

In 1998, Oakland declared a state of emergency because of AIDS in the African-American community. A decade later, African-Americans are among the hardest hit by the HIV-AIDS epidemic, which affects more than 1 million people in the United States.

Still, many people in Oakland with HIV were not diagnosed until the virus developed into full-blown AIDS — a preventable development.

That might have been understandable 15 years ago when testing and treatment were still new, said Marsha Martin, director of the Get Screened Oakland initiative of which outreach and routine testing are the cornerstones. "But not today," she said.

While a cure still eludes researchers, HIV no longer carries with it a death sentence when treated early enough.

That is why the Get Screened Oakland program aims to make screening a routine part of health care and involve everyone — from hospitals to the business community and churches — in combating HIV-AIDS and the isolation and stigma that accompanies the virus in some communities.

The message of the campaign: Don't wait until symptoms show up, and get tested regardless of risk.

"It's a virus," Martin said. "HIV can happen to all of us."

The approach to HIV testing as routine health care defines the approach that Get Screened Oakland is trying to introduce in order to develop a self-sustaining program that pulls in all sectors of the community and permeates the city.

"We can do something about this now," Martin said Monday evening at an awards ceremony to mark World AIDS Day. "This is about the winnable public health victory."

It is a victory that has eluded health officials from Oakland, which accounts for the overwhelming majority of AIDS cases in Alameda County — 4,300 of the 7,400 diagnosed between 1980 and 2007, the year Mayor Ron Dellums launched the city's initiative. Since June 2007, the city has provided $200,000 per fiscal year to the program, which also is funded by private and public grants.

The next phase, Martin said, is to put the community machinery in motion and capture federal funding that would provide the necessary level of resources needed to "get the job done."

Past efforts by the city were fragmented, ineffective and aimed at too narrow a target population that was defined by San Francisco's AIDS epidemic, Martin said. In Oakland, all but 200 of the 4,300 AIDS cases diagnosed since 1980 were African-American and Latino, she said.

"Those days have passed. Now we have to get everyone tested," said Martin, who is focusing efforts at getting hospitals and clinics involved to reach more people.

Making testing more common means people who are HIV positive can get care earlier and are less likely to pass on the virus. Highland Hospital, Kaiser Permanente and Alta Bates Summit Medical Center already are routinely offering to screen emergency room patients. Children's Hospital Oakland is considering introducing a similar program.

The four engines driving infection today are poverty, homophobia, intravenous drug use and homelessness, said Kabir Hypolite, acting director of the Office of AIDS Administration for the Alameda County Public Health Department.

But the biggest problem facing diagnosis is ignorance, he added.

A quarter of the people in the United States living with HIV are unaware that they are infected, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Those numbers are mirrored in Alameda County, where about 6,000 people are living with HIV, Hypolite said. Another 6,000 are estimated to be infected, but only half are aware of their status.

"It's the shame issue," said Belinda Dronkers-Lauretz, executive director of API Family Pride, a Bay Area organization that reaches out to gay and lesbian Asian Pacific Islanders. "We need to break that barrier."

Det. Longmire

OAKLAND — The lead detective assigned to investigate journalist Chauncey Bailey's killing ignored evidence linking Yusuf Bey IV, former leader of Your Black Muslim Bakery, to a role in the killing and interfered in two other unrelated felony cases involving Bey IV, according to an investigation by the Chauncey Bailey Project.

The Bailey Project's reporting has led to a police internal affairs investigation of that detective, Sgt. Derwin Longmire, and whether his relationship with Bey IV may have compromised the case.

Law enforcement officials said the investigation of the Bailey killing is in crisis.

If Longmire is charged with administrative or criminal wrongdoing, the chances of convicting the one person charged, Devaughndre Broussard, might be jeopardized.

At the same time, if a vigorous investigation of Bailey's killing is not quickly undertaken, chances of ever charging others and fully solving the most prominent slaying of an American journalist since 1976 could be lost.

In a highly unusual move, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office has launched its own investigation to determine whether there was a conspiracy to kill Bailey. The district attorney's probe is independent of the Oakland police and two investigators have been assigned to the work. Usually a case has one investigator.

Evidence the Bailey Project obtained during its lengthy investigation includes data from a tracking device hidden on Bey IV's car that shows it outside Bailey's apartment seven hours before the Aug. 2, 2007, killing. Police say Bey IV and Broussard both admitted to being in the vehicle at that time along with a third man who worked at the bakery, Antoine Mackey.

The Bailey Project could find no documentation in case notes that Oakland police officials ever analyzed Bey IV's cell phone data. The Bailey Project, however, obtained and analyzed the records. Through police and court records and online databases, the Project identified the people associated with the numbers that Bey IV called, as well as the people who called Bey IV.

Those cell phone records show that Bey IV was on the phone with an acquaintance of Bailey while Bey IV, Mackey and Broussard were outside the residence. They also show Bey IV involved in a series of phone calls within minutes of the killing, including one to Mackey, who, like Broussard, is from San Francisco and who has a long juvenile and adult criminal record. Mackey is currently incarcerated on a burglary conviction.

Additionally, the Bailey Project learned that Bey IV has spoken with Longmire repeatedly from Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, where the bakery leader has been held on unrelated charges since his arrest in August, 2007.

Seven legal and criminal experts, including a retired superior court judge, a former prosecutor and a former police commissioner, reviewed documents for the Bailey Project and said that Longmire's investigation raises questions about whether he was protecting Bey IV from charges, ignored involvement of others and instead, pinned all blame on Broussard, now 20, who worked at the bakery as a handyman and who confessed to the killing. He later recanted.

Bey IV, 22, has repeatedly denied involvement in Bailey's killing.

District Attorney Tom Orloff, Oakland police Chief Wayne Tucker, Assistant Chief Howard Jordan, homicide unit commander Lt. Ersie Joyner and Longmire all rejected repeated requests for interviews for this story.

In past interviews, department leaders have defended Longmire's investigation of the case and complimented his skilled interrogation in getting Broussard to confess. Joyner said Longmire was a fine detective doing excellent work. Jordan said it was unusual but not unethical for a lead investigator on a case to be friends with persons involved in it.

"I don't have any problems with Sgt. Longmire's relationship with members of the bakery," Jordan said in a televised interview in February. "I trust his integrity. I trust his credibility."

But former Santa Clara County Judge LaDoris Cordell said Longmire should have recused himself from the case and that department leaders should have seen the conflict. A detective who is friends with a person suspected in a killing "should have no involvement in the investigation at all," she said.

The internal affairs probe of Longmire is also looking at a succession of calls made in the past four months. Bey IV calls the mother of his three children who then conferenced in Longmire on three-way calling, according to law enforcement officials familiar with the case.

The legal experts who reviewed Longmire's case notes, recordings of interviews with Broussard and Bey IV, a report on the tracking device and other documents for the Bailey Project said the investigation is severely compromised.

"I felt from reading all of this, a sense of a bias, a bias on the part of Sgt. Longmire, in favor of "... those involved with the bakery," said Cordell. "I didn't feel a sense (of) objectivity that I think has to be there for a competent investigation."

Longmire's case notes of the investigation is "suspiciously incomplete," said Richard Leo, a University of San Francisco law professor and nationally recognized criminal expert.

"Is Longmire blind?" Leo said. "Journalists after the fact investigating a murder shouldn't be discovering big pieces of seemingly inculpatory evidence of knowledge and involvement and participation in that murder (by uncharged people) that police knew about and didn't thoroughly investigate and thoroughly document."CONTINUE READING...

RON DELLUMS

From the day Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums took office nearly two years ago, residents have witnessed a steady decline in city government function as public confidence has withered.The city's administrative structure and finances are in deep distress. In the coming weeks, the city's elected officials must make significant cuts to balance a budget deficit that has grown to $50 million since the start of the fiscal year less than three months ago.There's also the question of who's in charge at City Hall after Dellums, under pressure, fired City Administrator Deborah Edgerly amid allegations that she tipped her nephew, a city employee who repaired parking meters, to a police investigation of a violent street gang.Facing those and other problems, Dellums rarely seems to work a full week. Last week, Oakland developer Phil Tagami made light of that on television station KTVU, calling on the mayor, who earns nearly $200,000 a year, to fill out a weekly time card to show his dedication to get something done.Citizens have waited for their mayor to lead. Instead, many say he's let them down. Now the private conversations at cocktail parties and neighborhood block parties are getting more public - with the subject of a mayoral recall coming up more frequently.Resident Joshua McEwen launched an unofficial recall petition online a few weeks ago to test support for a real recall of the mayor. Nearly 500 residents have signed it, and several of them posted their opinions of how the mayor has failed.Other politicians have paid the price for failing to deliver. California voters revolted to oust Gov. Gray Davis in a recall election five years ago after he got the state into an energy and fiscal crisis and raised vehicle license fees.

Recall would be tough

But even with what appears to be citywide frustration with Dellums, launching a successful recall effort is an uphill battle that requires money, organization and follow-through. Efforts to recall mayors in Kansas City, Mo., and Omaha, Neb., failed to qualify for the ballot earlier this year.Still, those who want Dellums to step up or step down - either on his own or by the will of the voters - are making their case.If they get serious, they'd need to collect about 20,000 signatures from registered voters in the city to qualify for the next citywide election in 2010. A special election sooner would require about 30,000 signatures, officials said.This mess was caused by two fundamental mistakes. Dellums made the first one. The retired East Bay congressman had planned to say no to supporters who wanted him to run for mayor - then made a last-minute decision to run in 2005.In June 2006, the voters who helped Dellums win a bare majority against City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente mistakenly confused his idealism and rhetoric with the skills and abilities to carry out the job of mayor in a big city with loads of problems. Oakland cannot continue to limp along without established plans for redevelopment, economic growth, crime reduction, housing and other essential city services.CONTINUE READING...

Barack Obama

Presidential candidate Barack Obama is now taking his teleprompter on the road...just when voters are demanding frank, unscripted answers in face of the current credit crisis.Obama’s teleprompter looked particularly out of place in Colorado as he addressed a crowd in a bull ring (yes, bull ring) yesterday in Pueblo, CO.  The Obama campaign is haunted by the recent extemporaneous comments by the candidate. It’s taken a week Obama's off the cuff remark about lipstick on the pig to fade.  His recent interviews have not gone well.Voter Confidence:   The decision to curtail impromptu comments by the candidate could undermine confidence in some voters.The collapse of two of the five major investment banks and the large insurer AIG has rattled the country. Former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan has called the crisis a once in a lifetime event.  Voters are evaluating  what the two presidential candidates plan to do to stabilize the credit markets and stimulate the economy.  They’re watching how the candidates demonstrate an inherent ability to handle crisis--- ‘grace under pressure.’Candidate's Confidence:   Using a teleprompter’s for finely crafted speeches in a townhall setting or at campaign stops does not instill confidence, no matter how well the speech is written.  It also undermines the candidate’s confidence to answer freely—this could be a problem in debates and interviews. In fact, it might have been the O’Reilly interview on Fox News, during the Republican convention, that convinced the Obama campaign to bring a teleprompter on the road.  Obama tends to ruminate and deliberate before answering tough questions, showing a lack of forcefulness and conviction.  Not healthy characteristics in the middle of a crisis.The Debates:   The real problem is the debates.  The more a candidate relies on prepared speeches, and worse, delivered with a teleprompter, the less prepared he or she will be in the throes of a nationally televised debate.  So Obama may appear prepared and forceful reading from a teleprompter, but he may also find himself answering debate questions with memorized responses. Bottomline: A lack of knowledge or competence may peak through as debate moderators dig deeper for answers.  As a one-term U.S. senator and his experience a campaign issue, that could be a deciding factor in the final weeks of the campaign, especially if the current crisis worsens.

San Francisco is an amazing city for comedy.  You've heard of the "brain drain."  Other countries around the world lose their best minds to the most attractive and interesting universities and big international companies.. Oxford, Stanford, Harvard, Google, Apple...  I like to think of San Francisco as the chief culprit in the "comedy drain."  And we've pulled another fine bunch in from all corners of the country with the first five five semi-finalists in the 2008 SF Comedy Competition.  Ok, I haven't actually seen them, so I don't know how funny they are.  But they're in good company with Brent Weinbach.

josh howard

You’ve got to be kidding me with this Josh Howard-YouTube video-national anthem thing. (video below; profanity) Seriously.The video is from Allen Iverson’s charity flag football game, and, while the national anthem is playing in the background, Howard says: “I don’t celebrate this (expletive). I’m black.”

Apparently, this is all a very big deal because Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told the Dallas Morning News that the team had dealt with the issue at the time. The event was held in July.Cuban also said the issue would be addressed in training camp.What exactly is the issue?Talking during the national anthem? Feeling disenfranchised from the political process? Cursing?I can only assume the issue involves not respecting the flag, anthem, country or all of the above. Give me a break.Instead of focusing on Howard’s five-second cameo -- which occurred on the periphery, by the way -- how about focusing on the fact that Allen Iverson and his crew deserve credit and respect for having the national anthem in the first place? Go to an NBA game and you’ll see plenty of people talking or texting or sitting down during the anthem. Nobody is more disrespectful than television crews, who routinely break down sets and lights mid-Banner.

RON DELLUMS

(08-25) 18:10 PDT OAKLAND -- The latest spate of takeover holdups of Oakland restaurants and other businesses, including a pair of violent robberies over the weekend, is "clearly unacceptable," Mayor Ron Dellums said Monday as he and police pleaded for tips that would lead investigators to those responsible.

Dozen of restaurants throughout the city have been robbed in recent months, but few if any people had been hurt. That changed over the weekend when two employees were pistol-whipped, one at a seafood restaurant on MacArthur Boulevard and the other at a nail salon on Telegraph Avenue.

Authorities arrested and charged two suspected members of the West Oakland Acorn gang in connection with several robberies during an earlier spree in March and April. But investigators have been confounded by the recent holdups and admit they aren't close to solving any of them. They're hoping a $50,000 reward will lead to tips, which so far have been nonexistent.

"The community has to step up," Dellums said at a news conference Monday. "The community needs to be the eyes and ears. The community needs to observe. The community needs to look at suspicious activity. The community needs to write down license plates. They need to be an integral part of this effort. We need them very, very desperately. We cannot do this alone."

Dellums said he wanted to assure citizens that "their safety is paramount, that it's vital. It's important. It's job one. The residents of Oakland deserve better than to be victimized by acts of violence and robbery that tear at the very fabric of our community."

In a civilized society, "people should be able to move throughout the day, going about their lives with a sense of peace and security," Dellums said. "So we cannot and will not allow fear to overtake our community."

The mayor said the Guardian Angels, who have taken up posts in recent weeks in neighborhoods near Lake Merritt, have "acted as an important deterrent to robberies." No additional robberies have taken place in areas where the beret-wearing Angels have started patrols, the mayor said.

But many of the city's neighborhoods that appeared to have been immune have been targeted, including in the Oakland hills, the Rockridge and Dimond districts and in North Oakland.

Deputy Chief Dave Kozicki said police from Oakland and other local and state agencies have been deployed on foot, in vehicles and in undercover capacities to areas where the holdups have occurred. "We're putting cops on the dots," Kozicki said.

Police Chief Wayne Tucker said the number of robberies in Oakland is actually down this year compared with 2007. But the number of takeover robberies has increased.SOURCE:SFGATE.COM

Charles De Lauer

Charles De Lauer, who sold newspapers, cigars, racing forms and other essentials for 74 years at his landmark Oakland newsstand, died Thursday, just a month after a last-minute sale to an employee saved the store from extinction.

Mr. De Lauer, who until February worked at De Lauer's Super Newsstand seven days a week, died of complications of leukemia and lymphoma at Summit Medical Center in Oakland. He was 91.

"He loved that store. It's what kept him going," said his granddaughter, Sharon De Lauer Treter of San Ramon. "He felt a responsibility to the city of Oakland to keep it running, to provide newspapers and magazines that no one else had. He took great pride in that."

Because of poor sales and his declining health, Mr. De Lauer sold the 101-year-old store in July to his manager, Fasil Lemma, and Lemma's business partner. The new owners have said they intend to carry on De Lauer's traditions of offering a wide array of out-of-town newspapers and obscure specialty magazines and staying open 24 hours.

"I will never forget Charlie," said Lemma, who started at De Lauer's three years ago, after emigrating from Ethiopia. "He was like a father to me. I learned so much from him and his family. He talked to me about the business, but also about life."

Mr. De Lauer was born and raised in West Oakland, taking over his family's newsstand when his father died in 1934. Mr. De Lauer sold newspapers, magazines and sundries from a wagon near downtown, eventually expanding the business to include about 40 wagons and newsstands around the Bay Area.

The only time he left the business was during World War II, when he served in Europe with an Army artillery unit.

In the early 1960s, Mr. De Lauer consolidated the business to its present location at 13th Street and Broadway, with its illuminated marquis and postmodern globe logo. Celebrities, tourists seeking their hometown papers, office workers, professional athletes, night owls and the homeless could all be found perusing the racks.

"He never kicked anyone out for loitering or lingering," Treter said. "He'd invite you to come in, hang out, read the paper, talk about sports, stay as long as you wanted as long as you didn't steal anything."