Community Briefs

209 supporters ask for immediate enforcement

Supporters of Proposition 209 asked a seemingly sympathetic
federal appeals panel on Monday to allow immediate enforcement of
the voter-approved ban on affirmative action based on race or
gender.

The measure, passed in November, has been blocked by Chief U.S.
District Judge Thelton Henderson of San Francisco. He said
Proposition 209 was likely to be ruled a violation of the
constitutional rights of women and minorities whose programs would
be barred.

The hearing before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
concerned whether Henderson’s ruling would be suspended and
Proposition 209 implemented for several months while the merits of
his injunction are reviewed by the court.

Normally, the appellate court will suspend an injunction only
when it decides the lower court judge was not merely mistaken but
misunderstood the legal principles that govern the case.

But at least one member of Monday’s three-judge panel made it
clear that he thought Proposition 209 was valid.

Judge Andrew Kleinfeld compared civil rights groups’ attempt to
block Proposition 209 to the "massive resistance" by Southern
states to the Supreme Court’s 1954 school desegregation ruling.

"I’m concerned that (the lawsuit) turns government of and by the
people to … government of the people by those with the highest
(law school admission test) scores,” Kleinfeld said.

The panel’s ruling, subject to possible further appeal, will be
in effect until a hearing sometime this spring on the merits of
Henderson’s injunction. Under the court’s normal rules, which are
not inflexible, a different three-judge panel will be chosen for
that hearing ­ a prospect that evidently bothered Kleinfeld,
who spoke of a public perception of "judge-shopping."

The possibility of off-again, on-again enforcement prompted the
UC, state school Superintendent Delaine Eastin and several city and
county governments to ask the court to leave Henderson’s ruling in
effect during the appeals. UC said it would have to start the fall
admissions process from scratch if Proposition 209 took effect.

UC Davis radio goes pirate

People feigning masturbation and burbling sounds from a steaming
bong ­ this fare is slightly more daring than what listeners
normally catch on UC Davis’ 90.3 FM. Then again, disc jockeys don’t
customarily broadcast from a kitchen.

The frequency is usually dedicated to KDVS, the UC Davis campus
radio station, which has been off the air since early January due
to technical difficulties.

When the campus station had severe problems with its
transmitter, most people shrugged and tuned to another station.
However, electronics hobbyist and former UC Davis student Mark
Chang snapped to attention.

"I thought, ‘Hey, it’d be great to get onto 90.3 ­ there’s
probably a lot of people like me checking to see if KDVS is back on
the air yet,’" he said. "I figured we could develop a listenership
that way, just by people randomly tuning in."

The result was the re-emergence of Davis Live Radio, a pirate
station set up by Chang four years ago that transmitted live for
six months on 88.1 FM.

Reincarnation of the project began as a solo endeavor on Jan.
28, but the "station staff" has since grown. The crew has managed
to garner a fairly sizable listening audience ­ approximately
1,500 per night by Chang’s calculations.

The entire technical workings of the station rest on a
medium-sized kitchen table, excepting a rather conspicuous antenna
protruding from the roof. Davis Live Radio operates under Part 15
of Federal Communications Commission rules and regulations, which
sets boundaries on the field strength of radio signals coming from
experimental electronic equipment.

Operating at only 10 watts, the station’s electronics could
barely power a light bulb. However, the antenna is designed to make
every bit of juice count. Programming is entirely free form, with
DJs relying on call-ins from listeners to fill air time. When the
phone refuses to ring, things can get pretty interesting.

Compiled from Daily Bruin wire reports.