The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 13

Opinion Weather Deaths irtrtrCr Jan fbnrioro Jocaminrr Nov. 26, 1980 section 5 urns AH tangled up It hunt her work for Metro money 'i mix 'f i s- fu tables and chairs or forming a human pyramid riding a bicycle. Chinese acrobatics is an ancient folk art that is called "The Hundred Acts" and includes juggling, balancing, tumbling and magic acts. It sounds like vaudeville. But it all happened back in the Han dynasty from 206 BC to 219 AD.

Han engravings found in Ylnan County In Shandog province in 1954 showed the same "Pole Tricks" and "Rope Walking" as performed by today's acrobats. "We have talent scouts going all over the country looking for prospects," said Liu Weizhong, the director. Guandpnl Acrobats acts are traditonal, handed down for centuries. "But some acts are modified," he said, such as the addition of a unicycle or bicycle for a balancing act. "We also have cut some parts to suit American audience," he said.

ICM Artists, the sponsor of the tourk thought two hours were enough for a show. Under the previous government, acrobats were looked upon as beggars and vagabonds. "They were gypsies, wandering from town to town performing for a few coins," Liu said. The new China recognized acrobats as artists. Under the "Let-a-hundred-flowers-blossom-and-weed-through-the-old-to-bring-forth-the-new" policy, it stablished a national company of acrobats.

In a way acrobats were like the practitioners of martial arts who also took to the street to perform. Instead of asking for money, they sold medicine. Now the Kung Fu men are also organized by the government under the Wushu schools. The 70-member troupe, which includes performers, musicians and technicians, range in age from 12 to 60. The average age is 24.

Most have been with the troupe from eight to 10 years. "We train them for six years before we allow them to perform," he said. "By then, what they do is second nature." Most of the young men and women look like they were actors. ExaminerJohn Storey top and bottom, or vice versa, By Don Lattin Amid allegations that it Is ignoring the rest of The City's transit riders, the Municipal Railway is seeking $11.5 million from the federal government to buy 15 Muni Metro cars rejected by Boston's transit system. The application was part of a $21.6 million request approved yesterday by the city Public Utilities Commission.

About $16 million of that total Is for improvements to Muni Metro subway system, which is replacing the old streetcar network. In a related action, the PUC set Dec. 17 as the date to expand Metro service on the K-Ingleside, L-Taraval and M-Oceanside lines. Riders on those lines currently have to transfer onto a streetcar shuttle at West Portal Station or St Francis Circle. and Metro cars will be joined through the subway and uncouple at St.

Francis Circle, where they split off for separate routes ending up at the Balboa Park BART Station. Outbound riders will have to ensure they get on the right car when boarding in the subway. Muni now has 100 of the Boeing-Vertol vehicles being used in the Muni Metro system. City utilities chief Richard Sklar said the 15 additional cars are needed to meet increased ridership, and provide enough equipment to bring the J-Church streetcar line into the Muni Metro system next year. Muni eventually plans to have a fleet of 140 Metro cars.

Boston, the only other city to use the Boeing vehicles, has had a myriad of problems with its system, is about to go bankrupt and does not want 15 additional cars. Maurice Klebolt, head of a self-styled citizens transit advisory group called Captrans, said Metro riders "have had enough money thrown at them" and said more funds should be spent to improve transit in other parts of The City. "Why has the price (of the new cars) more than doubled?" he asked. "If Boston dumped the cars, they should come at their original price." "We don't own those cars and Boston doesn't own those cars," Skiar countered. "And we're getting them for 30 to 40 percent less than other cities would take them for today." Included in the current request, which must be approved by the Board of Supervisors before it is forwarded to Washington, are several additional Muni Metro items.

Included are requests for: More than $2 million for modifications to the new Metro cars called light rail vehicles (LRVs) in transit jargon so a single operator can control the functions on a multi-car train. Nearly $850,000 to install new radios on the 10-month-old cars. $1 million to redesign and rehabilitate the Geneva Division Center for streetcar service. Muni eventually plans to spend between $10 and $12 million on that project Nearly $2 million for a centralized traffic control system for the Metro subway so Muni can "re-route LRVs in the subway and Twin Peaks Tunnel in the event of emergency by control of switches and crossovers." About $720,00 in assorted projects. Bus projects include $1.4 million for UHF radios with silent alarms and $2.3 million in computers and word processing equipment for PUC management.

In other action yesterday, the commission voted to modify the new 43-Masonic route in response to Marina residents complaining about noisy buses. The new route takes the buses off Francisco Street, and terminates it at Scott and Chesnut streets. The commission was also presented with a three-part, federally-required plan for how Muni will improve access for handicapped passengers. The plan calls for new Muni buses to be equipped with wheelchair lifts, development of a program making taxis and special vans available to transit handicapped people, and modi-ficiations at transit stops, including Braille signs. Muni's plan will be the subject of a joint public hearing before the PUC and Metroiwlitan Transportation Commission on Dec.

12. Gays still fear for safety despite pledges 'Our (gay) community has had just about all we can take of the increased violence directed at us' in A review cf the performance PageE6. By Ken Wong No hamburgers for little Miss Wang. Sorry, Mac, Jack and Wendy. Wang Yinzi, 12, a performer with the Acrobats of Canton, had her first hamburger in Boston a month ago.

While rehearsing yesterday for the show which opened last night at the Golden Gate Theater, she shook her head when asked if she likes hamburgers. Wang, though not billed as the star of the show (there are no star performers in China), has her picture on the posters and all the ads. She's been with the Guangdong Acrobatic Troupe of China for four years. She was 8 when plucked from an amateur show to join the troupe. "I did not perform until last year," she said yesterday, speaking in Mandarin.

She spent the three years in training. Since then she has been a hit wherever she has performed, in China. Europe and North America. She is hat the circus world knows as a contortionist, but at the same time she balances 20 bowls of water on her head or foot while twisting herself into a pretzel. She looks tiny and fragile and weighs only 50 pounds, but she has strong hands and arms.

"I practice six hours a day," she said. She attends classes when not performing, which doesn't leave her much time for leisure. What does she do for fun? She said she was too old for dolls, but "I like roller skating." She hasn't acquired a taste for American food. There are four in her family in Hangchow. Her father Is in civil service and her mother is a laborer.

She has a 9-year-old brother. She and the Guangdong Acrobats have been to Honolulu, Seattle, Canada, Boston and New York on the current tour and will be here for three weeks before returning to China. You may have seen the Chinese acrobats on PBS television. They are whirling dervishes of colors, flying through the air like the "Flying Kara-mazovs," juggling and twirling plates. Today in The City Woman who crusaded for windmill honored A SAN FRANCISCO woman has been honored for her successful crusade to restore the north Dutch windmill in Golden Gate Park.

Eleanor Rossi Crabtree was one of 103 persons honored nationally by the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service in Washington, D.C., for outstanding contributions to conservation and expansion of natural, cultural and recreational services. Sole victim of fire in Sunset identified THE SOLE VICTIM of a fast-moving fire that broke out Sunday night in a Sunset District apartment house has been identified as Louise Jenkins, 65. Jenkins, who suffered massive burns over her entire body, according to the San Francisco coroner's office, was a tenant at 1295 15th Ave. Damages to the three-story building was put at $400,000. Yesterday, the coroner's office also identified a body found dead Monday with a stab wound in the neck In Buena Vista Park as Donald Meder, 42, of San Francisco.

Whatever happened to One of the most popular features in The Examiner is the Second Look, the Page 1 story on Mondays that brings us up to date on some person or event that appeared in the news a while ago. Usually, a Second Look begins when a reporter or editor asks hatever happened to This time we want to give readers a chance to ask the question and we'll try to come up with the answer. The possibilities are endless: Whatever happened to the guy who used to drive an old London taxi around town? Whatever happened to the kid who lived with his accused kidnapper for seven years before fleeing? Whatever happened to the plan to put a giant sewer pipe across The City? During the week of Dec. 22, we'll take a Second Look each day at stories you want updated. Just write a note now, with as many specifics as possible, to Second Look, The Examiner, 110 Fifth St, San Francisco 94101 lun.

win until. i 'mmmm Hi ilffh'a, II.AiiMii'iilliitf-Lri Promises from Police Chief Cornelius Murphy of a new Castro Street area decoy squad and a strong law-and-order commitment from Mayor Fein-stein have not eased the concern members of the gay community have for their safety on San Francisco streets. At an animated meeting yesterday with members of the Tavern Guild, a gay-oriented group of 450 bar owners and other individuals, Murphy said that a police decoy unit "that will blend in, if you will, into the neighborhood," will begin operations next week. Asked today for details of the operation. Murphy said the unit will consist of five young, male officers, probably taken from the special operations unit and from district stations.

"They'll be wearing jeans and T-shirts," Murphy said, "casual wear that approximates what people in that area wear. It's not the kind of decoy operation we have in the Tenderloin, where officers put on makeup and dresses." The officers, who have not yet been picked, will receive no special training. Murphy said, although he conceded that some people would not be chosen because "they just can't blend In." Asked if the police decoys would try to give the impression that they were gay, Murphy said, "I don't think we'll go that far." The new unit will patrol Polk Street and "fringe areas" of the Castro like Dolores Park, Murphy said, admitting that assaults against gays have risen in recent months. As in the downtown decoy operation, the men in disguise will be backed up by other officers. "The gay community won't know who they are," added Murphy, who said it is essential for the department to "build bridges" to The City's gays.

After the meeting yesterday, doubt balancing bowls as she contorts patrol the Castro area, hoping to arrest those who would assault gays. The reaction was negative when he said the department would continue to pursue drug and prostitution arrests. He also defended police raids on pornographic film theatres and gay bath houses, although he said a recent raid on Castro's Jaguar bookstore "should have been handled in a different manner." Several members of the audience criticized police response time and attitudes towards gays. Feinstein said she was demanding a quicker response time from a city-wide average of 20 minutes down to four. The mayor scored points when Murphy said a busy signal on police emergency lines was mechanically impossible.

"It happened to me, chief," Feinstein interjected to accompanying cheers and whistles. Feinstein ended the meeting by blaming the increase in crime on, among other things, "a lack of authority of parents over kids" and a permissive judicial system so relaxed "it is putting society in jeopardy." Referring back to crime in The City just before she became mayor, she recalled that there were 21 murders of gays. "I dont want those days to come back again," she said. Although increased police presence was a major theme at the meeting, Murphy questioned its effectiveness. "Part of the problem is that everyone looks at the police for the solution," Murphy said, getting into his car.

"We're not the solution in this (Latino-gay) problem. If they they think the police have the answer, tliey're in big trouble." "I liked what they said," mused George Sanders, owner of four restaurants in The City. "But I'm a Southern boy. I believe more in what people do than what they say." failed yesterday to persuade the four other supervisors to join him in his opposition to alternate ways to use the money, even though he pointed out that none of the regional money would filter to Alameda County. The money originally was designated for completion of the link between Interstate 280 and the Bay Bridge, a route that has been incomplete for the past six years.

Plans by the Metropolitan Transit Commission, San Francisco and Caltrans now call for elimination of that project It would be replaced by a smorgasbord of smaller projects, including demolition of parts of the Embarcadero Freeway. That's 12-year-old Wang Yirwi, both was expressed that a beefed-up police presence would help ease gay Latino clashes in Dolores Park, the scene of cultural and physical confrontations between the two communities. "I'm not encouraged by what happened today," said Tavern Guild president Wayne Friday after Murphy and Feinstein addressed the gathering at a Polk Street restaurant "We'll have to wait and see if they do anything." As the meeting began, Friday told the mayor: "Our community has had just about all that we can take of the increased violence directed at us by homophobic packs of young men who have made fag-bashing a nightly sport in this city," Friday said. "The mayor alone has the power," Friday continued to the cheers of a packed house, "to insist that her police department declare war on those who kick the hell" out of gay men. The issue of violence against gays was renewed Nov.

9 when two men one gay and the other straight were assaulted on the edge of Dolores Park. Ten Latino youths were arrested after the incident, although seven were released for lack of evidence. Feinstein told the crowd, which included executives in three-piece suits and men in T-shirts and jeans, that crime has increased in all parts of The City without regard for sexual preferences. Rape is up 20 percent this year, assault up 17 percent and robbery up 16 percent, the mayor said, singling out the recent rape and assault of a woman from Golden Gate University. Feinstein stressed her support of more police on the streets, noting that there are 155 more police officers this year and an additional 249 by the end of next year.

The crowd gave its loudest cheers when the mayor said she wanted Fagot 25, of Walnut Creek in 1975. Because his plea was innocent by reason of insanity, the jury had to determine whether he was legally sane at the time he committed the murders. The panel found him sane after deliberating less than three hours. Hughes was convicted last April in Alameda County for slaying Oakland Skyline High School student Lisa Ann Beery, 15, in 1974 He was sentenced to life imprisonment and Is eligible for parole consideration in that case in 1986. Prior to sentencing, Deputy Public Defender Ken Dothee asked Channell to write the state Department of Corrections, asking that Hughes be placed at Vacaville and undergo extensive psychiatric treatment GUILD'S WAYNE FRIDAY Has strong words for Feinstein juveniles involved in violent crimes 'tried as adults without the anonymity of juvenile hall." Feinstein had urged the Dolores Park suspects be treated as adults.

Feinstein assured the group that she supported "human rights and individual rights." She called the gay community "a very special place." "We cant do anything about complaints not turned in to me or the chief," she said. "We are going to depend on you, we need help. I offer you the open door of my office." Returning to her law-and-order theme, Feinstein said that within a month she would release a "major package" of requests that the state Legislature toughen laws. The question and answer session after the address was lively, with most questions going to Murphy, who had announced that police "decoys" would because of his "very severe mental illness." During the five-week trial, Dothee portrayed Hughes as a "psychotic, paranoid-schizophrenic" who was incapable of planning and hunting down the victims. Official loses fight against funding grab JUST BECAUSE regional transportation money has been allocated to a San Francisco project does not mean the funds must stay in The City if the plan falls through.

That was the reasoning of Fred Cooper, the only member of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors opposing an 188 million funding grab by Caltrans and San Francisco. But he Bay Area report Inside Worried because you ain't got no good English? Pick up the pi I phone for help. LSpt Conservation officer says he was roughed up in a squabble over Bay landfill. I A plan to distribute $12 million to purchasers of Levis j3 is criticized. LsJ Fire hit the San Francisco Art Commission's Ll 1 headquarters Two life sentences for sex murderer CALLING HIM "a dangerous man to society," a Superior Court judge yesterday sentenced convicted sex murderer Phillip Hughes to two concurrent life sentences.

Superior Judge Willia Channell also sentenced Hughes, a 32-year-old former Pleasanton janitor, on two counts of use of a deadly weapon In connection with the two grisly murders of Contra Costa women. Channell ordered Hughes to Vacaville State Prison. He is eligible for parole consideration in 1987. Hughes was convicted last month in the first-degree murders of Maureen Field, 19, of Moraga in 1972 and Letitla.