The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • Page 25

an Jrandgco ffxamtncr Bill Mandel says advertising is a deadly virus that carries the American consumer culture around the world. WEATHER B-2 BRIEFINGS B-2 DEATHS B-9 B3 MlHTIFl INTENSIVE, BUT GENTLE, CARE LA. effort ancles bl acks issuos affect i state's! I(DtOSl to colleg 1 11 i 1 i 1 I v- 4 Kr 7'sv. i 1 4 i i' i 1,276 teens find scholarly success in pioneer program By Carl Irving OF WE EXAMINER 8TAFF LOS ANGELES A dream has come true this spring for more than 1,200 black high school students. With the dedicated help of hundreds, they have shattered ingrained beliefs that large numbers of black youths can't overcome poverty and prejudice and succeed in the classroom.

Enrolled in a pioneering pro- 1 WARREN Let's get Arlo Smith out of town i es gram called Young Black Scholars, these students, after four years of hard work in which they were systematically advised, financed and tutored by black business leaders and educators, qualify for four-year colleges and universities. Compared with last year, that's three times more black high school graduates from Los Angeles County going on to college. The group also doubles, in one year, the num-' ber of blacks eligible to enroll at University of California campuses. "There's been nothing like it on this scale that's changed the academic outcome for 1,200 students at one time," says Winston Doby, UCLA vice chancellor for student affairs. Four years ago, black leaders targeted promising black eighth-graders at public, urban schools in Los Angeles County and pledged to help them get to college.

They gave money and time to the students. All sorts of business executives and professionals got involved, along with high school counselors. Hundreds of members of the black community pitched in, learning as they went along how to best help the students get the right academic training and overcome social and economic hurdles. In turn, the students learned to help themselves. "This shows the kind of potential in our community for resolving our problems.

It demonstrated for me what tremendous leverage and synergy can be produced when we work together," said Doby. The consensus among those who took part is that the students, graduating with averages or better in college prep courses, have vividly demonstrated that the program paid off. Moreover, belonging to Young Black Scholars has become a source of pride, even in the humblest neighborhoods, where its members come close to matching the prestige of outstanding athletes. Edray Goins had a knack for math and science, but he had to keep that to himself, along with' any dreams about a future outside the dismal, dangerous stretches of south-central Los Angeles. Carrying a bunch of books and scoring high on tests didn't make Edray a neighborhood hero.

But five years ago, he got a call that changed his life. This spring, he graduates as a straight-A stu- See STUDENTS, B-8 rro-cnoice agenda fares well for 1990 if. 'v. By George Raine OF THE EXAMINER 8TAFF The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in July to narrow federal abortion protections set in motion a phenomenal pro-choice movement that is driving California elections in 1990.

At the top of the party tickets', the question is close to moot: Democrats John Van de Kamp and Dianne Feinstein and Republican Pete Wilson present themselves as ardently pro-choice, but they will be pressed further as the campaigns accelerate. Meanwhile, positions on abortion elsewhere on the ballot may make or break political careers. "The Supreme Court eaie brought people out of the kitchen and up from behind their television sets," said Nan Bostick, Northern California coordinator of California Republicans For Choice. "They're calling to find out what they can do to help, because it was clear if they didn't do something they would lose their rights." Very likely, voters will be bringing their beliefs on abortion to the polls in the Republican primary's lieutenant-governor race, between pro-choice state Sen. John Seymour and pro-life Sen.

Marian Bergeson. Likewise, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, either Arlo Smith of San Francisco or Ira Reiner of Los Angeles, will try to use the issue as a 6word against GOP candidate Dan Lungren, an See ABORTION, B4) El iDorado settlers left high and dry i Population boom, drought combine to force water crisis By Kenneth A. Coding SPECIAL TO THE EXAMINER Children's Hospital nurse Randye Epstein watches as volunteer Doris Akol EXAMWERKATV RAODATZ of Lafayette rocks a premature infant. out Volunteers for end or enaangerea newoorns pour i ing number of volunteers who rock, hold and feed high-risk newborn infants from tiny preemies to "crack" cocaine babies who struggle through early life in hospitals like Children's. Though babies with a variety of problems are treated in such nurseries, it's the widespread publicity about the plight of crack babies that has sent volunteerism soaring.

"Right now, crack is on everybody's minds," said Robert Gordon, volunteer director at Alameda County's Highland Hospital. "I have 50 applications from people who want to work with crack babies. The fact is, we don't have a See BABIES, B-4 By Annie Nakao OF THE EXAMINER STAFF Amid the Ordered chaos of the intnsive-care nursery at Oakland's Children's Hospital, volunteer Mary Brattesani and her tiny charge nestle in a wooden rocker in a world of their own. "Despite all that's going on around us, you can tune everything out," she said. "Even if the baby's asleep and you're just holding him against your chest, there's a real connection." Brattesani is a high school tutor who admittedly knew more about dogs than babies before her hospital stint.

Now she's one of a grow is affection i Blacks exhorted to plumb culture By Andy Furillo OF THE EXAMINER STAFF Black Americans must re-establish connections to their African culture and history before they can hope to eradicate the crack cocaine epidemic, a San Francisco State University black studies professor says. Wade Nobles told a national conference on the crack problem in San Francisco Saturday that the systematic alienation of blacks from their roots by "Eurocentric thinking" created the "self-destructive behavior" now manifesting itself in drug dealing and related violence. "Culture is the critical issue for us," Nobles told an audience of about 1,000 on the final day of the crack cocaine conference at the San Francisco Hilton Hotel "The psychological well-being of a person depends upon the cultural well-being of the people, and when the symbols of that culture lose legitimacy, then the people become insane. "We tolerate overindulgence, self-gratification and anti-black beliefs because we have given up on the will of being African beings." Nobles exhorted the gathering Curious the way Arlo Smith uses the awesome instrument of the new criminal grand jury. There often appears to be something in it personally for the politically climbing San Francisco district attorney.

Take the criminal grand jury he convened last summer to gorilla the police civilian watchdog agency, the Office of Citizens Complaints. Arlo and the cops have never been a hot ticket; the man routinely dumps more than half of the felony arrests the Frisco force makes each year. But in late summer, the DA was desperately seeking the endorsement of the powerful San Francisco Police Officers Association for the Democratic nomination for state attorney general. It would have been politically devastating for a district attorney running statewide not to be endorsed by his hometown cops, and his more conservative opponent, Los Angeles DA Ira Reiner, had been emboldened to court the POA. Arlo Smith has never been known as a self-starter, but he does share with all men the ability to move quickly off the trapdoor when under the shadow of the hangman's noose.

Thus when a report accusing the police chief brother of a coverup in the Dolores Huerta case was leaked to the liberal Bay Guardian, the normally tortoise-speed Smith was quick to sic a criminal grand jury on the OCC's staff. Old-timers in the criminal justice system say it was highly inappropriate for the DA to I See HINCKLE, B-9 1 pis1 A PLACERVILLE, El Dorado County The thirst for scarce water, which ignited deadly range wars in the Old West, is driving today's settlers of this Mother Lode county to what government officials concede is panic. Thousands of one-third-acre lots, sold in the land rush in the Sierra foothills at prices of $45,000 to $90,000, are without water because a population explosion has overwhelmed the government's ability to keep pace. Land developers have millions of dollars on the line, with banks pressuring them to construct sub' divisions on lots for which there is no water, said Marc Cunningham, chairman of the Building Industry Association of Superior California. Likewise, about 2,500 couples, many of them monied newcomers who arrived in BMWs, are looking for solutions.

"We put up most of our money to come here, so we could have our dreams come true," said Debi Pir-jaberi, an optician from Sacramen- SCSI I'- i aits ASSOOATH) PRESS JUUE MAHKES Adviser Lois Hunter, seated, with program members Edray Goins, left, Costolino Hogan and Marlon Jones..