Josh Escobar/Staff

The clouds in the sky were giving way to sunshine when we saw a deer on a sidewalk on Northside. As you probably know, Northside blends into the Berkeley Hills. The trees — elm, pine, and liquid amber — are taller than most buildings. The experience of walking down some streets is like that of a forest.

We seemed more surprised by the encounter than the deer did. It turns out that he, like us, was just out for a midsummer’s stroll. We followed him for a little bit to see what his business here was. He just ate the leaves and flowers of a squash plant growing in our neighbor’s garden. The whole time, he seemed oblivious to how majestic he looked. After throwing us a few glances, he posed for a few photos then pranced down the street. He probably never thought that he’d be famous.

Contact Josh Escobar at jescobar@dailycal.org.

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Josh Escobar/Staff

Downtown Shattuck Avenue has undergone several generations of mass transit, the relics and pieces of which are integrated into the restaurants there today. In the pioneering days, the mile-long pier that once docked ferries to and from San Francisco dropped off passengers at Center and Shattuck. Now Center Street is packed with grab-and-go places like Starbucks, Sliver, Top Dog and Bongo Burger, all of which are bustling at lunch time. The tall, leafy London Plane trees helped facilitate this change of pace and purpose of Center Street: It morphed from a dusty train station area to a college neighborhood of bars, banks, bookstores, gyms, theaters, museums and food! The reason Shattuck narrows, splits, turns and widens at University Avenue is that the long-gone light-rail train network, called the Key Car system, came together at Shattuck Square. Shattuck itself operates as a vehicular transportation artery for Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda.

Josh Escobar, Staff

Driving up and down its three cities blur together such that some poets think of the three as one city. On the west side of Center, beginning at Half Price Books, are slabs of poetry tucked into the sidewalk ranging from songs about tangerines to staying on Angel Island. Casa Bernal Taqueria, the restaurant beside the Wells Fargo building, has a deep, wide porch underneath an archway that had a perfect view of the platform before the train went underground.

Josh Escobar, Staff

The Key Car system — believe it or not — extended into the Berkeley Hills, which is why there are so many well built footpaths grazing the yards of so many homes. Now the BART system spans the Bay.

The sidewalks in Downtown Shattuck used to accommodate loads of passengers boarding the train. Today they accommodate crowds of us college kids coming from and going to (or not going to) class. The sidewalks are also wide enough to function simultaneously as a patio for cafe-goers and pop-up sites for street musicians, chess players, beat-nick travelers and Tibetan demonstrators. It is uncommon for sidewalks to be so wide in American downtowns, especially for a mid-size city. Berkeley’s past makes it special and lively.

Josh Escobar, Staff

Given the BART station and the number of AC Transit stops, Downtown Shattuck continues as a mass transit hub. It is somewhere to catch a bus, a bite to eat or even a bar to hop. Lots of stylish high-rise apartments were built recently to drive down the cost of rent and accommodate new waves of students. The city plans to make Center more pleasant for pedestrians by making it more of a parkway. The University of California has been clawing away at the old University Press Building, and soon it will be home to the new Berkeley Art Museum. Perhaps Strawberry Creek will see the daylight someday instead of mysteriously disappearing at the north end of campus. Whatever may happen,  it is exciting to see Shattuck change from one kind of Downtown into another.

Josh Escobar, Staff

Contact Josh Escobar at jescobar@dailycal.org.

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Katherine Velicki/Staff

Your dusty tennis shoes pound Tilden Park’s water-chiseled, winding Wildcat Creek Trail. Your heart thumps fiercely in your chest, struggling to keep pace. Music from your iPod blares into your eardrums. Your lungs heave, your eyes focus on the next hill.

But then — wait, is that a cow?

Fixing your gaze on a large brown head and a muscular, sluggish body, you cautiously pull out your headphones and approach the awestruck beast. Separated by four measly strands of wire fencing, you and the cow lock eyes. After a few seconds, your uncompetitive adversary forfeits the staring match and resumes feeding on her savory cellulosic dinner.

Flanked by Tilden’s green hillsides, you notice the silence. Besides the lengthy grass swishing in the wind, the cow’s munching is literally the only thing you can hear. No chattering classmates. No car engines. None of that “perpetual bass” that you can hear at all hours on frat row. No clicking of keys — just absolute, all-consuming silence. Imbibing the tranquility, you tuck away your earbuds for a few miles.

In a lot of ways, running is like life at Cal. Delicately balancing intense loads of classes, jobs, clubs, exercise, lunches with friends, Saturday night parties and, if we’re lucky, a hobby. This careful cramming is both thrilling and exhausting. Even when we’re nodding off in physics because of sleep deprivation, we still make time for our social lives and the activities that bring us joy.

But sometimes you need silence. Just for an hour or two, you need to escape the midterm stress, the conversations with friends, the family conflicts, the relationship issues and the ever-lingering essay. Sometimes, solitude in a quiet place is enough to restore your patience and put your life’s intricacies in perspective. Especially on a calm, sunny weekday, Tilden Park’s Wildcat Creek Trail is the perfect haven from intense days at Cal.

The Reward:

The Wildcat Creek Trail is a mildly hilly, spacious trail that extends from Tilden to Wildcat Canyon Regional Park. Nestled between sloping green hillsides, this winding dirt path is perfect for a relaxing run or hike. Since the trail begins at Tilden Park’s Little Farm, animal lovers usually pet the cows and goats for good luck before embarking on their adventures. Our route also skirts the secluded, placid waters of Jewel Lake, and if you’re lucky, you can stand feet away from cows after hiking two miles into the canyon.

The Trek:

Though this trail stretches for more than five miles and intersects with a host of other exciting paths, we have only tested the first four miles of Wildcat Creek Trail. We recommend this out and back route. Since Tilden Park is seated at the top of the Berkeley Hills, driving or taking the bus here are your least painful options. Beginning from the Little Farm and the Education Center at the base of Canon Drive, follow the wide, flat path labeled “Wildcat Canyon.” Jewel Lake lies to the left about a quarter mile from the trailhead. You’ll see a few trails branching from our route, but the Wildcat Creek Trail is pretty easy to follow. Run, hike or mountain bike as long as you’d like, and say hi to the cows for us!

Contact Katherine Velicki at kvelicki@dailycal.org. 

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Suspects linked to an alleged burglary on Dec. 11 were arrested Jan. 31, according to a press release from Berkeley Police Department. On Dec. 11, a Berkeley Hills resident arrived at his home on the 300 block of Senior Avenue at 3:17 p.m. Upon discovering an unknown car parked in his driveway, the resident went to check in on noises he heard coming from his house. It was then that two males exited the house while a female was waiting in the parked vehicle.

The resident subsequently attempted to stop the car from leaving his driveway and was knocked to the ground, and the vehicle ran over his leg, the press release stated. The resident suffered only minor injuries.

When police arrived on the scene, they found that the resident’s home had been burglarized and that several items had been stolen. Officers then began to process the scene for evidence after initiating a felony assault and burglary investigation.

“Our identification technicians were able to recover fingerprints, which were submitted to the state lab for identification,” said Capt. Andy Greenwood at a special City Council session on Feb. 5 for Berkeley’s annual crime report. “Two weeks ago, the lab had reported that they identified the fingerprints and the suspects.”

Though police initially thought there were only two suspects, they were able to come up with a third after conducting a records check and other investigative steps, according to Greenwood. The suspects were identified as Monique Robinson, 22, Jesus Salas Campos, 19, and a juvenile.

“Our detectives traveled to West Sacramento, where they served search warrants on two different homes and took all three suspects safely into custody,” Greenwood said at the meeting.

During the January arrest, authorities found evidence linked to the robbery in the suspects’ homes.

The suspects were arraigned on Feb. 4, with both being charged with first-degree burglary, according to Alameda County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Teresa Drenick. Robinson was also charged with assault with a deadly weapon for running over the victim, she added.

The district attorney’s office will not be releasing the identity of the juvenile or what the person has been charged with, as he or she is underage, Drenick said.

Both Robinson and Campos are currently no longer in custody, with bail posted at $80,000 each, according to Alameda County’s criminal docket finder. Their next court date is set for Feb. 26 at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse for their pretrial hearing.

Andy Nguyen is the lead crime reporter. Contact him at anguyen@dailycal.org.

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Michael Tao/Staff

Berkeley Fire Department responded to a fire at a three-story Berkeley residence just before noon on Wednesday.

The department was called to the residence, located at 1177 Keith Ave., after neighbors reported seeing smoke, according to Deputy Fire Chief Avery Webb. Upon arriving at the scene, firefighters found the residents — a family of three — already evacuated. No injuries were reported.

According to Webb, the fire started on the third floor and seemed to have spread throughout the house.

By around 12:15 p.m., authorities had contained the fire. But due to continuous “flare-ups,” deputies expected to remain at the scene for the rest of the day, Webb said.

Webb said that some neighbors were evacuated as well but have since been notified that it is safe for them to return to their homes.

Contact Alex Berryhill at aberryhill@dailycal.org.

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Michael Ball/Staff

Tucked away in the leafy Berkeley Hills, a newly relocated school has added to the air of multicultural diversity in the school system.

With a cozy cottage-like feel, Berkeley’s historic Hillside site no longer bears empty hallways but instead provides a haven for families looking for bilingual education for their kids. The site is now home to the new German International School of Silicon Valley, and the new school has agreed to lease and eventually buy the national landmark site after it was owned for 86 years by the Berkeley Unified School District.

“Our main goal is to expose kids to a second language — we are very big on building a global community,” said GISSV Marketing Coordinator Pamela Mead. “Our students get an opportunity to have an international outlook.”

Before the bilingual school decided to reside on the historic property, the previous public educational institutions that inhabited the site eventually closed down because of a fault line that runs alongside the site.

According to the district’s spokesman, Mark Coplan, the fault line poses nominal risk, if any at all, but the California code of public education prevents any California public school from being opened at the site. As a result, the building was accessible to the German school since it is a private school and unaffiliated with the district.

“Before the GISSV purchased this property, the last school that was running at the site was the Hillside School,” he said. “(The school) was closed down by the district about 23 years ago because of the seismic study that was done to reveal the fault line.”

But over the summer, the international school opened up the facility to both German-speaking and non-German-speaking families, as well as anyone interested in a high-quality bilingual education. Students in the second grade and above needed some German background to attend, but prior to second grade, knowing German is necessary to enroll.

Currently, the school is home to kindergarteners to fifth graders. The administration is aiming to add one grade each year until it becomes a K-8 school. According to Mead, there are about 75 students enrolled, with approximately 20 spots left.

“The classes at German International School of Silicon Valley are smaller, which is better for the students since it provides a better learning opportunity,” Mead said.

The original private bilingual school was established in 1999 in Mountain View, and the San Francisco chapter was opened in 2011. Before relocating to Berkeley Hills, the Berkeley chapter was established in Kensington in 2007, where the school was renting property from a local church.

However, Mead said tight space and lack of publicity for the school elicited a change of location. The relocation to the historic site will allow space for more students and will give the bilingual school more exposure to the public, she said.

Contact Ailya at anaqvi@dailycal.org

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At about 6:29 p.m., UCPD received a cell-transfer call from the California Highway Patrol informing the police that a missing person had been reported, according to UCPD Lt. Alex Yao. UCPD officers responded to help locate the missing individual and found him about 200 ft. downhill from Grizzly Peak Boulevard to the west, near Signpost 15, Yao said.

“We are looking at the case, and the injury might have been caused by a fall,” Yao said Thursday. “At this point, we have not discovered anything that would indicate foul play.”

According to a report from the San Francisco Chronicle, the victim was Jonathan Mendiola Urbina of San Pablo, who wandered away from a group of friends and cousins to climb a large rock below the trail. Neither Mendiola Urbina nor any of his companions are affiliated with the campus.

Mendiola Urbina was declared deceased at 7:22 p.m. He had been missing for about one hour when UCPD learned about the incident, Yao said.

However, UCPD Captain Margo Bennett reportedly told Berkeley Patch that Mendiola Urbina had been climbing a rock with several companions while hiking Wednesday evening when he fell. The members of the hiking group told the police they had been intoxicated, according to Patch.

When asked about the role of alcohol in the incident, Yao declined to comment.

Grizzly Peak runs through the Berkeley Hills. The location where Mendiola Urbina was found is in the campus department’s jurisdiction despite being in the city of Oakland, Yao said.

Police are still investigating the case.

“We will conduct a comprehensive, thorough and detailed investigation,” Yao said.

Chloe Hunt covers crime. Contact her at cthunt@dailycal.org.

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The family of a Berkeley resident who was bludgeoned to death outside his home earlier this year is now criticizing the police response the night of the killing.

The sons of Peter Cukor, Christopher and Alexander Cukor, spoke to press Friday at the office of their attorney R. Lewis Van Blois to set the record straight about what happened the night of Feb. 18 and to refute Berkeley Police Department’s claim that “no mistake” was made in the response to their father’s call the night of his alleged murder.

Immediately after the killing, blame passed between Occupy Oakland protesters who were planning a Fuck the Police march for that evening to UC Berkeley and police, who did not respond immediately to Peter Cukor’s original call.

“My father called the correct Berkeley Police Department emergency number — the one listed on their website as the best number to call ‘in case of immediate threats to life or property,’” Christopher Cukor said in his speech. He said that his father did not make the call to a “nonemergency number,” as the the police department has previously claimed.

Christopher Cukor said Friday that his father felt his home was in threat of being invaded and asked for immediate help from the dispatcher.

Peter Cukor’s initial call about a trespasser on his property came during a shift change and a briefing session on Occupy marchers who would be arriving at UC Berkeley, said Berkeley Police Department Captain Andrew Greenwood after the initial incident in February.

“We find this very disturbing — that a citizen’s call for emergency help can go unanswered and lead to his death is not a mistake,” Christopher Cukor said. “My father should be alive.”

Christopher Cukor requested that the police department create a policy letting emergency callers know what priority their call is being given and approximately when they can expect officers to respond so they can plan accordingly.

Greenwood released a statement Monday on behalf of the police department saying that the department does not have any new information to share about the case.

“We remain committed to serving the Cukor family throughout these difficult circumstances,” Greenwood said in the statement.

The Cukor family has not decided whether to pursue legal action against the police department, according to Blois.

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DeWitt, 23, has been accused of killing Peter Cukor, 67, on Feb. 18 outside of Cukor’s home in the Berkeley Hills. Last month, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Sandra Bean suspended the criminal case against DeWitt and ruled that he is mentally incompetent to stand trial.

At a hearing Friday, Bean said DeWitt “lacks the capacity to make a decision about taking anti-psychotic medication” and that he could seriously harm himself and others, according to Bay City News.

According to police, DeWitt was found less than a block away from Cukor’s home just minutes after Cukor was found beaten.

DeWitt was arraigned in late February and charged with felony murder and use of a deadly weapon, referring to the ceramic planter DeWitt allegedly bludgeoned Cukor with. Bean later decided to delay the trial so DeWitt could be assessed for mental competence. In late March, DeWitt was found to be not mentally competent to stand trial.

Before the incident in February, DeWitt had a criminal record and a history of mental illness and had been accused of battery against a nurse at the John George Psychiatric Pavilion.

DeWitt’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Brian Bloom, said that it could take DeWitt — who is being held at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin — six to eight weeks to get into the Napa State Hospital, because there is a waitlist, according to Bay City News.

DeWitt is scheduled to return to court July 13 for a progress report.

Soumya Karlamangla is the city news editor.

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Rashad Sisemore/Staff

An Alameda County judge delayed the trial Thursday for homicide suspect Daniel DeWitt by a month so the suspect can be assessed for mental competence.

Though 23-year-old Alameda resident DeWitt was not present at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Oakland Thursday, his attorney Brian Bloom asked the court to grant the time necessary to allow DeWitt to be seen by two doctors.

Judge Sandra Bean ruled for the trial to resume on March 22 at 9 a.m.

Thursday’s court proceedings were DeWitt’s second in two days, following an appearance Wednesday, where Bean read the charges filed against DeWitt.

The charges include felony murder and use of a deadly weapon, referring to the ceramic planter with which DeWitt allegedly bludgeoned 67-year-old Peter Myron Cukor in the Berkeley Hills on Saturday.

According to Bay City News, Berkeley police Detective David Marble wrote in a probable cause statement filed in court that DeWitt told Cukor “he was a psychic and he was told to go through the (Cukors’) front gate to find Zoey.”

Outside the courtroom Wednesday, Al DeWitt Jr. said his son had a fictitious girlfriend for over a year who he called “Zoey,” which is consistent with DeWitt’s history of mental illness.

The Oakland Tribune reported that Candy DeWitt, Daniel DeWitt’s mother, said her son was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia at age 18. Though she continually tried to commit her son to long-term psychiatric care, he was continually forced out of care after he took his medication and started acting rationally, she told the Tribune.

“I have tried to write letters to judges, to victims’ rights advocates, to prosecutors and begged and pleaded for them to help my son,” she told the Tribune. “But there was no help. It is a system where these people just go in and out, in and out.”

The homicide allegation against Daniel DeWiitt is not the first criminal accusation he has faced.

DeWitt is also scheduled to appear in court on March 6, 2012 for an alleged battery against a nurse at John George Psychiatric Pavilion in December 2010.

Staff writers Sam Buckland, Sarah Burns and Jonathan Tam contributed to this report.

Weiru Fang covers Berkeley communities.

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