Kore Chan/Senior Staff

A UC Berkeley student was robbed at gunpoint near Moffitt Library on Sunday evening.

The incident marks the fourth robbery or attempted robbery to occur on campus or on property close to campus since Thursday.

In the Sunday robbery, a UC Berkeley student was walking west on University Drive about 9:11 p.m. when two males approached him, according to a UCPD crime alert released Monday.

One of the perpetrators walked up to the victim, pointed a black handgun at his chest and demanded his cellphone. Before he could comply, the perpetrator pushed the student to the ground. The student dropped his phone, one of the perpetrators picked it up and the two perpetrators fled north on the west side of Haviland Hall, according to the alert.

The armed robbery was the second of its kind this week, after an incident at the intersection of Berkeley Way and Oxford Street early Thursday morning, according to a UCPD crime alert released Thursday. About 5:30 a.m., an armed person struck a 57-year-old UC Berkeley affiliate. The woman fell to the ground, and the perpetrator took her purse and fled the scene.

Later that evening, a 19-year-old student was robbed in front of Unit 3’s Beverly Cleary residence hall while waiting at the shuttle pickup location on Channing Way, according to a UCPD crime alert released Friday. The perpetrator in this incident also pushed the student to the ground before snatching her cellphone and fleeing the scene.

In a fourth incident this weekend, however, a student successfully resisted an attempted theft.

The student was walking between Dwinelle Hall and the Valley Life Sciences Building just after midnight Saturday when three males approached him, according to a UCPD crime alert released Monday. Two of the men stood in front of and behind the student, one issuing verbal threats while the other grabbed his backpack from behind. The student clenched his backpack and began to yell, after which the men fled the scene.

Immediately after each of the four crimes, UCPD searched the area but was unable to locate the perpetrators.

According to a recent Berkeley Police Department report, 221 robberies have occurred within the city from January to June 2013. The report also noted a 67 percent increase  in robberies targeting people with iPhones, smartphones and other small electronic devices in the first six months of 2013 compared with the same months in 2012.

Megan Messerly is a news editor. Contact her at mmesserly@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @meganmesserly.

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Buy cheap tapestries. Shopping around online or at typical decorating stores will lead you only to find tapestries that are $40 or more. If you didn’t know this already, we have a variety of cool stores in Berkeley, such as Happy High Herbs on Channing Way (who would have thought they had things other than herbs?) or Tibet Souvenirs on Center Street that sell really cool tapestries. Many of the tapestries you will find are around $20, but if you split the price with several of your roommates, you can end up paying a fraction of the original price! You can use a tapestry as a wall decoration, curtains or couch covers, or you can even put them on your bed. A tapestry will make your apartment hip, and we’re pretty sure that logic says that that makes you hip too! Congratulations!

Use excess materials from clubs you’re in. If you’re a Cal student, we can guarantee you’re involved in something. And whatever club you are involved with probably has a committee or subcommittee that consists of artsy people with artsy materials. If you are not one of them, hit these people up and tell them to make you something cool and artsy with their leftover materials. Or, if they have decorations left over from an event, ask if you can have them. With all these aesthetically gifted and creative Cal students around you, you’ll definitely find some delightfully unexpected decor!

Buy cool wall decorations from local shops. There are a number of local shops on Shattuck and College avenues where you can find neat things to decorate your apartment with. At Therapy on College, you can find inflatable animal heads to put on your walls! These cost about $30, and if split evenly with your roommates, you’ve got yourselves a deal! You can also find products such as frames, posters and clocks at various local stores.

Accept flier attacks on Sproul. For once in your life, don’t try to circumvent the intense individuals handing you fliers on Sproul. Again, with the aesthetically inclined student body you’re surrounded by, you’re bound to get some pretty badass-looking fliers! These may or may not be fliers for events that are completely unrelated to your life, but at least they’ll look cool!

Pick up the Daily Cal. No, we aren’t self-advertising! What are you talking about?! But you should try it! Pick up a copy of The Daily Californian, cut out some cool headlines or pictures and make awesome collages for doors and walls. People will think  you’re cool and cultured because you keep up with the Daily Cal, and they’ll think you’re artsy and resourceful for making pretty things with our newspaper! We’re all winners!

Have any tips on cheap decorating ideas? Let us know in the comments!

Contact Gabrielle Nguyen at gnguyen@dailycal.org.

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Elliot Sharifi/Courtesy

UPDATED, June 18, 6:42 p.m.: According to a UCPD crime alert released Tuesday, the driver of the first vehicle was identified as a nonaffiliated female and her friend, who were shot at by two male suspects driving a second vehicle as they passed through the intersection of Telegraph Avenue and Channing Way. The victims’ car was struck several times, but they managed to drive away from the scene physically unharmed. BPD and UCPD searched the area but were unable to locate the suspects.

According to the crime alert, the suspects are described as:

Suspect #1 — A black male, 18 to 20 years of age, 5-foot-8 in height, with a stocky build, possibly wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt or a black T-shirt and jeans.

Suspect #2 — A black male adult with a dark complexion.

Multiple gunshots were fired Sunday morning at the intersection of Telegraph Avenue and Channing Way, according to several witness reports and Berkeley Police Department.

BPD responded to reports of shots fired at the scene at approximately 12:30 a.m. After investigating the scene, BPD reported no property damage or knowledge of injuries resulting from the shooting, according to BPD lieutenant Andrew Rateaver.

The shots were allegedly fired between two vehicles and possibly a pedestrian, according to witnesses. BPD arrived just as the vehicles fled the scene, said BPD lieutenant Andrew Rateaver.

Tina Hernandez, a CREAM employee who was working at the time, said she saw two cars drive by, shooting at one another.

There are no known suspects at this time.

About 45 minutes earlier, BPD received a disturbance call from a large party in the 2400 block of Waring St., blocks away from the location where the shots were fired. Although BPD cannot confirm that the two incidents were related, the possibility has not been ruled out.

“The time frame is certainly there and the proximity is certainly there,” Rateaver said. “We don’t have a direct indication of (a relation between the incidents) but it is possible.”

Witnesses have speculated that the incident was gang related, but BPD stated that there has been no indication of whether it is or is not.

Investigation of the incident is ongoing.

Contact Jennie Yoon at jyoon@dailycal.org.

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Mary Zheng/Staff

Berkeley City Council accepted a zoning appeal Tuesday night in a vote of 8-1, stalling a plan to develop a new takeout ice cream shop on the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Channing Way directly across from CREAM.

The plan, proposed by Ken Sarachan, owner of Rasputin Music, would allow an ice cream restaurant named Dream to open inside his record store. The new shop was approved in September by the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board and will include a takeout window that opens to Channing Way.

Gus Shamieh, manager of CREAM, an ice cream and cookie store, appealed the decision in February, saying increased traffic generated by the store would limit access for the disabled on Channing Way and negatively impact ongoing economic improvement on Telegraph Avenue.

“Takeout windows where people wait for and pick up orders will create congregation,” Shamieh said. “There is already a lot of structures that hinder ADA accessibility. We believe this could create a potentially hazardous situation for (disabled individuals). It is also a red zone and bicycle zone.”

About 15 CREAM employees attended the council meeting to voice concerns about the proposed development. Some, including Sarachan and the intended ice cream supplier for Dream, argued for the continuation of the plans.

At the meeting, Sarachan said his ice cream shop would not represent unfair competition. The record business was ailing, and he needed alternatives like ice cream to stay in business, he said.

Citing the need for more public comment, council members resolved to discuss the issue further at a public hearing in the near future but did not set a date.

Shamieh said the appeal is not about ice cream store competition but about how Dream would affect all of Telegraph Avenue. The special advantage of a takeout window could create more empty storefronts by drawing fewer customers to other dessert stores in the area, he said.

The Zoning Adjustments Board, however, found no substantial evidence in September that such traffic issues would occur or that Dream would affect other businesses.

“They had voiced their concerns about traffic and the fact that (Dream) was a dessert store,” said Claudine Asbagh, the city’s assistant planner, about the Zoning Adjustments Board meeting in September. “The zoning ordinance is regulated by category, not by the type of food that is served.”

At the council meeting, council members said the similarity between the names, Dream and CREAM, was “provocative” and questioned why Sarachan was not building the ice cream shop in one of his vacant properties in the area.

“It is a very confrontational place,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington. “If it was in another place, there might not have been issues.”

Alyssa Neumann covers city government. Contact her at aneumann@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @AlyNeumann.

Correction(s):
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the proposed ice cream shop would include a drive-thru window. In fact the proposed shop would include a takeout window.

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In this age of instant gratification and proliferation of online distribution, people just don’t want to take the time and effort to pay for music. Free is the new black, it seems. For this reason, we at the Clog have compiled a list of great opportunities for free music around Berkeley, both live and recorded:

1) Street musicians: Street performance is an old trade, but it hasn’t died out. Many musicians “occupy” the streets of Berkeley to share their talents, especially on Sproul and by the Downtown Berkeley BART station. We’ve even seen a guy play on a drum kit made out of buckets and PVC pipes! While they’re inherently free performances, these performers would appreciate some tips in the little hats they’ve laid down.

2) “Hanging out” in front of the Greek: Say you really want to see a concert at the Greek right here in Berkeley, but you can’t shell out the $50 they charge for tickets (it’s crazy, right?). A tried and true method that’s better than not going at all is sitting outside of the Greek. From experience, you can actually hear the show very well! You’re not going to see anything, but that’s a given. If you chill out anywhere in a 50-foot radius of the theater or happen to have friends in Foothill Building 9, your ears shall be happy!

3) Clarinet Symphony — Unit 2: Some of us here at the Clog live in Unit 2, so we know about this sweet little deal. We’ve been talking about free concerts, but what about private shows? If you stop by Unit 2 during the afternoon, your ears will be privy to a private clarinet lesson! That’s right — a Unit 2 resident likes to practice the clarinet, and combined with the thin walls of the units, it’s like your very own private showing that gets more and more tuned with time.

4) Free Records — Rasputin: If you’ve walked down Channing Way in front of Rasputin Records, you may have seen a tattered cardboard box with tattered record covers to match. Well, they’re free for the public to take! And, like, vintage! Well, it would sure make any hipster or music buff happy, since it’s mostly a collection of ’70s B-artists who never really “made it” and subsequently weren’t selling well for money. Treat yourself to their graveyard of rejected albums!

5) Chasing down mixtape people: Speaking of free music on Telegraph, you may have seen people walking up and down the road giving away free rap mix CDs. It’s usually inconvenient for most Telegraph patrons, but say you really want one of these CDs and don’t know when they’re going to be there. Here’s what you do: Sit in a restaurant on Telegraph facing a window with a view outside, preferably between Bancroft Way and Haste Street. If or when you see them coming, run in the opposite direction and nonchalantly walk toward where they’re coming from. Let them ask you if you want one — don’t worry, they will — and then casually take it from them. Voila! You have a free CD. No guarantee that it’s actually good, but it’s (usually) free!

6) Solo frat raves: Frats play their music loud. We’re all plenty aware of this from when we actually try to get to sleep at a decent time on Saturday nights. If you’re looking for a dance party but don’t know anyone in the frats or don’t want to be surrounded by sweaty bodies, start your own party outside one! Through the consequences of dubstep, you’ll be able to feel the beats through the ground even when you’re outside, and you’ll be free from the judging eyes of frat-goers! A win-win, we say.

7) SUPERB: Instead of going these great lengths to score some free music, you can wait for some SUPERB shows — which are completely free and put on for the students specifically! SUPERB will be posting the schedule soon on its website.

Image source: Hailey Simpson, The Daily Californian 

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The department received reports of a possible stabbing at approximately 1:56 p.m on the 2300 block of Telegraph Avenue, according to spokesperson Officer Jennifer Coats. The victim was in an argument with two men, one of whom may have had a knife, Coats said in an email.

Both the suspects and the victim left the scene prior to the arrival of police, Coats said in the email.

Officers later located the victim, who was transported to a local hospital, according to Coats. The victim is reportedly in stable condition at this time. Officers were unable to locate the suspects, but students near the scene of the incident said they saw two people running away from the scene.

Following the incident, the victim — a man not affiliated with the campus — traveled up Channing Way, leaving a trail of blood droplets on the sidewalk next to Martinez Commons, a campus housing facility, according to Marty Takimoto, director of marketing communications for Residential and Student Service Programs.

Police closed the sidewalk next to Martinez Commons for about an hour to gather evidence, Takimoto said. He added that the bloodstains in the Martinez Commons courtyard are currently being cleaned according to appropriate haz mat protocols by RSSP staff.

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

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According to a UCPD crime alert released Wednesday, the victim was at the intersection of Channing Way and Dana Street when two male suspects run up to him from behind at about 5:57 a.m.  The suspects demanded the victim’s property and he handed them his wallet, the alert states.

The victim, whose affiliation to UC Berkeley is unknown, was ordered to turn and run. The suspects then fled in an unknown direction. The victim was not injured during the encounter, according to the alert.

UCPD and the Berkeley Police Department searched the area but were unable to locate the two suspects.

According to the UCPD crime alert, the suspects are described as:

Suspect #1 –  A Black male in his late 20s, 6’1” in height, 185 lbs., wearing a black beanie, a dark heavy coat and grey pants.

Suspect #2 – A Black male in his mid-20s, 5’11” in height, 160-170 lbs., with close cut black hair wearing a grey pattern sweatshirt and light blue jeans.

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

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On an unreasonably cool summer night not long ago, my cantankerous friend Kelly and I were driving up Telegraph Avenue when we saw the line at C.R.E.A.M. — “Cookies Rule Everything Around Me,” for anyone keeping score — wrapping around the building along Channing Way, as usual.

Also as usual, the Bay Area summer demanded that the patrons, mostly students, wear their UC Berkeley sweatshirts. But the cold didn’t deter them from seeking out the customizable ice cream sandwiches.

Just like everyone else I walk past the C.R.E.A.M. line with, Kelly scoffed at the multitude of people all waiting to surrender $2 for a sweet treat.

“Why would they wait all that time for just for that?” she questioned. “Don’t they have better things to do?”

I told her that the short answer was no, but I also advised that she think back to her first visit to the ice cream shop to try and understand why.

When I transferred here last fall, I ended up moving into Telegraph Commons, a private dorm at the corner of Channing and Telegraph, because my campus housing assignment was not at all what I wanted. I made friends with freshmen over the course of the semester, but would I have been able to room with two of them? Probably not.

Even though rent was outlandishly expensive, someone told me one perk was living catty-corner to C.R.E.A.M. Despite the glowing recommendations, I wasn’t motivated to wait in a long line for an ice cream sandwich until someone on my floor came running down the hall one night during Welcome Week 2011, informing everyone that we could get one for free through the now-defunct meal deal website Munch On Me.

A group of about 10 of us quickly registered, claimed the offer and ran downstairs in a futile attempt to beat the other people who had undoubtedly heard about the deal and been equally drawn by the appeal of free food.

The end of the line was half a block down Channing, next to Berkeley Thai House, which anyone will tell you is an exceptional distance for that line, but oddly enough, the wait wasn’t particularly upsetting. The greater concern was taking the opportunity to get to know my new floormates, with whom I had interacted little aside from saying hello in the hallway.

We talked about where we came from (Southern California, Northern California, Minnesota, Nigeria, Spain), our majors (one in every college except the campus College of Environmental Design) and our first impressions of Berkeley (lots of homeless people, some who feel the need to fill the night sky above Telegraph with song or scream).

And by the time we had shared all of that, we were at the front of the line. I ordered a combination that has continued to be one of my favorites — Golden Gate Caramel Swirl ice cream between two chocolate chip cookies — which I found both decadent and comforting in its simplicity.

We stood at the corner outside the shop and indulged, not saying much at this point aside from smiling and grunting our approval.

In the ensuing weeks, my floormates and I began going to football games, club meetings and parties together. Would we have gotten to know one another if not for our C.R.E.A.M. outing? Of course, people are social by nature. But the fact remains that it happened there, and I’m almost certain we’re not the only group to have bonded in that line.

Kelly thought back to her first C.R.E.A.M. outing, and she recalled it being nothing special. She had gone with her then-roommate and said she regretted spending $2 on a dessert. I then pointed to the line and asked her what she saw. “A line?” she asked. “No,” I said. “It is people bonding.” As far as I could see, everyone in that line was conversing, holding hands or, much to our chagrin, making out.

That old saying “Food brings people together” rings as true as ever, but the inverse is also true: that people come together over food. Everyone needs to eat, and while some prefer to enjoy their meals alone, many would rather spend them fostering friendships and establishing that sense of community that is such an integral part of any college experience.

That line is no different from the Sunday night dinner table that brings families together, the cup of coffee over which couples first get to know each another and the lunch date that provides an excuse for old friends to catch up. But why C.R.E.A.M.? The cookies are baked fresh and are still warm and tender to the tooth as they give way to cool, creamy ice cream, all for $2. That has nothing to do with bonding — it’s just good eats.

Contact Christopher Yee at cyee@dailycal.org.

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Derek Remsburg/Senior Staff

A car crashed into a UC Berkeley dormitory building early Wednesday morning, rupturing a natural gas pipe in the building and forcing about 250 students to evacuate.

At around 3 a.m. Wednesday, the car hit the southeast corner of Putnam Hall, an eight-story residence hall at Unit 1 located near the corner of Channing Way and College Avenue, according to Marty Takimoto, director of marketing communications for campus Residential and Student Service Programs. No injuries were reported.

The collision set off the building’s fire alarm, and the building’s entire resident population of more than 250 students was evacuated, Takimoto said.

“There were a lot of people crowding around,” said UC Berkeley freshman Sharon Scarlat, who witnessed the crash. “About three minutes later, the smell of gas was evident, then a few minutes later the police came and started telling people to leave because of the gas.”

Because the incident affected the outlet side of the meter, which the property owner is responsible for, PG&E is only able to repair the gas service once a licensed plumber properly inspects the damage to the pipe, according to PG&E spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian.

Students were let back into the building by 4:30 a.m. but were expected to be without hot water or heat for the majority of the day.

“We’re doing an analysis of when everything will be fixed,” Takimoto said. “We’re hoping everything will be fixed by the time it gets dark.”

The campus has made arrangements for these students to use bathroom and shower facilities at other residence hall buildings in Unit 1, Takimoto said.

According to UCPD Operations Division Capt. Stephen Roderick, the suspect has been identified as 22-year-old UC Berkeley student Douglas Perez. Perez was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.

Amruta Trivedi is the assistant university news editor.

Correction(s):
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that about 400 students were evacuated. Though officials originally estimated that 400 students had to leave the building, in fact about 250 students were evacuated. Also, a previous version of this article incorrectly stated that 25 students were forced to evacuate the building. In fact it was about 250.

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At 12:14 a.m., a UCPD officer was conducting a standard patrol of the park when he noticed an individual sleeping on the ground, said Capt. Margo Bennett. According to Bennett, an unleashed dog was by the individual’s side.

“The officer made several attempts to get the individual to wake up,” Bennett said. “The dog was not leashed and approached the officer, then jolted on the officer with teeth drawn. The officer drew his weapon and fired two rounds, both of which hit the dog.”

The dog’s owner, Wesley Simmons, was proclaimed “heavily intoxicated and very difficult to wake.” Once he did wake, he gathered his belongings and left the area, according to Bennett.

Richard “Scully” Knowles, a People’s Park resident and acquaintance of Simmons, was at the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Channing Way at the time of the shooting, but he said he heard both rounds fired. He said he has not seen Simmons since the shooting.

Knowles, who said he had been a licensed gun owner in the past, added that “there’s a time and a place to pull the trigger,” and was adamant that this was not it.

Bennett said the last time a UCPD officer shot a dog was on August 8, 2008 when an aggressive dog attacked an officer at University Village — a campus family housing community — in Albany.

The last time a UCPD officer fired a gun was last year on Nov. 15 at the Haas School of Business, when Christopher Travis, an undergraduate transfer student, was shot and killed after he brandished a loaded gun at officers in a computer lab.

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