Sunday, August 29, 2010

California’s Best Large Newspaper as named by the California Newspaper Publishers Association | $3.00 Gxxxxx• N

TOP OF THE NEWS World/Nation Sporting Green Home & Garden 2 Rallies: Glenn Beck 1 49ers-Raiders: Frank Garden to table Travel and Al Sharpton lead Gore, right, and the San Still Easy — New rival marches. A14 Francisco running game — herbs inspire Orleans is alive and 1 Katrina: The fifth look ready; Oakland QB new culinary anniversary of the Campbell injured. B1 possibilities. L1 well 5 years later. M1 devastating floods. A16 Bay Area Datebook Business 1 Attorney general Food & Wine 1 Sex-ad smack- race: Prosecutors attack Fall arts preview down: Conflict over each others’ ethics. C1 Summer favorites — art dance, theater Craigslist’s adult ser- 1 Get real: Raising, — making the most vices section probably cooking and eating and music. 18 will head to court. D1 healthful food. C2 of pesto. K1

SPENDING POLICE SHOOTING Tax Suspect breaks captured under scrutiny in San

By Carolyn Lochhead Diego CHRONICLE WASHINGTON BUREAU Officer patrolling WASHINGTON — Washington could nearly near border also eliminate its entire arrests companion $1.3 trillion federal def- icit this year simply by By Matthai Kuruvila closing loopholes in the CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER tax code. Deficit-plagued California could produce As a Fremont police a surplus the same way. Photos by Lance Iversen / The Chronicle officer clung to life From middle-class Saturday, the suspect in handouts such as the Don Bader and Larry Ball of the Bureau of Reclamation pass through a puddle of acid water as they take part in a walking tour of Iron Mountain Mine, one of the world’s most polluted sites. his shooting was cap- child tax credit, to etha- tured in San Diego just Andrew nol giveaways and aid to one block away from the poor, “tax expendi- ENVIRONMENT Barrientos, the U.S.-Mexico border above, was tures” have become the by a sharp-eyed police biggest single spending arrested in officer. the shoot- item in the federal bud- Andrew Barrientos get, reaching $1.1 trillion Inside ‘belly of the beast’ ing of Offi- shot at two Fremont cer Todd this year. officers as they tried to Young, That’s bigger than the arrest him Friday at his below. defense budget, bigger — Redding’s toxic hellhole East Oakland home on than all domestic appro- domestic violence priations, bigger than Iron Mountain’s charges, police said. Medicare and bigger Barrientos then shot at than Social Security, the runoff polluted the driver of a vehicle nation’s largest enti- he tried to carjack be- tlement program. Tax rivers for century fore fleeing in another breaks cost California By Peter Fimrite vehicle taken at gun- $41 billion a year, twice CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER point, police added. the size of its deficit. Despite the barrage, the bullets There is a hardening REDDING — A strange struck only Officer Todd Young, 39, consensus among con- chemical smell lingered in the a married father of two who re- servative and liberal stifling heat as a group of envi- mained in critical but stable condi- economists that any ronmental scientists groped in tion Saturday after surgery at High- deficit reduction include the darkness through one of land Hospital in Oakland. the elimination of such the most polluted places on Barrientos’ unexpected and explo- breaks. Sens. Ron Wy- Earth. sive resistance had worried police, Taxes continues on A16 The Iron Mountain Mine, prompting a statewide alert. In outside of Redding, is a hellish Southern California, officers were pit where acid water sloshes ready. Only in against your boots, greenish “We had information that he was bacterial slime gurgles out of Jared Blumenfeld, regional EPA administrator, walks out coming down here,” said San Diego The Chronicle the walls, and stalactites and onto toxic, rust-colored soil from the abandoned copper mine. police Lt. Andra Brown. “We were stalagmites of acid salt, copper looking for him.” Exclusive to and iron jut out like rusty dag- perfund site. “This is the con- geologists and EPA officials After learning Barrientos was the print edition: Sto- gers. centrated stuff.” who slopped in the dark to- nearing the border, Oakland police ries in today’s “You don’t want to splash The water — so acidic it ward the source of the toxic asked the U.S. Border Patrol to shut Chronicle with this stuff,” said Rick Sugarek, could dissolve fabrics and burn stew that created what experts the crossing — which they did for this logo can be found the U.S. Environmental Protec- skin — lapped against the rub- describe as the “world’s worst about 20 minutes, said Officer Jeff only in The Chronicle’s tion Agency’s project manager ber boots of the scientists, water.” Thomason. print and e-editions at for the Iron Mountain Su- toxic-substance specialists, Toxic continues on A15 Officer continues on A14 this time. They will be online at sfgate.com beginning Tuesday. E- SUNDAY PROFILE Irene Dalis INDEX editions are available for Bay Area...... C1 Home & Garden ...... L1 purchase at Books ...... F1 Insight...... E1 Business...... D1 Editorial ...... E10 links.sfgate.com/ Datebook Letters...... E11 ZKFB. Print subscribers Diva behind success All Over Coffee...... 33 Lottery...... A2 Puzzles...... 61-63 Obituaries...... C6-C9 can go to the same link Horoscope ...... 59 Style ...... N1 to sign up for free e- Movies...... 41 Sports ...... B1 editions. of Opera San Jose Food & Wine ...... K1 Travel ...... M1 Today’s exclusive stories Weather are: Sunday Profile, By Joshua Kosman glare, “that it was preposter- Partly cloudy Iron Mountain and Tax CHRONICLE MUSIC CRITIC ous to expect everyone else to and mild. Breaks on A1, Native wait around for her. I pointed Highs: 58-85. Son on A2, Willie To experience the full tingle out that in this business, it Lows: 49-54. C4-C5 Brown and Matier & of relief at not being in some- wasn’t enough to be talented — Ross on C1, Kathleen one else’s shoes, it’s only nec- you also have to work hard Pender on D1, Miss essary to hear Irene Dalis tell and be on time. Show up late Bigelow on N3, Bruce about the young soprano who or unprepared, and you simply Jenkins on B1, Scott Chad Ziemendorf / The Chronicle arrived 10 minutes late for an won’t be re-engaged.” Ostler on B1 and B2, Mezzo-soprano Irene Dalis opera rehearsal. Then she adds, with a John Shea on B6 and founded Opera San Jose “I told her,” says Dalis, fix- knowing, semi-indulgent Tom Stienstra on B12. in 1984 and still runs it. ing her listener with a gimlet Dalis continues on A12 A12 | Sunday, August 29, 2010 | San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com GXXXXX FROM THE COVER The grande dame of Opera San Jose

Dalis from page A1 “When I went onstage, chuckle, “She won’t be late to a re- it was either to kill hearsal again.” someone or to be killed. That combination of fierce standards and measured generosity is character- I never got the man.” istic of Dalis, and it’s one of the rea- Irene Dalis, founder of Opera San Jose sons for the continued success of Opera San Jose, the company she founded in 1984 and still runs in a top-down fashion. At 84, Dalis seems part grandma, which she is, and part That structure engenders a spirit of diva, which she used to be. camaraderie and collaboration among Opera buffs of sufficient vintage will the artists, but it has also restricted the remember her powerful appearances company’s programming somewhat — as a dramatic mezzo-soprano through “Anna Karenina” is the rare contempo- the 1960s and ’70s. She appeared at rary offering amid a stream of man- most of the world’s leading opera ageable Italian and French repertory houses, including the Metropolitan works. Opera in New York, San Francisco “It’s hard to find operas that will Opera, Germany’s and Lon- show most of our singers at an ad- don’s Covent Garden. vantage. And this is San Jose, Califor- But since retiring from the stage at nia, and we have to sell tickets.” 50 — a decision she says she made well in advance, when she was just starting ‘So grateful to her’ out — Dalis has been assiduously Among Dalis’ boosters is Janet Gray tending to generations of young sing- Hayes, a former San Jose mayor and ers in her home town. onetime director of the San Jose Muse- “I’m convinced that whatever power um of Art. leads us through life planned that I “Irene’s presence has been fantastic, would have an international career in and the company has added immea- opera,” she says, “just so I would come surably to our artistic value as a city,” home and build a company.” she says. “We are so grateful to her for Courtesy Irene Dalis coming back to her home community.” Irene Dalis was Princess Eboli in “” at the Repertory house In addition to nurturing young tal- in 1957. She specialized in roles that involved more mayhem than romance. Opera San Jose, which opens its ent, Dalis takes a visible pride in the season on Sept. 11 with the West Coast fiscal responsibility with which she’s premiere of David Carlson’s 2008 run Opera San Jose. The company has opera “Anna Karenina,” is the rare run a deficit only once in 26 years: American opera company designed on Last year it was in the red by $35,000 the model of the European repertory on an annual operating budget of $4 houses where Dalis got her profession- million (compared with about $70 al start. Instead of hiring singers million for the San Francisco Opera). afresh for each production, the compa- It owns two administrative buildings ny supports a full-time stable of young and two apartments free and clear, and resident artists who do two-year stints it is sitting on a cash reserve of $3 appearing in every opera. million — nearly enough to carry “This company was based on my through an entire season in an emer- two years in Oldenburg (Germany),” gency. Dalis says. “In my time there I sang Some of that may be a function of nine major roles — it would have been Dalis’ Depression-era upbringing. She 10 but I had appendicitis! And I was born Yvonne Dalis in San Jose, the thought, ‘ Why not find young talent youngest of five children to a Greek and have them sing the big roles, rath- immigrant father and an Italian moth- er than starting in the chorus and er, and began her musical career as a Chad Ziemendorf / The Chronicle working their way up.’ ” Dalis continues on A13 The singer had a 20-year career onstage before founding Opera San Jose. GXXXXX San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com | Sunday, August 29, 2010 | A13 FROM THE COVER

Dalis from page A12 put in the yard.” course, I was lucky, be- In 1977, feeling the for the duration. “But in this economy, Dalis made few re- cause I was surrounded lure of home and family, “My problem is that I it’s a bad time for anyone pianist. cordings, but she says by all the great singers of Dalis returned to San don’t feel 84, and I don’t new to take over any- “My father wasn’t the Met’s recent release the day — Jussi Björling, Jose to join the voice think it’s time for me to thing. They’re going to really educated — he had of many of its radio , Leon- faculty of her alma ma- go anywhere. There is a have to take me out of come over at 14 — and broadcasts has renewed tyne Price, Carlo Bergon- ter. A few years later, she succession committee, here feet first.” we never spent money interest in her work. zi. They’re not releasing founded Opera San Jose. and I always tell them frivolously. But he in- “I get fan mail now,” the tapes because I’m on And now, she says, that I could be hit by a E-mail Joshua Kosman at sisted that all of the kids she says with a grin. “Of them.” she’s going to see it out truck tomorrow. [email protected]. study an instrument; his idea of an evening of entertainment was to have us all perform for him. “San Jose at that time was not exactly a cultur- al mecca. But it had a lovely downtown, and I remember my sister and I would go downtown and just watch the peo- ple go by. That was my first acting lesson.” While studying piano at San Jose State Univer- sity, Dalis fell in with the voice department as well. But it was not until she left to pursue a de- gree in piano at Colum- HURRY IN TODAY! bia University — to the bewilderment of her LIMITED SUPPLY OF 2010s REMAINING. parents — that she be- gan to take singing seri- ously. “My dad was just like for the father in ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding.’ For him, a daughter didn’t leave home unless she was getting married — OR to a Greek! It was my sister who convinced CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS CAN GET him to let me go to New $ TOTAL Yo rk . ” 6,000 ALLOWANCE Rich, deep mezzo CALIFORNIA Teachers in New York $ EDITION soon discovered that her + 1,000 DISCOUNT voice — a rich, deep mezzo with dramatic potency and agility — 2010 GMC SIERRA 1500 CALIFORNIA EDITION $ was more promising 7,000 TOTAL than her keyboard skills, No other competitor offers over 300 horsepower with VALUE** and a Fulbright Schol- over 20 HWY MPG. Not Toyota Tundra. Not Ford F-150. arship enabled Dalis to Not Dodge Ram.## WHEN YOU FINANCE WITH GMAC spend a year studying at the Giuseppe Verdi Con- servatory in Milan. “They had their nine famous ex-La Scala † teachers there,” she re- calls, “and I went into for and right out of nine studios. That’s when I APR MONTHS understood that just because you had a major career doesn’t mean you can teach.” OR But she quickly found a mentor in a German teacher, Otto Mueller, who set her on the path $ first to Berlin and even- 2,000 tually to the Met and elsewhere. He also urged 2010 GMC ACADIA CASH BACK** her to change her name to Irene. Best-in-class interior spaceand better “I was always built on highway fuel economy than any other heroic proportions. He 8-passenger crossover.1 thought that for Amer- ican audiences, ‘Yvonne’ would make them expect some kind of French gamine.” In a 20-year career, Dalis specialized in dra- † matic roles that were longer on blood and for vengeance than on ro- mance. They included APR MONTHS Princess Eboli in Verdi’s “Don Carlos,” Ortrud in Wagner’s “” and Clytemnestra in OR Richard Strauss’ “Elek- tra.” Kill or be killed $ “When I went onstage, 3,000 it was either to kill 2010 GMC YUKON someone or to be killed,” CASH BACK** she says. “I never got the 320 horsepower, over 100 cubic feet of maximum man.” cargo capacity and still has better fuel economy She did in real life, than any other competitor.2 though. Her husband, George Loinaz, who died in 1990, was a Cuban- born book editor with McGraw-Hill, and “the most handsome man I’d ever met.” They were 100,000 MILE | 5-YEAR married in 1957 and had †† one daughter, Alida POWERTRAIN WARRANTY Mercedes; Dalis’ two grandsons are a recent 2010 SIERRA 1500, graduate of Carroll Col- ACADIA & YUKON lege in Helena, Mont., and a senior at Roches- ter (N.Y.) Institute of Technology. gmcdealer.com “The first year George and I were married, whenever I had an open- ing night he was there, *Monthly payment is $13.89 for every $1,000 financed. Example down payment: 6.6%. Some customers will not qualify. Not available and my dressing room with some other offers. Take delivery by 9/7/10. See dealer for details. **Not available with some other offers. Take delivery by was filled with white 9/7/10. See dealer for details. †Monthly payment is $16.67 for every $1,000 financed. Example down payment: Acadia 13.9%, Yukon 11.8%. Some customers will not qualify. Not available with some other offers. Take delivery by 9/7/10. See dealer for orchids. The second year details. ††Whichever comes first. See dealer for limited warranty details. ##Based on the 2010 GM Large Pickup segment. he’d be there but with EPA est HWY.: Sierra XFE 22 MPG/Sierra Hybrid 22 MPG/Sierra 1500 with 5.3L V8 21 MPG, Tundra 20 MPG with 310 hp, red roses. F-150 21 MPG with 292 hp, Ram 20 MPG with 390 hp. 1 Based on EPA est. MPG (FWD) 24 hwy. 2EPA estimated 15 city/21 “Then I went to the hwy mpg. Based on 2010 GM Large SUV Segment. ©2010 General Motors. All rights reserved. GMC® OnStar® Sierra® WE ARE Met and we had a house PROFESSIONAL GRADE® The BEST BUY SEAL is a registered trademark of Consumers Digest Communications, LLC, used under license. in Demarest, N.J., and he’d send me plants to