California IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : S.F. Freeway Model Bashed by Protesters

A dozen chanting activists who favor the tearing down of the earthquake-ruined Embarcadero Freeway attacked a model of the roadway with axes, pitchforks and sledgehammers. The activists bashed a six-foot-long wood model erected in the shadow of the real structure at the foot of Market Street. “Fourteen months after the earthquake, Caltrans and its engineering consultants have still not come up with a retrofit design that passes muster with the state’s blue-ribbon engineering panel,” said Nan McGuire of the Committee for a Safe Embarcadero. San Francisco County supervisors voted to recommend demolition of the freeway, but the state Department of Transportation has not announced a decision on its fate.