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TOP OF THE NEWS
World/Nation
1 Mideast tensions: Israel’s prime minister tries to move beyond a diplomatic rift
with the United States. A2 1 Americans killed: Three people with ties to a U.S. Consulate
in Mexico, including two Americans, are killed in shootings. A6 1 Health reform:
Democrats scramble to gather votes to win passage in the House by the end of the
week. A7 1 Heart treatment: Researchers find a promising alternative to drastic surgery
for those with leaky heart valves. A9

Sporting Green

Technology
1 Internet history: It was 25 years ago today the first domain name was registered.
D1 1 Cnet reviews: The best smart phones not tied to a wireless carrier. D1

Bay Area
1 Voice of Muni: Mayor Gavin Newsom wants straphanging experience in his selection
for the transit board. C1 1 Sunday Streets: San Francisco’s first street party
of the year brings locals to tourist central. C1
Associated Press 1969

Datebook
1 Running safe: UCSF program applies orthopedic knowledge to help athletes. E1 1
TV review: Tim Goodman weighs in on new FX series, “Justified.” E1 1 Chamber
trio: Renowned soloists join forces for alluring program at Herbst Theatre. E2

Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

1 Dancin’ time: St. Mary’s, above, and Cal’s basketball teams

both begin their NCAA Tournament quests on the East Coast. B1 1 Bracket: Who’s
meeting whom — two-page pullout. B6-B7

1 Peter Graves dies: Star of “Mission: Impossible,” right, was 83. C4

SFGate.com

| Monday, March 15, 2010 | Printed on recycled paper

$1.00 Gxxxxx•

Lab tech’s sister warned police
Report of cocaine found in Deborah Madden’s house did not lead to criminal investigation
for two months
By Jaxon Van Derbeken
C H RON IC L E STA F F W R I TE R

Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

Suspicions of stolen cocaine and shoddy work have led police to shut down the crime
lab.

It took San Francisco police two months to launch a criminal probe into a drug lab
technician suspected of stealing cocaine evidence, even though her sister had told
the lab she feared the woman had taken home a vial full of the drug, The Chronicle
has learned.

The delay may have doomed scores of narcotics prosecutions in San Francisco, because
drugs were tested at the lab after suspicions arose about the technician and the
Police Department’s ability to ensure the integrity of seized evidence. “It’s
like peeling an onion,” said Public Defender Jeff Adachi, whose attorneys represent
most of the drug defendants in

San Francisco. “Every time you pull off a layer, there’s more problems.’’
The lab technician, Deborah Madden, 60, has not been charged with a crime associated
with any theft of evidence at the lab, where she worked for 29 years until she retired
Dec. 8. But suspicions that she stole and used cocaine — and her
Police continues on A10

Deborah Madden is suspected of stealing drug evidence as a police crime lab technician.

HORTICULTURE

MORTGAGE MELTDOWN

Californians in a tax bind over short sales
By Carolyn Said
C H RO NI C L E STA F F WRI T E R

Photos by Lance Iversen / The Chronicle

Tara Blackwell and her husband sold their Fairfield house in December for about half
of its original $825,000 price as a short sale, in which the bank agrees to accept
less than is owed on the mortgage. The couple and their two children moved in with
Blackwell’s parents and thought the situation was behind them. Then it came time
to pay their 2009 taxes. To their dismay, they discovered that California would count
the $412,000 difference between their original price and the sale price as part of
their income, resulting in a hefty state income tax bill. “We lost our down payment
of $70,000, we lost our home and now California wants $38,000 (in extra taxes) from
us,” Tara Blackwell said. “It’s like kicking you when you’re down.” California
legislators last week passed a bill
Short sales continues on A11

The renowned Western Hills Nursery in Occidental, which is in foreclosure, has fallen
into disrepair.

Famed botanical gem withers in foreclosure
By Justin Berton
C H RO NI C LE STAFF W R I TE R

POLITICS

Whitman puts labor unions in her crosshairs
By Joe Garofoli
C H RO NI C L E STA F F WRI T E R

To serious green thumbs, the Western Hills Nursery in the Sonoma County town of Occidental
is sacred ground. It’s what Fenway Park is to baseball fans. Except, Fenway Park
isn’t in foreclosure. The nearly 50-year-old nursery and garden, designed and built
by San Franciscans Marshall Olbrich and Lester Hawkins, cultivated and popularized
many of the plants that thrive in Bay Area gardens today. Rock roses and purple lavender
bushes trickled into local backyards from Western Hills the same way mainstream fashion
starts on the walkways of New York. “It’s probably the most influential garden
and plant nursery in North America,” said Bill Noble, director of preservation
for the Garden Conservancy, a national group that works to save “exceptional gardens.”
“Its influence extends not just to plant explorers, but also to the whole way
Nursery continues on A14

Algal blooms choke a pond on the abandoned 3-acre nursery that popularized exotics
found in many Bay Area gardens now.

“It’s probably the most influential garden and plant nursery in North America.”
Bill Noble, director of preservation for the Garden Conservancy

Republican Meg Whitman is sharpening her focus on one of the main foils of the billionaire
executive’s gubernatorial campaign: unions, particularly those representing public
employees. Her TV commercials attack GOP primary rival Steve Poizner for “joining
liberal unions” to support a 2000 ballot measure that lowered the vote threshold
to pass school bonds. She rejects a timeline to release her taxes, dismissing the
demand as coming from a “union front for Jerry Brown.” She insists that state
employees make financial concessions to help balance the budget. All of these moves
are calcuWhitman continues on A14

Meg Whitman, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, insists that state workers make
financial concessions to help balance the budget.

On SFGate.com Steed of the Week: Smooth-riding Peruvian Paso. sfg.ly/9SZsKJ

Index
Auto Dealers . . . . . . . B4 Bridge, Chess . . . . . . . E7 Comics . . . . . . .
. . . E6-E7 Crosswords . . . . . E6-E7 Editorials . . . . . . . . . . . A13 Horoscope
. . . . . . . . . . E6 Lottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A2 Legal Notices . .
. . . . . D2 Movies. . . . . . . . . . . E4-E5 Obituaries. . . . . . . . . . . C4
Television . . . . . . . . . . . E4 Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E2

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