The Skyline College student charged with possessing a gun on a school campus after another student was shot in the buttocks pleaded not guilty yesterday to that count and three added felony counts of gun possession and possessing a gun for gang purposes.

Germaine Barnard Benjamin, 18, of San Francisco, had previously pleaded not guilty to the original charge but re-entered a plea after prosecutors amended the criminal complaint. He returns to court Oct. 6 for a preliminary hearing.

Benjamin and two others were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after the Sept. 2 incident but prosecutors ultimately downgraded the charges against him and dismissed the case against the others outright.

The three men were arrested approximately four hours after the shooting in parking lot number six at Skyline College in San Bruno that left an 18-year-old man wounded in the buttocks and campus locked down for several hours.

Some of the incident, but not the shooting itself, was caught on school surveillance video.  

Police were called to the campus at 1:30 p.m. on a call of shots fired. Police immediately locked down the campus and evacuated the community college, classroom by classroom, to ensure the safety of some 3,000 students and staff.

Train strikes car, man dies

A man was struck and killed while sitting in his car by a southbound commuter train in Redwood City Tuesday afternoon, Caltrain spokeswoman Christine Dunn said.

The man, was identified as 64-year-old Chuck Isaacson of Redwod City, was driving a late model Honda west on Whipple Avenue in Redwood City when stopped on the tracks at about 4:30 p.m. to give an emergency vehicle traveling south on El Camino Real the right of way, Dunn said.

While he was stopped on the tracks, the gates came down onto his vehicle and the train slammed into his car, spreading debris all over the tracks and snarling the afternoon commute.

The train was traveling 60 mph at the time of impact, Dunn said. The express train last stopped at the Hillsdale Station in San Mateo and was scheduled to stop next in Palo Alto.

The car may have been trapped on the track due to thick traffic at the busy intersection, Dunn said.

“You are never supposed to stop on the tracks,” Dunn said.

County weighs taxes, cuts

San Mateo County residents could be hit with a variety of new taxes and fee hikes to rein in a ballooning structural deficit and stave off draconian measures like closing facilities, cutting safety-net services and eliminating dozens of positions, according to county officials.

Ideally, county officials said at a budget study session Wednesday, the solution will be a mix of options rather than relying simply on taxes or only on slashing up to 30 percent from department budgets.

“If the problem were smaller this might be sufficient,” County Manager David Boesch said.

However, the county’s financial problem is far from small. Without action, the structural deficit is poised to hit $100 million by 2011. The county has been working on the issue but previously estimated a target date of 2013. A combination of the economy, the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, state hits, increased employee costs and dwindling property tax pushed the date up and gave the county a renewed sense of urgency.

The Board of Supervisors this week approved a list of guiding principles to eliminate the imbalance and accepted a budget planning schedule. The board next holds its final budget hearing Sept. 29 and receives a mid-year update Feb. 9. Between the two dates, employees are expected to meet and review ways to help. Budgets are due from departments April 30 and, unless the county is able to whack away at the deficit with new revenues, departments could see anywhere between 10 percent and 30 percent of its funds eliminated.

The best-case scenario is a three-year plan using a 10 percent reduction of $35 million plus a mix of reserves, new revenue, countywide solutions and labor cost restructuring.