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ByJulieWatson TheAssociatedPress SAN DIEGO A Marine who was left paralyzed by a snip- er's bullet in Afghanistan fulfilled a promise to him- self on Friday and walked using robotic leg braces in a ceremony at Camp Pendle- ton, where he was awarded a Bronze Star. The crowd of 300 Ma- rines was silent as Capt. Derek Herrera walked. All that was heard was the faint whirring of electric motors from the device. Herrera then stood, hold- ing onto one crutch. With his other hand, he saluted his commandingofficer, who presented him the award. "Your drive and deter- mination are great and you will continue to do great things, " Lt. Col. John J. Lynch, commanding officer of the Marine Corps Special Operations Command, told him at Friday's ceremony. Herrera had vowed to walk at the event that also marked his retirement af- ter 8½ years in the military, saying he wanted to leave the Marine Corps the same way he joined. He has gone from fighting on the battle- field to becoming a strong advocate for veterans. "I'm not out of the fight and I'll continue on," he told his battalion on Friday, adding that it was "truly an honor and a pleasure to stand before you today." Herrera was the first per- son in the United States to purchase the ReWalk sys- tem recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Ad- ministration, according to the company, ReWalk Ro- botics Ltd. The special operations of- ficer was honored with the Bronze Star for his actions on June 14, 2012, when the patrol he was leading came under heavy fire in Afghan- istan. Herrera continued co- ordinating efforts while re- ceiving treatment for his own spinal injury and col- lapsed left lung. "The bravery and forti- tude he displayed inspired his men to heroic feats as they valiantly fought to save the lives of their wounded team members and repel the enemy assault," wrote Maj. Gen. M.A. Clark in rec- ommending Herrera be rec- ognized with a Bronze Star. Left paralyzed from the chest down, the 30-year- old Marine sought to be al- lowed to remain on active duty and has pushed him- self to get back to walking. His last day on active-duty is Nov. 30. The ReWalk is a robotic exoskeleton system that allows people with spinal cord injuries to stand and walk. Several competing products that use the tech- nology — nicknamed "elec- tronic legs" or "powered exoskeletons" — are also be- ing used and tested in U.S. rehab hospitals. None so far are fast enough to entirely replace wheelchairs. ReWalk was cleared by the FDA for personal use, although it has been on the market outside the United States since 2012. The device consists of leg braces with motion sensors and motorized joints that respond to subtle changes in upper-body movement and shifts in balance. A supportive belt around the patient's waist keeps the suit in place, and a back- pack holds the computer and rechargeable battery. Crutches are used for sta- bility, and the FDA requires an assistant be nearby. Her- rera's wife assists him. The MARSOC Foun- dation, a charitable fund for members of the Ma- rine Corps Special Opera- tions Command, raised the money for Herrera to buy the $69,500 device. Herrera is working on a master's degree in business administration at the Uni- versity of California, Los Angeles and plans to start his own business. VETERAN Marinewithroboticleg braces gets Bronze Star By Lisa Leff The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO Univer- sity of California President Janet Napolitano prevailed Thursday in persuad- ing the system's govern- ing board to authorize five years of tuition increases, a politically risky move likely to ignite months of debate to determine if the costs ul- timately fall on students or taxpayers. Over the shouts of dem- onstrators and the opposi- tion of Gov. Jerry Brown, the UC Board of Regents voted 14-7 to approve in- creases of as much as 5 per- cent in each of the next five years unless the state de- votes more money to the 10-campus system. Napolitano said the tu- ition hikes, which would in- crease the cost of a UC edu- cation by 28 percent by fall 2019, are needed to main- tain the quality of the na- tion's largest public univer- sity system, promote stabil- ity and accommodate more students in the face of inad- equate funding from Sac- ramento. "I understand that the state operates on a year- to-year cycle. But we owe it to the university not to be prisoners of that cycle," the former Arizona gover- nor told regents before the first of two votes on her five-year framework. Approval shifts the question of whether the increases will be enacted or averted to Sacramento, where the governor and legislative leaders will start negotiating in January over the university system's bud- get for next year. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who joined Brown in vot- ing against the hikes, pre- dicted the talks would in- clude trying to boost that funding beyond the addi- tional $119 million now budgeted so a tuition in- crease in fall 2015 could be averted or reduced. But Newsom said the gamble Napolitano took in trying to force the gover- nor's hand without allow- ing time to consider alter- natives could backfire. "They have completely divided themselves and created a rift that I have not seen in four years be- tween themselves and the governor and the Legisla- ture, at a time when the governor was more amena- ble to more funding," New- som told KGO Radio. "This whole process was, I don't want to use the word 'de- spicable,' but I will." Tuition rates have been frozen at the University of California for the past three years following a series of increases that have nearly doubled tuition since 2006. Under the new plan, the average annual cost for a California resident would increase by $612 to $12,804 next fall and to $15,564 by fall 2019. Other public universi- ties have raised their tu- ition amid state funding cuts during the recession. EDUCATION Tuition hike fight shi s to Sacramento ERICRISBERG—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Yvette Felarca, an alumni of the University of California, Berkeley, and member of the group By Any Means Necessary, claps and yells as a vote is taken to raise tuition during a meeting of the University of California Board of Regents on Wednesday in San Francisco. By Sudhin Thanawala The Associated Press SANFRANCISCO A window washer fell screaming 11 stories from a bank build- ing Friday morning onto a moving car, crushing its roof and sending shattered glass flying into the street, police and witnesses said. The window washer, who was not immediately identified, suffered critical injuries, but he was con- scious, police said. He was taken to San Francisco General Hospital. Witnesses described see- ing a falling blue streak and the man's shadow as he fell down and then hear- ing a crashing sound as he hit the car and then rolled onto the ground. "As he was coming down, he was definitely scream- ing," said Bianca Bahman, 31, a pre-medical student at San Francisco State Uni- versity who was on her way to the gym and was on the corner where the man fell. "It all happened so quickly. It was so instantaneous." The man was moving equipment on the roof of a bank building in the heart of San Francisco's finan- cial district and not on a window-washing platform when he fell, San Francisco police Sgt. Danielle New- man said. The platform was on the ground at the side of the building, and cables were hanging from its sides. Sam Hartwell, 56, of San Rafael, said he was walk- ing to the Sterling Bank & Trust at California and Montgomery streets when the man fell. He and about 20 other people ran to the man, who was on his back. "He was lucid. He under- stood we were with him," Hartwell said. Hartwell said of his reac- tion, "It was utter, immedi- ate shock. How do you re- act to something like that?" The bystanders, who in- cluded a nurse, put cloth- ing on the man as they waited for the ambulance, Hartwell said. No one else was injured, including the driver of the green Toyota Camry the man fell on. The driver did not want to comment, Newman said. Blood, glass and one shoe were in the street as onlookers stood behind yellow police tape and watched officers work. Recent incidents involv- ing window washers show the dangers of the job. Last week, the collapse of a World Trade Center scaffold left two window washers dangling from the nation's tallest skyscraper. The workers were trapped 68 stories above the street when a cable suddenly de- veloped slack on Nov. 12. BAY AREA San Francisco window washer falls onto moving car 7875 HWY 99E LOS MOLINOS, CA 384-1265 Nosubstitutions ORDERS TO GO Served 6:30am- 2:00pm Mon.-Fri. BreakfastSpecial Pancakesw/Strawberries 2 Eggs, 2 Bacon, 2 Sausage HashBrownsor Home Fries $ 7 99 MARK W. BRIDEN AttorneyatLaw Bankruptcy is our specialty. FreeConsult In office or over the phone Attorney 530-222-1664 2 Bud's BBQ 22825AntelopeBlvd.RedBluff M-F11am-6pm Sat. 11am-3pm Closed Sunday (530) 528-0799 BBQ PORK★ BEEF ★ CHICKEN We'vebeenherefor 11 years. 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