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EUREKA (AP) — California officials on Monday were still tally- ing damage estimates from a powerful earth- quake that struck Hum- boldt County over the weekend, with only the city of Eureka so far pro- viding a figure. Eureka, the largest Northern California city affected by Saturday's magnitude-6.5 quake, estimated the damage on Monday to 175 buildings at $14.3 million, Gary Bird, a spokesman for the city said. That's up from Sunday's estimate of $12.5 million. Officials still don't have a preliminary dam- age estimate for the whole county and said it might take several days to arrive at that figure. ''All it is, is educated guesses right now,'' said Dan Larkin, a spokesman for the Humboldt County Sheriff 's Department Office of Emergency Ser- vices. Larkin said the county was surveying its own property for damage and asking the public to report any damage to pri- vate property. ''This is not a cata- strophic event,'' he said. ''Certainly, there was some extensive damage to individual sites. Like normal 6.8 earthquakes, the damage is sporadic.'' State officials were arriving on the scene Monday to help with the damage assessment, said Kelly Huston, a spokesman for the Cali- fornia Emergency Man- agement Agency. The temblor, which hit offshore about 27 miles southwest of Eureka, sent about 30 people to emer- gency rooms but only one was seriously injured — an elderly person who fell and suffered a broken hip. Power outages were widespread, affecting about 36,000 customers initially, but a quick response restored elec- tricity to all by early Sun- day, said Janna Morris, a spokeswoman for Pacific Gas & Electric Co. California Department of Transportation crews out surveying roads and bridges found no signifi- cant damage by Sunday morning, said Stan Woodman, Caltrans maintenance manager for the district encompassing Humboldt County. The only evacuations from the earthquake were of a single-family, wood- frame home that shifted off its foundation and dropped into the crawl space below and an apart- ment complex that housed 14 people. The Red Cross did not need to open a shelter because the residents went to local hotels. Meanwhile, Bird said a chemical that spilled from a shelf at the Eureka campus of College of the Redwoods, which prompted the dispatching of a hazardous materials team, was a harmless alcohol-based preserva- tive that dried up on its own. ''It did not mix with other chemicals,'' he said. ''The team determined there was no danger to human health.'' 8A – Daily News – Tuesday, January 12, 2010 LET US HELP, KEEP YOUR POWER ON! 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PASADENA (AP) — If ''Tonight'' show host Conan O'Brien decides he doesn't want to shift back to a post-midnight time slot at NBC, Fox execu- tives have a clear message for him: We love you. ''It's a very compatible fit for our brand,'' said Peter Reilly, Fox's enter- tainment president, on Monday. ''He's one of the few guys on the planet who has demonstrated he can do one of these shows every night.'' And to make the point even clearer, Reilly, a former NBC executive, said, ''I love Conan personally and professionally.'' NBC's late-night shuffle, one of the most com- pelling dramas this television season, hinges on whether O'Brien will accept what is effectively a demotion or go to a network with a spotty record devel- oping a late-night show. NBC confirmed it was ending Jay Leno's prime-time show to mollify angry affiliates. He would appear at 11:35 p.m., followed by O'Brien under the ''Tonight'' show banner a half hour later. O'Brien had waited five years after being promised the ''Tonight'' show and its time slot after the late local news, moving his family and staff from New York to California. That chance lasted half a year. A spokes- woman for O'Brien did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday, and NBC said it has not heard a decision from the comic. NBC Universal Television Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin said he had given Leno, O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon (whose show would start at 1:05 a.m.) the weekend to think about the plan. ''I would love the three of them to stay at NBC,'' Gaspin said. O'Reilly said there have been no negotiations with O'Brien or his representatives over a move. ''We've been pretty clear about the fact that we like him as a talent and we've always been in this business, but that's as far as it's gone,'' he told reporters at a meeting Monday of the Television Critics Association. Fox could potentially offer an 11 p.m. time slot, giv- ing O'Brien the jump on both Leno and David Letter- man. That's where Arsenio Hall thrived — briefly — with a syndicated talk show that aired mostly on Fox stations from 1989 to 1994. Other Fox attempts to establish a late-night beachhead with Joan Rivers and Chevy Chase failed spectacularly. In O'Brien's favor: He attracts a younger audience, which Fox seeks. O'Brien's run at ''Tonight'' hasn't been particularly successful. NBC's ratings have dropped dramatically since the time Leno was the host, and O'Brien has fall- en behind CBS' Letterman. NBC has said it was satis- fied because O'Brien was doing fairly well among a youthful audience that is more valuable to advertisers. Reilly came to O'Brien's defense, saying he's been hurt by the ratings problems of Leno and the local news programs that precede the ''Tonight'' show. ''He's been playing a little bit with one hand tied behind his back and these things are a long haul,'' he said. ''He's been given six months.'' For Fox, O'Brien would offer the advantage of a sea- O'Brien Woman recalls ordeal of gay marriage ban SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — One of two lesbians suing California to overturn its ban on gay marriage testified Monday that she and her partner have experienced an emo- tional roller coaster during the past six years involving their desire to wed. ''I want it to happen to me,'' plaintiff Kristen Perry said. ''The state isn't letting me feel happy.'' Perry, 45, took the witness stand during the first day of the civil trial targeting Proposition 8, the voter- approved measure banning same- sex marriage in California. During questioning by former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson, who is representing the two same-sex couples who filed the suit, Perry recalled how she and her part- ner rushed to San Francisco in early 2004 to marry when that city opened City Hall to same-sex wed- dings. They were crestfallen when the city — under court order — later told them their marriage was invalid, and that the ceremo- ny had been improperly conduct- ed before the courts considered the issue. Since then, the couple has endured a state Supreme Court rul- ing authorizing gay marriage and a 2008 election banning it. The lawsuit is the first federal trial on the constitutionality of state bans on same-sex marriage. Paul Katami and Jeffrey Zarrillo, two other gay plaintiffs in the case, also testified Monday about their desire to marry. Earlier in the day, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, who is presiding over the highly anticipated case, peppered lawyers with questions during their opening statements. The judge asked if they had evi- dence the Constitution grants gays the right to marry and if states have a reasonable right to deny those marriages. Among other things, Walker asked how Proposition 8 could be discriminatory since California already allows domestic partner- ships that carry the same rights and benefits of marriage. ''If California would simply get out of the marriage business and classify everyone as a domestic partnership, would that solve the problem?'' the judge asked. Olson answered that he did not think such a move would be politi- cally feasible. ''I suspect the people of Califor- nia would not want to abandon the relationship that the proponents of Proposition 8 spent a tremendous amount of resources describing as important to people, and so impor- tant it must be reserved for oppo- site-sex couples,'' he said. MNG photo Kevin Hsieh of Bay Point picks up a candle as he joins a crowd gathered outside the Phillip Burton Federal Building to protest Prop. 8 in San Francisco Monday, which marks the first day of proceedings in a lawsuit brought to challenge the legality of Prop. 8, the state ban on same-sex marriage. Eureka damage at $14.3 million from big earthquake