There was a time when teachers would freak at the sound of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" or "Stone Free." Now the San Francisco school district wants them to get in the spirit.

"Remember the first time you heard Jimi Hendrix?" reads the cover of the district's new 51-page education guide. "Our plan is as transformational now as his music was then!"

The manifesto is aimed at transforming the educational "experiences for every child in each of our schools."

To drive home the point, a portrait of the '60s rocker - looking somewhat pensive, somber and perhaps stoned - graces the cover and every page of the manual.

The book also comes with a Hendrix poster and Hendrix-emblazoned canvas bag, which were handed out to a couple hundred administrators at Superintendent Carlos Garcia's back-to-school confab in September.

Not everyone, however, is in tune with the campaign, given that the songwriter-guitarist died after overdosing on prescription drugs and alcohol at the age of 27.

One school district employee, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation - but who described himself as a "liberal hippie educator who experienced the Summer of Love in San Francisco" - said he was disturbed that the Hendrix poster is popping up on school campuses.

"I find the choice of Hendrix as an inspiration to be used in an educational setting rather strange and out of touch," he told us in an e-mail.

Garcia says he is just trying to "revolutionize" San Francisco's schools, in the same way Hendrix's guitar playing transformed music.

As for Hendrix's druggie image?

"Hey," said Garcia. "We're in San Francisco."

And on it goes: More sparks between San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsomand Minister Christopher Muhammad, whose Nation of Islam followers have been dogging the mayor at his gubernatorial town hall meetings around the state.

Muhammad and his crew have been pummeling the mayor for what they say is his refusal to deal with toxic dust kicked up by developers at the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, a city-controlled site near a school that the Nation runs.

Newsom met privately with Muhammad a couple of weeks back, though things got off to a rough start when the minister showed up a half hour late.

Newsom essentially asked Muhammad to put up the evidence or shut up regarding the supposed health risks.

That led to a follow-up meeting Wednesday between the two, to which Newsom brought Public Health Department chief Mitch Katz and others to answer questions.

This time Muhammad was 15 minutes late. Witnesses described another testy session that ended with Muhammad and one of the mayor's aides getting into a heated, chest-bumping exchange in the hallway.

And things apparently got even hotter the following night out at the Bayview Opera House, where Muhammad and his followers took on Keith Jackson, a member of the Hunters Point development team - shaking him up enough that he filed a police report and got a temporary restraining order against the minister.

Muhammad did not return a call seeking comment.

Criminal complaint: When San Francisco State University student Joseph Yoon walked into the Taraval Police Station recently, he was hoping to make a complaint about an officer.

Instead, he wound up being cuffed and slapped with an assault citation by the very same officer he'd come to complain about.

"I couldn't believe it," Yoon said.

Yoon, president of the Korean Student Association at San Francisco State, went to the 24th Avenue station Feb. 9 to complain about how Officer James Nguyen had handled a traffic accident involving Yoon the night before.

Nguyen, 42, a 10-year veteran, apparently overheard what was going on and rather than walk away, stepped into the waiting room and told Yoon he had no cause for complaint.

Sgt. James Acevedo, who was summoned to the front, told us that Yoon was agitated and that his own officer was "a little upset," so he tried to split them up.

Before leaving, however, Nguyen told Yoon that he could be arrested if he made false statements about how the accident had been handled.

At this point the story splits three ways:

-- Nguyen's police report says Yoon turned, his hands balled into fists, and stepped forward.

-- According to Yoon, he simply turned, raised his hands palms open and asked, "What are you going to do about it?"

-- Acevedo said Yoon cursed, puffed out his chest and "advanced in a threatening manner."

The sergeant says he figured Yoon was about to assault Nguyen, so he had him handcuffed to a bar in the holding area. There he stayed for at least two hours, until he was cited for alleged misdemeanor assault on a police officer and released.

The citing officer: Nguyen.

Acevedo says he never asked Nguyen what he was doing confronting Yoon. Nor did the sergeant concede that his own officer's conduct might have made the situation worse.

We asked the captain in charge of Taraval Station, Paul Chignell, to pass along an interview request to Nguyen. We haven't heard back from the officer.

Chignell, who wasn't there at the time, said that "my officers did nothing wrong."

A captain at another station, however, wondered why Chignell and other department supervisors don't appear to be concerned about the incident.

"I don't get it - where is the assault?" said the captain, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak for the department.

Apparently, District Attorney Kamala Harrisdoesn't think much of the "assault" either. Her office chose not to file charges.

EXTRA! Catch our new blog at www.sfgate.com/matierandross.