5Q¿ Neighborhood Peace On Foreign Soil North Portland group bands together against gangs Local father takes pride in daughter s deployment See page B4, inside Htnrtlanh (©hseruer ‘City of Roses Volume X X X ill See Metro Section Established in 1970 • Committed to Cultural Diversity N um ber 14 TlWeekm Thc Review Peanut puffs a priority www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • April 02. 2003 My wrestling practices are probably different than 95 percent o f wrestling coaches around. I tell them they'll be a person a lot longer than they 'll be an athlete. Poll: Americans Support President’s Decision to Attack Iraq - Donnie McPhearson, head wrestling coach at Vancouver's Heritage High School Even if Iraq attacks Israel with missiles, Israel ¡children will still be able to eat their peanut-but tery puffs. The popular snack, known as "Bamba,” was dec lared a vital staple food last week, along with milk, sugar, flour and bread. That means the Tel A viv- area factory that makes the pea nut-flavored morsels can issue emergency call-uporders for its workers to ensure that produc tion goes on, even in case o f a m issile attack. “ We see the Bamba factory as vital,” said L ab o r M inistry sp okesm an Nahum Eido. Public also thinks United Nations will remain an important entity Warcorrespondent plays it safe, very safe Listeners to Sw aziland’s state- run radio station thought it had its ow n c o rre s p o n d e n t in Baghdad covering the war, until legislators spotted him in Parlia m ent on the w eekend. A n nouncer Phesheya Dube has been found to be giving “live reports” from a broom closet. Program host Moses Matsebula frequently expressed concern about Mr Dube’s wellbeing and once advised him to “ find a cave somew here to be safe from mis siles.” See Saddam swim Iraqi satellite television offers viewers a pretty simple choice. You can watch Saddam Hussein being cheered, w orshipped, kissed, adulated, adored, hailed, praised, honoured and glorifled. Or you can watch him go swim ming. The Baghdad channel might not get much notice in normal times but with an un popular war raging to topple him, the rea d y -m a d e im ag es o f Saddam as Arab defender and heroic Muslim, even vigorous sw immer, pack a peculiar punch. Jackson voted ‘most foolish American’ “King o f Pop’’ Michael Jackson was selected as the “most fool ish American” in a poll out on Friday, ahead o f April Fool’s Day. Eighty per cent o f those polled said Jackson, w’ho has been in the media spotlight again since a British television docu mentary shed new light on his personal life. Jackson, 44, drew foolish reviews for, among other things, dangling his baby son out a window in Germany to show him to fans last year. Boxer M ike Tyson came in a foolish second. Iowa town to make teilinga lie illegal Lyingcouldbeperceivedas more than just a character flaw in the southeast Iowa town o f Mount Sterling. Itcouldbecomeacrime. Four City Council members have proposed an ordinance against fibbing. Acting M ayor Jo Ham let said he's tired o f the exagger ating that comes with stories in the town o f 40 residents famous for its hunting and fishing. "W e wanted to slow down on this lying,” Hamlet said. “Plus. I’m bored. ... It’s been r ’ ter.” photo by G unther J ose F rank / T he P ortland O bserver D onnie M cPhearson, h e a d w restling co a c h for Vancouver's H eritage High School, te a c h e s tech n iq u e to a pair o f youth w restlers during an o f f s e a s o n practice on Thursday. Formerly th e w restling coa ch a t J e ffe rso n High School, M cP hearson tries to liken wrestling to life for h is m ulticultural a th le te s. Wrestling with Success Long-time Portland coach finds new challenge across the bridge in Vancouver BY JAVMEE R . ClITI T he P ortland O bserver Donnie McPherson, head wrestling coach at V ancouver’s Heritage High School, wants to create a sports his tory never to be duplicated. Four years ago he was coaching about 35 wrestlers and struggling to keep the Jefferson High School pro gram alive on strapped budget. Then McPherson was offered what he refers to as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportu nity.” He was asked to run the wrestling program at Heritage, a brand new high school in the financially stable Evergreen School District. Once the school’s budget and lev ies had passed, he was ready for the change. His team at Heritage grew to more than double the size o f his team at Jefferson. “ I felt gui Ity, in a sense, to leave Jefferson. I was committed to the work we were doing with the kids,” said McPherson. “The chal lenges we were facing were budgetary prob lems. The kids were never a problem.” McPherson, 52, has strong ties to Port land. He graduated from Washington High School, played football and wrestled for Portland State University, was a three-time wrestling champion and a state champion in football. Before moving to Heritage, McPherson left something o f a legacy at Jefferson. “ I wanted my kids to look and feel like all other wrestling programs - to have nice uniforms and wrestling skills,” he said. When McPherson took the job as head coach at Jefferson in 1989, he described the program as “rag-tag.” The team often lost points at com peti tions by forfeiting weight classes, and d id n ot h av e d ec en t u n ifo rm s. McPherson spearheaded fund-raisers, from selling Christmas trees to running concession booths at Portland Trail Blazers games to building floats for the Rose Festival to pay for new uniforms and travel expenses to competitions. Under M cPherson’s coaching, the Heritage team achieved four years o f wins in the district tournament, second, third and sixth in state wrestlers, as wel I as nine individual state champions. But for McPherson coaching isn't continued yf on page A 6 (AP)— While the American public has rallied behind President Bush on the Iraq war, two-thirds say the United States should not feel free to use military force in the future without U.N. support, says a new poll. The survey says three-fourths o f the re sp o n d e n ts said th ey su p p o rt the president’s decision to go to war with Iraq. But almost that many, 66 percent, said they don’t think the United States should feel free to use force without the backing o f the United Nations. Bush ordered the invasion o f Iraq two weeks ago, despite his inability to gain backing from the United Nations. While opinion was mixed on such a move before the war, the public has rallied behind Bush and the troops. The poll, by the Program for Interna tional Policy Attitudes at the University o f Maryland, was taken March 22-25 by Know ledge Networks o f 795 respondents. It has an error margin o f plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Steven Kull, director o f PIPA, said “the public is ready to give the president a pass this time” but noted that a solid majority is uneasy with using military force without U.N. backing in the future. Other polls released over the weekend by Newsweek and NBC-Wall Street Jour nal showed that about two-thirds o f the A merican public now approve o f the president’soverall job performance. That’s up from job approval that had dipped into the mid 50s in some polls before the current ar. Seven in 10 people surveyed in the Uni versity o f M aryland's PIPA poll said they expect the United Nations to continue to be an important entity, remaining as relevant in the future as it was before the war. Three in 10 said the United States should govern I raq after the war, w hilehalfsaidthe United Nations should assume that role. A solid majority, 72 percent, says the United Nations should take the lead in dealing with North Korea. And six in 10 want the international organization to take the lead in monitoring Iran, which contends that its nuclear program is strictly for en ergy production. “There is no evidence,” Kull said, "that the majority o f Americans think the United Nations has become irrelevant.” Hikes in Beer and Wine Taxes May Restore Vital Services Lawmakers believe Oregon voters would support higher ‘sin taxes’ r i s A <9 . » wine tax by about 15 cents a bottle. They say they b e lie v e O re g o nians, who hand ily a p p ro v e d a cigarette tax in cre ase last fall, w o u ld s u p p o rt higher “sin taxes” on beer and wine as w ell to help ease the s ta te 's (AP) — Two Democratic lawmakers lently launched what they concede is uphi 11 fight to raise beer and wine taxes generate money for medical, social and 'enforcem ent programs, low ever, the law m akers and other R ep. Ja ckie D ingfelder ponents said they are prepared to e the proposed increases directly to budget woes. srs if the L egislature balks at the pro- “ We are in very deep trouble, and we see al. this as a partial solution,” Morrisette said. en. Bill Morrisette o f Springfield and The two are hoping the Legislature will Jackie Dingfelder o f northeast Portland pass the beer and wine taxes directly, but ¡ponsoring a bill they say would raise eer tax bv about 7 cents a bottle and the continued on page 16 I A CITY IN PROTEST A p ro testo r holding an Am erican Flag with corporate logos for sta rs runs through th e s tr e e ts o f dow ntow n Portland during a p e a c e d em o n stra tio n la st w eek. For a ddi tional coverage o f th e e ffe c t o f w eeklong p r o te s ts on th e city o f Portland a n d an up c lo se look a t o n e Portlander who h a s b e e n to u c h ed by war, s e e M etro S ectio n . P hoto by D avid P lechl /T hf . P ortland O bserver f