In the Face of War, Life’s Routines and Irritations Take a Back Seat

By the second day of war, the shock and tears in San Diego had given way to quiet anxiety.

The civic mood said it was wrong or at least unseemly to conduct business, public or private, as usual. War tends to make the stuff of daily life seem banal.

A labor union canceled a press conference in which it had planned to crow about its success in recruiting San Diego government employees. Someone had sensed the bad taste of carping about salaries and job security when San Diegans are risking their lives half a world away.

The San Diego Rescue Mission notified reporters that its fund-raising announcement was being delayed “in respect for the coverage you are giving Operation Desert Storm.” The down and out can wait.

San Diego City Hall reported fewer phone calls than usual from constituents complaining about their neighbors’ dogs and other annoyances. Politicians ceased their intramural sniping.

Police Chief Bob Burgreen videotaped a message to his cops: They are not to express an opinion about the war if asked by the press or public.

It was Burgreen’s equivalent of President Bush’s mandate: No more Vietnams. Burgreen knows that, if street demonstrations escalate in San Diego, cops will be required to keep the combatants apart. He doesn’t want them seen as taking sides.

Shopping centers were depopulated. The only product with increased consumer demand was news.

The Tribune had put out a special 5 p.m. edition as the bombs fell Wednesday night; the Union slapped an American flag onto its front page; The Times erected a kiosk in the lobby of the Imperial Bank Tower to display late-breaking stories.

It was a day for grim reality rather than fiction. The weekly Thursday afternoon crush at video stores to stock up for the weekend never materialized.

Who needs a movie on the VCR when a real-life war is blazing into your living room?

But Show Goes on for Some

The home front.

Pro sports teams are debating whether games should continue while war rages. But a North County high school basketball coach is making no concessions.

He refused to let a star player skip a practice so he could join his father--an activist minister--in a peace demonstration:

Miss a practice, and you’re off the team, war or no war.

* Andy Shulman of San Diego called the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles to volunteer for the Israeli Army. Sorry, that’s against the law.

But the American Zionist Federation took the names of several San Diegans who say they will do volunteer work in Israel to free up reservists to fight.

* Talk of terrorism has given everybody the jitters.

Israel Vlodavsky, a world-renowned cancer researcher, declined an invitation to address a medical convention this week at the La Jolla Marriott. He figured he would be safer at home in Jerusalem than in San Diego.

* Anti-Vietnam War guru Timothy Leary talks Saturday in Del Mar.

His message is unchanged: The worst peace is preferable to the best war.

* San Diego Councilman Bruce Henderson has asked the council to approve a “resolution of support” for Operation Desert Storm when the council meets Tuesday.

Low-Profile Bishop

Peace activists are wondering why San Diego Catholic Bishop Robert Brom has been a no-show at peace demonstrations.

After the National Council of Bishops voted in December to oppose the use of military force in the Persian Gulf, Brom issued a statement calling for a “peaceful resolution.”

However, he did not attend a rally at the University of San Diego. Instead, his statement was read by a proxy.

Nor did he attend highly publicized Catholic prayer vigils last weekend at All Hallows Church in La Jolla and Ascension Church in Tierrasanta. He also skipped the street protests Monday and Thursday nights in downtown San Diego.

A diocese spokesman says the new bishop prefers to delegate responsibility for such matters.