ON THE HOME FRONT : War-Support Resolution Passes : Government: San Diego City Council approves the resolution in a 7-0 vote, despite testimony of protesters who oppose the war.

The San Diego City Council touched off an angry response by a throng of people opposed to the U.S. air bombardment of Iraq Tuesday, when it approved a resolution supporting the efforts of President Bush and American troops deployed in the Persian Gulf War.

About 75 people, many of whom had testified against two proposed resolutions, milled around the council chamber and shouted “shame, shame” at council members after the 7-0 vote in favor of the milder of two statements of support.

Under the watchful gaze of at least four plainclothes police officers, the group gradually dispersed after the council voted and took an afternoon break from its regular Tuesday meeting. One officer stood beside Councilman Bruce Henderson as he debated war protesters after the vote.

The council approved the same resolution passed by both houses of Congress last week, after U.S. warplanes began attacking Iraqi targets. It states that the council “commends and supports the efforts and leadership of the President as Commander-in-Chief in the Persian Gulf hostilities.”

Councilman Wes Pratt was absent from the meeting, and Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer left before the vote was taken.

The resolution was a milder statement of support for the war effort than the measure sought by Henderson, who won council support for an emergency discussion of the Persian Gulf War.

Henderson sought council approval of a statement that the “city of San Diego fully endorses the goals of Operation Desert Storm and asks for God’s blessing on those who risk their lives to liberate Kuwait and deter Iraq and other aggressors around the world.”

Henderson also wanted today declared “Operation Desert Storm Day” in San Diego. His motion failed when no other council member would second it.

About 30 people asked the council members not to go on record backing the U.S. war effort. Some urged them to restrict their actions to local issues such as homelessness, child care, crime and AIDS. No one testified in favor of either resolution.

Noting the more-than-$1 million cost of each cruise missile fired at Iraq, Frank Gormlie told the council that, “I could have served 50,000 people in a San Diego health clinic for less than the cost of that one cruise missile.

“We are the patriots who support the troops,” he said, “because we want them home now.”

Sara Byrnes, a 28-year-old graduate of Patrick Henry High School and Grossmont College, said Tuesday from her adopted home of Tel Aviv, Israel--90 minutes after a shelling by Iraqi SCUD missiles--that “everyone is shaken” but still coping with the raids.

“Tell my mother that we’re fine, that she doesn’t have to worry,” said Byrnes, the daughter of Dr. Donald G. Byrnes, a San Diego obstetrician, and his wife, Betty, the president of Temple Beth Israel in Hillcrest.

Byrnes is living with Anna Frumansky, a Tel Aviv orthodontist, whose father, Max Frumansky of Oceanside, is the cantor at Temple Judea in Vista. Byrnes said that neither she nor Anna, who has two children, ages 4 and 7, have plans to flee.

“None whatsoever,” Byrnes said by phone from the northern outskirts of Tel Aviv. “I’ve made Aliyah , which, in Hebrew, means going up to Jerusalem, or coming home. I knew that I was in a country that faces war from time to time. Unfortunately, we have a lot of enemies around us. . . . But I’ve never thought of leaving.

“I feel so bad for my family and for others with relatives here. But we all feel that, somehow, we’ll get through this. There is definitely an insecure feeling in the air, but this is a country where people stick together. We trust the government and the military to do the right thing to protect us.”

After Tuesday’s attack, which left three dead and 70 wounded, including 10 children, Byrnes said the mood was one of anger that called for retaliation. She, like most Israelis, is furious about having her routine compromised by an ugly but compulsory bit of baggage--a gas mask, which she carries to work each morning, without fail.

Forty-five years after Auschwitz, she said, it is the fear of gas and its inherent symbolism that enrages the people of Israel more than any other aspect of the war.

On the school front:

A proposed trip to London, Paris and Moscow for 12 students from the School for Creative and Performing Arts was quashed unanimously Tuesday by a Board of Education worried about terrorism.

Students can still take the trip individually, scheduled for the spring-break period of March 28 to April 6. But, should anything happen, parents will assume full financial liability, since the district has vetoed sponsorship.

Meanwhile, three San Diego school nurses have been summoned for active duty: Knox Elementary nurse Mary Steinman, with the Army; William Vasquez of Morse High School, with the Air Force, and Katherine Fisher of Zamorano Elementary, with the Navy.

Chief school nurse Judy Beck said three more nurses are likely to be called up soon for active duty.

The City Council meeting wasn’t the only place where discussion of the war took precedence over everything else. UC San Diego graduate students huddled on campus Tuesday night to debate the conflict, while Navy wives planned a show-of-support rally for Saturday.

That gathering, scheduled for the veteran’s war memorial near the San Diego Zoo, was described by organizers as the first of its kind on the West Coast.

“I just care about the guys who are over there,” said Cheryl, 32, who asked that her last name not be used. “It just makes me sick to see these peace protesters.”

A chalkboard menu at a Hillcrest delicatessen now bears a drawing of the world, punctuated by outstretched hands and the message, “We Shall Overcome.”

A common sight these days at Mission Bay Park, near Interstate 5 and Sea World Drive: a sprinkling of American flags attached to the covey of kites billowing in the breeze.

Directors for the San Diego branch of the USO appealed to local businesses and civic groups Tuesday for the one thing they need the most--money.

The nonprofit group, which provides recreation, entertainment and support-related services to American military personnel and their families, faces an immediate $70,000 deficit.

The shortfall is caused, executive director Terry Waldie said Tuesday, by the increased needs of families left behind by the men and women now deployed in the war effort. At particular risk are programs providing free meals and emergency housing, as well as social services and a family literacy course.

“Surely, we would die before we would close our doors, but we would hate to cut back our services just as much,” Waldie said in an outright plea for emergency donations.

Two-thirds of the local USO’s yearly budget of $360,000 is donated by corporations and individuals, and a third by United Way, Waldie said.

But the recession has cut down dramatically on contributed income, he said, and the outlook is grim.

At the downtown County Courthouse, the war has sparked increased security measures. Over the weekend, marshals closed all entrances to the facility except for the main doors on Broadway, where airport-style metal detectors have been installed.

At noon Tuesday, a long line of lawyers, jurors and couples waiting for marriage licenses waited to clear the detectors.

The upgraded security was prompted by two incidents last week that disrupted activities at the courthouse, said San Diego Superior Court Judge Judith McConnell, the court’s presiding judge.

A 55-gallon drum inexplicably appeared outside the Union Street entrance to the courthouse Friday morning, and all offices along that side of the building were evacuated for about an hour. The drum turned out to be filled with water.

Moments after the drum turned up, an anonymous caller phoned police with a bomb threat--except that police were told by the caller, who phoned at 11:05 a.m., that a bomb was supposed to go off at the courthouse at 11 a.m., McConnell said.

A committee of Superior and Municipal Court judges met after the two unusual incidents and directed Marshal Michael Sgobba to increase security at the courthouse, McConnell said. The metal detectors were installed over the long holiday weekend so they could be in place for the opening of business Tuesday morning, she said.

It is unclear how long the new security measures will stay in place, McConnell said. “We haven’t set a time line,” she said.

Times Staff Writers David Smollar, Nora Zamichow, Amy Wallace, Russell Ben-Ali, Linda Roach Monroe, Caroline Lemke, Alan Abrahamson and Laura Dominick contributed to this report.