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Show Page E2 THE DAILY HERALD, Provo, Utah, Lebanese on front Senate candidate walks streets for homeless, not voters "Man, can you button up her shirt for me?" Sims pleads. "What happened to her?" "Nothing happened to her," the man says. "She's just By TIM KLASS Associated Press Writer still wait for peace By SAMIR F. GHATTAS Associated Press Writer - The NABATIYEH, Lebanon on the last active people living front line still face death and destruction while peace progresses elsewhere. Behind a facade of bustling towns and tranquil fruit orchards, Muslim guerrillas in south Lebanon confront Israeli soldiers and their Lebanese allies every day. Sometimes civilians are caught in the cross fire. The guerrillas, mostly from the Hezbollah movement supported by Iran, are rarely seen. The Israelis spend most of their time in fortified positions. 'We have adapted to the war. You can say we have become immune." said Ayad Farhat, a dentist. He lives so close to the Israeli lines that the soldiers could follow his movements inside the house w ith binoculars, or sniper rifles, if they wished. A year ago, Farhat and half a million others fled north during an Israeli blitz in which 147 people were killed and 500 wounded. The Israelis were responding to guerrilla attacks that left several of their soldiers dead or wounded in the border "security zone." This year, Farhat stayed in despite fears of a new bombardment. In August, seven civilians were killed in an Israeli air raid on Deir Zahrani village four miles northwest of Nabatiyeh. Israel said the attack was a mistake, but the guerrillas retaliated nonetheless, hitting northern Israel with rockets that wounded three children. "We always worry, concerned about the action and the reaction," said Hussein Najm, a pointing to hilltop Israeli outposts that flank Nabatiyeh on the north, east and south. Hezbollah attacks the Israelis and their Lebanese militia allies in the buffer zone Israel established just north of the border after its first invasion of Lebanon in 1978. Israel retaliates with artillery fire and air strikes on Nabatiyeh and other tow ns it suspects of harboring guerrillas. Like so many other people in the region. Farhat and Najm are skeptical that peace will reach them any time soon. Arab-Israe- li Na-batiy- eh money-change- Thursday, September 29, 194 SEATTLE She sits hunched, barefoot, her head against her knees, oblivious to the man crouching before her in City Hall Park, also known as Muscatel Meadows. It's about midnight. "Are you OK? Are you OK?" asks Ron Sims. "Are you doing OK? Are you doing OK? You need a blanket or a coat? Are you going to be all right? Can I help you?" member of Sims, three-terthe King County Council and newly nominated Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, turns to his companions, a reporter and photographer. With one hand, he imitates a junkie shooting up. '"I'm in a land where you can't go,"" Sims says the woman told him. "We'll come back, though, and make fire." A few hours earlier, wearing a suit and tie in a television studio, Sims had debated Republican Sen. Slade Gorton, the incumbent, for the first time since the Sept. 20 primary election. Sims is now wearing boots, faded jeans and a d white shirt with a minister's collar over a He's a volunteer lay minister w ith Operation Nightwatch, a nondenomination-a- l, nonevangelical ministry to Seattle's street people. This is Sims' monthly patrol of the haunts of the homeless. Sims has been a part of Opera- drunk." She falls to the sidewalk, saying, "I just w ant to go to sleep. That's all I want to do." The man leaves briefly, then . returns with a bundle and a boom , box. With him is a wisp of an older woman, smoking a ciga- - m one-ter- Nay-Nay- ." m short-sleeve- AP Photo "Renee?" Sims says. "Listen. had camped out across the street from Seattle If we get you two blocks, you can City Hall. When Sims found Renee, she was lay down." drunk and naked from the waist up. Sims gave She won't budge. Renee his shirt shortly before she passed out. "Renee, you've got to help Sims says. me," times a shelter referral, perhaps a shirt," he says. "Here." Come on, baby, come "Renee. it. of She's having none source of food. the mother says. ; on," his visit first after an Half hour Sims coaxhold "Hold "Come "The it, it," says. on," Gary to Muscatel Meadows, he rees, wrestling the shirt around her man is being a gentleman. ' ' turns. shoulders as she totters back onto Most of Renee's weight is on The barefoot woman, about 6 the grass. "No, we're going to as they struggle up the street feet tall and at least 200 pounds, is help you. You need to button up to rejoin the encampment beside ; now clad only in ragged, inside-oyour shirt." the Public Safety Building. sweat pants as she lurches A smaller man approaches Sims and his wife, Cayan To- toward the street. on a alert. Sims, 46, warily, burly pacio, have three sons, ages 16, fumbles with his stiff collar and ""That's my shirt she has on," 14 and 6. Despite his collar's! Sims explains. shirt buttons as she reaches the influence, he; The man's hostility changes to says he has been beaten up twice ; sidewalk. on Operation Nightwatch. "I'm going to give you my bafflement. Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Ron Sims, right, talks to Devron Evans early Monday morning. Evans is homeless and helped Sims carry a woman named Renee to where her family rt. tion Nightwatch since 1978, seven years before he was elected to the King County Council. It's a dry night in the low 60s. He has chatted w ith a drunk w ho was a boyhood friend in Spokane and encouraged a homeless to keep working on In- - rette. "Come on, baby," the older woman says. "Come on, Renee. Oh, The older woman appears to be Renee's mother, the younger man her brother, Gary. It seems all three are spending the night in the unofficial safe zone outside city ' police headquarters, where Sims saw a couple dozen other people earlier. Somehow, Sims and Gary get Renee to stand. The shirt gets buttoned. She staggers to a ' wrought-iro- n fence, grabs hold and seems about to vomit. ternet skills at the public library's computer terminals. He has checked for signs of life among several dozen people huddled by doorways and shrubs and trash bins, on benches and steam grates and window ledges and sidewalks. "You OK?" he asks. "How you doing? Everything all right?" Heads turn, then turn away. Some barely move. He can offer blankets to some men little who say theirs were stolen, some ut six-foot- ng r, South Lebanon has been in the li conforefront of the flict since the Jewish state was created in 1948. The 700,000 resi- III III 8 g LAST TWO DAYS To save on wall decor and electronics Arab-Israe- dents, predominantly 25 $449 tf Zenith Shiite 27" stereo receiver B. MTS Muslims, have paid dearly, especially in the last nine years of guer-rilj- a stereo DBX noise reduction, multi-ban- d remote, channel labeling, menu and AV input jackets; SM2767S. on-scre- en warfare. ".Our hopes are hanging on the peace efforts," said Farhat, 34, a man with two children. "We say tomorrow it might come, or the day after, but we are growing skeptical of the whole soft-spok- Off Storage cases Portable home storage cases for cassettes, compact discs, computer disks, CD players, tape players and more. Home Office en - process." They have plenty of grounds for h 'A f doubt. tzr' r--r Syria, which controls its weaker Arab neighbor, uses the Lebanese guerrillas as a pressure point in negotiations with Israel, being conducted indirectly through U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Whenever Middle East peace efforts gain momentum, tension and fighting in south Lebanon increase. .The Palestine Liberation Organization and Jordan signed agreements w ith Israel this year. Since Egypt has had a peace treaty with the Israelis since 1979, that left Syria out in the cold and Lebanon taking the heat. Anxiety in the south deepened when Israel blamed Hezbollah, which means Party of God, for four bombings in July of Israeli and Jewish targets in Latin America and Britain. The bombs killed 116 people and wounded more than 100. Then came two guerrilla ambushes of Israeli patrols in the "security zone" and rocket attacks on northern Israel. $988 Sony 135 W per channel stereo rack system A. 30VV per channel surround amp., 30W center, Dolby equalizer with LED indicator, five disc CD carousel, double five-ban- Pro-Log- ic and 1 2" auto-rever- d deck se speaker system; R5300PKG. Major Electronics three-wa- y If f,i " I 'fry n dgniM, r H I' - i srr i il A J" If j j " irJ L Fearing a huge Israeli retaliation, some families in villages facing the border zone moved north temporarily. Others packed up, ready for a fast exit. A Lebanese-America- n visiting relatives in Nabatiyeh said he'd had enough and left after only two weeks. $69 Olympus Trip AF mini 35mm camera ;The visitor, a clothing wholesaler from Brooklyn, N.Y., requested anonymity because of the State Department ban on traveling to Lebanon with a U.S. passport. 4 25-5- 0 All wall C Reg. 139.99 Super compact with autofocus lens, film handling, auto flash, self timer, LCD display, mid-rorewind, focus lock and more. Cameras ll "1 feci sorry for the people here," he said. "They never know whether they'll live or whether they'll still have a house the next -- day." ', Off decor D. Choose from our entire assortment of beautifully framed art, limited edition prints, mirrors and wall art. Not at Layton Hills or Valley Fair. Wall Decor OTJvlI Shop this Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. |