Who's On The March, Who's In Retreat.

[March 22nd, 2006] WINNERS

One, two, three, what are we fighting for? The modern-day anti-war movement demanded the answer to that lyrical Vietnam War-era question on Sunday afternoon in the streets of Portland. By getting upwards of 10,000 people marching on the third anniversary of the Iraq war, the peace folks got a lot of R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

In the Portland Public Schools funding crisis, everything old is new again, with city leaders racing as they did in 2003 to find more money for kids. While district officials again bat around a schools-closure plan (see "School Daze," March 15, at wweek.com), City Commissioners Erik Sten and Dan Saltzman took time from their own re-election campaigns to say that plan shortchanges students and to pledge more cash again from City Hall.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Hill gave Gov. Ted Kulongoski two more labor pangs. On the heels of Oregon's main teachers' union declining to endorse the guv in the May primary, Hill snagged endorsements from the 40,000-plus-member Service Employees International Union and the 20,000-plus-member Oregon School Employees Association.

LOSERS

UnMade by Oregon? Turns out the University of Oregon's planned move into the Willamette riverfront building beneath Portland's iconic "Made in Oregon" sign (see Murmurs, Nov. 2, 2005) comes with its hope to use the sign to advertise all things Duck. Sam Naito, who leases the sign, tells The Oregonian he would rather move it to another building than see it defaced.

Deputies in the Clackamas County Sheriff's office used to tease Deputy David Verbos that he looked like the gunslinging robber in a surveillance tape of a recent Target pharmacy stickup. The teasing stopped for good last week when Verbos pleaded guilty to stealing $5,000 worth of cash and drugs, including OxyContin to support his habit.

Things really suck for former local vacuum-cleaner salesman John Henry Brown, who got hosed for $12 million in civil penalties for an alleged scam involving fraudulent use of his customers' credit cards over the past two years. A criminal investigation continues into Brown, his wife and business partner.