Portsmouth Herald RAN 2/4/96, Pg. A1 By Steve Haberman Herald Staff MANCHESTER The return this weekend of President Bill Clinton to the state that re-energized his 1992 presidential bid ended on a sad note yesterday after the president was told of the death of an American soldier in the former Yugoslavia. It was the only down point in a two-day trip that brought out throngs of supporters and allowed the president to restate some of the themes he first voiced in his State of the Union Address last month. Clinton spoke twice about the soldier's death in Bosnia to the national and local press corps that accompanied him on visits to several locations in Manchester and Merrimack yesterday. The first time was around 1 p.m., just after he was advised of the accident by his aides, and just before he was to speak to an audience of several hundred supporters at the St. Augustus Community Center in Manchester's inner city. The president approached the press corps in the street outside the center and said that he had just been informed of the death of the soldier from injuries suffered after he reportedly stepped on a land mine about 25 miles outside of Tuzla. ``We're in the process of getting more information,'' Clinton said. Asked if the incident - the first mission-related death of an American soldier in Bosnia - made him rethink his decision to send ground troops to enforce the peace in that war-torn country, the president responded, ``No, not at all.'' ``I told the American people before it started, the place was filled with mines,'' Clinton said, noting that other allied soldiers had been killed in a land mine accident. The president brought the subject up again in a brief press conference on the tarmac at Manchester Airport before boarding Air Force One for his return to Washington late yesterday afternoon. ``Hillary and I join all Americans in extending our condolences to the family and friends of the soldier,'' the president said. ``He gave his life in the noblest of causes, the search of peace.'' The president also reiterated his support for having U.S. troops in the former Yugoslavia. ``I have been clear since before this operation began that our mission to secure peace in Bosnia would entail some risks,'' he said. ``We will continue to take every precaution we can to protect our troops as they work to secure an enduring peace in Bosnia.'' That, however, was the only blemish on what was another successful day in the Granite State for the president. After a full day of activities Friday, which ended in a speech before more than 4,000 people at Salem High School, state Democratic leaders said they were feeling good about his relationship with New Hampshire voters. ``After last night's rally I felt, let the Republicans bring on whoever they want. We've got the president,'' said New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Joseph Keefe, outside the Chez Vacon restaurant yesterday morning. Inside, the president was having breakfast with Manchester state Sen. John King and city Alderman Richard Cashin, surrounded by residents of the community. ``It's very exciting,'' said Collette Caron, who was eating at the table next to the Clinton party. ``He's our president.'' From there, the president travelled to Manchester's inner city for a stop at a community policing substation staffed almost entirely by officers hired through the provisions of the Clinton crime bill. Residents of the area and police say the new substation has reduced the evidence of drug pushers and prostitutes in that neighborhood. One officer told the president that a resident had said that he felt safe to take his 5-year-old daughter to the corner store at night now that the substation was in the area. The president responded, ``Isn't that what the whole thing is about: giving Americans their freedom back?'' At the community center just two blocks away, the president again spoke about the impact the additional police hired under his bill has made, not only in Manchester but in similar cities across the nation. He stressed, however, that a challenge still exists. ``We all know our job will not be over until crime is the exception and not the rule,'' he told the audience gathered in the recently completed community center. ``We can't totally eliminate the darkness in the hearts of people but we can make it so it's the exception and not the rule.'' Clinton also stressed that without public support his crime bill would be worthless. ``If we didn't have neighborhood leaders and schools supporting the police, we could put all the police we could out there and it wouldn't make a difference,'' he told the crowd. ``It never works until you fill in the blanks.'' Clinton again sounded the theme of a smaller federal government working in partnership with communities that he used in the State of the Union address. ``There was never a time America failed when Americans worked together,'' he said. On the way out of the community center, Clinton shook hands with the crowd and stopped to pick up Ron Machos Jr. During his 1992 presidential campaign Clinton became friends with the Machos family and often used them as an example of a health care crisis. Ron Machos Sr., had lost his job, and with it, health care coverage for then 1-year-old Ron Jr., who suffered from a defective heart valve. Clinton spent several minutes holding and talking to the boy, who is now 5. The president ended his day with a visit to New Hampshire Hydraulics Inc. in Merrimack. ``I want to tell you how the Small Business Administration has helped our company and the other people here,'' said the company's owner Tony Halvatzes. Then he and several other small business owners, including Katharine Paine, owner of the Portsmouth-based Delahaye Group, discussed issues of importance to small business owners. As the president was leaving the company for his trip back to Manchester Airport and the flight back to Washington, 6-year-old Nathaniel Laderbush of Manchester handed him something. He held it up to show the press. It was a McDonald's gift certificate. ``Is this good anywhere?'' the president asked.