8
Monday, August 28, 1978
University Daily Kansan
Firing-range changes still a smoky issue
By BILL HIGGINS Staff Reporter
Lawrence police officers and Douglas County sheriff's deputies must drive to a firing range near Lone Star Lake to practice shooting skills. The range located two floors below their offices.
The firing range in the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center sits ide because its ventilation system is designed to keep it cool to build up to dangerous concentrations.
More than a year after the problem was first discussed by the Douglas County Commission in May 1977, the issue still is unresolved.
The architectural firm of Peters, Williams and Kubota, which designed the building, agreed last week to have the present ventilation system adjusted at no cost to the county because the vents were improperly installed.
Before the system is adjusted, though, the firm will be used to the ventilation systems at the building.
The ventilation problem is further complicated by the lack of state or federal regulation.
However, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has standards for lead concentrations in the air surrounding people who are at work.
Because the police are required to practice their marksmanship, the OSHA standards could be applied to the firing of bullets. The fire department officials say they are not sure OSHA
standards would be applicable to firing ranges.
Adding to the confusion, the architects say the firing range's ventilation was designed to meet standards generally accepted at the time the building was planned.
Although no one seems to know exactly much the firing range cock, Jim Willingham, a former Army lieutenant and Kubota, said last week that such space "would probably cost $100 to $104 a square foot."
If that estimate were correct, the 114-by-85-
lot range could have cost between $18,400 and
However, Williams said that using his cost-per-square-foot estimate to arrive at a total cost for the range would not necessarily reflect actual costs.
About a month and a half after the Law Enforcement Center opened in November 1978, Richard Hack, one of two health inspectors for the city and county, was alerted to a case of lead poisoning in a local police officer.
On De. 28, 1976, Hack inspected the firing range and found that its ventilation system was inadequate. He used standards suggested by the National Rifle Association to determine that a down-range draft of 50 lineal feet a minute was necessary.
possibly thousands of dollars a month to operate.
This meant that about two-thirds of the air in the range had to be pulled down range and replaced every minute. Hack said last week that a ventilation system capable of processing that amount of air would cost "tens of thousands of dollars" to install and
Although the police officer's lead poisoning was not blamed on conditions at the firing range, a state health inspector, John Irwin, of the Occupational Health and Noise section of the Health and Environment Department was contacted.
On Jan. 13, 1977, Irwin had four officers simultaneously shoot for 18 minutes in the range while he tested the air around each officer for lead content.
Irwin found that the average concentrations for the officers ranged from 15.42 to 26.65 milligrams of lead per cubic meter of air.
The OSHA standard for lead concentration allows an average of no more than 20 milligrams of lead per cubic meter during an eight-hour period.
Irwin's report recommended closing the range and it has remained closed.
Local officials have not found a solution for more than a year. Peter Whitenight, chairman of the three-member Douglas range, said the range can be fixed at a reasonable cost.
"The original specifications were not met," Wittenaid said. "The ventilation was installed incorrectly so that the fumes are blown back into the shooter's face."
Whitengreen said that there were three factors to consider in retooling the range: the health of the officers using the facility; the cost to the taxpayers for repairing and maintaining the range; and the possibility of the county facing a lawsuit because of
injury or poisoning as a result of the use of the range.
"I realize, he said, "that the police have professional standards for shooting practice," he said. "So if you want to shoot. But if it would cost $3,000 to $5,000 to renovate it and possibly four to five thousand dollars a month to maintain, pay utilities and clean the filters, then it's not worth it."
"And there's the added risk of a lawsuit.
"Will we be liable if someone get lung disease
"If it's not economically reasonable, I will
do that we do something else with it."
*
Whitenight and the other two county commissioners, Beverly Bradley and Robert Neis, are now waiting for Peters, who is Robota's analysis of the seven raring ranges.
Williams said last week he had received the list from the commission and would be sending it to the Commission.
Williams said that both his firm and Huxtable & Associates Inc., who installed the ventilation, were responsible for the incorrect installation of the vents.
He said, however, that Peters, Williams and Kubota would pay the $2,000 bill for the new tractor.
At present, an 800-cubic-foot-per-minute fan is down-range and a 1,000-cubic-feet-per-minute vent is above and behind the shooters' heads, causing a partial backward
air flow. If adjustments were made, the larger fan would be placed at the end of the range and the smaller fan would be installed before the shootings stall to blow air into the range.
This should create a down-range air movement, but it would not meet the specifications suggested by county sanitarian Hack.
State inspector Irwin said Saturday he did not know whether rearranging the vents would work.
"It's hard to predict," he said. "It will certainly reduce the airborne level levels substantially at the shooter position, but we'll just have to see."
Since May 1977, Peters, Williams and Kutaba have submitted four proposals for the $100 million award.
were rejected as being too expensive or unreasonable.
Another option, the use of jacketed bullets, also was rejected as being too exerting on students. A study in the Administration study, published in the LEAJ June-July newsletter, said that jacketed bullets could reduce airborne lead by at least 10 times and possibly by as many
But, according to Vernon Harrell, the administrative lieutenant in charge of training for the police department, jacketed detectives and other "responsive" as the normal rounds fired in practice.
Harrell said Friday that normal .38-
caliber "wadcutter" bullets cost $34 per
1,000 while jacketed bullets cost $120 per
1,000 and cannot be reloaded.
SUA bookings slow
Student Union Activities presently has booked only one musical performer and one speaker to appear at the University of Kansas during the 1978-79 school year.
Harry Chapin is scheduled to appear 8 p.m. Sept. 27 in Hoch Auditorium, Alan Shaw, SUA special events chairman, said Saturday.
And SUA's Forum committee has arranged for Ben Bradley, the executive
editor of the Washington Post, to speak Oct.
2 at KU.
SUA apparently is having problems booking other performers and speakers.
Shaw said all arrangements to engage a musical group had to be made through a promoter because the University was not a financial responsibility for a musical event.
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Sabbatical plan stalled
The delay continues a two-year discussion by FacEx of sabbatical changes.
The Faculty executive committee of the University of Kansas decided last week to delay recommending changes in criteria for sabbatical leaves.
FacExF would like to change the policy to
facet the criteria for earning a sabbatical
treatment.
However, Del Shankel, executive vice chancellor, disagrees with the two changes proposed by Facek. Committee members objected to the changes, and Del Shankel this week before making a decision.
After recommending a change to the Faculty Council, the proposal goes to the University Council and then to Chancellor Arch. R. Dykes for ultimate approval.
According to American Association of University Professors' guidelines, 4 percent of the professors on campus should be allowed sabbatical leaves at any one time; sometimes less than 4 percent of the professors have been able to meet the qualifications.
AAUP also would like to drop the vice chancellor for research, graduate studies and public service from membership on the committee for granting leaves because it says other members of the committee can handle the job.
Shankel disagreed with the two proposals recommended by FacEx. In a letter to him, he wrote, "Specifically, I find the character of reduce the importance of relative merit in the determination of sabbatical leaves to be appropriate for the interest interests of the University in the long run."
"I also find unacceptable the proposal to remove the vice chancellor for research, graduate studies, and public service from membership on the committee."
Shankel also said in the letter that he thought the primary basis for sabbatical leaves should continue to be based on the merit of the professor, the number of years he had been a teacher, his studies and research and his devotion to his field of study.
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Clair Kiefer, chairman of Forum, said it was difficult to book speakers far in advance. Washington-based speakers, "who run a real tight schedule," do not like to make speaking dates until two weeks before their appearance, he added.
Stephen Stills, Chuck Mangione and the Atlanta Rhythm Section were listed by Shaw as other entertainers who might perform at KU this year. Shaw said one of the performers was Dusty Baker, who came in October and one probably would appear during Homecoming festivities.
Keizer said he had been working throughout the summer to arrange a debate between U.S. Senate candidates Dr. Bill Roy and Nancy Landon Kassbaum. It had been impossible to schedule that event because both candidates would not make their October schedules until the middle of September, he said.
Postal workers still threatening national strike
Bolger, buttressed by a court order prohibiting a work stoppage, said, "I personally don't believe that there's going to be body has to be prepared for that eventuality."
WASHINGTON (AP) -Union officials showed little sign yesterday of backing off from a threatened nationwide mail strike as Postmaster General William F. Bolger stood firm on refusing to reopen contract talks.
Leaders of the three unions representing the postal workers met on and off with federal mediators during most of the day and for a time informally met with Bolger.
Boiler promised that if a strike did develop, he would uphold the law, including possibly firing those who refused to work. The mayor ordered Boiler to call Boiler's position heavily handed.
A strike, which could develop as early as midnight tonight would cause widespread economic problems within a few days, Bolger said, although the government has contingency plans, including the use of federal troops, to keep the mail moving.
U. S. District Judge John Pratt issued a restraining order day Saturday which forbids the two largest postal unions from striking. They represent more than half a million workers. Eight years ago, 200,000 postal workers could for eight days despite such a court order.
A union source, who declined to be identified, reiterated yesterday that the two largest unions—the 299,000-member National Association and the 181,000-member National Association of Letter Carriers—had been mandated by the court order did not change that.
Under the mandate, a strike would start five days after the contracts were rejection and midnight Wednesday for the APWU. The third union, an affiliate of the Laborers' International Union, which represents 36,000 mail handlers, is not under such a
Bolger made his remarks on CBS's "Face the Nation" interview program.
The postmaster general repeated his desire for binding arbitration to settle the dispute, an approach that has been strongly opposed by the unions.
The unions and the Post Service reached tentative agreement July 21 on a pact that calls for a 19.5 percent increase over three years, including wages and cost-of-living increases. The unions initially indicated it would be approved, all three unions have refused to ratify it.
A strike by postal employees is illegal. In 1970, a wildcat strike began in New York City and spread to G7 post offices. Then president Richard M. Nixon ordered 16,000 troops into New York City to sort the mail, load and unload trucks and sell stamps.
The tentative contract calls for a 10 percent wage increase and a maximum 9.5 percent cost-of-living increase over three years. The average postal worker now earns $1,327.80, which is opposed to the average salary would rise to $19,000 in the third year of the pact.