University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, February 1, 1989
11
More semi-automatic guns showing up in Lawrence
by Steven Wolcott Kaosan staff writer
It was a routine drug bust that went sour.
It was a boutique outfit that were sold in Kansas City Patrolman Ed Ericksen had been staking out an apartment complex in Kansas City, Mo., for about a week and a half.
"We spotted a suspect carrying suspicious items into an apartment," Ericksen said. "We got a warrant and went in. When we knocked on the door, they began firing and I caught a .38 (caliber) slug in the chest." The object is a baseball.
He could have been hit with something more lethal. When the other officers got inside, they found several 9 mm guns.
mm semiautomatic pistols. Lawrence Stan Sharp, an emergency room physician at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, said that a bullet from a 9mm could cut through a person's backbone.
"Heavy bullets like the 9 millimeter have a lot of energy." Sharp said. "It would tear through the body leaving a large ring of destroyed tissue around the path of the bullet."
This is no longer just a big-city problem. In Lawrence, more semi-automatic weapons are being confiscated all the time, said Ronolin, Lawrence police chief.
the time, said Ron Olin. Law enforcement During the past five years, Olin said that police had confiscated Uizis, AR-15 assault rifles and last week, a Gallil 308 semi-automatic assault rifle.
The Galli is an Israeli replica of the Soviet AK-47 assault rifle.
Before 1984, a Lawrence police officer would most likely have confiscated a sawed-off shotgun or rifle, Olin said.
said. "In the past five years, we have encountered a different set of weapons on the street," Olin said. These include very high quality assault rifles."
include very high quality assailant rules.
Olin did not comment on what tactics Lawrence
officers would use when the police law enforcement police officers are issued a Sigsaer 9mm semi-automatic pistol and can carry a shotgun in their vehicle if they request one.
police officers would use when faced with an assault rifle.
uncle if they request one.
KU police are equipped with a Smith and Wesson 38-
caliber Magnum pistol and an .470-caliber Magnum
shotgun in their vehicles.
in their vehicles.
Li Jieanne Longaker, KU police spokesman, said that KU police had not had to deal with assault rifles such as the AK-47.
A 9 millimeter semi-automatic pistol is the most powerful weapon we have in our evidence room. Longaker said, "We hope we don't see any of the assault weapons, but it is only a matter of time before we do."
But it is only a matter of time that Lawrence gun dealers sell some semi-automatic weapons, mostly semi-automatic rifles for deer hunting but do not keep assault rifles such as the AK-47 in stock. Lawrence Pawn and
Ernie Housworth, employee at Lawrence Pawn and Shooters Supply, 718 New Hampshire St., said that any gun dealer could order an assault rifle such as the AK-47.
gun
Houssier said his shop would order the gun for any customer who requested it.
"customer who requested it:
"We just don't keep any in stock because we get too many lookers — people that don't buy and just want to play with them," he said.
he said.
Gregg Ellis, a salesman at Jayhawk Pawn and Jewelry, 1804 W. Sixth St., said his shop did not deal in assault riffes.
assault rites.
"It's not a market for it here," he said.
Legislators in 27 states and the U.S. Congress have introduced bills to ensure that assault weapons are not available for purchase by the public.
"...you don't."
available for purchase by the State Rep. John Solbach, D-Lawrence, said Kansas was not among those states, but it could change because the legislative session was still in its early stages.
Band makes 'major' change Marching Jayhawks have first female leader
by Merceda Ares Kansan staff writer
A legacy of breaking tradition has followed KU band director Robert Foster for the last 30 years.
During Foster's freshman year at the University of Texas in 1958, a flu epidemic swiped through the all-male marching band and left it shorthanded. Thus, females made their marching debut on the field.
After graduation, Foster went to Houston and taught at Lamar High School, where he included women in the marching band for the first
And Erica Needlinger has helped him continue the string at KU. She is KU's first female drum major.
Although a few women have auditioned in the past, Neidlinger, St. Louis sophomore, was the only woman to try out this year.
"She was chosen not because she was a girl, but because she was the best," Foster said.
Foster said that women in the
When Foster became director of the KU band in 1971, he changed the tradition of the all-male marching band. For the first time, women were allowed to participate
But this was not his first experience with change.
past had not performed well enough to become drum majors at KU. Neidlinger was different.
Neidlinger said that her physical strength was part of the reason she was chosen.
"Girls in the past haven’t been strong enough," she said. "I’ve danced since I was three and I’m pretty strong from that."
Neidinger said that being drum major took a lot of endurance.
"You strut for so long and it gets so hot out there because the uniforms are made of wool," she said.
David Cramer, Lawrence sophmore, and Steven S. Kolbe, Omaha, Neb., freshman, will be the other two drum majors. Six students auditioned for the position last fall.
"They're fairly heavy, they bind a lot and when you lean back in performances they restrict breathing," Cramer said.
Cramer agreed that the uniforms made it difficult.
Neidlinger said new uniforms that weighed less would be ordered to make the drum major's job less strenuous. Designs have not been made yet, but the uniform basing. crutcher team
He said they would practice in their uniforms to prepare for performances.
cally will be the same, she said.
Neildinger said that although others had told her to do stomach exercises to prepare for marching, she didn't think it was necessary. Ballet, tap and jazz training helped her marching steps, as had her drum major experience in high school.
She has been playing the trumpet since fifth grade and also is familiar with other instruments because of her music education
Music, however, was not always her first love. As a junior in high school she helped her junior in music and she helped her band instructor in her free time.
The only uncertainty Neildinger seemed to have about her new position was the uniform.
"I was afraid they might want to put me in a skirt and say, 'Here she is, the new female drum major,' Neidlinger said.
However, Neidlinger will be in the same uniform as her counterparts.
This will be Cramer's second year as a drum major at KU.
"We all look the same in uniform." Cramer said. "A capable person is capable and it doesn't matter what sex you are."