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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 2, 1961)
D. SPNDAY. APRIL 2. 19B1 , MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, QBE , ' . Bedford Police Receive Demonstration, Taste of Tear-Gas -v. J. ,- - "" ' -' " ' - I f ; h wtl 'fix " t-l . ft,--; TELLS HOW George Cke of the George Cake com- : pany of Berkeley, Calif., toll a (roup of Medford city police officera how a tear-gaa grenade should be thrown during a tear-gaa demonstration at the department's White city target range last week. (Note grenade in hand.) . - '"ft? " i 'it j-I-I fit ' - TT irin-ii inn i.iii TEST OAS Seven police officers, Including Police Chief Charles P. Champlln (third from right), volunteered to run through a cloud of the colorless tear gas. Lt, McMillan 5si " ' I I 1 , (far left) is approximately in the middle of the cloud in -the above picture. All agreed that the tear-gas is effective. :,' Chairman Hobby Fair Lists More Event Committees , White City-Mrs. A. TV Wat ; tenberg, Eagle Point, general ' chairman of the 1961 Veter ans Administration Domicil iary arts, crafts and hobby fair Sunday, April 9, has an nounced more committees and Judges for the annual event. Mrs. Winifred Anna McNey Rogue Valley Manor, is chair man of the judges for short stories, articles and other, prose and poetry contestants. Mrs. Anne Fisher, whose 14 published . books include - "Cathedral in the Sky' will judge all prose sntreei. - Arnold Jenny, who con ducts the Poets' Corner for the Mall Tribune, will judge poetry contributions.' A Recreation Committee. Mrs. Mary Schulz, chair man of the reception commlt . tee which will provide a reg ister and hostesses for tne Sunday afternoon fair, open house and reception spon sored by the Veterans Admin istration Volunteer Service (VAVS) announced the fol lowing members of her com mittee: Margaret Eakln. Mary Parker, Mary DeBerry, Frelda Lawrence, Lillian S a 1 a a e, Taye Allison, Dorothy Leuty, Lela Lamb, Marie Bowling and Letha Turner. v The open house and recep tion In conjunction with tne Hobby Fair will include con ducted tours - through main pirti of the domiciliary, Manager Henry C. Herzog has announced. Refreshments will be served all afternoon. J S3, iff 't r..-. EXPLAINS PURPOSE Before going out shaped tear-gas projectile. On the board on the range George Cake explained the (right) are tear-gas grenades and high speed purpose of the various pieces of tear-gas ' tear-das projectiles. The gun with which to equipment to the policemen in the city hall , fire the projectiles is on the desk In front council chambers. Cake Is holding a tube- of Cake. - -If 4 Milo Students Tour Maii Tribune Plant Fifteen students from tha Milo academy. Mllo, Ore., vis ited the Mail Tribune plant last week. . They were shown the circu lation and advertising de partments, as well as the newsroom and press room fa cilities, and observed how the day's paper was prepared. Touring were Douglas Gor don, Rickey Clarldge, Peggy StelzmUler, " Betty Scherer, Ronnie Clarldge, Marilyn Miner, Roger Smith, Toni Finch, Kathy Miner. . fclnda Griffin, Hudson Henry, Donna Griffin,- Tim Graham, Tom Graham, and Kay Smith; Accompanying them were three Mllo teachers, Mrs. C. Mtaer, Mrs. L. Ciaridga, and Mrs. B. Finch. iT v v . t V ' ' ," sVX HAND GRENADE -Tear gas also comes In the form of hand grenades. The explosion shown above Is from such a grenade, except that smoke Instead of tear-gas was used. Equipment Is Purchased For Emergency Use By GREG NOKES Mall Tribune Staff Writer "It sure clears the sinuses.' This was the comment of one of Medford's finest last week after he and several 'other police officers had run through a cloud of tear-gas at the police department's shoot ing range near White City. The entire police force had assembled at the range to watch a demonstration of tear gas equipment. Later some of the equipment was purchased, making the department tear-gas-equipped for the first time In its 75-year-old history. Since they Had ntver before worked with tea'-gas, and to test the effects of the colorless vapors, several police officers led by Police Chief Charles p. Champlin dubiously volun teered to run through a batch of it. i .: ., ,-, Potent Stuff Eyes watering and gasping, they agreed to a man that it was potent stuff. Not being a member of the force, a. Mall Tribune report er politely declined an invita tion to join them In their lit tle experiment. But unexpect edly, he was treated to a whiff or two later on. ,- xnis occurred when a thoughtful police officer de cided he was going to take a couple of the ."empty" tear- gas bombs home to his kids. Unaware of his thoughtful- ness, a reporter and two other policemen joined him In th ride back to Medford. The ride had not gone verv far when four sets of eyes be gan watering and stinging un til tney could stand no more. Journey Resumed Through half-closed eyes the thoughtful patrolman guided the car to the side of the road and, nonplussed, he trans ferred the empty bombs from under the front seat to the trunk ot the car. After four pairs of eyes could see again tne journey was resumed. . Tear-gas is colorless and is largely composed of a chemi cal called benzyl bromide (an impressive name with an im pressive effect). It affects the tear ducts of the eyes, caus ing them to water profusely. and irritates the throat, caus ing coughing. Its overall affect is to cause its victim to seek the nearest dose of fresh air. ' Although it is not physical ly injurious and causes only temporary discomfort. it is highly Improbable that a per son: could stand to be in it for any length of time, i' Last week's demonstration was given by a representative of the George Cake company, Berkeley, Calif., from which the department purchased its equipment. . Comes in Bombs Tear-gas comes in grenade like bombs which can be thrown by hand, or it comes in shell-like projectiles to be fired from a specially con structed gun. Both kinds were demonstrated. There are two chief kinds of projectiles. One Is poten tially harmful - the other is not. The harmless kind looks roughly like two toilet-paper tubes which have been put end to end and sealed. This kind of projectile is not con sidered accurate since it has a tendency to go end over end or sideways when shot from a gun. , Timed to discharge its eas within a certain period after firing, the projectile does this by splitting down the side. rather than exploding. It finds its greatest use In dispersing a riot or forcing someone out of a house or barricade without hurting him. Miniature Rocket The potentially harmful kind of projectile is about m inches long, and resembles a miniature military rocket. complete with tail fin It has a range of 400 yards, and can be fired accurately for a dis tance of 100 yards. This projectile will easily penetrate a panel door or an ordinary glass window-it has even been known to go -right through the side of a house. It explodes when its sensitive nose Up comes In contact with a solid surface. When it explodes the melal shell casing shatters in all di rections, and for this reason lt is to be used only against a person whose persons.! safe ty it not of prime importance In a given situation, and only under circumstances where the harmless projectile could not be used. Such ' a situation miaht arise when a killer has bar ricaded himself securely in a house and is shooting it out with police. Gas Grenade The hand tear-gas bomb is usually called a gas grenade. It resembles a tin can and Is equipped with a firing pin and plunger. It is timed to ! 1 V'VkJ - BOMB EXPLODES Several smoke bombs were used in the demonstration, to show how the tear-gas, which is Invisible, disperses. Sgt., DeLaire Tusow (above) has just fired such a smoke bomb from the tear-gas gun. A1P 4 7 . 'TP '1 . -1-si&s kmssSm SILHOUETTED Officer Milton Hanson la silhouetted against an exploding smoke bomb 1 ; v " ' ."'"1 THROWS GRENADE Sgt. Jack Sanders throws a grenade under the watchful eye of George Cake. Sanders was the first to try out the tear-gas weapons. explode during a given peri od of time after the pin has been pulled and the plunger released-much like a grenade, except that it is harmless. The Medford police depart ment has never before used tear-gas in action, primarily because they have never had any to use. Chief Champlln has pointed out that there have been occasions In the past when tear-gas would have been, used, had It been avail able. ' It was decided to purchase the tear-gas this year since the city's growth has com pounded the problems to be faced by police. The larger the city, the greater the chance that such equipment as tear-gas will be needed. The entire tear-gas kit and two gas masks cost the de partment $333. Funds were provided for this in the 1960 61 police budget. All members of the force will be versed on the use of the new weapons, but the tear gas itself will be kept with the rest of the department's emergency equipment and will bn used only upon authoriza tion by the chief or whoever else is in command at the time. Like the chief says: "We hope we never have to use It, but it's nice to have it here just in case we do." J k-n-T IIP Vt ! JsT 1 : j 4 .'-i FIRES GUN Police Lt Jack McMillan is shown firing tne tear-gas gun. A hiirh-nnai-oH ... .. nsnsi n,hinh explodes on impact can be fired from the gun. The projec tile has a range of 400 yards, and can be fired accurately for a distance of loo yards.
