Hie AND NlWt, Klml Flh, On.
City Policemen Teach Area Youngsters
fundamentals Of Sun Handling Safety
By DEAN A. KRE.N'Z
What would you say is the
safest organized youth recreation
program conducted across the
nation today? Basketball, pirn"
pong, swimming, target shooting
or baseball?
If you decided on ping pong,
baseball, swimming or basketball,
you were wrong! While partici
pants in these sports suffered
sprains, fractures and lacera
. lions, 250,000 junior shooters in
organized National Rifle Associa
tion clubs finished 1959 without a
single accidental injury. When
the records are in, 1960 is ex
pected to be another credit to
riflists.
Klamath Falls has a share of
that amazing record through its
Police Beneficiary Association
sponsored gun handling courses
conducted here since 1934. Dur
ing that time 1,143 Klamath Falls
area youngsters have learned
the basic tenets of gun handling
and safety during 10-week cours
es. '
"We're not telling them guns
are not dangerous," said I t. Bud
.Adkins, .founder and promoter of
the program. "We teach the
youngsters that guns must be han
dled with care and respect at all
times.
"Only in that way can shooting
be the safest recreation."
up, so I asked them if they
" to take a gun handling course,"
Adkins recalled.
Started With Five
The energetic rxilice officer
started the year with five slu-course is aimed at marksman-dents-
and ended it with 8t. Thcship alone. Adkins explained that
course has been going full throt-ionly a third of the time is spent
tie ever since. Now the Police on the range. The major portion
Association puts about 100 stu-jof the course is taken up with
dents through the course twice a classes in safety and related sub-
year, jects.
A pioneer effort in Oregon, the I It ' fT'' "n Jf " J
Klamath Falls program started C f V 7-... "
in 1954 when Adkins was coaching ij 4 J j I I
a young baseball team. " Ve$,? J J, I TJC lJ
"I hnted to see the team break jr Jjjt' ' ' J 'I
DIANE COOK and Nancy Clark jokingly aunt John De
troit with results of their target shooting In the Klamath
Falls Police Beneficiary Association-sponsored gun han
dling course. Girls are generally as good or better shots
than the boys. All shots in these two targets are well
within the center black circles. Photos by Don Kettler.
The course is open to boys and
girls, 10 to 15 years old inclusive,
with signed consent of their par
ents. Cost of the course is modest.
indeed. There is a SI fee for the across the habits of
course. Ammunition is sold w hole-i handling. Being able
sale at 55 cents a box at the range.
and rules are provided.
The .22 caliber target rifle.
used arc provided on
basis by Civil Defense,
Safely Is Aim
The idea is not to make
sharpshooters out of these young
sters," he said. "We want to get
safe gun
to hit a
bullseve is incidental to thai
goal.""
Getting the prized charter from
a loan the National nine Association
Adkin.vtook some doing on ihe part of
explained.
Recently the district counselor
of the parent National Rifle As
sociation commended the local
NRA club as the most active and
best-operated group in the West
Coast area. '
Credit .can be claimed by the
rolice Association alone. In spon-j marksmanship medals and diplo-
soring the program, the as-'mas and instructional materials.
Being a part of a national or
ganization, local shooters have
an opportunity to be. ranked nr-
Adkins and his compatriots. In
der NRA lules there was no pro
vision for a training club with
changing membership. After ef
fective arguments by the Klam
ath Falls men the NRA officially
sanctioned the club. As a mem
ber of NRA the club receives
socintion donates the use of its
own firing range, provides for all
utilities, and unselfishly devotes
many hours of spare time for in
struction. The program is not s
function of the police 'department
and taxpayers in no way con
tribute toward it.
lionally.
Perhaps not so surprisingly,
girls have shown a strong inter
est in the course, Adkins pointed
out. About two out of five mem-
The Police Association is justly jbers of each class are girls in
proud of its accomplishmentSjtent on proving they can hit the
with the young people who have targets just as well as the bovs.
gone through the course.
"We feel certain that t h c
courses have been a factor in
saving several lives and in avoid
! f " ' 1MWIWIJWWPJ
t yNv
BUD ADKINS had good reason to grin after his girls' team defeated a boys' team
coached by Phil Chlopck. Adkins and Chlopek are regular instructors in the gun han
dling program. Youngsters 10 to 15 years of age can take the course with parental
consent. v
or better.
And how they prove it!
It's not unusual for the girls to
outshoot the boys in matches. The
in" many injuries," Adkins de- most recent class last month held
dared. "This is something no one
can measure, but we're confident
the benefit
I .est the
is with us."
public believe
tlie
alike, take the course because
'they are interested in hunting.
Adkins soirl, recalling the old
days when "you learned it all on
your own." j
The Klamath
has attracted attention
v THE COVER
Oscar Gerleve,
ber of the Klamath Falls
Folic Meficiary Asso
ciation, gives yowto, Date
Knapp of Klamath Falls
some pointers on gun
handling. Policemen do
nate their own time and
some of their association
funds for a gun handling
course that is serving as a
model for the remainder
of the state.
-Adkins' class of girls won'lhe state- and " is not surprisu.g
416-403. The boys were good.,hat rnany commun.ties have
for feminine ability.
"Tlie girls are generally more
attentive, and serious about the
course," Adkins explained. ,
Top Marksman
It is a boy, Adkins' son Ricky.
however, who is top marksman of
Fair Maidens, Wind Get Blame
HONOLULU (API Fair windishipping was halted through the
and fair maidens were blamed 480-foot wide harbor entrance, to
Falls program pa'."y for blinBinB Hie 30.000-loniork the Arcadia free.
i diiumi iiner nrcauia to cnei on ine om I'&u-rieni liner car-
uiuui.iii t . . , , . ,
a reel jusi omsiae Honolulu s nar-.rying i.iuc passengers ano a crew
bor entrance Thursday. of 713 was scheduled to leave at
It appeared that as the shio ma-lmidn'gh' Thursday night for the
ncuvered to pick up an off-shore 1Soutn Pacilic and Australia.
"Thei-e has been talk of thc;boardinS Pa,,y she ir' in the
WM.n,ir rpnuirinn a run h.m. s,ca1y trac wind and crunched
tiling course diploma before a 8en"y on a coral rwf- The board
'youngster can gel his first hunt! Par'y included one of Honor
ing license," Adkins said. "It 'I vicuinuiB lasworces oi nuia
makes us even more oroud toiBlrls- Dul " als0 naa customs in-
thc lociU club. Ricky shot his be providing this training betore
way to tlie highest NRA medalsi't is legally required."
after staying with the club as n
junior instructor. Oilier learners
also have an opportunity to keep
on pi inking for higher awards aft-'.Lilly and Walter Conrady,
Policemen who conducted the
last course included Adkins. Oscar
Gerleve, PhU Chlopek, Dennis
in-1
cr they iuush tlie gun handling stnictors, and Jonn Kennant, Ai
course. Rianconi, Russell Mattmiller and
Most youngstei-s, boys and girls Kay Howard, assistant.
spectors and shipping agents.
No one was hurt. Tlie only dam-
HOT STAKE STREAK
BALTIMORE (API During a
six-day period early in No-
ember, Bill Hartack won three
stakes while dividing his talents
at three racetracks. He scored in
Garden State features with Tick
T u,nnema"oniTock and Royal Native and at
about a foot long and half an mch'pimiico wilh yBrandy Sea. Ear
deep emMdcd with bits o coral, jier ha(J ,nnncd'to ride out
about S fee below the water line the Now Yor w ilnout
forward of the bridge, Lrruption but he consented to
But it took several tugs more travel 800 miles in one week to
jlhan two hours while all olher'ridc stakes races, ' '