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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
December 4, 1975     Shelton Mason County Journal
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December 4, 1975
 
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shoot! It's your it too late? Have you Put a slug into the dim form you mistook punctuated by the gunfire have a unique and at times bear grim But is there time to when such decisions s? Does your f'~ger respond to cold g or just fear? the extreme case hardly Bert Conklin situation, it underscores dramatically than else the seriousness of involving the use of a Is a weapon of defense aggression - real two such decisions by are recorded in ~Ounty's recent history: shooting of a suspected Lilliwaup store owner the other the 1971 of a brushpicker by a man who thought his being encroached upon. the victim died of his how would you respond? an answer, the Journal the street with the "Would you shoot a if so, under what CONKLIN is 65 and a packed guns Was a boy, but has set John Havens to their use on a guy?" asked the man. "Only if he lny wife. If he came in tearing her up I'd kill '," he continued, "if I and someone shot at long enough to get him, they'd have to 0th out." is not certain he'd resort to a gun upon the of a burglar or however. "That my last way," said the three. "There are a lot learned while in the ... and there's talking the guy out can't talk him out of "he'd be wishing to HAVENS, 23-year-old naan now living in said he not only a gun but "doesn't tn the first place." But MacKay the unemployed married father of one admitted he might well be compelled to shoot someone "if he were shooting at me or threatening bodily harm." As such, any would-be prowler in the Havens home might be advised: "You're already dead," said the Shelton visitor. "You have no business there in the first place, and what with your being a stranger, too, it would constitute a threat." "That's a good question," said DAN MacKAY, 23-year-old boilermaker from Bremerton. "I wouldn't kill anyone, no way - not if I had any choice at all. But I suppose if a guy had a gun pointed straight at me I probably would shoot. If I could, though, I'd shoot only to disable him." LOUISE MOORE, 33, said she might shoot someone as a last defense, "but l'd try first to talk him out of whatever he was doing." The Shelton resident, married and mother of two, hastened to add that in any event she would try not to kill anyone. "Probably the first thing that would enter my mind would be to shoot him in the leg," she said, "- but, then, I guess I'd also have to ask myself, 'Would you really do it at all?' It's a pretty difficult decision, and one I hope I never have to make." CATHY DAI-IMAN has never had cause to use one, but the Louise Moore 21-year-old housewife and mother of one admits she conceivably could be driven to using a gun in self.defense. "If the person were trying to do harm to me or trying to take something, I probably would shoot," said the Shelton resident. "When you're scared you do anything, and if I were scared enough I might just use one ." When asked if she thought she might aim to wound, only, Mrs. Dahman confessed she probably wouldn't have the time or composure to think about it. "It probably wouldn't even enter my mind," she said. "I'd just shoot, and if I hit I hit, if I didn't I didn't." WILEY CUZICK has a wife and four children and deems it his right to protect them and himself in the case of a threat. "If someone were holding a gun on me or my family," said the 29.year-old Shelton logger, "I'd probably shoot him - I don't Cathy Dahman know. It would have tO be in self-defense. "I've always thought a person ought to shoot low first," continued Cuzick. "If you shoot a guy high, like in the stomach or chest, you're apt to hurt him real bad." Would Cuzick use a gun in the case of a burglar or housebreaker? 'Td probably pull out my gun," he said, "but only as a threat or to scare him off - not to shoot him, unless he turned around and had a gun himself." CLINT BROWN, 45-year-old married father of two, said he would shoot "in the defense of my own life or the life of another innocent person, and also to stop an armed robbery." Would he shoot also if the robber were not obviously armed? "If it was a burglar, yes," said the Dayton logger. "In the case of a burglar I'm afraid it might be a case of 'shoot first and ask questions later,' because you don't know the intentions of a person who is where he shouldn't be." Brown also disputes the notion of shooting specifically to wound as opposed to killing. "When you lift up a gun to shoot," he said, "it's just damn foolishness to expect to shoot for a target - especially when it's moving. So:I'd just shoot to stop it." CLAUDIA DRAKE, 28 and married mother of one, left no in killing. After all, I wouldn't anyone to shoot me." How would she defend herself in a situation of aggression? "Run fast? - I don't know," she said. "I'd try to defend myself the best I could, but not with a gun." Ms. Mathes believes no one qualified to have and use a firearm ought to be deprived of that right, but she does favor strict gun control. "I've got three little brothers and I wouldn't want them to get ahold of a gun. But a person should have the right to have one - as long as he not shoot anyone. "No, I wouldn't," said the Shelton resident. "1 just don't believe in it at all - and the same goes for capital punishment. There has got to be a better way. "If someone were threatening me or my family," she continued, "I'd probably call the police - but I wouldn't try to do anything myself." As for gun legislation, Mrs. Goodbum had this to say: "I don't think it would do any good, trying to tell people they can't have a gun. It would only make Wiley Cuzick question as to her choice: "I have a cattle ranch," she said, "and if I saw somebody slaughtering them, I'd shoot him. And if I saw someone breaking into my house when my daughter was there, I'd shoot him." Mrs. Drake, who relies on the family's German shepherd, "Rommal," to make such confrontations unlikely, said she would like to believe she would aim for a nonvital area of the body. "But I'm not such a hot shot," she said, "and I sure wouldn't want me to be shooting at me, I might aim for a leg and hit the head. "But one really never knows how one will respond until it actually happens," she added. "I might just freeze." SID TINDALL, 69 and a retired custodian, said he might shoot in self.defense but not if someone simply broke into his house was poking around. Sid Tindall him, of course," she added. "I don't know how I could kill a human - I can't even kill a mouse." Mrs. Caldwell added that she does encourage the citizenry's ownership of firearms for protection. "We've become creatures of bread lines," she said. "We have got to stop being so soft on criminals." TERESA MATHES, 29, is a vegetarian because she claims she doesn't believe in killing animals, and the unemployed Shelton resident extends a similar philosophy to defending oneself. "! couldn't shoot a gun," she said, "- even if it were in my hand and loaded. ! don't believe Clint Brown "That would just be 'an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth,' and that makes no sense," said the married Shelton man. "Unless it comes down to your life against his," he added, "! can't see shooting a man. And even then ! wouldn't say I'd shoot to kill.'" MARDELLA BRAGG, 25-year-old Sheiton housewife and mother Of two, said she would shoot only if someone were trying to do actual physical harm to her or her children. 'Td call the police first," she said, "and if they wouldn't do anything ! probably would hold a un on hsm bu g " - t ! definitely wouldn't just go out and shoot him; that would be the same as going out and putting myself in the pen." THELMA CALDWELL is 67, housemother for a rest home and a resident of Lilliwaup. She says she would shoot someone only to save her own life. "Self-preservation is the highest law of the land, don't you think?" she asked. "I would only want to wound Mardella Bragg Thelma Caldwell doesn't abuse or misuse it." RON LARSON, 40, hesitates to say he could ever shoot someone, "because of the basic value of life. But if it were a situation where my family was endangered," continued the pre-commercial thinner from Shelton and divorced father of five, "I might try to cripple him or something, it would definitely have to be a threat against someone other than myself, though.'" Larson contends that while everyone has the right to own a firearm, "in a town, as opposed to out in the country, it would probably cause more problems than it would solve." PAT CARDINAL, 24, is a correction officer here in Shelton and is authorized to carry a Teresa Mathies firearm. He believes there are certain situations where he might be compelled to shoot someone. "Yeah, I would if somebody's life were in danger, like if a person ~. were robbing a store and had a gun. I think I would if 1 couldn't ........... stop him some other way. "But I wouldn't just blaze away at him and kill him," added Cardinal, who is married but has no children. "I'd probably yell 'halt' or 'drop your weapon' or something first, and then maybe fire a warning shot." SHIRLEY GOODBURN, 34-year-old divorced mother of four and currently a student at OVTI, said she absolutely would : i!i ~ ili!ii!!i~i Ron Larson Pat Cardinal them want guns more and want to use them more, because people don't like to be told what they can and can't do." LYNN GRENFELL, an 18-year-old Seattle secretary in Shelton for the weekend to visit friends, said she didn't think she could bring herself to shoot anyone. "1 don't think I could be aggressive in return - in any way. If I could, l'd try to talk them out of it." Ms. Grenfell added she would do anything she could to protect herself or others from aggression, but such action would necessarily fall short of using a firearm. "! think there is a need for guns," added the unmarried woman, "but 1 feel they're too easily accessible as it is. 1 think guns are fine for hunting, but Shirley Goodburn owning them just for the sake of having them in your house - ! don't think that's right.'" Lynn Grenfell CORRECT FORMAL WEAR Complete Tuxedo ?"Rental Service Men's Women's 409 RAI LROAD e convenience open Open 11 to 3 Open 11 to 4 Toys & Hobbies Open 11 to 4 D Open 11 to 4 Warren's Open 11 to 4 lin Open 10 to 4 Open 11 to 4 I =, ,,,, i iii I ~l ' I I I I Donut Tree ; Always Open Sundays S a.m. to 10 p.m. , Open 11 ,o 4 Open 12 to 4 Open 10 to 4:30 Open 12 to 4 Open 9 to 6 Claudia Drake Thursday, December 4, 1975 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Page 17