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
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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
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Claudia Drake
Thursday, December 4, 1975 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Page 17