Western Front - 1982 February 2

              The Western Front
Western Washington University Vol. 74, No. 8 Tuesday, February 2,1982
Proposed gun ban
illegal at county level
By Carol Temple
A gun control measure pro­posed
for Whatcom County would
be void if enacted on the local level,
an official with the District Attor­ney's
office informed the Front last
week.
State law prohibits local control
of gun ordinances, the official,
who declined to be named, said.
County Councilman Bob
Muenscher presented local police
with a plari to ban handguns in
public places in the county last
Wednesday.
Muenscher's proposal, which he
had planned to present to the
County Council, would have made
it a gross misdemeanor to carry a
handgun in public areas. It also
would have prohibited an individ­ual
from carrying a gun onto pri­vate
property.
Contacted yesterday, Muenscher
said he could not predict the fate of
the ordinance.
Whatcom County Sheriff Larry
Mount said he feels legal problems
existed with the first draft. Mount
suggested the ordinance would
work better if implemented on a
state level.
"My purpose is to make people
more aware of the permit process
and the weak areas as far as per­mits
go," Mount said.
Anyone who never has been
convicted of a felony or never has
been involuntarily committed to a
mental institution can get a permit
for a gun. Mount said he feels
stiffer laws need to be enacted to
regulate requirements for obtain­ing
a gun permit.
On campus no laws prohibit
persons from carrying handguns.
Only Housing regulations stipulate
students may not have guns in on-campus
housing units.
Muenscher admitted the chan­ces
of getting the ordinance passed
on any level are slim. He attributed
this to legal problems, gun control
being an emotional issue and peo­ple
fearing loss of their right to
bear arms.
Muenscher and Mount agreed
that unless every law enforcement
agency and interest group backed
the ordinance, it will face certain
doom.
In a 12-point rationale for the
'Somehow, some­where
in this great
country someone
must stand up...'
—Muenscher
ordinance, Muenscher said the
country has gone "gun crazy."
"Somehow, somewhere in this
great country someone must stand
up and not only admit we have
problems concerning our views on
guns, but someone must be willing
to try to dp something about the
problem." he said.
Muenscher said he prefers to
ban guns completely but added he
knows that would be unrealistic.
Muenscher said he thinks some
people have a legitimate reason for
owning guns and cited druggists.
A short story
Edens Hall resident Erik Pederson has a different view
of life at Western. See page two for story, photo.
jewelers and people who carry
large sums of money as examples.
"People have an inherent right
to protect their property, but their
rights stop when they enter some
public places," Muenscher said.
Mount said some laws already
concern the control of guns in pub­lic
places. Forexample, if a person
takes out a gun in a bar and starts
to wave it around^ police can arrest
him for brandishing a firearm in a
public place.
. "But if they just carry it into the
bar, there's nothing we can do,"
Mount said.
Mount said he was not sure the
ordinance would change the
number of guns being carried into
public places but said it would give
law enforcement an added instru­ment
to prosecute violators.
Muenscher said he thinks people
are confused about the right to
carry arms and the right to misuse
them.
"How people can take the
Second Amendment and construe
that to mean they could use a gun
to intimidate people is beyond my
comprehension," Muenscher said.
Muenscher said he feels politi­cians
are avoiding the issue of gun *
control for fear of political doom.
"I don't have a political future
that I have to protect," Muenscher
said, because he is not concerned
about being re-elected.
"I have to do what I think is fight
concerning the abuse of hand­guns,"
he added.
Casey Madison
Handguns such as this revolver would have to stay home under
a measure proposed by Whatcom County Councilman Bob
Muenscher.
Arntzen coffee shop:
another debt for students ?
By Mitch Evich
The estimated cost of the Arnt­zen
Hall Coffee Shop project has
more than doubled since Septem­ber
1980, and students living on
campus next year may be forced to
help pay for it.
"In an indirect way, at least, it
could increase our room and board
rates next year," said Housing and
Residence Life Director Keith Guy
of the project that has ballooned to
an estimated $203,000, from its
original $100,000.
At a Committee on Housing and
Dining meeting Monday, however,
Guy and other administrators said
several alternatives could pay for
the project. A 1.2 percent increase
in next year's room and board
rates is just one of several options.
The 1.2 percent increase, about
$23 for each on-campus student,
would be in addition to the annual
cost-of-living increase in room and
board rates, tentatively set by Guy
at 5 percent.
The coffee shop project, designed
to alleviate the overcrowding of
similar facilities in Miller Hall and
the Viking Union, is financed
through the housing and dining
system. Capital funds of $100,000
were allotted for the project fol­lowing
the original cost estimate in
1980.
Capital funds were expanded to
$120,000 last fall when it became
clear the project would cost more
than anticipated, VU Director
Jack Smith said.
At that time, the latter figure
was considered a rough estimate.
Smith said. Other variables, such
as cost of equipment, an increase in
planned seating capacity to 100
from 80 and efforts to make the
coffee shop more aesthetic, drove
the estimate to $203,000. The avail­able
funds, however, remained at
$120,000.
Guy said the $83,000 difference
between the capital funds now
available and the latest estimate
can be obtained in several ways.
Drawing funds from the housing
and dining system's general rev­enues
would force the 1.2 percent
increase in room and board rates.
Alternatives include borrowing
funds from next year's capital bud­get
or from other projects. A re­serve
fund also is available, but
Guy said he prefers not to use it.
"The reserve fund is the money
we keep in case of emergency, and
we really don't want to use it unless
we really need it," he explained.
Despite its funding problems,
Guy, Smith and Food Service Di­rector
Rick Waldt all spoke in
favor of the project. ^_
"We did studies last year con­cerning
such things as traffic flow
and number of people in each
area," Waldt said. "Of 7,000 non­resident
students, 45 percent do
not eat on campus at all. The prim­ary
reason cited is lack of con­venience.
"People simply don't have a place
to sit, and they don't want to wait
in line," he added.
"There seems to be a need foi
another coffee shop," Waldt said.
"Most people who work in Arnt­zen
Hall think it's a good idea,
although of course, they don't con­trol
the purse strings."
Smith, one of the administrators
who first proposed the project in
the spring of 1977, added that the
peak capacity of the university's
two coffee shops now is 'woefully
inadequate." A-third coffee shop is
the best solution, he said.
Guy said he does not think the
cost increase is any reason to
abandon the project.
"If I felt this project was a waste
of time, I would not have brought
it before the committee," he said.
One student on the committee
(continued on page eight)