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When guns and schools were pals
Journal Times ^ | Mike Moore

Posted on 05/05/2006 11:38:52 PM PDT by tarawa

When guns and schools were pals By Mike Moore

Time to settle up on a bet.

It started with a conversation I had in a Downtown bar a couple of weeks back. A guy tried to convince me when he'd gone to Mitchell Middle School, there was a shooting range in the basement.

He saw my skeptical eyes narrow into that "How many have you had?" look. He suggested I try to confirm it.

Possibly, if I'd read my buddy Chris Bennett's Glad You Asked column about another old range, I'd have believed the story right away. But the guy described more than the thing's existence. He remembered students traipsing into the school office to get the guns.

Could be that sounded foreign because I've adapted already to the world of ID badges and students emptying backpacks at metal detectors. Yes, that's the same world where rule-happy principals feel compelled to throw the book at students who carry butter knives to home-ec class. But it's also the world where "Columbine" has instant name recognition.

So I took the case. Besides, the odds were double if I won.

First, I stopped at the school, on Racine's south side. Principal Bob Wilhelmi said he'd heard rumors of the range, but that there's no shooting down there now. Only dust bombs skipping from box to box in storage.

A couple of phone calls sent me into a bit of a time warp, with each person referring me to the previous Mitchell principal. Finally, I reached Wally Stenavich, who was principal in the late 1950s or so and still lives in the area. Was there really a shooting range in the basement? "I helped build it," he said.

An industrial arts teacher oversaw the construction of it and started a rifle club league. Stenavich was a student in 1939 and got involved in one of the teams.

Later, as a teacher and principal, he took over the teams.

Dang, my payoff was in danger. The only chance I had left was to squeeze by on a technicality. I asked Stenavich if the guns were stored in the office, as I'd heard.

Sure, he said. And we're not talking the air rifles that some schools compete with today, the ones that barely give crows a tickle.

"At the time, the U.S. Army was encouraging these things, and they supplied us with the rifles," he said.

Not quite like picking up a hall pass.

"It wasn't the tightest control, kids in and out of the office," Stenavich said, but he didn't remember any problems or injuries.

The range had more features than the one at Horlick High School, he said. A separate door to the outside kept teams from disturbing the nighttime activities upstairs.

I'm assuming it was soundproofed somewhat, although a well-timed "BOOM" can really liven up a PTA meeting.

The rifle teams from various schools would compete, which produced an occasional battle of the sexes. Stenavich remembered the time one cocky boys' team got beat by an all-girls team.

"They concentrated a little better after that," he said.

The spirit of competition is stuck in Stenavich's bloodline. His grandson Adam, from Marshfield, has a shot to be an NFL offensive lineman after signing with the Carolina Panthers this week as a rookie free agent.

The competition was secondary at the range, though.

"Our main purpose was to teach gun safety," Stenavich said, "and hunting was a big thing during that time."

After he moved on, Stenavich said, nobody was there to oversee the program. The rifles were sent to an armory in St. Louis.

I suggested 21st century America would never allow this. To him, that's a sad thought.

"We've become paranoid in this world," he said. "But I have a lot of confidence in our kids."

And I have a little more confidence in barroom storytelling.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: 2ndamendment; banglist; guns; kids; rotc; schools
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1 posted on 05/05/2006 11:38:56 PM PDT by tarawa
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To: tarawa
I still have my skeet shooting trophy from the high school trap and skeet club competition (1972). It would have been nice to have a rifle team at the high school. I had to be content with my dad's bolt action .22LR rifle. Cotton tail rabbits provided targets, dinner and pelts.
2 posted on 05/06/2006 12:10:27 AM PDT by Myrddin
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To: Myrddin
In sixth grade, we had mandatory "Hunter Safety" training. A local DNR guy was the instructor.

This was during regular classroom hours at 1:00 p.m. on Fridays for eight weeks, IIRC.

For the final test we brought our guns to school; and had to show the instructor that we could handle, load, and shoot the gun correctly. The class was mandatory, the shooting part was optional. Naturally, all of the guys opted for the qualifying test; most of the girls as well. We were rewarded with the "Hunter Safety Patch."

The shooting test even occurred on school property...horror of horrors!!

3 posted on 05/06/2006 12:19:32 AM PDT by garandgal
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To: Myrddin

My high school had a rifle team in a Pittsburgh suburb (Mt.Lebanon) in 1962.


4 posted on 05/06/2006 12:22:13 AM PDT by ncountylee (Dead terrorists smell like victory)
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To: tarawa
When we lived In Alaska back in the 70's. The little town of Moose Pass had winter target shooting with .22's for kids in the community hall. Shoots were adult supervised, local F&G officer and school teacher were among the instructor's.

Our kids attended and received good firearms safety training. Wife and I thought it would be good for them to get structured class instruction in addition to our teaching them.
5 posted on 05/06/2006 12:29:26 AM PDT by Ursus arctos horribilis
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To: tarawa

Approximately 500 schools nationwide have rifle teams (as of 1999)

High School Rifle Teams Draw Fire
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a383a9b5f0881.htm

Chicago school system dropped Junior ROTC marksmanship classes in 33 schools.

Chicago Schools CEO Paul Vallas wondered: "How can we have a zero-tolerance policy that severely disciplines students for being caught with a gun in school or on the street while we're teaching marksmanship?"


6 posted on 05/06/2006 12:36:19 AM PDT by endthematrix (None dare call it ISLAMOFACISM!)
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To: tarawa

Some of the boys at my small rural grade school would bring their guns to go hunting with friends after school. The bus driver would have them leave the gun up front with him. It was left in the bus all day. Riding another bus home with the pal, no problem, just transfer the gun to the other bus driver when arriving at school. We only had three buses. And, those wonderful ole farmers driving those buses were some great men. I sure do miss those days.


7 posted on 05/06/2006 1:54:12 AM PDT by raisincane (Dims think we're all oblivious to the obvious)
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To: tarawa

I had riflery all through HS (early 70's). We did the NRA stuff with the bars, expert, and all that. I had already been through all that before in summer camp up in Maine, since around age 9.


8 posted on 05/06/2006 1:57:24 AM PDT by Cementjungle
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To: tarawa

In the late 1930's, my father in-law and his small posse of ten year olds, would get on a metro bus in Washington DC with rifles in tow, to shoot at targets in rock creek park. No one blinked an eye.


9 posted on 05/06/2006 3:39:15 AM PDT by Katya (Homo Nosce Te Ipsum)
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To: endthematrix

His school system is so full of drugs and disrespect for authority. The real issue is that the school system under his control is a disgrace.


10 posted on 05/06/2006 3:46:55 AM PDT by 2ndClassCitizen
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To: tarawa

It is a shame we have become an uptight, paranoid society that restricts the freedom of normal people while sociopathic thuggery is celebrated in popular culture. The left has broken down social norms with the idea that unrestrained behavior would make people "free." This unrestrained behavior has led to unrestrained violence, as it is taboo to teach children right from wrong. The left's answer to this is "zero tolerance" where a child using a butter knife at lunch is treated like a criminal, while on the other hand gangs that shoot people are winked at and violent entertainment is encouraged.


11 posted on 05/06/2006 3:54:22 AM PDT by Wilhelm Tell (True or False? This is not a tag line.)
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To: tarawa
I might be the only man alive in America who once got in trouble for not bringing a gun to school. I was on the rifle team. We practiced in the basement of a nearby elementary school right after high school let out. In the morning of a practice day we were supposed to bring our .22 cal. target rifles to my coache's homeroom and put them in an unlocked closet so that he could make sure we were all ready for practice. I forgot my rifle one day, had to run home after school to get it and got a demerit for being late for practice.

These days I can't bring a rifle within 500 yards of either the high school or the elementary school where we practiced.

12 posted on 05/06/2006 4:17:26 AM PDT by muir_redwoods (Free Sirhan Sirhan, after all, the bastard who killed Mary Jo Kopechne is walking around free)
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To: tarawa

I do remember that we had a shooting club in Jr - Sr high school as well as designated smoking areas with snack and coke machines. And, many guys also carried a buck knife in a holser on thier belts.

Times sure have changed, "the man" has taken away all these rights of passage towards adulthood and things have only gotten worse.


13 posted on 05/06/2006 4:19:09 AM PDT by diverteach
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To: raisincane

Same here...We had to leave the guns in the principal's office...But not for safety's sake...Some thought me might skip out early to shoot some of them rabbits...


14 posted on 05/06/2006 5:14:03 AM PDT by Iscool (You mess with me, you mess with the whole trailer park...)
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To: tarawa
In General Chuck Yeager's autobiography, he talks about hunting with a .22 on the way to school and when he walked back home. He mentioned that the coat closet had something like 20 rifles and small bore shotguns from the other kids that did like wise.

No one thought anything about it in those oppressive, male dominated, material deprived, slaved to evil church going days. Thank God, fifty years of leftist, euro commie, elite trash have led Americas to better days for kids.< sarcasm/off>
15 posted on 05/06/2006 5:35:13 AM PDT by Leisler (Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslim.)
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To: garandgal

This is clearly not the same America we grew up in.


16 posted on 05/06/2006 5:54:22 AM PDT by Emmet Fitzhume (If CNN says it, then it must be true!)
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To: tarawa

I had a shotgun in my dorm room.

Students were the only hunters allowed to dove hunt on the Ag school fields.

I transferred to another school in another state where the same policy was in effect.

While not actually promoted, there was no phobia.


17 posted on 05/06/2006 5:59:02 AM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. Slay Pinch)
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To: tarawa
The best teacher I ever had was in highschool. He taught history.

He didn't just teach history he collected it. And he brought his collections to school to illustrate his lessons.

A class on the civil war was complete with uniforms, equipment, and WEAPONS.

Thankfully he has passed away many years ago. It would break his heart to see what has become of the school he served so well.

18 posted on 05/06/2006 6:00:41 AM PDT by LibKill (Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. - Benjamin Franklin)
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To: Emmet Fitzhume
This is clearly not the same America we grew up in.

It's pretty much not America at all, IMHO. There isn't any America any more. Not really. The Commies subtly overthrew us in the 1960's, and we'll never get it back.

19 posted on 05/06/2006 6:07:01 AM PDT by Hardastarboard (Why isn't there an "NRA" for the rest of my rights?)
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To: tarawa

Early to mid-70's shot indoor smallbore in the basement range of Montgomery Blair HS.

My neighbors boys shoot on a local HS team, they use precision air rifles. That does make sense to me, not because they're not "real guns" but there is no need for special facilities, just 10 meters and a pellet trap. The range I shot at had such bad ventilation I probably lost 20 IQ points just from breathing the lead dust.

I wonder if the wimp that wrote this knows that scholastic and collegiate shooting are the only sports that have never had an instance of participant or spectator violence. That member of shooting teams typically have much higher levels of scholastic achievement too.


20 posted on 05/06/2006 6:07:54 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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