Lane Hickenbottom/DN
JAMIE LEWIS, 10, shoots an air rtflo at tho Lincoln Paries and Rocreation shooting range at 10th and Military
streets last Sunday.
Firearms instructors stress safety
By Jonathan Houghton
Staff Reporter
Children and guns may seem a bad
combination to some people, but fire
arms instructors say training can help
the two mix safely.
Bob Beaver, program coordinator
for the Lincoln Paries and Recreation
department, said education on how to
use firearms can prevent accidents.
Classes at the Parks and Recreation
shooting range, 10th Street and Mili
tary Road, have been designed with
that objective.
“We make people more comfort
able with guns,” Beaver said.
Although classes are offered at the
shooting range for all ages, many target
children as young as 8 years old, he said.
Jack Magorian, an air gun instruc
tor at the range, said that was a good
age to start shooting because other in
terests take up children’s time when
they become teen-agers.
“Then they get interested in boys
and girls and that kind of stuff,” he
said.
Beaver said the class’s focus is to
show children the damage guns can do
if used improperly.
“One of our goals is teaching kids
what to do if they encounter a gun and
their parents aren’t around,” Beaver
said. “It happens every day.”
But even though most parents
should be relieved to have their chil
dren learn gun safety, Beaver said
many parents are fearfiil of their chil
dren being around guns at all. He said
denying a child’s interest in guns might
do more harm than good.
“If you’re a parent, you can’t bury,
your head in the sand,” Beaver said. ^
“Guns are here to stay.”
The reason many people fear guns
is that they don’t consider shooting to
be a sport, Magorian said.
But shooting is a sport, Magorian
said, and must be played according to
the sport’s rules. People must play by
the rules or not play at all, he said.
“We’re not talking about water >
guns,” he said. “These guns can be
very dangerous.” He said most acci
dents occur when people misuse guns.
“You’ve probably never heard of
an injury al an organized pistol range,”
he said. “That’s because they’re run
so strictly.”
This emphasis on safety is true for
all activities at the shooting range,
Beaver said. In addition to classes,
open shooting sessions are offered«
every week for rifles, pistols, and
airguns. The shooting range is open
Wednesdays from 6 to 9 p.m. for rifle
and pistol shooting, and Sundays from
1:3Q to 4:30 p.m. for air gun shooting.
People do not have to have a per
mit to shoot, Beaver said, but must
follow rules and wear eye and ear pro
tection.
These safety precautions have kept
the range from having any accidents
for the 10 years he has worked there,
Beaver said. This is especially note
worthy, he said, considering the
amount of use the shooting range gets.
When it is not being used for pub
lic programs, Beaver said, the shoot
ing range is often rented out to vari
ous groups including the Boy Scouts
and 4-H Club. Rochester, a local ar
mored car company, recently rented
the range to train its guards.
“That’s the first time we’ve ever
had that type of use,” Beaver said.
In fact, the rifle and pistol range
will be in use almost every day of the
week through the first week of May,
he said. The rahge reopiSis in Octo
ber, he said, but will be dosed during
the summer.
“We find that when the weather
gets better, the use goes down,” Bea
ver said. “Plus, we don’t have air-con
ditioning.”
Man treasures mortality
in bird population study
By Jonathan Houghton
Staff Reporter
Most people who find dead
birds outside their windows would
pick them up and throw them in the
trash.
Not Thomas Labedz. He stud
ies them and finds the flattened,
feathered corpses a valuable find.
For three and a half years,
Labedz, a collections manager at
the University of Nebraska State
Museum, has studied more than
600 dead birds killed on the UNL
campus by crashing into windows.
He published his study “Windows
of Death: A Look at Bird Strikes”
in February’s “Museum Notes.”
“I did the study out of curios
ity,” he said. “I handle a lot of birds,
and I wanted to see the effect on
population.”
Labedz fit the study m around his
busy schedule, often making quick
45-minute trips around campus to
find any new birds.
“See those people running
around campus speed walking?” he
said. “That was me with a bag in
my hand.”
He said the reactions of people
were mixed, though many were
supportive after learning about his
study.
“Some are very curious,” he
said. “Some say, ‘What?’ But there
were very few times when people
thought it was revolting and left.”
Several people helped Labedz
with his study, including Lynn
Doser, chief of security at Sheldon
Art Gallery. Whenever she found a
dead bird outside the gallery, she
said, she would call Labedz so he
could come and study it.
“Everybody has different inter
ests, especially on a university cam
pus,” she said.
In addition, Labedz had help
from several students who have
since graduated. He would even
take his children “dead-bird shop
ping” on weekends.
a
I still, on occasion,
will make people
realize their olfac
tory abilities”
Thomas Labedz
collections manager, University of
Nebraska State Museum
He also got some unwanted
help.
Labedz said that on occasion
people would send him dead birds
in the mail. One particular helper
sent a washing machine box full of
bird carcasses, which caused quite
a stir in the museum’s mail room.
“It was in the mail for several
days, and it was late July,” Labedz
said.
tie aiso saia people would drop
off things outside the door for him.
“I still, on occasion, will make
people realize their olfactory abili
ties,” he said.
Although these people were try
ing to help, Labedz said, most did
not make die notes necessary for his
study. And, he said, these people
did not realize they were breaking
the law. It’s illegal to possess dead
birds without a permit, which
Labedz has.
When Labedz did get a good
find, he would make notes on its
location and take the bird to his of
fice at Nebraska Hall.
If a bird was of a rare species or
not represented in the study, Labedz
would add it to the museum’s col
lection, which includes more than
11.000 specimens of more than
1.000 species of birds.
“We’re the guardians of the
physical evidence of the natural his
tory of Nebraska.”
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