Sunday, February 22, 1976
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Five
PROFI
LE
Police Chief Walter Krasny: A lifer in
the cop shop
By JIM TOBIN the sergeant taking me down- walked his beat; he checked'
THE WALLS of the small town and showing me where the doors to see if they were locked,
T ofic ar c y r d ithbeats were and where the phone coaxed traffic, and wrote park-
office are c o v e r e d with was to call in so I wouldn't get ing tickets. When Krasny final-
plaques, pictures, and other lost," Krasny says, as a faint ly became chief, he saw a com-
memorabilia from the past 37 grin crosses his leathery face. munity undergoing a wrenching
years. They almost overwhelm "He handed me an ordinance change.
a first-time visitor-dominating book and gave me another book
the modern, plastic furniture, to read and says 'You're a cop,' TUENSIONS W E R E already
But, it is still the man behind know, Go out and arrest high on campus. Over the
the desk who commands one's people.' That's about the extent i next half decade, the campus
iof my training would explode into anti-war;
He is tall with graying hair. ,demonstrations and s t u d e n t
arrested. As bad as a lot of 1 SHRP.
people thought things were, we Pondering the party's fre-
were able to meet with groups quent calls to have him fired,
practically any hour of the day he says: "It's probably because
or night. When you really evalu- I donsta ree with their hiloso-
ate what happened here in the I d robably tevr ils.
city, compared to a lot of other They'd like to see the 'police
university communities we suf State' as they call it done away
fered very few bodily injuries. with. They want to have you
It was always controlled. I
don't think things went ram-onlenforce thelaws the fe
pant." should be enforced. 1 figure if
they want me fired and they
can Drove I'm not doing my job
His grip is nearly as strong as
his jaw. From behind the wire-
rimmed glasses, the eyes burn+
bright and friendly. And the lipsI
often part into a smile at aI
puckish comment.'
Walter Krasny has been a±
cop for a long time. The memo-
ries begin to pile one on top of;
another, filling the mind the
way the accouterments cover,
the walls in his City Hall office.
In those 37 years, Krasny has;
risen through the ranks, begin-
ning with his first beat on Main!
St.
Now, he runs the show. It's.
Chief Krasny.!
$ ORNAND aise in W t- strikes for greater minority en- j RASNY, IN recent years, has I'll accept that. But to fire a
more Lake (12 miles north rollment and a non-profit book- nas become a political issue person because he's performing
of the city), Krasny, 57, went store. Krasny's hands would be in his own right. Many find him against their best wishes-that's
to Normal College (now Eastern full with the protestors and the too staid a representative of a little difficult to buy."
Michigan University) in Ypsi- law - and - order advocates who the Old Guard to bring about
lanti for a year, then dropped demanded firmer action against reform in the department. Last THE DAYS when Krasny and
out to go to work. the radicals. fall he was severely castigated others could take a newly-
"I see it as a mistake now "I got called a lot of names by city Democrats and the So- arrested out-of-towner to the
as I look back," he says. "I by the group over here that cialist Human R i g h t s Party city line, point out Ypsilanti and
would have been much better says 'You're spying on us, (SIIRP) members for his role Chicago and say, "Don't come
off if I had (finished college), you're too damn easy on these in publicizing a series of drug back" have given way to a
even if I had ended up in the people, you oughta go in there arrests made in cooperation more complex era. Krasny has
same job." and beat their brains in.' " with the federal Drug Enforce- had to adapt.
ment Administration. The Demo-
But he needed the money in Krasny speaks with a sense crats and SHRP charged that "You try to evaluate if this
the late thirties. He drove a of isolation from those not-so- the bust was blown out of pro- is the right way to do it or the
cab for a year to meet the resi- distant years. He is relieved portion to make way for an wrong way to do it, ' he says.
dency requirement for a police they are over. His whole man- overthrow of the city's $5 dope "As a cop you sit there and you
application. After working at ner is composed of this sort of law and for a possible Krasny say, 'No, by God, no way in hell
a luggage store and a manu- detachment. He now seems al- campaign for county sheriff. are they gonna be violating the
facturing company, he made most bored with the turbulence laws.' But you also have to look
his try for the blue uniform. that once surrounded him, and But the chief claims he di- at what could be the end result
"About the time I became a it is likely that this sort of calm vorces himself from politics as if you overreacted. So you try
s I be t etmy was his major tool for dealing a civil servant, and says the F to control things. In some cases
sirgeand feltg had a placemto with the protests of the late strain of working under alter- you do, and if you don't, you
go and I went on up." sixties. nately conservative and liberal eat crow."
SINCE KRASNY assumed the
top job in 1966-a photo on j
the wall commemorates the1
event - he's seen some tough!
times. W h a t with anti-war;
demonstrations in the sixties,
the popularity of marijuana,
and attacks on his policies, the I
c h i e f hasn't had an easy;
tenure.
But Ann Arbor isn't Detroit.
There isn't a murder a day.
Violent street crime isn't ram-
pant. The "Dope Capital of the,
Midwest" has proven a good
place to live-and to be a cop.
"You know, when I look back
on it, our training consisted of
a
c
f
I
HIS RISE was rapid. He be-
came a sergeant early, then
a detective, then a captain. He
solved a couple of major cases
on his own, including the arson
of the University's old Haven
Hall about 30 years ago. ButI
Krasny climbed the ladder in
a force accustomed to the quiet
routines of the officer who
"If yiou want to look at the'
failure or success (of the de-
partment's dealings with pro-
testors)," he says, "we were
never afraid to go talk with
people. We met with students.
We were trying to give them
guidelines-you can go up to
this line but if you step beyondI
that you're in violation of the
law and you can expect to be
City Councils has not really at-
fected him. He finds little sym-
pathy, he admits, with the
Jim Tobin is a Daily night
editor and staff writer.
Daily Photo by STEVE KAGAN
Chief Krasny
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HW Two weeks ago demonstrasors I opportunity guidelines. His re- and is being carried out by the contract, it ws toll thc r&e
TH E lW EEK I N REVI EW 'interrupted a Regents me lag sponse was weak: "We make no Aerospace Engineerag depart- search would not lei to the
to demand an end to CIA and effort to police this policy be- ment under contract with the development of a weapon.
an average student budget they National Security Agency )NSA) t cause we have no policing United States Air Force Arma
osts rise again will perhaps total $50. But in. recruitment on campus. . ment Laboratory. SIMILAR STORY appeared
Students were served with yet creasingly, the issue is not hikFsem-staff.t"accede to e re*One of the scientists directing last month whe Physics
another notice of budgetary in a single sector. of the t a t a I quest, but he did promise to s dthe research, J. Nichalls, said Professor Jens 7orn pretested
cost package, but the effect of meet them and, discuss the is- that the Air Force would clear- a radar research s sy, which
gloom for t T en a cumulative annual cost jumps. sue. ly be interested in the weapons he claimed, in a memo, "ap-
soPedic d that rents aid .TN A RELATED issue, a re- application of the worR, but iears to be a weaaons engieer-
ion preitedp in Tuition for entering n-state Wednesday night the C>ation port surfaced this week added that the knowledige would ing project."
the city would rise by an aver- students has risen from $348 to Stop CIA*NSA Recruitment that the University is engaged also have non-military uses. Th disturb p f
age of five per cent next fall. in 1972 to the present $421, and on Campus got their audience in a research project that could Given the clear likelihoof that e twg prese ce
Robert Miller of the Tenants a dorm room has risen from with the University's tp cffi- be used to develop - new wea the contract violates the policy raisese twohprjects tion of etamhs
Union admitted that "no system- $1276 for a double to $1500 for cer. The scene was the Union pon. on classified researc', it 'aises the sregentaIoticy ,beingh cr-
atic research" has been done next year. The calculus of ris- Ballroom, and the house w a s If that's so, it flatly contra- the question of how the project cumvented and whe hr the
on rent increases, but he claim- ing costs has become perpetual, packed. dicts a regental policy on class- was approved by the Univer- committee charged wih reiew-b
ed that the management com- and the end is nowhere in sight. Fleming, a former lanor arbi- ified research which prohibits sity's Classified Research Re- ingmteects is flfilln eits
panies were raising rents in re- At the last Regents meeting, trator refused to re*eat from research "any spec'fic purpose view Committee. mandated tsk. li
sonse to the rise i Unversiy Thomas Roach admitted that his position that interviewing for for which is to destroy human Deception may be the a ,swer -STEPHEN SELBST
rates. students might well expect a jobs is a matter of personal ccn- life or incapacitate human be- With respect to the gas explos- -
Not surprisingly a spokes-
cost increase every year. science. ings. ion project, LSA senior Elham
woman for Maize and Blue The project involves the ef- Elahi said that when the com-
_______ __c___ m-_ Sunday at Hillel
Management rejected Miller's: And every year that the costs A SPOKESMAN for the coali- fects of natural gas explosions, mittee initially reviewed t h e
explanation. Karen Fraccaro go up, more students ae __tion Kevin Stiersclaimed-- 11:00a.m.: Brunch
cited tax hikes and rising util- squeezed out of an education. that his organization did not k -
ity costs to justify rent oosts.* * *seek to prevent people f r o m PROF. PLIPerLVING
But even Housing Director CIA On campus interviewing with the agencies; OFFICE OF STUDENT LIFE Presents Topic: The Yiddish Theate
John Feldkamp, a figure long "Anyone can drop a card in $1.00-Lox & Bael
and intimately associated with SENTIMENT FOR the mili*ry the mail if they want an inter- 12:30-2:00 p m.
landlord interests, agreed that: and intelligence commun- vie1 0 0
"Every time the University rat- ities has never been particular-r Israeli Dan g
es go up the landlord will use it ly high on campus, and certain- Fleming was also asked why 5:30-6:30: Deli-$2.50
as an excuse," to raise rents. ly has not warmed appreciably the University permitted ' h e AIl at H ILLEL-
in the wake of the recent disclo- agencies to recruit on campus plus SPECIAL GUEST STAR
rTHE PROJECTED rent rises sores about the actions of the despite the fact that they fal 1429 HILL ST.
y are not overwhelming; for CIA. to adhere to equal employment: N A TA LIE C O LE
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Shows Sat. & Sun.-I-3-5-7-9:00
Mon. & Tues.-7:00 & 9:00
Sorry-No Passes
the MYSTERIOUS
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L iBigfoot - Loch Ness " Abominable Snowman
Collectors: Appreciating fantasy
Friday, March 12
n nm-Bowen Fieildhouse
I
(Continued from Page 3) 1
character, like Roy Thomas,'I
creator of the Fantastic Four.:
He is considered to be among
the top script writers, because|
not only does he pay close at-'I
tention to his characters, but
he makes them believable peo-
ple. His stories are set in realf
places, like New York City,,
and the plots are consistentl
with the setting.
Norm began seriously collect-
ing comicsabout seven years
ago. "I had been collecting
them long before that, but I
lost the stuff just like everyone
else," he shrugs.
He collects mainly because
he loves fantasy art, and com-
ics he adds, are the best me-
dium for that right now. But
he also admits to their liter-
ary value. "Comics were my
first literary attempt, they,
taught me how to read."
Norm Harris is a cuiet mnn,
but his wire-rimmed glasses,
long hair, and bushy beard
make him look like the eccen-
tric man he is.
HE NEVER openly offers hist
opinions on comics, but
he'll gladly ramble on about
them when prompted. People
always ask him "who was the
villain in Spiderman number,
six," or "how did Deathlock
get his powers," and Norm al-
ways seems to know the ans-
with lookers and buyers. Norm mission to save America by
sells from 800 to 1,000 a week,| none other than Henry Kis- EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
but these are just current ones, singer, who actually appeared
"You never know how many in the comic. "Even President
old comics will sell," he says. Ford has appeared in comics." $6.50 reserved-$5.50 general admission
"One week you sell none, and But Fred, Bruce, and Norm Tickets on sale at McKenny Union
the next week someone could : face the same problem that all
buy them all." , collectors face - the rising Also at Mr. Music at Briarwood, Huckleberry Party Store,
OMIC BOOK collecting is cost of comic books. Three Richardson's Pharmacy, Where House Records, Hudson's.
becoming increasingly pop- years ago, 24 pages of art with No smoking or alcoholic beverages allowed
ular. Norm claims that five: eight pages of advertising in Fieldhouse
years ago only five per cent of , went for 15 cents. Now 17 pages
all comic book readers were of art goes for twice that
aosr but o wthi eny p uber is "There isn't a person in the,
One such fan is Fred John- comic book business who ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS Presents
son, who owns over 3,000 of doesn't know that, without get-
them. ting a reasonable price and e e j jf
"I used to keep all my comics more pages of art, comics will T w a s Bl g"
in a big rack in my room, he die," says Norm.
says, and I'd come home from 'VEN fanatics like Fred, who
school and just sit and stare spend over $20 a month for An Evening of, Masks
at them for hours and hours. about 80 books, may have to
I guess I collect them because kick their habit.
they keep me off drugs," he "I'll just have to stop buy- Final Performance Tonight
adds with a smile. "They're an ing all the comics I look at
escape from reality for me. just because they are there,"
They calm me down, like a sed- he says wistfully. _At The
ative."
As Fred gets older, he enjoys HUNDREDS OF -
his comics more and more, CALCULATORS Residential College Theatre
perhaps because they are
changing too. "They're cater- 50% OFF EastQuad Building
ing more and more to an older
readership, mainly college stu- CENTICORE BOOKSHOP
dents. Look at comics like 336 MAYNARD ST. At Hill & E. Uniyersity
Warlock and Dr. Strange. _ --
You'd never have seen comics
like that in the sixties. The Summer Roundtrip
nlots ara too complex, the art NEW YORK
- I
/
V.