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 LOOKING BACK "ONE OF THE YEAR'S 10 BEST" Shows Today at 1:00-3:05-5:15-7:25-9:40 Open at 12:45 NOMINATED FOR 4 ACADEMY AWARDS! Emanuel L. Wolf presents the John Huston-John Foreman film lbsno an Who Wouli ReBKing An Allied Artists - Columbia Pictures Production C 1 An Allied Artists Release THIS FILM IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART Shown Today at 1-3-5-7-9:00 ----4Open at 12:45 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 NOW SHOWING-CAMPUS THEATER Shows Sat. & Sun.-I-3-5-7-9:00 Mon. & Tues.-7:00 & 9:00 Sorry-No Passes the MYSTERIOUS MONSTERS 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.