Saturday, August 06, 2005

From the "Simple Physics" files and Yahoo! News...

Sudiegirl sez: I think Homer's classic pose is just too apropos for words. I think I rolled my eyes enough at this story...now here's your opportunity with the usual snide comments enclosed. Enjoy!

Firing Range Bullet Hits Home a Mile Away
37 minutes ago
TIPTON, Ind. - Police officials are considering design changes to a firing range after a stray bullet struck a home about a mile away. ("Considering" changes? Gee, you know, someone could just "consider" something important to them, like closing the local donut shop...)

A resident called Tipton County sheriff deputies the afternoon of July 12, reporting a bullet had just come through the wall of his home. Deputies quickly alerted several members of the Noblesville Police Department, who were conducting firearms training at the range. (Whoops...)

"We're still not really sure what happened for the bullet to go that far away," Noblesville Police Chief Richard Russell said Thursday. "It was really puzzling." (Well, when you consider the laws of physics, not really. It's definitely time to close the donut shop...too much sugar helps to erase scientific principles, I think...)

Police are speculating a shooter lying in a prone position, aiming upward at a target, must have sent a bullet up and over the mound of tree-covered earth at the back of the range about 30 miles north of Indianapolis, Russell said. (OK, was the guy cross-eyed or wall-eyed or something? Maybe Marty Feldman's come back to life and gotten a job with the police force...)

"It must have went off at least at a 45-degree angle to get that far, kind of like an arch," he said.
Law enforcement officials from Noblesville and Tipton are looking at raising the height of the earth berm behind the targets and possibly thickening the berm. (What a great phrase..."thickening the berm". You know, if someone calls me up and asks me to do something I don't want to do, I'm just gonna say, "Sorry, can't...I'm thickening the berm. Might take a while...")

The cost of the improvements has not been determined. (Well, really...how does one calculate the berm-thickening process? Is it by the hour or a performance based thing...like how much berm can be thickened in so many hours? Who'd have thunk berm would be so complicated?)

Russell and Tipton County Sheriff Craig Henderson said that until improvements are made on the county-owned property, it is unlikely officers will do any more shooting there. (That's good to know...but where will they go? Certainly not the donut shop!)

Sudiegirl's final word?

Berm...


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Information from: Kokomo Tribune, http://www.ktonline.com