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TIMELINE

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75¢TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2010

Snyder, Granholm name panel, A12‘Leaders,’ ‘Legends’ in Big Ten, C1

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INDEXAdvice/Puzzles ............B2Business ..................... A12Classified Ads .............. C7Comics ......................... B4

Daily Briefing.............A14Deaths ......................... A8Lottery..........................A2Opinions ..................... A15

Region ..........................A3Sports ........................... C1TV/Weather ................ B6Your Life ....................... B1©2010, The Grand Rapids Press

Rather than mail gifts to her five siblings, who are scattered across the country, Carol Teneyck , of Grand Rapids’ Southeast Side, donated $125.

“WE GREW UP IN A WONDERFUL

NEIGHBORHOOD WHERE WE ALL TOOK CARE OF EACH OTHER.

THIS FEELS LIKE I’M TAKING CARE OF

NEIGHBORS.”

SANTA GIRLS: WHY I GIVE

PRESS PHOTO/EMILY ZOLADZ

WHY DO YOU GIVE? E-mail your Santa Claus Girls memories to [email protected].

Donate easily online or learn more at santaclausgirls.org.

Santa Claus Girls is a Press-sponsored charity that, since 1908, has aimed to ensure no child in Kent County is without a Christmas gift. Last year, thousands donated $179,504, and 13,460 children received presents.

See page A2 for ways to help and today’s list of donors.

SUNDAY: A Press investigation shows how legitimate guns end up on the street — and get used in violent crimes.

MONDAY: One gun has been used in five shootings in Grand Rapids — and it’s still on the streets.

TODAY: Ride along with Grand Rapids officers on a federal task force aimed at getting guns off the streets.

WEDNESDAY: A look at some gun stores that have been hit by thieves repeatedly — andthe surprising places some of those gunshave turned up.

BY JOHN AGAR

THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS

G RAND RAPIDS — His hand on his fi rearm, Grand Rapids Police Offi cer Chad McKer-sie talks to the young driver he has just pulled over for

speeding. Nearby, a federal agent scans the car’s passengers, his hand near his own gun.

McKersie just tells the driver to slow down.

In this Southeast Side neighbor-hood troubled by drugs and violence, McKersie keeps watch — and some keep watch on him.

He drives past gang graffi ti on build-ings and slips through alleys looking

for suspicious behavior.He knows a lot of people.“That kid will run if we stop him,”

he says.On this day, he has an agent from

the federal Bureau of Alcohol, To-bacco, Firearms and Explosives as a partner. The bold, yellow ATF on the back of the agent’s jacket draws atten-tion, McKersie said.

“Why is the ATF with you?” people sometimes ask.

The agent, who requested anonym-ity, said the bad guys know why he is here, and he knows what they are thinking: “They don’t want to see the feds prosecute for a gun.”

This local-federal partnership, SEE STREETS, A7

GUNS GONE BAD: A PRESS INVESTIGATION

STREET SWEEPERS

READ THE STORY BEHIND THE GUN: A7

The police term refers to how long a weapon disappears before resurfacing in the wrong hands. For each day of this series, gun traces and Press research detail the firearms’ stories.

Gun: .38 Special Colt Cobra, six-shot revolver.

Disappeared: Stolen on or about Jan. 1, 2000, from a home on Knapp Street NE in Grand Rapids.

Time to crime: Six years, 11 months, 13 days.

Details: Recovered by Grand Rapids Police Officer Robert Kozminski Dec. 14, 2006.

A .38 Special found after it was fired in Grand Rapids.

ABOUT THIS SERIES

TIME TO CRIME

REPORT ILLEGAL GUNS: 616-774-2345

LOCAL/FEDERAL EFFORT TARGETS ‘WORST OF THE WORST’

PRESS PHOTO/DARREN BREEN

All clear: Grand Rapids Police Officer Chad McKersie, right, and an agent for the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives make contact with a resident in November.

For more about this special Press partnership with Silent Observer, see A7

BY KYLA KING

THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS

Cuts in the state’s public health budget are threatening the nearly 10 years of progress that Michigan has made since the 9/11 attacks in being able to prevent or respond to a bio-terrorism or public health emergency, according to a watchdog group.

A report released today shows Michigan scores eight out of 10 key indicators of public health prepared-ness. That’s bet-ter than 16 other states and Wash-ington, D.C., that scored a seven or a six out of 10.

But Michigan’s current position is a drop from 2008, when it scored nine out of 10.

The study is the eighth annual “Ready or Not? Pro-tecting the Public from Disease, Di-sasters, and Bioterrorism” report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“This year, the Great Recession is taking its toll on emergency health preparedness,” said Jeff Levi, execu-tive director of The Trust for Ameri-ca’s Health. “Unfortunately, the recent and continued budget cuts will exac-erbate the vulnerable areas in the U.S. crisis response capabilities and have the potential to reverse the progress we have made over the last decade.”

The report shows that while 17 states increased or maintained fund-ing levels for public health services in the last two budget years, 33 states decreased that funding, including Michigan, which had an 11.2 percent cut. The state funding cuts are exac-erbated by a 27 percent cut in federal funding for health preparedness.

Scores were based on funding commitment, health information technology, electronic surveillance, incidence response, emergency op-erations, foodborne disease detection,

SEE HEALTH, A2

BY JULIA BAUER

THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS

EAST GRAND RAPIDS — Hun-dreds of fur coats, stoles and jackets are selling at bargain-basement prices this month as Day Furs, the latest in a long line of West Michigan furriers, prepares to close.

By early next year, Day Furs, 660 Croswell Ave. SE, is expected to put a wrap on a furrier line dating to 1903. Its latest owner, Kevin Day, runs the corporation from Carmel, Ind., and also has fur salons in Illinois, Ken-tucky and Ohio.

“He’s just decided to move out of Michigan,” local manager Sharon Jensen said Monday.

SEE FURRIER, A2

A piece of historyDay Furs is part of a long line of Grand Rapids furriers:

1903 � — Rason and Dows furriers open on Ionia Avenue near Monroe, later based at 96 Monroe.1943 � — Alice Jane Dows Inc. acquires furrier business.1946 � — Business moves to Fulton Street at Jefferson Avenue.1975 � — Larry Leigh buys Alice Jane Dows store, moves it to 60 Monroe Ave. NW.1980 � — Leigh buys site at 2175 Wealthy St. SE in East Grand Rapids for Leigh’s Fur Salon.2003 � — Kevin Day, an Indianapolis-area furrier, buys Leigh’s Fur Salon, changes name to Day Furs.December � — Day decides to pull out of Michigan.Early 2011 � — East Grand Rapids store expected to close.

Area fur trade endsLast local furrier, with lineage

of more than a century, will close next year

‘A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS’It’s about so much more than a scrawny tree. After 45 years, this beloved holiday special still touches audiences. B1

MOREHow all 50 states �

stand, A2

CONNECTFor a full list of scores �

and indicators, go to healthyamericans.org

v

State’s health

readiness rating slips

Report cites declining spending on public health

BY JOHN AGAR

THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS

GRAND RAPIDS — John Sobotta always

wondered — and worried — about the guns stolen a decade ago while he stayed at a friend’s house on Knapp Street NE in Grand Rapids.

His German Luger turned up a year later, after a parolee shot himself in the leg.

The other, a .38 special Co-bra Colt, was found by Grand Rapids Police Offi cer Robert Kozminski, who heard shots and arrested a suspect running with a gun in his coat.

That was Dec. 14, 2006. It was one of Kozminski’s last felony arrests.

Seven months later, he was fatally shot while responding

to a domestic-violence call on July 8, 2007.

Six years is not a long time for a gun to disappear on the streets. The average is twice that in Michigan, federal re-cords show.

It is not known where John Sobotta’s .38 special spent those six years. Internal po-lice reports and federal records

show where it ended up.

It was near freezing and overcast, just before 10:30 p.m., the night K o z m i n -ski recovered t h e s t o l e n six- shooter.

He saw An-thony Q. McKnight, then 23, fl eeing the area near Bradford Street NE and Clancy Avenue, where shots had been fi red at a house. McKnight was hold-ing the right side of his chest, the tell-tale sign of a concealed weapon.

Kozminski chased McKnight, also known as T-Dog, Joe West

and Money Green, among his half-dozen aliases.

He lost track when McKnight hid between cars in a parking lot, spotting him when he ran again. McKnight no longer held his hands on his chest.

Kozminski ordered him to stop. The gun was found under a car.

McKnight told Kozminski he only clutched his chest to hold his cigarettes and cell phone, not to hide a weapon. McKnight claimed someone else actually shot at him.

“While on the way to jail, McKnight continuously swore at me and advised he was go-ing to sue me,” Kozminski reported.

McKnight was sent to prison for 57 months, where he re-mains today in the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution in Greenville, Ill.

Like many in Grand Rapids hit with gun charges, he was prosecuted in federal court, where sentencing guidelines typically far exceed what would be expected in state court.

Sobotta, who inherited the

.38 revolver from his father, didn’t report the guns stolen until contacted by a federal agent after a felon accidentally shot himself in the leg.

“He wanted to know how it got out,” Sobotta recalled.

He’d kept the guns in a safe, but when he moved briefl y out of his home, he hid them in a friend’s house. There were no signs of forced entry, and he believes someone there knew he had the guns.

His father, Anselm Sobotta, owned Unique Cleaners & Dry-ers and armed himself to pro-tect his business. He sat up at night inside his store on Grand-ville Avenue SW near Franklin Street during the 1967 riots. A business across the street was fi rebombed.

The son, a Vietnam War veteran and a hunter and tar-get shooter, always feared the lost guns would wind up in the wrong hands.

“I sure did, all the time,” he said. “It just was horrible, re-ally, because of my stupidity. That would weigh heavily on my mind.”

THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS GUNS GONE BAD: A PRESS INVESTIGATION TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2010 A7

REPORT ILLEGAL GUNS: 616-774-2345

TIME TO CRIME: 6 YEARS, 11 MONTHS, 13 DAYS

Robert Kozminski

PRESS PHOTO/MARK COPIER

Back in his hands: John Sobotta holds the Luger that was stolen from his collection and later recovered.

CONTINUED FROM A1

begun last spring, is working to get illegal guns off the streets across West Michigan.

“The community officers have expertise in working in the neighborhoods and what’s going on there,” police Capt. Eric Payne said. “The ATF has the expertise in guns.”

Grand Rapids is one of nu-merous cities — including Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Battle Creek and Lansing — taking part in Project Safe Neighbor-hoods, a nationwide effort to cut gun violence.

Critical to the project is federal prosecution of felons with guns. The effort targets “the worst of the worst,” ATF spokesman Donald Dawkins said, especially offenders he says have become “desperate, more brazen” in recent years.

Penalties are typically far more severe than in state court.

“We have been fortunate to get some of our more violent offenders sent to federal pris-on,” said Grand Rapids Police Capt. Jeff Hertel, in charge of the Major Case Team.

Adds Lt. Scott Merlo of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety, “We charge ev-erybody we can through PSN. All the gun cases, they look at federal to see if it meets cri-teria. They get a pretty big bang.”

The average gun-crime sentence in the U.S. District Court’s Western District has been 6 1/2 years since the proj-ect began in 2000. Nationwide, gun crimes prosecuted at the federal level have increased 73 percent in that time.

One of those is Keith Ira Cunningham, alias “Pumpkin Man,” a 1999 Creston High School football star turned leader of the Wealthy Street gang. Cunningham is two years into a seven-year federal sen-tence for being a felon in pos-session of a fi rearm.

Police say the gang terrorized Southeast Side neighborhoods as part of a “violent criminal enterprise.” While suspected in serious crimes, he is locked up for a loaded .357-caliber Smith & Wesson he tossed while run-ning from police.

Federal prosecutors have an advantage over state prosecu-tors. The federal system has grand juries, which can compel witnesses to testify in secret — under threat of jail if they refuse.

But prosecutors and defense lawyers acknowledge it’s the threat of long sentences — served in out-of-state federal prisons where family visits are few and far between — that causes concern on the street.

“Basically, primarily, it’s the penalty,” Assistant U.S.

Attorney John Bruha said. “If you have three prior felonies and get caught with a fi rearm, you’re looking at a mandatory 15 years in prison.”

His offi ce screens gun cases and targets the “more danger-ous felons,” maybe 100 a year, he said.

Raymond Kent, the federal public defender, said sentenc-ing guidelines between state and federal courts can vary sig-nifi cantly, with state guidelines calling for probation or jail and federal guidelines calling for long prison stretches.

If a defendant has a couple of prior drug felonies, then gets busted for a gun, federal guide-lines start at 57 to 71 months — before other variables are considered.

“The federal system treats the possession and use of fi re-arms in commission of crimes very harshly,” Kent said. Rarely, he added, does the federal gov-ernment have a weak case.

Mark Worch, a Grand Rapids police detective, has been as-signed to work with the ATF the past four years. He reviews gun cases and enters all recov-ered firearms into a federal gun-tracking database as part of the joint effort.

“I think there has been a big impact,” he said. “I would say that if I was gone tomorrow.”

He said those convicted of federal gun laws know they’re looking at at least fi ve years in prison, and worry they’ll serve time somewhere else, such as West Virginia.

The recent afternoon that McKersie, the community of-ficer, was patrolling with an ATF agent, he stopped a man walking in the street. It’s a po-tential violation.

With the man’s consent, he

patted him down for weapons or drugs. The man had neither, and walked away. No guns were found this day, but McKersie is always on the alert.

“When you pull over a car, you’re looking for anything, gestures and movement, what the other people are doing. If things don’t add up, it’s usually for a reason.”

Not long ago, he pulled over a car and smelled marijuana smoke. While dealing with the driver, his partner saw a gun on the fl oorboard.

“It was the middle of the day,” McKersie says. “We deal with people who don’t believe they have to play by the rules.”

E-mail: [email protected]

YOU CAN HELP

Got a tip? Call it inTo help make our communities safer, The Press is joining with Silent Observer to help fund a gun-tip hotline. You can help in two ways:

OFFERING A TIP If you have information about a lost or stolen gun, call Silent Observer at 616-774-2345. Tipsters stay strictly anonymous.

The hotline will pay $250 to callers with information leading to the arrest of someone with an illegal gun.

MAKING A DONATION If you would like to donate , checks can be made out to Silent Observer, earmarked for the “gun-tip hotline” and mailed to:

Silent Observer, Box 230321, Grand Rapids MI 49523

Or go online to: bit.ly/SOhotline

YEARS OF WORRYTALE OF TWO GUNS BEGINS WITH AN UNREPORTED THEFT

STREET FEDERAL GUN CHARGES ‘GET A PRETTY BIG BANG’

PRESS PHOTO/DARREN BREEN

Traffic stop: GRPD Officer Chad McKersie and an ATF agent check the occupants of a car they pulled over recently in Grand Rapids.

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