40 years ago: Shoplifter bites proprietor, leaves with sunglasses

Eleanor Womack, proprietor of The Campus Mad House, 411 W. 14th, attempted to stop a shoplifter, who bit her on the arm and then escaped with a pair of sunglasses valued at less than three dollars.

Michael J. Coffman, 21, of 1336 Brook, was riding his motorcycle on the Kansas River Bridge, about 200 feet north of the Massachusetts Street entrance, when he struck the rear of a convertible which had stopped suddenly. Coffman was tossed from his motorcycle into the front passenger seat of the convertible, suffering an injury to his right arm.

In another injury accident, John Kroencke, 20, was tossed over the hood of a car, landing on his feet, after his bicycle collided with a car at the A&W Drive-In at 1415 W. Sixth Street.

A disturbance were also noted at Martin’s Park, where an area resident had fired a shotgun blast at four young men, charging that they had used profane language in the presence of the shooter’s wife and children. (The men claimed that they had used the language in a moment of duress after a chain broke on a motorcycle they had been towing behind a car.)