Marksmanship

They aren't exactly ready to challenge UC Irvine criminologist Bryan Vila to a duel, but law enforcement officials think his cops-can't-shoot-straight theory is a little off target. Vila, a one-time Los Angeles County deputy sheriff, and UCI graduate student Gregory Morrison have completed an intriguing, if curious, study they say indicates police officers today don't perform any better in gunfights than lawmen did 100 years ago.

So serenity returned to Lakerdom with everyone healthy and/or over their pouts; an old punching bag in town; no one on deck scarier than the Spurs, the game's best team on walkers, or the Mini-Me Suns; after which the Lakers will presumably teach the Cavaliers' one-man gang a lesson or take another anti-climactic stroll past the Magic. Cue the parade! What the Lakers wouldn't give for any part of that to be true. . . . In real life, it was only one week ago that things were looking grim for the Lakerdom Five, then tied, 2-2, with the Thunder.

Police Chief Geano Contessotto has disclosed that about $6,000 in cash is missing from a safe in his office. He also said that officers had repeatedly been paid bonuses based on falsified marksmanship records. Contessotto made the statements in an extensive interview with The Times last month. In subsequent interviews last week, Donald L. Jeffers, the city's chief administrative officer, and all five council members said they had been told of the missing cash.

Joe Bowman, a nationally known Texas sharpshooter who could blast an aspirin to powder at 30 paces and split a playing card edgewise at 20, has died. He was 84. He had been in Albuquerque, where he had staged a fast-draw and sharpshooting exhibition for the Single Action Society's annual convention, and was driving back to his home in Houston when he stopped for the night in the small West Texas town of Junction. He had a heart attack and died June 29.

The cop was struggling out there, looking jittery as she aimed her pistol at the cardboard target and popped 30 rounds, trying to prove she could shoot straight. She couldn't. At least two of her shots plunked down way to the left of the silhouetted man on her target. Others also missed the mark. The Los Angeles Police Department requires only 70% accuracy to pass this marksmanship exam. Still, she had flunked. Angry, she grabbed a fresh box of ammo and headed out to try again.

More information has emerged about the fatal shooting of Greg Rodriguez, a big-game hunting expert and host of TV's "A Rifleman's Journal. " Rodriguez, 43, of Sugar Land, Texas, was shot and killed about 10:30 p.m. Thursday at a house in rural Whitefish, Mont., which he was visiting for his show, according to a statement released by local police to the Los Angeles Times. "Rifleman's Journal" on the Sportsman Channel has focused on Rodriguez's specialty, big-game hunting in exotic locations all over the world, along with marksmanship tips to viewers.

INSIDE ROOM 309,a third-floor classroom in concrete-and-brick Van Allen Hall on the University of Iowa campus, Ken Nishikawa was standing at an old-fashioned blackboard. He was lecturing to a weekly graduate seminar in plasma physics when Dr. Lu Gang's first shot rang out. * At first, some of the graduate students in the room thought it might be a firecracker. It was Friday afternoon, last Nov. 1, and one of the students later recalled thinking it must be some sort of prank.

This "lady" has missed her true calling--working in a slaughter house. RON ROMANOSKY Santa Ana

Kyle Kegley of Thousand Oaks High was so hot shooting the ball in the second quarter Monday night, he could have blown on his fingers like a gunslinger. Kegley scored 10 consecutive points en route to a 29-point performance in the Lancers' 78-56 victory over Harvard-Westlake in the first round of the Thousand Oaks basketball tournament. Kegley, who averaged 18.2 points last season, made five three-point baskets.

While other dating services rely on video technology, Jim Soules fancies himself an old-fashioned matchmaker for upscale, intelligent San Diego singles. Soules, 59, has been pairing San Diego singles since 1969, using his own life experiences as a basis for his advice. Widowed at the age of 17 and remarried four times since then, Soules has worked as an auto mechanic, secretary, custodian, teacher, as well as an assistant dean at Palomar College in North County.

Kole Anderson of Westlake High is not your average three-point shooter. And not just because he's shooting a staggering 60% from behind the 19-foot 9-inch arc this season. There is no swagger to the 5-foot-10, 140-pound sharpshooter's slightly pigeon-toed walk. He doesn't showboat after hitting a big three-pointer and he rarely complains to referees, even if he feels he was fouled. "He's quiet," Westlake Coach Rich Sanders said. "He listens and he observes.

Kyle Kegley of Thousand Oaks High was so hot shooting the ball in the second quarter Monday night, he could have blown on his fingers like a gunslinger. Kegley scored 10 consecutive points en route to a 29-point performance in the Lancers' 78-56 victory over Harvard-Westlake in the first round of the Thousand Oaks basketball tournament. Kegley, who averaged 18.2 points last season, made five three-point baskets.

A provision of the defense budget that went into effect earlier this year requires the Pentagon to give away 373,000 old rifles from World War II and the Korean War, spurring protests from gun-control advocates who believe the government shouldn't add to gun commerce. The little-noticed measure was promoted by the National Rifle Assn.

The cop was struggling out there, looking jittery as she aimed her pistol at the cardboard target and popped 30 rounds, trying to prove she could shoot straight. She couldn't. At least two of her shots plunked down way to the left of the silhouetted man on her target. Others also missed the mark. The Los Angeles Police Department requires only 70% accuracy to pass this marksmanship exam. Still, she had flunked. Angry, she grabbed a fresh box of ammo and headed out to try again.

They aren't exactly ready to challenge UC Irvine criminologist Bryan Vila to a duel, but law enforcement officials think his cops-can't-shoot-straight theory is a little off target. Vila, a one-time Los Angeles County deputy sheriff, and UCI graduate student Gregory Morrison have completed an intriguing, if curious, study they say indicates police officers today don't perform any better in gunfights than lawmen did 100 years ago.

Imagine target practice with events like "Crossfire Chaos" and "Shotgun Assault a la Mozambique," "Soft Cover Shootout" and "We're Not Outgunned Today." But when you've got not one but eight SWAT teams from around California struttin' their firepower and marksmanship, we're not talking about poppin' beer cans from off the tree stump.

Lompoc High did everything a team with a two-point lead is supposed to do in the last minute of a game, yet the Braves won't be playing for the championship of the Ventura tournament tonight.

Playoff time is free-throw time--high school basketball coaches will attest to that. After teams have played more than two dozen games in almost three months, their seasons will be on the line with every playoff game. So too will the toes of many sneaker-footed, wobbly kneed players.

Lompoc High did everything a team with a two-point lead is supposed to do in the last minute of a game, yet the Braves won't be playing for the championship of the Ventura tournament tonight.