By Bryon Wells
Arizona Daily Wildcat
January 29, 1998

Police Beat

University police met Tuesday with a man who said he was concerned that some uranium crystals he thought were missing from the UA Mineral Museum could be used to make a bomb.

The man wrote letters to the museum's curator and UA President Peter Likins in December regarding minerals he donated to the museum in 1982, police reports stated.

In the letter, the man said he was concerned about the disappearance of 10 cases of minerals - including the uranium crystals - and 25 books "on all aspects of relativity."

"If the uranium minerals and the books wound up in Iraqui hands, it would explain the rapidity of Iraqui progress toward the atomic bomb," the letter stated.

Police met with the curator on Monday regarding the letter.

The curator was able to explain the whereabouts of all the items mentioned in the letter, police reports stated.

The officer suggested that the man meet with museum staff so they could explain where the mineral pieces have gone.

A UA employee reported that $3,000 worth of camera equipment was taken Friday from a cabinet inside a Photography Department equipment room in the Drama building, 1025 N. Olive Drive.

The photography program director told university police that a student monitor locked the room 5 p.m. Friday and returned at noon the next day to find keys to several rooms in the area were missing.

The man told police the monitor then discovered the camera items missing.

Missing from the equipment cabinet were a Canon F1 camera, two Canon AE-1 cameras, two Canon lenses and a Vivitar lens, police reports stated.

The cabinet keys were in the darkroom equipment room, which has a coded-door. Reports stated that 16 student monitors know the code to room, which is in the basement of the Drama building annex, reports stated.

A custodial worker found the missing keys Monday morning in a men's room trash can.

A Parking and Transportation Services employee reported Monday that someone took two parking meters from Lot 3046, at East First Street and North Highland Avenue.

The man told university police that the meters, located on the southeast corner of the lot, were intact Friday morning, but the meters and their galvanized steel poles were gone when the employee returned to the lot Monday morning.

All that remained of the meters was the end of the sheared pole, anchored in concrete.

The employee told police that it would be easy for a couple of people to bend and break the poles, or run a car into them.

The two UA-owned meters cost $200 each, and may have held as much as $20 in coins, police reports stated.

One man apparently has his own idea of a lunch special.

A man ordered food from Louie's Lower Level during Monday's lunch rush, then attempted to leave the cafe without paying, police reports stated.

Two supervisors at the Memorial Student Union restaurant told university police that the man ordered food from the grill about 12:30 p.m., then walked out of the basement cafe.

The employees told police they confronted the man outside the restaurant. He gave the food back, then quickly left the Student Union, 1303 E. University Blvd., and headed toward the UA Mall.

The two supervisors mentioned they have had earlier encounters with the man, who was not found.

A Colorado man got his 1997 Ford Explorer from a hotel valet Monday with a broken window and a missing CD case.

The vehicle had apparently been broken into the previous night while parked at the Main Gate Garage, 815 E. Second St.

The man had been staying at the Marriott University Park, 880 E. Second St.

The man called university police after finding officers had left a UAPD business card with the truck.

Police told truck's owner that his truck had been burglarized by a man who reached through the hole in the window and took a black case containing 40 to 50 compact discs, worth about $500, reports stated.

Police Beat is compiled from official University of Arizona Police Department reports.