TACOMA — City authorities, fed up with gang activity in public places, are taking Bach their bus stop.
Transit workers are installing speakers this week to pump classical music from Seattle’s KING-FM into the Tacoma Mall Transit Center. The tactic is designed to disperse young criminals who make drug deals at the bus stop or use public transportation to circulate between the mall and other trouble-prone places.
The attack by Bach, Brahms and Beethoven follows the theory that prompted the city to stage pinochle games on dangerous street corners: Jolting the routine in such spots throws criminals off balance.
Skeptics include Tony Wilson, a bus driver for 18 years.
“It could do one of two things: It could calm the beast, or it could just stir things up,” Mr. Wilson said. “I think the reason we don’t have music on the buses is that you can’t please everyone. It would just cause drama.”
If the stream of divertimentos, scherzos and polonaises reduces disorder at the mall, speakers may be installed at more bus stops, said Rod Baker, chief of public safety for Pierce Transit.
WISCONSIN
Carbon monoxide sickens team
JANESVILLE — Carbon monoxide seeped into a volleyball team’s bus as it traveled through southern Wisconsin, sickening nine persons, including three girls who were flown to a Milwaukee hospital for oxygen treatment.
The small bus’s exhaust system apparently malfunctioned Sunday, allowing the potentially deadly gas in, Janesville Fire Commander Tim Ehlers said. All three adults and six girls, ages 15 to 17, were taken to hospitals.
The three girls with the most serious symptoms were taken by helicopter to St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee for treatment in an oxygen-rich chamber and were in stable condition, a hospital supervisor said.
The team, from Schaumburg Christian School outside Chicago, was traveling to Watertown for a youth volleyball camp and pulled over in Janesville after the girls began feeling ill.
Carbon monoxide has no color, odor or taste. Symptoms of carbon-monoxide poisoning include headaches, weakness, nausea, vomiting and confusion.
WYOMING
Frontier Days ends nine-day run
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