20 dead at Va Tech

[BrandonJ1780]

No link available, but at convocation today, the speaker said he'd been talking to the administration over at VT--offering Chaplain/Pastor services, anything else--and they told him they've been "overrun with caregivers." Just another thing I love about our country, our people. $itch and moan all you want, but when it comes down to it, we're there for each other...

 

[snow85]

Posted this elsewhere, will post here as well:


From President Reagan's January 1974 Speech:

....Standing on the tiny deck of the Arabella in 1630 off the Massachusetts coast, John Winthrop said, “We will be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world.” Well, we have not dealt falsely with our God, even if He is temporarily suspended from the classroom....

Somehow America has bred a kindliness into our people unmatched anywhere, as has been pointed out in that best-selling record by a Canadian journalist. We are not a sick society. A sick society could not produce the men that set foot on the moon, or who are now circling the earth above us in the Skylab. A sick society bereft of morality and courage did not produce the men who went through those years of torture and captivity in Vietnam. Where did we find such men? They are typical of this land as the Founding Fathers were typical. We found them in our streets, in the offices, the shops and the working places of our country and on the farms.

We cannot escape our destiny, nor should we try to do so. The leadership of the free world was thrust upon us two centuries ago in that little hall of Philadelphia. In the days following World War II, when the economic strength and power of America was all that stood between the world and the return to the dark ages, Pope Pius XII said, “The American people have a great genius for splendid and unselfish actions. Into the hands of America God has placed the destinies of an afflicted mankind.”

We are indeed, and we are today, the last best hope of man on earth.


There may be no better place for a tragedy of this magnitude to happen than on a college campus. University students are still young enough that they haven't been jaded by life, still open and affectionate with each other, and still able to forgive-- and you will find that they will. What they will do, if you watch them over the next few days, is slowly recover from the shock. They will be outraged and they will grieve, but most importantly, they will do it *together.* In doing so will be able to remind the Nation that it is our togetherness in times of tragedy, in times of anger, in times of differing opinions, and in times of grief; it is our willingness to come together and help each other along, that makes us strong and that continues to make us great.

 

[ChuckMK23]

Universities across the country begin to respond - and it's

Here's an official email - verbatim - from the University of Southern Maine. Boys and girls yor elected officials and law enforcement officers want you to be sheep - you have no rights to defend yourself. Run and cower.

The below policy is insulting. The university officials who drafted this response should be kicked out of their jobs!

-----------------------------------------

Dear Community Members,

We all have been deeply affected by the tragic events at Virginia Tech.
This communication is intended to provide information about the USM
Police Department's readiness to respond should USM be confronted with a
campus violence situation. Please remember, to report suspicious behavior,
call USM Police at 911 from on campus land lines, and 780-5211 from cell
phones.
Please take a moment now to program that number into your cell phones.

Threatening situations involving firearms are dynamic in nature and can
change from second to second, requiring police officers to take quick
and decisive action, but also to change that action as the
circumstances unfold. USM Police officers, many of whom have had
experience or entire careers at municipal or county law enforcement
agencies prior to assuming duties at USM, receive ongoing training on
how to mitigate circumstances surrounding threats to our campuses.
Without giving so much detail that it would compromise police operations and
our response, here are some plans that are in place and will be utilized
should the need arise.

* At the first report of a person with a firearm on campus, Dispatch
will notify our officers and call surrounding law enforcement agencies
to respond. These communications will occur before any others. The USM
Police Department has developed strong relationships with area law
enforcement agencies. We have been training with departments for these
types of incidents, and three SWAT teams will be available to us. There
will be a convergence of officers from several different agencies, and
every effort will be made to stop the threat as soon as possible.

* Trained hostage negotiators are available if that need is present.

* Independent of police actions, the USM Critical Incident Response
Team will assemble and deal with a host of issues, including
communications to students, faculty, staff, the general public and the
media.


USM has a strict "no weapons on campus" policy. It has been suggested
that allowing people with concealed firearm permits to carry their
weapons on campus could help prevent a tragedy. This is highly
questionable. The response from police will be swift and precise.
Officers have trained for these situations and are recognizable to each
other as police even if in plain clothes. Police will consider that
there may be more than one shooter involved, so any person with a gun
other than police will be considered to be a suspect, armed and
dangerous. Delayed deployment of police resources due to the possibility
of an armed person other than the shooter(s) or police being present
could result in death or great bodily injury that would not have
occurred otherwise. This is an added element that is not conducive to
the optimal police response for our community.

What to do if faced with a person with a gun, or you hear that one is
on campus or in close proximity to campus:

* Lock down in the nearest room. This means shut and lock the door,
barricade it if possible and there's time to do so, and then take cover
or crouch along a solid wall, out of sight of anyone who might look in
the door window or fire rounds through the door. Stay there until you
receive word FROM POLICE that the threat no longer exists. Do not try
to run away if you are in a building, as you will draw attention to yourself
and become more of a target in most situations.

Lock down is different than lock out. Lock down is described above,
and lock out means to lock the entrances and exits of buildings. Lock
out is not preferable in most circumstances, as it will likely hamper
police operations.

The Critical Incident Response Team and USM Police, in conjunction with local
agencies, will be reviewing all related protocols regarding response to threats
or acts of violence on or in close proximity to our campuses.

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank
you.

Lisa M. Beecher
Chief of Police
USM Police Department
37 College Ave.
Gorham, ME 04038
207-780-5099 office
207-780-5786 fax
beecher@usm.maine.edu

 

[Schnugg]

USM has a strict "no weapons on campus" policy. It has been suggested that allowing people with concealed firearm permits to carry their weapons on campus could help prevent a tragedy. This is highly questionable..... (WTF????)

Officers have trained for these situations and are recognizable to each
other as police even if in plain clothes. (so they know every Federal Agent and State Police Officer by sight?)

Bold parenthetical comments are mine.