A weapons dealer who sold a gun used in last year's Virginia Tech massacre came to campus yesterday to argue that letting college students carry concealed weapons is the best way "to get serious" about stopping killers.
It's hard to believe we are already one year after the harder-to-believe massacre at Virginia Tech. I don't say "impossible-to-believe" because most of us Boomers have a long list of horrible events permanently etched into our cerebral cortices: the JFK, RFK, and MLK assassinations, Challenger evaporating in the morning sky, the shooting at Columbine, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building facade crumbling in Oklahoma City, and the Twin Towers somehow -- impossibly -- disintegrating on live TV. Alas, we know the ugly side of the Adidas slogan, "nothing is impossible."
BLACKSBURG -- With a memorial ceremony, a candlelight vigil and many hugs and tears, Virginia Tech took a day off from classes yesterday to remember the 32 students and teachers slain last year as musicians, artists, athletes, classroom cut-ups and compassionate volunteers.
BLACKSBURG Some students wrote letters to the families of the victims. Some meditated or prayed at the War Memorial Chapel. Some helped plant trees of remembrance.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine today issued the following statement regarding the passing of one year since the Virginia Tech massacre: "On April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech University suffered a terrible tragedy. Today, my thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families and the entire Virginia Tech community. "In the year that has passed since that horrible day, we have grieved for those we lost and prayed for the comfort of their loved ones. We have rejoiced in the recovery of those who were injured. We have been inspired by the unfaltering hope and Hokie spirit of Virginia Tech. And we have renewed our commitment to do even more to learn lessons from that day and to make our campuses and communities safer.
BLACKSBURG -- Gov. Timothy M. Kaine will speak this morning in Blacksburg at a ceremony to mark the passing of one year since the Virginia Tech massacre. Kaine will speak in a 10:30 a.m. address at Virginia Tech's drillfield as part of a service to recognize the 32 people who were killed by a gunman on campus last April 16. The governor has also ordered the state flag to be lowered to half-staff and will have a statewide moment of silence, followed by a tolling of bells.
BLACKSBURG -- One year later, the boxes remain untouched in Leslie Sherman's bedroom. Inside is the clothing, bedding and books from the 20-year-old's life as a junior international studies and history major at Virginia Tech, sent home to Springfield shortly after her death on April 16, 2007.
EDITORIAL In the year since the massacre at Virginia Tech, the state and its public institutions have made considerable progress toward preventing a similar tragedy.
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