Upstate Offers Help, Prayers To Virginia Tech
POSTED: 5:15 pm EDT April 16, 2007
UPDATED: 2:42 pm EDT April 17, 2007
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Many people in the Upstate -- whether or not they have ties to Virginia Tech -- are trying to determine what they can do to help in the wake of Monday’s deadly rampage.
"We'd like to start the healing process as soon as we can with this tragic event,” Tech graduate Tom Carter told WYFF News 4. “All of us are deeply saddened by what happened."
Clemson University has offered to send a team of counselors to Blacksburg to help with the healing process.
Tuesday afternoon, students shared a moment of silence with the students and staff at Virgina Tech at 2 p.m.
A group of Clemson students also had cards and posters outside the school’s library for people to send their condolences.
Ben Whitehead and Dustin Weather worked on a banner that said "Hokies in our hearts." Students, staff and members of the community are signing the card that Whitehead and Weather plan to deliver to Virginia Tech over the weekend.
Whitehead said, "We're thinking about them and praying for them (and) looking forward to going up on Sunday meeting several people telling them Clemson University is praying for them."
A group of Virginia Tech graduates plan a prayer and remembrance service Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Advent United Methodist Church in Simpsonville.
St. Matthew United Methodist Church in Greenville is also holding a service of prayer and healing at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday that is open to the community. The church is located on Cleveland Street next to the YMCA.
Upstate Families Waiting, Wondering
Monday’s deadly shooting at Virginia Tech had families all across the region waiting and wondering if their loved ones were OK.
Alice Wagner of Greenville is a sophomore at the Blacksburg, Va., school. She was unharmed by the shooting, but not unaffected.
“I can't believe this is happening,” Wagner told WYFF News 4. “We're in Blacksburg, Va., which is a small town and you wouldn't think this kind of thing would happen."
Wagner said that some of her friends had classes in the buildings where the shootings took place and that she did not know if they were harmed or even in the rooms where the shootings took place.
Wagner went to Riverside High School.
Clemson Security
At Clemson University, Monday’s massacre has students and security personnel thinking about safety.
Some Clemson students who have friends who go to Virginia Tech and others who say it’s not hard to imagine that sort of thing happening here.
"I have a lot of friends that go to Virginia Tech, so it was one of those things that hit home," Clemson Student Kevin Fitzsimmons said.
"I mean, realistically, there's no way you can really prevent it,” said student James Burnham. “There's no metal detectors and someone can just walk in. It's a public place, you know."
Clemson’s police said that they work hard to prevent crime, but that effective safety measures require that everony on campus is vigilant.
“There's a finite number of people that are working the police department,” University Police Chief Johnson Link said. “We depend on the other people out there in the buildings to report and to be eyes for the police department to help us to see what's going on in the community."
http://www.wyff4.com/news/12193845/detail.html
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