Saturday, December 31, 2016

2017: VIRGINIA SCHOOL SHOOTINGS ANNIVERSARIES


Spending millions of dollars on security systems in Virginia cannot hide the fact the state is woefully lacking in measures necessary to make the Virginia’s schools as safe as they need to be—Virginia does not hold politicians, school leaders, law enforcement personnel, and mental health care workers accountable for incompetence; incompetence that results in death and injury.

People in positions of authority need to be answerable for their actions or inactions resulting in the murder of students and faculty. But that has not happened here in The Old Dominion. In fact, quite the opposite has taken place. There have been massive cover-ups involving the power of the state, the legal system all the way to the Virginia Supreme Court, some members of law enforcement, and mental health providers. People we put our trust in have come together in an unholy alliance to conceal the truth.

Virginia’s power elite moved heaven earth to conceal the truth and protect individuals and their careers—even if it has meant out-and-out lying to the public.

Here is the problem: safety boils down to the human factor. A king’s ransom can be spent on consultants as well alarms and warnings, but it takes a human being to activate the warning or turn on the alarm. When the human does not act, million-dollar systems are worthless.

In both school shootings in Virginia—the Appalachian School of Law (three killed and three wounded), and Virginia Tech (31 killed and 17 wounded), inept and mediocre leaders doomed innocent students, faculty, and staff to death and injury through their unwillingness to heed the killers’ warning signs before and during the rampages.

 January 16, 2017 will mark the 15th anniversary of the shooting at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia; April 16, 2017 will be the 10th anniversary of the Virginia Tech rampage.

This posting is the first of a series I will post between now and the end of April 2017. I plan on reviewing the deceit, the cover-ups, the hypocrisy, and the lies that have surrounded both Virginia school shootings. I also will also look at the gun violence crisis this nation faces.


One of the best ways to honor the memory of those who were lost to gun violence and those who were wounded, is to keep fighting to keep guns out of the hands of those who are dangerously mentally ill as well as individuals who are a threat to themselves and others. Don’t give up the fight. (To be continued)