Va. Tech Victims' Kin Feel "Ostracized"
Relatives of the Virginia Tech shooting victims demanded representation Monday on a gubernatorial panel studying the killings, saying in a letter that they feel "ostracized."
They also questioned the status of a memorial fund that has generated millions of dollars to honor the 32 victims of the student gunman.
"We are angry about being ostracized from a government-chartered panel investigating a government-sponsored university, and about how the university has used the names and images of our loved ones to raise millions of dollars without any consultation," the families said in a statement presented to the review board Monday during its third public meeting.
The statement was written on behalf of 13 families, said Holly Sherman, the mother of slain student Leslie Sherman.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's spokesman said the governor wanted "specialized expertise" when he named the eight-member panel, which includes former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, psychiatrists, educational specialists and former law enforcement officials. The panel was charged to review the tragedy, the circumstances that led to it and the response.
Kaine received several hundred requests from Virginians and those outside of the state wanting to serve on the panel, including some family members, panel Chairman W. Gerald Massengill said as Monday's meeting began.
"Family is important to us. It's also important, I think, to the governor that he have a panel that was viewed as being totally objective and not driven by emotions," said Massengill, a former Virginia State Police superintendent who oversaw the agency's response to the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon and the 2002 Washington-area sniper attacks.
The panel hopes to get some insight into how the student gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, was able to skirt Virginia's mental health system. Cho was ordered to receive outpatient mental health treatment in 2005 but never did.
He was referred to the Virginia Tech's Cook Counseling Center, which is not required by state law to report to the courts whether a patient ever receives treatment. The center also does not accept involuntary or ordered referrals for treatment from any source, including the courts.
"What would we do if they don't come? Do we report to the university or do we report to the special judge?" the counseling center's director, Christopher Flynn, asked the panel. "I think that puts counseling centers in an untenable position."
Panel members appeared frustrated throughout Monday's testimony as James Stewart, the state's inspector general for mental health, mental retardation and substance abuse services, repeatedly cited patient privacy laws when asked pointed questions about Cho's mental health treatment.
State and school officials have said privacy laws prevent officials from sharing Cho's records even after death.
"It's really rather remarkable we're talking about a deceased individual responsible for all kinds of carnage and you, as an individual, are still encumbered by law," Ridge told Stewart.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. They also questioned the status of a memorial fund that has generated millions of dollars to honor the 32 victims of the student gunman.
"We are angry about being ostracized from a government-chartered panel investigating a government-sponsored university, and about how the university has used the names and images of our loved ones to raise millions of dollars without any consultation," the families said in a statement presented to the review board Monday during its third public meeting.
The statement was written on behalf of 13 families, said Holly Sherman, the mother of slain student Leslie Sherman.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's spokesman said the governor wanted "specialized expertise" when he named the eight-member panel, which includes former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, psychiatrists, educational specialists and former law enforcement officials. The panel was charged to review the tragedy, the circumstances that led to it and the response.
Kaine received several hundred requests from Virginians and those outside of the state wanting to serve on the panel, including some family members, panel Chairman W. Gerald Massengill said as Monday's meeting began.
"Family is important to us. It's also important, I think, to the governor that he have a panel that was viewed as being totally objective and not driven by emotions," said Massengill, a former Virginia State Police superintendent who oversaw the agency's response to the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon and the 2002 Washington-area sniper attacks.
The panel hopes to get some insight into how the student gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, was able to skirt Virginia's mental health system. Cho was ordered to receive outpatient mental health treatment in 2005 but never did.
He was referred to the Virginia Tech's Cook Counseling Center, which is not required by state law to report to the courts whether a patient ever receives treatment. The center also does not accept involuntary or ordered referrals for treatment from any source, including the courts.
"What would we do if they don't come? Do we report to the university or do we report to the special judge?" the counseling center's director, Christopher Flynn, asked the panel. "I think that puts counseling centers in an untenable position."
Panel members appeared frustrated throughout Monday's testimony as James Stewart, the state's inspector general for mental health, mental retardation and substance abuse services, repeatedly cited patient privacy laws when asked pointed questions about Cho's mental health treatment.
State and school officials have said privacy laws prevent officials from sharing Cho's records even after death.
"It's really rather remarkable we're talking about a deceased individual responsible for all kinds of carnage and you, as an individual, are still encumbered by law," Ridge told Stewart.
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That's why killers like "GUN FREE ZONES" because the unarmed are easy targets.
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Wish more people were like you. Then it wouldn't cost an arm and a leg for what is most important to our youths, a good college education.
Modern universities are huge money-making enterprises. They spend untold millions on sports programs, but you could probably find better security at your local mall.
This terrible incident will hopefully be the wake-up call they need to screen and monitor student activity on the school campus.
Very well put, thank you I agree with you 100 percent.
By the way afinefolly you are a quack. Now that you got the attention you wanted, move on to another blog. Tomtomasters, we dont all agree with politics and the war, but go burn a flag somewhere else.
what the hello are you jabbering about? you're one sick @ss - did you read the article at all? instead of posting these ridiculous rants, GO TO BED AND GET SOME MUCH NEEDED SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Any American who thinks his little gun is going to stop this out of control military complex are touched in the head. How many students did George Bush's military wipe out in Iraq? How many Moms and Dad's killed? America you don't know real pain, you only know how to bash and kill. No wonder we make this Cho guy a villian, when he is probably more of a victim than Americans seem to realize.