For some of us, the layout of the VT campus is real, because we've been there. I've done significant work in the area over the years, staying in Blacksburg hotels by choice, enjoying the peaceful, small town university community. Often I worked at a plant in nearby Narrows, Virginia - one of the slain boys was a high school star athlete from Narrows. One of the female victims was from Charlotte. When we were at our wit's end, we took Gracie to the vet school for a week's workup... and they were able to give her a new start in life when they suggested the acupressure treatment. (They also did eye exams on Joe.) I have friends and colleagues who graduated from the Engineering School - having attended classes in Norris Hall where the slayings occurred. My equine vet is a graduate of VT vet school. Somehow, I keep envisioning this taking place in Smith Building - the main Engineering classroom building on the UNCC campus, where I had many, many classes when I studied Engineering. I imagine many of these kids having the same ironic, screwball sense of humor that most of my engineering classmates have.
I found this on www.CNN.com, on the Anderson Cooper blog, http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/, something I thought the list could identify with, something at least vaguely on-topic for this list. I believe I read that Emily hoped to go to vet school. Even she rings a bell - my daughter, also named Emily, shares a horse-history much like this other Emily. I simply can't imagine how her mom feels. >>> Horse lover robbed of her Monday ride At the far end of the Virginia Tech campus, some horses graze peacefully outside. A half dozen more are in their stalls in the neatly kept stables. A clipboard hangs in a far corner -- a few pages blowing in the breeze -- containing an eerie reminder of how Monday was supposed to play out here. It is a riding schedule, and for Monday, under 3:30-4:30 p.m., there is the name Emily Hilscher, and a penciled in notation that she is to ride Ed, one of the thoroughbreds with a stall a few feet away. Hilscher was gunned down at approximately 7:15 a.m. Monday, one of the first two victims, shot and killed near her dorm room across campus. She was a popular member of the VT Equestrian Club, an animal sciences major who loved horses and loved to ride. The club's Web site now includes a moving tribute. For me, it is that clipboard in the stables that provides a poignant, sad reminder of Monday's events -- how she must have been looking so forward to riding that day. A ride she was ruthlessly robbed of. -- By John King, CNN Chief National Correspondent<<< May God bless their families - I'm sure they are families much like ours. Karen Thomas, NC
