DC, Maryland and Virginia Freepers...Input needed

10/22/02 | alisasny

[alisasny]

Sniper fear ...real or imagine? Input please on your own experiences.

Is the fear controlling your life or are you able to understand the odds?

Is the excessive media coverage helping or hurting?

Are the media accounts of fear accurate in your neighborhoods? Are stores empty? Are people staying in? Is Halloween moving indoors?

For the kids, our local HS has a safe Halloween every year. A can of food is the entry admission and the HS kids entertain the little ones. Still time to plan this in your local school. Since the stores are not selling their pumkins and candy you can probably get donations so every kid can get a free pumpkin and goodie bag. I hate to see the children have nothing to do on Halloween.

[xsmommy]

i live not far from the Falls Church shooting site, and my kids are in school in Falls Church. they have been indoors for recess and gym for the last 3+ weeks, i guess. That is about the only difference in their lives. We are carrying on pretty much as normal. i do think the schools are trying to come up with different things for halloween, instead of being out on the streets, and the malls are saying that the stores will give out candy to trick or treaters as well. of course the people i know are concerned, but i don't know anyone that is burrowed in their house afraid to come out.

[HamiltonJay]

I don't live in the area, so I can't speak first hand, I can tell you that I think the press has been VERY VERY VERY irresponsible in their reporting on this matter. It seems that Editors and Reporters alike never were tought a very fundamental moral principle.

Just becuase one CAN do something, does not mean one SHOULD do it. IN this 24 hour news cycle, that question is never asked by these idiots. If a reporter comes across a piece of information, that will hinder the capture of the perp by releasing it, and is not something that is imperative for the public to know, they should not publish it... Yes the first ammendment says you can, but as I said, just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD! The media has definately aided and abbedded this cretin.

[witnesstothefall]

I'm in Falls Church. A lot of the sheeple are scared. The People, however, are merely angry and out for the perp's head.

[maxwell]

Yeah I live not too far from Ashland-- Richmond schools shut down for a few, in response to threats against kids in the Ashland note, I guess, but that's overkill IMO. Nobody here in Williamsburg-Hampton-Norfolk area seems to be too concerned about it, probably because sniper activity seems to be limited (so far) to I-95 area and up...

[xsmommy]

i was critical of the decision to close the schools down there, until i read that he may have specifically mentioned targeting school kids in the note. while it is foolish to take unnecessary risks, you just cannot STOP LIVING because of this, especially when there is no end in sight and could go on indefinitely. A caller on the radio this AM made an interesting point, he said that this ONE (or several) SNIPER(s) did what the entire battalion of IMF nuts was not able to do. shut down the city.....

[alisasny]

I find that the media coverage in NY always seems to find someone so scared they cant function and they would rather show that than the reality of the situation. In addition I am not happy that the media is covering this 24/7 when the election is coming up and the war is looming and another terror strike is possible very soon. The media has no new news that they need to run with this for hours and hours. In a few minutes we will again learn we know nothing and the media will speculate for the next 12 hours. Very dangerous IMO.

[3AngelaD]

I stay at home more and don't make frivolous trips to the mall, etc. I filled my car up at a gas station on Capitol Hill that pumps the gas for you ($1.71 a gallon.) so I wouldn't have to get out and pump it myself. They washed my windows and checked my oil and tires. Note to self: do this occasionally. It is very pleasant. I buy all of my groceries at a health food store in my neighborhood where the surroundings seem safe (heavy local traffic, no interstate close, no wooded area). I hesitate before I dart outside in the morning to pick up my newspapers. I avoid Maryland like the plague. I give myself a day off from the TV news occasionally. (Nice while it lasts, but the shock of reality is always very unpleasant when it's over.) I think how pleasant and calming it would be to live on the beach somewhere.

[xsmommy]

but what i want to know is if the FC police are still laying in wait for speeders through Falls Church city, because if they stop me i WILL ask them why they are not out looking for the sniper!

[Jonah Hex]

I'm closer to Ashland than D.C., but I've noticed a lot more police eyeing my white van with the NRA sticker on the back lately. I've ensured I always know where my license and registration are, and reviewed traffic stop etiquette with my family. ("Yes sir", "No sir", hands on top of the steering wheel, no sudden movements, no need for anybody having a bad day.)

I don't feel like a target, but I definitely feel like a suspect.

[alisasny]

Living on Long Island on 911 many parents pulled their children out of school that morning. While we didn't know what was going on and what was to come I found it safe to keep my children in school instead of having them home dealing with the news. I picked them up that day at regular time and gently told them what had happened and then watched some tv with them and answered their questions.

[alisasny]

Are people carrying that normally leave their weapons home or hidden?

[ToryNotion]

Live in Richmond. Kids are home from school for second straight day. Got stuck at Kings Dominion (theme park
a few miles north of Ashland) Sat. night following shooting,
took over an hour to get out of parking lot, but Rt 301 was clear as was I-95 where I got on (Chamberlayne Ave.) so trip home as only 10 minutes or so longer. Know some folks who got stuck in the I-95 for a few hours that night. We're prudently adjusting our outdoor activitys based on snipers tendencies, though I sort of doubt there will be much more activity down here. Scared? No. Concerned? Yes.
Have a lot of family in Northern VA area (within 15 miles of Falls Church shooting).

[mondonico]

My family and I live about 2 miles from the Falls Church Home Depot shooting site. We're concerned, but we haven't changed our routine too much. I guess we've minimized trips to malls, and I sit in the car while the tank fills at the gas station.

I think the media have severely over-hyped the "region gripped in fear" theme.

[xsmommy]

on 9/11 i did go and get my kids from school as soon as i heard that the Pentagon was hit. At least half of the kids were gone by the time i got there. but i didn't keep them home the following day.

Life is rough and unfortunately kids need to know that. They know that people wanted to kill Americans, so they flew into the Twin Towers, now they also know that there is a lunatic loose in our area that is just shooting people at random. My 8 year old, matter of factly, asked me the other day if we could call daddy because she knew he had to get gas that day and she wanted to make sure he was not shot. i told her that i had spoken to him and that he was fine. Death is a part of life.

[Dems_R_Losers]

I am not concerned about my safety or that of my family, but I am looking around more and paying more attention to what is going on around me when I am out and about. DC has always been an area with a fair amount of random violence and anyone who lives here knows they could be a victim at any time. I have not changed my daily activities very much. I have been taking my kids to the local indoor pool for some exercise since they have not had any recess or outdoor sports. I took a cab to the airport last week for a business trip rather than parking in the garage and walking to the terminal. (The airport was crawling with cops too, enough that it made me wonder if they know that the airports have been threatened by the sniper.)

It certainly seems to have affected large numbers of people here, though. Last Friday, my husband and I attended a National Symphony Orchestra concert at the Kennedy Center and there were more empty seats than we have ever seen. We went to a local mall Saturday to buy clothes for the kids and it was not very full, despite big sales by the major stores. Our 18th wedding anniversary is Sunday and we have our pick of normally-packed restaurants because so few people are going out. It's as bad as the weeks right after 9/11 last year.

[Our man in washington]

The Washington/Baltimore metropolitan area has 5 million people. So far, we've had ten deaths. Thus, I figure my odds of being killed are 1 in 500,000.

I'm 36 years old. The odds of a 36 year-old dying in the next 24 hours (assuming no snipers are nearby) are about 1 in 240,000. I haven't lose sleep from that risk, and I'm certainly not going to lose any sleep from the added risk of that sniper running around.

[maxwell]

A lot of my friends would love the privilege of shooting this SOB, however.

That's exactly what I've been saying for the past couple weeks, bud... "Just gimme a 9 mm and 30 ft..." I am not a good shot (damn astigmatism) but I'd make up for it with retributive intent...

[maxwell]

Are people carrying that normally leave their weapons home or hidden?

I would, except I spend alot of time on a college campus, whereon I understand it is a felony to possess a handgun...