"Violence And The Work Place..."

Much has been written and addressed in the news in the past week about the shootings committed by Amy Bishop... a disgruntled professor at the University of Alabama at Huntsville...  Steve over at Steve's Nude Memphis Blog just recently posted about the event.

She had been denied tenure at the university... appealed that decision... and evidently, during the meeting where she was being told that her appeal had been denied, she shot and killed three of the members of the committee... wounded three others...


She has had a violent history... I am amazed that no back ground check was performed... I mean, this day and age, one can google and name and several other variables... and find all kinds of info that exists out there...


Among her violent acts in her past was when she shot and killed her brother... she claimed it was an accident... but she shot him with a pump shotgun... and must have accidentally worked the action several times to reload the weapon and accidentally pull the trigger...


And then there was the pipe bomb incident... but she ends up teaching...


If you have read my recent posts about the work environment here at Alluvial Flood Plains State University, you are aware of the stress that many of us are experiencing due to budgetary constraints and fears of losing our jobs...


I received the 'Outstanding Faculty of the Year" award  two years ago for the College of Business... but what one has done in the past... stays in the past... and you receive no merit for those past accomplishments...


A professor in the College of Education here was denied tenure this week... after what happened at UAH last week... when the meeting was conducted to inform this person that tenure was being denied, the university made sure that an armed police officer from campus police was present... it seems that this individual has a past of being rather vocal and boisterous about various positions that have arisen in the past.  I have been on several committees with this individual... and have never seen a possible violent side... but at this point, no one is taking any chances...

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Several years ago... after the shootings at Virginia Tech... we had several bomb scares here at AFPSU... and had a week's worth of classes cancelled... when classes resumed... I noticed this one young lady seemed to be greatly distressed... I asked her what was wrong... and she told me... "I'm afraid that someone could come through the class room door and shoot us..."


I tend to laugh and joke a great deal... but this was no time for humor... I asked her what could we do to make her feel better... and she told me that she would like the class room door closed and locked... and I assured her we could do that each and every class period...  She sat next to a football player... and to lighten things up a bit... I told him that if someone were to break through the door, his job was to tackle him...  That lightened the mood of the class up a bit... but that made that student feel so much better...  The idea that there IS a plan... the idea that we COULD do something...


A colleague was asking me just moments ago... "I wonder why someone at the meeting didn't do something???"


My thoughts are that when things like this happen, there is such a shock to our consciousness... that there is almost a disconnect...

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When I was in the 9th grade, we had a place here in town that Mom and Dad had told us  was strictly off limits!!  And of course... when Mom and Dad tell us not to do something... we do it...


My brother and I had gone to this place... you drove up... ordered your sandwich... fries... cokes... and when they brought you your food... you sat in your car and ate... and drank... and talked... this one afternoon... my brother and I were eating... and he started the engine to the car...  I asked, "Are we leaving?"


"No... there's going to be a fight over there (John pointed over there) and I want to get to where we can watch it...," 


So.. I'm sitting there... eating my sandwich... watching this fellow dressed in a white t-shirt and blue jeans cussing this fellow sitting inside a pick up truck out... the fellow in the pick up must have said something that angered the fellow outside the truck... the fellow standing opened the door of the truck... leaned in to grab that fellow... and...

POW!!!!!!!

The fellow inside the pick up truck had pulled a pistol and shot that guy... as quickly as I heard the sound of the shot, there was this small little * on the back of that fellow's white t-shirt... and everything went to slow motion.... and when that fellow who had been shot turned and faced us... I told John... "he's dead..."  It happened so quickly... yet, it was all in slow motion...


And he was dead... I didn't sleep or eat for several days, it was so upsetting to me...

I wouldn't have known what to do... I wouldn't have known how to respond... then...

The result of the events of that day, I thought... I will never be caught flat-footed again...

I tend to be able to always do the "right thing"... when an action is required...

These are scary times... these are tense times... 

The manufacturer of Benadryl is really liking me right now...

I should have bought stock in that company...

~shoes~