Blacksburg, Va. – After a student gunman killed four of his classmates and his German teacher and then left, Derek O’Dell wedged one of his sneakers under the classroom door to keep the attacker from returning to kill even more people.
There was no lock on the door to protect O’Dell and his wounded classmates against Seung-Hui Cho, who killed a total of 30 students and faculty, plus himself, at Virginia Tech’s Norris Hall on April 16. Two others were killed in a dormitory.
Safety experts say that while school officials across the nation re-evaluate campus safety, many are overlooking a simple solution: putting locks on the inside of classroom doors.
“It’s kind of crazy to think that you have 1 1/2 or 2 inches of wood between you and a person with a gun who just killed half your classmates,” said O’Dell.
Colorado, the site of the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School, has led the push to put locks on the inside of classrooms doors, said Vincent Wincelowicz, vice president of the Foundation for the Prevention of School Violence at Johnson & Wales University in Denver.
Most classrooms, including those at Virginia Tech, lock only by key and from the outside.
Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said the school is considering installing interior locks.
WASHINGTON
Senator: Gonzales risks perjury probe
Attorney General Alberto Gon zales must quickly clarify apparent contradictions in his testimony about warrantless spying or risk a possible perjury investigation, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday.
“This is going to have a devastating effect on law enforcement throughout the country if it’s not cleared up,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. “If he doesn’t correct it, then I think that there are so many errors in there that the pressure will lead very, very heavily to whether it’s a special prosecutor, a special counsel, efforts within the Congress.”
Leahy also said he was ready to work with the Bush administration to modernize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, which governs how intelligence agencies monitor suspected terrorists’ communications.
LOS ANGELES
Springfield clan springs to No. 1
“The Simpsons Movie” turned doughnuts to dollars over the week end, raking in $71.9 million to debut as the top movie this week.
Last week’s top movie, Universal Studio’s “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry,” was sent to second place with $19 million, a 44 percent drop. “The Simp sons” grossed an average of $18,320 on 3,922 screens across the country and also opened strongly in 70 foreign markets.
“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” from Warner Bros., fell to third place with $17.1 million, a 48 percent drop from last week. The film has grossed $242 million domestically after three weeks in theaters.
WASHINGTON
Rat poison, dead birds close Metro stations
Three Metro train stations were briefly closed Sunday while hazardous-materials crews investigated dead birds and a substance that eventually was identified as a commercial rat poison.
There was no indication the poisoning was an attack aimed at people, said Alan Etter, District of Columbia fire and EMS spokesman. No injuries were reported.
However, members of the FBI’s joint terrorism task force joined the investigation. Investigators seek a person in a black pickup truck whom witnesses saw spraying the d-Con rat poison, he said.
CAMARILLO, Calif.
Gas down 17 cents in past two weeks
The price of gasoline dropped about 17 cents over the past two weeks, according to a national survey released Sunday.
The average price for regular unleaded was $2.88 a gallon, midgrade was $3.01 and premium was $3.12, said industry analyst Trilby Lundberg.
The nation’s lowest average price was in Cleveland, where a gallon of regular unleaded cost $2.65. The highest was in Chicago at $3.29, according to the Lundberg Survey of 7,000 stations.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico
Resolution seeks loosening of U.S. ties
Puerto Rico’s ruling party approved a resolution Sunday urging the U.N. to review the island’s status, hoping international pressure can help it gain greater autonomy from the U.S.
It was the first time Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila’s Popular Democratic Party, which has favored the current commonwealth status, has called for such a change. The approval was announced by Vila, who last week said he will run for re-election next year.
Party officials say they want to maintain U.S. ties but also negotiate trade pacts and import products carried on ships not registered in the U.S.
MEXICO CITY
Prisons now allow gay conjugal visits
Mexico City’s prison system has begun allowing gay conjugal visits, bowing to a recommendation by the country’s National Human Rights Commission, the commission announced Sunday.
The commission called the move “an important step in terms of nondiscrimination.”
