Va. Governor Says He Will Meet With Families Concerned About Shooting Review Panel

Wednesday, June 13th 2007, 10:07 pm

By: News On 6

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) _ The governor said Wednesday that he will meet with several relatives of the 32 people killed in the Virginia Tech shootings to discuss their concerns about the work of the review panel he appointed.

Families have been outspoken about their desire to have input on the eight-member, independent panel that Gov. Timothy M. Kaine named to investigate the shootings. Relatives of 13 victims released a statement this week expressing anger over ``being ostracized from a government-chartered panel investigating a government-chartered university.''

Kaine said he wants to address their questions and concerns.

``They have a lot of serious and legitimate concerns, they have a lot of powerful and understandable emotions, and they have a lot of questions,'' Kaine told reporters.

The governor said he has been in touch with three or four of the relatives since meeting with them privately after Monday's panel meeting in Fairfax. He concluded that ``a session that I would have where I could sit down and listen to the full range of concerns that they have would probably be helpful.''

Kaine plans to hold a meeting in Richmond in coming weeks for any relatives who choose to attend. The review panel has one more public meeting scheduled for July 18 in Charlottesville and is expected to produce a report in August.