Va. Tech Shooting Victims' Family Members Demand Representation On Panel Studying The Killings

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) _ Relatives of Virginia Tech shooting victims said Monday they felt ``ostracized'' from a governor's panel studying the killings, and they questioned the use of their loved

Monday, June 11th 2007, 8:31 am

By: News On 6

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) _ Relatives of Virginia Tech shooting victims said Monday they felt ``ostracized'' from a governor's panel studying the killings, and they questioned the use of their loved ones' names to raise millions of dollars for a memorial fund.

Peter Read, whose daughter Mary Karen Read was killed, thanked the eight-member panel for its work and told members that the victims' families could remain objective if included.

``We bring a qualification to the table that we don't feel any of you can match _ which is an intimate knowledge of what Seung-Hui Cho took from us,'' Read said as his wife Cathy stood by his side.

He then read a statement that was written on behalf of 13 families.

``We are angry about being ostracized from a government-chartered panel investigating a government-sponsored university, and about how the university has used the names and images of our loved ones to raise millions of dollars without any consultation,'' the families said.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's spokesman said the governor wanted ``specialized expertise'' when he named the eight-member panel, which includes former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, psychiatrists, educational specialists and former law enforcement officials. The panel was charged to review the tragedy, the circumstances that led to it and the response.

``Family is important to us. It's also important, I think, to the governor that he have a panel that was viewed as being totally objective and not driven by emotions,'' said panel Chairman W. Gerald Massengill. He is a former Virginia State Police superintendent who oversaw the agency's response to the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon and the 2002 Washington-area sniper attacks.

The panel's third meeting was meant to get some insight into how the student gunman, Cho, was able to skirt Virginia's mental health system from December 2005, when he was ordered to undergo outpatient mental health treatment, until April 16, when he gunned down 27 students and five faculty members on campus and then committed suicide. It was unclear whether he ever received treatment.

Panel members appeared frustrated throughout Monday's testimony as James Stewart, the state's inspector general for mental health, mental retardation and substance abuse services, repeatedly cited patient privacy laws when asked pointed questions about Cho's mental health treatment.

``It's really rather remarkable we're talking about a deceased individual responsible for all kinds of carnage and you as an individual are still encumbered by law,'' Ridge told Stewart.

Panel member Diane Strickland, who once served as a Circuit Court judge in Roanoke and Salem, echoed Ridge's frustration.

``We are really operating with our hands tied, blindfolds, and maybe even gag orders here, and it's becoming increasingly frustrating for the members of this investigative body, for them to do their work,'' she said.

The families also said it was important that panel members gain access to Cho's immigration and mental health records. Massengill has said that the panel would go to court if necessary to get Cho's medical and mental health records, which Virginia Tech officials have said federal privacy laws bar them from sharing.

``I find it incredibly disturbing and distasteful that an individual who so brutally violated the privacy of so many should have his own privacy so doggedly preserved,'' Andrew Goddard, whose son Colin Goddard survived the tragedy despite being shot four times, told the panel to loud applause.

The families also asked for more information on the status of the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, which has received about $7 million in donations from nearly 20,000 sources since it was set up after the shootings.

University spokesman Larry Hincker said that the fund was intended to support the families with financial, medical and counseling resources, and that its oversight will be to the highest standards.

Virginia Tech announced last week that it would take $3.2 million of the fund to create 32 $100,000 funds to honor each of the victims. The families questioned the university's use of the victims' names and pictures for ``vast fundraising purposes.''

``We're obviously deeply concerned, and it hurts us to hear that families are frustrated, frankly we're frustrated, too, in trying to be as responsive as we can,'' Hincker said.

The families asked that a federal commission be named ``to address the larger issues that affect all families and students'' and also called for ``sensible gun control'' measures.

Gun rights advocates have argued that mass shootings such as the one at Virginia Tech could be curbed if students were allowed to carry weapons on campus.

Kaine has said he hopes the panel will finish its review by August. But Massengill said after the meeting that it may take the panel longer than that to gather all the information they're seeking about Cho.

``It may not be easy and there may be bumps in the road, but we're going to get what we need,'' he said.