European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 20, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday april 202007 stars and stripes Page 15 opinion like a tech us is crossing its fingers Michael Goodwin Are we ready for the next time is America ready to prevent or re Spond to an even bigger attack than mondays Campus Slaugh Ter the moving memorial service at Vir Ginia tech on tues Day was not the time or place but sooner or later the school must face the fact that it want ready despite a manhunt on Campus last summer after a nearby shooting de spite two bomb threats this month and even after two people were murdered in a dormitory Early Mon Day school officials moved too deliberately they were in the Middle of a developing catastrophe but they acted As though they had All the time in the world the rising tide of anger of some parents and students is justified the 30 people who died in the second shooting More than two hours after the first could have been saved had school officials quickly locked Down the Campus cancelled classes and told students to stay in their rooms the toll could have been reduced instead officials acted of a Hunch that the shooter of the first two students had left the Campus elementary police work and common sense Tell you not to take chances with hunches when a murderer is on the Loose you secure everyone and everything until you Are certain the shooter and his weapon Are no longer a threat thais the lesson of the world we didst connect the dots before sept 11 and monday shows we Haven come very far As a nation in changing our thinking president Bush was right when he said that the victims were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time but if s a Fate that could strike any of us we always have to have a plan and we have to practice carry ing it out and then we have to put it in place at the first sign of trouble without hesitation and without falling Back on Sloppy hunches gho seun Hui the Man identified As the Virginia gunman was a deranged misfit he was a South korean immigrant not an islamic jihadist but he could have been and he could have had a weapon More deadly than two handguns just As there were Many signs Cho was disturbed we have been warned by our National enemies that they want to kill us we have to take them seriously but we Haven and Virginia techs slow motion reaction is a metaphor for our laxness coming up on six years since the deadliest Day in american history we still have not protected cargo ports the Security perimeters around nuclear plants Are Flimsy we Are just now getting around to improving rail and mass transit Security our Borders Are notoriously open As ant terror expert Stephen Flynn recently wrote there Are More than 500 chemical facilities in the United states each of which if attacked could produce a toxic Cloud sending up to 100000 Ameri cans to makeshift morgues these plants Are the equivalent of poorly protected weapons of mass destruction lying in our midst yet we move on in deliberate fashion As though we have All the time in the world in coming weeks the temptation will be to focus on the narrow circumstances of the Virginia killings but the larger Issue is not about gun control or Campus counsel ing or anything else a new Law can fix the real Issue is our state of readiness our state of mind we must get ready for the next time Michael Goodwin is a new York daily news columnist Cho seun Hui was a South korean immigrant not an islamic jihadist Bui he could have been and he could have had a weapon More deadly than two handguns untreated mental illness is a disaster in the making by Patty Fisher san Jose Calif Mercury news every year 1100 College students in America kill themselves thais an average of three suicides a Day most Are quiet Trage Dies that dont make the evening news Cho Shenghui made sure his death would not be a private affair his suicidal rampage left More than 30 people dead and it left people asking How the carnage could have been prevented Why the cops didst lock Down the Campus i think those Are the wrong questions instead of calling for Metal detectors and key cards americans should be Call ing for improved mental health care we should be asking How weird and antisocial someone has to be before Hes identified As a danger to himself and oth ers we should be asking How a severely de pressed Young Man could walk into a Roanoke a gun store and buy a Glock 9 my handgun and in Santa Clara county Calif we should be asking Why our county supervisors Are considering cutting million from the mental health budget next year and closing four Community clinics its natural in the aftermath of such an unthinkable tragedy to look around for someone to blame and its natural for parents to want to build Safe cocoons for their College kids so they wont have to worry about them but folks i think the problem this tragedy int Campus Security ifs Campus suicide if anything positive is to come from the events at Virginia tech it will be that cur leaders finally commit to providing adequate mental health resources on campuses and in communities i kept having to Tell myself there is no Way we could have known this was com ing a classmate of chos told reporters tuesday we saw All the signs but never thought this could happen studies show that 90 percent of Young people who commit suicide suffer from de pression or some other mental ill Ness though most dont seek treat ment but usually there Are warning signs cries for help sometimes the signs Are ignored often worried friends and family members see the signs but cant find afford Able treatment in time Melanie Hale sees the problem every Day a Counselor at foothill College in los Altos Hills Calif she meets with dozens of students each month who Are suffering suicide is preventable but Lon term treatment is expensive most medical insurance Doest cover it from depression anxiety and other prob lems that Are on the Rise at american col Leges and universities lately Shes been concerned about the number of students who Are addicted to violent video games they spend hours online they fall be Hind in their class work and suffer from sleep deprivation sometimes Stu dents with problems seek her out others Are referred by professors parents or friends who Are Dis Turbed by a Stu def s emails compositions or conversations but her office can Only offer students a few counselling sessions she cant pre scribe drugs or provide intensive therapy we have to have places to refer them to she said but so Many services Are drying up suicide is preventable but Lon term treatment is expensive most medical insurance Doest cover it and in our area ifs going to get worse As part of a massive cos cutting plan Santa Clara county is proposing to Cut mental health services to 8000 people including nearly 800 Chil Dren and adolescents the North county in Palo Alto which is closest to foothill would close if that happens where will troubled Stu dents get help before they Necomedes Perate we have to maintain our mental health services in the Community Hale said and they have to be accessible to Stu dents otherwise even if we turn our campuses into fortresses our students will be increasingly at risk Patty Fisher is a Mercury news columnist prickly City by Scott Stantis