D.C. snipers' impact felt in NU students' lives

By Danny Robinson
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

Most Northfield residents would probably not be scared half to death at the sound of a car backfiring, nor would they run from building to building in fear for their lives.

But residents in Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. know what it is to fear for their lives.

The fear on campus was still very present though. Students may not have been the actual targets, but they felt the stress nonetheless.

The Maryland sniper did far more damage across the country than just around the D.C. area.

Several NU students hale from below the Mason Dixie line, with an abundance of undergraduates from Maryland and Virginia.

"It hits closer to home when you are from or near the areas of the attacks." said Jeffrey Sacks, 21, a political science major from Washington, D.C.

"First of all, it's kind of scary, " he said, explaining that for nearly three weeks no one really knew "who they're dealing with."

Sacks said he believed the local police didn't "know who they are facing."

"It's scary; I worried about my family and friends that live in the area, because I am actually from the county that the shootings took place in," Sacks said. "My dad works at Johns Hopkins, which is in Prince George County, where one of the shootings happened."

Attacks were not restricted to the state of Maryland but jumped across state lines into Virginia, as well.

"The shooter tended to go back and forth between states," Sacks said. "Shooting in Virginia one day, and coming back to Maryland to do another shooting."

According to Justin Roy, 20, a physical education major from Hamilton, Va., "there were a lot of people scared, and a majority of people were not getting out at gas stations."

"Instead, they were getting the full service just to prevent the chance of being a victim or a target, " Roy said.

"My mom was just worried about going to pump gas; that's where it seems the attacker shoots most of the victims," Sacks said, expressing the fear his own family experienced.

While Norwich students were safe here in Vermont, some students have family in areas where the sniper killed or wounded people at random.

"I have friends in the area, and I talk to them; I actually have a friend at the University of Maryland at college park, which is not too far from Montgomery County, where the first five killings took place," Sacks said.

"They basically told them to stay in their rooms," Sacks said. "Everyone was pretty worried, because this stuff has not really happened before."

"A close friend of mine did not even want to go home for mid-semester break," said Karen Lawrence, 20, a mathematics major from Louisburg, NC. "Everyone was scared that the sniper would continue to move farther south."

Roy took the fear in stride by recalling how a friend recommended that those fearful live life as normally as possible.

"I strongly believe if you live your life in fear, you have already let the guy win," Roy said. "A good friend of mine told me that. I am going to carry on with my daily life."

Although safe in Vermont from the D.C. sniper, some students still speculated how life would be had they been at their family homes in the sphere of the sniper.

"It would have been weird walking around back home, wondering if you were going to be in someone's sites or something like that," said John Smith, 21, from the D.C. area.

"This sniper seemed pretty bold to shoot victims where police are yards away," Sacks said. "Especially in D.C., where one of the victims was shot right in front of a police station."

Sacks said that when he returns home the realization of what happened there in recent weeks may take some time to accept.

"When I go home, I don't think it will hit me like it is supposed to," Smith said. "It was all like some kind of bad dream, or something."

Sacks said he has kept in close contact with his family during the crisis to make certain of their safety.

"I talk to my parents every day to find out what's going on, now," Sacks said.

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