Wednesday, October 17, 2007

I live in a nice area -- Or, shit always happens when I'm out of the building

Two years ago I took of a couple of days to make a five day weekend and went on a minivacation with Ben. The last day I wasn't there, there was a bomb threat at school. The kids didn't even come into the building; they sat outside on the field, in the 90 degree heat, all day. Apparently it was pretty bad. I don't know, I wasn't there.

I was out of the building today at a department chair meeting (the theme, bling it on -- I kid you not. We got plastic, fake gold, dollar sign necklaces). When driving home, I noticed a large number of unmarked and marked police cars speeding down route 1, in the general direction of my school. I thought, great, we had a fire near us on Monday that delayed the start of school, and now there's something going on now, stopping the kids from getting home (it was around 3 in the afternoon).

I went into the local bookstore to see if they had a book someone suggested at our department chair's meeting, and when I came out about fifteen minutes later, there were two more unmarked police cars weaving in and out of traffic, heading in the same direction. An interesting side note, one was an unmarked white ford taurus (classy) and a white suv truck thingy.

So, I came home, finished reading the book I bought (I had been listening to it on CD today while I drove to my meeting and it was so good, I had to come home and finish reading it -- and I can read a lot faster than the people on the CD can), Ben told me that route 1 was closed between Lockheed and Fordson, two roads right before my school. I looked it up, to his suggestions, on WJLA's website. Yes, someone was holding a bus hostage at gun point.

Fairfax County police are engaged in a standoff with a gunman on a Fairfax Connector bus in Hybla Valley.

Police have closed Route-1 at Fordson Road in both directions.

SWAT teams are on scene. Authorities say the standoff started around 2:45 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. The suspect allowed the other passengers as well as the driver off the bus unharmed. Officers are currently negotiating with the gunman.

ABC 7/NewsChannel 8's Jay Korff has learned that Fairfax County Police are also working a suspicious death near the area of Telegraph Road and South Kings Highway.

Police are investigating whether or not it is related to their ongoing standoff.

Note to readers: I used to drive by South Kings and Telegraph all the time on my way home from work (I now live near the intersection of South Kings and Route 1). There is this weird place called Crossroads near the intersection of South Van Dorn, South Kings, and Telegraph. I think that it's a rehab place of some sort considering that it has locked doors and a security entrance and what appear to be dorms of some sort. My prediction: someone left there after killing someone, got on the bus (the stop is near the place), and then drove along until he decided to take the bus hostage. Now, let's just see if my predictions are true.

And now, it's time to play video games with Ben.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Anna,

Just to set the record straight. Crossroads is a residential rehad center run by Fairfax County Alcohol and Drug Program. People are free to leave whenever they want if they choose to quit the program. Otherwise they must abide by the rules of the facility. The people there are not dangerous at all. They simply are dealing with addiction.
Crossroads even has a section for adolescent boys many of them could be your present or former students.
My son, entered Crossroads at age 15 and stayed there for nine months. He was ok for a while but got caught with drugs at age 20 and was cour ordered to Crossroads for 18 months. This time hae was on the adult side which is coed. While there, he studied on line to become a personal trainer. He completed the program at Crossroads and got a job as soon as he was released. He is now 24 and he works successfully for Washington Sports Club as a personal trainer. Best of all, he is free of drugs and alcohol and is living happily using the life lessons he was taught at Crossroads.
We are very happy that our son was able to attend the program available at Crossroads.
Just setting the record straight. Yours truly, Cheryl
PS. I am a retired Fairfax County teacher and I laughed at your description of the English Department meeting. I see the same boondoggles are still going on. I hope you are wearing your bling necklace!!!!

1/26/2008 2:50 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home