Va. Tech Tragedy's Impact Reaches Ocean City

BERLIN - As the world learned about the deadly shooting at Virginia Tech University on Monday morning, at least one local family was breathing a sigh of relief.

Alison Miller, a 2006 graduate of Stephen Decatur High School, is currently enrolled as a freshman at Virginia Tech. Miller, the daughter of Peck and Patti Miller, former owners of Ocean City businesses Sailing Etc. and Mellow Beach, was in her dormitory room when the first shooting occurred. Miller is living in the East Ambler Johnston, which is adjacent to where a woman and a man were gunned down by Virginia Tech senior Cho Seung-Hui, who has been described by roommates and college and high school classmates as a disturbed loner. After the shooting at the dormitory, Seung-Hui reportedly mailed a disturbing package to NBC News and then proceeded to Norris Hall where he opened fire, killing 31 people including himself.

Peck Miller, a local developer and Realtor, said this week the tragedy hits close to home for him. He graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in architecture and his daughter began her college career there last fall.

Miller said he first heard about the shooting from a friend who had come across the news on the Internet. He then contacted his daughter.

'She tried to call, but she couldn't call out. So I called her and she said she had been trying to call us. I asked her, 'did she see this?' and she said, •€˜yeah, it's not any better, there's more shootings going on across campus,'' Miller said. 'She was in her dorm and they were basically in lockdown. She could watch TV and use email and talked to all her friends and make sure they were all fine.'

Miller said his daughter did not know any of the victims specifically, but he said some of her friends knew the first female victim of the rampage and others were impacted other ways.

'The thing is it doesn't matter if you know them or you don't them - it just hurts. If you know of someone that even knows of someone, you just feel for anybody,' Miller said. 'I spoke to a contractor who lives there and has lived there all his life. He's an older gentleman and he's just beside himself over it. It's something really tragic going on in this small town.'

Miller said the questioning of campus authorities and officials over whether the situation was handled properly is understandable, but he reiterated it does nothing to diminish the reality of the incident.

'There's always the •€˜what if's' and the arm-chair quarterbacking, dissecting everything and what could have happened, but it's just an unfortunate sad, sad thing,' Miller said. 'It's just a horrible, horrible situation.'

Miller, a member of the Ocean City Planning Commission, said there are a number of former local students currently enrolled at Virginia Tech. He said all the local students were unharmed.

As for Alison Miller, she attended the memorial convocation on Tuesday and has enjoyed campus life since she enrolled, according to her father.

'She loves the school and is studying architecture and really likes the architecture program and is having a great time playing club lacrosse and has a ton of new friends,' Miller said. 'She loves it there. It's a tremendously laid back town, a little bit like Berlin. It's as historic looking as Berlin but it has a campus attached to it. It's a very small community.'

Miller was relieved classes were canceled this week and he hopes the time off allows the students time to absorb it and reflect.

'I think they all need to take a break and be away from the area. I think it was a great call by the president and the school to cancel classes and let these kids be with their family and friends and start the healing process,' Miller said. 'I think a change of environment is a good thing and then they can get back to school. It's something you can't put away, you have to deal with it.'