Maroon Alert

Yesterday was supposed to be just an ordinary day of the week.  The Spousal unit has a business meeting in Macon, at the local hospital.  I was the chauffeur for the day, and dropped her off at the appointed time.  With two hours to kill, I decided to make a side trip to the Country Store Bakery, in Brooksville.  These fine ladies have an awesome pastry counter,  and the sooner you get there, the better.

No sooner did I enter the door, and take one look at the pastries, my phone goes off.  The spousal unit's meeting was over sooner than expected  and she was ready to go.

On my way back to Macon to pic her up, I get the following text message from our son Morgan, a senior at MSU:

"There has been a shooting on Campus.  I am fine in ece main office. Morgan called me and she is looked in her classroom in the dark.  We are as safe as we can get and the shooter was last seen heading towards Lee Hall.  Away from both of us. Just FYI. "

The text was received by both of us.  Lots of messages back and forth.   I went to social media to see if it was a topic.  Within a minute of getting Morgan's text, it was all over Facebook!

It turned out to be a lone student with lots of problems and he was deemed an immediate treat to himself and others.  Mississippi State University immediately issued a "Maroon Alert", effectively locking down the entire campus.

 Within 30 minutes, the all clear was issued.  The troubled student was in custody.   No shots fired, and no one hurt.  The alert system was initiated and it worked.

We were within 30 miles of campus, and LaNelle had to have her arms around her baby.  We met at one of our favorite eateries, and we had the longest family hugs that he have had in a long time.

Classes were to resume at 2:00, with tolerances for those too tramatized from the days experience.  

Today is a new day, and life is back to normal, as much as it can be.  Mommas and Daddies have had their chat with their college kids, and the kids have promised to be more aware of their surroundings, mine included.

Mississippi State University did the right thing by issuing the "maroon alert".  The plan worked.  For the most part, students did as they were instructed.  The plan will be reviewed and I'm sure will be tweaked  for the parts that did not go as planned.

As a parent, I am grateful that this plan is in place.  Social media proved that not everything you read is accurate.  Things evolve very quickly, and facts tend to take on lives of their own.

We promised to have group family hugs more frequently,  and for other reasons than a potential tragedy.  Hope you do the same!