2008 Woodie Awards
Haunting memories serve as lesson
Joseph Gentile
Issue date: 10/19/06 Section: Features
- Page 1 of 2 next >
"It went into a holocaust," said former police chief Richard Hellman. "There were people screaming, running and yelling in all directions."
Now, the incident described by Mr. Hellman isn't referring to the grisly string of school shootings that has plagued the country in recent months. In fact, this quote had been uttered to a New York Times reporter more than 30 years ago on February 19th, 1975, the day after Shelley died in the Cafeteria.
Shelley Sperling had been a quiet but intelligent girl, according to Christina Hope, a Marist alum that operates an online memorial for Shelley, called The Hauntings of Sheahan Hall, through her homepage, http://www.christinahope.com. So, when a gunshot to the chest from an ex-boyfriend, Louis Acevedo, cut short the life of this young college co-ed, it brought the entire Marist community to a standstill.
According to Reverend Rhys Williams, in an article composed a year after Shelley's death in the Circle, "One of us was her roommate; a few of us were her close friends; twenty some of us lived on the same floor as she, and approximately nine hundred of us lived on the same campus with her," he said. "That's pretty close by to have somebody murdered."
However, who's to say that time heals all wounds? Just as teachers throughout the country polished their chalkboards for another year of learning, outsiders easily infiltrated the atmosphere of false safety and security and began polishing off students. In Canada, Colorado, and Pennsylvania, wild-eyed gunman surpassed basic security to inflict as much harm as possible, including instances of sexual assault upon their victims.
Obviously, as illustrated by the tragedy that occurred here at Marist College more than 30 years ago, nobody, especially here, can be invulnerable to the horrors just outside the gates. Yet, life at college doesn't need to be so uncertain, particularly in regards to domestic abuse and sexual assault, as indicated by Ben Atherton-Zeman at the "Voices of Men" lecture last September.
Now, the incident described by Mr. Hellman isn't referring to the grisly string of school shootings that has plagued the country in recent months. In fact, this quote had been uttered to a New York Times reporter more than 30 years ago on February 19th, 1975, the day after Shelley died in the Cafeteria.
Shelley Sperling had been a quiet but intelligent girl, according to Christina Hope, a Marist alum that operates an online memorial for Shelley, called The Hauntings of Sheahan Hall, through her homepage, http://www.christinahope.com. So, when a gunshot to the chest from an ex-boyfriend, Louis Acevedo, cut short the life of this young college co-ed, it brought the entire Marist community to a standstill.
According to Reverend Rhys Williams, in an article composed a year after Shelley's death in the Circle, "One of us was her roommate; a few of us were her close friends; twenty some of us lived on the same floor as she, and approximately nine hundred of us lived on the same campus with her," he said. "That's pretty close by to have somebody murdered."
However, who's to say that time heals all wounds? Just as teachers throughout the country polished their chalkboards for another year of learning, outsiders easily infiltrated the atmosphere of false safety and security and began polishing off students. In Canada, Colorado, and Pennsylvania, wild-eyed gunman surpassed basic security to inflict as much harm as possible, including instances of sexual assault upon their victims.
Obviously, as illustrated by the tragedy that occurred here at Marist College more than 30 years ago, nobody, especially here, can be invulnerable to the horrors just outside the gates. Yet, life at college doesn't need to be so uncertain, particularly in regards to domestic abuse and sexual assault, as indicated by Ben Atherton-Zeman at the "Voices of Men" lecture last September.
Be the first to comment on this story