To the Editor:

We had a very dangerous situation [Tuesday].

It was heartening to read your wonderful coverage of the event [Wednesday]. I do, however, have questions.

Were it not for the police scanner monitoring, and local folk phoning each other, no one would have had a clue that there was a desperate, dangerous [alleged] felon loose among us.

Why didn’t local TV stations alert us? Some residents were notified by police to secure their premises and stay inside; what about others?

This leads me to the ridiculous notification proposals I keep hearing of in the aftermath of the sad VT situation.

Text messaging, emails, alert sites on the campus web site, yadda yadda yadda.

To be entirely dependent on electronic gadgets is foolish.

What ever became of the &uot;wailing siren&uot; notification system? When it wails, everyone is aware that something is amiss.

To think that all will be &uot;connected&uot; via laptop, cell phone, desktop computer, etc. and be continuously on line is not realistic.

Wake up, civil authorities. When something serious is going on please alert the people. A screaming siren is the best way to do that.

John D. Murphy

Franklin