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VCU sirens: Was that it?

VCU tested its new emergency warning sirens Wednesday at noon. Here's what some on campus thought.

VCU sirens: Was that it?
Kent J. Brockwell/Richmond.com
 Students wandered across campus as normal as VCU tested its new emergency warning siren system Wednesday at noon.

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Dionne Waugh
Richmond.com
Thursday, September 20, 2007

To most, Virginia Commonwealth University's new emergency sirens sounded like just another ambulance pulling up to the hospital downtown. On the school's Monroe Campus, the sound of hundreds of students getting lunch inside the student commons easily drowned out the loud wail. The sirens were installed this summer as part of several measures by the school in response to the Virginia Tech shootings in April.

Overheard:

  • "It sounded like an old World War II air raid siren."
    -- Bob Kayser, cardiology fellow at the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System.
  • "It's the biggest disappointment since Gettysburg."
    -- A VCU official talking about the siren test on a cell phone.
  • "I didn't really pay it no mind. It sounded more like an ambulance."
    -- Eula Haynes, who works in Primary Care downtown.
  • "I'm used to hearing a lot of stuff because I work downtown. I kinda heard it."
    -- Kimberly Cousins, a senior student in clinical laboratory science.
  • "I just barely heard it on the bus."
    -- Tyrone McBride, bus driver for Greater Richmond Transit Company.
  • "It wasn't worth the hype. I thought I was going to hear something."
    -- T.W. Steele, bus driver for Greater Richmond Transit Company.
  • "I knew it was just a test so I didn't have an emotional reaction to it. I think (installing them) was a reasonable step given everything that's happened."
    -- Tim Marshall, a fourth year dental student.

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