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Cartersville campus undergoes realistic terror drillBy Jeff Capen
In reality, the entire Oct.11 event was a homeland security drill orchestrated by Georgia Highlands College, along with several law enforcement and emergency response agencies including the Bartow County Sheriff's department and the FBI. Although notices and warnings were posted around campus a few weeks prior to the actual drill, some students were overwhelmed by the experience. "It was so realistic" said Susan Rowan, a general studies major from Roswell, "I didn't really like how it disrupted classes and traffic." Rowan added that the drill was very well executed on the part of the student actors. Amy Casey, an admissions counselor at Georgia Highlands, was present in the first-floor HUB when first shots were fired. "Although I was emotionally prepared for the drill, I must say I was very startled when I heard the first gunshot. We were told in a training session to immediately run down the hallway to a 'safe' area, though upon hearing the first shots I panicked and dropped to the ground to hide behind my office door. It was a very realistic experience for me," Casey said. Members of the Cass High School Drama Club were called upon to act as wounded and dead victims. The bloodied bodies could be found everywhere, from the chairs in the HUB (textbooks still in hand) to the vending machines, where a boy sporting two gunshots to the chest was slouched against a snack machine. The drill was originally proposed in early August by Lt. Mike Shinall of the Bartow County Sheriff's Office. Howard Brooks, director of Georgia Highlands Security, held a meeting with college administrators to discuss the idea. "After the discussion, the decision was made that this exercise would be helpful both to the college and to the emergency agencies involved," said Carolyn Hamrick, the director of campus operations in Cartersville. "The purpose of the exercise was to make sure that all agencies in Bartow County would be able to coordinate and respond effectively to a major emergency." Other organizations which contributed to the exercise included the Bartow County Emergency Management Agency, Bartow County Fire Department, Bartow County EMS, Euharlee City Police, Georgia State Patrol and the Cartersville Police Department. Hamrick has indicated that a complete analysis of the drill will be distributed to the faculty, staff and students soon. "While we would like to think that this type of emergency would never happen at GHC, "this types of exercise helps the college to examine our safety procedures," she said. "We want our campus to be as safe as possible, and completing exercises such as this one helps us to be better prepared." |
The hallways of the Cartersville Campus were filled with drama students portraying dead bodies, screams and gunshots.
S.W.A.T. teams toting deadly M-4 rifles scoured the hallways, looking for their chance to take down the supposed gunmen. Route 20 was inaccessible as emergency helicopters circled overhead, waiting for a chance to evacuate the "wounded."