NATION IN BRIEF

Remembrance at Kent State Honors Virginia Tech Tragedy

KENT, Ohio -- Campus tragedies separated by more than a generation linked Kent State and Virginia Tech on Friday, as students on the Ohio campus marked the shooting deaths 37 years apart.

A bell on the Kent State campus -- rung each year to mark the Ohio National Guard shooting deaths of four students during antiwar protests May 4, 1970 -- first rang out 32 times to honor victims slain April 16 at Virginia Tech by a gunman.

"I choked up. It's an emotional thing," said senior Sarah Lund-Goldstein, who is part of the campus group that organized the commemoration. "We feel it's very important to understand that a grieving campus is not just one from 37 years ago."

At the midday ceremony, 200 to 300 people sat on a sun-drenched, grassy hillside and heard speakers memorialize the Kent State students.

Mary Ann Vecchio, 51, of Miami, the subject of a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo showing her with arms outstretched over the body of shooting victim Jeffrey Miller, told the gathering that her experience that day will always be with her.

"Time has passed. Time goes on. We miss you here today," she said, invoking Miller's memory. "I'll always be here at Kent for you."

The ceremony came days after a survivor of the Kent State shootings, Alan Canfora, claimed that static-filled audio from the shootings revealed a military order to open fire.

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