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Concert Lineup Angers Some Va. Tech Families
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Earlier this summer, several families criticized the panel investigating the shootings because Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) did not include any relatives of victims.
Some family members have asked the state for financial settlements similar to what victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks received to pay for funeral costs for the dead and health care for the wounded. Others blasted the university for using their dead children's photos without the families' permission to collect money for the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund.
The whole notion of a concert with such big names "smacks of commercialism," Bove said.
But Farrell, who grew up near Virginia Tech and harbors a deep fondness for the university, was more forgiving.
"I have loved that community for my whole life, so I want to be patient and understanding with them," she said.
Also yesterday, another attorney representing some of the Virginia Tech families said school officials have decided to keep open indefinitely the $7 million Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, which the university created to receive donations from the public in the days after the shootings.
University officials had planned to close the fund Wednesday, but in response to the families' concerns decided to extend it. As a result, Kenneth Feinberg, a Washington lawyer appointed to administer the fund, will negotiate with university officials on how to distribute the money.
Feinberg has drawn up a proposal to pay $150,000 to the families of those killed. Wounded students could receive $25,000 to $75,000. Several families have said the needs of the victims and families would exceed the $7 million in the fund.
