Letters to the editor reflect the opinion of the writer(s), not the Rapp News. Comment below or by writing a letter to the editor: editor@rappnews.com.
On an otherwise happy and normal morning of the 4th of July here in Rappahannock County, I was happily making the potato salad and coleslaw for my husband’s family barbecue later that afternoon when I got a text from my sister and parents saying “everyone we know thus far is ok.” I didn’t really know what she was talking about, so I called her with the “ok what’s up?” question.
The answer was to turn on the news — downtown Highland Park, Ill., had a mass shooting. Immediately I turned on the news and started to see the very familiar streets that I grew up on and all the people running in panic. My childhood home and the house my parents still live in is about 10 minutes away from the parade route that some troubled young man decided to open gunfire on. It was supposed to be a day of celebration.
I spent a lot of happy years and even worked at a store on that very street after college. All of those happy memories have been replaced with a tragedy captured on all the video footage and news reports. So sadly, I now know what that feeling is like when a hometown community is met with such chaos.
Stay strong Highland Park, and to ALL communities that have been impacted by horrific events — senseless arbitrary violence is NEVER the answer!
Audra Dickey
Huntly
The writer is an advertising account executive for this newspaper
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