Brittany Wichtendahl, even though I did not attend U-VA, I do have a "horse in this race" (that's a term grown-ups use). I, like many parents in our region, have children who will soon graduate from high school and are actively reviewing colleges and their curriculums. This story is something that mature, responsible parents like to take into consideration when choosing a college to send their children. Or not to send, as the case may be.

I also go to UVa-Wise and have read the story, and saw no reason for alarm. Steve was trying to explore a controversial topic which is rarely discussed. Instead of applying intricate thought to his intention, people over-reacted. As soon as the word shooting is mentioned, we pay attention to it; however, we ignore actually exploring the issue to fix the problem. Some people the issue will prevent school shootings, but Steve thought keeping a handgun in his car would. I don't know which approach applies more logic, for we know that if we ignore an issue it will go away. The issue that gives me great fear is that ignorance is bliss. We ignore things because the subjects are real if we discuss them. I feared the outcome of Steve's essay more than I can imagine fearing the essay itself.

The Bristol Courier is doing one hit piece after another on me. To get my side of the story, go to http://stevebarbertruthsquad.blogspot.com

What a sad commentary on the abilities and judgment of the college administrators. They probably knew they were grossly overreacting, but decided to ruin Barber's education and career in the interest of remaining politically correct. Instead of such pointless symbolism, they could be doing something meaningful. They could be revising their "no guns except for criminals" policy, to exempt students and staff with concealed carry licenses.

I commend you Mr. Barber for defending our country and I regret that you are having to defend yourself for doing the very thing you were protecting, FREE THINKING. I can understand a certain level of fear in this country to keep people "on their toes" so-to-speak. But that's not what this is about. It's about "The Good-ol'-Boy" network. I've lived in Wise my entire life and I know how things operate around here. You ruffle one person's feathers, they can make things VERY difficult for you. And again, thank you for your service to our country and defending our freedoms (even though some are trying to deny you yours).

He had a 3.9 GPA too. I hope he sues and wins.

Let me say that if I read something that disturbed me, I would bring it to the attention of the administration. That's not the issue. The issue is that once I was dismissed from my TDO as not being a threat or mentally ill, then the school should have stopped treating me like I was a whackjob.

The other issue is that UVA Wise is a public school. Under Jones v. Commonwealth, it's a governmental entity. By LAW, governmental entities in VA can't restrict the possesion of firearms. They are breaking law with a ban. Yes I know I was in violation of their policy. But Virginia law (and the Constitution for that matter) supersede their rules.

Let me again reiterate that it's my opinion the administration overreacted, and not any of the students in my class or my professor.

I've decided to put some fact out their for Ms. Brittany and Mr. Gregory.

First to Brittany, I'm the editor for the newspaper "Notes from Underground" that circulates on the campus, if you don't believe me you can find the last issue and check, so your, "if you don't go to UVA-Wise then stay out of it" argument isn't going to work on me. I'm going to go ahead and tell everyone here, Steve's paper was no worse, and in my opinion it was less, 'threatening' than whats being reported. Their wasn't even any violence in it, only contemplation.

Now for Gregory. First Im going to cite the Virginia Attorney General's opinion, which can be found here: http://www.oag.state.va.us/OPINIONS/2006opns/05-078.pdf
"It is my opinion that the governing boards of Virginia?s public colleges and universities may not impose a general prohibition on the carrying of concealed weapons by permitted individuals." In other words the blanket ban on guns that UVA-Wise has is unconstitutional in the opinion of the Attorney General, the school policy needs to be changed, not the student thrown out. And your "legal under the Constitution but not under school policy" is a little maddening, are adult students at universities supposed to have less rights than in other places? And our code of conduct in the student handbook says, "It (the college) is committed to preserving the exercise of any right guaranteed to
individuals by the Constitution." Is the right to bear arms not an individual right?
You asked if I remember VT, yes I do, I remember that over 30 unarmed people were killed that day, they had to run and hide behind doors and basically get killed execution style because they had no way to defend themselves. Now I have a question for you, do you remember the Appalachian School of Law shooting? if you don't, only three people died in that incident because when the shooting started two students went out to their cars, got their personal firearms and ended the shooting. Your right that their needs to be a fear in this country, but a fear of an administration that would strip its members of a basic human right, not of students having guns.

I am a student at UVA-Wise and I know Barber Personally. The only reason this really caused such a "scare" on campus was due to the rumors that flew around without students really knowing what happened. I may not have been in his creative writing course, but I was close with him as a friend and I have read the story. The incident at VA Tech had a student who was withdrawn, had been commited before, and consitently wrote macabre stories. Barber wrote one story, and if we cannot write stories in college, in our creative writing classes without being expelled then reason really has been replaced by the paranoia of the school system. Barber was well liked by a good portion of the faculty, and had many friends. He was outgoing and did not exibit any signs of being violent! A student "giving trouble" to a professor is not violent behavior, so the professor had no reason to feel threatened by Barber. Perhaps it is only my close perspective, or even my far perspective (coming from far out-of-state) that allows me to feel that this is a case of paranoia rather than "reason". Had any of you met Steve personally, you would know his behavior is almost the opposite of threatening.

With respect to Mr. Barber?s service to America as a soldier in Iraq, please let me say first and foremost, I am deeply grateful as an American citizen. I also want to say that with respect to Mr. Barber?s expulsion, there is a possibility that the administrators at UVa Wise are overreacting to what some would like to say is an issue of freedom of speech and not safety. However, be that as it may, I am also an American citizen who remembers the agony and drama eleven months ago as the massacre at Virginia Tech unfolded in our backyard before a stunned and horrified nation. I am not saying that Mr. Barber is in any way equal to Seung-Hui Cho, the perpetrator who killed 32 people and wounded several others before turning his weapons on himself. I am saying that I would far and away prefer that people in charge overreact than underreact to what seems like a whole lot of red flags. I would rather err on the side of one person?s right to freedom of speech than 32 people?s right to life and countless other people?s right to feel free to walk their campus without fear of spontaneous terrorist attacks due to Officialdom?s dropping the ball and ignoring a plethora of danger signs. I?m sorry for the hassle Mr. Barber feels at what he may feel is a violation of some of his civil liberties, but faced with a writing assignment that could be construed as disturbing, followed by being apprised of the possession of firearms, legal or otherwise, I might tend to overreact as well, particularly if I had a child who was a student at UVa Wise. I would rather see red tape than crime scene tape, and I favor administrators seeing red flags beforehand over seeing body bags afterward any day.

I wonder if the tragic incident at VATech would have been thwarted, had a veteran on campus been legally armed and stopped the gunman? Why was this student giving his professor problems in class? The reason I ask is because there's been so many news reports over the past few years about college professors/H.S.teachers who tout their personal liberal beliefs, regarding the war, in the classroom. The news reports interview students who state they were chastised by the teachers/professors when they questioned why they were going off on a political tangent instead of teaching the class they were there for. Just curious.

I am appalled. Not by the expulsion but by people's reactions to it. Are any of you students at Uva-Wise? Paper or no paper the fact is that student policy prohibits weapons on campus regardless of how many permits you have. Any weapon on campus has to be registered with the campus police. The campus was upholding school policy. I know the second amendment gives us the right to bear arms, however the college does not and Barber was on a college campus. I agree with Barber's right to express himself artistically, but does anyone remember Virginia Tech? I believe a student there also wrote a paper of this nature and the college didn't look into it. Of course hindsight is twenty-twenty. What if our college wouldn't have done anything and Barber would have hurt someone. Why then there would be people commenting on here blaming the school and saying "why didn't anyone notice his behavior? why didn't anyone say anything about his writing until now?" Our college did what they thought was necessary. I commend them for it. The fact of the matter is Barber's story was about killing a teacher, not his experiences in war. The difference between Mr. Barber and William Shakespeare or Stephen King is that they were not college students writing a paper for a class, Mr. Barber was. I'm not saying that he can't write what he wants in class but when you have been giving the teacher problems in the class and you write a paper about killing your teacher, do you honestly believe that no one is going to question your behavior? So for all of you who uphold your first amendment right put yourself in that teacher's shoes. If you were this kids teacher and he wrote a paper about killing a teacher, would you be concerned? Of course not because rational thought has indeed replaced fear. No one is afraid anymore and what does that say about our country? Fear is not a bad thing, when you are afraid you are more prepared. But perhaps we haven't learned from our mistakes.

Whatever! All you people who are commenting on this and you DON'T go to UVA Wise need to stay out of it. As a UVA Wise student, I KNOW what kind of scare this caused on campus, so don't go around telling US that what he did should be condoned and he shouldn't be punished cause it's BS. And as a student in the Creative Writing class, I READ the story...there is a lot more to it then you all know.

You see news stories about adults who write stories regarding sick and twisted things such as pedophilia, but the liberal politically correct crowd yell that it's protected as free speech. Although this young man's story is a little bizarre, isn't it protected as well? The ironic thing is that he's served his country protecting the very thing that's not been given to him. Sad, very sad.
Good point about Jim Webb, Mr. Allison.

I wonder what UVA-Wise would have done to Senator Jim Webb if he had attended college there. He came back from serving in Vietnam and wrote several novels based on his experiences there, some of it was violent and sexual in nature. If he had been attending school at UVA-Wise and submitted this kind of material to a creative writing class would the university have tried to railroad him out of school like they did Daniel Barber? I think Mr. Barber should write to Senator Webb about this travisty and he should also lawyer up and go after the university. In my opinion he's due some major compensation.

Every aspect of this behavior by the university administration is so shameful that it literally makes me queasy and worried for the state of our nation.

It would be very interesting to know what proportion of the university's staff has served our nation at this time of war. Chancellor Prior? Safety Chief McCoy? Do they have military service? Does anyone in their administration or 'safety' office have service?

It is had to believe they did this to Mr. Barber. Of all the things that get written True or Fiction could get you in trouble for doing home work.
I guess what it says in the Bible, Just as Bad to think it as to do it. Who said they too Christianty out of school.

Outrageous! UVa-Wise should have to answer to an investigative Congressional Veterans committee and Chancellor Prior should personally be investigated by the government for discriminatory practices. Many thanks for your service to our country Mr. Barber.

By all means get a lawyer. I can see what they are trying to do to you. If the law sees what they did as "involuntary committed" then under VA's new law that will also bar you from ever owning a firearm again so there goes your 1st and 2nd amendment rights.

It is not very often that a story can give you the feeling of being kicked in the stomach but this one has. It is revolting and ridiculous that this young man did as the school asked by writing a fictious story for a creative writing class and is now being persecuted for it. Well if the university does not want any type of violent content on its campus, they need to clean house starting with it's own library. Then move onto every dorm room with a Playstation and toss those games (try pointing out one rated above E that does not contain violence). Not to mention the author of the story about the girl who kills her boyfriend by stabbing! Shouldn't this person be expelled as well?

This is absolutely unbelievable. A forced mental health examination, an expulsion over a piece of fiction, the kid had concealed permits for his weapons - welcome to Orwellian 2008. I hope he sues the pants off UVA-Wise and ends up with enough to take care of his student loans and more.