Daily Press from Newport News, Virginia • B1

Whaddayaknow Regional mysteries solved, one column at a time. Editor: Eric 4879Page: B1 No. of Bullets: 2Notes: GOODblackZone: 1st YELLOWMAGENTACYAN BLACK Local THURSDAY JULY 19, 2007 Karen Whitley, project lead for the lunar habitat, discusses the structure during a media tour of NASA Langley Research Center. PHOTO BY ADRIN PRESS Panel reviews ways to respond to tragedy Gun-toting college students and campus-wide lockdowns are not good policy in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, the William and Mary police chief says. BY HUGH LESSIG 804-225-7345 CHARLOTTESVILLE Arming college students is not the answer to the Virginia Tech tragedy, and campus-wide lockdowns are not practical in such a crisis, the College of William and Mary police chief told a review panel Wednesday.

Instead, the public would be better served if colleges had a better system to identify troubled students earlier, and if responses to crises were better planned. And the state could play its part by ensuring top training, equipment and pay for campus police. The Virginia Tech review panel held its final public meeting at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and spent part of the morning delving into campus security issues. Gov. Timothy M.

Kaine handpicked the panel to address the April 16 mass shooting. Initial recommendations are due next month. Police Chief Don Challis is also president of the Virginia Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators. He ticked off several reasons why gun-carrying students would not increase safety on campus. During a crisis, police could mistake a student with a gun for an assailant.

Students can lose or misplace guns. Some students drink, and guns and alcohol mix. Finally, weapons are inconsistent with the educational mission of a college or university and could damage student-faculty relationships. Arming the college community is simply bad he said. That said, the issue will surely be debated when the legislature convenes next year.

Gun- rights advocates have argued that an armed student or professor could have stopped Seung-Hui Cho from slaying 32 people before killing himself. Unchecked, Cho became the worst mass shooter in U.S. history. Later in the day, a leading gun-rights advocate provided the counterpoint: In a violent confrontation, the only people guaranteed to be present are the assailant and the victims. seconds count, the police are only minutes said Philip Van Cleave of the Virginia Citizens Defense League.

Van Cleave said people who receive conceal-carry permits are law-abiding citizens unlikely to settle an argument with a firearm, or mix guns and alcohol. On the issue of lockdowns, those may work for public schools, said Challis, but not for a campus where students are free to roam at will. Ultimately, it might do more harm than good, he said. People seeking refuge could be locked out of a building. Someone trying to escape a building with a gunman inside could be prevented from doing so.

In any case, Cho could have found his way around a lockdown. was a Challis said. had access. If he runs up to a door with a student Camping on the moon NASA LANGLEY BY PATRICK LYNCH 247-4534 HAMPTON If it looks like a pill-shaped, space-age, pop-up camper, because it is. Of all the work NASA Langley Research Center employees are contributing to back-to-the-moon quest, nothing drives home the reality of the next age of manned space exploration quite like the mock-up lunar habitat housed in Building 1148.

The inflatable structure a full- scale model or the final design of what astronauts might one day live in during an extended trip to the moon. But a start. A trip to the moon where a group of astronauts would stay for four days to a week is on the board for 2020. More dollars needed for homeless The money the city of Newport News received to keep 50 homeless shelter beds on the Peninsula if Newport Friends of the Homeless shelter has to shut down this summer is just not enough. This spring the city applied for $140,000 in state dollars, but it has received word that it got only about one-third of that $51,538.

The city and the Salvation Army, which will use the money for its motel and hotel homeless voucher program, hope for more dollars from donations or grants. Sabine Hirschauer Hampton and Newport News recently tied for third for the largest number of homeless people in Virginia. B2 NEWPORT NEWS PHOTO BY ADRIN PRESS JAMES CITY Residents get fed up with waiting and fix Jolly Pond Dam If you want something done right, got to do it yourself. So goes the lesson for residents in James Jolly Pond Dam community who waited impatiently for months for repairs to Jolly Pond Road where it crosses the damaged dam. Finally, after the county came to a legal agreement with the owner, a dozen or so residents used their own equipment and money to fix the dam, allowing state crews to come in for road repairs.

Seth Freedland Thanks to efforts, the road is expected to finally reopen this Friday. B2 PHOTO BY JOE PRESS I know that Mercury Boulevard was named after the NASA Mercury project, but what was its original name? Mercury Boulevard used to be named Military Highway. According to Daily Press archives, the U.S. government built a road in 1942 to connect the James River Bridge with Fort Monroe and the Chesapeake Ferry Co. docks at Old Point Comfort, naming it Military Highway.

In the early 1960s, Military Highway was redesignated Mercury Boulevard in honor of the accomplishments of the space flight program. Something been puzzling you? Drop us a line at or call 757-247-2830. GLOUCESTER Hurricane expo to help in planning Suppose a dangerous hurricane was tracking directly toward coast. What do you do? Gloucester County emergency management officials say coastal residents better have a plan. And for those who a series of Gloucester hurricane expositions beginning Saturday should fill in the blanks.

Everything from essential survival kit contents and evacuation plans to helpful tips and activities will be covered. Jon Cawley The expo may even include an appearance by the new high-water rescue vehicle. B2 Local Connection A look at top stories from the communities around you NASA Langley researchers work on the next generation of lunar travel by developing an inflatable habitat. Memorial service held for sailors in peace my brothers, now we have the chaplain says. BY STEPHANIE HEINATZ 247-7821 NAVAL AMPHIBIOUS BASE LITTLE CREEK As a young sailor wheeled himself up to a table at the front of the theater at Virginia Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, the handful of people standing in his path parted ways.

On the table stood pictures of three sailors killed in Iraq on July 6. The first class petty officers Jason Lewis, a 30-year-old Navy SEAL; Steven P. Daugherty, a 28-year-old cryptologic technician; and Robert McRill, a 42-year-old combat photographer whose surviving wife and three children live in York County were assigned to a Little Creek SEAL team. They died when their convoy was ambushed in Baghdad. The sailor in the wheelchair was there.

He along with more than 1,000 other comrades, friends and family members came to Little Creek Wednesday for a memorial service. It was before the service that he arrived at the table and paused by each picture and the small memorials set The original seven Mercury astronauts. NASAPHOTO Online extra Visit dailypress.com to see pictures from the memorial service. VDOT adds more traffic cameras The network currently has 234 cameras monitoring the area. BY MIKE HOLTZCLAW 928-6479 Now you can see even more of Hampton highways without leaving your home or office.

The Virginia Department of Transportation, working with TrafficLand has added 29 more cameras to the network that provides live video coverage of traffic throughout the area. The video feeds are linked on the front page of dailypress.com. The new cameras cover the area between Interstate 64 at Military Highway and the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel. There are now 234 cameras covering interstates 64, 264, 464 and 664 from the Virginia Beach Oceanfront to the Peninsula. The cameras cover all of the bridges and tunnels in that area, as far west as the James River Bridge.

In a press release, Stephanie Hanshaw, facility manager of the Hampton Roads Smart Traffic Center, said: our traffic camera system not only allows us to manage interstate traffic more effectively, but it gives us the resources to provide better, more up-to-date information on traffic conditions to According to the press release, VDOT plans to add another 80 cameras to the network in the next few months, including I-64 from the Peninsula headed toward Williamsburg. TrafficLand, based in Maryland, has networks of traffic cameras in 50 different cities, 25 different states as well as Canada and New Zealand. DAILY PRESS Jolly Pond Rd. 611 614 Fords Colony 633 614 60 199 JAMES CITY Jolly Pond Dam Centerville Rd. Online extra Visit dailypress.com to view videos of inflatable lunar habitat and of animations of space station docking and a moon landing.

INSIDE Plan proposed to divide aid to families of Virginia Tech victims. B4 Please see Please see LUNAR Please see.