Virginia Tech must be feeling jinxed. Last year, on the first day of school, an escaped prisoner killed two people and hid out on campus. This year, just as the Blacksburg community gathered for a memorial service to remember those killed earlier this year by a crazed student, a carbon monoxide leak sent residents of the Collegiate Suites apartment complex to the hospital, some in critical condition and unable to breathe on their own.

"It's just unfortunate, and it's a bad coincidence," Rachael Evans, a Tech junior from Suffolk told The Roanoke Times. "We just thought, going into this year, that this was going to be a better year, and then this happened. But it still will be."

One can hope but Blacksburg is still struggling to recover from the killing of 32 students and faculty in April and the University faces increasing scrutiny for its role in covering up the many misdeeds of former star quarterback Michael Vick, currently under indictment on dog fighting charges and facing new charges for racketeering.

Maybe this will be a better year for Tech but it's not starting out that way.