Over the past year, three people have died due to a lack of safety measures surrounding the Vulcan Materials quarry off of Bluff road, behind the state streets. Last year this quarry took two of its victims, a worker in a work-related incident, as well as a 19-year-old University of South Carolina student, Samuel Landon, who fell down the quarry.

In the past few days, our student body has been desperately searching for one of our own, Michael Keen, who went missing Saturday night. Yesterday we learned that he too had been taken victim by this hazardous quarry, which neighbors a large student living area in Columbia.

As a member of the University of South Carolina's student body, as well as a fellow human, I urge you to not allow these tragedies to go in vain. How many more students have to die before Vulcan Materials will fix their fencing and add more security measures to their 475-foot death pit? 

Please join me in making a stand against Vulcan Materials' lack of safety precautions, and asking the County Council to act on this immediately before it is once again too late.