By David Vitrano

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The past week-and-a-half has been somewhat of a whirlwind for the American people.

After President Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden late on May 1, immediate rejoicing followed. Then, as the rejoicers cleared the streets, naysayers emerged, doubting the veracity of the president’s statements. A decision last week not to release the photo taken of bin Laden after he had been shot in the head only made their voices louder.

Finally, Americans began to think of the repercussions of the military maneuver as details of future terror plots emerged.

Last week, when L’Observateur asked visitors to its website what they thought the death of bin Laden meant to the security of the U.S., the results followed these trends.

In the first few days of the poll, the choice stating America was much more secure after the death of bin Laden surged to the front and led the other two choices by a wide margin. That choice, however, ended up with just one-third of the vote.

In the past few days, as news of other terror plots began to emerge, the choice stating America was more unsafe now than ever began to gain steam and eventually ended the week with nearly half the vote.

The neutral choice, which merely stated someone else would take his place, stayed steady throughout the voting process and garnered less than one-fifth of the vote.

A full breakdown of results follows:

• 18 percent of respondents chose “Not much. Someone will take his place.”

• 34 percent of respondents chose “It was a great victory for the U.S., and we are much more secure as a nation because of it.”

• 48 percent of respondents chose “We are probably more unsafe now than ever before because his radical followers will likely retaliate in some way.”