Author: Hank Nuwer

y Sharon Osorio

Story Published: Jul 8, 2009 at 6:35 PM EDT

Story Updated: Jul 8, 2009 at 6:35 PM EDT
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Thomas Baia and William Atlas were coaches and teachers in Wilson until they were charged with child endangerment in April 2008. Those charges were dropped Monday by the Niagara County District Attorney’s office, and now the two men are speaking out.
The men, who both live in Wilson, say they are innocent of the charges, and say that the truth led the district attorney’s office to drop those charges. Dozens of supporters, including relatives, teachers and students, joined them in the Baia family’s back yard.
Baia says he was sitting in the front of the bus but facing the back of the bus for about 40 minutes of the estimated 45-minute ride. He says he saw nothing inappropriate, and that his six year old son was also sitting in the back of the bus with students he’d trust to babysit his own children.
Both men would like to return to teaching in Wilson, and they want to repair their reputations.
Still, attorneys for the three alleged student victims say the dropped charges will not change the civil suit that’s being filed against the Wilson school district, and that their clients are victims.
The coaches’ spokesman says the allegations stem from a hysterical parent who called a friend within State Police, but attorney Chris O’Brien represents a teen who was allegedly “beaten up” by older baseball players on the bus, and says his client worried about going back on the bus again because of the incident.

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Coaches contend through their attorney that the charges against them should never have been levied.

Link to story:

http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/725951.html

USU student sentenced to 14 days in jail for hazing death
Crime » Christopher Ammon, 20, also got 200 hours of community service and $500 fine.

By Arrin Newton Brunson

Special To The Tribune

Salt Lake Tribune
Updated:

Logan » A judge sentenced 20-year-old Utah State University student Christopher Ammon to 14 days in jail and 200 hours of community service for his role in November’s drinking death involving a Sigma Nu pledge.

First District Judge Thomas Willmore also ordered Ammon to pay a $500 fine. Ammon pleaded no contest earlier this year after a misdemeanor hazing charge was changed to unlawful sale or supply of alcohol to a minor, also a class B misdemeanor.

Ammon was a Sigma Nu member who took 18-year-old freshman Michael Starks to a sorority for an abduction prank, but left before the alleged hazing occurred. Starks was pledging last fall to the now-defunct Sigma Nu chapter.

According to court papers, as a reward for being the group’s top pledge, fraternity members chose Starks to take part in the capture ritual involving Chi Omega, a neighboring sorority.

While in the company of several sorority members Nov. 20 at an off-campus home, Starks consumed a lethal amount of vodka.

Ammon was remorseful for the death of the freshman fraternity pledge, said his attorney Dean Zabriskie.

“He no longer drinks,” Zabriskie said. “It was a wake-up call for all these young people.”

Ammon’s jail term starts Aug. 10, after his summer job ends and before USU’s fall semester starts.

“If I could do anything to go back and change that night, I would,” Ammon told Willmore.

Starks’ older brother George asked Willmore to use his discretion to teach a lesson to Ammon and his 12 co-defendants, all former USU Greek members.

“We ask you to really make sure that, when deciding what their penalties are going to be, you do everything possible to make sure they realize their role,” Starks said. “They have a lot to look forward to. Michael doesn’t.”

Willmore said he wants all the defendants involved in the tragedy to take responsibility for their actions.

“You could have gone and said, ‘Don’t give them alcohol,'” Willmore told Ammon. “You knew it would be there.”

The judge ordered Ammon to spend his community service teaching high school and college students about the dangers of binge drinking, underage drinking and hazing.

Felony hazing charges were dismissed against the Greek chapters, which had their charters revoked by their national organizations. Two members await sentencing for supplying alcohol, while four others are pursuing motions to dismiss hazing counts against them.

Reporter Brian Maffly contributed to this report.