Hank Nuwer, Author; Hazing Deaths Database

Add this to the resume of John Fox: bad judgment. Spartanburg Herald Journal made no mention of hazing problems and deaths in South Carolina.

The poor rookies didn’t even try to get away.

“Don’t fight it,” running back DeAngelo Williams said. “Don’t fight it.”

They gathered around a goal post and were wrapped up tight, tape stretching across their faces. Then buckets of Gatorade were dumped on them. When the hazing was done, it was a chore just to get out of that tangled mess. Defensive end Everette Brown, the team’s top draft pick, came out of his shorts before he came out of his tape.

“Why do we have to go through that?” defensive tackle Lonnie Harvey asked the coach, who stood there watching the whole thing.

“It’s tradition,” Fox said. “It will continue.”

Story Link: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/breaking_news/story/822381.html

Posted on Thu, Aug. 20, 2009
Students accused in Cal Poly hazing death appear in court
Nick Wilson
Two Cal Poly students accused in the hazing death of a freshman last year were back in court today for a preliminary hearing.

Haithem Ibrahim and Zacary Ellis are charged for their alleged roles in the alcohol-related death of 18-year-old freshman Carson Starkey in December 2008.

They have pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutor Craig Van Rooyen argued to open the hearing that Ibrahim and Ellis had key roles in providing Starkey with the beer and hard liquor that he drank quickly as part of a traditional drinking event that led to his death.

Fellow fraternity brother Christopher Perkins is on the stand today, testifying against Ibrahim and Ellis in exchange for his immunity from prosecution.

Perkins said he poured out some of his alcohol on a previous fraternity drinking night when he was a pledge because he didn’t want his “big brother” to see any alcohol remaining — which was expected of pledges at this annual event.

Perkins also said that pledges in the fraternity typically weren’t allowed to make eye contact with the pledge educator or communicate with him directly as part of the fraternity’s tradition. Ellis is the alleged pledge educator in December 2008 and Ibrahim was Starkey’s alleged designated big brother who assigned him alcohol to drink.

Perkins’ testimony resumes this afternoon in Judge Michael Duffy’s courtroom.

Ibrahim and Ellis are being charged with the felony violation of hazing causing death and a misdemeanor of furnishing alcohol to a minor causing death.

WILSON: Geoffrey Seefeldt sentenced in school bus hazing case
Staff Reports

The oldest of three varsity baseball players who were charged in connection with an alleged hazing on a Wilson school bus last year was sentenced in secret Tuesday night at Wilson Town Court.

Attorneys said Geoffrey Seefeldt, 19, was spared jail time, though the actual sentence was not released because of Seefeldt’s youthful offender status.

Seefeldt pleaded guilty in June to endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, which carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail.

Two co-defendents — Colton Sherman and Christopher Sidote, both 18 — were found non guilty July 9 on charges of second-degree hazing and forcible touching after a non-jury trial.

Child endangerment charges against two coaches charged in connection with the case, William Atlas and Thomas Baia, were dropped July 6.

The players were accused of assaulting junior varsity players in the back of a Wilson school bus during a ride back from a game in Niagara Falls on April 17, 2008.

The families of the alleged victims are now suing the Wilson Central School District for damages related to the incident.

Buffalo News link

No jail time for youth who entered guilty plea. Presumably that means community service: Moderator.

Jason Reid: you’re not funny, Bud. See Washinton Redskins taping incident.

Come on, Warpath. Really juvenile.

Then there is Jon Marks waxing poetic about a 2002 hazing for Brian Westbrook. http://www.examiner.com/x-11395-Philadelphia-Sports-Examiner~y2009m8d18-Eagles-quickhealing-Westbrook-close-to-being-ready