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Hazing News

Brockport student says he was hazed

Paralyzed SUNY Brockport student sues landlord
whec.com
05.04.09
Staff Writer

A former SUNY Brockport freshman, left paralyzed after he fell from a second-story window at an off-campus party, is suing the landlord of a rooming house called the Roxbury.

Last September, Bryan Parslow fell from a bathroom window of the frat house which is not recognized by the college.

The lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court claims the party was part of a hazing process for pledges. It accuses the property owner of not installing a window screen which might have prevented the fall.

It also accuses 23 students, along with the national and local chapter of the Sigma Alpha Fraternity of supplying alcohol to Parslow and encouraging him to drink.

In December, Brockport Police arrested seven students, also named in this current lawsuit, but they only faced alcohol-related charges.

The landlord had no comment.

For more Rochester, N.Y. news go to www.whec.com.

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Hazing News

Sig Ep members skate on technicality; one copped plea: Source WCTV

Read the WCTV account

Two FSU students and a TCC student accused of hazing will have their records wiped clean after prosecutors are forced to drop the charges.

Nicholas Finazzo, Drew Johnson and Joshua Vincent were arrested on misdemeanor hazing charges back in January 2007.

They were caught in the crawl space beneath a home on Bonnie Drive after the mother of a Sigma Phi Epsilon pledge called police.

FSU Police responded to the scene and after hearing screams called Tallahassee Police for help, but a recent court ruling says FSU police did not have jurisdiction off campus and prosecutors have since dropped the charges.

“Law enforcement officers like the rest of us have to follow the rules. (In this case) they didn’t and that’s why the case was dismissed,” said Finazzo’s attorney Lisa Hurley.

Prosecutor Stephanie Webster says she has no doubt a crime was committed at the house, but with all the evidence now thrown out, obviously she cannot prove it.

Tony Bajoczky, who represents Joshua Vincent, called Judge Francis’s decision a good one and says he hopes FSU Police will pay attention to it. They don’t have carte blanche to investigate or make arrests off campus, he says.

A fourth student, Eric Fernandez, already entered a plea in this case and served a mix of jail time and probation.

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Hazing News

Utah State cases move toward sentencing: The Herald Journal

Read the full story here at the Herald Journal

Brittany Packham could get six months in jail for supplying alcohol to minor
By Matthew K. Jensen
Published:
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 2:37 AM CDT
A defendant in the ongoing Michael Starks hazing case pleaded guilty to supplying alcohol to a minor in 1st District Court on Monday afternoon.

Brittany Packham, 20, is one of five Utah State University students to admit wrongdoing after the Cache County Attorney’s Office brought suit against 12 students and the Sigma Nu and Chi Omega fraternities following the death of Michael Starks.

Starks, an 18-year-old USU student from Salt Lake City, died Nov. 21, 2008, after drinking vodka at an off-campus home. He was taking part in a Sigma Nu fraternity membership initiation, during which he was provided alcohol by members of the Chi Omega Sorority, an official report states.

Prosecutor Barbara Lachmar agreed to reduce the alcohol supplying charge to a class-B misdemeanor and dismissed a hazing charge against Packham.

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Judge Thomas Willmore told Packham the maximum penalty for the crime to which she pleaded guilty is six months in jail and a fine of $1,000. He requested a pre-sentence report to be completed before he passes sentence on July 20.

Meanwhile, four of the original 12 cases are ongoing, three have been dismissed and two cases have already been resolved through sentencing.

Former Chi Omega Sorority member Whitney K. Miller was also charged with supplying alcohol to a minor. During her hearing, Miller admitted to supplying vodka to at least one minor.

In court Monday, Packham admitted to holding up an alcoholic drink to the lips of one the participants involved. An officials court document states Starks and another fraternity pledge were “captured” during a mock kidnapping that was executed by members of the Chi Omega Sorority. The document adds that Starks and another pledge were “bound with duct tape” during the ordeal.

Packham declined discussing the case with the media.

Miller will be sentenced next Monday.

Christopher A. Ammon also pleaded no contest to supplying alcohol to a minor. He’s scheduled for sentencing July 6.

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Hazing News

How about good sportsmanship instead of hazing?

All–My friend Garry Williams manages the Town and Country team in Logansport, IN. Thought you might like a story that makes you feel good about youth sports!!

This story will appear in the Logansport (IN) newspaper.

TRUE CHAMPIONS

A remarkable thing happened Tuesday night at Royal Center’s Rea Park. Two baseball teams won a single game that ended in a score of 5-0.

The 9- and 10-year-old tourney championship was in the 6th and final inning. All the Dye Lumber boys had to do was hold on to a five run lead. But with the first pitch of the inning, the Dye Lumber coach realized he had broken a five-inning limit for his starting pitcher. The game was declared a forfeit. The Town & Country Embroidery team, five runs behind, had won.

But after the trophies were handed out – first place for Town & Country and runner-up for Dye Lumber – the players themselves took matters into their own hands. The Town & Country boys walked across the field and asked if they could trade trophies with the other team. They felt that the Dye Lumber boys, though they had technically lost, deserved the championship trophies.

As the proud parents of both teams looked on, the boys posed together for this photo. They think they’re displaying their trophies. What they really displayed, in the minds of those who witnessed the event, was true sportsmanship.

And isn’t that what youth sports is all about?

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Hazing News

Wilson trial update: from the Niagara Gazette

Read the full story here or print from here.

Published: June 09, 2009 10:22 pm

WILSON: Trial date set for two teens in hazing case
By Joe Olenick
Niagara Gazette

A trial date of June 27 has been set for two of the three former Wilson Central School varsity baseball players charged in connection with an alleged hazing incident.

Colton Sherman, 18; and Christopher Sidote, 18, will have their cases go to trial, while Geoffrey A. Seefeldt, 19, will have his charges replaced with a youthful offender status plea. All three had been facing charges of first- and second-degree hazing and forcible touching. The charges are misdemeanors except second degree hazing, which is a violation.

Sherman and Sidote have youthful offender status but their case will continue to trial. Because of their status, the trial will be held in a closed-door courtroom in front of Town Justice George Berger.

Mark Guglielmi, who represents Seefeldt, said his client was relieved for the case to near a conclusion. There will be no criminal record and further details concerning Seefeldt’s case will be determined later.

“It (the sexual abuse) didn’t happen,” Guglielmi said. “It’s an acceptable resolution.”

Andrew Vona, who represents Sidote, and Kevin Shelby, who is representing Sherman, said they were confident their clients would be acquitted once the trial concludes.

“If the truth comes out,” Vona said.

“We are very confident they will be exonerated,” Shelby said.

State police had alleged in April 2008 the three teens, while members of the Wilson varsity baseball team, had sexually abused members of the school’s junior varsity team in a hazing incident during a bus ride home from a game in Niagara Falls. The three had been facing charges that have been reduced.

A trial date has been set for July 6 for former Wilson baseball coaches William Atlas and Thomas Baia, who are charged in connection with the alleged hazing incident. The coaches are charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of a child.