Hank Nuwer, Author; Hazing Deaths Database

Link is here

excerpt is here:
On Dec. 8, 2004, Wayne Bond Jr. and Darrell Levon Miller, 21, called for a cab to a cul de sac in the Harford Square neighborhood. Guess, a driver for United Sedan Service, was dispatched to pick them up. Shortly after entering the cab, Bond shot Guess in the temple as part of his initiation into the Bloods gang. Miller pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for testimony against Bond and will be sentenced next week.

“There was no reason in the world to shoot that man,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Diana A. Brooks. “Only a person who is cold-blooded, with no sympathy or empathy for anyone would do that.”

Bond’s attorneys, aware that a life sentence was likely, argued that he was susceptible to peer pressure and had pent-up anger that could, in time, be resolved.

Harford Circuit Court Judge Thomas E. Marshall said he would give Bond the possibility for parole because of his age and potential for change. He told Bond that he deserved worse, however.

“You deserve it,” Marshall said of life without parole. “I see no remorse whatsoever. This act and your record merit life without parole.”

FROSH WEEK (1:00)

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Montreal/Charlottetown: Some students in Quebec were not setting a very good example during Frosh week. Frosh is traditionally a time of parties and student initiation. But, at Bishop’s University, it ended with nine students under arrest. Most are facing alcohol-related charges.

School officials were not impressed. They’ve decided to make changes to the student code of conduct. So if future partiers don’t keep things under control, they could be kicked out of school.

A lot of Universities and Colleges have tried to make Frosh week a much tamer event. At the University of PEI, the week even has a new name, New Student Orientation. It’s still a party but without the alcohol and with fairly strict rules when it comes to student conduct.

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Who determines where the fine line begins and where it ends? What I find acceptable, others might find embarrassing and inappropriate. Every individual is different, and two people rarely see things exactly the same.

When I was a freshman in college, I don’t remember dreading anything. I wasn’t nervous or scared about anything, except maybe people thinking I wasn’t good enough to stick around. I don’t know if my classmates ever dreaded something that was coming their way. It would be an interesting question to ask.

Looking back on my college experience, a lot of stupid things happened but all of them make me laugh. During my first semester, two upperclassmen called my room and told us coach wanted us to put the tarp on the field. At 3 a.m., with a clear sky overhead, all 15 freshmen trudged down to the field. Twenty minutes later, with nobody but freshmen around, we went back to our rooms.

When my older teammates were freshmen, they had pranks played on them. When they were the veterans, it was their turn. I don’t see any harm in that.

We weren’t forced to drink and nobody was ever embarrassed or humiliated. We had fun with one another and things like the tarp incident made us closer as a team.

There isn’t a steadfast rule about what is right and what is wrong. We can only hope that student-athletes use their best judgment and never seek to embarrass and degrade their teammates.

On June 1 the Mecosta County Prosecutors
 Office notified the parents of hazing victim Stephen Petz that a convicted former rogue fraternity member Robert Markhja of the Knights of College Leadership has filled a 
petition to get his judgment set aside on his criminal record.

Ruth Petz adamantly opposes the setting aside of the conviction. “We are 
trying to get as many people as possible to write in protest against having 
his judgment set aside,” James and Stephen Petz have written Hank Nuwer, a columnist for stophazing.org and this blog’s moderator.
Should you wish too express your view to the magistrate, you may write a letter to Mecosta County Building, attention Judge Scott Hill-Kennedy, 400 
Elm Street Big Rapids, Michigan 49307 before June 12th of 2006.

To review the facts of the case,
click here:
http://www.edc.org/hec/news/hecnews/events/000609d.html