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Omaha high school hazing: WOWT TV

group of metro high school students has been caught in a hazing incident that involved alcohol, thanks to pictures and comments found on the popular website, MySpace.com. (2006 incident)
The incident happened toward the beginning of the school year on Aug. 26. A senior at DC West High School invited several students to a senior-freshmen sleepover.

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‘);Linda Bogatz’s 15-year-old niece lives with her, and was one of the freshmen who were invited. Bogatz said all seemed fine until she got a call from another parent three days later.

“(The parent) said, ‘Are you aware of all the things that went on at this senior-freshmen sleepover?’ And I said, ‘Well yeah, this is what they did,’ and she said, ‘No, there’s more to it,'” Bogatz said.

The “more to it” was a hazing incident that included plenty of vodka, beer and Smirnoff Ice at Elkhorn Crossing Park near 252nd and Bennington Road.

Pictures and comments about the party turned up on MySpace.com the next day.

“She did so many shots of vodka that she started vomiting within 10 minutes, and then passed out five minutes later face-down in her own vomit,” Bogatz said as she pointed to one of the girls in the pictures.

Wednesday, students at DC West got their fill of discussions about the use and dangers of alcohol. The school also held a discussion for parents later in the evening.

“We’re trying to address those concerns and be pro-active as a community,” said Principal Joann Stevens, “not only as a school system, but working with the parents and community members to try to address those concerns.”

The students who were caught drinking each received a 14-day suspension from school activities like sports and clubs. That is part of the school’s activity code, and it applies even if the drinking did not occur on school grounds or at a school-sanctioned event.

By Hank Nuwer

Journalist Hank Nuwer tracks hazing deaths in fraternities and schools. Nuwer is the Alaska author of Hazing: Destroying Young Lives; Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing, High School Hazing, Wrongs of Passage and The Hazing Reader. In April of 2024, the Alaska Press Club awarded him first place in the Best Columnist division and Best Humorist, second place.

He has written articles or columns on hazing for the Sunday Times of India, Toronto Globe & Mail, Harper's Magazine, Orlando Sentinel, The Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. His current book is Hazing: Destroying Young Lives from Indiana University Press. He is married to Malgorzata Wroblewska Nuwer of Warsaw, Poland and Fairbanks, Alaska. Nuwer is a former columnist for the Greenville (Ohio)Early Bird and former managing editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska.
Nuwer was named the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists columnist of the year in 2021 for his “After Darke” column in the Early Bird. He also won third place for the column in 2022 from the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He and his wife Gosia, recently of Union City, Ind., have owned 20 acres in Alaska for many years. “The move is a sort-of coming home for us,” said Nuwer. As a journalist, he’s written about the Alaskan Iditarod sled-dog race and other Alaska topics. Read his musings in his blog at Real Alaska Daily--http://realalaskadaily.com and in his weekly column "Far from Randolph" in the Winchester Star-Gazette of Randolph County, Indiana.

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