An unregnoized local's pledge event, leaves one dead
 

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/296/...re_blin:.shtml

Students say 6 women were blindfolded in car at time of accident
By Associated Press, 10/23/2003 09:04

PLYMOUTH, N.H. (AP) Six of the 10 Plymouth State University women involved in a fatal crash this week were blindfolded when they left a house that served as headquarters for an unrecognized sorority, a newspaper reported Thursday.

The blindfolded women were new pledges who had no idea where they were being taken, two of the women who were in the crash told the Concord Monitor. The university is looking into allegations that the trip was part of a hazing, or induction, ritual.

''I thought they were mad at us,'' student Valerie Levine said, ''and we were going to, like, a punishment. ''

Two sorority sisters sat in the front seat of Jeep Cherokee, the women said. The second seat was folded down, and eight women six pledges and two sisters were crowded into the back, they told the newspaper.

The woman who died in Monday night's crash, Kelly Nester, 20, was believed to be one of the pledges.

Police Capt. Steve Temperino confirmed that Nester, of Coventry, R.I., was killed when she and another woman were thrown from the vehicle through the rear hatch window.

He said a preliminary investigation showed that neither alcohol nor drugs was a factor. The preliminary investigation also determined that speed wasn't a factor, either, he said.

Temperino told The Citizen of Laconia that reports about the blindfolding are not part of the police investigation.

''I'm investigating a motor vehicle accident and that's all,'' he said, indicating it was up to the university to look into allegations of possible hazing.

Dean of Students Tim Keefe said if hazing was involved, some of the women may face school disciplinary charges. Students involved in hazing can be suspended or expelled.

University officials said four of the women had been members of Alpha Sigma Alpha, one of the university's two authorized sororities, but had left that organization to form their own non-sanctioned sorority, Sigma Kappa Omega.

The university, which has 3,800 undergraduates, has four sororities and three fraternities that are nationally chartered.

Temperino said not all of the nine surviving students have been interviewed.

He said he is trying to contact some of the women and has asked those interviewed at Speare Memorial Hospital the night of the accident to come to the police station for additional interviews.

''They were upset following the accident over the death of their friend,'' he said. ''We need to talk to them again now that they've had a chance to calm down.''

Temperino said police also are awaiting the results of the autopsy report on Nester, as well as tests of blood samples from the driver.

A funeral Mass for Nester was scheduled for Friday in Rhode Island and a memorial service was planned for Monday at the school.

This is terrible. :(

Here's the link to the original thread about the group of women being terminated and self-terminating from ASA.

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...threadid=31919

This is horrible, just horrible. :( I will be praying for the young woman and her family.

As part of the greek community in Plymouth, NH I would like to ask everyones help in praying for us for these hard times. Its a small community and this has just shocked all of us. Please pray for Kelly and keep us in your thoughts.

Jessica
ASA

ABCNews.com has now picked up the story...

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20031024_700.html

THat is so terrible :(

it's on CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast....ap/index.html

My thoughts are with the family of Kelly.

I just saw the article on the AOL main page... what a tragedy.

my thoughts and prayers are with all of them.
how terribly sad.

I am also part of the Greek Community here at Plymouth. The entire Greek community here is trying to keep their heads up and are striving to deal with this situation. This definately a tradegy and we (as an entire community) are at an extreme loss.

As a personal friend of Kelly's and a Greek woman, I am praying and hoping that this is resolved.

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers!!

Panhel Y Jess! :D

A complete tragidy, but this just goes to show, that what at the time seems like fun, can end up in death.:(

This also shows, that second thoughts and cooler heads MUST PREVAIL!

Old carpenters adige, measure twice, cut once.

I just wanted to let ya'll know that as of right now, there are no charges being filed in this case. The case will remain open, but its going nowhere.

If anyone has questions or what not I'd be happy to answer as best I can.


:)

Ann Marie
Kappa Epsilon Chapter
Plymouth State University

Ann Marie - thanks for filling us in. I'd also like to thank you for always being such a sweetie and so supportive of my ASA sisters at Plymouth. That's what Greek unity is all about!

Panhel Y,
Sheila

UPDATE!

Associated Press
July 7, 2004

Woman's family sues university, students over death

CONCORD, N.H. -- The family of a Plymouth State University student
killed
during a suspected hazing incident last year is suing the school and
members of a sorority, accusing them of negligence in the woman's
death.

Dan Duckett, lawyer for the family of Kelly Nester, said his clients
are
frustrated by the lack of criminal charges filed in the case, and with
the
level of cooperation with authorities by the women who were with Nester
the
night she died.

"They don't believe the truth has come out," Duckett said Wednesday.
"They're unsatisfied with the information provided by the driver and
the
(sorority) sisters. The police can only do so much and they're relying
on
these witnesses."

Nester, 20, of Coventry, R.I., died Oct. 20 while pledging the Sigma
Kappa
Omega sorority. She and nine other women, some blindfolded, were riding
in
a vehicle that went off the road and flipped. Nester was thrown from
the
vehicle.

Though authorities investigated the crash as a possible hazing, no
charges
have been filed. In May, Grafton County Attorney Rick St. Hilaire
complained that the women involved were not cooperating.

Police have said that just before the crash the driver of the vehicle,
Nicole Dalton, of Rochester, may have been driving erratically, rocking
the
car back and forth and jamming the brakes.

"I have not seen the lawsuit, but I can tell you that the
investigations
that have been done have all determined that Nicole Dalton did not
engage
in any hazing or reckless operation of the motor vehicle," Dalton's
lawyer,
Gerard Boyle, said Wednesday. He has said his client was taking the
group
to buy snacks when she lost control of the vehicle on wet leaves.

The Nester family's lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Grafton County Superior
Court, accuses the school, Dalton and three other sorority sisters of
failing to ensure the safety of Nester and other pledges.

The lawsuit accuses the school of failing to control the sorority,
saying
it knew the sorority hazed potential members, but ignored it. Schools
officials had not seen the lawsuit Wednesday afternoon and would not
comment.

The sorority sisters, who also include Olivia Lucca of Mount Vernon,
Maine,
Heather Haigh, of Ridgefield, Conn., and Nicole Little, of Londonderry,
are
accused of coercing the pledges into "illegal pledging activities," and
of
failing to ensure their safety by blindfolding them and forcing them
into
the back of the vehicle.

No telephone listings for Lucca, Haigh and Little could be found.
Lawyers
for the women either did not return calls seeking comment or had not
seen
the lawsuit and would not comment.

The lawsuit also accuses Dalton's parents, James and Peggy Dalton, of
negligence for allowing their daughter to use their vehicle even though
she
had a record of speeding tickets and one accident.

No telephone listing was available for the Daltons.

H, clean your pm box :)

Sounds like they're really grasping at straws now.

How can they not know that the sorority was not recognized???

It's not the university's job to monitor what groups kids affiliate with outside of school. Is the school required to report what religious organization the student is affiliating with?

This is true.

I'm sorry, but that is crap. I feel horribly sorry for the young womans family, but going after someone's parents for their actions is just stupid unless the person is under 18.

I agree. If the DMV hadn't suspended her license, there is no reason for them to not let her drive their car.

I'm glad they left our name out of it this time.

Who do you mean when you say "they"? The school or the lawyers?

If I'm not mistaken, the school and Greek advisor refused to recognize any new local sororities when SKO was formed - perhaps if more of an effort had been made to bring all the locals into the fold and give them a reason to want to be recognized, rather than pushing them away, this tragedy would not have happened. If you treat people like outlaws, they will behave accordingly.

I was having lunch with a former employee of mine today and he was saying that the same kind of thing was happening to his ex-wife after their son was involved in a leaving the scene accident while DUI (2nd offense). He also has no insurance. The plaintif's insurance company is coming after her because she co-signed when he bought the car.

It's real scary to take on responsibility for anyone but yourself these days. That may be why, even though they provide insurance, GLO's have increasing trouble finding alumni volunteers these days.

It's also one of the reasons for such heavy emphasis on Risk Management these days.

__________________________________________________ __
qoute:
"I have not seen the lawsuit, but I can tell you that the
investigations
that have been done have all determined that Nicole Dalton did not
engage
in any hazing or reckless operation of the motor vehicle," Dalton's
lawyer,
Gerard Boyle, said Wednesday. He has said his client was taking the
group
to buy snacks when she lost control of the vehicle on wet leave
__________________________________________________

Oh come on doe anyone really believe that she was taking the girls to get snacks? If that is the truth then why were some of them blindfolded?



__________________________________________________
qoute:
I agree. If the DMV hadn't suspended her license, there is no reason for them to not let her drive their car.
__________________________________________________



I agree. Her parents should not be responsible! Nicole Dalton is an adult and should be treated as one. The only reason in which I would agree that her parents should be responsible is if she had a suspended licsense (sp) and her parents allowed her to use their car.


__________________________________________________
qoute:
If I'm not mistaken, the school and Greek advisor refused to recognize any new local sororities when SKO was formed - perhaps if more of an effort had been made to bring all the locals into the fold and give them a reason to want to be recognized, rather than pushing them away, this tragedy would not have happened. If you treat people like outlaws, they will behave accordingly.
__________________________________________________ _

It's true, when something is verbooten people want to do it even more and do it without consequences. Sine the university does not recognize Locals, they should be prepared for more incidents of hazing that could possibly include a life being taken. If this Local had someone to answer to then maybe this little "snack run" would never had happened.

sorry, PM box is clean now 33 :) It's my guess that these parents are just trying to get some action and such out of this. Maybe the university has done nothing...who knows? That's normally why people sue everyone and their mother. It's all such a shame.

PSU didn't do a whole lot. 2 girls were expelled, supposedly, but they finished classes for the Spring.

The only thing that really happened as a result of that, happened to the remaining GLOs. Now, we have no Panhel and no IFC. We have no support and no regonition form the university. ALl organizations are on a 4 year "Prohbation" period. EVERYONE else suffered the consequences.

The university know about Sigma Kappa Omega.. there's nothing they can do. Plymouth has a handful of "underground" and unrecognized sororities.

You got it. The women who left, or were asked to Leave ASA, formed Sigma Kappa Omega and attempted to gain recognition when our former Greek Advisor told them no.

They were driving in the WRONG direction to get snacks. As a matter of fact, the site of the crash was just past a Rite Aid.

Right, Wrong, or indifferent, it happened!

The School Holds No resposibility as it does not recognize them. That Means, they are covering their Asses.

Well maybe culpability can be brought in.

If the Girls were lout for fun and it went awry then it happened.:(

Death can be so damn final.

I am sure, that these new Pledges were nervous, but having the time of their short life.

What may seem right at the moment can and does lead to tradgity.

A moment of Hindesight can be a matter of life and Death.

I am sure, that there was no malice of fore thought about this ever happening!

So, did anyone ever think about the Girls that were there and what they may be feeling?

It was not on purpose and it happened. While everyone thinks about The Dead in this situation, what about the Living?:confused:

OMG, can you even Fathom What is in their heads now?:(

Well there are two different things here.

The girls were blindfolded. There was a car crash.

Even if there was some hazing intended, it wasn't responsible for the car crash. Accidents happen.

I think the key to good Risk Management is imagining the worst case scenario in advance of conducting an activity. The worst case scenario in a blind folding activity in a car is that you could have an accident and someone who was blind folded might be more injured or delayed in getting out because they were blind folded. It doesn't matter whether the person is a great driver or not. Accidents are called such because they are unplanned.

Regarding this incident in particular... they definitely didn't practice good risk management, and to most NPCs, blind folding new members is considered hazing. James is right, there were two separate issues.

This is a good example of when insurance may cover you versus when they won't. If a group of sisters is sober, following all driving laws, and returning from an approved event using the manner of transportation that was approved, it's covered by insurance. If a group of sisters is drunk, hazing, driving like maniacs, has blind folded members in the car or are travelling in an unapproved manner, then they won't be covered.

Dee

I'm going to apologize ahead of time for this, but the Super Bitch side of me is going to reply to your comment Tom.. and the only reason is because Kelly was a REALLY good friend of mine.

Those girls were NOT out for fun.. they were out to haze and to scare the siht out of the pledges. The girls involved (the driver, etc) had been in trouble previously for HAZING while still memebers of Alpha Sigma Alpha.

"So, did anyone ever think about the Girls that were there and what they may be feeling?"
^ I can tell you right now, I know how one of the girls, who happened to be a pledge was feeling. She is a good friend of mine, and was Kelly's BEST friend. She was more scared than she has EVER been in her entire 21 years before.

If I were Kelly's parents.. I'd be suing the hell out of the women of SKO and Plymouth.

I completely understand that it was an accident. But it COULD have been prevented, I really believe that. Hence, why I believe The Nesters should be suing the university. I don't agree with suing the parents.. but if that's what the Nesters have to threaten to get the wheels moving in the case.. then so be it.

Agree or disagree, that's up to you all.

Re: An unregnoized local's pledge event, leaves one dead
 

It makes you wonder what horror's they would've endured(willingly?)had the accident not occurred, and the sisters were able to carry out the full scheme of the "punishment".