Kappa Alpha at Mizzou...
 

http://www.themaneater.com/story.cgi?id=18921
Kappa Alpha’s cannon explodes near campus

Web-posted April 30, 2004

Derek Kravitz
Crime Editor
It appears that members of the Kappa Alpha Order tried to restart the Civil War on Thursday night.
Fraternity members packed a Civil-War-era cannon with gunpowder in front of their house at 1301 University Ave. and fired it Thursday night. The cannon blew up, sending fragments of iron through the roof of an apartment building across the street.
Columbia and MU police responded at about 8 p.m. after residents reported the sound of an explosion and an object penetrating the roof of the University Place Apartments, 1205 University Ave.
CPD Sgt. Lloyd Simons said no one was injured in the explosion.
According to a news release, Columbia police arrested two Kappa Alpha members in connection with the explosion. Nicholas Adkins and Seth Fagan, both 21, were arrested on suspicion of unlawful use of a weapon, first-degree property damage, third-degree assault and reckless exploding. Simons said the investigation into the explosion is ongoing and that police are looking for a third suspect.
Christopher Holshouser said he heard the explosion from his room inside the Community of Christ Liahona House, across the street from the Kappa Alpha house, and went to his window to see what had happened. He said he saw about 20 people huddled around the remains of the cannon.
“They were all crowded around it laughing,” Holshouser said.
When the cannon blew up, Vamsi Nukala and his roommate were sitting in their living room on the fifth floor of University Place Apartments.
“We heard a big, loud boom, and we thought it was a bomb,” Nukala said.
Nukala said he and his roommate, John Dickerson, rushed into the floor’s recreation room to find a hole through two floors of the apartment building and debris spread across parts of the room’s ping-pong table. Nukala said four people had been playing table tennis when a piece of the cannon fell through the roof and onto the table.
Police at the scene reported the damage of the cannon incident to be at least two sizable holes in the apartment building’s roof and a number of broken windows.
Mark Lucas, Department of Student Life interim director, said when his office receives the police report on the incident it will take action. Because he did not know if the entire fraternity or a small number of members were responsible for the explosion, he said he could not speculate on MU’s possible actions.
Representatives of Kappa Alpha declined to comment on the incident.



OK seriously I am getting really embarassed to be greek at this school lately. :(

OK not to take away from the seriousness of this but you KNOW this is going to be a sex reference for forever in that house.

"Dude, my cannon exploded last night!"

"reckless exploding" is a crime? interesting ...

I am very sorry to say this, but when I clicked on that link, AFTER I read noone was injured I cracked up. I swear I probably woudl have laughed my ass off if I walked by and saw some frat loading an old cannon and lighting it. I know they shouldnt have done it and it was stupid, but since noone was hurt, it is funny to me. Now if someone was hurt thats another story. Its just so strange esp the first line where they are like

It appears that members of the Kappa Alpha Order tried to restart the Civil War on Thursday night

I had to laugh. Sorry....

Amazingly goofy and stupid why didn't some active stop this.
I remember at my house the social chair wanted to do a theme party that some would have thought very offensive ( pimps and ho's, with guys in blackface and a hard core funk band drinking 40's etc. ) and the chapter treasurer refused to pay for the band ,T Shirts etc. told the social chair he was an idiot and the rest of the chapter to go to hell and impeach him if they didn't like it.
Every group needs a nay-sayer to shoot down drunken stupid ideas.
The treasurer was stuffed in the Ice Machine and still would not relent!

lmao. We have a Pimps and Hoes Party on our campus and TKE sponsers it every year without fail. People love it LMAO. We also have a Catholic School Girls party that another frat holds every year without fail and it is sooo much fun... lol.

BOOM

Oh my! I used to go to MIZZOU (go tigers) although I didn't joing a GLO until after I transferred. A lot of my friends were KA's and hearing this story really just doesn't surprise me. I love MIZZOU stories. You just don't get those stories anywhere else :)

Bwahahahaha! :D

I would like to come down to one of their parties one day. :p

Moreee news
 

Haha... Crazy stuff...

Heres more coverage....

Scholars get bang from visit
Exploding cannon launches projectiles.
By JOHN SULLIVAN of the Tribune’s staff
Published Friday, April 30, 2004

http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2...30041aFrat.jpg
Members of Kappa Alpha fraternity, 1301 University Ave., stand on the front porch last night as Columbia and University of Missouri police officers comb the front lawn after a cannon, foreground, exploded.

A group of Chinese visiting scholars unexpectedly received a piece of American history yesterday when an 8-inch portion of a cannon that legend dates to the Civil War crashed through the roof of their apartment and landed on a pingpong table in the middle of a game.

Nobody was hurt in the incident, which police say occurred after members of the Kappa Alpha fraternity blew up an antique cannon they had tried to load with fireworks on the front lawn of their house on the northeast corner of College and University avenues. The explosion blew out a second floor apartment window at University Place apartments, 1205 University Ave., and sent projectiles flying into the brick wall and through the roof of an east wing of the apartment complex.

Police said the cannon was destroyed.

Building maintenance workers found pieces of fireworks, that apparently came from the fraternity, on the roof of the apartment this morning. A piece of black metal about three inches long and a half-inch thick could also be seen stuck in the outer brick wall of the apartment’s east wing.

Police arrested 21-year-old Kappa Alpha members Nicholas A. Adkins and Seth R. Fagan for unlawful use of a weapon, reckless exploding, first-degree property damage and third-degree assault. Bond for each suspect was set at $11,000. Fagan posted bond this morning, but Adkins remained in Boone County Jail.

If convicted, the suspects could face anywhere from one to 10 years in jail and/or a fine, said Steven Berry with the Boone County Prosecutor’s Office.

Columbia Police Capt. Zim Schwartze said police are investigating a third suspect for possible involvement in the crime.

Elaine Pohl, an English teacher with the Asian Affairs Department at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said she and one of 14 visiting scholars from China had been playing a game of pingpong about 8 p.m. in a fourth floor lounge of University Place when they heard two loud explosions. Looking out the window to investigate the cause, she turned and noticed a 12-inch hole in the ceiling of the lounge.

Then she noticed an 8-inch piece of metal about 2 inches thick on the pingpong table. "It came down into the net like it would’ve sliced the table in two, though it didn’t break the table," she said.

The piece of metal had apparently gone through the roof and the top, fifth floor of the building before landing in the fourth-floor lounge, where the Chinese scholars were relaxing after dinner, Pohl said. About a dozen people were in the room at the time, she said.

"I immediately thought of the World Trade Center and got out of the building," she said.

The Chinese visitors, however, appeared unfazed, she said.

The occupants of the second floor apartment with the shattered window were not home this morning. Neighbors of the tenants said they came from India and that no one was injured.

The Office of Greek Life is investigating whether individuals acted alone or with the sanction of the fraternity.

Sang Kim, interim director of the Asian Affairs Center, said the visiting scholars are members of the All Youth Federation, an association of young state-run business officials with the Communist Party. The group is here to examine the workings of local community systems, such as local governments and schools, he said. "These are up-and-coming future leaders of their provinces and regions," he said. "One of" them "almost got killed."


------------------------------------------
I see it also made st louis and kansas city news..

great.


http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/new...nto+apartments

-Matt

This one might need to be nominated for that Syphius (sp?) award...

Dee

And, as you might expect, the chapter has been suspended by both the university and Kappa Alpha Order.

KA Order's statement is on their web site at

http://www.kappaalphaorder.org

Apparently KA Order has a national policy against discharging any kind of firearms on Fraternity property. I'm not quite sure why the Mizzou chapter president and vice president weren't aware of that (they were the ones arrested, according to the KA statement).

Damn that really sucks... KA was pretty strong on our campus.. this'll definately hurt them.. especially with summer and the fall semester coming up

-Matt

It's now in the Associated Press. Great job, now the whole world knows about this.

Fox News just had a short clip about it too.

Doesn't seem quite that news worthy but, if greeks weren't doing this type of stupid stuff, it wouldn't get any press. Shame on us. I have to admit that if I worked in the media, I'd be more interested in a story about an exploding cannon than someone raising $3,000 with a dance marathon.

Thought: Maybe we should try to make sure that we only do stupid stuff at our philanthropies so that somewhere in the article they can at least have one sentence about the good we do.

Oops: Guess we tried that already (at the same school)- didn't work out so well.

Oh well.

Mr. A heard a story in his college days about the KA chapter at U of Tennessee firing a cue ball out of their cannon which blew down the Kappa Sig's front door across the street.

DG's have their anchor at their house, KA's have a cannon. IMHO (ditto Mr. A's) if a chapter wants to continue decorating their house w/ a cannon, it should be filled w/ concrete (and if it's a modern cannon, lose the firing pin.) Which was what KA national ordered UT's chapter to do w/ their cannon, BTW.

It's only funny because no one got hurt. Anyone else notice how fast nationals came down on them? About 24 hours or so?

Adrienne
edited to correct the school's name

TKEs here have a HUGE bell in their front lawn. The girls we all are, always think it would be funny to go steal. OMG that think weighs a ton there is no way we can move it. We always end up ringing that thing like mad though lol. DGs here have a anchor too but I think thats about all for things here in peoples yards. Id die if someone here had a cannon. We used to have a HUGE May Day and things got on fire bad. I mean people would come from all colleges to it. They quit back in 99 cause of all the destruction we caused every year. We were on national news each year that time. Now they bring out the riot gear and police all over so no more parties like that here......

To this end, I once offered to shave my head if my chapter raised a certain amount for our philanthropy. I think it woudl have been great press, but my girls told me not to even think about it.

Okay, stupid is as stupid does, well only in the eye of the beholder!

What if at each game as PSU does is Fire a Cannon Shot by The ROTC that the damn thing blew up, would they be Court Marshalled and be on JAG!??

There was a Fraternity at PSU who fired off a Canon everytime the Team scored. Everyone loved it! But if it blew up Holly Shit Bat Man, We are under attack!

Say if The PIKE Fire Truck went out of controll and ran over spectators of the Homecoming Parade would they be sued for Careless, Reckless or Vehicular Homocide if someone was killed????:rolleyes:

How much is anything a Greek Organization does that is not turned against us as Greeks!:rolleyes:

You're right -- truly rapid response. Of course, some of the cannon debris landed in a room in an apartment house across the stret where there were visiting Chinese scholars. We'll probably never know, but perhaps the U.S. State Department and the Chinese Embassy wanted some quick action :) .

The local paper in Columbia MO reports that the third KA Order member was arrested (the police were looking for him and he turned himself in). All three are out on bail. The paper also says that the university will attempt to determine if it was a fraternity-sponsored event.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2004/...501News005.asp

Haha yeah I gotta say, Mizzou is definitely one crazy crazy place. :D ;)

I think it's sad that the chapter is going to be suspended, they're certainly one of the top 3 fraternities here (out of 27 or so) so that really sucks. But obviously they needed to be punished.
This is honestly the dumbest thing I have ever heard of. Really, what even made any of them think that this would be funny to do?!?! :confused: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: It was a Thursday night too, they should have all been at Harpo's partaking in the cheap beer instead of finding stuff to do around their house. I know I was. :D ;)

So true. The expression on the face of the chapter president in the head shot (maybe "mug shot"?) on the Columbia paper's web page suggests that he may have been having second thoughts . . . .

Probably it just seemed like a good idea at the time.

I guess you never know. Something that seems like fun can just blow up in your face.

Most interesting choice of words.

While funny it turned out catastrophic for KA!:(

I do not think there was any malicious intent here, it justs go to show that any violation of any kind gets a Greek Organizations butt in a sling!:mad:

Oh, yea it was on Local and world media!:rolleyes:

What about all of the good that they have done for charity events!:( Well, guess that is forgoten of course!:mad:

LMAO my thoughts exactly.

It is funny because nobody got hurt. And this is one of those "what the hell??!?!?" stories. If it was on CNN or the like, that's why it was there. You can also bet the anchors and viewers alike took a giggle at it.

My question...who leaves 18-22 year old men with access to alcohol with a working cannon? COME ON! :) :p

Agree.

the thing landed in someone's apartment! it was dumb luck that no one got hurt. this is why we can't get past the idea that Grreks have no purpose is because we keep doing stupid things and trying to justify it, instead admitting it was stupid and accepting responsibility.

I don't think anyone's trying to justify anything.

They thought it would be hilarious to fire a cannon.

Turns out it was a stupid idea, it exploded, and could have killed someone. They almost took out about 5 Chinese nationals who are leaders in their country.

No one's made any public excuses or anything like that...the only reason we're laughing is b/c thank god no one was hurt, it becomes one of those "WTF" moments.

Update May 6: An "annual tradition" ?
 

The city paper (Columbia MO) reports that one of the three Kappa Alphas who were arrested told investigators that shooting the cannon was an annual tradition. Uh oh. If true, that might not play too well.



http://www.columbiatribune.com/2004/...506News004.asp

Update: Social Probation
 

The city newspaper in Columbia, Missouri reported on June 10, 2004:

"The university and the Kappa Alpha national office confirmed this morning that the MU chapter is on social probation through the end of the 2004-05 academic year. Under MU’s definition, social probation means the fraternity cannot hold events that include alcohol.

Kappa Alpha also must lead a seminar for MU Greeks that discusses the cannon mishap. The national office is requiring its MU brothers to give a similar presentation for chapter presidents at other campuses.

<SNIP>

Chapter President Seth R. Fagan, Vice President Daniel B. Dunn and member Nicholas A. Adkins were charged with reckless exploding and third-degree assault. Both violations are Class A misdemeanors punishable by up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. All three have pleaded not guilty in Boone County Circuit Court. Their cases are pending.

Kappa Alpha legend dates the cannon to the Civil War. A probable cause statement said Fagan admitted to police that he fired the cannon and that doing so was an annual tradition for the fraternity’s president.

<SNIP>

Harvey said Kappa Alpha did not consider revoking the charter of its MU chapter. "A bad decision-making on a couple of individuals should not penalize or affect the charter status of a chapter," he said.

University Place Manager Doug Miller said this morning that the apartment building is in discussions with Kappa Alpha’s insurance company to pay for damages."


The complete article is at:

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2004/...610News003.asp