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."


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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.