21st birthday: NMSU Delta Chi drinks self to near-death

[hoosier]

November 19, 2004

NMSU Student In Coma After Birthday Drinking

The Associated Press
___LAS CRUCES_ — _ A New Mexico State University fraternity member was in a coma Friday after his 21st birthday celebration led to alcohol poisoning.
___ Steven Judd of El Paso, Texas, a junior criminal justice major, marked his birthday with other Delta Chi fraternity members early Thursday at two Las Cruces bars, said police Lt. Randy Lara.
___ Judd and his friends returned to the fraternity house after 2 a.m. Fraternity members called police and emergency medical workers about 8:30 a.m. after finding Judd unconscious and not breathing.
___ He was taken to a Las Cruces hospital, then airlifted to Thomason Hospital in El Paso, where he was listed in critical condition.
___ The young man had massive hemorrhaging in his brain and was in a coma, said family friend Wirt Atmar, Judd's boss at an engineering firm where Judd works on computer software.
___ Judd told his father he planned to go drinking with fraternity friends as soon as Thursday _ — _ his birthday _ — _ arrived, Atmar said.
___ Lara said police have no evidence of foul play or hazing.
___ "It's a case of someone celebrating too much and drinking too much and not taking care of himself," Lara said.
___ The fraternity's faculty adviser, marketing professor Pat Gavin, said he knew nothing about the incident.
___ Alcohol was a factor in the deaths of at least four university students in Colorado, Oklahoma and Arkansas this fall. Three of the deaths were officially ruled alcohol poisoning.
___ Authorities say most of the estimated 1,400 alcohol-related deaths each year among college students come in automobile accidents.
___ NMSU has begun an investigation and has informed the national Delta Chi organization of the incident, university spokeswoman Maureen Howard said.
___ "They're taking this very seriously," Atmar said.
___ However, he said he holds the university partially responsible because it has become more permissive of alcohol. He cited NMSU's recent acquisition of a liquor license for a restaurant in the Stan Fulton Athletics Center.
___ "It directly sends a signal to students," Atmar said.