Student on Life Support: Alcohol (Rider U. Phi Kappa Tau Event)

[JonoBN41]

No one knows the extent to which an incident like this angers me. I have no sympathy for anyone involved.

First off, I don't generally get down on other fraternities, but that chapter is toast. They should be closed down and prosecuted. Why should I pity an organization that gives us all a black eye?

The parents are not faultless either. They obviously did not teach their son how to drink in moderation - just sent him off to college.

The 21-year-old drinking age is not working. I can't recall even one instance like this happening when I was in school in the '70s when the age was 18. Now it seems to happen regularly.

The Darwin Award, of course, goes to the kid himself. I don't even sympathize with him. How does one get into college (with a scholarship?) and still be stupid enough to drink that much alcohol?

To quote the Times of Trenton, "Brittney Coates said she knows that Gary made his own decisions, but like her brother she is finding it hard not to place blame.

There is one thing she does know, however. If she or any of DeVercelly's other hometown friends had been with him Wednesday night, he would still be alive. 'Honestly, if any of his true friends had been there with him this wouldn't have happened,' she said. 'He just needed a good friend to be there and there wasn't."

You can say that again!