Dateline last night

[LindsayDunn228]

I only got to see the first 15 minutes of the show. I tried taping it but there was a snafu of some kind with my tape.

What the heck did the kid die of?? This is making me nuts! Would someone please fill me in?

That poor mother had me in tears describing the phone call she got. I think what's-his-name (who was doing the interview) was fighting it too.

***ETA: never mind. I found it. POOR KID!!!***

 

[antmaril]

The young man died from over hydration. He had consumed too much water, which threw off his eletrolytes and caused his organs to fail. Water consumption was close to 25 gallons!!!

It was a very sad story. His mother broke my heart. As the mother of a sophomore in college, it is very sobering and scary.

 

[barkley]

very sad-but the one thing that came to mind as i watched it was the way they portrayed the college. made it sound like a little california college that noone would consider might have these types of issues. BOY is that off base-the college (chico state) was listed for YEARS as one of the top " u.s. party colleges" in many national magazines (including 'playboy') and has always been a school parents discouraged their kids from attending if they had concerns about a party/rowdy atmosphere (fantastic school academicly-but major party central).

they've cleaned up the problems with alcohol quite a bit, but the reputation of the frats has never been a secret-so unless this mom/son were totaly clueless (and since they seemed to have lived in the area for years i doubt it) about the history of events-they had some idea of the possibility of potentialy dangerous activities.

i hate the whole "hazing" concept, and apparantly i'm not the only one. we had an incident here in our town in the last couple of weeks wherein some highschool kids hazed some incomeing freshman (grabbed them into a car, blindfolded, doused with water)-the kids involved were arrested by the police and much to the upset of their parents ("it was innocent fun, noone was ever in danger of being hurt") they are being heavily prosecuted (and they are pulling out all the stops-minors driving other minors in a car without an adult and other charges that don't normaly come to mind). the local authorities want to show that they are serious about anti-hazing laws.

 

[LindsayDunn228]

i hate the whole "hazing" concept, and apparantly i'm not the only one. we had an incident here in our town in the last couple of weeks wherein some highschool kids hazed some incomeing freshman (grabbed them into a car, blindfolded, doused with water)-the kids involved were arrested by the police and much to the upset of their parents ("it was innocent fun, noone was ever in danger of being hurt") they are being heavily prosecuted (and they are pulling out all the stops-minors driving other minors in a car without an adult and other charges that don't normaly come to mind). the local authorities want to show that they are serious about anti-hazing laws.

Good for them!!!

 

[DizGeek]

25 gallons? Why and how did he drink 25 gallons of water?

 

[LindsayDunn228]

25 gallons? Why and how did he drink 25 gallons of water?

He was being hazed by a fraternity.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

There was a case on our news night before last about the same type of hazing at SMU. The incident happened several years ago but apparently it is just now going to trial. The guy (who was about 20 at the time) was forced to drink bottles of hot sauce and chase it with 5 gallons of water. He did not die, but he was hospitalized and the doctors told his mother to plan his funeral.

The jury found the guy in charge (I guess a senior frat member) guilty of something - assault, maybe? The defendant's attorney was saying the guy didn't think there was any harm since they weren't making the plaintiff drink alcohol!