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Inside the Frat Party that Caused $75,000 of Damage at a Ski Resort [pictures of damage]
yahoo.com ^ | January 23, 2015 | MICHAEL CAPPETTA and TAYLOR DUNN

Posted on 01/23/2015 10:28:51 PM PST by grundle

Students from the University of Michigan, including members from six fraternities and sororities, are accused of causing thousands of dollars' worth of damages during a weekend stay at two northern Michigan ski resorts.

The students, which included members of the Sigma Alpha Mu, Pi Kappa Alpha and Chi Psi fraternities, as well as members of the Sigma Delta Tau, Alpha Phi and Delta Gamma sororities, are being accused by resort operators of trashing hotel rooms and hallways, including ripping off cabinet doors, destroying ceilings and rugs, and busting up tables, during a Jan. 17-18 weekend stay at the Treetops Resort and Spa in Gaylord, and the Boyne Highlands Resort in Harbor Springs.

University of Michigan spokesman Rick Fitzgerald confirmed to ABC News the fraternities and sororities who are accused of being involved, saying in a statement, "We are very disappointed in the behavior of some of our students during a weekend visit to two northern Michigan ski resorts. I want to assure you that the organizations and the individuals involved will be held accountable for their actions."

"While we are still gathering information, we understand that the damage at Treetops Resort and Boyne Highlands is expected to total in the thousands of dollars," the statement continued.

The Treetops Resort gave ABC News exclusive photos of the trashed hotel rooms and hallways, which the resort claims totaled in $75,000 worth of damages.

Treetops general manager Barry Owens described the vandalism as “a malicious destruction of property,” adding that upon inspection, “The rooms were incredibly dirty, broken windows, broken furniture, ceiling tiles torn out of hallways, wall sconces broken off, doors kicked in.

“I mean it just kind of never ended,” he said.

Although the Treetops Resort touts itself as a family destination, Owens said college students and fraternity groups do visit, but there had never been any prior issues.

“I’ve been in this business for almost 30 years and I’ve never seen something even close to this,” Owens said. “We do cater to them [college students] but this one got completely out of hand.”

The Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity, which is now facing suspension from its national chapter over this incident, issued a statement to ABC News, saying, “We are embarrassed and ashamed of the behavior of a few of our chapter members at Treetops Resort over the weekend of January 17-18. This behavior is inconsistent with the values, policies, and practices of this organization. Our chapter accepts full responsibility for this incident and we will be working with the management of the resort to pay for all damages and cleaning costs. We will work within our own organization and with university officials to hold those who are responsible accountable for their actions.”

Despite the fraternity’s apology, Owens voiced his concerns. “They said they were going to make good on this, however they also said they would behave themselves… we have concerns about the integrity of their word.”


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS:
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To: grundle

Bro, that’s awesome.


61 posted on 01/24/2015 10:26:01 AM PST by KC_Conspirator
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To: BBell

lol


62 posted on 01/24/2015 10:26:30 AM PST by KC_Conspirator
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To: Kirkwood

Gentlemen!


63 posted on 01/24/2015 10:27:21 AM PST by KC_Conspirator
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To: madprof98

madprof98: Why not? This is EXACTLY what we teach now as our official American ideology. Anything you want to do is OK so long as it makes you feel good. And any so-called “consequences” are just racist, sexist, homophobic, patriarchal oppression.


True. I just have difficulty remembering that. Not sure why....

TimberRattler: Should be easy to find out who is personally responsible... who booked the rooms, and whose credit card was used to do it?


You’d think so, but I would bet the national organizations of these frats & sororities will hold their local chapters’ feet to the fire as far as payment goes, too.

goldstategop: In this case, the damage goes well beyond have to renovate the place. It means they have to be closed, lay off staff that work and they loose bookings that bring in revenue. I’d double or even triple the loss estimate. The hotel has insurance but it won’t cover everything.

And if the hotel has to deny young people rental privileges, those young people will have to thank young punks who should have known better. Its a sad situation all around and no one really wins.


You’re correct about the costs that go above and beyond just the renovating. One of the hotels I inspected regularly was renovated to the tune of $2.5 million & then there was a fire on the 3rd of 4 floors. The smoke & water damage caused a lot of damage throughout the hotel & the fire inspector ended up closing the entire thing down.

The owner had good insurance that also paid his employees while renovations were going on & paid him for loss of revenue, but he still had massive deductibles & all the “little things” you don’t think about. Among other things, he had to hire security to make sure no one tried to steal anything and to watch that vagrants didn’t try to break a window to sleep in an empty room at night, utilities & property taxes with no revenue coming in & landscaping etc. had to be done to keep up appearances. It hurt him badly even with excellent insurance.

Such a shame. I hate reading stories like this. The people that did this are no better than the thugs & looters in Ferguson. Hurting innocent peoples’ businesses for no reason.


64 posted on 01/24/2015 10:28:17 AM PST by leapfrog0202 ("the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of personal discovery" Sarah Palin)
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To: fella

I think their parents should be prohibited from paying for the damages. The students should have to work to pay for it.


65 posted on 01/24/2015 1:45:52 PM PST by grundle
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To: leapfrog0202

Wow! Thanks for your awesome post!


66 posted on 01/24/2015 1:48:17 PM PST by grundle
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To: bgill

They offer a college student rate right on their website. It includes 1 breakfast per person & 1 lift ticket for 1 day per person for $170 per room. Without all that it’s $104.

Of course, just because they rented out 10 rooms (not sure how many, just picked a number) to a fraternity, that doesn’t mean 2 - 4 people occupied a room. For all we know they could have crammed 8 people in each room.

I ran a hotel for 6 years before doing QA for hotels & I’ve seen that often. People lie with no shame about how many people they are putting in a room. When I’d explain we needed to know for fire reasons, I’d get blank stares.


67 posted on 01/24/2015 1:58:25 PM PST by leapfrog0202 ("the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of personal discovery" Sarah Palin)
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To: grundle

:-)


68 posted on 01/24/2015 1:58:40 PM PST by leapfrog0202 ("the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of personal discovery" Sarah Palin)
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To: FredZarguna

LOL

funny.

I may need a mew keyboard after drenching mine with coffee upon reading your post.


69 posted on 01/25/2015 7:39:27 AM PST by QualityMan (Don't Tread on Me)
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To: grundle

I wonder if they were wearing their pledge pins...


70 posted on 01/25/2015 7:40:29 AM PST by QualityMan (Don't Tread on Me)
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To: BinaryBoy

My sons’ frat houses did not look like this==and they did have parties... I am surprised that other guests on the floor did not call the front desk, etc. Some have commented that insurance will cover this—but like taxes, we all pay for this thru increased room rates due to insurance increases and increased insurance rates. Really disgusting that they did this!


71 posted on 01/25/2015 8:35:19 PM PST by Freedom56v2 (Make 'em squeal!)
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To: Kirkwood

Lol...I had to read further in your post before I remembered the movie.

But yeah, monetarily the whole fraternity and the individuals. : )


72 posted on 01/26/2015 4:47:24 AM PST by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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To: grundle

It’s up to $430,000 now. And frat boys wonder why they’re hated.


73 posted on 03/29/2015 6:39:41 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity (Death before disco.)
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To: grundle

Exactly! Welcome to house payments without the house.


74 posted on 03/29/2015 6:48:34 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity (Death before disco.)
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