Family and friends described Lynn "Gordie" Bailey
as a talented athlete but not a big drinker.
Posted on 10/08/2004 2:46:06 PM PDT by O.C. - Old Cracker
As the whiskey and wine he drank during a fraternity initiation began to kill Gordie Bailey, some of his fraternity brothers wrote racial, misogynist and sexual vulgarities all over his body as he lay passed out in the Chi Psi library.
Family and friends described Lynn "Gordie" Bailey
as a talented athlete but not a big drinker.
On the morning of Sept. 17, when it became apparent that the 18-year-old was not breathing, someone tried to wipe off the slurs written on his face. The University of Colorado at Boulder freshman was soon pronounced dead, and at the coroner's office, more markings were found on his arms, legs and body.
The phrases, which Bailey's father said he learned from the coroner, included "It sucks to be you," "Penis ankle" (written on his ankle) and "(Expletive) me." There were also drawings of male genitalia.
"Bitch" was written on the fingers of his right hand. Other phrases included an offensive six-letter racial slur.
"This reinforces the nearly unbearable pain of the whole thing," said Lynn Gordon Bailey Sr., 68, Bailey's father. "Was he dying while they were writing that?"
Local fraternity members declined to comment. Boulder police said the case remains under investigation.
Gordie Bailey's parents, who are divorced and each remarried, shared the responsibility of raising him and now are united in their desire to see reforms instituted after his death.
"This is not about binge drinking; it's about hazing at fraternities," said Michael Lanahan, 58, Gordie Bailey's stepfather. "How lucky is Chi Psi that 26 pledges survived?"
Donald Beeson, risk-management administrator for Chi Psi national, said Thursday that he had heard only that there were drawings on Bailey's face, not elsewhere on his body.
"No parent should have to deal with losing a son to a senseless accident like this," he said, adding that he understood why Lanahan would be upset over the "degrading and demeaning" comments.
On the evening of Sept. 16, Gordie Bailey and 26 other Chi Psi pledges were blindfolded and left in the woods near Gold Hill. They were told to drink vast amounts of Ten High whiskey and Carlo Rossi wine, according to police.
By the time the pledges were driven back to the Boulder fraternity house, police said, Bailey was "sick and visibly intoxicated."
By 11 p.m., fraternity members carried him to a couch and gave him a metal bucket.
Since he was passed out with his shoes on, tradition called for other fraternity members to draw on Bailey with a felt-tipped marker.
About 1 a.m., a pledge saw two fraternity members writing all over his body, according to the search warrant. Bailey never woke up during the process. The pledge "repeatedly told the members to stop writing on (Bailey). The members got angry with (the pledge) for telling them to stop."
Finally, the pledge asked another fraternity member for help, and the writing ceased.
Shortly before 9 a.m., Bailey was found face down on the floor next to the couch and could not be revived. An autopsy shows that he died from alcohol poisoning with a blood-alcohol level of 0.328 percent.
Lynn Bailey, his father, said the coroner told him that there was no sign of asphyxiation and that the alcohol had created a massive depressant that shut down his son's central nervous system.
Since that night, several fraternity members have refused to talk to police, and many have hired lawyers.
So has Gordie Bailey's family, who called the writing on the teenager "appalling" and says it depicts the fraternity members' irresponsible mind-set.
"To do something like that exposes those young men for what they are - thoughtless and perverse," said attorney David Berg of Berg & Androphy, a Houston-based firm.
The family has not yet decided whom to name in their suit, Berg said, but are considering the fraternity, the individuals involved and the university.
"We still don't see leadership from the university," said Lanahan, Bailey's stepfather. "They have not proposed any change in the system - but the system is killing our kids."
Officials at CU have been meeting with Greek officials since Bailey's death, and they have pledged to combat a culture of drinking. Meanwhile, Chi Psi's charter at CU has been revoked, although officials haven't ruled out its return.
"We ... are continuing to work with the fraternity and sorority leaders to assess all aspects of Greek life, including the role of alcohol in social activities," CU spokeswoman Pauline Hale said in a release Wednesday.
Beeson said Wednesday that the fraternity's investigation determined that the drinking trip to the woods was not an initiation ritual, as police have called it. Beeson said it was an "initial function" for the pledges.
Lanahan said he hopes the fraternity will release the results of its investigation into his son's death. So far, Chi Psi has said it will not release the records.
"If these things remain secret," Lanahan said, "then Gordie's death meant nothing at all."
Amy Herdy can be reached at 303-820-1752 or aherdy@denverpost.com . George Merritt can be reached at 303-820-1367 or gmerritt@denverpost.com .
Good way to give him hypothermia.
Not a stupid discussion. Hazing is what killed this kid. The alcohol is a part of it. The frat boys instruct the pledges to completely consume the alcohol they are given. This is hazing.
This is not alcoholism - there have been cases of young people hurt by this kind of hazing who had never been drinkers in their pasts.
I know what alcoholism is, My grandfather was AA and when he passed away was sober for over 40 years! He was our role model not to drink to excess. There is a profound difference between this incidence and the problem of alcoholism.
I think Don Henley was making fun of us in the song, but we were too drunk and having too good of a time to care.
Maybe smobey has a thing for back-door shenanigans.
Not at all. It doesn't take long to sober them up to the point where you can take them out of the shower, strip off their clothes and cover them with blankets. That is, if you want them to live. But that takes work and a certain level of maturity. Something these punks were unaccustomed to.
No, he could not have said no. It was part of his pledging. I know he had free will and all that, but he wanted to be there--wanted in, wanted to pledge this frat, wanted to what goes with pledging and being in a frat. Which is to say, drink to excess. This was a perfect storm of immaturity and ignorance and alchohol.
Huh!? What am I missing? Why do CU officials think an appropriate response to this tragedy is to meet with Greek officials and assess Greek life?
Anybody get whatever it is that's going over my head, here?
Also, as someone who never was affected by peer pressure all that much, I wonder why those young people didn't just simply refuse to drink all that booze. Why not just drink a little, or none, and dump the rest down a gutter somewhere. Or, better yet, have a little gumption and say you just aren't going along with such a stupid stunt.
It's been fun beating each other up over the greek/non greek system in the traditional FR way. But for those of you reading this, please don't follow this non medical advise.... I'm not a doctor, although I once stayed in a Howard Johnson, but the above IMHO is poor medical advise for alcohol poisoning.
This little blurb made me nauseated:
"No parent should have to deal with losing a son to a senseless accident like this," he said, adding that he understood why Lanahan would be upset over the "degrading and demeaning" comments.
Accident? It was senseless, but an accident? Hopefully it wasn't intentional, but neither was any part of the evening that led up to his death 'accidental'.
No, again you're wrong. The cold water won't give them a heart attack. But if you're that concerned about it, then call 911 and wait for an ambulance. And while you're waiting, start slapping the crap out of the one who's passed out.
You haven't had a lot of fun in life, have you?
One year one of our pledges told us he was a recovering alcoholic. That was it - no booze for him EVER. Now we gave him some prune juice and buttermilk to sip on, but we certainly didn't hold a gun to his head to get him to drink it.
Respectfully, while I agree that he made a choice to do this, to say that those he wanted to please had no culpability is an oversimplification. I do not feel that litigation is warranted but consider his situation. Fraternities are not inherently bad. Does that exonerate those that act irresponsibly from blame? I don't think for one minute that the frat bros were looking for someone to show restraint. They wanted to see drunk pledges. Should he have known better? Yes. Should they have? Yes.
Durango, you haven't laid a glove on me, but you (along with others) have managed to provide us all with perfect examples of why fraternities are something to be avoided.
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