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 .
It really is armature night here on this thread. I doubt anyone put a gun to the boy's head and forced him to drink to morbid excess. There's a word we have in the english language - "no". If you're stupid and weak and bend to peer pressure and can't say no - well, bad stuff's gonna happen sooner or later. People die everyday doing stupid things - I put the responsibility onto the dead guy.
And the frat boys writing on the (former) pledge - bfd.
Waah! Waah! Waah! Don't blame me if you were blackballed.
I'm just glad I believe in taking responsibility for my own actions. If I died from alchohol, from driving too fast, from skydiving, or any of an almost infinite number of things, I would be whining and crying about banning that activity. I think whining is for wussies, you apparently differ.
Fun and game? Oh, that was the worst night of Hell Week. I couldn't eat "chili" for months afterward and I'm STILL pass on the olives.
No, none of us died, but there were a few close calls. That's life, at least for those of us who were full of testosterone and doing foolish things without calling our mommies to see if it was OK.
Aggie Bonfire is a perfect example of what people like you advocate. It was dangerous, it was foolish, and it shouldn't have happened, but it did. Nevertheless, there are any number of students who would love to get right back up on that stack. Why is it people like you think YOU get to decide if they get to?
"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. "
Criminal case. Subpoena. Search. Screw 'em!
Whether or not the pledge you mentioned really was a recovering alcoholic, I admire the fact that he spoke up. I also admire the fact that the others in the fraternity didn't push booze on him. It doesn't take rocket science to avoid such tragedies at what happened to Gordie, just some common sense and a little old-fashioned gumption.
I never said his brothers had no responsibility...I just pointed out that no one is blaming the dead guy at all....and he did the drinking.
Why is it, whenever someone disagrees with one of you libertines, you always retreat to this kind of impotent retort? Besides, were we discussing my life? I thought we were discussing the manslaughter of an 18 year old at a fraternity initiation?
Respectfully, I think the Aggie bonfire had something to do with having some creative skills in engineering it's creation. It should not have been banned, instead they should have looked at increasing safety procedures.
Hazing by having someone drink enough alcohol to kill them is irresponsible behaviour and has no comparison to the Aggie bonfire.
Agreed, plenty of responsibility here. All we can do now is pray for the families involved and hope the next kid makes a better choice.
This article reads as if writing non-PC things on an intoxicated person's body is a worse offense than the person's death.
>I would also like to know how this person got hooked into the only all homosexual Greek system on the planet.
That's easy. He went to Ole Miss. They all did.
"My chapter was chock full of freaks. Myself included."
And you're proud of this?
"If I died from alchohol, from driving too fast, from skydiving, or any of an almost infinite number of things, I would be whining and crying about banning that activity."
Uh, dude. If you died, you'd be dead. Whining would be impossible. Are you thinking here? Are you actually alive now?
You have a big mouth. I'd pay to see you say that to this kid's father.
"You have a big mouth. I'd pay to see you say that to this kid's father."
Not a chance. He wouldn't have the huevos. Frat boys...blech!
Dude...you were in a rich Frat. In my house, someone made a keg run and we just drank with the radio on and tried to get the sororities over.
If a coroner told you that your son's dead body was found lying face down on the floor with his clothes removed and obscenities scrawled on his body, would the last detail add or subtract from your pain?
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