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There's a bill sittin' on California's Capitol Hill.
Debbie Smith, whose son died during a hazing ritual in February 2005, said she can get that bill off the steps of Capitol Hill and into California law with the help of others.
Matt's Law was read on the floor of the California Senate Thursday. If passed, the bill will make hazing a misdemeanor even if the hazing doesn't injure anyone. The law would also make it illegal for anyone to haze, not just students.
Smith's son, Matthew Carrington, was a Chico State student pledging the unrecognized Chi Tau fraternity last spring. Carrington died of water intoxication in the fraternity's basement after doing calisthenics and drinking from a five-gallon jug of water throughout the night, police said.
Smith said her son's death could have been prevented if the fraternity men would have realized what they were doing was dangerous and illegal. And she thinks Matt's Law will save lives.
"I think it will help people realize: you do this, you go to jail," Smith said.
She also hopes the law will help fraternity members stand up to their alumni when they are being encouraged to haze new members, she said.
"It's not just the boys that were in this basement," Smith said. "Because those kids didn't know any different."
Former Chi Tau member Gabe Maestretti, who is serving a one-year jail sentence after pleading guilty to felony manslaughter and misdemeanor hazing charges, said while he was being hazed he didn't see how stupid the ritual was. But now, he thinks hazing is idiotic and doesn't know why he did it.
"If you would have told me it was dangerous, I would have been pretty mad," he said.
John Paul Fickes, a former Chi Tau member who is serving a six-month sentence after pleading guilty to misdemeanor hazing and accessory to manslaughter charges, said if he could change the past, he wouldn't have hazed Carrington. But he still would have undergone hazing during his own initiation.
"Once it's over with, you can't even talk. You're just so traumatized, you just can't do anything," he said. "But it's the best feeling of your life."
Fickes thinks hazing made him a better person and allowed him to make good friends quickly, he said.
"It definitely changed me and gave me a lot more confidence in myself and what I can do," he said.
But Smith said that despite any benefits people might get from hazing, it's important to punish people for all hazing to prevent deaths like that of her son.
"If Matt's Law is in place we don't have to go through this crap," she said.
Smith needs help getting the Matt's Law bill turned into a law, she said.
Those who are in support of the bill can write letter to California Senator Torlakson and check www.wemimssyoumatt.com for updates on how to help make the bill a law.
Jennifer Sholtes can be reached at
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