Oct. 24, 2006
Hundreds of Chico Greeks watched Kevin Hallmeyer recount his legal troubles and emotional tribulations stemming from providing alcohol to a Sigma Chi pledge in 2005 on Tuesday night in the Bell Memorial Union auditorium.
Some looked on uncomfortably as Hallmeyer tearfully talked about when 19-year-old pledge Richard Amador nearly died from the vodka he bought.
Hallmeyer joined Dylan Smith, a 23-year-old graduate student at Chico State, in talking about their experiences with alcohol that caused them to go sober during Sober Reflections, an event that is a part of National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week.
After asking people who were over 21 to stand up and having those that had never bought alcohol for a minor sit down, about a hundred people still stood.
Hallmeyer asked the audience to consider the consequences of purchasing alcohol for minors and for minors to reconsider asking people to buy them alcohol.
"Remember that anything that minor does is your responsibility," Hallmeyer said.
In Hallmeyer's case, Amador had a blood alcohol content of .495 and nearly died. The experience cost him about $50,000 in legal fees, probation and his reputation.
The single event of buying a $20 bottle of vodka changed his life, he said, and he is no longer a part of the party scene.
Another speaker at Sober Reflections talked about turning his life around after multiple DUIs. Dylan Smith said it took nearly killing somebody to make him realize he had a problem.
In May, Smith hit a motorcycle rider while driving under the influence and it caused him to reexamine his life, he said.
"This event gave me the gift of desperation," he said.
He was fortunate that the person he hit walked away from the crash, but finally seeing that his drinking and drug problem hurt somebody other than himself made him go sober, he said.
Smith had received several DUIs before the accident, but he never accepted responsibility and learned from them, he said.
Shauna Quinn, campus alcohol and drug education center director, showed a video that had emergency room workers talking about drug- and alcohol-related trauma they had seen. The video showed graphic clips of people being treated for alcohol poisoning, overdoses and drunken driving accidents.
Some of the audience laughed during a scene in the video when a nurse talked about the dangers of marijuana, others gasped and turned away when doctors were working on somebody who was in a drunken driving accident.
Binge drinking is the biggest health problem for college students in the United States, Quinn said.
The event also served as an awards ceremony for Greek Week as Phi Kappa Tau won the overall award for fraternities and Sigma Kappa won the overall award for sororities.
Kirk Barron can be reached at
Be the first to comment on this article!