Blake Adam Hammontree, 19, Dies of Alcohol Poisoning After Fraternity Event

Blake Adam Hammontree, 19, was a freshman at Oklahoma University in the fall of 2004.  He pledged the Sigma Chi fraternity house.  The night of September 29, 2004, there was a "big-little" party, in which older fraternity members are paired as mentors with new pledges.  According to some, heavy abusive drinking is part of the event.  Hammontree was found dead in the morning.  According to some sources, his future fraternity brothers made several calls before calling 911.

Sigma Chi pledge found dead

OU freshman Blake Adam Hammontree, 19, was found dead Thursday morning at the Sigma Chi fraternity house, said Officer Jennifer Newell of the Norman Police Department.  According to Newell, police received a call at 10:48 a.m. from inside the house reporting that Hammontree was not breathing. The medical examiner’s office is still trying to determine the cause of death, she said.

OU President David L. Boren said in a press conference Thursday that he has reason to believe the death was alcohol-related. Newell would not confirm if the death was the result of alcohol poisoning.

District Attorney Tim Kuykendall, who was at the house during the initial investigation, said the occurrence is potentially a homicide case. “Right now it is an unlawful death until we find something out,” Newell said. She said no arrests have been made. Hammontree was found on the second floor of the house in its residential area, Newell said.

“It will take some time for them to piece together what happened,” Kuykendall said. “We’re going to have to wait and let law enforcement do their job and investigate the case.” More evidence to determine the cause of death will be available after an autopsy is conducted, Kuykendall said.

Interfraternity Council President Omar Zantout said he chose not to comment about the incident.  An anonymous student, who was an acquaintance of Hammontree, said that on Wednesday night—the night before Hammontree was found dead—the big brother-little brother celebration took place at the Sigma Chi house. The event was meant to match pledges with older members who will serve as mentors to them, she said.

Pressure is placed on pledges to binge drink at big-little night, she said. “Big-little night is known for getting completely wasted,” she said. “Some fraternities make [pledges] drink more than one bottle [of liquor],” she said. “If you don’t get sick, you obviously weren’t doing what was supposed to get done.”

A former Sigma Chi pledge, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed such a practice, saying, “They’ll force you into it if you won’t stand up to them.” The student’s pledge experience caused him to leave Sigma Chi in nine weeks, after nearly getting into physical confrontations with members, he said. “If you want a comparison, that place was like ‘Animal House,’” he said. “You had guys staying up drinking until 4 every night, seven days a week.”

However, former OU Sigma Chi President and OU graduate Casey Boyd said big-little night is not about drinking, but about creating bonds between big and little brothers. “I want to dispel the rumor that big brother-little brother night is all about alcohol, because it’s not,” Boyd said.

By mid-afternoon, news of Hammontree’s death had spread quickly across campus. “Just walking to class, everyone I pass is talking about it,” said Kevin Boyd, University College freshman. “I don’t know if I knew him or not, but it’s just kind of a shocker.”

The impact of Hammontree’s death was felt across the state at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. “Our prayers are with the brothers who are facing one of the biggest challenges of their lives,” said Ryan Sears, OSU Sigma Chi president. Sears said alcohol is a nationwide problem on college campuses, one that is not limited to the greek system.

“College life definitely on most campuses...facilitates easier access to alcohol,” he said. “Whether or not you’re in the greek system, you’re going to be tempted to go out and drink.” OSU, which has a dry campus, does not allow alcohol in greek houses, he said. Boren extended OU’s condolences to those grieving over Hammontree’s death.

“It is heartbreaking to lose a member of our OU family,” Boren said in a statement. “Our love and sympathy go out to his family and friends.”  Hammontree graduated from Medford High School in Enid in spring 2004. He was the son of Grant County Judge Jack Hammontree.

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OU party culture changed little

When freshman Blake Adam Hammontree died of alcohol poisoning on Sept. 30, his death shocked students and faculty across the OU community. Four days later, hundreds of hushed and tearful students, including many who had never known Hammontree, attended the prayer vigil for him on the Phi Gamma Delta lawn.

Less than one month after Hammontree’s death, another alcohol-related incident at OU has left many, like Dustin Perkins, public relations senior, questioning if Hammontree’s death truly had any impact on the party culture at OU.

“I believe the vast majority of people’s hearts are the way they were before, regardless of rules and regulations,” said Perkins. “The horror of what happened kind of wore off.”

The fact that students are still indulging in dangerously large quantities of alcohol, drinking until they throw up or pass out or need to be taken to the hospital, is not surprising, said Allen Brown-Hart, assistant professor of sociology. The social norm of alcohol consumption is so deeply entrenched in American culture that it is difficult to change in such a short amount of time, he said.

Early Oct. 28, a Delta Upsilon pledge was taken to the hospital for alcohol poisoning after attending his big brother-little brother celebration. Hammontree had also been celebrating at his big brother-little brother party at the Sigma Chi house the evening before he was found dead. His blood alcohol level was 0.42.

OU President David L. Boren said he wishes Hammontree’s death would have totally altered campus culture, but it hasn’t.

“What’s disconcerting to me is how little impact it seems to have,” Boren said. “For a few days, I think it made people think about it. But unfortunately, for so many people, when they think about it, they say, ‘Oh, that could never happen to me, that kind of thing only happens to someone else.’”

The one positive thing about the Delta Upsilon incident is that the pledge got to the hospital, Boren said. As a consequence of the event, the Delta Upsilon fraternity has been put on social probation until May 2005, he said. OU shut down the Sigma Chi fraternity house, and the national chapter has suspended their charter indefinitely.

It is ironic that the problems with alcohol have arisen at OU this year, which marked the largest number of alcohol education programs the campus has ever had, Boren said. Between 7,000 and 8,000 students went through alcohol education training in the first few weeks of school this semester, and about 4,000 students participated in Think If You Drink week in September, Boren said.

Think If You Drink is an alcohol awareness program that was created by OU Student Affairs. “It tells me that education alone is not going to do it,” he said.

One of the most disappointing things, Boren said, is that Hammontree, along with his pledge class, had gone through alcohol education just days before his death. Cleveland County District Attorney Tim Kuykendall had also visited the house as a speaker shortly before Hammontree died, Boren said.

Although the Hammontree tragedy hasn’t made a significant impact on the party culture, it has caused some people to be more careful, said one fraternity member. “It hasn’t stopped any party nights—it’s just made people more aware, more cautious,” said Taylor Barton, microbiology sophomore. It will take time before social change will really happen, said Brown-Hart, because in order for change to take place, there has to be a whole shift in culture.

Until then, nothing, including new laws, will make people change their ways, he said. Just as civil rights legislation for blacks that was passed in the 1960s didn’t end prejudice and discrimination, new harsher alcohol laws would not deter young people from drinking, Brown-Hart said.

“President Boren can ban alcohol in a 30-mile radius of Norman, and people are still going to party and drink because that is what the culture values and sees as important,” he said.

It is common for people to act in ways that they know are harmful to them, such as smoking or eating unhealthy foods, Brown-Hart said. “I’m sure that Blake [Hammontree] knew that what he was doing was probably not the brightest thing in the world, but he continued to do it,” he said. “It’s not that simple for people to make those kinds of rational choices in a time when they have lots of other cultural influences coming down on them. We have free will...but we don’t make our choices in a vacuum.”

As long as college kids think binge drinking is the most fun thing to do, there will be a problem, said Catherine Bath, executive director of Security on Campus, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to safe campuses for college and university students. “People need to wake up and realize that anytime you drink, you are dancing with death,” she said.

Alcohol kills six times more people than all other illegal drugs combined, Bath said. Bath said she has experienced first-hand the horror of alcohol. Her son, a 20-year-old Duke University junior, died five years ago from alcohol-related causes. Bath said she also saw how little her son’s death impacted people. Soon after her son died, she said her son’s best friend was getting drunk on a weekly basis.

Another problem with the current culture is the way children, especially men, are socialized and raised, Brown-Hart said. “We socialize our male children to grow up and to be risk-takers, to express their masculinity in terms of daring things: skydiving, fast cars, lots of girlfriends and lots of drinking,” Brown-Hart said. “That’s a big cultural pressure on people.”

Society defines a “real man” as one who can handle his liquor, he said. “In [Hammontree’s] case, the liquor handled him, and it’s unfortunate,” Brown-Hart said. Alcohol abuse is a problem deeply entrenched in culture, Bath said. “I say the whole social climate needs to change, not only on the college campuses, but in our whole country,” Bath said.

Although the overall college drinking culture hasn’t been influenced by Hammontree’s death, it does serve as a wake-up call to some, Bath said. “There are people that are questioning the culture ... and we need to question the culture,” she said. “We need to question why students need to party in this fashion.”

Boren said he realizes that the alcohol problem OU faces is part of a bigger societal problem, and OU will never be able to fully eliminate it. However, he hopes to curb it and has considered a number of ways to do that with his alcohol advisory committee.

Some of the things Boren is considering include making OU a dry campus, setting up an anonymous hotline to report hazing and implementing the “three strikes and you’re out” policy, which would hold students accountable for alcohol violations both on and off campus. Boren will announce his actions the first week of December.

“The whole culture has to change,” Boren said. “And until it changes, no one college, no one town, no one school can solve the problem. But what I think we can do is have a significant impact on the abusive use of alcohol.”

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In all cases, my deepest condolences to family and friends.

Underage Alcohol Deaths 2004
Underage Alcohol Deaths 2005
Underage Alcohol Deaths 2006

Signs of Alcohol Poisoning

Alcohol depresses nerves that control involuntary actions such as breathing, the heartbeat and the gag reflex that prevents choking. A fatal dose of alcohol will eventually stop these functions. After the victim stops drinking, the heart keeps beating, and the alcohol in the stomach continues to enter the bloodstream and circulate through the system. The victim may experience the following:

• Mental confusion, stupor, coma, unable to rouse the person
• No response to pinching the skin
• Vomiting while sleeping or unresponsive
• Seizures
• Slowed breathing  (fewer than 8 breaths per minute)
• Irregular breathing (10 seconds or more between breaths)
• Hypothermia (low body temperature), bluish skin color, paleness

Alcohol Poisoning Requires Immediate Medical Attention

Alcohol Poisoning Cannot Be Reversed By:

• Drinking black coffee
• Taking a cold bath or shower
• Walking it off

The victim must have immediate medical attention.
Call 911, stay with the victim to prevent him choking on vomit, and tell emergency personnel how much alcohol the victim drank.

These Children Died of Alcohol Overdose, So Their Parents Started Foundations:

Taylor Webster's memorial foundation.  Taylor died of alcohol  poisoning at age 19-- Now his family and friends are working  to get the message out, telling their stories and providing  information on alcohol poisoning and the signs and symtoms  of alcohol poisoning in hopes that lives will be saved.

Bradley McCue's memorial foundation.  On November 5, 1998  Bradley turned 21. . He celebrated  his birthday in a way that has become increasingly popular, drinking "his  age in shots". That amount of alcohol was lethal and he died  that night of alcohol poisoning.

Samantha Spady's memorial foundation. A 19-year old student at Colorado State University, Spady died of alcohol poisoning on September 5, 2004, "an unintentional tragedy."  The Spadys say the SAM [Student Alcohol Management] Spady Foundation will develop peer-to-peer counseling and other services meant to reduce the risk of alcohol abuse.

Gordie Bailey's memorial foundation Mission: to provide today’s youth with the skills to navigate the dangers of alcohol, and through education and promotion of self worth prevent alcohol poisoning, binge drinking and hazing. 

Kimberly Ostien's memorial foundation: "With binge drinking on the rise, we feel it necessary to get the message out on the danger of alcohol, especially excessive alcohol consumed in a short period of time.  Students are educated on drugs and alcohol but they will continue to experiment no matter what.  We want to educate on what to do when a friend falls down or passes out from drinking.  Often we want to put that person to bed to sleep it off and that is when the trouble can begin."  The card lists the information, above.

Comments

[Jessica]

I cannot believe some of these stories about alcohol poisening!! They are absolutely unbelieveable. I mean, I am not going to lie, I used to drink, but have been sober now for 7 months. I suffered of alcoholism in my family. I am 17 years old and my father used to be an alcoholic until about 8 years ago and I made the mistake to follow his lead and then my life finally became to mean much more to me!!Thank god reality finally strikes at the oddest times in your life.

[Jina]

Our family has recently lost a 19 year old young man to alcohol poisoning, when something so terrible happens at a "party" why is it impossible to get the honest truth about what exactly happens? Nobody has came to us and told us what happened, we have no explanation for the blood soaked shirt or the busted lip or even what he drank that resulted in a 0.53 blood alcohol content. Drinking kills!! You don't have to be behind the wheel of a car for alcohol to show the fatal effects!

[JEANICE GRAJALES (DAVIS)]

I would like to say that I grew up with Blake Hammontree since the 5th grade, he was truly a very intelligent person, who I saw between grades 5th through 9th that he wanted truly to fit in with the crowd, in my words be "popular",and what person dosen't just want to be liked by there peers? Blake was an OU fan since I've known him, always wearing an OU jersey, he ws very liked by his classmates, I have so many memories with Blake, such sad tragic moment, I saw him in Kmart in Enid weeks before he died, I was going to say hi, yet for some odd reason I turned around and kept walking, I've had several classmates that have died, one very close to Blake, "Wesley Patocka" a dear friend to me and Blake; they used to live right down the street from eachother, he died of car accident that was alcohol related. It's amazing such close friends can die, and you put yourself in the same situation. I cared and loved both of you and hope your in a better place. I think of you often.................................

[WorkHard]

Reading the story about the death of OU freshman Blake Adam Hammontree triggered some of my thoughts on why college student abuse alcohol. Although the answers are probably many, the simplest answer, however, is this: “Because they can.”

When there are so few immediate consequences for excessive drinking, when repeat offenders are not disciplined, when parents are not notified about their children's drinking activities, when students get mixed messages from the college administration about alcohol, when students have seen their parents drinking alcohol in an irresponsible manner, when students are not informed about the long-tern negative consequences of alcohol abuse, when there are few alcohol-free social and recreational activities that are attractive to students, when minors or intoxicated students are served alcoholic beverages by the local drinking establishments, and when the drinking activities in the sororities and fraternities are not monitored--drinking and excessive drinking become so very easy.

When peer pressure or influence is added to the equation, when it is disregarded that drinking alcohol temporarily removes a person from his or her problems, when ignoring the belief or perception that drinking alcohol makes it easier to socialize with potential dating or sexual partners, when it is so acceptable to engage in activities that emphasize the drinking of alcohol, when the "good feelings" or the "fun" of getting an alcohol high or buzz are not considered, and when the party atmosphere at college is expected by students--it becomes more clear regarding what causes college students to abuse alcohol.

In a word, college students abuse alcohol because they can, because drinking makes them feel good, because drinking helps them relax and open up more in social situations, because drinking can be fun, because their friends and other students are doing it, because of peer pressure and peer influence, because alcohol is so accessible, because excessive drinking is accepted, and because many of them when they were in high school were told by their parents and other influential people that it is okay to get drunk “once in a while.”

DennyS
http://www.alcoholism-information.com