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Editorial: More can be done for drinking safety

Published: Sunday, February 28, 2010

Updated: Sunday, February 28, 2010

Tragedy struck the West Virginia University community Saturday night when Sean Rascoe, an industrial engineering student from Hagerstown, Md., died from a head injury in the Mountainlair parking garage.

Sadly, Rascoe died a day before his birthday.

A Facebook group named "RIP SEAN KYRIE RASCOE ... WE LOVE YOU" was created in his memory over the weekend.

According to a story in The Dominion Post, Rascoe and a group of friends were returning from downtown when Rascoe, believing his friends were leaving without him, jumped on the back bumper of the vehicle, slipped off and injured his head.

The driver of the vehicle was charged with a DUI.

The staff of The Daily Athenaeum would like to extend our condolences to the family and friends of our fellow WVU student. To see one pass away so young reminds us how fragile life really is.

The events that lead to Rascoe’s death, however, underscore the importance of responsible drinking and partyting.

Morgantown is long known for its party school image.

It is a large part of the student culture.

But when we do drink and party we must do so responsibly.

The Web site www.DrinkingandDriving.org shows there were 533 drunken driving related arrests in Monongalia County in 2005.

To combat this, University officials should help facilitate the "Mountie Ride" program currently being considered by Student Government Association while continue to provide weekend alternatives for students.

According to previous reports, "Mountie Ride" would provide free, non-judgmental rides home for intoxicated students who call the group’s hotline.

The service would use student volunteers and vans rented from a rental agency or a local bus company.

While liability issues remain (Texas A&M, for example, spends approximately $7,000 per year for insurance), it’s a small price to pay to help protect students from themselves.

In light of recent events, the DA encourages students to party responsibly.

Take care of your friends, use common sense, designate a driver and help inebriated partygoers arrange travel home.

Alcohol-related tragedies are preventable, but it will take a change in culture at this University to make that happen.
 

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15 comments

Anonymous
Fri Mar 5 2010 08:44
My name is Allen Porter and I am the president of DrinkingAndDriving.Org - Prevention, Education, Assistance. I have a very 'blinders-on' view with regard to drinking and driving. I stay out of generic alcohol problem debates. My only concern is preventing people who have been drinking from making the mistake of getting behind the wheel.

I can tell you that Monongalia County gets an average number of DUI arrests for its population and a better than average (i.e. lower) number of DUI-related fatalities. This is compared to the nation as a whole. I can also tell you that on average there are as many DUI arrests and fatalities in dry counties as wet. Really. If you sort counties by arrests or fatalities (compensated for population), you will see an equal number of dry counties with unusually high numbers, as with unusually low numbers, as with the national average. Remember, drinking is like work. When you have to drive further to drink, you've got further to drive back home.

Campus culture has been brought up and it must be addressed. The idea that it is OK to drink and then drive must be challanged and changed. That can only happen through good old fashioned Peer Pressure! This was a group of guys. None of them took the initiative to make sure the group stayed safe when they were partying. It is easy. It just takes a bit of planning. And it is so important. You really owe it to yourselves to keep each other safe when you party. I know that not everyone is teachable. But as more and more of you embrace the concepts of planning your partying to prevent yourselves from "having" to drive under the influnce, it will catch on.

One further thought I will leave you with. There does not appear to be a professional Designated Driver Service in all of WV. It sounds from this article like there is not one on campus. There needs to be. This would be a good time for students and faculty to devise and implement an in-house designated driver service.

anonemouse
Thu Mar 4 2010 10:03
Chris Henry set a bad example for WVU's black students.
Anonymous
Wed Mar 3 2010 13:22
No they don't.

Cars by themselves kill twice as many people. Lets ban those.

Anonymous
Wed Mar 3 2010 00:55
to anon:

that's a global statistic, not for just our university. around half of the males in russia die before the age of 30, wich is a pretty big number.

anon
Tue Mar 2 2010 13:08
To the person who thinks 1 in 25 people suffer an alcohol related death:

You yourself said "This is the SECOND WVU student to die this year because of an aclohol related trauma." Out of 25,000 students, this is .008%. If your figures where correct, 1000 of them will die.

Stop spitting out false numbers to push your agenda.

Anonymous
Tue Mar 2 2010 12:53
Sean's friends and family probably do not need everyone blaming him for his death. If you think that it was all his fault keep it to yourself, or at least give it a little time to sink in that he is gone. He died less than a week ago. I am not saying that you can not have your own opinion or that your opinion is wrong or right. I am just asking that we give it a little time before everyone points their fingers.
Anonymous
Tue Mar 2 2010 10:27
Here is the citation for the 1 out of every 25 deaths related to alcohol figure.

I highly reccomend also reading the original study by the Canadians.

I cannot post a link, but put in to goole search '1 out of every 25 death globally is alcohol related', and there are several websites linked to a study by Toronto.

Anonymous
Tue Mar 2 2010 04:25
"It's sad that 1 out of every 25 people in the world will have an alcohol related death"

You're an idiot and pulled that figure out of your ***.

Anonymous
Tue Mar 2 2010 01:45
It's sad that 1 out of every 25 people in the world will have an alcohol related death, weather it be themselves drinking or somone else being a moron.

While I do feel sorry for Roscoe's family, I must say that it is his fault. We can point fingers at the university for 'encouraging the drinking culture' [if you honestly believe they don't, I highly reccomend you observe how much of a proactive stance anyone in the administration takes against alcohol aside from citing the current regulations which work oh so well]. You can blame the bar for serving him underage, or as they will most likely say, 'he came form a houseparty', so blame that too.

At the end of the day, it was Roscoe's own stupidity that got him killed. Maybe he should be nominated for a Darwin Award.

I know I sound cold and heartless. To reiterate, it is a horrible tragedy.

This is the SECOND WVU student to die this year because of an aclohol related trauma. If we didn't learn the mistake earlier this year, or even farther back into the past, i'm pessimistic about anyone taking his death as a 'lesson' either. I'll bet a bunch of his friends went and had shots in his name! Lesson well learned, WVU. Well learned indeed.

Anonymous
Mon Mar 1 2010 21:28
or incorporate more discussions about drugs/alcohol and their consequences, not just the consequences, in university 101 since we all know not many really wait until their 21 to start drinking.

And witness, get your facts straight, he was on the back of the suv, not the top. And it wasn't a lack of common sense, but the incorporation of alcohol into the incident. We all think we're invincible until we aren't anymore. We miss you, Sean. You were a great friend and will never be forgotten.

Drink Prof
Mon Mar 1 2010 19:06
I would say the article is positioned as a way to learn from our mistakes than as a screed against the university or its student body. Perhaps if students did have more transportation alternatives available to them, alcohol related accidents could be avoided.

I find the city and university's response to the party culture borderline dangerous. I've never seen a city, a University, and bars which make so much off of a engorged student population, yet which do nothing substantive to help student safety. WVU Up-All-Night is merely an obligatory gesture. Increase penalties for alcohol related offenses committed on school grounds, initiate a program such as "Mountie Ride," expand the hours at the Rec Center and expand the oppurtunities offered to the university's students on a weekend. Lower the acceptance rate. When students near drinking age require a mandatory 1-credit class (tuition-free), where professors or instructors with a demonstrated ability to connect to students can hold discussions and talks about alcohol and their consequences.Hell, I'll teach that for free. Admittedly, these suggestions sound naive, but its because similar initiatives are often conducted in isolation rather than as a proactive assault to change a student culture.

There is no single solution. A concerted effort on behalf of the University, city, police officers, and student body could change the party culture for the better.

Anonymous
Mon Mar 1 2010 18:29
Hahahahahaha are you serious? Prohibition worked so well for us before. Get a clue.
Hmmm...
Mon Mar 1 2010 15:45
Maybe Mon. County would be better off to become a dry county for a while. I do not drink so it wouldn't affect me, but maybe this is what Mon. County needs to do. Dry the river of alcohol and calm this place down a bit. Who knows? Just a thought.
Bad Taste
Mon Mar 1 2010 09:17
Way to go DA using a death as a segway into the reoccurring topic of WVU's party image. You guys could have made a separate article of it. Real classes
Witness
Mon Mar 1 2010 09:15
I heard the screams as soon as this happened and saw the bloody sight that it was and all his friends crying. One of the WVU cadets told me he was on top of the car and he basically was hit by one of the water pipes on the ceiling of the garage when the car was moving and fell off. The lack of common sense was there, take care of each other everyone, we all need each other when there is alcohol involved.






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