Western Front - 2008 February 26

              AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY siNfC£ 1970:
THE WESTERN FRONT
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quarter registration
Issue 12 | Vol.144 Tuesday, February 26,2008 westernfrontonline.net
Student found disoriented in residence hall bathroom
Mary Truman
Brett Williams
THE WESTERN FRONT
University Police (UP)
responded to a medical emer­gency
involving an unconscious
18-year-old female Western
student Feb. 22 in Nash HalL She
had allegedly been forced to take
pills at gunpoint in the 4th floor
women's restrbom.
University Police Chief
Randy Steigmeier said officers
found the victim unconscious
and breathing shallowly near a
puddle of vomit in a bathroom
stall. Officers reported smelling
intoxicants coming from the
victim, he said.
Medics were forced to place
the yictim in arm and leg restraints
after she regained consciousness
and became combative with
authorities, Steigmeier said.
She was . then transported,
to St. Joseph Hospital by
Bellingham Fire Department
paramedics where she was
sedated, Steigmeier said.
According to the police
report, UP officer Chris Davis
called the emergency room to
check on the victim's status
and was told she would be in
no condition to speak about the
incident that night.
The- victim told University
Police officers in a follow-up
interview the next afternoon that
a masked male held a gun to her
head and threatened to kill her
if she did not take two pills that
he dropped into a Dixie cup,
according to the report. After
taking the pills, she said her vision
quickly became blurry, she fell to
the floor and began vomiting.
The suspect fled the scene
when the victim closed the stall
door, according to the report.
The Nash Resident Advisor
(RA) on duty told officers she
found two females pulling the
victim out from under the stall door
after hearing there was an incident
in the women's restroom.
The women told the RA the
victim had food poisoning and
they were trying to help her,
Steigmeier said._The.RA. told_
officers the two girls fled the
scene after she told them she was
going to call the police because
of the strong smell of intoxicants
coming from the three females,
he said.
"It should be noted that there
are . no independent witnesses
that observed the crime against
photo by Graig Hill THE WESTERN FRONT.
Emergency crews prepare to transport an 18-year-old female Western student to St. Joseph Hospital Feb.
22 from Nash Hall. She was released Feb. 23.
[.the_victim],'l Davis wrote in the
police report. "It should also be
noted that nobody came forward
describing this suspect as running
away or leaving the women's
bathroom at any time during my
investigation."
The victim told officers she
had three shots of alcohol before
going to Nash Hall, Steigmeier
said.-The results from a test for
the victim's blood alcohol level
should be available to police Feb.
26, he said.
Director of University
Residences . Willy Hart said
residence halls are locked 24
hours a day and the only way a
person without a key can get in
is if they follow closely behind a
resident or if someone voluntarily
lets them in. ,
UP is still investigating the
incident.
"We're looking at all aspects
of this," Steigmeier said. "We're
trying to follow every lead we
have to determine if there was a
gunman there. And if there was,
we want to find him."
Friends, family, faculty,
staff remember Chris Feden
Gabrielle Nomura
THE WESTERN FRONT
Western sophomore Cameron
Watson said he knew Western
junior Chris Feden since they
played little league together as
children.
When Watson and Feden
were attending Tenirio High
School in Olympia, they started
an annual tradition, Watson said.
Each year on Feden's birthday,
Feden and his friends would go to
Scott Lake Golf Course and have
fun competing with one another
in a golf tournament, Watson said.
Because Feden and his friends
started this tradition to celebrate
his birthday, they called it the
Feden Open, Watson said.
Watson said he and his
friends plan to carry on this
celebration of Feden's life despite
the fact that Feden, a 20-year-old
manufacturing and engineering
technology major, died Feb.
20, due to a rare staph infection
called • methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
pneumonia.
Western sophomore John
Lewis, Feden's friend and
roommate in Birnam Wood, said
he accompanied Feden to the
Student Health Center Feb. 14.
Feden had been ill for a week with
a cough, and the night before his
visit to the health center, he had
started to feel even worse, Lewis
said.
Feden was vomiting and
coughing up blood and nurses saw
from his vital signs he needed to
be taken to the emergency room,
Lewis said. Lewis said Feden was
taken to St. Joseph Hospital by an
ambulance with Lewis following
behind in his car.
Lewis said he stayed by his
friend's bedside 17 hours each
day, only going home to shower,
until Feden's death.
No one realized how serious
the situation was at first, Lewis
said. Because Feden didn't
realize how serious his condition
was, he was able to remain calm,
Lewis said. When Feden lost,
consciousness and was put on life
support, his friends and family
photo courtesy of Melody Feden
Chris Feden in London during a
family vacation, August 2007..
realized they were losing him,
Lewis said.
Melody Faden, Chris Feden's
sister said she was with her brother
when he passed away at 5:30 p.m.
Chris Feden's parents, Jackie
and Dave Feden, his other sister,
see FEDEN page 3 •
Evergreen riot conjures
memories of Western's
Mary Truman
THE WESTERN FRONT
In 1978, a kegger party at
Ridgeway Gamma got out of
control when University Police
(UP) showed up to shut the party
down. Someone attacked a. police
officer and other people followed
suit. The UP called for backup.
City, county and state police
responded, but UP and Bellingham
Police had the situation under
control before county and state
officers arrived. It was the last riot
seen on Western's campus in 39
years, said Assistant University
Police Chief David Doughty.
By the time UP had the riot
of 1978 under control there were
more than 300 people present,
Doughty said. During the
confusion, a police car window
was kicked out and a police dog
was accidentally let loose. Four
people went to jail that night.
An incident occurred in
the early morning hours of Feb.
15 at Evergreen State College
where a riot broke out following
a Dead Prez concert, said Jim
Chamberlain, the chief criminal
deputy at the Thurston County
Sheriff's Office.
By legal definition, a riot
consists of three or more persons
using force against any other
person or property. Doughty said a
riot usually starts with one or two
people, but grows larger and more
violent as the disruption continues.
Rioters usually share a common
animosity towards someone or
something, he said.
Chamberlain said the
Evergreen riot started when a
campus police officer arrested a
student after the concertfor fighting
during the concert. Students who
believed she had arrested the wrong
person surrounded her patrol car,
preventing her from leaving with
the student, Chamberlain said.
"She was physically not able
to leave the area without driving
see RIOT page 3 •