All the Cool Kids Are Doing It...

BREAKING NEWS : MARCH 2, 2009

-- For a video clip of the story, click here --

A college student from Queens who died near an upstate university was on an 11-hour alcohol binge during an initiation ritual for a "drinking club," police said.

Arman Partamian, 19, of Flushing, was found unresponsive about 11 a.m. Sunday inside a nonsanctioned frat house known as The Pigs near the SUNY Geneseo campus.

Partamian, a sophomore who majored in biology, was in the second week of an eight-week pledging process for the club.

He started drinking about 1 p.m. and kept going until being carried to a room around midnight, said State Police spokesman Mark O'Donnell.

"To become a member, you have to drink a lot of alcohol," O'Donnell said.

Some 20 to 30 others were at the bacchanalia Saturday in a garage-turned-bar at the house.

"This is an organization we would characterize as a renegade organization," said Robert Bonfiglio, vice president for student and campus life at the college, located south of Rochester in the Finger Lakes region.

The fraternity was banned more than a decade ago after two students were hospitalized with alcohol poisoning.

Cops are looking to charge those who provided booze to the party and are also considering charges for hazing, O'Donnell said.

Partamian graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 2007. He was a volunteer at the Geneseo Fire Department.

Drinking and Driving...What do you think

In 2002, 29 percent of drivers aged 15 to 20 who died in traffic accidents had been drinking alcohol.
Source: Traffic Safety Facts 2002: Young Drivers, National Highway Traffic Administration. U.S. Department of Transportation, 2003

In today's society, drinking and driving is a huge problem. Too many young people are driving drunk, and the consequences are severe. Many people don't realize when they have had too much to drink, and later regret driving. Also, people do not realize that driving buzzed is driving drunk.

What are your opinions on drinking and driving. Have you ever been affected by a drunk driver? Please share your stories and opinions on drinking and driving.

Please let us know what you think by clicking on the "Comments" link below.

Is drinking simply a habit?

Many activities that we do are habits.
Eating healthy or not, exercising, hand-washing, keeping your apartment clean or not.
Once you make something a habit it is 2^nd nature.

Maybe drinking is the same way.

Either going out and getting plastered every weekend is a habit or not. How have your habits changed over the past four years? Why?

I know for myself I have noticed that if I eat healthy, I tend to want to keep eating healthy foods and cravings for junk go away. Not sure if this will make sense to anyone else but that was my “insight” of the day. Feel free if you want clarification.

Peace. Hope you have a great weekend.

- Wendy

Please tell us what you think by clicking on the "Comments" link below.

Your ideal experience when drinking...

Everyone goes into a party, event, or gathering with exceptions and hopes of what will happen and how the experience will turn out. So when you know you are going to be drinking, what are your exceptions?

Do you just want to joke, laugh, and hang out with friends?
Or are you hoping to get "hammered" and not remember the next morning what you did the next?
Maybe you have a special someone you just want to loosen up around and get to know?

So... we want to know... what do you hope to get out of your different drinking experiences?

Please let us know what you think by clicking on the "Comments" link below.

Dude, let's draw on his face!

Everyone knows you should never, under any circumstances, pass out with your shoes on. If you do, your buddies will probably pull a prank - although not necessarily to the same degree as in this video. But when do pranks go too far? The guys in the video joke about his arm being in the water and him not even waking up...maybe he should've gone to the hospital, rather than out into a pond on a raft.

Please tell us what you think by clicking on the "Comments" link below.

Never have I ever...

Parties get pretty boring, right? Just sitting around, talking to people you may or may not know very well. I know! It's time for a drinking game!

Personally, my favorite is quarters. It's a fun game, and it gets you drunk pretty fast. Bar golf is pretty fun too. And who doesn't love beer pong? Do you play drinking games? If so, what's your favorite and why?


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What does college mean to you?

Students at large public universities, especially in the South, have a reputation for excessive drinking. The University of Georgia is no exception.

I drank in high school, and I see no problem with drinking once you get to college. At 18, you're an adult. (If you're a guy, you can be drafted into the military. That's more likely to kill you than drinking every so often.) College is for social growth as well as academic - no matter what President Adams tries to say with his "Academic Rigor" baloney.

Please tell us what you think by clicking on the "Comments" link below.