Tragedy and triumph: News in review

This school year has been marked with tragedy, but also a number of riveting events. We have tried our best to fairly cover occurences on campus, in the local community and in regions surrounding Brockport. The following excerpts are highlights of 2008-09 coverage:

Here comes country

By Carly Hansford, Sept. 3:

"Different from any other year at Brockport, the acts for this concert were kept a secret until Friday, Aug. 29. Brockport Student Government President Kyle Amendoa stepped on the microphone, and silence ran through the crowd as more than 100 people stood patiently waiting to hear the news."



Student in critical condition from fall

By Amanda Seef, Sept. 10:

"Brockport police are investigating an accident that resulted in serious injuries to an 18-year-old freshman, which occurred Friday, Sept. 5, at 2:12 a.m. Bryan C. Parslow fell from a second-story window at 172 Main St., commonly known as The Roxbury. Parslow sustained serious neck and back injuries and possible paralysis."



Protest shakes campus

By Nora Hicks, Sept. 17:

"Jim Deferio and his daughter, Michelle, made quite an impact on their audiennce when they preached their Christian beliefs outside the Seymour College Union Thursday, Sept. 11.

Student's reactions included visible and verbal signs toward the Deferios. This included heads bent in prayer, the middle finger and intense dialogue, all anwered by a loud, stern voice and a raised Bible."



In the line of duty: Officer alum shot

By Amanda Seef, Feb. 4:

"A recent shooting involving a Rochester Police Officer hit close to home for the Brockport campus this week. Anthony DiPonzio, 23, of Greece was a 2006 graduate of The College at Brockport.

"He was seriously injured when he and two other officers responded to a report of drug activity at 21 Dayton St., a location near crim-ridden Avenue D and Joseph Ave. DiPonzio went underwent two and a half hours of surgery and remains in guarded condition."



Picking up the pieces

By Nora Hicks, Feb. 18:

"What remains of their house is mere rubble, and the only sign of tragedy is the tail end of the plane, which now sits in the basement of where the home used to be. It is hard to imagine how both mother and daughter could make it out alive, with only scratches."



Student to soldier

By Amanda Seef, Feb. 18:

"The echoing sound rings through the room; Amy Visco reaches for her gun, ready to handle the impending problem. When she can't find the gun neatly attached to her side, she reassesses the situation. The room: a birthday party. Her whereabouts: student at The College at Brockport, Iraqi War veteran.



"I am so sorry... I wish this never happened"

By Amanda Seef, March 3:

"Statements to police show that Partamian had been on a four-day drinking binge, where he vomited and passed out days earlier in the same house where he was found dead. Police determined Partamian's blood-alcohol content to be between .39 and .55, with different results from different parts of the body. The highest BAC was found using the fluids in the eye. A BAC of .4 is considered lethal."



Flight 3407: A Remembrance

By Sarah Fannis, Feb. 25:

"As the vigil services ended and the crowd was dismissed, no one moved, everyone seemingly lost in their own thoughts, absorbed in their own somber atmosphere. Some were visibly emotional, other consoling those around them, still others seemingly contemplative."

Mission to Afghanistan

By Nora Hicks, March 11:

"They left a country of stability and serenity for a place still smoking with the remnants of a civil war, against severe mistrust and doubt.

These are the soldiers from Brockport's Military Science Department. Major Nicholas Teta and Captain Fletcher, who were recently redeployed from Afghanistan last January."



Daniel Dix

By Amanda Seef, April 29:

" He was the type of man who would hold two hour-long conversations in Jamaican accents, and build forts in the dorms on rainy nights, He was the type of man to make a secret password (Gary Coleman) for the forts, that would stay up for three or four days. He was the type of man who had meaning in each thing he said, but would cheer up the atmosphere with a snide, sarcastic comment to make everyone in his presence laugh.But most importantly, he was the type of man who family and friends will not forgot.