"Health & Medical News"

Three Clemson University fraternity brothers were charged with furnishing the alcohol that contributed to the overdose death of an 18-year-old freshman student, the Associated Press reported Jan. 31.

The misdemeanor charges were filed against the members of Sigma Nu even though victim Benjamin Garrison Sprague was not forced to drink and prosecutors determined that their actions did not directly lead to his death.

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A group looking to expand a group recovery home in Framingham, Mass., has filed a federal lawsuit claiming that town officials and some local residents conspired to derail the plan, the Boston Globe reported Oct. 25.

The South Middlesex Opportunity Council claims that Framingham officials illegally manipulated local zoning laws while a group of residents waged a smear campaign to prevent the program’s expansion. The Council charged that together the officials and residents engaged in a “coordinated effort” to rid the town of its disabled population, calling program residents “human waste” and the “dregs of society.”

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An Easthampton, Mass., man has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after allegedly buying alcohol for his daughter and her friends, one of whom died after drinking, the Boston Globe reported Sept. 14.

Timothy E. Parent, 46, pled not guilty to the manslaughter charge and two counts of procuring alcohol for a minor. Police say Parent bought a 1.75-liter bottle of vodka for his 15-year-old daughter, who drank it with friend Alexis E. Garcia, also 15. Garcia was later found dead in her bathtub; authorities ruled that she died from drowning and alcohol poisoning, with a blood-alcohol content of between .28 percent and .33 percent.

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