Today in history: Brown students hold 'funeral' for frats

Published May 14, 2010 at 11:05 a.m.

On the local front:

A year ago today:
Superior Court Judge Daniel Procaccini throws out felony assault charges that were lodged against Providence Detective Jason Simoneau by his own police department...After hearing six days of testimony from 13 prosecution witnesses, Procaccini stopped the trial and said he did not find the key witnesses credible. Two of Simoneau's four accusers were intoxicated in the confrontation on a downtown street on Christmas Eve 2006 that led to the charges, and the accounts of all four were riddled with inconsistencies, the judge declared. "I will be forever grateful to the judge [for having seen] what was obvious two years earlier if the department had just wanted to see it," said retired Providence Police Maj. Dennis Simoneau, the defendant's father. Jason Simoneau, 34, of Glocester, declined comment.

5 years ago today:
A small fire in a lavatory causes more than $20,000 in smoke damage at Barrington High School, Barrington Fire Lt. Dick Schauble says. The post-prom party was held two days ago. Schauble said he wasn't sure whether the fire started during the party and smoldered for several hours until the alarm came in at 2:17 p.m. Asked what the fire's source was, Schauble said, "It appeared to be a trash container, but there wasn't much left of it." Firefighters knocked down the flames within 10 minutes but were at the school for more than two hours airing it out, Schauble said.

25 years ago today:
More than 200 Brown University students hold a "funeral" for two ousted campus fraternities, interring two mock coffins at the edge of a quadrangle near the frats' quarters in a university-approved demonstration that officials said they hoped would bury the issue. The event was a farewell to the Theta Delta Chi and Phi Delta Theta fraternities. Theta Delta Chi last week was told the university would no longer recognize its charter; Phi Delta Theta was denied housing privileges at least for next year. Theta Delta Chi had been under disciplinary restriction since March when it had printed party invitations suggesting only heterosexuals were welcome. An incident last week involving loudspeaker music was the last straw. Brown had been looking at Phi Delta Theta because of damage to the dorm and poor maintenance, although officials said that behavior had improved during the current semester.

On the international front:

On this day in 1801, the pasha of Tripoli declares war on the United States for its refusal to pay for safe passage of its ships in the Mediterranean. The Tripolitan pirates are defeated four years later.

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