10 Shots of Tequila and 17 Below Zero Temperatures Make for a Horrendous Combination for College Coed

[Cincinnatus]

A small taste of a good single malt  Scotch very occasionally for me but I haven't even had one of those in probably a year.

I, too, was a Scotch drinker, but was never fond of single malts. My running buddy of the day loved single malts but could never convince me of their merit.

To this day - 30 years later I still have boxes of scotch up in the cupboard.

Hey, Rapunzel, maybe you can donate your remaining stash to the Salvation Army.

[aligncare]

I don't want to turn this into a legalization argument. But, there are facts about alcohol that people gloss over. Like, how excessive alcohol intake depresses the brainstem and death occurs when the person simply stops breathing, or that death can occur from cardiac dysrhythmia. Or that a person will asphyxiate on their own vomit. Or that people die when they pass out and strike their head or when they fall to their death out of balconies and windows.

The CDC estimates that nearly 80,000 deaths are attributable to excessive alcohol use each year in the United States.

This is society's acceptable intoxicant, the intoxicant with its own constitutional amendment... Lord, what if marijuana had this kind of death record – do you think then it too would be acceptable to law makers and to society? Words like incongruity and absurdity come to mind when trying to reason through this issue.

[Bigun]

I don't want to turn this into a legalization argument. But, there are facts about alcohol that people gloss over. Like, how excessive alcohol intake depresses the brainstem and death occurs when the person simply stops breathing, or that death can occur from cardiac dysrhythmia. Or that a person will asphyxiate on their own vomit. Or that people die when they pass out and strike their head or when they fall to their death out of balconies and windows.

The CDC estimates that nearly 80,000 deaths are attributable to excessive alcohol use each year in the United States.

This is society's acceptable intoxicant, the intoxicant with its own constitutional amendment... Lord, what if marijuana had this kind of death record – do you think then it too would be acceptable to law makers and to society? Words like incongruity and absurdity come to mind when trying to reason through this issue.

It may come as a surprise to you that I completely agree with you on this matter!

[aligncare]

No, it doesn't surprise me at all. Many right thinking conservatives understand that logic and reason must prevail in law or respect for law will be lost.

[Rapunzel]

No, it doesn't surprise me at all. Many right thinking conservatives understand that logic and reason must prevail in law or respect for law will be lost.

I've said before - I have no issues with legalizing pot. It's meth, cocaine, heroine that concerns me.

[Bigun]

No, it doesn't surprise me at all. Many right thinking conservatives understand that logic and reason must prevail in law or respect for law will be lost.

That and restoring the seemingly lost concept of PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!

[Bigun]

I've said before - I have no issues with legalizing pot. It's meth, cocaine, heroine that concerns me.

I understand but please know we will never win if we continue to fight the battle the way we are currently doing it!

[Rapunzel]

I understand but please know we will never win if we continue to fight the battle the way we are currently doing it!

I know.  We are an addiction society.  Food, drugs, alcohol, caffeine, prescription drugs.......

[aligncare]

William F Buckley believed marijuana should be legal.

Laws must make sense, relate to reality, be consistent. Otherwise, people will lose respect for law. How can a dangerous intoxicant like alcohol be celebrated and advertised freely during the Super Bowl, while marijuana is illegal – a substance that has no record of causing the death of any individual – no known deaths, yet it remains illegal.

[Bigun]

William F Buckley believed marijuana should be legal.

Laws must make sense, relate to reality, be consistent. Otherwise, people will lose respect for law. How can a dangerous intoxicant like alcohol be celebrated and advertised freely during the Super Bowl, while marijuana is illegal – a substance that has no record of causing the death of any individual – no known deaths, yet it remains illegal.

In the year 1900 you could walk into any apothecary shop in this country and buy all the heroin, cocaine, or anything else you had the cash to purchase and yet we had no wide spread drug problems. Why do you suppose that was? 

[aligncare]

Legal or illegal, only a small percentage of the population has an interest in using drugs. I believe prohibition causes more problems than it solves

[Fishrrman]

I've never been drunk. Never drank at all, only a sip here and there and I quickly discovered that I didn't enjoy the taste of alcohol.

Never got high, either, nor messed with other drugs.

I'm perhaps the only person you could know who:
- Went to the 1969 Woodstock festival and didn't get high, and
- Went to the Hofbrau House in Munchen (in the Army, no less) and drank cola with my pizza.

[Bigun]

Legal or illegal, only a small percentage of the population has an interest in using drugs. I believe prohibition causes more problems than it solves

No doubt about it and there would be FAR less problems if people were held accountable for what they do instead of trying to tell them they can't do this or that!

[Bigun]

I've never been drunk. Never drank at all, only a sip here and there and I quickly discovered that I didn't enjoy the taste of alcohol.

Never got high, either, nor messed with other drugs.

I'm perhaps the only person you could know who:
- Went to the 1969 Woodstock festival and didn't get high, and
- Went to the Hofbrau House in Munchen (in the Army, no less) and drank cola with my pizza.

Never messed with drugs, even in Vietnam, but the rest of that I only wish I could say.

[aligncare]

Bigun, the day I landed in Vietnam my first sergeant showed me around, tossed me a pack of Gold Leaf pre-rolled from his locker. Thus, my introduction.

At that point, age 18, I had never even had a drink. After that, I never took a drink while I was in-country.

[EC]

Bigun, the day I landed in Vietnam my first sergeant showed me around, tossed me a pack of Gold Leaf pre-rolled from his locker. Thus, my introduction.

At that point, age 18, I had never even had a drink. After that, I never took a drink while I was in-country.

Drinking - heavy. But yeah, that's a thing. Stupid as hell, but a thing.

I do still have a plaque that was in the cargo bay though. It reads:

"This is a smoking flight, so deal.
Sit down, strap in, try not to puke."

[Bigun]

Bigun, the day I landed in Vietnam my first sergeant showed me around, tossed me a pack of Gold Leaf pre-rolled from his locker. Thus, my introduction.

At that point, age 18, I had never even had a drink. After that, I never took a drink while I was in-country.

I was there early on (66-67) and my job took me all over the country so perhaps the drug culture had yet to develop but I never saw anyone using drugs in country except for one or two times in Saigon where there were a couple of guys sharing a reefer.

[Bigun]

Drinking - heavy. But yeah, that's a thing. Stupid as hell, but a thing.

I do still have a plaque that was in the cargo bay though. It reads:

"This is a smoking flight, so deal.
Sit down, strap in, try not to puke."

And the "try not to puke" part was the most difficult!

[EC]

And the "try not to puke" part was the most difficult!

You sure I never flew you? 

[Bigun]

You sure I never flew you? 

Not at all sure! I've been on everything that would move at one time or another but, come to think of it, I don't remember seeing you Brits there at the time.

Different wars at different times!

[EC]

Not at all sure! I've been on everything that would move at one time or another but, come to think of it, I don't remember seeing you Brits there at the time.

Trust me - If I flew you into combat (or was on extraction duty) you'd remember it! 

[Bigun]

Trust me - If I flew you into combat (or was on extraction duty) you'd remember it! 

LOL! I'll bet!  Believe me when I tell you that we have plenty of pilots who know how to do that as well! 

[EC]

LOL! I'll bet!  Believe me when I tell you that we have plenty of pilots who know how to do that as well!

Who'd you think taught me how to fly! 

A total lunatic piloting an Apache gunship. 

[mountaineer]

 Severely frostbitten college student, 19, has all her fingers amputated after being left on porch for nine hours in subzero temperatures

•Alyssa Jo Lommel, sophomore at University of Minnesota, suffered severe hypothermia and tissue damage to her hands and feet in December
•Her hands were three times their size with skin split from palm to finger
•Student spent night playing drinking game with friends during which she lost several rounds and downed at least 10 tequila shots
•The 19-year-old had all her toes amputated on one foot and lost the tips of her toes on the other earlier this month
•Doctors were able to partially save her heels so she could walk again with the help of foot inserts 

By Snejana Farberov
PUBLISHED: 10:50 EST, 22 January 2014  | UPDATED: 15:13 EST, 22 January 2014


A 19-year-old Minnesota college student who was found nearly frozen to death outside her home after a night of drinking in December had all her fingers amputated this week.

Alyssa Jo Lommel, a sophomore at University of Minnesota-Duluth, was left severely frostbitten and suffering from hypothermia after lying on a porch in subzero temperatures for nine hours.

On Tuesday, the woman's mother, Teri Lommel, posted an update on her daughter's CaringBridge page, revealing that her daughter's doctors at Regions Hospital in St Paul have been forced to amputate all of her digits below the knuckle.

Mrs Lommel explained that the physicians found more tissue damage due to frostbite than they had initially expected, which prompted the amputations of the teen’s fingers and both thumbs, KAAL-TV reported.

'On the plus side her heels looked better than expected and she would be able to put pressure on both once they healed,' Teri Lommel wrote. 

It is expected that Miss Lommel will be able to walk normally with the help of special shoe inserts once the tissue on her heels had healed.

Earlier this month, surgeons had to cut off skins and tissue from one of the student’s frostbitten heels and used artificial skin to cover it up.

Lommel was dropped off by her friends outside her home in Duluth, Minnesota, after a night of drinking, but she somehow ended up on the porch of her neighbors' house

In her latest update, Teri Lommel revealed that her bed-ridden daughter has not been told yet about her hands, saying that Wednesday would be a tough day for the family when the girl learns the truth about her condition.

This latest round of amputations comes two weeks after Alyssa Jo Lommel had lost the tips of her toes on one foot and all of her toes on the other foot, according to Fox21.  According to Lommel's CaringBridge page, she is expected to be released from the hospital by mid-February, the station KTSP reported. But the teen still has more surgeries ahead of her, which could come as early as next Wednesday.

Miss Lommel will be examined by podiatry experts, and her doctors will meet with prosthetic experts to discuss the condition of her hands.

Alyssa Jo Lommel was found unconscious by passersby December 7 after spending the night outside on the porch of a Duluth home in subzero temperatures.

Police say Lommel had been dropped off at her home in Duluth at about midnight after reportedly spending a night with friends doing tequila shots.

Temperatures in Duluth had dipped to -16 to -18, with a -36 wind chill Friday night into Saturday.

Her parents, Teri and Jay Lommel, have set up the CaringBridge.org page to offer updates on Alyssa Jo's condition.

Last month, the 19-year-old underwent surgery to restore blood flow to one of her arms, and she may require skin grafts to repair the damage to her extremities.

The Lommels posted a note on the site thanking the couple who spotted their daughter lying on the porch.

‘We owe Alyssa’s life to you two. Our family cannot be grateful enough that you happened to see her,’ the missive read. ‘She could not have survived much longer out in the elements. You two will forever be in our hearts and prayers and we cannot thank you enough for what you did.’

On December 6, Miss Lommel, a psychology and sociology major, posted a message on her Twitter account that said, 'tequila shots tonight.' It has since been removed.

According to Minneapolis Star Tribune citing a police report, the 19-year-old got home from work at around 5.30pm and had a bagel for dinner. At around 10.30pm, she and a roommate went to a friend's house, where they played a drinking game with cards called 'ride the bus.' The report states that the underage girl lost several rounds and had to take shots.

Police reported finding a Twitter message on Lommel's account stating: 'Yum Yum 10th shot of tequila,' Grand Forks Herald reported.

Her roommate told police that Lommel had been taking medication for an unspecified illness every day.   

At around 11pm, the sophemore was picked up by her friends, who drove her home and dropped her off outside her front door at 810 Woodland Avenue, but left without waiting for her to go inside.  Alyssa Jo's companions later told investigators that the 19-year-old was tipsy but not intoxicated to the point of falling down. She was said to have her keys and cell phone in her possession. 

Two of Lommel's roommates returned home a few hours later without noticing that the girl was not there. Neither reported hearing knocks on the door.

Then at around 9.30am the following morning, Ellen Johnson and her boyfriend, Sam Salo, were driving down the street when she spotted a woman lying on a porch and called police, Duluth News Tribune reported. Officers who responded to the scene at 808 Woodland Avenue discovered Alyssa Jo lying unconsious on her right side.

She was wearing a coat and UGG boots, but no gloves, and her hands were three times their normal size, with skin split from palm to finger.

Officers followed Lommel's tracks in the snow around the house, showing that the college student made her way to the unheated garage, where she likely sought refuge from the cold for a while, fell down and then crawled back to the porch.

The house stood empty that night since its occupants, members of UMD women's basketball team, were out on the road.   

The UMD released a statement urging students to be careful in extremely cold weather, dress in layers, travel in groups and let people know when planning to go out.

Daily Mail
 I'm guessing it wasn't worth it.

[Rapunzel]

My friends in California have a daughter and SIL who are quite well off...... for two years before she left for College (in Texas) all their granddaughter talked about was how anxious she was to go away from home and was looking forward to partying..... I cautioned her once when we were all at Easter brunch in Palm Springs that she wasn't ready for this - she was very overly-protected by mom - and she said she knew all about how to drink responsibly because she watched the housewives programs on TV.......    Make a long story short - she came home for Thanksgiving and they found out from the family she had been hospitalized already (first semester of college) for alcohol poisoning after a big party she attended.. oh and she was flunking economics so dropped the class......   Her first year of college is going about how I expected it would. We see these kids here every year for Spring Break........