By Mark S. Kenna
Oct. 2, 2013. A year after the tragic death of Appalachian State student Tyler Blalock, ASU remembers him and others who have been lost to alcohol consumption with 1,825 flags and signs all over Durham Park.
“The idea is that we wanted to remember Tyler, and simultaneously raise awareness of the dangers of high-risk drinking,” Kendal McDevitt, wellness promotion and coordinator in the student wellness center, said.
Thirty volunteers over a half hour period helped to set up the flags in Durham Park. These same flags have been used in prior years for a similar initiative that began several ago. However, this is the first year ASU has had its own tragic story to go with the initiative.
“It’s the first of many different outreach programs and initiates we will be providing in the month of October,” McDevitt said.
Each of the signs along the sidewalk that runs parallel to Rivers Street, remember a different college student who was victim to an alcohol related death. Across college campuses, 1,825 alcohol-related deaths occur annually.
Blalock was 19 years old when authorities say a fall knocked him unconscious while he was intoxicated, leading to his drowning in Kraut Creek.
