I’m the President of Theta Xi. After reading the articles in Thursday’s paper, I would like to add one little quip as an apology, a full explanation and a conclusion to this story. After reading this, it is my wish that everybody get on with their lives and concentrate on class work now that good has been done. It all started last Friday when DPS brought to my attention that there may be stolen property in our house. Sure enough, it was confirmed. The statues have been around a long time and don’t exactly stick out, so they were never on my list of things to spend much time thinking about. I told DPS I would do anything in my power to help them out, and they asked if I could find anything about the original whereabouts of the lions. Since no current members in the fraternity stole them, I had to make some calls to past members. General locations were identified, and I e-mailed them to Pete Englin, Interim Dean of Students, late Monday night. By the time I was done with class on Tuesday, DPS had figured out the rightful owners of the lions. As soon as DPS called, I said I would bring the statues to its office. I was informed the owners were happy to have them back and did not plan to press charges. I turned them in to DPS Tuesday evening. It was awkward returning stolen property under my own name, but I felt I was doing the right thing for myself and the current membership of my house. On Thursday, we made the headline of the paper. If I had seen a headline “Bill Ogier, Senior in Computer Engineering Returns Two Statues to DPS,” I would have been fine with that. The headline that appeared took my actions and put them in the hands of my fraternity. Because of this, there was an effect on more than one person, disrupting the daily routine and study schedule of many individuals. I have apologized many times to many people. I do not take my role of leadership lightly and apologize that no action was taken sooner. However, returning them now is a more respectable than throwing them in Lake Laverne 10 years down the road. This situation is done with and resolved. The situation from last week will be done and resolved as soon as the charged individuals appear before a court of law. To continue turning my house into a big greek story is pointless and will only fuel a senseless fire between greeks and non-greeks. If this is the motivation of the Daily for whatever purpose, then continue. But I urge otherwise. I would love to read about some news that is a bit more important, like the election or why the hot chocolate dispensers at the Hub never fills my cup right to the top. I could talk about how I’ve spent as much time in the residence halls as this fraternity, how you could never point me out from a group of people in the residence halls, how little money I have, or how I don’t own a single piece of clothing from Abercrombie and Fitch, but people who dislike me because I wear greek letters will never understand me so it is a fruitless battle. I would like to make one final apology to the owners of the lions, to the current and past members of my house, to members of all greek chapters who are going to catch hell because of this incident, to everybody at the Daily and to all members of the student body. I am truly sorry for the past actions of some members of my fraternity. As far as the present action goes, I feel I did what was right, and if anybody has a problem with that, please blame me and not my fraternity. Bill Ogier

Senior

Computer engineering

President

Theta Xi