Since the death of Harold Sellers, the Iowa State community is debating whether Veishea was responsible instead of finding his killer.

I cannot remember the last time there was a homicide in the city of Ames. It has been years, to my recollection. We have already blamed the Veishea celebration for this tragedy when it may have happened anyway.

We are blaming the wrong people in this tragedy. Kel Munger thinks fraternities and sororities are to blame, since in her letter of April 22 she thinks that all greek houses should ban alcohol.

Greek houses had nothing to do with the events last Sunday morning. Sellers collapsed in the Adelante Fraternity front lawn after walking from some other location. The members of this house were inundated with bad press after the crime, with even some reporters saying that Sellers was killed there.

This is simply unfair. The Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils have taken considerable steps to address the problems that alcohol causes at Iowa State. To blame greek members for this is insulting.

There have been considerable cries for a crackdown on alcohol violations. I don’t know what more the local police can do; they wrote 500 (!) alcohol citations over the weekend.

Their job last weekend was considerably difficult. They had to cite hundreds of people while allowing those who aren’t breaking the law to have a good time. The police are not to blame, either. They should be commended for their work this weekend, since they did an incredibly tough job rather well.

Toughening the laws regarding alcohol consumption and parties is not the answer either. Ames already has tough laws to that effect. Only one keg is allowed per party, and I don’t know how much more tough that law could be. Noise ordinances are monitored to the decibel and any group over 100 or so making enough noise will be broken up quickly. Want an answer to the “alcohol tradition” that so many detest? Turn Chamberlain into a beer garden.

Gasp! Yes, let’s bring the alcohol to Taste of Veishea where it can be monitored closely, and will still allow people who can’t have their parties to drink and be merry with their friends. The idea may sound odd, but look around. Similar ideas work at festivals all over the country. RAGBRAI has beer gardens at every stop that are closely watched by State Patrol and county sheriff officers. BIX festival in Davenport does the same thing, and with few problems. Maybe we could try it here and see what develops.

This debate shouldn’t be the focus of what happened last weekend. We shouldn’t have to ask a committee what caused Harold Sellers’ death. Let the police find out who caused his death. He was killed by a person who will pay for that crime. We shouldn’t make excuses for a person who apparently couldn’t settle his differences like a man. He thought he was tough and wanted to prove it with a knife. Let’s blame him for the crime, not one of the best student-run festivals in the country.

Ames has one of the lowest violent crime rates of any college city in America. We are incredibly lucky to live in a place where a murder doesn’t become a back page afterthought. Unfortunately, Ames is part of a larger society where murder and violence have become answers to solve people’s problems.

On Sunday morning, reality came home to Ames Iowa. We are not totally isolated from the world in which we live. If we didn’t have Veishea, Harold Sellers would still be alive, but another person could be killed during Homecoming or the Iowa-Iowa State football weekend. Veishea is not to blame.

We are just running in circles. After every Veishea, Iowa State asks itself if it did enough to prevent a riot, or in this case a murder. When you put a lot of people together, alcohol or no alcohol, there will be problems. Yes, we could change Veishea completely, but there could still be problems. Reality will see to that. Then what do we do? We can’t blame ourselves for this tragedy, nor should we cast blame on the people who played no part in Sellers’ murder. Let’s put the blame where it belongs: on the man who committed that murder.

Robert Zeis is a senior in finance from Des Moines.