Struck by lightning Wednesday, September 1, 2021
Kelly Kerr
Stillwater roommates displaced after a house fire After lightning struck their house, Chas Wright and Kevin Kaiser had many belongings destroyed in a fire.
Mak Vandruff Staff Reporter Oklahoma tends to be one of the more chaotic states when it comes to weather, but it is not often anyone gets struck by lightning. Unfortunately, tragedy hit a house of six Oklahoma state students who are a part of the Sigma Chi fraternity. On Saturday, Aug. 21, a storm swept through Stillwater, Oklahoma. No one was present when the lightning struck the house other than a dog. A neighbor came to the rescue
and saved the pup before the fire could get out of control. Firefighters were quick to rush to the scene, but not much could be saved. The boys whose rooms had the most damage were Chas Wright and Kevin Kaiser. They lost several thousands of dollars worth of furniture and other property, including: a laptop, a TV, mattresses, some clothes, textbooks, and several pairs of shoes. Their landlord said they might be looking at several weeks of construction. “When we pulled up, we thought the whole thing was going to be on fire,” said Wright., “But luckily it was just a small fire.” Wright and Kaiser had rooms on the top floor of the house, while everyone else was down below. Even though their rooms were the only ones
who were covered in ash and debris, the other four picked up some damage from the firefighters’ water. “We were only here for a week and it was really fun, so obviously we’re super upset, but it definitely could’ve been worse,” Kaiser said. Wright’s mom, Brandi Wright, was very worried for her son and his roommates from her home in Austin, Texas. Brandi said she was thankful OSU is such a warm and helpful community. “I got a picture of them one hour prior of a beautiful outing on the lake,” said Brandi. “Sunny, beautiful day. Then they drove home to fire trucks at their home. Stillwater is definitely where you want to be in a crisis.” The boys semester certainly started off with a bang, literally. They are all thankful to be safe and that
they could move back into their house within the next couple of months. However, they had one big issue with the fire that they were very disappointed they could have prevented. The issue? They didn’t have renters insurance. “If I had one piece of advice, I would say, ‘Get renters insurance,’” said Kaiser. They could have saved themselves a lot of money, which is important for a college student, if they had paid for renters insurance. Lightning might not strike twice in the same spot, but the boys said they will definitely take this advice to heart when they move back in. See O’Colly TV’s story here. news.ed@ocolly.com
OSU in the dark ages Mak Vandruff Staff Reporter
OSU students gather for the medieval festivities.
Mak Vandruff
When someone thinks of the medieval ages, they often think of knights, swords, horses, and all sorts of epic combat. These times of beautiful handmade clothes and vibrant music seem like a thing of the past, but Oklahoma State University has brought a piece of the dark ages to 2021. A medieval fair was hosted on Wed, Aug 25 outside of Old Central. The OSU Medieval Studies Group, which is attached to The Society for Creative Anachronism, put this on to show students a little of what they do. There was live music, jousting, crafts, and plenty of experts on everything medieval. Mike Wells is one of the many members of this group. “The Society for Creative Anachronism is an organization that studies everything from 1600 and before,” Wells said. “Their main thing is to recreate all of the skills and studies from everything before then.” See Dark ages on 5