Sunday, June 06, 2004

Fire gutted the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house at Murray State University. Members spent Sunday salvaging what little they could from the ashes. Chapter President Jason Henson says of the damage, "It's worse than it looked Saturday."  The house was locked up for the summer, so no one was living there when the blaze broke out Saturday night just after seven o'clock. The fire left nothing untouched. Henson says he's most upset about the loss of the new game room. It had been recently renovated and dedicated to the memory of a fraternity brother, Greg Kersteins, who was killed in a car accident last summer. Henson tells WPSD NewsChannel Six Reporter Lisa Ripley, "It really hurts me to see how [the room] looks now."

There's no word yet on what sparked the fire. Fraternity members were able to save some irreplaceable photos, the fraternity's charter, and their trophies. Chapter advisor Neil McMillion says, "Those are things that are very important to the guys. You never want to see your memories or artifacts go up in flames. It's good a lot of those still remain." Henson says The Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity was the first fraternity founded at MSU. The fraternity celebrated its 46th anniversary in May.