A Tale of Two Falls

On Saturday night, 23 year old Megan Duskey was attending a huge Halloween party at the Palmer House. Huge, as in 2000 people. Accounts vary, but it seems Megan was dressed as the Silver Spectre, and was having a great time.

Sometime around 10:30, Megan decided to slide down the spiral staircase railing and lost her balance. She was somewhere around the 4th floor at the time.

50 feet or so later, Megan landed on the basement floor of the Palmer House.

Megan studied childhood education, and early childhood special education at Northern Illinois University. She took a job at Orville T Bright elementary school on the South Side after graduating from NIU.

Megan was a "caring, energetic person who was full of life and eager to help others and make a difference in the world” according to her family. She leaves behind her parents, Debbie and Jim, and her two brothers, Matt and Mark.

Police ruled Megan's death an accident, and wouldn't comment on the role, if any, played by alcohol.

Seems like the right thing to not comment on, at this point.

Last Wednesday, while I was telling you fine people about the slightly fiercer than normal wind we'd been experiencing here, Declan Drumm Sullivan was videotaping football practice at Notre Dame.

Declan, who was from the northwest suburbs of Chicago, was filming from what they've referred to as a "scissor lift." Basically, a platform that folds down flat for transportation, and that can be telescoped (via one of those 3 Stooges trick boxing glove contraptions) as high up as 50 feet.

While filming up there in the 50-60MPH gusts, Declan tweeted that he was scared shitless in that wind, and something to the effect that "Oh well, I guess I've lived long enough."

Those who were attending practice reported hearing a loud crash shortly after that last tweet from Declan.

Declan's funeral was held today in Buffalo Grove, and was attended by the ND football team, and coach Brian Kelly....and a few hundred other friends and family.

Much has been said about Declan Sullivan these last few days. His mom went to high school with my brother, and his aunt was a classmate of mine. It's a pretty tightly knit alum group, and so the outpouring of condolences at the old alma mater website started pouring in immediately.

I never knew the kid, but like I said before about serving mass at funerals, sometimes you get a feeling for how deeply someone's death hits a family, or a group of friends and classmates, simply by seeing the emotions on their faces. Pretty obvious that Declan Drumm Sullivan was a hell of a nice kid.

In the interest of full disclosure, I've made no secret of my contempt for the people who run Notre Dame. I've disliked that pack of Pharisaic d-bags for about 30 years. I consider them among the biggest hypocrites on the planet.

That said, I think we need to figure out why a supposedly elite academic institution, run by allegedly intelligent people, sent Declan Sullivan up into that tower to video a fucking football practice.

According to Jack Swarbrick, Notre Dame's pimp Athletic Director, the weather was "unremarkable" before a "pretty extraordinary burst of wind" toppled the 50 foot tower, sending 20 year old Declan Sullivan to his death.

Anyone who was anywhere in the midwest last Tuesday or Wednesday knows that is complete and utter bullshit. The weather had been "remarkable" for two days, in fact I remarked about it here. It was a recipe for a real tragedy, and that's exactly what Notre Dame got.

Heads need to roll in South Bend over this.