The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Student community gathers to remember peers
Greek Life leaders asked crowd to look out for one another.
ATHENS — University of Georgia students and staff, nursing students from Augusta University and other members of the Athens community somberly filled the Tate Plaza on campus Monday to honor two students who recently died.
Members of Alpha Chi Omega sorority and Kappa Sigma fraternity, many donning pastel-colored shirts from their organizations, stood shoulder to shoulder with nursing students from Augusta’s Athens campus wearing bright blue scrubs for the brief vigil. Many wore ribbons in red and green, the colors of Alpha Chi Omega. The sorority and fraternity helped organize the event.
Hundreds more students and other supporters stood nearby in a show of support, and many in the crowd brought flowers in tribute to their peers.
Laken Riley, 22, was killed Thursday near UGA’s intramural fields while she was on a morning run, police said. Riley attended UGA until spring 2023 and then enrolled in Augusta University’s nursing program. She was a sister of Alpha Chi Omega.
Police arrested Jose Antonio Ibarra and charged him with murder in Riley’s death. Ibarra, 26, is a citizen of Venezuela who lives in Athens and unlawfully entered the country, according to federal authorities. Investigators don’t believe he knew Riley.
A freshman Kappa Sigma student died Wednesday. No foul play is suspected, according to law enforcement. The two deaths are not related. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is not naming the student without his family’s consent.
“We were given these people at this time for a reason,” Alpha Chi Omega President
Chloe Mullis said, asking for their peers’ lives to serve as a reminder: “Tell your friends that you love them. Never miss an opportunity for a sweet treat, one of Laken’s
favorite pastimes. And scream the lyrics to your favorite song as loud as you can.”
Mullis said Riley was a Christian, friend, student and an “incredible runner.”
“She was devoted to making this world a better place, and we have no doubt she would have been an incredible nurse. It’s absolutely earth-shattering to think the world will never have that opportunity,” Mullis said.
Similarly moving words were said about the other student remembered Monday. Nick Nichols said his fraternity brother was “the life of the party” with an “infectious smile” and someone who made everyone around him “feel safe and welcomed.” Nichols said he’ll miss “vegetating” with his friend on the weekends when they were too tired to do anything else.
He asked the crowd to look out for one another and seek mental health help if the need arises. Alec Stevens, president of the UGA Interfraternity Council, noted that mental health professionals from the university were present for students who may want to consult them.
At the end of the vigil, the crowd lingered as the Greek Life members and Augusta students embraced. The Alpha Chi Omega sisters slowly dispersed, walking in front of Sanford Stadium back to their house on campus.
“Things like this, the vigil, are important because it really allows us to push away the noise and honor the two individuals,” Thomas Chambers, a freshman from Johns Creek and one of the hundreds who gathered in Tate Plaza, said.
He added that processing the students’ deaths has taken time.
“Canceling class on Friday, that was really helpful,” he said after the vigil. “It gave the entire weekend to come down. It was a bizarre feeling. It’s hard to explain Thursday, just being here. A lot of people left and the rest of us were here watching. There’s usually not reporters coming around.”
Atlanta voters will decide in May whether or not they want to renew the city’s penny water and sewer tax to help fund new projects and repairs to the system.
The long-standing one-percent sales tax was first instituted in 2004 under Former Mayor Shirley Franklin’s administration as part of a consent decree to address a federal lawsuit over water quality violations.
Atlanta City Council approved a referendum to renew the tax program which has helped avoid a water and sewer rate hike for customers. According to the city, Atlanta’s water and sewer rates have not increased since 2012.
“I think this is a really important opportunity for us to continue investing in our water and sewer infrastructure in light of the consent decree,” Council member Alex Wan, the sponsor of the measure, said in City Utilities Committee earlier this month.
If approved, the tax would collect roughly $1.1 billion over the course of the next four years to cover water and sewer projects at about $250 million per year.
The city’s water and sewer system dates back to the 19th century and is made up of more than 2,300 miles of lines, according to the Department of Watershed Management. Atlanta residents are no strangers to issues caused by outdated infrastructure.
Recently, the city’s system made headlines when the watershed department told City Council that the city has nearly $200 million in delinquent water bills, which they attribute to a lack of billing enforcement and faulty water meters that desperately need to be replaced.
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All across the city, residents and visitors can stumble upon remnants of the 1996 Olympics — from the hard-tomiss Olympic Cauldron that was lit by Muhammad Ali during the opening ceremonies to hard-to-notice historical markers scattered around the city.
Council members passed a resolution last week that aims to restore Olympic-related displays on the west side that have been worndown or vandalized.
Council member Michael Julian Bond introduced a resolution for immediate consideration that creates a task force to address the restoration of markers that were installed prior to the ‘96 games, to educate residents and visitors about Atlanta’s rich history.
The effort to revamp the historic installations comes as the city nears the 30th anniversary of hosting the major international sporting event. The resolution says the funding needed will be included in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget.
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Atlanta City Council members want their state-level counterparts across the street at the Capitol to do something about noisy cars that cause a disturbance as they whip through city streets.
A bill up for consideration during the current legislative session would create a pilot program to see if noise-detection technology can crack down on the racket.
House Bill 1219, sponsored by House Rep. Deborah Silcox, an Atlanta Republican, outlines how automatic video and audio recorders may be able to catch offenders.
Motorists would face fines of up to $25 for cars that emitted noise levels greater than 70 decibels, and motorcycles that go above 95 decibels.
Council approved a resolution urging the General Assembly to pass the legislation.
“My office gets more calls regarding loud cars and mufflers more than almost any other issue,” Council President Doug Shipman said of the issue.