Collegiate Times

Correction: This story has been modified from its original version. — Update: The students in question have since been dismissed from all charages initially accused. The charges were dropped and their records were expunged.

The nine UVA students who vandalized the "Farmer Hokie" bird outside of the town municipal building last March will appear in court this September.

The students who were originally charged of the felony are all pledges of the Phi Society Fraternity. The charges against the students have since been dropped and their records expunged. The bird which Ariel Poliner, Phil Sukys, Jesse Germanow, Alfred Lucia, Russell Gartman, Brian Grochal, Johan Roos, Jonathan Foster and Andrew Pearson ripped from its pedestal was returned to authorities a week after it went missing. It currently resides in a storage unit off of South Main Street as evidence.

The students are attempting to come clean through their acts of community service this past week. The students have taken it upon their own accord to visit Blacksburg and assist in community service efforts. They wanted to clarify that this is not a part of their sentencing or orders from a lawyer.

Their first project taken on this week was to clean some of the Hokie Birds that will be auctioned off by the Blacksburg Partnership. The auction will include 17 birds and take place Aug. 24 through Aug. 31 on Ebay.

The other acts of community service that the students have partaken include: painting the Lyric Theatre, cleaning graffiti at a local warehouse, sorting and moving electronics within the industrial park, picking up beer cans, cigarette butts, beer bottles and general trash around campus, as well as washing city vehicles.

Andrew Pearson, a sophomore, is hoping that such efforts may lead to our communities' forgiveness.

"We are doing our best to rectify the situation," Pearson said.

While in the community, Pearson noticed the tight knit character of the community and has thus enjoyed spending some time within Blacksburg.

"We think it is very befitting for us to help beautify a city we earlier defaced," Pearson said.

Andrew Pearson knows that the hours of work spent on the pieces of art can never be replaced but hopes that the 360 community service hours that have been contributed by the nine students will help make amends.

Ariel Poliner, a junior, asserts that the group did not intend to hurt any body.

"At the time, we thought it was humorous, we are not mean guys ... we hurt so many people here; that is not at all what we are about," Poliner said.

Phil Sukys, a junior, clarified that the incident was never pre-meditated and was "a spur of the moment action."

"Pretty soon after this whole incident had happened, we realized how many people we had hurt. If we had just stopped to think, we wouldn't have hurt all these people and wouldn't be in the mess we are in today."

The entire group will put in the remaining 18 hours left for their community service goals, and will then leave today to prepare for their classes this Tuesday. It is their hope that the community would accept their apologies.

"We would like to sincerely apologize and ask for the forgiveness of the Virginia Tech community and Blacksburg community," Pearson said.