Friends write on body of teen dying after drinking game

The family of an Onalaska teen who died in a drinking game said they are angry at the man accused of supplying alcohol to the boy and that his friends wrote in permanent marker on his body while he lay dying. The mother of 15-year-old Nick Barnes said she had no idea that when she sent her son to a birthday party, an adult at that party would furnish alcohol and do nothing while the teens played a deadly game.

"(It's) very devastating, very devastating. My life is gone. Nicholas was my world, and I'll never have him back again," Rachel Smith said. Prosecutors said James Taylor supplied alcohol to Barnes and other teens at a party last year. Barnes and another teen at the party played a game called "a shot for a shot," prosecutors said. They drank at least 11 shots of vodka, then Barnes started drinking from the bottle. When he passed out and lay on the ground, dying of alcohol poisoning, his friends stripped off his clothes and wrote on his body with a permanent marker.

"We had to bury Nick with black marker all over his body, people's names written on his behind. 'I love you Nick' (was) written on his chest," Smith said. Taylor pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges of supplying the alcohol, failing to call for help and manslaughter in connection with Barnes' death. Barnes' family said Taylor needs to be held accountable.

They said they hope nobody else ever plays the deadly drinking game that ended their son's life. "This is a very stupid, stupid game - horrible," said Smith. Barnes' parents said they were also devastated because they wanted to donate his organs after his death but because of the ongoing criminal investigation and the permanent marker on Barnes' skin, organ donation was not possible.