Emergency lights flashing, the University Fire Department pickup couldn't get past our truck. But the fire fighters weren't on their way to a pressing emergency; they were trying desperately to keep hold of the Tradition Stone they had stolen only hours earlier. We had them cornered. The stone was rightfully ours.

Just hours earlier, Alex Hundertmark, a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, the former holders of the stone, went to pick up the stone to bring it to Starvation Gulch. But it was gone. Someone had pried open the gate to the backyard where the frat left the stone.

"As soon as I saw the pry marks, I knew it was the Fire Department," Hundertmark said. "Who else uses a Haligan, rather than using the latch?" he asked, referring to the firefighting tactical entry tool.

The Fire Department showed up to the bonfires with the stone in the back of a UFD pickup truck. Only firefighters are allowed in the truck, since its university property, so no one could take a picture with it.

The brief chase began near midnight. On North Tanana Drive, the emergency lights came on to pass us. Our rear trucks rounded Tanana Loop to cut them off.

My friends and I had their truck surrounded in the front MBS parking lot, two pickups in front, two in back. We asked them to hand the stone over. They said no. Since it was in the back of a UFD truck, they said, we couldn't take it. The stone was as good as ours, and they pulled rank.

When we questioned their use of emergency lights, they told us to ask Battalion Chief Philip Rounds. He walked across the parking lot and informed us that they could use their lights whenever he told them they could. He then threatened to tow all of our trucks.

We moved but weren't letting go that easily. We followed them to the fire station for negotiating. Two residents went inside to speak with Rounds. But when the meeting was over, the stone was gone, and it wasn't with us.

This year's chase paled in comparison to previous chases that have involved cross-town pursuits and paintball gun-wielding stone-defenders. Fire Chief Edie Curry said via email that although she has yet to hear her staff's justification for using the truck, she has "already taken action to ensure it never happens again."

While the stone may still be in possession of fire fighters, it's clear that something needs to be done to standardize everyone's perceptions of how the chase should be conducted.

But questions remain. If the fire department wants to be involved in this activity, how can anyone ensure that the chase will be "fair"?

If they have the power of using official emergency vehicles (illegally), and won't turn the stone over when cornered, what will students resort to doing?

While we weren't about to try to rip the stone out of the back of a university fire truck, what if someone a little less respectful had given chase?

If the stone isn't surrendered peaceably, how will it ever change hands?

Where's the tradition in cheating?

Kortnie Westfall is a third-year UAF journalism student.