1
Battalion
| Voi. 75 No. 24
14 Pages
Serving the Texas A&M University community
Friday, October 2, 1981
College Station, Texas
USPS 045 360
Phone 845-2611
The
Weather
Today
Tomorrow
High
. 86
High
.. .90
Low
. 65
Low
.. .68
Chance of rain 20%
Chance of rain
. 30%
Civilian women to cut
at bonfire for first time
Staff photo by Greg Gammon
seems to create a modern art sculpture in this
freeze-frame photograph.
By LISA SURMAN
Battalion Reporter
When students begin cutting down
trees Saturday for the 1981 Aggie bon
fire, cadets and civilian men won’t be
the only ones participating.
For the first time, civilian women
will work on the traditional bonfire stack
which will bum Nov. 25 on the eve of
the Texas A&M-University of Texas
football game.
Since 1978, women in the Texas
A&M Corps of Cadets have been per
mitted to join male cadets and male civi
lian students in cutting logs for the bon
fire, but other female students weren’t
allowed beyond the sidelines where
they served cookies and hot chocolate.
This year, however, along with male
and female cadets and civilian men, ab
out 40 civilian women will also take part
in cutting activities, Micki Dunham
said. Dunham, a member of Off-
Campus Aggies, is in charge of recruit
ing women to work on bonfire.
She said OCA is encouraging both
civilian men and women to get in
volved.
“My main purpose is to get these girls
out there,” she said. “This year is really
a training and organizational year — to
teach them, so that next year there will
be people who have cut before and
know what they’re doing.
“If we get tbem (women) out there
and they try it and they don’t want to
take part in that part of bonfire, they
don’t have to, but that door is open.”
Dunham, who was in the Corps for
four years, said the women will cut trees
up to only 12 inches in diameter.
“We’re not going out for the big logs, ”
Dunham said. “The women in the
Corps will sometimes take down some
pretty good-sized logs, but we’re going
to keep them relatively small until we
have enough people out there to cover
it.
“The most important thing is safety.
We really emphasize ... not to worry
about the speed — it’s just to control the
ax so that when they use it, no one will
get hurt.
Women will cut in an area away from
the men. "It gives them a chance to feel
comfortable with themselves without
having the pressure of somebody watch-
onfire work to begin Saturday
By GWENDOLYN HAM
Battalion Reporter
i It’s that time of the year again — time
for the annual pyromaniac’s delight —
Bonfire ’81.
Students Saturday will begin the
bitual of driving out to a nearby woods to
cut down hundreds of trees. Within the
next few weeks, the logs will be hauled
back to campus, stacked up and even
tually burned — all in the spirit of tradi
tion.
i But the project is a little more in
volved than that; planning for the bon
fire begins almost a year in advance.
First of all, a cutting site must be
found. This year, 450 acres of post oak
trees were donated by the Texas Muni
cipal Power Association. The site is ab
out 15 miles away from campus off
Highway 30 on County Road 190.
Senior Redpot David Godinich said
no money is exchanged for the cutting
site. “We’re helping them by clearing
their land and they’re helping us by
donating the trees,” he said.
Money is needed, however, to cover
the other expenses of the bonfire pro
ject. “By the time we spend money on
gas, wire, chains, the center pole and
everything else we need, it comes up to
PLO says bombing
part of ‘secret war’
United Press International
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Palestine
Liberation Organization charged Israeli
agents exploded a massive carbomb in
Moslem West Beirut, killing 83 people
and wounding 225 in the most devastat
ing attack of a “secret war” inside
Lebanon.
j The Front for the Liberation of Leba
non from Foreigners, a shadowy rightist
organization behind seven other recent
[bombings, claimed responsibility for
the Thursday explosion in a telephone
call to state-run Lebanese Television.
? The bomb tore through a narrow
wtreet crowded with shoppers and mili-
ftiamen from nearby PLO offices and
was followed within hours by a second
Roller explosion in the Palestinian stron
ghold of Nabatiyeh.
I Six other cars loaded with hundreds
of pounds of explosives were found and
defused in Beirut and Sidon in what was
intended as a devastating blitz against
| Palestinians and leftist Lebanese mili-
; tiamen.
| Palestinian sources said 83 people
[were killed and 225 wounded in the
| [bombing in Beirut and one person was
killed and another wounded in the
i Nabatiyeh blast in southern Lebanon.
[ Despite the telephone call claiming
[responsibility, PLO central committee
member Shafik Al Hout charged at the
United Nations that Israeli agents had
planted the carbomb in West Beirut and
he considered it “a serious violation of
the cease-fire agreement” with Israel in
July.
“It seems now it is sort of a secret
war,” he said at a news conference.
In Beirut, a leader of the leftist
Lebanese National Movement Muhsin
Ibrahim accused Lebanese intelligence
and rightwing Phalanists of “complic
ity” in the bombings.
The blast Thursday was the latest of a
wave of terror bombings by the Front
for the Liberation of Lebanon that have
claimed 308 lives in two weeks.
The Beirut bomb, 220 pounds ofTNT
stuffed inside a car, tore the facade off
buildings, destroyed 50 cars and left the
street littered with debris and dismem
bered bodies.
Thursday’s explosion occurred just
500 yards from the office of Salah “Abu
lyad” Khalaf, the number-two man in
tbe PLO’s mainstream Al Fatah organi
zation. The Palestinian news agency
WAFA said no PLO leaders were in
jured.
After the blast, bomb disposal experts
dismantled a second bomb weighing
330 pounds planted in another car on
the same street.
about $10,000,” Duke Bonilla, junior
bonfire finance chairman, said.
“We receive general donations but
we still have to get out and raise the
rest.” He said close to $2,000 has been
raised from sales of tickets to the Oct. 10
Bonfire Benefit Barbecue.
“The girls’ dorms are where a lot of
our money comes from,” he said.
Female students last year accrued
over $5,000 by selling backrubs at the
cutting site, collecting pennies and by
holding barbecues and other fund
raisers.
This year women will also be cutting
logs for the bonfire, in addition to run
ning concession stands at the cutting
site.
“It really means a lot to have them
there,” Bonilla said. “It’s great to be
able to get a cool drink of water, a snack
or just have someone to talk to after
you’ve been cutting an hour or two.”
After the land has been acquired and
some of the money starts coming in, it’s
time to start cutting down trees. The
first cutting weekend begins Saturday,
with other dates scheduled as follows;
Employment workshop
scheduled for Oct. 7-8
By GRETCHEN RATLIFF
Battalion Reporter
A workshop to familiarize Texas A&M
administrators and employees with
equal opportunity employment and
affirmative action is scheduled for Oct. 7
and 8 in 601 Rudder Tower.
John Benavides, a specialist with the
Equal Employment Opportunity Com
mission in San Antonio, is scheduled to
present the workshop which is open to
all University administrators and em
ployees.
The speaker has worked with EEOC
for 12 years, and has spent more than six
years as an equal employment spe
cialist.
His presentations at the workshop
will focus on equal employment laws
and enforcement procedures and
trends. Participants will also have an
opportunity to ask questions about the
ing them,” Dunham said.
She said there have been no injuries
other than bruises and blisters since the
women cadets have been cutting.
OCA, as well as other student groups,
has been supervising classes to train
cutters to perform their task safely.
“I’ve been trying to teach the women
how to compensate for not having as
much shoulder strength as the men,”
Dunham said. “They sometimes have to
actually step in towards the tree or turn
their waists more when swinging.”
But even as female students prepare
to work during the 6-week period of
cutting and stacking the bonfire, some
men are unhappy about the women civi
lians being allowed to participate.
“Bonfire is mostly a man’s game —
kind of a macho deal where the guys can
go and get away and have a good time, ”
Head Redpot Art Free, a senior from
Company C-l, said. “But, we ll find
them (the women) an area to cut in, if
they want to cut.”
Redpots coordinate bonfire cutting
and stacking efforts.
Also opposed to the idea of female
cutters is James Birdwell, a senior red
pot from Company F-l. “As a safety pre
caution to the women and everyone out
there, we prefer they don’t work.
“We’re not doing it to pick on any
body or make anybody mad,” Birdwell
said, “we re just trying to be careful.”
Disagreeing, however, OCA Vice
President Bruce Martin said he always
has favored women’s participation in
bonfire cutting. "I don’t see why any
woman who wants to get out there and
be involved can't do it,” he said.
“There’s no work out there the women
can’t do.”
Civilian Redpot Mike Thomas said he
also favors it, “as long as they can do it
safely and not hurt anyone else around
them.”
“It’s an Aggie bonfire for Aggies so
we’re trying to be as open-minded ab
out it as possible,” he said.
Oct. 19 — center pole arrives
Oct. 23 — centerpole goes up
Oct. 24-25 — civilian cutting
weekend
Nov. 7-8 — mandatory cutting
weekend
Nov. 25 — bonfire burns at dark.
Godinich said semi-diesels leave the
field behind Duncan Dining Hall
around 6 a.m. on cutting days. Anyone
who needs a ride can leave then, he
said.
Everybody is allowed to cut, if and
only if, they have their cutting card,
Godinich said.
A cutting card certifies that the hol
der has attended a safety training class.
If for some reason anyone wishing to cut
has missed the cutting classes, he may
be issued one at the site where more
classes will be held, Godinich said.
Godinich stressed that bonfire is just
as much a civilian tradition as a Corps
tradition. Men as well as women partici
pate in cutting trees and stacking logs.
Cutters needs to supply their own axes,
hats, gloves, boots and tape.
Barbecue to honor
Zachry’s dedication
issue, Yasin Ishaq, an affirmative action
specialist at Texas A&M, said.
Ishaq said Benavides also plans to
address the role of the EEOC and its
entorcement authority and to provide
the audience with an overall picture of
equal pay and equal opportunity.
A film will be shown to illustrate the
problem of sexual harassment on the job
and to offer some solutions, Ishaq said.
Benavides is scheduled to speak at
four separate sessions. The first two will
be Oct. 7 from 8:30 a.m. until 11:30
a.m., and from 1:30 p.m. until 4:30
p.m. The other two will be held Oct. 8
at the same times.
Gerald Wright, the University assis
tant affirmative action officer, is in
charge of the workshop which is spon
sored by the Texas A&M System Affir
mative Action Office.
By JENNIFER WAYMAN
Battalion Reporter
Bonfire.
For many, the word brings to mind
the great Aggie tradition symbolizing
the burning desire to “beat the hell out
of t.u.” For others, bonfire may also
bring to mind the years of dedication
and service of distinguished Texas A&M
alumnus H.B.(Pat) Zachry.
For years — although he can’t re
member exactly when he started —
Zachry, owner of H.B. Zachry Co., has
donated several thousand dollars’ worth
of manpower and equipment to build
the bonfire stack. He provides flat-bed
trucks to haul wood from the cutting site
to the bonfire site behind Duncan Di
ning Hall and small cranes to stack the
wood. He also pays drivers to move this
equipment.
“The boys just tell me what they
need, and I’m bappy to give it to them,”
Zachry, 80, said. “I’m glad to do any
thing to help A&M.”
In recognition of his contributions,
the Texas A&M Bonfire Committee is
hosting a bonfire benefit barbecue in his
honor.
“We feel it is time we honor such a
great man who has done so much for
us,” said Duke Bonilla, junior finance
representative for the committee. The
proceeds from the barbecue will go to
ward bonfire expenses.
Zachry, Class of ‘22, earned his
bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.
He said the make-up of bonfire is basic
ally the same today as it was when he
was enrolled at Texas A&M, although
the size of the bonfire stack has grown
considerably.
“When I was up there (at Texas A&M)
we didn’t have the big trucks and
cranes, so it wasn’t as big as it is today,”
he said.
In addition to his bonfire donations,
Zachry contributes to the University in
many other ways. He provides two
scholarships each year for outstanding
Texas A&M students selected by the
University president. He also serves on
a committee that advises the civil en
gineering department on its curri
culum.
Zachry was born and raised in
Uvalde. After graduating from Texas
A&M, he moved to Laredo in 1924 and
founded the H.B. Zachry Co. The firm
has since become a worldwide, multi
million dollar construction operation
based in San Antonio.
He has other business interests as
well, such as oil and gas, aggregate pro
duction, cement manufacturing, modu
lar construction, ranching, insurance, a
hospital and medical center and hotels.
Zachry’s far-reaching interest in edu
cation has led him to serve six years on
the Board of Directors of Texas A&M,
including two years as president; the
Board of Directors of the Texas Board
for Special Schools and Hospitals; and
the Coordinating Board for Texas Col
leges and Universities, which he helped
to establish.
In 1972, the Zachry Engineering
Center, the University’s $9 million en
gineering facility, was dedicated to him.