Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, September 19,1988
Opinion
The Bear wouldn’t
have been scared
So the University of Alabama Athletic Department decided not
to send its football team to College Station Saturday. The official rea
sons given were “the continuing uncertainty of the effects of Hurri
cane Gilbert and adverse weather conditions in Alabama at the time
that the Crimson Tide team was to depart for Texas.”
After studying the matter all weekend the editorial board has
come to agree with ’Bama officials.
We are positive that it was not because Alabama Head Coach Bill
Curry didn’t want to get in the way of an A&M football team angry
over recent penalties from the NCAA, a two-game losing streak and
having an extra week to think about it all.
Nor was it because of the knee injury that would have kept start
ing quarterback David Smith out of the game.
The fact that bowl bids will be extended before the rescheduled
Dec. 1 game date is purely coincidental as well.
It didn’t even have anything to do with the Tide’s punter being 6-
5 and having to drop the ball more than two feet on each punt at
tempt during heavy winds.
It was, pure and simple, a decision made to maximize the safety
of Alabama athletes.
Bill Curry ought to do Isuzu commercials.
The Battalion Editorial Board
TOO BAD TUE /VCAA
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Bonfire occupies potentially useful, risky spo
lr
DA
>f thi
As I a p -
proached the top
of the stairwell on
the fourth floor of
Moses Hall (a.k.a.
Moses Empire) I
heard the distinct
sounds of a young
RAB (“Real Amer-
i c a n Boy” for
those of you who
still believe in the
Easter Bunny)
*|S5r*
•i a r
Anthony
Wilson
Students’ biggest problem this semes
ter has been the lack of parking spaces
because of residence hall construction
on Southside, residence hall renovations
on Northside, the delay in the opening
of the parking garage and the abolish
ment of green parking stickers. Unless
you arrive on campus at 8 a.m., finding
a parking space is a frustratingly impos
sible task.
... POTENTIAL FIRE HAZZW,
TH REJT TO LOCA L PKO PE-KTi,
TRAFFIC HAZZARD, Hot
TO R\T-HT\OH SE.XUAL
HARRASS’AlEAfT...
softly sobbing. A lonely fish was sitting
in the hallway, the remnants of a once-
preppie haircut in his hands and a beau
tifully sculpted “E” positioned atop his
head.
An unpaved parking lot was graveled
behind the University Police Depart
ment where the married students hous
ing was formerly located.
Ahhhh, bonfire time is upon us
again.
But this spot is an inconvenient loca
tion at best. It’s so isolated from the rest
of the campus that walking to class has
ceased to be a leisurely stroll and has be
come a quest for knowledge.
r con
Trasli.
-A J[ ?V]
-T\ ^lave |
And like every other bonfire for the
past umpteen years, a controversy has
risen faster than the centerpole.
Last year it was women being har-
rassed inside the perimeter area. Before
that critics argued that bonfire is a tradi
tion that should be discontinued be
cause of the tremendous number of
trees sacrificed each year.
Another parking garage is scheduled
to be built on Southside following the
completion of the new residence halls.
But parking spaces are needed now and
bonfire site is logistically the best place.
It is in a central spot on campus and cer
tainly much closer to any classroom on
campus than the spot behind UPD.
Bonfire controversies have become as
much of a tradition as bonfire itself.But
the validity of this year’s controversy can
hold its own.
Although the parking problem is in
convenient for most students and build
ing a parking lot would help to appease
the grumbling masses, the biggest justi
fication for moving bonfire is safety pre
cautions.
Because of recent developments on
campus and past occurences concerning
bonfire, the time is right for the site to
be moved.
There are arguments for why bonfire
shouldn’t be moved, the chief one being
tradition. And of course tradition is
right up there alongside cleanliness and
godliness in Aggieland and is a hard
thing to break away from.
Rumors are circulating that because
no one actually checks to see how high
bonfire is, centerpole reached a height
of 96 feet last year instead of the regula
tion 80 feet it is supposed to be. Because
bonfire is growing each year, the sparks
from the fire are traveling farther and
farther.
Because bonfire is located in a pop
ulous section of town and draws large
crowds, a great amount of damage al
ways occurs to cars and houses. T he
houses across the street from bonfire
have to be painted every other year and
a layer of ashes and smoot ruin many
paint jobs on cars.
I’m not suggesting that bonfire be
moved to Snook or North Zulch. After
all, Texas A&M has the largest campus
in the country — most of it unused land
across the railroad tracks on the west
side of campus. That land would be a
perfect spot for bonfire.
not populated, making firealcssei
ard.
The only other point I’ve heard about
why bonfire should stay put (and it’s a
weak one) is that if it were moved, the
Corps would be inconvenienced. Cadets
would no longer be able to step out of
their dorm, cross the Quad and be at
bonfire site within a matter of seconds.
It’s just a matter of time before some
of those sparks land on the dry roof of
one of the houses in the residential sec
tion across the street from bonfire.
If bonfire were moved to a more iso
lated space, these would no longer be
worries.
There’s plenty of room across the
tracks to accommodate the masses of
people that bonfire attracts, parking
space is more abundant and the area is
And since the site would be on;
pus, it would still he accessible loan
wanting to work on or attend bonii]
it would just he* minus the dangeni
problems the current site offers.
Anthony Wilson is a seniorjoi
I ism major and opinion page edit''
The Battalion.
BLOOM COUNTY
by BerKe Breath
In fact, many College Station resi
dents forgo Thanksgiving vacations so
they can stay home and water their
houses.
But face it, the Corps of Cadets is so
gung-ho about bonfire, they’re going to
work on it no matter where it is.
And because of the cramped accom
modations on campus, especially on the
south side, the space occupied by bon
fire could be put to better use.
If an unwatered house were to catch
on fire, it would undoubtedly burn to
the ground. The traffic on Texas Ave
nue and Jersey Street is so congested on
bonfire night, it would take at least an
hour for a fire truck to arrive at the
scene of a blaze.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Lydia Berzsenyi. Editor
Becky Weisenfels, Managing Editor
Anthony Wilson. Opinion Page Editor
Richard Williams. Citv Editor
D A Jensen.
Denise Thompson, News Editors
Hal Hammons. Sports Editor
Jay Janner. Art Director
Leslie Guy. Entertainment Editor
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BLOOM COUNTY
by BerKe Breatlift