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The Battalion Friday, Nov. 4, 1988 Page 3
ry weather keeps bonfire injuries minimal
re which at
longest and
y Timothy J. Hammons
Staff Writer
M HEADACHE!
■At bonfire cut, that call means a tree is
falling. There are only a few seconds to
get out of the way before it lands. How-
inanimate objects — such as a
Hick — cannot heed the warning.
HRedpot (bonfire construction leader)
, the Corps ha p a; Hcnney, a senior civil engineering
ne time as thei |Rijor, said several cadets were cutting
nine cuts, andi down a tree during the Corps’ first bon-
fn : cut when the wind picked up and
it. w Hshed a tree the wrong way. The tree
1 s,,,tK Mosi #ulcd on a truck and destroyed it.
lar
.
s tliat aretiedi lBAssociate Director of Student Affairs
_regs. Now,iti: Bill Kibler said the accident was the re-
r on bonfire ! s r t 01 a combination of errors. The truck
parked in a legitimate parking area
B Hd the tree was in a legitimate cutting
nwever, of the Ha, he said. But because of the top
s and every pa weight of the tree and the unexpected
wind, it fell in the wrong direction.
$ Cheek stood i.
on ft re for us." I
it for all Am
ladets. Itisaj
ng nine days a I
and walkingli
really hurts to
and givecredii
I The parking area in which the truck
was crushed was a secondary parking
[ea and originally was not intended to
be used, Kibler said. Redpots directed
traffic to the second lot, however, be
cause cars were getting bogged down in
deep sand in the first lot, he said. One
car, which was parked in tall grass,
caught fire.
The crushing of the truck occurred be
cause four students did not follow proper
safety procedures, Kibler said. The pro
cedure calls for checking the area in
which trees possibly can fall. The stu
dents who cut the tree did not check the
area before they began cutting, he said.
The responsibility also falls on the
redpots, who are in charge of coordina
tion of bonfire cut and construction and
safety patrol, Kibler said. He said the
parking lot was too close to the cutting
area.
“It was really an error,” he said.
“They never anticipated people cutting
that close to the parking lot.”
Kibler said several A&M organiza
tions are trying to raise money to pay for
the truck, but would not comment on
who those organizations are. The Uni
versity does not have insurance to cover
such accidents — the necessary general
liability insurance would be too expen
sive, he said.
Henney said that in the best-case sce
nario, a redpot should have come by and
checked out the tree before the cadets cut
it down.
Redpot Dirk Bergoon, a senior agron
omy major, said the accident happened
because the cadets started cutting the tree
Graphic by Kelly Morgan
before any of the redpots had a chance to
check it out.
Since the accident, the parking lot in
which the truck was crushed has been
closed, Bergoon said.
He said that the same training methods
are still being used to teach people to cut
the trees properly, but the redpots have
shifted some of their training and safety
responsibilty to the Corps’ commanding
officers.
“I had a meeting with the commanding
officers and put more of the responsibil
ity on them,” he said “It is not just the
redpots responsiblity to make sure acci
dents don’t happen, but the seniors who
are commanding officers as well.”
Gary Nelson, a safety consultant who
has advised the bonfire committee during
previous bonfire cuts, said that accidents
are probable events. In one day, two to
three accidents could occur, followed by
a long period of time when no accidents
are reported, he said.
Accidents do happen in spite of best
efforts, Nelson said. And the more often
something is done — such as cutting
down trees — the probability of some
thing going wrong increases, he said.
Although it is not known how many
bonfire-related accidents have occurred
this year, Kibler said, fewer injuries
have been reported so far than during last
year.
Usually, an average of 50 to 75 inju
ries occur each year, he said.
“The weather has a lot to do with the
number of injuries,” he said. “This year
has been so dry that the number of inju
ries is low. When the weather is wet, the
number of injuries increases.”
Another accident occured when mem
bers of the Corps dropped a log they
were loading onto a truck. Bergoon said
the accident occurred when several of the
people lifting the log panicked and did
not listen to the lifting commands.
The logs are loaded by hand following
a series of commands given by a redpot.
Bergoon said they were lowering the log
to regain control of it. However, some of
the lifters did not understand the com
mand and let the log drop to the ground.
Three injuries resulted from the mis-
cue: a strained back, a hyperextended
achilles tendon and a broken thumb.
Most recently, a student needed
stitches after he cut his foot with an ax,
and another student broke his thumb.
Kibler said that in both cases, proper
safety procedures were not being fol
lowed.
Bergoon said the redpots were pleased
with the last weekend’s cut.
awmaker wants dismissal
f insurance commissioner
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lung it does,
down.
AUSTIN (AP) — Under pressure
ffom state lawmakers, the State Board of
Insurance said Thursday it will place the
agency’s chief on leave pending an in-
■cstigation into allegations of misman
agement and foot-dragging in the largest
Rsurance company insolvency ease in
state history.
I The three-member board also said the
■ravis County District Attorney’s public
integrity unit will review the agency’s
handling of the National County Mutual
Fire Insurance insolvency for any possi
ble criminal wrongdoing.
■ Emerging from an hour-and-15-min-
■te closed session, the board said recent
criticism prompted them to initiate the
pianagement probe and investigation into
flic department’s delay in taking control
of National County Mutual.
I During this examination. Commis
sioner Doycc Lee will be placed on
leave, although the details of this move
[ad not been worked out, board mem-
rs said.
Lee, 47, and commissioner since
1985, said he agreed with the board's de
cision. “I think it takes the pressure off
of me and the board, and the agency can
go about its business of regulating the in
dustry. That will give time for the air to
clear. ”
Board members praised Lee, and
credited him with making the recommen
dations of conducting an independent au
dit and contacting the Travis County Dis
trict Attorney’s office. But they said
complaints lodged by state lawmakers
and consumer interest represenatives
about the agency forced them to make
the move.
“When there’s so much publicity and
so much allegations, we probably do not
have any alternative,’’ said board mem
ber David Thomberry.
“For his (Lee) benefit, for ours, for
the public in general we do need to get
this investigation going,’’ said board
chairman Edwin J. Smith Jr.
The board’s three members, and Lee,
met separately Wednesday with Travis
County District Attorney Ronnie Earle.
The district attorney’s office said it will
review the history of the National
County Mutual case.
National County Mutual, a Dallas-
based company with 125,000 auto insur
ance policyholders statewide, was de
clared insolvent last week and taken over
by the insurance board.
The debt-riddled company was $54
million in the red and became the largest
insolvency of a property and casualty
company in state history.
Several lawmakers complained the in
surance board’s staff had known of the
company’s problems since at least 1986,
and should have moved earlier to protect
National County Mutual’s policyholders.
“The State Board of Insurance is fail
ing in its mission to regulate the insur
ance industry and protect the interests of
consumers and ’ policyholders,’’ state
Sen. John Montford, D-Lubbock wrote
the board in a letter Thursday.
Jungian psychology talk explores
basic elements of human psyche
By Jamie Conley
Reporter
The ego is the center of the con
scious and is the gatekeeper of the
conscious mind, Jerele Neeld told
members of the Brazos Valley Jung
ian Society last night in Rudder
Tower.
The speech, “Dynamics of the Psy
che”, was the second part of a four-
part program on the basic concepts of
Jungian Psychology offered by the
Jungian Society and the Texas A&M
psychology department.
Neeld, an A&M graduate and the
Jungian Society treasurer, said there
are five parts to a human’s psyche:
ego, persona, shadow, anima and an
imus.
“The persona is the mask or faade a
person presents to the public,” he
said. “It is necessary for survival and
is needed to interact with people in all
aspects of life.”
Neeld said the shadow is both a
positive and negative aspect of the in-
diviual.
“The shadow determines people’s
relationships with the same sex and
contains more of an animal nature
than any other part of an individual’s
psyche,” he said.
The shadow also adds dimension to
the personality and if repressed can
become beastly, he said.
Anima, the masculine characteris
tics found in the female, and animus,
the feminine side of the male, are
necessary for individuals to have
healthy relationships with the oppo
site sex, Neeld said.
Quoting psychologist Carl Jung,
Neeld said, the five senses provide
constant stimulation for our psyche.
“The psyche can never reach equi
librium because data is always com
ing in,” he said. “If energy is stored
in the unconscious, it can be brought
up at a later time when the psyche
deems it necessary.”
Neeld also discussed the autonomy
of complexes, which are the emotions
surrounding a subject that an individ
ual’s psyche finds sensitive.
There are four ways to control
complexes, Neeld said.
“A person can remain unaware of
the complex, identify the complex,
project the complex or confront the
complex,” he said.
Neeld said, however, that con
fronting the complex is the only true
opportunity to consciously control the
psyche.
“To free oneself from the complex
one must recognize how the complex
has affected their behavior and
change it,” he said. “One must aV.n
stop projecting negatively.”
Projections, as defined by Neeld,
are imagined views of others or of
oneself. They can be positive or neg
ative.
on Nov. 2,1
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titution calls f”!
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ting statement!
his message as
iced” that!
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