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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 1994)
Page 2 • The Battalion Thursday • October]', How it happened (^AMPUS Rains weaken Bonfire base, structure to collapse feday • 0< cause By Lisa Messer The Battalion A&M officials believe that last week’s heavy rains caused the ground underneath Bonfire to shift, prompting Bonfire to come tumbling down Wednesday. Dr. Bill Kibler, assistant vice president for stu dent affairs, said it became obvious to officials at the Bonfire site that Bonfire needed to come down be cause the stacks had begun to shift. “It was due to a shift in the ground underneath stack,” Kibler said. “We’ve had a great deal of rain out here.” Last week, 16.5 inches of rain drenched the Bra zos Valley within a four-day period which caused massive flooding and damage in the community. Kibler said the shifting caused centerpole to crack but that the cracked centerpole was not Bon fire’s original problem. “There was nothing wrong with the center- pole,” Kibler said. “It is cracked now because of the shifting.” Dale Pennington, a Texas Agricultural Extension Service soil chemist, said the rains College Station received October 16-19 most likely caused the Bon fire stacks to start leaning. “If there are heavy rains. Bonfire can get out of kilter,” Pennington said. Dennis Driscoll, an associate professor of meteo rology, said that because the hole for centerpole was dug before the rains fell, the rains probably con tributed to the shifting of the massive structure. [Jeremy K ieIattai ion “The rains make the soil less stable,”Drj said. “There may have been a deep layerofsjtt ed soil. It is now dried out enough tom ground shift.” Pennington said when the ground shifts, starts to have a slope and one side becomes than the other. “The soil becomes suspended in water,”hu* ton said. “That can easily get things out ofbakJ 1 Pennington said people’s movement aromiq Bonfire site adds to the instability of the grouiii “A problem is constant activity on reali ground,” Pennington said. “That makesit[j| quicksand. The ground gradually become a quagmire.” Pennington, Class of ’61, said Bonfire'Coli once before in 1957. _ “It fell the Sunday before the Thanksgi^jljJ^^® 1 ^^-^ days,” Pennington said. “We hadthesamer; then as now. That was the year the Brazos Ri went over its banks. “We peeled everything out and redrilled tkek for centerpole. Centerpole had broken in ha!,’ The 1957 Bonfire was rebuilt by the student) in three days and burned on the scheduled day, Kibler said the A&M administration didnot(j cel classes for three days in 1957 and will n classes this year. Pennington said the 1994 Bonfire can time just as the 1957 Bonfire did. -, >-) > “If the students want a Bonfire,” he saidffe , id the videos |ket Case” :ene again teenage ai ex Pistols (id have L kss for cur jn Day anc $pin magaz rear as “tl mccess of rought th the undei mstream. Bonfire can be rebuilt/ At 9:00 a.m. Wednesday workers at the Bonfire site noticed that it had begun to lean. The redpots ordered the area clear for safety. Later in the afternoon, the redpots decided to tear down the stack and rebuild Bonfire. The cause of the lean is not known for certain, but most A&M officials believe that the heavy rains last week caused the ground to shift. The shifting ground caused the Bonfire to have a slope, where one side was heavier than the other, Dale Pennington, a soi chemist, said. This is not the first time Bonfire has collapsed before it was lit. In 1957 heavy rains led to Bonfire's collapse. Classes were canceled and the student body rebuilt the '57 Bonfire in three days. Bonfire Reaction Continued from Page 1 Photos by Blake Griggs, Stew Milne and Tim Moog After Matt Segrest, commander of the Corps of Cadets, said the Corps will help rebuild Bonfire. “The Corps will go out and support it even if it just a pile of logs because of what it repre sents — the burning desire to ‘beat the hell outta t.u.,’” he said. Other students, like Russell Robertson, Class of ’94, said they will also pitch in to help re build it. “If they rebuild it,” Robertson said, “ I’ll be out here to help.” Angela Winkler, a pink pot, said she is confident that Bon fire will be rebuilt. “Don’t worry,” she told a group of students, "They are go ing to rebuild it and it will be awesome.” Robert Bragg, a graduate stu dent in architecture, said that starting over and rebuilding Bonfire is exciting. “It’s exciting to see what they can do with it,” he said. “I’ve been here through many Bon fires, and I think this adds a lit tle excitement.” Brooke Leslie, student body president, said that students should take advantage of this situation to show others Aggie Spirit. “This is a fantastic opportuni ty to prove to the rest of the world what Aggie Spirit isii: about,” she said. Trent Ashby, a seniorysi leader, agreed with Leslie tlii this is an opportunity to slk our Aggie Spirit. “People should come out r build the hell out of Bonfire ar.i show their Aggie Spirit,li said. Despite the legend tha: Bonfire falls after midnight A&M will beat t.u., or if it! before midnight, there wills another outcome, John Bar: head stack redpot, said the Ay gies will win. “It has fallen beforemidnigt: for the past several years ai: we still “beat the hell outtat./ he said. [TV. Tour pt on Wooc id punk ii for Offspr ige Count; inum with id their song Jut Dr. Les | professor dties, has [ement of t is today’s ] $ A <s Class of ‘75 Superior criminal trial experience, 75% of this court’s docket. Jim for J UCEge County Court at Law #1 Pd. Ad For Locke - Betty White. Treasurer • 8108 Bunker Hill, C.S., Tx .T + 260-2660 Tickets on sale Sunday 10/30 5-7 PM 6-9 pm 9 pm - Mid SUN 10/30 MON 10/31 TUE 11/1 ^ ^ I’l IYS 201 I I’raclice Tcsl V*. I)r. 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DOCTOR OF OPTOMETRY 505 University Dr. East, Suite 101 College Station, TX 77840 4 Blocks East of Texas Ave. & University Dr. Intersection Here, last month, 922 good peo got a pin prick, and earned themselves $46,000 cash ....and helped people they never knew! They sat back on big leather lounge chairs and relaxed or studied for exams. They exchanged recipes, talked about love, children, life, happenings, boys, girls, politics, tomorrow,freiic class, car repair, baseball, fishing, and delivering kittens. In 60 minutes they wereu and away, cash in hand, feeling good. You have never opened a door on a friendlier place and the regular extra money is very nice. Everybody needs you. It s that easy Westgate Plasma Center 4223 Wellborn Rd. 846-8855 [Velvet Urn Constan I Battalioi ost p origi prog Tadine fig sode. For /exposur Since then have beco: dfitness. I erly can b Introducing Stella Herrera Jjljf ; J ’ “iLc > j./'f //iii Ii IT 11 JBattalion BELINDA BLANCARTE, Editor in chief MARK EVANS, Managing editor HEATHER WINCH, Night News editor MARK SMITH, Night News editor KIM MCGUIRE, City editor JAY ROBBINS, Opinion editor STEWART MILNE, Photo editor DAVE WINDER, Sports editor ROB CLARK, Aggielife editor dpjflfzrirtsy tAe ta test tetAntgues in Astir sty Acs/ tuts stud toAfirs. 2d* f72«f ^ristrserest/ A£> r y / t yt m /<?d ftevYi SYSTEMS SALON ^yiAswTtytsf tAc }I*trtKi>yiy pfi ^pnr ~ATesiHty / TfertAtA and \JH/tAHy /fpr tAe 7&S Staff Members City desk— Jan Higginbotham, Katherine Arnold, Mic hele Brinkmann, Stephanie Dnlic,Amamlr Fowle, Melissa Jacobs, Amy Lee, Lisa Messer, Tracy Smith and Kari Whitley News desk— Robin Greathouse, Sterling Hayman, Jody Holley, Shafi Islam, Tiffany Moore, Sun Stanton, Zachary loops and lames Vineyard : •' Photographers— Tim Moog, Amy Browning, Robyn Calloway, Stacey Cameron, Blakeprig{s/'' l j Painton, Nick Rodnicki, and Carrie Thompson Af’f’iclife— Margaret Claughton, Jeremy Keddie, Constance Parten and Haley Stavinoha Sports writers— Nick Georgandis, Kristina Boffin, Tom Day, Drew Diener, Stewart Doreen Hostead Opinion desk— |enny Magee, Lynn Booher, Josef Clchanan, Laura Trnka, Aja Henderson, [rm H ' ; leremy Keddie, Michael I andaoer, Melissa Megliola, George Nasr, [lizabetliP lfljr T Gerardo Qoezada and Frank Stanford Cartoonists— Greg Argo, Brad Graeber, Alvaro Gutierrez and Qoatro Oakley Office Assistants— Heather Fitch, Adam Hill, Karen Hoffman and Michelle Oleson Writing Coach— Timm Doolen * The Battalion (USPS 045-360) is poblished daily, Monday throogh Friday during the fall and'P nr ‘- semesters and Monday through Thursday during the summer sessions (except University holier j exam periods), at Texas A&M University. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battalion, 230 Reed McDonald Building, Texas AS' University, College Station, TX 77843. News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in d' 0 . Division of Student Publication, a unit of the Department of Journalism. Editorial offices arc in dj Reed McDonald Building. E-mail: BATT@TAMVM1.TAMU.EITU. Newsroom phone numheris 1 1 3313. Fax:845-2647. Advertising: Publication of advertising does not imply sponsorship or endorsement by The Batn For campus, local and national display advertising, call 045-2696. For classified advertising, o’ 845-0569. Advertising offices are in 01 5 Reed McDonald and office hours are 8 a.m. to5p nl ' Monday through Friday. Fax: 845-2678. i ^ Banasih