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 ,
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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.
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Introducing
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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
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City desk— Jan Higginbotham, Katherine Arnold, Mic hele Brinkmann, Stephanie Dnlic,Amamlr
Fowle, Melissa Jacobs, Amy Lee, Lisa Messer, Tracy Smith and Kari Whitley
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*
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