"
RNS, 20-16. Pg. 7
am a former student’
working in NYC. Like!
I am in shocked distj
horrible tragedy,
e not been back to Ag.
ost 15 years, but like;
bond is just as strong:
as when I last walked!)
io when I heard the r; 0
f someone I knew, a
ny family had died.
»the world
dy heartfelt condok
ie victims and theirft
also to the entire
ie wake of the unforti
: at the bonfire,
houghts and prayers.
am halfway aroundtliei
my friends and fam
i keeping me up to
)ly saddened by the
y young Aggies. I havei
ace of my Aggie rii
ribbon in remembri
o It’s just a little soi
nd me of the victims
lies this week. Theywi)
nind and in my heart.
Stacey
Manat
vould just like toexi
» sorrow at hearingtlts|
e Bonfire accident,
speak for all students
gn land that have
in saying thatattei
mething that always
you and I hope thatatl
the Aggie spirit pn
jch is the scale of the
;vent that here in Engli
Matured as a story on
news programs,
numb at this event a
o the families of all tlx
d in any way bythishoni
ilways felt Silver laps
)f the greatest of Aggiel
, and I am just sorry tin
e unable to attend.
106 YEARS AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
nday • November 29, 1999
College Station, Texas
Volume 106 • Issue 63 • 10 Pages
eginning the healing
GUY ROGERS/Thi: Battalion
Fans wear maroon to show support
for football team, accident victims
IP BEATO/Thf. Battalion
CODY WAGES/The Battalion
- Clockwise: (Above) Mourners gather at the site of the Bonfire collapse Thursday for the sunset gathering. (Top right) Redpots gather
Exchange S& Vound Milton “Chip” Thiel, a senior agricultural economics major, who was released from St. Joseph Medical Center Wednesday.
Lancaster Unlvet Bottom right): Mourners hold candles at the solemn yell practice held Thursday night at Kyle Field after the sunset vigil.
Britain M
BY BROOKE HODGES
The Battalion
When Alice Ann Freeman stepped
onto Kyle Field for senior yell at Friday’s
game against the University of Texas, she
looked up into the stands and saw a sea
of maroon and the spirit of Aggieland.
Freeman, associate director of Ma
roon Qut and a senior biomedical sci
ence major, said the view of the stands
was inspiring.
“We went to the field and looked up,”
she said. “It gave me chills. I was in awe.
Our students, our families and friends,
mixed in the maroon.”
Freeman said both Texas A&M and
UT were well-represented in the stands
even though Maroon was the dominant
color.
“You could see the orange mixed in
with the maroon and you could see how
both schools came together,” she said.
Kyle Valentine, director of Maroon
Out and a senior finance major, said last
Friday’s Maroon Out was more signifi
cant than those in the past because of
the recent loss of 12 Aggies.
“It was so much more meaningful
that everyone came and wore maroon
and remembered the friends we lost [in
the Bonfire collapse],” he said.
Freeman said she knew Maroon Out
would be overwhelming against UT be
cause the school seemed even more
united after the loss of their fellow
classmates.
“I had feelings it was going to be suc
cessful,” she said. “Because of what hap
pened there were people asking where
they can get shirts.”
Valentine said the T-shirts were de
signed to show the fans support of the
Twelfth Man.
“Last summer when we were design
ing the shirt, we put the 12 to signify the
Twelfth Man,” he said. “We thought it
would be neat to see the students and
former students walking into Kyle
Field.”
see Maroon on Page 2.
ie Battalion encourages lettesl
etters must be 300 wordsffjj
i the author's name, class 1
ler. I
ie opinion editor reserves the)
'unset gathering draws thousands of mourners
BY BRADY CREEL
The Battalion
.ast Thursday’s sunset at Texas A&M
s for length, style, and accv®
>e submitted in person at OliH
Id with a valid student ID. lette®
ailed to:
The Battalion ■ Mail C*i
013 Reed McDonald i, . .., .
Texas A&M Univers#! diversity was unlike any other.
College station,rx S|rhursday would have been the night
77843-iui ■| 1 fj re burned, and although its flame
campus Mali: mi was not present this year, the eternal
E™iSifitSf ne 5 f ! he " s P irit <!>* c ‘ 1n re'er be told"
mined bright as thousands of Aggies
onverged on the Polo Fields for a memo-
]al candlelight vigil.
■The crowd gathered at dusk and silent-
y surrounded the site where stack stood
ust a week before. Some came alone,
tthers with their families, and many
^me in groups with friends, but they all
'file in remembrance of the 12 Aggies
<ied in the Nov. 18 Bonfire collapse.
[The sea of candlelight represented the
gies’ perseverance through the tragedy,
[loelle Wall, Traditions Council chair
md a senior psychology major, said the
Tost significant aspect of the memorial
was its reverent mood.
“1 was just in awe of the silence that
swept over the whole area,” she said.
Monica Roberts, a freshman chemistry
to your
major, said she attended the memorial
with a friend, and they both were close
to Christopher Heard, one of the students
who was killed when stack collapsed.
Roberts said as she stood at the memo
rial she reflected upon her relationship
with Heard knew he would want her to
stop crying.
“It was like a closure,” she said, “I
knew Chris would want us to go on.”
The Traditions Council handed out
over half of the approximately 80,000
candles it had available to distribute
Thursday night.
Wall said it would be difficult to de
termine how many people were in atten
dance based on the number of candles
the Traditions Council distributed be
cause many people brought their own
candles.
The crowd was so large that many
people could not even set foot on the Polo
Fields. Bizzell and Walton streets and the
lawn of the Jack K. Williams Administra
tion Building were filled with people.
Wall said she spoke with the yell lead
ers and student government leaders, who
said the event’s outcome was positive.
“We couldn’t, bp more happy with how
it went,” she said. “It went perfect.”
As the candles’ flames began to expire,
the crowd slowly dispersed, leaving the
Polo Fields for the pre-game yell practice
at Kyle Field.
The crowd was much larger than that
of a normal yell practice. All of the Kyle
Field ramps were opened, and Aggies oc
cupied each deck of the stadium, includ
ing The Zone.
Jeff Bailey, head yell leader and a se
nior agricultural systems management
major, said everyone had been talking
about the “modified” yell practice, as he
opened the yell practice with a moving
speech.
“The only thing modified about this
yell practice is the location,” he said. “It
is not about tradition, and it’s not about
anything else. It is about standing here
with your fellow man, your buddies, and
yelling for Texas A&M and our team.”
Bailey said Aggies should remember
what Bonfire stood for and why the Ag
gies were working on it.
see Gathering on Page 2.
Two students remain hospitalized
for injuries from Bonfire collapse
BY CHRIS CARTER
The Battalion
The conditions of the two Aggie stu
dents still hospitalized as a result of the
Bonfire collapse remain unchanged dur
ing the weekend.
William Davis, a sophomore business
administration student, has improved and
is listed in fair condition at St. Joseph Re
gional Health Center in Bryan.
John Comstock, a freshman biomed
ical engineering major, is currently in the
intensive care unit of College Station
Medical Center listed in critical condi
tion.
Both victims suffered crushing in
juries that are common to catastrophes
such as earthquakes.
Officials at the Med said a patient in
fair condition usually is stable and con
scious, while a student in critical condi
tion normally is unstable and requires
close, constant medical attention.
Four patients were released from St.
Joseph Medical Center last week: Lanny
BONFIRE TRAGEDY
INJURED
Update
Si. Joseph Regional Health Center
' Listed in Fair Condition: Bill Davis .
' Treated and Released:
Chad Hutchinson Monday, November 22
),h Washam Monday, November 22
Chip Thiel Wednevsday, November 24
College Station Medical Center
• Listed in Critical Condition: John Comstock
• Treated and Released:
Dominic Braus Thursday, November 25
RUBEN DELUNA/Tiie Battalion
Hayes, a freshman computer engineering
major; Chad Hutchinson, a freshman
electrical engineering major; J.J.
Washam, a freshman environmental de
sign major, and Milton “Chip” Thiel, a se
nior agricultural economics major.
see Injured on Page 2.
HtflliT
' 111
JMl
our
h you.
Sports
•A&M
omen’s
asketbal!
Team wins big
-Aggies defeat UT-
Pan Am, 103-52.>
Page 8
•Let the
■countdown begin: 7, 6, 5 ...
Students seek motivation at the
end of the semester.
Page 3
Opinion
•Money for
nothing
Philbin
shows he’s
not game show
material.
Page 9
ticIQIO
Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9 at 1:57
p.m. for information on the Bryan-
College Station community.
Mathematics
Website to aid
A&M students
BY KENNETH MACDONALD
The Battalion
Dr. A1 Boggess, associate head of
the Texas A&M Department of Math
ematics, is expanding students’ op
portunities to get help through the
Internet with some of the hardest
courses A&M offers.
“The system is not yet up and
running, but it should be ready by
this summer,” he said. “The Web
page will be the next level up from
one-on-one help.”
On the mathematics department’s
Website, “e-math,” old exam ques
tions will be answered step by step,
he said.
“Watching a professor do math in
a lecture is only part of what stu
dents need in order to learn,”
Boggess said.
“They must solve problems on
their own. But when they get stuck,
we have resources that can help.”
He said the Web tutorials also
would offer online chat rooms in
BpjkpxQEER
!H Ti II
will offer new services!
©
ew website will
provide old exams
with Questions
answered step
by step
hat rooms for
students to discuss
math problems
Linbeck named chair of investigation
RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion
which students can discuss prob
lems with each other.
Boggess said business math cours
es will be the first to utilize “e-math”.
He said the program eventually will
offer help in every required under
graduate math course.
Boggess said this type of tutorial
suits the unique characteristics of
math better than other disciplines.
“Math involves more visual prob
lem-solving, not just static textual
problems like you would find in oth
er types of courses,” he said
see Mathematics on Page 2.
BY STUART HUTSON
The Battalion
Texas A&M University Presi
dent Dr. Ray M. Bowen an
nounced Friday that Leo Linbeck
Jr., CEO of Linbeck Construction
Corporation, will serve as chair
of a commission organized to de
termine the cause of the Bonfire
stack collapse.
Bowen said Linbeck’s repu
tation for integrity and open
ness, along with his knowledge
of construction, made Linbeck
the best candidates to head the
investigation.
“While we continue to grieve
for the students who were killed
and injured in the Bonfire acci
dent, and our hearts go out to
their families, we must move
forward in addressing these crit
ical issues,” Bowen said.
He said one of Linbeck’s
first responsibilities will be to
select other members of the
commission which is expected
to report its findings to Bowen
by March 31.
Linbeck said his appoint
ment has given him with an
enormous responsibility to dis
cover the cause of the collapse.
“I feel a tremendous sense of
responsibility and obligation to
find the truth associated with this
occurrence,” he said. “This un
dertaking dictates an open and
“I feel a tremendous
sense of responsibility
and obligation to
find the truth
associated with this
occurrence”
— Leo Linbeck Jr.
CEO, Linbeck
Construction Corporation
totally transparent procedure.”
Bowen announced that the
commission will be aided by a
team of University staff mem
bers, headed by John A. Weese,
a professor of mechanical engi
neering.
Weese said his team will be
responsible for helping the
commission find advisers and
to provide the commission with
as much valuable information
as possible.
“Dr. Bowen chose Linbeck
because he was not a graduate
of A&M and would be as impar
tial as possible,” he said.
“In turn, Linbeck is expected
to select members for the com
mission that are also impartial,
as well as expert engineers.
What we hope to do is help
them gather information from
the A&M side of things, as well
as anticipate any of the com
mission’s needs from the Uni
versity. ”
Weese said the commission will
pursue the investigation as thor
oughly and openly as possible.
“We will share information
with as wide an audience as is
consistent with the need for con
fidentiality,” he said. “We must
treat some information from cer
tain sources with an extreme
deal of care so as to protect the
sources who were involved with
Bonfire when it collapsed.”