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WEDNESDAY
February 23, 2000
Volume 106 ~ Issue 97
14 pages
\ * I ftih'lk'J II
Commission requests more time, money
BY ROLANDO GARCIA
The Battalion
An exhaustive interview process and insurance pre
miums for the consulting firms are driving the cost of
the bonfire investigation past the $1 million mark, in
vestigators said.
The Special Commission on the 1999
Aggie Bonfire Collapse met Tuesday to as
sess the progress of the accident inquiry
and were informed that the investigation
team, composed of four engineering and
consulting finns, would also need an ex
tension of the March 31 deadline.
“Clearly, we’ll need additional funds
to complete the investigation, but there’s a few un
certainties preventing us from having an exact fig
ure,” Jon Zagrodzky, co-chief of staff to the com
mission said. “The final deadline will slip by weeks,
not months. The nature of investigation and research
is such that future work is difficult to plan and find
ings can extend schedules.”
Zagrodzky added he would present more precise
budgeting and timeline information to the commission
later this week.
“Our team has been quite frugal in their approach
to this when you look at the complexity of the task,”
Commission Chairperson Leo Linbeck, Jr. said. "We
all wish this investigation could be completed faster,
but our goal is to find the truth of what happened, and
we cannot jump to conclusions with quick answers.”
Additional funds for the investigation must be ap- (
proved by the Texas A&M Board of Regents.
Among the factors fueling the need for more money,
Zagrodzky said, were the premiums for insurance poli
cies that would cover the legal expenses of the firms if
they are called to testify or give depositions in accident-
related lawsuits.
Investigators had planned to conduct at least 250 in
terviews, but that figure could balloon to 400 or more.
“If there’s a new lead, we have to follow up with an
interview, and that adds time and cost,” Zagrodzky said.
Kent Lietzau, co-chief of staff to the commission,
delivered progress reports from the four teams work
ing on the investigation to the commission.
Fay Engineering, which was tasked to study the his
torical design of bonfire, has compiled the specifica
tions, such as stack dimensions, log strength and den
sity, and rope tension, from recent bonfires.
“They’ve been able to construct a composite design
as to how bonfire should have been built,” Lietzau said.
Packer Engineering reported that they have com
pleted a comprehensive examination of centerpole, the
log at the center of the bonfire stack that served a crit
ical support function, by evaluating the quality of the
wood and analyzing the fracture points.
Packer has also collected samples of the soil at the
bonfire site. In particular. Packer will be looking at the
soil around centerpole and the four perimeter poles.
In the coming weeks. Packer will complete the soil
analysis and will review interview reports and docu
ments to reconstruct precisely what occurred immedi
ately before and during the collapse.
Performance Improvement International (PII), a
firm hired to examine the human factors that may have
contributed to the accident, is continuing its study of
documents, interview reports and
the procedural manuals students
used to build bonfire. All the infor-
“ mation Pll collects will be entered in
a database, Lietzau said, and will
then be verified before the data is en
tered in a separate data base to be
shared with the other teams.
“We won’t just take the information at face value. It
will have to be validated and corroborated by other ev
idence before we draw any conclusions,” Lietzau said.
Kroll Associates is in the process of Conducting inter
views, and has so far completed nearly 100 interviews.
Among those present at the meeting was Dominic
Straus, a sophomore agricultural business major who
was injured in the bonfire collapse. He said he attent-
ed the meeting because he was curios to see how the
investigation was progressing.
Straus, who has already returned to classes, suffered
tom muscles on his upper ann, shoulder and chest, and
is still undergoing treatment.
While he is taking a wait-and-see attitude toward the
investigation, Straus did not hesitate to share his
thoughts on the future of bonfire.
“I’m looking forward to see the tradition continue
as a memorial to those who died,” he said.
Thompson, RHA meet
BY RICHARD BRAY
The Battalion
Bonfire yellow pot and crew chief
positions will not exist until the investi
gation into the cause of the 1999 Aggie
Bonfire Collapse
has concluded and
decisions have been
made about the fu
ture oi’bonfire.
Bonfire adviser
Rusty Thompson
will speak to the Res
idence Hall Associa
tion lRHA] during
the RHA meeting
Wednesday night about a temporary hold
on planning for a bonfire next year.
Thompson said bonfire organizers
are waiting now for the decision to be
made as to whether bonfire will actual
ly be held next year.
“We just want to make it clear that
we do not have any plans for Bonfire
2000,” he said. “We are acting as if
there is not going to be a bonfire next
year until we hear otherwise.”
THOMPSON
RHA will also be discussing the pos
sibility of bringing the College Televi
sion Network [CTN] on campus.
The CTN is a television-program
ming option available to college cam
puses free of charge. It consists of music
videos, news from CNN, commercials
and announcements for upcoming events
on campus.
Tara Gray, the R1IA vice president
for programs, said RHA will vote on
CTN’s use on the campus.
Gray said that if RHA approves
CTN, it must still be approved by oth
er organizations on campus.
“Our approval is not going to be the
deciding [factor] that brings it on cam
pus,” she said. “It still has to go before
MSC Council and the Student Govern
ment Association.”
The channel consists of about 40
minutes of music videos, five minutes
of news, eight minutes of commercials
and one minute of campus announce
ments every hour. CTN cyrrently
reaches 700 colleges and universities
and 1.7 million students each dav.
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33-8575
McCain wins in
both primaries
DEf ROIT(AP) — John McCain thumped George W. Bush in a two-state sweep
Tuesday night, rallying a “new McCain majority” of independents and Democrats
in Michigan and winning his home state of Arizona to seize momentum for a two-
week blitz of Republican primaries.
“Asl look more electable, we’ll start drawing more Republicans,” McCain, who
received just one fourth of the GOP vote, said in an interview with the Associated
Press. “What 1 believe we are assembling is the new McCain majority.”
1 lumbled by defeat, the Texas governor said, “This is a marathon and I ’m going to
be in it all the way to the end — and some primaries you win and sometimes you don’t.”
McCain’s is the latest victory in a see-sawing Republican nomination race. The
Arizonan won New Hampshire’s leadoff primary in a landslide, lost fhe followup
showdown in South Carolina and won Michigan by a narrow margin.
In each case, Bush and McCain forged mirror-image coalitions: Bush with an
overwhelming majority of bedrock Republicans and McCain reaching outside the
party fora similar-sized force of Democrats and independents.
Open to all comers, Michigan’s primary actually drew more non-Republicans
who outnumbered Republicans.
Bush supporters bitterly dismissed McCain’s victory.
“John McCain isn’t party building, he’s party-borrowing,” said three-term Michi
gan Gov. John Engler, who accused the senator of “renting Democrats” for the night.
Englerhad promised to carry Michigan for Bush, and took blame for the defeat.
McCain won all of Arizona’s 30 delegates with his victory there. His statewide
victory in Michigan earned him 10 at-large delegates, with the remaining 48 dele
gates to be allocated according to the winner of each congressional district.
Interviews with voters as they left polling places showed that more than half of the
Michigan voters were non-Republicans — independents and Democrats who voted in
far larger numbers than in 1996. Three-quarters of McCain’s vote came from the non-
Republicans, and three-quarters of Bush’s vote came from bedrock Republicans.
Voter News Service, a consortium of the Associated Press and television net-
gorks, conducted the interviews.
In a whirlwind 48 hours after the South Carolina primary. Bush and McCain trad
ed accusations of negative campaigning in Michigan. Each complained that the oth-
erwasusing automated phone calls to voters to make inflammatory religious attacks.
The negative talk did not turn off voters, who showed up in far higher numbers
than in 1992 and 1996.
Safe
GUY ROGERS/Thi Bai iaijon
A&M freshman centerfielder, David Evans slides into second base during the baseball game against Sam Houston State University
Tuesday afternoon. The Aggies lost 2-1 to the Bearkats. Refer to story on page 9 for more details about the game.
Fair shows off-campus living
Pl iBl ir ' AN candidates Housing event invites property owners, students
INSIDE
Michigan and Arizona Primaries
BY BRADY CREEL
The Battalion
For Amber Smith, a sophomore psychology major, the deci
sion to come to Texas A&M led to another decision facing all in
coming freshmen and transfer students—“Where should I live?”
Every semester, students like Smith face the question of
whether to live in a residence hall or off-campus.
Students will have a
tch
rs
lips)
ipted.
707 Texas Ave. |
Bryan
822-2141
John McCain Gt&rqt W, iuth Alan K@yw
Michigan 49% 45% 4%
Arizona Won all delegates — —
RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion
Bush drew fewer number of bedrock Republicans than in South Carolina. Mc
Cain’s mixed breed of voters — blue-collar economic conservatives, union mem
bers and Baby Boomers — voted in far larger numbers. His coalition was reminis
cent of the voters who put Ronald Reagan into the White House then became a
battleground for Democrats and Republicans in subsequent presidential elections.
McCain did better among veterans than in South Carolina, and appeared to have
greater success convincing voters that he was the race’s true reformer and straight
talker. In addition to his success among Democrats and independents, McCain earned
the support of an overwhelming percentage of new voters, two-thirds of the people
who had never before participated in a GOP primary.
In the Michigan battleground, McCain supporters said they liked him because he
stood up for his beliefs. In exit polling, they split their top issue between Social Se
curity and moral values.
Bush voters were younger, more affluent, anti-abortion and strongly conserva
tive. They cited his conservative values as their top reason for voting for him. Reli
gious right voters also preferred Bush.
Four in 10 voters said both candidates attacked unfairly, though the bickering
seemed to leave Michigan voters with a more negative impression of Bush than Mc
Cain. That is a reverse of polling from South Carolina.
—ift
l bodi itowi
1 It a lit
9 month
chance to look at Housing
options at the sixteenth an
nual Housing Fair, being
held in the MSC from 9:30
a.m. until 2:30 p.m.
Over 50 property own
ers will be on hand to rep
resent over 80 apartment
complexes and other hous
ing choices in Bryan-Col-
lege Station.
Jennifer McReary, coor
dinator of Off-Campus Stu
dent Services, said staff
from Off-Campus Student
Services will be available to
assist students who are looking for housing. The new 2000 Off
Campus Living Manual will also be available.
Smith said she enjoyed her freshmen year in Legett Hall,
but her decision to ultimately move off-campus in College Sta
tion was decided by the offer of easier access to restaurants and
shops while still being near campus.
“You feel like you are part of a college life because you are
here in the middle of everything — and it is central,” Smith said.
o 11 * c a m p us
firyan o
. . fiof)
One question many students are concerned with is the lo
cation of their residence — “Should I live in Bryan or College
Station?”
Smith said she chose to live in College Station and, although
it is notably more expensive than living in Bryan, she said the
close proximity to campus and greater feeling of safety justi
fied the additional living expense.
“I feel safe when 1 go out to run at midnight because it is all
college students,” Smith
said. “I would not feel
safe doing that in Bryan.”
Other students elect to
remain on campus be
yond their freshmen year.
Texas A&M Univer
sity has an on-campus
housing capacity of
10,490. The residence
halls can house 8,096,
Corps of Cadets housing
has a capacity of 2,184
and Cain Hall can hold
210 students.
The Princeton Re
view’s Complete Book of Colleges reports 32 percent of Texas
A&M students live on-campus, whereas Texas Tech Universi
ty only houses 23 percent of its students on-campus and the
University of Texas houses 15 percent.
“The greatest asset is the close proximity and the ease of
becoming involved in campus activities,” said Sue Foster,
See Housing on Page 2.
RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion
• Ags host
Iowa State
Women's bas
ketball will try to
win its third
home game.
"jit ,( | A; j ' > „ !
• Taking note of online
services
Students turn to Websites
for assistance. Page 3
• Cutting
down on pol
lution and
oliticians
Page 1 3
• Listen to KAMU-FM 90.9
at 1:57 p.m. for details on
filing court fees online.
Check out The Battalion
online at
battalion.tamu.edu