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orship
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Bethel Temple Assembly of God
2608 Villa Maria,
Bryan
776-4835
Sunday Worship 10:15, 6:00 pm
Sunday School 9:00
www.startel. net/bethel
‘Baptist
Fellowship Free Will
Baptist Church
College & Career Class
You are invited to a Bible
study especially for students.
Sunday mornings at 9:45
1228 W. Villa Maria
779-2297
For more information contact
Marcus Brewer: 731-1890
m-brewer@tamu.edu
httpy/www.fellowshipfwb.ora
Community si
Church ixl
►V« Sundays
f 10:00am
% @The Hilton
Hiift Small Groups
^ meet weekly
A 260-1163
WWW.COMCHURCH.COM
IPentecostaC
CatfioCic
<
St. Mary’s
Catholic Center
603 Church Avenue in Northgate
(979)846-5717
www.aaaiecatholic.ora
Pastoral Team
Rev. Michael J. Sis, Pastor
Rev. Keith Koehl, Associate Pastor
Campus Ministers - Deacon Bill
Scott, Deacon David Reed, Martha
Tonn, Maureen Murray, Dawn Rouen
Daily Masses
Mon.-Fri.: 5:30 p.m. in the Church
Tues. & Thurs.: 12:05 noon
in the All Faiths’ Chapel
Sat.: 10:30 a.m. (Korean)
Weekend Masses
Sat.: 5:30 p.m. (English), 7:00 p.m. (Spanish)
Sun.: 9:00,11:00 am, 5:30 p.m., and 7:00 p.m.
Confessions
Wed. 8:30-9:30 p.m., Sat. 4:00-5:15 p.m.
or by appointment.
Cornerstone Church
Mid Week Small Group Meetings
Sunday Service at 4:30pm on George Bush,
just across from campus at the
College Station Conference Center.
485-8744
‘PresByterian
Cfmrch of Cflrist
Covenant Presbyterian
Church
“A welcoming community of faith who reaches out,
cares for one another
& proclaims the love of Jesus Christ to all”
220 Rock Prarie Road
(979) 694-7700
G. Thomas Huser
- Minister
Sunday Service: 8:30 & 11 a.m.
Sunday School: 9:45 a.m.
Aggie Classes: 9:45
Prayer & Praise on Tuesdays: 7:30
fax: (979) 696-4334
www.covenantpresbyterian.org
A&M Church of Christ
1901 Harvey Mitchell Pkwy.
(979)693-0400
Sunday Assemblies:
8 a.m., 10:30 a.m., Sunday Night: 6 p.m.
College Bible Class 9:30 a.m.
Mid-Week “Oasis” 7:30 p.m.
Aggies for Christ
Call for on-campus pick-up info
FIRST
PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH
pL—
1 Helping Aggies grow in faith
1 New Fall Hours:
1 Worship 8:30, 11:00 a.m.
■ Church School 9:30
p Fellowship on the Patio 10:30
^ 1100 Carter Creek Parkway
www.fpcbryan.org
‘EpiscopaC
‘UnitecC MetfiocCist
St. Thomas Episcopal
906 George Bush Dr. • College Station, TX
696-1726
Summer services - 8:00 and 10:00 a.m.
7:30 p.m. Evensong
Next door to Canterbury House,
the Episopal Student Center
A&M United Methodist
417 University Dr. (on Northgate) • 846-8731
Church at 8:30, 9:45, 10:50
College Sunday School 9:30 & 10:45
Sr. Pastor Dr. Jerry Neff
am-umc.org
News
Page 6
THE BATTALION
Friday, October 26,!i
Breen family files lawsui
i
iday, Octol
By Rolando Garcia
& Brandie Liffick
THE BATTALION
The family of Christopher
Breen, one of the 12 Aggies
killed in the 1999 Aggie Bonfire
collapse, sued Texas A&M and
five top administrators
Wednesday, including A&M
President Dr. Ray M. Bowen.
Filed in a U.S. District
Court in Galveston, the suit
alleges the University and the
named administrators violated
Breen’s constitutional rights by
encouraging participation in an
activity they knew was danger
ous and by refusing to correct
safety problems associated
with Bonfire.
The other defendants are Vice
President for Student Affairs Dr.
J. Malon Southerland, Associate
Vice President for Student
Affairs Dr. Bill Kibler, Rusty
Thompson, the Bonfire advisor
and John Koldus, who was vice
president for student affairs from
1973 to 1993.
Steve DeWolf, the Breen
family’s attorney, said the fami
ly never has asked for financial
compensation from the
University. The Breen family
took legal action only as a last
resort because A&M officials
refused to meet with them until
after the two-year window to file
a lawsuit expires Nov. 18,
DeWolf said.
“All the family wanted was
for someone to step up to the
plate and take responsibility,”
DeWolf said. “It would be much
easier to let it go, but this is
about honor and dignity.”
The lawsuit asks for actual
and punitive damages.
University spokesperson
Cynthia Lawson declined to
comment.
The Bonfire stack col
lapsed Nov. 18, 1999, killing
1 1 students and Breen, a for
mer student, and injuring 27
the
It y s the adminis
trators, not the stu
dents, that should be
held accountable,
but all the Universi-
students for
DeWolf said.
The Breen family’s 1
cites numerous internal
ments and memorandum!
argue that A&M adminii
were aware for some
Bonfire’s hazards and<
ing to eliminate the safety
DeWolf said Koldu
named as a defendant be
when Bonfire was movedtol
Polo Fields in 1992, Kol
knew the field’s slope posel
ty did was blame the
students.
— Steve DeWolf
Breen family attorney
safety hazard but recomiw
against leveling the ground,
the years leading up to the
dent, there were severah
signs, including the \%
lapse of the Bonfire stack
administrators chose to
the lawsuit claimed. Ni
was injured in the 195
lapse, and the stack was
and burned.
The special
By TRL
THE B/
others. Breen, 25, was a mem
ber of the Corps of Cadets
from 1992 to 1996 and gradu
ated in Dec. 1997.
DeWolf said the Breen fami
ly did not join the lawsuit filed
in March by the family of Jerry
Don Self, one of the Bonfire vic
tims, because they did not want
to include students as defen
dants. The Self case has not yet
come to trial.
“It’s the administrators, not
the students, that should be held
accountable, but all the
University did was blame the
After splitt
luinsV the
iolorado and
:xas A&M
mping straigl
in into the fri
Saturday’s
wa State will
Aggies’ b
:ch to fin
&M's closini
ition’s third-1
Imaining teai
commiii
tasked by A&M to investisj
the 1999 collapse concls!
last May that the root caus
the accident was a 1u
vision” approach to declined 21-5 reci
making by A&M admimsl The Aggies
tors, in which they disrecrl e a team thai
safety concerns and atoefturies on botl
complex structure to be bui::It tight end. I
untrained students withoui Ante and gone
fessional supervision. lichael de la
DeWolf said the BreeniaAas forced to
filed in Galveston became Meek after bein
federal court's docket felhemiated dis!
not as clogged as others inlsl True fres
and the case would receive it arriger, a coi
lively prompt attention.
neman. has ta
A jury trial will probs id duties.
begin in 12 to 18 months, he
Lawsuit
Continued from Page 1
lawsuits filed by Bonfire victims, but that would
not be just,” Borchardt said.
The lawsuit also challenges the state law limit
ing punitive and exemplary damages and argues
the limits should not apply in this case.
University spokesperson Cynthia Lawson said the
University does not comment on pending litigation.
“We’ll continue to support the families of Bonfire
victims in any way that we can,” Lawson said.
The Bonfire stack collapsed Nov. 18, 1999,
killing 11 students, one former student and injur
ing 27 others. Powell, 19, was a freshman com
puter engineering major.
The Powell’s lawsuit alleges that A&M admin
istrators failed to properly supervise Bonfire and
allowed students to build a stack with inherent
design and structural flaws that made it a safety
risk. The lawsuit alleges the Bonfire student lead
ers were negligent because they did not possess
the technical knowledge to design and build a safe
Bonfire. Also, the lawsuit said, the redpots direct
ed subordinates working at the site to engage in
actions that caused the collapse, such as “weiii
ing” upper tier logs into gaps in the tier below,a
failing to wrap a steel cable around the stack, "
The special commission tasked by A&M
investigate the 1999 collapse concluded theroi
cause of the accident was a “tunnel visiot
approach to decision making by A&M
trators in which they disregarded safety cot 9ach R.C. S
cems and allowed a complex strucfwe to' pMeyer havi
built by untrained students without an
sional supervision.
Borchardt said the Powells were reluctffltto
sue, but felt that A&M administrators stalJ
take responsibility and wanted to ensurethatil
Bonfire continues, it is done safely.
“They lost a son they loved dearly, andtto
loss will be with them for the rest of thei
lives,” Borchardt said.
He added that the Powells have never soul
The Texas A
financial compensation from the University,«l team wil1 be
did they attempt to meet with A&M “'“M 1
resolve the matter before filing the lawsuit.
The families of Christopher Breen andJen; starting this m
Don Self, two other Aggies killed in thecollapsi
have also filed lawsuits against the University
top administrators.
The injuries
&M’s abilitie
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