HUBSDAYNOVEMBER 1, 2001
Texas A&M University — Celebrating 125 Years
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BONFIRE
We're not going to compromise safety ... if that means 2003, that means 2003.
If that means not at all, then not at all. — Bryan Cole, Bonfire 2002 facilitator
Bonfire in the balance
T
•s
FILE PHOTO • THE BATTALION
Nov. 24, 1998 — Texas A&M’s 89th Bonfire
burns on Tuesday before the University of
Texas-Texas A&M football game.
FILE PHOTO • THE BATTALION
Nov. 18, 1999 — Bonfire stack collapses at
2:42 a.m., killing 11 students and one former
student and injuring 27 others.
FILE PHOTO • THE BATTALION
Spring 2000 — The logs from stack remained
on the Polo Fields pending an investigation. The
logs were not removed until Summer 2000.
MI E PHOTO • THE BATTALION
May 2, 2000 — The Special Commission on the
1999 Aggie Bonfire Collapse cites tunnel vision
and structural faults as causes for the collapse.
By Sommer Bunce
THE BATTALION
Negotiations with the unnamed
New York-based safety consultant
with which Bonfire 2002 planners
hope to contract are entering a third
week of stalemate.
\rv a process that planning offi
cials said is already pressed for
time, the delay has
■
resulted in a domi
no effect on the
timeline of plan
ning for Bonfire
ffSl. Design firm
CBM Engineers of
Houston was to
have met with a
safety firm over the past months to
review the 14 possible designs and
narrow the options down to three of
the safest designs by today, Nov. 1.
COLE
Bryan Cole, the Bonfire 2002
Steering Committee facilitator, said
he fears the implications of the
revamped time schedule and its
effect on the possibility of having a
Bonfire in 2002.
“The longer this draws out, of
course, the greater the potential for
Bonfire not to happen in 2002,” Cole
said last week. “We're starting to
push it if they sign on later than this
week. We’re not going to compro
mise safety — we’re not going to
push it to get it done. If that means
2003, that means 2003, and if that
means not at all, then not at all.”
A final design for Bonfire was to
have been chosen Dec. 15 after the
student body had time to review the
three finalist designs. Now, Cole
said, these plans are in jeopardy.
A&M President Dr. Ray M.
Bowen was to consider the commit
tee’s recommended Bonfire design
and decide in January if Bonfire 2002
would become a reality. If it takes
longer to have a final design ready to
present to Bowen, Cole said, then
Bowen’s decision — and all the steps
to implement the planning for
Bonfire that would come after it —
would be delayed.
Aside from planning concerns for
Bonfire 2002. Bowen said this month
the estimated $1.5 million price tag
for Bonfire was too costly and might
force the University to reconsider
plans for future Bonfires.
The price tag includes the esti
mated $500,000 cost of previous
Bonfires and the cost of CBM
Engineers’ more than six months of
work on Bonfire. The $ 1.5-million
estimate also includes projected
payment for the services of a safety
consultant.
Two safety firms have backed out
of negotiations with Bonfire 2002
planners since June, citing money
and time constraints and a lack of
student involvement. Looking to a
third, $3-billion New York-based cor
poration that Cole said he cannot
name, planners were hoping to have
an agreement on pay and amount of
work required as recently as two
weeks ago. Cole said.
“We’re just not getting a response
from them |the safety contractor],”
Cole said Wednesday. “The longer
we go, the tougher it’s going to be to
get this done.”
David Godbey, the A&M contact
for the firms and A&M assistant
director of physical plant for design
and engineering services, said plans
for Bonfire are much more compli
cated than normal contracts. Godbey
said he does not know whether the
safety consultant, which has a main
branch in Texas, will sign for the
Bonfire project.
“We’re trying to wrestle this guy
to the ground,” Godbey said. “But I
don’t know. I can’t predict the future.
It depends on if we can make a deal.”
When Marak Safety Services
dropped out of contract negotiations
Oct. 1, planners immediately con
tacted the New York firm. Cole said.
CBM Engineers’and the Steering
Committee, which includes several
student leaders, held two meetings
with the firm to explain the Bonfire
project and what would be required
of them.
On Oct. 14, Godbey said he
expected to hear from the firm that
week. In daily statements over the
course of the past three weeks,
Godbey and Cole have both expected
TODAY
'JDS
‘“-SOLD
10
10 GIA Cert.
10
iMONDS
mam
Page 1B
Permanent
memories
• Students share
reasons for getting
tattoos and the
stories behind them
SPORTS
GIA Cert.
EGL Cert.
iMONDS
EGL Cert.
EGL Cert.
EGL Cert.
EGL Cert.
IDS
nc,
inis Bracelet
No. 14
A&M sweeps
Oklahoma
Ags earn fifth
straight win
OPINION
Page 5B
Scraping
the bottom
Minority enrollment
a problem, but
admitting top 25
percent not a solution
WEATHER
TODAY
HIGH
83° F
LOW
60° F
TOMORROW
Ags rewarded for RWB Out
By Rolando Garcia
THE BATTALION
Joining the throngs of
Aggie fans Sept. 22 waiting in
line to buy red, white and blue
“Standing for America” T-
shirts for the football game
that afternoon, David Evans,
Class of 1961, was taken
aback by this outpouring of
patriotic fervor in Aggieland.
But it was the breathtaking
sight of Kyle Field decked in
red, white and blue, Evans
Will present relief funds personally
said, that convinced him the
students who organized the
project had made a statement
to the world about the unique
ness of the Aggie spirit.
“Nowhere but Texas A&M
could such a project could have
been pulled off in such a short
amount of time,” Evans said.
At the meeting of the
Baytown A&M Club that
week, Evans, president of the
group, described what he saw
at Kyle Field and the mem
bers decided to send the Red,
White and Blue Out' organiz
ers to New York City so they
could personally present the
money they raised to benefit
the families of policemen and
firefighters killed in the Sept.
I l terrorist attacks.
The five students, Eric
Bethea, Nick Luton, Kourtney
Rodgers, Cole Robertson and
Josh Orsinsky, will leave for
New York Nov. 7 and return
Nov. I l. On Nov. 9, the stu
dents will formally present
checks to the relief-funds of
the Patrolman’s Benevolent
Association (PBA) and the
Uniformed Firefighters
Association at the PBA head
quarters in downtown
Manhattan, just five blocks
from the site of the attacks,
said Tim Sweeney, associate
director of the Department of
Student Activities and a plan
ner of the trip.
RWB Out sold more than
See RWB on page 2A.
See Bonfire on page 4A.
Aggie
Review
to resume
printing
By Melissa Sullivan
THE BATTALION
B-CS post
offices take
precautions
By Jonathan Kolmetz
THE BATTALION
In light of recent anthrax attacks that
have turned envelopes into deadly weapons,
mail handlers in Bryan-College Station post
offices are taking extra precautions.
"We feel that there is no immediate threat
for our postal workers in the Bryan-College
Station area," said Vanessa Kimbrough, a
U.S. postal inspector in Houston. "But
gloves and dust masks have been made
available to all postal workers."
No B-CS post offices have had any
items test positive for anthrax.
In the College Station Post Office, 10
percent of the 120 employees wear gloves
A&M grads facing fewer
jobs in current economy
By Christina Hoffman
THE BATTALION
The economic downturn that began
before Sept. 1 1 was worsened by the
attacks and has left many graduating
seniors wondering about the job market
they are coming into after four years of
college isolation.
The current unemployment rate
stands at 4.9 percent, which is higher
Companies
seeking A&M Grads
* of On-Campus
Interviews
t of Companies
interviewing
FALL 2000 9,100
FALL 200 T 8,700 I 500
than the standards set by the economic
boom of the 1990s, said Professor
Dennis Jansen, head of A&M’s econom
ics department. A job market that in
1999 allowed college graduates to pick
and choose their offers is not quite so
open to graduates now, Jansen said.
“The job market is tighter than in past
years, caused by the economic slow
down,” Jansen said. “The unemployment
rate is almost at five percent, and that is
certainly higher by the standards of the
last decade, but not the highest, and his
torically, it’s been much worse.”
Many companies are cutting jobs
and cutting back on capital expendi
tures, Jansen said. The computer indus
try has been affected by other industries
cutting back technology costs and air
lines have come to the verge of bank
ruptcy after the attacks and resulting
decreased ridership. The economy
✓-* /-v I 1 1 /4 z-1 « f-1 » / ft /"• ♦- 11 ■ 1 t < f-r r-> • y—v »-• /"■
In the Kyle Field pressbox,
coaches, NFL scouts and
reporters from newspapers,
radio and television stations
clamor to record the play-by-
play action. The reporters work
on deadline with the knowledge
they will have a story for the
next day.
But one privately funded
Texas A&M media organization
has attended every home game
in the pressbox this fall with no
publication afterward.
The Aggie Review’, a conser
vative journal established in
Spring 2000, publishes sporadi
cally. Diane Samuelson, pub
lisher, said the Review is a
monthly publication, though it
was published six times in the
last academic year and has yet to
publish this year.
“We are just slow getting the
ball rolling this semester,” said
Samuelson, a senior political sci
ence major. “Academics come
first, and if it slows us down, it
slows us down.”
The Review was last pub
lished in April. Samuelson said
the next edition is expected on
campus stands today.