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Volume 109 • Issue 105 • 14 pages Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Thursday, February 27, 2003
Gates: Bonfire will not burn in Fall 2003
Vending litigation a concern
By Janet McLaren
THE BATTALION
With litigation pending and
iis predecessor’s past delays in
tie balance. University
tresident Robert M. Gates
mnounbed Wednesday that
Aggie Bonfire will not burn
tiis fall.
In a letter addressed to fac
ulty and students. Gates
explained that he will postpone
a decision on the future of
Bonfire until lawsuits arising
from the 1999 Aggie Bonfire
Collapse, which killed 12
Aggies and injured 27 others,
are resolved. This is the first
time in his seven months as
president that Gates had made
an official pronouncement on
the fate of the University’s 90-
year tradition.
“1 have concluded that any
announcement, decision or
change in the status quo
regarding the future of Bonfire
would be inappropriate while
litigation is still on-going,”
Gates said.
Trial dates have yet to be set
for the six federal and seven
state lawsuits filed by families
of the Aggies killed in the col
lapse on Nov. 18, 1999.
University Relations Deputy
Director Lane Stephenson said
he could not speculate on when
tklitigation would be complete.
Steve DeWolf, an attorney
representing four of the vic
tims’ families in court, said
lawsuits in the state courts
would take years to resolve.
DeWolf is representing the
Breen, Davis, Kimmell and
Scanlon families.
“I am currently involved in
a federal case that should have
some clarity within a year,”
DeWolf said. “But all of the
state court cases in the Brazos
County courts will take two
years at least.”
DeWolf said the University
has refused to discuss settle
ment with the families or their
attorneys.
“We have tried multiple
times to get A&M or some of
its insurers to sit down and
resolve this, and they just seem
disinterested,” he said. “That is
hard for me to understand.”
DeWolf said the University
has said that it will require one
offer from all plaintiffs before it
will agree to discuss a settlement.
DeWolf said litigation pro
ceedings should not prevent
Bonfire from returning this year.
“I don’t know where litiga
tion comes into this decision,”
he said. “In my view, because
Bonfire is such a revered tradi
tion, it should go forward as
long as it can be done in a safe
way—which it obviously can.”
Vice President for Student
Affairs J. Malon Southerland
said he agreed with Gates’
decision.
“I support President Gates’
decision 100 percent,” he said.
Included in Gates’
announcement was the deci
sion to declare Nov. 18 an offi
cial Bonfire Remembrance
Day “in honor of those who
lost their lives and were
injured.” Gates also said the
Bonfire Memorial, which will
be dedicated Nov. 18, 2004,
will “be exempted from all
budget cuts from this date
through its completion.”
Southerland said next year’s
Remembrance Day will be offi
cially recognized, although
classes will not be cancelled.
“Everyone appreciated the
form last year’s unofficial
remembrance day took,”
Southerland said. “This year’s
will probably bear some
resemblance to that.”
RHA meeting
focuses on funds
By Rolando Garcia
THE BATTALION
After a lengthy and heated
debate, the Residence Hall
Association General Assembly
voted down a resolution
Wednesday condemning the
group’s officers for abusing
their authority and misspending
RHA funds.
At issue was the decision by
the RHA executive council to
spend $500 on a half-page adver
tisement that ran in The Battalion
rebutting criticisms of the organ
ization leveled in a Feb. 18 opin
ion article by Battalion columnist
Nicholas Neumann.
“Given the current budget
constraints, spending that kind
of money to dispute one naysay
er seems extravagant and self-
serving,” said James Murray,
president of Clements Hall and
a sponsor of the resolution.
Murray added that the offi
cers’ action was indicative of
what many on-campus residents
feel is wrong with RHA.
“There is a sense among res
idents that RHA is worried too
much about public relations
instead of serving their con
stituents,” he said.
RHA President John
Casares, said it was necessary to
respond quickly to inaccuracies
in Neumann’s column and that
there was not sufficient time to
consult the RHA assembly to
approve the expenditure. He did
not submit a letter to the editor
because the officers were doubt
ful The Battalion would publish
it, Casares said.
One delegate complained
that Neumann’s criticism that
the organization spends too
much time bickering over inter
nal matters was underscored by
See RHA on page 2A
Bonfire decision notes StudctltSy J'CltTllllCS dlSClppOtfltcd
Bonfire will not burn
until litigation finishes
No trial dates have been
set for the lawsuits filed
against the University
travis SWENSON • THE BATTALION
Source: DR. ROBERT M. GATES AND
STEVE DEWOLF, LAWYER FOR PLANTIFF'S FAMILY
By Janet McLaren
THE BATTALION
Students, parents and alumni reacted
to University President Robert M. Gates’
announcement Wednesday that Aggie
Bonfire will not return to campus this fall
with a mixture of disappointment and
hope for next year.
Nancy Braus, whose son Dominic
was injured in the Bonfire collapse, said
litigation should not prevent the return of
Bonfire.
Dominic Braus was a freshman when
Bonfire fell, and is now a senior agricul
tural business major.
“I do not think that (litigation) is a
valid reason,” Nancy Braus said. “Of
course litigation is a factor, but if you
See Students on page 2A
Watch your step
Alissa Hollimon • THE BATTALION
Junior Speech Communications major Lauren Huly con- the University to pay close attention to steps and ramps that
centrates on not slipping as she walks up the steps of could be slippery. Sand was spread on these critical areas to
Bolton Hall Wednesday morning. The weather has caused prevent student injuries.
War plan targets Saddam Hussein
By Barry Schweid
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Bush administration on Wednesday
dismissed a compromise proposal by Canada
to set an end-of-March deadline for Iraq to
comply with U.N. disarmament demands.
After Secretary of State Colin Powell con
ferred by telephone with Foreign Minister
Bill Graham, State Department spokesman
Richard Boucher said the proposal “only
procrastinates on a decision we all should be
prepared to take.”
Boucher recalled other governments tried
earlier to set a deadline for Iraq. But he said,
in the meantime “we have heard from
inspectors again, again and again” that Iraq
had not agreed to fully disarm.
Earlier, President George W.Bush
offered to Canadian Prime Minister Jean
Chretien “a resolution that he thinks is the
way to go,” said spokesman Ari Fleischer.
“He’s confident in the end that his position
will be accepted and voted on,” Fleischer
said of the president.
Bush also called Prime Minister Peter
Medgyessy of Hungary, a country which
has supported the U.S. position, to thank
him for that backing. Bush noted that the
Hungarian parliament voted to authorize
the transit of U.S. equipment through
Hungary, Fleischer said.
As the administration pressed for a vote
on a U.S.-British-Spanish resolution
designed to back the use of force to disarm
Iraq, Bush called Saddam Hussein “a master
of disguise and delay” and mocked the Iraqi
leader for disclosing some weapons that he’d
previously denied were in his arsenal.
“The danger with Iraq is that he can strike
in the neighborhood and the danger with Iraq
is that he has got the willingness and capaci
ty to train al-Qaida type organizations and
provide them with equipment to hurt
Americans,” Bush said.
Meantime, Russian President Vladimir
Putin’s chief of staff, Aleksander Voloshin,
held a third day of meetings with senior U.S.
officials. Since Monday he has talked to Vice
President Dick Cheney, Powell and
Condoleezza Rice, Bush’s national security
adviser. Bush dropped into the Rice meeting.
Bush also stepped into a meeting with
President Geidar Aliev of Azerbaijan, a coun
try 250 miles northeast of Iraq, which has
backed the U.S. call for Iraq’s disarmament.
Amid indications that Russia could be
moderating its opposition to forcibly disarm
ing Iraq, Boucher called the hour-long
Powell-Voloshin meeting “very, very good”
and said “we will see if there is an opportu
nity to narrow the gap.”
Bush was to give a speech on Iraq
Wednesday at the American Enterprise
Institute, a Washington think tank from which
he drew many of his aides. He was expected
to argue that getting rid of Saddam would
make the Middle East more stable.
Construction on Traditions Golf Course to continue
dr and other inf°
By Bernhard Hall
THE BATTALION
The final hurdle for building the new
Traditions Golf Course was cleared Tuesday
when the Bryan City Council voted to relinquish
control of the land for the course to the Melrose
Corporation.
The vote passed unanimously with the only
amendment being that Melrose Corp. would be
an equal partner with the city of Bryan. The pre
vious plan called for the city to be a subordinate
partner.
The Traditions Golf Course, which has been
delayed since construction began in October
2002, will be home to the Texas A&M men’s and
women’s golf team for both practice and
matches.
The 18-hole course, co-designed by golf leg
end Jack Nicklaus and son Jack Nicklaus II, will
also include an indoor practice studio, player
lounge, locker rooms and a study area for the
golf teams, Higgins said.
The course is located on 240 acres in Bryan,
approximately five miles from campus.
Melrose Corp., a recreational community and
club development company, began construction
on the site last fall without the council’s
approval, and construction was halted. The com
pany’s owners needed the final go-ahead from
the council in order to continue construction and
open the golf course this fall.
The city council had sharply debated the
project at earlier meetings.
“We’re very excited,” said A&M Head Coach
J.T. Higgins. “It’s the final hurdle for us, and to
see it passed unanimously was big.”
Melrose Corp. will use the land as collateral
in order to receive an $8 million loan from Gold
Bank of Oklahoma City to fund construction of
the course and facilities.
The land surrounding the golf course is still
owned by the city’s development subsidiary, the
Bryan Commerce and Development Corporation,
and will be developed at a later date, most likely
for high-end homes or possibly a hotel, according
to the Bryan-College Station Eagle.