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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBonfire Collapse (1)P A 4 Frida Y November 19,1999 ~~ High 79, Low 58 Partly cloudy ~~ Forecast /B7 ~ ~~ ~_ ^.^.~... Pxac 50 cents "How can we ever forget what happened here?" Bonfire tragedy stuns Aggi `Family' sl By COLLEEN KAVANAGH Eagle Staff Writer Robert Smith was awakened early Thursday morning by a frantic :phone call from his daughter, Meghann, a student at Texas A&M University, "There's been a horrible acci• dent," she said through sobs. "You'll probably hear about it on the news. I'm OK." The elder Smith immediately decided to make the three-hour ~ppart .swell ~ Housing assistance /A3 trip from Beaumont to College Station to comfort Meghann after Aggie Bonfire collapsed. He also said he wanted to help his daugh• ter and hundreds. of other stu- dents as crews launched a res• cue~and-recovery effort after the towering, 40-foot pyramid of logs came roaring dawn, crushing some students to death and injur• ing dotiens of others. " What neither of the Smiths s for ~-.&M expected, however, was the amount of help that the Aggies would get from the Bryan•Col- lege Station community =the extended A&M family. Boxes of food,.. water and soft drinks poured into the site. Stu- dents and community members prayed near Bonfire as rescuers worked. Hotels offered free lodg- ing for family members of stu- dents killed or injured in the col- See HELP, Page A2 ~. Heard, a freshman from _ DANIEL N0$1ES Houston; Lucas John Kim• mel, a freshman from Cor- Texan A&M j°11Of pus Christi; Bryan Allan McClain, a freshman from San Antonio; Chad Antho- ny Powell, a sophomore from Keller; Jerry Don Self, a sophomore from Arlington; Nathan Scott West, a sophomore froth Bellsire; Miranda Adams, a soplio- ! more from Pasadena, Texas; and Michael Ebanks, a ' freshman. One former ..student also was killed, Christopher David Breen of Austin, who graduated in 1997 and once was active in building Bonfu~e. It was unclear why he was working at the site where, at the time of the accident; as many as 70 students hung from safety belts while working. 'Two of the bodies remained pinned in the wreckage well into the night. Crews removed the last body, that of Adains, at about 1 a.m. Friday. Authorities said it was "more than likely" that no others remained trapped under the small mountain of logs:. Along with several hundred others helping, junior Daniel Nobles was asked to leave the inside of t,~e perimeter at about 4:30 p.m. 1 r "T think they knew at that point that there probably / wasn't hope for those left inside," Nobles said as his. friends gathered in clusters with tear-soaked faces. Many stood helplessly, not knowing what to do next. "This is such a helpless feeling," said Nobles, whose neighbor was killed in the disaster. "Everyone out here helping is a hero right along with the students who died this morning. They will never be forgotten by us. This is a huge school, but this is like a death in our family. How can we ever forget what happened here?» Structural engineers worked side-by-side with res- cue workers, though with a different mission. ; Lifted by cranes, firefighters were armed with chainsaws to cut through wires binding the logs, while engineers, along with the University Police Department, began a tedious investigation into what caused the logs to crater. The only other time in its 90- year history that Bonfn•e fell was in 1994, but the rea- son was well-known: torrential rains soaked the area. Four bodies were recovered soon after Thursday's violent collapse. But the last two students rescued within seven hours of the accident paved the way for hope that the lives others who were unaccounted for would be spared. Those hopes faded as one by one, bodies, covered in white sheets, were carefully pulled from the wreck- See TRAGEDY, Page A3 Beer e~S Ilfe Y g A Jasper County jury returned a life sentence Thursday for Shawn R1ValY~ The Bryan and Klein football teams wiR renew their old rivalry INSIU~ Business...,B4 Landers .. Classified ... D1 Lottery Comics...... D2 Movies; .... e . BT 61 . B8 63 The Eagle online: www.theeagle.com www.aggiesports.com . -= ° o ~o _~~'_-~~-~ Allen Berry. in area playoffs. s.. Crossword...D3 Obituan Gartlen....: B5 Opinions .:. Horoscope .. D2 Weather.... : . B2 . BT ~~~ recycle .~.,...,..,.~ r----N s Region/B1 Sports/C1 "~ e e o~~unl Stack colla se p .kills 11 students, leaves 28 hurt By KELLY BROWN Eugle Staff Writer In seven frantic seconds, the Texas A&M Universi- ty Bonfire collapsed before dawn Thursday, taking the lives of at least 11 of its creators and leaving a wound in the heart of Aggieland. Most of those killed were working on the top level of the 4Q-foot stack of togs when. it crumbled without .warning jus# before 2:30`a.m. Thursday. Twenty-eight'students were injured as one of Texas ABM University's most prized traditions buckled.. Among those taken to the hospital were four stu- dents who had to be < < Everyone extracted from the pile of out here helping more than s,ooo togs. is a hero ri ht The students killed in g the accident include: Jere- along Wtth the my Richard Frampton, a students who senior from Turlock, calif.; Jamie Lynn Hand, a died this freshman. from. Hender• m0rning.1 son; " .Christopher Lee Texas A&M Unlversfty sophomore Erin Delcareon holds up her pot as she prays dur• eyed for the memorial while rescue workers continued working at the Bonffre sRe ing a tearful vigil held at Rudder Fountain on Thutsday afternoon. The students gath• after the 40•foot stack of logs crumbled just before 2:30 a.m. Thursday. - - _ _ „ C ~ k i } I~~T`S: Texas A&1~ soccer team faces Nebraska, C1. INSIDE;1VIost Texans su ort school ra er A2. . pp p Y { ~~~~ High 78, lQw 44 Sunda Partly cloudy ,'>,~'` I November 21,1999 ~ skies ~~~ I.:. Forecast IA7 ` i~ Vo1.125, No. 325, 6 sections Bryan-College Station, Texas $1.25 A GRIEF OBSERVED i < <~e were all planning on finishing before Friday night. I guess it doesn't matter anymore." - CHAD HUTCHIN3DN Bonfae ~llapae survivor Sophomore Chad Hutchinson was woric~g the mklnlght to 6 a.m, shMt when the Bonflra stack collapsed earty Thursday momint. The 19-yearold crew chief Is recovering at St. Josa~ Ragbnal Health Certtar In Bryan. Ella Soto Butch Ireland • • • ~ Surv~vor~ recall tra is details o~ fat~~ul n~ ht .. g ~ By LAURA HIPP Sitting in a chair in his hospital room Saturday, When Hutchinson regained consciousness later Eagle Stq~'Writer the'sophomore industrial distribution student Thursdayat 5t. Joseph Regional Health Center, he from Houston said his location on the 40-foot pile asked his father what had happened. ' alloons and colarfbl posters lined the walls of logs was "as high as you could get at that "I was ~ little disappointed Bonfire wasn't going and the smell of dozens of bouquets filled the point." to burn," ~e said. air of the hospital rooms. Hutchinson said he didn't notice anything The stack :wasn't leaning or swaying before it But Chad Hutchinson couldn't smell the flowers unusual about the stack before hearing a pop. He fell, Hutctinson said, and he was tying the bottom sent by well-wishers. The 19•year-0ld Texas A&M told his father, Bill, it was the loudest he'd ever half of onr log to others.. Then the stack rollapsed, Bonfire crew chief still had tubes inserted in his heard. with it filing in o~ direction and him flying m r nose. "The only thing I remember is hearing lots of the other. Hutchinson was working the midnight to 6 people cussing," he said. "Then I wake up, and I a.m. shift on the fourth stack Thursday morning. was in the hospital. I just knew it wasn't good." See RECALL, Page A5 INSIDE ~ local memorial services, funeral times /A~ i Victim profile /AS ~ Hundreds attend funeral in Bellaire /A9 ~ Internet support /A9 ~ letters /A10 .Cheer Fund 1999 Here are the first contribu• a tions to the 1999 Cheer Fund: .,,Wayne & Mary Saslow ............. $100 Kiwanis of College Station....... 150 "Lions Club of Bryan ..500 ~, Anonymous .......... 50 ` New Chapel Baptist Church ..............25 Itt honor of my three sons, Mrs. Jack Borden ..... 50 Anonymous .........100 Sidney & Janet Loveless .............. 25 "Evening Study Club.... 50 ' Today's total ...... $1,050 } Total to date....... $1,050 Contributions may be sent 'to The Cheer Fund, P.O. Box j 3000, Bryan, Texas 77805.3000. Losses stagger Corps Rangers aiding Bonfire in ui By JOHN HIRSCH Eagle St[~'Writ~ Timothy Doran Kerlee Jr. received a pair of senior boots and a saber from his Corps of Cadets unit as he lay in his hospital bed after being critically injured in the Bonfire accident Thursday at Texas A&M University. On Friday evening, Kerlee, a 17•year•old sophomore from Bartlett, Tenn., became the 12th to die in the accident, which injured 27 others. Corps spokesman Joseph "Doc" Mills said Saturday that Squadron 16 wanted Kerlee to be "comforted." "They wanted him to feel good and know they were caring about him and that he was a part of their outfit." The death toll fell particularly hard on the Corps, which plays a key role in building the Bonfire stack, tt'aditionally set afire in a pep rally before the A&M-University of Texas foot- ball game. Of the 12 people killed, eight were either active or former cadets. "We've never experienced anything like this. It's something, that we're just day-to-day trying to figure out what to do with," sophomore cadet Dustin Greene said. "We lost a lot of good boys. That's something we'll have to deal with," he said, Greene said he knew one of the people killed, Lucas Inmel, a freshman cadet - or "fish," as they're known in the Carpe. "He was a great .kid, an unbelievable 8esh- man," Greene said. Law enforcement officers. from A&M, the cities of Bryan and College Station, and aBryan- based Texas Ranger plan to meet Monday to dis- cuss the investigation of the Bonfire accident, said Bob Wiatt, director of security and univer- sity police at A&M. He said there's no particular significance in the Texas Rangers participating in the investigation, See CORPS, Page A4 Children mirror convmun 's 'ef Kids struggle to grasp weight of tragedy By COLLEEN KAVANAGH ,1, ~, and JOHN LeBAS Eagle Stc~'Writers ;~. -~:` ~~ 0 .. aMr~ 5 ~ 3 v ~ " Five-year-old Kayley Brauer, ~ ~ ~ ~ too young to fully grasp the +~. ~~! ~~n ~ tragedy of Thursday's Bonfire col- lapse nonetheless wanted to spell ', ' ~ " `'~~ a `~ ~~ , ~ ~~~~ out her wishes for the 12 Aggies h ti~~ ~ w o died. " ~ ; " - " I will remember you and miss " ~ you, Kayley .asked her mom to writ _ Y~ ~ ~ ~~ e. A - The Brauer. family then visited the Bonfire site to leave the note and a bouquet of flowers. -.. - __. - _ _.._ _ . ~- ~ ~ "We told her they cut down - k. ~ ~~ ° _ _~ trees to make a fire to burn before -.. _. - - ~ th ° id K l ' h ' e game, sa ay ey s mot er, Amie Br "Whil th + _ Texas A&M Univereky senior Jaws Yeager studies the AgQe rings at the makeshR! namorial In front of the auer. e ey were doing it, something happened and ~ € letters of condol~ce, poems and growing ium-her ~ Adminhstration Bulldksg on Sabrday. it fell on some kids. ~„ *~" ~~ "~}: Veteran officer hit hard b scene "i told her everyone is sad ~ they re never going to see them again. They're in heaven," t She Said. Eagle photo/Ryan Rogers By HELLY BROWN versify, could have prepared him 23-hour anc 40-minute search-and- As the Aggie family tries to .year old Sachs Masuca left a ~~ ~.~ W~~' for what happened before dawn recoveryefort. The next evening, come to grips with the loss of 12 written wish for the 12 fallen Aggles. Thursday. the death toll in the tight-knit young lives, adults are trying to A 30-year veteran agent of the The violent collapse of A&M's Aggie famiil~ rose to 12 when a crit- help children understand that for the fallen and injured Aggies FBI, Bob Wiatt has been at both unlit Bonfire came as some 70 stu• icaIly injut~d student died. death is forever. alongside flowers, notes, helmets ends of a bullet. He's chased down dents, tied to the logs by safety har• "This was the most massive loss Dozens of children held their and clothing left by A&M stu• murderers, interrogated hardened nesses, were working on the 40•foot of life I've seen at one time in my 48 parents' hands Saturday as fami• dents. .criminals and helped resolve one stack. Four of the 27 injured were years of weu~ing the badge," Wiatt lies walked around the remains of On a sheet of construction of America's bloodiest prison slowly and carefully extracted said. "It probably hit me harder Bonfire. It was the first time many paper, an 8•year-old drew 12 smil- sieges. from beneath the logs over asix- than any oher single event in my of the younger kids -even those ing angels -one for each Aggie But nothing in his career, which hour period. career." growing up in Aggie households who died - and a written wish: includes almost 18 years as dii'ec- Eleven lifeless bodies were -visited the campus. for of security at Texas A&M Uni- pulled from the wreckage during a Soe VETERAN, Page A5 Children placed remembrances See KIDS, Page A5 e TODAY'S SMILE I'm smiling because ... "I'm having a good day." Brandon Garrett, College Station ~, + `Forever' family Older children face unique challengEs when encountering the adoption prmess. Brazos Sunday/D1 ~~ ,,u' iATQiTL` The Eagle online; www.theeagle.com wvvw aggiesports.com '-~ n Page A4 The Bryaa•Couege Statron Eagle ~uiaday, NoYember 21,1999 Nation Announcing the addition of MaryA.nn Choi, M.D. ~~ . ` ' '~ t?r. Croi is aboard-certified in Intetrud Medicine and also completed atwo- year felou,ship in Geriatric Medicine, for which she recei~d an additional diptmiw from die American Baird of Intemat Medicine grantittg her °Added Qualifictdons in Gemtric Medicine." „,., ~~- . Senior Health Center p:., 1605 Rock Prairie Road '~ ~ College Station (acrox the street from the College Stataon Medical Center) New patients welcome. Most insurance plans accepted ~ , including Medicare and Medicaid. Far an appointment, call (409} 7645277 (~'~onnar's 1 e ac cow hey ~ ~' p Cardinal who charmed and provol~ed nears retirement ~' BETIi J. ~'~ York's Archdi~ese since 1984. The charismatic men may seem to be a Associaterl'Pr~ss oldest actf bish th NEW YO12K -He's charmed New Yorkers, sided with striking unions and washed the hair of AIDS patients. He's also made ene• mies and headlines over everything from gay rights to rack music. Sueh is the complex legacy of Cardinal John O'Connor, who has led the 2 million Catholics of New ve op m e Umted States, O'Connor had a brain tumor removed in ~ptember and turns $d in Jantt~uy. He recently said in a letter to U.S. bishops that he does not "antici~te continuing in atflce much longer." ' O'Connor's tenure has been com- pared to that of the pope who made him cardinal, John Paul II. `Each of these colorful and Will Birdwell Memorial Scholarship Dinner Past n With sympathy and respect for our Texas... A&M friends, the.. . Will Birdwell Memorial Scholarship Dinner originally scheduled for Thursday, November 25 has been postponed. Call the Eagle Info-ljne 77d-.54613. Sincerely, The Brazos. Valley Texas Exes walking contradiction m terms: rigidly conservative and authori• tarian in matters of doctrine, sexu• al morality and church discipline, but progressively liberal in their commitment to the marginalize, the poor, the ill, the immigrant;,, said Scott Appleby, a historian ~t Notre Dame University. O'Connor has often made waves. Anyone "advocating legislation supporting abortion, or by making public fluids available for abortion .., must be warned that they are at a risk of excommunication," he wrote in 1990. In the late '80s, as the AIDS epi• demic raged, O'Connor barred gay Catholics Pram a Manhattan church where they had met for eight years. He sued the city over gay rights regulations. In response, protesters threw condoms during Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral and chained themselves to pews. Yetunder O'Connor, St. C1are's,a Catholic hospital, opened an AIDS ward. Sometimes, the cardin~t would go there to wash the hair and empty bedpans of people so sick they did not recognize him. And he condemned anti•gay attacks after Matthew Shepard's murder, saty- ing: "There is no room for hatr~l.' Sometimes the cardinal was ridiculed, "SATAN'S SONGS" screamed a 1990 New York Post headline after O'Connor called rock music "a help to the devil." He also chastised baseball leagues for play ing on Good k~iday. Cor ~ ~p From A i which will rely on information provided by independent and university engineers, ' Wiatt said his officers are restricting access to the immedi- ate Bonfire site to make sure investigators have a "pristine" scene to examine. "Every log will not be touched unless it's by an authorized indi- vidual," he said. The university has hired a f"irm to take soil samples at the site, and those samples may be ~rtflf the investigation, ~Wiatt said. Wiatt said there's no evidence of wrongdoinh or negligence in the Bonfire accident. ~ "'Phis is not a criminal fnvesti~ gation, it's a scientific investiga= tion," he said. Wiatt omphasized that,' so far; only rumors have surfaced. "There's been no evidence oi' negligence on the part of the stu= dents,"' he said. "I say to those who say something like that; come foru+ard to the police." , Justice of the Peace George Boyett ordered blood to be drawn from each of the 12 Aggie»i who died, a course of action that is standard procedure, Wiatt said. "Based on statements from the students at the site,' we have na reason to believe there was. drinking or any other inappro• priate behavior," he said. Wiatt also dispelled rumors about the investigation focusing on centerpole, which is Bon• fire's main support beam: "Our focus is everything also dated with the structure, cer- tainly not just the centerpole," he said, Members of the A&M comm~- nity spent much of Saturday try- ing to come to terms with the tragedy. "'Sometimes, you just want to give somebody a hug because that helps," said Sherylon Car• xoll,<associate director of univer~ city relations. Mills cautioned against vieww ing the 1,960•cadet Corps as dis- tinct from the rest of A&M; which has 48,540 students: "I don't think it would be accu= rate to depict us as being some how separate and independent from the student body, and havF ing more or less sentiment for a`ny school tradition," Mills said. At the Bonfire site Saturday, ringed by plastic orange fencing, well-wishers continued to place flowers and mementos in remembrance of those who were killed and injured in the aecit dent, s On Saturday morning, a mourner played Amazing .Grace on bagpipes; the music adding to the alreadysomber mood. } Expressions of grief continued to came in. On Saturday, the White House released a statement from Presn dent Clinton that said: "This is a heartbreaking loss, America stands with the Collage Station community as it joins' together during this difficult time. Hillary and I offer our thoughts and prayers to the fain- dies and friends of those who were injured or killed in this devastating accident." Sunday, November 21, 1998 The Bryan-College Station Eagle Page B7 SPORTS: Br an swee s crosstown basketball B1. REGION:'~'rustees to roceed with and lan, A9. Y p ~ p p p Tuesda Y November 23,1999 No. 327, 3 sections n enrages 'Aggies newspaper pulls Bonfire depiction Bti~JOHN LeBAS Fk~gle StaJJ'Writer The Arizona Republic newspa• per on Monday retracted an edito- rial cartoon that compared the.. Aggie Bonfu~e tragedy to the 1993 Branch Davidian inferno and the murder of a black man in Jasper. The newspaper pulled the car• toon, which ran in Friday's edi- tia~ and remained on the paper's Wlab site, but stopped short of an aRglogy for the illustration that drew thousands of protests. The fast frame of the cartoon, drawn by Republic staffer Steve $enson, depicts the burning Branch Davidian compound in Waco. The second frame shows a flaming cross and Ku Klux Klan members to represent Jasper, where a man was killed in 1998 in a racist hate crime. Lastly, the cartoon shows the crumpled Bonfire stack at Texas _R&.~1~. The litho of tk:..vr~hi.~n iu "Texas Bonfire Traditions." The drawing was pulled from the Web site, www.arizonacen- tral.com, on Monday, and editori- alpage editor Keven Willey posted a retraction. Willey's retraction says Repub- lic editors should not have , app~~moved Benson's cartoon for ptblication. She also wrote that z]xe Republic received nearly 2,Ot~ e-mails and telephone calls • protesting the cartoon;- - "If I had it to do over again, we would not approve.. this cartoon for publication," Willey wrote. "The cartoon sought to link three See CARTOON, Page A2 A&M postpones °iflephant Walk Elephant Walk, a traditional event for graduating seniors, has been postponed a week, A&M officials announced Sun- day. Like elephants that wander off to find a secluded place to die, seniors will walk around cam- pus, visiting various places for :< he last time before reaching their burial site. They will walk from Kyle Field to Duncan Field, passing the Bonfire site. The class of 2000, deemed unneeded after the final Aggie football game, will celebrate on ~~`Tuesday, Nov. 30. They will meet at Kyle Field at 1 p.m. and begin their walk at 1:40 p.m. The E Station, ~~~~ ,. High 73, Low 63 Showers and ~.. storms early -~- Forecast /A7 ^..~...^ 0 cents 'exas Texas A&M"freshman 1J. VI-asham, who was friends as he Is released from St. Joseph Injured in Thursday's Bordire collapse, Is Joined Reglona! Health Center In Bryan. He lost his Monday by his mother Geraldine ,(right) and spleen and a kidney as a result of his Inlurles. Group details inquiry steps Lawyer to review Bonfire data By KELLY BROWN Eagle 5ttr,~'Writer Law enforcement officials and Texas A&M University authorities met behind closed doors Monday to outline the orga- nization of an inquiry into last week's fatal Bonfire collapse. A&M officials said all information col• lected by the University Police Depart- ment -including statements from wit- nesses and any allegations -will be passed to the school's legal counsel, Scott Kelly. ~~` The data collected then will be forwarded to a commission that A&M President Ray t Two injure Bowen expects to leave hos iti appoint by the end of the P week. The special task ~ Ch.15 t0 farce will be sharked memorial SE with reviewing all facts end accusations coIlect• /Funerals I ed by the federal, state, $onfire vlCth c~ and school authorf- ~ 1BS 01~ J officials said most of at Austin rai the 20 to25 people at the meeting were directly 1 ed 'th th minutes before the collapse, or even from that day," Villarreal said. "We're hoping someone out there might have saved on their computer the live feed that was shown on the Internet. Unfortunately, it was not taped." Students and other witnesses who were at the site early Thursday are asked to call 845.2345 to set up a time to be interviewed. Anticipating the rain that fell Monday evening, officials erected a tent over the site and centerpole was moved to an off- site area where it would mvo v an a ewer gency response to the Thursday morning accident. University Police Det. Sgt. David Villar- real said the police department is still try ing to make contact with all the witnesses who were at the site at the time of the acci• dent. "We really need to talk to each and every one of them," Villarreal said; adding that police have taken statements from about a dozen students who were at the site. Other university officials also are gathering statements. °We'd also love to get bur hands on a photograph or video taken of the stack • le ir~~ux h nd nselors a Cou sy LAURA inrF ~ tressed over the tragedy, she said. Eagle StajJ`Writer < <Now that things By Monday, the center handled Counselors at Texas A&M Uni- versity are gearing up to help grief stricken students as the reality of the Bonfire tragedy sets in. In the past 2~ hours, calls have poured in to the HelpLine with questions of guilt and possible sui- cide. Soon after the student-run Bon- fire toppled Thursday killing 12 and injuring 27, callers began ask- ing counselors for details of the accident and whether classes would be held, said Kerry Hope, associate director of student coun- seling services. That day, the HelpLine fielded about 150 calls from students, facul- t, x er1~s to ins ec ~, p . p ~~~ . n f Tees ortio 0 By BLAUt FANNIN testimony was to communicate FagleStat)'Writer the urgency -for .safety improve- ments made to the roadway that is A deadly stretch of Texas 6 part of the "Aggie Expressway" between Navasota and College running north and south from the Station will be studied by state Bryan-College Station area to safety experts, officials said Mon- Houston. ~y~, "I asked them if we could groove The seven•mile stretch of road- the highway to reduce the Vvay between F.M. 159 and the hydroplaning when it rains," ~iavasota River has been the site Ogden said. "Also, a flashing light bf 73 major accidents resulting in could be put into place that reads eight deaths and 41 injuries dur- `Slippery When Wet.' The other trig the past 13 months. thing that I pointed out was that it ,~ A Texas Department of Trans- didn't make sense to have acon- portation safety team this week Crete barrier on an improved part ~Nill be studying the road, State of roadway until you get to the last en. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, mile by the river." announced. Staples showed Commission Ogden and South Brazos Coun• members pictures from accident ty 7!'ire Chief Emily Staples both scenes, and explained how dan• testified about the highway in gerous it was for rescue personnel Austin last week before the Texas to .perform their work because of Transportation Commission. ggden said the purpose of his See INSPECT, Page A8 are mare concrete and the reality of the loss is set in, things are beginning to hurts ~ - KERRY HOPE Assoaate director of student counselmg'services ty and community members shocked about reports from friends and the media. "People are sort of numb #o their emotions in a lot of ways," Hope said. Since the weekend, more people have phoned in crying and dis- more than 300 phone calls. "'That's just a huge volume ~Or us "she said. "The calls are coming in very quickly." . The numbers of counselors on the nightly shift has been doubled, she said. The HelpLine expanded its services to 24-hours-a•day, which will continue until Monday. Even after the operation time returns to 9 pm, to 8 a.m., the coun- selingservice will be gearing up for more serious calls. "We're particularly concerned about the. next three weeks," Hope said. "Folks are going to be left wfth_empty places that are hard to See INFLUX, Page A8 Golf course foes consider recall of B an council ry By COLLEEN KAVANAGH Eagle Stat)"Writer Opponents of the city of Bryan's plans for a golf course and resort project said Monday that they might try to recall the City Council if voters are not allowed to decide the issue. Beth Price, chairman of the recently formed political action committee, Citizens In Action, said the group will ask the City Council at Tues- day's meeting to take the issue to the polls. "Call your city council, show up at meetings," Price urged the 85 people who attended the com- mittee's fast meeting. Bryan Mayor Lonnie Stabler defended the city's Tradition Golf -Club at University Ranch, which would be home to Texas A&M's golf teams. He said the council is charged with making such operational decisions, and the city will benefit from the public•private partnership. In July, the city announced plans to develop the west side golf course and resort project. The See OOLF, Page A8 l TOD1~Y'S e oodb in Sa INSIDE ine: The Eagle on SMILE y y g g Business. . B7 lottery A9 B6 www.theeagle.com ~~ ....~.~o Thousands. of mourners gathered in Classified .._ Ci Movies, ... .. www.aggiespons.com ~ g ~ ~~ I'm smiling because ... churches across the state to bid farewell Comics...... B8 Obituanes .Ail ~ ______~,_~ ' "I know Jesus." to five of the 12 Bonfire victims. Crossword... B8 Opinions.. . A10 fi; ....~~ a ~' Horoscope .. B8 Sports . . .. B1 ~ r - Donna Mushlnski, Region/A9 Landers ..... A7 Weather..: .. A7 Heame a .u. . `„ '^ r.. ~ ~ t ;; eP~ - ~ ~ . p'., be kept from the rain. The investigation will ~~E .look not just at center- `L pole -the spine of the stack, which at comple- StudentS tion stands 55-feet tall ~A2 with six levels -but at the cables and all other 'broadcast portions of the struc- ICe AZ ~~ officials said. Cindy Lawson, execu- Id fOr flVe five director of universi- /A9 ty relations, said the one-hoar tnPatin~ Mnn- :OngllOrnS day was a debriefing of ,a9 sorts. "All the agencies involved with the acci- dent were present to tie up loose ends," Lawson said. "Some fn this group will be called upon later to assist the commission in its inquiry: All thece agen- cies will now be pooling together their information for the commission." Attending the meeting were firefighters and police from College Station and Bryan> A&M administrators, representa- tives from student services, the Texas attorney general's office and university yelations. Bob Wiatt, A&M's director of security, has said since ~iday that his depat"t• See INQUIRY, Page A2 Eagle ptroto/uave mcuermana Bryan freighters and rescue workers visit the Bonfire site Monday. The group assisted in rescue efforts when the 40~foot pyr~nkl of logs collapsed early Thursday moming. Eagle photo/Dave McDermand ~_.__J.,,. ~I.~,nmlmr ?3. 19~J' page A2 The sryan~Canege 3tanon ~+~ .,.~~...,, •-- ~~`~ Rebroadcast Cox Cable Channel 15 wiH rebroadcast Sunday's Bonfire Memorial Service held at Bryan's Central Baptist Church at 7 p.n~. Tuesday and Wednes- day, at 5 and 7 p.m. Thursday, and at 8 a.m. and 7 p.m, Friday. Two Bonfire surviv~:~rs released By LAURA HIPP Eagte Staff Writer A scar on his stomach and a few scrapes are the only visible reminders of the accident that claimed the lives of J.J: Washam's roommate and ll c '' reHmo said he was wiring logs on Aggies working on the 4t ~ the second stack of Bonfire when pyramid of logs that co? Thursday manning. the Pita of lags Megan to shift, Washam, 19, was relea~~ a ; m "1 remember it moving and 1 St. Joseph Regional He ~'ili Cr~n- knew it was coming dawn," he ter bn Monday, as way ~~~~,~th.en said. "1 actually remember falling injured student; Chad i~,achin- from that stack. I blacked out a son, l9. couple of times." f He said he doesn't know how PAYNE, WATSON, KLING MILLER bt MALECHEK, P.C. nnenneis at i+u PROUDLY ANNOUNCES THE ADDITION OF WALTER S. CAMPBELL AS AN ASSOCIATE OF THE FIRM. 3000 Briarcrest Drive • Suite 600 Norwest Plaza P.O. Box 6900, Bryan, TX ?7805 Bryan, TX 77802 (409~776~98~0 Facsimile • (409~73~~8333 As Washam was escorted out o he hospital by his parents and long he was trapped under a log about a dozen friends, he recalled }~~ butarelnemberssthat he was. the events of the night... As a result of hIS injuries, his .grateful to be on the edge of the Left kidney and spleen were pile and not in the middle. last on many readers:' r Benson an Monday declined to comment on the cartoon. He teferred to Willey's calutnn far ~I"Ultt'I ~ ~ _ l an explanation of the retraction. ~ _ __ - ! ~ "Steve's point in doing the car- __ _ recent American tt , ,,,,,;,, <<'~!'~ tour was to highlight common share na meaningful t'.~; themes, he saw in the three Thus, the cartoon's me~sa~„ _ ,.~~ ti~a},eilly's which he found dis• ~I~y E -~~~ o~E ~'~.EE! of ~1u ~ .value (We rememla~r what ~`amily Meals are ail about! Buy any ``menu entree and two betierages at regular price. and' ~receiue another entree of equal or lesser lralue for free! Campus Blq~ Col~tge ~4atlon 846.9184 -607 , ~ a l"l 14b3 tbiv~rsity Dr. ~91~ S~ ~'~~as ~ ~' : ~~~±` • Please px~se~nt e~us:~n [anu,l t ~ rt~Elav 6 a.1n, to 1(~p.m. whenoxdeiing ~` i \ ~!nl tI-25arI1-26) Dine in {lnly ° Not"Valid wi+", aaivothe~r ft~• O~fRer~ire~1~~J wr orr sw rwrs n nos it~l from Brya p Washam's roommate, Lucas it to keep going." Kimmel of Corpus Christi, died in Washam plans an attending the accident. Kimmel's funeral Tuesday in Car- He said training to work'on pus Christi, and the candlelight Bonfire was thorough, and fresh• vigil and yell practice Thursday. men wear a white strip on their tither victims of the accident pants to identify themselves. remain haspitalt~d Monday ." At °We had our sophomores and St. Joseph Regiollal'~alth Cen- juniors who've been there in the ter, Bill Davis was upgraded to past show you how to do stuff,". he serious condition and Chip Thiel said. remains in fair condition. Washam said he would like to At the GoIlege Station Medical see Bonfire continue• Center, John Comstock remains "It's part of the school," he said. in critical condition and Dolllh~ic "Everybody that died would want Brous is in serious condition, - turbing -chiefly that all three tragedies occurred in Texas, resulted from poor judgment and caused needless deaths," Willey wrote. "Unfortunately, in this instance, Steve's premise was weak and the manner in which he chose to communicate it was susceptible to misinterpretation. "His editors are responsible lion monitoring taste and clarity, and we erred in approving this car- toon." Willey did not return phone calls seeking further comTr~E~nt after the retraction was pub- lished. At least one company, Tandy Corp. of Fort Worth, suspended advertising with the Republic. in protest of Benson's cartoon. "We believe it was very -dis• tasteful and inappropriate," said Tandy spokeswoman Lau~•a Moore. She said Tandy pulled ads for the corporation's Radio 511ark stores, and company officials plan to discuss the cartoon with Republic directors, "We understand it's an editori- al "Moore said, "but we cert.t i my as a company don't conrtene Chase views, and it doesn't me„h with the values we have in our company „ The cartoon also raised thev~e of thousands of Aggies. Internet "bulletin boards" dedicated ao discussion about A&M have over- flowed since Friday with zueG- sages of protest. Inquiry ment's involvement is gearF'd toward keeping the scene se~l~re while helping organize the evi- dence and information for the sci- entific investigators. Structural engineers will deter- mine how the 40-foot tall pY~Irid collapsed, crushing to ,death 10 men and two women. Eleven of the dead working on the studentaRUl project were currentau~ dnin ~~ while another had . .1997. Another 27 students ~vere injured in the violent collaps<~ ? 1 ~<<t required achy-long .search acid rescue effort. Wiatt's officers sealed off the site, much like they would a crune scene. The investigation is being described as a scientific inquiry, rather than a criminal matter, No evidence has arisen to indicate the matter involved misconduct an anyone's part, o~cials have said, Thursday's mctdent drew illter~ national attention to College Sta• tion almost instantly as hundreds of media de§cended urn the acci- dent. site at the main entrance to campus. By Monday, the number of television satellite trucks had dropped from more than 35 to less than 10. Family, students and adminis- trators turned their attention to the funerals of four students an Monday with more scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. Memorial services continued across Brazos County while droves of people made the pilgrint- age to the site. There, flowered memorials continued to grow around the orange plastic perime- ter fence where letters ,and plaques show a shared heartache. More than a dozen coated senior rings have been left nekr the. Administration Building on campus, offerings to the 12 who died building one of the school's most popular traditions. Enveloped in grief, the campus found some peace in the autpour• hlg of condolences sent from citi• tens and college campuses from throughout Texas, including `a banner from Baylor University students.