Friday, November 19, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A • Page 7
Nation
11 students killed and 28 injured when log pile for bonfire collapses
The Associated Press
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — A towering, 40-foot pyramid of logs erected for Texas A&M's traditional football bonfire trembled and then came roaring down early yesterday, crushing at least 11 students to death and injuring 28 others.
Workers hoped to get to the bodies of the two
Two people who had been seen trapped in the rubble in the afternoon were confirmed dead during the night. At least four of the injured were in critical condition.
A wave of grief settled over the campus of 43,000, about 90 miles northwest of
houston. Thousands turned out for a memorial service last night, including former President George Bush, whose presidential library is at Texas A&M.
"For the Texas Aggie family and the world, this has been a day of unspeakable grief and sorrow," A&M president Ray Bowen said.
Rescuers earlier in the day used sensitive sound-detection equipment to listen for moaning or tapping from the enormous pile of collapsed logs and heard scratching noises that led them to believe there were victims trapped.
Top levels of the structure, which is tiered like
a wedding cake, fell off to one side. Workers removing the base level yesterday afternoon were certain there were no bodies in that section. Humphreys said.
Later, school officials said they had accounted for everyone involved in building the bonfire structure.
But the painstaking work was expected to continue into the night as rescuers tried to reach the two people seen in the debris.
Shocked students gathered at the scene, holding hands and praying while the rescue went on. Workers tapped on logs and ordered spectators to be still so they could hear if anyone was still alive.
Texas A&M sophomore Diana Estrada said she was about 200 yards away from the stack when it fell.
"It just toppled over, and the wires snapped and the lights started sparking and going on and off," she said. "We ran over there as fast as we could, and we could see legs sticking out and hear people screaming."
Officials had no explanation for the collapse and said engineers would examine the site.
Sixty to 70 students were on top of the logs trying to build the stack when it suddenly gave way, university officials said.
"I was dazed. I was kind of thrown against the wall," said sophomore Caleb Hill. "For a while, I could see a few people trying to jump off the stack, get out on top of it, out from underneath it."
Sophomore Michael Guerra, who was helping
"People were running around calling people's names and crying," Guerra said. "Other people were just like zombies. They couldn't believe what had happened."
build the bonfire, had left for a few minutes and returned moments after the collapse.
Faculty adviser Rusty Thompson said students told him there was no hint of a problem until there was noise and chaos.
The bonfire, meant to get students fired up for the football game against archrival Texas, is a beloved tradition at Texas A&M. Since the tradition began in 1909, when the school was still an all-male military academy, the bonfire has been canceled only one other time: in 1963, after President Kennedy's assassination.
This year's bonfire was to have been lit on Thanks giving, the night before the big game.
Bowen, the university president, said that this year's bonfire would be canceled and that he was not sure if it would be permanently abolished.
Although the project is run by students, engineers and non-student adults are always at the site, Thompson said. The students cut the logs to lengths of about 10 feet and build the pile during several weeks. Cranes and tractors lift the logs, which are then tied together with bailing wire.
The structure, which this year would have included about 7,000 logs and reached 55 feet, is designed to twist inward and collapse on itself as it burns.
The stack also collapsed in 1984, but no one was injured. A second was built and ignited that year.
Desegregation case dismissed in KC after 22 years, $2 billion
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A federal judge dismissed Kansas City's longrunning school desegregation case Wednesday, saying the district is making substantial progress toward providing equal education for African Americans.
The ruling ends a 22-year-long legal battle that has cost the state more than $2 billion, one of the costiest desegregation cases ever.
Although the decision by U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple freed the district from federal oversight, he upheld a state move to strip it of accreditation.
The district remains overwhelmingly made up of minority students. Whipple said the district had met its goal of achieving as much racial balance as possible given the number of African-Americans students in the city. He also said the district had improved accounting procedures and developed a quality instructional plan.
The lawsuit, filed in 1977, led to state-funded desegregation programs aimed at attracting white children from surrounding suburbs.
The programs included, among other projects, development of magnet schools focusing on specialized themes such as environmental science or a foreign language. Some argued that too much money was
spent on perks such as overseas travel for students.
The superintendent of the district, Benjamin Dumps, called dismissal of the case a historic day that presented the district with tremendous opportunity and great responsibility.
Arthur Benson II, attorney for the plaintiff schoolchildren, said he did not know whether they would appeal the ruling.
The judge refused to overturn an October decision by the state Board of Education that would strip the district of accreditation beginning in May. The board found that the district failed to meet 11 performance standards used by the state to measure student achievement.
District officials have argued loss of accreditation would hasten the flight of students to charter schools and would make it impossible to comply with desegregation orders.
Whippe said the district's argument was an example of how it had used the court to protect itself from accountability for the continued low performance of its students.
School Board president John Rios said the district's next step was to meet with Demps and outline ways to gain accreditation. If the district loses its accreditation in May, it would have two years to improve performance or face the possibility of a state takeover.
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