Bonfire an Important, Meaningful Aggie Tradition

To the editors:

I would like to thank J. Mitchell Little for his article (Sports, Nov. 30) concerning Bonfire and Texas A&M University. It is very easy to sit back and criticize another university for traditions, events and behaviors without experiencing or understanding something one feels to be so different from one's own little world.

Little has pointed out something that is at the heart of A&M: The Aggie Family is very important. Former students, parents, siblings and friends are all part of this wonderful, supportive, cohesive group. Bonfire isn't about a pep rally or game. It is an event that builds character as well as comraderie. Aggies will, indeed, give their all for one another. Thank you for your positive article.

Joan Whetstone

Carrollton, Texas, Dec. 2, 1999

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Don't Criticize Bonfire

To the editors:

Kristen E. Meyer's "Bonfire Tradition Not Worth the Cost" (Opinion, Dec. 2) about the tragedy at Texas A&M University trivializes the loss of the lives of those 12 students who died.

Bonfire is one of the most important traditions at A&M, as evidenced by the fact that 75 students were up at 2:30 a.m., hauling logs and constructing the Bonfire as a testament to the pride of the school. We cannot even comprehend such school spirit, and in suggesting that a school get rid of one of its most important traditions is ludicrous.

Additionally, the argument is made that to continue the Bonfire in any similar fashion would be "unwise and irresponsible." Yes, safety precautions must be followed, and maybe there should be more supervision, but the truth be told, the Red Pots (students in charge who wear red hard hats) are but mechanical engineering and construction science students with three and four years experience working on the Bonfire.

Further, to call Bonfire an "excessive, unnecessary waste of natural resources" is far from correct as well. Alumni or citizens of College Station usually give up part of their land that they want to be deforested, and so these trees would have been cleared anyway. As for the burning of a 55 foot high stack of logs, the ecological damage is a tiny fraction of the damage done in a few hours by the refineries and chemical companies along the South coast of Texas, and I do not think we should get rid of those either.

This whole event was tragic,and I cannot even comprehend the feeling of loss at A&M, except through my friends who knew the injured and dead, but stopping this tradition would say to these students that Bonfire was really not important at all and the students would have died in vain. They did not, and no one should ever suggest that was the case.

Benjamin Dorr '01

Dec. 2, 1999