Thread: Aggieland Remembers the Fallen: 10 Years After Bonfire

Originally Posted by http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_bonfire10th_anniversary

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The bonfire collapse at Texas A&M University killed Carolyn Adams' daughter, Miranda. A decade later, Adams said she's grateful her daughter and the 11 other Aggies killed haven't been forgotten.

"The Aggie family said they would never ever forget," she said. "That's been true. They haven't. They continue to honor their memory."

A&M commemorated the 10th anniversary of the bonfire collapse Tuesday and Wednesday.

About 4,000 people attended a Tuesday night ceremony at A&M's basketball arena commemorating the 10th anniversary of the accident in which the 59-foot tower of logs collapsed as it was being built early Nov. 18, 1999. Along with the dozen killed, 27 others were injured.

Richard West, whose 19-year-old son Nathan, from the Houston area, was killed, told the audience to also think of the future and all the possibilities life has to offer.
"Do not think of the sadness of the past," West said. "It is time to be happy and celebrate the memories. The fire may not burn on that spot (of the collapse), but it burns in the hearts of all Aggies."

School officials and current and former students also spoke at the ceremony, telling the audience the deadly collapse has strengthened the A&M family.

"In the fall of 1999, the meaning of bonfire changed for all of us," said Will Hurd, who was the student body president during the accident.
Since then, he said, the Aggie family is "closer than it had ever been."

At 2:42 a.m. Wednesday, the exact time of the accident, a candlelight vigil will be held at the collapse site, now home to a circular memorial.

Bonfires on the eve of A&M's game with archrival University of Texas had been a long-standing tradition at the university.

The annual bonfire, started in 1909, was the ultimate tradition for many at A&M, where tradition is fervently respected. As many as 70,000 people would gather to watch it burn on the 5,200-acre campus 100 miles northwest of Houston.

But a decade ago, as students were on top of the stack of 5,000 logs and shaping it into the bonfire, the structure came crashing down.
A commission that investigated the collapse found students had been cutting corners in construction for years and school officials had failed to adequately supervise them. No one person or group was blamed for the accident.

No bonfires have been held at the university since the collapse. Many Aggies, including Texas Gov. Rick Perry, would like the tradition to resume. But others question whether such traditions, rooted in the school's military and rural roots, has a place at A&M, which has been working to develop a national reputation as a university that values diversity, research and academic achievement.

An off-campus bonfire not affiliated with A&M has been held each year since 2002.

Richard Frampton, 61, of Turlock, Calif., lost his 22-year-old son, Jeremy, in the collapse. After the ceremony, Frampton said he found it "very healing" to be at A&M.
Jeremy "loved this place. He loved the bonfire and I see why now," Frampton said.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g48S1KvzkE