Each year many Aggies gather together at the Bonfire Memorial to remember and honor our children in an impromptu gathering. The families of the twelve are always honored by the presence of so many who come to join us to remember and honor our beloved children. This has always been a very special time to remember and honor the twelve we lost and all those injured both physically and emotionally by the 1999 Bonfire collapse. Anyone that has attended this gathering has always been extremely respectful. The families and friends of the twelve lost have in the past gathered at the individual portals until about 2:42 a.m. At that time the families then join together at the centerpole marker and exchange greetings with each other. Everyone in attendance is then asked by the families to come and join the families at centerpole for a time of prayer and reflection. The poem We Remember Them is read, Amazing Grace and The Spirit are sung, and a roll call for the twelve is held. Family and friends answer “Here” for our twelve beloved Aggies.

This year there were four young men that joined the families at the centerpole marker. We want to let everyone know that to our knowledge these four young men did not represent any of the families. The comments made by these four young men were their own opinions and do not reflect the feelings of any of the families that were in attendance that night. One particular comment that was made several times inferred that the twelve had sacrificed their lives for Bonfire. This could not be further from the truth. We do not believe that there is one family that feels that their child willing gave their life that night. The Bonfire collapse was a tragic accident that took the lives of twelve individuals and injured many other Aggies physically and emotionally. Our children were all dedicated Aggies and believed in building Bonfire or they wouldn’t have been at stack that night. But please be clear in understanding that they would never have willingly died for the Bonfire tradition. Our children loved life and had hopes and dreams just as like any other Aggie working on Bonfire that fateful night. We too agree with the West and Kerlees, that our fine men and women in our military and the 1st Responders here in this great nation are the ones that sacrifice for our country and deserve honor and recognition for their sacrifice.

The emotional outburst of the four young men was not expected by the families or anyone else. We as family members were all in shock at what was happening. We do not think the young men intended to be disrespectful or disruptive. We do believe they used poor judgment in picking a place to vocalize their feelings and make the comments they were making. Our family did leave the Bonfire Memorial early because of the disruption and drama caused by these four young men. This was not the kind of experience or memories that we wanted our grandchildren to remember about the time we spent at the Bonfire Memorial on November 18, 2007.

There is nothing finer than returning to the best campus in America and being able to see firsthand the Aggie Spirit working through each of you. We have always enjoyed returning to campus because it is like therapy for all of us. There is no other student body that cares for each other like Aggies. We love you all and again we so appreciate those who have been so cordial and respectful to the families for the past eight years.

God Bless and Gig’em Ags!
Ken & Carolyn Adams

To the parents of the fallen 12:

I think as we progress further and further into the future and away from 1999, I feel you will have to endure more and more of these shenanigans at future memorials and in every day life in general.

As stories get passed down, as they pass through different sets of ears, and as they pass down through people who never actually experienced 1999, these stories will get shaped and warped to fit different motivations.

Unfortunately, I feel that the story of the 11 students and 1 former student will ultimately be shifted to "dying for Bonfire" permanently even though it cannot be further from the truth.

I feel for all of you as you will now have a constant battle on your hands to return perception to that of the years immediately after 1999, where there were enough people there and around the situation to deliver the message of how they truly felt.

I wish you all the healing and patience that God can give you because in the coming years, I feel you are going to need a lot of it. I truly hope I am wrong.

[This message has been edited by Bonfire 1996 (edited 11/26/2007 8:37a).]

First of all, I can promise that nobody who yelled at the bonfire memorial was '06 Student Bonfire Guys'
Since I am included in that group and talked to everyone else in that group the day after memorial because of how offended I was, I can tell you that nobody in current leadership, or 2006 leadership was involved. A few people who were leadership in earlier years were probably involved from what I have heard.
I just want to assure all the old ags that most of the students in bonfire now do not feel the same way as those who yelled at the memorial, and most of us recognize that the 12 would not have sacrificed their lives for bonfire.

As for any SB members who read this thread, especially future leaders....
Pots are for bonfire. that's it. If you are wearing any SB pot anywhere that doesn't involve you working on bonfire, you are hollywooding.

Does anyone know bruthart07 and can show him what's been said here since he last posted?

I would hope SB was not out wearing pots..... I've never seen it, and don't think it's appropriate.


I would say if you weren't part of 99, don't bring a pot...

And this whole mess osunds idiotic. That meeting in memorial has always been something I went to(could not attend this year) and appreciated the solemness of the occassion

____________________________________________________________
Proudest member of the Fightin Texas Aggie class of 08 Beat the h*** outa tu A Whoop!!!.
= texags

TexasRebel

I have no Idea who they were. You do I'm assuming.But I saw what I saw, so lay off. Its not my place to comment anymore. Was there any official or non-official apology from SB?

You seriously want/expect a public apology?

absolutley. There are some hard workers out there who love aggieland.I would certainly expect, and want(for SB), an apology for the action of a few misfits.

Good luck.

quote:

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These actions have been repeatedly condemned here (and elsewhere I may add) even before the mention of the possibility SB members being involved. But let's assume it was SB members. I'll apologize for any offense caused and assure everyone that reads this that the type of behavior exhibited is not instilled through SB. Typically, SB tries to maintain a respectable low profile at the memorial. We in no way want to take away from that solemn moment by thrusting something that those affected by the collapse may not agree with nor want any part of. Usually, the members of SB are sent to the memorial from a Stack shift with the words: "go, remember why you are there, reflect on what happened on that field and show your respects. Please leave your SB stuff at home."

Other than that, there is really little SB can do. Its members are free to do what they choose, especially the former members. I am not going to tell someone how to mourn/grieve. As mentioned, everyone has their own way whether I agree with it or not. I am sure those involved thought they were doing the right thing in their own way and I bet they didn't think they were there in a SB capacity. So, I am not going to shun them, but I'll just hope it doesn't happen again.



Scott Coker '92

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hth

[This message has been edited by TexasRebel (edited 12/6/2007 4:40p).]

there are more than just 12 06 bonfire guys

while talking about leadership, as somebody introduced in this thread earlier...

there were 4 Grey pots, 4 JRPs, and 5 Browns...

4+4+5=13 = 12 + 1 (myself)

The greens are excluded in the count because they are talking about male persons...

quote:

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The greens are excluded in the count because they are females

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FIFY

Atta boy, that's my hero! You tell that sexist!

One peg at a time, and this whole thing is gonna fall... take 'em down.

[This message has been edited by DoctorSnoball (edited 12/6/2007 1:05a).]

sad truth... greens are generally excluded from leadership talk because of their job description

hey, if she wants to drag herself into a group that somebody suspects of something, who am I to say no?...

...heck, I thought I was being nice.

And []1, there was no need for a fify...you said the exact same thing I did. Yes I excluded them from the group that Cav put under suspicion because the greens are all female and the original statement clearly said "guys". If that is the best you can do, you are seriously just wasting your time now...trolling.

i wasn't trying to imply that we were being left out. several posters testified to it being MALES that were inappropriate. this is NOT A DEBATE ABOUT WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP.

However, I couldn't find where the poster mentioned it being leadership. I think he deleted his post. How would an outsider know leadership anyway? And do you think that someone in a position like that would be so disrespectful? Or have the time/energy to make such a scene? NO.

All I was saying is that there were more than just 12 2006 Bonfire guys that it could have been. Hell, there's ~750 guys on the membership roster... it could have been anyone. That was my point.

Forget I even said it. Geez.

Trying to explain things like that to idiots is useless, c'mon, you know better than that.

I'm starting to think that Student Bonfire should take a step away from texags. These issues should be taken care of by a person in charge of media relations or something of that nature. We are just inviting drama by doing this.

Maybe a forum can be installed on the studentbonfire site for our own communication.

Bingo, nothing sucks more than having people not involved about bonfire have opinions about it!

[]1 just admitted that he sucks...

<<fify protected>>

Anybody else as confused by that last comment as I am?

Nah...it's just Rebel being Rebel.

Jayci, your first two thoughts were my point...

I didn't look at classifying Bonfire people by a year they helped as fitting everyone since most people participate for less than a year or more than a year. It is also hard for anybody to distinguish randoms if they did not know the person personally, but sometimes easier to know who held what leadership position what year.

If the truely meant some 06 randoms then I read it that they are no longer active Student Bonfire members...which is the point that most of this thread is about.

quote:

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I'm starting to think that Student Bonfire should take a step away from texags.

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Leadership does not post on TexAgs. It's strongly discouraged. You can bet your hiney they read it, though.

There actually was a website for that expressed purpose, required membership (free, but could better regulate who everyone was), and for all I know it still exists... but it was pretty worthless.

If you get all your information for Student Bonfire off texags, you are seriously misinformed more often than not. The problem remains though that most of the general population DO get their information off here, and thus some negativity and inaccuracies persist because anyone that gets a whiff of even a possible rumor runs and prints it here (sometimes never to be heard of again in the forum), and it now becomes fact in the public opinion/perception until proven otherwise. Disproving rumors typically runs into a heresay argument, which usually comes down to who you most believe.


Here's the deal, you either:

have NO ONE talk about Student Bonfire on this Bonfire board conducted in conjunction with Admin/Staff deletion of SB-related threads. No other forum is made. This abolishes the major public forum for those interested in SB and basically dwindles this particular Forum down to about 4 threads which just would be ttt every so many days.

OR

You make a new forum (with the same parameters) elsewhere, THEN the same problems persist as on here and you may even validate the rumor mill by being information of a "dedicated site" (especially if it is located on the sb.com).

OR

Have a forum where you are just spoon fed information from the "designated site" conducted solely by qualified administrators and with no public domain information exchange. (Similar to how sb.com is right now) This would prevent open public discussion and would be considered suspicious closed-door behavior by some if it was in conjuction with a "NO SB on Texags" policy.

/\
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The aforementioned forum of the first paragraph of my last post was to diehard03, btw.

Man, yall really got to work in the amount of time it took me to type that (and watch PTI)

quote:

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I didn't look at classifying Bonfire people by a year they helped as fitting everyone since most people participate for less than a year or more than a year.

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Uhmmm...what?


Snoball, what sorts of rumors are you referring to?

Well for starters, if your heroism falls through I am going back to the Silver Skeeter and NOT Batman... that was a direct smite to my character, obscure nature, and sense of novelty. Despicable.

I assume you now see my point?

quote:

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Here's the deal, you either:

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the suck. hooray texags!

I agree

quote:

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If you get all your information for Student Bonfire off texags, you are seriously misinformed more often than not. The problem remains though that most of the general population DO get their information off here, and thus some negativity and inaccuracies persist because anyone that gets a whiff of even a possible rumor runs and prints it here (sometimes never to be heard of again in the forum), and it now becomes fact in the public opinion/perception until proven otherwise. Disproving rumors typically runs into a heresay argument, which usually comes down to who you most believe.

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I understand...but topics like this are silly. Leadership shouldn't have regulate it's membership on a website. I find that rather pathetic. I have seen now, and in the past, that typically Jim, Thomas, Scott, etc have to come on this site and defend itself. That shouldn't have to happen. Maybe people don't understand that what you say on this site, and the traffic that it gets, is just like saying to a reporter.

I think this is a wonderful site, and even I have found information out using it (the 501c stuff for instance). However, I believe that we need to be aware of what we say and the effect that it has.

I think you answered your own question. Trust me, some, if not most, of the people who are slanderous (at the forum's most severe tones) or even negative for the sake of negativity on here are FULLY aware of their actions. Some even believe they are "helping the cause by devil advocacy" while others truly hate Student Bonfire and would LOVE to tell a reporter all about it (rarely those people come around to the board though). The problem is though, there is no way to censor an outrageous claim or accusation, no matter the validity. It's an internet public forum, thems the breaks. It has its pros and its cons. A LOT of misconstrued accusations can come across the board with no rational base, but generally you have to treat that the same as any well-founded factual criticism that would truly benefit SB as an organization, because if you don't treat them equally, you later might not be able to tell between them.

If you read the forum often, you begin to get a general sense for each poster's intentions through their repetition and their wording. Not every thread is valid or heart-felt, some are just plain goofy, but even the most hard-nosed cynic/critic/troll or rook/fish can feel very seriously for a concern with great validity, problem is you got to wade through the bs first a lot of the times.

From a leadership point of view, I would probably act in the same fashion as I always have, reactive but stern. Have an umbrella user name for all of Leadership, use it sparingly, and when you do make your posts powerful, informative, as concise as can be, and very well-refined making sure everyone knows that you represent the higher authority of this particular company. (Think of an e-mail from the A&M President) Oh, and don't eff up any of your posts, you'll regret it.

I deleted what I said out of respect for certain people that read this board. I never said I thought they were leadership.

quote:

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Their sacrifices were of there time and efforts while building Bonfire and they would not have knowingly placed themselves in peril.

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agreed.


the collapse was a tragedy in which students lost their lives doing something that they passionately believed in. i like to think that i bleed maroon and because of that i will never forget what i was doing when i heard news of the collapse. It was their sacrifice of time, hard work, enthusiasm, spirit, and willingness to help that put them on the stack that night. They gave their lives doing something that embodies everything the 12th man stands for and for that i greatly respect them and their lives. Parents should be beyond proud of what they were doing for A&M at the time of their deaths because it was something that they loved and believed in. God works in ways we cannot fathom and there was a reason he chose to take those 12 individuals. It is only fair that we honor them in a respectable and reverant manner. I completely support the return of a school sanctioned bonfire with a redesigned stack and more intense safety measures. I can't speak for those lost, their families, or even those injured that night...but i do know that if I was involved in the incident i would be more honored if the tradition were to continue.




WAR EAGLE!
GIG 'EM!