Like I have said before I am not a fan of the off campus bonfire. That aside, there are worse things in the greater scheme of things to spend you time doing. A lot of my opinions are based on when I went out several years ago. And, I understand things are getting better. With the recent events involving a student being hurt, its a reminder that accidents can happen. that being said, I only ask that everyone is careful in the coming weeks. Because when you you get right down to it, I would rather everyone go home safely. So, good luck to you and heres to hoping thats the last injury for a long time.

thanks? dont really know how else to respond. at least this isnt another troll.

People get hurt everyday, and it never makes the news unless it's something that has already gotten heat. I had a buddy end up with a compound fracture in his left leg at a club ultimate Frisbee practice and it didn't make the news. The guy is fine and like they said he was joking about never being in a helicopter before.

Always Dunn, never finished

well I would just like everyone to be safe. In the grand schem of things its really trivial to argue over it. I suppose my feelings on this are also affected by that fact that I lost someone clse to me recently, Life is really to short to argue about petty things.

I totally understand where you are coming from, my freshman year I almost didn't even take part in bonfire because I was stilling trying to deal with the loss of my mom a month before moving to CS

Always Dunn, never finished

My family has seemed to have bad luck with cars and accidents, and in every incident, it was always some external cause. Mostly because of that I make it a point to help keep people safe while out there, and I know others do too. We're out there working in the shadow of '99, everyone knows it - but we still have fun, sweat buckets, bond with fellow Aggies, and maybe even get a little work in.

im curious to know what it was that turned you away back then...

involved

fify.

BBYD09

I was really put off when I went out there. Don't get me wrong, there was certainly a lot of satisfaction from wroking hard and cutting down a tree. there is something to be said about putting your blood sweat and tears into some good hard work. I just didn't feel it was a very safely run operation. it started when we showed up. after putting on our virgin stripe(piece of tape aroudn my leg, not sure if thats what its still called), we started walking to our cut site. we walked through the load area, and walton was sitting and chilling because no logs were being loaded that morning. We still ahd our pots on and walton started to shiat themselves because we were wearing our pots. We were told not to take them off because no loading was going on.

So a few walton boys ran over and tried to knock a pot off the biggest fish in our group. the first one knocked his pot off, but his adjustable strap liner stayed on. the second one tried to tackle him and the fish was ready for him and all three guys fell to the ground with our fish on top. the real problem with this was that he was carrying a freshly sharpened axe at the time.

It was very dangerous and I saw no need for it other than someone wanting to act tough and wear his big boy pants. An all out brawl nearly ensued.

the actually cutting went ok. I actually really enjoyed that part of cut. no real problems there, save a brief challenge to brawl with another crew.

fast forward to stack. I only went out to cut that one day and went out aagin, just to check out the stack on the last day.

so as I arrived with a friend we were escorted over to the stack. we walked inside the perimeter fence. At no time were we asked to wear a pot and there were several people around who were not wearing pots inside the perimeter. the frathouse was being secured and they guy on the stack was wearing a bandanna and no pot. nor was he secured to the stack in any way. Also, earlier in the day just before KBTX showed up the frathouse had been stuffed with porn. Since it was windy pron started to blow out all over the ground as the news crew was rolling up. Very unprofessional IMO.

I also think that was the year that the wind was not taken into account and when it was lit, the fire blew toward the crowd.

I just got an overall impression that the whole thing waas very unprofessional and created an unsafe enviroment. It just wasn't something I wanted to be a part of. With a situation like that, I saw it more as a hinderance to the idea of Bonfire returning to campus. so it was all of those things combined that really put me off student bonfire.

the porn thing is hilarious...

the brawling/fighting and every form of it has been banned from bonfire

the guy up on top doesnt need a pot because nothing is gonna fall on top of him from up there

and when a crowd is surrounding a huge bonfire... the wind is gonna blow it all somewhere, im assuming everbody just moved 10 feet in one direction or the other

well it def soured my experience

don't you understand nai, they're not trying to appeal to all, they're trying to appeal to themselves.

Iwas just trying to explain why I did not support off campus bonfire

and you're being dismissed on the grounds that you're ignorant and don't enough about it to really understand. Trust me, this is how it works.

You see, you apply "normal person" logic, which incidentally enough is the logic that the majority of people work on. But then they counter your logic (and don't forget, on here you're fighting on their turf so they FEEL right) with "student bonfire" logic. It really is a trip.

wow square... you do manage to come in and ruin a good conversation

nai06

I'm going to guess you went out about 04 or before? I won't dismiss you for being put off, I can understand it.

I will agree that some of what you saw was unacceptable and more control has been put in place over those actions. Some of what you saw may just be misunderstanding of what was going on and I'll try to offer insight on those matters.

If you went out when the outhouse was being put up, stack was over. All that is supposed to be going on is final clean up and prep for burn. Workers inside perimeter are still supposed to be wearing their pots, though. I don't know why you weren't asked to put yours on. By that time, the "outer" perimeter fence should have been up as well, that may be what you were inside and why you weren't required to put it on.

When the outhouse is put up (especially back then), there is a lot of looking up and working over your head. The guys take off their pots so they don't fall off their heads. We have been able to get large enough sky-tracks/man-lifts the last few years to eliminate a lot of the looking up, so pots are kept on more now when placing the outhouse, but are still occasionally set aside. Those guys are always wearing safety lines. They should have been then, but I wasn't there at the time so I can't speak to that.

Typically, the prevailing winds are considered when setting up the crowd or if current weather will affect it, it's adjusted. However, I seem to remember sometime in the last few years that a rain storm or a fast moving cold front shifted the winds at the last minute.



Scott Coker '92

well as far as wearing a pot near stack goes, I am not sure if there was a certain distance.

But I was allowed to walk right up and touch the stack. And yes it was around that time period. It was not until I looked back at it later that I saw the potential safety hazzards

there is an easy way to figure most of this out...

where was Stack the year that you're talking about?

...and if the outhouse was going up, what exactly did you do, and for whom, to get that close to stack? ...You wouldn't be talking about the piles in '02 would you?

Nai 06 - From your account of the pron blowing out of the outhouse, it was '03. That is still one of the funniest stories that I have ever heard one of the '03 Greys tell about that year.

Without going into it all, a lot of things have changed since then. Many of the events of '03 & '04 heavily influenced the upperleadership to change a lot of attitudes and practices...mostly for the better and for the general safety of the crew-members.

[This message has been edited by TooTall 06 (edited 11/5/2008 12:29p).]

square, shut up. he read through the post and tried to make sense to the things that bothered nai. thats not the same as being irrationally dismissed.

No YOU shut up!

honestly I really don't remember what year it was. I wasn't even working on the stack at all. I was in street clothes.



I am not trying to get people arguing on this thread. Mainly it was supposed to be about wishing those who are out there well.

Its fairly difficult not to start an argument around here. But I appreciate the well wishes, as I'm sure some of these other guys do to.

yeah thanks man... nobody but square wants to argue... its like his one joy in life to troll the bonfire board

like, totally man!

quote:

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well I would just like everyone to be safe.

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you got it! that is the number one priority, for sure.

People get hurt driving their cars to work every morning. Watch the news. People get mugged, people get shot just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Bad things exist in this world. You can't predict "LIFE"...ask the weatherman. Off campus Bonfire is GREAT!!! And should keep going on forever. I can't wait to take my kids when they get old enough.

ag sports... those arguments really dont hold much water... but i agree that if i ever have kids im gonna bring them out to bonfire as soon as they are old enough