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Hagbard Celine

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Posts posted by Hagbard Celine

  1. On 4/14/2024 at 11:20 PM, Larry T. Spider said:

    In this part of the world droughts end in floods. The lake will eventually be full again no matter what this summer or next brings. It’s just a matter of the prolonged pain until it happens. Sadly, most of the Austin population is completely oblivious to how this could play out in the very near future.

    95% of austinites require 2.3 seconds to realize the traffic light has turned green

    only south florida surpasses austin driver stupidity

    in other news, i can solve the water needs of the entire state for 100 years with 1 Billion dollars and the following technologies:

    1. solar-driven Archimedes screws

    2. downhill 1% grade aqueducts

  2. a perfect example of aglogic and agspeak....

    https://www.kbtx.com/2024/04/11/families-reflect-potential-return-aggie-bonfire-am-campus/

    here's the closing paragraph (emphasis mine)

    +++

    "Despite the differing perspectives there is a shared sentiment among these families that the revival of Aggie Bonfire, if undertaken, will entail significant changes and challenges. They express hope that the committee tasked with this decision will address their concerns effectively and navigate the complexities to ensure a meaningful and safe experience for all involved.

    "The committee has a difficult job addressing all the concerns and hopefully they’ll be able to resolve the issues and be able to proceed with the new bonfire experience,” said Richard.

    Texas A&M University has confirmed that no action has been taken regarding the regent’s proposal to bring back the bonfire. Any potential reinstatement would need to adhere to the university’s settlement agreement with the affected families, which includes provisions for professional oversight to ensure safety and accountability."

    +++

    The differing perspectives are from the parent(s) of 3 of the dead

    That's it

    3 differing perspectives

    2 of those parent(s) want the stack back with university control.  The other is concerned about the return of the stack WITH TOO MUCH ADMINISTRATION INTERFERENCE

    And that's it.  That's the full rundown of the "complexities" which will have to be "navigated"

    That last paragraph is like reading the aggy version of NewSpeak.

    Then, in the last sentence we see something I have never seen in print or in video: in order for the return of stack, aggy (allegedly) negotiated provisions for professional oversight in the settlement agreement (which one?) with the families (which ones?)

    Thus begins the quest which may result in the need to "file a freedom of information" (TM-texags 2024)

    Does anyone have access to or a copy of the document(s) defining these "negotiated provisions"?????????

    here's the full article spoiled but you can skip ahead to the next spoiled article because, wait, there's moar!

    Spoiler
    Families reflect on potential return of Aggie Bonfire to A&M campus“No one connected was unscathed. And it did not end there. The hurt continues, even today.
     
    KBTX News 3 at Ten
    Published: Apr. 10, 2024 at 10:38 PM CDT

    COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) -Nearly 25 years after the tragic collapse of the Aggie Bonfire at Texas A&M University claimed the lives of 12 individuals, discussions surrounding the possibility of reviving the cherished tradition have resurfaced, sparking a range of emotions among the families affected.

    The memories of the lives lost in the 1999 Aggie Bonfire tragedy remain deeply ingrained in the Aggie community. Now, as a committee explores options to commemorate the renewed rivalry with the University of Texas, one proposal under consideration is the revival of the bonfire tradition on campus.

    On Tuesday sources close to the discussions revealed that A&M System Regent John Bellinger proposed reinstating the tradition of Aggie Bonfire as a university-sanctioned event. However, the decision-making process involves careful consideration and consultation.

    Susan Ballabina, Chief of Staff in the Office of the President at Texas A&M, provided a statement to KBTX indicating the university’s approach to the matter. President Welsh has tasked the Rivalry Committee with exploring options and recommending activities as the university prepares to welcome UT into the SEC. The committee’s ideas will be presented to President Welsh in May, following which he will make decisions on their implementation.

    The Fightin’ Texas Aggie Bonfire tradition, which symbolized the Aggie spirit and determination to triumph over the University of Texas in football, came to an abrupt halt on November 18, 1999, when the stack collapsed, claiming the lives of 12 individuals and injuring 27 others. In remembrance of the tragedy, the Bonfire Memorial now stands at the site where the 1999 Bonfire fell.

    In these discussions, Bellinger sought input from the families affected by the 1999 Bonfire collapse regarding the potential reinstatement of the tradition. Their perspectives offer a glimpse into the complexities surrounding this decision.

    Richard West, father of Nathan “Scott” West, a 19-year-old victim of the collapse, believes that the bonfire held special significance for his son as it fostered unity among students. He advocates for student involvement in the event’s revival, emphasizing its unique value to the Texas A&M community.

    Judi Hedstrom and Richard Frampton, parents of 22-year-old Jeremy, express support for the return of the bonfire, mindful of its importance to their son and his peers. However, they emphasize the need for stringent safety measures, suggesting professional inspections alongside student participation.

    “I would like to see the Bonfire back on campus. I know how important it was to Jeremy and his friends. I believe that if it is back on campus, there can be better oversight and safety measures can be implemented,” said Hedstrom. “I imagine not all of the parents feel the same, so I believe it is important to consider all of the different perspectives in making the decision. I appreciate the committee having this conversation with us.”

    “Despite losing my son Jeremy in the tragic collapse in 1999, I would like to see the Bonfire tradition start up again. Jeremy loved Bonfire and I feel like he would completely agree with me if he was here to speak,” said Richard. “Although I know it would not be able to be a totally student-managed endeavor in the future like it was in the past, maybe it could be “inspected” by professionals as the students build it. That was one of the amazing things about Bonfire – the students did it all and learned tremendous management skills while doing it.”

    Neva Hand, the mother of 19-year-old Jamie, holds reservations about the potential return of the bonfire, fearing that administrative oversight might diminish the tradition’s authenticity. She underscores the importance of student-driven participation in preserving the essence of the event.

    “Students began the tradition, not because the board of regents said they could but because it was important to “be in charge” themselves—a sort of “coming of age” or “independence marker” for those young men. By returning it to campus, University administrators take that responsibility away from the students and make it their own cross to bear,” Neva said. “The “owners” of the tradition will no longer be the students who will be expected to build it with their own hands, sweat, and hearts. No matter what the final verdict is, Bonfire will never be the same. I can only pray that the outcome will not lead to the same set of circumstances that resulted in the catastrophe of November 18, 1999.”

    Despite the differing perspectives, there is a shared sentiment among these families that the revival of Aggie Bonfire, if undertaken, will entail significant changes and challenges. They express hope that the committee tasked with this decision will address their concerns effectively and navigate the complexities to ensure a meaningful and safe experience for all involved.

    "The committee has a difficult job addressing all the concerns and hopefully they’ll be able to resolve the issues and be able to proceed with the new bonfire experience,” said Richard.

    Texas A&M University has confirmed that no action has been taken regarding the regent’s proposal to bring back the bonfire. Any potential reinstatement would need to adhere to the university’s settlement agreement with the affected families, which includes provisions for professional oversight to ensure safety and accountability.

    Copyright 2024 KBTX. All rights reserved.

     

    game on, birches

    search: <aggy bonfire settlement agreement with families>

    result 1: the above article

    result 2: the below article, first published 081029, but updated ELEVEN YEARS later 191212 (hmmmm.....)

    https://myaggienation.com/archive/bonfire-lawsuit-settled/article_9b56ce78-f3c1-11e2-8b9a-001a4bcf887a.html

    (emphasis mine)

    Spoiler

    Bonfire lawsuit settled

        Matthew Watkins
        Oct 29, 2008
        Oct 29, 2008 Updated Dec 12, 2019

    A $2.1 million settlement was announced Tuesday between Texas A&M and several families of those killed and injured when a bonfire collapsed almost nine years ago. The announcement did not state how the funds would be disbursed.

    Texas A&M University and several former administrators cleared the final lawsuit against them related to the tragedy that killed 11 students and a former student, while injuring 27 others early Nov. 18, 1999.

    Lawyers representing the university and seven of the victims -- four of those killed and three who were injured -- formally signed the settlement in the crowded 361st District Court. The suit was one of the oldest cases on the dockets at the Brazos County Courthouse.

    The settlement money will be shared by the families of the four who died: Chad Powell of Forth Worth, Jerry Self of Arlington, Bryan McClain of San Antonio and Christopher Lee Heard of Harlingen; and three of the injured victims: John Comstock, Dominic Braus and Matthew Robbins. Because of a confidentiality clause, it was unclear how much each would receive.

    A&M will pay $500,000 of the settlement, the maximum amount a public institution can pay because of a state law limiting awards in lawsuits against government agencies. The remaining money will be paid by the Texas Aggie Bonfire Committee; Ray Bowen, former A&M president; John Koldus III, former vice president for student affairs, who was not in that post in 1999; and Maj. Gen. M. T. Hopgood Jr., former commandant of the Corps of Cadets.

    The $1.6 million due from administrators and the committee will be paid by two insurance policies the educators and group bought to protect them from lawsuits, university officials said. The amount each administrator agreed to pay also is confidential, lawyers said.

    Lawyers and families of the victims said Tuesday that they pursued the suit to hold the university responsible for the collapse and to prevent another deadly accident.

    "The whole goal was that we wanted to make sure that no other family had to endure this," said Greg Powell, father of Chad Powell. "Our hearts go out to the 11 other families who lost their child. We filed this for you guys, too, and we just want you to know that this is not over. We want to make sure that no one has to stand on the grounds of a bonfire and ask what happened again."

    The eight others killed in the school's deadliest disaster were Miranda Adams of Santa Fe, Texas; Christopher Breen of Austin; Michael Ebanks of Carrollton; Jeremy Frampton of California; Jamie Lynn Hand of Henderson; Timothy Kerlee Jr. of Tennessee; Lucas Kimmel of Corpus; and Nathan West of Houston.

    University officials said they were pleased that the legal dispute had been resolved but stopped short of publicly accepting responsibility.

    "While the university has actively contested the claim that the university employees were legally responsible for the deaths and injuries that occurred as a result of the bonfire collapse, the university deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries that occurred on its campus," they said in a statement released after the settlement became final. "Again, the university extends its condolences and continued sympathies to all of the victims of this tragic event as well as their friends and families."

    Reached by phone after the hearing, Bowen, who was president of the university at the time of the collapse and now is an engineering professor at A&M, said the resolution brought him little comfort.

    "I don't see this as a situation where there is a victor or a loser on either side," he said. "The tragedy was a loss for everyone, and the fact that this is over is just one dimension of an extremely horrible event in A&M's history."

    Years of legal battles

    Bonfire was an Aggie tradition dating back to 1909. A stack of logs that grew with each year was ignited to signify the Aggies' "burning desire" to beat the University of Texas football team each November.

    The 59-foot bonfire structure built in 1999 was a six-tier wedding-cake design of 5,000 logs that weighed more than a million pounds. It collapsed before dawn Nov. 18 as students worked on it.

    "It was an enormously difficult time for the A&M community," Bowen said. "The students enrolled at the time had a horrible time, and it was horrible for everybody, no matter what their role was in the A&M family."

    Bowen created a commission to investigate the collapse soon afterward, and it released a report that faulted the engineering and design of the stack as well as the lack of training and supervision during construction.

    The first lawsuit was filed against the university and its administrators in 2001 on behalf of Jacki Self, the mother of Jerry Self. Eventually, about a dozen plaintiffs joined in and the cases were consolidated into one in the 361st District Court in Brazos County.

    The original suit listed 64 defendants, but most -- including all student leaders -- had settled through insurance companies before Tuesday.

    Now the only defendants remaining are the Zachry construction company and several of its employees. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said the company was negligent in renting a crane for an unprofessional project.

    "These defendants have been unwilling to accept responsibility for any connection with the bonfire , and we intend to turn our focus on those subjects," plaintiffs' lawyer Darrell Keith said. "Zachry workers were the only professional folks on the site of the bonfire ."

    Lawyers for the construction company did not return calls requesting comment Tuesday.

    A separate lawsuit was filed in federal court by many of the same plaintiffs. It was dismissed twice, and the most (recent? (this word was missing)) appeal was dismissed by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In that suit, the plaintiffs have argued that the university created a danger through indifference to preventing a collapse. The case was dismissed, however, because the doctrine of "state-created danger" was not recognized at the time of the collapse, a federal judge said.

    At the time of Tuesday's settlement, most of the A&M defendants listed no longer filled their current positions. Eight of the nine current members of the university system's board of regents were not serving at that time, and Koldus, Bowen and Hopgood have all since been replaced.

    Future of a tradition

    Soon after the settlement was made public, current A&M President Elsa Murano released a statement saying that she planned to look further into the future of bonfire in the coming months by initiating a dialogue with bonfire victims and reviewing the history of the tradition.

    "I understand that many people have strong feelings and thoughts about bonfire , and it is important for these feelings and thoughts to be heard as part of a fact-driven process in due time," Murano said. "First and foremost, as Aggies we should respect those who have suffered the greatest loss through the death of a loved one as a result of the bonfire collapse in 1999."

    Murano was traveling Tuesday and could not be reached for further comment.

    Bill Jones, chairman of the Board of Regents, said when reached by phone Tuesday that he would leave the decision about the future of bonfire up to Murano's office.

    "They will come to the board with whatever recommendation they have," he said. "The board doesn't weigh in on that until there is a recommendation."

    Erik Gnaedinger, a senior industrial engineering major, said he had seen a significant decline in interest in bonfire during his time at A&M. He was president of The Bonfire Coalition -- a student organization promoting the return of an on-campus bonfire -- last year. He said the group disbanded for the current school year because it could not attract enough members.

    "Although we still have a lot of public funding (???) and support from people bringing it back on campus, the student interest has declined to the point that we have had to go inactive," he said. "The waiting game kind of outlasted the students' desires."

    An independent, student-run, off-campus bonfire has been burned annually since 2002. This year's fire is scheduled for Nov. 22, and students will raise the center pole for the stack Friday near Hearne.

    Standing in the courtroom Tuesday, Braus, one of the injured plaintiffs in the lawsuit and the only one present at the hearing, said that he would not mind if another bonfire were built on campus.

    "One way or another isn't the issue for me personally," he said. "If they do bring it back, I want it to be safe. The collapse will never happen again and, if people do participate in this again, they won't be maimed and killed."

    0 comments

    there are 10 different tangents in that article from 15 years ago that need discussion

    i don't remember reading that article although i'm sure in 2009 during the heyday of Shag1 it was probably posted but no one gave a shit because the 2002 report that cited institutional juvenile delusion and a culture of obsession seemed to have put to bed forever the idea of killing more kids

    the immediate segue from the kbtx article 2 das ago is this: i want to see these alleged provisions for professional oversight to ensure safety and accountability supposedly memorialized 15 years ago in the university’s settlement agreement with the affected families

    that would likely require a fully public disclosure of a legal settlement in court 15 years ago between citizens and a public university

    which should be public

    and accessible

    game on, birches

    • Hook 'Em 3
  3. 1 hour ago, Herbie Hancock said:

    Y’all go ahead and get ready for Angel to find a way to inject himself into this series from the field. He isn’t going to take kindly to being roasted on social media for last night’s horrible performance. Before this series is over I’m guessing we see at least one absolutely atrocious call that results in at least two ejections.

    i say we kill him

  4. 1 hour ago, Randolph Duke said:

    Let the kids at A&M get a diploma, let them figure out who they want to become and quit insisting they go back to being aggys of the past. Those aggys are gone. None of them where alive when the bonfire was a big deal. Quit forcing them to be who you are and let them be who they want to be.

     

    talkiebird prime.jpg

    • Haha 2
  5. 1 hour ago, Dutch said:

    We'd best have gotten those CL nerves out of our system. Plenty of ass out there. Acknowledgment to Bayern who had a role in that ass.  

    Can't be any hangover from this. We have two extra days of rest more than Villa, who play Thursday; will be interesting to see how Emery plays it. They're level with Spurs (who have a match in hand w/ City). Does he prioritize finishing 4th, or go for it in the EL? 

    au contraire i thougt arsenal played to this level

    you went out last year in the europa 16

    this is a big step up and you looked the part

    the question is digesting this continued run while Herr Klopp stays tanned rested and ready (same for city - but they are used to it)

  6. cloud dissipation theory debunked

    clouds slowed down and a big fat fucker at 5000' moved in right at totality

    i got 3 seconds of beads up front

    then it finally cleared right at the end in time to get 30 seconds of venus then the diamond ring and a few more beads

    no flares, no ring of fire, no stars, and less than 10 seconds of complete unobstructed totality

    but i got the diamond ring

    pictures do no justice to the depth of field and peripheral vision of the human eye

    maybe australia is in the cards

    7 minutes ago, HRSchenker said:

    20240408_134506.jpg

    silver medal in the venus 'n jupiter competition

    • Hook 'Em 2
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