Because Aggie Bonfire has been such an important tradition in our history, I am posting this notice on the football board, which receives much more traffic than the Bonfire board.

I posted quotes from the article on the Bonfire board.

I ask Texags management for an indulgence in allowing this off-football topic some prominence on this forum.

There may be more than meets the eye here, and unless some prominent Aggies get involved very soon, the struggling effort to continue the tradition off campus, however you feel about it, may be at an end.

At least this topic deserves full notice and a chance for Aggies to debate it.

This is from the KBTX, Ch. 3 in BCS, web site:

http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/3892467.html

burn down the court house!

Take it to burleson county. Maybe out at the chilifest area. Everyone knows where that is. The CJ is an Ag!

We made him.... we can destroy him!

Do these "thumbs down" icons indicate disapproval of the judge's statement, or disapproval of the effort to continue Bonfire?

tell him to take a walk out to the Bonfire Memorial.

"OK, here is where bonfire didn't burn in 1963. The Aggies disassembled the bonfire in honor of JFK. It was the most we had, the least we could give ... now here is 2006. Judge what's his @ss wouldn't sign the papers."

Do we know who the judge is?

So build it outside of Brazos county....

County gave them a deadline which they did not meet. Sounds like the student organizers dropped the ball.

Just out of curiosity, what happens if they don't get the permit and have Bonfire anyway? I mean, last year they went against the burn ban even though they knew they were going to get ticketed. What happens if you have too many people? And what is the limit of people before it becomes a "mass gathering"?

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So build it outside of Brazos County . . .

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That solution has two problems:

1. It limits the number of students who will casually attend. The greater the distance from campus, the more dedicated one has to be in order to make the effort.

2. The county officials in other counties may not be enthusiastic about such an event in their domain. They could erect obstacles.

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County gave them a deadline which they did not meet. Sounds like the student organizers dropped the ball.

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That is the logical assumption. Before assigning blame exclusively to the student organizers, however, ask why this issues has come to light now.

Student Bonfire organizers have never been terribly sophisticated about manipulating public opinion. A letter to the editor that one of them wrote after last year's controversy was a disaster.

Elected county officials have much more expertise in getting their message out. Yes, it appears that the students missed an important deadline. That's exactly the message that Judge Sims wanted to convey when he went on television last night.



[This message has been edited by DualAG (edited 9/12/2006 8:40a).]

Judge Sims also said organizers were given an August deadline for "coming in with signed contracts."

Was this a realistic deadline? What if the parties to the contracts, the sheriff's department, fire department, etc. dragged their feet?

We don't know enough now. Let's reserve judgment and continue to ask hard questions.

Don't write these students of with a simple admonition that they let an important deadline pass. It may be more complicated than that.

So what do we do?

Does his wife still do the geriatric noon news report on KBTX? I smell a boycott!

State law > Sims

Ya'll are missing the part where it says according to state law they must do it within 45 days of the event. If that is the law then it doesn't matter what the judge says, he must follow the rule of the state not his own whim or rules. So assuming the quote of the law is correct it doesn't matter what the judge says, if he fails to follow the rule of law he is liable for disbarment. Lets just wait and see how this turns out.

The problem is that it sounds like Sims came up with his own deadline and even if they apply he still has to approve it. He isn't saying they can't apply, he's just saying that after his self imposed deadline he won't approve it. You can debate the validity of his deadline, but it sounds to me like he has the legal right to deny the application.

i think the article said the judge or commissioner or whatever the guy was that made the decision was also an ag so moving to burleson county would not work bc they are also under a burn ban

if the other parties were given the proper paper work to get this thing done in plenty of time then the judge would take that into account.

isn't there a committe that oversees bonfire that should have known they needed this done in plenty of time since the last few years they have had to have an extension on time and who doesn't know that we are in a bad drought? I want it to happen just as bad as everyone else but we need to have our ducks in a line before griping about not given the permit

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/statutes/docs/HS/content/word/hs.009.00.000751.00.doc

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) At least 45 days before the date on which a mass gathering will be held, the promoter shall file a permit application with the county judge of the county in which the mass gathering will be held.

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Sec. 751.009. APPEAL. A promoter or a person affected by the granting, denying, or revoking of a permit may appeal that action to a district court having jurisdiction in the county in which the mass gathering will be held.

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An offense under this section is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000, confinement in the county jail for not more than 90 days, or both.

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You can go there and read for yourself all the reasons the judge can use to reject an application. It does not mention anything about not meeting an unofficial deadline. I would imagine that the judge would just say that one of the other requirements is not satisfactorily met.

To me, this just seems like another one of those huge walls like last year's Friday afternoon injunction filing (or whatever it was). Instead of giving legitimate reasons for wanting Bonfire to not happen, they're trying all the back-door tactics they can, betting that the students won't have the resolve or resources to overcome the difficulties.

The Student Bonfire people have never cared about any laws before.. Why start now. I doubt they care what the judge says.

I kind of see it in a similar fashion. It seems like several officials have gone out of their way to attempt to block off-campus bonfire. I'm not really sure why, but it just seems a little strange to me.

That's why I put in the section about punishment for breaking the rule/law. After disregarding the burn ban last year, knowing they were going to be fined, I wonder how lenient the judge would be when determining the sentence. If the "offenders" would be let off with just a fine or if he would try to make a statement and actually put a student in jail for 90 days.

What everyone seems to be forgetting is that the city of college station is a joke. Their only goal in life is to take advantage of the students. They enjoy making things hard on us and forget that we are the reason this place even exists.
So of course the judge ignores state law and makes up his own. The city police did it too. (i.e. ticketing people who "ran" yellow lights, luckily someone contested it and made the court and the PD look like aceholes), unfortunately not many people know about it.

There is a difference between getting a permit for a mass gathering and getting a burn permit, so citing that mass gathering statute is rather beside the point. I have no idea what the county's obligations are with regard to granting burn permits, but it surely isn't governed by the cited statute.

Not trying to argue with you, because CS is a joke, but the reason they have to get the permit from the county judge is:

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Sec. 751.002. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Mass gathering" means a gathering:
(A) that is held outside the limits of a municipality;

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This is Brazos county putting the screws to the students this time, not CS.

The Man is holding us down!

I'm sure the university is behind all of this.

I'm still registered to vote in Brazos County... I know who I'm not voting for.

Is this judge elected? What about the other officials slowing this down? We should work as hard as we can to ensure that they are not reelected. They are not serving the interests of their constituency. Can they be petitioned out of office ala Gray Davis in California? Throw a few students on campus gathering signatures and I bet they listen. There are plenty of students and former students in CS and Bryan that could and should derail these people's political ambitions.

[This message has been edited by SeaAg96 (edited 9/12/2006 10:08a).]

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What everyone seems to be forgetting is that the city of college station is a joke. Their only goal in life is to take advantage of the students. They enjoy making things hard on us and forget that we are the reason this place even exists.
So of course the judge ignores state law and makes up his own. The city police did it too. (i.e. ticketing people who "ran" yellow lights, luckily someone contested it and made the court and the PD look like aceholes), unfortunately not many people know about it.

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The judge is from Brazos County, not the city of College Station.

Horrible.

It sure seems many, many people don't want to see bonfire continued in any way, shape or form.