Texas A&M marks anniversary of deadly bonfire collapse

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - More than 25,000 people weathered driving rain Saturday to observe the one-year anniversary of the collapse of a log bonfire that killed 12 Texas A&M students.

''It was a healthy night for our university,'' said student Ricky Wood. ''For some it brought closure.''

Students and others huddled under umbrellas on the muddy campus polo fields for a memorial ceremony at 2:42 a.m. - the exact place and time A&M's 59-foot-high log stack collapsed Nov. 18, 1999.

The log stack, weighing more than two jumbo jets, toppled while it was being assembled for the school's annual pep rally on the eve of its football game against archrival Texas. In addition to those killed, 27 were injured.

Family members of each student who died in the accident sat together under umbrellas in rows of seats in a 150-foot circle. Behind each set of seats stood a 5- to 6-foot wood pillar bearing each victim's name and the year they were to graduate.

''I think people got what they needed out of the ceremony. It was very poignant,'' student Laura Coward said. ''To me it was amazing to see so many people stand in the pouring rain to honor those who were killed.''

At the start of the 40-minute ceremony, lights on the fields were turned off and a memorial flame atop a platform in the circle's center was lit. A cannon was then fired 12 times.

The flame will be kept lit until 8 p.m. Sunday, to correspond with the time the last victim died.

Saturday afternoon, College Station officials dedicated a plaque and 12 antique-style lampposts inscribed with the names of the victims at a city park near the university. The ceremony was moved indoors because of continuing rain.

''It was an opportunity for the community to share its grief,'' said Texas A&M President Ray Bowen.

Bowen announced in June that the traditional bonfire would continue, but not until at least 2002 and only with greater school supervision and a professionally engineered design.

In May, a five-member commission appointed and funded by the university blamed the collapse on flawed construction techniques and the lack of adequate supervision of students assembling the stack.