CMJ
Oct 9th, 2000, 01:46:06 AM
Not really but I am in the local paper here. Quite alot actually even though it's for something I wish wasn't going on. I guess it helps to be President of a respected campus organization. Anyways...I decided to post this for the hell of it. It may give you guys an idea of some of the stuff that is keeping me away from the board(yes Talons takes up alot of my time, sometimes more time than school).
Talons are praying for last-minute rain
Burn ban threatens UNT's homecoming bonfire tradition
By Karen Treat
Staff Writer
Courtland Jindra had been hoping for rain, but the scant amount the area received Friday didn't offer much hope that a significant part of a University of North Texas tradition will continue this year.
Mr. Jindra, the president of Talons, UNT's spirit group, said members had planned to begin building the homecoming bonfire Friday, despite the fact that the county is under a burn ban. They held out
hope for a repeat of last year, when last-minute rainfall lifted the burn ban and enabled the tradition to continue.
Plans to haul loads of wooden pallets out to the Eagle Point Golf Course were canceled Thursday, however. Lack of adequate rainfall, as well as high winds, make it unlikely the burn ban will be lifted in
time for Friday's prelude to the homecoming game against Utah State.
Denton County Fire Marshal Jody Gonzales will go to the commissioners court meeting Tuesday with a request to either continue the ban or lift it.
No one is really counting on it being lifted, though. And if the ban does remain in place, this year will mark the first time since 1946 that the bonfire has not been lit, Mr. Jindra said.
The bonfire tradition began in 1935, and has been interrupted only twice … both times during World War II. Mr. Jindra said the bonfire is a way for students to show their spirit for the university. Students usually begin stacking the pallets nine days before the bonfire event. By the time they're finished, the
stack is about 25 to 30 feet tall, he said.
He said that when the bonfire began, the student body built it. The Talons took control of it in 1960, he said. They began a 24-hour watch over the bonfire in 1961 after someone stuck dynamite in the middle of the structure, Mr. Jindra said. Another year, someone burned the structure down the day before the celebration was scheduled. The entire student body joined in and rebuilt it in one day, Mr. Jindra said.
He said students could accomplish the same feat this year, if the burn ban is lifted.
Mr. Jindra has been involved with the bonfire since fall 1996, and expects to graduate this year. He said it's depressing that it could be his last bonfire there might not be one.
Still, students are trying to keep some kind of tradition alive. Students have said they plan to camp out at the site, as they would if they were keeping that 24-hour watch over the pile of pallets.
"We're going to have a lot of activities at the site anyway," Mr. Jindra said.
Those activities include concerts and the possibility of an alternate lighting ceremony, UNT spokeswoman Kelley Reese said.
Officials are talking about creating a "wall of lights" by stringing lights from the poles that are already up at the site. Other activities will go on as scheduled, including a Talons-led march up Maple Street
and across Interstate 35 to the Radisson Hotel. The march will begin about 6:15 p.m. Friday.
The march will be followed by the traditional spirit rally about 7p.m. The rally will feature the annual "Yell Like Hell" competition. A concert by the Denton-based rock band Valve is scheduled from 9 to 11
p.m. Food and drinks will be available.
Talons are praying for last-minute rain
Burn ban threatens UNT's homecoming bonfire tradition
By Karen Treat
Staff Writer
Courtland Jindra had been hoping for rain, but the scant amount the area received Friday didn't offer much hope that a significant part of a University of North Texas tradition will continue this year.
Mr. Jindra, the president of Talons, UNT's spirit group, said members had planned to begin building the homecoming bonfire Friday, despite the fact that the county is under a burn ban. They held out
hope for a repeat of last year, when last-minute rainfall lifted the burn ban and enabled the tradition to continue.
Plans to haul loads of wooden pallets out to the Eagle Point Golf Course were canceled Thursday, however. Lack of adequate rainfall, as well as high winds, make it unlikely the burn ban will be lifted in
time for Friday's prelude to the homecoming game against Utah State.
Denton County Fire Marshal Jody Gonzales will go to the commissioners court meeting Tuesday with a request to either continue the ban or lift it.
No one is really counting on it being lifted, though. And if the ban does remain in place, this year will mark the first time since 1946 that the bonfire has not been lit, Mr. Jindra said.
The bonfire tradition began in 1935, and has been interrupted only twice … both times during World War II. Mr. Jindra said the bonfire is a way for students to show their spirit for the university. Students usually begin stacking the pallets nine days before the bonfire event. By the time they're finished, the
stack is about 25 to 30 feet tall, he said.
He said that when the bonfire began, the student body built it. The Talons took control of it in 1960, he said. They began a 24-hour watch over the bonfire in 1961 after someone stuck dynamite in the middle of the structure, Mr. Jindra said. Another year, someone burned the structure down the day before the celebration was scheduled. The entire student body joined in and rebuilt it in one day, Mr. Jindra said.
He said students could accomplish the same feat this year, if the burn ban is lifted.
Mr. Jindra has been involved with the bonfire since fall 1996, and expects to graduate this year. He said it's depressing that it could be his last bonfire there might not be one.
Still, students are trying to keep some kind of tradition alive. Students have said they plan to camp out at the site, as they would if they were keeping that 24-hour watch over the pile of pallets.
"We're going to have a lot of activities at the site anyway," Mr. Jindra said.
Those activities include concerts and the possibility of an alternate lighting ceremony, UNT spokeswoman Kelley Reese said.
Officials are talking about creating a "wall of lights" by stringing lights from the poles that are already up at the site. Other activities will go on as scheduled, including a Talons-led march up Maple Street
and across Interstate 35 to the Radisson Hotel. The march will begin about 6:15 p.m. Friday.
The march will be followed by the traditional spirit rally about 7p.m. The rally will feature the annual "Yell Like Hell" competition. A concert by the Denton-based rock band Valve is scheduled from 9 to 11
p.m. Food and drinks will be available.