Student Defends Cutting of Log Ropes

Four stabilizing ropes were cut on the stack of bonfire logs at Texas A&M; University in College Station just hours before it collapsed and killed 12, a report said. But a senior who helped build the bonfire last year said the cutting of the lines was a standard procedure and probably did not cause the collapse. Douglas Keegan visited the site of the 7,000-log stack about an hour before the disaster, which also injured 27 on Nov. 18. The lower four of eight lines stretching from perimeter poles to the center pole--the spine of the stack--had been cut a few hours earlier, according to an engineering firm’s report. The upper lines remained anchored at the top of the center pole.