Dedications: Presidential Library vs Bonfire Memorial

Date: November 18, 2004

Places:

Little Rock, Arkansas
College Station, Texas

Dedication Functions:

Little Rock: William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library
College Station: Texas A&M Memorial Bonfire


Attendence:

Little Rock: About 30,000 including the Clinton family, associated hollywood groupies, President Bush and 2 former presidents along with their security ontourages, and the usual horde of media talking heads.

College Station: About 50,000 members of the Aggie family including the Texas Governor, Rick Perry (class of 1972).

Purpose of the Events:

Little Rock:
Bill Clinton, America's first baby boomer president, opened his library Thursday with a rock 'n' roll gala that hailed the $165 million glass-and-steel museum as "a gift to the future by a man who always believed in the future." - Associated Press

College Station:
"...dedication of Texas A&M University's memorial to students killed and injured in the 1999 collapse of the Aggie Bonfire." - Houston Chronicle


Little Rock Comments:

The library celebrates eight years of peace and prosperity and dismisses Clinton's impeachment as a Republican vendetta. The 27-acre complex contains more than 80 million items, including 20 million e-mail messages "Two of them mine!" Clinton said. - Associated Press

"What it is to me is a symbol of not only what I tried to do but what I want to do with the rest of my life, building bridges from yesterday to tomorrow, building bridges across racial and religious and ethnic and income and political divides," said Clinton, accompanied by his wife and daughter. - Associated Press

College Station comments:

....A&M System Regent John White, who graduated from the university in 1970, noted that the tragedy had brought sympathy and support from people around the state and nation........."The 12 who perished," White said, "will not be forgotten. Their memories will not be erased by the inevitable passage of time. They, like us who love A&M, will be part of the Aggie family forever." - Houston Chronicle

"The Aggie spirit never has been stronger," Gov. Rick Perry, the first Texas A&M graduate to serve as governor, told those gathered at the university's polo field. "It is radiant in times of joy and refined in times of testing and turmoil........."I hope as visitors peer into the portals (of the memorial) they get a sense of the soul of Aggies. ...... There is wisdom, character, inseparable bonds and unique spirit." - Houston Chronicle

Perry, who graduated in 1972, said he anticipated the day when the Bonfire, a nearly uninterrupted 90-year tradition, would burn again on campus "not merely as a symbol of football rivalry but as a symbol of who we are." - Houston Chronicle

damifino comments:

Litte Rock: "After living through it for 8 years, it is doubtful there is anything I wish to see."
College Station: "We are the Aggies - the Aggies are we. True to each other as Aggies can be"

Historical Aggie Comments:

" Give me an army of West Point graduates, I'll win a battle. Give me a handful of Texas Aggies and I'll win a war!" - General George S. Patton Jr.


-damifino
"a proud member of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 1972"

Viewpoint from Texas

11/18/2004