Morning News Demonstrates Tin Ear to West Explosion, Ctd.

An Aggie-loving FrontBurnervian called to remind me of something. This hubbub about the West cartoon must feel familiar to Keven Ann Willey, the editorial page editor of the Dallas Morning News. Let me take you back to 1999, when the A&M bonfire collapsed, killing 12 students. The next day, the Arizona Republic published a cartoon that compared the bonfire accident to the 1993 Branch Davidian fire and to the 1998 dragging murder of a black man in Jasper, Texas. The cartoon called them “Texas Bonfire Traditions.” I can’t show you the cartoon because the paper pulled it from its website (and all others, apparently) and apologized for its poor judgment. The paper also offered to make a $10,000 donation to a memorial fund (which offer A&M declined). The editorial page editor of the Arizona Republic at the time? Keven Ann Willey.