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The Rice Thresher
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by Olivia Allison Thresher editorial staff Tractors have been added to the list of unacceptable ways to transport this year's Beer-Bike balloons. Last semester, Beer-Bike coordinators agreed that large trucks would not be allowed in the Beer-Bike parade, and the coordinators unanimously approved rules Jan. 21 limiting each college to two vehicles - a decorative vehicle and a tractor-pulled flatbed trailer carrying balloons and 10 students. The change from trucks to flatbed trailers and tractors was made because the trucks had more potential to injure students. When Beer-Bike Chair Daniel Attaway went Saturday to look at the tractors the colleges would use, he said he was expecting "glorified John Deere lawnmowers." However, these smaller tractors were not powerful enough to pull a flatbed at Beer-Bike. Attaway, a Sid Richardson College senior, estimated that each flatbed, when loaded with 20 to 30 trash cans of water balloons and 10 students, would weigh about four or five tons. A tractor powerful enough to pull this much weight had rear tires that were six feet tall, he said. "Tractors are very slow-moving vehicles, and they don't actually have to pull that much weight, so the ones that are made to pull that much weight can pull combines," he said. "It's a tractor to pull a combine, so that means it's big." Attaway said he contacted Risk Manager Renee Block on Monday to discuss the problem. He said he was concerned because the decision not to allow trucks was made for students' safety, and the large wheels of the tractor also seemed dangerous. "Six-foot wheels are not safer - they are significantly less safe than what we had before," Attaway said. College Beer-Bike coordinators will meet Sunday night to discuss a new policy for transporting balloons during the parade, which will be held March 31, the day of Beer-Bike. Attaway said the coordinators can either choose to adopt a campus-wide policy or to allow colleges to decide their own mode of transportation, as long as they stay within certain guidelines. If no campus-wide policy is adopted, each college's Beer-Bike coordinators would submit their proposal for transportation no later than 10 a.m. March 12. The transport of balloons may not involve large tractors, large trucks or live non-human animals. The college with the most creative proposal would receive a $500 prize from the Beer-Bike budget. Attaway said most coordinators seem to support pulling the flatbed with a pickup truck, although students would not be allowed in the truck beds. Sid Beer-Bike coordinator Julie Buergler said she thought having a uniform policy would be better than allowing each college to determine its own policy. "I think it will be better if everyone has the same thing because there will be less confusion," Buergler, a sophomore, said. "There are more ways of getting hurt if everyone has a different way of carrying the balloons." Attaway said pulling the flatbed with a pickup would be less expensive for the colleges than either a tractor or a large truck. Also, students who own pickup trucks could allow their colleges to use it for the parade. "No one owns a cattle car, but lots of people own [pickup] trucks, so if someone in the college decides that they're going to let their truck be used to pull the flatbed, all you have to do is rent the flatbed," Attaway said. "So it makes it even cheaper." Merritt McAlister, who was formerly Beer-Bike co-chair with Attaway, said she does not think the decision not to allow tractors will be a serious setback for the colleges. "As Rice students, we're creative and intelligent enough, so we should be able to come up with something else," McAlister, a Hanszen College junior, said. "It's frustrating for the coordinators, but I think everything will work out." McAlister resigned Wednesday, citing academic and personal reasons. She said the recent problem with the tractors was not a factor in her resignation. Lovett College Beer-Bike Coordinator Katie Ban said the problem was frustrating, but agreed that it would not negatively affect actual Beer-Bike events. "It's hard to find something safe to pull all the water balloons," Ban, a sophomore, said. "I think something will be thought of to deal with this."
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