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Ohio cheerleading coach 7th Indiana State Fair death

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An Ohio cheerleading coach died Monday from head injuries she sustained during a stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair.

Meagan Toothman, 24, was confirmed as the seventh person to die from the Aug. 13 stage collapse, according to a statement from the Marion County coroner's office released Monday night by the Indiana State Police.

She had been scheduled to undergo the organ donation surgery Monday afternoon, but the statement didn't say if that had happened. Calls by The Associated Press to the coroner's office and police were not immediately returned.

Toothman's family said earlier in a Web journal that organ donation surgery "will provide gifts of sight, health, and life to dozens who are in need." Doctors put Toothman into a coma Aug.15 to try to ease the bruising and swelling on her brain.

"Late last night it became apparent that our Meagan was no longer with us," the family wrote Monday. "The decision was made to allow to her to be at peace."

Authorities erroneously reported that she had died late Sunday, but Marion County coroner's office spokeswoman Marchele Hall said Toothman remained in a coma at the time.

Toothman was the head cheerleading coach at Turpin High School in Cincinnati.

"The outpouring of love and hope ... was an inspiration to all of us to keep her fighting," her family said. "We hope that she will continue to touch more lives in the same way through her passing."

Strong winds toppled a stage onto a crowd of fans as they waited for country band Sugarland to perform. Three fans and a security guard died at the scene, while a fourth fan and a stagehand later died of their injuries. Some four dozen people were hurt, many seriously.

It was not known Monday how many of those injured in the stage collapse remained hospitalized. State police stopped providing updates on the injured last week and hospitals have not provided reports on the condition of those injured.

Roeland Polet, whose wife and two daughters had attended the concert with Toothman, told The Associated Press that Toothman's death would be yet another tragedy for their family.

His wife, Jill Polet, and their older daughter, Jaymie Polet, were both injured in the collapse and remain hospitalized but their younger daughter, Jordan, escaped injury.

"It's horrible. It is devastating for my family. For my daughter, she was like a big sister. They were extremely close," Polet said of his daughter Jaymie and Toothman.

He said both Jill and Jaymie, who are in separate hospitals in Indianapolis, are "in very rough shape." He said it's unclear when they will be released and both suffered multiple fractures.

Jaymie had been a cheerleader at Turpin High School and had planned to try out for cheerleader at Indiana University, where she's enrolled for this fall. Polet said IU officials came to the hospital Sunday with T-shirts and banners for her.


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  1. something to take iman's mind off CART,,,the league itsownself doesn't do it

  2. Someone mentioned a green roof. Every designer of a new urban building should be required to at least explore the feasibility of a green roof. The ability to cut carbon dioxide, save precious rainwater (drought this summer??) and re-use grey water, cool the building cheaper, and improve the view for neighbors, should be, not only the good neighbor thing to do, it should be the responsible neighbor thing to do. Too bad the city didn't require it when they gave up downtown green space for the Simon Building. Surprised they aren't requiring it now.

  3. About the same means down, like the TV ratings.

    My favorite tradition that needs to be brought back is the 25/8 rule.

  4. Your stats are incorrect. The 85k Government employees working in Marion County includes all government workers in Marion county. That is state, federal, non profit agencies, city and county. The stats the article list is the number of employees for all of the city/county employees and it is correct. That number includes the library, airport, convention center, and so on. The policy of extending benefits to domestic partners is consistent with private sector companies of the same size. Isn't the mantra of most conservatives "run the government like a business."

    Also, too say the "fiscal proposil is huge" without considering the actuarial factors involved is a bit of an overstatement. We really don't know if it is huge or not. If all of the people added to the plan are healthy and don't have claims then it could bring cost done or hold them neutral.

  5. There are 85,346 government employees in Marion county according to Stats Indiana.

    My understanding is that this proposal covers not only same sex partners and children, but opposite same sex partners who are not married and any kids.

    It also covers all city and county employees, plus municipal corporations which use city/county benefits packages including Health and Hospital Corporation (Wishard), Indianapolis Airport Authority, Indianapolis Convention Center,Lucas Oil,Bankers Life, Indianapolis Marion County Library, and Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation (IndyGo).

    Certainly Indianapolis Public Schools will also want more benefits also.

    The fiscal cost on this proposal is huge.

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