Laporte Indiana Weather

Deadly collapse called 'fluke'

Carrying candles, flowers and photographs, the group wanted to honor the 23-year-old woman from Fort Wayne who was among those killed when a concert stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis.

"There was always a smile on that girl's face," said BigJohny's friend, Arturo Pena. "She was never angry or anything. Something bad happened, she shook it off. That's the kind of person she was."

Spreading the word by Facebook, Pena helped organize Sunday's vigil for BigJohny, a 2007 Wayne High School graduate and 2011 Manchester College graduate. She was one of five people who died after strong winds toppled rigging on an outdoor stage at the Hoosier Lottery Grandstand where the country band Sugarland was to perform Saturday night.

Gov. Mitch Daniels told reporters the gust of wind that toppled the stage was a "fluke" that no one could have anticipated.

The wind was far stronger than in other areas of the fairgrounds, said Dan McCarthy, chief meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Indiana. He estimated the gust at 60 to 70 mph.

Daniels said precautions were taken before the storm, but no one could have foreseen such a strong gust focused in one place. Some witnesses have said that while a storm was expected, rain hadn't begun when the wind sent the stage rigging falling into the crowd of terrified fans.

Fair officials said they were working with the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the investigation of the collapse. The company in charge of building the stage has done work at the state fair for 10 to 15 years, fair officials said.

Forty-five people were taken to area hospitals after the collapse. A man died overnight from injuries he suffered, state police Sgt. David Bursten said during a Sunday morning news conference.

The Marion County Coroner's Office confirmed BigJohny's death and identified the other victims as 29-year-old Christina Santiago of Chicago; Indianapolis residents Glenn Goodrich, 42, and Nathan Byrd, 51; and Tammy Vandam, 49, of Wanatah in LaPorte County. Byrd died overnight.

La Porte company donates $40000 in supplies to local schools

Most kids have to lug their backpacks to school on the first day of class. However, come Wednesday morning, 1400 La Porte elementary school students will have no heavy lifting. After all, their backpacks are already sitting at their desks, full of supplies.

Hailmann, Handly, Indian Trail and Lincoln Elementary Schools have seen many firsts, but until now, never one quite as extreme as this.

You see, every year, parents typically have to buy school supplies and pay for backpacks too. It’s a costly investment at schools where anywhere from 50 to 80 percent of kids are on free or reduced lunch.

But this year, this financial burden was cut after the U.S. company has donated 1,426 backpacks licorice that were overflowing with supplies.

"Crayons and scissors and glue, notebooks, binders, pencils, pens, a pencil sharpener, eraser, everything they need," said Jeanne Mock with children in Need Foundation.

The donation saved the parents of more than $ 40,000 combined, while creating a level playing field for the class.

"Thus, each child, instead of being worried about not having the supplies that others may be rested. They all have all the same supplies as their classmates, so they can focus and listen and learn,” Mock added.

The project looks to create a Utopian environment of sorts. In it, simple school supplies will teach students and licorice workers alike to focus on what’s really important in life.

"It makes you feel good because it's going to help somebody else feel good. So yeah, it's very emotional,” American Licorice employee Glendell O’Neil said.

Earlier this year, American Licorice workers got to vote for a charity project they felt was most important.Although there were five finalists, the votes for school supplies has won a landslide victory.

In total, American Licorice donated more than 4,000 backpacks to schools in La Porte, Indiana, Union City, Calif., and Bend, Oregon The company has plants in each city.

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