Kindergarten student killed by school's snapped flagpole
Kathi
flowers, ribbons, pom-pons and teddy bears. It is so sad to drive
past.
Photo:
http://www.dailytribune.com/stories/041807/loc_memorial001.shtml
Neighbors, family mourn their Angel
Tributes etched outside home tell of how beloved 5-year-old killed in
accident at school touched lives.
Shawn D. Lewis / The Detroit News
OAK PARK -- A pastel chalk memorial covers the sidewalk next to Angel
Pocock-Smith's house at the end of a cul-de-sac.
A large pink heart is surrounded by the butterflies she loved and the
names of neighborhood children with whom she played tag and hide and
seek. Some of the children also scribbled tributes to their friend,
like "pretty," "funny," "cool" and "caring." And in a childlike
imitation of adults, the year of her birth and death were included in
the memorial, "2001-2007."
"We were really sad, so we decided to make something on the sidewalk
in chalk with all the things she loved, and we wrote things about
her," said Makeda Barrett, 9, who lived next door to Angel.
Angel Pocock-Smith, the 5-year-old kindergartner who loved Barbie
dolls and karate, was killed Monday afternoon when a gust of wind
snapped a flagpole during recess at Roosevelt Elementary School,
sending it crashing on top of her. Relatives said doctors at Beaumont
Hospital told them Angel died at the scene.
Roosevelt principal Dina Krause ran outside when she heard the noise
and remained with the child until the ambulance arrived.
"She had the best smile," said Krause, who created a pink memorial
wall inside the school for children to leave their remembrances. "It
just melted your heart strings."
Makeda Barrett's mom, Michelle Barrett, 39, said Angel's name
described her.
"She was very sweet, and to be so little, she had so much fire,"
Barrett said. "She was fearless. She was an angel."
Barrett's front glass storm door bears a final remembrance of Angel --
handprints where she had covered her hands in chalk and made the
impressions.
She loved chalk. A fat lime green piece of chalk lay on her front
porch. A reminder that the child who lived here would no longer need
it.
Angel's mother, Angela was too distraught to talk about her child. But
Angela's sister, Alicia Chunn, 16, couldn't stop talking about her
niece, whom she named.
"She was like a mini-me," Chunn said. "She used to ask me to do her
hair and nails and she liked to hang out with my friends. Everybody
adored her."
She said Angel loved her family, including her older brother, Alex.
Unlike many older brothers, Alex did not regard Angel as a nuisance,
but as a friend.
"She used to watch me play with my cars even though she didn't want
to," he said. "And she used to watch me in karate and so she decided
she wanted to do it too."
Alex said Angel earned a white belt, which is the first degree, while
he had a green belt, or third degree.
"She was real funny," he said. "She'd even ask me sometimes if there
was anything she could do for me."
Alex has difficulty falling asleep since the accident.
"I wake up and can't fall back asleep now," he said. "She was a good
little sister."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007704180382
A memorial fund has been created for 5-year-old Angel Pocock-Smith of
Oak Park, who was killed Monday when a flagpole in an interior
courtyard fell on her during recess at Roosevelt Elementary School in
Ferndale.
It is the Angel Pocock-Smith Memorial Fund, and contributions may be
sent to any National City Bank, or to the Troy Walmart, 2001 West
Maple, Troy, MI, 48084.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007704180495
Family mourns, investigators examine flagpole
April 17, 2007
BY EMILIA ASKARI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
While the family of 5-year-old Angel Pocock-Smith of Oak Park planned
her funeral today, insurance investigators tried to learn about the
flagpole that broke Monday and killed the kindergartner.
Many questions remain about why the flagpole at Ferndale’s Roosevelt
Primary School snapped in high winds while other flagpoles nearby did
not.
Ferndale School District spokeswoman Stephanie Hall did not have any
answers. She did point out that police are not investigating the
accident because there was no crime. Rather, the district’s insurance
company is trying to determine why the pole broke somewhere in the
middle, which is very unusual, flagpole industry experts say.
If flagpoles fail, those experts say, they’re much more likely to fall
from their base.
Angel’s mother, Angela Smith, spent much of today with coworkers from
a Wal-mart in Troy, where Smith works in customer service.
One family friend, Antonette Newberry, described Angel as a tomboy who
loved playing outside with her older brother, Alex, and visiting the
zoo.
"She was just full of life and very happy all the time," Newberry
said. "She was shy but at the same time, very loving."
She said funeral arrangements for Angel were pending Tuesday night.
Inside Roosevelt Primary, Angel’s classmates and teachers tried to
carry on as normally as possible today.
Principal Dina Krause prepared a morning video for the students in
which she urged them to talk about their feelings and hang a drawing
or note on a pink memorial board she had posted outside her office.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770417056
Questions linger about flagpole
Insurer probes break that killed 5-year-old
April 18, 2007
BY EMILIA ASKARI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
While the family of 5-year-old Angel Pocock-Smith of Oak Park planned
her funeral Tuesday, insurance investigators tried to learn about the
flagpole that broke Monday and killed the kindergartner.
Many questions remain about why the flagpole at Ferndale's Roosevelt
Primary School snapped in high winds while other flagpoles nearby did
not, including:
- Was the flag appropriate in size?
- Had the pole shown earlier signs of stress?
- How old was the pole and of what metal was it made?
Ferndale School District spokeswoman Stephanie Hall did not have any
answers. She did point out that police are not investigating the
accident because there was no crime. Rather, the district's insurance
company is trying to determine why the pole broke somewhere in the
middle, which is very unusual, flagpole industry experts say.
If flagpoles fail, those experts say, they're much more likely to fall
from their base.
Angel's mother, Angela Smith, spent much of Tuesday with coworkers
from a Wal-mart in Troy, where Smith works in customer service.
One family friend, Antonette Newberry, described Angel as a tomboy who
loved playing outside with her older brother, Alex, and visiting the
zoo. "She was just full of life and very happy all the time," Newberry
said.
She said funeral arrangements for Angel were pending Tuesday night.
Inside Roosevelt Primary, Angel's classmates and teachers tried to
carry on as normally as possible Tuesday.
Principal Dina Krause prepared a morning video for the students in
which she urged them to talk about their feelings and hang a drawing
or note on a pink memorial board she had posted outside her office.
She also read an excerpt from children's book "Where Do People Go When
They Die?" by Mindy Ava Portnoy.
"They live on in their friends," Krause read. "In all the people whom
they loved and cared about. They become the future. They live on in
each of us who remembers them always."
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007704180338
PUBLISHED: Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Wind topples flagpole; 5-year-old struck, killed
'It was just a horrible tragedy,' Roosevelt Primary principal says of
schoolyard accident
By Michael P. McConnell
Daily Tribune Staff Writer
Children leave Roosevelt Primary School after a child was killed by a
flagpole that snapped off.
Dick Hunt/Daily Tribune
FERNDALE -- A kindergarten girl was killed at school Monday afternoon
after a 45-foot tall metal flagpole broke and struck her head.
The 5-year-old girl was playing in a courtyard with about 15 other
kindergarten students at recess about 1 p.m. when the pole snapped at
Roosevelt Primary School, 2610 Pinecrest, school officials said.
"She was a precious little girl," said Principal Dina Krause. "She was
kind of quiet and a good student. She got along well with the other
students."
Krause said she heard something snap from inside her office which is
next to the courtyard.
Krause ran outside and met two teachers on the scene, she said.
"I felt her and touched her and supported her," until emergency
workers arrived, Krause said. "It was just a horrible tragedy."
The girl was taken to William Beaumont Hospital and pronounced dead on
arrival after suffering massive head injuries, said Ferndale Fire
Marshal Brian Batten.
School officials said they were not releasing the student's name at
the request of her parents, who were notified and taken to the
hospital by police.
Ferndale Schools Superintendent Gary Meier said there were no heavy
winds inside the courtyard in the center of the school and
kindergarten students were allowed to play there Monday.
"It wasn't windy and that's why this is such a shock," Meier said.
The pole snapped about 10 feet up from the ground and there was some
rust in the area where it broke, according to police.
"The children heard the noise and began to disperse," Meier said.
"They started to run, but unfortunately (the pole) struck one of the
children."
Ferndale Police Chief Michael Kitchen said the courtyard is roughly
90-by-20 feet.
"What happened is very tragic," he said. "But thankfully no other
children were hurt."
The school called in social workers and grief counselors following the
incident and notified the parents of the students who were in the
courtyard, officials said.
Krause announced what happened to the 370 K-3 students at Roosevelt
over the school's classroom television system, she said.
One third-grade student at the school, Ben Seranon, said that was how
he heard the news of the girl's death.
"I hope she goes to heaven," he said.
His mother, Annette Seranon of Ferndale, was upset about the girl's
death.
"I weigh 140 pounds and I was blown around today," she said outside
the school. "I don't understand why they would let the kids go outside
and play today."
Winds gusted in excess of 40 mph on Monday, according to the National
Weather Service.
Meier said the school district does its best to make sure it's
facilities and equipment are in good repair.
"This pole had no indication of difficulty," he said, adding that he
did not know how old the flagpole is.
http://www.dailytribune.com/stories/041707/loc_flagpole001.shtml
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Kathi
<t_del...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>On Thu, 19 Apr 2007 02:37:14 -0400, Kathi <kath...@hotmail.com>
>quoted:
>
>>Angel Pocock-Smith, the 5-year-old kindergartener who loved Barbie
>>dolls and karate, was killed Monday afternoon when a gust of wind
>>snapped a flagpole during recess at Roosevelt Elementary School,
>>sending it crashing on top of her. Relatives said doctors at Beaumont
>>Hospital told them Angel died at the scene.
>
>I've always thought the mindless obsession with flying the flag
>anywhere and everywhere completely cheapened it, but it never occurred
>to me that the practice would actually kill somebody.
>
>Are you listening, McDonald's?
Two years ago, we hosted an exchange student from Germany who was
amazed at the flags everywhere. She said flags are rarely seen outside
of government facilities in Germany. Even my Canadian friends have
mentioned the flag thing. I see *some* Canadian flags at public
places when I travel through our neighboring border city of Windsor,
Ontario (granted, my route is generally on fairly main roads leading
to the local bingo hall), but not to the extent that they are here in
the U.S.
Ron
news:ok2e23pqvlb2jqg3q...@4ax.com
> This school is just up the street from me. The fence is lined with
> flowers, ribbons, pom-pons and teddy bears. It is so sad to drive
> past.
> Photo:
> http://www.dailytribune.com/stories/041807/loc_memorial001.shtml
I hope when all the findings are in, some good attorney (like John Edwards)
will sue for enough money so the mother will never have to work in Wal-Mart
Customer Service again. IF rust was visible, then somebody is guilty of
negligence for not properly maintaining this pole.
--
R.E.Gentry
SlobbyDon
> On Thu, 19 Apr 2007 05:28:09 -0700, Terry del Fuego
> <t_del...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 19 Apr 2007 02:37:14 -0400, Kathi <kath...@hotmail.com>
>> quoted:
>>
>>> Angel Pocock-Smith, the 5-year-old kindergartener who loved Barbie
>>> dolls and karate, was killed Monday afternoon when a gust of wind
>>> snapped a flagpole during recess at Roosevelt Elementary School,
>>> sending it crashing on top of her. Relatives said doctors at
>>> Beaumont Hospital told them Angel died at the scene.
>>
>> I've always thought the mindless obsession with flying the flag
>> anywhere and everywhere completely cheapened it, but it never
>> occurred to me that the practice would actually kill somebody.
>>
>> Are you listening, McDonald's?
>
> Two years ago, we hosted an exchange student from Germany who was
> amazed at the flags everywhere. She said flags are rarely seen outside
> of government facilities in Germany. Even my Canadian friends have
> mentioned the flag thing.
>
Some friends from the Netherlands once remarked to me that their red,
white and blue flag could be seen everywhere in the U.S. I have seen a
lot of those horizontally striped flags everywhere from new housing
developments to rodeos.
--
SlobbyDon
~Mary O'Neill
> On Thu, 19 Apr 2007 05:28:09 -0700, Terry del Fuego
> <t_del...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 19 Apr 2007 02:37:14 -0400, Kathi <kath...@hotmail.com>
>> quoted:
>>
>>> Angel Pocock-Smith, the 5-year-old kindergartener who loved Barbie
>>> dolls and karate, was killed Monday afternoon when a gust of wind
>>> snapped a flagpole during recess at Roosevelt Elementary School,
>>> sending it crashing on top of her. Relatives said doctors at Beaumont
>>> Hospital told them Angel died at the scene.
>> I've always thought the mindless obsession with flying the flag
>> anywhere and everywhere completely cheapened it, but it never occurred
>> to me that the practice would actually kill somebody.
>>
>> Are you listening, McDonald's?
>
> Two years ago, we hosted an exchange student from Germany who was
> amazed at the flags everywhere. She said flags are rarely seen outside
> of government facilities in Germany. Even my Canadian friends have
> mentioned the flag thing. I see *some* Canadian flags at public
> places when I travel through our neighboring border city of Windsor,
> Ontario (granted, my route is generally on fairly main roads leading
> to the local bingo hall), but not to the extent that they are here in
> the U.S.
I haven't been to a whole lot of states, but really took notice when
first visiting Texas. Not only do a lot of folks fly the U.S. flag,
they fly their state flag too.
Brad Ferguson
<kath...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Two years ago, we hosted an exchange student from Germany who was
> amazed at the flags everywhere. She said flags are rarely seen outside
> of government facilities in Germany.
I believe that's a relatively modern change.
Americans like flying the national flag and always have, and that's not
going to change. The attitude about state flags is different. Here in
Maryland, you see the state flag all over the place, perhaps because
its design is so ... unique. Cross the border into West Virginia,
though, and there's hardly any state flags to be seen, except at state
offices and so forth, where you'd expect them to be.
I've seen some Canadian flags being flown in Canada, but the national
thing seems to be sticking a red maple leaf on everything from
McDonald's boxes to jars of peanut butter.
Not that this is relevant, but one of my favorite movie mistakes is
when they show the maple leaf flag in a period piece. Cf. "The Way We
Were" among about six thousand others.
R H Draney
>
>I haven't been to a whole lot of states, but really took notice when
>first visiting Texas. Not only do a lot of folks fly the U.S. flag,
>they fly their state flag too.
Sometimes they screw up and fly the national flag of Chile instead....r
--
"You got Schadenfreude on my Weltanschauung!"
"You got Weltanschauung in my Schadenfreude!"
creature
"Terry del Fuego" <t_del...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:nsne23p886v2mg8mr...@4ax.com...
>>dolls and karate, was killed Monday afternoon when a gust of wind
>>snapped a flagpole during recess at Roosevelt Elementary School,
>>sending it crashing on top of her. Relatives said doctors at Beaumont
>>Hospital told them Angel died at the scene.
>
> anywhere and everywhere completely cheapened it, but it never occurred
> to me that the practice would actually kill somebody.
>
> Are you listening, McDonald's?
It's for flying at half-mast when a customer chokes to death on a McNugget.
~Mary O'Neill
> ~Mary O'Neill filted:
>> I haven't been to a whole lot of states, but really took notice when
>> first visiting Texas. Not only do a lot of folks fly the U.S. flag,
>> they fly their state flag too.
>
> Sometimes they screw up and fly the national flag of Chile instead....r
I'll be looking for that mistake next time I go that way.
Mock 5
wrote:
>On Thu, 19 Apr 2007 02:37:14 -0400, Kathi <kath...@hotmail.com>
>quoted:
>
>>Angel Pocock-Smith, the 5-year-old kindergartner who loved Barbie
>>dolls and karate, was killed Monday afternoon when a gust of wind
>>snapped a flagpole during recess at Roosevelt Elementary School,
>>sending it crashing on top of her. Relatives said doctors at Beaumont
>>Hospital told them Angel died at the scene.
>
>I've always thought the mindless obsession with flying the flag
>anywhere and everywhere completely cheapened it, but it never occurred
>to me that the practice would actually kill somebody.
This is the second one in just a few months. I read something here about a guy
who was killed when the top of a flagpole fell off and crushed his head.
Enough with the flags!