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Groton Daily Independent
Saturday, July 29, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 029 ~ 37 of 67
and plunged toward the ground. Other riders were still in their seats as they fell.
Tyler Jarrell, of Columbus, was thrown about 50 feet (15 meters) and pronounced dead on the midway. The Marine Corps and school of cials said Jarrell enlisted last week and was to begin basic training after
his high school graduation next year.
“That was just this past Friday. Then he goes to the state fair and he is involved in this horrible tragedy.
It’s just devastating,” said Capt. Gerard Lennon Jr., a naval science instructor in the Junior ROTC program at Jarrell’s high school.
Jarrell’s family has hired a law rm to look into the possibility of ling a wrongful death lawsuit.
The injured ranged in age from 14 to 42. At least two were listed in critical condition.
Jarrell’s girlfriend, Keziah Lewis, doesn’t remember the accident and has pelvis, ankle and rib injuries,
her mother told The Columbus Dispatch.
Lewis, a University of Cincinnati student, underwent one surgery and faces a second.
“She kept asking for her boyfriend,” Clarissa Williams said. “I had to tell her he was the one who was
deceased.”
Inspectors looked over the ride while it was assembled and signed off on it hours before it ew apart,
according to authorities and records released Thursday.
The ride’s manufacturer, KMG, said the one at the Ohio fair was built in 1998. Forty-three of the rides,
also known as the Afterburner, are in use around the world, 11 of them in the U.S., according to KMG. None has had a serious malfunction before, the company told the AP.
The Fire Ball swings 24 riders back and forth like a pendulum 40 feet (12 meters) above the ground while they sit facing each other in four-seat carriages that spin at 13 revolutions a minute, according to the company’s website.
Ohio Department of Agriculture records provided to The Associated Press showed passing marks on inspections of about three dozen items, including possible cracks, brakes, proper assembly and installation. All rides at the fair are checked several times when they are being set up to ensure the work is done
the way the manufacturer intended, said Agriculture Director David Daniels.
Michael Vartorella, Ohio’s chief inspector of amusement ride safety, said the Fire Ball was inspected three
or four times before the fair opened.
Amusements of America, the company that provides rides to the state fair, said its staff also had in-
spected the ride before it opened.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is also investigating. It estimates there were 30,900
injuries associated with amusement attractions last year that required an emergency room visit. It said there have been at least 22 fatalities associated with amusement attractions since 2010. The Ohio State Fair is one of the biggest state fairs in the U.S. It drew 900,000 people last year. ___
AP writers John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; Dan Sewell in Cincinnati; Mark Gillispie in Cleveland; Denise Lavoie in Boston; Mike Corder in Brussels, and news researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this story.
Wisconsin governor calls special session on Foxconn deal By SCOTT BAUER, Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A wide array of Wisconsin environmental regulations would be waived in an effort to speed up construction of a $10 billion Foxconn electronics factory under a proposal Gov. Scott Walker unveiled Friday.
Walker called on the Republican-controlled Legislature to consider the measure as early as Tuesday. It also would borrow $252 million to nish rebuilding Interstate 94, which connects Milwaukee with Chicago and runs near where the massive display panel factory is expected to be built.
The plant would be the rst outside of Asia to produce liquid crystal display monitors used in comput- ers, televisions and other areas. Walker calls it a once-a-generation opportunity to transform Wisconsin’s