http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/14/beauty.queen.death.ap/index.html

Miss Deaf Texas struck by train, killed

Tuesday, March 14, 2006; Posted: 9:27 a.m. EST (14:27 GMT)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- The reigning Miss Deaf Texas died after being struck by a train, officials said.

Tara Rose McAvoy, 18, was walking Monday near railroad tracks when she was struck by a Union Pacific train, authorities said.

A witness told Austin television station KTBC the train sounded its horn right up until the accident occurred.

McAvoy, who had been deaf since birth, won the state title in June and represented the state "with dignity and pride," state pageant director Laura Loeb-Hill told The Associated Press via e-mail Monday night.

McAvoy was to represent Texas at the Miss Deaf America pageant this summer, Loeb-Hill said.

McAvoy graduated last year from the Texas School for the Deaf, attended Austin Community College and then started at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., in January, but had returned to Texas, Loeb-Hill said.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

I dunno about the rest of you, but if I couldn't hear, I wouldn't go walking around near railroad tracks.

I dunno about the rest of you, but if I couldn't hear, I wouldn't go walking around near railroad tracks.

You'd think she would have been able to feel the rumbling of the train regardless. I grew up around a lot of deaf people, and it is true that if you lose one of your senses that your others become more keenly aware to help compensate.

suicide?