CNN.com - Teen in hockey death smart, happy

Cecil

WEST ALEXANDRIA, Ohio (CNN) -- In a town so small, a few dozen shy of 1,500, bliss is often collective. So is bereavement.

It's what has made the death of 13-year-old Brittanie Cecil, the teen who died this week after getting hit with a hockey puck, so difficult to bear in West Alexandria. And it's what's made details about the youth's life so intriguing, but so sparse.

The town's citizens are few, but that doesn't ensure likability or recognition. So what made Brittanie well known and well liked?

People have said she was pretty, intelligent and always smiling. Lin Crews, whose daughter used to baby-sit Brittanie, told the Dayton Daily News that said she "was real smart.... She was a good student."

Her relatives, school and neighbors have rallied to maintain her privacy and her family's.

EXTRA INFORMATION    FANS AT RISK Several attorneys who handle personal injury cases have said the language on the back of tickets for sporting events is for the protection of businesses but does not automatically exempt facilities from liability if someone is injured by objects leaving the playing field. To waive their right to pursue a claim, a patron would have to sign a document that was labeled as a disclaimer and explained the specific risks. The patron also would have to see and sign that document before purchasing a ticket to an event.

"In this small, rural school district, as with most similar school systems, the loss of a student shocks the whole community," reads a prepared statement issued by the principal of Twin Valley South Middle School, where Brittanie was in eighth grade. "The students and staff are deeply saddened by this sudden and painful loss. ... Out of respect for the parents and family during this time of mourning, we will not comment any further or answer questions."

The Associated Press reported that Brittanie was a hard-working honor student who loved to shop.

There are only 92 eighth-graders at Twin Valley, said Matt Bishop, the school's principal, and about 260 students total in sixth through eighth grades. Brittanie was a cheerleader there, her friends have said. She was also on the soccer team. Her Saturday attendance at the Columbus Blue Jackets' hockey game where she was injured was an early birthday present from her father, her friends told The Associated Press. Perhaps she was athletic and liked sports.

Kari Summers, who played soccer with Brittanie, told The Associated Press "it was just so much fun to be around her. She was so happy all the time," Summers said. "You never saw her in a sad moment."

Stacy Habekost, who manages one of the three beauty salons in West Alexandria, said many of the town's younger people and students get their hair styled at her shop. Brittanie's maternal aunt worked there, and Brittanie got her hair cut there, Habekost told the Dayton Daily News.

"Everyone who has walked in today has mentioned it, but no one wants to talk too much about it," she said. 'Everybody knows everybody here, and the kids are all really close."

WDIV, a Detroit, Michigan, television station, reported that Tiffany Straszatim was one of Brittanie's best friends and among those who spoke to her last before she died at the hospital Monday. And their conversation could suggest that Brittanie didn't mind sharing her feelings with her friends.

"She said that she love me, and I told her I loved her too," Tiffany told WDIV. "Then she said, 'Bye,' and then the next day, we knew she was gone."