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Last updated on Thursday, March 15, 2012
(RUGBY) - A long-time Hope businessman and community activist died Wednesday afternoon in a logging accident in northeastern Bartholomew County.
71-year-old Lowell Miller, the owner of Hope Hardwoods Inc. and Hope Warehouse, died instantly from blunt force trauma when a dead limb struck him in the back of the head, said Larry Fisher, Chief Deputy Coroner of Bartholomew County.
Miller was helping pull a tree from a wooded area owned by the Goss family on Road 700N, close to the Decatur County line, when the dead limb struck him, authorities said.
Fisher said Miller was wearing a hard hat, face guard and ear protection at the time.
"They were doing everything safety-wise they possibly could have done," Fisher said.
He said Miller was working with two of his sons and another man who was operating equipment to move the timber to an area where it could be logged.
The limb measured about 8 inches in diameter and 15 to 20 feet long, Fisher said.
Miller was actively involved in the Hope community, including economic development efforts and establishing the Flat Rock-Hawcreek endowment fund.
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