Cheerleaders

This small city's namesake military base was decommissioned after World War II, but over the years Fort Oglethorpe, population 7,000, has retained its utilitarian, base-town ambience. Public life here unfolds on two busy four-lane thoroughfares clogged with used-car lots, fast-food joints and pawnshops. All that's missing are the troops. What Fort Oglethorpe does not lack is churches -- enough churches, in an array of Protestant flavors, to deliver salvation to brigades of sinners.

Robert Ramos bumps when he should grind. If he's supposed to walk like an Egyptian, he gets down in a low swagger. With Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" blaring, Ramos isn't sure which way that is. Even when telling a joke about his lack of dancing prowess, his timing is off. "My girlfriend says that if it wasn't for no rhythm, I wouldn't have any rhythm at all," he says, furrowing his brow when that doesn't sound right.

At a national cheerleading competition last month, girls wearing short skirts and purple eye glitter competed for points at the Anaheim Convention Center. But the real contest was going on in the beauty lounge. The prize: the loyal buying habits of brand-obsessed teens. At a vanity table in a corner of the convention center, Jessica Lopez, a 14-year-old from West Covina, learned how to make her tresses stand up on end with Herbal Essences hair spray.

RIPON, Calif. -- Six cheerleaders are fighting suspensions after they flashed football fans a message on their underpants. Vice Principal Ken Goeken ordered the girls to serve suspensions Tuesday and Wednesday for defying their coach and going ahead with a special cheer they choreographed for the last day of the football season. At the end of the cheer, the girls bent over, lifted their skirts and showed the crowd the words "Indians No. 1" on their bloomers.

Kim Fernandez was at her desk when the phone rang with the news that her oldest daughter had been hurt during cheerleading practice. "I just remember hearing the words 'lots of blood,' " Fernandez said. "Becky caught an elbow in the nose. It was broken in five pieces, and she ended up having surgery." Such injuries have become more common in cheerleading, a world that has changed vastly from the days when all one had to do was be perky, peppy and fill out a sweater.

Initial autopsy results failed to pinpoint the cause of death of a 14-year-old Anaheim cheerleader who collapsed during team practice, authorities said Thursday. Shauna Stuewe, a freshman at Esperanza High School and a gymnast, was being tossed into the air by teammates in what was called a routine move shortly before she passed out Wednesday afternoon. "Everything happened so quickly," said school spokeswoman Rosemary Gladden. "It was a normal cheerleading practice.

With gold and orange pompoms fluttering, roving bands of young women, about 100 in all, are serving as cheerleaders here at the speedskating oval, the hockey rinks, even the mountain venues. Two! Four! Six! Eight! Is this a turn to appreciate? The cheerleaders, who were recruited by Turin 2006 organizers, provide a more entertainment-style experience at the Olympics, where traditionally the essence of sport has taken center stage. The cheerleaders have drawn mixed reviews. "Cute!"

An Oxnard cheerleading coach pleaded guilty Monday to providing a 16-year-old student with the drug Ecstasy and engaging in oral sex with the girl. Jonathon Rios, 27, pleaded guilty to two of the four felony counts he originally faced after his arrest in October. The Ventura County district attorney's office agreed to drop charges of statutory rape and sodomy with a person younger than 18. Senior Deputy Dist. Atty.

Patty Phommanyvong, a cheerleader for Marshall High School in Los Angeles, was thrust into the air while performing a stunt at a football game two years ago. The next thing anyone knew, she was limp. Her heart had stopped beating. Paramedics were called, but by the time they got her heart restarted, her brain had been deprived of oxygen for too long and she was in a coma. Experts say she may have been inadvertently struck in the chest on her descent from the stunt. Confined to a nursing home, Phommanyvong, now 19, can't eat or speak.