Archive for March 1st, 2008
Browns keep their QB: GM Savage decides it’s too risky to let Anderson walk, signs him to multiyear deal
BEREA — The three-year, $24 million deal that the Browns and quarterback Derek Anderson agreed to Friday was all about security. General manager Phil Savage couldn’t stand the thought of letting one of his two young passers go, which would leave the team susceptible to one injury that could sabotage all the progress made in [...]
Browns notes: Trade nets Packers D-lineman Corey Williams; deal for Lions’ Rogers reportedly made as well
BEREA — When Phil Savage identifies a need, look out. The Browns general manager entered free agency with fixing the defensive line as his No. 1 priority. In less than 24 hours, Savage traded for Green Bay’s Corey Williams and reportedly had finalized a deal for Detroit’s Shaun Rogers. The Browns employ a three-man front, [...]
Cavaliers let Timberwolves hang around before putting them away late
CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers seemed to approach this one like they could win any time they really wanted to, and they turned out to be right. Trudging along for most of the night, Cleveland turned it on down the stretch to defeat the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves 92-84 Friday at sold-out Quicken Loans Arena. Up just [...]
Boys district basketball: Vermilion makes OT pay, rallies past Bay for first district title
WESTLAKE — No doubt Kurt Habermehl doesn’t mind repeating himself under these circumstances. Habermehl, Vermilion’s head coach, said pretty much the same thing after the Sailors’ 56-54 overtime victory over Bay on Friday that he had uttered Tuesday following the team’s overtime win against Holy Name. “This game was about the team’s character,” Habermehl said. “They [...]
Dream of a state title still alive for three area wrestlers
COLUMBUS — When all the smoke cleared and all the bruised and battered combatants had left the mats, three area wrestlers remained with the opportunity to capture Division I state wrestling championships. To nobody’s surprise, St. Edward junior Collin Palmer will be up for his third state title in as many years during tonight’s championship [...]
Indians’ Byrd says he wants to talk about past HGH use, but can’t just yet
KISSIMMEE, Fla. — They’re both starting pitchers, but other than that, Paul Byrd and Roger Clemens have drawn few comparisons over the course of their careers. Now they’re linked for the wrong reason — HGH. In a somewhat ironic scene Friday at Osceola County Stadium, Byrd took the mound for his exhibition debut — a [...]
Doug Clarke: Time to knock tired steroid saga out of the park
Hark, do you hear it? No, not that. Not the snow and the wind. Listen closer. There. Surely you heard that. It went thuunkk. The sound of a fastball (not thrown at full speed yet, for a pitcher does not want to be shut down with a shredded rotator cuff or a torn ligament in [...]
Boys district basketball: Oberlin falters in fourth, falls to Lutheran East
STRONGSVILLE — Third-seeded Oberlin seemed to have a good chance for a berth in a district championship game, but the Phoenix faltered in the last four minutes and lost to second-seeded Lutheran East 69-61 in a Division IV district semifinal Friday night. The game had been postponed from Tuesday because of snow. Oberlin had a [...]
Lorain police officer suspended again
LORAIN — Police Officer Corey Earl has been suspended again. Earl was placed on paid leave Tuesday following an incident at Scorchers bar on Broadway in Lorain in which Earl walked in while on-duty sometime last week and made a threat — via a third party — that he would harm Thomas Pruitt, a corrections [...]
Derek Anderson re-signs; deal means another year on bench for Brady Quinn
BEREA — General manager Phil Savage leaned forward in his seat and got dangerously close to the microphone. “We are not trading Derek Anderson in 2008,” Savage said, getting agitated. “Thank you very much.” While Savage considers that a positive, many Browns fans reacted negatively to the news that Anderson had signed a three-year, $24 [...]
Grass gone at West park fields in Elyria
ELYRIA — Grass is out and dirt is in. That’s the gist of a $20,000 Parks and Recreation Department project that will transform the city-owned softball fields at West Park from grass infields to dirt. The job, which is being funded out of various departments’ budgets, will mean that a 15-year-old tradition of playing on [...]
White works last day as U.S. attorney
Longtime Lorain County Prosecutor Greg White reflected on two great jobs as he ended a five-year term as U.S. Attorney of the Northern District of Ohio on Friday — a stint that occurred during one of the most extraordinary and challenging periods in American history. “It’s bittersweet, having served 27 years in the prosecuting business,” [...]
Tight budget forces Columbia library to shut its doors two days per week
COLUMBIA TWP. — Beginning May 5, patrons won’t be able to check out a book or DVD on Wednesdays or Saturdays at the Columbia branch of the Lorain Public Library System. The board of the parent system in Lorain decided to close the Columbia branch on those two days in order to trim about $56,000 [...]
Chinese fugitive to be deported from the U.S.
ATLANTA — A Chinese fugitive accused of killing his wife in New Zealand, abandoning his 3-year-old daughter in Australia and fleeing to the United States will be deported instead of facing an extradition hearing, officials said Friday. Justice Department officials decided that Nai Yin Xue will be removed from the U.S., said Pat Reilly, a [...]
Report of student with gun causes daylong lockdown in Pasadena
PASADENA, Calif. — Police on Friday arrested a student suspected of carrying a handgun on campus, forcing a daylong lockdown and search at a high school. The male student was taken into custody on suspicion of possessing a firearm, police said. They did not say whether a weapon was found. SWAT teams were sent to [...]
Blotter: March 1, 2008
Elyria police Thursday, Feb. 28 8:20 a.m. – 100 block E. Broad St., credit cards stolen from unattended purse of a doctor in her office. 7:21 p.m. – 300 block Cleveland St., purse stolen from vehicle parked at Reichlin-Robert Funeral Home. 7:26 p.m. – 200 block N. Abbe Road, purse stolen from grocery cart outside [...]
BMV to close for maintenance
COLUMBUS — The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles will close its license offices across the state at noon today for system maintenance. Most license agencies normally close at noon on Saturdays, but even those that generally stay open will have to shut down so the work can be done, according to an Ohio Department of [...]
Judge declines bond reduction
ELYRIA — A county judge rejected a request Friday to reduce the $1 million bond that is keeping a Lorain man, accused of gunning down his estranged wife’s lover, in the county jail. Earlier this week, Jack Bradley, Frank Honaker’s attorney, asked county Common Pleas Judge Edward Zaleski to cut his client’s bond to $250,000. [...]
Man sues agencies over public records
A man specializing in public records law is taking the county by storm and suing local agencies at will. Brian Bardwell, 26, of Akron, heads the group “Citizens for Sunshine,” which seeks to make sure government agencies comply with state law. His mission is simple: If public agencies don’t give him the records the public’s [...]
Spellbound success: Avon seventh-grader wins preliminary district spelling bee
GRAFTON — What started with “schedule” and “veterans” Friday night at Midview North Elementary School quickly turned tricky as students wrestled with “gastroenterology” and “extemporaneous.” But Erin McNamee, 12, a seventh-grader at Avon Middle School, had the skill to master “peristaltic” and defeat 43 challengers to win the 2008 Preliminary South District Spelling Bee. “I [...]
Humorous tome on executions won`t be entered as evidence
ELYRIA — County Common Pleas Judge James Burge won’t be allowing defense attorneys trying to convince him to declare the state’s lethal injection process unconstitutional to enter into evidence a book that details execution methods throughout history. But Kreig Brusnahan, an attorney for Ruben Rivera, one of two accused killers fighting the possibility of execution, [...]
Hundreds primp their pets for weekend cat show
Hundreds of area contestants have been preparing their pets all week long for a beauty contest of the feline variety. The North Coast Cat Fanciers Allbreed Cat Show, which takes place 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and Sunday at Gargus Banquet Center, 1969 North Ridge Road, Lorain, has attracted the entry of 225 purebred [...]
Sheffield blotter: March 1, 2008
Sheffield police Wednesday, Feb. 20 10:05 p.m. — East River Road and Burrill Hill, Roynyelle C. Rowser, 36, Euclid Ave., Lorain, charged with driving under suspension and speeding. Thursday, Feb. 21 9:31 p.m. — 3400 block East River Road, Steven Esper, 25, W. 23rd St., Lorain, charged with speeding and operating a vehicle while [...]
Oberlin College prints phone bills for voter ID
OBERLIN — Oberlin College and the Lorain County Board of Elections teamed up to find a solution to strict voter identification laws — creating phone bills for students. Alan Moran, vice president of college relations, said the zero-balance bills will be placed in the mailboxes of students in their dormitories over the weekend. The bills [...]
Billy Wayne Westmoreland
Billy Wayne Westmoreland, 71, of Elyria passed away at his home Wednesday, February 27, 2008. Arrangements are incomplete and will be announced by the Blackburn-Duke Funeral Home, 1021 Main St., Grafton.