Archive for April, 2011
Ohio unemployment drops to two-year low
COLUMBUS — The state says an increase in manufacturing jobs helped Ohio’s unemployment rate drop for the 13th month in a row to a two-year low of 8.9 percent. Joblessness fell last month from a revised February rate of 9.2 percent to continue a steady decline since February 2010, when Ohio unemployment hit 10.6 percent, [...]
Baseball: Brookside’s Phil Donelan helps lift Cards over EC
SHEFFIELD — Phil Donelan decided it was no fun taking a called third strike, not once, but twice, in Thursday’s Brookside-Elyria Catholic game. So on his third trip to the plate, he came out swinging. The Cardinals’ junior first baseman went on to double, single and drive in four runs to lead his team to [...]
Cavs year in review: Team acknowledges tough year, points to better 2012
INDEPEDENCE — There was a franchise-record 55-point loss in Los Angeles, but there was also a victory over the Lakers at Quicken Loans Arena. There was the Dec. 2 debacle in LeBron James’ first game back at The Q, but there was also a home win over the Miami Heat. There was an NBA-record 26-game [...]
Softball: Olmsted Falls beats Amherst in battle of SWC titans
AMHERST — The tone for a Southwestern Conference showdown between Amherst and Olmsted Falls on Thursday may have been set just two pitches in. Falls’ leadoff hitter Kim Kirkpatrick belted Jennifer Sutton’s second pitch over the fence in right-center field for a leadoff home run that seemed to ignite the visiting Bulldogs. Amherst clawed back, [...]
Softball: Keystone slugs its way to tourney win
ASHLAND — Undefeated Keystone opened the 18th Wendy’s Spring Classic on Thursday with its ninth softball victory of the season. The Wildcats collected nine hits — including two triples and a double — in a 9-1 mercy-rule victory over Canfield South Range. The Raiders (9-2) had won 36 of their previous 38 games over two [...]
Moen building deal dead in Elyria
ELYRIA — The city is scrapping its plans to buy a former manufacturing plant on Lowell Street after learning it has been leased to another company. Mayor Bill Grace said the idea of purchasing the building formerly owned by Moen Corp. to serve as a new city garage is dead. “We have been told it [...]
Growth in inmate population makes Grafton big enough to be a city, but it won’t be reclassified
GRAFTON — Every night, some 6,622 people go to sleep in this village, but Grafton isn’t becoming a city even though it crossed the threshold of 5,000 residents, according to state officials. A law excludes prisoners and college students from population counts to determine if villages should be reclassified as cities, according to Matt McClellan, [...]
Photo gallery: Windsor Elementary talent show
NTSB: Pilot error caused crash that killed Vermilion inventor, 3 others
The National Transportation Safety Board announced this week that pilot error was the probable cause of an airplane crash that claimed the life of four people, including local inventor Donald Brown. The report, which was finalized Tuesday, said Wesley Roemer, 30, an experienced Florida-based pilot, failed “to maintain adequate airspeed during an instrument approach, which [...]
Woman gets prison for selling drugs from hotel room
ELYRIA — An Elyria woman who was selling drugs from her room at the Red Roof Inn in Elyria was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison. Brittany Smith, 25, pleaded guilty late last year to charges of drug possession, drug trafficking and having weapons under disability. The five-year prison sentence also stems from unrelated [...]
Lorain city worker must resign from job for false OT claims
ELYRIA — A Lorain city worker pleaded guilty Thursday to misdemeanor counts of theft and falsification for trying to claim extra overtime and pay for “call outs” he didn’t go to. In exchange for Pedro Rivera’s plea, prosecutors dropped an additional 11 counts of theft, which were felonies, and another five counts of falsifications, according [...]
North Ridgeville woman indicted in Cuyahoga County mortgage scheme
A North Ridgeville woman who was once a probation officer in Cuyahoga County has been indicted for her alleged involvement in a Cleveland mortgage fraud scheme. Takara Madkins, 34, and her company, D & T Investments, each were indicted by a Cuyahoga County grand jury on charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, [...]
Cleveland airport unveils long-term plans
In coming years, Cleveland’s main airport wants to make it easier for people and cars to get around and replace its parking garage. A long-range plan for Cleveland Hopkins airport was unveiled for members of the traveling public Thursday night. Spokeswoman Jackie Mayo says it shows what the airport wants to look like more than [...]
Local news briefs for April 15, 2011
Senior program offered ELYRIA — The free Senior Driver Awareness/Resident Safety Program being hosted by AAA East Central and the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office is designed to provide useful tips to older drivers as well as help protect them from crimes, scams and other potential dangers. The program is open to all Lorain County residents, [...]
Baseball notes: 1951 Clippers were district champions
I stand corrected. Clearview indeed had a championship baseball team before 2010. Granted, it was a long time ago, which is why almost no one argued when this newspaper wrote that the Patriot Athletic Conference title Clearview won last year was the Clippers’ first championship in baseball. Bill Clark noticed. Clark, 84, of Sheffield Village, [...]
Police log for April 15, 2011
Elyria police Wednesday, April 13 1:51 .m. – 100 Cleveland St., Walgreens,.store manager told police a man took two wireless keyboards without paying. 4:11 p.m. – 320 Washington Ave., a man said a bike he borrowed from a friend was stolen from outside the Elyria Public Library’s Main Branch. LaGrange police Monday, April 12 10:18 [...]
Phyllis Ann Chapman
Phyllis Ann Chapman (nee Smith), 72, of Elyria, passed away Wednesday, April 13, 2011, at EMH Regional Medical Center in Elyria, following a short illness. She was born July 17, 1938 in Cleveland. She was a long-time resident of Lorain County and also previously lived in Colorado for six years and Florida for two years. [...]
Mavis Benford Dick
Mavis Benford Dick (nee Epling), 92, of Rocky River, died April 13, 2011 at Wesleyan Village in Elyria. She was born July 28, 1918 in Princeton, West Virginia and attended Virginia Intermont in Bristol, Virginia and the University of Cincinnati. She enjoyed gardening, shopping and playing bingo. Mavis is survived by a daughter, Gayle (Dale) [...]
Tony J. Kristek
Tony “Anthony” J. Kristek, 85, passed away Wednesday, April 13, 2011. He was a proud U.S. Marine Corps WWII Veteran of the Third Marine Division and survivor of Iwo Jima. Retired Local 21 Carpenter. Tony was the beloved husband of Alice (nee Gerrick); loving father of Daniel (Janet) and Mark (Dawn); grandfather of Monica Goetz [...]
Mary Jo Sparaino
Mary Josephine Sparaino, 87, passed away on Thursday, April 14, 2011, at New Life Hospice in Lorain. Mary Jo was born on May 12, 1923 to her loving parents, Louis and Mary (nee Ferraro) Sparaino in Gangi, Sicily, Italy, but she was a Lorain resident most of her life. Mary Jo was a member of [...]
Patrick Allison Toomey, Jr.
Patrick Allison Toomey, Jr., died peacefully Friday, the 8th of April, 2011, in Hospice House in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was 63 years old and is survived by his wife of 36 years, Dr. Patricia Ruth Bristowe of Charlottesville, and his 32 year old son, Patrick Allison Toomey III of Chicago. Also surviving, are brothers, Michael [...]
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell talks lockout with Browns fans
Browns season-ticket holders had an audience with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Thursday. And he stepped away from the first day of resumed labor mediation in Minneapolis to speak with them. Goodell took questions during a conference call with 5,000 Browns fans. The primary topic, as expected, was the lockout that has halted nearly all [...]
Man faces charges after police chase ends in dramatic crash
CARLISLE TWP. — Two people were taken to the hospital from the scene of a dramatic crash the followed an Elyria police pursuit overnight. The driver, Richard Webber, 23, of Elyria, and a passenger, Gregory Styer, 20, of Oberlin, were both taken to EMH Regional Medical Center and then transferred to another hospital. Their conditions [...]
Dairy Mart robbed at gunpoint, clerk assaulted
LORAIN — Lorain police are looking for a man who robbed a Dairy Mart at gunpoint this morning and assaulted the clerk. Officers were called to the convenience store at West 28th Street and Broadway at 5:30 this morning, according to a police report. The clerk told police he was in a back room when [...]
Softball: Midview makes it look easy, capitalizes on Avon mistakes
EATON TWP. — Five Midview doubles, six Avon errors and a hit-by-pitch that wasn’t. Interesting statistics in Wednesday’s West Shore Conference softball game and many of them figured in the Middies’ 9-2 victory. It had been expected to be a neck-and-neck pitchers duel featuring two of the area’s best, Sydney Mencke of Midview and Avon’s [...]