Superintendent Chris Clark

Safety concerns at Black River Schools prompted parents to pull their children out of class Wednesday, one day after the district received a series of bomb threats that closed the campus for the day. Teacher attendance also was down.

After a bomb threat was received Tuesday morning at the high-school level, all buildings were closed. All schools are on one campus in Sullivan Township in Ashland County.

Ashland County sheriff’s deputies conducted a sweep of the buildings to ensure they were safe.

Superintendent Chris Clark said the district received a second set of threats on Tuesday afternoon — a series of emails that were received by members of high school staff.

Clark said deputies swept the school and found no explosives after the second threat was received. He said the district stationed a sheriff’s deputy at the building overnight and officers were at all entrances when students arrived Wednesday morning.

“We had officers here this morning to make sure everything was safe,” Clark said. “I felt we had a safe school.”

But a number of teachers didn’t report to school, and some students also stayed at home.

“I don’t have an exact number, but we did have some staff out,” Clark said. “We had parents who called and said their children wouldn’t be coming to school. We’re not marking them as unexcused but it is an absence.”

Clark said he didn’t have the exact number of students who didn’t attend classes, or numbers for those who were pulled out of class throughout the day.

Because of the ongoing threat investigation, he said he couldn’t say whether the teachers who didn’t report to school had received one of the email threats.

Clark said usual attendance was expected of the staff Wednesday and no one was instructed not to report as a result of the threat.

Gary Kovach, an official with the Ohio Education Association who works with the Black River Teachers Association, said there was no organized protest by teachers through the union, and said teachers who did not attend classes could have done so under the sick leave provisions of their contracts.

“I do know there were threats made, some against staff members,” he said. “But unless they’re using leave time, they have to come to school.”

He said he had not heard of any complaints from the union about how the district has handled the safety of teachers.

Clark posted a letter to parents on the school’s website saying that the district takes threats seriously, which is why the schools were closed Tuesday. Clark said schools were open Wednesday because he believes the measures taken to make them safe were effective.

“We’re going to continue to work to make the school as safe as possible,” he said. “We’ll continue to be pro-active with our security.”

Clark said the district is working in partnership with the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in an attempt to find the person or persons responsible for making the threats.

He also said the district is looking into a new method of text alerts for parents after learning not all parents received updates about the school closings Tuesday.

“We’ve already went out looking for a new texting plan for the district,” he said.

Contact reporter Loren Genson at (330) 721-4063 or lgenson@medina-gazette.com. Follow her on Twitter @lorengenson.

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Sgt. Brett Harrison

MEDINA — A Montville Township police sergeant pleaded not guilty Wednesday morning in Medina Municipal Court to misdemeanor charges in the death of his police dog by heatstroke last month.

Sgt. Brett Harrison is facing two counts of animal cruelty, second-degree misdemeanors that carry up to three months in jail and $750 in fines each. The charges accuse Harrison of failing to provide the k-9 with shelter from heat and needlessly killing the dog.

Harrison is scheduled for a Dec. 10 trial before Medina Municipal Judge Dale H. Chase, who will decide the case because the sergeant declined a jury trial.

Harrison’s attorney, Dominic Vitantonio, declined to comment on his client’s arraignment.

The police dog, Beny, died Sept. 28 after Harrison — according to department policy — left him in a police cruiser on a 70- to 80-degree day. However, police said he failed to leave the air conditioning running, which led to the dog’s death during the four hours he was left outside.

Harrison, who cared for the dog at home while off duty, said Beny’s death was an accident and accepted responsibility in a letter to the township trustees. He was disciplined with the loss of two weeks’ pay and a week’s worth of vacation time.

A Gazette survey of police departments with K-9 units found leaving police dogs in cruisers was common practice, and Montville police announced since Beny’s death that they plan to install $2,500 temperature monitoring systems in all K-9 cruisers to avoid another similar tragedy.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon. Keep checking back for more on this story.

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Halloween today is the spookiest time of year. It’s also the second-most, home-decorated holiday — after Christmas, of course — and displays are becoming bigger and scarier each year.

Ghouls, goblins and ghosts haunt the yards throughout neighborhoods for little princesses, ninjas and wizards looking to get a treat or to be tricked.

Endless hours of preparation and thought go into decorating for the residents who add a little haunt to their homes.

For these residents prepping for Halloween is the best time of year.

Just Hearsin’ Around

Terry Miller stands in front of his 1988 Lincoln Town Car hearse and Halloween display at his home, 456 West Park Blvd., Medina. (ANDREW DAVIS / GAZETTE)

Terry Miller usually drives a van. His other ride is a hearse.

His 1988 Lincoln Town Car hearse is the focal point of a ghoulish Halloween display that he has worked on for years.

Halloween is a special time for Miller and his wife, Gayle, who have known each other since the 1970s but started dating in 2000.

“She asked me if I smoked when we met,” he said. “I said, ‘No, but I drive a hearse.’”

Miller said she was fine with that.

Shortly after they started dating, Terry and Gayle packed up the hearse and visited 34 haunted houses in five states.

“We actually got to act in some of the haunted houses and got to know a lot of the haunted house people,” he said.

For Halloween night, the Millers turn their front yard into a graveyard for trick-or-treating children in remembrance of the early years of their relationship.

He and Gayle dress up in corpse paint, and hand out candy to youngsters out of the hatch of the hearse.

“Halloween was always a lot of fun for our families,” he said. “I really wasn’t planning on doing the Halloween thing; but after we got together, we started doing haunted houses.”

The Millers are members of the Hell, Michigan-based “Just Hearse N’ Around” club — yes, there is a town by that name — and attend hearse parades around the country, Miller said.

Slenderman

Rodney Tyler, of 815 Wadsworth Road, Medina, poses with 16-foot Slender Man statue that ominously creeps out of the woods. (ANDREW DAVIS / GAZETTE)

There is something in the woods on the southeast side of Medina, and if you’re driving northwest on Wadsworth Road you might have the misfortune of sighting it.

The 16-foot-tall suited figure, known as Slenderman, creeps ominously from the tree line on Rodney Tyler’s property, and legend has it that if you meet its gaze you soon will meet your demise.

Tyler made the Slenderman by hand with PVC pipe and had his sister stitch together the suit for the massive figure.

“She always made my costumes for me when I was a kid, so I always come to her and say, ‘Can you do this?’ and she always does,” he said.

Tyler said his Slenderman has become a talking point with other residents in the neighborhood.

“People stop and take pictures of it all the time,” he said. “I have kids come through the woods who ask their friends, ‘Hey, you want to see Slenderman?’

“They’ll walk through the creek and say, ‘Hey, I told ya.’”

The creature was born on the Internet when black and white pictures with the figure in the background surfaced in forums about the paranormal.

Tyler got the idea from his daughter, a ninth-grader at Medina High School, two years ago.

Tyler said his love for Halloween came from growing up in a household of 16 brothers and sisters. He and his siblings would create a haunted house in their basement each year to spook their relatives.

He and his siblings then would wait for their neighbor to put up his Halloween display each year with excitement.

“You always remember that kind of stuff,” he said. “It was awesome.”

Three witches

Leslee Martin, of 333 S. Huntington St., Medina, makes all of her Halloween decorations by hand. The three witches in her yard watch over a graveyard aimed at spooking her family and friends. Trick-or-treat in Medina, Brunswick and most of the county is tonight. (ANDREW DAVIS / GAZETTE)

Leslee Martin has three witches in her front yard to spook her family and friends each Halloween.

She and her husband make their display by hand to do something special for their 6-year-old triplets.

“We try to do special things for them,” she said. “It gets hard because they don’t have their own birthdays.

“Plus we just love Halloween.”

She also decorates her front yard as a graveyard to be spooky.

“When you think of Halloween, you think of witches and pumpkins,” she said, “All those silly little things.”

But the Martins don’t get a lot of trick-or-treaters because their house is situated in a precarious spot — across the street from Geyer Hawkins Market.

Her family goes to a relative’s house to trick-or-treat in a neighborhood, but they light up their display for all who want to get spooked.

Contact reporter Andrew Davis at (330) 721-4050 or adavis@medina-gazette.com.

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Nancy Johnson and her 5-year-old brother, Allen Lucarelli, celebrate Halloween 1954 with a popular apple game. Johnson was 3 years old that year and her mother, Kay Lucarelli, made her costume using fabric from her own bridal gown. Johnson’s brother’s devil’s costume also was homemade. Her mother entered this photo in a contest sponsored by the Cleveland Press and won $5. (PHOTO PROVIDED)

When did Halloween become such a big deal?

The minute the kids go back to school, folks start decorating with macabre merchandise — sparkly plastic pumpkins with ghoulish faces, smiling skeletons, blinking orange lights, motion-activated zombies that spring to grotesque life and spooky welcome mats that cackle maniacally underfoot.

On Halloween night, elaborately costumed children are followed by an entourage of paparazzi. Beaming parents and adoring grandparents, aunts, uncles and teenaged siblings record every hallowed detail on smart phones to be posted on Facebook later that night.

When I was growing up in the 1950s, Halloween was a low-key event — a night when we ran around in the dark with little parental supervision, collecting candy that was forbidden to us the other 364 days of the year.

Our parents wouldn’t dream of trick-or-treating with us. It would have been so undignified — think “Mad Men.” Besides, the parents’ job was to stay home to pass out candy to everybody else’s kids.

And wouldn’t the entire neighborhood keep an eye on us anyway?

Most mothers, mine included, created our costumes from old pajamas, fabric remnants, dusty hats and wedding veils. If snow was in the forecast, my mother made our costumes large enough to fit over our winter coats.

Just before we walked out the door, she burned the end of a cork to ashes on the stove and gave us either kitten whiskers or a hobo’s beard, depending on our age and gender.

Sometimes we had masks to wear. Sitting cockeyed on our faces with the eye-slits on our cheeks, store-bought masks were impossible to see through — hot, itchy and probably flammable.

In fact, the threat of fire was a real Halloween hazard back then. Flammable costumes were just one part of the problem, since decorating the house meant carving a pumpkin the night before Halloween and setting it on the porch steps with a candle’s flame glowing through the eyes. We ran past those firebombs with our costumes flapping in the breeze.

Still, I don’t recall anyone from the neighborhood going up in flames.

And there were other dangers lurking in the night. For instance, in the ’50s no one had ever heard of reflective clothing. My mother usually dyed our costumes flat black in a big laundry tub in the basement, thus rendering us invisible to passing motorists.

But we were safe because all the kids watched out for each other. When my little brother tripped and fell in the middle of the street, spilling his precious haul, we scrambled to get the candy back into his pillowcase before a car ran it over.

We held each other’s hands as we ran through the neighborhood and made so much noise, nobody could miss us.

Going house to house, we were admired by our neighbors, who oohed and ahhed over our costumes, tossed full-size candy bars into our bags and told us to be careful.

We never cut through their yards; that would have been rude. We ran the entire length of their driveways as they watched us move to the next home.

On the rare occasion a family couldn’t be at home, they left the porch light on and set out bowls of candy or cider and doughnuts, the 1950s version of an honor system, which we absolutely respected, since our parents had eyes in the backs of their heads.

The fact is, we didn’t need much to make Halloween special. Just parents who loved us enough to make our costumes and pass out candy to our friends, siblings who looked out for us, and neighbors who made it their business to watch us cross the street.

And when you think about it, that really is a big deal.

Contact reporter Nancy Johnson at (330) 721-4065 or areanews@medina-gazette.com.

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The last of six city residents involved in what police said was the biggest methamphetamine operation in Medina County was sentenced Thursday to probation and six months of house arrest.

Lisbeth Karecki

Lisbeth Karecki, 44, also was ordered to perform 24 hours of community service as part of her sentence.

Karecki owned the home at 505 N. Broadway St. in Medina where county Medina County Drug Task Force agents said in February they found drug paraphernalia, eight portable methamphetamine labs, drugs and meth-making chemicals.

The task force said the bust was the biggest in its history. All six people involved were charged with felonies and convicted, and four of them were sentenced to prison.

Task force agents said the meth operation was dangerous because there were two children — ages 1 and 13 — living in the home.

Karecki’s sentencing came the day after that of co-defendant, Kyle Roderick, 31, who failed to show up for a sentencing hearing earlier this month. Roderick was arrested in Summit County and transported to Medina County. He was sentenced to 150 days in the Medina County Jail and was credited for the 133 days he served awaiting trial. He also was placed on three years’ probation and ordered to complete 24 hours of community service.

Other co-defendants:
• Vincent Clark, 34, was sentenced to four years in prison. He is scheduled for release in February 2018.
• Kathleen Scrivens, 37, was sentenced to three years in prison and is set for release in March 2017. Her children were the ones living at the house.
• Jennifer Haugen, 29, also was sentenced to three years in prison and is expected to be released in February 2017.
• Jeffrey Rini, 51, received a one-year sentence and is scheduled for release in March.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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Brunswick City Council is looking at using an economic development tool to help pay for repairs on Skyview Drive.

At a Council meeting Monday, members discussed the possibility of creating a Tax Increment Financing District on Skyview Drive at the site of proposed apartments on the north side of the road, just east of Pearl Road.

“The developer suggested this because he saw the condition of Skyview and it’s just not good,” Law Director Ken Fisher said.

A TIF would allow a portion of the property taxes collected on the new construction to be earmarked for street repairs on Skyview Drive.

A contract with the developer has not yet been proposed, but the developer of the apartments, the Villas of Fox Hollow, has an interest in inking a deal with the city after a TIF district is created, Fisher said.

“If we create the district this year, it allows us to enter into an agreement sometime next year,” Fisher said.

If the city then enters into a TIF agreement, the county would continue to collect property taxes on the current property tax valuation, but a portion of the property taxes collected on the new construction would be set aside in a separate fund to go toward economic development within the TIF. In this case, the money would be set aside for repairs on Skyview Drive.

The exact percentage of new taxes collected for roadway repairs would be set by the future agreement, and school districts impacted would be notified.

Last year, the developers paid $5,168 in property taxes on the land where the apartments will be built.

Finance Director Todd Fischer reminded city leaders that if they borrow money to do road repairs, they’re on the hook to make payments, regardless of whether the TIF district collects new money or not.

“Once there’s an agreement proposed, we’ll put all the numbers together and do an analysis on it,” he said.

But the law director said there is some risk taken out of the equation when you agree to a TIF in an area where an apartment complex already has been proposed.

“Some TIFs are created in areas where you hope to have development; in this case, we know there will be apartments,” Fisher said. “The risk would be whether the property owner makes their tax payments, and that risk is relatively small.”

Contact reporter Loren Genson at (330) 721-4063 or lgenson@medina-gazette.com. Follow her on Twitter @lorengenson.

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BRUNSWICK — The Medina County OVI Task Force will hold a sobriety checkpoint tonight from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. on West 130th Street in Brunswick, north of state Route 303.

The checkpoint, funded by federal grants, will be accompanied by increased “saturation patrols” in the area by police.

“If you plan to consume alcohol, designate a driver or make other travel arrangements before you drink,” said L.t Mark Neff, commander of the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Medina post. “Don’t let another life be lost for the senseless and selfish act of getting behind the wheel impaired.”

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The number of voters casting early ballots already has surpassed last November’s turnout, but still has a way to go to exceed the total of early voters in 2010, the last time the governor’s post was up for election.

Medina County Board of Elections said 11,814 votes were cast on machines at the Board of Elections office, on paper ballots or mailed in as absentee ballots as of Friday.

That number is more than double the 5,540 early and absentee ballots recorded last November. But that election featured only municipal, township and school board races.

A better comparison is to November 2010 — the last gubernatorial election year — when about 15,000 people voted early or absentee.

Beating that total this year likely depends on the turnout on the last three days of early voting, this weekend and Monday.

Board of Elections Director Carol Lawler reported a steady flow of voters at the board offices on Friday, and expects to receive more absentee ballots by mail.

Lawler also said the board has had success in voter outreach to area nursing homes. Lawler said board employees travel to nursing homes to give a brief presentation on voting absentee and ask if any residents would like ballots. Lawler said the office issued 148 ballots in nursing homes this year and had 143 ballots returned.

“That’s actually a pretty good turnout,” she said. “Sometimes the residents will request a ballot, but then they don’t feel up to voting when it comes around, or they just change their mind.”

Contact reporter Loren Genson at (330) 721-4063 or lgenson@medina-gazette.com. Follow her on Twitter @lorengenson.

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Candidates for office in the four countywide races next week have raised more than $200,000 collectively, according to campaign finance reports submitted to the Medina County Board of Elections.

In the three races with incumbents, the challenger was outspent at least two to one as of the end of the reporting period, Oct. 15. The campaign finance reports were filed last week.

Candidates in the races for Medina County Common Pleas Court judge and Medina County juvenile and probate judge spent the most money on their campaigns.

Democrat Joyce Kimbler has raised $44,117 and Republican Gary Werner has raised $29,976 in their race for the common pleas court seat that is open because of the retirement of Kimbler’s husband, Judge James L. Kimbler, at the end of the year.

James Kimbler has been a major contributor to her campaign, donating $26,899 of in-kind contributions. His donations were for items including postage, printing, advertising and fundraising expenses, and total nearly two-thirds of her total contributions.

Werner got more than a third of his contributions from a $10,550 donation from the Medina County Republican Party Judicial Fund.

In the probate court race, incumbent Republican Kevin Dunn raised nearly double the funds of his Democratic challenger, David Sheldon. Dunn reported raising $41,380 to Sheldon’s $21,833.

In the race for Medina County auditor, incumbent Democrat Mike Kovack raised $39,990 but spent only $6,474 by the end of the reporting period.

Republican challenger Keith Dirham, the Medina city finance director, raised half as much — $19,796 — but reported spending $16,423.

In the race for Medina County commissioner, incumbent Republican Adam Friedrick raised $13,370. His Democratic challenger, Elisa Kazek, reported receiving $3,195.

Contact reporter Loren Genson at (330) 721-4063 or lgenson@medina-gazette.com. Follow her on Twitter @lorengenson.

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Medina Mayor Dennis Hanwell thinks it will cost less and provide more bang for the buck to expand the indoor pools at the Medina Community Recreation Center than it would to rebuild the outdoor pool at Memorial Park.

“What I wanted to do was give Council an alternative to spending $1 million on something that is only used three months of the year,” Hanwell said.

The mayor’s proposal would offer day passes for youngsters eligible for the free or reduced school lunch program so they could use the competition and leisure pools and other resources at the recreation center, 885 Weymouth Road.

The mayor said the city would offer those youngsters a daily rate of $3 to use the pool as well as the other facilities, and a discounted rate for the entire summer.

“What we are going to try — at least for next year — is offering a reduced (cost) program for the children on the school lunch program,” Hanwell said. “Instead of just being able to swim, they could use the track, basketball courts, weight room and the patio outside.”

Mike Wright, director of the recreation center, said the proposed summer rate would be $44 for a youngster and $117 for families — half the cost of the regular three-month summer membership.

But Wright said he was concerned that some people would prefer to be outdoors during the summer.

“I don’t foresee people who want to be outdoors really enjoying the indoor pool,” he said.

The mayor made the proposal at City Council’s Public Properties Committee meeting earlier this week.

Hanwell said the plan could save the city more than just the estimated $1.2 million needed to rebuild the city pool.

“When we had the outdoor pool open in the first place, we were losing about $40,000 a year and it cost $60,000 to operate the facility,” he said. “This new plan is kind of a middle ground.”

The original plans to rebuild the pool did not include costs to renovate the parking lot and changing area.

The city opened the pool project to architecture firms Aug. 22.

“I know we had some people submit interest, but I don’t know if we received any prices,” Hanwell said. “I just wanted to propose this before we got too far down the line.”

Parks Director Jansen Wehrley said eight architecture firms were qualified to bid on the project. The field was narrowed to three firms.

“From what I understand, we can keep the three in mind for about one to two years,” he said.

Contact reporter Andrew Davis at (330) 721-4050 or adavis@medina-gazette.com.

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Medina Mayor Dennis Hanwell distributes information to city officials from Brunswick, Medina and Wadsworth during a joint session Monday at Medina City Hall. (DAVID KNOX / GAZETTE)

Katie Anderson and Andrew Davis | The Gazette

Monday’s joint session of the city councils of Medina County’s three cities turned into a forum for Brunswick, Medina and Wadsworth officials to vent their frustrations about county government.

The complaints focused on the county’s handling of the Medina County Central Processing Facility, which provides trash recycling for the cities as well as rural areas, and the method used by the county to
distribute cellphone fees that support the 911 emergency system and state casino revenue funds.

Several city officials said they want more involvement in the operation of the Central Processing Facility, 8700 Lake Road, Westfield Township.

County commissioners advertised for bids to operate the plant after criticizing Envision Waste, the Cleveland-based company that now has the contract.

But only two bids were submitted by the Sept. 25 deadline — Envision and VEXOR Technology, of Medina.

Commissioners were expected to announce today at their 9:30 a.m. meeting whether to accept one of the bids or to try again.

Medina Council President John Coyne criticized the $61 “tipping fee” charged per ton of trash delivered to the recycling center. Coyne said 60 percent of the waste that goes to the center is from the cities.

“Our residents deserve better,” Coyne said. “We need to think about how we can lower those tipping fees.”
Brunswick Service Director Patrick McNamara said $7 of the $61 fee was earmarked to pay the mortgage on
the facility. But, McNamara said, the mortgage was paid off last year.

“They’ve been pocketing that $7,” he said.

McNamara said he doesn’t expect the county to drop the fee by $7, but he wants to see a compromise so the cities can “have some relief.”

Coyne said the cities and residents also are not happy with the recovery rate for materials recycled from the facility.

Envision Waste was recycling about 17 percent of the waste brought to the facility over the life of its previous contract, which ends this year.

Coyne suggested the cities could create a board of directors to oversee the operation of the facility, which would eliminate a “profit motive” from the operation.

Coyne asked county Commissioners Adam Friedrick and Steve Hambley, who attended the meeting at Medina City Hall, to consider the idea of the cities running the facility.

If the commissioners do award a contract today, Coyne asked that it be a short-term pact so the cities would have an opportunity to submit a bid.

Friedrick was noncommittal.

“We do have the presentation for the bids tomorrow after the commissioners’ meeting and we will go from there,” he said.

Hambley also didn’t give a direct answer. After the meeting, he told a Gazette reporter he was glad the cities voiced their concerns with the operation of the recycling center, saying the commissioners will take that into consideration when making a decision.

After the meeting, a Gazette reporter asked Coyne why the cities’ concerns about the recycling center weren’t brought up sooner in the bidding process.

“The ideas happen when they happen,” Coyne answered. “Maybe if we work together, we can do a better job.”

911 fund
The city officials also criticized how the county spends 911 fund money.

The cities think the county should resume disbursing funds from the wireless 911 fund to the three cities.

The funds have not been disbursed to the cities since 2011, when a committee made up of Brunswick Police Chief Carl DeForest, county Commissioner Pat Geissman and Medina Mayor Dennis Hanwell voted to distribute $120,000 among the three cities.

Since then, money from the fund has gone to the county to pay for special equipment, staffing and other costs to provide 911 service for cellphones.

“We all recognize that cities make up the lion’s share of the residents of Medina County,” Coyne said in asking why the cities aren’t getting a share of the funds.

Matthew Hiscock, safety director for Wadsworth, said counties throughout the state have been faced with the challenge of how to divvy up the 911 funds.

“We have had discussions in the past about how the funds will be used in Medina County, but for quite some time we haven’t had much movement in how we are going to address the funds.”

Hiscock recommended disbursing the funds among the county and the city dispatch centers to improve safety services throughout the county.

Coyne said the goal should be to provide a service to the residents of the county at the lowest possible cost since each person with a cellphone is paying the wireless fee whether they live in the cities or not.

“There are ways that we could pay for these services that we should revisit and maybe we should discuss it with the commissioners further,” he said. “There has to be a solution to the problem.”

Coyne said that maybe the funds should be disbursed based on the number of calls each dispatch center receives.

“We should try to make it as equitable as possible for each community,” he said.

Casino revenue
The joint session also voiced concerns about how the state-allocated casino money is being spent by the county.

The county estimates a casino tax revenue of more than $2 million in 2014 and the cities would like to have a say in how it is spent.

“Currently the commissioners obtain that money and keep it,” Coyne said. “The question is should we, as political subdivisions in the county, receive a portion of that money.”

Brunswick Councilman Brian Ousley, at large, said he was frustrated his city is not seeing any of the revenue.

“We are the largest municipality in the county,” he said. “We should get the lion’s share, but everyone should be getting money. It should not be going to line the commissioners’ coffers.”

Contact reporter Andrew Davis at (330) 721-4050 or adavis@medina-gazette.com.
Contact reporter Katie Anderson at (330) 721-4012 or kanderson@medina-gazette.com.

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Wadsworth police have intensified their search for a Creston woman after her car was found abandoned in Cleveland.

Lorrie Pratt, 49, of 104 1/2 Brooklyn Ave., last was seen Oct. 25 leaving KC’s Sports Bar in Wadsworth with Kevin Fisher, 34, of 573 Jessica Lane, Wadsworth, police Sgt. James Wilcox said.

Lorrie Pratt

Pratt is described as 5-foot-2, 130 pounds with blue eyes and brown hair in a ponytail. Wilcox said she was wearing blue jeans, a black jacket, black sneakers and a white shirt.

Pratt was reported missing by her family to the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office after she failed to show up for work Oct. 26 and did not contact her 17-year-old son, according to the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office.

Wilcox said Fisher — who also was reported missing — was found Thursday.

Police interviewed Fisher, who said he went to Cleveland with Pratt after leaving the bar in Wadsworth.

“They went to Cleveland and that is where she was last seen,” Wilcox said.

Cleveland police found Pratt’s yellow 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt on East 122nd Street early Saturday morning.

Wilcox said Cleveland police are searching for Pratt in the areas of East 122nd and East 125th streets.

Police executed a search warrant at the home where Fisher lived Friday afternoon. A Gazette reporter who went to the home Sunday evening found the door ajar. Neighbors said police used a battering ram to break in.

Wilcox said he did not know if Fisher and Pratt knew each other prior to leaving the bar Oct. 25.

Wilcox declined to confirm or deny if Fisher is a suspect in Pratt’s disappearance. He is not in police custody.

Neighbors said they had not seen Fisher for more than a week. The said they did see Joe Zigler, the owner of the home, who also lives there and rents a room to Fisher.

“He showed up last night (Saturday) for about an hour but then he was gone,” a neighbor said.

Neighbors said they did not remember seeing Pratt at the house.

The Gazette reporter found no one at home Sunday evening.

Pratt studied respiratory therapy at the Ohio State University and worked as a respiratory therapist at Medina Hospital, according to her Facebook page.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Wadsworth Police Department at (330) 334-1511.

Anonymous information can be left in a voicemail box at (330) 335-2769.

Information also can be provided to departmental personnel via email at wadsworthpd@gmail.com or via the department’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/wadsworthpd.

Contact reporter Andrew Davis at (330) 721-4050 or adavis@medina-gazette.com.

The post Missing Creston woman’s car found in Cleveland; Wadsworth house searched appeared first on The Medina County Gazette.

Lorrie Pratt

Wadsworth police released a more detailed description Monday of what a 49-year-old Creston woman was wearing on Oct. 25 — the night she disappeared.

Lorrie Pratt, of 104½ Brooklyn Ave., last was seen leaving KC’s Sports Bar in Wadsworth, with 34-year-old Kevin Fisher for Cleveland. Fisher, of Wadsworth, also was considered missing until he was found Thursday and questioned by police.

A review of video footage from the bar showed she was wearing a tight, white pullover shirt; desert-camouflage pants; a mid-thigh black jacket with a darker-colored collar-hood; and dark-colored boots about six inches high, Lt. Rob Wyrick said in a news release.

Pratt, who is 5-foot-2 with blue eyes, had part of her brown hair pulled back with a black, elastic “scrunchie.” She was wearing sunglasses on the top of her head, “dog tags” around her neck, two sweatbands on her right forearm and a watch on her left wrist. She also was carrying a dark-colored purse.

Cleveland police are paying special attention to the University Circle neighborhood after finding Pratt’s Chevrolet Cobalt abandoned Saturday morning on East 122nd Street.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Wadsworth Police Department at (330) 334-1511.

Anonymous information can be left in a voicemail box at (330) 335-2769.

Information also can be provided to departmental personnel via email at wadsworthpd@gmail.com or via the department’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/wadsworthpd.

Contact reporter Andrew Davis at (330) 721-4050 or adavis@medina-gazette.com.

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Today is Election Day and polls will be open 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at nearly five dozen polling locations throughout Medina County. Early voting ended Monday at 2 p.m.

Elections Director Carol Lawler said 13,912 people cast a ballot either in person or through a paper absentee ballot.

Lawler said the Board of Elections sent out 11,626 absentee ballots by mail but has received only 9,018.

She said any outstanding ballots still can be dropped off in person at the board of elections by 7:30 p.m. today.

About 15,000 voters cast ballots early or absentee in 2010 — the last election that featured a governor’s race.

Lawler said many voters came out to vote during the last four days of early voting. On Friday, 445 voters cast ballots, 407 cast ballots on Saturday, 262 on Sunday and 371 on Monday.

“Turnout was really pretty heavy over the weekend,” Lawler said. “The only other time we were open on a Sunday was during the presidential election in 2012.”

This was also the first year voters cast early voting ballots at the board’s new offices at 3800 Stonegate Drive in Medina Township.

“We tried to be prepared for a big crowd in the new facility and I think it went smoothly,” Lawler said.

Nationwide, the Associated Press reported more than 18.6 million Americans in 32 states have cast ballots, a significant increase over the 2010 early voting, according to data from state elections officials.

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Roy Tucker

A sex offender has been arrested on charges that he falsified his registration documents when he filed with the Medina County Sheriff’s Office.

Roy “Buck” Tucker, 46, was convicted of rape in June 2008 and spent 2½ years in prison. As a Tier III sex offender, Tucker was ordered to register with the sheriff’s office every three months for the rest of his life.

Sheriff’s Capt. Kenneth Baca said Tucker told deputies on Sept. 2 that he lived at 345 W. Friendship St., Medina.

When deputies went to the house for a check on him, they found Tucker had never lived there.

Tucker’s address in court records dating back as far as 2001 list him living at 245 W. Friendship St. — one digit off from the address he reportedly registered in September.

“If he erred and put the wrong address on his registration, that’s on him,” the captain said. “That’s something he’ll have to talk about in the courtroom.”

County Prosecutor Dean Holman said it wasn’t a simple typographic error that landed Tucker with charges.

“If it’s just an honest mistake, we wouldn’t pursue charges,” Holman said. “I can’t get into the facts of the case, but it’s apparent this is not a matter of him using just a mistaken number or making a simple mistake when registering.”

A Medina County grand jury Oct. 22 indicted Tucker on charges of tampering with governmental records and failing to register as a sex offender, third-degree felonies punishable by up to three years in prison each. He was arrested Oct. 27.

Tucker has no attorney listed in court records. He was scheduled for arraignment before county Common Pleas Judge Christopher J. Collier on Monday, but the judge withdrew from the case because he was
Tucker’s defense attorney in a previous case.

Tucker’s case will be heard by Judge James L. Kimbler instead.

In addition to the rape case and his latest case, Tucker has appeared six other times in county common pleas court since 1993.

Charges against him have included drug abuse, cocaine possession, trafficking in cocaine and crack cocaine and nonsupport of dependents.

He’s being held at the Medina County Jail on $50,000 bond.

A corrections officer said Tucker couldn’t be released even if he posted bond because his failure to register was a violation of parole from the rape case.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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Medina school board members are considering creating a drug-testing policy for athletes and additional social media policies for the 2015-16 school year.

Board members said Monday that they want to establish a committee to review and create policies for athletics, co-curricular and extracurricular activities.

Kristine Quallich, director of educational services for Medina Schools, said the board is still in preliminary discussion and has not selected committee members.

She said the interest in developing additional social media policies is not related to a recent lawsuit that involved online messages on Twitter.

Chase Johanson, a 2013 graduate of Medina High School, filed a lawsuit in July against the school district and three staff members charging he unfairly was dropped by the basketball team after he posted messages on his Twitter account complaining about not getting enough playing time.

Johanson dropped the suit in September, saying he was concerned about personal attacks on social media directed at his family.

Medina is not the only district in the county considering drug-testing policies for athletes — Cloverleaf Board of Education members have been discussing it since August.

Daryl Kubilus, superintendent of Cloverleaf Schools, said the board still has not made a decision on whether to establish a random drug-testing policy for the athletic department.

The board discussed it in August but, Kubilus said, “additional information was requested by the board.”
Kubilus said they plan on making a decision within the next month.

Highland Schools has a policy that all student athletes participate in drug testing and Brunswick began a random testing program of all students in extracurricular activities in the 2010-11 school year.

Contact reporter Katie Anderson at (330) 721-4012 or kanderson@medina-gazette.com.

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Voters cast their ballots at electronic polling stations Tuesday at the Medina County Community Center on the Medina County Fairgrounds, 735 Lafayette Road, Medina. Poll worker Joan Groux described the turnout as “very good — it’s been very busy all day. They’re coming in bunches.” Polls at nearly five dozens locations in the county are open until 7:30 p.m.

(DAVID KNOX / GAZETTE)

(DAVID KNOX / GAZETTE)

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Adam Friedrick

Republican Medina County Commissioner Adam Friedrick easily won re-election Tuesday, according to unofficial results from the Medina County Board of Elections.

“We did the work we thought we needed to do for the campaign,” he said. “Seems like the Lord’s been good to us and now we can put the election behind us and get to work moving forward.”

Friedrick said the biggest issue he’ll face in his second term as county commissioner is the rise of heroin use in the county.

Friedrick has been in office since 2010, when he won nearly 60 percent of the vote in a race with Bill Lamb, then a middle school teacher and now an at-large councilman in Medina.

Friedrick works as a plant manager at Beckett Gas in North Ridgeville, and said he will continue to work both jobs in his second term in office.

His Democratic challenger, Elisa Kazek, said she was disappointed with the turnout of voters.

“The number of people going out to vote in this election is low and that’s really sad,” Kazek said.

Kazek has taught art for 23 years and works at Marion C. Seltzer Elementary School in Cleveland, where she teaches kindergartners through eighth-graders.

This wasn’t Kazek’s first loss in a race for county commissioner.

She ran for county commissioner in 2012 but lost to Steve Hambley, who won nearly 64 percent of the vote.

Kazek said she battled medical issues in the middle of the 2012 campaign and wanted to try running again at full health.

“I wish to thank Adam for running an outstanding campaign. I wish him nothing but the best and it truly was an honor being part of the democratic process in Medina County,” Kazek said in a prepared statement. “Even though the outcome was not what I had hoped for I will continue to work in the community to move Medina forward.”

Kazek received 35 percent of the vote to Friedrick’s 65 percent, according to unofficial results.

Contact reporter Katie Anderson at (330) 721-4012 or kanderson@medina-gazette.com.

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Kevin Dunn

Medina County Juvenile and Probate Judge Kevin Dunn earned his post Tuesday night with a landslide win in his first election for the position.

Dunn, a Republican, who was appointed in August 2013 to replace retiring Judge John J. Lohn, garnered 25,320 votes to defeat Democratic challenger David Sheldon, who received 13,896 votes, according to unofficial results from the Medina County Board of Elections.

Dunn said he was thankful for the support and motivation he received from campaign volunteers and family.

“We ran a good race and there were so many people who helped me out. They really made it easy,” he said.

Dunn also congratulated David Sheldon on a fair race.

“We never pulled any games on each other,” he said. “I really appreciate that.”

Dunn, 50, of Westfield Center, will serve a six-year term, hearing cases on wills, adoptions and guardianships in probate court, and crime, neglect and abuse involving minors in juvenile court.

Since his appointment, Dunn said he’s worked to accommodate juvenile offenders and to give them coping tools to become productive members of society after leaving the court.

He also partnered with programs to prevent juveniles from ever appearing in the courthouse — including the Take Control Teen Driving Program that teaches safe driving and the Medina Police Community Athletic League, which tries to help children be comfortable around police.

Sheldon said he expected a tough race.

“It’s always tough against an incumbent,” Sheldon said. “I worked hard, and it was a good, clean race.”

When asked if he would consider running in a future election, he said he wouldn’t rule out the possibility.

“We’ll see,” he said. “I’m not foreclosing any opportunities in the future.”

During the race, Sheldon suggested the juvenile and probate courts could do more than they already do.

Sheldon, 53, of Montville Township, said he wanted to set up a mental health docket for the juvenile court that would get defendants treatment for mental disorders. If the juveniles completed the program, charges against them would be dropped and their records would be sealed.

Sheldon, a local attorney, said he wanted to get an electronic filing system set up for the probate court so attorneys could file court documents remotely.

He said he would have funded his ventures with grants.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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Joyce Kimbler

Joyce V. Kimbler, a Democrat married to the retiring judge, defeated former Brunswick Mayor Gary Werner. Kimbler received 55 percent of the 42,565 votes, compared to Werner’s 45 percent of the votes, according to unofficial votes from the county Board of Elections.

The seat opened up when Kimbler’s husband, James L. Kimbler, announced earlier this year he would retire from his position rather than seek re-election.

Kimbler thanked Medina County voters for voting for her.

“I’m very humbled at the trust of the voters of Medina County put in me,” she said. “I always had confidence that they would understand the importance of experience in a position like this.”

She said she was glad to have support from both parties.

“I have to say what a wonderful experience this has been with the bipartisan support in this race,” she said.

Kimbler’s opponent could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.

In the race, Kimbler, 60, of Seville, said she hoped her 29 years of experience as an attorney for Nationwide Insurance would set her apart from Werner.

Prior to her time with Nationwide, Kimbler was a prosecutor intern, a law clerk, a staff attorney and a private attorney.

She said she would work to be a fair judge and would be careful to spend taxpayer money efficiently.

Her opponent had hoped that his experience as the judge in Brunswick Mayor’s Court would outweigh his opponent’s experience.

Werner, 52, of Brunswick, has worked primarily as a civil lawyer in Los Angeles, Cleveland and Beachwood.

He has said he hoped his experience as mayor, vice mayor, a city councilman and a member of the Board of Zoning Appeals would convince voters he should be elected.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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