It The Plain Dealer Thursday, December 5, 2002 COMMUNITIES From staff reports Food from restocked pantry About 6,000 pounds of food will be delivered tomorrow to Southland YWCA by members of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity at Baldwin-Wallace College. More than 30 fraternity members collected food from Berea merchants and private donors to help restock a food pantry robbed in October. Tyler Kelly, a B-W senior from Westlake, said the dry goods and canned soups and vegetables were collected in the fraternity's national philan- thropy campaign. The pantry serves Berea, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, Brook Park, Middleburg Heights and Parma Heights. MONTVILLE TOWNSHIP Gas service is restored On one of the coldest mornings of the year, some Columbia Gas Co.
customers found themselves without heat yesterday. Company spokeswoman Gina Thompson said low pressure in lines caused about 24 homes in the Emerald Lakes area south of Medina off Ohio 57 to lose heat. Calls began ling in around 7:30 a.m., Thompson said, but heat was restored to all homes by early afternoon. In Hinckley Township, a master meter froze, sending 30 homes and businesses off Center Road and Daleside Drive into a deep freeze. Thompson said service was restored by late afternoon.
SOUTH EUCLID-LYNDHURST Dialogue series is rescheduled i Last night's dialogue series scheduled at Brush High. School has been rescheduled for 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Brush cafeteria Jan. 29. Speaker is Dr.
Deborah Plummer, Cleveland State University fessor. School officials expressed regret for any inconvenience. Call 216-691-2044 or 216-691-2016. EAST CLEVELAND Arthritis program is free A free program, "Understanding Arthritis: What To Do When Those Aches and Pains are Something More," will be 6 to 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at the East Cleveland Main Library, 14101 Euclid Ave.
The speaker will be Heidi Gilbert, occupational therapist at Huron Hospital. She also is a certified arthritis self-help course instructor with the Arthritis Foundation. The program is part of Huron Hospital Health Tomorrow Seminar Series. Call 216-541-4128. CLEVELAND Grandparents' workshop 4 A legal workshop 1 for grandparent-kinship caregivers is 10 a.m.
to noon Saturday at First United Methodist Church, East 30th Street and Euclid Avenue. The free event is sponsored by Cuyahoga County Department of Senior and Adult Services in partnership with the Department of Justice Affairs. Lawyers will attend to consult on adoption, custody, guardianship and support groups. Pre-registration is encouraged; call 216-263-4675. .4 CANTON Day of Prayer planning Organizers are holding a National Day of Prayer planning meeting 8 a.m.
Saturday at Bethel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, 1903 Second 1 NE, in Canton. Call National Day of Prayer-Fawcett Stadium, 330-455-4705. LAW ORDER 1 From staff reports AKRON Gang leader gets 17 years One of the leaders of a street gang that supplied three Akron neighborhoods with crack cocaine was sentenced yesterday to 17 years in prison by U.S. District Judge James Gwin. Darrell Woodall, 26, was one of 45 men and women of the Kaika Klan Outlaws arrested in July by federal and local narcotics detectives.
Woodall drove a van marked with his gang name, "King Locust." Akron police Detective Paul Siegferth said everyone arrested has pleaded guilty and about 15 still have to be sentenced. Evangelist sued over injury A Cleveland woman sued television evangelist Ernest Angley, his ministry and six employees, saying she was injured when she took her 94-year-old mother to a healing service. Gloria DeFrancesco, 61, claims in her suit that in August 2001 Angley's workers blocked the pair from going on stage and assaulted her in the process. DeFrancesco's lawsuit says she suffered a detached retina and is seeking more than $25,000 in damages. Her complaint was filed Tuesday in Summit County Common Pleas Court and assigned to Judge John Adams.
BATH TOWNSHIP House fire kills one A fire at the home of Fred Lohmann on Kemery Road yesterday morning killed one person and destroyed the house worth about $250,000, Fire Chief Jim Hower said. The Summit County medical examiner had not identified the victim last night. Neighbors reported the fire at 7 a.m. and when firefighters arrived, flames were shooting from the MEDINA Wheels swiped from city truck A day after city officials were overwhelmed with calls from residents angry about icy and snowclogged streets, police were trying to figure out who filched four tires and rims from a city truck. The truck, equipped with a plow, is used to clear city lots and access roads in Spring Grove Cemetery.
Lt. Robert Starcher said police were asked to quiz disgruntled city employees, including some who lost jobs after an income tax failed last month. The tires and rims were worth about $1,200. 58 Metro B3 sw Probe targets Parma commissioner Possible record tampering at issue level," "My Boldt said. understanding is there i is a spect olations the had premises been to corrected.
confirm that viJOSEPH L. WAGNER Murphy, Euclid law director, to con- possibility that some information on In fact, Stancato's had corrected Plain Dealer Reporter duct the investigation to guarantee the documents been altered," the problems months earlier, and impartiality, after a city employee Boldt said. He said that he had spo- restaurant owners had complained PARMA A special prosecutor is tipped off Dobeck about possible ir- ken briefly with Sara and that Sara publicly that they were eager to cominvestigating whether Parma's build- regularities. had neither confirmed nor denied ply with the city fire code but were ing commissioner, Frank Sara, doc- "The whole situation came to that he had changed the records. caught between two feuding agentored public records pertaining to Tim's (Dobeck) attention because of Sara refused to comment yester- cies.
In late August, the restaurant fire-code violations at a local restau- the public-records request. from The day. passed a fire inspection. rant. Plain Dealer," Murphy said.
In August, The Plain Dealer re- Dozens of records obtained from Mayor Gerald Boldt and Law Di- Murphy said he has questioned ported that Sara and Parma Fire De- Sara's office and the Fire Department rector Tim Dobeck confirmed yester- Sara and is preparing a final report partment inspectors had been feud- detailed the paper war of words beday that Sara is the target of a probe but would not say if he was recom- ing for nearly two years over tween the offices, but it was not readinto whether he altered records be- mending prosecution. Boldt said reported fire-code violations at a new ily apparent from copies if records fore releasing them this summer to Sara has not been put on paid leave, party room in Stancato's Restaurant had been altered. The Plain Dealer, which had re- though it has been the city's policy to on State Road. Fire officials said they quested them under the state's open suspend police and fire officials with were bitter that Sara had granted an records law. pay in past investigations.
"I don't occupancy permit to Stancato's with- To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: Dobeck said he retained Patrick think this situation has come to that out alerting them so they could 216-999-4906 GERMANY 9 um viol MEXICO SCOTT SHAW I THE PLAIN DEALER Julian Rajesh represents Canada during a discussion on child labor at this year's Model United Nations Conference. A record 700 students will participate in the conference, which ends next week. Model leaders of a turbulent world Area students take part in mock United Nations Iraq, those issues made interesting sideline discussions during after-school practices, EBONY REED 2001, may have increased student interest. said senior Stefanie Thomas. Plain Dealer Reporter The school's team has 56 students this year "It's real interesting to have a country compared with 20 in 1999.
that's in the news," said Thomas, who was an Not even snow, crutches and a cast on one "There's more international awareness be- Israeli delegate. leg could keep Lauren Snider away from this cause of Coleman said. "Kids have Greg Paulus, another Rocky River student, year's Model United Nations Conference. been affected by international relations, so represented the United States in a debate "Getting on and off the bus is the tough- they want to know what it's about." about young people in the military. est," the Aurora High School senior said yes- About 30 public and private high schools He argued that countries should have the terday.
"The pavement's a little slippery. But have students at the conference, which power to determine the minimum age of solI enjoy the experience." started yesterday. At the conference, the stu- diers. Other delegates disagreed, saying miliSnider is one of 700 students attending the dents represent more than 100 countries and tary service should be tied to voting age. conference, the 59th sponsored by the Cleve- make arguments based on the positions of Three $500 college scholarships will be land Council on World Affairs.
This year's those governments. This year's theme is "A awarded at a ceremony next week to the stusession at Case Western Reserve University is World Fit for Children." dents who best developed arguments for the largest ever, up from 550 students last Rocky River High School's 25 students their two-minute statements. year, according to coordinator Paula Cohen. were on the delegations of several countries, Leslie Coleman, who heads the social stud- including the United States, Israel and Iraq. ies department at Lake Ridge Academy in While yesterday's session did not touch on To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: North Ridgeville, said the events of Sept.
11, political tensions or weapons inspections in 216-999-4848 There's more international awareness because of Leslie Coleman, who heads the social studies department at Lake Ridge Academy Safety director accused of misrepresentation' on' 2 on North Olmsted council SARAH TREFFINGER Plain Dealer Reporter NORTH OLMSTED Two council members pushed for the resignation of the city's safety director Tuesday, citing "misrepresentations" made at a meeting last month. Council members Carolyn Kasler and Paul Miller said they want Safety Director Richard Jesse to step down because he denied issuing a controversial memo that later was found to have come from his office. "I won't be a party to deception, and I won't stand by and be lied to," said Kasler, who repeatedly asked Mayor Norman Musial to call for Jesse's immediate resignation. Musial did not respond to Kasler's' requests. He said he has no reason to doubt Jesse's integrity.
Jesse declined to comment because the matter is under criminal investigation. Police Lt. Jamie Gallagher said the investigation began after the council meeting Nov. 19, at which Jesse said the unsigned memo ordering that media inquiries about CANADA 1 Former dog warden pleads guilty in deal Agrees to repay $1,000 to Lorain County RACHEL DISSELL Plain Dealer Reporter ELYRIA A former Lorain County dog warden has pleaded guilty to stealing money from the pound. As part of a plea deal negotiated this week, George Belinsky, 45, will have to repay $1,000 of the estimated $20,000 prosecutors say he stole.
Two other felony charges were dropped. An investigation into missing money at the county pound began in 1998 and ended with theft indictments in September 2000 against Belinsky and his deputy, Annemarie Osborne Page. Page's case is set for trial Dec. 18. Prosecutors say they won't press for jail time when Belinsky is sentenced in a few months.
The accounting system at the pound was called into question after Lorain County sheriff's investigators had a hard time pinning down how much money was missing. At the time, most fees for adopting pets and fines to get animals released from impound were cash-only I- A a want his resignation recent layoffs be referred to Musial was not part of his office's distribution. At the meeting, Musial called the memo "bogus" and suggested taking it to police, which is exactly what firefighter David Boatman did. Jesse eventually took responsibility for the memo. He said in a statement that he did not recognize the memo at the meeting but recalled its "unique" font and asked his secretary about it.
He said he found he had reviewed the draft and made a spelling correction but did not review the final memo. Last week, the Police Department sent investigatory material to Law Director James Dubelko. He will advise whether to pursue prosecution. Gallagher said Jesse potentially faces falsification charges. Also last week, Musial established a written policy on administrative memos: All must be signed or initialed, with their origin clearly identified.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: 216-999-3906 and accurate receipts were rare. A handwritten logbook was the agency's only accounting tool, and investigators found that much of the pound's $300,000 in annual revenue wasn't properly documented. When Belinsky was fired, he denied stealing money. He said he had simply covered up for another employee. But Page told police she saw Belinsky pocket cash several times once to buy Christmas gifts.
Police records also indicate that Belinsky deposited about $25,000 in cash to his bank account in 1998 and 1999. After being indicted, Page admitted "borrowing" cash from the coffers but swore she returned the money. She also accused Belinsky of bribing Lorain County Commissioner Mary Jo Vasi with $1,000 to prevent his firing. Vasi denies that claim. She has sued Page for $500,000 for damaging her reputation.
That case is set for trial next year. To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: 1-800-767-2821 A in roof. of to.
